Cup of Harmony 54 RP and Scores Thread

[New Montreal States]

Welcome to the 54th Cup of Harmony!

Wight and New Montreal States, a pair of recent arrivals to Atlantian Oceania, would like to thank you for participating in CoH 54. Here are the nuts and bolts of the tournament:

Group Draw

Groups A through D will be playing in NMS; Groups E through H will be playing in Wight.

Group A
Milchama
Apox
Ossidiacqua
Blouman Empire
Azox

Group B
Saugeais
Mapletish
Jedi8246
Zandistan
High Heels

Group C
Darmen
Audioslavia
Geisenfried
Slembana
Maklohi Vai

Group D
Jeruselem
Equestrian States
Mesoland
Farfadillis
Cuboneland

Group E
Andossa Se Mitrin Vega
Turori
Free South Califas
Conclespia
Northern Sunrise Islands

Group F
Kinitaria
Falconwhereveryouare
Ko-oren
Mashiki
Birolika

Group G
Phoenigetuzstha
Karditan
Armed Bears
Svengarda
Swyftlandre

Group H
Sargossa
West Angola
Western Cuba
Hutt River
Warkus

Groups will play a single round-robin in NMS or Wight over the course of five matchdays; each team will have a single bye day. Here's the schedule:

Matchday 1, Tuesday the 13th: 2v5, 3v4
Matchday 2, Wednesday the 14th: 5v3, 1v2
Matchday 3, Thursday the 15th: 3v1, 4v5
Matchday 4, Friday the 16th: 1v4, 2v3
Matchday 5, Saturday the 17th: 4v2, 5v1

Tiebreakers are the usual: GD, goals scored, head-to-head results.

We'll have a day off on Sunday and then the knockout rounds will begin:

Round of 16: Monday the 19th
Quarterfinals: Tuesday the 20th
Semifinals: Wednesday the 21st
Third Place Match: Thursday the 22nd
Final: Friday the 23rd

Round of Sixteen

New Montreal States

Milchama v. Mapletish at Heart of the City, New Montreal
Audioslavia v. Cuboneland at War Memorial Stadium, Sorel
Jeruselem v. Geisenfried at Stade Ville-Marie, Ville-Marie
Saugeais v. Apox at Seagull's Nest, St. James

Wight

Turori vs. Sargossa @ South Lawn, Spit
Kinitaria vs. Swyftlandre @ Tricorn Arena, Spit
Karditan vs. Ko-oren @ Multitudinous Arena, Despite
West Angola vs. Andossa Se Mitrin Vega @ Thin Air Stadium, Pompeii

Scorination will take place at 6:30 AM UK time/12:30 AM Central Standard Time.

EDIT: The original days were correct; the dates were a day behind and have now been fixed.
ANOTHER EDIT: Added scorination times and affirmed that we weren't doing any unusual tiebreakers.

[Wight]

Wight Information

The small volcanic island archipelago of Wight in AO is in fact an approximate scale copy – or interpretation might be a better word – of the Uncertain Dimensions in which Búa lives. Before a catastrophic earthquake destroyed much of the land and sculpted out new dramatic features, the empty landmass of Köselî Cumhuriyetler was once home to a turkish empire, since gone to dust. Locals often refer to this version of Wight as Simulacra or The Broken Islands.

The country is governed by a benevolent dictator, Jean Baptiste, recently elected by a 100% margin with no opposition candidates and a 0.001% voter turnout. The election flyers didn't arrive back from the printers in time to let the public know there was going to be an election, so only the printer and a couple of his employees actually voted.

The population of the archipelago is recorded at 230,023. Most of the mountainous and volcanic interior of the main Wightling landmass is unpopulated apart from the town of Campus and several small hamlets. 97% of the population live on the coast and surrounding islands. The capital Spit is the only designated city, with a population of around 50,000 or nearly a quarter of the entire population.

Wight recently struck a strategic alliance with one of the region's superpowers, giving over a large area of land on the southerly island of Wath to the military forces of Andossa Se Mitrin Vega, in exchange for a peppercorn per year in perpetuity as rent and vigorous defence of the islands in times of conflict. ASMV is presently constructing facilities for a large combined forces base including harbour, fortified town and airstrip.

Wight has a long and proud tradition of being enthusiastic but not very good at football, although in recent years, back-to-back semi-final appearances in the AOCAF championships, two Cup of Harmony semi-finals and now a first World Cup qualification campaign suggests the Wightlings may be breaking from that tradition. A young crop of bright young things recently won the controversial Under-15 World Championships in Farfadillis. Football is still strictly amateur in the broken islands.

Stadia

Being a small nation only just getting on top of the clean-up of the devastating Wight Catastrophe, and playing amateur football, the stadia are on the modest side, to say the least. Only the Tricorn Arena, the national stadium built for hosting a number of Turori's Cup of Harmony 53 matches, was approaching international standard prior to Wight's host bid with New Montreal States. Fans fearing trips to the bleak and remote stadia featured in the recent Brevity Challenge Cup at the start of this World Cup cycle, and which have been described as 'interesting', 'minimal', & 'bleak and remote', need not fear. In an emergency building plan, a number of new permanent and temporary stadia are under construction and Wightling officials have been keen to reassure the NSWC committees that everything will be ready on time and operational. The capital city Spit will host most of the competition with no less than five permanent and temporary stadia. Other host towns are Despite, Pompeii and Icke.

Matches are likely to be well attended by the locals, so it will be common for the capacities to be reached.

Group E: Spit Lawns
Group F: Tricorn Arena & The Mausoleum
Group G: The Ramparts & Mutlitudinous Arena
Group H: The Canvasdome & Thin Air Stadium

---

SOUTH LAWN, in Spit
Capacity 45,310
NORTH LAWN, in Spit
Capacity 38,422

The impressive twin stadia of Spit Lawns, built on the site of the old Spit Leisure Centre or the Lezzy, as it was known, is in the Looe district of the city. This is being lauded as the finest and most reliable construction project in the Broken Islands short history. A pair of stadiums side by side, it is felt the South Arena will likely become the national stadium, while the North Arena may well become the third home of Spit City. Looe Sewage Works FC and Penchant Wanderers, made homeless with this construction, are expected to relocate to the Tricorn Arena.

TRICORN ARENA, in Spit
Home of Spit City
Capacity 43,023

Built by infamously drab Polarian architect Jens Christiansen, two additional jerry-rigged temporary stands for 18,000 additional spectators will almost double the usual capacity of the stadium. A smaller 8,000 version was burned down by Kinitarian fans during Cup of Harmony 53, but builders have assured the NSWC committee that the current additions are flame retardant. The Tricorn Arena is in the Penchant district of Spit.

THE MAUSOLEUM, in Spit
Capacity 32,908

Named for the giant stadium up in Old Wight, where two million and twenty three dead souls could pack the stands to watch Wight play home matches back in the Uncertain Dimensions, before the team moved to the more material AO version of Wight. The new Mausoleum is a rather more modest affair, a wooden construction on the harbourside in Spit. In the foreground of this artists impression of the currently-under-construction stadium, we can see the aft of the historic Wightling Armada Ship-of-the-Line (ASL) Draw. The post-Cup of Harmony plans for this building remain unclear, though a museum is thought the most likely possibility.

THE RAMPARTS, in Spit
A temporary stadium
Capacity 26,751

One of three temporary stadia for the Cup of Harmony tournament, The Ramparts are built under the walls of Spit Fort, a granite reconstruction of Búa's palace in Wight Spit, in the Uncertain Dimensions. Here we see an image of the stadium under construction, with one end stand still to be erected and the pitch to be laid. Rumours that the stadium is too confined to fit a legal sized football pitched within are hotly denied by the organisers.

MULTITUDINOUS ARENA, in Despite
A temporary stadium
Capacity 34,095

Local team Despite Palace were rather hoping to gain a brand new stadium out of the Cup of Harmony hosting, but were disappointed when the municipal council refused planning permission for anything but a temporary stadium in the town. Covered by large plastic sheeting, this bolt-together ground can be erected or dismantled in a fortnight.

THE CANVASDOME, in Icke
Temporary structure, future home of Icke City Turques
Capacity 26,414

Despite having a tidy ground of their own in Icke with a decent capacity by Wightling standards, the Turques have already agreed to occupy the Canvasdome after the Cup of Harmony. A greenwood spar structure, covered, unsurprisingly, by canvas, this temporary stadium could potentially last 30 years although it will have to be re-covered every two.

THIN AIR STADIUM, in Pompeii
Future home of AFC Portsmouth
Capacity 33,856

The only permanent new stadium outside of the capital, financially mismanaged AFC Portsmouth will be delighted that a brand new stadium has been built for them by the Wightling Cup of Harmony committee. The rent will be one peppercorn per year in perpetuity, though critics of the club claim they will probably manage to default even on that. The origin of the name of the stadium remains a mystery although many claim it is the only way the club could build a new home, by magicking it out of thin air.

[New Montreal States]

Group A Stadia:

The Paladin Dome, New Montreal, capacity 120,200: The Paladin Dome has been the home pitch for the NMS Paladins since their debut in World Cup 10, and has existed in some form for almost 200 years. The Dome was the center of international attention during the World Cup 28 finals, when it hosted the final; it also hosted the final of the 16th Cup of Harmony. The stadium is also the home pitch of club team NM Patriotes. The Dome was renovated before the Paladins’ return to international action during the WC57 qualifiers; it’s current iteration seats 120,200 fans in two decks. Natural grass turf is trucked in and put down before matches, then brought back to a nursery to rest and replenish itself. Four separate functionally identical “pitches” are alternated for optimal playing-field quality.



