- Ihsan went into their game with high hopes for their offense with the addition of newly acquired Amir Multani but he was not dressed for this game his teams offense came out flat as a result. The pressure is on Multani to show up and get Ihsan on the right track. Reportedly he has been working out twice a day to get into shape for the season.
- Shukr took a surprise loss last week, although with all the injuries the team was facing they had a large challege to overcome. Yet while this was the first regular season loss for Shukr this season, this was the first regular season loss for Aazar Zafar in two seasons as who was part of the undefeated Shukr team from the last fall season.
- Haya had their full line-up available for their game against Shukr - sort of. Ozair Naveed left a private box at the Toronto Raptors vs Cleveland Cavaliers game early to make his game however while he arrived to the arena on time he quickly realized he forgot his helmet. ozair lefts raptors game to get to his game, forgot helmet and missed first half of his game racing home to retrieve it. Unconfirmed reports indicate that Haya Captain Waqar Khan will be providing his team with an equipment checklist to review before each game as for the same game Huzaifa Shahid forgot his shorts and played in his track pants.
- The Shukr loss ruined the evening for Nadeem Qureshi who was celebrating his birthday that night. Coach K gave a touching birthday toast post game to try and take some of the sting of the loss away.
- Going into Week Four, the pressure is on Sabr and Ihsan who face each other with both teams looking for their first win. No word on whether either team is looking to make a move but if the losing doesn't end, both teams could try to shake things up via a trade to get going.
- Shukr got a massive effort from Kashif Taqiuddin who worked to cover for the missing players in his lineup. During the game he took on the challenge of shutting down Haya's leader Waqar Khan and was successful in the head-to-head match-up. In one instance, using his veteran guile to knock the net off just as Khan snapped in a loose rebound. Post game, Coach K showed off the scars from his effort with a pair of open cuts.
- To say that Emaan dominated their game is an understatement, Gehad Alhundi finished with six points, Yousuf Sowdagar with five points and Ibrahim Hindy had four points. If their top line keeps putting up strong efforts like this they will be hard to stop.
- Haya had a minor injury scare as during their game against Shukr, Shoaib Bhatti came off a shift with a lower body injury that he later said was minor and not a long term concern.
- Despite the loss, Coach K praised the effort of Jaudat Wasty who made a strong debut for Shukr. With his experience playing in the Coach K system, Wasty was expected to fit in well and that he did logging big minutes against Haya.
- Ahmad Hathout once again missed out on breaking the fastest goal record as he promised before his season started. More alarming for Ihsan is that the League's Regular Season scoring leader is without a point after two games.
- The injuries for Shukr have been mentioned but in addition to the season ending injury to Humza Hussain, the multiple games that Sadat Malik is expected to miss and the knee injury to Ali Malik. Saleem Malik who played through a painful hand injury to give his team a chance to win.
- Games for March 4th were cancelled due to the arena mistakenly double booking the night, those games have been moved to later in the season. That said there were a few interesting theories as to why the games were delayed, with some of the most entertaining being:
- Coach K trying to stall a week to help Shukr get over their numerous injury issues
- Ahmad Ibrahim of Ihsan getting his game cancelled so he could celebrate his birthday
- Sabr worried that Sheraz Mahmood may have put too much pressure on himself going into his game against Haya where he was filling in for the night and eager to face off against some of his friends - Sheraz Bhai had guaranteed a shutout
- Amir Multani trying to get his game cancelled after failing a pregame fitness test
Player of the Game videos have been posted:
Haya vs Shukr - Azhar Kalair with the Game Winning goal
Emaan vs Ihsan - Gehad Alhundi (he was not available to the media post-game)
No comments:
Post a Comment