World Cup LXV (65) RP Thread

[Northern Sunrise Islands]

DE PLACA
A doida tá me beijando a horas / Disse que se for sem eu
Não quer viver mais não / Me diz Deus, o que é que eu faço agora?
Se me olhando desse jeito / Ela me tem na mão

WORLD CUP 65
Lymantatia defeats the last unbeaten team of Group 7, beats NSI 3-2

Know what pisses one off? Managing to keep a tie to the last minute, only to lose it on the last second. That's basically the tale of the tape of the game between Northern Sunrise Islands and Lymantatia for the Group 7. After opening the score and even putting the bar higher, two goals scored by Jacques Bressler in the first half, it took a while for the Sunrisian squad to put their A game on the field once again.

It took Patiy to sub in Mateus Carvalho, who seemingly wasn't IN the game at all, to score one for NSI and put the game back on track. She would nutmeg Edward Love, to finally lob it over the goalie's head and run to the crowd to celebrate the first goal. It wouldn't take too long for the Vaporeons to tie it up, with Christie Travis using a great opportunity to shoot at the top right angle, with one of the best curved shots the blue-and-yellow jersey of NSI has seen.

However, in the last minutes, the referee, probably bribed, saw a penalty kick commited by Trent Millard. Sadly, Sylvius Johnson converted, thus, screwing us of our first position. Seriously, they better come prepared for a good fight when they play at our neck of the woods, because the fans aren't too happy with the result and specially, with the Lymantatians.

NORTHERN SUNRISE ISLANDS - 2
T. Millard; J. Redwing, N. Hikari, Y. McFlemming, A. Hawk; T. McCloud, I. Mangalonga, G. Di Luca, N. Nagatomo; C. Travis (73'), M. Carvalho (M. Patiy (55')
FARFADILLIS
J. DeLamielleure; E. Lowe, J. Volante, J. Martineau, N. Baker; N. Ivanov, C. Garcia, J. Villiers, C. DeLamielleure; J. Bressler (13', 22'), S. Johnson (93')

OTHER NEWS
> NUSS: Deluphi's Luccita Bolla is the first team to guarantee a spot at the Soviet League.
> PKMNA-NSI declares Pokérus-inffected or Bought from Silph Co. Pokémon will not be allowed at this year's National League.
> Sunrisian Army to investigate strange sights at the Sunrice Bay related to strange appearences of legendary or rare Pokemón.
> Felix: Northern Stars debut with tie against powerhouse Santa Maria F.C., Shane Conway scores the first goal of the Costinhão.

[Felix]

World Cup LXV Qualifiers: A Shock Of A Win Against Valladares

By: Steven Smith

We came, we saw, we beat freaking Valladares at their house! It was a unbelievable game, Felix somehow, someway, won against the 9th ranked team in the world with the scoreline reading, 1-2. Felix was the unexpected giant killer as Valladares was expected to get a easy win after loosing some matches before. What they didn't expect was a gritty and tough Felix team to come to their house and fight, and so the Phoenix did. With the leadership of Viggo Tyko and Yun Dong Lee, the young Felixian team fought it's way through the Valladarian home stadium. Through the seemingly monsoon like conditions in the pitch, both team struggled to maintain a foothold on the pitch as winds and rain kept knocking them down. Nonetheless we won and that puts us to second still as Qazox won their previous match against Alexanderburn two goal to nil. We will face against at their home and the winner gets first place (well, if Qazox ties they get first place still). Felix has done the improbable as they won against teams they weren't suppose to win against. Now the defeat in the Baptism of Fire finals is all in the past and Felixians look to the future where they might qualify for the World Cup proper if Felix keeps playing like they do.

Before we start recapping the historic win over Valladares, I would like to show you what happened to all (or at least some) of our opponents and teams we saw in the Baptism of Fire and how are they faring in this World Cup LXV qualifications period. First off the list is the team that beat us in penalties, Aels. They are currently in Group 5 and are as of the same rank as us, but unlike us they have, faltered in their group as they are currently 9th in their group after loosing a series of tough loss to both higher ranked opponents and lower ranked opponents. They recently lost to five time world champion, Starbladyia, two goals to nil. The next team we will look at, is in the same group as Aels, Neo Lemmitania. The Lemmitanian team has done wonders despite their lowly ranking as they have beaten some pretty talented teams and are sitting in a comfortable position in, 3rd. Just behind Starbladyia by one point. Punum, a team we have faced once in the U-21 World Cup, if memory serves, is currently 6th in Group 12 as they won their latest match rather convincingly, with the scoreline reading, 3-5. The Greater Archipelago, which got third place in the BoF, is at midtable with 10 points, losing a nailbitter to Jeru FC 3-2. But they are only four points away from first and still have time to catch up and finish in a respectable ranking. Nouvel Ecosse which was the hottest team in the BoF at one point is still in a good position in 5th in Group 14 as they won against Piddlehinton, 0-2. We beat, Piddlehinton, 4-0 in the BoF. Speranda, a rival of Felix is doing rather badly as they are in 8th but like everyone else here, has plenty of time to catch up in the standings. They recently won against An Enigmatic Nation, four to one. We beat ANE once, with a one to zero shutout. Sangti a team that, oh so close to qualifying for the playoffs in the BoF, is doing what's expected but has faced tough losses and frustrating ties that has made this team not go to it's fullest potential. In the same group is Sondstead, a team that we beat in the semis and finished fourth in the playoff against TGA. They are one spot ahead of Sangti, they are in 7th. And finally we reach the Free Republics, they have been having a miserable qualification season so far as they only have 6 points and are at the bottom of the standings at 8th, unlike the surprise team of Group 20, Sudagiu, which are currently 3rd and upset Bears Armed by beating them 1-0.

Let's talk about our match, yes? As they men of both teams prepared to walk out into the field which was soaked with water. The national anthems were played and both teams sang their national hymns. The match quickly started after a moment of silence, the referee blew the whistle and we were off. The first half was a dogfight and unlike the other previous matches, Felix had to earn their right to have the ball. In the 8th minute disaster struck for the Felixian team as they conceded a early goal by Jean-Pierre de Roux, with an assist from Pedrinho. One to zero, Valladares and boy was the stadium loud because of that. Felix responded 4 minutes later with a goal from Mikel Araboa, sending a lighting strike to the net, the Valladar goalkeeper, Luis Fuentes, failed to reach the ball and Felix tied up the match like that. One to one and finally the noise level in the field lowered. Felix continued to have chances but they weren't taken advantage of as the players either slipped and fell, missed or were simply blocked by the Capitan, Fuentes. Valladares had chances too but the same thing happened to them as they did to us. Felix and Valladares are tied with one goal a piece.

The second half was a continuation of the dogfight between the Phoenix and Valladar team as neither team looked like they could get the upper hand and win the match. Things almost went for the worst for the Felixian side as a goal was nearly counted by was called off, due to offsides, Felix dodged a bullet there. The next thing that happened that nearly ruined the game for Felix was a powerful shot that was deflected by the goalkeeper, hit the post and then was hit again by the Valladar striker but missed thankfully. Finally in the 66th minute Felix scored the game winner with a shot from Yun Dong Lee, the shot was assisted by Manolo Espina of Altomare and the shot itself was a beauty to behold. Felix had the lead and the Felixian fans that braved the nature and the fans from the homeside were chanting Felix's usual chant which goes like, "Vaaaamoooossss, Vaaaamooossss Feeellllllixxxxx. Esssstaaaa Nooooooocheeee Nooooovammmosss A Gannaaaaarrrrrrr..., the chant sounded like the sound of victory as the defense of Felix soon clamped down on any opportunities the Valladares team could produce, minutes went by and the closer to the 90th minute the clock went, the closer to victory Felix was. Finally after what seemed like a eternity, Felix won against the giants that were Valladares at their home, 1-2. Felix was ecstatic.

The postgame conference like the Felixians back at home and in the waterlogged stadium, was filled with happiness and proud feelings as Felix pulled off, what seemed like to be the impossible. Many reporters now asked if Felix could make it to the World Cup proper and Cardona responded with a maybe. He said that he shouldn't be too confident as Felix is still going through a long journey and he verdict will only come after the midpoint of the first round of qualifying. Another question was asked about the next match against, Qazox, currently number one in the standings and came off a 2-0 loss against Estope to bounce back and win against Alexanderburn, will Felix win against them too? Cardona responded like this, "We will have to see the game tapes of Qazox's loss against Estope and will also have to see the tapes where Qazox conceded a goal. If we study those tapes well and apply the same pressure as those teams did when they scored through out the game, Felix will have a chance at winning the match." Cardona then left for the locker room to talk to his players.

We will now face off against Qazox at home next week. Will Felix pull off another unthinkable upset and take the group as their own? Or will Felix fall on their faces in front of 90,000+ fans in the already booked Stadia Volker? Many fans believe that Felix will win and bring even more reasons to celebrate the accomplishments of Felix. We will find out the results of the match, next week as the boys will face off against the rising Qazox team, that is currently in a revival mode. In other news the second matchday has been rescheduled for the week after next week due to a majority of players being tired and unable to finish matches, also because of World Cup season. This is Steven Smith reporting in a waterlogged, Valladares, until next time folks!

As always here were the statistics for our sixth qualification match.

Goals
(8th): VAL GOAL (VAL)
(12th): Mikel Araboa (FEL)
(66th): Yun Dong Lee (FEL)
Assists
(66th): Manolo Espina (FEL)
Possession
VAL: 50%
FEL: 50%
Fouls
VAL: 12
FEL: 14
Cards
Yellow: N/A
Red: N/A
Injuries
N/A

Now here are the statistics for the qualifiers so far.

