Real Casaletto 3-10 Ambrit

 Good start to Ambrit's football year: after last week's convincing win over AOSR on home turf, Ambrit followed up with another dominant performance away from home.

Captained by Leo, who had an outstanding game in defence, Ambrit took an early lead when Leo himself drilled home a long free kick. The home side were quickly back on level terms though, their No. 10 firing home a shot from the left wing. Daniel saw his first good shot rebound off the bar and Daniele, following up, had his shot saved. But neither boy would need to wait too long to get onto the scoresheet:  Daniele was first, then Daniel... 3-1. Oliver was having a great game, raiding down the left wing at every opportunity and the young Austrian ace made it 4-1 at half time with a shot that sneaked in from a narrow angle.

The second half followed the same pattern. Sam was solid in defence; Nicolas played intelligent, generous football on the right. Antonio tackled well, passed well. Kevin was everywhere. Ambrit added six more goals: one from Kevin, two more from Daniel (one a very sweetly-struck shot from 20m out) and three more from Daniele, including a gem that only he could have scored after a typical twisting dribble in impossibly tight spaces.

TEAM: Antonio, Sam, Leo, Nicolas, Kevin, Daniel, Oliver, Daniele

Mexico 1-3 Cameroon

 A masterful display from Cameroon today, soaking up the pressure from a scary Mexico and then striking lethally when the opportunities presented themselves. The only chance of the first period fell to Spiderman Diego, but his touch was less than silken and the ball went spinning wide. Later he inadvertently blocked a shot from Marco, provoking the best comment from a fan so far this year: "you're supposed to be saving people, not goals!"

In period 2, Carlo played Jacopo in for goal number 1; Leopoldo made it 2-0 and Carlo had a hand in the build up again. And Carlo made it a hat-trick of assists for Jacopo's second goal.

In period 3, Mexico upped the pressure even more but their shooting was poor. Only Diego managed to score.

BEST PLAYER POINTS: Jacopo 7, Leonardo 4, Marco 2, Carlo 2, Diego 1, Patrick 2, Daniel 1, Rohan 1, Leopoldo 1

Wales 2-1 Argentina

 Not a lot of goalmouth action today in teh first two periods. Max and Ale both had chances but Ryan made two great saves. Tiago, in great form today, scored twice for Argentina and captain Vittorio had a goal disallowed when VAR ruled a handball. Ale pulled one goal back for the South Americans.

BEST PLAYER POINTS: Tiago 6, Vittorio 3, Ryan 3, Ale 2, Sam 2, Daniele 1, Antonio A 1, Max 1, Carlo 1, Nicolas 1

Teachers 5-2 8V

 Lessons continued into lunchtime today, with the teachers showing the 8V homeroom champions a clean pair of heels, leaving them trailing in the wake of an impressive all-round performance.

For the first ten minutes, the students held their shape and defended well. Mr Piccolo had a chance but Tiago saved well. But the teachers' passing and running was visibly improving and Mr Max finally opened the scoring after an assist from Mr Francesco. Mr Piccolo set up the second goal for Mr Alessandro, who buried his right foot drive in the corner. 8V finally created a chance when Ale played Emilio in, but his shot was too close to Mr Chad. The teachers attacked again and Mr Piccolo made it 3-0.

The teachers continued to dominate. Slick passing moves involving the whole team sliced up the students over and over again and Mr Piccolo and Mr Max both netted again. But 8V never gave up. Giulio was playing a mighty game in defence and Ale nabbed two goals near the end.

Mexico 2-1 England

 Plagued by disciplinary problems, England were forced to call in replacements and Martina, Irene and Ella put in a fantastic performance to help England push an in-form Mexico to the limit.

Adriano scored an early goal and, shortly afterwards, saved his team at the other end with a goal-line clearance. Marco made it 2-0 in the second half and Leo was playing well all over the pitch. Oliver found Hugo with a perfectly-weighted through ball and Hugo made no mistake. At 2-1, the result was in doubt right to the end but Mexico hung on for a precious win.

