Jungle Cats survive Apoxian Quarter Final barrage
Then, that same up and coming nation in Purple and White was elected as host of World Cup 20. The rest, as they say, is history as the Vilitan National Team went from footnote to phenom as they stunned Audioslavia 1-0 to win the World Cup title. Just as quickly as they seemed to be on the way back to mediocrity, the Jungle Cats were on top of the multiverse. But they wouldn't stay there long. After being on the wrong end of the highest scoring match in World Cup Finals history, an 8-7 defeat to eventual World Cup 21 champions Bedistan, the Vilitan National Team who at climbed to the pinnacle of the sport at the conclusion of World Cup 20 was embarrassingly dumped out of the Round of 16 2-0 by Commerce Heights in front of the home fans in Vilita. While the fans were disappointed to not contend for the World Cup title on their home soil, they perhaps didn't understand the need to appreciate what they had accomplished as it would take another 12 World Cup Finals before Vilita even returned to the knockout rounds.
In fact, success was so fleeting for the Jungle Cats throughout their history that even when they were crowned Champions of the World Cup, their overall record was not even strong enough to lift them to the #1 position in the rankings. When the Vilita National Team lifted the World Cup title for the second time in their history during World Cup 68, their fall from grace was even faster than it was the first time around, not even making it to the Quarter Finals during their title defending campaign and being knocked out in the Group Stage just one Cup later. The story was the same after World Cup 77 when their so-called Champions tour was terminated in the Round of 16 by Eura and the subsequent World Cup 79 campaign once again ended in the Group Stage with defeat by Pasarga.
Throughout their history it seemed there was a defined limit to the Vilitans success. Unlike their neighbors Turori who hit a ceiling whenever they made it to the Quarter Finals and could not progress, Vilita were allowed to overachieve throughout their history - but any time they did something - beit karma, probability or Margaret herself ensured that things averaged back out very quickly. So when the final spot kick was resolved and the Vilita Jungle Cats had survived their top-of-the-mutiverse Round of 16 clash against South Covello, not only had they won one of the most highly anticipated match ups of the World Cup 82 Finals but they had re-written the historical record of Vilitan footsport. For the first time in the history of the national team, the Vilita Jungle Cats had advanced to the Quarter Final stage for three consecutive World Cups. The consistency was something that their neighbors Turori had always been able to hang over their heads and while statistically it may truly have meant Turori were the better team, Vilita would always have their flashes in the pan - their World Cup titles to defend themselves with.
Now, however, for the first time in their history, the Vilita National Team was showing some consistency as well. Of course, the Turorians had to one up them qualifying for their fourth straight Quarter Final but they still didn't have the World Cup. The Vilitans did. Now, for the first time in their history, they also had strung together a consistent foundation to build themselves from. Three straight World Cups where they had reached at least the Quarter Final phase. It was without question a new era in Vilitan sport. The only question that remained was just how far could these Jungle Cats go.
After facing the top opponent in the multiverse on the pitch during the Round of 16, the Jungle Cats reward for victory was a meeting against the top remaining opposition off the pitch. Sure, the Apox team and their Platypus and emergency worker inspired uniforms may have been the lowest ranked team remaining in the competition, but they were the home team. Their fans would be out in force and they certainly wouldn't let the Vilitan fans have their fair share of the arena. It would be a sea of White and Red at the Barbaria, foam Platypus bills would be obstructing views through at least three quarters of the stadium and no one would be mad about it as the Apoxian side had advanced to the Quarter Finals for the first time in their history.
At first they were just happy to be there. The players were all smiles and interacting with the fans as they came out of the tunnel, a celebration of Apoxian sport, hosting the multiverses greatest competition and their beloved team still in the thick of the action.
The smiles would turn more serious at least on the face of the players once the match got kicked off even as the jubilant fans still chanted away in the stands. The support that Apox received from their fans seemed to erase the 33-place gap between the two sides in the World Rankings as they fought tooth and nail with the defending World Champions, causing problems in the midfield and threatening the Jungle Cats defense.
The inevitable breakthrough in a match that was always going to be slanted towards the offensive game finally came just before the half hour mark when Dwile Warriors striker Marcy Blake-Tatum rewarded the confidence shown in her by the coaching staff in starting her over Lucan Palmisano. Blake-Tatum executed a marvelous spinning volley on a ball that was flicked in by Cassiopeia Quintero and the crowd crescendoed in anticipation as the ball looped over the head of Mako Canopii and dropped just under the bar to put the home team out in front. The crowd who had barely had an opportunity to quiet down was now fully enraptured as they began to visualize the possibility of their team taking down the defending World Champions in the World Cup Quarter Finals.
