"Who would have thought it would happen this year? It's the first time in the history of the club and despite the slim odds, The indomitable Hivers are through to the finals."
The commentator's voice was blaring through the stadium speakers while the fans were screaming at the top of their voices.
The players didn't believe it happened and instead of running around celebrating, the majority of them were crying and it was impossible not to as they thought about everything they went through. Coach Austin wasn't left out, the 52-year-old had cried his eyes out where he was sitting.
He was formerly a footballer but injuries prevented him from reaching the peak of his career. It was as bad as checking his name online and the number of injuries he had in his career would pop up first. A lot of people remembered only his injuries since he had no trophy to his name before his injury forced him to quit playing.
Five years after he retired, Austin went for managerial training which took him another five years. The first job he got didn't end well, he was sacked as soon as the team relegated to a lower division.
"Football is not your calling," Austin heard this several times and with how his first managerial role ended, it became difficult for him to get another job.
Newspaper vendor was a lucrative business then so he started the business and it didn't take long before he became famous. Every morning, both young and old would gather around his table to discuss politics, sports and other trending issues in the country.
"There might be hidden gems among these boys who do nothing than argue here every morning," Austin thought as he listened to the heated argument about the best football player in the world.
"You guys can be a star as well, Messi and Ronaldo do not have two heads." He intervened in the argument that day and that was the turnaround he needed. While some wanted to give football a try, some weren't interested.
He filtered them in training and had over twenty boys that formed the club, "The Indomitable Hivers."
Every attempt to get sponsors or support even from the community failed, no one was interested in whatever he had to say about football so he funded the boys from the newspaper profits.
He started with local competitions before featuring at the state level but they were always kicked out of the competition at the early stages. Many of the boys left while some stayed but Austin didn't give up on his managerial career.
He thought about the final while addressing the boys in the dressing room and there was a mix of emotions for him.
It felt great to reach the final but thinking about their opponent made him worried. They have played against that club over 10 times and they lost with a huge goal margin.
"This isn't time for celebration, you guys did a great job but there is a bigger challenge ahead in four days." He said to the boys as they stared at him.
"You have today for yourself and we resume training tomorrow. No alcohol, no smoking, let's stay in shape." He rounded up the meeting.
Every morning, they resumed training and worked very hard ahead of the big day. It eventually came and the boys were fully prepared, they were eager to taste true victory.
As they matched into the stadium, the team's favourite player started limping and Coach Austin became worried.
He silently prayed that none of the guys sustained injury during the match because those were his best legs.
The match kicked off and they hadn't played five minutes when the same guy started limping again. He was examined and had to be taken off the field.
Coach Austin's replacements were below average and among them was his son who hadn't played a minute in the competition since it started.
"Henry start warming up," he told his son while the player was being helped out of the field.
Henry was brought into the match and the commentator's announcement about the substitution caused the fans to murmur. The match continued and the first half ended without a goal.
"You guys aren't doing bad, we have defended quite well in the first half and we are going to be attacking in the second half. I believe you can win this boys." The coach inspired them before heading out for the second half.
The second half kicked off and every effort to score a goal from both sides was futile. They pressed hard until the end of 90 minutes when Henry was badly tackled at the edge of the opponent's box.
He was in so much pain and the match had to be paused by the referee who gave the opponent a red card.
While they were attending to him, Coach Austin's phone started buzzing. He checked and people had tagged him on different social platforms.
"Henry suffers his father's fate," the headline was trending and he felt really bad at that point.
His son was helped out of the pitch and as he was about to be substituted, he pleaded to continue.
"I can cope, it's just for a few minutes." He told Austin who allowed him to return to the pitch.
It was a hard choice to make but he had to allow the boy to get back on. The freekick from the foul was about to be taken and Henry stepped up.
The stadium went silent at that moment and Coach Austin had to close his eyes.
He still had his eyes closed when the great noise from the fans shook the stadium. Austin didn't believe his eyes, he was jumping and crying at the same time while looking at the replay from the stadium monitor.
Henry couldn't continue after the goal and he had to watch the remaining few minutes with his father from the sidelines.
They went on the win the final and victory came to Austin on a platter of gold. His managerial career turned around for good and he stuck to training his boys until they took the world stage and conquered.