Week 14 Roundup
/Solis, Capricornus 15, 2077, m249
Dynamo #66 Sergey Samrend and Wuji #76 Vygintas Repsas
Novyimir @ Tiangong
The Chubarov outbreak weighed heavy on the minds of Novyimir Dynamo players as Week 14 opened.
Playing an away match against the Tiangong Wuji, the Dynamo were able to channel their anxiety into aggression with an attacking style that opened scoring at the 6th minute when Sergey Samrend clipped a perfect cross past goalkeeper Trenton Seaton.
Four minutes later, a plunging header from Dynamo’s Yaee Etefu gave the Dynamo a 2-0 lead. Wuji finally responded back at the 73rd minute as a near-post corner led to Vygintas Repsas’ sweeping finish past Dynamo’s Illya Kyrylyuk.
However, too little too late as Dynamo won 2 – 1 snapping the Wuji’s modest 2 game winning streak.
The Dynamo and Wuji both end up with identical 5 and 9 records for the season.
“I hope our victory can help take people’s minds off the problems back home”, said Dynamo defender, Mariya Nikitovna. “They tell me next week we play in Korolev against Europa United but we’ll see. I just can’t wait to go home and see my family and friends”.
San Olympus @ Marineris
TiTan's De Sisto's wins the battle of the goalkeepers at Marineris Stadium
The wait for who would fall between the league’s top two teams, the Titans and Comets drew unprecedented attendance to Marineris Stadium.
They watched a match missing Titans Captain Raeina Ware and leading scorer Readale Nash, and offensive spark, as the match ended in a scoreless tie. In overtime, the Titans Pardeep Langanash put in the winner helping the Titans move to 13 and 1 for the season – undefeated in 11 matches.
The Comets moved to 9 and 5 for the season.
For a full match recap read One Would Lose.
Amrita @ Al'amal
Al'amal SC #8 Fayad post game celebration of a rare hat trick.
In the week’s 3rd match, Al’amal’s Hamad Fayad made his case for entry into the league’s Sweet Sixteen players, with a hat trick to help his team beat the Amrita Immortals 3 – 0.
Fayad’s hat trick moved him into a tie for 4th place on the season’s goal leader board with stars such as fellow team mate Musaddiq Baddour, Dongji’s Darkeem Dennis, and Dynamo’s Ilya Jaroslav Petrovich.
With the win, Al’amal moves to 7 and 7 with the Immortals dropping to an identical record for the season.
Immortals’ star Uday Lanka was held scoreless for the third straight match.
Outspoken Immortals’ owner, Vijya Pandey, was livid after the match. “The referees were purposefully ignoring all the fouls Al’amal was inflicting on our players. They were mugging Lanka all match.”.
And while they are looking for offences, they should also look for the offences of both the Tiangong Dong Ji and Europa United.
United #58 Yvonne Barnato earns the win in an unprecedented Goalkeeper vs. Goalkeeper Penalty Kick.
In the final match of Week 4, both teams were at least able to score a goal each - United’s Laura Pernet at the 26th minute, and Dong Ji’s Yazhu Fan at the 94th minute before heading to overtime.
This is nightmare-time for Dong Ji as they had lost 5 times in overtime prior to this match.
In Penalty Kicks, both teams played to a 2 to 2 standstill after 8 shots with goals from United Captain Lenard Fuchs and Laura Pernet and Dong Ji’s Qigang Lian and Darkeem Dennis.
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.
After Dong Ji’s Olga Lobo da Costa missed their final penalty shot, Barnato calmly came up, boosted up, and delivered a thunderous shot right through the hands of her goalkeeping counterpart Xue Su.
For the Win! United 3 – 2 over Dong Ji in PKOT. Dong Ji’s 6th loss in overtime.
After the match, Fuchs said, “Coach is one crazy bastard. Ballsy move for sure!”
“I have to admit, I was shocked myself but I couldn’t let Coach down or they’d be killing him and me for that decision”
Reinmann calmly explained his rationale, “Well, Yvonne is our top scorer so you go with your best. Until we get some more scorers on this team, I’ll keep going to her”.
When asked if United was looking to solve their offensive ineptitude with player movement, Chairperson Natasha Kennedy carefully responded, “No comment”.
The win moves United to 6 and 8 for the season while Dong Ji owns sole possession of the basement with a 4 and 10 record.
After the match, Dong Ji’s Darkeem Dennis looked distraught and commented, “Something’s got to change. We can’t keep going like this.”
