d final was to begin 90 mins from now n i was getting fcked in my office doing nthn(dats wat IT professionals do absolutely nthn), d irony of the situation was dat my boss said i couldn't leave before 6, so weLL i bunkd d office had no other option afterall i had been in 3 previous international encounters of india (nehru cup'07 final, afc cuo challenge'08 final and league match wid SL in nehru cup'09) n we had won all d matches, i consider myself d lucky charm for indian fuTbOL, so obviously i had to be thr in this final too. Anyways... i was on d way to d stadium meanwhile nikE (nikunj) and UV(urvashi) had already made it to d stadium... my cousin meanwhile had reached d venue and was in d line buying tickets, i reached at 6 to a sight i had nvr seen anywhere in india whn it comes to fuTboL, 3-4K ppl banging d already closed gates of d stadium, i was worried dat fcK no way i would be able to watch d match livE but it was a heart warming sight none D leSS, my cousin couldn't get d tickets as d counters were closed... our hopes to watCh d finale were fadinG awaY :(
Got a call from nike from inside d stadium dat crOUch (akarsh) another frnd of ours has d passes n is on d wAy wid sm of his frnds, so d hope crept in again, but he wont be here til 6:30 so i had to get my thinkin cap on....... we could hear d loud cheers coming from inside d stadium nppl outside were screaming n begging to get inside but..... finally i saw a public urinal ryt nxt to d stadium walls.. well nethn for indian team (i was d lucky charm remember). so me n my cousin n 10- 20 other ppl who didn't care a damn bout the urinal climbed on it .. for d birds eye view of d match... n oh boI d atmosphere inside was ellecTric to say d leasT... it was smthn i had never seen b4.... but our urinal top party was shortly spoilled whn our dear POLICE started hitting uS wid thr JHADUs..... n we jumped dwn.. only to climb another railing 100 meters away to watch d match again.... had almost crossed to d other side whn lathi charge happened n we jumped outside to save our behinds..... phewww it was a close caLL....
The national anthems began....... d effect of 30 k ppl inside n some 5K ppl ouside singing our natioanl anthem was outa d worLD.... n den d players names were announced n d reception which dey got was phenominal...
6:30 PM ---- KICKOFF----
1st 45 mins
damn IT we were still outside n crouch was still a 10 mins away...... ppl were climbing d trees n doing god knows wat all to catch a glimpse.. d traffic outside was fckd up... (i didn't give a damn) i just wanted to be inside....
6:45 PM
Enters Crouch wid 3 of his frnds wid 2 more passes for us, finally we had a valid ticket for d match , but wat gud would it be... we were nt allowed d entry again... we kept running from one gate to another n askin d ppl sitting on d walls of d stadium ki "kya hua" wid every oohhhhhs n aaahhhhhhss of theirs.... Now crouch's dad is a prof at IIT-D n since he knew IIT's futta coach who was inside d stadium we had another remote chance of makin it, but even he couldn't have helped us unless thr were less ppl on a small gate NO.1 SO WE WAITED N WAITED N WAITEDDDDDDD...... but ppl kept on comin.. i decided fck it m jumpin inside KOTLA n watchin d match from its rook like 30-40 ppl who had already made it inside d adjacent cricket stadium, finally me n my cousin climed a wall n jumped inside kotla only to find dat we had jumped into a MOSQUE inside d stadium n we were politely told to get our ass outa thr.. so we did wat was told.... n den d whistle........... END of 1st half (IND 0 - SYR 0 )
INTERVAL
7:20 PM
dere was another 12 ft gate on kotla next to our gate no.1 n me n my cousin decided dat we had to watch d match anyhow so we climbed again inspired by ppl inside kotla (bout 1000) by this tym, my cousin jumped inside kotla n i was on d top of the gate (crouch d PUSSY didn't evn try he said its tresspassing :O , just as i was bout to jump too d gates opened just 10 secs thnks to IIT futta uncle ;) n i jumped directly into d ambedkar stadium n so did my cousin n all 6 of us finally made in into d stadium at 7:30 PM.... we 20 odd guys were welcomed with screams n cheers by ppl inside cause we had made into d stadium by fooling d cops.
the stadium had a capacity of 25K n thr were more than 30K ppl inside.. i had never seen such an atmosphere....... all d hardwork had paid off.. plus now we would win for sure (since i was inside)
7:40 PM
Next 45 mins
we stood just behind d indian goalpost being gaurded by our very owb superman a certain
Mr. Paul. The match was intense to say d least, so much so dat d syrian coach had an ugly argument wid d 4th ref n our coach Mr. Hougton cause his players were called OFF side.. (luser)
Neways Syrians were on d offensice n whn once d ball hit d woodwork we thought its almost gone... d syrinas were playin a physical game n indians at tym took advantage of it too (well all's fair in war ryt)...... Whistle.... End of a nervous half......
