Sparky’s Column

What's in a Number?

I sit here as a number, that number being 499. What does that number mean? I know it means I am in the top 15%, I know it means I have made better choices than 85% of people. But the main thing I know is that the number 499 will not win me prizes and I must aim higher. The number I am referring to is my position in the Fantasy Pro League. When you are part of a fantasy league it gives you that extra incentive to keep tabs on the scorers, and the buzz when one of your players nets is fantastic. It is early days for fantasy football in the UAE but with thousands registered, it is already a big hit. I am just hoping that there will be more glory days to come for my players and I can reach the heady heights of the top 300.

Ricardo Quaresma was the highest profile signing of the recent transfer window. The former Barcelona and Chelsea star's career had drifted somewhat as he signed for Al Ahli after months of being unattached.  The club expected him to take a while to be match ready but it has barely taken the Portugese play maker a game to settle into the starting eleven.  He was a player who had lost his way, his career drifting from one club to another before being released by Besiktas in Turkey. If the player was lost then Al Ahli have found him and rescued a career that was flatlining.  The benefits obviously work both ways as Ricardo will be well rewarded for his performances as Al Ahli show us they are contenders for the AFC Champions League spots.

The game of Round 17 will be Al Shabab v Al Ahli - it's two teams who are bang in form, and who have always bubbled under in the recent title races. As the Spanish and Brazilian coaches go head to head, it's the old school of the beautiful game against the new school. Brazilian Marcos Paqueta is a former coach of Flamengo in Rio and Quique Flores is the nephew of a famous former Flamenco dancer Lola Flores; the link is tenuous to say the least but it is the only one I could find between two coaches who have been poles apart in career path.  The two teams enter the game on the back of some excellent form and with just four points separating them. It is the chance for the Red Knights to jump into second place in the table and put daylight between themselves and Al Shabab. Al Shabab on the other hand have to win to keep in touch with the Champions League spots. You could see the game as a contest between the style of football that everyone has held up for decades as the gold standard of how to play, and the new Spanish way that everyone is trying to emulate now. The outcome will have a real bearing on who will be playing Champions League football next season and despite being in the desert of the Middle East, it is a battle shaped in Madrid and Rio.