World Cup LXV (65) RP Thread

[Sandwich Territories]

"Alright, is anyone here feeling down about tonight's loss?"

"Nope."

"Excellent. Frankly, we need to put this game right behind us. Next game is against West Angola."

"I think Banks is holding a practice session at his house today."

"Even better. Is anyone not going?"

"Everyone is going."

"Nice to see the team take the lead. Either way, next game, we have to make sure we win.....I know you and your group will try as hard as you can."

"Absolutely, Mr. Bellerd."

"It seems like the group of players I chose could keep on playing for years together...the charisma is unmatched.....and you, Tolliver, lead them on the pitch match in and match out......you are like Landon Donovan is to the US as you are to the Sandwich Territories."

"I am honored to hear that, but I just want to keep on playing football.....hey, isn't it the US Independence Day today?"

"Huh.....yeah....."

"I think I heard that it was on the news..."

"Either way, Mr. Bellerd, we plan to put a show tonight, we'll look like fireworks. *chuckles*"

"That sounds like a show I'd pay money for. *laughs*"

[The Archregimancy]

THE MONASTIC TIMES

CRITICISM OF FR BASIL COACHING STRATEGY GROWS
Returned Team Scrape by Backyard Sports 3-2

By Fr. Nicholas the Scribe

Criticism of Fr. Basil the Fool for Christ's unusual strategy of taking the entire national football team into a scorching sand-blown desert for the first 13 World Cup qualifiers, leaving a squad of look-alike imposters to play on the team's behalf, came under increasing criticism last night on several fronts as the returning full squad struggled to overcome Backyard Sports 3-2.

"They didn't look like several weeks in a desert had benefited them that much" said one monastic fan, who went on to notice that the entire team except for Fr Mark the Hairy looked 'badly sun-burned, and emaciated even for a team of ascetics'. Another onlooker noted that only the insane - or perhaps someone making a statement about the role of women in desert societies - would actively choose to wear a long black robe as their garment of choice while in the desert.

Other critics took a more theological line. One senior archimandrite, speaking on condition of anonymity, stated that fielding a team of look-alikes against unsuspecting opponents bore more than a passing resemblance to 'bearing false witness against thy neighbour', something explicitly condemned three times in the Old Testament (including in the Ten Commandments), three times in the Gospels - Matthew, Mark, and Luke - in the context of the rich man told to sell his possessions and give to the poor, and once in the Pauline epistles. "In other words", said the archimandrite, "we can say with some theological certainty that this is not a good thing, and may explain why the team languishes in second behind an undefeated United Gordonopia squad".

Fr. Basil refused to comment last night, except to state that he remained "confident, in all due humility" that the team remained on course for qualification, and that his "admittedly unusual" training methods had an "established track record of success".

Both the MFA and Holy Synod refused all requests for a comment.

[Blouman Empire]

THE EMPIRE TIMES

DAMNING REPORT ON FFB

The inquiry into the organisation and practices of the Football Federation of Bloumany have delivered a scathing report on the FFB criticising systemic failures and a toxic culture that has resulted in the integrity and efficient performance of the FFB to decline over many years. Speaking from Withick House Chief Investigator Count Thildon presented his 533 page report to the FFB Board and the media. Issues ranged from a lack of procedure through to nepotism throughout the organisation, the report heavily criticised senior people within the FFB along with a number of FFB Board members. The report is expected to have serious repercussions throughout the FFB and footballing in Bloumany as a whole.

The Main Findings

Lack of systems and procedure
The inquiry found that the FFB didn’t have in place adequate procedures to ensure it could meet its requirements in a timely manner, in some cases there were none in place. This meant the FBB could not adequately ensure that it was able to carry out its duties in a timely and efficient manner. It was a poor system the resulted in the decision on which ground would host of the last Imperial Cup final to be delayed by 2 months. The inquiry found that no set procedure in registering in international tournaments was the principal reason why the FFB was too late in entering the Di Bradini Cup.

Obsucure chain of command
The Inquiry has found that many of those working for committees and administration had a number of different people to report to or whom they reported to was not clear. This lead to confusion on the objectives of committees, councils and general workers whom had conflicting objectives and were unsure exactly whom they were taking direction from or reporting to. The inquiry cited this lack of organisation as a prime reason why many projects and objectives were behind initial time frames.

Neoptism
The inquiry had found a number of senior members had managed to secure these positions through close connections and family connections rather than through merit and prior experience. The inquiry listed the Chairman of Women’s Football Development Baron Christopher Gilson and Chief Finance Officer Max Flagstaff as two prime examples of nepotism where these people had little experience for these roles and would not have been suitable under proper circumstances. The inquiry claims this has resulted in the potential productivity of the FFB to be less as more able candidates have sought employment in other organisations.

No oversight
The inquiry has claimed that the FFB Board and senior management failed to impose responsibility over the actions of those within the FFB and themselves which has allowed delays, errors and inefficiencies to occur and through this inaction has allowed this culture to continue to develop as it has become the norm.

In reaction to the news the FFB Board have convened a special assembly to allow them to discuss the findings and possible actions they can take. The Presidents of the member associations have also announced that they would convene President of the Braxon Football Association spoke critically of the FFB “We have allowed these people to bring the calibre of football to its knees, if the FFB don’t make some changes then we as heads of the member associations will do all we can to make these changes”. Emperor Henry VI also expressed his displeasure at the report “This is a travesty and another failure by the FFB, I and the Royal Council will be watching proceedings closely and will make it clear to the FFB that special considerations we give to them may be reconsidered”. The inquiry will tomorrow release their list of recommendations, it is unclear how much the FFB will follow them but there are expected to be major changes within the organisation. The FFB Board has so far announced no dismissals but with former chairman Sir Luke Poling already being forced to resign more are expected in coming weeks.

[Alasdair I Frosticus]

Simeone di Bradini was expecting a message from Juan Tzimisces at any minute; in the meantime, he was taking training following the routine - if somewhat high-scoring - match against San Potato.

He forced himself not to roll his eyes as the short, stocky form of Commander Storix walked towards him.

"Aren't you supposed to be practicing corners, Cmdr Storix?"

"Deputy War Leader di Bradini, I must protest."

"About?"

"About being forced to play with this Rutan scum. For 50,000 years now the Sontaran Empire has been at war with the Rutan Host, and now I am forced to collaborated with one of their representatives in this form of ritualised warfare that - to my shame - not only involves no physical danger to myself, but requires me to not physically harm my opponents. While I appreciate you giving me the honour of entering the field of battle open-skinned without my helmet, and while I do not deny that my role in crushing the San Potato hordes was not wholly without reward, it seems...."

"Cmdr Storix..."

"Yes, Deputy War Leader di Bradini?"

"Were you not personally ordered by General Staal the Undefeated himself to cooperate with War Leader Tzimisces in every possible request?"

"Yes, Deputy War Leader di Bradini."

"Did this not explicitly include acknowledgement that this might require you to cooperate with a Rutan?"

"Yes, Deputy War Leader di Bradini."

"And have we not gone out of our way to keep the two of you as far apart as possible, realising the discomfort this might cause?"

"Yes, Deputy War Leader di Bradini."

"And have we not gone out of our way to provide you with appropriate entertainment on your days off?"

"Yes, Deputy War Leader di Bradini - this 'Northern Bettia' where you send me on the weekend certainly offers many robust opportunities for constant violence"

"So do you have any real cause for complaint, all things considered?"

"No, Deputy War Leader di Bradini."

"Fine, then - return to your corner kick practice"

At that moment an Imperial runner arrived with the message Simeone had been waiting for...

Physiotherapist says we have to go to Pyrrus; need assistance from squad member who fits following criteria: tough, stocky, and utterly unafraid of death. Send at once via appropriate portal

Juan

Simeone laughed to himself; maybe this would keep Storix quiet for a day or two. "Commander! retract that last order; you can practice corners later - War Leader Tzimisces requires you for a task that you may find more to your liking...."

[Legalese]

“Well, that was fun.”

“Agreed”, Gabe concurred. “Thanks for coming down for it, Linus.”

Linus nodded in appreciation. “Nice to see the Bekk from time to time. So, now that the match is over, how about we discuss the real business for my trip?”

“I wondered when you’d bring that up,” the Federation’s Director of Football said to the Government’s Chief of Special Projects. “Did the proposal go anywhere?”

“It did. The director-general approved the funding option, to allow the leagues to be fully functioning by next season. Most of the major renovation work is done on the ones that will be needed for the other part of this, so the league will provide enough lessons and test cases for the major project.

Gabe failed to hide his confusion. “The major project?”

Linus smiled. “Well, two of them, really. One in infrastructure, the other being where you come in.”

“So there is a catch to getting the leagues off the ground, isn’t there?”

Linus laughed, with a touch of good-hearted malice to it. “Of course! You want the leagues, so our price is putting this on for us.”

Gabe shrugged. “Fine. Since I apparently have to spearhead it, tell me what you want me to do.”

Linus told him.

Gabe nodded, deep in thought. “I was surprised the international community worked with us the first time. This could be very interesting - we’ll have to call our old partners to see if we can make it work again.”

Linus nodded. “Thanks. You’ve still got that guy Rob on your staff, right?”

“Robert Glass? Yeah, he was Wickerstaff’s assistant for over a decade, and basically the in-house director at the Fed” Gabe replied. “This seems like a project for him to spearhead - let me worry about the football side.”

“That works for me. You guys do this, and we’ll be in a prime -”

Linus paused, hearing a roar from the crowd.

“Wait, why are they still here? Didn’t the match end awhile ago?”

Gabe checked his watch.

“Twenty minutes ago. I figured they were just cheering the side off, especially with this being the only game here this session, but they should’ve started heading out by now.”

Gabe’s phone buzzed. He looked at the screen.

FINAL SCORE ALERT: Starblaydia 1 - 1 Zwangzug

He looked back up at Linus, pointing the screen in his direction.

“I think we have our answer.”

When the news came posted to the videoboard at Coastal Pitch, silence briefly hit, as the crowd took in the result and the ramifications.

Level with Starblaydia again! We’re level with Starblaydia again!

The silence was quickly replaced by a roar of approval, with nearly three-quarters of the roughly-68,000 crowd still in attendance. On the field, the players continued applauding the crowd, occasionally reaching in to shake a hand or two.

In the stands, the roar turned to a chant, a chant that could be heard all through Sagdineo that night, out into Lake Bekk, and even - reportedly, by some to the north.

