Rivers deep, mountains high and a game of two halves...

As soon as we saw the pitch we knew this game was going to be hilarious. When Chris from Tekua had previously mentioned that the pitch wasn’t great we reassured him that we weren’t too concerned.

Africa has shown the definition of ‘football pitch will encompass almost any type of terra firma. Pastures complete with livestock, boggy marshland, beaches, boulder strewn sandlots, we have played them all. However, this pitch was special, audacious even.  It has been awarded the ‘Most Ambitious Deployment of Goalposts for Football Associated Activity’Award by Football Africa. 

 

It was cut against a hill on three different gradings, falling from right to left. Running across the pitch required a series of steps. Playing a one-two with the pitch was also possible. A stream ran cut through the right box and the corner flag which brought a new element to the play. XXXtreme set piecing. An attacking corner involved a winger jumping over the stream, taking the corner, and then leaping back over the stream to rejoin play. The rest of the right flank was covered in waste deep long grass. The ball would disappear and re-emerge again a few minutes later with 5 or 6 competing player’s flyhacking the bejeesus out of everything in sight. 

 

The left flank was crippled with potholes, toe-whippers and ankle snappers. So much so that JJ, who has had previous with his ankles had to limit his movement to a relatively secure spot in the midfield, roughly the size of a squash court. With sure footing JJ dominated his area impressively. No one passed through JJ Town taxfree. However the bad pitch certainly didn’t prevent barefooted players yet again launching themselves into everything with wreckless enthusiasm.  Whilst this was easily the worst opposition we have faced we still managed to smirk into halftime 3-1 down.

 

Eventually we clicked into gear in the second half. The pitch might have been bad but the goals were outstanding. Neil and Andy both grabbed a couple each. Neil volleyed in off a free kick and finished a nice move slotting in off Andy’s pass. Andy scored a boomshanka and a side footer to finish the game 5-3. A comical game overshadowed by an even more comical pitch.

 

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Sun Star rating: Andy 8, Neil 8, Ed B 7, JJ 7, Pitch 9(out of 1000).