Week Twelve - December 5th

- The Tier-1 Playoffs are here!  It was a tight game right to the end last week between Sabr and Emaan with the latter emerging as the winner and moving on.  Sabr gave it a great effort but came up just short which shouldn't take anything away from a tough season which saw them riddled with injuries and player absences that they were not fully able to overcome.

- The Semi-Finals are a rematch between Taqwa and Emaan who faced each other in this game last season.  Taqwa emerged as the winner that time but this year have had issues with Emaan as they struggled in three games between the teams and could only manage a tie and two losses.

- The match-up between Ihsan and Taqwa last week was predicted to be just a game about personal goals and what happened was pretty much that.  A game that ended in a 7-5 win for Taqwa saw some big games from various players and the scoring title change hands as Sami Choudhry was surpassed by teammate Shaukat Khan.

- Sajjid Ayubi defended his goal scoring title as he scored nine goals in nine games and had two goals while paired with Ibrahim Hindy who seemed more amicable to doing the dirty work and setting up Ayubi to finish than his usual linemate in Usama Mahmood.

- Ihsan had already clinched first place so they get to sit back and wait to see who they will face when the dust settles between Emaan and Taqwa.  The break will be a benefit to them as a number of their players have various injuries so they get an extra week to heal.  A few weeks ago Ihsan GM Tariq Ayubi pleaded with Omar Sabri and Ali Wadee to not get hurt (although he only seemed to be looking more at Sabri when he said that) playing I-Slam Basketball and his worst fears were almost realized this past Sunday.  In a game which their team won, Sabri knocked down Wadee going up for a rebound and then almost landed on his face.  Wadee would later laugh about seeing Sabri's large foot about to stomp his face - incidentally both have been key to their basketball teams undefeated start to the season.

- Emaan's Furqan Salam was widely mocked (more by his teammates than anyone) for his name being on the side of a milk carton - stats don't lie as two assists in 10 games won't cut it especially after the spring season where he put up 24 points in 10 games.  Perhaps he should emulate his teammate Waqar Khan who makes an impact both offensively and defensively for his team.

- The Tier-2 playoff picture is getting a bit clearer as now Haya, Zuhd and Ikhlas have all clinched a spot and none can fall below third place.  With Yaqeen's loss to Ikhlas last week they have been eliminated but still get to partake as a playoff spoiler the rest of the way.  That leaves two teams jostling for the final spot:

• Ridha - they face Yaqeen this week who have just had their playoff hopes dashed and are now shifting into spoiler mode which may be a boost as the pressure is off now.  Ridha's season finale is against Shukr which will likely decide who grabs the final spot
• Shukr - this week they face Ikhlas who have just clinched a playoff spot and are now tied for second with a slim chance to move into first.

- Ridha has made an amazing push by winning three of their last five games when they seemed destined to crash out of the playoff picture weeks ago.  Last week they managed a big win over Zuhd by a 4-2 final score.  It should be noted that Zuhd started the game with an empty net and Ridha was clinging to a 3-2 lead when Rizwan Ali finally stepped between the pipes.

- The brain-trust of Shukr came out to watch that Ridha vs Zuhd match-up and were lobbying for Zuhd to use one of the Tier-1 goalies who had just played and commented it wasn't fair that Zuhd would have to play with an empty net - until it was pointed out that they didn't have an issue with that situation when the week before they played Haya who was without a goalie for the first five minutes of the game where Rayhan Taqiuddin stepped in and only let a power play goal get by him.

- Back to Yaqeen, a tough season that many would not have predicted but if you look at the number of absences over key games it starts to make sense.  A team cannot win when attendance isn't consistent as chemistry can never be built.

- Naeem Akhtar was held pointless last week, much to the joy of Haya's Waseem Bangash who was in attendance and watch as he remained in a tie for the scoring lead with Akhtar.  Yet while he remained in a tie with Akhtar, they were joined in a three-way tie by Amir Multani of Ikhlas who had a big game in his teams 6-2 defeat of Yaqeen.  

- Many are predicting this week's match-up between Zuhd and Haya to be a preview of the Tier-2 Finals as it features some of the top scorers and deepest rosters in the league.  With the expected return of Haya's top players as well as "Coach K" it should be a great one to watch.  The last meeting between these teams was a dramatic one as Haya held a 6-4 lead with five minutes left but a collapse saw Zuhd score three times with the winner coming with just 10 seconds left in the game.  Haya will want to show that they are the better team and exact some revenge on Zuhd who are the only team to defeat Haya this season.