World Cup 78 - Roleplay Thread

[Apox]

Apox Returns to the World Cup - Better Off Out in the Cold?

by Clement Ashley

It's been a fairly inauspicious start to the World Cup for the returning Apoxian team. First, a mauling in a friendly against finals co-hosts and twelfth ranked Bonesea which proved that Apox really cannot expect to return straight to being regarded as one of the better footballing nations in the world. Then, in their first proper qualifying match, a painful 3-0 loss to a middling Sameba side, which asks the question - will the team be able to perform at any acceptable level any time soon.

This also comes during a turbulent time in the still young institution of the IFA. Sammie Puskas is officially being investigated for drunken conduct during the World Cup Qualifying Group Draw, which perhaps wasn't the best way for our FA's President to be carrying herself in a high profile, worldwide event.

Additionally, and even at this early stage, there are claims from within the half built "Apoxian Development Complex" that there are already rifts in the national team squad, both between players and between the national team manager, Gavin Hughes and unnamed players.

In the midst of these poor results on the pitch, and chaos off it, we, the public, can only ask ourselves, was Apox's return from international wilderness really worth it?

James Purkike, head groundsman at the ADC, had this to say regarding the matter....

Sammie Puskas fairly flung that mornings copy of the International Post at Gavin Hughes and Luxulya St. Cleer who were sat opposite her across the desk of her spacious, open-plan office at the top of the ADCs office block. Pausing to read it for a second, Gavin was the first to speak up,

"Look Sammie, Clement Ashley is the most scathing football writer in Apox..."

"Shut it Gavin, I don't want to hear the excuses. You're not the only one who's fucked up recently, so..."

"Don't you fucking take your anger out on me then Sammie! I have been working incredibly hard, I can't help it if Alpha Gandhi is a little diva shit!"

"That little diva shit is also head and shoulders the best player on our joke of a national team in case you hadn't noticed!"

"GUYS! SHUT THE FUCK UP" shouted Luxulya St. Cleer, who had up to that point watched the increasingly heated exchange in silence. Stunned, Sammie and Gavin shut their mouths and turned to look at the most junior member of the room, both in years and position within the IFA.

"I know we're getting slammed from all side right now..."

"You can say that again, I've got a government investigation so far up my arse I think they're gonna rupture my stomach" Luxulya gave Sammie a pointed look. She could be fierce when she wanted to,

"As I was saying, we're getting shit from all sides now, but fighting amongst ourselves, and with the team, isn't going to improve things. Clement Ashley is a weasely little shit anyway." Gavin looked back to Sammie,

"Sorry about my outburst, out of order I know. I'll sort the team out, hopefully we'll get a result against Legatorum. I'll even let Alpha start this time, hopefully he can set about them in the right way."

Sammie nodded,

"He better, otherwise he'll be having a chat with me and I can be even more stern than I've been today. He's our best player, but he should still be dropped if he's not up for putting in the effort," Raised eyebrows from both Luxulya and Gavin, "sorry, I won't interfere with the team. Just not as fun sitting in here writing emails and dealing with scumbags all day. Anything else to discuss?" Two heads shaking in silence told her all she needed to know, "Very well, I'll let you get on then."

As Luxulya and Gavin made their way to the door, she received an email from Jack Caalinyaki, her assistant, entitled "Contigency plans for the management". Best to be safe.

Line-up for Legatorum
GK: Jadranka Steele
RD: Helios Richardson
CD: Eurwen Raynerson
CD: Osmosis Gandhi
LD: James Fowey
DM: Bryton Menheniot
RM: Imriel Townsend
CM: Llorent Llangolan
LM: Titan Vladimirescu
ST: Alpha Gandhi (c)
ST: Winston Arrowsmith

[Schottia]

The Tale of Paul Thompson

Part two.

Drowning

'Look. This is getting ridiculous now.' Evelyn walked quickly over the cold flagstone tiles of her kitchen floor, and began filling a cooking pot with water. 'Let's just wake him up and get him out of here.'

Ross looked on, helpless and indecisive as ever, as he inspected the hefty gentleman he had helped lay prostrate on the patio floor. Still in the grips of a lurching hangover, and crippling nausea, he was fit for little else other than his bed. He had watched while Evelyn shone a torch in the man's eyes, one after the other, shouted in his ears, and shook him violently. It achieved nothing, however, as the anonymous individual remained flat out, bearing a remarkable resemblance to a beached whale.

The pots that came with the house were heavy, copper bottomed, and ceramic lined; Evelyn didn't even want to know how much they cost. She needed two hands to carry it from the kitchen, out to the small patio, which at this time of the day was still out of the sun. All the muscles were visible on her slender arms, as she gritted her teeth, doing her best to keep the pot level. With a heave, she lifted the pot up to her shoulder height, and tipped the contents over the man's face. The footballers watched as it landed with far more of a thud than Evelyn had indented - like a massive fist of cold water.

'Brrrwaaah!' The man sat upright, and immediately began coughing violently. 'Are ye trying to kill me? Ye freakin morons.' Ross leapt back in fright, as the man angrily shook the water from his hair and clothing like a wet dog, before putting his hands behind his back to support himself in the seated position.

'You're lucky I don't - "freakin" - kill you.' Evelyn yelled as she stood in front of him, trying to look as intimidating as she could in a pair of pyjamas and black-framed glasses; brandishing the pot menacingly. 'What the hell were you doing in my garden?'

The man stretched his face, almost as if it were painful to move the muscles. As he slowly opened his eyes, allowing them to adjust to the light - he looked like some woodland creature, woken up midway through its hibernation. 'Alright alright. I'm sorry, I must have had a little bit to drink last night; I'll pay for any damage I caused.' He was slowly adjusting to his environment, beginning to familiarise himself. Evelyn gathered from observing him that he was well practiced at this, and this probably wasn't the first time he had woken up in unfamiliar surroundings. The man seemed to have some sort of built-in survival mode, which was in the process of kicking in.

'You're damn right you will.' Evelyn placed the pot down hard on the patio floor; the clunk it made was clearly meant to cause the two men a degree of pain, and they both winced accordingly. 'Who the fuck are you anyway?'

The man didn't yet respond, as he looked from side to side through scrunched up eyes, slowly but surely getting his bearings. 'So are your mum and dad home?' He placed a hand to his mouth and slowly ran it down his stubbly chin, as he tried to loosen his jaw. 'Listen, if I can just maybe borrow some money for a taxi or something, I'll be on my way.' He made his first attempt to get up, but failed. 'I'll leave you with my details, you can get your parents to give me a call and I swear to god I'll reimburse them double.'

'This is my place,' said Evelyn. Throwing him a towel from the kitchen. 'Get yourself dried off, and I'll pay for the taxi myself.' As she was walking past Ross she cast him a look, which was difficult for the young man to read. This evidently hadn't been the way she had wanted to spend her morning. 'We can talk about paying for the damage later, preferably from a safe distance.'

The intruder craned his neck, looking up at the mansion behind him, the gears in his head were clearly impeded by the previous evening's drinking, but things were slowly turning. 'Wait, what the'f... You own this place?' After stumbling twice, he finally got himself to his feet, staggering into a gazebo, which he clutched hard with both hands. Watching him try to balance was almost making Evelyn dizzy. 'Are you like some sort of movie star or something?'

'Not exactly.' Evelyn wasn't in the mood for conversation, the quicker he was out of her house the better.

'We're footballers,' Ross offered helpfully, and up until then the man had been unaware of his presence, pressed up against the wall of the conservatory.

'Hey..!' The man pointed at him, clicking his fingers as the familiar face from the night before had clearly jogged his memory. 'Ross? Rob? Rod?'

'Ross.'

'Knew it! How's it going little buddy?' He let go of the gazebo and took tentative steps towards the young man, before stealing a handshake as he placed a podgy hand on his shoulder. 'Yeah! Yeah! I remember now, we were with that big burley guy, Chad? Where was he from again? Semarland, 95X? Somewhere up north in the good old A.O.'

Evelyn placed her head in her hands as her worst fears were confirmed. 'Chad Duquez; he is Quebecois.'

'That's the boy!' The man clapped his hands together in celebration, before placing an arm around Ross' shoulder, as if to say, he was going nowhere. 'So it must be some life as a footballer out here; the high life huh?' Ross nodded uncomfortably, too embarrassed to make eye contact with Evelyn, who now had a better idea of what had gone down the evening previous. 'Awesome house... brilliant weather... beautiful girlfriend...'

'I'm not his girlfriend,' Evelyn erupted from the sidelines. 'And I'm a footballer too, you dickwad.' She picked up the pan once more, and was now making moves to shoo him out of the house. She was going to have to have a word with Ross after this - maybe even their manager if it didn't stop - he had to keep a handle on his drinking. For all she knew this guy could be anyone, and she certainly didn't like being offended in her own house. 'Come on, out! I'll call you a cab.'

'I'm sorry I'm sorry, I'm really sorry.' He waved frantically in protest. 'The name's Paul, Paul Thompson.' He held a hand in her direction, and Evelyn shook the fingertips loosely, but kept her gaze on the horizon line. 'I will pay for whatever damage I caused, and I will leave. Please... I'm sorry.'

'Okay. Fine.' Evelyn folded her arms tight across her chest. 'I'm not bothered about the money anymore, I'd just like you to leave... now please.'

'Okay, going.' He began to walk towards the kitchen, albeit slowly. 'I'm leaving as we speak. But please, I'm not a bad guy, I'm a writer actually. That's why I'm here, I'm researching a book and...'

'Oh, cool!' Ross interjected. 'What are you writing?'

Evelyn could have strangled her teammate for giving Thompson another validation, which he of course clung to like a limpet. At the same time however, there was a kind of lame, patheticness to the man, which seemed to draw her sympathy - and it was perhaps for that very reason that she had not yet called the police. Seeing him standing there, in his now soaking wet clothes, one shoe missing, and his beer-belly hanging over his belt, Thompson looked like some hapless fool who could have been taken straight from a cheep comedy movie.

'Pffff.' Thompson gave a hefty shrug. 'Not started researching it yet, I only got here last week. I needed to wait for the divorce money to come through before I did anything, and... well... I thought I'd try and get out there and live a little.' He glanced in Ross' direction, pleased to see that he still had his interest. 'I was working long hours in a kitchen, high pressure job, unhappy marriage... I was just like: "Stop the world! I want to get off." Thompson laughed heartily, patting Ross hard on the back, in a move that almost caused the young footballer to throw up.

'Wait, you worked in a kitchen?' Ross' eyes widened.

'Yeah, I was a senior sous-chef in a five star hotel in Handon.' Thompson had now stopped moving towards the door, much to Evelyn's annoyance. 'The Roundhouse, heard of it?'

Both footballers shook their heads.

'Hey.... Why don't you guys let me cook you something up? Y'know, in way of a sorry..?' Thompson looked back and forward between the two of them. 'I saw some great ingredients out on the patio.' He stabbed a cubby finger in the direction of the door - the opposite direction in which Evelyn would have liked him to travel.

'No,' she answered firmly with a sombre shake of the head.

'Aw, c'mon,' Thompson protested. 'You've got some great herbs and salad leaves out there. Let me put together a salad for you guys.' He looked from player to player once more. 'Please? It's the least I can do... Then I'll be out of your hair, I promise... ... ... As soon as I can borrow a fiver for a taxi.'

'Oh, let him cook us a salad Ev?' Ross looked at his friend, pleading with her.

'You don't cook a fuckin salad Ross, you prepare a salad.' Somewhere deep, deep down, Evelyn knew this was a bad idea. They had no clue who this guy was, where he came from, or whether he was telling the truth about anything. Yet somehow, and not for the first or last time in this tale, she felt an well of pity build up for a man who was undoubtedly going through some sort of mid-life crisis. Imagine it were her father standing there, would she not have hoped someone would have thrown him a bone? As an international footballer, Evelyn had always been weary of people's motives, whenever they tried to get close to her. You always needed to look out for the fans who would try and wheedle their way into your life. But Thompson genuinely didn't seem to know them from Adam.

'Right, okay,' she sighed, a little annoyed with herself for having caved in. 'Just one salad, and then you go.' She waited for them to agree. 'Mr Thompson..? Ross..? Agreed?'

'Please call me Paul,' he said with a slight bow of the head. 'And you have my word, one salad and I'm gone! -- with, eh, five pounds for a taxi...'

'Yeah, of course.' Ross nodded, grateful to be on the verge of putting some goodness into his ruined stomach. 'One salad, then gone. I'll even pay for his cab.'

[Brenecia]

(4-2-3-1) 20 - Calhoun; 18 - Carrack, 22 - Bradden, 6 - Szubanski, 19 - Quill; 4 - Gryphon (c; 23 - Alweather 80'), 21 - Hartsdown; 7 - Trevelyan (Keohane 62'), 11 - Balliol, 15 - Macbeth; 14 - Lynch (17 - Riordan 62')
Goals: Lynch 41', Macbeth 68'

Most people Adelina Macbeth's age didn't remember her biological father, James. He felt this was a travesty. She felt it was probably for the best.
James Macbeth had been Brenecia's original football star. He was a big, muscular winger who played for the most part in Nephara, which was about as good as it got back in the day. He'd been the Brenecian X-Factor when they'd first washed up on the WCC's doorstep, and had 61 caps and 13 goals to show for it. He smiled a lot, and his teeth gleamed.
He also knew a lot of very interesting young women, one of whom - a pinup model, Miss Shortcake Sundae - was Adelina's mother. Macbeth acknowledged the kid that resulted, and did his part financially, and... that was about it. Her mother had raised her, eventually settling down with a boyfriend who helped. Adelina used the Macbeth surname anyway, on her mother's insistence. Few people knew the selling power of a good name better than a model, after all. Adelina Macbeth beat the shit out of Adelina Combe.
The first time Adelina had actually seen her biological father, she was fifteen and making waves in Rozelle's academy. The years had not been kind to her father - he was shabby and the worse for drink - and assured her that she would definitely make a splash in the scene. Be great, as great as he was. She smiled and nodded at the right places, saying very little. She had a talent for that.
But she knew she was going to eclipse him.
He washed up a few more times, often drunk. He was out of the public eye these days, dwindling away in peace, and seemed to want nothing more than to just live vicariously through Adelina. And, of course, money, which he would be gently but firmly rebuffed.
He was in the stands tonight, looking unusually clean in a nice enough suit and relatively sober. This was a public appearance, after all. The crowd camera had focused on him for a bit, and he'd smiled and waved, and those of the crowd old enough to remember had cheered.
The young were more focused on his biological daughter, as they should be. Because the game was what mattered.

Bardsley had been displeased at half-time. Brenecia had been tough and powerful and dominant, eventually securing the advantage when the quick-footed Fionn Lynch had put his head on the end of debutant Gethin Quill's cross and guided it past Henrietta Calhoun. The debutants had done well in general, actually - Quill had given them a great dimension down the left as an orthodox source of width to let Adelina cut inside when needed, and she'd looked dangerous in her own right. Behind her, Meghan Hartsdown - who Adelina genuinely hadn't heard of a month ago, but they'd been roommates and had hit it off firmly since - hadn't looked overawed in the slightest by international football and had just gotten stuck into it, impressive and lively.
And Rostyn Calhoun had been doing fine until Monika Jack-Bentley's cross was spilled into Zoe Roswell, who just bundled it home. It was the last action of the first half.
Groans from the crowd. So much for a solution to the question mark at 'goalkeepers who were not Mathis Woodgate'.
So they had it all to do again, though helpfully, the Yesopalithans liked to press for the win. Adelina was worried when the first substitutes were made around the hour mark - Keohane warming up with Griffin Riordan? A forward and the starting left winger? Surely she'd be axed, and she'd cooled off in the second half, and-
But Keohane replaced Trevelyan instead, and came in on the right. She smiled reassuringly at Adelina as she passed. A strange girl.
Whatever. They needed a goal, and pressed for one, Hartsdown growing further into the game and snapping into tackles and moving the ball briskly forward, though her one shot from just outside the box was... awful, blazing into the stands. But while Hartsdown flared, Macbeth had to be more subtle. Not that it was... well... working...
But then Keohane came dashing down the right, played in by the impressively calm Brun Carrack, and didn't so much storm through as just kind of street around Yersau, strolling across Finn and just sort of rolling the ball calmly into where she knew Adelina Macbeth would be, and the winger was not about to disappoint, sidefooting the ball low and hard beneath a helpless Calhoun.
She saw her biological father celebrating for the cameras in the stands. She knew the camera crews wanted to pick him up, put him in focus...
... she refused to be part of that narrative. You want to be loved by the people, James? Well... I'll eclipse you in that, as well.
So she ran to the cameras, and she gave it a nice, fat kiss. Her lip balm smudged on the screen.
No more note of her biological! father. This was going to be her narrative now, and if she had to seize it through show-business chutzpah? Then all the better. Her mother - and loving father, her real one - would approve.

