NikeFive: Week 2 Write-up (by Muhammad)
Below is a write-up of the 72 team 8 week NikeFive indoor football (soccer) tournament in Dubai. Written by Muhammad Nauman.
Hello and welcome to Week 2 of DUPLAYS “NikeFive Indoor” League. It’s been as exciting week of football both inside the halls of Raffles and outside as we’ve witnessed the rise of two new stars and the suspense of the UEFA Champions league.
We’re two weeks into the tournament and there are already some clear front runners with maximum points [12]. The majority come from matchday Monday, they are P45s, Nofolk Enchance, Dragon Flying and Adhaaf FC. Matchday Tuesday has been dominated by Zinkeiros for two straight weeks and might I say, after their 36 goal extravaganza, their name is on everyone’s lips, so watch out for them. The Royal Crew again deserve a special mention after their close fought loss to the Zinks. Matchday Wednesday was all about Showtime flexing their muscle and their winning margin.
The beauty of football is that it encompasses all human emotion: triumph, tragedy, amazement, frustration, perseverance, fear. While all the teams above may have decimated their opponents, the real joy of football lies in the matches where the contest is even. So I’d like to give a special shoutout to Hilti and Big Sky Wings. Both these teams exhibited a real fighting spirit, Hilti drew twice, BSW drew once and went on to cap the night with a big victory. Hard work does pay off boys, hang in there!
There are certain players who give strength to the adage “young at heart”. For his goal keeping heroics, for his amazing stamina [touch wood], for his leadership, for leaving me in complete awe, I’d like to tell you about a certain goal keeper named Ala from team Showtime. If anything his style of play was reminiscent of Chilavert, the Paraguayan legend who never missed an opportunity to venture forward and score as many goals as possible. Ala didn’t score any goals but I hope that changes this coming Wednesday.
This is a shout out to all the teams, lets all try and respect the referees calls, if there is any thing I’ve learned from my short career as a league administrator its that the referee has the most difficult job on earth, no one’s ever satisfied with all the calls. So please, let’s play in the spirit of football and I promise next year we’ll have giant screens and we’ll allow television replays to satisfy everyone, and the team with the best conduct will get to keep the giant screens, just kidding!
The UEFA champions league produced some real shockers as Liverpool lost to Chelsea 3-1 due to the heroics of everyones new favourite serb, Ivanovic [no relation to Ana]. Liverpool seem to be the team of the moment after thrashing United 4-1 at Old Trafford a few weeks ago and this loss came as a real wakeup call. Liverpool holder Mascherano was sorely missed. Liverool put this defeat behind with a 4-0 reply against Blackburn this past weekend. So I will boldly predict a famous Liverpool comeback this coming Tuesday, mind you, this means Liverpool has to win by a margin of 3 goals or more. I’ll never make the mistake of writing off Liverpool, especially after the infamous “six minutes of madness” and I’m sure the Kop fans will be at Stamford Bridge to make sure that happens.
Porto really took the fight to Man Utd this past Tuesday night securing a 2-2 draw. Man Utd can’t seem to break their streak of defensive errors and turnovers which has been bothering them for the past few weeks now. Rio Ferdinand was sorely missed. Does the name MACHEDA ring a bell? Ferguson’s latest weapon has been instrumental where his usual quartet [ronaldo, rooney, tevez, berbatov] have failed, inspiring a win, getting those blessed 3 points. Will Ferguson start Kiko? Will the defending champions register their first ever victory at the El Drago? Will I get off work on time to catch these games? Hahaha…its all happening right here so stay tuned!
