We now know that our first fixture is going to be against an outfit called FC Britanico, who were a quite solid team in the past but have apparently had an almost ecclesiastical split into two teams: one bearing the original name and another going for the more gregarious Los Galacticos (in a nod to the legendary Zidane, Beckham, Roberto Carlos et al filled Real Madrid team of yesteryear). We are not sure how the game will go, as it is difficult to compare the opposition with the team we played last year for the reason mentioned above and due to the fact that last season we secured one of our most memorable victories against the original incarnation of this team. Here is what happened: we were playing with a complement of five players and we had no substitutes available, whereas the other team had two or three subs "on the bench" (no benches here, hanging behind the goal really). We were doing well and started to boss the game early in the first half and managed to take a two goal lead. Then suddenly one of our stalwarts, Stevo, was going to the right with nobody near him and he suddenly pulled up in pain. He was in great pain and had pulled a muscle or ligament. We had to stop the game for a while to help him as we could. It was clear he could not play on. We had to try to play on but we had no subs! So our remaining four players played out the first half and had to keep digging in. In the second half we had to employ rugby line clearing tactics at times and playing very unsilky football. The other team had an advantage but they appeared to self-implode too, as I remember their captain for the day having a strop and storming off. They had the luxury of substitutes to replace their errant leader. We managed to repel wave after wave of attacks and some hard running and well placed tackles helped us to see out the fifty minutes with the three points in the bag. We dedicated our victory to our valiant injured soldier, who unfortunately has never been able to kick a ball for us since. He has recovered after sporting crutches for a time, going through treatment and operations. Alas the risk of a recurring injury has prevented him from continuing in the team.
What will happen this Sunday? Watch this space to find out.
Our biggest concern is getting a team together as over the summer break we have lost four players from our squad from last season, thus leaving us down to the bare bones of three players. Recruitment is in progress and hopefully over the next few weeks we can get a team together which can fight for honours again this season (after finishing a creditable second last season).
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