World Cup 86: Roleplay Thread

by **Sarzonia** » Thu Sep 03, 2020 10:47 am

This farewell tour Kevin Connelly has embarked upon was supposed to be a victory lap. It was supposed to provide a capstone to a career that ended much differently from how he expected.

Truth be told, he really didn't want to have his every tactic analysed breathlessly on SSPN or discussed heatedly at every local watering hole. He longed for the days when his most difficult decision would be whether or not to put on a pair of trousers.

This World Cup 86 campaign may ultimately provide the farewell tour of Connelly's dreams, but the present certainly wasn't what anyone expected. A sold out crowd at Dave Wilson Stadium, seeing its third match of the day after two over-35 contests in the World Cup of Masters walked out of the grounds with disappointment on their lips after the Sarzonian national football team played a 2--2 draw against unranked and unheralded Yuezhou.

"It was a wakeup call," Connelly said in hushed tones that appeared more ominous because of an obvious flash of anger in his eyes. "We were expected to roll them in our grounds. Hell, we expected to roll them, and look what happened. They stole two points from us [in the Group 14 table]. We've got to be better, especially me."

Yuezhou came in with their expected midfield press and it threw off both captain Clayton Wilson and fellow midfielder Brady Reynolds resulting in snuffed out threats in the first 13 minutes of the match. Reynolds's loss of possession just after crossing midfield in the 13th minute led to Gu Zhalei starting a breakaway and firing a pass to Liu Huiying, who trapped the ball on her chest and volleyed the ball past Carlton Sandt for a 1-0 lead.

Reynolds thought he had combined with Jake Campos for the equaliser in the 23rd minute, but the linesman had the offside flag up, leading Reynolds to argue with the referee to no avail. Wilson had to nudge Reynolds aside to avoid Reynolds drawing his first yellow card. He would eventually draw the booking in the 36th minute after Huang Shedong capitalised on an Ernie Mabree turnover and made it 2-0.

The temper tantrum seemed to ignite the Stars and bring life back to a restless crowd that had cheered wildly for the unveiling of the team's new kits in a brief ceremony before the start of the match. Wilson adapted to the press and sent Reynolds on a run that drew attention away from Campos and allowed the young striker to put the Stars on the scoresheet just before the end of first half stoppage time.

Connelly sent on Mek'hi West as a second half substitute for Reynolds, hoping in part to avoid having his star playmaker draw a red card from frustration with Yuezhou's tactics. West made sure the strategy paid dividends as he studied the press and thought about how to adjust to it. He made a run and deked his way past the press, and Mabree served him a ball directly at his feet that he was able to capitalise on and draw the score level.

Connelly was content to play more defensively to prevent their opponents from winning the match, but heard a smattering of boos from the crowd. They made clear that Sarzonians hated negative football, and Connelly acknowledged that after the fact.

"We battled back, and I didn't want us to fritter away what we had to fight so hard for," he said.

As for the first away match against No. 57 Eraman, the Stars were much better prepared for that contest, being the away side facing the team directly below them in the KPB rankings. The motivation was clearly different as Sarzonia built a 2-0 lead 17 minutes in. Eraman scored their lone goal in the 58th minute through a laser from outside the 18-yard box that eluded Paolo Gomes.

After two matches, the Stars were 1-1-0, in fourth place on four points. The fact that Sarzonia lost its second match to Acronius in the previous World Cup qualifying campaign after opening against then-unranked Delaclava with a victory wasn't lost on Connelly. However, he pointed to expectations being different.

"We weren't favourites to qualify last time," he said. "Delaclava are a team against whom we have to throw out the records because that rivalry is what it is, and Acronius were directly behind us in the world rankings. This time, we should have done better than we did."

by **Farfadillis** » Thu Sep 03, 2020 10:51 am

"I'm sorry, we're playing where?"

"[unknown arena] is the name we've settled on. We're following new stylistic conventions. We want to be all hip and modern."

Pam facepalmed. "Why, Alex, why? What's the point? We have a perfectly fine home stadium, even if one stand is on fire. The players are used to playing there. The grass and dimensions are tailored for our style of football. Why, pray tell, would we be playing in Unknown Arena?"

"It's pronounced [unknown arena]. You know, with italics and square brackets. Blame the youth." The FFFF's president pointed out.

"What?" She looked at him for a second, confused, before brushing that off as further Farf craziness. She sighed. "Nevermind. Just explain to me why, exactly, we have to play in whatever this arena might be. I'm honestly expecting anything."

"Long story short, we haven't submitted the appropriate paperwork to play at La Fantás since, apparently, World Cup 72. Twenty-eight years later, the WCC has had it with this little oversight and told us we can't use it until we submit the paperwork. Given the choice between fulfilling our bureaucratic duties and building a whole new stadium, we chose the latter."

"..."

"What?"

"... won't you have to submit paperwork to the WCC for this stadium too?"

"We are hoping we will get a twenty-eight-year grace period, much like last time."

Pam sat silent for a moment, presumably lamenting the string of decisions that had led her there. After another very, very deep sigh, she decided it would be better to not hear any more details and prepare for the worst. "Fine, I'll tell the players. I'll just pretend we'll be playing in the worst possible pitch and prepare the team accordingly." She got up, preparing to leave.

"Wait!" Alex yelled. "You guys over at Baker Park have a funny name for Faroleran, right?"

Pam stopped right at the door. "Uh... yeah. We call it Spanish."

Alex smiled. "Do you happen to know what arena means in Spanish?"

"No, I do not."

"That might be for the better, then."

Pam shook her head, then closed the door.

by **Sargossa** » Thu Sep 03, 2020 1:52 pm

An awkward bounce wrong footed the defender, fortuitously allowing Diego Alejandro Costa to break free. Suddenly, out of nothing, he was clean through on The Sarian goal. He approached the edge of the ‘D’ with only Oodel Duoztiun to beat. His body shape altered as he prepared to bend a curling left footed drive away from the keeper and just inside the far post. Advocates of a multiverse theory can safely assume that in many of them that is exactly what happened. In this universe it didn’t. Costa’s arms had already started to raise in celebration. Instead his hands went to his head in disbelief as the ball clattered off the post.

On the edge of his technical area Juan José Barreto’s face disappeared into his hands. It was a momentary reaction but one that would become the image of the match across the television, print and digital media. It was a reaction mirrored by one hundred thousands fans in the Estadio Generalissimo Joaquín Delgado. Boos rang out loud from all four stands. State President Gregorio Emparán was in attendance, a shake of the head evidence of his displeasure. Seated next to him Football Federation President Hernán Sandoval stared ahead, trying pointedly to ignore both the gesture and the crowd's angry reaction.

The good will bounce following the Olympics and hopefully third but possibly fourth place finish was long since gone. Defeat in Alikki-Corra in the opening match could be acknowledged as a predictable hump in the road. The Jungle Cats are a class apart in this group and even the most vocal of critics were impressed at the battling Sargossan performance in the Vilitan capital, hot on the heels of the similarly battling defeat in the Olympic semi final. For a while it even seemed like the Corsairs might escape with a point before the late goal that gave the hosts an admittedly fully deserved win. A win that put added importance on the first home game of the campaign.

A game in which the Corsairs were stuttering, badly. Costa’s effort was their thirteenth of the match thus far. But only one of those had actually forced Duoztiun into any kind of action. Two solid banks of four were largely restricting the Sargossan attack to efforts from distance. The Sarian were digging in well, doggedly defending the lead given to them when Mohammad Islam ghosted into the penalty to slot home Wictor Buul’s corner. More boos rang out as another effort, from Mauricio Sainz this time, drifted harmlessly over the bar. The Soluca crowd was unforgiving at the best of times. Tonight the atmosphere was downright poisonous. Poison that was directed in one direction. There were still plenty of points to be won in this campaign but for coach Barreto the trip to unranked Transvolcanic could well be win or bust.

by **Saltstead** » Thu Sep 03, 2020 2:32 pm

DISCLAIMER: It again goes without saying that is not characteristic of my OOC opinions.

The Beet

The Beet Sportsbox: Ladies, gentlemen and Saltsteaders, it’s officially World Cup time once more! Part the Twoth
Grab your nearest bonfire, set your newest head coach on fire continuously and gather around for the second fraction of the Official™ The Beet predictions for the World Cup qualifying group stage

Our friends from the Omerican office sent us this and we thought it might be relevant.

Ashwell — Yes, we know we’ve already had the first fortnight of qualifying matches already, but that will not stop us from completing our mission to outline the inevitable outcome of each and every group in these qualifiers like we have been commanded to do by the giant hamsters that control The Beet’s Official™ Saltstead Subdivision. Maybe you mere mortals do not see the wisdom of our benevolent rodent overlords, but that is irrelevant.

And yes, we are absolutely going to finish this as they command. So without further ado, here is the exciting conclusion of the Official™ The Beet World Cup Qualification Predictions, brought to you by our good friend the Hamster Lord.

Group 10
Baggieland have this in the bag! It’s in their name, after all. As for the rest of this group, HUElavia are the most threatening challengers to Reçueçn, but they’ll probably be too busy HUEing OR WHAtever IT IS HUElavians DO—CAPitalising THE FIRst THRee LETters OF EVEry WORd, I THInk—to actually mount a credible fight. None of the other teams look like they’ll be a problem, so Reçueçn join Baggieland in qualifying automatically.

And because Lady Luck hates them, Eastfield Lodge will win the wooden spoon. After all, I’m fairly sure the day Eastfield Lodge qualify for a third time is the day hell freezes over and no one wants that.

Group 11
According to the rules of this super secret Evil Bid we’ve ~~stolen from~~ found in the basement of the Royal Saltsteadish Football Association’s headquarters, Group 11 is to be conducted as a typographical competition where the teams are ranked in accordance with the ratio of CAPITAL-to-lowercase letters in their names. As the only team in the group to have a name that is majority CAPITAL letters, TJUN-ia win! Se Vende Skooma finish second with 3 CAPITALS to 10 lowercase, but that’s not enough to qualify automtically.

Filindostan, however, are truly pathetic, with just ONE CAPITAL for ten lowercase letters. for shame.

Group 12
The Hinodejin Empire has been summarily set on fire and permanently disqualified from the World Cup. Inquiries about this may be directed to our receptionist at The Beet’s Omerican office. They will be wearing the Omerican away kit, but that’s merely coincidence. Don’t question that.

As for the nice teams in this group, we like the idea of trolls swarming Drawkland and I’m pretty sure Trolleborg will be happy to oblige us. If Riena promise to bring along enough cats to overrun the Seven Stars Stadium, we’ll happily let them qualify automatically with Trolleborg ~~and Drawkland shall burn~~.

Group 13
If I’m not mistaken, Equestria has actual sentient horses. They obviously cannot be allowed to compete with the glorious Saltsteadish Stallions and are therefore disqualified. Now with that out of the way, we can get to all of the other teams.

Now I’m fairly sure Indusse have already broken reality and leaked the “reallife” conspiracy, so we can easily count on them to break reality again by qualifying for the World Cup finals. As for the eight remaining teams, I cannot definitely say if any of them are capable of sufficiently breaking reality to qualify directly, so we’ll just let Oberour Ar Moro loose on the playoffs and see what happens. Surely, nothing can go wrong here.

Group 14
Anything is possible in the Plane of Possibility, including the possibility of defying impossibility to win the group. If it is possible for anyone to beat a team stacked like Farfadillis, it is the Plane of Possibility. Otherwise, why else would they call themselves that? Farfadillis don’t stand a chance here! Maybe in the playoffs, but not here.

Now there are all sorts of bizarre nations in this group that I’m fairly certain don’t actually exist, like “Alba and Cymru” (sounds like a RLstates rip-off) and “Northwest Kalactin” (someone tell Kalactin about their rebel province). But what really takes the cake is the “Overseas Territories of Sylestone”. The consumerist appliance-based retailer has now taken to imperialism and feels the need to conquer Territories? Last place for the knockoff appliances.

Group 15
THE GROUP OF DEATH! As the name implies, everyone in this group will kill each other trying to win the group and therefore, there will be only team left standing to win the group. Everyone will obviously go for Cassadaigua first, what with how they’re the top seed and all, ignoring poor little Kulefati at the bottom of the pile. And since no one will be expecting Kulefati to pose any kind of risk, Kulefati get the last kill and consequently win the group.

Since we kind of don’t have a runner-up to playoff here, a seventh runner-up will have to qualify automatically to make up the numbers. It’s just arithmetic.

Group 16
Saltstead win this group with a perfect record. (Ignore any games that Saltstead may have already lost.) It is, after all, the natural order of the universe for this to happen. Starblaydia, conversely, will lose all of their games as karmic punishment for running over His Majesty’s pet horse in their last RAWRCRUSH. And just to rub it in Starblaydia’s face, Krytenia qualify automatically on account of winning all the games they play against everyone not named “Saltstead”.

Any deviation from this ordained order shall be punishable by force-feeding of turnips.

Group 17
We can obviously discount Legalese from contention here, given how they will be too busy drowning in legal red tape to actually schedule any qualifying games. That’s good news for When U Die, whose qualifying dreams would otherwise be sentenced to tenth-place ignominy.

Zwangzug, conversely, will easily by conquering everyone in this group. I presume they use magic borrowed from Holy Empire wizards to turn their opponents into chess pieces or something along those lines, but their chess moves will be even more powerful. South Covello will be too busy trying to stop their goat from eating all the grass and the Squornshelan Remainder Stakes will be too busy trying to learn how to spell their name, but the latter can put down the exercise books long enough to win a playoff spot.

