Atletico Austin
Austin Mighty BDs
Mighty BDs are Champions!!!
Austin Mighty BDs 2
All good things must come to an end; our Austin Bangladeshi Soccer Tournament ’22 is no exception. But the closure of the tournament could have not been any better than this! It was a battle between the energy, intensity, and skills of Austin Mighty BDs and the experience, composure, and subtle class of Atletico Austin. It was undoubtedly the best final in the history of this traditional tournament – a nerve-wrecking, nail-biting one!
Atletico Austin started the final on front foot as they had consistently done throughout the tournament. The thinktank of Atleticos decided to strengthen their midfield recruiting energetic and hardworking Raihan from Gladiators sacrificing key Center Back position of Wali Jr., who unfortunately went out of the tournament with a groin injury. Atleticos also pushed experienced Kollol and superstar Niraf in the front, with Captain Abu Masud, Raihan, and Jami in the midfield. Atleticos had the best defensive midfielder of Austin, Tomal and the most experienced player of the tournament, Khwaja at the defensive mid-line. For the final, Atleticos decided to rely on their relatively low-profile defensive line of Upal, Neon, Sohel, and Zarif. Instead of getting more people in defense, Atleticos decided to play a highline and block the break-through runs from Mighty BDs’ midfield with Tomal-Khwaja duo. Ever dependable Tasneem was in charge of securing the goalpost for Atletico Austin. Atleticos’ strategy was to play fast, attacking football and score as many goals as possible rather than defending against Mighty BDs, which they knew was always going to be difficult. The bench was relatively rich compared to many other teams of this tournament. Tennis Champion Sazal already proved that he can use his larky runs and assist the attacking third. Defender Ilias played a key role in pulling Atleticos upto the semi-final in Wali’s absence. Jashim who is known for his calmness and sports-brain had shown his nutmeg skills during practice matches. And Tausif is well-known for his aggressive style of play in defensive midfield.
At the other end, Austin Mighty BDs decided not to change their strategy from their successful semi-final venture. Captain Sami posted himself within the D-box of Atletico Austin with a view to exploiting Atleticos’ gentle looking defense. In the attacking third, they had Riyan and Munna just above the strong midfield of Mortuza, Shouvik, and Bahar. Mighty BDs brought in Nuruzzman from Gladiators who is a precious find in defense in this year’s tournament. With the best defender of Austin, Zahedul Khan together with young, speedy Reazul and Zahid Hasan, Mighty BDs’ defense looked more compact than ever! Manager Saiful Islam Niton again played another masterstroke putting Faisal Rashid under the goalpost, leaving Hasan Khan Tank on the bench along with charismatic and stylist midfielder, Masum Billah and Rezaur. For whatever reason, Wasim was nowhere to be found during the final! Faisal Rashid who led the defensive line for Mighty BDs for the last couple of matches had big jobs to do in the final! The strategy from Mighty BDs was to defend Niraf and keep feeding high balls to Captain Sami who posted himself permanently within Atleticos’ D-Box.
As usual, Atleticos started pressing from the very first minute in search for goals. With Jami-Masud-Niraf-Raihan-Kollol penta, Atleticos kept breaking through the defense of Mighty BDs over and again. Before Mighty BDs could settle down, Niraf took his chance (as he always does) from a distance, getting a nice ball from Captain Abu Masud. Faisal Rashid misjudged the flight, and the ball crossed the goal line, just barely. The referee adjudged that as a goal despite mild protest from Mighty BDs. Atletico Austin has gotten their lucky break, 1-0 for Atleticos! Getting the goal, Atleticos looked more fierce and kept attacking through their fabulous penta. At one point, Atleticos almost scored their 2nd goal, when Jami took an excellent kick at the top right corner of the post. Faisal Rashid brought out his pride in him, threw himself to his top left corner and made the best save of the tournament. Who knew then, that would be the match winning save! While Atleticos kept searching for their second goal, Mighty BDs kept on searching for counter attacking opportunity. From one of those opportunities, Captain Sami got a high ball from a deflected header. Sami cool as cucumber kept his composer reached the ball and just lobbed it over the head of advancing keeper, Tasneem. Defenders Neon, Upal, and Tasneem were dumfounded from the suddenness of the event! Sami equalized against the flow of the game! First half ended at 1-1.
