Di Bradini Cup 28/U21WC49 RP/Roster/Results Thread

[Mizuyuki]

"Okay, so that wasn't exactly what we were hoping for. Was it, team?"

The entire team averted their gazes away from Shirakiin, knowing full well that not a single one of them would be able to hold her piercing stare for even 5 seconds.

Shirakiin had reverted to her icy voice, reserved for when she was particularly furious and someone was about to be condemned to the high jump.

"Yes, we were up against TIS, and we were considered the underdogs... so you lot might be thinking that a solitary point against them would be enough. So you just decided to play like a bunch of kids in the local playground!"

Shirakiin stomped around the changing room, all the while continuing her rant.

"By the Auroral Union's standards, one point is never enough! Do you need me to drill that into your thick skulls? You need to keep in mind that you are the representatives of the nation, and the populace are looking up to you as role models! You're supposed to be the elite among the nation's sportsmen... and now you go and give me that kind of performance and expect me to be fine with it? Well, I'm bloody not!"

"Did you just go out there after I'd outlined my strategy to you and decide 'Well, it's not like we'll be eliminated just for relinquishing two goddamn points, so let's do just that and damn the consequences!', huh?"

Shirakiin swivelled around and pointed her finger at me. I let out a small squeal of terror; at times like these, the manager was a veritable demon. There was no telling what she'd do to you. Somehow I don't think I'd be surprised if she finally strung some unfortunate bugger up during one of her rages.

"Ishibashi! Just what were you doing out there? I specifically ordered you to stay in the center of the park today, didn't I? And you go running all around the pitch like a headless chicken! Amaterasu knows, there's probably rampaging elephants in Africa with better positional sense than you, and that's putting it mildly! After your performance last match, I was expecting great things from you; now it looks like I'll be better off with a blind bat in the squad!"

"And Tsuchimikado? Tell me this - how many shots have you had on goal today?"

"Umm, seven, boss."

"And how many of those were on target?" A dangerous glint shone in Shirakiin's eyes as she gradually pushed herself in front of Mikoto.

Mikoto hesitated a long while, fidgeting with her water bottle, before replying in a small voice : "Two, manager."

"Two? Two out of frickin' seven? And you call yourself the central offensive axis of our team? Heck, I'd have subbed Kurugaya on in a heartbeat if I didn't use all my subs for changing the damn midfield around - she would've at least done a better job than you!"

At this, Kurugaya threw a sympathetic glance at the besieged Mikoto. She felt a pang of pity for Mikoto, for she had always been on good terms with the captain.

"And what were those two shots anyway? Even my friend back home would have caught it; and he's bedridden with a stress fracture in his back! And by the way, mind telling me why didn't you pass the ball? You're a bloody playmaker, for goodness's sake! There was one chance you could have created for Isshiki; she would have been clean through on goal if you'd just decided to slide a pass her way instead of trying to singlehandedly dribble past the entire TIS defence!"

"I'm not done yet, by the way. What happened to your famous long shots, Saten?"

"Err..." Ruiko, who had been desperately trying to avoid the manager's glare, shot up in shock and terror at the seemingly innocuous question thrown her way. I could almost hear her brain's frenzied whirring, overheating as she tried to formulate an answer that wouldn't land her in hot water.

It was pointless, Shirakiin was going to steamroller over everyone in the squad, come hell or high water.

"Were you trying to bring down some birds for our dinner tonight? Or could you be involved in a convoluted terrorist plot that called for you to take down an airplane overhead with one of your scorchers? 'Cause that's certainly what came to my mind when I saw you blasting shot after shot into Row Z! You're not a goddamn comedian, so stop making the opposition howl with laughter whenever you shape up to take a shot!"

Without warning, Shirakiin's voice sunk dangerously low; it was always a signal to lay low and wait for the storm to blow over.

"Let me just tell you that this failure to secure victory has seriously jeopardised our chances of qualifying for the round of 16. Sure, I know that we're still a point clear of Callumackbar, and we just need to nick one point off them to be assured of qualification thanks to our goal difference."

"But let me get one thing straight with you lot. Callumackbar are in a serious quandary now and their manager, Wayne Burbridge knows it. He's fully aware of the fact that they need to win against us to qualify at our expense. I am also aware that our team is more talented than Callumackbar's, both individually and collectively. However, get this into your dense skulls; a cornered dog is the most dangerous. They do not have a second option; they need to win to stay in the competition."

"Thus, I will be expecting you to perform to the best of your ability in 2 days' time against them. One slip up from any of you, and you'll find yourselves bang on the bench in no time and perhaps out of the Auroral Union's team for years to come. Your future with the Nova rides on this, so please decide whether you're going to give it you all out there on the pitch, or just roll over like you did today."

"You'll be doing me a favour by doing that; Tsukuyomi knows that there are millions of people watching you from back home, so don't disappoint them all by playing lifelessly like zombies or asses that aren't even worthy of pulling the national team shirt on. This time around, I demand that you secure the three points. One point is never enough. I repeat: never enough. If you come back without the three points, I think you'll find the team bus leaving without you."

"I'd like to fine each, each and every one of you two weeks' worth of wages for putting on such a dismal performance out there, but I can't, so buck up your ideas and train as bloody hard as you can for the Callumackbar match. I'm ashamed that you were the starting XI that I picked. Now get changed and get back to base."

Shirakiin turned on her heels and headed straight for the exit.

As the flimsy wooden door swung shut behind her, Shirakiin's parting words rang around the silent room.

"Pathetic, that's what you lot are. Absolutely pathetic."

[Kriegiersien]

LIVE here on Cable 25, the game between Equestrian states and Kriegiersien. The clones from Di Bradini against the World Champion. Only here on Cable 25 (because every other TV Station is bothered with the Olympics).



RM: And here is Roger Meyers and on my side our greatest player, Top Player of the NT, Jobst Haudels. Welcome here, it is an honor. You are not playing in the Olympics, Futsal or Beach Cup?

JH: Hello. Naaah, these are not real Football events, this here is. But I am bit too old now for the U21.

RM: Do you think our Di Bradinis can win this and what do you think of the concept?

JH: I know that the president supports it and Di Bradini, hey, he is a legend, so why don't let him play? 10 times? To the game, the ponies didn't play so well in the first game, I think they are beatable.

RM: And the players are coming into the arena....

[...]

RM: Di Bradini ... lets just say our Nr. 12 shakes hands...hooves... with the other team captain, all nice and friendly until now. The game against the World Champion begins! I am so excited.

[...]

RM: Well, that was a boring first half, 3 chances for the Equestrians, zero goals, Kriegiersien played defensive again. Can they play this way the whole tournament?
JH: No way. I hope they start to play the way they can now.
RM: Let's hope it gets better. Like Kriegiersien you can win something, if you tell us who is World Champion? Equestrian States or Sangti? Call us now and win a car with many HP under.....

[...]

RM: And now a corner for Kriegiersien. Crowding in front of the goals and Nr. 15, he taps the nostril of Gentle Breeze and... the Goalkeeper giggles. What a nice reaction.
JH: Yeah, I thougt for a moment she would ram her hoof into his face. Maybe the Bradini charm. The corner gets kicked. Oh, the Goalkeeper dances around and misses it. But the defense clears.

[...]
RM: The players of Kriegiersien are playing much more attack style now, creative, nearly good. The Equestrians on the other side seem to be confused.
JH: The new game style of the Di Bradinis seems to shock them.

[...]

RM: What happened there? Did you see that?
JH: The Equestrian Goalkeeper threw the ball against the post after making some tricks with it. The own post. Corner. And his teammates are shouting at him. Beside one midfielder, Rainbow Blitz, who is laughing after contact with Bradini Nr 4. Must have told him a great joke. Strange.


[...]
RM: And Nr. 8 is through, Di Bradini, great play, his opponents are confused, he is alone with the goalkeeper and Breeze is just sitting there, trying to catch something nonexistent in the air, Di Bradini is distracted, he slows down, but the refere shows him that he can continue.... he shoots before a defender reaches him........ he missed the empty goal!!!
JH: Where am I? What is happening here?
WM: The goalkeeper gets replaced. Good idea. She is singing loudly while leaving the field.


[...]
RM: Something must be wrong with some players of Equestria. Only a few are attacking, but some are dancing, one crying, one is shouting at the crowd, one is eating gras....but the new Goalkeeper stops every shot and the few who are not behaving funny are defending furious.

[...]
RM: Penalty for the World Champ. Windwacker broke through, but was hit in the face by Bradini Nr. 3. Now he is staggering to the penalty spot.
JH: I can't watch.
WM: He shoots... no.... he is making an aerial walkover, hits the air, crashes to the ground, hits the ball with the head... the ball rolls slowly into the arms of Longarm.
JH: What.. is ....happening?

[...]
RM: It is over. An absolute bewildering game. The ponies played derranged, many players appeared strange until the last minutes, but now everyone seems to be ok and behave serious and mature. There are discussions going on. Between the Equestrians about the behavior of some of the players, the Di Bradinis because they wasted so many chances in the second half, the staff of Kriegiersien is sending them into the cabin now. Oh, so much confusion. We will try to get interviews.
JH: That was the strangest game I have ever seen.



In the catacombs of the Tricorn Arena.

Felix Quälix: Well, it didn't worked. Your precious, little, evil plan with poisoning and cheating.
Dr. Love-Evil: The players didn't used their chances. There were enough options to beat them. I say it is your tactic.
FQ: I have enough. I'll take over now. These Sangti aren't the helpless boys you thought. They are dominating. Our best chance is, that they now not giving everything after being already qualified. We make it my way now, the way of sport and training. You are out.
L-E: Oho. And of what authority you deny me my creation?
FQ: Or else I tell the officials of your little experiment. I don't think they will take that well. What do you think how Wights prisons look like?
L-E: You are in then, too. And the president won't lile it, if you betray the team.
FQ: I'll risk it. Do you? Or do you would prefer to make an interview outside, while I prepare the team now?

The doctor hesitated, blinked, then noded.
L-E: Yes. Yes, maybe thats the best. I'll give the interviews and ... prepare other things.
He vanished with a smile.

Felix sighed. Now he had to make the lads ready. To play soccer. The soccer the real Di Bradini had learned through training, hard work and experience. Maybe they could learn it to an extent to reach the Play-Offs. He would try to help them.
He would watch a video of Sangti against Felix first.

[Cassadaigua]

Lambert Opens Up,
by Kiersten Turcotte, Associate Editor, Concord Heights Times

I recently had a fantastic opportunity to talk with Erica Lambert, who is currently guiding the Di Bradini Cup team out in Wight. In our conversation we talked about several different topics, beginning with her expectations for this tournament, and where she sees herself as far as her own future. There were some other topics thrown in as well, and here is what the legendary #15 told me.

Lambert, on overcoming her reputation as a dirty player while as a coach for youngsters:

I don’t think it’s bad to be a dirty player, as long as you are playing close to what the rules say. What is important is that you watch your bookings, because cards can pile up and if you have to start sitting out games, then it not only affects you, it affects your team. I don’t want anyone on this team to think that soccer is a game about speed, fancy moves, and scoring goals. Every player out there on the pitch has an obligation to be a physical presence. This doesn’t mean you go around fouling the opponent, but it is imperative to show that you not only will not be pushed around, but that you will can knock them down. A lot of the younger kids have played youth soccer or high school soccer, and at those levels, aggressive physical play is frowned upon. You’ll get a little bit of it at the high school level, but not a lot. This is where you learn to be tough. Some girls love it and have been waiting for it, but others need to be trained on handling it, both on the receiving end and dishing it out.

