World Cup 86: Roleplay Thread

[Springmont]

The latest Springmont Football Player Luxury Car Collection

Apex Olympiuz

Goalkeeper Salton Kingbury reportedly bought a Miklaus Automobile Raven car for his use. Raven is a mid-engine sports car produced by the Montian automotive manufacturer Miklaus Automobile. Similarly, national midfielder Mark Fjetland chose Miklaus Automobile Raven as his car of choice. While the defender and national team captain, Carmelo Heckbert, chose APEX-produced machinery, the Apex Olympiuz as his car. This front-engine type car is a limited model where only 69 units have been built by APEX Integrated Auto.

Miklaus Automobile Raven

Port Yumrise and national striker Pablo Kaizer recently bought a Miklaus Automobile Uriva. The car is exclusively designed, developed, and manufactured by Miklaus's private subsidiary company manufacturing high performance automotive parts, Miklaus SportLand. This 2-door coupé belonging to Kaizer is one of the best-selling sports cars in 2019. Jonathan McColsom, Hearthbury High FC midfielder and nationally chose the antique design of Corndaglish Motor, the 2001 Corndaglish Casandra.

Miklaus Automobile Uriva

Corndaglish Casandra

It has become a trend for professional footballers to show off their cars when they come to practice, even the row of sports and luxury cars in the parking lot of the Training Center at Esthampton Citypark is no longer a surprise. With the amount of income received including sponsorship and advertising, they are indeed able to own the machinery, in fact some of them have been appointed ambassadors of prestigious vehicle companies in Springmont.

For the national team manager, Kristofer Donatis he was more concerned with luxury and comfort, so he chose Corndaglish Paramount as his vehicle.

Corndaglish Paramount

[Murphtannia]

Pre-season results

"Hello and welcome back to Ground Sports, I'm your host, Brian, and joining me today is former Murphtannian international Oswald Jefferson, or simply known as Jeff"

"Hello Brian it's a pleasure to be here."

"So, the draw is in, Murphtannia find themselves in Group 18, but before we talk about last nights draw, lets take a look to Murphtannia's Pre-season tour." says Brian.

*A graphic appears, showing the highlights for every match*

The Tour started with a home game against fellow 10KI Megistos, the first rendition of what is being called the 10KI Derby here in Murphtannia ended with a shock 3-2 win for Murphtannia. Megistos took the lead, despite playing a weakened side, when 18 year old Robertson was played in with a superb through ball from Howard, Robertson 1 on 1 with the keeper slotted it into the bottom left corner. Megistos then made it 2-0 when Cringan ran into the defence from the right wing, using his excellent footwork to nutmeg cartlidge before laying it off for Robertson to score the tap in. The first half ended 2-0.

The second half started with Boland being subbed on for Pole, this had an instant effect as Boland picked up the ball, carried it from the half way line, driblling into the defence before tricking Fri, the young centre back, into committing a foul, the Penatly was awarded and Fri was sent off for denying a clear goal scoring oppotunity.

Murphy smashed the Pen into the top right to make it 2-1. Then in the 62nd Minute Boland picked up the bal outside the defence, he dribbled past 3 defenders before laying it off to Murphy who wheeled away in celebration after making it 2-2, a similar goal to Roberts second.

Finally, it's the 92nd minute, Murphtannian have a corner after a Boland shot is saved by Becks. Styler steps up for the corner, he whips it in, Boland gets his head on it but Becks punches it away, Murphy is on the outside of the box, no, surely not, he goes for the overhead kick and sends it flying into the top right hand corner, the crowd went mad and so did the players.


After a superb start for pre-season Murphtannia travelled to Megistos, however the double wasn't to be, a 4-2 away loss, Robertson scoring again in 3rd minute from a superb header, Cringan scoring from outside the box and a Jorgensen brace capped off a miserable first half.

The second half saw an improved performance but it wasn't enough, with Pole scoring a header in the 50th minute and Murphy scoring a volley in the 70th. We thought the come back was on but it wasn't to be as the game ended 4-2.

For the 3rd fixture, Murphtannia travelled to the DENFO stadium in Salem, Delcaclava. Before the game the stadium was rocking as Delaclavan fans and Murphtannian fans battled to make the most noise, with Tifos, banners, smoke and other things to create an amazing atmosphere.

However it was the home crowd that would get the first laugh as A.Guzev carried the ball from the half way line, before passing it to Romeijin who took a shot and rifled it into the top corner to make it 1-0. The rest of the first saw Murphtannia barely holding on as A.Guzev, Cambell and Linblad all saw excellent shots saved again and again by Ball, the Murphtannian Goalkeeper, who was having an amazing match.

Thanks to Ball's efforts and a superb block from Jenkins the first half ended Delaclava 1 Murphtannia 0.

Pole was yet again subbed off for Boland in the second half as O'Reilly was brought on for Styler, who was having a poor game.

Distastor hit though as when Jenkins slide tackled the ball the ref wrongly gave the penatly, Guzev was elected to take the spot kick but Ball wouldn't stop staring at him, Guzev stepped up to take the pen and sent it flying into the top corner, however Ball had gone the wrong way and a flying save keep it at 1-0.

A quick goal kick followed as O'Reilly picked up the ball at the half way line and ran towards the edge of the box, he played a through ball into Boland who dribbled his way into the box , drawing Soler to come and take it off him, before a last minute cross towards Murphy who volleyed it into the net, Murphy ran into the away end as chants of "Your defence is terrified cus Murphy's on fire, your defence is terrified because Murphy's on fire,ooh, nah nah nah nah nah nah (and so on)."

The crowd was rocking for the rest of the match as Murphtannia willed on their players but only a few half chances would follow, the game ended 1-1.

For the last Pre-season friendly Delaclava travelled to the Murphtannia stadium,the 30,000 away fans would try their best to cheer on their team but they were silenced by the Murphtannian fans, Tifos, chants, banners of the manager and player would yet again fill the stadium as the atmosphere was rocking.

That atmosphere continued even as Delaclava went 1-0 up via a Campbell goal. Delaclava then made it 2-0 in the 15th minute when Gusev bent a shot into the top right corner, Gusev then made it 3-0 when he picked up the ball, running from the halfway line, flicking it over the head of Jack Bridges, before slotting it into the bottom left.

However the crowd picked up again when Boland, who had come into the side for Pole for some good performances, dribbled past Pan and 1 on 1 with the keeper send it the ball into the net after bouncing off the post. The first half ended 3-1.

The second half started brightly for Murphtannia with Styler hitting the post and a superb save from Soler, diving to keep the Murphy shot out, before saving the follow up shot from Styler and then finally catching the ball when Jenkins shot it right at him. 3 more Brilliant saves kept it at 3-1.

However in the 67th minute Murphy finally found a way through when he flicked it over one defender, performed a step over to get past Davis and then nut megging Martin, before waiting for Soler to come out and get the ball before taking it around him and slotting the ball into the middle of the open net. The Crows went wild as Murphy scored yet again.

The come back was on, chants of "we'll win 4-3, we'll win 4-3" blasted around the stadium as Murphtannia tried to apply the pressure with shot after shot, however in the 87th, a ball is whipped into the box from the corner for Martin to head home, killing off the game.

and that's how the game ended, Delaclava 4-2 Murphtannia.


"Well that was quite the pre-season wasn't it Jeff" said Brian in his usual excited tone, "That's right, none of them were a boring game, and I think that is something we can come to expect in the future with this team" replied Jeff, his usual, calm self. "Well that's right, I am now getting word that the manager, George Murphy, is ready for his interview, over to you, Susan." Says Brian before looking at the screen.

*The screen pans to a picture of Murphy, with a microphone held in front of him*

"So after that pre-season in which you had some good results, what's the feeling going into the WC?" Susan asks "Well we played 2 high level countries with some brilliant players, I am proud of the lads performances and it fills me with confidence heading into our first fixture against the Busoga islands." Replied Murphy, keeping his voice calm and civil.

"Murphy scored 6 goals in pre-season, making him by far your highest goal scorer, how vital will he be in your qualifying campaign?" Asks Susan, with a hint of genuine curiosity "I think Murph is a fantastic player, he showed it this season by being the top scorer at the highest level of Murphtannian football and he's shown it again by scoring in every match. At only 17 I think his best is still to come which can only be a good thing really." Says Murphy, getting quite passionate with his tone

"Given the fact you lost 2 of your games, how does that affect the way your going into the qualifiers?" Says Susan, who for some reasons keeps looking up at the sky "Well as I said before we played 2 very high levels of opposition. I think that all the games were close and that shows the level our team is performing at, I think on our day we can beat anyone, home or away." Murphy says, portraying confidence with his stance, clearly believing what he is saying.

"Yesterday you were present at the Group stage draw, we saw Murphtannia be drawn into Group 18, how difficult do you think it will be to qualify? and how do you feel that all your fixtures are away for the first half of the campaign?" Susan says, now staring directly at Murphy, she herself is quite calm "Well I think we can't underestimate the nations in our group by any means, Right now the media probably rates our chances at qualifying very low but it is up to me and the lads to be at their best to prove them wrong, and if we are at our best I would say we can qualify, I think I prefer our fixtures being away. It means the deciding campaign will be played here in Murphtannia, and I have no doubt that being in another country won't affect our fans, they were right with us in pre-season and we will need their support if we are to have success." Says Murphy, with a excited tone in his voice, he is clearly eager to get the season underway and prove all the doubters wrong.

"That's all the questions we have time for, for now, thank you for speaking with us." says Susan before the screen reverts back to the Pundits.

"Encouraging words their from the manager, Jeff, how well prepared do you feel going into the qualifiers?" Says Brian, turning himself towards Jeff "Well I think Murphy is right to try and in still confidence in his players but to be realistic I think Murphtannia won't qualify this year, they would be lucky to avoid bottom place. For me Baker Park are my favourites to win the group, I think they quality they have outshines every other team, but other than that every team has a good chance of finishing 2nd. However I think Murphtannia will have to be at their best throughout the WC if they stand a chance." Jeffs says.

"So while Jeff doesn't think Murphtannia will qualify, if they are too stand any chance at all it will be because of star striker murph." Brian says as a animation shows Murph's stats and Murph himself. Brian continue "6 goals in 4 games, and 2 assists, what a pre-season this man has had Jeff."

*The screen cuts to Murph's positioning and that of his teammates for his goals and assists on a loop.*

"Yes Brian as you can see Murph's positioning is superb, he's always in the right place at the right time and he is making these excellent runs behind the defence to open up play and allow other's to come into a scoring position, or he takes it on himself and with that finishing ability I can see why. At only 17 he looks like an excellent striker, I would've been scared to go against him back in my day, and he still has a majority of his career ahead of him, and he can only get better." Jeff says with a broad smile on his face.

"Well that's it for the Pre-season show, tune in next time where we will be covering the post match show for Murphtannia's first game, away to Bosuga Islands."

*The Screen cuts adverts about the next show.*

[Squidroidia]

www.thirtysixer.sqr/blog/2

ThirtySixer - Oh hey, World Cup 86 qualifiers!

---

Thirty Sixer
A blog about Squidroidia

Oh hey, World Cup 86 qualifiers!
Entry 2

With everything out of my chest for today (Seriously, you should have seen the debauchery the SFA President went through after getting this one opponent in our group), it's finally time to talk about that thing the Squidroidian media can't stop talking about. The World Cup qualifiers. There was a lot of stuff in this draw - The toilet group, last-second entrants Murphtannia getting into Group 18, and of course, our group. Group 15. Now I don't know about you, but I think we could do decent in this group, depending on how well Mito adapts his team to the challenges ahead. So hey, why not cover every single team in this group?

Squidroidia
Oh hey, that's us. Baptism of Fire and IAC 3rd placers and that team who can do damage. I can't explain why Squidroidia are Squidroidia, you probably know it by now.

Devonta
First of all, how serious must you be to be #76 Devonta? Second of all, how are you supposed to come to Inkopolis City Stadium on Matchday 2 when the Squidroidians already have some experience against a sub-300 team? I still have a feeling that they will be too good for us, but we'll see them once the time comes.

Kulefati
I don't know who the hell Kulefati are, but I know one thing... We are going to BATTER them home and away. We're too good to lose to an unranked team. If you want to know a team who lost to an unranked team, ask Sharktail.

Flavovespia
Finally, a serious opponent. If you don't know Flavovespia, you might be missing out on their Kitblogs and their overall mediocrity in AOCAF this season. Still, they might as well make us forfeit, just like...

Quebec
...Fuck. Kinky for them.

Ihilthracna
They might be ranked, but they're another pushover team. And I like pushover teams. They give me a reason to watch Squidroidia win big, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Also, how the hell do you pronounce this? Ih-il-thranc-na? Ihil-thra-cna? Ih?

Cassadaigua
Annnnd they qualified! Again! We're going to be battered against a team THIS good. It's the exact reason why Baker Park beat us up 4-1 at their place.

Electrum
Here we see the Electrum in the wild, feasting on the cupcakes known as Kulefati. Suddenly, they see something in their group that will give them a scare. That is the wild...

Main Nation Ministry
Hey, remember when the gridiron team beat Squidroidia both times in World Bowl XXXIX? They'll probably do it again at the World Cup for old time's sake.

Wymondham
And finally, we got this team to start off our adventure. In other words, a win so easy that you might as well be Nephara.

Match predictions

Vs. Wymondham - W
Vs. Devonta - D
@ Kulefati - W
Vs. Flavovespia - L
@ Quebec - L
Vs. Ihilthracna - W
@ Cassadaigua - L
Vs. Electrum - W
@ Main Nation Ministry - L
@ Wymondham - W
@ Devonta - L
Vs. Kulefati - W
@ Flavovespia - L
Vs. Quebec - D
@ Ihilthracna - W
Vs. Cassadaigua - L
@ Electrum - L
Vs. Main Nation Ministry - L

Predicted points: 23

[HUElavia]

HUElavia Placed into a Favorable Group 10 for the Qualifiers!

Last night, the draw for the World Cup 86 Qualifiers was done, which saw HUElavia be in Pot 2 for the draw. It was a long night filled with some chaotic reactions from the representatives around them, but all in all it was an enjoyable draw, possibly one of the best, if not THE best, draw Los Amarillos/Os Amarelos have had.

HUElavia (24) was drawn into Group 10 with the following opponents: Reçueçn (18), Squornshelous (55), Eastfield Lodge (71), Maccian (110), Baggieland (122), Tioguldos (219), Praeceptia (305), Mathuvan Union (316), and New Waldensia (UR).

Later that evening, the HUElavian Government, the State Governments of HUElavia and the HUElavian Football Association came into agreement with the 9 home venues selected for the Qualifiers: Estadio Nacional (100,000) in Curumba, Estadio Santiago (69,000) in Puerto Santiago, Estadio Acuático (67,000) in Bello Mar, Estadio da Esperança (60,000) in Rigente, Stadio Delle Romano (58,500) in Cantenerico, Goang Stadium (53,000) in Goang, Helles Stadion (51,000) in Bish, Estadio Bendito (50,000) in San Franco, and Estadio Sino (50,000) in Bagnano.

With the draw done, a random seeding was completed and Los Amarillos/Os Amarelos were placed as the #2 Seed of the group. Thus, the schedule for HUElavia's Qualifiers will be as follows:

Matchday 1:
HUElavia vs Squornshelous
(Estadio Santiago, Puerto Santiago)

Matchday 2:
Mathuvan Union vs HUElavia

Matchday 3:
HUElavia vs Tioguldos
(Estadio da Esperança, Rigente)

Matchday 4:
HUElavia vs Maccian
(Goang Stadium, Goang)

Matchday 5:
Eastfield Lodge vs HUElavia

Matchday 6:
HUElavia vs Reçueçn
(Estadio Nacional, Curumba)

Matchday 7:
New Waldensia vs HUElavia

Matchday 8:
HUElavia vs Baggieland
(Stadio Delle Romano, Canternico)

Matchday 9:
Praeceptia vs HUElavia

Matchday 10:
Squornshelous vs HUElavia

Matchday 11:
HUElavia vs Mathuvan Union
(Estadio Bendito, San Franco)

Matchday 12:
Tioguldos vs HUElavia

Matchday 13:
Maccian vs HUElavia

Matchday 14:
HUElavia vs Eastfield Lodge
(Estadio Acuático, Bello Mar)

Matchday 15:
Reçueçn vs HUElavia

Matchday 16:
HUElavia vs New Waldensia
(Estadio Sino, Bagnano)

Matchday 17:
Baggieland vs HUElavia

Matchday 18:
HUElavia vs Praeceptia
(Helles Stadion, Bish)

The team lead by Estela Garcia Kimura will look to play well and she intends on using most of the 50+ named roster for the Qualifiers, as they hope to achieve a direct qualification to World Cup 86 in Drawkland and Newmanistan. Fans are buying tickets in droves, while the away fans will be allocated the traditional 15% capacity tickets for their fans to watch the match. HUElavia has optimism that the team can have a good qualifiers, as they look to appear in the final tournament for the 3rd Consecutive Time. Regardless of what happens, HUElavians at home and abroad all around the multiverse look forward to supporting the team.

