SAISA - 2011 - Dhaka

The tournament finally came and went. Saisa was the culmination of the action aspect of my CAS programme.  I have been part of the OSC Saisa programme ever since i joined OSC. On the weekend of the 30th november - 3rd December, Saisa boys football took place in Dhaka. It was my last Saisa football and i was hoping for a good tournament. Throghout the season we had been practicing hard and trying to establish the style of play that suited us best. I attended every training session as i am strongly commited to football and made sure I led by example in every training session to maintain the level of intensity as i am also the captain of the football team.

Training

Before the tournament we had played a total of 8 training matches, out of which we had won 5, lost 1 and drawn 2. The matches were very important as they helped us develop a sense of team spirit and helped us figure out each others style of play. For me it was important as captain to help develop a sense of team spirit and make sure that everyone respects the contribution of each other on the pitch and remains calm and optimistic even when we are losing.

As i mentioned earlier, i was now playing in a new position, that of goalkeeper. This was totally new territory for me and i was going to Saisa with only 3 weeks of training under my belt. In my aims for Saisa i had also mentioned that i would like to really concentrate on my leadership role and also help my team in winning matches. As Goalkeeper is an extremely important job, a good performance from me would be very important in determining the outcome of our matches.

We left the school on the morning of the 30th. We had to wake up at 4:00 am to go to the airport. We were in the flight the whole day basically and arrived in Dhaka really tired. 31st was our first match of the tournament. Our first opponents were to be LAS, the team from the American International school of Lahore. This was going to be the most difficult match of the group for us as LAS were even then, considered the strongest team of the tournament, as they were a daunting outfit with almost the whole team in the 12th grade. As soon as we started playing, it became pretty clear that LAS was an overwhelming opponent. Despite that, the scoreline remained 0:0 at the end of the first half, an achievement i can be proud of as i had many shots on my goal and managed to keep them all out.

The second half however quickly turned into a rout for them as they scored 3 fantastic goals, which apart from the 3rd I could do little about. Still, we managed to not let in more goals. The first match in a way was an abrupt wake up call for us as it showed us the quality of teams we would have to beat in order to achieve a good position. Also the team was still very unsynchronised in the way we played when going forward. One of the things we really suffered due to was the fact that one of our main defenders had not been able to travel to Saisa due to personal issues with the school.

On the second day we had two matches. One against the American School of Bombay (ASB) and against the Karachi American School (KAS). The match did not start well for us at all as ASB went ahead due to a deflected strike. They then scored another from a speculative strike from the edge of the box that curled into the top corner leaving me helpless. The whole team was already fearing the worst as we were already picturing a scenario in which we would finish 4th in the group and be knocked out. The second half of the that game however was monumental in changing our tournament. Firstly during the half time team talk we motivated ourselves to go and play with our full potentail. Secondly we changed our team strategy from a 4-5-1 to a 4-4-2. The result was immediate. Although we lost the game 2:1, we absolutely dominated the second half and were close to drawing level. The next game was a must win game for us and we came out roaring. I made a couple of good saves but it was mainly our collective spirit while attacking that resulted in a 3:1 victory for us and a place in the quarter final.

The Quarter final was a match against the International school of Chennai. Last year Chennai had knocked us out of contention for 5/6th place, and this year we had an oppurtunity for payback. The Chennai game i can proudly say was "my game". I managed to save a whole multitude of shots that kept the scoreline to 1:0 to us and later at 1:1. In the end it was our efforts upfront and the team spirit that helped us through and we won the quarter final 2:1. It was a great moment for us as we had managed to reach the top 4 from a position where we were almost knocked out.

 Unfortunately our Semi-final was against LAS, the eventual champions, again. However we vowed to give our 100% for the game. This match was my best match in Saisa. Due to LAS's amazing strikeforce, i had a whole barrage of shots directed at my goal, only 2 of those that i could do nothing about. Due to the performance, even the LAS coach came up to me to congratulate me on my performance. We lost 2:0 and went out, but we played like a true team. We were the only team in Saisa who managed to concede only 2 goals in 1 match against LAS, an achievement i am proud of!

LAS players in blue, bemoaning another save :)

Our final game of the tournament was the game for the 3/4th place. Unfortunately we could not keep our winning streak going and lost on penalties, after a scintillating comeback led by Bharat had leveled the score at 3:3. Despite saving one penalty and being the only one out of 2 people to score for our team, we went out. Everyone who usually scored in practice, missed. However they cannot be blamed, as in a penalty shootout, luck can go either way. The match was a true test for me in terms of showing my leadership as i managed to console some of our junior players who had missed their penalties and keep the team's head held high despite losing in such a heartbreaking way. For our sportsmanship we won 2nd prize overall in sportsmanship and even though we didn't win this year, it was a great lesson for me on what teams can achieve if they stick together and persevere.

For my performances at the tournament i won the MVP (Most Valuable Player) award for the second successive year =) Saisa has been a great learning experience for me and i will forever cherish the memories of the two tournaments i played in with my friends.