MAFL Week 10 Roundup
This week in MAFL, Titans are crippled by a shortage of offensive players, Dongji is left in the dust after their match with Al'amal, Comets surpass in scoring but lag in the standings, Dynamos win their match to reclaim first place in the standings.
Titans - Immortals
Karka 16 • San Olympus Park
Titans terribly short on offensive power as half their roster is benched due to injuries.
The Immortals did not hesitate to take advantage of the Titan’s misfortune, landing 3 of the 10 shots on goal they managed this match. Had Lanka not been forced out near the end of the first half due to a malfunctioning life support pack, the Titans might have been worse off.
Things aren’t looking great for the Titan’s line up as Langanah and Terrell were unable to play due to a flu that has struck the team, Kelly is still recovering from her ACL injury, and Busara is taking care of the knee he sprained last week.
One top of that, Titan’s star player, Readale Nash, has not been seen on the field even in practice since last week’s meltdown. Sources say that Nash is on day-to-day evaluation before he is allowed back on the pitch. Nevertheless, he is expected to be back in play next week.
GOALS
1ST 6’ Shandu (Titans) scores their first goal of season 2
1ST 12’ Hagendoorn (Immortals) scores with a cross-field smash
1ST 22’ Lanka scores for the Immortals with an assist from Naik
2ND 13’ Fox (Immortals) sends a header into the bottom of the net.
SUBSTITUTIONS
Lanka is out at the end of first half due to suspected leak in his life support system.
Parkar (Immortals) forced to sit out mid-way through first half after severe cramps in his calves. He is expected to be back in play next match.
| SHOTS ON GOAL | |
|---|---|
| 6 | 10 |
| POSSESSION | ||
|---|---|---|
| 44% | 56% | |
| FOULS | |
|---|---|
| 4 | 3 |
Dongji - Al’amal
Karka 16 • Dongji Field
ekberg in the dongji team vehicle post game.
Dongji slides to the bottom of the standings, as Baddour scores winning goal for Al’amal in extra time.
Despite a solid start in the middle of the pack, Dongji has since been steadily sinking in the standings as season 2 progresses. As we’re approaching the mid-point of the season, it doesn’t look like things are improving for them. Tempers were short in the team vehicle as Dongji captain, Ekberg, was seen arguing with fellow team members, with Geng stepping in to intervene.
Rumours have started amongst fans that Ekberg may be in danger of having his captaincy revoked due to his recent outbursts. Dongji manager, Rain Chen, has declined to comment on this saying, “We’ll work through this season as a team.”
GOALS
1ST 16’ Geng (Dongji) scores with an aerial strike following an assist from Saqqat
1ST 19’ A left-footed kick from Faya (Al’amal) narrowly misses the post but scores
ET 4’ Baddour (Al’amal) scores a direct free kick
| SHOTS ON GOAL | |
|---|---|
| 4 | 8 |
| POSSESSION | |
|---|---|
| 32% | 68% |
| FOULS | ||
|---|---|---|
| 4 | 3 | |
Comets - United
Karka 17 • Marineris Stadium
Comets miss the win by one goal in an evenly-matched game against United
Despite their incredible scoring record, 31 goals so far, the Comets still trail behind in the standings at fifth place. While some of the other teams have had trouble converting their shots into goals, this hasn’t been the case for the Comets—who seem to have a hard time converting their goals into wins.
Barnato stole the show with 2 goals in quick succession, proving her prowess on the field and bumping her up on the goal scoring ladder. And unfortunate jump for the ball by Jasienski resulted in a twisted ankle and up taking out fellow teammate Barlas with him. Both had to leave the field immediately due to compromises to their EV suits.
GOALS
1ST 9’ Benjamin (Comets) bends a left footed kick into the top right corner.
1ST 15’ Barnato (United) charges down center and scores
1ST 26’ Barnato (United) picks up a pass from Rouselle and strikes from outside the box into bottom right.
2ND 12’ Dennis (United) opens up the second half with a header.
2ND 22’ Liu (Comets) scores from centre in a direct free kick
| SHOTS ON GOAL | |
|---|---|
| 6 | 6 |
| POSSESSION | |
|---|---|
| 55% | 45% |
| FOULS | |
|---|---|
| 3 | 3 |
Wuji - Dynamos
Karka 17 • Tiangong Stadium
the dynamos celebrate their seventh win of the season.
Dynamos victorious after a fierce battle with Wuji.