FORCA HUELAVIA! VAMOS HUELAVIA! GO HUELAVIA!

[Tikariot]

The official sponsors of the Tikariot WC86 campaign

The picture opens to a brand new studio design, all held in black, purple and white, with the new logos for Tikariot Sports TV and the Tikariot Football Federation adorning screens and desk fronts. Four smiling faces are welcoming viewers, Alistair McIntosh, Duncan Haldane, Martin Seagrave and a new pundit that is making his debut.

Alistair McIntosh: Good evening ladies and gentlemen and welcome to our brand spanking new studio set, just in time for the World Cup! Or at least the qualification stage. And as you probably also have noticed, our station has rebranded and is no longer TSG TV, but Tikariot Sports TV. Joining me tonight for a look at our squad, a quick review of the Tikariotian test matches prior to the World Cup and a preview of our group and opponents, are Duncan Haldane, Martin Seagrave and a new face to our team, former Fort Viljan captain Andreas Svedberg. Welcome to the biggest football event in the world!

Andreas Svedberg: Thank you very much for having me, I'm excited to be part of this and to see how our team will fare in our first Cup!

Alistair McIntosh: So a lot of things have changed since Tikariot made its debut on the international stage at the IFC1, we participated in the Baptism of Fire, in the Summer Olympics and now are gearing up for the biggest one of them all. As someone who has following the team since the beginning, how do you see the development as a team, Duncan?

Duncan Haldane: Well, we started out shooting in the dark. Nobody knew us, we didn't know anybody, so some people said that winning the IFC1 was just a matter of opponents not having been able to study our play and being surprised. Which is a fair assessment for someone breaking into the community, so to say, but I think that through the Baptism of Fire and the Olympics we have shown that we are not just a fluke that managed to get lucky, but that we do have a place among the more established nations, even though it might not be pretty going against the big guns in the qualification.

Martin Seagrave: It will be a great learning experience, though. I don't think that it will be a washout, but actually qualifying would be a huge achievement. We are known for defying odds, however, so you never know what might happen.

Alistair McIntosh: Before we go into our test games and the rest, let's have a look at the squad that Stuart Ekstrom has nominated and while there has not been a lot of movement in the predicted starting eleven, there have been some changes. So in goal we have Brian Merson and as his backup Baraldhur's Romain Chatelet has come into the squad. Some people have been wondering why given Baraldhur's slip in the table in the second half of the season so far, what is your take on it, Andreas?

Andreas Svedberg: Especially with goal keepers you have to look a bit further than just the result, because what the table and the goals conceded do not show are things like how many saves he made, how many "unsaveables" etc. There is far more than just the plain numbers to consider and without Romain the BAFC would not stand where it is standing right now, but would be suck somewhere in no man's land.

Martin Seagrave: One luxury problem of Tikariot right now is that we have a lot of great goalies, many of them still pretty young, too, so the level of competition here is insane. Hynes, Arrondo, Harding, they all would have good chances to be the number one goalkeepers for many countries and here they are not even in the squad.

Alistair McIntosh: So would you say that goalkeeping is the forte of Tikariot?

Martin Seagrave: That and our forwards, definitely.

Alistair McIntosh: So you see problems in defense and midfield?

Martin Seagrave: No, no, that's not what I was trying to say.

Alistair McIntosh: I know, haha. So as we were just talking about it, defense. Going with the projected starting eleven, there is one big change in the centre, James Coronello only on the bench.

Duncan Haldane: Port Tacassam did rise to fourth position, yes, but their defense has cost them several points in the last few weeks and while James still is a great centre back, this can influence your psyche a bit, so Ekstrom has opted for Eren Knox, with 31 years the oldest player in the squad, by the way, who has been an absolute rock in the Oriannor defense and is at least partially responsible for the Mountaineers sitting in third now.

Andreas Svedberg: The only other change in the back is that we have a fourth defender on the bench, so Manfred Abidor is out of the squad and Edwin Keylick is in as backup right back. The Firebirds have been literally all over the place this season, all the way down to twentieth and eighth was their best position so far, they fired their coach, so in a way it is surprising to actually see two of their players in the squad here, but Rory McNair is like the anchor in the team and Edwin really surprised me in the second half of the season. He still gets caught out of position a bit too often, but his speed and ball control really have made a big difference so far.

Alistair McIntosh: So you mentioned midfield, the trio of McNair, Thorniley, McTierney are still the starters. Now Ysgrann Bay has dropped off quite a bit, is McTierney on the bubble, too?

Martin Seagrave: No. Again you cannot just look at the sheer numbers. The Eagles still have the ninth best offense in the league and that's where Jenson factors in. You also shouldn't forget that the kid is just 18 years old, so you're going to find some ups and downs. But he just has this "je ne sais quoi" that can make or break a game and so far he has been making far more than he broke.

Alistair McIntosh: On the bench Parris Langley and David Hardcastle have not been nominated this time, instead we have Giovanni Vacarese and Ozan Welch, with Giovanni returning after having been in the starting eleven at the IFC, but then was dropped for both the BoF and the Olympics.

Martin Seagrave: Tikariot City has had a very bumpy second half of the season and Parris has been just as inconsistent and David also got caught up in the drop of Baraldhur. But both Giovanni and Ozan have been playing major roles in both of their teams with Ozan having the third most assists in the league right now and Giovanni has come out of his little slump and he could be a deadly weapon for any dead ball situation.

Alistair McIntosh: Makes sense. So now to what you had viewed as one of our biggest strengths, Martin, our offense.

Martin Seagrave: Oh yes, this is a marvellous piece of footballing right then and there. And one where we have one of the hottest prospects in world football right now, Morris Nighthorse.

Andreas Svedberg: This young man is only 18 years old and he has not only been tearing apart the TPL, but also internationally he has made a name for himself already. At the BoF he has been named as one of the best players and I tend to agree. 26 goals in the league as well and he has the speed, he has the technique, he could really go a long way!

Duncan Haldane: And despite his young age he also has been remarkably consistent. In the national team he also has a congenial counterpart on the right side with Jardel Connolly, 24 goals in the league, and he has an absolutely miserable shot/goal ratio, but that is just because he just shoots from absolutely everywhere. And because we've been talking about metrics earlier, his impact on the Port Rhovanyon game has been going way further than just the goals he made, because he creates a lot of deflections in the box because the goalie or the defenders don't expect a shot and can't properly clear it and that's where Jules Haney directly benefits from it. He stands at 21 goals himself and that has even gotten him a nomination for the World Cup, at the expense of Jesse Liljestrand, who had been playing well at the Baptism of Fire, but only one goal in the whole second half of the season just didn't cut it for this tournament at least.

Alistair McIntosh: And then there is the man that has at least for now pushed Graydon Sheffield onto the bench, Trey Burnett from Veriasod.

Martin Seagrave: Trey is also a comparably old player at 29 and his scoring has done a lot for the Lakers having caught up with Port Tacassam and Tikariot City and passing Baraldhur. Similar to Liljestrand he's very physical and because he often draws two defenders on him to stop him once he gets rolling, and then that opens spaces for the others to push into and get a chance to score.

Alistair McIntosh: On the bench we had already mentioned Sheffield and Haney, Iain Aspinall is coming back as well, but instead of Atlas Baxter we now have Adrian Grimaud in the team, who can play either wing and is as content with setting up a better positioned team mate as with scoring himself, so he could be a valuable asset as well.

Martin Seagrave: Yes, that's what I meant with the wealth of talent we have upfront. If you look at the TPL season, I don't think anybody would have complained about a Gary Conway, a Franklin Mosnyk, Ellis Wagstaff or Dean Berrymore, which gives me hope in case someone would pick up a knock in the campaign.

Alistair McIntosh: Which now brings us to the test friendlies and we've had a few surprising results here. It started out with a quick two-game series against Kohnhead, who are 74th in the WC rankings, by the way, and we won the first game abroad with 3-0 before losing at home 1-3. What does that result tell us?

Duncan Haldane: Well, Kohnhead made the mistake of sending out their B team for our first match. And they were completely out of their depth. I don't know, if they had expected us to be cannonfodder in a way, because we just recently appeared on the scene, but seeing that for the second match they unleashed their World Cup squad does tell me that we're not all that easy to walk over, haha. So we started out with our predicted starting eleven in the first game and things went off to a swimming start when in the second minute out of nowhere a McTierney cross found Trey Burnett completely alone in front of Bertha Sanders and he could just nod it in for a very early 1-0 lead. And instead of just being happy to have the lead against a far higher ranked team, they kept pushing and after 23 minutes and a corner by Marvin Thorniley Zion Grimes scored with another header, showing that Kohnhead definitely had an aerial problem. And this apparently flustered them so much that just a minute later Thorniley took the ball off Al Torgan's foot at the centre line and proceeded to weave through the complete defense before slotting the ball right next to the left post for a 3-0 lead after just 24 minutes. After that they did gear down a bit and Kohnhead showed absolutely zero danger for our defense, so that was it for the first game.

Andreas Svedberg: The second one was a completely different story, because now they sent out their World Cup starters, while we did some changes with Buckley coming in for Kovalchuk, Welch replacing McTierney, Cumbernauld coming on for Thorniley and in the front we got a completely new trio with Aspinall, Haney and Grimaud and yeah, things went very differently. After only nine minutes Caroline Prius-Lenoard hoofed a ball forward, getting to Audrey Henderson, who quickly laid the ball off to Linus Rallyton and the star of the Kohnhead team rifled a volley right into the top right corner, not a chance for Brian Merson. This took the wind out of our sails a bit and it took until the 32nd minute before we staged our first really dangerous attack, starting with an unforced error by Ida Cogginter, whose pass to Rallyton was not strong enough and allowed Ozan Welch to pick it up. A quick one-two with Cumbernauld and then a precise pass right between the Kohnhead defenders found Adrian Grimaud, who had slipped behind the defense and coolly looped the ball over Bertha Sanders.

That was not it for the first half, though, because it was again Linus Rallyton who orchestrated a beautiful attack, singling out Charles Laker on the left side, who went for a run to the goal line, bringing in a sharp, low cross under severe pressure by Liniack and after three tries by Erin Maltos, Audrey Henderson and Aaron Korkson it was finally Korkson who managed to push the ball over the line in a goal mouth scramble if I've ever seen one. In the second half Ekstrom took off Haney for Sheffield, Knox for Coronello and Cumbernauld for Vacarese, but despite angry attacks the centre backs of Miranda Atkinson and Claire Corton proved to be unbeatable and out of one attack by the Snowy Owls resulted a quick counter attack that went from Radison to Rallyton, then Cogginter, who laid the ball back to Prius-Lenoard and a very precise slot went through the legs of Brian Merson into the goal for the 3-1 final.

Alistair McIntosh: So what can we take away from these two games?

Andreas Svedberg: Well, the first one is a little difficult to put into perspective, as the Kohnhead B team definitely was not up to snuff, but it showed that our players have the confidence to try things, like Marvin's solo run. The second match, well, Kohnhead brought their a game, we had a few line-up changes, but it showed us some issues that Ekstrom still has to work on, especially if the ball is forward really quickly, we were still a bit sluggish in our transition game, but overall it showed that we are on the right path.

Alistair McIntosh: Next we travelled to South Newlandia and it was a wild game from what I've heard!

Martin Seagrave: Oh was it ever. Eight goals, what more can you really hope for as football fan? Well, probably to have scored more than the other team, but this 4-4 was a very good match to get more tactical insight into how our team fares against stronger opponents. Coach Ekstrom changed things up a bit again, with Coronello and Knox in the centre and McIlroy and Keylick as wing backs, van Haar got a chance in defensive midfield. Thorniley and McTierney in front of him and as our frontline we went for Nighthorse, Sheffield and Grimaud. South Newlandia, 87th in the world rankings, by the way, also sent their strongest team out and the first half was a true delicacy for any fan of fast, offensive football.

Right in the third minute Jenson McTierney sliced a beautiful cross pass to Nighthorse on the left side, who immediately cut inside, leaving Gustafe Wright behind, then faking to go right past Tommy Anderson but putting the ball around him the other side and then curving the ball over Mikhail Trischuk right into the top corner, a beauty of a goal. But it didn't take long before South Newlandia responded in style. Schroeder played the ball through the middle to McMora, who quickly laid off the ball to Simon McCabe on the left side, just at the line to the penalty box. He tried to put the ball through himself, but Knox got his foot in, unfortunately it fell right to Brandon Irving and he put the ball right next to the right post past an outstretched Brian Merson.

Now people already were getting quite riled up by two fairly quick goals, but the 22nd minute put that to shame. Free kick for South Newlandia after a foul by Nicholas van Haar on Finnley Wallis and he looped the ball over the wall with so much spin that it hit the inside of the goal post and from there into the goal, Merson did not even manage to move. But - Tikariot wasted absolutely no time and went for an approach I've never seen. The moment the referee released the ball, Sheffield played the ball back to van Haar while Thorniley, McTierney, Nighthorse and Grimaud just ran forwards. Then van Haar went for the long ball to the half-left and the tactic really paid off, because the Newlandian defense was absolute chaos! Nighthorse got to the ball first and I'm not sure if he tried to score or go for a cross, but somehow Thorniley got the ball and just rifled the shot right under the crossbar to make it 2-2.

And if that was not enough excitement already, we got two more goals in the first half, at first in the 32nd minute van Haar with a corner and right on the head of Keylick with his first goal in his first cap and ten minutes after it was South Newlandia again, also after a corner by McMora, and Dhruv Roy rose above everybody else and headed in for the 3-3. Then finally it was halftime and after the break the flow was a bit disrupted because of quite a few substitutions, McTierney went off for Cumbernauld and Sheffield was replaced by Burnett on the Tikariot side, while Robert Wolverine switched goalie Mikhail Trischuk for Rufus Rigby, Corban Green for Donald Lancaster and Brandon Irving for Romleb Mada. It took until the 64th minute for South Newlandia to launch a deadly counter attack after Thorniley lost the ball to Lancaster, who just hoofed the ball forward and found McMora, who took the ball volley and not a chance for Merson, a beautiful goal for the hosts. But fret not, 73rd minute, a corner by van Haar is cleared by Schroeder, but the ball falls to Lloyd Cumbernauld, who could have just shot, but instead passed the ball out to Grimaud, who immediately sent it back and now Cumbernauld took the shot and it went through traffic, so Rigby did not have a chance to see the ball and in it was.

After that the sheer speed of the game started to show big time and both teams took the foot off the pedal to conserve some strength and 4-4 it was. The take away was that the team has spirit and doesn't let being behind weigh on them too much, but also that they sometimes get a little too hung up in the opponent's half and are vulnerable to quick counter attacks, but that's something that we very likely will still work on.

Alistair McIntosh: Thank you Martin, I was starting to wonder, if we were going to go over our alotted time here, haha. Because we still have three more games and then our preview, so we better get going here! Friendly number four was against Sharktail and it did not seem to have been as exciting as the last one, Andreas?

Andreas Svedberg: Haha, no, but let's be honest, it was hard to beat. For the next three games, though, Coach Ekstrom brought in Romain Chatelet to give him a chance, also Clement McIlroy on left back and our what people expect to be our starting eleven and on the Tikariot side it showed that they had three very high octane games in their bones already, because they took them a while to get going in an overall far more defense-oriented game against the 88th in the world rankings, where scoring chances were pretty scarce and in the 51st minute two substitutes managed to break the stalemate when Ozan Welch played a beautifully chipped pass high over the Sharktailian defense, who were trying to set off the offside trap, but Giovanni Vacarese had timed his run perfectly to avoid the offside and completely alone in front of Asra and with a quick flick sent him into the wrong direction and then was able to coolly slot it in. After that, unfortunately, they decided to sit back and allow Sharktail more space.

Romain Chatelet was able to prove that his call up was warranted, because he managed to kill several clear chances for Sharktail, but in the 90th minute one stray ball managed to get in after a shot by Virman richocheted off the back of Chandra for a very late equalizer, bringing yet another draw into our records.

Alistair McIntosh: And that brings us to our last two, which was another two-game series against Sylestone, who we have not had won against in our previous two outings, which both had ended 0-0 as a matter of fact.

Duncan Haldane: Indeed and after 183 minutes of goallessness the spell finally was broken after just three minutes, unfortunately not for Tikariot, but an early blunder by Randy Kovalchuk pretty much hand-delivered the ball in perfect scoring position, making it 1-0 for Sylestone and just seven minutes after a direct freekick made it 2-0 and that was it in an utterly drab game, fitting the pouring rain. So the first Tikariotian goal against Sylestone came after 294 minutes, so three quarters of an eternity, when Ozan Welch converted a quick counter attack that was initiated by Romain Chatelet and then saw the ball being quickly passed on by Aspinall to Welch, who curved the ball nicely into the net with the only goal of the game in another somewhat lacklustre affair.

