There will be no love lost between Red Bulls & Emeralds when they lineup against each other on Valentine’s Day.  The season series is split with each team having a win and a draw.  An interesting stat about this game is that Victor Scheibehenne has only played 6 games for Emeralds but 3 of those were against Red Bulls AND he’s either scored or assisted in all 3.  Not to be outdone, both Sam Modarresi and Scott Tudo have scored 3 goals in the 3 matches.  The rest of us got participation medals.

Vaders look to build off their win last week by beating Lightning, who find themselves in a bit of a slump.  Coincidentally, their last win came against Vaders in early January.  Vaders usually play well but the bounce of the ball doesn’t go their way.  Fernando has been hit by Cupid’s arrow so look for him to score on Wednesday.

Someone needs to stop Direwolves and this is the time for Nightmares to do it.  If they win and some other results go their way, they can jump right up to 3rd place.  Direwolves don’t know anything about that because they’ve been in 1st place all season.  The rest of the league has felt the lows of being of 6th and highs of 2nd, but not 1st.

 

The TISL derby kicks off week 15 as Direwolves take on Lightning.  For a number of weeks, these two teams were first and second, although Lightning has recently slipped to third.  They’ll have to beat their opponents for the first time if they’re to get back to second place.

Nightmares have beaten Red Bulls both times this season and another win on Wednesday would even them up in the standings.  The last match in December was won on a late goal by Metinho.

The primetime match-up pits Vaders vs Emeralds.  They played to a 4-4 draw last time around and it was Victor Cristiano who scored twice for Vaders.  He’ll be hoping to do the same this week, however it’ll be in a Vaders uniform.  Everyone steps it up against their old team so Emeralds beware.

The Direwolves continue to lead the table heading into week 14 where they face Emeralds.  They’re in tough because Captain Callahan has a hold over the referees.  Whether it’s getting them to change their calls or letting him commit a last man foul but not get carded, he always gets his way.

Lightning try to hold on to second place when they take the field against Nightmares.  Lightning are coming off a 3-3 draw with Red Bulls in an action packed game while Nightmares got past Emeralds, despite Callahan’s antics.

Red Bulls are unbeaten in three and they face Vaders.  Last week, John Altinian scored the goal of the season when he blasted a shot to the top corner, from what appeared to be a standing position – no run up needed.  The roof almost came off the Hangar!

Red Bulls will look to jump ahead of the Lighting into second place.  They’ll have to beat the Lightning to do it, something they haven’t managed in the first two matches.  Vaders will look to help themselves and the rest of the league by stopping Direwolves.  Both previous matches ended in a 1-1 draw.  The primetime match pits Nightmares against Emeralds where bitter rivals Adrian Mos and Bad News Hughes lock horns.  Adrian is the Babe Ruth of the league having called his early season brace against Bad News.  Does he dare to do it again?  Be there at 7 pm to get the answer!

Nightmares and Vaders kick off week 12.  The two previous matches saw a win and a draw for Vaders.  On the other field it’s Direwolves will look to beat the Red Bulls, something they haven’t been able to do in the two matches they’ve played this season.  Finally at primetime it’s the high flying offense of Lightning against the staunch defense of Emeralds.  If the Lightning want to keep up with Direwolves, they’ll need to get the better of ‘Bad News’ Hughes.  Good luck!

 

The Direwolves head into the second half of the season as league favourites.  Joining the team is Prem Chattani who will look to form a strong partnership with Alex Salcedo – to be known as Sa-Cha.  The Nightmares lost leading scorer Jose Estrada to a season ending injury.  There is some good news though, as they bought Theo Blanchard from Direwolves for an undisclosed fee.  Will Theo come back to haunt his old team on Wednesday?  It usually happens that way.

The Emeralds are unbeaten against Red Bulls this season and they hope to keep it that way.  They picked up Victor Arcentales in the January transfer window to bolster an already strong defense making it clear that their strategy to win this league will be Mourinho-like.  Red Bulls lose Eddie Shukur who returns to school which leaves a big hole in defense.  Wednesday’s match will show how they cope with that.

Lightning welcome a newcomer to the league in Valeria Nunez.  She joins a high-flying offensive team that has ambitions to win the league.  Vaders made 2 purchases in the transfer window when they signed Victor Cristiano and a returning Tim Liu.  Having lost Usama Nini who also returns to school.  Tune in on Wednesday to see all the action!

The title of Fall Champions is bestowed upon the team who finishes top of the standings after the first half of the season.  Direwolves currently sit two points ahead of Lightning and these two teams will battle out in primetime tonight.  It’s the best offense against the best defense, who will come out on top?

In the other matches, Nightmares will look climb out of last place when they take on Red Bulls while Emeralds will try to hold off Vaders.

This is Vlad Moisseykin bringing you a preview of week 9 in which Direwolves could secure the title of Fall Champions.