Goals
Mikel Araboa (6)
Yun Dong Lee (5)
Ziya Saqqaf (3)
Simo Roni (1)
Sebastian Krister (1)
Assists
Sebastian Krister (3)
Manolo Espina (2)
Simo Roni (1)
Mikel Araboa (1)
Clean Sheets
N/A
Yellow Cards
N/A
Red Cards
N/A
Injury List
N/A

-----

World Cup LXV Qualifiers: In Other News, Women Can Play Too, In Football At Least

By: Steven Smith

After a 9-6 vote, the Felixian Football Association will finally allow women to play in the same league as the men, now while the women do have a league of their own, the Women's Felix Champions League, The Committee of Felixian Football (part of the FFA), has voted in favour of allowing women to play in the Men's Felix Champions League next season. Now many teams from the women's league will be thrown into the men's league to form the new Felix Champions League, which will happen next season. Women will also be allowed to play in the national team of Felix next year. Many people had options on this historic decision, as of two days ago a poll has said that 65% of Felix agrees what the FFA did, I am one of those 65%. I believe that everyone should have a chance to represent Felix and have a chance to be featured in the now televised event from around the world that is Felixian football. I have seen a lot of talented women that could play for the national team but had to settle for the underfunded and obscure, Women's national team. The changes have already had repercussions on Felixian national football as five girls are currently in the U-15 team. The announcement also caught the eyes of many people from around the world as even the Taijan FA President had something to say about this. Here is what he said.

"in the current sociopolitical climate, it would be inappropriate to force male and female athletes to compete together." The commissioner did, however, reiterate that women have always been able to play on all professional teams in Taijan, and indeed many have done so. But other Taijanese had better things to say, here is what some of the other famous Taijanese athletes had to say.

"I think this change is long overdue, and I laud the Felix FA for implementing it. Every wall that is broken down brings us closer to true understanding and equality," -Lion of Judah superstar sprinter and noted Rastafarian Shane Trajiera.

"I've been scored on by females before, and it's no shame to me, at least no more than by males. What is shameful is excluding half the population of a place from playing top-tier football because of an arbitrary distinction over which those players have no control." -Cormac Danielson, goalkeeper, St. Christopher United and Taijani national team

Some Taijans I interviewed before also agreed what Felix did and wishes that their football association did the same. But the Taijanese weren't the only people to be happy about Felix's news. Some players from the Northern Sunrise Islands had some things to say.

Pippi Mangalonga: "I think it's just right that the Felix Champions League accepted female players. While I can't play due to being here with the national team, I'm strongly interested with how the landscape of the league may change when I return to play for the Northern Stars."

Namine Nagatomo: "Well, thank Arceus. While I don't play there, it's good to know that another country took the walls of gender down in this huge place we call the Multiverse."

Mateus Carvalho: "It's good to see a new country where everyone is allowed to play. Opens new horizons, know what I mean? Soon you'll see these guys fighting for Esportivan gold!"

Anthony Hawk: "A 900 degrees in favor for human rights, that's something. I watch the league by cable, so I'll be really interested on watching the FCL."

Justin Redwing: "It's interesting. Really interesting, really. Now if only a team from outside of Flock Nation gave me a chance to play at Esportiva, I'd be more into it."

Isn't that nice? With the multiverse approving what Felix has done, I can say that I am proud of my nation and I hope more civil barriers are torn down and this is just the first step for equality for all Felixians. I hope you join us in the celebration of the historic decision today. God bless Felix and may we win our next match against Qazox. Until next time.

[Free Republics]

Sporting World

The World Cup is not going our way, yet
by: Nova Hellstrom

Well, the World Cup has now been going on for 6 days and I'm finally over those nasty trolls and ready to return to reporting about the events surrounding Mr. Theriault's FFR National Soccer Team. Rule Theriault's side has now played 6 matches in the World Cup and has collected 6 points. Although they are 8th in Group 20, that is only because a few referees robbed the Republican side, which should truthfully have 14 points right now and be tied with those stupid talking horses from those Equestrian States. I swear that I absolutely cannot stand them. I don't know why the organizers of international sports are willing to allow horses to participate in international sports, but it just isn't fair. They stole the Di Bradini Cup from the Federation of Free Republics. It just isn't fair for a team of humans to have to compete against a bunch of talking animals and I can report that Mr. Theriault will be filing a formal complaint with the World Cup Committee requesting that they close the loophole and ban non-humans from participating in the World Cup.

Now, that troll from that tabloid in Felix is up to his old tricks again. It seems that he is envious of the Free Republics because we aren't some tiny hole in the ground like the "nation" of Felix is. Do they even have a thousand people in Felix? For some reason, I doubt it. They're just some insignificant little nation that isn't even worth invading, just like that remote island far to our north where those Bible-thumpers live. They may be competitive in international sports, but that is because the World Changers region produces the best athletes in the world. Everybody knows that even the weakest nation in our region is better than any of those Esportivans. I personally hope that a regional championship for the World Changers can be established because it will immediately be the most prestigious regional championship in all of the multiverse. Yes, it will even be more prestigious than that "AOCAF" thing that that compete for over in Atlantica-Oceania or whatever it is that they call their region. If the FFR sent our best team, everybody in the multiverse knows that they'd crush Audioslavia and all those other foreigners if they just developed some team chemistry. We Republicans are simply superior to those inferior foreigners. If they were really so talented, they'd move to the FFR like everybody with any ambition does, no matter where they were born. Lastly, I want to say once and for all that there is nothing "Inevitably" about that team that styles themselves an "Inevitable Syndicate." They are as evitable as it gets and I predict that Mr. Theriault's Republicans will crush them.

Where was I? I remember now. I was supposed to be telling you who scored the goals for the Republicans and their opponents over the past week. Unfortunately, I've misplaced the rosters for everybody except Brenecia and Omarios. I don't know who anybody from those other 4 teams is, so I can't help you there. The Islands of Qutar scored an off-side goal in the 64th minute as some dude put the ball past Ausilio Mancini. The FFR proved unable to score because a flagrant foul on Kyle Bolton was not called. Instead, the dumberee had the audacity to give Kyle a yellow card for something called "flopping" that isn't even a penalty in the official rulebook. So, WCC officials are making up rules as they go along now. As we can clearly see, international sports organizations are run by a bunch of rank amateurs. That is a disgrace. They should let the Free Republics or even those Bible-thrashing Sanctii run all of them. I'm sure that even the government of King Paulus whatever number they're on now could do a better job than those idiots that are running the WCC. That was just the first 3 out of 8 points that their crooked officials have cost us so far.

Next, Mr. Theriault's Republicans faced Carmadin. Carmadin scored 2 illegal goals. The first was off an outrageous penalty that was called on Kieran Hancock. Hancock cleanly tackled their striker in the box and the crooked official gave them a penalty and gave the young Republican man a red card for his trouble. In the second half, they added a second goal, which was scored offside in the 54th minute. The officials had cost the Republicans a 4th point. I was disgusted, but unfortunately there was nothing that anybody could do about it. We were robbed yet again.

On the 3rd day of qualifying, the highway robbery continued, as the referee counted an offside goal by Sudagiu in the 7th minute and wrongly ruled a Republican equalizer by Faredin Pozenel in added time to be offside when it clearly wasn't. Jens Koch scored a goal in the 11th minute to tie that match at 1 goal apiece after the illegal Sudagiu goal. Then, Bernard Lukic put the Republicans ahead in the 30th minute with a long shot. Sudagiu equalized just after halftime. Leo Cremonesi scored the 3rd Republican goal to put the FFR up 3 to 2 at the hour mark. Then, Sudagiu scored in the 73rd and 84th minutes to retake the lead. When that Pozenel goal was denied by the crooked official, Sudagiu's fans celebrated their successful highway robbery. Mr. Theriault would bench Ausilio Mancini and replace him with Marius Christofferson, but the refs had now stolen 7 points from Rule Theriault's Republicans.

Christofferson immediately responded with a clean sheet against Omarios. Against Omarios, we were assigned a Sanctii referee who called the match right down the middle, for once. Personally, I think the WCC ought to mandate Sanctii officials for all matches. Those Sanctii know how to keep order on the pitch and certainly don't tolerate much nonsense on the pitch. I admire them. They are cute and oh so manly, but I don't know whether I'd want to join their Church. I'd still rather live in the FFR, but sadly there are too many boys and not enough men in the Federation. They need to man up and start acting like real men because it is repulsive when guys my age act like teenagers. Then, they wonder why they can't get laid.

Anyways, Kyle Bolton opened the scoring for the Republicans, scoring in the 13th minute. Faredin Pozenel would score in the 26th minute. Kieran Hancock would head an Ayub Sandstrom corner into the goal in added time to put the Republicans up 3 to nil at half. In the second half, the Republicans would play more defensively, as Mr. Theriault brought in several defensive substitutions. They strangled the Omarios attack and Kyle Bolton added the final nail to their coffin with a goal in the 81st minute. The FFR had routed Omarios.

Next on the schedule was Brenecia. It turns out that I was wrong and Brenecia is not New Sideburn. They are still clearly the same team I saw before in the Baptism of Fire, but they are playing at the same time as New Sideburn and surely those New Sideburners aren't capable of being in 2 places at once. If they are, I'd favor banning them from the World Cup just like those talking horses should be banned. On that day, Edmund Pike took a dive and the corrupt referee red carded Berto Marcelo, who had been brought on as a substitute. Aldous Huckerby scored a penalty for Brenecia and the corrupt WCC officials had cost the FFR 8 points in qualifying.

Yesterday, Mr. Theriault's Republicans faced Tantamir. We actually had to visit that minnow of a nation and it was appalling. Tantamir jumped out to a 1 to nil lead early when some dude scored in the 2nd minute. The Republicans had not even gotten settled into the match yet. However, Koby Theodore equalized just before halftime. In the second half, Porvaldur Hinriksson came on and he would score a critical goal in the 74th minute. This time, the referee actually did his job and called offside on a Tantamir goal that was offside in added time. The home crowd was furious, but it was about time that those WCC officials did their job.

I just found out that Roman Barlaan, a reporter for a newspaper in Sangti admires my reporting. I want to say, for the record, that I am flattered by that compliment and I wish more people saw things like Roman Barlaan. Guys, it isn't nice to troll female journalists on the Internet and I'm certain your girlfriends, if you aren't just some virgins still living in the basements of your parents, would not appreciate your behavior. I am glad that there is at least one peer in another country that respects me for my abilities. Sangti have already proven themselves to be a formidable nation, unlike most Exportivans, by playing the Sanctii to a draw in a World Cup qualifier. That is very impressive. Let me say, for the record, that the "Margret" or "Margaret" or whatever her name is that some people believe in is a false god and I learned at Petrograd Christian that one of the 10 Commandments prohibits worshiping false gods. If you continue to worship this goddess, who supposedly controls sporting results, you will go to hell, or at least that's what I was taught.

