World Cup 67 - RP Thread

[Ceni]

Trending in Comnet- #World Cup

@CenianFootbal- Loss today to Starblaydia 4-1 #WorldCup
4 retweets

@WhiningFootballer- Too lazy to post a blog we suck as always #WorldCup #WeSuck
5 retweets

@AbCGJhj- Go Ceni #World Cup even though we such
7 retweets

@KGood- At least #PNumede was able to score a goal it was a total loss #WorldCup
10 retweets

@ErdinT- Dwarfs in the #WorldCup? Ridiculous! How could #KhazdarBranmar score two goals when the defenders were 3x taller than him? #F***It
145 retweets

@StefATeacher- Stop the bad language in #WorldCup Even though those four goals sucked
3 retweets

@SAMTheBoss- I want to be on the #WorldCup Team so I can score twenty goals on d*** #Starblaydia
122 retweets

@TimD- Can we win another game? I bet we are screwed #WorldCup
94 retweets

@SoccerMom_ - Too bad I cant whine out loud in #Comnet Our #WorldCup loss was so horrible Can we do better?
52 retweets

@SoccerClaus- HoHoHo! Merry Christmas! I Hope the #WorldCup team has a holy jolly christmas!
101 retweets

@ComputerSavvy- Let's hack the #WorldCup software so we win!
162 retweets

@Someone- #CenianTeam Wait, don't leave us! We can win the #WorldCup
12 retweets

@PerSonShep- S*** rank is it allowed that we win against a higher ranked team? #WorldCup
74 retweets

@GTG- Still GTG but I can make a quick tweet on our 4-1 #WorldCup loss
9 retweets

[Kiryu-shi]

From the personal notebook of Stationary-Training-Device-Placement Second Assistant Karl Rose:

I have to say, the atmosphere around the Kiri has not been very uplifting this past month or two, so it was a relief to see the smiles break out around the squad after the end of the Sammelreich match yesterday. It has been a long couple of weeks, as I'm sure you know, and to see the team rewarded for their efforts was nice. I turned down the invitation to go out last night - I think I'm beginning to have enough of spending time with the same group of secondary assistants day in and day out. Especially when their opinions regarding football run so completely counter to what I see and think. Of course, there were the usual naysayers in our little corner of the stadium last night, especially when Sammelreich's striker Niftrik put away his second to give them a fairly commanding first half lead. The stadium itself was quite subdued at that point, and my coworkers were unfathomably venomous toward our team, especially considering these are the men and women we basically live with every day. Even considering the fact that we don't interact with the players all that often, the hostility that some of my coworkers had was unbelievable. They see how hard the players are working.

Considering all of that, it was especially nice to see the Kiri take command in the second half, especially with the support of the crowd behind them. As soon as the Kiri began establishing their style of play, the crowd seemed to light up and practically spurred the five goal onslaught in the second half. And I could see Yamada's vision during that 45 minutes or so, as the team was consistently able to create goal scoring chances from quick passing attacks on the wings. And the speed of the players was just at a different level, and we were able to really able to take advantage of their positioning. Especially considering that their holding midfielder, Addiks was incredibly effective when he was close to the play, but the Kiri kept the ball away from him most of the second half. It was just beautiful to see that all come together.

The first half was a bit of a disaster, though. Sammelreich was able to control possession in the central portion of the pitch, and the twins that they had in their midfield seemed to communicate with such ease that our central midfield seemed completely incapable of keeping track of them and preventing them from connecting their passes. Their pass success rate in the first half must have been obscene, and honestly if they had been more aggressive making runs instead of waiting for great moments, I wouldn't have been shocked to see them score more than twice. Our defending in the central portion of the field seems to be completely inadequate, and that just hasn't changed over the first three matches. I don't know if it's just the physical deficiencies of the personnel or whether the lack of experience is more telling for positions that have to anticipate and defend, but they are just not getting it done on the pitch. And I just don't see that they'll be able to make those kinds of big adjustments in the ten days or so before the trip to Turori.

Speaking of which, the association was apparently considering bringing all assistants on board for the trip, according to the rumor mill last night, considering that the match would be in AO and Turori seems relatively well-established in terms of being able to host large contingents from visiting nations. But we've not heard any official word, and I personally think it's way too late for us to make the trip - information like that would have been released and travel arrangements would have been made if that were the case. But no one seemed to listen to my reasoning - not that I can blame them. Imagine, going to another country and helping our team train for a couple of days in the stadium of one of the best footballing nations in the multi-verse? Hah. I have to say, having been paying closer attention to the international footballing world recently, it does seem odd that Kiryu-shi limits travel to this extent. Having vocal away support does seem like it would help the team feel more comfortable, at the very least.

Food of the day for yesterday? Well, I didn't get anything for free, but the Stadium Salmourger lived up to the hype.

[San Jose Guayabal]

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Chapter one, part four.

When they started using fireworks and forgot the hardships of Club Deportivo Águila, Mario used a Chinese rocket and crashed into a mattress that was on the street , it was garbage and rponto mattress burst into flames and everyone started laugh out loud , it was rubbish ( supposed ) but suddenly saw a homeless man began to shout insults saying "Look what you did mother***ker, you sh*t in my sleeping place , see it ass**le" when suddenly accidentally wanting reaches the homeless and takes a rocket to throw it to the house of another neighbor ( he was confused) and tossed due to their extreme drunkenness to his bottle of vodka, which caught fire and everyone screamed " your clothing is on fire" or here we have a human molotov cocktail" running the drunk was spinning in circles trying trapped shirt and put out the flames with his hands, but the neighbor came and gave him water to avoid severe burns.

After that, Mario decided to go home to sleep, as he walked , he looked over and drunken fight ( typical in all public parties SJG ) , and came home and decided to play " Avocados vs Zombies" with his daughter and after talking to his wife some important issues regarding the carnival.

At the time of the conversation , Josefina approached seriously telling Mario 'and get sponsors for the carriage of our daughter, " Mario said yes , and that even were already manufacturing the float (He did it before using fireworks) it was only make the dress for her daughter, which was almost 50 % complete, just was buying sweets Luisa throw the public and a floral motif for the occasion, the party was coming imminently, the parade would be in two days, so we both decided to start planning and logistics for the event, for that Mario read the news in the newspaper, looking and reading aloud " A Newspaper from Northern Sunrise Islands runs an ad a subliminal message of El Salvador (a region of SJG) and a fighter focusing at the camera "," Tour of floats, Barrio las Hortencias 5:30 PM "to which Mario responded " Bingo here 's the map" .

It's in Spanish

Good, Josefina said "now that we know the path, only this rather long, and therefore need water bottles for our daughter," Mari said, "Well, it will be easy because they are cheap" suddenly interrupted and said daughter "Water, but if I pee" Mario replied "Never mind, let me know and bottom of the carriage, as the body's first" what Louise said "Thanks Dad," while the mother prepared sequins dress, Mario was responsible buying floral arrangements and get water.

[Starblaydia]

OOC: Written on the wife's Kindle in a hotel restaurant watching dodgy Sri Lankan soap operas while waiting for Chicken Fried Rice. Please do attempt to forgive me for this one.

"I wonder what the score was," Andreas said, trying to sound as disinterested as possible. It wasn't working.

"You've been wondering that for the last two days," Nicola said, exasperated. She was getting more than fed up with her husband's pining for international football results. "How did Starblaydia get on, Oh look they're showing live football there, Shall we buy an international version of the Chronicle today... you've not stopped since you remembered what day it was and that your infernal team played the night before!"

"They're not 'some infernal team', they're the five-time-"

"If you're going to repeat that five times thing, again," Nicola interrupted, just in case he did say ' five-time' five times in a row with increasing volume and ferocity, "you can bloody well walk home."

"...champions of the multiverse who just happen to represent the nation we come from," Andreas finished with a whimper.

They'd been trekking in the hills of Krytenia, just as it would happen, when the whole country had gone to pot. Fairly typical, Andreas thought, considering they'd been saving up their Credits and holidays just to come walking in the hills above Ousevale for three months. Now the country was no more, the government was powerless and Andreas and his partner/girlfriend/missus/her indoors were stuck halfway along a hiking route with no end in sight. Except for that of Nicola when she walked in front of him, but he was even long bored of that.

"Look, let's just keep going until we get back to the car," Nicola said, "It can't be too far now, we've surely gone most of the way around this track."

They trudged on through unfamiliar soil. For all their abrasiveness, the Krytenians - never 'westerners', remember - were fairly similar to their Starblaydi neighbours. Just without all the World Cup wins, really. And the AOCAF Cups. They had the Olympic title to their name too, though, so not wholly different.

In the distance, a dull brown shape was forming amidst a dull brown landscape underneath a dull grey sky. As they neared it, Andreas realised it was a building. With a sign. And a car park.

It just had to be a pub. It had to.

It was.

'ABE'S PLACE', the sign proudly proclaimed in patriotic cyan colours, surrounded by stars. Andreas idly wondered who Abe was, and whether it was short for Abraham, when his mouth fell open.

Kennedy. Vernazza. Kader. Cyan and stars everywhere. Aces, Aces, Aces. Now Andreas knew that Abe wasn't a name, it was an acronym.

Anyone. But. Easterners. Oh shit.

Andreas half turned to leave as quickly as he came, but Nicola was already catching the barman's eye for a drink. In Tiberius' name, please don't ask for Orcinus, he thought. Thankfully, it was lager and a house white wine she ordered, generic enough to be from anywhere.

"And now," the TV blared, "it's over to Starblaydia for all the goals from their match against Ceni."

A loud boo rumbled around the pub as Starblaydia's name was mentioned. Andreas' head naturally swivelled around to look at the TV. As he watched three Starblaydi goals fly in, he progressively became more and more unaware of his surroundings. Then the fourth goal went in, and it was a screamer.

"Yes!" He screamed, "Get in!"

The entire pub fell silent. Unless Nicola's eyes rolling at her husband's outburst registered as a sound, it was deathly quiet.

"Erm," Andreas floundered for a moment before old instincts kicked in, "I had a bet on that. Only thought they could manage four. A round on me?"

The denizens of the pub murmured their vague agreement as the barman totalled up what the regulars usually had. Nicola's eyes, now finished their rolling, steadily got wider.

"Two hundred and forty six Credits, that'll be," said the barman generously, "hope you put on a big bet."

"Oh yes," Andreas assured him, fumbling in his pocket for some notes, "here you go."

The barman took them. "Are those... Starblaydi Credits?" Again the bar went silent.

Oh shit.

[Northern Sunrise Islands]

WORLD CUP LXVII QUALIFIERS, GROUP 6
Sunrise stomps over Tynewear, another 3-1 at their opponent's lair

The first trip to foreign lands at the qualifiers ended with good results, as the team got three points over the considerable opposition of Tynewear, in a game valid for Group 6 of the World Cup qualifiers. Now with six points in two matches, the Sunrise gears up for the most difficult game of this half of the qualifiers, facing the Polar Islandstates at the Casino Night Dreams Stadium. Kylx, with a rather surprising knowledge of the schedule, decided to pick the reserves for the match against Tynewear, ignoring the fact that this team wasn't in anyway supposed to not be a threat.

Regardless, the reserves did way better than what anyone expected. After spending a couple of minutes on the defense, the Sunrisians would take the match by surprise, when Andressa de Souza crossed the ball to the offense, dropping the ball on the feet of Júnior Mardinho, who would then roll the ball to his left foot, leaving a defender of Tynewear on his trail, then somehow rolled the ball over the legs of another defender, rushed to the ball and kicked it to the left part of the goal, having no trouble to make the ball get past the goalie.

Near the end of the first half, after many missed tries by the team, Negolossauro Rex would find a huge opening at the defense, kicking the ball with all of his power to hit the back of the net. A perfect, nearly artistic shot with an impressive trail that allowed the youth product of Adda score his first goal as a main National Team player, thus not counting the goals with the Vaporeons.