Alistair McIntosh: So two wins, two draws, two losses, 10-10 goals, what can we take away from all that?

Martin Seagrave: That we are not sure of what we want?

Alistair McIntosh: That is one way of looking at it.

Duncan Haldane: Well, looking at the results we can definitely divide the series into two. The first one with a lot of energy and enthusiasm, the second one with a more tired team and also a different tactical approach in an attempt to cut down on the issues of the first three. One of the big successes of the last three games is that the issues in the transition game have definitely improved. We have not been caught out of place as much anymore, but in turn have not had as much offensive firepower, so knowing Coach Ekstrom I am sure that he will be able to read these games and see how to combine the best of both for the best possible formation and tactic for the qualifiers.

Alistair McIntosh: So do you see any changes in the starting formation?

Duncan Haldane: At this point no. But most of the players have shown that they will be able to step in at any given time and be able to contribute right away.

Alistair McIntosh: So now to the draw. Ten team groups, double round robin, this is going to be an intense qualification, some say it is harder to qualify than to actually play the World Cup. So the group draw has just happened over in Drawk City, so let's cut over to Drawkland right now to catch up with Tia van der Merwe. Tia, how does our group look like?

The picture cuts to just outside the Royal Hall in Drawk City, where Tia is standing, lots of other news teams and team officials milling about.

Tia van der Merwe: Well, let's put it like that: It could have been way worse.

Alistair McIntosh: I guess that's a good start then, especially given how competitive this whole tournament is, with 180 football teams out there competing to join the joint hosts Newmanistan and Drawkland in the World Cup 86. But I'll let you talk now, haha.

Tia van der Merwe: Since it was the reason to have been sent here, I guess that sounds like a plan. So the nine nations Tikariot will face are in the order they have been drawn, which was from pot 10 upwards: Union Europae, Se Vende Skooma, Southern Palm Islands, Natanians and Nosts, South Newlandia, TJUN-ia, Filindostan, Port Ember and finally Mriin. This means that they have managed to avoid heavyweights such as Banija, Starblaydia, Audioslavia, Farfadillis, to name but a few, so it really could have gone a lot worse for Tikariot.

Alistair McIntosh: Yes, it definitely sounds like that. What has been the reaction from our delegation chief, Simon Battaglia?

Tia van der Merwe: Well, he is not much of a chatterbox on a good day, but as deep in thought as he was, he at least gave us a brief statement.

"I don't think there are any easy groups in this, but I am fairly pleased with who we have. Five of our nine opponents I have not even heard the names of, so we'll definitely send out scouts to learn more and be the best prepared we possibly can be. - Simon Battaglia

Tia van der Merwe: He was pretty tightlipped as you can see, but I guess he has a lot of analysis to do.

Martin Seagrave: If you think that was tightlipped, try to interview our baseball coach Graham McCrory. Simon really was a chatterbox compared to him.

Tia van der Merwe: Good to know, haha. So I have tried to reach out to some of the delegations for comments but with very few results. The Honorable Don Mizzet from Mriin denied an interview quite firmly, but later on Twii just posted "lmao got em", which most people interpret at him thinking that it will be a walk in the park for the Mrii. Sandra Elephantson from the South Newlandian delegation did have a few words for us, though:

"First of all, I’d like to stress that a successful World Cup Qualification, as much as we would love to see it, was never the South Newlandian target, not during the last qualifiers, not during the one to come, and probably not for the one after that. Instead, we want to aim to slowly improve, and have some fun against other young teams. This draw is pretty good for that, as we will get to play a number of fun teams, including TJUN-ia, a quickly rising new team, our region mates from Filindostan, and of course Mriin, the country that co-hosted the very last World Cup. And, of course, there is Tikariot; maybe we can stop the losing streak against them. As usual, we as the South Newlandian Football Association aren’t setting specific targets, but as a pot five team, we believe a positive record can be expected, even if we cannot repeat the successes from two years ago. We are looking forward to eighteen, maybe even twenty exciting games. Robert Wolverine has our full trust to make South Newlandia proud." - Sandra Elephantson, South Newlandia

Alistair McIntosh: Thank you Tia, ladies and gentlemen, you have just met one of our busy bees doing interviews at the World Cup, but now back to the old and ugly people here in the studio.

Duncan Haldane: Who are you calling old here?

Alistair McIntosh: I guess not you. So gentlemen, I just received the schedule here and we are starting out at home against the only unranked team in our group, Union Europae before traveling to one of our hardest opponents, Mriin. How is that for a start into our campaign?

Andreas Svedberg: We will be easy to kind of ease ourselves into the whole qualification, but unranked teams are a very double-edged sword. They don't really have anything to lose and we ourselves have just proved that not long ago at the IBS, but we should be able to get past them somewhat easily. And that is another point, goal difference. I can see this group to come down to the finer details and while it will be head to head, I still have a feeling that we might go down to more than just that.

Duncan Haldane: Mriin is going to be a completely different story, though. They are 16th in the rankings and definitely are one of the most unorthodox teams we'll ever meet with satyrs, dryads and even a human! But I have total faith in Stuart Ekstrom to make sure that our team will be prepared in the best way possible to take on the Mrii and that we will have a fighting chance at least. They are the hardest nut to crack in our group, though, so hopefully meeting them early on for the first time is going to help us take them by surprise or - something.

Martin Seagrave: I'm definitely hoping for the 'something'. South Newlandia is next and we seem to be building up quite the rivalry with them on different levels, baseball, softball, which we both won, so I'm a little worried that they will be baying for blood once we meet on match day three, haha.

Duncan Haldane: And don't forget our photo finish in the triathlon!

Martin Seagrave: Oh absolutely! They also did reach the Baptism of Fire quarters last cycle, just like us this cycle, and that alone already shows that they are not a nation to be trifled with. They also ended up with a positive balance in their qualification group for WC85 so they might be the dark horse in our group.

Alistair McIntosh: Then we will be traveling to the Southern Palm Islands, who also are considered some of the minnows of the World Cup qualification, and we already beat them in the Round of 16 at the Baptism of Fire, with 3-1, so I am pretty positive that we should be able to sneak back out with three points in tow again, but then come two of the bigger unknowns for us, Port Ember and Filindostan. They both have been around for quite a while and obviously them being in pots two and three means that they have had their fair share of success, but they have not really made it into the record books other than Filindostan as former Baptism of Fire champions, but that has been a while ago. So they are a bit of an unknown here.

Andreas Svedberg: Se Vende Skooma also is not exactly a household name, they were in this year's Baptism of Fire and they came in fifth with just one win in five games, they should be beatable for sure. Natanians and Nosts are a bit of an enigma, too, they seem to always show up, but then kind of fly under the radar and fizzle out, so while I am fairly positive that we should be able to beat them, we should not underestimate them either, as they seem to be capable of a surprise here and there.

Duncan Haldane: Which leaves our North Pacific neighbours TJUN-ia, which a lot of people seem to be considering candidates for a qualification spot in this group, so this could be a very interesting match-up and maybe one of the most dangerous one at that.

Alistair McIntosh: So what is our guess here? Can we make it?

Martin Seagrave: Well, you should never say never and we're known by now to meet our challenges head on, but it is going to be tough, really tough. But for our first time around I am hoping to at least get a positive balance and be in contention at the very least.

Andreas Svedberg: Obviously it is not impossible, but I just don't see it. We don't have the experience yet to fully compete with some of these nations, who have been established for a long, long time, so Team Tikariot: Prove me wrong!

Duncan Haldane: I'll be bold and say that we will make it as second in the group.

Alistair McIntosh: Playoffs or directly?

Duncan Haldane: Yes.

Alistair McIntosh: Direct playoffs then, haha. I personally would also think that we can be a contender, but don't expect us to actually make it, but like Andreas said, prove me wrong, guys! So that is all for our pre-qualification analysis, I hope that you will be able to join us for our live coverage of all 18 games of Tikariot and also a look beyond into other groups, I am Alistair McIntosh for everybody here at Tikariot Sports TV!

[Sarzonia]

Brady Reynolds, Carlton Sandt, and Clayton Wilson emerged from individual changing rooms dressed in brand new kits the Sarzonian national football team would be wearing starting with World Cup 86 qualifying.

Reynolds had only seen the away kit and he liked the nods to Sarzonia's glory days of the past with the names of the World Cup 22 champion Stars on the shirt as a lining over the Sarzonian national flag. He smiled when he looked at it in the mirror. He sneaked a few selfies in but decided to wait until the reveal to post them to social media out of respect for the Incorporated Football Federation's directive to keep them secret.

As he walked down the hallway, he saw Wilson emerge wearing the home navy kits. He saw the pinstripes from a distance and thought they looked cool, but when he got up close, he saw the pinstripes and saw they bore the names of the World Cup 22 championship team.

"Dude, that's sick!" Reynolds said with a smile that Wilson recognised as being thoroughly impressed with the home kits.

"I already took a bunch of selfies," Wilson admitted. He also mentioned that he posted one of them to his finsta.

"If the IFF finds out, they'll kill you!" Reynolds whispered. "Wait till they're done with this reveal! I mean it. Delete the post!" Begrudgingly, Wilson did. Just as he did, they saw Sandt emerge in the goalkeeper's kit.

"You look awesome in that!" Reynolds said.

"Thanks. All right, let's go." The three players then got to the press room and waited while IFF director Kyla Langway was discussing the new kits, highlighting the symbolism behind the names on the shirts and the goalkeeper's trousers and the gold star commemorating the Stars' only World Cup title thus far.

Langway was the director who was most responsible for getting the new kits, and so she was tapped to introduce them with IFF Chairman Zack Wilson busy playing with the Masters team in the inaugural World Cup of Masters. Clayton Wilson was going to be at Dave Wilson Stadium to watch his father play as the Senior Stars hoped to rebound from two losses from two matches.

Anyway, after Langway was done, she then said, "Assembled members of the media, the new Sarzonia kits to be worn by the World Cup 22 champion Sarzonia Stars!"

The three men walked in to model the kits and dutifully answered questions about the symbolism behind them. Even though most of the people in the room agreed that Reynolds was an attractive person, Reynolds struggled with feeling self-conscious about the attention he was getting from the media.

"I'm a football player, not a model!" he said after the ceremony in a conversation with Clayton Wilson. Even though his fellow midfielder agreed with the sentiment that Reynolds very easily could be.

Othet than that, the ceremony was a welcome respite from what would have mostly been an uneventful reaction to the group draw that placed the 33rd ranked Stars in the same group with former World Cup champions Farfadillis and emerging rivals Northwest Kalactin. They would also face Baptism of Fire Cup champions Graintfjall in the group stage after their easy 5-0 victory during a pre-season tune up. They also played Delaclava to a 2-2 draw in the Delaclav city of Corcorran.

Football was back, and the energy at Dave Wilson Stadium was palpable.


Home kits worn by Clayton Wilson

Away kits
worn by Brady Reynolds

Goalkeeper kit
worn by Carlton Sandt

[Kohnhead]

The Brains go 2-1-1 in four preseason friendlies; are drawn into unlucky Group 13



With the World Cup 86 Qualifiers approaching closer as we speak, Coach Kohnhead thought it would be a good idea to play a couple of friendlies to get the squad ready for action. Two years ago we took on Riena in our one and only friendly and drew them 2-2, now we are the 74th ranked team in the World with extremely high expectations.

Tikariot
First we scheduled a home and home series against Tikariot a rising team that were coming off of a shocking loss in the Baptism of Fire quarterfinals. This was mainly scheduled to get some of our bench players some playing time against a side we thought we could easily beat. The first match proved that Tikariot was no team to be taken lightly despite their mid 200s ranking. At Jordan Street Stadium the home of FC Kohnface City and one of the four stadiums that will host matches in the qualifiers we were utterly embarrassed 3-0. The starting XI was made of three starters, and eight backups but we were completely outplayed.

It took almost no time for them to score as in the 2nd minute, Trey Burnett found himself wide open, onside, and in front of the goal to meet a cross from the young Jenson McTierney who was marked by Nicholas Radison. Dylan Vargas, and Taylor Rodar appeared to not know who was supposed to be marking Burnett and he easily scored the opening goal. Trust me it gets a lot worse from here as after this goal we just appeared to deflate. In the 23rd minute, Tikariot won a corner as Nicholas Radison deflected a shot out of bounds, Marvin Thorniley was the one to take it for Tikariot. He sent it in to the middle of the box and once again it was a header that proved to be our downfall as Dylan Vargas just couldn't jump high enough to stop Zion Grimes from heading it into the net to make it 2-0.

Being down 2-0 after 23 minutes to the 243rd ranked team in the World, Tikariot is a bit embarrassing but what happened next is even worse. Less than a minute later, Al Torgan had the ball stripped from him at half field by Marvin Thorniley, the guy credited for the assist on the second goal, and after this Thorniley sent our defense to school going the rest of the way to get it past Sanders to make it 3-0. Our offense couldn't get anything going the rest of the time and while they didn't score again the damage had been done. For Tikariot it was a game that showed they can compete straight out of their BOF, while for us it was a sign that maybe we aren't as good as we previously thought.

The second math against them would take place at the Temple of the Crow and Coach Kohnhead decided we would not risk another big loss and he decided to play our full strength starting XI to try and prove at least to ourselves that we are as good as advertised. Tikariot on the other hand went with a hybrid of starters and reserves for this one so we really needed to dominate and win which we did. It was Linus Rallyton who scored the opener sending a deadly strike into the top corner off of a pass from Audrey Henderson. Tikariot would get it back though as they capitalized on an Ida Cogginter mistake to tie it at 1.

We would give ourselves back the lead right before half with a crazy series events. Rallyton was like normal at the center of the attack sending a great ball down the line to the sprinting Charles Laker who sent in a ground cross to Erin Maltos who was on the edge of the box. She tried to send a one timer into the back of the net but a defender blocked it where it fell right to Audrey Henderson. Henderson shot and this time it was Brian Merson the keeper who blocked it with his leg but Aaron Korkson scoring off the second rebound was not to be denied and he slotted it.

We were pretty content with a 2-1 win so we went very defensive for most of the second half but were ready to counter attack if we could. On one of these counters, Radison sent it up to Rallyton who continued to be the center of almost every attack by finding an open Ida Cogginter switching the field in the process. Cogginter got the assist by passing it over to Prius-Leonard who scored to give us the 3-1 win.


Northwest Kalactin
We would welcome the 67th rank team, a fellow pot 4 team in Northwest Kalactin to Kohnhead City Park another one of our four qualifier stadiums, this one the home of Kohnhead City FC. This match which ended in a competitive 1-1 draw gave me much more confidence about our chances. The original plan had been to play almost all backups in the matches against Tikariot, and for our final two much higher ranked opponents play our starters. Both sides started their best XI for this one and it ended up looking like it should have, a close competitive match from two closely ranked opponents.

In the first half an hour both sides got very good chances but neither ended up in a goal. In the 12th minute, Frank Owens got around Charles Laker with space ahead of him He dribbled forward and passed it over to Steve Gilbert. Claire Corton poked the ball out from Gilbert but it was picked up by Jimmy McCarthy who fired a shot at Bertha Sanders that hit the woodwork before being cleared out by Miranda Atkinson. The Brains would get their big chance in the 28th minute as Ida Cogginter would be fouled by Lamar Hall just outside of the box. Linus Rallyton who is deadly on free kicks prepared to take it and he hit well, but it ended up going over the crossbar by about a foot or two. Even it had been low enough, Mark Romero probably could have gotten a fist to it if he wanted.

In the 56th minute, our opponents would get the opening goal of the match. We had sent a lot of people up on a corner and when it failed to amount to anything, Kalactin got a counter attack. Joseph Anderson sent it down to Steve Gilbert who got past the waiting Miranda Atkinson before passing it off to the young Thomas Butler who netted it quite easily.

We weren't going to go down that easily though and in the 75th minute, Linus Rallyton sent a long ball down the far side to Audrey Henderson who received it and got ready to meet the waiting Larry Martinez. In a brilliant stroke of footwork, Henderson faked left toward the backline getting Martinez off stride before going quickly in the opposite direction which gave her the needed space to send a shot into the far corner of the net to tie the match at 1.

Kalactin would get one more chance in the 89th but Sanders would quite easily catch the meek header from Will Sanders. The competitive match would end at 1 win a piece with both sides knowing they could have gotten the win.

