World Cup 76 - RP Thread

[Electrum]

Centralis Herald - Comment - Miranda Lawrence

The Eura-Electrum border must shut immediately

The Northern regions of Electrum have been in strife recently. With the killing of several border guards, the national government is doing nothing substantive on the issue other than hiring more border guards to patrol the area, like sending lambs to the slaughter. Thankfully, there are several voices of reason in the cabinet, such as Jim Connors and his party, who have tirelessly advocated to build the wall and to advocate for real action. Our sovereignty is under threat by Eurans and to remain a fully functioning nation and society, the number one priority must be to secure our borders - there is no pressing need or urgent reason why it should be kept open.

Although I approve of the increased weapons funding for said border force, it is simply not enough to stem the tide. There are thousands of Eurans who are wanting to cross the border -- with recent legislation and the war, there is mass panic - panic that we don't need on this side of the border. But we must remain resolute in saying 'no'. Instead of giving in to our primal emotions and sympathetic appeals, we must maintain our borders, and not light the flames of violence from across the border anymore. The number one most important threat to our national security right now is not Sameba, but rather the masses of people coming from up North.

The economic consequences are irreversible. Our nation of only forty million citizens cannot handle an influx of population from a nation which is more than 25-50 times our size. The entire population would crush our living standards, our quality of life would be under threat. Hospital waiting times would double or triple in length, and for those up north, they don't know who might just cross the border. Some of them are criminals -- especially those rats who decided to kill border guards on this side of the border doing their job. We don't know who is coming over the border, some of them, I assume, are not criminals, but we simply don't know who these people are.

There is a great impetus for the wall. What we propose is very simple. Two large concrete walls across the length of the entire border, with guard posts across the entire length to ensure that people don't climb over it. The wall should have barbed wire on the top, and there should be constant patrols at the entire length of the border. In the middle will be just one giant checkpoint, letting people in or out. We will decide who comes to this country and the circumstances in which they come.

What's at stake is our livelihoods. Unemployment is very high right now, especially in the rural areas, and accepting Eurans will only exacerbate the problem. They will price out Electrumites from hard working jobs, and will leave many Electrumite families in ruin. They will drive demand for house prices even further than before. We are reaching an important fork in the road, and the path we choose is the standard by which future generations will judge us. Will they berate us for being so naive, so stupid, so silly for giving in to the border crush? That we become the laughing stock of the world with our porous, undefended borders? Or will they thank us for keeping our living standards high, and by keeping our borders strong and secure.

I'm on Team Electrum. Are you?

Miranda Lawrence is a conservative commentator who works part-time at the Liberty Institute, a conservative think tank based in Centralis, Electrum, and part-time as a weekly columnist for the Centralis Herald.

[Audioslavia]

Roddy used to do this as a kid. The same thing, whether it was a wallchart, the sports pages of a website on on paper. Stare at the table and do the maths.

It'd take a very, very unfortunate series of events for Audioslavia to fail to make the next round of the World Cup. Defeat to San Jose Guayabal, a Port Christopher win over an Abahnfleft side that he felt was the superior of the two - despite their opening-day capitulation in the latter stages of Audioslavia's match with them - and a five goal swing. Audioslavia had never been eliminated in the first round of a World Cup in which they'd won their first game, and that had happened on twenty separate occasions. From a statistical standpoint, it was a done deal.

And yet.

Roddy remembered watching a certain World Cup semi-final, eight years ago, running home from school to see Audiosavia play San Jose Guayabal. A 2-1 defeat. Audioslavia's first semi-final in a generation. Their second semi-final defeat in their tenth appearance at that stage. Defeat in their only ever encounter with La Selecta.

Maybe... maybe he could have avoided this nagging sense of dread if he'd only elected to drop a save-point in the Port Christpher game?

Coming on with thirty minutes to go for a tiring Kryznjak, Roddy had forced himself, after feeling racked with guilt in the previous game, to forego dropping a <save> in favour of living in the moment, knowing that, truly, this wasn't the sort of death-or-glory situation that merited him toying with the space-time-continuum in such a way, or whatever it was that he was fannying with when he did his little trick.

He regretted his decision ten minutes after coming on. A cross from Mariezkurrena. Controlled on the chest as he had before his goal against Abanhfleft. Unlike the cool, calm finish of that occasion, however, Roddy had lashed at the ball before it had hit the ground and, with yards of space, fifteen metres from the goal, he'd spooned the ball harmlessly over the bar to the groans of an increasingly bored crowd.

0-0 wasn't too bad a result. The two previous Audioslavia games against Port Christopher had yielded only one goal in total, but still. Had he laid a save point, got a re-do of that chance and buried it for one-nil and a sure-fire spot in the second round, would he be feeling better now? Would he feel he'd wasted yet another precious save slot? Did he even have a finite number of save spots?

Superpowers. They're a bit like football league tables. Analyse them too much and you'll go mad.

[The Royal Kingdom of Quebec]

Episode V : Fix You, and the Pomp

Will Felix ever catch a break from emotional mess he's getting crushed underneath? Well it won't be happening in this episode because that's just not possible for this dude. Frederic is not getting himself into a better situation with his jumbling of balls, and coaches Antoine and Samuel reminisce their old days as an undergraduate in very same buildings, under the pressures of early-season trainings.

What is going on?

After the horrible Friday he's had to go through, Felix is back home to his mum and brother. With his father, Dr. Yang, far away in Saint John as an university professor, and his brother entering his junior year of high school, Felix feels great pressure in being the male of this house. His brother, a clear opposite to loud-mouthed Felix, doesn't talk often, so he at times has to serve his role as a verbal companion of his mother in kitchen, meals and other occasions. After his earlier failures he's a bit beat, but handles it somewhat well; failure that night is something his family is better off not hearing about.

At the floor meeting for the week, Liana can't help but to stare at Liana, something that catches the eyes of his roommate Yeong Shik. Quickly the word gets around that Liana's back single in the market, giving his eyes a much-needed green light just as his don, a senior Fine Art student named Emerick, enters the space. The don is very much aware of new tensions happening in the community, and with his background.....both Jordan and Felix could be in for trouble. But for now he ignores and just texts his fiancee back in Handon.

Emerick is starting to show his interesting presence as well, as he accidentally bumps into Felix, who is found waiting Marie for dinner after her class in Namdo Hall. He does not pretend to notice, however, and decides to walk away (before accidentally crashing into Andres. It is found that he is also playing the game RLStates, as a nation Irish Highlands.

Meanwhile, we proceed as few fencers in Mount Ester University, on their reading week, join those in Kirkenes for the practices. Realising strong tensions between them, they don't get along as well. Coach Antoine, noticing this, tell them to mingle with each other and be themselves, not as varsity athletes of their respective institutions and certainly not as contenders in upcoming season. Coach Samuel agrees to this sentiment, giving each of them a special reminder of friendship and being frenemies. Back at his home, Eric asks his father when he plans to be present for Thursday, to which the coach responds that he'll be on a pre-season media session. This does not go well with Eric, who has a parent-teacher's interview that day, and reminds him to reschedule them to the early afternoon.

The very next shot puts us with Frederic, who wakes up topless with sun shining right in his face. In class, he receives a project in his resource management class, which requires groupwork. Frederic, in immediate notice, asks Haleigh and asks if she's interested in working him for the presentation and maybe hit a joint or two. She, after a hesitation, agrees to it. This may mean nothing right now for the hard-going Frederic, but who knows what could happen. Later that day, on the dinner at East campus cafeteria, they are bumped by a couple of his friends on the team, Felix and Julien, who ask what's up to the company before sitting down.

At the hospital, good things are happening : Ellie's date of surgery's now decided, with exactly a week to spare. Amidst the calls of her parents who are claiming that it may be too late in race against the time, Alain has to remind people that everything will be fine and that god will be present for her in darkest of times like right now. When moved to the new ward, Ellie and we get to meet Vincent Joplin, a long-time veteran with many stories of war and coping back in 1st Acadianan and Bakongan Civil Wars. They get along somewhat well, as Vincent tells him of his old times. Though he may look different, we get to realise that he is still a father, a husband, and a patriot.

We then roll to Marianne Dalembert, whose growing responsibilities and expectations hit with the circumstances. She is first seen eating lunch in the athletics and recreations centre with Nicolas Amoroso-Veteto, before reading a letter from her mother in the war zone. Nicolas is certainly understanding of the grief, though he questions a lot on the validity of this war and whatnot. Later in the dinner we see Marianne reading her letter to the grandfather, who asks her when Mona will be home over the Skype. Sergeant Mona says 'as long as they need me', before they talk of the new coach, whom she's heard of before. It's found out then that sergeant Mona's had a cousin who were also in Domhnalls with both Samuel back in 90s. She informs him to make sure to be careful with the Mount Ester coach, given his tempers.

The very next shot then gives Frederic and Felix eating lunch together, constantly texting their respective friends of Haleigh and Thalia. As we see in subsequent montages, they seem to be on full steam with trying to develop the relationship. Of course there is still Frederic skyping Gabriela, who's feeling more lonely and lonely back home, while Felix is starting to find Marie quite...eye-catching or cute or whatever you call that. With that Frederic and Andres teases about Felix being shy in dinner tables, to which Felix has to agree on.

Now we go forward by a day. Over in the piste, coach Antoine is giving a 1-on-1 session to Marianne with Samuel present. With this not going particularly well, and her seeming to struggle with the pace of the practice, Antoine lashes out at his captain for not putting her head in the game and that she needs to not think about whatever that may be ahead. When it seems like this may go too far, however, coach Samuel scolds him and separate the two - before informing him that they'll switch on who to coach because right now is not the time to do so. Marianne says nary a word in middle of all this - she does, however, prove her worth in front of coach Samuel, leading to much-intrigued Julien and Felix praising the coach.

Later that night is just a group gathering night for those in both Kirkenes and Mount Ester, at coach's house. Like expected, there's lots of people, willing to know each other outside of practices and in a little bit of group setting. It is not an easy attempt for sure, because of how many times both coaches have met in national stage for last decade, but it surprisingly goes well. There is a cute scene in which Mount Ester freshman Irene is trying to talk to high schooler Eric, and Andres with somebody 3 years his age. Drunk and faded, the awkwardness in the way they try to present themselves as witty is hilarious.

Oh Eric, Coach Antoine thinks as him and coach Samuel take a walk outside. Right in the water, they reminisce back to the days when they were the undergraduate themselves; Samuel was reckless and obsession-driven half the time while Antoine was a total psycho. Then they look at their own situations and find that even after all those years, they are no different from each other in terms of challenges they go through. Antoine's divorced from and then lost his ex-wife to cancer, leaving him with just his elderly parents in Campbellton and his young son, and Samuel coaches in Mount Ester while his wife and 3 children are still in Ottawa. They lament to each other's fates and lights a cigarette.

All of sudden, an accidental skirmish occurs between the fencers. Soon, a small fight breaks out, causing both coaches to receive calls. They immediately head back to find the small-scaled fight happening and had to break the men from fighting and be dismissed.

Very next morning, Felix heads to his French class severely bruised. He notices that Marie is finally here after being away for about a week. With familiar face, he asks her what is up, only to find out that her grandmother died so she, coming from a very close-knitted family, had to head home for funeral the last 5 days. Felix, understanding the grief due to his grandfather's passing a year and half ago, comforts her with words, though not feeling sure if that worked or not.

At the very next evening practice, coach Antoine make both teams run for 2 laps between Main and East Campus, in coach Samuel's command until they get that done. But that's okay, for nobody knows....right? Well that's not how it exactly goes.

Frederic is in Haleigh's room, with him, the host and the Andres-Felix duo high together. He, out of bad conscience, tells her that something's keeping him awake after all this time. What can this possibly mean? But right now's not the time to say anything risky because Andres, who was way too drunk to remember of him starting the fight, gets a rude welcoming when he gets the response in the door. It was the very same dude whose girlfriend accidentally hooked up with (and the dude whom he also insulted!). He immediately closes the door but the lad broke through, causing a massive mess and a fight for a next while.

Fortunately enough that's it for those from Mount Ester, as it finally hit the Quebecois thanksgiving weekend. Those from Mount Ester heads back to their respective homes after one last practice with the team, and they leave with good memories and friendships made....barring Andres. Now we get to see the end of the episode with Felix in commencement ceremony back home. He meets his old school friends, most of whom are off to STEM-related programs in universities out west or in their hometowns of Kingston. Felix mentions a bit about this girl he's been texting often and tells to his friends that he'll ask her out once back. Of course, a good friend of hers warn him about her not being interested into him, but he somewhat ignores that for now. Our episode gives one last shot of Felix, after a couple of runs in restaurants, crashes into his bed.

Quotes of the Episode

"Forget everything, Forget whatever you have in your mind and focus on the piste! Rule 418!"
- Coach Antoine Kim -

"There comes the time when you wonder of other options and things it would've redirected me to. But isn't it too late to contemplate about such things, when we're already way too drifted into separated directions?"
- Coach Samuel Park -


What Worked

• I loved the scene between the quiet volcano of Marianne Dalembert, who is going to be challenged by the coach Antoine on purpose, and the coach Samuel - it reminded me of new dynamics possibly sprouting between top programs of Kirkenes and Mount Ester.

• Mattiheu Konstantidis continues to impress as Coach Samuel and Yoo Seok Park had a couple of impressive scenes as the coach and administrator with impressing vibe not detected from earlier. There is certainly very fast development with character background and whatnot, all the more so when you consider that it is the parallels of past and present for coaches Ahn and Yi in real time, but is done well with enough holes for the viewers to stay tuned for the rest of the series.

• The title sequence. It's very unusual for the series to have different title sequence rolling in middle of the season, and the change today worked very well to surprise me. It captured everything, from what you expect to get to a couple of surprises you might get or not. Today's one included the pomp and circumstance tune playing behind the theme song as a counter, an unique experiment alluding to the content of the episode, while montages of shouts, old photos and so on count for the rest.

What Didn't

• The ending. Everything was going up and up and boom. You had to end it just as he crashes into the bed. It would've been better if the plot was compacted to perhaps push to finish at the very scene where he is about to get out of the cafeteria and see his friend....don't worry guys, you'll get what I mean by the time next episode rolls around on your home video set.

General Thoughts

"This, for me, is more of an episode particularly reflecting. We all have those moments when we come back and realise that so many things you've shared with a friend, it's there but not there at the same time. Both coaches Antoine and Samuel are passionate but also lonely beings, both forced by the circumstances, so that's where the best parts of the episode came from. We also get to see the students getting driven to further moments of complications and insanity, which I approve wholeheartedly of. One of better episodes this season."

[Brenecia]

The Patriots were lucky. And it shouldn't have taken luck from 3-0 up at half-time.

Things started well! Very well! Within three minutes, Ursula Rankin had been played through by a great pass from Skorupska and opened up her stance well to rifle a shot past Byrne into the intersection of crossbar and post. A perfect start.
One that Rankin would immediately double down on. Byrne saved well from her bullet header in the seventh minute and she should have done better to score in the 10th as Osarius desperately tried to settle and reassert control. Finally, they seized back their dominance of possession, and it wasn't long before the game started to look like everyone expected. When Aaliyah Johnson rifled a powerful shot home, it felt about right.
Only she was about a metre offside, and then two minutes later, Gentile made an uncharacteristic slip with his first touch. Skorupska dashed onto it, marched onward past her teammate Zapata and then, without enough pressure on her, smashed the ball into the net from just outside the box.
2-0 up was crazy. 3-0, when Purrington swept in a corner and Scrivener rose above the lot to nod it home past a scrambling Chelsea Byrne, was flattering. But the blue side of the crowd was in raptures.

All the Patriots needed to do was sit on it and wait for the three points. Just defend cleanly for 45 minutes, ready to pounce on the break.

That didn't happen, of course, because it was Brenecia.

Aaliyah Johnson was a threat to any team in the world, no matter how much the Patriots had improved defensively, and every time she picked up the ball the Brenecians in the crowd swallowed nervously. Because she did things like lash things against the outside of the post with her first touch in the 48th minute with the defence flat-footed and Woodgate stranded. Because she did things like nutmeg Scrivener and then get called back for an incidental elbow to Bradden's head. And because she did things like actual scissor-kicks in response to stimuli like seamless Monroe crosses, and pull a goal back for the Firebirds.
But that's fine. That's 3-1.

It stopped being fine in the 68th minute, just when the Patriots thought they were at the calm after the storm. They'd managed to wrest back a measure of control in midfield and the switch of Drover in for Purrington had helped, now that there was someone who actually covered her defensive yards. And it was one of those defensive yards that saw her cut off a promising attack from Gentile, by the direct method of hacking down his shins. Professional, no malice. She got a yellow and Osarius had a free kick... 25 yards... away from goal...
It may not have been, in hindsight, the right decision. Probably not before, and definitely not after Ryan Watson thumped it into the top corner, Woodgate yet again utterly without a chance.

