MAFL Week 7 Roundup
Immortals break the curse and finally log a win. Comets have exciting 5 goal victory at expense of Dong Ji. Al’amal joins Dynamo and United at top of standings with 5 wins a piece.
Al'amal - Titans
Cancer 23 • Al'amal Stadium
Nash ejected from match after an outburst with referee.
Al'Amal shutout Titans at every turn.
Al'Amal S.C. had little opposition as Titans were disorganized from the start. Baddour opened scoring early in the 1st and Arwa Farra added security in the 2nd; her 4th goal of the season. Readale Nash lashes out at officials earning himself a red card.
| SHOTS ON GOAL | |
|---|---|
| 20 | 12 |
| POSSESSION | |
|---|---|
| 58% | 42% |
| FOULS | |
|---|---|
| 3 | 5 |
GOALS
- 1ST 5' Al'amal Captain Musaddiq Baddour
- 2ND 24' Al'amal Arwa Farra beats DeSisto with a header
NOTABLE FOULS
- 2ND 18' Red card Titans Readale Nash
Immortals - Dynamo
Cancer 23 • Amrita Stadium
The Immortals are ecstatic as they celebrate their first victory of season 2.
Stunning Upset! Dynamos lose, finally ending the Immortal's drought.
In a coordinated team effort, Immortals earn their first win of the season. Lanka continues to hold his status of lead scorer in the league with an impressive 8 goals in just 7 matches, but this has only exacerbated concerns that something is terribly wrong with the club. Immortal's owner, Vijya Pandey hopes this is a turning point for his team, which he previously referred to as 'shameful'.
GOALS
- 1ST 6' Immortals Jag Parkar
- 1ST 15' Dynamo Sergey Samrend
- 1ST 26' Immortals Captain Uday Lanka
- 2nd 8' Dynamo Avideh Karaaria
- 2ND 18' Immortals Laurien Hagendoorn on a penalty pick
NOTABLE SUBSTITUTIONS
- 2ND 14' Dynamo Stadnyk substitues Rozalia Budnik after she suffers tear in lining of suit.
| SHOTS ON GOAL | |
|---|---|
| 19 | 14 |
| POSSESSION | |
|---|---|
| 53% | 47% |
| FOULS | |
|---|---|
| 2 | 3 |
Dongji - Comets
Cancer 24 • Dongji Field
Comets unleash in the 2nd half. Decisive win helps lift spirits, but still a far cry from their former glory.
The Comets needed this one. With nice plays, good opportunities and big goals, it was reminiscent of the performance that earned them last year's championship. Yet the win only ties them with San Olympus Titans in the standings with only 3 wins a piece, nothing for either team to be proud of.
GOALS
- 1ST 8' Comets rookie, Dalton Dunn, beats Su with a corner kick
- 1ST 14' DJ Minhat Saqqat
- 2ND 7' Comets Amanda Coronel
- 2ND 12' DJ Jai Cheng
- 2ND 15' DJ Olga daCosta
- 2ND 18' Comets Captain Liddell Bradley scores on free kick
- 2ND 21' Comets Alessandro Ferraz
- 2ND 23' Comets Defender Marysa Waaijer scores on a long kick.
| SHOTS ON GOAL | |
|---|---|
| 16 | 21 |
| POSSESSION | |
|---|---|
| 44% | 56% |
| FOULS | |
|---|---|
| 2 | 2 |
United - Wuji
Cancer 24 • Europa Stadium
captain qigang lian leads up the wuji sports club in season 2 of mafl
Tiangong Wuji moves up to 4th place as they conquer United.
United served a lesson as they give up two goal lead in the 1st. Captain Qigang Lian fought back to single handedly tie the match, deflating United. Wuji seal the deal with goals by Alvi and Zeng. "Absolutely no regrets!", says Lian on moving to Tiangong.
GOALS
- 1ST United Captain Lennard Fuchs
- 1ST United forward Darkeem Dennis
- 1ST 27' Wuji Captain Qigang Lian
- 2ND 5' Wuji Captain Qigang Lian
- 2ND 13' Wuji forward Ozil Alvi
- 2ND 19' Wuji midfielder Qigang Zeng
| SHOTS ON GOAL | |
|---|---|
| 18 | 17 |
| POSSESSION | |
|---|---|
| 53% | 47% |
| FOULS | |
|---|---|
| 5 | 3 |
Stats & Standings
Rankings
| Team | M | W | L | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dynamo | 7 | 5 | 2 | 21 |
| United | 7 | 5 | 2 | 17 |
| Al'Amal Sports Club | 7 | 5 | 2 | 15 |
| Wuji Sports Club | 7 | 4 | 3 | 18 |
| Titans | 7 | 3 | 4 | 13 |
| Comets | 7 | 3 | 4 | 20 |
| Dongji | 7 | 2 | 5 | 14 |
| Immortals | 7 | 1 | 6 | 11 |
| Top Scorers | ||
|---|---|---|
| Uday Lanka | 8 | |
| Darkeem Dennis | 7 | |
| Readale Nash | 6 | |
| Ilya Petrovich | 5 | |
| Qigang Lian | 5 | |
| Sergey Samrend | 4 | |
| Yvonne Barnato | 4 | |
| Zhou Geng | 4 | |
| Arwa Farra | 4 | |
| Lennard Fuchs | 4 | |
United's Sulzberger Anxiety
Europa may be losing goalkeeper Kevin Sulzberg to Wendland’s season 3 expansion. Sulzberg has been an instrumental player for the United club, so the prospects of losing him is a real concern for fans and owners.
Of all colonies, Europa has the deepest roots to the 'beautiful game', thus a lot to live up to.. Now, even though season 2 looks to be shaping up better than season 1, there is growing anxiety among United fans that the club will lose a key player, Kevin Sulzberger.
Sulzberger took on the goalkeeper position after a late-season shuffle that saw Yvonne Barnato become a forward in an attempt to bolster the club's anemic offence. It was big shoes for Sulzberger to fill; even though United had only won 7 of 15 matches with Barnato in goal, she was a fan favourite; most of the blame falling on Captain Fuchs and the forward line up.
Sulzberger's was a natural. When he was between the posts, United was more likely to win than lose. It wasn't enough to get United into the playoffs, but his performance has only improved this season.
Season 1
Season 2
With the looming possibility that Sulzberger will join the new Wendland club for season 3, it may mean losing him before the end of the season.
"I'll be looking at my options," says Sulzberger, "Wendland is where I grew up after we arrived almost 10 years ago. It is where my family lives, so there are a lot of compelling reasons to go home."
Both expansion teams, Columbia Hills and Wendland, will be aiming to build from local talent, so it is expected that players like Sulzberg and Comets' Marysa Waaijer will be courted heavily by their home colony.
Europa United has been actively nurturing Manfredo Riva as back-up goalkeeper. He got his first win in Week 3 against the Comets, so is a promising candidate should Sulzberger terminate his contract early.
When United manager, Matthäus Reinmann, was asked about losing Sulzberger, he simply responded, "It makes sense."
With cross-colony transfers proving to be both logistically challenging and risky when players can't adjust to their new colony, keeping clubs local may be the healthiest path for many clubs in this young league.
"We can't pretend things operate like sports clubs of the past," added Reinmann, "This is Mars and our circumstances here are unique to any Earth history lessons. What's best for players will ultiimately be best for the league."