Sal Lazzara looked at the hotel in front of him. It certainly wasn't the nicest hotel he had ever seen, but it was the most opulent one he had seen around these parts. This was where Peregrina was staying, or at least that's what he had been told.
Entering the large double doors at street level, Sal entered the foyer and was greeted by a warmth which he hadn't felt since he left the team hotel. This was much nicer than the small worn hotel he had found the previous night, but he had arrived in the middle of the night and didn't care where he had slept.
I might get a room here myself, or maybe I won't need one, Sal reasoned somewhat optimistically. Approaching the desk in the foyer, he was greeted by a young lady in her early twenties working behind the desk.
"Good evening sir, how may I help you?" said the lady at the desk, welcoming Sal with a warm smile as he approached.
"Good thanks. It's cold out there though" Sal replied, which was met with a blank look of recognition from the hotel employee who had not asked a question of that nature. Not realising his error, Sal continued, "I was wondering if you could let Peregrina Thašighi know that Sal Lazzara is here to see her. I apologise, I do not know her room number".
The young lady looked at Sal, seemingly looking him over, before she softly uttered "One moment please", and disappeared into a back room. Moments later, a slightly older man, in his thirties emerged to speak to Sal. "I'm sorry sir, I am going to have to ask you to leave."
Sal's protests were in vain, and in a short time he found himself standing out on the street, looking at the front of the hotel once more. The burly individuals who had assisted his exit disappeared back into the glowing warmth, and Sal felt the chill cut through his jacket as he stood outside, alone in a foreign country with only a doorman for company.
The doorman looked him up and down, before glancing inside. Looking back at Lazzara, he whispered a low whistle to get Lazzara's attention. Lazzara shuffled slowly across the frozen ground towards the doorman, who spoke in hushed tones when he was close: 'You looking for Peregrina? Yeah, I don't blame you, she is one sexy lady. But she's not here anyway. I can tell you where she went, but it will cost you."
Sal pulled out a small wad of notes from his back pocket, and handed a few to the doorman. Looking them over, and apparently satisfied, he continued; "She went to the monorail station."
"Then where?"
"I don't know"
"Well, thanks I suppose. It's a start but it doesn't help me much" Lazzara replied angrily, but gratefully for at least it was something to go with. Sal turned and headed for the nearest monorail station, leaving the laughing doorman alone in the cold to celebrate his monetary windfall.
Sal arrived at the monorail station, and headed straight for the ticket booths; on his walk to the station he had been struck by a brainwave; the KPFA might know where Peregrina is. Looking at the board of destinations and map, he could not understand the layout, and decided to ask for assistance. Approaching a ticket booth, he leant down to speak through the small opening to the cashier.
"Excuse me, are there any phones here that I can use?"
"Sorry sir, there are no public phones available"
"Oh... okay. Thanks" replied Sal.
Walking slowly he sat down on a nearby bench dejected, lost for ideas. Suddenly, from his left, he noticed a well dressed man, playing with what looked like a calculator. A thought suddenly struck Sal, that's not a calculator, thats a phone. A big, old looking phone, but a phone! Leaping from his seat, he approached the man eagerly, who looked a little cautious of the man quickly coming towards him. Sal greeted the man warmly with a friendly grin to show he meant no harm "Excuse me sir, I was wondering if I may be able to buy your phone?"
"Buy my phone?"
"Yes, buy your phone. Right here, right now, I will give you (NS) three thousand for the phone."
The man's eyes widened, despite his apparent wealth this was still a remarkably good deal, even if the strange man did want his phone immediately, phonebook, history and all. Sensing Lazzara's urgency, he replied,
"Five thousand"
"Really? Wow.... Fine." Lazzara opened his backpack, and pulled out his camera bag. From a small pocket within, he pulled out a large wad of cash, looking around the station as he did so. Pulling off a stack of notes, he put his belongings away, and handed the man the money, and he was handed the phone.
Moving away, Lazzara pulled out an envelope, containing documents the team had given all players before the tournament. It included a list of local numbers, and he found the one for directory assistance, calling it on his new phone. Once he had the number for the KPFA, he dialled it to find out where Peregrina would be.
"Hello, KPFA".
Sal cleared his throat "Hello, this is Sal Lazarra, of the Southern Cynocephali team here for the baptism of fire. I am looking for Peregrina Thašighi."
