Ashraf Hanafi addresses the audience at the gala dinner after the CIB Black Ball Women’s Open tournament in March 2019
11 Points With Ashraf Hanafi: ‘Our target is to be the biggest squash club in the world’ By ALAN THATCHER – Squash Mad Editor
The Black Ball Sporting Club in New Cairo has enjoyed an outstanding first year of operations, staging two major professional tournaments and laying the foundations for future growth by implementing one of the world’s most advanced junior development programmes.
With an army of professional coaches, the Black Ball Club has set its sights on keeping Egypt in the seat of power for many years to come.
The phenomenal growth of Egypt as the world’s leading squash nation has been matched by the ambitions of this impressive club, with 19 courts, including a magnificent all-glass show court.
This spectacular arena has already hosted two star-studded PSA World Tour events which underscored Egypt’s prowess on the international stage. Karim Abdel Gawad beat Ali Farag in the final of the men’s tournament in December last year and Raneem El Welily toppled close rival Nour El Sherbini in the women’s event in March this year.
We have learned a lot about the workings of the organisation in this special Squash Mad interview:
11 Points With Ashraf Hanafi (Squash Director and Head of Performance at the Black Ball Sporting Club in New Cairo).
1: Ashraf, congratulations on a very successful first year or so of operations at the Black Ball Sporting Club. Please tell us how the club was founded?
A: Thank you for your greetings, but we still have a lot of new plans. The club was founded when some parents of some squash players decided to build a club for their kids to get training and their ambition was for the club to develop and become one of the best clubs in the country.
2: What is the management structure? Who are the key individuals (both corporate and staff?)
A: It’s a big management organization, a professional CEO Mr Mohamed Raef, club director Dr Hatem Mandour, squash director and many other departments including marketing, sales and security.
3: How many squash courts do you have? Which company constructed the courts? And how many spectators can you seat around your fantastic all-glass showcourt?
A: We have 19 courts including one full glass court, two three-sided glass courts, plus two doubles courts. All courts were built by Courtwall with Junckers flooring with their agent NoLet Squash & Tennis Club. We can seat 800 spectators around the Centre Court.
4: Besides squash, what other facilities do you have?
A: Gym, Gymnastics, Badminton, Swimming, Soccer and Taekwondo.
5: With Egypt so dominant in global squash terms, how many leading professional players are based at the club?
A: Some of the top players training in our club include Nour El Tayeb, Ali Farag, Karim Samy and Karim Fathy. Our team players representing the club are: Marwan El Shorbagy, Saurav Ghosal, Shehab Essam, Shady El Sherbiny, Camille Serme, Salma Hany, Salma Hatem, Sabrina Sobhy (Amanda’s sister) and Menna Hamed.
We have some successful juniors. Some are British Junior Open winners and some will be world champions soon.
6: How do you structure your junior programme?
A: We have programmes for teaching kids from mini squash from four years old, then we have coaches managing the way players advance to the academy, then pre-team, then junior team, then the elite professional squad. We start from the very beginning with mini squash, teaching the most important skills for squash players. From learning to grip the racket, young players develop their own style until we produce a world class player and some world champions.
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7: How many coaches do you have to take care of such a comprehensive programme?
A: We started with three kids and four coaches. Now we have 250 juniors and 33 coaches. Might I mention head coach Ashraf Karargy and his assistant Hossam Nasser (general coach) for the Under-19 men and women, Tarek Ismail (general coach) for U15 and U17, and also head coach Tamer Essam for U11 and U13.
8: Running two major professional tournaments in the past year, one male and one female, must have helped put the Black Ball club on the map. What kind of media coverage did you generate in Egypt? And who were your main sponsors for the event?
A: I am proud to bring Squash TV back to Egypt for broadcasting. At the same time we got live TV in the main sport programme in Egypt (ON Sport) with Podium to analyse the play before and after the matches. We got millions of viewers plus newspaper coverage and extensive news in the worldwide squash media. Our sponsors are different from tournament to each tournament.
9: What are your plans for World Squash Day on October 12th?
A: We are holding an open day for all squash players, inviting schools around the club, with some fun activities and some exhibition matches.
10: I understand you are hosting the official launch of the film Pharaohs of Squash the following week. What can you tell us about that project?
