Baptism of Fire 69 - IC Thread

[Eastfield Lodge]

Baptism of Fire 69
Hosted by Ethane & Eastfield Lodge

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Semi-Final score - Eastfielder Side

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There will be no more RP Prompts for the rest of the tournament, but remember to submit your nominations for player of the tournament. And this is still for everyone, even if you've been eliminated already.

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Xanneria 3–1 Libertas Omnium Maximus
@ Lodger City Memorial Stadium, New Lodger City, Eastfield Lodge

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Third Place Playoff
@ King Edward IV Stadium, New Sarum, Ethane

Libertas Omnium Maximus vs Bohr

Baptism of Fire 69 Final
@ Lodger City Memorial Stadium, New Lodger City, Eastfield Lodge

Xanneria vs Balqia

[Libertas Omnium Maximus]

LOM finally meets their match, will go on to the 3rd place round

In a hard fight, LOM finally meet their match at the hands of Xanneria. This means that they will be returning to Ethane to play the 3rd Place match against Bohr in Edward the IV stadium. LOM will still get a second chance to pull off a win!

At the beginning of the game, Vincent Alfonsi, Head Coach of the Maximusian Team went on record saying "May the best team win!" at the end of the games anticlimactic conclusion, Alfonsi said, "I stand by what I said. The other Xannerians deserved the win. They played beautifully. We did too, just not well enough. We still have a chance at 3rd place. I intend to make that a reality."

The game was marvelously played on both teams ending 3-,1 sending Xanneria to the finals. The only Maximusian Goal was scored by legendary goal scorer, Luke Brookshire, who has managed a goal in nearly every game this tournament. He managed this in the 31st minute of play.

The goals conceded by the Maximusian team were scored by Glenn Hailey, Jimmy Rutledge, and Pete Sagon in, respectivly, the 12th, 60th, and 80th minute.

Both teams brought there A game but the Maximusian's precision and fines was no match for Xanneria's talented team. Even if the MNT looses again to Bohr, (let's pray it doesn't happen) they can go home knowing that they have performed above and beyond expectations.

"I never saw us getting past the group stages until we did" admitted goalie, Johan Vanderbilt. "It has been a marvelous ride and I am sad to not be going for the finals but will just have to settle for 3rd. Bohr, this is personal! You are going down!"

[Balqia]

Sport Report: Baptism of Fire edition

You took your cellphone from your pocket and opens your gallery. You have downloaded the last episode from Sport Report, so you can see it while you are traveling to your “business trip”. The video starts with the channel logo appears in the screen and the episode starts.
-Hello Balqia, my name is Leonidas Balkoviq and you are watching Sport Report.-
He is wearing a white shirt with a red tie, he is looking particularly happy today, he smiles when he looks to the camera and says:
-We have fresh news and an exclusive interview with the main coach of our National Team, Claudius Primlid. All of this directly from Ethane with our correspondent in the country.
-Hello Balqia, my name is Markus Petriq, and today we are in the hotel room with Mr Claudius Primlid. Hello Mr Primlid
The camera shows a man, it look like he have forty years old, his hairstyle is in the military style, his eyebrows are fixed in a way that made him look always angry with something.
-Hello Markus, thanks for giving me the opportunity to be here.
-So Mr Primlid, give us your thoughts about the last game.
-Well, Bohr played with a very good tactic, I must admit that I had some difficulties planning this match, their team is very good. The game started with an attack from their left, Kuld intercepted them and advanced to the middle. I used a profundity defense first to study their tactics before an offensive, however Faj saw an opportunity and advanced to score a goal. It was a good move as the rest of the first half was pretty slow, they pressed us in the middle and even thinking about an attack was suicide, I will not risk an attack if that mean that the enemy could advance too. The second half proved my point. I thought that they will start defending and changed to offensive tactic, we advanced and Faj made another goal, however they kept their pressure in the middle and in another advance they stole the ball and made a goal. We compensated it in the last minutes and ended the match with a 3x1 score.
-Mr Primlid, the finals are around the corner, are you anxious to the match
-Obviously.- he laughs -Being in the final of our first international championship is a great honour for the nation, but it’s also a great pressure put on the backs of the Team who is playing. Fortunately I suffered enough pressure in the army so a bit of sleep deprivation isn’t new to me, but the boys are very stressed. Faj was having some problems sleeping and eating, so his performance dropped considerably in the last games, he is the top star of the team so the pressure he suffers is doubled.
-Mr Primlid, do you think that our performance attended the expectations you had in the begin of the Baptism of Fire?
-Oh, it surpassed my expectations and from the management in general. When we received the information of our participation in the championship I almost had a heart attack. I mean, football isn’t the most popular sport in Balqia, and our major competitions took place in universitary competitions and school olympics, our biggest team is the Army Football Club, so we aren’t the top players of the world as you can see. However we did it, our boys did their best along all of us and we showed the world that Balqia have more to offer in Football than appears.
-Thanks Mr Primlid, it was an honour to have you here.
-The honour was mine Mr Petriq.
The channel logo appears in the screen, when Balkoviq appears in the screen again a loud voice announces. “Please turn out all electronic devices in the plane”, and so do you.