Although tickets for Paladins games are nontransferable and distributed by lottery, to ensure that a maximum number of supporters get a chance to attend a match during their lifetimes, Cup of Harmony 54 tickets will be sold on a conventional first-come-first-served basis and will be freely resellable. The area around the Dome, known as Stadium Heights, is a hodgepodge of bars, restaurants and open spaces for tailgating.

Heart of the City, New Montreal, capacity 76,760: City of New Montreal, NM Patriotes and the Paladins shared the Paladin Dome for decades, but as City began turning itself from a perpetual afterthought into a competitor, the Dome started to get a little cramped. The Ministry of Morale offered a prompt and unconditional lease break to the first team to break ground on a stadium of its own. While the Patriotes dithered, designing and then failing to follow through on several 130,000-seat luxury monstrosities, City went ahead and built this comparatively smaller but well-designed stadium five blocks from downtown.



Fans in the New Montreal-based group will be able to explore a world-class city of 30 million people during their downtime. Just about anything from the early 21st century can be found in or around New Montreal. The most popular tourist site is Union Square, a National Mall-type space with the Byzantine round dome and two onion domes of the Cathedral of the Holy Sign of the Theotokos dominating the south end of the Square, and the Art Deco monstrosity that is the Palais des Montréalais dominating the north end. In between lie a variety of museums and monuments dedicated to great figures in NMS history; visiting sports fans may be particularly interested in the Musée des Sports. The 110-floor Radio-Vérité headquarters is a bit closer to the stadia, where fans can not only get a good view of Heart of the City and the rest of New Montreal from the roofdeck observatory, but can then go downstairs, tour the production studios, and have their faces inserted into famous historical moments by otherwise unemployed graphic designers hired for the occasion posing as members of the production team.

Group B Stadia:

Champ-Doré, Valdemont, capacity 106,666: After years of sitting in the Paladin Dome’s shadow, CF Valdemont and the city government combined to build “The Field of the Cloth of Gold” to assuage the pride of NMS’s second city and it’s devoted football fans. International soccer is returning to Valdemont for the second time in as many decades, and the city will be hosting it in style: sports reporters and fans alike have been praising the stadium for its comfort, elbow room, ease of access and, most famously, the giant slices of lasagna (beef, sausage and vegetable) that are the delicious, delicious specialty of the stadium concession stands.



Fine dining is at its finest in Valdemont, from classic French haute cuisine to the trendy Vietnamese-fusion restaurants that currently dominate the avant-garde culinary scene all the way down to burgers. Valdemont-only chain Major Burger has lines out the door at just about any time of day, earning praises from such disparate sources as Gourmandise magazine (where four five-star chefs publicly admitted none of them had ever managed to top Major Burger) to An Orthodox Guide to Life, which ranked Major Burger as "far and away the #1 source of temptation for the faithful during Lent."[/i] After eating, you can go buy new pants in the Underground City Like many in the NMS, Valdemont's was built in imitation of Montreal's, but the builders were determined to one-up New Montreal in every way possible. The 8-story Fontaine Arcadienne, an ornate baroque masterpiece which fires a jet of water 3 additional stories above ground, is set at the center of the tremendous public space.

War Memorial Stadium, Sorel, capacity 79,995: About a century ago, Sorel was the front line in a brutal, devastating war between the New Montreal States and their former coregionists Intelligent Neighbors. Help from Euroslavia eventually dislodged the invaders, but not before the entire city and most of its suburbs were alternately flooded or blown up. Rebuilding an entire city from scratch helped spark a renaissance in NMS urban design, and the graceful lines of War Memorial Stadium are one of that renaissance's high points.



The city is very conscious of having been destroyed in a war, and the Museum of Guns and Artillery, the Aerospace Museum and the Diorama (a to-scale miniature replica of Sorel and its suburbs as a flooded wreck, including tiny soldiers, tanks, artillery and so on) all drive this point home. The Simulated Dogfight Experience, a new addition to the Aerospace Museum, is a much more entertaining way of paying tribute to the past. Or you could go to the considerably more cheerful Cité des Folles, an amusement park that is very, very dedicated to having the largest roller coasted in the NMS at all times, and as a result, also boasts the seventh, fifth, third and first largest roller coasters in the NMS.

Group C Stadia:

New Mariner Pitch, Philemon, capacity 76,890: fantastic acoustics, drunken college kids from five large universities and a dozen smaller colleges and a "smoke 'em if you got 'em" security policy make New Mariner Pitch a worthy successor to its predecessor at the top of the "screwiest atmosphere" stadium ranks. Fans of the Mariners are fond of dressing themselves in elaborate teal-and-silver costumes with the gusto only a 20-year-old cutting Intro to the Cultures of One Big Island can muster and the disregard for practicality made possible by year-round 65-degree temperatures, and every CoH game promises to be rowdy regardless of the number of visiting fans or their particular degree of enthusiasm.



Another famous band of fans are the "Fighting Fathers of Big D's," the irreverent nickname given to the volunteers from St. Demitrios's seminary, where the NMS armed forces train their chaplains. Equipped with silver and lapis lazuli crosses, they help the police chase down any fans who fancy taking a run out onto the pitch. As these priests are in fighting shape, they can usually outrun most intruders without breaking a sweat, and work together to surround and corner streakers who are as fast as they are.

When not at a match, fans might want to check out The World's Funnest Petacomputer. Six years ago Émile Thivierge, a desperately bored sophomore at the Philemon Institute of Engineering liquidated his college fund to make a down payment on the obsolescent petaflop supercomputer the college was replacing by an even more outlandishly fast model. Six months of 18-hour ramen-fuelled programming sessions later, Thivierge had successfully reprogrammed the machine as the world's greatest gaming server. Today, over 40,000 players in 20 separate terminal buildings across the city ruin their GPAs together. The highlight of the Funnest Petacomputer comes in the evening, when Thivierge sets up 40,000-player re-enactments of large-scale battles, selling out the terminals nightly. For the Cup of Harmony, Thivierge has pledged to offer 22-player replays of CoH matches the day before and after the real match, as well as crowd-pleasing 40,000-player battles such as Helm's Deep, Hoth AND both Death Star attacks, the battle at the end of Prince Caspian, and the Men of the Lake trying to shoot Smaug out of the sky.

In between gaming sessions, tourists can go fuel up at the 206th Annual Cannabis Growers, Vendors and Consumer's Convention, which is exactly what it sounds like. Coinciding with the first week of group matches, absolutely nothing will get done in the city as one hundred thousand professional growers and shopkeepers along with an untold number of stoners descend on downtown and lay waste to every restaurant in sight.

Stade Ville-Marie, Ville-Marie, capacity 96,455: Not much need be said about this venerable, blue collar home of Notre-Dame-de-la-Fondation and host to a World Cup 28 quarterfinal. The beer is still cheap, the fans are still drunken factory workers, all games are day games as lights have yet to be installed and the installation of box seats five years ago remains deeply controversial. The typical Shiftless Bastard (nickname for anyone willing to take a day off work to go watch NDF lose yet again) is a burly union factory worker, downing beer like his life depended on it, and embittered from years of watching NDF unravel in new and exciting ways. (For instance, the franchise remains the only team in any level of the NMSFL to have a player catch on fire while on the pitch; starting goalkeeper Luc Gerblache was recently lost for the season after tearing his ACL while leaving church; manager Thierry Thomas was late for a match against Valdemont after his wife shut off his alarm clock as revenge for an earlier argument.)



When the field is empty, visitors can go visit the Marché du Lait and the adjacent Quartier des Fromagiers, where some of the finest cheeses of NMS's considerable cheese-making sector are crafted. Guided tours and tastings are available for the dedicated cheese tourist. A Festival of Cheese is being organized, with public tastings and special promotions going on for the duration of the Cup of Harmony.

No other town can possibly be as boring to grow up in as Ville-Marie, and as a result a thriving underground music scene has sprung up. Clubs such as the Grand Cheval Blanc, Jim Bob's, House of Mimes, and the Club for Young Delinquents will be looking to burnish their reputations by knocking the socks off of tourists.

Group D Stadia:

Seagull's Nest, St. James, capacity 86,300: St. James is surprising average for a metropolis of 13 million souls, and this surprisingly average city has thrown up a surprisingly average stadium for its surprisingly average team. All the Seagull's Nest has to recommend it are its margarita stands, which are little short of a revelation, and its french fries, which either with ketchup or served as poutine are universally acknowledged across the 'States as being the Aristotelian Final Cause of the potato.



The unremarkable white and grey of the Seagulls is matched by their fans' odd reluctance to make any noise in support of their team. Neutral fans at CoH matches will be exactly that: unwilling to commit to either side no matter what the breaks of the game are.

St. James is a little highbrow for most football fans. The Institute of Modern Art and the more "old-school" Réjean Bonnefoi Museum highlight Museum Park, 3.3 miles of well-manicured parkland along the St. James river. The St. James Symphony, considered the best in the NMS, has announced that it will be hosting its' own "Cup of Harmony": a competition between orchestras from nations participating in the Cup of Harmony to see who can perform the best version of Bach's 3rd and 5th Brandenburg Concertos Less cultured guests can go bungee jumping off the landmark Tank Ford suspension bridge, followed up by rounds in the Pub Quarter.