[New Danican]

Grand Danican Post
By: William G. Baker, Sports corespondent
6/24/17

[Grand Danican, C.D] The World Cup is now underway, and New Danican fans have just gotten their first look at World Cup football. The New Danican Lions played their first ever World Cup Qualifying game on home soil yesterday against Kalumba, ranked 66th in the world. It was a toughly fought match with Kalumba scoring the first 2 goals in only 15 minutes. New Danican was than able to tie it up just before the half. The second half start was a rainy one. Both teams saw players slip and fall down during this half, however the players still played quite good. With only about 10 minutes left in the game Kalumba was able to score two goals to take a 4-2 lead. With time running out the Lions went on a huge attack, scoring one goal with only 5 minutes left, and than another with 1 minute left in the game. This game was also a clean one no one received a yellow card, so no one took any free kicks. Although the fans were slightly disappointed that the Lions hadn't won they knew that they hadn't lost either. After the game I got to talk to the manager, Phil Johnson, about the game.
"Our players played a great game. This game we wanted to win to get some momentum for the next few, but we will take the draw over the loss in the end. We still have 15 more games to play, and I feel like we have some confidence that we could qualify for the knock out round."
So after this game New Danican and Kalumba are tied for 3rd in the group with 1 point each. New Danican will now head to Heif(0-0-1, 0pts.)for the second game of the qualifiers. Best of luck to our men and women, and let's go Lions!

---

Goal Summary
Kalumba
Roland Grezlak- 13', 15'
Gabriel Danukwe- 50'
James Downs- 80'
New Danican
Chance Morris- 30', 42'
Grayson Barnes- 85'
Baldwin Conner- 89'

[Gregoryisgodistan]

Krytenia 0-1 Gregoryisgodistan

"Hello, and welcome to Krytenia, the land of the Krybabies, for today's World Cup 78 qualifier between Gregoryisgodistan and Krytenia. The fans are roaring, we're ready to go, so let's go. Krytenia was too stupid to submit a roster, so we'll give them fake and highly insulting names, as is the usual practice.

...

"6th minute, and Lord Almighty Gregory's Third Linzer Tart Chef, making his national team debut, lofts it into the box looking for Loyal Friend of Lord Almighty Gregory Death to San Jose Guayabal. But Dumbthing D-Back heads it behind the goal, it will be a corner for our Foot Slaves. Guy Who Cleans Up Behind The Elephant at the Circus P0120AZNNAU to take, it's into the box, he shoots, GOOOOOAAAAL! No wait, the referee is calling it back for a whistle, saying Loyal Friend of Lord Almighty Gregory Death to San Jose Guayabal pushed off,. And the Foot Slaves are furious, and Enemy Crusher Fatty Footy is crushing the referees, we have our first victims of the Enemy Crushers this World Cup, here in the eighth minute of the first game. That came quickly. The alternate crew is quickly summoned, and we'll resume play, as they are too scared to give Enemy Crusher Fatty Footy a card for that stunt.

....

"18th minute, free kick Krytenia, Farfelforbrains Forward to take it, he shoots, and Prune Farmer 3818F punches it over the goal, that will be a corner. Cowabyunga Cowpie to take it, Cowpie sends it in, Enemy Crusher Fatty Footy sends it away, and the Foot Slaves are looking to counter.Soldier 0EDCK13DHI gets it up to Loyal Friend of Lord Almighty Gregory Xylocrap Notatypo, who's all alone, but the offsides flag was up, none of this counts. Gregoryisgodistani fans booing, and some are throwing prune juice and gruel from the visitor's section at the referees. Anyway, it's still 0-0.

....

"26th minute, corner kick Foot Slaves, their fifth of the match. Historically, Gregoryisgodistan has had success scoring off of set pieces, Guy Who Cleans Up Behind The Elephant at the Circus P0120AZNNAU to take, up to the top right hand corner of the box, Lord Almighty Gregory's Third Linzer Tart Chef shoots, OFF THE LEG OF DUMBY DEFENDERI AND IN THE NET! We'll see if they give Lord Almighty Gregory's Third Linzer Tart Chef the goal in his debut or if it will be an own goal. Remember, the rule is that if it would have gone in the goal had Krytenia not touched it, Lord Almighty Gregory's Third Linzer Tart Chef gets the goal. Let's look at a replay and the Projected Path of the ball, presented by Slaves R Us. Yes, the projected path shows it going in the goal, that should be a goal for Lord Almighty Gregory's Third Linzer Tart Chef, and they've just announced that it is. 1-0 Foot Slaves. Gregoryisgodistani fans on their feet now, Krytenia fans doing what they always do, krying, and yes, that's krying with a K.

...

"39th minute, corner kick again for Gregoryisgodistan, their eighth of the match, it's into the box, Enemy Crusher Fatty Footy is there, TWO TO NOTHiNG - OH, THEY SAY HE PUSHED OFF TOO! SECOND DISALLOWED GOAL OF THE DAY! And Enemy Crusher Fatty Footy is furious, he charges the refs, but this time they do show him a yellow card! But that won't stop him from crushing them, it will just make him madder, and we'll have our third alternate crew of the day, with Enemy Crusher Fatty Footy sitting on a yellow card.

...

"And there's the halftime whistle, 1-0 Foot Slaves in this glorious game.

...

"55th minute, here's Krytenia on a charge, Fumbling Bumbler is taken down from behind by Enemy Crusher Fatty Footy, 40 yards from goal, poor, poor challenge, and that will probably be a card. What's this? The ref is calling Prune Farmer HUXU88238ASF over? He's got the wrong guy, but Prune Farmer HUXU88238ASF knows better than to protest, as that's only his first yellow of the day, he'll stay on the pitch. And Gregoryisgodistan likely won't appeal either, since if they change it to the correct person, it would mean a suspension for Enemy Crusher Fatty Footy. And nobody else has standing to appeal. And now Bumbler is protesting and he gets hit with a yellow. Poor refereeing all around, today.

...

"66th minute, here comes a free kick from Loyal Friend of Lord Almighty Gregory Death to San Jose Guayabal, into the box, Loyal Friend of Lord Almighty Gregory Xylocrap Notatypo gets on the end of it, AND HEADS IT IN! No wait, the offsides flag was up, again, third disallowed goal of the day for the Foot Slaves, bring it back. And now the Gregoryisgodistani fans are really mad, this should be 4-0, not 1-0. And they're throwing prune juice and gruel and human vileness at the refs, one of whom is now covered in diarrhea. It's hilarious. Let's keep doing this, fans. And the fans are chanting "DEATH TO THE REFS!" and now Enemy Crusher Fatty Footy takes the crew and is crushing the refs, except for the one covered in diarrhea who he doesn't want to touch. But the rest are dead, here comes part of the alternate crew, and diarrhea ref will remain. Surprisingly no card for Enemy Crusher Fatty Footy, the refs are probably still scared.

...

"81st minute, free kick for Krytenia, Lala Loserbuttface sends it into the box, where it's immediately saved by Prune Farmer 3818. Oh, and now Dimwit Dunkbutt crashes into Prune Farmer 3818F and they both fall to the ground. The ref is calling Dunkbutt over, RED CARD! HE'S GONE! HE'LL HAVE TO GO TO THE LOCKER ROOM! And the Gregoryisgodistani fans are throwing more human vileness, and more prune juice and gruel, at Dunkbutt as he walks to the locker room, he's not happy to have this treatment in his own stadium, but there's nothing he can do about it, the fans are just too intimidating.

...

"Third minute of stoppage, and THERE'S THE FINAL WHiSTLE! FOOT SLAVES WIN THE OPENER! IT COULD HAVE BEEN SO MUCH BIGGER, THOUGH! BUT THE REFS ARE STUPID! Anyway, we'll see you tomorrow night! So long for now!"

[Electrum]

Context

Despite the crushing defeat in the Electrum's highest constitutional court, which required a border wall between Electrum and Eura to be built posthaste, Prime Minister Suarez still had only one ace up her sleeve. No longer able to obstruct the process set in motion by the Nationalist MPs, Suarez had no other option but to go nuclear.

Already across the border, the sensationalist tabloid newspapers were drumming up the fear with the Euran populace that another attack was imminent, and that with the constitutional decision, now was the time to cross the border before it was become too late. The Nationalist MPs made a big show in the parliament, promising a hundreds of border posts across the long-winded border (which crossed through many towns and deserts) as well as the toughest security measures to keep Eurans out. At night, flood lights will light up the entire frontier, signal fences will be present - where on contact, an alarm is sent to a border post, and dragon's teeth tank traps surrounded by barbed wire to discourage even tanks from crossing the border. At the very end, there will be a carpet of steel nails and about 20 m in from the border itself will be a final concrete wall to make it all but impossible to breach the border. With such extravagant promises required an extravagant amount of funding and resources, which would understandably take a while to appear.

Because of these two factors, the threat of a border wall and the sensationalist reporting, what was a small trickle of Eurans could suddenly became a sudden inflow, pouring into the volatile and hostile frontier towns of Albo, Newman, Sam Kree. This was going to be Suarez' nuclear option: with the border wall question all but settled, now was the time to limit its effectiveness. Indeed, her passion to humanity got the better of herself as she convinced herself that taking on these refugees would be a good thing for the Labor Party she led: what better way to show how inclusive Electrumite society was by graciously allowing a number of refugees to resettle in Electrum? In a long-winded and indirect speech to the Federal Parliament, PM Suarez said that, "The Electrumite Government of course, has no chance but to follow the High Court ruling and build the wall, as directed in a cabinet directive. Nonetheless, in the meantime, there would be nothing theoretically stopping anyone from entering in the mean time..."

It was an odd turn of phrase, but it had the intended effect. Before the Nationalist MPs could muster up the resources, including their own supposedly "peaceful" militia to stop what was going to happen, thousands upon tens of thousands of Eurans turned up the next day at the border, overwhelming the border guards. Because of the High Court ruling delayed the final stage of actually executing the border wall bill (the Governor-General, who was on holiday at the time in Ceni had to sign the bill for it to take into effect) there existed only a short timeframe of about 36 hours when the Governor-General came back to Electrum for Eurans to cross the border.

Suarez meanwhile copped a lot of flak from all political sides, and even within her own party, for triggering a disorderly and undocumented process in allowing people through without the usual checks. How could the proper checks be done when the small border posts, usually attended to by a few border staff at a time, process thousands upon thousands of refugees? Suarez didn't care though, she was going to take the moral high ground, and show the Nationalists exactly why Electrum was such a great, liberal nation with nothing to fear. Unfortunately for Suarez what she didn't anticipate was the sheer number of people who would cross. For a nation of 40 million, Electrum could not cope with a massive increase in population, and with a war on the other side affecting a country of billions, a million people (mainly those very close to the border) within those 36 hours up and left Eura for Electrum.

The Electrum population, which would normally grow by a million in about a year and a half, increased by that same amount in less than two days. Once the Governor-General came back and signed the border bill into effect, several measures were undertaken to finally stem the flow of the tide, including the granting of new powers, authorising the Border Force the use of "any means necessary" to protect the border. "A million extra people to take care of wouldn't be that bad," Suarez thought to herself, but she never knew what that singular action she performed would mean for the future of Electrum...

[Cassadaigua]

Dagans Complain About Field Conditions,
(Didn’t seem to bother Red Blackiland)

This kind of thing can happen when you try to schedule too many things at once at one stadium. Concord Heights Stadium is the site of the World Baseball Classic semifinals, and will eventually host the finals. An epic series is taking place right now between Newmanistan and Super-Llamaland, two of the greatest baseball playing nations of all time. The dates for the baseball semifinals were out for a while, and many had made their plans. CASE (The Cassadagan Association for Soccer Excellence) was aware of when baseball was being played at Concord Heights Stadium, and so did the people from the stadium. Unfortunately, they let their lust for money get in the way and created what Cassadagan players called unplayable conditions. That said, members of the soccer team have been whining about the timing of this tournament and the World Baseball Classic, with captain Brittany Byers saying in her blog that the return of the Cassadagan soccer team to this tournament deserves far more fan fare at home, then it seems to be getting.

What happened at Concord Heights Stadium, you ask? Officials decided to schedule the game early in the day, making the 12-noon start time a little inconvenient to begin with. This was following the first game of the semifinals between Newmanistan and Super-Llamaland, which actually turned out to be a barn-burner. Promptly after the game, the grounds crew would prepare the field for soccer, and as the soccer field is played away from the infield, this did not seem like a completely impossible task. After the game, they would re-prepare it for the second game of the series between the Rockets and the Tigers, which was scheduled at 8pm that same evening. Unfortunately for the grounds crew, they got off to a late start after the first game, because that baseball game went into extra innings, and it needed 12 innings before Super-Llamaland prevailed over Newmanistan. This meant that they started about an hour and a half longer then they had wanted to. Given the nature of the game, they couldn’t start immediately after the final out was recorded.

The soccer field was prepared in the outfield of the stadium, and those who arrived for the high-noon start would not have known that a very meaningful baseball game had just been completed about 14 hours prior. The soccer team has been practicing at the University of Concord Heights, while Concord Heights Beauty School (a large school with an equally large field and facilities), has offered their facility for the visiting team if they choose. Red Blackiland introduced themselves to the soccer team in an impressive fashion, and played out a methodical 3-0 victory. As for the game itself, it was about what you would expect when the #22 team in the world takes on an unranked team in their first game. In all aspects of the game, Red Blackiland was the better team. Cassadaigua had their moments, and in the 19th moment, with the score 1-0, Hannah Ranucci was simply robbed by an amazing save by goalkeeper Martin Wrobel. Had that gone in, maybe the complexion of the game is a little different, but at no other time in the match did the Dagans look to have a chance.

After the game, we expected to hear the cliche quotes about it being tough to play a team of Red Blackiland’s caliber, and that they tried their best. However, Brittany Byers, the captain, did not really do that in her post game quote, “The field sucked. An absolute joke that a World Cup qualifier is treated like such an afterthought. It was tough to get proper footing in the both defensive zones.” Veteran midfielder Erin Cessario agreed, “We get thrown in at a noontime start between World Baseball Classic games. This is our first game back, and this is how CASE treats us. Goes to show what they think of it.” Young forward Hannah Ranucci was one of the few that did not make an excuse, telling us, “We lost because Red Blackiland is an experienced team, and were the better team. I thought we did the best we could.” The schedule does not get easier to start, with a trip to Pasarga being the next game.

Economically, it’s been an amazing weekend for Concord Heights, with a high number of fans from Newmanistan, Super-Llamaland, and Red Blackiland, all of which have a very passionate following. However, is that at the expense of field quality? The next game for the Dagans is on the road, and the timing of the next home game figures to work out to be played on the day between game 5 (if there is one) of the semifinals and game 1 of the finals. Following that, the team is on the road again, and then there is a bye. At that point, things should work out fine, before the home game with Drawkland. Though if there is a conflict, maybe sending the Drawkland team, and their traveling supporters to Concord Heights while the finals of the World Baseball Classic are going on, could be fun and intimidating as a reminder as to how well the “non”-Elite Eleven are. We will hear more about this in the near future, but it does not seem to need to be addressed immediately.

[Coldfield]

World Cup 78: Qualifying Group Three

Facts brought to you by John Postman, from Coldfield One

Over a year has passed since our first campaign on the international stage during the Baptism of Fire 64, where we, Coldfieldians, will never forget the Acoflosa tragedy: Amnarei-asud eliminated our national team from the tournament in a dramatic penalty shootout where errors from Klein, Harris (these who were not called for this World Cup cycle) and Chamberlain, who literally joke around during the match allowed the elimination in the quarterfinals. Aa would be the champion of Baptism of Fire 64 after defeating Nordernious 3-1 (and beating feared Drawkland in the semi-final). Shortly after the end of the BoF qualifying for the WC77 began, where, unlike the average success we achieved in BoF 64, we were massacred. The low morale and small support of the fans due to the unexpected defeat for Amnarei-asud destroyed the team. Such stigma persisted in the Campionato Esportiva 19 and our national team failed to qualify for the knockout round.

