MAFL Week 9 Roundup

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Immortals - Wuji Sports Club

Karka 9 • Amrita Stadium

Parkar attempts to steal the ball with a sliding tackle.

Wuji now tied with the Dynamos for first in the season standings as they add a fourth win to their streak of victories.

A solid performance from Wuji despite increasingly aggressive plays from the Immortals as the clock counted down. Immortals forward, Parkar was automatically red-carded for his second foul and ejected from the match midway through first half. His sliding tackle was deemed unsafe play, and Parkar will be suspended for the next match.

The Immortals have not been able to keep up with the scoring chances. etting Lanka up seems to be the Immortal’s primary play, but aside from keeping Lanka on top of the scoring leaderboard, it is failing to win matches.

GOALS

• 1ST 3’12 Lanka scores a neat opener

• 1ST 12’ Repsas (Wuji) heads the ball right past Seaton’s reach

• 2ND 20’ Lian (Wuji) scores the winning goal

NOTABLE FOULS

• 1ST 17’2 Parkar (Immortals) is red-carded and ejected from play for unsafe play.

• Yellow cards are handed out to Hama, Lanka, Kaafi, and Tagore in the second half.

• Zeng and and Gallo of Wuji earn yellow cards in the first half, while Liao is booked in the second half for interference.

SHOTS ON GOAL
6	18

POSSESSION
48%	52%

FOULS
6	3

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United - Dynamos

Karka 9 • Novyimir Stadium

Amazing long shot by United captain, Fuchs, in second half sends the match into extra time.

United’s match against the Dynamos was an endurance race as neither team scored any goals until the final 10 minutes of regulation time. Fuchs trapped a deflection from Samrend’s free kick in the final minutes of the second half and scored with a long range kick from 63 metres that sailed over the head of Danilovich.

Despite Fuch’s efforts, the Dynamos scored the winning goal 20 minutes into extra time.

GOALS

• 2ND 20’ Nikitovna (Dynamos) scores with a clever kick straight into the top corner.

• 2ND 28’ Fuchs (United) nails his long range kick

• ET 20’ Petrovich breaks the tie for the Dynamos

SHOTS ON GOAL
8	12

POSSESSION
49%	51%

FOULS
3	3

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Comets - Dongji

Karka 10 • Marineris Stadium

dunn prepares to take his freekick against the dongji defenders.

Comets take command of the field as Dongji is throughly defeated at Marineris.

The Comets win their fourth game in a row as they continue to build momentum. The Comets make it look so easy to score, as both Elliot and Dunn nailed their freekicks with Elliot picking up his parried shot to sink it back into the net.

Dongji is unable to get an effective offensive together as they are plagued by poor passing all match. Ekberg seems to be restraining his temper despite being visibly upset at the team’s performance. Dongji goalkeepr, Xue Su, definitely earned his keep this round as he deflected over 80% of the Comet’s shots on goal.

GOALS

• 1ST 12’ Hou (Dongji) opens scoring with a cross from the right-wing.

• 1ST 14’ Shelton (Comets) catches Dongji by surprise with a long range strike from 48 m out.

• 1ST 27’ Elliot (Comets) converts his parried freekick shot into a goal.

• 2ND 5’ Ekberg (Dongji) heads the ball in.

• 2ND 8’ Dunn (Comets) scores on his direct freekick.

• 2ND 16’ Liu (Comets) tackles the ball and scores a lucky goal.

• 2ND 26’ Marsh (Comets) scores into the bottom corner.

SHOTS ON GOAL
32	8

POSSESSION
67%	33%

FOULS
3	4

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Al’amal Sports Club - Titans

Karka 10 • Al’amal Stadium

The women of MAFL steal the spotlight in Al’amal’s match against the Titans.

Favoured Titan scorer, Nash, was noticeably absent in the second half of today’s match. Rumours allege that Nash suffered an emotional breakdown during halftime. Detractors are quick to point out his seeming obsession with the leaderboards and claim that the pressure has gotten to him.

Today’s match is Al’amal’s first loss at home, and the Titan’s first win away from home.

GOALS

• 1ST 12’ Ware (Titans) delivers a beautiful aerial.

• 1ST 22’ Farra (Al’amal) breaks through defence for a cross from centre-right.

• 2ND 18’ Terrell (Titans) pokes a goal into the bottom left.