In an extremely fast paced game where command of the field was constantly changing—the Dynamos were able to take the match with a right footed shot from Budnik straight into the bottom right corner. Wuji goalkeeper, Chardin, was subbed in due to malfunctions in Seaton’s EV suit. She made a valiant effort in stopping 4 shots as the Dynamos attacked relentlessly in the last minutes of extra time.
GOALS
1ST 7’ Petrovich (Dynamo) scores with kick into bottom left corner
1ST 24’ Galio (Wuji) scores third goal of season 2 from the centre box to the top right.
1ST 28’ Zeng (Wuji) converts a long pass from Galio into a goal
2ND 16’ Couto (Dynamo) scores a goal with an assist from Karaaria
ET 8’ Budnik (Dynao) scores the winning goal in extra time.
| SHOTS ON GOAL | |
|---|---|
| 7 | 12 |
| POSSESSION | |
|---|---|
| 44% | 56% |
| FOULS | |
|---|---|
| 2 | 3 |
Stats & Standings
Rankings
| Team | M | W | L | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dynamo | 10 | 7 | 3 | 26 |
| United | 10 | 7 | 3 | 25 |
| Wuji Sports Club | 10 | 6 | 4 | 25 |
| Al'Amal Sports Club | 10 | 6 | 4 | 20 |
| Comets | 10 | 5 | 5 | 31 |
| Titans | 10 | 4 | 6 | 19 |
| Immortals | 10 | 3 | 7 | 18 |
| Dongji | 10 | 2 | 8 | 18 |
| Top Scorers | ||
|---|---|---|
| Uday Lanka | 10 | |
| Darkeem Dennis | 9 | |
| Qigang Lian | 7 | |
| Readale Nash | 6 | |
| Ilya Petrovich | 6 | |
| Arwa Farra | 6 | |
| Yvonne Barnato | 6 | |
| Mariya Nikitovna | 5 | |
| Jube Terrell | 5 | |
| Zhou Geng | 4 | |
Huacheng's Darkeem Dennis
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.
Mercurii, Dhanus 18, 249
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.
“It’s tough not to think too much,” Dennis said.
His assigned roommate, midfielder Gao Zheng, was at his girlfriend’s pod, in the central quadrant. “He spends a lot of time there,” Dennis said. “She's got a lot more space.”
It was midnight; hours after Huacheng Dongji dropped its Week 9 match to Al'amal SC, stretching their losing streak to six games. Dennis didn’t score in the loss. And when the 27-year-old striker doesn’t score, Dongji rarely wins.
Almost half Dongji's losses have come in penalty kicks. Dennis has missed every penalty he's taken, save for one.
"I'm still trying to work out the boost on my kicks," he said. "I scored last week. I think I've got the hang of it."
Dennis didn’t want to talk much about pressure, about chafing against outsized expectations on an underachieving team. But the reality is, Dongji’s fate this season has become inextricably linked with this previously unknown import player from Wendale.
Dennis has surprised most MAFL scouts, leading the league in scoring early in the season. Still, despite a mid-season slump, he’s still in the top three — and the only Donji player in the top 20.
“Honestly? We weren’t expecting much from him,” Dongji manager Rain Chen said. “We didn’t even start him the first game.”
Dennis spent his childhood in the U.S. Soccer Development program, playing for the FC Portland Academy team. When he was 13, his parents won a 15-year research grant to develop EV suits and body armour for mining engineers on Wendland, the satellite settlement outside Amrita.
“I was gutted,” Dennis said. “My whole life was soccer. And when I got to Wendland, there was nothing. Even if there was a league then, I couldn’t walk right for the first year.”
“I sort of lost myself. I didn’t even watch the game feeds coming from Earth. Seeing some of the guys I came up with – it was too much.”
Until last year, Dennis was working with his parents. He tested prototype equipment they developed in the lab.
“I wore them out into the field, so I could identify kinks that happen in real-world situations,” he said. “It could be gruelling. But it was good. I had my family. I knew a lot of the guys at the lab.”
But his life was upended last year when an old coach from Portland FC Academy reached out. The coach, Jonas Erlbaum, was now chief of scouting for Dongji.
“We were trying to fill out the bottom of our roster,” Erlbaum said. “My team thought I was crazy. This kid from some backwater settlement who hadn’t played a sport in 13 years? Crazy. But I just had a feeling.”
It paid off.
“I know how EV suits work,” Dennis said. “I think that’s what gave me an edge. Everyone else was just getting used to playing in them, but I’d been working on those things for years.”
