Ikhlas vs Emaan
As the week one match-ups repeat themselves, we see the final regular season meet-up of the Cambridge clans. Or as the Ikhlas group termed it: Ikhlas vs. Cambridge Two.
Ikhlas managed to shake a massive monkey off their backs with an emphatic win against Sabr. Besides the win, placing 4 goals behind Zayd Agjee is likely the biggest boost of confidence that Ikhlas could hope for. And they pulled it off without Ibad Khan in net!
But this week it's personal. Ikhlas was thoroughly dominated by Emaan in their last meeting with Emaan completely dominating the ball possession and Corsi ratings.
And Emaan needs to get back to that performance after clearly struggling against the speed and tenacity that Haya showed them in back-to-back weeks. Haya out played and out hustled Emaan, and that seemed more and more apparent with each passing minute the two teams played. Perhaps Furqan Salam and Arif Bijabhai need to take a lesson from Haya and cut out some of the cute plays they keep trying to pull off.
My guess is a much more competitive game than the last time these two teams played. Watch Ikhlas to crash the net with authority, and let's see what kind of push-back Emaan will have.
Players to Watch: Ibad Khan - first, watch if he's even there. Then watch what he can do if the team in front of him runs like they did last week.
Who's Hot: Jibraan Salam had 3 points the last time these two played and has been very effective this season, so far.
Burning Questions: Can Ikhlas beat Cambridge Two?
Haya vs. Ihsan
The first game between these two was a game of momentum. First, Haya carried the game for the first period and some of the second period. They ended up with a 1 goal lead. Then Ihsan kept pressing and pressing but couldn't tie the game.
One thing I remember from watching the game was that Ihsan had possession of the ball for good portions of the game but had difficulty converting their possession into shots. But that's exactly what they'll need to do if they want to win their first game of the season.
Haya has been getting great performances from Naeem Akhter and Junaid Mohammad. There were rumours that Akhter was having second thoughts about joining a GM group this season (before being bullied by the league commissioner) but it seems like he's a great spot with the Maliks as they lead the Haya team. Akhter leads the league in goals and he, along with Mohammad, lead the league in points.
Haya has a considerable lead in the standings and Ihsan has yet to win a game this season. So expect Ihsan to come out with guns blazing. And Haya may have trouble with perhaps the only other team in the league that can match its speed with Yousuf Soliman and Ahmad Hathout leading the way. Hathout in particular seems to have evolved into a one man wrecking crew as he brushes opposing players off him like it's nothing.
Ihsan needs to get more offense though, and are probably looking to Nadeem Qureshi and his disappointing production so far.
Players To Watch: Yusuf Kapoor has done an admirable job in goal for Haya, especially his last performance where he turned away 26 shots.
Who's Hot: Naeem Akhter has been leading the charge for the unbeaten Haya.
Burning Questions: Is the pressure getting to Rizwan Malik? Saleem Malik recently went on a rant about how the media has been treating Riz unfairly, claiming that they should be ashamed. Things might be really stressful for the Maliks right now.
Shukr vs. Sabr
Sabr GM Mustafa Alam was given a pretty difficult dose of reality last week when his squad was handed a 4-1 loss by Ikhlas. After beating up on Ikhlas a week earlier by a score of 5-1, including a pretty end-to-end play by Alam himself, he thought his club wouldn't lose another game. But with a full squad, Sabr had difficulty keeping up against their opponents.
Here's the reality: The parity in this league has never been closer. Teams will likely be neck and neck the whole way through the season and while you might beat up a team one week, they're liable to beat up on you the very next week.
And on the note of parity, there is no better example than Shukr who have tied all of their games this season.
The biggest issue for Shukr at this point has to be their goal production as they have only tallied 4 goals in their first 3 games or a 1.33 goals/game average. Needless to say, that won't give any team enough wins. Shuaib Hussain will need to pick it up as he only has 2 assists this season and we all know his job is to score goals.
Hussain will get to play against his close friend Yousuf Sowdagar, who made his season debut last week after recovering from an ankle injury. Sowdagar recorded an assist but was largely ineffective as his team suffered their first loss of the season. But the friendly rivalry between Sowdagar, Hussain and Gehad Alhundi will be an interesting backdrop for the second match-up between these two teams.
Players to Watch: Arssal Shahabuddin missed last game as his daughter was born that very night. There's something about new fathers scoring in their first game back, so look out for that!
Who's Hot: Fuzail Thakur has 3 points - leading Sabr this season.
Burning Questions: How many end-to-end goals will Alam score this game?
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