Campionato Esportiva 18 - Everything Thread

[Nephara]

"Get to cover, get to cover!"
Schneider fumbled for her smartphone, got it rolling, and then bolted for something that looked likely, stumbling and staggering along her path as something slammed into them, over, and over, and-
"Contact! On our twelve!"
"Pour fire on 'em!" snapped Whitesmith. "Ulreich, get that fucking LMG set up!"
"Where's our support, goddammit?" someone muttered.
The radio went on, oblivious. "What a way to score your fifth international goal, and those centre-halves really are an underrated asset for the Nepharim at set-pieces-"
Lieutenant Arbour huddled behind a fixture as bullets rang out all around. "This is Foxtrot! We're under fire from the north, heavy fire! There's infantry and... lads, are there tanks?"
"Think I see a technical, but-"
Glass shattered, and someone fell, screaming. "Shit, Heinze's down!"
"We are, uh..." A quick mental tally, and then the memory of the top floor from the three, and the artillery barrage. "We're twelve effective, sir, five not accounted for!"
"Uist with the restart and del Arro immediately starts a raking ball down the left-"
"Hold your ground, Foxtrot," the voice of the commander said, stern, trying to calm the nerves, for all the good it didn't do. "We're facing a severe attack, and there's no guarantees for time, but we will offer you support when and where we can."
"Yeah, copy that..." She clicked her tongue and flicked off the radio. "Bitch. Right, lads, looks like we're on our own."
"They're crawling like fucking ants over there!"
"Then wipe them out!"
The LMGs started to fire, and distinctly fewer bullets came back the other way. But along with Heinze, Taylor was slumped back against a wall, grunting, trying to aim his rifle downrange but his left leg was soaked in red, and another man from the other company was down and didn't look to be getting back up...
"There's like forty of 'em, shit!"
"Hold the line!" Whitesmith snapped. "Each of us is worth five of them! They thought this would be easy! They thought the Iskandrian front looked a fuckin' holiday! We're gonna show those degenerate fucks-"
A quiet, soundless sigh from another rifleman from the other section, as he slumped forward over the window. Schneider wiped what she figured was sweat off her brow, instinctively... but the hand came back red, and she recoiled.
Another rifleman dropped her sights for a moment and glanced over. "Shit, Brockwood-"
"Too late for him," snapped Whitesmith. "Keep fucking firing!"
Giannou smashed a window and hurled a grenade out. And Schneider just... huddled behind cover, feeling worse than useless, feeling trapped, feeling as if-
Arbour's radio crackled. "Shit, lieutenant, this, ah... Lauren's dead, Bryburne's unconscious, looks... fuckin'..."
"Westmead beats his man but Torrance claims the cross, it's how most of the match has-"
A distant explosion.
"Christ alive!" someone said, in wonder. "It's our armour..."
Grey grunted as a bullet winged her shoulder, but kept on firing.
Arbour assessed her options. "Okay... fuck it, you two, journos, go up the stairs and see what you can do for the guys trapped on the top floor. Bryburne and it sounds like Rudan need help, alright?"
Brind started to object, but Arbour's face did not permit disappointment, and Schneider didn't waste her time - at least activity felt better.
"I have a shot!" came Barclay's voice, encouragingly, as they ran out. And then; "Fuckin' nailed it!"
Whitesmith watched them go. And then he returned to the bloody business at hand.

In twenty brave, terrified minutes, it was all over. Now for the grim business of sorting the dead and the wounded.
They got Heinze and Bryburne to the medics in time - the former would make it, most likely, but they wouldn't say anything about the latter. Lauren was killed by the initial barrage and the corporal, Chayworth, gunned down from the top floor not long after, while Brockwood was... well, they found a heartbeat after a time, but it wasn't worth salvaging. Rudan's leg had been crushed by debris. The section had been gutted. Barclay, Coburn and Skalakis were all that were left, and another corporal, some Valesider called Kurtis Lockston, was dredged up from somewhere to join them.
Whitesmith's section had been more fortunate, and Taylor just needed some time to recover - but Kearney had been shot in the throat on the ground floor.
Still, the tables had turned when the armour arrived, and they'd helped act as a base of fire, and... and... fuck it, four men were dead.
The corporal slumped next to the radio, and instinctively checked his gun. It was fine. It had been well-used.
The journos had proven their worth, though. They'd lifted Rudan out from under the bits of the roof trapping him to the floor, slowly killing him, and the same with Bryburne. To save lives, not to end them - fancy that for a thought.
"And the final whistle blows, Nephara with the three points after edging a dull affair, they're through to the next round. Port Christopher will be favourites to join them, and just need three points against Kernovi to secure their place in the-"
He switched the radio off.

[Red Blackiland]

Red Blackiland Sports and Off-topic Chronicles

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The rose

Ultras in the CE Group Stages

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Author : Mathias Gërdorffen

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The church was crowded, but it stank of incense and flowers. The lights burned in his eyes so strong. The priest spoke and no one listened.
This girl I know well, is not worth anything.
Slut is what she is.
But you'll regret marrying this guy, a moron.
The sound of the organ until it resembled a song. The noise that came from the door disturbed anyone who wanted to hear the priest warn that the new life that began for the bride and groom required a lot of responsibility and such and such and such.
I want to see later if she'll dare look at me.
I want to see later if she's going to have the guts to look at that bundle of her husband and say that she likes him like he liked me.
I want to see later if she'll dare look in the mirror and say she did it right.
The ceremony was finally over. The bride and groom walked slowly, smiling, handsome, toward the front door of the church.
They stood beside them, the line of greetings growing larger.
One kiss, another kiss. Many kisses.
A crash. A scream, other screams.
The girl turned to her mother and could only say:
"Look, Mom, there's a red rose on the bride's chest.

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Las Mafias I - Walkthrough

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Las Mafias I - Buy your game now!

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Chapter/Mission 14 - Revelations

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Continuing the history, check the previous article here. With Perrón dead and all their money from the drug deal taken by Cédric and the Flardanian Triads, Deliz and Tejeda are desperate to earn the $25.000 they need to pay back Pedro Barreiro. They start by taking a job from Juliano Pingabraba that's a favor for a crime family in another city. They need to kill Francisco Zampedrini, a guy who ratted his family out to the federal Guayabalense agency. Their instructions include a message they're supposed to give him before he's killed. They drive to Guayapark where the rat lives and find him standing in his front yard watering the grass. They step out of their car and Deliz delivers the message "Mr. Nukshan Ramani sends a present'', as Ramani is the boss of Payminian Crime Family, then Tejeda pulls out a shotgun and kills him. Once he's dead, they realize he was under federal protection as they had suspected and are immediately chased by police and federal agents.
After the hit contract they split up so they can earn the rest of the money they need. Deliz heads down to the Admirala Fokina docks to see if Ku-Pang Jeon has any work for him. As it turns out, Ku-Sang Jeon (the don of Quebec Family) is organizing a sit down with the other bosses and he took all of Ku-Pang's men as bodyguards. He asks Deliz to help him break up a strike of the local dockworkers who are refusing to work.
The workers are demanding that Ku-Pang give a job back to a worker he fired because he broke his hands and couldn't come to work, but refuses. When Deliz's name is mentioned, an old worker in the docks recognizes him as Hugo Deliz's son, and asks why he's working for Ku-Pang after what he did to his old man. Su-Kwang Geol and Ku-Pang the man is full of nonsense, but Gallardo speaks up and tells how Ku-Pang and Su-Kwang killed his father. When pressed for answers, Su-Kwang finally admits to drowning him on Ku-Pang's orders.
After finding out the truth about his father's death, Deliz goes after Ku-Pang and Su-Kwang, killing anyone else who gets in his way. After he's killed the last of them, Deliz finds a substantial amount of money in Ku-Pang's desk and helps himself to it. The dockworkers decide they will keep Deliz's name out of it when the police arrive. He wishes them good luck and then goes to earn the remaining money he needs before meeting back up with Tejeda.

