Sporting World Cup 9 (U18WC) Everything Thread

[Silver Beach]

Silver Beach U-18 National Team


Information
Country code: SVB
Denonym: Silverians
Football Association: Football Association of Silver Beach(FASB)
Manager: Kiggwe Siakam, 53 years old. Former director of scouting at Herzegovina City for Seasons 3-5 of the BSL at Herzegovina City, was hired as the Senior Assistant manager under Brian Emerson at the club, and remained for three and a half seasons. Midway through BSL Season 9, left the job to take the dual role for the RBSA as the manager of the Usana Kadongo Kamu, and Strikers coach for the senior national team. Coached Banijan U18 team to a championship in the 8th U18 World Cup. Now Manager of both the senior and youth national teams of Silver Beach, as well as the Director of Youth Development for the FASB
Captain: Caiaphas Lapid
Alternate Captain: Ishmael Lachman
Home Kits: Blue
Away Kits: White
Alternate: Black

RP Permissions
Choose my goalscorers: Yes
Choose Scoring Events: Yes
Godmod scoring events: No
Hand out yellow cards to my players: Yes
Hand out red cards to my players: Yes
RP Injuries to my players: Yes(please state how many games they will miss, if any, if you do choose to injure them however).
Godmod injuries to my players: Yes(please state how many games they will miss, if any, if you do choose to injure them however).
Godmod other events: Yes
Style modifier: +3

Do whatever you want besides godmodding the actual goals(I prefer the actual goals to be real). If anybody dies, please TG me who so I can replace them. All players are male unless specified.

http://lineupbuilder.com/?sk=fx97m

Starters: 4-2-1-3
All players are male unless they are labeled female.
All players are in high school unless otherwise stated.
GK #1 Yakov Lieberman. Age 18.
RB #2 Chepe Levitch. Age 17.
CB #3 Ishmael Lachman. Age 17. Twin brother of Natalie Lachman.
CB #19 Thaddeus Geiger. Age 18. Bench for Matchdays 1 and 2.
LB #18 Zamir Rocker. Age 16. Bench for Matchdays 1 and 2.
RCM #8 Joseph Rosenberg. Age 16.
LCM #6 Armin Zalkind. Age 17.
CAM #10 Caiaphas Lapid. Age 18. Captain.
RW #7 Jordan Sutro. Age 18.
ST #9 Natalie Lachman. Age 17(Female). Twin sister of Ishmael Lachman.
LW #11 Sharona Davidson. Age 17(Female).

Bench:
GK #22 Jopie Rabinowicz. Age 16.
GK #25 Samuel Luxemburg. Age 17.
RB #14 Shelomo Tzon. Age 18.
CB #21 Jordi Hartog. Age 17.
CB #5 Shubha Beer. Age 18. Started Group Stage Matchdays 1 and 2.
LB #4 Mosheh Harel. Age 17. Started Group Stage Matchdays 1 and 2.
CM #16 Avniel Gersham. Age 17.
CM #15 Raanan Schiff. Age 18.
CAM #20 Gilead Sylvester. Age 18.
LM/LW #13 Elijah Franklin. Age 16.
RM/RW #17 Hannibal Rosenstein.
ST #12 Fanya Lasom. Age 16(Female).

Notes:
- Caiaphas Lapid takes the penalties and the free kicks.
- Note- anyone on the team is available to sign with a foreign club/academy, if offered.
- Anybody can be subbed off besides the goalkeeper, Caiaphas Lapid, and the Lachman twins.

Group G Schedule
Matchday 1: Hapilopper v. Silver Beach @ Ivo-Balikov-Arena, Vlaikograd, Siovanija
Matchday 2: Greater Cebu v. Silver Beach @ Jezera-Stadion, Vlaikograd, Siovanija
Matchday 3: Appalachian Nation v. Silver Beach @ Jezera-Stadion, Vlaikograd, Siovanija

[The Andromeda Island Group]

The Friday Before
The Downtown Shopping District
Stelburg, Teusland
1:00 pm

Geographically, Stelburg is in Teusland, but like so many of the major cities in Siovanija & Teusland, Stelburg is ethnically divided. Most of the neighborhoods are either predominately Siovanjian or Teus.

The Andromeda Junior Eagles arrived a few days ago at the Teussen Arena Hotel, near what will essentially be their home stadium for the next week. During the first couple of afternoons, the Eagles went on a tour of Borograd and toured the Historic District in Stelburg. This afternoon, after practice, Coach Fleming and the Coaching Staff advised the Eagles to stay close to the Hotel, since their first game was tomorrow.

Most of the Junior Eagles decided to explore the shopping district this afternoon. Harper Thomas hopped on the Subway with his teammates to the shopping district, but he had other ideas.

As they emerged from the underground, most of the team walked toward the Shopping District. Thomas looked back in the direction of the hotel. Two of his teammates, Serenity and Tranquility Moore, noticed that Thomas wasn’t going with the rest of the team.

“What’s up?” Serenity asked.

“Nothing. Why do you ask?”

“You have that look. Like when you’re plotting something on the field.”

“What if I am?”

“We’d like to know.” Serenity and Tranquility spoke in unison.

“You ladies want to see something interesting?”

“We told you before.” Tranquility said. “No means no.”

“No, not that,” Thomas said. “See the overpass over there?”

“What about it,” Serenity asked. Tranquility walked off.

“The hotel is three blocks behind the overpass. When we got back from Borograd yesterday, the bus drove through the neighborhood there. All the flags on one side were green & on the other side they were yellow. That means the neighborhood between here and there…”

“It’s a Siovanijan neighborhood.” Serenity said.

Tranquility walks back with Peppa Sims.

“Peppa wants to come too,” Tranquility said.

2:40 pm

After Harper Thomas, Peppa Sims & the Moore twins walked through the Siovanijan neighborhood for about 45 minutes, they arrived at a local restaurant on the Siovanijian side of the overpass. Fortunately, one of the younger waiters spoke English. The four had just finished eating an especially delicious borscht and were talking a bit.

“Peppa is from Olympia,” Tranquility said. “So I figured that she might know something about the Old…,”

“The Old Beliefs,” Peppa said. “In Olympia, some of us still revere the Greek pantheon. It’s a little different.”

“A little,” Thomas said. “But once you get past a certain number of gods, isn’t it all the same?”

“It can get kind of confusing,” Peppa admitted.

“What about you ladies,” Thomas asked.

“Spiritual. Not religious,” the twins said.

“Same here,” Thomas said. “Although I do go to church with my family.”

The three ladies looked at Thomas.

“What? I’m a devoted son. Don’t judge me.”

The three ladies looked at Thomas. They were judging him.

“You know me. If I always took the safe, narrow path, we wouldn’t be here, now, together.”

The girls agreed with Thomas. Sims gives Thomas a subtle touch to his knee.

3:00pm

The four had crossed under the overpass and were two blocks away from the hotel. The only difference they saw were the yellow flags. All of the flags they saw on the other side were forest green. Sims and Thomas walked side by side.

“That little rhyme of yours. How does it go again?”

“It’s simple, really.”

“How does it go?”

“Green is for the bounty,
That comes up from the land.
Yellow represents the Son,
The Rock on which we stand.”

“So, you’re saying that the Teus and the Siovijians would be better if the people were more united.”

“Actually, I was just trying to keep straight which side was Old Religion and which side was Catholic.”

“The sun and the land being important parts of the spectrum. Christians and Pagans living together in peace. Each side benefitting from the other. It’s profound.”

Thomas thinks about it for a bit.

“You know, I never thought of it that way.”

[Free Republics]

Stelburg, Teusland

The Republican National Team arrived in Stelburg an hour and a half before their match against Equestria. Equestria, which had been called "Equestrian States" until recently, was a long time Republican archrival which made it even more important for this generation of Republican youth to beat the talking ponies. While a Republican team had competed at all 8 previous editions of the Sporting World Cup, their best performance to date was a 4th place finish in Sporting World Cup 3. However, that wasn't a Republican National Soccer Team, LLC team. The best performance by a team from "Soccer General" Rule Theriault's corporation had been a quarterfinal appearance at Sporting World Cup 7 in Equestria.

In the past, the Sporting World Cup simply hadn't been a high priority for the Republican National Team organization. The teams had largely consisted of senior team players who were trying to conserve their energy for more important matches at the Independents Cup, the Republica Olympics and the World Cup. This year's team was different. Other than reserve players Ignacy Wozniak and Steven Bosters, this was a team who were fighting for spots on the National Team. Their manager Sir Koby Theodore had much to prove after failing at previous Sporting World Cups. Theriault was already looking into possible replacements if Theodore presided over another 3 and out at the Sporting World Cup.

Thus, the Republican U-18 National Team found themselves riding the light rail in a rainstorm. Fortunately, the tram had been virtually empty as it arrived so all of the players were able to take their seats. The cheer squad had arrived several hours earlier and was already at the stadium. As the rail traveled across Stelburg, it gradually filled up. By the time it arrived at the stop before the stadium stop, it was completely full as several soldiers got on. The Republican National Team remained seated. They were well aware that the locals expected them to give up their seats but they made a point of not doing so. Afterall, they needed to conserve their strength for the upcoming match...

