Copa Rushmori XXVII (27) Everything Thread

[Yesopalitha]

Nirdasil's Corner

It's been a while, my loyal subjects, since the Flames have played any international matches. No, we needed to look inward - fix our infrastructure, look at the inequality that still existed in our nation. Now that it's been almost thirty years of taking care of ourselves, it's time to get back out there and show the world that we aren't dead.

And what better way than to participate in the Copa Rushmori? Did we actually physically join Rushmore? Well, that's another story. Our best magicians are at it. We're tired of being mistreated in Mystria, and are working on planeshifting by Rushmore. We're still working out the kinks, but the Rushmori aren't picky, so here we are!

Yes, most of the team is composed of kids of former players. And yes, that is Jane Vander Rox at the helm, coaching her own niece. With children of Jonah Calhoun, Michael Yersau, Park Sung Hwan, Isaac Jack-Bentley, Jing Want, Hilary Vander Rox, and Fantasia Cecile-Marie on the squad, there is no shortage of eugenics that suggest this team should do well. That being said, the country hasn't played internationally in such a long time that it's crazy to think of what the competition will be like.

And have you seen the group? Sheesh. Valladares, the top ranked team. Eastern Sunrise Islands? Nephara, who's grown into a world power in our absence? Some nation of pies, and then... Polar Islandstates. Word is that the Polarians have been a bit gone as we were.

What will the team be like? How will they fair?

Does that really matter?

No, what matters is...

The Flames burn once again. Representing unity. Passion. Unadulterated spirit. Persistence. And freedom.

[Valladares]

One, two, three, one, two, three...everybody jogging, now!

The sound of the whistle on Jayson Dhanda's lips marked the start of a new training session for the Valladar national football team, the last one before Valladares' début in a new Copa Rushmori, but this time as the defending champions. Under this special condition, Dhanda knew the expectations on the team would be far higher (which he had already made clear to the players before departing for Eastfield Lodge for the competition), so the training sessions were made more intense in order to offer the squad a better preparation for the competition. Also, one should also look at the group in which the Valladars were drawn: a rematch of the most recent Copa final against Eastern Sunrise Islands, the débuts of Nephara and Yesopalitha in the regional competition, and the long-awaited return of the 5-time regional monarchs Polar Islandstates (who were going to be the first ones on the schedule for the Valladars), were enough of a reason to convince Dhanda to take this Copa edition more seriously, instead of yet another testing ground for possible NTers.

The Valladar NT arrived at their training site at 8 o'clock in the morning for this last pre-competition session. After 20 minutes of tactical talk, another 20 minutes of jogging, and another 20 minutes at the gym, it was the time for a short football practice. Dhanda organized two teams: the usual starters, who were "Team A", against the bench players, who were "Team B". Given that there were 23 players in the roster and only 22 of them could be playing at the same time, third goalkeeper Alan Cross would replace Franco Espinel halfway through the practice, making sure every player in the squad would be participating of it at some point. As the game progressed, the Osarian gaffer was carefully watching the performance of all the players he had, and writing notes about all of them on his small notebook:

"Angelo Farías and Abel Brücke are showing interesting moves on their flanks. Both are also boasting a high stamina and also assist each other very well when needed..."

"Patrick Courtois is a great leader for his teammates. He orders the defense and exerts a high pressure on the rival forwards, eventually inducing them to make a poor choice. Good job at marking but he has to be careful with certain tackles..."

"Juan Cáceres and Edwin Navas are both doing something I don't like at all. They're not retreating quickly when we need to get in defense mode, and a team with fast counterattacks could hit us hard through their flank as a result. There's definitely plenty of room for improvement in their case, though..."

"Cristian Arango and Wilfried Baume must pay more attention to the moves by the rival defenders. They've been falling into the offside trap too many times..."

"Luke Davids is young and energetic, and as such, needs to learn to be less hasty and slow his pace down in some situations. Fortunately he's only 20 and will get better as he gains more experience..."

Given that this practice would help the coach and his staff decide on the 11 starters to take on Polar Islandstates, Dhanda was making sure to not miss anything from his notes. Those starters were almost decided when something unexpected happened. An incidental play that would change the destiny for one of the 23 men charged with defending the title won in South Yerfilag last time. It all was born on a run by Team B on the right wing, with Paul Mayard and Edwin Navas joining efforts and dribbling past the experienced Jonathan Bosetti and Romain Capelle, Mayard then sent what should have been an accurate cross looking for the head of Ronald Vieira, who should then chip it into Alexander Roudet's goal. However, Luke Davids, the Tannenberg FC "wonder kid" rushed his way into the stage, his head also looking for the ball, but unfortunately crashing into Vieira's head and knocking the Canalave Dragons playmaker unconscious. The training session was forcefully suspended, the doctors entered the field to provide first aid, Davids got strongly reprimanded by Roudet and some other senior players, and tempers were flaring until Courtois and Dhanda separated the striker from his teammates, understanding it was an accident. Meanwhile, the midfielder was taken to a hospital and Dhanda was hoping for the best given that the Copa for Valladares was starting the next day.

Much to Dhanda's chagrin, though, the medical diagnosis of Vieira was not encouraging: a broken nasal septum, which, as expected, left him out of the competition without even starting. The Osarian manager and his staff were now facing a big question: Vieira had to return to Canalave immediately and the NT got reduced to 22 players less than one day before the start of the competition. He knew he had to make a desperate, last-minute call-up who would be willing to jump on a plane immediately and after landing, run into a stadium to meet with the team...

...but, who else do I call?

---

Fontvielle, Valladares
5:45 PM

It had been another normal day in Adrián Bassa's off-season. The 21-year playmaker (a few days shy of turning 22), who had emerged as part of Fontvielle Impact's last talented litter along with forwards Carlos Conte and Alexandre Costa, had been recruited by Euran powerhouse Bastion and was starting to make his own history of success in a country where Valladar footballers have always been highly regarded. This last season, specially, had proven to be the best for him in the Endemian giant: not only had him had outstanding performances with Bastion, but also helped them win their first league title in years, and won the awards for Midfielder of the Season, Young Player of the Season, was nominated for International Player and Player of the Season, and appeared on the Euraleague's XI. Was there anything Bassa could still be asking for?

Actually yes, indeed there was something he still lacked, and that was something that had left him a bit frustrated: a call-up for the Valladar national football team. Bassa was totally sure his hard efforts all these years, first in a sleeping giant named Fontvielle Impact where he was one of the only beacons alighting the path, and then in Eura with Bastion, was deserving enough of a call-up to the National Team for a while already. But the NT coaches had been thinking otherwise: Flabio Flórez had slighted them for some time, since he was coach at Marinos Metropolis, and then he had stayed invisible for Jayson Dhanda. The CR callup was particularly heartbreaking for Bassa: despite the excellent year he had in Eura, the coach chose to look at a guy from an average team, who didn't even had an award to his name: Ronald Vieira. Upon seeing this, Bassa decided to lose all hope on a callup, and decided to spend his vacations with his girlfriend, at the laptop, and playing football with his childhood friends in the evening at the big field in his neighborhood, Liberté.

Bassa turned on the laptop to do his usual activities, watch funny videos, internet memes, check his e-mails, and of course his social networks. Upon opening up his mailbox, he noticed an odd new mail, labelled as "URGENT". The sender...the Valladar Football Association:

Cerro, District of Metropolis, April 10^th, 2017

Sr.
BASSA, Adrián
Bastion Football Club, Eura

Greetings,

We are hereby announcing to you and your club that you have been CALLED UP for the Valladar National Football Team under the direction of manager Jayson Dhanda, that is about to take part in the twenty-seventh Copa Rushmori, to be held in Pasarga & Eastfield Lodge. Given the nature of this call-up, it is required that you travel to Eastfield Lodge and make yourself available for tomorrow's match against Polar Islandstates as soon as possible, to that effect we have attached your boarding passes and a general brochure on the competition to this mail.

We wish to remind to both you and your club that since the Copa Rushmori is an official international competition that is part of the international football calendar, attending this call-up is mandatory. Failure to obey this call-up by any of the parties involved shall carry all penalties that may occur, in accordance to the VFA's Rules of the Player.

We look forward to seeing you in Pasarga & Eastfield Lodge!

Signed,

François Boudou,
Valladar Football Association Spokesman

For Adrián Bassa, this mail was gold, precious gold. The opportunity of a lifetime had finally come...and he wasn't willing to waste it by any means.

[Astograth]

Months earlier.

Eneko Gandiaga, former head of the FAF, felt the wind tremble through the leaves of the olive tree. He concentrated on the sound, but it quickly slipped into silence, and left him alone with the soft murmurs of the pond. Disappointed, he opened his eyes. The grove was still, though now he noticed the song of birds all through the valley. A scattering of drops began to fall. Gandiaga picked up the torch by his side to head back to the cabin, but stopped short of turning it on. White light was only just creeping over the eastern ridge, picking out the mountains' massive silhouette against the sky. The shadow across the valley blackened in the contrast, then slowly started to grey and retreat. Gandiaga finished his coffee and walked back home.

His acommodations weren't large, but as comfortable as he could expect. They fit a bed, table, chimney and stove well enough. Solar panel for electricity, well for water. The biggest issue was boredom. Ripe olives, fit for harvesting, were still months away, and though his contact came by once a week with supplies and reading material, there was desperately little to do out in the rural Mendebal. Walking out to the grove at five in the morning, just for a bit of meditation, was the sort of activity he'd made a habit of in the past ten-and-something years. You could've had it worse, Gandiaga reminded himself. A chill shook him. A lot worse.

Life was simpler now. Harder, but straightforward, and that he could still afford such a thing was a blessing.

Though he'd normally go back to sleep for a couple more hours at this point, he wasn't feeling tired. He served himself more coffee and settled on his chair, pulling out a portable radio - one of the precious few forms of entertainment out there. Set to an AM provincial news station, Gandiaga nursed his mug while staring out the grimy window, watching the sun climb into the valley. He was ten minutes into the latest mayoral blunder in Yungoitio when the damned thing fizzled out. A grumbling Gandiaga walked to the cupboards and started searching on the high shelves for replacement batteries.

A cloud of dust fluttered out, prompting a wheezy cough, followed by a bundle of medals, which clattered onto the floor. Still grumbling, Gandiaga bent down at great pain to pick them up and inspect. Psh, all replicas. Royal Cup, First Division, and one from the Brevity Cup. He sighed.

Gandiaga knew he was living on borrowed time the day the FAF was dissolved. A phone call with the tip came in the morning, the televised announcement by Lord Protector Ugarte later that night, along with the fact that he was a wanted man, for "subversive collaborationism". He'd suspected such a thing might only be a matter of time, and planned accordingly. As soon as he got the call, he'd told his secretary he'd be at his sister's that day - he didn't have siblings. He booked it to Grand Duke's Stadium with his most trusted aide, Raitezabal, instead, and together emptied the national team's museum into a rented truck: cups, medals, kits, boots, pennants, photos, balls; replicas & real. Who knew if the regime intended on destroying it, or letting it waste away - Gandiaga was head of the FAF and he'd be damned if he let more than twenty years' worth of artefacts be lost.

They drove out of Rumiatzi before dusk, Raitezabal with the truck and Gandiaga in a rented sedan. The road took them west, away from Rumiatzi and into the hills of the Mendebal. They split up, intending to meet an accomplice, Onandia, on a dirt road between Yungoitio and Sagastia.

Some ways on, with night already heavy over Astograth, Gandiaga had the bad luck of running into a checkpoint. He was detained, and interrogated, but there was precious little he could offer the Ministry of Interior's secret police. Former managers, players, and officials for a number of Iturributan clubs had gone into hiding over the past year, not to mention other individuals sympathetic to various independence movements and those with double nationality, but he could hardly be expected to have any privileged information. Gandiaga was let go eventually, after spilling some names he hoped would lead to nothing.

But he tried not to think about that. The scars were already his daily reminder.

Gandiaga'd been told to consider himself exiled to the countryside, which was always his plan at any rate. His bank accounts were frozen and eventually seized, save for a pittance to see out the rest of his life. The present, and the future, was a small-time olive farm. He felt nothing.

They'd never even asked about the national team's collection. It barely registered, he assumed. Raitezabal had come through, anyway, and the collection was now stored in a shed behind the cabin. For all the good that did, but moving it out of the country would require a manpower and discretion they were no longer afforded. They, Gandiaga scoffed, as if there were anyone else.

A new morning's yellow light reached every corner of the valley.

A cloud of dust rose from behind the crest of the nearest hill. Onandia was on his way with the week's supplies. But wasn't it only Tuesday? Onandia came on Saturdays.

