WC72 RP Thread

by **Farfadillis** » Wed Jul 29, 2015 2:24 pm

The Kamikaze
A site dedicated to Farf football

National Team Section

YES
submitted just now

Yes, yes, it was an unconvincing win. I'm not going to deny that. Kirisaki turned out to be a very tough team to beat, but our defense was surprisingly smooth today, which let us take the win even though our attack wasn't. That's something I'm unlikely to ever have to type out again in this life unless I start supporting a different country.

That said, even though our team didn't look that threatening offensively, last night's game begged the question: What are we gonna do without Dandalleion?

It's true, he didn't have the best game of his career. He wasn't as threatening as we've come to expect of him, but he's aging fast and he still did more than enough. In a game in which Kâí, Fôx, Delafuente, Terán and Fuego all failed to make a noticeable difference, Dandalleion took it upon himself to score the winner in the sixtieth minute. A lethal counterattack and a goal that was deserved, but maybe not enough. He was deadly for just ten seconds, and that's all that matters. So then, I ask, what are we gonna do when a once-in-a-generation player like him retires from the national team? He's announced this will be his last cycle, Pekarik's got to start thinking - and thinking hard - on how to replace him. Or at least make his absence less impactful.

We've got a bunch of very promising youngsters. There's Elexhé Nofzaleiné, a player I'm a bit of a fan of, there's Quirino D'Amore, who played well last Di Bradini Cup (for some reason I can only recall the first two or so games), there's Séraphin Török, who looked pretty awesome for his age, and there's Täjó Çíânflöné - write down that name, he's going to be big. However, only Nofzaleiné could be argued to be ready for a place in the first team, and he'll still be a big step-down. Besides, do we really want to put so much pressure on a youngster who's definitely not 'the next Dandalleion'. That label could ruin him, I'd very much rather have Wínrôuge handle it. So, what do we do? Right now, I believe the best option, and the one Pekarik's leaning towards, is moving Kâí to the front, in much the same way Dandalleion was moved there before hitting the form of his life. Sure, Dandalleion did it at a much younger age, but Kâí's got the skillset to make an impact in any ofensive position, and I'm sure we can trust him with emulating Dandalleion's form these last two cycles, he's got age going for him there.

It's implied that should Pekarik do that, Tôr will be the one taking the left winger role, though I believe he'd play more as an inside forward like Fôx than as a winger, like Kâí. Risko's not good at all when it comes to headers anyway. Fuego is, but sometimes sacrifices have to be made. I am sure Tôr's more than capable enough of making the step up to the first team. In fact, I am sure he would've done it at a young age had he been born a little later, avoiding overlap with two of the best players this nation has produced, who have so far never allowed him to have a fair shot at featuring in the first team. Friekder's retirement will mean an opportunity for him, though, and I think we all agree he'll make the most out of it. He knows Terán well as they play for the same club, so that's a bonus.

But even if we do that, we'll be missing out on a lot of things. One of the reasons Kâí has been our best player these last few years is because of Dandalleion's presence. Kâí's crosses combined with Dandalleion's presence in the box have proven deadly over the years, and Pekarik's gonna have to adapt with the Vilita-based striker gone. Playing two inside forwards will change the entire dynamic of our offense, and I expect it to throw the team off a bit in the first few games. Kâí's not gonna be a step-down in the other areas - hold on, hold on, I'm talking about Dandalleion's last few years, don't kill me. But well, let's face it, as talented as he may be, Tôr will be. Kâí's a couple of tiers above him, and we're gonna be feeling that. I just hope he can put up with the criticism that will be going his way when people compare him to Risko and Mâás.

Alright, setting the Dandalleion matter aside, what exactly are we gonna do with Alaminos? Mêndêlöíndçêl and him are not gonna be around for much longer and, unlike our Mr. Captain, Santos has not got an evident replacement lined up to take his place, at least not one like Ostadar Arambilet or Ruy Monrazón. Despite his slightly disappointing performances as of late, nobody can deny he's key to avoiding defensive collapses, you know, the ones we are so prone to. There's a bunch of promising youngsters like Drê Röènôùjýâ and Jallerrhé Ljungman who could take his place, but nobody's close to the level needed. Cayfú's been very far from convincing, while Dragonslayer's barely shown enough merit to be called up every once in a while. Maybe asking for someone even close to the Santos Alaminos from AOCAF Cup 43 is a bit too much, but we'll be in trouble if we don't get a decent replacement. My money's on Drê, but he's far too attacking. And, to be honest, with Mata's already far too offensive playstyle, I'm not sure that's convenient. Don't lynch me.

Ljungman's very interesting in that regard. He's not gung-ho attacking, though he's very good at running down the flank and crossing, so he'd not be too different from Santos. I'd suggest you follow his development. In all likelihood, he'll be the one replacing Mata, not Alaminos, but he might just be the solution to the problem that will inevitably arise with Alaminos' retirement.

What I don't want to delve into, however, is the fact that Kâí, Terán, Fôx and Bârr are not exactly young. The former two have got at most two cycles ahead of them, while the latter two have at most three. They're all among the best players we Farves have enjoyed. There's exciting youngsters to replace them, too, but the future's scarily uncertain. Wínrôuge and Pickton look pretty much set to become great, but no great winger has appeared in the last few years. Have Fôx and Kâí been a one-off? My mind says yes, but my heart says no.

Anyway, seems I've completely digressed from talking about the match. Oh well. Next match's against our friends the Apoxians. Hopefully we'll be able to feast on their tears, spilled from dreams mercilessly crushed.

by **Sargossa** » Wed Jul 29, 2015 3:12 pm

The sound of footsteps alerted those around the long table to the approach of their leader long before the two soldiers moved in unison to open the ornate double doors they flanked. Through the open doorway came the Gregorio Emparán, entourage trailing in his wake. On cue the suited figures arrayed along both sides of the table stood in the presence of their president. He waved them back down.

“Keep your seats, ladies and gentlemen. Keep your seats.”

The Sargossan president took his own place at the table's head, his aides arranging an array of paperwork around him. He signed one and handed it back, before waving his attendants away.

“I think I can work out the rest myself. Alana. What are we, cavemen? Some refreshments please. I can’t have my ministers working without coffee and pastries, the country would grind to a complete stop. Did you see the football Domingo?”

“Of course.” Sports Minister Orbina replied. “I thought we gave the Polarians a helluva game. We're going to get them one day.”

“So you keep telling me. They're irritatingly impressive bastards, i'll give them that. Still, if you’re going to lose a group match, make it the first one. Remind me after the meeting, I want to have a chat about this International Athletics Grand Prix series. Ok, shall we begin? That’s rhetorical, we’re beginning. And we’re beginning with one of my favourite things, the World Assembly. I know, I know, but this time its good news. One of their recent census reports was on tourism, and Sargossa ranked second in all of Rushmore. For which Cristoval and his team at the Tourism Ministry deserve a lot of credit. Job well done. Oh, and they also downgraded our Civil Rights index from ‘Good’ to ‘Average’. Why? School uniforms apparently. Compulsory school uniforms are evidently a huge infringement on the basic human rights of our children. Mea culpa.”

He waited for the sniggering to subside before continuing.

“Ok, to the first course on today’s administrative banquet. José, the floor is yours.”

“Thank you.” Foreign Ministry Carizzo addressed the room. “The results of the Electrumite election were hardly straightforward but it looks like Conservative Nick Wood will be the new Prime Minister. There’s been no official word as yet, there’s a lot of admin for the Electrumites to sort first, but the change in leadership will almost certainly see the proposed base project come to an end.”

That revelation elicited little more than a shrug from the president. “It was a long shot from the outset. Plus it briefly put the wind up the Eurans and Valladars, which is always a happy bonus. So on to phase two, how are we placed?”

“It has been made clear that once the new Electrumite leadership has been put in place Ambassador Cassaventés will be one of their first meetings.”

“Good. See she gets whatever resources she requires to make this happen. Electrum are going to be an influential part of this region, so get this right José. And continuing a theme of getting things right I want to again go over the wording of the Polarian proposal . . .”

by **Valladares** » Wed Jul 29, 2015 3:50 pm

Five-minute disaster prevents Valladares from snatching a point in World Cup 72 opener

MANEHATTAN, EQUESTRIAN STATES (VAP) — Disaster. Perhaps that is the most appropriate word to describe what happened in those fateful final five minutes at Manehattan Industrial Park, as the Valladar national football team let a valuable and hard-fought 3-3 draw transform into a painful 5-3 loss at the hands of fellow Rushmori rivals Eura in their first match of the World Cup 72 finals, in the Equestrian States.

47,160 people were present to watch Group G's opener, with a sizable contingent of both Valladar and Euran fans on the stands. In the first minutes of the match, the Valladars controlled ball possession and proposed their usual offensive, high-tempo approach, although the multiverse's seventh best side defended well and managed to keep the likes of Frank Rozenthal and Pedrinho away from the goal defended by Ben Prince for some minutes. However, it would not take too long for the Tricolor to find a breakthrough, with midifelder Pedro Pedretti passing the ball to Juan Pablo Reyes, who started a run through the right wing, outspeeding Gareth Blackthorn and Andrew Watson in the process, and sent a cross into the Euran box, which found Pedrinho in the right place for him to head the ball into the goal for what would be the first celebration in the evening, in the fourteenth minute. Having scored the first goal of the match should have allowed the Valladar players to relax and control the game with greater ease, but the World Cup 66 winners had another thing in mind, quickly taking control of the ball and the game, but still unable to find a way through the five-men defense ordered by Juan Andrés Verzeri, the Valladar gaffer. Eura began threatening Pradera's goalkeeper Andrés Orozco with long shots and setpieces, which would eventually become their key to break through the impervious Valladar wall: after a dangerous (and foolish) foul by Freddy Edwards near the Valladar box in the 39th minute, John Spartan would take his chance with a direct free-kick, which he neatly turned into the equalizer for the Eurans. Orozco could not do anything to block Spartan's shot, and the game was now 1-1. The Valladars tried to regain the lead before the halftime whistle was blown with a strong shot by Frank Rozenthal which went wide, immediately followed by Baskita FC player Yoan Gignac trying his luck but finding his shot easily blocked by Prince.

The second half would be the confirmation that neither Juan Andrés Verzeri or Steve Thompson wanted to take a more conservative approach to the game, with the Valladars taking the lead once again after just three minutes with Frank Rozenthal finally finding the goal he had been looking for during the first 45 minutes, this time scoring from a corner to put the Tricolor ahead. Rubén Morantes could have made things 3-1 in the 52nd minute after receiving a clean pass from Iván Coupet, but his shot found Craig Gilbert on the way and was deflected as a result. Thompson clearly was not liking what he was seeing in his team and decided to move cards, sending Joel Sutton to the field to replace Mike Adams. Sutton was the Euran player with the greatest knowledge of Valladar football, and therefore the one who could turn things around for the Eurans. This would be proven true by the Metropolis Alligators player in the 60th minute as he found the whole line of Valladar full-backs off-guard and soon found himself faced only by Andrés Orozco, who was easily deceived with a feint allowing Sutton to finish into the empty net for the Euran equalizer. It was at this moment that Verzeri decided to make a substitution, punishing Rubén Morantes's subpar game and giving young Ajax Carloburgo prospect Angelo Farías his chance, however, Farías looked nervous and out of sync with his teammates, taking away offensive presence for the Valladars and leaving them openly dependent on what Juan Pablo Reyes could work out. And this situation was well harnessed by the Eurans with Craig Sinclair putting the Eurans ahead for the first time in the match after finishing a smart assist from Albin Oslograd in the 71st minute, however, the Tricolor would soon fight back thanks to...Angelo Farías, who wrote a few pages of history by scoring his first goal with the National Team after his shot from outside the box deflected off Mark Rogers and headed into the net past a bewildered Prince in the 76th minute. With the game 3-3 and now turned into a true back-and-forth affair with both sides cutting through their rivals' backline with ease, both Prince and Orozco did their best to save their teams from conceding another goal, however, what appeared to be an innocent and unintentional handball by Patrick Courtois in the 85th minute quickly turned into the Valladar downfall, with Spartan dipping the ball into the net one minute later, for the fourth Euran goal. And with the Tricolor now desperately charging for yet another equalizer, Sam Ashtree found the perfect chance to kill the Valladar hopes off in injury time with a deadly counterattack which ended with the Ulsa player sending the ball past a rooted Orozco for the fifth and final Euran goal, meaning that the brave efforts by the Valladar team to pull off a win from their meeting against their regional rivals were all futile in the end.

Despite losing what was tipped as the crucial match for the second place in Group G, Sandwich Territories's upset over the Holy Republican Empire leaves Valladar chances to advance out of Group G wide open as both sides will be travelling to Ponyville to play each other in a match where Republicans and Valladars will be forced to get a win in order to avoid an early exit from the World Cup.

EURA - 5 (Spartan 39', 86' (pen), Sutton 60', Sinclair 71', Ashtree 90'+1')
VALLADARES - 3 (Pedrinho 14', Rozenthal 48', Farías 76')

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by **Yttribia** » Wed Jul 29, 2015 5:10 pm

SCENE: The will call booth of the Apple Orchard Stadium, in the Equestrian States. Five people are approaching the window booth to go pick up their tickets they had placed at will call. Louis, the "leader" of the group, is picking up tickets. Along with the four other people, the five run a dying video store in the city of Zevella. He is accompanied by Franz, his step-father, Louis' twin sister Louise, and two close friends Carlos, and Mitxel. Four of them are wearing jerseys of the Yttribian national team, with Carlos having a poorly done knock-off jersey made in a Guavalite sweatshop. Franz is the exception, as he has come to the match wearing a five piece suit, complete with purple and black handkerchief.

MITXEL: For the love of Jove, Franz, I cannot believe you came here wearing the stupid designer suit!
FRANZ: What, you gotta dress to impress! Not like something you and trash family has ever done.
MITXEL: Woah, there Franz! Swear on the holy Sanctii church that you will regret it when I go taekwondo all over your sorry arse.
FRANZ: Listen, if you wanna scuffle, we can scuffle. I'll fight you right NOW! You'll never forget the day when I absolut-
LOUIS: Easy gentlemen, hold your horses. Because I just got our tickets.

Louis proceeds to hold up a quintet of tickets just as he sees Franz take off his jacket, as Franz was preparing to fight.

CARLOS: Holy shoot, that's, like, awesome dude!
LOUIS: Exactly, this is our ticket into the big time, baby. We are going to watch a World Cup match, and cry as we get fucking pummeled.
LOUISE: Damn shame, that. If only there was a way we could somehow help beat Osarius.

The group ignores Louise's comments, as they usually don't give a rat's arse about what she has to say. Louis then turns away from Louise, before addressing the group.

LOUIS: Gentlemen...we are going to help the team beat Osarius.

(OOC: Best to look here with this theme playing)

LOUIS: Right, we're in here, we've made it, this is going to be...damn it Louise, you got the Tier 3 Seats! All we're going to see is a bunch of antmen fighting over a stupid ball.
CARLOS: Goddamn you Louise, you shithead.
LOUISE: Jeezus, I'm sorry! Not my fault when we have little to no money!
LOUIS: Well it's your fault for spending all the money on your stupid purses and bird cre- wait, where is Franz going?

