World Cup 74 - RPing Thread

[San Jose Guayabal]

World Cup 74 - San José Guayabal & Valladares
Group Stage Matchday 1 Cutoff

The action of the World Cup finals is now with us! get ready to feel it!

[Cosumar]

Cosumar defeats Semarland on biggest stage in first competitive match between COCANEFA rivals

CANALAVE -- The Cosumar Dragons looked right at home at Dragon Stadium in their first match of World Cup 74, scoring three goals in a stunning first half against Semarland. Despite the capacity crowd of 50,987 and broadcast audience of billions, Cosumar raced out to a 3-1 lead by half time without the slightest sign of apprehension.

With a sturdy foothold carved out, Gethin Ramsey's side bunkered down in the second half to ensure the final whistle would arrive without any further change to the score. The most encouraging take-away for Cosumar fans is that whether their team was aggressively attacking (as in the first half) or playing a more conservative style (as in the second half), they were able to impose their will on Semarland and dictate the flow of the game.

The travelling Cosumarite supporters that made the trip to eastern Rushmore were roaring with pure euphoria within six minutes. Brimming with creativity and intensity from the first kick, the Vanquishers had already forced Marco Valbuena to make two saves before Anders Engström finally capitalized on the breathtaking opening sequence. Played in on goal by Aziz Senturk's sublime through ball, Captain Andy poked it past Valbuena with a precise left foot.

The same connection put the ball in the back of the net again just four minutes later. But in reverse! Engström jumped on a slip by young right back Nathaniel Oseni and quickly fed Ace Newman. The Urbanista star launched a powerful driving shot, looking to beat the unprepared Semar defense. It was spectacularly saved by a diving Valbuena, but the parry fell right to the feet of Senturk. The opportunistic midfielder collected himself and easily swept it home despite Valbuena's frantic scrambling.

2-0 to Cosumar within ten minutes! It was a dream start for sure, but Andreas Jensen's squad would soon rain on the parade after the game settled down a bit - perhaps taking advantage of a hint of complacency that often follows early leads. Midway through the first half, Abel Nkutu expertly picked out Oseni on the right, who made up for his earlier error by lofting a perfect ball into the box for Matur Eiriksson to surge onto the end of at the far post. There was nothing Jakk Winterfyll could do about Eiriksson's point-blank header.

Hope was restored for Semarland, and after Jakob Lindesfarne nearly made it 2-2 a few minutes later, it looked as if their stumbling start had just been nerves. But all this positive spell for Semarland ended up accomplishing was a proverbial kick of the hornet's nest. Rejuvenated by the sudden realization that two goals would not be enough to put down the determined Semars (and a healthy dose of touchline fire from Gethin Ramsey), Cosumar returned to the shimmering style of play that they had displayed at the beginning of the half.

Cosumar
22 shots (11 on-target)
46% Possession, 85% pass accuracy
4 corners, 0 offsides
11 fouls, 0 cards

Semarland
11 shots (2 on-target)
54% Possession, 85% pass accuracy
7 corners, 6 offsides
10 fouls, 1 yellow card (Cisse 42')

Cosumar - 3
Engström 6'
Senturk 10'
Newman 35'

Semarland - 1
Eiriksson 24'

Cosumar Subs
Wittevrongel 72'
Farsgaard 80'
Lucassen 85'

After a four-minute period of possession, they restored their two-goal cushion in the 35th minute when Ole Öhman turned Eiriksson inside-out and cut the ball back for Newman in the middle of the box. Newman slashed it first-time, and his aim was true, ripping into the top-corner of the net. After the goal that produced the final score, Öhman nearly made it 4-1 himself. His low, bending shot to the near post from 15 yards was acrobatically saved by Valbuena. The CSKA Quebec keeper had a monstrous half. Despite conceding three, he also saved five.

Semarland began the second half on the front foot, but failed to respond a second time. Cosumar conceded most of the possession in this half - daring the Semars to just try and break through - but the red-and-yellow never really looked dangerous. Their best chance to pull one back came in the 70th minute when Kwame Nelson's mazy run led to a chance for Demba Cisse. The shot was powerful, but was directed right into the hands of Jakk Winterfyll.

This 3-1 result is one that all Cosumarites can be happy about. The exuberantly optimistic among us who feel that Cosumar now has the quality to be a perpetual medal contender will see it as proof that we are destined to repeat World Cup 73's success and continue shooting up the ranks. The more guardedly hopeful among us, who remember all the unfulfilled promise of previous generations, will see it as disaster averted by beating the lowest-ranked nation in the group.

Next up is the middle fixture of the group: Electrum. They are an opponent Cosumar have dealt with easily in the past (a pair of lopsided Cup of Harmony knockout matches come to mind), but one that cannot afford to be taken lightly. That's a mistake Falatulu made in Qualifying as the Electrumites upset them to win Group 20.

Electrum are ranked in the top 25 now for a reason. The Electrumite domestic league has improved by leaps and bounds over the last few years and provided the National Team an influx of young talent. Guys like Kirk Lynn-Peters remain, but this is far from the side that we piled seven goals on in the Cup of Harmony a few years back. We should still be favored, for as athletic and defensively-sound as Electrum are they do still lack that special something in the final third, but it will be battle. A win could see the Vanquishers clinch their seat in the final 16 before even having faced Valladares, the scariest name in Group A - but only if the hosts can dispose of Semarland like they did Electrum on Matchday 1.

Thank you for reading The Cosumarite Courier's exclusive World Cup 74 coverage from Valladares. Follow us on Twitter @TheCourier or subscribe to our website (TheCourier.cos) to receive instant updates and analysis of Cosumar's progress in the tournament.

---

Cosumar Goal-Scorers Tally (35 GF)
Anders Engström (10)
Mauricio Sigler (7)
Ole Öhman (6)
Ace Newman (6)
Aziz Senturk (3)
Vareza Na'Noni (2)
Peter Svensson (1)

Cosumar Assists Tally
Ole Öhman (10)
Ace Newman (5)
Anders Engström (5)
Mauricio Sigler (3)
Sheldon Serra (2)
Maynard Gorham (1)
Peter Svensson (1)
Alexander Soarhaven (1)
Frazan Va'Goshal (1)
Senter Senterekoesima (1)
Aziz Senturk (1)

Substitute Appearances Tally
Tevin Lilley (7)
Belarmin Worsaw (6)
Frazan Va'Goshal (6)
Augen Wittevrongel (5)
Matt Branch (4)
Jacob Pandan (4)
Tiffany Elam (4)
Senter Senterekoesima (3)
Darwyn Lucassen (3)
Vyacheslav Kolen (2)
Arndu Farsgaard (2)
Tomasso Tenebrosa (1)

Cosumar's World Cup 74 Cycle
Qualifying Matchday 1: Cosumar 4-0 Szavoda
Qualifying Matchday 2: Vaugania 2-4 Cosumar
Qualifying Matchday 3: Cosumar 2-2 Sarrbia
Qualifying Matchday 4: Eastfield Lodge 0-1 Cosumar
Qualifying Matchday 5: Cosumar 1-0 Unified Lycan Territories
Qualifying Matchday 6: Owner-osity 0-0 Cosumar
Mid-Qualifying Friendly: San Jose Guayabal 2-0 Cosumar
Qualifying Matchday 8: Szavoda 2-2 Cosumar
Qualifying Matchday 9: Cosumar 6-2 Vaugania
Qualifying Matchday 10: Sarrbia 2-2 Cosumar
Qualifying Matchday 11: Cosumar 3-1 Eastfield Lodge
Qualifying Matchday 12: Unified Lycan Territories 1-3 Cosumar
Qualifying Matchday 13: Cosumar 2-0 Owner-osity
Post-Qual Friendly: Valladares 2-1 Cosumar
Post-Qual Friendly: Cosumar 1-0 The Royal Kingdom of Quebec
World Cup Matchday 1: Semarland 1-3 Cosumar
World Cup Matchday 2: Electrum vs. Cosumar (@ Estádio Estadual Armando Bozzelli, Campo Grande, Valladares)
World Cup Matchday 3: Cosumar vs. Valladares (@ Stade de Foix-Jules Picot, Bezieres, Valladares)

Green: Victory
Blue: Draw
Red: Defeat
Home team listed first

[Apox]

Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five
Part Six
Part Seven
Part Eight
Part Nine

And now we come to the final conclusion with regards to the Rushmori qualification to the World Cup, run from our simulations. Last time, we used "Stage 1" and "Stage 2" of the bizarre qualifying system our algorithms came up with, as shown on this image:



So only the final parts! "Stage 3" is a very simple part and is a home and away playoff between the losers of the two highest Stage 2 play-offs. These teams are Saintland and Kernansquillec, with the following results:

Saintland 1–0 Kernansquillec
Kernansquillec 0–1 Saintland

Saintland 2-0 Kernansquillec

Saintland qualify!

For "Stage 4", it's largely the leftovers from everywhere else, with two groups of 4 playing a single round robin group stage, with the winners qualifying. The participants in this, randomly drawn group stage, are direct entrants Szavoda and Polaaskan, the top 2 from each group in the "Stage 2" group stage and the "Stage 2" and "Stage 3" play-off losers, namely Ceni and Kernansquillec. Here are the results:

                         Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 Kernansquillec           3   2  1  0    5   1  +4    7 - QUALIFIED
2 Polaaskan                3   1  1  1    2   3  −1    4
3 Taeshan                  3   1  0  2    2   4  −2    3
4 San Llera                3   0  2  1    3   4  −1    2

                         Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 Szavoda                  3   2  0  1    5   3  +2    6 - QUALIFIED
2 Estelar                  3   2  0  1    3   1  +2    6
3 Associated Godlands      3   1  0  2    2   4  −2    3
4 Ceni                     3   1  0  2    2   4  −2    3

And there you have it! We now have a full field to the World Cup! In our next, final installment, we shall compare our simulated entrants to the World Cup with the correct entrants from real qualifying, to compare our simulators accuracy. Until next time, folks!

Ceni 1-1 Apox Celgis 38', Zozula 75'
CEN: Koron -- Lockwood, Travaran, Axakel -- Jaros, Swan (Kerric 68'), Celgis -- Xasan, del Olmo -- Koromin (Cossadel 78'), Koromin
APX: Anaximander -- Treloquithack, Etezadi (c), Shahzad, Fowey (Redmond 88') -- St. Cleer -- Abbraciabene, Ibrox (Palmisano 65'), Aurora -- Zozula, McKenna
The first match of the finals, Apox's 8th and 4th in a row, and we started off our campaign against Ceni, an up and coming force in World football. After Apox had laboured to qualification against a relatively easy group, it became clear that we were going to have to re adjust quickly to this quality of play. The Cenian defenders, Lockwood, Travaran and Axakel were able to blunt our potent attack of Adnan Zozula and Corinna McKenna, while their swamped midfield made it difficult for Apox to progress out of our own half, Luxulya St. Cleer being kept busy in her protective role in front of the defence. Eneko Treloquithack had a hard time of things against 1830 Cathair midfield Jaime del Olmo, and it was him losing del Olmo in the 38th minute which led to Ceni's goal, del Olmo squaring the ball for Kira Koromin who's shot was blocked by Halyos Anaximander. Anaximander was unable to keep the ball though, and Corran Celgis was on hand to sweep the ball past the out of position Anaximander.

After this, Ceni sought to protect their narrow lead, which was perhaps a foolish mistake, this Apoxian team being able to break down defensive ones pretty easily. As the second half began and wore on, Apox gained more of a foothold in the match, and play was largely in the Cenian half. Ceni switched Allison Swan out for Tham Kerric, and moved more to a 4-4-2 formation, but the goal was coming, and it was Luxulya St. Cleer's penetrating through ball which went straight to Adnan Zozula, who had played the offside trap and received the ball with just keeper Ael Koron between him and the goal. Zozula doesn't miss chances like those, and the score was level. The remaining minutes of the game were frantic, but neither side were able to score, substitute James Palmisano coming the closest but ultimately hitting the bar. Our next game is again Gregoryisgodistan, and we'll need a win if we want to have a realistic chance of progressing, as hosts San Jose Guayabal will be a hard team to get any result against.

[Gregoryisgodistan]

Lord Almighty Gregory's Speech to the People

"Good morning, ladies, gentlemen, and slaves. I speak to you today of multiple events out of the Land of the Devil, San Jose Guayabal, our wicked neighbor to the west. There are several events I will discuss today, but I will start with the wicked, outrageous video game out of that Devil Land known as Grand Theft Auto: Gregoryisgodistan. In this game, you play as a drug dealer committing several capital crimes just by virtue of his profession, including drug possession, drug dealing, and probably a few others as well. It gets worse. As the drug dealer, you commit numerous crimes against those most loyal to the state, including Enemy Crushers, police, Secret Police, soldiers, Pervert Chasers, and more. You can even deliberately expose yourself to bait the Pervert Chaser, then kill him. Worst of all, the game is won by killing me, the Immortal Lord, after torturing me in unspeakable ways. This is a disgrace - everyone knows I am immortal, everyone knows I cannot die. For this, San Jose Guayabal will be punished.

"Indeed, we are currently erecting a line of underground nuclear missile silos all along our border with San Jose Guayabal, ready to launch at a moment's notice. These nuclear missiles cannot be taken out from the air, as they are underground, and if someone tries anyway, they are programmed to launch immediately and wipe San Jose Guayabal off the map. If we later find out another country tried to do it, like nosy old Eura, we will nuke them too with our remaining nuclear weapons, of which we have lots. So San Jose Guayabal will be destroyed if they try to attack us. Don't try it, Devils. And anyone who possesses, sells, or promotes this game in Gregoryisgodistan shall be guilty of numerous capital crimes, most notably blasphemy which is punishable by the Brownie Cutter of Death. So don't try it, Wicked Ones. Guaya Beans will die if they try smuggling it. I strongly advise against it.

"But now, I have some more bad news as well as some good news. Our Foot Slaves lost to the Guaya Beans last night, 1-0, on a goal by Rodolfo Zelaya. But I am proud of them for keeping it close. More importantly, 32 Guaya Bean fans tried chanting a forbidden fruity word and taking off their shirts to taunt our players. Our Pervert Chasers ran into the stands and dickapitated the fans, then Enemy Crusher Fatty Footy ran in and crushed them to death. Some more Guaya Beans retaliated by throwing rocks, flames, and human vileness at our fans, but our fans threw their own rocks, flares, vileness, glass bottles, and swords at the Guaya Bean fans after our players vacated. There was then a brutal fight between the Guaya Beans and our fans, as usual involving numerous deaths. Four fans of San Jose Guayabal were killed, as were three of ours. But there were far more injuries. Just including the ones that required medical treatment, they had 52 and we had 49. There are estimated hundreds more on both sides who did not require medical treatment and were not counted. After the game, the fans of our team burned the cars of random Guaya Beans in the parking lot, igniting another fight, but our Secret Police managed to break it up by opening fire on the Guaya Beans, who dispersed. Nobody was hurt in that fight.

"We have two more games left, against Apox and Ceni. I would like us to win one game, maybe both. If we win both, we could be through to the next round and face Saintland, which would provide the perfect opportunity to assassinate the woman impersonating Maria Polus if her niece is willing to help. Of course, they'll just replace her with a robot and carry on as if nothing has happened. Because that's what they do. They lie. (OOC: As mentioned before, LAG doesn't know about the robots. This is all propaganda.) But we will kill the vile impersonator, and then there will be no more people to kill, only robots which aren't people and thus aren't worthy of being killed for their sins. But rest assured, we will kill the woman impersonating Maria Polus, if not soon then someday. And don't forget the real Maria Polus tried to assassinate me, and that is why we had her killed. She was a vile woman when she was alive, and her impersonator is equally vile. So she will be destroyed. So will San Jose Guayabal. We will wipe them off the map with our nuclear weapons. Mark my words. San Jose Guayabal will be destroyed. The Free Republics will be destroyed. Dumpy O'Rumpy will be destroyed. He is a horse's rump, and his hair is ugly. But most importantly, he is a heathen and a clown. So let us execute him with the Brownie Cutter of Death. He is evil, he is a wicked Wee-publican, he must be destroyed. Perhaps Falatulu will help us, but we will probably have to do it ourselves. Still, Dumpy O'Rumpy will die at our hands. Mark my words. I am the Lord Your God, you will listen to my word. Dumpy will die, Guaya will die, Apox will be blown up, Ceni will be blown up - they will be destroyed!

'For now though our attention turns to the Foot Slaves. They will hopefully beat Apox and Ceni, and advance. At the very least, hopefully they get a point, our first in the World Cup. I think we'll get at least something from these two games. And what I think is generally true, because I am God. So let's go out there, and get some points! Go Foot Slaves!"

[Barunia]

BaruniainSports.com.bu
The Number One website for Barunian Sports Fans

Suns
40
years

To celebrate 40 years of Barunian football, BiS are naming The Suns All-Star team, and we need your help. Throughout the World Cup 74 qualifiers, we'll be providing you with a shortlist of names, and all you need to do is tell us which of those players should be in the Suns All-Stars, and why.

The Suns All-Stars Team


The candidates: Attacking Midfielders

John Bubble
It was world cup 69 when John Bubble first pulled on a sky-blue jersey. Already in his late twenties, there was little to suggest that not only would he surpass Mark Hardy as the starting attacking midfielder, but that he would hold down that job for four cycles. For the Suns, Bubble was one of the better things to come out of the disaster of 69, and played crucial roles in CoH62 and World Cups 71 and 72. A fan favourite, his flying headers have become something of a legend, and seeing Bubble near the goal during a corner has struck fear into the hearts of many a goalkeeper.

Gregory Plant
An original Sun, Plant's career was ended by a crippling injury sustained during a WC65 match. During his short career, he made a name for himself as a busy player, getting in to the thick of every scrap and fighting for the ball. Although during his 31 games he netted just one goal, his contribution to the Suns must be measured in the energy he gave to the attack, and to the countless assists and chances he created for the forwards.

Craig Van Diemen
Paired up with Sam WInton in WC67, this fresh-faced debutant was tasked with taking on an attacking role in a new look Suns outfit. He took to it with aplomb, with precision passes and crosses ably assisting the forwards, and even a goal or three of his own. In particular, his connection with Sjors Van Der Venne was legendary, and was nicknamed "the Dutch Connection." He was an aggressive player on the pitch with an attitude to match, something that often got him into trouble both on and off the field. That cost him games, but his value to the Suns saw him be reselected time and time again. He finally hung up the boots at the end of CoH61, after 35 games for the Suns.

