Galatasaray 0-0 Dortmund (4-2 after penalties)

A closely-fought final without too much goal action but with an exciting penalty shoot-out that saw the winning trophy go to Turkey. In period 2, Claudio made a great run down the left and almost scored but the goalkeeper managed to push the ball wide. In period 3, Federico tested Gabriele T with three good shots but Gabriele saved each time. The best chance of the game fell to Maverick; he could have challenged even closer for the Top Scorer trophy but he hooked the shot wide. 

And so to penalties: Hats off to the two goalkeepers - Adrian and Giovanni: both made good saves but Galatasaray's kickers held their nerve just slightly better.

BEST PLAYER POINTS: Claudio 3, Antonio C 3, Giovanni V 2, Antonio F 2, Giovanni Z 2, Daniele 1, Adrian 2, Erik 1, Federico 1, Maverick 1, Carlo 1, Gabriele T 1, Ryan 1

Third Place final: PSV 2-2 Napoli (7-6 after penalties)

 A quick free-kick from Rocco put PSV ahead. Diego I responded immediately, driving an unstoppable shot just over the bar. Vittorio went one better shortly afterwards, his shot striking the underside of the bar and coming out - very unlucky. Napoli equalised before half time: Diego I passed to Leopoldo and he found a rampant Steve who blasted the ball home. Napoli should have gone ahead when Matteo played in a fantastic cross from teh left that was begging to be converted but Napoli did go ahead just before half time. Again it was Matteo with the assist, again it was a determined run and shot from Steve to score. The Italians almost hung on long enough in the second half, but Rocco played a lovely long pass to Lucas in the box; Lucas dodged around his man and shot home. PSV won the penalty shoot-out, thanks to a good save from Christian.

BEST PLAYER POINTS: Christian 3, Diego I 3, Matteo N 3, Rocco 3, Steve 3, Vittorio 1, Aron 1, Luca 1, Leopoldo 1, Simon 1, Lucas 1

SF2: Dortmund 2-0 Napoli

 A strong start by the Germans today and they pressed Napoli back early on. The best chance of the first period fell to Antonio but he managed to shoot over the bar. Daniele managed one shot from the right but it was well wide of the opposite post. In the second period, Daniele again shot wide and Antonio again came close, his well-struck free kick coming back off the bar, then the post and out! Dortmund finally went ahead with the last kick of period 2, Maverick nipping in to take advantage of some hesitation in the Napoli defence. No change in period 3: Napoli huffed and they puffed but Federico blew their house down with a well-taken second goal.

BEST PLAYER POINTS: Daniele 3, Diego A 2, Anto C 2, Carlo 2, Diego I 2, Maverick 2, Simon 1, Federico 1, Leopoldo 1, Luca 1, Aron 1, Weik 1, Matteo N 1, Martti 1

ACLI league: Ambrit 2-2 Santa Maria Assunta

 Football, as they say, is a funny old game. For the first 15', Ambrit dominated possession and territory, creating chance after chance and peppering the opposition goal with shots. Daniele crashed a left-foot shot off the bar and Adriano, following up, smashed an excellent shot low to the right but the keeper made a great save. Daniele popped up on the right wing next time and banged another shot off the bar and then, through again, he tried to chip the keeper but the keeper managed to get a hand on it - just enough to keep the ball out. Another flowing Ambrit move saw Kevin find Dani on the left wing; Dani squared it into Dylan on the edge of the area and Dylan guided the ball just wide when he really should have got it on target. And then, 'gol mangiato, gol subito' - it had to happen. The opposition's first attack saw the No. 11 line up a shot that would surely have been a goal, but Vittorio made a fantastic intervention to block the ball. But then, from the restart, as the ball was crossed harmlessly into the centre, a foot was stuck out and the ball somehow found its way past Gabriele. Adriano just had enough time to test the keeper again with another blistering shot before the teams went in for half-time.

Ambrit made less chances early in the second half but the re-intoduction of Kevin with 10' to go set the game alight. Kevin equalised with a cleanly-hit shot from 20m out and Ambrit threw themselves into attack again. Dylan had a decent shot saved and then Dani played a nice one-two with Dylan and smashed the ball into the top corner! 2-1... could Ambrit hang on? Sadly, no. A silly free kick was conceded on the left and, when the ball came in, the opposing player climbed higher than any of Ambrit's defenders to head home an equaliser.

