The Futsal Journey!!!!!!!! Part - 2 ('The Red Army Awaits!!!')

Next day, the overwhelming feeling of the previous night's victory still hadn't sunk in. On a personal front, scoring the winning goal of the match was unbelievable. I had already done countless imitations of that goal alone in my room. It wasn't the greatest goal but I am sure I could feel an inkling of what Zidane might have felt after scoring "that" goal in the Champions League Final. The narcissistic me had also practised umpteen celebration techniques in front of the mirror (to look more graceful next time in case the girls were looking :P ;) :P !!!

Such was the feeling within me, and I was sure, within the entire team. Next morning, Manvir had a spring in his step, Abhineet was as usual enthusiastic, Sumit tried to tell us numerous tactics, Abhro his cool nonchalant no-care-of-winning-or-losing attitude. Vishal (who had probably run the least :P) was as usual snoring away in his room towards 5 pm and down with sore legs as well. :D


Surprisingly, nothing much was discussed or dissected from the first game. Everyone looked serious and were probably waiting. Waiting for the 2nd Game ........ The match against the tournament favourites, Deepak's team, boasting of 5 college players. It would be a daunting task ..... And What a match it turned out to be...............


The draw by Falcon's team had thrown the group wide open. It was good because it meant we were top. However, we knew Deepak's team would come hard at us.

Abhineet decided again that we all should wear not only black but the same AH7 \m/ tshirt ....(Lucky charm eh?! :P) Though soiled and smelly, we all acceded his request. I was only hoping that they would wear some other colour.

We reached the basketball ground (yes, the matches were held on the basketball ground :-/). A huge crowd had gathered for this potential thriller. We didn't want to disappoint them. The other team had arrived too.Red was their colour then . F**king red COLLEGE jerseys eh!!!!

The toss was done. I won the toss again :) . Abhineet insisted on our 'lucky' side . I readily agreed. (By now, you must have realised I was just the captain in name whose job was to win tosses :P)

Then came the pre-match huddle. Manvir had advocated for it ever since the win. Cool ..no probs .. Being Captain thought I should say something important but 'All the best' was what I could muster. The twat, ooops, ref blew the whistle and ..........

FC Zuari vs Deepak's Team
Abhro(Fringes of College Team) Deepak (College Team Left Winger)
Manvir(then total li8 player..more of a runner) Aditya (College Team Striker)
Abhineet(better dancer than football player) Arish (one pro striker in Chem)
Vishal (Langda says it all) Arjun (Well had a college jersey on)
Arup (No Comments) Kisan (College player)

Sub Sub
Sumit (ulti li8..Berba mode :D) Arbab (pro 2nd yrite and bro of Arish)

There it is , the lineup spoke of the vast difference between the two teams. But we were not to be denied, were we?? :D ... Read on....

1st Half

2' - Cagey opening , loose passes were exchanged. Our lot looked much better sharper though I must say

4' - Still cagey, no half chances also so far. I was beginning to think this was one of those countless times when a game promises much but delivers so little.

5' - Manvir tries to stamp his mark on the game, shoots from distance, his wayward effort strikes Deepak and rolls out of play

5'2'' - Abhro is quickly out of the blocks to take a kick-in. But we lots are lazy !!!

5'4'' - Abhro shows his frustration at why not even one player is in an attacking position.

5'6'' - More out of anger, atleast that's what I thought, Abhro shoots on goal from the narrowest of angles.

5'6' '- Kisan thinks he has it covered.

5'7'' - The ball thuds against the post (made of bricks obv :P) and goes in. I still take time to absorb what just happened. Either ways, the entire team's on Abhro , the match is kicked into gear and the crowd comes alive!!!!

6' - The 'Reds' wake up . Deepak shoots but it's wide.

7' - Arjun clears another frail attack of ours. The ball bounces and running behind, I think whether to roll the ball out of play or keep it in.

7'2'' - Arish is closing in on me. I know that, still opt to turn and twist. I get caught horribly.

