World Cup 60: RP Thread

[Homelands our]

Group 23 Sweepstake Kit

We don't condone gambling by any means. It's alright to have a little fun every four years isn't it? But this is the official Blue:TV sweepstake kit for group twenty-three. Get together 8 members of your family, or 8 friends (if you have that many) and start drawing. We recommend H$2 per turn. Who will draw animals in armed bears? Who will draw rushmori rivals Mangolana? Who will draw home team Homelands Our? 

Rules:
7 players
H$2 per turn
Winner of the group gets the pay out


Bad day for group favourites 

World War Land 3–1 Mangolana

Well the mighty Mangolana were upended totally by a nation in the grips of the war. Honestly I'm not even sure if we will send our players! And is not a world war as we are not involved, yet.

Fiencia 1–0Viator

Two unranked sides facing off here. Home advantage may have played a part. In fact those fans are nearly as good as our's. Not much in it here 1-0 just about right.

Cestyr 1–1 Bergnovinaia

I wouldn't say Bergnovinaia bucked the trend as it was only a draw. What is even more amazing and outstanding for Cestyr (which I can't pronounce) is that they are unranked. All the way to the end they pushed Bergnovinaia and maybe, just maybe Bergnovinaia, the top seeds may not make it to the world cup proper.
   
Armed Bears 4–2 Homelands Our

And now we come to our game. This one didn't stop the trend as well as even though Armed bears (their not armed, I was there) are ranked higher than us. Who expects bears (or whatever their scientific name is) to do better then us. Shocking display from our lads let's hop they to better in Mangolana.
Homelands our scorers, Jamie Long 1 & James Dact 68

The fixture list

Mangolana vs Homelands Our

To kick off the 1v3 2v4 doubleheader it's our players who travel to Mangolana. Both teams will look to bounce back after a somewhat disappointing opening to the diamond cup. My prediction 2-1 based on home advantage. Do these teams have a bouncebackability  (yes that is a real word)

Bergnovinaia vs Armed Bears

The final match of the double header sees the bears take on Bergnovinaia. They are like Homelands Our and Mangolana before looking to get back yo were the rankings say they should be. 3 - 0

Viator vs Cestyr

Rankings don't matter to these teams as they are unranked by the WCC. Cestyr have the confidence after that draw with top seeds Bergnovinaia. Viator however have home advantage. 2 - 1.

World War Land vs Fiencia

Being ranked is what it comes down to here. And world war land are. After beating Mangolana, I don't think Fiencia pose much threat. Least exciting match, 2 - 1.

However these could be all wrong, just look at round one. Tune in tonight to see Mangolana v Homelands Our live and then delayed coverage of Bergnovinaia v Armed Bears, only on blue sports.


<reporter> You expected me to make that sound good. Who do you think I am, the president.
<editor> Maybe, just maybe.

[West Angola]

West Angolan Sports Network

Match Coverage- West Angola vs. Elstorm

Pre-Match: Welcome to another edition of the West Angolan Sports Network. I'm Michael Russert and with me here is John Holder. We now take you live to our World Cup correspondent Brian McDaniels.

Thanks Mike. I'm standing here on the sidelines in a light rain as the team's get set for the World Cup opener. You should really be here, guys, the noise level is incredible, West Angolan fans have traveled here en masse to support the team, they are eager for some success after the Cup of Harmony. We should see a real barn-burner tonight, and it may come down to the final minutes!

21st Minute: Mike, Luke Parrish just swept past Elstorm's defense and nailed a shot from just inside the box. I've never seen anyone move like that before, definitely not a man in his mid-thirties! The crowd has erupted here, I don't know if you can hear that, but the cheering is incredible. --Thank you.-- Mike I've just been handed a decibel report, we have exceeded 100 and now sit at 105, and it spiked to 120 in the seconds following the goal! Now for those of you that don't know, 105 is louder than a jet takeoff at 300 meters, and 120 is as loud as a chain saw without ear protection, now that's loud folks!

49th Minute: Mike, this game might have just broken open! Isaac Warren just seized control of a botched clearance and hammered one home past a diving keeper. The energy here tonight is incredible, West Angola has never won its World Cup opener, and the fans are very excited at the prospect! Parrish and Warren are in top form tonight, and Jacob Kerys has stopped every shot that's come his way. Of course, that's not many, as only seven times has the ball crossed the middle of the pitch, and on three of those is was stolen within ten meters. West Angola is playing their hearts out, they desperately want to put up that win tonight!

73rd Minute: Mike, the subs came in just a few minutes ago and made their case! Logan Flosh and Ross Oponer volleyed to each other all the way down the pitch before a loft from Oponer was headed in by Flosh. West Angola now leads 3-0 and Elstorm has only been able to cross the middle line twelve times today. Kerys left the pitch with seven saves, he didn't have much to do tonight with the defense in the form its in. West Angola is on the cusp of victory, and the fans know it! Decibel levels have climbed to 125, which is well above the normal human pain threshold.

92nd Minute: Mike, the referee has just signaled the end of stoppage time, and the fans have erupted! The team has piled onto Coach Garren near the West Angolan bench, and the joy on their faces is obvious. There'll be a ton of parties tonight, mark my words. For the first time in their history, the West Angolan Football Team has won their World Cup opener! Go West Angola!

West Angolan Match Schedule:

1. at Elstorm (258)
2. vs. Terio (Unranked)
3. at Licentiapacisterra (194)
4. vs. Stachland (37)
5. at Landarea (327)
6. vs. Camwood (85)
7. at Cassadaigua (13)
-Bye-
8. vs. Elstorm (258)
9. at Terio (Unranked)
10. vs. Licentiapacisterra (194)
11. at Stachland (37)
12. vs. Landarea (327)
13. at Camwood (85)
14. vs. Cassadaigua (13)

Won (1) Lost (0) Drew (0) Should Win (6) Should Lose (4) Might Win (2) Might Lose (1)

Projected Final Record (W-L-D): 8-4-2
Projected Final Group Position: 4th

Projected Final Group Order:

1. Cassadaigua
2. Stachland
3. Camwood
4. West Angola
5. Licentiapacisterra
6. Elstorm
7. Landarea
8. Terio

[Baltskandio]

Margrete and Kirsten
Sponsored, as usual, by Milliways

Margrete: "Watch out, world, we are back for another World Cup!"

Kirsten: "Can the Wave get to The Babbage Islands?"

Margrete: "A long shot, that. But we have ties there."

Kirsten: "Ella Rasmussen plays for Great Falls Cymru, still alive in the Champions' Cup."

Margrete: "Two coaches played in Bumblebee land too, Junior at Belgium and Ron Dennis at Nancy."

Kirsten: "So we opened at home and beat Rochehaut four to three."

Margrete: "Nice to start with a win."

Kirsten: "Braces for Ella and young Christian Kold too."

Both: "Go Baltskandio!"

[Liventia]

Eastfield Lodge are the first opponents; Liventia playing away.

Manager David Thompson, returning from hip surgery, takes his place in the dugout as captain George Bowler leads the side out in Lodger City. The Liventian players stand tall and proud as the Call of the Liventian Republic blares out around the stadium, while shortly after the host nation's anthem plays.

However, Bowler ends up at fault for the opponents' goals—two clumsy challenges leading to set pieces which subsequently see the ball in the back of the net. Just part of the tapestry of life in the Liventian national team.