Étienne Leblanc Stadium, Dorion, capacity 55,005: The prospect of having to play another match in the depressing hulk of Coyote Stadium led the Ministry of Morale to award group-stage matches to this smaller but much newer facility. The Dorion Poules gace been stuck in a cycle of peaking in the middle of the table, selling off their best players, and sinking back down towards the relegation area once again. For better or for worse, though, fans fill this stadium that the Poules' owner modestly named after himself. Be sure to stop for pulled pork and pepperjack nachos before you head for your seat.



Dorion is located fairly far inland; it's only an hour west from the border with Northern Bettia. It's widely acknowledged to be a backwater, both by outsiders and by disgruntled local youth; the one bright spot is the craft beer scene, centered on the Quartier des Fauves a half-kilometer away from the Stadium. The St-Zotique mountains outside the city are much more interesting, with great hiking, kayaking and cycling all around the city, as well as good fishing for people who like the outdoors but would also like to sit around and drink beer.

[Wight]

Cup of Harmony 54 Referees List

New Montreal States
Sacha Norregaard, Polar Islandstates
Office Tirinas, Eastfield Lodge
Tina Bard, Qazox
Calvin Keppeleire, Cosumar
Ager Besoitaormachea, Iturributa
Karrane Vurra True, Bears Armed
Avery Longfellows, Taeshan
Harold Johnson, The FSSO
Roberto Seral, Sargossa
Sébastien Ducharme, New Montreal States

Wight
Commander Suzdal, The Holy Empire
Enrique Topete, Aguazul
Heather Nellis, Cassadaigua
Jaiden Sinclair, Licentiapacisterra
Viktor Butala, Kinitaria
Harry Oslon, Falconwhereveryouare
Marko Irazutzabarrena, Astograth
Bob, Darmen
Tamworth Gavan, Apox
Parley Wilcox, The Babbage Islands

[Audioslavia]

Bulls Handed Tight Draw

At a lively draw ceremony for the 54th installment of the Cup of Harmony, Audioslavia were drawn with two old foes and two new faces in the race to qualify from Group C.

Darmen are a side the Bulls have faced only once, losing 2-0 in a previous Cup of Harmony tournament. The dangerous All Greens can count on the renowned Scott City striker Bryan Faulkner in attack, fed by a formidable five-man midfield that includes talismanic captain Tor Tong Lee. A typically bare-bones three-man defence has always been prone to the odd leak when under pressure, most noticeably in two bitterly disappoint defeats to Equestrian States that are part of the reason Darmen are here and not going on to better things. The Darmeni disdain for the concept of 'defence' may have its flaws, but when the system works it can have devastating results. Qazox still have sore memories of a five-goal battering in the qualifiers, and the system was good enough to capture the Cup of Harmony trophy itself just twelve years ago. Darmen are the highest ranked team in the group, and have to go down as immediate favourites to take top spot.

Geisenfried's Golden Eagles have a miserable recent record against Audioslavia, being swept aside 3-0 and 1-0 in recent AOCAF tournaments, but the third seeds may have something to say about the Bulls doing the double over them. This cycle's incarnation of the Eagles were only a point away from qualifying automatically and an extra-time goal away from accounting for Mytannion in the World Cup playoff. Inspirational captain Eric Reiher effectiveness in midfield will be key, as will a strike partnership of Gerhardt and Kani that has been together since the U21 days.

Slembana's most well-known threat comes in the form of one Val Kylx, a player with the unique habit of scoring in the first or final minute or every game he plays. The enigmatic Kylx is held up as a god-like figure in Slembana, finding the time to score exactly one hundred goals in just one hundred and nine appearances at the tender age of just twenty - possibly a world record. Slembana had a modest qualifying run that wasn't without drama. Three managers were sacked in a fourteen game campaign that saw the side go top of the group early on, account for BoF champions Svengarda in a cracking game home encounter before losing the return and, on an embarassing night away from home, ship eight goals to an ordinary looking Apox side. Slembana remain an enigma despite the clockwork precision of Val Kylx, and that is just one reason why the Bulls need to be wary of this fledgling Esportiva team.

Maklohi Vai had the sort of qualifying record that gets a nation in the mood to hide under the duvet whenever a major tournament comes aroumd. Fourteen games, four draws, no wins, ten losses. Only two goals were scored in the entire campaign - that's twenty minutes against Kiryu-Shi for the Audioslavians - but that they shipped just eighteen goals over the fourteen games - much less than the comparitively defensively clueless outings from Darmen and Audioslavia - hints at a side who are more than capable at holding their own at this level. The Maklohi Vai five-man defence proved too much for the household names of The Holy Empire and Andossa Se Mitrin Vega at various points in qualifying, and long-awaited competitive win for a side that has impressed on occasion in the Friendly Cup will not necessarily be a surprise.

Our own Audioslavia have gone under the knife since a qualifying campaign that was nothing short of a catastrophe for the ambitious Bulls. Manager Txo Morea has been booted unceremoniously through the door and, despite the vacant position drawing some high profile suitors, former national team defender Andre-Luis Partico has been given the reigns on a short-term contract. His orders have been simple: Semi-finals or bust. Audioslavia may not be anywhere near being considered even the fourth best team in the tournament, but try telling that to football fans sick of being told about the apparently 'glorious' Bulls sides of old by grandparents and kids with history books. Back in the day, Audioslavia qualified for twenty-five consecutive World Cup tournaments, and fans and FFA alike will not rest before a similar run is experienced in the modern era.

The new-look Bulls may have an average age of just twenty-one, but that doesn't mean the pressure will let up on their shoulders for one second.

[West Angola]

King Parrish couldn’t believe all that had happened over the last 24 hours. It had all started when he and Garren had returned from dinner…

When they had both finished their meals, Parrish paid the bill and the two caught a taxi back to the hotel.

Wishing to conceal their identities, Parrish asked the driver to drop them off a block from the hotel, and the two walked the rest of the way. As they walked, Parrish grilled Garren about their qualifying chances.

"Do we even have a shot?"

"Not really, we need Phoenigetuzstha to lose to High Heels, which won't likely happen, and we need to beat Free South Califas, which is more likely. A win over FSC would leave us in at least third, which will keep up from getting hammered when the new rankings come out."

"I see, well that's always... Phillip look!"

They had reached the team hotel. Garren looked up and thought his heart was going to stop.

The hotel was burning.

---

Moving quickly, Parrish and Garren sprinted to the door. They could hear fire crews approaching, but they wouldn’t get there in time. Every second was precious, and the people trapped inside didn’t have long.

Flames were already licking out of the open double doors, and the pair paused outside. Parrish looked at Garren, “Together?”

Garren nodded, “Always.”

The two plunged through the inferno into the lobby. The once-ornate lobby of Hotel Namibe was unrecognizable, as burning debris lay scattered all over the floor, and smoke had darkened everything to a shade of grey. Garren checked the downstairs conference rooms while Parrish dashed up the stairs to the second floor. Finding the doors inevitably locked, Parrish began kicking down doors, a testament to the leg strength he maintained even after his career ended.

Finding the first four rooms unoccupied, Parrish thanked God the hotel was small, and relatively empty at this time. In the fifth room, however, he found a man in an expensive suit sprawled on the floor. Not even pausing, Parrish lifted the man over his shoulder and carried him downstairs. Sprinting out the door, Parrish set the man down on the pavement, where a zone had already been formed by the basic extinct of people to avoid a burning building.

Cocking his head, Parrish listened to the sound of sirens, which sounded as far away as they had before. After a few seconds, Parrish realized they weren’t getting any closer, and concluded that something must have stopped them. Parrish quickly ran back into the hotel, now weighted with the knowledge that he and Garren were all that was coming. Garren had already checked the rest of the second floor and found it empty by the time Parrish returned, and the two moved on to the third floor, the player quarters. Several of the doors were already open, and a quick check confirmed that the players had fled, probably to get help. Four doors were still closed, and Parrish looked at Garren to confirm the occupants.

Garren gasped, his breaths short and shallow from the smoke, “Yokum, Larssen, Kerys, and Thorpe.”

“I’ll take the left side.”

Kicking in the door to Michael Larssen’s room, Parrish found Larssen standing in the corner of the room, with a man holding a gun on him. Somewhat surprised by the sound of the door crashing in, the man turned towards the sound, which gave Larssen the opportunity to knock him over the head with a lamp, sending him crumpling to the floor. Parrish walked over and nudged the man with his foot, then looked at Larssen, “Take him outside, lay him down next to the one I brought out. He may know who started the fire, and where they are.”

Larssen nodded, and swung the man over his shoulder. Once out in the hall, he turned towards the stairs while Parrish moved towards the next room. As he wound up to kick, he saw Garren exiting the room across the hall with Kerys over his shoulder. Garren, already weakened by the smoke and Kerys weight, managed to gasp out “No sign of Yokum.” as he staggered towards the stairs. Parrish nodded, and blasted Thorpe’s door in with a powerful kick.

Entering the room, Parrish glimpsed Thorpe lying on the bed. He walked over and rolled him over, “Chris, come on, we need to- MY WORD!”

Thorpe was dead, his throat slit and a bullet in his forehead. His flesh was mottled grey, and several veins in his neck and face had burst. One thing was obvious: Thorpe had been murdered three different ways, and August was normally more efficient than that. This meant there was more than one person after Thorpe, and Parrish had no idea who they might be.

