TANGERINE VS AFRO

Tangerine’s hopes were high in the face of a confrontation with giants Afro after delivering Dynamic to fourth position in the previous week with a 4-0 win. Beginning on top of the leader board Afro were not remarkably sharp to begin with and the game was uneventful until about five minutes into play, where Altaf Rashid took a quick shot from midfield supported by Walji. Altaf’s shot rested just short of the goal and with this in mind Husain Walji kindly finished his effort for him bringing the score up to 1-0. After that captain Husain Somji took on Sibtain Merchant on the left side and passed him after twice being put on trial by Sibby, and took a shot which uncovered a good save from keeper Muhammed Kazim. Again Walji thought it best to complete the action on behalf of Husain and passed to Arif in center who scored. With Afro in a comfortable-enough lead captain Husain came off – (but not before scoring 3 goals) - and Husain Jagani went on. The game ended as Suhail rested Tangerine’s hopes with a single goal for them to covet.

UNIVERSAL VS EASTERN FREIGHT

Paying no heed to Universal’s organized show of team unity Eastern Freight stepped down the steps haphazardly to step up on the chart as a unit. Eastern launched their offensive against Universal early but it was not until Ali Walji stole and scored an in-play ball from goalie Ali Damji’s legs that any result was confirmed. The injured Ali Damji was forced to withdraw from his safe retreat of the box when Saleh drew closer to the Universal quarter, and had to switch quickly to Salman Ibraheem before he could go back in a moment of heavy breathing for Universal. Ali was relieved from the goal stall by Zuhair Hemraj who was punished by the scoffing crowd for his unpunctuality. If anything, this tore the image of union in Universal as Zuhair played a passing game with Shameel whose better ideas stretched to passing it back. Muhammmed Abdul Aziz barged in after getting bored and sent the ball past Zuhair for Eastpac’s second goal. As Eastpac surged to the Universal side in their strongest offensive yet, Ali Dina accidentally kicked Anis Somji but was responded by a hug from Anis. Defender Ali Dina attacked the Universal goal in manifold but was unlucky each time. A request for the final touch in a 1-2 game with Saleh was rejected as Saleh went on to score. He then ended the match with another unlucky strike.

IMAGIO VS DYNAMIC

In an important match for Dynamic on their homecoming claim to fame, an Imran Lawati and Ali Husain-less Imagio Fashions were forced to scuffle with all they had, which wasn’t much. Evidence of a must-win match clung in the gist of Dynamic’s play, as Mustafa Rashid registered a record number of post-hits with one in the very beginning, signaling the beginning of a Dynamic invasion. Tournament hot property Imran Karim sizzled again this week with his usual routine of a few goals in the opening minutes with a pass from Mustafa. Usually administering a rather quiet role in the Dynamic defense, Muhammed Manji Sr halted the chaos to scoop out an unassuming goal from midfield through a disorder of black and yellow socks that took the tournament by surprise and underlined Dyanamic’s capability. Imran confused himself as he arrested his run to explain he had not committed a handball to the crowd instead of the ref. Abbas Vazir having tasted the flavor of scoring in the previous week slipped past Jawad Murji to add to his plate of total goals scored, but Maza made a beeline straight for the Imagio goal and there was not much keeper Arif could do to stop him.

ZAGY VS EASTPAC

Both teams having acquired eager recruits – Zagy’s Zaki for Sadiq Dhirani and Eastpac’s Ali Kassam for Masoom Somji – played a “nothing-to-lose” third game with Zagy captain Muhammed Manji getting past the Eastpac midfield to pass to no one on the left, and Eastpac captain Irfan Damji taking a wide shot as Mahmood Rattansi called pass. Eastpac were given a corner sub five minutes into the match but Irfan Salim’s chipper stood no chance of getting past the bear-like Shen. Captain Irfan slid near the Zagy box and confusion all around was afoot as a freekick or warning was not issued. Sadiq Jetha took the opportunity to sail in the ice-breaker for Eastpac. In the second half Ali Kassam scored on debut and so too did Irfan Salim, while Qassim Hemraj took a silent opening for Zagy after which Sadiq came back.

AFRO VS IMAGIO

Imagio captain Ali Asgher Somji found himself gloves-clad as a lower-back injury attained in the game against Dynamic restricted his game-play which was just as fine for Imagio. Afro began knowing what they had to do as a pass from Azam four minutes into play was left by Husain Walji in favor of Arif who took it well, hitting the left post. Soon after captain Husain Somji took a corner for Afro that went just wide of the right post from Husain Walji’s feet. Imagio decided the best offense is a better defense as Muhammed Ramzan and Ali Husain decided to stick in defensive midfield. The Imagio defense gave Afro a difficult period of trial and subsequently in the second halfHusain Walji collapsed after attempting in vain with a left Nike shoe from Salman Ibrahim who claimed it was legendary and one of his own. Husain Jagani came in his place and was assisted by Azam but could not make up the difference. The match ended as it was, though this means Imagio face their first possible hint of elimination since Afro has won them on statistic 1 and drew 2, out of 4 matches.

TANGERINE VS EASTPAC

Even though the crowd’s topic of talk was none other than Eastpac’s last game, Tangerine had no problem appealing themselves to the crowd as team-player Shafqat drew attention to himself by calling out commands to his team in the field. An Ali Kassam hit pressed keeper Muhammed Kazim’s weight to one side as he made a dive to ensure the ball did not roll past his territory – a nick which earned him “man of the match”. An unmoving Mahmood is all it took to stop Suhail in his first try but he came back to have a left post hit. A brought-down Sibtain Merchant then replaced Shafqat as the team’s new director as the Tangerine stance moved from defensive to offensive with ripe moves. It worked for them as they took a late lead through the subsitution and Eastpac could not counter even with an extra minute in the game.

DYNAMIC VS UNIVERSAL

Any thoughts on Dynamic’s mind must have had a general picture of “win” as that is what they proceeded to do in this match. Maza opened up the stride with a good pass to Mustafa Rashid after conning keeper Zuhair Hemraj to come to him but Mustafa slipped and Zuhair arrived on scene at the nick of time. With the ball going to Anis Somji, it was forwarded to Salman who employed “Ronaldinho tactics” to float past the Dynamic midfield cheered on by Husain Walji but met his match in Minhal Manji who was enough to take him on. When a Universal corner mistakenly departed to Maza - guarding the short – it led to their downfall as Maza transcended the lone-guarded Universal quarter with Imran running furiously alongside, in a “if-you-need” pretense. However he was not needed as Maza scored the first goal for Dynamic. Maza repeated this in twofold as the second goal passed through Anis’s legs. Nonstop was the new Dynamic theme as an Imran pass went to Mustafa who finally got it right. A Zuhair clear ball from Maza shot went to the battling duo of Jawad Murji and Ali Damji in which Damji reigned supreme, to pass it to Akeel who scored Universal’s first, and only goal in the match, thanks mainly to the reflex of Dynamic keeper Ali Jawad Bhimani who made two saves simultaneously in the ending moments.