Just then, a member of the press whirls Franz away to an undisclosed location.
JOURNALIST: Mister Dominguez, you are going to be of very late!
FRANZ: Who the hell is this Dominguez? I'm an Obenhauser, LET GO OF ME!

SCENE TWO: Franz is seen being thrown into a small but cramped press box, as a producer signals a countdown from three to one. There, famous Spanish broadcaster Rigoberto Dominguez is seen saluting the Spanish speaking viewers for this match of the World Cup.

DOMINGUEZ: Y con migo, tengo mi companiero, el gran Cristobal Dominguez. Un plaser a estar annunciando esta Copa del Mundo con tigo.
FRANZ: W-hola...me gusta las moojeres y el footbol. Vahmos a gahnawr! Seeee!

The scene cuts back to the insides of the stadiums.

LOUIS: Carlos, Mitxel: go save us our seats while Louise and I go grab some drinks, okay?
CARLOS: Okay, sure.
LOUIS: Awesome, thanks pals.

Louise and Louis exit, leaving Carlos and Mitxel to go find their seats. Carlos, being the naive idiot he is, bought a 40 dollar program for the match, and Mitxel is obviously confused as to why.

MITXEL: You're a goddamn idiot, Carlos.
CARLOS: But, I like the paper, it's all glossy and stuff! Very very nice!
MITXEL: Will you shut up and hurry to our seats?

The two are now going up into their seats, and Carlos has ruined the program by turning it into a paper airplane. Mitxel is obviously unhappy.

CARLOS: Look, Mitxel! A nice paper airplane! Very sweet!
MITXEL: You know what, Carlos? You're a goddamn idiot. I don't even know how you graduated school in the first place.
CARLOS: Geez, I wonder how far this thing can go...
MITXEL: You threw forty good dollars into the trash by folding it into the air, and now you're...throwing forty dollars onto the pitch.

Mitxel and Carlos were seated behind the Yttribian goalpost for the first half, and as Carlos throws the paper airplane, it makes it slow descent onto the pitch. The plane is now continuing its slow descent onto the pitch. Meanwhile, an Osarian forward is dribbling the ball, and is well in range to make a shot. He looks up to make a shot, and before he kicks, the paper airplane Carlos threw struck him right in the face, blocking his vision as he took the kick. The kick went wide left, and into the crowd. The crowd went from shock into an audible moan.

MITXEL: Oh. My. God.

The scene fades to black as the program, recounting a real event, goes to commercials.

by **Eura** » Wed Jul 29, 2015 5:14 pm

Spartan strikes twice as Euran's snatch late win
Madness in Manehattan as Eura win eight goal Rushmori rollercoaster
Simon Banning reports from Manehattan, Equestrian States

Steve Thompson's first World Cup was marked by encouraging and exceptional performances almost all round, which took Eura to the cusp of victory, only for them to bow out admirably in the semi-finals against Pasarga. Now they're back on the world stage after a convincing goal-fest in qualifying, and once again Thompson's Eura seem to have recaptured the energy of the Ben Randall era - albeit with some of the same defensive and organisational flaws. Nowhere this cycle has this been better displayed than in this game, where Eura edged out their Rushmori rivals Valladares with two late goals, while the Holy Republican Empire faltered in a shock defeat to the Sandwich Territories elsewhere.

Manehattan Industrial Park was the venue for this opening tie and it was certainly a warm evening, with many a shirtless Eura or Valladar fan swaggering about, some of them uglier than sin, others less so. Both sets of fans were in a boisterous mood and an unusually friendly one for Eura-Valladares matches compared to previous years; perhaps a consequence of the recent warming of bilateral relations, and the heavy presence of players from each others nations in both squads. The Valladares team however were in no mood to mess about with frivolous pleasantries. This was a team that had now not been managed by Euran Dimitri Campbell for a few years, but had retained many of the players he brought through and also an element of his style. Their game is much like Eura's - attacking, high tempo play with the ball on the ground - which is why these sides tend to often have quite even games when they play. Valladares had the best of the opening play, though Craig Gilbert marshaled his defence superbly in the opening stages while Ben Prince watched on from his goal line. Unfortunately, Valladares were not to be stopped and took the lead with a phenomenal passage of play. Pedretti found Reyes, who went wide and crossed for Pedrinho to head home as Mark Rogers trailed him. Rogers had been strong so far against his club teammate Frank Rozenthal, but did poorly on this occasion.

Despite this unexpected early setback Eura were not to be deterred, which says a lot about the massive increase in confidence since Steve Thompson took over from Watson and Kallstrom despite having a similar set of players. Valladares reverted to a five man backline, bringing their wingbacks deeper as Eura upped the ante and seized the momentum on the back of conceding. For a while this managed to shut out Eura, although they certainly looked like they could provide a bit of deadly incision at any time, particularly when John Spartan and Craig Sinclair were put in positions where they could put balls into the box. Eventually their patience paid off. Freddy Edward's hacked down Sinclair, who is in dazzling form, without much subtlety, 22 yards from goal. It was very close to the edge of the box but John Spartan is a direct free kick expert, perhaps Eura's greatest other than that great winger and set piece master James McCroft. He lofted it over the wall with expert precision and curve applied to the ball, sending it into the top left hand corner, leaving no chance of the goalkeeper stopping it. Frank Rozenthal probably should've scored minutes later but he could only shoot wide as the half time bell tolled. In the second half, this edgy game would blow open as both sides abandoned this tit for tat exchange of phases of offensive pressure for an all out attack gameplan.

Valladares started the second half even more aggressively than they had the first, and were rewarded for it as Rozenthal buried a header from a corner, beating his Revolutionaries teammates Rogers and Prince with ease. Spartangrad's Ruben Morantes could have killed the game if he had scored four minutes later in the 52nd minute, but a timely intervention by Craig Gilbert saved the day. Even so the pressure seemed to be going one way at first and Thompson blinked, bringing on Joel Sutton for the increasingly ineffectual Mike Adams, who appears to be losing his pace. It was a wise decision. Sutton has been terrorising defences for Metropolis Alligators in Valladares and their media pundits identified him as the biggest threat on the bench before the match, and they were right to do so. He looked dangerous from the moment he came on, pinging a shot into the side netting, before he was given the chance to equalise for Eura. John Spartan was left, very foolishly by the Valladar midfield, with just a moment of space and time in the centre circle. He used it to the best of his ability, thwacking a perfectly weighted lob over a frozen back line, placed ideally for Sutton to charge after it down the left (Sinclair had switched to the right). He rounded the keeper and levelled proceedings before celebrating wildly. Valladares responded with substitutions, substitutions which did not work and upset the balance of their team. The initiative was now with Eura. Albin Oslograd had been anonymous for most of the game but in the 71st minute he set up Craig Sinclair with an inventive pass through the backline to allow the talismanic midfielder to finish.

Mark Rogers was not having a good day though. He'd been caught out for both of the first two Valladares goals, though perhaps they were not entirely his fault, but he was just plain unlucky as Valladares scored a third against the run of play in the 76th minute, Angelo Farías scoring his first international goal thanks to a deflection off the Revolutionaries centreback. Suddenly the game was all over the place and it looked like either side could nick it; either that or it would peter out into a draw. Yet in the final ten minutes Valladares looked unconvincing and panicky on the ball, while Eura remained relatively assured. In the 86th minute, Valladares crumbled under the pressure, and the trigger was quite simply the smallest of mistakes, an accidental but nevertheless decisive and penalty-awarding handball in the box. John Spartan capped off his man of the match performance by chipping the penalty down the middle and into the net. Eura didn't play to defend the one goal lead, they kept going, sniffing blood as Valladares fell to pieces while they tried to find some way of hitting back. Their attempts to do so only allowed Eura to kill the game as Ashtree was put through in stoppage time by Churchilli. The Ulsa striker finished his chance, and in doing so finished the game.

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by **Equestrian States** » Wed Jul 29, 2015 5:35 pm

Cruise Control Victory in Canterlot
by Steve McNotapony

Greggystan 0-1 Equestrian States
at Royal Equestria Stadium in Canterlot
Attendance: 116,846
Scoring:

Pristina Shine '26 (Rainbow Blitz)

CANTERLOT - In front of Royal Equestria Stadium's second-largest ever crowd (surpassed in size only by the 120,000-strong horde that witnessed the 70th World Cup Final) the Ponies kicked off their World Cup 72 campaign last night with a comfortable 1-0 victory over fourth-seeded "Greggystan," a minnow in the world of hoofball just making their World Cup debut.

The match's only real excitement on the pitch came in the 26th minute when Rainbow Blitz slotted a perfect through-ball to Pristina Shine, giving the Northbrook Diamonds striker a golden opportunity she wouldn't let go to waste, firing a missile past the helpless Greggystani keeper. From that point on, the Equestrians would threaten to expand their lead on several occasions but never find the back of the net. Instead, the Ponies seemed content to dance circles around their noticeably slower opponents in the midfield, passing the ball back and forth before making uninspired efforts to score.

However, the second most intriguing moment of the night happened off the pitch just after the halftime whistle blew. Apparently agitated by his side's failure to muster much of a contest against the Ponies, the Greggystani manager made a number of crude and violent remarks towards the Equestrian bench that the Ponies seemed to disagree with, nearly leading to a brawl and ultimately ending in the Greggystani instigator being shown red.

Equestrian coach Pearly White declined to comment on the incident after the match.

Despite the victory, the Ponies cannot afford to relax as a pair of challenging foes remain in old rivals Ko-oren and Audioslavia, both sides ranked in the top 20 and favorites to escape the group stage ahead of the Equestrian hosts.

by **Valanora** » Wed Jul 29, 2015 6:00 pm

Who is under pressure to crushcrushcrush the opposition and get a win for 3 points? Cause that's what you get in the World Cup!

Results

by **Sandwich Territories** » Wed Jul 29, 2015 6:07 pm

*The referee is about to blow the final whistle, on what is, to date the greatest result in Sandwichian sports history...a goal each for Wolff, Kjeldsen, and Wilbur gives the Sandwich Territories one of the most heroic moments in our history as whole! This island group, home to so many proud and humble people throughout its history, has had quite the moments of glory in its time. Beating the Holy Republican Empire, the 4th ranked team in the entire multiverse in the sport that is so revered here, football, is something that will stir the hearts of many, even years from now. This national side has never made it to the group stages before, coming so close many times in the play-offs until now, and in the SFA's very first game in the group stages, in their very first finals appearance, the Royals have done this! It's over! They've done it! Glory to the boys in green! They've given the folks back home another gift! The Republicans are absolutely distraught! The Sandwichians are in pure joy! Off with the nay-sayers, and the doubters that stated that these lads would lose every match! They've stolen three points right from one of the best squads in existence! The question now is, 'Who's next?' Who else will the Sandwichians upset? They'll have to keep up this momentum and effort, no doubt, but it's been proven not once, not twice, but three times now that even the best nations in the footballing world can be downed by this squad when they are on their marks-*

Laurance Blaise told the group not to do any partying unless they won the cup.

In this occassion, it was allowed to a small extent.

The clubhouse was absolutely lively with players with big grins on their face dancing a bit and otherwise enjoying themselves. Now, Blaise was old fashioned, but he would turn this into a coaching tool as well. He walked into a bunch of players cocking about to disco music when he stepped in and turned it down a bit. He had a few words for the team, without a doubt.

"Listen, you lads know what I said when I got off the plane."

It was silent, as they realized that they had already ruined their words a bit.

"But, I must say, this is what it feels like when you dismantle one of the best. Remember this feeling, lads. Inn'it something?"

There was laughter and nodding all around the clubhouse.

"Damn right it is. You guys keep playing your hearts out during the matches and in practice, and doing what you need to do to be mentally and physically ready, then you will end up feeling like this a lot more. Don't take this too far, but enjoy this win, lads. Hell, God knows I am."

There was a united cheer as they then lifted Blasie up above their shoulders and threw him up in the air a bit. The Royals were at an all time high. Even Mr. Blaise began to laugh to the extent that one would doubt that this man was 70.

"Alright, when you lads are done finally, hopefully soon, lets get some rest. We have another big day soon. Riese, you'll be getting action in the 3rd game no matter what, but I want Van Haanrade to get more experience out there. Understood?"

"Understood, boss. I'll be training extra time and focusing on helping to lead this team mentally until then."

"Perfect. Always reliable, Mr. Riese. Alright, get back to enjoying yourselves...I'll get back to what I was doing."

"G'night, Mr. Blaise."

"Night, sir."

He left to head back to his quarters, where he read the Sandwichian reports.

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

MAGNIFICENCE

The biggest win in Sandwichian sporting history, without a single doubt. Kjeldsen (#9) celebrates his free-kick goal that put Sandwich ahead 2-1.

WATERFORD — The Royals have already performed better than expected, but they've completely outdone themselves this time as they remain without a loss so far since the beginning of qualifiers with a 3-1 extravagant win over the 4th ranked Holy Republican Empire-

by **San Jose Guayabal** » Wed Jul 29, 2015 7:47 pm

National Defence Committee Head Quarters - San Salvador - 20:25

After two years of constant meetings, and a ceasefire with Gregoryisgodistan, the Committee met again and this time the goal was to bring suit against Colonel Saavedra, head of one of the worst atrocities committed by the Guayabalense Army, that was in the war Gregoryisgodistan, where Colonel Saavedra sent to kill 425 children in a village without permission of the maneuver in the 10th district Gregoryisgodistan, something outrageous for most of the population in San José Guayabal, which Now go to repudiate the attitude of the army at the time of the war, considerably damaging the image of one of the institutions most valued by the population, something not tolerable in families with history of warfare or long service in the army and also something that did not fall into grace to the human rights institutions in the nation.

The queen spoke and said, "Well, we've been here two years and have not proceeded to judicializarlo, do you think it is right time to do it?" The attorney general, Natasha Cabello spoke and said "I think we've all rcabado evidence necessary to bring this case to court, it is surprising as we have received good support Gregoryisgodistan regarding collection of details of incidents and material evidence, including witnesses who can bring with permission of the government there." The Queen listened carefully to the words of the general prosecutor, she let go a grimace of conviction about the issues raised, answered and said "Support Gregoryisgodistan, sounds weird but I think it is necessary for this case." The Prime Minister Camargo speak and said, "If it is necessary protection regime for key witnesses in the case should be granted, we must not risk their lives, whereas if one of them dies, the government of that nation jump like crazy I terrified screaming from the rooftops a declaration of war. "

Joaquín Pereira, the main army colonel showed analytical listening to the conversation and suggested "damaged the image of the army, the crime occurred in wartime, I think we should try them in a court of war." The idea sounded harsher than is planned to buts in question was supported by the queen, who did not refuse and immediately said "Support the idea is to do what is necessary within the framework of legality to make justice prevail in this outrageous case." The Prime Minister spoke and said, "If Your Majesty so decides, it will, she is the one in control of this." Natasha spoke and said, "There is no impediment in the Guayabalense constitution for a trial of war for the reason it develops image damage to the army, it is fair and fully within the framework of the law, therefore I give my approval."