Angry and on the verge of tears, Parrish closed Thorpe’s eyes and whispered to the body the traditional West Angola farewell, “Go now in peace, my friend. Go knowing your time on earth is finished, and move on to your eternal reward.” Parrish turned and ran from the hotel, the tears now running freely down his face.

The lobby now looked like another planet. Everything was on fire, and debris filled the floor. Carefully picking his way over the flaming beams and fallen decorative columns, Parrish made his way to the door, which to his dismay had collapsed, impeding his path outside. Closing his eyes, gritting his teeth, and steeling his nerves, Parrish charged through the conflagration and jumped through the small gap between the wall and the remains of the door.

He hit the pavement outside with his clothes aflame. Rolling as soon as he hit the ground, he smothered the flames before they could do serious harm. Standing, he saw that fire crews were still not here, and the sirens hadn’t moved any closer. Larssen and Garren were standing over the man who had been holding the gun on Larssen, and Parrish could see several team members had returned with neighbors in tow. Jogging over, Parrish stopped in front of Larssen, “Where’s the man I brought out first?”

Larssen was staring over Parrish’s left shoulder, “Huh? Oh, there was no one here when I got out, he probably came to and ran for it.”

Parrish was suddenly suspicious, “Phillip, was anyone here when you came out?”

Garren was also staring over Parrish’s shoulder, “He was here, but he disappeared at some point between my first and second trips out. I’d agree with Michael, he probably came to and ran.”

Parrish turned around, “What are you two looking a-? Phil, please tell me I’m having a smoke-induced hallucination.”

Garren’s voice was somber, “No, it’s real, it’s all too real dammit.”

Walking down the street towards them was a mob, wielding torches, clubs, guns, and effigies of Parrish dangling from a noose. The front of the mob was carrying a banner that read “RESTORE THE RIGHTFUL KING” and marching at the head of the group was the last man any of them wanted to see. The man from their nightmares, the one who had killed their friends, ruined their country, and carried on an eighteen-year campaign of terror against them, August II, the last king of the House of Jan.

[Maklohi Vai]

The Wakita Inquirer

Group C
Darmen 35
Audioslavia 52
Geisenfried 66
Slembana 105
Maklohi Vai 233

Predictions for the CoH
As we lost both matches against Geisenfried in the WC Quals, the Inquirer predicts the same scenario will happen again, in addition to losing to both teams ranked better than Geisenfried as well. Total: 3 losses.
We have faced Slembana in the Friendly Cup and Copa Gaveo, and have had decent success against them. The Inquirer predicts experience will lead Maklohi Vai to overcome the KPB gap and achieve a draw.

Total: 0-1-3, 1 point. Yes, we will be just as bad as the WCQ. Looking forward to next year!

[Jeruselem]

Princess Melody Song Dallas in New Montreal States ...

Hello, this is the one and only Princess Melody Song Dallas in New Montreal States for the Cup of Harmony. I'd rather be at the World Cup finals but we didn't make there but we're here instead.

We've being slotted in Group D along with Equestrian States, Mesoland, Farfadillis and Cuboneland. I don't know much about Cuboneland - I think you say that Cu-bone-land but I don't we've ever played them before. Moving along to Farfadillis, which is a bit of mouthful to say actually. They've been pretty unsuccessful with World Cup qualification and surely must feel their chances of winning here are much better. And to Mesoland, err I don't want a Meso is either ... so no idea. Not to be mistaken for Miso which is a Japanese food thing. Mind you I like Miso. Least but not last. Equestrian States ... um, I'm just call the Ponies. The Ponies have been so unlucky in qualification, and they got beaten by our own Jeru FC in a playoff. They are the ones to watch I think.

We're happy we're not in Group E with teams like Andossa Se Mitrin Vega and Turori. Thank everyone for voting for your favourite Naked News girl. All the girls are clever and intelligent people with good looks so it was a close contest. I know each of the girls have their own set of fans too. Bebe's fans are called beebs. Melody gee fans are called Gee ups. Oddly my fans are just called Melodies. I could go a lot about what the fans call themselves. So the winner of the most popular Naked News anchor is ... ME! Actually, apparently the vote wasn't that close. Thank you everyone

I'll be covering the Cup of Harmony. Yes, the coverage won't exactly be unbiased so you'll have to put up with my rants when things go wrong. I don't know why people like my rants but they do. Oh yes, I know some out there are scared to dye their hair because Mum might scream at them ... so you can buy Princess M wigs at my web site. You can even buy them in pink too. No, bright green is not available I hate that colour. My sister Katy is out and about because school is over for now. Say hello to her, and you know what she looks like ... a small version of me. That's it from Princess M, pray the Princesses take home the CoH.

OOC

Group D
Jeruselem
Equestrian States
Mesoland
Farfadillis
Cuboneland

[Warkus]

(OOC: Yes, I will be writing chapters of the book. Yes, they will be P-13.)

Frugal Women Daily

Unknown author A.Sick Mann has released a new hit among middle-aged women and confused and frightened football fans alike. The book, titled "Fifty Shades of Gold" features famous football players from all over the world, engaged in some taboo actions. The cast will have some, interesting times that are sure to satisfy women's urges when it comes to paint on house action.

Many critics have been quick to dislike the book, however. Many of them claiming that Fifty Shades of Gold is merely a written paint guide, and shouldn't be considered proper literature by anyone. One such critic, A. Functional Guy, has this to say: "Fifty Shades of Gold is a horrible book. It's poorly written, and contains very little plot, if any at all. If women want to read about young men painting houses, then fine, but don't put this garbage in our libraries. Please." Others, however, have loved the book. Saying that it provides a truly sensational experience for older women who are missing, or never experienced, that hardcore painting action.

While the book doesn't obtain the players true names (In order to avoid legal issues), it does give an interesting insight into their delicious endeavours and young experimentation. Mann has already said that he is working on a sequel, and claims that the book she wrote brought so much pleasure to herself, that she decided to edit it and release it professionally. She also says that she would like to thank all of her supporters and promises to deliver more painting action soon.

Frugal Women Daily has obtained special permission to print a few early chapters of the book in the coming weeks, so remember to pick up the next edition of Frugal Women Daily for a preview of the best-seller that you won't want to miss!

[Slembana]

DBK Sports - Football - CoH group rated

Written by Dave Slerrix

Here, we will rate our chances in our group for the 54th Cup of Harmony. We are in group C, alongside the following teams. Their ranks will be in brackets.

Darmen (35): We have played these dudes once before. It was before World Cup 62 qualifying, and it was in the Zion Financial Challenge Cup, which was hosted in The Babbage Islands. The game ended in a demoralizing 3-0 defeat for us, despite us having been the better side. Darmen also won the 51st Cup of Harmony. We think the game will end in a 3-1 win for Darmen.
Audioslavia (52): Ah, Audioslavia. The team who called their manager a cauliflower during qualifying before eventually sacking him. In our eyes, this was pretty nonsensical, as he was winning games, but still being called a cauliflower. Audioslavia are one of the oldest teams in the NS world, and took part in early World Cups, before disappearing off the face of the Earth. However, they returned for the 59th World Cup, registering for the 46th Baptism of Fire. The Audioslavian team ended up as BoF champions. We think they will beat us 2-0.
Geisenfried (66): This country seems to have been influenced an RLStates nation called "Germany". Like Audioslavia, they took part in some of the earlier World Cups, before seemingly disappearing off the face of the Earth. However, they returned for the 61st World Cup as an unranked team. They finished 7th in their qualifying group for World Cup 61. As one of the many co-hosts for the 53rd Cup of Harmony, they reached the round of 16. In this World Cup, they did very well, ending up 2nd in their group, only losing out to Mytannion in the play-offs after an extra time goal by the Mytanars to win them the game 3-2. We think Geisenfried will beat us 3-1.
Maklohi Vai (233): This team entered world football recently, signing up for the 49th Baptism of Fire. However, they performed poorly, and failed to win a game. It was the same story at qualifying for the 62nd World Cup for the Vaians, who picked up just four points from fourteen games, and again failed to win. We think we will beat Maklohi Vai 4-0.

If our predictions come true, we will end up with just three points, which sadly should not be enough to qualify for the round of 16. Ah well, better luck in the next CoH!

Schedule:
MD1 - vs. Geisenfried
MD2 - Bye
MD3 - vs. Maklohi Vai
MD4 - vs. Darmen
MD5 - vs. Audioslavia

Our FA has set out four targets for the CoH. They are:

*No more unhappy players!
*No more doom and gloom!
*No more scrappy wins against teams we should thrash!
*No more losses against teams we should beat!

According to the head of our FA, Peter Gwynneth, "it will be a success" if we can fulfil those four targets.

[Svengarda]

From: The Nation of Svengarda
To: The Nation of Swyftlandre
Subject: Remember this?

And it comes down this. Prionsias scored. Danielsen scored. Korey missed. Waaserson scored. Ralf missed. Ruotsalainen missed. Ansel missed. The entire tournament, 36 teams has now come down to two players. Torleif Olhouser of Svengarda against Stevie Redmund of Swyftlandre. 12 yards. 1 ball. 1 goal. The Gardiner-Stweart stadium is silent, all eyes on the far penalty area. The two teams are lined up on the half way line, facing the goal. Olhouser. spits out his gum, focuses on the goal. Redmund does everything to distract him. Olhouser steps up! GOALLLL! TOP RIGHT HAND CORNER! REDMUND WENT THE RIGHT WAY, BUT THERE WAS JUST TOO MUCH POWER AND SPEED ON THE SHOT! THE PERFECT PENALTY! And the entire Svenga team are mobbing Olhouser in the penalty area. There are jubilant scenes in the technical area, and all around the ground in the Svengarda fans sections'. The Swyftlandre team are sitting around, regreting missed opportunities. They came all this way, played so well, but failed at the final hurdle. But Svengarda win the 49th Baptism of Fire...

