KUWAIT CITY (Kuwait) - Sayed Akbar would be the first to admit that it's never easy to beat a team twice in a row as a rivalry brews between Al Qadsia SC and Ittihad Club in the 2024/2025 FIBA West Asia Super League (WASL).
Our goal is to take the trophy.
Yet, they've done so thrice now. The Kuwaiti side on Tuesday night kept their Saudi Arabian counterparts in check, although this most recent conquest far outweighs the first two as it brought them near the Promised Land.
Group B's top-seeded team took Game 1 of their Gulf League best-of-3 Semi-Final series by way of a 104-91 result, placing themselves just a win away from the Sub-Zone League's championship round.
"Ittihad is a tough team for us ... It's hard to beat a team three times," offered Sayed Akbar shortly after the match at the Shaikh Saad Alabdullah Sport Hall Complex. "But, we stuck to the coaches' plan and we got the win."
Monday's win was easily Qadsia's most convincing in their three meetings so far. Their first encounters came down the wire, none closer than their previous match last January 14 which saw Coach Joey Stiebing's wards need some luck to escape Riyadh with the 62-60 win - which, at that time, snapped their two-game losing skid.
Next Tuesday, they'll be back to that very same place in an attempt to complete the sweep and reach the Finals - and the Final 8 as well - but it's not lost on them that doing so would be easier said than done.
That's because the rest of Qadsia are expecting another grind-out affair to ensue against a team that will surely be buoyed by their ever-passionate fans expected to fill up the Green Basketball Court once again.
"The game over there, they're gonna play a lot harder than us - on their homecourt, and with their fans," reflected Akbar. "Our goal is to take the trophy. We're gonna go to their homecourt and try to win again."
But of course, they're coming in confident given their unbeaten winning streak against Ittihad, and ditto with the sweet-shooting guard as he's been delivering the goods whenever they play against them.
Just in Game 1 alone, the 27-year-old equalled his WASL season-high with 22 points, which he netted behind an impressive 9-of-14 shooting from the floor - including a 3-of-6 clip from beyond the arc.
That was six points more than what he produced in their last encounter. There, he finished with 16 points on 50-percent shooting to help his side take control of the game for good in the fourth quarter.
Needless to say, he'd be leaned on by his team again in their bid to close out the series but Akbar is hardly thinking of himself whatsoever, with his entire focus locked in on how they can carry out their mission.
"We beat them three times, but the job is still not finished. We have one more game," he said. "We're gonna stick to the coaches' game plan as we did the last time we played against them on their homecourt, and try get the win."
Can they do it? That we have to see.
FIBA