The queen spoke and said, "Well, if so agreed by all, that this is done as it should be." Everyone in the room agreed with what was said by the Queen, so that a nationwide order appeared to capture Saavedra, this led to widespread deployment was given to locate and any unforeseen event, prevent their departure from the country, reports said he lived in the city of Soyapango, located within the metropolitan area, although there were traffic on a friday night in biweekly payment date and in rush hour (traffic is heavier on paydays) managed to deploy police air units to locate the house ,, Saavedra came and units involved in the Operating went from house to house shouting "Open the door! Police! "As a metal tube plates hit the garages of the houses of two plants that are in the area, asking people who agachasen on the ground while the houses were recorded, with one previous search warrant.

In one of the houses that were reviewed in the first round, Saavedra fell into the hands of justice as he spent playing video games with his son, the police arrived and one officer said "Mr. Saavedra you're under arrest on charges of high treason and crimes against humanity, you have the right to remain silent, anything you say will be used against you, you have the right to call a lawyer at this moment and take clothes you want . "Saavedra was handcuffed and several people delved his clothes in order to take he wanted to as the requested, his son broke down in tears while his wife came from the supermarket and fainted at the sight of a police operation at home, not even he imagined it would come to happen, kissing his dad son on the cheek and said "Do not go, Daddy, please do not leave me" While this was weeping bitterly and was removed by the police with the help of a psychologist (by law, all police operation must have a psychologist in order to calm people with emotional crisis).

Saavedra was taken to jail, his family wept as he went up, as did his wife also went straight to the hospital with a nervous breakdown he had at the time of the capture of her husband, surely his family did not expect this happen but the cruelty of the acts he committed against children 10 district had been the straw that broke the camel of human rights institutions in the nation and also heavily damaged the image of the army in the eyes and opinion of the Guayabalense population in an organization that had often enjoyed a reputation for its work in wartime.

by **Equestrian States** » Wed Jul 29, 2015 8:24 pm

Cutoff 2.0

by **Nephara** » Thu Jul 30, 2015 4:21 am

How can a side fear you when it doesn't even know you?
That was the riddle the Nepharim faced. They surfaced at World Cup 64, and were heroically battling their way to a 9-1-8 record in the same cycle that was Krytenia's last until now. A mere rank of 6th in the world is not going to intimidate a side of such pedigree, let alone fans in cyan legitimately wondering; "Who the fuck is Hadrian Belfast?"
Not that Krytenia were in the habit of being intimidated by anyone. You just had to watch them in action.
Just one change - Rivers on the right wing, Bottlegreen redeployed to the left, Cawdor watching sullenly from the bench. Everyone else stays as before - even the cautious tactics.
Valrauncion, van Rijn and Radcliffe. The names roll off the tongue, and each has scored more than his share. Kellard watches van Rijn warily as the teams both walk out from the tunnel - after all, van Rijn is the man the Emberton Reds bought Kellard to replace. It's another Emberton player who is the main face in defence - goalkeeper David Heaton. God knew he'd done his part in bringing Krytenia to the World Cup, even if his current outfit did make him look rather like a canary.
The neutrals in the crowd were firmly behind the Aces. They were, after all, not only plucky underdogs (probably not a label they're used to) but also play attractive, attacking football and don't kick people as much. Besides, as far as the drawing the Vanorians in the crowd goes, they have an elf. The Nepharim have Sigmund Levy, a shaved bear. Krytenia wins that one.
Demetrius wins the toss this time around. And within five minutes, the tone has been set - no, Krytenia are not afraid, yes, they are going to go for the throat and for six points in two games, and yes, Radcliffe is well and truly over the defensive lapse that almost cost his side against Falcus.
The stage is set.

A tense first half is defined not by sweeping gestures but by small victories. Valrauncion finds space but gets closed down by Kruse, and the shot he gets off is a poor one that fails to hit the target. Bottlegreen sweeps forward and wins a free kick from Barcali, but then skies it. Murdoch draws an early yellow card after a late challenge on Radcliffe - no matter how much he appeals, he's going to be on his toes all match and he'll miss Falcus on top of that. And Radcliffe uses this edge to full effect, gets the slip on his harrier and launches a shot from twenty yards.
Fatefully, Ballard's dive can't get to it. It skims along, crashes into the inside of one of the posts and rolls into the back of the net as the FC Endeavour 'keeper smashes into the ground, rolling, punching the earth. Kruse kicks the ball away sullenly. Just one of those perfect snap-shots. No fear here.
"Sixty minutes left, lads, let's get back up there and find some answers!" Ashdown, offering helpful advice from midfield. She really is the captain-in-waiting. They try, but Heaton's good, and Kellard struggles and struggles to get leverage but Scott and Frenz simply will not put a foot wrong. Gawain tries to do a Radcliffe. He almost succeeds, but Heaton tips it onto the post. Ashdown next, then Rivers, this isn't working. "None of this distance shit, pass the fucking ball around!" snaps Riether, losing her professional air for just a second, and it's not like Krytenia's chances have stopped coming either. Van Rijn... side netting. Ballard fancies herself to have had it covered anyway, but her defence still gets a bollocking.
Nephara's hero is unlikely. Then again, the fact that Catheline Stockinger is on the field today winning her seventy-second cap is practically a miracle. From a single prostitute mother on the streets of Vermillion to the Parrhesia United academy to a move to Brimstone to the World Cup. An anxiety attack the day before a final, and a woman of the match performance in the final itself. Stockinger's rightly considered a legend in Nepharim circles.
And, as far as on the pitch goes, she finds herself making the right run at the right time. Gawain in possession. Bottlegreen too far from the action. Kellard marked down, but as the leftback tracks inside, unmarked, Angelo only belatedly coming across...
... Catheline Stockinger would've had the perfect strike, if she were right-footed. As it stands, she drags the ball over to her left, Angelo comes swooping in, catches her heels but she holds her ground, the green shirts in the crowd breathe deeply, she strikes, does Heaton have it covered? Heaton doesn't have it covered...
The ball slips into the net. Game on.

Riether's team talk is direct. Not good enough. Sharpen up. Get what you came here for. God knows what the Aces are saying - probably talking about how they'll win the Cup. Hell, they probably will win the Cup at this rate.
No more messing about. Go up, get stuck in, take the game by the scruff of the neck. Don't take Frenz by the scruff of the neck, Kellard, that's a foul and a yellow card. Kellard seethes, glaring at the referee for the temerity of whistling. He's bad-tempered and has a lot to prove - at least, judging by his actions. Who does he have to prove himself to? He's wearing the number nine shirt at a World Cup. What else is there?
What else is a goal, and he finds one. Rivers, running down the right with all the power and menace of an oncoming train, Demetrius hurls himself at Rivers, gets his ankles, but the winger just stumbles, staggers, rights himself, keeps moving, shapes himself for the cross and this time it's perfect, just angled precisely for Kellard to step forward and leap and angle his head to glance the ball past Heaton - 2-1.
2-1's not enough. Nephara needs to make a statement. Nephara needs to keep making statements all the way through the tournament.
2-1 also, inconveniently, reinforces the need for Krytenia to attack. Krytenia came back from 4-1 down to win last time out. No formation switch yet, but Reyes slots in for the more defensive-minded Alinas. Valrauncion comes close, van Rijn closer still, Larsson forces a great stop from Ballard but that's what she's there for, isn't it? And the Cormorants survive.
And with Alinas gone, there's no more shackles on Ashdown.
She comes forward, striding imperiously with the ball. Reyes does try and take it but that's not what he's there for, and Ashdown sweeps by him. Neat interplay with Gawain, a one-two plays her closer to goal and draws Scott out of position and now it's her turn to turn up the pace, get onside, Kellard! - not that it matters, she runs, she strikes, Heaton's beaten-
3-1.
All the brakes are off now. The same switch is made - Persson comes on, 3-2-1-4; what even is that? Is that a formation? Well, Christener's pulled, either way. She's tired, and Rosewood's more inclined to actually goddamn defend which is what they need right now. Riether stares at the 3-2-1-4 a while longer before bringing on Lundgren for Gawain and putting her in midfield with Murdoch to help with muscle. Murdoch's had to simmer down - the yellow card's impacted him. Lundgren's free to spill as much blood as she likes.
81st minute. The Aces need goals, Larsson sets up van Rijn but Belfast is there with the covering tackle, Kruse hoofs it out. More or less by chance, Bottlegreen is there, and quickly sets the ball rolling again. To Lundgren... and then to the imperious, almost arrogant Elaine Ashdown. The play seems to slow down. She steps forward, Scott retreats, wonders how many defenders are behind him (probably not enough). Hutter has shown up at some point and huffs along back towards his own goal. Levy has also shown up at some point. Not the most technical striker in the World Cup, but probably the largest. Vermillion, which he calls home, is home to the largest Greek population (per capita) in Nephara, and they've bestowed him with an immensely fitting name; 'the Colossus'. The Colossus takes the ball on the chest, holds back Frenz and sends the ball on its way... back to Bottlegreen, who now has a clear run as she skips past Barzali. Scott comes across, slides in, but Bottlegreen evades him, too, and smashes the ball past Heaton.
Krytenia have fought bravely, honestly and honourably.
But it's Nephara who take home the 4-1 lead. Job done; onto the next one.

by **Free Republics** » Thu Jul 30, 2015 11:42 am

Reino Kulseth had heard the reports. His military had abandoned him. Even Admiral Theriault's Navy WHALES in Taiyou had decided to flee after a renewed push from a Wakiko Takahashi who turned out not to be dead, after all. He was defeated. He was done for. The Holy Republican Empire would soon meet its fate. Despite his prayers, God had not come to save him. He was now surrounded by his enemies. The reports informed him that enemy forces would arrive in Republica within hours. Within hours, he would likely be murdered in the most brutal fashion by the Gregoryisgodistanis.

Consul Kulseth got up and walked down the long hallway. He knew what he had to do. Like Samson, it was his duty to bring his enemies down with him. He walked over to a computer terminal and typed in his access code. Then, he pressed the button to launch a thousand nuclear warheads at Gregoryisgodistan and another thousand at the Royal Kingdom of Quebec. As he pressed the button, the missiles did not fire. Instead, the ancient computer terminal read, in all caps, "ACCESS REVOKED" Consul Kulseth wasn't even able to fire his nuclear weapons. In despair, he told his aide to evacuate the building and have it burnt to the ground. After giving those orders, the Consul returned to his office, grabbed his handgun, pointed it at his head and blew his brains out, dying instantly.

The aide did exactly as his Consul requested. After evacuating the building, what remained of the Holy Republican Army lit a massive bonfire and burned it to the ground. FBC reporters arrived at the scene moments later and reported that the building had accidentally caught on fire and that only Consul Kulseth was unaccounted for. The Holy Republican Empire was now, officially, dead...

In the Equestrian States, Petrus Fadius learned of the fall of the Holy Republican Empire following a practice session when he was informed of the events that had taken place by his son Andreas. Fadius was in a state of shock. First, his team had under-performed at the World Cup and now the man who had given him the job as manager of the Republican National Team was believed to be dead. At that moment, he got down on his knees, in front of his entire team and prayed, in his native Latin, for a miracle on the third and final matchday of the group stage. He knew that, unless by some miracle his team managed to win the World Cup, his tenure as their manager would soon be, like Consul Kulseth's Holy Republican Empire, dead...

Hours later, a Nicholls Air jetliner arrived in Republica after having departed from Lambridge, Taxachussetts. Mr. Robert Nicholls stepped off of the plane and was immediately sworn in, at Republica International Airport, by his son Veleik, as the new Acting Consul of the Federation of Free Republics. After he took his oath, Mr. Nicholls gave a speech to the assembled crowd and the audience of billions watching on television and the Internet around the multiverse:

"I accept the offer to become the new Consul of the land that I love and I agree to take upon myself the responsibility of restoring this great nation over the next few years. Three years ago, the people of this nation made a grave mistake by electing a man like Reino Kulseth as their Consul. Three years ago, the people of the Free Republics entrusted their freedom to a man who follows a Church that clings to its backward, sexist and quite frankly repugnant theology. Three years ago, the Republican people handed their country over to the Church of Saintland, the so-called 'True Church of Iesus Christus' and gave up their freedom to a man who was willing to lie about absolutely anything and who desired war without end. Today, however, is a new beginning. I thank my son Veleik, his heroic soldiers in his so-called Legion of Lucifer and the armies of Gregoryisgodistan and Quebec who fought to free this land from Consul Kulseth's tyranny. It is time to move on and to start a new chapter in the history of our nation. It is time to begin the work of restoring the Free Republics as a freer, more prosperous and simply better nation than we have ever been before."

"I wish to begin by immediately repealing all unilateral actions of my predecessor, Consul Reino Kulseth. No longer will you have to use the word 'thou' and no longer will lying be against the law, unless thy name ist Consul Kulseth. I also decree that all individuals held in jail who have not been tried and convicted by a jury of their peers must immediately be charged and put on trial or released. It is time to begin undoing the heinous policies of my predecessor and I will do everything in my power to do so."

"Unfortunately, we do not have an Assembly worthy of the name at the moment, but I request that the Senate reconvene immediately at the newly renovated Nicholls Enterprises Arena in Baseton to assist me in governing our Federation for the next 365 days. Furthermore, I decree that elections be held exactly one year from today to select a new Consul of the Free Republics and a new Assembly. From there, we will return to the usual schedule for elections. I have chosen to provide exactly one year in order to permit political parties to reorganize and hold primary elections, caucuses and/or conventions to determine their candidate for Consul. As some have raised concerns about the role of the electronic voting machines in our most recent elections, I further decree that all ballots for this election must be paper ballots and counted by hand with the counting monitored at all polling places by an official from each political party. There will simply be no funny business and no corruption in the Consul election or the Assembly elections if I have any say about it!"

"Finally, I encourage the Senate to propose several amendments to our Constitution to provide additional safeguards in the future. The first of these amendments is an amendment to prohibit our Federation from participating in any future wars unless we are first directly attacked. The second of these amendments involves a provision to appoint an Acting Consul to fill out the remainder of a Consul's term should he or she die while in office. The third of these amendments would mandate the separation of church and state by prohibiting the Federation Government or any Republic government from playing favorites with religion, playing favorites between religion and irreligion or otherwise infringing upon the liberty of believers of any faith to worship peaceably. The fourth and final amendment that I am proposing is an amendment to prohibit the military from acquiring funds from any source other than the Federation Government and make it crystal clear that the military is subordinate to the civilian authorities. I hope that these amendments will receive fair consideration."

"In closing, I wish to reiterate that I accept this position of great responsibility and will do everything in my power to serve with the best interests of our Federation in mind. It is time for us to return to normalcy, to return to liberty and to turn away from the foolishness of these past 3 years. The Holy Republican Empire is dead! Long live the Federation of Free Republics!"

by **Osarius** » Thu Jul 30, 2015 1:24 pm

Marco Puntoriero's moment of absurd misfortune -- when a paper airplane thrown from the crowd, struck him in the face as he prepared to shoot on goal -- against Yttribia had inflamed the passions of Osarians everywhere. Between the furious outbursts on social media, rants on phone-in radio shows, and general aggrievement manifesting itself at water coolers in offices across the nation, one man's reaction had gone completely unnoticed.

Post-match, Jermain Lewis was stoic. Rigidly so, in fact.

"Jermain, what are your thoughts right now? That was a terrible stroke of bad luck, wasn't it?" The reporter had asked him.

Without missing a beat, Lewis shrugged. "It happens."

"What does? Paper airplanes?"

"Well, clearly. It just did."

None of his characteristic passion. None of the fury gathered reporters had expected.