His emergence as one of the most promising players in the MAFL has earned him some notoriety in Huacheng. “People will pass me in the corridors,” he said, “and I can tell they recognize me. They look back and whisper.”
But sitting alone on the foot of his bed, with a sandstorm visible through the window, it doesn’t seem like Dennis is certain he made the right decision.
“We just got to start winning more games.”
Fan Reborn
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.
Martis, Dhanus 17, 249
Pitch view of Top-Side and Spectator Shuttles
I was born on Earth and I have memories, for good and for bad, of playing sports and being outdoors... real outdoors, breathing the actual air and not having to be reliant on any bubble to protect me from an environment that isn't species appropriate, to put it mildly. I like games, but yes, I was one of the skeptics of the MAFL and open concept stadiums. Just on the practical side alone, we have a lot of other pressing matters to contend with on this planet, so risking lives to play outdoor soccer didn't seem like a worthy priority.
With this notion, I've only followed the season in the news or caught partial segments, so this past week was my first live experience.
As our shuttle drove toward the stadium grounds, something started to happen. I began to feel anticipation that I hadn't expect. Was it possibly because I haven't been outside of the hab for months? This clearly wasn't an instantly gratifying holo experience that could be switched off; the shuttle wasn't going to turn around on my account, after all.
Had I underestimated the powers of anticipation that can be brought on from a glorified bus ride? Or had I forgotten the feats of engineering and series of miracles that had taken place in order to fly us across the solar system, land on an inhospitable world, set up camp to live, grow food, and not only to actually survive on this red dust ball, but to also invent and enjoy sport here too?
I didn't leave the comforts of the bus... The spectator deck was surprisingly immersive and I wouldn't have believed that the shuttle would, in all intent and purposes, disappear as I became enthralled with the match.
Within the first 5 minutes, I had to remind myself this wasn't a virtual game. These players were really performing feats and maneuvers I've never considered safe, let alone possible... and I've lived here for more than two decades. It also shattered my preconceptions of size, strength and prowess.
At 38 minutes, #30 Isabelle Marsh, a petite, young woman, charged to deliver an incredible kick that beat Dynamo's goalkeeper to open scoring. Just minutes later, seconds before half-time, #39, Aba Samma, in a graceful display of aerial control, blew a reinforcement goal past Kyrlyuk.
I may be remembering wrong, but sports back home never felt like this! The blend of acrobatics, tenacity, and, quite frankly, danger, have converted me.
I admit, there have been a few times where I've regretted my family bringing me to Mars, but that pales in comparison to what I was feeling then and there for not coming to support the games sooner. As we work hard to build this planet, it is easy to forget not to apply that same efforts in maintaining our humanity. The MAFL has, quite possibly, offered us the first vehicle to free us from often mundane, repetitive, and measured routines we must perform to survive here. It is recreations such as these that expand the definition of what living on Mars means and helps bring all of us together.
Not only did my home team take the bout against the Dynamos, but this match secured my loyalty to the Club, the MAFL, and, in many respects, this planet.
This win brings Marineris Comets to 6 and 4. With two back-to-back wins, they are 2nd in the league standings.
Next week, Comets face the struggling Tiangong Wuji.
Payback: Titans Beat Immortals in Rematch
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.
Lunae, Dhanus 16, 249
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.
“If Uday Lanka is Lanka Legend, then call me Nash the Cash. Because I am Money! Payback’s a Bitch,”
Nash deposited both goals for the Titans leading them to a 2 to 1 victory over the Immortals. With the win, the Titans move to a league leading 9 and 1 in the standings while the Immortals go to 5 and 5. The Titans’ only loss of the season – to those same Immortals in Week 3.
In this highly anticipated rematch of their Week 3 showdown, the stars were aligned and shone brightly as the league’s top two scorers, Lanka Legend and Readale Nash were the difference makers.
Another difference maker albeit unexpected, Immortals goalkeeper Chamunda Badal.
Six of the Titans’ nine shots on goal came from interceptions of botched passes and failed clearances from Badal. Two of those shots ended up as goals by Nash.
A livid Immortals owner Vijya Pandey was ballistic afterwards, “We had that bloody game won! If our stupid goal keeper can’t do her job right, what the bloody hell is she good for? We gave them the game.”
Titans Captain, Raenia Ware disagreed with Pandey’s assessment, “We put the pressure on the Immortals all game especially on Badal. There’s a reason why we’re the best team in the league and their owner is the beast of the league.”