In the 2nd half, Mighty BDs came out as a completely different team. Since Mighty BDs’ star player, Riyan was completely caged by young Zarif and Tomal in the first half, Riyan decided to switch sides. That had done the trick and confused the defensive line of Atleticos. Getting some space Riyan came out of the shell and started playing excellent passing football with Bahar, Shouvik, Mortaza, and Munna. Sami deterministically posted himself in the D-box and was patiently waiting for long balls. At the other end, Atleticos lost their rhythm up front, as Jami was out during half-time pulling his hamstring. Losing Jami came as a big blow and created a hole in the attacking third. Atleticos started relying on solo run-ins instead of passing football. Niraf and Raihan both started trying their lucks from distance instead of relying on break through passes. At one point, Mortaza from Mighty BDs and Raihan from Atleticos were shown yellow cards and they were out of the pitch for 10 mins each. Losing both Raihan and Jami, Atleticos were weakened further; and Mighty BDs were waiting for those spaces in the midfield. Riyan-Bahar-Shouvik-Munna quartet started to present the real beauty of soccer. This quartet broke through the defense at will with excellent passing football. Atleticos defensive line didn’t have any answer to block them. As the defensive line started chasing Riyan, Sami was left unmarked on many occasions. Finally, a long high ball came in for Sami out of nowhere! Taking the opportunity of poor clearance, Zahedul Khan floated a long high ball for Sami in the D-box. Keeper, Tasneem came out, and Sami somehow was able to put in a deft touch to the high ball. And the three defenders, Upal, Neon, and Sohel were stunned as the ball slowly walked into the post. Sohel tried to clear it out, but it was too late! Mighty BDs leads 2-1 coming back from behind!
Conceding the 2nd goal, Atleticos were rattled. As Atleticos went all out searching for the equalizer, Atleticos defense became wide open. Riyan, Bahar, Sami trio was breaking through at will. If it wasn’t for the tragic hero, Tasneem, Atleticos would have conceded more goals. At the other end, Atleticos attacking third kept relying on solo attempts, which inflicted quite a number of tackles on Niraf. There were discrete chances from Niraf’s long-range kicks, Captain Abu Masud’s attempted bicycle kick, Raihan’s and Khwaja’s long-range shots, but Mighty BDs defense stood like a wall along with their Braveheart Goalie, Faisal Rashid. Fasial Rashid stood tall and defused many attempts from distance. Finally, he had earned his redemption from his last match of last year’s tournament and helped Mighty BDs lift the Championship Trophy. Even ‘Khwaja effect’ couldn’t save Atleticos!
It was a thrilling final, that could have gone either way. Atleticos might feel, luck wasn’t on their side. They have lost Jami during half time; lost key Center Back Wali Jr. after the first league match; Tomal had to play almost the entire tournament with fractured ankle!
However, none can take the glory away from Mighty BDs. They have proven they can come back from dead and win it all! Their can’t-fail-attitude brought them back to the tournament three times from behind. No other teams deserve the Championship more than Austin Mighty BDs. Others might feel Mighty BDs had luck on their side; But ‘luck’ is – ‘when preparation meets opportunity’, and Mighty BDs have done it their very best way. Oh yes; they may not have the best player in Austin, but they definitely have the smartest player of the tournament, who knows how to win: Captain Sami!
It was a great tournament for all the Austin people and an honor for us to report coverage of all the games. Here, we, the Anonymous Reporters, are signing off. We will be back again in the next year’s tournament with more actions and thrilling encounters. Ta-da!!