Spring Season - Week Eleven - March 29th Playoffs!

- Week Ten saw Ihsan defeated Yaqeen 4-1 to lock up first overall, Ikhlas dominated Haya for a 3-1 win, Ridha crushed Sabr 5-0 and Emaan vs Shukr ended in a 2-2 tie.

Three Stars of the Week for March 22nd:

1st Star: Zubair Wahid (Ikhlas): 2 Goals,1 Assist

2nd Star: Imran Lakhanpal (Ihsan): 2 Goals, GWG

3rd Star: Sufyan Kazi (Ridha): 2 Goals, 1 Assist

Here are the Divisional Standings after Week Ten:

Mecca Division

RANK	TEAM	GP	WINS	LOSSES	TIES	POINTS	GF	GA	GD
1	Haya	10	5	2	3	13	23	21	2
2	Ikhlas	10	5	3	2	12	26	20	6
3	Ridha	10	5	4	1	11	27	18	9
4	Sabr	10	1	5	4	6	20	33	-13

* 4th place in the Division does not make the playoffs

Medina Division

RANK	TEAM	GP	WINS	LOSSES	TIES	POINTS	GF	GA	GD
1	Ihsan	10	6	2	2	14	30	16	14
2	Shukr	10	3	2	5	11	24	25	-1
3	Yaqeen	10	4	4	2	10	30	30	0
4	Emaan	10	0	7	3	3	21	38	-17

* 4th place in the Division does not make the playoffs

- Player health and safety is a top priority for the league and there is talk that half visors may be mandatory for all players in future seasons.  The recent incident that has spurred this debate was last week where an errant clearance attempt saw a ball hit Emmad Khawaja of Yaqeen in the face.  He was taken to hospital for additional care and InshAllah will make a full recovery.  Despite each player taking care with their stick accidents happen so a request to all players to invest in a visor (at the least) to protect yourself.

- The Social Media team posted podcast for a Wilcard Preview, check it out here!  Arif Khan of Sabr and Hannan Ghafoor of Ihsan give their opinions on the Ridha vs Ikhlas and Shukr vs Yaqeen games.

- Congrats to the following players who based upon statistics locked up Regular Season Awards:

• Razi Ahmed (Ihsan): Points Champion with 20 points
• Emmad Khawaja (Yaqeen): Goal Scoring Leader with 9 goals
• Ali Khwaja (Ridha): Lowest Goals against with a GAA of 1.64

- Emaan had a chance for their first win, up 2-0 and then 2-1 late with a penalty shot awarded to Sulmaan Azmat but he was unable to convert and a late goal from Shukr had the game end in a tie.  An unfortunate ending to their final game and particularly unfortunate for Azmat who has been playing at a high level since his fiancée showed up to support him recently.

- Looks like Kashif "Coach K" Taqiuddin has a plan for how best to deploy Ikhlas as his gameplan dominated Haya and earned Ikhlas the 2nd seed and the advantage of being the Home team for the elimination game against Ridha.  His strategy against Ridha in their Week Nine game was a masterclass as Ikhlas dominated for a 4-1 win.  With Coach K scouting Ridha for their past three games it will be an uphill climb for the young squad who will need to have a good gameplan against the Ikhlas veterans.

- Emaan GM Naeem Akhtar went down with the ship as despite his teams struggles he showed up each week and tried to help his team get the win.  Something not lost on his squad who noticed and praised him for his positive attitude despite the teams struggles.

- Many players were discussing the final "H Report" (which you can check out here) for the regular season where "H" removed his mask to reveal it had been Samad Hamidi all along.  No word if this gambit resulted in a rating increase or if there will be further evolutions - only time will tell.

- Sabr ended their season with a 5-0 thumping at the hands of Ridha who took little mercy on Sabr hoping to end their season on a positive note.  The game featured the debut of Arif Khan who was acquired at the trade deadline but missed the first two games with his new team.  Khan helped to create a number of chances for his new line mates who were happy to have the crafty veteran joining them but none of the opportunities were converted into goals.

