The 12 last teams standing, that spilt blood and sweat, for 8 weeks and 16 games will be listed at the end of this post. Yes, the NikeFive preliminaries are over, and from 70 teams the best of the best have survived and advanced to Champions Day.

They fought brave opponents and crippling injuries, they showed character, presence of mind, team spirit and most of all perseverance, that never say die attitude that truly defines the great. All of this to qualify for that one day of reckoning, the day every team will bow before them and crown them Champions of NikeFive.

D-Day is Saturday May 30th, Raffles South/North, 10am – 1:30 pm – mark your calendars.

The playoffs are a different experience altogether, the buzz, the heightened senses, everyone knows what’s at stake, won’t let the 8 weeks go in vain, won’t go out without a fight. All the teams come early with their group of supporters, some come early to warm up, some to fight the nerves and some are there to gauge the competition. The atmosphere is electric, as soon as the whistle blows and the ball is touched, it is nothing but drama for the next 24 minutes, enough to rival a world cup final, and the best part is still to come.

The playoff format required each team to play to 2 24-minute legs against the same opponent, the winner decided based on the most aggregate goals. Here are some excerpts from the playoff games on Wednesday and Saturday.

Showtime FC vs Bacalao Bacalao

It was a battle between the Spaniards and best cable service providers in Dubai? Haha [orbit would beg to differ].. From the outset this game was a battle of the goal keepers. Alaa of Showtime FC and Josep Gambau of Bacalao. Both these keepers have been outstanding and have been leaders on the pitch as their players battled it out. The score after the first leg was 1-1, both goal keepers resolute and strong. In the second leg, Bacalao finally succumbed, owing to some clinical finishing from the Showtime strikers, not taking anything away from Josep, the two goals that went in could not have been stopped by even the likes of Van Der Sar. Winner: Showtime

ACWA vs Dubai Financial Market

The most entertaining match by a mile, it was basically a contest between team ACWA and a particular player from DFM I like to call the little green fairy [LGF], owing to his diminutive size, lightning pace and lime-green coloured rubber soled shoes, that could probably be seen from Sharjah. The first leg started off with ACWA going down two goal thanks to some lightning paced dribbling from the LGF, it was truly mesmerizing, one second the ball is at his feet the next second its in the goal. Any other team would buckle under such pressure, but kudos to acwa they stuck to their guns, equalized and took a three goal lead, at half time the score was 6-3. The second half was even more action packed, acwa scores one, dfm equalizes, acwa scores another dfm equalizes. The difference was that dfm relied on pace which finally lead to exhaustion and ACWA relied on passing and finishing, and I cant finish this post without mentioning ACWA’s captain, Mazin, for excellent, excellent finishing and leading his team when they fell behind initially.

Faris Abu Mayaleh vs Dream Team

A contest between the first placed team and the sixth placed team, in my mind Faris looked set to roll over the dream, but I was pleasantly surprised. The boys from Dream Team gave Faris quiet a run for their money the first half ended 4-2, enough for Dream Team to rally back and pull off an upset in the second half. But like true champions, you stick to your guns, keep you head down, pass the ball and finish, that’s exactly what Faris did and they triumphed 3-1 in the second leg.

Unknown vs Pink Panther

At first glance the pink panther outfit would look like kids from high school, but it just so happens that most of the players were young guns still in school. They actually made it all the way to the playoffs. Unknown were the group leaders from Saturday. From the get go the game was extremely physical, pushes, shoves, slide tackles. What surprised me most was that the pink panthers kept up with their adult counterparts, if not in goals, then in effort. After the first half the score was 2-0. In the second half, the pink panthers came back to score one goal and it was amazing to see the jubilation on the faces of the kids, as they sensed a potential equalizer. Alas, Pink Panther’s inexperience gave way to two more goals and the game ended 4-1 for the Unknown.

Boys and Girls, to say the Champions Day is going to be action packed and full of surprises is saying the least, come watch these warriors battle it out, no holds barred, this Saturday May 30th. As I promised, the esteemed list:

North Campus – Group A
Players Club
Dragon Flying
Big Sky Wings
Faris Abu Mayaleh
Showtime FC
Unknown

South Campus – Group B
Desert Chill United
Ahdaaf
FIFA
Zinkeiros
ACWA
Lambo

Tags: Dubai, football, leagues, NikeFive, play, soccer

This entry was posted on Monday, May 25th, 2009 at 18:00 and is filed under Dubai, league. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.