This experience made the team manager - Edmund Meyer, as well the King of Coldfield - radically change the team's structure. Few players from the last cycle remained and coach bet on promissory youngsters such as Tjelvarsson and Lewerenz, respectively aged 21 and 22. Ancient names like Chamberlain and Lund remained in their earlier positions; Even after all the flaws he had committed, Steven Chamberlain reminisces as captain of the team. According to the King, they will be important players for the 3-5-2 scheme that Coldfield will put into practice during the qualifiers of this world cup. Now let's take a brief look at Group Three, Edmund's Train group:

---

Achesznya - We know little to none about them, apart from their bad campaign at the BoF 65. Judging by their name Acheszyna (pronounced A-Che-Zni-Ya) looks to be a rather Slavic place set at sea level and no cold mountains like Coldfield. A-ches-znya president is Yesof Dalnovin who holds full executive powers and resides in the capital Belätova. This is all we know.
Audioslavia - Things start to get worse here. Audioslavia is a two-time World Cup champion and multiple times runner-up. They national team also won the baptism of fire and the AOCAF on three different occasions. Coldfield beating Audioslavia will definitely enter in textbooks for future generations.
Gim - Gim is a small island home to fourteen million people with an impressive density of 2,047 people per kilometer. Gim seems to be an Eastern country ruled by an absolutist, power-hungry emperor also known as Gim.
Kyrjasmark - A massive nation with Nordic culture. Kyrjasmark also took part in the SPAWK - the BoF 65. Like Coldfield they won all the group stage matches and advanced to the quarter-finals, Kyrjasmark was eliminated by Acapais after a tragic game - very much like what happened to us at Mercedini.
Osarius - An established nation in the World Cup, winning on two occasions (WC69 and 70) and never losing a final. The 24th best nation in the multiverse. We might defeat them with "His" help.
Tinhampton - The Self-Administrative City of Tinhampton is a self-governing radical city with almost non-existent culture apart from their media and Christian traditions. Located somewhere in the UK, their rugby union and football teams were somewhat successful decades ago and they played in English leagues. However, past is past.
The Kiaser Colonies - They had a relative success in their debut at the Beach Cup 13 and recently hosted the Rugby League WC 17. This will be their first time in the WC and they quite pose a threat to our campaign.
United States of Devonta - Devonta seems to be present at every sporting event in the multiverse: the World Bowl, the Beach Cup, the World Cup of Hockey, the World Lacrosse Championship, the Volleyball Expo, the World Baseball Classic, and the World Cup. The USD has everything in their hands to be a multiversal powerhouse for sports, but it won't stop the Edmund Train.

---

Now let's get to the schedule:

MD1: Bye
MD2: Coldfield vs. United States of Devonta
@National Olympic Stadium, Orangefish
MD3: Gim vs. Coldfield
@??, ??
MD4: Coldfield vs. Osarius
@Crownsville Palace Colossus, Crownsville
MD5: Tinhampton vs. Coldfield
@Tin Park, Tinhampton
MD6: Coldfield vs. The Kiaser Colonies
@Crownsville Palace Colossus, Crownsville
MD7: Achesznya vs. Coldfield
@??, ??
MD8: Coldfield vs. Kyrjasmark
@National Olympic Stadium, Orangefish
MD9: Audioslavia vs. Coldfield
@??, ??

---

This may not be the group everyone is looking for, but surely it will provide unforgettable experiences for our history. According to the manager "This qualifying is the start of a new era. We are going through tumultuous times inside our borders, though I am sure the Coldfieldian people will stay with me and together Coldfield will be a safe and rich nation again."

Stay alert for more "fast and direct-to-the-point" news about the WC78 qualifying stage.

---

In Other News:
Sheepville wins the Winner's Cup over Crown Fighters
Illegal weapon deposit stormed by authorities
Three deaths confirmed after bank robbery in Waterville

[Alasdair I Frosticus]

OOC - The Mammoth Compendium of World Cup Lies lives up to its name; you're free to believe it IC'ly, but please don't believe a word of these RPs OOC'ly. They're a compendium of lies.

THE MAMMOTH COMPENDIUM OF WORLD CUP LIES
World Cup 78 Qualification

Matchday 1 - The Wasteland

There's not much the Compendium can report on the Holy Empire's brilliant 9-6 away victory over top-5 ranked Acapais - a result that was soon being acclaimed from Al Quds to Andossa se Mitrin Vega as 'the greatest qualifying result in the history of the multiverse'. Really, when praise is so universal, how can the Compendium improve on, for example, the Dagan Daily Sexist's report that "11 strapping, hunky men that every chick in Cassadaigua wants to shag rewrote the record books last night, coming from 6-0 down at halftime to score 9 unanswered goals of unparalleled brilliance"? Surely only Krytenia's 53-0 annihilation of Gregorygodistan compares among the first matchday results for giving cause for irritatingly smug self-satisfaction on the part of the winner.

No, instead of report on detail on the match, we'd like to focus on some curious facts about Acapais itself. The green and white home kits of a team universally known by the nickname 'the Acapoos' (apparently named after a rare species of parrot) are ironic indeed given that the nation is a post-apocalyptic ash-grey wasteland where every species of flora has been driven to the brink of extinction by radiation poisoning. The ruler of this blighted land - a mutated humanoid known only as 'Humongor' - attempts to distract his citizens from their long, slow deaths by cloning a world-class football team from the few remaining healthy cells in his capital's laboratory in the hope that some of the clones will be healthy enough to win the World Cup. The heart at the centre of the national flag is a subtle nod to the vital cloning laboratory at the heart of the nation's sporting efforts.

The state of cloning science in Acapais is such that few of the clones last more than one matchday, but at least this enables the nation to produce a near-limitless stream of international footballers - at least until the stock of healthy cells runs out at some point in the next 20 years. Attempts to breed the footballers naturally - for example by the ill-starred mating of forward Camille Fox with goalkeeper Curtis O'Hara have so-far failed, with Fox attempting to castrate O'Hara in protest after the third sexual encounter between the two.

It's rumoured that both Acapais national captain Matthew Watson and national team manager Andrew Jennings are themselves clones of Humongor, thereby explaining their ripped physique and extraordinary leadership qualities that saw them convince the home side to walk over fire during the half-time interval to entertain the crowd.

Meanwhile the Imperial team continues to be the source of amazement among mundies. At a pre-match reception for the visitors in the Glorious Palace of Humongor, the oppressed household servants of the Acapais overlord spent some considerable attempt to get Imperial midfielder Photius Ducaso to sneeze, in the hope that the resulting diamonds would help free them from their lives of servile drudgery.

There's never a dull moment when you follow the Holy Empire in international football!

[Semarland]

The new generation? by Raekwon Thomas

A number of players retired from the international scene following the conclusion of the last AOCAF. Captain Jakob Lunds, veteran left back Matur Eiriksson, goalkeepers Marco Valbuena and Blaise N'Zonzi, winger Diego Snow and strikers Jakob Lindesfarne and Yannick Simeone were the main names, with several other fringe players calling it a day too. Manager Azarai Robinson has come under fire recently from numerous foreign media outlets, who expect Semarland to perform a lot better. But with Semarland in the middle of a political crisis it was quite understandable and as a result the SFA have kept their faith in him.

The likes of Lunds, Eiriksson and Lindesfarne were key members of the Semar team so in fairness they will be missed, but the quality of the new players stepping in to replace them show that there is no real room for error. Quite a few have considerable amounts of international experience anyway, which is a bonus - especially in key areas such as defence where the immensely talented Amani Chimbonda fills the boots of Jakob Lunds, arguably Semarland's greatest centre back of all time - as of now, with Chimbonda having the potential and the ability to take that title in a few years time. Marc Lindholm is finally Semarland's new number 1, with able backup from the acrobatic Kojo Boakye-Yiadom and "hidden gem" Devane Marylebone, but the trio will have Claro-Hunt no. 4 Stephane hot on their heels as he progresses at Hastmead Diamante.

Djair Claro-Hunt is now the first choice left back. Technically he is only the "second" first choice left back of the modern era, with Matur Eiriksson allocated the number three shirt ever since World Cup 69. And Djair is set to keep that shirt for many years to come. The role of the full back has evolved over the years. In the modern Semar game, nor the defender who provides offensive support nor the Eiriksson-type defensive-wingback hybrid is deemed attractive enough for the national stage, instead a more technical player - with strong defensive abilities of course, but offering a lot in terms of touch/ball retention, intelligence and movement, pace, dribbling and passing. Djair Claro-Hunt is just that. Whilst on the right hand side the closest to that type of player is new second choice Valentin Modise, as Nathaniel Oseni is more of an Eiriksson-type player, except more physical. Marc Kanu, who has been a solid part of the FC Kolberg backline for the last couple of years, earns his first callup as second choice LB (instead of SSA's Remy Nkulukutu, which came as quite a shock to some), and he is more of the Oseni mould. Whilst Djair/Oseni will be the likely starting combination, in terms of playing style Djair/Modise and Kanu/Oseni go much better together.

Over the last few years Robinson has experimented with several different tactical systems, but it seems for this World Cup he will focus on an intriguing 4-3-3 based formation - quite similar to the one employed by Dutch Semarland's U18 side in the last U18 World Cup. Vice-captain and second-oldest of the team Marcel Labonne will anchor the midfield, backed up by Emmanuel Sambu. Both are different types of defensive midfielder - Labonne is the more composed, a strong tackler but excellent passer, whilst Sambu is an absolute livewire - an outstanding physical presence with bags of pace and a crunching tackle. His touch and passing skills aren't as good as Labonne, but he offers something slightly different to the team. Linking the only real auxiliary defensive player to the more prominent attack will be Tunji Tunde, the most capped player with 91 appearances to his name. In reserve would be either Tunji Adebayo (for a while seen as the long-term successor but the emergence of Yohannes Melbourne and Remaeo Hutton, see the next AOCAF!) or Kwame Cole, who has performed excellently in Cosumar.

Marc Strand, the most technically gifted of the team, is the main creative outlet. Fans wonder how he doesn't have as many caps but the usual Semar tradition of using multiple players in qualifying is set to end with just 23 named in place of the usual preliminary squad - now is his chance to shine. Rene Claro-Hunt is still waiting in the wings, alongside Reiss, and the oldest of the Claro-Hunts will be upset as they are the two with the most talent and they are yet to break in on a permanent basis. Strand, over time will probably drop back a bit like Demba Cisse a few years before him, allowing Rene to exert himself as the team's number 10 (or should we say 15!). Eric Nti-Bonso earns his long awaited first senior callup after some excellent displays for Eikborg Club - featuring as an attacking midfielder, a left winger, a right winger, even a striker! More of a goalscoring attacking midfielder his experience on the wings will likely see him as the backup winger, with only two named in the squad.

Those two are Dequane Saint Etienne (who stands on fifty caps!) and Tre Mukondo. Saint Etienne's background in street football made it quite a surprise he was included in a World Cup squad at the age of 17, attached only to the SFA-run Semarland National Academy with no professional/senior-team, let alone top-flight experience. His natural talent is undoubted and he has thrived at Firewood City but there have been patches of inconsistency on the international stage. Usual second choice left winger Marcel Mbonne has not been included despite a move to Apox, whilst arguably the most likely successor the number 11 shirt is still 16 (Tyae Hamilton!). However with the reliance on central-based midfielders (and the ability to switch to a 4-3-1-2 formation or something) Robinson and co. haven't seen the need for any extra wingers this time. Lets hope it pays off.

In terms of strikers, only three have been named, but then again, only one will start really? Kwame Nelson is the main man now. The complete package, he'll look to maintain his more-goals-than-caps record and even Marc Lygaard has said he'll end up being better than him. Reiss Claro-Hunt will look to get a good chance too, whilst Dio Longa-Mbira earns his first callup after 24 goals in 34 games for Fransborg set Njilkaer this season. There is no Demba Traore, nor Seyi Oshoffa, nor Isaac Nketiah or Serge Mavididi, or even the likes of Kavon Rose, Yohan Kabai-Bianga and Orick Kasangi who performed well domestically. As ever, the competition for the main striker is fierce.

Valanora is the main threat to Semarland in the qualifying group, and they are likely to seal top spot. But second place is not impossible, and Semarland kick off qualifying with a home game against the Elves after being allowed extra time to prepare (sometimes byes are useful, after all...). The Elves dispatched of Mytanar Region 3-1 - who despite being unranked do have an interesting background (remember Mytannion!). It'll be no easy task of course, Valanora are, as you probably know, arguably one of the greatest footballing nations in the multiverse put perhaps Kwame and co can inspire Semarland to a draw perhaps. Best to think positive.

[Starblaydia]

OOC: For those not in the know, which is likely 99% of the RP Thread-reading populous, Starblaydia's Lord-Protector, ex-international footballer and former head of the Starblaydi Football Association, Julius Starblayde, is spoken to telepathically by a voice he calls 'Chorus'. In reality she is a two hundred-plus year old Vampire bitch queen called Viannor, who is trying to take over Starblaydia for the second time after being ousted two centuries previously. Because of course.

This stage of the plan had been over a quarter of a century in the making; the pieces were finally falling into place. It had taken months of convincing by Chorus to even get him to agree to the idea of it, but now that the goal was within their grasp and they could finally be together. It was only thanks to the natural long-life of the House of Starblayde, that the blood of the First Men of Starblaydia flowed in their veins, that this type of scheme could even have been considered. Who else has almost thirty years to spare to carry out plans such as these?

Julius could think of little else. The hundred and forty-seven year old barely looked a day over fifty, and a handsome fifty at that. Formerly the captain of the Starblaydia national football team in his youth, he'd been allowed to play professional football because he was the youngest of three siblings. He was the spare; the back-up. His older brother, Curzon, had been the true heir to the great Tiberius Starblayde, who had made Starblaydia the nation that we know it to be today. Curzon had the looks and the bearing of their father and had ruled Starblaydia for many years after Tiberius' death before the 46th World Cup, some hundred and twenty-five years previously, uncannily after a hundred and twenty-five year reign. Curzon had ruled all the way until the 63rd World Cup, sixty years ago, when Julius had taken over. The Starblayde children always had supremely long lives.

Until they ended. Ended like when their middle sister, Lexus, had thrown herself from the room on a stormy night during the 62nd World Cup. They had still never found out why, or what had troubled her so.

It always surprised him, when he thought about it, that every major event in his life, he related to which World Cup it had been at the time. Reading the various newspapers from around the world, though, he got the impression that was a fairly common habit. It was as if the calendar itself was subservient to the whims of international competition, playing second fiddle to whichever iteration of the World Cup happened to be going on at the time. Julius wondered quite how many more he'd see.

"Many more," Chorus said to him, inside his head and his head alone, "I'm sure you have twenty or thirty still to go. Maybe more, if we're together."

Julius beamed with happiness at this thought, and knew instinctively that she could feel it, too.

Their plan, Chorus' plan in truth, had only been possible because of his predictably long lifespan. It was something that he would have thought impossible were he to have read it in a book, or seen it in a movie, but it was the only way they could truly be together. She'd promised that she was real, and could really be with him, but for the Starblaydi people to accept it, she could not just appear. So Julius had married, thirty years before. It was a woman who, Chorus said, could pass for her mother; a beautiful, elegant brunette woman who had appeared one day at an official gathering. Being above a century old had not been an issue for his thirty year old bride, nor had literally anything else he'd ever asked, said, or done. She was not there to love him, because he and Chorus had already loved each other, in his head, for longer than he could remember. He simply could not picture a time when he was young and she didn't talk to him.

No, the woman who would become the Lord-Protector's consort was simply a patsy. She was there to look elegant at national events, to smile sweetly at children's poetry readings and speak clearly at charitable events. She was there, not even to have a name, though her name was Gianna; she was simply there to be a mother to a female child. Julius had thought it strange to begin with, even distasteful, but his and Chorus' relationship - if it could even be called that - was beyond any bounds of other morality and convention. But even then there had been no need step beyond the fringes of normality to bring them together, as Gianna had never fallen pregnant. She hadn't needed to. Under the guise of privacy, supported by public figures, journalists and celebrities up and down the land, Gianna Starblayde had been allowed to carry her 'child' to term and give birth without a single piece of intrusion from the state-controlled press. One day the world had simply been informed that Julius and Gianna were the proud parents of a beautiful baby girl, Korra Dominica Starblayde.

As the years had gone by, the purely imaginary character of Korra Starblayde had been given a personality, hobbies, and achievements through a series of official statements by the Praetorian Office. Home-schooled, living on the various palatial estates the government owned, the entirely fictional Korra was even supposedly glimpsed in blurry long-lens snapshots leaked to the press. For more than tewenty years, this was the charade that Julius, Gianna and the entirety of the Starblaydi government lived. Members of the Sjarondai, Starblaydia's Parliament, all said what a noble young girl she was when they'd met her, business leaders pointed to her sharp intellect, friends pointed to her kindness, all on the record for the newspapers or in television interviews. The entire upper echelon of Starblaydi society had been compelled to fall in line and accept this fictional girl as a living being. Whether they thought it was the twisted mind of a corrupt ruler, pity at a heartbroken mother's way of dealing with a child lost before birth, or simply followed their orders because they always did what the Lord-Protector told them to do, the public believed that Korra existed, because there was no reason for her not to.

Then, on what was supposedly her twenty-fifth birthday, the following appeared on the front page of every newspaper, the leading article of every website, and at the top of every news story.

.

Korra Dominica Starblayde named Duchess of Sideria,
heir apparent to the Protectorate of Starblaydia
Her Grace to succeed to the Praetorship in event of Lord-Protector Starblayde's death.

In a ceremony held at 8am this morning, Korra Dominica Starblayde, on the occasion of her twenty-fifth birthday, was named by the Lord-Protector and Sjarondai as Duchess of Sideria, heir apparent to the Protectorate of Starblaydia.