A: An Italian Egyptian director Mr Sherif Fathy has been working hard to produce the Pharaohs of Squash film. It lasts 55 minutes, discussing and showing why Egypt is so good in squash with top players and coaches. It includes interviews with Raneem El Welily, Tarek Momen, Omar El Borolossy and myself. That will be premiered on 19th October and hopefully translated into many languages.
11: What are the future development plans and business targets for the Black Ball Club?
A: Our courts are just full and we are planning to add new squash courts to be the biggest club in the world. We are working on some partnership offers to have create new Black Ball branches both inside and outside Egypt.
Ashraf, thank you for your time in answering our questions. Congratulations on everything the club has already achieved and good luck for all of your future plans.
"We would have expected to have won the three games, but that hasn't happened," said captain Best, who sat out the Russia game.
"It was important to get the five points on Thursday."
Having negotiated an intense schedule at the World Cup, which has included a five-day turnaround between the Japan and Russia matches, the Ulster hooker believes it is important to use the time before the Samoa game on 12 October to regroup.
He said: "Now it's important that we take a couple of days just to regenerate and refresh everyone a little bit after what has been a fairly hectic schedule and a five-day turnaround.
"We will get stuck into the Samoa game on Monday and we'll look at that week, we'll make sure that we keep improving.
"We said that after the Scotland game and we didn't do it against Japan, so it's important that we keep taking steps forward.
After seeing off Russia with a five-try win, Ireland will book their spot in the last eight with a bonus-point victory over Samoa.
While it's not been as smooth a journey as some may have predicted, beating Samoa will represent a significant milepost in their quest to reach the World Cup semi-finals for the first time.
"Ultimately, where you want to be is knowing that a win and a bonus-point win will guarantee you a quarter-final place," added Best.
"That's why we're here - to play in the quarter-finals. We've made no secret of that and that's where we're at."
'We're still very assured' - Best
While the Ireland captain admits that confidence was impacted following the loss to Japan, he insists Ireland remain "very assured" of what they're capable of as a group.
"Ultimately it's always going to affect the confidence a little bit," said Best when asked about the Japan result.
"But I think we bounced back well and I think this group understands what we need to do to play well.
"We understand our core values and we know that we weren't as good in those areas against Japan.
"You take a look back after the England game and that run of Wales, Wales, Scotland, where we felt in a good spot and we were improving in those three games.
He added: "Sometimes you've got to just take it on the chin. We didn't play as well as we can, Japan played very well and put us under a bit of pressure and used their opportunities.
"In terms of confidence in this group, I think we're still very assured of what we're capable of and how we get there."
New Zealand second row Brodie Retallick will make his comeback from injury in Sunday's World Cup game with Namibia.
Retallick, regarded as one of the world's best locks, has been out since dislocating his shoulder in July and returns earlier than expected.
The two-time defending champions make 12 changes, including resting both Richie Mo'unga and Beauden Barrett.
That means Barrett's brother Jordie, a utility back, will play fly-half for the first time in international rugby.
"He has played there before at a lower level," coach Steve Hansen said.
"He has got the skill-sets we believe to be able to run the game and the confidence and the skill-set to be able to execute as well as run it.
"We're reasonably confident he will be fine."
After picking up his injury against South Africa earlier this year, there were fears Retallick - the 2014 world player of the year - would be ruled out of the World Cup in Japan.
However, he was named in the All Blacks' squad with the hope of featuring in the knockout stages and returns for their penultimate pool game.
New Zealand are currently second in Pool B with two wins from two games, including a 63-0 thrashing of Canada on Wednesday.
"It's exciting to have the big fella back," Hansen said.
"You go back to the night it happened and there was a bit of despair. Then we found out it wasn't one of those dislocations that would require an operation and there was more hope.
"As he has trained he has got better and the guys have got more excited, none more so than the coach."
Captain and centre Johan Deysel makes his first start of the tournament following injury for Namibia in one of nine changes from their 57-3 defeat by South Africa.
Deysel scored a try when these sides met at the 2015 World Cup, a game the All Blacks won 58-14.
Defence coach Shaun Edwards says he will be "unbelievably disappointed" if Wales do not at least emulate their 2011 World Cup semi-final place.