7'4'' - Arish puts a simple pass in the path of Deepak and he scores into an open goal .Talk about committing hara-kiri.

7'6'' - Completely knowing it was my fault, I was still moaning about how no1 fell back and track Deepak's run, especially taking out my anger on Vishal.(captain-like behavior eh :P) . Realised why they say 'Better safe than sorry'.

8' - The guys are down in confidence and the 'Reds' are completely dominating.

10' - I find it extremely disrespectful, that gifted footballers take so many shots from distance. Our goal was being peppered minute after minute with long shots.

12' - One of their long shots is blocked, however the ball breaks to Arish, who passes to Arjun, and he slides the ball home under pressure from me. Good goal I wud say :D .

13' - We have completely lost it. Knowing we have to go for it now, we are playing with a very high line, Vishal makes a seriously bad error, gives a weak pass to me. It's easily intercepted by Deepak; an easy pass to Arish later, the ball's nestling in the back of the net.(ok there was no net but feels better to write it that way!!!! :D)

15' - Cant wait for halftime, and there it comes.

It was time for a really inspirational talk. 3-1 down , it could get embarrassing. Or we could fight it out and get level. I could only think of Liverpool's comeback the previous night and kept reminding my team that we could still come back easily. (well had to say to instill some belief, didn't I?? :D)

2nd half

2' - Much positive start, keeping the ball well, and trying to create opportunities.

4' - Vishal has a pop from distance. just wide

5' - It felt as if they had decided to see out the game happy with the score. Negative play should be thrown out of sport I say.

7' - We were trying hard but it was painstakingly looking like an Arsenal team struggling to break through the sea of red men in an inveterate fashion.

9' - Suddenly, the ball breaks to Abhineet. He lashes the ball across and I somehow get my head onto it.

9'1'' - The ball crashes just wide of the post . I hold my head in dismay (and also because of the impact :P).

9'3'' - Kisan acknowledges my effort. Elsewhere, Manvir appeals for a penalty; the referee goes mad and awards it. It seemed to me he gave it against Kisan. Kisan looked absolutely flummoxed.

10' - There's a reason I called Abhineet our penalty expert. While we all were praying profusely, he coolly backheeled the ball into the goal without a hint of a fuss. Game On!!!!!!!!

12' - Now we all were pressing forward. Abhro crosses for Abhineet, just behind him.

13' - Vishal is in a mood for another harakiri; gets caught easily in possession and Arish misses a sitter.

14' - Manvir had another unsuccessful long ranger attempt. It was difficult to penetrate I tell you.

15' - The 'twat' (read : ref) blows the whistle early this time. Honestly, we didn't do much in the 2nd half but part of it was caused by the college-level red bus parked in front of us. 3-2 it ended then. Not such a thriller as the scoreline suggested.

To say we were disappointed was a mighty understatement :-/ . We had competed with them equally throughout the match but were let down by our stupid mistakes. All the adrenalin flowing after the previous win had dissipated with this loss. I tried to make them realise that all was not lost. We could still qualify from the GOD. That night after the shower, it was a silent team dinner in the mess wallowing in our defeat.
Afterwards, Abhro,Manvir and I went to watch the other match of the group. Bhaskar's team huffed and puffed but finally laboured to a 2-0 win over Falcon's team. We were pushed down to third in the group. Group of Death was definitely living upto its name.

So there it was. Win the final game and we were through. A win against Falcon's highly unpredictable team.
Returning to the hostel that night,I could only hope that our final match would not be as eventful as our first two had been. Won't be able to take another cliffhanger..........


PS - Well a longer post :P, and I frankly admit, may not be as good as the previous one. But hey I am no Peter Jackson or Christopher Nolan :D :P . But one thing that I can assure you is my next post will come out faster than Mohit writes his next :P :P

PPS - I, frankly, still have no idea why the penalty was given. Probably my head was still buzzing because of the bullet header moments ago!!!! :D. Ping Manvir on that front!!! He asked for it. :D