Mavinet
The final of our four friendlies was hosting Mavinet back at Jordan Street Stadium. Mavinet who won the 72nd Baptism of Fire, the same won that we competed in did not have a very good qualifying cycle for World Cup 85 and are trying to do better this team. Mavinet are ranked 121st in the World but Christopher Kohnhead wanted to give the starters another game minus CPL who got rested as Callie Porsha started in place of her. Mavinet like Northwest Kalactin in our last match would play their first choice starting XI and this game ended up being extremely entertaining. The score would end 4-3 in favor of us and high scoring thrillers are always fun and entertaining.

The Water Buffaloes of Mavinet would strike first in the 16th minute. Vo Thanh Hai their top striker would score a nice goal into the upper corner on a volley with the pass coming from Nguyen Quang Khai the captain of Mavinet. One thing that this game would prove is that Bertha Sanders still has lots of work to go as the 22 year old struggled a good amount especially on this one.

The Brains would turn it around to score the next three goals. First in the 29th minute it was Aaron Korkson who was brought down in the box before making the penalty himself to tie the match at 1 a piece. Korkson would get the assist on the next goal as Rallyton would send him the ball in the box. Korkson would get it and pass it forward to the sprinting Erin Maltos. Maltos would hit a one time lefty shot that someone fit into the near post stunning everyone including the keeper Nguyen Hoang Trung.

We wouldn't be finished their as in the 33rd minute just four minutes later we would strike again to make it 3-1. This time it would Charles Laker who got the finish sending it past Trung with the assist being given to Nicholas Radison who had sent in a low cross to a perfect spot where Laker was waiting to send it into the net.

From there we would have about 30 minutes of no goals before in the 61st, Mavinet would get one goal back to make it 3-2. An errant pass from Porsha to Ida Cogginter which was stolen by Tran Hoang Minh resulted in Minh passing it over to Vu Tien Linh who finished strongly to slide it past Bertha Sanders. While Sanders could probably have saved that this goal was not on her despite her struggles.

We would double our lead and make it 4-2 in the 67th minute as Claire Corton would score on a corner. Rallyton sent it into the box where a defender or one of our players would attempt to head it but send it backwards out to wear Corton was waiting. She sent in a long range shot and maybe Trung couldn't see over the mass of bodies in the box but he didn't react in time to save it.

Mavinet are a quality side and they didn't give up and just six minutes later in the 73rd, Tran Duc Vinh off of the bench would get a goal. Vinh with fresh legs off of the bench would beat Atkinson on a run and the ball was given to him by Lam Tri Thong before Vinh finished with ease to make it a one goal affair. Mavinet threw everything they had at us in the last 15 minutes but Sanders and the rest of the defense held as we would walk away with a good 4-3 win against a quality opponent.


Overall
The matches against Tikariot were not pretty but we drew Northwest Kalactin and beat Mavinet which gives me hope about the World Cup as we try to qualify out of unlucky (hopefully unlucky for everyone but us) group 13. Pot 4 sides definitely qualify a good amount so we have a chance to do it and with our first match coming against the pot 3 squad Geektopia as we welcome them to Kohnhead City Park. A win here would show we truly do mean business in these qualifiers.

[Terre Septentrionale]

Terre Septentrionale's World Cup preview and full schedule

Ville Jacques-Cartier, DC - The group draw was made yesterday and Terre Septentrionale is in group 4 with Nephara, New Lusitania and 7 other nations. Here is all the info you need to know before the World Cup kicks off!

Group 4:

Nephara (2)
Terre Septentrionale (29)
New Lusitania (48)
Damukuni (73)
Sharktail (88)
Mavinet (121)
Havynwilde (176)
Hwiccemark (316)
Unimon (330)
The Minarchist Free State (UR)

Official Broadcasters

-TVSports1 and TVSports2.

-TVSports broadcasts in French, Polish and English. There is 6 channels in total, two for each languages.

-All Terre Septentrionale games will be live on TVSports1.

-Games involving two other nations, either in our group or in another group, will be on either TVSports1 or TVSports2.

Channel/Provider	Polnocna Telekom 	Télétron 
TVSports 1-FR	              1220	          625
TVSports 2-FR	              1221	          626
TVSports 1-PO	              1555	          786
TVSports 2-PO	              1556	          787
TVSports 1-EN	              1820	          911
TVSports 2-EN	              1821	          912

French commentators: Jean-Martin Martineau-Martinovic (analyst), Frédéric Daigneault (play-by-play) and Frédérique Tranchemontagne (sidelines)
Polish commentators: Krzysztof Januszkiewicz (analyst), Janusz Wachowski (play-by-play) and Urszula Bogdanowicz (sidelines)
English commentators: Walter O'Connell (analyst), Katherine Ramirez (play by play) and Bianca Griffiths-Binks (sidelines)

Note: Krzysztof Januszkiewicz will be unavailable for his analyst duties during the World Cup of Masters played in Sarzonia.


Complete schedule

Matchday 1: Saturday may 22nd 2027 - Terre Septentrionale (29) vs Mavinet (121) @ Stade Chien Géant
Matchday 2: Wednesday may 26th 2027 - Terre Septentrionale (29) vs New Lusitania (48) @ Stadion Hydro-Polnocna
Matchday 3: Sunday may 30th 2027 - Sharktail (88) vs Terre Septentrionale (29)
Matchday 4: Wednesday june 2nd 2027 - Terre Septentrionale (29) vs Nephara (2) @ Stade NordAir
Matchday 5: Saturday june 5th 2027 - Havynwilde (176) vs Terre Septentrionale (29)
Matchday 6: Thursday june 10th 2027 - Terre Septentrionale (29) vs Damukuni (73) @ Multiversal Hotel Stadium
Matchday 7: Sunday june 13th 2027 - Hwiccemark (316) vs Terre Septentrionale (29)
Matchday 8: Wednesday june 16th 2027 - Terre Septentrionale (29) vs Unimon (330) @ Mestni Stadion ob Jezeru
Matchday 9: Sunday june 20th 2027 - The Minarchist Free State (UR) vs Terre Septentrionale (29)

Mid-Qualification break

Matchday 10: Saturday july 10th 2027 - Mavinet (121) vs Terre Septentrionale (29)
Matchday 11: Wednesday july 14th 2027 - New Lusitania (48) vs Terre Septentrionale (29)
Matchday 12: Sunday july 18th 2027 - Terre Septentrionale (29) vs Sharktail (88) @ Stade NordAir
Matchday 13: Thursday july 22nd 2027 - Nephara (2) vs Terre Septentrionale (29)
Matchday 14: Sunday july 25th 2027 - Terre Septentrionale (29) vs Havynwilde (176) @ Laszlo Kocsis Stadion
Matchday 15: Wednesday july 28th 2027 - Damukuni (73) vs Terre Septentrionale (29)
Matchday 16: Sunday august 1st 2027 - Terre Septentrionale (29) vs Hwiccemark (316) @ Stadion Miejski Krzczonow
Matchday 17: Thursday august 5th 2027 - Unimon (330) vs Terre Septentrionale (29)
Matchday 18: Sunday august 8th 2027 - Terre Septentrionale (29) vs The Minarchist Free State (UR) @ Tolhurst Park

Post-Qualifications break

September 2027: World Cup 86 or 78th Cup of Harmony

Note: Stadium info can be found here

Group 4 analysis

Tier 1
Nephara (2)

It's going to be a walk in the park for the World Cup 85 runner up.

Tier 3
Terre Septentrionale (29)
New Lusitania (48)

Terre Septentrionale barely qualified for the World Cup last cycle for the first time in their short history. Can they repeat it? New Lusitania are also a team who seek to qualify for the big tournament. They finished 3rd in group 1 last cycle and had a ticket to the Cup of Harmony instead.

Tier 4
Damukuni (73)
Sharktail (88)
Mavinet (121)

They are 3 teams who can qualify if they have a big tournament but the odds are slim as they have to beat both tier 3 teams. Mavinet are the Baptism of Fire 72 Champions.

Tier 5
Havynwilde (176)

Havynwilde is an intriguing team. They can be either good or bad and they can pop up under a new nation name.

Tier 7
Hwiccemark (316)
Unimon (330)
The Minarchist Free State (UR)

We don't expect much from these teams. Hwiccemark seems to be the better one and maybe they can compete with Havynwilde.

Wlodzimierz Pietruszewski,
Senior writer,
La tribune Septentrionale

[Sharktail]

SFA OFFICIAL

The group draw for world cup qualification 86 has been completed. Sharktail was putted in group 4. Now the throbbing is getting higher. Preparations are underway. All staff begin preparations and final inspections at all facilities and stadiums to be used. Follow the diary of the national team that will show everything that happened during the 86 world cup qualifiers. All info is authentic from Sharktail Football Assciation and provided by SFA media unit.

Chapter 1
-Staff preparation.

"Hello Sir, can I come in." Fira knocked on Mr. Kamarul's room, the person in charge of equipment, jerseys, and balls.

Mr. K: Come in, Oh Fira. Sit
Fira: Thank you. Seems kind of busier now.
Mr. K: Be a little busy. Understand that many things have to be managed in a short period of time.
Fira: Oh ok. I hope it does not bother you if i make some report today.
Mr. K: Go on. I listening to you.
Fira: Thank you sir. So first of all I want to inform that all facilities have started to be opened for staff. It aims so that we can already start loading the items needed by the team into a special room like jerseys, balls and other equipment. So I have informed this to the staff in the facilities department. Lockers, shelves and cupboards are also provided.
Mr. K: Ok. Good. So i guess we can move all the thing to that room now.
Fira: I understand sir. We will make sure everything is completed on schedule. After all, all the thing are ready being packed and just waiting to be transported into the new facility.
Mr. K: Good. So what's more?
Fira: Okay, so next I want to inform you that we have all the new staff in the kitman section. 4 people in all. They are Razin Fikri, Alisya Jansen, Kabir Ahmad and Azwari Arif. They are senior kitman at the domestic level and have more than 5 years experience in this field. So there is no problem for them to do the work later.
Mr. K: Great. I worried about that. If we dont find suitable candidate, we may be in problem. Ok what next.
Fira: All four of them will be supervised by me. So i will report if any problem happen. Next, We have been contacted by kit supplier, Zsport. Our new kit will arrive two week before matchday 1. For your information, we will still use our old kit in friendly match.
Mr. K: Good. We need to set up our new kit. Anything else you need to tell to me?
Fira: I think that's all i need to tell you. Since the training start next week, so we need to ready to welcome player here. And all the staff team are ready. We will go abroad for friendly match.
Mr. K: Ok thank you for all the report.
Fira: Sure. May i go now because i have another things to do. Thank you for your time sir.
Mr. Kim: You are welcome.

The black van arrived at Sharktail NT building. Today, all thing will be moving in to Sharktail NT building. All four new NT kitman arrived a few minute later. They started to move all the thing into the building.

Razin: A lot of thing to be moved.
Azwari: Cannot be helped. We are the first staff being hired after this complex finished. So we are responsible for it.
Razin: Well, i have been through this for Kota Lama a few year ago when the change their place.
Kabir: Guys let move all this thing into the room first.
Azwari: Got it. Let move faster.

All the three of them continue their job. They seem more fast than before. While they moving all the box, Alisya was in the building hanging all the kit. Sharktail will use all this kit for the friendly match and changed to new kit for wcq. Razin, Kabir and Azwari take a breath after done.

Razin: Finally it done.
Azwari: This building really nice.
Razin: Well, it build with a high standard after all.
Kabir: How do you compare it to other club building here.
Azwari: No way it can be compared.
Razin: Haha, you right. This is the first top level facility in Sharktail.

Alisya come out agmfter hearing their voice outside.
Alisya: Are you guys done?
Razin: Yeah we are done.
Azwari: What are you doing now?
Alisya: Just arranging the kit.
Razin: Everytime, there was possibility national team will change their jersey.
Kabir: Why, out of money to buy it?
Razin: No, but just curios about it.
Azwari: Maybe some ways to raise funds.
Razin: We are the first one to see the jersey.
Kabir: Thats our job man, cannot be helped.
Alisya: Hmm, hey guys. Where was our first match played.
Razin: Huh, what match?
Alisya: Any match. Friendly, any match that will be our first task.
Razin: As i know, it may held abroad but i dont know where.
Alisya: Quiet lot of work. I never go abroad because my club never wualified to IFCF.
Kabir: If you want to say about that just talk to our IFCF regular, Razin and Azwari. Every year, they will go to other nation for the match.
Razin: Hahaha. Dont worry. Nothing different much. Just sometime i lost in their stadium and the room that i always found is toilet.
Azwari: Hahaha. I think you always fooling around when entering the stadium. Hahaha.
Alisya: Hey guys. Miss Fira is coming.

Fira come,
Fira: Hello guys. All done?
Razin: Yup. All have been moved in.
Fira: Good. Ok just to inform your guys. All NT player will report for training tomorrow. So i want you guys to prepare all the needed early ok. And one more, after done, come with all the staff to greet all the player. Got it?
All: Yes.
Fira: Ok let's me show you around here so you dont go lose to toilet.
Azwari: Hahaha, just Razin will lost if he dont know the way.
Fira: Ok come on. We go touring and then grab some food at canteen.

The first day preparation for WCQ. The new national team complex finally can be use. All the thing have been moved in. Now all the staff are ready. All the player will start reporting shortly. See you next time. Go wi go Sharktail.

Blue Diary
chapter 1

Keep following us at http://www.sfaoffial.gov.my for more interesting info. All the latest developments of the team will be posted there.

[Tioguldos]

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________SECTIONS____________________________________Stats_________Schedule_____________

^{RED ARMY}

WC86Q

BEST MOMENTS OF THE RED ARMY

The short history of the Red Army has left great moments for the Tiog public that will surely be remembered. The national team returned to Tioguldós having obtained second place in the Baptism of Fire, after being defeated by Græntfjall in the final. Now they are preparing to begin a new stage. The first step of which, we hope, will be a long road for our country. The World Cup Qualifiers are approaching and Tioguldós has been assigned group 10. Before the start, we recall the best moments of the Baptism of Fire.

The Red Army before its match against NorraLesse

Krakerue Oxam
29/8/10AR - 9:20

NNNNMOST READNNNN

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UGÓS OROSO TO JOIN
LA NUEVA AVENIDA

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THE BEST MATCH
OF THE SEASON

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BONBOKH U PICHEAN
PREMIER LEAGUE BEGINS

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THE PROBLEM WITH
NUSAMO STADIUM

KEM! - BoF73

It has only been months since the JJT created the Tioguldós National Football Team. Since then, the 23 players chosen to represent our country have played 9 official matches; all of them in the Baptism of Fire 73. Coach Gúpder Mebal has admitted that he plans to renew the roster, and will test different lineups in the next matchdays to decide how the future of the team will continue. While the Red Army is not expected to advance to the next stage, as it faces opponents with great track records and fantastic preparation; the team hopes to prove itself against the weaker teams and climb as high as possible on the Group 10 leaderboard.

The great players who represent Tioguldós in this competition have shown great performances, which the fans hope to see again. Before focusing all our attention on it, we review the best moments that the Baptism of Fire left us:

_5. RED ARMY'S FIRST INTERNATIONAL MATCH_


Just a game for the world. For Tioguldós this was our international debut. The first time in history that the Tiogs were able to see our colors on the field. Thousands of Tiogs who traveled to Chromatika had the opportunity to witness the first official match of the Red Army. The red flags, the stars on our chests and our badges on our hearts. Definitely an emotional moment that will be remembered in Tioguldós. To top that fantastic afternoon, the Red Army won a resounding 4-2 victory over Quebecois Acadiana. Since then Tioguldós began to write its story and define his identity. Now we will take that character that we demonstrated in Chromatika and Valladares to countries around the world, and we will receive their national teams in Mo Bmodo.

_4. THE CELEBRATION OF MONGARD AND PERDA RAOM_


Like two children, Óstam Perda Raom and Jarsosfe Mongard recreated the celebration of the forwards from the Tiog team OMB, in their match against the Liberal Democratic Socialist States. Just like the OMB players did during the Muko Tiog season when they scored, the Red Army players approached the camera after scoring and squatted down watching it. Ugós Oroso, one of the original creators of the celebration, was perplexed for a few seconds and then accompanied them laughing. It was a very funny situation that went viral in Tioguldós.

_3. THE OVATION TO NESE_


Another touching moment occurred in the quarter-final match, against Netop. The match was intense and either team could win. The Red Army seemed out of place, taken aback. However, that match would end in victory for Tioguldós. In large part thanks to the performance of Nese Niforro, who put the team on his back and organized the game from the middle of the field. After creating several plays that did not result in goals, Nese himself took the ball from long range and shot violently. The ball hit the ground and regained height, and overtook the goalkeeper. The fans went crazy. The affection for this player was already great, but since that day, it is something special. When the lineswoman showed the 8 and Niforro walked to the bench; from the terraces the fans exploded in shouts and applause, chanting "Ni-foooo-rro! Ni-foooo-rro!". The captain said goodbye with a raised fist.

