France 5-2 Italy

 La Francia gestisce bene l'insidia italiana e guadagna meritatamente i tre punti, con un match giocato con attenzione e senza grandi rischi. Una doppietta di Vittorio nel primo tempo mette al sicuro il risultato, ma un rigore - poi trasformato da Aurora - riapre la partita. Solo per pochi attimi, in realtà, perché arriva la girata di Diego a spegnere gli entusiasmi delle ragazze e di seguito il 4-1 firmato da Lorenzo.

Gli ultimi minuti sono avvincenti, con l'Italia che accorcia le distanze con un bel gol di Erica, propiziato da un'incertezza difensiva e il gol finale di Lorenzo, anche lui molto ispirato oggi.

Da segnalare la prestazione eccellente di Freydis in porta, che ha parato tutto il parabile e...anche qualcosa in più!

PLAYER OF THE MATCH POINTS: Freydis 5, Lorenzo 4, Vittorio 2, Erin 2,  Francesco 2, Livia 2, Megan 1, Erica 1, Diego 1, Aurora R 1.

Austria 1-1 France

 Un match molto fisico, con un'evidente difficoltà di alcuni giocatori in campo a contenere le emozioni e l'impulsività, che finisce in pareggio, grazie alle reti di Vittorio, molto ispirato oggi nelle due fasi, e Adriano, abile a insaccare una corta respinta del portiere su tiro di Rocco.

Poco altro da aggiungere, se non che Vittorio era andato già vicino al gol con i suoi tiri dalla distanza.

PLAYER OF THE MATCH POINTS: Vittorio C 4, Rocco 3, Giovanni V 2, Adriano 2, Simon 1, Antonio Jr 1, Lorenzo I 1.

Turkey 3-1 Italy

 These two sides were well matched and studied each other carefully for the first period, Christian saving from Aurora and Freydis saving from Jacopo. Christian saved another Aurora shot just after the break but then Claudio broke the deadlock, beating Freydis with the help of a deflection. Turkey doubled their lead when Matteo's strong shot was well-blocked by Freydis but the rebound fell to Steve. In the third period,  Aurora pulled one back with a penalty after Matteo handled in the area but Claudio restored the two goal margin with a well-placed shot.

BEST PLAYER POINTS: Claudio 3, Livia 2, Aurora R 2, Freydis 2, Rex 2, Matteo 2, Costanza 1, Sara W 1, Erika 1, Steve 1, Giulio R 1, Jacopo 1, Christian 1, Steve 1

Germany 2-1 Turkey

 Turkey were missing some players today - including captain Matteo - and Germany took full advantage but they had to work hard for the three points. Christian was busy in goal all through the game and he made an early save from Kevin. Claudio was everywhere: in one action early on, he narrowly missed a shot and was back to clear a shot off his own goal line 30 seconds later. Steve and Claudio linked up well going forward and Turkey took the lead when Claudio, running to the left, spun to shoot back into the bottom right corner. But Nicholas equalised immediately, just before half time. In the second half, Steve came close to stealing the lead but then Maverick scored to put Germany ahead. Steve and Claudio continued to test Christian but the grade 7 ace made save after save.

BEST PLAYER POINTS: Claudio 4, Kevin 3, Steve 3, Christian 2, Maverick 2, Martti 2, Nicholas 2, Federico 1, Josh 1, Erik 1.

Belgium 1-3 Austria

 A quiet opening period came to an abrupt awakening when Austria stitched together a neat first goal: Gabriele F won the ball and passed to Antonio C; Antonio played in Rocco and Rocco finished it off. In period 2, Adriano was close with a header and then a Lucas P corner found its way to the net via Rocco's head: 2-0. Both teams then wasted good free kicks, Antonio C kicking over for Austria, Antonio F replying in kind for Belgium. Austria went 3-0 up after 2' of period 3, José scoring an own-goal as he tried to clear his lines. Daniele brought his team back into the game with a well-taken goal, turning quickly on a ball to fire home from the left. But Austria parked the bus for the last few minutes and Belgium never came near.

BEST PLAYER POINTS: Antonio C 7, Gabriele F 3, Rocco 3, Sam 2, Antonio F 1, Daniele 1, Adriano 1, Simone 1, Simon 1, Lucas P 1

France 0-1 Germany

 Not a top quality game today but we did get some excitement towards the end. In the first half, there was no real action, no real chances; one half-decent shot from Diego A which was ably dealt with by Martti. In the second half, things did liven up. Maverick tested Mostafa in goal; Mostafa saved well. Kevin tested Mostafa in goal; Mostafa saved well. Ashton had a great chance but shot high but then Maverick made all the pressure finally tell; his first shot was well saved by Mostafa but he followed up to score. Maverick almost scored a second but shot wide and then he thought ha had scored a second with a great header from a corner, but VAR ruled out the goal because the corner was kicked from an illegal position! Germany continued to press - Lorenzo L was next to have a shot saved by Mostafa and France found it difficult to get forward. When they did, Diego A did a great job of winning possession, holding possession and bringing team mates into the game. Giovanni V managed to get a shot in but, again, Martti was comfortable.