Personally, I never considered myself a dirty player, but I was never going to win any good sportsmanship awards either. A lot of people hated playing against me on the field, both in Cassadaigua and internationally, but after the game, many of them were willing to shake my hand because they understand what the game is all about. Sure, I had my red cards in my career and a couple other suspensions because sometimes you go in for a tackle and it doesn’t go according to plan. Or sometimes your emotions get the best of you. You have to know when to show them, and when to hold them back.

Lambert, on the importance of preaching defense:

Once again, everyone out there needs to be playing top level defense, even the forwards need to be cognizant of it. Like I said, these players are graduating from youth and high school and at those levels, forwards particularly get through games by impressing with their goal scoring. That’s not going to happen anymore, as they get older, they need to become a more well-rounded player, and this is where development comes in. Defense is my top priority during the Di Bradini Cup. Sure, we’ll practice set pieces and work on plans to score goals, but that’s something that will always get the juices flowing of the kids. Working on positioning, defensive strategy and technique isn’t as exciting for everyone, but everyone must learn it. Real life isn’t like a video game where your forwards can get by on offensive skills.

Lambert, on the expectations for the team:

We’re here to win the tournament. I know you will all talk about developing players and I may have just done a lot of it right now. But what I do know is that I will never coach a team into a tournament with the expectation of anything else but victory. In our first two games, we have done a very good job of this. Shutting down Mangolana was very impressive in the way that we did it. Naturally, getting a clean sheet will always be something that I aim for us to have. The win over The Serbian Empire had some things go wrong, as you shouldn’t allow three goals, but those are things that can be fixed. We’ve reviewed some game tape already and will continue to do so to see how we can rectify that. I think that, so far, we’ve found some potential solutions. It was nice to get five goals, and that means we did a lot of things right as well. Winning 5-3 is bittersweet because while you’re glad you got five, you can’t always depend on getting at least four.

Lambert, on the upcoming game:

We’ve clinched a spot in the next round, which is great. The Licentian Isles will only need a draw to advance, but we’re not thinking conservatively, and I doubt that they are either. If we lose, we finish 2nd, and my preference would be to win this group. The kids are really excited for it too, a lot of them think highly of the Licentian Isles given that they eliminated Saintland from the World Cup in the playoff. At this level, that had a similar performance as we did, and do a good job of developing their players for the senior level. It should be a good test, and we will be up for it. While the players know they will have advance to the knockout round, it’s better to do so as a first place team.

Lambert, on her own coaching aspirations:

It’s an honor to be coaching the Di Bradini team. I’m happy to have been selected by CASE and do not want to let them down. As you may know I do also help with scouting for the senior team. Surely, I would love to coach the World Cup team myself one day, but do not wish anything negative on Brittany Lawton. I would be satisfied and just as excited to follow the lead of Allison Salamida as well. (Salamida is a former Dagan star who coached Jeru FC & Jeruselem in the World Cup).

[The Inevitable Syndicate]

GhoulBlasters
I ain't afraid of no ghouls... It's those nellies you've really got to watch for...

---

Now, while it wasn't the most hightech place in the world, the former site of the Klaus Street Police Station was picked as the finest spot for the Ghoulblasters (now an officially recognised business) to operate out of. And with a modified version of Dex's Trapper Device (which he called 'Midnight', for some reason), and Mike's Neutron Reversal Pack, the team were nearly set to do some business.

There was just one problem. Not many Syndicatians actually believed in the Paranormal, so the team needed something to prove themselves. Benson was pouring over a laptop while the other two played the complex game of furniture moving.

"Well, turns out there are many, many entities we could go after. There's at least seven around Fligsive, and a really interesting one in the temple of Raresh..."

"We're not going to the Temple of Raresh." Busby insisted. "My sister's husband's cousin went there once, by proxy. It was awful."

"What do you mean by proxy?" Dex asked, while trying to move a lime sofa up the stairs.

"Well, apparently it was for some chess thing. He's a GM, don't you know. Faded out of the limelight recently, but he's still doing fine..."

"That's great, I do love the family stories when were trying to get rich, here!" Steve tapped on the laptop. "We couldn't go to Ahlenfi anyway. Have you been living under a rock? We're at war with them!"

The sofa proved to be too much for Dex to handle, and it came crashing back down the stairs. "Damnit! Steve, can't you give us a hand with this?"

Benson got up, slightly annoyed at the prospect of having to do work, and walked over to the sofa. "Just put your back into it!"

A few hours later, the moving was (almost) done, with only a few boxes and various bits of paraphernalia left to unpack. The team was, however, open for business. Mike had taken the opportunity to find some spectral phenomena that were actually taken seriously, if not by the Syndicate, then by other countries. And he'd found the big one.

"It says something here about 'The Adherent of the Random Number Gods'. And that she has a direct influence on major sporting results. Some claim that she was once a living being, but has been immortalised into the spectral plane after an incident involving a revolver and the Olympics."

"A revolver, eh, Mike? And what does she look like, this Margaret?" Dex asked, between mouthfuls of the Vilitan food the three had ordered to celebrate their successful move.

"Well, apparently she wears burgundy robes and a blue hooded cape, and is often seen with rubber chickens. Question is, where are we going to find her?"

Steve looked at the two men, slightly confused. "Well, where do you think she's going to be?"

"I don't know, Steve. Next Fligsive game?" Dex pondered.

"Think about it, what's happening right now in that freaky country that is the source of oh-so-many of the case studies on our old course?"

Mike sighed. "I doubt we'd be able to go to the Olympics, Steve..."

"Oh, come on! She's in Wight! At the Di Bradini Cup? It's like you people don't keep up with youth football!" Benson sighed.

"Steve, we don't. Isn't that the championship your niece is in?"

"Yes, Mike. Katie Hall. Up and coming Syndicatian Midfielder. She'll be playing for Burgess in no time, you'll see!"

"Right. So we go for this Margaret fellow, and then we'll be rich?" Dex asked, still a little confused by the whole affair. "And if she's in Wight, how are we going to get there?"

"It's simple," said Benson, grabbing a handful of fries. "We just do some odd jobs, and make the money to go to Wight, and then we turn up at a Di Bradini Cup game, scan for EEK pulses, and then we'll catch her! We'll gain some vital ghosting experience by doing these smaller things beforehand, too, and the international community might take us a bit more seriously."

"Steve, we could just partner up with a more experienced ghost catching team, and do it that way..."

"What's the point in that, Mike? We want the glory, don't we? I say we do it!" Get some local jobs, maybe some in other countries from famous people, that will pay a nice wad of ducats, and then we take the Fight to Maggie herself!"

As Benson said the final words, the power in the building flickered off and on again in a sporadic fashion. While it would normally be attributed to dodgy cables, the three would find out that it was something a lot more sinister...

[Saugeais]

"Right. Well, that was a something wasn't it?"

"It was something, alright. Something bad."

"Let's hope they don't perform like this at the Olympics. Even with the 3 overage players coming in."

"To the Olympics then? I have two tickets to Orean. Got your bags packed?"

"Yeah, let's leave tonight. Nothing left for us here. Plus, I heard Orean is wonderful this time of year."

"Awesome, let's go on then."

[Free Republics]

OOC: The first part is the continuation of this. I was going to do a Progressive primary debate, but it was boring me to write it and I figured it would probably end up taking hours to write and being very repetitive, so I scrapped that idea.

News Magazine

Amolotopian President faces Impeachment
by: Alexander Ehrlichmann

Embattled Amolotopian President Oliviero Schiavone is now facing imminent impeachment after the discovery of new surveillance camera footage. In this footage, the Amolotopian President is shown receiving oral sex. However, the woman in the video is not President Schiavone's former secretary Tatiana Tokareva. As of yet, her identity is unknown, but to many, this establishes a pattern. It can now no longer be denied that the President of Amolotopia has been receiving sexual favors in his office while he is supposed to be on the job.

I spoke with Garland Begin, a member of President Schiavone's Christian Paternalist Party and a man who has previously stated that adultery disqualifies men, in his opinion, from holding public office. While that is an opinion that would be regarded as puritanical by most people not involved in Christian or Progressive politics, it is very widespread on both the far-left and the far-right of the Republican political spectrum. "If President Schiavone does not resign his office immediately," Assemblyman Begin told me, "I will introduce articles of impeachment against the President tomorrow. I have already spoken to several of my colleagues and to several members of the opposition parties. I believe that we have the votes to remove President Schiavone from office and we will do so if he does not have the decency to resign. Oral sodomy is a disgusting act, even when performed in the privacy of one's own home by a married couple. God has declared this act to be an abomination. It is even more wicked when it is performed outside of the sanctity of marriage. God intended for it to be one man, one woman, until death do they part and God intended for both of them to remain pure until their wedding day. In fact, God invented the word 'slut' to refer to women that engage in premarital sex. The President needs to repent of his sins and beg God's forgiveness. There is no place for perverts in a Christian political party." These kinds of comments are rather unlikely to help the Christian Coalition's favorable numbers.

The Christian Paternalist Party came to power last year in the Republic of Amolotopia. This was a rather unexpected event at the time. In the weeks prior to the Amolotopian election, the news was dominated by the story of a gruesome gang rape involving a number of teenagers. It would later turn out to be a false allegation. Furthermore, the girl who made the accusation was the daughter of a minister who was himself a Christian Paternalist Party activist. As it turned out, the whole incident was a hoax. The false accuser has since been tried, as an adult, under the Federation-level Ending False Allegations Act and was sentenced to the maximum penalty of 5 years in Federation prison without parole.

Efforts to reach President Schiavone were unsuccessful. His secretary politely informed me that President Schiavone's office was not going to be making any public comments at the moment. However, she added, off the record, that the President "deplores" these ridiculous allegations and that he will continue to work, as the President of Amolotopia, to restore moral values among the children of the Republic. As I see it, the President remains stubbornly in denial, as his credibility is evaporating. With his impeachment imminent, it seems that the defiant President of Amolotopia has no desire to resign voluntarily. Instead, he has apparently chosen to be impeached by the Amolotopian Assembly. Either way, the impeachment is expected to come down to just a handful of votes. F-SPAN has already confirmed that they will be covering the impeachment debate and vote live on F-SPAN 5. The impeachment articles are widely expected to be immediately debated and voted upon, so be sure to tune into F-SPAN 5 tomorrow.

Alexander Ehrlichmann is News Magazine's newest political campaign correspondent. As long as he can remember, Alexander has been fascinated by the news. As a boy, he insisted that his parents subscribe to News Magazine because he wanted to know what was happening in the world. In high school, Alexander started his own school newspaper, independent of his high school, which reported on serious issues that the school's approved newspaper would not touch. Attending the University of Amoltopia, Baseton campus, Alexander majored in journalism and graduated at the top of his class. He was hired by News Magazine straight out of college last year to report on the news in his home Republic of Amolotopia. After impressing the editor, he was recently assigned to cover the Consul election campaign.