[Libertas Omnium Maximus]

The Investigator: Part the Final
Athlete's Village, Eastfield Lodge
Hours after Semi-Finals

Tom woke with a start as his phone buzzed on his chest. He didn't need to read the text, he knew what it would be saying. Methodically, he pulled a sweater on over his t-shirt and slowly ventured out into the hallway.

Eventually, he had had no choice but to let Luke in on the true nature of his plan. Luke wasn't a nosey guy by nature but anyone would want to know why their room was being used as a surveillance room. Tom had explained it all to him and also realized, since this was the teams final night before the team went back to Ethane. This night would be the one where, if he ever did, Rob would get rid of the remaining sedate tablets.

Tom had fixed up the camera so that its shutter would be loud enough to wake Luke up. He could then notify Tom via text and they would both move in for the "kill," phone cameras at the ready.

Tom met Luke already out the door. They both looked to the end of the hallway where they saw Rob Bridgman round a corner out of view. They took up pursuit very stealthily. They tailed him for about two minutes before he reached the cafe and went to the nearest trash receptacle. Slowly, his to tales to refuge behind a half wall, turned their phone cameras on, and began to watch Rob's proceedings.

Bridgman retrieved a large orange vial from his sweater pocket, opened it, and proceeded to dump its contents into the trash.

*CLICK!*

The noise of Luke's cell phone camera broke the silence. He had forgotten to turn the noise off. Luke said quietly a word one shouldn't ever repeat.

"Who goes there?" said Bridgman out loud. "I am armed, reveal yourself or I will shoot"

Before Tom had a chance to motion for Luke to re-consider, Luke had jumped up and approached Rob.

"Rob, I don't believe you are armed, what I can say is that you are about to go to prison for a long while!"

Bridgman retrieved a revolver from his sweater pocket and smiled nastily. "Oh... I really doubt that. You are going to hand over your phone or I will shoot you dead."

Tom realized with a start that Rob didn't know that he was there, just Luke. Tom immediately began to army crawl past the half wall and to the hallway. He meant to take the cafe's back exit.

"You wouldn't shoot me. I know that. You are a softy who wouldn't kill a fly."

"Don't try me. Just give me the damn phone or I will blow you to hell."

"I don't think you will" Every time Luke said it, he sounded less sure of himself. Tom had to act now or Luke was going to die.

"AHHH!" Tom charged through the back door. Rob rounded on him only to be kicked in the back of the head by Luke. He was out cold immediately.

Luke and Tom stepped back and viewed the carnage. Poor Rob was bleeding a bit and would have a master head ache when he awoke but would clearly be fine. Neither player was scathed.

Luke embraced Tom in the most "Luke-like" of Bro-hugs, nearly breaking all of Tom's ribs.

"Mission Accomplished." Tom said aloud.

[Xanneria]

On to the Finals!
Steve Stevenson - Football.xan

East Field Lodge - It's a victory, the mighty LOM team has gone down. a 3-1 victory over LOM has given the Maroons a date with destiny and a date with Balqia. Goals by Glenn Hailey and reserve Jimmy Rutledge placed two goals in the first hour and one additional goal by Pete Saigon gave us a comfy 3-1 lead with ten minutes left. Coach Alton had high praise for the LOM team saying that they were by far the best most professional team played by Xanneria in the tournament. After a upstart Xanneria struggled in the Baker Park Cup it was thought that the BoF could be another disaster. But for the Maroon it was all but that and even coach Alton admitted that the BCP was used as a scrimmage more than anything. Overall weather win or loose this is the best run the Xannerians have seen internationally, lead by start striker Glenn Hailey, Chuckie Van Horn and Middie Mark Hailey the team wracked up several victories and made its prescience known Internationally. Next game will be Baliqa and then a freindly with Saltstead, where 80,000 of our best friends will be in attendance. The Maroons are here to stay and looking forward to a great game against Balqia. Also of note Glenn Hailey and Richard Presintino have been getting looks from International clubs. The next big step in Xanneria becoming a power, is getting players international.

