AFRO VS DYNAMIC

In their fourth and crucial final match against Afro, Dynamic’s tunnel of hope to get the better of Afro was suffocated by the latter as both teams let not just a matter of will but also a matter of skill decide who was to be top. Without the assistance of lead-scorer ‘Maza’ Hemraj and playmaker Adil “Rico” Haji, Dynamic were left to pick up their pieces against a clearly on-form Arif Somji who, besides single-handedly winning the match with his assortment of five goals from every corner and distance that would convince Chelsea, also cemented a solid fourth point for his team. Remarkably, all this was at the expense of nothing as Dynamic’s moves were choked by the hard-working Afro defense unit of Altaf Rashid and Azam. Upon Maza’s arrival the task became considerably harder but still gave Husain Walji time to score his only goal of the day. Although you surely can’t miss him, not-an-often-sight-in-attack Azam came up flanked by Husain Walji and captain Husain Somji, cheered on to take a shot. As Dynamic tightened their leg muscles to intercept the inevitable smashing strike, Azam passed to Walji on the left who gave it back, and same with Somji as though asking for permission and then scored – a worthy goal from a worthy gesture.

EASTPAC VS UNIVERSAL

Some of the players have played with each other on grass, tarmac and even sand. But these two teams on Friday morning played a different game – indoor. Universal weren’t reading anything out of their last draw with Easpac, and the match showed that they were right to play their own game. Two minutes in, Salman Ibraheem got the ball through someone’s legs and passed to Ali Damji in center whose shot was deflected. But Anis Somji quickly grabbed it and played with Salman in the thick of Eastpac’s defense. Seeing as there was no chance for a shot from center, Salman chip-shot it from the right side and Universal had the lead. Later on Salman drew attention with his weekly transformation into himself after passing the Eastpac defense and hopping past the goalie, but the shot he churned out was devoid of any such effort, as it hit the post. This prompted the crowd response, “that was harder to miss!” which Eastpac took heart from. Ali Mombasa decided to address the pressing matter of the fact they were loosing in the nick of time with a run on the right side and center-pass to Sadiq Jetha, who very nearly slid into the goal with the ball to draw with Universal again.

ZAGY VS TANGERINE

Tangerine took another four points in their slow climb up the ladder with this win against Zagy, but it was nothing compared to Zagy’s whose ascent was nonexistent. With Bilal Ibraheem taking place of the injured Rasool Chatoo, it simultaneously made up for the lack of Rasool and Shafqat Fazeldin who was away. Bilal’s first shot of the tournament hit the post after which he decided on limiting them to just goal-scoring ones. A pass from left to center connected with Ali Jetha who smartly back-heeled it into the Zagy goal amidst two defenders and the goalie, and Sadiq Jetha was asked, “why can’t you do that?” But he wasn’t finished yet and went on with two more goals making him the highest goal-scorer in the match after a sleepy several weeks on and off the bench. Bilal added two goals in Tangerine’s ingredients for a win, with Sibtain mixing it with two goals of his own and captain Suhail Fazeldin finishing it with a single goal from himself.

IMAGIO VS EASTERN FREIGHT

Everybody queued up for a slice of ‘anti-imagioism’ at the beginning of this game but the cake was still sweet for top-three leading team Imagio Fashions. Even with this friendly hostility Imagio considered the spectators friends as Imran Lawati released a few shots when Husain Walji told him to do so, and so did Ali Alidina on the opposite team. Saleh was up front as usual but there was no one to get finish his passes and Ali Husain drew first-blood after 6 minutes.  Another was netted from Ali Husain goal despite five people being on Imran Lawati and not letting him make the pass. Goal keeper Duli had more than catching the ball to worry about as Muhamed Ramzan came down too fast and Duli only just skipped in time. Ali Husain came back again but this time his shot was sent in the air by Duli and caught, however turning back again showed him three times lucky as he scored the hat-trick. With just the bonus point left Ramzan totaled Eastern with a top-bar hit goal, and did a photographic pose but there was no photograph taken.