Yohan Marris
What can we say about this man that hasn't already been said? His first appearance was as a fresh-faced 18 year old in WC65. He scored two goals in as many games to signal the start of a brilliant international career. Plant's career-ending injury gave him the attacking midfielder spot permanently, and with his place assured, Marris set about creating a legacy. His career for the Suns would span six world cup campaigns, and include two national records: the most caps, with 85 appearances, and the most goals, with 52. The majority of those goals came after a glut of goals in WC66 saw Marris shifted into a forward role. It was the next world cup that made him a national hero, being the leading goalscorer for the Suns in a campaign that saw them enter their first world cup. For the next campaign he was given the captain's band, and took the team to their best ever qualifying result. Marris was a player that just kept getting better, from a sublime header to fantastic ball control and precision strikes, he remains the Suns' highest capped player for a reason.

[San Llera]

San Llera Surprises Again

As the San Llera National Team warmed up in preparation for their opening World Cup match against Kernansquillec, it seemed surreal. Sure, these players had warmed up many times before, but never under lights this bright, crowds this excited or the vastness of the cameras, peeking at them from every angle. Around the multiverse, pundits were in their studios, showing clips of the San Llerans and Kernansquillecans and talking about them in their usual pundit ways. It was an attention San Llera wasn't used to.

Cameras whistled overhead, suspended by barely visible strings. The sun had set around fifteen minutes prior to kickoff in Valladares. San Llera were in their dark blue, Kernansquillec in their mild green strips. Marko Vujvic used the starting lineup he had used for most of qualifying here - Chimo in goal, Belles, De Gonia, Quella, and Olivier in the back, Fonda, Bou, Pelechamchas, and Llorens in the middle, and Mestre and Capo up top. It was a still night, neither warm nor cold, with time and weather seemingly stopped for the game to take place. The field was a satisfying shade of green. Kernansquillec kicked off first.

Varinia Varano tapped the ball to Adélaïde Noupen, who immediately passed the ball back to Sara Blackwood. The game was underway. The Kerns were patient, and passed the ball around their midfield and back line. They tried to work the ball to their wingers, but a stray Sieffre Spijker pass went out of bounds for a throw-in, and that's how Don Llorens became the first San Lleran to touch a ball in the World Cup. He investigated the ball for a second or two before tossing down the line where Jan Capo was waiting. Capo chested the ball down and tried to spin around his defender but fell down. Kernansquillec retook possession but Capo stayed down. Eventually the referee stopped the game for medical attention to be given to Capo, who was clutching his angle. A medic signaled to Mark Vujvic, and Capo was taken out. Bellemurillo came in. Three minutes gone and San Llera had already seen a player taken off the field due to injury, not the most encouraging start.

It was not the most encouraging start but it was a start, and Bellemurillo nearly made what seemed like misfortune into a positive when he touched the ball for the first time several minutes later. He bodied Jakki Snijder and made space for himself, then unleashed a shot from 25 yards out. The shot was a little bit over and a little bit wide, but it certainly gave Hector Ferly an early scare, and perhaps even made some foreign commentators look up Bellemurillo's name.

In all honesty, both teams looked nervous to begin the game, but they settled in. It was, in my opinion, beneficial to both teams to play each other first before playing seasoned opposition like Osarius, who had drawn Royal Kingdom of Quebec 1-1 earlier in the day. This may be a cliché, but soon it became another game, albeit an important, and difficult, one. Both teams controlled roughly the same amount of possession, and Kernansquillec used their possession to attack the wings, specifically pressing Antoni Belles on San Llera's right. However, Belles was admirable, clogging passing lanes and making some key tackles to prevent Kern opportunities. Kernansquillec did, however, get one good opportunity early on Belles's side, when Marie Iris slid in behind and dribbled towards the goal, then centered the ball from close range. Only a last ditch clearance effort from Alexandre De Gonia prevented the ball from reaching the feet of Varinia Varano. This clearance effort went straight back to Iris, but she then proceeded to shoot from a difficult angle and hit the side netting.

In the 28th minute, Belles intercepted the ball and sent it to Enric Bou, who shuttled it to an available Bellemurillo, who played the ball beautifully for Carles Mestre. Mestre easily beat Adamina Blaxam to the ball, and started scampering towards the goal. The San Lleran contingent of fans rose excitedly, but the offside flag went up. While the lateness of the flag was protested vehemently, it was a correct call - Mestre was several paces offside. The San Lleran fans sat down disappointedly.

Kernansquillec shifted their focus to their right wing, feeding Agata De Luca, but Jacque Olivier stood up just as Belles did. Pelechamchas also tracked back defensively to make several key plays. But the sharp passing of the Kerns continued to unnerve the San Llerans. Adélaïde Noupen was frighteningly all over the place in the midfield. 8 minutes before the halftime break, Noupen found herself surrounded by Hector Fonda, Gerard Quella, and Jacque Olivier. Many would consider this an unfortunate predicament, but Noupen saw, and found an opportunity. She slipped a ball between her defenders for Varinia Varano, who found herself wide open at the top of the 18 yard box. Chimo Fons was off his line in a millisecond. Varano turned around and shot, but Fons dove and blocked the ball with his body. But much like a basketball team, Kernansquillec "crashed the boards," outnumbering blue jerseys in the scramble to latch onto the now loose ball. It was Varano who followed her shot, and this time had much less imposing barrier between herself and the goal. She did not give Chimo Fons a chance. The ball surged into the back of the net. The green parts of the crowd erupted.

After the goal, San Llera did not cower or get frustrated. Instead, they started to embrace their status as underdogs. They started to play with ephemeral bursts of energy, of scintillating pace and power. Immediately after, San Llera nearly tied it, but Pelechamchas's header sailed over the ball. Halftime came next, but whatever Marko Vujvic's locker room speech was, it wasn't "stop playing with ephemeral bursts of energy and scintillating pace and power." The break briefly interrupted San Llera, but they came back with the same swagger. A Firebird coach might not approve - he may approve of consistency and the gradual breaking down of opponents. But these weren't the Firebirds, this was San Llera.

San Llera kicked off to start the second. They surprised the Kerns by immediately booting the ball long for a streaking Pelechamchas, but he couldn't quite reach the ball before Justine Herring. After that, San Llera settled down and let Kernansquillec keep the majority of possession, which the Kerns gladly did. Their back line moved farther and farther forward. San Llera then counterattacked.

In the 58' minute, a Sieffre Spijker pass was deflected to Hector Fonda. Fonda did as he was taught to do, and immediately found Enric Bou. Bou then sent the ball up for Pelechamchas, who tapped the ball pas Herring and then was free. The Chell SC winger used his pace to leave Herring in the dust and advance forward, with Bellemurillo and Mestre running by him. The center backs made sure not to let the strikers receive a cross, but Pelechamchas wasn't interested in crossing. He kept dribbling into the 18 yard box and shot the ball low to the far post. Hector Ferly dove, but failed to contact the ball. The ball hit the net. The crowd behind the goal went insane in celebration.

The game was now equalized. Kernanquillec kicked off again and fed the ball to Marie Iris, but she was stripped by Antoni Belles, who started to dribble out of his own attacking third. Belles flashed his speed just as Pelechamchas had several minutes prior, and he dribbled right by Sieffre Spijker and Sara Blackwood. Belles then bodied Adele Desrochers to keep control of the ball and dribbled all the way to the end line. He evaded Desrochers just enough to get in a cross, which sailed to the top of the box. Bellemurillo was waiting there. He controlled the ball, faked a shot, and then took one more touch. He then hit the ball with the outside of his right foot. It went into the side netting. Five minutes after they were down, San Llera were in the lead.

"Defend with energy" is one thing that Marko Vujvic often preaches. That is exactly what San Llera did for the remaining 27 minutes of regulation and 4 minutes of stoppage time. They cut across passing lanes and attacked every 50-50 ball with a vigor, desperately trying to maintain their lead. Not to say that Kernansquillec didn't have chances, because they did. Sara Blackwood had a low, long shot that hit the upright. Varinia Varano had a chance off a corner. But San Llera defended with the energy of an underdog, and when the final whistle blew, the score was in favor of the Swagfish.

[Super-Llamaland]

GOODBYE, ALEX CARTWRIGHT - PART II

World Cup 71 - The Legend

Cartwright - He's Not Scoring, But He's the Best He's Ever Been
Caroline Shaw

Many newspapers and online publications have expressed their concern that Llamanean striker Alex Cartwright, halfway through qualifying, has only four goals and six caps to his name. While scoring two goals every three games isn't that bad - and eight goals would come close to his previous goal totals - it's still a long way from Cartwright's legendary sixteen-goal qualifying campaign eight years ago.

Then again, the Tigers didn't even make the playoffs eight years ago, as Bryan Ferguson's team stumbled off a cliff. But now, after a Round of 16 appearance in the World Cup, they've come back for more, undefeated at the halfway mark. Part of the reason? Cartwright, previously a selfish scorer who many thought embodied the light-on-passing mess that was WC69, is a complete player now.

We've said this many times before, but Cartwright, despite "only" having four goals, is arguably the best he's ever been. Why? Whereas Cartwright was previously just a pure scorer, now he can mold his game at will to fit the team, give opportunities to his teammates, and still score at a reasonable clip. Don't believe me? Just watch plays like this:

One-all with twenty minutes left against Nassau-Hessen at home. We can't afford to drop points here with HopNation and Starblaydia in the group. Cartwright on the lip of the box, gets a pass and drags it past the left-back, he's open, dashing into the box, running into trouble as the two center-backs dash towards him. The Kingston striker backheels the ball, spins, lofts a pass over the right-back's heads to Kristopher Nilssen, who coolly volleys home! Beautiful play by Cartwright to set up the goal, and the Tigers take the lead!

Deadlocked here at home. HopNation and Super-Llamaland have an interesting history, to say the least. A win would be huge. Here's Powell, finds Cartwright. He slows down, stops, pulls back - no, he's on the run now, but away from the goal, interesting play. The striker spins, and sliding, flips it through Biaddan's legs - and OVER Lesamnal's head, and Powell is there, wide-open, to finish off! Beautifully angled by the striker, and the Tigers up one-nil!

But he can still score in style -

The Tigers comfortably up on the road here, two-nil. The striker loses the ball, it's covered and McNeal sends a high, spinning punt into the air. Tobias Dickinson catches up to it, but he's under pressure, tries to pass to Eden Powell but misses very badly. Open ground, jogging towards it is a defender, but no, it's Cartwright who catches up to it outside the box! The striker, without stopping spins and, falling down, he fires - PAST THE KEEPER! THREE-NIL! Fantastic footwork and a powerful shot by Cartwright. The Tigers have sealed the game here.

So even though the striker isn't doing too well in the goal-scoring department, the sheer number of beautiful assists (four, equaling his goal-scoring tally) and the brilliant playmaking he's managed to create here at WC71 - which far surpasses WC69 and even WC70 - makes him a player at his peak, which analytics have also confirmed.

Enjoy while it lasts, Tigers fans. He may not score sixteen goals this campaign. But he's the best he's ever been.

Addendum: shortly after this article was published, Cartwright scored a hat-trick. So there's that, too.

World Cup 72: Despair

Oh Crap
Louis Mendeleev

Striker Alex Cartwright is not the player he was four years ago, when he led the team to the Cup, or eight years ago, when he led the team even farther - the Round of Sixteen. Can he recover in time? Certainly, the issue is there -

Alex Cartwright reported that he was "playing through pain" last night during the Tigers' qualifying match at home.

"Something in my knee didn't feel right, and it hurt quite a bit. I feel that I could've played better without pain, but there's no use in excuses. We have a while until the next match, so I'll focus on getting my body back to 100%", the 32-year-old striker noted during a post-game interview.

Reports indicate that Cartwright has "changed his playstyle" to deal with his nagging knee injuries. The striker, who plies his trade in Quebec, first noted the injury two matches ago in a post-game interview, and while the striker's play has improved, he's "still not quite 100% mobile", to quote the 32-year-old.

Here's Cartwright, running past the defense, face quite contorted - a sign of knee troubles that have flared up recently. He fires on net, but his left leg slips out and the shot is weak.

This isn't a fair game. If Cartwright, formerly the team's megastar, can't nurse his knee back to health in time for the final stretch of Qualifiers, we are in for a bad time - as Kristopher Nilssen and Alicia Magnusson still have no synergy on the pitch together, the 32-year-old will have to play. Is the legendary striker's career as a star over? If it is, I fear that he'll take the Tigers' "Golden Age", which has been so sweet, with him.

World Cup 73: Nightmare

oh my god this is horrid
jknowles1728

what the f- is this s-

the tigers were supposed to be a good team - we qualified for consecutive world cups and even last time around we were painfully close. we're a high pot 2 team, the world #31. we can beat farfadillis on a good day, and crystal empire and albaie aren't good at all. they're trash, actually.

so can SOMEBODY PLEASE EXPLAIN TO ME WHY WE'RE 1-0-2 RIGHT NOW. WE HAVEN'T EVEN PLAYED FARFADILLIS YET. WE HAVE BEEN DEFEATED BY CRYSTAL EMPIRE AND WE F-ING LOST TO CRUENTIA WAY. WHERE THE H- IS CRUENTIA ANYWAYS. WHO KNOWS, BUT THEY'RE BETTER THAN US AT FOOTBALL NOW IDEK WHY LIKE WHAT THE F- IS THIS

anyways we're playing like garbage right now in case you haven't figured out, and i think the main reason is alex cartwright. basically we were terrible before but cartwright was always there and now he's...not

the guy's 36 and carlton hoover is acting like he's 26, but the fact of the matter is that he's lost a ton of mobility. he's still a very good goal-scorer and that's why he's going to make a move to a liganaia club from r49 championship contenders kingston, but he's not VINTAGE CARTWRIGHT.

i mean he's fine but at the same time he's obviously worse than last cycle and he doesn't have a s- knee this cycle so i mean

and i know a few cups ago some really good journalist wrote a piece on how we should make the guy our starting cam over aging legend trevor duncan who was 37 so isn't it kind of ironic that we haven't done the same here

i mean we have ANSEL PENBROOKE waiting in the wings and even if we don't want to use penbrooke kris nilssen isn't bad

but i mean you can tell that cartwright is still a great playmaker and a lethal scorer but when you can't move on the pitch you don't get many chances to use those abilities

start penbrooke carlton hoover whoever our next manager is, please i beg you

-jknowles1728

CARTWRIGHT LASHES OUT AT TEAMMATES: CAN YOU BLAME HIM?
Jake Vogel

Alex Cartwright had a lot of things to say after the team's 3-2 home loss to Vakolic knocked them out of a playoff spot. They were not good things, and he's under fire for them.

Yes, we've been s--t, we're utterly terrible and this is what we deserved. When we're not trying hard enough on the pitch and during practice, this is what we deserve to get. Blame Clearwater all you want, and yeah, maybe he was part of it, but nobody could take us to the Cup this year. Nobody.

A lot of his teammates protested, with the general message ("hey Cartwright not everyone's as good as you are stfu") making the whole snafu reminiscent of some high school shouting match. But, I mean, can you blame him?

This is a thirty-six-year-old striker who carried many of the players on the Tigers on his back, taking them to the World Cup proper time and time again. Without Cartwright, you don't have the win over Vilita or the draw against Turori, you don't have the seven-one drubbing of Schottia in the Cup of Harmony or the Round of 16 thriller against HopNation. You arguably don't even have the match against Taeshan that took us to the first World Cup back when Cartwright was half as old as he is now. I'd argue he deserves something in return. But we've heard reports that nobody is trying from Peter Masters' testimony, and we've heard that Cartwright has gotten no respect in the locker room for being "too introverted", and we've heard that he's even having pranks pulled on him by the same younger players that have been playing s---ily this qualifying campaign.

We're terrible. Cartwright just wanted to go out on a high note, and you've taken his last Qualifying campaign away from him, you a-holes.

[Szavoda]

continued from here

The Tennis Club, located at the crux of two streets in a residential district, was the sporting hub of the town – the club itself had produced a handful of national-level tennis players, and its gym was the second-home for some of the more fitness-minded young people in the town. Anna spent a significant portion of her time on the ergo rowing machine and on the other equipment, but her newest pursuit took a more aggressive form. The club offered a selection of exercise courses, one of which was a kick-boxing course, and Anna had gleefully paid for two hour sessions a week.

She had had limited physical combat training during her time in the army, but it was purely self-defence and had never been instructed too well. But here the personal atmosphere had allowed her to advance significantly – her coach was a woman, Keira, every bit as intimidating as Anna – her dark skin was contrasted by peroxide-blonde hair, and her strong yet diminutive frame made her quite the opponent. Even with Anna’s height and reach advantage, she was beaten almost every time by the coach, simply unable to deal with her speed and intensity. Anna had warmed unusually to Keira; she saw some of herself in her, sensing she too didn't quite belong in her surroundings.

Following another brutal session, in which she had her ribs and stomach thoroughly tenderised, she showered, changed and crossed the car park to the bar, where she often enjoyed a beer or two after her sessions. She idly looked across the tarmac as she did so, her eyes drawn to a particularly elegant estate car which had just rolled through the gates. She took no notice and continued towards the main building of the tennis, which housed a bar and restaurant on its second floor, which a large balcony overlooking the centre court. Anna was a regular there, friendly with the bartender, and she regularly met with the others from her work there.

Taking a beer from the bar, she took a seat on one of the high-tables on the balcony, her sundress fluttering softly in the breeze. A couple of the club pros played on the centre court, and she watched them with disinterest. She played occasionally, but never found the sport particularly enlivening. She much preferred football – or soccer, whatever – and unlike her home country, it was massively popular here and readily available on public television. She even played occasionally, down at the park and on the beach. She had adopted the colours of the local club (which wasn't that local – about 150 miles away) as her own, replacing her previous red-and-black allegiance.

“A little bit early to be drinking, don’t you think Anna?” came an familiar voice from behind her. She turned, before furrowing her brow in confusion. Despite not wanting to, she knew exactly who this was.

“Riley.”

“It’s been a long time.”

“Not long enough.”

He smiled his sinister smile and sat down opposite her. He shouted an order for a beer towards the bar and the waiter brought it to him, all whilst Anna stared daggers at the Euran. He took a long sip, before setting it down and locking eyes with her.

“I’ll just put this on your tab.”

“No you won’t, you’ll stand up, go to your car and get out of here.” She growled.

“Geez Anna, what’s with the hostility? I thought we were close.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I worked for you and then we had one night out.”

“And one night together.”

“Fuck off. I was smashed out of my mind, I barely remember it. It was a year ago, can’t you let go? And besides, how the fuck do you know my name?”

“I know the super of the building. A couple of months after you left, I gave him a call and asked him who was occupying the flat.”

Anna shook her head at her own ignorance. She never could have expected a control-freak such as Riley to not somehow keep a tab on her. She felt like knocking his teeth out. But she also felt that same feeling, the inexplicable lure of the Euran crime boss. There was something in his stormy blue eyes that kept pulling you back in. Even after a year away from him she was immediately drawn to him, despite her initial anger.