Fides. Gloria. Sanguis.

Simple and effective, the statement entirely broke the internet in Starblaydia. The metrics of news, comment, analysis and social media went completely off the scale as the nation went crazy for the girl they'd never really seen being given a position they'd never heard of. Technically, Curzon Starblayde had been the Duke of Sideria when Tiberius had been Lord-Protector. Julius, too, had decided not to use the ancient title that dated back deep into Starblaydia's feudal past when the Romanic Empire's province of Sideria had finally been re-conquered by the Jhani people and brought into the single Kingdom of Jhanna-Sideria.

The coverage totally obliterated what would otherwise have been the headline for the entire day, which was Anra Kolmkal coming from off the bench to hit a stunning forty yard goal on her debut for Starblaydia to beat St. Saratoga 2-1 at the death in their opening World Cup 78 Qualification match, with Ella Kabeya scoring the opener early on. At any other time, the first Dwarven woman to play for Starblaydia coming on for her first appearance and scoring a 'goal of the century' to win a match would have even made front page news. After Kabeya's goal on 8 minutes, Harry Wenzel had equalised with 14 minutes remaining and Starblaydia had been looking down the barrel of a disappointing opening draw with their new manager, new play style and their new kits. Kolmkal rescued the narrative in the most grand way possible, but it seemed that the only person who was interested in reading that story was Julius Starblayde himself.

"I wish this was getting more news coverage," Julius said out loud in his office, for no particular reason. He stood by the windows, looking out over the attractively-lit grounds of his Praetoran Palace in Jhanna, Starblaydia's capital city. "A shame really, it's quite the patriotic, progressive story."

"I know,"

The voice was so familiar to him, like his own inner monologue. But something was different. Chorus wasn't inside his head this time, her voice had direction and echo, filling the room with a clear, proud voice. The newspaper fell from his hand, dropping to the floor with the soft flutter of pages spreading themselves on the carpet. He turned his head, not knowing if he could believe this was finally true, finally happening.

And there she was. His Chorus.

She was everything he'd every imagined. Beautiful exotic skin with almond eyes and long, dark hair that flowed like a river below her shoulders. She stood straight backed with a confident air of one born to privilege as she, as Korra, was supposed to be. He didn't know how, or even why, but the Chorus that had been inside his head for the span of two lifetimes was somehow real, and before him. For once, he was speechless as his eyes welled with tears, stomach knotted in the most pathetic teenage schoolboy way, and all powers of movement and noise struck dumb by her presence after all this time.

"Hello, Jules," she said with a wide, bright white smile, "I think you can call me Korra."

[Abanhfleft]

*Warning: All statements made by persons within this series are theirs and theirs alone, and do not reflect the views of the Fleftic Football Federations, its staff, coaches, players, and other affiliated personnel.

The Games of Their Lives, World Cup Edition (Part One)

Abanhfleft v Barunia, Cup of Harmony 63, Krytenia

"From the fans' perspective, football is either a fast-paced end-to-end game or it could be a boring, drawn-out game where one team passes the ball around while the other team watches, unsure of what to do. We all remember that during the time that we very nearly qualified for the World Cup for the first time in our nation's history, the Abanhfleft women's football team was the kind of team to play like the former: open-ended play and fluid attacking football. We all know the story of how they were top of their group coming into the qualifying break, and how, after a very crazy game in San Jose Guayabal which saw their first loss in the competition, they slipped down the table until they were at a familiar third place. This was somehow more than enough to get us an invite into the Cup of Harmony, where we remember, of all things, being finally on the right end of a 6-4 scoreline against Associated Godlands. And, since we had a penchant for being around insane scorelines in big games, we were knocked out of the round of 16 by Barunia, but only just, after a nine-goal festival with the Suns scoring five of those goals and the Lady Revolutionaries having to settle for only four goals.

There were a lot of emotions going through the country at that time: pride that our national team could go up against the best in the multiverse and compete on a level playing field, sadness when we were inevitably knocked out by a clearly better team, and a bit of frustration and anger when CeCe Johnson missed that goal that could have taken the game to extra time and give us some hope of beating Barunia. But so far, it's all about us, the fans. We haven't really talked with the players about the gamut of emotions that they felt when they were playing that game. But now it's time we had that talk with our players. With World Cup 78 looming in the background, and the women's team set to try to beat their male counterparts in qualifying for the World Cup and proceeding a little further than the group stage there, I think it's just about the right time to get some stories about some famous games out there to the public. God knows that we've wanted to hear their side of the story for so long, and now here we have it. Hi, I'm Malik Qazizadah and welcome to The Games of Their Lives."

As chief football pundit for Crescent News and Sports, it was easy enough to get access to the women's team while they were in a training camp in Porcusces, Ceneisis. The girls were out in full force today, with every player on Kasper Molak's (remember the good old days when he was still the manager of both the men's and women's national teams?) final roster playing and training on this training ground during a cool February day. It was one of the advantages of having your players playing in your local leagues; you and they don't have to go far when you finally have to bring the band back together. Out of the current crop of players, only two of them are playing outside Abanhfleft and her sphere of influence: Claire Osgood, who now plays for Port Christopher's Blue Coast 1981 after Sarvusdalamoive sold her for a club record fee of NS$22m, and Zsofia Dolan, who was picked up by Lionesses in Armeia for a relatively cheap NS$1.5m as part of the club's rebuilding process (and who immediately returned to Abanhfleft and Markovsky after one season with Lionesses because Armeia declared a suspension to all sports leagues as part of their campaign of total war against, well, someone, I believe). With the Port Christopher season over (and Claire having lifted her first league trophy for her new club as captain) and the Armeian season winding down (and Lionesses looking to have secured the title with a few more games left to play), both Claire and Zsofia had been allowed by their parent clubs to return to Abanhfleft for the coming World Cup qualifiers. (NOTE: This episode about the Abanhfleft vs Barunia match was shot during the World Cup 74 qualifiers.)

The rest of the players on the national team were all veterans of the Fleftic league. All of them are now competing in the Ladies' Premier League, the top level of women's football in Abanhfleft. The starting eleven, of course, is made up of the eleven best players in their respective positions, at least as Kasper believes. A solid defense, combined with an incredible offense, is the key to success for us, he believes. But the time for talking about the future is not yet now. I came here to talk about the past; specifically, that game against Barunia in the Cup of Harmony 63's round of 16 stage.

"it was, almost quite literally, the biggest game of our lives," Kasper told me as I sat down with him during a break in the training sessions. "We'd finally made it out of the group stage of the Cup of Harmony, after God knows how many attempts, and we were up against literally the highest ranked team in the tournament, Barunia. We've made it through the likes of Chiata and Associated Godlands to make it through to this stage. We weren't in the best of performances when we went into the Cup of Harmony, but we were confident in our ability to go up against the likes of Barunia and pull out a good result."

But of course, tactics, desire and positivity can only get us so far. I wasn't surprised to learn that aside from us fans, the players themselves also had little doubts in their minds on whether they could do the impossible and get a result against Barunia.

"Of course we were afraid," Chelsea Stuart, Abanhfleft and Arsenal de Releinthi Ladies' star striker, said to me. "You don't get to be considered the 18th-best team in the world if you're not good defensively and on the attack. But during the last Cup of Harmony, they were leaking goals left and right, especially against teams that you didn't think had any right to be scoring against Barunia, like Walkany for example. But what really scared us was the fact that they could just outscore their opponents, you know what I mean? If they let three goals through, then they'll just score four. It was a terrifying prospect."

"They'll get those goals in any way they can," Alexandra Rousseau, Stuart's strike partner for the national team, added. "Whether it's a penalty, from open play, from a corner; heck, even from an own goal, they'll come and get it. We know that we can score a lot of goals if the stars align for us. And we know that they can score at will. We were basically going into an uphill battle."

"We had a tactical plan and setup which we had drilled continuously as soon as we learned that we were playing against Barunia," Molak said to me. "It was simple, really: contain them in their own half, and strike them on the counter, like all teams hoping to steal a point or three from a highly touted opponent."

"The gaffer's plan didn't exactly pan out the way that he wanted it to," Victoria Carter, who was the goalkeeper in that fateful game, said. "The plan was to let them have possession, go compact and hit them on the counter. But it didn't work. They spread us out and made us guess where they were going, and just like that... bam! We were one-nil down!"

A video of the moment that Carter was describing begins to play. The Barunian players, in their distinct sky blue kit, were passing the ball freely and fluidly while the Fleftic players, in their red away kit, sat back deep in their own half. Barunian number 27, Verity Michel, then surged into the gap created by Abanhfleft's man-to-man coverage, and as Michel fired a shot at the net, two Fleftic players tried to block the ball with their bodies and legs, but the gap was just wide enough for the ball to squeeze through, and the Fleftic keeper could only make a halfhearted attempt at palming the ball away before the ball nestled into the roof of the goal.

"Oh, God, I cannot believe I just did that," Carter said as she watched the aforementioned clip. "Did I really just both try to stop the ball and not bother at the same time? God, I'm so embarrassed. I can't even bear to look myself in that clip." Of course, the passage of two years' time has softened the blow somewhat, but Victoria has assured me that she felt the exact same thing from the first time she saw herself being replayed on the stadium screens again and again.

To their credit, Lea Choi of Antslinngs Islands (before her big money move to Godric Wexler's Arsenal de Releinthi) and Jordana Valentine of Xemlice held somewhat similar sentiments. As Xemlice teammates, I had elected to show Carter and Valentine the clip together. After Carter reacted to her halfhearted save, Valentine had this to say: "Girl, I cannot believe that you just stood there while Lea almost managed to kick my head off with her high boot and then when the ball is already across the line, that's only when you tried to reach for it."

"I know, it looks so pathetic," Carter said with a self-deprecating smile. "That's going to haunt me forever; I just know it." My reply to her was a small but knowing smile.

"Seven minutes gone and Barunia already have the lead against Abanhfleft courtesy of Verity Michel and her poacher's nose for space and opportunities. Kasper Molak and his Lady Revolutionaries look like they have a mountain to climb, but there are still 83 minutes left to climb said mountain. And the ladies of Abanhfleft have pulled off all kinds of miracles lately so there is still a chance for Abanhfleft to get something out of this..."

"It's definitely not the best environment to play in, when you're one-nil down and it's not even ten minutes gone," Stuart admits. "But we have to continue doing it because this was the round of 16 of the Cup of Harmony. This was our chance to finally do something glorious for the country. We weren't about to drop that so easily. We needed to do something, and boy did we do something that day."

"Kasper told us to stick to the game plan," Rousseau added. "That plan was to chase after any Barunian player who had the ball and, as soon as we got it back, keep possession as much as possible by playing short passes and such. We were to keep long balls to a minimum, at least until we had support up front. But ironically it was from such a long ball that we got our first goal of the game."

A video of the moment when Chelsea Stuart scored Abanhfleft's first goal in the game against Barunia begins to play. The move was initiated by Victoria Carter, who took a goal kick following Barunia number 33 Thomas Marsh's attempt at goal had gone wide. Carter kicked the ball long and high into the air and, just at the edge of the screen, a player in red could be seen pursuing the ball. The clip then zooms in to reveal Stuart managing to win the foot race against a Barunian defender and now she was clear to the goal with the ball at her feet. She ran and ran and the Barunian keeper tried to get out of his line to rush at her but Stuart just tipped the ball to her left and raced past the keeper before slotting the ball into the back of the empty net.

"I was lucky," Stuart admitted. "I really feel like I was lucky that I got past everyone else and got on the end of that ball. Kasper had been telling us to stick to short passes because he didn't want to lose possession against Barunia but Vicky just said 'Fuck it' that one time and she punted it long and I managed to get to it and then I scored. It's unbelievable, all the luck I had to have to get that ball and the goal."

"Yep, luck definitely played a part there," Carter added in her own interview as she watched the clip. "But I wouldn't go so far as to say that I said 'Fuck that' to Kasper's orders. I just kicked the ball." She then let out a laugh that was both proud and slightly embarrassed at the same time.

Right now, the scores stands at 1-1 between Barunia and Abanhfleft. After the break, tune in to see how it got to 2-2 before half-time... This is The Games of Their Lives.

---

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WORLD CUP 78 QUALIFIERS: SAN JOSE GUAYABAL VS ABANHFLEFT
By Malik Qazizadah


Abanhfleft's Claire Osgood defends against a San Jose Guayabal player. (Courtesy of Crescent News Network Sports Channel/Andros Tasasa)

SAN SALVADOR, SAN JOSE GUAYABAL - Two rapid-fire goals from Marco Palacios and a late banger from Eliseo Salomón ensured that the Abanhfleft women's national football team will begin their latest World Cup qualfiication campaign with a stinging defeat.

The match started with a minute of silence for the Guayabalense players who were killed in a terrible incident following the San Jose Guayabal national team's loss in the 77th World Cup Final against Valladares but the silence was broken by angry Guayabalense fans chanting threats to do the same to the new crop of players now representing their nation. It was a threat which arguably could very well have set the tone of the entire match.

The speedy Palacios rocketed the Guayabalenses to the lead with a crisply taken strike with barely three minutes played in the game, and two minutes later the Alianza FC forward latched on to Ramón Ospina's cross just inside the box and volleyed the ball into the back of the net.

Abanhfleft took the whole of half an hour before they managed to assert themselves in this game, and they were lucky not to go 3-0 down when Kevin Santos was released by a pinpoint long ball from Julio Navas, and only a very timely touch from Victoria Carter tipped the ball over the bar.

A spell of pressure finally paid off for the Lady Revolutionaries as Alexandra Rousseau managed to squeeze the cross from Adelaide Singh in between the goalkeeper and the post to halve the deficit, but after that it would take Abanhfleft another thirty minutes before they finally returned on equal terms with the Guayabalenses courtesy of Chelsea Stuart's impressive and strong effort just inside the box.

But Eliseo Salomón pounced on a poor clearance by Fleftic substitute Tonya Heaton to score the winning goal for his country in front of his home fans and ensure that the San Jose Guayabal team would apparently live to see another day.

Out with the new, in with the old?
Holly Jonasson's shift to a back four during the World Cup 76 cycle caused quite a stir among Fleftic fans when the decision was announced as someone would have to make way for the inclusion of the fourth defender, and that someone turned out to be Alexandra Rousseau, who was diagnosed with lupus over four years ago and has been playing limited minutes of football ever since even as she continues to manage her condition.

And while the quartet of Amanda Warren, Miriam Hannibal, Claudine Samaniego, and Tonya Heaton helped Abanhfleft to an unbeaten record in the qualifying stage of World Cup 76 (seven wins, five draws), Abanhfleft's attack suffered as the team was reduced to having only four major attacking options in Chelsea Stuart, Allison Torres, Lillian Prescott, and Adelaide Singh.

Now, with Jonasson having confirmed that this was going to be her final year in charge of the women's national team, it appears that she has reverted to the old formation with three at the back, restoring Claire Osgood, Dawn Jackson, and Jordana Valentine to the starting eleven, but restoring the old team could very well prove to be the wrong decision as Abanhfleft immediately suffered their first defeat in the current qualifying stage against a new-look San Jose Guayabal team.

Abanhfleft women's team manager Holly Jonasson: "It was a poor performance from us, a poor showing. Everyone expects better from players of our team's caliber. We let the country down, plain and simple, and we let each other down, but we will not sit around and cry and moan about it. Instead we will use this as an opportunity to bounce back in time for our next game."

On the controversy surrounding the Guayabalense national team: "I don't wish to comment on it, and the only thing I feel safe saying right now is that I am thankful that this wasn't us, that this didn't happen to us. The Fleftic people are passionate about football, but we are also reasonable and restrain our feelings about it. We can control our emotions."

Abanhfleft will face Nellietopia at the May 26 Revolution Memorial Stadium for the second game of the World Cup 78 qualifiers.

SAN JOSE GUAYABAL 3 - 2 ABANHFLEFT
PALACIOS (3', 5')       ROUSSEAU (35')
    SALOMÓN (80')       STUART (67')

ABANHFLEFT
GK: 1 Carter
RB: 2 Osgood
CB: 4 Jackson █ (Hannibal - 73')
LB: 3 Valentine (Heaton - 61' █)
RM: 5 Maynard
LM: 6 Choi
RW: 7 Prescott
CAM: 10 Torres
LW: 8 Singh
RS: 9 Stuart
LS: 11 Rousseau (Dolan - 67')

SAN JOSE GUAYABAL
GK: 1 Costa
RB: 5 Maroto
RCB: 4 Coronel
LCB: 3 Navas █
LB: 2 González (Cherkasov - 59')
RM: 7 Ospina (Elizondo - 83')
LM: 6 Chávez █
RW: 9 Salomón
LW: 8 Ochoa
RS: 11 Santos (Madrid - 75')
LS: 10 Palacios

STATISTICS
Possession
San Jose Guayabal: 52
Abanhfleft: 48%
Shots
San Jose Guayabal: 12 (7 on target)
Abanhfleft: 8 (4 on target)
Corners
San Jose Guayabal: 7
Abanhfleft: 5
Fouls
San Jose Guayabal: 16
Abanhfleft: 22

[Pasarga]

Torgos Tribune ~ Start of a New Era

The discussion of a Rushmori Union has been one that has been being held for nearly four years now, with the seriousness of the subject ratcheting up last year. It was at this time last year in Eura that King Jakub had met with Liventian and Euran officials to discuss the possibility of the dual islands entering into the new proposed arrangement. What came out of that meeting was generally good news, though the respective delegates did have concessions that they requested of Pasarga in order to facilitate the entry of our nation into the Common Rushmori Community, as the union was being called. Most of these centered around a reformation to include some form of democratic process to allow representation from the populace into those who ruled the islands in Torgos. Having historically been a monarchy, a shift from such absolute power to more of representative government was seen as a major change to the culture and history of the islands, as well as an organizational obstacle.