More chances rained down on Woodgate's goal, but something had changed. Woodgate was, suddenly, invincible - making save after scrambling, inelegant save, nothing eyecatching but a number of dashing one-on-ones stifled, two-fisted smashing the ball into the ground. The substitute Urso's first touch of the game was a thunderous shot straight down Woodgate's throat and you'd best believe he caught it and collapsed gratefully on the ball, milking enough seconds clutching it in his hands that he was booked for time-wasting.
But the goal was coming.
It just... didn't happen at the right end.
Woodgate again, as it happened - a powerful kick out to the right wing that released Squire Trevelyan, who trapped it on his chest and rounded Simpson - not a natural leftback and in any case not a match for the physical beast that Trevelyan represented. Constantini and Bianchi, pressing high up the pitch, turned and sprinted desperately back for goal... Trevelyan ran harder and faster. Before Byrne, totally stranded, could even come out to challenge the one-on-one he lashed it into the net, and went straight for the corner flag to celebrate his victory. The rest of the side mobbed him.

Five minutes left, plus extra time... but the goal had broken the Firebirds' spirit. Then it was just extra time.
And then the final whistle.
Blue shirts sank gratefully - hell, almost in disbelief - to the ground. Red shirts did the same, but distinctly less relieved. They had it all to do, now. Shirts were swapped all around the ground, deep red for navy blue. The big names had been toppled by the new pretenders.
Plenty of soul-searching for Osarius to do, while the Patriots would be terrified at the way they almost threw away their victory in the second half. But no matter what the inquest revealed, there was one thing for sure - they'd put on a hell of a show for the neutrals.

If Raven Cullen had learned a lesson about complacency, she wasn't showing it judging by the squad selection against Ficiscia, one with almost the entire squad turned over and eight changes made in all. Woodgate; Uffington, Scrivener (with the armband), Bradden, Hourihane; Balliol, the interesting choice of Duguid, Drover; Bowditch, Lynch, Fallon.
If they screwed this up, there was going to be hell to pay.

[Barunia]

It had not been the result anyone in the Suns were expecting, and there were a lot of broken hearts and minds in the dressing room. How had they just lost to Savalen? This was meant to be their time. There had been a sense, a felling in the air, that this could have been their time. Some of them, privately, could almost feel the World Cup in their hands. There was just the feeling that this was going to be the year that Barunia finally won a football competition. Now, those same people could feel the World Cup slipping through their fingers.

Perhaps the news of Joric's retirement had knocked the team sideways. The coach had informed the player's in the dressing room about half an hour before kick-off. The mood was stunned silence. Rumours of Ruskin's impending retirement had been floating around since World Cup 73, but somehow it had never eventuated. Joric was the team's stalwart, their talisman, their lucky charm.

He was the captain of the Baptism of Fire team, before he famously led the side in their first World Cup qualifier, in what would be his last ever game. His sudden departure after that left the team in disarray, and it was his reappearance near the end of qualifiers, a wounded soldier, that spurred the team on to reach the play-offs. In 65 and 66 he had a new role as assistant coach under Stephen Wiggens, before taking over the reigns in 67. One World Cup game as a player, several hundred as coach. This was Joric's story - a bright future, cut short by war, reclaimed as a glittering and long career as a leader from the wings. Now it was time for the curtain to fall on this performance, one last time.

Not, however, until they were out of the World Cup. That might be sooner rather than later after the loss to Savalen, which means the Suns' future is a lot less certain. Even less certain is their future further ahead. The word is that the BFA put out the call for a replacement weeks ago, but so far have received no reply. Perhaps the official announcement will spark more interest in the position, or else the Suns could find themselves not just without Ruskin as coach, but with no-one as coach.

[Port Christopher]

To see the Christopheran players walking around at the end of the match, you would have thought they'd won it. Applauding their small but loyal band of supporters, after another odds defying result in world football. It meant a lot to these players not to go home empty handed, and a result against one of the foremost sides in world football would be something that they could all carry with them for a while. It was difficult to say exactly what the next cycle would bring, whether or not this success would mean their problems would go away; but whatever happened, the players had won a point against Audioslavia.

Jim Reid had to be honest, his side were getting pretty good at this defending stuff. Objectively speaking, as a former striker, he wouldn't like to have gone up against them. In thirteen competitive matches they had now only lost once, and that was by a single goal to San Jose Guayabal. Not bad for a bunch of rejects - not bad at all.

The group was still pretty open too. Obviously the result against SJG didn't help in terms of the head to head, but a win over Abanhfleft, and a big favour from their matchday one opponents could still see them through. Whatever the result, it was the experience that many of the players would cling to. Just being here, in the world's premier sporting competition, was an experience many of them thought they would never have.

---

It was an interesting mix of emotions for Aredhel Neil, as she made her way from the pitch, after a near lap of honour. In many ways she felt like an outsider, having returned to the team after a leave of absence. She had not been part of this incredible journey despite starting the first match of the campaign against Nuevo Caracas, and had missed much of the excitement during which these relationships had been forged. She couldn't really complain about starting on the bench in two matches here at the finals, to be perfectly honest, she thought that Jim Reid had actually handled that well. She couldn't take anything away from the guys and girls who had got them to this stage, but if she could come on and take some of the pressure off their tired legs, then she'd give it 100 percent.

The match hadn't been the best for the strikers, not in the sense that they had been misfiring, but they hadn't had many clear-cut chances on goal. The best opportunity of the match had fallen to Rachel Del Arro, who maybe regretted going it alone now, but when she got a sight on goal there was only one thing on her mind. For her this tournament had been a big turning point in her career as an internationalist, and she was bursting with confidence. In a side that weren't particularly attack minded or creative, it was certainly easy to stand out going forward. Had she but looked to her left and seen the run of Tony Uist, then who knows what the outcome might have been. Of course de Snaaijer might have saved it, but there is always a chance.

'Well played Ari.' Tony said as his old Blue Coast teammate Aredhel Neil came within vocal distance, as they trooped of the pitch at the Volatus Millennium Stadium. The two of them went back a long way, both twenty-eight, they had come through the youth team at the same time.

'Well for all of twenty minutes.' Aredhel conceded with a smile. She normally occupied a more attacking role, but she had had little opportunity to get out of her own half in the match. 'Back's to the wall stuff has never been my forte.' She added humbly.

'Hah! Me neither,' replied Tony, bumping shoulders with her as they fell into stride. 'Kind of ironic given that we play for Port Christopher, but I suppose we must be doing something right.'

Aredhel merely smiled, her gaze falling to her feet for a second. She was still embarrassed about her absence during qualification, and was keen to change the topic. 'So I hear you're on the move?' She asked him, knowing fine well that he was on the transfer list.

'Aye.' He replied, grave, yet somehow upbeat at the same time. 'I'll be genuinely sad to leave the Fhulghamous Peninsula like. I've been there a while, and it was home.' He raised his hands before letting them flap down to his waist. 'But I wasna getting a game or that. The agent thinks its the right move, and I suppose he's right.'

Aredhel smiled, looking interested. 'Any ideas where you'd like to go? There must have been a bit of interest after the goals you scored on the way here.'

Tony nodded slowly. 'Maybe a bit of initial interest from Brenecia apparently, but at this stage it could easily be nothing.'

'But still... A-League would be alright, no?' She prompted them, as they headed up the tunnel.

'Of course.' Tony shook a little positivity into his speech, as it was silly to seem down beat. 'I'm just saying it's early days yet, and, well... Ach ye know me Ari, I'm never one to get carried away.'

'I know you're not.' She said sympathetically as they joined up with their teammates. 'But we are at the World Cup, I think this are one of the rare occasions where it's okay.'

[Krytenia]

Life, they say, is what you make it.

It was a thought that had been running through Armando Ortega's head for a good long while. Sure, he had the skills - and he knew it - but he knew, too, that there was a crushing expectation on his shoulders. It had been there since he was sixteen, and it wasn't getting any lighter. True, Armando's will was as strong as iron, but still...he did wonder what would have become of him had he not been blessed with a preternatural talent for the beautiful game.

But now was not the time for such musings. He looked up, the dressing room around him empty. Armando often came to the dressing room early, musing to himself and visualising the game to come in quiet solitude. It helped him focus, and today he felt he would need that focus. A make-or-break game against Savalen was less than an hour away and he needed to be on top form.

His reverie was broken, for now, by the sound of an opening door and the chatter of voices. His team-mates entered, and he scanned their expressions. Valrauncion, indecipherable as usual. Alfie, the look of murder in his eyes. He'd be up for the game. Jaime, laughing and joking. For now. Devon...nervous. He felt that loss to Valladares was his fault. It's OK, though; Mitch is having a word.

Armando pulled on his orange number ten jersey, and returned to his reverie. Today would be his day.

[Ceni]

Cutoff for the last MD of WC Finals group stage!

[Northern Sunrise Islands]

1-1.
Turori's run at the 76th World Cup had been a disaster.
The lone single grace would be drawing a point against the Sunrisians.
USI didn't take the game that seriously, even if a loss would make their qualification hard as Chiata could get in with a win just as much, but Mihashi Chiyo decided to give it a shot.
Kurosawa held the ball, looking around the field. Five seconds. Mallena von Kraus stopped near the box, whistling. Four seconds. The Turorian front was already near the middle of the field. Three seconds. Amaterasu rose the ball, but still kept on her hands. Two seconds. It seemed like she was on the way to punt the ball hard. One second. Her feet barely kicked the ball, making it go up but remain in place.
Mallena took the initiative, kicking the ball as it got closer to the field, kicking it over her shoulder, finding the chest of Hari Al-Yossei. Hari kept walking with the ball until somewhere near the middle, passing it back to Mallena as he found a Turorian on his way, a certain Mirana Gotuai.
Mallena kept the ball, looking to both sides. As Mirana came after her, she returned the ball to Hari, who then punted it to the other side of the field, managing to reach Hope Redwing. Redwing's way was easier, the right side of the field somewhat scrambled at the Turorian defense. As another forward finally was on his way to reach her, she rolled it to Dustin Ambrose who passed back to Mallena. von Kraus took the chance and ran with it a couple of steps until passing it to Canindé, who played improvised up the Defensive Mid spot.
He was curious, finding himself circled by Turorian markers. The first one tried to kick the ball off his feet, only to kick air as Canindé dragged the ball back. The other one tried a more upfront tackle, only for that to be dodged as well. Canindé at last lunged to the side before passing it the other way, reaching Lady.
Lady had a clear way out at first, but soon she too was nearly overrun with defenders, thus choosing to do a forward pass to Joan-Kasumi Carvalho-Nagatomo.
There was an interesting air about Joan-Kasumi, one of the call-ups from the U21s. She didn't even expect to be called up but alas, there she was. And for the adopted child of two former NTers, she wasn't bad, to say the least.
Joan-Kasumi ran against Laina-Sola before doing a faint dribble to the right.
There were two ways she could've done this.
She knew a shot that would've caught Disterfred II in surprise, but hitting that would've been hard. Not impossible, just hard.
The other one was to get inside the box... where she'd probably get hammered down by a defender. Not really the best choice.
Thankfully, there was a third one. Kike and June Gardot were almost inside the box. Joan-Kasumi took a breather, shooting the ball over the box. The ball tipped the head of Kike and finally reach June as she booted the ball in.
That play took about five minutes.
The Sunrisians won 2-1. Time to face Nephara.

---

"Oh, for Déesse's sake! You're still playing?"
Sunrise had been playing chess with Chrom for the last two hours.
"Look, if you wanted to play against someone, we could've turned on the SnoGa Avalanche!"
"Just I$ 90,00 for the rest of November."
"And I$ 95,00 for the entirety of December."
Qasden slid in from another room, looking at nothing-ness as if it was the Fourth Wall.
"...SNO-GA~!"
Kitsunia looked around, hands on her hips.
"Was that an ad?"
"I'm just practicing, dear. I want to be in top shape against Nephara."
"You're facing him again?"
"Yeah. I guess whoever did the draw really likes our battles."
"Well, the odds of you facing him again on a Round of 16 were about 1/16. Not that massive of an impossibility."
"...True."
"And you're both competent, after all."
"I know you'll do fantastically well!"
"If you say so. But I'm still taking care on the strategy field."
"Hence why he's playing chess with me."
"But you're a nut! How is that hard?"
"He's kicking my ass. 20-0."
"..."
"He said it's like playing against you at Furyfist."
"Except I don't get a reward at the end."
Kitsunia looked at the small Qasden roaming around the room, before staring at Sunrise.
"Not in front of the kid!"
"I didn't specify, did I?"
Chrom nodded.
"21-0. Check-mate."
"Damn. Where did you get all this smarts?"
"Told you. All from the cleansing thing."
"Maybe we could have some lunch now? I mean, you've been playing him for the entire morning."
"Fair enough. Do you think you could clean it all up, Chrom?"
He shrugged.
"Do it and I'll cook some mayo for you as well."
"..."
"What's the matter? Don't like it anymore?"
"...What's mayo?"
"...What."
"Clean the game up and you'll find out at lunch."

Qasden stumped across an old book.
"The Tale of Sir Sunrise of the Sky?"
She dragged the rather heavy book to Sunrise, who was still cooking.
He took a break, looking at the cover.
"Oh, that's about a relative of mine from the early sixteenth century. Sir Sunrise of the Sky, one of the Lions of the Esportivan Commonwealth."
"Huh. Didn't know you descended from a Sir."
"Yeah. He's probably one of our greatest past relatives... I mean, with competition like Madam DuBeaux, I don't think there's really a whole lot of challenge for that."
"I wanna learn about him!"
"Heh."
"It's a nice story, but... I'm kind of cooking here."
Kitsunia nodded.
"Let me read it for you then."
She took the book and sat with the child at the couch. Chrom popped up from behind the couch.
"Gak!"
"...I wanna learn about it as well."
"..."
"..."
"...Fine."

---

The year was 1576 and the three Lions of Esportiva sat at a table.
Their names were San Jose of the Thunder, Nephara of the Sea and, the one we're following in this story, Sunrise of the Sky.
"I think it's clear why I've called this reunion."
"Make it quick, for I have other affairs to attend."
Sunrise of the Sky was reading a book, quickly staring to the two after finding the room's silence.
"Oh... Ahem... Yes, follow on."
Sunrise of the Sky was an absent-minded knight, having being promoted as a Lion late to fill in the spot of Sir Apox of the Storm.
"I doubt the new leader, Empress Mikoto, is the right one for our land."
"An outrage!"
"I beg your pardon?"
"Mikoto shall lead us to an unprecedented height! We're on the way to World Conquest, San Jose. Remember that."
"And at what cost? Joining the likes of the Changers in history as warmonger blood-drinkers?"
"Sunrise, tell him!"
Sunrise of the Sky was again reading a book.
"Sunrise!"
"Uh... What is it?"
"Denounce Mikoto!"
"Embrace Mikoto!"
"...Who's Mikoto?"
"The New Empress!"
"That dictator..."
"Uh... That's who won the elections?"
"Yes."
"Uh... She looks... young for her position, I guess?"
"...What?"
"She's about as old as Brenecia, isn't she?"
"What relevance does that have?"
"Dunno... I didn't vote, actually."
"What were you doing that day?"
"I was playing something with the Yerfilag merchants. Really lame sport, actually."
"...Lame?"
"Not fun."

---

"He... wasn't very sharp, was he?"
Sunrise finished settling down the lunch table, laughing.
"Don't let his game fool you. Sunrise of the Sky was a brilliant warrior, a sharp navigator, a bright scholar and a tactical legend. Additionally, he loved dealing with the merchants and the monarchs but avoided war like the plague."
"So he was stubborn about war?"
"To the point of playing dumb."
"But... Why Sunrise of the Sky if he was a sharp navigator?"
"He didn't use anything to guide himself aside from the sky. Even at cloud or rainy days, he knew where he was going all times. Even at the sea."
"Also, what's the Esportivan Commonwealth?"
"Esportivan Commonwealth. Preceeded by the Esportivan Kingdom and the Astyrian Kingdom, Succeeded by the Twelve Republics and the New Astyrian Kingdom. Lasted from 1439 to 1676. A state formed following the victory of the Esportivan wars at the Second War of Esportivan Agression, it was often under turmoil at the southern parts with Southern Esportivans often trying to subjugate the Astyrians. The situation would often endanger the union with many figures keeping it from exploding via proper judgment. Alas, it fell to the economical crisis of 1674, resulting in twelve small republics as a result. A New Astyrian Kingdom would be formed and it would never have to deal with any of the former Esportivan Kingdom lands until its' own demise at the 1800s."

---

Sunrise of the Sky returned, finding his staff already at the door of his house.
"...Hi, guys?"
Sunrise's party included beast-tamer Dainer, mage Kitsunia, scout Hakifao, apprentice Lisander (who ended up mute after popping a blood vessel near his vocal cords), chef Equestrian States and minstrel Matthewsiania.
"Sir! It's good you finally arrived!"
"I've seen a powerful sword on my magical orb, milord."
"You know you can just call me Sunrise, right?"
"We would rather keep our formal treatment before we cause loss of face of yours, sir."
"Actually, sir, an envoy from the Empress brought us the news that both Nephara of the Sea and San Jose of the Lightning have left after the fabled sword Gaiatheia."
"But my magical orb predicted it minutes earlier!"
"Did not."
"Did so!"
"Did not."
"Did so!"
"Did not."
"Did so!"
"Did not."
"Did so!"
"Did not."
"Did so!"
"Enough! I got it. Gaiatheia. Big strong sword."
"If we leave today, we might arrive at the latest sighting of the sword."
"The Great Line."
"Or like normal people would say, the Town of St. Margaret."
"The Great Line."
"St. Margaret."
"The Great Line."
"St. Margaret."
"The Great Line."
"St. Margaret."
"The Great Line."
"St. Margaret."
"Enough!"