Deliz and Quebec's family men

After waiting for hours, Tejeda never returns home, so Deliz decides to look for him. He checks in with Juliano, who asks Deliz if he knows anything about what happened to Perrón or the drug deal he made with the Flardanian Triads. Deliz denies any knowledge of this and Juliano explains that Perrón was dealing drugs with the Triads, which is off limits, and that Cédric let him off with a fine and told Perrón he would forget about it, but the Triads double crossed Henry and killed him.
He then tells Deliz that it gets worse, that whoever was working with Perrón massacred a lot of the Flardanian Triads in Flarditown. The Flardanian Triads think it was either them or the Quebec's family and have already started threatening Ku-Sang Jeon. He says that if the situation doesn't get settled fast, they're all in deep trouble. He asks Deliz one last time if he or Tejeda know anything about this, and Deliz again denies this.
Deliz leaves The Cédric Gourmet House and goes to see Lucas Ruíz, from Vallavera's Gun Shop to ask about Tejeda. Lucas explains that a few of Ku-Sang's men came and took Tejeda to speak with Ku-Sang, who wanted a word with him. Deliz immediately goes to Drina Duena's bar, where Ku-Sang and his men hang out. While at the Drina Duena, he is knocked unconscious and taken to a construction site to join Tejeda and talk with Ku-Sang.
When Deliz wakes up, he's hanging from a scaffold on top of a building next to a badly beaten Tejeda. Ku-Sang demands they tell them what is going on and why the Flardanian Triads are after him and his organization. The two continue to deny any knowledge of the current situation, and when an opportunity arises, they break themselves free. They manage to overpower Ku-Sang's men and fight their way out of the building.
Tejeda is in pretty bad shape and likely has a few broken ribs, so Deliz El Curator's House to be patched up. El Curator informs them that Hugo Borjera (guy who worked with Tejeda) is also there, and will likely never walk again after being beaten as well. Deliz leaves Tejeda to be looked after and heads to Barreiro's Office with the money they owe him.
Barreiro is surprised that Deliz has the money to pay him back, having heard that Perrón is dead and there were other complications. He asks Deliz if the situation between the Flardanian Triads and the Quebec Family has anything to do with the money they borrowed, but Deliz refuses to answer. As Deliz is leaving, he learns that Barreiro is the person who lent his father the money and then strong armed his mother and sister into paying it back.

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Walkthrough - Mechanics and Turorials

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After Deliz gets off the phone with Tejeda, head down and meet him in the parking lot. He will be standing next to a Red Continental that's to be used in the next job. Get in and follow your map marker to Guayapark. As you arrive a cutscene will take over showing Deliz and Tejeda kill Francisco Zampedrini, which will earn you an achievement. When that's over you will be back in the car being chased by police and some federal agents. Once you lose them, drop Tejeda off at his car in Garra Blanca.
Head down to the docks to see Ku-Pang about some work. He'll offer Deliz $14,000 to help him bust up a strike by some of the local dockworkers. As you approach the workers, a lengthy cutscene will play explaining how Ku-Pang and Su-Kwang were responsible for killing Deliz's father. You now have to fight your way past Ku-Pang's men outside and make your way to the warehouse where Ku-Pang is.

Deliz and Juliano Pingabraba

Once inside you will have several men to deal with. Some will be throwing Molotovs at you, so you may need to keep moving. Once you've killed Ku-Pang and all of his men you will get an achievement. Now head upstairs to his office and there will be a sum of money on his desk. The amount is dependent on how much money you already have but should bring you close to the $10.000 you need for your half of Barreiro's money. After this you can rob stores or sell cars at the scrapyard to get the rest. With Ku-Pang, the Green Continental at the docks is no longer an option.
Once you have your half of the money, drive to Tejeda's Apartment to meet with him. He won't be home, so after the short cutscene drive to The Cédric Gourmet House to see if Juliano Pingabraba has seen him. When you're done there head over to see Lucas Ruíz and he will tell you that some of Quebec's family men came and took Tejeda away. Now drive to The Dina Duena's bar to see what they did with him.
Once the cutscenes have ended and you gain control, use stealth kills to take out the men on the roof and pick up one of their weapons. Before heading down into the building, you will find a magazine near the southeast corner of he building. Head down the long stairway until you reach the bottom and before climbing over the scaffold, another magazine will be sitting on a pallet to your left.
Shortly after that, there will a doorway burning from a thrown Molotov, and inside the next doorway on the right you will find another magazine in the corner on the floor. From there just work your way through the rest of the building until you get outside. Grab a car and drive Joe to El Curator's House, where he will give you his half of the money, and from there just drive to Barreiro's Office and pay him back. This will end the chapter and earn you an achievement.

[Super-Llamaland]

LLAMANEANS CRUISE PAST NEWMANISTAN, STAY UNBEATEN

Starting Lineup: Bernholm; Lindberg (Myers-Briggs 80), Ynoa (Wagner 57), Rodrigues, Sorenson; Velasquez, Candelario (Santana 65), Vesely, Vorobyov; Penbrooke, Rasmussen

Goals: Velasquez 26, Penbrooke 66, 73

Super-Llamaland finished off the group stage with a clean victory over Newmanistan, vaulting them into first place in the group as they anticipated the result of the Unified Sunrise Islands - Jeckland match and clinching their advancement to the Round of Sixteen. The two teams were separated by one goal for most of the match, but the Llamaneans will consider themselves unlucky to only end with three, especially with goal difference likely to play a vital part in the "Who Gets To Not Face Nephara" Group H sweepstakes.

The Llamaneans got off to a strong start, and nearly took the lead several times in the first ten minutes as Dorman was forced to make two excellent saves off a Penbrooke volley and a Velasquez free-kick. This latter save would make highlight reels as Newmanistan's goalkeeper managed to barely palm Velasquez's shot over the crossbar.

Velasquez, however, would get her revenge - the Llamaneans won another free-kick in the twenty-sixth minute, and the Eastweald winger curled the ball into the top corner to give her team the lead. The Tigers kept pressing, looking for a second, but by the time the first half ended the team's finishing remained underwhelming and the score one-nil.

Despite the one-goal margin, many had written Newmanistan off after the first half ended. This would prove to be a mistake. With his very first touch of the half, Trevor Benson connected on a beautiful cross from the left-midfielder Merritt and volleyed it off a post and into the net, tying the match. Suddenly, a comfortable if narrow one-nil lead had vaporized, and the Tigers' spot in the Ro16 uncertain.

Jurgen Reichart sprung to action, making several substitutions in an attempt to add a few goals to their total. They paid off almost immediately. Ansel Penbrooke's first goal was a straightforwards affair, but one that couldn't have happened without the substitutions - it was Jason Santana who ventured upfield before lofting a clean pass to Miro Vorobyov. The winger turned and found a momentarily-unmarked Penbrooke to cross to, and the Eastal Lunar striker's finish was flawless.

The second goal, however, was more of a personal effort. Penbrooke received a pass from Felix Rasmussen on the edge of the penalty box, but being heavily marked, nobody expected the striker to make much of it. The Llamanean immediately set out proving the fans wrong, ghosting past Sherwin, somehow running between Flanagan and White, and rolling one easily past the keeper to make it three-one.

The Tigers remained on the attack, supporters applauding their continued effort while detractors noted that the team had to increase their goal differential. Whatever the reason, it was universally agreed that the team was unlucky not to find a fourth goal. They weren't dominant - Newmanistan nearly added a second goal several times - but the front line reverted to the profligacy of the first half, and the match ended three-one.

LINEUP TO FACE NEPHARA: Bernholm; Lindberg (C), Ynoa, Reichart, Sorenson; Velasquez, Candelario, Vesely, Vorobyov; Penbrooke, Rasmussen

It's definitely not the draw they were hoping for - Nephara remains one of the world's best teams and had little difficulty navigating the group stage. Jurgen Reichart will hope his side can find the form that guided them to a scoreless draw against the Northern Sunrise Islands, but he'll do so with a vastly different game plan, attempting to leverage the talents of Eva Velasquez and Miroslav Vorobyov on the wings. No matter what strategy Reichart employs, though, he'll need his side to look their best to advance to the quarterfinals.

[Tumbra]

A Blue Lion
Winner of the 2018, 2020 Best Sporting Blog Award
A footballing blog run by Tumbra's premier sports correspondent for sixteen years - Harry "Bad Hats" Norman

The Campionato Esportiva - Group Stage Review

With the group stages of the Campionato behind us, a perfect nine points sees the Blue Lions fly through to the next round - where they meet Fhulghamous Peninsula, a country whose name that nobody except Al Green (OOC: a TV commentator) can pronounce perfectly, bless him. This continues our reunion with the CE XVII teams in our group - we already met Ethane (and beat them 0-1, as will be covered later) in the group stages. We can't meet Mattijana anymore, because they've been knocked out of their group stages.

The First Match - Tumbra 4-2 Southern Sunrise Islands

Robin Stoff's fiftieth match in charge would be marked by one against the defending World Champions - or one-sixteenth of them anyway. Managing to get the little brother of the two Sunrise Islands within the region, the match was largely in favour of the Tumbrans, who were determined to avoid an embarrassing loss or a 0-0 draw.

And boy, did they deliver.

