Austin Powers
Austin Bengal Tigers
Austin Powers won, one step ahead to the semi!
Austin Bengal Tigers 1
It was a do-or-die match for the defending Champion Austin Powers after losing the first match to Austin Fighters. It was no less important for Austin Bengal Tigers either as they could have stepped one foot into the Semifinal with a win!
Austin Powers started to go all out from the very beginning and understandably so. Powers had Sahil, Zayed, and Farhan AB up front just above the midfield of Omee, Sabbir, and Captain Anuj himself. Powers had Fahim Shahriar, Hasib, Rajib led by Zakir Shafi at defense and untested Jalal under the goal post. On the other hand, Austin Bengal Tigers came up with a surprise formation pulling Rizwan back at the defensive midfield and pushing Captain Mona to the midfield. They had experienced Shahid, Ovi, Sadi, and Rizvi at defense just behind the new looking defensive-mid of Rizwan and Deeder. Captain Mona placed himself at the midfield along with Moinul, pushing Istiaque and Ayman forward. It appeared, Bengal Tiger’s tactic was to go for counter attacks. The first half was a great battle between the attacking third of Austin Powers and the defense of Austin Bengal Tigers. Although there were attacks from Powers and counterattacks from Bengal Tigers, both the defenses negotiated the attacks with relative ease, and the first half ended at 0-0.
Led the way....
Austin Powers seemed the most frustrated of the two sides during the half-time. Their star player, Sahil wasn’t himself in the first half. Beginning of the 2nd half, Powers were desperate for goals and started building attacks through Anuj, Zayed, Sahil, and Farhan AB all pushing up front. That created a lot of spaces around the mid-circle region, and that’s the space Bengal Tigers was waiting for. Moinul, Istiaque, and Captain Mona kept producing long balls that created a lot of confusion at Powers’ defense. Out of that confusion, Powers’ defense lost a ball to Ayman at the edge of the D-box who passed it to unmarked Rizwan and he had no problem sending the ball back of the net, 1-0 for Austin Bengal Tigers! The dream of the semi-final was looking brighter for Bengal Tigers and it was fading for Powers.
Conceding a goal, Powers became more desperate and kept pressing at Bengal Tigers’ defense. Out of that press, Powers got a lucky break, when Anuj’s shot hit Deeder’s innocent hand within the D-box. The referee called for the spot kick and Captain Anuj made no mistake scoring from the spot, 1-1! Deeder might consider himself unlucky.
After the equalizer from Austin Powers both the teams were desperate for the winning goal. Young Ayman of Bengal Tigers again pulled his hamstring and limped out of the game, 2nd match in a row. In Ayman’s absence, Moinul played excellent passing with Istiaque which created trouble for Austin Powers. On the other side, Anuj was as usual the center of Powers’ attacks. Captain Anuj produced several excellent through balls to Sahil and Farhan AB. On any other day, Sahil would have scored from those, but not today! When the dream of the semifinal was fading for Powers at the dying moment of the game, Fahim Shahriar took a corner kick in place of regular taker, Sahil. Sabbir, completely unmarked somehow found a way to score from close range! Bengal Tiger’s goalie, Kibria tried his best but couldn’t do much; 2-1 for Austin Powers!
Reviving the dream of semifinal, Powers defended the remainder of the game out of their skin. Austin Bengal Tigers went all out to score the equalizing goal, but it wasn’t to be!
Both the teams still kept their semifinal dreams alive, but one of them (Bengal Tigers) will have to rely on others to go through even if they win their last match! Entire group is still wide open, any team can go through.