“From nowhere to Osmania Runners”

The journey from the first round to finals of the Osmania Football Tournament 2016/17, We can’t forget a moment of each match we played. We still got Goosebumps whenever we talk or think about the final match of Osmania Football Tournament 2016 between Loyola Academy VS Bhavan's Vivekananda College. Bhavan’s is one of the best team in Osmania Tournament and playing with them is a good experience

This all started with a team which previously didn’t even qualify the first round of the Osmania Tournament. The team is not at all ready for the next Osmania Tournament because half of the senior players are out of the team as they completed their graduation. Now, we want some good players to fulfil their positions. With the start of new semester, new players joined in the team but not everyone is ready to face the competition. We started the morning practice by our own and trying to build a whole new team. We still believe that we have a chance to come back and prepare to win again.

Between all these process, Semester exams jumps in and ruined all the schedule which is going on daily in the morning. After a month of exams, we are left with 10 days only after which Osmania Tournament 2016 is there. Our Coach Yousuf sir started pushing our team to an extra limit. Now, we are practicing daily morning and evening to get our self-ready and face our first opponent in the tournament. We selected our main 11 and substitute based on every day’s performances on the ground. We are excited to wear our new college kit and prepared for the match as well.

By now we understand that our team is pretty good and strong enough to win over any opponent in our group. There are many good teams are also there which are participating in this tournament, but they are in different group. On 26 November 2016, we played our first match of the tournament under the captaincy of Anuj (Defender), boys are excited and focused. We played well at that match. Everything went as per plan which results in great win by 6 goals. Team is happy with that win and confident for the next match. Our next match is on the 27 November 2016, we won that match also and prepared for the next match which on the same day. We entered semi-finals by that win and our next opponent is Nizam degree college which is one of the good team in the tournament. Boy prepared themselves for that match and ready to face them.

We are in semi-final now, small mistake we are out of the tournament. Match started with a referee’s whistle. We are good to go but in the first few minutes only we conceded one goal. Looks like it’s over, everything we did in the ground, everything we dreamed off is over. But we didn’t lose hope and continued to play with more aggression than before. Few minutes left for the half time, we scored a goal against them. It’s looks like every damn thing we imagined is back, our team is back and in the second half we scored more three goals to them and entered into the finals.

Our final match is with the Bhavan's Vivekananda College. By now, everyone know that our team has the protentional to win this tournament. The finals is on 29 November 2016. Our team has never expected to reach finals. Every player of the LoyolaFC is happy for the team. The day came when history is to be written in Loyola’s future. Ground is ready, Team selectors are ready, coaches are ready and players are also ready. Match started with congratulating each players of other team and saying, “All the best” to them. Match started with a whistle and players started passing ball to each other. In the first few minutes only, bhavan’s started attacking us but our defenders are strong enough to stop them. Match continued for a while with no goals on board. Suddenly bhavans make a comeback and scored a goal against us. Things stopped working for that moment, players are shocked, but we know we can make a comeback as we did with the Nizams. Its half time now, we know that nothing is happened. We can score a goal against them. Another half an hour started, players now are in aggressive mode. They want to score goal and save them as well because opponent is also attacking at the same time. We got ample amount of chances but sadly we are not able to convert them into goal. Last few minutes left, we are still attacking them badly, but we are not able to convert them into goals as opponent’s defence is strong but at last our Defender Kundan Reddy shoot the ball into top corner and that goal helped to keeps our hope alive. Suddenly, our whole team got a life and started celebrating that epic goal. Actually, we scored another goal also, but referee didn’t raise the flag and continued the match. Match ended with 1-1 goal on each end.
We lost that match in penalties by Bhavan's Vivekananda College. We are happy that every player in the team has given 100% to his team and we won that match despite losing. This is how we became the Runners of Osmania Football Tournament 2016.