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Sister Polus's Thoughts

Hello and welcome to tonight's edition of Sister Polus's Thoughts on WOLF News! I am Sister Maria Polus and I am the head of the Ecumenical Coalition for Morality. There are only 7 days left to visit us at ecm.or.republica and enroll your son or daughter at one of our new schools in the Free Republics. Our schools are completely free of charge, thanks to our generous sponsors, and open to all children from anywhere in the multiverse. I am pleased to report that we have now enrolled over 5 million children who will receive the highest quality education available anywhere in the multiverse. Unlike other schools, we do not discriminate in any manner in our enrollment policies as we believe in our ability to obtain the best out of all children. For Republican children, we accept voucher funds under the Universal School Voucher Act. However, we also provide full ride scholarships to our many international students and we are proud of the fact that our student body is currently over 50% international. At the Ecumenical Coalition for Morality, we recognize that diversity is our strength and that all of mankind was created in the image of God. As the song goes:

Iesus loves the little children
All the children of the world
Red, brown, yellow
Black and white
They are precious in His sight.
Iesus loves all the little children
Of the multiverse.

OOC: This is adapted from the song "Jesus Loves the Little Children" which is an actual RL Christian song

Now, I want to discuss the news of the day. First of all, let's lead with the announcement from Speaker Nathan Newton. Here's a clip from earlier today:

Tomorrow, the Assembly will be voting on articles of impeachment for Consul Kyle Bolton. Mr. Bolton's recent press conference was the latest in a series of bizarre incidents. I am deeply saddened that it had to come to this but quite frankly Kyle Bolton has been an absolute disaster as a consul and it is long past time that we impeach him. I will also bring to a vote legislation authorizing an early election for a new consul who will serve a 9 year term in the event that Bolton is convicted in his Senate trial. The clerk will read the Articles of Impeachment in full from the Assembly floor tomorrow and then we will have a debate regarding the merits of these Articles. There will be 3 hours of argument in favor of the Articles, followed by 6 hours against and a final 3 hours in favor. Then we will have a vote. I regret that we must take time away from our busy schedule of tackling pressing issues like corruption in big businesses like Nicholls Enterprises but Kyle Bolton's nonstop drunkenness and rampant sexual harassment of women cannot be tolerated from a man who is supposed to be a role model for our children!

I can only agree with our Speaker. While it is important to look into the corruption of the Nicholls family, we need to address the disaster that is Kyle Bolton so that we can move forward as a nation.

Let's now discuss something that Kyle Bolton actually knows something about. I speak, of course, of soccer. Tonight, the Sporting World Cup starts in Siovanija and Teusland. Unfortunately, none of the players at this tournament are enrolled in an ECM school yet but we're going to have the best youth sports program in the multiverse utilizing the techniques that made the tiny island nation of Saintland an international sports powerhouse. We especially encourage young athletes in enroll in our schools. Leaving that aside however, the Republican U-18 National Team will be playing the Equestrian States tonight. Unfortunately, this isn't a team that decent people can cheer for in good conscience as it is inappropriate for all of those young ladies to be playing on the same pitch as young men. It sends the wrong message for boys to be put in a position of having to choose between competing or being chivalrous gentlemen and that is why young ladies shouldn't be competing in sports against men even though they are absolutely capable of doing so. Its not about whether or not a woman can do what a man can do: Ladies shouldn't have to do those things. Sadly, this generation of girls doesn't seem to understand that...

[Cosumar]

Cosumar U18 National Team
Sporting World Cup 9

Team Information

Nation: The Fiefdom of Cosumar

Government: Cosumar is a Fiefdom, comprised of 21 ancient fiefs (which now function as provinces) as well as seven extraterrestrial colonies across our galactic neighborhood. Cosumar is a constitutional monarchy with King James II and the King's Congress in Ramusok at its head. The pillars of long-term sustainability, scientific advancement, reverence for nature, respect for all cultures, complete personal freedoms and the exploration of space are held dear.

Region: Atlantian Oceania

Nickname: Wyrmlings

Colors: Royal Blue, Silver, Navy, White

Team: In the image of the senior Cosumar team, Hadassah Zepećky's U18 squad plays a balanced game, using high pressure to force mistakes and capitalizing on them with quick, up-tempo passing. This generation of young Cosumarite talent includes players already playing prominent roles in the Härlighet Ligan and abroad. The roster consists of 23 players, 21 of whom are standard unmodified humans (homo sapiens). The remaining, striker Baylo Na'Bukanm and attacker Kosovore Na'Kweku, are Vloo (homo cosumarensis) - a sentient species native to Cosumar. Vloo are humanoid and slightly taller on average, with pale blue skin and a pair of small horns. Their range of athleticism is similar to that of humans. You can recognize Vloo by their surnames: which begin with the clan prefixes Na'-, Vu'- or Va'-.

Style Modifier: +2

Formation: 4-4-2


Kits

Donning the uniform of the senior National Team is a prestigious honor (one that must be earned), so our youth teams do not use the same one. Our U18 team wears the old NT kits that were used in World Cup 70 and decommissioned prior to World Cup 71. Courtesy of Meski Sports. The home (left) and away (middle) kits feature the iconic Azure Dragon that resides in Cosumar's northern peninsula wilderness. The goalkeeper kit (right) is swathed in green and gold - the colors of the royal family.



The Starting XI
*Previous Cosumar youth international tournament experience
All clubs/schools based in Cosumar unless marked with trigramme

Goalkeeper - Eldrikk Urginsky* - 18M - Morponte Fief

Left Back - Juliana Vaultman* - 18F - Riverside Crew

Center Back - Rochelle Sinema* - 18F - CAPTAIN - Treftadaeth Alliance

Center Back - Jozandro Ivey* - 17M - Rocinante Prep. School

Right Back - Magdalia Svartedal* - 18F - FC Samotath

Left Midfielder - Astrud Premuzik* - 18F - Kolanola Elite Dev. Academy

Defensive Center Mid - Savina Lousignont* - 18F - Pelethas United

Attacking Center Mid - Nillokk Kolreich* - 17M - Regalia City

Right Midfielder - Mendiel Curzón - 17M - FC Ziemelu Skaida

Striker - Baylo Na'Bukanm* - 18M - Pelethas United

Striker - Giuseppe Szepezzi* - 18M - Crawford City FC





Reserves

GK - Darcy Millican* - 18F - Cassandra City

LB - Nebula Hansimmans* - 18F - Emerald Cove

CB - Aljo Pozulo - 17M - Na'Ilee Mariners

CB - Lindsey Ahlquist - 17F - Eastweald

RB - Valentin Coletto - 18M - Mursbayley College (ZWZ)

DM - Elroy Kortrite - 17M - Cassandra City

LM - Kahne Axhelm - 17F - Tamiat Town

CM - Paul Neumann - 16M - The Hightjewell School (Crawford)

CM - Tillane Illingen - 17M - Dillinger High School (Olask)

RM - Skylar Falco - 18F - Pristine Forest

SS - Kosovore Na'Kweku - 17M - West Holbrookdale (SCT)

ST - 0su Spevsspon* - 16M - Cecelia Morningstar High School (Ramusok)



Staff

Manager: Hadassah Zepećky

Assistant Manager: Abdiel Assad

Goalkeepers Coach: Alvar Hodson

Defenders Coach: Jari Otoopää

Midfielders Coach: Chihiro Onaka

Forwards Coach: Shaheed Ali-Duverne

Head Trainer: Meghan Almeida

[Siovanija and Teusland]

Matchday 1

Group A

Siovanija & Teusland 3–2 Tyrannyicalist
The Andromeda Island Group 2–1 Starblaydia

Group A                                 Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 Siovanija & Teusland                    1   1  0  0    3   2  +1    3
2 The Andromeda Island Group              1   1  0  0    2   1  +1    3
3 Tyrannyicalist                          1   0  0  1    2   3  −1    0
4 Starblaydia                             1   0  0  1    1   2  −1    0

Group B

Free Republics 6–4 Equestria
Authoritarian Republic of Lochario 1–5 Trolleborg

Group B                                 Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 Trolleborg                              1   1  0  0    5   1  +4    3
2 Free Republics                          1   1  0  0    6   4  +2    3
3 Equestria                               1   0  0  1    4   6  −2    0
4 Authoritarian Republic of Lochario      1   0  0  1    1   5  −4    0

Group C

BOLGANO 1–3 Union of Quincy
Tamgu 0–3 Cosumar

Group C                                 Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 Cosumar                                 1   1  0  0    3   0  +3    3
2 Union of Quincy                         1   1  0  0    3   1  +2    3
3 BOLGANO                                 1   0  0  1    1   3  −2    0
4 Tamgu                                   1   0  0  1    0   3  −3    0