No one else travelled this way. Certainly not now, with the harvest months away. Gandiaga's eyes grew wide.

He remained still, unsure of what to do - because, as he'd always rehearsed it, doing nothing was all he could do. He had no weapons. Running to the shed would only draw attention to it. So Gandiaga waited at the window, heart racing, for the two black Lantzias to come to a stop outside his fence. Men in dark suits and sunglasses stepped out. Three waited at the cars. Three headed for his cabin, heads turned to look through the window, and knocked. Courteous of them.

Gandiaga took a shaky breath, stood up, and walked a mile in a dead man's shoes. He swung the door open. A blonde man with large ears and thick jaw stood at the centre.

“Mr. Gandiaga?”

“Yes?”, came the croaky reply.

“The Minister for Sport would like to talk to you”.

[Pasarga]

Copa Rushmori XXVII

Who is ready to make the jump to victory?

Cutoff for Groups Imperial and Commonwealth.

Group Imperial
Eastfield Lodge 4–2 Tveidalen
Sameba 2–1 Northern Natanians
Anglatia 4–0 Olastor

Group Commonwealth
Valladares 3–0 Polar Islandstates
Eastern Sunrise Islands 2–0 Yesopaltha
Nephara 1–2 The Great Pi

[The Great Pi]

The Great Pi - National Football Team

They have come into the real world, and they just can't get enough. For too long, they remained isolated, watching everyone from afar. For too long, they have remained out of sporting competitions, jealous, but reasoning that is was not safe to play. For too long, they have remained separate, no economic exchanges, no travelling, no communication. For too long, they have remained a hidden part of life - life no one knew existed, life that everyone would think is crazy imagination, and is unrealistic.

But now they've had a taste of internationalism. Gone is the old 'Great Pi', and the new 'Great Pi' has brought with it a series of changes to the nation, one of them being participation in world sports tournaments. Gone are the safety and authoritative demands of the dictator that followed before, and everyone is excited, willing to see what this new leader has to offer, after their old leader came to a tragic end. It is time to take a risk for The Great Pi, and sports is that risk. Wherever the 'Great Pi' goes, all its subjects follow.

In comes 'The Great Pi', and its subjects. They will not be stopped. They will not be scared of humans, and their hunger. They will not be squashed to a pulp, the fillings inside them oozing out and staining the pitch forever. They refuse to be intimidated by a creature that eats their own kind, and sees them as a food source for their own delight. They are real. They are alive. And they will come out fighting, all guns blazing.

---

Basic Information

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Nation: The Great Pi
Team Nickname: The Baked Pies
Style Modifier: π (Pi: 3.142)
Trigramme: GPI
Formation: 3-4-3

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Staffing:

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Manager: Strawberry Sherry - 7 weeks
Strawberry Sherry has proven to be a fairly good tactical manager through the performances of The Great Pi in the Baptism of Fire and the previous World Cup, where the team did okay, but better than expected, being pies. One of Strawberry's biggest worries when coming into this set of tournaments was less so to do with the performance of the team, which she expected to not be the best, but was to do with making sure the pies didn't get eaten by the opposing side, which she seems to have been successful at, apart from the one that may have been eaten at the Cup of Harmony. However, none of this sets apart from the effort that Strawberry puts into the tactics of this team though, which is a strong team in itself. Focused on attacking gameplay, Strawberry is a relatively aggressive manager, playing the team in aggressive formations such as the one being employed at this world cup, with only 3 defenders, and with 3 strikers to get as many shots as possible. Strawberry will be hoping to not disappoint in this Copa Rushmori, in order to sustain her position as manager of the national football team through building up confidence amongst the higher staff.

Assistant Manager: Apple N' Blackberry - 6 weeks
Apple N' Blackberry shares much of her philosophical beliefs in how football should best be played with Strawberry. Apple heavily believes in the formation that Strawberry loves to run, and in the aggressive style of play that the team use. Forming a crucial part of Strawberry's back-room team, Apple will be pushing the players for a good performance this cycle, to assert confidence in the style used by The Great Pi.

Offensive Coach: Pork N' Apple - 5 weeks
Defensive Coach: Ham N' Leek - 6 weeks
Goalkeeper Coach: Leek N' Onion - 5 weeks
Physio: Banana N' Custard - 6 weeks
Medic: Pomegranate N' Orange - 4 weeks

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The Players

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The players are here to fight, to avenge their loss in the Baptism of Fire and the last World Cup, and to assert their dominance against the humans. They will not bow down to those who try to eat them, they will not allow humans to crush them. Instead, they shall fight and fight until they can fight no more, and shoot and shoot until the goal count is through the roof. This is not a bunch of players who want to lose. They are determined, and are willing to fight for every scrap of a point up for grabs. And while it is expected they will lose, they are willing to try to offer up a surprise.

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Defence

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Goalkeeper: Beef N' Veggie - 4 weeks
Beef N' Veggie is a decent goalkeeper. One of the larger pies on the team, he is a perfect fit for goal, with his round body providing the most optimum coverage of goal. He is hindered when it comes to diving - the inherent problems of having a circular body with two legs - but his ability to role around the goal gives him a large coverage, making it difficult for the opposition players to score. Likely not to risk going out to collect the ball too much, as he has a deep childhood fear of being squashed or eaten by humans, which always provide a source of danger to pies.

Goalkeeper: Raspberry N' Lemon - 3 weeks
Towards the more youthful age of the players on this team, she is still in a situation where she is gaining experience - which is what this tournament is exactly for her, and other players on this team - to build up their experience so that the team can strive for greater progress in tournaments to come. Slightly smaller that the starter, Raspberry is much more agile, and has a much stronger on the diving front. Born out of childhood naivety, she is also more willing to come out and collect the ball, even at the risk of being squashed by the stampede of players.

Centre-Back: Fish N' Herb - 5 weeks
Fish is a golden oldie in this team, harking back to the eras where if someone played football, they would be hung for public display. His depth of experience and knowledge at amateur level is likely to help him, as he can use his skills to develop the rest of the team and build a real unity in amongst the team, alongside the manager. Seen as a potential replacement for the manager in the future, he needs to impress to stand in a good stead with the view of the authorities. He does seem to be coming towards the end of his shelf life as a defender, struggling against more superior teams.

Centre-Back: Peach N' Pineapple - 4 weeks
Another key player in defence, she is going to be a vital pie in the centre of the defensive field. She can stand steadfast and strong, and is not afraid to go in for the tackle, even if it does mean taking a few injuries (if this happens, more might have to be shipped in to take their places on the national football team).

Centre-Back: Chicken Tikka - 3 weeks
The youngest of the starting defensive trio, Chicken will be looking to the other two to help guide him through his development in this team. While his stylistic play does still need to be developed, Chicken is relatively fast, and is strong in blocking shots and passes. Probably more strong when not being onslaught by attacks, but can stand tall in front of oncoming strikers. Difficult to pass unless close by. Chicken will have a fight on his hands to stay as a starter. He does have a long future ahead of him in the National Team though, so losing out on a position now doesn't mean that he'd be out forever.


Centre-Back: Apple N' Cinnamon - 4 weeks
Would be a good starting centre-back if she had more conviction when it came to her tackles. Apple also is not fit at this point to play, and needs to build up her stamina in order to be able to make an impacted start to the game. She has provided impact through being subbed on, but her impact was not enough to justify her starting, neither is she at the fitness level yet.

Centre-Back: Pear N' Whisky - 4 weeks
Possibly the most unreliable and most unsportsmanlike player on this team, Pear has a bad temper to herself. She often struggles to contain her anger when given a card, and can often be banned from tournaments because of it. She has a sort of naivety in that she doesn't recognise the fact they could just eat her - as they have done to many pies in our history. Her performance can be unreliable, but when she plays well, she plays very well. There were fleeting moments in which Pear shined at the Baptism of Fire, but she could never break in to the team fully, with her anger issues keeping her back from her full potential.

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Midfield:

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Left-Midfielder: HoneyPie - 4 weeks
Well, the men love her, and she has good skills on the pitch. She has some pace to her, allowing her to make decent runs down the wing, but she is not easy to tackle, and can be very elusive with her playing style. Not to be underestimated, she can be quite a beast when it comes to football, and relentless in her efforts to win the match.

Left-Midfielder: Toffee N' Custard - 4 weeks
A great power-sub, Toffee has the capability to turn a game around. With her superior strength and pace on the wing, as well as her remarkable crossing skills, she is a commonly used sub when in a dire situation. She would be a great starter, and would start if it were not for HoneyPie, but she still does possess valuable skills for the team.

Centre-Midfielder: Lamb N' Mint - 5 weeks
Lamb is a key player in centre-midfield. Holding the captains pie sash, he coordinates the team from the midfield, and maintains the structure of the team. He is a dominant midfielder type, with a good array of passes available to him at seconds notice. He is very elusive, and can pull a few tricks off. He was a great captain in the World Cup, holding the pies together as they marched out of the group stage, and only showed signs of age and weakness in the loss straight after the groups. He will be looking to make sure the same frailties don't appear again in the World Cup.

Centre-Midfielder: Blue Berry - 4 weeks
Naturally, her favourite colour is blue. She is also a valuable asset to the team, providing great support to Lamb in midfield. She normally hangs back a little bit compared to Lamb, who is more of an attacking central midfielder, but their base positions is Centre-Midfield. While she is not as talented as Lamb, she still has a good pass, especially long passes, and can help out in defence with her tackling skills when needed.

Centre-Midfielder: Cherry Cream - 3 weeks
Cherry is a strong sub. A power-sub in her like, she has the skills of the other centre-midfielders, just doesn't have the stamina to last a whole match. She made some impact on the game, but she never was able to fit in after being subbed on, and will not be in the running for a starting position in the World Cup. If she can develop her stamina, and develop consistency in her performance though, then in a week or two, she may find herself in a starting role on the National Team.

Centre-Midfielder: Chicken N' Mushroom - 2 week
A young, developing player, Chicken is only here really to gain experience of an international tournament. He does have some talent, but is not yet on par with the other players. Certainly a player for the future.

Right-Midfielder: Pork N' Tomato - 4 weeks
An experienced winger, but not so much a paced winger. What he doesn't have in pace though, he makes up for in strength, and can ward away opposition players with his bulky body, using it to his advantage. He also has good crosses. He is able to utilise his strength, and his decent crosses from outside the box.

Right-Midfielder: Corned Beef - 5 weeks
Corned Beef is a great sub winger. He is relatively pacey, making him a great power sub, but his lack of stamina means he struggles to play a whole game. Slightly larger pie than others, so harder to tackle and be tackled. He did have some impact on the few games he played a part in but didn't get much game time due to the domineering performances of Pork N' Tomato.

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Offensive

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Left-Forward: Green Grape - 4 weeks
With an eye for the target, Green is perfectly placed to score goals. Also open to moving out wide to take a wider supporting role at points, Green performs a great role in left-forward. Pace helps her to get around, with power in her shots and crosses allowing her to get the ball to the destination with ease.


Left-Forward: Key Lime - 5 weeks
A great sub in left-forward, Key makes a rapid impact on the game, and can often be used to get last minute goals. Slower than Green, and with less pace, she is a weaker player in general, but initially, the fresh pair of legs gain the Great Pi team a dominant edge.

Centre-Forward: Shepherd's Pie - 3 weeks
Accuracy and power provide a lethal combination for Shepherd's. With the ability to do both long and short shots with ease, he provides a dangerous threat on the goalkeeper, which they must be aware of at all times. Pace isn't exactly his strong suit, but he is good with headers, which helps with crosses and corners.

Centre-Forward: Steak N' Kidney - 4 weeks
A strong player in centre-forward, he is let down by his lack of power which makes his shots easy to save. However, he is still good with headers, which helps with crosses and corners, which are one of the key tactics of the team.

Right-Forward: Strawberry Rhubarb - 3 weeks
Strawberry makes for a great right-forward. She can play wide, with strong crosses, provide a supporting role in midfield, or even take shots ourself, with her accuracy providing her with the bullseye most of the time. However, she is not the best striker on the team, and played a slightly more back role in the striking formation, pushed out to the wings by Shepherds.

Right-Forward: Tarta de Santiago - 4 weeks
Tarta is a player with decent pace, but a lack of stamina to last the match. She has good long shots, but struggles under pressure near the goal, and prefers to go down the sweaty route, to avoid risking being punished by the 'Great Pi'. Tarta has been able to get some game time in, but when playing, hasn't made the impact that it was hoped she would make, with the pressure of the other teams degrading her performance.