After beating Georgia and Australia in Pool D, Wales face Fiji on 9 October and Uruguay four days later.
Wins in these two group matches and a quarter-final victory against the Pool C runners-up will take Wales to a semi-final - Edwards' minimum target.
"If we don't win our next three, I will be unbelievably disappointed," he said.
"If you do win your next three, you are in the semi-finals and we are back to where we were in 2011."
'Everyone knows
Wales will clinch quarter-final qualification if they defeat Fiji in Oita next Wednesday, while England, Argentina and France are contesting Pool C.
It will be Fiji's final group game in a topsy-turvy tournament where they have run Australia close, suffered a shock loss to Uruguay and demonstrated their attacking threats with an emphatic 45-6 win over Georgia on Thursday.
That performance especially impressed Edwards.
"They were outstanding," he said. "The first phase moves, they look incredibly well organised and well coached.
"Everybody knows about their X-factor that Fiji teams have always had, but now they also have great organisation.
"Some of their trick plays around line-outs and starter plays from scrums, with the athletes they have, are very difficult to defend against.
"They are one of the teams you don't want to break structure too much against.
"We are under no illusions about what they'll bring. Their set-piece is very good too. I thought their scrum in the game against Georgia was excellent."
Edwards says Wales hope to have fly-half Dan Biggar available after he failed a head injury assessment having left the field against Australia.
"He is back in training," confirmed Edwards.
"He is tough as old boots and an incredible player and it would have to be a serious injury to keep him off the training pitch."
Biggar was replaced by Rhys Patchell who produced a composed 14-point kicking performance in the 29-25 victory.
'Patchell did what we asked'
Patchell also impressed Edwards defensively with the Scarlets fly-half involved in a controversial incident when he attempted to tackle Australia centre Samu Kerevi.
The Wallabies back was penalised for a forearm in the face of tackler Patchell, a decision Australia captain Michael Hooper disputed with French referee Romain Poite.
Hooper described Patchell's technique as poor, but Edwards said the Wales player had been asked to adapt.
"Rhys did what we asked of him." said Edwards.
"We asked him to tackle higher than what he has been tackling, to go in and create the collision and he did that.
"That [opinion] is up to Michael Hooper. He is entitled to his opinion as is everyone else in the world."
Manchester United are facing the prospect of going up against Newcastle in their crucial Premier League clash without midfielder Paul Pogba.
The France international missed the 0-0 draw with AZ Alkmaar on Thursday after staying behind in Manchester for further treatment on an ankle injury that has troubled him for more than a month.
Manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer does not expect to have Pogba -- whose injury has seen him left out of the France squad -- back for the trip to St James' Park on Sunday when United will go in search of their first away win since March.
"It might be time for us to give Paul 10 or 14 days extra to be ready for Liverpool," Solskjaer said.
Jesse Lingard is also set to miss out after suffering a hamstring injury against Alkmaar while the game may also come too soon for Anthony Martial and Luke Shaw.
United have made their worst start to a season for 30 years but despite just two league wins this term, Solskjaer said things are brighter than they seem.
"I just know sometimes when you walk off games, we're not doing bad here," Solskjaer said. "Sometimes there's a gap.
"I've felt that a couple of times but not very often. I can't think about what anyone else is thinking about us. We will need to improve and that is what we have to do.
"We're not in the '90s now. It's a different era, a different group that we're building. We know there are going to be ups and downs. I'm ready to see these boys blossom. There's not many clubs with our stature that play the young players that we do. They've got a chance to come through and we're sure some of these will be part of a successful team."
Like Solskjaer, Newcastle manager Steve Bruce is also facing mounting problems with his team sat 19th in the table and without a win since August.
While United have had midweek commitments in the Europa League, Newcastle will have a week to prepare following their 5-0 humiliation at Leicester last time out.
"Brucey is going to set up a team to win," Solskjaer said. "I'm going to set up a team to try to win.
"We're going there, it's a great stadium to play at. We're looking forward to the game. We've hopefully got many players fresh for Sunday."
Over the last week we have seen that Liverpool, despite their perfect league record, are not a perfect team. Last weekend, Sheffield United found success with a combination of pinning their full-backs into their own half and intense pressing, while in the Champions League FC Salzburg exposed a degree of fragility in almost coming from 3-0 behind at Anfield.