His touchline behaviour during the surprisingly one-sided defeat at the hands of Vilita was similar. He stayed seated for much of the game, with a flippant gesture apparently the extent of his manifestations of frustration. Of course, this did not mean there was no fury. It was bubbling away. Stewing.

* * * * *

It was hard to make out what he was saying, through the walls and closed door of the dressing room, but nobody really needed to. They all knew. The muffled speech was punctuated repeatedly by dull crashes and thuds. It wasn't exactly rocket science. Juan Pablo Rodriguez looked at his teammates, and didn't have words. In the corner of the dressing room, the coaching staff -- some of them, anyway -- were talking in hushed voices. For a second, he thought Roque Acosta stole a glance.

"We really went and did it this time, huh?" Wesley Kane spoke up. No real response, just some murmurs of assent.

"He'll calm down. He always does." Serenity Lewis replied, as she made her way toward the door. "Eventually, anyway."

As she opened the door, the volume increased exponentially -- Juan Pablo could have sworn Ruby Fletcher's hair rippled from the blast of sound rushing into the room -- and then, muffled again just as quickly.

"We have to fix this." He spoke up. 'I have to. I am the captain, after all.' He told himself. "We can still rescue this, there's another game to go."

"Yeah... but we've been so unlucky so far. It's like the multiverse itself doesn't want us to win. The gods are not with us this time." Came the reply. Sergio. Bloody Tubrissian superstitions.

"They never have been, Sergio." Juan Pablo replied softly.

"He's right, Serge. Where were they when Ezio got taken out in the first game of World Cup 70? We had to fight. Was it luck that got us the late winner against USI last World Cup? Without that, we were out in the group stage. That's not luck, mate." It was hard to argue with Wesley Kane's position.

"This happens to us. And we get past it. We always do."

"Well said, skipper." Ruby Fletcher chimed in -- at last; 'I thought she would explode' J.P. thought to himself -- adding "we can't just quit, the gaffer hasn't. He wouldn't be going berserk otherwise, would he?"

"Okay well maybe we weren't lucky before, but come on... a freaking paper airplane?" Serge wouldn't let it go. "Maybe we miss Rock, and Ezio and Tobes more than we'd like to ad-"

"Fuck off, Serge." Marco Puntoriero snapped, as he leapt to his feet, starting toward Serge. "We were in that team too, you know?!"

"Easy, lads." Wes chipped in, while J.P. stepped between Marco and Serge. "I don't think that's what he means, Marco."

"No, but we all know those guys were something else."

"Wouldn't let the gaffer hear you say that, Serge." Rock said. 'Ah. So he was paying attention after all...' The old captain looked strange in a suit, J.P. noted. He kept talking. "Didn't really wanna say anything, because, well... I'm not your captain anymore."

"You'll always be our leader, Rock." Serge replied.

"No." Rock said, firmly. "You have a great captain right here. I'm done. I'm not here to be your captain, guys. I'm here to be a glorified cheerleader, that's all. You all need to-" he paused. "You know what? Not my job." He threw his hands up in the air as he walked away back to the corner.

"We have one more game. We have to make it count. It's that simple." J.P. told the squad. "If you don't think we can do that, I suggest you pretend you're injured for the next game." He didn't turn to Serge as he said it, but he knew the sentiment was felt. Several players nodded in agreement.

"Who've we got, anyway, skip?" Fabio. Good kid.

"Saintland, I think. You know the gaffer doesn't like us looking past the next opponent."

"You think he'll bollock us?" Fabio asked. 'Fabs, mate... you're adorable.' J.P. thought.

"No... he won't come in here today. If he did, he'd probably kill us." He almost laughed. "But killing us would mean we can't go out and win that last game."

by **Krytenia** » Thu Jul 30, 2015 2:03 pm

Reality Bites
by Trevor O'Carroll in Longview, Valanora

TO CALL yesterday's defeat a humiliation would be grossly unfair to Krytenia. Trye, they lost, and lost by a good three goals, but it was neither down to a lack of effort nor an inability to create chances. In a game where both sides had a point to prove - Nephara wanting to finally make the leap to the World Cup captain's table, Krytenia to show their progress is no mere fluke - the Nepharim were simply the better side, in terms of skill and tactics, over the course of the ninety minutes. Almost as interesting as the battle on the field was the meeting of minds and wits in the technical area, where the wily old visage of Rameses Niblick III came up against the calculating genius of Theresa Riether.

The most interesting face-off for many Krytenian fans would be the tale of two strikers. Nephara's targetman, Michael Kellard, had played well in the recent LigAnaia season; he had come to Emberton to replace Farfadillis-bound Ronnie van Rijn, who's been in a rich scoring vein since Krytenia's return to the international stage. Kellard also, for the first time, got the opportunity to see if he could beat the man many regard as LigAnaia's best goalkeeper, club teammate David Heaton.

With the neutrals in the crowd seemingly honorary members of the Cyan Army, Krytenia started positively; their opponents, wise to the Aces' Plan A, set their stall out to constrict possession, creating a first half consisting largely of congested midfield play and half chances. Valrauncion and Tanya Bottlegreen have early sighters for both teams, but the story of the opening half-hour is that of Darren Radcliffe being shackled by Logan Murdoch and Michael Kellard being crowded out by the defensive double-act of Vinny Frenz and Joel Scott.

Eventually, though, something had to give; in this case it was Murdoch's temprament. A cynical foul on Radcliffe led to a yellow card, meaning that not only did he have to walk on eggshells for the remainder of the game, allowing the Krytenian anchorman some space, but he'd be out of the final group game thanks to a booking in their previous match. Loosed from his human shackle, Radcliffe was able to find space in front of the Nepharim defence; this proved to be costly to the men and women in dark green as it was his long-range effort that squeaked past the unfortunate Diandra Ballard and into the net off the base of the post. The crowd were into rapture; one-nil the score, and with Falcus winning their match earlier in the day, Krytenia would be in the round of sixteen if it finished that way.

Of course, there was still an hour left to play, and Nephara weren't about to lie down and let Krytenia take the points. They aren't just disappointed to have conceded; they're positively angry, and vice-captain Elaine Ashdown's verbal playmaking about sums up the mood of the Cormorants. In scoring first, it seemed, Krytenia had served merely to awaken the beast. Nephara abandoned their caution, and started to play to their strengths, pressing Krytenia and moving possession around the centre of the park. Nephara always play well when they can play it from the back, and so it proved here. The Cormorants were able to find space out wide, well away from the harrying Sam Alinas, and Kellard and the almost Sorthernesque Rowan Gawain were given half-chances to equalise. Heaton, however, was on top form, and produced several world-class saves to keep his side in the lead; meanwhile, Scott and Frenz made sure the Nepharim front line weren't given the chance to get too close.

Nephara changed tack again, attempting to beat Krytenia at their own game by passing shorter, using the channels, and generally speeding up play. One would think that this would be playing into the hands of the Aces, but Riether is a cunning woman, and Nephara were getting themselves on top using the simple tactic of denying Krytenia the oxygen of possession. When Krytenia did have the ball, though, they were still dangerous, and nearly made it two when van Rijn got on the end of a counter-attack, only to see the ball flash the wrong side of the post. Eventually, though, the inevitable happened, and to prove you don't have to be a striker to put away a shot, it came from the Nepharim full-back. With the Krytenian defence concentrating on Kellard, nobody sees Catheline Stockinger ghost in on the left. Though she needs a touch to bring it on her stronger foot, Marco Angelo isn't near enough to make a serious challenge, and the Nepharim cult hero manages to squeeze a shot agonisingly out of reach of Heaton. After a few wobbles, the favourites went into the tunnel on level terms, and both sides wouldn't have argued that it was a fair result thus far.

Nephara emerged for the second half with a far more determined look about them; chances are, they'd been given either inspiration or a backside-kicking - probably both - from the manager. Whatever was said, though, it seemed to work. The Cormorants began the second half with fire in their bellies. Perhaps a little too much in the case of Kellard, whose yellow card for what almost constituted common assault on Frenz earned him a yellow that could easily have been red with a stricter official. Kellard, though, eventually managed to channel his energy into more constructive efforts. When Brendan Rivers beat a desperate (and illegal) challenge from Krytenian captain Michel Demetrius, it was the Emberton Reds man who met it perfectly and nod Nephara into the lead. As an added kick in the teeth, the referee booked Demetrius for the foul after making the right call in playing advantage.

Two-one the score, but Krytenia weren't about to go gentle into the good night. Reyes came on for Alinas to provide more attacking options, and opportunities followed. Sadly for Krytenia, they weren't taken. If it wasn't the side netting (Valrauncion, Reyes), it was the post (van Rijn), an excellent block (Radcliffe - twice), or, with Liam Larsson one-on-one, the goalkeeper. Seriously, Diandra Ballard is Heaton with breasts; methinks they were both created in a lab testing Super Goalkeeper Formula #1. When the goal does come, it's at the other end, as Alinas' absence allows the Cormorants' midfield room to breathe. Ashdown is the one to put her feet where her mouth is, the ball glued to her feat as she beats two sky blue shirts before unleashing a shot that leaves Heaton zero chance.

Caution was then thrown to the wind as Niblick pushed Radcliffe forward, brought on Persson for the tiring skipper, and all hell broke loose. Nephara temporarily lost their shape as Riether searched her mental database for a counter to what Rami Niblick has dubbed the "King's Gambit" formation; van Rijn, however, shot tamely at Ballard and the Cormorants regained their composure. Realising that they'd need extra bodies at the back or suffer the same late collapse as Falcus, Riether made a couple of inspired changes, and the game was up for the Aces. To twist the knife, Nephara then added a fourth from a counter-attack, Hadrian Belfast (surely nicknamed "The Wall" - Ed) lumping one upfield, and some quick passing allows the dangerous Ashdown to get a few feet of space and stab the Krytenians smack between the eyes.

Nephara may be the victors here, but it's not yet over. Krytenia still have a good chance of qualifying, though they'll need their conquerors to either take points off, or capitulate against, Falcus to do so. If the Aces can hold up their end of the bargain with a win, Valanora may well await in the second round.

And if a classico against the Marauders isn't an incentive, then I don't know what is.

KRYTENIA - 1
Radcliffe 30

NEPHARA - 4
Stockinger 43
Kellard 49
Ashdown 62, 82

by **Apox** » Thu Jul 30, 2015 2:44 pm

The two teams strode out into a maelstrom of noise, Farfadillis in their traditional red kit, the Apoxian team in their away garb of dark blue with grey trim. The two captains, each plying their trade in the opposing nations league, led the sides out - Solomon Etezadi, the powerful, quietly spoken Apoxian leader alongside Yurpá Mêndêlöíndçêl, the Dwile Warrior's based international superstar. Both players already cemented in their respective countries footballing histories as absolute legends.

The noise quietened momentarily, just as kick off was about to start. Gavin Hughes, pacing the technical area as usual, scanned the pitch, eagle-eyed. This was a make or break match really. Lose this and they'd be out. Not how he wanted to finish his career as manager of Apox, no thank you.

The noise re-erupted as Fuego got the game underway, slipping the ball over to Dandalleion. Immediately, he was closed down, the Apoxian attack looking to minimise any time their opposing players might have on the ball. However, Zana Ibrox might have been a little too enthusiastic going into her first challenge, against Kâí, the Farf player reading her a little too easily, sliding the ball out of the way, and slotting it through to Terán who was now in space. With St. Cleer rapidly closign him down, he executed a phenomenal twist on the ball that only a player of his quality can, finding Dandalleion with appropriate ball. Etezadi had taken his eye off the legendary striker for just a millisecond, but that was all it took, and Dandalleion was away - through the defensive cordon and through on goal, only Eustathios left to pass. He feinted, Eustathios dived to his right, and it was a simple shot into the bottom left corner - 1-0 to Farfadillis, only 84 seconds played.

The pressure didn't subside for the Apoxian defenders there on in. Solomon Etezadi, so often a rock in defence, was unable to be the presence he usually was. Perhaps this was just due to the familiarity of the opposing players to his player style or just the skill on the ball of the Farf attackers. Regardless, it was actually his partner, Olim Shahzad, so often just reduced to "Etezadi's partner" in defence, who was doing so well this game. It was his block which prevented them going 2-0 down from Fuego's shot in the 6th minute, his headed defence which stopped Dandalleion from doubling his goal tally in the 9th.

Finally though, the pressure did subside a little, and the team could work on doing what they'd done best under Hughes - soaking up the pressure and waiting for a gap to appear, before exploiting it. This was Farfadillis, a gap was always going to occur.

And so it proved. It came from a Farf corner, Fôx whipping a ball in, which Eustathios managed to claim from the fray. He quickly distributed it to St. Cleer, who held it up around Alex Terán before spotting the almost anonymous Corinna McKenna up until that point, flicking a through ball up her way, á la Sindelar. Mata, who had been marking her, had completely missed her run and was miles away. Bârr would be unable to get back in time, and so it was, again, a one on one opportunity, McKenna against Tzâín, with Zozula and Bârr rapidly arriving. She shot, low and powerful. Tzâín guessed right, and parried it away, but couldn't keep hold of the ball. It fell, luckily, right into the oncoming path of Zozula, who directed his shot across the net, Tzâín still hopeless to do anything on the ground.

So they were back level, defensive errors costing both teams. The game moved more centrally for a time, a midfield battle - Mêndêlöíndçêl against Ibrox, Terán against St Cleer, Kâi drifting about so much that he was generally being a menace all over the pitch. Then, out of nowhere, Farfadillis were 2-1 up, Etezadi slipping up on a simple cross pass to him from Jack Lerryn, Fuego intercepting and using his considerable pace to keep out of reach of the Apoxian defenders - Eustathios going low, once again outsmarted by Farf attacking.

Then another goal, just before half time, this time Risko Kâi being the inspiration, passing his way up the pitch, doing a series of one-two's to move through the array of Apoxian defensive works in front of him, first using Mêndêlöíndçêl, then Delafuente, then finally Fuego before smashing a stunning, curling shot past Eustathios for Farfadillis' third goal. There wasn't even time for a restart, as both teams jogged off for half time.

We can only speculate on what Gavin Hughes said to the team at half time, but it was probably along the lines of "FUCKING PLAY LIKE I KNOW YOU CAN YOU SHITS, CUT OUT THE MISTAKES". Or something like that. Anyway, out came the team's, both unchanged, Farfadillis with a healthy 3-1 advantage to sit on. However, this is Farfadillis we're talking about. There would be no sitting on an advantage for them. And so it would be their downfall.

The first of the "Great Apoxian Comeback Goals" as they're now being referred to came from Kaj Aurora. She'd been pretty ineffective for the first half of the game Alaminos and Fôx keeping her pretty quiet. However, on one of Farfadillis' attacks, she was able to sneak in behind Fôx, receive the ball, distribute to the advancing McKenna, getting it back on the edge of the box and curling a shot just inside the goal. It had begun.

The second goal of the half and the Apoxian equaliser was even more comical. The Farf players were in the middle of the pitch, trying to find a way around the Apoxian defence, excellent protected now by Luxulya St. Cleer sitting in front of them, when Alex Terán misplaced his pass to Ivaktör Bârr, the ball spilling instead to the advancing Zana Ibrox. Mata and Alaminos both rushed to tackle her, ignoring the furious cries of Steffan Pekarik on the touchline. Ibrox was too quick for them, distributing the ball to Kaj Aurora before they got there. Both players were already committed, and in the end they actually ended up tackling each other as they collided with Ibrox. Whilst this was all happening, Aurora had broken free, two-thirds of sporadic Farf defence tangled up on the ground, the other hopelessly out of position. Once again Tzâín was left stranded, and once again, he was beaten by Aurora. It was an equaliser and now the game was back in the balance, 54 minutes played.