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Stadium

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The Great Pi Stadium (home of Great Pi Football Club - GFC), 25,000 capacity

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RP Permissions

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My opponent, if they RP first, may do the following:
Choose my goalscorers: Yes
Godmod scoring events: Yes, but not too over the top.
RP injuries to my players: Yes, I decide the length of injuries
Godmod injuries to my players: You may eat some of my players (not the key ones though, preferably substitutes.) No, however, if you do talk to me first through TG or on IRC, I can sometimes be lenient and agree to this.
Hand out yellow cards to my players: Yes, but not in excess
Hand out red cards to my players: Yes, but not in excess. I decide on length of suspension.
Godmod other events: Yes, but don't go too overboard.

[Nephara]

It had been the least auspicious beginning possible, and among the most humiliating days of Amethyst Fegelein's life.
Welcome to the national job, she thought to herself.
Handshake, then back down the tunnel. Straight to the dressing room. Michael Brandon followed, lost for words.

Nevaeh Cathar was first down the tunnel. No handshakes for her. She'd been thrown on for the last twenty minutes and had had an almost immediate impact, a flying header meeting Elsa Kaelin's (another substitute) cross and smashing it home. She'd then almost immediately been played through on goal by Tarashaj, rushed through on goal, pulled the trigger...
... and missed.
She'd picked herself up and kept trying, but the whole time she'd wondered - what the fuck was the matter with her coworkers?
She aimed a spiteful kick at some stray water-bottles, sending them all flying. Took a deep, shuddering breath.
There was a microphone stand, belonging to a knot of journalists conferring who best to interview. Cathar grabbed it and ran.

"- utterly shambolic."
Brandon was taking the team-talk. Fegelein... had just left, in the end. Disgusted.
"You're playing so utterly within yourselves - where is the confidence? It's like you've been eroded by ONE FUCKING RESULT... well? Fucking defend yourselves, you cunts! Or don't you even care enough to defend yo-"
"AAAAAARGH!"
The door splintered, and smashed open. Nevaeh Cathar stalked in, covered in sweat, with a battered mic stand clutched in both hands.
Then she got to work, smashing lockers apart. One after the other. WHAM. WHAM. WHAM. WHAM.
A few Nepharim got up to try and stop her, but Brandon shook his head.
WHAM. WHAM. WHAM.
They were definitely going to get in trouble for this.
WHAM. WHAM. WHAM.
Especially when they found out she'd done the same to the away dressing room first.
WHAM. WHAM. WHAM. WH-
The stand gave up the ghost, and cracked in half. Cathar stared at the broken pieces in her hand.
Hesitantly, Gideon Fletcher - the captain - put a hand on her shoulder. "Look, hey, Caths, I know it's-"
Cathar uncoiled like a viper, hands wrapping around Fletcher's throat. Finally, belatedly, everyone else clicked into action, all the frustration of the past ninety minutes - hell, for some of them, the past year - all pouring out into a mass fist-fight. It wasn't dignified, it wasn't pretty, and Andreas Swoboda's first involvement with the Cormorants was having his nose broken by Trajan Bruyne's elbow.
Michael Brandon watched, and waited, before finally the paradigm of any closing fight reasserted himself. Vedran Tarashaj had Cathar in a headlock. Isidra Jeurissen was somehow unconscious. Danijel Brymora appeared to be trapped in one of the battered lockers.
Brandon cleared his throat.
"Next match, we will change the entire first XI. Let that be a lesson to you to take your fucking chances."
And he left them to stew in it, praying to God it would work. But God forbid, if this malaise continued much longer...
... well, the consequences weren't worth thinking about.

[Astograth]

Arizmande slid into the net after the ball, but too far behind to keep it from rolling in. He came to rest against it, quickly grabbing hold and standing up. His white away kit was stained green by the grass. Just five minutes in and it was a goal for Pasarga. Not his fault, but still his fault. They should've known Auðbjörnsson was this dangerous. He should've prepared Senez for this. He should've advised Bakaikoa better. He should've won the Copa Rushmori when they had the chance in Ossidiacqua. He should've passed on this bloody armband years ago, at Grand Duke's, not on foreign soil at the age of 46, making a fool of himself in a top-level competition.

He could've done a lot of things, if his country's future hadn't been stolen.

Arizmande jogged back to the centre with the ball under his arm. Applause went round the stadium, but he had no way of telling if it was for him or a residue of the home team's early opener. He set it down on the dot and felt a tap on his back. Dardan. Arizmande looked to the sideline, knowing the fourth referee to be holding up a green 5 and a red 4. It was time.

The blue captain's armband came off slowly, dropping onto the grass. He met Dardan, Olibondeka's new captain, in an embrace, and shared some words of encouragement that a player of this calibre did not require. The applause did ring clearly now, echoing loudly in the cavernous Stade de Torgos. Arizmande waved back, before kissing the badge on his chest and taking his final step off the pitch

There, retired from football. Again. Now Narke could take his place in the defense and Dardan as skipper. It was all show, in truth, but mystique was an important thing to recover - for both fans and players. Gandiaga, FAF president, had emphasised that, and Bakaikoa taken it to heart, setting up this stunt. Arizmande shifted on the bench and took a swig of water, eyeing the national team manager. Bakaikoa... now there was a mystery, along with Dardan and Churin. What had even happened in Polar Islandstates? They'd just... appeared, then, at the Copa Rushmori, speaking of a sandy place, but Arizmande remembered them being at training for weeks prior. Or did he? Bakaikoa had been confirmed as manager for a good couple of months ago. Or had he? Surely! The FAF couldn't appoint a manager at the Copa Rushmori, now, could they? How would he even get the squad together? Preposterous.

And yet... Arizmande racked his brains, but could not recall a specific instance of seeing either Dardan, Churin, or Bakaikoa before this tournament. Or even before this day? But surely he must have.

Whatever. Maybe he was lacking hydration, though the old captain wasn't that old that a warmup and five minutes of football left him delirious. He rubbed his eyes and traded the water for a neon-coloured sports drink. Olibondeka had closed one chapter, but the match was only starting.

***

Months earlier

“Am I hearing this right?”

“I assume so. It's quite simple,” said Orain Gaspia, an utter toad of a man who'd pulled enough strings to be named Minister for Sport at some point in the last decade. Not that there was much sport to be minister of, but this regime was nothing if not bloated.

“I don't understand,” said Gandiaga, “what's the catch?”

Gaspia shifted his weight and straightened his glasses, and drew a long breath before planting his elbows on the table. Instead of speaking, his thick, greasy face devolved into the fakest smile Gandiaga had ever seen. “Catch, Eneko? Please. If you don't want the job it's understandable”.

Gandiaga cleared his throat. “It's just unexpected. I didn't think football was a priority for the Lord Protector.”

“This wasn't the Lord Protector's doing,” snapped back Gaspia, before resuming his uncomfortable grin. “These directions came from the office of the Grand Duke, a few days before we contacted you”.

Gandiaga's eyebrows shot up. The Grand Duke? Now this was interesting. “The Lord Protector has no opinion?”

The toad scoffed. “The Grand Duke can overturn any executive order at will. He's now decided to do so for a number of things, including the FAF”.

“Come now,” said Gandiaga, attempting to discern what lay behind that pair of beady green eyes, “let's be real. Why's the Grand Duke going against the Lord Protector? On this and what else?”

Gaspia's face soured, and darkened. He lifted off the table. “You're mistaken, Eneko. The Grand Duke does as the Grand Duke wills. We all work at his pleasur,e and that includes the Lord Protector. The other measures to be implemented concern other ministries and are none of your business before being announced”.

So that was that, then. His heart pounded. This was the Grand Duke going against the Lord Protector. Risky, for someone who could suffer a convenient 'accident' and be replaced at any time. And for what, football? Something was amiss, but he wouldn't find answers here. “My apologies, Lord Minister, I meant no offense. What would the job entail, at this point? What objectives?”

“Rebuild. Re-establish the Football League and the national team, which you have unique experience in achieving. Then carry on as you were before,” Gaspia's thin lips curled at one end, “wouldn't that be nice?”

Gandiaga ignored him. “This means professionalisation, then.”

“Naturally.”

“I will be allowed to choose my own staff?”

“Within reason.”

“Modern offices?”

Gaspia let out an exasperated sigh and leaned close. “Eneko. This ministry runs under budget. Always. We make up tournaments, dozens of them, just to keep justifying our existence. You think anyone checks? Whatever you need, we'll fund it. Just figure out how you'll send teams to the UICA this season, get the league running for the next, and sign us up for that bloody Copa Rushmori”.

[Northern Natanians]

The Adventures of Captain Tiago Bolacha
Or a (Northern) Natanian Epic


Canto Ⅰ
Chapter Ⅰ


A son of the Glorious Natanian Land
Travelling through seas of dangers one can
Not count.Adventuring himself and ship
Into umpreceded risks and dangers.
Joost to find new lands for his people.Sent
By a king that was not a king.A king
Loved by its people trying too make
His nation prosper by'tself.Sent him North.

This man's name is Tiago Bolacha,
More known as Bulacha.A not really
Tall but strong mann,from a famile that
Loues him much.Bravelly leaving hiss weife
At home.Knoeing that he must accomplishe
this mition and re-turn back home hero.
Not willing too fale,onless he wants shame.
Honour to his family he mighte bringge.

[Trans-Dniesters]

ПРИДНЕСТРОВСКАЯ ЦЕНТРАЛЬНАЯ НОВОСТИ АГЕНЦИЯ
PRIDNESTROVSKAYA TSENTRALNAYA NOVOSTI AGENTSIYA
PRIDNESTROVIAN CENTRAL NEWS AGENCY

PRIDNESTROVIA WINS OPENING MATCH OF COPA RUSHMORI 27 4-2 AGAINST SARRBIA, MAKES OWN GOAL HISTORY
By Gustav Tyumenov


Selim Tiryaki of the Pridnestrovian national football team celebrates his second goal against Sarrbia. Tiryaki would score a brace with Boyan Radev and Yuri Tymoshenko also making their way onto the scoresheet in Pridnestrovia's 4-2 win over Sarrbia.

TARGAS, PASARGA - The Pridnestrovian national football team came out triumphant over the national football team of Sarrbia in the opening match of the 27th Copa Rushmori held in Pasarga and Eastfield Lodge. Selim Tiryaki scored a brace against the Sarrbians, while both Boyan Radev and Yuri Tymoshenko also scored for the Red Army. No Sarrbians were able to score against the new number 1 Ferdinand Abbing but the Sarrbians still had two goals to their name due to the fact that two Pridnestrovian players ended up putting the ball into the back of their own nets, an event which has seen Pridnestrovia become the first nation to score two own goals in the Copa Rushmori and yet still come out on top as the victors.

Things have gone very well for the Red Army even in the starting five minutes of the match as sloppy defending from Sarrbia easily saw Seiim Tiryaki slip through the gaps in their defense, control Boyan Radev’s cross in acres of space, and then thump the ball into the roof of the net with barely six minutes played in the first half. Tiryaki then returned the favour to Radev when the Arsenal de Releinthi striker slipped a through-ball past the Sarrbian defense for the Marinos Thimpodopoulos striker to latch onto for an easy run at goal. The Sarrbian goalie rushed out of his line too quickly and Boyan Radev was able to round the Sarrbian keeper before walking the ball into the goal to double the Red Army’s advantage within 15 minutes of the first half.

Pridnestrovia pressed their advantage even further as the first half played out but the Sarrbians, after letting through two goals in the space of ten minutes, had tightened up and were reluctant for their opponents to carve them open once again. During what little spells of possession Sarrbia had, they went for counterattacks, hoping to catch the Pridnestrovian defense asleep and unawares, but the center halves and their wingbacks held firm against what little chances Sarrbia threw their way. At the other end of the pitch, Pridnestrovia threw everything they had at the Sarrbians but unlike the first fifteen minutes of the match, Sarrbia regained their composure and didn’t allow Pridnestrovia to get through their revamped defense before the end of the first half. At least, that had been their aim: get to the end of the first half without conceding any more goals.

But it was not to be for the Sarrbians. Two minutes before the half-time break, while defending a Pridnestrovian corner, the Sarrbian defense once again allowed Selim Tiryaki to get into a pocket of space into which Demyan Pajari steered his corner kick. All it took from Tiryaki was another touch from his chest to control the ball and then it was an easy tap-in for the striker from the Ixanian Socialist State with Oontaznik blood. Frustrations in the Sarrbian side boiled over and a Sarrbian player slid into a crunching tackle into Tiryaki just before the final whistle for which the Sarrbian was duly shown the yellow card by the referee despite the howls of protestation from the Pridnestrovian fans, players, and team staff.