Group 18
Baker Park sounds more like a public space in Breadland than a sovereign state. There’s no way they can be that good, so we’ll peg them for last place. West Angola would’ve otherwise been our pick, since they sound like half of a single “Angola”. That can’t be very good either, but half of an “Angola” sure sounds better than a single park, especially one overrun with bakers.

Twicetagria are the upgraded counterpart of Oncetagria, so they must be twice as good as a single sovereign state. I think that will be enough to get past all the actual sovereign states in this group. Then I have to make a decision as to which Islands finish second and go to the playoffs and “Busoga” sounds more “place-y” to me than “Orion”. So the Busoga Islands have this playoff wrapped up, I assume.

Group 19
Last, but not least… It’s the spooky group because it doesn’t exist. ~~Newmanistan will win it easily, while Drawkland finish in second and last place.~~

In conclusion
The groups shall be won by Brenecia, Tequilo, Grand Quebecois, Terre Septentrionale, the Holy Junta, the Holy Empire, Banija, Pluvia and the Saxean Isles, Valanora, Baggieland, TJUN-ia, Trolleborg, Indusse, Plane of Possibility, Kulefati, Saltstead, Zwangzug & Twicetagria. Drunk People at the Local Tavern, Turori, Lovisa, the Sarian, Reçueçn, Riena & Krytenia will get to skip the playoffs and the playoffs eliminate half of Darkmania, Ko-oren, Nephara, HAIKU, Qasden, Se Vende Skooma, Oberour Ar Moro, Farfadillis, Squornshelan Remainder Stakes & Busoga Islands.

Any deviation from this shall be punished by force-feeding of turnips. Good luck. —TB

★
The Royal Saltsteadish Football Association
Royal House of Sport, Ashwell
Cheetahs and Reptiles Coalison: Saltstead
World Cup 86 qualifying group stage — Matchday 3
Unknown Stadium, Unknown City, Cheetahs and Reptiles Coalison
Saltstead lineup (4–5–1): Marianne Åudershof; Micħäl Aurelius – Pijr Josefssen – Serena van Middelkamp – Victoria Rothöüf; Wim Amistad – Benni Sħåul – Adelaide de Jong – Nicholas Tiberius – Thomas Lions; Reinhard Åubreħtssen

Saltstead : Jovannic
World Cup 86 qualifying group stage — Matchday 4
King William VII National Park, Ashwell, Saltstead
Saltstead lineup (4–5–1): Marianne Åudershof; Micħäl Aurelius – Pijr Josefssen – Serena van Middelkamp – Victoria Rothöüf; Wim Amistad – Benni Sħåul – Adelaide de Jong – Nicholas Tiberius – Thomas Lions; Reinhard Åubreħtssen

by **Northwest Kalactin** » Thu Sep 03, 2020 2:50 pm

Nagore 3–2 Northwest Kalactin
The Kalactanian team came into this match ready to win their first game of the World Cup qualifiers, and try to make a breakout and maybe make the playoffs. It would not be easy to do, as the Kalactanian team was relatively younger than the squad before and once again, faced one of the toughest draws in the entire cup. Nagore would be a team that they absolutely needed to beat, as not winning against these unranked seeds would pretty much shoot their chances of having a good enough run to make the World Cup. Farfadillis pretty much looks like a sure lock for the World Cup in Group 14, and it surely showed as they were able to get out to the quickest start in the group, with a 2-1 win against Baptism of Fire Champions Graintfjall.

The game started out as usual, with the Kalactanians coming out in their usual 3-3-4 lineup, and the Sharks of Nagore coming out in their less offensive minded 4-4-2. Kalactanian Captain Jimmy McCarthy won the coin toss against Johnathan Giffords, and the match started. It would be the Kalactanians who dominated possession in the first part of the game, and they tried to make the most out of it, getting 2 chances at the goal in the first 10 minutes. The Kalactanians started out with a chance in the third minute, but a shot by Will Sanders would sail just wide of the net as he wasn’t able to get a good angle on it. Just later, during the sixth minute the Kalactanians had a corner kick. Lamar Hall took the kick from the right corner of the net, and he played it into a perfect position for Kalactanian Midfielder Steve Gilbert to play the shot at the net, luckily for Nagore, Gregory Dunn was there to block the shot. The volley from Gilbert hit Dunn in the shin, and it was cleared out by the Nagore Defense.

The next few minutes would be some of the slowest of the game, as both teams battled for possession in midfield, and no teams had any clear cut chances. The Kalactanian team was clearly trying to make sure that Nagore was always pressured on defense, and that they didn’t exploit any holes in the back end of the Kalactanian defense, with Matt Hall hanging back to make sure that nothing bad happened during the Nagore attacks. Nagore, on the other hand, was able to hang back their defenders, and set traps for some of the Kalactanian attackers, just as the Audioslavian team did back in AOCAF 61. This strategy undoubtedly worked on the over-aggressive Kalactanian team, and throughout the game, the Kalactanian team would not see any chances on the net due to this.

The first goal of the game would come in the 33rd minute, Priyanka Dave for Nagore was able to spot a hole in the Kalactanian defense. He would pass the ball to Ryan Mulger, who was in a 1-1 against Kalactanian defender Matt Hall. Hall was unable deal without the quick attacking moves of Mulger, and panicked. As Hall but in one of Mulger’s moves, Mulger was able to get past Hall easily. Mulger got a good angle on the Kalactanian keeper Mark Romero, and sent a shot flying into the bottom left corner for the first goal scored of the match. This goal deflated much of the morale and confidence that the Kalactanian team had built up during the first few attacks of the game, and it showed, as another goal would be coming up quickly.

Nagore would end up getting their second goal of the game on a beautiful free kick by Midfielder Tyrone Crabapple. A relatively dirty tackle by Larry Martinez on Tyrone would set up Nagore with a free kick from about 24 yards out, after he did a poorly executed slide tackle on Crabapple. Crabapple lined up for the free kick and sent it flying into the net from 24 yards, in what would be one of the best goals of the game for Nagore. At halftime, it was 2-0. The Kalactanian team was in deep Trouble. Down 2-9 against arguably the weakest team in the group was not a good look for anyone, let alone the Pot 4 Kalactanian team. The Kalactanians would need to get back in the game soon or they would definetly go onto lose that game.

The Kalactanians would come back, with a goal in the 51st minute, early in the second half. Thomas Butler, the AC Itotz Zubia product, came flying down the wing with ball. He spotted star striker Jimmy McCarthy rushing towards the net, and he decided to pass it to him. McCarthy was able to play the ball well in the center of the field, and send a kick in from the sage of the 18 yard box to score the first goal of the ame for the Kalactanians. The second goal of the game would be another one aided by Butler, who would go onto win man of the match for the Kalactanian team. On a corner kick, he got the ball into Lamar Hall, who was able to trap it from about 9 yards away. The Nagore keeper, Rutherford rushed out at Hall, but he played it well enough to send a shot booming into the net. The Kalactanians were back in it.

The Kalactanian team would need some luck if they wanted to get back in and win the game, but the Nagore team seemed very unwilling to give them any chances at the net. A tie for the Kalactanian team would still be very disatisfactory, as they would have been very much unwilling to lose to an unranked team like this before the game started, at this point though, the were fine with any result. Matt Hall had already played a terrible game for the Kalactanian team, and he was subbed out in favor of the Malor City product, George Taylor. Taylor came in immediately and was able to make a difference for the Kalactanian team, and was able to stop many of the attacks from Nagore, unlike his predecessor that game, Hall.

Nagore, despite this change, would still go onto score another goal, and it would be the one that would ultimately win it for them, as it was in the 86th minute. The young Nagore midfielder, Savanna St. Bernard, took a long shot at the net, which was deflected by Romero, but would still go out for bounds for a Nagore corner kick. Jerome Waller took the corner kick for Nagore, the kick landed right in the feet of Nagore defender Gregory Dunn, who was able to control it. Dunn took a shot from 14 yards out, right in front of the net. It was a great shot, Romero could do nothing to stop it as the shot flew into the top corner of the net, the Kalactanian team went down 3-2 against Nagore, and in the end, would lose the game.

This was not the result that the Kalactanian team was hoping for at all, they wanted an easy win against this Nagore team. On the next match day, 3 days later for the Kalactanians, they would lose to another low ranked team, Yuezhou. These 2 losses have sent the Kalactanian team into a tailspin, they may not be able to recover from this the entire cycle. This also puts current manager Damon Schecters job at risk, he has been manager for a long time, but now that he may be planning to retire soon, a poor qualifying cycle may fast forward his demise at the helm of Northwest Kalactin.

by **Darmen** » Thu Sep 03, 2020 3:07 pm

27th Try's the Charm?

DaVe’s MomS HouSe, SULSULAND - Berhtoald Myers' All Greens have kicked off Darmen's 27th attempt at winning the World Cup with a 3-2 victory over Zeta Reka and Hugeltaldom at the Estadio Monumental Ernesto Chavarría. The fine effort in that match was followed up with a one-nil victory in Sulsuland.

Myers has been at Darmen's helm now for three qualification attempts and for the first time, he will not have the services of Alberich Goldschmidt. The 34 year old defensive midfielder and most capped Darmeni player of the modern era with 204 appearances in international football, has retired both from domestic and international football. He was the last remaining player from the Tor Tong Lee squad that competed during qualification for the 75th World Cup.

Another major change for Myers and the Darmeni team is the absence of Juanito Stafford from the preferred starting XI. Following a social media post which the Darmeni Football Association deemed to have crossed a line, Stafford has found himself dropped from the starting XI in favor of Aquila Freud. Bill St. John, following his $10 million move to Bearden FC in Xanneria has also moved up the depth chart, to be the preferred reserve player in the right midfield position. In addition to falling down the depth chart, Stafford has also been stripped of the vice-captaincy, which has now been handed to goalkeeper Hyman Campo.

Darmen's next two opponents on the schedule, Krytenia and Starblaydia, also happen to be Darmen's two toughest opponents in Group 16 and the main obstacles to qualifying for the World Cup. This will be Darmen's first time facing off against Krytenia in the modern era, but the team does have two previous meetings against Starblaydia. World Cup 78 qualifying saw each team claim victory at their home ground, 2-1 to Darmen in the Colosus Romanopolis and 1-0 to Starblaydia in the Stadii Di Bradini.

With both matches being played at home, the Krytenia match in Johnho and the Starblaydia match in Scott City's Oldtown, Darmen will at least enjoy home field advantage in what is an early and extremely tough barometer test of the team's chances to qualify to — and win — the World Cup.

Full Qualifying Schedule

MD1: vs. Zeta Reka and Hugeltaldom @ Estadio Monumental Ernesto Chavarría (37,500), Rogerton
MD3: vs. Krytenia @ Stadio Rushmore (70,000), Johnho
MD4: vs. Starblaydia @ Northumberland Stadium (62,100), Scott City
MD6: vs. Cheetahs and Reptiles Coalison @ Warren Park (35,000), Chuckio
MD8: vs. Mattijana @ Brham Stadium (54,000), Brham
MD11: vs. Sulsuland @ City Stadium (37,100), Scott City
MD14: vs. Rangers FC @ Stadion Hungaria (36,343), Kingsville
MD16: vs. The Jovannic @ Tyger Stadium (40,000), Darmen City
MD18: vs. Saltstead @ Augusta Stadium (45,000), Augusta

OOC: Wraping up an RP line from the Copa.

Royalist Party Reaches Agreement
Will Merge with Several Small Right-wing Parties

SCOTT CITY - Following a meeting of the Royalist Party's Executive Council and Parliamentary Caucus, the path forward for the party following the death of its leader, Maxwell Romanov, has been decided.

The party will join together with several smaller right-wing parties to form the Party of Patriotic Forces. Royalist Party MP's will continue to sit for the remainder of the current parliamentary term under the Royalist Party banner; the Party of Patriotic Forces will make its official debut during the 2049 General Election campaign.

Among the parties joining the Royalist Party in the new political movement is the pro-military Think Tank party, the anti-regulation Capitalism Party and the anti-alcohol Temperance League. None of the three parties garnered more than 4,000 votes in the 2045 election.

A fourth party, the Christianity First Party, although deciding to wind up its own activities and join with a larger party, has so far refrained from making a decision on which party to join. It is rumored that Republican Party leaders are lobbying Christianity First to pick them.

Neacel Wembley, Royalist Party MP, who spoke to the media following a meeting of the four parties, stated, "We hope to present right-wing Darmenis with a distinct alternative to the wishy-washy moderate Republicans and the fascist F&UU when they enter the ballot box. Uniting Darmeni conservatives behind a clear message of 'Faith, Family, Tradition' is our chief aim."

by **Savigliane** » Thu Sep 03, 2020 3:14 pm

VI. Thea Squarciafichi
4 April, 2018
WCC World Cup Qualifiers, First Round
???, ??, Fluvannia

"Thea, you're coming on for Coste," Laurent Chambéry shouted in the seventy-fourth minute of a 1-0 Savigliane lead. The young striker nodded and started to warm up.

Surprising as it may seem, outside of football reasons, Thea Squarciafichi had never been to the eastern half of Savigliane. Even after she'd broken into EDC Fossano's first team, becoming one of Savigliane's hottest young talents, she'd seen no reason to visit unless she absolutely had to. At the time, it wasn't out of malice toward the French-speaking parts of the country, but just out of a great contentedness with how her life was going - she was from Fossano, lived in Fossano, worked in Fossano, and played in Fossano, and saw no reason to mix any of that up.

If she'd had any will to visit, though, the last six months had completely destroyed that. Ever since she'd fought with Gabriel Lefebvre over a penalty in the Baptism of Fire's Round of 16, she'd been constantly vilified by half the country. The Villeneuve Courier'd had the nerve to claim that she'd "distracted" Lefebvre by arguing with him, and the Francophone tabloids had straight-up pinned the blame on her not just for the team's 3-4 loss, but also for the subsequent riots in Rizieres.

