9:00 PM Medina Conference Championship: Sabr (yellow) vs Ridha (blue):
The team that finished first in the Medina conference is 30 minutes away from being sent home if they are unable to score one more goal than Ridha tonight. Ridha has defeated Sabr in back to back weeks (Week 10 by a 4-0 score & Game One of this Series 2-1) and in the process holding the team boasting the league’s top two scorers to just one goal. One way to stop Waqar Khan and Yousuf Sowdagar is not to let them shoot. That is exactly what happened last week as Sabr was held to a dismal offensive output of just seven shots. If Ridha can repeat this performance then by the end of the night they will come out as the Medina Conference Champion and advance to the finals. As well, if Ridha gets the first goal, it is hard to see Sabr winning this game. For Sabr, it would appear that they need to get more shots on net. While that would be nice, I think their focus should be on defense. Last week, Ibad Khan faced 21 shots only surrendering goals to Mohammad Bilal and Shaukat Khan. His performance was great but tonight he needs to be almost perfect - if not 100% perfect. As the first goalie selected in the draft these are the type of games where he needs to be the first, second and third star. Sabr would be wise to check Bilal and Khan more tightly this game and see if the others on Ridha can score against Ibad Khan. If this plays out, I got my money on Ibad shutting the door long enough for Sabr’s dynamic duo to do their thing.
10:00 PM Mecca Conference Championship: Shukr (red) vs Emaan (orange):
Just like the Medina conference, a similar storyline is unfolding in the Mecca conference – Top-ranked Shukr is 30 minutes away from having their season come to an end. Last week, they lost Game One of this series 3-1 with all three of Emaan’s goals coming off the stick of Osama Soliman. In fact Osama Soliman was a man among boys scoring whenever and however he wanted which included a tremendous shorthanded effort. You can anticipate Shukr will be paying closer attention to him tonight, which puts the pressure on the rest of the Emaan forwards to step up. In fact, Yousuf Soliman had two goals last week in his team’s 3-1 wildcard win over Yaqeen and is definitely another player that can keep the Shukr defense honest. If you are rooting for Emaan then you have to be concerned with their lack of discipline shown last week. Rayhan Malik took three penalties and was automatically ejected and Mohammed Hamoud took an unnecessary unsportsmanlike conduct infraction that gave Shukr a chance to tie the game. If you continue to play with fire, eventually you will get burned. Actually, that is what happened last week as Shukr’s lone goal came via the power play off the stick of Maaz Haq. That was pretty much the lone highlight for them as they looked lifeless for the rest of the game. Not sure what it was, but Shukr did not resemble anything close to the team that finished first overall in the entire league during the regular season. Maaz Haq and more-so goaltender, Fahad Mohammad have had back-to-back stellar regular seasons but have yet to win a game during the playoffs. If they want to take the next step then the two need to figure out a way to get it done in the playoffs. As for the rest of the Shukr team, they absolutely need to pay more attention to Osama Soliman and try to get a better start in the first half.
No comments:
Post a Comment