The question for everyone else is whether these were simply minor blips (which they got past in the end anyway), or actual weaknesses that some team will be able to exploit. Handily enough, they are facing one of the few teams in the Premier League that you would trust to exploit those weaknesses on Saturday: Leicester.
After coming so close to the title in 2013-14, Brendan Rodgers visits Anfield for the first time since leaving the club four years ago, when he was replaced by Jurgen Klopp. But that's just another reason why it's the game of the weekend and wouldn't be the biggest surprise if the Foxes came away with something.
If you're a Spurs fan with an optimistic point of view, you could write Tuesday's 7-2 evisceration by Bayern Munich off as a freak result -- the sort of thing that happens occasionally, as every shot they took went in, etc., and so on. More realistic observers might think a scoreline like that had been coming, the cracks in the dam that have been appearing over the last nine months or so finally breaking and letting the water pour through.
Both could be true, but whatever the case, the next two games might be a more reliable gauge of where this Tottenham team are. Spurs travel to Brighton at the weekend, after which they face Aston Villa on the other side of the international break, before things start to get tricky again with a trip to Anfield. These are two entirely winnable games -- fixtures you would expect last season's version of Tottenham to deal with extremely easily -- so if they slip up in either of them, then we'll know there's a real problem in the ranks.
Will Pulisic even get on the bench for Chelsea?
Christian Pulisic has been the face of American soccer for a few years now, but that face has been looking increasingly glum as he seemingly slips further and further down the pecking order at Chelsea. The U.S. forward wasn't even on the bench for Chelsea's Champions League trip to Lille, an indication of how tough a task he has to get some meaningful time on the pitch.
Ahead of the game with Southampton on Sunday, one hope for Pulisic might be Frank Lampard's flexibility in approach: Lampard hasn't named the same team twice yet this season and has used four or five different formations. Instinctively that feels like a mistake, to complicate things too early, as the players are getting used to a new manager, but because he isn't wedded to a particular style or formation, there will be more options for Pulisic to force his way into Lampard's thinking. But then he'll need to take his chance when he gets it.
play
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Should Christian Pulisic seek a January loan move?
Shaka Hislop and Mark Donaldson debate the merits of a loan move for Chelsea's Christian Pulisic in January.
Aguero still leads the league in goals (8) and shots (27), despite coming off the bench last week against Everton. Manchester City are by far the biggest favourites this week, at home against Wolves, who have only one win in seven games, and had to play at Besiktas in the Europa League on Thursday.
Wilson has scored in four straight games, and took six shots last week against West Ham. Bournemouth are underdogs at Arsenal, but Arsenal have already conceded 11 goals, and are sixth-worst in the league in terms of xG (expected goals) conceded.
Vardy was the only player in the league to score more than one goal last week, but that was against lowly Newcastle (and after Newcastle went down to 10 men). This week he's up against Liverpool, who have conceded only five goals in seven games -- tied with Vardy's own team for the best defensive record in the league.
STATS OF THE WEEKEND
Information provided by ESPN Stats & Information Group
- Liverpool are putting their 16-game Premier League winning streak on the line at home against Leicester City. Only Manchester City (18) have won more consecutive games in English top-flight history.
- Tottenham are winless in their last nine away games in the Premier League since beating Fulham 2-1 on Jan. 20. So the weekend trip to Brighton comes at the perfect time for Spurs, with the Seagulls having failed to win in each of their last eight league matches.
MAN TO WATCH
Brendan Rodgers. He's a little older now, a little more mature, less likely to give you a self-aggrandising line, and certainly a better manager than in his Liverpool days. But there's still a definite sense with Rodgers that he is not afraid of the limelight. If his team can pull off a surprise, you suspect Rodgers will enjoy being the centre of attention on Saturday.
THE GAME YOU'RE NOT PLANNING TO WATCH ... BUT SHOULD
Manchester City vs. Wolves. At first glance this looks like another walkover, one of those games where the big team scores early and kills it as a contest, so the rest of the clash essentially becomes like a cat toying with a worm it has just taken from the garden. But there could be hope for an upset here: Wolves are starting to show some form, winning two games in a row (admittedly against Watford and Thursday's mugging of Besiktas), and their modus operandi last season was doing well against the big boys. City are not unbeatable, as we've seen this season, so this is worth watching.