At the second half, Guillermo di Luca substituted Negolossauro Rex, as well as Artemis Hue substituted Sato Tsukamaru and Athena Xene substituted in Louise Montblanc. The last of the three substitutions, Athena Xene, would score the third goal of the match, after Duda got tackled inside the box by the goalie after passing the ball, on a play that could only be referred to "The Type of Stuff that happens at UICA, the Gordonopian video game". Athena Xene was picked to shoot and with a pretty confident lobbed shot, the self-proclaimed second coming of the Hellenic godess scored. Their opponents would however, score a goal later on, but it was too late to do anything about it.

"Certainly our toughest game yet"

While the fans struggle to be positivist about the match against the Polarians, the Vaporeons have different opinions all around. "It's certainly our toughest game yet." said Christie Travis, the main striker of the team. "Hate to point out the obvious AND be a Debbie Downer at the same time, but it's what it is." Travis wasn't the only one that seemed to be worried about it. "Look, while it's obvious that if this was an air battle, our Starfox Division would beat them up." said Tom McCloud, always talking good about the division of the Armed Forces that nicknamed him and gave work to his parents. "But on the field, it's difficult to beat them."

But not everyone is negative about it, even going as far as believing that they will be the team that will deliver the tenth loss of the current Polarian team coach. "Ooooh, they are the Number One of the world! Well, guess what? Yuba was that and look where it all ended last time I faced them? We have a Champions' Cup that we got from them and we might as well take their spot at the World Cup from these guys. Believe on the second coming and I'll show the way." said Athena Xene, on a way that would probably shame her sister, Sofia, currently at Dainer.

OTHER NEWS
> Jean Santa Marta, of "Returning to Hue" releases new album
"Huesurrection" contains 10 new tracks and two remixes of the classic WorldVision classic Returning to Hue.
> A Smelly Problem
A strange pile of something obstruct the way of the International Airport of Flock Nation, Flockians appont Huelandia again as the responsibles
> La Déesse seen playing with possible friends at Kitsunia-Deesse
The supposedly untouchable leader of the country was seen playing with young friends yesterday.
> Reality Show boom?
Ten Reality Shows of all the same style pop up at NSI. TV supposedly starts lacking content.

[Nova Anglicana]

Lions Draw Away, Albaie Loses Cool

Hayden Landers, Nova Anglicana Football Today

Yesterday saw the Nova Anglicana Lions take on a young Albaie side in Albaie. The match eventually ended in a scoreless draw, something that Lions fans can be proud of, while fans of Albaie were certainly frustrated, as one always wants to take care of business at home. The star of the show today was sweeper Giuseppe Carbone, who despite the fact that he got carded, managed to shut down the young Albaiean strikers by consistently dogging them. More than once, we saw Elecki Queb, who got the start, yelling at Carbone to "get off my back". Carbone was carded for taking Ben Werek down hard outside the box, but the resulting free kick came to nothing. The Albaiean frustration came to a head in the 66th minute when Queb grabbed Carbone and shoved him down inside the Lions' box, resulting in a yellow card and several players congregating together and shouting at each other. The two teams had to be separated, but it is undeniable that Albaie played more aggressively and sloppily following Queb's carding. This reckless attacking was handled by the Lions' superb defensive corps, and more than once nearly turned into a goal. Raphael Baptiste had a shot go off the post in the 74th minute, and Alex Robinson's blast in the 82nd minute was saved by goalkeeper Edward Erentsen.

Much of the offense for Albaie was provoked by the Werek brothers, Ben and Robert, on the outsides. Time and again, they charged down the wings and crossed the ball into the box or took a shot themselves. Albaie recorded 10 shots on the day, 7 on goal, 5 of which were products of one Werek or another. The striker Queb, and his 75th minute replacement Vincent Deberen, combined for just two shots, one on goal. Deberen was nearly carded as well when he appeared to elbow Carbone in the 86th minute, but got away with just a foul. Special credit must be given to outside defenders Felix Kelly and Dallas Page, who drew the responsibilities of marking the Wereks. Although the Wereks managed to be offensive threats, they never got clean looks at the net and were hounded by Page and Kelly. Julian Neal deserves a mention for his six saves on the day. Without him, the Lions might have conceded one or more goals. The offense was limited, other than the chances late in the game, but Patrick Moran dismissed this, saying, "We came away with a point. That's all I care about right now. Would it have been nice to get a goal and three points? Of course. But on the road, you take the point."

The Lions will return home to take on the unranked Heroes of Larkwood at Yeoman's Stadium, home of Eboracum FC in Eboracum. Attendance is expected to be high and the crowd raucous. The Heroes got a surprising draw against Kalumba in their first game, but have faltered as of late, losing 5-2 to Farfadillis and 4-1 to Sameba. These lopsided defeats have surely shaken this amateur side, and I believe the Lions will be able to come away with a win here. I like the Lions 1-0, maintaining their undefeated record, and improving to seven points.

[Maineiacs]

It really wasn't much of a day off for the Maineiacs team. Ted Wilson was running them through practice drills like a drill sergeant running recruits through an obstacle course, and that following a 5-mile forced march. The weather had turned unpleasant as well. Temperatures had plummeted from about 8C to -5C, and snow was expected. Thursday's match would likely be played during a snowstorm that was expected to bring 15-20cm to Greater Maineiacs City. Chuck Walters had lost track of how many times they had been made to run corner drills, from both attack and defense. His legs were beyond frozen. As the ball crossed in again, Walters went for it with his head. Unfortunately, the ball was as frozen as his legs were. He saw stars as he made contact with the ball, and fell to the ground. He vaguely heard the coach's whistle blow. He was finding it difficult to focus his eyes. He sat there, numbly.

"Walters! Get up off your ass!" yelled Ted Wilson.

"He's hurt, Ted," said Linda McDillon, "we need to get the doctor out here to examine him."

The team physician did not give a cheerful report on Walters's condition. Chuck was showing every sign of a mild concussion. MSL protocols dictated that he be sidelined for at least a week. In the absence of words to the contrary from World Cup officials, that's what the recommendation was. Ted Wilson was not happy.

"A week! That imbecile is out for a week! These prelims are important. We need to be in as good a position as we can for the second leg." he said.

"I'm well aware of that," said Linda. "What do you want me to do about it? We agreed when we entered the Baptism of Fire tournament, and here at the World Cup that on all such matters we would follow MSL/MPSL protocols. If the doctor says Chuck shouldn't play, he won't play."

"Frigging doctors! To hell with them, and their protocols! This is MY team, and I think I know what's best for them!" said Ted.

"Your team? Well, Sieg Heil, Ted." said Linda crossly. "Ambition and a drive to win are all well and good, but you get obsessive. You have no right to endanger a player out of your own ego needs. And I swear to you right now, Ted, if the doctor says Chuck need more than a week, he'd better get it. If you push that boy back to an early return against medical advice, I promise you, I will being you up on charges."

"Fine. Tell LaSalle he'll be playing for Walters." said Ted.

"You tell him," said Linda. "I'm your assistant manager, not your fucking errand girl."

From MSPN--

Unfortunate news from our World Cup Team. MSPN has learned that Midfielder Chuck Walters suffered a concussion during practice today. He is expected to miss at least the rest of the games through the Christmas break. CDM Guy LaSalle and CAM Brock Van der Kamp will be staying in the starting XI for the duration. Oliver Standish, whose suspension ends with tomorrow's game, will be playing from the bench. Denise Dumont will also remain a bench substitute.

[Andossa Se Mitrin Vega]

OOC – This is a continuation of RP nominating Gracchus Pack for the World XI matches.


Gracchus Pack – The Unlikely Sea Dragon

Dearest Mother,

I am writing to inform you that despite all of your promises of this being a wonderful week at Daesherix Eh’kampii, it has done nothing but sucked thus far. Spending seven consecutive days with a bunch of boorish Vegai has done nothing but show me how much better off I am if I just stay home. The food is good though, as is the camp itself. The lake is beautiful as are the tons of tall pine and oak trees. Pops would have been proud this morning. I flew nearly half a kilo without stopping. That nearly gave counselor Eld’Raken a heart attack when he saw me leap from one of the oaks uppermost limbs. Like most people, he tends to forget I have wings and the fact that they do work.

We have played football every day and they even let me in the match for about two minutes at the end today. I think they are scared because they know none of them are fast enough to keep up with me. It really isn’t fair though, I just want to play like everyone else. But Jaozu makes the rules here, same as at home. They let him because his father is some big shot in the VDF or something. You should remember them both after the way Pops went on that tirade after they plucked my back four years ago. Same belligerent arse.

Monday was a new experience for me. It seems that the kids here have graduated from stuffing other into smelly trash cans. It couldn’t have been that easy. Instead I was treated to my first ever Swirly. If you do not know what that is all I will say is that it involves my head and a toilet. Should be easy enough to discern how they work together. But I did feel “special” for while all the other smaller kids received the generic normal Swirly, I was lucky enough to be given the rare “Chunky Swirly.” Anyway – moving on.

Tuesday was another first for me as I was Jaozu and his friends decided that it would be fun to attach my boxers to the hooks on the flagpole rope and raise them to fly over the camp – with me still in them. They left me up there while they joined the rest of the campers for a short three hour hike around the eastern edges of the lake. It was not as fun as they seemed to think and it will take forever for this awful rub rash to heal. Can you send some kind of cream – the nurse says she doesn’t have anything that will work.

Anyway, I must go for now. Another day on the bench during football and the we get to go canoeing. Yay.
Your son,
Gracchus

Ps. How would somebody go about removing spray paint from feathers? Just asking.

[Eura]

High up in the Askoy mountain range, snow was being blown away on a rocky plateau as the helicopter came in to land. It touched down on the rock face firmly before coming to a stop after sliding forward by a foot or two. Then a number of people, dressed head to toe in winter military gear, dismounted from the cargo bay of the chopper and separated into two groups, moving away into crevasses on either side of the landing site. The helicopter then lifted off and began to circle the area, keeping a very close eye on what was happening on the ground. The two groups of soldiers clustered together again as another, smaller helicopter landed - this time dropping off several containers of equipment and several engineers. They were joined by one individual without any specialist equipment, who joined the tail of the group of soldiers as everyone moved off to their objective.

Captain Ayala Haines was this individual, and she was planning to get this done as soon as possible. It had been two days since Eastwind Flight 560 and it's 243 passengers and 20 crew went missing over the Askoy Mountains shortly after losing contact with a pair of Euran fighter aircraft. The media were already discussing the story, although they had little information - everything suggested some sort of accident. It seemed like bigger news in Valladares at the moment.

Not for long.

The crash site had been located by Euran Air Force observation aircraft searching for it, and it didn't look pretty. As recently as three hours ago, the wreck was still burning. There was little doubt; no one had survived such a massive impact. However, the Euran authorities were still suggesting they were yet to find the wreck - which gave them just enough time to conduct their own investigations. All that the troops and researchers had been told was that they needed to obtain the flight data recorder, cockpit voice recorder and report on whether or not the fires had stopped so recovery could begin. But Haines knew something was odd here. She had received very specific instructions from her superiors - this was not to take long, there was to be no attempt to recover survivors (however unlikely), and the opposition was to be conducted in complete secrecy. Even foreign crash investigators - particularly those from Valladares - were under the impression that the EAF was still looking for the wreckage.

As they came over a small craggy ridge, the wreck came into sight. Plumes of smoke, increasingly thinning, were still rising from the wreck though the fires were starting to smoulder and go out. The plane had clearly began to come out of its dive somehow, even without a tail and much of its right wing, in the dying seconds, not that it would ever make any difference. But as a result, the wreckage was spread out over a wider area. For a while, Haines directed her people through the wreckage, taking photographs of evidence and looking for the data recorders. They would occasionally find body parts and more complete corpses, which were left alone for now. With more snowfall on the way, it was decided that nothing should be interfered with if possible as this was a secret preliminary investigation - and the coming snowball would cover up footprints, the only evidence they'd been here. Finally, they found what they were looking for.

