20th Kick Off 2 World Cup | The Stories

[Torchiador]

It’s like Netflix here. A series starts then You have to wait a week to see the next episode! It is impossible to make binge watching here! Rodolfo apart of course!
Thanks Lorenzo, this is the story that everyone wanted to read.
Can’t wait to read the following episode! <3

[alkis21]

Great post, Lorenzo. It sounds like I must find that energy cocoa!

[alkis21]

The Athens World Cup was not just an opportunity for me to wear my organizer cap again. It was also my return to the tournament, as my last one had been 6 years ago. For the first time since its conception, I had missed three consecutive world cups: Landskrona, Bournemouth and Bremen. The main reason was financial, but as Robert once said, as soon as you miss one it becomes easier and easier to stay out, as you stupidly convince yourself that you're not missing that much. This was a major milestone as the 20th World Cup (2020 would also have marked Kick Off 2's 30th anniversary, but it wasn't meant to be) which became even more important as it was our reboot after the worst of the pandemic was behind us. I was devastated when we had to postpone the 2020 event, and in the beginning of this year I felt that I didn't have the energy to go through it again. I asked the rest of the Greeks how they felt about it; I was pleasantly surprised to hear that they still wanted to do it, and I remember that it was Nikos who spoke very much in favour of an Athens World Cup (he made a whole speech about us growing old and that we should not miss chances), and that sealed the deal.

I wanted to do my best to give the players a well organized event. Luckily, one does not need to reinvent the wheel; the trick is to take as many of the features that you liked in previous events, improve what you can and add your own ideas where possible.

My checklist for the 20th Kick Off 2 World Cup looked more or less like the following:

1. Find a hotel with a hall that can accommodate a Kick Off 2 tournament, one that is conveniently located and can give us the absolute best value for money ratio.
2. Negotiate the prices for an affordable block of rooms and a buffet lunch, to avoid people scattering for hours during lunch breaks.
3. Build a website early on, one that contains every single piece of information a player needs.
4. Build a registration form that is easy to use even for people with a basic understanding of the English language (or access to Google translate).
5. Have our designer come up with a kick ass logo, one that is related to Greece, Kick Off, football and computer games all at once that will look good on trophies and shirts.
6. Design elegant badges and trophies, as well as a little souvenir for everyone to take home (magnet).


The World Cup badge

7. Work on a budget and keep it balanced. Start with the maximum registration fee needed and reduce it before the event if possible.
8. Coordinate the rest of the Greeks, delegate whenever possible. Create a hardware list and make sure that all Amigas and monitors are tested beforehand.
9. Chase people to register, book their flights, book their hotel room.
10. Come up with a tournament format that will allow us to stay within the designated time frame (my biggest problem in the previous Athens WCs), without noticeably reducing the number of games per player.
11. Find great places to dine in, within the general vicinity of the venue.
12. Ask elegant, soft spoken, sweet Penny (who everyone loved in 2008) to work for us again, this time with my slightly cuckoo, geeky, bubbly Greek-American colleague/friend Vicky (who I knew everyone would love, too).
13. Come up with an original idea for the Game of Shame.


Comparing the World Cup logo to the Apron of Shame logo

14. Resurrect the software I had created in 2008 for the draw, work on a few words and statistics for every player, think of something to make it unique (I eventually decided to have my 9 year old daughter do it, using her toy bingo).
15. Prepare a presentation for the 20 years of Kick Off 2 World Cups, one that will trigger nostalgia for older members, hopefully without being too boring and cheesy for the new ones.
16. Have multiple meetings with the hotel to ensure that small yet crucial details such as affordable parking, perfectly set up room etc. will be in order.
17. Build a mobile app for the first time in a WC.
18. Talk to Steve Camber for the tournament software and camerawork.
19. Make sure that we have a DSLR camera in the tournament room.
20. Prepare some slides for the ending, make sure to thank everyone who helped, focus on Alessandro's award.
21. Send an evaluation form to get some feedback after the event.