---

The Free Republics had just defeated Kiryu-shi 4 goals to nil. With the second victory, Rule Theriault's Republicans were well on their way to returning to the knockout rounds of the Di Bradini Cup. Only Albaie still stood between the Republicans and a second consecutive perfect group stage. Lukic and Sandstrom scored the first 2 goals for the Republicans today. Then, Porvaldur Hinriksson came off the bench in the second half and scored 2 more to make it a 4 to nil victory over their hapless opposition.

Rule Theriault - Just what I wanted to see. We dominated Kiryu-shi offensively and defensively. We now have 2 obstacles down and 5 more to go. Although we are almost certainly through to the Round of 16 already, I still want a victory tomorrow. Tomorrow, we'll give our starters a day of rest to prepare for the Round of 16. Tomorrow, we're playing all backups. Berto and William, you'll be coming on at halftime off the bench.

Ausilio Mancini - So, I only got to play 45 minutes?

Rule Theriault - That's correct, Ausilio. However, you'll get opportunities to start during our pre-World Cup friendlies. I have already secured a friendly on our turf against Saintland. The Sanctii were insistent that it be played at Church of Saintland Stadium in Albertope, for some reason.

Kyle Bolton - They actually agreed to play an away friendly against us?

Rule Theriault - That is correct. An official from their government informed me that they are not accepting home friendlies at the moment, due to their stadiums already being booked.

Leo Cremonesi - Why would their stadiums already be booked?

Rule Theriault - I have no idea. Maybe Can't Sing Virginium are holding simultaneous concerts in all of them?

Kyle Bolton - Maybe their Army is doing training drills on the stadium field yet again?

Marius Christofferson - Kyle, who do you believe in that controversy?

Kyle Bolton - I don't know what to believe. As the news from Amolotopia shows, we must never trust a theocrat, but I absolutely loathe the Equestrian States.

Miroslav Bozek - If I was the son of the King of Saintland and I had to play football against talking horses that can kick field goals from anywhere no the field, I know I'd ask my father's permission to flood the field.

Kieran Hancock - But, Miro, you aren't a Sanctii. They grow up in a vastly different culture than ours. They probably think completely differently than we would.

Miroslav Bozek - For once, I actually agree with you, Kieran.

Kieran Hancock - Tomorrow, I want to watch the debate. I'm still undecided as to who I should vote for.

Koby Theodore - Kieran, if you choose to remain a member of that loony party, you should at least vote for Yournes Danielsson. He's the only sane one of the entire bunch.

Joseph Poole - I agree with Koby.

Kieran Hancock - OK. I'll listen to what he has to say and give him a fair hearing, even if I think he's more of a Moderate than a Progressive.

Rule Theriault - Can we please refrain from discussing politics in the locker room? These kind of discussions tend to get very heated, very quickly. I don't want anything getting in the way of our team unity.

Kieran Hancock - I shouldn't have brought it up, coach.

Joseph Poole - Even if Kieran has some crazy beliefs, he's still a good soccer player. Coach, we are old enough to disagree without being disagreeable.

Rule Theriault - It still worries me, Joseph, that you're having these kinds of discussions at all.

Joseph Poole - Sorry coach. I'll stop if you feel so strongly about it.

Rule Theriault - Well, to change the subject, did any of you see the score for the Equestrian States yet?

Kyle Bolton looked it up on his phone.

Kyle Bolton - They drew Kriegiersien. If Kriegiersien beats Sangti, the talking horses are out of the Di Bradini Cup.

Rule Theriault - That's great news. Who are the horses facing?

Ausilio Mancini - I think its Felix.

Rule Theriault - Felix? The nation with the troll reporter.

Jens Koch - Well, that reporter does come from a nation that sounds like it is some dude's name.

Most of the team laughed at the joke.

Rule Theriault - The experts at KPB ranked Felix higher in their rankings than any other team that participated in the last Baptism of Fire. They, not us, were the Saintland of the last World Cup cycle.

Kyle Bolton - Speaking of the Sanctii, do you think they can bounce back from the defection of Josephus Flaccus?

Rule Theriault - They definitely didn't appear to be the same team at the Cup of Harmony.

Faredin Pozenel - I think they'll bounce back. They do have that event in Liventia coming up and I'll sure they'll win that.

Ayub Sandstrom - But, that is meaningless. What truly matters is winning medals at the Republican Games.

Arnou Labrecque - When we win this tournament and get our Saints, do you want Republican Games?

Kyle Bolton - Absolutely not. Most of the events don't translate well to a game.

Rule Theriault - My sources at RepublicSoft informed me that those Sanctii are selling Saints at Liventia's "Olympics" event, with a game called the Real Olympics Simulator included with the machine. Its apparently Republican Games with several options removed and a few minor graphical changes.

Kyle Bolton - Why would they make an inferior version of a game that is probably already a bad game?

Koby Theodore - Its a cash-in. The Sanctii spent alot of money on that event this year and they want to make some of it back. If they can sell some Saints and expand the international reputation of that product, that will help their team.

Faredin Pozenel - I heard that they actually have coaches at the Olympics.

Rule Theriault - Those "coaches" must be the clergy members that Polus woman claimed would be going to Liventia to Bible-thump the non-Sanctii athletes.

Kyle Bolton - Good one, coach. I noticed we'll be in Spit for our final Group Stage match, so I think I'll try to find the Cassadaigua team.

Rule Theriault - That's fine with me Kyle, but don't be surprised if you get shot down. They may still be sore about losing to us last year or they may be upset that I criticized their lack of seriousness.

Kyle Bolton - But, they are smoking hot.

Rule Theriault - I can see why you'd be interested in them. Good luck.

Kyle Bolton went on to talk most of his teammates into joining him. They hoped to find Cassadaigua's team and hit on them. While it was probably ill-advised to try this with members of a team that they might face at some point in the knockout rounds, the Republican team did not care. They had been infatuated with Dagan women going back even before the Cup of Harmony last year and had been frustrated when they had been drawn to visit the Equestrian States instead of Cassadaigua. Now, they had their chance to hang out with the Dagan team and see if they could get them drunk...

[Northern Sunrise Islands]

12:45
Unnamed Restaurant
Spit, Spittlessex

"I think I may say it straight away, we're screwed." said a disappointed Ariane Hall, "You guys had to screw up against Sicoutimont and now... we don't have a chance in hell against Wight!"

The rest of the team, sitting around the restaurant almost filling it up completely couldn't help but to feel unhappy about it. Beating the current World Champions younger side was basically impossible on the minds of the Vaporeons. Conbi coughed, asking for time to speak.

"I may straight out away say that it's all Rosso's fault. He keeps too focused on women and forgets that we are here to play. If we were to face Mizuyuki, I'm pretty sure he'd score an own goal!" yelled the 16-year old, pointing to the Panther as he was too focused on his hair to pay attention.

"Now, now..." said Hall, getting up from her chair, "We're not supposed to pick up a villain for our poor performance against Sicoutimont."

Most of the players looked at each other, nodding about it.

"...But I would like to remind you that Mary Ann was the one that suffered the goal." said Byrd Jr., sitting at his chair, while still finishing his lunch. With that, the rest of the team started to yell at each other until Landon Pope had to be the voice of reason and break up the discussions.

"Guys, Guys! Calm down! For the love of Arceus! We aren't going anywhere if we keep yelling at each other." said Pope.

"What do you suggest then, fool?" replied David Byrd, "The war we came for is almost over, get a clue. The best we could do is walk-out our match against Wight and take the next flight to NSI as soon as possible, we can't let them have that last laugh."

"Excuse me, David-san, but the way of the chicken is not the best way here." replied a calm Luanne Mittens, touching her right, pretty pointed and furred ear.

"Ooooh, Daniel-san, wax in and wax off!" said Stooge, mocking Mittens, "Go eat some fish, chump! I'll give a tip here. Get our captain here and he'll say what we should do."

"That is a good point, actually. Where's Hokuto?" asked Keith-Tyne, after flossing his teeth, "Wasn't he supposed to be eating here with us?"

"He said something about training a special kick." answered Sioux, "Oui, a place that was suggested by Jet."

"Well, since Jet suggested..." said Hall, "Jet will get him here."

"WHAT?" yelled Hawk, almost spitting the slice of fish he was eating, "I'M NOT MEETING HIM AGAIN!"

"Scared?" said Stooge, cockily.

"OF COURSE!" yelled Hawk, scared, "HE WILL CUT MY EYE OUT!"

"Nah, he ain't that much of a deadman. Besides, Combi's Gardevoir can heal your wounds" said Hall, patting Jet's back, "He is pretty important for this, get going already."

---

13:06
A small concrete field at a park
Spit, Spittlessex

"Get Hokuto, they said." Jet Hawk muttered to himself, while walking at the sidewalk to the field where Hokuto was at, "He is pretty important, they said. He's not going to cut your eye out, they said. Combi's Gardevoir will heal your wounds if he does that, they said. Ugh, if only Tony was here, he could be pretty helpful. Oh, here he is..."

Hawk saw Hokuto training at the pitch. The almost-always silent, coldblooded striker had the ball and the goal at his front. Hokuto took some distance, sighed and then ran in the direction of the ball. Hawk could only see the sky near Hokuto slowly change in a darker, more nocturne look as Hokuto continued to run for the ball. As he lifted his right leg to kick it, the Sunrisian striker started to shine until eventually kicking the ball. That was the moment where it got weird. The trail of the ball somehow turned into an anime-esque blue-haired girl, dressed in musicians' clothing and with a blue guitar with her. As the ball progressed, it seemed like the girl pulled a stronger accord and faded in the air, as the ball earned enormous strength until burning the net and finding its way on a wall, making a mark at it. Smoke and dirt slowly fell down from the air after the kick, as the ball was stuck in the wall and Hokuto breathed heavily.

"...WHAT THE F--- WAS THAT?" yelled Hawk, in a mix of being impressed and heavily confused. Hokuto just picked the ball from the wall and walked past Jet, still silent.

"Liked the Ramona Kick, I guess. I'll see you at the restaurant." said Go Hokuto, going to the restaurant, while Jet looked straight to the wall that the ball was at a couple of seconds before.

[Taeshan]

"Whoo we won 5-3"

"Yeah another goalfest, at least this team has turned on the excitement."

"Seems like they are looking to move to a more attacking style of soccer instead of the sit back and pass it style."

"Yeah, I mean we are historically a really defensive side, but a little offense never hurt anyone"

"Yeah, and a win here puts us in great position going forward. A win in the final game and we move on, a loss and we go home, very interesting."

"Yeah, least we know the final game will provide at least some excitement even if we do lose."

"Yeah almost 10 goals for and against, thats about 10 times what we usually would have at this point."

"Word."

"Well lets hope they get another win and can move on."

"Yep."

[Mizuyuki]

---

Nova frozen out in Wight
Shirakiin's team play out scoreless draw with The Inevitable Syndicate

---

Terauchi Kanami and Komiya Kyousuke, reporting from the Di Bradini Cup, Wight

Okay, so a scoreless draw is probably not the first choice you'd pick when you wanted to watch a football match. Sure, there may be salutary defending, hapless miskicks, unlucky slips of the boot or revolutionary defending tactics; any football fan who knows what he's talking about will tell you that there's simply not much spice to watching a 90-minute game without that essence of football: goals.

