World Cup LXV (65) RP Thread

[Vilita]

Vilita Favored in Hostile Group A
Rushmori Trio look to Upset Top-Cats

The Vilita Jungle Cats have been rewarded for their performance during World Cup Qualification with a place in the World Cup finals and a spot in Group A of the final 32.

While fans of Jungle Cat nation knew they would be headed to Rushmore no matter which group they were drawn into for the World Cup finals, they certainly could not predict the hostility that could await them with the locals likely to be against the Jungle Cats from the word 'go'.

The Vilita National Team are the lone representatives from Atlantian Oceania in Group A, with the other three nations calling Rushmore home. With the World Cup itself being hosted entirely in Rushmore in Saugeais and Pasarga. Of course, as hosts, Pasarga will be looking for the home support to will them into the knockout rounds despite being level-odds with Sargossa in advancing. Sargossa, also a Rushmori nation, will hope that the locals and neutrals will support them in the opening match of the tournament against Vilita, the only former World Cup Champion in the Group.

The final leg in the Rushmori tripod that stands in between the Jungle Cats and a place in the knockout round is Mangolana, making their World Cup return a worthwhile one after a period of political uncertainty affected the nations participation in major sporting competitions. Mangolana missed the opportunity to participate in World Cup 61 despite qualifying for the World Cup playoff after the newly-sparked political uncertainty precluded their participation. While Mangolana previously participated in World Cup 60, Vilita have never faced the Alligator and Mango loving nation in competition. Ironically, the Mango's did make their World Cup Finals debut during World Cup 59, hosted in Vilita and the Polar Islandstates. Despite the Jungle Cats relatively low position in the KPB rankings, the match against Mangolana may set a record for the largest ranking gap between the Jungle Cats and their opposition in a World Cup finals match.

As for the other two teams in the group, Sargossa and hosts Pasarga, Vilita have limited history with, having 3 games played against each nation at various levels of competition.

In fact, it was the Vilitan Under-21's who had the most experience against the future stars of Pasarga, but absolutely no success. Vilita was defeated by Pasarga during the group stage of the 49th Under-21 World Cup, eliminating the young Vilitan's from the competition. During the subsequent Under-21 World Cup, Vilita were on a hot streak and appeared to be favored to win the competition. However, Pasarga had other ideas, ousting Vilita 3-2 on Penalty Kicks.

The Jungle Cats have had more success against Pasarga at the senior international level - although they have only played each other once. Unfortunately for the word of trends and omen's, it was Vilita who were the home side during the World Cup 59 Finals securing the 2-0 victory against a hapless and out-supported Rushmori rival. Now, the shoe will be on the other foot as Atlantian Oceania giants Vilita travel to Pasarga and attempt to prevent the Wanderers from securing the home-field upset.

Before they get there, however, the Jungle Cats will square off against perhaps their most closely matched opponent, Sargossa. While Vilita and Sargossa haven't squared off since the World Cup 58 Qualifying cycle, the two nations were intimately familiar with each other through the duration of the World Cup 58 Campaign.

After being drawn together during the Qualification cycle, Vilita and Sargossa exchanged upset victories on the road with the Jungle Cats opening the exchange with a 2-1 win in Sargossa. Unfortunately, a 1-0 defeat at home was the start of a downward spiral for the Vilitan's which would see them fail to qualify for the World Cup Finals and scooting into the Cup of Harmony.

Vilita got the momentum back in the Cup of Harmony, however, winning their Cup of Harmony Quarter Final matchup 2-0 at the National View Stadium in Morata Valley en route to a Semi-Final berth against The Archregimancy. While the Jungle Cats home-field fire was doused by The Archregimancy, they would recover to take the third placed honors.

Now, a new look Vilitan side with some of the same members having switched roles from youth to super-experienced will be looking to keep the winning record alive and not allow Sargossa to even the score. Calaesa Mitaroka knows that three points would be crucial on the opening matchday to ensure the Jungle Cats don't find themselves knocked out in the group stage for the third cup running. An early-exit from Saugeais and Pasarga would almost certainly spell the end of Mitaroka's term in charge of the Vilita National Team with Strike FC's Mikala Abellan already being talked up as a possible replacement should Mitaroka get the sack.

Mitaroka and the Jungle Cats will head to Kilmonarch in Stein-los to fend off thousands of Rushmori fans, and the Sargossa National Team, in their bid to take down the Audioslav Empire, and put their rivals back in their place by bringing a second World Cup back to the Tropics of Vilita.

[Kiryu-shi]

Reah Kagawa Leads Kiri to Fifth Consecutive World Cup Appearance

Montbenoit, Saugeais - Many words have been spilled over this year’s iteration of the Kiri, from the relative inexperience coming into World Cup Qualifications, to the early struggles of the squad, to the ways in which their performance reflects the many struggles of Kiryu-shi establishing an international reputation. And, more recently, the star power of Megumi Harris, the surprisingly effective play of Chihiro Yamanoue, their dramatic comeback to take second place in their qualification group in their last two matches, and their even-more-dramatic, heroic effort in Bears Armed to put together a 4-4 aggregate, advancing-on-away-goals decision to get to finally make it to Saugeais.

Flying below the radar has been the leadership of Reah Kagawa, the elusive, quiet head coach of the Kiryu-shi National Football Program.

During Kagawa’s tenure, she has put up some rather extraordinary statistics of herself. In 18 qualification matches, followed by the aforementioned home-and-away marathon against Bears Armed, she has yet to give a single official interview. During the three and a half years since she was selected to lead the nation’s most prestigious athletic program, she had never published a single article or press statement under her own name. This behavior is a continuation of how she represented herself in her former career, during which she was a mid-level bureaucrat in the football administration at Umeda University, known among her peers for her ‘low-key demeanor’ and ‘no-nonsense approach to her profession.’

So, who exactly is Reah Kagawa, and how has she transformed this rather ragtag group into the fifth consecutive Kiri squad in the World Cup, representing the nation on the largest stage in the multi-verse?

...
continued on page S-9

Reah put the paper down, unable to bring herself read another word.

The scrutiny had almost been too much for her during qualifications, when there were a couple of articles here and there which mentioned her by name. During the struggles of the Kiri, there were those articles that were fairly critical of her, but none of those authors had even requested an interview, not to mention people going back to where she used to work and taking anonymous quotes from her former coworkers.

While Reah was tempted to close her eyes, she forced herself to rise from the armchair and made her way towards the desk she had taken to using in the little suite the Kiryu-shi Football Administration had secured her in Ville-DuPont, where the Kiri would be playing two of their three matches in the group stage. It was a pretty city, she supposed, although colder than she would’ve liked, and further away from the water than anyone on the Kiri squad was used to. But apparently getting a place to stay in Montbenoit for the duration of the Group Stage would be out of their price range, and the travel that would be necessary up and down the country wouldn’t be practical, apparently. Reah understood, although she thought that the administration officials downplayed the fact that Montbenoit had a much more familiar feel to it than what appeared to be the logging capital of the host nation.

Reah sat at her desk, forcing herself to stare down at the three sheets of paper that weren’t pushed into precarious stacks around its edges. They were, of course, the rosters of Wight, Turori, and Saugeais, the three teams the Kiri were lucky enough to be grouped with in their group. Intellectually, Reah found the group incredibly interesting. There were two of the more prestigious squads in Atlantian Oceania among them, two squads that Reah had studied fairly extensively when she was first selected to be the coach of the Kiri. She had done the same with many of the more prominent AO squads, looking to identify what made teams successful, looking for some secret formula she could identify and emulate. It was ultimately futile, but she still knew her way around their rosters and their tendencies from World Cup 64. It was different, of course, four years later, but by now, after weeks of preparation, she thought she had a fairly good idea of how the two squads had updated their rosters and playing styles. And then there were the hosts, a team with virtually no available information having bypassed qualifications. The lack of true competitive matches meant that Reah had her assistants create tediously structured tapes, by piecing together domestic league footage of most of the Saugeais roster to create a Frankenstein of scouting tapes.

By her rough estimation, the level of talent amongst her opponents were roughly equivalent, with Saugeais obviously considered the X-factor in the group, both with their home field advantage and the lack of recent tape. But the only results that would surprise her if any of the opponents had dominating games against any of the others; they were all well-rounded squads. Turori figured to be more defensive-minded than either Wight or Saugeais, but none of the three squads had any glaring weakness. It may have been partly based on her own perspective, but Reah couldn’t think of any other group that figured to be as closely-fought and competitive…

… And she still couldn’t figure out how she had come to be here.

In a way, the tabloid pieces were comforting. The outrage she could muster, even momentarily, was a significantly more familiar emotion than the knot in her stomach that threatened to drown her every morning since the conclusion of the Bears Armed match. And tomorrow morning, that knot would no doubt accompany her to Hawkshead Point.

And she knew there would be no place to hide under the bright lights and cameras of the World Cup.

[Pasarga]

Who is going to start bringing down the giant? Anyone?

MD1

[Polar Islandstates]

Hello!

Yes, me again. Listen, you all know the drill by now; here I am, I blog stuff, you read stuff, we all get along, and the Terns crash out in the quarter finals. That's how it usually works, right? And then we can safely assume that that is how it'll work again, right?

Well, perhaps not this time, actually.

But probably.

So, why the hope? I hear you ask. What is it about this cycle over all other cycles that makes you think this time might be different, Eff? Well, I'll gladly tell you. In fact, better than that, I'll point you in the direction of the qualifying table and show you myself. Over eighteen games in qualification, the Terns were never beaten. During that time, our forwards conspired to score more than enough goals to see off the teams around us, many with ruthlessly efficient one-nil scorelines, and certainly more than enough to cater for the meagre five goals that our steadfast defence let slip through the net. In fact, including the friendlies against Apox at the start of qualifying and Astograth in the middle of qualifying, Rasmussen has guided the Terns on an impressive twenty match unbeaten streak. That's a record for the Terns, and every match its growing as Rasmussen continues to impress in the hot seat. Only four teams have scored against us in this period; Fristat and Marionopolis, Blouman Empire, Astograth, and Falcus (formerly Falconwhereveryouare), and this streak is being used as evidence by some that the if the Terns can keep their concentration they can go far in this tournament.

Then again, that streak started when we were dumped out of the Copa Rushmori rather unceremoniously by Mapletish. And they didn't even qualify, so, that should tell you everything you need to know about the Terns' concentration at times.

But what has this streak been based on?

For a start, the defence. Elden, Rovanpera, and Wien may not be the most experienced defenders in the multiverse, all in their mid-twenties at the most, but they all have extreme amounts of talent, and it has shown. None of them would be where they are now however if it weren't for the efforts of the old man in the defence; Julius Oyen-Spekke. One period of injury aside, the East Franz defender has been a constant in a defence that often found itself in flux during the campaign so far, and his level head and bags of experience have frequently been the difference between victory and a draw. Vaaraniemi and Hesjedal have both provided solid backup from the benches, but when it comes to the full back positions, the Terns have been blessed with the talents of Kungas-Vaga and Petersen.

In the sticks, Korzhanenko and Kirilaunen have each come under scrutiny as the press has attempted to second guess which of the two goalkeepers should be first choice. With little to separate the two of them, it has led to even the smallest of errors being blown up out of proportion into a much bigger issue that it needs to be, purely in the aim of furthering the cause of the other. Korzhanenko has made the highest profile 'mistakes' so far, gifting Astograth two goals in Rumiatzi and then handing a draw to Fristat and Marionopolis from out of the jaws of defeat in the last minute. The two appear to not be letting the pressure get to either of them however, and they socialise regularly with Alexis Sand as a trio of close goalkeepers. Who would I go for? Personally, Kirilaunen, but they both offer something different.

Sudesval, Villeneuve, and Cornelius have managed to rack up a surprising amount of time together on the pitch, with fine results as the qualifying table can testify, though the back quartet of Ekman, Bosnjakovic, Lillehammer, and Kirvesniemi is just about as strong a bench of midfielders as I can ever remember having for the Terns. In tournament football, you want to be able to put out your best team every match, but various issues such as fatigue, injury, or suspension can often rear their ugly heads. Add to that the fact that Rasmussen is known to be a fan of tweaking his lineup to adapt to the difficulties presented by each opposing team, and you have a scenario that demands a wide range of skills along the entire row of players, and a level of quality that stays consistent. This strength in depth is as good as I've ever seen it for the Terns this cycle, and the impressive way the effective second string went about winning several matches over the course of the qualifying campaign only underlines this point. When we need to rotate, we're able to do so, and that's key.

One man in particular has been an inspiration this cycle, yet again, and that man is Alexsandr van Sorensen. Though not able to play ninety minutes in every match at tournaments like this anymore, his deft touch on the ball and leadership in breaking the front line of attack has been a joy to watch over these last eighteen games. His replacement looks like being Zeljeznicar of Ituraitz FC, and his presence in the squad has been an impressive one so far, but the Twitchers will not be looking forward to the day the man from Jan Mayen finally hands up his captain's armband. Alexsandr van Sorensen is a Polarian institution, and he deserves a title to retire with. Not that that time is just yet; he has already announced that the next World Cup will mark his last, and it is unlikely we will see him at the Copa Rushmori next year as a result. Nonetheless, his goals and assists continue to rack up as he attempts to break records. Will be best Timo Skye's goal tally? Not this cycle. But the next...?

And then we have the strikers. Whilst not crucial to the impressive amount of clean sheets in the team's results this cycle, they play their own important part in proceedings regardless. Rasmussen raised eyebrows by only taking three out-and-out strikers in the squad this cycle, but with Zeljeznicar and Bosnjakovic in the twenty-three as well you could always argue that a fourth striker would have been dead weight. Felix Saarinen may have had a somewhat disappointing season with East Franz, but he has remained sharp as a button for the Terns, and along with the hard-working Illich-Svitych they have formed a well established strike partnership that works well with Rasmussen's plan. Until along came Kolehmainen, that is.

‘Kolehmainen the key.’ – Rasmussen.

Gustaf Kolehmainen, aged 25, is talked up by many as the best striker in the Federation right now.

Okay, so that's not true. Rasmussen didn't say that, and that's nothing more than a little poking of fun at the fact that Mytannion are leaning heavily on their own Kohlemainen whilst we ask if our own Kolehmainen is the player we'll need to lean on in the future. Who knows what will actually happen in the future for real, but the fact is undeniable that the young Surtsey forward is in the shape of his life right now, and if anyone is going to challenge Illich-Svitcyh or Saarinen for a starting role, and the beauty of his is game is that he could replace either, its Kolehmainen. Having fired Surtsey to a maiden Divisjon One title, followed by a second successive Champions' Cup semi-final appearance, there is no denying his potency in front of goal. In terms of substitutes that can change a game, Kolehmainen is one of the bes tin the multiverse, but I have to think that Rasmussen will stick with the tried and testing Illich-Svitych/Saarinen partnership for the time being.

So the team is there, but what about our opponents?

The Sylvanaes Queendom needed to go through the playoffs to reach the finals after being bettered by Apox over the course of the campaign, wherein they battered Bergnovinaia home and away to progress six-nil on aggregate. We've only ever played them once before - a five-two spanking in our opening match of World Cup Fifty-Seven, a tournament where we finished third - so if that's a sign of good things to come then I am all in favour of this arrangement. The second seeds in the group, they sit not that far behind us in the rankings are sure to give us our biggest test this campaign so far. One day I'm going to compile a list of all our combined results against Elves, but for the time being we'll just have to satisfy ourselves with the knowledge that our side will be capable of beating this particular team of the above if we turn up and want it more on the pitch. They play an attacking game, and we face play them second, with Janwen Undomiel and Alun Sabre amongst the names to watch out for.

We play Ko-oren last in the group stage, and like the Sylvanaes Queendom, they needed to go through the playoffs to join the party, beating Maklhoi Vai by a single goal over the course of the two matches to book their place on the plan after finishing second behind The Holy Empire - and there's no shame in that. This will be the first time we play the Greenblues, so I don't actually have an awful lot of data to share with you. However, any team that makes it to the finals is a threat, and we will have to be on our guards from the likes of Koyane Shiribeshi and Fin Fenner - particularly as the entire issue of our progression from the group could depend on our result against them. They play an intensely defensive game, far more than ours, and they will be tough to break down, so don't be surprised to see the likes of Zeljeznicar and Kolehmainen given a run-out against them.

First though, we will have to face Farfadillis, another team against whom this will be our first meeting. La Vherderoja, as they are known, are even more as attacking as Ko-oren are defensive, so Rasmussen will need to be on his toes to produce the best lineup possible to deal with the bombardment that we will come under almost immediately. They perhaps have more recognisable names than the other teams in our group - the likes of Rancisc Faró and Sê Mêrí will be well known to fans of Divisjon One teams, whilst there's no forgetting the likes of captain Yurpá Mêndêlöíndçêl, Friekder Dandalleion, or Ichi Tuzzio -though, pronunciation is a different matter altogether. They were almost not here after being given a scare by Sicoutimont in the second leg of their playoff, but here is where they are and if their press is anything to go by they are itching to get their teeth into us, even going so far as to label our more defensive style 'boring'. Can't wait to see what they'll say when they play Ko-oren...