Group D

Mercedini 2–2 Kwangtzu Guānnán
Chromatika 0–2 Aquitlia

Group D                                 Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 Aquitlia                                1   1  0  0    2   0  +2    3
2 Kwangtzu Guānnán                        1   0  1  0    2   2   0    1
  Mercedini                               1   0  1  0    2   2   0    1
4 Chromatika                              1   0  0  1    0   2  −2    0

Group E

The Transmondian Commonwealth 3–5 Oberour Ar Moro
Terre Septentrionale 1–0 Darmen

Group E                                 Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 Oberour Ar Moro                         1   1  0  0    5   3  +2    3
2 Terre Septentrionale                    1   1  0  0    1   0  +1    3
3 Darmen                                  1   0  0  1    0   1  −1    0
4 The Transmondian Commonwealth           1   0  0  1    3   5  −2    0

Group F

Libonesia 1–3 Abanhfleft
Baker Park 3–0 Bliuji

Group F                                 Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 Baker Park                              1   1  0  0    3   0  +3    3
2 Abanhfleft                              1   1  0  0    3   1  +2    3
3 Libonesia                               1   0  0  1    1   3  −2    0
4 Bliuji                                  1   0  0  1    0   3  −3    0

Group G

Appalachian Nation 1–0 Greater Cebu
Hapilopper 4–3 Silver Beach

Group G                                 Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 Hapilopper                              1   1  0  0    4   3  +1    3
2 Appalachian Nation                      1   1  0  0    1   0  +1    3
3 Silver Beach                            1   0  0  1    3   4  −1    0
4 Greater Cebu                            1   0  0  1    0   1  −1    0

Group H

Freeport 2–0 United States of Devonta
HUElavia 4–4 Sajnur

Group H                                 Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 Freeport                                1   1  0  0    2   0  +2    3
2 HUElavia                                1   0  1  0    4   4   0    1
  Sajnur                                  1   0  1  0    4   4   0    1
4 United States of Devonta                1   0  0  1    0   2  −2    0

[Trolleborg]

Trolleborg play well in his first ever international march and won decisively. Let’s see what newspapers and blogosphere say.



We won! Maybe the grandieur of what happened in Stahlberg deserves a big lettering - WE WON!
It's not known how our team will fare in next matches, but lads already have a place in history and ever will have it.
This grande moment is theirs by right!

Here it was as it is:
M. Kerr, Willems, Korta (Paauwe, 65), Kolding, Haandkands, Nejmegen (Knopper, 66), Lucius, Gronquist, Bregelin, Akker (Langepaas,72), Jivoglot.

Jivoglot 11' (1-0), Akker 25' (2-0), Haankrands 44'(3-0), Jivoglot'65 (4-0), Esteban Solaquez 78' (4-1), Bregelin 88'(5-1).

Our fans giving condolescences to Locharians and throw big party for them.




That's not a dream? We are not hallucinating? Yes, it’s real – we won 5-1 in our debut game.

So here he was, triumphator of the day: confident, calm but visibly brimming with happiness, Hendrick Kerr:

I'm more than delighted by what I see both on the field and scoreboard. I'am very pleased with my guys. They successfully coped with the tremendous responsibility that fell to them, and showed excellent football. I was very proud and can't ask for a better debute. But my work right now is made much difficult - I need a serious effort to prevent players relaxing too much, since the team didn’t yet provide themselves a calm life and way forward, both remaining opponents are real serious guys with a lot of experience.


T-Friends, of course, is abuzz with impressions and celebrations.
And there was a two fans who win bets with precisely such a score. Each of them receive a fortune, one of them already declare intention to put monies into the youth football.

But it's not the end. Our other opponents is formidable, and this is very visible.

[Aquitlia]

═══ the Citzen's News Service ═══

---

The "Young Citizens" debut match shows potential in Aquitlian football with a win.

---

The Young Citizens climb to the top of their group after showing a strong 2-0 result against the Chromatika U18s in the Under 18s World Cup

Viqna Mauculus's goal after managing to swiftly cut into the box in the 27th minute, and Saulo Vila Marques's header after Mauculus' cross in the 60th minute sealed the match for Aquitlia

Aquitilian side's highly defensive tactics proved to be highly successful as Chromatika could not create any strong chances throughout the match, with only having 7 shots to their name and one on target. With Chromatika not being able to have any shots at all after the Aquitlian side pursued slow the match down to coast after their 60th-minute goal.

"What Aquitilian football looks like is an open secret, I told how they play on a press release, and the Chromatikan coaches could've at least looked at a Universiadary match for a more in-depth look" said Abellán, "At the same time, I understand how this happened, Aquitlian tactics in some regards are ancient and that a modern squad isn't really able to counter it" in regards to the performance.

Viqna Mauculus was picked the man of the match after earning the title for the first goal and assist for the Aquitlian squad, as well as his well positioning and tackling being able to give the opportunity to perform a long-dribble from the midfield line before his debut goal.

Abellán commented on Mauculus' performance "I have always backed Mauculus, he is truly spectacular as a Cerdoni sophomore athlete as well. I don't know whether any scouts will start getting their checkbooks out after one match but I am warning that any head coach that has any interest in a transfer has to fight me." while Mauculus' facial expression turned sunny from the comments, Abellán had whispered in his ear to change from his trenchcoat, which turned his jovial expression into a flustered one. The Ministry of Culture and Sport was asked to investigate on Abellán's attitudes towards trenchcoats by the Textiles Producers of Aquitilia after the previous statements made both after and before the match.

Aquitlian side while not having any cards in the match, committed 14 fouls, with most coming from tackles. With most of Chromatika's chances being produced after a free-kick, this became an issue of concern for Abellán. "I told them to be a bit more conservative on how much, force, goes into a tackle. It is something that we have to work on."

The passion is running high running into the "Young Citizens" next match against Kwangtzu Guānnán, Abellán saying that their Mercedini did show penitential in their opponents but adding "Aquitilians are great at shut-outs, without a doubt".

The Aquitlian U18s will face Kwangtzu Guānnán in the Draistadion, the Aquitlian Friendship and Peace Corps volunteers will be handing out free merchandise such as scarves and jerseys near the gates, as well as offering free tickets to any football fan following Aquitlia. The match will be available on broadcast the Aquitilian Sports Portal for both citizens and non-citizens alike for anyone with a device with an extranet connection.

[Hapilopper]

Ivo-Balikov-Arena, Vlaikograd, Siovanija
The first match of the Sporting World Cup: Hapilopper vs. Silver Beach
Garrett Sydney watched over the action going on the field and smiled. The lyrics to an old favorite song were coming through his head.

Teach your children well,
Their father's hell did slowly go by,
And feed them on your dreams
The one they picks, the one you'll know by.
Don't you ever ask them why, if they told you, you will cry,
So just look at them and sigh
And know they love you.
(OOC: From "Teach Your Children," (1969) written by Graham Nash, performed by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young)

Back in his day, Garrett was a top youth prospect in Hapiloppian football, decades before any idea of the nation making its mark on the multiversal stage had been contemplated. Back when teams like The Soldiers, the Highway Patrol and United Hampton Cities pretty much toiled in the background, Garrett was thought of as one of the top Hapiloppian players. But then, two days after his 20th birthday, he landed funny on the artificial turf at Capital Stadium, broke his leg and ended his career. He had dreamt of being a hero to many, but on this day, he was living vicariously through the successes of his team, the Under-18 Hapilopper National Football Team, or as they became known, the “Little Haps.”

Garrett, now in his 50s, was watching his players relish the challenge of a national side they hadn’t taken as seriously as they should have before the match. When they realized that the team from Silver Beach was no pushover, they stood up to the challenge and adapted quite well. Natalie Lachman had scored twice, in the 9th and the 17th, to give Silver Beach a 2-0 advantage before the 20th minute of the match, but in the 23rd minute, Peter Robson took a pass from George Hale, about as on-side as could be and fired it into the net as hard as he could fire it. Hapilopper was on the board.

In the 38th minute, Toby Bryson, the star from Vincent Welch High School, got a breakaway opportunity he was looking for and track-meeted it all the way to goal, tying up the match. Fans knew they were in for a fantastic and very exciting match, and moved to the edge of their seat a little more. Garrett, meanwhile, could only smile. This is what he had always wanted to do as a player, but couldn’t. He wanted to represent Hapilopper, but Hapiloppian football just wasn’t at that level until this point.

Silver Beach took the lead in the 57th minute as Jordan Sutro took advantage of a misstep from Jerold Dickman, who stupidly (and hilariously) fell flat on his face as Jordan shimmied and sashayed around him on his way to sending the ball into the back of the net. The score at this point, 3-2 for the Silverians. Some expected an outburst from Dickman. Instead, one could see him shockingly composed.

“That’s OK, we can make it up!” Dickman shouted to his teammates. “Get it done!”

And get it done they did. In the 65th minute, Dean Anson and Kerry Spalding, playing a little game of “keep-away” from Silverian midfielders, saw an opening for Toby Bryson, let Toby have the ball and he responded the best way he could – by running away from everyone, dribbling the ball all the way, and then sending the ball on a line drive straight towards goal. The match was tied 3-3.

