Spring Season - Week Nine - March 23rd

- Shukr opened the night with a 3-2 win over Ikhlas to eliminate them from playoff contention, shortbenched Ridha defeated Haya 4-2, Ihsan and Sabr ended in a 3-3 tie and Yaqeen stole a 2-2 tie with Yaqeen.

3 Stars of the Week:1st - Ijaz Chaudhry (Ihsan) - 2 Goals
2nd - Nadeem Faqiri (Ikhlas) - 2 Goals
3rd - The Black Panther (Ridha)- 1 Goal and 2 Assists

Mecca Conference :

RANK	TEAM	GP	WINS	LOSSES	TIES	POINTS	GF	GA	GD
1	Shukr	8	4	1	3	11	14	9	5
2	Yaqeen	8	3	2	3	9	18	15	3
3	Emaan	8	3	2	3	9	18	21	-3
4	Ikhlas	8	1	5	2	4	12	21	-9

Note: 4^th place does not qualify for the playoffs   

Medina Conference:

RANK	TEAM	GP	WINS	LOSSES	TIES	POINTS	GF	GA	GD
1	Sabr	8	4	1	3	11	19	14	5
2	Ridha	8	3	3	2	8	23	16	7
3	Haya	8	2	3	3	7	11	15	-4
4	Ihsan	8	2	5	1	5	18	22	-4

Note: 4^th place does not qualify for the playoffs   

- With their 3-2 loss against Shukr, Ikhlas has been eliminated from playoffs. Yet if they were in the Medina division they still would have a shot to qualify. Some pundits feel that this team never really recovered from their Week One collapse in the dying seconds against Shukr. Fittingly, it would be Shukr that ended their season with yet another come from behind win in the last few minutes last week, scoring two goals in the final two minutes to steal a win.  

- Emaan had a friendly face on their bench last week as Aazar Zafar made an appearance and showed off his broken foot in a fresh cast.  Ironically he was early for the game, something he never was while healthy.

- Ridha was not expected to win last week as they were drastically short-benched against Haya. A tough spot to be in for a critical game but they put up a great effort and came out with the win which puts Haya in some hot water as Ihsan can catch them with a win combined with a Haya loss in Week Nine. If Ridha and Haya get at least a point combined with an Ihsan loss then Ihsan will not be seeing post-season action.

- Despite the negatives, the trade for Nadeem Faqiri has been a big plus as he has been putting up points for Ikhlas since they acquired him - one wonders what may have been had they made the trade a couple of games earlier in the season.

- Ridha started their game with just two subs on the bench and felt there was a huge mountain to climb but no one seemed to tell Ahmad "The Black Panther" Ibrahim who took control of the game with three points to help lead his team to a critical win.  After the game one of his teammates summed up the performance stating "not all heroes wear capes".

- The league has received feedback about stats not being correct, while we do our best to ensure everything is accurate we also need help from players.  Using a player who has indicated that his stats are wrong on a weekly basis as an example, Yousuf Soliman, it is important to not switch jerseys on a weekly basis as that is what leads to teammates getting credit for your points.  Don't be like Yousuf, don't switch jersey numbers.  If for some reason your jersey number has changed please ensure to note that when you sign in on the scoresheet before your game.

Suspension News:

At the end of the Sabr vs Ihsan game there was an altercation and penalties assessed.  Supplementary discipline from that game is as follows:

• Tayyab Kalair of Ihsan received a warning for rough play and an attempt to throw a punch
• Tariq Hathout of Sabr received a warning for rough play and an attempt to throw a punch
• Ibrahim Khan of Sabr received a One Game Suspension for Leaving the Bench during an altercation

- Week Nine will have some critical games that impact the standings, in the Mecca Conference all three teams having a chance for first place.  In the Medina Conference the feature match-up will be Ridha vs Ihsan where old rivals collide.  If Ridha wins they would clinch a playoff spot and nearly end the playoff hopes for Ihsan.  

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Spring Season - Week Eight - March 16th

- Sabr and Yaqeen started the night off with a 1-1 draw, Haya and Emaan followed with a tight game that ended 0-0, Ridha made a late comeback to tie Ikhlas 3-3 and Shukr defeated Ihsan 2-1 despite being outplayed.

Three Stars of the Week:
1st Star: Akib Malik (Ikhlas) - 2 goals and 1 Assist
2nd Star: Emad Hussain (Shukr) - 1 goal and 1 Assist
3rd Star: Khalid Mufti (Haya) - shutout

Mecca Conference :

RANK	TEAM	GP	WINS	LOSSES	TIES	POINTS	GF	GA	GD
1	Shukr	7	3	1	3	9	11	7	4
2	Yaqeen	7	3	2	2	8	16	13	3
3	Emaan	7	3	2	2	8	16	19	-3
4	Ikhlas	7	1	4	2	4	10	18	-8

Note: 4^th place does not qualify for the playoffs   

Medina Conference:

RANK	TEAM	GP	WINS	LOSSES	TIES	POINTS	GF	GA	GD
1	Sabr	7	4	1	2	10	16	11	5
2	Haya	7	2	2	3	7	9	11	-2
3	Ridha	7	2	3	2	6	19	14	5
4	Ihsan	7	2	5	0	4	15	19	-4

Note: 4^th place does not qualify for the playoffs   

- Next three games are within your own conference. This means games this week mean more! Teams in a struggle to either claim a playoff spot or move up to a higher seed have more control of their own fate the rest of the season.

- After a busy season with player activity it was a quiet trade deadline. While his name has come up (often) this season there was some speculation that Ridha GM Shaukat Khan may shop Abdu Sharkawy to see what would be offerred in return.  Traded twice this season, Sharkawy has proven to be a steal with 8 points in 7 games.

- We do have one waiver transaction: Sajid Khan has cleared waivers and will replace injured Aazar Zafaar and will join Emaan for the rest of the season.

It looks like the Solimon’s are trying to recreate this championship team:

- This is the second time this season Haya has battled to a 0-0 draw. In Week Five vs Shukr and now last week against Emaan. 

- So many people who aren’t in the league still follow the stats.  We saw Samad Hamidi interview Osman Buttar.  Recently we caught up with Tahir Marouf who played last season and gave his thoughts on why Maaz Haq is not running away with the scoring title as he did last year: “I guess people started to get use to his tendencies”.

- Speaking of scoring, do you know that Black Panther and Maaz Haq have the same amount of points. Must be that Vibranium shirt from Under Armor!

- Emad Hussain gave his team a big boost last week as Shukr had him start on defence but with a limited number of forwards available he was pushed up to play wing where he made a great impact, scoring his teams first goal and assisting on the winner.  When asked if his success against Ihsan goalie was in part to playing with Ahmad Mobin last season and learning his tendencies, Hussain was humble and said he was just glad to help his team get a big win.

- Back to the Osman Buttar sighting, when asked why he and Rizwan Kalair were watching the 11pm game they responded that Ali Wadee was worth the price of admission - likely intended to be a compliment but considering admission is free...

- Mecca vs Medina: who was the better conference during the last four games against each other?
Mecca: Shukr, Emaan, Yaqeen , and Ikhlas
Medina: Ihsan, Haya, Sabr, and Ridha

Medina had a record of: 4 Wins, 5 Loses, 7 Ties and scored 33 goals
Mecca had a record of: 5 Wins, 4 Loses, 7 Ties and scored 29 goals

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