Signed, everyone

[Free South Califas]

Los Angeles Times Football Roundup

Group E
³Andossa Se Mitrin Vega
⁴⁴Turori
⁷¹Free South Califas
⁹⁵Conclespia
¹²³Northern Sunrise Islands

Monday the 12th: Turori vs NSI, FSC vs Conclespia
Tuesday the 13th: NSI vs FSC, ASMV vs Turori
Wednesday the 14th: FSC vs ASMV, Conclespia vs NSI
Thursday the 15th: ASMV vs Conclespia, Turori vs FSC
Friday the 16th: Conclespia vs Turori, NSI vs ASMV

The Califans know Turori from WC60, where they ran the Mice through the mill as expected. Conclespia have the old FSC rank of 95 now, and FSC are still considered worse than ^then-66West Angola who they beat once while they had it. In short, nothing is guaranteed in this group. Even the expected rout by Andossa Se Mitrin Vega may not come; the Vegans have been bizarrely underperforming in this cycle, shocking everyone by failing to qualify. On the other hand, the Mice have more or less handled the Marills of Northern Sunrise Islands, a handful of whom play for South Califas clubs or youth academies.

Osarian manager “El” Oswaldo “el Oscar el Loco” Garabona has stated his intention to return to the 6-3-1 “Spread Eagle” formation for the Cup of Harmony, after abandoning it for a 4-5-1 midway through World Cup Qualifying. As expected, the cantankerous ‘Football Shop Talk’ column in the Pasadena Worker has harshly criticized both moves as pandering to voters, explaining that El Oscar wants to look like a man with a hunch who’s not afraid to make a bold move. Their perpetual cynicism was worth something at the World Cup, where there were significant early rumblings about his job security, but after guiding the Harvest Mice to their first Cup of Harmony, most neutral polling shows him winning in a landslide if the election were held today. It’s not, of course - it’s after the Cup of Harmony, and we can’t know for sure whether voters will be so fickle as to punish him for failing to shine in this historic opportunity.

The tournament is an unusually brutal format for the Harvest Mice, who haven’t played such a short group stage in the sport since the Warkus Cup years ago. The Califans are not expected to particularly go far, but El Oscar insists that the team are not just happy to be invited, although they are, of course, "delighted to be thought of so positively for once". Rumors about his liquid intake and his state of mind at the time have not been confirmed.

[Mapletish]

The Lions' Cup Of Harmony 54 Journey
Lions Drawn to Group B

So the World Cup qualification campaign ended for the Lions once more with nothing in hand, finishing a disappointing third place in Group 11, with Starblyadia taking the playoff pods and eventually qualified for the World Cup in Mapletish's place after a competitive campaign, fans would not be too disappointed with the performance of the Lions as they hadn't gone home empty handed once more as they got an invitation to 54th Cup of Harmony, the post World Cup qualifying event for nations that didn't qualify for the World Cup but have displayed quality in their play.

The group draw for the Cup Of Harmony took place just last night as the Lions found out who they are up against. Fans and board members alike held their breath for a short while after the draw results, as for another time the Lions are up against Jedi8246, the team that forced the Lions to a draw in the opening day of the World Cup qualifying campaign and the team which the Lions win against in the opening of the second half of the qualifying. The group draw also sees some interesting teams lined up against the Lions as Zandistan, a Baptism Of Fire winner a few cycles ago got drawn into Group B as well.

Saugeais, the supposed highest ranking team in Group B, currently holding onto the 23rd position in the world rankings at mid-World Cup 62, currently holds the highest chance to qualify straight from the group to the knockout stages, however the Lions are expected to put up quite a fight as the two teams fight out for a spot to the knockout stages, expect some excitement here when the two teams clash with each other.

Group B
Saugeais ₂₃
Mapletish₄₉
Jedi8246₇₅
Zandistan₈₅
High Heels₁₂₈

Matchday 1, Mapletish vs High Heels Win
Matchday 2, Saugeais vs Mapletish Draw
Matchday 3, Bye-Day
Matchday 4, Mapletish vs Jedi8246 Win
Matchday 5, Zandistan vs Mapletish Win

Expected and Possible Points Gained: 10 Points out of a possible 12 Points.

Kristin Janette, the new manager of the Mapletish National Football Team

Kristin Janette, a 25 year old female, is one of the youngest managers to ever take over the Mapletish National Football Team. Taking over the reins from Muain Newtons, she might have inherited a strong squad that with a bit of pushing would be able to qualify for the World Cup, however she did things her way as she turn the entire squad over as she did a major reshuffle to the entire squad through a player pool of more than 500 players.

The player to watch here would be Jessie Leons, the only player from the World Cup 62 qualification squad to be able to retain her spot in the squad in the Cup Of Harmony 54. Currently taking on the starting eleven of the Mapletish team, a promotion from the previous role as a bench player, Jessie might be the one to watch and observe for the CoH, as her exploits might matter, following the confidence shown towards her by Janette.

Fans will be looking forward to see what the new manager can pull off, maybe the first Cup Of Harmony knockout stages achieved as a manager or maybe pull of a Cup Of Harmony victory even though it might not be possible but it is worth looking forward to and anticipating. Pinning high hopes onto the team has been a favourite past time by almost everybody and the fans alike and what might come off from here might be the disappointment that the Lions come back home empty handed.

Chances are that Janette might raise the Lions up to the top 40 for the first time in the team's history from the Cup Of Harmony. However one must not be too confident or anticipating too much for the team. With hopes all pinned onto Janette and her players, with almost all the players not even having international experience at all, it would be interesting to see how Jessie's influence and Janette's skills to bring the most out of the team from here.

[Blouman Empire]

THE EMPIRE TIMES

The Eagles head off to New Montreal States for the 54th Cup of Harmony in what could be manager Harry Malsomp's final campaign as head of the international team. It is understood that Malsomp has been set the objective on reaching the Round of 16, a feat that will put pressure on Malsomp and the team as they lost all three games in the 53rd Cup of Harmony. Malsomp is taking the same team with him as the World Cup qualifiers despite criticism on the poor form from some players over recent matches Malsomp refuses to change "We have built up a strong team, these boys have chemistry and the experience needed to take them to their full potential".

The team has based themselves in New Montreal where they will be playing all the group stage matches. The have been drawn in Group A along with Milchama, Apox, Ossidiacqua and Azox and is sure to result in strong matches. The Empire Times takes a look at these four teams and the Eagles chances against them.

Ossidiacqua
Rank: 68

The Eagles came up against Ossidiacqua in the World Cup qualifiers, managing to beat them once but lost to them in the last outing. Ossidiacqua whom performed better then the Eagles during the qualifiers, despite Ossidiacqua with considerable more exeperience the Eagles will be confident they can beat them again and start the campaign by securing a much needed three points.

Azox
Rank: 129

The lowest ranked team in the group and one that should be an easy win for the team. The Eagles will be playing Azox refreshed after a bye and will be keen to ensure they take the three points to keep them in the running for a top two finish.

Milchama
Rank: 33

The highest ranked team in the group and one that the the Eagles will be hoping to take away the three points. Milchama are coming off a strong qualifying campaign and are hot favourites to top the group, a win will place the Eagles in a strong position for top spot, while an expected loss will mean the Eagles will be battling with the other teams for second spot.

Apox
Rank: 59

The Eagles are yet to compete against Apox and this game could set itself up as an exciting game where the Eagles will either progress or their campaign will come to an end. Apox narrowly missed out on a playoff spot and will be battling with Milchama for the top spot.

The Eagles will be coming up against a strong group and is not one that can be taken for granted. While the team has been given the lofty objective of finishing in the top two and moving through to the Round of 16, it is most likely that they will finish third or a distant fourth if results go against them.

[West Angola]

Parrish and Garren stood in the street for several seconds, stunned at the appearance of their mortal enemy. Garren could see the smoke rising from behind the mob, evidence of several fires all over the city. August’s “army” would burn Namibe to the ground whether they won or not, turning the capitol of West Angola into a barren wasteland just like Benguela. The mob was about three hundred yards away from them, and Garren could tell August had spotted them from the way he was urging his men forward to capture them. Hemmed in on two sides by the burning hotel and on another by the massive crowd of people fleeing the mob and trampling each other in the process, the pair was left with no escape route as their executioner drew closer.

Suddenly, several things shattered the stillness of the moment. The surging crowd parted suddenly as several armored cars zoomed up the street. Screeching to a halt in front of the team, three cars formed a barricade in front of the mob, while the other three quickly disgorged members of the Royal Guard. Their Captain disembarked from the lead car, barking orders to his men as he marched towards the group, “Man the barricade! Johnson and Williams take point! Defend your King!” Halting in front of Parrish, the Captain executed a military salute, an acceptable substitute for a bow in high stress situations, then grabbed him by the arm. “Quickly your highness, come with me. We have to get you to the palace before the streets become too clogged.”

Turning back to the team, he pointed to the remaining cars. “You all get in those, they’ll take you to the airport and fly you to the Cup of Harmony.”

Garren was incredulous, “You expect us to leave now!? We- I am needed here!”