8:25 PM
1st ET
Indians started pretty well.. Steven Dias who i think was d best mid fielder for india thruout d tournament had found his touch again wid precise crosses and splendid runs on the wings... gawli n anwar were keeping it tyt at d back as well but nthn came off wid d indain offense in dis half.
8:40 PM
2nd ET
Indians went a gear up n started applyin more pressure on dere opponents, couple of chances came but went begging, n den bhutia was brought down just outside d box n as a result free kick India. Rennedy Singh who just got sub in came up to took d kick, thr was silence in d stadium. time wa 114 mins just 6 mins left..n he kicked... n it curled and bounced n landed exactly where d ball belonged ryt in d syrian net n GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
LLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! TO INDIA........ it was outrageous, d defence of syria was beaten for the very first tym in this whole tournament n wata tym for dat to happen... it was like d perfect ending.... we were hugging everyone in our site... couple of frnds of crouch n another one who lukedlyk JESUS .. we were all in a huddle..... n den we were counting dwn d tym... another superb chance came our way we were 3 on 2 with d syrians but we missed.. still we were happy thr were just 2 added mins. wid all d tym wasting tactics on we were sure d cup was ours. a series of corners n freekicks went Syria's way but we defended not convincingly but still.. 15 secs to go.. free kick to syria.. n a defender of thr's came flying in n deflected d bal in d goal... it took a deflection of our diving keeper Paul but landed inside d net barely 10 meters from where we weer standing n syrians went mad... we hardly believed wat had just happened... d west asians were barely saved wid the skin of thr teeth.. n thr whole bench was in d huddle wid d on field team.. we stood thr motionless.... Indian defenders kicked d water bottles laying on d side.... it sensed like d begining of a heartbreak. i had my face in my hands.. FucK was d only word dat was audible .. coming from d mouth of every indian standing thr.. .. whistle..... END of 120 mins...
9 PM
DREADED Penalties
Indians started it wid scoring d first one and although subroto guessed d ryt direction , d syrian scored as well...... IND 1---- SYR 1
rennedy came up n indian hero of d nyt who had scored d only indian goal of the nyt... dere was silence he kicked n d ball beat d keeper n it crashed onto d post..... FUCK...... we all blanked out.... n to add salts into d wounds Syria scored.. 2-1 to syria....
Chetri came to d front d took a perfect penalty , n kicked d ball again in frustation in d goal (if only it would be counted ) .. still we were just one down.. we had to make one save atleast somehow in the next 3 syrian kicks.. now stepped into d goal who easily was d man of d match, 23yr old Indian wall Mr. Subroto Paul... n he saVEDDDDDDDDDDDDD... yiippeeeeeee... lifeline for INDIA.. we were back in d game babY (2-2)...... we scored again.....n Mr. Paul stepped up again n he did wat he does best saved another one for India.... we couldn't believe our eyes... we were ind lead (3-2).. we just had to score this one n we would have won Mehraj (pardon me if i spelt his name incorrectly) stepped up n his shot was saved... damnnn n Syrian skipper who was also thr goal keeper came in n scored.. it was 3-3 after penalties , we were into sudden death... our hearts were in our mouth.... n Ind took d lead again n Syria equalised...7 kick n we scored again ...... Subroto stepped in again .. d syrian took d kick n the indian keeper in yellow n black flew towards his ryt n SAVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He had done it... Subroto u beauty!!!!!!!!!!! 3 saves in 7 kicks... exceptional nyt for d goalkeeper..... both d ppl n d players went crazY....... high fives n hugs were d order of d day were on d house........... noone could have writen d script better than this....... we claimed d title again, to complete a hatrick of trophies for india....... d crowd broke d barriers n ran onto d fields lifting the players on thr shoulders (typical indian celebration) we applauded as our bhangra boys took d victory lap carrying our captain bhutia on thr shoulders... n finally they lifted d archietect of it all Mr. Houghton on thr shoulders ... it was d most pleasing sight....... finally d tropy was presented to us....... n as we cheered .. it was conformed to me that i surely am d lucky charm for our Indian fuTbOL team.......
Signing Off......