As a sign of Henry Pandon's impending retirement from international football, he was benched in favour of John Krajewski, who produced his finest performance for the boys in blue yet. Opening the scoring nine minutes in with a superb pass from Bob Alexander, the score was extended just three minutes later by Henry Butler and a header from the far post.

The match was relatively benign until a direct free kick in the thirty-seventh minute led to the Sunrisians scoring through an excellent team effort - Caylen Knox was the one who eventually put the ball in, but it was a team play that would only be familiar to those of the Unified Sunrise Islands. Perhaps the coach of their team downloaded their strategy from some kind of database - he is a cyborg, after all. And only age 20, damn. Wonder how he gets through airport security?

Krajewski scored again in the second half, putting him on a hat-trick, before completing said hat-trick with a strike from outside the penalty box in the sixty-ninth minute. While the match was all but over, Leona Starchild scored a consolation goal just three minutes later.

Overall, it was massively satisfying for the supporters who made the journey south to San Jose Guayabal to see the Blue Lions playing.

The Second Match - Ethane 0-1 Tumbra

The match of the top two seeds in the group was a repeat of the previous Campionato's second match - except that one ended in a 0-0 draw in a match where the Tumbrans should noticeably have done much better.

The defensive, possession based style of playing led to the Tumbrans having a hard time cracking the 4-1-2-1-2 defensive nut of the Ethanians, with the only goal at the King Edward IV stadium being scored by Henry Pandon - making his return, and being the old lion he always was - in the eighty-sixth minute through a chip.

This match saw us clinch qualification with one match to go.

The Third Match - Tumbra 3-1 Portlandistan

It seems that all my data on the Portlandistan players have been wiped, so here goes.

The match's conclusion was largely a no-brainer - we had qualified, they couldn't - and the boys didn't disappoint. Krajewski was given another run out - in possible preparation of him taking over the lead striker role when Pandon goes - and he promptly scored one in the first ten minutes.

Alexander scored another in the seventeenth, before one of their strikers hit one into the back of the net, the match was very quiet overall with Krajewski scoring another in the dying minutes of the game thanks to a Foster free kick.

What Now?

Our furthest (and only) progression has been the Round of Sixteen, where we lost to Nephara. As winners of Group A, the team will be facing Fhulghamous Peninsula, whom we met in the last edition as well, and drew with them.

I expect we'll win - as any good fan should - but the football commentator in me says that it'll be a close-run thing, like our previous run-in.

If it goes to penalties, don't expect much - our boys don't do penalties. But we can all hope.

So long now, until next time!

- Bad Hat

[Northern Sunrise Islands]

If someone told you Monalisa was Allejo's daughter, you'd be confused unless you were a Sunrisian.
The young midfielder certainly didn't have the easiest of times ever since she started her career.
Her father, then an easy-going businessman who happened to be the president of the Northern Sunrise Islands Football Confederation (and a former Minister of Sports) insisted she'd be a footballer.
The Allejo lineage owed it to the world, according to Allejo himself.
Monalisa wasn't half-bad on her own but then, at the age of sixteen, it happened.
Her father had been rolling some shady business practices at the helm of the NSIFC and it all had been uncovered.
He was sent to jail, as a result, and many of the family's possessions were taken by the government.
She wouldn't see her father for four years.
By then, Monaliza (spelled with a 'Z', a traditional practice by her family of never naming their blood-related members right) was a center-forward back at Marquezine, one of Sunrisian youth football more common teams.
The team, however, struggled.
Jean Mulhouse's approach to things was mostly about the money.
Except instead of Allejo, he tried to make sure all teams, disregard of size or importance, had enough to maintain themselves afloat.
He'd go after the best opportunities, negotiate hard.
That Gardevoir played hard but no football team would ever say he didn't work for their health.
He was also responsible for the league's expansion towards foreign markets, once at Miyuzuki and later at other Sunrise Islands.
Meanwhile, the girl now known as Monalisa (renamed herself at the age of 16) had been disowned by Allejo's family with her mother.
Needless to say, things had been terrible at the family itself, Allejo was their main guy anyhow.
She'd sign up to join the San Jose Sharpedoes, but her promising football had been dying off: off-field issues and people's memories of her father's undoing still arose about her.
Soon, she'd be out of the Sharpedoes as well.
She fell hard from the radar, however her mother had still managed to give her a decent living.
Nothing too luxurious but she could take it.
Monalisa was a common name at the lower leagues, floating from team to team, albeit none too important.
At last, she had managed to stick with Lynder Ladies Football Association, a former amateur women-only team that simply refused to get with the times.
There, she didn't quite recover her status of promising player, but she wasn't as terrible as she thought.

Then she met this guy.
Ryo Hibiki.
How could she not know who Ryo Hibki was? The guy had been the head of a big company for a year by the time she signed up with LLFA, brought the Hibiki Zaibatsu to relevance.
Ryo's idea was simple. He'd get around Mulhouse to manage the Northern Sunrisian team, she would play on it.
If they did well, she'd have the opportunity to switch a body part of hers to a cybernetic version free of charge.
It'd work as advertising for Ryo's company and she could get legs that would never break.
Or better eyes.
Or a big, powerful hand.
Basically, the sky was the limit.
Plus, the home fans had been somewhat disappointed by the Northern Sunrisian squad.
Mihashi Chiyo had took the Sunrisians to a world title, after all; it was about time the Vaporeons did them a solid and won the CE.
Marketing worked on it, the team was now nicknamed the Machine, Ryo was brought in as a surprise manager.
...
And then they messed it up.
And again.
Northern Sunrise couldn't really catch that damn CE.
Monalisa kept returning though and her football seemed to be on a upwards.
Sure, her team was still the usual at the pyramid but she herself was showing good signs.
Her father, Allejo, had been on a turnabout as well, having de-aged, scored boatloads of goals at Jacaredareia, the only place willing to give him a try and then winning two World Cups and moving to Eura.
Monalisa was no longer under her father's shadows, however.
She could talk by her own volition.
Sollupgängen FF, a colonial side had just managed to get to the Cup of Sunrise finals, losing to Selyne Athenians on the penalty shootouts.
And well, she thought it was a perfect fit.
A team from a colony trying to show itself to the world, a player from a big family trying to show herself to the world.

And it was, of course, a bit surprising when she could be seen embarrassing Jecklandian defenders left and right.
She was on fire, dribbling her way across the field, until finally nailing her second goal of the match.
Northern Sunrise 2, Jeckland 0 was the Monalisa show.
Of course, however, her plans now were to do it again on the game against Port Christopher.
Time for another Monalisa to be known across the worlds.

[Ethane]

Cutoff
You better hope that Margaret has some grace for you today, or you're out this tournament,

[Ethane]

Round of 16 Results

San José Guayabal 5–2 Hasznia/i]

Damukuni 4–3 Red Blackiland

Gregoryisgodistan 1–2 Yttribia

Racao 0–0 Brenecia (0–2 AET)

Quarterfinals

San José Guayabal vs Damukuni

Yttribia vs Brenecia

[San Jose Guayabal]

CUTOFF

It's your time to win!

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Tumbra 3–1 Fhulghamous Peninsula
Super-Llamaland 1–2 Nephara
Nova Anglicana (A. Z. E.) 2–0 Ethane
Port Christopher 0–2 Northern Sunrise Islands

Quarterfinals Pairings

Tumbra vs Nephara
Nova Anglicana (A.Z.E.) vs Northern Sunrise Islands.

[Tumbra]

OOC: Continuation of viewtopic.php?f=7&t=392902&p=30302300#p30302300

HM National Archives, Tumbra
Start of Document

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From: A. Eidhoen
25 Grove Close
Morganstown, Kerihale

March 29th, 1946

To: W Hughton
1 Parliament Street
SW1A 2AA, Goldlion, Tumbra


Dear Prime Minister:

I write in response to your letter dated the 25th, regarding the discovery of the particle and its use in both conflict and peace. It is evident that this particle has virtually limitless potential from what has been described to me in your letter. As a consequence, this calls for renewed watchfulness, and if necessary, quick action on the part of your Administration. I therefore write with the following pieces of advice, et cetera.

In the course of the last two months, it has become apparent that numerous attempts at synthesising the particle under the same circumstances have succeeded, with varying results. It has thus become relatively difficult to ascertain when these small particles (which have been nicknamed Dangerous Shits, pending a formal name) will form the Dangerous Extra-Atomic Things also mentioned in your letter, though a decent stab must be made at a guess.

The number which I have come up with would be somewhere between 700 and 799 particles, with the proposed "sweet spot" being 777 particles. It would seem that to fuse 777 particles would prove difficult, especially with the chain reaction being extremely quick. How, so, to utilise these DEAT particles during war?