Direwolves (1) v Emeralds (3)

The last time these two teams met, the crowd at the Hangar was treated to the most entertaining 1:0 game anyone could remember, with Direwolves securing a narrow margin of victory. Will Kaveh be the difference maker again this week? Or will Alex’s squad have a few tricks up their sleeves?

Only 2 points separate these teams at the top of the league table. A winning effort by the Emeralds would catapult them past Direwolves in the standings prior to pivotal last game of 2017.

Lightning (2) v Nightmares (5)

While many are pondering a more iconic duo than Seamus and Dillon (I’ll wait!), the Lighting team is menacing at both ends of the pitch. It may be that the only weakness the Lighting have so far this season is Seamus’ lack of a photo on the website.

Nightmares present a worthy opponent to Lightning this week.  They will be looking to channel their inner Anton Chigurh to mercilessly scare Lighting into submission.

Red Bulls (4) vs Vaders (6)

In a highly anticipated matchup of teams that, at times, looked much better off the pitch than on it, Vaders and Red Bulls meet in this prime time affair.  Vaders expect a full squad – perhaps given that the Last Jedi instalment does not hit the theatres until Thursday.

The soccer gods may favour the team in black: there can only be one team in red that wins a prime-time matchup this week (shout-out to TFC!)

Vaders vs Direwolves

Although Vaders v Direwolves featured the 1^st and 6^th place teams, it was far from a mismatch. The Vaders were confident from last week’s win, and applied pressure from the start.Meanwhile, the Direwolves were forced to defend and had few opportunities in the opening half. However, despite some close calls, Kevin stayed strong in net for the Direwolves, and the opening half finished at 0-0.

The second half opened with more pressure from the Vaders, leading to a corner. Andrew Winnett was able to get on top of the ball near the box and drill a powerful shot into the net. 1-0 Vaders.Finding themselves down a goal, the Direwolves played with more urgency. The tide began to shift, and soon enough Alex Wong found himself with a few spare seconds in range of the Vaders’ net. He made no mistakes and put an unreachable shot into the corner, tying up the game.

In the closing minutes, the Direwolves pressed hard to find the winner, but the Vaders defended stubbornly. Frank made some brilliant saves, including a quick reflex block of a header inside the box, to keep it even.

Direwolves 1 – 1  Vaders

-Leon

Red Bulls vs Lightning

There were reports of multiple Lightning strikes last night!

After allowing a last second goal to end in a draw last week the Lightning were determined to come away with a victory and surged from the get go in last night’s match. Seamus Lynott scored two first half goals to power the squad to an early 2 -0 lead

At the half he gave an inspiring speech about the importance of scoring the next goal; and 10 seconds into the 2^nd half he scored his third of the night from nearly impossible angle.

The night finished with Seamus scoring a total of 4 goals in the Lightning’s 5 – 0 rout of the RedBulls.As impressive as Seamus was offensively, Prathesh Senthil was brilliant in net, denying the aggressive RedBulls attack any goals on their scoring opportunities.

The Lightning have only allowed 3 goals in their last 4 games as the defense and goaltending appear to be rounding into form.

Lightning 5 – 0 Red Bulls

-Aaron

Nightmares vs Emeralds

Emeralds versus Nightmares was an intense match from start to finish. Emeralds would open the scoring with a tic-tac-toe play from defensive juggernaut David Ashton, finished by Super Mario with a thundering left. Nightmares would battle back with a rocket from Rogelio at the top of the box. “Can’t see”, yelled Emerald’s keeper Brad Hughes, but it was too late. 1-1 at half.

In the second half, Nightmares striker Hans Wang would storm down the middle and shot it top corner. Brad definitely saw this one. Emeralds were down but not out, a nice pass from Sam to a pressing Paul Callahan tied the game 2-2. A couple controversial calls late as the ref awarded Emeralds a penalty shot for a handball in the box. Nightmare skipper Natasha demanded to know who was really reffing the game? With pressure mounting, Victor Cristiano, who normally has laser beam put it high and over the net. Natasha indicated this was clearly karma for influencing the ref. Sam scored the game winner on cheeky angle,  his second game winner in as many games. Emeralds were relieved to hear the final whistle on this tilt as Nightmares battled to the very end and came very close to tying it.

Emeralds 3 – 2 Nightmares

-Paul

 

Direwolves will look to protect their 2 point lead atop the standings when they face Vaders.  Having won their first match last week, Vaders are ready to run the table and what better way to start than against the top team!

The middle of the pack have been leap-frogging each other for the past few weeks.  This week it’ll be Lightnings turn to try and jump ahead of Red Bulls.  The first match finished 4-4 under some controversy when Aaron St. Bernard scored the winner only to have it called back for sliding.

Emeralds take on Nightmares in the primetime match.  Will Adrian net the double?  Will Scott graduate from a yellow card to a straight red?  Be there on Wednesday night to see all the action!