Knockin’ on the door!
Knockin’ on the door!
You better be ready, cause
We’re knockin’ on your door!

[Nouvel Ecosse]

DE LA FLEUR 2 1 NOUVEL ECOSSE
Leigh Donovan 5'

The man to bet on a Nouvel Ecosse qualification is now either crazy, deluded or very highly optimistic. After defeat to two of the worst teams in the group, although not that worse rated in rankings than ourselves, the Rampant Walrus now looks frightened, fatigued and shocked. A 3-2 home defeat to Rex Lucian may well have been a blip, but this following result has firmly destroyed our chances of qualification.

The team started strongly, Everton forward Leigh Donovan scoring almost immediately in the fifth minute, a delightful back-heel seeing off the De La Fleur defense. But then things went bad. And then they went worse. And then finally, there was the Nouvel Ecosse team.

On the eighth minute, in what was a rash challenge, Pierre Van Miller was sent off by the referee. It was never a challenge worthy of a red card, and many would have claimed a yellow was too far, but he saw red, and Norrie Stewart had to make some dramatic changes. Holt-Ash was forced to come back from midfield and play in defense, leaving the team playing a 3-3-3 formation. This left the wings far too open to attack, but then the Nouvel Ecosse team still looked deadly, still looked threatening.

Then, on the thirtieth minute, Javier Zanetti had to leave the park with an injury to his ankle which may see him miss the next game. In his place came Armadillo player Arnoldo Stein, who has only made three appearances this qualifying stage, and all as a substitute. Even worse was that he is naturally a left-back, and was having to fit in as a centre-left. Holt-Ash was struggling at centre, whilst Dan Franklin was having an off-day at centre-right.

The team looked to have survived the first half, which would give them a chance to re-group. But right as the whistle was put up to the referee's mouth, the De La Fleur attack broke through the open defense, easily scoring past Frazer.

At 1-1 at the break, Norrie Stewart confronted the referee about some of his decisions, most notably the sending off, and was thus sent to the stands. Nobody knows why the referee did this, but he did, and Stewart had to watch the rest of the game with the ordinary fans.

The second half was a dull affair, and looked to be heading for a draw before the seventy-ninth minute, when the De La Fleur attack once again broke through, striking the ball against the outstretched hands of Frazer, who could only parry, unfortunately only right of the back of Franklin's left leg, and they could only watch as it crashed home. A lucky goal, for a lucky victory.

There has been questions about the legitimacy of the referee after what was described by some as "the worst decision against our country in its history". Although extreme, we can see the reasoning. Stewart has appealed to have the referee suspended, but doesn't expect a result.

[West Angola]

(OOC: This takes place before the match against Filopines.)
The crowd around Warren Memorial Stadium was large and thick, and several pushcart stalls had already opened to sell trinkets, adding to the cacophony of shouts and chants that filled the air. Police had already closed off the area around the stadium in a one-block radius and were searching everyone who entered the area, all of which was standard procedure for a home match attended by the King. King Sien, like his predecessor, watched all matches from a sealed box made a reinforced, bulletproof, allegedly bombproof glass that could, according to the promises of the manufacturers, stop a speeding train, although it had never been tested. The windshield of the car he traveled in was made of the same material, and the rest of the vehicle was essentially an unarmed tank as far as armament was concerned.

Agents of the League of Freedom were already in place around the stadium, each one hawking cheap trinkets and baubles related to West Angola’s football team, blending easily into the high-energy crowd around the stadium. Careful consideration and planning had concluded that slipping firearms into the containment zone was both impossible and impractical, given that Sien was always protected by a wall of Royal Guards (all taller than him) even when he wasn’t behind the glass. Grenades were not feasible due to the longer travel time to target, which would give the Guards time to move the King away, or simply fall on it and contain the explosion. Therefore, they had decided that the only way to bring the King down would be with some sort of ranged explosive weapons, all of which were too large to be smuggled in on any one person, hence the pushcarts. Concealed within each cart was an outmoded antitank rifle disguised as an umbrella holder, obtained via contacts in the overseas arms industry.

The crowd began to part as the police rolled their barricades back, and the King’s transport, part of a convoy of vehicles of the Royal Guard, drove up to the stadium. The LoF had deployed at each entrance to the stadium since they were unsure of which one Sien would use, but as luck (or lack of such) would have it, Sien had opted for a gate which placed him within range of two of the pushcarts. Royal Guards and policemen cleared the crowd from a perimeter around the car as other Guards formed a wall around the door from which Sien was exiting the car. As the King exited, a mix of cheers and jeers, the same which accompanied any politician, even a king, greeted him, and he waved good naturedly, raising his hand high enough to be visible over his human wall. Seeing the hand, the League agents, John Garrel and Thomas Farrar, dumped the umbrellas from their disguised weapons and loaded their rockets, which had been strapped to the bottom of the carts.

King Sien III, Duke of Namibe, Emperor of Cabinda, never knew what hit him. One moment he was climbing from the car and walking towards the stadium, and the next his entire world turned to fire and he felt as though he’d been caught between two colliding boxcars.

The scene outside the stadium had turned into utter chaos. The large perimeter around the car meant that no civilians had been killed, and the only immediate casualties were Sien, his Guards, and the policemen who had been lending support. However, the explosion set off a massive stampede away from the site, and dozens were trampled by others attempting to get away. Meanwhile, both rocket men were tackled to the ground by surviving police officers, and the stampede parted around them like water around a boat. Both men put up little resistance, stunned by the enormity of what they’d done, and neither would ever be the same mentally, breaking the image of dedicated, hardened terrorists that many West Angolans held of them for weeks.

The people of West Angola were in utter shock that day. Only once before had a sitting monarch died of non-natural causes, and that had been a state-run execution. This was the first time in West Angolan history that a Monarch had been assassinated, and no one really knew how to react. The West Angolan football team managed a 2-2 draw against Filopines following the restoration of order, but this fact went unnoticed in the face of the monumental tragedy that consumed that country. A hasty meeting convened in Prime Minister Kevin Garret’s office attempted to determine how best to move forward. Attending the meeting were Garret, Paul Arrat, the Minister of State, Richard Ferris, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Daniel Unist, the Acting Captain of the Royal Guard. The four men, along with Sien, had been pulled together following West Angola’s joining of the Eurasphere, and as such were likely prime targets for the organization that had killed the King.

Arrat was about to lose it, “Kevin, this is a disaster! We’ve lost everything now, the Plan is in shambles. There’s no way we can cover this up! The country is doomed!”

“Calm down, Paul, we can survive this. As long as we keep it together and don’t get killed ourselves, we can manage the situation just like we’ve managed all the others.”

Ferris was calmer than Arrat, but still agreed with him, “Garret, this is just too big to conceal. The assassination blew the lid off the dissent, and we can’t just explain this away, especially when all the other dissident groups come out of the woodwork. We need to face the facts, the Plan has failed, and they’ll see that all is not as well as we tried to tell them. Even if they let us remain free, we’re going to have to confess that we misled them about public opinion regarding the situation.”

Unist was the most recent addition to the group, having been brought in after it was determined that the Captain of the Guard would not respond favorably to the Plan. He agreed with Garret, “Gentlemen, this is no more a disaster than the revolt we had to put down in Cabinda after the news broke. All we have to do is muzzle the attackers and distance them from their group. When the League claims credit and starts trying to spill the beans on the Plan, we just have to “convince” the two men we have to come forward and claim they are not associated with them. Once we establish the League as a fringe group with no support, we can prevent anyone else from coming forward and maintain the impression that we have the support of everyone.”

Garret and the others were looking at Unist in surprise. No one had expected the only non-politician at the table to come up with the political analysis that made the most sense. Garret shuffled some papers, buying time to collect his thoughts, “I think Daniel is right, and even if he isn’t, it’s our most viable option. If we go public with the Plan, we’ll come under attack from both sides. Damage control is our only choice now, we have to contain the disaster and proceed as though this was unrelated to the Situation. Once we’ve done that, we need to treat this just as though Sien died in his bed, and declare open elections for the Throne, with appropriate mourning, of course. You gentlemen have the advantage of advance knowledge as to this fact, and therefore can get a head start on organizing your resources. I don’t think I need to remind anyone of the inherent danger of bringing an outsider into the Plan at this point, so it is imperative that one of us is elected as King. I will not be running this time, so we need to decide which of you will be our candidate.”

“Daniel, you have the advantage of having held Sien’s old position, which will lend you some support from the people, but your opponents will harp on your lack of experience, and attach every one of Sien’s flaws to you. Rick, you’ve been knee-deep in the Plan since its inception, but your success is contingent on suppressing opposition to the situation. If the people start lining up against it, there’s no way anyone connected with Foreign Affairs has a chance in this race, so we need to wait-and-see with that. Paul, I would say you have the right combination of government experience and political distance from the situation to make you the ideal candidate, so I believe it should be you. Any arguments?”

All three shook their heads, and Garret rose from his chair to shake Arrat’s hand, “Congratulations, Paul, it will be an honor to work for you in two months.”

[Antoletia]

"Woo another win, we are still in this."

"Yeah we still are if we continue to win, top seeds can fall woo. So close."

"Yeah four points out, we really are close but we still have to work hard in the final four qualifiers."

"We might not qualify, but we still can show some class in failure."

"Yeah, and still one big game to go against Vettrera. The fight for at least third."

"Yeah, hopefully we can beat them this time and get payback for that first match loss."

"Only four points behind the two leaders, if we get 12 points we might have a chance. Four points behind, overall not that bad."

"And they both have to be dead scared of dropping points, sure we don't have any tiebreakers over them, but if we caught up and passed one of them we might make it somewhere."

"Yeah, two losses, three ties from someone. We might still have a chance."

"Yeah, and The Sylvanaes have really looked like a lazy giant of a team, and given the right push might just fall down and open a portrait to our opportunity."

"We might have a team make the Great Hall of heroes."

"Yeah, oh well...We will see. Let's hope for the best."

"Cheers."

