Ambrit u7 team take 2nd place in RISA Cup!

Christian Baldwin, Ashton Samkange, Luna Ciocca, Max Stone,
Maverick Stone, Rowan Cooper, Daniele Piccolo, Kendi Delve, 

Congratulations to Ambrit's u7 team who had a great morning's football in SGBIS this weekend.
Competing in the RISA Cup, they won their group and got to final, losing narrowly after a penalty shoot-out. Well done!

Brazil 6 - 1 England

Il Brasile domina il match contro l'Inghilterra, nonostante l'assenza di Manfredi, e infligge una dura lezione alla giovane compagine britannica, ancora con poca esperienza internazionale. Nonostante la buona prova di alcuni elementi dell'Inghilterra, il Brasile gioca un calcio veloce, con palla a terra e molti triangoli, che manda nel pallone le avversarie. Le poche chances delle ragazze non vengono sfruttate a dovere da Mia. Ecco dunque le reti di Ottaviano, Michele, Lapo, Alessandro, intervallate solo dal gol di Natalie. Positiva la prova di Gabeen, Annie e Virginia, buono l'esordio di Yutong.
Speriamo che venerdì - con l'inserimento di Allison, Matilde e Lucrezia - le cose per l'Inghilterra possano cambiare.

PLAYER OF THE MATCH POINTS:
Ottaviano 4, Lapo 4, Ale Z 3, Virginia 2, Annie 2, Gabeen 2, Michele 1, Riccardo 1, Tommaso S. 1, Yutong 1.

ANSPI u11: Ambrit suffer second defeat in a row

After last week's fighting performance against the league leaders, Ambrit went down much more tamely to the league's second place team and will have to tighten up their approach for the next game, away to Empire (Wed March 28th).
The big exception today though was Mattia: Ambrit's goalkeeper was fantastic and God only knows what the final score would have been were it not for his heroics.
Two goals down at the first interval, Ambrit had not had a shot at goal and were looking for some inspiration at the start of the second period.
Unfortunately it didn't happen. The home side scored again early on and Ambrit heads dropped.
As the period wore on, more and more gaps opened up in midfield and San Girolamo racked up the goals.
The third period was Ambrit's last chance to salvage something from the game and they did, at last, find another gear. The team worked together to limit their opponents to just a handful of chances and Zach played Lorenzo in for a goal which brought some consolation at the end.

ANSPI u13: Ambrit Beat Vigna Pia to capture Provincial Crown!

Giacomo: hat-trick hero

In a thrilling match at Ambrit Stadium, Ambrit came from behind to maintain their 100% record and take the provincial title with six weeks to spare.
Against a well-organised Vigna Pia, Ambrit struggled to impose themselves in the first period and found themselves trailing 1-0. But, as the match unfolded, Ambrit slowly found their rhythm and, when Giacomo was released by an excellent pass from Pietro, he raced towards the goalkeeper ahead of the last defender. The defender tried to foul him once, he tried to foul him a second time but Giacomo had only one thing in mind and he wasn't to be stopped. With a glance up to check the keeper's position, he calmly slotted home just as he was fouled for the third time!
Giacomo repeated the feat twice more as Ambrit made clever use of the time and space that was opening up and, in the end, they were full value for the 3-1 win.

C A M P I O N I ! ! !

ANSPI u11: Ambrit lose to Vigna Pia

The two teams celebrate a closely-fought encounter

Another excellent performance from the scarabocchio team this week... for 2/3 of the game!
Knowing that Vigna Pia - runaway leaders of the league - liked to play out of defence and keep the ball to feet, Ambrit decided to press high to try and strangle their play.
It worked and Ambrit managed to dominate possession and territory for long periods. Ambrit should have scored three goals in the first period. But this was the difference between the teams: when Vigna Pia did create chances - on the break - they scored and led 2-0 at the first break. The first goal was cruel - a deflected free kick - but the second came from an unstoppable passing movement that should have served as a warning to Ambrit to stay awake!
With Ambrit asleep at a corner, Vigna Pia scored again immediately after the break but then Ambrit woke up and dominated again. Nonethless it was VP who scored again; this time Ambrit were unlucky - a fantastic tackle from Vittorio saw the ball trickle past the keeper and into the net.
And then Ambrit almost scored... five times in a row. Nikos and Zach were slipping good passes through the lines and Lorenzo was making great runs to get on the end of them, but the ball just wouldn't go in! Two free kicks from Nikos also came close, but no goal and 3-0 at the second interval.
In the third period, Ambrit tired and did collapse a little at the back. Nikos pulled one goal back with a clever header off Vittorio's pass but Ambrit now need to look to next week's match for three points!