AFRO VS EASTPAC

Afro were hoping to game Eastpac with the supersonic speed seen at their last match against Dynamic but with Eastpac’s early control in midfield Husain Walji’s play was too fast and he nearly stumbled outside. After that Afro cooled their heels with good passing as Eastpac had done but both sides of defense kept their side in check. Mahmood Rattansi found himself literally headed in midfield as he kept heading out dangerous high shots from Walji as the game now turned to fruitless tries from both sides. Altaf Rashid warned defense-mate Azam to stay back after a very narrow miss from Sadiq Jetha, but it could have been the other way round as Walji on the left waited for Azam to run up to center and take a shot, which hit the left post. In the second half goal-keeper Fazle actually came in the goal as now Eastpac’s balls were coming in with calculated curves, but Eastpac learnt from Universal’s playing in their last match and the chip-shot goal scored by Ali Mombasa from the left after playing with Jetha looked very much like Salman’s goal from Anis. A corner taken by Arif Somji went to Walji on the left who crossed it to Husain Somji in center but even with a well-timed header the ball bounced off his ‘Afro’ haircut and went out. After this Eastpac made their game too slow and unmarked Arif’s goal went silently unnoticed until it crossed the line.

ZAGY VS DYNAMIC

Dynamic were more aware of Zagy after their last match which ended up in a draw but that did not help misfortune-plagued Zagy who were two men down. The presence of Shen was clearly missed as Mustafa Rashid scores two goals in the beginning four minutes on first-touch impulse. Qassim Hemraj missed a good chance after playing with captain Muhamed Manji who had passed Maza Hemraj skillfully and Imran Karim made it even with a rubbish freekick. As time went on it subtracted the Zagy players one by one, and Manji was the first to come out with a look like he had already lost the tournament. As the goals kept piling up Zuhair Rattansi came to help in defense which did deter Dynamic but not for long. Qassim displaying a more youthful exuberance took the tactics of Ronaldinho to his feet as he passed the Dynamic midfield but was brought down by Musti. With Zaki Yusufali saving a shot from Maza the ball went to Jawad Murji, whose spectacular first goal in the tournament brought out the only audience applause in the game – that is, until Qassim scored the consolation and Imran on his knees pushed the ball head-long into the net for Dynamic’s 12^th goal.

UNIVERSAL VS IMAGIO

Universal’s pre-game pep-talk was rudely interrupted by referee Sadiq Dhirani in a first of some changes, like Salman Ibraheem who, tired of imitating a Brazilian player all the time, instead choose to emulate Zidane and shot it straight into the goal from left-mid in the first two minutes of this game. Later on Salman’s glasses flew into the air as if to celebrate Imagio’s first goal from Ali Husain who had scored three goals in the previous game. An attempt by Imran Lawati too close to the Universal goal almost bounded into the basketball net, and many people wished it had. With the second half in play a clear by Salman went all the way to keeper Arif Hassan in the one chance that could have turned out better with more effort.

TANGERINE VS EASTERN FREIGHT

Bilal Ibraheem, the new star signing for Tangerine came in the way of Eastern’s passes with a solid start as the weather was predicted in their favor, but all that was quickly challenged when Saleh’s ball sailed quickly overhead into the Tangerine goal. Goal-keeper Muhammed Kazim showed the crowd his dives of old that he was compelled to bring out once again against shots from Muhammed Abdul Aziz and Ali Walji. So was Duli, but he was not quickly enough the Bilal bagged Tangerine’s back-in-the-game goal. It could have been another one in his name as the second half started with a left-post hit on the Eastern goal, after which a state of urgency came into Eastern’s style of play with wide shots been taken. The team was saved with Maisam Asgher’s cool state of mind with a confident pass to Saleh who then won the game with the following shot for Eastern.