It should have been three points to Ambrit today, but it wasn't. Why? Too many chances not taken, too many free-kicks totally wasted, too many fouls given away and - worst of all - too many balls bouncing in defence!

We did see some good performances though and three players stood out for this writer: Vittorio was solid in defence; Francesco did a great job in midfield - winning tackles, passing the ball simply and calmly; and Adriano played his position well, stretching the line, winning tackles, forcing the opposition back and getting shots on target.

SF1: Galatasaray 0-0 PSV Eindhoven

 After dominating the qualifying group, Galatasaray were favourites to brush aside 4th-place PSV but, at full strength today, the Dutch team held their own. In the end, it was an uneventful game with few real chances - typical semi-final fare. Claudio did almost score early on but Tancredi made an important clearance off the line. Lorenzo forced a good save from Christian shortly afterwards and then Lorenzo - again - shot wide. At the other end, Rocco lined up a couple of shots but didn't really trouble the goalkeeper. Penalties will decide the outcome on Monday morning, 11.20.

BEST PLAYER POINTS: Vittorio 3, Lorenzo G 3, Rocco 2, Claudio 2, Giovanni Z 2, Gabriele T 2, Christian 2, Tancredi 2, Antonio F 1, Ashton 1, Giovanni V 1

SEMI-FINALS...

 Friday Dec 15, 11:20 - GALATASARAY versus PSV Eindhoven

Tuesday Dec 19, 13.30 - DORTMUND versus NAPOLI

Atletico 1-2 PSV

 With two of their most important payers sidelined today for disciplinary reasons, PSV were odds on to crash out of the tournament but the players who were available pulled together and gave a fantastic performance to earn a semi-final place! First half goals from Ashton and Giovanni, backed up by a resolute Josh in defence and an outstanding Christian in goal, were enough, despite a late Atletico resurgence that brought a goal from Lorenzo I and numerous chances.

BEST PLAYER POINTS: Christian 5, Josh 4, Ashton 3, Lorenzo I 2, Giovanni M 2, Tancredi 1, Mostafa 1, Adriano 1, Kevin 1, Martino 1, Dmitri 1, 

GIRLS' FINAL: France 1-0 Albania

 La Francia conquista il primo Intramural femminile 23/24, con una vittoria di misura sull'Albania, conquistata grazie a una rete siglata da Angela a 5 minuti dalla fine.

La partita in realtà era iniziata con un'Albania molto arrembante e una Francia molto attenta in difesa, con Erin e Chloe "incatenate" ad Aurora per non consentirle di sprigionare la sua potenza. Con il passare del tempo, però, la Francia ha trovato coraggio, riuscendo a gestire meglio il pallone e trovando in Lavinia la giocatrice di maggiore intensità, mentre l'Albania ha pagato l'Aurora-dipendenza.

Le azioni d'attacco albanesi erano affidate a Zoe e Carla, mentre la difesa si è ben organizzata con Anna e Sara W, solide e combattive; centrocampo Suleyma ha giocato con intensità.

Sul fronte francese Valerie è stata di grande aiuto in difesa nella prima parte della gara e nel finale è stata sostituita egregiamente da Caterina, molto solida e concentrata. Tra i pali la capitana Freydis ha sventato un paio di buone occasioni capitate ad Aurora e si è confermata come il portiere titolare dell'Ambrit. A centrocampo, come dicevamo, Lavinia ha dato l'impressione di poter gestire la palla con lucidità, aiutata in attacco da Sara P e Angela. Proprio quest'ultima, in un'azione corale delle francesi, è riuscita a mettere la zampata finale su un pallone abilmente protetto da Erin.

A nostro avviso la Francia ha meritato il titolo, nonostante il generale equilibrio del torneo, avendo mostrato un convincente gioco di squadra e una migliore organizzazione.

PLAYER OF THE MATCH POINTS: Lavinia 4, Erin 4, Aurora R 3, Chloe 2, Anna L 2, Caterina 2, Freydis 2, Sara W 1, Zoe 1, Angela 1, Jiayi 1.