ONE THING THAT WILL DEFINITELY HAPPEN
Sparks will fly in midfield for Arsenal vs. Bournemouth. Colombian midfielder Jefferson Lerma has been a walking yellow card for a few years, collecting 12 of them in his debut season for Bournemouth, and he already has four of them this season. Only Luka Milivojevic has more in the Premier League, but level pegging on six with Lerma in the disciplinary stakes is Granit Xhaka, Arsenal's new captain and more importantly Lerma's opponent this weekend. We'll put the over/under on the first booking at around 20 minutes.
THE TEAMS THAT NEED A BIT OF LUCK
Luck is everything in sports. Get acquainted with ESPN's Luck Index as we pick out the team most desperate for good fortune amid a difficult run. Here are the big takeaways from the 2019 edition as explained by Gab Marcotti.
Newcastle United and Manchester United. If you're having trouble staying upbeat at the moment, it's not recommended that you watch Manchester United's visit to Newcastle on Sunday. This has the potential to be the saddest football match of all time, with two sides very much down on their luck facing each other.
If they were cartoon characters they would both be Old Gil from the Simpsons. Perhaps one of them will win to perk up their mood, but don't be surprised if it's just a sad 0-0 which makes nobody happy. If anyone deserves a little luck, it's these two.
Who has the highest Test batting average? It's not Don Bradman (and it's not yet Steven Smith). You won't see it on many of the lists, but if you remove any qualification of matches played the honour currently stands with Kurtis Patterson.
He also holds a more dubious honour of having been dropped after scoring a Test century. Patterson scored 114 against Sri Lanka in Canberra in February but did not make the Ashes squad. And neither did his team-mate from that match, Joe Burns, who made 180.
A lot had changed by the time Australia's Ashes squad was named at a Southampton hotel in late July, most notably the returns of David Warner and Steven Smith, which meant what happened five months previously didn't count for much.
Patterson missed his chance to stake a claim during the Australia A tour and the inter-squad selection trial that was played at the Ageas Bowl. Across five red-ball innings on the tour he made 2, 32, 38, 2 and 0. The last two low scores came on a lively pitch (where Cameron Bancroft's unbeaten 93 cemented his Ashes spot) but Patterson felt it was the two unconverted 30s against England Lions which were his big missed opportunity. When he was called in to meet national selector Trevor Hohns, he knew what was coming.
"To be honest, I kind of knew at the end of the third game," he told ESPNcricinfo ahead of the new Sheffield Shield season. "I knew I wasn't going to be in the squad, of course you always hold out a little bit of hope, but the logical person inside me knew I wasn't going to get picked, which probably made it a little bit easier."
That does not mean there wasn't regret or disappointment having worked so hard to earn a debut against Sri Lanka in Brisbane and follow that with the cherished century.
"The selectors were after blokes who were in form and unfortunately I couldn't put that together," he said. "Of course that was frustrating, it always is when you feel like you are doing well - and I did feel like I was batting well but couldn't quite convert - but at the end of the day that was a three-week period which, in the grand scheme of things, will happen in my career. For me it's about trying to get better and improve on that for the next time."
It is that balanced outlook that helped Patterson reach the pinnacle in the first place as he shed a tag of a batsman unable to convert starts with a prolific run in 2018-19 season, which included a Sheffield Shield hundred at Perth Stadium in a game dominated by the bowlers and twin hundreds in the warm-up match against Sri Lankans that led to his hasty call-up and his Test century.
"I think over the last 12 months I've learned more about my game than at any time in my career," he said. "There were some great positives, sorting out that conversion issue I had and making my Test debut, but as the game generally does it has a great way of levelling you out and it was a bit of a disappointing end to that UK tour. But still, it provided me with some really important learnings and I know I'll be much better for it."
He is not someone to dwell on what might have been, but if there's one thing he may have done differently it was not pursuing a county deal before the Australia A tour, something that served Marnus Labuschagne so well. He is on the lookout for a contract next year.
"I just figured with there being so much cricket on that A tour leading into the Ashes that I'd get enough cricket. Obviously it didn't work out well, if I had my time again I potentially would have done that differently. This upcoming year I'm certainly looking to get over there because I do enjoy England and would love to get that county experience under my belt, so that's the goal going forward."