After 6 matches, the FFR has won 2 and lost 4. We have 6 points and are 8th in our group. We should have 14 points, which would put us even with those talking horses that shouldn't even be participating in the World Cup to begin with. The next match for the Republicans is against a country called Bears Armed. From the sound of it, they are a nation that really likes firearms. I hope the incompetents at the WCC didn't actually permit a team of talking bears to enter the World Cup. That would be even worse than those talking horses. We will soon find out, I guess. Today's match is at the Soccer Palace in Petrograd and I have invited many of my old friends to join me in our own private suite to watch the match and have some fun. I hope they aren't subjected to watching talking animals play soccer against humans.

Nova Hellstrom is an young sports journalist, just out of journalism school. She got her start covering high school soccer for the Petrograd Times. At one time, she played girls soccer for Petrograd Christian School. She was recently discovered by Sporting World and was previously assigned to cover the 27th Di Bradini Cup and 52nd Baptism of Fire. She is Sporting World's correspondent at the World Cup. By her request, comments are not allowed on this article.

[Valanora]

"All is going swell isn't it. Seydiya looks to be able to retain her role as manager of the national side at this rate."

"Alright, I have to admit that the Marauders are doing remarkably well, far better than I thought they were going to be doing considering how poor the past two qualification cycles started. How much of that is due to the players stepping up their game and how much of that is due to the manager though, that I don't know. So it yet may be premature to think that the Vegan has made the changes needed to still be the Marauder manager in two years time."

"True enough I suppose and there is the Finals to worry about when and if we get to them. Still, as you said, the previous two qualification campaigns were disastrous in their initial stages. That the Marauders have only dropped the one match on a difficult away fixture is proof to me that the lady may be learning from her mistakes and more importantly, correcting them."

"Anyone with Laborious Hawk though stands half a chance of hitting gold. Her achievements need be more scrutinized and she should not be given such a free pass on just the so called good results. How are the performances of all the players? One player performing on an excellent level alone will not win the side another championship."

"Even the backline is doing decently, conceding just over a goal a game. While I honestly would prefer for it to be under a goal a game as the average, considering the rate at which the side is creating and converting their own chances, it is not a pressing worry. Now if the offensive power was to start to wane and the defense continued to have a mistake a game, then we might need to be concerned."

"This group... it is not proving a challenge though, apart from Branta Island. How strange I find it, since I expected something more from at least Akbarabad."

"All things that begin must end, perhaps their strength has come to an end? Maybe their success was all just a flash in the pan sort of thing, catching lightning in a bottle but not being able to harness that power to its fullest extent. It not exactly an unknown occurrence."

"Fair enough. Our sustained success is something of a rarity and I should not expect to find it in such a different culture. Perhaps in the Starblaydi or one of those Dreamed Realm ones, but I suppose not with them. Sustained success, something even I find hard to accept, yet the accomplishments and trophies are there for all to see."

"Indeed, but it is not all there is. Not all by a long shot."

[Kinzar]

"What an awesome game! I am so thrilled with it!"

"They lost."

"Yes, did we think they would possibly beat Valanora?"

"No."

"Well then, if you were smart you would have put money on the game!"

"How much money would you have won by betting on Valanora to beat us?"

"I didn't bet on Valanora. I bet on us."

"But we lost."

"But we covered the spread! We only lost 2-0, the spread was 3.5!"

"So even if Valanora scored another goal, we still would have covered the spread. I see."

"That's why it was an awesome game! Not only did the Wildcats exceed expectations! But they could have even let in a charity goal too!"

"Valanora's first goal was a charity goal."

"Yeah well, own goals happen sometimes. Doesn't matter. They still played really well. Proud of them!"

[Legalese]

Located downtown near Capital Station, Heroes appeared to be just another sports bar and restaurant in Legalese City. To some extent, this was true: it opened around noon most days, served lunch and dinner, and had the usual specials between four and seven, as well as a select draft offering from the tap during game nights. All in all, it was the seemingly usual setup, if a bit posh.

However, those who enter may notice two things about Heroes. First, there’s an area to the rear that extends above the floor level, offering a considerable bit of privacy. Legend has it that this was one of the usual haunts of retired striker Kelvin Bassford, seeing the half-bar half-night club setting that Heroes took most weekends to be just right for his lifestyle - relaxed but festive.

The other thing that some noticed, but only the diehards knew, was that the real sports bar - more of a public house setting - was downstairs, in the basement. The Cavern, it was called, and it was open pretty much any time there was a football match worth televising.

Gabe sat at one of the few tables downstairs, set off to the right of the center. He took a sip of his drink, a stout with the consistency of milk, the slight bitterness of coffee, but a lightness that betrayed the thick foam layer topping the glass.

“Fine, I’ll admit it,” he said. “A breakfast beer is not exactly a good choice, but I can’t think of a better one this morning.”

Seated across from him, Rob smiled. “Told you. You should see this place when the Vilitian League is in action. I bet they’ll be packing folks in when Boyle starts his first season over there.”

Gabe looked around at the crowd already gathered at just after 9 o’clock in the morning, with time to go before kickoff, and observed that it was already a standing-room-only crowd, the lack of barstools notwithstanding.

“Looks pretty full already, I’d say. Is it this way for every road match?”

“Pretty much, sometimes the home ones too. Should’ve seen this place versus Hutt River. It was a sea of red and black, the words flowing as much as the ale. Helluva night, boss.”

Gabe smiled at the thought. “I’ll say. coming out of the first set of matches with three at home to the team right below you, and a draw on the road to the team above you is pretty good. Helps when you knock off the others, too.”

Rob laughed. “Yeah, not the same old Kryties, eh?”

Someone in the crowd, as if they overheard the conversation, started chanting. By the second repeat of the first line,

Well, you’ve moved around in bunches,
Yes you’ve moved around a bit.
You’ve changed your name and back again,
And now you play like $#^!

Krytenia, Krytenia,
We know you all a bit!
You always wear the cyan,
And a goal you will not get!

Gabe took another sip while listening. “Not bad. I can see why this is your crowd. Especially since that match was over two weeks ago.”

He then turned serious for a moment. “So, before we kick with Aels, let’s talk about your project. Any movement?”

“Well, the problem they’re having is paying for it. They need sponsors, they need national team and federation support, and frankly, they’ll probably need more government support. Why do you think Xavier left for Vilita? They doubled his salary, and that’s someone the Fed was essentially financing.”

Gabe grimaced. Of course it was money that was a problem. “It is, but we need to do this, if we’re going to sustain our growth in the program. Am I going to have to go see Linus?”

Rob took a long pull before answering. “I’d recommend it, yes. He’s both a friend of yours, and has the ear of the director-general. Since they’ll want the stadium construction plan to have an actual benefit, other than the other idea, then yes, they’ll probably go for it.”

Gabe sighed. “Well, at least I don’t have to do it now, though another beer could help.”

[Maklohi Vai]

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
OOC: This RP line is still before the start of the World Cup. It will catch up.

*click*
*open on national news broadcast, anchor's desk*
"Today, the Maklohi Vai FA released a decision penalizing players Umo Munulowai and Luto Omapai, who were in an altercation yesterday where Munulowai punched Omapai after the latter used a slur against new teammate Klaus Lomupakani-Wagner."

*cut to press conference, President of FA giving a statement*
"We have looked over this situation thoroughly, taking advice from players, Coach Lomokanapai, and other staff. After reviewing the incident and the rules involved, we have decided to suspend each of the players for the entirety of the Des Monts Ila Vai Cup, and in addition we are asking them to do an extra 40 hours of community service each with our summer camps, on top of their normal obligation. Further penalization will not be required stemming from this incident."

*cut back to news*
"Reactions to the sudden incident and to the decision have varied widely. Both players have issued statements of apology and regret, but in addition Munulowai went on TV to express his opinion."

*cut to press conference with Umo Munulowai*
"Violence is not the answer there, and I should know better. The best answer to that sort of... statement, I believe, is to take the high ground and not say anything. I should have kept my emotions in check and not addressed it with violence."

*cut back to news*
"Citizens of the community also expressed their opinions when interviewed in downtown Kolo Lahi."

*cut to interview with elderly woman on street*
"I feel... like we don't have room for that sort of opinion here, especially not from a person representing the nation. I think a good 'ol sock in the nose is quite appropriate."

*cut back to news*
"The majority of opinions and interviews that we conducted took the side of Munulowai or took a position that did not endorse Omapai's words. However, there are always exceptions."

*cut to interview with young man with shaved head on his porch*
"Those foreigners don't deserve to be in our country. We have the purest values and morals here in Maklohi Vai, and we don't need some sort of pale swill infecting that. He should be able to speak his beliefs and not get punched in the face for it."

*cut back to news*
"In other news today...
*click*

---

"WELCOME TO THE SPORTS ZONE! I'M MURUKUNAO UMALAKOPANI!"
*click*

---

"... and now when you're basting the pig ears, you ne---"
*click*

---

"Well if I were a weasel, I think I would enjoy fi----"

---

*click*
"We now move onto the economy, and how the President is destroying our traditional family values marijuana Mexican debt ceiling."

---

"Hi, and welcome back from commercial. My guest here today is the newest member of the national team, Klaus Lomupakani-Wagner."

"Hi, thanks for having me."

"Now, Klaus, how do you feel about the recent incident with Luto Omapai?"

"Well, I am offended by such things, and I'm glad the FA took care of it appropriately."

"You don't think he should have been punished more severely?"

"I think the FA has good judgement."

"What about Umo, who punched him?"

"I really appreciate that he stood up for me. I don't condone the violence, but I appreciate the intent."

"Would you have punched him?"

"No, I wouldn't have."

"Now, Klaus, let's talk about your future with this team. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?"

"I see myself starting at midfield in a World Cup, whatever edition it happens to be on."

"That sounds very certain."

"It does, and it's something I want to aim for."

"That's really good. Do you have any big goal?"

"To win a World Cup. That would be the best thing that could happen. That's my dream."

"Do you think that Maklohi Vai can do that within your career?"

"Yes, I think we can. With hard work and some luck, we can go anywhere."

"Thank you Klaus. We're going to head to commercial, and then we'll be back with more from the national team's newest player, Klaus Lomupakani-Wagner."

*click*

[Branta Island]

Edoardo Gaspari's Online Journal
June 17th, 2029

Please excuse the lack of a report following the Valanora match, Brantolano fans. I was too busy being ECSTATIC over it! One of the best matches I've seen in a long time, one worthy to have been played in the Finals, it was that great! OK, let me calm down for a minute. Doctor says that too much physical exertion would be bad for me given my current condition.