---

"That cast is starting to look rather peculiar."
"Some names are familiar, I guess."
"It's like it was on purpose, isn't it?"
Sunrise shrugged, taking a bite out of his lunch.
The others finally joined him.
"Maybe we can read more later, don't you think?"
"Yeah. You can't read forever without food in your tummy, ain't it?"
"Alright, daddy!"
"...You can just call me Sunrise."

[San Jose Guayabal]

After summarizing the key details of the 1932 Peasant Uprising and war that lasted for a week in the western side of San José Guayabal, there continues to be a lot of chapters of the Guayabalense history where wars happened and most of us, Guayabalenses, don’t know it, which is something weird since it’s our own history and knowing it is a fundamental part of our collective identity as a whole, denying it might lead into forgetting it and being vulnerable to repeat it without being aware of it, I’m basing this words in a popular Guayabalense idiom “The one who doesn’t knows his history, is condemned to repeat it” repeating war would be a disaster and a push back in our plans to improve even more as society and would destroy our process of integration into a globalized world which is full of opportunities that we can take advantage of it for our well-being. It’s an implicit mission that I have by writing this book, my mission is to inform people of what we have suffered before and why it happened, how we solved it and make ourselves aware of that mistakes made before in order to prevent our nation to fall back in one of those potholes, it’s now up to you, dear reader, if you want to know your history or if you want to be condemned to repeat it and destroy all the progress we have made after the fall of communism.

Talking of communism, now it’s time to talk about another happening which involves this ideology (I must clarify that I’m not an anti-communist nor I have feelings towards them, politics and ideologies doesn’t helps me to exist nor gives me money to defend that) and it was the fall of a communist regime that governed San José Guayabal for a period of seven years, casually, this communist regime wasn’t created during a revolution, it’s one of the few communist governments that got the power democratically and not violently, the Communist Party of San José Guayabal was led by Julio Serrano, who was not the traditionally brutal and repressive leader of a communist party, he was some sort of… National Communist, who wanted to put our nation image above everything in order to show the world that Communism can do wonders if used adequately, not as used in other nations that abuses of human rights and wants to ruin the personal success and merits made of everybody else. We can’t doubt the role that Serrano had during the war against Corvidae and the conquering of the South Pole for San José Guayabal, giving us an appreciated amount of resources that continues to help us economically until today, killing the Yttribian president in that time and killing that fascist regime, no matter which was the country under that regime, Serrano attacked them and he was effective in intervening on the fall of all the Corvidae governments of Esportiva. Despite this, the sweet days of good relationships of Serrano and the Guayabalense populace didn’t had a good ending though, it had a sort of a civil war that lasted for one month, lots of causalities but the beginning of a new shiny path.

Everything started after the attack of the Guayabalense army to Yttribia and the assassination of Porter Augustin, the president of the fascist regime that destroyed Yttribia in the literal sense of the word; people wasn’t happy with the government in their desperate attempts to act as a sort of “Esportivan Police” and leaving San José Guayabal abandoned-. The economy was falling apart after moving a big part of the GDP into the armed forces while the welfare and investment in other vital areas of San José Guayabal decreased enormously, causing a sensation of displeasure against the government and people had to act in one way, protesting against the government. The first manifestation happened in the early morning of the 26th of June of 2047, when at least two million people gathered in front of the Communist Party headquarters and threw Molotov cocktails, rocks and even set on fire two members of the Politburo, police didn’t arrived until three hours later, when the HQs were almost burned down and three members of the politburo were into the casualties, the emotions among the people were growing up in shape of tension and anger towards the current government, simultaneously in El Roblar, citizens forces El Roblar mayor to go to the main square, where he was executed by hanging due to the order of a “Civil Society Organization” that wanted to clean the nation of corruption and other problems that were ravaging the nation and needed to be solved urgently.

Those two manifestations made the government to take action and start repressing people with anti-disturbing units, water cannons, pepper gas, and sounds that can cause damage to the ears in order to disperse people but it was totally unexpected a violent reaction from the army that decided to reveal against Serrano, it was a surprising move since they were being beneficiated by the relocation of funds in the Serrano’s regime, the coronel of the army in that time, Hernán Guevara said that “It’s our debt to help the people and the republic when our main values are on risk of being altered or violated.” Hence the action was taken by part of the army suddenly. Attacks made by the air force on the main regional headquarters of the Communist Party left at least 3,000 deaths in the first week of conflicts, while people from El Roblar and the entire western zone of San José Guayabal continued their march towards San Salvador, liberating every little village they arrived, though there were problems in the village of Quebrada Seca, where the citizens, with army support spotted in the mountains a group of communist defenders. The battle of Quebrada Seca had especial significance since the place was meant to be some sort of bastion for communists due to the strategic location of the village on the top of the mountain range between Ramírez and Piedra Labrada, controlling almost everything, from transport to who were around the village. As it was common during this war, night attacks were the most used and the citizens started by burning down the village’s municipal government building and taking the major of the place as hostage, killing all the witnesses and the houses near the building, the communists reacted and killed at least 200 persons who were asleep near the outskirts of the village to “protect” the citizens from any kind of aggression or attempt to attack them, the group of communists advanced near the town hall but in that moment, a truck full of soldiers arrived and started shooting all the members of the communist party without mercy, at least 250 deaths were reported in the attack and the city of Quebrada Seca was now under control of the citizens and the army.

The progress made by the soldiers and the citizens was being fast and strong, the communist-loyal militias had little to no chance against them during the first two weeks of combat, the government lead by Serrano decided to take a plan into action :Asking for support to other communist nations in order to control the “rebels on the service of the oligarchy”, members from countries such as Bulgar Rouge and even from Gregoryisgodistan were suspected to be involved into the task force made by the government in order to control the rebellion, it was a bad move, a fatidic one since people were now truly convinced that Serrano was able to do anything in order to stay in power, this led to a series of demonstrations in the main squares of almost every city, people had already woken up against the cruel government led by Serrano, though a cruel happening occurred on the morning of the 3rd day of July. Communist militias attacked all the demonstrations nationwide, killing at least 30,000 people in a single day, the strategy: Intimidation against those who were planning to stand against the government, to stop people in their attempt in order to seek for a better life, a better future for them and their families. International organizations were planning to seek peace in San José Guayabal, but Serrano’s government rejected every call to attempt to reach a peace treaty that could have finished the war and seek for a better solution for our country, hopes of peace were slowly banishing and millions of people saw in violence and war as the only way to seek for a change before our nation could have collapsed.

The massacre in the main squares of practically all the cities and villages of San José Guayabal also moved the citizens and army to seek support from international forces that could give some help in the mission to overthrow Serrano, volunteers coming from Chiata, Royal Kingdom of Queébec, Hodori and Jeckland supported in the cause, sending batallions of their armies in order to do an effort to capture San Salvador and force Serrano to leave the presidential seat as fast as possible. The strategy remained untouched, attacking every village that might had remnants of communist militias, burning their houses or shooting them without mercy was the common factor of this kind of attacks, which grown exponentially during the third week of war, as they were getting closer to San Salvador and taking important cities such as El Roblar, Yucuaiquín, Moncada, Sonsonate and little parts of the outskirts of San Salvador. On the last week of fights, we were witnesses of one of the fiercest battles, if not the fiercest in Guayabalense history: The battle of San Salvador. The movements around the outskirts of San Salvador started around 17:34 of July 6th, the situation was getting complicated for the civilians that didn’t wanted to get involved on the fight due to fear towards the government or not having enough confidence related to the “rebel movement”, first battles occurred near Soyapango, 30 kilometers away from San Salvador, where at least 17,500 civilians lost their life by being on crossfire and not having the white flag indication that they were civilians, village by village, the citizens advanced and the government attacked the citizens positions with powerful artillery and weapons while the citizens counterattacked or sent some of their members through other pats in order to reach the center of San Salvador and then getting positions near the government palace, awaiting for the moment to leave the secret hiding place and attack Serrano.

The police and militias were being defeated since the “rebels” had better technology, better ways to attack and more members, constantly, bombers were attacking strategical points of San Salvador and even the presidential palace by dropping bombs that might have scarred Serrano, part of the presidential palace was destroyed by the action of bombing and artillery used by the army, while some citizens were awaiting for the moment to leave the hiding place and kill Serrano, the strategy to kill him, no matter what was not negotiable, it was pretty much an order to make the country “leave the misery and poverty” and take “a path of prosperity and benefits for every Guayabalense that needed it. And the beginning of the end happened, the last positions of the militia near the palace of the government were liquidated, the soldiers took Serrano out to one of the main squares and the torture started: Waterboarding, lashing, struggle sessions, public humiliation, and more horrible tortures were made in order to force Serrano to declare himself as a “traitor of the homeland.” Something that hadn’t too much sense according to him, but that didn’t forgiven him on what he did with the Guayabalense economy and their weird plans to take control of Esportiva like an abusive madman. Serrano was killed after being electrified with teasers and kicked on his head repeatedly while the people cheered the moment, a cruel moment but something that marked the beginning of a shiny and prosperous new path to San José Guayabal, a path on what we stand currently and we will be for a lot of time, if nobody forgets history and repeats it suddenly causing us more problems without need of having more of those.

[Valanora]

"So do we know anything about the nature of this entity that The Holy Empire will be employing in their match against the Marauders? I do not feel comfortable sending the squad up against something that could be some sort of evil and demonic being, with the Frosticans having a history of employing creatures and constructs of a highly unstable and horrifying origin. That they are able to bend the depths of time, space, and even the very fabric of reality itself to their whim has always been very disconcerting, yet this seems a step beyond even their worst of implementations in the past, with the grand nightmare at least able to be mentally overcome." Tobias asked with a worried expression as he scrolled through the dossier that the Dark Bows provided him on the "Fog Thing" that they knew the Empire would be using in the match.

"As of we can ascertain, it appears to be some sort of divine entity, though its exact origins and intent has been impossible to discern in the short amount of time that we have been afforded to perform reconnaissance on the being. Had we had a few more months instead of mere weeks to observed and researched this being we could perhaps have found out more about the entity, however we were pressed for time given the announcement of the draw and then the match itself. As such, the answers that we were able to ascertain during that time have been substantially limited due to this time limit, though I understand if you feel otherwise, I know you have a high standard for our organization and that this might be seen as a failure to adhere to those high expectations."

Tobias flipped through the binder of information, his eyes narrowing as the pictures of the being were found, his gloved hand slowly tracing a line under the caption of the photograph. "No, I understand that you were under an undue amount of pressure to perform up to the usual standards and what you have provided in these few weeks is more than we could possible have hoped for if left to normal channels. The Frosticans are a bit secretive when it comes to explaining what it is that they use in their squads, as they like to play fast and loose with the rules and limitations that the rest of us being deal with when it comes to assembling squads for these events. Being denizens of the Dreamed Realm may even distort their ability to ascertain what is morally right and what is not, when compared to what the rest of the world has to deal with."

While Tobias would never go so far as to declare those who made the Dreamed Realm their home as particularly evil or filled with ill intent, they seemed more concerned about what they could do rather than the repercussions of what their doing would cause. Perhaps this was how Elune saw the rest of the elves, the same way elves saw humans, to concerned about what they could create and in a rush to push themselves, without first evaluating the risks and consequences of doing so. It was moments like this that Tobias wondered if perhaps being mortal was not the better option, you only had to live out a few decades, or on the rare occasion a century, without having to see the end result of your actions as they rippled through time. That was not something that he nor any of the other elves had the benefit of, nor did the Goddess herself.

"Make the arrangements with the governments of Ceni and Electrum that a group of our priests and priestesses can come and bless the ground as well as put up magical barriers to protect not just our squad but any and all those who decide to come to the match. We must see to the safety of not just ourselves but of all the spectators, for this event has and continues to be a celebration of what can happen when the world comes together. Oh and tell Laborious to give it everything that he has for the match while you are there, we owe those Frosticans a show for all they have given us through the years and coming within a breath of ours and the Starblaydi's record as the best footballing nation of all time. Can't have them come in and trying to edge in on all the glory after all." It was the first time in awhile Tobias had laughed but it did feel quite good to do so.

[Electrum]

In the Hall of the Mountain King: The final day. Will the Mountain King let you pass to the finals?

(note: Next cut-off is 48 hours)

[Chromatika]

By: Jordan Lawless
Guest Panelist: Nikolai Thorben
Guest Panelist: Kéirâ Andìsorì

World Cup 76: Round of Sixteen Preview

Welcome to The Rebel, a new independent sports newspaper by me, Jordan Lawless! Today we are joined by Nikolai Thorben, who has been doing is best to rehab from his compound leg fracture, and by the rising superstar Kéirâ Andìsorì, the goal-scoring machine of the Anomalies. Join us as we preview each of the knockout stage matches, one by one!

Cenian Half

#16 Brenecia vs. #17 Krytenia
@ Estádio International de Santiago, Santiago de Ceni
How they got there: Brenecia qualified first out of Group 19 with 28 points, then qualified first out of Group A with 7 points. Krytenia qualified first out of Group 8 with 33 points, then qualified second out of Group D with 4 points.
Offense: Brenecia: 25 qualifying. 9 proper. 34 total in 15 games. Krytenia: 37 qualifying. 8 proper. 45 total in 15 games. EDGE: Krytenia 2.27:3
Defense: Brenecia: 8 qualifying. 4 proper. 12 total in 15 games. Krytenia: 14 qualifying. 7 proper. 21 total in 15 games. EDGE: Brenecia. 0.8:1.4
The Matchup: Brenecia comes in averaging 0.8 goals allowed per game... Krytenia comes averaging 3 goals scored per game. Something has to give - either Woodgate will dominate behind the post, or Sampson and company will come on top with the goal output... Also important will be the battle of the midfield, as the 4-3-3 of the Patriots faces off against the 4-3-1-2 of the Dragons...
The Pick:
Lawless: The Patriots' defense will be a bit too much for Krytenia to handle. The pairing of Scrivener and Bradden has been magnificent. Their taking down of Nephara in the last Esportivan regional competition has seen the Patriots rise to power, and winning both of their groups for the first time will deem them to be a solid favorite. Brenecia 2-1 Krytenia.
Thorben: Woodgate is a sturdy keeper and more than a match for Krytenia's forwards, but it might be a bit closer than pundits think. I think that Rankin will prove to be the difference-maker here. Brenecia 1-0 Krytenia.
Andìsorì: The Dragons' three goals per game average shouldn't be overlooked. They even almost matched that throughout the World Cup Proper. I think that there will be absolute mayhem and that the Dragons will score enough. Krytenia 4-2 Brenecia.

#3 Audioslavia vs. #5 Eura
@ Southeastern Ceni Stadium, Whitehaven
How they got there: Audioslavia qualified first out of Group 2 with 29 points, then qualified first out of Group C with 7 points. Eura finished second in Group 13 with 27 points and had to beat Kaboomlandia 2-0 on aggregate, then qualified second out of Group B with 6 points.
Offense: Audioslavia: 27 qualifying, 8 proper. 35 total in 15 games. Eura: 34 qualifying, 2 playoffs, 7 proper. 43 in 17 games. EDGE: Eura. 2.33:2.53
Defense: Audioslavia: 8 qualifying, 4 proper. 12 total in 15 games. Eura: 20 qualifying, 0 playoffs, 6 proper. 26 in 17 games. EDGE: Audioslavia. 0.8:1.53
The Matchup: Audioslavia comes in averaging 0.8 goals allowed per game, which is almost twice as good as Eura's 1.53... Eura does have a slight edge on scoring... This is a storied matchup, with both sides seeing much success in the past... Whomever wins this match will be a favorite to reach the semifinal... Eura has had a rough cycle by their standards but sees themselves in a decent position regardless.
The Pick:
Lawless: Ozuna has been as dominant of a keeper as anyone else in the tournament thus far. The Bulls' edge of 2.33 to 0.8 in the goals scored vs goals allowed department is pretty astonishing. Eura is a team you could never count out, but Audioslavia's defense has been fantastic, and Eura is prone to the occasional collapse. In a clash of heavyweights, Audioslavia prevails. Audioslavia 3-2 Eura.
Thorben: You just don't count out Sinclair and Campbell. The Eurans have been a mainstay for years, and I just don't see that ending anytime soon. In fact, I think that they'll make it to the Semifinals, and that the Bulls will be the harder match before they get there. The bedazzling nature of Eura comes through. Eura 3-1 Audioslavia.
Andìsorì: It's a bit crazy to look back at the history of these squads. They are what we are looking to become ourselves. As for the match, I agree with Nikolai, Eura seems to have the umph factor when it comes to key games this tournament. Spartan's magic will work once again. Eura 2-1 Audioslavia.

