World Cup 67 - RP Thread

[The Inevitable Syndicate]

Corvidae Triumphant

To say I was suprised to see Samuel Dannin-Fresko would be an understatement. At first I didn't recognise him, with his shaven head, grown out beard, and lack of glasses, but after he introduced himself, I knew for a fact it was him.

"You're alive!" I said, still trying to get over the shock of meeting the man who quite possibly made this all happen in the first place.

"Indeed I am. I've thought many times that I might not be for much longer, but it seems rather safe here." Samuel looked around the place. We were sat in a kitchen, which was a small room just off the main dining hall. I liked to go there after dinner, when nobody was around, and make myself a coffee. Samuel was drinking a tea, clutching the mug with both hands. There was a pause, as if he expected I had something to say. I'm not a fan of delays, so I came right out with it.

"I found your dead drops, you know. The USB sticks dotted around Fligsive?"

"You did?" his eyes widened, he tilted his head to the side slightly. "What did you think of them?"

"Well, I wasn't the first to find them. The first to find them was a man named James - who I'm sure you'll meet soon enough. He placed them back in their original positions, and recruited anyone who found them to Ohm. It's how I joined."

"That wasn't the intended use, but if it inspires people, who am I to complain? You got me out, after all." He took a sip of his tea. "And you've got tea. I would have put my life on the line twice if I knew you had tea!"

I looked at Samuel. He'd changed on the outside, but that bitter resolve and odd sense of joking away grief was still there, inside. Life at the camp must have been horrible - I didn't ask him about it. How me managed to stay sane after all the time, I didn't know. Maybe he hadn't, and he just seemed sane in comparison to everyone else that was around...

Our short conversation was interrupted by a clattering from up above, and a battered James Faith-Newell crashed down the stairs. He stood up, bowed, and coughed before speaking. "I'm back! Did you miss me?" he cried, as a troupe of ex-prisoners and Ohm members alike came down the stairs and into the base. James looked like he was frantically searching for someone, and raised an eyebrow when his eyes locked with mine "You two." he said, pointing at Samuel and I. "You're coming with me."

We begrudgingly followed, as I assumed we'd done something wrong, but James led us to a door that looked like it was the front of a bank vault. He knocked on it three times, pressed an ear to it, and turned the vault door until it opened with a long and deafening squeak. We walked in, to find a long table, and a projector at one end. It looked like a meeting room.

"This is the meeting room." James said, gesturing for us to sit down. "As you must know by now, several of our cell leaders were killed in our attack on Olettia. These include Lloyd Pringle, who had his car blown up during the prison escape, and Richard Fresko-Dannin, who was leader of our Wozinitz cell. He died during the attack on Cell Block A.

At this point, Samuel's face dropped. "Who did you say?" he asked.

"Richard Fresko-Dannin. I know this may come as a shock to you, Samuel, and yes, I know who you are... But you have to remain strong. He was your husband, but he was a damn good fighter, and fought until the bitter end. I'm sorry you had to find out this way."

"You heartless sod!" Samuel cried. "How could you! I thought he was already dead! My house was burned down!"

"We did that."

"You BURNED my HOUSE?!" "I can't take this. You tell me my husband's died, you tell me you burned my house, you lie, and you think that you can organise a war against one of the most powerful forces I've ever seen! And I was a history teacher!" Samuel started to get out of breath. "I can't work with you. Not after this."

I chimed in at this point, hoping he wouldn't get too worked up. "At this point, you're either with us or against us, you know."

"So be it." he said, and walked out of the room. I didn't see him after that. James watched him walk out of the door, and then turned to me.

"I can find more leaders. Speaking of which - Fligsive. Lloyd's job is now yours. Are you okay with that?"

[NexxusDrako]

Group 8
Jeru FC 6–2 Julain
Swyftlandre 2–5 Antoletia
19th Century Beards 1–1 Vaugania

Darmen 4–2 NexxusDrako
35' Robert Hill
76' Daniel Macintosh

   Group 8                                Pld    W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts 
 1 Darmen                                  10    6   4   0    25   15  +10    22
 2 Jeru FC                                 10    6   2   2    28   18  +10    20
 3 Antoletia                               10    6   2   2    26   12  +14    20
 4 Vaugania                                10    5   4   1    24   19   +5    19
 5 Swyftlandre                             10    4   2   4    20   18   +2    14
 6 Karditan                                 9    4   0   5    11   13   −2    12
 7 Julain                                  10    1   3   6    13   24  −11     6
 8 19th Century Beards                     10    1   2   7    11   28  −17     5
 9 NexxusDrako                              9    1   1   7    11   22  −11     4

The NexxusDrako Age

Daniel Macintosh 1st Goal!

DARMEN: Daniel Macintosh scored his first ever international goal last night as the Dragons go down 4-2 against Darmen.

The loss puts us at he bottom of the table, below unranked Julain, who we were expected to edge, but form is on their side, not ours.

Daniel surprisingly scored off a 76th minute shot by Kevin Arland that bounced off the keeper and at Daniel's feet, to which he instantly powered it into the top right corner.

Robert Hill scored another goal to add to his collection, as Kevin and Robert start to share the ball more, even Harrison Gin has scored 3 now.

---

Sidestory

This is the final sidestory, it is just this spoiler. I will only be doing match reports in the World Cup as I focus on the CEdP II. If you have enjoyed my RPs, see more there when it starts.

[Hutanjia]

They were fading fast. Getting stomped in their group, with only another small victory over Mollary to show for their efforts. The Spiders of Hutanjia had wanted to have some kind of better showing for the folks back home, but it was hard to muster that much effort every game. Every one of them, benchers alike, were exhausted with a handful of games left to go in the Group stage. Their showing in their first Cup had been much more dismal than even their Baptism of Fire debut, but they were determined to go out with a bang as the drilled during their last bye day. They would try to pull something out before they retired from International play for the season. They steeled themselves and tried to pull out that extra effort for the last couple matches. They would be running on sheer adrenaline and anxious hope.

[Patistan]

Shaheer woke up in a brghtly lit room. He felt diffrent for a reason.

The last thing he remembers was the blast a doctor came in his room he started to talk stuff shaheer coudnt understand but the words he did understand were

You have lost your legs

[Paradystopia]

The Paradystopi captain left the pitch beaming, even visible beneath the matted web of facial hair which endowed the bottom half of his face. He'd had a good game. Sure a clean sheet is always welcomed by any goaltender but when you can get your name on the scoresheet also, that's an achievement.

Catholican Catholica never really threatened the Paradystopi defense who were beginning to show that they were working with Mukalo's tactics and not fighting against them. Attacks were quickly smothered as the Black Cats regularly surged forward hoping to improve on their result against Gloriax.

The first goal occurred shortly prior to half-time. Catholican Catholica seemingly trying to just hold the Paradystopi attacks for the final minutes before the break. They had two minutes for which to do so, both additional. Vhornam had possession near the centre spot, looking for the movement. As Khayr darted inside, he lay off the ball to her starting the play in motion. Morgana ran inside and the players crossed executing a dummy pass. The dummy tore a hole in the opponents defence which Tarcka capitalised upon and quickly the ball came his way. Catholican Catholica's defence was crumbling around them and Adam Kedwell screamed at them from the sidelines. Tarcka turned and lay the ball back for the advancing and unmarked Vhornam. Vhornam struck it first time from 5 or so yards outside the area. The shot was straight and strong, ricocheting in off the bar as Morales stood and watched. His view obstructed by the melee of defenders in front of him trying to mark up Benjamin, Morgana, Khayr and Tarcka.

Mukalo smiled from the sidelines and petted Chester. The cat had some quirky set piece ideas and it appeared the 'get the defense to block their own goalkeeper's line of vision and smack it towards goal (working title)' method worked in not only dead-ball occasions. The half-time whistle blew before Catholican had chance to restart the game.

Four minutes into the second half came Volgjsrhaad's goal. This time one of Mukalo's set piece ideas working better than he could've dreamed. The 'Shock stampede' required a free kick deep in the Paradystopi half. The theory being that Volgjsrhaad would take the kick, simply passing it a nearby defender keeping within the usual parameter of his tactics. Again the slow build-up, so you'd think. However, as the opponent move up to pressure the ball. The defender would lay it again to Kjn who come forward to execute a 'hail Mary' pass of sorts. Firing to ball forward to any member of the suddenly charging Paradystopi offence.

Following Ferdinard dos Santos being caught offside, Kjn came to start the move. This time, Tarcka was the shot, or Benjamin ahead of him. After receiving the ball back from Braithe, he launched it forward. The ball soared over the middle of the field and Benjamin sprinted to position himself ahead of the challenging Garrett Harrison. Juan Morales panicked, as it was unclear who'd reach the ball first. Harrison rose for the header but failed to make contact. Morales chose this moment to charge and pressure Benjamin, who continued to chase. The ball bounced at the edge of the penalty area, but still just out of reach of Benjamin. Morales suddenly found himself in no-man's land as the ball rose over him. He leapt, flailing his fingers at the ball but to no avail. Benjamin's chase slowed as he, each of the other 21 players on the pitch and the noisy crowd in Sabrjk watched Volgjsrhaad's long pass dip into the net. Even over the jubilant home crowd the players could hear Kjn's shout 'Was that me?' before he rapturously slid on his knees into his own goal to face the home support and bask in their revelry.

Two goals ahead and the Black Cats locked up. Bringing off the players to be rested ahead of the important game in Zackalantis and holding a firm defence. Even if they had got through, Volgjsrhaad was in such high spirits that it was unlikely even the entire strikeforce of Eura, Audioslavia or Valanora could have stolen his clean sheet from him. Kjn even had a second shot at goal towards the end of the match but Morales was not going to make that mistake twice.

