OOC: I found 2 errors in my stats list in my factbook. I must have forgotten to add the Vagionius and Prince Andreas goals against Gordonopia to their totals because both of them had 1 more goal than they were credited for. I have once again used Aquitayne's BoF roster, since Aquitayne has not posted a roster in the World Cup thread.Saintland 1, Aquitayne 0(SP) After an extended stay in Sondstead, the Kingdom of Saintland National Soccer Team came out flat against Aquitayne. For the better part of the match, neither team could convert their scoring opportunities. Things finally changed in the final minutes when Stephanus Vagionius scored in the 90th minute to give the Sanctii a critical victory against one of the weakest teams in Group 16. "All day long, we just couldn't get our shots on target. Everything seemed to be going wrong and I know I wasn't the only one of us to be worried that we'd actually play Aquitayne to a scoreless draw. However, I put all of that behind me in the 90th minute. When [Prince] Andreas sent that corner right to me, I knew I absolutely had to score on that opportunity and I did. We didn't win in our first 3 road matches, but fortunately we are undefeated at home and have taken 13 out of 15 points so far. I am certain that God is watching over us in this second attempt at World Cup qualifying. What else explains the Wight draw against Narsora or Karditan's struggles? While the Jedis seem to be sticking around, we're now just a point out of second and 2 points out of first. If we can just win all 8 of our remaining matches, we would be guaranteed qualification into the World Cup and would not have to worry about a playoff. We could use a few days off before the World Cup begins, so we need to keep on winning and we will, God willing." - Stephanus Vagionius
In a surprising turn of events, Aquitayne started the match in an attacking mode. The Sanctii defenders were making their fair share of mistakes. In the 4th minute, Lucas Aufidius chased after the ball too aggressively, allowing Neil Gram to go through the gap and take a shot at goal. Alessandro Seius saved the shot. Several minutes later, Kurt Hawkin took his shot at the goal. Seius once again saved it. Aquitayne took shot after shot for the opening half hour of the match, but each and every Aquitayne shot was either off-target or saved by Alessandro Seius. The climactic scoring opportunity for Aquitayne came on a corner kick following the 3rd or 4th Max Widley shot of the day that did not result in a goal. Aquitayne's corner went to Matthew Godines and Godines headed it toward the net. However, Alessandro Seius still got to it and was able to not only get a hand on the header, but also hold onto it. Seius got back up and booted it deep downfield to deny the Aquitayne scoring chance.
The tide began to turn somewhat toward the end of the first half. As the clock reached the 40th minute, the Sanctii finally got forward on their first serious attack of the day. Petrus Flaccus crossed to Prince Andreas and the Prince of Saintland forced Liam Kneasson to concede a corner. His corner went into the back of the box, where a leaping Paulus Flaccus just missed it and Andre Badalamenti headed it away to empty space in midfield. There was a mad scramble for the ball and the first man to get there was Georgius Catiotus. Catiotus passed forward, finding Petrus Mamilius. Mamilius took a shot, which deflected off the left leg of Cody Kilian toward Prince Andreas. The Prince of Saintland took a shot and it looked certain to go in, but Javier Herrman just so happened to stumble into the path of the ball. The ball hit the Aquitayne defender's back and suddenly ended up at Badalamenti's feet. The midfielder booted the ball away and the Sanctii had blown a scoring chance.
Halftime soon arrived. The score was scoreless and the Sanctii had not looked like much of an offensive side today. Prince Andreas decided to make some risky substitutions at halftime, removing Matthaeus Belaeus and Georgius Catiotus. In their place, he brought in Paulus Gabinius and Ioannes Gratus. Suddenly, the Sanctii were playing a 3-3-1-3 formation in the second half. However, this 3-3-1-3 formation had just a single center back. Prince Andreas even decided to continue playing the Poenius brothers as quasi-midfielders, so the Sanctii formation now bordered on a 1-5-1-3.