As soon as the media shitstorm had hit, Thea had been sent as far away from media attention as possible. She'd rented a place out in Pietrargenta under a cousin's name and rode the next few months out watching old games, staying in touch with her EDC Fossano teammates, and waiting for the league to resume play. Her Italophone teammates on the national teams, as well as many of the Francophone ones, had covered for her with a barrage of "no comment"s and "we'd prefer to speak about the match"s. Gabriel Lefebvre had...not, and Laurent Chambéry had refused to call them both up at the same time for the pre-WCQ friendlies.

Things were still frosty at best, although they could at least share a dressing room, and she still wasn't on speaking terms with Lefebvre or his friends Durand and Dirac. But none of those three were on the pitch as Thea came on, and the only thing she was concerned with at the moment was playing her heart out.

She'd gotten her chance five minutes later. The omnipresent Bertrand Marchetti had stripped the opponents' winger with a perfectly-placed tackle, and Amara Vatrican had hoofed it over a desperately-pressing Fluvannian back line. Thea took off, corralled the pass, and took three steps before chipping it over the opposition keeper.

As roughly two-thirds of the away crowd roared, Thea wheeled away from the goal and ran toward the bench, intending to stare down the Francophone half of it. Shaking his head, but at least clapping, was Gabriel Lefebvre.

MD1: Fluvannia 0 - 2 Savigliane
Starting Lineup: Notari (C); Garcia, Giraudo, LeClerc; Marchetti, Vatrican, Petit, Vitale (Dutto HT); Coste (Squarciafichi 74), Grimaldi, Lefebvre (Belanger 63)
Goals: Grimaldi 12, Squarciafichi 79

MD2: Savigliane 2 - 4 Trolleborg
Starting Lineup: Notari (C); Garcia, Giraudo, Moreau; Marchetti, Vatrican, Dirac (Petit 81), Vitale (Dutto 53); Coste (Lefebvre 64), Grimaldi, Durand
Goals: Dirac 12, Durand 34

Starting Lineup for MD3: Notari (C); Garcia, Giraudo, Moreau; Marchetti, Vatrican, Petit, Dutto; Coste, Squarciafichi, Vitale
Starting Lineup for MD4: Notari (C); Garcia, Giraudo, Moreau; Marchetti, Toscani, Petit, Dutto; Barthelemy, Grimaldi, Vitale

by **Krytenia** » Thu Sep 03, 2020 3:35 pm

Ask Not For Whom The Bel Goals
By Rami Niblick in Stanton

AFTER the travesty that was the match in Sulsuland, Krytenia needed points like a fish needs water in their home opener. Thankfully for Jerome Jaffacake-Phillips and his charges, the Dragons duly obliged at the Harbour Stadium, though not without a few bumps along the way.

Krytenia started positively enough, the new-look front three gelling nicely. Selly Kennedy and Rafa Mendonca may have waltzed off into the sunset, but their replacements are exciting young bucks. Apollo Peters has the advantage of plenty of chances at Avidia United, whilst Alun Belmwr is a teenage prodigy of rare talent. It's unsurprising, then, that the two linked up for the opening goal just nine minutes in. Peters controlled Joshua Kelnic's cross-field pass on his chest, before flicking the ball over the head of the closing Raye Eng and into the path of Belmwr, who slotted the ball calmly past the onrushing keeper to put Krytenia in front.

The Jovannic's usual 4-2-4 suited Krytenia down to the ground, the advanced wingers giving Kelnic and Oliver Alexander the freedom to overload the midfield and suffocate any attempts at attack for a fair portion of the first half. Only backs-to-the-wall defending, with Gavon Simoli practically reduced to being an advanced centre-back to stifle the dangerous Neil Smith, prevented more chances. Eventually, Gonzal Mathee made the decision to abandon the advancements of Sami Ning and Deingh Khan in favour of shoring up the centre of the park, which allowed the visitors to get back in the game. Able to play more of their trademark passing football, the Jovannic set about creating chances of their own; Jin Tze and Juyt Dersa combining well to stretch the Krytenian back three, before playing in Jovan Ilohil behind Ross Green. The Jovannic captain made no mistake with his strike, whipping the ball past Damien Carpenter to equalise.

A change at the start of the second half saw Jaffacake-Phillips try and claim the midfield back, replacing Smith with the more withdrawn playmaker Darren Harrison. The change worked wonders, Harrison's presence freeing up Cormac O'Neill to drift back a little, neutralising the link between the visitors' midfield and attack. With momentum shifting their way, the Dragons set about making that advantage count. Harrison had his hand in it, releasing Alexander on the wing; the Notegia man's cross found the sprawling form of Apollo Peters, whose diving header had enough on it to beat veteran keeper Mavin Tsuniki and restore Krytenia's lead.

Keeping the pressure on after the goal, Belmwr would add a virtuoso third a short while later, receiving a short O'Neill pass before beating three Jovannic defenders and powering the ball past and exposed Tsuniki. From there, the game appeared to be won, but a corner three minutes from time would provide a lifeline. Ning's whipped ball hung nicely in the air for Maruo Mulchaio to get the better of James Aitken and make for a tense ending. In the end, though, that was all the visitors had in the tank, and the home side closed out for the full complement of points.

Starblaydia loom like a violet storm cloud on the horizon; before that, there's the little matter of the double-header against Mattijana and Darmen. These two sides both collected maximum points from their first two matches, and are exactly the sort of teams that Krytenia need to take points off to have any chance of making it to the World Cup finals. Onward!

KRYTENIA - 3
Belmwr 9, 63
Peters 59

THE JOVANNIC - 2
Ilohil 33
Mulchaio 87

by **Taeshan** » Thu Sep 03, 2020 3:56 pm

"So would you like to talk about your mother"?

"I guess it makes the most sense. She was a huge part in why I got where I was."

"Whenever you're ready."

"I think my mother really worked hard for us. She was a teacher, I think my older sisters definitely noticed after I was born that I was her special little Sully. She and I would go to the book store. She always drove me to practice. She never missed a game."

"I remember seeing the video of her at your first cap in the Copa Rushmori, over in Eastfield Lodge."

"Yep, 16 Year-old makes national team starts all the games at a Copa Rushmori, Mom is his roommate. It was quite a headline."

"How did that make you feel?"

"I mean I wasn't the only one with usual parental guidance. Florian's older brother would be on national team camps until he was 18, and it was just sort of a thing. Two young guys have a lot of supervision on international dates, but to a certain extent you're not old enough to be out "alone" and both of us had parents that made sure someone was along to guide us, and while they trusted the older guys on the team, that team was young still in my early years. Shiloh was Captain at 24, Yoshi was 20. It was a party scene more than it wasn't".

"Did you ever resent your mother, after years of always being around her? Her always on the scene"?

"I think I did. I think that was something I regret now. We didn't talk for much of the years after I moved on from Moresville. I wasn't home anymore, and then she wasn't her anymore."

"I understand she had memory issues."

"Yeah. It got pretty bad actually. She died when I was 27, so I mean there was probably 5 years of her slowly losing herself. Forgetting who I was. My parents were a little older, but still...She's 65 and has memory issues. It was rough."

"What were those years like?"

"I think before I left, it was rough. I moved out, had my own place, had my own career, made more money than they ever had, and I helped them out a lot. They retired early, but I also distanced myself too much. MY family sacrificed everything and I became a national teamer before I could legally drive. And then I wasn't there..."

"We can stop if you want."

"No. I can go on."

"It that is what you want."

"I wasn't there really. But I'd come in and out and that was rough. I think there were times I would be back, and she would say how she missed me. Would wonder when I would be home. I didn't really see that as home at that point. It never wasn't my home, but you know. Kids want to prove themselves."

"Yes."

"And then my sister Sandy calls me...Says hey, mom died. And I just, I was on a beach in Astograth, with some friends and I lost it. I think Shiloh, Shiloh was retired at this point...Just looks at me and goes, oh no...And I flew back home, and I hadn't really been to the house....It was tough. It was all so different."

"It can be a tough pill to swallow."

"...yeah. It was. The house was so quite, the air was different. I think that was the time in my life where I was no longer the kid who followed his dream, I was the man who let go of what got him there."

by **Yue Zhou** » Thu Sep 03, 2020 3:59 pm

Dave Wilson Stadium, Woodstock
Immediately After the Sarzonia v. Yuezhou match

"Nicholas Wu, Yuezhou Abroad. We saw some controversy with the officiating in today's match, especially involving Brady Reynolds and how the Red Dragons played him. What was your take on the officiating today?"

"Well, you know, our defensive scheme tends to frustrate creative playmakers like Reynolds, and it was gratifying to see it work on a midfielder of his level. In terms of his arguments with the officiating, well, I think they were certainly a little more hands-off than Reynolds was hoping, but ultimately, we're not trying to play dirty. I thought it was pretty borderline when he was called offsides, but the decision to book him for dissent was pretty clear-cut, in my humble opinion."

Yuan Zilai, unlike most managers, actually liked press conferences. In his experience with them, they just consisted of him sitting down, getting lobbed softballs for fifteen minutes, and going home and getting to see himself on TV. What was wrong with that? To be fair, he was also quite good at it, possessing a naturally self-effacing sort of charm that deflected negative questions like Teflon.

"Lu Jiaohui, The Yuezhou Morning Post. How has the team reacted to Nanhai's recent militarization and threat to secede from the country if their demands for greater autonomy are not fully met?"

Most negative questions.

"Uhhhh...that's all the time we have for today, folks, take care!" he said, jumping over a table and running out of the room.

"What the hell was that stunt you pulled with Lu?" Liang Wei said three days later, over coffee.

"Look, I didn't realize Zheng Zhoulun (Nanhai's governor) was going to do that. The question just caught me off guard, is all." Seeing Liang remain silent, he hastily added, "I mean, not that I want to get political or anything. I just lived in Nangang for a few years, and I didn't think they were that pro-independence."

"Okay, well you may say that, but some YFA execs are starting to think you're a little too Pro-Nanhai. As your designated contact with the LFA, I figured you would want to know that they want someone a little more...Yincheng. Since, you know, people who don't want to get political usually just finish their press conferences, like normal people."

"Come on, Liang Wei. I know this looks bad, but look how well the team is doing! A win and a draw away against two of the group's top teams - I'm sure their guy won't have a system as good as mine."

"Well, I'm sure my bosses could be persuaded. They'll just need something in return."

"Wha-"

"Wen Xiaohui. I don't want her touching the pitch for the rest of the qualifiers. She's starting to chirp a little too much about the YFA, and we don't want someone like that being the next Red Dragons star. We have to keep her, or Sangau will get a little too heated with us, but hold her back as much as possible."

"Are you serious? We need her-"

"Where are you from again? Nangang?"

"Uh, Beian."

"Don't you forget that. Wen goes, or you go."

MD2: Northwest Kalactin 1 - 4 Yuezhou
Starting Lineup: Ruo; Kang (Wu HT), Ren, Han, Guo, Qiu; Yang, Gu (C), Chen; Huang, Liu
Goals: Liu 8, 22; Huang 35, 64

In a match between two of the least stable nations in their World Cup group, Yuezhou managed a second consecutive away upset, as they came to Gold Coast and smash-and-grabbed their way to four goals and all three points.

The game began in an incredibly open style. The Red Dragons broke well and often on the counter-attack, aided by their opponents' gung-ho +5 style. With a midfield press clogging up the middle of the pitch and thwarting Kalactin's attempts to play through that way, most of the attacks were focused to the wings, where Butler repeatedly found himself open but unable to cut back inside or figure out the perfect cross. On the other hand, Yuezhou were able to break frequently, exposing the overaggressive nature of their opponents' attack, and strike on the counter. After just eight minutes, a lofted pass from Gu Zhalei found its way to Liu Huiying, who slalomed through the last line of defense before firing home. Just seven minutes later, Dillan was dispossessed by Ren Fang, who found Kang Enlai streaking up the left flank. The Dynamo Dalian left-back then sprinted up the field on a magnificent solo run before laying off to Gu Zhalei, who again found Liu for a perfect finish.

The individual brilliance of Thomas Butler was able to narrow the deficit for the home side, as the teenaged winger ran past two defenders as if they weren't there before cutting inside and curling one past Ruo Xiaolan. But Yuezhou remained dangerous-as-ever on the counterattack, and with their opponents already trailing, resulting in even more aggressive attacks, the Red Dragons were able to strike twice more - while relying on Ruo Xiaolan to make some immaculate saves on the other end - to score a major upset victory.

by **The Orion Islands** » Thu Sep 03, 2020 4:32 pm

Does the Orionite Soccer Football Association have a clue?