[Barunia]

Craig Van Diemen
He was drunk. Well, he thought he was, than it occurred to Craig that if he knew he was, he was still sober enough to think. That was something he didn't want to do right now. 6 to 1? Fucking hell. The defence, where had the defence been? He'd barely touched the ball all game. The Valladars had run riot over them, taking the game and Barunia's hopes away. Craig took another drink of scotch. He'd started with a glass, but soon discarded that and was now drinking straight from the bottle. He looked at the bottle. It was empty. Fuck. Stumbling over to the cabinet, he grabbed another bottle. He wasn't sure what it was, and right now he didn't care. Screwing off the cap, he tilted his head back and poured it down his throat.

Joric Ruskin
Joric was watching the footage from the game, for what seemed like the hundredth time. Things were beginning to fall apart for the Suns. Maybe it had started before the break with the draw against United Squiggles. The team had been given plenty of time to refocus and prepare for the game against Valladares. Joric thought they had been mentally ready. Had he been wrong? Had he failed his team, and his nation, in the handling of the squad's training? Had his emphasis on the game's importance set the players too much on edge? Joric knew that stress could be a factor in the loss, and he could well have been a part of it. Perhaps it was simply the pressure of holding on to the top spot and of actually qualifying.

Joric remembered, way back in 64, that qualifying had not been the focus going in. No-one expected Barunia to qualify, and the team's goal had simply been to do their best and improve their ranking. Now they had the ranking, the pressure was on. Joric knew he had to deal with this somehow. About the only thing he could do was talk to the team, reestablish his expectations. He remembered Wiggens talking about setting a goal of breaking into the top-100. Perhaps the Suns needed a new goal. But what? Top 40 seemed easy, although it had evaded the Suns for a while. That should be there target then. Top 40, with qualifying a nice bonus. Joric hoped that might change the team's focus and rebuild their confidence. They were going to need it.

Joric sighed. Thing were still looking grim. The Suns were still reeling from their biggest ever loss, while their next opponent would be Åsløtten-Bëðerbørg så Cesky, who would be on cloud nine after slotting eleven goals past the United Squiggles. Joric shook his head. Eleven goals. To think that he's had been satisfied with scoring five a match. To top it all off, the Suns would be without a starter in Craig Van Diemen, who was sitting out for disciplinary reasons. Craig had missed a training sessionafter going on an all-night bender the night before. Joric's response had been to ban him for one match. It was harsh, but the players needed to learn that if they wanted to be part of the national team, they had to commit to it. Joric just hoped this wouldn't create rifts in the team. That would be the last thing the Suns needed right now.

(OOC: Please consider this another submission for Joric Ruskin for the World XI)

[Valladares]

To: The Euran Government
From: Lady Nicole Flamini
Subject: Meeting
Encryption: High

To Whom It May Concern,

It is my great pleasure to announce to you that I have received permission from the Valladar Ministry of Foreign Affairs to accept the invitation sent by you to meet with your Minister of Foreign Affairs in order to discuss some issues related to the current situation between both of our glorious countries. We believe that conducting these meetings between representatives of our nations is important to preserve harmony between them and to not alter the regional panorama with unnecessary tensions. Therefore, in order to address and sort out this situation as soon as possible, I will be visiting your Ministry of Foreign Affairs tomorrow morning, hoping that this meeting will help us clear up all the questions we have regarding this situation.

Signed,

Lady Nicole Flamini,
Valladar Ambassador to Eura

Antoine Mortaud was just leaving the DNS building with more questions than answers. The Minister of Foreign Affairs had to acknowledge the outstanding work done by the DNS officers browsing "banned" sites hoping to find evidence to give them more useful clues in their investigation. After days of search, they finally managed to find a video uploaded by some random mountaineer. The resolution was not high enough, but the evidence did not support the accident hypothesis.

"Ok, there were three planes and then one of them went crashing into the mountains...despite I couldn't watch anything else, I think the DNS just won the lottery and someone just opened a can of worms. Well done, Saunders..."

Mortaud then arrived to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building. With the Valladar Ambassador to Eura now on a plane according to his directives, he had been informed by the diplomats who stayed in Bastion about a meeting that the Euran government was preparing, but had to leave for the DNS building for that important meeting before preparing a reply to the Embassy. Now, with the evidence shown by the DNS, the Minister ordered his secretary to write a false communiqué and directly send it to the Euran government from anywhere but a government building without the Embassy knowing anything, that way, Mortaud would ensure that no one would interfere with his plan. Then, he called his secretary to his office to discuss the progress of the plan.

"Arnold, did you send the faux communiqué to the Eurans?"

"Yes, sir. It was sent via fax before sunset. By now, they must have already taken the bait and I'm sure they're 100% convinced they're going to meet an ambassador when Lady Flamini is actually on a plane headed for Metropolis. Now there's nothing that can prevent us from knowing the truth about what's actually happening in that hellhole."

"Except another plane incident, of course. By the way, which place did you choose to send that fax? I seriously hope you have not sent it from here or any other government building."

"No need to worry, sir. It was sent from a seedy internet cafe there in Cerro. Now the question I have is: Lady Flamini will be arriving here in the morning, is there any arrangement prepared for her in order to keep her safe?"

Mortaud looked thoughtful for a moment, then answered the question. "Well, I concede I've not prepared much for the meeting, but we can use the nice facilities they've got there at the Club Los Lagartos. It is a place far enough away from the city and safe, and by "safe", I mean "away from the press and other undesirable gossip".

"Well, now returning to the false fax, what will happen when the Eurans find out the truth and no-one goes to meet them? Have you planned anything already?"

"Of course I have. The Embassy is already instructed to give the same information every time Lady Flamini is away: "she's on vacation". In case they ask for whoever sent them that communiqué, they'll obviously answer that they don't know anything about this because no-one here will tell them about this. And I want you to reply the same thing should they come here asking who played that joke on them. Now you see why I wanted you to send that fax from anywhere but a government building."

"In the meantime, I guess I should be calling the club to arrange everything for the meeting with the Ambassador. Oh, and here's the iced tea you asked for."

"Thank you so much. I really like it when things go so well...oh look! Les Gones are thrashing Barunia 5-1! Can it get better than this?"

"...72nd minute of this match at the National Stadium, and there's Pedrinho scoring the sixth goal for Valladares in a nice counterattack started by Pedro Pedretti and the SK Franz Josef City striker only had to run and kick the ball. The Barunian defense has already crumbled into pieces, but Pedrinho still shows his quality with this superb goal, and Les Gones now claim payback for that loss on matchday 2..."

"I think it can, sir. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got some work to do."

[Saintland]

Royal Palace, St. Petrus, Saintland

King Paulus XV was sitting on his Throne. It was now the final week of the year and Christmas was already behind him. The King had said nothing publicly about the leak by Feministvs Sanctvsterra. He had done so intentionally because he wished for the world to believe this information to be a forgery. In fact, it was the actual budget of the King's Government. King Paulus XV had ordered the Vindicta Progressvm delinquents interrogated regarding the source of their information about St. Nicolaus and Krampus, but the interrogation had failed to produce any results until the day after Christmas, known as Boxing Day because a rare exception to the ban on sports during this time of year permitted a boxing event to be held on that day. One of the Vindicta Progressvm members finally revealed that they had received the information from Feministvs Sanctvsterra, in exchange for being permitted to watch the fights. This had confirmed what King Paulus XV already suspected, that Feministvs Sanctvsterra and Vindicta Progressvm were co-conspirators in their recent stunts.

With all of the money he had spent on computer security to stop the pervasive hacking of his Government's computers, King Paulus XV had expected his computer system to be safe from hackers. Yet, they were not. Once again, Feministvs Sanctvsterra had cracked into his networks and embarrassed his Government. King Paulus XV was suspicious that many of the vulnerabilities were due to incompetent King's Government employees. He decided to get in touch with RepublicSoft and the Republican software company agreed to set him up with some "white hat" hackers in the Free Republics who could test Saintland's networks for vulnerabilities and assist the King in addressing those vulnerabilities. Yet, King Paulus XV feared that this would just be more money down the seemingly bottomless pit that was computer security.

The King called the Patriarch into his Throne Room. The leader of the Church of Saintland, who was considered the closest thing to a worldly spokesman that God had, was very concerned about the security of the financial records of the Church of Saintland. Both men knew what a disaster it would be if the Church's financial records were revealed. Were the Church of Saintland's financial records released in such a manner, the Church would be exposed as fraudulent and the entire power structure of the Kingdom would be threatened. This would bring about chaos, a chaos that neither King Paulus XV nor the Patriarch were willing to tolerate. The leadership of Saintland were well-aware that the Church of Saintland was a Church of Lies, but those lies were Noble Lies, Lies which needed to be told, for the sake of Order and the Greater Good (OOC: See viewtopic.php?p=17836022#p17836022). If the Church was hacked and its secrets exposed, the result would be the collapse of the legitimacy of the Sanctii regime. Such a collapse would send the Kingdom into chaos. King Paulus XV and the Patriarch decided that it was for the best if the Church of Saintland's information were kept on a separate network and if all of those computers were inaccessible over the Internet. This was the only way that they could be certain that Feministvs Sanctvsterra would not expose the truth about the "True" Church.

As King Paulus XV finished speaking with the Patriarch, Prince Andreas arrived with the message from the Gordonopian government. They were alleging that the Heritage Alliance was a terrorist organization. King Paulus XV didn't believe this in the slightest. His son Josephus had personally assured him that the Heritage Alliance was a peaceful organization which sought to restore "natural" gender roles in Gordonopia. The allegation that they were "a terrorist organization under both Gordonopian and international law, having used such means as bombings and assaults to make a statement against peaceful activists" was seen as preposterous by the King of Saintland. He read on, discovering an ultimatum to hand over all information regarding that organization under the threat of invasion. King Paulus XV laughed at that. Even if Republica was currently deploying large numbers of troops to Esportiva for some unknown, he was still certain that the Free Republics had sufficient forces in the region to protect the Kingdom of Saintland from invasion. In over a thousand years, nobody had successfully invaded his Kingdom and King Paulus XV did not believe this threat to be much more credible than the seemingly weekly threats from Gregoryisgodistan, which had just released another video of an alleged attack on his Kingdom. King Paulus XV wondered if they had sent another member of Feministvs Sanctvsterra to the depths of Infernus. He certainly hoped so.

