Bring on Saudi

When the going gets tough, the tough get going’ is one of my favourites among some of the famous sayings.

It has got a special aura, a surreal touch, and I staunchly believe in it.
The last time I used it (for a team) was in reference to Liverpool’s awesome performance against AC Milan in the 2006 Champions League final. It was befitting as the English club came from 0-3 down in the first-half to win the final in a dramatic penalty shoot-out in Istanbul.
Before that, well … I have to really dig deep to remember. Maybe it was in a ‘letter to the editor’ singing paeans praising Kapil Dev’s hurricane 175 not out against Zimbabwe in the 1983 World Cup.
The saying (and the song made famous by pop singer Billy Ocean) resonated incessantly as I watched Bahrain snatch a 2-1 victory from the jaws of defeat (remember they were trailing 0-1 by the fourth minute) against South Korea to keep alive hopes of progressing into the knockout stage of the ongoing Asian Cup.
They now face today’s challenge of Saudi Arabia with renewed confidence.
Brave Bahrain certainly got going, when the going got increasingly tough. Not just on Sunday when they beat the Asian soccer powerhouse and 2002 World Cup semi-finalists South Korea. It began much earlier, more than a year ago. Here is a quick recap.
The dramatic saga, involving intercontinental travelling amidst a war, began more than a year ago with the qualifiers. Bahrain, grouped with Australia, archrivals Kuwait and Lebanon in Group D, lost two of their first three matches in the qualifiers.
But left only with a sliver of hope, Bahrain gambled by sending a second-string team all the way to Australia for the away clash, while the main players were rested for the decisive showdown against Kuwait.
Though Bahrain promptly lost in Sydney, the gamble worked. With the main players back in action, Bahrain bounced back in style to beat Kuwait at home to book a place in the Asian Cup.
There was more drama between the qualifiers and the main tournament as coaches came and went through the perpetual revolving door. Milan Macala was given the task of guiding Bahrain in the biggest soccer showdown in the continent.
Macala’s task was unenviable as Bahrain set out to match its semi-final performance in the same tournament four years ago.
An embarrassing show against Indonesia in the opener cost Bahrain a match that they should have won by at least three goals.
Then the game against South Korea on Sunday and the rest, as we all say, is history.
What matters at the end of the day is the scoreline and it read 2-1 in favour of Bahrain.
The victory over South Korea was clearly a tactical one masterminded by Macala. The changes in the starting line-up worked, the defence looked stronger than it did against Indonesia, and the forward line appeared more eager and hungry for the kill. The sucker punch in the 85th minute said it all.
I thought Macala was as astute as the French detective (Inspector Claude Lebel) who is handpicked to find the assassin in the famous book and movie of the 1970s The Day of the Jackal.
The comparison got starker as I watched Macala’s histrionics on the sidelines with Bahrain battling it out against South Korea in the dying moments of Sunday’s match. There are striking similarities between Macala and Inspector Lebel (underplayed brilliantly by French actor Michael Longsdale, who later became famous as Sir Hugo Drax in the Bond movie Moonraker).
Both are square-faced, stout, and scholarly-looking, and remarkably placid. Like in the Frederick Forsyth spy novel, Macala has got the ‘Anatomy of a Plot’ absolutely right. Now we will have to wait for the next chapter, which in the book is titled ‘Anatomy of a Manhunt’, as Bahrain take on Saudi Arabia (one of Macala’s former teams) today in the final group match for a place in the quarter-finals.
Like Inspector Lebel, Macala will surely be calling upon his ‘old boy network’ to successfully steer Bahrain into the quarter-finals. From there on, anything is possible, even a better showing than the 2004 semi-final appearance.
The final chapter in The Day of the Jackal is titled ‘Anatomy of a Kill’. I’m waiting for Macala to say ‘chacal’ and finish off the assassin.

By Vijay Mruthyunjaya
vmruthyunjaya@gmail.com