After halftime, the Sanctii were absolutely dominant against their weaker opposition, but they still just could not score goals. It was only a handful of minutes after the half until Lucas Aufidius set up a Stephanus Vagionius scoring chance. The Vagionius shot would hit the post. Paulus Gabinius got the rebound and took a shot off the rebound. He put it to the far side, just past the arms of Liam Kneasson and it appeared that the backup Sanctii striker had put the Sanctii up. However, the referee put up his flag for offside. The goal would not count.
As the hour mark approached, Prince Andreas made his own attempt at scoring a goal. The Prince of Saintland skillfully evaded the Aquitayne defenders to get into a one-on-one situation with Liam Kneasson. He shot hard and in the top right corner. Kneasson barely got to it, getting a hand on it to send it out for a corner. Prince Andreas took the corner and it landed at the feet of Ioannes Gratus. Gratus took a shot, but it was saved by Kneasson. The Sanctii had once again failed to score a goal.
This would continue to be the case for the better part of the second half, although Aquitayne did get a counter-attack in the 82nd minute. After Ioannes Gratus faked a shot and Kneasson bought the fake, Kenneth Menega intercepted the pass intended for Paulus Gabinius. Menega booted the ball clear to the other side of the pitch. Matthew Thakkar got to the ball first, heading it down to Neil Gram. Gram ran forward as fast as he could and passed to a barely onside Max Widley. Widley took a shot at the goal of Alessandro Seius and Seius somehow came down with it. Seius tossed it out to Ioannes Poenius and Poenius made his way down the wing to try once again to produce a Sanctii scoring chance, which would once again amount to nothing.
The Sanctii would finally get on the board in the 90th minute. Prince Andreas had once again evaded Aquitayne's defenders to get into scoring position. This time, the Prince of Saintland took a shot at goal and Liam Kneasson knocked it out for a corner, which was the 11th Sanctii corner of the match. On this 11th corner of the match, Prince Andreas aimed for Stephanus Vagionius. The Sanctii striker put his head on the ball, sending it past Kneasson and into the back of the net. The Sanctii began celebrating. They had just scored a goal and taken a 1 to nil lead, just seconds before the beginning of added time. Prince Andreas chose not to bring in any substitutions. Aquitayne made one last desperate effort to score a goal, but a skillful tackle by Lucas Aufidius ended that goal scoring opportunity and the Sanctii wasted the remainder of the clock. The Kingdom of Saintland had escaped a scare in Aquitayne with a 1 goal to nil victory on a last-minute goal by Stephanus Vagionius. The goal had been the 25th international goal of Vagionius's career.
With the victory, the Sanctii now have a record of 6 wins, 2 draws and 2 defeats. That is good for 20 points, which is 3rd in the Group 16 standings. Jedi8246 defeated Sangti today to remain in 2nd with 21 points. The other 3 matches in Group 16 ended in draws, including a shocking 2 to 2 draw between lowly Narsora and group leaders Wight. Wight now has 22 points. If the Wightlings continue to leave those extra 2 points on the table, that could prove quite costly. The Royal Kingdom of Quebec and The Sovan Antithesis are now tied for 4th with 16 points, so there is now significant separation between the top 3 teams in the Group 16 table and the remainder of the group. Tomorrow, the Sanctii will host Sangti at Royal Stadium, with a chance to all but eliminate the Sangtians from any hope of qualifying for the World Cup. Wight will be visiting under-performing Karditan. The other important Group 16 match during the 11th day of qualifying for World Cup 65 will see Jedi8246 hosting the Sovan Antithesis. While the Sanctii will attempt to take care of business against Sangti, they will be hoping for victories by Karditan and the Antithesis. Such a scenario would put our Kingdom's National Soccer Team atop Group 16 with 7 days remaining. Tomorrow's match between Sangti and the Kingdom of Saintland will be broadcast live on Royal One. Tickets have already sold out at Royal Stadium, so be sure to tune into Royal One if you don't have a ticket to the match. We will soon find out whether the Sanctii can beat a team that held them to a scoreless draw during the first half of qualifying. Since the Jedis don't seem to be fading, yet, the Sanctii will need to keep on winning to stay on the pace in Group 16.
