The road to the playoffs has 5 left weeks. Every season, teams start jockeying for position – who do they want to play, who do they want to avoid. These questions will all be answered by April 10th.

Orange Crush v Top Dogs

There’s a lot on the line here as these two teams sit in 2nd and 3rd respectively, with only 1 point between them. Both teams are also competing for 1st place and a win tonight is vital. A 0-0 draw in December was followed up by a 3-0 win for Crush.

Titans v Sharks

Titans currently trail the Sharks by 9 points and it’s very unlikely they’ll overtake them in the standings. They can however win the season series if they come out on top tonight. The Sharks won the first match 1-0 while the Titans exploded for a 5-3 win the second match.

Scorpions v Bandits

The Scorpions have a 3 point lead in first place and they’ll likely finish no worse than 3rd place. The Bandits are competing with the Rebels for 4th/5th place. These teams have drawn both matches by a scoreline of 1-1 despite no lack of scoring ability on either side. It’s time to let loose and light it up!

Rebels vs Legacy

As mentioned earlier, Rebels are competing the 4th/5th position while Legacy in the 6th/7th battle. The Rebels have the edge in the season series, having won 3-0 in November and then drawing 2-2. Wayne Prinsloo has a 3 match scoring streak on the line and he’s not about to stop.

Here’s Leon Perelman’s take on the upcoming week.

Bandits vs Titans

Both these teams are looking to get back on track after losses last week. Titans will be motivated by their past two meetings against the Bandits, where they scored a win and a draw. Meanwhile, the Bandits have really improved in the second half of the season and are pushing hard to climb up the table. This promises to be an exciting and high scoring encounter!

Scorpions vs Top Dogs

These two teams have split their first two meetings with one victory each. Form seems to be favoring the Top Dogs, who are on a two match win streak, while Scorpions are coming off a loss. Will this week see the Top Dogs reclaim their place at the top of the table, or will the Scorpions keep their spot? Stay tuned!

Sharks vs Rebels

Sharks are hungry for a win this week following a couple tough losses, while the Rebels are very motivated after a blowout win against the Titans. When told that the Sharks are looking to win, Captain Vlad of the Rebels responded: “So are we!” The white-shirts are undeterred however. Rumor has it they will be playing Jaws theme music before the game as an intimidation tactic.

Legacy vs Orange Crush

Legacy are flying high after their victory over the Scorpions last week. But can they stay strong against the super solid Orange Crush? Legacy Captain Paul Callahan certainly believes so – he was quoted as saying: “I confidently predicted a victory against the Scorpions last week. And this week against Orange Crush will be no different. 4-0!”

Here’s a preview of the upcoming weeks action, courtesy of Pistol Paul Callahan.

Bandits vs Top Dogs

The last time these squads met the Dogs’ came out on Top’ 6-3.  However, the Bandits have been coming together nicely as of late, and are poised to make some noise in the playoffs.  Also,  keep an eye out for Bandits fullback Chris Marroquin who has found his first touch again, and has been very reliable in the back letting Shay and the gang work their magic up front. 

Prediction: 4-2 Bandits

Titans vs Rebels

This game is shaping up to be a classic shootout between two high scoring teams.  The Rebels are a gritty squad who are coming off a 4-4 draw last week against Bandits.  The Titans have been scoring in bunches lately, but getting unlucky on the score sheet losing a few 1 goal games in a row. They’ll be looking to squash the Rebels and get back in the win column.

Prediction 3-2 Titans

Scorpions vs Legacy

Legacy stars Metin and Jarry will be facing their former squad this week and no doubt they’ve had this date circled on their calendars for quite a while. Metinho, who was scoreless before the transfers, has found glory four times for Legacy, and will be surely add a couple more against his former team for old times sake. When asked about the match-up, Metin and Jarry both looked at each other, laughed and said “Scorpions are very.. VERY beatable”. 