#10 Valanora vs. #8 San José Guayabal
@ Shadow B'Betsy Stadium, Cenial
How they got there: Valanora qualified first out of Group 4 with 31 points, then qualified first out of Group B with 9 points. San José Guayabal qualified first out of Group 20 with 29 points, then qualified second out of Group C with 4 points.
Offense: Valanora: 33 qualifying. 11 proper. 44 total in 15 games. San José Guayabal: 30 qualifying, 7 proper. 37 total in 15 games. EDGE: Valanora. 2.93:2.47
Defense: Valanora: 15 qualifying, 6 proper. 21 total in 15 games. San José Guayabal: 15 qualifying, 7 proper. 22 total in 15 games. EDGE: Valanora. 1.4:1.47
The Matchup: Both Terrazas and Galadirdren have been decent yet not dominant in the world cup, as both have relied on offenses that have scored on average at least a goal more than they have let in... The Elves continue to excel as the outstanding mainstays... Zelaya leads La Selecta to yet another knockout stage, two years removed from their second place finish... Núñez is one young exciting playmaker...
The Pick:
Lawless: Another matchup of teams in the Top 10. Hawk is one of the greatest players to ever play the game, and should come through in the clutch. The thing of being an Elf is that you have almost an eternity to play football, and the experience that is in the hands of the Marauders can't be understated. Valanora 3-1 San José Guayabal.
Thorben: True, the Marauders have an edge on the experience factor, but La Selecta has been an exciting side to watch in the last couple World Cups. Núñez, Fraser, and Zelaya make too many plays for this team to be denied their spot in the Quarterfinals. The Marauders will be held in check just enough by Salume and Moreira for Terrazas to outplay Galadidren. San José Guayabal 3-1 Valanora.
Andìsorì: C'mon, it's so hard to pick against the Marauders. Hawk has been on form, and so has Fresco and Tathtauré. Sure, La Selecta has some players to keep in check, but the experience will come through, and the Marauders will be looking forward to the Valladar matchup next. Valanora 4-1 San José Guayabal.

#2 Valladares vs. #21 Ceni
@ Lake Cenial Stadium, Cenial
How they got there: Valladares qualified first out of Group 7 with 31 points, then qualified first out of Group D with 9 points. Ceni qualified automatically as hosts, then qualified second out of Group A with 7 points.
Offense: Valladares: 38 qualifying, 6 proper. 44 total in 15 games. Ceni: 10 proper. 10 total in 3 games. EDGE: Ceni 2.93:3.33
Defense: Valladares: 14 qualifying, 3 proper. 17 total in 15 games. Ceni: 6 proper. 6 total in 3 games. EDGE: Valladares 1.13:2
The Matchup: It's hard to judge Ceni and Electrum objectively, given they've only played three games... Roudet's been solid in his matches... Ceni's clip of scoring has been impressive in Proper play, but the Valladar haven't been bad either...
The Pick:
Lawless: Will Ceni be able to make a miracle happen in their capital city? I don't think so. Valladares isn't ranked second in the world for no reason. Brücke and Farías will do their job generating speed, and La Nacional will get out to a big enough lead and coast to a victory. Valladares 3-1 Ceni.
Thorben: Arrowsword is an exciting star just like Kéirâ, but he'll run into trouble with Lescott and company. Valladar defense too good for the upstart Ceni offense. Valladares 2-0 Ceni.
Andìsorì: I believe that home-field advantage matters, and playing hot matters, too. Arrowsword, Koromin, and Xasan will take over the game, and Morales will make some key saves. I believe in the upset. Ceni 3-2 Valladares.

Electrumite Half

#15 Electrum vs. #12 Cosumar
Olympic Stadium, Centralis
How they got there: Electrum qualified automatically as hosts, then qualified first out of Group E with 7 points. Cosumar qualified first out of Group 9 with 28 points, then qualified second out of Group H with 5 points.
Offense: Electrum: 5 proper. 5 total in 3 games. Cosumar: 36 qualifying, 6 proper. 42 total in 15 games. EDGE: Cosumar 1.67:2.8
Defense: Electrum: 2 proper. 2 total in 3 games. Cosumar: 17 qualifying, 5 proper. 22 total in 15 games. EDGE: Elecrum 0.67:1.47
The Matchup: Electrum only conceded two goals in three matches, but just how good is that defense? They haven't faced anything like the Vanquishers... Holding Vilita to a tie was a nice show of strength for Electrum... Cosumar averages almost three goals per game, though that's decreased to two per game in the Proper... Sigler is the true star for Cosumar...
The Pick:
Lawless: Electrum's defense will crumble against the might of the Vanquishers' onslaught, and Worsaw's side will ultimately prevail. Home-field magic won't be enough. Cosumar 4-1 Electrum.
Thorben: I really like what Lemona has been doing in the three games that the home team has been playing. Yes, Cosumar's offense is potent, but Electrum's defense is greater. They'll win a defensive slugfest. Electrum 1-0 Cosumar (OT)
Andìsorì: The magic that Sigler creates with Lilley & Worsaw is breathtaking, and should be able to handle the Electrumite defense without much ado. Cosumar 4-0 Electrum.

#18 Chromatika vs. #7 Royal Kingdom of Québec
@ Fairleigh Field, Fairleigh
How they got there: Chromatika qualified first out of Group 18 with 26 points, then qualified first out of Group G with 7 points. Royal Kingdom of Québec finished second in Group 15 with 26 points, and had to beat Anglatia 7-4 on aggregate, then qualified second out of Group F with 5 points.
Offense: Chromatika: 30 qualifying, 12 proper. 42 in 15 games. Royal Kingdom of Québec: 33 qualifying, 7 playoffs, 8 proper. 48 in 17 games. EDGE: Royal Kingdom of Québec 2.8:2.82
Defense: Chromatika: 10 qualifying, 6 proper. 16 in 15 games. Royal Kingdom of Québec: 20 qualifying, 4 playoffs, 5 proper. 29 in 17 games. EDGE: Chromatika 1.07:1.71
The Matchup: Hetel, van Robben and Dunford will be suspended for this match... Andìsorì is averaging over a goal a match herself... The Grim Reapers' offense is to be feared, but Chromatika's defense has been fantastic... The Anomalies-in-Exile played in Québec this qualifying cycle...
The Pick:
Lawless: The three starters missing will make this a much easier game for the Anomalies in Exile. Watch for Hellion to dominate the middle, and for Kelly and Liam to help make the job easier for Andìsorì. Watch for Niro to come in in the second half for a spark. This will be a good game, but the Anomalies in Exile have their best chance to make it past the Round of Sixteen in a football game for the first time in their existence. Chromatika 4-1 Royal Kingdom of Québec.
Thorben: This will be the toughest match for Nier, though she handled Nephara quite well. Aart and Stef's centerback play will be important, but the suspension of van Robben should help a lot. Chromatika has a huge chance here, and should prevail. Chromatika 3-2 Royal Kingdom of Québec.
Andìsorì: Can I just not comment on this one? I'm happy about where we are at. Sad that HvR won't be playing, would love to compete with her, but we'll take what we can get. I think we can definitely get the win here, and we'll be trying to. I refuse to commit a score.

#1 Unified Sunrise Islands vs. #6 Nephara
@ Sailors Stadium, Port Grenville
How they got there: Unified Sunrise Islands qualified first out of Group 12 with 26 points, then qualified first out of Group F with 7 points. Nephara finished first in Group 10 with 30 points, then qualified second out of Group G with 7 points.
Offense: Unified Sunrise Islands: 28 qualifying, 6 proper. 34 in 15 games. Nephara: 28 qualifying, 8 proper. 36 in 15 games. EDGE: Nephara 2.27:2.4
Defense: Unified Sunrise Islands: 13 qualifying, 3 proper. 16 in 15 games. Nephara: 12 qualifying, 4 proper. 16 in 15 games. EDGE: Even 1.07:1.07
The Matchup: Yes, this is between the two recent World Champions... It's the flair of Unified Sunrise vs. the grit of Nephara... Hargrave fought off Tsattalios to keep the starting job, and has done a decent job save the game against the Anomalies... Couch has been the unsung star for the defending champions... Alcouin remains the greatest threat for The Samba Kids... Scafidis is the main threat of the Cormorants, with Ashdown being the attention-grabber... These two teams are so even on paper, it's insane to try to pick a winner.
The Pick:
Lawless: This is the dream match, too bad it had to occur in the Round of Sixteen. It should be a classy, hard-fought affair. I think that The Samba Kids are out there trying to prove that their last run wasn't a fluke, and they'll have their hands full with the experienced grit of the Cormorants. Look for Amokachi and Scafidis to cause trouble. Nephara 3-1 Unified Sunrise Islands.
Thorben: I think finesse will win over size here. The central midfield of Nephara - Ashdown and Rainsford both over 30 - will have their hands full against Sarracena, Chi-Chan, and Juliano, who are 24, 23, and 24, respectfully. Alcouin and Stabb will convert the opportunities the midfielders create past the weakness that is Westmead, and this will be enough of the edge that The Samba Kids need to come away with the victory. Unified Sunrise Islands 3-2 Nephara.
Andìsorì: I've played Nephara, and know how hard it is to keep up with them for ninety minutes. This will be a test for The Samba Kids' endurance of the beating that the Cormorants can dish out. Ashdown and Rainsford will be able to use their experience as needed, and Gosforth will do his part as Ashdown's replacement as per usual. This will be a game of who blinks first - and Nephara will create enough pressure for Couch to blink first instead of Hargrave. Nephara 2-1 Unified Sunrise Islands.

#4 Farfadillis vs. #13 Vilita
@ Somersville Stadium, Somer
How they got there: Farfadillis qualified first out of Group 11 with 34 points, then qualified first out of Group H with 7 points. Vilita qualified first out of 17 with 26 points, then qualified second out of Group E with 5 points.
Offense: Farfadillis: 36 qualifying, 6 proper. 42 in 15 games. Vilita: 25 qualifying, 5 proper. 30 in 15 games. EDGE: Farfadillis 2.8:2
Defense: Farfadillis: 10 qualifying, 3 proper. 13 in 15 games. Vilita: 12 qualifying, 4 proper. 16 in 15 games. EDGE: Farfadillis 0.87:1.07
The Matchup: Farfadillis is the hottest team in the world at the moment, leading all teams in goal differential with a ridiculous +29, as well as only having one draw in qualifying... Nofzaleiné and Fôx headline an efficient offense for la Vherderoja... Metz is an unheralded hero... The Jungle Cats still hanging on to being a force... Riazen and Eskiiy will be key for them...
The Pick:
Lawless: Would be dumb to bet against Farfadillis here, they're clicking on all cylinders. Look for Nofzaleiné and Fôx to dominate, and Metz to continue his amazing play. Farfadillis 4-0 Vilita.
Thorben: I've been loving the play from Metz. We all knew Farfadillis could score, but now they can defend, too? Röènôùjýâ & co. has been really good keeping Metz clean, and that's allowed the forwards to play with abandon, which is good when you play such free-flowing football like Farfadillis. Farfadillis 4-1 Vilita.
Andìsorì: I think Vilita will give Farfadillis a run for their money. Milake is a hidden gem, I think there's a chance for him to completely stymie Farfadillis. He'll be the MVP. Vilita 1-0 Farfadillis.

[Krytenia]

The Other AO
By Rami Niblick in Whitehaven, Ceni

ARMANDO Ortega is a man with many names. His birth certificate reads Armando Diego Gutierrez Ortega Junior, though his parents call him simply "Manni". To Avidia fans, he is "Supermando", and after this virtuoso display against Savalen, he has a new moniker: "El Salvador" - the saviour. Krytenia's number ten was simply unplayable against the men in white, the Savs' slogan #SavMeMaggie perhaps set to change to #SpareMeManni. Rauno Liikanen in particular will be having nightmares about this match for months to come, as he had no answer to the marauding Dragons' playmaker.

The Savages probably knew they were in trouble as early as the second minute, when Ortega ghosted past Liikanen to create space for a shot; on this occasion, though, young Leiv Selberg was up to the challenge, tipping Ortega's fierce rising drive over the crossbar. It wasn't about to get any better for Savalen's defence, either, as Alex Sampson was allowed a free header that Selberg once again managed to get fingertips to.

Selberg, however, can only do so much. Barely ten minutes in, Maxim Sviták's underhit pass found only Ortega at full steam, and after jinking his way past Conrad Alvdal, the Avidia United man chose his spot, whipping the ball past the Raros keeper and into the net. Savalen looked to reply immediately, with Malik Gur looking to finish a fine passing play that had stretched the Dragons' defence; unfortunately for him, though, Alfie Xousa recovered to make a goal-saving tackle as Gur shaped to shoot, and Sviták blazed the follow-up well wide of Devon Williams' goal.

Krytenia took notice of the scare, wary of the Savalen counter, and began to slow the pace of the game. This was music to the ears of Jaime Verdasco, who works best with time on the ball, and his distribution began to put the Savs' midfield under intense pressure. All this meant more space for Ortega, who by now had the measure of his opposite number, and a Verdasco through-ball was met by the thirty-year-old who immediately played the ball through poor Liikanen's legs. A quick one-two with Sampson gave Ortega possession in the box, and though Selberg got to the shot, he could only block the ball back to the feet of A.O., who slid the rebound into the now-unguarded net for two-nil.

Krytenia had time for one more on the scoreboard before half-time; again Ortega was the architect, chipping a beautiful pass for Valrauncion to volley. Selberg again proved his mettle with a fantastic save, tipping the ball round the post. The resulting corner saw Adrian Anuzzi fire a ball into the near post, Ortega flicked the ball to the opposite stick, and Rob Adams got on the end of it to extend the Dragons' lead to three.

Savalen, to their credit, do not know when they're beaten, and came out for the second half hungry for a goal that might get them back in the game. Their opponents, meanwhile, were happy to sit back a little more, with a three-goal lead almost certain to put them through barring a complete Valladares collapse in the other game. Complacency, though, breeds sloppiness, and when Williams came for - and missed - a cross, Maxim Lisov was grateful for the gift and nodded the ball home to get Savalen on the board. To add injury to insult, the Krytenian keeper landed awkwardly, being stretchered off with an ankle injury that ends his World Cup. Owain Morgan replaced him to make is international debut.

The action, though, was at the other end. Ortega, once again, proving himself a thorn in the side of the Savages, was this time taken down by an X-rated Liikanen challenge. The Avenida Victoria player didn't even look like protesting the inevitable red card, and will probably get a stern talking to from a certain Ronnie van Rijn when he gets back to Farfadillis. The resulting free-kick was taken by Ortega; he shaped to cross, but instead sidefooted the ball to Verdasco, who powered a screaming shot through the crowd, a deflection completely wrongfooting Selberg. That goal took the fight out of the game, as Krytenia slowed the pace and denied their opponents possession. A late consolation from Gul proved just that, Morgan unlucky to only tip his save onto the inside of the post, and Krytenia advanced to the second round.

Brenecia are the next opponents for the Dragons, a side that have made it here on the back of solid defence and a superlative team effort. If Ortega continues on this form, though, it's hard to see the men in navy winning that encounter. Onward!

SAVALEN - 2
Lisov 51
Gul 87

KRYTENIA - 4
Ortega 11, 24
Adams 44
Verdasco 58

[Nephara]

You had to want it more.
Every ball, every tackle, every moment of doubt, you had to want it more. Particularly when the two sides were roughly even in skill and formation and tactics.
Katskalidis? She wanted to claim Lacharite's corner more than Mauer wanted to score it, which was why she'd clambered all over the veteran striker and earned the Marauders a penalty.
Great. In the sixth bloody minute.
Hargrave cracked his knuckles, stared Mauer down. It helped in situations like this that Hargrave was a bloody giant, with a reputation as a good penalty saver. He had a record of saving a bit over a quarter of them, from memory.
Patrolled the goalline, beating his fists into each other, always, always glaring at Mauer, making his silhouette big, the referee blew his whistle, and Mauer telegraphed his penalty. It was a decent penalty, high and to the right, and nobody would have blinked twice if Hargrave hadn't sprung to action, thrown out a hand and tipped it onto the post. Scharner moved quickest, thumping the rebound into the sky before Ceballos could tap home, and Hargrave bounded to his feet, thumping his chest. Perhaps unnecessarily, Scharner gloated in Mauer's face, and the two had to be pulled apart by their captains.
Lacharite's second corner in as many minutes didn't cause nearly as many dramas. It floated, and Hargrave came out to claim it, solidly.

A dull first half, Adnan Szalai had to admit, and he hadn't done too much to spice it up just yet. Pretty much all the neutrals had to go on was the saved penalty.
Well, there was always the second half. Besides, 0-0 was good enough. Shale would shout at him for saying it, so would the skipper and the more hyped-up members of the squad (Penumbra, Malachite... hell, himself, a few years ago) but there had to be a pragmatism now. If the result was 0-0, they would all, at the end of the day, take it.
Hargrave had just claimed a routine Pokrovski cross, and threw to Gareth Westmead. Westmead ran forward, predictably, stealing a march on Pokrovski. Gareth was a good lad, Szalai reflected, for all the shit he got. No matter what the press said, he was Nephara's first-choice rightback now, and so what if maybe Szalai needed to track back a bit for once? He might have balked at that a couple years back, but that was then and this is now, and he's Nephara's number 7 and a World Cup winner and needs to step up when called upon.
He drifted. Westmead dashed down the flank, and Gottschalk opted to go after him, so Westmead hacked the ball into midfield. It wasn't a great cutback by any means, and Ashdown had to stretch her leg as far as it'd go to tap it back to Szalai ahead of her teammate Ruel, and Szalai had no pressure all of a sudden and was just outside the box so he wrapped his foot around it and hammered it past Lukacs.
He tore down the touchline to the corner flag, kicking it to the ground, and found himself wrapped in the bodies of his rapturous teammates. But then he noticed something wrong, and glanced back.
Ashdown was still lying stretched on the ground, and was signalling desperately to the bench.