Feministvs Sanctvsterra releases blasphemous "song" on Sanctustube(SP) The domestic terrorist organization
Feministvs Sanctvsterra has struck again. Earlier today, under the alias "
Cantvs Feministvs," the terrorist organization released a blasphemous music video on Sanctustube. This "song," which was stylistically similar to a Cantus Virginum song, was paired with a music video which shows several known members of
Feministvs Sanctvsterra dancing blasphemously in the St. Petrus Cathedral. "When we received multiple reports earlier today that a
Feministvs Sanctvsterra propaganda video had been posted on Sanctustube, we acted immediately to disable access to the video. Copies of the video were immediately made and sent to the King's Government. We are disappointed that
Feministvs Sanctvsterra members chose to use our service in violation of our terms of service, which are written in easy-to-read Latin and clearly state that all videos which are illegal in Saintland must enable the region-blocking feature. As it is not permissible to upload region-block enabled videos within the Kingdom, nobody is permitted to upload such videos from within the Kingdom. We have determined that the video was uploaded from an IP address located within the Kingdom and we have terminated the account that was used to post this illegal video. By the time this article reaches the presses, the authorities will likely have arrested the individual responsible for uploading this illegal video." - Ioannes Liburnius, Founder/CEO of Sanctustube
Feministvs Sanctvsterra is an unlawful organization within the Kingdom of Saintland. The organization first emerged several months ago when they blockaded the streets of St. Paulus on a Sunday morning, preventing the people of St. Paulus from getting to their Church of Saintland services on time that morning. As part of the King's Decree of January 31st, which also appointed Sister Polus as the High Inquisitor at Progress High School, among other things,
Feministvs Sanctvsterra and all similar organizations were outlawed. As His Majesty wrote on that day, "The organization Feministvs Sanctvsterra and all similar organizations are outlawed. It is now illegal to join, financially support or otherwise aid any such illegal organization. Anybody who has knowledge of the membership, supporters or plans of such organizations and fails to report it to the authorities will be regarded as a supporter of the organization."
After that Decree,
Feministvs Sanctvsterra went into hiding for over a month. They re-emerged to travel to Vaugania to compete in a mixed-gender "sport" called korfball. The 2nd World Korfball Classic was held in that nation and saw
Feministvs Sanctvsterra defeat New Sideburn in the finals. Research by the SP has discovered that one of the New Sideburn korfball "athletes" is a cousin of the infamous thug Lukas Strongnesse. During that event,
Feministvs Sanctvsterra uploaded korfball videos to Sanctustube and sent out so many unsolicited emails promoting their videos within the Kingdom that Royal ISP was down for an entire day.
Feministvs Sanctvsterra would re-emerge within the Kingdom around the middle of World Cup qualifying last time around. They repeatedly disrupted home qualifiers for the Sanctii, pulling a number of stunts, most of which were, in and of themselves, illegal. This included hijacking a television station, blockading streets following World Cup qualifiers and hacking into the Royal Stadium speakers to make it appear that Cantus Virginum was singing a blasphemous and seditious song. They even took their clothes off, jumped the rail and ran around the pitch naked!
These disruptions continued during the early days of the last World Bowl. During the 3rd quarter of a gridiron game against Euskirribakondara that saw the prolific Sanctii offense, led by heir to the Throne Prince Petrus, put up 67 points, a number of
Feministvs Sanctvsterra members ran onto the Royal Stadium field and took off their clothing. Those members of
Feministvs Sanctvsterra would be arrested by the police and are currently doing the time for their crimes in the maximum-security wing of the Royal Prison for Women. However, at that time, a number of
Feministvs Sanctvsterra members stormed into the St. Petrus Cathedral. This was apparently the time when that video was filmed.