The Republic of the Orion Islands suffered one of its great international humiliations of its history on the first matchday of the World Cup. A nation of high school cheerleaders, wearing full cheerleading uniform, with no organized positions, or even any kind of tactics, beat the ROI Eagles by a score of 1-0. Manager Thad Chase was seen on the sideline yelling all kinds of obscenities at his own team after their performance, or lack thereof. The game was seen by all as incredibly disorganized, a middle of the field battle that left both sides desperate. There was no scoring for the first forty-five minutes, as neither side maintained a long attack into opponent territory. The Orionite defenders held their ground, however, there was absolutely no coordination between the midfielders and the forwards. No attacks had any kind of tactical strategy and were quickly stopped by swarming cheerleaders from all directions. Goalkeeper Clinton Maxwell played brilliantly, the only Orionite player who did make a good impression on everyone. In the second half the game continued mostly the same, although The Orionites became visibly angry at their lack of scoring. The match went into three minutes of stoppage time. With just thirty seconds left, Manuel Oliver kicked at a Cheergirl in Orion's penalty area, drawing a penalty kick, witch was converted. Both Manager Chase and Oliver spat at the scorer in the ensuing thirty seconds, with both drawing red cards, drawing massive boos from all who were present at Victoria Park. Not a small number of fans had walked out before that, and the few who remained began to curse at Chase. Five fans burned their flags in disgust at the match. Afterward, the Federal Senate unanimously passed a resolution demanding that Chase be fired and that the SFA be investigated for "Orionite failure in the world of soccer." Afterward, many people across the nation took to social media to say that the SFA "ruined Orionite soccer" and that it "doesn't have a clue." Chief assistant manager Caleb Rennell will manage the Eagles in their game against Mercedini. Lloyd Barnes will start at fullback. Although the SFA has issued a statement that it "fully supports Thad Chase and will stand by him", the people and the Senate have shown that very little public support exists, with most blaming him for the disaster.

by **Springmont** » Thu Sep 03, 2020 5:34 pm

All home matches for the Springmont team will be held at Esthampton Citypark, 10km from the capital, South Winbridge. Esthampton Citypark (23,339) equip with 61 state of arts electronic turnstiles and new safety systems, concession stands and toilets, lifts, staircases and access ramp, complete with 34 private skyboxes to improve revenue collections. Compositionally the huge alter will come from totally modern roof, to begin with time ever completely built with steel trusses. Spanning over 29 meters, it’s anticipated to supply much way better assurance to individuals interior the stadium. Also, using lighter steel structure will provide room for skyboxes beyond the main grandstand.

In terms of aesthetics, all of the new roof will reach equal height regardless of varying concrete stand levels. From the outside the stadium will be covered with aluminum sheets forming 3m-wide panels waved individually. Capacity of 23,339, perhaps lower then 30,000 when is planned. In that number there will be 34 skyboxes, while all fans will be able to utilize a few of the 1,280 parking lots in nearby vicinity, of which 200-300 are planned to be under ground in next phase projects. The stadium clearly stands out in local landscape thanks to its bright golden colour and dynamic, sharp shape. At the tallest point it rises to 37 meters and is planned to take after a blossoming flower bud, celebrating our culture and nature.

Esthampton Citypark Stadium is located in the Esthampton Citypark Complex which is also home to the SFA Headquarters building, Titus Campolongo Tactics Research Center, and Harrison Corna Training Ground. Several small fields and small courts were also built around it.

by **The Orion Islands** » Thu Sep 03, 2020 5:36 pm

Replacement Manager Pulls Massive Upset On Enemy Soil

Just days after the Orionites suffered a massive humiliation at the hands of Cheergirls, the Eagles produced one of the greatest moments in Orionite sports history, and possibly a nation defining moment. The Eagles lost manager Thad Chase and starting fullback Manuel Oliver in an explosive moment at the end of the Cheergirls match. After the Cheergirls scored the winning goal, the two Orionites ran towards the scorer and spat at her, prompting red cards for both of them. The suspensions would seem to destroy what little chance Orion had against Mercedini. Chief Assistant Manager Caleb Rennell was named manager for this game. Lloyd Barnes was named the replacement starting fullback. After 10 minutes of the match, it appeared that Mercedini was going to walk away with the game and give Orion another humiliating defeat. Their attacks were brilliant and all encompassing. It appeared to be pure luck that Clinton Maxwell was able to keep 4 out of the net. At the ten minute mark, he misjudged the angle of attack, resulting in a great assist and goal. But then the Orionites became more and more determined. They couldn't get more than 15 yards into enemy soil, but Barnes, center back Randall Hunter, and Maxwell became an impenetrable wall. Over 15 attacks were repulsed by the half. Over the second half, the Orionites attack began moving gradually deeper into enemy territory. With five minutes before the end of regular time, a stupendous pass by Nicolas Reese to Steven Keller (a combination seen many times by fans of Royal Union City) put the Orionite side even with Mercedini. The visiting Orionite fans let out a massive roar witch drained out any noise from the stunned home supporters. The first minute of stoppage time saw one last furious advance by the Eagles. Nicolas Reese found himself with another opportunity. He found fellow midfielder (and member of his club's arch rival Empire) Craig Ferguson who put the Orionites ahead. Mercedini had one last attack in them, but Clinton Maxwell made one of the best saves in history to give Orion the win. 15,000 Eagle fans stormed the field in celebration, waving Orionite flags all over. One was even planted at midfield. For fifteen minutes, all television viewers saw was the exuberant fans of the Eagles in celebration at the massive upset and the stunned Mercedini fans struggling to comprehend the last eight minutes of the game. Orion now travels back to Elizabeth Park to play unranked Murphtannia. Although there is a degree of uncertainty about them, Orion is ecstatic for the match. The Orionite Soccer Football Association has announced that Caleb Rennell will remain manager for that match, and Lloyd Barnes will keep starting at fullback. This move appears to be universally popular and a way of forcing out Thad Chase without actually firing him until the end of the tournament.

by **Sulsuland** » Thu Sep 03, 2020 5:41 pm

Was suPeR hARD foUGhT gAMeS, But SulSu aND tEam StIll StAndinG, SuLSu (SulSU nOt RemEMbEr WhicH oNE) DeCidED tO thRow SulSU'S nEt inTo ORbiT to KeEp OTher tEam From ScoRing, LooKS oN thEIr fACEs wAs FunNY. SuLSu TriEd iT agAin NExT GaME bUT aCciDentALly tHrEW EnemY NEt INto OrbIT So SulsU loSt. WouLD nOT rEcommENd. SuLSu And tEAm NEeD to ReThiNK thIs WhoLe "ThROw THe nEt INto thE skY So oThEr tEAm cAn't PoSsiblY Win" stRaTEGy.

SuLSu jUSt liKe To thAnk fRienDS foR KeEpinG QuiEt AftER eiGHt AS WeLl, DAve'S MOm gAvE SuLSu FiSh anD oRaNGe juiCE FOr BEiNG gOOD, So SulSu shAreD wiTh othER tEAms and aLL thE SulSu WAtchINg.

by **Tikariot** » Thu Sep 03, 2020 7:07 pm

Alistair McIntosh: Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to "WC86" our coverage of the World Cup qualification and with that the journey of the Tikariotian Snowy Owls. With me in the studio are Martin Seagrave and Alex Svedberg and the start to our campaign did not exactly go to plan, now did it?

Martin Seagrave: I think you can say that. And it also shows that the World Cup is a completely different beast compared to the Baptism of Fire. Even though the first game was a bit of a lowblow despite that.

Alex Svedberg: I liked the metaphor of Alex Terán, the president of the FFFF, the Farf Football Federation, who said that we have been 'officially baptized'. We went through the fire, but now we really got burned.

Alistair McIntosh: That is pretty fitting, yes. So let's get to it right away, our first match against a complete unknown, Union Europae. Unranked, unheard of, so some might thing an easy target, but how difficult or dangerous is it to meet someone like that?

Martin Seagrave: It can be very dangerous. For one there is the fact that you know virtually nothing about them. So how do you even try to find the right individual tactic? That aside it is also easy to underestimate a team like hat. Not long ago we were in the same situation when we arrived at the IFC, or if you talk sports overall the IBS as well, when we were the great unknown and people ended up taking notice. So there are all chances out there that this could be something similar.

Alistair McIntosh: Very true. Let's get back to that, but at first let's get the report on how the game went.

Duncan Haldane: The Citadel of the North in Fort Viljan was sold out to the last seat, filling it with 40,000 excited fans, the vast majority wearing black and purple with a very small delegation from Union Europae sprinkling some white and blue in between. The weather was not very welcoming, though, grey and hazy with the chance of some rain, which it not all that rare here in the Viljamark. Coach Stuart Ekstrom opted for what had been dubbed "the team" before the friendlies, with Brian Merson in goal, Zion Grimes, Randy Kovalchuk, Eren Knox and Vincent Liniack forming the defense, Rory McNair, Marvin Thorniley and Jenson McTierney providing the motor in the middle and then Morris Nighthorse, Trey Burnett and Jardel Connolly in the front.

And almost from the first minute Tikariot was putting the pressure on the Union's defense, pushing them deep into their own half. On the downside, though, they did not manage to get a whole lot of actual scoring chances, mostly due to what felt like a 9-1-0 formation by the Union. The best chances of the opening 45 minutes came from Morris Nighthorse with a nice solo through the defense, but ultimately getting stuck in too many defenders, Jardel Connolly with a wicked shot from a tight angle that rocketed off the goal post and a free kick by Jenson McTierney that he had curved right over the wall, but missed the post by inches.

The second half had much of the same, more chances, but not a lot of very convincing shots on goal. After 70 minutes the Snowy Owls had a possession of 81% and 24 to 1 shots, 6 to 0 shots at goal. Now there is a saying that if you don't convert your chances, it will bite you in the rear and did it ever bite us. In the 74th minute a quick and long kick by the Union's goalkeeper was picked up by Randy Kovalchuk or rather taken down, however he was a little too lackadaisical with his attempted pass forward and it went straight to the lone striker of the Union, who took the chance and made a run for it, leaving Kovalchuk behind and chancing a shot that caught Brian Merson on the wrong foot on top of it, giving the Union the 1-0 lead.

And despite ever more angry attacks Tikariot did not manage to pierce the defensive concrete that Union Europae had poured around their goal, making the Snowy Owls' first ever appearance in the World Cup qualification was with a bitter defeat.

Alistair McIntosh: Thank you Duncan. So was it a matter of Union Europae being a newcomer that will turn heads or us underestimating them?

Alex Svedberg: I think it was neither really. It was very clear from the beginning that the Union was not really interested in doing much, if anything, offensively, so it is one of the most frustrating opponents you can play against. However Randy's mistake that in the end cost us the game is inexcusable. It doesn't matter if they have not done a thing during the game to score before that, you cannot become this careless and present them with a scoring chance on a silver platter.

Alistair McIntosh: So what do we take away from this game?

Martin Seagrave: That the World Cup qualifiers are a completely different beast. But if we had to have a fluke loss, I rather have it in the first game and get the team to focus and get into their groove easier and faster.

Alistair McIntosh: Makes sense, let's hope that is the case. And who better to test this out than the runaway favourite for the group win, Mriin?

Martin Seagrave: Haha, yes, but to be honest, they in a way are an easier team to play against, because they actually will play forward, opening spaces to potentially poke into. And if you look at the Mriin game, it was like day and night to this one. So let's have a look at the game in Maal with Duncan joining us in the studio now.

Duncan Haldane: After the highly disappointing 1-0 loss at home to Union Europae, the Tikariotian national team was very motivated to deliver a better performance against the top favourites for the group win Mriin. The Haven stadium in Maal was predictably filled to the last of its 65,000 seats and the atmosphere was electric. The Snowy Owls fielded the same team as in the first game, as a chance for redemption, with Merson in goal, the back four of Grimes, Kovalchuk, Knox and Liniack, down the middle with McNair, Thorniley and McTierney and hungry for goals, Nighthorse, Burnett and Connolly.

Mriin also came on with their strongest eleven, Dinii Eduun in goal, Pia Levaani, Maas Halder, Paarsimer Jaan and Karii Bruun in defense, the midfield of Popo Tevainen, captain Malia Yonen, Tia Mor and Ÿya Tuuvyr and finally up front Istria Saara and the only dryad in the line-up, Tali'raia. And things went off to a flying start.

Early pressure by Mriin. Jaan playing the ball out of the back to Tevainen on the left. He's going one-on-one against McTierney, nice fakeout and he is past him. Now against Liniack, but quick pass back to Yonen. Why is there nobody putting pressure on her? Now McNair comes out, but the ball is already on the right with Mor. Quick one-two with Tuuvyr. She goes for the shot - deflected by Knox, but the ball is back with Tuuvyr. Low hard cross in and Tali'raia just has to put her foot into the path of the ball and no chance for Merson!

Alex Svedberg: This is almost the same as against Union Europae. When the opponent has the ball, they are not quick enough to press them immediately. Look at how much space Yonen had there in the centre, McNair way too slow and from that moment they're in command.

Martin Seagrave: Yes, they are a very aggressive and fast team and it was to be expected that they were also going to employ a lot more high balls as the game progressed, just to leverage their height advantage.

Duncan Haldane: Despite falling behind early, Tikariot showed spirit from the get go and nine minutes later they had their biggest chance so far.

McTierney picks up the ball in the own half. He weaves through the Mrii midfield, using his technique to his advantage of the taller Mrii players. Through the legs of Yonen. Lays it off to Nighthorse. Look at his speed, no wonder he's being dubbed the golden kid of Tikariot. He cuts inside, quick tip to Burnett, goes directly back to Nighthorse and GOAL! Quick one-timer right next to the post past Eduun's outstretched leg for the equalizer!

Alex Svedberg: The first goal ever for Tikariot in a World Cup campaign and I am almost tempted to say that it almost had to be Morris Nighthorse, almost anything he touches of late is turning to gold.

Martin Seagrave: Oh, he is a once in a generation talent and I can just imagine where Baraldhur would have ended up if they had not signed him out of the second division before the season. I mean, a lot of people had him on their lists of hot prospects, but nobody really could expect him to break out like this right from the get-go.

Duncan Haldane: With two goals in just 14 minutes, the hopes were high that the two teams would continue in the same vein and the fans were not disappointed.