Before all that there is a summer to focus on with at least one batting spot up for grabs in Australia's middle order ahead of the Test series against Pakistan. It will make a fascinating first block of Sheffield Shield action, although Patterson's start may be delayed after he picked up a quad injury in the opening weekend of grade cricket. However, when he's on the park it's as much about success for New South Wales as they look to go one better than runner's up to Victoria last season.
"The Australian stuff for every playing state cricketer is always there in the background, but my most important focus is with New South Wales," he said. "I absolutely love playing for them, I still think it's a privilege, so I want to do my best and get us into winning positions. I'm quite comfortable these days with letting whatever happens happen, as it's kind of out of my control."
If he reprises the form of last season, the selectors may just come calling again.
Jasprit Bumrah is not just a difficult proposition for rival batsmen, he's also tough to face for team-mates in the nets. KL Rahul, who has been Bumrah's team-mate across formats, said the pacer was someone "you don't want to mess with" because he was as competitive away from competition as he is when in it.
"He's a phenomenal talent and I had the opportunity and privilege to play with him even before he had the chance to play for his country," Rahul said, speaking at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg. "We played on the same junior level team and he's always someone that's very determined and dedicated and very passionate about cricket.
"He's someone you don't want to mess with because he bowls the ball at serious speeds and he's a competitor off the field even when we're playing against each other. There's no mercy, even for the guys who play for the same country - he's always very competitive. The things that he's doing for the country right now are absolutely fantastic and I know he's only going to grow and get better."
Among other bowlers Rahul has faced at the international level, he singled out Pat Cummins, Rashid Khan and Nathan Lyon as those who had troubled him the most. "Pat Cummins, who is the No. 1 Test bowler right now. I found him very hard to face. Rashid Khan has always got the edge over me - he has my number a little bit. Nathan Lyon from Australia. All these guys, and Bumrah of course."
"The manager kept checking for scores and we kept following ball-by-ball. What he did was unbelievable. It will always remain the best Test match that was ever played"
KL Rahul on Ben Stokes' heroics at Headingley
Bumrah has been ruled out of India's ongoing Test series against South Africa with a stress fracture, while Rahul has found himself out of favour after below-par returns at the top of the order in Test cricket. He is currently playing for Karnataka in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, India's domestic 50-overs competition, and has been in good form, with scores of 29, 131, 4 and 81 in the first four games. He still remains part of India's white-ball squads, and has had a particularly successful time in the Indian Premier League.
With Kings XI Punjab having traded R Ashwin to Delhi Capitals ahead of IPL 2020, Rahul is a likely candidate to captain his team next season, and if he has his way, Kings XI will try to acquire Ben Stokes, should the England and Rajasthan Royals allrounder come under hammer.
"He can bowl, he's a phenomenal fielder, he's played out there before and he's had a great impact on the teams he's played for," Rahul said. "I hope he can play for my team, it'd be great to have him on my side!"
Rahul revealed that the Indian team had kept track of Stokes' match-winning 135 in a thrilling one-wicket win in the third Ashes Test - even though they were themselves playing a Test in the West Indies at the same time.
"It's funny because we were playing a Test match, too, in Antigua," Rahul said. "But we were following the scores on the manager's phone, as we're not really allowed to use phones during the game. The manager kept checking for scores and we kept following ball-by-ball. What he did was unbelievable. It will always remain the best Test match that was ever played. To play an innings like that is incredible. He's a phenomenal player and phenomenal athlete - you can watch that match over and over again."
SEATTLE -- Four quarters of brilliant football from Russell Wilson and the best play of Tedric Thompson's career were about to be wasted -- as was a chance for the Seattle Seahawks to gain some early ground on the defending NFC West champs.
Thompson's interception of a Jared Goff pass that he picked off the turf looked as if it could have sealed a Seahawks victory until Goff put the Rams in position for a winning field goal attempt. But Greg Zuerlein missed the attempt from 44 yards out -- by no more than a foot or two -- to let the Seahawks escape with a 30-29 win.
Exhale, Seattle. The Seahawks are 4-1 with a game in hand over the Rams, who still look like their biggest threat in the division even with the San Francisco 49ers sitting at 3-0.