Hapilopper took the lead – their first lead of the whole match – in the 71st when Herb Northrop took the ball from Silverian captain Caiaphas Lapid, and rather than give the ball to either one of the strikers, Herb sent it in himself, seeing the strikers a little occupied with Silverian defenders. Hapilopper led 4-3, and wound up winning the match by that final score.

“Gentlemen, this is why we’ve come here,” Garrett said after the match. “This is why we picked y’all for the team. Thank you for getting the job done, and thank you for making us proud. There’s two more matches to go in this group phase. We can win them both. We can kick ass in both of them. Keep your heads on straight, stay hungry, and we can get this done. I have faith in all of you.”

The next match would be against the Appalachian Nation, a team that might cause the Haps some struggles. There had already been an incident between the two teams in a hotel before the start of the group phase, and some worried whatever incident would happen would spill over onto the pitch.

Garrett hoped it didn’t. He was living out a dream, and it was starting to come true in a beautiful way.

[HUElavia]

HUElavia opens up U18 WC with 8 Goal Spectacle

HUElavia began their U18 World Cup debut using a squad of promising youngsters against Sanjur, at the Vest-Marlebucht-Stadion, Pomorie/Marzig, in Siovanija. The match was seen by bookies as an evens for a draw. Little would everyone know, it would be a spectacular draw.

HUElavia fielded their best starting XI, and things got off to a great start, scoring in the 7th minute, thanks to a corner being whipped in by Ramirez only to meet the head of Navarro to make it 1-0. In the 20th minute, a foul committed by D'Aquila on Latvala allowed Ciuru to blast the penalty kick past Lobato to make it 1-1. In the 35th minute, an error from a long pass by Samedov allowed Almeida to get the ball and sprint all the way to chip it on a one-on-one chance over Anzoroi to make it 2-1. In the 42nd minute, a lapse by the defense allowed Latvala to pass towards Turei, only to slide it past Lobato to make it 2-2, which effectively ended the half.

The second half started with both teams taking shots left and right until a blast from distance by Matlaba in the 53rd minute put Sanjur up 2-3. HUElavia responded within seconds from the goal with Espada running past defenders to slide it past Anzoroi to tie it at 3-3. More shots were taken until the 85th minute, where substitute Kolarov got a pass from Latvala to slide it past Lobato to make it 3-4. All hope seemed lost until a 5 minute stoppage time was given, where HUElavia attacked and attacked getting corners until the 90+3' minute, where a corner taken by Ramirez met the head of Sissoko to tie the game at 4-4, where the whole squad mobbed him while the HUElavian crowd was cheering and jumping, making the stadium rumble from the excitement. The match ended with the score of 4-4, and HUElavia sits in 2nd place after Freeport won against Devonta 2-0.

Los Amarillos will now play against Freeport, with Freeport being favorites for the match, but HUElavia always has the spirit to overcome great adversaries and are hopeful to put up a fight against the top seeded team in the group. The game will be played once again at Vest-Marlebucht-Stadion, Pomorie/Marzig, in Siovanija.

FORCA HUELAVIA! VAMOS HUELAVIA! GO HUELAVIA!

[The Andromeda Island Group]

The Andromeda Islands vs. Starblaydia
Teussens-Arena
Stelburg, Teusland
Saturday

33rd Minute

Three Starblaydia forwards had shook the Moore twins and Harper Thomas and were charging the goal. Only Andrea Ferguson stood between them and a goal, and…

Goal. Starblaydia 1, Andromeda 0

37th Minute

The Starblaydia defenders were apparently careless in the aftermath of scoring their first goal of the tournament. JC Williams was apparently setting up for a scoring opportunity when he decides to go for it himself. Williams is known as ‘White Lightning’ to his fans because of both his footwork and his exceptionally fair skin.

White Lightning Scores: Starblaydia 1, Andromeda 1.

The score remained at 1 apiece until the 88th minute, where we join the game in progress.

----------

Williams yells over to one of the Sullivan twins as the ball reaches midfield.

“Give Oscar a clear shot!”

Oscar McCready just got the pass from Harper Thomas. He crosses the midfield line, stops and assessed the field. He sees his two teammates from Knox High School, the Sullivan Sisters, and knows to get the ball to one of them. In Todd’s Cove, McCready could always depend on the twins to get a goal.

Elleen Sullivan runs over to her twin sister, who waits for McCready to pass it to her. McCready always looks to pass it to Cathleen first.

“We'll shepherd it in," Cathleen says to Elleen.

The clock passes the two-minute mark. McCready rifles a shot to Cathleen Sullivan. The girls run along either side of the ball as it moves closer and closer to the goal. The goalie, thinking that one of the Sullivan girls has control of the ball, watches as they both turn away from the goal post, watching the girls instead of the ball. The ball rolls just inside the right post, less than a yard out of the goalie’s reach.

Goal: Andromeda 2, Starblaydia 1.

The crowd erupts. Starblaydia, which won the Sporting World Cup two years ago, is now trailing the Junior Eagles with about a minute left. Joey Gallo yells to McCready and Serenity Moore.

“Keep your heads. Get back on D.”

After the final kickoff, Serenity Moore intercepts an errant pass. She, Oscar McCready and Joey Gallo pass the ball to each other in a corner of the midfield until time expires.

The Junior Eagles rush the field. Some of them hoist Oscar McCready up on their arms and carry him around the field.

Even Coach Fleming took time to look up at the sky and marvel at what just happened. The Eagles need just one more win in group competition to make the elimination stage. As she looks up at the sky, she thinks of the current goal she wants her Junior Eagles to achieve:

“One more win, and we’re in.”

FINAL: Andromeda 2, Starblaydia 1.

[Trolleborg]

MATCHDAY 2. EQUESTRIA – TROLLEBORG

After won a game with Tigers, Trolleborg team make a sightseeing tour to Jakob and then go to the Stelburg where second match will be played. Next opponent was Equestria. After very spectacular, to say the least, first match, which they lost 4-6, Equestrians are obviously in the need of victory, since every other result is making life of the team very difficult. It will be, probably, very hard contest for our lads.



Style +4

If we compare line-up with one which was play in the first game, it’s visible, that Hendrick Kerr add a defensive midfielder to the formation, probably as a way to somehow blunt dangerous equestrian forwards incursions and relieve some of the pressure off the defenders.



Trolleborg fans is already congregate near the main square to be ready for a traditional colourful parade right to the stadium. First row marching with banner “Greetings, Stelburg” before them and good part of fans crowd tied up ribbons of city colours to the Trolleborg flags and scarves in appreciation of the warm welcome.

Equestrians was invited to the friendly drinking together and there was a special prize for the most inspiring image of Northern Phoenix, i.e. national animal of the country – as usual, this prize will goes to the fan who will be one with a most photos taken by Trolleborgian fans posted in T-Friends.

[Sajnur]

Sajnur 4-4 Huelavia

Defence is one of those things that gets overshadowed by more spectacular things, like how brakes in a car get overshadowed by the roar of a powerful engine. In this case, the spectacle is attack. In Sajnur, as in other countries, this is very true. Indeed, given Sajnur's offensive character, it could be more true. But defence does get its light of day in Sajnur, as spectacular tackles and goal line clearances are a regularity when such fast paced play is the norm, and the counter attacks that grab the attention of so many start with good defensive action, and in the Sajnuran way often flamboyant defensive action. Such countering is the bread and butter of such players as Taulant Haji and Dario Tule, the former an attacking fullback who is now playing in the midfield for FC Brimstone of Apox, the latter a winger who often deputises at right midfield in a three defence formation, effectively playing as an attacking wingback. Here in Siovanija and Teusland, the captain of our Under-18 team, Silja Jorse, is an excellent proponent of turning defence into attack, putting the opposing winger on the floor with a well executed tackle, and then using her pace and ball skills to put the opposing fullback on the floor, before whipping in a cross for a striker, or even cutting in and shooting herself.

Silja Jorse is known as a wingback who is more wing than back, but her defensive skills have greatly improved over the past season, and her performances at the Di Bradini Cup, both forward and back, enabled Sajnur to make the knockout stages. Sajnur were one of only two teams to hold eventual champions Bears Armed to a draw in normal time, Mercedini being the other before they lost in extra time, and while they lost to Mriin 2-1 in the second round, it was simply a case of a much more developed football infrastructure winning out. The defence, however, is not simply an instrument for starting attacks. By definition, it is how you prevent the opposition from scoring, and Jorse was not the primary instrument in that task. That goes to the back three of Kahala Murje, captain of the Under-21 team and Jorse's predecessor as captain of the Under-18s, Hatu Raglan, and Kabas Verjez. Murje in particular, made defence attractive in its own right, combining hard tackling with the finesse of positioning and interceptions. She was the primary reason Bears Armed only got one past Giorge Iajevici and why Mriin, a team that scored ten goals in the group stage of the DBC, only scored two against Sajnur. At the last Sporting World Cup, she and Raglan made sure Sajnur conceded just three goals in the group stage while scoring eleven.