Long kick off by Merson. McTierney takes it down beautifully! Fakes to one side, going the other. Oooh, Popo Tevainen does not play around, runs him right down! They want a freekick and there it is. It's too far out to go direct, Thorniley gets ready, two Mrii players forming kind of a wall. Quick pass to the right, McTierney again. Goes around Tevainen this time. Nice cross to the left to Nighthorse, takes it down with his chest and turns around Bruun. Goes to the goaline, cuts in again, through the legs of Halder, he could shoot. No, he lays it back to McNair! What a shot! Right under the crossbar, not a chance for Eduun to get her hands on this one, Tikariot in the lead!

Duncan Haldane: This is the way to play against Mriin. They are really hard to play against in a physical or aerial game. See McTierney here? He keeps the ball low and Tevainen can't react fast enough. And then that cross to Nighthorse, right into where he was running. And again when you look here at Nighthorse cutting into the box and keeping the ball low, this is where they are vulnerable.

Alex Svedberg: They definitely are. But if you look on the other side, once they get rolling it is really hard to stop them. Timing is so important when going in for the tackle, just because of their power they can just run right past or, if needed, through you. Like in the next scene here.

Thorniley through to Burnett. Lays it off to Connolly, no! Jaan is faster and now the counter attack. Mriin are famous for these. Out right to Mor. Directly on to Tali'raia. Grimes can't keep up, high cross into the box, Saara rises higher than Knox and 2-2! Merson still had his hand on it, but the header was too powerful for him to stop it!

Duncan Haldane: This is exactly what I talked about earlier. They have such a strong aerial play that it is really difficult to defend against them once they bring in the balls high. And that's also how they took the lead again.

Levaani going down the left side. Yonen is waving her arms, free as a bird in centre. Levaani ignores her and continues on. Liniack with the tackle, takes the ball right off her foot! McNair tries to, no, Yonen is faster. Quick one-two with Tuuvyr, brings the ball in, Merson with the fist! Knox tries to hoof it - ooh, that looks like it hurt, Tuuvyr had her hoof right on the ball and Knox hits it with his foot. He is down! Tuuvyr to Tali'raia. Grimes, what is he doing there? Tali'raia is through, high ball in! Merson comes out. Misses the ball! Saara again! 3-2 Mriin!

Duncan Haldane: Again we were not focused enough. That McNair doesn't get the ball after Liniack's tackle, it happens, just a matter of where you are at the time, but then Grimes, I have no idea what on earth he was doing there, but he clearly was not on this planet, letting Tali'raia waltz right through like that. And then Merson, if he comes out he has to have that ball. Either catch it or punch it, but this was bad, plain bad.

Alistair McIntosh: What about Knox, he was on the ground when all of this happened.

Martin Seagrave: You know what, this happens. He went for the ball, Tuuvyr went for it and sometimes you just hit the ball at the same time or just a fraction of a second too late and it hurts. Yes, he was missing in the centre, so maybe that's why Saara was so uncovered, but it definitely was not his fault.

Alistair McIntosh: So what would you do as the coach in half time?

Alex Svedberg: I would make sure that they stay focused. Mriin has shown that they are absolutely ruthless in their counter attacks and that they don't mind using their physical advantage. In the offense we have not been doing bad, but we have to try to keep the ball down, because that's where their weakness is. If we keep it low and quick, that's when we can open up spaces to run in and get some shots off.

Alistair McIntosh: So for the second half Trey Burnett and Jardel Connolly stayed in the locker room, with Graydon Sheffield and Iain Aspinall coming on, a predictable move?

Duncan Haldane: Well, it means that Eren is ok after that hard knock there, but yes, it is a sensible move because with the exception of that lay off for the first goal, Burnett was almost invisible and Connolly ran a lot, but he just didn't find a way to get through the defense. Graydon is a wily striker that has this uncanny sense of where the ball will go and Iain has really come into his own in the national team. With that Nighthorse is going to move over to the left, so that Iain can use his trademark cut-in to create some more danger in front of the Mrii goal.

And Tikariot did come out of the half-time break with renewed vigour, which quickly came to fruition.

...showing a lot more focus in the opening minutes of the second half. McNair holding on to the ball in their own half. He's gesturing for people to run into space or something, he is not happy. Puts it over to Thorniley, quick flick on to Aspinall. Goes down the left, cuts in and shoots! Eduun with one hand, beautiful save, but the ball falls to Liniack. Sharp cross, blocked by Levaani. Again Liniack. Goes back a bit. Pushes the ball to Thorniley and holy crap on a cracker, what a goal! Out of nowhere he just goes for it and the ball curves right over everybody and against the post and into goal, 3-3, we are even again!

Alex Svedberg: That's the thing with Thorniley and McTierney. They have those moments of genius where they just try something out of nowhere and sometimes it works out beautifully.

Martin Seagrave: And here it also showed the focus. The way that Liniack gets the ball back and then instead of trying to put in a cross again to just put it back to Thorniley, great eye for him and just because Mriin is the absolute favourite here, they are not invulnerable.

Alex Svedberg: So far that game had been an absolute rollercoaster and it continued like that, a real treat for any fan of spectacular, offensive football.

Martin Seagrave: Oh tell me about it. It is so good to see two teams really fight without too much tactical restraints. From a coach's point of view it is something of a nightmare, though especially with mistakes like the ones that had happened earlier on.

Duncan Haldane: But we still were not done not by a good bit...

Merson with a quick throw to Grimes, Thorniley is free, there we go, no space to go, back to McNair. The defense is standing very compact right now, Thorniley again, McNair, McTierney, he goes forward! Yvonen with the tackle, brings McTierney down, but Thorniley gets the ball, the referee waves him on. Out to Aspinall, cut back to Grimes, quick pass to Sheffield, holding his own well here, quick turn, pass into the box, Aspinall and GOAL! A true poacher goal moving into the space just at the corner of the six yard box and right on cue!

Martin Seagrave: Again, quick play, ball on the ground and it works.

Alistair McIntosh: There was a bit of a controversy after the goal, though, Jenson McTierney got into a little skirmish with Yvonen over the tackle and things did get a little heated, despite the goal, is that the nerves playing into this or the inexperience?

Alex Svedberg: I think it's a mix of both. Especially in a game that has constantly been up and down, but it was good by the coach to take McTierney off after this, because the last thing we would have needed was him getting sent off. And Ozan has deserved coming on, he has had a great season for Port Rhovanyon.

Duncan Haldane: Trying to defuse the situation, but that only worked for a while, as we could see here.

Jaan with the block of McNair's shot and again these lethal counter attacks. Quick pass forward to Mor, another one to Saara. Alone in front of the goal, Merson is coming out and he gets the ball! Wait, the Mrii players are signaling that Merson has touched the ball with his hand outside of the penalty box! And red card for Merson! We already made our three substitutions, so someone has to go into goal! Looks like Sheffield. And freekick for Mriin right at the edge of the penalty box. Tuuvyr and Tali'raia at the ball, five man wall directed by Sheffield. The whistle and Tuuvyr lays it off to Tali'raia and GOAL! Mriin pulls even again! What a game!

Alistair McIntosh: So double the penalty here, goal and Brian Merson sent off, should he have waited?

Alex Svedberg: It's a spur of the moment decision here. In hindsight maybe he should have risked waiting and getting scored at, at least we would still have had eleven players on the pitch, but once you make the decision you come out, you're stuck with it. But whichever way you look at it, down one man and a forward in goal, even with just eight minutes to go, that is a potential recipe for desaster.

The last few minutes have been total one-way football, Tikariot defending with everything they have, trying to drag this draw over the finish line and I have not seen to many bodies being thrown into the space in a long time. The Tikariot players also are at the end of their strength, still trying to hold down the fort, though. Tevainen to Yonen, on to Mor. They're circling the wagons, just waiting for the opening. Tuuvyr trying to go through, but Aspinall gets a foot in. Ball right back to Tuuvyr, though. Now to Mor. Tevainen, back to Yonen. Looks like they're trying to tire our defense out. Again Tevainen, there's the pass, Saara and GOAL! Noooo! This is it, third minute of stoppage time and Mriin is in the lead again! The Mrii were patient and then one lapse of concentration in our defense by Kovalchuk leaves the hole and now we have it.

Martin Seagrave: I understand that they were tired and under a lot of pressure, but something like Kovalchuk leaving Saara completely open just cannot happen! You can see the look on Stuart Ekstrom's face, not sure if he should cry or tear someone a new one. So we are looking at two critical mistakes by Randy Kovalchuk now in two games, both of which cost us a draw, which is a really big problem. So Stuart will definitely have to do something about this and quick.

Alistair McIntosh: Which brings us to the outlook on the next two matches, against South Newlandia in Carathyr and then us traveling to the Southern Palm Islands. Here are some scenes from the airport in Carathyr earlier today.

Very nice scenes at the Emerald Coast Airport in Carathyr where both the Tikariotian and South Newlandian teams arrived earlier today. Here you can see the Tikariotian team that had arrived back from Mriin just shortly before actually waiting for the South Newlandians in a beautiful gesture to bid them welcome. The two nations have developed quite the friendly rivalry in the past few months, at the International Baseball Slam, the softball tournament during the Olympic Games and even more so the incredible photo finish at the Olympic men's triathlon. So far Tikariot has won all of their competitive meetings, a series that our national team would love to continue, but South Newlandia might have different ideas.

Alistair McIntosh: This is a really nice gesture and it shows that you can have a rivalry without animosities. Now South Newlandia went off to a better start than us, with a goalless draw against Port Ember at home and then a 1-1 against the Southern Palm Islands so a very different view than ours. Now in one friendly before the qualifiers we drew them 4-4, which was a very respectable result for the Snowy Owls, so what are the expectations for this match?

Alex Svedberg: Well, this can literally go either way. That 4-4 could gives us hope, but which team are we going to see on the pitch tomorrow? If Ekstrom can get the team to focus, then I would think we do have a chance to keep all three points, but more realistically all we should hope for is one point.

Alistair McIntosh: And then we travel to the Southern Palm Islands, who lost their first game at home 3-5 against Mriin and then, as just mentioned, drew in South Newlandia. Now this is a team that we actually have met before, in the Round of 16 at the Baptism of Fire and we won this one 3-1. Are we a bit more confident for this match?

Martin Seagrave: Despite what happened against Union Europae, I would say yes. Obviously some things might depend on how the game tomorrow goes, but I am confident that we should bring three points back home from there.

Alistair McIntosh: So I have just received some news about the line up for the next two matches and there are a bunch of changes announced from the Tikariotian camp. Romain Chatelet is coming into the team for Brian Merson, who is out for the next two games after his red card in Mriin, in defense we also see two new new faces in the centre with both Randy Kovalchuk and Eren Knox out of the game, instead we will have Walter Thomas and James Coronello, hoping for some more focus and consistency, as you had mentioned earlier, Randy Kovalchuk with two bad errors in two games, so it is not surprising that he is out. In midfield we also have one change with Ozan Welch getting his second start in the national team, pushing Jenson McTierney onto the bench for now, he almost lost his temper in the Mriin match, and Morris Nighthorse is the only survivor in our striking department with Graydon Sheffield and Iain Aspinall coming on for Burnett and Connolly.

Alex Svedberg: These changes make sense, especially in the back because that has been our main problem in the first two games. Sheffield and Aspinall have been looking good when they came on in Mriin, so they deserve a shot from the start. Like we already concluded, our game against Mriin was better overall compared to Union Europae, even though we conceded five goals, we still scored four and if it wasn't for the mistake in stoppage time, we'd have deserved a point, especially after playing without a trained goalie in the end.

Alistair McIntosh: So all that is left now is to cross our fingers for the next two games and hope for a better result that in the first two matches. We will be covering both games in full here on Tikariot Sports TV and hope that you will join us as our road to Drawkland and Newmanistan continues. I am Alistair McIntosh and bid you a good night from our team here.

by **Twicetagram and JYPe** » Thu Sep 03, 2020 7:25 pm

He Only Felt Lost
It was a disastrous start to the World Cup. 1 point in 2 wasn't the type of start you'd expect from a 5th seed, and to add salt to the wound one of them was against an unranked team.
Losing against Mercedini was acceptable. Drawing to Murphtannia wasn't. There was still hope though, hope that they would recover and leave with a banger.
At least, most people saw the horizon of hope. Augustin didn't.

"It's not all your fault. Look, Daniil gave away the lead, and we didn't supply you with the ball enough. Let the whole team take the burden, August," Ronny told Augustin.
"Ron, have you even considered the amount of times I could have increased the lead, yet flunked it? I was offside TWICE. Sometimes the whole team takes the blame, but most of it is on me." August pessimisticly replied, "The Twicetagrian media weren't happy with the results. If we continue to make a fluke we're as good as disgraced."
Ronny didn't know how to respond. Sure, Augustin was self-deprecating and pessimistic, but his ego and emotions on the field proved otherwise. He was hungry. Hungry for not just goals, but wins. It was obvious then that August wasn't the happiest person, but he wasn't this persistent on his failures. Usually he would take a while before accepting failure and moving on. Today, he was different.
"August, please. We can't have you all depressed during these important qualifiers. We need you to be happy, and at your best form. Please, August," Ronny pleaded. As captain he was looking out for his teammates feelings and emotions. He couldn't stand to see people sad or angry. He knew.
"Sorry Ron. I don't feel like it. Talking won't resolve the problem. I'll go to my room. After that, maybe I'll find someone who truly cares." August left for his hotel room.
someone that truly cares. The words echoed around Dargozhov's mind. Was he not good enough? Was he a failure at making sure his players were all in the mood? Sure, no one was as sad, but if the star player continues like this, the team were as good as packing our bags sooner than later.
Back in the room, Augustin lay on his bed. He rested for a while. Just then, someone popped into his mind. Maybe he could call him? Was he free? Never know if you don't try.
"Kudashov, you free for a coffee?"

