BOYS' FINAL: Sweden 4-1 Italy

Italy took too many touches in defence, failed to clear their lines and paid a heavy price early on. Sweden were organized, direct and imposed themselves physically - though often illegally (3 bookings and a red card) on their smaller opponents.
Sam opened the scoring, Noah Gallo made it 2-0 and Sam - off a well-flighted cross from Manfredi - made it 3-0. The first two goals were due in large part to sloppy defending and, for the third, Sam went unchallenged. Michael added a fourth before half time.
During all this, Italy tried to play good football but their last pass was often less than perfect and Giovanni mopped up many of them with cool positional play.
In the second half, Italy controlled the game and made more chances. Giuseppe scored and could have scored a second but blasted high. Matteo made some good driving runs from the back, Lapo was a dynamo in midfield and Lucrezia and Niccolo' were always dangerous.
BEST PLAYERS POINTS: Giovanni 5, Noah 4, Giuseppe 4, Sam 2, Matteo 1, Lapo 1, Tanner 1, Manfredi 1, Federico 1, Michael 1

INTRAMURAL FINALS: Girls' 1st Place - England 3 - 1 Germany

L'epilogo del torneo femminile non ha riservato molte sorprese: ha visto la squadra più forte, più organizzata e talentuosa, insomma più squadra. Nulla hanno potuto le individualità delle pur brave Lucrezia, Giulia, Beatriz, Lucie, Jean...
La "corazzata" inglese ha retto bene nel primo tempo, quando - lo ricordiamo - Lucrezia ha colpito due clamorose traverse, che avrebbero forse cambiato il volto della partita; pian piano ha preso fiducia e, al primo affondo di Margarida, è andata in vantaggio. Nella ripresa la Germania ha trovato la rete del momentaneo pareggio con Beatriz, ma il nuovo vantaggio di Margarida e la splendida rete di una caparbia Allison hanno spento definitivamente i sogni tedeschi. Bene come al solito Raffa in difesa, ben supportata da Leila ed Eilidh. Implacabile Marga, che con questa doppietta di aggiudica il trofeo del miglior realizzatore.

PLAYER OF THE MATCH POINTS:
Allison 6, Lucrezia 4, Lucie 2, Margarida 2, Raffaella 2, Giulia 1, Beatriz 1, Eilidh 1.

INTRAMURAL FINALS: Boys' Third Place - Ireland 3-3 France

Trascinata da un ottimo Francesco R., l'Irlanda prima domina, poi subisce, infine recupera un match che sembrava perso e approda ai rigori... Questa in sintesi la partita vista all'Ambrit Arena mercoledì scorso.
Nella Francia Sasha-centrica non ci sono grandi azioni da segnalare, tranne i monologhi di Sasha, che hanno annoiato il pubblico e reso furiosi i suoi compagni di squadra. Bravo Aden a trovarsi nel posto giusto al momento giusto e piazzare le due reti del momentaneo vantaggio.
Molto più organizzata l'Irlanda, che ha mostrato un buon dialogo di squadra e una maggiore fluidità della manovra, soccombendo tuttavia alle individualità della Francia.

Ireland won Thursday's Penalty Shoot-out 8-7!

PLAYER OF THE MATCH POINTS:
Francesco 4, Aden 2, Sasha 1.

ANSPI: Aspiranti Final - Ambrit 1-3 Monaco

Played on a tight pitch (a pity and a handicap to Ambrit's footballers), the final did not go Ambrit's way: here are the live reports from our correspondent...

10': 2-0 for Monaco, both goals scored in the same minute.....

15': 1st half is over. Still 2-0 for Monaco. Ambrit needs to play the ball more, all the goalie rinvii are going to the opposite side of the field which not very helpful on a 5-a-side field.

30': End of second half. Ambrit is dominating but they haven't taken one shot. They're still taking too many long and useless goalie rinvii. Let's pray that in these next 15 minutes they can do something!