“Why’d you come here?” Anna eventually asked.

“Felt like a break. A bit of sun, a bit of sand, catch up with some old friends.”

“No – I don’t want this.” She stood up and hoisted her tennis bag over her shoulder. “I left to get away from you, from everything, I'm not ready. Goodbye Riley. Don’t follow me or I’ll break your legs.”

He smiled bemusedly as she got up and stormed away from the table. She hurried downstairs and out of the club, almost at a jog as she made her way home. As she did, she took out her phone and dialled a number. It rang several times before a woman answered.

“The Beachfront, how can we help you?”

“Emily, its Anna – can I come in and do a double shift?”

“Err, yeah, sure, we can always use more staff. That’s unusual – you’re normally the last to volunteer for extra shifts.”

“Yeah, well, I've had a change of plans. I’ll be down in 30.”

She took the backstreet route back to her apartment, where she hastily changed into her work uniform, just a simple blouse and black trousers. She did up her hair and applied a spot of make-up, before disappearing out of the flat as quickly as she had come in.

The restaurant where she worked, The Beachfront, was in the town’s main square, set back from the actual beachfront, and was considered one of the best restaurants in the town. She entered through the back door, picking up her notepad and pen, which she put in her hair tie. One of her co-workers, Nicola, entered the staff area – Anna offered her a quick hello and Nicola identified a couple of tables which needed serving, which Anna was grateful for – too much time standing around thinking wouldn't be healthy. She enjoyed working in the service sector – it made her feel normal, almost. Sure, she had been a mercenary in her former life and had seen her best friend killed in front of her, but working as a waitress added a degree of normality to her life – she could say ‘yeah, I'm just a waitress’ and be done with it.

After a few hours of serving tables, she was entitled to a break. It wasn't particularly busy this afternoon, so it didn't matter so much if she took a few minutes out. There was a small designated smoking area behind the restaurant which doubled up as a break area for the staff. On her way out, she took a soda from the stock fridge – making a mental note to put that on her expenses claim later. As she sat down, she took out her hair tie and took a drink. Shortly she was joined by Nicola, who lit up a cigarette. They stood in silence for a second.

“You havin’ a good day?” Nicola said to break the silence.

“Not really. Just a load of shit.”

“Sounds good.”

“Aye.”

They occupied the rest of their break with idle small talk, before Nicola departed. Anna remained a moment longer, dropping her head in frustration. She knew Riley wouldn't leave – he hadn't got where he was today by giving up, but whatever shit he was planning, Anna wasn't going to buy it. She returned to the restaurant and went about her shift. As the afternoon progressed, the lunch crowd thinned, until around 4pm, where the restaurant was empty. When this happened, the staff often sat and played cards in the back. Sometimes Anna would take the time to hurry back home to feed the dog, but she decided this time it would be safer to remain in the restaurant. After around 30 minutes, someone entered the restaurant – movement was logged on the security camera by the main entrance. As was custom, they drew cards to decide who should have to serve the new customer. The new girl, Stacy, drew the highest card. She rolled her eyes and went into the dining area whilst the rest of the girls continued to play.

A minute later she returned. Everyone looked at her expectantly.

“It’s some guy” She started “He asked for you Anna, don’t know why.”

Anna cursed under her breath. “What does he look like?”

“Tall, well-built, handsome – blondish hair.”

“Problems with an ex, Anna?” Nicola asked jokingly

“I fucking wish Nicola.” Anna replied exasperatedly, before falling silent – thinking. She could pretend she wasn't here, buy herself some more time. But she sensed that Riley would find her wherever she went – he knew this town better than she did. She stood up slowly and moved towards the connecting door. Upon entering the dining area, she found Riley leaning casually on a pillar by the door. He smiled at Anna.

“What do you want Lewis?” she asked sharply, using his seldom heard first name.

“Apparently you guys do some great seafood, so some lobster wouldn't go amiss.”

“Come on, cut the shit. I've got quite a nice life here, so I’d appreciate it if any horrible reminders of my previous life were to be on their way as quickly as possible.”

“Sit with me.”

Riley moved to a table for two and sat down, whilst Anna stood her ground. He sat languidly, hands clasped on his midriff. He scanned Anna up and down, several times. After another icy minute passed before she joined him. She aggressively pulled out the chair and sat down with a scowl and arms folded.

“You still haven’t lost your…allure” Riley commented, examining her once again.

“You've come a bloody long way just to hit on me.” She snapped

“And they say romance is dead.” He quipped back.

Anna sighed and closed her eyes in exasperation. “Riley, quit fucking around. What do you want from me?”

“Well Anna.” He started, leaning closer to her “I am going to offer you a job”

[Ko-oren]

Union of Ko-oren's Second Season Review

And that's the last ball thrown, goal scored, base stolen, tackle made and puck hit of the second season in the Union's organised team sports. There are 16 leagues in total in 14 different sports (Cricket is the culprit: T20, ODI and Test are played in different leagues). Eight sports are major in the sense that they generate more revenue.

Two seasons ago, the associations of these sports came together to make one big calendar so that playoffs wouldn't overlap and fans could see as much of the action as they want. Within these 16 leagues, there would be one Team of the Year and one Player of the Year. This also ensures that each league has a certain base level of competitiveness. For the players this provides insurance and a basic income that is based on the income of the league for the sport they play in, while still making sure that every player is covered. The only prerequesite is that each league is profitable.

Top 8 sports

Sport	Champion	Runner-Up	MVP
Gridiron	Ansonville Explosions	Castelo da Miradela Castles	QB Keegan Freeman
Soccer	Weiyao City	Talsheer	CB Tingzhe Chou
Baseball	Aminey Buccaneers	New Babylon Southpaws	3B Augusto Barbosa
Rugby Union	Chalk Hills Stars	Mawrystwyth Ursa Major	RW Thom Day
Rugby League	New Sydney Sea Eagles	Mawrystwyth Foxes	58 Lewis Porter
Cricket T20	Aubury Cricket Club	Mawry Cricket Club	WK Nathan Scott
Basketball	New Babylon Energy	San Dionisio Argonauts	PG Nabupolassar
Ice Hockey	New Détroit Wings	Vilki Rubin	D Mitchell Elliott

Top 16 sports

Sport	Champion	Runner-Up	MVP
Cricket ODI	Ko-oren	Nine Sisters	Murray Williamson
Cricket Crux Test	Fern	Milyu	Murray Williamson
Lacrosse	Lena Krasniy	Bonesteel Steelers	Vyacheslav Zolkin
Field Hockey	Rozenvoorde	New Amsterdam	Walter Verweij
Waratah Rules	Mawrystwyth Dragons	Eighteen Fighters	Aneurin Price
Gaelic Football	Dere Kiro'itahn	Vanutaur	Tasheehn Geerohtahn
Hurling	Fidadhekh	Amagoda	Gabriel de Costa
Handball	Mareas	Toropovo	Sergei Putyatin

Highest average attendance:
Talsheer FC, Soccer: 70.391

Highest valued team:
Pereselenets '65, Gridiron

Team of the Year:
Weiyao City, Soccer

Player of the Year:
Murray Williamson, Cricket

Sports City of the Year:
New Babylon, Nine Sisters

Union of Ko-oren's Third Season Preview

For season three, the calendar stays as is for most of the season. The top eight sports all have playoffs in different months. Cricket finishes in August, Gridiron in September, Baseball in October, Rugby League in November, then the winter break comes in, and Ice Hockey ends in March, Rugby Union in April, Soccer in May and Basketball in July.

For the other sports, Hurling and Gaelic Football are played between November and January, Waratah Rules ends in October just before the previous two start, Field Hocky runs for most of the first half of the year until June, and Handball and Lacrosse both stop in February - after which the Top 8 sports take over again.

And that's not all: four more sports will have their top divisions added to the league system. Ko-orenite Football and Tennis will be played in August, Bandy in January and the Road Cycling Tour de l'Union is in July. The Unionite Championships in Athletics are in August as well. This means the otherwise calm summer months are action packed with more interesting sports! In return, Ice Hockey will fold two teams in areas where Bandy is more popular. As all nations in the Union have a set amount of teams, this means there is a lot of changes around the league. Most of the teams in one of the new leagues come in the place of the soccer teams in the lower divisions.

Ko-orenite Football is an exciting sport with elements recognisable in many other sports. The guide to Ko-orenite Football for those not familiar with it is still in production, but will be released well before the season starts!

Season Three Calendar (Large image)

[Flardania]

Opening Theme

---

Bonjour et Ohayōgozaimasu Kirishima. Welcome to the Kitsune Report, brought to you by Seongwoo Motors and the Nagatomo Sports Network (NSN). Here at the Kitsune Report it's all about our cherished national team and the sport we love, in text and podcast. So with that said it's time to get grooving for some cup football. However first a word from some sponsors.

The KFA and Air Pacifica thanking all the fans that went out and showed support for the team after the heartbreaking match against Turori. That support was needed in what would prove to be a critical win against Garifunya on the road, a team who begun to pick up form towards the end. That win coupled with a shocking Turori draw with Union of American Democrats III was enough to give Kitsune the instant qualification. In return Air Pacifica is giving discounted flying rates to the World Cup for the duration of the entire cup. Yes this includes after a Kitsune elimination, football is our national sport and Air Pacifica wants to reward the fanbase with the opportunity to experience such an event. So what are you waiting for Just Do It make your football dreams come true.

Well can the Kitsunes ever catch a break? Now to many of you reading this sounds so familiar and to those listening your probably wondering why there is a feminine voice instead of Keita's. Well it simple who best to cover the painfully adorableness of the Kitsunes defying expectations than me, Aoki Muranaka. I mean come on whether it's upsetting powerful teams or losing to the one team we can beat, this team seemingly spits in the face of any expectation. At this point it is safe to bet against Kirishima. If we succeed the times we absolutely give up and fail when filled with confidence, we should apparently not care about our team. Either you will have a profit or the National team will win.

Now to be fair we all say Omerica as a very strong team considering there marvelous campaign, but to lose to the Pot 4 team with Pot 1 & 2 remaining is very frustrating. Is our chances of getting out of the group impossible? No but don't be surprised if now group positioning make sense meaning no more upsets. To make matters worse that part that upset me the most was besides the Ceni 1–1 Apox draw, every single match in San José Guayabal went to the home team. All of them! Now some of you might say, "But Aoki what of home field advantage?" I say nonsense, this is not qualifiers we are all visitors unless your team is San José Guayabal or Valladares. If anything unless there is a statistical miracle and we can win I'm going to say it. I will hate the nation of Guayabal because not only we can never beat this team apparently we can't even succeed on their soil save one event. Perhaps their Spanish is incompatible with our Japanese and French, it causes cataclysmic errors in nature. Anyway I'm done with my rant, Keita make them feel good.

Like Aoki mentioned the Kitsunes have a strange sense of performing in regards to expectations. Last program we covered our Baptism of Fire run which saw us upset San Llera, so now it's time for our next classic match. Quick fyi all matches covered by this podcast can be found in an archive the day after the coverage.

World Cup 71 came and went the Kitsunes did not do so hot but Sayo Matsuoka coming off of a foreign exchange program made her debut from the bench. Other footnotes from WC 71 was that the Kitsunes surprisingly finished fifth in the group out of 8 and it was the beginning of competitive hatred directed to Electrum. Now some of you may be wondering where I'm heading if I delibreately chose to skip World Cup 71 but others surely now where this is going. The stage is set for Cup of Harmony 63 just like the Baptism of Fire, Kirishima was drawn into Group C with Cosumar (37), Sargossa (31), and Zenic (68) while ranked 115. Cosumar where one of the favorites to win the whole Cup of Harmony and all the media of the world predicted them to win the group with flying colors. With matchday 1 of COH 63 approaching. The stage was now set for the most exciting yet long term insignificant to the team upsets in Kitsunes history. How exciting? This exciting

(37)Cosumar – Kirishima(115)
at Central Stadium in Neryungri, SJG

Cosumar 2–3 Kirishima
Newman (37')  Nakamura (12')
Ioda (85')    Moon (30')
              Yabuta (72')

It was an absolute shocker as once again neighborhood minows managed to defeat a favorite to win the entire competition. That upset was so significant that they failed to advance out of the group stage. Now bringing this up runs the chance of us losing another game as punishment from the goddess, but this is not gloating. It is us fans simple remembering the good old days. Cosumar went on the win a COH and is doing well for themselves so I assume no hard feelings.

Surely we have grown, that is undeniable and sure I can cover the Yittriba, and the recent Turori upset but I will also cover the heartbreaking losses and draws as well as upset draws. The next moment is in fact a heartbreaking loss that immediately followed the Cosumar upset. To be covered next time.

Omerica v Kirishima Match Review:
Hello it's me again Muranaka Aoki recording this from the World Cup. It was comforting to see the many fans in attendance and like Keita anticipated Omerica was no cake walk. Yes they were in the fourth pot but we were only in the third pot and there qualification run was much less stressful than our own. Let's remember that they nearly went undefeated. The match was dead even by the half. The first half was frustrating as the match officials gave the defense the benefit of the doubt to the Omerican defense over Yabuta's unappreciated high speed. In the second half Hojo fell victim to a penalty before a John Percival breakaway would result in a second goal for the opposition and a deuce for Percival. The fans were disappointed but had not but appreciation for the effort and gave applause to the team as they bowed. The Kitsunes are no near the level to win the whole thing this World Cup so the fans are are just happy to be here and would love at the least to be regulars here. Here is what Hikaru Kyosuke had to say after the match.

"Eh it was tough considering this was our best chance to gain a point and to be honest that is our main objective now. It's an obtainable goal and we will be striving for it. The calls were questionable at times and if I had to critique anything it would be the penalty we gave up. I understand it was late in the game but there was no reason for Yamamoto to commit an aggressive foul as we always try to play clean football. Hojo did her job marvelously but our offense just couldn't get the job done. We won't dwell to much on it we will just go out next game and see what we can do against the our well respected opponents. Win or lose they will receive and acknowledge our fighting spirit."

Barunia v Flardania(Kirishima) Match Preview:

As I have said before in the group preview, Barunia is no joke and that is what you get when you are ranked 14th. They finished with 27 out of 36 points but was in a very tough Group with Matthewsiania, Krytenia, and Red Blackiland. Kirishima is in a must not lose position which will be tough to accomplish against such frightening opposition. The only consolation is that they are ranked where Turori once sat and Kirishima showed twice through victory and defeat that they can compete as peers instead of underdogs and favorites. This may be the only thing Kirishima can provide. Hojo did her job well last match and should look the same preferably try to limit opposition goals to one. To the best of her and the defense ability of course. What stood out to me last time was the lack of offense. This is crucial and the Kitsunes should work on putting at least a point on the board when not up against a defense heavy team. Once again, All teams worked hard to make it here so nothing is a given. We can take comfort that we achieved our goals this cycle and now the team can do the best it can sans pressure. Kirishima needs to be able to adapt while maintain the style they took years to find. Hojo just needs to be herself and the offense needs to show up. Lets Go Kitsunes!

Post by: Keita Woo & Aoki Muranaka

[Nephara]

Markus Slaven loved his job. Part of it was the anonymity - people knew he worked in PR. And people knew that @nfacormorants, the official Twitter for the Nepharim national team, had, well... it had been getting a bit of needle over the past couple of years.

It started with the lineup, and that part was easy - the graphics designers had given him an imgur. All he had to do was attach; 'Your Cormorants lineup against Eura. #EURNPH #WC74 #GetIn'.
Easy. A child could do that much. It was a strong lineup, too - well, he hoped so given how green the likes of Scharner, Szalai and Vyntra were. They'd never been under so much pressure at international level before. For his part, he was pleased to see a couple of lads from the Treason he hailed from in the squad - Ballard, Katskalidis, Rainsford. Vyntra playing for them now as well. Strong Crownsend representation was needed to keep the east of the country honest, but that was regional politics. Right now, think patriotic. Think Nepharim.
Anyway, there wasn't much need to think at all in a frantic opening stage, end to end stuff. He just had to apply the right amount of spin - when Sinclair flicked the ball through the inexperienced Nepharim defence for Campbell to fire straight into the onrushing chest of Ballard, it was 'world-class goalkeeping from Di Ballard yet again', but when Ben Prince sprang acrobatically to his top corner to tip over a powerful shot from Ashdown, an early contender for Save of the Tournament, it was an 'elegant attacking move from the Cormorants to create an opening, Prince saves from a thunderous strike'. It was all green-tinted bullshit.
Nothing was bullshit about the nineteenth minute.
Ashdown again, playing a no-look pass forward along the flank. Adnan Szalai raced onto it, drove away from goal to defy Watson and fired a decent shot with his left foot. Prince saved comfortably enough, but he couldn't tip it away from Penumbra Amokachi, who just knew where to position herself when the chips fell and sidefooted the ball into the net.
And all the elation Slaven felt almost collapsed when a journalist rose up next to him in celebration and almost knocked the smartphone out of his hands. As it was, he balanced euphoria with professionalism.
In a way, it was easier when the opposition scored. A thought he regretted having seven minutes later when Sinclair picked out the perfect diagonal ball for Joel Sutton, in the same country as he played his club football, to burst through Scylla Vyntra in a very ugly shirt-tugging match, narrowly get ahead of her to shoot from just inside the box, Ballard beaten at her far post. She might have gotten down to that four years ago, Slaven thought. 'Well-worked equaliser set up by Sinclair and executed by Sutton', he typed.
The match went on, both sides getting chances to shine, both Ballard and Prince getting a couple saves, and it all seemed like textbook hard-fought draw material. Most Nepharim would take that. So it was quite rude of Kris Campbell to flick an elegant header past Ballard in the 43rd minute, just as the beleagured, makeshift Scharner-Katskalidis back line looked to have held.
Fuck it all. 'Everyone's gutted, but we will press on!' he typed instead.