Things would get a littler quieter by half time however as the Jungle Cats eventually settled into the match and broke up the momentum that had been built up by the Apoxian Army with a quickfire double in the 31st and 34th minute from Rintala Sekagaya and Sipke Tarala that put Vilita back in front 2-1. The Vilitans would hold on to their lead until half time but it was no easy road as Apox continued to pressure Mako Canopii's penalty area.
Realizing that they would need fresh legs in the second half, the Vilitans made a pair of changes at the half with Rintala Sekagaya who scored the opener for the Jungle Cats giving way for Cywrenta Vlintejni while Tinjus Mngomeni was replaced by Marine Coast United attacker Fishtii Blikala.
It was perhaps the strategic advantage that the Jungle Cats needed to escape the raucous environment with a win as the home side made no changes at the half due to their strong performance against the top ranked side. The result however was a slow start for Apox and an abundance of energy for the Jungle Cats, particularly on the part of Blikala and Vlintejna who combined for a pair of nifty chances early in the second half. Blikala cranked a shot off the crossbar within two minutes of the restart causing chaos in the Apox penalty area. The ball was only half cleared by Imhotep Jekyll and fell to Limu Katarahkna at the edge of the box. The Eastal Lunar midfielder blistered the ball back towards the net and past an offset Spitfire to give the Jungle Cats some breathing room on the scoresheet.
3-1 lead and their sights set on the Semi-Finals, the Jungle Cats took their foot off the gas briefly and the home side took advantage swinging the momentum back in their favor when Imriel Townsend blasted a long range effort that struck Inbekira Ajhabekk on its way through the penalty area, redirecting beyond Mako Canopii and into the back of the net to reduce the Jungle Cats lead back to a single goal.
Time stood still as the World Cup Semi-Final dream for both sides seemed to rest on the moment. For a brief second after Tarala struck the ball the energy from the home crowd could be heard as the ball smacked off the gloves of Tregatta Spitfire. The FC Endeavour net minder could not control the rebound however and Tarala had the wherewithal to follow through on the shot, meeting the rebound and chipping it back across the line over the fallen Spitfire to restore Vilita's two-goal advantage.
Spitfire was true to their namesake after the goal, spitting fire at the referee for the initial call and earning a yellow card for their trouble before turning their attention to the defense for not beating Tarala to the rebound. In the end it was just frustration seeping through however as there was little more anyone could do in such a scenario. The moment ended up killing much of the energy that the game had demonstrated for the first hour of player but just when it seemed things had been settled Clarissa Ephraim-Garza was the benefactor of a cross-turned-shot that snuck inside the back post as Apox made one final push to catch the Jungle Cats. It set up a grand stand finish with first three minutes, then four, then five minutes into stoppage time as Apox strung together a series of late corner kicks but the match finally ended when Ephraim-Garza's 95th minute corner-kick was headed by the colorfully vested Tregatta Spitfire straight into the arms of Yeaddin Owls AFC goalkeeper Mako Canopii.
While the Apoxian fans had all stuck around for the finish to give their team a well deserved round of applause, it was the Jungle Cats who ultimately came out victorious as they booked their spot in the World Cup Semi-Final to be played against The Holy Empire at the Stadium of Apox in Dwile.
Vilita [4] - [3] Apox
| :: Vilita Goalscorers :: :: 31' Rintala Sekagaya :: 35' Sipke Tarala :: 48' Limu Katarakhna :: 67' Sipke Tarala | :: Vilita Statistics :: :: Possession: 49% :: Shots on Target: 11 :: Corner Kicks: 13 | :: Apox Statistics :: :: Possession: 51% :: Shots on Target: 13 :: Corner Kicks: 8 | :: Apox Goalscorers :: :: 24' Marcy Blake-Tatum :: 52' Imriel Townsend :: 79' Clarissa Ephraim-Garza |
Vilita Jungle Cats Lineup v. Apox ::
[GK] Mako Canopii, [D.] Jirak Trikala, [D.] Rintala Sekagaya, [D.] Inbekira Ajhabekk, [ML] Jurzen Devmiko, [MC] Limu Katarakhna, [MC] Tinjus Mngomeni, [MC] Westii Yahaya, [MR] Kudii Davasarii, [FC] Nii'arala Milaaso, [FC] Sipke Tarala
BENCH::
[FC] Berali Tzufarei, [FC] Fishtii Blikala, [M] Cywrenta Vlintejni, [M] Va'a-Rio Kiwavn, [U] Polaox Torerun, [D] Arocki Tadalek, [GK] Cilamara Issah
Former Champions collide in rematch of 'Holy Asterisk Game'
- V -
Vilita [2] - [3] The Holy Empire
World Cup 30 Cup of Harmony
Vilita [3] - [2] The Holy Empire
World Cup 30 Cup of Harmony
Vilita [2] - [3] The Holy Empire
World Cup 36 Qualifying
Vilita [2] - [4] The Holy Empire
World Cup 36 Qualifying
Vilita [2] - [3]* The Holy Empire
World Cup 62 Semi-Final *AET
It will be the first meeting between the two Hall of Fame nations since the 74th World Cup Cycle. The stakes then were both extremely similar and very different than they were about to be in Apox for the World Cup 82 Semi Finals. The two legged meeting between Vilita and The Holy Empire during the World Cup 74 cycle was also a win-or-go-home type affair with a place in the World Cup Finals on the line. Thats Final(s) with an 'S' at the end of it. Instead of competing for a spot in the World Cup Final - the championship match culminating the World Cup cycle where the winner is awarded the World Cup, the captain holds it over their head and the entire team poses for photographs with it, the most recent meeting between Vilita and The Holy Empire was instead a two-legged playoff just to decide whether or not they would advance to the World Cup Finals themselves in Valladares and San Jose Guayabal.