[Super-Llamaland]

Taeshan 3-0 Super-Llamaland


GOALS: TAE G Juniper 35', X Ptolemy 54', E Wiggin 88'
SLT No Goals

SUBS: TAE T Icicle for M Pato 45+2', K Laravy for B Ibrahim 66', E Styles for P Fanscht 71'
SLT: E Matthews for M Kerraway 60', S Campbell for L Matthewson 66', J McGee for J Mullin 71'

Beaten up

The Tigers were strangely absent in a drubbing by Taeshan. Of course, this is the number-eleven seed.
Group 1
Friday Freshman 2–4 Armed Bears
Sargossa 6–2 Leorudo
Taeshan 3–0 Super-Llamaland
Oralana 0–0 Horusland
The fief of Sir Kunne 1–0 Kalusia

- Group 1 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 Sargossa 14 12 0 2 31 12 +19 36
2 Taeshan 14 9 3 2 22 5 +17 30
3 Super-Llamaland 14 7 3 4 32 24 +8 24
4 Horusland 14 6 5 3 22 16 +6 23
5 Armed Bears 14 5 4 5 30 28 +2 19
6 Kalusia 14 5 4 5 12 12 0 19
7 Leorudo 14 4 6 4 19 20 −1 18
8 Oralana 14 3 3 8 13 23 −10 12
9 The fief of Sir Kunne 14 3 2 9 11 29 −18 11
10 Friday Freshman 14 1 0 13 11 34 −23 3

The Tigers, failing to take advantage of an easy stretch of schedule, have Sargossa, Armed Bears, Leorudo, and Friday Freshman left. Taeshan has Kalusia, Sir Kunne, Oralana, and generally a far easier schedule. This will be tough. Barring a Taeshan collapse and a majestic Tiger rally, we're out. But at least we're still third. For now. Horusland is a point back.

The score says it all, as does the 61% Taeshan possession. This appears to be it, Tigers...

[Ko-oren]

OOC: How this works: [Radio] - "People talking". I'm trying to get a few RP lines together: the Holy Empire's line of AO, Rushmore and Esportiva merging together with my usual match report. Finally trying something else other than the usual

[Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to our match report - live! - from Ko-oren's National Stadium in our lovely capital. Again, Esthauan and Tangku seem a bit distrought because the Greenblues will again not play at their stadiums, but chances are at least Tangku will see another game. Anyway, it's an important one tonight. A loss, and Ko-oren falls pray to the ever-chasing Sova Empire and Liventia themselves. With the Holy Empire unstoppable, a loss also means they'll probably qualify for the World Cup before you know. They play San Potato at the same time, and if you want to know, the Sova Empire plays Piddlehinton. Yes, THAT Piddlehinton. That we didn't draw 0-0 earlier]

"You know, I've never even been in a car before. It's only been a year and a half since the government allowed private car property, and only in extreme cases."

"This is one of those cases. You'll still need someone with a drivers' license, which less than a percent of us have."

"I know... Wow, these roads seem nice and new. I've seen some roads when I was on vacation in Zakhoren before, and those were terrible. Some other countries in Atlantian Oceania and 10000 Islands earlier, they were okay, road-wise."

"Hmm."

"How long is the drive there?"

"About two hours, if we're lucky. That is, if the car doesn't break down. It's not like we can get stuck in traffic with almost no one owning cars, haha"

[The game is about to start, you might want to know who are playing tonight. As always, it's Asgard on goal. Dehenat and Nidog are in defense, together with Iwaki. He's central tonight, Norn apparently wasn't ready for Liventia. It's a crucial game, and with the form Norn's having, I don't know if I want him on the team right now. Let's sort him out before he plays again... Then there's the usual Fenner and Sanuki, then Idrasil, Alfar and Talmis and in attack, it's Shiribeshi and Tokachi. As always. So just Norn dropped out for the day. Very interesting, and will that mean that Norn's attacking bias is gone for a while now Iwaki is in? Have we ever seen him make a daring pass to the front men?]

"That's right, Ko-oren - Liventia is on. I wanted to watch that with some friends, but I guess duty calls."

"Yeah. We shouldn't be the only ones there, where we're gonna go. Actually, we should be there in 2 hours exactly, where Torshavn is right now."

[We're underway! Shiribeshi and Tokachi got the game going, and let's hope it's going to be a good one. We need a result, needless to say. Pass back to Dehenat, who waits a bit before letting it roll to the side. Nidog with a long ball to Idrasil... That's a bad pass. Liventia already trying to find a break in our defense... But that's good positioning. They forced the ball to stay on the Liventian half for a little longer. Will a team try to score early, or will they first force each other to show their strategy?]

"So does anyone have an idea why Torshavn moved from Polar Islandstates to Ko-oren yet?"

"It didn't move... It was copied. Apparently, there are some buildings that were in the far north of our island spotted in southern parts of their country."

"No people, right?"

"Exactly. Just buildings: the complete infrastructure. If we can get it going, we should have running water there, too"

"Wow"

[First chance! Clarke is past Nidog... Easy catch for Asgard. If he now just quickly gets that ball up the field... Right. Fenner in possession, passing between three Liventians to Tokachi - Wow! No look pass, actually - and the ball is with Idrasil. He is now in front of Ramsden - Goal! 1-0 to us! What a start!]

...

[The ref has the whistle between his lips to blow for half time. Maybe he allows a few more touches: Dehenat with a long ball up front. Of course he knows, with his experience, when a referee ends a half. Sanuki speeds past Davis, past Desmond, too... Trying a lucky shot. Yep, Ramsden has it. Or not... and it's a goal! He'll wake up from a nightmare tonight, when he remembers this one]

"You know that right now, some more investigators are on their way to Port Rotterdam, too?"

"Aren't we going to call those cities anything more... Ko-orenite?"

"Dunno. If we say those cities are safe, and people start living in them, why not? And you knew that there are some Ko-orenite villages in Sargossa as well? Some Sishinovan villages and the like."

"Really? Something's up. Anything else happen throughout the rest of the region?"

"We don't know yet. But then again, some of these countries are so large... We shouldn't be surprised if it turns out that something happened somewhere in... you know, rural Valanora or something. Or Carpathia and Ruthenia, or another huge country like that"

[Welcome back to the second half of Ko-oren - Liventia. An early sub for the visitors: Grant is going off for Owens. That's an extra defender for them, do they know something we don't?]

...

[3-0! What a night! What is going on right now?! Owens, the guy that is not even in for ten minutes, with a rookie mistake... could very well close this game up. Shiribeshi was exactly in the right place at the right time, and headed the ball where it belongs. Owens wanted to kick away the bad cross by Alfar, but only managed to make the ball shoot up]

...

[Davis, with another mistake! What is going on in the Liventian defense? Earlier, he allowed Sanuki past him. Now it was Fenner, but he still hit the emergency brake... and is penalized with a yellow card. Penalty for the good guys. Shiribeshi steps up... 4-0!]

"You a football fan?"

"Nah, I'm more of a baseball guy. Have you seen the Classic earlier this year?"

"It was hard to escape that. But how about the World Cup?"

"Like I could evade that. First time qualifying... and the team's doing pretty well right now, too, right?"

"Depends what you call pretty well. With the 4-0 over Liventia, let's pretend we're going to win this one. We could be second with a six point gap above and below us. Which puts us in a pretty nice spot, this close to the end of qualifying"

"How did we do before by this time?"

"In 64, we went 10-7-1. Eighteen games, just like now. After 14, we were... ehm, oh yeah, I remember. 6-7-1 at the time: we won like a gazillion in a row at the end. From 6 wins to 10, it still makes me happy. If we win this one tonight, we'll be on 9 wins with 4 games to go. Four games, against the easiest opponents. Oh man, if we can go to 13 wins on this one... It'll be hard to top that."

"And about the losses?"

"We were lucky last time, just one loss. We're already on two right now, but that's because we're up against the Holy Empire. Damn, those guys are good. Anyway, we should just end it and qualify already. For the playoffs."

"Playoffs? Oh yeah, against Mytannion, right?"

"And Vilita, earlier, too."

[Ladies and gentlemen, 5-0! Just over 15 minutes to go, and Tokachi manages to get a free kick right through the wall. Ramsden doesn't stand a chance... again!]

"So how did we do in qualifying earlier?"

"Horrible."

"Horrible?"

"Horrible."

[And it's 6-0! It just doesn't end! We can use this... We need some goal difference to get a decent playoff. Haha. If we get there, of course. We have to be fair, we're not there yet]

"Doesn't he sound a bit sarcastic?"

"Do you want an honest answer?"

"I think I can see city lights in the distance. Are we there yet?"

"Yep. That's gotta be Torshavn."

"Or Napertthoran, in proper Ko-oran."

"Sure, whatever you want."

"And it would be Napertroterdam. I like the new harbors. But how do you guess the northeasterners would pronounce that?"

"Napertroterdam? Ehm, Napessrtsrsoterdam, I guess."

"You gotta love that accent."

"Sure. So what do we have to do once we're there?"

"We've got an entire city to check for any sign of human life. We're not alone, though, there are already around three thousand others."

"Nice, and after that?"

"Your guess is as good as mine..."

Chapter 14: Sports: Rugby, Handball, Ice Hockey, Basketball

In the shadow of the four main sports, these four are in the second tier. Generating some revenue per match, the top teams in each league are either completely professional or halfway there, these sports have a fanbase, and most people on the street could explain the basic rules, but they could not tell you the names of more than 50% of the teams in the top division. Rugby is the most successful sport of these, with even the national team being able to be a pain to some of the better teams in the multiverse. If you remember that Gridiron is played on Fridays, Baseball is spread throughout the week, Field Hockey is played on Saturday afternoons and Football is on during the rest of the weekend, you could predict that the league games for Rugby and these other four sports are played on regular weekdays. Rugby is played on Mondays, Handball on Thursdays, Ice Hockey on Tuesdays and Basketball on Wednesdays.
Rugby is played during 36 weeks, roughly in the same weeks as the football league. Those weeks are not too hot nor too cold, so they fit any of these sports. The league has 10 teams, which all take each other on four times per season. Vulpecula is arguably the best team, often winning the league, but it is more because they usually have a very solid Seasogs run. The national team is currently ranked 7th (union, that is)!

Handball originated as a sport most often done at universities. The teams that are in the national league are still largely students’ teams, but more and more players are attracted from the city or the area to play in the handball team, without any tie to the university. May we also remind you that being good at sports is nice, but does not give you a scholarship (god forbid!). Because of the origin of the sport (and still a good portion of it) lies with students, Thursday was chosen. In weekends, starting on Friday nights, students that live away from home visit their parents for a few days. Therefore, the last day that students are still in their university cities is Thursday. There are 30 universities in the Handball League, with mainly the Eastern cities excelling in the league. This might be the only sport dominated by eastern region teams!

Ice Hockey was a slightly more popular sport up until a few years ago, and now the 16 teams play a league just for the CHL. Ice Hockey, though, is one of the oldest international sports performed in Ko-oren. The 16 teams are mostly from the northwest because of the climate: try to find ice in eastern Ko-oren. Last season was the first season to include a team from a different country: the Democratic Republic of United Koryo plays in the league as one team!