Turning to the matter before him, King Paulus XV began to prepare a response to Gordonopia's Arbitrator of Foreign Affairs. The King had decided that he was not going to give in, without first demanding proof that they were, in fact, actually a terrorist organization.

To: Jonathan Dunn, Arbitrator of Foreign Affairs, Empire of United Gordonopia
From: King Paulus XV of Saintland
Subject: Re: Ultimatum
Encryption: Maximum

Mr. Dunn,

I received your recent ultimatum and I must say that I do not appreciate ultimatums or threats. I was unaware that any organization called the Heritage Alliance was being funded by my Government. This organization was funded by my son Josephus. After talking with him, he informed me that the Heritage Alliance is a peaceful organization that wishes to protect the women of your nation by promoting natural gender roles and encouraging them to refrain from participating in sports. As you are hopefully aware, women and girls are at much greater risk of serious injury when they participate in sports. Studies from the Free Republics show that female soccer players tear their ACLs at around the same rate as male gridiron players and women and girls soccer, in the Free Republics, tends to be very light on contact. The female body simply wasn't made for sports, so I believe, for the safety of your nation's women and girls, that they should be prohibited from participating in most sports, with a few exceptions for sports that are appropriate for proper ladies. I have attached a list of all sports that my Government deems appropriate for women and girls.

Furthermore, I wish to inform you that Feministvs Sanctvsterra is regarded, with good reason, as a terrorist organization by my Government and by the government of Quebec. Feministvs Sanctvsterra is notorious for their involvement in numerous cyber-crimes, including one effort that sent a city in Quebec into complete chaos. They were also involved in the recent Vindicta Progressvm attacks, which resulted in the burglary of a store, an especially rare event in my Kingdom and something which my Government regards as a crime of the utmost magnitude. I have attached photos of the store following the burglary. As you can see, they smashed down a window with a baseball bat and stole large quantities of electronic merchandise. This merchandise was then illegally modified to enable the terrorists to flood SaintBook and Sanctustube, 2 popular online services in my Kingdom, with messages informing children that St. Nicolaus, the kindly old Saint who delivers presents to good boys and girls once a year, does not actually exist. Feministvs Sanctvsterra illegally obtained those financial records by hacking into my Government's computer networks, likely for the purposes of the Vindicta Progressvm stunt.

On the subject of your ultimatum, I will not be handing over any information regarding the Heritage Alliance without proof that they are, in fact, a genuine terrorist organization. If they have not actually committed any bombings or assaults, then I will flat out refuse to cooperate. Before you consider going to war, be warned that my alliance with the Free Republics remains intact. My Kingdom has never been invaded in over 1000 years of its history and you're not going to be the first nation to land an invasion force in my Kingdom. If you hand over information proving conclusively that the Heritage Alliance is, in fact, a terrorist organization as you allege, we will hand over everything we know about the organization.

I am hopeful that you will see reason.

- King Paulus XV

King Paulus XV hoped that the Gordonopians would either hand over evidence to prove their claims or back down. Still, he couldn't rule out the possibility that they would start a war. King Paulus XV had no desire to be known as the King who got Saintland into a war, but he wasn't going to allow himself to be bullied, even by United Gordonopia.

[Valanora]

Melikàn

Where ever the mind does wander in the eternal time
Dwellers of the night and the ever last mind
Around and around does the cycle go
Even in their own golden thrones
Sat upon the pedestal of great faith
And toughened by the whip of self discipline.

Shadows they are to a great and higher power
A shared realm for two very different sorts
Where the other is wise and noble
These others are cruel and harsh
The darkness to the light of their so called brothers
A false face in the false frame.

Persistence is one of their few virtues
Continually striving towards high placed goals
But only a fools delusion thinks they are worthy
As they stumble through the gauntlet of challenges
Believing themselves being toughed by a false idol.

In their hearts lies very little good
As they seek to separate the world made whole
Split in halves and halves again for their twisted principals
Spreading dissidence and disharmony with their teachings
A sinister price clothed in gold.

Be it may that they know not what they do
Yet their damages reach far and wider
Greater than they could ever have hope to know
These men of cloth and faith
Blinded by their own selfish desires
To see the fires they have set in their wake
And the lives that have been destroyed
Forever unable to regain what they had held before
The innocence of a world, lost.

[Zwangzug]

For my "interpretation of poetic symbolism" paper, I will write about "The Zephyr People." The narrative voice of this poem is that of Laborious Hawk, a 709-year-old elf. These pseudonyms get more creative by the day. I contend that the poem, which employs the literary techniques of writing in grammatically correct phrases that don't go all the way to the margins, is an extended allusion to the Zwangzug national football team. This will, at least, be entertaining.

To begin with, we have the title, which follows in a rich poetic tradition of odes to the west wind Terza rima or gtbo and also scraping for words at the scant end of the alphabet. The first stanza alludes to a remote region, inaccessible even by "dragon flights," which probably alludes to the obscure mythology of Kerlagrad, or elves that can fly around on dragons or whatever. The stanza concludes by mentioning a people with "promise of great measure," which might like have something to do with the potential of the football team, still kind of on the rise. Potential? The country's made a World Cup final and three semifinals. Or maybe we have really big yardsticks that we can measure fields with. To standard size, for once.

In the second stanza, the speaker lists tributes to the people's "cleverness" and "intellect." Also navigational ability, though not even you seem to have decided what that means. More specifically, "arithmetic" talent is honored, symbolizing the rich tradition of mathematics in Zwangzug. As if abstract mathematics had much to do with computational ability? While a fetish for powers of two, foolhardy programming on the order of "if it doesn't work, add one," averaging tactical styles, and the bizarre metaphors of Coach Mcgimpy may not point to much, arithmeticians from Zwangzug have been rumored to compute ranking coefficients Making multiple mistakes, not exactly worthy of extreme praise, is it? for many years But how many, you won't say, unless you too join the ignominious tradition of computing square roots at inappropriate moments. perhaps even at elven behest. Finally, the speaker mentions that the honorees are "worthy," due to their "calm demeanor." On the ludicrous chance that this actually is about Zwangzug, surely any trumpeting of one's country's calm directly works to undermine it? Any esteem earned by keeping calm can never, by definition, be converted into influence on others when that would require interacting with them and breaking calm.

The third stanza alludes to Zwangzug's wide-reaching influence on the international stage. Don't make me laugh. Such examples of "many faces" include far-flung cycling sponsors and hockey fans' terse dialects, but in keeping with the "calm" of stanza 2, connections among these states are hidden, for other "dominions of man" to stumble their way to various misinterpretations. Indeed, there is many a "monument" to football officials from Zwangzug and similarly-aligned states in "positions of great power and authority," see footnotes. All of the actual presidents here were not from Zwangzug, I don't see your point?

Finally, we reach the fourth stanza, in which the titular people's sudden disappearances are compared with "elves of old great tales." If sudden disappearances are the themes, I'm not sure what's so great about them? These abrupt departures mean that they leave no "trace." Except for all the footnotes you just cited! Recapitulating, the people in question are heralded as majestic. Yes, because Zwangzug's government is well-known for its monarchs. Or is this some further symbolism? The speaker and fellows "seek their return" Didn't the end of the first national team give the Vanorian team even more breathing room at the top of the KPB ranks? I'm not sure what purpose their return would have served. and "wise council [sic]." Again, if it's calm that is building this reputation for care and wisdom, actually counselling anyone would only undermine the effect.

References:
1. "I made an outline, it had numbering and subheaders and stuff, please do not make me get close to the computer ever again," B. Littlewood
2. "Special regulation 4.1.P concerning people stealing my laser pointers," L. Prado
3. "You had one job," E. Mosqueda
4. "No, I'm definitely not publishing a comprehensive theory of multiversal phenomena, why do you ask?" S. Fleischmann

At least you can use spellcheck. Grade: C.

[Alexanderburn]

Having pulled off a 3-3-3 streak, Alexanderburn is in a very awkward position.

"We are certainly not in the position that we had hoped to be in earlier on in the tournament, but there are a number of factors that have come to light in the past week. The unfortunate crash of the Alexanderburnese economy once again has impact the players directly, especially since strikes across the nation are impacting the stadiums that we perform at and the personnel and equipment that we have for the games.." noted coach William Kingsley in a most recent press conference.

The unemployment rate rests at 14.6%, approaching its all-time high of 16.6%, and quite frankly there is no chance in hell that the Progressives are winning the election again. In fact, I heard that the party is splitting into two factions, and I would expect a vote of no confidence to be issued in the near future..

declared conservative MP Kieran Charlton.

But what does this have to do with soccer and the team's performance?

"A bad economy and a weakened nation will have an impact on every life in one way or another, and this includes the morale of the players. Right now, all they can really think of is their families.. and we definitely understand this logical reaction!" assistant coach Matthiassen told reporters. But others had a less optimistic idea of how the team was controlling itself.

"It always seems as if Kingsley and Matthiassen are making excuses as to why our national team is performing so.. so poorly. Just get them to keep their heads in the game or get rid of them, and that goes for both the players and the coaches too!" noted one angry fan. It seems that these fans, however, are not the minority; an overwhelming number of Alexanderburnese in a survey conducted believe that changes need to be made 'ASAP' on the time, with the most commonly cited issue being the coaching staff.

"It isn't always easy to come under such high pressure," said Kingsley. "But you have to make do with what you are provided."