The answer would be to only use the DOS particle.

Despite the DOS particle being one-hundredth the power of a theorised DEAT particle, the chain reaction produced by a DEAT particle would be far too unstable and react far too quickly, leading to a huge loss of life. This would simply not do, both in terms of defence and of casualties. It would be akin to shooting one's own citizens.

I recommend that a new Department overseeing the Particle be formed, and that research on this work be given more funding - preferably passed off as something else, due to the absolute secrecy of this project.

I wish the Tumbran Government good luck in this project, and hope to recieve regular updates on this project.

Your obedient servant,
Alben John Wilhus Eidhoen

---

End of Document

HM National Archives, Tumbra. Made public under terms of Official Secrets Act 2005

[Northern Sunrise Islands]

The Machine had certainly taken their glass of oil, a pundit noted.
Northern Sunrise had locked the game on a loop: the Northeners would get a hold of the ball, try for the goal and Port Christopher would try to block it.
In fact, one of the goals came out from such a situation.
Guillaume LeLeverdusoleilian had the ball right at the middle of the field, looking around, searching for anyone to pass the ball to.
He witnessed Monalisa, that crafty Sunrisian, on the open as she ran past James Del Vertio's grasp.
She, however, briefly pointed to Daisy Underwood, who still had a marker on her.
Guillaume nodded, lobbing it to the midfielder who proceeded to head it towards Monalisa.
Monalisa rolled the ball to the left side, reaching Mateus Jolteon who bolted it in the net straight away.
Torrance stared at the defenders, confused as the Sunrisian striker pointed to the sky, celebrating his goal.

The second goal wouldn't take long to come either.
Start of the second half.
Tony Uist is preparing to pass the ball to Rachel Del Arro to start things out.
Rachel nods, taking the ball, passing it back to Tim Maitfield.
Tim looks up.
His sight is probably one of the least wished sights at that moment as he realize what is happening.
He sees a bunch of white-clad players running up to him.
It's the Sunrisians and they want their ball.
That all took place in five seconds.
Go Hokuto steals the ball, leaving Tim on the dust, passing the ball up front, where Mateus Jolteon reaches it.
The Sunrisian wave continues, the ball is rolled back to Mary Joan Hill, but she soon notices that Diego Brando is on her way.
A swift pass back to Brass Sunshine happens.
Disaster would follow if the Nekojin let the ball go loose.
That's why the Sunrisian Wave is barely used in Sunrisian Football, it's a tactic of desperation.
She kicks it hard.
Monalisa goes up near the box.
She leaps, hitting a perfect bicycle shot.
Northern Sunrise 2; Port Christopher 0.

The Sunrisians didn't bother with scoring more.
The game became more of an art piece, Monalisa using the chance to dribble over even more people, but the game as it was, had been sealed.
The Machine walks.
The Machine looks.
The Machine wins.
For now.
"As we get near to the end of the tournament." Ryo notes, looking around to his players. "We really need to be consistent. Keep at it."
He sighs.
"I want that title home. Now."

[Nephara]

Brigadier Sonia Roseford liked to play up her image. She was a chain-smoker, lean and clean-cut as her cigarettes, and was unafraid to stand in harm's way to be seen leading her soldiers. Not for her, the pragmatic cowardice of hiding in the back, relying on radio relays.
The Sameban counterattack had been punishing, but fended off in the end by a concerted resistance made all the more symbolically useful by the scarcity of air support. Since that, they'd skirmished a few times, and they'd learned the hard way that Sammy wasn't above terrorism. Which was the reason that Lieutenant Kaufmann, among others, was going to be getting a closed-casket reception on his return home.
They had a couple of journalists with them now, rolling the tapes. She wasn't feeling much like an interview, but if you were going to collect stock footage, then being covered by two heavy tanks and two sections of infantry in the approximate centre of the advance probably wasn't a bad place to find it.
Petratos - the general - wasn't happy with the slow progress. Reasonable expectations could take a back seat for the time being, they needed to be in Sameba by Christmas! Yeah, like hell. Doubtless Petratos was sick of being shouted at by his Euran paymasters, in turn.
Whatever, here she was, leading her best guys into the breach. No breach yet, sure, but as God was her witness, she'd make one.
They were at the town hall, now. That was the new advanced command, in her plan. She liked its symbolism.
The tanks rumbled to a halt, and the marines prepared for a breach. Could never be too careful, right?
Something creaked.
The marines glanced at each other, then whirled to all directions, before someone realised; "Hey, shit, the sewer grates-"

Skalakis pumped his fist. "Get in."
"Huh?"
"It's 2-0 now! Stavanger ate up Szalai's cross... and Chilmark's coming on for Amokachi, so I guess Shale's gonna tighten up and hold out."
Lockston sighed. "You are keeping a lookout, right?"
"Yeah, guv, but there's nothing here. It's fine."
"Don't say-"
The radio crackled. "FOXTROT!"
The two corporals glanced at one another. This had been a straightforward street-sweep, which, okay, that was suspicious, but.
Lieutenant Arbour answered. "Yeah?"
"Arses, two blocks south, now! Control Point Aries is under attack!"
Caution to the wind - they ran.

Everything was a haze.
Schneider got to her feet. Her phone, her phone...
... her pistol.
That was... more right, she thought. The truth could wait.
Glanced to her left. Brind was dead. She licked her lips. So were two soldiers.
Where was she?
Behind this tank. It belched smoke. It represented safety.
"- the hall! Move out, quickly-"
"Right, but don't forget the civilian!"
"Hey, you! Journalist! Stay low, and get moving, now!"
She vaguely processed the commander limping into the hall. Bullets flew in both directions.
She breathed in.
She breathed out.
And she ran.
She ran as if- no, in full knowledge that her life depended on it.
There was just one problem.
She wasn't much of a splinter.
The bullet took her in the back and she spun, getting a brief glimpse of the shooter as he paid for his hubris with his life, before letting out a deep sigh and collapsing.

[Ethane]

Cutoff
Is this going to be a sweet relief, or a devastating tragedy?

[Ethane]

Quarterfinals

San José Guayabal 1–0 Damukuni

Yttribia 1–6 Brenecia

Semifinals

San José Guayabal vs Brenecia

[San Jose Guayabal]

CUTOFF

Your team will fight for victory until the end is for sure, but will those efforts be enough to achieve it?

---

Tumbra 0–2 Nephara
Nova Anglicana (A. Z. E.) 0–1 Northern Sunrise Islands

SEMIFINAL PAIRING

Nephara vs Northern Sunrise Islands

[Northern Sunrise Islands]

The year was 1987.
Sunrisian Championship - Third Division.
Section North.
Among the teams that had been elected into the league was small time side Trudel Park Rovers, playing out of Saint Red, Mabel Island.
The team was, in fact, created by a foreign entrepenuer from Campomarino, Lucio Capaccelli, who had fled to the growing nation albeit nobody knew for sure what made him leave his homeland.
The team played in black and white hooped shirts, white shorts and black socks, often featuring a tricolore band on both arms, its' origin being from the former Serenese Kingdom that predated Campomarino, its' neighbor Campanarello and some other less established states under turmoil to this day.
Trudel Park Rovers started out as a shining beacon of relevance, coming out of the shadows as a very well established, professional team, resulting from the efforts of their loving owner.
One of their first measures was to sign aging forward Eurico from his homeland Barra e Janeiro for a record (division-wise, at least) I$ 5000 destined to later defunct side Atlético São Cristóvão.
Eurico was a rather confident man, bringing an idea to the owner: a tactic that was all the hype at foreign lands and was yet to be touched by the Sunrisians, the Wave.
The Wave consisted of all three lines running forward, depending on either strength or flat out brutality, squash their opponents and then net a goal.
The Barrian also suggested they signed regular tough guys by scouting bar brawls and boxing contests, even at one point negotiate the freedom of a former convict for their purposes.
By the time the season started, Trudel Park's sudden nickname of "The Convicts" wasn't exactly a shot too far off and they were willing to prove it.
Their five first games were a fair play disaster, leaving a total of fourteen players injured, all but one being from the opposition with the one injured TPR player going on the run for no apparent reason, at first.
Still, TPR led the Third Division's Section North on points and wins.
And it wasn't exactly too surprising when their two opponents after those five, Lynder Ladies and Mabel Ironworks simply refused to play them.
What was surprising, however, was what came the following day as the team cheered its' run.
Eurico was nowhere to be found. Supposedly, he had bolted off town.
Mabel Island had been going through a rather rough time, crime had been on the rise, but nobody had yet seen bigger incidents.