The flight data recorder, usually situated in the tail of the aircraft, had clearly been separated from the tail during the descent and now lay in the snow, barely visible as it poked out under a layer of white. The cockpit voice recorder had been a much easier find (found on top of a corpse elsewhere) but the FDR, the 'black box' as it was popularly referred to, had been found. It was quickly hurried back to the smaller helicopter, which departed immediately with both recorders and the investigators. As their military escort began to return to their own aircraft, taking a handful of photographs to contribute to the investigation, Haines stood on a small black rock jutting out of the ground next to one of pieces of fuselage. She lit a cigar, staring down at the wreckage and a barely visible body resting in the snow. 'Rest in peace, civvies. Poor bastards.' Haines knew something was up here, but it was well beyond her pay grade and she wasn't asking any questions. She just hoped it had been quick for these people, whatever had happened to them.

It was at this point that she noticed a strange noise behind her. Panicking quite unprofessionally, she swung round with her rifle raised and clenched the trigger overexcited. A single shot echoed out across the landscape as she stood surprised on the rock. 'Contact, ma'am?' Her soldiers were closer nearby than she thought.
'I...I...no. All clear.' She climbed down from the rock, flicking the safety back on and slowly breaking into a jog towards the smouldering fuselage. She peeked inside a gap, hoping to see where her round had gone. Good lord, I hope I didn't shoot some survivor by accident! It was wishful thinking; there was no life here, just the smell of burnt corpses. Haines turned, chucked her cigar into the burning wreck like it was an ash tray, and made her way back to the helicopter.

Two days earlier, Askoy Mountains

Sergio couldn't find his partner, and this was a bad place to get lost. They weren't that far from base camp, but you couldn't get complacent in an isolated region like this. Sitting down on a small patch of flat stone, Sergio stared up at the sky in wonder. His video camera followed suit - he had been filming for an hour, catching the wonderful sights that he would soon show to his family back in the very easternmost parts of Valladares. It was then that he noticed a strange sight; an airliner, clearly at altitude, being followed by two smaller aircraft, all of them casting condensation trails behind them. Out of curiosity he zoomed in a bit - the planes were still just glimmers of course, but he thought it was unusual and worth filming. Maybe it was fighter jets refueling from a tanker? Valladar, Euran, who knew?

Then he noticed something else odd. Another white streak of condensation emerged ahead of one of the smaller aircraft, seemingly from nowhere. It advanced forward quickly. How strange! Sergio mused to himself in mild amusement. Then there was the briefest flash and the four condensation trails emitted by the big aircraft became a mixture of black and white, and doubled in number. His smile faded. A few moments later, a rumbling thunder rolled across the landscape. Suddenly, his partner shouted out for him from about a hundred feet away. "Hey, Sergio! You see that? What's going on up there?' Sergio wasn't quite sure, but this was definitely not normal. This became clearer as he realised the bigger plane was getting lower...and coming right down a mile or two ahead of the pair of explorers.

He didn't know it yet, but this climber from Valladares had just filmed a geopolitical flashpoint.

[Kinitaria]

"Listen to the fans out there! You all know why they're furious at each and every one of you. It's because it's half-time, and here we are, 2-0 down to a bunch of nobodies who I hadn't even heard of a week ago.You're all Premier Division players, at some of the best clubs in the country, and you're getting f*cking thrashed by a bunch of amateurs who shouldn't even be fit to tie your f*cking shoelaces, so you'd all best do something about it, because this isn't good enough!"

The scene, the Central Stadium in Mi'ato, Kinitaria. The scoreline, Kinitaria 0-2 New Austzeland. The home fans were particularly displeased because there were over 300 KPB ranking spots separating the hosts from their visitors, and had made their feelings clear as the teams traipsed off the field for the half-time break. The rant, incidentally, wasn't coming from the mouth of national team manager Melody Pond, but rather from her assistant, Milo Serinev. Pond was from Jeruselem, not a native Kinitar, and so had hired a local assistant manager with the aim of avoiding any errors in communication. Certainly, there was no mistaking what the typically hot-headed Serinev wanted to make clear to the professionals sat before him.

Many people would think that it is a great experience to make your debut for your national team, especially if you have a sense of pride in your country and its values. For Kovra Mirčic, having been called up from Premier Division side Civita Mi'ato at the age of 24, it was a dream come true. But this dream had soon turned into a nightmare. First, the young centre-back had lost his man during a dangerous attack, the same striker who had gone on to fire New Austzeland in front. As if that wasn't bad enough, he had followed it up by planting a header into his own net just five minutes later. In his defense, he was under heavy pressure from the attackers, but he still knew it wasn't good enough.

It wasn't as though the rest of the team had done themselves any favours. For 45 minutes, they had laboured fruitlessly against a side who were making a mockery of their low ranking. It wasn't even a case of the minnows catching Kinitaria with a couple of sucker punches - the visitors had been dominant throughout, and it wouldn't have unduly flattered them had they gone in more than two goals to the good. Kinitaria had looked pedestrian throughout the entire first half, and had been restricted by a hard-working defense to a couple of long-range chances which sailed harmlessly over the bar.

Melody Pond, meanwhile, nodded along with her assistant manager's comments. She was entering her fourth cycle as national team manager, and had had constant pressure put on her for Kinitaria's continual failures to qualify for the World Cup. Too, she was attracting a lot of suspicion from the new military government of Kinitaria, one which had rose to power amidst a storm of nationalistic propaganda and stirring up of patriotic fervour amongst the population. It meant that she, as a foreigner in a highly visible post, was attracting considerable suspicion. Some of the fringe elements - although these were more conspiracy theorists than actual government beliefs - had expressed the possibility of her being a sleeper agent.

"Milo is right," she told her team. She had been in Kinitaria long enough to pick up a more than competent handle on the language, but still spoke with a particularly discernable accent. "This is not good enough. We are too narrow in defense, not committed in attack," she said, turning to the diagram of a pitch drawn on a magnetic whiteboard to illustrate exactly how she thought they should change this around. She was particularly careful to make sure that Kovra Mirčic was replaced, with David Topol coming on in his place for the second half.

A buzzer sounded in the background, signalling to the players that it was time to return to the field for the start of the second period. Some more jeers greeted them on their return, although most of the fans there wouldn't have considered this a fickle move, given that they were 2-0 down to one of the worst sides in the known multiverse. The team were well aware that there was only one way to get the crowd back onside, and promptly set about that goal, attacking with a newfound sense of purpose. It took just two minutes for Milan Beskid to test the opposing keeper from distance, and two minutes more for Navra Kulisev to half the deficit, slamming a low shot into the bottom corner of the net after the ball had only been half-cleared out to his feet. Suddenly the crowd were behind their team again, sensing a comeback in the air and trying to roar their side on to a much-needed victory.

This recovery looked nigh-unstoppable just a few minutes later. Kulisev had come close to doubling his personal tally, and Samuel Costica had crashed a header against the bar from a few yards out. What the home crowd weren't expecting, though, was to fall 3-1 behind, which they promptly did when Topol failed to deal with a long clearance upfield, it was picked up by an away striker who took a touch and fired a scorching shot into the back of the net. The boos of the crowd returned even louder as the shellshocked Kinitar players traipsed back to their positions for the restart.

Meanwhile, up in the executive boxes of the Central Stadium...

"Remind me, how good are this New Austzeland team?" inquired Irin Kucinič, the new leader of Kinitaria. Some might well call him a dictator, but he viewed this as a very unfair judgement, and had a way with words which would soon make his opponents change his mind. Any ideas of this being down to some sort of intimidation are, of course, unfounded and completely ridiculous. In any case, he was present at the Central Stadium to watch his nation's first home game since his glorious seizure of power. He put a lot of store into Kinitaria's sporting prowess, because a lot of the world paid heed to sports results, and if Kinitaria were doing well, it would raise their international prestige. Of course, if they were doing badly, the reverse would happen, which was the Premier's current concern.

"Well, they're near the bottom of the official KPB rankings," responded Rani Dinacev, Kinitaria's minister for sports and culture. His detractors might say he only got that position through having a vague interest in sports, and a considerably higher interest in the personal wellbeing of the new leader. Be that as it may, it didn't seem likely that he'd be vacating his position any time soon.

"Which makes them one of the worst teams around, is that right?" asked the leader.

"That's right."

"And we're fairly close to the top?"

"We're not in a position to really trouble the absolute best, but we're over 300 places higher than New Austzeland."

"Then why the hell are we losing this badly to them? None of this team looks vaguely interested in how this might be reflecting on our nation on the international scene!"

"Sir, there are often surprise results in-" interjected the minister, but he was quickly interrupted.

"Surprise results? I was told that we were expected to beat this team comfortably! We're being humiliated by one of the worst teams in the world! Every single one of these players should be investigated for their ideological loyalty, because if they're willing to let the name of our country get dragged through the mud like this, they obviously- oh, what happened?" he asked, snapping his head back towards the pitch.

"Well, sir, Milan Beskid- that's him over there- just scored. It's 3-2 now."

"Oh, is it?" murmured Kucinič. "Still not good enough. We're still losing to an utterly insignificant nation. Even for these players to have let this charade go on this long is close to being a national disgrace."

If the players on the field had known about the outburst that their leader was currently having, they'd have been glad that they ran out 5-3 winners in the end. As it was, they were merely grateful to avoid the ire of 70,000 home fans inside a packed Central Stadium, which was a bad enough alternative as it was. This didn't stop the players from being investigated for ideological loyalty, of course, but this wasn't entirely unexpected, as many high-profile people in Kinitaria were undergoing this exact same investigation. The fact that they weren't exactly aware that this investigation was going on shouldn't really have changed anything. Indeed, it just meant that they could stay focused on preparing for World Cup qualification games against much higher-ranked opposition, because they were all well aware that they'd just got away with one after that first half - and that Mytannion and the Licentian Isles, two of their tough group rivals, weren't likely to let such weakness go unpunished.

[The Licentian Isles]

So, where did I leave you last time I wrote ??

Oh yes. I’d been stopped on the Capital Road.

They wanted to search my bike for anything suspicious. I looked the two Guardsmen up and down. They looked stupid and cowardly; the kind of people that joined the Guard so that they didn’t get shot by the Guard. As if that’s the only way to avoid them.

Oh yeah, I probably shouldn’t be giving advice on avoiding the guard right now.

Anyway, it was good that they weren’t long term Guardsmen. These two wouldn’t be too thorough, since the newer Guardsmen didn’t seem to be all that interested in their work. I refused the patdown, as is my right (they were both men), and they let it slide. They searched around the compartments on my bike, and found nothing. They let me go, apologising profusely for the inconvenience, and explaining that they just had to be careful with cross-parish travel in this day and age. I nodded my understanding, strapped on my helmet, and rode off.

Did I mention the hidden compartment in the basket ?? I probably should have. Do you really think I’d be stupid enough to leave the gun where they can find it easily ?? I’ve been a Pigeon long enough to know that I can’t just leave my cargo in open view.

So, I rode onto Montfort, with no interruptions along the way. They seem to only be stopping people in between the parishes, which is easier for me; I’ll just arrange a mountain bike and ride away from the road next time. Saves me the trouble of avoiding the traffic.

When I got out of the rural areas, and into the capital, it was easy enough to find where I was going. I knew the city like the back of my hand, from growing up here, so I knew exactly where the guy was meeting me. It was a cafe on de Montfort Square, which, ironically, had become a meeting point for people with revolutionary and treasonous thoughts in mind. I’d visited here a couple of times before, with all sorts of different messages.