[Pasarga]

The ploy, if it was a ploy, had worked completely, with the Wanderers knocking off those darn Republicans. Perhaps it was only fitting that it was by the same one to nil scoreline that the Wanderers had suffered in the away fixture, a bit of symmetry if one want to look at such things in that light. Dimitri though, Dimitri was just glad to have been there to watch the squad do what was required of them in such a good fashion. It had taken a bit of fortune and no small matter of luck, but their skill had shown out and they had taken all three of the very needed points. While it had not brought the side back into a qualifying position, it turned the possibilities of that happening quite higher than if the side had suffered another draw or worse yet, a defeat. Maybe it was a bit of karma, the universe working itself out, with how the Republicans handled their affairs.

All that said, DImitri had to focus his attentions elsewhere and not get boggled up in the euphoria of having witnessed the victory. Much like the Wanderers did as well, as they could really ease the tension with a victory in Vetterra over the next weekend. That was if their heads were in it of course, it would be quite easy for the side to get swept up in the jubilation of a good result like this one after such a tough stretch of games. Dimitri thought they were better than that of course, yet what had happened during this qualifying session had made anything seem like in the realm of possibility.

For himself, Dimitri was traveling down to the office of the attorney he had hired. Maybe it was a bit premature and hedging his bets, but he was preparing to transfer the deed of the pub to his brother. He was entirely confident now that he was going to pass the last exam and find a job in the summer, even if it was at one of the clubs now going to be in the Liga 3. There was a job out there among the clubs for him, he knew it, and believed that it was going to be. His brother was going to have to get ready for the life of a pub owner and Dimitri intended for him to learn over the spring while he was still around to help him ease into it. Dimitri might have been chasing his dreams but he was not about to to throw his brother to the dogs either.

The office was decorated in very earthy colors, light browns and a touch of a goldish yellow with some white trim. It was a very relaxing atmosphere honestly that the decor provided, perhaps because dealing with lawyers tended to be stressful... and expensive. However this one had come highly recommended to Dimitri from a few of his patrons at the pub, that he was reasonable and quite efficient. He looked like he was in his mid twenties honestly, baby faced and light of hair, a bit unusual for a native Pasargan. Perhaps he was the son of immigrants, not that it mattered, since native Pasargan was a bit of an oxymoron with the Parìs having taken residence on the islands after their fleeing from their home.

"Everything seems to be in order, though I find it a bit unusual that you are pursuing this course of action without another source of income readily available to you. All the same, I shall have the paperwork begun tomorrow and if things go well, processed within two months. I do not expect any sort of hiccups, this is a fairly straight forward transfer, but you know the government, always have to take a look over things and then collect their fees."

"Aye, though I do not mind the wait, so long as it is all ready to be executed come June. Until then Mr. Marsbury, I bid you adieu."

[Farfadillis]

Sigh With Relief

Ok, two must-win matches won, we can calm down a bit now. Albaie pushed as a little too far, sure, but we did it. Heroes of Larkwood was not as difficult, but was still pretty difficult anyway. It left me wondering where exactly we're heading by performing like this. However, some good news for us Farves.: we're currently the best second-placed team. If we manage to win against Blouman Empire - and with our current form that's a big if - then we've got our ticket to the Equestrian States and/or (hopefully and) Cassadaigua. That provided we also win against Kalumba, Nova Anglicana, Sameba and - why not mention them too? - Crya. I don't have to remind you guys of how East Shippensburg left us out of World Cup 64 very unexpectedly, and how the German-Spanish Empire sent us to some heart-stopping play-off in World Cup 65, though we did qualify back then. Now, there is one thing I'm sure of: at the very least we'll get to the play-offs. There is a ten-point gap between us and the third-placed team, Kalumba. We'd have to give up 55.5% of points from now on. Added to that, Kalumba would have to win all games, and in that way tie us for second spot. Not impossible, but very unlikely.

Now, I am very worried about our team's level; it's not World Cup worthy if you ask me. The attacking players have not been doing badly, as can be evidenced by our average 2.9 goals per game. They could be doing better, in my opinion, but I'm difficult to satisfy anyway. Kâí has been somewhat lost, not playing like last World Cup, for example, in which he caused Euran defenders headaches and scored an ultimately vital goal against Vilita. That won him a starting position for Astograthian giants Urbizania Wanderers. What's been of him? He's very dangerous, sure, but he's not scoring that much anymore. What happened to the youngster with a thirst for glory? He might just be slightly out of form, let's hope he recovers for the World Cup or - in the worst of cases - the Cup of Harmony. Tuzzio has been unheard of for many matches in a row now. He's the one that worries me the most. What happened to the original Tuzzio, the star of the national team, the one who competed with Dandalleion for best Farf player, though in a friendly way? I just hope he recovers. He assisted three different players on his birthday against Vilita. He sent us through to the round of sixteen. What's happened now? Otherwise, Terán, Dandalleion and, somewhat surprisingly, Fôx have been very good. Dandalleion is currently averaging a goal per game. That's tremendous. Terán has scored six, making him the second most goalscoring player, with 0.6 goals per game. After that, Fôx has not only scored five goals (a goal every other game), but he has scored important goals. Take Fôx's goals out of the equation and we'd be holding just a six-point lead over Kalumba. Counting just goals, we'd have a three-point advantage over Kalumba without Dandalleion. However, counting assists, we'd probably be below them.

But anyway. As for the match against Albaie, it was pretty shocking. I mean, the first half left me very relieved. Tenian managed to score a header in the twenty-second minute - just his second goal these qualifiers - after Kâí dribbled two inside the box and precisely crossed the ball when approaching the line. Kâí was somewhat unheard-of after that, however. Fourteen minutes later, Dandalleion dribbled the right back and shot from afar, making the ball powerfully hit the crossbar and go in. Two-nil, and Dandalleion still averaging a goal per game. The first half finished and we had nothing to worry about.

However, the second half started disastrously. One would think that at La Fantás the national team would not collapse in a matter of a quarter hour, but it did somehow. The first few minutes, we thoroughly dominated, Fôx even went as far as hitting the post and so on. However, loyal to our weaknesses, we conceded a goal in the ninth minute of the second half, after a swift counterattack which ended with Ben Werek condemning Lisdiren from the penalty spot (though no penalty kick was awarded, it's just that he got the ball and shot from there). Nothing to do, really, we just were victims of our own tactics. Nine minutes later, Robert Werek, one of the three Wereks in the pitch, and Ben's brother, scored a header from a corner. We were now tying and saying goodbye to direct qualification, even if that was maybe a bit too much.

However, twenty-two minutes later, after we recovered our form, Terán would give us the lead again. Dandalleion got the ball on the edge of the box and lifted it above the right back. Terán then outran the player marking him and one-touch chipped the ball over the goalkeeper, who was rushing towards him. A wonderful goal. I've always wondered how Terán pulls these goals off. They look impossible in most cases. But anyway, Albaie would equalize thanks to Queb just two minutes later. Two. I don't know what's happening to the players, but it surely isn't something good.

Anyway, in the end, the three players who have actually performed these qualifiers saved us with one minute of regular time left. Terán sent a perfect through pass to Dandalleion, who got there just in time to dribble the goalkeeper, thanks to some insane speed. As said, he dribbled the goalkeeper. However, he had to do it by touching the ball with his right foot as softly as he could. He continued running once again, and got to the ball with his left foot just before the ball went out for a goal kick. He crossed to the small box without even looking. Most argue he had already memorized where Fôx was, I think he just used some common sense. If someone was going to poach, he was going to be there. Indeed, Fôx was sprinting towards where the ball was. He then jumped with all the impulse of the run and beat the Albaiean defender to the ball. With the empty goal, the ball just couldn't go out. Very rarely have I ever celebrated a goal so much.

Against Heroes of Larkwood, the match wasn't as heart-stopping, as we actually dominated from beginning to end, but being defensively-unstable did give us a scare twice. Dandalleion scored a penalty when slightly more than a quarter hour had passed. The penalty was very clear, though, so no complaints from my part over how we had to score by getting an illegal penalty. However, their striker would score just seven minutes later from outside the box. We were somewhat unlucky, the striker was clearly not good enough to do that. He'll never do it again. Still, we scored another goal four minutes after conceding that one, as Mêndêlöíndçêl also tested the goalkeeper from afar. However, Mêndêlöíndçêl has been tested and tested again, and we can all say it wasn't luck. He scored a very good goal and nobody can argue it wasn't skill. There's a reason why most Oyardo fans say he's their best player ever.

As for the second half, Terán - figuratively - said 'screw this' and dribbled three players to get into the box, then shooting to the lower-left post and scoring in the thirteenth minute. A very nice goal. A two-goal lead. Their centre midfielder would score from the penalty spot eight minutes later, but it would be to no avail: La Vherderoja would not let them get even close to the goal again. However, despite trying, we would not score again. A somewhat narrow win, and I'm not exactly happy, but we were good enough... against some rank outsiders.

In the end, that's six points out of six points. Not that bad. Up next we've got Lymantatia, the third seed that has been underachieving so far. They caused us a lot of problems last time around, but we're now at home. Let's cross our fingers and hope we can get these three points too. This match will also be vital in order to prepare for the must-win against Blouman Empire. The upcoming three matches, the third one against Kalumba, could already make us virtually qualify. Again, let's cross fingers and hope for the best.

[Free Republics]

Don't Mess With Nejax

Following a loss in Pasarga, which kept the top seed alive in the Group of Death, the Republican National Team returned to the Free Republics. However, they weren't just anywhere in the Free Republics for their match against Felix. They were in the city of Falkamore, located in the Republic of Nejax. Nejax had a reputation for being a Republic full of wild cowboys who drank beer, drove automobiles (especially pick-up trucks) and loved their guns even more than the average Republican. This was a place where, if you insulted the Free Republics or their flag, the locals were liable to run you out of town on a rail while chasing after you with tar, feathers and pitchforks. This was Patriotic Republican country. As such, it was especially hostile territory for Felix.