It was the young defender Lohengrin who raised the question. "Where's the skipper?"
Reinhard Shale licked his lips. "Physios want her to stay off for the second half. One of their 'precautionary measures,' you know the drill. So Konrad's warming up to replace her. This doesn't change the plan in any way."
He prowled the room, like a tiger in search of his next meal. "You've done well so far, lads. I'm happy with the performance. But we need a second goal. Settle into the second half, sit back a bit, try and hit 'em on the counter. But if that second's not on the scoreboard by like, the 60th minute? Force it. Peg 'em back a bit, put pressure on 'em."
"And if they score, gaffer?"
"Don't fucking let them score."

Scylla Vyntra was on the break, and had to fight off a mad urge to take the ball into the corner. It was the fifty-bloody-seventh minute!
She had to wait around a bit, though. Just for everyone else to catch up. Amokachi was quickly marked down, but Scafidis and Gosforth and Szalai were sprinting forward like a gazelle, and Grabowski was back for the party too, so Vyntra did The Thing She Did and played a neat little one-two with her friend, Link Vesper, and then belted the thing into the box.
Scafidis checked her run accordingly, and Milani, too late, readjusted to try and contest her. But Scafidis had too much height, and power, and focus, and bowed her head to smash the ball into the ground, where it bounced past a scrambling Lukacs.
Not pretty, not elegant, but effective. That was the Nepharim way.

Those settled nerves lasted precisely eight minutes, at which point Lacharite made her displeasure with the current scoreline known. It was a beauty of a goal, a quick, clever interplay from the wings, Pokrovski slipping the ball over to Mauer who smashed a low, hard shot that Hargrave did very well to hack against the upright with his legs, but it rebounded badly. Scharner, off-balance, hacked it away, and Katskalidis went forward to find it and Vyntra drifted inside to cover the gaps, which was a mistake, since Lebrun hit the ball to what was now a large hole in Nephara's left-of-centre defence. Lacharite reacted fastest, and slammed it into an almost empty net, Hargrave desperately trying to throw himself at the shot from the ground. 2-1. Ceballos tried to pick up the ball, and ended up having to fight Katskalidis for it.

The game had turned decidedly niggly by the 81st minute, and Tanith Rainsford was in her element. Impressively, she hadn't actually taken a yellow card yet, though a lot of her comrades had - Jess Silkman had ploughed through Lacharite within two minutes of her arrival on the pitch - but she'd been integral to the general midfield battle, as always.
A late corner. That meant opportunity... though it wouldn't be for her, of course. She lingered outside the box, ready to cut any counterattacks off with a well-placed professional foul... that would see her miss the knockout match, if they made it that far. Damn.
Silkman hoofed it into the box. It wasn't a great corner, all told - but Nephara had a lot of muscle packed into that box. Their centre-halves, Scafidis, Gosforth, Szalai was deceptively good with headers... ah, but Lukacs came out with a reasonably unconvincing punch, and Moravec battled with Gosforth to glance a header out of the box.
To... her.
She sized it up. Well, passes were a no-go, nothing presented itself, she took the header on the chest, moved it to one side with her right, Moravec was coming, she smashed it. Into the underside of the crossbar, and it bounced downwards and then back out onto the pitch. A lot of shouts went out... Rainsford waited, poised, she hadn't actually seen the bloody thing hit the ground through all the bodies.
And then the referee felt a buzz on his wrist, and blew his whistle.
It was only the fifth goal of Rainsford's international career, even as she closed on a hundred caps. But, hell, it came at a good time.

Despite everything, Nephara had done something to piss off the group draw. If the group of death wasn't enough, they'd be facing the World Champions in the second round - seven points not enough to secure top spot after Chromatika annihilated Fluvique.
Nephara had an axe to grind with the Islands, as ever. The Islanders had definitely won back the edge lately, with a heartbreaking 3-0 win in the 73 group stages (that had spurred them on to win the next edition, of course) and, more recently, the steady 2-0 victory that had bundled Nephara out of the last World Cup. What they didn't have was regional trophies, denied time and again by Nepharim invincibility and determination.
So this was, it's fair to say, a hell of a grudge match - and whoever won it might well consider themselves favourites to win the World Cup itself.
Ashdown was patched up just in time, and thanks to a hefty dose of painkillers, was able to take the field. Nephara would field an unchanged starting XI.
Cinematic Football vs. Victory At Any Cost - round 9.

[Audioslavia]

Two goals to the good against one of the world's best sides, few could have held Guillermo Sanchez-Dysos's decision against him. Dragan Kryznjak, a striker, had come off, to be replaced by full-back Gilberto Anzures. Audioslavia were mathematically through as long as they didn't get smashed in the second half. Vann Dallara, the right-back already on the field when Anzures came on, moved to a holding midfield position. Surely that, now, would be that?

Unfortunately, no. Anzures, part of the Eletti Valligiani team that had won the Audioslavian cup and taken the National League by storm, was young and relatively inexperienced compared to his opponents, and the two of La Selecta's COCANEFA-based players based on the left wing - James Moriera of Trothwands Evolution and Sean Fraser of Real Azuris - set about picking apart that weak link on the flank.

SJG would get themselves back into the game via Fraser's trickery, reaching the by-line, drawing a sliding 'challenge' and rounding his man to cross for Zelaya to score. SJG would be level soon after, with Fraser releasing Moriera on the overlap for the full-back to scoop a low ball back to the edge of the box, where Leonidas Bregoo was waiting to side-foot the ball home for two-each.

Cue the manager kicking a waterbottle onto the pitch. Cue the referee sending him away from the technical area and down the tunnel. Cue an annoyed finger in the direction of his assistant. "Get the young lad ready". Cue Roddy getting himself warmed up before the inevitable substitution. Guerricachevarria off, Fraser on, a midfielder for a striker. Audioslavia back to 4-4-2.

Roddy Fraser touched the ground and wrenched a handful of grass out of it as he entered the field, scattering the remnants into the wind. He watched as the strands danced and flittered down to the turf before closing his eyes.

<save>

Roddy had to bide his time for his first touch. San Jose Guayabal were in the acscendancy, drawing the Bulls back into their own half. Fraser, who ordinarily likedf tracking passes and making a nuicance of himself when his side were under the kosh, resisted the temptation to get stuck in, instead following the assistant manager's instructions to stay high up the field and ready to intercept any clearance. If Audioslavia were going to be able to get rid of the pressure on them at that moment, they'd need him and his broad shoulders to shield the ball so that his team-mates had enough time to get up the pitch. His fellow striker, Jose-Luis Aurrekoetxea, was doing all of the running, though it didn't look like the 32 year-old would be able to keep it up for too long.

When, finally, the opportunity did come along for Audioslavia to clear their lines, Roddy was ready. Roddy reached a high ball before Passarelli and met it with a cushioned header, controlling it at the second attempt and pushing his weight back into Passarelli; fairly, via the shoulder; as the defender tried to take back possession. Mariezkurrena made the overlap, Roddy moved to make the pass but instead nicked the ball behind his standing leg, with Passarelli anticipating the pass. The misdirection earned Fraser a half-yard head-start as he moved with the ball back towards the centre-circle.

He played a short pass into space ahead of Aurrekoetxea before sprinting off into space himself, receiving a return pass just ahead of Rudy Valencia and spreading the ball to the opposite wing before the midfielder could slide in for possession. Besoitagoena received the pass, played a one-two with Ruisheart Wight, and steamed towards the by-line with Salume in hot pursuit. The winger's first attempt at a cross was blocked, but the ball fell kindly enough to give him a second opportunity at a centre, and Besoitagoena did not disappoint. The angled cut-back found Fraser waiting on the edge of the box.

Fraser thought about taking the shot first time. He didn't have enough time to think about it for very long, but he what thoughts he did have were profound ones. 'This...' he said to himself, '...would be a stunner of a goal if it went in'.

Roddy shaped to shoot, but saw Aurrekoetxea waving frantically, standing on his tiptoes more or less exactly on the penalty spot, in acres of space, being played well onside by full-back Salume, who was still getting to his feet after his sliding block on Besoitagoena's initial cross. Fraser took a touch of the ball and played it into the striker, unmarked in front of goal.

Aurrekoetxea took control of the ball, turned and..

..and that was the last thing he quite remembered doing.

Abraham Terrazas, the unfathomably experienced twenty-three year-old in the SJG goal, had rushed off his line at the sight of danger and lunged in to make the pre-emptive save. A fist had connected with the ball, sending it skittering free, but his shoulder had rammed into the striker's knee, toppling him, but not before said knee had made a sickening *crack* sound. Nunez booted the ball out for a throw-in. The referee signalled for the physio to come onto the pitch.

Roddy bounded over to where his team-mate lay. No bones broken, clearly, but something had snapped. He looked to where an uncomfortably large ball of gristle and muscle had accumulated at the join of the striker's knee. That, right there, was a mess. Aurrekoetxea, at 32 years old, would not be coming back from that any time soon. If at all.

This. This was a good reason. This was a *very* good reason to make the hour unmade. Roddy chose.

<load>

Choose load. Choose a do-over. Choose saving your mate's career despite the fact that life'd be easier if he'd retire. Choose flecks of grass flickering onto the pitch. Choose to obey your boss's commands even though you'd rather be getting stuck in. Choose wrenching your shirt away from a defender as he shoves himself into you. Choose hold-up play. Choose 'big number 9' mode. Choose scunnering centre-halves with neat little cruyff turns. Choose not playing a ball through to your winger because he's miles offside. Choose the easy way. Choose a pass. Choose Aurrekoetxea. Choose receiving it back straight away because he's too tired to actually run with the ball. Choose the wing. Choose Besoitagoena. Choose a wall-pass. Choose watching that jammy bastard get a second go at making his cross. Choose waiting there, at the edge of the area, for the guy to ping it to you. Choose ignoring your strike-partner despite that he's in acres of space and screaming for the ball. Choose Roy of the Rovers. Choose jumping the shark by making one of your characters a superhero for no reason. Choose pop-culture references from 1996. Choose life.

Well Roddy chose not to choose life. Roddy chose something else.

Roddy chose to have his amazing goal, a first-time hit from the edge of the area, a stunner of a shot that curled sweetly into the top left-hand corner, chosen for most television montages that would show the highlights of the World Cup when the tournament finally ended.

"I'm not a superhero" thought Roddy, as his team-mates finally stopped swamping him. "But if I was, 'Load Man' would be a really stupid superhero name"

[Vilita]

Northcote Oval, Prescott, Electrum ::: Knowing they needed at least a point to ensure their progression to the Knockout Rounds, the Vilita Jungle Cats entered the Northcote Oval with one mission in mind: Don't Lose.

The task would be harder than paper would lead to believe. Having a slight rankings advantage over the opposition, the Jungle Cats would have gone into the match as slight favorites on paper. No one told that to the 70,000+ Electrumite supporters sitting pretty in the thin air of Prescott, Electrum's highest City by Elevation. In fact, the lack of available tickets for away supporters at Electrum's premier stadium and host venue for the XI Winter Olympics was one reason that many Vilitan supporters stayed behind in Burnton, site of Vilita's Matchday two draw with Damukuni, as they had the opportunity to take in the thrilling Matchday 3 fixture between defending Cup of Harmony champions Turori and the defending World Cup champions the Unified Sunrise Islands at the Fitzgerald Stadium.

While many of those fans would be left disappointed - The Turori Eels dropped a 2-1 result to the World Champs that sent the Turori National Team home packing with zero points from three matches - a Worst ever World Cup Finals performance just one season removed from the jubilation of a perfect 7-0-0 Cup of Harmony championship campaign.

Back at the Northcote Oval, the ovations from the home supporters were deafening. Having already ensured their place in the knockout rounds, Electrum were looking to run the table and take the ultimate momentum swing into the Round of 16.

While the Electrumite faithful in the stands easily won every song war, drowning out the small pocket of a few thousand Vilitan fans at the far end of the pitch, the battle between the stands was a stalemate with each side exchanging a goal on either side of the half - and each side being more than content with the result which ensured both sides safely through to the Round of 16; the hosts through as Group E winners to face the Group H Runners-Up while the Jungle Cats would be paired against the Winners of Group H.

The Group H table would finish up nearly in identical fashion as the Group E table, Farfadillis atop the table with 7 points, just like Electrum, to earn a Round of 16 date with the Jungle Cats. Behind them would be Cosumar who eeked out a 4-3 victory over Red Blackiland to see the Dragons through to the Knockout Rounds and a date with the hosts. Red Blackiland themselves were unable to secure any points over the three-match group stage putting them in the same boat as Turori in Group F, Fluvique in Group G and Semarland in Group E - all four bottom-dwellers in the four Electrum-based groups failed to secure a single point, an abnormality across the spectrum of World Cup Finals history.

All together, 6 teams would leave the World Cup 76 finals without a single Point, Ficiscia and Flardania in Group's A & B proving that this was not a good cup to be entered in for Nations beginning with the letter "F" - three of the four departing without a single point.

The Fourth "F" Nation, of course, is Farfadillis. The 'Dillites, of course, will be the Jungle Cats opponents in the Round of 16 and according to the tabloids, and, admittedly, the statistics - are one of if not the hottest team in the Multiverse.

Vilitan fans, however, are hoping that their Jungle Cats can send the Farfudillae off to a golf outing with their fellow "F"-ers; Fluvique, Flardania and Ficiscia. Vilita and Farfadillis have a long... long history of meeting up in the World Cup Finals. Traditionally, those meetings have occurred with the Vilita Jungle Cats as the higher seeded team and Farfadillis as the underdog that spoils the Vilitan party - securing the upset result and knocking the Jungle Cats out of the World Cup.

During the Round of 16 in Electrum, however, it will be the Jungle Cats who come in as the Underdogs, looking to reverse a generation of disappointing results against their Atlantian Oceania rivals. The match at the Somersville Stadium in Somer will be one of two All-Atlantian Oceania fixtures in the Electrum half of the bracket with Chromatika and the Royal Kingdom of Quebec squaring off against each other at the Fairleigh Field in Fairleigh.

The Chromatik media made headlines throughout the Tropics of Vilita yesterday when all of their famed pundits overwhelmingly chose Farfadillis to dispose of the Jungle Cats in the Round of 16 - none giving Vilita much of a chance including Jordan Lawless and Nikolai Thorben who predicted 4-0 and 4-1 results in favor of Farfadillis.

Should the Jungle Cats be able to pull off the result, it will be with the help of these very articles from Lawless's "The Rebel" independent sports newspaper as bulletin board material, motivating the players of the Vilita National Team to overcome the odds and prove their doubters wrong, one last time.

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[Farfadillis]

Even when you're not entirely sure you want to score, sometimes your body moves on its own, as if it had a... mind. It does have one, but as if it had one that was not yours. That was kind of what happened against Gregoryisgodistan.

The whole Ruland thing had taken a huge toll on us, probably even the Ferdullaelans. At times it seemed to get us far, but you got tired with time. Still, for some reason, when you're playing in a World Cup, you always find a little more energy to do something more that can give you a slight advantage that can lead to a goal that will make you top the group... you get the point.

Ror to Rübéãn. Rübéãn to Elexhé. Elexhé with a backheel pass to me. I pick up the ball close to the edge. I look up and I swear I see like seven Gregoryisgodistani players. They seemed to love parking the bus. For some reason, I actually feel frustration. I decide to surge into the box anyway, and I manage to dribble two before the third knocks me down. The referee blows his whistle, and it's a penalty.

Obviously, I get flashbacks of the previous World Cup, when I thought about skying a decisive penalty on purpose, but eventually choose not to do that... sort of. Either way, I ended up scoring that one. This time, I just place it beyond the keeper's reach, and with a couple of minutes to go, we're top of the group.

And about to face Vilita. Rulandese or not, that's a match-up I wouldn't have expected any Farf or Rulandese player not to give it their all. After all, nothing is better in life than a sad Vilitan.

It did seem like we were favourites this time around, though. Definitely a change of pace from the usual Farfadillis-is-worse-but-Vilita-always-screw-up-against-them match-up. This did not favour us, I don't think. But then again, I don't think we were in the mental conditions to be favourites against anyone. Sure, we would've been able to fight anyone to the death, but we were just too mentally fragile. Anything could break us beyond repair, and the Vilitans probably knew that.

(Goal: Wínrôuge 85')

[Ceni]

Cutoff.

[San Jose Guayabal]

WC 76 Qualifiers: Affected by The FAS Syndrome

It's crappy and horrible to see "La Selecta" performing like FAS, doing it horribly in the first half after allowing two goals against Audioslavia, the Bulls deserved it after "La Selecta" seemed like if they were training, playing without seriousness, playing relaxed and somewhat dumb game, they reacted and tied it for a while but then, at the classical FAS style, they let it go away and if it weren't by a tie in the other match we would not have qualified to the Round of 16. My words to Oliveira: Continue playing like FAS and we will fail miserably.