Whatever pressing on Nephara planned to conduct, it was evidently to wait until the second half - the first ended with Cawdor dragging a weak shot from just inside the box three metres wide of the near post. He still had his job to do, of course. 'What substitution would you make to change the game?' he posits, before being bombarded with replies, before reblogging a favourable advanced statistic about the amount of 'sprints' (what the fuck defined a sprint?) that Vyntra had broken into, which was apparently more than anyone else on the pitch. What the fuck was a sprint? What separated a sprint from a run? Vyntra was quick and industrious, as only a blind idiot could fail to recognise, and before he could jeopardise his career by tweeting to that effect the second half began.
Fortunately, there was plenty of good news to report. Ashdown blazed a direct free kick - and he meant blazed (#Phwoar) - an inch over the bar, Covenant tried a cute little heel-flick from Cawdor's cross that hit a post before being thumped away by Ainsworth and Vyntra, cutting inside into a dangerous space, showed why she was a fullback instead of a centre-forward by shooting straight at Prince. But the breakthrough was coming. And come it did. Sasha Christener cut inside on a neat overlapping run, the kinds of runs that were the Cormorants' greatest strength today, and then cut back outside to utterly befuddle Watson, before crossing not across the goalmouth (Gilbert refused to be wrongfooted and would just thump it away) but rather back, just in time for the forward run from midfield not of Elaine Ashdown (tailed by Rose) but by the holding midfielder of the two. A holding midfielder... who was still an Mâ Alâmëómë player, and rifled the ball past Prince.
He'd scarcely finished tweeting about that, in fact he hadn't finished tweeting about that by the time something else #FullySick happened. Theodora Covenant, quiet so far, had been pulled off a couple of minutes ago. Michael Kellard, a hulking, crazed thug of a striker, had come on and was set to make a hell of an impact. It was far less silky than their second of the match, but when Cawdor thumped a long diagonal ball into the box which Kellard knocked down for Amokachi to stab home, he couldn't avoid just a bit of a jab; 'Gilbert outjumped so far by Kellard he is now legally a dwarf #TaxiForGilbert #Banterzone #EURNPH #GetIn'. Easy.
The game, though, wouldn't be that easy. Nephara came close to making it three goals in three games but the Euran line held, and from then, it fought back. Rainsford picked up a booking, the risk too great to leave her on, and Kuralay came on in her stead. Just one substitution left. Riether sat on it for now. Thompson was more proactive, throwing on two changes at once in Hunter (for Rose) and Caffin (for the decidedly creaky-looking Churchilli). The impact was immediate. Diandra Ballard made a comfortable save from Campbell, a good one from Sinclair, an exceptional one from Spartan. But when Caffin's throughball set up Sinclair on the edge of the box, it was asking for trouble. He could have shot as the Cormorants' defence desperately tried to realign itself and Ballard stood statuesque at the near post, but like Christener, he made a point of subverting expectations by chipping the ball near the back of the mix. Who came out with a sudden burst of speed against players used to the more placid Rose, who was it who thundered the equaliser home, who left Ballard trying desperately to make up far too much ground too quickly while facing the wrong way? Charles Hunter.
3-3. But it didn't feel like 3-3. In a strange way it felt, with 23 minutes to play, like Eura had won, and Nephara (now with Tanya Bottlegreen on the left flank) aimed to break through. Bottlegreen herself almost caused a comedy own goal, Ainsworth misjudging her cross and 'shooting' just an inch high and wide of goal from eight yards, but Nephara's tactics so far had been to run harder and faster than their higher-quality opponents. And now... well, now they were tired.
The defiance carried on. Katskalidis cleared off the line from Gilbert's header (the terrifying Sinclair taking the corner) while an imperious sliding challenge from Scharner denied Campbell a clear goal chance or a penalty, timed to perfection.
But it was coming. And it came when Vyntra, as tired as anyone, hauled down Sutton in a dangerous-ish indirect free kick kind of area. Watson, the leftback, stepped up. Lofty Jones, the gigantic, gangly striker from Bastion, had recently replaced the less gigantic Campbell. It seemed like the plan was obvious, right? Mark down Jones and, well... who else would they aim at?
They'd aim at the near post, Frank Ainsworth peeling away from Kellard and dipping his head to lift the ball just past a sprawling Ballard. Eight minutes to play.
Everyone knew it wouldn't be enough, but they tried anyway. Out from Slaven's phone shot tweet after optimistic tweet. Szalai and Kellard both tested Prince's reflexes. Amokachi had a clear goalscoring opportunity denied by being offside, but before anyone figured it out Prince had somehow saved that, too.
And that had been in the 92nd minute. Prince's final contribution to the match was taking ages on the goalkick before finally hoofing something down at an opposing corner flag.
Slaven sighed, sat back on a chair and brought out his phone one last time for the day.
'#Heartbreak'.

[Schottia]

The Cracks

Part Eight

There was a long agonising moment where Gary didn't really know how to react. Somehow without anyone else being with them in the room, it felt like the eyes of the world were upon him. It was debatable, as to whether or not he had come here with a plan in the first place, but even if he had, it was now well out of the window. What was he going to do? The author's guess was as good as his.

'Lets start with something obvious.' The author sat opposite him, her head tilted slightly to the side, so she could stair at him out of the corner of one eye. 'You're disgruntled, unhappy, a bit peeved off. Would that be a fair assumption?'

Gary opened his mouth, then closed it again and swallowed hard. His mind was instantly thrown back to a time when he was a kid. He had perhaps only been at Port Sebastian for a year or so at that time, he was confident of that point because his parents had, then, only just moved to Handon. He hadn't quite turned seventeen and he was still playing in the junior side, but even then he knew he wasn't cut out to be a footballer. It had taken all his courage, but after a morning training session he had plucked up the energy, and he was stood outside Conner Watts' office. He told Watts - who was then in charge of youth development - that he didn't have the drive or the mindset. Watts felt differently, and no matter how much Gary implored him to let him end his contract, he was having none of it. He kept saying that he would be failing a young player if he just let him quit. He countered every one of Gary's arguments, and kept telling him that he was going to be a Schottic internationalist some day soon if he stayed on this path. After an hour or so, after Gary's tears had dried for the umpteenth time, he was stood back outside the door, and somehow he hadn't managed to leave the club. Gary's negotiating skills were so bad, that he couldn't even quit his job. All he had needed to do was say - I've made my decision, and it's final - and walk out the door. If he couldn't do that then what chance did he have here?

'I'll take that as a yes.' The young woman answered, now facing straight on once more. 'Go on, take a drink for goodness sake.' She tapped the heavy glass closer to his hand with quick flicks of her fingers. 'Come on, drink!' Gary sipped the malt under duress. 'Lets go through the options shall we?' She took a large drink form her own glass - swallowing down an amount that would have made Gary wince, before getting back to her feet. 'Well you're not here to ask questions... That much is obvious.' She looked him up and down. 'Plus, you're negation skills aren't exactly legendary - remember I wrote them...' The author paused for a second staring into space, before spinning back to face him. 'You're here to kill me...'

Gary shifted uncomfortably, and looked round for the door. 'N'no no.' He made to get up but the girl was on him like a flash, pushing him back into his chair, with a palm against his chest.
'No?' Her top lip curled angrily, as she looked down on him, her hand still pressed firmly against his breastbone.

'No, I’m... I don't know.' Gary wrestled free of her grip and leapt to his feet. He darted behind the chair, trying to put some distance between himself and the situation. 'Look I don't know what I'm doing here, I just need to finish this, I can't take it any more.'

'I don't know, I don't know.' She shouted mockingly. 'Well that's the question isn't it? ISN'T IT, EH! How do you finish it? Is it you or me?'

Like a child Gary darted from side to side, changing direction as the author and he ran in circles round the chair. He managed to desperately swat away her hand several times, as she clutched at his lapels with gritted teeth. Eventually after a number of minutes the two of them stopped, exhausted, their chests heaving with the effort. To the two advisories this clearly felt like life of death.

'I knew I should have made you slower.' The girl spat turning back towards the desk. 'You are a coward! A coward. A coward. A fat, useless coward.' She removed herself to the space behind her desk in an act of truce. Gary edged back towards her but he kept his hands firmly clutched to the chair, like a lion tamer at the ready. 'You couldn't handle. Lets just face it, you need me. Even if you could decide your own path it wouldn't make a blind bit of difference. You make shit decisions Gary, all your decisions suck.'

'That's not true.' Gary had been provoked into a real reaction for the first time since entering the room. It was the first time he had shown his cards.

'Lets make it easy for you then.' The author said with a cold smile, before reaching into a drawer of her desk. 'If you're so sure take your best shot.' She added, sliding a heavy revolver, across the polished wood surface of the desk, bringing it to a stop near where Gary stood. He froze with terror, looking down at the first gun he had ever seen. If this was real of course. Growing up in Schottia, guns were things you read about in books, or you saw in those strange action movies.

This was the million pound question, which was the actual reality? To Gary he felt real, and this office felt wholly unreal. But then again he was the character, he had been written, and what he thought was real was just the construct of this young woman's head. And what a sadist she had to be, all the shit people went through in Schottia, in the region, in the world, it was all her doing. But then again, was she any worse than the rest of them? If all Gary's thoughts were brought into actuality then the world would be a lot more surreal than Schottia. What if he did kill her, killed her here in the "real" world. Could it be murder if he didn't even exist? Would he just escape back out through the hole in the wall, and head back to Schottia, now able to shape his own life? Could the authorities from this world follow him back? Surely not. Into a dead girl's head? He might as well take up the gun and hold it, at least he could pretend to threaten her a bit. He had never touched a gun before; at the very least it would be something else off his bucket-list. He must have flinched - twitched his hand - and this was the cue she was waiting for.

'Assuming that I actually exist of course.' It was like she could read his thoughts, and Gary paused, his hand hovering over the weapon. 'I mean you might be dreaming. You might be lying unconscious back in the bin behind the town hall.' She smiled with an almost believable look of sympathy. 'I mean does any of this actually seem real? You what..? Crawled through a papier-mâché sky, and found the writer of your own story sitting in some penthouse office. C'mon Gary, really?'

'You seem real.' He answered with all the confidence he could still muster. 'I know this isn't a normal dream.'

'Gary look at me.' She pointed her index fingers at either side of her face and puffed out her cheeks. 'Do I look like I'm capable of writing all that stuff? Sitting in an office like this? Do I look like the kind of person who would keep a gun in the top drawer of her desk for fucks sake?' She looked at him, eyes wide, imploringly. 'I mean the door! The freakin' door! It just says Author, what kind of children’s storybook occupation is that. I look scarcely old enough to be out of school, how can any of this even be remotely real.' The girl spun round on the spot indicating towards the room in general.

Gary shook his head slowly, trying hard to make up his mind.

'Gary...' She leaned in close and spoke very directly to him now. 'Go back down the hallway, back up to the mountaintop, and wake up. You are dreaming.'

Gary shook his head fiercely like he was trying to get the idea out of his mind.

'When you wake up head down the mountain, and call an ambulance, you will be dehydrated, and maybe suffering from hypothermia.' She was edging, tiptoe-by-tiptoe, in his direction. 'You're under stress, you're under acute stress. You've just been through a messy break up, you are playing in the top league in the world, and you’ve got big international games coming up... It's okay to admit you can't cope. You'll take a couple of weeks out of the game, get yourself well again and then you'll go back to Nephara and focus on the new season with Chatswood.' She had finally edged close enough to reach him, and she placed her cold fingers on the back of his, squeezing them gently. 'Think of me as your conscience, I'm just part of a lucid dream you are having, because you are currently freezing to death at the top of a mountain.' She gave his hand a tight squeeze, looking him directly in the eye. 'Come on, we'll go back down the corridor together, it'll make it easier if I come with you. You need to wake up quickly, you're getting cold. Gary... please!'

'No.' Gary said drawing his hand away. 'I came here because I'd had enough and I'm not going back, I wouldn't go back anyway. If I freeze then so be it, but I'm calling your bluff.'

The Author's next move was a measured one. Very calmly she picked the gun up and thrust it into Gary's hand. 'Very well then. Best just get this over and done with then.'

She tried to pull Gary's hand up to her head, but he anticipated it and threw the gun down with a loud clunk on the table. 'I'm not going to kill you.' He snarled

'Fine. Then I'll do it myself.' Picking up the gun in a quick movement she cocked it, and fired a shot straight through the large window behind her desk. Gary had never heard anything so loud in all his life. Nothing had prepared his little Schottic heart for the sound of gunfire. He crouched to the ground and covered his ears against the deafening ring, as glass shards flew out into the night sky. The room was filled with an enormous rush of cold air blowing the girl's hair wildly, as she stood motionless in front of him. From somewhere outside, far below their current position, Gary could hear distant traffic noises, car horns, and ambient city noises.

'C'mon then.' The girl threw the gun out of the window in a calm motion and grabbed Gary tightly by the hand. Shell-shocked he followed her, as she led him towards the window. 'I though this was the only way I could realistically end things.' She said slipping of her shoes, standing barefooted on the shards of glass, seemingly without a care. 'That's why I decided to finish the story off like this. Rather than your end, this is mine Gary. I think I've finally come to the end of the story, yours and mine. The next chapter, whatever it is, is over to you.'

She leaped up onto the window ledge with a long elegant stride, her skirt ruffling in the wind. She leaned back, pulling Gary up alongside her, the broken glass continued to crack between his shoes and the wide windowsill. He stood up on the ledge with her, and hand in hand they both looked down. They were at the top of a deep valley of skyscrapers; yellow window lights glaring back at them on all sides. And below... Down below car headlight criss-crossed like distant shooting stars, seemingly miles and miles away, their shapes fading into the distance as far as the eye could see. The author readjusted her step; the blood from her bare feet now ran freely out of the cuts from the glass, and left obvious footprints on the gloss paint of the window frame, and collecting in pools. That was the last thing Gary remembered before they jumped.

OOC: I was originally going to finish this off a bit differently, but as a story in itself, I thought it worked better leaving it open to interpretation. In my next RP I'll explain a little more.

[Audioslavia]

No Miracles as Bulls out-last Saintland

The vast, imposing Estadio Central Lomo Chata was the setting for Audioslavia's opening game of World Cup 74, in which the Bulls just about managed to hold their opponents at bay in a dry, tactical and barely watchable snooze-fest.

Taking the lead after only six minutes, thanks to Dragan Kryznjak's downwards header from Audioslavia's first corner, Audioslavia set about closing off each and every one of Saintland's avenues of attack, by fair means and foul. Landhuis and Magellan's 'inventive' style of play in midfield - featuring shirt tugging and a fair few elbows and shoves - landed both in a bit of hot water with a referee far too weak to do much about it. Landhuis's eventual first yellow card, on seventy-five minutes, was met with a round of ironic cheers by most fans in the stadium, with only those who had travelled from Audioslavia keeping quiet.

A Saintland team famed for their ability to hold a lead, if not quite to retake it, managed few inroads into Audioslavia's defensive shell in the first half, and it wasn't really until after the break that they began to test the Audioslavian back-line. A neat inter-change of passes around the area let in Epidius for a one-on-one with the goalkeeper, but the winger could only find the side-netting with an attempted near-post finish, before Olivia Florus's creative flick had Bulls' goalie Sean Patterick beaten, but the ball cannoned off the bar to be cleared for the throw in.

This cycle's Audioslavia team hasn't exactly been reknowned for their creativity, whereas their red and white hooped opponents have consistently shown guile and invention in their interplay over the qualifiers, so it wasn't a surprise to see, time and time again in the second half, Audioslavia's midfield out-maneuvered and out-thought as Saintland racked up twelve shots on target to Audioslavia's three. Only a string of saves from Patterick and some last-ditch defending prevented Saintland from equalizing.

With ten minutes left to play, Audioslavia began to see more of the ball as their opponents tired, and Vengochea came very close to making it 2-0 with a well-worked counter-attack, only to find his finishing skills lacking at the moment of truth.

The referee's final whistle was met largely with boos which, considering the general attitude of the Guayabalense to people from Saintland, is testament to the negativity of this Audioslavian side.

The Bulls face the Unified Sunrise Islands on matchday two. The winners will almost certainly have booked a place in the next round. After yesterday's performance, not too many neutrals will be hoping for more Audioslavian football in the weeks to come.

[Ceni]

---

CENTRALIS, Electrum - While TV screens are tuned to a big sporting event in Electrum - the Winter Olympics - something perhaps more momentous than sporting glory has taken place in Electrum, with the potential for lasting repercussions that will impact the entire Terranean region. Leaders from four countries and - Ceni, Electrum, New Gelderland, and the Isles of Avon - have signed an agreement to establish a visa-free zone within their respective countries. The pact will likely increase trade and tourism within the four countries as well as strengthen the relationships between the four Terranean countries.

Presidents Masnol Binnill of Ceni, David Monday of New Gelderland, and Charlotte Gibson of Electrum, as well as Prime Minister Lexie Stewart of The Isles of Avon met in the ballroom of the Orion Hotel in Centralis to finalize details of the agreement, which had been negotiated for a period of several months to get the kinks out of the agreement before it would be signed. When that process was over, the four leaders got together to affix their official signatures to the document. Now the next step in the process will be for each country's legislature to ratify the proposed agreement, the Centralis Accords, in order for it to come into full effect. The Accords will harmonize creation of a visa-free zone within the four countries, gradual elimination of border checks between New Gelderland and Electrum, and removal of most forms of checks on air flights and ferries between all four countries. To combat an expected increase in cross-border crime, the Accords also establish a police taskforce to combat this an a system to track entries, crime, and criminals, as well as streamlining extradition procedures and chase procedures. However, the Accords will still require checks of visas from foreign nationals (even though only one visa will now be needed for the four countries combined) coming in and border checks with Eura on the Electrum side, for example, and authorities can still conduct checks on papers of necessary. Nonetheless, all four leaders hailed the agreement as a boon to the areas' economies and a signal of the increasing relationships between the four countries, especially after New Gelderland and Electrum hosted the Olympics together.

At the press conference announcing the signatures, Masnol Binnill urged the Cenian Senate to ratify the measure. "These three countries are among our best allies in. the region - and among our biggest trading partners and economic allies. It would be foolish to reject a pact that will not only further help our relations with our allies but also improve our economies and help bring our country forward in an increasingly competitive day and age." Binnill also said, in order to placate his party in the Senate, that the agreement would not overly benefit corporations, that instead it would benefit the common man. "We don't want there to be a big hassle when you and your family go to New Gelderland or the Isles of Avon for a vacation, we don't want there to be a big wait to be approved for a visa. Now it's a lot easier to go places in the region, and I think this will be a big help to our everday families who want to take a week off to relax." David Monday of New Gelderland talked of the benefits it would provide his country. "I urge our Parliament to ratify this measure, which will increase trade with Electrum and further bolster our economy. It will help us to harmonize relationships with our neighbors. And it will help us to remain competitive on the international stage by allowing us to share information and expertise with the other countries in this agreement very easily."