There were more, many more details but the 21 points above were the main ones. I am laying them out like this mostly to make a point that there is a LOT of work involved in organizing a World Cup. When we simply attend, we tend to take all elements for granted and sometimes forget that. It has happened in the past that a player gets upset that there are, say, no blue chairs in the room, and decides to host a WC himself as he is certain that he can guarantee blue chairs. Then he is baffled when he realizes that he has to get some Amigas there, too.

I believe that the result was satisfactory, and people's feedback was very enthusiastic (the results will be posted in a different thread). Could we have done better? There were some minor disappointments on my part. For starters, I was really hoping to get 40 players but there were 4-5 Greeks who could not make it for various reasons, plus some regulars who unfortunately did not come, namely Jorn, Jacob, Jorg, Andy, Oliver, Wolf, Peter S, Peter K and more. Perhaps I should have advertised it more aggressively in the Greek Amiga and retro communities, but I was worried that we'd get many more than 40 and the tournament room was not that big. Also, I honestly tried to schedule some sort of non-Kick Off activity such as karaoke or real football, but I just couldn't figure out of a way to fit it and keep everyone fed.

Monday to Thursday
I kept going over my checklists and talked to everyone to arrange the last details. Kostas would pick up the shirts, apron and magnets from the stores, some guys would bring their hardware on Friday afternoon and some on Saturday early in the morning. A couple of mishaps were my daughter contracting Covid and Spyros needing stitches on his eyelid after a basketball injury, but thankfully neither of them missed the WC. To my horror, after collecting the badges I noticed that there was a misprint on Gianni's badge. On Thursday, Stelios informed us that he would miss the WC due to Covid, he was however kind enough to insist on paying for his registration and have his equipment delivered to the hotel. I would get to meet some foreign KOA friends for the first time in 6 years! I could not invite them to my house as I had originally planned, not with an active Covid case in it, but I picked Klaus and Rodolfo from the hotel and we went out to a nice restaurant that (of course) Panayotis picked.


Thursday evening dinner

While our guests marveled at Panayotis' fresh KO2 tatoo, I remembered Rodolfo staying in my apartment 20 years ago and me visiting Klaus' apartment in Vienna 8 years ago, a few days before the Copenhagen WC. It's so cool that we have so many friends around Europe that we can visit thanks to the KOA. I pointed out that we passed by the location where the CMS joysticks store used to be. The food at the restaurant was fantastic, I was particularly impressed at the waitress' fluency in English - she correctly translated orzo for us when Panayotis and I drew a blank.


The infamous tattoo

Friday
I spent the morning gathering all the hardware and other items I had to bring to the hotel.


Nephele puts the badges in alphabetical order

On my way to the hotel, I had to make a stop to meet the colleague who prepared the badges and pick up the corrected badge of Gianni. He was at a conference at a very busy area and it was rush hour, I had to leave my car in a non-ideal position and got a parking ticket for it. At the hotel, I was able to stop right outside as promised and a clerk help me load the monitors and other equipment to the tournament room. Perfect service, I have nothing but good things to say about the hotel staff. Spyros, Panayotis, Nikos and Kostas arrived a bit later and we started preparing the tournament room. Not all of our retro equipment was operational unfortunately, but we had backups. We also tested the projector and audio and everything appeared to be in order.

A little before 9 pm, we went downstairs at the bar and met with the rest of the KOAers! There were none of the usual warm handshakes, hugs and tongue kisses of the previous years, I had to wear a mask and resort to awkward fist bumps as I wasn't sure if I was carrying the virus, but the feeling of reuniting with family was there nonetheless. I also met some people for the first time, namely Gabriele, Manfred, Fran, Samu, Ian, Steve and Hannes.

Then we were off to the Green Rose Beer-Restaurant. It took us a long time to get our subway tickets, and Robert was even cheated out of his money when the machine did not produce his ticket! That is, until a very bored looking clerk slowly made her way to the ticket machine and corrected the error. I like Green Rose a lot, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. I sat next to Christopher and took the opportunity to tell him that I believed he should have been top seed instead of me. He graciously stated that it was fine by him.