However with the election last night of the Minister of Interior, one of a handful of position that King Jakub has decided to hand over to the voting process rather than being a hand picked appointee, that shift seems to be underway. Within an hour of being confirmed as the new Minister of the Interior, Emma Szathmár as well as King Jakub and Tihamér Szôlôssy, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, signed the passing of the Orean Accords. The symbolic gesture was the culmination of a year of negotiating and partnership building between Torgos and Orean, with the hopes that this CRC will be able to see the entire region flourish. With already good relations with Eura, Pasarga will have a good initial standing, but how can they use that standing will be a looming question over the coming months as the CRC begins to stretch its legs. For the time being, it is a dawn of a new and promising era both in the nation and for the entire region as a whole, with opportunities aplenty.

In other news, the national football team began their process for qualification for the seventy-eighth World Cup with a trip to Dutch Semarland. A first half hattrick from Ingþór Auðbjörnsson was enough to see the Wanderers come out of the match with all three points, though Ceballos would add a fourth shortly after the hour mark and the side would win four to one. The Wanderers are reeling a bit, not quite living up to the standards that they had set for themselves nearly a decade ago when they were in the Final of the World Cup for three tournament in a row, including lifting the trophy in one of those. While the side has far from fallen off the cliff, there has not been quite the same edge from the once always inconsistent side or one that felt like their time was now. With a national pool who is mostly under twenty-one or on the wrong side of thirty, it is hard to see the Wanderers turning the wheel back to its proper setting, even if a few exceptions like Ingþór are there. Football is a team sport and regardless of how good the striker might be, he can not do it alone.

That being said, the group should be one that the side should be able to navigate fairly well, though the newcomers of Drawkland do have a certain sense of arrogance in that they believe themselves likely to be able to pull four points from the Wanderers in the matches between the two. It would seem that their success in the collegiate arena might be setting their hopes quite high and perhaps even overly inflating their egos when it comes to the capabilities of their squad against the rest of the world. Confidence is a huge boon though and while it is unlikely that Drawkland will qualify for the group, they are sure to be within touching distance for most of the campaign. A campaign that surprisingly has another former World Cup winner in it with Cassadaigua, though that was many many years ago and this new side comes into the tournament unranked and unburdened by expectation one would think. Red Blackiland is the second seed and there is not much to say about them other than they are good and difficult squad to play against, splitting the points in the home fixtures seems quite likely as is the outcome of our two sides coming out of the group.

[Tinhampton]

TIN PARK - 23rd June 2017, 1830 - qualifier vs The Kiaser Colonies
Broadcast in Tinhampton exclusively live via TBS - the Tinhampton Broadcasting Service
Commentary by Peter Ford (PF), analysis by George Piratin (GP)
edited on 4th September 2018 to bring the TBS scorecard graphics back to their old, actually-working glory. no other changes were made

---

Start time -3 minutes:

• PF: A more overcast day over in Tinhampton, as we prepare to welcome the newcomers of the Kiaser Colonies here in our first World Cup qualifier. Victory today, whilst expected, will be crucial - along with our next two games - to prepare for the might of Audioslavia and later Osarius. And here are today's lineups...
  You know who we're playing today. However, the Colonies will also be playing their full lineup, a 4-1-3-2 so to speak. Meredith in goal; Deane, Raws, Horsfall and Marx out back; Brunning as the holding midfielder, with Inman, Gersbach and Laycock providing support up front for Mazziotta and Brooker the strikers. Both teams will need everything they've got if something special is to happen today.
• GP: Of course this is going to be a tense atmosphere, I'd be a fool to say it wasn't, but it looks like you might just be right. Anyway, we'll just have to see what happens...
• PF: Indeed. If you've just joined us, Tinhampton's first qualifier against the Kiaser Colonies, both hopefully giving it their all. I believe we're having a minute's silence beforehand...?
• GP: Yes, as appears the hip and trendy thing to do these days. It's to my awareness that we're having one to remember those... erm, Guayabalense players murdered a while back. We shall say no more until the game starts.
  [...]

GAME TIME 00:00 -- TINHAMPTON 0-0 THE KIASER COLONIES
PF: Aaaaaaand we're off! The Colonies start first, and you can easily observe their passing in an aim to nab an early goal...

GAME TIME 13:29 -- TINHAMPTON 0-0 THE KIASER COLONIES

• PF: The Miners have an excellent chance here from the free kick. Player-manager-captain Ian Jones, of course, takes from here. The ball is placed, and Jones takes the initiative, it's parried away, and his namesake Graham, surely... no, it just goes over the bar.
• GP: You can't fault him, he just threw everything he had behind the ball and only just missed out. It really should have been a goal.
• PF: Now Meredith takes the goal kick, goes out to Ryan Marx, and then Young in with the tackle... looks like something's wrong here, but I'm sure Marx will soldier on, and he already appears to be returning now. Young, meanwhile, goes in the referee's book.
• GP: If our day is already going from bad to worse, we might as well be losing by now...

GAME TIME 22:33 -- TINHAMPTON 0-0 THE KIASER COLONIES
PF: A throw-in to the Colonies. Inman's taking it, in what's been a dull game so far. It goes over to Gersbach, a real chance now. Now he's dribbling, going up to the box, over to Brooker, our players are pleading for offside, and look at that! Nobody I know was really expecting a goal that quickly! Still complaining, but it's in, it's finally, and we're losing 1-0!


TINHAMPTON 0-1 THE KIASER COLONIES
GAME TIME 34:14 -- TINHAMPTON 0-1 THE KIASER COLONIES

• PF: With Brooker offside, Simon Phillips will now distribute the honours of... erm... an indirect free-kick, passed down the wing to Young, dashing, still dashing, then he chucks it over the centre to Samantha Jacksooooooon.....! Oh my word, what a goal we have seen to bring us level!
• GP: Indeed. If you're 25 yards out and you're taking your first touch, you do not expect to score through the underside of the bar, but that is literally what happened here. All of our training camps, it appears, seem to have paid dividends for us.

TINHAMPTON 1-1 THE KIASER COLONIES
GAME TIME 38:16 -- TINHAMPTON 1-1 THE KIASER COLONIES

• GP: If I had to say, since we scored that goal, our players have been dithering about and failing to progress the play. Not what I'd expect from the higher-ranked team, that's for sure.
• PF: --and just as you said that, the ball's at Gersbach's feet, tries to make way for Brooker, smacks it against the bar! Now it's a proper goal-line scramble we have on our hands here now, nobody knows what's where, now Gersbach swings it for Matteo Mazziotta to smash it in! Nobody - nobody - can believe it! The Kiaser Colonies are, once again, in the lead!
• GP: If we're to get something out of this, we need to change in the second half, and fast...

TINHAMPTON 1-2 THE KIASER COLONIES
GAME TIME 44:35 -- TINHAMPTON 1-2 THE KIASER COLONIES

• GP: You know what? Two minutes of added time and we're down 2-1. If you've just tuned in, you should either be fairly angry or fairly hopeful. At least I am. We can't even win against unranked teams? Seriously?

HALF TIME: TINHAMPTON 1-2 THE KIASER COLONIES

• PF: And as the referee calls time on the first half, we are losing 2-1. It'll have to take one heck of a fightback for us to win right now.
• GP: Indeed. Our more defensive attitudes should help us stop the goals, but to score them - an entirely different kettle of fish here. We have decent strikers, but they need to up their game in the second half...

GAME TIME 48:28 -- TINHAMPTON 1-2 THE KIASER COLONIES

• PF: Free kick for the Colonies, 20 yards out for Gersbach. The ball's lined up, and all 542 of us here at Tin Park are anxious about what is to come. He takes it... in off the bar, except it's not! The referee lets the play go on and Smith boots it out of play!
• GP: The Kiaser Colonies really should be 3-1 up by now. As you can see through this replay, it looks like the ball only juuuuust failed to cross the line; rebounds before going into Smith's hands This will be real second-half motivation for both sides, if the half-time oranges and team-talks weren't enough.

GAME TIME 56:32 -- TINHAMPTON 1-2 THE KIASER COLONIES
PF: No substitutions at halftime, but they more than make up for it with a few defensive-minded substitutions. Andy Daniels is taken off in place of Jamie Rhodes and James Wright is replaced with Fred Ball for our lot; whilst Ryan Marx is off and the wonderfully-named Davis Lemons is on for the Kiaser Colonies.

GAME TIME 67:36 -- TINHAMPTON 1-2 THE KIASER COLONIES

• PF: James Wright in a decent position, but he opts to throw it into the mixer instead, a few of our lot in there and Ian Graham is down! He's OK, don't you worry, but there will be real consequences in store for the Colonies. No, you are not seeing things - Ben Raws, in only his ninth appearance for the team, is already condemned to the showers!
• GP: That was the worst possible challenge you could make. The ball isn't even in the box yet, and you already trip up the opposing striker? Really? If that's the case, I dread to think of what Gim's defenders are like.
• PF: And that, my friends, is a penalty, with Graham hoping to take revenge, if you can call it that. It goes on the spot, and he prepares... now he shoots, and right in the back of the net! What a way to equalise, and after so many scares from the opposition! Tinhampton have finally gone back on level pegging, and it's 2-2 with 20 minutes to play!

TINHAMPTON 2-2 THE KIASER COLONIES
GAME TIME 74:30 -- TINHAMPTON 2-2 THE KIASER COLONIES

• PF: Ian Jones trying to get past, but forced to pass toward Ball, he gets it---and it's man down! Jack Brunning looks like he might be at fault, and he is at fault! He's on thin ice for the next quarter of an hour.
• GP: Brunning's had a decent game so far, but it just hasn't been his day in the disciplinary department. He should be more careful, if I'm being honest.

GAME TIME 81:05 -- TINHAMPTON 2-2 THE KIASER COLONIES

• PF: Another throw-in in a good position for the Colonies. Thrown back to Marx, makes a huge cross over to Gersbach, he then loops it over Phillips and then follows up, pass to Mazziotta in a good position, and he scores, surely game over, surely...! As it turns out, he was offside all along.
• GP: The Kiaser Colonies should consider themselves very unlucky not to have buried this game already. The same could be said for us, but at least we didn't have incidents where one of our shots failed to cross the line and another one could have won it. Offside by merely a fraction...

GAME TIME 89:48 -- TINHAMPTON 2-2 THE KIASER COLONIES:

• GP: The fourth official is indicating a minute of added time. All in all, barring any late surprises, this was a decent game - we can walk away with a point, but it seems disappointing against a team without a single KPB ranking point on the cards.
• PF: Beau Brooker nabs the ball, he has 30-odd yards left to go, tries his chances, and comfortably saved by our Josh Smith. Smith kicks it upfield towards James Wright, to Jones, over to Young on the wing, crossed to Evans, 20 yards out... and it hits the post!
• GP: The big question remains: Have we got no chances left, or still life in the old dog?
• PF: We'll see. Michael Young, would-be assistor, is preparing. He takes the corner from the left, and the goalkeeper's coming up now! It goes straight to Smith, bobbles along, and Priscilla Evans... she does it! We have done it! Tinhampton are finally in the lead, and at what a time to do it!

TINHAMPTON 3-2 THE KIASER COLONIES
GAME TIME 90:49 -- TINHAMPTON 3-2 THE KIASER COLONIES:

• GP: If you missed that, here it is again. You remember Wood's utterly thwonking shot being parried away by Meredith. So, we bring up our own goalie, Smith, and the corner goes his way. He taps it right towards Priscilla Evans, who then capitalises on that right on the margins of the six-yard box to score what will almost certainly be the winning goal.
• PF: And so we return to the action, with the despondent Kiaser strikers kicking off, Mazziotta to Brooker, to Laycock, and...

FULL TIME: TINHAMPTON 3-2 THE KIASER COLONIES

• PF: ...we have logged an UNBELIEVABLE WIN! The stadium is still rocking, after Tinhampton snatched an almost impossible win in their first game! Tinhampton 3, the Kiaser Colonies 2!
• GP: This will be a real confidence booster for the Miners, knowing they go into the rest of their games with a slight points advantage...

[Oontaz Dert Li Ng]

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WORLD CUP 78 QUALIFIERS: OONTAZ VS OLASTOR
By Abdulmecid Macasaysayan


Oontaz's Abu Nayef Ismailuddin defends against an Olastorian player. (Courtesy of Crescent News Network Sports Channel/Oliver Hassanal)

MANITOGORO, OONTAZ - An own goal from Honesto Campanilla saw Oontaz open their World Cup qualification campaign with a defeat against Olastor.

Despite the apparent gulf in class between the two sides, it was actually Oontaz who managed to put the pressure on the visitors, who could barely get out of their half, and even then for only brief periods of time.

Godzilla could have and should have opened the scoring for the Lions of Sand and Sea but his volleyed attempt only kissed the crossbar to the grateful relief of the Olastor keeper.

Karimabdul Dimaintindihan was next to test the Olastorians but his free kick from 33 meters could not find the top right corner despite a crazy swing and spin from the foot of the Thereisnogodistan FC midfielder.

Substitutes Oren Ya'akovi and Uziel Gal Tza'eer both then had chances in the second half to score from corners but both times their headers found the crossbar and nothing else.

Honesto Campanilla then inadvertently steered the ball into the back of his own net while defending a rare Olastor corner, and Tza'eer and Ya'akovi's last ditch attempt at an equalizer saw Ya'akovi's spectacular diving header smash right into the left post with a resounding thud.

Oontaz manager Ador Macaspac: "Yes, it is a disappointing loss, but what's even more disappointing is the manner in which we lost. A loss was acceptable in our eyes but a loss in which it was our own player who scored the winning goal for the opposite is more than we can tolerate. We are a good team but we are not playing at the level we deserve. It is unfortunate but it is a fact of life."

OONTAZ 0 - 1 OLASTOR
             CAMPANILLA (83' og)

OONTAZ DERT LI NG
GK: 1 Ansarifarid
RB: 25 Opulencia (Dimagiba - 79')
RCB: 3 Macaraig
LCB: 49 Campanilla
LB: 15 Portencio
DM: 5 San Marcelino
CM: 7 Abu Nayef
RM: 77 Zulfikar (Ya'akovi - 73')
CAM: 20 Dimaintindihan
LM: 75 Zulfiqli (Tza'eer - 75')
ST: 7 Godzilla

MATCH STATISTICS
Possession
Oontaz: 51%
Olastor: 49%
Shots
Oontaz: 10 (5 on target)
Olastor: 4 (3 on target)
Corners
Oontaz: 4
Olastor: 3
Fouls
Oontaz: 12
Olastor: 20

[Port Christopher]

Fresh injection of cash for the Island's sides...

The Super-League of Port Christopher have announced that they will have a fresh sponsorship deal in place for S-L XI, meaning teams stand to pocket record sums next season. The three year deal with Island Casinos see clubs, in some cases, double what they expect to receive in prize money. Clubs in Port Christopher have always been heavily reliant on sponsorship money, with average attendances limiting the revenues generated from gate receipts. This announcement coincides with the association's coefficient rising to an all time high of twenty in the most recent UICA rankings - largely on the back of the Pirates and Coast reaching the latter stages of the Globe Cup.

With the territory now ranked higher than the likes of Electrum, Vilita, and Valladeres, there is no doubt that the standard of football in Port Christopher is slowly improving. This was further underlined when the Willox Street Pirates defeated rivals Blue Coast to lift the CEdC for the first time. Playing in the Super-League has never had the same draw as some other leagues, with the format, playing style, and climate making life difficult. There has also been the issue of the association's standing, with many people - including many in Port Christopher - never taking football on the island seriously. This has often hindered some of the league's top players making the breakthrough in international football. There has been a bit of a change of direction on that front, however, with a record number of Super-League player being called up to the World Cup Qualifiers. In addition to the Christopheran players on the plane, Ross Renshaw, Evelyn Conjure (both Schottia), Claire Osgood (Abanhfleft), Seon-Yann Slate (Drawkland) Marc-André Onasi (Ceni), and Melissa Cleves (Brenecia) have all made their respective national teams.

