One of the most important things everyone who does sports is supposed to learn is that it is not about winning, but about giving it your best and – if possible – provide also some nice spectacle for the audience (I don’t know if they teach this in the sports clubs these days, but anyhow they should). The Mucche lived up to this sacred principle on a warm Rachetta night, when they shot four and conceded eight goals against the padroni di casa, ASD Firenze, a team whose warm-up shooting looked like the maneuver of a rather advanced artillery unit with high precision guns. I have to admit that the word macello crossed my mind when I saw this.
And the macello seemed to be taking its course when the Mucche conceded an early goal (of course!) after just two minutes. And as an old German football proverb says, if you have no luck you’ll end up having bad luck as well. This is what happened shortly after, when Ale put a sharp kick- in into the box, Mi Ah supposedly deflected it into the goal, but the referee disallowed the goal because in his opinion Mi Ah had not touched the ball. The grip on my bottle of beer got tighter and tighter…
But relief was on the horizon! After just seven minutes Ale made it 1-1 with a shot from outside the box. Which was followed by what her husband Claudio who reinforced the tifoseria on the Tribuna Maratona of the Rachetta pitch described as “pressing asfissiante” that the Mucche exerted on their opponents. “Con un pressing così sbagliano sempre” he declared, and he was right. Unfortunately, however, this wisdom worked both ways, as the ASD girls pressed back and went up 2-1 after a quarter of an hour. But as you might have noticed already, tonight was not the night of tight defending, so it took Ale just another minute to equalize, and a minute later Viola almost scored on her debut, but unfortunately only hit the post.
The post – this little bugger was in the way quite often tonight, just like last week. But at least it was impartial – it stopped balls on both sides, and sometimes it only delayed the inevitable. Just like after 18 minutes, when Sara hit the post with a shot from a distance, the ball hit the goalie’s back and then crossed the line, despite her frenzied attempts to stop it from doing that. “Il guardalinee l’ha visto dentro”, capoultrà Marco said.
So a 1-2 turned into a 3-2, and by now hopes in the Mucche camp were high. But the match turned out to be a bit like the Florentine weather as of late – whenever you believe you get some sunshine, the next shower is not very war. And here it wasn’t just a shower, but more like the torrential rainfall we have been enjoying over the past days. Just one minute after the 3-2 they made it 3-3, when the Mucche defense was taking a collective nap (or rather a sunbath). And another minute later it was 3-4. And another two minutes later, shortly before the break, 3-5. By then, the short-lived Mucche sunshine had given way to a real monsoon of goals. Right before half-time, Mi Ah gave our friend the post another blow, but this time even the guardalinee could not turn it into something countable and so the score remained unaltered.
Unfortunately, the half-time break was not enough to stop the metaphorical rainfall. It felt a bit like groundhog day when after two minutes into the second half, the hosts scored again to immediately quell any hope for another turnaround in this match. A goal that was followed by their first post of the match. The game continued with lower intensity then, the next high point being a gol gia fatto by Ale that however she did not put in. This missed chance was discussed vividly after the match – should she have taken the punta instead of the esterno, as Claudio suggested? Or just nailed it under the crossbar, as Paolo demanded? Be it as it may, just a minute later the ASD girls once again showed how to do it and made it 3-7, a goal that resulted from a misunderstanding between the Mucche keeper and her defense.
The good news for Ale is that she was not alone in the business of mangiarsi un gol. Mi Ah did the same thing after some 13 minutes into the second half and thus missed the chance to resuscitate the faint hopes the Emmepì still had in this game. Yet it was not them who took the initiative in the following minutes. After 18 minutes, the padroni produced what was arguably the most beautiful play in the whole match, when their right back put a long ball across to the attacker on the left wing who took a volley shot on the goal, which was then bravely stopped by Isabell. But two minutes later it was Mucche time again, when Ale scored her third goal of the night and then jumped on the stretched out goalie in a mad scramble for the ball.
Yet there was in fact no need to hurry to get the ball, since it was again them who knew how to treat it better. The 8-4 three minutes from the end sealed what was definitely a deserved victory for this strong side.
But, and this is what remains at the end, this match just displayed the whole beauty of the game. Many goals, many more chances, no overly cautious tactical play. Both teams sought their luck in attacking, and both succeeded, the one more than the other, but it definitely was no macello. Who knows, hadn’t the post been in the way so often, the result might even have been different. But in this beautiful summer tournament (which for some odd reason is called the “Spring Cup”), this is really the last thing anyone should worry about.