BEST PLAYER POINTS: Adriano 3, Leo 3, Oliver 3, Marco 3, Emilio 3, Hugo 2, Giovanni V 2, Michael 1, Yufan 1

Iceland 1-0 Malta

 La squalifica di Aurora R diventa un'occasione per l'altra Aurora (A) per mettersi in mostra e giocare a tutto campo, guadagnando meritatamente la palma di Player of the Match. 

A partire forte - in realtà - è la squadra di Malta, determinata a dominare in mezzo al campo, con Martina e Naila che giocano con grande intensità, con Alessandra sempre propositiva e Lubiana a controllare in difesa. L'Islanda fatica a trovare spazi, anche per la decisione di schierare Irene in difesa, lasciando in avanti Sara ed Erika, brave ma di poco "peso". 

Progressivamente Malta 🇲🇹 perde terreno e nel secondo tempo subisce il ritorno dell'Islanda 🇮🇸, che sfiora il gol in ripetute occasioni, fino a due minuti dalla fine quando un tiro da fuori di Annika sorprende il portiere e lo scavalca.

Buona la seconda per l'Islanda, con una sorprendente Azzurra molto vigile in difesa, mentre Malta attende l'esordio di Aurora R per invertire la rotta...

PLAYER OF THE MATCH POINTS:

Aurora A 4, Lubiana 3, Alessandra 2, Azzurra 2, Martina 2, Naila 2, Irene 2, Erika 1, Sara 1, Annika 1.

Ambrit Boys 9-5 AOSR

 Ambrit didn't panic when they went 2-0 down early on. They worked their way back into the game and were soon pressing the visitors back. Daniele hit a post, then had a shot saved and then provided the assist to Adam's head for goal no. 1. Dani combined well with Daniel shortly afterwards to level the scores with a clever reverse shot and Daniel himself put Ambrit ahead. Vittorio rounded off the first half scoring: 4-2 at half time.

AOSR came out fighting and soon brought the scores back level again! But now Ambrit began to take over completely. Emilio scored twice to make it 6-4 - the second one a delightful chip over the advancing goalkeeper. Daniele headed wide but was then on hand to tap in a good pass from Daniel. Adam made it 8-5, spotting the goalkeeper off his line and beating him with an accurate shot from the half way line. And Daniel scored again to make it 9.

AMBRIT: Tiago, Carlo, Leo, Nicolas, Louis, Vittorio, Hugo, Adam, Kevin, Daniel, Antonio, Daniele, Emilio, Trym, Louis

Ambrit Girls 1-5 AOSR

 AOSR came with only five girls, forcing Ambrit to play on the small pitch. Not good! Our girls struggled to find space and AOSR's no. 27 was a physically strong and tactically-aware player who dominated throughout. The first half finished 1-0 to the visitors. 

Sara M equalised early in the second half off a Martina assist and Sara had two more shots saved. Martina had a chance too but the visitors took their chances and finished well ahead.

AMBRIT: Freydis, Erica, Sara P, Irene, Bianca, Aurora, Marina, Sara M, Ella, Martina

Argentina 2-4 Germany

 Two giants of world football fought it out today at Ambrit Stadium and the Europeans took the points. An even first half was notable only for a shot from Ale that came back off the post until Gianmarco struck twice in the space of 2 minutes. The first was a tap in off a Kevin/ Adam assist; the second a piledriver from 30m out! 

In the second period, Germany continued to make better chances and Kevin, back to his best form today, popped up to make it 3-0. Ale passed to Tommaso for Argentina'a first goal and then repeated it after the break for 3-2. But Germany were always dangerous and Kevin dribbled three defenders to round off the score.

