Why do all good things come to an end? Mad Cows 3 – GS Aurora 1

For the last match of the season, the Mucche Pazze finally returned to their natural habitat – Virgin Sports, the paradise lost on the banks of the Arno. After the recent expeditions to Rachetta, it was nice to be back to a pitch which can be reached in 15 rather than 45 minutes, and where a high ball does not potentially turn into an interference with air traffic. A live band playing rock music in the nearby club added to the pleasant summer atmosphere on the pitch, which was underlined by prosecco and cake that were waiting on the sideline for the glorious Emmepì at the end of their campaign. In anticipation of the end of a long and tiring season, there was laughter and smiles on both sides already before the match. How nice it is when there is nothing left to win and nothing left to lose.
Accordingly, I will not play the German reporter again and create a great deal of suspense. I will state from the outset that this was not the most exciting match I have ever seen by the Mucche, neither was it the most dramatic one. Nor the most dynamic one, as the heat was definitely taking its toll. But it was good craic, as the Irish would say. And we saw some of the most beautiful goals scored by the Emmepì this year.
The Mucche were even off to something of a quick start for a change. After only three minutes, Sara hit the post after a beautiful triangolazione with Mi Ah. And again I will ruin the suspense by stating that this was not the last ball on the post tonight. The Mad Cows kept pushing after this and had two or three shots on target, while GS Aurora were also trying their best to participate in the match and twice challenged Isabell, who however proved to be up to the challenge tonight with some spectacular saves.
After ten minutes then, Sara received a long pass from the back, made a run towards the opposition’s goal, the goalie decided not to come out and thus made it easy for our Number 10 to hammer the ball into the net for a well deserved 1-0 lead. But the GS Empire struck back soon and a few minutes later they hit the junction of the right post and the crossbar with a powerful shot from outside the box. After that, the pace of the match slowed down a little bit, and therefore it came as a bit of a surprise when the GS scored the equalizer with a header after a high kick in from the right. So the match went into halftime with a 1-1 that matched the friendly atmosphere of the game.
The second half started slowly, with a couple of shots by the Mucche which however did not create too much danger. It was not until a quarter of an hour into the second half that something noteworthy happened. A kick in from the left finished on the post and fell before Amy’s feet who then from one meter sent the ball back where it had come from – onto the post and out. Un gol gia fatto, as the Italians would have it.
After that it was only the Mucche playing, but neither Costy, who probed the opposition’s goalie with a powerful shot from a distance, nor Mi Ah, who hit the post once again, managed to put the Emmepì ahead. It wasn’t until shortly before the end that Sara entered the box on her own and sent the ball into the net with brute force – the only thing that seemed to be working after so many precise shots that hit metal. And way into injury time, Mi Ah even made it 3-1 with a nice shot from outside the box, which the GS keeper commented with a laconic “arbitro, basta!” The arbitro eventually agreed with this view and blew his whistle for the last time in the season 2008/2009.
All that remained was to celebrate with prosecco and a wonderful cake baked by Mi Ah. After a season with the Squadra Fantastica last year, I can now compare the two experiences of watching Florentine low league male eleven-a-side football and female five-a-side football. And I can tell you that it is quite nice to see that Italian females, unlike their male counterparts, do not feel the urge to role on the ground pretending to be dying after each contact with an opponent, do not risk their opponents’ health by deliberately knocking them down with sliding tackles, do not punch their opponents in the face, e via dicendo. And I must commend the referees for their generally non-xenophobic stance, as there were no blatant and systematic anti-EUI decisions in any of the matches I saw (the hotspur in the Mucche goal might disagree with me on that point).
Finally, looking back over the season, I have reached the definite conclusion that more matches should be played in summer. It is so much nicer to be standing out there at Virgin with a pleasant 25 degrees, rather than getting soaking wet in autumn or freezing your private parts off in winter. I suppose now it would be Sara’s turn to disagree with me, since she stated during the match that the green winter proof jerseys were “contro i diritti umani” with that kind of heat. She might be right, but as Il Mister Paolo would put it: “Show yourself!” Now we have finally all understood what he meant with this cryptic phrase all along.

Jannis

The squad: Isabell – Costy – Stefi – Raya – Mi Ah (1) – Amy – Sara (2)