And that was simply what happened as Mizuyuki were held to a nil-nil draw against one of football's middling powerhouses, The Inevitable Syndicate.

On the first matchday in Group E, both TIS and the Auroral Union carved out amazing scorelines; Mizuyuki thrashing Thatius 5-1 while The Inevitable Syndicate demolished Callumackbar 6-1. Such stunning performances from the teams served to turn the spotlight on what had been billed as the "Clash of Titans" by local media - the showdown between Mizuyuki and TIS in the second matchday of the Di Bradini Cup.

Sadly, the footballing spectacle that many had hopes for failed to materialise, as the two equally matched teams played out a scoreless draw in the Mutlitudinous Arena in Despite, Wight.

That being said, although it wasn't the anticipated end-to-end attacking football that was being anticipated by the people of the Auroral Union, the Nova can be said to have performed creditably well against more accomplished and experienced opposition in the form of TIS. Our lasses effectively neutralised the few TIS attacks that threatened to condemn them to a loss, while managing to pose a considerable threat to the opposition defence.

As is their wont, the Nova started off the game on the front foot, with the Syndicatians holding their own remarkably well against the waves of attacks. While the defensive nature of the Syndicatians' setup meant that they would be a much tougher nut to crack defensively compared to Thatius, Shirakiin had put all her apples into the attacking basket, with Tsuchimikado in particular being utilised as the offensive axis of the team.

The first chance of the game came relatively early, merely 3 minutes after kickoff. After receiving a lobbed ball over the top of the Syndicatian defence from Tsuchimikado, Izawa, who had performed so superbly in the previous match, was left one on one with the 'keeper. However, a bad stroke of luck befell her as the Syndicatians' Timothy Smart took advantage of Izawa's rather weak first touch to rob her of the ball.

A spell of dominance soon followed, with a multitude of offensive moves instigated by the Nova thwarted time and time again by the efficient Syndicatians. On the quarter hour mark, Izawa saw an opening in the opposition defence and tried to thread a through ball to the unmarked Isshiki, but her pass was not precise enough and was intercepted by the alert Sophie Smith.

Tsuchimikado soon had a chance to fire the Nova in front from 20 yards, but she mishit a cutting pass from Saten and screwed her shot wildly off target. It was a disappointing attempt, and one that would set the tone for the rest of the frustrating afternoon that the Nova had to endure. Soon afterwards, the Syndicatians managed to cobble together their first meaningful assault on Takanashi in the Mizuyuki goal; following a flowing move involving Katie Hall, Douglas Swire and Robert Morgan, Rhys West found himself on the edge of the penalty area in acres of space. He duly pulled the trigger on a rocket of a shot that flew past Takanashi's left hand post by inches.

Shaken by the Syndicatian attempt on goal, the Nova began to reduce their expansiveness; Saten began to play in a more withdrawn role in midfield while the dual wingers Isshiki and Honda dropped back further to help out with defending.

Ishibashi, who looked well off par in the opening exchanges, had a glorious opportunity to slice the Syndicatian defence wide open for Izawa with a floated through ball in the 34th minute, but she opted for the spectacular and blasted one at goal from 30 yards. The ball was travelling for the bottom left corner of the goal until the athletic Bond stretched to deflect it out of play for a corner.

From the resultant corner, Tawaraya planted a firm header straight at goal; it was however easily collected by Scott.

Chances were offered up to the Nova, and they were duly squandered, most of them by the uncharacteristically profligate Tsuchimikado.

In the 37th minute, Saten was gifted the ball by a misplaced Syndicatian pass in the middle of the park. Striding forward with authority, Saten placed a delicate through ball right into Tsuchimikado's well timed run. However, finding herself surrounded by defenders, Tsuchimikado took the conservative option and passed straight back to Saten. Upon receiving the ball, Saten looked up and found herself in considerable space. She proceeded to tee the ball up with a couple of nice touches before putting her foot through the ball, which blazed harmlessly over the Syndicatian goal.

Tsuchimikado was next up to try her luck at goal. 4 minutes before half time, Ishio dispossessed West deep inside Mizuyuki territory and hastily sent the ball upfield, hoping to catch their opponents on the counter. Tsuchimikado was in the right place at the right time to control the well hit ball over the top, and she fired a scorcher which slammed against a post before bouncing away out for a goal kick.

Tsuchimikado was not done yet though. On the stroke of half time, Izawa flicked on a ball from Ishibashi's lofted pass that landed perfectly in her path. Going for a different type of shot, Tsuchimikado tried to bend her shot into the far corner, but was disappointed to see her curler well parried by Scott. Izawa went for the followup shot, but was foiled once again by Scott, the 'keeper collecting the ball at the second attempt.

Right up until half time, the Syndicatians were easily coping with Mizuyuki. It looked like no breakthroughs would be made in the second half if the run of play did not shift dramatically in the second half. As the Nova troped dispiritedly down the tunnel, one could just detect a hint of frustration and dejection setting in at their inability to crack the opposition's impregnable defence.

After the fifteen minutes regulation break, play resumed with a halting gait. Mizuyuki's attacks were becoming somewhat disjointed and were frequently breaking up in the final third, while the Syndicatians showed almost zero intent and seemed content to see the game out at 0-0, which would essentially guarantee their qualification as Mizuyuki were due to play Callumackbar, who were winning 2-1 against Thatius. If Callumackbar secured a win, the Syndicate would have secured passage to the Round of 16 barring a bizarre twist of circumstances in the final group match since Mizuyuki or Callumackbar were destined to drop points in the final game.

Shirakiin was furious after watching her team's deteriorating play, and she took action by removing three players in one go - Ishibashi, Honda and Isshiki were substituted in favour of Natsume, Misaka and Nagasawa, with the team shape altered to a 4-1-4-1.

The game was heading into lockdown - it did not look like Mizuyuki were ever going to break through the Syndicatian stall despite their best efforts. It was a horrendous attacking display - with the unfortunate Tsuchimikado missing chance after chance in the second half of the match. She was presented with a golden chance to score and edge our opponents out on the hour when a mishit clearance by Scott rebounded off Bond and fell kindly at her feet - but Tsuchimikado somehow contrived to fire the ball straight at the grateful Scott.

The Nova were visibly unsettled now, and they started to shoot from almost everywhere within the opposition half as the players tried for a winner. First, Saten sliced one of her rockets well wide of goal after some good work down the flank by Sato; she was immediately succeeded by a wayward Suzuki attempt from 30 yards out that fizzed miles past the post. Sandwiched between was a rare Syndicatian chance; a long ball downfield from Scott found itself at the feet of Hall, whose mazy run left several Nova defenders sprawled in her wake. Hall sent a looping ball over into the heart of the penalty area, where Morgan was on hand to nod it at goal, straight into Takanashi's grateful grasp.

As the minutes ticked down, it became clear that the one thing that this match would not see was a goal. Karen Darvill, having set the Syndicatian stall out to defend, subsequently brought on Snicket and Turner to shore up the tiring but excellent Syndicatian defence and preserve the scoreline. Shirakiin, looking for a late winner, countered her counterpart's move by pushing Suzuki and Sato upfield in order to overload the defence and perhaps snatch the long-awaited goal.

At first, the adventurous yet risky move looked to have paid dividends, with Suzuki whipping in a delicious cross that Izawa capitalised on, duly smashing the ball into the net past Scott's despairing save. However, this was one of the more controversial moments of the game; the match official adjudged that Tsuchimikado had fouled Hall in the buildup to the goal and as such the goal was not valid. The Nova gathered around the referee and his assistants to protest, but it was of no avail as the clock continued to tick inexorably down to the last minutes.

In the dying throes of the match, Saten got on the end of a beautifully weighted through ball by Natsume that shredded the Syndicatian defence into ribbons and left her with only the goalkeeper to beat. However, the tone of the game prevailed, and Saten crashed the ball high into the stands just as the whistle blew for the end of the match.

[Mizuyuki]

---

Mizuyuki v Callumackbar
All the info you'll need about the final showdown in the race for qualification

---

Komiya Kyousuke, Special Correspondent for the Di Bradini Cup

So it has come down to this. Following the latest round of results in the Di Bradini Cup, the Auroral Union are currently second in their group, behind pacesetters The Inevitable Syndicate after our lasses played out a goalless draw against the Syndicatians in our latest match. This failure to secure 3 points have left us in quite a predicament - we now find ourselves having to secure at least a point against fellow groupmates Callumackbar in order to successfully qualify for the round of 16 of the Di Bradini Cup.

In the event that we suffer a loss at the hands of the Young Admirals, the Nova will have to pin their hopes on Thatius beating the Syndicatians by a larger margin than the team's defeat to Callumackbar, and that would indeed be an unexpected turn of events that would see TIS booted out of the Di Bradini Cup and Mizuyuki qualifying together with their conquerors.

With that out of the way, let us turn our attentions to the strategies that are likely to be employed by each of the two teams.

---

Mizuyuki

---

The Auroral Union's Under 21 team, known as the Nova, are led by Shirakiin Kurumi, who is well-known among fans of the Aurora and Nova for her exploits during her playing career. Originally functioning as a speedy striker in the treble-winning Okinawa Breeze team, Shirakiin favours a highly attacking system that places emphasis on recycling possession and quick counter attacks as well as control and domination of the game. However, Shirakiin is also a versatile manager - she has been known to drastically alter her formations just to take advantage of an opponent's perceived weakness. Case in point - when Shirakiin was managing the elite development squad during her earlier years at the Mizuyuki FA, she played several contrasting formations in 5 successive games against different opposition - all of them except one ended in comprehensive victory for the team.

Shirakiin's teams are often set up to recycle possession efficiently and rapidly - in this latest Mizuyuki U21 team, Ishibashi Tomoe fills that role. As can be seen in their two previous matches, Mizuyuki mostly channel their buildup from the back through Ishibashi, the deep lying playmaker, who is responsible for spraying passes all around the pitch. Her compatriot in midfield, Saten Ruiko, is the archetypal box-to-box midfielder - she can do a good job of distributing the ball, but is not as efficient as Ishibashi in passing, being far more economical and practical. However, Saten is far more resilient and energetic - and has a monster of a long shot to boot.

Wing backs are also an important aspect of Shirakiin's teams. In this incarnation of the Nova, Shirakiin seems to have nailed down Suzuki and Sato as her first choice wing backs, and both fit the bill of a Shirakiin type player. Suzuki is a very attacking player that thrives in a fluid system involving the exchange of positions with her winger, while Sato likes to get forward and act as an auxiliary winger at times.

Up front, Mizuyuki boast an embarrassment of riches - Shirakiin has Izawa Airi, Kurugaya Miki, Isshiki Mika, Honda Midori and Tsuchimikado Mikoto, the captain, to choose from. It is certainly a great selection headache to have, as she knows that any player which makes it into her starting XI will be equally capable of performing and fulfilling her tactical responsibilities. As of the time of writing, Shirakiin has persisted with Izawa, Isshiki, Honda and Tsuchimikado in her starting XI, while Kurugaya was given a late cameo in the thrashing of Thatius and managed to get on the scoresheet.