Squad: Ramsden, Daniel, Hodge, Bowler (c) (Barron 81'), Davis, Byford, Buzzeo, Grant (Coburn 72'), Baines, Garner, Wilson (Clarke 81')

[OOC: Daily word count: 100]

[New Pebble Island]

Two miles from Zanzar, next spot in New Pebble's Island's campaign
Luisito was in shock.
He, the best midfielder on the team, had been shot by the military of Transilveinia in the shoulder. The docter on call with New Pebble Island stated that New Pebble Island could not play him with the risk of infection. He had to sit out this game. How he would do it, however, is complicated because New Pebble Island did not get any extra tickets, and, New Peble Island never used a bench because there was only eleven players in the whole club, so he would have to watch it from the locker room. Luisito decided that it would be easier if he went to the hospital and made sure everything was okay.

The team had yet another hurdle to jump.

[Stachland]

Stachland Reds

Reds Cruise Against Landarea in Opener
by Witold Elliott

Despite being the visiting team in the opening match of World Cup qualifying, the Reds wasted no time in demonstrating their ability to rout an opponent, as three hundred and twenty-seventh-ranked Landarea suffered a 4-0 pasting at the hands of the Stachlandic national football team.

Though midfielder Jerce Wolszan sat out the match as he recovers from a knee injury suffered late in the National Series season, his cousin Elzbieta started in his place, becoming the first female starting midfielder in Reds history, and the second female player to score a goal for the Reds, as she kicked off the scoring in the seventeenth minute.

Janus Chambliss would add to the Reds’ lead in the forty-first minute, as he scored on a penalty kick to give the visiting team a two-goal lead going into halftime.

“Our confidence was pretty high, going into the second half,” explained team captain Everett Lang. “It’s the first matchday of World Cup qualifying, and, even though we weren’t at home, we felt like we had all the momentum on our side. We wanted to make a statement about the sort of campaign this will be for us.”

Forwards Zachary Zeelowe and Lyle Verdak would punctuate that message in the second half, as they would score the Reds’ final two goals within the last fifteen minutes of the match. Zeelowe scored on a Ratin Beenum corner kick in the seventy-eighth minute, while Verdak would score on a shot from the edge of the penalty box in the eighty-fourth.

The next match will also be the most important of the entire qualifying campaign—not just for the Reds, but for Group Nineteen as a whole—when Cassadaigua comes to Chevronia for a match which will all but determine the winner of the group. If the Reds can pull off the upset, they are in prime position to steal the spot from the Cassadaiguans—if not, the thirteenth-ranked team in the world would seem to have their ticket to the World Cup in the bag.

Cassadaigua has not visited the Reds since World Cup 55 qualifying, during which they annihilated the inexperienced Stachlandic national team 5-0—and 9-2 on the Reds’ visit to their home stadium. Now, with five international competitions to their credit, the Reds will be looking to exact some measure of revenge for that pair of losses.

[Capivara Group]

Who's the king? Headmaster is the king!

Headmaster scored all goals in the 3-1 victory against TaQud, including the opponents', a beautiful back-header to his own net. He was unstoppable in the field, the TaQudite(?) defense baffled and confused by his meandering runs and weird angled passes.

First hurdle beat, who's the next team?

The CFCSC informs that they aren't aware of who's the next opponent or even where is the match! Guess we'll have to hope we stumble upon the right city again.

Robots send challenge

Dr. Eggman, the coach of the Eggman Empire team, said his robots "are going to destroy that team of beggars and destitutes". The coach of the Capivara Team, Sombra, took offence with the remark. "Beggar is a dignified profession like any other", he reportedly said (nobody is sure since nobody has seen him so far).

[Bears Armed]

"Hrright, so, that's a good start. Maybeso not quite as good as could-have-been, bearing in mind our opponents' lack of international experience, but beginning the series with a win -- and with a 'clean sheet' at that -- seems to me like a start that anybody who believes in such things should consider a good omen."

"Hwell, it seems to mean that Margaret apparently hasn't turned against the idea of ostrich sacrifices, anyhow!"

"Ayyuh, that it does."

"So, hwho's next, and hwhere?"

"Here's the complete schedule for this half of the qualifiers_"

Bears Armed (12th) v O-Damn (U/R) _ Wimbley
Allamunic States (156th) v Bears Armed _ (away)
Bears Armed v Friday Freshmen (361th) _ NorthPort
Bears Armed v Civil Citizenry (36th) _ Wimbley
Unified Falcon (366th) v Bears Armed _ (away)
Bears Armed v Ko-oren (105th) _ Wimbley
Equatorial Sarmen (507th) v Bears Armed _ (away)

"Hr'rmm, not bad, not bad at all for true."

"Our opponents' rankings, you mean? Ayyuh, according to those -- if we can go by them without worrying about upsets -- then Civil Citizenry is the only team there that's hrreally verry likely to pose any serious threat... and we'll be meeting them here for the first leg, hwhich should help us a bit..."

"Hwell, that fact and the detail that we're facing the group's third seed here as well as the second so we've got a better chance of building up some good momentum against them, too."

"Good point, that. Anyhows, we should definitely manage better than the Under-twoEights-and-five team did in the Di Bradini Cup last year."

"We should, for true!
"Hwhat went so wrong there, anyhows? I didn't see much coverage of that tourrnament anywhere in the media..."

"Hwell, from hwhat I heard -- but that was strictly unoficially, mind you -- we somehow ended up sending a team that nobody at BAAS had authorised, with a complete staff that nobody at BAAS had authorised, instead of doing things "properly"... and BAAS -- and BASIC, too, for that matter -- are still trying to find out how that decision was made..."

"Urrgah!"

"Ayyuh, it's a mystery for true, a hrreall mystery."


______________________________________________________________________

OOC notes
The rankings quoted in the schedule here have all been converted into the base-8 numbering that the Bears favour.
BAAS = Bears Armed Association for Soccer.
BASIC = Bears Armed Special Intelligence Commitee.

[Armed Bears]

"Hokay, girls that was a good start, but as you should all already know we're away to face the groups' first seed -- at their own ground -- next. So, be here hrright at secondWatch sharp tomorrow morning for practice, hrright?"

"Hokay."

"Hrright."

"For true."

"SecondWatch? Urrgah!"

"Ayyuh."

"Hrright."

"Hr'rmm..."

"Hwhat is it, Urra?"

"Ur'rmm... I was asked to meet some people from Apple tomorrow lunchtime, to discuss my next album... but I did already tell them that I probably wouldn't be able to make that date. Hoh well, football before singing, I suppose."

"Ayyuh, for true... but we will find the time to let you get that record's details sorted out and the actual recordings made, anyhows, I promise you. Hokay?"

"Hokay..."

[Ipeland]

Another bad start sees Ipeland upset by lower ranked Saarbia

Continuing a run of bad starts in football competition, the Ipeland national team were upset by Saarbia's, who are ranked 19 places below us, in 63rd place. With such a small gap between the two sides, Saarbia were dying for an upset to happen to boost their chances for a playoff place. So much so, that they tactically forgot to release a roster, so the Ipeland scout would be confused about who the opposing team was going to field in the match. To add further confusion, the backs of the shirts only listed numbers, and, as our scouts are so incompetent, no-one could remember what they looked like.

It was Ipeland who took the lead in the first minute of the first half. The attacking formation was deemed to be working rather well, as young midfielder Alex Carting, who was ever-present in the World Cup proper last year, took the corner, which was scrambled in by fellow central midfielder Jutta Kamp. That was the only thing that went towards Ipeland in this game as the next 89 minutes were utter hell for every Ipeland fan, and they were lucky to come away from the match only conceding three goals, due to the good performances of Deniel Stainag, saving the 20 out of the 23 shots on goal, although the end of the match saw the most goals, after Stainag was obviously getting tired. The three Saarbia goals were all scored by the number 11, who scored them on the 23rd, 87th and 89th minutes.