The Captain shook his head, “August has gone after the football team before, so we’re treating you as targets for the time being. I have orders to keep you out of harm’s way, and I’ve been briefed on the need to portray a semblance of normality in this situation. You men need to compete, and if we fall here, there will be someone to carry on the torch of freedom.”

Garren understood, and he ushered the team into the waiting cars. The last one aboard, Garren climbed into the passenger seat of the lead car, and was shocked to find Isaac Warren was his driver. “Isaac!? We thought you were dead!”

“Me too, but I managed to climb out a window, don’t ask me how. As soon as I saw the mob approaching, I took a cab to the Palace and alerted the guard that the King was in danger. They brought the whole nine yards, as you can see. We’ll get to the airport and take off, and we’ll have you there in time for your first match.”

“But what about Young? And Thorpe? And Yokum? We need to replace them, we can’t play with three of our starters gone!”

“I explained that to the Captain, he ordered some of his men to find some replacements for us and have them meet us at the airport.”

“But we can’t just replace-”

“We’ll have to. They’ll find good men, and you have reserves.”

The drive continued as the two lapsed into silence. Outside, chaos reigned as the mob following August burned buildings, looted houses, slaughtered loyalists, and took hostages on their march of terror. The members of the Royal Guard standing at the barricade were just lining up their shots at August when he stopped and melted back into the crowd. Taking his place were several heavy weapons operators, who proceeded to blast the armored vehicles that formed the barricade away, killing many guardsmen and scattering the remainder as they took shelter behind whatever they could find.

August and his army continued their march, snaking through the streets towards the northern quarter of the city, where the monarchy and members of Parliament were housed. To the east, the Namibe Airport was clogged with fleeing citizens, and the choking mass of people had overrun the employees and spilled out onto the tarmac. The two vehicles carrying the football team smashed over the fence that separated the runway from the road, and the cars halted in front of the team jet, fueled and already given takeoff clearance. As the team members quickly filed aboard, the crowd at the terminal caught sight of them.

At the realization that a plane was taking off, the crowd surged towards the plane, and the plane’s crew hurried the last of the team aboard as they approached. The stairs were just being retracted as the advance waves of the crowd reached them, and several angry citizens began throwing rocks, bottles, anything they had in their hands at the plane as it rolled towards the runway.

Phillip Garren looked sadly out the window at the rapidly shrinking crowd of people, then turne to Michael Larssen, whom he’d happened to sit next to in the confusion. “Even though we couldn’t have taken them all, I feel bad leaving them behind.”

Larssen was more pragmatic, “They’ll be safe here, August is pushing towards the Government Quarter, he won’t come this far east.”

“How can you possibly know that?”

“The man who was holding a gun on me in my room told me. He said ‘August’ll come through here, pick us up, then it’s on to the palace and the pretender that sits on the throne.’”

Garren nodded. “Makes sense. It’s just hard to believe all this has happened in just a few hours. I mean, yesterday, we were still in the running for a World Cup playoff berth, and now we’re fleeing an army of revolutionaries on our way to the Cup of Harmony. It’s a good thing Luke came in when he did, Michael, I’d hate to have to play without you.”

Larssen reddened, “Oh, you don’t really need me that much. But speaking of Parrish, is he going to be able to hold on to the throne? I mean, the Palace is like a fortress, but August is determined, and there aren’t that many Royal Guards to defend it.” Larssen had never really involved himself in politics during August’s tenure as monarch, but the election of King Parrish had turned him into a staunch loyalist, and Garren knew he hated to leave his king at a time like this.

After several hours, the pilot announced they were landing, and Garren looked out the window at the crowd of West Angolans on the runway. These were the determined fans who had made the trek out to the Cup of Harmony to watch the team, and had arrived the previous night. The crowd looked overjoyed to see them, and many were carrying signs expressing support for them and for King Parrish. As the plane taxied down the runway, the crowd began to cheer and wave their signs, and it warmed Garren’s heart to see that Luke still had some support.

As the team made its way through the airport terminal, Garren looked up at the many televisions that broadcast flight schedules and news to those within, and could find no mention of the insurrection in Namibe. All the news stations were local ones, and an uprising in West Angola interested no one here. Garren made a mental note to get some news from Namibe as soon as possible.

The team took a bus to the hotel they’d booked, and Garren hurried to his room. Flicking on the TV, he thanked God he’d requested the sets be tuned to local West Angola stations for the duration of their stay. The picture that greeted him nearly stopped his heart. The color was grainy, and the video camera jiggled every which way, but the caption along the bottom of the screen read “Rebels execute King Parrish, Hang Body from Lamppost, March on Palace.” Garren’s knees felt like rubber, and he sank to the bed, Luke was dead? He couldn’t just be dead, Luke was forever.

Garren felt tears running down his cheeks, he couldn’t believe his friend was actually dead. Another growing realization was that with Luke gone, there was no one to stop August. He, Isaac, and the rest of the football team had just become exiles, never to return home again. Suddenly, the picture broke up, and was replaced by the Crest of the Monarchy. Garren bolted upright, the Crest of the Monarchy was only displayed before or during an announcement by the King, which meant either August or…

“I would like to announce that the reports being issued by the rebels are false, as are the stories you’ve been seeing on the news. I am very much alive, and do not intend to yield the throne to the voices of hate and violence. I call on all loyal citizens of West Angola to join with me in stopping these terrorists before they are able to impose their own brand of evil upon this nation, and return this great nation to the dark days of yore.”

Garren’s whoops woke even the heaviest of sleepers among the hotel’s guests. Luke was alive! He was still fighting! He could dimly make out similar celebrations from the other rooms containing members of the football team, and running footsteps heralded the arrival of Isaac Warren at his door a few seconds later. Throwing the door open, Garren swept Isaac up in a bear hug, and the two danced around the room, gleefully celebrating the life of their friend.

[Farfadillis]

The Ferdullaele Post

Group Opponents

The time has come for the farves represnting us to compete in the Cup of Harmony. Hoewever, it won't be cake-walk. It'll be pretty difficult. The groups are of five teams and anything can happen, even Maklohi Vai defeating Andossa se Mitrin Vega. The team arrived to New Montreak States this morning, when Dandalleion, who scored two goals during the World XI charity match, was asked about what he thought about the upcoming matches, he said: "They'll be hard as hell, specially because you know there are literally a billion farves back at home thinking you're shit if you tie with Valanora, let alone lose with a team ranked 20 places below you.". There have been revolts all through-out Farfadillis to leave Dandalleion in the bench for the first match against Mesoland, where Tympú's star, Beritata Nukaba, plays. However, leaving him out would be utter non-sense and just demonstrates how much idiocy there is everywhere in Farfadillis just because they're telling the truth. About our opponents....

Jeruselem

After letting down their fans during the World Cup qualifyings, the jeruselemites will be seeking to top the group they're a top seed of. They're better ranked than us and for a good reason. Ex-World Cup runner-ups, and overall attacking team. The key to winning, or at least getting a point, which I hope is well received here as a loss is totally expected, would be to have Tuzzio and Dandalleion in a good day. Juárez, surprise starter, can also help if he plays just as in Avenida Victoria, but we can't be sure. Dandalleion's speed is still our best bet, specially during a counterattack. It's all resting in Rossizzo's hand now.

Equestrian States

Sounds really familiar, doesn't it? We played against them last Cup of Harmony and they can prove they're much better than us, despite not being humans. Last time, a "defensive-meltdown", as reported by ESPN, made us get our only point that campaign. However, we highly doubt that Cloudchaser will score three once again, we still should take care of ourselves, although. The key to this match will be, without a doubt, Fermín Juárez. He's the one who will have to help us score and finish that last part of a chance where you send the ball inside the goal. He'll have to be in a pretty good day and we can't take anything for granted.

Mesoland

Rapidly-rising team. According to the KPB rankings, that some people actually believe affect matches at all, they're just slightly better than us. However, most of you might know this team because of their star striker, Beritata Nukaba. The thing is, he got more than 1 goal per match during the FFL's last season, despite Tympú not winning. In spite of that, we all know that doesn't prove anything as our league is sub-par. What we should fear about him is that he was included in the World XI. You might be thinking, "Hey we got one player in the World XI too, and he scored more than him!". True, but that doesn't prove anything, you can't judge a player because of one match. The key for this match will be Chinsúa and Nessi. They'll have to hold off Nukaba for the entirity of the game. I wish it was Chindival Kylx that we were talking about, then we would just need to hold him off for the entirity of the first minute.

Cuboneland

Probably the only team that we have higher chances of winning than losing against. First of all, I don't care if you travelled to Northern Sunrise Islands, saw a Cubone and now you're thinking all cubonelanders are Cubones. They're not, end of it. Second, even if this match looks "easy", we've got to be objective: a lose is perfectly feasible. We can lose to this team, regardless of them having world-class players or not. They're here for a reason; I can guarantee you it isn't to get thrashed by us. The key to this game will probably be our captain, Mêndêlöíndçêl, our playmaker, Matí O'rosso and our striker, Fermín Juárez. Mêndêlöíndçêl will have to help us with possesion, while O'rosso will have to assist Juárez with good passes, while Juárez will have to score. Simple as that. Lisdiren might need to be key as well, as we'll need to keep the game as a shut-out.

---

"Hey, you, wake up!", I heard.
The last thing I remembered was hearing the Licentiapacisterran anthem, after four others.
"Wake up already you retard.", I heard again.
"Uh, uhm... What's happening", I replied.
"You were sleeping. Apparently, you don't like anthems.", I heard. I couldn't distinguish him. The only members of the team I knew were Juan Tzimisces, Aranora Jaded and Hillary Vander Rox, and it was none of them
"Well, when's the match going to start?"
"There's only the Wightling anthem to go."
"Well, I guess I can survive that."