In the second half, Selim Tiryaki had been replaced by Wilfried Halberstam of CSKA Tiraspol, a decision which Werner Ceausescu later revealed as due to a painful swelling in Tiryaki’s ankle which the team staff had been a result of the Sarrbian player’s tackle on Tiryaki before the end of the first half. Halberstam, who was making his first appearance for the national team outside of international friendlies for the first time in many years, immediately set to work taking Pridnestrovia further away from Sarrbia than they already were. Halberstam, whose ability to get into pockets of space was uncanny and equal only to that of Selim Tiryaki and had already earned him the appellation of “Der Raumdeuter,” immediately created Pridnestrovia’s first chance in the second half out of whole cloth when he scooped the ball away from a Sarrbian defender, turned on the spot, and fired at the goal. The only thing which went wrong with his performance was that he did not find the back of the net that time; instead firing straight at the crossbar. It was a miss which Wilfried Halberstam would rue as the night went on.

Sarrbia then were able to put together a short spell of possession in which they looked very likely to score a goal for themselves. Following a rocket of a shot which Ferdinand Abbing only barely managed to tip beyond the post to give Sarrbia a corner, there was a flurry in the box as Pridnestrovia rushed to defend the corner and Sarrbia struggled to score from it. A crowd of players jumped inside the box and the ball eventually managed to find its way into the back of the net. The Sarrbian players were already celebrating the goal even as there were questioning looks being thrown around the Pridnestrovian camp. Yuri Tymoshenko looked to be very ashamed of himself following this Sarrbian, and replays would eventually show that Tymoshenko, the younger brother of Pridnestrovian women’s national football team player Yelena Tymoshenko, had been the one whose head applied the final contact on the ball which steered it past Ferdinand Abbing’s waiting hands.

It wasn’t all doom and gloom for the Red Army, though. They still had a two-goal lead over Sarrbia and, barring a collapse like that suffered by Parodys against Pridnestrovia in the previous Copa Rushmori which ended with Pridnestrovia running out as 8 (EIGHT)-2 winners, were on course for three vital points in the group stage of the current tournament. And when Vladislav Bogomolov’s attempt at goal was parried away by the Sarrbian keeper right back into the field of play, Yuri Tymoshenko made amends for his own goal by finding the back of the net of the correct goal this time, and from 29 meters out to boot. Pridnestrovia and the Red Army had well and truly deserved the victory in this match.

But it wasn’t the end of the tale yet. Pridnestrovia were once again defending a rare corner from Sarrbia near the end of the game. The corner kick itself was poor and headed right for a player wearing a red-and-green shirt, Wilfried Halberstam. But Halberstam’s attempt to clear the ball away was similarly poor as well and the ball flew into the top right corner in an inch-perfect shot and finish that would have made it one of the best goals ever scored by a Pridnestrovian player if it had gone into the right goal. As it stood, though, it was still one of the most beautiful own goals ever scored in history, and even Wilfried Halberstam, ever the perennial joker, could see the silver lining in this particular cloud and applauded himself as he watched the replay of his own goal on the stadium Jumbotron.


Pridnestrovian national football team manager Werner Ceausescu: A perfect team performance all around

Pridnestrovian national football team manager Werner Ceausescu: "I have to say that this was a perfect all-around team performance. Everyone contributed to the victory and everyone did their best to bring about this magnificent result. Yes, it is a shame that we also scored two own goals in this game and ended up making Copa Rushmori history, but I think that making history is a good thing. But all that aside, we won, and that's what matters in the end."

    PRIDNESTROVIA 4 - 2 SARRBIA
TIRYAKI (6', 44')       TYMOSHENKO (56' og)
      RADEV (15')       HALBERSTAM (88' og)
 TYMOSHENKO (61')

PRIDNESTROVIA
GK: 13 Abbing █
RB: 14 Tymoshenko █
CB: 3 Vasilyev (Nochevski █ - 79')
LB: 4 Budny
RM: 20 Polzin
RDM: 10 Wasylyk
CDM: 7 Funar (Nesterenko - 65')
LDM: 8 Bogomolov
LM: 6 Pajari
RS: 9 Radev
LS: 11 Tiryaki (Halberstam - 46')

MATCH STATS
Possession
Pridnestrovia: 53%
Sarrbia: 47%
Shots
Pridnestrovia: 16 (9 on target)
Sarrbia: 10 (4 on target)
Corners
Pridnestrovia: 10
Sarrbia: 5
Fouls
Pridnestrovia: 20
Sarrbia: 25

[Anglatia]

Behind The Mask

Chapter Two

Life in the National Division was quite different than life playing football in the streets. One of the hard things at first is winning the respect of a club, if you don't have much experience and everyone only knows you as the academy player that was picked up based on street football. You see, I didn't spend that long in the academy before I started getting chances to train with the first team and sit on the bench with them during actual matches, and that was a bigger culture shock than joining the academy and moving away from my big city home was.

It wasn't that I was homesick, because I kept up with friends back home and with my family via phone, but when you sign for a middling or lower tier Imperial club as a youth player, you get no help from the upper brass. At Ross United or at Bathgate, you get treated like a king when you arrive, and you have someone working with the club to make sure that you get everything you could need. You'll have someone looking for a house for you as soon as you sign on and arrive in the city, the club will make sure that you get a nice car if you need one to get to and from training, they'll handle all the moving to make sure that you can bring all of your old stuff to your new home and feel comfortable. As a matter of fact, one big club that I played for even bought a new car and a closet full of designer clothes for my girlfriend at the time, knowing that she wasn't happy about having to move here and wanting to cheer her up.

The big clubs will even get you contraband if that's what you desire… They realize that players who are prone to drug use will find their way to the drugs no matter what, and so the clubs would rather have someone whose job it is to buy them for the players. After all, the last thing a club wants to do is spend double digit millions on a star player only to have him risk his life by heading to the bad part of town and trying to buy drugs himself, often times from a dealer that's going to try to scam him out of his money. In one case, I remember a club sending a representative across continents on drug runs, because there was a star player that was very specific about what he wanted and the club didn't want to take the risk of him taking those trips himself, both because it would take time from training and because there was a danger involved.

But all of that is reserved for the players who have already made it, the ones at the bigger clubs that have enough free cash to spoil their players outside of paying them their normal contracts. When I first went pro, all they gave me was a pair of keys to a small apartment in the block where the youth team lived, and they just told me where I could find food after training sessions and then let me loose by myself. Oh, and they handed me the twenty five marks that I was due for that week, and then reminded me that there was no food being served on the day when we didn't have training… That, of course, meant that I didn't even have the whole twenty five marks to spend on myself, because I had to save some for fast food on our break day.

The scheduling was tough, but for different reasons than it was later in my career, when I was a full professional that was playing for the first team and out of school. But as a youth player, I hadn't finished school yet, and I had to train with an academy that had players that were already graduated. Because of that, I had an odd schedule in school that saw me go to school in the morning, train in the early afternoon, and then go back to school until the end of that school day, taking some of my assignments back home to complete before the next day. It saw me become very busy until I graduated, because I was still expected to train like I was a pro, even though I was only professional in name only when I first started out.

The busyness did keep me from having too much time to hang out with new friends in school, giving me a reputation as an athletic jock who was semi popular because of sports, but also distant from everyone else. Everyone liked being able to say that an actual professional player from the local football club went to their school, but at the same time, they seemed disappointed that I was always either training with the team or catching up on the schoolwork I had missed because of the training. I did consider simply dropping out, but I wasn't quite that confident in making it in football yet that I was willing to bet everything on making it.

When I did hang out with schoolmates, it was usually the rougher crowd that stayed out very late, which in hindsight, helped me out with developing toughness. Both mental and physical. My odd schedule saw me becoming friends with the kids that stayed out way too late and I acted the part as if I truly was a member of their crowd. The type of friends that I hung with were the type who weren't afraid of banter and weren't even afraid of legitimately fighting, and that gave me thick skin and helped with adjusting to being in a professional locker room eventually. And the fighting, that helped with confidence, making it hard for even the most experienced footballer to intimidate me once I moved up to the first team.

It was a tiring life, with a lot of studying and then training and then more studying and then running with the rough crowd, and then doing it all over again the next day, but it wasn't long before I was done with school and I was ready to focus completely on football. That was when I was called up to the first team, and it was really when I had my first experience with playing for a real club. Not an academy, but a club.

I wasn't consistently in the first team at first, but I did train with them and get the attention of some of the other players with my flash in training and with my ability to pick up moves from others very quickly. Once I was out of school, I spent a lot of time studying the skills of others again, and trying to replicate those skills to the best of my ability. That was something I almost wish I hadn't done. In a professional locker room, the players can be averse to some new kid showing up and then taking their skill moves, especially if that said kid humiliates them in scrimmages by using those moves.

After I scored a goal following a particularly impressive turn on the ball, I found my boots hanging from a tree outside of the training ground later that day. When I used another flashy move to showboat for a training ground goal, I came out of the showers to find all of my clothes missing, thrown on top of that same tree, where I couldn't reach them. I had to talk one of the other young players into climbing the tree to get them, and by then, the rest of the squad had gotten a good laugh out of me standing there outside the training ground in just a towel, while my friend tried to scale the tree.

Some have said that hazing doesn't happen anymore in modern football, but I can assure you that those people are wrong. Us younger players had to go through a bunch of things when we were first starting out, including enduring some bad haircuts and being forced to perform just about any embarrassing task that the older players asked of us. But for me, it didn't last that long, because despite some of the older players feeling offended and like I had shown them up, I was quickly becoming known as a talented youngster that would make it into the first team before long.

Or at least, I would have become a consistent starter and a key player in the first team if it wasn't for two things derailing me: my first experience with the kind of girls that like to hang around footballers, and my first real experiences with the club manager. Both of those things changed the course of my career, but they also taught me some valuable lessons… Lessons that have stayed with me down to this day.

[Eastfield Lodge]

Copa Rushmori XXVII

You don't just need skill to win, you also need a heart of courage.

Cutoff for MD2 in Groups Pargis and Peynol.

Group Pargis

Astograth 3–3 Darmen
Sarrbia 0–0 The Askari Union
Pasarga 3–1 Pridenestrovia

Group Pargis            Pld    W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts 
1 Pasarga                 2    2   0   0     9    2   +7     6
2 The Askari Union        2    1   1   0     1    0   +1     4
3 Pridenestrovia          2    1   0   1     5    5    0     3
4 Darmen                  2    0   1   1     3    4   −1     1
5 Sarrbia                 2    0   1   1     2    4   −2     1
6 Astograth               2    0   1   1     4    9   −5     1

Group Peynol

Kitsai 1–4 Parodys
Southeastern Sunrise Islands 0–1 Savojarna
Eura 0–0 Taeshan

Group Peynol                    Pld    W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts 
1 Parodys                         2    1   1   0     6    3   +3     4
2 Taeshan                         2    1   1   0     2    0   +2     4
3 Savojarna                       2    1   1   0     3    2   +1     4
4 Eura                            2    1   1   0     2    1   +1     4
5 Southeastern Sunrise Islands    2    0   0   2     0    3   −3     0
6 Kitsai                          2    0   0   2     2    6   −4     0

[Yesopalitha]

Nirdasil's Corner

Didn't think it'd be easy, did you, returning to international football after a thirty-year hiatus? It's going to be a long grind back to relevancy. During my post-match call with Jane, she didn't even sound mad. The opponents were a strong contender for the title, she was quick to point out. Henrietta did let in two goals, but those were ones that were earned, not just given away. She praised the play of Park and Milkyway with the defenders but lamented the lack of production by Yersau, Jack-Bentley, Hunt, Roswell, and the rest.

Thankfully, their next opponents, Nephara, also lost in the first match to The Great Pi. It is possible that the world contenders might be reeling and it might be ripe for another setback. When I pointed that out, though, she was quick to reply with the hopes that they'd score a goal.

Maybe if we were able to get her an assistant, she'd be able to get some more out of her players. Maybe, if we could get her... Yes, her...

Anyone want to be coached by JVR and HVR at the same time?

Maybe not Zoé. But the rest of them? Would be interesting, wouldn't it?

Time for a phone call.