Basketball is still a popular sport on the streets, though the interest for the (professional) league has been going down. Like Ice Hockey, Basketball is one of the oldest four sports of Ko-oren (Football, Ice Hockey, Basketball, Baseball) to be organized in a league. Each team plays another team six times, totalling to 90 games per season. The top eight go to the playoffs, which are still visited very well. The league games themselves are not so popular anymore. The final series are even broadcast on television, and attract as many viewers as a good game in the Gridiron league!

1 Overview
2 Geography 1: regions, cities, distances
3 Geography 2: climate, weather & landscape

4 Cities
5 Population, demographics

6 Meritocracy, Ministries
7 Politics, Democracy

8 Age writing
9 Age writing 2

10 Colonies: ARO & TAO & SVO
11 Colonies: IRO & NKO & ZAO
12 Thaulandi

13 Sports: football, baseball, gridiron, field hockey
14 Sports: others (rugby, handball, ice hockey, basketball, marathon), sports per state

15 History 1
16 History 2

17 Language
18 Language

[The United Kingdoms of Zackalantis]

hullo Zachs iam Joslin reporting outside the stadium where the Zach Crusaders secured a stunnig 4-0 victory against formidable foes Soviet New Ireland.
The Zach Team which was feeling down from the beginning of this tournament our getting their confidence back as they won the previous match too (The united kingdom of zackalantis 4–1 Speranda)
Zach Fans are super excited but the UKZ will have to do much better if they want to get into play-offs.

i will be back with more right after i get to the Bar to celebrate...
with camera man Jacob Munro,I'am Joslin reporting for UKZS

[Albaie]

Count Deberen settled into his dug out as he watched the Albaie national team line up for the national anthem. Like every Albaie citizen in the stadium he stood up and sung Long May Dubrack Rule at the top of his lungs. His teams performances had been poor not what he expected of his squad but the fans had been brilliant. Every game rain or shine they were there, the Emperor's leading all of the other fans in great support for their struggling team. The team were now heading to their positions on the pitch. The game kicked off. Five minutes went before he started screaming at his team. A Lacus Magni player stormed past Yerik looked up saw Erentsen running towards him and chipped it over his head. Five minutes gone and it was already 1-0 to Lacus Magni. It wasn't until 44 minutes that his team made their first promising attack as Tererent ran past a Lacus Magni defender to receive a long ball from Dubrack Dubrackson and then went round the goalkeeper and placed the ball calmly into the net. At halftime the scoreline was one a piece with the game looking to become a long drawn out boring match. Straight off the whistle and Werek picked up the ball and tore down the right wing beating each player and then laying a fine cross right onto Tererent's head who headed it right into the back of the net. Deberen sprung up from his seat and roared appreciation as Tererent picked the ball out the net and calmly ran back and placed it on the half way spot ready to tear back into the defense. Tererent kept probing at their defense alongside Ben Werek and Tom Werek who had been brought on soon after the second goal. It wasn't until the 80th minute that Tom Werek broke off from his marker stormed to the touchline laid a cross to the feet of his brother on the far side of the goal who shot but the ball rebounded off the goalkeeper to which Tererent in the middle of the box chested it down and volleyed home his hat trick and secured victory for Albaie. Deberen gave his players an uplifting speech to rally their spirits for their next games as he hoped to secure more wins for the nation. That night the Albaie team and coaching staff joined the fans at their hotel where they together celebrated their fourth win of the tournament.

[Mangolana]

Mangolana Gazzette

Mangolana faces toughest test

The Mangolana national team, coming off of a 3-3 draw with the The Fair Republic will be facing their toughest test yet. Mangolana will be taking on group mate and top ranked team in group 12, Milchama. Though the match is at home, Mangolana will be under extreme pressure from the crowd, as they need a win to almost ensure them a play-off spot in the World Cup qualifiers. Though, with a five point lead, many hope that Mangolana can win the group, it will be tough for them. Mangolana still must play Milchama and Cosumar at home with Ossidiacqua and Kandorith on the road. Mangolana almost must defeat Milchama and Cosumar as both teams along with Ossidiacqua are right on Mangolana's heels, being only 5 points down. If Mangolana were to also qualify, it would be a story book ending for the National team Manager Arch McTash who is leaving the National team following the World Cup Cycle. The match coming up against Milchama is also a rematch of earlier in the group stage when Mangolana shocked Milchama by defeating them 1-0 in Milchama in a shocking upset.

Mangolana will also be looking to avenge their last away draw against The Fair Republic in Mangolana drew the team 3-3 after falling behind 3-0 in the first half. Mangolana was able to make a magical comeback scoring a goal near halftime from a corner from Allen Fuller found the head of Gregory Nena to put Mangolana on the board. Two changes at Half-time for Mangolana brought more of a scoring touch on as Billy Shogun was replaced by Akeem Howard and Caleb Debana was replaced by Sal Matts to turn the formation into a 3-4-3 style. Mangolana would get another goal a half-hour into the second half as Tappy Shogun played a nice through ball out right to JD Fuller who blasted a cross into the box that was volleyed into the back of the net by Brett Mallon. Mangolana would continue to apply pressure but still were not able to find an equalizer. Finally in the 4th minute of injury time. A wild shot by Sal Matts went off two defenders before hitting the goalkeeper. The ball then headed back into play where Allen Fuller blasted the ball into the net for the tying goal. Full-time was whistled shortly after and the result was a 3-3 draw.

[Saintland]

The Saintland National Soccer Team had just suffered an unexpected 3 goals to nil defeat against Karditan. For the first time ever, one of their matches had not been broadcast live on television in Saintland. This was due to the exceptional circumstances caused by the illegal nature of the soccer match in Karditan. Although King Paulus XV had felt it unlikely that anybody in Karditan's government would be visiting Sanctustube and watching a live feed of Royal One at the time of the match, he still did not feel that it was worth the chance. After the match, Prince Andreas walked up to the Royal One producer Paulus Turrianus:

Prince Andreas - I don't want this match broadcast at all. There's no way I'm letting everybody back home see me score that own goal.

Paulus Turrianus - Are you sure?

Prince Andreas - Yes. Upload your footage to Sanctustube as a private video, for the exclusive use of our team.

Paulus Turrianus - I will do that.

Prince Andreas - Good. Now, I just want to get out of this country before the local authorities discover that a soccer match took place. Knowing Feministvs Sanctvsterra, there's a good chance that they're out in the streets telling everybody that a soccer match is going on.

Prince Andreas took out his Saint, which amazingly could still get Internet access via a Republican Internet satellite. He loaded his email and sent a message to the Saintland Press.

There is to be no match report for today's match. Instead, write a lengthy article advertising tomorrow's match against Jedi8246. Since a forfeit is also 3-0, claim that the World Cup Committee declared today's match a forfeit, due to our failure to show up. Say that it was due to Feministvs Sanctvsterra "hacking" into our plane's flight plans and changing our destination. Since we didn't broadcast this match live, nobody's going to know the difference and now we can claim that we were cheated by the WCC if we fail to make the playoffs.

- Prince Andreas

Prince Andreas sent the message. After it was sent, the Saintland National Team quickly headed back through the network of tunnels to their team plane. They just wanted to get out of Karditan as quickly as possible. Once arriving on their plane, they discussed what had gone wrong.

Prince Andreas - This was a total disaster. Nothing went right today.

Stephanus Vagionius - We shouldn't have had to play there. Karditan should have to come to Royal Stadium if their authorities won't let them play soccer legally.

Josephus Flaccus - I was worried the entire match that the police were going to bust in and stop our match.

Paulus Flaccus - I know, little brother. None of us could focus on that match.

Georgius Catiotus - At least we don't have to go back to Karditan.

Prince Andreas - Georgius, you can't be sure of that. You know how those foreigners are. They like rigging the draws to stack the deck against our National Teams.

Alessandro Seius - Andreas, I'm not sure they're doing that.

Prince Andreas - Why else did our National Ice Hockey Team that won a Silver Medal at the Olympics get drawn in the same group with the defending champions AND the Olympic Gold Medalists? I might add that those are 2 completely different teams. Besides those 2 teams, they also had to deal with those cheap shot artists from Quebec. That World Cup of Hockey draw was rigged to deliberately make things impossible for our Kingdom. Josephus was telling me about that for weeks, until he left for the Licentian Islands to play lacrosse.

Stephanus Vagionius - Why is the National Ice Hockey Team playing field hockey and lacrosse? What do either of those sports have in common with Ice Hockey?

Prince Andreas - They're playing field hockey because that is an Olympic sport. They're only playing lacrosse as a tune-up for the Olympics.

Alessandro Seius - I still don't understand that decision. Since Prince Josephus is also Saintland WA's delegate to the World Assembly, he must have no time whatsoever to relax.

Prince Andreas - Is that really a bad thing? Idleness just opens the door to temptation by Satanas.

Lucas Aufidius - Good point. So, is the WA really stupid enough to fall for that "Saintland WA" stunt?

Prince Andreas - Absolutely. Remember, the WA higher-ups are what foreigners call lawyers. Lawyers are people that take laws overly literally and are always trying to come up with more loopholes. They don't look at laws the way we do in the Kingdom.

Ioannes Gratus - My father told me a story about one time when some foreigner attempted to argue that she hadn't broken our laws because of some loophole. Of course, she didn't get away with that nonsense.

Prince Andreas - Judge Gratus is a good man. He doesn't tolerate nonsense from those criminals. I'm sure she got a more severe sentence for her trouble and she deserved it.

Stephanus Vagionius - What is it that causes foreign women to have such awful attitudes? They do know that such attitudes are repulsive, right?

Prince Andreas - Most of those countries are in rebellion against natural gender roles. Trust me, their behavior is just as repulsive to men in their countries as it is to us. Those men are just brainwashed into thinking that rebellion against Nature is a good thing and that living as God intended us to live is tyranny.

Josephus Flaccus laughed.

Josephus Flaccus - Tyranny? They think that our Kingdom is a bad place to live? Maybe they should get right with God and forget about their freedom to sin. What truly matters is freedom from sin.

Josephus Flaccus didn't believe any of that, of course, but he was just saying it to go along and none of them could tell the difference.

Alessandro Seius - What caused the sudden change in Josephus? You sound like Andreas all of a sudden.

Josephus Flaccus - Andreas is right. I realized that.