So, what are our chances of getting out of the group? Good. On paper, at least, we are the strongest side and Rasmussen will need to instil a sense of duty, fearlessness, and a strong air of concentration about the players. This is our best ever run of results, after all, and it'd be great if we could extend it all the way to the final.

Per Tenebras ad Lucem.

Eff out.

xx

[Saugeais]

It's Friday, you know what that means! Let's go!

Scores

[Blouman Empire]

THE EMPIRE TIMES

Eagles Show Promise During First Game

The Eagles played their first game in the group stages of the World Cup tonight, ending with a nil-all draw against the world number two Andossa se Mitrin Vega. Both teams were eager to start this tournament the right way as both teams fought hard for the full 90 minutes eager to get the win and the all important three points. The Eagles started strong and had their first shot on goal but it was blocked by a retreating Panirii Ther'tai as it bounced off his back and wide of the goal. Only a few minutes later George Cardol’s cross found the head of Robert Schmitz but it was directed well over the cross bar. 30 minutes in Liam Dellapae was lucky to escape punishment following a stray tackle which allowed ASMV their first attack of note with a long-range strike which failed to trouble James Solomon. It was long before ASMV had another shot this time with Fylen Kel'tas blasting it from 20 yards out, Solomon managed to deflect it away, his hands stunned but still working. Following a counter attack by the Eagles Schmitz spotted Baden Lakes in space on the right his shot went into the side netting from just inside the 6 yard box the look on Lakes' face indicated he knew he should've done better. Moments later ASMV caught the Eagles napping and Yseelle Tai'ran found Kel'tas a free man but after cutting it inside, his left-footed effort went wide of the target. Minutes from half time, Cardol crossed the ball but Lakes' weak pass resulted in a counter attack from ASMV resulting in Ian Nerden tripping Xataru Enth'umi just outside of the area. With the resulting free-kick, Kel'tas' effort curled the ball around the visitors’ wall but Solomon was able to make the save.

At the start of the second half the Eagles started off with a bang as they charged through the ASMV players eager to maintain possesion and deny their opponents the chance to build up the attack, ASMV also had the same idea as both sides struggled for shots during the second half. The Eagles almost had a lucky break when Schmitz charged down Cadye Tas'dyn deep in the box but the ricochet landed comfortably in the arms of keeper Cadye Tas'dyn. ASMV wasted a golden opportunity to break the deadlock when Kel'tas robbed Hamish Alpin before advancing menacingly into the box and although he had a chance to shoot, he unselfishly passed it to Syrinici Tia'bel but misfired pushing the ball wide despite having an open goal waiting for him. At the other end, Schmitz had a sight of goal but off balance and from his weak foot he failed to hit the target. With 20 minutes to go Steven Mallard came on giving the Eagles 4 forward playing players. Mallard almost made an immediate impact but his effort to chip Tia'bel put the ball well over the bar a few moments later the Eagles had their last significant shot at goals with Lakes curling the ball towards the top right corner, Tia'bel was able to stretch just enough to tip the ball out. At the other end with only second remaining, Kel'tas weaved his way into the box before firing a shot but Solomon was able to comfortably save it.

The draw against the group favourites adds further confidence to an already charged team who are now thinking they might have a chance at progressing past the group stage, Vice Captain Alpin reiterated this to an awaiting media throng after the game "To draw against the group favourites is a good result we played well today and I think we were unlucky to not get the win if we play like we did today I think we are in with a chance to get a result in the next game". The Eagles next face current group leader United Gordonopia whom managed to beat Darmen in their first match. United Gordonopia will no doubt be looking for a win and book a spot for the Round of 16 but with the Eagles showing good form recently it will by no means be a forgone conclusion.

[The Archregimancy]

"Look, Fr. Basil - I'm not going to turn away an Archregimancy monk, but you'll appreciate I'm a busy man; I have my own team to manage, and there are some other issues...."

"I'm sure this is true, Juan, but I ask only for one small piece of advice: how best to defeat a team of equines - some of whom can fly - who play a 3-5-2 formation using overlapping wingers; a tactical approach you pioneered and have always since championed, and so you may also be the most qualified person to give advice on how to counter it."

"Flying horses, Fr. Basil?"

"Yes."

"Some of whom can fly?"

"Yes"

"Likely a bit fond of hoofing the ball?"

"No doubt."

"Play a close, controlled short passing game; try and pass the the ball into the back of the net; keep it on the ground; minimise all aerial opportunities; don't hoof it upfield yourselves - I mean, don't play a long-ball game, because you'll give away possession too cheaply against that lot; if a defender's caught in possession, or trying to clear under pressure, try and put it out for a throw-in rather than concede a corner; who do they have in goal?"

"A winged pegasus, I believe."

"Right then; try and curve attacking free kicks around the wall low along the ground rather than over the wall, because that Pegasus will always reach the balls flying into the upper corners, but will struggle to get low quickly."

"This is most enlightening, Juan."

"Seems fairly straightforward to me, Fr. Basil - basic tactics; but look, there's something you can perhaps do for me in return. Your team's playing in Saugeais too, right?"

"Arrowpoint Palace in Arçon."

"Splendid. Look, this is a, ummmm, well... neutron flow polaritometer. I don't suppose you could wave it around your dressing room a bit? And if it measures over 50, just let me know as quickly as possible. Do you think you could do that for me? Won't break any religious rules?"

"Not that I'm aware of. May I ask what this is for?"

"Oh, nothing important; just something our physiotherapist is checking up on."

"Nothing dangerous, I hope?"

"Not to anyone from the Dreamed Realm, I assure you."

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

Fr. Basil the Fool for Christ took the advice proffered freely by Juan Tzimisces, and was delighted at his team's success. A 3-0 victory with a hattrick for Fr. Theophilus (with the second goal almost literally walked into High Soarin's goal) exceeded his expectations, and he devoted himself that evening to a rigorous programme of ascetic self-denial in an attempt to keep his spirit suitably humble.

Alas, so rigorous was this programme of ascetic self-denial that Fr. Basil rather forgot about the neutron flow polaritometer - which was something of a shame, since the reading hadn't just been 'over 50', but had been off the scale.

But then the idle concerns of the secular world had never really been at the forefront of considerations for those dedicated to the monastic life.

[Pasarga]

Torgos Tribune ~ Home Grown Success

In what can only be described as a perfect start for the Wanderers in the opening match of the World Cup, the side showed the sort of mettle that was missing all of last cycle. In front of a capacity crowd in Stade de Torgos for the first match of the entire tournament, the Wanderers took to the field looking for redemption and to prove to their new manager that her choices were the right ones. Standing in their way was Mangolana, whose strength, or relative lack thereof, is well known to all by this point. The Wanderers knew that this was their best chance to take all three points from any of their matches and buoyed by the raucous support for the evening match, the Wanderers ran rampant over their opposition.

While even I saw the Mangolana match as a victory, the fact of the matter is I am still surprised by the scoreline in the victory, with the playing style and the potential for a lack of cohesion among the side to keep the score down. There is something to be said about playing hosts and the opening match in the warm night air of the Pasargan capital, it certainly brought out the best of the side. Valentina Mijatović, the young CAP winger and surprise starter, was particularly impressive with her runs down the sideline. She was constantly dismantling any and all of the oppositions markers on her and finding the right pass when there was no way for her to dribble her way out of a situation. It was a showcase night for the young prodigy as she finished with a pair of assists for her efforts and perhaps even the eye of some foreign scouts.

Finishing those crosses was Erôss Ivett who has taken to being the lead striker and one of the few starters who were retained from the previous cycle. Ivett finished with a brace, meeting Mijatović' cross in the eighth minute with a volley that set the tone for the Wanderers for the duration of the game. She nabbed her second goal in the forty-second, latching on to a through ball from Baskita FC' teammate Dagrún Sigurjónsdóttir, getting behind the defense and outclassing the keeper on the one on one. If anyone needed a brace in this game it was Ivett who looks now to be settled in her position, at least for the two remaining games in the Group Stage and perhaps further if the Wanderers manage to find themselves in the knockouts. Løver Storås would complete the scoring in the seventy-second minute when he headed in a cross field cross back across goal.

Aidé Hernádez seemed rather pleased with her side following the victory but tempered the celebration noting that it was just the first and probably the easiest fixture that the Wanderers had. "It is a good feeling to be sure, to put on a show for the home crowd. They came out in full force and we did all we could do to give them a display worth showing up for, getting a really nice victory against a side we should be winning. It is good for the fans and the players, get the morale up. The match on Wednesday will be the test though, Vilita is a strong side and they dispatched the Corsairs easy. Our work is far from complete. We will celebrate tonight but tomorrow it is back to the training ground and working on a strategy to try and slow down the Jungle Cats." The manager said in the post game interview.

The Corsairs were easily dispatched by the Atlantian Oceania side in Stein-los, losing five to three, making it look like Vilita might have their ticket booked already to the knockouts with Mangolana still to play for them. For the Wanderers, the best outcome that is a realistic target as they head to Stein-los to face the Jungle Cats is holding them to a draw. A victory is indeed a fools hope and this match was always going to be the one that most Pasarga fans just written off. Hope is high though with the impressive showing from the opening match and if the Wanderers somehow grab that all important point before the showdown with Sargossa on the last night in Torgos, it would make the task and dream of advancing so much simpler. To accomplish that task, the backline of the side is going to have to be solid to stop what looks to be a very lethal Jungle Cat attack. It may well be another shootout, which is great for the fans, but a headache for any manager. Aidé Hernádez certainly has her task cut out for her but this is what dreams are made of and what better place to make dreams come true than on your own home turf?

[Valanora]

Heads were down in what could only be described as utter disappointment as the Marauders filed into the locker room following the match with Gyatso-kai. It was a match that where just about everything that could go wrong did for the elven side and it showed in the body language of the players. Nearly the entire side looked dejected and defeated despite the result merely being a draw with the side.

"Well that's it, we're out of the World Cup. There's no way we're going to be able to get the points needed to advance now. Done after just one match, what a freaking shame." Dart exclaimed, even going so far as to kick the water bottle containers in frustration. The air seemed to be sucked out of the locker room as no one seemed to even challange the Raynor City keeper for his poor demeanor and behavior. It was un-Vanorian and yet the squad felt those words as if they were the truth. Their performance had seen them squander opportunity after opportunity and commit so many mental mistakes that they truly did not deserve the three points. It was their performance that was unlike any Vanorian side before would have even thought to be capable of.

A solitary figure was not hanging their head or accepting that their fates had already been sealed. One figure still stood proudly among the dejected and despondent bunch that had filed back into the the locker room after the previous ninety minutes of hell. It was this one figure that was going to need to get their spirits turned around or Dart's words would become a self-fulfilling prophecy and none of them would be able to return to Valanora with any sense of pride left in tact.

Hawk stepped forwards and grabbed Dart by the shoulder, turning the keeper away from the wall. Instead of shouting down the angry keeper, Laborious merely give him a stare and a shake of a head, words were not needed and would on exacerbate the situation. Dart knew that this behavior was beneath him, that Hawk was sure of, he only needed someone to set him straight. It was that quiet, no nonsense approach that had made Hawk become captain in the first place. Now was the time to truly show the skills of being the leader of the Marauder side.

"We all knew this match was going to be difficult, we knew very little of the Gyatso-kai side heading into the game. Ultimately they were going to have the advantage over us but we did ourselves no favors with all the little mental errors. If they were going to cram the middle of the park, we should have used Espy more on the wings. Playing their high line, we should have not been caught offside as much as we were, having those two goals called back. These are not problems in our abilities but in the way we approached the game, fixable mistakes. Our chances have been dented it is true, but it is not an impossible mission for we who have lifted trophies both international and domestic the world over." Hawk said, trying to rouse the spirits of his compatriots.

"Come on Hawk, we were lazy and did not take the game to them like we should have. On top of that, we have the top seeds next, another side we barely know and right now are on a far better form than us and are superior in rank. We're toast, we are going to be the first Marauder side to never make it to at least the Round of Sixteen. The time of the Elves is over." Dart responded back, slumping against the wall and sliding down it into a sitting position.

"If you truly believe that, then we are completely wasting our time as we are already defeated before we even take to the field. If this is all going to be for naught, then why even take the field for the next two matches at all, why not just forfeit and head back to our homes? We are Vanorians, we have the pedigree of champions in us. The task at hand is as difficult one as any Marauder side has seen I will grant you that, but it is not this impossible escapade that you are making it out to be. Osarius and Legalese are both competition that will no doubt test us, perhaps a test from the merciful Goddess herself to see if we retain the the fire inside of us that her children have. All it would take is a draw against Osarius and then a victory against Legalese and we are through. These are results that are within our capabilities if we set out to do them. I for one am going to make that my goal, who of you my brothers and sisters will join me?"

One by one each of the Marauders looked at their captain and gave a nod, even Dart who reluctantly pulled himself from his sitting position. "I'll do my part, I'll keep the net as clean as I can. It may be a futile effort... but we are a team, can't abandon that now just because of one bad result."

"Remember, it is always darkest before the dawn, as it has been said time and time again. We are the children of the Goddess, the denizens of the Eternal Relam, the immortals. We are the elvenkind and we do not easily falter."

[Apox]

The man walked to the corner shop, as he did every morning on his way to work, and bought that morning's International Post to read. Sitting down at his regular bench in the Great Park in Dwile to read the paper, the front page headlines was as follows:

Cafrew government struggling to pass legislation

The man sighed, that's not news, news is when the Cafrew government manages to do anything without struggling! He quickly flicked to the back page of the newspaper to read up on Apox's progress in the latest World Cup, which had started last week.

New Montreal States win to reverse the Chap status of the two nations

by Clement Ashley

The opening game of the 65th World Cup for Apox was against New Montreal States, a nation we've had little sporting contest with, especially in recent years, last competing against them in the Chap Olympiad, where the Apoxian delegation came top. However, we were based in New Montreal States for the finals last time, our first, so many Apoxians will be familiar with the country.

It was a battle of the defensive minded, with our defensive 4-4-1-1 formation looking positively aggressive compared to their near Karelan 7-2-1 formation. It was clear from the start that breaking down their defense would be difficult, primarily as a result of the sheer number of players we'd have to get through to reach their goal.

We were playing in the Saugeain half of the draw, with our first match at the Old Forest Stadium in Bugny. The 5,000 Apoxian supporters who had made the trip to Rushmore had packed themselves into the Southern end of the stadium, and were kicking up quite a racket when the two teams walked out onto the field. Both sides already knew that The Holy Empire had trounced Boring Paradise 3-1, so they was no hopes of an upset to make progression to the second round easier for anyone.

New Montreal States kicked off the game, and they mucked about with the ball a bit in their half, with all seven defenders flooding the Montreal half, the two wing backs pushing up slightly to provide support to the thin midfield. Fred Nguyen looked potent from the start, managing to evade Dan Weekes in defense and test Will Hewitt with an early shot on goal.

The Apox team didn't have a lot ball time for the first 20 minutes, the NMS side playing a possession game for the most part, even if much of that possession was in their own half. Amelio Quagliata was quite a handful from the start, and he proved tricky to handle, a driven shot flying over the crossbar, and chipped shot falling just short, requiring Fronden Abel to clear it off the line in the 31st minute.

Three minutes later, Keri Ularu finally managed to battle her way through some of the many Montrealais defenders by doing a series of one-two's with Will Fich to have a shot on goal. However, it was fairly tame, and Pierre Desrosiers stopped the shot easily. From then onwards, it was a case of running the ball from box to box, with the Montrealais attack getting the ball, being tackled as they became outnumbered, then Apox would attack and lose the ball to the legions of defenders facing them. And so the cycle would start again, lasting until the end of the first half.

The second half didn't pass much quicker, with the Montrealais defense remaining hard to break down. Eventually, there was a foul on Jack Moses, which resulted in a free-kick, allowing the team to get some numbers into the Montrealais half. However, despite a good kick from captain Olim Benzari, Fred Barnett got too much head onto the ball, and it sailed wildly over the net.

Númba then made the tactical decision to fight defense with attack, and brought on the youthful Tolgus Tregajorran for Dan Weekes, and reverting the Apoxian side to a 3-4-3 formation of old. This meant that we'd be much more open to the counter attack, but we'd also have a greater chance of scoring, what would probably be the winning goal. It was a risky game Númba was playing here.

At first it appeared to be working, Tregajorran ejected more vibrance into the Apoxian game, and we had some good chances, with Fran Gracie coming close in the 63rd minute. However, it wasn't long until we got a bit too attacking, which made us vulnerable.