But Kahala Murje and Hatu Raglan aren't at the SWC anymore, and that's why our opening match here, a South Pacific derby against Huelavia, ended 4-4. Olah Pracia and Gjuka are now Sajnur's prime U-18 centre back pair, but they did not step up to a level required to win this match. They did stave off several attacks, but they looked vulnerable, particularly when passes got past the otherwise excellent Toljo Latvala. A particularly egregious moment was their failure to deal with Rafael Almeida on a counter attack that led to Huelavia's second goal, and a more prolonged frustration was their constant failure in the air. Two goals came from Natalia Ramirez corners, one in stoppage time to tie the game, and Anzoroi had to bail them out on several occasions otherwise. They must step up against Devonta, or else a knockout stage berth will be out of reach.

     Sajnur              4 - 4              Huelavia

  Ciuru 20' (p)                           Navarro 7' (Ramirez)
  Turei 42' (Latvala)                    Almeida 35'
Matlaba 53' (Matuska)                     Espada 54' (Almeida)
Kolarov 85' (Latvala)                    Sissoko 90'+3 (Ramirez)

[Abanhfleft]

DISCLAIMER: Gaelic Gamers is an independents sports blogging website created by four cousins with a common liking and passion for sports of all kinds and is in no way or form affiliated with or organized by any official news organization in the Democratic Republic of Abanhfleft. All statements and opinions posted here are our own and not anyone else's.

---

Gaelic Gamers
Presents...

The Football Fallacies
with Graham O'Doherty

WHERE'S THE FUTURE? THERE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A FUTURE HERE

Hello guys, and welcome back to another edition of The Football Fallacies with me, your gay Irishman Graham O'Doherty. So there's another youth football tournament going on, namely the Under-18 World Cup, and it's just gone underway in Siovanija and Teusland, a place that I admit to not having heard much from until now. In fact, I wouldn't have even known that there was an Under-18 World Cup going on before a few of you guys so kindly led me to the official website. That's how far youth development in football has fallen in the eyes of the Fleftic public. After all the heartache and disappointment, we just simply don't care anymore.

Okay, so there's a new edition of the U18WC. Why should we care now? Well, for once, we qualified for it, not like in the DBC where we deliberately tanked our qualification group as some sort of protest against... whatever. Another thing to note is that this particular edition is now two years after the last one, the last particularly disastrous one where the Young Young Revolutionaries really had no chance to speak of when it came to getting out of the groups. Not hyperbole, I'm just speaking the plain and simple truth. There are a few holdovers from the last time we played (Dennis Mull is still in goal, and Rodger Heckel and Shabeeba al-Naqvi has been promoted to the first team) but apart from them this is practically a completely new team. Even the coach is a new one; Levi Baak was most recently manager of Locomotive Imgortur's under-18 academy side before getting the offer from the SFA to pick up where Vaughn Palladino left off and finally get the Young Young Revolutionaries back on track. Baak at the moment is one of the better picks for the position, having led the Engineers U-18s to the Fleftic Under-18 Unang Liga title.

But what about Mr. Baak's young charges though? What do we know about them? Not much, if we're being completely honest. Gone are the days of the obvious talents like Guildy Cardew and Kelly McGinnis and others of their "generation". You look at this team that we have now and you think, "meh". Nobody sticks out. Nobody's getting touted as the next this and the future that. If you didn't know better, you would think that they are all pretty much cookie-cutter players whom you've never seen before and will probably never see again. Such is the new depressing state of youth football in Abanhfleft. We all know what's needed to kickstart it. I've said it before and I'll say it again, even if it gets me blasted all over international media once again: this team needs to win if we are going to achieve anything useful in the under-21 and senior levels. Yes, participation in a tournament is all well and good, but at the end of the day aren't we all here for the chance at achieving something meaningful and worthwhile?

But what about these kids? Will they indeed be able to achieve something? At first glance, it's not really that likely. This bunch really looks like a group of players that Levi Baak was interested in bringing to Imgortur rather than a carefully-thought-out list of players with the highest potential of achieving success with the under-18 national team. Some of them are even playing for university teams, something that you've never seen much of until now. Seriously, though. None of these names attract any attention at all. Goro Kimura? According to the Dynamo Ja fan forums, the guys is apparently the next coming of Shinji Ikeda and Hans Gruber, all in one neat little Japanese-Fleftic package. But apart from that, nothing on him. Ham Jung-hee? Apparently he's an up-and-coming winger down at UCR, but I literally know nothing else about him. And Maurits Aartsen, one of Baak's U-18 winners, doesn't even make the first eleven. If Baak doesn't trust one of his own players to slot into the starting XI then who does he trust?

On the plus side though, we did win our first game, although of course it was against Libonesia, a nation that gets into tournaments but doesn't really seem to do well in them. Goals from Janett Socia, Maurits Aartsen, and Ham Jung-hee proved enough to see us past the Libonesian "challenge". I put the word in brackets because it wasn't really much of a challenge from Libonesia if we're being honest. There was an iffy moment when Shabeeba scored an own goal with the score still at 1-0, but these kids managed to do what the seniors and under-21s have not in a long time and came back from adversity to win the game. If only all of our national teams played like that... Oh, well. What's a pipe dream but a dream nevertheless? XOXO from Graham....

████████LIBONESIA 1 - 3 ABANHFLEFT
AL-NAQVI (63' og)       SOCIA (15' pen)
                        AARTSEN (79')
                        HAM JUNG-HEE (83')

Possession
Libonesia: 41%
Abanhfleft: 59%
Shots
Libonesia: 5 (2 on target)
Abanhfleft: 14 (9 on target)
Corners
Libonesia: 5
Abanhfleft: 10
Fouls
Libonesia: 10
Abanhfleft: 20

[Appalachian Nation]

Appy Kids take down Cebu

Becoming a world power in a sport has to start somewhere? Appalachian Nation took down Greater Cebu 1-0 in a game that was more a game of keep-away than soccer. Despite running an aggressive multi-striker offensive, Greater Cebu was able to keep possession in their hands for the first 5 minutes and 19 of the first 35. Defensive slugfests are not that uncommon in Applachian soccer, but the Cebu tried to make it a 0-0 game as hard as possible. Short passes were the name. But when the Appalachians got the ball long passes were the name and this caused a problem. With Cebu's short passing game every time they intercepted a Appy pass, they would go into ball control mode. this lead to Cebu actually taking several shots at young Shaun Morris. Morris did amazingly blocking or scooping up every shot and was able to keep Appy in the clear. But finally in the 40th minute Todd Winecroft got a pass from Dan, and then Winecroft turned it over to Jeff Branson who was able to keep away from the Cebuian defenders and he shot a beautiful breakaway shot toward goal, it went in and there Appalachian Nation lead for the first time in international history. It still wasn't over as for another fifty minutes, it was an exercise in trying to play Cebu's game of keep-away. defensive tactics were ramped up and two midfielders were designated to play defense, just to hold the lead. The strategy worked and when the clock hit 90 Appalachian Nation had its first big international win!

Up next is Happilopper, as many know there was a scuffle between the Happs and the Apps in the hotel shortly before the game. we'll see if things have patched up or gotten worse after the first game. Happilopper won a potent game versus Silver Beach 4-3. can Applachian match their firepower? We think its possible and hopefully a win will taker place.

APPY - 1
Branson 40'

CEBU - 0
...

[Commonwealth of Baker Park]

© Sporting Times Daily 2025
SWC Day 2: BP look to maintain momentum
by Fiona Devlin, National Soccer Writer

The Commonwealth Under 18 National Team come into their next match against Libonesia at the SWC 9 tournament off a 3-0 win over Bliuji that saw a complete team effort in earning a shutout and a free flowing attack that saw Elena Diaz assist on 2 of the 3 goals, the first by Karrie Price and the final tally by Freddie Altman, while Alonzo Boyle's spectacular individual effort for the second earned him the praise of manager Zoe Montgomery following the match.

"I told (Boyle) that he could be the same type of guy for us that another 'Zo' is for the seniors (Lorenzo Taborn), and he has taken that to heart. He was really great for us last time in terms of work rate, and his energy without possession, and I've seen tape since then of how far he's come going forward."

The atmosphere was much closer to a home match, as a large influx of supporters took advantage of the bank holiday weekend in Baker Park--and the proximity of the Atlantian Oceania neighbors--to make up about 2/3 of the crowd at the Arsenal Bukovets Stadium, and there is expected to still be approximately 5-10 thousand fans for the second group game.