BEST PLAYER POINTS: Maverick 4, Diego A 3, Ashton 3, Erik 3, Martti 2, Mostafa 2, Francesco 1, Kevin 1, Vittorio 1, Lorenzo L 1

Belgium 2-2 Denmark

 The opening goal was a low and fiercely-struck shot from Giovanni Z but, following the Denmark player's red card, Antonio equalised from a free kick and then put Belgium ahead with a good finish under pressure. Five goals in five days for Antonio. Belgium almost had the three points in the bag but then, when Antoine tried to collect a high ball in the box, he was fouled by Luca Tommaso and Lorenzo converted the penalty.

BEST PLAYER POINTS: Antonio F 4, Lorenzo G 3, Luca T 3, Daniele 2, Sam 2, Giovanni Z, Adrian 1, Ryan 1, Martino 1, Max 1, Antoine 1, Edoardo 1

Italy 0-2 Austria

 A well-judged lob from James in period 1 and an unstoppable shot into the bottom corner from Gabriele in period 2: two goals that were enough to take the three points to Vienna. But Italy, again, played well and deserved to get something out of the match. Aurora won countless tackles in midfield, Erin made countless runs from box to box, Naila stopped attack after attack.

BEST PLAYER POINTS: Aurora R 3, Erin 3, Naila 2, Livia 2, James 2, Gabriele F 2, Simon 2, Antonio C 1, Alvaro 1, Maeve 1, Rocco 1, Adriano 1,   

France 2-2 Denmark

For Denmark, Max started strongly today and was unlucky to see two shots from close in going just wide. For France, it was Giovanni V who had the first chance after receiving a pass from Lorenzo I. Diego A almost opened the scoring but Giovanni Z got back to clear the ball off the line. Denmark then went ahead, Max's hard work paying off as he scrambled the ball over the line for a messy goal. With France still reeling, Lorenzo G took advantage with a shot from the left that was cleverly left by Max to creep into the corner for 2-0. Vittorio C had two chances to narrow the score before the break but one was saved, one went wide. France sorted out their problems at the break though and Lorenzo I scored a lovely individual goal to make it 2-1 and he then followed up to bury Diego A's assist for 2-2. Both teams wanted all three points, but it was Denmark who had the best chances towards the end. Diego I hit the post and Lorenzo G had a good shot saved by Freydis.

BEST PLAYER POINTS: Lorenzo I 6, Diego A 4, Giovanni Z 3, Max 2, Lorenzo G 1, Vittorio 1, Diego I 1, Antoine 1, Francesco 1, Adrian 1

Germany 0-2 Belgium

 Germany started stronger today but their effort petered out later on, with Belgium striking twice to take home the three points. Federico played Maverick in for an early chance but Zain made an excellent save. The crowd was still gasping when Zain pulled off another stop, this time blocking Kevin's shot. Germany followed up with another chance but, this time, Maverick's header came back off the crossbar. Maverick had another headed chance in the second period but this one went just wide. After all that, it was Belgium who took the lead. Captain Martino passed to Sam and Sam took off on a run that took him diagonally past three opponents before his well-placed reverse shot beat the goalkeeper at the far post. This was the crown on an amazing performance by Sam today. He was everywhere - tackling strongly, passing accurately, shooting on target. Antonio was also having an excellent game for Belgium in midfield, providing the energy to stop the German advances and turn them into threatening Belgian attacks. And, when Nicholas was yellow-carded for a foul on Sam, it was Antonio who fired the resulting free-kick into the back of the net.

BEST PLAYER POINTS: Sam 8, Antonio 4, Maverick 3, Zain, 2, Erik 1, Federico 1, Leopoldo 1, Martino 1

Denmark 3-0 Italy

 A goal-less first period in which the highlight was Erica's shot that was well-saved by Adrian led to a second period dominated by Denmark. Diego first struck the bar with a savage shot and then scored with a powerful strike that got past an excellent Freydis. In fact, the girls'm goalkeeper made two great saves from Lorenzo and Diego before the second period ended. Diego added two more goals in period 3: one a header and one a right-foot shot.

BEST PLAYER POINTS: Freydis 5, Erica 3, Diego 3, Giovanni Z 3, Naila 2, Aurora R 1, Margherita 1, Erin 1, Adrian 1, Livia 1

Turkey 2-1 Austria

 Ancora una vittoria per la Turchia 🇹🇷 , capace di impressionare di fronte alla corazzata austriaca, con un Claudio indomabile, che quando ingrana la marcia diventa un bel problema per ogni difesa. Sono bastati, infatti, un paio di guizzi del campioncino da 56 milioni per sistemare un avversario temibile e ben organizzato come il team guidato da Aron.