By: Byron Ramírez, the one who hates CD FAS.
From: San Salvador - World Cup 76 - Qualifiers.
Posted:Thursday, June 20th, 2211 - 22:28 (Guayabalense Central Time - User's default time)

The FAS Syndrome, as defined by the Royal Academy of Guayabalense Slang can be described in three ways: Acting so dumb and stupid that anybody, even a dumb human being can defeat you on what you think you’re the best; having something secured and then in the last second, you let it go; screw your plans, and being near to do a massive fail when you were on advantage to do something. What happened yesterday night with Audioslavia? The best definition of being screwed by the FAS syndrome, since when “La Selecta” needed to play in their best version, á la Alianza FC, they played like FAS and let it go out a point that wasn’t deserved by “La Selecta” who had a game which was a thousand of levels below mediocre and ugly and if Herrera and Oliveira don’t apply the necessary correctives to the team, our next rival will walk over us with ease and we would go from some sort of “regional pride” to “regional shame” in less of three World Cups, hence I emphasize that correctives are needed to this national team, especially in the midfield since we are giving a lot of spaces there and the game creation is not in a good level, it’s in one of the worst levels since World Cup 69 and talking about the offense, Zelaya has dome at least something but if we talk about Vaarisiemi… I’m not sure if I’m the only one who thinks this but it’s the time to kick that overrated idiot from the national team, he has scored goals but it’s too individualist and getting rid of him is needed, for fuck sake…

Well, describing a bit about the environment on Cenial Halcyon Stadium, it can be described as one of the best environments so far in the World Cup, both Audioslavians and Guayabalenses gave a tremendous display and tutorial to other nations on how to support a national team, it was a complete festival in the whole sense of the word, the stadium lodged at least 30,000 Guayabalense fans, though estimations say that there was around 37,000 fans of ”La Selecta”, first of all, hours before entering to the stadium, as if the game was being played in San José Guayabal, the Guayabalense fans organized groups in order to prepare roast beef and drink some beers before the game, while singing some chants in support of "La Selecta", others were kicking footballs in improvised football games nearby the stadium, even sharing some time with Audioslavian fans, who are as Guayabalenses in the sense of drinking beers and other kinds of alcohol as chaparro or sharing the multiversally known pupusas. Hanging up a bit was like some sort of obligatory ritual for the fans before the game, others decided to known Ceni completely due to the little extension of the country, which, despite being so small (3600 square-kilometers) has a lot of ethnical and natural diversity, including some state-of-the-art attractions and skyscrapers which are a symbol of the pride of this big and extremely modern economy, then people returned to the stadium and started to get ready for the protocolary events and the beginning of the game, which was be a decider on who would finish first in the group or who would finish as second place, though, no matter the outcome, both teams will face somebody from the group C, which is dubbed as the Group of Death by many pundits and fans around the multiverse.

Both national teams arrived an hour before the game in the modern double decker busses that are characteristically Cenian, both were focused on the music they were playing in their headphones and then entered into the changing rooms with heavy presence of the police, though some fans managed to accomplish their goal to get autographs from their favorite players, the most wanted were Rodolfo Zelaya, Teiur Vaarisiemi, Abraham Terrazas, Dragan Kryznjak, Zorio Etxezuniyiga and Roddy Fraser, though police didn’t had a chance and some fans irrupted the entrance of Audioslavian players and targeted two in particular: Giuffrida and Guerricaechevarria because certain techie geek showed their names in hexadecimal writing and wanted an autograph, both tried to decipher the names and according to the media and doctors of the Audioslavian NT, their neurons were fried due to an unexpected surprise and shock while trying to decipher their names, the techie was sent to jail for the fact of being a “nerd without accreditation” given by MENSA, the nerd is now on trial and his condemn can be a mind hacking or file corruption of his mind. Well, both Audioslavian players who casually have weird and unpronounceable names weren’t able to play, which made the media give a sigh of relief because hardly, anybody would like to type that names and less than 20% of media workers would nail those names without mistakes in their first writing attempt, everybody cheered that happening for sure. Now returning to what we care the most, both managers were decided to use the same starting eleven than the last time, though Audioslavia replaced “those two guys whose neurons were fried” and used two other players with names that continued to be hard to spell, such as Guillaume Abbracciabene and the way common and easy to pronounce for us Azucena Llorente. Both teams were focusing in an offensive tactic of the game, going with three forwards each and playing with three defenders, basically both were betting on attacking and generating plays that might led to certain danger to the rival, taking advantage of the speed of their forwards.

The starters for the teams were:

San José Guayabal: Terrazas, Coco, Passarelli, Moreira, Núñez, Bregoo, Valencia, Saucedo, Zelaya, Vaarisiemi, Fraser.
Audioslavia: Ozuna, Dallara, Cáceres, Márquez, Ulvestad, Besoitagoena, Abbracciabene, Llorente, Wight, Etxezuniyiga, Anzures.

The teams jumped to the field after the referee gave the order to do it, both were ready to do the match, no one looked visibly nervous and Terrazas had already beaten up their nerves, since we didn’t detected pee in his short, as it happened on World Cup 73 quarterfinals and World Cup 74 Final, where he peed his short because nerves, the anthems were sung and “Despiertate Guayabalense” wasn’t sang, it was lterally shouted with pride by the 35,000 Guayabalense fans present, with a lot of fervor and devotion, and the same happened with “Alza La Bandera Audioslava”, roared by the same amount of Audioslavian fans while some Guayabalenses, who were drunk booed but were stopped by other fans around, things were normal at that moment and the players were ready for the coin toss, the referee threw the coin into the air, it flipped but hit the referee left eye, and Audioslavia won the ball possession.

Anzures moved the ball and passed it backwards to the Audioslavian defense as it was appreciated, the Audioslavian manager, Guillermo Sánchez may have said to their players to keep the ball possession for the first minutes of the game in orde to make "La Selecta" run behind the ball and then generating some exhaust in the national team by running a lot and doing nothing that could chane the game in a transcendental way, while Herrera and Oliveira seemed to be falling down the trap settled by Sánchez, they asked their players to do high-pressure to the Audioslavian defense in order to recover the ball fast but they failed to do. Besoitagoena passed it to Ulvestad, then to Dallara and they kept the ball with themselves for a good part of the first five minutes of the game, with the intention of killing the pace of the game and settling the conditions that may lead Audioslavia to score a goal before "La Selecta" even tries to do an approach to the goal, Zelaya took the ball from Dallara in a defensive mistake at the third minute, he ran a couple of meters but Cáceres swept in order to stop the Guayabalense star player for once, the risk was brief but if Cáceres wouldn’t swept Zelaya, he could have been celebrating that goal so fast, but shame that it didn’t happened.

Audioslavia is that balanced team that likes to analyze the rivals before doing any move, it turned the game like if that was a chess game, slow movements but well thought by its manager and the players, five minutes were passed already but the Bulls and “La Selecta” turned the game into something that was really disputed on the midfield, constant fights for possession with Valencia and Llorente didn’t have any positive result for both teams, it contributed to make the game slower and chanceless for both teams at that moment, strategy was at its best in the game and nobody wanted to do anything since the Guayabalenses stopped being on the game that the Audioslavians wanted to play, they started to sweep a bit hard in order to stop possession and Rudy Valencia earned the first yellow card at the 8th minute of the game, after sweeping Besoitagoena when he tried to pass to Ulvestad, Valencia kicked on the leg of the Audioslavian player and fouled him somewhat hard, thus, earned him the yellow card. Audioslavia had in that moment a good opportunity as a free kick, Etxezuniyiga took the ball and gave a cross to the edge of the area, right where Anzures was waiting for the ball, but James Moreira did a diving header and sent the ball out of the area, keeping the danger out of the Guayabalense goal and keeping Terrazas without action for a while. What it was being something noticeable, is that "La Selecta" was giving the possession to the Audioslavians and weren’t taking enough effort to recover the balls and trying to do a counterattack or regaining possession for some minutes, at least.

Entering on the second ninth part of the game, San José Guayabal took some initiative when Núñez recovered the ball and passed it back to Moreira in order to chill down the Audioslavians for some time, and it worked, Terrazas took the ball after controlling it for some seconds and falling on the floor in something worthy to be on theaters, he passed it to Moreira and he advanced some meters while Núñez was taking pressure with him, giving an opportunity to Moreira, so he advanced more into the midfield and passed to Bregoo, he was lonely and advanced more meters, like if that was a counterattack, he kept the ball and then dribbled Wight near the corner zone, Bregoo gave pass to Fraser who did a cross but Dallara deflected it, the ball found Vaarisiemi and the young bastard kicked it and sent it wide… Instead of controlling the ball as in the academy is teach and then giving a pass or shooting more comfortably, instead of kicking it desperately, wasting a clear chance in a game that already announced that chances like that would be minimal, if not almost none. When we were reaching the 14th minute, Ozuna kicked the ball and passed it to Dallara but Vaarisiemi surprised once again and advanced to the edge of the area, passed to Fraser but he was offside… For fuck sake Vaarisiemi, can’t you shot a fucking ball and put it back on the net or what? If you can’t make yourself a favor and retire.

With two wasted opportunities by Vaarisiemi in the first fifteen minutes, which could have been turned into goals, Herrera and Oliveira called him to scold him by those missed chances, which were clearly a display of Vaarisiemi’s egocentrism and lack of cooperation with the team; the Audioslavians took the control of the ball once again and had it with themselves for some minutes, from Dallara to Llorente, passing with Ulvestad and Besoitagoena, game was calming once again and the Audioslavian attempt to desperate Guayabalenses was working at that moment, since the players were forced to sweep hard but they did it late, when the Bulls already moved the ball to other place, shame on the players but that’s what happened. The lack of interest by Guayabalense players on pressing the Audioslavian team, which turned into incapacity for some time was obvious and the Guayabalense fans started booing “La Selecta” for “making them sleep” but they “woke up” when Valencia recovered the ball and passed it to Fraser, the “Black Panther” went fast to the front, as he usually does in his counterattacks, reached the area and then passed to Zelaya, who controlled the ball and gave a shoot towards the goal but Ozuna saved it before it could have been entered to the goal, we were 19 minutes into the game and that was the first real chance of "La Selecta" to break the equalizer condition we were having, but that would have finish sooner than later either by the Guayabalenses or the Audioslavians, nobody knew since there wasn’t a clear dominator of the game at that moment.

Entering on the equator of the first half, Audioslavia looked balanced and kept playing calmly, waiting for the perfect moment to go to the front and send some players that may cause damage to the Guayabalense defense, while "La Selecta" remained calm but their activity increased in the last seven minutes with some attempts of counterattack and bad shots performed by Vaarisiemi from the edge of the box, the game was being calmed but the Audioslavians turned into decision mode and Ulvestad passed the ball to Llorente who controlled and then dribbled Moreira, Llorente advanced and gave a pass to Etxezuniyiga, who shoot from middle distance and Terrazas left the ball bouncing near him and Anzures didn’t had mercy, sending the ball into the goal and thus, scoring the first goal for the Bulls in the night, this was like expected by people, "La Selecta" was clearly not having the best night in their history, the midfield was disorganized, the defense was calmed while in the offense, they kept losing goals in weird ways, though Ozuna did a good save in order to keep the 0-0 in that moment, now Audioslavia was on the lead at the 22nd minute, while "La Selecta" seemed to need urgently an elixir to get back into the game, but there was no road available to do it since the Audioslavian defense was behaving good in disallowing the Guayabalenses advance through them and making all their efforts to do so something worthless, which started to desperate the managers.

"La Selecta" looked inoperant for the first twenty five minutes of the game, a lot of inaccurate passes, being so slow in the attempts to take the ball back into Guayabalense possession, being too “merciful” when having a chance was the things were put "La Selecta" on the back of the score at that point of the game, but they wanted to recover that bad image in the next minutes in order to attempt to score a goal before the end of the first half. Zelaya was placed a bit back than the usual in order to recover the balls, and it worked beautifully since he had a chance to demonstrate his speed to the fans and use it to go forward and generate chances in form of counterattacks that displayed that the Audoslavians were slow when defending, especially Ulvestad, who fell on the floor while trying to stop Zelaya. At the 28th minute, Zelaya did one of those counterattacks and crossed the ball to Vaarisiemi, that guy controlled the ball some seconds and give it back to Zelaya, who took it with the right feet and shoot, the ball crashed on the outpost of Ozuna’s goal for much of “La Selecta” fans chagrin, while Zelaya was furious for the missed chance. Oliveira and Herrera were thinking about doing substitutions and sent the players to the field in order to do some warm up before entering to the field, the strategies made by both managers was failing in shambles, correctives were going to happen at the team, since nothing was looking good for us.

Into the thirty minutes, the Audioslavian national team lost a good part of its dominance that they exercised during the first twenty five minutes of the game, in fact, the goal affected the Audioslavian team, which looked to be quite overconfident at the moment and things were going against them at the moment, the fluidity among the midfielders was being good, Núñez and Zelaya found the circuit that was failing, not it was working for real as it happened in the 33rd minute, when Núñez took the ball and gave a 40 meters cross to the centre of the field, Zelaya accommodated the ball with his chest but Dallara took him to the ground, the Audioslavian defender was carded with a yellow and now Zelaya had a key chance to attempt a goal, it was a short distance, hence perfect for him in that attempt. The referee blew the whistle, Núñez moved the ball and let it comfortable for Zelaya, he kicked down the barrier formed by the Audioslavian players but Ozuna sent it to the corner, keeping the danger near his goal, since Saucedo and Núñez were able to strike and score. Zelaya gave the cross, Saucedo nodded the ball but it passed a bit wide the goal of Ozuna, "La Selecta" was being held to zero on that moment and breaking the resistance of Ozuna was being a hard task to accomplish, even for talented players such as Zelaya and Fraser, let’s not talk about Vaarisiemi and his overrated reputation.

On the final stretch of the first half, Audioslavia recovered the control of the game and in the 39th minute, Ulvestad gave a pass to Anzures and he went to the edge of the box, he kept the ball and dribble Moreira and then Coco, entered into the box but Terrazas did a wise choice by pressing Anzures and taking the ball away from him, avoiding what it could have been the 2-0 in a clearly performed head to head, Terrazas kicked the ball, Núñez took it down to the ground and passed it to Bregoo, he walked some meters and gave to Vaarisiemi who advanced more and unfortunately, he shoot to the goal and crashed it on the post, at the moment, Zelaya was furious since he was on a better position to receive a pass and attempt a goal that could have equalized the actions, also keeping Audioslavia domination quiet for some time. The minutes passed and we were on minute 44th, the game was close to finish and in that moment the referee added one minute more to the first half, Besoitagoena passed it to Abbracciabene, the Audioslavian moved some meters and then passed to Anzures who gave the ball back to Abbracciabene, the player kicked and left Terrazas chanceless against the shot, the Audioslavians were now up 2-0 while the Guayabalense fans and players stood and watched how things were falling down like a jenga tower while removing a block, substitutions and tension were inevitable during the fifteen minutes of break between both halves, while Audioslavians had a smile from the left to the right ear.

As expected, Oliveira and Herrera were visibly frustrated with the outcome of the first half, losing 2-0 and a response was needed in a desperate way in order to come back into the game, “La Selecta” was doing a pathetic game until that moment, Audioslavia was winning it deservedly with a splendid action of Anzures, who was being in that moment the man of the match, Oliveira emphasized on the performance made by the midfield, especially by Valencia who wasn’t doing his mission of interrupt the plays made by the Audioslavians, hence they thought about substituting him but they didn’t, though Valencia was heavily scolded due to his performance, as Herrera said ”You’re doing right now one, if not the worst performance that I have seen in you, please stop disappointing yourself, the team and the fans, wake up!” While Vaarisiemi was also scolded by his failures while trying to contact the ball properly in those chances that he had during the first went minutes of the game, he seemed disappointed as pretty much everyone in “La Selecta” was at that moment. While in the Audioslavian side, Sánchez decided to substitute Anzures with Frazier, since he wanted to try with a young and really fast player to attack and beat the slow defense that “La Selecta” was having in that moment, hence Oliveira and Herrera replaced Coco with Salume in order to bring some order in the defense. Now with the correctives already made, both teams were ready for the second half, especially “La Selecta” which was trying to get redemption fast in the second half.

Sean Fraser moved the ball to Zelaya and as it was expected, they didn’t passed it backwards, they were to the front, Zelaya moved fast and waited for Vaarisiemi, the boy moved forward and then decided to shoot once again and this time Zelaya enraged with Vaarisiemi for wasting that chance, to the point that Zelaya pushed Vaarisiemi and Fraser tried to calm both at the 47th minute. The desperation and attempts of Vaarisiemi would give a reward only a minute later. Ozuna kicked the ball but Vaarisiemi took it, he moved through Dallara and dribbled Cáceres, he was on a head to head against Ozuna and Vaarisiemi decided to chip the ball over Ozuna and scored the first goal of the match for “La Selecta”, the boy ran fast to take the ball and putting it into the centre of the field, it was a pretty decent goal that showed how Vaarisiemi is, a pretty chill guy when shooting, though he needed four attempts to score a goal, four attempts that were easier than this one, which is weird if you ask me. No matter what happened on the beginning now, he scored and that was important since they didn’t gave chance to Audioslavia to recover dominance on the game, they stuck fast and it now depended on them if they wanted to continue applying more pressure against the Bulls in this minutes or if they would let it sleep once again, though things were going to be totally different compared to the first half.