June 5th, 1987.
Eurico had been found by two fishermen at Tremways.
He stumbled across the road, muttering various things like a madman.
"They're out to get me. They're out to get me."
The Barrian sat at the sidewalk as the two got closer to him.
He looked at them.
His face was pale, his eyes red, his lips shrunken.
"Capaccelli."
His eyes shut.
His heart stopped.
Eurico Mora Días passed away at that dim lighted street, poisoned at the age of 29.
Football at the nation stopped for a couple of days until the second shocker came.
His family didn't knew he had gone to Northern Sunrise.
He had left a wife a couple of months before she gave birth to his second child, a little girl named Esperança, while his older son, Leandro, had been living at the church to atone for his father's sins.
He also had been a thief, responsible for a series of burglars in Barra, Janeiro, Acapulcópolis, Campo dos Goytacazes, Duque de Caxias, Paty dos Alferes, Xerém and Petrópolis.
According to his former lover, Sofia, she hadn't seen him ever since a trip to "some place where he'd make a lot of money" happened.
She recalled him talking about a Big Boss from out of town as well.
A Serenese Boss.

Trudel Park Rovers' season would then see them face their first major opponents: Stade Arrendine.
Stade Arrendine's manager, Phillipe Rougeaux, was considered by many a student of the game, having player with Azanovic in the past and having since spent years out of his homeland, studying football at the Futurnian lands.
He could also recall having ran afoul of a mob boss from Campomarino after his managed side Capuano embarrassed Giovagnoli at a friendly said mob boss bet on.
Rougeaux had to fled on a plane to Balm the day afterwards, though he could still recall that man's face very well.
His grayish slicked hair, a rough face, sunglasses that seemed glued on to him.
The day of the game came, Rougeaux arrived at the Johnson Field, home of TPR, shared a word with the opposition's manager and then walked his way to the field.
He saw the city's mayor talking with a couple of people, including one man in particular.
His grayish slicked hair, a rough face, sunglasses that seemed glue on to him.
He had been loud about how he was rather tired, he had talked with the league's president and the federation's president to explain that he had no affiliation with Eurico off-field nor was he not carrying anything against the Barrian.
Theories arose, the police started to get closer and all that businessman really wanted was to see his side do well at the league and fill the city with pride.
A quick kick to the stomach followed. Phillipe was somewhat old but the Tae Kwon Do he learned back at Balm wasn't straining in the slightest.
The group of people stared as Phillipe dragged Lucio to the nearest policeman.

Lucio Capaccelli had spent the past thirty-five years prior to that fatidical departure to Northern Sunrise as a mob bass at Campomarino.
A fan of the Giovagnoli football team, Lucio tried, years earlier, to play for the team only to find his lack of talent didn't make for much.
However, his speed had been witnessed by a mob boss, who quickly enlisted him to do trips across the former Serenese Kingdom, delivering goods and scouting situation.
All of this made him rise through the ranks but by the time he finally got to the top, he was a shadow of his former self, struggling to stay on top.
His lieutenants helped him out, though all the while preparing ways for themselves to get him out.
He fled from that land as soon as he could, but the mob game was still inside him and he already made plans to do it again at Northern Sunrise.
The Sunrisians were always rather gullible, even if their sense of justice was always a problem to anyone trying their way in.
With the excuse of a football team, Lucio already had managed to pick up names to start his new mob at Sunrise, backed by some of his more gracious lieutenants that were still at Campomarino.
Their first move had been schedulled for after the game against Stade, the idea being a riot at Jaunepont.
Lucio didn't spill the beans about it at the police department, hoping his team would do the job.
What he didn't know, however, was that TPR had been embarrassed.
5-0.
Stade's players were just like he was at his youth. Fast.
While some did attempt a riot, things stopped at about ten meters, when the group made a wrong turn at a Pokémon Gym where the home trainers quickly dispatched the riotists.
TPR was disbanded almost immediately, leaving them with a 7-1-0 record, two wins via walk out, a total of nineteen goals pro and five goals against.
Five of the players did however keep trying a football career.
Giacomo da Soria played at the Sunrise Islands as a center-back, moving away from his spot as a forward back at TPR. He was a regular at Ninon Beart for at least six years. He has since moved to Campanarello, where he still is as a manager for Grieigliano SS.
Mark Canterbury moved to Midlothian Heart, where he achieved a rather successful career at the net of Burley Swifts, McCartney Spurs, Newtown Stewart AFC, Bean City and SC Midlothian before retiring and becoming a media pundit.
Nack Gascombe decided to leave the country for Balm, where he became a monk under the name Peter the Redeemer, attending the temple of Saint Silas and playing for their team for two decades. He went on to write a collection of ten books about the spiritual journey one does at Balm and a couple of other books about his past and how the Balmian society sees things.
Lucas Smith played for two years at Mardi Gras, popularizing the Wave at Mardi, albeit without mentioning its' past. He became a journeyman of sorts, though his most cherished run was at McDuck Football, spanning three years and two D-League trophies and a Cup of the Beak win over South Duckota. He later managed Duckota's team at the first ever Cup of the Futurnites, using the Wave tactic on a draw against The Aesar.
David Carp moved to Barra e Janeiro, where he went on to have a long career at Campos. Remarkably, he ended up marrying Eurico's widow and later went on to play and manage Esperança. He remarkably took the offer to manage Maurelinee-Déesse on the inaugural Cup of the Futurnites where he managed to bring them to a surprising run until being beaten by eventual third-placer team Dainer.
Esperança took the football job under the wing of her stepfather and managed to have a successful career at her homeland, playing for Campos, Flamengo, Botafogo, Nova Iguaçu, Bangu and Madureira until retiring out of her country, playing for Matsubara. Her daughter Lili captained the Barra e Janeiro effort at the Cup of the Futurnites, even though the team failed to score a single win against 71X, Ptolemoica and Pankosmia.
Lucio Capaccelli had the dubious honor of being the first one to ever receive the brainwash treatment installed by the nation's president at the time, José Ferreira.
The process, consisting of exposing Lucio to a total of five Hypnos, worked better than the expected failure, leaving him a clean sheet.
Sadly, just as Lucio was returned to the nation, the mob family he led ended up executing him, under fears that they would be taken down if he ever opened his mouth.

The Wave tactic was picked up by Mardi Gras that year as they managed to take over the National Championship, Northern Sunrise's amateur league, that year, using that tactic sparingly.
The National Championship gained a reputation of brutes because of the Wave, but it did help the league's image as they became a bigger threat to the more established Sunrisian Championship thanks to that style of play.
It would, however, be outplayed quickly as the pro teams adapted to it, going into the backburner of the tactic books, albeit some more unexperienced trainers still make use of it.
It's also suggested in case of bigger desperation moments.

The clock ticked down.
Nova Anglatia's Esportivan Zone had been giving the Sunrisians trouble.
Brendan Cook had been the biggest issue, as he seemed to have helped the team at figuring out how the Sunrisians played.
While the goal wouldn't come for either side, the Zone had been actually outdoing their competition there.
Ryo tilted his head to the side.
Saari nodded and lobbed the ball onward to Go Hokuto, Northern Sunrise's muscle man.
The Wave had been activated.

Go almost stomped over Mathieu Garçon as he made sure to take the first line in.
By the time he reached Brendan Cook, he made sure to pass the ball to Monalisa, who lobbed it to the other side of the field, reaching LeLeverdusoleilian.
Guillaume made short work of Matt Wells before crossing it back to Hokuto.
Hokuto readied his foot to blast the ball in.
Aaron Bowen almost blocked it, but ended up having second thoughts, knowing the legend of Hokuto's mean spirited kick.
The hopes Hokuto missed were dashed as the ball ripped the net.
The Machine was up 1 goal as the clock ticked even faster to the end.
Sunshine, Kawin Beroan, Hill and Harvensten did mostly crowd control as the Machine saw itself on its' way to the Nepharim.
The media pondered if the Wave had made Ryo too dependent of itself as that was the second time they had smashed a team out with it.
And if there was one thing the Campionato Esportiva ever taught the Sunrisians about the Nepharim, it was a classic.
Never.
Ever.
Misjudge.
A.
Nepharim.