Business leaders throughout the three countries praised the agreements, including some leaders of the largest companies in Ceni and New Gelderland, including those with lots of trade connections. Among those was Air Terranea, which has many routes interconnecting the countries which have signed the agreement. CEO Xina Iesan wrote in a press release that she fully supported the Centralis Accords. "This agreement will give our customers streamlined access to business and tourist destinations. We already operate a large flight frequency from our hubs in the region to other regional destinations and these accords will allow us to operate a little bit faster and allow us to transport more people to their destinations quicker." Sky High Architecture, which has large operations in Centralis, anticipates that its businesses in Electrum will become more streamlined as the new accords will allow architects and executives to travel back and forth quicker; Endais Chemicals CEO Owen Keteris hopes that the new accords will create more links within the region, allowing his company to share experienced workers and equipment between his company's facilities in Electrum and Ceni. Julia Bloodworth of Tourism in New Gelderland (TiNG) hopes that the accords will boost tourism in her country. "We have a lot of wonderful sites in our country, and Electrum is very close by train or by plane - by taking away most border checks and visa requirements, it's now easier than ever to take a trip to New Gelderland, and we hope that our tourism industry can reap the rewards of these accords. It certainly gives millions more an incentive to come to New Gelderland rather than other countries in the region or other regions."

Economist Joshua Celtru with the University of Ceni belives that the measure will decrease costs for businesses in all four countries and increase trade and tourism among them. "Businesses in all four countries lose at least several million dollars every year due to costs of visas and time lost for border checks and waiting periods. Now with a streamlined visa system and reduced border checks, those businesses now can save those costs. That means a couple of things: they can increase exports and imports to the other three countries because they have less costs to do so. They can also invest that money somewhere else where it can be more useful. So it's good for the economy in that respect. Celtru also believes that the Accords can increase tourism and travel among the four countries: "It's now easier to travel aming these four countries, and there's quite a bit of tourist attractions in all four. Not only businesses will take advantage of this new agreement, I think tourists will take greater advantage of it as well, possibly seeing a spike of new tourist numbers." Celtru does see a glaring issue with the Accords, though: Eura. "Eura is the largest economy in the region and the most populous nation in the region. Without Eura's participation in the Accords, there will be much less benefit than there could otherwise be. Getting Eura into the Accords should be the first priority for lobbyists and diplomats of these countries."

Political analyst Gil Korova, with the Cenian Public Radio, thinks that the agreement will be ratified quickly by the Cenian Senate at least. "Although the New Cenians will likely protest at the idea that it will allow easier migration and dilute Cenian sovereignty, they hardly control enough seats to damage the 2/3 majority which is required to pass this treaty, under the Cenian constitution. Most of the other parties, though, will see this as an excellent opportunity, and this will likely pass easily. It's a multipartisan plan that's been proposed by legislators from multiple parties, so I'd be really surprised if this doesn't pass." Korova doesn't foresee much opposition in New Gelderland or The Isles of Avon either, especially considering it will have quite a few benefits for both countries. "In both of those countries, just as in Ceni, there will be some token opposition, but it's not really too controversial." But Electrum was the hardest of the four countries to predict - partially because of the large amount of parties which "quibble among themselves about almost everything - even something seemingly uncontroversial." Korova also thinks that the annexationists in Northern Electrum, near Hamilton, might be a wild card in the fight for ratification. "They want to become part of Eura - and it's unclear whether the Centralis Accords will anger them, seeing as Electrum will gravitate to Ceni and New Gelderland, or they will support it as an indication that Electrum is prepared to give up some sovereignty. Right now, though, it's a big unknown."

[Northern Sunrise Islands]

"I'm not putting this mask for the last time!" yelled Bubsy, his arms crossed while Andy held a cute rabbit mask on her hands.
Nicklas checked his phone briefly before staring at the big guy. "Yeah, sorry, but that's the only thing I could get on a last minute deal." He put his phone back on his pocket, confused. "Plus, I didn't expect some shenanigans here being one of the reasons you went to the Correctional!"
"And now you know why he's trying to get a new look in life." said Lewis. "Why don't you let me talk with the guards? I think I can arrange an agreement."
"If you insist." Nicklas said, following him to the mall's security guards.
Bubsy shook his head. "I'm screwed, ain't I?"
Andy patted him on the back. "Don't worry, big Bubsy! I'm sure they'll work out an agreement and all."

CHAPTER XI - SORRY

The group all gathered by the café, exception being Noah, who took small Anna to the arcades and decided to play against her a bit. Nana stared at the others from the group, sighing. "I am sorry." She then stared at Bubsy, rabbit mask to the face. She broke on laughter, followed by the others.
"Mate, do I hate you." said Bubsy, his face covered by the smiling rabbit mask, though one could still figure out he was staring at Lewis. "You couldn't at least get a better mask?"
"We tried the best out of our diplomacy, my brother." answered Lewis, laughing a bit. "But... hahahah... they didn't... hah... budge..."
Bubsy took the mask off, sighing. "So, Nana, you said you're sorry, right?" Nana nodded. "Well, it makes things way better. Apologies accepted, lass."
The kunoichi smiled. "So, Nicklas, anything new?" Nicklas nodded, pulling his phone out for her eyes to see the screen. "Well, I will be damned."
"What is it?" asked Vophybia. "I'm dying for my time to shine."
"There's a guy down the docks that has been smuggling Pokérus inside." said Nicklas. "Word is that there are some Team Rocket wannabes in town that have paid top Sunrisian Dollar for the 'rus. They want to pull a Jake Mightyena effect on their own Pokémon."
"Isn't that the one thing where they fuse two Pokérus and the poisonous effects from both make them superpowerful, mate?" asked Matt.
"Exactly." Nicklas answered. "My fonts said that they weren't paying the usual money on the Pokérus, but considering how these things are too expensive to begin with... Let's just say someone big is involved."
"Now that is a target I want." said Nana, the happiest she's ever been. "We are going to need a boat, Matt."

Quarter Circle Down, Left Punch.
"Oh, no!" yelled Anna, pressing buttons as fast as she could.
Up, Down, Weak Punch, Weak Punch. One of the characters disappeared, leaping on a dark hole under herself, appearing later from another hole that appeared before her opponent, where she taclked said opponent down. The words "Player One wins!" appeared on the screen.
"Sigh... I can't beat you, bro." Anna said, staring at the ground.
He smiled, patting her head. "You're a good opponent, sis." Noah felt like someone was watching them. A brief look behind him caused Noah to realize Vophybia was the one watching them.
"Well, hello." said the Paradystopian. "Nana told us to enjoy the rest of the day, because at the night, we have a job to do."
Anna sighed. "You're sleeping late tonight, bro?" Noah nodded, shrugging afterwards. "That's OK... I know you're doing the right thing."
"...We still could enjoy the rest of the afternoon, though." said Vophybia, lowering herself to talk near Anna. The young Sunrisian smiled, looking at her brother.
He shrugged. "There goes my month wage."
Vophybia laughed, taking a wallet out of her purse. "Don't worry about it."

The three left the arcade, Anna carrying a toy bear at least double her size. Noah held the small girl's hand, calm while the Paradystopian was seemingly enjoying her way around. "I need to come here more often!" said Vophybia, laughing afterwards.
"Well, I didn't know you were that good on Snowstar Tour." said Noah, looking afterwards to his sister. "Now, how is it said, Anna?"
"Thank you, Ms. Vophybia!" yelled the young girl, hugging her toy bear.
"Not a problem." she smiled, before nodding. "Well, this was fun. Maybe I'll invite you to come around here one day or another."
"Feel free to." he answered with a smile, before the girl left them. "Well, Anna, now we have to find Nana and go home, right?" The two went on a search, before finally finding Nana checking out a clothing store. "Hey, Nana."
"Oh... Hey!" She looked at Anna's toy bear. "...That is a nice toy, Anna."
"Ms. Vophybia got it for me!" The young girl said, giggling.

Anna and Noah sat at a bench on the clothing store as Nana would continue to test clothes. Noah was, unsusprisingly, bored out of his skull while Anna tried to help her out. "Do you really need that many clothes? You know I'm not paying for those, right?"
"I am aware, Noah." she said, coming out of the closet with a nice, long dress. "But I require some new clothes since I am no longer at my home."
Noah stared at the dress, then looked back at her while Anna nodded happily. "Well, that's a nice one, at least."
"Like what you see?" said Nana, laughing afterwards.
His face got somewhat red. "Pick what you want and let's go, for Arceus' sake."

[Vilita]

Simafela Names his Squad

Analyzing Vilita's World Cup 74 Finals Roster

VILITA JUNGLE CATS WC74 ROSTER

Goalkeepers:

Zelkki Milake
Kalek Intafel
Cilamarah Issah


Defenders:

Jirijii Januaa
Endur Rotropii
Arocki Tadalek
Monner Vileai
Kwuimekii Hentetii
Linkat Cjinder


Midfielders:

Purapal Eskiiy
Vliela Lianksa
Tripate Falcon
Serabi Chamya
Westii Yahaya
Lopaki Kilpter
Karisto Monafog
Cavuna Aquafek
Dalian Magagula
Kamarul Zaman


Forwards:

Nili Ylimaiina
Berali Tzufarei
Kiliko Riazen
Kaivel Illatara
Perran Adlani
Sipke Tarala

Tivali-Ring Stadium, Alikki-Corra Vilita :: Not long after returning to Alikki-Corra following their historic playoff triumph against The Holy Empire, Vilita National Team head coach Ritopa Simafela announced the squad that he will take to San José Guayabal & Valladares.

Goalkeepers::
It is, of course, no surprise that Zelkki Milake is the first name on the sheet for Simafela's Jungle Cats. The Vilita National Team have historically been known for having a bit of a merry-go-round in the goalkeeper department. In stark contrast with some of the worlds most famous netminders such as Kajaxo Imaslavii who was an ever-present for the Bulls of Audioslavia during their reign of domination atop the World Cup Rankings; Vilitan netminders rarely get to start more than 2 matches in a row.

But Milake made the net his own during the second half of World Cup 74 Qualifications. With his team in need of a spark and having failed to keep a clean sheet over the opening 7 games, Milake stepped in and posted a modern day record of three consecutive shutout performances. For 270+ minutes Milake was a brick wall in goal. Unfortunately for the Jungle Cats, other Group 11 results prevented them from challenging for the top spot in the group so Simafela turned to Kalek Intafel and Cilamara Issah for the final two qualification matches to keep his other netminders fresh.

But Milake returned again to lead the team to victory against The Holy Empire and looks set to retain his starting role into the World Cup Finals. Pundits would argue that - after perhaps suffering a bit of a roller coaster ride following the World Cup 68 triumph at such a young age, the move to Eastal Lunar as well as aged maturity have helped Milake regain his form to a level that now rivals or exceeds the level he was playing at during World Cup 68.

Milake led all Vilita goalkeepers with 7 apperances during World Cup 74 Qualifying - including starting 5 of the last 7 matches while conceding just two goals - both to the Worlds #9 ranked side. If for any reason Milake needs relief in the finals, it is likely that it will be Alikki-Corra's Kalek Intafel who gets the nod. Intafel appeared in 5 matches during Qualifying - once in relief for Cilamara Issah who in all likelihood will be getting all of his excercise during the pre-match training sessions.

WC74Q Appearances: Zelkki Milake (7); Kalek Intafel (5); Cilamara Issah (4)


Defenders::
Vilita's defensive selection for World Cup 74 was made slightly complicated due to the injury to Amarini Baracelv. Baracelv had been fighting injury throughout the qualification campaign but had recovered fitness enough to be recalled to the squad for the critical second leg fixture against The Holy Empire at the Lonngeylin Coliseum. Unfortunately, during the match Baracelv once again aggravated his injury and now it has been confirmed that the Alikki-Corra defender would miss the World Cup.

The loss of Baracelv opens up a slot in the 6-player defensive grouping for one of Vilita's up-and-coming youngsters, Linkat Cjinder. Cjinder had stepped in to play a bit-part role throughout much of the qualification in the absence of Baracelv and will once again reprise the role in the World Cup Finals.

The Vilitan back line will be anchored by Jirijii Januaa and Endur Rotropii with Arocki Tadalek and Kwuimekii Hentetii expected to flank the duo if the Jungle Cats roll in a four-player unit. If the Jungle Cats form a more traditional three-defender backline then Tropicorp FC's Monner Vileai is the most likely choice to be the third defender.

Vileai made 8 appearances during qualifying, just one fewer than Jirijii Januaa who led all Vilitan defenders with 9.

WC74Q Appearances: Jirijii Januaa (9); Monner Vileai (8); Endur Rotropii (7); Arocki Tadalek (5); Kwuimekii Hentetii (4); Linkat Cjinder (4); Amarini Baracelv (3); Tlikao Muratai (1); Mileke Drokasorna (1).

The Jungle Cats don't tend to get a large offensive output from their defenders, but they did have four defenders get on the scoresheet during World Cup 74 Qualifying.

WC74Q Goals: Jirijii Januaa (1); Endur Rotropii (1); Arocki Tadalek (1); Linkat Cjinder (1).


Midfielders::
The Jungle Cats may not have a large amount of world-renowned talent in the midfield outside the likes of Purapal Eskiiy, but coach Ritopa Simafela will certainly be relying heavily on the midfield to control the possession and provide service to the forwards throughout the World Cup Finals.

The Vilitan midfield, however, does have the green flag to contribute on attack and two players in particular contributed their fair share of the offense for Vilita during the Qualifications. Both Vliela Lianksa and Tripate Falcon found the net 4 times to not only lead all midfielders, but also all players on the Vilita roster for goals scored matching the mark set by attacker Berali Tzufarei, albeit in fewer games played.

Lianksa led all Vilitan players with 13 appearances on the road to World Cup 74 with fellow attacking midfielder Tripate Falcon close behind with 11. As far as the more defensive minded midfielders, Dalian Magagula and Karamrul Zaman are included in the squad but unlikely to be called upon if Simafela goes with the more conservative 4-man defensive unit during the Finals.

The experienced veteran Lopaki Kilpter of Jungle Strike FC and the youngster Westii Yahaya from Eastal Lunar will likely work in tandem with one starting the match and the other coming on in relief depending on the occasion.

WC74Q Appearances: Vliela Lianksa (13); Tripate Falcon (11); Serabi Chamya (10); Purapal Eskiiy (9); Karisto Monafog (8); Kamarul Zaman (8); Lopaki Kilpter (7); Cavuna Aquafek (6); Dalian Magagula (6); Westii Yahaya (6); Jurzen Devmiko (2); Altimo Ueboa (1) Va'a-Rio Kiwavn (1).

WC74Q Goals: Vliela Lianksa (4); Tripate Falcon (4); Serabi Chamya (2); Karisto Monafog (1); Westii Yahaya (1); Purapal Eskiiy (1).


Forwards::
One could argue that "By the boots of Banda" is a phrase that the modern day Vilita National Team attackers have failed to fill the shoes of, with their midfield counterparts frequently grabbing the glory and getting on the scoresheet at key moments instead of the forwards who are tasked with finishing the job.

Tightening their reign as the primary supplier of key talent for the Vilitan National Team, Eastal Lunar's Berali Tzufarei dominated carried the bulk of the load up top for the Jungle Cats during World Cup Qualifying making 11 starts and netting 4 goals. But the 4 goals was not the amount that Ritopa Simafela was looking for from his go-to guy and the Jungle Cats began to shift their focus back towards the more experienced Nili Ylimaiina down the stretch and Ylimaiina rewarded the faith of the coaching staff scoring the critical goal in the second leg playoff tie to send Vilita through to the World Cup Finals.

Over the course of the qualifications, Ylimaiina and Tzufarei were not particularly effective when paired together and it was Kiliko Riazen who got the nod over Tzufarei so it will not be surprising to see Simafela mix up his pairings in the Finals, particularly if the Jungle Cats are not getting production from up top.

Perran Adlani will provide an insurance policy from the bench particularly if Ylimaiina cannot stay healthy while young Lonngeylin Coast prodigy Sipke Tarala is included over Fishtii Blikala for his first call to the big time and the World Cup Finals despite failing to find the net during 5 qualifying appearances.

WC74Q Appearances: Berali Tzufarei (11); Kiliko Riazen (8); Kaivel Illatara (7); Nili Ylimaiina (5); Sipke Tarala (5); Fishtii Blikala (5); Perran Adlani(3); Lboaisa Akarelm (2); Nuola Brenzil (1).

WC74Q Goals: Berali Tzufarei (4); Nili Ylimaiina (3); Kaivel Illatara (2); Perran Adlani (2); Fishtii Blikala (1); Kiliko Riazen (1); Lboaisa Akarelm (1).

With the naming of their World Cup 74 Finals roster, Ritopa Simafela and the Jungle Cats coaching staff have sent a clear message that they are gunning for a return trip to the Semi-Final stage - and more. The roster is heavy on experienced, talented players and light on unproven and inexperienced youngsters. Many of the youngsters who got a run out during World Cup Qualifying will be invited along to watch from the stands but will also be training separately to maintain match fitness in the build up to the 49th AOCAF competition.

Despite two consecutive World Cup Semi-Finals appearances, the Jungle Cats have racked up a near-record low number of points on their road there when compared with other nations who have accomplished the same. Simafela will be looking to motivate his team to win early and win often, imploring his team to act like the 4th ranked team in the multiverse when they get out on the pitch.

The Vilitan Coaching staff will also be quite aware of their World Cup 74 opponents. Drawn into Group H, the name that will stand out to Vilitan's around the multiverse is sure to be Farfadillis. The Jungle Cats have fallen to la Vherderoja during major competitions too many times in recent history and won't want to rely on solely getting points against Turorian kitmakers Schottia and 23rd ranked nation Nova Anglicana in order to progress.

[Super-Llamaland]

TIGERS ARE BAD, LOSE BECAUSE THEY ARE BAD

Polkopia (4 - 4 - 2)
GK Anatoly ANKUDINOV
LB Nikolai AKSENOV (Chigozie 75)
CB Christopher BIRYUKOV
CB Anton BARYSHNIKOV (Belov 66)
RB Igor SOKOLOV
LM Semyon BENISOV
CM Ivan MEDVEDEV
CM Ali LIONOV (Maldov 62)
RM Immanuel LAZAREV
ST Rustem IVANOVICH
ST Arto HOLKERI

Super-Llamaland (4 - 2 - 3 - 1)
GK James COSTA
LB Steven MENG
CB Sebastian MYERS (C) (Kane 53)
CB Tyler ZHOU
RB Michael SORENSON
LM Megan SIGURORZSON (Candelario 45)
RM Reid ADRIAN
LW Lily STANTON
AM Felix RASMUSSEN
RW Sebastian INRIQUEZ
ST Ansel PENBROOKE (Nilssen 68)

PLK       SLL
1 - goals - 0
13 - shots - 8
10 - shots on goal - 5
59 - possession - 41
0 - yellow cards - 0

The Tigers of Super-Llamaland and the Slashers of Polkopia faced off last night in a game that was thoroughly uninspiring for the Llamaneans. While fans can take solace in James Costa single-handedly keeping the team in the game, atrocious attack and mediocre defending doomed the Tigers to an early exit. While it's true that the Llamaneans haven't been mathematically eliminated, this was by far their easiest game and pulling a rabbit out of a hat to beat both Nephara and Eura would be extremely unlikely.