In defence, the two center backs that Shirakiin employs are mostly settled - Tawaraya and Ishio are almost without competition for their places. However, a fellow defender, Natsume Rin, might yet pose a challenge to them despite being a left back by trade. Natsume, a dynamic and energetic player, is capable of playing on both flanks as well as defensive midfield, thus allowing Shirakiin the option of removing either center back and pulling Saten back into defence while Natsume could slot right in as a defensive midfielder. The goalkeeper position - well, that's one of the most undisputed positions in the team. Barring an injury to the excellent Takanashi, Tsutaya probably won't get a look-in at that coveted spot in the starting XI.

Players to watch - Suzuki, Saten, Ishibashi, Tsuchimikado, Izawa, Kurugaya.

---

---

Callumackbar

---

Callumackbar's U21 team, the Young Admirals, are participating in their maiden Di Bradini Cup campaign, and are a moderately talented team.

Just that - moderately talented.

They can be toothless in attack yet their defence can leak like a sieve at times - as seen by their comprehensive 6-1 defeat at the hands of The Inevitable Syndicate on matchday one. I was at the match, and my word, the team were a complete shambles. They played even worse than Thatius did when they went down to our lasses. They looked disjointed, clueless; couldn't string a passing move together nor produce a shot on goal to save their lives.

Callumackbar's manager, one Wayne Burbridge, favours all out attack in the mould of our very own Ishikawa Haruka. They like to pile players forward often, and that leads their defence to be exposed frequently. Given that their defence is not exactly up to scratch, I'd imagine that Shirakiin will set up the team to attack this weakness. Lure them into the attack, wrest possession off them, and then proceed to hit them on the counter.

The one leading light in their team is Mohammed Sakoura, who is fresh off scoring a hat trick in Callumackbar's 3-1 defeat of Thatius. As one can observe, Sakoura is the main attacking threat of the team; nullify him, and you nullify the entire Yong Admiral ship. He plays as a second striker partnering Nicolas Vorchevsky, who has looked woefully off form during this Di Bradini Cup campaign.

Callumackbar's midfield "admiral", Jack Price, is also one to watch; during the last match, Price completely asserted his authority in midfield, dominating the Thatian midfielders with his energy and terrorising the defence with his cutting passes. He is apparently held in high regard by the Callumackbar coaching staff, though I'd rate him worse than Ishibashi and Saten at this point. Still one that Shirakiin ought to keep a tight watch on - he's capable of influencing the game if he's given the space to do so.

Another exciting talent within their ranks is the left back, Lukas Shore. According to the Callumackbar FA's info, Shore had an exceptionally strong league campaign last season, finishing with the most goals scored and created as well as forcing himself into the league's team of the year, the only under 21 player to do so. He is a flying full back who is capable of wreaking some havoc in opposition defences as well as deliver enticing crosses for their forwards; it would be folly not to guard Shora carefully in the upcoming match.

Players to watch - Shore, Sakoura, Price, Richards, Gardner.

---

[The Serbian Empire]

Serbian Empire Loses 5-3 in Shootout

For once the Serbian Empire offense was alive. However, the concerns of the defense Veljko Crnogorac was yet again proven to be to be legitimate as 29 shots were targeted at Andrej Mirkovic and gamblers who bet over got an impressive payday. Even with a win, the Serbian Empire will not advance to the next round and would be reserved to a 3rd in Group C status at best. Interestingly, this particular Serbian Empire team will compete in the World Cup as the schism at the top of most other leagues keep most of the more experienced players from the Serbian Empire off limits due to the player's union restrictions in the Serbian Empire Liga. They certainly won't win the World Cup, but any playing experience they can get will be valuable.

[The Licentian Isles]

Two games, two near-riots. Yeah, it probably wasn’t a good idea to do it all again, but we’ll be alright. Well, most of us will. Eventually. When the bruises wear off.

Ok, so there’s a reason that none of us are brain surgeons or rocket scientists. We aren’t exactly the brainiest bunch of guys ever. But that’s not why we run the most feared group of football hooligans in the Licentian Isles. We don’t need to be clever for that. We have lightning fists, and we can batter the shit out of a guy if he crosses us. That’s why we do what we do. Because it’s a laugh, and while people don’t respect us for it, they do fear us. Which is good. Nobody messes with us.

So, yeah, we decided to go back to the Tricorn Arena for the Mangolana game. Yeah, we decided to take flares again, and actually managed to get them in the ground this time (see, we’re smart enough for that). Yeah, it wasn’t clever to bait the stewards. But you know what ?? It was fucking hilarious, and that’s why we did it. We had a laugh, even if we just made it more likely that the Wight Constabulary will be hunting us down to get us for it. Bring it on, nobheads !!

So, the game itself was pretty boring, which I suppose is what drove us to kick off. To be fair, I think it entertained the fans a little bit. They enjoyed us more than the football, which wasn’t hard. Neither side was on top form. We had a couple of chances in the first half, from Roddy Dickson and Aran Miller, but neither of them could finish. Twenty pence pieces in every single boot, I tell you. The best chance went to Mangolana. Timothy Sipper sent a curling cross over the head of Nathan Hunter, but all Gabriel Cruzel could do at the back post was head it over the bar and into the stand behind the goal.

In the second half, Gray made a quick change, replacing Dickson with our favourite player, Archie Gibson. We were very pleased with that, and he had an immediate effect, slicing a shot past John Blank’s post. He had another chance fairly quickly after that, but he was hacked down in the box by Crash Goodell. A terrible tackle, and really deserving of a red card. We should have had a penalty as well, but the ref went and booked Gibson for diving.

Now, what we did next probably wasn’t a good idea, considering we were trying to keep our heads down.

One of the lads stood up and screamed down at the referee “You’re a wanker ref !!” The steward in our section, a large guy, shouted at my mate to calm down. His next remark wasn’t the best thing to do.

“What are you going to do about it, you fat fuck ??”

The steward, with an angry look on his face, came sprinting up the stairs, screaming something about glands. He then tripped over the stairs and we all burst into laughter, although most of the crowd joined us. Then my mate pulled a flare out of his pocket, lit it, and started to shout. “Fuck the police !!” He shouted it again and again, with people in uniform coming up the stairs to stop him. We all decided at that point to run and find an exit. My mate dropped the flare, at which point the steward sprinted to quickly put it out (obviously remembering the Kinitars).

We all found our way out of the ground, but we were met by some members of the Wight Constabulary, who wanted to question us about the riot. We made it quite clear that we weren’t going with them, then my mate who set off the flare punched one of them in the face. We all jumped to his defense, fighting off the guys until they were all out of it. We then ran, quite quickly, back to our hotel.

The vote is that we go to see the game against Cassadaigua, even though it’s at the Tricorn again. We’ll find different seats, and stay quiet, but still enjoy it, and hopefully we can beat them, and head through to the next round.

[Cassadaigua]

Spacebook Chatter:

Caitlyn Edwards: You ever notice how The Licentian Isles has a very enthusiastic group of fans?
Laurie McCarthy: The people with the flares? Yeah.
Kelsey Morton: Rowdy group. A couple of those fans were pretty hot.
Shannon Hartman: The Licentians? C’mon now. They just need to chill at these games. Look, its only soccer, nothing worth getting arrested for.
Lauren Dillon: They don’t intend to get arrested, Shannon. They plan on being rowdy, then going home, having a few beers, and plan for the next game while the police wonder what the hell happened and who was responsible. Something appealing about that.
Caitlyn Edwards: Appealing?
Lauren Dillon: Yeah.
Kelsey Morton: Exactly bad boys are better then nice guys anyway.
Shannon Hartman: What the hell?
Laurie McCarthy: Shannon’s gonna give us another philosophy lesson.
Caitlyn Edwards: I agree with Shannon. What the hell is attractive about guys who go around causing trouble and getting into fights?
Lauren Dillon: Cassadagan men are mostly boring. They are too submissive, too afraid of making mistakes that they never take risks, and therefore are boring. Wouldn’t it be more of a thrill to be beside them and the running off with them? That’s a rush!
Kelsey Morton: YOLO!
Shannon Hartman: Yeah, then when they get caught, and are in jail, you aren’t doing shit with them.
Caitlyn Edwards: Or they show that aggressive side in the wrong way with you. There is nothing romantically appealing about that type of man.
Kelsey Morton: You watch too many negative news stories, Caitlyn.
Shannon Hartman: Laurie, you’re the tiebreaker. Male hooligans: appealing or assholes?
Laurie McCarthy: It can go both ways.
Shannon Hartman: One or the other!
Laurie McCarthy: Some are assholes but I kinda agree that there’s a rush involved in doing that kinda thing.
Kelsey Morton: 3-2, appealing wins.
Lauren Dillon: While we throw apples at Saintland, these guys would bring flares. Flares do more damage.
Kelsey Morton: So, if we were playing Saintland, we could distract with the apples, while these guys went in with the flares on them. Cool!
Shannon Hartman: Right now I’m kinda embarrassed to be your teammate.
Caitlyn Edwards: The apple tossing has got to stop too. Good thing that only happens in Cassadaigua. That’s also very petty fan behavior.
Laurie McCarthy: The apple tossing is fun, c’mon on.
Caitlyn Edwards: No it’s childish. Just like being flares to soccer games. Hooligans are nothing but assholes.
Kelsey Morton: There won’t be any violence at our game with them. Our fans will probably be congratulating their fans on knocking off Saintland. Then afterward, who knows.
Lauren Dillon: Some of their players are hot too. We’ve already advanced to the next round, so let’s just have fun!

[Wight]

.

[Farfadillis]

10 years later

- So. Finally... do you remember the times when you said it was "just changing a few genes"? - Ian said to what the rotten carcass that used to be Howard.

No response met his words.

- DO YOU!?

No response met his words. He just sat there, licking the floor, going crazy with all the work he had been doing for ten years restlessly, and with his co-worker dead, but not to him. After so many years, it was, to his eyes, just a prank that had been on-going for some months now.

He wept, he didn't know what to do, all that he had left was the genetically-engineered lizards he constantly grew, trapped inside cages. One of them had swallowed the last key left, and he found out a bit too late, it had already suffered a lot of damage due to the corrosive acid inside the monster's stomach. He had, from then on, survived by breeding them constantly. The quick growth that had been engineered into them had allowed him to survive up to then, but he didn't know for how long that nightmare would continue. He woke up everyday, wishing that he hadn't.

Suddenly, he heard a noise.

- Is anyone there? - that he heard.

It could perfectly be a cruel trick his mind was playing on him... or maybe it wasn't. All that was left was to check the place from where the question came: the door.

[Felix]

The time has come for Aureliano Sanna to make his decision. After a devastating 3-0 loss to regional rivals, Sangti the coach was fearing for the worse, that Felix would be eliminated without a chance to improve from their 4th place finish. They will face the struggling but equally as desperate Equestrian States, which has pulled an Audioslavia* as they have struggled in Group play conceding many matches that people thought they should win. Now two teams will duke it out to fight for survival, will Sanna do what his friend said?