Taking in some time to relax, ahead of the critical match against Felix, Kyle Bolton and Koby Theodore went out hunting together. The actual rapist and his "older brother" who was, unknowingly, covering up for him were able to bag themselves an elk. Koby had shot it perfectly, ensuring that his teammates would have free food prior to their game against Felix. On the way back, they talked amongst themselves.

Kyle Bolton - Great shot, Koby.

Koby Theodore sighed.

Kyle Bolton - Is something wrong?

Koby Theodore - No.

Kyle Bolton - Come on, you don't normally act like this.

Koby Theodore - Its just that I'm ashamed of myself for what I've put you through. I want to come clean.

Kyle Bolton - Wait, so the Troll bitch wasn't lying? There actually was a rape?

Koby Theodore - Not really. I date-raped her.

Kyle Bolton - Why are you feeling so bad over consensual sex? Women who get drunk are responsible for their own choices, man.

Koby Theodore - In the middle of it, she suddenly started screaming about how she was being raped. I ran away as fast as I could and then you wrote that article and now half of Esportiva is trying to arrest you.

Kyle Bolton - Koby, that's what friends are for. I'll do anything for you. Just get over your guilt. She's a slut who's probably slept with hundreds of men. What right does she have to refuse you anyways?

Koby Theodore - You're right. I am over-reacting. Besides, your name will be cleared soon enough.

Kyle Bolton - I'm just hoping that they clear my name after you guys leave for Mizuyuki. If they do that, you can exercise your Constitutional rights, along with some of your teammates, and we'll be out of that mess.

Koby Theodore - But Consul Piazza will have you prosecuted for "obstructing" justice?

Kyle Bolton - That's no big deal. Besides, a jury is likely going to look very dimly on the kind of blackmail which he has engaged in.

Koby Theodore - So, there's a real chance that I can get away with this?

Kyle Bolton - Yes, if the authorities in Felix continue to take their time, you'll be home free. Besides, you didn't do anything wrong to begin with.

Koby Theodore - Thank you, Kyle.

Kyle Bolton - Koby, do one last thing for me. When you're in Mizuyuki, make sure to humiliate those damn slants for me.

Koby Theodore - I'll try.

Kyle Bolton - Don't try, do it.

Koby Theodore - I will do that.

Kyle Bolton - Good.

(OOC: The preceding conversation was private and was overheard by no one. Only Kyle Bolton and Koby Theodore know the identity of the actual rapist.)

Elsewhere, Rule Theriault was at the offices of Sporting World, speaking with Jasper Chuter, the Editor of Sporting World. Mr. Chuter had a friendly relationship with Theriault that went way back. The 2 of them were speaking regarding the current international situation.

Jasper Chuter - Rule, as you requested, we will speak off the record.

Rule Theriault - Thank you, Jasper.

Jasper Chuter - I hope you are not going to beg me, once again, to rehire Nova Hellstrom as my international soccer reporter.

Rule Theriault - I'm not. She's made quite a successful career for herself in the wrestling ring. She's a champion wrestler and probably wouldn't go back to journalism anyway.

Jasper Chuter - I'm happy for her. With the increasing popularity of professional wrestling, I have ramped up my magazine's coverage of the

There was a pause for a few seconds.

Jasper Chuter - sport. If Mr. Sagese says he's running a sport, I guess I have to pretend that he is doing so.

Rule Theriault - I guess so. My father told me all about the Good Old Days when there was no Internet, there were only 3 sports anybody cared about and just 5 TV channels.

Jasper Chuter - And, if you believe the old-timers, magazines were thriving and there was always something worth watching on TV.

Rule Theriault - Why do we have thousands of channels, but never anything fit to watch?

Jasper Chuter - Reality TV is cheaper to produce, so that's what the networks want. They can't draw a large enough audience to justify paying for quality storytelling any more. That's probably why professional wrestling is so popular, because it is cheap to produce and its possible to tell quality stories in that medium.

Rule Theriault - That has to be the first time anybody's ever used the phrases "professional wrestling" and "quality storytelling" used in the same sentence.

Jasper Chuter - Actually, that's the way Mr. Sagese sees his wrestling shows. They're really all about entertainment, even if he still pretends that they are a sport. Thus, they are sports entertainment.

Rule Theriault - Aren't all spectator sports supposed to be about entertainment?

Jasper Chuter - Yes. That's why nobody's ever been stupid enough to put golf on television.

Rule Theriault - Golf? Does anybody, other than the wealthiest of the wealthy, actually play that so-called sport?

Jasper Chuter - There are a few immigrants that do, but few people even play golf in our Federation.

Rule Theriault - Why would they want to?

Jasper Chuter - I don't know, but we'll be doing an article about golf for our Sports of the World series.

Rule Theriault - That's a great series. Your writers have done great work writing about those foreign sports.

Jasper Chuter - Yes, they have.

Rule Theriault - Well, let's get to the point of why we're speaking today.

Jasper Chuter - Oh yes, our decision to sponsor today's match between Felix and the Republican National Team.

Rule Theriault - I can't wait to see the looks on all those Troll faces when they see a giant Sporting World banner in the middle of Olden Stadium.

Jasper Chuter - I want to do everything possible to provoke them into Messing with Nejax.

Rule Theriault - That's just something you don't do.

Jasper Chuter - Indeed.

Rule Theriault - I hope they do something to get that crowd riled up. If they do, then I wish them luck getting out of the Stadium.

Jasper Chuter - Well, Sheriff [Ingeleiv] Akram is a close personal friend of mine. He'll make sure they know that their kind ain't welcome in these parts.

Rule Theriault - Good. I'm glad to have Republica's Toughest Sheriff on my side.

Jasper Chuter - Those Trolls won't want to cross him, if they know what's good for them.

Sheriff Akram was notorious for his numerous abuses of power and the conditions in his jails that bordered on cruel and unusual punishment, yet he had somehow remained the local sheriff in this portion of Nejax. He had extremely high approval ratings among the locals, who appreciated his "Tough on Crime" stance and largely shared his xenophobia. Anybody who decided to mess with Nejax would have to answer to the Toughest Sheriff and that just wasn't something you wanted to do, if you knew what was good for you.

[Sandwich Territories]

"We just need to be all that we can be now. Look, we didn't do a good job. You all know that, and so do I. But we can't give up our pride. We have got to finish out strong, like 300 Spartans. We WILL go do fighting. Look, we must do better. If not, we all are going to be in some deep shit by the FA. We were expected to do better, and we should've done better, and we know it. We were expected to finish 3rd....maybe even 2nd. Hell, I know that we are good enough to pull an upset for a 2nd year in a row and win the group flat out! But we are in 6th. Unacceptable. If we don't get our shit together, there will be issues....lets all remember that." - Manager Max Bellerd

[Kandorith]

Kandorith Going For The Record


By Lisho Yaru

Group 4                                    Pld    W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts 
 1 The Inevitable Syndicate                10    9   1   0    25    8  +17    28
 2 Kandorith                               10    7   0   3    34   18  +16    21
 3 Filopines                                9    6   2   1    25   17   +8    20
 4 Mapletish                               10    6   1   3    33   19  +14    19
 5 Falcus                                   9    3   3   3    15   18   −3    12
 6 Patistan                                10    2   4   4    19   22   −3    10
 7 Uitbregen                               10    1   3   6    13   23  −10     6
 8 Yttribia                                10    0   5   5    19   31  −12     5
 9 North East Ohio                         10    0   1   9    10   37  −27     1

Is head coach Xínjí's promising becoming truth, it seems to be so as Kandorith moves into the second place again after beating North East Ohio with 5 to 2. Although there is still some concern about the Kandorese defenses, the attack is looking strong. Kandorith has truly become a wing playing team according to experts and they should be less afraid to show their superiority. The head coach was delighted to talk to the press after yet another excellent result from the Kandorese national team.


"I am amazed, really." he said. "I knew that the team had extreme potential when I put it together but, they're proving to be even better than I initially thought. If they can keep this up we will make it to the play-offs as I promised the whole nation and the players themselves. I do believe we can make it, as long as we keep playing as a team and use our precision wing play and passing as both effective defensive and offensive methods. The only worry I have naturally is the breaking apart of Kandorith's defense which happens from time to time, but we are training heavily on that. In the next matches I am counting on a defense strategy build on keeping the enemy contained, instead of normal defending. Naturally offense remains the most important part of this team and so does showing the fans great football." according to the head coach.


The fans are most enthusiastic as they see their team rise again to the promised heights, and as the final matches are approaching Kandorith will have to hold on and win the upcoming matches to increase the lead they have on the third place. According to many, if Kandorith can increase their lead slightly and draw the most difficult upcoming matches, a second place will be the place for the team. This would be a historic event for the Kandorese sporting world and will give a whole new view to Kandorese professional sporting clubs. The fans are ready, the team is ready and naturally, Méng is ready to strike at goal more than once in the upcoming match against The Inevitable Syndicate. Xíanjí already stated he is hoping for at least a draw and has let us know he does believe the team is capable of drawing against them, especially on the home turf.

[Ko-oren]

"There's two ways you can look at this now. If you want a pep talk, don't listen to me but listen to our assistant coach right here. If you think you need more of a pessimist outlook on things, or a slightly more direct method to keep you motivated, listen to me. I'm going to make this into Choose Your Own Adventure as much as possible, so make your choice right now... Okay, got it? Here we go. So guys, you basically botched everything up for yourselves. 10 points behind Svengarda, we haven't been this bad since World Cup 63 or something. Hell, we haven't been 10 points behind the group's number one since whenever. And that said, we've only been first in the group for just a few match days in our entire history, and that is including World Cup 66's delightfully short qualification cycle. I don't need to remind you guys that if the cycle had been as short as that one, we would've been toast right now and possibly looking at a 25+ ranking spot next time. Oh man, you guys are bad. Concede three goals, lose three games by 1-0. And now three goals conceded against Svengarda. What the hell was that all about. Congrats on scoring two though, that's been better than ever. But it still sucks, because the entire point of playing with 11 damn defenders is preventing us from having to score two in the first place."

