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Most of the squad managed to make it in time for breakfast at the Bolzano, and were treated to the sight of Jon M's Mickey Mouse T-shirt, perhaps the finest item from his Italian wardrobe. A statement against capitalism or an unwanted present that had to be worn sometime ? It was never made clear. Danny had spent an eventful morning at the airport, only to decide that he couldn't bring himself to leave and at the last moment tore himself away to rejoin the team for the Dagnente tournament.
With Samy out of action, it fell to the ever-dependable Pietro to drive the team van up to Dagnente, with Samy riding shotgun muttering "Come on ! We're f**king late !" while scratching the cast on his leg with a stick.
It had turned out to be a splendid day in Dagnente, and the team once again enjoyed the magnificent surroundings of the estate. In fact, there were a few team members who had to be reminded that we were actually there to play some football, rather than sit around a swimming pool taking the sun. Alex was passing round the sun-cream, Teo was engrossed in his Big Book of Italian swear-words, John was regaling us all with tales of Gary Gatward, and Djavidnia was going mental: "Guys ! Guys ! For F**k's sake ! We have a f**king football game to play and you're not even f**king ready !!".
Samy's words were to prove prophetic, because in the first game CPR did indeed play as if they were asleep. 6-0 down at halftime to Matteo's Wonder Boys, some pride was regained in the second half when the maestros decided to take their foot off the pedal and CPR managed to score three to make the scoreline a little more respectable. Biggest cheer of the day was reserved for the Bomber's debut goal, a thunderbolt from 6 yards out - at which point Kristian signalled to the bench that he had to come off and lie in the sun for a bit.
In the next game CPR were up against Fabrizio and Michele's men, and it proved to be a fiercely competitive affair. Both sides took the lead and then were pegged back, before Jason put on his baseball cap at halftime and decided to take the game by the scruff of the neck. Within 5 mins the boy had done the damage: scoring a couple and making another, and CPR had their noses in front. They held on to the lead to get the three points.
In probably the game of the tournament, Rinoisbois then put in a great performance against Matteo's sharpshooters. Rinos went ahead two or three times, and early on it looked as if an upset was definitely on the cards. However, thanks to the deadly shooting of Gary McAllister the champions were able to come back into the game, and the momentum finally swung their way. They took the 3 points, but they have rarely been made to work so hard.
In the next game the now-tiring champions had to face up to Michele-Fabrizio FC, who were determined to upset the formbook and gain the three points. In another close game the Super Six just managed to keep their noses in front, however, and yet again they ended the tournament undefeated.
The final game of the tournament was the 2nd-3rd place play-off between Rinosbois and CPR. CPR just needed a draw to take 2nd place, but they struggled to get into the game as Rinosbois made a blazing start and led 4-0 at halftime. CPR made some radical line-up changes at halftime and the fresh legs began to tell. They stormed back to 4-3 and had numerous chances to equalise, but Rinos held firm to take the match, and 2nd spot.
So after another day of good football in the sunshine, the always fantastic Dagnente tournament ended up with the champions keeping their crown, but Rinosbois coming up in second place. Undoubtedly the standard of next year's tournament will be even higher again. We already know of one team who are definitely planning to change things for next year. Anwyay the whole of CPR are already looking forward to the 2002 Dagnente event.
The climx of the tour came, as always, in La Scarpeta restaurant in Arona, where the teams from the tournament enjoyed an excellent evening. The food just kept on coming, the wine and grappa flowed freely, the sngs just kept on coming, and the guests all mingled to talk of football and culture. The culmination of the evening was the voting: CPR's Player of the Year and Goal of the Season, and also the Rinosbois Goal of the Season, were all up for grabs. The voting was close, but in the end John Andrews won both of the CPR awards (and the way things were going, there were some of us who were surprised that he didn't win the Rinosbois award as well). For the rest of the evening Mr Andrews was to be seen wearing his two medals and a beaming smile, clutching both tropies and a bottle of grappa. The meal was finished off with the presentation of gifts to the people who made it all possible: Samy, John, Matteo, Michele, Pietro and Rino. For all their efforts, and for the generous hospitality we are always shown when we visit Milan, we cannot thank our Italian friends enough.
After finishing the meal on a high, the CPR squad were in the mood to party a little more, and so took to the backstreets of Arona looking for a place to keep things going. Danny (who else ?), Alex and Tyler somehow managed to sneak into the local discoteca while the doormen weren't looking, and Kristian used his silver tongue to good effect later on, but the rest the squad were politely turned away at the door: it was either the bottle of grappa that John was clutching determinedly, or the bouncers had tuned in to the police bulletin which had warned them that a little ex-Millwall Guvnor was in town and was likely to be turning up mob-handed somewhere, looking for things to get a bit tasty. Either way, the remainder of the team eventually got back to the hotel (with one or two little detours en route), where the grappa was passed around until everyone more or less passed out.
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