He looked at the serum bottles. He couldn't do this, this wasn't right. But what if Felix loses? Sanna wouldn't be remember for much. No, instead he looked at the bottles and put it in his bags. He ran down to the elevator and was seen carrying the suitcase. He runs out of the hotel and keeps on running till he sees a park. He quickly looks over to see if anyone could see him. He opens the suitcase and picks up the serum, "No way in hell am I going to cheat." He throws the first of eleven bottles at a tree. He is relieved by this and he sits down next to another tree and sighs, "Some friend that person was." He thought. He then composed himself and got up and walked back to the team hotel to get ready to leave for the stadium in the final match of the group stage for Felix.

Felix now needed to win and didn't need a serum to advance, they needed Sanna's leadership and when he went to the locker room minutes before the crucial game against the Equestrian States, he admitted the truth about what he received that night after the Kriegistien (misspelt, I know) game. The players were shocked but they didn't not leave the locker room like Sanna expected. They cheered for him as they said that they were proud of his coach for doing the right thing and not cheating. Sanna then gave a thrilling speech and motiveated the players. As they entered the pitch for the crucial game both man and equine starred at each other. If someone was going to win, it was going to be because of skill, not because of cheating. Soon after the beginning affairs the ref blew the whistle. It was on.

*Pulling a Audioslavia is when a World Champion fails to move out of the Group Stage and fails to defend it's title.

[Sangti]

Another good win
Against a hated rival
The score was three-nil.

Marco got the goals
It was his best of hat-tricks
The keeper had nightmares.

We have won Group D
And we face Kriegiersien
Desperate to win.

what will the clones do
To be able to beat us
It is impossible.

Felix needs to win
Also Equestrian States
The loser is out.

And so we will wait
For our next opponents
We will be waiting!

[Wight]

Matchday 3

Group A
Farfadillis 2–1 Polar Islandstates
Tatras 1–1 Bloodbath Generation

Group A                  Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 Farfadillis                3   3  0  0    4   1  +3    9
2 Polar Islandstates         3   2  0  1    4   2  +2    6
3 Bloodbath Generation       3   0  1  2    1   3  −2    1
4 Tatras                     3   0  1  2    1   4  −3    1

Group B
Northern Sunrise Islands 1–1 Wight
Saugeais 5–1 Sicoutimont

Group B                  Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 Wight                      3   2  1  0    8   1  +7    7
2 Northern Sunrise Islands   3   1  1  1    4   3  +1    4
3 Saugeais                   3   1  0  2    6   7  −1    3
4 Sicoutimont                3   1  0  2    2   9  −7    3

Group C
Cassadaigua 1–1 The Licentian Isles
Mangolana 0–2 The Serbian Empire

Group C                  Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 Cassadaigua                3   2  1  0    9   4  +5    7
2 The Licentian Isles        3   1  2  0    3   1  +2    5
3 The Serbian Empire         3   1  0  2    5   7  −2    3
4 Mangolana                  3   0  1  2    0   5  −5    1

Group D
Felix 2–1 Equestrian States
Kriegiersien 1–0 Sangti

Group D                  Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 Sangti                     3   2  0  1    6   2  +4    6
2 Kriegiersien               3   1  2  0    2   1  +1    5
3 Felix                      3   1  1  1    3   5  −2    4
4 Equestrian States          3   0  1  2    2   5  −3    1

Group E
The Inevitable Syndicate 3–1 Thatius
Callumackbar 0–2 Mizuyuki

Group E                  Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 The Inevitable Syndicate   3   2  1  0    9   2  +7    7
2 Mizuyuki                   3   2  1  0    7   1  +6    7
3 Callumackbar               3   1  0  2    4   9  −5    3
4 Thatius                    3   0  0  3    3  11  −8    0

Group F
Free Republics 2–1 Albaie
Taeshan 2–1 Kiryu-shi

Group F                  Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 Free Republics             3   3  0  0   12   4  +8    9
2 Taeshan                    3   2  0  1   10  10   0    6
3 Albaie                     3   1  0  2    5   7  −2    3
4 Kiryu-shi                  3   0  0  3    1   7  −6    0

Group G
Filopines 3–3 New Sideburn
Vilita 1–1 Starblaydia

Group G                  Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 New Sideburn               3   2  1  0    5   3  +2    7
2 Filopines                  3   1  1  1   10   5  +5    4
3 Vilita                     3   1  1  1    3   3   0    4
4 Starblaydia                3   0  1  2    1   8  −7    1

Group H
Pasarga 2–1 Groteberg
Mytannion 3–3 Darmen

Group H                  Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 Pasarga                    3   2  1  0    4   1  +3    7
2 Groteberg                  3   2  0  1    4   3  +1    6
3 Darmen                     3   0  2  1    3   4  −1    2
4 Mytannion                  3   0  1  2    4   7  −3    1

Round of Sixteen Draw
A reminder that scorination for this round will take place on Monday as per schedule.

Farfadillis vs. Groteberg @ North Lawn, Spit
Wight vs. Filopines @ South Lawn, Spit
Cassadaigua vs. Taeshan @ Tricorn Arena, Spit
Sangti vs. Mizuyuki @ The Mausoleum, Spit
The Inevitable Syndicate vs. Kriegiersien @ The Ramparts, Spit
Free Republics vs. The Licentian Isles @ Multitudinous Arena, Despite
New Sideburn vs. Northern Sunrise Islands @ The Canvasdome, Icke
Pasarga vs. Polar Islandstates @ Thin Air Stadium, Pompeii

Quarter-Final Draw

Farfadillis or Groteberg vs. Wight or Filopines @ South Lawn, Spit
Cassadaigua or Taeshan vs. Sangti or Mizuyuki @ The Mausoleum, Spit
The Inevitable Syndicate or Kriegiersien vs. Free Republics or The Licentian Isles @ Tricorn Arena, Spit
New Sideburn or Northern Sunrise Islands vs. Pasarga or Polar Islandstates @ Thin Air Stadium, Pompeii

[Mytannion]

OOC: Doing this role-play even though I'm out and have missed the cut-off purely for the fun of it and because I have time, which is how it should be, of course.

"Listen Safet, who the fuck do these guys think they are?" Said Tomas, a twenty-something wearing tight jeans, a sports jacket and some of the finest trainers around. He was just like many young Mytanars, disillusioned with life at home, with no prospects and very little hope and nowhere else to turn. Football was his only sanctuary and despite him having a job in an office, it was boring work and at times difficult, with very little pay. It wasn't enough - and week-in, week-out he longed for Saturday at 3 PM. That was his time, he could go wild for an hour and a half, drink some beers, watch some football, chant and jump up and down with the rest of his ultras group and then every so often, before or after this time, his group would meet another group and the age old ritual of ustawka would occur.

Tomas was also one of the most prolific moaners there was in his ultras group and even when things were going well, when his team was winning or when his group were getting plaudits for good tifo displays or good fights, he still found something to moan about. He was a renowned whinger and his mates let him know about it, which of course led to him moaning some more and then resulted in him getting very heavily inebriated as he drank himself to death in order to forget whatever it was that he was moaning about. Last week it had been the barber messing up his wedge haircut, this week, it was the Mytanar under-21 squad completely failing in Wight and then, it was the Licentian hooligans.

A new group had seemingly sprung up, fans who thought they could fight and match up to the Mytanar name. The time the Mytanars had been beaten in a straight-up fight was something nobody could actually remember - sure, the incident with the Blockheads was well remembered, but that hadn't exactly been a fair fight. Tomas wasn't pleased that this new group from a fairly new nation had come onto the scene and had seemingly tried to go about proving that they were top dogs. It was understood among the international community, among ultras around the world, that wherever you went the Mytanars were the top dogs and you were to meet them with your head bowed to your feet and your tail between your legs. If you challenged them, you would be dealt with.

These Licentians hadn't shown any respect whatsoever, they hadn't even met the Mytanars in a fight. It seemed as if they had tried to ignore the fan base that was known for fighting the best, on purpose, to avoid getting into a battle they would most certainly lose. Why wouldn't they meet the Mytanars? Why hadn't they acknowledged them? Many ultras around the globe were asking these questions. Did they believe they were top boys, did they dare to disrespect the groups that had caused such problems for police around the world. A lot of cities in a lot of different countries had experienced the Mytanars traipsing through and in the days after, their city had often resembled a battleground or the result of an aerial raid. It quite literally looked as if the place had been hit by a bomb, in a lot of cases.

Safet was another twenty-something, probably in his late twenties, who in a similar way to Tomas had had enough of everyday life. He was actually a primary school teacher, a very respectable job for most people. When he came back sporting bruises and cuts, he blamed it on his love of action sports and the headteacher and governors had always believed him. It was good for the school to have someone who was into outdoor pursuits involved, it meant school trips could be shoved onto him whether he liked it or not. Safet couldn't be bothered with his job a lot of the time, sure, the kids were a lot of fun and the banter he had with some of them was alright - but they were still about 10 and he didn't really enjoy having to lower his intellect to banter with pre-pubescent children.

The hooliganism was a way out of the routine, marking pieces of homework and planning lessons, it could all be forgotten when he went away following his football team. It gave him a chance to release pent-up anger and to just get out of the daily grind. It was tough, sure, getting occasionally turned over was hard. It resulted in him and his mates getting put in hospital every so often - something he always made sure to hide from his employers - especially when the tough groups from up north came for an ustawka or to fulfill a vendetta. That wasn't often, but Safet's predecessors had chosen their friends badly and when his group had to come to the rescue of groups of bigger clubs with softer fans it was highly frustrating and almost always resulted in some of his lads getting hurt. They were the hardest around the region, but they couldn't fight off everybody and it didn't help that the ones that they fought alongside weren't the best fighters.

It had recently all died down, the past few years had been quiet, the Mytanar hooligan scene had been cracked down upon under Kalinina and then the Civil War had resulted in a lot of the hools being killed off fighting for freedom or fighting for keeping Kalinina in power. The right-wing groups other than Energia-Yaderny Miago's Grolija ultras had suffered. Crvena Zvezda's lot had been whittled down from around 600 to merely 80. Safet's own group had lost around 30 to the civil war. It was difficult when you were a smaller club, of course, you had less numbers and although fans were fiercely loyal to their local clubs in Mytannion - the bigger clubs tended to be in the bigger cities, so of course they had more numbers to bring to fights. But when it was actual ustawka, equal numbers, no weapons, the truth was often revealed.

Safet was more than used to Tomas' moaning by now and a lot of the time he'd simply tell him to stick it somewhere where the sun didn't shine but to be fair to him, he actually had a legitimate concern here. The Mytanars had been top dog for a long while, but they hadn't been very active recently, the Kinitars had sort of faded away a little - they had been a flash in the pan compared to the Mytanars dominance in the hooliganism category. But these Licentians seemed to almost be challenging people, trying to provoke people into responding - and whether that was the Wight Constabulary or someone different, i.e. the Mytanars, they needed to be put in their place. In a straight-up fight, the Licentians would be left on their arses. There was no doubting that.