Meanwhile...

"Well, 7 more games. We can still do this. Maybe not as a first place, but definitely as a playoff contender. We have a good playoff record, and with a 14th KPB ranking, whatever we face there will be afraid of us! I know we conceded three just now, but that still makes us one of the better nations in defense comparing our stats to the rest of the field. And.. oh man, this is difficult. How do I even come up with more pseudo-compliments?"

... "can anyone translate that for me?"

"Rule one: Ko-oran only, no other languages during training. How difficult is that, even. Seriously, just stop spouting nonsense in a language that 60% of you don't know."

"Don't be so hard on me coach, I'm in the 'positive pep talk' group, not in the direct method."

"I'm sorry. I mean, eh, keep it up."

"That's neutral enough, I guess."

[Apox]

Jon Quillisi's Sport Column

Well that was a satisfying win for the team, and the matchday as a whole was very fortuitous for Apox as well. However, let's start with the match. Once again, the star player, Tolgus Tregajorran, was involved in 4 of the 5 goals scored by Apox, with Tregajorran scoring his first hat-trick for the national side, as well as setting up Jack Moses to score in the 78th minute. The other Apoxian goalscorer, the captain Matthias Sindelar was slightly lucky, as his goal was not the most skilful. The ball came in from Ivo Trevowah off a corner, and in the ruckus following, with no one clearly hitting the ball, it ended up in the back of the net. That's not to say the goal was important, at that stage, it was 0-0, and therefore it was the goal which started our victorious run.

In fact the goals got better and better as the game progressed, with Tregajorran's final goal being exquisite, a long range effort struck perfectly, curling just under the crossbar at the last second. Absolutely impossible to stop.

The good news is that both Cosumar and Saugeais tripped up, with Cosumar losing to Iturributa, which is fair enough, they are similarly ranked. What is more remarkable is that Saugeais continue to drop points, this time they drew with bottom of the group Lethano, who had amassed a grand total of 1 point at that point in the qualification campaign. Well, I can say that I'm very grateful to Lethano for doing so, provided we beat them, of course.

Now what is surprising to many, is how well Apox are doing so far this cycle, having performed so abjectly last time around despite Fjelden making minimal changes to the squad he inherited from Dravid Scott. The truth is that I think Fjelden is finally seeing the fruit of Scott's labours. While he is a more experienced tactician and manager than Scott, Fjelden has organised the team very well, and tightly, who, prior to conceding 6 to Boring Paradise last time around, have conceded few goals over qualifying. Scott identified much of the talent, the talent that is still in the side, but it is Fjelden who has organised them into a better unit.

In reverting recently to a 4-1-3-2, with Roskorwell accompanying Tregajorran up front, we are also seeing a more offensive national team, at that is demonstrated by the team scoring 9 goals in the last two games. This combined with a tight-knit back four, and the flourishing of Solomon Etezadi means the team is more likely to get into a winning position and hold on to it now.

Another thing that Fjelden has on his side is timing. When Scott became manager, he had to replace and put together an entire team effectively. Fjelden has the advantage in that the current squad had more experience than the squad which Scott had to assemble. It didn't have much granted - but it had more experience than none, which is what Scott's team had. Additionally, this squad is older now, the players have matured rather than being exciting and young but raw talent from a couple of years ago. And those are the reasons why I believe that we are more suited now.

So onto Iturributa now, and like usual, let's have a nice win, please.

[Sangti]

EL DIARIO NACIONAL
diarionacional.sgt

SPORTS
Sangtian Government Probes Into Sporting Bodies
by Antonio Tomas

CIUDAD SANGTI - The Government of the Royal Barangay of Sangti has announced a probe on every sporting body all over the nation. This is after the poor results of the national team in football and basketball among others have given Supremo Mazda Senina a severe headache. The FAS (Futbol Associacion de Sangti) and the BAS (Baloncesto Associacion de Sangti) were rumored to have been run poorly by management, amid issues of a possible corruption in the said agencies.

Senina said in a state press in the Plaza de Sangtiano that he is disappointed with the Agilang Dilaw's current standing in World Cup Qualifying, and the winless skid the Angas Sangti suffered in the International Basketball Championship, that led to the dismissals of Jaime Faltado and Jenichi Tayzon as gaffers.

"You accepted the job for one duty - nation pride. Losing five straight in the IBC, and failing to beat lower ranked teams in the WCQ? Apologies for the word but that is outright bullshit. What we need is a reform in the state of sports in Sangti. Maybe we could strip all sports associations of their money, and just focus on the military?"

The speech drew mixed reactions from Sangtians all over the nation. Although there were some who were in agreement on what the Supremo said, some people criticized what he said in the press. Albert Perez, former sports minister, said, "It was obvious that he does not want to support our athletes in the time of need. They are also people after all, I think what he said was very harsh to the players that carry the Sangtian flag."

---

NATION
Security Chief Manzano's body not yet found
by Rico Echeverri

RAMO - The body of Joel Manzano, security chief of the Sangtian government, has not yet been found.

It has been three months since Manzano was assassinated outside the Estadio Olimpico during Sangti's match with the defending World Cup champion Eura. The incident happened after Supremo Mazda Senina had already left the vicinity. Sources said that it was possible the culprits really wanted to target Senina, but was frustrated that he had already left, so they settled for the security chief instead. However, it is still a mystery that Manzano's body has not yet found.

When deputy chief Ben Padilla was asked if Manzano was still possibly alive, he told the press that, "I believe that there are enough witnesses to prove that Joel was shot by the culprit. However, without his body, we cannot probe yet on what the suspect's motives are."

He is also disappointed that CCTV cameras failed to record the incident.

"It could have been a big help to the investigation. Now we are not yet progressing, and many people, especially his relatives are still finding answers. It is a big mystery." The CCTV cameras were still at the storage room inside the stadium when the incident happened, and Padilla has ordered the stadium personnel to install the cameras.

[Super-Llamaland]

OOC: If you didn't read the title, this is for Xavier Platona in the World XI Challenge.

Group 2
Kitsunia-Deese 5–2 HorusLand
Swansea City 1–3 Super-Llamaland
Sicoutimont 5–0 Alta Belleza
Brenecia 2–0 Kintratar

   Group 2                                Pld    W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts 
 1 Valanora                                 9    8   1   0    34   13  +21    25
 2 Brenecia                                10    7   2   1    13    3  +10    23
 3 Super-Llamaland                         10    6   1   3    21   18   +3    19
 4 Sicoutimont                             10    6   0   4    21   13   +8    18
 5 Kintratar                                9    4   2   3    18   13   +5    14
 6 Kitsunia-Deese                          10    3   1   6    21   26   −5    10
 7 HorusLand                               10    3   1   6    17   19   −2    10
 8 Alta Belleza                            10    2   0   8     8   23  −15     6
 9 Swansea City                            10    1   0   9    11   36  −25     3

Two (or maybe 1.5) Souls

Chapter IX: Not kidnapped, but definitely napped

"You okay, Xavier?" Trevor Duncan asked him. He continued to stare forward, into the stream of hot water coming from the shower. His small booth was filling up with steam. Xavier said nothing.

"Hello? Hello?" Duncan waved his hand in front of Xavier's face. Platona waved it off.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he said miserably. Andrea had been gone for seven days. Xavier had had to leave for Swansea City. Andrea could be wandering the streets of New Llama, desolate and alone. Or she could be dead, which wasn't nearly as comforting.

"They're calling for your blood out there," Trevor said, gesturing vaguely towards the door. "They all want to use this shower for some reason."

"Really?" Xavier asked him. There was a bang at the door.

"Yeah, it's weird," Trevor said, grinning ruefully, "all the other showers are available, and yet-"

The door exploded inward off its hinges.

"Holy ****!" Trevor exclaimed. The two backed up to behind the shower head. Wetness no longer became a concern as their teammates streamed in.

"Trevor!" Xavier yelled. "Who's inside you!"

Trevor's face fogged for a moment and became blank. And then he turned back and said, "Nobody...why?"

It was enough for Xavier. He whipped around and smacked his teammate (who he believed to be possessed) with the heavy shower head. Trevor collapsed.

The other teammates were pouring in, Bobby Crosby and Gordon Newmann leading the charge. Xavier didn't have enough time to smack them, so he turned up the heat and pressure and shot streams of boiling water and steam into their faces.

Crosby and Newmann stumbled through the cloud of steam, faces covered in burns. But it was a small shower booth, and six was its limit. Crosby, Newmann, Mujica, and DeJesus got in, but the rest were locked out, snarling in frustration. They all looked different, not themselves, which was a big problem.

Trevor woke up, still sprawled across the shower drain.

"Wh-wha...Xavier, what the **** is happening?" he said weakly.
"Do you do martial arts?" Xavier asked him.
"No."
"****!"

They were in the corner now. Newmann, grinning wickedly, took the showerhead from him.

"Uh oh," Xavier said.

There was a bonk. Xavier, reeling, mind erupting in painful little red fireworks, collapsed across Trevor Duncan, ruining his captain's hopes of escape.

He woke up somewhere; something promptly blindsided his neural network and smashed its way into his mind. From the back, which was six times as painful as the excruciating nausea when one did it nicely and from the front.

"Aghh," said Xavier, drooling and pitching forwards dangerously. He landed facedown on a concrete floor, knocking a molar loose. The pain from the tooth was enough for whatever was trying to possess him. He mentally bit and kicked to no avail. He managed to keep a shred of his own senses, enough for him to see what was going on but not enough to do anything about it.