This rise in the standings, combined with additional funds, will have the league organisers hopeful that the island's sides can really strike on from here. For smaller clubs such as Kirston Eagles, CP, and New St Johns, this will allow them to loosen the purse string, and bring in some much needed fresh faces. The Willox Street Pirates are the biggest club in terms of average attendances, with over twelve thousand a week - however, even they are hugely depended on private investment to sustain their gargantuan wage bill. For clubs such as New Dundee Star and Kelsy Merchants - who have a decent fan base, but lack the wealthy backers that teams like Blue Coast and San Marco Storm currently enjoy - the new payments will go a long way towards levelling the playing field.

So how much more can the clubs expect to receive next season? At present, the league winners earn NS$2,000,000 plus an additional $200,000 for each round of the play-offs they successfully negotiate. So in totally, a club could earn as much as $2,600,000. This is significantly less for the teams at the bottom however, with the tenth place side receiving a paltry $800,000. Under the new system, the league organisers are proposing as follows:

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1st: $3,800,000
2nd: $3,500,000
3rd: $3,200,000
4th: $2,900,000
5th: $2,600,000
6th: $2,300,000
7th: $2,000,000
8th: $1,750,000
9th: $1,500,000
10th: $1,250,000

Teams reaching the play-off quarterfinal would get an additional $100,000, fourth place would earn $200,000, third place $300,000, the runner-up $400,000, while the champions would pocket a cool $500,000.

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For some of the sides, who already have their bulging wage bills heavily propped up through other sources, this will make little real difference. However, for the sides at the bottom, it could mean the difference as to whether or not they can sign another couple of players, or offer a talented youngster a new deal. This could be a big positive if it ends up making the Super-League more competitive, but it may fail to address other problems. One of the criticisms levied against Christopheran football is the soulless, and often flippant way in which teams are put together. Clubs have sometimes been more inclined to splash the cash on some overpaid has-been, than invest for the future, and an injection of prize money is unlikely to rectify the situation.

Whatever your own particular feelings are regarding the commercialisation of today's game, there is no escaping the fact that money is big part of football. In the last window you only need to look at Marcos Zelaya's $50,000,000 move to Portus Central, or the $40,000,000 Sabrefell Athletic spent on Euran star, Oscar Coltrane, to see that having the funds to spend is a big advantage. It's going to be hard for even the top clubs in Port Christopher to get anywhere near those numbers, so, they will likely take all the help they can get.

[Mercedini]

World Cup Qualification MD1 LIVE
Mercedini vs. Sargossa
@ Zoloroni Sports City Stadium - Zoloroni, Mercedini

Ciao and welcome to the Zoloroni Sports City Stadium! Today is a very big day as Mercedini kick off their World Cup Qualification and with many other teams kicking off today as well, it is essential that the Golden Eagles get off to a good start and get some points on the board. Today, Sargossa have travelled to Mercedini's capital to try and upset the hosts in their first World Cup game as a Pot 2 side. Plenty of familiar faces on the team bus for Mercedini as David Bjarnasson opts for tactics that he knows that work along with a sprinkling of new faces on the bench. Many people have been noting that we have been drawn in the group of death with plenty of former World Cup winners and highly ranked nations who have since dropped off the radar. As for today, the stadium is filling up nicely with a good turnout for both teams. We're just minutes away from kick-off with both teams hoping to state their case for a qualification spot to the World Cup in Cosumar & Bonesea.

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0' - The two captains shake hands and exchange pennants before the start of the match, after two rousing renditions of the national anthems sounds throughout the stadium. The two sets of fans look up for it with the Mercedinian Big Band in full swing to get the fans pumped for the game. Mercedini, as ever, will be playing in their black and blue kits while Sargossa play in the white away kits to avoid a clash with their opponents. It looks like we're all set for the kick off with Nymark standing on the centre spot awaiting the referee's whistle.

5' - (MRC 0-0 SGS) - Five minutes into this match and its been a fairly lively start for both teams, who have both sculpted early chances to open their account. Sargossa came forward with the ball and conjured up the first opportunity of the game, he came into the box and attempted the curled shot but it ended up well wide of the mark. Meanwhile, Billic has had a couple of shots toward the goal, neither troubling the goalkeeper who scooped up both shots easily to keep his clean sheet intact. Five minutes gone, nil-nil with both teams looking capable of getting a goal.

11' - (MRC 0-0 SGS) - We've finally hit double figures and it's clear from the gantry that the match is slowing down considerably. Obviously this match means a lot to the players, so the pressure is on them to deliver a good performance. Some of the younger players on the pitch obviously don't want to make a mistake this early in the game so they are proceeding with caution thus far to hold on to their chance of taking the game. Still goalless, the play has slowed down since those opening chances and a goal in the immediate future looks less and less likely.

18' - (MRC 0-0 SGS) - The match is progressing nicely and the home team are taking the initiative in this match. Sargossa are falling back while the Mercedinian midfield and attack are all moving forward and sensing blood in the water. The Sargossan formation it suited to this style of defence, the 4-5-1 diamond formation is providing ample cover from the passes and shot attempts coming from Mercedini even though it leaves lone striker Rodrigo Marcellan isolated if any counter attacks are instigated from the Mercedinian breakdown. Tentative stuff, although the hosts are beginning to find their feet in this game.

28' - (MRC 0-0 SGS) - Off the bar! Mercedini just inches away from taking the lead in this match as a direct free-kick from Ben Chillotov rattles the woodwork before being cleared by the Sargossan defence. He has his hands on his head as the ball heads back in play, the danger seems to have passed but what an opportunity that was. A free-kick five to ten yard outside of the box was blasted past the wall and towards the keeper's side of the goal where the pace and spin of the ball had beat the goalkeeper but it was too high and hit the bar square in the centre and rebounded back out to near the halfway line, the subsequent ball back in came to nothing and the chance was dealt with. A big chance has gone begging, fifteen minutes left on the clock before the end of the first half, can Mercedini avenge that missed chance or will Sargossa convert a chance of their own?

35' - (MRC 0-0 SGS) - Sargossa beginning to look comfortable with what they have in this game with the current point they are holding onto plus their comfortable defensive stance going into the last ten minutes of the half. Id say its been a rather frustrating half for Mercedini as their attack has been kept mostly at bay and it hasn't been the goal fest that the fans have seen in recent game. It might trigger some worry in the back of Bjarnasson's mind considering there are teams in higher pots still left to play, some adjustments may happen at half time to add some extra flavour to Mercedini's football. It remains 0-0.

41' - (MRC 0-0 SGS) - We're coming to the end of the first half but that hasn't stopped Mercedini from creating some dangerous chances. Billic came forward with the ball and was running to the by-line unopposed and flashed a cross along the face of the goal but Chillotov couldn't make any contact to put the ball in the net. Mercedini on top in this match but they have less than five minutes to put something on the board before the teams go in for the half time interval.

45+2' - (MRC 0-0 SGS) - The referee blows his whistle for the end of the first half to subdued applause in the Sports City Stadium. What looked to be an even match in the first twenty minutes swung towards the host's favour when Ben Chillotov blasted his free kick against the cross bar. Then, it was more or less one way traffic but Mercedini couldn't make that count as Sargossa's defence withstood the barrage of shots from the Mercedinian attack. As the teams go in, it is the away side who seem more satisfied with the performance. At half time it's Mercedini 0, Sargossa 0!

HALF TIME
Mercedini 0 - 0 Sargossa

Welcome back to our coverage of the first match of Mercedini's World Cup Qualification campaign. If you have just joined us, the teams are tied with neither nation scoring just yet. It looks as if Bjarnasson is making a change at half time regarding the wingers, let's see if that will make a difference and change the dynamic of Mercedini's play. Sargossa have appeared out of the tunnel and are looking ready for the second half, and with the fans returning to their seats after their half-time pie or toilet break or whatever, I believe it's time to get this match back underway. Crasic OFF, Vaselko ON

49' - (MRC 0-0 SGS) - It's a risk for Bjarnasson to put Vaselko on for his first competitive cap, however it looks to have paid off as he is injecting pace and energy into this match for the home team. Sargossa are holding back although they are attempting to perform a counter attack whenever they can to keep the opposition's midfield and defence on their toes. Both teams using different tactics to get ahead in this game, it will be interesting to see how it pans out.

56' - (MRC 0-0 SGS) - As long as they played their tactics just right and prevented their opposition from scoring it was a possibility and it has come to fruition before the hour mark. Sargossa have scored thanks to an Alejandro Victorino header from a corner. It's how they fell behind against New Scaiva and Horshenwurst and it's how they've gone behind again today. The former was whipped in with pace by Marco Gamboa and was flicked on at the near post. The altered trajectory of the ball bamboozled the Mercedinian defence who let Victorino in at the back post who headed the ball in to open the scoring. It's the Sargossans who are making all the noise at the moment and no wonder, they have stunned Mercedini who were expecting to breeze this opening game. 1-0 Sargossa, wow!

63' - (MRC 0-1 SGS) - Not many happy faces on the faces of the Mercedinian as the camera scans the crowd. It hasn't been the best of starts especially for a Pot 2 side. Many consider the teams from the top two pots to be in the driving seatfor wualification and that it is their spots to lose, but with Nephara playing tomorrow, we do not know whether it will be plain sailing for the top two teams in the group. It certaintly isn't plain sailing for Mercedini they still trail a goal to nil with less than half an hour left in the game. Billic OFF, Dostalok ON.

65' - (MRC 0-1 SGS) - Twenty-five minutes left in the game and I'm sensing some despracy in Mercedini's play at the moment. They are desperately trying to push forward to get an equaliser, I cant believe it has come to this. Dostalok has injected another bout of pace into the side and looks eager to impress in the limited time he has. Bjarnasson looks on helpless as his team push forward for a goal which so far, is proving to be elusive. 1-0 Sargossa, although the team in the lead is on the back foot as it stands.

70' - (MRC 0-1 SGS) - Salvation has come at last, and it's come in the shape of Daniel Dostalok. He has scored for Mercedini and has quite possibly produced the biggest collective exhale in the history of the multiverse. It was the two substitutes who linked up for the goal. A big diagonal cross from the far side came in from Vaselko which looked to have gone to waste when it went over the heads of all the defenders and attackers, but Daniel Dostalok rushed forward unmarked and volleyed the ball in at the back post with a nice sidefoot to give them the goal they feel they deserve. He celebrates in front of the fans before embracing his teammates. A big goal from the rising star who plays his football in Schottia. It ties the game up at one a-piece. Is there time for an equaliser?

79' - (MRC 1-1 SGS) - With the teams back on level terms the game has opened up a little with Sargossa back on the prowl for a second goal. Mercedini are now the ones on the back tread, even though they are the stronger tem on paper. It wont please the fans, it's a back and forth tussle between the two teams. Still one-all as we come to the final ten minutes of the tightly fought game.

86' - (MRC 1-1 SGS) - We are coming to the end of the match and things are beginning to wind down in the match. Chillotov had a decent chance with a header but the Sargossan goalkeeper parried the ball out of the danger zone to keep the teams level. I'm not too sure whether or not there will be another big chance in this game but Sargossa have put up a more than adequate performance against their opponents who seemed superior on paper but unfortunately haven't turned up to their own stadium. They must do better than this, especially with so many crucial matches coming up in the schedule. The match is coming to a close with the teams locked in a 1-1 stalemate. Kraljic OFF, Webster ON

90+1' - (MRC 1-1 SGS) - There we have it, the referee blows his whistle for the end of the match and the reaction to the end of the second is much like the reaction to the end of the first half. Subdued applause rings out around the stadium as Mercedini kick off their campaign with a rather disappointing 1-1 draw against Sargossa. It will be the visitors who will be the more satisfied from the outcome of the game as they take a point from a higher ranked team despite being second best in most of the game. A glimmer of hope came in the second from youngster Daniel Dostalok and winger Jakob Vaselko, who both came off the bench to combine for the golden eagles' equaliser, but on an overcast day in Zoloroni. It is Mercedini who come out having to play catch up for their spot in the World Cup. In Mercedini's capital, it's finished Mercedini 1, Sargossa 1.

FULL TIME
Mercedini 1 - 1 Sargossa
Dostalok 70' • Victorino 56'

Mercedini will be hoping to bounce back from that minor setback, as they travel to late addition Makonga for their second match in World Cup Qualification. There is currently no news on whether Bjarnasson will make changed to the line-up, however Vaselko and Dostalok have certainly stated their case on why they should be included more often in big matches like this. We hope you will be able to join us for the next match. From the Zoloroni Sports City Stadium, have a great day!

[Valanora]

The sky was sprayed with flashes of red, orange, and yellow erupting from the southwest of Raynor City. To anyone not from the capital, it would seem like there was some sort of fireworks display going off, with the way the sparks continuously were painting the sky in a wide array of colors and patterns. However it was no display of technical prowess and beauty but the residual effects of two powerful magic users dueling with one another, curiously from within the Raynor family mansion. However for those in the capital, this was a very common occurrence to behold, with Great Leader Lady Oromë and her daughter, Faelynn, practicing their magic. Faelynn had long since outpaced her mother and seemed to take after more from her father's side of the family, for Tobias' mother had been quite a powerful magical user, as was the depths of latent magical energy within Vanorian elves. However even Tobias had been impressed and surprised by the rate at which his daughter had learned to master the arcane arts, so had to the priests and priestesses whose entire lifetimes had been dedicated to the craft.

Not a surprise however was the great strategic mind that his son, Kheleen had been seen to possess, nor the affinity he had found for hand to hand combat. Taught the way of dueling from Tobias himself and given a military education by his uncle and the leader of the Vanorian military in Artanis, the boy was sure to have developed into quite the militarily attuned mind. Despite his great prowess for the weapons of war, Kheleen had the same temperament as that of his father, to be prepared and know how to defend ones self but never hoping to unleash that power unless the situation demanded it of him. With the strength of the Vanorian military machine, the Dark Bows, as well as the Vanorian economic muscle, such measures were not likely to be needed. The century of turmoil had ended nearly a century ago, with the twins coming upon their nintieth birthday in a few months time. It had been fifty years since they had been abducted by Lady Viannor, the would be tyrant of Starblaydia, and he had to dispatch the Dark Bows to rescue his children. It was a good thing he had done so, as it had foiled her attempts to overthrow the Starblaydes from power and take over Starblaydia once more. Her previous rule had been one that had shaken Atlantian Oceania to its core and her return was not something anyone ever dared hope to see.

Tobias however could not help but have a very perculair feeling about the rate at which his children had progressed through their maturation into adulthood and the skills that they had displayed. Even Kheleen had shown promising amounts of magical ability, not just the passive latent powers that Vanorians had in general. Maybe it had been the ordeal from five decades ago had shown them the need of being skilled but that seemed too shallow a reason and though he was a Champion of Elune, those blessings were supposed to be contained just to him and not those around him. It likely was just a new generation finding ways to do things better than the previous and yet Tobias still had a very odd feeling about it, despite the priests and priestesses saying that there was nothing physically or spiritually odd about the twins. It comforted him at least that the two seemed to share a bond that he had never been afforded, being a single child of his father and mother. Thinking about what happened to them though had a way of bringing Tobias' mood down and making him quite somber.

"Very good Faelynn but perhaps it is time to wrap it up, you do not wish to tire your mother out completely do you?" He said as giving a small amount of applause to his wife and child, with Kheleen standing beside him, the two having long since finished their swordplay routine. Faelynn smiled at her father before giving a curtsy to both him and then her mother. "Of course father, I sometimes forget my own power. I am sorry if I was too aggressive mother." It was the most normal of evenings as a royal family could get and the peace of it was comforting for Tobias, a peace he hoped would last for many human lifetimes, for it had been hard won. Two children whom seemed exceptional and he adored and wife who had proven him correct in the way that she had managed to run Valanora into a prosperous time. There was little more that Tobias could ask for, though a quietness from the great beyond was ever there.

[Jeckland]

LIMP JECKLAND LOSE TO WEST ANGOLA

Despite the excitement around Jeckland's first game of World Cup Qualifying, the team were unable to live up to the hype as a disciplined West Angolan side ran out the victors courtesy of a second half header from a corner.

The Jeckish team came out to a rousing ovation from the capacity 100,000 crowd at JNSS, and belted out the national anthem with aplomb. However, once the match started the atmosphere seemed to alarm them, with Beake thumping a routine back pass out for a corner. There were no significant chances in the opening 15 minutes, however shortly after this a West Angolan midfielder smashed a shot from 25 yards out which Stainthorpe did well to hold. West Angola continued to have the play, and in the 32nd minute got their reward.

The corner was swung in left footed, and a centre back rose above Ness at the near post and powered a header past the helpless goalkeeper. Nothing of note occured before half time, aside from a yellow card for Stanford for a cynical foul.

