BMI vs. Mehran – Islamabad Cup semi-final Match Report
Friday, July 13th, 2012 2:45:56 by Ahmad Mehdi
Young BMI players beat one of the best football clubs in the history of Islamabad to reach the final of the inter-city tournament.
The Suzuki Swift Islamabad Soccer Cup, organized by the ‘Constructive Youth of Pakistan’, witnessed another shocking upset as the young players from BMI managed to beat one of the best sides in the history of Islamabad, Mehran.
Mehran F.C. is considered to be one of the top footballing sides in Islamabad and that is the reason why they were considered to be the favourites to win the competition.
Having the most talented players of Islamabad in their possession, Mehran F.C. came out with all guns blazing as the tournament kicked off.
Muhammad Tariq was given the chance to prove his worth for the G-9 club, and was given the responsibility of managing the start-studded squad. However, he was unable to resist the determined and high-spirited BMI team as both the teams locked horns with
each other on Tuesday.
The teams had to choose ten players and while Muhammad Tariq had his players set for the big game, BMI were in a selection crises with their star player Muhammad Masud making a return into the first-team.
Masud added the strength which the team lacked in previous games, but the whole squad was definitely in high spirits and each and every player was excited about much-anticipated fixture.
BMI were the underdogs throughout the tournament, especially with their star performers, Armoghan and Shahzeb, missing out due to their respective injuries.
However, their vice-captain, Ali Abbasi, helped the team throughout the competition, and managed to take them through to the semi-finals after scoring a stunner against the Galacticos.
Mehran named their starting seven with their first-choice goalkeeper being available for the team. The rest of the six players included Mustafa, Murtaza, Shadman, Ata, Kashif, and Ali. Guddu was benched and was later brought on during the game.
On the other hand, BMI named their 10-man squad and with two players being under the age of 16, the Frolympic Champions were considered to be the underdogs. Since Omer Khalid was given a leave for personal privilege, it was Hassaan Ahmed Butt who was called
in to replace the BMI number 23.
Butt was assisted by two defenders: Muhammad Ali Abbasi and Umair Khan Marwat. Marwat joined the team late into the tournament but with his splendid performances, he was able to maintain his position in the first team.
The midfielders included Sualeh, Ali Imran and Muhammad while Gujjar started the game as a lone-striker.
The three substitutes available for BMI were Moeez Sajjad, Saad Abbasi and Faizan.
As the referee blew his whistle, BMI took less than five minutes to take the lead. With the crowd backing them from the start, the underdogs were in high-spirits and took a perfect start in the big game.
It was Ali Imran with his magic on the left-wing. The midfield maestro got past one midfielder with ease and nut-megged the defender to line-up a shot on goal. The shot taken deflected off the goalkeeper and Gujjar waited for the ball to bounce as he headed
it home and found the back of the net.
BMI took the lead and even they knew that now it was time for them to park the bus. They were still quite vigilant on the counters but their game was actually hanging on the shoulders of vice-captain, Ali Abbasi; Umair Marwat, and the holding-midfielder,
Sualeh.
These three managed to give out a superb performance throughout the first half and despite dominating possession throughout the first 30 minutes, Mehran F.C. were unable to score a goal. The first half ended with BMI leading the game 1-0 and with their performance,
they were favourites to qualify for the final.
With the second half kicking off, BMI brought on Faizan to replace Gujjar while Mehran decided to stick to their plan, only now they had a more direct approach.
Their hunger for a goal was quite obvious and that is the reason why they kept on trying their luck on goal from distance.
A couple of last-minute tackles from Marwat and Ali Abbasi saved the day for BMI while Hassaan Ahmed Butt was also on his toes throughout the game.
However, despite BMI’s defensive efforts, Mehran were able to equalize. It was a shot from distance by Ali which deflected off BMI’s defenders and left the goalkeeper with no chance, finding the back of the net.
With only five minutes left in the game, everyone thought the match will head towards penalties. But with Ali Abbasi on the pitch, anything can be expected. Just like he did it with the Galacticos, he repeated his exploits against Mehran F.C.
With only a minute remaining in the game, Ali Imran was fouled right on the half-way line and it was Abbasi himself who decided to take the free kick. While the defenders thought that he would play it short, Abbasi decided to go direct on goal and the plan
worked out. Gujjar made way for the ball, as an outer from the BMI defender was enough to find the back of the net.
It was a memorable strike from the vice-captain, who left the crowd with no choice but to invade the pitch and celebrate. Mehran F.C. were left shocked and their coach, Muhammad Tariq, had no answer to the goal except ask for more stoppage time from the
referee.
The referee, however, only awarded a single minute and that was well wasted by Hassaan Butt, who took the goal-kick with ease and heard the referee’s final whistle.
It was an unbelievable match with everything which a football fan needs: goals, drama, fouls, cards, action, bars, saves, and what not?
It was a match which was not to be missed and even though Mehran were considered to be the favourites to win the tournament, BMI were able to knock them out despite being the underdogs.
Muhammad Tariq was not seen during the time BMI were busy celebrating, and he did not even show enough spirit for the game to shake hands with the opposing team which performed phenomenally and won the match.
It was a footballing spectacle and BMI headed into the final to face the Red Devils, who managed to beat Thudda United 5-0 in their respective semi-final.
It was a five-star performance by the whole BMI side, but the defender Umair Khan Marwat was given the man-of-the-match award after his sturdy defensive show for the team. Two players who deserve special mention include the vice-captain who scored the winning
goal, Muhammad Ali Abbasi, and the player who made the difference, Muhammad Masud.
Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=28765
Posted by Ahmad Mehdi
on Jul 13 2012. Filed under Pakistan, Sports.
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