Ipeland will be hoping to forget this game and strongly improve against the much lower ranked Iglesian Archipelago again at home, at Walkden Stadium again.

---

In other Group 8 news, the other game to watch saw top seed Jeruselem narrowly beat Von Kopsho by 1 goal to nil. Von Kopsho, which appears not to be in existence anymore, yet somehow fields a football team, showed that ranks, or existence, really doesn't matter. In the other games, two countries I haven't really heard of, Iglesian Archipelago and The Kingdom of Hyrule, held each other to a goalless draw, and another team I don't know much about, Grunuik, was thrashed by another unknown country, Meshkete 5-1.

There were a few upsets around the other 23 World Cup qualifying groups. In Group 2, 19th Century Beards managed to shock world number 8, Andossa Se Mitrin Vega with a right at the death 1-0 win, Group 6 saw unranked El Gran Tropico hold Taeshan to a 1-1 draw, Weatherdon beat Cosumar 1-0 in Group 16 and World War Land shock Mangolana by beating them 3-1 in Group 23. Neighbours to the North-Eastish Hutt River were beaten easily by The Holy Empire in their Group 4 match.

[Legalese]

To a man, the team squinted as they disembarked from the plane in Laodicaea – except for Kelvin, who had the sense of mind to wear sunglasses, though considering he always wears the sunglasses off the field, sense of mind may not be the right term.

Gabe looked over at reserve Garry Maharry, as he sighed. Pale-skinned ginger, that one – he’s going to fry, and he knows it.

He reached into his pocket, and slipped a tube-like plastic bottle into Garry’s hands. “SPF 30,” he whispered. “Should help a bit. Don’t forget to ask for a bottle of aloe at the hotel.”

Garry accepted the sunscreen, his face turning a shade below what it would look like in a half-hour without it. “Thanks, boss. Didn’t know it’d be so bright here.”

“What else did you expect? They don’t call it the desert kingdom for nothing.”

“At least it’s a dry heat,” Hamish chimed in. “Better this than the jungle.”

“True.” Gabe motioned Hamish to a waiting car – they would let the team take the bus.

“What’s up, boss?” Hamish asked after the car started moving.

“How was the mood of the team on the plane?” Gabe asked, staring out the window, face turned away from his assistant.

“Just fine, you know them – Stan slept, Jimmy and the youngsters chatted, Kelvin boasted, the usual. Why?”

“Just checking, I slept most of the way.” Gabe turned towards Hamish. “Look, I have to know: are they taking these guys seriously? It’s not like we’re facing Starblaydia again.”

Hamish paused, a thoughtful expression on his face. “Yeah, this definitely ain’t Starblaydia – the players are real, for one. And their captain, Mithral there, now there’s a threat. I hope Jimmy took the match film of his play seriously – we need him to play on to Kelvin and Del the way Mithral’s through ball gave them their first win.”

“I know.”

Gabe paused as the car came to a screeching halt, followed quickly by a string of indecipherable comments from the front seat. Gabe looked at the driver, dressed impeccably even in the insufferable heat in a black suit and simple black necktie – only missing the driving gloves. He turned back to his passengers.

“Sorry,” he said in English, with a heavy Phoenician accent. “They give licenses to too many people. We are almost there.”

“No worries, mate.” replied Gabe, as the car continued moving.

“So, what do we do to fire them up this time?” said Hamish, straightening his jacket.

“We start by making it to the hotel safe,” replied Gabe, smiling grimly. “Then we train, and then we play. If we’re lucky, we end up with more goals again.”

[Carmadin]

Carmadinfootballleague.com/uica

UICA Competitions>Current Season>Matches

Previous Matches





First Preliminary Round- Day One
No Carmadin Clubs
First Preliminary Round-Day Two
No Carmadin Clubs

Second Preliminary Round-Day One

FC Charge 4-1 AC Accerigarriba

Second Preliminary Round-Day Two

AC Accerigarriba 0-3 FC Charge (1-7 agg.)

Third Preliminary Round-Day One

FC Charge 1-1 C++ Ancients

Third Preliminary Round-Day Two

C++ Ancients 0-2 FC Charge (1-3 agg.)



First Preliminary Round-Day One

Sehndohn Storm 2-3 Rehaven Tide

First Preliminary Round-Day Two

Rehaven Tide 1-0 Sehndohn Storm (4-2 agg.)

Second Preliminary Round-Day One

Mehnsihn Gladiators 2-0 Etruria
Shared Land Freedom 1-2 FC Napio City

Second Preliminary Round-Day Two

Etruria 2-0 Mehnsihn Gladiators (2-2 agg, 0-0 away goals, 4-2 pen.)
FC Napio City 3-1 Shared Land Freedom (5-2 agg.)

Third Preliminary Round-Day One
No Carmadin Clubs
Third Preliminary Round-Day Two
No Carmadin Clubs



Playoff Access Stage-Day One

Tanr1sal 2-1 Cahrsinleh Devils
FK Kelsey 0-0 Northeastern

Playoff Access Stage-Day Two

Cahrsinleh Devils 1-1 Tanr1sal (2-3 agg.)
Northeastern 3-1 FK Kelsey (3-1 agg.)

Selective Stage-Day One

Northeastern 2-0 Líjü

Selecetive Stage-Day Two

Líjü 3-3 Northeastern (3-5 agg.)


Upcoming Matches:

Tommorow:
FC Charge vs Scott City FC
Shihn'Dohm Island FC vs Deportivo Peralta
Northeastern vs Ittuributa United
Islaic Gold vs Seendok Shells

---

"कि भाषाविज्ञान की तरह नहीं लगती है मेरे लिए"
That doesn't look like liguistics to me

Lehmohn started, jumping in his seat. Joyn stood behind him, grinning.

"Didn't know you were a fan"

"I'm not. Well, not really. I actually just started this morning. My son was all excited because Xer Xán scored the only goal in Carmadin's match"

"Oh? Carmadin played?"

"Apparently. World Cup qualifications. Looks like they actually have a shot"

"How're they doing?"

"It was the first game. They won, 1-0, over Star United States."

"Never heard of them. What language do they speak?"

"English"

"Booooooring. But we beat them?"

"Yes, yes, we beat them well and truly"

"1-0 isn't really well or truly"

"Whatever. Point is, we won. And you should be happy."

"I am."

---

My god, I'm gonna die.
I'm gonna die.
I'm gonna die.

Kihxaw Jahp tried to lower himself to a seated position. It wasn't working. He hated being old. And he hadn't even played today. It had all been Raehzoys Ohcheht. And, the lad had done very, very well. A clean sheet, and a victory. Why was he so stiff? Curse age and everything that came with it. That Raehzoys had had a great game, and Xer Xán had been fantastic. Slotting that ball right in the corner in the 51st minute, the only goal of the game. Dowv had given him the assist. Where was Dowv now?

"My god, is it just me, or are you really, really stiff?"

Thank the lord. He wasn't crazy, or old. Well, not very old.

"Yes! Yes, my god, I am. And I didn't even play"

"You were up the whole time, screaming, and really acting more like a manager than a coach."

"Well, Raehzoys needs some guidance"

"He seemed to do just fine himself"

"Yes, he was very good. Our offense, though."

"Just what do you mean by that?"