"You...have your bodies now?" somebody asked nervously. A mysterious net with a corpse inside lay beside his feet.

The team of soccer players nodded.

"Uh...g-good," said the nervous man, a crime boss known to many as "Rod".

Trevor Duncan woke up again on the floor.

"Take him, leader," Alejandro Mujica suggested to the dim concrete walls. There was a flash. Duncan convulsed and then stood up as if nothing had happened.

"You have serviced us well, Mr. Rod. How can we repay you?" Duncan asked. Then, his features twisted and he collapsed again. The soccer players gasped.

He felt himself running towards Trevor. His body knelt down at control of something else.

"Are you all right?" he heard himself asking. In a futile fit of rebellion, he found his vocal cords and fiddled with them. His own voice cracked and rose several pitches before Xavier was driven off in a fit of anger by the parasitic thing.

Completely out of his own body. Now, he had no senses. He only felt emotions, swirling around him. Lust. Jealousy. Revenge. Fear.

He wasn't sure if it was his own fear or that of one of the soccer players, who had managed to regain a shred of themselves. He felt the twenty-one soccer players hovering anxiously and fearfully around him. This was a battle they had no idea how to win.

And then--another's fear. Not his, not his teammate's.

Andrea's.

Richards: 8.5 Games, 72 SOG, seventeen goals, 76% save percentage, 2 GPG, 4 shutouts
Matthews: 0.5 Games, 3 shots on goal, 2 goals, 33% save percentage, 4 GPG, no shutouts

Duncan: Eight goals, eight assists, 24 points
Platona: Six goals, two assists, 14 points
Crosby: Three goals, four assists, 10 points
Powell: Three goals, two assists, 8 points
Mujica: One goal, one assist, 3 points
Alcanatra: One goal, one assist, 3 points
Rushmore: One assist, 1 point

[Nova Anglicana]

Lions Start Second Half Off Right

Hayden Landers, Nova Anglicana Football Today

Many interesting and intriguing things happened in the world of World Cup Qualifying on the last matchday, not the least of which was our own Nova Anglicana Lions defeating Crya 2-0 on the road. This was the same score that the Lions defeated Crya by in the first leg at home, and they looked just as dominant on the road. Despite a bit of a layoff, their passes were crisp, their tackling sure, and their spirits high. Many of the players were seen laughing and joking before, after, and during the game, signs that they were playing more loosely. These are welcome developments given their record of 0-1-4 in their last five games, where they scored a single goal and looked frustrated and downtrodden. They played hard, giving Blouman Empire, Farfadillis, and Sameba all they could handle, but a single point was all they could take away. This is why this road game against Crya was so important. Not because they needed the points; they are essentially eliminated, but rather for morale and putting a stop to their dismal play of late. Asked after the game about his team's play, manager Patrick Moran replied, "I told these guys before the game that this game didn't matter a bit. Not to me, not to Crya, not to the rest of the world. The people to whom this game mattered were them and the fans. They were going to have to go out there and make it matter to them. And they responded. We haven't played a better game in this tournament."

The Lions, indeed, played extremely well. They controlled 59% of the possessions and took 11 shots (5 on goal) compared to Crya's 3 attempts (1 on goal). They opened the scoring in the 17th minute after starting sluggishly, when David Pelletier crossed a ball into the box, and flashy striker Raphael Baptiste leaned into a Cryan defender, creating enough separation for him to scorpion-kick the ball into the net past the keeper Freand. The Lions kept up the pressure, but were unable to come away with any more goals in the first half, as Philip Castillo was denied on a free kick attempt by Freand. In the 71st minute, the Lions finally broke through again. Baptiste slipped past his defender and fired a shot that was deflected by Freand, but substitute Kyle Fleming was right there to bang home the rebound. It was Fleming's first career international goal, and his teammates mobbed him near the corner flag in an ecstatic celebration.

Up next for the Lions is a home date with Albaie in Eboracum at Yeoman's Stadium. In the first leg, Giuseppe Carbone roughed up the young Albaie strikers and the Lions earned a point with a scoreless draw away. I know that Albaie has certainly drilled it into their players' heads not to respond when Carbone goads them, but who can tell with youth? Both teams are essentially eliminated, but the Lions would like to finish strong, so a win in front of the home fans would certainly be a big boost for the team and the country. I'll go a little more conservative, and call for a 1-1 draw. Following Albaie, the Lions will travel to Heroes of Larkwood, 2-1 losers against Farfadillis, and whom the Lions defeated 1-0 in the first leg.

In other news, world #1 Polar Islandstates dropped a shocking 1-0 decision to unranked The Weegies in front of their home fans, provoking choruses of boos and an avalanche of thrown objects on the pitch. There are reports that a small body of fanatical (and delusional) Weegies fans are now much richer due to betting on the game. The other noteworthy occurrence was the 11-3 destruction of unranked The United Squiggles by 91st-ranked club Åsløtten-Bëðerbørg så Cesky. 11 goals certainly ranks up there on the list of most goals ever scored, and makes one wonder; were the United Squiggles just that bad, or did ABsC deliberately run up the score in a display of poor sportsmanship? Nova Anglicana would never stoop that low, but then again, we have a long way to go before we can even think about beating someone 11-3.

[Northern Sunrise Islands]

It was difficult to explain. Mostly because no one wanted to. While it was sort of expected that the team would lose to the Sylvanaes Queendom, they were on a run that seemed to be unstoppable. Sadly, however, the team was, in fact, stoppable and their opponents proved it. Now at the second place, the stellar team had to pick itself up from the ashes that burned during the game. So obviously, Mateus Carvalho was spent.

As he finally laid down on his bed and started to pass through the channels until finally finding SkyCraft International, he felt a small touch at his left shoulder. He was supposed to be alone at his room ever since there was a free bed at the Hue sisters' room, to which Nagatomo quick left for. As he looked over his shoulder, he noticed the traditional pink hair that Namine Nagatomo had from three years ago. "Namine? Shouldn't you be with the Hues?"

"Well, yes... But they snore too loud." said her, before sitting on the side of his bed. "Politics, Matt? Last year you were less... well, boring. I mean, you were always a bit boring, but now... Arceus. Say, where is that book you used to read? At least, while you were reading it, you weren't that boring." As she switched a channel, she couldn't help but grin at the list of channels that it showed as watched. Obviously, she wouldn't notice that it was a row of channels that he passed through, but it was a good chance to make fun of the striker. "Aaaaaaawwwww! Matty-kun watches The Very Nicey and Safe Adventure of Cuddle Bear?"

Mateus sighed, before starting to answer. "I was just searching for something good to see at the TV, Namine. I really needed to see this, with our country starting to add territories like if there was no problem on doing it and retaining their status as International Benchmark. And I need to be responsible. It seems no one here has any knowledge that we are a national team and we need to portray ouselves with some sort of responsibility. Where was you when they asked me about the match? I know Kylx is an idiot that can't handle anything. I know the other players had other stuff to do. But you, Namine? And... Matty-kun?"

"Well... Yes, Matty-kun! I wasn't talking to anyone because, let's face it. You're the guy for the job. " He smiled, laughing a bit after hearing Matty-kun again. "Well, it is kinda funny, no? But still, I don't watch that show." As Mateus talked, Nagatomo frowned. "Aw... But I thought I would finally be able to trade one of my left-over Bears of Safety." Mateus started to laugh more, as Nagatomo looked to him angry. "What? It's perfectly safe to have bears from my favorite show!" "Yeah, right." muttered Carvalho, grinning. "Aren't you a bit old for that?"

She gave a small grin, after finding a way to comeback. "Yeah, but at least I have a boyfriend! You don't!". Carvalho scratched his head, looking at her. "Really?" asked Carvalho, muting the TV. Nagatomo sat at her bed, confident. "Yup. It's a nice, rich guy from Jaunepont! His name is... is... Meaux Namorát!" After hearing the name, Carvalho was surprised. The name Nagatomo came up with was, in fact, a friend of his from high school. "So... Namorát got rich? Impressive... I talked with him a year ago and he wasn't that rich, nor lived at Jaunepont."

"Fine... I lied, but still... I'm more mature than you." said Nagatomo, picking the remote control from her teammate, switching to the channel that was transmitting the little episode of The Very Nicey and Safe Adventure of Cuddle Bear. "Yeah, right. I can totally see that right now... Nami-chan!" answered Carvalho with a huge grin before picking a book to read. "Oh, Matt! Congrats on the two goals." said Namine, still a bit angry from the remarks. "Oh, not a problem. Good night, Namine." said him, as he continued to read a book.

[United Gordonopia]

Entr'Acte

"We all knew this could happen, Frederick, Leo. Those Sanctii are a self-assured lot, so its only natural they buy into that crap. I'll do my best to get the evidence together, but we need to start preparing for the worst."

The trio assembled in the Emperor's office, Arbitrator Dunn, High admiral von Keittel, and the Emperor himself, had had countless such meetings, and the former two many more with Leopold's father. The ones like this, where war was just over the horizon, were always the most tense. As much effort as Gordonopia had pumped into building its formidable military, a necessity in Greater Dienstad, war always meant hardship.

"I've already done so," replied Keittel. "Second and eleventh fleets, along with a Tolven-based ballistic sub squadron have begun preparations to transfer to New Gordonopia, where they will resupply and prepare for deployment. We have not yet moved up an alert level, but the orders themselves could certainly attract attention."

"Very good, Frederick," Leopold replied, "Let's hope we don't have to use them. John, what are you sending the Sanctii as evidence? Hopefully there will be something that will get through to them."

Jonathon pulled out a thick folder. "All of this digitally. I worked with General Harmond of the Imperial Police to pull everything we have on them. Videos and transcripts of interrogations, police reports and some of the evidence on the attacks so far, cracked intranet communications, the whole nine yards. Of course, they could always tell us that its all forged, but has their god made them that insane?"