Tolgus Tregajorran was attacking, and the Apoxian side flooded forwards. However, the experienced centre-back Henri-Réné Lavaillère put in what could be considered a game winning tackle, and quickly threaded a long through ball up to Amelio Quagliata who broke past Fronden Abel, a man not known for his speed. Quagliata was stopped by Hans Nielssen, a man who luckily is known for his speed, but managed to sneakily cross the ball inside to Fred Nguyen who was one on one with the keeper, Will Hewitt. This time there would be no mistakes, as Nguyen tricked Hewitt into diving the wrong way, Hewitt diving to his left, while Nguyen drove a shot into the right side of the goal.

And so New Montreal States had the advantage, and their defense was as impregnable as ever. Númba didn't risk any more offensive substitutions as another goal would kill the game off. Instead, he put Jack Moses into a more aggressive Central Attacking Midfielder role, and brought off Will Fich for Matthias Sindelar who would be more defensive.

It was to no avail however, and Tregajorran's speculative shot in the first minute of injury time was our last chance of the match, and sure enough, two minutes later, full time was called, and Apox succumbed to their second finals defeat, still waiting for their first win in a World Cup Finals, and still with Fronden Abel as the only Apoxian to score in a Finals Competition.

And so now our chances of moving on to the next round of the finals look slim, to say the least. Our next game against Boring Paradise will be a must win, and a game we should expect to win, and then we;d have to hope for one of our biggest footballing upsets against The Holy Empire, we'd need an unlikely result their to progress to the Round of 16. Though, once again, I expect just being here will be enough for our players and for the country as a whole.

'Well that's interesting' thought the man as he sat on the bench. 'I doubt we'll reach the next round now.' He turned over to the next page of the newspaper to see quite a shocking headline greet him

Will Fich will not play for Apox again after Finals

by Catrina Pugh

Will Fich has confirmed that this tournament will be his last under an Apox shirt, something speculated over since he and his family's move to the new nation of Camporum two months ago. Instead, he will represent the new nation in the next Baptism of Fire and in consequent tournaments after that. He cited tensions amongst Apoxians towards him as a primary reason for his move, along with the state doing little to help his impoverished family when growing up as primary reasons for the move. He also stated that this move will not affect his club career, with Iturributan club Sporting Iturributa, where he is very happy to be.

Fich grew up in the suburbs of Gwinevra, his family were one of the 500,000 families at the time who lived in incredible poverty in the aftermath of a destructive civil war, and the major rebuilding process that was required. However, he was able to play football in local clubs, many of whom allowed youngsters to play for free. He was spotted by Gwinevra Barbarians at the age of 12, and joined the academy their, becoming increasingly good, and making his debut for the club in 562 A.T, aged 16. He rose quickly, having a starting place aged 17, and receiving a call-up to the National Team at that age, as they participated in the Romili Cup and entered the World of international sports.

However, in 570 A.T, he put in a transfer request, having been approached by Sporting Iturributa with an opportunity and a contract that neither he, nor Gwinevra Barbarians, could leave. He is the 5th most capped Apoxian with 73 caps, and he is also the highestscoring Apoxian midfielder, with 18 goals to his name. He will add to the re-structuring troubles Númba will have for the Campionato Esportiva as Apox go through a period of bringing through new players to the national side.

Team Sheet from the Match
GK - Will Hewitt
RD - Jack Forster
CD - Dan Weekes sub Tolgus Tregajorran 62'
CD - Fronden Abel
LD - Hans Nielssen
RM - Olim Benzari (c)
CM - Will Fich sub Matthias Sindelar 76'
CM - Jack Moses
LM - Fran Gracie
CF - Fred Barnett
ST - Keri Ularu

[Andossa Se Mitrin Vega]

Television Announcer: We interrupt our regular programming to bring you some tragic breaking news from Tapia Reis.

As reported by Tellian Ev’ares of VPN TV, former Sea Dragons star and perhaps the greatest manager the national side has ever known Mace Kinoz’gh passed away in his sleep at the grand old age of 86. Football fans from across the Empire are in a state of shock and mourning as one of the most recognizable and respected men in Vegai history had shown no prior signs of health issues that might have led to this unexpected news. Flags across the Empire are being flown at half-mast today in Mace’s honor.

As a defender for the national side, Mace began to make a name for himself with wicked hits on opposing attackers as the Sea Dragons made their return to international sport in World Cup 50. Of course playing those early matches between the near-giant twins Kimo and Timo gave him every opportunity to shine as their sheer size naturally funneled the unlucky players to the middle. His hard-nosed style rubbed off on a slew of teammates who took their cues from Mace, returning the Vegai defense to one of the most feared in the world. He helped to lead the squad to World Cup qualification in the 53rd edition before losing to eventual runners-up Albundania.

As a manager Mace continued building his legacy by claiming a Cup of Harmony Championship in the 44th edition of that tournament and building a roster that would finish 3rd in World Cup 59, just one cycle after his retirement. Even now it is easy to find the influence of the former manager in the style and play used by the current squad competing in Saugeais for World Cup 65 glory.

Perhaps in a way he was best known to many as Mr Karaoke for his exploits that began in World Cup 50 qualification as he dressed in drag and sang to crowded bars following Sea Dragon matches. Following his retirement from football, Mace launched a solo music career that saw him rule the Vegai airwaves for more than 10 years. A strange friendship with MC Momkey L Man, a rapping monk fom The Archregimancy led to a collaborative effort from the duo along with Soter Sarlange of Astograth and Robin Arnfeldt of Polar Islandstates. The group called themselves Boyz II Amen and created quite a stir of controversy if nothing else. Perhaps even more odd was his participation in an event for Timo Skye in Polar Islandstates where he dropped from the ceiling decked out in a golden outfit. Even Mace was to admit years later that he didn’t even understand what had been going on. And yet it is that golden microphone that perhaps best symbolizes Mace as evidenced by its placement in the Sea Dragon Hall of Fame.

Word is that the Sea Dragons will be wearing Black arm bands with a golden M to show honor to Mace during the remainder of the World Cup 65 proceedings.

Mace Kinoz’gh
Born 1575 AA
Died 1661 AA

[Eura]

Eura facing a mammoth task after Mytanar defeat
In a tight game that could of gone either way, it just wasn't their day
Simon Banning reports from Pitape Stadium, Gilley, Saugeais

EURA - 2
McCroft 43
Sinclair 90+8

MYTANNION - 3
Kohlemainen 20
Matveyev 50
Ivanov 68
Latka s/o 87

It was the night of promising youngsters in Gilley's Pitape Stadium as Mytannion edged out Eura in a hard fought contest. Though it appears it may all be over before we've started, barring a miracle against Audioslava, Euran's can be reassured tonight that we were unlucky to come away with nothing - and worried by how quickly our team seemed to lose belief in themselves.

Typically for a Eura-Mytannion game, the atmosphere in the stadium was fantastic. Both sets of fans have a reputation for making a lot of noise (Regardless of whether they're winning or not), which ensured that every second of the 90 minutes would be marked by a ferocious and constant roar from the stands. Both sides looked strong despite many players lacking experience, and both sides were fielding teams which did not contain players who played in the other nation - the most surprising omissions arguably being Zapatic (Istomin is benched) from the squad altogether for Mytannion and Curren for Eura. For a game that had five goals, there were not very many chances for either side to score which shows how clinical they were. When the first shot on target came after 20 minutes of scrappy, unusually uncreative football, the deadlock was broken in a moment of brilliance from the latest talent out of Mytannion. The extremely talented Mikkel Kohlemainen has burst onto the Mytanar football scene only very recently, but already he looks like a potential legend for his home nation. He showed his pedigree with a sumptuous 25 yard drive past Daniel Belgrave after Lyle Heath stood off the attacking midfielder for far too long.

Eura fought back immediately, and were incredibly unlucky not to equalise straight away. This has been a breakthrough qualifying campaign for Sam Thomas, who netted 8 goals in qualifying and started most games. He is clearly in the peak of his playing career and it was showing. Thomas dribbled masterfully between Latka and Repin on the left before drilling a shot that de Zooijt had no chance of saving against the post. A corner was somewhat fortuitously given, and from that Heath almost made up for his hesitant defending with a powerful header than de Zooijt did well to keep out. Before half time Kelly Sporadic was punching the air in delight as his side got a deserved equaliser. Lee Sharp has a habit of opening the scoring for Eura at World Cups, but not today. He laid the ball off for James McCroft 30 yards from goal, when he could've charged at the box and gone for glory. It proved a wise decision; McCroft was in a massive gap inexplicably left by the Mytanar defence. He strode gracefully into the box somehow unopposed, before calmly beating de Zooijt with a good finish. Eura were level and ecstatic, and Marius Sadowsky was understandably frustrated at the sort of lax defending that cost teams games.

However, the game would swing back in the Mytanars favour after half time and soon they lead again. Yuri Matveyev was the scorer this time. The 19 year old, like the previous Mytanar scorer, was a breakthrough star in the making and he scored a deserved goal after starting brightly, slotting the ball between Collymore and Robertson as they struggled to find their position after a chaotic corner. It was 2-1 and it was all still to play for, but what happened next would be a moment of joy for Mytannion; and one of morale crushing frustration for Eura. Daniel Belgrave saved an effort from Ivanov and threw the ball out to Nick Feeney. Feeney was in plenty of space and is usually one of the calmest members of the team, a rock of the defence and consistent performer for nearly a decade. However, he was about to suffer the worst moment of his international career. He inexplicably hesitated on the edge of the box and when put under the gentlest of pressure by Ivanov he sliced an ill advised clearance straight to Matveyev. The defence were completely thrown by the mistake and Lyle Heath could only watch as Matveyev played in Ivanov. Ivanov smashed the ball towards the right hand corner and although Belgrave did superbly well to get a touch on it, he couldn't stop it going in off the post.

This was a game ending moment, and both sides sensed it. Mytannion eased off a bit and their fans were surprisingly quieter than usual, rather buoyant and relieved they were set to win. Frustration was the only feeling coming from the Euran camp. Kelly Sporadic was squatting on the touchline with his head in his hands as the ball went in, and for the next twenty minutes the Euran players let their shoulders drop. The fans were clearly still up for it, trying to rile them on, but as time went on a rare thing occurred - they began to file out. To add insult to injury, or rather injury to injury, Eura suffered a further setback in the 87th minute. Tom Riley, Eura's midfield lynchpin looked somewhat secure on the ball as he lined himself up for a speculative ball to Lee Sharp - the only man on the pitch who seemed to be maintaining 100% commitment throughout. Martin Latka came from nowhere and clattered into Riley with a dangerous challenge, earning him a straight red card. There was some disturbance in the crowd in anger at the decision to send him off, but as the severity of the injury became more clear this quietened down. Riley was stretchered off, and Eura were truly down and out - even with the opposition down to ten men and a good deal of stoppage time remaining.

Yet tonight we were given a reminder that every cloud has a silver lining. Coming on for Riley was young Craig Sinclair, one of the bright sparks of the future upon which so many Euran hopes lie. The Ulsa attacking midfielder was pushed up ahead into midfield as Gareth Blackthorn (on for Dawson) dropped back. In the 8th minute of stoppage time, when the game was winding down, he scored a debut goal in his debut appearance, and one to remember at that. Josh Stevenson found him about 30 yards from goal with a short pass that looked innocuous enough. But Sinclair saw a gap and took the opportunity; he accelerated like a bolt of lightning past two Mytanar players before beating de Zooijt with a quintessentially brilliant curling shot from 25 yards. It was a bright end to a miserable evening for Eura. Mytannion were understandably delighted to win what may well prove to be the key game in the battle for 2nd in the group, but after they had exchanged some good will gestures with the opposition only the Euran's remained on the field before they trotted into the dressing room. Sporadic remained on the touchline looking not angry or frustrated, but in very un-Sporadic like fashion, he appeared completey calm, if a bit dejected. I managed to get within 10 yards of him at the touchline, and he seemed to be completely unreactive. Even when he was given the mixed news of Audioslava's shocking draw with the Licentians, he didn't budge.

Only one thing remains clear; Eura need a miracle.

Lineup for Audioslava: BELGRAVE, FEENEY, ROBERTSON, HEATH, COLLYMORE, ANDERSON (IN FOR RILEY), DAWSON, MCCROFT, STEVENSON, THOMAS, SHARP.

ANALYSIS

Player Ratings

EURA

1. D Belgrave – 7/10
2. N Feeney – 5/10
4. M Robertson – 6/10 YC
5. L Heath – 6/10
23. C Collymore - 7/10 YC
7. J McCroft - 8/10
6. T Riley - 7/10 (Sinclair - 87)
8. C Dawson - 5/10 YC (Blackthorn - 64)
11. J Stevenson – 7/10
10. L Sharp – 8/10
17. S Thomas - 6/10 (Martin - 77)

Substitutes

13. C Waller
15. B Dassuna
19. R Collins
3. M Smith
18. C Sinclair - 8/10
16. K Kane
24. G Blackthorn - 7/10
25. N Martin - 5/10
9. S Needle

MYTANNION

1. D de Zooijt - 8/10
5. D Adkvissen - 7/10
4. N Berozhserkovsky - 8/10 YC
3. M Latka - 4/10 RC
2. L Repin - 6/10 YC
6. T Voronin - 7/10 (Sharov - 80)
7. D Stojanovic - 9/10
10. I Kaitanen - 6/10 YC (Matveyev - 45)
17. M Kohlemainen - 9/10
8. I van Huijgevoort - 8/10
11. E Ivanov - 8/10 (Obad - 88)

Substitutes

12. K Istomin
13. R Fridrich
14. M Obad - 6/10
20. T Dalgaard
15. T Prijholm
22. Y Matveyev - 8/10
16. A Sharov - 6/10
9. S Oiskha
18. K Haugen

MoM: Dobroslav Stojanovic (Mytannion)
Attendance: 48,000

Possession
EUR - 46 % 54 - MYT
Shots
EUR - 10 12 - MYT
On Target
EUR - 7 9 - MYT
Corners
EUR - 6 4 - MYT
Pass Completion
EUR - 85 % 78 - MYT
Fouls
EUR - 18 24 - MYT

[Kiryu-shi]

Reah carefully folded her outfit for the upcoming match taking place in the Stade Amaechi Olse, making sure that the creases were kept clean as she laid down each garment in her suitcase. They’d be staying in the capital of Saugeais for three nights, and she had packed just about everything she needed for herself before finally picking out the outfit she’d be wearing on the sidelines against Turori.

Those kinds of details had eluded her when she was packing for the World Cup in general, and really hadn’t made their way into her mind until she arrived Hawkshead Point on the morning of the Wight match and an aide from the Kiryu-shi National Football Program appeared shocked at what she was wearing - a fairly worn out Kiri track suit that she’d worn for every qualification match, and the most common combination of clothing she’d wear for any time the squad trained on the pitch.

It wasn’t that she didn’t know that there would be a lot more attention focused on a World Cup match than any that she’d participated in thus far, but she just didn’t even stop to think that it might include something like her choice of dress on the sideline.

Against Wight, it turned into a pretty dramatic situation. The administration official told her, sternly, that she would be doing a disservice to the entire nation if she stepped onto the pitch as she was currently dressed, and, after a confrontation that took significantly too long for anyone’s enjoyment, one of her assistants was rushed back to Reah’s hotel room to gather together an outfit that Reah could change into before she’d have to officially make her way out to the pitch. They cut it a little close, but although it was somewhat embarrassing having to change in the locker room - even though the team had already left to start warming up on the pitch - she was incredibly glad to have been convinced it was a good idea when she finally got onto the pitch. Most of the officials on the field were wearing suits at the very least, and she had to acknowledge that she’d look a bit out of place in her track suit.

All in all, it was just another part of the World Cup experience that she was not prepared for, and didn’t know how to handle.

After Reah zipped up the main portion of the suitcase, she checked the outside pocket for her train ticket, the itinerary for the trip across Saugeais, and the pocket guide for the Turori roster that she and Josh had written up back in Kiryu-shi. She had the detailed scouting reports in her luggage, of course, but wanted to keep the pocket guide close by just to feel comfortable - it didn’t contain any information she didn’t already know, but she felt good to hold onto it. And along with it was a three page match description from the Turori-Saugeais match-up. That one Josh had written up completely on his own, and Reah had yet to read. She was curious how his observations matched up with what she had already taken from the tape, to see if there were any points he had been able to write up that he hadn’t expressed to her during meetings. She had found that he tended to have significantly more astute observational skills when he was writing instead of speaking.

The relationship she had forged with her young assistant was the closest thing she’d had to a real friendship since as long as she could remember. It was his face she looked for the moment Enéh pounded home the first goal for the Kiri late in the first half against Wight, a beautiful crack from just outside the penalty area directly off of nice headed pass from Chihiro. Seeing Josh’s face light up was amazing for Reah, she knew that he had been one of the bigger proponents for the counterattack focused on Wight’s right side if and when they were able to catch Fosse-Gordon attacking with Chavaqquq Yaval’s tendency to drift up the pitch, which had led to Enéh’s opportunity on goal. To see his strategy come to fruition was clearly huge for Josh - and Reah, on top of the joy from taking the lead, had been thrilled for his happiness.