The match started off like any other, as both teams were meekly going into each others' zones, just trying to feel the other team out in hopes to find a weakness. But the first half was just fraught with bad passes and wild shots, both teams giving up possession with ease. I thought I was watching a Saugeain League 2 match out there (no offense to Orsino Rocca). But luck did find the Brantolano first just after the quarter hour mark, as captain Aureliano Sebastiani had a cracking shot from 26 yards out, whizzing by two defenders and the keeper to find itself nestled in the top right area of the net.

Valanora did manage to score mere seconds before the half time whistle, negating the well deserved lead the boys had to that point. I've been on many a side that conceded just before the interval, and let me tell you, it puts a damper on the spirits in the locker room. I'm sure Francesco was doing his best to motivate the boys into giving it their all for the next half. However, 2 minutes after the start of the second hald, Valanora jumped out ahead after a bad back pass was picked up by the opposition, and easily slotted through under Max Rustici.

Time was winding down, with 5 minute plus stoppage left in the match, and it didn't look like much was going to come of the match. Branta Island had plenty of opportunities, but the Vanoran keeper was on his A+ game like usual. 5 minutes+ left in the match, and the boys won a corner kick on the left side. Francis Buffone, one of the better place kickers, take his chances aiming a laser beam for the far post. It was headed down by Sebastiani, but blocked very theatrically by the Vanoran keeper, but spilled the ball as he hit the ground. Orsino Rocca was there toclean up the mess, and the match was all tied at 2!

Orsino ran into the net, picking the ball up, and jolted to the middle of the pitch. Placing the ball on the center dot, he motioned for his teammates back onside to get the match restarted. The Stadio was buzzing now as Valanora restarted the match. Within a minute of restarting, a strong clearance by the Vanoran keeper led to his line pushing up near midfield. What they hoped was for one of their strikers to turn and run with the ball unopposed on Max. What they didn't count on was Aureliano heading the ball equally as strong back over the heads of the Vanoran defenders. The ball was about to tumble to the ground, when Rocca and Buffone raced past the back line of the opposition. As the Vanorans sprinted after them, Roca was the first to gain possession of the ball. He began to drift out to the right side of the net, drawing the Vanoran keeper with him. Just as he entered the box, he flicked a pass across to Buffone, who stared down a wide open net and slammed home the match winner.

The stadium went nuts, I gave a short yell, and all of Branta Island was celebrating this monumental victory. The first top 25 team we've ever defeated, still undefeated, and now in second place in the standings. After that win, the recent draw to Akbarabad seems to be a complete letdown by the players, but looking at the standings, we are still 3 points back of first place, and in prime play-off position. Did you ever think you'd hear those words, fans? That Branta Island has an outside shot at making the World Cup?

Until next time, everyone!

[Socialist States Owen]

Eura finally record a clean sheet!
Sporadic's boys put disappointment against Licentians and Eastfield Lodge behind them to record comfortable win
Clint Covey reports from Bastion Arena, capacity 110,000, Eura

EURA - 2
Stevenson 40
Thomas 77

ANCHARMUNN - 0

Amidst controversy involving the position of Kelly Sporadic and a couple of poor results, Eura attempted to get back on track in Bastion tonight with a reassuring 2-0 victory at home to our Charmunny chums from Terrenea.

Unusually Eura were playing in their blue away kit tonight, which many foreign observers ignorantly point out is more similar to our flag than the home kit, as Ancharmunn were allowed to wear their home strip - mainly because their away strip had gone missing in transit at Bastion Fairways International Airport. Regardless the Euran's still looked quite magnificent in their blue and gold, and they played magnificently too against a spirited Ancharmunn side. Bastion usually enjoys decent weather and the Arena enjoys modest coverage from the rain, but tonight it was pouring down and little could be done about it. Initially the weather favoured the arguably less stylish and skill driven away side, who took a strong hold on the game in the early stages. Eamon Power is no stranger to the Bastion Arena - having played a handful of cup finals here and one league fixture each season - and he looked right at home nestled in the defence between Fitzpatrick and Molony. He had the first significant chance of the game as it happens, driving low and hard past the post from 25 yards out in the 15th minute.

Ancharmunn continued to look for chances as the home side literally weathered a storm, and in the 22nd minute Oscar Collins should have made it 1-0. Put through on goal by a magnificent ball from Fitzpatrick, and partly thanks to his own skill in drifting inside Ryan Collins, the Ancharmunn winger shot straight at the keeper from the edge of the box when it seemed easier to put it either side of him. Belgrave came to the rescue once again minutes later as he pulled off an almost impossible save, tipping Piaras Ó Flannagáín's rasping volley from only 8 yards out onto the post before catching the ball on the rebound, and on the line. Eura were not totally out of the game at this stage, it should be said (McCroft had almost beaten McGrath with a 26th minute free kick) but they were clearly on the back foot. This changed in the 40th minute when they broke the Charmunny ascendancy with a clever goal. Colin Collymore, who has been so impressive in recent games, found Josh Stevenson on the wing with an impressive through ball that travelled 30 yards. But rather than passing inside to Sharp or Thomas, Stevenson stood fast and decided to leather a shot towards goal. They say fortune favours the brave and that was the case here as the wet ball squeezed through McGrath's hands and into the net.

The rain had subsided by half time and in the second half the pitch remained damp, but Ancharmunn had tired and like in previous fixtures against the Euran's, their fitness faltered. The balance of play had swung in favour of the hosts and it showed; during the first ten minutes of the second half, the home side had a whopping 93% possession. Remarkably this didn't result in a goal, not yet at least, as McGrath and the Eamon Power led away defence defended with determination. Efforts from Lee Sharp, Tom Riley and Clive Dawson were all denied by the keeper before Michael Robertson headed against the woodwork. Gareth Dawkins almost scored a stunner in the 70th minute, attempting a 40 yard wonder strike, but the shot narrowly missed to the disappointment of the 'oohing' and 'aahing' crowd. Ancharmunn had few chances in the second half, though Oscar Collins did have another chance to trouble Daniel Belgrave; but the recently criticsed star keeper of Eura for a decade and a half kept him out with a terrific save. However it was inevitable that Ancharmunn would break at the back again.

Sam Thomas had been strangely quiet over the course of the match - since he had actually managed to replace Sam Needle in the starting lineup, his form had foundered noticeably. Tonight he would get himself back in the good books of the fans and the manager with a stunning goal. Lee Sharp, still so brilliant despite his age, launched a daring ball into the opposition half after coming deep to defend in the 77th minute. Thomas flicked the ball over Power, leaving the usually imperious defender stranded, before running on to it and charging towards goal. McGrath rushed out and rather than shooting round him or chipping him, Thomas kept going and swerved round the onrushing keeper who slid laterally to try and smother the ball. He finished with ease, having practically walked the ball in to the net, and the game was all but over. Alun Jenkins (the veteran captain of the away side) was very unlucky not to score as he hit the bar with a header in the last minute, but its unlikely the consolation goal would have made any difference.

ANALYSIS

Player Ratings

EURA

1. D Belgrave – 9/10
21. G Dawkins - 7/10
4. M Robertson – 7/10 (Dassuna - 60)
19. R Collins - 8/10
23. C Collymore - 9/10
7. J McCroft - 7/10 YC
6. T Riley - 7/10 (Anderson - 64)
8. C Dawson - 6/10 YC
11. J Stevenson – 9/10
10. L Sharp - 8/10 (Kane - 80)
17. S Thomas - 8/10

Substitutes

13. C Waller
15. B Dassuna - 7/10
5. L Heath
3. M Smith
20. G Anderson - 6/10
16. K Kane - 6/10
26. J Spartan
14. S Oslograd
9. S Needle

ANCHARMUNN

1. A McGrath - 8/10
2. B Fitzpatrick - 7/10
5. E Power - 8/10 YC
6. R Molony - 6/10 (C Power - 82)
3. I Walsh - 7/10 (Brennan - 67)
7. O Collins - 6/10
4. A Jenkins - 7/10 YC
8. E Ó Cléirigh - 5/10
11. J Keane - 4/10
9. D Kaczka - 4/10 YC
10. P Ó Flannagáín - 6/10 (Murray - 70)

Substitutes

13. L Kenny
12. T McDonnell
22. A Kenny
16. S Donnelly
18. T Brennan - 4/10 YC
14. B Ó Buachalla
17. L Ó Ceallacháin
19. S Murray - 6/10
20. C Power - 5/10

MoM: Daniel Belgrave (Eura)
Attendance: 110,000 - full house

Possession
EUR - 62 % 38 - ANC
Shots
EUR - 19 12 - ANC
On Target
EUR - 6 5 - ANC
Corners
EUR - 10 7 - ANC
Pass Completion
EUR - 87 % 63 - ANC
Fouls
EUR - 9 15 - ANC

[Alexanderburn]

43 Qazox 2-1 Alexanderburn 134
Massie (84')
Team struggles against Qazox, moves into "real murky water"

Well, we cannot say that this is unexpected, we're almost at the end of the match and Alexanderburn is down by two.

This last match was definitely the hardest that the team has played thus far, as the opponents in Qazox's stadium dominated the first 84 minutes of the match. The game started out with a number of back-and-forth losses of possession between the two teams. In fact, neither team could essentially dominate in the first 15 minutes of the match. The game resembled that of a secondary school, with no side able to keep the ball for more than a minute. This comes as a shocker, especially for the Alexanderburnese's side, as the ANFT is known for being a team that is notoriously defensive-and-midfield oriented with the strategy of counterattacks being the dominant and decisive factor in their wins. Nevertheless, until the first goal was scored by Qazox around the thirty-minute mark, the game was relatively unartistic, though many attempts off-goal were made.

The opener came in the 33rd minute as Hilton (Qazox) netted the ball past Moulton to put the competitors up 1-0 before half time. Alexanderburn's game seemed to slow down after that point as the team became less motivated and more sloppy after being down a goal, and even allowed a big gap in their defense which would have resulted in a goal had it not been for the stellar one-on-one skills of Dale Moulton, AX1's "Player of the Season" for the League 1 2012-2013 session.

