Gladiators United
Austin Mighty BDs
Gladiators 1 - 1 Mighty BDs
When the game between Gladiators United and Austin Mighty BDs started in the scorching heat of Texas Summer, players from both sides were pumped up and showed their appetites to play the much anticipated the Austin Bangladeshi Soccer Tournament. As soon as the game started, Gladiators United took charge and started to dominate the game. Raihan, Maher, Dip and Shafiur took control of the midfield from the get-go. Mighty BDs looked a little confused and disorganized at the beginning. With Gladiators’ constant pressure, Zahedul Khan, the main defender of Mighty BDs slipped, and the ball touched his hand well inside the penalty box. The referee didn’t hesitate to award the penalty for the Gladiators. Maher came to take the penalty shot. He had a good placement shot, but Mighty BDs rookie goal-keeper Ayon judged the ball and stopped Maher’s original shot, but the ball rebounded back to field and Maher took full advantage of that and put the ball back to net again. For Mighty BDs, none came to clear the ball once the ball came back to the field. It seems like they were not prepared for this type of situation; 1-0 for Gladiators!
After conceding the goal, Mighty BDs started to organize a little more and made several attempts to the goal post. One of Riyan’s shots hit the goal post, but several other shots were saved by Gladiator’s goalkeeper, Shantanu. Gladiators were leading 1-0 during the half-time.
The second half started with a different note. Mighty BDs looked stronger than their opponent, especially in the midfield. Although Mighty BDs were mostly attacking, but Gladiators were doing some smart counter attacks as well and came close to scoring couple of times. Mighty BDs found the net just before the 10 minutes mark of the second half when Sami scored from a good pass from Murtaza. Mighty BDs didn’t stop after the equalizer and looked hungry for another goal. Gladiator United’s midfield looked little tired and Mighty BDs’ midfielders – Souvik, Murtaza and Sami took advantage of that. But Gladiators defense looked formidable with Dip also coming down to help and Abu Sohel, Rezwan and Russell not making any mistake either. But one player who stood strong and tall against all attacks is Gladiator’s goalkeeper Shantanu. Mighty BDs missed some easy chances as well and were little unfortunate not to score the winning goal. Overall, it was an even and clean game where both teams dominating at different times of the game and both went back home with just one point each.