_2. THE BEST GOAL OF THE RED ARMY_


On matchday 3 of the group stage the national team faced NorraLesse. It was not an easy match, but the Red Army managed to win it. There were some standout moments. A Mongard feint on the right wing; Perda Raom's nutmeg; Oroso's equalizer. However, the cherry on top of the cake was the first goal of the 9. It was a wonderful wall pass play. Oroso was withdrawn towards midfield, Perda Raom brought the ball and Omnofo opened to the left. Suddenly, Mongard crossed behind them. The defense, disoriented, opened a crucial space for the attack. Perda Raom passed it to Oroso, who quickly played it with Omnofo and sprinted into the box. Omnofo without hesitation returned the ball with a pumped pass. Oroso let the ball bounce in front of him and volleyed hard. At the bottom of the net. The goalkeeper froze.

_1. THE FINAL_


Despite having had a relatively bitter end because of the result, this was the Red Army's first final. For both the team and the fans it felt like a party. The game was fair. Tioguldós made mistakes and could have accomplished more, but Græntfjall played well and was victorious in the end. The Red Army's only goal was scored by Oroso, the team's top scorer and best player. True to form, the players celebrated extravagantly: they took the microphones off the ground and chanted one of the Red Army chants. Even after the defeat the fans sang excitedly. Tioguldós was left with the desire to take their first trophy to the showcases at home. Still the team was greeted by a crowd upon disembarking at Nasfelo International Airport, in Bonbokh u Piche. As Lumugue Niforro said speaking for the team said speaking for the team, "the warm welcome from the people encourages us to continue working and give our best in the World Cup Qualifiers."

[Commonwealth of Baker Park]

© Sporting Times Weekend 2020
Where do the FAC go from here?
by Mindy Cartwright, National Soccer Editor

The FAC Development Center hosted a Media Day ahead of the World Cup Qualifying Group draw, where David Carlson, Trevor Richmond, Jen Prescott & Ichi Tuzzio all spoke to assembled crowd about the path that the Commonwealth National Team has followed since the night in Puerto Favalero at the end of World Cup 85 that signaled the high-water mark for Baker Park in the sport.

There has been a marked shift in the tone used when discussing goals and expectations since first winning the co-hosting rights to World Cup 84; the decision to replace Pam Scott with someone from outside the 'family' was seen as a signal that there would be a definitive change in the attitude taken by the organization towards measuring success.

There is still a bit of mix & match experimenting that takes place between WC cycles; while the all-women's squad for AOCAF 60 looked like a stroke of genius, more recently there have been a few incomplete performances that may speak volumes, or may be bumps in the road.
If one looks at the beginning of the Tuzzio era--an uninspiring performance at the Wonder Cup by a men's squad that wasn't makeshift or without talent--that suddenly turned into a 23 match unbeaten run (and 34 out of 35 until they got to Mriin), it's difficult to view the results from the Sarzo Memorial Cup (3rd place) and the AOCAF in Equestria (a dominating group stage, but a disappointing Round of 16 loss to the the eventual semi-finalists) as failure.

The Sarzonian invitational was admittedly a quickly thrown together roster of mostly inexperienced players, and may even have been just a vehicle for Veronica Navarro's return to NT action after her time away on maternity leave (and also a chance to see Danielle Gaines in the #1 shirt). The regional has always been used as a test bed for up & coming players--Pam Scott thought it was no-lose proposition--and the staff showed a lot of muted excitement during the stay in the GSW.

On the other hand, we may have seen the last of the FAC's pride & joy, the BP Open Cup. Held as a four team, 3 doubleheader money spinning exercise at the BBP Stadium, the women stretched the winless streak in the competition to 11 after dropping all three encounters against The Jovannic, Sarzonia and Banija.
It was high minded concept, and unfortunately got lost in vortex of hosting the AOCAF and the World Cup so close together. On the other hand, the collapse of Sporting World Magazine has left the Under 18 Championships as an orphan, and as the FAC are currently the hosts of record, perhaps there will be a shift of resources towards managing it on a caretaker basis, which would be a reversal of fortune from the BPOC, as the Commonwealth have won the U18's twice and have won 30 of the 39 matches it has played in the event.

How much effort will the Maestro have his team exert during the qualification stage, and will the revolving door method seen last time be continued? Four important pieces of the back line have hung up their boots at the international level--defenders Tracey Vasillias (82), Sarah Foreman (61), Emily Arnold (61) and all time appearance leader in goal Caroline Gordon (60) will take over 260 caps into retirement--but their replacements will have plenty of experience to rely upon, as Derick Briggs (79 caps), JC Bartok (59), Terrence Stephens (58) return to partner with Gabby Jordan, Nicole Underwood, Kelly O'Connell and Pryna Rasanamira. The four ladies have bided their time, ready to prove worthy of the 'Next Generation' nickname, as the younger players (under 26 years old) are being called.

In addition Gaines, Grant Coffey will battle for the top keeper spot, as Kelsey Vickers, Zach Johnston, & Ben Kelley will get enough time to sort out the 3rd role. There could also be up to three additional contenders who could find themselves called up--Spencer Brockhorst, Marta Grimshaw, and Rose McCormick.

Among groups of people who like to hypothesize about the sport, the idea that the Commonwealth NT needs to experiment with a tactical formation resembling a 2-7-1 has plenty of supporters (hand raised, for full disclosure). Midfield is far & away the most overloaded area of the potential roster; Annabeth Westmoreland has been long-listed on the Galactico Index three consecutive times, joined in the most recent award cycle by Lorenzo Taborn for his season at MTK Kingsville in Darmen and his rock solid performances for the NT. Jamari Bozeman may be the most underrated player in the multiverse, which could be corrected in a short time if he actually had an inkling to leave Baker Park for a higher profile domestic league. The 30 year old Southend AC star will become the first player in Baker Park history to reach the Century mark for caps, and also the first to score 50 international goals during this cycle (and also hit the 20 assist mark!).

The embarrassment of riches continues on the wings, with Navarro's return creating selection problems on the right after the stellar play from Maria Fernandez, Junior Ngoba and Susana Aguilar during her time away; Daisy Callum is another overlooked star as a result of her club profile (Southern Star in Brenecia) who sees nothing but opportunity when she pulls the Black & Gold shirt on and is given carte blanche on the left (22 NT goals in 87 appearances).

We're not done with the potential starting lineup yet, as Amanda Hayes is 3rd on the all time appearance chart and in the top 15 of the goal scoring list, but still isn't an automatic name on the teamsheet. Nicki Stone plays everywhere in the middle third, as she evolved from a defensive midfielder in high school into an attacking playmaker who was UAC Women's Player of the Year as a senior in college.

There's still 5 others to talk about, but I'm up against a word count, so we'll review the forward line quickly; DeAngelo Simmons was the unsung hero of WC 85 for Baker Park, as he soared up the scoring chart to third place. Sabrina Patton was honored in Nephara with the Second Division scoring title in leading her club Chenoworth Rovers from relegation to promotion back to the Nepharim Premiership. To quickly provide perspective--Patton, Simmons and Bozeman as the top three scorers in FAC history, together produce at a rate of 1 goal ever other match (110 goals scored in 225 NT matches).
Tyrek Jones & Jessica LeClair (when teamed up together with AM Antonio Sotolongo) are also a lethal force: 63 goals scored in 190 appearances; we don't even have room to talk about Missy Tilton, Ayana West or Lainey Wadsworth--the editor says this is the limit.

[Ko-oren]

NS World Cup Fantasy Qualification

Powered by Jarongi Sports Statistics, a company in Eaglebury, West Strand Riding. They have been following our domestic leagues for ages and have recently turned their gaze towards the World Cup and the AOCAF, delivering simple match statistics and advanced metrics alike. The company even partnered up with World Cup 83, and with their smash hit Fantasy game, they might be here to stay.

Jarongi Sports Statistics

The game is found here, and it's simple enough. Pick a team from every group, and see how your choices match up with the choices other players across the Multiverse make.

The strategy, however, is a different matter. With 240 KPB points to spend, you can't pick the Vilitas and Valanoras and be done with it. You have about 13 points to spend per group, so you could pick all the hopefuls in pots 4 and 5 and be fine. The trick is to find the teams from pots 6 and below that will overachieve, and then pick the regular suspects from the rest. Picking the cream of the crop of the most recent Baptism of Fire is another strategy. Nearly every submission has two to four of the big teams on it, too. Brenecia, Starblaydia, Eura, Valanora, Nephara, they've all been spotted a handful of times. And yet, the bulk of entries contain a lot of 10-15 KPB nations - that pot 4/5 sweet spot.

Players also seem to have mastered how to make their 240 points last. Every player so far has used up OVER 99.5% of their 240 points - that's 238.8 points to spend at the very least. And yet, with (possibly) better alternatives, every player weighs their options until they are within 1.2 points of the maximum.

We can always still use more players!

Make sure to follow us @Jarongi and @WCQFantasy on twii.tur and quac.kor for the latest updates.

[Barunia]

The Barunia Suns today unveiled a new trophy, just in time for the first games of qualifying. The Sun Trophy is to be presented to the national team player who delivers the best performance across thw world cup qualifiers, as well as the world cup or cup of harmony when applicable.

The trophy is made by Barunian company Invictus. It features a 16-point sun that is the team's new logo. The sun is made of 18-carat gold, with a golden ball encased in a globe of amber that mimics the burning sphere of the sun. The base is of black marble shot with bright orange streaks, and is meant to suggest fiery lava. It as if the burning sun has touched down on this peak, melting the very rock. The pyramid shape was chosen to represent the climb of the national team towards the top of the world.

The decision to introduce a best player trophy was made by the National Footballl Board, who were keen to create a club-style culture around the Suns, with the intention of increasing the team's cohesion and comraderie. Other consideration's include the turn around of players, which has been high in recent years. The NFB have made a key commitment to keeping a core group of players, as they plan on rebuilding the team's bettered international reputation, rather than chasing quick glory. The change in attitude is a welcome relief for fans and players, who have often been disheartened by decisions made by the governing body, in particular those by the now abolished BFA. Those decisions led in part to the end of the BFA, and the NFB inherited a broken system just before last cycle's qualifiers. If that campaign can be thought of as damage control, then this season is the time to begin again. It's a new look Suns with a new feel.

[Kandorith]

Shinonome Kyoai - International
News From The Empire

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World Cup 86, Hopeful Hayabusa Returns

World Cup 86 Squad
GOALKEEPERS

#1. Hideyo Kiyotada Age 31   
#12. Koide Hikomasa Age 33  
#28. Michinori Tamatsuki Age 21

Defenders

#29. Mori Takayama Age 20 
#20. Hideyoshi Takahashi Age 25
#4. Munemori Miyake Age 24
#6. Fuji Kagetame Age 25
#13. Tetsui Hisagushi Age 24
#5. Ando Masatake Age 24

Midfielders

#7. Hiro Tanaka Age 26
#28. Hikoshige Matsushita Age 20
#8. Hisakane Hayashi  Age 24
#17. Yori Hisegawa Age 21
#22. Yukitaka Yamaguchi Age 21
#9. Arihiro Hoshi Age 27
#10. Takamoto Ishibashi Age 19
#18. Hideto Muri Age 26
#16. More Tamura Age 25
#21. Kanetoki Hirano Age 22

Forwards

#11. Masada Katano Age 21
#23. Takayama Nakajima Age 22
#15. Toki Matsuda Age 26
#19. Hirohiko Nakajima Age 25

Tenkyo, to no surprise, the Kandorese Football Association announced that Hayabusa would once again be the manager of the national team. His recent successes and outstanding performance, especially after winning the Cup of Harmony 77, are well known in the nation. Shortly after the appointment the association announced the final 23 members of the national football team which will compete for a spot in World Cup 86.

The final squad was chosen after a 6 - 0 win against Meiji and a 4 - 1 win against Yiang, which Hayabusa called "adequate but not up to standards yet". The squad will be fighting for a spot in the final tournament held in Newmanistan and Drawkland. Competing in qualifying group 9, the more notorious sides Kandorith will face are Valanora, Qasden and Ancherion where Valanora is the largest concern as they are currently ranked seventh.

The current squad features returning players of the Cup of Harmony, yet the squad has been shuffled with a more prominent starting eleven. Hayabusa and the KFA have been focusing heavily on their youth development and will be looking to use their talents as much as possible in the upcoming matches. Bolstering it's already youthly selection even more.

For Hayabusa this World Cup campaign will mark a legacy for the manager; he is now officially the longest leading Kandorese manager for the national team, surpassing Sakai Kiyokore. The Kandorese national team has a long standing problem with manager being a revolving door job as the KFA has very high expectations and goals set for the season; so far Hayabusa has been mostly successful when it comes to his time with the national team. After failing to qualify for World Cup 85, Hayabusa set his eyes on one thing; reaching the final of the Cup of Harmony. The KFA had the approach of at least reaching the half-finals as they did in Cup of Harmony 76 and Hayabusa delivered, spectacularly.

The Kandorese side will be looking to qualify for the first time since World Cup 67 and to end the bad luck spell the team has had ever since when it came to qualifying. Hayabusa made comments earlier on the state of Kandorese football both domestically and internationally.

"I think our own football league has been improving in the past years as the nation has been taking football even more seriously, transforming Kandorith in a true football nation. I am always proud in leading this team and I really think we will get very good results." Said the 44 year old Hayabusa.

"I feel a responsibility to show our nation abroad when it comes to football and show the world that we are in no means a 'small nation' in the sport. I am absolutely sure, and I have the utmost confidence, without a doubt that this team can beat any team from any country. We have shown our prowess and dexterity before and we are going to show it once again.

"Whenever we play international matches I urge the players that they have to show that we are there to represent our Empire and show them our best. Every tournament this mentality has won us a few impossible matches and even more impossible draws."

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Kandorith in Group 9

Group 9
Kencana (344)
Schottia (152)
Lochario (98)
Qasden (31)
Ancherion (79)
Glazgo (255)
Emastalia (141)
Valanora (7)
Solharcht Kirale (UR)
Kandorith (39)

Currently Kandorith is ranked 39th in the world and will be facing sides like the mighty and determined Valanora, who rank seventh. Kandorith's first match will be against Kencana who rank 344th and should, on paper, be easily dispatched by the Kandorese team. The second team the Kandorese will face is Glazgo, who are ranked 255th respectively. Both these matches, according to Hayabusa will be warm-up matches to get ready for the real challenge. Referring of course: to the game against Valanora which will take place on match day six.

Hayabusa will be looking to win all upcoming games he already said, which would be a record for the national team. Realistically seen the Kandorese team should be very capable to become second in the group, behind Valanora.

During World Cup 85 the Kandorese team broke another record; under Hayabusa the team managed to score more than 40 points for the first time and ended on 47 hard fought for points. In the end however, the team would be denied a third place and was defeated on the last match day for a shot for qualification.

This time however Hayabusa says the tactic will become dominating the table from early on and not letting go. To lead the entire group as long as possible, where possible. The experience of both World Cup 85 and winning the Cup of Harmony have led to a morale boost for Kandorith as the team and the fans hunger for more.

[Silver Commonwealth]

SNN Sports

Silver Commonwealth's Football Team to play in Group 6 in Qualifications of World Cup 86

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''The recent events of SC's football team in World Cup 86 have caught attention from a lot of football fans from SC's regions, and sale of various football fan accessories such as t-shirts has already started to become seen more often, while hardcore fans have become more active in internet forums, and phrase ''Brazilian team'' has peaked in SC's internet search engines. Football clubs/players from SC's Brazil (SC's Brazilian team represents SC during the cup) even have already received offers from several clubs across SC (With one being in SC's Muscovy) to train or be a coach for some amount of time. Football experts predict that in case of achievements like passing the qualification rounds or play-offs, SC's Brazilian team might expect even more fame, recognition, and offers to help other SC's regional team coaches. In some regions the anticipation of the following tournament seems to have taken over, and even those who usually don't watch football or enjoy it have said to be anxious about the next days, wishing the best for their team. While the tournament is anticipated by police and peacekeepers as well, it is not always on a positive note - some of the gendarmerie have already done exercises of how to control a crowd in case of football hooliganism, despite the risk being relatively low.''

''SNN Sports has received information about the group in which SC is in, and which teams it will need to face in the qualifications. The teams are listed as following:''

Day1: Lovisa vs SC

Day2: SC vs Audioslavia

Day3: The Holy Empire vs SC

Day4: SC vs Southwest Eastnorth

Day5: Poafmersia vs SC

Day6: Sylestone vs SC

Day7: SC vs Euran Oceania Territories

Day8: Delaclava vs SC

Day9: SC vs Juvencus

''Order for the second half of qualification games is the same, just with home/away team spots reversed.''

''This time SNN has invited Léon Crevier to the studio - an experienced football player from what is now SC's Western Europe, and a veteran of the football tournaments of a country that we fought against in the past. Greetings, Crevier! (Both parties exchange with greetings)''

Interviewer: ''Let's start with the question which probably is the most favorite for our viewers right now - what are your predictions for how qualification games will go down?''

