Finally, it was Friday.
Days of early morning preparations, warm-ups, weekend tryouts and strategic exercises finally put to the test. It was Happy’s first foray into the Advertising Club football championship (soccer, in Kayleigh-ese) and everyone was visibly and appropriately, kicked.
It couldn’t possibly have happened on a more hectic day, with briefs and files passing hands even while tying boots. Vidu is reported to have even lost a pen drive in one of the stockings. And in the absence of Kartik, the pep-talker extraordinaire, Praveen decided to don the hat of one. Little did he know, it was just one of the many he would wear that evening.
Pre-match briefings all over the world usually constitute revising game plans and devising last minute ploys to dismantle opponents. But here at Happy, on that Friday, Praveen’s only question to the team was, “Where is the team?”
The assembled few blinked together. Goalkeeping prodigy Gopi was missing, striking pro Ram was out injured, and this meant relative unknowns like Vinay and Athul were forced into action.
Mallus, like Brazilians, have no excuse for saying no to football. Rishi however managed to find one, citing a 10 year old injury from an old Goa expedition. Also thrust the pearl-white jersey upon, was the new CD of copy Naren, who appeared bedazzled by the flurry of action on his first day at work. And with Praveen bravely offering to wear the goalkeeper gloves, the team was ready. Just about.
It took all of Akshay’s skills on the wheel, and his too-fast-for-a-Zen machine, to split Bangalore traffic in half and get the team on the ground, just in time. And the charts were drawn. Happy was to play title sponsors Tata tea in our first match, and as our opponent’s slogan (Jaago Re) went, this shook Happy team off their lethargy and tiredness after a busy day.
Cheerleading squad: Nams, Ankit, Akshay and Rishi.
Praveen concentrating hard while keeping the goal
The start was far from promising as makeshift ‘keeper Praveen was forced into a string of saves to which he held on admirably, while Ajay and Vinay put in some fearless tackles to keep danger at bay. But the deadlock was eventually broken as Tata scored the opener, and it took a halftime whisper from Praveen to the lethal target-man Vimal to shake things into action. What followed was a blur of white even Tata’s bench had no clue about. The end result read 3-1 in Happy’s favor, but the opponent faces told much more. Rishi and Ankit who were lost in their own personal duel on cameras, ran into bearhug the winners. Even Vidu who was plotting out his next D&AD entry on the sidelines, roared in delight. Out-of-station cheerleader Kartik was informed over phone, and most parts of Chennai registered a panic attack soon after. But a thoroughly tired Vimal and injured Vinay meant we were substantially weak for the second match against a heavyweight Dainik Bhaskar, and subsequently lost it.
Praveen, Vidu (#6) and Vimal deciding tactics, or dinner… We are not sure which
That minor blot didn’t stop us from celebrating a great day at the office and out of it. Ceremonial ‘putting’ was observed at Bageecha, and glasses raised to Happy and newboy Naren.
Pepe Reina’s role model and coveted Mr. Safehands, Gopi Krishna, was finally located and flown in for the pre-quarters on Saturday. Even half-fit Vimal and Ram dragged themselves on to the field to ensure further progress. And progress we did. Brushing aside McCann with a 4 goal disdain, Happy booked quarter seats in our first ever tournament. The dream run finally ended against last year’s winners Group M, but for an agency of just 17 members, we put a country of 17% of world’s population to shame with our footballing achievement. Here’s a group of people really on the ball, having a ball.
Take that, suckers!
A few more pictures for the needy
Ajay: One for the camera
Naren: Still pondering over where his first assignment has taken him to
Kayleigh: Commentating or match-fixing?
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