Libonesia enters the match off of a 3-1 loss to Abanhfleft, and the two winning sides continue on a collision course for the top of Group F.

lineup vs Libonesia--Murray; O'Connor, Bruce, Slater; Vetter, Wiley, Ryan, Altman; Knight; Moorman, Engels

[Terre Septentrionale]

Terre Septentrionale blanks Darmen

Borograd, Siovanija - While Terre Septentrionale forgot to send it's application to participate at the Di Bradini Cup, they didn't forgot to send one to participate at the Sporting World Cup. The Under 18 team had to play against Darmen for it's first game. Nothing much happened in the 1st half, The Nordiques biggest chance to score was at the 18th minute when Sadiq Lucas tripped Benjamin "Sancho" Sanche in the penalty area. Kévin Cauchon takes the panalty. He shoots but Bertil Herman makes a terrific save and Pablo Candelaria clears the ball. Darmen also had a good chance to score at the 38th minute when Lennart van der Vennen passed to the left to Boele McGuire who made a cross to Birger Schulz who shoots but Romain Maheux de Monaghan makes a fantastic save! And the score is still 0-0 at the halftime.

Terre Septentrionale attacked at the 61st minute when Gordon Hackshaw passed to Grzegorz Hajdukiewicz who passed to Nevenka Martinovic-Hasanbegovic who dribbled with the ball and made a header pass to Kévin Cauchon. Cauchon heads the ball right into the net and it's a goal, the Reprezentacja Nordycki are leading 1-0! Darmen attacked at the 90+2 minute when Alard Hoedemaeker who dribbled and passed to Jack McCormick who subbed in at the 72nd minute. McCormick made a short pass to Jasper Kirchner who kicks the ball, but once again, Romain Maheux de Monaghan makes a sensationnal save. And the game is over, the Northmen won 1-0 against Darmen!

BOXSCORE
61st minute: Kévin Cauchon assisted by Nevenka Martinovic-Hasanbegovic

YELLOW CARDS
18th minute: Sadiq Lucas
49th minute: Frédérique Normandeau-Schneider
78th minute: Alard Hoedemaeker

RED CARDS
None

Matchday 2

On matchday two, the Northmen will play against The Transmondian Commonwealth of New England, which is "spread across several parallel worlds". In this Sporting World Cup, they're sending players "from two parallel worlds". The Commonwealth lost their opening game 5-3 against Oberour Ar Moro but they're a team we should take too lightly.

Katarzyna Krzykowska,
junior writer, La tribune septentrionale

[Siovanija and Teusland]

Matchday 2

Group A

Tyrannyicalist 0–3 Starblaydia
Siovanija & Teusland 2–2 The Andromeda Island Group

Group A                               Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 Siovanija & Teusland                    2   1  1  0    5   4  +1    4
2 The Andromeda Island Group              2   1  1  0    4   3  +1    4
3 Starblaydia                             2   1  0  1    4   2  +2    3
4 Tyrannyicalist                          2   0  0  2    2   6  −4    0

Group B

Equestria 0–2 Trolleborg
Free Republics 5–4 Authoritarian Republic of Lochario

Group B                               Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 Trolleborg                              2   2  0  0    7   1  +6    6
2 Free Republics                          2   2  0  0   11   8  +3    6
3 Equestria                               2   0  0  2    4   8  −4    0
4 Authoritarian Republic of Lochario      2   0  0  2    5  10  −5    0

Group C

Union of Quincy 2–3 Cosumar
BOLGANO 3–5 Tamgu

Group C                               Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 Cosumar                                 2   2  0  0    6   2  +4    6
2 Union of Quincy                         2   1  0  1    5   4  +1    3
3 Tamgu                                   2   1  0  1    5   6  −1    3
4 BOLGANO                                 2   0  0  2    4   8  −4    0

Group D

Kwangtzu Guānnán 1–3 Aquitlia
Mercedini 0–3 Chromatika

Group D                               Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 Aquitlia                                2   2  0  0    5   1  +4    6
2 Chromatika                              2   1  0  1    3   2  +1    3
3 Kwangtzu Guānnán                        2   0  1  1    3   5  −2    1
4 Mercedini                               2   0  1  1    2   5  −3    1

Group E

Oberour Ar Moro 3–2 Darmen
The Transmondian Commonwealth 1–0 Terre Septentrionale

Group E                               Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 Oberour Ar Moro                         2   2  0  0    8   5  +3    6
2 Terre Septentrionale                    2   1  0  1    1   1   0    3
3 The Transmondian Commonwealth           2   1  0  1    4   5  −1    3
4 Darmen                                  2   0  0  2    2   4  −2    0

Group F

Abanhfleft 2–0 Bliuji
Libonesia 1–4 Baker Park

Group F                               Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 Baker Park                              2   2  0  0    7   1  +6    6
2 Abanhfleft                              2   2  0  0    5   1  +4    6
3 Libonesia                               2   0  0  2    2   7  −5    0
4 Bliuji                                  2   0  0  2    0   5  −5    0

Group G

Greater Cebu 3–4 Silver Beach
Appalachian Nation 2–3 Hapilopper

Group G                               Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 Hapilopper                              2   2  0  0    7   5  +2    6
2 Silver Beach                            2   1  0  1    7   7   0    3
3 Appalachian Nation                      2   1  0  1    3   3   0    3
4 Greater Cebu                            2   0  0  2    3   5  −2    0

Group H

United States of Devonta 0–3 Sajnur
Freeport 4–2 HUElavia

Group H                               Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 Freeport                                2   2  0  0    6   2  +4    6
2 Sajnur                                  2   1  1  0    7   4  +3    4
3 HUElavia                                2   0  1  1    6   8  −2    1
4 United States of Devonta                2   0  0  2    0   5  −5    0

[The Andromeda Island Group]

Andromeda News Network
Andromeda vs. Siovanija & Teusland
Teussens-Arena
Stelburg, Teusland
Tuesday

Hilliard Gates is in Teussens Arena after the game between the Andromeda Junior Eagles and the host team from the United Republics. He’s reporting on the game that just concluded.

“The Junior Eagles were down 2 to 1 going into the final minutes. In the end, it was an error by a backup goalkeeper kept the Eagle away from an almost certain defeat.”

Cut to game footage from early in the second half.

“The United Republics’ Eric Moselle scored his second goal of the game 5 minutes into the second half. Moselle, one of three players for FC Teussen Stelburg, actually calls Teussens Arena home.

“The United Republics maintained their 2-1 lead through much of the second half. Forward Pat O’Leary, who scored in the first half, had blown past the United Republic defenders and took a shot on goal with less than two minutes left. #23 Ilija Kortnik stopped the shot, we go to JC Williams to tell us what happened next.”

Cut to JC Williams.

“There had been a light rain for most of the second half, so all of us have had trouble maintaining our footing.

Cut to late second half highlights. Williams describes what happened.

“The goalie was going to throw the ball after stopping it, but she stepped on a really wet patch and fell over. As she fell, she dropped the ball and it went over the line. I felt kinda bad for her, ‘cause it happened to her in front of her country’s fans. It’s a lot of pressure. We’re the best kids in the world on the pitch, but we’re all just kids.”

Gates takes back the microphone.

“Coach Fleming commented on the last few minutes.”

“In all honesty, we were lucky to slip out of this game with a draw.”

Cut to highlights.

“They had more shots on goal and they managed the ball much better than we did. We’re frankly thankful that we’re not leaving tonight with a huge loss. We have a lot of work to do before Friday.”

Cut to the game’s conclusion.

“Once the game ended, the Junior Eagles on the field shook hands with the Blue and Gold.”

Cut to JC Williams.

“We didn’t want to lose, but we kind of knew that if it wasn’t for what happened, we would have lost. So, we wanted them to know that in a way we’re all in this together. We’re all under pressure to perform, but as young people, the experiences we have are the same no matter what country we’re from.”

Cut to Gates.

“After two games, most experts thought the Junior Eagles would be winless after playing the former Under-18 World Champions and the host United Republic. The Eagles, with a lot of determination and a lot of luck, have defied the odds thus far. A win on Friday will give the Junior Eagles a spot in the Under-18 Tournament playoffs. Hilliard Gates. Andromeda News Network.”

[Trolleborg]

Trolleborg youngsters make us all proud of them, having won second match and guaranteed itself a place in the playoffs!



Who gave us a reason to be proud yesterday:
M. Kerr, Willems, Korta (Berg,65), Kolding, Haandkrands, Nejmegen, Hofland, Lucius (Gronquist,64), Bregelin (Gould, 70), Akker, Jivoglot.

Jivoglot,24(0-1), Haandkrands,38(0-2).
After Jivoglot beaten everyone to the ball inside the box when Bregelin make a cross, Haankrands secure victory for the team by a long shot.

Now the team goes to the promised tour to countryside and preparing for a third encounter.


Excited fans dancing and praising. This two games is like a dream.

Hendrick Kerr agree with that, but add a word of understandable caution: “Our lads playing very good, and fans have a reason to be proud of the their team. But, nevertheless, we must be completely ready for the third match, opponents is very dangerous, playing attacking football and score a lot of goals”.


T-friends completely overwhelmed with delight. And there was more and more reports from the field about cuisine, architecture and cultural traditions of the hosting country and especially warm welcome given to the fans by local people. Hashtag “thankyoussjovaniaandteusland” gaining popularity more and more.