"Ah, Mr Lazzara, we heard of your accident. I hope all is well?"
"Yes, I'm fine, thankyou. Do you know where I can find Miss Thašighi?"
"Let me see.. ah yes, here it is. She was due in Oktyabrsk this morning for your teams match today. Although, it seems that she hasn't checked into her hotel yet - how strange. Oh well, she is probably late, being mobbed by fans or something."
"Oh I see. Thankyou, I'm sure I will.. err.. see her when she gets here" Lazzara hung up the phone, cutting off the reply of farewell on the other end.
Lazzara returned to the ticket booths. Leaning again to speak through the division, he asked to buy a ticket to Oktyabrsk.
"I'm sorry sir, we seem to have technical issues with that line at this time. I can offer you another route which will take you there but the journey will be much longer. Otherwise you may have to organise another form of transport."
"What? Technical problem?"
"Yes sir. We have technicians investigating the situation at the moment, but we are unsure of the nature of the problem at this time; it could be a stuck monorail car but we are unsure. We cannot advise when services will recommence".
Lazzara turned from the counter dejected. Another obstacle! But... Sal paused, thinking of what the lady behind the counter had said. Stuck monorail car? Could that mean? No...... surely not.... yes! It fit!
Lazzara picked up his pace and headed outside the station. There had to be a way to find the monorail.
If there is, I will find it. I will save you Peregrina!
Banditi Zaliv Stadion, Oktyabrsk
Group E
Nitrome Island vs Southern Cynocephali
Nicolas walked out of the entrance and down the stairs of the Banditi Zaliv Stadion, in the port city of Oktyabrsk. The icy wind hit his face as he entered the stadium, and he unconciously tightened his jacket as he took in the scene before him. The stand was full of Les Cynos fans; this was the first game that they had been able to get to en masse. Perhaps that was something to do with the host city, which seemed to appeal to the mainly young male crowd of supporters. At the sight of the walls, a childish laugh escaped the slightly blue lips of Nicolas, before the beauty of the bay beyond stopped him dead in his tracks. Possibly the most breathtaking backdrop he had ever seen for a stadium, it was going to make this match something special.
Joining the throng, Nicolas returned a welcoming nod from a fellow supporter as he took his place. He enjoyed the camaraderie of being part of such a group and belonging to a large 'family'; that was why he didn't mind travelling to Kagdazka alone, as in essence, he was not alone. He looked across the group surrounding him, and a few rows in front and to the left of Nicolas he noticed a couple of familiar faces. They were a rough looking bunch, and were known for their passionate support of their team, but Nicolas felt safer amongst them than he had outside the stadium. Oktyabrsk seemed to be quite a fronteir town, and Nicolas had only just managed to evade a few dubious characters in an alley the previous night. Luckily he had travelled before, and he recognised the danger before it was too late; nevertheless he resolved to stay with larger groups from now on, at least during his stay in Oktyabrsk.
Looking at the team programme, he noticed that Sal Lazzara's name was on the team sheet, but if the rumours he had heard were correct, he had walked out of the team hotel on the night of their first round victory. Where he had gone was a mystery, and the team had just said he left for personal reasons. Nicholas wasn't too phased, but was concerned at the lack of information in the programme on their opponent. Who were they playing? He hoped this 'Nitrome Island' didn't provide any surprises for Les Cynos; they had managed a draw with Abcd'stuk who Les Cynos had lost to in a previous friendly. The lack of the team roster had also hampered the supporters club from creating some chants to mock their opponents in their usual fashion, but they still had a collection of chants with which to unsettle their opponents.
The teams ran out onto the field, and the group turned as one and cheered Les Cynos. The compact stadium provided an excellent atmosphere, and the Les Cynos supporters began to drown out the less vocal, and numerous, opposing supporters. The anthems were played, with the entire group in the stand patriotically singing in unison at their national anthem.
The officials and players began to set up to start the match, and the official drummer, Col Lanius, must have been somewhere to Nicholas' left, as he heard the familiar drumming begin. Alain Lanius, his brother, was the head of the supporters group, and generally took the lead for starting the chants.
The chanting began, the drumming amplified by the clapping of the group:
*Boom, boom, boom-boom-boom, boom-boom-boom-boom* "Cynos!"
*Boom, boom, boom-boom-boom, boom-boom-boom-boom* "Cynos!"
