The Daily Star win media football
For a split second, the entire stadium held its collective breath. There was almost pin-drop silence as Jasim Uddin stepped up to attempt to convert from the spot. At stake was the destination of the DRU-Rapid Securities Media Football trophy.
It had all come down to this. The difference between champions and mortals had manifested itself in a sudden death penalty shoot-out in the final yesterday. In football terms, it simply did not get more nerve-wrecking than this.
The weight of the watching hundreds bore down on Jasim’s wiry shoulders, but as soon as he started his relatively long run-up, you knew that there was only one place the ball would end up: at the back of the net. His shot was precise, almost surgical and even as the net bulged and the referee blew three sharp blasts to signal the end of the final, the players and members of The Daily Star had already embarked in raucous celebrations. The title was theirs, and Jugantor had been vanquished in a tense battle.
In reality, though it should not have come to penalties. Throughout the course of both 15-minute halves, The Daily Star was much the better team. Amidst a riveting atmosphere, punctuated by dance and karate routines, an under-performing Jugantor tried their best to keep up with The Daily Star’s sparkling attacking duo of Najmul Alam Nobin and Al-Amin.
The rookie and the stalwart struck up a telepathic understanding as they consistently exchanged passes to break through the Jugantor defence, invoking memories of Romario and Bebeto in their heyday. Their finishing however was more Bangladeshi than Brazilian and that added to the difficulty in adapting to the new surface at the Handball Stadium, preventing the eventual champions from running away with this tie in normal time.
Jugantor were under the cosh for most of the game and even when they did venture forward, they found sweeper Morshed Ali Khan in imperious form. The veteran stopper belied his portly shape and advancing years with crucial interventions and no-nonsense football. His partner, captain Hasan Jahed Tusher proved an able foil as playmaker Abul Kalam Azad did his namesake proud, knitting the team together in crucial moments.
Throughout the tournament, The Daily Star had relied on their brilliant attacking duo, but Friday’s final win owed much to a team effort as normal time ended scoreless. Jasim hardly had a save to make the entire game, but in the shootout he came to life saving twice and psyching another shooter enough for him to screw his effort wide.
Fittingly, it was him who stepped up to seal the deal, bag the man of the final award and secure The Daily Star a handsome cheque of Tk 50,000 as champions.
Jugantor though did not end the game empty-handed as Tk 25,000 made up for the heartbreak of a final loss.
All that was left was the crowning of the champions and Minister for Information, Abul Kalam Azad, did the honours as the chief guest. Special Guest Mohammad Hanif Bhuiyan, managing director of Rapid Securities also handed over the man of the match award to Jasim. Finally, Golam Quddus Chowdhury, managing director of Transcom Beverages, handed over the player-of-the-tournament trophy to Jugantor’s Ujjal.
In the end however, yesterday only served to validate the old cliché of ‘history repeating itself.’ These two teams also met in the final back in 2000. On that occasion too, The Daily Star smiled all the way to the bank.