And when they had scored the second goal in the 88th minute, with Wight pressing up the pitch desperate to find an equalizer, the hug that Reah found herself a part of with Josh was both unexpected and exhilarating; she was never one for physical contact with other people, and she honestly could not remember the last time she had exchanged such an unequivocally joyous hug with another person.

He was one of the reasons she wasn’t looking forward to leaving Saugeais. Reah still could not get any type of idea of what governance in Kiryu-shi was planning for her. It didn’t help that Kaskake University was going through selections for committees during the World Cup, and she couldn’t help but think that there wasn’t anything close to consensus on the future of the Kiryu-shi football program. And whether she, or Josh, had any future with the team when they really were dreadfully under-qualified on paper, seemed up in the air at best.

On the other hand, if they could pull off a few more results like what they had accomplished against Wight, and make their way out of the group stage, that had to count for something, Reah thought.

She gave herself one more looking-over in the full-body mirror in her room before taking the handle of her suitcase and wheeling it toward the door. She looked back towards the little room that had become her home - by the time she returned, it was likely that she’d know a great deal more about whether they’d be scheduling a trip back to Kiryu-shi sooner rather than later. The administration had already made it clear that the Kiri would be returning to their home country as soon as they were eliminated, due to budget constraints.

Reah turned back away from her room, not allowing any hints of melancholy to enter into her mind. After all, tears had not been far since stepping foot into Saugeais.

[Wight]

.

[Alasdair I Frosticus]

Juan Tzimisces had, he conceded to himself, underestimated young Miss Foreman. Up until the Boring Paradise match, she hadn't seemed to be up for much except for looking pretty and fairly bewildered by football; but last night she had shown that she'd been learning more effectively than he'd previously realised. Indeed, he was almost tempted to call her an unearthly child, except that it sort of went without saying that she almost certainly wasn't from one of the many multiverse worlds that called themselves 'earth', or 'dirt', or 'rock', or some similarly unoriginal name.

And Tzimisces had to admit that her halftime tactical suggestions about countering a 4-4-2 diamond formation with a slightly withdrawn forward had transformed the Boring Paradise match, from a potentially humiliating halftime score of 1-0 in favour of John Johnstone's squad, to the 3-1 Imperial victory that saw the Holy Empire topping the group after the first matchday.

And then Miss Foreman was also proving exceptionally helpful in the current attempt to track down the source of the neutron flow phasing anomaly here in Saugeais. Indeed, the way she'd jury-rigged a scanner to the Metalton iron foundry to run a neutron flow sweep of Tapandie stadium had been a stroke of genius. The physiotherapist had been particularly proud of her, rufffling her hair in a manner that might have suggested some sort of close familial relationship if that had been in any way possible.

Still, once they made it back to the Dreamed Realm, Tzimisces would have to look at how she made it on to the team, because he was unusually fuzzy on the details for an immortal legend in total command of his team.

Despite the excellent opening result, Juan was still concerned.

As far as he could tell, they'd swept every single World Cup stadium in Saugeais, and still there was no sign of the anomaly source.

Juan had discreetly examined Stade Amaechi Olsen in Montbenoit himself, using the excuse of a national manager's social meeting to discreetly check for signs of the anomaly.

The Monitor had pretended to be an engineer in order to check Hawkshead Point, and had been quite tiresome afterwards about the poor geometry used in the supporting structure of the main stand's roof.

Tapandie had been covered by Miss Foreman, of course.

John the Right Winger had masqueraded as an Apox fan, complaining bitterly about the inflatable platypus hat he'd been forced to wear - and also coming up negative.

Brotar, clever chap that he was, had taken the form of a rich businessman, and had managed to get himself into one of the VIP boxes at Circle Stadium; but also with no result.

Mike Yates had managed to get into Pitape Stadium; alas his camera had malfunctioned, and he had no images of the ground to work from, but there was no mistaking the negative readings on his scanning equipment, so it hardly mattered.

Alistair had had no trouble getting into Les Allies for a 'pitch inspection' - yet still no result.

Tzimisces couldn't help think he was missing something.....

And then it hit him.... Fr. Basil. He had no report from Fr. Basil - which could only mean a couple of things. Either Fr. Basil was dead, which seemed unlikely given the Archregimancy's handy 3-0 opening day victory, or the monastic manager had simply forgotten to report back; which seemed far more likely.

Monks, Juan Tzimisces sighed to himself; lovely people, but never the most practical of men. He called out to his assistant.

"Simeone... are you planning to attend the Starblaydia - Archregimancy match?"

"Of course, Juan."

"Look... you don't suppose you could have a quick word with Fr. Basil while you're there....."

[Saugeais]

And now, live from the Bull's Head Pub in downtown Montbenoit, it's the Frank and Walter Show on WSSR, Saugeais's number one sports talk radio.

Frank: Isn't this the best crowd in the world? All nations sitting together, having a beer, reveling in their team's fortunes and mishaps and whatnot. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. We're going to make you several promises for the next couple hours or thereabouts. We're going to do the best we can to keep you informed, entertained, and maybe have a laugh or two along the way. And this is radio's best combination of the divisive, outrageous, appalling, objectionable, offensive, and occasionally inhospitable. I'm Frank Harrison.

Walter: And I'm Walter Kovak. Shout-outs to our producers Christian Hill, Jason Nyvski, and interns doing intern-y things. But let's get right down to it, shall we? The opening World Cup match was overall mediocre, OK? They scored twice in the first half, effectively livening up the home crowd at the Stade, but I can't tell if it was inexperience, general fatigue, or just bad tactics that led to Turori scoring two goals of their own. Powell Pieran had made a few questionable call-ups during his squad registration, call-ups like Didier Bernard and Marius Dupond that I'd like to point out that they've had absolutely zero international experience before yesterday's match. Didier's been in Pays de Croix's system before being trading out of the coutnry, and Dupond has been extremely average in United Gordonopia's FC Deska for the past few years. Not to mention every single reserve defender is an international rookie as well. Jourdain Plamondon, Courtney Hedley, Saugeais' first female international player, and Thibault Renault all were called up for the first time ever during that meeting.

Frank: Well, I think Pieran is correct in bringing these players up, but now is certainly not the time. They are being thrown into a "trail by fire" scenario, and he thinks they will succeed. Well, if you watched the match last night, you could tell they were not exactly up to snuff playing against international level opponents. Dupond routinely got beaten on the wing, and while Didier is one tall guy, he was not able to direct the ball far enough away from Turori's keeper, but that's a case of unlucky positioning.

Walter: I'd like to think that Pieran knows what he's doing. I mean, yes, he led the team to a third place finish in the Copa Rushmori, but that's the Copa, just teams from Rushmore. This is the World cup, a competition that is exponentially more reputable and more dangerous to experiment in. If he gave Dupond and Bernard and all these other new recruits a shot there, I'm sure none of us would have minded so much. But this is the World Cup, a World Cup that is being hosted on home soil, in your stadiums that you see every day, and in front of fans that have very high expectations of a great outcome. No is not the time to experiment! I understand the squad was getting old and changes had to be made, but why not takes some players that had some playing time in the past?

Frank: Probably took one look at them at said, 'No thanks, I'm good here.'

Walter: Well that's not good enough then. If the players can play, and have proven to be better than who you have now, then you play them, plain and simple.

Frank: Well, let's not talk about personnel right now, let's go back to the game, OK? Like you said, it was a great first half for us, and the Knights had scoring chances from as early as 5 minutes in. But at the 10 minute mark is where they broke the scoring open off a redirected shot. Midfielder Julien Leclerc played the ball up near the top of the box and took a crack aimed right at the keeper. At the last second, François Bourgogne stuck his leg out and caught a piece of the ball, ricocheting to the right side of the net. The keeper was already in a kneeling position preparing for the initial placement of the ball, and had no time to react to the rebound, effectively giving Saugeais a 1-0 lead.

Then in the 27th minute, the Knights doubled their lead off a penalty kick. Turori defender Lioniaa Tana made a poor attempt at a tackle, which at first glance looked like the two footed variety, and took down Alphonse Richelieu coming in to make a play. The crowd was livid on the act, and the referee immediately pointed to the penalty spot while procuring a yellow card for Tana. This led Casimir Archambault up to the mark, ready to take yet another penalty kick in his long career. Staring down the ball and the keeper, he ran up and took aim at the right side of the net, but swung his hips around at the last second to hit the ball to the left. The keeper was fooled and dove to the right, letting the ball trickle into the net harmlessly for the score, doubling Saugeais' lead.

Walter: And I would've been fine if it ended there. Take the 3 points and move on to the Wight match. But, we still had another half to play, and 2-0 is such a dangerous scoreline. It gives you confidence, maybe overly so, and you start to relax. That's where the mistakes lie, and that's what happened to the Knights. Just after the restart, Turori went full throttle at the Saugeain net. Jukkia Diijelhma moved with the ball towards the right side of the box and lasered a cross towards their star Liinai Zakazaka, who smashed the volley past Vincent James just 24 seconds into the half. The Knights were on their heels now, trying to find some footing to help with a counterattack. But they were few and far between, as Turori continued to pile on the pressure in the Saugeais area. It took quite a while until Turori evened up the match, so I guess some credit to the Saugeain defenders, even if by the end of the match, it was an entire batch of rookies on the line.

Turori knotted up the match in the 74th minute, after Vincent James spilled a shot from Raso Tareak that hovered close to the ground. It caromed off of James' shoulder and settled into the back of the net, send the crowd into a state of shock. Several boos and jeers were directed at the keeper, and rightfully so. He had that ball locked up, there was no reason to have a mental lapse right as he was about to secure the ball. Poor performance on his part.

Frank: So you want to blame the entire match on James' mishap?

Walter: Not really. Depending on the James result, Turori could've tied up or won the game in the 84th minute, as Zakazaka netted a shot that was called offside, but barely. And I mean by inches on the replay, it was that close.

Frank: Well, now they need to focus on Wight, who got off to an even worse start than the Knights: they actually lost to Kiryu-shi. This'll be their do-or-die match, and Saugeais can't take this lightly at all.

Walter: Even if they take it seriously, I still have my doubts about that back line. If they don't advance past the group stage, I know I can point my finger at at least one reason why. We're Frank and Walter, and we'll be taking a short break. Keep it here on WSSR, Saugeais' number one sports talk radio.

[Vilita]

OOC: This post is not intended to replace the Vilitan Roster in the roster thread, just to clarify which players are actually in Pasarga to participate in the finals, update the career Caps, Goals, Average Rating and career bio of those specific players which may still be used in further RP's and to give an update on the status of the National Team roster

Vilita Jungle Cats head coach Calaesa Mitaroka has named Miiara Makose as the team's captain for the World Cup 65 Finals in Pasarga and Saugeais, displacing long-time captain Ritopa Simafela who appeared just twice for the National Team during the World Cup 65 Qualifying campaign.

Makose led all Jungle Cat players during the Qualifying appearing in 16 of the Vilita National Team's 18 matches. Makose led the list as Mitaroka announced the 26 players that would travel to Pasarga and Saugeais as members of the Vilita Jungle Cats World Cup squad.

Drawn into Group A along with the hosts Pasarga, the Jungle Cats instantly became the bookies favorites to advance from the group to the Knockout rounds.

-----------------------------------
MD 1: Vilita vs. Sargossa
Kilmonarch, Stein-los, Pasarga
MD 2: Vilita v. Pasarga
Kilmonarch, Stein-los, Pasarga
MD 3: Vilita vs. Mangolana
Stade de Torgos, Torgos, Pasarga
-----------------------------------

It was a story of 'What a difference a Cup Makes' for the Jungle Cats, who during World Cup 64 found themselves drawn in the same Group against Current World #1 Audioslavia and Current World #3 Osarius.

Of course, it is well known that the Jungle Cats were unable to advance, despite being the 7th Ranked Team at the time, as rivals Audioslavia would go on to win the World Cup for a second consecutive time.

It was a massive let down for the Vilitan faithful after Calaesa Mitaroka's squad had set so many records during the Qualifying Campaign including the Most Points ever in a Vilitan Campaign, 52; the Most Wins in a campaign, 17, Most goals scored in a campaign, 59 and the highest Goals per Game average with 3.3.

After their opening matchday fixture against Sargossa, the Jungle Cats will remain in Stein-Los to take on the hosts before traveling to Torgos to square off with Mangolana, the lowest ranked nation qualified for the World Cup 65.

GOALKEEPERS:

Throughout the World Cup Qualifying session, Coach Mitaroka excersized his contingent of goalkeepers with Nycflala Kater, Aranora Jaded and Atacir Tivalan seeing the bulk of the work. However, Mitaroka made a change on the final matchday of qualifying, putting Cednia Beach AFC's Jaqe Planst in between the sticks. The result was the Jungle Cats biggest victory of the campaign, a 5-0 result with a decent performance from Planst that apparently led to Planst's addition to the Jungle Cats World Cup 65 roster in the place of former World Cup Dream Team member Aranora Jaded, joining expected started Nycflala Kater and Makosile's Atacir Tivalan.

[ 85 ] Nycflala Kater [ - Kiiara-Torra - ]
------- GK ( AGE: 32 CAPS: 90 :: GOALS::SR: 0 U21: REG: ) :: [ 5.52 Average Rating ]
Descended of former National Team goalkeeper Jimmy Kater, who took over the starting position on the National Team under the intense spotlight of the World Cup 17 Finals in Vilita and remained first choice keeper for the majority of Vilitan national competition in subsequent seasons before joining the coaching staff for World Cup 31. Nycflala made his full debut for the Vilita National Team during World Cup 57 where he was named the starter in 14 of Vilitas 16 qualification matches. Kater performed strongly with 6 shutouts and a 5.86 average rating. Many claim that the focus on the World Cup 57 Qualifying campaign distracted Strike players such as Kater from performing well domestically in VLeague 26. Kater ensured there would be no dissapointment in VLeague 27 leading Strike comfortably to both the League and Cup titles, repeating the feat during VLeague 29 and VLeague 30. After winning the Vilitan Cup, Stellar Division and Tropical Trophy just one more time over the next five seasons, Kater left Strike FC despite not having another contract lined up, looking to focus on the World Cup 63 Finals in nearby Turori. Humbled by the Jungle Cats epic failure in Turori, Kater went back to roots moving up the coast from Strike to Kiiara. After briefly helping at Kiiarana City, Kater switched to Kiiara-Torra and led the side to the Declasse title and an appearance in the Vilitan Cup Final, the first ever for the club.

[ 90 ] Jaqe Planst [ - Cednia Beach AFC (TUR) - ]
------- GK ( AGE: 27 CAPS: 18 :: GOALS::SR: 0 U21: REG: ) :: [ 5.11 Average Rating ]
Planst was acquired by Cednia Beach AFC after playing just 1 match in Season 26 for Arcticala Inlet. Planst helped the Turorian side to second place in the VLeague 27 table and a return to UICA Competitions. A poor showing during the AOCL V in which Cednia Beach were eliminated in the group stage likely kept Planst out of any contention for a National Team spot during World Cup 58 Qualifiers, although, as a highly skilled keeper, Planst was still invited to the training camp. Planst has an ongoing rivalry with former Cednia Youth teammate Aranora Jaded who left Cednia Beach to join Planst's former club, Arcticala Inlet, and also achieved great success. Despite struggling to lead Cednia Beach to the domestic success they so craved and being between the sticks as Mliona-Lpaka overtook Cednia Beach as the premier domestic club in Turori, Planst was named Cednia Beach player of the season 4 times between season 28 and 35.

[ 98 ] Atacir Tivalan [ - Makosile FC - ]
------- GK ( AGE: 30 CAPS: 15 :: GOALS::SR: 0 U21: REG: ) :: [ 3.86 Average Rating ]
Tivalan architected an outstanding season for Makosile FC in the Vilitan Stellar Division, season 26 leading the Mako's to a top 4 finish in the table, and earning a high-profile transfer to the Yeaddin Owls. Although Tivalan played well at the Castle, the team was languishing unfamiliarly near the bottom half of the table, while Makosile also struggled. The Owls decided to part company with the goalkeeper who was welcomed back to Makosile, finishing the season strong conceding just 8 goals in 15 games. Season 30 was the breakthrough for Tivalan and Makosile, an ultra-defensive season fell right into the Mako's hands as they were crowned stellar division champions for the first time and Tivalan got a call to the squad for AOCAF 36. Tivalan would follow up leading the Makos to the Vilitan Cup during Season 32 before hitting a bit of a downturn. The righted the ship again during Season 38 however, clawing back to the top of the Stellar Division for the second time in club history with Tivalan between the sticks.

DEFENDERS:

After impressing during his 7 appearances during the World Cup 65 Qualifying, including a pair of goals leading all defenders, 18 year old Marine Coast United defender Endur Rotropii is the youngest player drafted into the Jungle Cats squad for the Finals. Rotropii, a regular player for one of the most historic clubs in all of Vilita, albeit in the Vilitan Declasse Division, but has really taken the International fixtures in stride showing that he has able to compete at the highest levels.