"Not you, chill. No offense. But we could have scored some more goals against a team ranked 309th"

"You, my dear friend, should be happy we won"

"I am, believe me"

At this point, Kihxaw noticed he was still halfway between standing and sitting, his joints and muscles screaming and aching in protest. He threw caution to the winds, and collapsed into a heap on the couch, his body crumpling.
Involuntarily, his foot hit the remote, turning the TV on, and ending his and Dowv's conversation

This is CarmadinSport, wrapping up coverage of the match between Carmadin and Star United States at Carmadin park today. The Carmadins kicked off their qualifying campaign the right way, defeating SUS 1-0, and dominating the rest of play after Xer Xán's goal early in the second half. Xán has, of course, his first ever international goal for Carmadin, and has kicked off their campaign just the way they'd want an important stretch of games like this to start.

The Camera cut to a blimp view of Chahr, as the announcer said

And now, we take you back to headquarters, where more Group 11 action is already underway. Jihn?

Yes, It's Halftime here in PBI, and the visitors from West Guiana have been the main contenders..

"Dowv, watch. West Guiana. Our next game."

"Whhuuhhuh?? Oh."

The score is 1-0, and Craig Wilkson of West Guiana has the only goal of the match, a beauty of a strike in the third minute. The game has been close, however, and here in the second half, we'll need to watch the defenders from PBI, to see if they can hold off the viscious West Guiana attack.
And now, it's time for some second half action, right after this commercial break

But, Kihxaw and Dowv never got to see the second half, or the commercial break.
They were both fast asleep.

[Kagdazka and Pazhujebu]

Mahathu's Number One English Language Daily

Eggs Benedict Summons Strength To Avenge Sacking

Qichechumadia Zhabi - Wait, I think we meant Benedict Arnold. If we knew who that was. Whatever, you knew what we meant. It means that giant jackass Brutušam Erassi rode into town on his steel horse like a bald cowboy and beat us on our home turf. Well, he'd better play for keeps, because he might not make it back; he's wanted, dead or alive. He's seen a million faces and he's rocked them all.

Sorry, I felt asleep last night listening to "Jon and the Bon Bovi" and it's wreaking havoc on my metaphors. At any rate, outrage is rampant here in Kagdazka and Pazhujebu; after all, that idiot led our national team through three World Cup cycles and gave us jack shit. Now he takes control of some other national team and suddenly they're the shit or something? Honestly, that son of a bitch!

So thanks a lot, Erassi. Waste our time for six years and then, the moment you get sacked, morph back into a fantastic manager again. Why don't you just do that? We would freaking love that. Whatever.

I guess congratulations are due to Yuzhissa Aghimaqaj, who kicked some ass during the middle third of the match. If Erassi does have anything to worry about, it's whether he needs to replace his over-exuberant right back Toni Siqueira, because Aghimaqaj tore the half-Cafundelense speedster to pieces last night. The Pythons left mid found plenty of space between approximately minutes 25 and 60, scoring an equalizer just before half time and his second right after, putting the Urchins ahead.

Of course, the lad ran into a brick wall when a smarter player was brought on by Erassi; the experienced Juan Delgado was having none of it and played a major role in shutting Aghimaqaj down. Once that was accomplished, Sargossa had no trouble muscling two goals past Ichuvihaja in the 75th and 78th minutes, and K&P were toast.

Just as an anecdotal note: if you were one of the people who complained that Maksim Astafyev should have used either Pudibhišu or Sajid instead of Ukipu in the starting eleven, you can shut your trap. Those two were on for the last ten minutes instead of Ukipu and Oujadda. And they were a TRAIN WRECK. Seriously, neither one seemed to know what was going on. Winogradsky was shouting his head off by the end because he couldn't get either of them two to run into space. So you can expect the big, pissed-off, tattooed Iguani target man to stick around for a while.

The big question is this: would Ignatiy Voropaev have allowed all those goals? Honestly, we love you, Zubeida; you're a national treasure. But those Sargossa goals... especially Alejandro Martinuccio's 4th minute opener... not of the highest quality, shall we say? A better keeper would have kept them out, shall we say? Bringing back a 34-year old, washed-up former captain and putting her between the posts simply on faith was a crappy idea, shall we say?

So... yeah. The Urchins have lost the first match of World Cup qualifying... again. Great. Though, nobody panic; let's all just remember that the exact same thing happened last time. And we ended up finishing fourth! (Of course, the same thing happened during World Cup 56 qualifying... and that was a complete disaster. Cough.)

Everything will be fine if we can collect three points versus The Icemark in our Matchday Two fixture. We'll be pulled up from the basement of the group and back into contention. But complacency is completely unacceptable; The Icemark may not be well known on the global stage yet, but our sources at the Herald tell us that their team is taking RPinin, which is a bad omen.

Nation of Stvoto Latoli Mysteriously Disappears

Tertius Shajarrayam - The sea-bound empire of Stvoto Latoli, which few international governments had been in contact with, has allegedly vanished without a trace. The news has slowly filtered around the multiverse on the wires for days now, but news is only just reaching the Federation.

Reports indicate that the nation's cities, which were constructed on huge rafts decades ago, simply cannot be found. Little is known about the character of the Stvoto Latolian people, but anecdotal reports suggest they were warlike and bloodthirsty, raising the possibility that they destroyed themselves in a civil war.

However, conspiracy theorists and forensic scientists (odd bedfellows, but apparently the sex is great) have cast doubt on that theory. When WA investigators were sent to the area formerly controlled by Stvoto Latoli, no signs of conflict could be found. (That said, diving teams did not reach many parts of the ocean floor beneath the water, and it's possible that sunken raft cities might be located upon further inspection.) A prevailing hypothesis, that something more sinister was responsible for the nation's disappearance, persists.

After all, the event of "CTEing" (as the disappearance of a formerly populated nation is known in WA shorthand) is nothing unfamiliar to the global community. Where, for example, is Brazillico? Where is Europa Brittania? These nations were once powerhouses, dominating competitions like the above-discussed World Cup, but today they are nowhere to be found.

Is there a connection? Is the disappearance of Stvoto Latoli simply the latest in a string of similar vanishings that stretch back into antiquity? Investigators do not have answers for these questions. However, one worrying fact is on their minds as their search continues: several hundred years ago, the Stvoto Latolians evidently stumbled across a massive cache of gold, silver, and other priceless minerals, as well as a map indicating where they could drill for valuable natural resources. The nation, therefore, is thought to have been swimming in wealth when it disappeared.

Foul play? Only time will tell.

[Phoenigetuzstha]

"So, we're facing Legalese next..." Nebuchad, the Phoenigetz manager sighed, looking out of his office window as the players arrived for training. Legalese had just come of the back of a very convincing 4-1 over Starblaydia. They must have been in high spirits, he thought, while the Phoenigetz team weren't too happy with a slim win over Ishaanabad. In the post match conference, he pretended he was fine about the 3 points, but inside he wasn't happy, not at all. Such a slim win against a poor opponent is totally unacceptable. He had led Phoenigetuzstha to amazing victories, like the ones of the Kytler Peninsulae and Yesopalitha, but now he was winning with almost nothing to show for it. True, Hamilqart and the defence did well, but he was unimpressed by the standard of other players, notably the strikers. Standing up, brushing down his pink and black track-suit with the initials N.B-H on it, he headed to the training field.