Xanneria - 3
12' G Hailey
60' Rutledge
80' Saigon

Libertas Omnium Maximus - 1
31' Brookshire

[Libertas Omnium Maximus]

[Transcript from MPBC, nightly news]
BREAKING NEWS: Maximusian National team Players uncover Plot by Coach to Drug Them

Last Night the Eastfield Lodge police services were called to the BoF athletes village where they found National Team players, Brookshire and Levi, with gagged and tied up coach, Robert Bridgman. Bridgman reportedly attacked them with a small firearms after they caught him attempting to dispose of the prescription drug, acedematrexol, which Bridgman confessed to using in an effort to sedate MNT players during game 3.

He reveled that he was hired by a small gambling ring based in Ethane, which has since been located by Ethanian police. He was to be payed 100,000 dollars per point North Miklik scored against the National Team. This was in an effort to tip the odds in favor of the high risk bet against LOM.

When asked if the national team would demand a player-over of the 3rd game in the tournament, Head Coach, Alfonsi, stated "The truth is, those North Miklikans would have whooped us anyway. I never suspected that they were behind it. They always seemed to be great people. I am just glad that we did find the truth. I am also so proud of Levi and Brookshire for their heroic actions."

Reportedly, Tom Levi, was able to determine that Bridgman was the bad actor using deductive reasoning and incredibly accurate guesswork. He later Insisted the help of fellow teammate, Luke Brookshire. The two then used some sort of a jerry-rigged motion camera to catch Bridgman on his way out of the room complex. They tailed him and attempted to take pictures of him in the act of disposing of the evidence. Bridgman became aware of their presence and drew a gun on them. The duo was somehow able to subdue him before he could get off a shot.

Maximusian Chancellor, Edward Mulberry, recently announced that he will be awarding Tom Levi the Civilian Medal of Valor, the highest award a civilian can receive in LOM, for "going above and beyond his civic duty." It can be assumed that Brookshire too will receive an award.

It still remains to be seen how the blow of being betrayed by a coach will effect the team's gameplay but it can be assumed that Luke and Tom will be on such a euphoria high they will have no trouble playing in the 3rd place game.

[Ethane]

Baptism of Fire 69
Hosted by Ethane & Eastfield Lodge

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CUTOFF for the Third Place Playoff

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[Ethane]

Baptism of Fire 69
Hosted by Ethane & Eastfield Lodge

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Third Place Playoff
@ King Edward IV Stadium, New Sarum, Ethane

Libertas Omnium Maximus 1–0 Bohr

[Libertas Omnium Maximus]

[excerpt from the Litudinem Herald]
Maximusian National Team Goes out with a Bang

The Maximusian National Team has taken home the Bronze in their first ever international sporting event. It was a low scoring match against Bohr that ended 1-0 with Maximusian Striker, Yin Lan, scoring the only goal in the 40th minute of play. Non the less, It was a win in every sense of the word.

The Bronze Trophy that the team has been awarded will forever rest in the Maximusian International Sporting Event Logistics and Coordination Head Quarters in Litudinem. It reads:

Libertas Omnium Maximus
69th Baptism of Fire
3rd Place
Eastfield Lodge - Ethane

The team will be leaving Ethane and heading back to Libertas Omnium Maximus shortly. They will have a reception parade scheduled for March 1st. After words, for most players, the traditional season will begin again and many MNT teammates will play as rivals once again. The ISELC will soon release how they are sending to World Cup Qualifiers but we can assume that the team will change. Players Tom Levi, Caleb Darkas, Brian Mueller, and Yin Lan have all declared that they do not wish to participate in the World Cup.

It has been a wild ride for The Maximusian National Team. It began with loss, victories, a drugging scandal, another loss, another win, it morphed into a brilliant run for the finals which fell JUST short, and ended with a beautiful win. No player on this team will ever forget the 69th Baptism of Fire. I think we can be certain of that.