Prediction: 4-0 Legacy

Orange Crush vs Sharks

In the last meeting between these two juggernauts, the Sharks took a bite out of Orange Crush  2-1.  However, the Crush’ have continuously silenced the critics this season and are hoping the Sharks take the bait. Just don’t tell Sharks Captain Theo Blanchard who has been known to make the odd run. Still hungry for his first goal of the season, he might just go Top Cheddar Extra Parmesan.

Prediction: 2-2 Draw

There will be no games played on February 6, 2019 due to the Hangar being closed as a result of the inclement weather. Week 16 is canceled so please do not travel to the Hangar.

Vlad here to give you a preview of this week’s action.

Legacy v. Sharks

The new and improved Legacy will aim to avoid the jaws of the Sharks in the early 6pm game. The teams have split their 2018 home-and-away series. Legacy can leapfrog the Sharks in the table with a win; Sharks win and they swim up the tables, gaining a much needed cushion over the hungry Legacy squad.

Rebels v. Scorpions

With the Top Dogs breathing down their necks, the Scorpions are not by any means comfortable at the top of the league table. They will seek to unleash the ‘Scorpion King’ against the Rebels in the other 6pm match.  While the teams have split their 2018 series, those were two very different squads at the time. When asked about Rebels’ strategy for the Scorpions game, Reza noted: “We will get a big boot and will squash them like a bug!”

Orange Crush v. Bandits

In both of the previous two meetings between these two teams, the game was decided by the narrowest of a margin. It may be a defensive chess-game, or it may turn into a blowout affair. Viewers should be reminded that unlike the low-scoring Super Bowl match over the weekend, this game will not offer a half-time show. Fans of Prem Chattani’s rendition of Despacito will have to tune in another time.

Top Dogs v. Titans

The final match of the evening will feature the Top Dogs facing off against the Titans.  Top Dogs’ crafty offence will put the Titans’ stingy defense to the test. Having been shut out the last two games, can these Titans create their own ‘Music City Miracle’ and upset the high-flying ‘Dogs?

For Italians the number 13 is considered lucky. Fare tredici means “to do 13” which means to hit the jackpot. John Di Re will tap into that positive energy as he leads the Bandits against the Titans. The first match ended in a 2-2 draw.

The Top Dogs will try to maintain their first place position when they face the Scorpions. They got the 3-1 win last time these teams met but that was then and this is now. It’s going to be lights out for light blue.

Rebels and Sharks both sit at mid-table heading into their game tonight. It’s always difficult to predict a Sharks match – you never know what their lineup will be. Theo says they’ve just being luring us all into a false sense of superiority – or in his words, playing us all like a dimwit’s kazoo. Wow, just wow.

Legacy’s season enters phase 2 – the good days. Their first victim is scheduled to be Orange Crush, should they show up. New players Jarry and Metinho have changed their names to Shock & Awe. Brace yourselves.

The re-balance has been agreed upon by all the captains.  The biggest factor in these decisions was attendance.  We do feel that most teams are balanced from a strength perspective, but some struggle with attendance which makes it hard to play well as a team.  Some have too many similar players for one position but gaps in other positions. 

The change is effective immediately, so on Wednesday the 16^th everyone will be lining up for their new team.  

• Bandits: Chris Marroquin, Nicolas Pilorget, Rachael De Sousa, Mario Vega
• Legacy: Jarry Ahmad, Metin Guler
• Rebels: Jose Estrada
• Scorpions: Miekela Singh, Faiz Moosafur
• Sharks: Walter Viguiliouk, Emma Smith
• Titans: Cedric Ngabonziza, Andre Chan
• Top Dogs: Deborah Ng, Tyler Zeng, Colby Gibbons
• Orange Crush: no additions

New teams means new connections, new friends and new rivals! Good luck to all the teams in the second half of the season.

The TISL is back for the second half of the season. Hopefully the 2 week break gave everyone a chance to hit the gym and amplify themselves to a version 2.0.