At the Green Rose

Saturday
I made my way to the hotel early in the morning with my daughter, who was eager to get there as soon as possible and would not hear about waiting to go later with her mother. She even ended up helping out at the registration desk. I have to thank everyone who made her feel so welcome and even played Kick Off matches with her, she loved it so much she ended up staying almost all day long. It helped that George's sons were also present and that he had set up a gaming machine for them. Vicky and Penny arrived a bit later, and we went over the procedure once again. Then the rest of the Greeks delivered the remaining equipment, and the tournament room quickly took shape. We were ready for another Kick Off 2 World Cup!


The registration process ran flawlessly

The players started to arrive, register and play some friendlies. I have to point out that everyone was on time throughout the three days, and followed all instructions to the letter. That has not always been the case in world cups. We had another dropout as Michalis also had Covid, so we were down to 32 players. It was then time to begin, with the presentation for the 20 Kick Off 2 World Cups. I enjoyed presenting it and watching people's reactions. I then gave the microphone to Robert to do what he does best, and the groups were drawn by my daughter's infallible hand. Although Robert forgot that I'd told him to use the phrase "next number, please" to which Nephele had been trained to respond, she still did not miss a cue. Again, I loved concentrating on people's faces during the player presentations. Panayotis did a splendid job with the music. And it was so poetic that my daughter drew the person who would win the apron of shame first, and the person who would win the world cup last!


The opening presentation

The tournament was underway, and Steve Camber was my first opponent. If someone had told us in 2001, when we first shook hands at the parking lot of the Dartford Holiday Inn, that one day we'd be playing in the 20th World Cup, we would have thought them crazy, but here we were. I took a fairly comfortable 4-1 lead in the first half. Steve has not changed his style match, but I noticed even against other opponents that he sometimes has 3 or 4 minutes of total domination, and that's what happened in the second half were he totally outplayed me. The final result, 4-4. Not great, not terrible. Next was Lorenzo and I of course had no idea I'd be playing this cup's finalist, what I knew at that point was that he was never an easy win and that he had probably improved since the last time I'd met him. I also did not know that he had a perfectly engineered custom joystick, you have to feel it to understand how precise you can be with it. We had a very close game which I ended up winning 3-2. I believe lunch time was next, the buffet was good enough for the price of 16 Euro. And by the way, I move that we ban Antonis and Kostas O from the KOA for daring to play Sensible Soccer during a KO2 World Cup, and on the Amiga that was streaming live even!

Next were three Greeks: Vasilis, Kostas Ka and Ektoras. I had some problems against the first, but I beat all three. Next was Samu, and as much as I enjoy playing new people, I did not love that he beat me 5-3 without breaking a sweat! That's when I realized that I had real trouble scoring in this competition. It was as if I had forgotten how to attack properly. I missed a ton of chances against Gabriele, whom I ended up beating 4-1. With the exception of Kostas and Ektoras, I never scored more than 4 goals per game, and I knew I wasn't going to go far with that average. I also had unusually sweaty hands, which did not influence my game too much but it was annoying. At least first place of the group looked secure, or so I thought. I was 6 points and 6 goals ahead of Steve, who had also lost a match to Ektoras and still had to play against Lorenzo and Samu. The joke was on me, as not only did the Englishman won both games, he did it by 8-2 and 8-3 respectively so he got the goal difference he needed, and then some. He clearly deserved that first place.

Looking at the other groups, I was impressed to see Christopher beating and finishing above Thor, and Nikos topping the Greek battle against Spyros and Panayotis and below Fabio (against whom he fought amazingly and lost 8-7). I'd probably need 5 games to score 7 goals against Fabio. 15 out of the top 16 seeded players made it to the 2nd round, only Ektoras was out as Samu progressed so overall Gianni did a stellar job with the seeding groups. People told me I got the easy group as I avoided Thor, but little did we know that I had three out of the four semi-finalists in it. Not to mention three Italians, and I hate (playing) Italians. Before the day was over, it was time for the Game of Shame. I will go into more details in the feedback thread, for now I will just say that I liked the pasillo that we gave the two players. It was a great game, too, decided on penalty kicks!