[Sajnur]

New Sarum, Ethane

Jessica Siafik was in her hotel room, playing the latest motor racing game with her teammates Andre and Tomasi, and her girlfriend Gabby. The quartet had just come back from the third place playoff at the King Edward IV stadium. Much of the Sajnur team had already gone home for various reasons, but some of the team stayed back to enjoy themselves in Eastfield Lodge or to watch some more matches.

"Those Bohrian menaces are finally out," said Tomasi.
"They were a damn good team," replied Andre.
"Annoyingly good."
"Seems like that billionaires' league is doing wonders for them," said Jessica. "I wonder how much those Bohrians are getting paid?"
"Who knows. How rich are those billionaires?"
"Can't be richer than the Sajnuran government."
"Oi! Don't ram me off the road, Tom!"
"I didn't ram you mate! My car just slid around!"

Andre and Tomasi's fight for third place got very dirty, allowing Gabby to clear away in second, with Jessica maintaining a big lead from start to finish. Eventually, Tomasi beat Andre, with the latter breaking his suspension on the last lap of the five lap race. The four friends ran a few more races, with Jessica winning all of them, even when handicapping herself with a slower car.

"You're too good at this, Jess," complained Tomasi. Jessica just shrugged in response.
"I'm going to go pick up some girls. Any of you coming?"
"Nah, mate. I need to sleep early," replied Tomasi. "Check on Kaori. He should be game."
"What about youse? You coming for drinks?"

Jessica and Gabby looked at each other and said "nah" in unison.

"See ya," said Andre.
"See ya," replied the others.

"You wanna play GTA?" asked Gabby
"Sure."
"What about drunk GTA?"
"Or high GTA?"

Gabby brought out several bottles of spirits and mixers and Jessica presented plenty of cannabis, and the GTA session turned into two hours, probably, of erratic driving and inaccurate shooting as the trio got higher and drunker and the hotel room became smokier. Tomasi eventually went to his own hotel room to sleep, leaving the couple alone in a room that was rather close to triggering a smoke alarm.

"Imagine if we had to play our matches in Eastfield Lodge. No booze and no weed? Training sessions are so much better when you're high!"
"Oh yeah. Not worth going out in the group stages, though."
"Yeah. You can still win the World Cup, right?
"Of course!"

Raucous laughter followed the frankly ludicrous suggestion that a team that coudn't progress against other international newcomers could possibly win against the best in the world.

"We still have to qualify first!" Jessica reminded Gabby to more intoxicated laughter.
"You'll definitely qualify, and I'm absolutely serious!"
"I love you, Gabby."
"I love you, Jess."

The lovebirds snuggled up to each other and spent the night watching TV while giving each other plenty of kisses.

[Sajnur]

Nominations for Player of the Tournament

Jessica Siafik (CM): For being Sajnur's key to breaking apart defences with clinical passing and for keeping the ball well away from enemy feet
Andre Naulo (ST): For scoring six of Sajnur's eleven goals and bamboozling opponents with his pace and positioning
Piotr Laghiev (GK): For making more than 60 saves and constantly bailing out Sajnur's fragile defence

[Libertas Omnium Maximus]

Final Tournament XI Submission

Name: Thomas Levi

Age: 24

Position(s): LB, CB

Aside from being a fantastic defender, and interestingly, not a half bad scorer, Levi is also credited with uncovering the plot to sedate the Maximusian National Team's players. He is a young but highly talented player. In his free time, Tom fishes and is an avid fan of reading dramas.

[Eastfield Lodge]

Baptism of Fire 69 Final
Hosted by Ethane & Eastfield Lodge

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CUTOFF

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It's Time. Time to Ride to Glory.

[Eastfield Lodge]

Baptism of Fire 69
Hosted by Ethane & Eastfield Lodge

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Final
@ Lodger City Memorial Stadium, New Lodger City, Eastfield Lodge

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Xanneria 1–1 Balqia (2–1 AET)

A worthy game to end what's been a great tournament. Congratulations to the winner, and commiserations to the unfortunate runner-up. And thanks to all the participants for your many and varied Roleplays, it's been great fun for me and Ethane to read through your creations. We hope this is the first of many World Cup cycles for each and every one of you, and we wish you the best of luck when it comes to the mammoth of World Cup qualifying over the next month or so.

The Team of the Tournament will be announced sometime in the next week, along with all the RP feedback which us hosts will Telegram back to you, hoping to give you some pearls of wisdom and criticism that will bode you well going forward.