Shortly thereafter, those same
Feministvs Sanctvsterra members that appeared in the video left the Kingdom to protest at the Cup of Harmony in Apox and the Licentian Isles. After spreading falsehoods and half-truths about our Kingdom and God's True Church at the CoH,
Feministvs Sanctvsterra disappeared for a long time. During the Cup of Harmony, Sister Polus had provided information to the St. Ioannes Police that led to the arrest of an entire cell of
Feministvs Sanctvsterra terrorists. Since then, there has been no
Feministvs Sanctvsterrra activity within the Kingdom that we are aware of, so the news that this video was posted from within the Kingdom is alarming.
The terrorists that appear in the video were seen in Cassadaigua during the World Baseball Classic, attempting to incite the women of that nation against our Kingdom. That didn't prove to be a very difficult task, as Cassadaigua is home to women who, to a woman it seems, rebel against their Nature and their Creator. They left Cassadaigua a day before Saugeais eliminated the Sanctii from the WBC and were last seen competing in the Free Republics, where the 3rd edition of that World Korfball Classic abomination was held.
Feministvs Sanctvsterra finished 3rd, losing to New Sideburn in the semi-finals. New Sideburn went on to be finish second in that thing again, but in KPB's latest korfball rankings New Sideburn is ranked first in the world.
At this moment, it is unknown if the "
Cantvs Feministvs" video has been uploaded anywhere else. Hopefully, it isn't uploaded on VousTube or whatever the New Montreal States call their wannabe Sanctustube, but it probably is. That site first became prominently known in our Kingdom when somebody from New Montreal States downloaded a video of a Sister Polus lecture that was never intended to be uploaded to Sanctustube. Although they have apparently taken it down, as of this moment, that is very controversial in their nation and their courts are apparently taking their time to decide whether the videos should be up or down. For some reason, they don't seem to believe in speedy trials.
It seems like
Feministvs Sanctvsterrra is on the verge of a re-emergence. This is a worrying sign for our Kingdom. We don't know when or where they will strike next, but we know to expect
Feministvs Sanctvsterra. One can only pray that God will be with us and that He will help the authorities capture the members of
Feministvs Sanctvsterra. We cannot afford another reign of terror by those God-denying terrorists.
ImmigrationSaintland's immigration laws are drastically different from those of most nations. There are several different legal statuses that non-citizens of Saintland can hold. Those are Visitor, Foreign Resident and Immigrant statuses. Each status has its own advantages and disadvantages, so anybody wishing to visit Saintland should make a decision regarding what status they wish to seek before departing for the Kingdom.
Visitor status is the one that most travelers to Saintland will want. Visitor status is highly recommended by Lonely Multiverse for anybody who intends to stay in Saintland for fewer than 90 days. As a Visitor to Saintland, you are given relative leeway, as the Sanctii authorities recognize that most Visitors are not aware of the nuances of Saintland's laws. Visitors are also completely exempt from a number of laws, including the mandatory Church attendance law. Visitors are permitted to rent, rather than buy, appropriate clothing for women and female Visitors are the only women permitted to leave Saintland unaccompanied by a male relative or authority figure.
In a nation like Saintland where there are numerous morality laws that travelers are unlikely to be aware of, it is highly beneficial if the authorities understand that you are not from around there. Although Visitors have to pay a small fee to get Visitor status, it is worth it. In Saintland, the authorities maintain a list of every Visitor in the Kingdom and they also require visitors leaving the Kingdom to identify themselves. Staying longer than 90 days while you have a Visitor status is not allowed. If you are a Visitor to Saintland and discover that you will have to stay longer than 90 days, it is highly recommended to contact the King's Government immediately and request foreign resident status. Those that overstay, while possessing Visitor status, are committing a crime, albeit a crime that is considered relatively minor. Still, a "minor crime" in Saintland is not something you want to be convicted of. Overstaying while a Visitor can result in several hours in the pillory, although the authorities will usually permit an overstaying Visitor to choose either foreign resident status or deportation.
Foreign residents are legally considered long-term visitors to Saintland. They live in Saintland, work in Saintland and pay taxes to the King's Government, but they are neither citizens nor are they attempting to become citizens. They are permitted freedom of religion and are generally permitted to be more free than citizens or immigrants. However, they are expected to know and follow many of the laws of the Kingdom, especially those relating to public morality. The authorities don't tend to concern themselves too much with things that happen in private among the foreign resident community, provided that these things do not happen in the presence of citizens or immigrants.