In the evening, we walked to the Salero restaurant, another great choice which I think was owned by a Spanish family. Robert delivered one of his trademark KOA history lessons to Ian on the way. I did not feel very comfortable walking through a shady area of Athens with all the cash from the registrations in my wallet. It's a good thing that some of us decided to take taxis back to the hotel.


At the Salero

Sunday
I started my day by borrowing a blue latex glove from a cleaning lady, so now I had a goofy look to go with my crappy performance. At least it allowed for a better grip of the joystick. I played a friendly against a sleepy Spyros and beat him 6-0, then I played my first official match against Panayotis and also won 6-0. I thought I was back on track, but my results against Greeks are no longer an indication of my expected performance against foreigners. Sure enough, next was Lorenzo again and the score was tied at 1-1 until 30 seconds to the end. Then he had the ball in midfield and tried a long pass, I did a perfectly timed tackle, a little run and a precise cross for an easy header and the winning goal. Not quite; Lorenzo somehow saved it with an amazing header on the line, and even scored on the counter attack to win the game. If you think I'm exaggerating, watch the video of the few seconds that changed the fate of the world cup at 19:05. If it hadn't been for that save, I would have most probably qualified instead of him. In retrospect, I'm happy it happened this way, he made the competition so much more interesting. I would just have been obliterated by Gianni in the quarter final as always.

I was now staring disqualification in the face. I had a glimmer of hope when Lorenzo lost to Frank, but he then gained a golden point against Christopher. Meanwhile, I scored a total of two goals against Fabio (4-0!!) and Chris (6-2), my defense was working against very high scoring players but my offense was not - I also had a miserable 2-0 against Frank to prove it. Unless I beat Mario, I was going to be out of the quarter finals again just like in 2016, after making it there 13/13 times in the past. I pointed that out to my fellow Greeks, already mentally defeated, and Vasilis looked at me deadpan and simply said "So sit down and beat Mario. That's your mission". So I asked for some support, and he and Spyros stood behind me and cheered for me. It felt really good to be honest, and given the opponent, this lead to what was probably my best match of the tournament. Mario was better but I gave him a good game, he was up 3-2 and after a stupid mistake of mine it was 4-2 with I think a minute to the end. I then gave everything I had, aided by a very loud Vasilis, and managed to equalize 4-4 with a few seconds to go, but that was the final score.

I believe that 9th place (after a couple of very close wins against Alessandro) is more or less where I belong in contemporary World Cups, meaning the 9-16 group with maybe some sporadic appearances in the quarter finals now and then, as that player against whom everyone hopes to be drawn for two easy games, like Spyros. The KOA has moved on, the level has improved and that is perfectly OK; I remember a time when I had four medals in the first four World Cups that I attended, or only two defeats in 49 official matches and even more friendlies against foreigners, or 98 undefeated official games on English soil.

Taken from a November 2003 post:

-Spyros: I can't believe you have never lost to a foreigner apart from Rikki!
-Alkis: Why did you reckon they think so highly of me?
-Spyros: I thought it was just plain ignorance!

But those days are long gone, my method of attack has always depended on taking advantage of the slightest mistake, but I found out that strong players nowadays simply do not make mistakes. That is how I went from a 6.50 goal average in previous World Cups to 4.13 this year. And when there are people who can score 11 against Gianni like Thor, or who can always choose the right formation so that I can never get the ball after a kick off like Fabio, I realize that I stand no chance of playing on the big screen again. Just do me a favor and stop putting me in the 1st seeding group!

My disappointment only lasted for a few minutes, it was now time for me to sit back and enjoy the rest of the world cup. Of course, Spyros had to go and point out that he now has the upper hand as he's finished above me in five world cups, while I have only done so four times. I did not remember to mention this particular detail to the TV crew that came to cover the event that afternoon.