[Pasarga]

Copa Rushmori XXVII

Group Imperial
Tveidalen 2–3 Olastor
Northern Natanians 1–1 Anglatia
Eastfield Lodge 1–0 Sameba

P Group Imperial             Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 Eastfield Lodge              2   2  0  0    5   2  +3    6
2 Anglatia                     2   1  1  0    5   1  +4    4
3 Sameba                       2   1  0  1    2   2   0    3
4 Olastor                      2   1  0  1    3   6  −3    3
5 Northern Natanians           2   0  1  1    2   3  −1    1
6 Tveidalen                    2   0  0  2    4   7  −3    0

Group Commonwealth
Polar Islandstates 0–0 The Great Pi
Yesopaltha 0–1 Nephara
Valladares 5–1 Eastern Sunrise Islands

P Group Commonwealth         Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 Valladares                   2   2  0  0    8   1  +7    6
2 The Great Pi                 2   1  1  0    2   1  +1    4
3 Nephara                      2   1  0  1    2   2   0    3
4 Eastern Sunrise Islands      2   1  0  1    3   5  −2    3
5 Polar Islandstates           2   0  1  1    0   3  −3    1
6 Yesopaltha                   2   0  0  2    0   3  −3    0

[Trans-Dniesters]

ПРИДНЕСТРОВСКАЯ ЦЕНТРАЛЬНАЯ НОВОСТИ АГЕНЦИЯ
PRIDNESTROVSKAYA TSENTRALNAYA NOVOSTI AGENTSIYA
PRIDNESTROVIAN CENTRAL NEWS AGENCY

PRIDNESTROVIA FALLS AGAINST RUSHMORE GIANTS PASARGA AGAIN IN 3-1 DEFEAT
By Gustav Tyumenov


Wilfried Halberstam of the Pridnestrovian national football team celebrates his goal against Pasarga. Pasarga had already scored three goals before Halberstam scored his first goal for Pridnestrovia in four years in what would be Pridnestrovia's first defeat in the 27th Copa Rushmori.

STEIN-LOS, PASARGA - The Pridnestrovian national football team once again failed to defeat their long-term tormentors on the football pitch Pasarga as the 2nd-best team in Rushmore trashed the Red Army 3-1. However, two Pridnestrovian players were able to get their names on the scoresheet, but only one of those two Pridnestrovians scored for the correct team.

Pasargan wunderkind Ingþór Auðbjörnsson opened the scoring for the hosts with a cleverly executed strike from just inside the box, a shot which Ferdinand Abbing was unable to save despite the keeper fom the Ixanian Socialist State getting a hand on the ball. Abbing's hand was simply too weak to push the ball away from the inside of the left post, and Pasarga already had the lead without five minutes having been played yet.

More misery would be piled upon the Red Army as, while defending a Pasargan corner kick, Boyan Radev got on the end of Fjóla Sigurjónsdóttir's corner kick and, instead of clearing it away from the field of play as a good player on the defending team should, actually steered it past Ferdinand Abbing and ended up scoring Pridnestrovia's third own goal of the tournament. Pridnestrovia were already two goals down in the first seventeen minutes of their game against the hosts, and the second goal had actually come from one of their own players.

Wilfried Halberstam, starting in place of the injured Selim Tiryaki, tried to lead the Red Army to a comeback against the hosts, but this was a task which was beyond the capabilities of even Herr Raumdeuter. Halberstam could investigate all the spaces that he wanted, not that Pasarga gave him much space to investigate, let alone get into, but Halberstam was simply unable to lead Pridnestrovia to the task of coming back against Pasarga. He did have a close chance when he and Boyan Radev were released to initiate a Pridnestrovian counterattack, and were Halberstam's legs a little, he very possibly could have scored a goal just before half-time for the Red Army.

From the beginning of the second half and until twenty minutes from the end of the game including added time, Pridnestrovia managed to get the upper hand and have a good share of the ball possession, and the Red Army really should have done better in this time. They really possibly could have scored two goals during this spell of possession and dominance, and instead the best that they could come up in that time was a header from Boyan Radev which hit the crossbar and a fizzing shot from Wilfried Halberstam which went just an inch past the outside of the right post.

Once Pasarga got the ball back, they immediately made Pridnestrovia pay for their wastefulness in front of goal and a clever long ball from Ognjen Jurkovic found Terzo Mazzanti in acres of space, and the Baskita FC midfielder made no mistake of his chance and showed the Red Army how to take chances when he drilled the ball into the top right corner, just beyond the tips of Ferdinand Abbing's fingers. Wilfried Halberstam was finally able to score his first goal for Pridnestrovia in over four years when he was able to make it past the Pasargan defense and keeper Miodrag Novosel, but the goal was nothing more than a consolation and was actually the result of a tired and relaxed Pasargan defense who saw no reason to stop Halberstam now that they had taken full control of the game.


Pridnestrovian national football team manager Werner Ceausescu: Defeat was expected but still a bitter experience

Pridnestrovian national football team manager Werner Ceausescu: "I mean, we expected a bad result in our game against Pasarga but even then, this defeat still leaves a bad taste in my mouth. It's a very bitter experience, not one I want to experience ever again if I can help it. Nevertheless, we can still take some positives from this. If Boyan [Radev] could remember to score in the right net next time then I'm sure that he will be able to help contribute to Pridnestrovia's victory in this tournament. And Wilfried Halberstam is still as good as he was four years ago. It's a good thing that he was finally called up for the squad again because we have been sorely missing his talent and his presence both on the pitch and off it, in the locker room. Wilfried Halberstam will surely be a key piece of our team during this campaign especially now that Selim Tiryaki has been sidelined and may not be back for the rest of the tournament."

          PASARGA 3 - 1 PRIDNESTROVIA
AUðBJöRNSSON (5')       HALBERSTAM (87')
   RADEV (17' og)
   MAZZANTI (69')

PRIDNESTROVIA
GK: 13 Abbing
RB: 14 Tymoshenko (Nochevski - 64')
CB: 3 Vasilyev
LB: 4 Budny
RM: 20 Polzin (Larionov - 70')
RDM: 10 Wasylyk █
CDM: 7 Funar
LDM: 8 Bogomolov █
LM: 6 Pajari
RS: 9 Radev (Schermer - 80')
LS: 23 Halberstam

PASARGA
GK: 1 Novosel
RB: 2 Calabresi (Bašić - 55')
RCB: 3 Ivanec
LCB: 4 Oddsson █
LB: 5 Fridrichová
RM: 6 Sigurjónsdóttir
RCM: 7 Hunor
LCM: 8 Mazzanti
LM: 11 Jurkovic
RS: 10 Auðbjörnsson
LS: 9 Tomić (Galindo - 79')

MATCH STATS
Possession
Pasarga: 50%
Pridnestrovia: 50%
Shots
Pasarga: 13 (7 on target)
Pridnestrovia: 9 (4 on target)
Corners
Pasarga: 6
Pridnestrovia: 3
Fouls
Pasarga: 15
Pridnestrovia: 23

[Darmen]

This RP should be considered Secret-IC. If you really must, your government can get its hands on the memo through your intelligence service(s). If you do that however, I expect you to RP it.

Office of the President of the Republic of Darmen
INTERNAL MEMO

FROM: Tor Tong Lee, President of the Republic
TO: All members of the Executive Cabinet, All heads of Departmental Agencies, Governor of the Bank of Darmen, Speaker of Parliament, Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Chief Justice of the High Court of Administrative Law
SUBJECT: The Common Rushmori Community

* PLEASE BE AWARE THAT THIS DOCUMENT IS NOT TO BE RELEASED TO THE PUBLIC, AND IS TO BE SHARED WITH OTHER GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS ONLY AT THE DISCRETION OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC *

As many of you are aware, talks between various Rushmori governments have been underway for some time now regarding the creation of a common Rushmori community. Until this time, the Darmeni government has not participated in discussions. I have decided to release a preliminary statement to other Rushmori governments outlining our position on the issue. Before doing so however, I would like all governmental bodies to weigh in on the issue with their own thoughts and observations. Please note that currently, I am sharing my thoughts on the first two titles of the proposed treaty only, and would ask all responses to focus on these two titles as well. Subsequent titles shall be discussed in subsequent memos.

TITLE I — PROVISIONS
1. By this ACCORD, the HIGH CONTRACTING PARTIES establish among themselves a Common Rushmori Community, hereafter 'the CRC'.

Previous proposals titled the organization a "Union", rather than a "Community." I very much welcome the change in title. Darmen must retain its sovereignty, and the title "Union" very much suggests that the ultimate goal of the organization is political unity. "Community" however suggests that the goal of the organization is to promote cooperation between its members, while very much continuing to recognize them as individual states. I find this much more acceptable.

2. The CRC's stated objectives shall be:
i. to work towards increasingly closer relations in the region of Rushmore;
ii. to eliminate trade, movement and other barriers separating member states;
iii. to strengthen members' commitment to liberty, democracy, human rights and the rule of law;

These are all great objectives which I do not have a problem with. However, it is important to understand the extent to which these objectives encroach upon Darmeni sovereignty. "Increasingly closer relations", if taken to its furthest possible conclusion, means the eventual merger of the various member states into a single Rushmori super-state. That is not acceptable. We must stress cooperation within the community, while maintain the individuality of each state, as I mentioned earlier.

As for the elimination of "trade, movement and other barriers," once again I have no problems. The exact extent to which we shall seek the elimination of such barriers shall be left to the respective members of the Executive Cabinet.

While I maintain that our own commitment to liberty, democracy, human rights and the rule of law is already quite strong, there will ultimately be those that disagree. While some of their disagreements may indeed be correct and require our attention and rectification, there are others who will disagree with us solely because they wish to destroy the Darmeni way of life. Such cannot be allowed to happen.

iv. to develop close co-operation on security matters;

The extent to which we participate in common security matters will obviously be limited by the size and ability of our own military. I remain committed to the maintenance of a small, professional and well trained military, with the primary goal of protecting the territory of Darmen. That being said, we will to the furthest extent possible, help the other Rushmori nations protect themselves from foreign aggression, especially of the unprovoked variety currently being exhibited by the Samebans in their aggression towards the Eurans.

v. to ensure citizens of member states of the CRC are protected within the CRC and treated as non-aliens;
vi. to promote economic, social and cultural cohesion between member states;

I have no problem with the protection and treatment of "CRC citizens" within Darmen as being on equal status as that of a Darmeni citizen. On the second point however, and I hate to sound like a broken record, we must once again limit the amount of cohesion so as to not erode Darmeni sovereignty and way of life. We will most likely be willing to concede on economic cohesion as necessary, but certain concessions on social and cultural issues will need to be rejected. This will need to be addressed on a case by case basis by the relevant members of the Executive Cabinet.

vii. to act to prevent and end unprovoked aggressions against other member states;
viii. to help the development of all states across the Rushmori region.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with either of these two provisions. In fact, Darmen may be one of the initial benefactors of the later provision.

That concludes my thoughts on the matter. I eagerly await your responses and feedback, which I expect to receive within the next 72 hours. Please deliver your replies to my Chief of Staff.

Tor Tong Lee
President of the Republic

[Nephara]

It had been over twenty years since Nephara and Yesopalitha had last played. Things had been different then. For one thing, six of Nephara's squad hadn't been born yet.
For another, they'd been a young team, fresh off winning the Baptism of Fire - well, an old team in terms of their players. Nobody had expected them to get so much as a goal against Yesopalitha, and they promptly didn't, as they lost 4-0 away and 1-0 at home.
Now they were a veteran of the circuit, a World Cup champion. And they were reeling.
Michael Brandon had been renowned, in his day, as a nerveless, dauntless model professional. But even he was biting his nails.
Amethyst Fegelein was a bundle of nervous energy at the best of times. She knew she needed to be a source of strength for her players. She knew they wanted to see her leading by example, but she couldn't help but pace, and pace, and regret the stunt that saw almost the entire starting XI switched. But she needed these 90 minutes to watch.
And wait.
Andreas Swoboda between the posts was pacing, too. Licking his lips compulsively. He hadn't expected to be called up, let alone put on the pitch. But he'd made two saves, one good and one excellent, and that was all that had been required of him.
Dieter Konoval was the sole survivor - they didn't actually have enough defenders to quite switch everyone out. The Mozi defender was wearing the armband. And he was shouting, marshalling, ensuring that nobody fucked up or slipped up, and Bruyne finally looked solid in a green shirt, Brymora and Jeurissen shuttling forward, overlapping with Woodspur and Kaelin, Rowan and Crowley unexceptionally solid in the centre of the pitch, and up front...
Up front she had a conundrum.
Cathar had been her most motivated player last time around. Hell, she'd scored the goal. But she'd been awful tonight. Time after time she'd had space carved out for her and just overcooked the touch or rifled the shot over or... in any case, she should have had a brace. Instead, she had a yellow card.
Wardenier? She just didn't seem on the same wavelength, and the direct crossing was visibly frustrating her. Wardenier was a quietly fierce competitor, and every time she made a run that the wingers didn't see, she'd seethe as she tread back into position. It made her seem invisible, and that would frustrate her, and it was frustrating her as she dropped deeper and deeper in search of the ball...
Andrea Bereveskos had lit things up when she'd come on in the 33rd minute - Mariska Woodspur limping off with injury had forced that - and she had twenty minutes and one substitute.
There was now just one player who hadn't been called on yet - one outfielder, in any case.
Dragan Stavanger.