I got to the destination half an hour earlier than I was due to meet my contact; I needed to give myself the chance to scout the cafe, and make sure there weren’t any Loyalists spying on me, or him, for that matter. I didn’t find anyone suspicious, so, just before 4:30, I emerged from the shadowy corner booth, stepped outside, and lit a cigarette, as the contact knew I would, if he was watching, within one minute, he would walk to the bar, and ask to be directed to the toilet.

When the barman pointed a short-haired, foreign-sounding man to the gent’s, I followed. Of course, he didn’t go to the toilet; he took a side door, and I stayed close behind him, entering the door. He turned around, hearing the door open.

“You the pigeon ??” He asked, his thick foreign accent almost obscuring the words.

“Yes.” I replied.

“Good. The package.” It wasn’t a question; it was an order. I handed it to him, along with the letter. He weighed up the parcel in his hand, as if to determine the contents, and gave a small grin. He ignored the letter.

“Don’t you want to read it ??” I asked, curious.

“No. Can’t read English.” At my confused face, he chuckled. “My contact in Garton will, however. I presume you shall leave soon ??”

“Leave ??” I asked, even more confused.

“For Garton. Did you not know you were taking it there too ??”

“No. I guess I’ll leave now though.” I made for the door, frustrated, but glad I could get back on the road.

“Pigeon ??” He called after me.

“Yes ??” I turned to face him.

“Good luck. You will need it.”

[Mytannion]

Tikhon spat on the ground and cursed. The referee had been out to get him all game, calling up challenges which were innocuous, which caused no issue at all with the opposition. Tikhon hated referees like that. If there is an advantage then let play continue, there’s no point being so strict. The changing rooms were a cold place at this point and although Tikhon was furious, he hated the feeling, being alone, unable to know fully what was happening on the field. This feeling was amplified by the fact that this particular changing room had no television or radio, there was no way of telling other than by listening to the sounds of the stadium.

Tikhon could feel the weight of the stadium bearing down on him, it was almost backbreaking in itself, but add to it the weight of expectation from the travelling fans and the hatred from the home fans – it resulted in a feeling not quite like any other. He had felt it nearly a thousand times, playing for Liria Prizren and first Dinamo Esca – and now he would be feeling it in Astograth as well, in Ituraitz to be more specific, with his move there being confirmed.

But he had never felt it quite the same as when he played for the national side. It was an incredible feeling, playing for your country. It felt like you were going to war, but in a completely different way. It wasn’t for territory or an idea, it was purely for pride. It was to show that you were the best and nobody could take that away from you and although Mytannion had never managed to go the full distance (or even anywhere near it given the best finish in a World Cup was the last sixteen of the tournament), Tikhon still wanted to show the quality of his country when it came to this sport.

He had thanked the ultras for following the national team over 100 times now and he had accumulated five red cards in that period and he was often cited as one player that never gave less than one hundred percent in a game. He knew he always did, it was his job and he felt disgusted if he ever came out of a game with the feeling that he could have given a bit more to the cause. He pushed himself and lunged into tackles and threw himself in front of the ball all for Mytannion and he didn’t feel as if he would rather be doing anything else, ever.

He hoped that they managed a result without him, the Licentian Isles were a good team, one that was quickly improving and would soon be at the top table as far as international football went. A draw away from home was the result that the coach had wanted the team to achieve and everyone had felt fairly confident that they could manage that. The ultras had been magnificent, the display they brought with them depicting the Syndicatian President having sex with the Licentian Grand Duke. Humourous to say the least. The caption only added to it though, 'You blame us for being somebody else's bitch?' The reaction when the banner was unfurled was good, Tikhon had chuckled to himself on the field as the Licentian fans with their own tifo had responded angrily.

The best fans in the world. Tikhon hoped that the team could get a result without him. But it wasn't for himself. It was for them.

[New North Aqmuland]

New North Aqmuland at Ko-oren
Prediction: KOR 5-2 NNA

The Maroon Lions have got the toughest match of their qualifying schedule right here. The top team will prevail in this one, especially with the home advantage coming in big for them.

[Cassadaigua]

Cutoff time!
What's in store for us on MD4?

Results

[Gregoryisgodistan]

Gregoryisgodistan 2–0 Ossidiacqua

Foot Slaves win first match in violent fashion

Gregoryisgodistan returned home to Lord Almighty Gregory National Stadium today in front of a sold-out crowd of 617,000, many of whom were forced to attend. The Foot Slaves had not yet won a game, but were playing their first game under Head Soccer Coach Soccerlord McSoccerlord after "firing" their previous coach the day before.

Just five minutes in, Sergio Montemayor took down Pervert Chaser NZQID9 and received a yellow card from referee Joel Martín Águila Nena of San Jose Guayabal. Pervert Chaser NZQID9 retaliated by shoving Montemayor to the ground and was also yellow carded by Nena. While Nena was reaching into his shorts to retrieve his notebook and write Pervert Chaser NZQID9's name in it, his shorts slipped down a little, making his underpants visible. At this, Pervert Chaser NZQID9 started screaming "PERVERT ALERT! PERVERT ALERT! NO SHOWING UNDERPANTS!" and tackled Nena to the ground, now acting not as a soccer player but in his official capacity as a pervert chaser. Like pervert chasers do to all perverts, Pervert Chaser NZQID9 pulled down Nena's shorts and cut off his privates before dragging him off to the authorities, who were waiting on the sideline to take him into custody. As a result, fourth official Thomas Youngston of Felix had to head onto the field from the table, so that there would still be three officials on the field. Meanwhile, Pervert Chaser NZQID9 received a straight red card (not a second yellow) for violence against officials. But there would be more cards on the day.

Although Ossidiacqua had a one man advantage at this point, they would lose it in the 17th minute when Yves Pantani slide tackled Bottlemaker LP913838 from behind in the box. Pantani was given a direct red and sent off, and Gregoryisgodistan was awarded a penalty kick. Bottlemaker LP913838 would take that and easily make it to put the Foot Slaves up 1-0.

In the 23rd minute, Secret Police Agent Dominic Button would receive a yellow card for his reckless tackle on Ezekiel Fibonacci, and in the 30th minute, Fibonacci would be carded himself for tackling Soccer Jester CLOWNPIREPIE to the ground. In the 38th minute, there was the third red card of the day, as Secret Police Agent Dominic Button received his second yellow for taking Angel Capobianco down just outside the box. Capobianco would receive a yellow himself for taunting Secret Police Agent Dominic Button as he left the field.

Halftime came and it was 1-0 Gregoryisgodistan, but the visitors had a one man advantage.

In the 53rd minute, Fibonacci brought down Bottlemaker LP913838 just outside the box and received his second yellow. His day was done. That was it for the one-man advantage. It was now 9-on-9. Bottlemaker LP913838 took the free kick and it hit off the right post as Luca Fausti dove for it, but Loyal Friend of Lord Almighty Gregory Robert Possibe shot in the rebound. 2-0 Foot Slaves.

In the 62nd minute, Oscar Olivarez was yellow carded for a tough tackle on Executioner 98481, who had just come in off the bench, and Executioner 98481 was yellow carded for relatiation after he shoved Olivarez.

In the 68th minute, Aiyegbeni Fisichella was yellow carded for running into goalkeeper Prune Farmer 3818F and making no effort to avoid him after a shot missed well high.

In the 77th minute, Aiyegbeni Fisichella received a second yellow and was sent off for a hard tackle on Grammar Enforcement Officer ZZNNKUMBYA. It was now 9-on-8, but it woudn't be for long, because Government Advisor Lordborn Godsam, seeking revenge for the tackle by Fischella, punched him in the back of the head to defend his teammate and received a straight red.

In the 84th minute of a match where both teams were now down to 8 men, Alessandro Finiguerra received a yellow for tackling Loyal Friend of Lord Almighty Gregory Robert Possibe from behind. Loyal Friend of Lord Almighty Gregory Robert Possibe thought the foul occurred inside the box and demanded a penalty kick be awarded, but received only a yellow card for dissent and loss of what would have been a free kick from a very dangerous position.

In the 90th minute, Alessandro Delvecchio, who had come off the bench 10 minutes earlier, was tackled from behind by Grammar Enforcement Officer ZZNNKUMBYA while inside the box. Grammar Enforcement Officer ZZNNKUMBYA received a direct red card for it, and a penalty kick was awarded. Delvacchio was selected to take it, but rather than make an effort on net, Delvacchio was so mad at the Gregoryisgodistanis that he decided to kick it over the net as hard as he could, hitting a Gregoryisgodistani supporter behind the net and breaking his nose. At least that is what the ref thought, and he gave Delvacchio a yellow. It is possible he just overhit it, but the ref thought otherwise.

Finally, the final whistle blew. There were 7 red cards, 3 on Ossidiacqua and 4 on Gregoryisgodistan. Four of these were direct reds (3 on Gregoryisgodistan and 1 on Ossidiacqua) and the other three were for second yellows. There were also 10 yellow cards, not counting second yellows resulting in reds. Four of those were on Gregoryisgodistan and the other six were on Ossidiacqua. One player received a yellow followed by a straight red. That was Pervert Chaser NZQID9 of Gregoryisgodistan.

All in all, it was an extremely ugly game, possibly the ugliest in World Cup history, and certainly the ugliest of this cycle. After all, an official has almost certainly never been castrated by a player before. Seven red cards might be a record as well - this matter is currently being researched by World Cup historians.

When all was said and done, the Foot Slaves got their first win of qualifying, but it was ugly to get there.

World Cup Organizers lift ban on Gregoryisgodistan hosting Alianza Albos

Following the payment of reparations by the Alianza Albos government for the kidnapping of Lord Almighty Gregory, the Gregoryisgodistani government agreed to allow Alianza Albos' delegation into the country without being taken as slaves. As a result, the World Cup organizers lifted the ban on Gregoryisgodistan hosting that match. The game will now be played in Lord Almighty Gregory National Stadium, rather than Llama Stadium in Llama City, Gregory Llama Land. The fans will have their chance to heckle the visitors for their kidnapping of the glorious leader, Lord Almighty Gregory.

"I am glad we were able to get this worked out," said Head Soccer Coach Soccerlord McSoccerlord. "Now our fans can witness us defeat these infidels who kidnapped our glorious leader." Lord Almighty Gregory agreed, saying "This is a great day for our country. Now we can beat these infidels on our own turf."

[Ko-oren]

Derrek Hauligaruthen (DEF): Two consecutive clean sheets. Here we go!
François Libreville (STR): Wow, how superfluous. Two goals, two wins? Really? Time for some action, guys!
Hothuliren Ysthenthaulen (STATS): Only eight teams have scored less goals than we have. We've got six points though.

New North Aqmuland floods the midfield, Ko-oren defense has an easy day

With five midfielders on the side of the Lions, New North Aqmuland definitely did not want to lose the battle on midfield. They ended up with the most passes and more possession than our players, yet the score was a nice statistic on our side: 1-0. The goal was scored by Terathu, who earlier scored the 0-1 winning goal at Levivania, and this time he received the ball from Nidog. A long ball reached Terathu and avoided the huge number of midfielders (10 in total), with just Fouba and Tembe in his way. Fouba lost it on sheer speed, Tembe kept his legs too far apart for just a few milliseconds. The 13th minute goal would remain the only one, though Terathu came close on three other occasions (of which two were long balls, one was a corner kick). One chance ended up somewhere with the fans behind the goal, another hit the woodwork and was taken care of by Boussouf, and the third was an easy prey for Tembe. The latter absolutely did not do a bad job, but was unlucky on his first real test. Enshadilsa was untested until the 67th minute (by that time, Terathu left the pitch for Bonangorthen, and Fenner left for Napertnau), when he got his fingertips against a fine Ofo strike. Ofo also missed the chance of his life after 88 minutes, when he headed the ball straight into Norn.