"By the time we were going into the second half, we were aware that we needed to step our game up to the next level," noted coach William Kingsley. "That's why we decided to bring in more aggressive players such as Cremonesi and Sirois in substitution for van der Pol and Frederiksen, respectively. And please, let's not call these players B-team footballers. There is nothing secondary about these guys. These are in fact some of the best players that the nation has to offer, and unfortunately we cannot offer every man a position every time because the competition even nationally is just too good for that. That is what makes our team unique - we are a well-rounded team. There is not one superstar here. Everyone is a superstar. Everyone has the chance to live the dream."

However, other commentators had some aggressive responses to this:

"Well, if everyone is as good as [Kingsley] claims, then why are we not seeing Kastner playing in some games? Not even Nordaglio is playing anymore after the fans and supporters seemed to boo him out of his number 1 position. To me, it seems as if the line-up is determined simply by what the fans want, what they voice their opinion for by their cheers and jeers, their purchasing of tickets, rather than what works well. The coaches were really doing a superb job back in the WC60 qualification round, but now it seems as if things turned for the worse, as if the coaches have no idea what is going on with the team that they supposedly represent."

Here is the official line-up as released earlier today on AX1's football network:

STARTING LINE-UP (Alexanderburn vs Boring Paradise)

van der Pol / Cremonesi
Frederiksen / Schroeder / Jameson
Holierhoek (c) / Collett
Doyle / Rittenhouse / Milton
Moulton

Modification: -2

Good luck Alexanderburn!

[The Royal Kingdom of Quebec]

Sportsnet-Your Sports Broadcasting Channel
Anna Grondin
6.25.2017

The Royal Kingdom of Quebec Grim Reapers, after a surprising 1-1 draw against 18th-ranked Wight, gained a huge victory against Karditan.

The Grim Reapers, who came off in what was a very tight match against Wight at Green Point the day before, seemed to be much more slowed down and without much physicality into their play on their morning practice. Following the practice, he decided to bench and rest some key players in both defense and forwards. For the match, Adrian Van Zanten and Eugene Jang replaced key defenders Eugene Cohen and Billy Carter, while Ross Kim replaced William Corriander. This was debated by many hours before match as some faulty mistakes, with many saying that substitution of 3 starters, in the end, will cost the Grim Reapers their matches.
Fortunately, they were proved wrong once again, to the spectacular tactics by the Head Coach Ji Choon Kim, as those players played well and heavily contributed to the win.

Now, moving on to the details....

The Karditani started off with an early lead when Richard Bunson easily scored with a huge header up in the 5th minute. That early goal caused the Quebecois to panic and start screwing up, as they made some faulty, simple mistakes that were utterly painful to watch. Fortunately, only one goal was scored out of that, with Yong-Hu Cho's shot, knocking Adrien Marchand out as he did so. This caused huge complains from the team players to the referee. This did no help as Riley Johnson, the team's leading scorer with 5 goals, got a red card after he wished the death upon the referee. Now, the Grim Reapers are outnumbered, not to mention trailing 2-0.

Faced with huge downer and no realistic option, the Quebecois resorted to Bedroom soccer, their trademark style of playing. The style, for those who doesn't know, is about players just passing to each other and occasionally tackle,punch or use any other kinds of physical actions against opponents. This largely worked, though resulting most of the audience(especially to those on Karditani side) to get bored and fall asleep. Nothing much happened for rest of the First Half and up in went.

At the halftime, Coach Kim gave some hard, strong lectures in order to motivate the players up. This seemed to work, as the Quebecois recharged and came back with much bravery and strength. The Quebecois, deeply motivated, have got out of their safe zone(aka.bedroom soccer) and started to launch their offensive assault against Karditani. At the 57th minute, Thunderbolt Han tricked and blitzed past 3 defenders before scoring in a long-range shot that nearly burst into the net. The Quebecois contingent went wild and they continued to attack, very much outplaying their opponents.

The 76th minute goal by Rene Bourassa placed them in a much better position with 2-2 score. The overwhelmed Karditani now started to fight back and win the match, but it was already too late. The Grim Reapers were far stronger and outperforming by that time. And their fate was sealed when Zachary Fortin scored the game-winning goal with a stunning overhead kick after a great pass by Rene Bourassa.

Won in a dramatic fashion, the Grim Reapers are now back to Quebec, where they'll face the 67th-ranked Jedi8246 in Green Point. The QBC Broadcast starts at 8:30 tonight, with some previews and other pre-game interviews to be held before the 21:30 game.

[Lymantatia]

A Year In The Life: Weeks 1-4
The person centered around in "A Year In The Life" is a female 14-year-old named Liselotte de Archambault (November 20, 1997-) who lives in Roselle, a town with a population of 10,000 which is near Laurentia. Liselotte's paternal ancestry starts with the Archambault noble family. She has a mother (October 22, 1964-), father (June 2, 1962-), a 14-year old sister Marguerite (March 11, 1997-) and a 22-year old brother named Alfred (March 28, 1989-).
Week 1 (January 1-January 7)
Liselotte is on her winter break, making snowmen in her backyard. This is a normal day, until her family goes to the glaciers of Saint Nicolo.
Week 2 (January 8-January 14)
Back at school, with a new semester, her schedule is:
08:00 Physical Education
09:00 Algebra I
09:30 English Language
10:00 French Language
10:30 English Literature
11:00 French Literature
11:30 Calatan
12:00 Calatan Literature
12:30 Lunch
13:00 History
14:00 Science
15:00 Computers
16:00 Drama
17:00 Italian
18:00 Japanese
19:00 Dismissal
She has her friends John, Phillip, Jacqueline, Alexandrine, Elise.
Week 3 (January 15-January 21)
She is at Jacqueline's birthday party.
Week 4 (January 22-January 28)
She gets her first haircut in 15 months. Her hair was originally 4 feet long.
Lymantatia 3–2 Northern Sunrise Islands
Posted at 9:00pm 2013 June 24 - Lymantatia has won the game against NSI. Clearly, there were a few things, such as a penalty kick, a bribed referee, and a female goalscorer.
Goalscorers
13 mins - Jacques Bressler (Lymantatia)
22 mins - Jacques Bressler (Lymantatia)
55 mins - Mateus Carvalho (Northern Sunrise Islands)
73 mins - Christie Travis (Northern Sunrise Islands)
93 mins - Sylvius Johnson (Lymantatia)
Current Statistics
Average number of time of goals: 32 minutes 33.333 seconds (32.556 minutes)
Average number of time of goals by other teams: 48 minutes 30 minutes (48.5 minutes)
Most goals by person on Lymantatia's team: Jacques Bressler (6)
IC Time is 9:00pm 2013 June 25
Edit: Requested by NSI and Eura.

[Audioslavia]

Rubio had extended his jaunt to Kjeligsted from a couple of days to a week, deciding to stay and earn some extra money by getting himself into the Audioslavia game and putting pen to paper. He'd met with Alvaro Mozo a few times, hit it off quite well, and became privy to some information on the man - at 27 years old, just a boy, really, in terms of the average age of coaching staff. Alvaro had been born on Ciele island, that much Rubio already knew, but he hadn't known of Alvaro's upbringing, and his father-figure status to younger brother Jon - the one who worked behind the bar at the Weelderig hotel - after his father had left while Alvaro was only ten. Alvaro had managed to balance the three main aspects of his teenage life - school, football and looking after wee Jon - in a commendable manner, coming out with decent grades and an apprenticeship for Izotz Zubia that had turned into a full-blown contract and, from the ages of 20 to 25, regular playing time at the high-flying club. The Audioslavia national team had always seemed just around the corner, but a couple of injuries as a supposedly sprightly twenty-two year old had halted his development. He'd recovered to find his position in central midfield taken by two younger players, found playing time only as a make-shift right-back and, on that fateful Wednesday evening in November, had two ligaments and a bone in his knee snap, and that was that. He didn't have to walk with a cane, but 'would probably have to at some point' so he'd been told. He'd done his coaching badges while taking up a position as a coach at Izotz Zubia and now, two and a half years on, had the job as assistant to the one and only Israel Klimt. Alvaro had said that he desperately hoped his arrival and the sudden fall in stock of Israel Klimt, and the loss of form for the national team, had been a coincidence. He was working hard at putting things right.

Rubio had shadowed Alvaro for a while as the assistant did his duties, before heading up to the media centre, getting there ten minutes after kick-off.

---

Jeremy Jaffacake was busy showing Jon Mozo round the media centre. Jon, non-plussed by the game, which was already a few minutes old, found himself captivated by the hustle and bustle of the journalists as they busily transcribed the match onto paper, pads, laptops, audio streams and, in one large booth, television commentary. Jeremy had introduced Jon to as many journalists as possible, all of whom had greeted Jeremy warmly, most not having seen him in six years. Jeremy knew that, had he not have retired, those same smiling journalists would have been a little more apprehensive, knowing Jeremy's reputation. Jon, who hadn't the foggiest idea who Jeremy was before the other day, was introduced as what he was - a family member of one of the coaching staff. Jeremy felt 'distributor of illegal materials' might have given the game away.

"And this, here is Rubio" said Jeremy, as a familiar face walked in through the tunnel towards the media centre. Jeremy smiled. Rubio frowned, stopped dead in his tracks, and stared at Jeremy.
"Jesus, mary and the little sheeps what in the name of balls are you doing here?!" cried Rubio, before the pair embraced in a hug just awkward enough for them to retain their sense of blokiness.
"This is Jon, by the way. Jon Mozo. He's the brother of..."
"We've met. Works out of the Weelderig" said Rubio, interrupting. He and Jon shared a smile and a nod.
"You're the one who's been wining and dining my bro, aye?" said Jon, drawing a nod from Rubio,
"Ah, you're here on business, then, getting the insider on young Alvaro, is it?"
"Something like that. Nice guy. Hope for his sake Audioslavia do well"
"Hear that?" said Jeremy, towards Jon, "even a Krytenian wants Audioslavia to win. That brother of yours must be doing something right"
The three men were interrupted by a roar from the crowd. In the distance, the familiar sight of Karsten Eiger wheeling away from goal with his hand raised heralded the changing of the scoreboard. Audioslavia 1, Bloodbath Generation 0.
"Doin' alright, aye" said Jon.
"So" said Rubio, folding his arms, "I've told you why I've been seeing Senyor Mozo senior. Why are you with Mozo junior?"

tbc

[Beaverriver]

After the game on Team private jet
"That was a very disappointing game, on a losing streak in qualifiers" said Levi Elias.
"I know, we couldn't break their defense and they had us figured out", said Jean Baptiste. "I was pelted with shots from the start and it continued on until the end of the game. I got exhausted towards the end of the game and the shots were coming and I did all I could. Unfortunately, I let two of them through."
"I can feel for you, Jean. I couldn't keep up with some of those players because I was exhausted towards the end of the game."
"Maybe everybody had a bad night. You combine that with playing on the road against the top ranked team in the group and we get blown out."
"I thought you did well despite being blown out and the back line not able to support you. It doesn't help that Zach put us in a three in the back formation towards the end of the game. That didn't really help our attack and we just got pelted with more shots."
"I think he did what he thought was right at the time and that was to start up our attack which didn't worked out for him as planned."