Unfortunately, Zana Ibrox had come out of her double tackle worse for wear, and she limped off the pitch, with Santos Alaminos given a yellow for his trouble. On in her stead trotted Wilfried Lidgley, the veteran player called "the Lidge" over in Audioslavia where he was hailed as a hero, taking her place in the centre of the pitch. There was a Farf substitution at this point as well, Thjorgias Pickton coming on for the mistake ridden Santos Alaminos, as Pekarik looked to shore up his defence.

It would make little difference though sadly for him, with the Apoxian team growing in stature. Risko Kâi, a little frustrated at the situation, lashed out at Kaj Aurora on the ball in a top position for Apox, and a free-kick was awarded. Wilfried Lidgley stepped up to take it, floating the ball into the box and just over the head of Cleto Mata, but perfectly for Adnan Zozula, who swooped in and headed it down, and importantly, past Pickton at the near post and in. 4-3. This was the point at which the Apoxian fans really began to believe you suspect, the noise levels from their section of the stadium really ramping up.

A couple more substitutions - the relatively inexperienced Erik Abbraciabene on for a tired looking Alice Monteforth in the 63rd minute, while Dandalleion had run his 36 year old legs into the ground, and was replaced with Elexhé Nofzaleiné, the youngster definitely being able to provide fresh legs, even if his natural pace might be lacking.

It nearly worked instantly, Terán latching onto a free ball and mazing his way through St Cleer and Shahzad, before supplying the ball to Nofzaleiné, who's first touch was so brilliant, turning and spinning, firing a shot off, which required a great save from Alan Eustathios to keep it out. However, with both sides weary out, there were more gaps now. Terán, Fuego, McKenna and Zozula all got shots off within 4 minutes in an explosive end to end period where the game still hung in the balance at 4-3. With the game in the balance, Hughes threw the dice one last time, taking Corinna McKenna off for the 20 year old Alpha Gandhi, his first World Cup finals experience. However, he is blessed with great pace and technical skill, and just might lift the Apoxian attack.

It worked! Fowey to St Cleer to Etezadi to St Cleer again to Lidgley before finally the ball made its way to Alpha Gandhi. Exploiting the gap at that point between Mêndêlöíndçêl and Bârr, he was away, to the edge of the box, thinking about shooting, before crossing it into Kaj Aurora who was waiting, and heading the ball past Tzâín yet again in the match. 5-3, and, well, Apox have never scored 5 goals in a match and not won - Aurora earning her first international hat-trick and rightly so, she'd been brilliant all game.

So it turned out, as despite Kâi grabbing himself another goal in the 88th minute, making for a tense couple minutes before, in the first minute of three minutes stoppage time, that man Alpha Gandhi grabbed himself the goal to seal it beyond all doubt. A historic win for Apox, and maybe one which could catapult us onto greater things this cup? It's certainly the highest scoring game featuring the Apoxian national team, and by far our highest scoring game at a World Cup finals tournament. And the first time we've netted 6 or more times in a international football game since WC63, when we beat San Potato 7-2. Crikey, records falling everywhere.

Onto the next match, against Kirisaki! A win will guarantee us progression to the Round of 16 for a third time, let's go and get it!

by **Gregoryisgodistan** » Thu Jul 30, 2015 6:55 pm

Lord Almighty Gregory's Speech to the People (Speech #1)

"Good evening, ladies, gentlemen, and slaves. I speak to you today with great news, our greatest yet. Victory is here! We have defeated the Republians and Kulseth is dead. Unfortunately, that coward chose to go out in a blaze of glory rather than submit to our soldiers, killing himself and burning the building, lest we desecrate his body. Then his people lied and said the building "accidentally" burned. Yeah, just like they didn't burn the legislature. Right. I don't believe it. (OOC: Lord Almighty Gregory has no inside knowledge and is just speculating, but happens to be right.)

"Anyway, Kulseth is dead and Robert Nicholls is in charge of the newly-renamed Free Republics. With that, I would like to wholeheartedly extend official recognition of Mr. Nicholls and the Legion of Lucifer as the legitimate government of the Free Republics for all purposes except the Enemy List. For the purposes of the Enemy List, the Holy Party and Reino Kulseth will still be considered the government, because, after all, they are the Enemy. Consequently, members of the Legion of Lucifer are still exempt from being killed under the Enemy List, while rogue members of the Church of Lies seeking to restore the Holy Party are not. I am sure Consul Nicholls will not mind this small lack of recognition, as it works out in his favor. However, this is an interim measure only. Immediately after finishing this speech, I will be traveling to Republica to negotiate a formal peace treaty with the Nicholls government. As I mentioned earlier, I will seek to establish a mutual embassy coordination, with embassies in each other's countries. We will continue to extend full recognition of the Legion of Lucifer and Mr. Nicholls as the legitimate leaders of the nation, and the flag of the Free Republics, or of Legion of Lucifer, or whatever flag they officially use, will fly at the IR Bureau alongside all the other flags of nations we have diplomatic relations with. Additionally, I am appointing Cable TV Repairman 3848SFHAI to serve as the ambassador to the Free Republics. Until earlier this evening, Cable TV Repairman 3848SFHAI had been known as Soldier 3848SFHAI after being selected for military duty. He fought bravely and nobly in the Republican front, assisting Legion of Lucifer in their means and ways. It was Cable TV Repairman 3848SFHAI who first stormed over the hill to find Kulseth dead in the fire, along with the Legion of Lucifer and other Gregoryisgodistani troops. It was Cable TV Repairman 3848SFHAI, who served as the official Gregoryisgoditani witness to the Holy Party's formal surrender. And now, he shall be known as Ambassador 3848SFHAI, once we officially establish diplomatic relations.

"As I mentioned earlier, we will form a lasting partnership with the Republicans against the Church of Saintland, against gender inequality, against insane dress codes, and against misguided grammar rules like the use of 'thou.' I hope that this will be the start of a long and lasting relationship. Thank you, Me Bless Gregoryisgodistan, and Me Bless the Free Republics."

Somewhere in Republica

Lord Almighty Gregory arrived in Republica under heavy guard, lest any remaining Church of Saintland heathens take a shot at him. Once he arrived at Robert Nicholls' office, however, most of the guards stood outside to prevent intruders, while a few accompanied him in, lest there be any spies or burglars. Eventually, he entered the Consul's office and began to negotiate the peace accord.

Eventually, several key precepts were outlined, as discussed in the several speeches.

1. Gregoryisgodistan will remove the Free Republics from the Enemy List, effective immediately.
2. Gregoryisgodistan and the Free Republics will establish full diplomatic relations, with embassies in each other's nations, and everything that entails.
3. Gregoryisgodistan and the Free Republics will form a lasting partnership preventing future oppression by the Church of Saintland in any country, but especially the two signatories.
4. No concessions will be made from either nation regarding the status (or lack thereof) of Lord Almighty Gregory as a deity, only that he is the legitimate leader of Gregoryisgodistan.
5. Gregoryisgodistan will grant an official pardon to Kyle Bolton for any assassination attempt he may or may not have made on Lord Almighty Gregory's life. The Republican government will not be required to acknowledge Mr. Bolton's guilt, nor will Gregoryisgodistan be required to acknowledge his innocence. Mr. Bolton himself, as a non-party to this treaty, may make any statements he wishes.
6. Gregoryisgodistan will cease all attempts to prosecute Republican citizens for crimes which took place outside Gregoryisgodistan, with the exception that they reserve the right to prosecute crimes against Gregoryisgodistani citizens, subject to an extradition treaty to be negotiated at a later date. This includes, but is not limited to, the Koby Theodore sexual assault case.

Within hours, the historic treaty was signed, and Lord Almighty Gregory gave another speech, standing side by side with Consul Nicholls, who would give his own speech afterwards addressing his nation. Both speeches and the official signing ceremony were televised on live TV in both countries and around the world. In Gregoryisgodistan, the speech was broadcast live on every TV channel, even the ones dedicated for sports and entertainment. The Entertainment One channel even cut into the season finale of Real Husbands of Saintland just as Petrus (unrelated to King Petrus) was about to kill his fifth wife of the episode and 37th of the season, all because she sneezed vigorously in public and her head covering fell off. (OOC: SNT/FFR is free to RP the Consul's speech himself, or not do so, as he wishes.)

Lord Almighty Gregory's Speech to the People (Speech #2)

"Good evening to the folks back home in Gregoryisgodistan, and to those here in Republica, several time zones ahead, a good morning. To those watching this historic event from around the world, good morning, good afternoon, good evening, or whatever time it is in your nation, may it be good. Indeed, these are good times, as we are about to witness a historic moment, a moment most people thought would never come. Today, Consul Nicholls and I are signing the historic Free Republics-Gregoryisgodistan peace treaty.

*Pause for applause*

Indeed, the Free Republics were one of the first nations we added to the Enemy List, along with Saintland and a handful of other nations that no longer exist. Now, they will be fully removed, effective immediately, as friendly leadership has taken over. But it goes further than that. Gregoryisgodistan and the Free Republics will be establishing embassies in each other's countries, ours here in Republica and the Republicans' in the Capital District. This represents a historic moment between our two nations, that we never in a million years thought would come.

*Pause for Applause*

But now Kulseth is dead, and Mr. Nicholls is in charge here. We look forward to fighting the oppression of the Church of Saintland, both at home and abroad, but long for the day when there is no need to do so. I don't usually speak Latin, as it is the language of the Church of Saintland, but Sic Semper Tyrannis. Which is not Latin for, as I first thought, "Get your foot off my neck", but rather, for "Thus always to tyrants." Indeed, we have just seen what happens to tyrants. So, once again, "Sic Semper Tyrannis."

There is more applause, then Lord Almighty Gregory and Robert Nicholls slowly and dramatically sign the peace treaty, each one followed by applause. Representatives from the Nova Anglican and Farf embassies added their names as witnesses, then the witnesses and leaders shook hands. Finally, it was time for Consul Nicholls' speech, which, in a historic first, would be televised live in Gregoryisgodistan without manipulative editing.

(OOC: As mentioned above, SNT/FFR is welcome to RP his speech. Also, permission was received fro Nova Anglicana and Farfadillis to use their embassy staff as witnesses. They are also free to RP from the witness's perspective if they wish.)

by **Kandorith** » Thu Jul 30, 2015 9:20 pm

Draw Keeps Red Dragons In The Game

Kandorith 3–3 San José Guayabal

  Group B                    Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts
    1 The Holy Empire              2   2  0  0    6   3  +3    6   Q
2 Felix                        2   1  0  1    5   5   0    3
3 San José Guayabal            2   0  1  1    5   6  −1    1
4 Kandorith                    2   0  1  1    4   6  −2    1

Kandorith has just recovered from the loss against The Holy Empire, who now top the group to draw against San José Guayabal. A disappointing result for the fans, but the least result Kandorith had to get to stay in the competition to still make a chance to advance trough the group stage. A tough group for Kandorith for sure but a much tougher match ahead for the beloved Red Dragons now. The fans were looking hopeful to the match as Kandorith did play their new slightly defensive style, score three goals, but three goals were not enough to get the edge they wanted. Resulting in a 3 - 3 draw, Kandorith is now at the bottom of the group and faces a must win match against Felix, the number two of the group.

The fans hope The Holy Empire helps them out here, they have to beat San José Guayabal, or at least draw against them to keep Kandorith in the World Cup. The Red Dragons face a tough match themselves, they have to beat Felix. There's no way for Kandorith to play nice now. The fans know Kandorith does have the will to win and the discipline to keep themselves in the race and Huangzhou says he has his tactics set for the upcoming match. Never before has winning been this important, but Kandorith is known to perform great under pressure. The fans await for the team to head onto the pitch and for the second time in their history, advance passed the group stage to prove themselves as a world class team.

by **Falcus** » Thu Jul 30, 2015 11:10 pm

The Eagle's Eye
Falcus' #1 Broadsheet
Jury Rules in Favor of the Falcons

By Aleksandra Hummel

The World Cup continues to roll along in Valanora and the Equastrian States, and Group D--starring our very own Falcons--is setting up for a heady final matchday. Nephara denied Krytenia the chance at a clean sweep of the group stage, putting the Aces in their place as a freshly-minted team despite their old name. Every name is still in contention depending on how the final day shakes out; the Falcons will advance if they can topple Nephara and Legalese takes any points of Krytenia, and a full-blown Ace loss to the tilting Legalite team would let us advance by merely forcing a draw. After the gut-wrenching implosion that resulted in our late loss against a resurgent Krytenia week one, what the Falconian players needed more than anything was a slower, low-scoring game to help the team stabilize and stitch their nerves back together. Luckily enough, the Legalese team was obliging; they by no means rolled over, but there wasn't any frenetic all-out assaults from either team. Especially fortunate considering our back line certainly felt the absence Atticus Koenigsted, having to sit out a game due to the red he garnered during the chaos of the Krytenia game.

Sergey Grzeskiewicz had his hands full filling in as the squad's center back. The notoriously aggressive and efficient Legalite front line kept the pressure on high throughout the first half, but the senior defender stitched his wingmates and a fallen back Sulisław Auttenberg together to batten down the Falconian side of the field. Quintus Oxboro and Chance Cloman spearheaded the assault, regularly poking forward to check for weaknesses in the Falcon's defense, but always making sure to stay on top of the ball. There would be no gifts for the Falcons--if they wanted possession, it was clear they would have to take it for themselves. That said, it took them quite a while to feel comfortable committing to leaving their shell; halftime hit and the Falconian turtling left Legalese with only 3 shots on goal, despite their strong positioning and complete domination of possession.

The second half started off with a bang and the Falcons on the back foot once more; a swift sleight of foot courtesy of Cade Zorich put Jake Detzler in an excellent position right off the line. Caught off guard by the striker coming on so quickly, none of the Falconian midfielders were in a position to contest him. The young Sjurd Stendahl was all the stood between Zorich and an open shot on goal, but soon found himself fooled thoroughly by the elder player, nearly tripping trying to correct his faulty footwork. Zorich let loose with all he had, but Chris Lockwood had had quite enough of seeing balls in his net. Not only did he leap clear across the goal to reach the shot, he got both his hands solidly on it and came down with ball in hand. The shock of the shot and Lockwood's incredible save seemed to be exactly the smelling salts the Falcons needed. As Lockwood rolled the ball back out to Ásbjörn Tachibana, who in turn passed it onto Jozua Van Hautem. Hautem, the only half-Falconian on the team, brought his unique sense of play to bear; he was calling the shots as he drove down the field, and the practiced precision of Falcus' world-renowned wingers left the Legalites struggling for a position that would cover all the scoring threats. With a man each on José Abelló and Stanislava Hertz, a very aggressively positioned Spyridon Jovanovic garnered the attention of two defenders, as a dangerous striker is wont to do when one of the world's best passers could be feeding him a shot at any moment. This left Hautem with an easy pass to a charging Dag Řezník, who took the ball with gusto and curved it through the box, just beyond the stretching fingers of Evan Swales. The Falconians in the stands roared, and though they weren't as loud as the Legalites that outnumbered them had been for Zorich's attempt, they had a much better reason to cheer.