Foreign residents are encouraged by the authorities to bring their families with them. The children of foreign residents inherit the foreign resident status of their parents, whether they were born in Saintland or in the nation where their parents were originally born. Because some nations do not grant nationality to children born to their nationals outside of their nation, there are many foreign residents living in Saintland that have no nationality.
Although the children of citizens and immigrants are educated in Church of Saintland schools, the children of foreign residents are required by law to attend a foreign resident school. Foreign resident schools used to be almost entirely autonomous. However, in the King's Decree of January 31st, 2013, King Paulus XV issued a few regulations for the foreign resident schools. Foreign resident schools are now prohibited from teaching "sex education" in any form or anything else that is deemed to be "anti-Sanctii or anti-Church of Saintland propaganda." Foreign resident schools are also required to submit their curriculum to the King's Government for approval. Another provision in the King's Decree permits the King to appoint a High Inquisitor at any foreign resident school. The High Inquisitor is a monk or nun from the Church of Saintland who is granted full authority over the school's rulebook and disciplinary procedures. Following the end of the 2012-13 school year, King Paulus XV elected not to re-appoint over 90% of the High Inquisitors, deeming the position to now be unnecessary at those institutions. This signals that High Inquisitors will only be appointed in the future at foreign resident schools where, in the opinion of the King, discipline has significantly broken down. It appears, at the time of this writing, that most foreign resident schools in Saintland will soon regain much of their former autonomy.
Another provision in the King's Decree permits the King to quarter troops in foreign resident homes in majority-foreign resident neighborhoods. This provision was used for a few months in 2013, but it has since been discontinued. King Paulus XV judged that it was a poor use of scarce military personnel to use them to monitor foreign residents at a time when foreign resident communities are no longer facing a breakdown in moral standards. The provision still remains the law of the land in Saintland and may very well be used again in the future if there is a breakdown in moral standards in the foreign resident-dominated areas of Saintland.
Even during the peak of the crackdown on foreign resident immorality, foreign residents were not held to the same standards as citizens or immigrants. That is a definite upside to foreign resident status, unless the Church of Saintland's theology happens to appeal to you. Foreign residents are permitted to stay in Saintland indefinitely and, after their first 90 days in Saintland, are permitted to leave Saintland at any time they wish. However, the laws against unaccompanied women and girls leaving Saintland do apply to foreign residents and foreign resident women are, like citizen and immigrant women, prohibited from seeking employment, although foreign resident women are, like citizen and immigrant women, permitted to perform some forms of volunteer work. On the downside, there is an additional tax imposed upon foreign residents. However, that tax has been waived, at the time of this writing, every year for the past 15 years. That does not necessarily mean that King Paulus XV will choose to waive the foreign resident tax next year, but a fairly large number of foreign residents currently living in Saintland have never paid the foreign resident tax. Even if King Paulus XV does bring back the tax, most foreign residents would likely consider it an acceptable price to pay so they don't have to sit through Church of Saintland services every Sunday.
Lastly, there is immigrant status. Immigrants are foreign nationals living in Saintland who have converted to the Church of Saintland and are seeking Sanctii citizenship. Believe it or not, there are actually people that hear about the Church of Saintland and consider it to be appealing, although most people that move to Saintland are satisfied with their foreign resident status. Under the law in Saintland, once the head of a household joins the Church of Saintland, his subordinates are also legally regarded as members of the Church. Under this law, when a man joins the Church, his wife and children are automatically considered members. When a single mother joins the Church of Saintland, her children also become members, although single mothers are not permitted to re-marry under Church teaching unless they are widowed due to the prohibition on divorce. In cases where the wife of a foreign resident converts to the Church of Saintland, she is considered a Church member and so are her children, even if her husband does not join the Church. However, she is still considered to be married to her husband and has a duty to do everything in her power to convert him to the Church.
