It must be over ten years since I last played football and I never officially retired like so many of my friends. I think I secretly believed that I had one more game left in me and rather keep that in the back of my mind and believe that I can still play.

Well my chance came quite unexpectedly when I was invited by our students at Mai School in Da Nang to play in a five-a-side match. I definitely surprised myself that I could just about keep up with the 25 year olds, relying mainly on my ability to run as little as possible, just like the old days!

A short stint in goal in the blistering heat was a welcome relief and I managed to even score a few goals albeit Tylo was goalkeeper for one of them and all she did was scream loud and try and look cool.

Amazing how simple football can be even when you cannot share the same language, we knew each others strengths and weaknesses very quickly and played to these, knocking the ball around with consummate ease, made me wonder why the pro’s struggle so much when they pretty much play together everyday. Oh I forget that thing called vanity and ego that exists in modern day professional football. I just loved the freedom and running around like a kid and having a laugh with new friends, like being at school again!

Great fun but you can only imagine how much I was aching for days on end afterwards.