With or against?
Last week’s thrilling encounter seemed like a hard act to follow. But the doubters were proved wrong, and Saturday’s match (8-8) was just as intense and tightly contested. Team selection, often more an art than a science, again proved crucial.
The Colours team brought together a bunch of returnees, under Bijan’s stewardship. Yassin had clearly recharged, and came back in overdrive, quickly making this count with 5 goals. Alessandro in goal appeared confident as ever. Sara, Hossam and Yusuf guaranteed top-class ball movement, helped by 7-year old Raphael, Julien’s son, in his long-awaited debut.
On the other side Johannes orchestrated the Bibs, a solid side that could count on TonyL, back in goal after a long hiatus, veterans Hannes, Julien, Francesco, rookie Yemi and young Arman.
One thing Football Dads have learned over the year is to never underestimate the Kids. Still, sometimes even them are caught by surprise. 10-years old Arman proved to be a thorn in the Colours’ side all morning and allowed the Bibs to take an early lead with two opening goals, the first a nice tap-in after a stylish team move, the second an header. Francesco assisted his second goal with a lovely cross, before going on to score the perfect hat-trick (right foot, left foot, header).
The match remained open until the very end when Golden Goal was called with the Colours up 8-7. They had few chances to seal the victory but succumbed to the Bibs. On a dangerous free kick from just outside the box, Johannes pretended to shoot and instead passed the ball to Francesco who had the time to adjust it before shooting it in the top corner past Alessandro.
There were some interesting family dynamics when teams were formed. Raphael (looking the part of the young Antoine Griezmann) was asked if he wanted to play with, or against, his father, to which he replied without any hesitation:”of course, against”. When asked, Arman also decided to play against his father. Clearly, this must be their youthful exuberance. The wiser, older, children Sara and Johannes happily played with their respective fathers, although to be fair, they were not asked.
The other rookie Yemi was very fit and had a nice debut but at times appeared overwhelmed by the pace of the match (who wouldn’t be when playing against Yassin?). Luckily he is joining Hannes at work and will have the chance to learn from a true legend.
Hannes flew in from Germany in the morning and even collected and set up the goals, ready on the pitch before everyone else. Normally this good deed alone would have positioned him as a candidate for Man of the Match, however he humbly turned down the award:”I do not deserve this accolade today, given the number of goals scored against us”, he said, still trying to recover from the trauma of trying to stop Yassin even more goals.
After the match, the FA launched an informal inquiry about Arman’s header, as the official guidance says that heading should be restricted under 12 years of age.
The inquiry was closed very rapidly when Arman stated that he had actually tried to avoid the ball rather than hit it, although his sardonic smile afterwards suggested otherwise.