BEST PLAYER POINTS: Gianmarco 6, Kevin 5, Ale 3, Tommaso 2, Giovanni Z 2, Adam 1, Matteo T 1, Max 1

Croatia 2-1 Iceland

 Vittoria al photofinish per la Croazia 🇭🇷 di capitan Clara, che allo scadere guadagna i tre punti e beffa l'Islanda, in vantaggio fino a 3 minuti dalla fine.

Una partita dai due volti, iniziata con le squadre in equilibrio numerico e con una buona intensità. Il vantaggio islandese arriva con un'azione combinata tra Irene, che chiede la palla in profondità a Sara, la riceve e batte il portiere con un bel diagonale.

Nel secondo tempo la partita cambia volto: l'ingresso di Costanza e Lavinia, in grave ritardo, sbilancia completamente la partita. La Croazia va in pressing a tutto campo e l'Islanda resiste, grazie all'ottima prova di Erika, di Irene e in generale di tutta la difesa. La diga crolla alla fine della partita quando Costanza in mischia trova il pareggio, con un tiro beffardo che colpisce il palo ed entra e poi, allo scadere, Lavinia realizza la rete del definitivo 2-1 con un altro tiro in mischia che finisce all'incrocio dei pali.

PLAYER OF THE MATCH POINTS:

Erika 4, Irene 4, Sara P. 3, Costanza 2, Azzurra 1, Ella 2, Lavinia 1, Annika 1, Clara 1, Marina 1, Sarah Maeve 1.

Wales 2-0 England

 Wales won this British derby but England pushed them all the way. In the first period, when they could get past Giovanni, Vittorio and Gabriele rained down shots down on Adrian's goal but few were on target. One from Vittorio was, but it crashed off the underside of the crossbar; another from Vittorio was, but Adrian made a fantastic save.

Wales scored in period 2, a clever glancing header by Daniele off a Vittorio assist that wrong-footed Adrian. Daniele should have made it 2-0 immediately afterwards but he shot wide.

 Vittorio added a second goal near the end when another shot crashed off the underside of the crossbar. "No goal" said Referee Corcoran: "Goal" said VAR!

BEST PLAYER POINTS: Daniele 4, Vittorio dP 4, Hugo 3, Emilio P 2, Gabriele 2, Adrian 1, Giovanni 1, Ryan 1, Sam 1, Tiago 1, Antonio F 1

Argentina 1-1 Cameroon

 A great first period finished scoreless. Lorenzo had the first chance for Cameroon but put the ball wide; Alessandro fired in two shots 'rasoterra' but one was saved by Patrick and the other was wide. Ale set up Tommaso but the g6 ace blasted the ball high. And throughout all this, Daniel did a fantastic job of keeping Alessadro under control.

Period 2 was much quieter, the only real chance falling to Max but Louis came out to smother the ball. The two goals came in period 3. Cameroon went ahead when Jacopo's touch forced Victor to save but the rebound fell to Leopoldo to convert. Argentina reacted quickly though. Almost as if he was offended to be losing, Ale got the ball, dribbled through the defence and planted a low drive past Patrick.

BEST PLAYER POINTS: Ale 4, Patrick 3, Victor 2, Daniel 2, Leopoldo 1, Jacopo 1, Steve 1, Carlo 1, Louis 1, Antonio 1, Antoine 1 

Mexico 2-1 Germany

 An intriguing opening game for this year's Autumn Intramural - a taster for Qatar 22 - saw Mexico come from behind to take all three points from a disappointing Germany.

One goal in each period: Giovanni put the Germans ahead with a long free kick that crept in under the bar, giving Francesco little chance. Adriano came close to an equaliser in period 2 but it was left to Rocco to find the back of the net 3' later. And, in period 3, Rocco struck again. Not in the points today, but Captain Marco worked well, Christian too.

Rocco will be missed in Mexico's next match!

BEST PLAYER POINTS: Rocco 4, Adam 3, Emilio 3, Giovanni Z 3, Kevin 3, Nicola 2, Remy 1, Leo 1, Adriano 1

YELLOW: Rocco, Adriano