Mercedini- 1
56' Dostalok
Twicetagria- 0

Murphtannia- 1
80' Murphy
Twicetagria- 1
15' Aug. Vladimirescu

Lineup VS Savojarna and Busoga Islands

GK-
Han
DEF-
Martins
Romanov
Vasiliev
Mazepin
Koulouris
MID-
Rominevskiy
Dargozhov
Adrian Vladimirescu
Apollon
ATT-
Augustin Vladumirescu

by **Kelssek** » Thu Sep 03, 2020 7:39 pm

O’Tuathail impressive In winning start for Kelssek
Kelssek took a full six points against Woryand and Oberour ar Moro in the first pair of World Cup 86 qualifying fixtures, as the football Voyagers seek to return to the finals of the competition. While wins against the teams ranked 335th and 104th respectively met expectations, manager Andrea Crowe emphasized these matches can’t be taken lightly.

“Wins against the lower-ranked teams and wins against the top seed count for the same. We’ve seen again and again that how you fare against the entire group matters just as much as against your direct rivals for qualification”, said Crowe.

While the manager clearly didn’t want to raise the possibility herself, the Woryand match had some of the flavour of the bad old days, thought vanquished in the last campaign, where loose defending and frenzied offence led to some goal gluts, failing to make the finals, and then crashing out in the Cup of Harmony quarterfinals when they met an opponent they couldn’t outscore.

Kai Poirier, who surprised many with his bargain basement return to the KFL from Cosumar following existence uncertainty in that country’s league, showed he’s not anywhere close to being displaced as the first choice as he produced a much more solid performance in goal against a stronger opponent while Gallagher looked uncharacteristically shaky and was partly to blame for at least one of Woryand’s goals.

Meanwhile, left winger Colm Ó Tuathail was on impressive form in the two matches, with his incisive passes into the penalty box creating constant problems for the opposition. Rolalas signing James McDonald also had a capable showing earning his first cap against Oberour ar Moro.

WORYAND 3 – {{stareInto_void}}
KELSSEK 5 – Douglass (4’), Custworth (32’), Maçon-Petrault (41’, 73’), Liadon (56’)
Kelssek: Gallagher, Liadon, Fourtin, Curtin, Vinter, Bogdanor (Corvin 72’), Lapierre (Greenwood 45’), Ó Tuathail, Douglass, Custworth (Taleb 59’), Maçon-Petrault

KELSSEK 2 – Wylten (24’), Lapierre (53’)
OBEROUR AR MORO 1 – de Sablonneieres (70’)
Kelssek: Poirier, Bowler, Halliger, Curtin, Liadon, Demetriev (Greenwood 80’), Lapierre, Ó Tuathail (Dionne 73’), McDonald, Wylten (Taleb 77’), Custworth
Oberour ar Moro: Desainctvictori, du Bourc-la-Reyne, Filion, Petit, Helleu, Breut (Ricouart 83’), Gaspard (de Sablonneieres 62’), de la Rochelle, l’Ermite (Pique-Pain 77’), Bele
Exhibition Place, Kirkenes (attendance 30,774)

Now available on the Tendril4 and other quality game platforms

Terry was a casual dresser most of the time, but when he committed crimes he liked to wear a formal business suit. Nothing too high-end, but good quality department store kind of stuff, enough to convey to any witnesses and victims that they were dealing with a professionally-run organized crime operation. It also helped to keep a separate brand identity from the biker gangs so as to avoid any misunderstandings.

He rapped on the window of the van. Morgan was a good getaway driver but this had to be balanced with his reluctance to get his hands dirty with anything else.

“Hey! Put that bubble tea down and pull some weight or you’ll be sucking those pearls through your ass!”, Terry snarled.

Morgan gave a disgruntled grunt but said nothing and came out to help unload the abseiling equipment. Terry and the other two associates, Talia and Brian, clipped the squeeges that would disguise them as window washers to their gear, and donned high-vis vests. People usually assume anyone wearing a high-vis vest and a hard hat is supposed to be where they are and doing what they’re doing.

The loading dock of the office tower, the tallest building in Capital City, was always busy and no one worried too much about some cleaners propping a door open. They got into the elevator and headed right for the top floor.

“Okay. Remember the plan. Brian, crowd control. Talia, you’ll cover me while I blast the safe open. We rappel down to the ground floor.”

Make your way to the roof.

“It’s set up. Let’s go!”

Get into the office of the Princess Cafe.

Crack the safe.

After a tense few minutes with the drill, the door swung open easily to reveal a round object covered in velvet cloth, five rolls of toilet paper, a paper bag of coffee beans, and a total absence of gold bars. Terry swore. Talia, however, pointed out that whatever was in the safe was probably there for a reason, and the toilet rolls were unusually heavy. They cleared out the safe just as two heavily-armed security contractors burst into the room.

Take out the security guards.

Noting that the dead guards’ weapons were clearly much better than theirs, Talia and Terry looted the bodies and abseiled down the building as quickly as they dared. Helicopters could be heard in the background as the heist team reached the ground, abandoned the climbing gear, and piled into the van. Brian ran out the main entrance of the building, clutching a take-away flat white. This didn’t attract any attention because the security on the ground floor remained completely oblivious to the screaming panic on the top floor, and because of the dental clinic on the sixth floor, frightened people ran out of the building more often than one might think.

Lose your wanted level

An blue armoured personnel carrier lurched from a cross street with lights flashing, sirens wailing, and an air of great menace. “Are you kidding me? What did you peeps lift?!” Morgan blurted as he swerved to avoid getting rammed by the lumbering assault vehicle. That was when Morgan noticed the logo on Brian’s coffee cup. “The Princess Cafe?” Morgan was livid. “You didn’t tell me you were gonna hit the Princess Cafe! We’ve got the full tactical squad coming down on us! We’ll be lucky if they don’t bring out an army helicopter!”

Terry ranted back. “Excuse me, you’re the one who insists that you’re the driver, full stop! Because you want to sit in the car and not get into any shit! Now you’re complaining that maybe it’s worth paying attention to what the people you’re driving around are doing! You think this is a Buy&Munchin delivery or something?... Why do the feds care this much about a bunch of overpriced beans, anyway?”

“Beause the Princess Cafe is the Cartmanite embassy, you fucking twerp! It’s a diplomatic incident! Read a newspaper or a book sometime. What you do think I do waiting for you clowns to lift your merchandise?”

High-calibre ammunition raked the back of the van in wanton disregard for civilian lives. Morgan swerved, mostly for theatrical effect, since it’s actually quite hard to aim at a moving vehicle from a moving vehicle.

“The Cafe is an embassy?”

“The Cartmanite ambassador closed down the office and turned it into a cafe franchise because of laziness, bribery, and he’d broken up with the long-term WOG who insisted the embassy should be in the tallest room of the tallest tower,” Talia interrupted. “I thought you knew that. That’s why I was asking about ballistic armour.”

“Okay, there’s no need for racial slurs here.”

“WOG stands for Wife or Girlfiend. It’s gendered, if anything.”

“Right.”

Talia continued the exposition. “And it’s also why they can break like six hundred different provisions of the lease, employment regulations, city licensing, and probably food safety rules running the thing.”

One of the rear tires blew out as the weapons squad continued to attack. Terry lost his temper again as a police car rammed them from the side.

“Oh my God, lose the cops already! Are you checking your GPS?! Do you not know where the Pray and Spray is?” Terry demanded.

“Relax, relax, you pay me to drive, right? I don’t want to end up in jail any more than you do!”

At length, and despite twice getting stuck in alleys, they managed to get momentarily free of pursuit for long enough to nudge the car into an express repainting shop. Brian got out to make the offering to the Trickster God. Terry watched the brief blessing ceremony as the paint sprayers got to work. “Do they really have to make the raven’s eyes glow red like that? I’m not sure that’s in the Book of Findaskepas.”

Get to the safehouse. Make sure you don’t attract any police attention, or your wanted level will be restored.

by **Kohnhead** » Thu Sep 03, 2020 7:47 pm

Kohnhead play pot 3 side Geektopia to draw and defeat Woryand to open qualifiers

In front of a hyped up and packed 47,000 fans at Kohnhead City Park, The Brains would open qualifying for the 86th World Cup here in Kohnhead against the 44th best team in the World Geektopia. With fireworks going off in the high tech stadium we heard the announcer shout out the names of every Kohnhead player as they walked out onto the field to tremendous applause and shouts. Kohnheadians were ready for the team to try their second attempt at qualifying, this time with high expectations.

For the opening match of qualifiers, this was a bound to be an important one as the pot 3 side would be meeting the pot 4 side. What's interesting to note is that five of the first six goals occurred in the first half an hour as both offenses looked good early on whereas the defense not so much. 3 minutes in Miranda Atkinson received the ball at midfield and traveled pretty far with it before passing it off to Charles Laker who cut back inside and fired a shot at the top left corner that just managed to slip by Kwasney in goal for Geektopia. Kohnhead City Park let out a roar of approval as The Brains appeared to pick right back up where they started last cycle.

However when going against a team that has multiple players over 8 feet tall, you're always going to have trouble winning headers because you just can't jump high enough. This was the case when Osorto launched a ball into the box where 7'11 Idstein was waiting to head it into the back of the net right past Bertha Sanders who was playing a bit out of position. It appears that the gravity of the match had gotten to her as she didn't look good all game.

Erin Maltos would be there to get us back the lead as Aaron Korkson threaded two Geektopia defenders to find her where she barely onsides scored a one on one with the keeper in the 18th minute as once again we would take the lead. Then two minutes later it looked as if we were just too good for Geektopia as Charles Laker sent it up to Ida Cogginter who volleyed it with her left foot so it bounced and went past Kwasney into the front right corner.

Unfortunately for us Geektopia is a very quality side who were not out of the match just yet. When we had thought the scoring was finally done, Geektopia would once again put the ball into the back of the net. Rydelek who was marked by Prius-Leonard easily got around her with some open space he played a ground cross right to Picolet who would score it. After this goal we only a had a 3-2 lead but were looking like we were going to hold and keep the victory. We had made two substitutions by the 85th minute bringing on Al Torgan for Rallyton, and bringing on the versatile Callie Porsha in place of Caroline Prius-Leonard who just had an awful match.

Just when we thought we had the win secured, Geektopia had to score in the 89th to to tie the game at 3 meaning instead of a statement win at home in the first match we had to settle for a 3-3 draw to a very good team. Osorto who had assisted the opening goal scored the winner with a brilliant strike from distance despite the amount of Kohnheadian bodies in the box.

In our second game we would host Woryand at Patterson Oil Arena. Now Woryand may be the 335th ranked team in the World but despite an awful BOF where they crashed out in the Group Stage they made it all the way to the quarters of the IAC. The Brains lost in the round of 16 to a very talented Poafmersia side. Anyway Woryand despite their low rank was not a team to be taken to be lightly and we knew this. This 2-1 win was not an example of us doubting their ability and being overconfident, it was an example of them playing as well as us. Now it wasn't our best match by any stretch of the imagination but I give credit to Woryand on their ability to stick with us.

We would get on to the board first in the 29th minute, Linus Rallyton would draw a penalty in the box on a dangerous tackle that gave the Woryand defender a warning and gave Kohnhead fans a heart attack as they saw Rallyton lying on the ground in pain. Fortunately he got up and played the rest of the game as Korkson converted the penalty to bring us up by 1.

While no goals were produced for the rest of the first half both sides had quality chances to do so but failed. However in the 62nd minute we would take a 2-0 lead as Nicholas Radison would make a run down the sideline and using his speed blow by the Woryand team. Radison would swing a cross into the box that Audrey Henderson would head into the goal to give us the goal. Unfortunately as we showed in the last match we could very easily blow two goal leads.

Woryand took the first step in making us blow a two goal lead again as in the 77th they scored off of a free kick which saw CPL get a yellow with a very bad tackle. CPL is having a very bad qualifying campaign so far and this once again showed her many faults especially her lack of speed has been evident in these two matches.

Despite Woryand getting a chance in the 87th which looked like deja vu for The Brains they were unable to convert and we walked away with a well deserved yet very close 2-1 win as questions rise about CPL's position on the team.

The current table shows us in 3rd place behind the two teams projected to advance in Kelssek and Equestria although we are tied with Equestria on points, and with 257th ranked Sultanate of Oontaz which is extremely surprising.

Group 13                             Pld    W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts 
 1 Kelssek                                2    2   0   0     7    4   +3     6
 2 Equestria                              2    1   1   0     2    0   +2     4
 3 Kohnhead                               2    1   1   0     5    4   +1     4
   Sultanate of Oontaz                    2    1   1   0     4    3   +1     4
 5 Oberour Ar Moro                        2    1   0   1     3    2   +1     3
 6 Geektopia                              2    0   2   0     7    7    0     2
   Indusse                                2    0   2   0     0    0    0     2
 8 Bostopia                               2    0   1   1     7    8   −1     1
 9 Woryand                                2    0   0   2     4    7   −3     0
10 Libonesia                              2    0   0   2     0    4   −4     0

In the third match of qualifiers we will travel to Orberour Ar Moro who sit at three points and take on them at the Parade Grounds. It's a match that I expect us to win but one that cannot be taken lightly. The lineup for us will be the same as last time but CPL is on thin ice and will need to play better in the next matches to keep her spot in the starting XI.

by **Brenecia** » Thu Sep 03, 2020 8:13 pm

Nethertopia 1 - 4 Brenecia
(4-3-3) 12 - Finnan; 2 - Bravender, 5 - Leadbetter, 22 - Giltanan, 3 - Prentice (19 - Roscommon 78'); 8 - Matheson (c, 21 - Archer 71'), 4 - Townsend (23 - Ondrejko 65'), 14 - Caitiff; 7 - Cheney (vc), 9 - White, 11 - Pace
Goals: White 26', Cheney 55', Pace 68', Caitiff 76'

Brenecia 1[/b] - 0 Darkmania
(4-3-3) 20 - Wright; 18 - Lonergan (2 - Bravender 67'), 5 - Leadbetter, 6 - Mathers, 19 - Roscommon; 8 - Matheson (c), 4 - Townsend (23 - Ondrejko 68'), 14 - Caitiff (13 - Ridenton 59'); 7 - Cheney, 17 - Lindauer, 16 - Fletcher
Goal: Matheson 39' pen

Traditions. God, Catherine Bardsley was sick to her fucking teeth with traditions.
All she ever wanted to do was work herself to death for her country. She'd done it for the national team - twice! - and now she was doing it as Prime Minister. She'd survived an assassination attempt, though her unbroken stride had not, survived another assassination attempt on the Nepharan Margravine, survived Corvistone being displeased with her for letting their head of state be shot and survived their displeasure at her, well, what someone unkind might call 'retaliatory political purges'. Oh, and she'd also survived years of torture in Sameba.
She might not survive tea with the Queen.