The TV crew interviewing Steve

I was very impressed by Robert's accomplishment, it was a huge deal qualifying over Alessandro who beat both Spyros and Nikos but lost their in between decisive match. Every quarter final appeared to have a clear favourite, but I've now been to enough World Cups to know better. And sure enough, Lorenzo kept the Norwegian scoring machine to a total of 5 goals in two matches and made it to the semis! In addition, Mario made Gianni sweat for his win.

Rodolfo had a good start in the Silver Cup final, but Gabriele played better and deserved the title. Another elite Italian in the making who will be beating me easily in the years to come, is there an unlimited supply of them? Free of anxiety, Gianni proceeded to sit on his throne again for the first time since Copenhagen 2014, and has now won a world cup in all three decades of KOA's existence. The only other person who can do that feat is me, and somehow I don't see this happening. But with all due respect to our champion, what people will remember the most about this world cup's games are Lorenzo's amazing resilience and tactical approach.

The Ending Ceremony was full of emotion, especially when it was time for Alessandro to receive his well deserved Lifetime Achievement Award. The Covid break made all of people's speeches a little bit more emotional than usual. Or perhaps we are getting older. Maybe it's a little bit of both.


No caption needed

The final dinner was at another quality restaurant, L'oeuf Du Coq. We really should have prepared a proper birthday cake for Steve, but a tiny dessert with a candle on it while everyone sang "Happy birthday, dear Camber" FFS would have to do.


The perfect display

We also had a final beer at the roof bar, and then it was time for our goodbyes.

Sometimes I wonder what we look like to outsiders, as well as to more recent additions to our group who understandably do not share the same bond that we do and probably have no interest in doing so. Very weird, probably. I can hardly explain myself what it is that makes the KOA so special. But now and then we do get someone who gets it right away, and gets hooked for life. To all past, present and future friends, I wish you well and hope to see you again soon.

-Alkis / once again proud to have been your host, will gladly do it again in the future

[Rodolfo]

Thank you very much, Gianni, Lorenzo, and Alkis for these beautiful stories.

Gianni, Lorenzo, we want more!

The rest of you: do not feel intimidated by the lenght of what has been posted so far, all of us will be very happy just to read small anecdotes, or whatever special memory you have. Please contribute.

[Abyss]

Wow, Rodolfo, what can I say, that's an epic write up!

[Torchiador]

Another Alkis Masterpiece.

I’d like to add something but must finish mine first!

[Abyss]

Reading reports, like those of Gianni, Lorenzo and Rodolfo, or watching Alessandro receiving his award, really makes you put things in perspective regarding what the KOA has achieved in those 20+ years.


Then of course comes Alkis' report, for the comic relief element

...maybe some sporadic appearances in the quarter finals now and then, as that player against whom everyone hopes to be drawn for two easy games, like Spyros.

It's even more funny because it's true

[Freshmaker]

Gianni! Fantastic story! Looking forward to more to come.

And Lorenzo! Thank you for mentioning me, and in a group with such lovely people!!! Please, I look forward to you completing your story, and I can't wait to see you again next year.

[Torchiador]

During the night, a big storm stroke Athens and finally I saw with my naked eyes Zeus trowing lightnings to the mortals from above the clouds.
The storm was expected to continue all day long on Sunday but the forecast was wrong and instead we had a very windy but dry day, without risk of power loss in the tournament room.