"Who ordered the green bean burrito?" the flight attendant asked to Jean and Levi.
"Oh, that's mine." claimed Jean. The flight attendant gave the green burrito to Jean. He didn't even bothered with the plate and dove right in to the burrito.
"So you must of ordered the spaghetti with mushroom chicken" exclaimed the flight attendant
"Yes, I did order the spaghetti with mushroom chicken" said Levi. She gave him the plate with the spaghetti and mushroom chicken. "Thank you" said Levi.
"Your welcome" said the flight attendant and she walked back to the kitchen compartment in the plane.
"I never seen a green bean burrito before. It is really strange to have green beans in a burrito", Levi said curiously. Jean stopped eating and let his food digest.
"I was actually expecting the green beans to be like the vegetable green beans and not green beans that are more similar to pinto beans. This green pinto bean burrito still tastes good even though it looks like I'm eating green waste." Jean remarked about the burrito. He then continues on eating his "green bean" burrito.

[Gaveo]

The Gaveoan Times

World Cup LXV Qualifiers: We Won!

Gaveoan fans celebrating the win in Santiago.

By: Beni Cortez

Gaveo wins against the powerhouses Jeruselem! The score was 1-0. With that win Gaveo goes up in the standings with 13 points and takes the first place spot from Bergnovinaia, as they lost to Mesoland 2-0. We face them next and hopefully we can pull of the win and continue to retain our first place spot.

The match was like no other as both Jeruselem and Gaveo fought for possession the whole match and it was intense as Gaveo slowly started to edge out the other team. Eventually we scored and took the lead with a goal from Santiago Rojas but many fans and media personnel believe the play was offsides, which after further review was, but by a little bit. Either way Gaveo lead in the match. Jeruselem had a chance to get back in the game multiple times but the play was either called offsides or the shot was blocked by Joaquin Cadiz.

After the match Coach Villaroel was confident as ever as he declared this team as the best Gaveo team we had ever had, is it true? Time will tell but we do know this, we will face Mesoland, which beat the number one team before, Bergnovinaia. Will Gaveo avoid a similar fate? We will find out next week! When Mesoland travels to Gaveo to face off against us. Good luck to us and go Gaveo!

[Farfadillis]

If we sold goals, Northern Sunrise Islands would love to buy them

Another day of the long and hard qualifyings for the World Cup, the biggest and most followed event in the sports multiverse, and most likely the most followed event of the entire multiverse. At the very least the most organized one.

And we want to be in it, of course. Farfadillis has been doing well lately, competing with New Montreal States, renowned team, and Northern Sunrise Islands, who tied with Lymantatia. Yes, we're competing with someone who tied with Lymantatia. God.

However, we're here to bring you the good news! Farfadillis has been keeping their form to the point where we've managed to score seven goals in one match, in our traditional goal fest of the qualifyings. There's usually two each qualifying... it better be against New Montreal States.

Anyways, the match was thrilling. Well, not really. It was almost like we were playing RLStates Tahiti or something. However, the match did have a twist to it. The game started with a goal in the seventh minute by Friekder Dandalleion. He got a ball from Karkka on the right flank, dribbled one player, feinted a shot, dribbled another guy and shot violently. The ball bounced off the post quickly and went directly to his feet. With the goalkeeper on the floor after having dived, he shot just as violently with his left foot after controlling the ball with his right foot and started to celebrate. However, Tahiti Timfen quickly reacted with a dubious penalty, that the referee decided to give them maybe just because he kinda felt bad for them. Anyways, they did score. The ball hit the crossbar and went in bouncing like four times. Ugh.

After that, Karkka scored his first goal with the national team from a free kick. He bent the shot to the left post, right above the wall. The goal was brilliant, and some good goalkeeper probably wouldn't have stopped it either. He just had to do that against Timfen. After that, Gâyö Mî scored a goal after Mêndêlöíndçêl sent a long pass to him. Seemingly, all the Timfen(ian?) defense was totally not focused, and so Mî found himself chipping the ball over the goalkeeper with a magnificent one-touch volley. It was brilliant, but the goal was ruined by the horrible defense, it just didn't look professional. And it was further ruined by our defense, who couldn't get back quickly during a counterattack. They scored again. I mean, Timfen scored twice. Not really Faró's fault, though, he was trying to steal the ball from three guys at the same time. Three. And talking about three, that's the twist, they equalized with their third goal. Long story short, Wii-Tzaara "fouls", and I put this between inverted commas because he actually didn't, an opposing player, and they somehow score from the cross that came from it. UGH! Anyways, just before half time, Lord Savior Dandalleion and Sir Savior Tuzzio decided to ruin the Timfen(s?)' day by playing pefrectly together and scoring a goal. Dandalleion dribbled a player by the edge of the box and passed the ball to Tuzzio, who heeled it back to Dandalleion, who dribbled a player in the box and went one-on-one with the goalkeeper, he then crossed back to the edge of the small box, towards where Tuzzio was running. Tuzzio then just ducked and let physics do the rest, and so Farfadillis was leading 4-3 by half time, thankfully.

After half time, Mêrí finally started to appear, and he probably saved everyone's asses by scoring to rather early goals. During the fifty-second minute, he got the ball on the left flank, dribbled a Timfen(dan?) defender with a few tricks, got to a perfect position to cross, feinted a cross, dribbling another Timfen(ian?) player and then feinted another one to dribble another defender and to be left against the goalkeepr. Without much angle, he fulminated the ball, it hit the right post and went in. Everything was ok, I guess. Then, just five minutes later, Mêrí got a ball from Tuzzio in the penalty spot, he then, just like any pesky Rulandese (on that note, since when are these guys so good, anyways?) he hit the opponent with his elbow quick enough for the referee not to notice, then turned left and then shot to the lower-right corner with precision. And Farfadillis was already winning 6-3, and we were somewhat happy. I was, at least. Then, Dandalleion scored another goal in the eightieth minute, after arguably our best match in a long time and some minutes in which we couldn't score. The goal was a penalty, so nothing exciting, really.

And so, we're top of group 7! Very nice huh? Poor Sunrisians, they'll wish they hadn't lost to Lymantatia... I can't stop laughing.

[Falconwhereveryouare]

The Eagle's Eye
The best piece of paper north of Aels!
SPORTS
What a Tern of Events

By Otis Birmingham

Well, it was about time someone brought the Falcons back down the earth. But did it have to be a team nicknamed after a lesser bird? This isn't the first time the Falcons and the Terns have gone toe-to-toe, but this slaughter on our home ground is nothing like when we forced the Polarians into extra time on The Barge (which we ended up losing heavily, 6-3, but the point is that we had a 3-3 draw in regulation time). The loss drops us back into second place in Group 9, and unfortunately, it's probably going to be an uphill battle to stay there.

Play didn't start out too terribly, with the Falcons putting up a pretty good fight for the first twenty minutes. Stanislava Hertz created a few opportunities but wasn't able to get past Artemiusz Korzhanenko, who's been very solid in the net for the Terns. Very solid. No goals allowed so far solid, and he kept his sheet clean through the first twenty, which is about all he really needed to do. From then on the Falcons just lost control, playing out the remaining seventy-odd minutes constantly on their heels. And if there's someone who knows how to take advantage of a team on its heels, it's Alexsandr van Sorensen. Even though he's getting on in age, the Polarian star doesn't seem like he's missed a step, and he had the match in the palm of his hand. The Falconian defense fell apart almost on command for him, putting in two goals by himself in the thirtieth and fourty-third minutes, while assisting Felix Saarinen in the sixty-ninth and dropping in a great cross for Vadim Illich-Svitych to head in merely three minutes later. With the Falcons down four-zip and a little under twenty minutes to go, there wasn't much they could do other than try to stop the bleeding, which they did manage. Barely. The Terns came close to expanding their lead even further on several consecutive corners, which only finally ended when Marten Cornelius sent a shot into the stands.

When asked about the team's dismal performance, manager David Radic had this to say: "We really need to improve our defense. I know a lot of people in the FFA don't want to abandon the Falcon's traditional attacking football, but we're not going to get anywhere when playing like that. So, I've made the decision to give Sergey Grzeskiewicz the call-up. Apparently he won the Euran league with Directus, whose defense is headed up by one of my old boys from Audioslavia, so he must be pretty good. He'll be on the bench, but I won't hesitate to bring him on for Severi [Næss] if things start going downhill."

Falconwhereveryouare - 0
Polar Islandstates - 4
Alexsandr van Sorensen, 30', 43'
Felix Saarinen, 69'
Vadim Illich-Svitych, 72'

[Milchama]

OOC: I just want to make it clear that the conspiracy nature theory of this post is IC and not OOC. The hosts are doing a fine job.

"Well it's clear now"

"What is?"

"It's the hosts"

"Huh?"

"Hosts?"

"Yeah it's bias"

"What do you mean bias?"

"Wait didn't we already do this angle?"

"Yeah but that was the Ylompics and nobody even remembered that existed"

"What was that?"

"My point exactly"

"No but actually"

"Ok it was a proto-Olympics tournament hosted by Casari on the old Jolt forums"

"I have no idea what you are talking about"

"Well Milchama always wanted to be part of the Olympics, until it got boring"

"Oh yeah"

"Remember kleptochase?"

"Yeah it's still played up north"

"Oh right, well it used to be international"

"Oh yeah we beat Az-cz in that"

"Exactly"

"So?"

"Well there's a lot of old graveyards"

"Wait, I thought we were talking about this World Cup"

"Right, that was a thing"

"So?"