With a lead and almost 40 minutes left in the game, the Falcons decided it was best to do some aggressive defense. Hautem arranged the midfielders to maximize possession midfield, making sure the forward wingers kept the Legalites honest and playing some defense lest the deficit widen, but rarely actually moving forward or taking any chances that might lead to a slip and a Legalese breakaway. The plan was hardly foolproof, however. There were plenty of scares were Legalese midfielders aggressively pressed our possession and didn't leave room for a punishment pass to a winger, with several more shots on goal racked up--though none actually that threatening, usually from long range and easy clears for Lockwood. These smart plays and clever jabs started to fall apart as the game neared full time, indicative of why Legalese has been struggling a bit more than usual of late: they seem to have made a habit of tilting late in losses when it's most important for them to pull together and push back. Injury time passed without even a single shot on goal to contest Falcus' lead, and the Falcons secured their first three points of the finals.

Next, the Falcons are in for a rematch of the utmost importance: Playing Nephara for both a spot in the Round of 16, and for revenge for their ejection from World Cup 71's Round of 16 at the hands of the very same team. The battle in Felix had ended in a tense 1-0 triumph for the Cormorants, who scored an early goal and played an effective game of keep-away to run out the timer. The Falcons are a bit more experienced than they were last time 'round, and now have some real experience playing against the Cormorants, so it's time to see if they can put that to use breaking the Nepharan defense and bringing us back to the knockouts.

Falcus - 1
Řezník, 51'
Legalese - 0

by **Ko-oren** » Fri Jul 31, 2015 2:01 am

The referee comes to the aid of the hosts again

Referees favouring the home side: they exist. Gasp?! Surely the World Cup is not full of idiots who pull out a red card for everything that happens when the home crowd rears up and stars neighing? Sorry, but yes, they exist, and we have had to deal with them before.

Surely you all remember the match against Audioslavia, with the violent challenge on Nascimento who missed today's fixture against the Equestrian States. What might have gone under the radar is the simultaneous match of the Ponies against Gregoryisgodistan. Now the latter do not have a fantastic reputation in the first place, but a harmless chant by a Gregoryisgodistani player went punished immediately. With a red card. With ten players and a full half left to play, the Greggies were in no shape to fight back and score a goal to tie it up, and the hosts won 1-0. But now you say, 'that was day one! It's an isolated incident, and has no bearing on the rest of the World Cup!'

And then day two rolled around. Audioslavia has beaten Gregoryisgodistan 1-0, but we are still reviewing that match to see if anything suspicious happened. What we do have is a very clear view of the Equestrian States versus Ko-oren match. The first half went by without too many incidents.

Leroux started in offence for the Dragonflies, and Bagaurunir replaced the injured Nascimento. Next to him, Volkov made an appearance, and Millet started over Wakefield. The only unchanged line from last game was the defence: it seems Antonescu has figured out the back five are as good as it gets.

Leroux recorded the first shot on goal: a harmless header that did not trouble Gentle Breeze at all. Thunderlane responded for the Ponies, and fired a shot from twenty metres out that missed the goal altogether. Over the next twenty-five minutes, there were a total of seven shots on goal: three for Ko-oren, four for the Equestrian States, but a full zero of them were much of a bother for either Macedo or Gentle Breeze.

The second half started with a series of good chances for the Dragonflies. First Leroux was overlooked by Hamilton and a good Volkov pass reached her for a shot on goal that Gentle Breeze barely hoofed out. From the ensuing corner Bahvahnin powered a header straight at Flitter who guarded the far post. Two minutes later, Millet saw a shot hit the post and go out of play. The Ponies retaliated after replacing Apple Cobber for Everdeen. She set up the next two attacks, one resulting in a professional foul by Davenport, the other ending up in the stands with Thunderlane whiffing the ball.

In the 62nd minute, Ko-oren had a triple substitution to try to get the control back into our hands, with Juliasterinthen off for Rodriguez, Heilyn on for Volkov and Chuluun on for Leroux. This approach worked for five minutes. Davenport went for a sliding tackle to the ball and lightly brushed Tyler. Davenport was cautioned with a yellow card, and she gave a thumbs-up to the ref to show that she agreed with the decision, to some extent. The ref took this as a sarcastic 'are you blind or what' and immediately reached for the red card in his pocket.

What followed was a circle of green around the referee, who dished out two further yellows, but the red card stayed - Davenport off the field. With Juliasterinthen, the first captain, substituted and Davenport sent off, the third best choice for captain became Eregrent. The winger was one of the players to pick up a yellow in the post-red card discussion. The Unionites knew they couldn't win here, so they started passing around the ball starting in the 75th minute. In the 89th minute, Eregrent was a little too obvious in timewasting (waiting for twelve seconds to take a throw in) and was shown a second yellow.

Ko-oren nil, Equestrian States nil, referee two.

So, basically, the Ponies have had more red cards to their opponents than goals scored, and all we're waiting for is a scummy 1-0 victory for the hosts over Audioslavia, and Ko-oren versus Gregoryisgodistan turning into the most useless match of this World Cup.

Starting XIs:
KOR: Macedo - Aoki, Davenport, Juliasterinthen, Bahvahnin, De Jong - Bagaurunir, Volkov, Millet, Eregrent - Leroux
EQS: Gentle Breeze - Hamilton, Flitter, Molovi - Krystal, Tyler, Rainbow Blitz, Cloudchaser, Apple Cobbler - Pristina Shine, Thunderlane

Overall performance: B
Defending set pieces: B+
Attacking set pieces: C
Defence overall: A
Attack overall: B-
Coaching decisions: D
Refereeing: F

Nascimento to sue Omaexevarria

The Ko-orenite midfielder will pursue a legal consequence to the dangerous tackle by Audioslavian player Omaexevarria. Nascimento had to sit out the game against the Equestrian States, while the Audioslavian played for his team against Gregoryisgodistan anyway.

Nascimento will attempt to sue for a six-figure settlement. "The deed is done, there is no sense in disciplining him and keeping him on the sidelines for so many matches. Therefore after discussing terms with my lawyer, we decided to sue him for the sum of K 900,000 (NSD 340,500), because he potentially did end our World Cup early. Well, he definitely put an end to my World Cup."

Nascimento is set to play in the final group stage fixture against Gregoryisgodistan.

Remaining fixtures

Group A
Mertagne - Valanora
Semarland - Quebec

The only way we get any kind of shift in this group is if Quebec wins while Mertagne loses - which isn't a crazy scenario. In all other cases, it's Valanora with Mertagne taking on Group D in the next round.

Group B
San José Guayabal - Holy Empire
Felix - Kandorith

There are a lot of possibilities in this group still. The Holy Empire can't be caught anymore, but Felix in second place is far from sure. Kandorith holds the key to this group: if they win, they finish second... as long as San José Guayabal doesn't upset the Holy Empire completely ~~yeah right~~. With a Felix win or draw, they're on with the Holy Empire to face Group C.

Group C
Pasarga - Farfadillis
Apox - Kirisaki

Nobody's formally out, but Pasarga has six points while Kirisaki has zero. Still, Apox and Farfadillis can still match Pasarga's six points to knock them out, and Pasarga can beat Farfadillis and then a Kirisaki victory means that the zero-pointers so far will still sneak into second place for the Group B showdown.

Group D
Krytenia - Legalese
Falcus - Nephara

So for some reason, Krytenia is still sitting here with more chances they ~~deserve~~ could dream of. Legalese is absolutely disappointing, and that means that the Krytenians have more than enough chances to advance. Nephara's only task is to get a point against Falcus. For the rest, the same goes for Group D as for Group C: Nephara is almost in, Legalese is almost out, but nothing is certain still.

Group E
Audioslavia - Equestrian States
Ko-oren - Gregoryisgodistan

Gregoryisgodistan is completely out of the tournament already. That's good news for Ko-oren, who need a win and an Equestrian States loss to advance. Audioslavia is already thinking of Group H, and whether they'll have to play Osarius there.

Group F
Unified Sunrise Islands - Sargossa
Turori - Polar Islandstates

Basically, see Group E. The Polar Islandstates are already in, the Sunrisians are out, while Turori only needs a point to keep Sargossa away. Meanwhile Sargossa advances with a win and a Turori loss.

Group G
Eura - Holy Republican Empire
Valladares - Sandwich Territories

Another lot of possibilities here, however one team is safe. Eura's game against the Holy Republican Empire only matters to the latter. The Sandwich Islands are looking on their way to the next round, and a draw technically seals the deal for them. Valladares and the Holy Republican Empire can still advance, but only with a Sandwich Territories loss and whoever wins the most convincingly.

Group H
Yttribia - Vilita
Osarius - Saintland

All jokes aside, the Firebirds are last in their group. The problem is that there is a three point gap between last and first, so that pretty much anything is possible here. Saintland advances with a win. Vilita advances with a win. Yttribia advanes with a win. Osarius advances with a win by two goals. The winners take it all here.

Round of 16
Just assuming Ko-oren makes the cut as Group E's second placed team, they'll face whatever Group H manages to throw at them. Group H being the group where everything can still happen, so it does not necessarily have to be Osarius. That's right, even though we might end up second in our group as everyone thought, Osarius might not finish first in theirs, so we might finally see a World Cup where we don't have to play Osarius for a ~~fucking~~ time. However the regular fixture against Audioslavia was still in there. Next time, could we play teams that are not Audioslavia or Osarius please? It's getting a little stale. It wouldn't be stale except for our horrible track record against these two though, so we're sure they're not sick of it yet and like the three points or next round they're always mugging off of us.

by **Saintland** » Fri Jul 31, 2015 9:04 am

In Saintland, the news of the HRE's demise was not reported by the local press, which continued to pretend that Consul Kulseth was alive and well and that Republican troops were marching through Gregoryisgodistan and about to kill Lord Almighty Gregory. With King Andreas gone, away in the Equestrian States preparing to face 2-time defending World Cup champion Osarius, the Patriarch had assumed control of the Kingdom. The Patriarch had not expected the HRE to fall and, upon discovering that Kulseth was dead and the Free Republics restored, he interpreted it as a sign from God that the Godly had not been righteous enough.

The Patriarch reacted quickly to tighten Sanctii laws and promote stricter enforcement of the existing laws, lest God smite the Kingdom of Saintland as well. His major focus, however, was on the foreign resident community. The foreign resident laws implemented by King Paulus XV had been quietly repealed by King Petrus XX early on in his reign and King Andreas had, thus far, not seen the need to re-institute them. The foreign resident community just wasn't interested in stirring up any trouble, particularly after what had happened during the reign of King Paulus. They knew that the current government was looking for any excuse to crack down upon them again and tried, desperately, not to give them one.

However, the fall of the HRE functioned as the excuse that the Patriarch needed to forge the King's Assent and institute even harsher sanctions on the foreign resident population. The new restrictions began with the quartering of soldiers in foreign resident homes and neighborhoods with large foreign resident populations. This was intended to keep them under constant surveillance. Another change was that almost every exemption from the laws that applied to citizens, with the exceptions of exemptions from the laws mandating attendance at Church, for children at Church schools and permitting conscription of the unemployed. Likewise, most exemptions were also repealed for visitors to the Kingdom.

Yet, the most onerous restrictions imposed by the Patriarch fell upon the children of foreign residents. The position of High Inquisitor at their schools was restored and given even more power than it had before. Now, the High Inquisitor, usually a monk or nun from the Church of Saintland, would be permitted to make any alterations to the school's operations that he or she desired. Furthermore, the Patriarch decreed that all foreign resident schools must operate as boarding schools starting with the upcoming school year. Students were to be prohibited from going home, at all, or from having any contact whatsoever with their families except during the Christmas and Easter holidays.

The Patriarch's true motive for the changes to foreign resident education was to utilize their schools to convert their children to the True Church, by force if necessary. If God was passing judgment upon Christian nations that tolerated the unsaved within their midst, the Patriarch reasoned, then he had to save the souls of the unsaved within the Kingdom by any means necessary. Thus, he needed to make sure that foreign resident parents could not keep their children away from salvation.

Yet, the Patriarch felt that Saintland could not truly be a Shining Kingdom of God unless its people were shielded from wicked outside influences. Therefore, he also decreed that nobody would be permitted to leave the Kingdom without the express permission of the King's Government until further notice and Patriarch Nicolaus V had no intention whatsoever to permit anybody to leave the Kingdom except on business relating to affairs of state, affairs of the Church or international sports...

Meanwhile, in the Equestrian States, King Andreas was completely oblivious to what the Patriarch was doing and wouldn't have cared even if he had been aware of it. He had never truly wanted to be King anyway. He just didn't want his heretical brother Petrus to be King or Rule Theriault to be his team's manager. Anything the Patriarch wanted him to do, King Andreas would do because he was loyal to his Church. The King's primary concern at the moment was Osarius. The Kingdom of Saintland had never defeated an opponent ranked #1 in the multiverse. They had never even played such an opponent to a draw. Nor had they ever defeated or drawn a match against a defending World Cup champion. Audioslavia had beaten them twice way back in World Cup 64 and Polar Islandstates had knocked them out of World Cup 68. If they were ever going to take the next step, now was the time.

King Andreas constructed a gameplan, in close consultation with Alessandro Seius. Seius and the King agreed that, while it would be nice to win and while they could still *technically* advance with a loss if results elsewhere went their way, the team's goal was to obtain a draw in this match. A draw would guarantee them a spot in the Round of 16 and would also send the Firebirds home. No matter what happened though, King Andreas had decided that he would remain in the Equestrian States until the end of the World Cup in order to practice with as many of his Manechester City teammates as possible. As much as he wanted to win the World Cup here in the Equestrian States, King Andreas also wanted to lead Manechester City to a championship in the Equestrian domestic league...

by **Polar Islandstates** » Fri Jul 31, 2015 9:47 am

Momentum

Like a freight train rolling downhill, the Terns have it. After one draw and a defeat in our first four games of qualifying, questions were rightly asked whether this Terns side would be of the same pedigree as the ones that came before it. Thanks to the wash of international retirements, Rasmussen had little choice but to select a less experienced squad, that much was accepted, particularly due to the way The Big Freeze kept us from competing in the Copa Rushmori, and if it wasn't to be a side of the same quality as before then expectations would have to be adjusted accordingly. The word from the management team is that we should be treating this cycle as a training exercise and looking only to next cycle as one to be judged by. Certainly, results after four matches backed up this opinion, with another draw in game ten leaving us only two points ahead of Kandorith.

However, as so often happens with the Terns, results get better with time, and we've won every game since. Four games in qualifying and two games at the World Cup proper have all results in wins for the Terns, with us not having conceded a goal since Kandorith were defeated at the Nasjonale in game eleven.

Momentum, never underestimate its importance.

Just imagine where we could have been already had this side had the Copa to gel properly.

Unified Sunrise Islands were brave in their opposition to us, but in all fairness to them this was a world away from our victory over Sargossa in our first match. Far from the rain and mud of that slugfest in Manehattan, this was a crisp technical square-off under the fresh blue skies of Everfree.