The two groups of the WC were very strong. Curiously the fact that 2 first seed didn't top their groups (Thor and Alkis) didn't change the balance of the groups because in this particular case they just switched groups and the same happened with Chris and Steve.
The last time I faced Steve C in official match he won and barely missed to double digit me in Landskrona. Scoring more that the double of his overall scoring AVG during that World Cup.
In the past he had good results with me. His presence in the group could be very dangerous to me.
Thor was suffering of jet lag. Practically speaking he has been a whole day over an airplane to reach Athens and probably he was playing upside down the whole weekend, arriving in Athens just one day before the World Cup. This is to say the staff of this guy.
No matter the jet lag, he still was the favourite one for the title. The most successful among the world champions in the last 5 world cups and he had excellent results since Milan 2016 without to record a single defeat playing me in many match we played.
Robert. Robert means a lot to me. and I'm sure I'm not the only one. Although in the last years we lost a bit each other, he has been always a constant in my life since the day I met this community. Without the KOA my life wouldn’t be the same, without Robert the KOA wouldn’t be the same.
This year I hadn't Sandro, my natural brother next to me, I hadn't Jorn, my northern brother next to me but I had Roberto!
I played a friendly with Spyros on Saturday evening and although he wasn't at the same level of the Italian hunter who was able to line up 3 Italians twice in 2006 and 2007 winning two world cup straight , he was very dangerous though. his skills are still there. Now he just changed tactic, more smart, more deceptive: he faint an accident to the eye to move to compassion his opponents and then strike hard the moment they lowered the guard. this is strategy at the next level.
Nikos is the first foreigner koaer I had the pleasure to meet. nearly 20 years ago in Milan. Our first official match was played over a soggy pitch and the only thing I was able to say in English these years was "Hi" with a very bad accent. Now we were again in the same league and, he was in a very good shape! on the pitch and outside the pitch. Luis Figo and John Travolta. who better than him?
Alessandro was still there again ready to ruin more my best defence bid and the the group was closed by Samu, the Spanish Champion. With the right approach he went to me saying something like: look this joystick, I'm gonna beat you with this!" He was right, we have to believe in our dreams. at the end of the match I told him the truth: "You will beat me, sooner or later. but not today." He is a nice fellow and a talented player. I like his approach to the box. he tried to show me the Samtastic goal but I wasn't that eager to see it in my half pitch.
The second match with Alessandro started very badly for him as in 3 second I was 3-0 already and the match went even worse but at least he scored the consolation goal.
With Spyros I didn't fall in his smart trap but we had a nice match though a tense first half then I ran faster then him in the second half. If you see me to run, use a bike then, Spiro!
Nikos didn't show his best face with me, probably he switched in Nicolas Cage in Face Off movie. I really hope to see you soon again man. don't let the time to pass again.
Robert played 10 minutes in lock out. at least he said so. I thought it was blitz but don't go into nitpicking details.
Playing Steve was tense and the match was narrow till half ot the second half then I found a way to change gear.
Of course we saved the big match for last. Thor and I were qualified for the quarters. it was just to see who was first and second. Of course this make difference on who will you face in the next stage but a thing was safe already: if we would have kept on winning, we would have played again not before of the final.
My bid for the perfect world cup (all victories) was still intact and it was one of my targets from the beginning but not the main target. I knew that playing Thor 424 all the match could mean a loss if I wouldn't have played perfectly but, from a strategic view it was better to not show my cards already and I tried my best with 424.
Sadly for me Thor played very well, thing that I couldn't say for myself. specially wasting many balls and missing shots and bad timing header at midfield. Thanks God he had Jet leg otherwise he scored 20! On the score of 7-4 for him I made a very bad mistake missing a clear shot that made me very angry with myself. If I would have scored that goal, surely he would have scored the following kick off routine too. that wasn't a problem. the problem was that I cannot miss a shot like that. even if I was playing under bombs, whip, and with a frightened cat in my underpants. And that happened more than once in the following minutes. anyway on my following mistakes I contained my self frustration decorously, more or less. The lost of 11-6 was severe but right. At that point I had 2 things ringing in my ears. one good and one bad. the good. I still had my cards to use with him in winner take it all matches. the bad: if I would have played so badly again, no matter my good cards, I would have lost again. so I was far to think that it would have been easy to bring back the Holy Shield in Kick Off House.