"Alright Tomas, give it a rest soft lad," replied Safet, "Tell you what mate, get the lads organised, we're out of this competition anyway and the rest of them will give the world a good enough show anyway. We're gonna go up to Spit and we're gonna show these Licentians what for." Tomas beamed at him, it was always good when you were the leader of a group, the capo as the position was called in some places. The orders you could give and the responses you got from the boys were quality. It was a lot of fun. Safet, as one of the capos of the ultras groups was given information from the other capos about displays and such from the Mytanar fans that would be travelling. Apparently a big tifo was being planned, having a bit of a go at the under-21 squad. 'You're meant to be our future, show some heart' was the general message they were trying to convey, it was simple, a little unfair - some believed - but it would be seen and would be a big talking point back home.

An even bigger one would be the story of the Mytanars turning over the Licentians in Spit.

...

"Alright boys, how you fucking doing?" Safet clapped a couple of his boys on the back as they turned up in Spit, it had taken a long while to get there from Pompeii. But they were here now and just in time for a good scrap. One thing they hadn't exactly thought about when travelling up to Spit was how they'd identify the Licentians they were wanting to fight. Safet wouldn't go after shirters, that was for sure, they were innocent and if they didn't want to be involved in the trouble they wouldn't have to be. It was all about choice. Safet imagined they'd wear similar clothes to the hooligans back home in order to avoid identification - police would be looking for fans with colours, to keep them under control as they showed their allegiance. Mytanar hooligans wore a scarf at most, but that was rare, even. Ultras were a little different, they often wore full colours, they weren't bothered, but they still fought and this often resulted in arrests for them.

Colour was for inside the stadium, for displays, for tifosi, it certainly was not for making it easier for the pigs to know exactly who you were.

"Sound mate, sound," came the response from Demir. He cracked open a can of beer and emptied it in three consecutive gulps, before pulling another out of the blue bag he held in his hand and throwing it to Goran next to him, who caught it with sure hands and quickly mimicked his best mate before him by gulping the contents of the can down and he instantly gestured for another. It looked like a couple of the lads were looking to get pissed as well as scrap. That was of course the point of being a hooligan, drinking and fighting. It was actually the motto of a few firms (the groups that were dedicated to fighting, rather than ultras, which were often geared more towards creating tifo displays). 'First we drink, then we fight.'

Safet was beginning to worry about identifying these dickheads who thought they were top dogs, but he soon found the suspects. They were singing something: 'Walking Down the Duchy Road', is what it sounded like. These fuckers weren't exactly creative. Safet nudged Tomas and pointed them out and soon the group of around 60 Mytanars was intent, all eyes facing the same way at this group of Licentians. They were of a similar number, all hammered, all pumped up for their nation's game against Cassadaigua. Safet noticed there was an unusually high proportion of females at a game, sure left-wing groups at Atletik, CDSA and fucking Kitzbuhel had all said football was for everyone but it was obvious more lads attended games than girls - the fucking liberal twats.

Still, a scrap was a scrap, and whilst this wasn't an ustawka - it wasn't away from police or the stadium - it would be a good fight.

"Oi, you!" Safet shouted towards the man who looked like the leader of the group. He seemed to drunk to focus and he just ignored Safet's shout, but a few behind him looked towards him and gave him a quizzical glance. Safet couldn't help but laugh, this would be too easy, these idiots were clueless. They'd probably never had a proper scrap in their lives. "Let's turn them over, lads," Safet said, giving direct orders to his group.

It was soon pandemonium. Safet found himself on top of some Licentian, punching his lights out and the group was being smashed to pieces. Mytanar domination was back on top. The police had arrived quickly, but the Wight Constabulary were the most bumbling of police forces there was and it was easy to avoid them as the Mytanars backed off. A flag had been stolen and that would be found hung upside down in a Mytanar stadium somewhere pretty quickly, that was for sure. It would be burnt too, it was the classic Mytanar thing. Mytanar hooligans were top dogs again, the supporters led the category in both hooliganism and ultras passion. Easy done. Too easy.

[Callumackbar]

Time 2 (Nil) Go Home!

Young Admirals limp out of the Di Bradini Cup with a 2-0 loss to Mizuyuki!

By Diana Allen

A poor attacking performance led to Callumackbar's blunt offense being caught twice on the counter.

In a match many which many already knew the result, Callumackbar bowed out of the Di Bradini Cup with a whimper. Bookies all across the Nation had suspended betting on a Mizuyuki win and for Callumackbar to go out. The game was already in Mizuyuki's favour from the start as Head Coach Wayne Burbridge was absent, hilariously forcing Captain Jack Price to step in as emergency Player/Head Coach. Price kept the same XI from The Young Admirals 3-1 win over Thatius and it seemed like a good decision when they dominated the opening 10 minutes, with Lukas Shore hitting the post with a stunning long range shot. That was to be Callumackbar's only shot on goal all match as Mizuyuki quickly turned on the pressure and dominated play and possession, albeit only creating a few half-chances and Callumackbar thankfully went into half-time level. Burbridge shockingly turned up during the interval, drunk. There had been reports Burbridge has been spending the last two nights drinking away, and it showed. His first action was to throw up on his temporary successor, then punching the Captain in a fit of rage before being restrained. Price led the team back out with a black eye. Mizuyuki again dominated and scored about 10 minutes later Ruiko Saten, who burst into the area and let loose a powerful right-footed shot which flew past Sands and into the back of the net. Burbridge raged at the referee, shouting petty insults and somehow trying to claim the goal (from a backwards pass) was offside. He was sent to the stands. Mizuyuki continued to dominate and late on rubbed salt in Callumackbar's wounds Mifune Ishio headed in from a corner. The referee blew for full-time and the game ended 2-0 to Mizuyuki.

Attendance: 27,438

Goalscorers
Mizuyuki
Saten - 56
Ishio - 89

Callumackbar
N/A

Yellow Cards
Thatius
N/A

Callumackbar
N/A

Red Cards
N/A



*Attempts to gain a post-match interview with Wayne Burbridge let to him shouting "Go <Censored> yourself, Simeone Di Bradini!" And then storming out the conference room. He has not been seen since.*

[Mizuyuki]

"They had better step their game up sharpish, or else."

Sitting in the dugout waiting for the Callumackbar match to begin, I was still silently fuming about the team's pathetic draw against The Inevitable Syndicate in the previous matchday.

"They'll really get left behind in Wight if we get eliminated at this crucial stage. All we've done in training, our tactics and strategy; all of the bloody lot will go to waste. I can't stand that. My passion is winning and winning alone; anything else will not suffice."

"Calm down, Shirakiin - you're putting way too much pressure on the team, let alone yourself. Just sit tight and relax; after all, didn't you read that excellent analysis piece by Sekai Shinbun detailing the Callumackbar team? Apparently the Nova are miles ahead of them on talent, though whether they can dispose of Callumackbar efficiently remains to be seen."

I ran my hands through my long hair in anxiety. "Sure that's easy for you to say, Yasuhiro. I'm having butterflies in my stomach at this very moment, and you know that's not exactly a common occurrence. Least the last time I remember being so nervous was when I was shaping up to take a spot kick against Tokyo Revolution for our Emperor's Cup final. By the way, I don't give a shit about what the media are reporting - they're always tinpot wannabe managers who think they can make a better hash of things than a proper, qualified manager."

"Relaxing is the name of your game, Shirakiin. You've done your best since the TIS match; giving the team a hell of a rollicking, putting them through their paces during training, coming up with a strategy to counter the Callumackbarians, dishing the pep talks, instructions and admonitions to the players. Just keep this in your mind at all times during the match - you've done all you possibly could, and there's no shame in drawing or even losing if you've given it your all."

I sighed and slurped my energy drink.

"Yeah, sure, I'll try to relax. It'll be easier for me to dish out my usual litany of touchline instructions if I'm sanguine and not just a bundle of nerves."

"That's it, Shirakiin. The mantra is relax, relax. And then go and dish out those exhortations when the team needs 'em!

---

10 minutes later, I was gnashing my teeth while simultaneously crushing my empty energy drink bottle in a fist.

"They're an absolute shambles out there! Didn't I drill it into Ishibashi to goddamn stick to her position? What's she doing wandering like a lost lamb smack in the middle of the opposition penalty area?"

I shot to my feet and began to yell my lungs out at the idiots.

"Oi! Ishibashi, drop the hell back into midfield and help the defence out! Isshiki and Honda, I want you to push up higher and wider! Get the ball into the area if you're without support on the flank!"

"Saten, keep a lookout on Price, don't allow him any space! See him out of the game!"

Just as I was shouting, the ball was delivered downfield into our half and into a Callumackbar player, which appeared to be Price.

"SATEN! Get in on Price, take him out, do a hatchet job on him if you have to - just stop him right now!"

With Saten rushing to get to Price, the midfielder calmly lofted the ball to a lurking Lukas Shore on the left wing, who struck a powerful shot from 30 yards that just about edged the post as it flew wide of Takanashi's dive.

"Damn it, Saten! Get the hell in there before we concede! We're getting overrun in the middle of the park; team, switch to a 4-3-2-1 with zonal marking! Tsuchimikado, pull back into central midfield! Now!"

---

Half time. 45 more minutes of the frenetic football that we've just had would be to my liking.

I smiled. The team's performance had improved immeasurably since I made my adjustments; it now looked like a matter of time before Callumackbar conceded. They were being frustrated by our top notch defending too; so all the better. We're well on the way to securing passage to the round of 16 if we can just maintain our dominance of the game. Tsuchimikado especially had been playing like a different player, she was lively, energetic, willing to make runs.

I could see why I made her captain of the team in the first place.

"Okay team, we've got those sods in the fire now, so just keep turning the spit until they're roasted good and proper. Overall I'm pretty pleased with what I've seen up till this point, though improvements can be made."

"Tsuchimikado, good work out there, exactly what I expected from a captain of one of my teams. You damn well led by example. More of the same in the second half and you'll be guaranteed a starting slot next match."

"Your workrate and finishing were impressive, Izawa. Keep that up and hopefully you'll get your name on the scoresheet before too long."

"Saten, except for that slight lapse in concentration early in the half, you turned in a creditable shift in midfield. I want you to push higher up the field in the second half and pressurise the Callumackbarians - they're pretty much ready to pack it in and shove off back home, so I want you to help them with the removal work. Get in there and hurry them along, we've got a round of 16 match to play."

I winked as I said this last line.

"Team, let's go out there and throw these buggers out of the Di Bradini Cup while we prepare for the round of 16!"

---

"YES!" I jumped out of my seat, splashing my fresh bottle of energy drink all over myself in my excitement.

"You stuck it to them, Saten! Great run, great drive, exceptional goal!"

As Saten rushed to her teammates in jubilation, I ran the length of my technical area while savagely pumping my fist while my Callumackbarian counterpart Wayne Burbridge waved his fist drunkenly in the air, yelling furiously at the referee.

"What? He thinks that's offside? Is he crazy or something? He should either go see an optician or visit a mental asylum if he's seeing things like that, the bloody fool!"

"Whew, luckily the ref gave short shrift to his idiotic protests. The goal was perfectly onside anyway, no chance a referee with half decent eyesight would have missed it."

"What a breakthrough! Looks like we've got this game in the bag now!"

I sank into my seat, knees still wobbly after my sudden intense physical exertion.

"By Amaterasu, what a brilliant goal that was!"

---

"We've sealed it! What a thumping header from Ishio!"

[The Inevitable Syndicate]

GhoulBlasters
If you're seeing things, running through your head... Try to get some more sleep.