Things got out of hand early on. The Tigers, who were relatively out-of-form after playing just two friendly matches before the Cup (a pair of victories over Walkany), tried to push back the Slashers early. It didn't go well. Felix Rasmussen found Ansel Penbrooke within seconds of kickoff, but the young striker misfired straight into Ankudinov's waiting hands. Ankudinov's punt found a gap in Polkopia's formation, but Megan Sigurorzson, so on-point during the Qualifiers, couldn't catch up to it and it was Medvedev who tracked it down and started the attack.

Within minutes, it soon became apparent that the Tigers were not doing well at all. The defense made a number of errors - most glaring was when an aging Sebastian Myers was too aggressive and let Rustem Ivanovich through the line. Tyler Zhou rushed to cover, but soon found himself comically swept to the ground by Ivanovich's skill. All the Peeto Gordost' striker had to do was tap past James Costa, but the enterprising keeper managed to sweep the ball away from a furious Ivanovich.

Still, the Slashers pushed forwards. On the rare occasions when the Tigers managed to push forwards, they would simply lose the ball and be forced even further into defense - soon, the game was entirely in Polkopia's hands. James Costa was magnificent, tipping a Holkieri volley over the bar and stopping Lazarev's blast from point-blank range. But he couldn't stop the tide forever, not with the Tigers defense noticeably subpar. Ansel Penbrooke lost yet another cross, and Christopher Biryukov pounced, whipping a long clear into the air. Medvedev managed to outrun Sigurorzson to the ball (again), and before Reid Adrian could catch up, flared a beautiful pass to Arto Holkeri (the lone member of the starting lineup to play in a foreign league). Holkeri humiliated Sorenson and Zhou, and when Costa came up again to deny him as he had Ivanovich, the wily striker cut hard past Costa, outran Myers to the ball, and tapped coolly home. One-nil.

After such an inauspicious first twenty minutes, which quickly became an inauspicious first thirty minutes after the defense continued to let Ivanovich and Holkeri run amok, the fact that the Tigers even held the score to one-nil for the half was a miracle. But they did - the Slashers seemed visibly tiring after destroying the Llamanean defense repeatedly and blasting shot after shot at James Costa, and soon enough it was Llamanea on the run.

Alas, Ansel Penbrooke spoiled yet another golden opportunity. When Felix Rasmussen lured in two defenders before sprinting past and giving Penbrooke an open shot at goal, the Longyelin striker stumbled forwards and could only meekly tap at Ankudinov. The wingers, Stanton and Inriquez, weren't as horrid as Penbrooke, but both seemed rather quiet and invisible for such a huge night. Only Rasmussen was turning in a solid performance, but even he didn't seem as incisive as usual, instead mostly staying back and giving it to the underperforming attackers.

The half ended, and the Tigers were down one-nil. Rodrigo Vaz sprang to action, replacing the ineffective Megan Sigurorzson with young Candelario. The Polkopians stayed put. How could they not, when they were so obviously ahead?

The halftime break seemed to do the Slashers some good, and they came back at Super-Llamaland with renewed venom. But still Costa kept the game from becoming a blowout. When Rustem Ivanovich found himself past Costa - the second time anyone had gotten past him, first being Holkeri's goal - he excitedly flung the ball towards the goal. But Sebastian Myers, showing a spark of his old self, managed to slide in, intercepting the ball and keeping the score one-nil.

Still, it didn't matter. Even after the woefully underperforming Ansel Penbrooke was subbed off for Kristopher Nilssen and the tired Myers replaced with Immanuel Kane, the team simply couldn't get any credible threats going. Polkopia thoroughly romped the Tigers in every category, and only James Costa kept the score where it was with a series of spectacular saves. On a dreary night, Tigers fans began to leave around the seventieth minute, furious with the team's performance and resigned to a group-stage exit. Indeed, the Llamanean players seemed resigned to one too. Everyone seemed to give up, and Polkopia simply parked the bus and waited for the whistle to blow, which it did shortly after.

The Tigers have to be furious at themselves, and indeed far better play is needed if we want to advance. But we're not out of the Cup yet - while beating Nephara and Eura (or beating one and drawing the other) would be very difficult, we can still pull it off. And the Tigers still have a squad that can do so.

[Valanora]

Chapter 1
Chapter 2

Valanora: A Modern History
Chapter 3: Reverence of Goddess

Seasons came and went with their small village beginning to spring to life as Neena and Melikki's children grew, as well as a handful of other elves from villages they had rested in coming upon them in search of the promised land that these travelers had been in search for. What had started as a mere seven elves had over the course of five years turned into a village of nearly thirty living lives of plenty and serenity that had been promised, a steady growth. Elune though did not do as her fellow elves and did not couple for reproduction, rather she was often helping integrate the newcomers to the community and mapping out the areas around their village. They decided to call the village Gladerial, after the name of one of the Great Others who were supposed to have cultivated life and creation itself.

Elune was industrious, compassionate to all, and protective of what they had come to create in this sacred land. Despite clashing in personality with Melikki and the original males, many still saw her as the protector of the village and its most blessed of citizens. Elune was often the deciding vote in the decisions of the group, as the original seven were held in reverence to the governing of the village, with Elune often casting a vote that strengthened or benefited the most rather than just a few. Even her older sister had began to see her as the natural leader of their ever growing village, though Elune herself was quite against the idea of being a sole leader for all of the community.

However for all the good that she was doing for Gladerial, with the joy that she felt in seeing it grow and prosper, there was a voice at the back of her mind that was calling out to her. Ever since the discovery of Mount Sumarja, she had felt herself beckoned to it, as if the very will of the world was pushing her towards the great mountain with the mysteries that it could hold. Despite the warning from the wandering priestess about the perils of the great mountain, there was an undeniable pull towards it, a desire so great that it took total concentration on her current tasks to not act upon it. However with an ever growing population to more evenly distribute the tasks of their home, Elune felt it calling grow ever stronger.

One day, without even so much a word to her sister or the other originals, Elune left Gladerial with two weeks worth of food and several ropes and spikes, intent on scaling the mountain once and for all. Would it be that there would be a curse or glory to be had, she was determined to find out one way or another. With her equipment in hand, she began ascent up the mountain to either find deities or merely the summit of the towering mountain. The climb was tough, three times Elune having to find her grip after portions of the cliff would fall away from where her previous grasp had been. Nonetheless, she was ascending at a steady pace and as she was nearing the summit, the priestess once more appeared before her and extending a hand out to the elven woman.

The priestess smiled to her as they found sturdy ground, a cave appearing behind the priestess and she beckoned Elune forward. As they traversed into the cave, the priestess spoke the praises of Elune, of how she had watched Elune and the others on their journey and then the founding of their village. The priestess spoke of all of Elune's virtues, of patience, compassion, of understanding, and her reluctance to take more than what had been offered. The greatest praise she spoke of was of Elune's daring to still scale the mountain despite the warning that had been given to her and the rest of the elves. There was a fire in the cave and they rested at it, where the priestess revealed to Elune that she was in fact Gladerial herself, telling Elune of the creation of Silverymoon and the life that came to be on it, including the elves themselves. Elune was given a choice, to take up the mantle of guardianship of the world with Gladerial's attention being needed elsewhere or to return to her village with the knowledge that it would be safe for all eternity but the world itself would eventually wither and die.

Knowing she would never get to see her sister or the others again with them knowing who she was, she decided to become the guardian of the world, not wishing destruction for the rest of the world even if her village would be fine. Gladerial took Elune's hand and transported the young woman to the Gray Havens and elevated her from a mere elf and to a deity in her own right, while also giving the elves the gift of immortality for Elune's sacrifice for the greater good. Elune was tasked with protecting the world from evils both within and without, given power to create champions both of the living and the deceased, as well as gifts that Gladerial was sure she would discover in time to help guide the path of the world for the better.

[Osarius]

CARLOBURGO, VALLADARES
OSARIUS vs QUEBEC: SEVENTY-THIRD MINUTE

Ryan Watson stood over the ball, some twenty-five yards from goal. He wasn't usually given opportunities to take free kicks, but he felt like it was a shot he could make. "K, let me have this one." He'd said, and Kayode Afolayan, perhaps sensing something different in him, had agreed.

Ryan closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He stepped back. One step. Two steps. Three, four. Two steps to the side, lining up his run angle. He exhaled and opened his eyes. It was just as his grandfather had told him once. A long time ago.

It wasn't like reality. He could see... well he wasn't sure what he could see, but he also knew what it was. Something instinctive. Arcs and curves, boxes and windows. All the possible flight paths of the ball once he struck it, he knew. How he knew, he could not say.

He selected one that rose in a broad arc over the wall, and back down, extending beyond the reach of the goalkeeper into the net. As soon as he chose, he knew exactly how much force to put behind the kick. Now all that was needed was to execute.

He began the run-up.

* * * * *

MEANWHILE, IN AN UNKNOWN LOCATION

A small council of shadowy figures silently watched a portal, until eventually, one spoke. "It would appear there has been another awakening..."

"What action do you propose?" Came a reply.

"The Vox again?" Spoke a third voice.

"No." Answered the first. "This one requires something different. Something... no, someone closer."

"Are you suggesting we-" Started a fourth voice.

"It must be done." The first said, in a tone suggesting no argument would be heard.

* * * * *

CARBONIA, OSARIUS

After watching his grandson score a beautiful free kick to equalise against Quebec, Benedict Watson had retired to his bed. The former Osarius international was frail, effectively clinging to life after repeated problems with his once strong heart.

There was a faint smile on his face as he drifted into sleep, murmuring to his wife "he did good, didn't he, love?"

* * * * *

CARLOBURGO, VALLADARES
OSARIUS TEAM HOTEL, THE ROOM SHARED BY RYAN WATSON AND WILL SIMPSON

Ryan was still practically buzzing with excitement when he got into his bed, and tried to get some sleep. It was late. Around 2am.

"You asleep, Will?" He asked his cousin. "I'm still buzzing, man."

"I can imagine. One of the best goals I've ever seen, cuz." Will answered, slowly.

"You think I'll get to start next game now?"

"No idea, cuz. Depends on Jerome. If he's not too hurt or whatever." Came the half-slurred, groggy reply. "Don't think about it. Just rest up."

Ryan didn't reply to that. Just stared at the ceiling for a moment. Slowly, it blurred. Slowly, it faded. Suddenly, he was asleep.

The dream was strange. He spoke with his grandfather. They spoke of talent and gifts. Of inspiration and leadership. And of expectation and responsibility.

Ryan woke at thirty-one minutes past five. Something had changed.

* * * * *

CARBONIA, OSARIUS

The morning came, and the sun rose. Benedict Watson did not.

[Farfadillis]

Before World Cup 74, I had played in six World Cups. Twenty-five matches. Suffice to say, I had my fair share of experience. I also had immense top flight experience, having begun starting for Directus before getting my driver's license. Hell, I was coming off a fantastic season playing for them, winning the Champions' Cup, and it was generally agreed I'd been the most important player of the team, as far from a one-man show as we were.

This World Cup, however, was different. Despite having always been praised for my mental strength, this time I could actually feel the pressure. In previous editions, there had always been one man that was, so to speak, the image of the country's hopes of winning the World Cup. First it was Friekder, then Risko became a better player and so the image of the team as well. I'd always been just their very good assistant and nothing more. Now that the entire nation seemed to be placing their hopes on me, I began to realize that perhaps Friekder and Risko were much stronger than me mentally. Friekder had always been a model professional, so to him media attention was nothing important, while Risko had always been a bit big-headed, and thus actually relished the prospect of being the hero. Me? I was loathing the pressure.

Pekarik had in a way helped lift a bit of the pressure by telling the team that I wouldn't be the most important player in his tactics for the tournament... instead, I'd be one of the two most important players. Apparently, Fôrté would be playing closer to the right flank than he was used to, and he and the team was meant to focus more on attacking via the right flank so that we could tear apart defenses or something. Far from ideal, but at least Fôrté would split the pressure with me in the locker room. Not like the media would stop heralding me as Farfadillis' hero for this World Cup, though.

I have to say, it was pretty evident during training that I was finding the whole thing pretty straining. I did not perform very well in any of the warm-up matches (unlike Fôrté, who was clearly feeding off the attention). That prompted Risko to make a few sarcastic remarks. I couldn't help but understand him. He was having to face the reality of slower legs and the impact that that made on his performances. He was no longer the "hero", though I really wished he still was, and that had clearly hurt his pride. However, as much as I did not, uh, "retaliate", I didn't even have to in the end. It was Fôrté, clearly in high spirits, who made fun of his own teammate by pointing at the elephant in the room. I don't remember his exact words, but he basically called Risko out on his jealousy. It was awkward, but also pretty funny, and it shut him up for all of the days leading up to the first match against Nova Anglicana.

The days went by, and they were all uneventful. Before I even realized it, I was already standing there, watching Risko and Elexhé standing next to the ball with the referee ready to whistle. Strangely, that very moment was the calmest I'd felt since arriving at San José Guayabal. When you remove all of the external factors, it's still a game of football, just like the ones I used to play in Ruland's streets. Risko and Fôrté definitely not, but perhaps Friekder had felt just like me. A mentally-resilient man, a consummate professional, and all that he was and was not, put under so much pressure, he still couldn't possibly have felt nothing before the matches. Relishing the attention or realizing the simplicity of it all, that was the key.

Ӿ Ӿ Ӿ Ӿ Ӿ

"Half an hour of regular time left and, somehow, no goals have been scored yet."

"Nova Anglicana have done well to hang on for so long, but I believe they're about to cra -"

"HANG ON CAUSE RUY'S GOT THE BALL. Mâás stops a rudimentary pass from Ruy. Mâás with the ball. He's looking for options... Nobody's unmarked. HE DRIBBLES ONE, ANOTHER, HE ENTERS THE BOOOOX. IT'S A PASS TO FÔRTÉÉÉÉÉ. GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL GOOOL GOOOL GOOOOL. GOAL FOR FARFADILLIS. MAGIC FROM MÂÁS FÔX. PERFECT FINISHING FROM WÍNRÔUGE."

"Just as I was saying the Anglicanan defense was about to crack, Fôx splits it apart. Fantastic assist by the Rulandese winger. Wínrôuge finished the move just as perfectly as Fôx started it. This will be disappointing for the Anglicanans, considering their defense honestly pissed away the game with this. You never leave a player that free inside the box, even when trying to stop Mâás."

Ӿ Ӿ Ӿ Ӿ Ӿ

"Just five minutes to go and Nova Anglicana have not even tried to fight their way back into the match. Baffling."

"We have been in control of the match since minute one, and it looks like it's gonna extend to minute ninety."

"The ball gets to Tôr. Röènôùjýâ overlaps. Passes to Fôrté. FANTASTIC PASS TO KÂÍÍÍÍ. C'MON FÔÔÔÔX. HE DOES NOT SHOOT! TERÁÁÁÁÁN. GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL. GOAL FOR FARFADILLIS. ALEX TERÁN. THAT'S THREE POINTS FOR US."

"Astonishing. One can't help but wonder what goes through Fôx's head during a match. Ice-cold move from the Directus player. While most would've shot from that position despite the unfavorable angle, he instead feinted a shot and went for the pass to Terán. Fantastic decision-making. This man does not feel pressure!"

Ӿ Ӿ Ӿ Ӿ Ӿ

"Hello Mâás, I'm Jorge Elizondo from Channel 7. First of all, congratulations on such a stunning performance. Tell us, what's your secret? How do you stay so cool in front of goal that you can actually think of doing what you did? How can you avoid the pressure?"

"..."

"..."

"Uh... Jorge, are you there?"

"... He's just chuckled and moved along."

[The Saint James Islands]

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All the football news that's fit to print!

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We at the Blog are eating our words right now, but don’t expect us to again
By Janmat Peterssen

Let’s just say that words are tastier than you think when paired with an expertly-crafted vodka sauce. The Blog HQ were fairly wasted by the end of the match against Flardania to say the least.

No one would have imagined that Ryan Pritchard and Tömas de Vrikt could be the gaffer and skipper to take Omerica to a World Cup finals début. And fewer would have imagined that fateful first World Cup match would happen to be a victory for Les Oiseaux. We didn’t. We thought Omerica would crash out in qualifying, failing miserably in the aim to be anywhere close to competitive. Maybe we should have learned to repudiate our gut instincts ahead of the World Cup finals, in which we boldly predicted a 0–0–3 monstrosity of a showing.

The first half was nothing to shout home about, of course, with Flardania looking the better of the two sides and coming close to taking the lead at several points if not for a disciplined back five and the heroics of Stéphane Rousseau, who we here at the Blog cast what retrospectively look to be terrible doubts upon. After the scoreless first half, Ryan Pritchard found his strategy of wearing Flardania down and tempting them into making mistakes successful. A John Percival penalty early in the second half broke the deadlock and, compounded with Percival’s breakaway late in the second half, secured the game for the underdogs.

So we were wrong. We were wrong when we said we’d lose our opening qualifying match. We were wrong when we said we could never beat Nephara. We were wrong when we said Abanhfleft would destroy us away from home. We were wrong when we said Abanhfleft would capitulate in Philibiscostal. We were wrong when we said Omerica had snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. And we’re sure as hell wrong now.

Nonetheless, before the celebrations break out and the fireworks go off and pundits predict the demise of our predictive prowess at the Blog, remember that the rest of the World Cup will be an uphill battle. Remember that Flardania are the third-seeded team and Omerica the fourth. To expect points against Valanora and Barunia would be a fool’s dream. It’s certainly not impossible, but it’s simply unlikely to happen. We’d need home pitch advantage against a side as highly-ranked and historically celebrated as Valanora to have a chance. Even if Omerica advance, the Round of 16 opposition would be one of the likes of Schottia (35th), Nova Anglicana (23rd), Farfadillis (11th) or Vilita (5th). Given that Vilita and Farfadillis won the first two matches of the group, we’re not wagering on a Schottia or Nova Anglicana comeback or anything even remotely close to a hope or prayer in the knockout stage (assuming we make it in the first place).

The Vanorians’ 4–1 scoreline against Barunia, a team who are far superior to Omerica, should not inspire confidence in Omerica’s chances in the match. The Vanorians are an efficient, goal-churning machine who have gone undefeated in competitive matches so far this cycle, dropping just two points in an away match against 46566 (it is a strange name, but it’s real, folks). Thirty-four goals so far this cycle compared to just twenty-four for Omerica should not inspire confidence either. The only statistic that is likely to inspire any hope is that both teams have conceded exactly nine times in competitive matches this cycle, with Valanora keeping just seven clean sheets to Omerica’s ten so far. But even then, when Omerica concede, they concede an average of three; when Valanora concede, they concede an average of two (and a quarter, but you can’t score quarter-goals in a match).