RISA u14: Ambrit go top of the table!

Ambrit’s players were focused to win. Rain or shine, they were prepared and played well, winning both games at the tournament. Ambrit vs St. George’s 3 ended in 8-0 with Manfredi scoring 4 of the goals flowed by Alessandro with a great header from a corner and Peter from defense with a great shot from midfield for 6-0.

Great team work from Lapo and Niko saw them both score minutes apart from each other, ending the game 8-0. Playing back to back Ambrit faced Aosr under the rain. Aosr managed to get a quick goal at the beginning which helped Ambrit stay on their toes. Manfredi went on to score 2 goals, one of which was a rebound shot from Alessandro, who himself went on to get a goal on a corner by Lapo and ending the game 3-1.

ANSPI u13: San Michele Trigoria 1-4 Ambrit

Ambrit was yet again challenged with extreme weather and unfamiliar grounds. Playing on a smaller field, Ambrit had to adapt to playing five on five. The first team went in for the first period with no fear. Giacomo on throw in passed it to Pietro for our first goal. Unfortunately, right before the whistle we conceded an equaliser. In the second period Alex and Pietro played up front; there was no stopping them as they both scored within minutes in the game. Our third period was tense. Ambrit concentrated on defending and only moved up when necessary. On a throw in, Alex passed the ball to Pietro and, with ease, he dribbled to the net ending the game 4-1 - which might have been 5-1 had the referee not disallowed a good goal from Elias or had Ludovico tucked away a chance at the end when he replaced Alex.

ANSPI u11: Casaletto 5-2 Ambrit

Strangely, despite the scoreline, this was a match that Ambrit could have won... had they been at full strength.
Those who showed up played really, really well; they played 5 versus 6 for the whole match and kept running, kept fighting for the whole 45 minutes.
The first period remained scoreless almost to the end. Casaletto had chances but so did Ambrit. The ball fell to Alberto close to the goal but his shot was high; Lorenzo too had a chance but his shot was blocked. Casaletto scored two good goals just before the break.
Lukas was having a great game in defence, marking their most dangerous forward, and Vittorio was everywhere: harrying, tackling, passing. Santiago, in goal, made loads of good saves and played sweeper too. Alberto tracked back well and was always looking to break quickly. Lorenzo... see below!
The second period began badly. Ambrit were asleep as a corner came in and gifted a free header at the far post to finish 3-0 down. Ambrit were unlucky though for the fourth. Vittorio made a fantastic tackle but the ball broke unkindly and trickled over the line. All seemed lost.
But it wasn't! Just before the second break, Alberto scored a fantastic goal to make it 4-1! Lorenzo, already playing well, now stepped up a level and made some great runs. Vittorio had a good shot.
Lorenzo almost scored as soon as the third period began but Ambrit was then caught on the break and went 5-1 down. But did our heads drop? NO!!
Lorenzo was incredible. Every time Casaletto tried to play out of defence, he put them under pressure and, more than once, forced a mistake and created a scoring chance. In fact, from one of these, the ball broke to Santiago and he let fly an absolute scorcher of a shot into the top corner.
What a goal! What a game!! What a team!!!

Germany 1 - 1 Japan

Senza le top-players Allison e Mia, la Germania e il Giappone si affrontano a viso aperto, in una partita equilibrata e a fasi alterne, pur con un tasso tecnico ancora in crescita.
La partita subisce un guizzo immediato con la rete di Parveen, brava nel controllare un cross teso e battere il portiere di sinistro. La partita sembra sbilanciata, ma con l'ingresso - in leggero ritardo - di Mari in porta la partita cambia volto: Michelle si alza sulla fascia e permette alla squadra di salire ed essere più pericolosa. Proprio una rimessa laterale di Michelle permette ad Annie di trovarsi a tu per tu con il portiere e di insaccare la palla dell'1-1.
La partita segue in grande equilibrio e il punteggio, tranne una bella conclusione di Michelle, ben neutralizzata da Virginia, non presenta altri brividi.

PLAYER OF THE MATCH POINTS:
Michelle 4, Parveen 3, Annie 3, Selina 3, Gabeen 2, SofiaS 2, Giorgia 1, Carolina 1,