[Balqia]

You almost didn’t believed when they called you saying that you’ve winned the channels lottery, but when you confirmed that you had, in fact, gained a trip to Eastfield Lodge and a ticket to see the final, you almost fainted with happiness. Your trip to the country was a secret, the channel provided two tickets, however, if you told someone about this you are certain that a war will start in your social circle to determine who will be with you in the game. In the end you choose your mother and told your family it will be a business trip, while saying to your co-workers that you will be visiting an old uncle.
Well, you made it to the game. And it was wonderful, you bought a Halal Hot-dog, you don’t know very well what that means and almost never eats Hot-dogs as the government banned unhealthy food in sportive events. Your mother was very happy too, she really enjoyed the VIP cabin. You saw the Sports minister there but couldn’t approach, however you sat beside a family that were very polite.
The game started with an advance by Balqia, however Xanneria turned around and stole the ball before it reached the goal area. You could see that Faj advanced besides the enemy team’s offensive. The Xannerian advance was only enough to reach the backline, Balqia recovered the ball and Markus Janus sent it to the middle, and from there to Faj, who advanced and made the first goal of the game. Everyone from the cabinet cheered and screamed with the goal. The rest of the first half of the game was spent trying to block the enemy team as they pressured the middlefield.
When the interval begun you went to the bathroom, with your return your mother said that a blond young man had come to talk to you, the thought of searching for him vanished when the match restarted. The National Team was much more defensive this time, the ball almost didn’t crossed the middlefield, you could swear that Balqia had already won, however during the 30 minutes of the second half of the game the “maroons” as they call themselves advanced and made a goal, you didn’t see who did it and when they announced it the sound of your angered compatriots outstanded the announcement.
The after time began very soon, the two teams almost didn’t advanced until the Xannerian team made another goal, advancing by the middle in the first five minutes of the game. The game seemed lost, their team advanced three more times, Balqia seemed lost. The second game come in a surprise, after picking up the ball from the ground Kalniq went in direction of the goal, turned around and started running with the ball in the direction of the field, before arriving in the limits of the area he dropped the ball and kicked it. The ball passed through the field and finally reached the goal, in what seemed as an unbelievable score. After the confirmation of this goal the game continued normally, but now with renewed hopes for the Balqian team.
The second Xannerian goal came, but no other national goal was made after it, and when the game started silence dominated the room. The game was over and lost, and everyone seemed disappointed with the result. Some kids started to cry, some adults too, and you could hear some xenophobic statements coming from where the Sports Minister was seating. But in the end the crowd reaction did not reflected the actions of the National Team, who respectfully complimented the Xannerians team and congratulated them for the victory.
As sad you are with the defeat you still feels happy by being there with your family. Now you are standing in the side of a blond man, he is wearing a black suit and seems pretty troubled, he suddenly looks to the camera and says with a smile.
Hello Balqia, my name is Markus Petriq, and today we are here with the winner of our lottery…
You hear that and suddenly realises that all the scheme to go to the game without the knowledge of your friends was in vain, you are certain that when you arrive home some angry looks will be sent to you. At least you enjoyed a good game and a good Hot-dog.

[Xanneria]

Victory!
Steve Stevenson for football.xan

New Lodger City, Eastfield Lodge - Can you believe it? Can you? A championship! A championship! Glenn hailey scored in the 92nd minute and three agonizing minutes later Xanneria was kings of the world, or at least Eastfield Lodge. the set up was this. Tied 1-1 at 90 minutes the game was to last 5 more for extra time. A hero was needed, who do you think it was? Yes, Glenn Hailey, who will himself through a stout defense from Balqia, but in the 9nd minute he broke through and scored a winner. A fitting person for a game winning goal. Hailey has had nearly a dozen goals in this contest and has been our leading scorer, scoring in all but one game for the Maroons. Now he gets to be the Super Star globally he so deserves. The game was well fought with both teams balancing out the others and a 1-1 game after 90 minutes with goals But getting to see this win in person, as a writer hasd left me with the best writers block I have ever had. I cannot put into words the emotions of seeing my homeland succeed in sport, we as sports writers dream of this day and I get to live it out.

Xanneria - 2
'37 Laymore
92' G Hailey

Balqia - 1
58' Janus

[TigerSharkistan]

Congrats to all! What a tournament!

[Libertas Omnium Maximus]

Out of Curiosity, when can we expect Team of the Tournament Results to be released?