Svengarda and Zwangzug are still on a perfect 12 points, while the Crystal Empire drew Jedi8246 for their seventh point of the campaign. Ko-oren comes fourth, trailed by New North Aqmuland and Jedi8246 by one point. The remaining three teams are on one point.

The Greenblues were booed for the majority of the second half: after one disappointing loss and a small win, the fans obviously hoped for more than one goal. But you can always trust the three guys in the back, and again they did not let the fans down, kept the clean sheet and the three points. However, Rilasthaunden, the head coach, excused himself for the poor finishing on his side. There was not a lot he could have done better though, he left the midfield to New North Aqmuland, but both the defense and the attack were completely in the hands of the Greenblues. Fenner and Sanuki were ordered to play just in front of the defense and take out the Lions' strikers whenever they came from midfield, and Idrasil, Talmis and Eregrent were in the middle of the busy midfield, trying to take away the ball whenever they could, and deliver the ball to anyone wearing a green shirt. While the away team had the most passes and the better possession, they certainly were not that efficient with it. The pass percentage of the Greenblues was at its highest of the entire campaign until so far, with 97%.

MVP
Terathu. While king of the assists, Tokachi, was named MVP for last game, Terathu, with two influential goals by now, definitely deserves this title.

Next round
@ Crystal Empire. This is a battle for third place and not just that: the winner keeps trailing Svengarda and Zwangzug. Ko-oren will visit the Pony Lands, where the next World Cup final will take place, so the Greenblues can taste the region's atmosphere. No horsing around in this game, there's important points to be won! One word of warning: they know how to play against bigger teams, the young squad has a Cup of Harmony under their belt.

[Greater Watford]

Fans urged to calm before next match


The GWFA has urged fans to remain calm, as news of Gregoryisgodistan’s latest match emerged, with a horrifying attack on an official, and 7 red cards in one match. The GWFA released a statement saying that “We do not condone the behaviour of Gregoryisgodistan in their previous encounter, we also do not condone the use of violence or offensive chanting against any opposing nation.” Nevertheless, the atmosphere in the Hornet Arena for tomorrow’s game could be very tense.

In other news, 2 Greater Watford players, Ian Wall and Eugene James have announced their retirement from international football after this World Cup cycle. Both players, with 2 and 6 caps respectively, said that they were proud to represent Greater Watford, and wished the team well in future endeavours. This of course, leaves at least 2 spots up for grabs at the next team selection, with many players in the running with good performances in the GWFA Super League.

So today we weren’t playing, so I’ve had a chance to reflect on the campaign as a whole. Our group is definitely one of the oddest, The Archregimancy is a unique nation in many respects. Playing there will literally give a whole new dimension to our football. Sadly, our group is also marred by the presence of many aggressive nations, and this is something we didn’t really need. However, the old mantra of focusing on the football is true here, and that is what we must do, and what Gianpedro Dominico has urged us to do.

The news of the retirement of Wall and James hardly came as a surprise to me, as they’ve personally spoken about it. However, you always feel a bit disappointed everytime you see a teammate retire. Ian Wall was a great goalkeeper in the 90’s and 00’s, and if we had a national team back then, would’ve won hundreds of caps. He has been a great assistance to the team, and I’m thankful for what he’s done. Eugene James is a great defender and a great person. A mature head in an aggressive game, he’s come into his own in this qualifying group, so it’s a shame to hear of his retirement from international football. Hopefully with retirement of some classic players comes a new breed of up-and-coming heroes, who can take us far in international football.
For more news and info on the World Cup visit http://www.gwtv.gw/sports, or http://www.greaterwatfordwc67.gw

[Free Republics]

When Kyle Bolton walked out onto the pitch at Church of Saintland Stadium, with the Republican National Team, the sold-out crowd erupted, cheering for the Republican captain. Sporting World had reported rumors that Kyle would be out for the remainder of the World Cup, rumors which had been intentionally spread by Rule Theriault to throw off potential opponents. Thus, the crowd of just under 84 thousand Patriotic Republicans on hand in Albertope, Roxawa to see the Republican National Team face Mizuyuki was legitimately shocked when Bolton unceremoniously returned and took the pitch to play, as if nothing had ever happened.

Theriault had decided, based upon what he had seen in the Felix match and in practices, to start Koby Theodore instead of Leo Cremonesi. Bolton was now flanked by Theodore on one side and by Fozenel on the other. If Theriault had any second thoughts about his decision, it did not take long for them to be erased. The Republicans were facing a team that, for once, was actually younger than them. They were facing a team that had debuted at the same time that they had and yet still somehow managed to outrank them in the KPB poll. While a young team can be extraordinarily talented, it is also an inexperienced team, prone to making mistakes that older teams just don't make. Mizuyuki made one of those mistakes when they got slightly overzealous in their attacking. An attempted shot by Izawa deflected off of the feet of Kieran Hancock and toward Joseph Poole. Poole kicked it ahead to Bernard Lukic. Lukic took the ball downfield on a counter-attack, where he found Koby Theodore. Theodore and Kyle Bolton had a 2-on-1 advantage with only Tsuchimikado, an attacking midfielder (and Mizuyuki's captain), back to defend, for some bizarre reason. Theodore pretended to shoot, fooling both Takanashi and Tsuchimikado. He then kicked the ball out to Kyle Bolton, who placed it in the open net. Theodore and Bolton rushed toward one another to celebrate the opening goal, hugging one another to the amusement of the crowd.

Although the Free Republics had taken the early advantage, Mizuyuki did not go down easily. They came back fighting. Mizuyuki would equalize during the 28th minute after Honda decided that Izawa wasn't open. She passed the ball back to Ishibashi instead. Ishibashi was standing several yards outside of the scoring area, but that didn't stop her from unleashing a long shot toward the goal area. Marius Christofferson leaped like a wide receiver to catch the shot, but he only succeeded in batting it down like a defensive back. Unfortunately for Christofferson, he had changed the trajectory of the ball and it ended up landing just outside the line. Izawa rushed forward and tapped it in for the equalizer. Mizuyuki had tied the match at 1 goal apiece. Toward the end of the half, Mizuyuki would add a second goal after an Izawa shot was knocked out for a corner. Isshiki took the corner and her kick found the head of Sato. Sato headed it past Christofferson and into the net. Mizuyuki would lead 2 goals to 1 at the half.

During halftime, Rule Theriault yelled at his team like a Federation Army drill sergeant. In fact, his screams were so loud that they could be heard, even in the Mizuyuki locker room. Theriault was furious that his team had blown a lead and had given up a goal right before half. It seemed to work because the Republicans came out with a vengeance to start the second half. After Honda gave the ball away to Arnou Labrecque, Labrecque kicked a longball. Faredin Pozenel was there to pick it up. The striker, a "lapsed" Muslim whose family had immigrated to the Free Republics from one of the colonies (OOC: A possible future puppet of mine.), passed it to Koby Theodore. Theodore was off-side, but the referee missed it. He furiously rushed toward the goal, unleashing a rocket. Takanashi never had a chance of saving it and the Free Republics had equalized. However, Mizuyuki came right back down the pitch, catching the Republican defense unprepared. Tsuchimikado ended up in possession of the ball. She would redeem herself, sort of, for her defensive mistake earlier on a play that everybody in the stadium except her had seen coming. Tsuchimikado bore down on the goal and put her team in the lead while Christofferson was daydreaming.

An infuriated Rule Theriault decided, then and there, to substitute for his keeper. He decided, on a whim, to give Levai Imre a chance. Imre had impressed at the U-15 World Cup, but the U-15 World Cup was not the World Cup. The kid became the youngest player to play for the senior Free Republics National Team and now he was the goalkeeper in a winnable World Cup match, despite his total lack of experience above the U-15 level. That did not matter, apparently, as he played very well during the remainder of the match. Soon however, 75 minutes had already elapsed in the match and the Free Republics trailed 3 goals to 2. At this point, Theriault made a surprising decision. He pulled Hancock out of the match and brought in Porvaldur Hinriksson rather than Cremonesi as the 4th striker. This was uncharacteristic for Theriault in 2 ways. Firstly, he normally didn't change formation during a match and secondly, he usually didn't bring Hinriksson in, except in a mop-up role.

Once again, Theriault's unusual decision would pay off. The Republicans came forward on the attack. Jens Koch got the ball to Bolton inside of the scoring area. The Republican captain decided to pass to Hinriksson rather than shoot it himself. The youngest of the Republican strikers at just 16 years of age, Hinriksson would place an equalizer perfectly, tying the match at 3 goals apiece. It would all come down to the final minutes. Theriault had used his final substitution to bring in Volodymyr Vernekar, his backup defensive midfielder. To do so, he took Pozenel out of the match. The match would be decided after Misaka, who had been brought on as a substitute for Mizuyuki, gave the ball away on a reckless pass. The Republicans came forward on a counter-attack, which culminated when Sandstrom found Kyle Bolton. Bolton took a shot and put it past Takanashi for the match winner. Mizuyuki would furiously try to equalize, but Ishibashi's desperation shot landed on top of the goal and the official blew his whistle for the end of the match, following the goal kick.

The Republican National Team celebrated their victory, while their opponents were dejected. With a victory, the Free Republics had remained alone atop Group 17, the Group of Death. Even though they were navigating dangerous waters, and still had a potentially hazardous trip to Mizuyuki ahead of them, the Republican National Team had somehow survived. Their official protest of the result from the Sarian was still pending, although it did not seem promising, given that the Equestrian States was co-hosting this edition of the World Cup and Rule Theriault certainly did not expect them to be sympathetic. The Republican Team was developing a penchant for over-the-top theatrics and celebrations, but nothing was more shocking than the stunt pulled by Kyle Bolton and Koby Theodore after this match. Theodore laid down on the pitch and Bolton pretended to "rape" him. The crowd loved it, but their decision to make light of the rape allegations would probably not play well outside of the FFR.

The next match for Rule Theriault's Republicans was in West Angola. West Angola had failed to pick up a single point in 3 matches prior to their bye. Theriault was now hoping to put another nail in the coffin of the second seed of this group. While West Angola had originally hoped to qualify, they now had little to no margin for error remaining. If the Republicans could win, they would not only stay atop their group heading into a bye, but would also help to eliminate a team that was higher-ranked than they were, in the most recent KPB poll. This just showed how little the officials at KPB actually knew.

---

Sporting World

Shirakiin Kurumi should do her talking on the pitch
by: Rule Theriault

As you may or may not be aware, Shirakiin Kurumi, the manager for Mizuyuki's National Team, published an article where she had some rather nasty things to say about both yours truly and some of the players on the National Team. I deliberately chose not to respond in advance of the match because I wanted to save the bulk of my response for the pitch, when my team defeated her team and did so in spectacular fashion. I've already read the comments in the press about my managerial performance. According to the press, it was a "masterful" performance that proves that I am "one of the greatest managers in the multiverse today." While I'm not one to say those things about myself, since I am from a military family that emphasized values such as humility and discipline, I must thank the press for their compliments. My focus is on doing my job as a manager to win matches and get this team to the World Cup, where we belong.

Meanwhile, the manager for Mizuyuki is every bit the wild bomb thrower that she accuses me of being. Her article included the laughable succession that I should be put on trial for "hate speech" and "defamation" for having referred to the people of Mizuyuki as "slants," which just so happens to be a term that refers to their ethnicity. I don't see how there is anything wrong with referring to them as what they are. My grandfather fought against those damned slants in the War they caused with their sneak attack upon us, so I'm not going to let some slant tell me that I can't call her a slant. Nothing against your kind, Miss Kurumi, but your kind shouldn't have attacked us.