In the second half Jeckland began to dominate possesion, but found themselves up against a resolute West Angolan defence. Joyner and Marshall both had long shots deflected off for corners from defender's legs. Meanwhile, West Angola looked to break on the counter, with a superb cross from the left narrowly out of reach of the oncoming striker.

Jeckland made a double change on the hour mark, with Webb and Teel replacing Sawyer and Ellery. At this point exciting young winger Outlaw would have what would turn out to be the Spuds best chance of the game, waltzing past two defenders before forcing a fine save from the keeper from the edge of the box. Jeckland would continue to press, but to no avail.

In a last throw of the dice, Hext was sent on to replace Joyner. But it was to no avail, as West Angola ran out the victors.

Speaking after the match, manager Taylor Gilliam tried to remain upbeat. "This was always going to be a difficult match. Obviously we are disappointed to lose and there are lessons to be learnt from the performance, but we have to remember this is one game out of eighteen, there's a long way to go and we can be positive about the future."

Jeckland will face an easier match next time as they make their first away trip to the unranked Leopian. It is difficult to know what to expect from this side but Jeckland should be the favourites to open their account for this qualifying cycle.

[Scottopian Isles]

Tough Start As Cosneolta Beat Bluebirds 1–0

Scottopian Isles fans look on in disappointment at the Krychek Stadium as the hosts scored with minutes to go

It was a tough pill for the Scottopian Isles to swallow as they leave Cosneolta without a point in the opening match of World Cup 78 Qualifying. Those who traveled to Dynum City were treated with the Scottopian team pushing offensively for a majority of the game, however the hosts were able to deflect all attempts on goal, eventually scoring off a failed Scottopian counter attack in the dying minutes. Dynamo Shebchetsik wonder striker Dominik Bartosz was able to receive the ball slotted through the Bluebirds defense and chipped the ball over Rimandos who was left defending a 3 pronged attack upon his goal.

The Bluebirds held onto a 58% of possession, with 8 attempts on goal with 5 on target. But the man between the sticks was on his toes tonight, sending 3 of those shots for corners for the visitors. Scottopia was fouled a total of 6 times while giving 9 free kicks away themselves in search of that elusive goal, resulting in 1 yellow card issued to defender Goulding who took down a player in an ill-timed tackle after he had crossed the ball in the second half. Neither team were issued any red cards, meaning all will be available for their nations next games.

"Shattered.... totally shattered. A goal in the first half or in the 2nd half you can deal with, but anything in the last 5 minutes is always difficult." stated one fan leaving the grounds after the final whistle. "We were in high spirits the entire game, so close so many times but just couldn't find the net. Well done to the home side though, the Cosneoltans played in the back better than we did. We'll return the favor when they visit the ScotStand though, of that im sure."

Other matches from Group 8 saw Kosovakia tie Jeruselem 3 goals a piece for both teams to start out with a point each from the 6 goal matchup. New Lusitania & the Algarves, whom the Scottopians will host in our next qualifying match, were defeated 1-0 at home by Kecrazia. They will surely want to make up lost ground as will we making our next match all the more exciting as we both sit in the bottom spots of the current table standings. Finally, top seeded Valladares snuck in a second goal to beat the Union of Socialist Alpine Republics by 2 to 1 in front of the home crowd. Electrum had this match days bye round, but will be looking to start their campaign off right with their next match against Kosovakia. The Scottopian Isles will meet Cosneolta again on July 3rd.

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Scottopian Isles Football Association @SIFA Scottopian Isles fall 1-0 @ Cosneolta. Next Match: Home vs New Lusitania & the Algraves, tune into all matches on SITV! #SIFA #PlayBeautifully #WorldCup78Qualifiers #ScottopianIsles RETWEETSLIKES 285K1.7M 12:30 p.m - 23 JUN 2017

[Eshan]

Eshan Sporting Daily
W O R L D C U P 7 8 S T A R T S A N D E S H A N W I N S F I R S T G A M E

With a shrill blare from the referees whistle, the 78th edition of the World Cup kicked off and the eyes of all Eshan and the multiverse at large were stuck at the screen watching the action.

The Echani national team comes into this tournament ranked as the 42nd best team in existence, and they are determined to punch above their weight. If they don't bring back the trophy, it'll be disappointing. Not that that's unfair, every Echani wants to see the team lift the trophy, every player burns with a competitive attitude to win it for the land. It's only natural to want to be the best, and when you know you can like the Echani do, anything less than success is at best a failure.

A manageable group draw was bound to have put a smile on the face of the legendary national team manager, the Erathore legend Alexio 'del Aimbot' del Nieran, as it's impossible to think anything other than we have a great chance to progress. Eshan football has taken leaps and bounds, and our players come better then ever to this World Cup. From the magisterial Marco van Ciavatinni to wonderkids Artemis Montanari and Magnum Cerelius and Luc Villaview in defense, the National team is jam-packed with talent, workrate, and an unquenchable desire to be the best in the world.

Heading into our first game against Colonial Australia, you had to feel sorry for the opposition. For months leading up to that sweet singing whistle, the excitement and fanaticism of the Echani people had been building up like the pressure waiting to blow open the best football-playing dam in existence. And when that dam did get to pop open, anything that stood in the way of the water would be totally obliterated.

This World Cup was going to be memorable. And it started off the right way.

When the whistle went, the players exploded out of the the gates, immediately charging forward in an all out attack; a blitzkrieg designed to overwhelm the acres of space on the pitch and bypass the Defensive Line. It worked almost perfectly, with Marshawn Mercury hitting a zinger off the woodworks in the first few seconds. The team had come to play.

Hounding after every single loose ball, harassing the Colonial players at ever turn, and controlling play with scintillating displays of free-flowing attacking movements. It was rewarded in the 7th minute, when Willian Luc Villaview won the ball out of the air and headed it to Artemis Montanari. A quick little side-step shimmy saw him shed one defender before finding Marco van Ciavatinni. The best player in Eshan's history gracefully danced past his mark before pinging the ball central to midfielder Jean-Marie Bentacur, who beautifully one-touched it into the box for Anthony Baudelio to collect and neatly lodge the ball into the side of the net, 1-nil.

Unfortunately, the initial burst of frenzied energy and an early goal got the team playing complacently, and they were swiftly and excruciatingly punished by a brilliant free kick in the 23rd minute and a nice interlocking set of play that swept the ball from the left back all the way to the right winger for an easy cross and headed goal in the 30th to send us down 2-1.

With the stroke of halftime nearly upon them, the Echani team needed to convert their high number of chances into a solid goal. Samper Markovic neatly intercepted a passing movement and hit a long arcing ball to Mercury, who pulled off a breathtaking rainbow before hitting a sliding cross along the grass to the far top of the 18; Marco van Ciavatinni was there to collect the ball and execute a fake shot before blasting the ball into the far corner to level it at 2-2.

Halftime whistle and you knew Alexis del Nerian was laying into the boys because they were letting themselves and the fans down in a bit way. Fortunately the second half saw a revival of the Echani fire and way, and the lads came out balling.

51st minute saw 3-2 when Artemis Montanari was laid up by Marco van Ciavatinni with a nice soft pass about 26 yards out, and the 6'3 long distance shooting expert absolutely cocked one past the goalkeeper for his first World Cup goal.

58th minute and Steven Tadeo charged up the right wing, nutmegging the opposing leftback before hitting a lofted cross into the box for Anthony Baudelio to head home and life is up to 4-2 and get his second of the night.

61st minute saw Alexio del Nieran take off the attacking and offensive genius of Bentacur for former national team starter Xavi Arisilde in a move clearly meant to stabilize the midfield and totally control the tempo of the game. Three minutes later Marshawn Mercury was replaced by young gun and new Sebio City #7 Magnum Cerelius.

The absolute physical and athletic perfection of Magnum was on display in the 70th minute when he torched his defender before knocking the ball all the way down the touch line and racing away towards goal before hitting an absolute screamer from 23 yards out. The goalkeeper got hands to it, but the sheer power and technique blasted through the keepers arms and into the goal. 5-2.

Four minutes later, a corner kick from Marco van Ciavatinni found a completely unmarked Baudelio at the far post, who simply guided it in to make it 6-2, a score line that held until the final whistle.

The boys came to play; they exploded out of the gates and responded to going down like a true championship contending team by banging goals in. This is going to be a great World Cup, and while every second of every game will be a battle, the Echani team looks good for their money.

---

"And now we go live to Emmeria, capitol city of Gracemeri where socialist candidate for President Caelius Hugo Makélélé is delivering a speech."

"My friends, I wish to speak with you today regarding the future of Eshan. We now come together at the great confluence of time, a moment where the weight of the future is cast upon our shoulders in the determination of the future of our people. We do not shirk from this duty; we welcome it with open arms, embracing our duty to play an active role in electing our Congressmen and President. It is our right and our great national event to vote, and today it is more important than ever for all Echani to exercise it.

With this great election, the 50th in our nation's history. We have the opportunity the cap this milestone in our nation's great history with the direct change alteration of the future with an election that determines forever-more the values, stances, and definition of what it means to Echani.

What does it mean to be Echani? Our history is a complicated one, eons of existence, some years more peaceful than others, before the people of Erathore came and introduced to us new ways of life and unimaginable technology that jolted our common motherland into the modern society. Our grand Republic was born four hundred and forty years ago out of a great war of independence against the Erathi oppressors where we drove them from our cities, and our fields, and forever always away from our lands and people and to their homeland. Which we will claim as fate long ago determined. But for now, the time calls for mastery of ourselves, and using the hammer and anvil of our ideas and determination to achieve greatness over ourselves, and our great country.

That means providing opportunity to all of our citizens, not just a select few who were born through the roulette of life to the highest echelon of society. The potential that lies within the each of us is the result of the greatest gift that can be bestowed upon any creature entering life on the planet, and that is to be born as an Echani citizen. No matter our origins, we all boast the capacity to achieve tremendous and world-altering things simply because we are born Echani. That is the foundation of what it means to be Echani, the ability to achieve anything simply because of who we are.

We are a proud people who fight for what we know is right, and it is time for us to once again rise to the challenge of providing a fair opportunity to all of this nation’s citizens so they may finally realize their Echani dream. It has become worryingly and increasingly limited to only the highest of our society and that is simply a state of life that is at fundamental odds with how we are as a people and a culture. The need to elevate the lowest of our society to live amongst the highest is based on the untold ideas and capacity for innovation and greatness within all of us. We share a nation, we share precious natural resources, and we share our way of life with one another. We share and have in common another important column of life, and that is Our Common Future. As President of Eshan, I, Caelius Hugo Makélélé will fight for that Common Future.

Economic, financial, and workplace matters are paramount to the great step of financial equality of opportunity that must be made if we are to unlock the full potential of our great society. To that end, we must pursue a vast increase in public spending and investment that will provide extensive and high-paying jobs to Echani and Echani only in construction, investment, infrastructure, electroengineering, and many other fields as we take the new step forward as a society. We must greatly increase the minimum wage by 15% to provide opportunities for every citizen. More time to work on leisure and expanding investment and disposable purchases increases general innovation and happiness for all of us, and to that end work weeks must be limited to 35 hours. Protections must be extended to the high working members of society who help put and maintain the pillars of our society, and thus it is essential that we pursue labor laws that make it harder for firms to fire employees. With so much investment necessary to help turn the cogs of process, investment banks and firms must be separated from regular banking operations to help preserve the integrity of our financial systems, while general executive pay must be limited to help return profits to those who do the work.

With regards to social, migrant, and industrial policy, it is a great national shame to a society as modern and truly fantastic as ours that homelessness continues to be a pervasive problem. Bearing in mind the lack of quality of life and opportunity of homelessness, it is permanently essential that the right to housing is enshrined in our constitution, as is the right to property. In our proud history there has never been a lack of men and women willing to dedication and sacrifice their lives to the progression of our nation’s history and survival, and that bond of brotherhood in the fires of national servitude is something that has only ever served our people well. I will push for 12 months of compulsory citizens service, with some military training and majority acts of national improvement. Migration is a complicated issue, with many that perhaps shouldn’t be, while there are plenty that deserve to be that aren’t. There are hardworking members of society that don’t have legal status that should, therefore part of my immigration policy is offering full citizenship to those without legal status so long as they have proof of current employment, while children of undocumented immigrants born on Echani soil are citizens by birth. There do exist regions in the world that look upon our society and way of life with great hatred in their eyes and, with national safety paramount to government, immigrants and refugees that are themselves or from nations deemed to pose a security threat will be apprehended and dealt with accordingly.

I also wish to briefly elaborate on my administration’s environmental policy. I am not unique in my belief that a changed climate presents the potential to be the greatest threat to our lives aside from nuclear weaponry. To that end, my administration will boast a robust ‘Green Rule’: Eshan under President Makélélé will not use more of the planet’s resources than can be put back. Furthermore, under my administration Eshan will move to 100% renewable and nuclear energy by 2040.

Finally my friends, I would like to speak with you about foreign policy. It is essential to strengthen and nurture our relationships abroad, and my administration will do so with the utmost urgency. I will fight for the establishment of multiple foreign treaties and alliances, both within Atlantian Oceania and further. I will use Eshan’s standing as a great military power in Atlantian Oceania to ensure that Eshan always has a seat at the diplomatic table, no matter how big or small the issue. Bearing this in mind, I fully intend to continue to fund and expand the Echani military to ensure we are among strongest in our region. Economic, technological, resource-based, business and manufacturing-wise, there are plenty of opportunities to expand Eshan’s sphere of influence, and I will do everything in the power of the office of the President to pursue our vital national goals.

I am determined to ensure that our nation and my fellow Echani unlock our shared full potential and I will do whatever it takes to bring to fruition the great dreams we and our forefathers always thought impossible, yet have always tried to realize them nevertheless. I pledge this to you, I pledge this to the land, I pledge this for the greatest benefit of all Echani. We have the ability to forever ensure the greatest of our nation; come together with me my brothers and sisters so we may realize our great potential."

"Well that was certainly a rousing speech that very clearly laid out what a President Caelius would look like, and further analysis of what he is proposing will certainly be followed by all Echani very closely."

[Kalumba]

The Great Attractions of Kalumba

Published by the Tourist Bureau of Kalumba

Number Two
Mzimbo Standing Rocks

Although not the most spectacular natural wonder bestowed upon Kalumba, see the previous entry in this guide, the Mzimbo Standing rocks are well worth a visit by any tourist who wishes to be amazed. Such is the mystery of the rock formation that until 1967 they were believed to have been painstakingly assembled by Uhali natives. But in 1967 Professor Thomas James conducted an extensive study of the site and came to the conclusion that the great boulders had come to rest atop each other naturally through a combination of erosion and lucky gravity.

The most impressive of the standing formations is nicknamed "Mzilikazi" after the great Hita king who unified his people and led the fight against the first white settlers, and is composed of four different boulders each weighing at least five tonnes and stands over twelve metres in height.

While not as impressive as "Mizilikazi", the formation named "Lobengula" is considered by many to be equally impressive despite being just a single boulder perched atop a small rock in the earth. This is simply due to the girth of the standing stone, almost five metres across and three metres in height the great boulder weighs an estimated twenty three tonnes. It is named after Mzilikazi's son who was equally as impressive in girth as his namesake boulder.

Whilst an impressive site and a must see for any visitor to Kalumba the Mzimbo Standing Rocks are just a single days worth of attraction. Luckily for visitors they are just an hours drive outside of Kahali and all the attractions our beautiful capital has to offer. Guided tours of the site are available and must be booked in advanced, it is possible to join tours on the day but places are limited and preparation is suggested.

Don't Delay, Visit Kalumba Today!

[Ceni]

City Centre | Ceni | Rushmore | World | Opinion | Politics | Sport | Business | Arts & Lifestyle | Travel

Greens leadership election 2056: Hammerhead oil field center of contention in Greens leadership race

The Greens leadership race has started with a bang as Eliana Silva of Nova Ascea will challenge incumbent party leader Sevisa Aralen over the issue of the Hammerhead oil field, which has recently sprung into the news. Observers foresee a vicious fight between the two women with vastly different views for the direction of the party, with the party's chances for success in the upcoming general election later this year perhaps hanging in the balance in this fight between a traditional environmentalist in Aralen and a more radical one in Silva.

Members of the Greens will use the same range voting procedure as the Social Democrats to select their favored candidate, and delegates at the Greens' party convention in Whitehaven in late April and early May will ratify the decision of the party members. Earlier in their history, the Greens had voted for their party head without input from their members at all, but within a few years of their founding, the Greens ditched that process to make their party leadership more democratic and transparent, although they kept the idea of the convention, where the party's platform and stances on the issues of the day will be decided.