Rotropii could see himself alongside Jungle Cats captain Miiara Makose and Makosile defensive stalwart Kadi Molali in a defensive trio throughout the group stage.

After sitting out the duration of World Cup Qualifying, the Turoki Tide's Uajiala Pulkki is also left off the roster for the World Cup Finals and it appears that the 31 year may have seen an abrupt end to his National Team career.

Makosile's Retiso Buran and Morata Valley's Dronik Ratuva have been drafted in to support in the 3-1-4-2 formation, if employed by head coach Mitaroka, or as substitutes to give the Jungle Cats a slightly more defensive option in the midfield with the ability to come back and support in defense as needed without further substitutions.

[ 94 ] Miiara Makose [ - Strike FC - ]
------- D C ( AGE: 30 CAPS: 113 :: GOALS::SR: 5 U21: REG: ) :: [ 6.64 Average Rating ]
Makose has Druidan blood, though has been diluted through multiple generations. He was trained as a goalkeeper in Turori but did not want to be stuck in the shadows of Nycflala Kater, so switched over to the defensive role when joining the Strike Academy. The transition was clearly justified as Makose was one of the top performing players in World Cup 57 qualifying, carrying a 6.65 average rating while appearing in 14 of Vilita's 16 group matches. Makose was also part of Strike's dominating VLeague 27 performances winning the League and Cup titles with the club and repeated the feat during VLeague 29, doing one better, having scored the game-winning goal in the 86th minute of the Cup Final against the rival Yeaddin Owls. Incredibly, Makose did it again during the Season 30 Cup Final, scoring the opening goal of Strike's 2-0 victory over Colonial Sile. The list of accomplishments for Makose continued to grow with his allegiance to his home club, including International success as champions of the Aeropag Invitational and the Cygnus Cup following Vilitan Season 38. Makose then led Strike FC to the Stellar Division title and a repeat victory in the Cygnus Cup the following season.

[ 68 ] Kadi Molali [ - Makosile - ]
------- D R ( AGE: 32 CAPS: 103 :: GOALS::SR: 8 U21: REG: ) :: [ 7.04 Average Rating ]
Molali has the ability to make stunning runs up the right side of the field and has put together exciting 'from-nothing' goal scoring opportunities in weekly scrimmage matches. Molali was an exciting prospect for the Turoki Academy who was solid, but not exceptional during World Cup 57 Qualifying, making 13 appearances and scoring 1 goal. After joining multiple clubs, including Strike FC, Molali left the VLeague abrubtly in the middle of VLeague 26. After some time off, Molali returned, signing for Eastal Lunar FC and completing a strong VLeague Season 27. Following Eastal Lunar's relegation, however, Molali - fearing the relegation could cost him appearances in the National Team, spent 2 seasons at Cednia Beach AFC before moving back to Vilita to play for Makosile. Molali was part of Makosile Season 38 Stellar Division championship team.

[ 61 ] Endur Rotropii [ - Marine Coast United - ]
------- D RLC ( AGE: 18 CAPS: 12 :: GOALS::SR: 2 U21: REG: ) :: [ 7.40 Average Rating ]
Rotropii made his debut for Marine Coast United during Season 38 and quickly grew popular with the fans in Crosaibi, being named Marine Coast's player of the season in his rookie campaign. Rotropii scored his first career international goal during World Cup 65 Qualifying in a 4-1 victory over Mashiki.

[ 9 ] Ritopa Simafela [ - Arcticala Inlet - ]
------- D LC ( AGE: 33 CAPS: 127 :: GOALS::SR: 10 U21: REG: ) :: [ 6.59 Average Rating ]
Ritopa was a standout product of the Lunar Academy and was named as one of the captains of Vilita's World Cup 57 Qualifying Squad. The son of a Rocket Scientist and a Physicist, Simafela is already well educated and is in no way reliant on a career in sports. However, strong performances during his debut qualifying campaign including a 6.05 average rating and 2 goals spurred transfer inquiries from foreign clubs and comparisons to Vilitan greats like Enzo Ahat and Ricky Ezis. Simafela transferred to Strike FC for VLeague 27 and was an instrumental part of their double success in the League and Cup. Simafela amassed 3 Stellar Division titles, 4 Vilitan Cup championships and one Tropical Trophy victory as a member of a Strike club heavily populated with Vilitan National Team members before spending Season 35 up the coast at Kiiarana City.

[ 8 ] Ricata Amakra [ - Cednia Beach (Turori) - ]
------- D C ( AGE: 32 CAPS: 3 :: GOALS::SR: 0 U21: REG: ) :: [ 6.50 Average Rating ]
The product of the Alikka-Corra Academy is a defender being compared locally with former Alikki-Corra FC defender Emarka Laniora. While he doesn't yet share the same ability to charge up either wing with the ball, his solid defensive skills should see him earn some playing time with the National Team. Amakra has been a star performer in the Non-Leagues with the Orbital Kickers. After amassing a 10-season, 400+ match career outside the Vilitan League system, Amakra finally made the leap ahead of V-League Season 37 signing for Morata Valley and moving back to the main island. After two seasons in Morata Valley, Amakra switched to Cednia Beach AFC in Turori for Season 39.

[ 66 ] Sipaao Vereaoao [ - Kiiarana - ]
------- D L ( AGE: 30 CAPS: 29 :: GOALS::SR: 1 U21: REG: ) :: [ 6.88 Average Rating ]
A product of the Inland Academy, Vereaoao has played in both Vilita & Turori, but committed his future to the Jungle Cats when featuring for them as a half time substitute against Nitrome Island during World Cup 57 qualifying. Vereaoao left long-time home Inland Peaks after they failed to achieve promotion from the Declasse during VLeague 27. Vereaoao signed for Marine Coast United, who had earned promotion in addition to a place in International Competitions. However, with Marine Coast struggling to keep pace in the Stellar Division, Vereaoao jumped ship to free-spending Kiiarana for V-League Season 29, becoming a big part of the team that would challenge atop the table - finishing 3rd during Season 33 and qualifying for the UICA Champions League.


DEFENSIVE MID:

[ 36 ] Retiso Buran [ - Makosile - ]
------- DM C ( AGE: 32 CAPS: 117 :: GOALS::SR: 10 U21: REG: ) :: [ 6.22 Average Rating ]
Retiso Buran was the top prospect at the Sile Academy specializing in the defensive midfield role once made famous by Jürgen Ramzi. Buran is a ferocious player who some has said can be seen with teeth gritted ready to pounce as the attacking side approaches. Appearing almost exclusively during World Cup 57 qualifying, Buran missed only one game and scored 2 goals during the campaign. Burans perofmances both for the National Team and for Makosile earned him a transfer to Strike FC for Season 27, where he earned the Vilitan Stellar Divisions top goalscorer award for the second consecutive season, the first time ever achieved by a midfielder. After spending 10 seasons at Strike the aging Buran wwas pushed out by Babbage stalwart Coll Brodie and recruited by Arcticala Inlet to try to right their failed attempt at avoiding relegation. After relegation, Buran decided to return home signing for Makosile prior to V-League 38.

[ 38 ] Dronik Ratuva [ - Morata Valley - ]
------- DM RLC ( AGE: 31 CAPS: 10 :: GOALS::SR: 0 U21: REG: ) :: [ 6.88 Average Rating ]
Dronik Ratuva was an exciting prospect from the Valley Academy, who is also able to move wide to defensively cover the wings when 2 or 3 central defenders are used. Ratuva helped Morata Valley earn promotion to the Stellar Division during VLeague 26. Ratuva has continually been named Player of the Season at Morata Valley and helped lead them to their best ever Stellar Division placement of 5th during Season 37, also earning the side a place in the UICA Champions Cup.

MIDFIELDERS:

After sitting out of the World Cup Qualifiers, Kiroki Mitaroka, namesake of headcoach Calaesa, has made an expected return to the Jungle Cats roster and is widely expected to immediately re-take his place in the starting lineup along side Strike FC's midfield star Riksa Valjariia.

In addition to the performance of Mitaroka coming back after recusing himself from selection during the Qualifying, many eyes will be on Vilita's most capped-player, Jomur Hulyer. Hulyer made the opposite decision of Mitaroka, deciding to retire, at least for the time being, from domestic competition in order to focus on National Team matches. Hulyer has bounced around from training ground to training ground to keep his skills up between National Team fixtures and hasn't ruled out a return to the domestic side of the sport once his International goals are met - but the former Strike FC midfielder wants to win a World Cup, and doesn't really need to accomplish anything new domestically.


[ 28 ] Riksa Valjariia [ - Strike FC - ]
------- AM C ( AGE: 31 CAPS: 69 :: GOALS::SR: 6 U21: REG: ) :: [ 5.10 Average Rating ]
Valjariia is an attacking midfielder who was trained at the Turoki Academy. Valjariia tends to come on the pitch to provide an attack boost, some times as a second attacking midfielder in a substitute role. Valjariia played professionally for Inland Peaks FC before moving to the Turoki Tide. After moving to Strike FC, the accolaides started adding up for Valjariia, both domestically and internationally, including the Vilitan Stellar Division, Vilitan Cup and International Cygnus Cup. Valjariia's performances in Lonngeylin were rewarded in the National Team setup as Valjariia was the Jungle Cats highest capped midfielder during World Cup 65 Qualifying, appearing 14 times.

[ 25 ] Kiroki Mitaroka [ - Turoki Tide - ]
------- M RLC ( AGE: 27 CAPS: 56 :: GOALS::SR: 5 U21: REG: ) :: [ 5.14 Average Rating ]
After starting at the Turoki Locals in the Lower Leagues, Mitaroka's talent was spotted by Inland Peaks FC who snapped the youngster up for V-League season 29. At the midway point of the season Mitaroka was setting the Declasse on fire with skillful performances and caught the attention of the Vilitan coaches who added Mitaroka to the World Cup 59 roster despite having never been called to the National Team before. After their promotion back to the Stellar Division for season 38, the Electricians of Arctical Inlet made Mitaroka their primary target, landing him for a large transfer fee. Mitaroka helped lead the Tide back to the UICA Champions Cup but proved to be a true rental when he moved again to Turoki United prior to Season 39.

[ 51 ] Steffyn Siazzu [ - Mliona-Lpaka (Turori) - ]
------- AM C ( AGE: 30 CAPS: 124 :: GOALS::SR: 15 U21: REG: ) :: [ 6.36 Average Rating ]
An exciting prospect from the Yeaddin Academy, Siazzu plays behind the strikers in a clean up or attacking role atop the midfield. Despite not scoring during World Cup 57 Qualifiers, Siazzu was an important presence. After spending many seasons in Yeaddin, Siazzu moved to the Turoki Tide, helping them to runners-up in the VLeague29 table. Siazzu played the role of a hired gun moving to Strike during Season 39 to help them re-gain the Stellar Division title from Makosile. Siazzu wouldn't stay for the defense however, jumping ship to Turori to play for Mliona-Lpaka.

[ 55 ] Viliaka Morasita [ - Strike FC - ]
------- M LC ( AGE: 31 CAPS: 66 :: GOALS::SR: 8 U21: REG: ) :: [ 6.36 Average Rating ]
Morasita was the top prospect coming out of the Tivali Academy, playing central and left midfield. His sure footed tackling ability is noted but he is a well balanced midfielder. After playing a season and a half professionally for Alikki-Corra, Morasita joined the Vilitan League with Inland Peaks FC midway through VLeague 27. After spending 3 succesful seasons in the Declasse, Morasita transfered to Stellar Division side Cednia Beach AFC during Season 31. Morasita spent just one season in Cednia before moving to Makosile where he helped the Makos win the Vilitan Cup during Season 32. Strong performances for the Makos earned Morasita a transfer to Lonngeylin where Morasita was instrumental in helping Strike claim the Season 34 Stellar Division title.

[ 21 ] Jomur Hulyer [ - Arcticala Inlet - ]
------- M LC ( AGE: 31 CAPS: 146 :: GOALS::SR: 27 U21: REG: ) :: [ 6.70 Average Rating ]
A decsendent of the exciting Marine Coast and Yeaddin midfielder Jonjo Hulyer, Jomur has been compared heavily to his ancestors and even carries the same squad number. Unlike Jonjo, however, Jomur was trained at the Yeaddin Academy. Hulyer would soon become the quickest player to ever represent all three of the original Vilitan Dynasties, signing his first professional contract with Marine Coast United before transferring to Strike for VLeague 28. The list of honors earned by Hulyer in Lonngeylin was massive, with 5 appearances in the Tropical Trophy, 3 Stellar Division Championships and a Vilitan Cup title in addition to being a finalist for Vilitan player of the Season every season he spent in Lonngeylin. After Strike failed to claim a Champions League place following Season 35, Hulyer decided it was time for a change of scenery, moving to Turori to join forces with Mliona-Lpaka FC. Soon after, however, Hulyer did something unprecedented, retiring from domestic competition in order to focus on his performances for the National Team.

[ 73 ] Manolis Kontalroma [ - Yeaddin Owls AFC - ]
------- M LC ( AGE: 30 CAPS: 61 :: GOALS::SR: 13 U21: REG: ) :: [ 5.66 Average Rating ]
A product of the Kiiara Academy, Manolis Kontalroma can play central or on the left side in a classic midfield role. After signing professionally with Jlinal Cove FC, Kontalroma joined the Yeaddin Owls during Vleague 26. Kontalroma stayed at Yeaddin for over 3 seasons before joining the Turoki Tide during VLeague 30. Kontalroma played just 9 games for the Tide before the Owls snapped him back up for Season 31, a return to form of sorts as the Owls returned to the title picture.

[ 29 ] Cristoh Nrubari [ - SK Aasiaat Harbour (PIS) - ]
------- M LC ( AGE: 32 CAPS: 20 :: GOALS::SR: 1 U21: REG: ) :: [ 5.58 Average Rating ]
Nrubari was a prospect out of the Kiiara Academy who signed his first professional contract with Mliona-Lpaka in Turori. Nrubari was instrumental in Mliona-Lpaka's return to the Stellar Division before moving on to other opportunities. Nrubari got the chance to play in the UICA Champions League, joining Makosile United after their breakthrough Season 31 Stellar Division title.

[ 78 ] Relmar Winauat [ - Strike FC - ]
------- M RC ( AGE: 32 CAPS: 32 :: GOALS::SR: 5 U21: REG: ) :: [ 4.19 Average Rating ]
Winauat was a product of the Turoki Academy who has been known to hit some quality long range shots. However, he has also been known to blast the ball over the net from 5 or 6 yards out. Winauat was part of Strike FC's VLeague 27 championship side.


FORWARDS:

The Jungle Cats will be without Strike FC attacker Viji-mara Lawaai for the finals through injury which could prove a disturbance to Calaesa Mitaroka's plans as Lawaai led the Jungle Cats in scoring during the Qualifying campaign with 8 goals.

The goalscoring duties will likely have to fall on East Franz Atheltic's Kristofer Kilpter who also had 8 goals during World Cup 65 Qualifying, and Lita Adjei who led the charts in the Vilitan Stellar Division amongst Vilitan players during Season 39.

In the place of Viji-mara Lawaai will be Arcticala Inlet starlet Nili Ylimaiina, called into the World Cup Finals squad as a bit of a learning experience for the youngster that is projected to be a future starter at the National Team level.

Ylimaiina's current international experience is limited to appearances in the 40th AOCAF championships. While he is not expected to start any matches during the World Cup Finals, Ylimaiina will take back the experience of the Finals and will likely become a fixture for the Jungle Cats during the World Cup 66 Qualifying campaign.

[ 9 ] Lita Adjei [ - Strike FC - ]
------- F C ( AGE: 30 CAPS: 62 :: GOALS::SR: 23 U21: REG: ) :: [ 5.56 Average Rating ]
A product of the Turoki Academy, Adjei has sport in the blood, being a descendent of former Stellar Division top Forward award winner Ippolit Adjei. Adjei moved on a loan to newly promoted Hojosan in The Yorozura after WC57 quals as part of an investment deal with the clubs kit sponsors, VIlitan based Vilaye energy drink. When that deal expired, Adjei returned to the Vilitan League, being snapped up by Kiiarana in the Stellar Division and quickly rising to the level of stardom with strong performances and crucial goals during Season 29, seeing the single-cap player called to the squad for World Cup 59. Adjei's impressive performances earned him a high-profile transfer to Arcticala Inlet for V-League 30 where the strong performances continued, including earning the highest performance rating in the V-League during Season 33 while scoring 11 goals. After the Electricians began dropping down the table, Adjei bolted to Colonial Sile for Season 35 in a high-profile transfer that resulted in 11 goals during Adjei's debut season in Sile. After spending two seasons in Sile, Adjei moved to Yeaddin to play for the Owls during Season 37. After just one season in Yeaddin, Adjei switched to Strike FC to form the fearsome threesome with Viji-mara Lawaai and Yves Gadois.