- While Ihsan managed to have two of their stars lead the league in scoring it was noticed that their open play approach to score goals ended up surrendering some unnecessary ones - a move that cost their goalie as Zayd Agjee ended with a GAA of 1.67 which was just short of the League Leader in GAA Ali Khawaja who finished with 1.64.

- Haya may be taking their approach to "Load Management" too far as in their game against Ikhlas last week they rested Maaz Haq and Farrukh Khan while Humza Ali showed up just at gametime so some speculated that he was also supposed to sit the game out.  The team only had four players participate in all ten regular season games so it will be interesting to see how they manage a full bench when the playoffs kick off.

- Mohammad Khandwala of Yaqeen will be hoping to have the same playoff success as his brother, Abdul-Matin Khandwala who was part of a Championship team in I-Slam Basketball recently.  Family bragging rights and honour are on the line!

- Shukr had to face Ahmad Mobin three times this season, twice where he was in net for Emaan and unexpectedly when he had to suit up as an emergency goalie for Haya when Fahad Mohammad was involved in a car accident on the way to the game.  Strangely all three games between Mobin and Shukr ended up in ties.  That said it won't matter now as Shukr booked their playoff tickets while Mobin booked a plane ticket to start his vacation early.

- With the hot play of Imran Lakhanpal of Ihsan, the pressure is on Khizer Lakhanpal and Saqib Khokar to demonstrate that they can perform when the pressure is on too.  Their elder cousin already defeated them both in the head-to-head games so playoffs are the only place they can reclaim some pride now.

- There have been some whispers with people curious if Shukr had some buyers remorse in the trade that brought them Arslan Mian who has not managed a point in four games compared to the 7 points in 6 games he had for Ikhlas.  Worse is watching the players they traded away in Sufyan Shaikh (3 goals in 3 games) and Zaid Toorawa (1 assist in 2 games) have success.

- Last week Emaan was referred to as resembling the Fyre Festival, prompting an observer to comment that Sulmaan Azmat was the Ja Rule character in that analogy.  

- Ridha in a generous mood going into the playoffs as they submitted their game recap late (again) and will start their playoff game against Ikhlas with a penalty.

- Looking at the playoff match-ups it will be a tight affair for both games.  In the two regular season games between Ikhlas and Ridha, the teams each won a game with Ridha taking the first meeting 3-1 and Ikhlas winning the second meeting 4-1.  Between  Shukr and Yaqeen things were not as balanced with Yaqeen dominating the first game 6-2 and the teams ending in a 3-3 tie the second time around.  

- The Shukr vs Yaqeen game has another family divided element as Shukr goalie Yasir Hussain will be facing his brothers who play for Yaqeen along with many of his Malton friends.  

- When reached for a comment last night by Bleacher Report about his confidence going into the Ridha vs Ikhlas game, Kashif Taqiuddin simply responded with:

- With their seasons over a few of the players from both Sabr and Emaan have inquired about becoming a GM for the upcoming Summer Season, details about what is to come next will be shared soon but be ready for a summer season starting soon after Ramadan ends.

- Curious about the playoffs?  You should be since that's what these games are leading up to!  Playoffs start on March 29th with the QuarterFinal games for each division in a one-game elimination between 2nd and 3rd for each division.  April 5th and 12th will feature the Semi-Finals for each division with 1st vs the winner of 2nd/3rd in a two-game series.  April 19th and 26th will be the Finals in another two-game series.

Make sure to follow us and get your friends to follow us as well (this is another way you can help grow the league!):
- If you somehow missed it, here are some of the video clips the league has put up to start the season along with our Podcasts:
- Pre-Draft GM Interviews

- Listen in on our First League Podcast! Belal Hafeez of Shukr drops in with some health and fitness tips.
- Listen in on Podcast Two featuring Abdu Sharkawy and Ahmad "Black Panther" Ibrahim who weigh in on a number of topics
- Listen in on Podcast Three featuring Arif Khan and Hannan Ghafoor discussing the 2019 Wildcard Playoff games

Make sure to follow us and get your friends to follow us as well (this is another way you can help grow the league!):
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