"Right, men. We can all pretend we did a good job last match, we can all say, 'Oh yeah, we got the 3 points', but quite frankly, a 1-0 victory against Ishaanabad isn't good enough. Raise your hand if you've heard of Ishaanabad?" He asked frustratedly. One player put his hand up, Vahgn Hairus. He was a very studious person, and had a degree in medicine. Often, if a physio was late or couldn't attend a game, he would step in. Due to being new to the team, he had played very few international games, but was often a feature on the bench, taking a book to read.
"Okay, so no one other than Vahgn has heard of them? Thought so... Now, who has heard of Legalese?" Nebuchad asked. 6 players raised their hand, including Vahgn.
"My point exactly, Legalese are a better and more well-known team, and you need to step up your game to beat them!" Nebuchad got slightly passionate, and lost himself.
"Er-hem, anyway, let's start our training. Hamilqart, Tigran and Mithridates you need to..."

Match Predictions

Phoenigetuzstha - Legalese 2:1
Ishaanabad - Isointania 0:0
Arcquest - Qazox 0:3
Starblaydia - Cotdelapoms 1:3

[Jedi8246]

The Armor Wars
A Marvel RP Series for World Cup 60
Chapter 1: A War Monger

Billionaire Tony Stark sat at his computer console in his Malibu home. He took a sip of his coffee, trying to figure something out. In the two years since his escape from the Nine Rings, much had happened. It had all begun with the development of his Mark I Iron Man suit. It had engineered him an escape and entry into a new life. A life where Stark Corporations didn't sell weapons to terrorists. Or weapons at all for that matter.It had harmed his company at first, but he had come with a new series of innovations to keep his company atop the market. Stane had tried to rid of him, but his improved Iron Man armor had proved superior.

Then he had to deal with the mechanizations of old family foe Whiplash. Jealousy had fueled him to go after Stark with revenge in his heart. Funded by Justin Hammer, he had proved a worthy foe. Rhodes was a great ally as the newly formed War Machine. Together, they had held off Whiplash and his drones. Hammer was put in jail and Whiplash killed. But there was no rest for him. Then came Loki. And his world domination plans. The Avengers had formed to deal with this threat. The power of them together had taken down the army and Loki was locked back in Asgard.

Yet Stark had a feeling. A feeling of suspicion. Something didn't add up. Whiplash certainly had the mechanical expertise to build his armor. Yet, how did he get the materials and supplies necessary. And Stane. His knowledge of engineering should not have allowed him to form his armor. Someone else had to be behind it. He would know soon enough. Tony had his computer analyzing the remnants of the Iron Monger and Whiplash suit in every way possible. Some similarity would be found between them. There had to be.

"Tony!!"

He spun about in his chair to see her. Pepper Potts. His one time assistant and now lover. And possibly more. Ms Potts had been loyal to him throughout his entire adult life. He trusted her more than any person on the planet. And he realized what he had wanted. More than anything. To be with her for the rest of his life. For her to be his wife. Thus, he had called her.

"You wanted me for something Tony?"

"Yes Mr Potts. Please sit down."

"Sit down? Your getting serious Mr Stark?"

"Oh you know me Pepper. Me and serious is like water and oil."

Pepper sat down. "Well?"

Tony stood up.

"I actually am getting serious. Haha. Recent events have got me thinking. You know how almost getting trapped in a different dimension can change your perspective on things. Or getting blown by nukes. Or killed by gods. Eh.. this is getting off the rails. My point is... I couldn't stand to lose you. Or be without you a moment longer. So Ms Potts.." He kneeled pulling out a red box."Will you be Ms Stark?"

The box activated, opening itself and revealing a flawless ring. Pepper stood stunned for a few moments, then smiled.

"Yes.. Yes Tony! I'll be your Ms Stark!"

Tony laughed and hugged her, then kissing her. He slid the ring onto her finger, the stone then glowing a light but brilliant blue

"I have an identical one.They are linked to our heartbeats. That way if one of us gets in danger, the other will know. And our hearts will always be linked."

Pepper smiled and kissed him passionately. Tony's computer then beeped. He looked over.

"This is important. I-"

"Don't say another word. I'll leave you to your work. Plus I gotta tell my friends."

She kissed him again before running upstairs. Tony smiled and then sat back down.

"What's the deal Jarvis?"

"The analysis found a sole similarity between the two armors sir."

"And? I don't pay you to beat around the bush."

"You don't pay me at all sir. The sole similarity is an element within the metal's structure. They both were designed with a similar material. One that can only be found in one place. Latveria."

"Lat-"

Latveria. A Far East European country. One ruled by a powerful man. The man known as Victor von Doom. Better known as Dr Doom.

[Sargossa]

The campaign may have been barely out of its infancy but this felt like a big moment. As Guerrón squared the ball across the face of the penalty area, tantalisingly ahead of the onrushing Montiel, time seemed to slow. The Vincanto midfielder had space to take a touch, to better the angle or attempt a one-two with Guerrón. But the notoriously selfish midfield dynamo was having none of it. Instead he struck it first time, low, hard and aiming inexorably into the bottom corner. The speed of shot was just enough to wrong foot the aging Ichuvihaja and from that instant she was beaten, her fingertips brushing the ball as it rocketed into the net. With twelve minutes to go the Corsairs held an improbable 3 - 2 lead in Emuzhezh.

Improbable, yes, but perhaps not entirely unexpected. In the days leading up to the big Group 15 opener there had been a sense of something permeating the Emuzhezh air. Not that the visiting fans noticed. Some three thousand had made the trip north from Sargossa to Atlantian Oceania and the vast majority were enjoying their stay, albeit not the absurd amount of walking the exorbitant monorail fees forced on them. As the sports reporters roamed among them, seeking yet more grist for the mill of twenty four hour sports news coverage, there seemed to be a consensus. A draw would be lovely. The home faithful were more bullish, those of Kagdaz decent at least. They were hosting a lower ranked nation with a failed coach, where was the danger? The locals were slightly more circumspect. Brutušam Erassi was one of their own, his sporting journey so inextricably linked with this city and its club side, Urnabhi. There was a sense, a feeling, that perhaps the script had already been written.

The big match drew near, the preamble had started, but of Erassi there was no sign. His assistants were much in evidence as Oghu'ghabuzheh Palšikar took the morning training session and Hernán Ojeda squared up to the media in the pre-match press conference. The assembled Sargossan media corps, sensing some hidden drama, quizzed him on the coach's absence. Ojeda refused to be drawn, "It's personal", was all he would reveal.

As kickoff loomed the unscheduled absence was forgotten as Erassi took a somewhat unfamiliar seat in the visitors' dugout at the Emuzhezh Stidiyama. There seemed little out of place as he shared a decidedly chilly handshake with his opposite number before taking his traditional position at the edge of the technical area, arms firmly crossed against his chest, breaking only to bark out instructions in his now flawless Sargossan. But, as perhaps only his long time collaborator and friend Palšikar noticed, there was something different about the shaven headed tactician. A subtle change. A glint in the eye.

Whatever it was it inspired as his charges played a blinder. Strong in the challenge, fighting for every loose ball, forever looking to drive forward, they never gave the hosts a moment's rest. It was a typical Erassi display, the type that rarely fell into place during his tenure at the helm of the motherland. Then came Montiel's late drama and the breathless last few minutes before the glorious sound of the referee's whistle. The Sargossan bench erupted in celebration of a fine away win. The delighted fans chanted their songs. And Erassi quietly clenched his right hand into a fist, glanced to the heavens and smiled.

[Kiryu-shi]

A cool ocean breeze lazily drifted towards where Tziganes d'Arányi was sitting in the now-empty Sakaino University Athletic Complex, the entire stadium looking impeccable. She was weary, and, as she had yet to find a place to stay permanently, she was waiting for the sun to set over the stadium, when she could make her way into some of the maintenance rooms that were rarely used, in the lower level beneath the locker rooms. She had gotten used to the sun setting over land over the last few months, but she still missed her home, where she could safely watch the sun set over a majestic ocean, most nights. Even though Sakaino University was close to the ocean as well, on the east coast of the country, she had yet to work up the courage to make her way there.