[ 43 ] Kristofer Kilpter [ - East Franz Athletic (PIS) - ]
------- F C ( AGE: 31 CAPS: 98 :: GOALS::SR: 42 U21: REG: ) :: [ 5.76 Average Rating ]
Kilpter is joint Vilitan & Turori national, but declared to play for Vilita, with the lure of World Cup competition in Vilita's entry into World Cup 57 the key decision maker after the Turorian side was not entered. Kilpter netted 4 times during the World Cup 57 campaign but missed three matches due to an undisclosed injury. After struggling to win silverware with the Yeaddin Owls, Kilpter made the Largest Transfer in V-League history (12.7 kT) to Turorian side Cednia Beach. The transfer was more than double the 4.5kT previous transfer record in the Vilitan League, which was also payed by Cednia Beach to Yeaddin (for Antonis Siazzu). The struggles continued for Kilpter in the hunt for Silverware as Cednia Beach simply could not get over the hurdle, either in the V-League or in the UICA Champions League. Cednia Beach recouped their transfer fee in dishing Kilpter out to East Franz Athletic in the Polar Islandstates prior to Season 33. A rejuvinated Kilpter received praise for his performances in the Polar Islandstates while Cednia Beach would go on to miss out on Champions Cup qualification for the first time. Kilpter's international career has bolstered since his departure from the Tropics, having regained his place in the side for World CUp 64 Qualifying in a 3-player rotation with Erocka Lorei and Viji-mara Lawaai.

[ 41 ] Nili Ylimaiina [ - Arcticala Inlet - ]
------- F C ( AGE: 21 CAPS: 6 :: GOALS::SR: 0 U21: REG: ) :: [ 6.75 Average Rating ]
Regarded as the 'next great thing' in a long line of Vilitan forwards when he made his debut for Kiiarana City, Ylimaiina has since moved to Arcticala Inlet in hopes of leading the Electricians back to their former glory. Ylimaiina was born in Vilita but also contains Starblaydi blood on his Mother's side.

[ 13 ] Yves Gadois [ - Strike FC - ]
------- F C ( AGE: 29 CAPS: 45 :: GOALS::SR: 17 U21: REG: ) :: [ 6.32 Average Rating ]
Gadois became a hot topic in Vilita after rising to glory as the spearhead for Strike FC's Vleague 27 championship, with 8 league goals and an incredibly 6 goals in the Vilitan Cup. Gadois, a product of the Inland Academy, earned an invitation to the National Team Training camp for the first time in the build up to World Cup 58. While Gadois' international career was overshadowed by teammate Viji-mara Lawaai, Gadois performances at Strike FC would see the player lavished with medals, awards and accomplishments including multiple Stellar Division, Vilitan Cup and Tropical Trophy titles, as well as many Vilitan player of the Season awards.

[ 49 ] Xcnaio Bansoa [ - Makosile - ]
------- F C ( AGE: 31 CAPS: 32 :: GOALS::SR: 8 U21: REG: ) :: [ 5.85 Average Rating ]
Bansoa was a training partner of Sirkii Moliaudo at the Coastal Academy, and many believed that Moliaudo's prowess in front of goal was due solely to his close partnership with Bansoa. After not being called to the line during World Cup 57 Qualifiers, Bansoa decided it was time for a change, breaking ties with Moliaudo and Marine Coast United, signing for Arcticala Inlet in the Stellar Division. Bansoa featured frequently for the Jungle Cats during the World Cup 58 Campaign, performing well, but scoring no goals, relegating him from the top selection in the subsequent Cup of Harmony held in Vilita and New Montreal States.

[ 15 ] Sirkii Moliaudo [ - Makosile - ]
------- F C ( AGE: 31 CAPS: 88 :: GOALS::SR: 27 U21: REG: ) :: [ 5.51 Average Rating ]
Moliaudo is a real force in front of goal, rarely missing from inside the penalty area. Many eyes were on Moliaudo during the World Cup Campaign, to see how he fared with a new partner in attack, having spent his entire development partnered with Xcnaio Bansoa at the Coastal Academy. Moliaudo mostly performed well netting 4 goals and having a strong rating, but still left some wondering if there was more talent to be mined from the Marine Coast youngster. After Bansoa left Marine Coast for greener pastures, Moliaudo remained and his stock also decreased. After a second relegation with Marine Coast, Moliaudo jumped ship up the Vilitan coast to Kiiarana City. Moliaudo was named player of the season 3 times at Kiiarana before moving to Makosile

[ 13 ] Erocka Lorei [ - Kiiarana City - ]
------- F C ( AGE: 30 CAPS: 59 :: GOALS::SR: 35 U21: REG: ) :: [ 5.95 Average Rating ]
The top attacking prospect at the Kiiara Academy, Erocka Lorei was expected to get quite a few chances to impress on the national stage during World Cup 57 Qualifying and did not dissapoint, leading the Vilitan team in goals scored with 5 in the competition despite only featuring in 11 out of 16 matches. Lorei claims to be a penalty kick specialist but has not been known for his aerial ability. Lorei signed professionally for Declasse side Liguon Valley during Season 26, but moved on to the Stellar Division during Season 27 with Makosile. During World Cup 64 Qualifying, Lorei became just the third Jungle Cat in history to score 10 goals during a single campaign, leading all players.

[Darmen]

Darmen drop opener to United Gordonopia, de la Ware not happy

The All Greens let the game slip from their grasp in the closing minutes of the opening match of this 65th World Cup. An early first half goal from Tor Tong Lee was not enough to see Darmen through, as the back three of Adan, Nguyen and Vue crumbled during stoppage time to allow United Gordonopia to not only come back, but continue on through to the victory.

Lee's goal came in the sixteenth minute, as he, unmarked, smashed home a volley from twenty yards out. Luca Cormio's cross, which caught a gust of wind but still managed to magically drift to meet Lee's foot, was a thing of beauty, finding its way between two oncoming United Gordonopian defenders. Gordonopian Goalkeeper, Jay Neuman, could only watch the ball sail past him, and his reaction told the story. Neuman angrily charged out of the goal, and began berating his fellow defenders for allowing Lee to be unmarked.

The rest of the match seemed to pass agonizingly slow, with neither nation's offense being productive. The occasional shot by either team usually ended sailing high, or wide, or short, or right into the goal keepers arms, or smack into a defenders face, or his chest, or just about anywhere but the goal. That is until the fourth referee signaled for two minutes of stoppage time.

All hell broke loose. First, All Greens substitute, Rhee Spiridonis, gave up the ball just as he was crossing into Gordonopian territory. Gordonopian midfielder, Davis Roger, charged ahead with the ball, strikers Jere Tobias and Jonathon Turner on either side of him. The Darmeni defense panicked, and all three of them decided to close down on Roger. Only by the time they got there, he didn't have the ball any more. Roger had chipped the ball of Charm Vue's head, sending it to Tobias. Gene Turko tried to rush back to tackle Tobias, but wasn't able to make it in time, as Tobias took his shot. Troy Osborne made the save, but the rebound went straight to Turner, who smashed the ball home to equalize the match.

Darmeni Manager William St. John de la Ware was absolutely livid on the sidelines. He was so mad in fact, that he used his last substitution to replace Vue, and not the injured Nicky Salapu, who had torn his ACL only seconds before Spiridonis' turnover. He was mad in fact, that when Vue reached the sidelines, wishing his replacement, Trevor Goodwin, good luck, he got a face full of de la Ware, and an earful of anger.

But Goodwin wasn't the answer to the All Greens' problems. Nor did he have any luck. Within seconds, it was his hard charging tackle on Marc Castleton that gave United Gordonopia a set piece just on the outside of the box. Zachary Johnston's free kick found its way to Turner's head, and before anyone knew it, Turner had scored his second, and the game winner.

de la Ware will undoubtedly be making several changes to Darmen's lineup for the match against Andossa Se Mitrin Vega, who ended their match with Blouman Empire in a 0-0 draw. Rydzik, Sikula and Findley will most likely start in the back line, with Nguyen and Garza on the bench. The injured Salapu will be replaced by Josimar Son.

[Legalese]

Gabe flipped off the TV, as the post-match commentary began. He didn’t need the team in Pasarga to tell him that they were outclassed and overmatched by their neighbors - the 3-1 scoreline, putting Osarius at the top of Group D, covered that sufficiently.

Miranda, his wife, walked over. “Over already?”

He nodded. “It was pretty much as expected. We fought hard, but Osarius was just on their game. Xavier did tally a goal early, but we were already down two at that point, so it wasn’t enough.”

Miranda looked at him quizzically, her red hair taking on the hue of charcoal about to ash. “You don’t seem all that concerned about the result. I don’t think I’ve seen that out of you before.”

Gabe smiled. “You know, I’m not worried. Do I want us to win? Of course. We’ve our best chance at that next with Gyatso-Kai. Other than that, though, what we do against Valanora doesn’t matter, in the grand scheme of things. The job was to get back here, and they did it - even in spite of that Group we faced. Hell, the proverbial ‘Group of Death’ that hit us here helps us, actually - it lowers expectations further.”

Miranda nodded. “I see. Then I expect that you won’t be too disappointed to take me to Pepper tonight, then?”

Gabe didn’t even have to think about it. “Considering I booked the reservations two weeks ago, dear, that would be a no.”

------

Stan’s contract with the Federation was fairly standard, and had few requirements outside of his salary for and performance bonuses. The one specific clause, however, had to do with his accommodations for travel:

Travel Accommodations: Employee shall be entitled to One (1) hotel suite reserved for his use only in the hotel and city where the team shall be situated for the purpose of training and/or competition. The suite shall include, at minimum, private bath and shower facilities, sufficient power outlets for the use of an electric water kettle, and, should the city of residence border a significant body of water, a view overlooking said body of water, and considered “picturesque”. The travel coordinator shall consult with the employee regarding any doubts to the fulfillment of the preceding criteria.

The travel coordinator had done his job well for the trip to Pasarga. Lunas afforded a pleasant view of the Alban Strait, making it easy for him to fulfill the criteria laid out in Stan’s contract. A massive window in Stan’s suite demonstrated the view nicely, showing the bright blue of the water, with a smattering of boats sailing into and out of the port. The adjoining room in the suite opened out to a small balcony, perfect for enjoying one’s morning coffee - especially when you’ve just ground and prepared it by hand, as Stan was wont to do.

However today, the view was totally ignored, Stan facing away from the window and towards an easel he had set up in the room. On the easel was a whiteboard, with the diagram of a soccer pitch on it. On the pitch were eleven slots, each positioned carefully to match their relative position on the field.

Stan was staring intently at the eleven names when this assistant coach, Rufus, walked in. Rufus raised an eyebrow as he watched his boss, saying nothing. Stan didn’t acknowledge his subordinate, staring at the whiteboard with a pensive look.

Finally, Rufus looked at his watch - roughly five minutes had passed. He sighed.

Stan didn’t even bother to turn around. “You know, you could knock before coming in next time. Did I even give you a key?”

“Sorry, but I did knock - the door popped open,” Rufus tried to hide his annoyance, and based on the look on Stan’s face - or what he could see at side profile - he was successful.

“Thinking about a change?”

“Haven’t decided yet. All I know is that this is the most important match for us here. Not only will it give us a chance to advance, but we need the points in general, and have to get our rank up.”

“Rank?” Rufus frowned. “What does rank matter, other than the type that happen when you don’t shower for three days?”

Stan ignored the latter half of his subordinate’s question. “It’s a theory I have. The ranks don’t mean much other than seeding for competitions, and have numbers behind them, but what really matters is the perception. Whether we get three, six, nine, or more points in the World Cup doesn’t matter quite so much as where it puts us compared to the others. We’re 35th in the World right now, but if we can get into the twenties, it’ll make people stand up and take notice. Combine that with our developmental work, and we’ll be in good shape for the future years.”

“But I thought we liked being the scrappy underdog, the giant killers.” Rufus’s voice betrayed confusion. “The team that finished ahead of Starblaydia in the dreaded Group Five, the team that ten years ago, took six points of nine off the eventual runners-up, the Queendom. Someone who everyone knows should be a threat, but doesn’t think of us as that.”

“That’s exactly the point, Rufus. Look at Osarius - number three in the World, and nobody is quite sure how they got there, so even though we know they’re good - heck, look what they did to us - they’re not necessarily top-of-your-head good, like that other island nation near us. Or the team to the north, for that matter.”

“Hmm, I see,” said Rufus, still not getting the point. “But that brings me back to the other question: do we change anything for Gyatso-kai?

“Nope, we’re good,” Stan replied. “Just needed to think it out a bit.”

[Licentiapacisterra]

Walking Down the Duchy Road

The best blog to ever cover Licentian football !!

Well then. That was a pleasant surprise. Somehow, with some kind of miracle, we managed to get a draw against the defending champions to start off the World Cup proper. That scoreline made many people back home spit out their tea. Audioslavia 0-0 The Licentian Islands. The Bulls obviously aren't as angered by cyan as they are red. Well, at least not when you put some gold with it.

It really wasn't that aggressive a game of football in my eyes. It almost seemed like a friendly, in that neither team were willing to risk anything against the other. I could understand the defensive approach from Schwartz; we're a defensive team anyway, and against the best in the world, you always have to be a little more careful. But Israel Klimt, for no obvious reason, seemed to be cautious of us. I appreciate the respect mate, but seriously, we aren't that good. A little bit more attacking football and you could have pissed all over us.

It was an interesting game of football, even if there wasn't too much attacking. Good chances were few and far between, and both sides couldn't finish them when they came. The ball did end up in the back of the Licentian net midway through the second half, courtesy of Karsten Eiger, but it was ruled out for a silly shove on Sam Hill in the build-up. Otherwise, there wasn't really many good shots. Nate Parkinson went close with a free kick in the first fifteen minutes, and Wim Van Wildernis went close with a low drive, but the scoreline did fit the game.

It was a friendly atmosphere in the Circle Stadium, with a rising euphoria in the last ten minutes as the Cyan-and-Gold fans realised that they really did have a chance of holding Audioslavia to a draw, and taking a point from the World Champions. It was with respectful jubilance that the Licentians in the crowd reacted to the final whistle; although it was a draw, they did love it, but there is a massive respect for the Audioslavians in the Islands, so the handshakes were sincere when the ref called time.

The preparations for the game against Mytannion have already begun, with Joachim Schwartz making it clear to us that we've proven that we can compete, so we need to continue that in the next game. There'll be one change to the side for that game; Sam Hill picked up a knock in the challenge that caused Eiger's goal to be disallowed, so Grant Ferguson will be stepping in alongside Dennis Munro in another young centre back pairing. Nate Parkinson is going to bring vital knowledge of the Mytanar team to the game; he plays against a lot of their team regularly at Arka.

I'm really pleased that we've managed to show that we can play at this level. Now we just need to keep it up. The Mytanars were always our best chance of getting points this Cup. Let's see if we can go one better and knock them off.

Come on you Cyan !!

[Mytannion]

Part One.
Part Two.
Part Three.
Part Four.
Part Five.
Part Six.
Part Seven.

“This is going to sting a bit,” Said the Nurse apologetically, I tried to give a reassuring smile, I didn’t really care so long as the stitches were done properly. She started the procedure and I winced a bit straight away – okay, maybe I did care a little more than I thought – the ointment she had put into the cut to clean it was horrific and she was right, it really did sting... A lot. She was the one to give me a reassuring smile now, well, at least she knew what she was doing I thought to myself. It did help that she was quite attractive though, I was trying my best to fight through the pain just because of that.

I winced once again and the Nurse let out a little giggle. “Not such the hard man now anyway are you eh?” She said, smiling kindly. “Still no idea who did this to you?” She asked, I shook my head by way of response and then she stepped back, considering me. She looked about 20ish, she was definitely not as old as the Ward’s Sister or whatever her official title was, who was ancient and apparently a nun too, though I didn’t really believe what Silvana told me on this particular matter – she had been trying to cheer me up every time she came to visit, but I just wasn’t in the mood after what had happened.

I had been engrossed in my own thoughts and hadn’t noticed that the Nurse still hadn’t turned away from me but had instead continued to look at me, almost as if she herself was lost in her thoughts. I felt a little uncomfortable, almost squirming under her gaze, before eventually she spoke.

“I saw you you know, The Aurora, when you were playing that club... I forget the name.”

“The Seahorse?”

“Aye. You were really good.” She said, trailing off and staring at me again, that gaze was like murder – it was unrelenting and there was no escaping it, I didn’t know what to do once again. She snapped out of it this time. “Anyway, we should be able to release you today Svetoslav, you had a visitor before – a girl – about your age, we had to turn her away because she wasn’t family though. Any idea who she was?”

“Yeah, one of my friends,” I said flatly, knowing full well it would have been Alina, who I could vaguely remember had left me at some point – though my mind was blank as to whereabouts that lay on the timeline of the night, before or after I got my head kicked in. The Nurse considered me again, not the same stare this time but a little more of a knowing look.

“A girlfriend?” She asked, chuckling.