A mortified Badal quickly ran off the field after the whistle and could not be reached for comment afterwards as Immortals Captain, Lanka Legend shielded her from the media’s stink eye.
“We win together and we lose together. We should’ve done a better job of protecting Badal out there and not letting the Titans pressure her so much”, said Lanka.
While noble in his intention, Lanka’s assessment does not hide the reality that Badal’s blunders enabled the Titans to escape another potentially embarrassing defeat from the Immortals.
Overall, the Immortals had the advantage in terms of possession time and came out much more aggressive to start the match than the Titans.
Lanka started off the scoring with his league leading 9th goal of the season at the 16th minute. Lanka intercepted a pass from Titans’ Midfielder, Sara Kelly, dribbled across the six-yard, beating two defenders and finished with a spectacular volley into the roof of the net.
The Amrita Attack did not let up as just over a minute later, Lanka picked the pocket of Midfielder, Bajen Avdi, and passed off to teammate Akkilic Talpur.
Lanka rushed down the field and controlled a return pass off his chest from the edge of the area, turned and delivered a low shot past the outstretched hands of Titans goalkeeper Usian Busara into the far bottom corner…post. No goal.
And that scare is likely what woke up a Timid Titans team before that point.
They responded with a scoring chance from Bajen Avdi whose shot just sailed over the top post at the 21st minute.
Then at the 25th minute mark, Nash waited behind Badal. Waited until she dropped the ball to sneak in, picked it off her boot and then drove it back into the net for his 5th goal of the season to tie up the match.
A minute later, Badal failed to clear the ball again and a surprised Nash volleyed the ball over the top post this time, cursing himself as he walked away from his squandered chance.
Sensing the momentum shifting away, Lanka stole a pass from the Titan’s Tarik Lema Girma minutes later, and passed over to teammate Laurien Hagendoorn. Lanka quickly sliced through two defenders and delivered a header off a crossing pass just over a leaping Busara and…just a pinch over the top post.
Another missed Immortals’ opportunity gave the Titans’ the momentum they needed as they continued to capitalize on sloppy goalkeeper and defensive play with two more shots on goal just before the end of the first half.
In the second half, more of the same from Badal as her errors caught up with the Immortals as Nash scored the winner at the 59 minute mark. Badal weakly played a backpass from teammate Tanigawa Kata, right into Nash’s path. A Nash pass to Ware resulted in a return pass to Nash who rounded Badal and kicked into the low far corner for his 6th goal of the season.
Nash almost made it a hat trick with scoring chances at the 76th minute and 80th minute.
With a committee of Titans defenders (Maria Fernanda Carballal, Terry Park, and Renatta Blundell) smothering Lanka Legend, none of his teammates stepped up and the Immortals were unable to generate any shots on goal in the 2nd half despite strong possession time.
Unlike their first match in Week 3, there were no substitutions, injuries or equipment failures in this match. In the Week 3 match, a miscommunication between Titans’ teammates and a remarkable boost jump into safety by Lanka, resulted in an epic car crash of a play resulting in Titans’ defender Terry Park taking out his own astonished teammate Maria Fernanda Carballal with a sliding tackle attempt.
“Us not talking in that Week 3 match,” said Carballal. “That was early in the season and like I said then, we just needed time to adjust and get to know each other, and I think our communication today was solid as we shut Lanka down this match.”
On Carballal’s assessment, Lanka replied, “Congratulations to them on their victory. However, I don’t necessarily agree with her statement. In the first half, two of our shots had beaten their keeper but both missed by maybe an inch. This match could have gone our way just like in Week 3.”
“The better team won today”, said Titans Captain Raenia Ware. “For Week 3, if we don’t go down to 10 players, I’m confident we would have gone out and had a strong second half just like today, and won that match as well.”
Lanka gently smiled when told Ware’s comment, “With all due respect, we were up 2 to 0 with Park and Carballal in that Week 3 match, after just 6 minutes of play. We would like to think our team’s play had something to do with us winning that day. ”
“That’s fine,” said Lanka calmly. “We look forward to next time when we’ll be on our home field. There’s a whole bunch of new moves we’ve been practicing that we can’t wait to unveil. ” The last time, Lanka used a practice move in a match resulted in his now infamous boost bicycle kick goal in Week 3 for the 4th goal of the game.
Week 17 @ Amrita – Titans vs. Immortals – Round 3.