We were running on the 50 minutes of the game, “La Selecta” was recovering the shape we all know of them, being aggressive and fast while attempting to attack. Abbracciabene moved fast but Valencia swept even under the risk of being red carded by his previous yellow card, he passed the ball to Fraser who started a fast transition from the defense to the defensive third of Audioslavia, he walked near the area and waited for Dallara, passed to Vaarisiemi and then he was tackled by Cáceres, Vaarisiemi claimed a penalty but in reality, Vaarisiemi dived, he claimed penalty to the referee in a desperate way, to the point that he offended the referee two times, by making a signal of being paid and then slapping his back In front of the referee, Vaarisiemi was immediately red carded by the offense, then Oliveira and Herrera had some an argument with him by letting himself being expelled in a childish way, though "La Selecta" earned a free kick. Zelaya kicked the ball to Fraser, Ulvestad kicked it away but Valencia tried to kick it, he smashed it into the crossbar, Saucedo nodded the ball but Ozuna deflected, it turned into some sort of a melee in the area when Zelaya kicked and Ozuna deflected once again, then Núñez sent the ball wide when he was five meters away from goal, a unconceivable fail by the midfielder. "La Selecta" was now having a great time but this wasn’t enough to control the game or having some comfort since the equalizer didn’t appeared yet, getting it before Audioslavia scored the third was a priority but the fact of having one player less after Vaarisiemi was sent off didn’t helped in the cause.

Now let’s come to think it that we were near the 57th minute and “La Selecta” still was one goal behind Audioslavia despite having a player less, considering that factor, “La Selecta” was managing to keep Audioslavia behind the lines of the midfield and didn’t allowed them to get near the area in the entire second half, the Guayabalenses were performing better with ten players rather than with eleven, maybe Vaarisiemi was being an obstacle in the collective effort of trying to do something useful or maybe tying the game, the hopes weren’t dead at that moment and possibilities still continued to be a real thing and somewhat in favor of “La Selecta”, the two-times world champions weren’t unable to pass Valencia or Salume, the former improved a lot after being scolded on the break, it wasn’t for less, since Rudy Valencia is known as a bastion in the midfield, the one who controls the tempo and destroys any action or play attempt being performed by the rival, hence him being not on his night was prejudicial for “La Selecta”, but Audioslavia tried with Frazier on the 59th minute with a long range shot, considering that they weren’t able to get past the defense, a long shot was a realistic aim to try and bet if that would enter on goal or would be a ridiculous shot, it was the latter, a shot that received all the hostile whistles available from the Guayabalense fans, who ridiculed the valid attempt of Frazier.

Sixty minutes already elapsed of game, Audioslavia lost their dominance since the beginning of the second half, “La Selecta” was looking strong at that moment, and that was demonstrated on the 63rd minute of the game, when Terrazas kicked the ball after Meyson Salume passed the ball to him, Saucedo received it and keep it up while he gave it back to Terrazas, he kicked once again and Fraser took the ball, advancing more meters in order to reach the area of corner, he faced Cáceres on the right wing and kicked the ball on his legs, causing a corner in order to have some good chance to score a goal. The fans were screaming “¡GOL! ¡GOL! ¡GOL!” as they usually do on corners, Zelaya kicked and then Saucedo nodded up and Ozuna took the ball safe and sound, there wasn’t anything to be done by “La Selecta” in that moment, while the Audioslavians decided to pull a counterattack, Cáceres passed the ball to Llorente with a great cross, Azucena Llorente moved several meters and dribbled Salume, she stepped up in the area and kicked it, smashing it on the post and then Passarelli punted it to the midfield. In that way, "La Selecta" managed to keep danger away for some time since Audioslavia now was risking it all for the third goal, while “La Sleecta” was slowly returning to the shape displayed on the first half, it seemed like it but there was going to happen a surprise sooner than later, and a quite unexpected one.

In a real act of effort “La Selecta” pushed their units forward in the 67th minute after Zelaya won a free kick in his favor at around 25 meters away from the goal of Ozuna, Zelaya decided to pass to Valencia, he chipped off a pass through the barrier to find Fraser alone, the forward kicked and Ozuna sent it to the corner, was this the time for ”La Selecta”? Maybe? Well, it was. Zelaya did the corner kick andfound the head of Núñez, the midfielder smashed it once again in the post but Fraser was well placed in the exact time in order to push it into the goal and score the equalizer for "La Selecta". The atmosphere in the stadium was unbelievable at the moment, the Guayabalense fans cheered wildly and the players took the ball to the middle of the pitch, they were eager to restart the match and the moral momentum was in their favor, though they weren’t even on the amount of players and that would cause for sure a lot of physical effort and tiredness on "La Selecta" players. In order to prevent fatigue related risks, Oliveira decided to substitute Núñez and Valencia with Sosa and Corrientes, in order to refresh the midfield more than it was, Sosa is that kind of defensive midfielder that can cover Valencia’s role perfectly while Corrientes would be like a false forward, something that Núñez isn’t, being a quite risky variable by the manager.

Instead of seeing “La Selecta” inspired in their attempt to score the third goal, we saw Audioslavia being desperated in order to do the same thing, it was pretty hard for them to see how a team with ten was tying Audioslavia, I’m not making “La Selecta” look like the most superior team on the game, that0d be a utter lie, “La Selecta” had a luck strike since Audioslavia had complete control of the game in the first half but loosened up a bit in the second half, but things were about to change in the next minutes, specifically in the 77th minute, where Abbracciabene received a pass from Llorente, then Abbracciabene passed the ball towards Roddy Frazier, he took the ball and dribbled Salume, then did the same with Terrazas only to score in a beautiful fashion and put the final 3-2 score for Audioslavia, much to our chagrin… But everybody here can agree that Audioslavia really deserved that win, they played superb in all the game and a lucky strike of “La Selecta” would have been unfair, though football is not a matter of being fair or not being that, it’s a matter of doing things, to concretize all the chances you have to score, not to sit and let the rival to do it, something that our national team did, a horrible performance and a childish behavior from Vaarisiemi that wasted it all. The efforts made like a shot of Zelaya that bonced on Ozuna’s stomach and Fraser failing his shot (he was offside) on the 86th minute or Zelaya’s long range shot at the 90th minute weren’t simply enough. We are luckily enough to qualify to the next round because in the other game the score was a tie, according to Oliveira’s words “We were lucky to qualify, we MUST solve this before the next game, no matter who we will face, but we will do and our aim is to improve.”

---

What about the next rival? The net rival of "La Selecta" in the Round of 16 is Valanora, a rival that we already know and brings us a sensation of happiness, but why happiness? Remember those “Magic Nights” in San Salvador? The magic of the Cup of Harmony 63, where both teams faced up in the final and a young Terrazas, who was on his seventh cap with the national team saved a penalty kick performed by Laborious Hawk, the night that Zelaya kicked a Panenka against Galadirdren to give us a title, that glorious night for the Guayabalense football when 55 million people went mental by winning the first silverware for us. That’s right, Valanora has a new manager, though but the base is almost identical on both teams if we refer to that game on CoH 63. After a brief time of Mannisenäki managing the Vanorians (Yes, the Alianza’s manager), now they have found in the mind of Côfcarthor Undorina a game based on possession and precision, with a style pretty much similar to ours, which anticipates that the game will be really disputed on the midfield and individualities like Zelaya or Fraser or even the wild return of Jonathan Faña to the national team can balance the game for us, while the sole presence of Laborious Hawk, Espy va Drake and Faeron Soldarian can do it for the elves, but you might want to know more in detail about what they have done, right? Let’s summarize what they have done in less than 200 words…

Valanora has done one of the best World Cup campaigns so far, they had some dark times at the beginning of 2190s and the 2200s and their frontal game was predictable until they decided to do some varieties, including the role of Hawk who plays either as an inside forward or advanced midfielder depending on how defensive the opposition is playing and their high pressure on the rival; we are not so defensive in that terms, we might be an issue that will make Undorina to change his strategy, though Valanora has been running over the competition in this World Cup Group Stage, getting a perfect run and defeating our group 20 mates of The Holy Empire. Considering this facts, Valanora’s a rival that requires extra considerations of care while playing, being careful with the moves of Soldarian, Hawk and va Drake since they can turn the game in their favor so fast that no one can notice it, this is when Valencia’s role will be vital to keep the elves behind the line, it will be important to see our mistakes in that friendly against Valanora on which we lost 0-1 on Capri.

Prediction: Let’s be honest, this will be a hard game for both teams, I’d not be surprised if this requires extra time or penalty kicks. If “La Selecta” changes their attitude and starts playing like they are used to, which will happen for sure, we may win this game, not with ease, since this game can be one of those that a spark of individuality or a mistake can solve the game, I predict a 2-0 win for “La Selecta” in this game.

[Ceni]

---

SELA FELAN
November 6, 2052

---

CENIAL, Ceni - Two hundred years of Cenian history as a nation have passed us by, and we should be in the midst of celebrating the bicentennial of our unification. Indeed, we are celebrating with our football team's wonderful performance in the World Cup right now, and the festivities commemorating Ceni's unification two hundred years ago are meant to bring Cenians together again, two hundred year later. However, there are other things distracting us from those festivities and what should be a jovial mood here in Ceni - the horrible war between Eura and Sameba, and the continuing aftereffects of the 2051 bombing of Pooltree. As a result of this, we've seen a larger influx of Eurans coming into Ceni - and, by extension, Electrum and New Gelderland - to escape the hostilities in the country. This influx, unfortunately, has divided us as well, as we have seen multiple politicians - mainly those of the New Cenians - decrying the new Euran immigrants to Ceni as a "danger to the Cenian identity." But I must remind them - and other commentators - that the Cenian identity has historically been based on immigration, and that is why Ceni must welcome Eurans. We must welcome them for the economic benefits they will bring - and we must welcome them because of who we are, a tolerant society built on immigration.

The Electrumite politician Miranda Lawrence recently articulated anti-migrant sentiments recently when she argued for a wall to be built between Eura and Electrum - presumably at the cost of Eura. She argued that an influx of Eurans would lead to rising unemployment in the nation and quickly overwhelm the 40 million or so Electrumites with their numbers, leaving a net economic loss for the country. Some of those same arguments have played out in Ceni as well - especially regarding the issue of space, considering that Ceni has only around 5,000 square kilometers of land and 13 million people, while Electrum has around 200,000 kilometers of land. The less incendiary anti-Euran campaigners have argued against the practicality of letting in Eurans, saying that Ceni doesn't have enough space to take them in - and this is totally true. Ceni cannot afford to take in millions of Eurans because there simply isn't room for them. However, this doesn't change the fact that there still is the opportunity for several hundred thousand to enter Ceni - our public housing has expanded through the years, thanks to the tireless work of Chief Ministers such as Galen Sern-Kestal, Kel Viridian, and Luke Talonspyre, and it is possible to host Eurans here in Ceni in non-squalid conditions until the situation in Eura cools down - or more permanently, if Eurans would like to stay here.

Lawrence mentions the economic burdens that Euran migrants would place upon their host countries - mainly the threat of an increased burden on public health systems and to the "quality of life" of Electrum's population, and, by a further extent, Ceni's. While Lawrence does make a rational argument in this case, Ceni's public health infrastructure is more than capable of handling additional Eurans, and we have among the finest networks of social support personnel as well to help with the psychological consequence of the continued violence. So that argument falls flat on its face - Ceni most definitely can handle an influx of Eurans, and in fact, more Eurans in Ceni can stimulate economic growth, not decrease it. A study by Professors Stephen Verbenti and Montileu Ta'em at the University of Ceni in fact found that an increase in Euran migration would add an additional one or two percentage points to the economic growth of both countries. Ceni definitely has a proud tradition of innovation - especially in City Centre, which is a worldwide hub of green technology and innovation, as well as biotechnology innovation here in Cenial. Eurans will bring new skills needed to help spur this innovation further and give a boost to the Cenian economy by bringing these needed skills - and indeed, Eurans are already filling key positions in many small and medium-sized businesses. Plus, the arrival of more Eurans into Ceni will add to consumer spending as the new migrants will spend money on products and services within Ceni, adding further to the Cenian economy and boosting jobs in the service sector as well as in other sectors dependent on consumer demand. So Lawrence's claims are flatly false, and an influx of Eurans will in fact stimulate the Cenian economy greatly.

Lawrence also claims that many Eurans are "criminals" who would seek to harm the population of Electrum. However, this is patently untrue, as the authors of a study by the University of New Oxford, Verana Espereth and Nathan Strax, found. In fact, they discovered the exact opposite was true: foreign-born Cenians actually committed crimes at half the rate of native-Cenian born citizens! So Lawrence has obviously not read up on her facts and has instead chosen to rely on emotional appeals in her argument against increased Euran migration. Ceni, on the other hand, must take a look at the actual facts on hand and reject demagoguery such as that of Ms. Lawrence. Ceni cannot fall victim to such arguments of fear and, instead, look at arguments of fact. Ceni must accept Euran migrants, and not just because of their economic impact, which I talked about in my last point. We must accept them simply because it is our moral duty to do so - and because our country was built on immigration itself.

Ceni did have a native population of its own when Euran settlers arrived around four hundred years ago - but even this native population of Ancient Cenians and Fereldic natives emigrated to Ceni, from across the waters in mainland Terranea. We see that most of our original population - the groups that became the original Cenians - migrated here from Eura, the very same nation that we seek to block migrants from today! We saw Valladar emigrants come to Ceni as well, forming the bedrock of our country's vibrant Hispanic community. Then we saw these groups come together and unite two hundred years ago to form a diverse country and one that enshrines tolerance and diversity in its very constitution. And throughout our entire history, we have accepted refugees and migrants of all colors and stripes, and those migrants have made Ceni what it is today. Avaerilonian refugees, for example, kickstarted our tradition of excellent higher public education, and Euran migrants have kickstarted our green technology industry. When we have taken in so many migrants from so many different places, making immigration part of our national fabric, why would we stop taking in migrants now? It violates my moral compass, and to me, Ceni has the duty to take in those who need a place to live.

Ms. Lawrence, thus, is wrong on all counts, especially her proposal to close the border between Electrum and Eura. The free flow of ideas, information, and people has benefited Ceni and Electrum throughout the two countries' long partnerships with each other, which is why I have constantly pushed for a taking down of barriers between our nations, not raising them up. When people like Ms. Lawrence call for walls and barbed wire fences with Eura, though, that makes me think about what our relation with Electrum will continue to be like with this sentiment: will Cenians now receive the sharp end of Electrumite nationalistic fervor? Will the open borders and free flow of ideas and information that have made both our nations' economies stronger, our marketplaces more competitive, our people more educated between Ceni and Electrum stop? This is what worries me.

So, then, not only must we take in as many Eurans as we possibly can, but we must also work to stop the rise of xenophobic sentiments such as those of Ms. Lawrence. Our world is built on tolerance and diversity, not on hatred and homogeneity. Our world is built on a respect for people's different viewpoints, not on disrespect of them. Our world is built on tearing down walls, not building them up. The world is stronger together - the whole is stronger than the part, three strings woven together into one is stronger than each one individually. We must continue to bring people together, not drive them apart - and that is why we must not listen to people like Ms. Lawrence. We must let them speak - because that is our duty as a society - but we must not let them be heard.

Sela Felan is the Minister of Education and of Women and Minorities in the government of Prime Minister Audrey Goleidas. She has served with the Social Democrats in the Cenian Assembly for 15 years.

[Brenecia]

How to entirely make sure your son never stops being overshadowed: 'name him after one of the finest playmakers in the world.' It helps if your son does go on to have a career, a respectable enough one that he can earn some caps and be a trivia question, but not enough that he's ever in any danger of coming close to his namesake. Thanks, Paul Balliol! Thank you so much, you fucking deadbeat!
Anyway, yeah. Sander Balliol had an axe to grind. But he was here, at least, winning his seventh cap in the World Cup.
With a starting role, even!
In the second-string.
Ugh.
Still, it was a privileged position, lining up in the centre-circle along with fellow B-lister Fionn Lynch. This was the World Cup. He was starting, in what wasn't quite a dead rubber.
And alexSander van sorenson Balliol was ready to make himself known.

The past two hours, give or take - had to account for the half-time interval, after all - had been a blur, but he was pretty sure the nice lady with the microphone just gave him the Man of the Match award.
Holy shit!
He became vaguely aware he'd just been asked a question, and blinked himself awake. "Uhh, sorry, could you please repeat that?"
"What part of your performance are you proudest of today?"
"Ahhh, uh." Well, there was the way he jinked past three distinctly tired-looking guys and chipped the goalkeeper for the first goal to ensure in the 40ish-th minute that Brenecia would head into half-time with a nice lead.
"Scoring was nice. I don't get as many as I like, you know? But, hey, who does."
"Which goal was your favourite tonight?"
Oh yeah, right. 'Cause there was the other goal, yeah? When the ball just kinda... flicked off some guy's head when Fionn got beasted in the air, and it fell kindly, and he just had to belt it into the net from just outside the box, 64th minute and things pretty much secure...
"I'm pretty pleased with them both, really. Uh, with them all. Sorry, the third was just kinda a blur of adrenaline." He smiled, weakly. "I was just gonna take it into the corner and then, well..."
And then space opened up and the substitute, Karena Foran, ran into that space, and Balliol somehow twirled past his man and chipped in a decent cross that Foran twisted to get her head to, glancing it past the goalkeeper...
The interviewer smiled. "A real team performance, then?"
"Yeah, that's about right."
"Well, the good news is that Brenecia's qualified, in first place. Good luck in the next round!"
Balliol smiled, still half-stranded in a reverie. "Cheers. You too."
Wait.
Fuck.

