When Al’amal SC were looking to pull off a stunning upset of the Marineris Comets in Week 8, Captain Musaddiq Baddour instantly knew who his dance partner would be.

A setback. A mere blip. You know the thing about setbacks? They are temporary. And blips are fleeting. I am not the trigger happy type. You folks are. So, before you jump the gun, remember that deliberation should be the hallmark of good journalism. I am not backing down from my assertion that my team is on a trajectory to top the league. 

Darkeem Dennis, one of the breakout stars of the upstart MAFL, is alone at his pod in the west quarter of Huacheng. Through a port window over his single bed, the lava plains seem endless, just craters and silhouetted ancient volcanoes.

I was born on Earth and I have memories of playing sports and being outdoors... real outdoors, breathing the actual air and not reliant on a bubble to protect me from an environment that isn't species appropriate, to put it mildly.  I was one of the skeptics of the MAFL.  

If their first match lay birth to the Lanka Legend, with the Immortals’ Captain scoring a phenomenal 4 goals that day, then the rematch was all about Titans’ payback, delivered by the brash Readale Nash.

Columbia Hills is slated to join the MAFL in season 3, however, building a team with a small population base is proving harder than expected.

It’s been a thrilling ride so far in the inaugural MAFL season and to celebrate the midway point of the season, the league broke out into a big spontaneous party.

A Penalty Kick Over Time Party!

Europa United Forward Alex Barlas described his first week on Mars with terms like, “absolutely maddening” and “why did my parents bring me here again?”

Put yourself in his cleats: isolated from friends some 54.6 million kilometers away; constantly facing severe risk of radiation exposure that could increase his lifetime risk of cancer; a complete shift in diet; a majority of his day spent on exercise just to keep his muscles and bones from deteriorating; and for the rest of his day - confinement with fellow citizens.

Who would have guessed he would grow up on Mars and become among the first to play professional sports on a whole new world?

Winning has just seemed to elude Dong Ji.  Even with a respectable number of goals (14 on the season, which just puts them behind Immortals and Al’amal), DJ has consistently run out of steam by the end of every match.  Aside from their opening game victory against the Immortals to an elated home-crowd, DJ has been unable to beat any another team aside from their sister colony’s Wuji club, who has also been struggling.

With 55 minutes of oxygen supply per half in their suits, minus 45 minutes of game time, minus another 3 minutes of added time, minus every minute of missed penalty shots, equals new meaning to the term…Sudden Death Overtime.

This was the case in Week 12’s Al’amal SC vs. Tiangong Wuji match which needed 16 penalty kicks in overtime to determine a victor.

With their defeat of Europa United, the San Olympus Titans moved to 11-1 – solidifying themselves as the most dominant team in the MAFL. 

The Titans’ runaway success has shocked scouts and bookmakers, most of whom weren't expecting much from the league’s only majority-female team. But their cruise to a near-perfect season has exposed the prevailing soccer wisdom from Earth to be obsolete on Mars – where lived experience on this planet has proven far more valuable than natural talent and athletic ability.

Just when you though that the Dynamos had turned over a corner for the 2nd half of the season after besting Al’amal SC in week 11, apparently, just didn’t feel it was necessary to show up for week 12.

Refusing to forfeit a game, Novyimir Dynamo executives announced plans to hastily construct a new stadium in a neighbouring settlement after the team was shut out of its home field by the ongoing quarantine. 

Regardless how you are looking at the sport, whether it is from boys vs girls, from the top, middle or bottom, the MAFL continues to excite.

For United, this was their 5th loss in a row as they continued their slide downwards to a 5 and 8 record for the season.  

The reason for their downward trend - a tradition of putting goals into nets hasn’t materialized.

In 7 of the 13 games to date, United has been held scoreless.

It's quite possible this win came as much to the surprise of DJ as everyone else, but when you are in the gutter, take it when you can get it... and ENJOY IT!

The last home game win came in Week 8 against the Marineris Comets.  It feels like eons ago since this crowd erupted into excitement over a Farra goal, but it wasn't happening for her, or them, in today's contest.  

For the final round of shots, United Coach Matthäus Reinmann called in his goal keeper, Yvonne Barnato, to the disbelief of many of her teammates including Fuchs visibly shaking his head.

Titans and Comets were the buzz throughout the colonies leading up to Week 14 of MAFL play.

And that was the buzz that permeated in each transport making the trek to Marineris Stadium. An unprecedented 14 spectator transports with 6 making the long trek from other colonies - this was the first time both parking decks were used at Marineris Stadium.

Today, clubs across the MAFL posted official announcements confirming trade rumours and line up changes.

As this is the first experience of this kind for many fans, particularly those who have grown up on Mars without any prior context, it was an unexpected emotional reality of the game.

MAFL Summary - All the highlights from Week 15 matches.

Mars is vast... The nearest two MAFL colonies are 2100 KM apart.

The farthest-most is more than 7000 KM.

The road trip comes part and parcel to with being part of a team.

Where is Ware? Out again with an ankle sprain. Her absence along with forward Jube Terrell were evident as the Titans’ offence struggled throughout their match against the lowly Wuji.