The Top Dogs won the crown of Fall Champions with their win over Legacy just before the break. That win was their 4th in a row with 3 of those being shut outs. Congrats to Andrew Winnett and all the Top Dogs for an outstanding first half of the season. They’re a well led cohesive unit in which just about everyone can score goals. Tonight they’ll face the Bandits who themselves are experiencing somewhat of a renaissance. They’re unbeaten in 7 matches and in fact, their last loss came against Top Dogs. In some bad news for Top Dogs, their keeper Jeff Simsons suffered an injury in the last game which will put him out indefinitely. The Bandits will need to capitalize on this opportunity but they’ll have to do it without leading scorer Seamus who is unavailable for the match. John Levi has started hitting his stride and his 2 goal performance against the might Rebels in December is what Bandits will look for tonight.

The Sharks will be happy to have Nico Ress and Mohammed Etleb back in the lineup after their whirlwind tour of “everywhere but here”. Their teammates welcome them back with open arms and tonight should show what this team is really capable of. Their opponents are Orange Crush and we all know what they can do. The Fall Championship was almost theirs if not for that loss to Rebels in December. They don’t score a lot of goals but then they don’t concede many either.

The Rebels spent much of the first half of the season at the top of the standings but have since dropped to 4th. Their striking tandem of Zain-Amogh is no more with the former suffering a season-ending injury and the latter returning to school. That won’t deter Rebels though and they’ll look to get back to the top 3 with a win over Titans. For their part, the Titans are hoping for a little more stability in the second half of the season. It’s time to turn those 50/50 games from losses to wins and fortunes can change over night.

The Scorpions have scored the most goals this season but tonight they’ll be without their 2 strikers in Jarry and Catherine who overdid it on the squat exercises.

A new year brings new hope for Legacy. They’ve all agreed to go into full beast mode every single game starting tonight.

Tonight the TISL bids farewell to 2018.  This has been a year of substantial growth where we’ve welcomed over 40 new players to the league.

The week before the break is always the most chaotic.  Teams have always struggled to field enough players and this year will be no different.  What it does is provide for a wide open week in which anything can happen.

The Top Dogs can be crowned Fall Champions with a win over Legacy.  While Top Dogs are the favourites, Pistol Paul Callahan was reminding Jeff Simsons that last time these team met, it was Legacy who walked away with the 3 points.  An intense stare-down followed with neither player backing down – that is until the waitress asked if they’d like another and all was well again.

The Scorpions and Rebels sit 1 point behind Top Dogs and they’ll need to win their games against Sharks and Bandits respectively, and hope that Top Dogs don’t win.  Orange Crush are a further point behind and even with a win against Titans, it’s unlikely that the other 3 all lose their games.

On a final note to close out the year, Nader Sabahi of Bandits and Amogh Reddy of Rebels are returning to school and their time in the league has come to an end.  Please take a moment to say goodbye.

The mid-season re-balance will occur in mid-January, which is a little bit later than in prior years.  With 8 teams, 8 captains and 104 players it’s a lot of work to achieve a good balance so more time is needed.

Happy Holidays!

The Fall Champions are the team who finish in first place when the league takes its December break.  Orange Crush can clinch that title one week early if they beat a depleted Rebels side tonight.  The Rebels can leapfrog the OC with a win so this promises to be a barn burner.

Both the Bandits and Legacy have hit a purple patch in recent weeks.  The Bandits are undefeated in their past 4 while Legacy in on a 2 game winning streak.  Both are only 4 points behind 5th place and it’ll be a big boost should one of them manage to win on Wednesday.

In what should be a interesting match, the Top Dogs face the Sharks.  Making a shock return to the league is Ramon Alvarado who will take on the goalkeeper duty for the Sharks.  This is Ramon’s first game back since April of 2017 and more importantly, it’s his debut between the pipes.  He’ll have a baptism by fire as the opponent is the high-flying Top Dogs. No pressure Ramon.

The Titans continue to look for their identify after the early season loss of Alex Wong.  They haven’t quite hit their stride yet but things can turn around in an instant.  They’ve been competitive in all matches, usually losing by a single goal when they could’ve easily won by a goal.  The Scorpions still have dreams of being Fall Champions and they’ll need win to even stay in the race.