Crevier: ''Honestly, I wouldn't want to predict anything too early as we are not sure how strong some of the teams in the 6 group, a.k.a the toilet group are. There are those which are fairly highly ranked like Audioslavia's team or The Holy Empire, and against those even our best players would need to prepare for a fight full of sweat.''

Interviewer: ''Yes, but isn't that the case for all of the teams and groups in tournament? Some are stronger than the others, while those at the bottom of the rank are basically at the tail's end. With what our position is so special that we couldn't comment on how we would perform, asides from being unranked? *light chuckle somewhere in the studio*''

''Anyways, what are your thoughts on the individual players of the team which our coach Enrico has sent?'' The interviewer continued on.''

Crevier: ''Well, what to say - I think that Enrico's choice for striker is pretty solid, and so is the left attacker, a.k.a the captain Gabriel, but I personally would have went for Mauro Garcia for the right attacker's role. From what I have seen of Cabral's style, he sometimes plays a bit too slowly or cautiously, and forwarders in such position must be ready to react quickly to either hit the ball in goal, or pass it to other players of their team so it doesn't get intercepted by the defenders at the back.''

Interviewer: ''Alright. Now to the goalkeepers, defenders, and midfielders - your thoughts there?''

Crevier: ''Not much to say about the goalkeepers there - they all seem pretty equal on par with each other, so Enrico probably had his reasons for picking which to send on the field, and which to leave in reserves. About midfielders I don't have much complaints either, although I perhaps would have picked a different vice-captain for the midfielders, as André Alencar can lead a group better in situations where quick reaction is needed, and he is also better at sprint. Now, for the defenders... Cícero Linhares with his energetic nature perhaps could have been better suited for something like a midfielder or forward attacker, but he might do good for defending back as well. I would have placed Soares in reserve myself, but he doesn't seem too shabby in face of other defenders in reserve.''

Interviewer: ''Now, your thoughts about the current SC's football scene, and how would you compare it to the past?''

Crevier: ''Honestly, in some ways it is actually not that different from the times back in the Russian Empire, except with more bureaucracy and groups to keep in mind. At least SCFA has more organizational stability, and the number of the participating teams isn't constantly changing, especially not during the tournaments themselves. More funding and means to spare from other groups is always good as well, and even if the three superstates fought against each other in the past, the cooperation between the football leagues is necessary, as otherwise our football league probably wouldn't have bounced back as early. As someone who has seen behind the scenes of Russian Empire's football tournament organizations, I am not someone who gets up my hopes and idealism anymore.''

Interviewer: ''So, what are your last words for our football team and its fans?''

Crevier:''May you be blessed by whoever your God is, and good luck for all of you! Sports are a good way to keep your body in shape, and to ensure that the aging processes don't start too early. Even if you don't plan to be a professional footballer, playing street football once or twice shouldn't be too bad.''

[South Covello]

Giddy Lugnut Unveils New South Covello Soccer Traditions

New South Covello national team head coach Gideon "Giddy" Lugnut unveiled several new traditions for the soccer team that will begin when the team takes the field for World Cup Qualifiers in a few days for games against Verceola and Barunia in the first two games of qualifiers.

For starters, he unveiled the team's new mascot, a goat named Sir Nicholas von Chompington I. Sir Chompington was rescued from a Banijan meat factory where he was to be made into food for the barbaric natives there. Before every home game, Sir Chompington will be led out onto the field and attack, then eat, something related to the opposing team, whether that is based on their country name, their nickname, or something their country is famous for. Here is a list of what he will attack and eat for each opponent in Group 17.

Legalese: A copy of the entire legal code of South Covello.
Liberal Democratic Socialist States: An effigy of the coach of the LDSS National Team
Verceola: A 12 pack of cola
Barunia: A giant stuffed anthropomorphic sun, in reference to the national team's nickname
Squornshelan Remnant States: Various squishy objects yet to be determined
Eurasies: An effigy of Friday Night Live star Jill Rockwood, known for portraying Euran Prime Minister Amy Yarley, since she, like Eurasies, is impersonating Eura but really isn't.
Zwangzug: A large chess set, board included.
When U Die: A grim reaper suit.
Abanhfleft: Various fluffy things yet to be determined.

Due to various quarantine laws involving non-sapient animals, Sir Chompington will not be traveling to away matches, but if the Rebels make the World Cup proper or Cup of Harmony, he will travel with the team to where they wind up and continue his glorious traditions. They will also attempt to bring him to any away playoff match the Rebs might play, but that may not be possible due to the short turnaround.

The team also unveiled hashtags for each opponent to use on Twii.tur before the match. They are as follows:

Legalese: #LegalizeVictory
Liberal Democratic Socialist States: #NeverSocialist
Verceola: #ColassalVictory
Squornshealean Remnant States: #SquashTheSquishies
Eurasies: #BetterThanFakeEura
Zwangzug: #CheckmateZwangzug
When U Die: #WhenWeWin
Abahfleft: #BanTheFluffies

Finally, Lugnut attempted to unveil a tradition involving custard pies during the live draw he was attending, only to have the Valladaran delegate immediately steal the idea and throw custard pies at everyone. Nevertheless, the team will be unveiling various custard pie traditions anyway. Specifically, at the conclusion of every South Covellan soccer match, the Man of the Match will receive a custard pie in the face as he is announced the winner (if a home match) or as he is being interviewed live on TV (if an away match.) For neutral matches in the World Cup Proper or Cup of Harmony, they will handle on a case-by-case basis depending on what is announced in the stadium. Furthermore, the Man of the Match Award will be renamed the Custard Pie Award. Finally, after every South Covellan win as well as potentially select draws (such as those that allow the team to qualify for the World Cup or advance to the next stage of an event) the team will have a custard pie fight in the locker room. This should certainly be a fun away to celebrate.

On the first set of matchdays coming up, South Covello will travel to Verceola and then welcome Barunia to Revolution Stadium, where Sir Chompington will be unveiled for the first time. His segment of the pregame show will be aired live on TV so that those not in the stadium can watch it too.

[Mavinet]

© Bóng Tròn Magazine
World Cup 86 Qualifiers: New hope for Mavinet and Our new series
by Dang Duc Tri, Associate Sports Editor

It’s that time of the year again, when Mavineses across the country hurry to their TVs every few weeks and anxiously await the familiar tune of the live sport program. That’s right! Another World Cup qualifying season is at our doors. Now entering the second time participating in the largest football event, the Mavinet’s national football team bring with them high hope for a better performance at the highest international level.

After the relatively successful first appearances on the world’s football stage, reaching far in junior levels and winning the Baptism of Fire 72, Mavinet had been expected to put in a good start to the second bout of international footballing. However, none of the levels have met that expectation. The junior sides went out early in the 11th Sporting World Cup and the 48th Di Bradini Cup, while the senior sides only managed 1 win and 1 draw in the group stage and failed to reach the knockout stage of the 35th Copa Rushmori. Despite our short history in the international football community, some have voiced concerns over the lack of progress under Head Coach Nguyen Minh Quan. Most of these concerns are somewhat over-the-top, considering both the inexperience of the junior sides and the quality of the opponents faced by the senior team. It’s still too early for the Football Association to consider any actions against our Head Coach, and with the release of the official roster for the World Cup 86 Qualifiers, it seems “The Old Bull” is still going to lead the senior team in another effort to reach the World Cup’s final tournament, this edition hosted by Newmanistan and Drawkland.

The roster does feature a few new faces compared to the last World Cup qualifying campaign, and presents a continuation of Head Coach Minh Quan’s experiments with younger players from the most recent Copa Rushmori in Astograth and Savojarna. Do Manh Cuong, Trinh Van Hau, Phung Thieu Van and Pham Thai Gia are such players, adding youthful energy to all departments of the team. Although the Head Coach will give priority to more experienced players in the team for the starting spots, these young faces will get their chances when the situations ask for them. After all, this qualifying campaign is likely to be the last for some players, namely veteran goalkeeper Nguyen Hoang Trung and industrious captain Nguyen Quang Khai. The team will need to have a good crop of heirs to their positions identified and ready to fill in.

“If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat.” For that reason, the second most important question in every tournament, after “Who are playing for us?” is “Who are we going to face?” If we go back to the last World Cup qualifiers Mavinet played in, we can remember a few tough sides like Pasarga, Valanora and Eraman. Surely the fans can only hope we don’t get as difficult a group as last time. Let’s see who share the group with us:

GROUP 4
Terre Septentrionale
New Lusitania
Sharktail
Nephara
Havynwilde
Damukuni
Hwiccemark
Unimon
The Minarchist Free State
Mavinet

This year, in place of Valanora, we get Nephara, the number 2 of the world and current champions of the Copa Rushmori; in place of Pasarga, we get Terre Septentrionale; and in place of Eraman, we get New Lusitania. Sharktail, Havynwilde and Damukuni are other notable teams of the group. On top of the new group of challengers, the qualifying groups are smaller this time with only 10 teams per group, resulting in only 18 chances for the 2 top spots. I will leave the judging of difficulty to the experts and you, the readers, but one thing I can say is Mavinet will need some serious lucks to get close the top 2 places of the group. Of course, that does not mean we can’t do it, or at least make it difficult for our groupmates, especially the favorites, to qualify, like we often do in high-profile tournaments such as this.

In preparation for some beatings we are going to get (*looking nervously at Nephara), the national team has been touring the world playing friendlies at different away venues. There were questions raised over why the FA did not schedule any match at home, instead opting to play all away matches at faraway places. Perhaps the team are looking to improve their away mentality and get some practice getting used to the travel fatigue, but who knows. Nonetheless, getting some game times while expanding our experience with other countries outside of the region is a good thing, not to mention the benefits of the tourism experience on the side. The team started with a game at Graintfjall’s Grand National Arena in Rushmore. The game was organized as a congratulatory match for Graintfjall’s national team, who just won the most recent Baptism of Fire. A 6-3 victory for Mavinet put the Water Buffaloes on the right foot before flying out to Delaclava in Atlantian Oceania. Things did not go as well here, with the Mavinese boys lost 1-4 to Delaclava. A 1-0 win against Sylestone in Esportiva and 3-4 loss to Kohnhead wrapped up the friendly tour. The national team have a plan for another couple of friendly matches against our neighbor Cassadaigua some time before the start of the qualifiers, but the details have not been confirmed by the FA.

If I am going to do this like every other times we cover a sport tournament, this is where I will present to you a concluding remark, put the list of fixtures for the qualifiers, sign off and be on my way. But the editors thought that would be boring. So what did they do? Apparently according to a recent survey of 1,000 citizens across the country, only about 36% of the people actually know how our government is organized, and even less know what each part of the government does (I admit I may be a part of the majority in this poll). Therefore, to spice up our coverage of the qualifiers and at the same, provide some civic education to our readers, the magazine will feature a new series called “Know Your Government – Football Edition”, where our correspondences will bring to you an overview and inside perspective (to the extent that is allowed) of the government executive offices and agencies that are working on the many aspects of running our country. Will it be boring? We will try our best not to make it so. Will it be informative? Certainly, and it may surprise you how much these government agencies have to do with football.

OK, now it’s time to close out this article. Mavinet is heading once more into the highest-profile football tournament, this time with a bit more experience on what to expect at this level of competition. It might still be far-fetched for us to get further than this qualifying stage, but every football in the country want to see the national team put in good performances against the teams of the world.

MAVINET'S WC86 QUALIFYINGS FIXTURES

MD1: Terre Septentrionale v Mavinet
MD2: Mavinet v Damukuni
MD3: New Lusitania v Mavinet
MD4: Mavinet v Hwiccemark
MD5: Sharktail v Mavinet
MD6: Mavinet v Unimon
MD7: Nephara v Mavinet
MD8: Mavinet v The Minarchist Free State
MD9: Havynwilde v Mavinet
MD10: Mavinet v Terre Septentrionale
MD11: Damukuni v Mavinet
MD12: Mavinet v New Lusitania
MD13: Hwiccemark v Mavinet
MD14: Mavinet v Sharktail
MD15: Unimon v Mavinet
MD16: Mavinet v Nephara
MD17: The Minarchist Free State v Mavinet
MD18: Mavinet v Havynwilde

[Transvolcanic]

Telepato Deportes
"Welcome to Telepato Deportes, my name's Kikín Phon-Seca and today we will be along with comentarists Enrique Bermudas, Mario Kampas and Fernando Paloma, along with two special guests, Jonathan Kapezie, president of the AFT (Asociación Transvolcánica de Futbol or Transvolcanic Football Asociation), and player Josua Navarra"
E. Bermudas: "Yes, hello to all the people, today we'll analyze how is the team going into the qualifiers, interviews with our guests, and the TransLiga A matchday 27, well that's for the next hour"
F. Paloma: "well, so we have to talk seriously about the team's state, which isn't any good compared to the teams they have been drawn with"
M. Kampas: "totally, the team hasn't even played a friendly match, it is pretty unprepared, and only a miracle may let the team qualify"
K. Phon-Seca: "well, there are two friendlies scheduled, before the qualifiers start, they haven't been played still due to some delays, but that won't be enough preparation I think"
F. Paloma: "the players are good, but since they have no international experience, yes, they do play in a very competitive league, but still, with no international experience it's not like I am "pessimist", I am saying a reality, we can start saying we will be out of this"
M. kampas: "yeah, it's understandable, but we have to say that the styles of the players, they do play pretty good, they have a lot of hability, Öctagôn, captain and star is a world-class goalscorer, he could be a key player, or Pablo Colín, he's been compared to Lev Yashin, which can be said to be overrated, it is more as a Jorge Campos for me"
E. Bermudas: "we will first have to see how they finish in the friendlies, first they will play an away match against Ostralo. And then a match against Megistos in Lozkdańz, at the 51,000 seater Kaiser Arena, but now let's talk with Jonathan Kapezie and Josua Navarra, here they are! Hello to both!"
J. Navarra: hi there, good night
J. Kapezie: "thank you for inviting us tonight, you can start with the questions, a pleasure to be with you"
F. Paloma: "so... Will the team be able to qualify, or what do you think?"
J. Kapezie: "I trust in the team, even if it looks impossible, everything can occur, if they play good, I am sure we can qualify, the objective in this qualifiers is to at least finish 4th in group 8, but we could try to qualify"
J. Navarra: "I think we can do anything with this team, there is always a surprise on each tournament, so why couldn't we be them?"
E. Bermudas: "so you qualify?"
Navarra/Kapezie "probably, a thing to try"
K. Phon-Seca: "nice, now with that, do you think with the team you have, could you even get further?" Or do you need something to change?"
J. Kapezie: "I have been talking with the squad that will be traveling to fight in the qualifier, we'll have our debut on official competitions against Jamestownnnn if I am not wrong, it will obviously be a difficult match, we talked and made a strategy, which is secret also, we are also thinking to schedule more friendlies"
J. Navarra: "well, yes we can try, I have been playing along with them, everyone has talent, if we focus, we can do it, we have a great national squad, we are playing the best nations, because we are very good, we may not be the best of the best, but we can compete, maybe have to change some tactics against offensive nations, like playing in counterattack or so, but obviously I am not the manager"
E. Bermudas: "Also you have three nicknames, The Cats, which is thanks to people who play Fortnite, or because you are characterized with them, the train, which is after your squad PAC, and the criminals, because they have said around that you are cruel and lethal in this sport, this last was done right as mafia has been reigning since, do you think this nicknames are strange for other nations?"
*Kapezie prefers to stay quiet
J. Navarra: "Maybe the first one, like we aren't too strong cat-humans, I know the story of that one, pretty strange, but maybe the nickname fits with our qualities compared to the animal, intelligent, fast, probably, the train... Well not an earned nickname but it wouldn't be strange, and the criminals, just they don't see us as real ones heh heh!"
M. Kampas: "right, do you think your opponents fear you or they think they will crush you?"
J. Kapezie: "a strange question, but they shouldn't be too confident or else the nickname of the criminals could be earned"
J. Navarra: "same"
"K. Phon-Seca: " now, is the league a key in this team?"
J. Navarra: "In a competitive league, you need great players, TransLiga A is very competitive, you never know who is the winner or who is relegated, like last season is an example, so it has great players, and it is a key definately"
J. Kapezie: "we have been working to make TransLiga A better, as all our players play on it, yes, a determining factor"
E. Bermudas: "thanks, we'll be right back after the ads"
*the program continues for an hour talking now about non-related WC stuff
Day 2
The players, after 4 friendlies that resulted in 2 wins and 2 loses have finally returned with hopes against their rivals, first, a 0-2 win against UR Ostralo, and then a 3-2 surprising win against Megistos, but after, a 1-2 loss against The Jovannic and a 0-1 loss against Megistos
Now, their next rivals, will be hard but they will try
Manager Augusto Campuzano revealed they will play equilibrated against Jamestownnnn, their first rival, using a 4-3-1-2 with a predicted style of +0.7
The starters are predicted to be:
Pablo Colín (GK)
Rodrigo Perón (CB)
Guilherme Ponte (CB)
Bartolo Medina (RB)
Josua Navarra (LB)
Minoto Takegomi (CM)
Phil Van de Nainssen (CM)
Romain Van Rosten (CM)
Eugéne Nazenfritz (MF)
Keinri Öctagôn (ST)
Ignacy Volodov (ST)