It was just two days since Kiryu-shi’s first qualification match in the World Cup Qualifications for the sixtieth World Cup. A match that Tziganes had miraculously managed to watch, in person, from on the field itself. Which turned out not to be a huge accomplishment; security, although apparently tighter than it was four years ago, was not very detailed, and her janitor’s uniform turned out to be enough for no one to question her presence among the field maintenance personnel. Even though the ‘job’ that she had conned her way into wasn’t exactly part of the field maintenance crew, no one particularly seemed to pay attention to her.

She was still getting over what she had seen - the Darmen offensive assault was impressive, especially from Bryan Faulkner, who had simply been a dominant presence creating goals against Kiryu-shi. When her family elders told her that Kiryu-shi’s defensive skill would be far greater than anything she had ever witnessed before, though, that was also fairly evident. For most of the first half, attack after attack was turned away, fairly brilliantly, by the back line of Kiryu-shi. Although there was little finesse or grace, particularly with Olive Ferguson leading the way with a generally bullish style. And Tziganes was incredulous at the type of formation that Kiryu-shi was throwing out there, with five defenders the looked more like an army battalion than people who were meant to represent the beautiful game. This was a whole different type of sport than what she was used to. And extremely frustrating to watch, as they didn’t manage a single shot on goal the entirety of the first half.

As the sun set, and Tziganes was fairly sure that no one would return to the stadium grounds for the night, she walked down onto the pitch with the ball she had managed to grab from a big supply closet early in the week. She began jogging with the ball at her feet, tracing the patterns of the Darmen attacks in the second half, the two that had resulted in goals. Even though she had just seen them once, in person, she had thought them through so often that she had them memorized; the angles that they took, the runs that they made, the passes that they created, and the shots that they scored. Slowly, she moved through each of the goals, carefully plotting the exact ways in which the Kiryu-shi defense had broken down. The first goal had stemmed, surprisingly, from a mistake by Ferguson herself, who completely misjudged one of her slides, allowing the Darmen captain, Tor Tong Lee, to easily side step her and cut in front of the goal. When Yu made his way over to cover for Ferguson’s mistake, it left Faulkner with just enough room to be able to score an accurate goal just past the keeper Yasumu. But the second goal interested Tziganes more. On that one, Faulkner simply dominated the Kiryu-shi defenders, executing a quick cut to breeze by an offbalance Kenta Takenomi on the outside wing before faking a pass and blowing by Rebecca Hamilton, who was clearly on weary legs. Faulkner made Ferguson look foolish again before sneaking a shot just inside the left post, threading the ball between a sliding Patrick Yu and a diving Kohei Yasumu…

Tziganes’s shot followed the path of Tziganes’s perfectly. She knew it was going to, of course. The only difference being that she was scoring on an empty field, with no spectators, only lit by the dimming light of the fading sun.

She was’t sure what she was going to do for the next match, an away game against the nation of Tales, a nation so unknown and obscure that the only people being allowed to travel with the national team was the security detail. She suspected that she would have to try and find a television somewhere around Sakaino University before then; there was no way she was going to miss it.

She kept her practice fairly brief, as the quarter moon wasn’t quite light enough to be able to be very helpful . And needed to get up early the next day, to scrounge around for somewhere to get food before she joined the janitor’s crew cleaning the University’s locker rooms and bathrooms. But she had seen the first international football of her life, and no amount of mopping would be able to bring down her mood.

RP 1
(For my own keeping-track-of-things purposes as well as for any readers.)

[The Kytler Peninsulae]

"So, a goalless draw here at the Tivali Ring Stadium, and that's a positive result, would you say?"

"I'd say so, yes, because it's away to the top seeds. We knew it was a match that would be closer than the seeding suggested, Vilita aren't a dominant force, not an elite team really just yet - they're well on their rebuilding path, certainly, but they're still not a massively proven side at this level and not the worst top seed at all. And the Kytlerians showed how to get something out of them away from home, they absorbed the pressure well, Jeppeson in particular really stood out for me - we're used to seeing Ortega command the right hand side of defence but Jeppeson stepped up to at least that level in this one, and really Vilita only had that one clear chance in the first half, Adjei's header really should have found the net or at least been on target, but that was honestly the only major scare, even when they poured a lot of players forward in the 3-4-3, if anything the Kytlerians had the better chances late on and Bobson certainly should have done better with his."

"All the Kytlerian chances came down the middle really, as Deneli and Makose played extremely well, but Molali did not look comfortable at centre-back."

"Absolutely, and that's how Bobson got the chances he did. And you could see that as the outside two of that back three drifted outside to cut out the wide players, which Deneli in particular did exceptionally well, Molali was caught out of position, and Naugle in particular tucked inside and ran at him, created a couple of chances and forced one decent save. But the real accomplishment out of this is that Vilita only managed two shots on target all game, and they didn't have one corner. Not one. That's a remarkable achievement to prevent a top seed on their ground from getting a single corner, and if they keep defending like that, I really think this team can qualify."

"Outright? By winning the group?"

"If they play like this, yes! Every single match they have left is easier than this one. They're all winnable on this form, if they can be more clinical up front."

[Osarius]

Montblanc Blames Poor Scouting

Alain Montblanc is said to be furious with the OFA after a home defeat at the hands of Mytannion last night. The Firebirds' manager refused all press requests following the match, leaving assistant Rodrigo Hernandez to handle media duty -- something the former under-19s manager isn't particularly used to. The fury is apparently aimed at the OFA, who cut the national team budget on short notice, ham-stringing Montblanc and his plans for the qualifying campaign. Reports indicate that just a few minutes into the match, Montblanc audibly swore, remarking that they Mytanars were "fielding an entirely different f***ing squad", thus rendering his meticulous game plan moot.

True to form, the Firebirds conceded early on, via a set piece -- a method Montblanc had not anticipated much of a Mytanar threat from -- and went in at the bear two goals down. At half time, whatever changes Montblanc made, appeared to be effective, as the Firebirds halved the deficit within five minutes of the restart, through Alessandro di Corradi. A comeback was not on the cards, however, and Mytannion sealed victory with an eighty-third minute strike.

OSN pundit and highly regarded tactical guru Roberto Cormega suggested that Montblanc's tactics seem to indicate a lack of reliable intel. "We know Montblanc rarely makes a mistake so obviously from the get-go, and the second half saw Osarius largely in the ascendancy in my opinion, which says to me that Montblanc was 'reading from a different hymn sheet' as the saying goes." He wrote on his blog. "The change at half time to bring in N'Daw, meaning Kinsella could hang back deeper and win more aerial challenges seemed to help prevent the oddly direct Mytanar gameplan from yielding too much fruit, while bringing in Maria di Corradi up front for Hendricks on the left gave a second outlet in the attacking third, creating space. Space from which Alessandro di Corradi was eventually able to score."

Montblanc's relationship with the OFA has been fracted at best since the start of qualifying for World Cup 59, when he downplayed the national team's chances of qualification. The team's subsequent success, and unbeaten run in qualifying, did little to fix this. There were rumours that he was set to be fired after qualifying last time around, and it was the team's appearance in the World Cup finals that saved his job. Montblanc is currently the most successful Osarius manager of all-time, with a 49% win percentage and a positive goal difference of 41 from his 74 games in charge. Reports from the OFA have not directly addressed the scouting reports for Mytannion, though there have been assurances made that the intel for the away game in Rhodesiah will definitely be of the required quality.