It was on Solis, Vrishika the 21st, Week 3, fresh in the MAFL season, and being great apparently wasn’t enough that day for Amrita Immortals’ Captain, Uday Lanka.

He had to be Phenomenal.

Huacheng Dongji will sell its star striker, Darkeem Dennis, to Europa United for 550,000 M-Credits in an unprecedented deal that has rocked the MAFL. 

Olympus Mons is the largest known volcano in the solar system.

Where else would Titan's live?

As the stories go, the founding fathers of San Olympus decided to go it alone in their quest to settle Mars because they were convinced that collaborating with other agencies would hold them back.  The were tenacious at achieving their goals and though it was wrought with endless challenges, in many ways, they made it look easy.  

MAFL Summary - All the highlights from Week 16 DAY 2 matches.

MAFL Summary - All the highlights from Week 16 DAY 1 matches.

Three weeks since the colony-wide quarantine and three consecutive wins over that span.

In Week 17, who would win the rubber match?

Any advantage to playing at Amrita’s home field would soon be nullified as dread spread throughout the colony that the Lanka Legend would be a scratch for their match. An injury suffered in last week’s match against Wuji helped explain why his presence was virtually non-existent that match.

National Pride or National Prejudice?

Was that the prize on the table as the Battle of the Bottom Feeders collided?

In a match devoid of much meaning in the standings, the Tiangong Wuji managed to put some distance between themselves and Huacheng Dong Ji with a 1 – 0 victory.

For most of the season, Europa United has been a one note samba... 

Yet with their win over the formidable Al’amal SC, could this be the Rebirth of Cool for United as they discovered a new range of flexibility in their play which will help them soar to new levels?

As much as he tried to conceal it, Titans manager Paulo Salgado was baffled. His top-ranked team had just lost 3-1 to league’s worst. Reporters assembled in the Titans’ locker room after the game gingerly tried to coax some kind of explanation out of the notoriously cantankerous coach. Was it a case of fatigue? Had his team’s runaway success made the team overconfident? Did they not prepare as rigorously as usual?

With the UEFA Champions League barely underway, football fans will have to wait another 7 months before a conclusive championship match. During that time, where will football fans get their playoff fix?

Look no further than Mars...

Would the Wuji upset the Comets and make it two wins in a row?

Would the Comets lose their 2nd game in a row and lose significant momentum down the playoff stretch?

That’s what many were thinking during the majority of the match as the Wuji struck first at the 8th minute with a low kick by Hu Liao that soared under the defenders and past Comets goalkeeper Zaida Agre.

Despite having home field advantage, United was unable to produce, creating few offensive chances as their recent forward additions of Darkeem Dennis and Yvonne Barnato were shut down.  

With only 2 weeks left in the season, the playoffs are fast approaching but how that picture will materialize is still as hazy as a typical Mars sand storm as the playoff position of six teams is still up in the air.

Al’amal SC will need more than hope if they are to make the playoffs as they lost their 3rd match in a row, this time to  Wuji who pulled off the 2 – 1 upset.

And the Comets and Dongji gasped for breath for eight rounds until the recharge and then went another two more rounds until finally a winner was declared.  Ten rounds of penalty shots and a knock out for the Comets, provided by former Dong Ji Defender Marysa Waaijer. Comets 2 – 1 in PKOT over Dongji.

Playing at Amrita stadium, Immortals fans were silenced early in just the 1st minute of play. The Dynamos’ Mariah Maalouf received a pass before dribbling into the penalty area, wrong-footed the Immortals defenders and chipped the ball past goalkeeper Chamunda Badal for the first goal of the match.

With a 15-4 record, the Titans can look down at the opposition from San Olympus, but for how long?  With the gap starting to close, their massive lead is starting to erode and, for the first time, vulnerability can be detected.

In a closely contested match that went to 8 rounds of overtime penalty kicks, United prevailed over the Titans with a 3 – 2 PKOT win, keeping their playoffs hope alive.

Last night in Europa was Party Time for the MAFL!

For one night, all MAFL players, coaches and officials could cut loose and be free as they celebrated the season with the first ever MAFL Awards Dinner, hosted by Aiger Masing.

1st seed: Titans - 16 and 5 final season record
2nd seed: Comets - 13 and 8 final season record
3rd seed: Al’amal – 11 and 10 final season record
4th seed: Immortals  – 11 and 10 final season record

In a battle between the league’s top two teams, the Titans defended home field advantage by beating the Comets 2 – 1.

With both teams having secured their playoff spots and rankings weeks before, this match was all about sending a statement to each other should they meet down the road in the playoffs.

The calm before the storm.

And then there was Thunder and Lightning, as a torrential downpour of goals rained onto Amrita field.

And when everything stopped, Al’amal stood tall over the Immortals in a wildly entertaining 5 – 3 victory.

United prevail over Dong Ji in a high energy match that takes overtime penalty kicks to decide.

It may have been easy to dismiss the Dynamos in the first half of the season, but they made a 180 and have become contenders.

In the early morning match, the Dynamos made an example of the hapless Wuji on home turf in their bid to make it to the semi-finals and a chance for the championship.