Subs:
Oliver Agustino (gk)
Wellington Delaliya (LB/RB)
Ulisés Rivera (CB)
Rei-Thon Marcusen (CM)
Tiago Suarez (CM)
Xavier Corral (LM)
Walter San Marcos (RF/RW)

At match two, which is against Pluvia and The Saxean Isles, it is possible to be an ofensive style with +1.85 and a 3-4-2-1 with:
-Pablo Colín (GK)
- Ferdinand Faibermann (CB)
-Guilherme Ponte (CB)
-Ulisés Rivera (CB)
-Josua Navarra (LM)
-Phil Van de Nainssen (CM)
-Rei-Thon Marcusen (CM)
-Pietro Pelatto (RM)
-Walter San Marcos (LF)
-Ignacy Volodov (RF)
-Keinri Öctagôn (CF)

And subs:
-Norberto Yañez (GK)
-Rodrigo Perón (CB)
-Daniel Galeras (CB)
-Minoto Takegomi (CM)
-Gonzalo Rojos (MF/CM)
-Marcell Bovier (ST)
-Lufti Pasandé (LW/RW)

F. Paloma: "so, here they are what it is predicted to be the first XI of the first 2 matches, now I want to know about your opinions please"
M. Kampas: "It is pretty risky to go against a Team who has experience with a subs XI, I don't think that will be good for the team, by the other way, against a not totally good team like Pluvia, I would put the subs right there, I don't know what Campuzano is trying"
E. Bermudas/K. Phon-seca: Yep, same thinkings
F. Paloma: "also check this, in recent events, it was said by the AFT, that the player Norman Sánchez suffered a harsh injury while training in the concentration camp near the Capital 2 de Octubre Stadium, still don't know what does he have, but seems he will be out for 2-4 months, so its place will be given to Carl-Philip Okoh"
E. Bermudas: "Poor guy, 2-4 months is pretty harsh for a player who is only 20 years old, that doesn't seem good for his career, I hope he revovers"
K. Phon-Seca: "Also I wanted to know, maybe Campuzano tries new tactics to see if they work?"
M. Kampas: "Probably, I was told he recently was in a press conference"
F. Paloma: "yes he was, check this words:"
*starts to transmit a press-conference video
A. Campuzano: you may start with the questions
Person 1: "First of all, do you think the team can handle this qualifiers?"
A. Campuzano: "Obviously we will be optimistic, I respect the rivals, but if we can, we will show them we aren't a bad team"
Person 2: "What is your opinion respecting to Jamestownnnn?"
A. Campuzano: "They are a good team, totally, but we can show why are we here, it is a difficult rival, but we have our possibilities"
Person 3: "Will you be changing tactics during the qualifiers?"
A. Campuzano: "like every manager normally does, yes, we will study our rivals, and will base our system in that, but also the players have to demonstrate they are in conditions, but I expect a lot of them, they do know I can put them as subs or even reserves"
Person 4: "A last question before you...
A. Campuzano: " yes, talk what you want"
Person 4: "After the friendlies, Romain Van Rosten is top goalscorer of the team with 3 goals/6 that the team has made, being an U-23 player, does this mean that the nation's project for new talents is working?"
A. Campuzano: "yes it does, actually, most reserves and a few players more are U-23 men, well, even U-20! I brought them to see what they can do, along with experienced players like Öctagôn or San Marcos, the project works and in a short future, the Transvolcanic Federation could have a world class team, it's matter of time I think
Time for questions is over, thank you all and see you next time, good afternoon to all"
*transmission finishes, and all the commentarists discuss about other stuff
OOC: before anything, the predicted styles are only predicted, if I already posted my style at the roster thread, it is the style I am using on these first 2 matches

[Springmont]

Ironcastle C77-100 Skylark

The Springmont Football Association (SFA) has entered into an extended contract with SpringmontAir as their official airline partner for another three years. The situation saw the airline remain committed to SFA with a three-year flight sponsorship starting next year.

SFA President, Dr. Basil Cagnon acknowledged that the continuation of the joint venture was a signal that the cooperation between the two parties since 2019 is quite good. The cooperation between SFA and SpringmontAir is quite symbolic because they are both national brands that are synonymous with our country, Springmont, "he said at a press conference after the joint agreement ceremony, today.

The joint venture agreement ceremony was held in South Winbridge which was also attended by SpringmontAir Group Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Kevin Humboldt and Chief Finance Officer, SpringmontAir, Lee Bigstormberg. Meanwhile, Dr. Humboldt acknowledged that he was excited to continue the collaboration and considered that good teamwork was key to the success of each joint venture.

In line with that, SpringmontAir also launched an Ironcastle C77 Skylark aircraft colored with special livery for the Springmont WCQ86 campaign at the event.

[Mercedini]

OFFICIAL MERCEDINIAN WORLD CUP ANTHEM



Ordemi Martins - "Ali (Wings)"
Tune: Robin Schulz & Wes - "Alane"
Music: R. Mutso-Zemini, F. Liszewits • Lyrics: O. Martins

As the night grew darker above the the skies of the Zoloroni Sports City Stadium, it was time for the Official Mercedinian Anthem to be played out in front of a capacity 74,000-person crowd before their match against their MD2 opponents, Orion Islands. For the most recent cycles, Mercedini had always been at home for their campaign opener, but finally that had come to an end as they opened their campaign in Twicetagria. A day later, the anthem could finally be revealed which has become a staple of the Mercedinian World Cup campaign.It was to be Ordemi Martins to fly the flag for the 86th World Cup, with a revamp of his old classic 'Ali' meaning Wings in Mercedinian. It will be the first time a World Cup anthem will be sung entirely in Mercedinian, with previous iterations in English.

Ordemi stood in the middle of a raised stage in the centre of the Sports City Stadium pitch, with home and visiting fans in their tens of thousands surrounding him and his setup as the opening melody rings out. Ordemi climbs the steps to lift himself off the pitch, as the camera which is broadcasting to millions across the multiverse tracks him up before wide-sweeping out to showcase the vast emptiness of the stadium.

Oggi prospriami
Occhi splacanté
Le nostre lezioni di ieru
Ci dirà come dare forma al futurai

(Today we thrive)
(Eyes bright)
(Our lessons from yesterday)
(Will tell us how to shape the future)

As the beat of the song kicks in, a light-pink flower begins to flower on the platform where Ordemi is standing. The crowd is cheering loudly which is picked up by the stadium microphones as the second half of the first verse. Pulsing lights of every colour being to shine on the stands around the pitch, bathing the crowd in a rotating rainbow, shedding light on the darkest corners of the stadium. Ordemi opens his body language to welcome in not only the home fans who have made their way to Zoloroni, but also to the away fans in the stadium. Who have made the long trip to Mercedini in what is seen as an unfavourable match on paper. Nevertheless, the opening Mercedinain home match is always a party, no matter who is involved and no matter happens happens.

Oggi prospriami, occhi splacanté con speranze
Le nostre lezioni di ieru
Ci dirà come dare forma al futurai

(Today we thrive, eyes bright with hope)
(Our lessons from yesterday)
(Will tell us how to shape the future)

A floating camera dips down towards the centre of the pitch where Ordemi is waiting, he offers his hand to the camera as it approaches before singing into it. Behind him is the crowd who are off their seats and are waving their flags that were waiting in their seats when they arrived. The song builds in intensity, with the lights and the colours around the stadium reflecting that as they begin to concentrate on the pitch. Projectors on the stadium shine down of the pitch, illustrating a floral grade which is spreading across the pitch as the chorus approaches.

L’ali mi solleverannai
Niente mi può fermaré
L’ali mi solleverannai
Niente mi può fermaré

(Wings will lift me up)
(Nothing can stop me)
(Wings will lift me up)
(Nothing can stop me)

Flashing light illuminate every corner at the television feed cuts to a series of dancers, reflecting the eclectic mix of culture from across the nation. Street dancers, Bhangra-style dancing, ballet, ballroom dancing, all in different areas of the stadium and lighting up the arena individually in their own way. The elevated camera sweeps back to the middle of the stage where Ordemi has been joined by a local junior-dance troupe all wearing colourful hoodies surrounding the main performer of the song.

Vivi la vita… come un nuovo inizio

(Living life as a new beginning)

The second verse begins with the beat remaining, as Ordemi walks off the centre of the stage and walks towards the tunnel of the Sports City Stadium, where he turns his back to it and a manned camera moves to face him. With Ordemi standing in front of the tunnel, the surrounding fans are waving to get themselves their half-second of fame, before hundreds of teenagers run out of the tunnel to eventually fill the pitch. A couple of them wave into the camera as they run past but all of them make it out before Ordemi blow a kiss to the camera and walks past it himself to make way for the second pre-chorus.

Oggi prospriami, occhi splacanté con speranze
Le nostre lezioni di ieru
Ci dirà come dare forma al futurai

(Today we thrive, eyes bright with hope)
(Our lessons from yesterday)
(Will tell us how to shape the future)

Ordemi walks back to the centre stage with young Mercedinians equally spaced across the pitch waving colourful pieces of cloth above their head, with many members of the audience doing the same in the stands. Ordemi makes his way up the steps and onto the raised stage for the second dance break the junior dance troupe has returned to accompany the main performer.

Flashing lights on the stadium roof shine down onto the pitch once again, with the television feed cutting between the action of the performers and dancers, to members of the crowd bobbing about with happiness.

L’ali mi solleverannai
Niente mi può fermaré
L’ali mi solleverannai
Niente mi può fermaré

(Wings will lift me up)
(Nothing can stop me)
(Wings will lift me up)
(Nothing can stop me)

The crescendo hits once again as the television feed changes to a helicopter shot of the outside of the stadium with the metropolitan area of Zoloroni in the background. Fireworks shoot out of the stadium and explode above Sports City as the performance inside the stadium continues with the crowd getting involved and waving their flags. With hundreds of dancers on the pitch, it may be hard for viewers at home to figure out what to look at, but a spotlight it placed upon Ordemi as he interacts with the dance troupe on stage.

Vivi la vita… come un nuovo inizio

(Living life as a new beginning)

The lights subside as the chorus ends Ordemi stands as the lone mobile figure on stage with everybody else not lit by any lights and not viewable by the television feed. That is focused on the ten flag carriers entering the pitch from the tunnel carrying the flags of the ten nation in the group featuring Mercedini and The Orion Islands, in rank order from lowest to highest. The microphones in the arena pick up the cheers as they enter the stadium, and while most of the teams will not feature tonight, they will all make their way over to Zoloroni at some point in the group. The flags of Mercedini and Baker Park are the final two to enter the pitch which gets the biggest cheer of them all.

Se il mondo è giù
Possiamo alzarcia
Se il mondo è giù
Il Sole sorgerà

Se il mondo è giù
Possiamo alzarcia
Se il mondo è giù
Il Sole sorgerà

(If the world is down)
(We can get up)
(If the world is down)
(The sun will rise)

The ten flag carriers step onto the stage and wave their respective flags high as the Mercedinian flag and the Orion flag are attached to the contraption which holds the flags of each match's competing nations, with Ordemi holding onto his long notes as the lights build to a crescendo once again.

As the music kicks in once again, the flags rise into the air ready to host the night's match with the remaining eight flags being waved enthusiastically. The dancers on the stage and on the pitch are giving their all to add to the energy of the song, with Ordemi in the middle of it all waving his hand to stir the audience who are mostly bouncing along and waving their flags. Sparks fly from the stage and from the exterior of the stadium, with the World Cup becoming a festival of spot, what better way to combine that with a festival of music before it all begins.

L’ali mi solleverannaaaaaaaaaai

L’ali mi solleverannai
Niente mi può fermaré
L’ali mi solleverannai
Niente mi può fermaré

Vivi la vita… come un nuovo inizio
Vivi la vita… come un nuovo inizio

(Wings will lift me uuuuuuuup)
(Wings will lift me up)
(Nothing can stop me)
(Wings will lift me up)
(Nothing can stop me)

(Living life as a new beginning)
(Living life as a new beginning)

Every performer holds their hands in the air with beaming smiles on their faces, even if some look out of breath from their three minutes in front of the nation. Ordemi Martins takes a bow as rapturous applause and cheers from both sets of fans ring out around the stadium. It has rallied the home fans to believe the unbelievable, as the anthem is designed to do. Mercedini may have started their campaign on the road, but they are back home and ready to turn up the heat in a competitive group, with this song guiding their way.

"Grazij, Mercedini. Andiamo!" Ordemi Martins waves to the crowd as the dancers begin to file off the pitch and preparations are made for the start of Mercedini vs. The Orion Islands. Music and Sport unites us, and brings two sides together in harmony. The television cuts back to the commentators of each host broadcasters before the match begins...

[Grand Quebecois]

The bags are packed. The weight of almost 700 Million people lie on their shoulders. As they step onto the bus, they realize what they're doing. They aren't just playing the sport they love. They're writing they're names in the history books of Grand Quebecois. Their journey begins now.

Chapter One: The Road There

"I'm here. I'm really here. I can't believe it." Colton Healy sits down on the bus and soaks up the moment. He questions himself for a moment. Am I ready? Should I really be here? Am I just as good as the guys sitting next to me? His doubt starts to pile before the captain sits down next to him. His idol since he was a kid, Eddie Orr. One of the most successful fullbacks in all of Grand Quebecois. A multiple time champion across Canada, he always made sure to remember where he came. He was an idol to millions, and he was sitting next to an admirer.

"You worried?"

"Yeah. I just do-"

"Don't stress it, kid. Once you hit the field, it'll all fade away, and all you'll focus about is the game."

"Okay. Alright, thanks." Healy sits back and puts on his headphones. As more players start to pile in, he starts to relax. He soaks in the moment. For the next couple months he would be living with these guys, doing everything with them, eating with them, shopping with them, but most importantly, they would be fighting for a World Cup.

Evan McJesus and Tim Bhowmik had been growing up together. They went to school together, they went to church together, and they played soccer together. Evan played center forward, and with Bhowmik as a right midfielder, they were a dangerous duo. While they were playing in high school together they attracted attention from the other side of Canada. They were the best of friends, almost as close as brothers. While they're play on the field was more than impressive, they're opinions were set in stone. They were a duo. A package deal. This deterred many big clubs from trying to get them, because one of them had the skill of 5, and they wanted the money that all 5 would get combined. With world renowned clubs out of the picture, they played in the Amateur Quebecois League, touring the country and tearing opposing defenses apart. They would've been perennial champions on the world stage, and now they have a chance to fulfill that goal.

Gus Air was living the life anyone would want to live. Playing all across Canada, making millions of dollars, and being one of the most talked about players in soccer. But there was one thing he had always wanted to do but was never able to do, and that was represent his country. He was born and raised in Grand Quebecois, but left the country to go to college. He would visit occasionally to visit family, and he had been participating in charity events for a couple years. He hadn't played in Grand Quebecois for almost 7 years. Now he was going to play with some of the best in the country. He sat down on the team bus and took out a journal. He had been writing and drawing in journals like this one ever since he left for college. He opened the book to his most recent drawing. With the game almost over, tied 3-3, in the World Cup finals, he gets the ball, and with the odds against him, he rips a shot. The ball hits the top left corner of the net. The stadium erupts with noise, as he runs to the middle of the field and slide on his knees, beating the fleur-de-lis on his chest. Just like his dreams 20 years ago.Just like every players dream.

"Well boys, I don't have much to say. The trip will be a long one, and i'm not talking about the trip to the hotel. This will be the most grueling test any of you have every taken part in. We aren't representing the teams we play for every other month of the year, we are representing our great nation. When you step onto the field wearing that fleur-de-lis, you are carrying the weight of every single sports fan in Grand Quebecois. It doesn't matter how good the other team is, it matters how hard you play. Will it be hard? Yes. Will it hurt you in every way possible? Yes. Will it be the hardest challenge of your life? I can guarantee it. Take it from me. I've coached over 200 games in my career, I've won multiple championships around the world, and none of them will ever compare to the pressure of the World Cup. All of those titles combined are still put to shame by the World Cup. When you take the field, you play your hardest. You play like it's the last game of your career. But for now, take it easy. Enjoy the trip, and don't do anything stupid." Coach Perezhogin sits down and leans back. His job might be the hardest ever. But he knew that this was only the beginning.