Under the laws of Saintland, immigrants are considered legally to have all the obligations of citizens, with the sole exception being eligibility for the military draft. They are exempt from the foreign resident tax and any children born to an immigrant are automatically citizens of Saintland. Immigrants can become citizens automatically by serving a term in the military. When the head of household is a citizen, legally all of his subordinates are also citizens. If a foreign resident wishes to marry a citizen, he is required to join the Church of Saintland and acquire immigrant status. Immigrants are permitted to marry citizens and automatically become citizens once they are lawfully married in a Church of Saintland wedding ceremony. While Lonely Multiverse does not recommend citizenship or immigrant status in Saintland to our readers, it is perfectly understandable to become a citizen of Saintland if you fall in love with a citizen.
The
Feministvs Sanctvsterra members that appeared in the
Cantvs Feministvs music video had left the Free Republics and were currently heading for The Sovan Antithesis.
Iulietta - Why do we have to go to The Sovan Antithesis? Why can't we go to Karditan instead?
Agrippina - As you know, we're going to protest against the False Church and their Puppet King at their away soccer matches now. We can't protest in Karditan because the government of that nation has banned soccer.
Maria - That sounds like something the Puppet King would do. That is just awful.
Martha - Soccer's a great sport. The only problem is the team that represents our homeland.
Iulietta - You know, there is an all-female team out there that has been very successful.
Agrippina - It was awesome watching Cassadaigua beat those male chauvinist pigs from Audioslavia.
Catharina - I know. Audioslavia's team is all-male and they won the last 2 World Cups. That is just wrong.
Iulietta - The World Cup Committee should require every team to have at least 1 female player.
Agrippina - Iulietta, I thought you were a feminist. Every team should be required to be 50% female and it should be against the rules to play fewer than 5 women at a time.
Maria - Hopefully, someday the World Cup Committee is taken over by feminists.
Georgius - If teams are required to have at least 5 women at a time, shouldn't they also be required to have at least 5 men at a time?
Catharina - Georgius, I'm sick of you and your endless mansplaining. You don't seem to understand feminist logic.
Agrippina - Come on Catharina. Georgius is a man. He just can't help himself.
Georgius - Sorry. You're both right. I need to learn how to be a better feminist.
Iulietta - Georgius, I'll help you out with that.
Agrippina - I just found out that the
Cantvs Feministvs video has finally been released.
Elizabetha - That's great news.
Catharina - We worked so hard on that.
Maria - We're alot better than those frigid, talentless self-hating goodie-2-shoes Cantus Virginum.
Martha - I can't stand Cantus Virginum.
Iulietta - I know what you mean. They're just so awful. How can women be so misogynistic?
Agrippina - They are rewarded very well by the Patriarchy. Remember, our real enemy is the Patriarchy, not the naive schoolgirls that they've brainwashed.
Catharina - I just want them to go away.
Maria - How long do you think its going to take Sanctustube to take down our video?
Agrippina - They've probably already done it. Fortunately, we've uploaded it to all the popular tube sites in the multiverse and numerous copies are available on Sanctusfile.
Iulietta - Have you talked to Monica Marcellina about using the bot network again?
Agrippina - I've already done that. We're going to flood every email inbox in our homeland with links to
Cantvs Feministvs videos. We're also going to run bots to put them on every foreign message board throughout the Internet.
Georgius - Are you sure that running adbots is really a good idea?
Catharina - Of course it is, Georgius.
Maria - Yeah, what she said.
Agrippina - Georgius, that's the second time you've concern-trolled us in just the past few minutes.
Georgius - I'm sorry. You know what you're doing, so I probably shouldn't be questioning you.
Catharina - Finally, it seems to be sinking in.
Agrippina - Georgius, there's no need to feel down. You just haven't figured out how to think in a feminist manner yet.
As they set out for The Sovan Antithesis to protest against the Saintland National Soccer Team, the members of
Feministvs Sanctvsterra had decided to run adbots to promote their music video. It was now just a matter of timing...