A big week coming out of the International Break sees Sydney move into the top spot with only two weeks remaining, Munich move into a tie for second, Tokyo fall to put their playoff hopes on life support.

With two weeks left, thanks to the loss by FC Tokyo Sakura, both 1. VfV 1158 Munich and Eye of the Sun FC have clinched playoff spots, joining IFK Stockholm, Sydney Harbour FC, and GEO Cup winner Inter Istanbul in the playoffs. They'll all be battling for seeding over the last two weeks, with the top four teams all still with a shot at the top seed.

That leaves four teams for the other three spots, as Joburg City 94 and Olympique de Bastille both have two games on FC Tokyo Sakura, and Atlético Barcelona has 1.5 games. Tokyo is not mathematically eliminated, but the chances are very slim. First off, they were swept by Olympique, so a two-way tie with the Arcs will still eliminate the Cherry Blossoms. Tokyo hosts Joburg this week, with a win by Tokyo giving them a season split. The problem is the points. Tokyo is at 1640.25 on the season, with Joburg and Olympique at 1852.5 and 1842.0 respectively, so Tokyo needs to win out, get at least Joburg to lose out, and outscore them by over 212 points over these last two weeks. So it looks like Tokyo's best chance would be to win out and have Atlético lose out. This would give Tokyo the better record by half a game. The final matchups:
Joburg City 94 - @ FC Tokyo Sakura, vs. Atlético Barcelona
Olympique de Bastille - @ Bukchon Hanok Stripes, vs. Eye of the Sun FC
Atlético Barcelona - @ IFK Stockholm, @ Joburg City 94
FC Tokyo Sakura - vs. Joburg City 94, @ CF Federal
Simply put: If Tokyo loses either game OR the three other teams each win either of their games, Tokyo will be eliminated.

This goes to show how important the GEO Cup is, as Inter Istanbul is currently the 8 seed and is only one game better than Tokyo, but even if Inter loses out and Tokyo wins out, netting a better record for the Cherry Blossoms, Istanbul will claim the 8 seed and eliminate Tokyo.

Atlético picked up a huge win over Sakura to seize control of our own destiny with just two matches remaining in the season. Now one Atlético win or one Sakura loss will lock up a spot in the playoffs for us. Our task this week is a tall one, however, as we face off with second-place IFK Stockholm in Sweden. On the bright side, we do have M Nico O'Reilly, who is back on our graphic yet again after scoring a goal and making two key passes against Tokyo. #KeepClimbing

With the win over Sydney last week, we shook up the top of the table and now it's wide open. We still, technically can get the top spot, but we would need a lot of luck. So we're going to just focus on securing a home playoff game and try to get the win this week in Paris. Olympique is right there with us, needing a win to try to move up in the standings and avoid getting jumped in the table by Inter Istanbul. We will go with the clash kits this week as we feature the man stepping in with Cristian Romero's injury and playing great defense, Konstantinos Mavropanos. #TheGoldStandard

Okay, here's the final table before the playoffs. Nothing much changed, aside from the 5/6 seeds:


Okay, so our top team and the team that will host every playoff game they play in will be 1. VfV 1158 Munich! They finished in a three way tie for that top seed, but had the points advantage. Their opponents will be Atlético Barcelona. The Ibexes couldn't get the win in the final week and ended just one point clear of Tokyo for the final spot in the playoffs. However, these two teams split the season series, so the rubber match means a trip to the Semifinals.

The second seed is IFK Stockholm. The Three Crowns returned after a week outside the AltLiga and claimed the club's first ever playoff berth. Their Quarterfinal opponent will be the GEO Cup winners, Inter Istanbul. The Old Club stumbled through the second half, but finished with a win. Despite being the higher seed, IFK Stockholm lost both regular season matchups to Inter Istanbul.

Our three seed for the playoffs is Sydney Harbour FC. Despite sitting atop the table just two weeks ago, they finished in that three way tie for the top seed with the fewest points scored of the three. Their opponent will be the sixth seeded Joburg City 94. The Golden Lions fell a spot in the final standings with Olympique overtaking them on points, sending them to Australia for a matchup with the Harbours and the rubber match following a regular season split.

The 4 vs 5 matchup will be played in Cairo, as Eye of the Sun FC maintained their point lead despite their loss. However, their loss last week was to Olympique de Bastille, who claimed the 5 seed with a performance in the final week that pushed them 0.50 points ahead of Joburg. The Arcs and Falcons will play for a second week in a row, as both teams will travel from Paris to Cairo for the Quarterfinals. Stop me if you've heard this before, but these two teams split the regular season.

Atlético Barcelona are back in the AltLiga playoffs! We're only the eighth seed, which obviously isn't where we'd prefer to be, but we're just happy to be here nonetheless. Unfortunately, it does mean we have to face off against the league's top regular season team, which means we'll be starting the postseason the same way we started the regular season: on the road against 1. VfV 1158 Munich. While they've obviously got a great squad, we have defeated them the two most recent times we've faced off (once in the GEO Cup and once in the regular season), though both of those games are at home. If we are going to pull off another win, it'll probably be thanks to D Marcos Senesi. The Argentine defender was a defensive star, leading the team in blocked shots (38), interceptions (44), aerials won (77), and clearances (188), while also getting involved in the offense, with 16 key passes leading to 3 assists. With the lowest seed, there's nowhere to go but up, so let's #KeepClimbing