[Tamgu]

THE KIDS VICTORIOUS IN 8-GOAL THRILLER

Tamgu 5-3 Bolgano
Tamgu: Y. V. Poloda 11', 44' ; O. Şalto 38'; C. Gastada 73', 85'
Bolgano: C. Tads 26', 55' ; R. Lens 61' 
Yellow card: R. Candem 64'

Possession %52 %48
Shots 14/8-6/5
Passing 81-87
Passes 321-269
Fouls 6-8
Yellow 0-1

Tamgu's U-18 team has come out as the victors in a 5-3 match against Bolgano, a quite remarkable one to mark Tamgu's first-ever win at the SWC. The Hawks now stand in the middle of the group tied with Quincy, separated by goal difference. Quincy also happens to be their opponent in the last matchday, so that one will be a match to see.

The inexperienced new manager of the team Nagasoloda Nosagaloda Nagosoloda Nasagoloda spoke to the press about his opinions on the performance and his objectives.

"Well, as much as I am satisfied with the attacking power we have shown, the defense just doesn't seem to click just yet. We have conceded 6 in two games, which is disastrous for a team that plays 5 at the back. I may make a few changes in there. Other than that the pass trafficking needs improvement as well. Especially our long balls haven't been great. Finally, the number of shots we conceded compared to the goals we conceded looks a bit worrying. The defenders worked hard but gave away silly positions where the enemy could score if they took a dozen touches."

"I want to achieve great things with the youth teams. Not only this one but with the ones coming before them as well. All of them are brilliant have bright shining futures. It's exciting to be here, after winning two championships in a row to get to the second division, I almost feel like I haven't earned this position yet. I can't thank Takra enough for getting me here, as he was the one who insisted the board hired me. He can be sure his efforts are going to be rewarded."

^{Bolgano players celebrating a goal}

[Hapilopper]

Todd Winecroft, forward for the Appalachian Nation, was rushing toward the goal. It was the 77th minute, and Hapilopper was trying to hang on to a 3-1 lead. Jerold Dickman, the ill-tempered defenseman for the Little Haps, decided that Winecroft wasn’t going to score, and threw himself in front of Winecroft, ending the challenge.

What happened next depends on who you talk to. The Hapiloppian side of the story was that Winecroft kicked Dickman in the stomach, starting the skirmish. The Appalachian side of the story was that Dickman started the skirmish by throwing a right cross that connected with Winecroft’s jaw. Either way, the skirmish was on and pretty soon, all 22 players on the pitch, as well as a handful of players on the bench and an assortment of coaches were rushing towards the scene. For about 10 minutes, the scene looked less like a football match and more like a scene from a Hapiloppian baseball game, with a large group of people trying to break up two fighting players.

When the smoke cleared, a group of Hapiloppians had physically grabbed Dickman and pulled him away from the scene. It was hard to tell who had gotten the better of the situation. Dickman was clutching his stomach and had a cut above the right eye. Winecroft appeared to have a bloody nose. It appeared the situation had calmed down, but then two things happened.

1.) The referee gave a straight red card to Dickman and not to Winecroft.
The referee hadn’t seen Winecroft maliciously kicking Dickman in the stomach, and felt that Dickman, who was known for having a hair-trigger temper, had started the whole thing with his cynical challenge and then a seemingly-unprovoked punch. The referee also wasn’t going to listen to the protests from other players, who was trying to convince the referee that Winecroft had in fact kicked Dickman right in the stomach in response to the challenge.

2.) Dickman was then set off by something said or done by an Appalachian player not on the pitch at the time of the incident.
Whatever was done was not exactly clear. Dickman called it “an act of disrespect” and rushed towards that player to give his side of the argument. He wouldn’t say who that player was, and it looked like he was screaming towards a crowd of players, so it was hard to say who exactly had disrespected him. But it was enough for Dickman to be set off again, and it looked as if there would be another brawl. But members of the Under-18 team grabbed him and literally dragged him to the tunnel and back to the locker room.

Since the incident had happened in his own 18-yard box, the Appalachians were able to take a penalty shot, Winecroft set himself up, moved one way then another as the Little Haps’ Kenny Shelley took the bait. The Appalachian Nation had made it a 3-2 game, but even in spite of that, and in spite of a ridiculous 15 minutes of stoppage time, they could not tie the match, much less beat the Haps.

Garnett Sydney, the team’s head coach, was less than thrilled despite the result. He was not happy that what had been a great match for the Hapiloppians had been marred by a violent scene late in the match, and with someone who had been advised to stay on his best behavior. He wanted to read Jerold the riot act as he got back to the locker room, but when he got in, he saw Jerold, shirt off, a large bruise on his stomach.

“Where did you get that bruise?” Garnett asked.

“I got kicked in the stomach,” Jerold responded. “That’s why I got up and hit that guy. He kicked me in the stomach. What am I supposed to do, let him kick me?”

“No,” Garnett responded. “That looks serious. Go over to the doctor and talk to him. I’m going to talk to the referees or to someone, I’d like to see video of it.”

Garnett stepped out of the Hapiloppian locker room to seek out the referees, but to no avail. The refs weren’t talking to anyone, and returned a little bit frustrated. It had been a great victory, the Haps had a clear lead in the group standings leading into their match with Greater Cebu, but all anyone could talk about was how Jerry Dickman had been sent off for throwing a punch. It meant he would be missing from the third group stage match, and it meant that someone else – likely Alger Fulton – would be put in Jerold’s place.

After speaking to his team and speaking to the media, Garnett made his way to the Venerable Television area set up for the Sporting World Cup. There, he found VTV reps reviewing the tape of the match over a few beers.

“Gentlemen, how many camera angles do you have of that incident with Jerold Dickman?” Garnett asked the VTV staffers.

“Uh, we’re not sure, we’re just reviewing the broadcast now. Why?”

“Because Jerold claims he was kicked in the stomach and he’s got a bruise to prove it,” Garnett replied. “I want to see if you guys have video evidence of it.”

The VTV reps and Garnett spent several hours looking through the video footage, but it was inconclusive. More specifically, while it was seen that Jerold had been kicked in the stomach, it was hard to see if Winecroft had kicked him in the stomach intentionally or if the kick was aimed for the ball, which just before Jerold’s unorthodox challenge, was right in Winecroft’s firing line. Jerold had dove in front of Winecroft to stop the shot, but he felt that Winecroft would have had to hold up from following through on his kick.

Garnett looked at the video and shook his head. It was a ridiculous challenge, and it was a ridiculous overreaction from this volatile defender. He thanked the VTV staffers for their time, headed back to the team hotel and texted Jerold.

“Meet me in the hotel bar,” Garnett texted. “We need to talk.”

When Jerold came down, he spotted Garnett with a beer in his hand. Garnett was not in a very positive mood, and wanted to hear an explanation from his defender.

“You want to tell me why you got kicked in the stomach?” Garnett asked.

“I don’t know, because that guy wanted to kick me?”

“Try that again, Jerold,” Garnett snapped. “Why were you kicked in the stomach?”

“Look, I was trying to stop a challenge, and I felt that was the best thing to do…”

“So you dove right in front of him? No wonder he kicked you in the stomach. I’m not going to appeal that red card and you’re not going to either.”

“Nice to see you supporting me.”

“Well, what the HELL do you want me to do? I went over to the TV guys and they showed me three different angles. It showed the same thing every time. He kicked you in the stomach because he was trying to kick the ball and you got in the way. How many times is this now? How many times have we told you to not start something?”

Jerold shrugged, walked off and called it a night. Garnett ordered finished his beer and had another one, watching the day’s action on a nearby TV. It wasn’t something he was pleased with, but it was something he was going to have to live with. There was one more group stage match to go, and the team had to keep playing to its high standard of play. The Hapiloppians had started to show they were a force to be reckoned with in the Sporting World Cup, and that, like the Junior Haps’ performance in the Di Bradini Cup, was a great sign for the Dominion’s future on the multiversal stage.

[Trolleborg]

TROLLEBORG - FREE REPUBLICS

So, the third matchday of the championship and last match at the group stage. We are already have a tickets to the playoff, but it’s not decided who will won the group and there is a distinct unpleasant possibility having hosts as opponents in the next round.

Style modificator +4

Opposition team is formidable, score a lot of goals, clearly looked for a win and highly motivated, even having their national leader sits as honorary assistant coach.

Trolleborg fans ready, as always, to march from the city center to the stadium, with their banner “Greetings, Stelburg”.

Special greeting prepared for famous 80 cheerleaders of the opposing team, our fans will give\or at least try to do each of them a live flower and small present. Before the game there was also a special online contest for Trolleborgian fans in order to determine which one of them is most beautiful, and prize goes to the Liane Lamare, to be given right before the game.

[Aquitlia]

═══ the Citzen's News Service ═══

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The "Young Citizens" achieve victory at Draistadion at a high cost.

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Aquitlia side has guaranteed a spot in the knockout stage, however, the endured an injury and a red card against Kwangtzu Guānnán in the Under 18s World Cup.

Although the side managed to pull through with a 3-1 victory over, the Aquitlian side suffered through multiple setbacks.