[San Jose Guayabal]

The guayabalense national team jumped to the field of the Estadio Tierra de Fuego, in Yucuaiquín, with some confidence, they thought that having the fans putting uo the hostile environment would have helped to the goal of intimidating Damukuni, in fact, the fans were literally insulting everything that smelled to damukunian, despite that nation has cordial relationships with San José Guayabal at basically anything, especially in culture issues and educational exchange, an exception was this, of course, since it’s well known how guayabalenses behave when it’s football, culture and good manners are set aside while the wild side comes in form of insults and behavior that might not be the ideal such as some guayabalense ultras throwing flares at damukunian fans or chanting inflammatory songs against Gregoryisgodistan and its people, this kind of issues have been the norm since the meme incident. Oliveira was talking to the players and said something that wasn’t expected from him, something that came in the least adequate moment possible, he opened his mouth and let the words go through the room with 19 players in it…

“Muchachos… Come here, I have something to tell you…”
The players gathered around Oliveira, Zelaya noticed something rare on the environment, he didn’t waited a second and asked:
“What’s going on, professor?”
“Well… It’s something that I needed to tell and I can’t wait more for this…”
The players started to look themselves, some with intrigue expressed on their faces, others were curious while others were normal, but those were few.
“I won’t be the manager of the national team at the end of this Campionato Esportiva”
The players looked themselves with shock, some were about to ask a question but decided not to, Oliveira continued.
“It’s time to seek for other goals in life, I’m glad of being here almost 14 years, 14 years with lots of success and heartbreaking moments, but I leave with the satisfaction of forging a great generation of guayabalense players, with the satisfaction of giving joy to millions of people and make them dream, of sharing lots of experiences together. I can say that I leave proudly, with my forehead looking high.”
“Oh... well” said Zelaya after sighing. “I have to give you the best of luck and wishes for your career…”
“I will do the same, I thought you’d continue more time with us” Said Valencia.
“This is life, boys… Cycles have always an end and this is the end of a successful 14 years cycle, we are sure that we will continue stronger since your legacy in us is big, you have teach us a lot and we will keep it using, those antics and tricks you teach us are definitely important, hence we will continue to use them.” Said Núñez.
“Oh… FUCK! You must be kidding” Vaarisiemi said.
Vaarisiemi was calmed by the rest of the team, this reaction was expected since Vaarisiemi was like some sort of “the preferred child” for Oliveira, of whom he inherited lots of skills that Oliveira used in his time as player.
“I honestly expect you all to see you as World Champions in the upcoming future, and I know you’ll be soon since I know what I have.” Oliveira said.
“Let’s now return to the match of today against Damukuni, you know what we are going to do, let’s have fun and do our best, try to solve this early, since I’m thinking of possibilities for the next game, we will need to have players in a state of relax during the pause, then we will need to be really focused, especially if we face Brenecia, since we already know Yttribia…”
The players gathered and decided to do a prayer, all screamed as usual and get to the field… No one was expecting that a long night would be in the next corner, a really long night…

Minute 21: Sean Fraser takes the ball in counterattack on the left wing, Zelaya is waiting on the edge of the box, Zelaya received the ball with some difficulty and awaited the moment to control the ball properly, he hadn’t chance, hence he passed the ball to Faña, he took it and tried to dribble, he did it and shoot but Tatsuyumi keep the guayabalense throats in silence after deflecting the ball to the corner over the goal line...
Faña said “No shit…”
“Go for the goal, come on!” Screamed Oliveira from the bench.
“Damn it Faña, kick with more power.” Said Zelaya while patting him in the shoulder.
Faña did some gesticulations and ran to the left corner, behind, police stood close to him and one of them suggested:
“Kick on the middle, there’s nobody tall there”
Faña ignored the police officer and passed shortly to Núñez, he crossed the ball and Zelaya nodded it, hits the crossbar and Tatsuyumi tries to deflect but Fraser did an attempt of a volley kick that ended on the hands of Tatsuyumi.
“This smells to a large and difficult night…” muttered Fraser, but Valencia listened and said:
“For fuck sake bro, we are only 22 minutes in the game…”
“This should have been done since five minutes…” Answered Fraser.
“Chill down” Replied Valencia.

Minute 37: Tanaka served a cross to Endo, he ran through the left wing fast, fast like a roadrunner, he was on control of the situation and Moreira hadn’t chance to stop it, Passarelli failed and that left Terrazas alone, the center back moved from where he should have been but Terrazas did the dirty job wonderfully, sweeping Endo and kicking the ball away.
“Keep your shit in order” Said Terrazas while scolding Passarelli.
“That bud is too fast” said Moreira.
“Who. Fucking. Cares.” Said Terrazas as reply.
“I do”
“Be smarter than him and try to predict his moves, you’re supposed to be close to me to help me.”
“Okay… Dad” said Moreira with a sarcastic tone.
Jones did the corner and passed the ball to Dietrich, he tried to strike but send a pass to Vayne, she kicked the ball and went to the post, Passarelli passed the ball to Terrazas and he continued screaming.
“Oh shit, keep calm, keep fucking calm….”

The halftime arrived and Oliveia told his players to keep pressing more and solve this as fast as possible, it was going to be difficult but not impossible to do. In fact, it was difficult since it took a lot of time to make that goal happen, wasy into the second half, people was expecting the game to continue in extra time, it was minute 85 when Zelaya kicked strong and beat Tatsuyumi, at that moment he reached Faña and patted him…
“This is how you kick a ball, bro, you should train more the power.”
Faña said “Well, maybe” and joined to the celebration with the people, then he went with Oliveira and cheered with him.

Olivera is closer to have the chance of giving San José Guayabal a trophy that has always been some sort of complication and nightmare for the fans, avenging the 1-5 defeat against Nephara could be possible but Brenecia was in front and Northern Sunrise was on the Nepharim road, fans are wishing that final but luck will have the last word…

[Ethane]

Cutoff
Do something extraordinary.

[Ethane]

Semifinals

San José Guayabal 2–0 Brenecia

[Nephara]

"And it's in the net! A scrappy one, it has to be said - Hughes flapped horribly at Ashdown's corner, Scharner and Brooks, well, it's hard to see who exactly it came off but it sure as hell fell nicely for Amokachi who curls a boot 'round it, her first goal of the tournament!"
Schneider's eyes flickered open. What.
She lowered a hand to her midriff. To her back? It all felt numb. A little damp. But... okay, no, she pinched it, it hurt.
"Hey."
"Huh... ?"
She glanced over.
"Oh, hey... you're... that officer, aren't you?"
"Well. Corporal, anyway. Yeah. Whitesmith."
"Right. What, ah... what happened?"
Whitesmith chuckled, grimly.

"Where the fuck is Roseford?"
"She must've headed inside!"
A bellowed conversation across a field of ashes. One tank had blown up. It was cover, now. But bullets still rang out inside.
Had they really gotten there first? Shouldn't this have been someone else's job? A sudden ambush hard enough to press back two sections of marines and two tanks... what the hell were twelve riflemen doing here?
But they fought, and shot, and bled, until nobody outside was left.

"Well, the story's not important. They were basically just an ambushing force, but couldn't get the job done."
"... Almost got the job done on me, didn't they?"
"Well. One of the marines dragged you inside. Guy called Beck. You owe the guy a beer, I'd say."
Schneider chuckled weakly.
"Either way, we... made it in, the ambushers were trapped. Took us a while to flush 'em out, but, well, we did." He shrugged. "I won't bore you with the details."
There was a distinct pause. The radio filled the silence.
"-to Pandon, who lashes his shot off the post! A real warning sign for the Cormorants, they need to kill this game off, but Katskalidis clears it. They'll take that reprieve, you'd imagine... good distribution to find Naeher-"
"You ever wonder why we're here, corporal?"
"Huh? Like, metaphysically?"
"No. Just... here. On some Atlantean tourist trap. And... when we're done here, it's on to Rushmore, right? Surely. It's a long way from home to die."
"I'll try not to die, then."

They found Roseford in what had once been the mayor's office. She'd made her last stand there. They found her covered in blood, some of it her own, still clinging grimly to the pistol in her hands.
"Sir? What's going on here?"
"I am going to murder our fucking intelligence. We lost five. Maybe more. They gone now?"
"Think so. We swept the building clear. So how'd, uh..."
"The sewers. Patch me up."
"Right, sir."
"They came from the goddamn fucking sewers. Bunch of fanatics. Those politicals aren't such chocolate soldiers after all, eh?"
"Wouldn't say that. They melted right enough when we penned 'em in."
"You captured any?"
"Not... officially."
"Good. These pricks do not get to win. We do. Are we not the Nepharim? God's bouncers on this shithole of a world?"

