Destiny was against The Daily Star. But it is destiny that has taken The Daily Star to battle a team they famously won against ten years ago.
The final of the DRU Rapid Securities six-a-side football, a fun tournament involving the print and electronic media of the country, on Friday will be a rematch between The Daily Star and Daily Jugantor since the two media houses’ enterprising clash in 2000.
Ten years is a long time and a lot has changed. The Daily Star produced a young brigade that started the tournament with a low profile but now they have come tantalisingly close to emulating the feat of their predecessors when they defeated Destiny, a Bengali daily, 2-1 in the second semifinal after Jugantor beat The Daily Janakantha by the same margin in the first semifinals at the green top of the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.
Abul Kalam Azad scored the first goal while Najmul Alam Nobin, the fleet-footed striker who could have easily taken football as career at a time when Bangladesh seriously lack quality marksman, hammered the decider after the Destiny equaliser. Both scored to prove a point.
Azad was sitting on the bench for a long time and he obviously did not like it. So when he came on, he scored with his first touch of the ball, a scorching grounder through the hedges of the Destiny defence.
Nobin took the challenge of manager Pinaki Roy in his stride by hammering the winner, a couple of minutes after the manager had promised that The Daily Star canteen would be free for him for one full month if he could score a goal.
The manager might have lost a bet, but he would love to lose another today when the final takes place at the Handball Stadium.