Actually, there are several players on my team who prefer slant girls, for some reason. Because of this, I helped the team acquire some prostitutes. When they're facing a team of girls, they need to have their needs met in advance of the match, to keep them from getting distracted. Unfortunately, Marius Christofferson still managed to get distracted staring at one of those slant girls, and yes I'm going to keep using the word even though Mr. Abdullahi tells me not to use that word. This is my team and I'm paying for this damn column, so I can write whatever I damn well please. Because Christofferson choose to think with his organs rather than his brain, I removed him from the match and brought in Levai Imre instead and Levai was able to make the critical saves to win the match.

I must agree with the slant, however, that the Casaran format is unfit to be used. This corrupt format denied the multiverse's Indispensable Nation the BoF title that we deserved and, for that alone, I can simply never support any World Cup bid that uses the Casaran. However, I also do not believe that the Equestrian States are qualified to host the World Cup. I respect Cassadaigua and have nothing against them, but I don't trust the Equestrian States. Afterall, any nation that is comprised mostly of "intelligent" animals is going to be dishonest because honesty is a trait that only humans have evolved. I also agree with her that the draw was incompetently handled. Otherwise, why would we end up in such a tough group? Even the Felix Trolls are, I must admit, tough opposition. Pasarga and West Angola are the top seeds, but the talk of the world is about the FFR, Mizuyuki, the Trolls and that no good, conniving Sarian. I am also in agreement with the slant that Mizuyuki and the FFR will be the top 2 teams in this group when all is said and done, leaving Pasarga, West Angola, the Trolls and Sarian headed for the Cup of Harmony. However, this will only happen if the National Team continues to play the way that I taught them to play.

However, she goes on to make more threats against me and then say that her team would "crush" us at Church of Saintland Stadium. As everybody reading this now knows, her prediction did not come true. She also goes on to question why Kyle Bolton hasn't been suspended by the "FA" of the Free Republics. The reason is because the Republican National Team is my private property. I built the program and I own it and may do as I wish with it. Another reason is because we have a principle under our laws. In the FFR, you are innocent until proven guilty. This means that it is wrong to punish anybody for a "crime" they are accused of committing until they have been tried and found guilty. As such, it would be improper for me to suspend or bench Kyle, even if this wasn't an obvious false accusation from a nation infamous for spreading lies about our Federation. I recently sent a sworn statement to Consul Piazza, the junior Consul of our Federation (a well-known fact which I must mention, for the benefit of some ignorant foreigners), explaining where Kyle was on the night of the alleged incident. It turns out that the National Team was staying in a hotel room committing copyright infringement. I was contacted, just today, by the owner of the wrestling organization whose pay-per-views they stole and I have agreed to permit the National Team to participate at an upcoming wrestling event on our first bye day. In exchange, they have agreed to drop all charges against my team. Therefore, I conclude that this matter is settled.

Lastly, I want to address the legal threats directed against me. I have informed Consul Piazza of these threats. He has been the leading opponent of war in our Federation. However, he has authorized the Federation's Armed Forces to bomb the next nation that attempts to arrest either yours truly, any player on the National Team, or any member of our official entourage back into the stone age. Consul Piazza has assured me that he will be contacting the heads of state of all upcoming nations that we will play, informing them that the Republican National Team will be traveling with an armed bodyguard and that any arrests of anybody associated with the Republican National Team, without the prior approval of Consul Piazza, will be regarded as acts of war. The senior Consul and the entire legislative branch have already endorsed this course of action, since Piazza has been exercising his veto to prevent them from destroying any capacity of our actual or potential enemies to make war. It would be extremely unwise to arrest me again, since the Universal Force for Good stands ready to rid the world of whichever tyrannical shithole of a country decides to do so. Consul Piazza has stated that he will not consent to any arrests of anybody associated with our team, unless he judges that there is sufficient evidence to reasonably believe that we have committed an act that would be a crime in the Free Republics.

I especially want to emphasize to everybody in Mizuyuki that we will be prepared upon our arrival into the nation for any Sarian-style shenanigans that you might decide to pull. We will be coming with a substantial bodyguard and they will be guarding us, even during the match itself. I am also willing, if that is unacceptable to one of our upcoming away opponents, to play our "away" match against your nation at a neutral site rather than in your nation. I am unwilling to send my National Team into any environment where their safety may be at risk, without sufficient safeguards to protect the safety of our players and prevent any more arbitrary arrests, motivated primarily by a nation's desire to win a match by hook or crook. This is simply not the way that things should be done and it is not the way that we will permit them to be done.

Rule Theriault is the manager for the FFR's National Soccer Team. He was the manager of Petrograd United. After a disappointing end to his tenure there, he entered a team in the 27th Di Bradini Cup on behalf of the Federation of Free Republics. His mostly unheralded team finished 2nd in that competition, losing to the Equestrian States in the final. He led his Republican National Soccer Team to a 17th place finish in the 52nd Baptism of Fire and a 6th place finish in Group 20 during World Cup 65 qualifying. In the Cup of Harmony, the National Soccer Team overcame having to play in the Equestrian States and came back to win their final 2 matches, including a shocking victory over Jeru FC, one of the true powers of international soccer. In the 28th Di Bradini Cup, he led the FFR right back to the finals, this time finishing on the right note. The Free Republics finished 3rd in their second World Cup qualifying attempt, again falling short of qualification. On home turf for the Cup of Harmony, Theriault's team advanced out of the group stage for the first time ever in a WCC event before falling to the Licentian Isles. Theriault led the B National Team into Saintland for the UWCFA Gold Cup, where they finished second. He is currently attempting World Cup qualification for the 3rd time, this time attempting to go to Cassadaigua or the Equestrian States for the 67th World Cup.

[HopNation]

Somewhere in the vast world between HopNation and Krytenia, Skip Skudkin is traveling with is new camera crew to where the Hops are going to play their 4th qualification match.

“Where are we?” Skudkin asks
“Ah, um, I don’t know sir.”
“You don’t know, what do you mean you don’t know?”
“Ah…”
“He means he took a wrong turn, Skip.” a voice from the back of the vehicle calls out
“Ah, well, that’s not exactly true.”
“Not exactly true, then what the hell happened? The network in Krytenia is expecting us.” Skudkin glances at his watch “AN HOUR AGO”
“I know sir, but part of the map is missing.”
“Missing?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Why is part of the map missing?”
“I don’t know sir.”
“Perhaps because you got it from the kid outside the last gas station.” the voice from the back reveals
“From a kid outside the gas station, ARE YOU KIDDING ME?”
“Um, well, no sir. I did get it from a kid. He looked like he knew where we were headed.”
“Of course he did, now what? If we miss any part of this match, I’ll, I’ll….kick your stupid ass all the way back to HopNation” Skudkin scolds
“Right sir”
“STOP” the voice from the back bellows “I’ve got it, I’ve got signal again. Turn left, go 3 miles turn right.”
“Thank the lord” Skudkin exclaims as he looks at the roof of the vehicle
“Then merge or stay right follow 329 North for 50 miles and we’ll be back on track.”
“WHAT!” Skudkin gasps “Back on track. Then how far.”
“Well if the signal holds, wait, wait, ah yes should only be another 20 miles once we are back on track.”
“Step on it would you.”
“But sir shouldn’t we be careful.”
“Careful of what?”
“Local law enforcement.”
“I’ll deal with them if I have to, just get me to the stadium”

The driver floors it in order to try and get Skip to the stadium prior to the match. They don’t even see another car for the 50 or so miles it takes them to get back on track. Skip then has the driver follow the posted laws. They arrive with 20 minutes to spare

“Ah Skip, you made it.” a friendly voice says as Skudkin and his crew exit the vehicle
“Yes, finally, no thanks to my driver. Sorry to be rude, but you are?”
“Ah yes, yes, I am your media contact here in Krytenia.”
“Good, good, finally good to put a face with the voice.”
“Follow me, quickly please, we have you all set up in booth 2. Some good equipment in there too I’m sure you’ll enjoy your time here.”
“Do we need any of our cameras or other gear?” the driver asks
“No, we have you all set.”
“Move you two, lets go.” Skudkin orders

Skudkin and his two crew members follow the younger looking gentleman as they head up to an exquisite commentary booth that has just about everything you can think of. It’s loaded with food, a bunch of TVs, chairs and couches, and some good looking staff to help get anything requested.

“This place is nice.”
“Stop checking things out and finish getting me ready would you. We’ll have time for that after the match.”
“Yes sir, make-up should be done.” the first crew member says
“Hair, check” adds the second crew member
“Good, good. Excuse me good sir are the microphones through here?” Skudkin asks one of the staff members while pointing to the door in the middle of a partition of glass, which separates the room from a smaller room with a full field view.
“Yes sir”

Skudkin enters and looks over the entire stadium. It’s a wonderful field and the teams are finishing warm-ups as he sits down in the main chair to start his broadcast. There is a single camera pointed at his location and 3 video monitors in the desk so he can see and swap to the different stadium cameras at a push of a button.

“I really would have thought there would be more people here.”
“Yeah Skip, this place is a ghost town.”
“Shows what their fans think of this game I guess.”
“Okay, you two just sit back there and I’ll take it from here” Skudkin points at the lounge chairs in the back of this small room

Skip flips on the three monitors, adjusts his position, adjusts his ear piece and then flips the main camera switch to on. The signal gets to HBN and they initiate the introduction sequence.

a voice in Skips ear “3, 2, 1, your live Skip”
{HBN Broadcast Start}
“Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. Skip Skudkin coming to you live from Krytenia for the Hops match against the Krytenia National Team.” Skudkin presses the button to the left of monitor 1 “as you can see both teams are finished with warm-ups and we are about to kick off. There is a light rain here, the field looks to be in good shape so far with good drainage in place in case the rain picks up.” he pushes another of the buttons and the camera flips to the home bench followed by the visitors bench “Both of the teams reserves seem to be staying dry under the small canopy over the benches as well.” pressing one more button is switches to a camera that sweeps left to right through the stadium “The stadium is almost completely empty, I’m not sure what the reason behind that is but lets go back to center field as the ref has his whistle up.” Skudkin once again switches to the field camera

Match Clock 00:00
“Here we go!”

Match Clock 08:15
“Bit of positioning going on here as neither team wants to commit to an attack yet.”

Match Clock 15:15
“Krytenia has started to gain an advantage here, they’ve strung a good series of passes together as they build up some momentum forward. The outside back sends the ball forward to an inside mid. The mid turns and plays a quick pass to the outside flank. The outside mid brings the ball down the sideline and beats Icha Wiashrod easily. Here’s the cross and Subanos makes and easy catch before any trouble can come of it.”

Match Clock 23:38
“Good counter here by the Hops. Smuemund forward to Droimpol, Droimpol out to Myer. Myer carries, now back into Droimpol. Droimpol sends it past the last defender to a streaking Schytaing. But the flag is up. Good work up, but just a touch off-sides for Schytaing there.”

Match Clock 24:40
“With the restart Krytenia sends the ball long. It’s right to the feet of their striker who barily has to move to sidestep Lesamnal. He shoots, Subanos dives left, NNOO he can’t get to it and it’s in for Krytenia. That was a good long ball forward to set that up and I really thought Subanos had the save there as it was just off his fingertips. Can the Hops answer?”

Match Clock 38:00
“Not much action since that goal, both teams looking to posses more than attack. The fourth official is up and signals 1 minute of stoppage time.”

Match Clock 41:28
“There you have it, half time here in Krytenia with your Hops down by a goal at the break. Can Coach Schmidt get his troops motivated enough to win in the second half? We’ll find out when we come back.”

The camera fades and HBN rolls some local footage back in HopNation. Skip has his crew freshen things up a bit, the grab some foot, and mingle with the local staff there waiting on them. Half time ends and Skip gets back to his post.

a voice in Skips ear “3.2.1 your back on Skip”
Match Clock 40:00
“Welcome back everyone, the ref has the players back on the field and here we go as the Hops try to get back from this one goal deficit.”

