Roma 0-0 Atalanta

 

Nor every scoreless draw is a dull game and this one certainly wasn’t! Despite a dearth of goalscoring opportunities, the crowd was thoroughly entertained by this absorbing encounter, where the battles in midfield were evenly contested and two well-organised defences kept the goalkeepers well protected.

Indeed it was two goalkeepers who produced the best moments of the game, both in the second half. First it was Aurora who, with an unbelievable dive to her left, kept out a well-placed shot from Alessandra off a Letizia assist that looked to be surely destined for the corner of the net! And, in the dying moments of the game, it was Clotilde in the opposite goal who came out bravely to block a point-blank shot from Vittoria!

And let’s not forget another vital save too: in the first minute of the game, Suleyma looked ready to score for Atalanta but Sofia saved well.

Well done to these two captains: tactically well-prepared!

BEST PLAYER POINTS: Alessandra 2, Aurora 2, Ludovica 2, Vittoria N 2, Suleyma 2, Aiassatou 1, Clotilde 1, Giada 1, Ginevra 1, Letizia 1, Sophie 1

Ipswich 3-2 Liverpool

In their first season back in the Premier League, Ipswich recorded a historic win over Liverpool at Portman Road today. Without their captain, Rex did a very creditable job of organising the team but the Reds were unable to pose the same threat that Ipswich did, thanks to THEIR captain! Jacopo served notice of his threat with an early goal: he went on a long, meandering run, beating players with a combination of strength, body swerves and sudden acceleration. Liverpool hit back quickly though: a lovely combination of passes involving Lorenzo G and Antoine saw the g7 ace shoot home for 1- 1. The same combination almost produced another goal minutes later but this time Lorenzo shot wide and a third chance was well saved by Tor in the Ipswich goal. Liverpool kept pressing and Ipswich were lucky to escape as Antoine almost bundled the ball in from a corner but Ipswich scrambled the ball away to Jacopo and he finished off the move decisively to send his team in at the break with a one goal advantage.

Ipswich began the second half quickly again… and Jacopo was deadly again.

He completed his hat-trick but then Ipswich sat back and invited Liverpool

to come on. And Liverpool threw everything at them! Antoine played in

Lorenzo G: he shot wide. Then a lovely move saw the ball switch from

Antoine to Lorenzo to Filippo and back to Antoine for a clever shot into

the corner: 3-2! Liverpool continued to press but, meanwhile, Jacopo almost

scored directly from a corner Then the last few minutes were hectic!

Lucas cleared shots off the line twice; Rex played Filippo in but the shot

was wide; Ryan (who had a fantastic game today)

played in Lorenzo G but he shot high; Filippo shot wide again and Lorenzo

put a beautiful ball onto Antoine’s head but Antoine sent the ball just inches past

the wrong side of the post! 

BEST PLAYER POINTS: Jacopo , Antoine 3, Lorenzo G 3, Ryan 3, Rex 2, Anan 1,

Filippo 1, Giulio R 1, Lucas 1, Tor 1

Chelsea 3-1 Fulham

 

Chelsea prevailed in today’s London derby but Fulham captain, Federico, was Man of the Match. He tackled, ran and passed like a man obsessed. But, unfortunately for his team, he was unable to link up well with his forwards for a solid end product.

For Chelsea, Leopoldo - clearly a favourite among the home support here in The Shed - was very active early on. Gifted the ball by Patrizio, his shot struck the post and went wide. Minutes later, he was through again but this time Patrizio made a good save. Not long after though, it was Claudio’s left foot that opened the scoring - a low shot past a diving Patrizio. Leopoldo’s link-up with the post then continued, but this time Claudio was on hand to roll i n the rebound to make it 2-0. Diego had a chance just before the break toi cut the deficit but Sa saved.

In the second half, Piervalerio took a yellow card for the team, stopping Diego with a cynical handball. He then stopped Diego again, this time with a perfectly-timed sliding tackle. But Fulham persisted and Lorenzo L pulled a goal back. To no avail though, Giovanni Mori restored the two goal margin which, in truth, should have been wider.. 