Perhaps wary of the pace the youthful Sunrisian side would be able to call upon, Rasmussen did what many people have been calling for him to do since the start of the cycle - dropped Dardan in favour of Lefebvre. Niels Kruse was also replaced by Eirikur Sigurdsson in order to protect a slight hamstring tweak, with the physicality of Geirsson preferred to Konigstein in the centre of the park alongside Gunnlaugsson in order to sit deeper and allow Holzhauser more time and freedom to track the runners from the Sunrisian midfield diamond.

Rather predictably, this narrow layout from both sides led to a lot of width out there on the wings for the full-backs on both sides to exploit, and both Bjerregaard and Sigurdsson made dynamic runs into the opposition half within the first fifteen minutes of the match. Another corner from Lefebvre was the result of one of those moves, almost resulting in a carbon-copy of the goal against Sargossa for Olaf Strauss. On this occasion, however, Mellody Sioux was equal to the header.

At the other end, Hannan Alcouin was causing exactly the kind of problems we were expecting her to make from her time at Longyearbyen, and in the twenty-fifth minute she came closer than anyone else had done to breaching Ulsletten's goal since Kandorith had managed it six games ago. Touching the through ball from Rolando into space away from the marshalling figure of Anders Holzhauser, she played a one-two with Ruby around the stranded Otkupshchikov and let fly with a piledriver towards the bottom corner of the goal. Ulsletten got down sharp enough to tip it round the post, and the danger from the following corner never materialised.

Nonetheless, it was something of a wake-up call for the Terns, and there followed an extended run of possession as we attempted to suffocate the Sunrisian's surge before it could develop into a prolonged spell of pressure. Taking almost all of the pace out of the game, the Terns succeeded in doing just that, and the teams went in at half time having played a technically enthralling goalless half.

And then, bang!

Straight from the kick-off, the Terns moved to exercise a surprise shift in pace, executing a slick passing move straight from the training ground that left the opposition without a hope. A midfield triangle of Lefebvre, Gunnlaugsson, and Geirsson passed their way down the right flank with the support of Bjerregaard, with Lefebvre providing the overlap that allowed him to whip a cross into the far edge of the penalty box, where Finn Kirkkegaard was waiting to chest the ball down and lay it back to Bickermann, who smashed the ball into the roof of the net from twelve yards. One-nil, and the Sunrisians looked stunned. They'd been well into the first half, if a little played off the ball, but they hadn't even touched the ball in the second half yet and they were behind.

They had no designs on being behind for long, however, and were soon making moves with their quartet of twenty-year-olds to level the scoring. Geirsson's disruptive presence in the midfield gave Holzhauser the freedom to roam however, and on several occasions the runs he made prevented the bask-line overran or outsmarted by a Sunrisian move. With the Terns midfield sitting deeper and deeper however, there wasn't much scope for the frontline to get much support, and it soon became clear that a change in outlook would have to be made. Controversially, it was goalscorer Rauno Bickermann who made way, coming off to applause and confusion from the Twitchers in equal measure, with Kjartan Grndstrom replacing him. A gifted technical player, Grndstrom's role on the pitch became quickly apparent. Hanging back off Finn Kirkkegaard, he started to perform the role of a second striker, holding onto the ball and dribbling his way out of trouble whenever he received it, allowing the rest of the team to move up in support and just generally allowing Lefebvre to move further down and combat the Sunrisian midfield dominance.

Alcouin and Maniche continued to cause Strauss and Otkupshchikov problems however, and it was Strauss who was withdrawn in favour of young Miroshnichenko when the second change occurred, with specific orders to mark Alcouin out of the game with his expert tracking and game-reading skills.

It worked.

Substituting Klemmensen on for Geirsson in his last move of the day showed Rasmussen was intent on further and fully neutralising the Sunrisian attack, and the Terns adjusted to a more orthodox 4-2-2-2 formation accordingly. When the second goal came, therefore, it was a sucker-punch to a Sunrisian that was growing ever more starved of opportunities even with the generous amount of possession the Terns were allowing them, and the game began to fizzle out into nothing.

Moving the ball out to the left having just used his strength to run the dangerous Alcouin off the ball once again, Miroshnichenko allowed his domestic team-mate Sigurdsson the space to break forwards down the flank, and a chipped ball directly into his path mean the young left-back could turn defence into attack with that typical Rasmussen swerve this Terns side has. Hitting leather down the wing, Sigurdsson played the ball inside to Gunnlaugsson and continued his run, darting into the box and pulling enough attention away from Grndstrom for him to have the time and space he needed to ghost a lofted ball into the path of Kirkkegaard - who took only one touch before arrowing the ball accurately into the opposite corner of the goal and putting the Terns two-nil up.

With only fifteen minutes left, the wind seemed to leave the Sunrisian's sails, and the Terns were able to keep their heads mainly out of trouble. A flurry of desperate substitutions led to a frantic last five minutes as the opposition fought and scrambled for the goals that would have kept them in the tournament, but aside from a thirty-yard thunderbolt from Rolandinho Junior that a helpless Ulsletten watched clip the top of the goal on its way out for a goal-kick, they wouldn't cause heart rates to raise too much.

Two-nil it finished, and the Terns were through. Six points from six.

All of which means we go into our last group stage match against Turori safe in the knowledge that our progression into the knockout stages is secure. We can lose, and still go through. Not that that's the plan, of course. Turori were held to a draw by Sargossa in their last match though, after beating USI in their opener, so we know there will be chinks in that armour for us to exploit.

Yes, another knockout stage. From our debut and a surprise if not undeserved fourth place finish in World Cup 56, to our by now expected progression in World Cup 72, I make that a run of seventeen consecutive appearances in World Cup knockout stages. What was Valanora's record? Let's take aim, guys, let's take it down. What we apparently lack in bottle during semi-finals and finals, we apparently make up for in consistency.

This team is an exciting one, too. By the looks of it, aside from questions over the long-term use of Luar Dardan, there aren't any inevitable retirements in the coming years, with all players capable of at least one more World Cup, and most of them probably have two left in them at least. And that's without accounting for the other youngsters just outside the squad at the moment - like Kiriyenko, Hertzberg, Otkupshchikov the younger... I could go on.

We all sighed when Rasmussen said he was building for the future, but who's sighing now? Looks like, as usual, he was spot on.
And now, because I know how popular they are and I don't want to lose out on any potential blog hits -
The Inevitable Group Predictions

A - Co-hosts Valanora have utilised home advantage as only the Vanorians can and have overcome their low ranking to secure two victories so far, meaning they are through. Semarland are out, which is a shame, cos I've got a lot of readers from there according to my stats and I think they're just big fans of Valhallan football in general. Royal Kingdom of Quebec are three points behind Mertagne in the race for second spot having just shared a four-all draw. Quebec play already eliminated Semarland and Mertagne play the group leaders Valanora in the last matches, so if results go to form so far it could come down to goal difference.
B - The Holy Empire are through, no surprises there, with second placed Felix best placed to follow them through having already played the group leaders. San Jose Guayabal must face The Holy Empire in their last match and win, and must hope Kandorith get up to their usual tough-to-beat tricks and earn three points against Felix in order for them to go through. Chances look slim for that however, as the team from the Dreamed Realm are looking in formidable health so far. Kandorith, on the other hand, know a win against Felix will put them through if, as expected, The Holy Empire beat the Guayabalense.
C - Well, this certainly looks exciting. Pasarga are top with six points having won both games so far, but must still fight for a win over Farfadillis in their last match in order to secure the top spot in the group. Farfdillis, for their part, lost a six-four thriller to Apox in their match - find a highlights reel of that one if you can - and now sit level with Apox on three points. Apox must play Kirisaki in their last group match, meaning we could yet end up with a scenario where three teams are on six points and Kirisaki are on none at all, or we could end up with Pasarga on nine and everyone else on three. It's going to be tense, and could come down to some very precise bean counting.
D - A not entirely dissimilar situation exists in Group D as well, with nobody eliminated or qualified for sure yet. Nephara are in the driving seat having won both games so far, with a victory over Falcus in their last match guaranteed to put them through. Krytenia (sigh, yes, I know) must beat Legalese in their match to be assured of the same thing, in what promises to be an enticing and competitive all-AO grudge match. Legalese must win and hope Nephara do the business over Falcus to be even in with a mathematical chance of qualification, so it promises to go down to the wire. Set your diaries for this one.
E - Audioslavia are showing signs of the form that won them two World Cups not so long ago, and they are through with two wins from two. At the other end, Gregoryisgodistan are out having lost both matches so far. Ko-oren and co-hosts Equestrian States are vying for that final qualification spot, with the co-hosts three points better off so far having just shared a nil-nil draw with the Dragonflies. Equestrian States play Audioslavia in the last match however, giving Ko-oren the chance to overhaul them if they win handsomely against already eliminated Gregoryisgodistan side.
F - Whee! Well, we're through, as already mentioned (did I mention that? I think I probably did, once or twice). And, down at the bottom, Unified Sunrise Islands' adventure in this World Cup will go no further than their final group stage match against Sargossa. We face Turori in our last match, and must avoid defeat to maintain a hold on the top spot in the group. Sargossa, however, are three points behind Turori, and know that a win over USI is only good enough for them if we do them a favour and beat Turori. Sargossa is relying on us to do them a favour. Their progression in this World Cup depends on us. Hahaha. They must hate that. I, on the other hand, am finding it pretty amusing. Of course, we want to go through with nine points whatever it means for the other teams in the group, so we'll be going for the win whatever happens between Sargossa and USI. I guess it's just a nice silver lining to have if we do fail to win - that we've guaranteed Sargossa go out.
G - Right, pay attention to this one, because we'll be playing one of these teams in the next round. Eura are through at the top of the group, having put three points between them and second placed Sandwich Territories by beating them in their last match. Sandwich territories sit on three points, with The Holy Republican Empire and Valladares bringing up the rear with a single point each. Obviously, whether we play the first placed or the second placed team in this group will depend on how we do against Turori, but signs are pointing towards Eura being the group winners. Obviously, we'd rather not play the Eurans, so let's aim for a win against Turori. On the other hand, I don't really fancy playing Valladares or The Holy Republican Empire much either. The Holy Republican Empire can secure qualification regardless of their domestic turmoil with a win over Eura if Sandwich Territories lose to Valladares by a smaller scoreline than they beat Eura by... I think. I'm not sure, to be honest. Depends on the tie-breakers used. I might just watch the games and work it out as we go along. It's going to be close, whatever happens.
H - Gasp! Shock! Horror! Two-time defending champions Osarius are in Group H, and they are not doing well at all. Sitting at the bottom of the group with only a single point so far, they must hope for a heavy win over group leaders Saintland in their final match and a favourable result in the other match between Yttribia and Vilita - both of whom are in the satisfying boat alongside Saintland of knowing that their fate is in their hands; basically, win, and they're through. Osarius, on the other hand, know that even a win may not be enough if Vilita win. Interestingly, an Osarian win and a draw between Yttribia and Vilita would leave us with three teams on four points and Yttribia getting knocked out on three points despite not having lost a game, so I don't envy whoever it is that has to put the tiebreakers into order in this group...

So, whichever way you look at it, there are going to be some surprises in the next round as a number of teams have done well to out-perform many of the predictions levelled their way at the start of the tournament. A number of big names are on the verge of going out, most notably the winners of the last two trophies, but excitingly there isn't a single side guaranteed as going through as group winners yet.

This is shaping up to be one of the most exciting World Cups in recent memory, so make sure you keep up with the action.

Heia Terns!

Eff.

xx

p.s. Rumours abound out here that FC Axel Heiburg are in talks with Spartangrad over the sale of Eidur Gunnlaugsson. Császár Mór and Eidur Gunnlaugsson in the same midfield engine room, backing Victor Larsen up front. That's a hell of a team, that.

Zacharias Juul

Zacharias Juul, a man that needs no introduction even to fresh-faced fans of Divisjon One who've no interest in the terns past or present. So, foreigners, basically. Yes, he's the tall bloke who sits on the end of the benches in the round-up programmes. A handy little pundit who was more than a little handy full-back in his time with Koppen Rig Force, Jan Mayen Islanders, and the Terns. He remains to this day the sixth-most capped player in Terns history, and has given Moses Luc Bjerregaard some very big shoes to fill in that right-back role.

So, what does the CFM RLstates universe simulation reckon he'd have gotten up to in this world they've dreamed up.

Well, no surprises really to see that he is almost as loyal in the simulation as he was in real life. Giving him a birthplace of Denmark, it would seem that he never even made it as far as signing a youth contract in his homeland before he was invited to move across and sign for English giants Chelsea. Annoyingly rich and persistently dickish, they truly are the SK of the RLstates universe. In England, anyway. It's probably Real Madrid otherwise.

Anyway, when Crystal Palace (what a ridiculous name that is, by the way. Who thinks up these things?) got promoted to the Premier League in 2016, they signed up the rangy young full-back on loan for the season, and he promptly exploded into the scene. Five assists and two goals from right-back in a struggling side that only just avoided relegation brought him to the attention of many a fantasy football player, I'm sure, and in the years following that breakthrough he was a mainstay in the phenomenally successful Chelsea side.

Two league and cup doubles, three more leagues, one Europa League, and a Champions League title were all won by the Blues during his time there, and he amassed over three-hundred league appearances alone. Thirty-four goals and nearly a hundred assists during those years would have also continued to make him one of the more popular fantasy league picks. I'm guessing so, anyway.

At the age of twenty-nine, Zacharias decided the time was right for a bit of a change however, and he moved on a free to a Liverpool side that was making waves in the transfer market and making noise about challenging for titles again. They didn't manage to do that, as it turned out, but in three seasons with the Reds Zacharias was instrumental in their charge up into the Champions League qualification spots again, even beating his former side Chelsea in the quarter finals of their most successful European season for decades.

He would go on to move even further north for his fourth and final club however, playing the last few years of his career at Wigan Athletic. Three seasons of just about avoiding relegation to the second tier were punctuated by an unlikely FA Cup final appearance in his last season of football, but he was to find himself the losing captain on the big day itself - Wigan lost three-two in extra time to Nottingham Forest.

Still, fifty-five goals in over five hundred league appearances certainly isn't anything to shake a stick at for a right-back.

During his time with the Terns, the real life Juul would never actually get to wear the captain's armband. In the CFM database however, he was the Danish captain for years. During his time with the side they managed to reach the knockout stages of the World Cup on three occasions - USA 2022, Italy 2026, and finally a third-placed finish at Australia 2030 that was Denmark's best ever. He also made an appearance in the final of Euro 2028 in Germany, but was forced off with an injury before half time by the looks of it, and they went on to lose to the hosts on penalties.

Overall then, a highly successful player in real life is a highly successful player in the fictional folds of the CFM RLstates universe. Who'd've thunk?

Now, I promised you a bonus simulation of a notable player from the Sunrisian archives, didn't I? And lo! Let the record state that OP delivered. Mateus Carvalho was something of a cult favourite in the Federation during his playing career, for reasons I've never really been able to work out. Sure, he was a good player, and in many countries he was legitimately popular for proper reasons. Here, though? A quick search suggests he never did anything that notable against any Valhallan sides, at club level or internationally, and yet he still remains a favourite.