And the macello seemed to be taking its course when the Mucche conceded an early goal (of course!) after just two minutes. And as an old German football proverb says, if you have no luck you’ll end up having bad luck as well. This is what happened shortly after, when Ale put a sharp kick- in into the box, Mi Ah supposedly deflected it into the goal, but the referee disallowed the goal because in his opinion Mi Ah had not touched the ball. The grip on my bottle of beer got tighter and tighter…
But relief was on the horizon! After just seven minutes Ale made it 1-1 with a shot from outside the box. Which was followed by what her husband Claudio who reinforced the tifoseria on the Tribuna Maratona of the Rachetta pitch described as “pressing asfissiante” that the Mucche exerted on their opponents. “Con un pressing così sbagliano sempre” he declared, and he was right. Unfortunately, however, this wisdom worked both ways, as the ASD girls pressed back and went up 2-1 after a quarter of an hour. But as you might have noticed already, tonight was not the night of tight defending, so it took Ale just another minute to equalize, and a minute later Viola almost scored on her debut, but unfortunately only hit the post.
The post – this little bugger was in the way quite often tonight, just like last week. But at least it was impartial – it stopped balls on both sides, and sometimes it only delayed the inevitable. Just like after 18 minutes, when Sara hit the post with a shot from a distance, the ball hit the goalie’s back and then crossed the line, despite her frenzied attempts to stop it from doing that. “Il guardalinee l’ha visto dentro”, capoultrà Marco said.
So a 1-2 turned into a 3-2, and by now hopes in the Mucche camp were high. But the match turned out to be a bit like the Florentine weather as of late – whenever you believe you get some sunshine, the next shower is not very war. And here it wasn’t just a shower, but more like the torrential rainfall we have been enjoying over the past days. Just one minute after the 3-2 they made it 3-3, when the Mucche defense was taking a collective nap (or rather a sunbath). And another minute later it was 3-4. And another two minutes later, shortly before the break, 3-5. By then, the short-lived Mucche sunshine had given way to a real monsoon of goals. Right before half-time, Mi Ah gave our friend the post another blow, but this time even the guardalinee could not turn it into something countable and so the score remained unaltered.
Unfortunately, the half-time break was not enough to stop the metaphorical rainfall. It felt a bit like groundhog day when after two minutes into the second half, the hosts scored again to immediately quell any hope for another turnaround in this match. A goal that was followed by their first post of the match. The game continued with lower intensity then, the next high point being a gol gia fatto by Ale that however she did not put in. This missed chance was discussed vividly after the match – should she have taken the punta instead of the esterno, as Claudio suggested? Or just nailed it under the crossbar, as Paolo demanded? Be it as it may, just a minute later the ASD girls once again showed how to do it and made it 3-7, a goal that resulted from a misunderstanding between the Mucche keeper and her defense.
The good news for Ale is that she was not alone in the business of mangiarsi un gol. Mi Ah did the same thing after some 13 minutes into the second half and thus missed the chance to resuscitate the faint hopes the Emmepì still had in this game. Yet it was not them who took the initiative in the following minutes. After 18 minutes, the padroni produced what was arguably the most beautiful play in the whole match, when their right back put a long ball across to the attacker on the left wing who took a volley shot on the goal, which was then bravely stopped by Isabell. But two minutes later it was Mucche time again, when Ale scored her third goal of the night and then jumped on the stretched out goalie in a mad scramble for the ball.
Yet there was in fact no need to hurry to get the ball, since it was again them who knew how to treat it better. The 8-4 three minutes from the end sealed what was definitely a deserved victory for this strong side.
But, and this is what remains at the end, this match just displayed the whole beauty of the game. Many goals, many more chances, no overly cautious tactical play. Both teams sought their luck in attacking, and both succeeded, the one more than the other, but it definitely was no macello. Who knows, hadn’t the post been in the way so often, the result might even have been different. But in this beautiful summer tournament (which for some odd reason is called the “Spring Cup”), this is really the last thing anyone should worry about.
Jannis
The squad: Isa – Sandra – Alessia – Mi Ah – Amy – Viola – Sara (1) – Ale (3)
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