Sunday, May 24, 2015

ETF in its 21st year ends up 21st. Just a coincidence?

And so the story ends... Might be us getting older, each year at a time drags you down in the ranking...

We lost Emsa 4-0, EMCDDA 1-0, EEA 1-0, and today EU LISA 1-0. Then we woke up, won against GSA 2-0 (Pedrito, and Thierry su rigore), and ERA after penalties. This puts us on the 21st place out of the 24 teams. 30 if you count mixed teams. 45 if you count all agencies. Well, not that bad afterall.

The final was a good game, both new teams to the title, Frontex and EMA (hosts). 0-0 after full time, then penlaties. We saw thr full game after a great shower and few beers. EMA has won, and probably they deserved it, the other times they played they were great. Pitty for our portuguese friends and EFSA, looking forward to see the final ranking.
Now few more beers, and then Ministry of Sound is calling.

Saturday, May 23, 2015

Match 3: ETF EEA 0-1

No ETF in the first 16. Actually, we might be on the last place, have some more chances to redeem ourselves tomorrow morning. At 9am. Fabio wants the over-40 tournament

Match 2: ETF EMCDDA 0-1

Bad... Our last chance for fame (hm...) is to win against EEA Copenhagen... They have the same points (0) and received same goals (5). And it starts raining...

Friday, May 22, 2015

Friday (-1)

London is lovely. 1hr delay on departure (Burger King), indian taxi to the city, then indian food. Few more beers in the hostel and early to bed. Saturday will be the moment of truth. All our hopes, efforts, sacrifices, will they be in vain?  Oh thou, faith, stand by our side.

Target this year: at least 16th.

Thursday, May 21, 2015

Thursday (-2)

The teams are now sending on FB presentation pictures; 
Yesterday, when we played, was raining cats and dogs, didn't think to make a picture... that's why we'll be using one made few weeks ago :-)

Given that I'm at the top-left, we'll start from bottom right: 

Margot - great player, so good that in fact she only has to play the last 5 mins. She took from her father (Pierre, not in the picture) the best football skill - smile:-)
Pedro - el bomber - quick, strong, deadly. comes to London.
Marco - great control, passes, dribbles and supports Juve. better to have him on your team. but no London for him
Anna - great player, just that she looks like a replay in slow motion. not half, but 25% :-) . London.
Christian - used to be the il bomber, until the wife decided to produce the daughter, which changed completely the priorities. also, he has the Cologne tournament in his right arm :-) no London this time.
Mark - has the priorities as wrong (?) as Christian, can't leave behind his 2 weeks old daughter. Grande Mark :-)
Francesco - runs, dribbles, defends.. great acquisition. Fast, never complains. London.

Top row (right-to-left)
Antonio - golden feet, he has speed, ball control, agility, and some hair left. No London this year.
Tommy - long-time-no-see, Tommy's back with the group after some serious injury. in shape as always, and less nervous. welcome back! no London.
Dabor - looks big, is big, a unsurmountable wall in the defense. as long as you can't go around him :-).  no London.
Sylvain - great runner, attacks, defends, good headers. but no ETF, therefore no London. pitty :-)
Fabio - el capitan - gymnastics on the pitch - great defense, good motivator. Maradó!
Thierry - an image of how a great player ends up - skill is still there, position is still there, his legs a bit less. Both him and Fabio got slightly injured in the last games.  but yes for London. 
Bruno - he played keeper for the last few games - just to be sure he does not get injured worse than he already is. he'll play defense - the ball may pass, but not the man. London.
Cristian - note the absence of "h" in the name - mulitirole player - passes, dribbles, takes the game forward, good vision. but no London.
Pippo - he plays. and he talks. then he plays again. and he talks again. and then runs a bit. When not having a beer before the game, he lacks that "je ne sais quoi", his endless dribbles are not the same. London for him.
Tomasso - il mister. every  team has one, official or not, player or not. we have tomasso, he's been with us for the last 4 tournaments. At least we have somebodyto blame when things go wrong :-).  non e vero. 
Mircea - il presidente - recently discovered great mid-fielder. avoids running as much as possible. deadly when in front of the empty goal. that's me. 

With his invisibility cloack  on - Laurens - the flying dutchman. Any position, any role. same damage :-) he's our secret weapon.

we've sorted ou the remaining issues - we now have a taxi booked, confirmed the hostel, confirmed the cars. I still didn't buy new shoes - I'll probably go with the old ones. 

tomorrow we fly - a domani.



Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Fwd: Wednesday: - 3 days

Three more days to go... this morning an old footie friend woke me up to ask me if I was planning to cover this year's tournament as well as the previous ones... well, he didn't ask, he said I should do it.

Ok Max. 

it's Wednesday now, we leave on Friday, first game on Saturday at 10am, with EMSA. Are we ready? well, as ready as we'll ever be. 

we have the plane tickets and the hostel booked. current to do list: 
1. send a message to the lads to remind about check-in
2. buy a new pair of light sport shoes (for the travel, not for the game)
3. online check-in myself

cars for travel to malpensa are almost arranged - leave from te ETF at 12:30, pick up francesco and Alessandro on the way to the airport.

overall logistics for Friday: 
ETF - cars - Malpensa - easyjet - Luton - train - St Pancras - walk - generator hotel - metro - beers -metro - sleep.

Fabio and Thierry are half injured - we start well. 

Our games on Saturday: 
10:00 - ETF - EMSA (Pitch 3)
12:20 - ETF - EMCDDA (Pitch 2)
14:05 - ETF - EEA (Pitch 2)
XX:XX - based on results

the only game where we have a hope is against EEA (Copenhagen), the other two LIsbon agencies (Maritime and Drugs) are slightly above our level. for the moment. 



and just in case we get lost: 

Address where we stay (for the fans): 
GENERATOR Hostel - 37 Tavistock Place, London, WC1H 9SE

Flights - EasyJET - ENWTGVG
easyjet malpensa (T2) -  luton
ven 22-5  16:25 - 17:20
Easyjet gatwick - Malpensa (T2)
lun 25-5 18:20 - 21:15


We play at:
Paddington Recreational Centre
Indirizzo: Randolph Avenue, London W9 1PD, Regno


ok, good luck to us , a domani.