Lucas Aufidius - Do we know the identity of those Jedi players yet?

Silvester Flaccus - No. They still won't put out a roster.

Andreas Inventius - Why hasn't the WCC banned teams that won't release rosters from participating yet?

Prince Andreas - That baffles me. I'm sure, with a record number of entrants this time, and no sign that this growth will stop that it must be getting more difficult for them to organize the World Cup.

Georgius Catiotus - Wouldn't it make more sense if they were required to release their roster when they sign up?

Josephus Flaccus - It would, but this is the WCC we're talking about. They do things that just don't make sense. With the increasing number of teams, we should expect more incidents like the World Cup 64 schedule incident in the future.

Paulus Flaccus - Probably, but that isn't going to change things. They'll keep going like this.

Prince Andreas - At least most of the teams that pull the secret roster stunt don't do very well. Jedi8246 is an exception. Their performance so far is a complete fluke.

Petrus Jucundius - It must be performance enhancing drugs.

Marcus Jucundius - Probably.

Paulus Gabinius - It must be easier for those nations that aren't Christians. They don't have any morals, so they can take all the drugs they want, if they don't get caught.

Prince Andreas - You guys may be on to something. I'll ask my father to file a formal complaint with the WCC demanding that Jedi8246 be tested immediately for performance-enhancing drugs.

Alessandro Seius - Sounds like a good idea. I hope the WCC tests them and finds out what their secret is.

Stephanus Vagionius - Something is definitely up here. We absolutely should not be in a tough race right now. We should have already all but locked up our playoff berth and be battling with Wight for an outright Group 16 title.

Georgius Catiotus - We've blown a number of matches. How did we allow Sangti to draw us twice? How did we lose to Jedi8246? For that matter, how did we let Karditan beat us? If we had just picked up all of those points from Sangti and Jedi and drawn Karditan again, we'd have 8 more points, which would put us ahead of Wight in the standings.

Prince Andreas - We aren't going to match our 22 points in the second half of qualifying from last time. We just need to win our last 4 matches. Then, we'll have 37 points, just like we did last time.

Stephanus Vagionius - But, 37 points wasn't enough to qualify in World Cup 64.

Prince Andreas - This group is much more even than that group was. We may even be able to qualify for the playoffs with 35 points, so long as we beat Jedi tomorrow.

Alessandro Seius - There's no more margin for error. We came into this qualifying campaign expecting at least 40 points and hoping to finish atop our group. Now, we just need to match our performance from last time, which should be good enough this time to go to the playoffs.

Prince Andreas - If we make the playoffs, our path to the World Cup could still prove perilous. We might run into the Archregimancy or New Montreal States or Taeshan or Starblaydia.

Josephus Flaccus - So, we may have to knock out some perennial qualifier? Personally, I hope its the Archregimancy. I want to show those schismatics that our Church is God's True Church.

Prince Andreas - I see where you're coming from. If we end up facing them in a playoff, there is no way that God would permit those heretics to beat us, but I'll tell you who I want to face in a playoff.

Alessandro Seius - Who would that be?

Prince Andreas - Those thugs from New Sideburn.

Georgius Catiotus - But, we've never beaten them.

Prince Andreas - Georgius, why do you have so little faith? We can beat them. When the time is right, God will give us victory over them and what better time than the playoffs, when a place in the World Cup is on the line.

Alessandro Seius - Should we really be discussing this? We aren't in the playoffs yet.

Prince Andreas - You're right, Alessandro. Everybody, we're going to watch our first Jedi8246 match now. Be prepared for all of their tricks tomorrow.

Prince Andreas turned on the in-flight video system that his father, King Paulus XV, had installed in their plane and loaded the video of Jedi8246 against Saintland. The Sanctii hoped to find a tendency that they could exploit to pick up a victory...

---

Royal Square Garden, St. Petrus, Saintland

Prince Andreas - We have one last launch title to show you today. Everybody, please welcome Rognvaldur Porleifsson...

Rognvaldur Porleifsson walked out onto the stage.

Rognvaldur Porleifsson - I want to thank Prince Andreas for the introduction. Today, I am honored to introduce the interactive entertainment title that will be included with every Saint sold. It is the guide to life and the universe. It laid the foundation for our civilization. It is the Bible.

The audience applauded louder than they ever had. Rognvaldur Porleifsson picked up Prince Andreas's Saint and pressed an icon to load the Bible.

Rognvaldur Porleifsson - Whether you are familiar with the enduring stories of the Bible or whether you are experiencing them for the first time, you will enjoy the Bible.

A title screen came up on screen and Porleifsson touched the screen. This time, there was no menu. Instead a video loaded.

Video - In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth. The Earth was without form and the waters of the Earth were dark. Then God said "Let there be light" and there was light. God divided the light from the dark...

The opening video went on to describe the remainder of the Biblical creation account, Adam and Eve, the apple and Cain and Abel. The video concluded at the start of the Noah's Ark story.

Rognvaldur Porleifsson - The Bible is a combination of videos and interactive sequences. In this sequence, you are controlling Noah. Although most of the animals have come to Noah voluntarily, Noah is still missing a few animals. In this sequence, you need to shoot a net at those animals to capture them because Noah must have a male and a female of each animal, although he needs 7 males and 7 females of the "clean" animals.

Rognvaldur Porleifsson began demonstrating the first level of the Bible. It had a first person view. Noah carried a net-gun and whenever the shoot button was pressed, the gun would release a net. Seeing a bear, Rognvaldur Porleifsson pressed the shoot button and the bear was captured in a net.

Rognvaldur Porleifsson - It is very important that the user not waste nets, as you only have 100 of them and need to capture 60 animals. If you run out of nets, you must retry the sequence. When you capture an animal, you must drag it into the ark or it doesn't count.

Rognvaldur Porleifsson continued to demonstrate the Noah's Ark sequence, dragging the bear back to Noah's Ark. When he got it into the Ark, he went back out looking for another animal.

Rognvaldur Porleifsson - You may be wondering right now why we left the other Saint on. Miss Pudentilla, if you may...

Martha Pudentilla picked up her Saint and loaded Close. She saw that "Prince Andreas" was currently experiencing the Bible and touched the "join" button. Soon, the Bible loaded on the other half of the split screen.

Rognvaldur Porleifsson - The Noah's Ark sequence is compatible with up to 4 users, so your friends or family can play as Shem, Ham or Japheth and assist your efforts in capturing the animals. However, Shem, Ham and Japheth start out with no nets and only have the nets that Noah gives them. Therefore, this has to be a cooperative effort. Martha has graciously agreed to help by dragging the animals back to the Ark. She will control Japheth.

Martha Pudentilla selected Japheth and began assisting Rognvaldur Porleifsson's Noah by dragging the animals back to the ark. After around an hour, "Noah" was down to his last net and needed to find a female lion. Porleifsson saw a lion and shot a net at it. It hit the lion. Fortunately, it turned out, upon examination, to be female. Porleifsson dragged it back and had finally completed the Noah's Ark sequence.

Rognvaldur Porleifsson - There is one other sequence to demonstrate today...

A video played, describing the war between the Israelites and the Philistines. For 40 days, the giant Goliath came out twice a day to challenge an Israelite to single combat and yet nobody accepted his challenge. Then, a boy named David came out to accept his challenge, armed with only a slingshot.

Rognvaldur Porleifsson - In this sequence, you control David and your goal is to slay Goliath. However, true to the Biblical account, you only have a slingshot and 5 stones. With no armor, you must defeat a heavily armed giant.

Rognvaldur Porleifsson attempted to shoot a stone at Goliath. However, the stone missed. He shot again and it missed again.

Rognvaldur Porleifsson - Goliath is vulnerable on his forehead, as you probably know from the Biblical account. If you hit him there, you can knock him flat on his face. However, you must dodge his attacks. If he hits you, you must re-try the sequence.

Porleifsson dodged Goliath's attack. On the 3rd try, he hit Goliath with a stone in the forehead. Goliath stumbled somewhat. Another stone in the same location knocked him flat on his face.

Rognvaldur Porleifsson - Now, you have to get Goliath's sword and cut off his head before he gets back up.

Porleifsson quickly ran toward Goliath. He went to grab a sword and pressed the button over and over again around a dozen times to get possession of the sword. Then, a sequence of buttons flashed on the screen. After successfully pressing those buttons in order, the screen went black and then went into a video.

Rognvaldur Porleifsson - If, at any time, you wish to read the text of the Bible, it is included. You can select from versions of the Bible in numerous languages.

The audience didn't like that very much, booing the statement. Didn't he know that the Vulgate was the only proper version of the Bible? Prince Andreas spoke in Latin to calm the crowd:

Prince Andreas - It is better that unbelievers be exposed to a slightly inaccurate translation in their language than that they not be exposed to God's Word at all.

Rognvaldur Porleifsson - All of the videos and sequences in the Bible should take in excess of 500 hours to complete. If you buy a Saint at launch, you should be busy for a long time, even if you don't buy any additional software. To conclude our presentation, I want to reiterate that the Bible will be bundled with every Saint sold. If you own a Saint, you will also own the Bible. It will feature online multiuser experiences and also local multiuser via the Close feature, such as what you saw earlier. Everybody at RepublicSoft hopes that you and your family will be satisfied with the experience you get from the Bible. Thank you for watching this presentation.

The crowd applauded as Rognvaldur Porleifsson left Royal Square Garden.

Dirk Roth - A very interesting presentation. The Bible certainly looks like a compelling title, but it will be bundled with the Saint. You just can't get a better deal than that.

Prince Andreas - Before we conclude this event, I wish to make a handful of last-minute announcements. First, the Saint will be launching in Saintland following the final of World Cup 65.

This led to loud applause from the audience.

Prince Andreas - Plans are being made to launch the Saint in more markets in the months to come. I am able to announce that the Saint will be launching in Saintland for just 5 Argentii.

This brought on the loudest applause yet.

Prince Andreas - Internationally, after discussions with RepublicSoft, we are targeting a price in the range of 300-400 Universal Standard Dollars.

That was 3 to 4 times the price in Saintland, as an Argentii was just a 1-ounce silver coin.

Prince Andreas - The 5 Argentii price point will only apply to citizens and immigrants. Foreign residents will have to pay 7 Argentii for a Saint. The price for visitors will be 10 Argentii.

A few of the foreign journalists groaned.