This doesn’t even begin to explain the lopsided nature of the match-up, however. Compared to Omerica, whose big names include the fairly obscure Tömas de Vrikt, John Percival and William Parnell, Valanora have players known far and wide and are managed by the immensely successful and renowned Polarian Mikael Mannisenmäki. But ultimately, Aediron Galadirdren is going to frustrate Red Tyler’s shots. Allandren Fresco is going to give John Martin a lot of work to do. Espy va Drake could beat any Omerican midfielder in a battle for possession. And none of this even begins to mention Laborious Hawk, Vanorian captain, World Cup Hall of Famer and nightmare fuel for opposition players.

All this might explain why Laborious Hawk and crew have been haunting my dreams for the past month and it wouldn’t surprise me if they’ve been haunting the dreams of the Omerican players in San José Guayabal. Let’s be satisfied with three points on the table and the knowledge that, even if we come last, we’ve at least managed to make it this far and not screw everything up in the Promised Land of the World Cup finals. Anything else would just be getting our hopes up too high.

Of course, knowing my luck, some magical twist will be thrown up that will somehow manage to prove me wrong. It wouldn’t be the first time.

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Turanga ʻAhipula ʻo ʻOmerika
6 Jacques la Rouge Road
Port-Alexandre, Philibiscostal 18-A40
COMMONWEALTH OF OMERICA

Official Press Release - Tuku Katipa Hoi ʻe Pieti

Seventy-Fourth World Cup Finals
Omerica national team line-up vs Valanora

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Substitutes
GK—№ 1: Stéphane ROUSSEAU
GK—№ 23: Ryan MORELAND
LD—№ 2: Red MILLHOUSE
CD—№ 15: Jean-Marie MOLINEAUX
CD—№ 16: Makara ʻO TOA
RD—№ 17: Mikäel CHRISTOPHE
LM—№ 18: Ryan ANDSEN
CM—№ 19: Rangi AMANG
CM—№ 9: Arani IROHA
RM—№ 21: Raia TURI
CF—№ 11: John PERCIVAL
CF—№ 22: Ekeaka KONANI

Starting eleven
GK—№ 13: John MARTIN
LD—№ 14: Martin PALL
CD—№ 3: Keone MAKAIO
CD—№ 4: Honoré LEFURGEY
CD—№ 5: Tre URISTSON
RD—№ 6: Ansel RYAN
LM—№ 7: William PARNELL
CM—№ 8: Tömas DE VRIKT
CM—№ 20: Kairo KAMARANI
RM—№ 10: Casimir PAQUET
CF—№ 12: Red TYLER

[Pasarga]

Torgos Tribune ~ All Aboard

The Wanderers are a game into the Finals of the Seventy-Fourth World Cup and they are looking a little outside of their normal self after the match with the defensive powerhouse of Ko-oren. The Atlantian Oceania outift surprised the side by not playing up to the hyper defensive ways and instead were willing to take on the Wanderers head on, a style that is usually more associated with those teams inside the top ten of the WCC rankings. However such a tactical surprise and shift payed dividends for the team from the Ko-oren union, as they were able to pot two goals past a Wanderer defense that was supposed to be a steel curtain in front of their net, though the Wanderers were able to play up to their own offensive strength and grabbed a pair of goals themselves, including the equalizer eight minutes before time that rescued the point from the match for the number one ranked side in the world.

The Wanderers are going to have to turn up the attention to detail in the next match as they will be facing off against another outfit from Atlantian Oceania but one with a higher caliber and history behind them. That of course are the Eels of Turori, who have gone as so far as to give a budding rivalry between our Wanderers and their own squad. It is an interesting take since though there have been encounters, they have not made a grand impression on the Pasargan squad or media, so that if there is a rivalry, then it is quite honestly a one sided one and one that is quite brief. However knowing that Turori believes there to be this rivalry between the squads, you can be sure that there is going to be an added edge to the match, beyond that of two powerful sides playing one another in the group stage.

What is also of key importance is now thanks to the dropped points against the Dragonflies of Ko-oren, the Wanderers will now have to win this game against the Eels if they wish to win the group after Turori escaped with a narrow win in their first group matchup. Winning the group is of the utmost paramount as to avoid a second round matchup with the reigning champions in Eura after they managed to defeat Nephara in an epic clash on the first matchday of the group stage. With Eura out on the front foot already in their group, the odds are that they are going to be taking it and while a match against either the Eurans or Nepharese would be a tough one that is more fit for a Quarterfinal fixture rather than second round, the draw has not been that kind to either group.

It is going to be a battle for the midfield with the Turorian side, as their midfield is the strength as is the case with many sides out of the Atlantian Oceania region, just look at Valanora and how they dominated the competition with a stellar midfield. It is a strong midfield that helped facilitate the Wanderers to the top, even though many would say the rise in caliber of strikers is what made the Wanderers to the epitome of success they currently are. Turori has the advantage of a younger midfield on average, though for the Wanderers lack in youthful energy and exuberance they make up for in championship winning experience and the wisdom that comes with a decade under the influence of championship managers and tactics.

While it is never good to take an opponent for granted, the last group game against Szavoda is as close to a guaranteed win as one can get in the group stage, especially given the different nature of skill and experience between the two squads. That is what makes the Turori match all the more pivotal, to give the Wanderers that chance to prove their worth and talent on that matchday against Szavoda. That being said, I would not be surprised at all if even if Szavoda will be the most tough match for the Wanderers, especially if they manage to defeat the Eels in their next match tomorrow. They definitely have some talent on their squad but the different realistic goals for the two sides will likely put the greater pressure and desire from the Wanderers to get the result required of them. First though, Mor and company have a date with the steel of the Turori midfield to deal with.

[Turori]

The Latest Sporting News from Turori

Turori Triumph Late in Opening World Cup match

Estadio de la Montaña, Pradera, Valladares :: The Turori Eels left it late but eventually executed their traditionally defensive tactics to perfection recording a slim but confident 1-0 victory over debutants Szavoda.

Like Turori, Szavoda needed to transit through the Playoffs in order to book their place in Valladares after finishing second in Group 19. The Szavodan's were highly proflific in final third during the qualification ending with 28 goals scored and a +13 goal differential. If they were good students of history, however, they would have known that they were in for a different kind of match on the opening matchday against the Turori Eels.

While often cited for a "Karelan Defense" and "System Karela Tactics" the actual tactics employed by the Turori National Team would be more appropriately described as either System Jesejil or System Imdila. For the Eels to Truly be executing System Karela, they would be more likely not only to keep a shutout but also to be shut out. As such, the definition of "Karela" has evolved over the years as applied in Turorian Culture.

What is System Karela?

System Karela is a tactic best described as "All Out Defense". In reality, a Karelan System is more likely to be the one applied by a team that is gravely outmatched and hoping above all to escape with a goalless draw. As System Karela has also been dubbed "The Most Boring Tactic Ever" - a match where both teams were employing Karelan tactics could easily be quipped as "The Most Boring Game Ever". System Karela was named in the time before time after the Rejistanian club Karela Lines. The tactic was famously used by Cockbill Street during their successful campaign to qualify for World Cup 20. Adding to the legend, the Cockbill Streetians used the tactic, in its loosest form to record an historic 1-0 upset victory over former World Champion nation Rejistania - the very nation whose club Karela Lines originally invented the tactics. Unfortunately for Cockbill Street, however, they would lose their final match of the Group Stage when Lovisa famously used the Karelan Tactic against them. There would be no celebrations on the day - As Lovisa were eliminated anyway, but the resultant press conference from the Lovisan manager resonates across social sharing sites to this very day. Having sat down to talk to the media, the Lovisa manager took no questions. Confidently, he grabbed the microphone and uttered two words.

"Lovisa Win".

Put down the microphone, and walked out of the room. At the very same time, the Turori Eels had lost to Rejistania, also by a 0-1 scoreline, and also at the hands of the Rejistanian's own ultra-defensive system. The Rejistanians were not going to be beat at their own game and took on the tactic, successfully employing it against the Eels who had won their previous two games and were looking to run the table en route to their first big World Cup run.

The chain would continue, as the Eels then adopted System Karela for the first time in their history and executed the tactic to perfection in their Round of 16 fixture. The Eels played Two-Time World Cup Runners-Up Spaam to a goalless draw sending the match into extra time. At the same time, Turori's Group H foes were ending Crystilakere's brief moment in history. When Lorenzo Mumamba netted for Turori in Extra Time, it set up a rematch between Turori and Rejistania in what many feared would end up as "The Most Boring Game, Ever".

In the end, the Rejistanian's had a trick or two up their sleeve, switching from System Karela to System Takil unexpectedly and catching Turori off guard. The lone goal was enough to make the difference resigning the Eels to a 3rd consecutive Quarter Final defeat - setting off a record that still stands to this very day of the Turori National Teams inability to progress beyond the Quarter Final stage.

5 of the next 6 Turorian World Cup Finals knockout matches would end with a 0-1, 1-0 or 0-0 scoreline to be decided on penalty kicks. When the H1SR folded in Rejistania and Cockbill Street was paved right off the map in Atlantian Oceania; Turori were left as the last "Karelan" team standing. While they could never progress beyond the Quarter Finals in the World Cup the Eels used their defensive prowess to record a trio of Cup of Harmony victories as well as The Eagle's Cup.

Then, just when the Eels appeared poised to take another shot at a deep run in the World Cup Finals, they hit a bump in the road during World Cup 74 Qualifying. Having fallen off the top in their group after failing to dispose of Flardania in the opening tie, Football Association of Turori President Mumau Atla-Siioai - who made his living domestically on System Karela with Turoki United, using the famous Rejistanian tactic to lead his team of Amateurs to the Vilitan Stellar Division Title and UICA Globe Cup Final, announced that Turori were changing to System Takil.

The very opposite of System Karela in every sense, System Takil is the proverbial "All Out Attack". The formation that Turori really took on the pitch, of course, resembled more of a System Hangila then a System Takil, but the effect was still the same. After 53 cycles of worshiping the Shield of Karela, the Turori National Team tried something different. It didn't really work. While Turori survived the temporary departure from their tried and true roots, the venture into the uncertain was feeling a bit too unnervy for players and fans alike.

So, ahead of the World Cup 74 Finals in Valladares, Football Association of Turori president Mumau Atla-Siioai announced that the Eels were returning back to the tactic they had first seen man eons ago, when Lovisa roamed the earth, Rejistania were World Champions and Cockbill Street was more than just a road leading from Eel's Park to The Eagle's Club in Eelandii.

Once again, executed to perfection, The Eels channeled the great Karelans that had come before them and applied their System Turori to open World Cup 74 with a rare victory by the appropriate scoreline, 1-0 over Szavoda.

The Original Rejistanian Systems

System Karela: (aka. All-Out-Defense) - Perhaps the most famous of Rejistanian tactics, the use of System Karela typically employs the use of at least 5 defenders and either one or zero attackers. The moniker was generated by Rejistanian newspapers to describe the unconventional style of play of Karela Lines of the H1SR (First League of Rejistanian Soccer). Known to fans as "the most boring tactic ever".

System Jesejil: a 4-5-1 tactic, often in combination with pressing, named after the Rejistania city Jesejil kali in nanti ligat. This tactic was first employed by the Rejistania Under-21 Squad.

System Imdila: a 4-4-2 tactic. Named after Hexen Imdila, the first coach of the Rejistani national team who often used this style.

System Hisisim/Iknel: a fluid tactic where players are loaded into the midfield to create possession at the expense of both attacking and defensive prowess. Typically includes 2 or fewer defenders and 2 or fewer attackers (IE: 2-7-1; 1-8-1). The terms originate from the Rejistanian terms for Versatile (Hisisim) or Midfield (Iknel).

System Hangila: a 3-4-3 tactic named after Ha~e Hangila, a Rejistanian coach who preferred a more attacking 3-4-3 formation.

System Takil: (aka. All-Out-Attack) While at the peak of their prowess, Rejistanian head coach Laxtu Takil used an all out attacking style during the World Cup qualifiers when World Champion Rejistania played against weaker opposition. Famously resulted in the first double-digit victory when Rejistania scored 10 times against Ravea during World Cup 17 Qualifying.

The Modern Turorian System

System Turori: a hybrid system taking from System Karela, System Jesejil and System Imdila, System Turori as employed by the Turori National Team adds a much stronger emphasis on the defensive role of its midfielders as opposed to using natural defenders. The Turorian tactic has 3 central defenders who are joined by 2 wing back midfielders when the Eels are on defense. However, when on Attack, the wing defenders push up the field and become true outside midfielders, supporting the attack as needed. Interpretations of the formation could include (5-3-2); (3-2-2-2) but more naturally fit a defensive minded (3-5-2). Previously, the System used by Turori was more reflective of a traditional System Jesejil.

Final Match Result

In applying System Turori to the World Cup 74 Group D Matchday 1 fixture against Szavoda, the Turorian defense was anchored by Geafi Laina-Sola, Oani Moralziia and Yitizo Mpala'a forming the central defensive trio with defensive stalwart Tarek Edgeli skipping the match to give more time to recover before of the more important fixtures later in the round.

Inaosnaa Klanoa and Kigaoua Oalalka would form the Wing positions falling back on defense to form the Karelan-inspired back line but then pushing forward in attack to identify the tactic clearly as System Turori.

The match went according to the plan for the Eels and went goalless for the first 45 minutes as they were able to completely quash all Szavodan attacking attempts. Then, just over 10 minutes from time, it was the substitute and team captain Klaillal Tuirma who made the difference after a free kick was awarded for a foul on Matlya Eelador.

Tuirma was off-center from the ball which was tapped sideways into his path by Indelli Nura'amura. Tuirma then rocketed an effort with more power and less of his more notable technique. The shot skated along the ground and then hoped just in front of the net making an improbable asking impossible for Nemanja Petrovic to deal with and secured the three points for the Eels.

After executing their own plan, the Turori National Team would learn they were given another gift as Ko-oren were able to hold the World's #1 team Pasarga to a 2-2 draw meaning that a win for the Eels against Pasarga would be enough to see them through to the second round and leaving the top spot in Group D and preferable knockout round placement up for grabs.

Turori [1] - [0] Szavoda

:: Turori Goalscorers :: :: 79' Klaillal Tuirma

:: Turori Statistics :: :: Possession: 60% :: Shots on Target: 4 :: Corner Kicks: 3

:: Szavoda Statistics :: :: Possession: 40% :: Shots on Target: 3 :: Corner Kicks: 6

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Turori Eels Lineup v. Szavoda :: [GK] G.Q Disterfred II, [D.] Yitizo Mpala'a, [D.] Geafi Laina-Sola, [D.] Oani Moralziia, [WL] Kigaoua Oalalka, [WR] Inaosnaa Klanoa, [MC] Etamara Kulkkiia, [MC] Aiden Varess, [MC] Indelli Nura'amura, [FC] Matlya Eelador, [FC] Meldi'ita Mungwaii

BENCH::[FC] Inamari Altariiz, [FC] Enluta Makakio, [M] Klaillal Tuirma, [M] Teliima Loinara, [U ] Ikala Mravedii, [D] Mikki Mayelli, [GK] Mitimi Obalialo

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[Saintland]

Parliament Passes Bill to Promote Foreign Investment in Saintland

(SP) Today, Parliament passed the Foreign Investment Promotion Act by a 401 to 104 vote. The bill is designed to increase the level of foreign investment in Saintland through a variety of measures that are designed to attract more businesses to Saintland. The law provides foreign companies that invest and create jobs in Saintland with a variety of tax incentives, makes it easier for companies to import foreign workers into the Kingdom and authorizes the King's Government to place advertisements designed to lure investment to our Kingdom. "With the passage of the Foreign Investment Promotion Act, the Coalition is one step closer toward achieving our goal of making Saintland the best place to invest. This new law will open the floodgates to foreign investment and reignite our economy. Any company that wishes to do business is welcome to come to Saintland, where His Majesty's Government believes that business is the engine that drives prosperity." - Andreas Tuccius

While the Sanctii economy took a massive hit after the home nation of most of our largest investors closed its doors to the rest of the multiverse, Parliament has taken numerous steps ever since to restore the strength of the Sanctii economy and make our nation more prosperous than ever before. Contrary to the stereotypes, Saintland now permits women to work for a living, if they so choose (though it is still against the law for a husband to compel his wife to work against her will), and has made great strides since Feministvs Sanctvsterra joined in coalition with Futurum toward greater levels of gender equality.

However, Saintland has struggled to attract and retain foreign investment. At present, just 3% of workers in the Kingdom are employed by foreign-owned firms, down from 25% a year ago. If the economic strength of Saintland is to be restored, our nation must attract more companies to invest here, to build factories here and to hire Sanctii workers. The Rushmori Regional Labor Survey recently determined that Sanctii workers are some of the most diligent, most disciplined and hardest working employees in the region. Simply put, we have a highly efficient and highly competent workforce that is of great potential value to employers, if only they would look beyond the outdated stereotypes about how our Kingdom used to be. We can only hope that we will soon see more investment in Saintland.

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Royal Computer Entertainment of Saintland to Reopen, Launch New Handheld Console

(SP) Royal Computer Entertainment of Saintland, the famous game console maker and software developer, has been reopened under the leadership of Princess Maria, the younger brother of King Petrus XX. Princess Maria has announced plans to produce a Saint 2 console with a lineup of games of the highest quality that are family-friendly and which everybody can enjoy. "Today, I am pleased to announce that my older brother, the King, has granted his assent to my restarting Royal Computer Entertainment of Saintland. I wish to take this great company in a new direction and expand the market for gaming and interactive entertainment so that it appeals to everybody, regardless of their nationality, gender, religious beliefs or political beliefs. I believe that there is a large under-served market for video games that everybody can play and it is my desire to fill this hole in the gaming market. To increase the quality of our software and ensure our hardware is of the highest quality, we are going to hire the very best electrical engineers and software engineers to design our products and we are going to let them utilize their expertise to ensure that we are producing a quality product that reflects our values of family-friendliness and inclusiveness. We hope that you will consider purchasing our products in the future." - Princess Maria

Royal Computer Entertainment of Saintland was formerly run by Andreas Usurpus and developed a reputation for producing low-quality games that were thinly veiled propaganda for the reactionary faction within the True Church, including many heretics from the so-called "Fundamentalist True Church" which makes a mockery out of the teachings of our Lord and Savior.

The SP has learned that the new Royal Computer Entertainment of Saintland intends to produce software free of propaganda and to seek the input of senior Feministvs Sanctvsterra members before releasing their products. We applaud them for this gesture of good will and we hope that the Saint 2 will be even more successful than the first Saint.