Three minutes later, Stavanger was on the pitch. Wardenier had come off - a model professional, of course, but frustrated. Frustrated at herself was fine. She could be trusted to make it productive.
Stavanger was an interesting case. Prolific at club level, he'd struggled to convert that form to his county. He'd just been snapped up before the tournament by Tannenberg, and hoped to break the curse that seemed to inflict Nepharim in that country. There was just... something seeming to hold him back. He really should be starting for Nephara, one of the first names on the team-sheet, and on his day...
... Stavanger knew what he had to do. He needed to make this his day, or, well, who knew if this crazy manager would ever trust him again?
oh god oh god oh god oh god he was fucked if he didn't snatch this chance, jesus christ, and he was starting to dwell on it now fuck fuck fuck and
Five minutes later, he was wheeling away with Andrea Bereveskos, whose wipped cross he'd converted with a spectacular diving header.
Finally, Fegelein - and the team, and every fan in green in the stadium and all of them clustered around televisions back home - could relax. They'd made the breakthrough. The rest would, and did, take care of itself.

[Kitsai]

Choose my goalscorers Y
Godmod Scoring Events Y
RP injuries to my players N
Godmod injuries to my players N
Hand out Yellow cards to my players Y
Hand out Red cards to my players Y
Godmod Other Events Y

Kitsai Roster
Nickname: Eagles

Kits

Home Away
Modifier: +1

Manager: Atsidi Hatathli, age 40
Assistant: Tsela Deschine, age 37

Starters
GK: Shiye Cly, age 27
LB: Doli Todachine, age 29 (F)
CB: Yiska Tabaaha, age 26
CB: Tsiishch'ili Tsinajine, age 26
RB: Nascha Lapahie, age 26 (F)
RW: Haseya Etcitty, age 22 (F)
MC: Klah Deschine, age 22
MC: Sani Tso, age 30
LW: Shilah Uentillie, age 26
ST: Tsiishch'ili Todacheeny, age 22
ST: Sahkyo Todicheene, age 26 (F)

Reserves
GK: Naalnish Etcitty, age 23
GK Tsela Tl'izilani, age 30
LB: Gad Clah, age 23
CB: Bisahalani Clah, age 27
CB: Tsela Chee, age 24
RB: Dezba Hatahle, age 25 (F)
RW: Nastas Uintillie, age 27
MC: Begaye Ata'halne, age 21
MC: Atsa Tsinnajinnie, age 24
LW: Asdza Lapahie, age 23 (F)
ST: Haloke Tadaschine, age 22 (F)
ST: Yiska Peshlakai, age 26

Cly
Lapahie                     Tsinajine      Tabaaha                   Todachine
Etcitty                          Deschine         Tso                        Uentillie
     Todacheeny      Todicheene

Captain: Sani Tso
Corner Taker: Haseya Etcitty
Set Pieces: Sani Tso
Penalties: Sahkyo Todicheene

[Pasarga]

Torgos Tribune ~ Strong Winds

If you are a fan of Pasargan football, right now is quite an interesting time for you, with the Wanderers being the host of half of the Copa Rushmori while the domestic clubs are making their bids left right and center for players to fill out their rosters before the new season kicks off in a few weeks. Of a special interest to the fans of the national team was the fate of one Alexander Kárpáty, who alongside Claudio Romano is said to be the future of the Wanderers' attacking prowess. However despite the skill that the young striker has, his side in Cosumar were unable to retain their spot in the topflight and were relegated, allowing the striker to walk away on a free. Rumors swirled that clubs like 1830 Cathair, Raynor City United, as well as CA Paulinthal were in on trying to bring the striker to their squad. However it seems that the striker has found a home in Cosumar as the talented young man turned down all those potential offers from some of the biggest clubs in the footballing world to sign with Mallox in Cosumar, where fellow national team pool player Tas Danko plays. It is said that the centerback had a lot to do in keeping young Alexander in Cosumar and time will tell if that was the wisest move for one of Pasarga's brightest young stars.

More local, Peynol-Lunas is using all the reward money they received last season from winning the Copa de la Luna to strengthen the squad, as they have brought in seven players to their team as they are trying to strengthen the squad in hopes for a deep run during the Globe Cup and perhaps even challenge for the automatic places in the league. With two of those players being players in the Wanderers' player pool, including Željko Bašić who is with the national team for the Copa Rushmori, you have to imagine that the smaller club from Lunas is going to be quite ready for the rigors of the international cups as well as league play. Surprisingly, CAP and Tani have had very little in the way of making moves, perhaps waiting for closer to the end of the window for a better evaluation of their own clubs and prospects, or merely not believing there is enough talent in the window right now to warrant purchasing players when they do have several good players coming up through their youth system itself.

For the Wanderers, the opening match against Astograth in the Stade de Torgos was everything anyone could have hoped for and more, as the side thrashed their once strong rival by the scoreline of six to one, with Auðbjörnsson netting himself a hattrick while Tomić, Eisenhower, and Ferirabend all added a goal as well. While the footballing community is quite happy to once again see the return of Astograth and the Polarians back to the international arena, with the latter seeming to have some sort of weird sense of deja vu for most people, though the origins and causes of it seem quite the mystery. Nonetheless, it is good to see these two nations playing once again in the international arena, but they will have to deal with a brand new landscape both in the regional scene as well as that in the international, as our own side, as well as Valladares have risen up as the powerhouses of the region, along with the mainstay of Eura, with that first match against Astograth being quite the rude awakening for the sides.

Auðbjörnsson seems to be settling in quite well and fulfilling on the promise of his potential skill, as the striker has four goals from the first two matches with the Wanderers riding high atop the group. The side looks confident and quite happy to be playing inside its own nation for the Copa, with the group they were handed being a tough one but one in which they should progress without too much to do about it. Having already defeated the strongest contender to their spot atop the group in the second match, the Wanderers can now play with a sense of calmness about them, as they do not have the worries of what ifs to think about, merely the enjoyment of playing their game in front of their fans.

[Anglatia]

Rogue State

Chapter Six: Hot War

It looked like that despite all the drama and conflict in Terranea that had been caused by Eura and Sameba, the thing that could really drive the region and Rushmore as a whole into war and into a major crisis could be a war that wasn't even a hot one yet, the one between Imperial Anglatia and Nuevo Constancia. The war that was in the stage of a shadow conflict, with one side pushing to build their strength for it and the other one trying to ensure that it never happened in the first place, and that it was nipped in the bud before it could cause serious trouble for both Anglatia and Terranea.

This war was more about Nuevo Constancia than Anglatia. The United States of Nuevo Constancia was well known for being the beautiful northern neighbor of Valladares, and was more recently known for some shocking upsets in the World Baseball Classic, but the truth that everyone also knew was that the country was a socialist dictatorship that was hiding under the guise of being democratic. In reality, though, the Socialist Party was all controlling and the only way that anyone else could have success was if Chairman Carlos Teixeira and his party allowed them to, and they had also won every election for decades because of what international observers had declared to be corruption.

The socialist policies of the government and the ruling party had caused the economy to get worse and worse every year, with power being centralized in Monteverde and the outer cities such as Salvador, San Marcos, and Los Blancos being marginalized and not as well represented in decision making and in economic planning, and the result of that was the country developing another problem; regional power movements that wanted to see autonomy or independence, such as the self proclaimed Republic of East Constancia, and cartels that oftentimes doubled as similar movements that stood up for regional interests and against the government.

Those cartels had quickly grown to become the second strongest group of organizations in the country behind the Socialist Party and the rest of the government, and they represented a threat to the long term stability of the country and even the short term stability, because of the way that every one of them except for the Monteverde resented their government. How was the government planning to deal with them and solve the problem?

Well, it looked like, according to Imperial Anglatian intelligence, they were working on becoming a power of their own in the intelligence field and trying to develop something that was only known as a superweapon, of which the details were unknown. The weapon was supposedly biological, and would supposedly allow them to pick and choose any target that they wanted to be eliminated, without leaving much of a trace. At least, not a trace that would be connected and tracked back to them. First, they would eliminate the cartels, and then, they would turn to the foreign policy plan that had been codenamed Constancian Power, the one that would see them go after nearby Anglatia in their foreign policy and in their political strategy to eliminate their number one ideological enemy, the one that was a threat to their very existence.

The two nations were inhabiting the same region and were set for a collision course that would deeply affect both and that would change the political climate in Rushmore maybe just as much as the Eura and Sameba conflict had. The result of Imperial Intelligence sending reports back to Anglatia on what was going on was that Anglatia was now moving to end the policy of Constancian Power before it could begin, and they were looking to support any kind of instability in the country that they could.

There was a black budget unit of special forces members in Nuevo Costancia from Anglatia, the Vikings, and they were there both to steal and destroy the research that was being used to develop this project that was supposedly a superweapon, and to destabilize the country through teaming up with both the Salvador Cartel and the Blue Faction, the group that wanted independence for the east and that stood against the socialism of the government.

Little did they know, however, that things would heat up sooner than political analysts had predicted when the rumors of tensions between the two countries began, and little did the Vikings know that they would have a key role in stepping up the tensions and causing things to descend from tension to outright war. A storm was brewing over Terranea, and when lightning finally struck, things just wouldn't be the same.

~

For now, the site of the tensions was Chivacurita, outside of San Marcos. The oil town was known for the oil fields of the same name, which were set to be shut down by the government as they adjusted their budget and moved to centralize more power in Monteverde… And while it was cliche, those that controlled the oil controlled the flow of power in the country, with petroleum being the number one export and the thing that brought the most money into the country from beyond the borders.

The people were protesting in the city about the oil field being closed, which was taking thousands of jobs directly and indirectly from citizens of San Marcos and the surrounding region, and the Imperial unit known as the Vikings saw this as a good chance for their allies from the disputed state of the Republic of Eastern Constancia to gain some strength and economic power. If the Salvador Cartel and the Blue Faction could use their muscle to steal the oil fields away from the government and keep them open, they would get quite a lot of money from selling oil and they would have a good chance of holding the fields from the military when the city of San Marcos got behind them.

“This is Viking One. Are all of your men in position?” asked the voice of Chester Lynch, as the Salvador Cartel’s fighters waited in anticipation around the edges of the oil field for the signal to come that would tell them to actually attack. The place had been locked down by the military and there were always soldiers on patrol, and for added measure, there had been a portable grouping of barracks set up near the middle of the actual field to house the garrison that had been brought in to control any riots that happened.

The site of the actual drilling was in an area that was sunken into the ground artificially, with a road leading from the town to the almost crater like area, and that road was where the bulk of the cartel members would be waiting for the signal. They'd brought pickup trucks that had machine guns mounted to the flatbeds, to form something of a convoy of makeshift armored IFVs, and when they received the signal, they were supposed to drive down that hill and straight at the enemy barracks, where they'd open fire and attack from the east while the Blue Faction came from the west and the Vikings looked to pick off the known officers that were in charge of the garrison.

“Everyone is in position, we’re just waiting on you to move ahead with the plan,” said Mateo Nima, the high ranking cartel member that was in charge of the section of fighters that were taking part in this operation. “We've got three trucks at the top of the hill, just give us the signal.”

“Expect the signal in the next minute or two,” Chester replied, as the Vikings continued setting up to the south, waiting at the top of the hill on the north side, where they would have a good view of everything that went on below them and of the others fighting.

And then, as both units and the Blue Faction were also standing around and waiting, a shot could be heard echoing through the makeshift valley, followed by a few other shots, as the Vikings started the attack. The trucks rolled in, the Bkue Faction started charging down the hill, and finally, this conflict had gone from tense to something that had gone hot and that was very real. The alarms started to sound and Constancian soldiers shouted out in surprise and panic, but the attack wasn't going to end any time soon.

The three cartel trucks spread out as soon as they reached ground level, and they open fired their machine guns at the area around the barracks, where there had been a unit returning from a patrol around San Marcos, and they also directed their fire at the vehicles that were parked around the barracks, causing a few explosions as oil canisters blew up and fuel tanks began to leak. “Clear out!” one of the socialist soldiers shouted, before an APC behind him burst into flames after the fuel tank had leaked all over the ground. The fire spread along the trail of the oil, and grew as a second explosion happened in the APC, and a few soldiers were knocked to the ground by the shockwave.