"In any case... resistance has been hard. They're backed against a corner, you know. There's no retreat for them, no supply. A lot of civilians have streamed out, too."
Schneider shuddered. "I know. They told us... stories. Well. Me, I suppose, since Niko's-"
"He made it."
"What?"
"I mean your man, Brind, he's not dead. Gut shots look bad, but we got him evacced."
"Oh."
"Anyway... what'll you do?"
"I'll ... well, I suppose I'll continue reporting, I guess. Someone needs to do the job. And I'm not afraid."
Whitesmith smiled, sadly. "Easy as that, huh."
"Yeah? Why not? I mean... I'm not- I don't feel shellshocked, or anything. Just... almost an adrenaline rush, still. I'm fine."
"You were shot in the spine, love."
"But I made it here, didn't I?"
"Yeah? Try moving your legs."
"... Oh, shit."
He waited for a while, because duty called. Always, there was duty, and she was left alone to contemplate the new meaning behind the wheelchair in the corner of the room.
"... from the substitute Gosforth plays Amokachi through and, yes! That's her brace! Just lashed it past Hughes one-on-one, and with just nine minutes to play you'd have to say that makes the Cormorants strong favourites to reach the semifinal. She runs to the crowd, you can really see what this one means to her..."

[San Jose Guayabal]

CUTOFF

Livin' on a prayer to get in?

---

Nephara 1–1 Northern Sunrise Islands (3–1 AET)

---

3PPO

Brenecia vs Northern Sunrise Islands
@ King Edward IV Stadium, New Sarum, Ethane.

FINAL

San José Guayabal vs Nephara
@Estadio Cuscatlán, San Salvador, SJG.

Note: 3PP0 to be scorinated at this time tomorrow by SJG; Ethane will scorinate on Friday the final.

[Nephara]

"The last ninety minutes mean nothing. I know you're hurting lads - we had 'em. We had 'em. And we fuckin'... we let it slip. Don't beat yourself up over it, Callie. Shit happens. We deal with it."
Claudia Cautcher shut her eyes, she shut it out. She replayed her own speech in her head, over and over. You're 30 now. You're in the 'there's eighty-eight minutes left, we're looking for an equaliser, throw the aging striker on' bracket. This is very possibly your last tournament - if you can't sort something out here, it's very possibly your last match in your last tournament.
"First half went perfectly to plan. We beat 'em up, we hacked up down, we put the fear of God into 'em. And then, bit of space cutting in from the left, some good interplay... pretty good time to get your first international goal, eh, Raquel?"
First they said you were going to be a standout. They said you were gonna set the world alight. And then an injury happened. A bad one.
"Then they got back into it, a bit... bit of panic for a few minutes there, but you got on it, you all stepped up and showed the leadership you had to."
And another. And a third. On and on and on. Never stringing more than ten starts a season together. Before you knew it, you were headlining articles on 'players who never lived up to their potential'... in your mid-twenties.
"And then, the eightieth fucking minute, Cervantes scores from fucking nothing."
And then you moved to Starling.
"So it's 1-1 now, and there's thirty new minutes left. But consider this - for ninety minutes, you've been kicking the living shit out of them. For ninety minutes they've tried to run away from you. You've been running hard, but they aren't like you! They're artists, not warriors!"
A goal every other game from then on as the Passerines built their attack around you and stunned the world. You have what it takes. You always did. They just know it now.
"And after the thirty seconds? Penalties. We have never. Fucking. Lost. A shootout. In the entirety of modern tournament history. You're nerveless, they know it, and they're shitting themselves."
You can make the difference.
"Go out there and spare 'em their blushes. Win."
Win.
"Good luck, lads."

This was, in a way - this felt like the real final. But the Campionato was in a strange place lately, with a distinct feeling of being dominated by the same handful of teams every time. Nephara was one of them, and historically, they tended to beat the Northern Islanders. It was just when the rest of the Islands showed up that the Cormorants tended to come unstuck...
But throw away history right now - keep the form book. Nephara had won every game so far, kept four clean sheets and were looking... almost invincible.
In all honesty, the build-up almost didn't matter to Cautcher. She just knew the right place to be, and when. How to read the play. She wasn't fast, certainly not for long distances, but it was her quick wits and her vision that stood out alongside her finishing. Player with her history was desperate to get on a scoresheet.
Already, though, she could tell Shale's tactics were paying dividends. Nephara had their seventh yellow card when Chilmark, who'd replaced Ashdown after the goal, finally got his for putting his studs through fellow substitute Mespirit.
It just needed...
... there. Down the left. The raking diagonal goalkick from Tsattalios, the run by Naeher, two breakout performers this Campionato. Underwood dragged out of position, and then Beroan, and Brass Sunshi-
Brass Sunshine?
Well, anyway, she went with Stavanger. And that left Cautcher free, Hill chasing behind, but Cautcher turned on the breaks abruptly and Hill grabbed her shirt instinctively and pulled her down to the ground with her as Naeher's cutback rakes across-
The whistle blew. Penalty.
Cautcher smiled grimly. With Ashdown gone, the ball went to Rainsford. God, Cautcher wanted to snatch that ball off her so badly... but the structure came first, over her ego.
Rainsford vs. Saari, about decade of years seperating them.
And, by God, the Ma Alameome holding midfielder slammed the ball into the ceiling of the net.

The Islanders had poured everything forward. Then, they'd poured something more. The Cormorants had held firm, though - Tsattalios with three excellent saves, Katskalidis making up for her earlier error, and Frostmarris, only playing through Scharner's suspension, continued to be the standout of the defence.
But then it happened. The breakthrough. Again, a moment of brilliance - Monalisa with an exquisite pass. Cervantes, again, quickest to it...
... Katskalidis hurled herself at him and, in an eerie mirror of Hadrian Belfast at the end of the niggly CE18 final, sacrificed herself for the team and dragged him to the ground. Pure professional, straight red card. It was all the referee could do. It was worth it.
One minute to play. 120+1. Monalisa came up to the free kick and licked her lips - she could go for glory, perhaps. Nine men in the box - now ten, as Sami Saari hustled up to join the attack. Shit, it was all or nothing.
She hooked it in. Tsattalios... got across, but the ball hammered off the crossbar, and everyone went for it at once, and Cautcher wasn't sure who hammered it away but someone sure did and she was the only one facing the right way.
She wanted a goal today. She'd make the difference for sure - the kind you saw on a scoresheet, and she streaked forward, found the ball, knocked it past Harvensten who kicked her, she bobbled and stumbled and kept going, and she looked up and decided, hell, why not, and fired a slide-rule strike into the net from the halfway circle.
They said she'd never make it. They said she was made of glass. They said she could never fulfil her promise.
Well, tonight more than ever, they were goddamn wrong.

[San Jose Guayabal]

CUTOFF

Oh no, don't misunderstood me.

---

3PPO

Brenecia 1-3 Northern Sunrise Islands
@ King Edward IV Stadium, New Sarum, Ethane.

Edit: Format issues.

[San Jose Guayabal]

CE 18: Uncertainity Amongst Revenge Desires

“La Selecta has qualified to the CE 18 final at home soil, this would have raised expectation and happiness usually, those two feelings would be the main protagonists of the celebrations of the achievement of reaching the second CE final in history, which will be played against Nephara and people now wants a revenge, but that weren’t the only feelings after Paulo Oliveira said that the final would be his last game as Guayabalense manager, now that brings up to the table: Who will manage La Selecta?”

By: Mirna Centeno, the illusionate fan.
From: San Salvador - Campionato Esportiva 18 - Final.
Posted: December 14th, 2211 - 10:58 AM (Rossana Time - User's default time)

It was quite a shocker the announcement that Oliveira did firstly to the players before the game against Brenecia and what he later announced in the post-match press conference, his “desire to seek for new horizons” have generated some sort of uncertainty that we, as fans, haven’t expected for around 14 years of success and joyful times with “La Selecta”, some of the older fans might remember those moments with precision and detail, but some of us might be unfamiliar with it. Rumors have appeared in social media, newspapers and daily-life conversations with people: While some say that a foreigner will arrive, others consider the possibility of a Guayabalense manager taking the command of the national team for the next World Cup, which will be hosted at Royal Kingdom of Québec and by us; many doubt if a foreigner is the adequate person to take command or doubt if a national manager would be able to step up to foreign competition, since we have to consider that the position of manager in “La Selecta” has been completely foreign since around 25 years, we have to go back to World Cup 66-68 period to find the last national manager who was Guayabalense, one of three that has been in the position, starting from Magadanov (RIP), Miljanic (RIP), and then García (RIP). The announcement wouldn’t have come in such a moment like this one, considering that “La Selecta” is on the road for their first regional tournament, the rival won’t be easy, it’s Nephara, the ones who stole us the World Cup dream in penalty kicks and humiliated us in CE final in the same year, that’s why revenge is a feeling that much people has in its minds and hearts right now, and this keeps us away from being concentrated, it’s a severe issue right now.