Match Clock 41:36
“Krytenia has the ball and they are pushing forward and pushing forward fast. Their coach must not have been happy with the one goal lead and you can see it here. Center mid player moves the ball wide, now it comes back inside as Loostin cuts off the side line. They move it to the other side, Myer covering. Myer is beat and Krytenia is closing in on our defenders. Wiashrod challenges hard. Whistle there as the Krytenian goes down hard. Looked clean from here, but yes Wiashrod is shown the book and receives a yellow for his efforts. Free kick coming to the left of the box. Krytenian striker to take it. He puts it on frame, Subanos saves it but can’t hang on and it’s right to the foot of a Krytenian who easily taps it in for the second goal of the game. Hops are down 0-2 now, can they mount a come back? They have a lot of time left to do it.”

Match Clock 58:00
“Wow since that goal, the Hops have had good possession, but every time they attempt to play forward the oppositions is there to turn them away. They are trying, but their efforts are not being rewarded at this point.”

Match Clock 67:53
“Back and fourth action here now as neither team can mount any type of an attack. They are each playing very well and keep-a-way seems to be what Krytenia has in mind as they win the ball back at midfield and drop it all the way back to their keeper.”

Match Clock 81:00
Skudkin flips the camera to the Hops bench “Coach Schmidt is going to make a change here as both Eenu Zysamenth and Honn Worfworf are up”

Match Clock 81:35
“Big tactical change here as Zysamenth takes out Lesamal the center back and goes up top with Schytaing. WorfWorf takes out Biaddan a defensive mid and goes inside with Droimpol. So the Hops will be in a 3-5-2 here to try and mount a come back.”

Match Clock 88:00
“Fourth official has indicated just two minutes of stoppage time, will it be enough for the Hops to do anything?”

Match Clock 89:35
“What a shot by Schytaing there, but the Krytenia keeper is equal to it. He punts quickly out and long. It is headed to the side by the forward. The Hops are beat here as they had everyone but Loontas up in the attack. The Krytenia midfielder collects off the header and plays it past Loontas, flag is down as the forward circled around and is now sprinting past. One on One with Subanos. Subanos races off his line to cut down the angle, he slides but after the ball has gone past. Subanos clips the forward, the ref watches the ball, looks back at the players, then back to the ball as it rolls over the goal line and in for the third goal of the match. The ref blows his whistle and comes back to Subanos. Yellow for Subanos, not sure how that wan’t red there and the few fans are now being heard as they voice their opinions of that yellow.”

Match Clock 92:55
“There’s the final whistle and the Hops fall on the road 0-3. I don’t think they played bad they were just out played a little today and fall well short. The Hops have a day to recover as they are on a bye day tomorrow, but catch them back in action here on HBN. It will be a home match against an unranked Ryzlia. That’s it for me here in Krytenia, thank you for joining us.”

The camera fades and goes back to the HopNation show already in progress.

{HBN Broadcast End}

[Estope]

It was the 70th minute and Estope was clinging to only a 1-0 lead against an unranked team, The Weegies. Alex Stark scored the only goal in the 32nd minute on a penalty kick but other than that Estope looked terrible out there. As soon as the offense get the ball they would turn it over. Luckily The Weegies weren't doing so well either and couldn't capitalize on any of their opportunities. Bucky Freezus had about had enough. He motioned John Hardy over to the sideline. "Ok John, we really need another goal. Get in the box and when anyone comes near you fall down. We can try and draw another penalty kick. Now get back out there." Freezus then waited until the linesman came running and slipped some money into his pocket. The referee turned and acknowledged him and then continued down the line. Milo Dewith had the ball and was on a breakaway heading towards the goal. Hardy was in the box and as soon as the ball was passed his way he fell to the ground. The linesman immediately blew the whistle and ran to tell the center referee to give him a penalty kick. However the referee decided instead to card Hardy for diving and gave The Weegies a free kick. Freezus was absolutely furious. He ran onto the field screaming at the referee. "You incompetent bafoon! That a f***ing foul!" Stunned, the referee turned and looking a Freezus, a middle-aged slightly overweight man, sprinting towards him. The ranting continued, "Why don't you pay attention and do your f***ing job!" The referee had no choice but to tell him to leave the game. Freezus was going absolutely insane now. He fell to the ground onto his stomach and was pounding his fists on the ground and kicking his feet, all while still screaming. Everyone just watched in awe as he continued on his temper tantrum. After a solid minute and a half of him kicking and screaming, he finally got up but was far from getting his composure. Security guards had to drag him off the field and to the locker room, literally drag him since as soon as they grabbed him he fell to the ground and put up as much resistant as possible. So for the rest of the match he had to watch on a television from the locker room. Needless to say he was not made a available for his usual post-game press conference. Brian Monte is still looking into whether or not he will be forced to fine or suspend Freeze for a game.

The Weegies 0–1 Estope

Next up: vs Kitsuneshima

[Farfadillis]

(OOC: This is the last part of my World XI submission.)

He was established at Jungle Strike as a vital starter. Nothing could move him, or at least so he liked to think. He did not want to leave; he'd become an avid fan of the team. Everything was clear in his mind: he was a Farf above all and, after that, a Strike fan. No Ferdullaele bullshit. Sure, he thanked them for giving him the somewhat necessary impulse but that was it. He did not have the best memories of his times at Ferdullaele.

He was not really touched when he heard they were finishing mid-table. He'd talked to his ex-Ferdullaele national teammates and they all agreed they did not care all that much. It was somewhat funny. Ferdullaele had let so many good footballers go without giving any of them a reason to come back that they were starting to rot.

The national team had recently failed to qualify for the World Cup. It had been a shame. A bad match with some terrible referee against East Shippensburg, a team filled with nobodies, had left them out. He knew the members, which included him, were the ones liable, but he knew there was always the following World Cup to look for. They had taken a hit in the rankings, but he knew they had to keep the momentum and qualify for another World Cup. If Farfadillis failed and somewhat faded into almost-qualifying obscurity, he knew the next generation of footballers would not be as passionate as convenient.

The World Cup 65 qualifying campaign was very good. Farfadillis managed to win against New Montreal States one and lose one, and leaving a few points meant ending second, but they managed to beat Northern Sunrise Islands in one of the most important games of the campaign. He scored the winning goal. Directly from a corner kick. Probably one of his best goals of his career. They had to face Sicoutimont in order to get into the World Cup, and they ended up beating them by one in the aggregate score. He scored a last minute goal that was followed by a last minute penalty save. The World Cup proper was not much of a success. Farfadillis went out in the group stage, finishing last.

However, a four-four tie against The Sylvanaes Queendom meant Farfadillis would be a top seed for World Cup 66. They qualified. He was not an overly important presence during the World Cup 66 campaign, unlike the World Cup 65 campaign, but he was important (as always) anyway. He was key to another upset against Vilita. He scored a rather late goal to win the match against all odds and qualify to the round of sixteen, where he would break the Wightling defense a few times to no avail. Wight had been the better team anyway and had eliminated them by scoring three goals, Farfadillis had just failed to score.

However, Farfadillis' attack was already becoming feared around the world, or so his manager told him whenever the opportunity arose. Truth is, very few teams managed to keep a clean sheet against the pervasive Farf attack. It was mainly because of how much Farfadillis insisted on attacking. One thing was certainly true about that attack, though: he was its leader. He was the leader of one of the best attacks of the world. Sure, the team's attack came with some serious drawbacks in defense. Farfadillis obviously could not be regarded as one of the best teams in the world (though they would have a case for being among the best, like twenty best or something), but they could be regarded as one of the teams with the best attack. That cheerful young player that came out of nowhere called Alex Terán, his friend Ichi Tuzzio, the Apox National League legend Rancisc Tenian, the right midfielder Mâás Fôx, who also came out of nowhere and, finally, Risko Kâí, who also sort of came out of nowhere. The last one, he thought, could end up as the best Farf player in history. Better than him. He was already playing for Urbizania Wanderers as a starter at the age of just twenty. He saw a lot of his thing in that young Rulandese player.

But anyway, he was the leader of that fantastic attack. Maybe 'fantastic' is an exaggeration, but truth is very, very few teams have managed to keep a clean sheet against La Vherderoja since World Cup 63. Only five teams, and a sixth if you only count regular time. He remembered each and every one of those matches vividly. He remembered every Farf match vividly, actually. He had a very good memory.

For one moment, Dandalleion looked back to his past. He looked at all the things he had achieved. He paused for a moment. He then looked up and thought "I've still got half a career ahead".

And he did have that ahead. And he could achieve so much more it would be useless to get caught in the past, right?

[Jedi8246]

Theme
Fenris Sports Corner

"Hello!!! This is Logan Dale bringing you Fenris Sports Corner. It is Jedi8246's Highest Rated sports programming for the past fifteen years. Welcome to yet another edition. We open today by taking a look into international sports. Yes, it's World Cup coverage time! Jedi8246 has been participating for eleven years now and shows no signs of slowing down. But enough with the introductions, let's get down to it.

Yesterday, Jedi8246 traveled into the Crystal Empire to play their team. The first period began with a flurry as the Hem Brothers took control of the game quickly completing pass after pass. Manny led his brothers down the pitch multiple times, yet could not force a score. By the end of the first period, the Wyverns had 16 scoring attempts, to the Crystal Empire's 4. The second period began with a slightly more balanced play between the two squads. Though the Wyvern's defense played quite well, the offense began to falter as the scoring attempts began to balance out at 22 for the Wyverns and 18 for the Crystal Empire.

The third period was characterized by quite the lethargic offense. The Wyverns could not get much going and it was only the powerful defense of the Wyverns that brought this to a draw. The Crystal Empire recorded 30 scoring attempts by the game's end and the Wyverns had 28. The game ended in a 0-0 draw, the second one in a row for the Wyverns.

The Wyverns now stand with a 1-2-1 record four games into the season and sit in sixth place. The results could be far more disastrous, but this is hardly encouraging for the Wyverns. The offense seems capable of playing only one period a game. The age of the Hem Brothers seems to be finally showing. They no longer make goals that they once might have. Jedi8246 cannot afford such paltry offense headed into tougher games. The inability to score has shown up as the Wyverns have only scored 2 goals in four games. While the defense has played quite well, it cannot be expected to play the entire game and has allowed 4 goals thus far.

If the Wyverns cannot begin to score on lesser teams, these year's season may quickly go down the tubes. Earning draws will not lead the Wyverns into qualification. Coach Hemer needs to light a fire under his team and fast. Or the Wyverns will find their season quickly over. The upcoming opponent is the second placed Zwangzug team. They are currently undefeated. Coach Hemer believes his team is capable of victory. Yet they are going against a defense that has yet to allow a point scored upon them. Ranked 35th in the world currently, their iron tight defense will likely not yield a score against the Wyverns offense. Our team's only hope is to maintain a defense of equal caliber and go for the draw.

More sporting news, after the break."

[Zwangzug]

To say that the group carried out its shadowy mission unbeknownst to the government of Zwangzug wasn't saying much. The government of Zwangzug didn't really care. But it still could be said.

To say that the foreigners they'd collaborated with, briefly, under the surface, were from a country more militarized than Zwangzug, well, that wasn't saying much, either. But that was the truth.

They had their mission. They stayed out of sight. And--back in happier times--they had had their beliefs, their assumptions about under which circumstances their invisible operations would need to come to light.

But they had been wrong.

It had been a mistake that rattled them, a misjudgement that led to a leak, that led to far more interaction with outside authorities than they were ready for. Still, they had been lucky; things could have been worse.

They were never relaxed, in their line of work. Not completely. One couldn't afford to be. But there came days when they didn't take on as much work, when they chose to take some time off, and just sit back, and watch football. Ninety minutes of control by Zwangzug, metaphorically if not literally; from McCluey's opening goal, the outcome was never in doubt, with both starting offensive midfielders looking strong. Ruan and Gerland would both add goals of their own, and the match finished nothing to three.

