A bonus on this leg of the journey was the appearance of ‘me
old mucker’ Dave Hanson. Dave lives in Dubai now so we see him pretty
infrequently but he’s got in contact t say he could fly over to Dar for a
couple of nights to buy Football Africa a beer. Or two. Armed with his good
friend, and all round top bloke, Mike Cook. The joined us the night before we
were due t play a match against a team EMIMA had lined up. It was the youth
team for Tanzanian Premiership team Simba FC.
We lined up for the game with quite a few guests that we’d arranged for ourselves. Dave and Mike were joined by Robbie and Adam, the volunteers from Sheffield whose house we stayed at. We were also joined by Nicholas from EMIMA and a lad he’d brought along who plays in the Tanzanian premiership. We’d also recruited a fellow camp site guest from Tanzania called Steve to play in goal.
It was a tough game from the off. They were a quick, young team but also tremendously strong to boot. The guy marking Andy must have been a couple of inches off ‘giant’ status. I personally started the game in midfield and initially thought I was having a pretty easy game. Ed was chasing his fella all over the park but my guy was barely moving from the centre circle. In hindsight the referee should wear a noticeably different colour from one of the teams.
Anywaaay, it’s always difficult in these games to find rhythm and keep a formation but one of our benefits this time was the predominance of English speaking players, though our Tanzanian Premiership guy ( TPG) was remained pretty difficult to control. A left back by trade, a left winger in this game, he eventually seemed to decide he was playing up front leaving Adam at left back exposed. It also left the midfield pretty exposed with no left side and me marking the referee. We conceded two goals and although we’d hit the bar, hadn’t carried much of a threat going forward.
At half time we made some changes. I volunteered to go in goal. Having not really got into the game, at least I could get out of it with some dignity (hmm) plus Steve was struggling a bit in goal and I’d played there in my younger years. Dave dropped to right back with Mike and fan favourite Neil Evans continuing to hold back the onslaught at Centre Half.
It was only a few minutes into the half when they broke clear down the left, the winger fired a pretty innocuous shot at the goal and I stooped to collect it as it bounced of the turf/sand/stones.
With the benefit of hindsight I should’ve fielded it like a cricket ball, or trapped it with my feet. Alas, hindsight has 20/20 vision and I took up neither of these two excellent options. In my defence the ball just stayed low, but I was in no position to react and the ball flew into the net. I had become Massimo Taibi ( YouTube it, thats YouTube fellas). 3-0, the scoreline.
Then came the fightback. Adam had moved to the left wing and was playing a blinder with himself and Ed getting more of the ball in midfield. The defence was still being tested, with Dave’s right back position seeming like The Alamo at times. But he defended manfully and we were staying in it. Barnard played Andy in and a clinical finish made it 3-1. Then with 15 minutes to go a ball in from Adam and Howie controlled, left foot, ‘megged’ the giant and then slotted home. Howie describes at his favourite goal so far. A beauty. And the scoreline I dreaded, with my error being the difference. I’d even made a great save from a brilliant downward header but these things matter not in football. With minutes to go Adam smashed a brilliant shot from outside the box...crossbar. 3-2 was the final score. Sick as a parrot, gutted and all that.
A Spiritual 2-2 but sadly a defeat in reality. Thanks to Dave and Mike for coming along, it was great to see you guys. Football Africa will be back, and I won’t be in goal.
JJ Football Africa, still gutted.
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Posted by: Manchester United | 07/01/2009 at 06:54 AM