Heading into the World Cup 74 Qualifiers the Vilita National Team were ranked 4th in the multiverse while The Holy Empire were ranked 9th - a combined ranking of 13 just one greater than the two nations current combined ranking of 12 in the World Cup 82 Finals. The format during World Cup 74 Qualifiers was quite unforgiving, however, with only 12 matches, and both Vilita and the Holy Empire had struggled to secure the necessary results to secure an automatic qualification spot into the World Cup Finals. Instead, they were each tossed into a giant pot spitting out a slew of playoff round matches that would see one nation advance to the World Cup Finals and one sent off to the Cup of Harmony. As the two highest ranked nations in the draw, it seemed unlikely they could be drawn against each other but as fate would have it that is exactly how things would happen with #4 Vilita squaring off against #9 The Holy Empire, two top ten teams with only one spot in the World Cup Final(s) available to them. For the first time it was a pair of Top 10 nations being drawn together in an elimination playoff for entry into the World Cup Finals. Two teams who might otherwise have been Pot 1 or at worst Pot 2 teams in the World Cup Finals, either way being favored to go through, one would need to be sacrificed.
This time, the Jungle Cats would survive with a 2-1 victory in the opening leg and then holding serve with a 1-1 draw in the return fixture to ensure their place in the World Cup Finals and send The Holy Empire packing. Despite the two legged playoff there had still been just 9 all time meetings between the two sides that had otherwise contested over a thousand matches in World Cup and associated competition history. While their meetings had been spread out across the timeline of history, it did at times seem that each time the two teams were drawn against each other the Stakes were raised just a little bit higher. The first time these two sides were ever drawn together was in the Cup of Harmony after both teams had failed to qualify for the World Cup 30 Finals. After a disappointing World Cup 30 Qualification campaign for both nations they would bebe drawn together along with the favored side Spruitland and Vilita's neighbors and friendly rivals Turori. Going into the final matchday of the Cup of Harmony's double round robin group stage, The Holy Empire were level with the Island Emirate of Turori in the battle for the second advancement place behind Spruitland. Vilita, meanwhile, were rooted to the foot of the table, with only a victory and a Turori loss to Spruitland on the final matchday able to save them. With it all on the line, goals from Riccardo Appolloni, Jonjo Hulyer and Kris Wrice gave the Jungle Cats a 3-2 victory and a first ever win over The Holy Empire. In the end, however, it was not enough as Turori recorded a big win of their own over Spruitland to advance, leaving Vilita & The Holy Empire on the outside looking in, going home early and eliminated from the Cup of Harmony.
Despite the setbacks, both nations would re-bound from their brief appearance in the Cup of Harmony and establish themselves as World Cup Finals regulars throughout the next ten cycles. The two teams would be drawn together for the second time in their history during the World Cup 36 Qualification phase. By this point Vilita had rebounded and were climbing the multiverse rankings once again thanks to a 4th place finish in World Cup 35. World Cup 36 Qualifying, however, would signal a change. It would signal a downturn in fortune for the Jungle Cats that would lead to one of the darkest stretches of competitive sport in the history of the Tropics. For The Holy Empire, it would also be a turning point but a turning point of a very different nature. The Holy Empire spring-boarded off a solid World Cup 36 qualification campaign into the realm of the elite, taking down the defending World Cup Semi-Finalists and laying the ground work of the Dynasty that would begin to establish itself over the next 10 cycles.
