NikeFive Champions Day, with photos!
Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009Football fans, have you noticed how there have been a string of upsets lately? The King of Clay losing to an unknown 23rd seed, Man Utd’s greek tragedy in Rome, Brawn GP’s dominance in F1, the non-goth guy winning American idol, Night at the Museum raking in more money than Terminator at the box office, could the summer throw anymore curve balls at us? Maybe there’s time for one more summer surprise.
It all culminated on the 30th day of May, in the sweltering heat, the top 12 teams of DUPLAYS NikeFive tournament converged at Raffles North and South to battle it out. At stake, the title of the Best Futsal team in Dubai, a glittering trophy, Nike gift vouchers worth AED 1,500 for each player of the winning team and of course, most importantly, bragging rights.
It was clear from the beginning that the likes of Ahdaaf, Faris Abu Mayaleh, Lambo and Unknown would be vying for the title, each of them were the table toppers in their respective qualifying groups. The format of the playoffs was such that, the 12 teams were split in half, one half at North and the other at South, each team would play 5 games each, and the team, from each location with most wins [most points] would then qualify for the final. The teams that qualified second in each location would then play a match to decide the 3rd placed team.
As it stood, in the South campus, Faris Abu Mayaleh, Big Sky Wings and Unknown were tied for the top spot, with Faris having a game in hand. The calculations showed that if Faris won their last game they would qualify for the finals along with Unknown, placed second. The team that stood between the much fancied Faris and the final was, Showtime FC. The match started and after going 3 goals down, it was Faris looking down the barrel of the gun and not Showtime, they did an excellent job of containing a cereberal team. The game ended 3-1 and it was time for some recalculations as 4 teams stood level at the top, to everyone’s utter shock, it wasn’t Faris Abu Mayaleh or Unknown but Showtime FC who qualified for the final due to their superior goal difference. They qualified by a mere 1 goal difference, ten to second placed Unknown’s nine. Shocked? Hey, welcome to the summer of upsets!
News from the North came in that the other team to qualify for the final was Ahdaaf FC, no surprises there, still unbeaten and still the favorites. Lambo qualified second.
To say that the final was a match up of David vs Goliath proportions was saying the least. Showtime had lost 4 games on the way to the final and Ahdaaf were unbeaten. Ahdaaf, with their emarati flair, was a team full of strikers while Showtime’s main weapon was an exceptional goalkeeper. The whispers in the crowd resonated loud and clear, there was no way Showtime stood a chance, the final was going to be a sham and their victory over Faris Abu Mayaleh was a mere accident.
Showtime knew what lay ahead, a juggernaut by the name of Ahdaaf, a hostile crowd, which was expecting them to fail and the subconscious understanding of their own flaws as a team.
The final was split into two 15-minute halves. The crowds gathered, the whistle blew, everyone braced themselves for a barrage of goals in Showtime’s net, the goals never came.
Showtime employed the same tactics that helped them defeat Faris, tight man to man defence, and attacking on the counter. Ala, Showtime’s talismanic goal keeper dominated his team’s proceedings like a general controlling his battalion, fearless, the ball had to go through him before hitting the net, and he would not have it, such was his authority that the ball would have frozen in mid air if so he wished. With the athleticism that would be a young man’s envy, he dove, he flew, he screamed orders, he taunted the opposing strikers; take your best shot! <
There are moments in great games, that help define them throughout history, it was Steven Gerrard’s first goal in that famous final against Milan, that spurred their comeback, it was Iniesta’s late strike against Chelsea that will forever be remembered in their campaign to win the treble, and Showtime were just about to experience their moment.
In an apparent effort to clear the ball, Ahdaaf’s defender headed the ball back to the goal keeper, the goal keeper was caught offguard, the whole crowd watched in slow motion as the ball landed softly in Ahdaaf’s net, silence, disbelief, jubilation. The own goal may appear as a tame way to take a lead in a final, but Showtime realized something else very quickly, they had just discovered Ahdaaf’s achilles heels: their goal keeper.
The first half ended in Showtime’s favor , 1-0.
All wasn’t lost for Ahdaaf. All they had to do was equalize to restore their confidence. One goal would open the flood gates. One goal to restore the crowds’ faith. But it wasn’t meant to be.
The second half started, within minutes, Alex scored Showtime’s second. The chinks were starting to appear in Ahdaaf’s armour, in order to score a goal they were leaving their defences wide open. Showtime scored their third goal before Ahdaaf could score their first. Towards the end of the game Showtime was clearly controlling the pace, they scored twice more, before the game was brought to an end.
In 40 minutes, Showtime changed the entire course of the tournament, beating two teams who were all but assured of winning the tournament. Everywhere you looked there were knowing smiles, everyone knew they had witnessed something special, an unfancied side had just routed the unbeaten.
It takes a team of men to accept defeat, not only were Ahdaaf gracious in defeat, but they played with the same modesty with which they dominated the entire tournament. I’ve seen too often teams resorting to fouling and shoving when defeat is apparent, but not Ahdaaf, their conduct; impeccable. It was almost heart breaking to watch them lose and I really hope, next time, they manage to finish what they started in this tournament.
Lambo finished in 3rd place after their encounter with Unknown. A special shout out to the boy’s in Lambo, they drive down all the way from Abu Dhabi to play football in the DUPLAYS leagues, real commitment to the sport they love.
So that’s football ladies and gentlemen. Today’s lesson: maybe it’s not about the fancied or the team with the big billing, maybe it’s about who turns up and puts on a show, and this time, it was unmistakably, Showtime!
NikeFive blog post by Muhammad Nauman. DUPLAYS would like to thank Mohammad for his great writing and work on the whole DUPLAYS NikeFive event.
