It’s playoff time in NISA. This week will see two matches over four days to determine the 2020-21 league championship. First up is the 2021 Spring Championship on Wednesday between Chattanooga FC and Los Angeles Force. The winner of that match will face Detroit City FC, the winner of the 2020 Fall season, on July 3 in the first ever NISA Championship game. Both matches will be played at Keyworth Stadium in Hamtramck, Mich.

Chattanooga reserved their spot in the Spring Championship by making it to the Final of the NISA Legends Cup held on April 25, 2021. CFC beat both LA Force and New Amsterdam FC in the group stage of that tournament to receive a bye to the Final. Detroit beat them 3-0 to win the Legends Cup but, because Detroit had already won the Fall season, Chattanooga advanced to the Spring Championship by virtue of their runner-up position.

Los Angeles Force booked their ticket to the Spring Championship by coming second in the Spring 2021 season. Detroit City FC also won the spring season so LA Force made it to the Spring Championship match by placing the highest among NISA clubs not already in the playoffs.

Chattanooga struggled in the Spring season only placing sixth out of the nine clubs and losing three out of their last four games. The Blues’ final match was a 2-1 loss to Detroit City FC on Saturday but CFC made the game a close one. Chattanooga will need to build on the positives from that match at Keyworth Stadium if they hope to take out LA Force who beat them 2-0 on June 9.

Los Angeles won four of their last five matches to hold off runs from Cal United Strikers and Stumptown AC for the second place spot in the spring season. Their last game was a somewhat controversial 2-0 victory over New Amsterdam that ended in the middle of the second half due to lighting problems at their venue.

LA’s closest competitors wilted to end the season. 1904 FC struggled mightily in their last five matches losing three and drawing two. Cal United couldn’t catch LA down the stretch, losing two and drawing Stumptown in their final match. Stumptown had a number of games in hand on LA Force at the end of the season, and, although undefeated in their last five, couldn’t quite clinch the second spot after drawing three of those matches.

The only loss for LA Force in their final five games was a 3-0 shellacking by Detroit City at Keyworth. If LA gets past Chattanooga in the Spring Championship, the Southern California club will definitely need to find a new game plan if they have any hopes of a scoring massive upset against Detroit in the NISA 2020-21 Championship match.

- Dan Creel