[San Jose Guayabal]

WC 74 Finals: No Zelaya, No Party - Zelaya gets rid of Footslaves

What a perfect night we had on Estadio Cuscatlán, a World Cup opener against the so hatred rival, and La Selecta won and put the cherry on the cake to the inauguration, a solid defence was a key to stop a more offensive than usual Gregoryisgodistani team, Zelaya appeared as usual, to settle the game for La Selecta and to consolidate himself as the "hangman" of Gregoryisgodistan vs San José Guayabal games. Cenians are next and Paulo Oliveira asks to "Not relax."

By: Karina Cruz, the rivalry lover.
From: San Salvador, San José Guayabal - World Cup 74 - Finals.
Posted: Saturday, June 11th, 2206 - 19:33 (Guayabalense Central Time - User's default time)

A holiday can describe what it was last Friday night in San Salvador, for San José Guayabal, they managed to make an excellent game where defense remained focused and stopped the rival who was more offensive than usual, who tried to push as strong in certain sections to but showed no greater challenge that the defense could not afford properly, while La Selecta took at least one of the many opportunities that were taken, some might call it a waste of chances but in reality it is not, but the great hero game was without a doubt Prune Farmer, who stopped shots right and left, this may have been a result of scandal but was the rival goalkeeper in charge to avoid that, in a solvent. Something to note is, unfortunately the behavior of visitors in the game, who attacked 52 people say "coconut" and being shirtless, a sign of intolerance and barbarity that are capable of committing, these "savages" unfortunately two people died in the game due to the severity of their wounds, while at the end of the game, the visitors caused material Estimated in at Least C $ 125.000 damage (NSD $ 250,000) related to vandalizing parked cars and looting shops and other businesses around the stadium, while preliminary reports by the National police estimate that killed at least three citizens of Gregoryisgodistan in clashes against riot police while conducting looting.

Back to strictly soccer plane, La Selecta decided to take the game usual, in what is already something like a philosophy of play that has been implanted, a cautious but offensive game, which aims to attack rival any way possible and smother through excessive and force errors by the opponent during the game pressure, and maintaining your bet on the counterattack when the opponent can least expect, playing with three defenders, three midfielders, a false attacker and three net attackers, the typical 3 -3-1-3 Oliveira and Herrera managed from arrival to La Selecta, the big difference that this scheme would give a lot of leeway to Jonathan Faña, he is injured but the role of Juninho dos Santos in the current scheme is more restricted than Faña, Juninho function is to give crosses to the center of the area or seek hooked in from the banks to the defense rival, something that would work because of the slowness of the defense of the Footslaves. While on the other side rival, things are more inclined towards the defensive, not the situation, but more something usual for them, History would be responsible for game creation and distribution thereof towards the front, one desgastante for two players of La Selecta function would be responsible for keeping under pressure and leave any possibility of creating useless moves, Xylocarp and Death, alongside a who Cleans could cause some risk if they are not adequately controlled, even if the front of Gregoryisgodistan is not one that stands out for its speed but can cause certain dangers to our defense.

At the time of the national anthems, as was the national anthem of Gregoryisgodistan it was not altered by the local audio expected, but was completely silenced basis of boos and other sounds generated by vuvuzelas and other kinds of whistles used by fans of The Selecta, then two people were injured as a fan of San Jose Guayabal launched two strikes two rival fans, being something that warmed slightly tempers and started a fight, leaving three hit inconsiderable without requiring urgent medical attention, meanwhile, the kick would be done by Prune Farmer, La Selecta would stay in the south goal, the kick was made and that was how the World Cup 74 began a loud booing came from the bleachers against the opposing team, decided to launch the attack without misgiving or thoughts, History gave pass a who Cleans, who followed the right side of the pitch, kept possession and gave pass to Xylocarp for the try with a strong shot Terrazas undertook to stop without biggest problem, dropped to the ground and decided to slow the momentum of the opposing team, which began in a surprisingly offensive, something uncommon for the Footslaves, happening this, anything could happen throughout the game, so it was prepared in case some surprise. fourth minute, Juninho decided to venture out and try to get a first chance through a long pass from Valencia, Juninho decided to venture into the area and pressure Warlord removed, Zelaya broke through and made a weak shot that went on the side of the goal of Prune Farmer, who remained not so active comparison Terrazas.

The actions were leaning in favor of La Selecta, as demonstrated in the seventh minute, Catcher gave pass to History but Valencia ruined his intentions and took a couple of meters, gave pass to Bregoo for Zelaya to take care of the rest, Catcher tried to give a blow to Zelaya but he avoided it, Fatty sought to destabilize Zelaya, but tried to stumble him, Zelaya managed to reach the edge of the area and shot into the left goalpost of Prune Farmer's goal, the first sigh came from La Selecta fans so close to make a move that could end in goal. Prune Farmer clears wrong and Zelaya recovered the ball, hit the ball over Prune Farmer but Catcher arrived just in time to get the ball exactly in line, another serious trouble to the Footslaves, which until then their offensive momentum stopped seriously and started to devote to defend themselves and to defend himself seriously because Zelaya was kept attacking intensely, while Fraser was there, waiting expecting a simple error to score a goal or at least put serious strain on the rival defense a play on counterattacks, which could be harmful to the Footslaves, always slow to show their defensive relays.

The Selecta was showing as expected, offensive during the first moments, but from the twelveth minute, the things changed since Gregoryisgodistan tried to retake possession of the ball and started to opening holes in the defense of La Selecta, History gave a good pass in the middle of the defense to Who Cleans, Who Cleans managed to unbalance the defense and tried to shoot from long distance as seen as Passarelli approached him rather quickly, Who Cleans shot was pretty good because Terrazas forced to lie on the floor to keep the ball out into the goal, forced a corner, Soldier went forward to try to find a header and thus try to score a goal, Soldier made the corner and was predictably at the head of Death, so one of the highest in the team, Saucedo had to intervene to prevent Death made contact, he succeeded and cleared the ball, in what was an interesting duel of tall people, as Saucedo exceed the two meters and Death is around 1.95 meters, finally, the play had greater potential and could achieve something more interesting but difficult to achieve when you also have tall players on the other team In short, La Selecta temper seemed to being relaxed a bit after the Footslaves were determined to give a little surprise in this part of the game.

Despite being attacking, The Footslaves were aware of what was happening and were forced to advance the line of defenses a little and also the line of midfielders, in order to compact its efforts to attack and reduce the chance of being surprised by a quick counterattack started by La Selecta in any moment, or specially an attack coming from Sean Fraser, the only alternative to neutralize Gregoryisgodistan in their defence at that time was moving Zelaya, Fraser and Juninho forward, but this forward line movement could give important spaces in our midfield and let the Footslaves attack, and so could see more damage in the midfield and more chances to score from the opponent, which is not desirable at this stage of the game, but still managed to generate Selecta another chance, this time came from the foot of Passarelli, who gave pass to Valencia, he decided to move gradually towards the defensive third of the Footslaves and then give another pass to Fraser, it decided to advance as is normally done, feeling more pressure managed to enter the area and take the pressure generated by Prune off and then go to the goal, he took off Prune Farmer, he did not have too much opportunities against Fraser but he just sent it out of the goal, a clear scoring chance that unfortunately was wasted, surely it was the clearest opportunity that had been hitherto the game and chances are that there was a similar until later in the game, you should take advantage of opportunities like this and not waste them as it was getting, well, La Selecta seems that they will have to continue to deal with the constant struggle of the definition in front of goal.

The game certainly is leaning in favor of San José Guayabal, the actions taken by Oliveira to take over the implementation of measures to further pressure on the rival defense was effective, even if it was accurately risky, finally we can say that it was something good, because you have to take chances to win, so this end is justified by the means. Returning to the game, the strategy seemed for a moment that would prevail in the game, as Dominic Button urged his players to concentrate on defense, and met, therefore Zelaya attempts to generate a gap resulted in futile, not generated nothing to intimidate Prune Farmer, like Fraser, were not yielding the desired for a dangerous play results, so did Gregoryisgodistan, they did not advance the midfield because Valencia was present at the right time to kill the attempts to advance from the Footslaves, finally the game seemed to be cornered in the area of midfield, it seemed that the game was getting a little boring, honestly, the Gregoryisgodistanis have managed to make the game fail into a pond and a point profit or for them, well, I thank you for ruining the game ... Killjoy... Because over the first twenty minutes, the game was more interesting until they raised such a cowardly manner, what was the fear? I do not know, just Dominic Button knows it...

Going back to what we care about, in twenty minutes, Passarelli got a yellow card due to excessively charge History’s body and leave him somewhat injured, requiring medical attention in order to protect their physical integrity, Xylocarp decided to take the ball and prepare for the free kick, which was not executed directly, but decided to give a pass to Death, who in turn decided to test Terrazas with a powerful shot, Terrazas managed to stop but the power did that was surely burn the hands, there was no time for regrets, but it was time to defend and prevent Gregoryisgodistan from scoring the goal, Who Cleans made the corner but Moreira managed to clear the ball, this time he failed to do a counterattack because the ball went down the line and led to the Footslaves undertake a throw in, Prune 9 did it and left the ball to Soldier, who advanced to give a pass to Death, he came to the area and Terrazas managed to react in time, leaving the goal and managed to take the ball through a tackle, then went back to the goal before a shot that Who Cleans made, Terrazas stopped the ball did not send a corner, but everything was ready to conduct the clearance, but decided to calm a little game and so avoided problems in the next few minutes, while more time is lost to the extent permitted, a good part of the Gregoryisgodistani offense would subside.

La Selecta fans kept supporting as always, in an extremely passionate way and getting to the point of provoking Gregoryisgodistani fans, for thirty-two minutes, the visiting fans threw sharp objects to Guayabalense fans but did not report more problem during that time, because it was reported that there were no injuries after the attack, as a revenge the Guayabalense fans decided to throw flares to the Gregoryisgodistanis and managed to burn approximately twenty people, causing second-degree burns to most in arms or chest, or even a case in which the hair of a woman was literally roasted to whom a seller threw water in order to safeguard her physical integrity. They are accidents that definitely we do not want to see but unfortunately occur in this case we know who cause it and those are the footslaves fans, the fans of La Selecta simply seek to defend themselves against the many abuses they receive from the Gregoryisgodistanis and their savage culture, but the fault is not of them, but who governs, that idiot who calls himself "god" is nothing but a person with a psychological complex of wanting attention and get their minute of fame by forcing innocent people to worship him in exchange for not murder, this kind of thing is simply outrageous. Returning to the level of football, what really matters more, for the last ten minutes of the game there was greater possibilities for La Selecta a shot of Zelaya at the fortieth minute and three that went wide of the goal Prune Farmer, after that, in the minute fourty third, Bregoo decided to go to the front and attack as a forward, something that he doesn't does usually, went to the front without passing the ball and shot to the goal, his shot hitted the crossbar, Prune Farmer tried to catch the ball but he failed in the attempt, sending it to the corner. Saucedo took the corner and crossed the ball towards Fraser, the "Black Panther" nodded and send the ball again to the crossbar, but this time, Prune Farmer took the ball and fell on the ground, two minutes more were added and nothing more happened on them, a cold 0-0 tie was at the half time and some Guayabalense fans booed.

Oliveira and Herrera went with the players and told them to do in the second half would be no major changes except to ensure that Valencia also had more freedom of play to destroy part of the game of the Footslaves, the key was to make a quick attack but concise, seizing opportunities that arise in order to score at least one goal, no matter if they won with a single goal, because the important thing was the three points, but the tie was already good in itself, was not sufficient according to the words of Oliveira, so he decided to motivate the players to give 110% of themselves and break up the rival defense at least once in order to get the three points, while the Footslaves were happy with themselves, as they were tying a game and weren't actually defending a lot, they had some chances but La Selecta seemed to take the dominant role at the end of the first half with some dangerous actions and counterattacks from Bregoo and Zelaya, who was being the most active player on the game, Prune Farmer was keeping an eye on the ball at all the Guayabalense chances, he was performing a good game until now, avoiding clear chances from Zelaya but commiting an error at the beginning that if it wouldn't be if Catcher didn't deflected the ball in the line in his mistake at the seventh minute, still, there were forty five minutes more where La Selecta could do a good party in the inauguration or fail terribly at the attempt.

The Selecta came with a different mentality in the second half, this time they were more determined to get a result that could lead to victory, it was hard to just see Gregoryisgodistan was pulling a surprise by attacking way more than usual but La Selecta had time to make things go in their favor, knowing the nature of the game desired by both Guayabalense managers, La Selecta decided to go offensive at the beginning and avoid being patient with their actions. Zelaya moved the ball and the action began, this time decided to start on the right wing verticality, Fraser received Zelaya pass and ran up over the area, and he waited through the area, Zelaya took the ball but had to cede it to Juninho for the finish off the goal but Prune Farmer sent it to corner, the momentum shown was pretty good with that attitude could achieve something pretty good, depending on how they could take advantage of the chances that were generated from midfield or from the defense, Saucedo kicked and jumped Zelaya, he managed to make contact with the ball but sent it to the side of the goal. The pressure started high but time would tell if it would sustain or if it would be a good idea to keep it for a while, in addition to actions that could make the opponent, obviously.

We were arriving to the fifty second minute of the game and La Selecta wasn’t taking advantage of a lot of opportunities in this game, until the moment where Terrazas cleared the ball after a long distance shot from Death trying to surprise him, Saucedo took the ball to the ground and kept control of it, passed it to Valencia who advanced a bit more and then gave to Fraser, who ran through the left wing of the pitch, reached the corner area and dribbled Slave Catcher, then passed back to Núñez, then he passed to Bregoo who got connected with Zelaya, they did a combination of passes and Bregoo gave a pass to Zelaya, he was in a privileged position and the experienced Guayabalense striker dribbled Prune Farmer and shot, and it was done, in the fifty second minute, Zelaya broke the resistance of the Gregoryisgodistani defense in a good collective play and scored the first goal of the night for the Guayabalense national team, this kind of movements are not so usual by La Selecta but it worked as it should work always, showing a good teamwork and chemistry inside the team, smart moves and placement of the players were something noticeable in this goal, the fans exploded in joy and screamed that goal like it that was the penalty who gave us the win in the 63rd Cup of Harmony vs Valanora in this stadium, sincerely, this was turning into one of the best nights in some time for La Selecta, beating the so hated rival at home in a World Cup inauguration is not a daily life issue.

Time progressed and La Selecta consolidated its domain even more after that goal, fifty-seven minutes, managed to get the ball in midfield, gave the ball to Passarelli, a play on the offensive began, Passarelli gave pass to Valencia for this advance and in turn pass the ball to Zelaya, who turned around and ran for about twenty meters, tried to keep the ball up to win the pressure imposed by the defenders, Zelaya stepped forward and gave pass to Sean Fraser, and returned Zelaya ball on a fine move, Zelaya was well in front of the goal and shot to Prune Farmer, he deflected the shot but unfortunately the linesman raised his flag and sanctioned an offside, the Footslaves took the ball for a moment in order to start having a bit more domain and relax La Selecta, because the game could get worse for them if they don’t react to the constant attacks made by La Selecta or if the Footslaves don’t show the football that they did in the first half, where they seemed to be more offensive than other times, losing some fear against La Selecta, who was trying to get more domain in the game, Oliveira and Herrera changed their line up and made Bregoo go in full offense, attacking hard with four forwards, as we say here “putting all the beef into the roaster.”

The clock was ticking on his departure, people began to appear bothered by the lack of more goals during the second half of the match, considering that La Selecta was attacking more and more, it looked like the game again entered a period of stagnation, as the defense of Gregoryisgodistan was going to rearm , to consolidate again in order to avoid constant opportunities created La Selecta some depth but with the lack of effectiveness being the remarkably consistent every opportunity that was created, it was necessary to appear a player who revolutionized the game with some action unusual and that player appeared sixty-six minutes, Valencia swept and recovered the ball after an attempted attack by Soldier, Valencia moved and passed to Saucedo and gave the pass to Zelaya, but here where surprising happens, Valencia accompanied the whole play and waited for the right time to pass from the time Zelaya, meanwhile Valencia found a comfortable position and went on to receive the ball, Catcher’s pressure was removed and was face to face with Prune Farmer, without thinking twice, Valencia decided to finish powerfully but Prune Farmer deflected the shot. A couple of minutes later, specifically at the seventy fifth minute, Rodolfo Zelaya kicked from a large distance and Prune Farmer deflected it sent the ball to the corner, Zelaya kicked it and Saucedo nodded it, Prune Farmer tried to catch it but just went to “catch butterflies” (failing to catch the ball, in Guayabalense football slang) and Valencia kicked once again, the shot went to Jorge Warlord’s legs and Zelaya recovered the ball, a rather wild situation as there were a lot of shots in this movement, Zelaya kicked and it went to the right post, Bregoo kicked it again and Catcher once again took a ball out of the goal line, Bregoo tried to catch the ball and he was fouled into the area, the referee nor the linesman watched the foul and the penalty wasn’t sanctioned, despite the Guayabalense fans were booing wildly at such a miss from the referee.

Already in the seventy-eight minute, La Selecta decided to keep trying with more opportunities in order to score more goals against Gregoryisgodistan, who were defending that minimal goal difference that wouldn’t hurt them a lot if this group reaches a goal difference decider circumstance in the end of the third matchday, then Rodolfo Zelaya tried to score a long distance goal, Prune Farmer acted well by killing the force of the shot and sending the ball to bounce a couple of meters away from him, Zelaya was getting near to Prune Farmer, he decided to go to the floor and Zelaya kicked intentionally the Gregoryisgodistani keeper, the referee booked Zelaya with a yellow but a brawl started, as Zelaya was punched by Prune Farmer, Abraham Terrazas went there and calmed the “fellow” goalkeeper but instead of that, a brawl started and Terrazas got booked by punching Prune Farmer dead-on stomach, leaving him with some breathing issues for a while. The game resumed and the last chance from La Selecta came on the ninety first minute, Zelaya passed the ball to Bregoo and then to Dos Santos, who entered to the penalty area and tried to nutmeg Prune Farmer, but he tackled legitimately Dos Santos, Zelaya had the ball and kicked, but it went too high, he wasted the last and one of the clearest chances to score the second goal, still, a 1-0 win is enough for La Selecta, who goes lone on the top of the Group E and they will face the Cenian National Team in Concepción Batres, the Cenians tied 1-1 with Apox in the same stadium, in an exciting game from both sides, if La Selecta wins, a second qualification to the Round of 16 in a row is possible, but Oliveira called the players and told them to “Take Ceni as a serious threat, to not relax into the game and seek to win those three points.”