Oliveira will be remembered through history, for sure, since he made immediate success after “La Selecta” landed in a horrible moment; back to World Cup 71, we were eliminated by Nova Anglicana in playoffs with a terrific mistake by Henry Hernández, the guy that has now been relegated to be the third keeper of “La Selecta” since then, Oliveira came and gave his trust to Abraham Terrazas, who was 17 at that time, to defend the goal of the Guayabalense National Team, something that he did well because he allowed only one goal through the entire competition, those goal was scored by Vermark on the last match of Group Stage (3-1 win), Oliveira revolutionized the National Team all of sudden, taking it to victory immediately when they lifted the Cup of Harmony title in front of the Vanorian National Team, including Terrazas saving a penalty kick from Laborious Hawk and Zelaya scoring a beautiful lobbed shot past Galadirdren that make a complete nation go crazy. Although World Cup 72 wasn’t the expected success, despite qualifying to World Cup and having a decent performance (1-1-1 – third with four points), World Cup 73 was a complete revolution and joy, since they left Gregoryisgodistan without chances to qualify automatically after sweeping them in the series (1-3 win A – 1-0 win H), in that World Cup, “La Selecta” reached for the first time the knockout stage after having a perfect Group Stage (3-0-0) and reached the semifinals, being defeated by Eura in the penalties after 33 kicks (13-12 pks) and ruining an almost perfect run of the Eurans (They won all the matches in that cycle, except for the semifinals, since doesn’t counts as a win, technically) and then winning the third place of that World Cup against Vilita with a 4-2 score. That was a premonition of the success that would come in World Cup 74, which had us only two penalty kicks away from being the first Esportivan winner, something that Nephara was, since they defeated us in that final, despite we took an early lead in the match, a wrongly administrated advantage that hasn’t excuses of inexperience, since both teams were first-timers back then.

World Cup 75… It was a complete disaster, a horrific one, since we reached the World Cup with some problems after two defeats in the first four games, but we avenged being defeated in Omerica with a 4-0 win on home, that satisfaction didn’t lasted a lot since Bonesea, a debutant in World Cup at that time upset us, then Vilita came and defeated us too and we had to resign beating Electrum 0-2 to leave without shame nor glory in that World Cup. World Cup 76 was different, it was like a reappearance of the World Cup 73, with a similar Group Stage, where we only lose one time against Acronius at home, losing at home for the first time in 6 years, one of the biggest streaks we had, then we tied twice against The Holy Empire with a high amount of goals in both ties (4-4 A – 3-3 H), then all counted like victories for us. Winning against Port Christopher and tying against Abanhfleft was enough to qualify for the knockouts of the World Cup, despite being defeaed by Audioslavia with a 3-2 score, then Valanora was in the road and we managed to dominate the game and we sent the Vanorians back to home with a 3-2 win which included a good game by Faña and a late goal from the Vanorians that almost complicated us a lot. Ceni was our next rival, the hosts, pressure was visible in every corner and the game wouldn’t be easy but experience imposed since the first minutes, including Zelaya keeping things under control since minute 4, that was the beginning of one of the best nights in the latest times for “La Selecta”, since we scored 4 past the hosts and we came back to semifinals after two World Cups, Audioslavia was the rival and this time happened the same thing as the group stage, we were defeated but not on the first 90 minutes, this was prolonged to the penalty kicks, where we once again choked, but not as we did against Eura, it was a “normal” penalty series, out again and earning another third place against Chromatika, the revelation rookie of the tournament.

That’s why Oliveira’s era won’t be forgotten easily, lots of success and painful nights we lived on, but it was the formation of a generation of players that has given us a lot of joys; Oliveira has even won the biggest distinction that any foreigner can get from the Guayabalense government, the Order of Barbosa, due to his contribution to sports in general, since he brought a new philosophy to Guayabalense football, a new identity that uses the best we have in our genetics and skills in order to achieve the best we can, shame that we didn’t won a World Cup under his period as manager, but we are sure that we would be close to get that success, if we keep the same route, we might actually do it this time, and why not avenging our defeats against Nephara, it’s the perfect chance to see this finally consummated, although, we won’t be close to destroy the domination that Nephara has against us… A 1-1-5 record, two of those five victories have been on finals, the draw and victory were fairly recent, it was on the Eagles’ Cup, where we drew 2-2 in Brinemouth and we won 3-0 on Estadio Oscar Alberto Quiteño, hopefully that trend will continue in our favor and hopefully tonight, we will be enjoying a victory, avenging our sadness and tears of frustration after those two finals lost, and let’s add more finals in club competitions… Life always has different paths, maybe this is the path of reverting that domination, that suffering moments, and lift another trophy after fourteen years without winning anything (national team-wise). With this now done, it’s time to let him go, undoubtedly the best manager in Guayabalense history, together with Herrera, the Aquiliano (Osarian) who was his assistant, he also retires due to age concerns, we will miss both of them, and let’s hope that the new manager will make us win the so desired World Cup; now let’s continue with the next game and also with the new manager topic

Nephara… Nephara… Nephara… An old known foe is the rival of us in the final at Estadio Cuscatlán, which is obviously predicted to collapse around three or four hours before the final due to the amount of people desiring to enter, the fan zones are being built up in the main squares across the country and there’s also three near the stadium, one in the parking lot area, other at the mall across the street and the other at the top of the hill nearby the stadium, which provides a superb view of the Stadium for free, people will do its part and we expect that the National Team will do it too. Regarding Nepharims, there are rumors that 20,000 or 30,000 of them will come to the Stadium, that’s why we ask the people to keep calm if you see them, you can chant insulting things if you want, but let’s not go fighting, let the team fight for victory on the field and enjoy, that’s why there’s a police plan that will have around 1,600 police officers near the stadium to ensure that everything will go fine and avoid disorders or behavior issues between both fan groups, let’s make sure that whoever wins, this will be a party for all, and let’s hope we can extend it for more.

Strategically-wise, the game will be as the usual ones when Nepharim or Guayabalense teams face each other, totally distinct between what both teams have to offer. Nepharims are aggressive, physical and straightforward to play, while “La Selecta” is sort of a patient team, technical and fast, opposite styles but both teams rely a lot in the concentration factor, which will be important in order to do things well in the match, to don’t desperate and keep calm will be important, the one who might go desperate, might lose the game, and “La Selecta” might use the fan environment, the local status and their knowledge of the stadium well, in order to make the Nepharim go desperate and try to provoke some yellow cards or even red cards, for sure Rodolfo Zelaya will know that dirty job well, the job of provoking the rival in order to get some slight advantage through the game and conditioning the defense, in order to go safely through the rival area and try to cause the biggest amount of impact possible against the Nepharim defense. Keeping Ashdown and Szalai under control will be important this time, those two move the team forward and do the transitions between offense and defense, Ashdown does from defense to offense, Szalai does it from the middle to the offense, taking advantage of his speed, while having close Penumbra Amokachi will be important, since she is the main referent of troubles from the Nepharims, although, it’s not worthy to use personal mark over her, since the Nepharims are like an authentic football “Swiss Army Knife”, they can damage the defense with pretty much four or five players. The midfield and defensive line on the Nepharim scheme is quite close, but there’s like a fifteen meters gap that will be important to exploit, with a cross to one of the three strikers and then after the cross, to move one or two rival defenders with dribbling altogether with close support from another player in order to complement each other and get over the second line and having a clear vision to attack.

On regards of the manager issues, as it was mentioned earlier, the opinion are divided among hiring a foreign manager or calling the national managers among Liga Premier teams in order to take the National Team for the next World Cup, to be held in home, persons from different nations might submit their interest to the Guayabalense Football Federation via mail at informacion@fgf.co.gu (OOC: TG me the proposal) accompanied with their CV, while in the parallel process, the national managers of Liga Premier teams will be called one by one in order to have a final filter from both sides, who will be the manager will be decided on a last meeting at the Guayabalense Football Federation with both candidates present, a conversation will be held between candidates and the federation, those talks will be broadcasted in social media in order to keep people informed on the decisions, their opinion will be taken in consideration, that’s why this election might be unpredictable, depending on the social media factor (35%) and the Federation members (65%) too, the repertoire of questions won’t be published in order to get spontaneous answers from the Federation panel, but what it’s sure, is that four questions will be elected from social media at the moment of the live interactive broadcast in order to take the best decision for the position. The winner will be known one hour after the conversation of both managers, the deliberation will be also broadcasted and will be interactive The elected manager will get a contract for four years, according to what the Federation has said in the social media some time ago.

[Ethane]

Cutoff
It all comes down to this.

[Ethane]

FINAL

San José Guayabal 1–2 Nephara
@Estadio Cuscatlán, San Salvador, SJG.