"It's an Arlington hat trick!" giggled one of the operatives. Three different players scoring. Very egalitarian. Even Zwangzug had its own football slang, to a point.

"Speaking of Arlington," another asked, "don't you work for the city's tourism board? How's the day job going?"

"Ah, well enough," said a third. "Although the co-workers are arguing about some of the brochures. Technically, we were twinned with Anyuna, but Northern Bettia changed the names of many of its cities, long ago. Including the capital. So we can't tell if we should update it."

"Northern Bettia," the first sighed. "What a country."

"Trivia question for you," said the second, "what can you tell me about the Fire Ants?"

"Zwangzug's first-ever opponents," she rattled off, "in their Baptism of Fire group. Then the Fire Ants only went and won the tournament, before qualifying for the World Cup that very cycle."

"Very good. And what do you know about them playing Ariddia?"

She pursed her lips. "Well...in qualifying, that first cycle, Zwangzug and Northern Bettia opened against each other again. But...oh, of course! Ariddia were drawn in that group, weren't they? So they'd have played the Fire Ants too."

"What about later? On the World Cup stage itself?"

"The proper? Ariddia and Bettia proper faced each other in plenty of big matches, but the Fire Ants--I don't know."

"Oh, no," the third operative groaned. "I've read about this match, I don't think. You don't mean..."

"I do," the second winked. "Referees like that, they don't make them like that anymore."

"Maybe they do! There's nothing new under the sun."

"Are you going to tell me what this is about?" the first operative challenged.

"Look it up," shrugged the second, "it's worth a glimpse of the highlight reel."

"Highlights?" echoed the third.

"Lights, anyway."

"No," said the first.

"Well, maybe you could call them lowlights--no what?"

"No, I'm not going to look up a Fire Ants versus rouge-et-noirs game, I don't care. I'm out. I've overstayed my welcome anyway, I should think."

"What? What are you doing, come back here?"

"I thought we were doing something good in the world. I thought we were going to reach out, make a difference. But all you want to do is swap increasingly esoteric trivia questions!"

"We have to be discreet, we can't go charging into every little squabble--"

"You're not going to charge anywhere, you're going to sit on your butts until you grow even older! And who's going to care? Nobody."

"Calm down--"

"I've been calm. I've been silent, even, in here, and what good has it ever done me? Too late."

"You can't betray us--" the third called.

"I won't. Don't you worry about that. I gave my word, long ago, I won't breathe a whisper about you. But it won't matter."

"Then I can't stop you. But do you have anywhere else to go?"

"I'll find somewhere. Better than here." With that, she made for the door.

"If you get bored," the second operative called behind her, "I hear The Inevitable Syndicate needs revolutionaries. Maybe you can tag along, convince them to overthrow Northern Bettia next!"

If she heard them, she made no reply, as she disappeared into the outside world.

[The Inevitable Syndicate]

Corvidae Triumphant

My first few weeks as a member of Ohm were rather daunting. I wasn't put on any of the larger jobs, such as stopping convoys of weapons like some of the more elite members of my cell were doing, however. I was mostly sticking to either following some official and seeing what they were up to, or grabbing a package from some shady Sunrisian that always called me Jeff and delivering it somewhere that struck me as completely random. I learned shortly after that that the places I was delivering the packages to weren't completely random, and that I should be very careful when handling anything he ever gives me again, if I want to live.

The Fligsive branch of Ohm was divided into several 'circuits', which always made me laugh when I heard about it, because as indiviuals we were 'resistors', and a bunch of us made up a circuit. Our leader was even codenamed Sparx*. Anyway, I was placed into a circuit with nine other members, including Sparx. They all looked tired with the world, and all looked as if they contained something that Corvidae hated. For some, it was obvious. We had Chiruno Soumicha, a Hodoran woman who used to run a convenience store, but joined the resistance when her family was sent back home one evening while she was at work. She was picked up by Sparx. I was one of two who weren't. I was also the only one who didn't make it obvious why I was fighting against the regime. Apparently, this made me 'useful', as I could 'blend in' without being spotted. It apparently didn't matter that we had all been legally declared dead...

That's something to talk about, actually. My death. It was quite a gruesome one. There's a guy in one of the circuits in our cell (that keeps sounding backwards, I'll never get used to that) who works as a coroner - he's one of the few that we haven't 'killed off'. He took the body of a guy that was sent home from one of the work camps, and dressed it up in clothes I'd typically wear. We then took this pseudo 'me' to a tube station, and at 02:15 in the morning, we threw the corpse into the train from a blind spot on the cameras. I managed to sneak out, so the cameras saw me enter, but not leave - the corpse also had my ID Card and other papers on me, including the last thing I ever bought as ______________. Train tickets. The news sites declared me dead next morning. I put my obituary in a text file:

______________, __ years old, was killed in the early hours of this morning when he was hit by a train. Born in Pinehearth, Mr. ________ received a degree in circuit analysis, and this took him close to the peak of his areas of expertise. A reportedly charming and smart man by all those who met him, Mr. ________ will be sorely missed by those who were close to him.

That's it. Half of it was just my name. At least people will know I'm dead, now.

Anyway, the blending in and all that. That was apparently what I did best. I didn't manage to get much information on any members of the Circle, but there was a particularly sloppy member of the Forum (A Corvidae Moderator, in case you didn't know [not like there are one of other parties left]) that liked to eat at a certain cafe every single day. He'd pop in for a bacon sandwich, a cup of coffee, and a Saugeais Bun at roughly the same time every day. I assumed that this was when his department took a lunch break. I told this to Sparx, and he seemed rather pleased that I'd managed to find something so quickly. This was during my first week, so I can see why he might have been impressed, but it didn't take a rocket scientist to watch the chubby man plod over to the cafe every day. Anyway, during his break, we broke into his office. Turns out, after some further research, he was Moderator of Transport, and all we'd found were some plans for a new ring-road around Westonbirt. Sparx was still pleased with us, however. In my first week, we'd successfully managed to break into government property and steal something. It was apparently more progress than he'd made in months. I guess I joined at just the right time...

This catches you roughly up to where we are now. I'm still doing jobs for Ohm, and I'm now sleeping in the attic of Campbell's Flowers. There's a skylight here, and I asked one of my fellow group members (our 'switch' - a guy who hasn't been deemed dead by the government yet) to buy me a telescope. Astromony wasn't really an area of science I got into at school, but there's something nice about looking at the stars on the few cloudless nights we get. The light pollution in the town has died right down since the curfew was put in place, and so some nights you can actually stargaze properly. I often wonder if anyone's also staring up to the sky, feeling as helpless as I do sometimes.

I must keep remembering the small changes. I'm just a single resistor in this machine - some say I'm an integral part of this circuit, but either way, we're going to have to find a way to lower the voltage before we stop the current. Hah. The puns get me every time. A sense of humour is one of the only weapons we have left.

*Sparx is a brand of batteries. I think he picked it on purpose.

[Apox]

Life in the Commune: Part Four

Previous Parts: Part One
Part Two
Part Three

The week passed by quickly, with Mark learning skills such as basic marksmanship and survival training, along with all the other non commissioned individuals going on the trip. He grew to like and enjoy his time there, in the sleepy village of Hagbourne in a quiet corner of Apox, far from the large and busy cities he’d grown up and lived in.

The team also became clear to him, with a squad of soldiers going on the mission, led by Captain John Barnes, a young 24 year old man, pretty much fresh out of officer training school. Then there were the specialists, geologist Samatha Hughes, chemical engineer Jackson Walters, linguist Pat Ulute, Commune Specialist Prof. Ghorg Ebbrellian and finally survival expert and mechanic Paul Wright, the final member of the 16 man team who would be taking part in this most perilous of missions.

Ghorg was an interesting character. As a Paradystopi national, he was a staunch pacifist, and therefore it was incredibly hard to persuade him to come on the mission. However, he had been lured away from his normal career as a lecturer at the University of Urbanista in Esportivan History with the promise of extra funding in his research. He’d spent nearly two decades of his life researching the mysterious and often inaccessible Commune, and therefore he was desperately needed on the trip.

Finally the day came. The group would travel in two extended Land Rover’s, each one holding 8 people and their supplies. The day was spent going over security protocols, and prepping the vehicles and themselves for the mission. Finally, at 14:00, in order for them to get a decent distance into the Commune, they prepared to set off. The Colonel had a few words to give as they prepare to leave,

“Gentlemen and ladies. What you are about to attempt could in fact lead to the demise of the cruellest dictatorship in all of Esportiva, all in the name of serving your country. Let it be known that Leader Jack Greybold himself knows of who is taking part in this mission, and should you be successful upon returning, then know that the rewards will be great. Good luck all.”

And with that, they climbed into the two Land Rovers, with Mark joining 5 of the troops and linguist Pat Ulute and Paradystopi Professor Ghorg Ebbrellian in the lead Land Rover with Captain John Barnes in the passenger seat next to the driver.

It was only a 5 minute drive from Hagbourne to the border and the Land Rovers rattled along the narrow single track road to the border. A small, mud-splattered sign was the only thing telling them that this was the crossing point between the two countries, with the arid, grassy landscape looking utterly desolate and unforgiving. The Land Rover’s pulled up at the border.

“Last chance to bugger off!” shouted John Barnes from the passenger seat, to laughter from both Land Rovers. The convoy pulled off and headed into the desert. It had begun.

---

Jon Quillisi Sports Column

So, a fairly routine win for the team this time around, against the lowly ranked Nassau Hessen, the solitary goal of the match coming from, you guessed it, Tolgus Tregajorran, who is really in such a good run of form at the moment. This was also a chance for Fjelden to experiment with the goalkeeping choice as well, especially in the crunch position of goalkeeper. He started John Lockwood, which is quite a surprise really to see the third goalkeeper get a run out. Except, Lockwood isn't really a third goalkeeper, Joe Frost and he are both pretty equal in skill terms, and still quite some way behind Ettie Seabrooke. In defense, Hans Nielssen was given the game off, with Nicolas St Teath being handed his debut - what a debut it was! Nearly scoring in the 26th minute, only for the shot to bounce off the upright, it was a shot any striker would be proud off. St Teath will definitely have some way to go with this team, that's for sure. Fronden Abel's leg were also given a rest, with the half-Sunrisian Isner being given a run out on this occasion.

Matthias Sindelar was stalwart-like in his defensive midfielder position again, blocking and thwarting many potential breaks as they began, sending the ball back from whence it came. Sammie Puskas was also given a run out on the left wing, allowing Kaj Aurora some time off, as she is still building up and shaping her career internationally, it is key that she doesn't tire herself out for the next match.

Oh, and what a match the next one will be. Saugeais. The top seeds. At home. This is one of the most important games of the group, without a doubt. Saugeais, a team we have a poor record agaisnt, you must remember, are currently struggling somewhat. They are currently 5th on 4 points, having lost already, only winning one of their 3 games so far. If we can win this game, it will give us an eight point gap of breathing space between the biggest contender to win the group, which would be ideal at this stage. Provided we could then beat Cosumar, we would take the top spot, and look to be in a good position. A loss at home wouldn't be disastrous for us, as we would still have a two point buffer between us and the Saugeains, however, they do have a game in hand. A home loss would also show them to be a strong and fearless side, which to an extent they are, but to compete with the top teams, we need to show that we're not going to be pushed around. A victory agaisnt the Saugeains in our next match would be a great way to start this.

Team Sheet from the Match (scorer in bold)
GK - John Lockwood
RD - Jack Lerryn
CD - Isner
CD - Solomon Etezadi
LD - Nicolas St. Teath
DM - Matthias Sindelar (c)
RM - Ivo Trevowah
CM - Armando Quillisi
CM - Jack Moses
LM - Sammie Puskas
ST - Tolgus Tregajorran