After an uneventful first half of highly defensive football, the goal drought was broken by Viqna Mauculus in the 62nd minute. This would be his only goal in the match as a hard tackle would see him crash on his side and suffer a shoulder injury.'

Although it was Ethan Kulaba who was substituted for Viqna's role, Servius managed to replace Viqna's role through the rest of the match and create the cross that was headed in by Isiah in 74th minute and set-up the pass for Saulo's tap in goal in 80th minute.

To give more exposure to the Pulsacurit stars, two center backs Aulrius and Notius were substituted by Velius and Maxios. Maxios would foul an opponent by trying to mark a ball from a corner by jumping on top of a player's shoulders. This moment of misjudgment resulted in him being sent off in the 82nd minute and giving the Kwangtzu Guānnán the goal they needed to break Depius's clean sheet.

With Viqna's condition being uncertain for the next match with Maxios looking for a match ban, It is uncertain what the squad will look like for the match-up against Mercedini.

"We did train to tackle softer but I suspect Maxios got confused on how you can mark the ball from being over-excited from his first time being substituted in." said Abellán, "We will make sure our Pulsacurit rising stars go through an intensive schedule before they are seen on the pitch again" in regards to tackle.

Servius Dexindros was picked the man of the match after his strong push in the 2nd half to create the game securing goals, Servius has demonstrated that he can create chances as effectively as Viqna but the question will be whether Servius can continue to this performance to the next match.

Abellán commented on Mauculus' performance "Servius has been effective in against Cerdoni in the universadary league, I am happy he and Viqna can be both effective together and solo." It was noted that Abellán did not comment on Servius' trenchcoat. "Viqna's contributions will be missed but I am confident the squad can trust Servius to build goal-scoring chances too"

It is suspected that Viqna's shoulder injury will put him absent for the match against Mercedini but it isn't clear whether he will be available for the Round of 16 match. Abellán has refused to comment.

Abellán said they are one-hundred percentage in to win the match against Mercedini, not caring who they are put against in Group C. "We are here to put the best performance we can as a team and I am unwilling to stoop so low to game match-ups, we are not afraid of taking on any team in this competition." but Abellán added additional comments in regards to Cosumar. "I will have to train the boys to be more level headed during the match, I don't want them to see red and go berzerk once they see a crown on the jersey."

The Aquitlian U18s will face Mercedini in the Draistadion, the Aquitlian Friendship and Peace Corps volunteers will be handing out additional free merchandise such as scarves and jerseys near the gates for the last match of the group stage, as well as offering free tickets and a concessions stand coupon to any football fan following Aquitlia. The match will be available on broadcast the Aquitilian Sports Portal for both citizens and non-citizens alike for anyone with a device with an extranet connection.

[Abanhfleft]

DISCLAIMER: Gaelic Gamers is an independents sports blogging website created by four cousins with a common liking and passion for sports of all kinds and is in no way or form affiliated with or organized by any official news organization in the Democratic Republic of Abanhfleft. All statements and opinions posted here are our own and not anyone else's.

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Gaelic Gamers
Presents...

The Football Fallacies
with Graham O'Doherty

TOUGH TEST LIES AHEAD FOR THE UNREMARKABLES

Hello guys, and welcome back to another edition of The Football Fallacies with me, your gay Irishman Graham O'Doherty. And yes, I have come up with a new nickname for our under-18 team. Yes, yes, I know that there's already an official nickname for them, and that it's the "Young Young Revolutionaries", but I believe that for this current crop, my version is much more fitting. "The Unremarkables". How's that for size? Fits perfectly, doesn't it? Doesn't it?

Two games into the latest Under-18 World Cup and we still don't know much about these kids. Oh, sure, some of them's already got NSWiki pages, but aside from the absolute basics, we know nothing about them! I know nothing about them. And the way that they're playing under Levi Baak, it makes it hard for me to try to see anything in all of them that will make any single one stand out among the rest. This really is a bland team of youngsters brought together just to say that we've got a team. Truly, they are the Unremarkables. Janett Socia scores a penalty? Anyone can score a penalty on a good day. Ham Jung-hee fires a rocket at goal? The Internet is full of blokes firing long-range shots and scoring willy-nilly. Shabeeba al-Naqvi has an own goal to her name? Actually, make that two in her international career so far, but that's hardly a quality that you'd want to distinguish yourself from the rest of the pack, right? Am I right or am I right?

But this Jaime Deans fellow though; I daresay he has caught my eye. And now thanks to that one sentence I am no longer able to stand less than 250 meters away from any playground in Markovsky. Anyway, the spelling of his name makes it sound like he's called "High-may", but in reality it's pronounced "Jay-mee". I only just found that out when he was interviewed after the game. Why was he interviewed after the game, and not any other random player on that pitch? Well, let's see. This young fellow has just scored his first ever international brace for the under-18 team against Bliuji. This young right winger (in a footballing sense, not the political one) is really lighting the field on fire. At least, as much as the Unremarkables can get a fire lit on the pitch. Not that I'm saying that this team could catch fire literally. Maybe in a metaphorical sense but I do sincerely hope that they don't all spontaneously combust, for their own good and for the good of the nation.

Speaking of nations, Bliuji is also a pretty unremarkable nation if I do say so myself. Of course, I don't know everything about Bliuji. For all I know it could be this abundant utopia where no one starves and no one wants for anything, but probably not. But it's also probably not a hellish landscape where the citizens don't try to escape only because the border itself will kill them. Hyperbole much? Maybe, just maybe. But the honest truth about my knowledge of Bliuji is that I know them for their FA having lodged a complaint with the Independents Association about the running of the most recent Independents Cup over in Reçueçn. Something about the game being rigged and all that. But honestly though, there's always at least one nation who complains about rigging in every tournament, especially when the host nation wins. It's nothing new, and Bliuji aren't going to get anything out of their complaints anytime soon. Not that I'm inclined to believe them. I've seen some questionable shite happen in some other tournaments with nations that shall not be named, and that is all that I shall speak about the matter. For now.

So now of course all of this leads us to the final confrontation against the Bees of Baker Park. We all know how they proved the saying "fourth time's the charm" wrong, and right in front of our home fans as well. It may have been a well-deserved victory for the people of Baker Park but that doesn't mean that the people of Abanhfleft have just accepted it and moved on. No, some of us are still having difficulty swallowing the bitter pill of defeat (me among them) and I'm sure that we're all itching for the chance at getting some revenge for U18WC 5. It's not going to be easy though. Quite the opposite, in fact. They're top of Group F (only by virtue of goal difference though, and if you didn't phwoar! at the sight of that GD then you don't have a soul. Or a sex life.) and they are not intent on giving that up without a fight. It will be bitter. It will be hard. It will be intense. And if at the end of that, the Unremarkables remain, well, unremarkable, then that in itself is quite a remarkable feat. XOXO from Graham....

[Free Republics]

Stelburg, Teusland

Before the match against Trolleborg, the Republican National Team were hanging out in their locker room. A number of the players were gathered around Alexis Campbell's cPad as Sir Koby Theodore arrived. He walked over, curious what his players were up to before the big match to determine first place in Group B:

Koby Theodore - Are you ladies watching video of the Trolls to prepare for the match?

Lisa White - Why would we be doing that? We're in the knockout rounds regardless and today is the launch day for Daisy Plus!

Koby Theodore - I didn't realize all of you still watched those kids movies.

Marie Meshizuka - Coach, you do realize everybody's watching Ricky Rat today, right?

Faith Marshall - Yeah and then we're going to watch the movie about the talking toys after the game tonight.

Amy Ashbolt - No Faith, we all agreed to watch the one with the cute deer.

Alexis Campbell - Stop it, you two. Sorry coach, but we can't agree what movie we're going to watch after we beat those Trolls.

Koby Theodore - I guess I'm fine with you guys doing whatever you want, as long as you do what you're supposed to do tonight. And how about this: if you win, we'll celebrate tomorrow with a movie marathon. Everybody who scores a goal gets to pick 1 movie and we will all watch it together as a team.

Alexis Campbell - But what about me?

Koby Theodore - Alexis, if you can maintain a clean sheet for once, you can pick whatever movie you want. Same goes for you as well Risae and Brooke. Our defensive performance so far has been a total disgrace.

Risae Kan - We'll do our best tonight.

Brooke Shaw - Yeah. I don't like giving up 4 goals a match anymore than you do coach.

Faith Marshall - Then please don't. Its so annoying when we have to score 5 or 6 goals just to win a match.

Alexis Campbell - I take full responsibility for that.

Risae Kan - I'm not going to let you do that, Alexis. We're all to blame.

Uzuki Mikami - Alexis, you've got this.

Koby Theodore - You guys are most certainly much more innocent than my generation was at your age but I guess its probably for the best that you'd rather hang out and watch Daisy cartoons than go to the bar. Once this cartoon's over though, I have some footage of Trolleborg that I want to go over. I believe I've found a hole in their defensive tactics that we can exploit...