NOTABLE SUBSTITUTIONS

• Al’amal is down one defender as Sodhi is still out sitting out his red card.

SHOTS ON GOAL
15	16

POSSESSION
31%	69%

FOULS
6	5

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Stats & Standings

Rankings

Team	M	W	L	Goals
Dynamo	9	6	3	24
Wuji Sports Club	9	6	3	23
United	9	6	3	22
Al'Amal Sports Club	9	5	4	18
Comets	9	5	4	29
Titans	9	4	5	18
Dongji	9	2	7	17
Immortals	9	2	7	15

Top Scorers
	Uday Lanka	9
	Darkeem Dennis	8
	Qigang Lian	7
	Readale Nash	6
	Ilya Petrovich	6
	Arwa Farra	6
	Lennard Fuchs	5
	Mariya Nikitovna	5
	Jube Terrell	5
	Zhou Geng	4

Top Guns, So Far

Karka 8, 2078, m249

From left to right: Uday Lanka (#7 Immortals Captain), Arwa Farra (#18 Al’amal SC), and Darkeem Dennis (#7 Europa United)

Rolling into the 9th week of play, the field of top scoring players are the familiar stars from season one – with a few notable absentees including Stephen Liu (Comets) and Musaddiq Baddour (Al’amal) . With an obvious disconnect between scoring leaders and team standings, it will be interesting to observe how things play out and which players are resilient enough to stay on top.

Uday Lanka

9 Goals
1 Assist

With 240 minutes of play so far, Lanka continues to be uphold his reputation in the MAFL, despite the Immortals sitting at the bottom on the rankings. Lanka has scored 64% of all Immortal goals this season and appears on track to beat his Season 1 record of 16 goals over 21 regular season matches. If the Immortals continue to struggle, can Lanka keep scoring?

TOTAL SHOTS
31

SHOTS ON TARGET
23	78%

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Darkeem Dennis

8 Goals
0 Assists

Dennis has proven his worth after failing to get significantly contribute after joining Europa United midway through seasons one. In 8 matches, he’s already surpassed his already surpassed his 7 goals from last season. With United’s overall improvement thus far, Dennis could be bolstered for MVP contention.

TOTAL SHOTS
27

SHOTS ON TARGET
17	62.9%

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Qigang Lian

6 Goals
3 Assists

Lian has been transformed after joining Tiangong Wuji in the off-season. With a measly 2 goals all of season one, Dong Ji should have been cheering at his exit. Now sitting alongside Readale Nash as 3rd highest scorer in the league, he’s clearly found his game.

TOTAL SHOTS
21

SHOTS ON TARGET
12	57%

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Readale Nash

6 Goals
0 Assists

The young gun, Nash, continues to be the San Olympus Titans best performer despite struggling with personal demons. He is on track to equal or best his 11 goal first season, that is, if he is able to keep it together. His arrogance and tendencies to lash out at teammates hasn’t won him any friends, however, he remains the Titans best hope for getting back on top.

TOTAL SHOTS
23

SHOTS ON TARGET
16	69.6 %

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Arwa Farra

5 Goals
1 Assists

Farra is the leading female scorer and top Al’amal player, overshadowing team captain Mussaddiq Baddour who finished of 2nd top scorer behind Lanka las season. She’s contributed an incredible 7 out of the 17 goals earned by the club so far (41%), thus has been a key factor in Al’amals strong start to season 2.

TOTAL SHOTS
15

SHOTS ON TARGET
9	60%

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Ilya Petrovich

5 Goals
1 Assists

Dynamo Captain, Petrovich, has been instrumental in the club’s early domination in season 2. He is on track to crush his 7 goal first season with 5 goals in hand well before mid-point of the season. If Petrovich and his fellow forwards continue scoring, Dynamos can make a serious run for the championship.

TOTAL SHOTS
19

SHOTS ON TARGET
11	57.9%

Monkey Wrench

Lunae, Dhanus 16, 249

Vijya Pandey (Left), Immortals owner, with Andam Mirza (Right), Club Manager

“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. But before you spin tales of impending doom after a single loss, remember that hindsight can hurt your behinds soon. You may need to stock up on eggs and keep them close to your faces if you overreact.”

