Fall Season - Week Seven - November 3rd

8:00 PM- Haya vs Yaqeen:
What happened to Haya last week? Two weeks ago, they rose to the occasion and handled their business against Sabr. In turn, this sent a message throughout the league who the best team this season really is. Perhaps they invested so much energy and raw emotion against Sabr that they just couldn’t prepare themselves last week against a game with Emaan losing 2-1. Now they will have that uneasy feeling of knowing that Emaan was able to solve them twice this year - but this will only come into play if Haya and Emaan were to meet in the playoffs. What is of more of an immediate concern is Haya needs to be mindful of where they are in the standings. The bottom three teams, Shukr, Ikhlas and Yaqeen are only two points away from catching them in the standings. Tonight, Haya has the chance to at least put down any thoughts of Yaqeen passing them. It is an odd thing to picture (that of Yaqeen passing Haya) considering Yaqeen has only one win and they are coming off a loss in which they gave up six goals for the third time this season. With that said the tides are constantly changing in I-Slam, which is why you play the games. Perhaps it isn’t a farfetched thought as initially perceived; after all, Yaqeen’s lone win this season was against Haya. It is safe to say though that Yaqeen will have a much more difficult time repeating this feat considering Haya will field a full lineup this time around.

9:00 PM- Sabr vs Emaan:
Put some respect on our names! Despite defeating Haya last week to claim second place, Emaan still hasn’t won over Samad Hamidi’s heart. Emaan players must have seen the videos posted on our Facebook account and must be left dumbfounded as to why they are not getting the recognition they deserve. So surely a win over the top ranked team, Sabr will silence all the doubters and more importantly put them in a tie for first overall. For Sabr, last week they have moved on after suffering their first loss and went back to getting shutouts and winning games (defeated Shukr 2-0 in Week 6). You got to think, Sabr will be using this game to send a jab at Haya letting them know that, “Emaan can beat you guys [Haya], but no way they can beat us [Sabr], we will be ready on Dec 1st.” In the first meeting, Sabr defeated Emaan 3-0.

10:00 PM- Ikhlas vs Shukr:
It is obvious what’s at stake here… Both teams have four points and both teams are at the bottom of the standings. Whoever wins this game almost certainly clinches a playoff spot. The losing team will most likely have to battle Yaqeen for the last seed. Keep in mind this scenario is not written in stone and anything can happen. However, given what we have seen up to this point from the three respective teams, it is hard envisioning the end of the season not playing out like this. Ikhlas is coming off a huge 6-4 win against Yaqeen, whereas Shukr is winless in their last four contests (last week lost to Sabr). In Week 2, Shukr defeated Ikhlas 4-1. Strangely enough, this was the last time Shukr won.