A quick peek into the zeitgeist shows he was one of the more popular purchases on the original CFM database, so perhaps it was his potential ability there that brought him to our attention. I certainly remember one seasons where I signed him on a free well into the twilight of his career for KSC Brighthelmstone - I was trying to get them promoted to Divisjon One at the time - and he scored just about every free kick I was awarded within sight of goal. He was certainly a monster with the dead ball in real life, and so it was that I made him one in the CFM RLstates universe as well.

Giving him a birth place of Spain, I sat back and watched as he was quickly signed up by Atletico Madrid following a breakthrough season with his hometown club, and then promptly loaned out to a club in France called Bordeaux. Which is fun to say.

Moving back to his parent club, he began what was to become an entire career of being a utility attacker. Played out wide or just behind the main striker, the Carvalho in this simulation became an assist machine whilst still scoring his fair share of goals. It was just this talent that led to him being snapped up by the then-European champions of Chelsea.

And no, this wasn't in the same simulation as Juul. Though, that would have been fun.

The strength of Chelsea during the time he was with the club - three Champions Leagues, four cups, and five league titles - meant that they had a squad packed full of superstars, and poor Carvalho often had to make do with being little more than a rotation player. His loyalty to the club however, meant that he remained stunningly popular with the fans, and even from wide positions or coming on late into the match to save the legs of the star striker he still managed to score a highly satisfying eighty-four goals in eight seasons. Perhaps not as many as it could have been, but he loved winning trophies.

Who doesn't?

Moving to Aston Villa when his playing career finished, he retired from international football at the same time thanks to the strength of the Spanish squad, but still had a World Cup and a European Championship medal to his name by the time he did so. An injury hit three seasons in Birmingham were followed by an injury hit two seasons at Ajaccio back in France, and by the time he retired altogether Carvalho had amassed a respectable one hundred and sixty-one league goals in only three hundred and sixty-six league appearances. We can bemoan what could have been had he not spent so long wrestling with injuries, or what heights he might have hit had he moved to a club where he'd be the number one choice, but then that would be points. Because running another simulation within a simulation is adding another layer of complexity to something that's complex enough as it is.

Anyway, starting a coaching career at Ajaccio after he retired, it would appear that he is still there in 2050.

What's more, in Ajaccio's youth intake for the 2050-51 season is an intriguing little winger with half French half Spanish nationality by the name of Federico Carvalho.

I wonder...

Pip, pip.

Henrik.

Part 1: Kohev Küngas-Vaga
Part 2: Alexsandr van Sorensen
Part 3: Felix Saarinen
Part 4: Jean-Eric Villeneuve
Part 5: Tolgus Tregajorran
Part 6: Lee Sharp
Part 7: Henning Blonqvist
Part 8: Steffan Pekarik
Part 9: Petter Bielsen
Part 10a+b: Niko Marek + Ernesto Farías
Part 11a+b: Zacharias Juul + Mateus Carvalho
Part 12a+b: Timo Skye + 'Laborious Hawk vs Valrauncion'

by **Northern Sunrise Islands** » Fri Jul 31, 2015 11:40 am

Season 6, Chapter 23: The World is Not Enough

A near-abandoned scenery was noticeable. Buildings broken down, streets of concrete showing the effects of time as grass grew from some of its' holes. There were also some shadows around. People that decided not to leave that hellhole. Whatever organization remained still tried their best to maintain the order and peace, but clearly had its' failures. On one of its' parks, now left to be overtaken by grass and some wildlife, an helicopter lowered itself.

Kry: OK. I'm pretty sure this is the heart of the region... Or used to be.
Ytt: Wow... time really does know how to show its' mark.
Kry: Yeah. And to think it has been only what? Ten years?
Sarian: ...only ten!?
Kry: ...It wasn't really that much of a high quality neighbourhood back then. Why do you think they built all those new areas to live at and let this one to the few that couldn't afford better?
Sarian: ...That makes sense. Speaking of which, who lives here?
Dainer: The ill, the unfortunate and the bandits.

As the group walked their way out of the helicopter, a group of teens dressed as hipsters passed by, seemingly on their way to a coffee shop.

Sarian: ...and the hipsters?
Dainer: The dumber ones. There's another neighbourhood nearby that has some of the best coffee stores, you kinda have to pass by here first if you go on foot, though.
Kry: So, what do you need from me again?
Dainer: We're going on foot to find out where exactly this threat is hiding. With this radar I have, we'll be able to find it fast... but we needed someone that could guide us around.
Kry: ...That sounds boring. Thought we were having one of those battle moments and whatnot.
Dainer: You might want to join Sunrise after that. He always ends having those moments for no good reason.
Sarian: Even though he's the one that gets beaten down every time.
Ytt: Yeah... But still, guys, shh.
Kry: Don't worry, young kid. We're on the harmless part of the neighbourhood. It only gets rougher after that factory over there.
Dainer: ...Oh, boy.
Sarian: What's the matter, boss?
Dainer: Julia's hiding inside that very factory.
Kry: Heh. What's that about not having action?
Ytt: We... we could always call Sunrise and Mikoto.
Dainer: Nah. Let them rest.
Sarian: Yeah.

Sarian pulled out a spiked, bloodied baseball bat.

Sarian: We'll just bat those bastards out.
Dainer: Neither.
Sarian: Oh, why!?
Dainer: We'll try to enter without alarms.
Ytt: Sounds safer.
Dainer: Do you know any way in, sir?
Kry: I think you guys could try to climb that dumpster over there, Dinner.
Dainer: Dainer.
Sarian: ...One of us should stay at the helicopter.
Kry: I'll do that. You kids have fun.

Kry walked his way back to the helicopter. The three eventually entered the factory via the air ducts.

Ytt: This thing seems a bit unstable.
Sarian: Less crying, more crawling!

by **Alasdair I Frosticus** » Fri Jul 31, 2015 12:18 pm

OOC - see the Holy Empire roster for a detailed explanation of what's going on here.

World Cup 72
An oratorio by Jorge Handeles

ACT 5, SCENE 3
(Felix at Lathal, Ianisle)

Recitative - 'This Ground Is Surely Far Too Small To Hold Us'
(Andres Daphophates as Juan Tzimisces)

This ground is surely far too small to hold us
Only a 29,000 capacity?
'Tis almost a calculated insult

Aria - Felicitous are Felix
(Andres Daphophates as Juan Tzimisces)

Felicitous are Felix
Happiest of teams!
Most joyful is their play
Most skilful are their forwards

Felicitous are Felix
Happiest of teams!

Chorus - 'The Light Hath Failed'

The light hath failed!
The light hath failed!
Everywhere the lights hath gone out!
Fai-ai-ai-ai-ai-led!

A passing thunderstorm most fierce
Hath blown out all the floodlights

The light hath failed!
The light hath failed!
Everywhere the lights hath gone out!
Fai-ai-ai-ai-ai-led!

Aria - The Goalkeeper That Failed in Darkness
(John Balsamono)

The goalkeeper that failed in darkness
Hath seen a great light;
And they that took advantage to score against me
Upon them hath the light shined.

The referee ignoreth my protests
That play should have been stopped
When the floodlights failed
And hath awarded Felix the goal

The goalkeeper that failed in darkness
Hath seen a great light;
And they that took advantage to score against me
Upon them hath the light shined.

Chorus - 'Behold, And See If There Be Any Sorrow Like Unto His Sorrow'

Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto his sorrow.
Our goalkeeper's sorrow
Is there any sorrow like unto his sorrow
Our goalkeeper's sorrow
His sorrow
His sorrow
Our goalkeeper's sorrow

Recitative - 'Lo, We Must Search Our Very Souls'
(Isaac Gemisto as Simeone Di Bradini)

Lo, we must search our very souls
To go into halftime 1-0 down is not good enough
And though the accident with the floodlights was unfortunate
We must play...

Better!

Aria - 'Tzimisces Declar'ed'
(Isaac Gemisto as Simeone Di Bradini)

Tzimisces declar'ed
We must pursue,
We must overtake,
We must divide the spoil;
Our lust for goals shall be satisfied upon them;
I will draw my sword,
My team shall destroy them.
Thus did great Tzimisces declare

Chorus - 'Great Is the Transformation'

Great is the transformation in our team
This second half of play.
Great! Great! Great! Great
Great is the transformation
This second half of play.

From one - nil down we now lead three - two
Lascaro!
Comneno!
Lebournes!
All hath scored today.

Great is the transformation in our team
This second half of play.
Great! Great! Great! Great
Great is the transformation
This second half of play.

Duet - 'Felicitous are Felix (duet reprise)'
(Andres Daphophates as Juan Tzimisces and Isaac Gemisto as Simeone Di Bradini)

Felicitous are Felix
Happiest of teams!
They pushed us hard today
They should be proud of their boys

Felicitous are Felix
Happiest of teams!

by **Valanora** » Fri Jul 31, 2015 12:35 pm

Valanora Times
Win And Get In

It was far from being beautiful and nothing like a vintage performance from the Marauders, however at the end of the ninety minutes they emerged victorious over Semarland and thanks to Quebec and Mertagne playing to a draw, the Marauders have secured their passage to the knockouts. The passage to the knockouts is a very cathartic experience for this team, as most of them only ever knew of advancing to the knockouts. As many in Valanora know, the Marauders had a record of making the Finals for every World Cup from the 33rd until they missed out last cycle in the 71st, however also in that time frame they also always got to at least the knockouts until WC68 and were always in the Quarterfinals until WC56. The World Cup has all sorts of records dedicated to the Marauders and their exploits, that is why it was such a disappointment last cycle when they failed to make it to the World Cup and felt the shame of not living up to the kits they wore.

However they have found a small measure of redemption this cycle with having secured passage to the knockouts once more and what will likely see the rank of the Marauders restored to a top 20 status following the World Cup. That was all that was ever hoped for with this team, to redeem themselves with a good showing and try to improve the team's rank heading into the next cycle where they would have a far better and realistic chance of chasing that elusive and mystical sixth World Cup that would make them the sole record holders, instead of being joint as they are currently with fellow Atlantian Oceania nation and historic rival in Starblaydia. Given that the squad is performing far better than anyone in the nation could have hoped for, upsetting Quebec and struggling but persevering against Semarland to already have a spot in the knockouts heading into the Mertagne clash, there is a thought growing that why not now and on the home soil?

It is perhaps best to temper such thoughts though, as the Semarland was a very trying affair and exposed the reasons as to how the Marauders have fallen from the elite of the footballing world. The backline seemed to buckle under the pressure that the Semarland attack put on it in the second half after a Fresco brace in the first half had many think that the side would cruise on to an easy victory. Lindesfarne and Lygaard however would each net inside the first ten minutes of the second half, with Lydaard getting his 127th international goal in his 201st appearance for the Semarland national team, rivaling the old scoring records of Zacharius, Kyla Night, and Kiso Night of the Vanorian early teams.

In this moment however, it was not one of the hero quartet that would play the savior, but one of the unheralded players of the last few years who has received scrutiny instead of praise with the way the Marauders have faltered. Yet no one who truly appreciates the game could say that Dûrdur Celetholtinu has not played a pivotal role in making the Marauder attack more balanced than merely trying to rely on the magic of Hawk or va Drake to create the chances. Celetholtinu managed to use his larger frame to good use as a set piece was put into the mixer by Hawk and the striker attempted a rather unorthodox scissor kick that stunned not only the crowd but the keeper just long enough for it to find the back netter, securing the win and the passage to the next round for the Marauders. It has to be a bitter pill for Semarland who played admirably but are already eliminated just two matches into their World Cup debut, though we expect that they will be back in the World Cup sooner rather than later if they keep up this play.

Despite having their ticket punched for the next round, there is still plenty for the Marauders to play for in their last match with Mertagne. With a draw or a win, they will take the group which means they are likely to be facing off against Krytenia or Falcus in the Round of Sixteen, both of which are matchups that the Marauders would very much consider winnable. There is also the rivalry that the southwest of the region has with the northeast, of which Mertagne in one of its former iterations was an instrument of, our side no doubt wanting to get one over on the regional rivalry. If neither of those two are sufficient motivation, there is also the constant idea of improving the Marauders rank so that the Qualifiers for the next World Cup will hopefully see them as the top seed. That being said, I would hazard a guess that Hawk and va Drake may start the game on the bench for the Marauders, perhaps Soldarian and Fresco as well, for the quartet will be the key to the Marauders chances in the Round of Sixteen and they can ill afford an injury in this game if it means they were to miss the more important of the two fixtures.

by **Pasarga** » Fri Jul 31, 2015 1:32 pm

Torgos Tribune ~ Death Of A Queen

Last night at 20:29 local time inside the royal palace inside Torgos, Queen Júlía Ólafsdóttir passed away at the age of fifty-three, surrounded by her wife and adopted children. The cause of the death was a sudden but intense virus that took the Queen's life in just under twenty-four hours of showing the first symptoms according to the royal physicians. The doctors have yet to pin point the exact disease that has taken the life of our Queen and due to the traditions of the royal family, they will likely have not be able to discern the cause, as royals are to be cremated within forty-eight hours of being declared deceased. To that end, there is a general warning to all inside the capital to keep inside as much as you can, wash your hands as often as you can, and generally avoid any circumstance that can see the passage of bodily fluids from one person to another until further notice. The government is seemingly going to take no chances as to whatever this disease might be and hope to circumvent its attempts to become more than just an isolated incident.

Carlton Shorley, the Eura born adopted son of the Queen, has already been inaugurated as the new King of the Dominion and is said to have been whisked away from the capital after being inaugurated and sent to a safe house somewhere in Peynol. There are whispers that those closest to the royal family are afraid that it was not pure chance that the Queen contracted this virus but rather she was the target of an assassination. With relations with Sargossa having been strained over the last decade and the Majistar affair of five years ago, there are reasons for such suspicions. The Prime Minister however is dismissing such claims as vile attempts to spread fear among the populace when they should be mourning the death of their Queen.

Of Júlía's many accomplishments as Queen of the Dominion, she will most likely be remembered for her decisions to allow the Polarians to construct a naval base in Paulinthal as well as allying with Eura, moves that angered Sargossa quite badly. The alliance with Eura also saw the beginning of a slow modernization effort through the Shorley's company, an effort that is likely to continue now that Carlton is the King. She was also known to mingle with the common people like her uncle Takilian, the previous king, in disguise such as local football games and opera performances. The common people of the nation were able to connect with her more than they ever would have with Szcaroio Majistar had Takilian's son come to power instead.

It is said that the national team will be wearing their black kits with a gold armband in their last group game against Farfadillis in respect to the fallen queen and dedicate the rest of their stay in Valanora to the royal family. The side needs at least a draw with the Farfadillis side to ensure their advancement to the next round, despite having won both of their first two matches, as wins by Apox and Farfadillis could potentially put the Wanderers out. The defense that has yet to concede a goal in the Finals will have their work cut out for them with Farfadillis though, as the Atlantian Oceania side scored four against Apox in their previous match and a renowned the world over for employing the Bettian style of System Takil, otherwise known as an all out attack.

I think it is safe to say that Júlía would not want us to mourn her passing overly long but to do as she did and try and build up and support the nation. To that end, everyone that can should tune into tomorrow night when the Wanderers take on Farfadillis and those who are in Valanora, make their way to the stadium or the World Cup towns outside of it. Give the national team all the support that we can muster and endure this troubled time as we have endured all things before us, from the loss of our homeland to internal and external threats to our sovereignty. Pasarga is and continues to remain strong!

WC72 RP Thread

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