At the end of the stage I was hoping Alessandro could make it for the top 8 but Robert didn't want to hear questions and clinched the quarter finals. In my group along with Thor, reached the quarterfinals Spyros as well. so 3 world champions! Robert was in good company!
I didn't know who I would have faced next, contrary on what I usually do, I didn't study much the road to world cup. I was thinking to play Chris. Surely not Fabio as he was first of his group. and neither Lorenzo who was 4th. The only thing that I understood after the lost was that, if winning, I would have faced Fabio before the final.
Then Thor went to me with explaining that I would have played Mario. So I turned my eyes looking for him and I realised he was staring at me already...for minutes! we had a laugh because this is a classic joke of his.
I knew that the double header wouldn't be easy like the first stage match with Mario. I knew (although we played rarely in the last years) that he mastered well the double tactics against Fabio. so 424 attacking and lockout when defending. thing that was confirmed when I watched their match in the second Stage where Fabio won by one goal over his brother in a very tense low scoring match. For Fabio, Mario is a big threat, thing that happens between to strong players that play each other often. There is a strongest player but the underdog can win. Exactly the same thing between Thor and Chris.
So we played the first leg and Mario, in front of his loving son won his first match against me in I don't know how many years. that was sealed buy an amazing defending performance, stopping me at least 5 times in front of the goal. most probably his best performance ever against me.
I knew that a 6-3 is a score I could handle. I pushed hard and in 2 minutes I already reverted the score on the 4-0 destroying Mario's lockout. From that moment I never risked again to be kicked out from the quarter finals because I was able to keep a safe margin but the match was tense till the very last second. after the final whistle I lied down on the floor and remained there at least 5 minutes (is there any picture about that?) as I was EXAUSTED. I think it's been one of my most difficult wins, something like my first semi final in Cologne 2005 Vs Klaus L.
That quarter final with Mario gave to me the awareness of my mental solidity and I found a new confidence about what I could do. In that mach I have seen many things going against me. I have seen all my past ghosts and I had to challenge them along with Mario. at a moment I thought: bullshit, I can beat them all together. and so I did. 8-3 was the final score. enough to reach first target: the big screen.

As soon as I wake up from the floor, I saw a knot of people behind and amiga station I wasn't even able to see who was playing. Then somebody next to me said: Lorenzo is winning with Thor! I said: "first leg I guess" no, second. I joined the crowd to see if they were kidding me. Lorenzo was indeed leading 4-2 and 2 minutes to go after drawing 3-3 the first leg. I didn't know anything until that moment.
Once the game was over, the first one who couldn't believe what was happened was actually Lorenzo. The impossible was happened.
After catching the quarter final sit with the very last ticket beating Alkis by one inch, Lorenzo even found the spotlights of the big screen, beating no less that the former 2 times world champion Thor. The best moment of his kick off career. so far! And I do think it was one of the best moment in his life.
I was sorry for Thor but on the other side I was so happy for Lorenzo that any shadows passed in background. I'm sure that the disappoint for Thor was very much but at the same way I'm totally sure that he was very happy for Lorenzo as well as he knew how much that was meaning for Lorenzo.
Sometimes for Champions, it's allowed to give way to somebody coming from behind. because a Champion always come back. And I'm sure Thor, a worthy Guardian of the Holy Shield, will come back next year stronger than ever to take back his sit at the big screen club.

The other quarters registered the expected results: Fabio won with Robert while Christopher crashed into Spyros.
The two semifinals were drawn: Christopher Vs Lorenzo and Gianni Vs Fabio. One Italian for sure in the World Cup final. a feeble possibility to have two of them.

[alkis21]

So we played the first leg and Mario, in front of his loving son won his first match against me in I don't know how many years.

13! He beat you 8-7 in Milan XXVI, on December 20, 2009.

