‘Monta’ge of champions
Team Monta from our city, has won the local leg of this prestigious global tournament.
By : namita gupta
Update: 2015-12-12 08:08 GMT
They are young and raring to go. Team Monta just won the Bengaluru leg of Red Bull Winning 5 at the global tournament that comprises five 16 to 25 year old boys. The adrenaline-fuelled battle saw over a 100 teams take on head to head at the first edition of this one-of-a-kind football tournament. We speak to the fast, nimble and quick-footed footballers from the city about the unique format of the game, with five members in a team and no goalkeeper that demands wit and pressure tactics to defend the opponent from winning.
Making their debut at the knock out format, the boys share their excitement after their win in a freewheeling chat. The format is popular globally in Turkey, France, Costa Rica, South Korea, Oman and Hong Kong and is now catching up with the youngsters in the city. “Each game lasted for 10-minutes and got tougher as goals were scored and players were eliminated. Every time a team scores a goal, the other team lost a player. I’ve been playing football for five years now as a hobby, but now I plan to take it up professionally. I want to become a football coach. The matches weren’t a cakewalk, as the rules were new, but was fun at the same time. There was no scope of making mistakes, as one can lose a player. We are all from the same college, so we play together and are used to each other’s styles,” says the captain of the team Keshav Parekh (19), a student of Jain CMS.
Sudhir (22) and studying post graduation in management who was also part of the team confesses that it was a tough match, “When we score a goal, we could eliminate one player from the opponents team. Since it is only a 10-minute game, we had to be high on energy.” Akshay Kumar (20) another football freak who is completing his graduation adds, “The rules are quite tricky, but we scored well and won, as we had very good coordination with all the team members. Since all of us are from the same college and play with each other frequently, we know each other’s strengths and weaknesses.”
Nepalese business management student living in Bengaluru, Vardaan Lama (20) admits that the game requires immense stamina, “It is a power packed game, but because we play regularly with each other we were able to focus on our win.” Franklin says, “I also play for professional football clubs in the city. This is almost like street football and is quite popular abroad in many countries. It’s fun when you score a goal and can choose to eliminate a strong player.” The five member team has an additional player. Sudarshan who is a commerce student, adds, “We had a great time playing these matches.”
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