Aralen has long been a prominent environmentalist and environmental campaigner; after a stint as a public defender, a case that she took (but lost), as well as a trip to her family's native Avaerilon, awakened her environmental consciousness, and she studied to become an environmental lawyer with a private firm. Rising rapidly in the industry due to her knack for picking up the right cases, hard work, and penchant for thorough investigations, she won a succession of high-profile cases before leading the 2036 Cenial Climate March, which attracted hundreds of thousands of protesters to demand that the current Conservative administration take action on climate change. She then shifted her efforts into environmental activism, leading a series of climate groups such as the Cenian Sustainability Initiative (CSI), which she led for 6 years before entering into politics in 2044, winning a seat as a Green candidate, which, at the time, was a nascent party, having only come into prominence in 2036. Working with Elia Inera, a former Social Democrat and Minister of the Environment, the party grew, and in 2048, Aralen was elected party leader. In 2052, the Greens entered into a coalition with the Social Democrats to create a government, and Aralen was appointed Minister of Energy and the Environment. She has since worked to make several important environmental proposals into law, and has been a constant, untiring advocate for the environment within the administration.

Eliana Silva is a relative newcomer to the environmental movement, especially when compared to Aralen, but she has still fought forcefully for it, both in and out of office. Relatively young, Silva started out her career as a Professor of Environmental Science at the Taurendil Institute, the most prestigious STEM university in the north of Ceni, where she won high reviews from her students on her ability to explain the hardest issues cogently and to interest the class with real world examples. She campaigned for First Minister of Nova Ascea on a lark, not expecting to win, but in fact won the district by a large margin, and won reelection four years later. During her term, she has focused on creating sustainable yet affordable public housing, women's health care, protection of the environment and green spaces, and reduction of pollution, both within the district government and within corporations; she also hit the speaking circuit, railing against large corporations and exploitative capitalism with riveting tales of how corporations were using their power to destroy the environment. On the whole, she has been very popular within her district, and is eyeing higher office.

The two candidates, although they agree on a number of policy issues, differ mainly on two key areas: the Hammerhead oil field and the role of business in the environmental movement. Aralen has wiffled and waffled on the issue of Hammerhead; although she has not explicitly come out in favor of the oil development, and if she does, she would probably lose the election by a wide margin, she has supported the compromise which allows for development in the oil field, and emphasizes her support for measures to ensure that the oil rigs in the area are environmentally safe. Silva, on the other hand, has based most of her campaign in opposition to any further development of the field, saying that she would prefer to enact legislation banning any further drilling if elected and would halt any development currently in progress.

The Hammerhead oil field, discovered in 2049, first engendered controversy shortly after its discovery, with a coalition of environmentalist groups opposing development in the field fighting against unions and conservatives who wanted the new development. The feuding factions reached a compromise in the Cenian Assembly a year later, after some tense negotiations; drilling could proceed in the field, but any potential drillers had to follow several environmental and safety regulations, and the Cenian Assembly also passed legislation expanding the use of renewable forms of energy within Ceni. Since that legislation was passed, several oil companies, both Euran and Cenian, have developed plans for oil rigs to develop the oil field in Cenian waters, which have taken years to come to fruition due to the obstacles involved in offshore drilling. The debate about the field has reignited when a Cenian oil company, Nexus Oil, announced that it is planning to put up a new oil rig in the field within the next six months, sparking protests and this division within the Greens.

Aralen and Silva also differ on the issue of the role of business and capitalism in effecting environmental progress. Aralen has often spoken of the need to sell the environmental message to businesses - often as a business opportunity, a way to take advantage of a growing but often untapped market before Euran or Echani companies totally take hold of the market, or as a cost-saving strategy. So far, Aralen's strategy has seemed to work, as much of the country's environmental progress has come in terms of businesses reducing their carbon footprint and beginning to invest in green technology, with the help of government subsidies, regulations, and taxes, such as a carbon tax. However, Silva disagrees fundamentally with the market-based model and believes that the government needs to have a stronger role; she argues that corporations and businesses can't be trusted to solve the climate crisis, considering that they encourage profligate consumption and waste, as well as advocate for laws and trade agreements that protect their own bottom line rather than the environment. The two candidates also differ fundamentally on trade and globalization; Aralen supports free trade, arguing it helps Cenian green technology, while Silva opposes it, citing provisions that limit corporations' responsibility and impede domestic Cenian regulations.

Political analyst Gil Korova, chief politics editor at Cenian Public Radio, thinks that this will be a close race within the Greens. "Eliana Silva is a popular candidate despite her more radical left-wing views, and I think a lot of Hispanic Greens are attracted to her because of her fighting for women of color especially, as well as her speaking style and her unwavering commitment to her cause. In contrast, they see Aralen as a white feminist, one that doesn't represent them as much, and they aren't enamored of her stance on Hammerhead. Since Hispanics make up a large portion of the Greens' membership list, I think they can make this a lot closer than the Aralen campaign might want to think, even though Aralen has a lot of strength in the cities like New Oxford, Cenial, and City Centre." Korova is fairly unsure about the fate of Hammerhead in the Greens' platform, however. "The most likely option I see in this is that Silva perhaps loses in a razor-thin election, but as a result, the party chooses to include a firmer opposition to the Hammerhead field in their platform to reconcile the Silva supporters, or the party does this even with a firm Aralen or firm Silva victory - or then again, the party might not choose to edit its earlier stance on the issue. It's a tough call, but one I think is independent of who wins the leadership election."

[Turori]

"Do It the Old Fashioned Way"
Citizens & Cocoabo Set for Epic Struggle for Power... On the Pitch

For a more complete backstory regarding Cocoabo Forest please visit the Historical Record on the Atlantian Oceania Forum
Citizens v. Cocoabo

The waiting is over and the campaign is ready to begin. For the first time ever, Citizens and Cocoabo will go head to head to determine, once and for all, who is better at Footsport and who should represent the Island Emirate of Turori in International Footsport competition.

Having failed to qualify for the World Cup 77 finals and having to have watched their neighbors the Tropics of Vilita not only qualify, but win the entire competition, There has been added pressure on the Football Association of Turori to make a decision regarding its team of the future.

Naturally, in typically Turorian fashion, they made a decision. Use both.

At least for now.

The Turori National Team's World Cup 78 16-game qualifying campaign will be split into two 8-game sets. 8 games will be contested by a team consisting of Turori's best players from the Vilitan League; clubs like Turori's reigning UICA Champions Cup winning club Mliona-Lpaka AFC; Former Globe Cup Champions Cednia Beach AFC and star talent like Jungle Strike FC's Meli'ita Mungwaii.

The other 8 games will be contested by a team of Cocoabo developed and trained by the joint Tropicorp-Cocoabo Preservation Society team at Cocoabo Park in the Cocoabo Forest in the Calanian lands North of Turori.

Now, there is one caveat that could skew the results, that being that all 8 matches that will be contested by the 'Citizen Team' of players from the Vilitan League, those 8 matches will all be away games. When the Turori National Team travels abroad, the Cocoabo will not travel with them. Instead, the Cocoabo will be playing all 8 'home' fixtures for the Island Emirate of Turori. 4 of those matches are scheduled to take place at Eels Park in Eelandii, Turori, home of the Turori National Team and location where the Citizen Team will be based. The other 4 games however will be at the Cocoabo Park Arena in the Cocoabo Forest - the home base for the Cocoabo squad.

As a result, the campaign will be opened up by the Citizen team who will travel to Elgenstad, the third lowest ranked team in the group and a match that will most certainly be a must-win for the Citizens to keep pace with the Cocoabo.

For the Cocoabo, their campaign will begin in the Cocoabo Forest on Matchday 2 against Miloscia; the second lowest ranked team in the group - and again, an easy match to open up the campaign as both squads will be expecting to come out with a victory to start off their haul.

The Citizen team will face a moderately tougher test on Matchday 3, their second match, when they travel to Rushmorian Yttribia before an extended break as neither squad will be active on Matchday 4.

Neither squad will have a back-to-back matchday until the Cocoabo go back to back with Matches against the Joaquin States on Matchday 9 and Elgenstad on Matchday 10, both contests being contested at the Cocoabo Park Arena in the Cocoabo Forest.

Of course, there are two competitions taking place during the World Cup Qualifying Campaign from the Turorian perspective. Firstly, the combined Citizen + Cocoabo squads will be looking to Qualify for the World Cup. As such, the critical matchdays against qualification rivals will be highlighted on the schedule.

Citizen Team Schedule:
MD1 @ Elgenstad
MD3 @ Yttribia
MD6 @ Nova Anglicana
MD8 @ Ceni
MD11 @ Miloscia
MD14 @ Astograth
MD16 @ Tomikoson
MD18 @ Joaquin States

Cocoabo Team Schedule:
MD2 v. Miloscia (Cocoabo Park Arena, Cocoabo Forest)
MD5 v. Astograth (Cocoabo Park Arena, Cocoabo Forest)
MD7 v. Tomikoson (Eels Park, Eelandii)
MD9 v. Joaquin States (Cocoabo Park Arena, Cocoabo Forest)
MD10 v. Elgenstad (Cocoabo Park Arena, Cocoabo Forest)
MD12 v. Yttribia (Eels Park, Eelandii)
MD15 v. Nova Anglicana (Eels Park, Eelandii)
MD17 v. Ceni (Eels Park, Eelandii)

The two matchups against Nova Anglicana will be the most important for the Turori National Team as it will be the Anglicans challenging for the Eels deserved place in Bonesea and Cosumar.

The Citizen Team will get their chance to defend 3 points from Nova Anglicana on Matchday 6 in Nova Anglicana - a match which will set the tone for the rest of the campaign. The Citizens next time out on the pitch, just two matchdays later, will be a trip to Ceni where they will be up against Ceni; the groups top seed but as the 14th ranked nation in the multiverse - a side which the Citizens will certainly feel they have a chance against. Should the Citizen Team come away with six points against Nova Anglicana and Ceni then the pressure will be well and truly on the Cocoabo to match the feat on Matchday 15 and 17 or face the possibility of being relegated to the fate of side so attraction at Cocoabo Park during future Qualification Campaigns.

With each squad having 8 matches to play over the course of 18 Matchdays, the other competition separate from whether or not the Turori National Team can qualify from Group 9 through to the World Cup Finals will be which squad gets the chance to represent Turori in whichever Post-Qualifying competition they might be able to participate in. The Football Association of Turori will maintain a separate table to be tracked throughout Qualifying pitting the results of the Citizen Team against the results of the Cocoabo Team.

Unlike the Eels opponents during the upcoming cycle, the eyes of the nation won't be focused on any elections, campaigning or political posturing. The eyes of the nation will be focused on the epic struggle between Turori's native creature and the citizens that have done so much to protect them. The Citizens and Cocoabo will do what they signed up to do - compete on the pitch. At the conclusion of
World Cup 78 Qualifying, whichever squad has accumulated the most points across their 8 match schedule will be the winner, and earn the right to represent the Turori National Team exclusively post World Cup 78 Qualifying.

May the best squad win.

[Red Blackiland]

Red Blackiland Sports and Off-topic Chronicles

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''Informer''

Fans in Cassadaigua

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Author : Mathias Gërdorffen

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It started early.
When the teacher wanted to know who had let out that stereo fart, she was the first to say:
- It was not me. It was Hermich.
And he pointed at the skinny man with his small, rickety gauge, hard and incisive.
To the sonorous episode others were succeeded, of several types and only genre.
She once told her father that Manuela, her sister, was going to the mall on the mornings when she should be studying.
On another occasion, he told his mother that he saw his father stop the car on the corner and give a ride to Lisa, the blond and beautiful girl on the third floor.
He became accustomed to giving.
It made her a lifestyle - comfortable, practical, effective.
He stepped up the steps, methodically climbing up positions that made him everything he ever wanted: to live the tranquility of the unconscious.
It was pointed out by the neighbors as a model to be followed.
Only once had his convictions shaken.
The son, a quiet teenager, came home with his face swollen, his ear wrinkled, his eye closed.
- Speak who did this, speak at once!
And the boy is still.
- Say that I give this son of a bitch to the police!
And nothing, nothing at all, not a word.
He never understood the reason for the silence, nor knew of any name.
But he always wanted to point the son to everyone and scream, his heart exploding with pride:
- It's my boy, he knows how to be quiet!

---

Drawkons Wise Warriors: The next game of Das SpielHaus

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Learn about the dragons in the land of Drawkland

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Mainstory Quest #2 - The Ongoing Enemy

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The Ongoing Enemy is the second mainstory quest in Drawkons. Features the return of the Insection, they rose up to defend the world Aekras from heretics as well as the start of the reforge of alliances to face the Insection's rivals and enemies and restore order and organization in Aekras. The problem with the crack was solved, but the history and problem it's only in the beginning.
The mission starts automatically after the first one, The Lost Souls in the Bowen Range. You wakes up at Smallah'ch, a small village with a complex of houses in the Chkren Hills. A young female elf brings remedies to the room which you are located, then she apologizes and explains that Cvallach wanted to be made aware of when the player woke up and will immediately run off.
Leave the room and the house, you are introduced by a honor guard that leads towards the Mecha'dah. It is possible to explore most of Smallah'ch complex, but better wait after talk with Cvallach by the dispersal of the crowds giving more liberty to you to loop. Go to the Mecha'dah, you'll listen to Cvallach and Leilara meeting with Chancellor Gedrick Ge'els, you can give your opinion on the conversation but after speaking more with Gedrick, Cvallach following Celestial Nagallah's last commands, declares the rebirth of the Insection, and you'll unlock a text from the Insection.

Drawkons - The Drawklands

A cutscene triggers right after, and you're outside of the Mecha'dah, and a new quest will be obtained, The Best of Smallah'ch. All parts of the village should be explorable now, meeting and interact with NPCs and another side-quests in the place. To proceed with the mission, return to the Mecha'dah, a cutscene shows right after Cvallach introducing three advisors or counselors to you. The first is Gerward Evallen, a Bowerian templar and commander of the Insection Army, the second is Anna von Herank, the diplomacy chief and ambassador of the Insection, and the last one Hiliana, the spy group chief and revealing of secrets. They meet each other to discuss the next targets and objectives, a introduction to the war strategy table will appear on the screen and the operation to scout the Drawklands will start. You have two options, to travel direct to the Drawklands and continuing with the quests or leaving back to the Smallah'ch village, then Leilara suggests to the player to visit Lady Aedara, a holy mother of the Mecha'dah who operates in the Drawklands, to begin laying the groundwork for approaching the remaining members of the Mecha'dah.
Right after this moment, a new one starts when you needs to gain influence thorugh earning new allies, power, contacts and agents, territory and such, who can be explained here after the main plot and another couple of quests. Reaching at the army camp, the Drawkien (leader) Thomas Mahartig will brief to the player and Dmash (the place's horsemaster) to Lady Aedara. Going down the hill from the camp, you'll see two fighting groups, elf-mages and templars, clear it and you'll unlock some new valuables. Then, finally Lady Aedara will speak to you, she suggests to you to visit Brand Ashkal'ech, after this conversation you must aid Hermeneck in securing the crossroads, by the way, he's a soldier looking after refugees in Drawklands. You need to earn more power now, which can be achieved on completing quests, establishing new territories and camps in Drawklands, seal rifts. After you gained enough power level, travel back to the Smallah'ch.

Drawkons - Talk with the Revered Holy Lady Shenigara

Outside of Mecha'dah an angry gang are mistreating and harassing some elf-mages who are being blamed for causing the crack. Gerward intervenes and tells the gang to get back to the work. Talk to Gerward and Chancellor Ge'els about what's happening, after heads toward the war strategy room, to see Brand Ashkal'ech. Travel to him and speak to the Insection agent who informs you that the templars are waiting for you, then continue on to the main square of the Nasaga'ah, a major marketplace in the Tunidrian capital city of Brand Ashkal'ech to approach Revered Holy Lady Shenigara and Lord Tsaga'lah appears. He taunts the Mecha'dah and Insection, and dismisses any idea of allying with the Insection against the crack, following by withdrawing all the templar forces from Brand Ashkal'ech, leaving it defenseless, then a new war table will be available.
Taking a few steps when you have control again will result in an arrow being fired into the ground from a hidden source. Investigating the arrow unlocks a new group quest, on the other side of the square by the exit is a messenger, who gives you an invitation that unlocks another group quest. When you exit the city, you'll be met by the leader of the ''rebel mages'' Great Magician Eretreah who invites you to Shenich Temple. The visit to Brand unlocks several Insection text entries. Now, just return to Smallah'ch to discuss the outcome of the visit to Brand Ashkal'ech with the counselors. It is clear that with regards to alliances, you now have two options: either to approach the elf-mages or the templars. A new war table operation opens at this point. Just before you leave, Leilara meets you and tell that her spies and agents located Enskrik'en members in the Drawklands, called Bondi Marrick. Enskrik'en are warriors of great ability dedicated to fighting dark-demons, who are a race of devil humanoids tainted heavy creatures, one of the most single threaths in the world of Aekras. Leilara asks that you attempt to contact this Enskrik'en member, which opens new group quests, and finally new Insection text entries are acquired as well as all the available companion recruitments up to this point are rounded off at this point. End of the mission.