Play got underway, and immediately developed into a tussle in midfield. Zezima looked a bit sluggish to start, playing poor passes straight to the opposition defence on two occasions early on. The supporters were vocal in their disappointment at the key players' slow start, and a chant rose to encourage and spur on their man;
He plays down the left,
He plays down the right
Francois Zezima makes the others look shite
The chants continued intermittently, as Les Cynos began to slightly win the battle for midfield. Cangelosi began to make headway on the right, making a few runs down the sideline to put in crosses that ultimately resulted in goal kicks.
Nicholas chanted and sang at the top of his voice, soaking up the atmosphere of the crowd at this unique stadium. The singing continued, the supporters who had travelled so far to be at the game trying valiantly to push their team forward.
"Here we go, here we go, here we go, here we go, here we go, here we go-oo, here we go, here we go, here we go-oo, Les Cy-nos!"
The vocal crowd seemed to be having an effect on their team, as well as on the opposition and their fans. During the last minutes of the half, Les Cynos began to control the match and dominate possession. In the 43rd minute, a run by Cangelosi down the right resulted in a cross that was cleared by the defence, but only as far as Gildas Mancion, the right back. From quite some distance out he hit the ball with a first time strike as it was cleared. The ball rocketed off the top of his foot, and began to rise above the bar before dipping down towards goal. Crossing the face of goal if front of the keeper, it swirled past his outstreched hand before sneaking in the top left hand corner of the goal. The crowd rose to celebrate, as an ecstatic team and stunned opposition digested what had happened. Mancion ran to celebrate in front of Nicholas and the main group of supporters, and Nicholas joined in the loud expression of appreciation for the special strike from the defender.
The referee's whistle signalled the end of the half, and the players retired to the relative warmth of the dressing rooms. The crowd was abuzz with talk of the strike from Mancion just before half-time, which at this stage could already be a contender for goal of the tournament. The supporters whittled away the break by singing songs to their opposing fans,
Can you hear the Islanders sing?
No, no, no no,
I can't hear a fucking thing
With the return to the field of the players the chants reverted to supporting Les Cynos, rather than disparaging the opposing fans. Les Cynos began the second half as they had left off, and had a few chances early on that ultimately amounted to nothing. Touches from Mancion were at first met with a few solitary cries of
'Shoot!', before the entire group caught on. Nicolas thought that this one would probably stick for some time.
A relatively lacklustre second half was broken in the 60th minute with the injection of Schweiss and Plambeck. Almost immediately, Schweiss began to trouble the defence, beating his man and forcing a good save from the Nitrome keeper. Nitrome Island had a few chances of their own, but Arron Yuill was proving immovable at the back. He was known for his superior reflexes, which combined with his natural size, make him a tough keeper to beat. The song from Yuill's club team Lilter, began to echo around the ground; a song which came about at the start of the first league season two years ago, when a sex-tape starring Arron was released online by a well known socialite in Southern Cynocephali, Justine Petit:
He's tall,
he's quick,
he's got a massive dick,
Arron Yuill,
Arron Yuill.
Play continued, and in the 73rd minute, Nicolas rose as Schweiss beat his man and began to run at the defence. Playing a quick one-two with Plambeck, he beat the last defender by almost a whole stride, his pace exposing the weakness of the central defenders. Running onto the ball, he entered the box as the keeper began to move out towards him. Timing his strike perfectly, he lobbed the ball over the keeper's head and into the goal behind him. Nicolas and the Les Cynos supporters went up as one, cheering, as the goal gave them a 2-0 lead.
What a player, that Yong Schweiss is, and only 18. I don't think we have a song for him; we will have to come up with something, I think we will be seeing much more of him, Nicolas mused to himself.
Nicolas and the supporters sang vocally for the remainder of the match, their celebrations barely interrupted by a soft consolation goal in the 93rd minute for Nitrome Island, from a corner. Whilst disappointing, the fans realised it was too late for Nitrome Island to do anything else, and continued to sing in victory.
At the conclusion of the match, Les Cynos thanked their supporters briefly before returning to their dressing room and their post-match press committments. Nicolas followed the large throng of supporters out of the stadium and into the brewery next door. It was to be a night of celebration;
two from two, Nicolas thought,
thats a good start. We have our toughest matches coming up next, but this start has almost guaranteed our progression to the final 32. I'll drink to that!