[LORENZO L]

The second part restarts from Alkis's far wood, which Cox has masterfully removed from the certain goal, throwing the ball first on the crossbar and then on the wood. If I were playing against Tommaso Lorenzo Ceselli perhaps I could no longer enter a church, due to the number of blasphemous women, if I were playing against Gianni or Fabio or Mario it is our tradition to ask .. " do you want a candy ? "... Maybe it was that habit to see those saves made, which for once I had succeeded and without thinking throw towards curtis who masterfully makes the whole field enters the opponent's area and score the 2-1 .... there were 10 seconds left and not even the great champion Alkis he could have reacted to that unfortunate situation.
With 6 points in the farmhouse, I realized that the round of 16 (my second and last goal of the tournament) was within my reach and despite a deserved defeat against the German champion Frank, as well as against Mario and Fabio, I managed to reach the infamous photo of the eight best in the world thanks to a sweaty draw against Chris, a victory with the other Greek champion Panayotis, tied with Alkis, who in the meantime had drawn against Mario in a very painful game that I didn't want to watch, but just listen from afar, so as not to condition Mario who was already sure of reaching the round of 16.
Wow!! in my head I had enormous contentment and such lightness that they made me face the double challenge with Thor with the awareness that I would give everything I learned in those two years of training. There was a light in me that helped me to remember well every movement every defense and attack routine and surely this helped me to make my best games against the reigning world champion and despite two lucky interventions also against Thor, I manage to win the first game and draw the second.
I have a memory of when towards the end of the double challenge, I see the light go down and I perceive that behind us many people had stopped to see us, as well as Thor's sincere compliments I will never forget them again ... As well as the phone call to my wife to whom I warned in tears to connect to the live link because I would have played the semi-final on the big screen with my "blonde" friend Chris.
It's a beautiful emotion to see so many people who come to compliment you by shaking your hand or hug you and cry together with joy as happened with Rodolfo.
I wasn't used to those strong emotions, but despite this, waiting about an hour for the semifinal helped me lower the adrenaline and focus on the next tough match. My win average with Chris is 30% and 25% draw so I knew I had a total of 50% going through. As soon as we start I have to be honest I heard Chris very aggressive in the field and I tried to hold his attacks, and his advantage could break my legs, but then I said to myself "play as you know" and in the first game I even manage to come back and close at 2-1. Incredible !! My first game on the big screen and first win...
In the second game I even manage to go 2 goals ahead which added to each other make 3 and the blond Viking shows me what he's made of by managing to come back by sewing actions and routines one after the other ... we are 5-5 total there are 20 seconds to go and honestly if we had reached extra time I am convinced that I would have lost ... but the good veteran Barker, fresh from the substitution, runs quickly alone on the left wing and crosses a ball in the center right that even the very tired and heavy Nicholls manages to bag ... I let out a scream that was perhaps not very polite towards Chris, but there was all my repressed ejaculation from the previous games and as soon as the game was over I could not believe what had happened, I remember Chris's sincere compliments which respect first of all as a friend and as an adversary... the third and final part follows

[Freshmaker]

I cannot miss a shot like that. even if I was playing under bombs, whip, and with a frightened cat in my underpants.

[LORENZO L]

Third and last part....
.... I find myself in a closet to take pictures with an Alien and in front of the multi-champion of the world and Greece to take pictures and congratulations ....
A final is usually not to be played but only to be won, except when you find yourself facing an Alien who reaches the end for the twelfth time. I honestly think that nobody in the room would have beaten him this year in the final, because I have been training with him for a long time and his concentration this time was at the highest level. Maybe it will take me another 2 years to handle 4 game times with Gianni. This time I held almost 1 and I know I didn't honor a final worthy of the name. The fact is that Gianni deserved to bring the Shield back to his home for the fifth time and I'm really happy for him.
For the ending of this story I would just like to thank Alkis for the organization and love that he and his sweet family and friends put into making it flawless.
Now you have also written the 21 points which must be a Protocol for anyone who wants to organize it in the future. Rimini could be a possibility for me in 2024 maybe after Malaga 2023.
I feel like the kickoff community has grown in recent years thanks to the great work of Steve Camber. We've found that there are a lot of people who love this game but can't afford to spend 3 days in a row. It would be interesting to organize other events or tournaments during the year, for one day only, to involve more people, we must be able to set ourselves this goal and bring proposals to a table to make it possible. Heartfelt thanks ❤ everyone, my dream ends here