Prince Andreas - Even at 10 Argentii, visitors to Saintland will still pay less for their Saint, if they buy it here, than they would if they bought a Saint in their home nation. This is necessary because the King's Government will be heavily subsidizing the sale of Saints to the people of Saintland. Although foreign nations may allege that the Royal Family oppresses the people of our Kingdom, that is utterly untrue. We want to improve the quality of life of our people, which is why we are willing to spend our own money to make it easy for the people of Saintland to afford Saints. On behalf of everybody at Royal Computer Entertainment of Saintland and RepubIlicSoft, I want to thank you for attending today's event. We look forward to revealing more in the coming weeks and months.

Both Prince Andreas and Martha Pudentilla took their Saints off of Remote Broadcast mode. Everybody left the stage.

[Taeshan]

Taeshan

Super-Llamaland

3

0

Watson

Richards

Longwaters

Mathewson

Lydie

Palmer

Jaffacake

Jefferson

Fasnacht

Mujica

Pato

May

Juniper

Chapman

Müller

Duncan

Ptolemy

Oliver

Ibrahim

Powell

Wiggin

Crosby

---

Subs: 45' Tyler Icicle for Manny Pato [TAE], 60' E Matthews for M Kerraway [SLT], 66' S Campbell for L Matthewson [SLT], 66' Kyle Laravy for Brian Ibrahim [TAE], 71' J McGee for J Mullin [TAE], 71' Eddie Styles for Peter Fanscht [TAE]

---

Goals: 35' Gwyn Juniper [TAE], 54' Xavier Ptolemy [TAE], 88' Ender Wiggin [TAE]

---

In what is perhaps the most surprising lineup of the season the Purple Knights trotted out for their big match with Super-Llamaland with their original starting lineup, minus of course injured keeper Ryleigh Voegael. The team came out only a game after Gwyn Juniper was benched, led by their captain and he set the tone in the first half with the loan goal. The Knights stuck together, and did the deed. They played as the team they did at the beginning of the season and their is no doubt that putting the best Taeshan team out their proved to be the right decision.

It was a brilliant team game played by the homeside. With a bunch of brilliant passing, brilliant defense and another 3 goals the Knights showed why they will be a force to be reckoned with. That they are not going to go to the playoffs and lose, but they will be the team to crush the rest of the teams in their way. To use a cliche', they re flying on all cylinders right now, and tis a shame that any good young team will have to try to beat them to see them off before the world cup finals. This is a great team to watch and hopefully they can stay in this tournament until the finals at least.

Many wondered why this team did trot out though, thrice now the lineup has changed. Now it reverts to its original roster in most places. The team played like they have for years together, and proved an altogether mismatch for their opponents. Henning Tir "let the boys play." They had fun out their, too much fun at times. The joy on the teams, and the fans faces was paramount throughout the stadium. It was a brilliant game, and perhaps with a few results elsewhere we will not have to worry about the dreaded playoffs.

[Boring Paradise]

Group 18

Valladares (#9)
Qazox (#43)
Boring Paradise (#47)
Estope (#94)
Alexanderburn (#134)
Felix (#199)
St Lucoa (#231)
Kaznan (#293)
Borealia (#293)
Schalafania (#UR)

MD1: 2-0 Kaznan (H)
MD2: 3-3 Borealia (A)
MD3: 0-2 Valladares (H)
MD4: 1-4 Qazox (A)
MD5: 2-1 Schalafania (H)
MD6: 2-1 Estope (H)
MD7: 1-1 Alexanderburn (A)
MD8: 1-1 Felix (H)
MD9: 4-2 St Lucoa (A)
BYE
MD10: 3-0 Kaznan (A)
MD11: 2-0 Borealia (H)
MD12: 2-5 Valladares (A)
MD13: 5-2 Qazox (H)
MD14: 3-2 Schalafania (A)
MD15: Estope (A)
MD16: Alexanderburn (H)
MD17: Felix (A)
MD18: St Lucoa (H)

Win or Expected Win
Draw or Expected Draw
Lose or Expected Lose

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4

Ghostly Story|Chapter 5

Anther one of those days when the freak whether kicks in and out. The sky was partly grey but mostly black, but it was still the afternoon. Less people were coming outside because of these conditions it was not safe at all.

"Why can't we go outside? Why can't we?" Raiyaan Malik was questioning Lucas Malik, who was sitting down reading the Newspaper. He put the newspaper down an looked at Raiyaan.

"Have you seen the conditions outside. It does not look good, It won't be good." Lucas Malik replied while staring outside. The rain pouring down and men,wmoen and kids were running for shelter. Lucas was used to the scene that was happening outside. Then he turned back to the match report against Qazox and Schalafania.

Qazox @ Paradisian North Park (Paradisia)
Qazox were the Number 2 Seed for this Qualifying area at Rank 43 while Boring Paradise just missed in Pot 2 chance and is placed third seed at Rank 47. Our previous meeting with Qazox was an away match earlier in the qualifiers. We lost 4-1 so we needed revenge and points to at least get into the playoffs after two world cups ago when beat New Montreal State on the Last Matchday to get than Playoff Spot, and then to beat Darmen on Both Legs in the Playoffs only to join the group of death with Aguazul, World Cup Host, Polar IslandStates and Arch. We got some goals but no points. Is was complete death for the Paradisians on the pitch but we showed what we can do.

Matchday 13 the game against Qazox at the Paradisian North Park. Kick off was at 1700 hours. The Paradisians were warming up and practicing for the game, while the Qazoxians were lying on the ground eating super sized burgers which were from a take away down the road. When the game began with Qazox kicking it off, they were passing the ball player to player until they got to the Box when John Alklani make a dangerous tackle and won, finally on the 10th minute they made a break through and got a counter attack underway. Haider Williams scoring the first goal of the match, the supporters cheering the team on. Then there was a penalty on the 19th minute, Qazoxian Goalie got booked with a yellow card, Haider Williams took the ball an placed it on the penalty spot, he stood back and scored the goal. It was 2-0 to the Paradisians. Once again, Kevin Harris made a fantastic chance to score to actual score on the 33rd minute to make it 3-0, but then, near to the end of the first half, Samuel Wong made sure they win and scored another goal to make it 4-0. In the second half, after the Qazoxian Manager had made a painful Pep Talk, they got there acted together and scored, with McLaren on the 63rd minute. Only to make it worse for Qazox, Samuel Wong scored his second to make it 5-1 after 73 minutes were played. To finish off,the Paradisians Slacked off a bit and then finally on the 85th minute they scored an important goal that affected Qazox and Boring Paradise's Differential. The match finished with a 5-2 win over Qazox at Home.

Schalafania @ Unknown Stadium (Schalafania)
Schalafania were the Number Unranked Seed for this Qualifying. Our previous meeting with Schalafania was a home match earlier in the qualifiers. We won 2-1 which gave us more points and we still need points to at least get into the playoffs. They needed the win, that is all they needed was to win the next four games. The game was Boring as usual when you are against a really bad team. Shooby Armours, who was not present at the Qazoxian match, scored a hat trick while two different defenders scored one goal each and the game ended in a 3-2 victory for the Paradisians.

Lucas Malik then just stared into the stormy sky, being worried abut something but what was it...

-   Group 18                            P  W  D  L GF  GA    GD   Pts
 1  Estope                             14  9  2  3 27  14   +13   29
 2  Felix                              14  8  4  2 35  21   +14   28
 3  Qazox                              14  8  4  2 26  19   +7    28
 4  Boring Paradise                    14  8  3  3 31  24   +7    27
 5  Valladares                         14  7  3  4 26  17   +9    24
 6  Alexanderburn                      14  5  5  4 30  22   +8    20
 7  St Lucoa                           14  5  5  4 16  15   +1    20
 8  Kaznan                             14  1  6  7 10  28   -18   9
 9  Borealia                           14  1  1 12 15  36   -21   4
10  Schalafania                        14  0  3 11 10  30   -20   3

[Darmen]

Commonwealth Parliament elections set for July 13th

The Darmeni Election Commission announced today that elections for 44 seats of the Darmeni Commonwealth Parliament will be held on the 13th, allowing candidates several more days to campaign. The Second Communist Group has been running a very expensive campaign, reports seem to show that over six million Babas have been spent on the campaign, and is expected to pick up over thirty seats.

In the two Semi-Autonomous Townships of New Cotdelapoms and New Tamarindia however, elections will occur this Saturday, as the candidates had much smaller populations to deal with, and have pretty much wrapped up their campaigns. While the results aren't expected to provide a very clear picture of what the full results could look like, but may give a boost to some campaigns as they head into the final week.

Prime Minister Scat Peari, a Second Communist himself, is very excited to listen to the results on the night of the 13th and morning of the 14th.

"I'm anticipating a great victory for the Second Communist Group, something we've wanted very much since the poor showing for the Liverpool Township Legislature elections back in May."

Voter turnout is expected to be extremely low everywhere except for the four constituencies with elections on Saturday.

[Free Republics]

Nova Hellstrom arrived at that night's wrestling event in the town of Ohdunk in the Republic of Torapa. Tonight, the event was untelevised and they had booked a building with a capacity of around 10 thousand people. Thanks to her boss, Nova Hellstrom had front row tickets and was able to attend a "meet and greet" event with the wrestlers prior to the start of the show. She chose to go to that event. She needed to convince her boss that she was a competent journalist and that meant getting a chance to talk with the wrestlers. She immediately recognized one of the Burger brothers, a "tag team" of wrestlers. She walked over to talk to him, since nobody else was at that moment.

Nova Hellstrom - Hello. I'm Nova Hellstrom from Sporting World.

Wrestler - I'm Jason Burger. Its nice to meet the journalist that called me cute.

He was referencing her previous article.

Nova Hellstrom - What?

Jason Burger - You wrote that you were "just happy" that I was OK after the "brutal beating" I suffered in "this sick and sadistic bloodsport."

Nova Hellstrom - You aren't upset at me?

Jason Burger - Your previous article was some of the best advertising we've had in years. Our ratings have gone up even higher since you said that our sport was "Out of Control." It seems that our fans like it that way. Besides, how could I be upset at somebody as beautiful as you?

Nova Hellstrom - Oh.

Jason Burger - Have you ever thought about getting into our business? You have the look, seem to have the ability to get a reaction out of people and, if your Sporting World bio is to be believed, you have the athletic talent.

Nova Hellstrom - I've never been in a fight before. I don't think I can do that.

Jason Burger - Nova, you do realize that we are not fighting each other for real out there, right?

Jason Burger had said that real quietly.

Nova Hellstrom - You're not?

