MAFL Season 2 Semifinals
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United and Immortals advance to the final championship face-off on Tula 25. United was the solid favourite to win their bout, while the Immortals have defied all expectations to defeat the San Olympus Titans.
United - Dynamos
Tula 17 • Europa Stadium
Dynamos crushed by United in the semifinals.
Despite flying-high for the first half of the season, the Dynamos were devastated by United on the pitch today. Unfortunately for the Dynamos, United was simply the superior team in every way this match. The United offensive line was beautifully in-sync, and executed flawless plays that punched through Dynamo’s defenses. Just as impressive was the way that the defensive players anticipated Petrovich’s and Karaaria’s attempts to set up an attack, and strategically crippled their plays.
United Manager, Reinmann, wisely deployed Sulzberger, United’s star goalkeeper, who shut out the Dynamos. Every. Single. Shot. The Dynamos were clearly frustrated as the number of bookings and fouls spiked in the second half when they still hadn’t gotten a single shot past Sulz.
GOALS
1ST 4’ Fuchs scores an early goal for United with an assist from Baranato
1ST 12’ Barnato (United) intercepts a pass to midfield and heads the ball past a surprised Danilovich
2ND 9’ Fuchs (United) picks up a pass from Dennis in the box and scores with a right-footed flick into the left corner
2ND 18’ Ivanova (United) dribbles on a breakaway, and scores with a high kick that narrowly misses the crossbar
| SHOTS | |
|---|---|
| 17 | 13 |
| POSSESSION | ||
|---|---|---|
| 43% | 57% | |
| FOULS | |
|---|---|
| 4 | 3 |
Titans - Immortals
Tula 18 • San Olympus Park
immortals celebrate after their hard-earned victory!
Immortals take out the Titans to advance to the finals.
Viewers across Mars held their breath as the come-back-kings, the Immortals, beat the season favourites at San Olympus Park today. An elated Parkar, celebrated with teammates after scoring the winning goal in the final minutes of regulation time.
“This is an amazing experience!” said Parkar after the match. This is definitely a far cry from last season, when Parkar was involved in an accidental collision with Yamen Warren that resulted in the first MAFL fatality.
Both teams played cautiously in the first half, testing the waters and sniping shots at each other that were easily blocked. Both teams exploded into action in the second half, however, with Lanka smashing through the defenses on a breakaway to open up scoring with powerhouse kick.
Immortals now head to Europa to face United for the Season 2 championship!
GOALS
2ND 6’ Lanka (Immortals) boosts high to head the ball past De Sisto’s left shoulder.
2ND 10’ Hagendoorn (Immortals) scores a low, right-footed flick as she dribbles past the defense.
2ND 16’ Carballel (Titans) counters an attack in midfield and converts it into a shot into left of the net.
2ND 20’ Nash (Titans) scores an equaliser with an assist from Terrell.
2ND 28’ Parka (Immortals) smokes the ball past De Sisto with a right-footed smash for the winning goal.
| SHOTS | |
|---|---|
| 10 | 19 |
| POSSESSION | |
|---|---|
| 50% | 50% |
| FOULS | ||
|---|---|---|
| 3 | 3 | |
Stats & Standings
| Top Scorers | ||
|---|---|---|
| Uday Lanka | 19 | |
| Readale Nash | 16 | |
| Darkeem Dennis | 15 | |
| Arwa Farra | 13 | |
| Ilya Petrovich | 12 | |
| Yvonne Barnato | 12 | |
| Qigang Lian | 11 | |
| Marcus Ekberg | 10 | |
| Lennard Fuchs | 10 | |
| Stephen Liu | 9 | |