The snarling smirk from last week was now replaced with a scowl. Vijya Pandey would have been better served by a pout. The result of the game had rained on his parade. A parade which the owner of the Immortals had bombastically led off, firing all his cannons just the previous week. And now he was pre-emptively accusing the media assembled at the post-game press conference of imaginary pulldowns of his team following the tense loss to the Titans on the night. We could only chuckle under our breaths.

Andam Mirza had stared expressionlessly off into space at the podium. The loss to the league topping Titans was surely hurting the Immortals’ manager. The statistics for the game reveal that his team had held the upper hand right through. Their aggression had given the Titans, a team which has made a habit of laying waste their opponents in intimidating style, a mighty scare. The plethora of scoring chances the Immortals squandered away all night was surely weighing heavy. The manager hadn’t spoken yet. How could he? All the oxygen in the room was being sucked up by his hyper-ventilating owner.

The feeling tonight was nothing like the week before. That night, Mirza had watched his squad ratchet up the feverish excitement in a packed Amrita Stadium with a spectacular highlight reel goal in the second half that sealed the game. More importantly, the win against Tiangong Wuji had extended their winning streak to three. His move to a 4-3-3 formation in Week 7 appeared to have aligned the planets for his team. Not only had it seemed like they had discovered their mojo, but the shackles seemed to come off and there was more fluidity in their play. More importantly, they had discovered a consistency which had been sorely lacking at the start of the season.

A keen student of the game, Mirza would surely have offered us his astute thoughts on his team’s progress in spite of the loss. But enter stage left, Vijya Pandey! Owners are oh so rarely represented at post-match press conferences. It is the manager’s prerogative. But one Mirza’s father-in-law and boss Pandey gives a rodent’s arse about. And of course, on this night, Pandey had to appear. He needed to explain away the loss. He had made it a fait accompli – after the no-holds-barred performance at Amrita Stadium after the win against Tiangong the week before.

“Mark my words. Write them down”, he had thundered. “The juggernaut is only getting started. This dragon is no longer asleep. This is not a warning shot to all other teams in the league but the opening salvo of the battle for supremacy. There is no going back now – just continued rampage. Writing my team off was foolhardy. And you know that. And I want to make sure you remember it hereafter. We are not here to make friends. It is an all-out lunge for the jugular now. I can’t wait for the next game. I always knew this was coming. You should have listened to me all along.”

Really?

Three weeks earlier, it appeared the wheels had come off the Immortal’s wagon as they careened and crashed at Marineris Stadium in Week 6. It was their third loss in a row. More than the losses, it had been the manner of them. For three games, following the jaw dropper of a four goal performance by their magnificent captain Uday Lanka against the Titans in Week 3, the team had hit the collective skids. Lanka had toiled like a champion, but neutrals had watched on perplexed by the play of his mates looking like they were swimming in molasses.

And Pandey lashed out. At everything in sight. His soap box had been sawed off in half and the spice magnate was livid. His deranged haranguing of his beleaguered manager Mirza had been uncomfortable to watch. And we had cringed imagining what Mirza was in for at the family dinner table now. And then Lanka. In what would go down as the most unhinged tirade of them all, he had trained his sights on Lanka. “Very disappointed with our captain. How can we win if he only scores in the penalty shootout? He needs to produce when it matters.”

Perhaps Pandey’s mind was still stewing and clouded by the events of the morning at the Colonial Securities Commission headquarters in Marineris. The long ongoing investigations by the CSC into the statutory import regulation violations of Pandey Inc. had culminated in the commencement of closed door hearings. Allegations of financial blowbacks and skulduggery in his cozy relationships with exporters back on Earth had been swirling around for a long time. Pandey had testified that morning in front of the CSC and had emerged pasty faced and grim – proffering not even his regulatory squawks to the media who had chased him as he left for the night’s game.

The loss in this night’s game is a bugaboo only in the convoluted mind of the owner. The stoic and focussed Mirza is not going to see red after a hard fought loss. And the classy and uber-talented Lanka is certainly not losing sleep over any deranged comments by his owner. Lanka has shone effervescently all season – in wins and losses. Seeing his name in the scoresheet has become de rigeur to all watchers of the game. The Immortals (5-5) certainly have turned a corner in the season. And we can only wait in anticipation to see how they move on from what really should be a blip. Pandey is right on that one. Now, if he would only leave us and his team alone to relish the journey.

We can always hope for the CSC to get their act together.