[New Montreal States]

The Ministry of Morale had only needed one meeting to decide against using the Holy Empire's proffered simulacra-creation machine to revive the stars of NMS's glory days. Ten minutes of listing pros and cons had come up with something like this: yelps from the Patriarch and the other bigwigs in the Church; alarmist tabloid headlines about a "resurrection machine;" and the possibility that some idiot with more beer than sense would take it into his head that the zombie apocalypse was happening and would go after the simulacra with guns blazing. The meeting broke up eighty minutes early, with the participants wondering why they had even bothered.

After one of their VP heard this story over G&Ts with an old high school buddy who'd been in the room, NMSoft quickly made a few discreet phone calls: if national FAs weren't willing to bring the dead back to a convincing but ultimately hollow form of near-life, then why not give The People a chance to do it for themselves in the comfort of their living rooms? The Ministry of Morale agreed, and shipped the generator across downtown to NMSoft headquarters, and three shifts of technicians, programmers and artists went to work. High school and college fields were rented late at night, with security hired for the occasion to keep prying eyes away while the simulacra did battle on the pitch. Staff turnover was atrocious from both the stress and the existential problems raised from watching a never-ending stream of sentient beings, most of them dead for decades or longer, walk out of a room, into a van, back into a room and then back out of existence. Meanwhile, the generator and the dev team ran up power bills so high, the government had sent inspectors on two separate occasions to make sure NMSoft wasn't building a death ray or an unlicensed particle accelerator.

But the game eventually released, the staff were handed bonus checks and given two weeks paid time off, and after some consideration the simulacra generator was left where it was, until such time as the Holy Empire willed the machine out of existence and back into whatever it was that made the Dreamed Realm tick. So it was with a tremendous sense of disappointment and a sudden, passionate yearning for vodka that the Executive Vice President of Programming and Game Development made her way downstairs for her second emergency meeting in as many weeks with her counterpart from Marketing.

"How long before we can start holding these things at a bar?"

"I've been proactive in that area." He handed his counterpart a pint bottle of charcoal-filtered bourbon, from which his colleague gratefully took a swig. "Take another one, it'll help you cope with today's shenanigans."

"Oh boy. Now what?"

"Well, last night maintenance began noticing unusual power surges coming from the Dreamed Realm generator..."

"Isn't that the plot of Doom 3?"

"You know, if we were surrounded by imps and cacodemons, I'd at least be able to fulfill the powerful urge I currently have to shoot something. No, instead they came upstairs and...well, d'you remember how miffed the Chairman was when we wouldn't let him play a pickup game with the WC31 NMS team?"

The EVP of Programming and Game Development rolled her eyes. Each of them took another swig of bourbon before the gentleman from Marketing continued: "Well, he went down there last night, and on one level, I never would have imagined he'd be able to figure out how to work the generator at all..."

"What happened?"

The VP of Marketing stood up. "Come see for yourself."

Both executives left the small conference room they had been speaking in and made their way down a pair of somber corridors. After one final left turn, they came into view of a triad of guards, submachine guns at their sides, in front of a door with a large steel-mesh glass window. Inside were simulacra of all 23 players from the WC 31 side that had come just short of bringing back a championship from Tivali Ring in Vilita, recognizable from posters hung in bedrooms and bars across the country. All 23 were, however, sporting ferocious, impossibly luxuriant jet-black mustaches.

Another major difference become immediately clear, as the players began yelling once they saw the two executives through the door: "¡Abajo con la tyrannia Francés! ¡Viva Juarez! ¡Viva los Estados de Nuevo Monterey!"

The EVP from Programming and Game Development was left speechless for several seconds. She finally managed to stutter out "How...how did he pull this one off?"

"We don't know. And anytime the techies try to examine the simulacra, well..."

More yelling began from inside the room: "¡El perro de Maximillien he aportido su puta fea para burlarnos! ¡Amigos, vamos a ganar nuestro libertad cuentra el impostor Hapsburg y sus mercenarios! ¡Venceremos en el nombre de los Estados de Nuevo Monterey! ¡Abajo con las putas feas!"

"Now what?"

"More bourbon."

"I meant, what are we going to do with these guys?"

"...y'know, maybe if we get them drunk, we might be able to replace that aggression with a sense of angry confusion. Let's go draw up a list of things we're gonna have to charge to the 'Idiot Mistakes' account..."

[The Archregimancy]

OOC - large sections of the below gently edited from http://orthodoxinfo.com/phronema/hum_intro.aspx


Monastic
Quarterly
The Magazine for Monks

Is Scoring Five Goals in a Single Match Unorthodox?
By Fr. Bessarion the Inquisitive

Tongues have been set wagging this Pentecost by the news of the Archregimancy's extraordinary 5-3 away victory over Achtervolging, which included a hattrick from monastic hip-hop star MC Monky L-Man, who described the Achtervolging defence as 'wack' following the match.

But is scoring five goals against outmatched opponents a desirable thing? Does it show sufficient monastic humility?

This is not an easy issue to answer.

The heretical thinkers of the World Cup are accustomed to separating the mind and the spirit. If they study humility, obedience, repentance, or even love, they treat these subjects either from the perspective of the spirit, phenomenologically, or in a behavioristic way, from the perspective of the mind (or, more precisely, of the brain). Modern psychology, for example, rarely posits a nexus between the mind and the spirit and most sedulously eschews the world of phenomenology, of the spirit. To be sure rare exceptions exist; but these thinkers, to a large extent, are the betes noires of today's Ordinary Reality psychology, at best thought of as eclectic eccentrics, at worst as alchemist-like charlatans. For the most part, such things as humility, obedience, repentance, or love are reduced to specific, observable behaviors ("operationalized" in scientific parlance) and studied as variables shaped by the environment, social conditioning, or perhaps the personality. They are separated from the spirit, indeed from the soul, and lose a certain wholeness. Even from the standpoint of the Gestalt psychologists, who strive to find a wholeness in the person, this wholeness is more perceptual or cognitive than spiritual; the mind dominates.

The Orthodox Fathers, on the other hand, know of no such separation of the mind and spirit. If one attains to the spiritual virtues, it is through the interaction and cooperation of mind and spirit. True psychology, for them, is not the simple description of habituation, of the reinforcement patterns by which the mind blindly reacts to stimuli in the environment—though, as in the case of St. John of the Ladder, they knew this limited sense of psychology to a degree that would astound a contemporary learning theorist. True psychology is the control of the mind's sensitivity to the environment by the mind's harmonious cooperation with the spirit. It encompasses, moreover, the entire process by which the spirit, too, is touched by the world, and by which the spirit frees itself from its fallen state and comes to interact in concord with the Will of God. The Orthodox Fathers understand psychology, short, for what it truly is: psychologia, the study of the soul.

Heretical Ordinary Reality thinkers are at times wont to underestimate the actuality of the wholeness of mind and spirit that, for the Orthodox Fathers, constitutes the person. They fail to grasp that at the very core of Orthodox spirituality lies the potential for the most intimate communion of the worlds of the spirit and the mind (indeed, in a limited way, the flesh), culminating in theosis, or participation, in the present life, of the human in the divine. As one eminent scholar has commented, the Orthodox Church approaches the heavenly through the earthly, through the material, and (we might add) attempts to bring them into harmony. Humility, obedience, repentance, and love, therefore, are not, for the Orthodox, simple virtues or mere human attributes conditioned by various environmental or psychic factors alone; they are, rather, elements in a larger psychological scheme, in which the individual undergoes a transformation in mind and spirit. They are more than the characteristics defined in the limited psychology of the modern West. They are special virtues which derive from both the inner and the outer worlds of man, both from his mind and from his spirit. Their significance rests in that special, mystical psychology of the Fathers, the consensus of mind and thought captured so uniquely in Orthodox Tradition.