"Will you stop just saying so"

"No, not until you actually explain something"

"Like I need a beer"

"Could be more complex but sure"

"Ok then"

"Well I think it's hosts bias as to how we're not winning games"

"Explain"

"Well for the last few World Cups we've been great and now we're stop seed and sucking. So there's only one logical explanation"

"Uhhhhh...our team got old and complacent"

"No the hosts are screwing us over because they're biased"

"Why would they be biased?"

"Easy, Saugeais is still angry that we voted against his Presidency and Pasarga is still angry over some perceived slight from the 40s"

"The 40s?"

"Somewhere in between WC 40-49"

"Oh ok then"

"Wait, I thought Pasarga wasn't around then"

"Well Valanora was and they're very similar nations. Actually, I think one's a puppet of the other one"

"Right and?"

"So they're still angry about something"

"What could they be angry about, they beat us in every World Cup octofinal"

"I have no idea, but clearly something since we keep on losing"

"So then it's not the team's fault"

"No"

"Why don't we blame Margaret?"

"Too many people are doing that, I want to keep things fresh"

"So you're being more direct"

"Also more provocative"

"Why not the referees?"

"Do you know who the refs are?"

"I know Archregimancy's got that blind guy"

"Yeah but he's only done one of our games and that just further proves my point"

"How?"

"Because of course biased hosts would make sure that we get horrible referees. That way they can hide their manipulation behind the scenes"

"This is getting way to conspiratorial for me"

"That's fine, I never needed you anyways"

"Well are you still going to root for Milchama?"

"Of course, I just also want to bring the truth out to light"

"Which is?"

"Host bias, have you been listening at all"

"Just wanted to confirm"

"You're crazy"

"No you are. But actually, you're bat---- crazy for thinking this"

"You don't agree"

"I still don't see Pasarga's motive"

"Just run with it, that way we can continue to have the same faulty roster with no consequences"

"Oooooh good point, I'm in. World Cup 65 is an inside job!"

"Yeah"

"But we can beat the system!"

"Just like the other guys!"

"Just like them!"

"Come on You Warriors!"

"Let's Go Milchama!"

[Equestrian States]

And now, I will amaze you all with a truly awe-inspiring dialogue RP that I'm definitely not writing in the last few minutes before the cutoff because I didn't have enough time today to write a quality match report. No, the actual reasoning must be that I've seen the light and have decided to go this way because I...um...

Screw logic-based reasoning. Here's the RP. Enjoy! Or don't. I don't really care whether you think this is good or not.

"What just happened?"

"I don't know."

"Wait. Where are we?"

"Well, a physical location might be difficult to pin down, but it appears we are currently in the global system of interconnected computer networks known as the internet?"

"What? That doesn't make any sense at all! How can you and I be in the internet?"

"I dunno. But we are."

"Okay, fine. So we're 'in the internet'. Now what?"

"Good question. I have no idea."

...

"Well that's great. Just great! I'm stuck 'in the internet' with some other guy, and... Say, I don't know your name. Who are you exactly?"

"I dunno."

"What do you mean, 'I dunno'? You've got to know who you are!"

"It's just that. I. Do. Not. Know."

"Your name is 'I dunno'?"

"Of course not! What do you think this is? An Abbott and Costello skit?"

"Uh..."

"All I'm saying is I don't know who I am or what I'm supposed to be called."

"Then how can I tell that you're a guy?"

"Probably because the person who's writing this predetermined that we'd both be male."

"Oh, okay. So... Wait a minute! 'The person who's writing this'?"

"Yes."

"What the in the blazes does that mean?"

"It's not that complicated, really. We're two characters created by this guy for a post on a roleplaying forum for an online game simply for use in one post on a thread about a fictional World Cup contested by roughly 200 different 'nations'."

"You've got to be kidding me."

"Nope. Completely serious."

"You're not joking?"

"Of course not. I'm a fictional character who is so honest that my breaking the fourth wall is utterly inevitable."

"Well that's stupid."

"Duh! Can't you tell he doesn't usually do this sort of thing? I mean, I just said a few lines back that I don't know who I am and now I know precisely what I am."

"That does seem somewhat contradictory."

"Yep. And now the writer is desperately trying to figure out a way to get us to discuss something remotely connected to the topic."

"Topic? What topic?"

"The World Cup thingy."

"Oh, right."

"So... Do you have any thoughts on the 65th World Cup?"

"I'm still very confused, so not really."

"And that's your role in this little post of his! You're the new guy who clearly has no idea who, where, or what he is, symbolizing this particular writer's complete inexperience with this type of roleplaying!"

"If you say so..."

"Of course I say so! Though admittedly, I could see how someone reading this post could be a little confused as to which of us is saying what since the writer couldn't think of any good names for us."

"Odd. You'd think that it wouldn't be too hard to come up with good character names. Or at least slap some boring ones like Bob and Joe in front of each of our lines to make it a bit more clear to the audience."

"That's assuming we have an audience besides the host."

"The what?"

"The host. The person whose job it is to read each and every post and then give them a small amount of points based on how good or bad it is, then input said values into a program called a scorinator, then generate scores for games in various sports."

"Kinda feel sorry for the guy. Having to read crappy things like this."

"Yeah, well, the guy volunteered to do it, so he has to."

"Bummer. Can't imagine why anyone would want to do that..."

"It's not that bad. Sure there are some people who clearly have no clue how to write and/or don't really know all that much about what they're writing about. But then there are some who are the complete opposite and know exactly what they're doing."

"That's good. I can't imagine any sane person would willingly submit him or herself to reading only torturously-bad stuff."

...

"So, the writer just looked at his clock and realized he only has a couple minutes left to wrap things up and post this."

"Pitty. We didn't even get to discuss the World Cup thing."

"Yeah, well, we're out of time."

"What now?"

"I have a strange urge to say Let's go you Ponies!"

"Sounds good to me."

"Let's go you Ponies!"

[Saugeais]

Cutoff brought to you today by GN Berdon Medical Equipment. Ask about our 2 for 1 special on extra large, extra long catheters.

Scores

[Jeruselem]

Princess Katy and Michelle Salad in a funny named country called Beaverriver.

Katy: This is Princess Katy for Naked News Jeruselem. I'm in a country called Beaverriver where the Princesses played the local team on home turf. I'm with Michelle Salad once again.
Michelle: Oh hi
Katy: After the home loss to Gaveo 1-0, we needed a win didn't we?
Michelle: Yes, we need to keep in touch with the leaders
Katy: An away game is always a big test
Michelle: True, and we've never been here before too

Katy: Thankfully we won 4-0 against the home team
Michelle: Yes, one of our better efforts
Katy: So what happened the game before?
Michelle: I think I got some nasty flu from someone and given my immune is fragile, I went down like the Titanic
Katy; That sounds terrible
Michelle: Yes but I'm OK now. I'm building up my strength

Katy: Days like this must make things better
Michelle: Yes, not very stressful.
Katy: Our problem is we aren't scoring enough goals. 4 is good but I think it should have been more.
Michelle: Yes, I agree.
Katy: Do you think the secret to qualifying is success away from home?
Michelle: You need to do both well, home games are half the games in qualification still

Katy: Jeru FC drew Chiata 0–0 away. Not such a good result for them.
Michelle: They do play better at home, not so well away. But they didn't conceded one goal.
Katy: Yes, maybe they are learning defense
Michelle: Except the scoring switch got turned off. I bet your sister would be upset they didn't win
Katy: Yes, she would be a bit miffed.
Michelle: I guess they are kids still

Katy: Moving forward, we hope to strinng together a few wins before halfway
Michelle: Yes, it's gonna be hard to qualify. Look at Eura, they are struggling worse than us.
Katy: Beaverriver jokes are popular at the moment
Michelle: Yes, well ... most directed at people like you
Katy: True but when it comes to female beavers ... we're still the best
Michelle: I'd be an emotional wreck if I got insulted like that

Katy: Some think you are wrong person for this job
Michelle: I say, put your hand up to take this job. If you don't, don't say I'm no good unless you can prove it.
Katy: I know we have a big task ahead of us for the Princesses
Michelle: I know it's not gonna be easy. Never is
Katy: Now, I think there's crisis at Jeru FC. Given the quality of the new players.
Michelle: I've heard plenty of things about those boys

Katy: No big time coaches want to take on that job
Michelle: Given Melody Pond got underpaid for her hard work, I would truly understand. Melody Pond is doing so well in her new job
Katy: it's bad when football players have to make extra money on the side to support their campaign
Michelle: Your sister is holding the ship together still
Katy: She can't stop the worms eating the floorboards
Michelle: So true

[Free Republics]

Sporting World

The Equestrian States have unfair advantages
by: Rule Theriault

I am unsure if I should be writing this article for Sporting World. I am especially unsure since there are now just hours remaining until I will manage the National Soccer Team against the Equestrian States, the same "magical" ponies that beat us in the finals of the Di Bradini Cup. This is probably going to cost us tomorrow, but I feel that it has to be said regardless.

I want the Equestrian States banned from international sports. It simply isn't fair that they are sending teams composed of ponies to compete against humans. Humans simply can't outrun ponies. There are no PEDs that can make a human faster than their ponies. We simply have to hope that we can get lucky against them. Personally, I don't think that is fair. For the same reason that performance enhancing substances are banned in international sports, I feel that non-human competitors should be banned from competing.

I should apologize to the Equestrian States for the words of Nova Hellstrom. Miss Hellstrom repeatedly referred to them as "talking horses," which is how the Saintland Press refers to them. I know that they like to be called ponies and/or equines, so I will use those terms and I have been trying to encourage her to do the same.

I should emphasize that I mean no disrespect to them or to those armed bears that we just faced yesterday. I just feel that it isn't fair for them to be competing against humans in sports events. I think those nations have an unfair advantage by fielding non-humans and I wish the WCC and other international sports bodies would pass new rules prohibiting non-humans from competing in the Human World Cup. They can start a separate World Cup for sapient non-humans or even an Animal World Cup if they want, but my team should not be facing a bunch of bears or a bunch of ponies. That simply isn't right.

I also want to address the criticism mounting against me throughout the Federation. I am being criticized for sticking with a youth team in the World Cup. We simply aren't performing very well at the moment, but keep in mind that we are a young team and we will get better. By World Cup 70, which will be held 5 years from now, this team should mature into a world-class soccer team and they will have played together since most of them were teenagers. That is what I am planning.