"They did great the other night." Raven Cullen sighed, and swept the whiteboard almost clean - the goalkeeper and centre-halves the exceptions. "Shame I'm dropping, like, all of 'em."
Fiona Sylver chuckled. "Back to Plan A, then?"
"Mhm, you're damn right we are. Emphasis on the counter - it's Krytenia, I mean, they'll come to us. Hit on the break..." She hesitated for a second, after writing '1'. Then put a 4 next to it instead of another 1, and wrote 'BALLIOL' underneath.
"Wait. Sander?"
"Mhm. Look, the lad annihilated Ficiscia, he added so much pace and direction and, bluntly, Cathy's not been great this tournament. Elsie's been hit by a couple injuries, I'm worried she might flame out... Sander's our man for tomorrow. Cathy's on the bench for if we need her."
"Alright."
"Besides... best we have an entire midfield that can track back, right?"
Sylver chuckled. "Yeah, probably couldn't hurt."
The rest of the usual starting XI was pencilled in as normal, hopefully well-rested after sitting Ficiscia out (even Scrivener was given a break at the hour mark, allowing the versatile number 6 Duguid to return to centre-half and Ruffan to take his place in midfield). On paper, they were the narrowest of favourites against Krytenia. But they were on the verge of history here - this would be the farthest Brenecia had ever come. Last time they'd come this far - last cycle, in fact, which had also been a record at the time - they'd been pumped 3-0 by Krytenia's ancient rivals, the Bulls, and slunk home with their tails between their legs. But this time they were in fine form, qualifying with ease, getting out of their groups without the morally dubious aid of the mass Sameban attack on Eura. Surely they had to make their chance count?

[Valanora]

Valanora Times
Dark Side of the Moon

Whenever a team takes on The Holy Empire, you are never quite sure what to expect in terms of what their squad make up will be nor what might transpire on the field as a result of that make up. It is like getting a box of unmarked sweets, there is a possibility of the simple, straightforward pieces, or the off chance that you might wind up with something that you were not prepared in the least for. However unlike having some sweets you might just not care for, when the latter happens when playing against those from the Dreamed Realm, you can perhaps be in the midst of a plot to end the entire world or taking on divine beings that perhaps ought not to be unleashed upon the mortal realm. The history of the squads employed by the Empire have had such implications, thus the concern that one might have when you see yourself drawn with them.

To describe what transpired between the Marauders and the Empire in the third game of the group stage in Ceni would to be put words to the creation of the universe, something so out of the normal comprehension of the average person that words can not do it justice. It could be said though that the blessings of Elune were upon the squad, after a small detachment of priests and priestesses were allowed to bless the ground before the match took place. Invoking the blessings of the Goddess might be seen as an overstatement and improper use of the will of the deity herself, the blessing was not actually for the squad but rather for those in attendance as there was some concern about the nature of the creature that was to represent in the Empire in the match. Thought to perhaps be some divine evil entity in its own right, magical protection was thought to be a required necessity.

That being said, it was not the case, so far as this reporter can tell, with something resembling a football match taking place over the ninety minutes that the squad was on the pitch against the entity. Though the final score would read that the Marauders won with four goals to the good, not a single person in the audience nor the squad can recall the Marauders ever scoring a goal nor conceding any though the score would suggest it. Nearly every single person who was in attendance for the match seems to have some sort of memory loss in regards to it, while those who watched on television said they could not describe what they were seeing, much as our own publication has said. Truly it is one of the most bizarre cases in the history of the World Cup, though that presumed victory does leave the Marauders as the group winners with a perfect record, something that was not even thought possible in truth when the draw was made for the Finals.

That hard work and the preparation that has been put in by this squad here in Ceni will be put to quite the test though as the prepare for the Round of Sixteen, and beyond should they find victory. The Marauders will be going up against the squad from San Jose Guayabal in their First Knockout Round fixture, one of many ties that are brutal and seemingly unfair to the pair of teams that are drawn together, such as the World Cup holders being drawn with their regional rivals in Nephara. With the success of the Sunrisians, the Nepharim, and even the squad that the Marauders will be going up against here in the Round of Sixteeen shows just how far the teams from Esportiva have risen in recent years as the region has now had back to back titles and their teams among the favorites to lift the title again. It is a far cry from them being outside upstarts not even less than fourteen years ago.

However the nations that call Esportiva home are not the only ones with Championship aspirations or credentials, with our own side looking like they may be ready to stake a claim at being the best footballing team in all of the world once more. There is also Cosumar, Vilita, Farfadillis, Quebec, Krytenia, Audioslavia, and even the surprise in Chromatika that show that Atlantian Oceania is far from being on the outside looking in, though the prospects of Rushmori football are looking slim at the moment with Pasarga not making it out of the Group Stage and Eura seemingly more concerned with domestic matters, leaving just Valladares to carry their torch with any real pride. It is always odd when looking at the balance of power from the "sporting" regions, the way it seems to ebb and flow, and yet AO is a constant.

If the Marauders are to stake that claim though, they will have quite the gauntlet of matches to get through in order to achieve even just a semifinal position, much less taking a crack at the Final and adding a record sixth championship. Let us not forget that despite the perfect record that the Marauders had in the Group Stage, that the Finals have not been quite the same beacon of success for the side such as it was from the 33rd to the 68th World Cups where they never failed to get out of the Group Stage. The last two decades have seen the team rise and fall and now rise again, while all around them new powers rise all the time. Nor should any one look past San Jose Guayabal and think that it will be an opponent that the Marauders can simply show up against and defeat, for they were in the Final itself just four short years before.

San Jose Guayabal represents a gate that the Marauders have to get past, both metaphorically and physically. They are part of the new wave of powers that have come while the Marauders were in the lapse from being one of the best teams in the world, they also defeated in the Marauders in the 63rd Cup of Harmony Final. From that match up we know that their style is quite similar to our own, where the midfield game is stressed importantly and a pressing game used to frustrate and pen in their opponents when they are out of possession. However where the Marauders look more for possession building up the attack, their opponents will get forward in hopes of possession at times, leaving them exposed in the gaps between the three phases of their play. Those gaps may very well be where the likes of Hawk and Soldarian are able to show their expeirence and dominance, to edge the game every so slightly into the Marauders direction and give them a much desired victory over "La Selecta".

[Electrum]

Round of 16 time in Ceni!

(note: Next cut-off is 46 hours)

[Northern Sunrise Islands]

A cold afternoon.
The Stadium was packed.
Sunrise and Kitsunia stood in the Northern half of the battleground inside the stadium.
Nephara stared at the two from under his hat.
Remarkably, both had long coats due to the weather but...
"S-S-Sunrise... I-i-it's coooold!"
"I told you it'd be cold, but you flat out refused to wear something more appropriate."
"Heh. Finally ready to take on me without tricks when it matters?"
"You don't consider a friendly to matter?"
"Don't you?"
"...Eheh."
"Oh, wow. You were actually trying?!"
"Enough of this banter! Let's start this!"

---

A hot afternoon.
Sailors Stadium was packed.
Couch laid his back at the left bar of the goal.
The referee finished the few details, Elaine Ashdown and Mike Flanningan shook hands for what had to be the ninth time both sides faced, regardless of the name.
A small smile formed at Mike's face when he realized the inevitable.
The Nepharim were out for blood.
Their rivalry's balance had been pretty much tipped to the Sunrisians' side and of course, the Nepharim wanted to take the handle of it at the World Cup as well.
Mike had been a captain for quite a while, and if there's one thing he learned from it, was that nervousness wasn't the way to prepare for a match.
Hanna Alcouin and Kevin Stabb were in the middle of the field, Hanna with a foot over the ball.
Rolandinho Juliano smirked.
Adnan Szalai, not to be outdone made a couple of taunting gestures.
The whistle blew.
"Game on!" yelled Alcouin as she rolled the ball to Stabb, who quickly passed to Rolandinho Juliano.
The Sunrisians were ready to do exactly what they did against Nephara the last time around.

---

"Let's go, Vespiquen!"
"Go, Vaporeon!"
The Vaporeon flew out from his Pokéball, landing and forming a puddle, from where it rose its' head, turning at last into his own shape.
Meanwhile, the Vespiquen took flight as soon as she was released, higher than the Vaporeon.
"This was a terrible match-up."
"Damn! I hoped for a Leafon..."
"Well... A battle is a battle. Vaporeon, use Aurora Beam."
"Poison Sting, Vespiquen!"
Vespiquen barely had time to shoot her sting, for Vaporeon shot a powerful Aurora Beam from its mouth, flipping over the Vespiquen and knocking her out with one hit.
Nephara was furious, but Sunrise simply shrugged.
"Your next one, Neph."

---

Chi-chan fell down, having been pushed off the field by Gareth Westmead.
Paranawê was to perform the side throw.
He smiled, looking at Yupanqui Sarracena as he briefly waved.
The ball flew to his Sarracena's feet.
Sarracena lifted the ball, blasting it to Tomoyo Nishidake.
She was certain about it.
Time to score.
Tomoyo rolled the ball under the feet of Calliope, feinting her body to the left and taking the ball quickly afterwards.
Only one person left on her way to the goal.
Justinian Hargrave.
She nodded to herself, running to the left.
The keeper held his ground.
Tomoyo's right foot hit hard at the bottom of the ball, making it fly.
A couple of cameras would later note a wink of hers to a nearby Hannah Alcouin.
She knew what she was doing.
Alcouin headed it in while Hargrave was focused over Nishidake.
A blast of water was shot from Alcouin's mouth as she celebrated out of the pitch, before the water finally fell down over herself, like a water bucket of sorts.

---

Vaporeon was struggling to keep up with Nephara's Staraptor.
"Finish him! Take Down, Staraptor!"
"C'mon, Vaporeon! Aurora Beam!"
Sunrise's idea of holding the Staraptor down with regular attacks before finishing her off with an Ice move failed as Vaporeon couldn't unleashed his beam before being taken down with a flying charge.
"Like you've said..."
Nephara smirked.
"Your. Next. One."

---

Nepharim pressure ended up overwhelming following the Sunrisian goal.
Tanith Rainsford had the ball near the box.
The somewhat experienced Flanningan to one side.
The rougher Zezinho to the other.
And both were getting closer.
It was then that she saw a surprising moment.
Ashford had managed to pass around Anna Hikari, freeing herself.
A short but sweet pass found Elaine's feet.
What followed was a blunt shot at the top right.
Couch's fingertips barely touched the ball, as it ignored him and found its' way inside the goal.

---

Jolteon smiled deviously, staring at the Staraptor.
"You can change your Pokémon if you wish."
"I can't. Remember the new rules."
"Three-on-three, no Pokémon substitutions unless stalemate."
Nephara nodded.
Kitsuna smirked
"You're gonna lose."
"Heh. That's what you think. Fly higher, Staraptor."
Staraptor flew up.
"Jolteon, Thunder Shock.
"Strike him down, Staraptor!"
Staraptor went after the Jolteon, only to be thrown back from the powerful cyclone of yellow electricity he released.
Sunrise nodded again, sighing.
"I'm sorry."
"What for?"
"You'll see."

---

Rolandinho Juliano had the ball.
Second half already.
1-1.
He felt like it was time for his A-game.
His feet passed in front of the ball twice, before he lifted the ball with a well placed two-time knee shot, raising it over himself and the nearest marker, Malachite Scharner.
Rolandinho pushed the ball forward with his feet, pushing it over Calliope Katskalidis' reach.
He could already see it, a play to be eternalized at World Cup history.
Until, at last, he was brought down.
A rough tackle, placed right at his left knee from a furious Gareth Westmead shattered his knee out.
It was brutal.
He tried to get up and walk.
The pain quickly took him to the ground.
Rolandinho Juliano was out of the game.
Gareth was relieved to find out he got away with a yellow card, with the Sunrisians somewhat shocked from the whole affair to even contest the referee's decision.

Joan-Kasumi was subbed in to replace the injured player, quickly being pushed in to take the free kick.
She took a deep breather, thinking on how she'd do it.
Two steps back.
A dash.
A kick.
The ball almost swerved itself out before hitting the top right corner.
Carvalho-Nagatomo's first goal at a World Cup.
At what seemed like a win no less.

---

Mismagius was finally unleashed.
Nephara's final Pokémon.
Jolteon stared at Sunrise, awaiting orders.
"Sunny Day."
The Jolteon stared at him again, nodding.
"...But Sunrise, that move-"
"Believe me."
The sunlight brightened, warming the stadium.
"...Well, thanks for that but you just wasted a move."
"She's not wrong. Shadow Ball!"
The Mismagius shot a Shadow Ball from its' mouth, striking fully the Jolteon, pushing it back a bit.
"Sunrise!"
"I know what I'm doing."
"..."
"Charge Beam."
The Jolteon obeys, drawing some damage at his opponent, being rebuffed by another Shadow Ball.

---

The clock ticked down.
Sunrise on top, 2-1.
All they had to do was keep the Nepharim away.
But they really couldn't.
They were tired.
Admittedly tired.
The Nepharim themselves seemed to be focused towards solving the game in 90 minutes.
And for that, they needed two goals.
Or rather one.
As in a blunter of a play, Amokachi found herself in the box with only a hopeless Couch on the way.
It went Penumbra's way pretty quickly.
2-2.

---

Both Pokémon were tired at that point.
Sunrise had literally gone over his entire playbook.
Kitsunia was sure that he was simply avoiding a Shadow Ball for the sake of it.
She too was a trainer in the past, surely he would use it and finish the Mismagius off.
But he kept attempting everything else!
Mismagius himself failed to finish off the Jolteon just as much.
That Jolteon was resilient.
"Can't you just use Shadow Ball already?"
"...I didn't teach him Shadow Ball."
He's got to be kidding.
He has to be kidding.
"You spent hours teaching them a lot of stuff!"
"I chose not to."
"HOW?!"
"Unwise."
The Jolteon at last fainted from a final attack, Mystical Fire.
"But the battle is not over."

---

All subs had been made by the Nepharim at that point.
Stavanger in, Scafidis out.
Chilmark in, Scharner out.
Lohengrin in, Westmead out.
The option had been pretty much picked.
And now, thirty minutes remained.
Penalties normally went the Nepharim way.
Or anyone's way, really. The Sunrisians were rubbish at it for some reason.
Meanwhile, the Sunrisian squad had only really subbed off Rolandinho Juliano for clear reasons.
Joan-Kasumi was still as good as she started out as.
Chiyo decided to blow the two switches right at the start of the first extra half.
Mallena von Kraus had been a really productive player all times, Chiyo was sure she'd be able to turn the switches one more time.
Chi-chan had to leave the field for her.
On the other hand, a increasingly angry Alcouin was still there.
She had been upset for the rough tackle, often went to clash with Westmead out.
She was pissed.
Chiyo couldn't have that.
Instead, she sent... Kike.
Kike had a reputation of being ripe for parody.
Now, while he wasn't a terrible player on his own, his consistent status was often the reason why many questioned Chiyo's insistence.
He was rather good at Polaris, however, maybe that was what Chiyo wanted to see.
Northern Sunrisians still had some sort of trauma over the Nepharim, so she wouldn't be scrutinized if they failed to beat the Cormorants.

---

Kitsunia was certain.
"YOU'RE SCREWING UP!"
Sunrise wasn't exactly enticed about her questioning.
He sighed, releasing his third and final Pokéball.
And that was when she realized the abuse of Sunny Days.
"...You marvellous son of a-"

---

Kike was on it.
2 minutes left for penalties.
Sunrisians could feel the horror.
Nepharim already singing praises that it was almost settled.
Every wrong pass, every poor shot.
All were groans for the Sunrisians.
And now, Kike had the ball?
Sweet mercy.
But then they realized Kike was actually doing things.
The plucky Sunrisian lost Ashdown as she couldn't keep up with the rather fresh forward.
A brief look-around, he could find three defenders and von Kraus sneakily getting around them.
Kike tried to pass one of the defenders.
He failed.
Kike tried to pass the second one.
No way he would succeed, he thought.
At last, he decided to pass to von Kraus.

Mallena von Kraus was a natural from Ademion, Flock Nation.
Flock Nation was one of the earliest established Futurnian states, but she was a child when the nation left for Emirates of Futurnia.
She was the second least Sunrisian looking of the bunch, beaten to the top by Ming.
Mostly because Ming had... well... fur.
But one thing nobody really took account for was von Kraus being a legitimately rough player.
As she got the ball, Scylla Vyntra figured a well placed tackle would stop the Flockian.
Five seconds later, Vyntra laid down at the pitch as Mallena forced her way in.
A strong shot to the back of the net as Mallena left the box, trying a couple of boxing punches.
3-2.

---

Mismagius had been knocked down by a powerful Lava Plume.
"What was it, again?"
"...You win."
"Damn right he wins but... Why did you not finish off with Jolteon?"
"I didn't teach him Shadow Ball and I kind of expected Mismagius out."
"...How?"
"I played too much chess with Chrom. Things just end up a bit more predictable, I guess."
"..."
"That creep."
"Either that or crazy luck."

---

Rolandinho Juliano was officially out of the competition.
He'd be taken to the Sunrise Islands for treatment, but any chance of a return during the World Cup was out.
Still, the Sunrisians won.
And now, to face Vilita.