"We had better pray not."

---

Encrypted Communique
To: King Paulus XV of Saintland
From: Arbitrator Jonathon Dunn, United Gordonopia
Subject: Re: Re: Ultimatum
Encryption: Maximum

Your majesty,

If it is evidence you want, it is evidence that you shall receive.

Attached to this communique is documentation released to me from our Imperial Police, the national police force and branch of our armed forces charged with conducting the investigation into Heritage Alliance. This evidence ranges from recordings of the interrogations of H.A. members captured immediately after perpetrating several different attacks, where they confess nothing more than their organization and their responsibility, to intranet communications which we successfully broke very strong encryption methods, likely developed or purchased with your funds, to obtain.

I would also like to summarize some of their various attacks for you, further details of which can be found attached.

Their first incident took place prior to the championship match of the Collegiate Athletic Federation Class A Women's Football. An organization within our country known as AllSport, which has recently used peaceful demonstrations to promote women and other species in sport, held a small rally in the park outside the match with just under 10,000 supporters. Following that, they began heading towards the stadium, where they suddenly found themselves facing approximately 500 men in black masks carrying clubs, bats, and other blunt melee weapons. The AllSport demonstrators, completely unarmed, were assaulted by the men. Six were killed, several hundred faced a varying degree of injury, before police arrived to calm the situation. Of the eighty attackers apprehended at the scene, most confessed to being affiliated with Heritage through various secret intranet networks.

Another incident took place at a Union Holiday pre-season match. Union Holiday is a member of the Gordonopia Premier League, but chose to use the match to recognize some of its most dedicated female supporters, many of which were located in section 112 of the stadium. Twenty minutes into the match, a group of roughly forty men attempted to force their way into the section. Many of the men were armed with small melee weapons they had managed to smuggle into the stadium. Fortunately the stadium security and police detachment were able to prevent the same level of carnage as the previous attack, but four security personnel received serious injuries, as did six members of the female supporter's group who happened to be just outside of the section when the attack began.

With these first two incidents, I hope that you, the ruler of a sport loving nation, sympathizes with the fact that a sporting match should be a sacred place. That these were unarmed fans attacked by Heritage Alliance members should be enough to at least see them as something other than 'a peaceful organization that wishes to protect the women of your nation by promoting natural gender roles'. The reason we have declared them a terrorist organization follows.

At an AllSport rally in the port of Teva, which your nation should be familiar with from the Baptism of Fire, a man attempted to detonate a suicide bomb in the middle of a densely packed crowd. He was stopped by an off-duty police officer, who managed to prevent him from accomplishing his mission until he could be apprehended. He personally admitted, in a recording attached, to being a member of Heritage Alliance, and we also managed to discover online communication logs instructing him on this 'mission'. Furthermore, investigation into his recent history indicates that he was likely also present at the Collegiate Athletic Federation assault.

Finally, we have what has now been determined was an attempt at assassination. Barbara Fulton is the director of the Collegiate Athletic Federation; a former collegiate track and field athlete and college administrator. On December 12, Ms. Fulton was driving home from her offices in Downtown Gordonopia City when a vehicle ran a stoplight whilst she was in the middle of an intersection and collided with the driver's side of her vehicle. The street itself was fairly empty, though there were several witnesses who confirm that the man exited his vehicle wielding a tire iron, only to re-enter and escape when a siren was heard several blocks away. Tracing the license plate and other eyewitness reports, the man was apprehended on December 19, and soon confessed to being a Heritage Alliance member sent to kill Ms. Fulton, who has been a noted supporter of women's participation in athletics.

Now, you may not agree with the beliefs of those Heritage Alliance has assaulted, but any sane leader must recognize that Heritage's methods of 'encouragement' are akin to domestic terrorism. I pray that you shall see the light and not take this evidence as falsified.

On the subject of your Feministvs Sanctvsterra, we agree that their methods are incredibly unsound, and they could even be called the feminist counterpart to Heritage. That is why we conducted a thorough investigation of our own before contacting you, confirming in the Free Republics through various means that their allegations against your government were true. I do not understand why you believe their status would change the evidence itself, though, when you have personally admitted to your son funding Heritage with your government's funds.

I will say nothing on your long tirade against women participating athletically, as they again have no relevance the the matter at hand.

Finally, I must say that I dearly pray your nation's long history of peace can continue; it would truly be a shame for such a long streak to end now.

[Tasrailia]

Tasrailia Blog 10
Part 7
Part 8 8.5
Part 9

MD 1: @ The Fair Republic (257) 5-2
MD 2: Dutzenderland (312) (Launey Arena) 1-0
MD 3: @ Sangti (79) 1-1
MD 4: Kinzar (126) (Launey Arena) 0-2
MD 5: @ New Sideburn (48) 2-2
MD 6: Eura (4) (Tasrailia Arena) 1-3
MD 7: @ New Rhodes (324) 2-1
MD 8: BYE
MD 9: Eastfield Lodge (40) (Tasrailia Arena) 1-0
MID-GROUP BREAK
MD 10: The Fair Republic (257) (Launey Arena) 6-3
MD 11: @ Dutzenderland (312) 4-3
MD 12: Sangti (79) (Tasrailia Arena)
MD 13: @ Kinzar (126)
MD 14: New Sideburn (48) (Tasrailia Arena)
MD 15: @ Eura (4)
MD 16: New Rhodes (324) (Launey Arena)
MD 17: BYE
MD 18: @ Eastfield Lodge (40)

Dutzenderland 3–4 Tasrailia

GK: Kyle Danai (Devbourne)
DF: Matthew Ripo (Devborune)
DF: Sarah Utaja (Hoberra)
DF: Riley Daian (Devbourne)
DF: Barry Edwards (Devbourne)
MF: Addison Roqwa (Penwin)
MF: Tom Dieaeoe (Ulvbart)
MF: Kelsey Otot (Burth)
MF: Tiai Iraop (Penwin)
FW: David Banrai (Hoberra)
FW: Robin Federer (Burth)

Tasrailia have continued their winning streak after only just scraping through a 4-3 win over the team from Dutzenderland in a tight affair to keep their chance of going to the finals of the world cup as the gap is now only five points between the top 3 teams in Group 14.

Much like the previous match we didn't get off to a brilliant start with the first two goals again coming from the opposition to put us in a position that we didn't need again with the score being 2-0 as goals coming from Shun Honda and Masao Hoshida wasn't the best of starts for the team.

This position though was the same as last match when we were behind, and we still won that match so this would be no problem. The answer being from Addison Roqwa as he scored the first of what was to come in the land of Dutzenderland.

The attack started with David Banrai scoring the next goal for the Tigers to level things up and 2 all after 37 minutes with momentum all going to Tasrailia. Here we go again in terms of coming back from the dead.

The teams were keeping the game enteraning before more trouble came with Shun Honda scoring his second goal of the game to put Dutzenderland back into the lead. The score 3-2 as half time came with the hope of a win slowly fading away.

Second Half

I don't know what actually happen during the break but it seemed like our opposition sort of went to sleep with our team showing what happened to them with the game back level with Kelsey Otot taking the shot and scoring to make it 3-3.

The game continued with its pace and the game was heading for a draw which would be good in our way before trouble hit with Masao Hoshida scoring an own goal right on the death and that would be the costly goal with Tasrailia taking the lead and winning the match 4-3 to close the gap into scoring a spot in the finals.

Dutzenderland 3
Shun Honda 11', 42'
Masao Hoshida 18'

Tasrailia 4
Addison Roqwa 28'
David Banrai 37'
Kelsey Otot 48'
Masao Hoshida 77' (og)

[German American States]

Beating Bamberger

Part I

Part 2

---

Eisenport, GAS
January 1948 GAT

The steady infamous Northern Loewesee rain beat against Ed's rough face. Eisenport somehow had dodged the typical winter snow and sleet, only to get the salty ocean rain. Just perfect.

Elections had come and gone without a shakeup in the Congress. Ed had gone to the neighborhood meeting house with his government identification, excited and happy that he was going to be part of the political process. He greeted all of his buddies from the shipyard as they filed into the building. Checking off his ballots with the candidates, he felt a sense of glee he had not felt since he was a child. That's what freedom does to you, I guess.

The same 3 senators from Ed's district had been reelected. Again. For the fourth time straight. The fat geezers had been sworn in just the other day, in fact. Now, as Edward Morton strode down the cobblestone boulevard, rain beating against his face, he wondered what it was with German Americans. Always content with mediocrity it seemed, at least politically.

All of this got Ed thinking a lot more about the political system. It was a lot harder to make changes than it seemed at face level. He received quite a verbal beating from his work buddies at the pub one night for voicing his views.

"What are you doing thinking about politics?" asked Mark that night. "You gotta provide for yourself! What about owning your own house? What about opening up that mechanics workshop you've been talking about?".

And Ed was succumbed to his friend's wishes. He knew one thing, Edward Morton was not going to be distracted by petty issues. He had to get himself out of this slum, open up a business, maybe even get a girl and a family down the line.

Yes, politics were off of his mind for a while. He worked on saving up his money, and working harder than ever at the docks. Maybe he would get a raise. Ed fielded more repair orders than ever. And the work was paying off. He was making a comfortable living, unlike just scraping by like he used to.

However, one rainy April day, he was walking home from work and decided to get a newspaper on the way. He turned onto the alley the newsstand was located on, and strode up to the shop. Greeting the owner, he picked up a paper from one of the stacks. He was fishing out a Mark from his pocket when something caught his eye. A small stack of leaflets that was tucked into the corner of the room. Ed picked one up, feeling the coarse paper on the cover. The title read "On Our Flawed System, By Johannes Bamberger". Little did Edward Morton know, that book would change his life.