Veniamo alla cronaca: i Turchi partono forte, con Claudio e Jacopo molto risoluti, ma anche molto individualisti (non si registrano passaggi tra loro). Proprio da una di quest azioni individuali nasce il vantaggio dei rossi: Claudio si libera di tre avversari e lascia partire un diagonale stretto all'angolino, su cui Aron non può fare nulla. La partita si accende e l'Austria prova più volte a lanciare Rocco, che con le buone o con le cattive viene arginato dalle buone prestazioni di Matteo e Dmitri. Sul fronte opposto non c'è grande movimento di palla, con Jacopo che prova a fare tutto da solo, idem Claudio e il povero Steve che cerca di fare da tramite tra centrocampo e attacco. 

A cinque minuti dal termine la svolta: Rocco protegge palla in area e viene messo giù da Matteo. Per l'arbitro è rigore, che lo stesso Rocco si incarica di trasformare: 1-1. La Turchia riparte a testa bassa e, di nuovo, trova il vantaggio con un'altra prodezza di Claudio, che stavolta si coordina bene su una palla vagante e la spedisce su palo opposto. L'Austria 🇦🇹 non ha più benzina, né convinzioni, nonostante qualche tentativo di Gabriele da lontano che non trova la porta.

Chi riuscirà a fermare la nazionale di Montella?

PLAYER OF THE MATCH POINTS: Claudio 6, Aron 4, Matteo T 3, Jacopo 3, Gabriele 2, Rocco 2, Dmitri 1, Steve 1, Lucas P 1.

Denmark 3-1 Germany

 This was one of the best games of the year. Denmark dominated the first period, with shots raining in from Lorenzo G (terrible moss early on!), Carlo (over), Diego (fantastic save from Martti) and Antoine (wide) but then, out of the blue, Germany took the lead. Kevin's pass found Maverick who was marked by Giovanni but Maverick scored with an unbelievably good turn and shot! The lead was short-lived though. Lorenzo G headed in an equaliser a minute later off a corner (and then picked up a yellow card for provocative celebrations!). Denmark hit the ground running again in period 2, Diego shooting over. Next, Giovanni tested Martti but the g6 'keeper made another fine save. Next, Giovanni passed to Antoine and Lorenzo G slid onto his assist for 2-1. Federico almost hit back early in period 3 but Adrian made a brilliant save. Denmark scored again though. Lorenzo G's assist; Diego's goal. Denmark continued to press right to the end: Giovanni shot over and Carlo pulled another good save from Martti.

BEST PLAYER POINTS: Giovanni 4, Lorenzo G 3, Federico 2, Diego I 2, Adrian 2, Martti 2, Maverick 2, Antoine 2, Carlo 1, Kevin 1 

France 1-2 Turkey

 A match that was 0-0 after period 1 and still 0-0 after period 2 exploded into life for the last period of play. France looked livelier early on and Lorenzo I and Vittorio C both hit shots that might have troubled a less attentive 'keeper than Christian. Turkey came into the game more in period 2 and Jacopo sent a warning shot across the French bows, though Francesco hit back himself with a good attempt for France. Turkey almost went ahead when Jacopo latched onto a Rex shot but he headed just over the bar. He followed this up with a long range shot that also went over the bar... but Jacopo was just finding his range for later! 

It was France who took the lead. Giovanni V won the ball and played in Diego A; the 6th grader stroked it home calmly. But Turkey equalised almost immediately: Jacopo played in Steve, who was faster to the ball than Matteo and Steve slid it past him. The winning goal came soon after... and it was a beauty. Jacopo won the ball in midfield and decided he was going to score. He beat one man, looked up to check his position again; then he beat another man, looked up to check his position again; and then he hit a perfectly-calibrated shot high over the goalkeeper and into the back of the net!

BEST PLAYER POINTS: Giovanni V 6, Jacopo 6, Vittorio C 2, Lorenzo I 1,Diego A 1, Rex 1, Steve 1, Francesco 1, Dmitrii 1

Belgium 3-0 Italy

 The first match of this new Intramural was a thriller. These two teams tore into each other from the very start and, despite the final scoreline, Italy played just as well as their victorious opponents. Daniele - Best Player in Autumn - had three good shots today but Freydis made three fantastic saves to keep him off the scoresheet. It was Captain Martino who finally broke the deadlock, following up in a goalmouth scramble to dribble past an unlucky Freydis. In the second period, Martino scored again, this time directly from a corner and, from another corner, he supplied the assist for Luca's expertly finished goal.

PLAYER OF THE MATCH: Freydis 4, Daniele 3, Luca 3, Naila 3, Martino 3, Lucas C 1, Erin 1, Sara P 1, Margherita 1, Ryan 1