Therefore scoring five against Achtervolging does not inherently display a lack of humility - it is how the individual player reacts to a high-scoring away victory that matters, how the consensus of mind and thought unite in reaction to the result. So long as the players have a strong spiritual father - and one knows that the Holy Synod and MFA would not send them out to the qualifiers without appropriate guidance - their spiritual mission should remain intact.

[Hutt River]

2:35am, Defense Station IV, The Sea

It was early morning in the sea between the Former Hutt River and Ipeland. It was incredibly windy and rainy outside, and the sea was crashing up against the side of the station. Pretty much no-one could sleep throughout this, even the most hardy lighthouse-keepers. Lister however was snoring away incredibly happily, while the rest of the humans in the building were still very awake and very tired. Most of them were watching TV, which was showing the Grunuik – Meshkete game. The score was 1-5 as the game pretty much ended, and the sleepy Rimmer remarked how much of a 'smeghead that team was' and the others agreed apart from Kryten. There was a one hour analysis before the coverage of the Hutt River game had started, and everyone apart from Kryten had fallen asleep within a minute.

After the analysis had finished, Kryten set Talkie Toaster to wake-up mode. 5 minutes later the toaster let out a booming cry of:

"Do you want any toast?"

Immediately everybody in the vicinity woke up, including Lister, who was closest to the toaster. He gave it a good old bang, like someone would hit the snooze button on one of those stereotypical alarm clocks. Rimmer lifted his head up, bleary eyed,

"Why does the game have to be on this early?" Rimmer asked with a bit of difficulty
"Time zones" Kryten replied, "The Holy Empire's zone is about 13 hours behind Ipeland's"
"Whoever invented timezones is a great big smeghead"
"Oh, Rimmer", Lister said, "If you're off the ship, how are you still a hologram?"

Before Lister could answer, Talkie Toaster piped up and replied

"The smeg who wrote this RP has left this loophole unnoticed. He should really get round to it and give an explanation soon."
"You've gone mental" Lister directed to Talkie
"You'll see later, don't you worry"
"Absolutely smegging bonkers. Anyway, back to football."

The group sat through all 90 minutes of the game. As expected The Empire dominated, scoring three and only conceding one, which was an own goal. The game finished and the hour long analysis started. Lister said that he thought that's how we would have done anyway and asked Kryten to turn off the TV and dropped off immediately. The rest followed.

[Wight]

.

[Alexanderburn]

"Hello Portsmouth!" screamed superstar Alice Michele Stanley. "Welcome to the kickoff of Alexanderburn vs. Jedi8246." The crowd roared in excitement.

"But first, we must honor two groups. One moment of silence for the veterans involved in the tragic 'D-Day,' and of course, the singing of the Alexanderburnese national anthem." The fans bowed their heads in silence for 66 seconds before returning to the mood of football. The weather was lovely - at a temperature in the mid 20s (Celsius) and with partly sunny conditions, this was shaping up to be a great match of even better football.

* * *

Please insert £2 for a one-way fare or insert your PortCard.

"The next train to Harbourside Arena leaves in 1 minute. Trains to the arena are departing every 3 minutes from the town centre."

"Do you have the glasses?" asked John Cioretta, an Alexanderburnese fan.
"Dude, you know I wouldn't leave without them," replied his friend Michael St Peters.
"C'mon, the train's practically here."

"Now arriving, line U18 towards Harbourside Arena. Please stand back."

All of a sudden, the doors of the train opened and screaming fans were the only audible noise. The two friends climbed onto the train, and in attempting to find a seat, realized that they would have to stand on one of the most crowded train rides they would ever experience in their lives. Blue jerseys filled the subway as noisemakers, vuvuzelas, and other trinkets went off nonstop. The mood was indescribable, yet it was definitely unique to the Alexanderburnese scene.

"Dang, I can't even hear myself think!" said Michael.
"WHAT DID YOU SAY?" screamed John in reply.

There was no use. The train was already full, yet it had kilometres and kilometres more of stops before arriving at its destination. Security was everywhere, assuming their roles are the protectors of the Alexanderburnese state. Yet there would be nothing that could contain the happiness and laughter of the fans.

[Earent]

CONFIDENTIAL
DO NOT DISTRIBUTE
Evaluations--Addendum
Player: Heayander, Stob
Perception: Low
Presence: Medium-low
Physical compatibility: Medium
Youth team evaluations (Perntav Marna TU): Tall and good in the air. Gives his all in game situations but difficult to motivate for practice.
Recommendation: Don't get off his back. Need to force his potential out of him until he gets used to being a more consistent player.

The tunnel in Perntav Marna Bukiness tended to do little in the way of actual glistening. In fact on the day it was even a little smelly, as if both club and country had independently decided the other entity would handle things and as a result left the place somewhat unkempt. Still, Stob waited there, ears perked.

"All right," muttered Shenlake, "I told you about the bears, this won't be that bad. Don't--they're animals, don't hurt them and they won't hurt you, this means cautious on the tackles." She nodded at Stob, who gulped.

"Looks like," Marsinee squinted, "a 5-4-2 with a goalie? Can't be right."

"Oh yes," said Chera, "there are a pair of unicorns listed on the lineup card and you're concerned about the formation."

"Hey," said Marsinee. "This is Earent, this is our home. People and teams can be more than they seem--they can also be less. Don't worry about whatever tricks they've got going on, go out there and play your game. Okay?" Tardit gave an unsteady nod, and Marsinee clapped him on the back. If even the people from Nithgard weren't too concerned about understanding the science of it all, everyone else would follow along. "You guys can do it."

But once Stob made it out to the pitch the visitors did look rather anticlimactic. Were they really the team people had bet on?

For a team of "Strikers" they were, well, rather unwilling to go forward. Oh, they ran all right, up and down the pitch, but keeping possession was a challenge. Earent were in their 5-4-1, with just Tearim up front while Stob and Tardit joined the Ousteeble contingent on the back line.

Gabriella Boudreau got the best chance of the first half and the fans moved to the edge of their seats, glad to see something they could really appreciate. Sure enough, Laynin was there to make an accurate tackle, and the half finished scoreless.

"This is a gyp," Stob said at halftime. "Fans pay however much for our first qualifier game and all they get is those guys?"

"Hey, I told you. You play your own game and let the rest sort themselves out," said Marsinee. "Give them a show."

Talia Wonker's ears perked, but Marsinee glared at her. "All right, let's see..."

But there was little to show, offensively speaking, during the second half either despite a few attempts from Kayv. The fans didn't seem to mind--Perntav Marna were hardly a great goalscoring side, after all. Stob's eyes kept wandering to the stands, the mix of colors looking out of place. Many had splurged on the new gold kits, but most had not, and there were a jumble of Perntav Marna and Ungalb Gultpyret jerseys on display as well. He suspected any visiting fans would stand out--maybe they were behind him--but...Head in the game. Come on.

The second half seemed to pass more quickly; they were done, and for a dizzying second he was unsure whether a draw was, after all, good. But, he decided, it was the capital and it was Eanbyre's fans, they'd come out just to watch a bunch of who-knew-what. If he wasn't sure, the least he could do was grin for them and call it an upset worth celebration.