BEST PLAYER POINTS: Federico 4, Claudio 3, Leopoldo 3, Diego 2, Piervalerio 2, Mostafa 1,  Mattia 1, Tancredi 1, Carlo 1, Patrizio 1, Sam 1, Giovanni Vittorio 1

Spurs 5-1 Man City

Postecoglu’s attacking football paid dividends today as his Spurs team over-ran a City that lacked organization and failed to finish the few chances that they created. Spurs went ahead when City gave away a penalty thanks to the controversial ball-over-the-South-fence penalty rule! Freddie converted, 100% success from the spot for him. Later in the first half, Antonio equalised with an unstoppable shot from 25m out, giving Ashton no chance in the Spurs goal. 

Freddie followed this up in the second half with an assist to put Lorenzo F clear and the 6th-grader cooly slid the ball past Martti for 2-1. A goalmouth scramble following a free kick from the left saw the ball fall to Steve at the far post and he tapped home the third. And it was Steve again who shot home the fourth goal, with Christian rounding off the win with a fifth.

BEST PLAYER: Steve 4, Antonio 3, Freddie, 3, Lorenzo F 3, José 2,  Matteo 2, Christian 1,  Simone 1, Maverick 1, Lupo 1

 

Roma 1-0 Como

 

A full Ambrit Stadium today was treated to an action-packed first half but had to sit through a disappointing second half as Roma did just enough to take the three points.

The only goal of the game came towards the end of the first half. Having soaked up the pressure from their opponents for 10’, Roma attacked and forced a series of corners. From the last of these, an unlucky touch from a Como defender swept the ball past Chloe in the Como goal.

Before that, Como were in charge. Anna came close for with a high lob over the bar and Livia set up a good chance for Maeve but her shot was well-saved by  Sofia All through this first half, Livia had a constant battle with Megan down one side of the pitch and Vittoria N and Carla battled each other through the middle. 

BEST PLAYER POINTS: Vittoria N 3, Megan 2, Livia 2, Carla 2, Aurora 1, Maeve 1, Aissatou 1, Ginevra 1, Sofia 1 

Ipswich 4-4 Spurs

 

Another thrilling game today with the result in doubt right until the final whistle. The teams were level when Junio scored off a free-kick to put Ipswich ahead. Ashton made two good saves from Jacopo shots and then Spurs equalised when a ball out of defence was allowed to run all the way up the pitch until Steve collected it and rolled it past Lucas: 1-1. A lovely passing move from Ipswich saw the ball move quickly from Jacopo to Max but,again, Ashton made the save. Gianluigi had a chance then but he scooped it up and over the bar and the first half ended with a good save from Lucas to keep Lorenzo F out. 

This first half had been characterized by a lot of good running and passing from Jacopo but, on the other side, Raul was doing a fantastic job to shut him down before he could do too much damage. A great battle between two good players.

Not long after the re-start, Freddie hit the post but Ipswich re-took the lead when Jacopo set up Max to score. But almost immediately, Junio fouled in the penalty area and Freddie converted the spot-kick. Freddie was again the protagonist two minutes later, his free kick saved by Lucas but Steve was following up and he buried the rebound to put Spurs ahead for the first time. The Jacopo-Max link up worked again though and Ipswich leveled the game at 3-3. The tit-for-tat scoring continued when Freddie collected a loose ball and hammered it home with his left foot. Spurs tried to hang onto their lead to the end, but Jacopo wasn’t having any of that; another of his long, mazy runs finally ended with a goal to tie the game for the final time.

BEST PLAYER POINTS: Raul 4, Jacopo 3, Freddie 3, Steve 2, Ashton 2, Max 2, Giulio R 2, Gabriel 1, Simone 1, Christian 1

RISA friendlies

 Ambrit 3-4 AOSR

A seven-goal thriller to open Ambrit’s RISA season for 2024-25. After conceding an early goal, Ambrit went ahead thanks to two goals from in-form striker Lorenzo G and Ambrit managed to conserve their lead until the half-time break, thanks also to a fantastic clearance off the line by Gabriel. AOSR equalised but Lorenzo G completed his hat-trick in the second half and Ambrit was 3-2 ahead. AOSR equalised again but Lorenzo G came very close to a fourth goal but this time his attempt bounced back off the bar. In the dying seconds, AOSR broke away and scored to win the match.

Ambrit 4-4 St George’s

Unbelievable!!!