Why did Brenecia even have a Queen? Well, there'd been a monarchy in the old times, before Marchers raged across the countryside, sacked Rozelle and exterminated the royal line, finding it offensive to humanity. The independence revolt had been sparked by the discovery that the royal line had survived, and the nationalistic celebration that followed. And so new Brenecia became a constitutional monarchy.
Given that this first revived king was some random hick called Bruce I, the Brenecian monarchy was not exactly considered one of the more prestigious across the world. To compensate for this, not only had traditional names come back - as they were to an extent doing among the general populace - but they were making up for lost time with pomp and circumstance. Part of the disastrous economic imbalances of the last regime had included a ceremonial royal guard, and various other fripperies.
Bardsley had rolled these back, though not fully eradicated them. The monarchy did, to an extent, represent Brenecian pride; it should not be shabby, at the bare minimum. But Mairin IV, growing corpulent in middle age and looking petulantly across the table, had never easily accepted the bare minimum. And she really, really wanted cannons and banners and shit and to formally meet the Nepharan Margravine - the new one, the one that hadn't massaged Bardsley into power and hadn't been shot by her side.
So Bardsley was here, explaining geopolitics to her nominal superior in the same way as one might explain long division to a kitten. "No, look. Listen to me. Nephara? Nephara big. Powerful. Brenecia small. Fragile. Remember your ancestors? How Nepharim killed all of them excepting your direct line? That's what they think of queens, Your Majesty."
Mairin huffed. "I am the Head of State, Prime Minister! Do not forget your place. I should be out there to meet my Marcher equivalent-"
Bardsley hissed through her teeth. "And Margravine Lindt will not only reject you, but regard your presence as a calculated insult. Our economy - you may not need to think about it, but it's why I'm here, Your Majesty - but we need Marchers eating Brenecian lamb. We need to restructure the scale of our military operations, and that means not only working with Corvistone but their allies in Bastion. Remember Eura? Remember Fiana Cove? You're scheduled to cut a ribbon there next week."
Mairin sniffed. "Of course I remember Fiana Cove. I do fulfil my obligations, Bardsley. That is why I ask for more of them. A greater role in my country!"
"I... yes, I understand." Bardsley sighed. "But sometimes that role means being quiet and knowing your place and realising when you aren't wanted." Poor choice of words. "Needed," she amended. Shit.
Mairin heaved herself to her feet and waddled over to look out the window. Bardsley thought she was a fool, and she knew it. But didn't they both want the same thing, in the end? Brenecia, powerful, respected, no longer the chew-toy of the first-world?
It was as if Bardsley read her thoughts. "We just have to bite our lip, hold our pride in check, bide our time. I'm a rebuilder, here to do the dirty work for the country. But you... well. You're still young, more or less." 41, but who was counting? Bardsley smiled, a little bitterly. "Who knows, hm? Maybe you'll actually get the chance to see the dawn."

BRENECIAN NATIONAL TEAM SELECTION - FORTNIGHT 2
Goalkeepers: 1 - Cass Farrell (Northern Union), 12 - Anthea Finnan (Brigham, EUR), 20 - Scathach Wright (Raynor City United, VAL)
Defenders: 2 - Clovette Bravender (Ulsa, EUR), 3 - Morwen Prentice (Farrenton Athletic, EUR), 5 - Finn Leadbetter (Holdenberg, EUR), 6 - Keane Mathers (Northern Stallions), 18 - Sorcha Lonergan (Northern Union), 19 - Triss Roscommon (Revolutionaries, EUR), 22 - Casey Giltanan (Workers Union, EUR)
Midfielders: 4 - Finn Townsend (North Hall), 8 - Elysse Matheson (Hornchurch, EUR, c), 13 - Isla Ridenton (Jaglan Royals, SRS), 14 - Esther Caitiff (Southern Star), 21 - Gaheris Archer (North Hall), 23 - Tethys Ondrejko (Twin Saints)
Forwards: 7 - Lauren Cheney (Spartangrad, EUR), 9 - Niall Bremner (Unioneers, EUR), 10 - Kara Ciogach (Lajuno, EUR), 11 - Tricia Pace (Northern Union), 15 - Nuada Speaker (North Hall), 16 - Ceridwen Fletcher (Holdenberg, EUR), 17 - Creidne Lindauer (Cazadores Cathair, AUD)

SCHEDULE
Nethertopia 1 - 4 Brenecia
Brenecia 1 - 0 Darkmania
Hampton Island vs. Brenecia
Brenecia vs. Lisander
Gyatso-Kai vs. Brenecia
Brenecia vs. Lo Santano
Pemecutan vs. Brenecia
Brenecia vs. Ethane
The Fortem vs. Brenecia
Brenecia vs. Nethertopia
Darkmania vs. Brenecia
Brenecia vs. Hampton Island
Lisander vs. Brenecia
Brenecia vs. Gyatso-Kai
Lo Santano vs. Brenecia
Brenecia vs. Pemecutan
Ethane vs. Brenecia
Brenecia vs. The Fortem

by **Ziwana** » Thu Sep 03, 2020 9:19 pm

The Grearish Union 0 - 2 Ziwana: Jean Wilder debuts as Akambuku manager with a win.

By Chosadziwa Botolo, Chief Football Correspondent

ZCOMM Sport @Chadoul National Stadium

7 August 2021 • 5:29AM

Photograph: Kavinga Haqawi/Natty Images

Jean Wilder started his reign as Ziwana's manager with a comfortable win against 170th ranked Grearish Union at Grear Park.

Jean Wilder had been under Harry Ngonamo as captain of the Akambuku, he had observed how tactics were set and how Ngonamo man managed the squad. People questioned on social media if Jean Wilder would win his first game as manager whilst other betted against him. Betters thought that as Jean Wilder was trying to transition as new manager he would use a different formation. How wrongwas this as in the pre-match interviews, Wilder announced that he would be sticking with the 4-3-3 for the World Cup Qualifiers as he thought it complimented umodzi,umodzi football very well. He also announced his line up for the team against Grearish Union as; (GK) Jean Kane, (RB) Manu Labonte, (CB) Jean Ranaivoson, (CB) Yannick Saramandiff, (LB)Jonathan Boi, (DM)Jean Gopaul, (CM)Mohammed Al-Dossari, (CM)Louis Graham, (LW) Charles Payen-Captain, (RW)Hashaan Casimir, and (CF)Johan Dimanche. His notable changes were making Hashaan Casimir right wing, the player is naturally gifted at the position and had played on the postion during the 3rd Melayu Archipelago Cup however he had not performed as well losing the position to Abdulaziz Haqawi. The other was keeping Johan Dimanche as the starting striker over former club teammate Jean-Marc Mourgine. Most Akambuku fans on social media doubted putting Casimir as right wing as he had proved at club and national level that he played very well as a box to box midfielder. Netizens further questioned the decision to start Johan Dimanche who had struggled to score during the 5th CMFA Cup, he had only 1 goal.

On matchday 1, Grearish Union appeared to be the stronger teamin the first few minutes of the game as Ziwana tried to find their footing in the game. They did find their footing and soon launched several counter-attacks against the Grearish Union with captain Charles Payen being a threat on the left with his crosses into the box. However, Johan Dimanche was unable to convert the chances sending the chances begging over the bar. This really frustrasted the fans who begun to shout for Jean-Marc Mourgine to be brought in to replace Dimanche. Dimanche seemed to lose focus and looked dejected. Wilder sticked to his decision and keep the striker in but instructed Dimanche to switch postions with Casimir from time to time. This was ofcourse met with jeers but Casimir was dangerous as a centre-foward, dribbling past the Grearish defenders with only the keeper stopping him. One of these shots led to a corner kick. In the 24th minute Charles Payen's clever header from Jonathan Boi's cross led to Ziwana's first goal in the qualifier.

After the half-time break Jean-Marc Mourgine was brought in to replace Dimanche. In the second half, Jean Kane the Western United and Akambuku shot stopper was challenged more by the Grearish strikers this led to an injury for the young keeper. He was replaced by Nicolas Mitraille. Nicolas Mitraille was not a favourite of the fans to be in the Ziwani qualifiers camp, most wanted the return of Kingsley Ithier who was a far better keeper and also challenged Kane for the number 1 position. In the 68th minute any notion of a contest or comeback were shattered when Jean-Marc Mourgine scrambled home a second to insure the Akambuku's win.

After match when questioned about his decision to start Johan Dimanche Jean Wilder replied that he knew the player had potential and believed that by playing him more often he would gain experience and reach that potential. He went on to say that he wanted Dimanche to stop listening to the negative stories about him and focus on working on becoming a better player. With matchday 1 put to bed, the next match will be against 137th ranked Zsepratist, this should be an easy game for Ziwana to win.In fact it must be a must win match to gain points as losing points against lower ranked teams will comeback to bite the Akambuku when they face more challenging sides. The next match will be played in on Monday 9th August, 2021 at 19.00 Western Melayu Standard Time (WMST). Tune in on Zcomm Sports Channel 321 on ZSTV or go online at www.zcommsports.com to watch the game.

World Cup 81/82/83/84

Group foes no motley collection
Oliver Stanley
The Post Soccer Correspondent

When the draw for World Cup 86 Qualifying was made, many fans probably wondered to themselves "who are these teams?"; of the nine, only Twicetagria and the Busoga Islands have been opponents recently, while Savojarna were one of the many opponents for the National Team in their preparations when the Commonwealth hosted World Cup 84.

With those three teams on the horizon, as well as Mercedini, who are next up when Baker Park return to the BBP Stadium in Belle Haven for the first time since a 3-3 draw with Cassadaigua prior to the WC 85 Finals, a closer study is warranted; at first glance, the casual spectator might scoff but serious fans know that there are no 'soft touches' anymore in international soccer.

Start with the most recent nation that BP have faced, Twicetagria; this will mark the second consecutive WCQ the teams have been draw against one another, and fortunately for the Black & Gold, by the time they faced off on matchday 8 at the Wonderland Stadium in Alphaxrie, the hosts had already shown they had little fear of anyone. While the Commonwealth and Zwangzug were running away at the top of the table, the race for 'best of the rest' was being challenged by the 'Tagrians in earnest. Coming immediately after the historic 600th National Team match versus Buskrub, there was no letdown by a strong Bees lineup on the road; goals from Antonio Sotolongo and Ayana West were enough to allow Ichi Tuzzio's squad to control enough of the match to escape with a 2-1 win.

In fact, soon afterwards, the FAC quietly shifted the venue for the return match in the second half of the tournament to the BBP, a nod of respect that they didn't consider the newcomers to be fixture filler.

Ranked 89th after their fourth place finish in the qualifying group, and good showings in the BOF & Cup of Harmony on either side, it wouldn't be a shock to anyone at the FAC Development Center in Birkenfeld if they actually break through and make the Finals, although it may be a cycle away.

The reasoning behind starting out with the Tagrians is to illustrate that the top half of Group 18 is not going to be anyone's idea of an easy stroll to qualification for Baker Park. With there being 18 groups of 10 teams each for this phase of the World Cup, the draw was conducted with all of the entrants placed in seeding pots, based upon their most current KPB World Rank. Twicetagria were allocated a 5th place, as their rank meant they were just above the cutoff for those 18 sides--places 73-90 in an ideal world.

As we will soon see, the number on paper next to your name may not actually represent your true position in the hierarchy; there are nations ranked in the second half of the top 100 that have opted out of entering this Cup, in addition to a few in the top 50.

The next team to introduce are the Savojars, who are currently ranked 61st; that would place near the top of the pile in pot 4, which is where they ended up. In truth, they were very likely the first or second best squad of the fourth seeds, taking into the account the absences mentioned above. You'll see shortly why that subtle distinction is important.

While she was still a part of the FAC coaching setup, former Cassadaigua defender and now Valladares National Team Manager Jessica Curran wasn't shy in expressing her view that the Copa Rushmori was every bit as difficult to win as the AOCAF, according to several people; they also say she was never seriously challenged in the assertion by anyone in Birkenfeld. The FAC have a great deal of respect for the nations they have relationships with in that region.
Savojarna are being called a dark horse to make the Finals in the second spot from the group in several publications across the multiverse.

Although they've not played as often as the FAC would like, The Busoga Islands are considered an important regional Association that the FAC cultivates relationships with; the sides first met in AOCAF LVI in the final group stage match at Sky High Coliseum in Cloudsdale, Equestria, when both were eliminated, and BP came away with a 4-3 victory, the 200th victory in BP National Team history. The two squads posed for a joint picture at the conclusion of the match to celebrate the Busogan's first international tournament, and to establish the nations' newly forged ties following the independence of Busoga from Banija in the aftermath of the Banijan Civil War, which BP participated in as a neutral to ensure drought relief to both Banijans and Busogans.