35': Ambrit scored!! (Goal by Gavin)... but so did Monaco: so 3-1.....

45': Game over (beaten... but they're still going to Ostia!

Ambrit 7-2 St George's

As always, the keen rivalry between these teams spiced up the match but, fresh from their Garda experience, Ambrit's superior passing opened up the opposition and goals from Sasha (4), Nicholas, Noah and Alex won the tie easily in the end.

Med Cup 2016: The Boys

Day 1

The Med cup got off to a tough start for the Ambrit boys as they faced a very strong team from Riyadh, the Ambrit team were still asleep as they conceded three goals in rapid succession within the first few minutes. It looked like the tournament might open with a massacre but after the ball hit the net for the third time the Ambrit team suddenly came to life. Laith, Giovanni and Francesco in the Ambrit defense began to get the better of the Riyadh team and the focus of play shifted up the field. What followed was a tense and hard fought match with Ambrit holding the majority of the possession, there was constant pressure on the Riyadh defense but Ambrit could not get a breakthrough so they opened their campaign with a defeat.

This performance set the mood for the rest of the day, Ambrit were tough and fought hard but were not always able to get the goals they needed. Against Bucharest International school Ambrit controlled the game and were only seriously threatened once when Zeno pulled off an excellent save, diving to his right and palming the ball away. Francesco’s head seemed to be a magnet for the ball, any attempt by the opposition to launch a ball towards the Ambrit area was met by a solid header back down the field where the ball would be inevitably collected by Sasha, Michael, Noah or Sam. However Ambrit could not convert their superiority into goals, in the end they were lucky to scrape a 1-0 win thanks to a Bucharest own goal.

Noah and Francesco scored a goal each in an excellent 2-0 win against the Geneva La Chataigneraie team, in this match Ambrit looked like a much stronger team as they started to find their form. The Geneva side had performed well up to this point in the competition and there was some apprehension in the team before the match but it proved unfounded as Ambrit cruised to a comfortable win.

Casablanca was in many ways the most frustrating game of the whole tournament for Ambrit, the two teams were level on points when they met and on paper they looked evenly matched however when the match started it became clear that Ambrit were the stronger team, the pushed Casablanca back and piled on the pressure until thanks to a moment of carelessness they were caught by counter attack and went 1-0 down. Ambrit hit chances over the bar and wide of the post and had several good attempts stopped by some excellent goalkeeping from the Casablanca keeper until Sasha scored a scorching long shot to bring the teams level.

Ambrit finished the first day of the tournament second in their group behind Riyadh level on points with Casablanca but ahead on goal difference. As a result of the other group matches Ambrit went into the Med Cup Champions competition for the rest of the tournament.

Day 2

Ambrit started day 2 with a very similar performance against BIS Cairo as day 1 against Riyadh, while still half asleep they rapidly conceded 2 goals before the game had really got going and after that it was always going to be an uphill struggle. Although both teams contested possession of the ball fairly evenly Ambrit lacked the attacking edge of the Cairo team and as a result went down by four goals to 1 with only Nicholas salvaging some pride for the team.

Monaco proved to be much less of a challenge as the Ambrit boys really started to get into their stride, Francesco opened the scoring with an excellent goal then the floodgates opened Nicholas scored a hat trick and Michael got a goal too as Ambrit proved to be too strong for the monaco team. In the end the game finished with a 5-2 victory for Ambrit.

Jeddah Prep’s A team was a very different proposition, their speed in attack allowed them to score early in the game and Ambrit began their attempt to even a deficit. Their focus on leveling the score led to a several dangerous counter attacks by the quick and dangerous Jeddah wingers until late in the game they scored again and the game finished with a disappointing 2-0 loss.

The result of these matches meant that Ambrit contested the Champions competition Silver semifinal against Wesgreen school on the afternoon of day 2.