I am hopeful that a team of talented young soccer players can be developed into a team that is good enough to win a World Cup. To do that, I want to keep them together. If some club in a secondary division somewhere will hire me as their manager, I would be happy to bring in all the players on this side and field them as a club team. That would provide further opportunities to this side. However, there are still plenty of tournaments to enter.

Throughout the FFR, everybody is excited at this moment for the upcoming Republican Games. After the Olympic Council declared that Petrograd was not a candidate city for the upcoming Summer Olympics, the Republican Olympic Committee (ROC) announced that they will be boycotting the Olympics and holding the Republican Games, our own version of the Olympics, simultaneous with that foreign event. The Republican Games will contain every event that those inferior "Olympics" in Liventia will contain, plus baseball and softball. I am proud to announce that the National Soccer Team will be competing in the Republican Games. We have already received one of the 16 spots in the Republican Games men's soccer tournament. Foreigners will not be permitted to compete at the Republican Games, which will be a showcase to the greatness of the Land of the Free.

Tomorrow, I will coach the National Soccer Team against the Equestrian States. I am not looking forward to this in the slightest. I'm currently writing this from the city of Manechester. Fortunately, my laptop connected to the Internet satellite, so I still have Internet here, but I'm still not sure if it was a good idea to write this article while I'm in the Equestrian States. Tomorrow, we will play then at the Pony Lands Park, a stadium that seats 54 thousand. I'm sure they'll be impressed by the much larger Church of Saintland Stadium in Albertope when we play them again. Speaking of religion, may the Goddess of Sport be with us tomorrow. We will certainly need her.

Rule Theriault is the manager for the FFR's National Soccer Team. He was the manager of Petrograd United. After a disappointing end to his tenure there, he entered a team in the Di Bradini Cup on behalf of the Federation of Free Republics. His mostly unheralded team finished 2nd in that competition, losing to the Equestrian States in the final. He led the National Soccer Team to a 17th place finish in the 52nd Baptism of Fire.

OOC: Yes, I'm thinking about scorinating a "domestic Olympics" for Free Republics simultaneous with the actual Olympics, but that is primarily an IC explanation for Free Republics not entering the Olympics.

[Jeru FC]

Jeru FC Princess Melody and player Ice Warrior (IW)

Melody: Oi, what's wrong with you today? I mean ... nothing, not one good shot on goal (IW)
IW: ...
Melody: Look you can't say nothing. It's not good enough.
IW: ...
Melody: You gonna defend yourself? Come on!
IW: Aircon not working

Melody: Sorry?
IW: Too hot
Melody: You mean you were overheating
IW: Yes
Melody: I see, you were not operating at optimal performance
IW: Yes

Melody: Well, you could have told us
IW: Sorry
Melody: All of you were disappointing
IW: ...
Melody: Except maybe the defense who actually did their job for once
IW: ...

Melody: You know what I expect, this team is about scoring goals. If we don't score goals, we gonna concede some and we're gonna lose.
IW: ...
Melody: Still too hot?
IW: Yes
Melody: I suppose you ran out of liquid nitrogen
IW: Yes

Melody: It's not like you can walk into show and buy the stuff
IW: Too hot ...
Melody: JAMES!
James: Someone called?
Melody: Get me some liquid nitrogen
James: Why me?

Melody: You have a plan for everything
James: Most things
Melody: Well get some for Ice guy here
James: He does look a bit warmish
Melody: Hurry up before he melts
James: OK OK

Melody: God, the things I have put up with.
IW: Hot
Melody: Don't die on me, I have enough problems
IW: Hot
Melody: Bloody hell.
Dream Lord: Can I help?

Melody: Go find some ice
Dream Lord: I can't carry than much ice
Melody: Take some of the boys with you
Dream Lord: But they don't listen to me
Melody: Say Princess says so, or else
Dream Lord: That'll work

<Later>

Melody: You alright
IW: Good
Melody: Next time, tell me if you're going to die
IW: I will
Melody: You must have weird parents
IW: Cold ones

[Milchama]

"So, of course we won"

"Oh definitely, so now they can keep up the cover up"

"Right because we won they can say it wasn't rigged"

"Well then"

"At least we won"

"True but it was too close"

"Whatever"

"Yeah we have more important issues to discuss"

"What are you talking about?"

"Well first it was the World Baseball Classic and now here in the World Cup, people are mocking our RPs"

"Oh please they're imitating and we all know that imitation is the best form of flattery. Really, to be honest with you I'm so happy that people are reading our RPs to be actually upset. It took like 8 years but people finally respect us"

"Well that's true but there's one more thing that's annoying me"

"What's that?"

"The 'Come on you [insert country here] part"

"Well we do say that at end every time"

"Yes but do people know why, like the real story"

"Please, people don't even know our names"

"Fair"

"I don't even know your name"

"Yeah that's still weird. Remember when we actually followed the 4th wall and pretended we knew each others' names. Good times. Good times."

"Yeah but that ended about a year ago"

"Also true"

"I mean meta-fiction is where it's at"

"Yes"

"I think metaficiton might not have a dash"

"How can you tell? We're having an oral conversation, not a written one"

"You made it sound like a dashed word"

"Yeah right"

"Trust me"

"You know we still haven't gotten back to the 'Come on You Warriors' thing"

"We should probably do that"

"Good because I'm about to"

"Well then...go on"

"Right, so it was a good luck thing. Remember, a long time we used to not end with the phrase but the Warriors kept losing when we didn't and win when we did"

"I remember"

"So now, while the Warriors have lost a lot when we use it at the end of the RP it's a good luck superstitious charm thing"

"Yeah we're not jingoistic idiots or anything, just superstitious idiots"

"Exactly, I really hate that people think it's jingoism"

"Yeah nobody really says that around here except us"

"And since the international community only really sees us doing it they assume that everybody does it"

"But goddamnit it's a small sample size"

"Like this song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dw9qqvm-LT8"

"Exactly, though I don't know the teams that they're talking about"

"Yeah they could talk about somebody like Tomas Golton of Swooton"

"Yeah a .402 average after 50 ABs"

"And now he can't even make it out of triple A"

"I mean he never hit like that in the minors"

"Sure but what a month"

"True"

"So really we're a small sample size of the entire population of Milchama"

"Just trust us, nobody really says things like 'Come on You Warriors' in everyday conversation"

"It's not like a 'Roll Tide' situation in Alabama"

"Yeah, they're weird"

"Though, I guess I still like the tribute"

"People are actually reading which is really really cool"

"I was never quite sure about that one"

"I think really that's the important part"

"Definitely"

"That and World Cup 65 is totally rigged"

"Most definitely"

"So then we still need to root for the home team"

"And that's Milchama"

"So, I guess we need to do the traditional ending, FOR VICTORY!"

"AND GREAT JUSTICE!"

"Come on You Warriors!"

"Let's Go Milchama!"

[Sangti]

Roman Barlaan is browsing through the internet to make his article about Sangti's 2-1 win over The Sovan Antithesis, but he saw an advert in an online classified ads, saying that his employer, the El Diario Deportivo del Sangti is looking for a new football reporter.

WANTED

FOOTBALL JOURNALIST
for the El Diario Deportivo del Sangti

Qualifications
1. Must be male, 18-25 years of age
2. Must be knowledgeable in Sangtian League football, as well as national team football.
3. Can work with others in collaborations
4. Must send reports regularly
5. Must not be easily infatuated to any woman

Then he recalled that in his last article, he called the boss a dickhead. He thought, "Shoot, my job's over." He opened his email and saw a message from the boss:

I may be a dickhead but I still have authority in this company, for that, your position as the football journalist is under review, for the moment, you may not send us articles for the meantime.

Hope you learned a lesson.

The BOSS
El Diario Deportivo del Sangti

Then he promised to himself, "I'm gonna be a freelance blogger, because I have passion for the National Team." Luckily he still has the ticket to Spit in Wight and a media pass, so he can still cover the game of his beloved Agilang Dilaw against top placed Wight. "It's a big match. I cannot miss it because we might have a chance to beat Wight and go closer to the top half of Group 16."

He then grabbed his mouse, clicked a link to a blog hosting site and registered a new account. The new link for his blogsite was romanbarlaanfooty.blogspot.com.sgt, and after some hours, he posted his first article there.

Agilang Dilaw defeats the Margret Worshippers; Hopes to inflict Wight its first loss

GABEL, Nuevo Nomadia, Sangti - The Agilang Dilaw of Sangti scored a crucial victory against The Sovan Antithesis, 2-1 here at the Nuevo Campamento. Erick Khan scored his first goal for Sangti in the 32th minute, while John Utanes added Sangti's lead 23 minutes after halftime. Player No. 9718 scored for TSA in the 87th minute to deny Sangti their 3rd consecutive clean sheet, but what made the game interesting are the fans of both sides.

The travelling fans showed their worship to Margret by "All Hail Margret" chants, while Sangti stirred up the game for 15 minutes after fans threw colored flares after the 87th minute. Another riot occured, this time, cars were destroyed, more flares were thrown and buildings were damaged. 144 people were injured and 258 were arrested and the Sovans who were arrested were deported and banned from entering Sangtian territory.

The attacking of the Margret Worshippers were quicky countered by the Agilang Dilaw, and Khan shot a low volley past 81915 for the lead. Then four minutes after that, 9718 had a chance to level the scoring when he had a clear chance at a shot, only for Brian Cua to parry it wide. The Sovans bombarded the Sangtian net with attack after attack, shot after shot, from 24353, 8898, 30258 and 9718, but the defense held firm to end the first half at 1-0. The second half had another series of shots from 8898 and 9718 but the defense coped up and Sangti put on the counter. Utanes scored Sangti's second goal with a tap-in after Marvick Sor's low cross. There was ecstasy in the away stand after 9718 scored through a low drive.

The FAS is considering to move the game against Aquitayne from Gabel to the Estadio Olimpico de Pranse in Leonde after police in Gabel failed to secure the citizens' safety. The Disciplinary Committee of the World Cup Council is also deciding whether to fine Sangti or to put one of its home games behind closed doors. Despite the result, Sangti is concentrating in their match against Wight in Spit. They hope that they can inflict Wight's first loss of the World Cup Campaign despite 267 places between them.

GALLERY:

Roman Barlaan is a former football journalist for El Diario Deportivo del Sangti and is now a freelance football blogger covering Sangti's matches whatever the price.