"After the Wightling anthem finished, we were prepared to play.

The game started with both teams playing nice football, trying to dribble and send good and precise passes and overall not make it boring. People had paid to see the exhibition match for something, afterall. Soon, that guy from Gordonopia, Norm Bates, I believe, backpassed a pretty good ball to Saegerson, the Conclespian. He took the ball and sent it to where the Carpathian (or maybe Ruthenian) goalkeeper couldn't reach it. It was a pretty good start. Then, while I wasn't watching, the hosts got to equalize. The only thing I know is that it was like five, six, seven or maybe eight minutes later, not much more. I heard afterwards that the scorer had been Olivia De Luca. But the best part was yet to come, at least for me.

I was waiting for the ball on the left, while the ball was on the other side. Then, I got a long pass, no idea from who. I took the ball, dribbled a Carpathian or Ruthenian, dribbled an Astograthian, I believe it was Bocandé, and shot from the box's edge. I could already see one of my teammates complaining to me about not passing it to him, who was better positioned than me, when I saw the ball bend weirdly towards the goal, it surprised everyone, even me. Now we were 2-1 up. It really feels awesome to be called for the World XI, let alone score a goal.

However, there was another one from me to come after half time. The other one had been near the end of the first half. Mackay took the ball at the edge and saw me running into the box. His through pass, which went between two players, was perfect. I was left all alone with the goalkeeper at just two meters from the goal. I one-touch shot to the upper-right corner of the goalkeeper and he couldn't do a thing. It was pretty slow, but, well, that made it more beautiful. Now, if scoring one goal had been cool, scoring two had been like a dream.

Then Guerrikaechebarria scored a goal. I admire that guy, he's pretty similar to me. He knows how troublesome it can be to be a left midfielder. I don't remember much about the goal, as I was pretty surprised because Tzimisces hadn't substituted me yet when he had wasted all substitutions except one. But I remember it was quite unexpected. Now we were with a 3-2 lead. And then boom, another Astograthian scores and equalizes. However, I don't remember exactly who he was, or how the goal was, or if I was distracted. Then Fred Nguyen scored that saving goal that put us 4-3. We had the lead once again, but I was secretly hoping for the hosts to score a goal that would lead the game to extra time. Afterall, you never forget one of those matches and you want them to last as long as possible. And so the goal came from Nenci, it was a last minute goal. Everything was really thrilling. I almost celebrated it.

After twenty minutes of extra time, Tzimisces went in. Now the only players to not have been substituted, of the starters, obviously, were me and two others. I don't know who. Almost instantly, Tzimisces assisted Giroux with an incredible through pass that was too good to believe, but it's Tzimisces' afterall. Giroux then scored and we won the game, after 10 more minutes. Poor Tzimisces has been blamed for not puting "Early Bird" Kylx as a starter, allowing him to score. Because we all know he won't score after the first two or three minutes, or at least it's very unlikely."

"Overall, a pretty good experience.", Dandalleion ended up telling his teammates.
"Lucky you....", Tuzzio said.

[High Heels]

Her curiosity piqued by the envelope's bulk and unfamiliar return address, Kaisa Cuban slit it open and retrieved the cover letter.

"Dear Ms. Cuban:

Congratulations! You have been selected as one of the eighteen players to form a World XI for a charity match . . ."

Disbelieving the evidence of her own eyes, Kaisa re-read the letter and then examined the rest of the packet.

Wow. I can't believe they want me for this. The Foxes aren't even close to making the World Cup. My club may have won the league twice but we sure flamed out in the Champions' Cup. There must be a hundred goalkeepers they could pick ahead of me. Easy.

As she scanned the roster Kaisa unconsciously nodded. Pretty good side. We get to play for the legendary Juan Tzimices. Fred Nguyen is one hell of a player. That back line is awesome: Juul from the Terns and Lita Jaramillo of Aguazul and Bloomfield National on the wings. Ava Gillespie, the Bumblebees captain, in the middle. Good to see some other women kicking butt.

Then one name stopped her: Aranora Jaded, the Vilitan keeper who continued to occupy her thoughts. Captain, too.

Maybe it's fate.

---

Well, that was interesting.

After 120 minutes the World XI emerged victorious over the team representing the two World Cup host nations by a 5-4 score. The match was played under special substitution rules to allow all 18 representatives of each squad to play, and Tzimices used all seven substitutions by the 60th minute.

In I went, up 3-1 after 60. Three minutes later Guerrikaechebarria comes in out of nowhere and it's 3-2. The hosts torched me for three goals in 30 minutes, the last in injury time. Fortunately Fred Nguyen had picked up one more so the score was even after regulation.

Then came the realization that this goes on for thirty more minutes. Extra time was part of the match rules. I remember thinking, "Lord, help me to not embarrass myself out there." Tzimices must have sensed my thoughts, he walked over and told me that I could do it. After allowing three goals! But you know what, it helped, hearing that from a guy who's been around, like, forever.

So I went out for the extra time and played the best football of my life, saving everything in sight. Tzimices set up Girard Giroux in the second extra time period, and we won.

And as Kaisa entered the visitor's clubhouse, Aranora Jaded was waiting for her.

[Northern Sunrise Islands]

DE PLACA
Back in Black

Northern Sunrise Islands is a slight strange in Group E. Not only the travel to Atlantian Oceania was pretty weird itself (involving a little accident between Harley Smith's pet, a Blaziken and the air-conditioner of the plane) but getting a free travel to one of the most teological filled nation of the World, Wight, is pretty much worth the trouble. While the Marills didn't play that much on the World Cup qualifiers (And when they tried to change it, they were scolded as usual by the NSIFC), the Sunrisians go on to play at Group E, where they seem to be pretty much of a bait to more known teams such as Andossa Se Mitrin Vega, Turori and Free South Califas.

The Cup of Harmony itself isn't that promising for the Marills, since NSI will start to play against AO's Turori, then after that, take on the Harvest Mice of Free South Califas. Then the easiest match of the Group against Conclespia (then again, that's calling it the easiest of impossible matches). A bye at 15th and then the last match against powerhouse Andossa Se Mitrin Vega, and our boys will be back for Heritage Day (November 19th) as soon as you can say "Marillshadnochanceatall".

Our Group predictions are that the leaders will be the winner of a three-way dance between Andossa Se Mitrin Vega, Free South Califas and Turori, then Conclespia in Fourth and NSI ranked at last. We however, have big hopes about Svengarda, Apox and Swyftlandre, meanwhile we believe that two teams that may do great improving at this tournament would be High Heels and Slembana (and no, we are not going to display the nickname they earned related to a yellow fruit).

[Birolika]

DOOM!

Group F
Kinitaria ₃₉
Falconwhereveryouare ₅₃
Ko-oren ₆₀
Mashiki ₉₇
Birolika ₂₂₀

Welcome hard core Birolik football fans, today you stare at your doom. You thought the world cup was the end, there were only 100 of you and the team was falling apart at the seams. However the Birolik Football Federation have decided that they want to deliver more misery on your doorstep like a flaming bag of dog faeces and they've entered the Cup of Harmony. It was said in the world cup that the whole purpose was to set us up to be off the bottom of the group in the Cup of Harmony, however we are on the bottom by over 100 places. Never mind though, we managed to win it out of nowhere in the World Cup of Hockey (although this is nothing like hockey).

By the end of this cup they predict that the Birolik football fan will be an extinct species, and with good reason. During the 14 games of the World Cup the number of people who admitted they followed the team went from 1,234,826 to 121. That's an average of 88,193 lost per game, but if you exclude the two games where we didn't lose any fans because we didn't lose we lost 102,892 per game, enough to fill the National stadium 2.29 time over. Talking of stadium we're all heading off to Wight and the city of Spit and to the Tricorn Centre where we will be playing our group games (which lets face it, will be the only games we play in this cup) and it looks REALLY depressing. I'm certainly not going there, I'm pretty sure a lot of hardcore fans might even give it a skip; so what does that leave the support at? 19? Never mind...

Anyway we can see that the BFF has given up, or at least the government has. Anyway to retain their funding they've been made to use the national team as a program to rehabilitate criminals, which should be fun. Lets just hope that it works and furthermore that they don't commit any crimes during the cup, because who knows how that will work. I'm not sure we even have an extraditing agreement. But off to defeat anyway! See you soon when we get knocked out and make us come back.

[Apox]

OOC: This is the start of an RP that will hopefully, lead me through the Cup of Harmony, the Campionato Esportiva and the World Cup Qualifiers, but we'll see how it pans out.

Prologue

Aaron stared up at the large governmental building before him. He was only an aide to the Minister for Sport, Steven Nowett, the smallest department in Apox, however, your first day at your new job was always mildly terrifying, especially when your new job is your first proper job. He didn't count a part-time job as a waiter a real job. It was just to earn money to go travelling.

He pushed open the large revolving door at the base of the governmental building and entered into the large lobby. A few people, all suited of course, were chatting idly, or walking along, but the majority of people charged through, clearly having something important to do. Fair enough, they were governing, of course.

He approached the front desk where a line of rather attractive ladies were sitting. 'Clearly the people who appointed these things had some swag' he thought to himself.

"Can I help you?" one of the women asked, smiling brightly as she did so.

