Soccer mania

Even semesters in SVNIT are always the busiest. Not only is it the shorter one in terms of time, but also it always has all the activities crammed in it. These include MINDBEND, SPARSH, all freshers, farewells and job treats and of course, my birthday ;-). So more often than not, it passes off in a flash before you notice.

Even all the inter-hostel/dept/year sports tournaments are held in this very semester, with the exception of TT and chess. The logic is easy enough to comprehend. With the copious amounts of rain that Surat receives, most of our grounds turn lush green. Maybe too green for comfort. The name “ground” itself becomes a misnomer, thanks to the apathy of the college authorities. So come winter/autumn, the college turns “sportive”.

The story is the same this year too. In course of time, the inter hostel football tournament kicks off (literally). And my goal keeping duties are called for. Being in final year, nobody was really serious about this thing. They all just wanted to play for fun. Hence, no such thing as practice existed. Gone are those days of H8where night football used to rule the roost and all of us were in the groove. Since then, the only football we have known is FIFA2002 , courtsey EA Sports. Stiff legs, no coordination and it came as no surprise that we lost the first round robin match to H2. They then went on to draw with the h4 team and consequently, sealing our fate.

Last match of the league stage. H6 vs. H4. The equation was simple. H4 has to beat us by a goal difference of three; else they are out of competition. We knew we were up against a formidable opposition. (They drew against a team that beat us comprehensively). But it was a new day, and the guys’ soccer instincts were back in action due to last night’s match. The match begins and in the first three minutes, they push forward into our half. 5 minutes into the game and a searing kick curves into the top right corner of my goal. We were down 1-0 and it seemed to head for a familiar end.

The self instated manager of our team, GC, called for a change of tactics. With him screaming out at the sidelines, our team started to push forward. Our mid field (Rai, Gauri and Sudhir) combined well with our forwards (Kancha, Magaan and Yash) to produce some exciting football. They finally found their feet and continuous pressure produced an equalizer soon. The ensuing counter attack produced a goal for them which was disallowed by the linesman for off side (thank god!). And with the half time nearing, a low right footer from Yash scooted to the back of the net, and we were in front for the first time in the tournament!

The second half again saw them push forward again and our defense (JK and Dokes) did a pretty good job of holding them at bay. But soon, they managed to break through and scored through a corner. A nice set-piece. This pumped them up and they began attacking more. And then, the cardinal mistake was committed inside the box. A shove and the man goed down. Foul.
PENALTY KICK!

It was then down to just the four of us. Me, their ace kicker, the ball and the goal. All sorts of thoughts went through my mind. Should I go left? Should I go right? High or low? The referee blows the whistle. My mind goes blank. I let my instincts take over. He runs in, steadies himself and takes the kick. It was chest high, to my right. I stretch. First with both hands, and then I let one hand go. The ball traveling at sub-sonic velocity hits my outstretched right hand and goes out to the right field. It’s a SAVE! Yippee!

My team gets a new lease of life. They started to control the game. The time was running out, we were tied 2-2 and the opposition still needed to score 3 goals to get through. But they had given up in their mind. Tempers raise and some yellow cards get flashed around. The referee says last three minutes to go. A brilliant passes finds Magaan unmarked. He shoots and his long range right footer finds the back of the net. A fantastic goal! Its 3-2 with just 2 minutes on the clock. We play out the final few moments. The hooter signaled our victory.

Alls well that ends well. Some team did go on to win the tournament. But we are not bothered. We’ve had our share of fun. We may not play ever again.

But, we retire from the SVNIT football field on a winning note!

Go final year!