Jason Burger - No. Its been well-known for a few decades that everything we do is scripted. Our job is to put on an entertaining show so the fans keep buying tickets.

Nova Hellstrom - Is that why your referees seem to be as bad at their jobs as international soccer officials?

Jason Burger - I played soccer when I was younger. My cousin played against Kyle Bolton in his Republic's championship match last year.

Nova Hellstrom - That's interesting.

Jason Burger - I have a question for you.

Nova Hellstrom - What could that be?

Jason Burger - What brought you back here? You didn't seem to like it here the last time, judging by your article.

Nova Hellstrom - My boss. He told me it was either this or he'd fire me.

Jason Burger - Why don't you stick around with us and I'll see if I can't smarten you up to our business.

Nova Hellstrom thought for a moment...

Nova Hellstrom - I think I'll take you up on your offer.

At that moment, one of the female wrestlers walked over. It was Sabrina, whom Nova Hellstrom had insulted in her previous article.

Sabrina - Jason, is that who I think it is?

Jason Burger - Yes, we've got Miss Hellstrom from Sporting World in the building tonight.

Sabrina - So, its Nova Hellstrom, the "journalist" who called me "Sabrina the pervert-bait."

Sabrina began to speak sarcastically.

Sabrina - I'm so pleased to meet you.

Jason Burger - Come on Sabrina, play nice.

Sabrina - Jason, can you believe that Rhonda missed the train tonight?

Jason Burger - Then, who is going to be Lucia's partner tonight?

Another female wrestler walked by. She was a red-head who had numerous tattoos on her body.

Sabrina - Olivia, I just found out that Rhonda missed her train. She's not going to be here tonight.

Olivia - What are we going to do? We can't face Lucia in a handicap match. That would make us look like bullies and go completely against our characters.

Sabrina - I guess you'll have to be dropped from the match.

Olivia - But, I need this payday. If I don't compete tonight, I won't have enough money to eat.

Sabrina - Do you think I don't need the money too?

Jason Burger - What about Nova Hellstrom?

Sabrina - What about her?

Olivia - Is that who this is?

Nova Hellstrom - Yes, I'm Nova Hellstrom from Sporting World.

Jason Burger - If Nova teams with Lucia, the match can go on as scheduled.

Olivia - I don't want to be in the ring with some untrained journalist.

Sabrina - Olivia, its either that or being pulled from the match.

Olivia - OK, I'll give her a chance, but there isn't much we can do with somebody who isn't trained.

Sabrina - What says it has to be a straight wrestling match?

Olivia - Are you suggesting sticking somebody untrained in a special match?

Sabrina - I believe the boss always brings the pole with him.

Olivia - So, you want to do an item-on-a-pole match with an untrained woman?

Sabrina - How about a stick-on-a-pole match?

Olivia - Can we talk him into that?

Sabrina - Of course. He'll do anything we ask of him. He always does.

Nova Hellstrom - So, what are you proposing that I do?

Sabrina - We'll see if we can get the boss to agree to this, but he'll give you what would have been Rhonda's pay for tonight and then the winners get to use the stick on the losers.

Olivia - And we're going to win, but I promise we'll take it easy on you.

Nova Hellstrom - Why can't I win?

Sabrina - For starters, you're not actually a wrestler and we can't be having untrained people off the street beating our wrestlers.

Lucia walked out.

Sabrina - Hello, Lucia.

She pointed at Nova Hellstrom.

Sabrina - That's your partner for tonight's stick-on-a-pole match.

Lucia - What happened to Rhonda?

Olivia - She no-showed and I'm not giving up my check because of her.

Lucia - Does this woman have any training.

Sabrina - No.

Lucia - So, you want me to team with some untrained woman you dragged off the street? Is this for real?

Sabrina - This is Nova Hellstrom.

Lucia - The journalist? You want me to team with a journalist?

Olivia - There's no other way.

Lucia - OK, if both of you are insistent on it, I'll do it. I hope you weren't offended, Nova.

Nova Hellstrom - I wasn't. I'm not sure I want to go through with this myself.

Lucia - Just do what we tell you and you'll be fine.

Nova Hellstrom - OK.

Sabrina - I'll go clear this with the boss.

Sabrina left to talk to the boss and would talk him into allowing the untrained journalist to compete in the wrestling match. The fans in Ohdunk certainly didn't expect what they were about to see...

[Turori]

Eels Keep Marching On
All-Alone in Playoff Position

Ematora Saenu's Turori Eels recorded another victory on their march towards a World Cup 65 Playoff berth.

The Eels outlasted Bongo Johnson 2-0 on matchday 14 at Eels Park in Eelandii with Ronji Miiastara recording the shutout for the Turori National Team.

It completes a sweep of Bongo Johnson for the Eels, who remain 5 points clear of 3rd placed Thatius and look to be heading towards a playoff position. The Turori National Team is still mathematically in contention for the groups top spot which awards Automatic qualification to the finals, but appear unlikely to catch Group 2 leaders Darmen who recorded yet another win over decent opposition in the form of Stachland.

For Darmen, the path only gets easier as they progress through the groups lower ranked clubs. Darmen would have to slip up twice in four matches with the Eels remaining perfect in order for any change to take place at the top of the table.

Nothing will be resolved on Matchday 15 but a win for the Eels would put them one step closer to a guaranteed playoff place, where they could find themselves up against nations like Taeshan, Kinitaria or even rivals Vilita for a place in the World Cup finals.

Turori Goalscorers::
4' Enluta Makakio
71' Loala Kigoouao

-------------------------------------

Bongo Johnson Goalscorers::
-None-

-------------------------------------

In fact, to this point in the competition, the Eels have recorded more points than their higher-ranked rivals, with an 11-1-2 record compared with Vilita's 10-2-2.

For Turori, it was yet another breakthrough performance from Enluta Makakio, the attacking phenom who moved from the forest to the Jungle, having been trained in Inura Forests and snapped up by Vilitan giants Jungle Strike FC where he led the team in scoring en route to their Season 39 Stellar Division title.

The future is bright for Makakio, who appears poised to become one of the top Turorian strikers in history, on par with the likes of Kaboafo Iobabao. With the success of Makakio, many eyes have been placed on his sibling Inlite who still plays for the Inura Forests. However, skeptics would like to wait and see if its just a case of beginner's luck for the young striker, waiting to see if there is a repeat performance during the 40th Stellar Division season and 49th UICA Champions Cup.



Turori Statistics
Best Player: Enluta Makakio
Worst Player: Raso Tareak
Shots on Target: 3
Corner Kicks: 4


[b]Turori Eels Lineup ::
[GK] Ronji Miiastara, [D] Diauro Dlaminii, [D] Lioniaa Tana, [D] Yoains Konoaafeo, [UT] Restiaa Mumamba, [ML] Raso Tareak, [MC] Cediici Tzatzos, [MC] Vrotaoa Lorasoiba, [MR] Rikko Rawaii, [FC] Enluta Makakio, [FC] Liinai Zakazaka
BENCH::
[FC] Jukkia Diijelhma, [FC] Loala Kigoouao, [M] Tiika Diirotora, [M] Rutaj Ranaso, [UT] Mumau Atla-Siioai, [D] Noa-isinao Wioauoi, [GK] Hooizo Nuakoi

Turori Substitutions::
(45) - Raso Tareak >>> Loala Kigoouao
(66) - Cediici Tzatzos >>> Jukkia Diijelhma

[Punum]

Punum Draw To Tyrrin


Yesterday, Punum drew to Tyrrin 1-1 in a game of poor finishing in the World Cup.

Punum has been dominating the first 5 minutes but couldn't find a opportunity to shoot. However, in the 6th minute Malcolm Guzman had the ball 30 metres out. He played a 1-2 with Chris Lloyd. Guzman from 20 metes out then battered the ball into the top left corner to make it 1-0 after 8 minutes. Punum carried on dominating and nearly got another goal 3 minutes later. Punum had a free kick 10 metres inside their own half. Seeing Grinnar Lakehard of his line, Earl Marquez took a cheeky shot that hit the bar. Punum were definitely on the front foot and in the 19th minute Henry Dean had the ball on the left hand side if the box, he cut inside past Lasse Attwater and took a shot, forcing Lakehard to dive to his left to pull of an amazing save. In the 29th minute Punum were still trying to get a second goal. Henry Dean passed the ball in, Aaron McGuire was then 1 on 1 with Lakehard. McGuire's shit came off his foot and bounced wide. 4 minutes later and Punum were desperate to get a two goal advantage. Michael Dean crossed in a corner from the right. After the ball bobbling about in the box for a bit, Norman Ismael made a desperate attempt to score and tried to slide the ball in, but Lakehard saw it and pulled of another save. Guzman tried getting his second goal in the 42nd minute. From 30 metres out he took a shot heading for the top right. But as usual, Lakehard made the save. The teams went into half time with Punum leading by a goal to nil. The tables turned in the second half and Tyrrin were dominating. In the 48th minute Einar Sigimund tried to get an equaliser. From 20 metres out he took a shot but it went straight at Felix Briggs to pull of a routine save. In the 53rd minute Jaron Kennard was through on goal. He pulled his foot back but Briggs dived down bravely before he could have a shot. Tyrrin needed a goal and in the 64th minute Werner Brent played a pass to Sigimund. From 30 metres out he had a shot but Briggs dived to his right to pull of a save. In the 74th minute Tyrrin made another attempt at an equaliser. Oliver Linford took an ambitious shot from 35 metres out but Briggs made another save to keep Punum ahead. A goal finally came for Tyrrin. In the 87th minute Linford had the ball 35 metres out, this time instead of going for the shot he passed it to Sigimund. Sigimund then chipped a ball over the top of Norman Ismael and Rick Curtis to Kennard. From 6 metres out he wasn't going to miss and put it into the bottom left of the goal in the 89th minute. That's how the game ended.

Punum's next game is against Lukquarel who are currently last compared to Punum who are sixth. The team is;

GK: Felix Briggs
RB: Craig Hoffman
CB: Norman Ismael
CB: Rick Curtis
LB: Earl Marquez
CDM: Lenny Dotson
RM: Michael Dean
LM: Henry Dean
CAM: Chris Lloyd
CAM: Malcolm Guzman
ST: Aaron McGuire

Subs

GK: Bill Hanson
RB/LB: Albert Chandler
CB: Clinton Conley
CDM: Matthew Jewell
RM/LM: Neil Long
CAM: Rodrick Dalton
ST: Martin Hood.

Lee Mueller.