Their next meeting was in the Opening Match of AOCAF LVIII at Keller Field in Belle Haven, a 2-0 victory for BP that propelled the side to a Third Place finish as co-hosts; and the most recent match was the Commonwealth's first ever visit to Lakiska, with Baker Park coming away with a 3-2 win prior to the WC 85 Finals.

Busoga ranks 45th in the world and you'll note that is closer to Savojarna's ranking than the Savojars rank to Twicetagria; yet all three are within 44 places from top to bottom. In the KPB, that is not a huge gap, all things being equal; when Mercedini's situation is included, the competitiveness of the four sides becomes clearer.

The Mercidinians come in at 34, which means now the gap from 2nd seed to 5th is 55 rank places; with 18 teams per pot, that means four seeded sides are only really 3 pots apart on paper.
In summary, there will be many interesting story lines to follow should one find another relentless march by the Commonwealth to be a bit uninteresting.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
[OOC--Daily Express is a local Oceana tabloid, so this will be different style than the more traditional journalism of The Daily Mail, The Post, Sporting Times, etc.]

Two from Two for BP
Paul Barber
Daily Express
A strange thing happened on the way to a pair of routine victories on the opening international break of World Cup Qualifying.
It wasn't how they came about—Lorenzo Taborn had a brace and DeAngelo Simmons added another strike during an impressive, sharp display in front of 34,751 at Newport City Stadium against World Cup debutantes TOTEL, followed a few days later with a virtuoso performance by the Commonwealth's premier soccer artiste, Annabeth Westmoreland scoring a hat-trick and setting up Daisy Callum and Antonio Sotolongo for their own scores in a 7-0 masterclass against Cheergirls.
No, it was what came later on, when the contest was long since decided; in the home fixture, substitutes Nicole Underwood and Maria Fernandez replaced the two goal scorers with 20 minutes left, and after a few exchanges of possession with a tired, dejected TOTEL side, eventually morphed into an arrangement that looked a lot like a recent AOCAF champion.

Not that one. The one before that.
A formation that was clearly 4-5-1, with a lonely Sabrina Patton playing about 20 yards away from the top of the 18, until about 5 minutes later when the majority of the few fans left buzzed when the final sub was presented.

Westmoreland replaced Patton and alternated between chasing the dejected TOTEL center backs, and dropping into an area that looked like a subway platform waiting for the train.

The other match saw a sub pattern that was equally unusual, but at least produced something a bit less drastic. Patton returned the favor, although she replaced Sotolongo, while Jamari Bozeman came on in the 68th minute for the Player of the Night by a mile; the sparse crowd rose together, home & visiting supporter alike, to pay tribute to Westmoreland's performance. Pryna Rasanamira also came on for Callum on 72 minutes, which changed the shape of the side further; the press box consensus was 4-3-3, which is still a bit of a foreign species in CBP. Probably for the benefit of the overseas contingent.

When all was said and done, it was 6 points from 2 matches, and there was a bit of a feeling like one could sense during the last qualifying experience.

MD3-4

lineup/squad vs Mercedini:
Johnston; Ackerman, N Underwood, Harrison; Delgarro, Stone, Buxton, Navarro, Aguilar; Laing, West
subs--Vickers, Jordan, Wiseman, Monaghan, Grimaldi, Hayes, Porter, Guitierrez, Pryor, LeClair, Wadsworth
lineup/squad vs Murphtannia:
Vickers; Monaghan, Wiseman, Jordan; Grimaldi, Guitierrez, Hayes, Navarro; LeClair; Pryor, Wadsworth
subs--Johnston, Ackerman, N Underwood, Harrison, Delgarro, Stone, Porter, Aguilar, Buxton, Laing, West

by **Ziwana** » Thu Sep 03, 2020 10:09 pm

The Zsepratists 2 - 1 Ziwana: Jean Sophie sh*t costs Ziwana in loss against the Red Devils.

By Chosadziwa Botolo, Chief Football Correspondent

ZCOMM Sport @Chadoul National Stadium

9 August 2021 • 9:29PM

Photograph: Kavinga Haqawi/Natty Images

A Jean Sophie bathroom break in the middle of the match against Zsepratists cost the Akambuku 3 points.

The match against Zsepratists was a must win match for Ziwana. In the pre-match interview Akambuku manager, Jean Wilder had said that beating sides with lower ranking to Ziwana was the only way the national team to have a chance at qualifying either now or in the future. Zsepratists were challenge for Ziwana but the Akambuku were not phased playing their beautiful umodzi, umdozi seeking out and picking out open spaces and channels to exploit, moving the ball up field by short passing. This beautiful football led to a 35 minute goal after Johan Dimanche blasted the ball into the right corner of the Zsepratist goal past Zadanpa Zaloka.

Things seemed to be going well for Ziwana untill the final 30 minutes of the game when at the 70th minute mark, central defender Jean Sophie run off the pitch during a Zsepratist corner for a bathroom break. This left Ziwana with 10 men on the pitch. The corner kick was saved by Mitraille, but the next attacks by Zsepratists against a vulnerable Ziwana led to 2 goals with the space of 20 minutes in which Jean Sophie was absent. This was also made worse by a Jonathan Boi red card after he had brought down Igor Adam. This left Ziwana with 9 men on the pitch. When Jean Sophie returned to the pitch it was too late for Ziwana to recover. After the match Jean Sophie was blasted on social media.

Jean Sophie had to be escorted by security after the match as angry Akambuku fans wanted to beat him up. Back home in Teuila angry fans through soiled nappies and excrement onto his parents compound. At the moment Jean Sophie has deleted his social media and manager Jean Wilder has not made any statement on the issue.

by **Springmont** » Fri Sep 04, 2020 12:31 am

Springmont Football Association (SFA) sponsored by Pacific Coffee has signed a contract with Corndaglish Motor to supply six buses of the Corndaglish Linkmaster Six for the use of the national football squad and the use of the visiting team that will compete in WCQ86 which will take them from the accommodation and training ground to the stadium for matches.

Bluethorn Capitol

The visiting team is usually stationed at the Bluethorn Capitol in South Winbridge and trains at Playbrook Stadium owned by league champion South Winbridge FC.

by **Barunia** » Fri Sep 04, 2020 1:13 am

Barunia began their World Cup campaign against a familiar face in Zwangzug, who they have faced on no less than eight previous occasions in qualifiers. The ninth meeting between the two teams was a thrilling affair, with plenty of action, a tight scoreline, and more than a dash of controversy.

Barunia struck early through Neville Swan, who put the finishing touch on a brilliant passing sequence around the Zwangsug box, firing a rocket low and to the left of Paige Daunten. Five minutes later Zwangzug levelled the score with a goal of their own, thanks to a piece of individual brilliance from their captain. On the counter attack, Twoni picked up a clearance from the backline, sidestepped Moreno expertly, and then chipped the ball over the head of the advancing Taylor.

With the scores level, it became a frenzy as halftime approached. Then came the big talking point. Sara Moorhouse was on a run into the penalty box when she became entangled with Sydney Stefred, who appeared to push the Barunian forward to the turf. The immediate appeals for a penalty were waved away by the referee, much to the disbelief of the majority of the 85,000 in attendance at Sun Stadium. With no reconsideration from the referee, the first half ended with the scores level.

Zwangzug came out swinging in the second half, and added another two goals in the first fifteen minutes, courtesy of Johan Idmar. With a two goal buffer, Zwangzug eased off the pressure and reverted back to a more traditional defensive style, Barunia tried in vain to break through the Zwangzug defence, before Cortez finally broke through in the 86th minute, knocking in a header from a corner. It was too little, too late though, and Zwangzug won the match 3-2.

A feature of this world cup campaign is a shortened schedule, with the team hitting the road almost immediately for their first away game against South Covello. Wearing blue-and-yellow kits reminiscent of early Barunian home strips, the Rebels proved to be an even match for the Suns, with neither team able to break the deadlock during the first half, despite numerous opportunities.

The breakthrough came from a piece of brilliance from Louise Cartwright, who lofted a cross from deep midfield to the far post, directly into the path of Emmanuel Cortez, who appeared out of nowhere to redirect the ball past Matthew Tyler and into the back of the net. The goal was the only one of the match, given Barunia a much needed three points and their first win of the campaign.

   Group 17                             Pld    W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts 
 1 When U Die                             2    2   0   0     8    4   +4     6
 2 Legalese                               2    1   1   0     3    2   +1     4
   Squornshelan Remnant States            2    1   1   0     3    2   +1     4
 4 Zwangzug                               2    1   0   1     3    3    0     3
 5 Barunia                                2    1   0   1     3    3    0     3
 6 Abanhfleft                             2    1   0   1     4    3   +1     3
 7 South Covello                          2    1   0   1     1    1    0     3
 8 Eurasies                               2    0   1   1     3    5   −2     1
 9 Liberal Democratic Socialist States    2    0   1   1     5    8   −3     1
10 Verceola                               2    0   0   2     0    2   −2     0

Barunia are slotted into the middle of the pack at the moment, but is early days in the competition, and Barrios was adamant in the press conference that the team had a real chance here. The oddly named nation of When U Die are currently topping the group, but have only faced the minnows of the group in Verceola and the Liberal Democratic Socialist States. It is expected When U Die will be knocked off their perch when they face the real contenders in the group, which is all the teams in spots 2-7. That includes Barunia, who will face When U die next match, as well as South Covelo and Zwangzug. Squornshelan Remnant States and Abanhfleft also have realistic chances of qualifying, being the third and fourth seeds in the group respectively. Former heavyweights Legalese find themselves in a similar position to Barunia with a rank that does not reflect their history, and should not be ruled out of securing a finals berth, especially as they lead the pack and are currently without a loss. With only the group winner guaranteed a spot in the tournament proper, the Suns have a tough road ahead, but have made a good start, holding the top seeds to within a goal and securing a victory over the second seeds on the road.

Barunia’s next match will see the Suns head to the Northern Isles to face When U Die at Sam Garcia Field, before heading on the road to Legalese.

by **Blouman Empire** » Fri Sep 04, 2020 2:11 am

THE EMPIRE TIMES

First Game – First Goal – First Win

Blouman Empire boss Lewis Parry praised his players after the opening round of the World Cup Qualifiers in front of a home crowd at Old Road saw the Eagles secure a 1-0 win over Xanneria. Ty Freltron’s header early in the second half secured a victory for the Eagles and their first 3 points as the Eagles kicked off the campaign in style. Xanneria were favourites to secure a win and looked strong at the start of the game but were lacking quality in the final third and like the last time the two sides met it was Freltron who broke the deadlock and secured the win.

Freltron's goal just after the break brought the game to life after a dire first half in which Devon Leymore had the only real chance, but his header hit the post. Richard Presentinov was denied an immediate response for Xanneria when his low drive inside the box was blocked, but the visiting side looked distinctly off key throughout. Instead it was the Eagles who looked the most likely to add to their lead as Luke Cousins brought a save out of Leonetta Walters before Ryan Hunter drove just wide of the post in the closing stages.

The spirit shown by the team was really good," said Parry. "It is not a surprise, the players know what is expected of them - to have a good spirit and fight and they showed that today. I am really pleased with the performance, I know the qualifying campaign has only just started but this spirit is a good sign for the rest of the campaign”. Xanneria also showed spirit and there was plenty of huff and puff and use of body from the visiting side but they lacked quality in the final third. There was also a distinct lack of urgency, with the toils of a long trip from Esportiva taking its toll. They pressed in the final few minutes as the Eagles sat back but finished the game without mustering a shot on target.

There were some murmurs from commentators with Parry including Freltron in the squad after a lacklusture domestic performance, however, this game underlined the importance of Freltron to the side. He was one of the few players for either side looking to make something happen in a dull first half with some determined runs, while it was his goal - a superbly guided header after a clever run and a cross from Hunter - that finally provided the spark the game needed.

With the first game won the Eagles will next play Quakmybush away and will be looking to make it two from two.

Eagles Get Two From Two

The Blouman Empire continued their pursuit of a spot in the World Cup Proper with a victory over Quakmybush at Quakmybush and it was their second in as many games putting them just behind ladder leader Banija on goal difference.

Fresh after winning their first match against Xanneria the Eagles looked on course to secure three more points with ease when they went two up inside eight minutes making a dream start. Issac Cupstran robbed a Quakmybush defender in a dangerous position to set up Luke Cousins before Blouman captain John Miller swiftly swept home a superb second from 20 yards. Quakmybush, however, fought back with renewed intensity and fully deserved to pull a goal back when they fired a crisp finish past Blouman keeper Henry Polinoir from an impressive cross. Blouman manager Lewis Parry stopped Quakmybush’s progress with some astute substitutions and a corner from one of them – Jack Cooper, was headed in by Paul Credab for his 1st goal of the campaign.

The Eagles now with 2 wins from 2 games has shown how impressive they are and how the last campaign has developed the side for international competition. Despite that the Eagles had their uncomfortable moments in this game and their defending lacked its usual assurance in the face of a spirited Quakmybush response to those two early goals but in the end, their quality shined through. The strong pressing demand as shown in the first match against Xanneria were evident again as Quakmybush paid the price for a risky possession plan near their own goal early on and with Cousins up front they have someone who will be able to put it in the back of the net more often than not.

The Eagles will be looking to continue their run as they head back home to play Chromatika at Intosh Street Park.

World Cup 86: Roleplay Thread

WCQ86 Matchday 1 rp

WCQ86 Matchday 2 rp

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