QB breakdown: Wilson continues to outdo himself. Already off to the best four-game start of his career, Wilson continued his MVP-level play with four touchdowns, zero interceptions and 268 yards on 17-of-23 passing. He added 32 yards in eight carries, coming up big with his legs in the fourth quarter as he tends to do. According to NFL Next Gen Stats research, Wilson threw for 130 yards on the run, his highest total in a game in the past four seasons. He has now thrown 12 touchdown passes with no picks through five games.
Pivotal play: Thompson's interception with 2 minutes, 12 seconds left in the fourth quarter was initially ruled an incomplete pass. Seahawks coach Pete Carroll challenged, which he could do since it was just outside of two minutes. It was a redemptive moment for Thompson, a third-year safety who badly misplayed a ball in Week 1 that resulted in a long touchdown.
Pivotal play, Part II: So many plays could be considered pivotal in a one-point game. Al Woods' stop at the goal line was an easy-to-forget one. It came after Todd Gurley's 1-yard touchdown in the third quarter that put the Rams up 26-21 and set up a two-point try that would have put them up by seven. Officials ruled on the field that Goff crossed the goal line, but a review showed that Woods brought down Goff just short. Another under-the-radar play: Defensive end Branden Jackson chasing down a short throw to Robert Woods to keep him to a 3-yard gain in the fourth quarter. That helped Seattle hold the Rams to a field goal.
Promising trend: The Seahawks remain exceedingly tough to beat in prime-time games, especially at home. They're now 27-5-1 in prime time since Carroll arrived in 2010, with this victory improving the NFL's best winning percentage in such games. That includes an 18-2 record at home and a 9-1 record on Thursday night. The Seahawks have four more prime-time games on their schedule: Week 10 at San Francisco, Week 13 at Philadelphia, Week 14 vs. Minnesota and Week 15 in their rematch with the Rams in Los Angeles.
Eye-popping NextGen Stat: Wilson's first touchdown throw in the back corner of the end zone to Tyler Lockett had a completion probability of only 6.3%, the lowest on any passing TD across the NFL in the past three seasons. It actually looked like a throwaway at first glance, but Lockett made a toe-tap grab while falling out of bounds. As great of a throw as it was from Wilson while moving hard to his left, it was just as brilliant of a catch by Lockett, who has made a nice transition to Seattle's No. 1 receiver following Doug Baldwin's departure.
"I feel like right now, we're trying a little too hard," leadoff man Trea Turner said following his team's 6-0 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 1 of the National League Division Series. "Just have a little bit more fun and continue what we were doing. I think we put together good at-bats. [We're] just trying to do a little too much."
Against Walker Buehler and a trio of relievers, the Nats managed just two hits, including a second-inning single by Juan Soto and a ninth-inning double by Turner. They loaded the bases against Buehler in the fourth on three walks but failed to score, and they proceeded to have just one baserunner over the final five frames. On the night, the Nationals chased 41 percent of pitches that were thrown outside the strike zone, their second-highest chase rate in any game this year and well above their season mark (27 percent, second-lowest in the NL).
"We got to get the ball in the strike zone," said manager Davey Martinez, whose club scored 5.4 runs per game during the regular season, second-best in the NL. "For me that's the key. When we swing at balls in the strike zone, we put the ball in play. That's what we have done all year."
The anemic offensive showing comes two days after Washington's 4-3 wild card win, a contest in which the Nationals tallied one run on three hits through the first seven innings and finished with five total hits
"I think we've kind of done that the last two games," said Turner, "is just tried way too hard from the start."
When it comes to the postseason, struggling at the start is nothing new for the Nats. In five series openers since 2012, they're hitting .164 as a team and averaging 1.6 runs. In 21 total playoff games, Washington is scoring 3.5 runs per contest, nearly half a run lower than the MLB postseason average over that time (3.9).
"So we just got to relax and come back tomorrow and just get the ball in the zone," said Martinez. "We told the guys, hey, just be yourself. Don't try to do too much."
On Friday in Game 2 of the NLDS, the Nationals will face three-time Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw.
"It's the postseason. You're not going to get anybody easy," said Turner. "It's going to be another battle, just like tonight. Hopefully we can put some runs early and get into that bullpen."
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