Atletico Austin
Austin Fighters
Atletico Austin overpowers Austin Fighters
Austin Fighters 0
Many expected the second semi-final to be an easy going for Atletico Austin over Austin Fighters. Fighters proved all of them wrong; they fought out of their skin, frustrated Atletico Austin through the entire game and always kept Atleticos on their toes. As anticipated, the second semifinal of the tournament was a battle between the attacking third of Atletico Austin and the defensive line of Austin Fighters. Austin Fighters’ defense and goalie almost pulled it off. On the other hand, Atleticos would be relieved to have scraped past Austin Fighters, narrowly.
Austin Fighters built a strong defensive line led by Captain Sunny along with young turk, Ali, Shakif, Mukim, and veteran Jewel. In the midfield, Fighters had young Sharaf, Wasi, Hasib and playmaker Shams pushing Sabiq and Utsho up front in the forward line. For whatever reason, Fighters’ center forward, Sid wasn’t in the starting line-up! At the other end, Atletico Austin recruited energetic Raihan from Gladiators United as a substitute player for injured Wali Jr. Atletico Austin had Niraf, Masud and Raihaan up front just above the midfield of Jami, Kollol, Tomal, and Zarif. Atleticos defensive line was led by Commander Khwaja along with Neon, Upal and Sohel. Understandably, Atleticos set out a very attacking formation against the defensive formation of Fighters.
As expected, Atletico Austin went out for attack from the very get-go. The Niraf-Masud-Raihan trio along with subtle class Jami and Kollol kept Fighters’ defense busy with ceaseless attacks. Sometimes the defensive wall of Fighters, sometimes the goalie, Rubayat stood tall and rescued the team. The young and energetic defense line of Fighters made it impenetrable for superstar Niraf. At the other end, Atleticos defense was yawning and was playing a very highline. Shams, Sabiq, and Wasi trio was waiting for long through balls that rarely came. After almost half an hour of play, Atleticos got impatient and started taking chances from outside the D-box. Starting with Niraf, Captain Masud, Raihan, Khwaja even defender Upal came up to take their chances from outside the D-box. From one of these chances, Raihan got a nice ball from Captain Abu Masud, and took an excellent kick to the 2 nd post from the edge of the D-box. Fighters’ goalie, Rubayat who was rescuing the team thus far, couldn’t save his team this time. And the ‘Super-Sub’ Raihan took Atleticos to 1-0 lead right before the half time.
In the 2nd half, spectators were expecting an open game from both ends, which eventually didn’t happen. Fighters couldn’t get out their defensive posture; Atleticos attacking third kept the entire defense busy. Atleticos too, did too little to be more creative; instead, the famous attacking third of Atleticos kept shooting at the post whenever they have gotten an opportunity. Sometimes it was the Braveheart goalie, Rubayat, sometimes Commander Sunny, sometimes young Ali or Mukim or Shakif, and sometimes veteran Jewel who rescued the team from grave dangers. Tomal, Jami, Raihan – all had their opportunities, however somehow, they were not able to score even from one-to-one positions.
At the other end, Shams-Sabiq-Wasi did their best to penetrate Atleticos’ defense, but Commander Khwaja along with Neon, Sohel and young turk, Zarif stood tall and defused all the attacks. Austin Fighters should be thankful to veteran Deeder and Big Billa aka Faisal Rashid. The way they were giving directions to the Fighters and taunting the Atleticos, they deserve a dinner invite at Captain Sunny’s mansion. If Deeder had shown half the dedication for his own team, he had shown yesterday, Captain Mona would have been playing the final next Sunday. Faisal Rashid though will get yet another chance to prove his worth.
The last few minutes of the game became a tad physical; both the teams committed couple of unnecessary fouls. Eventually the game ended in a tame fashion. Oh yes, Fighters’ center
forward Sid eventually showed up 15 mins before the end of the game; but could barely do anything to change the fate!