More socialists began to pour out of the barracks, but they would find themselves getting caught by the machine guns as they stepped out, with five or six of them dropping before they got the point and stayed behind the cover of the door. “Frag out!” screamed one of the cartel fighters, before hurling a grenade through the door of the nearest barrack, causing an explosion that sent shrapnel in all directions and at least wounded a few of the Constancian soldiers inside, who were now trying to find a way out of the trap that was waiting for them outside.

But they didn't need all three machine guns, and Mateo waved one of the trucks forward to move around to the other side and give some suppression fire before pushing towards the western area that was being attacked by the Blue Faction. That was where they were keeping the majority of their vehicles, and Mateo could hear another explosion as an APC blew up from the firing. The sound of engines was filling the valley too, with the Constancians rushing to get to their vehicles and fight back, and at least one person managed to jump inside one of the IFVs and turn it towards the attackers.

The heavy machine lumbered forward faster than one would expect from a vehicle of its stature, and a black trail of exhaust filled the sky from the pipe that was pointed in the air on the side of the IFV, and it looked like the driver would use the front mounted gun to fight back against the trucks… But that driver didn't expect one of the fighters to drop their backpack and reach for a rocket launcher that was inside, leveling it at the IFV and pulling the trigger.

There was about a half second delay before anything happened, but there was a blast of air behind the rocket launcher and a puff of smoke in front of it, as the shaky projectile flew forward and pierced the front of the IFV before exploding and causing fire to shoot out of some of the gaps in the metal. A couple of soldiers that had been running next to it were caught in the blast, and the driver had certainly been incinerated by the explosion.

If not, he would have been caught by the second one, which had been even bigger and deadlier as fuel lines and electronics caught fire and caused a larger and then a smaller explosion, leaving the IFV as a burned out wreck. “Someone secure the garage!” barked one of the Salvador leaders, and the unit around him put down some cover fire along with their truck while a pair of fighters kept their heads down and ran behind their cover to get towards the other conflict that was happening at the same time.

The Blue Faction was having an easier time ambushing the soldiers around the garage, and by the time the cartel’s fighters arrived, they had already secured most of the area and were preparing to turn the vehicles around that garage against the government forces. “This is Blue One,” said the leader of that unit, over the radio channel. “We've won our battle, and we’re getting ready to take this tank and see what we can do for yours. If you see a tank rolling towards you, don't shoot. That's ours.”

“Understood,” said Mateo. “Do us a favor and come take out this barrack that the socialists are holed up in. It's their last resistance here, really, but they're determined to not go down easily, they already did some damage to our trucks and wounded a few of our men. Maybe your gun can do more damage to them and drive them out more than ours can.”

“Affirmative, Spider One!” said another one of the Blue Faction members, and pretty soon, they did see the tank that was moving out of the garage and towards the main road that split the different groups of oil derricks. The roar of the engine echoed through the flat valley just like the gunshots had, and as it moved towards the barracks, just about everyone knew who was winning this battle.

However, they had one left thing to do, and goal was the harder one and the one that not everyone in the Blue Faction or the Salvador Cartel even knew about. “Guys,” said Monroe Dyrssen, getting the attention of everyone on the Vikings channel. “The guy that just ran out of the building next to the garage is one of the ones that we want… He's actually more high ranking than that. If we want to learn about the superweapon… If we want to learn about Constancian Power, this guy is one of the ones that we have to interrogate. I'm moving in to get him, tell the others not to shoot him in the meantime. He's far too valuable to us for that.”

[Astograth]

Continued from here.

15th of March

Grand Duke Gaxan, of the House of Rumiatzi, felt a tiny breeze rustle softly through the leaves of the olive tree. He concentrated on the sound, but it quickly slipped into silence, and left him alone. Disappointed, he opened his eyes. The garden was still, and quiet. An architectural masterpiece, as it sat in the centre of the palace, which itself sat at the top of Arratzuri hill in the centre of Rumiatzi. At the centre of the garden, a majestic olive tree, two armspans thick and gnarled beyond belief. Roots and trunk were one and the same, rising from the ground to wrap around what was once heartwood - now long gone, leaving behind the hollow. Experts were still unable to tell exactly how old it was, but it predated Gaxan's House for certain. The palace children, including himself, would once play all around and inside the tree, grabbing hold of its knobs and folds to climb upon the branches. When it bore fruit, it became a competition to see who could fill their pail the fastest.

But that was before. There were no children in the garden anymore.

Gaxan felt a drop on his shoulder, and looked up to see a leaden sky. Though not in winter, winter weather had been hounding the city over the last week. There was almost no light left in the day, but before he rose a white flash lit up the sky, and seconds later the thunder boomed. A strange unease took hold in his chest, followed by another flash.

Then came a bang of thunder louder than anything the Grand Duke had ever heard. He flinched away from the sky as his body shook from head to toes, fearing he would be defeaned for life, while a sudden gust of blasting wind appeared and subsided, picking sticks and leaves and tossing all about the branches of that ancient olive tree. His guards, similarly taken by surprise, reached him only once it was over, taken him by the arms and into the safety of the palace. What few staff there were scurried about in suppressed alarm, checking windows and each other, though there were none who could tend to the monarch's burning questions.

Something had changed, even if Gaxan couldn't place his finger on it. This freakish weather did not feel like happenstance - but what else could it be? It resisted rational thought. Maybe he was just in shock. Still, something remained amiss. Beyond the palace, the sky was clearing.

His aide, Arama, arrived too late for the Grand Duke's taste, though she brought news rather than profuse apologies.

“Your Majesty, something's happened in the North!”, she said, nearly out of breath.

Gaxan's blood ran cold. “Iturributa?”

“No, Your Majesty, the Rushmori North. North-North,” replied Arama, pausing to swallow, “Polar Islandstates”.

“What about them?” said Gaxan, warily.

“They- they weren't there! They were gone, and now they've appeared! Somehow!”

“'Appeared' how? This is absurd!”

“I- I don't know, sire. It's too early to know, I think, but I assure you I received this from my military sources.”

Polar Islandstates... were they gone? Weren't they always there? Were both of these statements true? Doubt flooded his memories of the distant nation, while Arama excused herself to answer her frantically buzzing phone. Gaxan grasped at straws for an explanation. Could this possibly have to do with the Sameban conflict? Surely that part of Rushmore was too remote, though the Sameban desperation for oil was only getting worse...

It was good he still had ways of obtaining reliable intel, otherwise Minister of the Interior Tauregi was happy to leave him in the dark. Tauregi had grown to become Lord Protector Ugarte's protégé and designated successor, obtaining more power and responsibilities as the Lord Protector became increasingly aloof. This was advantageous to Gaxan; as he and Tauregi had effectively become co-rulers under Ugarte, the Grand Duke had been able to leverage his relative popularity among the troops and general population to start winning small victories against the regime. This was, of course, all utterly invisible to the public, and there was no free press to speculate about it either...

Arama's agitation caught his eye, from across the room. The woman had gone pale and her eyes darted across the room, while blinking rapidly. She hung up and lowered the phone, turned to face the Grand Duke, and walked over briskly.

“Your Majesty - the Lord Protector's had a stroke.”

[Eastfield Lodge]

Copa Rushmori XXVII

MD3 Cutoff for Groups Pargis and Peynol.

Group Pargis
Pridenestrovia 5–2 Astograth
The Askari Union 0–2 Pasarga
Darmen 5–3 Sarrbia

Group Pargis            Pld    W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts 
1 Pasarga                 3    3   0   0    11    2   +9     9
2 Pridenestrovia          3    2   0   1    10    7   +3     6
3 Darmen                  3    1   1   1     8    7   +1     4
4 The Askari Union        3    1   1   1     1    2   −1     4
5 Sarrbia                 3    0   1   2     5    9   −4     1
6 Astograth               3    0   1   2     6   14   −8     1

Group Peynol
Taeshan 1–0 Kitsai
Savojarna 1–0 Eura
Parodys 3–2 Southeastern Sunrise Islands

Group Peynol                    Pld    W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts 
1 Parodys                         3    2   1   0     9    5   +4     7
2 Taeshan                         3    2   1   0     3    0   +3     7
3 Savojarna                       3    2   1   0     4    2   +2     7
4 Eura                            3    1   1   1     2    2    0     4
5 Southeastern Sunrise Islands    3    0   0   3     2    6   −4     0
6 Kitsai                          3    0   0   3     2    7   −5     0

[Eura]

The Euran Football Association’s Copa Rushmori XXVII Squad

Stats and ages, but not teams, dated to end of WC76

Manager: Steve Thompson (58, Eura)

All time Euran record appearance holder Steve Thompson, with 301 caps to his name and 75 goals, was made Euran manager amidst much fanfare ahead of the 20th Copa Rushmori and qualifying section for the 71st World Cup. By beating Tom Benedict, several other former Eura internationals and international candidates to the post, Steve had set himself up with the tough task of helping Eura recover from three consecutive poor performances at World Cup finals. Eura seemed to gain more defensive stability and ruthlessness under Louis Watson in his short spell as Thompson's predecessor, but while they dispatched of the minnows easily they underperformed badly against the higher seeds, and then fell apart in the group stage. Only a deserved draw with Valanora salvaged any pride as the respected but not highly rated Watson bowed out of international management. However Thompson turned things around with a surprisingly good performance at the 20th Copa Rushmori, though once again they came up just short of finally winning it - Eura continues to be perhaps the biggest underachiever in the tournament. His Eura side made it to the final before falling to an unlucky defeat in extra time against Sargossa by the score of 2-1, despite a headed goal from Craig Gilbert.

Many questioned whether or not this form would translate into the World Cup, and Thompson's side proved the doubters wrong. Their initial qualifying charge included a number of good wins including victories over Semarland and Mangolana, interrupted only by a frustrating draw in neighbouring Szavoda. However a loss away to the top seeds Royal Kingdom of Quebec, followed by draws against Semarland and Sandwich Territories, temporarily derailed Eura's qualification hopes. Thankfully Thompson turned it around, and powered on by veteran Skorji Oslograd's goals, they qualified. At the World Cup itself Eura finally broke their chain of group stage embarrassments, beating co-hosts Yttribia and the ever potent Farfadillis; their last game was an ignominious defeat to Star United States but they made it into the next round anyway. In the Round of 16 Eura encountered their qualifying rivals Royal Kingdom of Quebec and proved to be their bane once again, beating them 2-1, before beating Turori in an absolute thriller on penalties. However Eura's surprise advancement into the later stages was ended in the semi-finals by Rushmori rivals Pasarga, the goals of Brigham's Dominik Mauer sinking the Euran's despite Skorji Oslograd's 100th international goal. Eura's performance in the 21st Copa Rushmori was less admirable as they stumbled through the group stage before an undeserved quarter final exit to Taeshan.

The next cycle was met by more outstanding football and more heartbreak while Brigham were having that season at home. Eura blitzed their way to their third World Cup final, living up to the hype that followed the last cycle. They were particularly potent in having the most dangerous goalscoring record of any team, especially given Ashtree's age and Campbell's rawness being the only options up front, and went on a remarkable run of form that culminated in a famous 5-0 semi-final drubbing of Vilita. However Eura's newest nemesis Pasarga stood in the way again and defeated them at the final hurdle in a tight contest, and then knocked Eura out of the Copa Rushmori in the later stages on penalties after Eura had started impressively, and had won a 5-3 thriller against rivals Sameba. After these close misses, Eura were wondering what they have to do to win an international tournament again. Despite this it had been a good time for Eura, at 2nd in the world - their highest ranking - and it is hard to argue that, on paper at least, only Pasarga had claim to be better. However there remained some lurking doubts; Eura's previous two finals produced the same issues of key players about to pass their peak and major changes to the starting lineup, and were followed by a quarter final exit and then several years of mediocrity.

Finally, at the 73rd World Cup, all doubts were erased as Thompson cemented himself as a legend as both a player and coach for Eura by winning the World Cup, making Eura the first country from Rushmore to do it twice. An exceptional squad with an exceptional manager swept away a qualifying group of intermediate difficulty with a 100% record, a first for the Euran national team, before kicking off the World Cup with a memorable 7-3 thrashing of Free Republics. Confident victories against Ceni, Cosumar and Apox followed before a rather overconfident Farfadillis who had just shocked Osarius 5-1, were swept away 6-1 by Kris Campbell and company. After Eura's normal time win streak was ended by a draw against underdogs San Jose Guayabal, which ended with Eura winning a drawn out penalty shootout for the first time in a while, they were set up for a tantalising final clash with Pasarga. Eura, despite their fantastic record, were considered slight underdogs against Pasarga due to the perceived mental barrier Eura had developed against the side from northern Rushmore. Thompson and his team were finally rewarded though for their efforts with a tight but deserved victory over the Pasargan's, after a spectacular campaign including particularly exceptional performances from the likes of Craig Sinclair, Kris Campbell, Craig Gilbert and John Spartan. They followed this up by finally winning the Copa Rushmori, beating Taeshan in New Gelderland.