[Vilita]

Turoki Island Tourism Board attempts Match Re-location

Rumors are now surfacing that the Turoki Island tourism board was prepared to offload large amounts of cash to various cities throughout mainland Vilita to give up their World Cup qualifying dates and move them to one of the stadiums on the Island of Turoki.

Looking to promote their newly implemented 'Visit TI' campaign, the tourism board missed the opportunity to catch the world's attention during their pre-scheduled venue usage events on matchday 4 against Slembana at the Turoki Community Complex in Turoki City and Matchday 6 against Kalumba at the Track Venture field in Sile.

Supposedly, the tourism board had reached an understanding with the Morata Valley council who oversee the National View Stadium but the Vilitan Football Association denied the transfer of rights to host the match between stadiums due to the lateness of the request.

Now, it appears word of the under-the-table dealing has been leaked by the Yeaddin Heritage Society who outright rejected any attempt by the Turoki Island tourism board to coerce them into giving up the Matchday 16 fixture against Torisakia. The Turoki Island tourism board are trying to capitalize on the Vilita Jungle Cats poor showing thus far in the qualifying campaign which is resulting in packed stadiums late in the qualifying campaign due to the importance of the matches. This is a stark contrast from the situation during World Cup 64 qualifying when the final home matches saw entire sections empty after the Jungle Cats had lost their bid for a perfect record and had no challenge for their qualification place.

With the Vilita National Team holding on to the lead in Group 19 only on a single goal differential over regional rivals Kinitaria, however, demand for tickets is super high and the low-capacity Lirai Asku Castle seemed like a perfect target to transfer a match day from.

Pride in Yeaddin is still too high to be bought out by bribes, however, despite the relatively lack-lustre performances of their home town heroes, the Yeaddin Owls.

According to the Yeaddin Heritage Society, the Lirai Asku Castle "is going to be packed to full capacity on Matchday 16 and the Jungle Cats are going to use the atmosphere to propel themselves into the World Cup 65 finals. Far better than the crappy experience one might get at a cookie cutter establishment like the Turoki Community Complex..."

Ahead of the controversy surrounding their attempts to bring another qualifying match to Turoki Island, The Turoki Island Tourism board put forward a surprise bid to become a UICA Partner beginning with the 50th Globe Cup. The 'Visit TI' campaign is one of a record number of applicants for the globe cup partnership, including incumbent partner Obeveklig of the Polar Islandstates, Farfadillis game company Îka and the somewhat popular and deranged Charmunny beverage Stl-Blnd.

"Visit TI" aims to attract tourists to Turoki Island for more than just the sporting competitions. However, for fans of the sport, Turoki Island can boast itself as the home of defending Vilitan Cup champions and two-time Stellar Division champions Makosile United, former Super Cup and Globe Cup champions the Turoki Tide and many other successful Vilitan sport clubs.

[Kandorith]

Draw Keeps Group Even


By Lisho Yaru

A crucial match, with an even more crucial result, with even more crucial results of the other competing teams. Can Kandorith still place itself or is it a gone case? Many sceptics think so. Kandorith's draw last night sure kept the team in the race for at least the second place. We know that they have to perform at their best right now, while the excitement is building. With all results still very much in reach, as Group 12 still doesn't have a defined winner nor runner ups.


Head coach Xíanjí already told the media he would have a surprise for the fans, and his team will be playing with different tactics and a slightly different set-up. But, as usual the coach does not want to share his plans for the upcoming matches, all he said was. "Kandorith is match fit, the strikers are sharp and focussed and the team is in perfect harmony. We are going to get some results now. Tomorrow will be our D-Day as we have to prove we can snatch the win to keep in the race. I think this will be the most crucial match in these qualification rounds.. I fear we will have to leave the world stage if we lose or even get a draw."


The coach continued his story towards the press. "We will face a team we have faced before. We know their strengths and their weaknesses. I decided to focus the preparation on exploiting both our strengths and their weaknesses, in the hope to crush them. Of course we stand against a very respectable opponent, but I just know we can beat them. We haven't been focussed enough in our previous meeting, now is our time to show just what we can do. I also tend to focus the team more on building attacks from the defensive mind setting, especially our mid-field has some improvement ahead of them. I trust they have improved, I've seen them improve and I am sure they can show some world class football in the last matches of these qualification rounds"


A very optimistic coach talking to the press, the fans await the results and the match. The most crucial match according to the coach, Kandorith has the mind setting for winning and they are extremely driven to snatch the win. The fans have the full trust in the team and every street corner already decorated in the national colours. The Kandorese believe in their team reaching the world stage this time. We are looking forward to the match and we are especially looking forward to an extremely exciting and awe inspiring match. Gods be with the team! Jiayoú Kanduó!

[Sangti]

OUTSIDE CHANCE
Edric Conciso, El Diario Deportivo del Sangti

-------Group 16----                    P  W  D  L GF-GA     GD   Pts
[1] Wight                              14  9  5  0 39-17   +22   32
:2: Jedi8246                           14  9  1  4 27-23   +4    28
 3- The Royal Kingdom of Quebec        14  7  4  3 30-20   +10   25
 4- Saintland                          14  7  4  3 26-20   +6    25
 5- Sondstead                          14  6  4  4 16-15   +1    22
 6- Karditan                           14  5  5  4 18-16   +2    20
 7- Sangti                             14  5  3  6 11-17   -6    18
 8- The Sovan Antithesis               14  5  1  8 29-38   -9    16
 9- Aquitayne                          14  1  2 11  8-22   -14   5
10- Narsora                            14  0  3 11  9-25   -16   3

Sangti 1 (Magcaleng 48'), Aquitayne 0
Group 16, World Cup 65 Qualifiers
Estadio Olimpico de Pranse, Leonde, Sangti

Sangti is still in a dire position after a narrow 1-0 win over Aquitayne in the city of Leonde's first hosting of the Agilang Dilaw national team. This left them 10 points behind Jedi8246 who occupies the play-off spot with 4 matches remaning. Any unfavorable result for the Agilang Dilaw will formally eliminate them from World Cup contention, as they prepare for their rebuilding phase after the World Cup Qualifiers.

It was a quiet game for both teams, where both sides struggled to shoot the ball at target. The first half ended goalless. In the second half, Adrian Magcaleng scored from close range after the Aquitayne keeper slipped the ball out of his hand. Sangti led 1-0 until full time. They will stay home to face Narsora, with Jerous Manalo opting to field his backups for the Narsora game.

There were no notable incidents at the El Olimpico in Leonde, other than three cases of petty crime such as snatching and acts of lasciviousness. However Jerous Almirante said in an interview that security must be improved if any city desires to host international matches, as the Estadio Ferdinand Marcos is chosen to host the final of the 46th edition of the Series B Chanpions' Cup as well as the semifinals and finals of the inagural Youth Cup.

Almirante said in an official interview: "The FA Sangti is pleased to announce that our very own El Dictator (Estadio Ferdinand Marcos) will host not only the final of the Series B Champions' Cup, but also the semifinal and final of the Youth Cup. Because of this, work is scheduled to be started for the expansion of El Dictator to 60000 spectators.As suck, to give way to the expansion, the El Dictator will be closed for a moment. The match between Sangti and Wight is moved to the Estadio de los Inversores Chinos in Baoyam, and the Narsora game is moved to the Estadio de Mil Islas in Isla Nespa."

[Chiata]

Chiata Suns Meeting:
Coach Fillmont: Alright guys. We have a problem. We need to get our act together. Were 2-4-8 and number 9 in group 13. We started out as number 7. When we entered the world cup we were 3-0-3 over all and no.254 in the world. If we stay here, down at the bottom, were gunna go down in rankings. Do you want to be the no. 300 guy starting at the bottom of the group? DO YOU? THEN SHAPE UP! We only have 4 games left people! How on earth did we not win one game against the unranked Kytler Penennsulae! How in the world did we just loose to Tasrailia! We need to fix ourselves. We have 4 games. 4 games. Here's are goal. Are goal is to atleast get back to number 7. If we win today then we get that number 7 spot. Then all we have to do is defend it. And when it comes to defending, where one of the best. So go on out there and defend Foer. Get out there Yales and Chriss. Get out there Huburt and Stevenson. Go out and defend your team. Go out and defend your country. Go out....... and defend against the world.

[Valanora]

Valanora Times
Revenge Exacted

The Marauders have been a consistent beacon of success during this World Cup qualification process, churning out one victory after another. Players and staff give the token notion that each victory is the same, just another step on the road to something more worthwhile in chasing. We know better though, not every victory is equal, even in the eyes of those like Laborious Hawk and Espy va Drake. Just like outclassing Quakmybush in a clash of the nations from World Cup 29 gave a certain amount of satisfaction, so did last night's victory over Branta Island.

Unlike Quakmybush who has or had some semblance of history with the Marauders, the same can no truly be said for the victims of last nights match. How then is it revenge for the Marauder side who are but one point from their stated goal of forty points and securing qualification to either Pasarga or Saugeais? It is because Branta Island is the only side thus far in this cycle to have defeated the Marauders, defeating them when they made the trip away from the homely shores of Capri to play them. Based on last night's performance, it was a result that the side had not forgotten and wanted to set the record straight.

Is that really necessary for a side like our national team though? At the end of the day, only one or two nations really stack up to the Vanorian national team when it comes to prestige and history, that could be really called true rivals both now and throughout the history of the game. Does the side need to exact vengeance for any perceived slight and every dropped result that it suffers? At one time it seemed like a reasonable thing for the side to do, but is it still? Is is truly the action of champions to always need to have the last laugh?

Some would argue that the need to have that vengeance, to have the last say is what makes a team a champion. It is that hunger that drives them above and beyond all of those that surround them and are looking to become champions as well. Is it a need, a deep seeded hunger that only a champion can have that leads them to performances like last night where they utterly dominate their foes after anything that could be a slight to their pride and reputation. Others will say a champion should act with more class, to be more of the machine that grinds out the victories and carries on to the next task with little to no fuss.

Surely we know the outward way that the team sees themselves, more as the champion in class rather than the one that is looking to demolish those that slight them. Can it be both though? Can the squad be the hungry type, wanting to achieve that championship so bad that they do not forget those that they think slight them while at the same time churning out the results needed to get them to that promised land? It seems a bit of a contradiction but if any sort of side could pull it off, it would be the Marauders with their veteran leaders who have been there and won the championships before. It is that leadership that will be needed to guide them there again, as the qualification is all but assured. A team does not retake the championship of the World Cup by simply resting on their laurels.