ACLI league: Ambrit 8-1 Santa Caterina

 After an early fright when the visitors scored to go 1-0 up, Ambrit recovered, equalised and never looked back. Daniele supplied the assist to Dylan for goal number 1. It was again Daniele who made a great run down the right wing before passing to Kevin and Kevin played Dylan in for number 2. Antonio set up Kevin for the next goal and Ambrit were comfortably ahead 3-1 at the break.

The home side began the second half strongly again and Dylan completed his hat-trick with a breakaway goal that left the visitors totally stranded. Francesco's expertly-struck corner was banged home by Nicolas and Antonio made it 6-1 with just 10' left. The visitors never gave up and did manage a couple of good shots but Gabriele was always in charge. Dylan scored two more late goals to finish with a personal tally of 5! 

Galatasaray 0-1 Napoli

 A big upset today at Ambrit Stadium, with Napoli pulling off a surprise win over an unbeaten Galatasaray and, in all probability, assuring themselves of an unexpected SF place. Leopoldo rescued his team early on with a breath-taking triple save and Galatasaray continued to apply the pressure. Early in the second ghalf, Lorenzo shot wide and then Claudio too. The goal came late on: Rex was too casual with a clearance and Steve took full advantage - racing through to score the winner!

BEST PLAYER POINTS: Simon 4, Giovanni Z 3, Claudio 3, Luca Tommaso 2, Nicolas 2, Steve 2, Gabriel T 1, Leopoldo 1, Diego A 1, Lorenzo G 1, Ryan 1

Man City 0-5 Dortmund 5

 Today's result was never in much doubt. Dortmund banged in 5 goals, one better then the next and two absolute jewels. Carlo made it 1-0 in the first period, sweeping a low shot past Martti in goal and Maverick scored a beautiful second in period 2, rising majestically to plant a perfect header into the back of the net. Federico should have made it 3-0 but he blasted over.

In period 3, Federico shot wide to the left but Daniele scored from way out on the touchline before Federico did finally get his name on the scoresheet. But Antonio kept the best goal of the game for us right until the end. From a cross on the right, he smashed an acrobatic scissors kick over his left shoulder and past a bewildered Gabriele. If you want to see exactly what it was like, here is a link!

BEST PLAYER POINTS: Daniele 5, Federico 4, Francesco 3, Antonio C 3, Maverick 2, Carlo 2, Jacopo 1, Adrian 1, Erik 1

ACLI league: US Nomen 4-4 Ambrit

 Ambrit began the game well, Dylan and Kevin linking up to set up an early goal for Dylan. Nomen were lucky to equalise soon after, Nicolas scoring an own-goal. In the second half, the hosts scored right away but Dylan got his team level again with a well-struck free-kick. The visitors then got their noses in front, Daniele finishing off a good move with a goal for 3-2. In a ding-dong battle, Nomen equalised again but Kevin made it 4-3 to Ambrit. It looked like that might be enough, but a combination of some dubious refereeing, some determination from Nomen and some scandalous defending led to another equaliser from a long ball scramble.

BOYS INTRAMURAL: Exciting last round of games coming up

 With one round of games to go, GALATASARAY and BORUSSIA are already in the semi-finals.Who will join them?

Atletico, City and Napoli are all on 4 points.

Napoli face Galatasaray.

City face Borussia.

Atletico face a weakened PSV.

The INTRAMURAL computer PREDICTS:

Atletico to win and qualify for the SFs; City and Napoli to lose, with Napoli going through on the head-to-head rule!

Atletico 2-3 Galatasaray

 With captain and talisman Giovanni sidelined for disciplinary reason - and Antonio F too - it looked like Atletico might be able to take advantage but Galatasaray started strongly again. A nice move down the left involving Gabriele and Lorenzo set Claudio up but his shot was just wide. Claudio did score minutes later though with a free kick from distance, but Max equalised almost immediately when he pounced on a loose back pass and shot to the corner. Galatasaray took the lead again - Edoardo scoring off a Claudio assist - but Kevin equalised with a beautiful goal, struck cleanly into the top corner. Kevin's celebrations earned him a second yellow and he was barely off the pitch before Claudio shot from afar to capture the lead for the third, last and decisive time.

BEST PLAYER POINTS: Claudio 5, Kevin 3, Edoardo 2, Lorenzo G 2, Lorenzo I 2, Adriano 2, Max 2, Gabriele T 1, Martino 1, Samuel 1