Unfortunately, Eura failed to defend either of these titles. They were as brilliant as usual on their way to the World Cup but their now ageing defence looked frail, and was exposed against Pasarga in that sensational 6-5 win, as well as in several high scoring victories and draws in qualifying. It all came apart against Nephara, who they had beaten 4-3 in the group stage, by the same margin but in reverse. Then at the Copa, Eura were advancing comfortably on home turf before an inexplicable defeat by the same margin to Polaskaan, which many blamed on an incorrect decision to send off Frank Ainsworth, and two of the visitors goals being from offside positions. It was an anti-climactic and extremely disappointing end to that tournament for Eura and has led to big changes in the Euran squad. It is a Euran team that, on the bright side, is now ranked number one in the international rankings for the first time ever. The challenge for Steve Thompson now is to replace the ageing generation that has taken Eura to heights it has never reached before, with only Kris Campbell, Joel Sutton and Frank Ainsworth remaining young from that group - Waller, Chuchilli and Rogers has retired, while Spartan, Watson, Gilbert, Blackthorn and even Sinclair cannot be around forever. Thankfully Eura have some excellent young stars.

Unfortunately, a poor performance struck at the 75th tournament, ending the good run - out at the group stage in embarrasing fashion. Or normally it would be. But the terrible crime committed against Eura by Sameba overwhelmed any thoughts of how we are doing in the football, and led to the Euran FA rearranging the scheduling so that Season 30 would start earlier, continuing the one season per World Cup schedule when they had hoped to abandon it. Oakstone have moved stadium due to pressures on their city. This has left the Euran team, who almost sleepwalked through the Copa straight after the World Cup, in a state of disarray for a short time. Now they have it back together again, and some players have taken this moment to retire from international football - namely Gareth Blackthorn, Ben Prince, Joe Caffin, Gavin Madison and Mark Rogers. Craig Gilbert was apparently persuaded to continue only due to an emotional intervention by Steve Thompson. The show must go on, and some new blood must show their worth, even in appalling circumstances. And it has done - although Eura have faltered earlier than hoped both at the last World Cup and the last two Copa Rushmori's

Assistant Manager: Matt Boyce (58, Eura)

Boyce was a surprise appointment as Thompson’s assistant, having been out of coaching roles for a couple of years. However he has plenty of experience at various clubs and the national team before that and his appointment has been responded to positively. He has played a pivotal role in maintaining Eura’s improvements at the back, while his bubbly personality and reputation as a leader make him a valuable asset in the dressing room. He has been a key ingredient in Thompson's success, and has proven a lot less of a competitor, and more like an assistant, than Dimitri Campbell was to Ben Randall.

Styles and Permission

Style Modifier: +2

My opponent, if they RP first, may do the following:

Choose my goalscorers – YES
Godmod scoring events – YES
RP injuries to my players – YES
Godmod injuries to my players – YES (But only how the injury happens, NOT the extent of the injury)
Hand out yellow cards to my players – YES
Hand out red cards to my players – YES
Godmod other events – YES, provided you keep events within the realms of realism, so no deaths etc.

30 man qualifying squad

Shirt number – name – position – age – caps – goals – club

Goalkeepers

1 – Jeffrey Douglas – GK – 27 – 17 – 0 – Bastion
13 – Robert Griffin – GK – 23 – 5 – 0 – Blackfields
30 – Kevin Belgrave - GK - 19 - 0 - 0 - Directus

Defenders

2 – Thomas Hancock – RB – 29 – 42 – 2 – Avenida Principal (Farfadillis)
3 – Harvey Conway - LB - 26 - 25 - 0 - Holdenberg
4 – Bryan Butler - CB - 27 - 30 - 0 - Spartangrad
5 – Frank Ainsworth - CB - 29 - 88 - 7 - Ulsa
15 – John Leach – CB – 23 – 5 – 0 – Ulsa
19 – Dylan Kirby – CB – 30 – 16 – 0 – Holdenberg
21 – Ethan Cook – RB – 23 – 4 – 0 – Directus
23 – Jude Skinner - LB - 22 - 0 - 0 - Ulsa
25 – Evan Smith - CB - 24 - 0 - 0 - Farrenton Athletic
27 – Scott Coles - RB - 22 - 0 - 0 - Ulsa

Midfielders

6 – Sterling Rose - CDM - 29 - 102 - 6 - AC Izotz Zubia (Audioslavia)
7 – Craig Sinclair – AM – 34 – 258 – 103 – Ulsa
8 – John Spartan – CM/CAM – 36 – 245 – 76 – Revolutionaries
11 - Joel Sutton - LW - 29 - 96 - 29 – Metropolis Alligators (Valladares)
12 - Oscar Coltrane - AM - 23 - 35 - 14 - Brigham
16 – Isaac Holt – CM/RM – 28 – 19 – 1 – Hondo FC (Valanora)
18 – Charles Hunter – CM – 32 – 79 – 17 – Directus
20 – Jim Stokes – CM/CAM – 26 – 4 – 0 – Deportivo Junin (Valladares)
22 – Peter Morrison – RM – 29 – 10 – 2 – Bastion
24 – Freddie Nolan - CM/CAM - 29 - 32 - 6 - Ulsa
28 – Tom Robson - LM - 28 - 0 - 0 - Brigham
29 - John Talbot - CDM - 22 - 0 - 0 - Spartangrad

Forwards

9 – Kris Campbell - ST - 31 - 94 - 65 - Ulsa
10 – Lofty Jones - CF - 25 - 36 - 17 - Bastion
14 – Dion Underwood - ST - 23 - 16 - 8 – Bastion
17 – Josh Holmes – AM/CF – 23 – 4 – 2 – Revolutionaries
26 – George Davies - CF - 30 - 29 - 11 - Metropolis Alligators (Valladares)

Preferred starting lineup

Note; does not take into account suspensions, injuries or any other change. At the end of each RP I post, I will give a team for the next match and formation type. If no such lineup is posted, assume that there have been no changes and use the lineup below.

GK - 1. J Douglas
RWB - 2. T Hancock
RCB - 4. B Butler
LCB - 5. F Ainsworth
LWB - 3. H Conway
RCM - 18. C Hunter
LCM - 6. S Rose
RAM - 7. C Sinclair
CAM - 12. O Coltrane
LAM - 11. J Sutton
ST - 9. K Campbell

Subs

13. R Griffin
21. E Cook
15. J Leach
25. C Gilbert
16. I Holt
8. J Spartan
24. F Nolan
14. D Underwood
10. L Jones

Player Roles

Captain: John Spartan
Vice Captain: Sterling Rose
Direct free kicks: Craig Sinclair, John Spartan if he's on the pitch
Indirect free kicks: Charles Hunter (Right)
Right corner: Craig Sinclair, Charles Hunter (Both) Oscar Coltrane (Right footed)
Left corner: Craig Sinclair, Charles Hunter (Both) Oscar Coltrane (Right footed)
Penalties: 1. Kris Campbell 2. Craig Sinclair 3. Charles Hunter 4. Oscar Coltrane 5. Sterling Rose. John Spartan comes into the order if he's on the pitch.

Kits

[Pasarga]

Copa Rushmori XXVII

What team will rise to the top?

Cutoff for Groups Imperial and Commonwealth.

Group Imperial
Sameba 3–2 Tveidalen
Anglatia 0–2 Eastfield Lodge
Olastor 2–2 Northern Natanians

P Group Imperial             Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 Eastfield Lodge              3   3  0  0    7   2  +5    9
2 Sameba                       3   2  0  1    5   4  +1    6
3 Anglatia                     3   1  1  1    5   3  +2    4
4 Olastor                      3   1  1  1    5   8  −3    4
5 Northern Natanians           3   0  2  1    4   5  −1    2
6 Tveidalen                    3   0  0  3    6  10  −4    0

Group Commonwealth
Eastern Sunrise Islands 3–0 Polar Islandstates
Nephara 3–5 Valladares
The Great Pi 0–1 Yesopaltha

P Group Commonwealth         Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 Valladares                   3   3  0  0   13   4  +9    9
2 Eastern Sunrise Islands      3   2  0  1    6   5  +1    6
3 The Great Pi                 3   1  1  1    2   2   0    4
4 Nephara                      3   1  0  2    5   7  −2    3
5 Yesopaltha                   3   1  0  2    1   3  −2    3
6 Polar Islandstates           3   0  1  2    0   6  −6    1

[Northern Natanians]

...

The Adventures of Captain Tiago Bolacha
Or a (Northern) Natanian Epic


Canto Ⅰ
Chapter ⅠⅠ


After the weird-men land by passing,the
Ship stayed at sea deriving,knoweing
Exactly were to go."The shipp goth North!"
Said the captain.Looking to the second
Compas,he ordered and pointed North.
Ion Mihailescu said "-When we re-turn
Home,we shall be rece'ved as heros"
Carolus Ionescu replide "That land
Full of Barbareans was weirde,with weird mene.".

Luigi Giovannescu spoke firmly:
"Those were no men,they were monstres,ev'l
monsteres.No mann ist that waye.They be that!"
At that moment Caeso Ion Antunes
Kept drawring the mappe,at those lands he
Wrote:Here Be Dragons.Be Awäre-NWest Lands.
Also happenning to the captain to
See East-Wise a big Ielande,when Ion Ligh

Saw West-Wise Some Ilands like a kinde off
Archippelago,but the compass did
Not indecate no direction for those
Ielandes.The shipp kept through the great water-wae.
Fyndinge it wronge to kepe some hidden from
What had happenned at the Weste firm land
Caeso Ion Antunes told them a
Poëm.They said weirde creatures they had funde.

The men missed theyr families.They miss
Home,they miss good food,they miss fressh water.
They doo nae hae scurvy but saudade.
The sons of Natania did nae immagine
What was happening to theyr home land.
The king was ded.Other regpersson had
Arisen to power,but nae hiss sonn.

Upon the upprisinge that they did not
Know was happenning,the king's son banned.
A bad man,elected,but the peeple
Could nae hav choiss.The adventurers did
Nae hav power in minde to knoe whatte was
Happening home.They just wanted find land
Claim that and go back home.Back to their home.
Thair sweet and luved kingdom.Their homeland.

[Darmen]

Darmen faces two tough opponents in final games of Copa Group Stage
Only two points out of second, Pasarga and Pridnestrovia stand in way of Quarterfinal berth

On Saturday night, Darmen defeated Sarrbia by the score of 5-3 to secure their first victory of the Copa Rushmori campaign. The goalfest followed two tough matches against the Askari Union in the opener, which ended disappointingly for the All Greens in a one goal loss, and a three all draw against Astograth three days later.

Surprisingly, it has been Daniel Norton, and not Felix Lucanus, who has provided much of the offense for the All Greens. Of the eight goals Darmen has scored so far, Norton has provided half of them, followed by Lucanus with two and Midfielders Odran Gordon and Marcellinus Winton providing the other two goals. Norton's second half brace against Sarrbia, after having been tied at three a piece for the first sixty-five minutes of the match, is certainly the most memorable moment in the recent history of the Darmeni team.

However, Darmen's final two matches in the group stage of the Copa Rushmori come against the two teams placed ahead of the All Greens in the Group Pargis table, Pasarga and Pridnestrovia. The Wanderers have so far made it through the group unscathed, scoring eleven against their opponents two goals. The Pridnestrovians meanwhile suffered their only loss at the feet of the Wanderers, in a Matchday Two encounter that saw Pasarga come away with the 3-1 victory.

With Darmen needing to finish in the top two in order to secure a spot in the Quarterfinals, a point from Pasarga and a victory against Pridnestrovia would probably be the easiest way of securing passage to the Quarterfinals. Our past history against the Pasargan's certainly suggests that even victory against them isn't too far out of the question. Regardless, Pridnestrovia will need to falter in their next match, which is against the Askari Union, and come away with less then the full three points, if Darmen wishes to advance without having to win both of their remaining matches. There are of course, other ways in which the All Greens can advance to the Quarterfinals, but the above scenario may prove to be the easiest for Darmen to accomplish.

Tomorrow nights match against Pasarga will kick off at 7pm, and will be broadcast live on the DBC. Delayahu Davis and Alan Christianson will provide the commentary.