The match against Wesgreen was the pinnacle of the tournament for the Ambrit team, they started strongly and never looked back, Sasha opened the scoring with an outstanding solo goal, he dribbled past half of the Wesgreen team and unleashed a fearsome shot into the bottom right corner of the goal. After that Ambrit showed how well they can play, Wesgreen was a good team who so far had done well in the tournament but they were completely opened up by fast, accurate passing. One twos between Noah, Sasha, Matteo and Michael as well as dangerous runs in behind the defence by Nicholas and a completely solid defense from Matteo, Andrew, Giovanni and Laith contributed to an excellent performance, Ramnath came on and looked dangerous, his pace and quick feet causing problems for the Casablanca defence. But the game really belonged to Sam.

He skipped around opposition players with ease, ran at the defense and caused them all kinds of problems and his single minded pursuit of goals led to the next three of Ambrit’s. The first was a crisp shot that the goalkeeper could do little but push away presenting Noah with an easy tap in. The second was an excellent run but he was unable to find the angle to pass the goalkeeper and was forced to pass across the face of the goal where the arriving Sasha buried it in the net. The third, a curling shot towards the corner was deflected away by a defender straight to Noah’s head which placed it directly into the goal.

The victory against Wesgreen put Ambrit through to the Silver Final which was a rematch against Casablanca on the morning of day 3. This time there were no mistakes, Ambrit played almost as well as they had against Wesgreen and two outstanding individual goals from Sasha secured the trophy. Casablanca were overcome by the same quick passing football and confident possession football that Ambrit displayed towards the end of the competition. 

(Huge thank you to Martin Leavy for this comprehensive report!).

MedCup 2016: a great experience

Le nostre ragazze sono appena tornate dalla Mediterranean Cup, un torneo di calcio per scuole internazionali che si tiene ogni anno a Verona. Anche quest'anno la partecipazione è stata massiccia, con 46 squadre da 17 nazioni diverse.
Nella categoria femminile a contendersi il titolo c'erano ben 17 squadre.
La nostra squadra, con buone potenzialità, ha avuto delle difficoltà iniziali ad adattarsi al terreno di gioco (il torneo è su erba, non su sintetico) e a giocare con la consueta scioltezza; nonostante la grande vittoria contro la ISSR Stockholm e la sconfitta di misura contro le fortissime Spagnole di Sotogrande, l'Ambrit ha "gettato via la qualificazione alla categoria elite con il pareggio con il Cairo e l'immeritata sconfitta contro la Casablanca AS.
Il secondo giorno è iniziato con un ritmo assai diverso: 4 vittorie su 4 partite e qualificazione strameritata alla semifinale di categoria champions. Purtroppo il semifinale è arrivata la sconfitta 0-1 contro la selezione veneta VISSTA e l'Ambrit si è dovuta accontentare del terzo posto, arrivato in finale contro la squadra di Monaco, battuta 5-0.
Al termine del torneo la nostra Lucrezia è stata premiata come miglior giocatrice della categoria champions.

Questo torneo può insegnare molto alle nostre ragazze, alcune delle quali ancora in prima media: ritmo di gioco, risparmio delle energie, allenamento tattico e fisico. Tutti fattori da non sottovalutare per una prossima partecipazione. Brave!

AMBRIT PLAYER OF THE TOURNAMENT: Raffaella.

Primary Soccer News

Well done to our Primary School teams who competed in two tournaments recently and made the semi-finals each time. A big thank you to Southlands and New School for hosting the events and to Giulia and Matteo for coaching the teams so successfully.

AND TALKING OF SUCCESS....!!
Miss Giulia has once again brought her 'aspiranti' team to the regional final of the ANSPI tournament. In a competition involving 16 teams, this is a fantastic achievement and we hope that there will be lots of parents and students present at the final to cheer them on! The final will be played at TBA on TBA.

Meanwhile Mr Matteo is also bringing the 'scarabocchio' season to a successful end. Having qualified for the Europa League, the G3/4 team has won their first play-off match 4-1 against Vigna Pia. For more details, see the ANSPI page on this blog.