The two nations would not meet again until World Cup 62, but that meeting would be one of the most memorable matches of all time. Since their prior meeting during World Cup 36 Qualifying, The Holy Empire had advanced to Six World Cup Finals winning two of them. The Jungle Cats had been working hard to climb out of the darkness and back into relevance on the World Stage while The Holy Empire had their sights set on the record books as they inched closer to joining Valanora and Starblaydia in the conversation as one of the World Cups all time great teams. While it had become the norm for the Holy Empire, it was a motivating accomplishment for the Vilitan National Team to advance to the World Cup 62 Semi-Final, the first Semi-Final round appearance for the Vilitan National Team in over 25 cycles. For The Holy Empire, they entered the match looking to dispatch of their lower ranked opponents to set up their date with immortality with a perfect World Cup cycle on the line, the Holy Empire having yet to lose a match in Qualification or the World Cup Finals. For Vilita, it was a chance for validation that they had returned to the top of their game, that they were truly competitors for the World Cup Title and had earned a chance to fight for a spot in the World Cup 62 title game.
It was the first time that Vilita and The Holy Empire would meet in the World Cup Semi-Finals, occurring exactly 20 cycles prior to the current iteration of Vilita and The Holy Empire doing battle at the same stage of competition in Apox & Valanora World Cup 82.
Heading into World Cup 62, The Holy Empire had become 6-time World Cup Finalists and were looking to re-claim the World title that they had famously taken during World Cup 60 ending the record streak of titles by Aguazul. The Holy Empire completed their World Cup 62 qualification campaign with a perfect record, and likewise did the same in the World Cup 62 Group Stage. They continued, unblemished, until meeting Vilita in the Semi-Finals. As famously reported by the Vilita National, Hundreds of thousands of Vilitan fans were in San Donato, Carpathia and Ruthenia lining the streets in the build up to the match and urging their team on in hopes of advancing to the most prestigious match in the multiverse. In reality, there hadn't been a more important match featuring the Jungle Cats since the World Cup 20 final - at the time, Vilita's only World Cup triumph. The Jungle Cats were a nation on the rise, but there was none higher than The Holy Empire, the multiverse's #1 ranked side who had thus far steamrolled every opposition they had raced in the World Cup 62 campaign.
There was no goal scoring in the early goings, but there was a scare for the Jungle Cats and head coach Calaesa Mitaroka to deal with in the 30th minute when star winger Jomur Hulyer had to leave the action, replaced by Erocka Lorei. The early substitution could have flustered the upstart Vilitans but they stayed in the game; even as The Holy Empire took the lead. The Jungle Cats twice clawed back, goals from Manolis Kontalroma and Lita Adjei keeping Vilita level with the Holy Empire as they looked to advance to the World Cup Final for the first time since World Cup 20. When the whistle blew after 90 minutes, the Vilita Jungle Cats had accomplished something that no team before them had done, and none after them would do during the World Cup 62 cycle. Not Lose when playing against The Holy Empire. While they would eventually concede an Extra Time goal resulting in their elimination from World Cup 62, the Jungle Cats and Vilitan fans still take pride in noting the small asterisk at the end of The Holy Empire's "Perfect" World Cup 62 cycle - noting it as "The Vilitan Asterisk".
The Holy Empire may have gotten the best of the Vilita Jungle Cats during their only previous meeting at the World Cup Semi-Final stage, The Jungle Cats were the only team to give one of the most dominant teams in World Cup history a run for their money chasing the Dreamed Realm side to extra time before finally being overcome by their fire power. Now, in the World Cup 82 Semi Finals, it is the Vilita Jungle Cats and not the Holy Empire who are going into the Semi-Final matchup as the favorite with Vilita entering World Cup 82 ranked #1 in the multiverse. If the history between the two sides is any indicator, it will be an exciting high scoring affair. In nine previous meetings between the two sides, neither team has ever been held off the scoresheet with not a single shutout achieved by any of their goalkeepers against each other. The most common scoreline between the two sides is 3-2 with an average of five goals per game between the two sides. The most goals ever scored by a single team during the history of the match up is the four goals that The Holy Empire scored against Vilita during their second meeting of the World Cup 36 Qualification campaign which The Holy Empire would handily triumph over Vilita in both matches en route to the Finals.
While The Holy Empire leads the all-time series between the sides and holds the only directly comparable result, an extra time victory over Vilita during the World Cup 62 Semi-Finals, the Jungle Cats still have some positives to take from history as they have won two of their last four matches against The Holy Empire and will now have a chance to tie the all-time series between the two sides with a victory in Apox. Two of the most accomplished nations in the history of the World Cup will re-kindle an old rivalry once more with the chance to compete for the ultimate prize is on the line in Apox, a ticket to the World Cup Final in Valanora.
1 Ticket to Valanora, ŧ1093; A Scarf, Pin, Hat & Lanyard ŧ134. 
