Football match report

[Peter McGrath]

Against all odds: ICTP vs U.TE

Turning up for a game with just seven outfield players and no 
goalkeeper led to some interesting discussions in the dressing room 
before  kick-off. Roberto Bertoli drew the short straw and was given 
the goalkeeper's jersey - at least for the fist quarter of the game.
He did OK, too, making a few good blocks against the U.TE strikers. 
First blood was even drawn by the ICTP tea. Peter McGrath (TWAS) played 
a quick free-kick down the line to Gabriele Pesco (Maintenance) who 
beat one defender before lashing a shot past the U.TE goalkeeper.
U.Te fought abck, however, and a period of pressure that left Jurgen 
Kroeger (Weather and Climate group) hobbling with a twisted ankle 
eventually saw a shot pass Bertoli and into the net. 1-1.
With no substitute on the bench, Kroeger was forced to play the rest of 
the game in goal - and he did OK, too.
ICTP even managed to get their noses in front, with two more goals from 
Pesco - both from fiercely driven free kicks.
In the second half, U.TE again put together a period of pressure, and 
managed a to sneak a goal past Kroeger to make it 3-2. Stimulated by 
this, U.TE pressed again and even  clipped the cross-bar with one 
effort.
But then Pesco turned on the style again. A quick break allowed him to 
skip past the last U.TE defender and stroke the ball into the net for 
his fourth of the evening. Any chance of a U.TE fight back was well and 
truly wiped out by ICTP's fifth goal of the game - another special 
effort from Benjamin Tayo (Master's student). Tayo danced is way into 
the U.TE penalty area, his six or seven step-overs completely 
bamboozling the U.TE defence, and slipped the ball into the net.
Final score: 5-2 - a win that takes ICTP's winning run o three games 
now and lifts them to second in the league table.


Peter McGrath, PhD
Tel: +39 040 2240 571
Fax: +39 040 224 559
TWAS - the academy of sciences for the developing world
c/o The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics,
Strada Costiera 11, 34014 Trieste, Italy
http://www.twas.org

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