“Nah...” I said, letting a hint of disappointment into my voice, I didn’t really mind if she knew what I felt about Alina – I was sure that by now Alina herself knew too – all medical people would keep that sort of thing confidential and it wasn’t like she’d ever even meet Alina to tell her. Maybe it would be better for everything if she did. At least it wouldn’t come from me then and I’d have an excuse to say why someone told her. It wasn’t like it mattered anyway, I was convinced Alina knew how I felt, I wasn’t sure why because I couldn’t really remember much from what happened when I got beaten up, or that whole day leading up to that particular event really, but there was something nagging at me in my brain telling me Alina knew everything.

I just really could not put my finger on it.

“Right then,” said the Nurse, snapping me out of my thoughts again, “We’ll let you out in around half an hour, I’ll bring you some clothes, them stitches are dissolvable so we won’t be ruining your good looks any further,” she said with a slightly mocking tone, I wasn’t really in the mood for hot Nurses poking fun at me, much less about my looks which I felt conscious about given I felt as if half my face had fallen off. I hadn’t actually seen what I looked like for about a day and a half. My head was still pounding too, I could feel a bruise on the back of my head and it felt as if that part had caved in or something.

I mumbled a quick ‘thanks’ to the Nurse and lay back, back into my thoughts and just waited. I needed to get my act together – I still hadn’t seen Pa in Hospital and I really needed to do so – right now he’d be in some other ward. He’d probably be coughing and spluttering and even if I saw him we’d just speak about the same old things, he’d reassure me that he’s alright, I’d say he’d be out soon enough and neither of us would really believe a word that the other was saying, or our own words. We were trying to put a brave face on everything.

I sometimes wondered if that was the best of ideas, surely it’d be better to just tell each other the truth and for him to admit that he probably wouldn’t get better from the disease which was killing him... Rotting his lungs or whatever it was actually doing inside him. When I’d been younger and watched my Granddad die from a lung disease I’d vouched I’d never smoke or anything like that – it sometimes made me laugh bitterly when I thought about the actual life I led now, smoking and drinking copiously were almost central to it. And the drugs of course.

It was ridiculous.

But that’s not the point – it’s all a part of the scene isn’t it – despite the fact that the stuff kills you, the cigarettes, the alcohol, the drugs; it’s almost the fulcrum of what the current music scene was built on. The bands we liked were cool because of the music they made, but also the things they did, Kev Metzger and his cigarettes and alcohol on stage and the ecstasy induced dancing he did whilst performing... He looked like a monkey, but it made for possibly the best performances there were and it was all a part of the reason The Pink Skies were the biggest band in Mytannion – no – the whole fucking world right now.

I watched as the Nurse brought some of my clothes in from outside, I wasn’t sure why they were outside in the first place, but perhaps my Mum or Silvana had left them there for me – or maybe even one of the lads, who could really be sure? She left them next to my bed and I sat up a little too quickly as she began to walk away. I winced in pain again, my back hurt, and my leg. I still couldn’t really feel my face, it was numb from whatever the Nurse had put on it. I hadn’t really paid attention whilst she’d been doing it, I was really trying not to, I didn’t deal with stuff like that too well and I didn’t want to show I was in pain really.

I slowly pulled my jeans on, they were too tight for the condition I was in, I just wanted to flop back onto the bed and sleep and I couldn’t be arsed with my bollocks being crushed. Have to look half decent though. I winced as the denim scraped against a scab on my leg, I must have cut it when I fell, I could remember falling and being kicked – but not the reasons behind it or anything like that. I quickly pulled my polo shirt on and then tried to tidy the bed into some form that resembled what the other beds looked like and picked up the bottle of water from the bedside table.

I sipped and looked around, where was my Mum? And Silvana? I wondered, me and Mum had argued and despite the fact I hated every minute of it, I knew I had to make her realise she was wrong. She couldn’t control my life anymore, I was 16 and able to do as I pleased more or less, I wasn’t under her jurisdiction anymore. Sure, I accepted that I lived under her roof and that I had to play by the rules to some extent – but she just didn’t have as big a say in my life now, I could make my own choices.

I looked at the bed and the table next to it, there were no other belongings there, I’d either have to walk home or jib a ride on the bus or metro. Ah well, it’d be an adventure at the very least. I felt so rough and my mind kept wandering, I almost felt as if I was still pissed, still inebriated. I knew I wasn’t, but I was light headed and dizzy and I wasn’t sure what to do or where to go. I knew I had to do something and that dawned on me pretty quickly, which I was thankful for, it’d give me something to do at the very least.

Dad.

I had to visit Pa didn’t I, I knew I had meant to do something and would have had to visit him the day after getting battered anyway – Silvana had warned me about it – but obviously things had happened. I wasn’t sure how Pa would react to me being all cut, all black and blue. Mum had said he’d worried a lot, but I couldn’t see him taking it too seriously. Everything was always a joke to him, which was good. Though of course he’d have expected me to give them ‘what for’, as he always said.

I walked towards the doors and passed a desk, the Nurse was sat behind it and smiled sweetly again, I briefly thanked her for all she did and then continued onwards. I vaguely remembered where Pa was and I knew I’d find it eventually, so I walked back to the so called ‘main door’ of the Hospital (it was a stupid name, this place was a rabbit warren), and then found my way from there. I navigated it surprisingly easily, I hadn’t expected to find it so easy after all. I was sure I’d lost a fair few brain cells from getting my head kicked in and that’d of course affect my ability to find my way... Or something along those lines. My mind was wandering so much, I didn’t know how to focus, there was stuff I needed to do.

I needed to settle and go and see Pa and speak to him for a while, I hadn’t seen him in ages properly and this would open my eyes, I was sure of it. I knew Mum had tried to hide it from us but Silvana had been fairly honest and when Jarik had visited he’d always come back looking sad, almost empty. I didn’t expect him to be in the best of states, but he was my Dad and I’d still will him to recover all the same – I didn’t know what I’d do without him really.

I clattered through another set of double doors and turned left, there was a little office with a woman sat behind it and I quickly told her who I was and who I wanted to visit. She seemed happy enough to tell me he had just woken up about ten minutes ago and would be happy to see me, though she seemed a little less pleased when I turned my head and she saw the stitches down the side of my face. I gave her a little smile as she pressed the buzzer that meant the door would open shortly and I moved through, onto the ward.

I wasn’t sure what I would find when I eventually made it to Pa’s bed, I hoped he’d be alright.

...

What sat in front of me, leaning on plumped up pillows, was my Pa. My father. He looked gaunt, almost as if he was haunted by something, his skin was a mixture of grey and white. He was pale. It was if a pallor had set over him and there was no breaking out. Even as I had approached I could hear him wheezing, his lungs evidently were not working in full form and that much was obvious as he had broken into a series of coughs and splutters as I had approached, almost the reaction to him looking happy, he had beamed when he had noticed me walking towards him but the punishment for that had been about a minute of hacking coughs and unhealthy sounding spluttering and wheezing.

It wasn’t good. It was almost as if this wasn’t my Pa, he just wasn’t the same.

“Bloody ‘ell son.” He said, wheezing, “You need an ‘aircut don’t you.” He said laughing, ruffling my mop and I realised Pa hadn’t changed one bit. Not inside, he had all his faculties, he body was a shell and to be fair it hadn’t been broken and wasn’t working properly – but his brain, his thoughts, they were all still intact and that was what was important.

“How are you doing Pa?” I asked, chuckling.

“Ah alright son, it hurts to breathe at the moment,” He said, my face instantly dropping, he noticed, “But I wouldn’t worry about that – I’ll be right as rain as soon as the Doctors give me some of the good stuff.”

“You don’t look as right as rain...” I didn’t know what to say, how to approach this.

“I know pal, but trust me, the guys here know what they’re doing – they’ve got me on all sorts of medicine and I might be having an operation – I’ll be sound.” He let a little chuckle out as he used some of ‘our lingo’ as he’d affectionately call it, he always mocked me and my mates for talking different and using different words for stuff. He was quite funny in his own way, was my Dad.

The chuckle soon turned into another coughing fit though as he wheezed his way back into the pillows, almost sinking into them as the force of the coughing knocked him backwards. It wasn’t nice seeing him like this, so ill, I could remember when he’d been full of life and laughter running the stall down the market. I felt sorry for him.

“How’s the stall doing without me then Svet?” He asked.

“Ah, it’s ticking over Pa, we’re all doing a bit of work on it.”

“Mum said you haven’t been pulling your weight too much of late, something about a band taking over your life or something...” He said, smiling.

“I have been doing as much as I can Pa, promise you.” I said, protesting.

“Don’t worry about it Svet, I know how good you are, I used to sing to you you know – when you were a nipper – obviously got that from me ‘cause yer Mam’s tone deaf,” He reassured me, I smiled a bit, Pa was always a little bit more Thessian than the rest of us and I remembered when he’d spoken to someone from Esca and they’d struggled to break the dialect barrier. His voice was laced with Thessia, it had ingrained itself inside every fibre of his being – and particularly his voice. I supposed we were very similar in that way.

“If you want me to I’ll do more on the stall Pa, it’s up to you.”

“No son, it’s fine honestly, Silvana told me that your band was doing fairly well... The Aurora or something she said?” He looked as I nodded, “Carry on with it mate, can’t say I’m a fan of the stuff you listen to but I’m sure you lads will do well for yourselves.”

“Are you sure Pa? I’ll do whatever I’m not bothered.”

“No. Seriously Svet, pursue music, you do well in that and you’re set for life – and you can look after Mum and Silvie and little Jarik – how’s he doing by the way?”

“Ah he’s getting along you know, playing a lot of football.”

“Is he now? One of the Jelic’s will play for Atletik one day you mark my words!” He said triumphantly, it made me laugh, how he was still in fine fettle when speaking to people and still defiant about things when really it was obvious he wasn’t well.

“Some scouts watched him at school apparently, Silvana was telling me, Slavia Thessia boys. Get him in there and we’ll be sorted with or without my music,” I laughed.

“Wow, try your best to get him scouted Svet mate, the day I see one of our lot playing professional football will be the day I can die completely contented.” I suddenly felt a lot more serious as Pa spoke of death, I wasn’t sure if that was his fate or not and I sure as hell hoped it wasn’t. I wouldn’t be able to deal with it at all if it was. What would we do? It didn’t even bare thinking about for me really, I just couldn’t do it. I was going to stay here with Pa overnight, or I’d offer at the very least, I didn’t feel as if I could leave him for very long knowing this was the condition he was in.

When I’d walked in I’d felt sorry for him, from going from full of life to this state and ending up all by himself in a hospital bed. It just wasn’t right, him being here by himself looking lonely and sad and just not himself at all.

The door at the end of the corridor burst open, Silvana came in and jogged along to me. Pa smiled and gave her a wave as she entered but soon focussed his attention on me once again. He looked at me and was a little more serious now.

“Now, what’s this I’ve heard about you being in a fight Svet mate?”

“Honestly Pa, there was about six of them I think and I can’t remember much, they did a good job on me.” I said, admitting the truth.

“Six?!” He spluttered and this time it wasn’t because of his condition, “Cowards, I hope you and your mates go and give ‘em what for when you leave here.” He reached up and turned my face to look at the stitches, “Ah, very neat, you won’t even have a scar there mate I don’t think. The ladies will still be interested I’m sure,” He said, chuckling as I felt my skin burn, I didn’t really like talking about this with my parents, it was uncomfortable, awkward for me. He didn’t seem deterred though.

Silvana walked over and hugged Pa and then turned to me, “When did you get out?” She asked, seriousness in her voice.

“Uh about half an hour ago, maybe a bit more,” I said, then wondering, “Why? What’s up?”

“Stefan Zimmer or Frame or whatever you call him... He told me to tell you that if you could get out you have a gig tonight, Hannes... Is that his name?” Silvana questioned, I nodded, “Yeah him, set it up for you. It sounds big Svet, 1,500 people or something. Supporting Neon Hail.”

“Wow.” I replied. I didn’t know what to say, I hadn’t actually expected for us to be able to support them, I’d said it as all talk – not believing it but using it as braggery, something to say I had happening. It sounded cool. It was a reality now. “Are you.. being serious?” Was all I could manage, Pa chuckled next to me and Silvana was seemingly losing her cool the more she spoke to me. She had rushed here, that much was obvious and she didn’t seem to be in the best of moods anyway.

“Of course I’m being serious! Once you’re done here you’re going to have to go!” She said, urgency in her voice, I wasn’t sure why she was trying to rush me, the show wouldn’t be on until later tonight and it was only about noon, there was ages yet. She turned to Pa, “Sorry Dad, but you know what I’ve said, this is a big thing for Svet. How are you feeling?”

“Ah alright love,” He turned to me, “Silvie’s right you know, you should go as soon as you’re ready mate.”

“But why? Why do I need to rush?” I wondered.

“Sound checks and all that, Stefan said you’d need to be there for 2ish and it’s what...” She checked her watch on her wrist, “12:10, you’ll need to get there too – it’s on the other side of town.”

“Pa, I was going to stay with you all day... I’d much rather do that.”

“Don’t be silly mate! You succeed here and you’ll be in great shape, remember what I was saying only a few minutes ago.”

“But I haven’t spent time with you in ages Pa, we need to catch up and everything.” I protested, I felt guilty for not seeing him in a while and I wanted to make the most of the time we had.

“No mate. You go and have your big day, you’ve got a big gig and you’ll be able to tell them all about the six lads who could barely scratch you – go and have fun mate, I’ll still be here in the morning.” He said, I was dubious, would he be? He looked up at me, “Go on with yer!” He shouted, “Silvie will stay with me for a bit, won’t you?”

“Yeah, go on Svet,” She said, and so saying handed me some money, a couple of notes from her purse and then some change. She pushed me and I stumbled off, waving goodbye to Pa and leaving. I felt so bad, but this sounded big, bigger than I ever could have hoped for or believed would ever happen and it was all occurring so quickly, almost like spiralling – in a good way for once. Everybody always used that as a bad verb to describe someone’s movement either literally or metaphorically. This was great. I still felt for Pa though and didn’t like leaving him.

I’d visit him again tomorrow. I’d make sure of that. There’s no way I would let time go to waste now that I’d seen him, he didn’t seem in good health at all even though he hid behind the mask of humour he regularly used. He wasn’t as good as he made out and the way Mum had tried to protect us from it had angered me a little, that wasn’t fair or right – we needed to know straight away how he was, he was our father after all and there wasn’t any justification for trying to hide his condition from us. I’d found out anyway and Jarik knew too. Silvana wasn’t the only one old enough to understand, all three of us ‘got’ it.

Seeing him hadn’t allayed my fears though, Silvana had been right about it when she’d explained stuff to me. She’d said he was in a bad way and she was right, so right in fact that when she’d described the way he looked lying in that hospital bed she’d got it right down to a tee, so accurately.

I walked out into the rain and the overcast skies that characterised Thessia were there as always, I walked to the bus stop and luckily there was one there just as I approached. I was going to go home, jump over to Stefan’s and discuss what was actually happening here – he’d be able to give me a more rounded view than Silvana’s hurried utterances. Although how he’d spoken to her in the first place with her fear of him based on him perving on her when he was about 12 was still a mystery to me. I’d imagined she’d normally run the opposite way from him but obviously not, he’d managed to talk to a girl anyway.

I felt strange, as if I was somehow losing contact with both Mum and Pa but in different ways. The thing with Mum was a two way thing, she wanted to try and care for me and mother me still but I just didn’t want anything to do with that and wanted to live my own life and then the thing with Pa, well, he was dying, I was sure of it and as much as I didn’t want to think about it... It seemed to be the truth and I’d need to bring myself to terms with it eventually either way – whether it was soon or in the future, but I didn’t seem to be all that bothered by the inevitability of it. I knew it was going to happen, but the way Pa had been about it had almost reassured me. I didn’t feel as upset as I believed I would do. I didn’t even feel that bad.

I did feel terrible because I didn’t feel bad though, guilt crept over me and I felt cold. The bus rolled away and the night began.

...

“Fuckin’ ‘ell Svet, we can’t leave you alone for two minutes can we.” Polak said.

“Leave it out mate, there was 6 of them.”

“Even so, all you did was go to the offie for some booze, the dibble said much on who it was?”

“Nah, Mum reported it even though I told her not to, doubt they’ll find who it was anyway.”

“Anyway boys, tonight’s gonna be good anyway isn’t it.” Stefan said, clutching his guitar in hand and Polak’s bass in the other. He handed it him and Polak carefully put it in the case. Stefan had explained to me how Neon Hail’s original support act had pulled out for one reason or another and Hannes had been asked to find someone decent – with Neon Hail remembering us from playing at The Seahorse and saying if possible to get us involved – Hannes had tried to ring me but then had rang Stefan and had asked for us to get down at 2 to try everything out and then just hang around and have a good night.

1,500 people all off their faces on either alcohol or drugs or even both and we’d be playing for them. It’d be incredible.

