- A wild Tier-1 Semi-Final saw Taqwa advance at the expense of Emaan with a 2-1 win. It was a close game from start to finish (video recap pending) which saw Emaan take an early lead after a great solo effort from Ahmad Hathout only to have Taqwa tie the game and take the lead with two goals in less than two minutes from Farooq Khan and Shaukat Khan. Some poor discipline led to some players from both teams watching the end from the penalty box so hopefully lesson learned to let your play do the talking.
- It is hard to predict what will happen in a best of three finals between Ihsan and Taqwa, in the regular season series the four games were split with a win for each team and two ties. Ihsan features the leading goal scorer for the season in Sajjid Ayubi while Taqwa boasts the leading point scorer in Shaukat Khan - Taqwa actually had four of the top five in the point leaders category.
- The last regular season game between these teams was a mess of a game (as predicted here) with no defense and all offense in a 7-5 shoot-out. Both teams had nothing to play for except personal glory so the result was not a surprise. It should be noted that Ihsan was missing two top defenseman among other players giving Taqwa forwards more room to operate so the finals should be a more conservative affair.
- Ihsan may have found some nice chemistry between Sajjid Ayubi and Ibrahim Hindy, the latter doing a lot of the dirty work and the former doing a lot of nice finishing. It will be interesting to see how Ihsan sets their lines for the finals and whether they will attempt to line match with Taqwa.
- An interesting wrinkle, this years Ihsan squad features three key players from the Taqwa team that lost in the finals last season. Yusuf Ingar, Ali Wadee and Ali Khwaja have all been big boosts for Ihsan this season. Also these teams completed a trade earlier in the year as Junaid Mohammad was dealt to Ihsan for Erfan Bhanapatel.
- The Tier-2 playoff picture has gotten a bit wild, in the game between Zuhd and Haya (anticipated to be the finals match-up) the teams ended in a tie while Ikhlas defeated Shukr, unexpectedly propelling them past Zuhd and into a tie for first with Haya. With Ikhlas and Haya meeting this week, Ikhlas has a chance to take first place which seemed highly improbably considering their poor play in the middle part of the season.
- The final playoff spot is still up for grabs with Ridha and Shukr facing each other this week, the math here is simple as Shukr has to win to advance as anything less will see Ridha claim the last spot. Both teams have squandered chances to lock up the fourth playoff spot, notably Ridha with their 2-1 loss to Yaqeen last week. A Ridha win over playoff eliminated Yaqeen would have locked everything up but Yaqeen relished the spoiler role and arguably played their best game of the season.
- There are many layers to the Shukr vs Ridha match-up, the winner going to the playoffs is obviously the big theme but these teams also made a big trade earlier in the season where they exchanged star players who were not fitting in. All eyes will be on Talib Contractor and Nadeem Qureshi who were the main pieces in the deal but Ridha should be weary of Mujeeb Syed who has made an impact since moving to Shukr and will be looking to show that his old team made a mistake in dealing him.
- Shoaib Bhatti of Ridha has said to friends that his game against Shukr may be his last (if they do not advance to the playoffs) as he feels age has caught up with him. Its been a rapid decline for the one time Most-Improved-Player who has a hand in the record for most goals in a game with four. One of his friends joked that if a player from Shukr could be identified as also contemplating hanging it up then their game would be considered a retirement match - or a Pink Slip on a Pole match for you wrestling fans out there
- Waseem Bangash was held pointless for the first time this season in Haya's game against Zuhd, Naeem Akhtar managed to pick up three points in that same game and now leads the league in scoring. The lanky defenseman has been the heart for his team both offensively and defensively and last week had to cover for teammate Fahad Mallik who was creating offense for both teams - his own with his shot and Haya with his giveaways
- Atif Mian from Ikhlas has had a solid sophomore campaign for his team, his finishing is still a work in progress but his hustle has been recognized by his team with greater playing time and promotion to the top line. That said he seems to lose equipment on a regular basis and theorized that one of his teammates may have an unhealthy obsession with him.
- Speaking of Ikhlas, their GM Group has constantly praised their 2nd and 3rd lines as being the reason the team has had success. With the various absences and injuries over the season it has been this depth that has kept the team afloat.
No comments:
Post a Comment