St George’s ran away into a four goal lead in the first half. Full credit to Ambrit though, they never lost heart. The torrential rain that came down seemed to wake them up for the second half and Lorenzo G made it 4-1. Diego shot from way outside the box and scored: 4-2. Lorenzo G scored yet again: 4-3. And Noel, making his debut today, flicked home a loose ball to tie the score and seal a great comeback for the boys from Tajani!

Liverpool 4-3 Fulham

 

Fulham traveled to Anfield today for their opening match and they pushed the Reds all the way. It was the home side who started more quickly though, Lorenzo G playing in Filippo for Liverpool’s first goal. Not long after, Filippo brought a great save out of Patrizio but Lorenzo I was on hand to force in the second goal. But Fulham then started to play. Diego found Federico; his shot was pushed out by Rex but then, from the corner, the ball somehow ended up at Diego’s feet and he slotted home: 2-1. Fulham were back on level terms before half-time, a nice move involving Diego, Lorenzo L and Federico ending with the captain burying the ball into the corner of the net.

The second half began with two more long shots from Federico, both dealt with comfortably by Rex. Liverpool then struck on the break through Lorenzo G but Diego equalised with a fantastic shot from 25m out that looped over Rex for 3-3.

Lorenzo Levi almost stole the points for Fulham off a Federico assist but Rex saved again. Lorenzo G did steal the points with a late shot on the turn!

BEST PLAYER POINTS: Federico 4, Lorenzo G 4, Diego 3, Lorenzo I 3, Filippo 2, Mostafa 2, Giovanni Vitt 1, Ryan 1, Patrizio 1

Empoli 0-0 Atalanta

 L'Intramural femminile inizia con un match vigoroso, segnato da un agonismo totale in cui ciascuna giocatrice ha dato il massimo, senza risparmiarsi. Il pareggio appare il risultato più giusto, dopo un primo tempo decisamente a favore dell'Empoli, e una ripresa in cui i maggiori pericoli sono stati creati dall'Atalanta, in particolar modo negli ultimi minuti, con una clamorosa occasione di Suleyma, "ipnotizzata" da Aurora. 

Nell'Empoli, dove oggi era assente il capitano Erin, le ragazze hanno mostrato entusiasmo e buona organizzazione, con le ottime prestazioni di Zoe e Anna in centrocampo, Gracie, Viola e Greta in difesa. Ottimo l'impatto di Caterina nel secondo tempo.

L'Atalanta, dal canto suo, dopo un'iniziale fase di assestamento, è stata abile a riorganizzarsi, grazie alla versatilità del capitano Alessandra e alle generose prestazioni di Sophie, Letizia e Ludovica tra centrocampo e difesa. Ottima anche la partita di Suleyma, che ha sfruttato bene il poco spazio concesso dai difensori avversari.

In generale è stata una partita molto combattuta, ma poco tecnica: quando le ragazze cresceranno nel controllo palla, nel passaggio e nel tiro, i gol non mancheranno!

PLAYER OF THE MATCH POINTS: Zoe 3, Anna 2, Gracie 2, Alessandra 2, Suleyma 2, Sophie 1, Ludovica 1, Letizia 1, Viola 1, Caterina 1.

Chelsea 3-2 Manchester City

 

What a fantastic game to get the FIGC Premier league off to a great start. City struck first when Maverick pounced on a Chelsea mistake and slotted past Sam for the first goal. Gabriele had the first chance to equalise but he couldn’t sort his legs out in time to turn home a good cross from the left. Maverick almost doubled the lead but Sam made a great save and then Chelsea made ANOTHER mistake in defence to let the City captain in for his second goal. Before half time however, his opposite number scored the best goal of the game: from a free kick, Carlo blasted a rocket from the way out on the right over Martti and into the corner! Boosted by this, Chelsea took the initiative and Claudio equalised on the stroke of half time with a neat shot on the turn.

Less goals but lots of action in the second half. Noel forced a save from Sam, Carlo forced a save from Martti. From a corner, Leopoldo shot well but just too high. Antonio struck the ball perfectly with another shot but, again, Sam was equal to it. Maverick got through on the goalkeeper but dragged his shot wide and both Matteo and Claudio shot over the bar. A draw might have been a fair result… but Claudio wasn't content with a point. A City attack broke down, Chelsea attacked quickly, Claudio scored.

BEST PLAYER POINTS: Antonio 4, Maverick 3, Sam 3, Claudio 3, Carlo 3, Matteo 2, Martti 2, Gabriele 1