Stefan had somehow gotten hold of a van to take our stuff to the location, a place in the northern parts of the city centre called The Eye, it was meant to be a fairly trendy location and Stefan had rattled off a list of bands that had played there and gone on to be successful – something Hannes had clearly told him because half of them I’d never heard of and neither had Stefan. It sounded good though and if we could emulate the half we had heard of I’d be very pleased and Pa would be right for sending me away from his hospital bed even though I’d wanted to stay with him.

Stefan showed me a piece of paper with some lyrics on that he’d written, “Here you go.” He said, handing it me. “Three new songs I wrote.” I read through the first two, one called ‘Ibonian Heaven’ and actually being a very clever song, taking the piss out of the wankers from down the road in Ibon and then the second was called ‘Lost City’ and actually had very few lyrics, it had written in brackets at the bottom, in smaller letters: ‘Use to show off guitar and drums’. Stefan’s scrawl was obvious and even if in some parts it was illegible – from what I could make out the lyrics of the first two were decent.

Then I got to the third song. It was called ‘Alina’. Stefan had obviously never really gotten over her.

What would I do? Polak had told me to try and hide things until he had had a word, but he obviously hadn’t done yet. Stefan still had feelings for her, but what could I do. I was speaking to her, I had kissed her a few times... It obviously wasn’t the biggest thing going but we were close and we had both made noises about wanting a bit more out of things together.

The lyrics were all about love and shit and it was pretty cringey really, but I suppose Stefan was the sort to let other things than his words do the talking. This was an outpouring of them onto paper. He was my best mate and obviously he trusted me to sing the lyrics and have it revealed that way rather than in any other way. Stefan didn’t like it when the other lads took the piss out of him for the way he felt, so he often just didn’t say anything about it.

Laz was the worst for it, he was relentless with his torture of Stefan at times and it was often crude as fuck too. It was unfair, though we were still mates with Laz because we’d grown up together and despite the stupidity and the harshness he was actually a pretty sound lad. You just needed to discover that sound lad to actually get him.

We rolled up to the venue and dodged inside. This was going to be the most boring part of the night as I would soon discover, from this moment onwards I would hate sound checks and the like with a burning passion. They were horrific, standing around, playing the instruments a bit and then I had to sing a little whilst sober to absolutely zero audience. It was embarrassing stuff. I hated every second, it was alright when you were a little bit pissed and everyone in the crowd was too – there was no scrutiny of anything, it was just great – this, well this was horrendous. No other words for it.

...

The hours passed fairly quickly despite the sound check being boring as fuck and one of the most awkward experiences ever and it got to our time to go on. Hannes came over to me again, I was already half pissed and he gave us another little bag, two pills. MDMA again. Here we fucking go.

“Come on boys! Let’s do this...” I said, slipping one of the little white pills into my mouth as we walked on and the stage lit up as the lads picked up their instruments. I went up over to the microphone and surveyed the audience – I was sure that Alina would be in there somewhere, drunk, having the time of her lives. I would be singing about her very shortly, Stefan had told me to play it as early on in the set as possible, so I’d slotted it in after our first two songs: ‘ We Live For The Weekend’ and ‘Beer Mats and Teary Lads’. The new one ‘Lost City’ came in the middle of the set and I liked ‘Ibonian Heaven’ so much I’d put it second last only before our big one, ‘Resurrection’.

“Hello, we’re The Aurora...” I said, a little cheer going up, “Some of you will know us already – we’re going to play some songs for you tonight, let’s have a good’un. Here we go!”

The music started and the ecstasy kicked in, I felt as if I loved everyone and everything and I fell in love with everyone and everything. Some girls in the front row gained my attention and I gave them some from my elevated position on the stage too.

Eventually we got to ‘Alina’ and I half hoped Alina Arnhaev would not be in the crowd so she wouldn’t hear me sing this and think it was me who had wrote the lyrics. I’d explain it to her anyway but in the mean time she’d be thinking I was so... I don’t even know the word, ‘uncool’ doesn’t seem right – it’s not good to have feelings or explain them anyway, coldness is good isn’t it.

I sang, this song was a little softer than the rest, a little more carefully crafted – not as hard hitting on the guitar and bass parts and there was barely any drumming apart from the occasional snare hit here and there. It was different and it was obvious a lot had gone into the song, I didn’t know Stefan had it in him to write such a good tune.

Once we had finished a massive cheer went up, I was taken aback, it hit me hard and it was as if something had changed. The crowd were no longer here for something else – they were here for us and were eager to listen. They started chanting the band’s name and then the few who knew me started chanting my name and this went on and on as more people learnt of who I was.

“Svetoslav Jelic, Svetoslav Jelic woah oh!” It went on and I looked at Polak on bass and he raised an eyebrow, Stefan was grinning from over on his guitar. This was mad.

“Hey hey... We’re The Aurora, it’s not just me... on guitar we have Stefan Zimmer, ‘Frame’. On bass we’ve got Eugen Polak and on drums it is Lazimir Dragovic.” A few cheers went up until the crowd went back to chanting my name. I laughed, “And I am this Svetoslav Jelic you speak of. This is called Not Hard Enough which is quite ironic really given that six lads kicked my head in not so long ago...” Some booing went up and I continued, “I know, I know, wankers aren’t they. Anyway... Hit it!”

The drums kicked in again and the crowd went mental. It was incredible, I had them all in the palm of my hand and I was exerting so much control by doing well... Not very much. It was epic. I sang and sang and danced a bit, trying to do my best Kev Metzger impression and the boys played and Stefan was doing the best guitar performance I had ever heard him do. I wasn’t an expert on that sort of thing but I knew that it fucking sounded good.

The next few songs came and went and it was all a bit of a blur to me, passing before my eyes as if nothing was happening – I was so fucked out there, I’d wake up and still be pissed out my mind. I got to the chorus of ‘Ibonian Heaven’ and sang it as well as I could, my Thessian accent scraping around and taking the piss out of the Ibonians never felt better.

“I want to be...” then came Stefan in the background, echoing what I sang, “Where the fumes and factories are,” I sang as Stefan echoed me again. Then I went by myself, “You see it in the river, Rib One’s where I belong...”

“In my Ibonian Heaven.” The song ended and the crowd went fucking mental. Even when I’d been at a gig I’d never seen anything like it. This was history in the making, there was a flare lit up – probably reserved for Neon Hail – but they’d set it off for us. I pointed towards it and caught my breath, “This last song is Resurrection, let’s make Thessia shake.”

The song was belted out and by the end the crowd was actually singing it back to me, so much so that when I got to the final line – “I am the resurrection and I am the light, I couldn’t ever bring myself to hate you as I’d like.” They actually howled it back to me without me even needing to sing it, they’d learnt the lyrics quickly and they chanted the band’s name as we went off the stage and as we went out everybody, I wasn’t sure who some of the people even were, clapped us on the back and congratulated us for what some of them described as ‘the best show ever’.

Little did I know that in a section of the Thessia Guardian tomorrow there’d be talk of The Aurora as the next big band in Mytanar music and that one critic in particular along with the majority of the crowd thought our set actually was bigger than Neon Hail’s set.

...

I walked outside and held a spliff in hand, someone was leaning there, a girl. I walked out and leaned against the wall and she walked over, I turned to see who it was. Alina.

“That song was cute.” She said, smirking.

“I didn’t write it.” I said, honestly, the effects of the ecstasy wearing off.

“I thought you wrote all the lyrics...” She grinned.

“Nah, that was Stefan.”

“Frame?” She asked, shocked, “Why would he write a song about me anyway?!”

“Dunno,” I said, lighting the spliff.

“Nah... Surely not. You wrote it, I don’t even care, it was cute.”

“Ha, whatever.” I said, inhaling the fumes from the weed.

“Why you being weird?” She asked, concerned, “You gonna keep that all to yourself?” She asked, a little chuckle – I handed it her and squinted off into the distance.

“I used to think you were annoying you know, back in the day, but now you just make me want to skin up.” I laughed. She did too.

“Come on. You’re coming to mine tonight.” She said, taking a drag and inhaling the fumes. I was going from one high to another.

Sick.

[Ossidiacqua]

Athos, Porthos, and Aramis were elite. The best of the best. You'll have heard stories upon stories of the countless incompetencies of the many assassins of Sant'Elia, of that I have no doubt, but I can assure you right now that none of them were about any of these three.

That time someone at the Guild had the great idea of introducing grizzly bears to the assassins' tool kit and thought that taking one to the AGM would be a good idea? Yeah, that wasn't them. Though they did get to witness first hand just how a bear shouldn't be used. They know write the handbooks on how to utilise them successfully in the art of death. That many assassins are illiterate has served to curtail the sales numbers, however.

That wasn't the only handbook they'd written together, either, under the pen name of a collective of three people that slips my mind for the time being (The Three Assassins? The Three Porcupines? The Three Pistoliers? I forget...), Athos, Porthos, and Aramis had written a wide variety of guides to the subtle crafts required of a would-be assassin. Poisons, blades, poisoned blades, muskets, pistols, wires, poisoned wired pistols, bears, and even one particularly thorough investigation into the physics of falling masonry that unbeknownst to them or the Grand High Cardinal had actually put them amongst the most knowledgeable scientists in the country at the time.

Had the Grand High Cardinal known that, he might have changed his mind on the three most trusted assassins in his inner circle, but as it was they got the vast majority of the high value contracts the scheming Re had to offer. Judges, other cardinals, priests, high ranking military officials and diplomats, all had met their end at the hands and tools of the three. Their ferocity and diplomatic specialties had seen them gather a particular nickname in trade circles, different to their pen names: The Diplomaniacs.

This particular was rather peculiar though, even for them. A mission into a foreign country, to do... what? They hadn't been made clear. Cosumar weren't to qualify. They knew that much. But how to do it? Killing the manager would be a bit of a bad idea - they'd seen what happened to assassins that kill managers abroad when someone had accidentally bumped off the old Acquan manager in New Montreal States. Re hadn't been best pleased, put it that way. And even if murder was an option, who would they even bump off? The entire team? Not really practical, and a single death would lead to a sombre, meaningful, and galvanised Cosumar entry to the World Cup. Not what was wanted.

So, outright murder was off the cards. Extortion? Again, not really an option. Usually when they wanted something done rather than someone killed off, all it took was a quick messenger to a couple of prostitutes, an 'untimely' arranged visit from a high powered Cardinal, and then the conversations could happen from there. Only, the trio were a little outside their usual arena of operation in Cosumar, and, well, do you know the numbers for any open minded and seditious Cosumar prostitutes? Thought not.

Scratch extortion off the list as well, and what was left? Not a lot, really. Not for a task like this. Bribery was a non-starter too, given their lack of contacts in the game, and at such short notice.

It wasn't until they were outside the stadium on the night of the match, listening to Cosumar playing their way to a victory that would force the Diplomaniacs into action that Aramis had his idea. What they needed, he realised, was not to convince one person to drag Cosumar out of the running, but to ensure that Cosumar was unable to fulfil their obligations for some reason. A filing error, a miscommunication, anything to make it look like Cosumar had been wiped from the map, or had never existed in the first place. These last two ideas excited Porthos, but he was shouted down before the words 'time wall' could even leave his lips.

They toyed with the idea of setting free a grizzly bear into the stadium, just for fun, but thought it best to leave inconspicuously, and they skulked away to the telecommunications centre of the Cosumar nation. Perhaps, just perhaps, if they could sever all contacts, and get someone at the WCC to believe that Cosumar was gone, then Ossidiacqua would get invited instead. It was a risky strategy, but as luck would have it, Athos had brought his best wire cutting scissors with him. Brandishing them with a flourish, he cut the wires on the fence around the relay centre, and the three of them stalked the shadows on their way into the complex.

Even if they didn't care much for football themselves, they had a reputation to keep up...

[Sargossa]

SSM | Sargossan State Media
International Edition - Sport


Rushmori Champs Routed


Gonzalo Pereira reports from Stein-los;

Ahead of the opening group game of the tournament the Sargossan media had been bullish in their attempts to highlight the ‘us versus them’ nature of Group A, perhaps in an attempt to win over support from the locals in what was a crunch match against Atlantian giants Vilita. It was an approach that may well have back-fired, judging by the ferocious frame of mind the Corsairs found the Jungle Cats to be in.

It had the look of a heavyweight boxing contest, with both sides throwing massive punches against the other. It had a lot for the neutrals but it’s highly unlikely that either Iarlaith Mag Aonghusa or Calaesa Mitaroka were left particularly impressed with their respective charge’s defending. Federico Ferreyra once again proved to be the Corsairs main goal threat with a smartly taken finish to cancel out Kilpter’s opener for Vilita. But the old adage that a side is at their most vulnerable after they’ve just scored proved right again as Lita Adjei restored the Atlantian side’s advantage straight from the kickoff.

Adjei’s strike clearly sparked something in Sargossa’s finest as the reigning champions of Rushmore tore into the Jungle Cats, with Mariano Estrada capitalising on a defensive slip to equalise. But the Corsairs weren’t through there and Sebastián Canteros made it 3-2 with a superb dipping drive from the left hand side of the penalty area that left Nycflala Kater with no chance. A lead, albeit a narrow one, would have been quite the halftime treat but is wasn’t to be as a mix-up between Mauro Fernández and Ezequiel Medrán allowed Adjei in for his second and a Vilitan third.

The second half was an altogether tenser affair as both nations sought to avoid the danger scenario brought on by an opening day defeat. The ever dangerous Ferreyra and substitute Lucas Andrada were both denied by good work from Kater while at the other end Medrán made up for his earlier aberration by blocking a low drive from Adjei, as the Strike FC hitman searched for a hattrick. But with fifteen minutes left on the clock the Sporting San Marquez keeper was well beaten when Jomur Hulyer’s drive from distance took a wicked deflection off Leandro Gonzàlez to nestle inside the net. Immediately Iarlaith Mag Aonghusa ordered his troops onto the attack and Kater was again called into action, but try as they might the Sargossan attack couldn’t find a way through the Kiiara-Torra number one. Frustration turned to heartbreak back home as the high pressing Corsairs lost possession in midfield, gifting the ball to Hulyer who realised young substitute Nili Ylimaiina through the middle. The Arcticala Inlet starlet raced away and showed composure that belied his years to coolly beat Medrán. To return to that boxing analogy, it was undoubtedly a knockout blow.

Next up for Sargossa is an all Rushmori tie with Mangolana, the lowest ranked team remaining in the tournament. And following the Mangos' opening day defeat to host nation Pasarga this upcoming match has suddenly become a must win encounter for both sides.

[Vilita]

*snip*

Sargossa beat me, going to re-write to fit the Sargossa RP.

[Osarius]

Thoughts of Amandeep Sahota, Osarius manager, World Cup 65

Our status as one of the top teams in the world hasn't settled in yet. Which is concerning, because we could feasibly lose it before the players can adjust their mentalities. It's something like what happened at Hastmead. The team was always capable of winning trophies, but they lost the hunger to, somehow. Some thought I didn't care enough about winning, or that I wasn't pushing hard enough for silverware. Not true. I have a different way of looking at these things.

Motivating a team that has arguably already achieved more than they ever truthfully, realistically aspired to is a difficult task. One that I have embraced as a friendly challenge set by the players themselves, as well as the OFA and, to an extent, the entire nation. How do you convince a group of youngsters, who are hero-worshipped already, that they have saved nothing yet?

Think of a great journey. You have resolved to travel this epic journey on foot. It will be difficult, and there will be sacrifices, but you feel it is worth it. You feel that doing something so great, in a manner so simple, would be one of your greatest achievements. And so you set out. You walk and walk and walk. For miles. Through nation after nation. Over mountains, through valleys. You walk so far, you lose track of the distance. You're achieving your aim. But then, less than a mile from your intended goal, you slip and fall awkwardly. What if the consequences of your fall are that you cannot complete your journey? Does that mean it was all for nothing? Of course it doesn't. You still achieved something.

Unfortunately, it's not enough for professional sports to be about self-improvement. It's about entertainment, and glory. Glitz and glamour. It's not enough to be stylish, you must win, because a beautiful pig is still a pig. It's not enough to win, you must also be stylish. Because nobody likes a soulless winner. People want to relate to the best, they want to be able to believe they can emulate your successes. They can't do that if you're a personality vacuum.

My toughest challenge as Osarius manager has been to balance this desire to improve the ability of the nation's elite players, while also bringing success in a way that won't alienate us from the global football community. I'm still not sure I've succeeded. Many argue that we haven't had success yet, because we've not seen an Osarian raise a trophy. Others argue that many other nations don't necessary think we deserve to be ranked so highly. Some would suggest that other nations still don't know much about our players, despite their ability -- can the random football fan name more than three current Osarius starters? Unlikely -- and we are still, therefore, in many ways, the outsiders.

The players are acutely aware of this. This is why they still approach matches like the underdogs. It makes them play more aggressively, and perhaps without as much pressure. But it also means they are less focused, and more likely to make elementary errors. How can I make them play like a team that believes they should be champions, when they've never really been champions? Even the presence of players most of the squad looked up to as children doesn't seem to be enough.