"Er, yeah" he stuttered, his head not in the right place at this time of day "I'm Aaron Noble, assistant to Steven Nowett,"

"I'll just find you in the system," she replied, "First day?"

"Yes." He replied, whilst the women tapped furiously on her computer. After a short awkward wait, she mentioned that one of the departmental staff was coming down to collect him and that he should wait in one of the chairs situated around the edge of the lobby. He moved over, and sat, watching the stream of people who came by. One thing that did occur to be strange to him were some men, dressed in grey suits, and wearing sunglasses, who looked quite shifty. After two minutes of discreetly watching them, they hurried off, one of them speaking rapidly into a phone as they did so. Before he could look to see where they were going, an old man, perhaps around 60 arrived, who was wearing a scruffy tweed suit, introducing himself as,

"Reginauld Crewshaw, the old hat of the sports department." Slightly taken aback by this crazy man who had presented himself, Aaron shook the old man's hand and was quickly escorted at a slow pace to the departmental office, while Reginauld babbled on about everything from Dravid Scott's goal to game ratio to whether or not he had left the TV on at home this morning as he left.

Finally, and thankfully, they arrived into a large open room, with piles of paperwork piled onto desks, and several people working furiously. At one end of the room, two 50 inch TV's displayed Channel One Sport and APX Sports News, with the volume up quite high. A glass surrounding cut off about half the room, behind which Steven Nowett could be seen, sitting at an immaculate desk.

He was shown round the office, whereupon he met the other two members of the team, John Vettle, the sports consultant, and Jennie Barton, the secretay for the department. Finally he was shown to his desk, which was squashed into a corner of the room, with a laptop set up on top and a whiteboard on the wall. Reginauld hobbld off to get Steven to come over and left him to get settled in.

After a two minute wait, Steven appeared,

"Hello lad, you must be Aaron," he said enthusiastically. "Glad to see your settling in. Now how much do you like a challenge?"

"Er, well, a wouldn't mind a challenge i guess." he replied, confused.

"Good, let's get you set up here," he said leaning across Aaron and wiggling the mouse on the laptop. After a couple of seconds, the laptop booted up, revealing a blank blue background.

"Good, now I want you to find out as much about the following countries as you can," he said, placing a file on his desk. "It should be pretty explanatory, ask Reg if you get stuck, he's like a one man sport encyclopedia" he said, as he started to walk away. Aaron turned to look at the file placed on his desk by Steven. It's title read very simply:

The 54th Cup of Harmony

[Ossidiacqua]

Straightening his great coat, Yoann Vega took to the stage. An empty press room lay before him, rows and rows of empty fold up chairs in loose rows. A dim light illuminated the room slightly, and discarded press releases littered the floor. He took a deep breath. In two hours time, this room would be heaving with the assorted press men and women of Ossidiacqua and beyond. In a grey anonymous room without windows, somewhere in the depths of a press suite in New Montreal States, Yoann Vega's first meeting with the press would occur.

It was in New Montreal States that the assassinantion attempts on his life had culminated in the tragic death of former manager Alessio Cardinale, as well as the subsequent deaths of several unfortunate assassins. Yoann had taken charge of the next match against Blouman Empire, and won, but the whole OFA had shrunk away from press intrusion in the days following Cardinale's death as they tried to readjust.

But now they had little choice but to accept that Vega and Velasquez would have to face the press and some awkward questions. And, should the security procedures at the door not work properly, probably a few crossbow bolts as well. Not that he expected their hosts would be making it especially easy for any assassins to make their way into the country after the last debacle.

Milchama, Blouman Empire again, and then Apox and Azox. Or was it Azox and Apox. He'd have to watch that.

A tough group, but as third seeds there was a decent chance that the Acquans could cause a minor upset and jump into a qualification spot. The World Cup may have eluded them for another cycle, but there was no reason why they couldn't make the knockout stages of the Cup of Harmony for the first time since their debut cycle.

He turned to walk out of the press room again and work on his stock answers, when there was a voice over his shoulder.

"Excuse me, meester."

Yoann sighed, and ducked. A dagger whizzed across the room and embedded itself in the wall. Yoann let out a short sharp punch without looking, displaying neatly that his training has never quite left him, and the assassin crumpled to the floor, out cold.

Yoann walked out the door and stumbled across a cleaner. He tapped him on the shoulder and informed him that there was a mess still in press room three. With that taken care of, he walked back to his hotel room and tried to prepare as best a marked man could.

[Milchama]

"So who we got?"

"In what?"

"The Failure Cup"

"Oh the Cup of Harmony"

"Yeah who's in our group in the CoH"

"Well let's check"

Group A
Ossidiacqua 68
Azox 129
Milchama 33
Apox 59
Blouman Empire ???

"What's with the question marks by Blouman Empire"

"Well we copied the ranks from their newspaper and they didn't show their own ranking so I just put question marks by it"

"Oh ok"

"Yeah I'm lazy"

"Nah, it's cool I'd do the same thing"

"So anyway, how do we look?"

"Well apparently we're the top ranked team in the group"

"Oh Cool!"

"Yeah, so we should be fine"

"Well we thought that in World Cup Qualifying as well"

"No more Branta Island"

"Thank God and Margaret"

"No thank God and curse Margaret in all her heatheness"

"Whatever"

"Exactly"

"Also, judging from what I've seen several teams seem internally destabilized which should be good for us as well"

"Always good to win with teams that don't know what's going on"

"Yeah, assassinations left and right are never good for a football team"

"Nope"

"But let's be honest, it's the CoH, we're a top 32 team. We should advance and anything less than quarters is absolutely a failure and less than semis is probably a failure"

"Truth"

"So then what do we need to do?"

"Simple, win our group and then from there take the Cup by storm"

"So is this group are real competition?"

"In what sense, in the sense that we actually have to beat them to advance yes, in the sense that we are really looking at bigger and better things, no."

"Cool"

"So then in the second sense who is our real competition?"

"Jeruselem, ASMV, Armed Bears, and Darmen"

"Why them?"

"Well I think their ranks are either higher or around ours"

"Why Armed Bears?"

"Oh with them I'm just guessing, it's not like I actually looked at rankings"

"Fair"

"Isn't ASMV like 2nd in the world?"

"Yeah bad campaign for them"

"Hopefully they don't get a decade long curse"

"I agree that would be bad"

"I liked them"

"Me too, those were some good friendlies"

"One of the few Milchama have ever played"

"Yeah did we ever play anybody other than Collonie in friendlies ever?"

"I don't think so"

"Do you think this RP is not interesting and going too long?"

"Yes on the first, and no on the second, there is no such as a RP that's too long"

"Well not including Cafundeu match summary RPs"

"Fair but anything else is fair game"

"So then Victory or bust?"

"Essentially"

"Come on You Warriors!"

"Let's Go Milchama!"

[Svengarda]

SFA unviel new Cup of Harmony Kits

The new Svenga home kit, designed specially by KT Sports of Kinitaria

The Svenga Football Association has unveild these four new kits, designed by Kinitaria shirt company KT Sports, for the upcoming Cup of Harmony, being played in Wight and New Montreal States. The Four kits have been described as "capturing the Ice Hawk spirit". The first kit, depicting the flag of Svengarda, displaying a grey stripe, a blue stripe and a white stripe. The SFA logo has been placed in the middle. The secondary kit, which will be used occasionally, represents the harsh cold winters which ravage the nation, as well as the Icy Blue of the waters which surround the two islands. The away strip shows the creativity, the passion and enthusiasm of the team, the country and the fans. The keeper kit, which is a light crimson with white shoulders, shows the fierce burning passion inside every Svenga soul and heart. When Svengarda kick off against Swyftlandre, they will be wearing the first kit, and many chants of "Tor, Tor did he score?" referring to Torleif Olhouser, who scored the winning penalty against them in the Final of the Baptism of Fire.

[Ko-oren]

"Thank you for your purchase of the Ko-oren CoH 54 Fan Package! This kit includes:

- 1x Ko-oren National Team Home Shirt
- 1x Map of Wight and New Montreal States
- 1x CoH 54 Match Schedule
- 1x Wight Tourist Information booklet & Stadium Guide"

[Andossa Se Mitrin Vega]

Pygan Ust’dar looked out over the practice pitch at the newest version of the Sea Dragons. His version of the Sea Dragons. They looked solid enough even though chemistry was the one thing that would need time to be developed. But in the back of his head an alarm kept sounding. Just how much time would he be granted.

Kymykera Wu’eres had been a very popular manager. She had turned the Sea Dragons into a true world power and World Cup contender. She had led the squad to four consecutive World Cup appearances, three consecutive trips into the knockout rounds, 2 of the last three third place finishes, and the squad’s highest ever ranking at #2 behind only Valanora. All that she had done and still she had been released following a horrible second half performance during the World Cup 62 qualifiers that had seen the Sea Dragons be relegated to the Cup of Harmony where they would contend for a third title. Not anywhere near the expectations that had been laid before her.

So the question loomed large in his mind. Just how much time did he have?

I a way he was thankful for the bye on the first match day as the staff and the squad would get a chance to size up the other four sides in Group E. That would give them at least a minor advantage on Matchday two.

Turori would open with Northern Sunrise Islands. The Eels would be looking to prove to the world that they were a side to be reckoned with. (And they would be trying for a third CoH title as well). The Marills of NSI would be looking to knoc them down a peg or two.

The other match boasted of a pair of newcomers in Free South Califas and Conclespia. It remains to be seen if either side can seriously contend with either big dog in the group.