“…it is the enemy that provides the opportunity for victory.”
Game Day! Our first football match was scheduled for the day. Two ferocious teams facing each other – The MBA21 set versus the EMBA28 set – which I happen to be supporting. Looking through the both team lineups one could easily guess that the MBA21 set were the younger and faster team, but the EMBA28 set prided themselves to be the older and wiser team.
A quick recap of the day, we had our lectures at school from 9:00am to 3:00pm and shortly after, the class regrouped at the school football field for their first match of the season, under the bright Saturday sun. The EMBA 28 Team (My Squad as I would gladly claim) consisted of the entire EMBA 28 Class with everyone having the different roles, from football squad players, to the cheer leaders and event video coverage team who were also going to serve as substitute players.
We arrived the pitch with a starting lineup of 11 players, 9 of which had well rounded stomachs. The MBA21 team had their lineup of 11 players, with no potbellies and substitutes in sight, one will guess they probably felt had no need for substitutes in the match. The game started and our squad assumed a formation of 5-4-1, kept our fingers crossed and just hoped for the best.
The Game started, both teams launching several attacks at each other, it was a high pressure game and both teams seemed to only have a series of hurtful goals in mind. Both team supporters screamed at every missed goal and cheered as they were awaiting the goal that will put their teams in a lead.
GBAM! A Goal!! The MBA21 Team scored and were in the lead, My Squads were dispirited and many of the players fell to the ground, the single goal demoralized the whole Team. The match resumed 1:0 with MBA21 in the lead, not too long after, my team launched a fantastic counter attack and we scored the equalizing goal right before the half time.
The game resumed into the second half and the MBA21 team scored another goal shortly. This time we were fully accepting and not dispirited by the goal but had the mindset that we could as well score our goals to win the match. Shortly after, we had a free kick awarded, who else to take the shot except our star striker Ahmed. The referee measured his distances for the shot and the opposition defense line. The air was tense as the match was reaching its full time.
Ahmed took his stance, looked at the post like he was making some calculations and took his shot. The ball curled above the defenders on the defense line and went in just below the cross bar and into the net. The Keeper was caught unaware, even the team supporters on both sides did not expect such a splendid goal. The sound of the ball striking the net was followed by short silence then immediately followed by a loud uproar from the EMBA28 Support crowd.
It was an amazing experience for us all, even if shortly after, the MBA21 team put in another goal and the match ended at a draw (yes I know In all preceding paragraphs it seemed like the story was going to end in an EMBA28 team match victory. But that is beside the point of the story). We feared a crippling defeat at the mere sight of our opponents but we emerged undefeated. The opponents seemed like the better team as they were the younger and more fit team, but we used tactics and our wits to hold the game and it ended in a draw
This match event made me remember my favorite quote from sun tzu “…it is the enemy that provides the opportunity for victory.”