---

The next morning, Benson checked his e-mail inbox to see that he was flooded with at least six e-mails, requiring the services of the Ghoulblasters. Because they had a monopoly on the Syndicatian ghost hunting market, they could charge whatever they wanted! Capitalising on that, they decided to hunt a ghost for the richest customer on the list - electronic artist cat5away, who was having troubles with a ghost in his penthouse apartment atop Spellman's Tower, in the centre of the city.

Armed to the teeth with various ghoul catching equipment (including but not limited to a bug net, several test tubes, bleach, and a signed photograph of Audioslavian striker Karsten Eiger, as his skills had once been referred to by Syndicatian radio as "too spooky"), the team arrived at Spellman's tower with a grin on their faces. This seemed to be an easy job - Mr. Cat5away had reported strange noises, and an ethereal presence in the bathroom. Busby had deduced that this was simply a level 3 spectral plane traveller, and that Mr. Cat5away's funky electro beats had resonated at a frequency that was able to tear a hole between the planes, bringing whatever the ghoul was out into the real world. All he'd need to do was isolate the being, and trap it with Dex's Midnight Trapper.

The trio rode the lift up to the 27th floor, and exited one by one. Following them was their shopping trolley, which had the aforementioned equipment in.

"So, how do you want to tackle this?" asked Mike, scanning the room for EEK pulses.

"Well," Dex responded, "You mentioned it was the cat5away song that was causing the hole between the planes? We could just play that, really loudly!"

"It's 10:00, on a Saturday. Are you sure that'd be wise?" Steve snapped.

"It's the only thing we've got, unless you have a better idea." Mike said, looking around the kitchen. He opened the fridge, and let out a girly scream. "Christ, is that what I think it is? Guys, get over here!"

Quick as a flash, the Ghoulblasters hopped over the counter to the fridge, where Mike was looking into it wide-eyed.

Inside was a chocolate cake, shaped like a terrier.

"It is! That's a bespoke Portine chocolate cake! He's signed his name in icing, look!"

"Mike, we don't have time for cake. Besides, what would our client think if we ate the contents of his fridge?"

"We could say the ghost did it, Steve..." Dex laughed.

Three pieces of chocolate cake later, the team walked on over to Cat5away's mixer. They upped the volume, and hit the play button on his laptop. Suddenly, the place shook with the wobbly bass line, and Mike's EEK device beeped rhythmically with the music.

"We've got something! Seems like it's coming from... The bathroom! Go!"

Dex opened the bathroom door, and to his initial surprise, saw a portable radio smashed on the floor. The lights dimmed, and from the ruins of the radio an ethereal being rose, it's angry demonic face jumping out with the beat of the music.

"Alright, everyone, charge the packs!" Benson shouted, as the hum of the trio's Neutron Reversal Packs added to the mess of bass and synths that were playing form Cat5away's speakers.

"Now remember, everyone, we have to do this at exactly the same time..." Mike stammered, as the spirit turned to face him.

The sick wobbles of Cat5away's latest hit reached a peak, and the three looked at each other. They knew exactly what to do.

"L-L-L-L-LET THE BEAT DROP!" cried the speakers, and as the wall of bass hit the Ghoulblasters, each of them fired their Neutron Reversal Packs at the spirit, keeping it trapped in place. The spirit howled, and a cacophony of bathroom products flew around the room.

"Now, Dex!" shouted Benson, as he struggled to keep a grip due to the force that the spirit was exerting on his light-show of a prison.

Dex reached for his trapper, and threw it like a Frisbee onto the ground, the spirit howled, as as the music track dropped again, so too did the spirit, into the tiny device.

The Ghoulblasters cheered as the room went dark once again. Benson broke into a robotic dance. "Oh yeah, that's one down! Only some more to go!"

[Sangti]

Beethoven Jabines was preparing for his commentary job for TiViSangti at Wight in the Batang Agilang Dilaw's match against the Di Bradini clones, unbeknowing the fact that he would have a weird color commentator in the form of a very geeky person, who has a very tiny attention span and usually does not listen to people. He was Dexter Sandoval, aged 21, who claims to be a football fanatic, and known in Sangti for his inventions. He brought them into the commentator's booth: a box full of his inventions.

"What the hell!" Beethoven was perplexed at what Dexter had brought. "Just ignore these. I will be a good boy for this commentary."

"We will be on air in ten seconds. Prepare for the match." The director said.

And the match has started. As Sangti had won the group already and a viewing conflict with the archery event at the Olympics in Orean, the match will be broadcast in Sangti in a delayed basis. So Beethoven will be relieved that it won't be live.

BJ: Welcome to the match, i'm Beethoven Jabines, and this is...

DS: Dexter! Dexter the Great! The great inventor of things in the world! You should all be grateful that the greatest inventor in Sangti is here commentating! And I am 21 years old!

BJ: Dex! Don't make a ruckus here!

DS: Shut up! Do not interrupt me while I'm talking!

Beethoven looked at the director, showing no signs of interruption.

BJ: The lineup for Sangti:...

DS: Oh! How cute! There are many Di Bradini's out there! One, two, three... ten of them!

BJ: Can you just...

DS: Well the Kriegiersien lineup has ten Di Bradini's and a keeper with long arms.

BJ: Oh my lord.

DS: And for the Sangti, well I do not know any of them. Can you tell Beeths?

BJ: I am not a bitch! And the lineup for Sangti: Celebrado, Casicas, Oliva, Ortiz, Rostata, Cablayan, Maminta, Pasamonte, Barongan, Escuro, Castro. Escuro is the man to watch. He had a good form last match, right Dex?

DS; I don't care. And can you call me Doctor Dexter? We're not close, BEETHS.

BJ: Please respect me at least today! Anyway, he had a hat-trick at the last match.

after 13 minutes...

BJ: Escuro shoots at goal!

Dexter gets something from his box and...

DS: 90 kilometers per hour! his shot was that fast! Thanks to my invention, the high-accuracy long-range speed gun named Mandark 0.1!

BJ: Anyway, Saved by Longarm... DOCTOR Dexter, please do not use that in the booth!

DS: And I do what I want here, because i am a GUEST OF HONOR HERE!

BJ: Do what you want, but do not distract me.

DS; This Mandark 0.1 probes things far away from this booth, the ball, it was pinpointed because of the cutting edge technology that I adopted.

BJ: My, my.

40th minute

BJ: Di Bradini XVII.0 on the run, he shoots, wide.

DS: The temperature at the west side is higher than the east side. This became possible because of another of my inventions, the TempraForte 1.1!

BJ: Not again. Oh my. Please take me out of the booth, now.

DS: Do you want more of my inventions?

BJ: No thanks. And... A goal? Simone Di Bradini XVIII.0 looks like the scorer, He celebrated like a wild animal!

DS: Wait I have an invention for that... (after looking for it..) ...I left it in the lab.

BJ: Oh there's the replay. Good jinking there by XVIII.0. Celebrado didn't have a chance.

DS: Look at my another invention!

BJ: I had enough! (gets out of the room even before halftime)

The match finished 1-0 to Kriegiersien. TiViSangti decided to air the match with no commentary at all. Sangti will next face Mizuyuki at the Round of 16 at The Mausoleum.

[Free Republics]

Sporting World

Time to eliminate the Licentian Isles from the Di Bradini Cup again
by: Rule Theriault

Last year, I watched from the sidelines, pacing back and forth, as Faredin Pozenel scored a late goal in the quarterfinals to send the Licentians, then known as Licentiapacisterra, back home to their Isles. It had been a duel of the 2 keepers until that point, but in the end we were able to keep our clean sheet and score the winner. That match is famous for the fight between Jens Koch and Josh Brown. Koch and Brown would both get sent off before halftime and both teams played the second half with just 10 men.

This year, we have returned to the Di Bradini Cup and have once again gone undefeated in the Group Stage. This time, the Licentian Isles, not Cassadaigua, has the misfortune of facing us in the Round of 16. In Wight, it has been a team effort so far. Leonti Ulyanov and Durante Trevisano were our goalscorers against Albaie, as we played only our backups for all 90 minutes of that match and still beat the minnows of international soccer. If you want to know just how good we are this year, you may want to ask Taeshan. They still have nightmares from conceding all those goals.

Before I discuss the Licentians, I need to comment on that Progressive debate from the other night. Are those candidates for real? It seemed like some of those candidates were saying something ridiculous, usually about rape, every other minute. Yournes Danielsson seemed kind of reasonable, but he'll never win their nomination. I heard that he raised around 20 million thalers through a moneybomb last night, but he has no chance whatsoever running as a Progressive.

With that out of the way, I will address the Licentian Isles. Apparently, they are only bringing some of their players back from last year's team. However, our entire team is returning from last year. We have re-watched the tape of last year's match and are very familiar with their Pythagorean Hourglass formation. This year's Licentian team defeated the Serbian Empire 2 goals to nil and has since played Mangolana to a scoreless draw and Cassadaigua to a 1 to 1 draw. That is not very impressive.

When we beat the Licentians, we will go on to face the winner of the match between the Evitable Syndicate and Kriegiersien in the quarterfinals. If it is the Syndicate, we will beat them just like we played their main national team to a draw on the final day of World Cup qualifying last year. If it is Kriegiersien, we will beat them because we are wise to their ways and will not let them pull any fast ones on us. If we keep on winning, we would presumably face either New Sideburn, Northern Sunrise Islands, Pasarga or Polar Islandstates in the semis. It will most likely be New Sideburn and, if it is, we will avenge our loss in last year's Cup of Harmony because we don't have any stupid talking horses around to distract us this time. If we advance to the finals again and we will, we will most likely face Cassadaigua and beat them once again. We have defeated 3 opponents in the current Di Bradini Cup. We have 4 more remaining on our road to winning the trophy that we should have won last year. Each of them, in turn, will be defeated.

Rule Theriault is the manager for the FFR's National Soccer Team. He was the manager of Petrograd United. After a disappointing end to his tenure there, he entered a team in the 27th Di Bradini Cup on behalf of the Federation of Free Republics. His mostly unheralded team finished 2nd in that competition, losing to the Equestrian States in the final. He led the National Soccer Team to a 17th place finish in the 52nd Baptism of Fire and a 6th place finish in Group 20 during World Cup qualifying. In the Cup of Harmony, the National Soccer Team overcame having to play in the Equestrian States and came back to win their final 2 matches, including a shocking victory over Jeru FC, one of the true powers of international soccer. He will once again be managing the National Soccer Team in the Di Bradini Cup this year.

[Taeshan]

"It was an exciting game to get the Knights into the round of sixteen."

"Yeah and it had all the drama it needed to have."

"Yeah, a nice tie for most of the game and then bam the Knights score twice late, sure Kiryu-Shi followed it with one of their own but it was over by then."

"All over baby."

"Nice goal from Tyler Benjamin even nicer goal by Lysander Ying Uing."

"Yeah brilliant piece of work on a 30 yard free kick."

"Probably a u21 goal to be remembered for decades."

"Yeah put it on the highlight reel."

"Word."

"Word."

"So who do we get in the playoffs."

"Cassadaigua."

"Well it was a nice run."

"Yep. Least the boys got some run out."

"Yep."

"Go Knights."