[Savojarna]

SavojarSports.sj - inside reports from all Savojarna
Savojarna reveal young WCQ roster

By Jaukka Halanen
It’s a young squad that is going to be sent into the World Cup qualifiers, or at the very least a young pool. The decision to submit a larger pool including multiple youth players, instead of the traditional 23-man-squad, has been criticised by some. However, Mikaela Rangren has given a quite convincing defence of her decision at the press conference accompanying the roster reveal.

“First of all, I think that the added flexibility is valuable. We’re less locked into a certain playstyle, and can easily adapt against more offensive or defensive sides to switch systems. This was harder with a fixed squad, and it’s especially important across eighteen games”, she said. “But it goes deeper than that. I think in the past we’ve had a problem that important players have sometimes gotten complacent or out of form, and then we had nobody to replace them. Now, I have an easier time to bring in fresh blood and make sure that we can replace someone who isn’t doing well. And it has the added benefit to make sure to always have a motivated squad, even against weaker opponents, because to those young players it’s their chance to earn themselves more caps or a transfer”.

The team itself may not be remarkably young with an average age of 25.75 years, but especially the extended pool players are young: 24.5 years on average is the age of those who haven’t been part of the Copa squad, and with nine out of seventeen players in that group who are U23-eligible, Savojarna could pretty much field an Olympic team if we count the regulars in the roster as well. The most notable call-up is probably 20 year old leftback Milla Viipuri, who has become a regular in Quebec’s Swanguard Athletic, although she often started on the right side. With Finn Östberg, an ambidextrous winger at Taeshan’s Real Chinchinhua, and Torpedo centre-back Dmitri Dmitriev, two more youth internationals made the senior squad for the first time. The two are a clear investment in the future, just like the first call-ups for recent DBC graduates Lauri Anttakari, Otso Ilkkanen, and Kristina Midtjaer.

However, Rangren showed that she is looking beyond the established and the young. A trio of 27 year olds is getting their first taste of international glory. Lovisa Mortensson of FK Metall will shore up the midfield, while former SFS top scorer Tuomas Lajunen of Libertas Bergheim and another Quebec mercenary, hanging striker Kaapo Terkala of Northandryun Rovers, are getting their first chance to score in the blue and white. Terkala has been interviewed upon arrival from Quebec, stating: “The move has definitely reinvigorated me after things have felt a bit stale back home. I’m incredibly honoured and happy to be allowed to return something to my nation, and play in this jersey”. He also pointed out that despite his age, he wouldn’t just show up to play a little and leave the ambition to the youth. “I’ve come here with the goal of making the World Cup squad, obviously. Everyone wants to make the last 23. It’s been a dream of mine as a child, and it could now become reality”.

The depth may be valuable as Savojarna face a very volatile group. Baker Park are the clear favourites to top the group and make direct qualification, although the past two Copas should have shown Savojarna that nobody is unbeatable on a good day (except, maybe, Eura). Behind the big ones, however, Mercedini and the Busoga Islands should be a duo that is beatable for the Northlights, even though they are obviously favoured by their higher pot position. The first week, where Savojarna play a double home opener, will be crucial as a victory over Busoga could put them into a very strong position for what is to come. The second week sees the Northlights face the dangerous, up-and-coming Twicetagria who will be looking for an upset, and with Baker Park and Mercedini in week 3 and 4 respectively, there will be next to no time for a breather.

Yet, it could have been worse: Group 12 has a very tight race for the top between the Hinodejin Empire and Taeshan, as well as some dangerous newcomers behind them; and in Group 3, Vdara’s and Timuria’s hopes will be greatly diminished by having to face both Eura and Pasarga. Most of the usual suspects could be expected to sail through, but some nations in the third and fourth pot could be truly out for blood this time. It’s probably a good idea that the Northlights are bringing some new faces in, and even better that they’ll have enough faces to last to the end.

Calendar:
Week 1: Savojarna vs. West Angola / Savojarna vs. Busoga Islands
Week 2: Twicetagria vs. Savojarna / Savojarna vs. Orion Islands
Week 3: Baker Park vs. Savojarna / Savojarna vs. TOTEL
Week 4: Cheergirls vs. Savojarna / Savojarna vs. Mercedini
Week 5: Murphtannia vs. Savojarna / friendly match (TBD)
Week 6: West Angola vs. Savojarna / Busoga Islands vs. Savojarna
Week 7: Savojarna vs. Twicetagria / Orion Islands vs. Savojarna
Week 8: Savojarna vs. Baker Park / TOTEL vs. Savojarna
Week 9: Savojarna vs. Cheergirls / Mercedini vs. Savojarna
Week 10: Savojarna vs. Murphtannia

Savojarna line-ups for Week 1
vs. West Angola (4-2-3-1): Pakanen - Pedersen, Zirkova, Forsberg, Nurkanen - Andersson, Maersk - Voynov, Poulsen, Jashkin - Jacobsen
Bench: Larsen, Skov, Kjaer, Gren, Mellin, Lundell, Jotansson
vs. Busoga Islands (4-2-3-1): Pakanen - Pedersen, Zirkova, Forsberg, Skov - Andersson, Maersk - Voynov, Lundell, Jashkin - Jotansson
Bench: Larsen, Nurkanen, Kjaer, Gren, Mellin, Poulsen, Jacobsen

[Megistos]

Group Draw And Schedule Announced; Megistos in Group 3

"We are back; to announce that the Group Draw and Schedule has been released, and Megistos is in Group 3, along with Pasarga, Grand Quebecois, Fujai, Drunk People at the Local Tavern, Vangaziland, Acronius, Timuria, Vdara and Eura. According to rankings, Megistos is only the 8th best team in the group, but don't underestimate them: They can still beat you."

"Over at the Merte Training Stadia, the players are training for the upcoming qualifiers. The opening games are with Vangaziland and Eura. I'm betting that we win against Vangazilland and lose to Eura, although not by much. Reasoning for the Eura match is, that when we faced Baker Park we only loss 2-0. And Baker Park is the 8th best team in the world at the moment. The game shouldn't result in a massive drop on goal difference."

"Speaking of who we face, the MFA has released in a press conference of which stadiums Megistos will use to host their home qualifier games. In the official document:"

Schedule (Including Stadiums For Home Games):

MD1: Vangaziland v Megistos
MD2: Eura v Megistos
MD3: Megistos v Acronius @ Ganymede GravityArena (cap. 345,000)
MD4: Timuria v Megistos
MD5: Megistos v Vdara @ Lam Stadium (cap. 242,000)
MD6: Pasarga v Megistos
MD7: Megistos v Grand Quebecois @ MegTurn Arena (cap. 567,000)
MD8: Fujai v Megistos
MD9: Megistos v Drunk People at the Local Tavern @ Officiale Megistos (cap. 412,000)
MD10: Megistos v Vangaziland @ Stadia Meg86 (cap. 400,000)
MD11: Megistos v Eura New Paradise International Stadium (cap. 569,000)
MD12: Acronius v Megistos
MD13: Megistos v Timuria @ Moonwalk International (cap. 321,000)
MD14: Vdara v Megistos
MD15: Megistos v Pasarga @ Charon SpaceStadia (cap. 378,000)
MD16: Grand Quebecois v Megistos
MD17: Megistos v Fujai @ Fitbull Internationale (cap. 439,000)
MD18: Drunk People at the Local Tavern v Megistos

And now for the predicted W-D-L results:

MD1: Vangaziland v Megistos W
MD2: Eura v Megistos L
MD3: Megistos v Acronius D
MD4: Timuria v Megistos L
MD5: Megistos v Vdara D
MD6: Pasarga v Megistos L
MD7: Megistos v Grand Quebecois W
MD8: Fujai v Megistos W
MD9: Megistos v Drunk People at the Local Tavern W
MD10: Megistos v Vangaziland W
MD11: Megistos v Eura L
MD12: Acronius v Megistos L
MD13: Megistos v Timuria L
MD14: Vdara v Megistos D
MD15: Megistos v Pasarga L
MD16: Grand Quebecois v Megistos W
MD17: Megistos v Fujai W
MD18: Drunk People at the Local Tavern v Megistos D

Predicted Total Points: 25
Predicted Win Percentage: 38.88888888888%

[Trolleborg]

Hello dear viewers! It's Trolleborg TV, I am Tiernes Riper, and right now welcome as our guest none other than Torben Mortensen, Chairman of our FA.

T.M. Good afternoon, Tiernes, good afternoon spectators. We have not seen each other for a long time and I know that people wanted answers about many things.

T.R. And, of course, the most burning question is how do you assess the results of the draw?

T.M. I cannot describe this draw in any particular way. We got (well, as we suspect, since the composition of the pots has not been announced) in the third post, with having position either as last or the last but one, and therefore could not avoid a group with two teams much stronger than ours. The sieve is very shallow these days, with only a little holes, and, perhaps, our chances of seeping through it are small, it must be admitted. Too few teams go directly to the tournament.

T.R. And what can be possible to do against that?

T.M. Having such a problem, personally I would introduce a playoff, but not only for the second teams, but would give the opportunity to participate to the teams at the third and fourth places too. This would allow me in my fictitious tournament to constantly maintain the interest of teams that cannot count on the first place, and constantly receive fresh blood in the tournament as such. But that's only my opinion.

T.R. Well, then at least describe to us what kind of opponents we got and what the leadership of the federation was waiting for. Of course, every our spectator is a greatest specialist in the art of football coaching, but nevertheless.

T.M. This is an unusual tournament, because this time we were not given Megistos, somehow tied to us in recent tournaments in all sports, and Abahnhfleft (everyone laughed). We have met before with three opponents from those that we got, and we have history with them. The lads will have the opportunity to try to prove something in the matches with the Zseparatists, who took a very important four points from us in the last tournament. And with two teams, the history and scores are very fresh. The draw brought us, as you know, together with Springmont and Ziwana, teams whom we just played at the Melayu Cup. As you remember, many players and experts complained after the Melayu Cup that the climate and the peculiarities of acclimatization give us a disadvantages, so providence give players an opportunity to show if this was the case.

T.R. By the way, I wanted to ask a question that worries many fans: is it true that many footballers after the Melayu Cup chose to stay on the tropical islands to relax? Was this the way it was intended?

T.M. No, it wasn't. Players and coaches who stayed had every right to do so, since they were on vacation. And they did it at their own expense. In order not to be too long in my words, let's ask Keith right here in the studio how much it will cost for a two weeks at the hotel where the head coach celebrated his birthday, and how much it costs to rent a bungalow where Finn Finnsnes spent time, just for example. We will also can calculate price of flight to and from, and, I assure you, the amount is more than modest. Any working resident of Trolleborg can afford it without much difficulty.

Keith: Two-thirds of the average Trolleborg salary for mentioned hotel for a two weeks. Forty-five percent of the average salary for a renting bungalow for two weeks. The round trip is very cheap, 400 florins or so.

T.M. Heard this? So, dear fellow citizens, there is no any subtext in this vacation and definitely we go to Melayu Cup to play games, not to relax. If chance will be given, we return next time. And If you, my compatriors, are not relaxing like that, then ask yourself what prevents you from making wider use of the opportunities that life in our country generously gives to you.

T.R. Now for another interesting question. Tell me, is it true that our country will no longer send youth teams to specialized football competitions?

T.M. It’s true. This decision was made both in the interests of football players and in the interests of citizens, in accordance with the results of the discussion held in our society. There is no need to send lads far away to play games of luck. It is not good for anyone to wake up in the morning with a bad mood because of another random result. However, don't see the decision as a kind of punishment for failure. All participants in the matches of youth teams of all levels will be awarded the medal "For achievements in sports", the head coach will be awarded the order "For the Service to the Fatherland." Everyone will be personally awarded by the national leader at a big official reception next week.

T.R. Don't worry about missing it, dear fellow citizens, our television will broadcast everything live in 3D. And let’s discuss the next question: is it true that the question of filing an application for holding some kind of international tournament was seriously discussed?

T.M. I can't give you all the details, some of them are confidential. But I can confirm: yes, such negotiations were conducted. A major football power expressed interest in being a senior host on one of the prominent football forums and made inquiries about finding a sensible junior host. We offered ourselves as such. Then both sides discuss possibilities. At the end our negotiating partners rethinking whole idea to submit the application as such in this cycle, but gave us some important advice on how to make our position more interesting in the future.

T.R. It least can you give us a hint?

T.M. I can say directly: we were recommended to increase the visibility of our sport events. The world needs to know more about us before many doors opened.

T.R. And what are you going to do about this?

T.M. I just wanted to get to that. Work on a key object within the framework of a program adopted at the highest level to increase visibility is already in full swing. It will be something like a sports TV channel, with 3D inserts and a number of entertainment programs, designed to cover events in the world of our sport more fully and more vividly. The specific details will not available right now, but soon you will see everything yourself. I think by the end of WCQ the work will be – probably – mostly finished.

T.R. And what are the prospects will opened then?

T.M. Well, nobody can say that right now. We are always ready to listen to suggestions and proposals, and I believe that if we succeed in implementing our plans, many things will follow.

T.R. But still?..

T.M. It seems to me that they w-i-l-l follow. In world sports, in recent years, it is the near-sports component that has been set very poorly. We will not even talk about the youth tournament year ago set in a country that was absolutely unwilling to open itself, was in no way prepared for the reception and entertainment of tourists, where everything looked on us as if we were uninvited and unwanted guests there - this is generally the apotheosis of the whole this trend. But let's take the Olympics. The world's greatest competition. Yes, this requires enormous organizational efforts, and undoubtely every honor and praise due to those who have taken on this burden and are pulling it. But it turned out to be a rather strange sight. All in all, event looked like a training camp - exercises, competitions, goals, points, seconds – with the interests of the any fans, visiting or local, are not provided at all. But training camp in a training camp, and this is one of the greatest events in the world sport – and such a small attention was given to the all other facets apart from the sport itself. Simple question: is there anyone willing to revisit the opening ceremony? How many times did the foreign media refer to her while talking about the Olympiad? That's right, almost not at all, only in the context of the participation of their teams in the ceremony. Because the ceremony is such unmemorable and routine. Whoever wants to argue that a lot is being done for the public at the Olympics, let first try to find ... well, say, such a simple thing as information about the temperature and weather on each of the days of the current Olympiad. Or the number of spectators in the stands during the competitions. Or at least some information about the ticket pricing and distribution system. Hotels, air tickets, special flights? Maybe there is at least a fan guide? You can, of course, try, but I'll bet with you - you won't find anything. And it’s the main disadvantage, from our Trolleborg point of view: the complete absence of a program for guests. No mascots, no street food festival, no fan championship, no flash mobs, no competition who shouts louder or whose field camp is more hospitable.

And this is what we can bring to the world of sports. More life, more innovations, more unusual things and ones that awakening creativity. For example, the draw of big event should not be held behind the scenes, it must be broadcast to the whole world, interspersed with musical numbers of the winners of the latest international competitions, clips about former players and victories, performances of the stand-up comedians, awards for the best game in the last tournament, and so on. And we will implement all this and much more, if we did things right and deserve invitation to participate as a hosts.

T.R. Well, maybe then we can show the prowess on our own right? Just organize a tournament to everyone to envy?

T.M. And such an idea was put forward, but we cannot find a suitable time frame for its implementation. We cannot yet. But everything is ahead. If the guys on the field will have a result, you will have your own tournament and partnership in organizing major international competitions and many other things.

T.R. From the other man it would be worth asking what you want our fans, but you always want the same thing. Or not?

T.M. Yet yes, I wish the same thing this time. Today I see no reason to deviate from tradition.

T.R. Thanks to our guest, and I would like to invite our viewers to appreciate the newest product of our television, which will be released after the first games of the championship. It will be TV-series, immersion drama with real-life interaction, with a main hero do and don’t do things accordingly to the will of viewers and our team progress. And right now we re-broadcast Royal Dramatic Theater’s performance “Victory Road”, which was immortalized our team victory in the BoF on the stage. We remind you that you can watch the play with your own eyes at least twice a week, but tickets should be ordered in advance, because for two years that it has been shown in the theater there have never been vacant seats.

See you soon, dear compatriots!

[Flavovespia]

The professional and semi-professional football pyramid of Flavovespia comprises of 160 teams, that beginning in 30AU will play across 6 tiers. Plenty of these teams are well known across the nation, some are even making small headlines abroad, but what about the teams who are lesser known in the nation, or even outside of their location. This set of features will look at these teams, and discuss some of their key points. Their home kit for this season is also included, provided by the graphics team at kit blog.

There’s been some changes over the years with how the pyramid works, shown below for any interest is how the make up of the divisions and football pyramid has changed over the years.

41BU-23BU:

Code: Select all

GWNFA Super League
---------------------------------------
Professional regional leagues including Waldster League (up to 31BU) , United Football League, Eastern Alliance, Western Association. No automatic promotion or relegation

22BU-17BU

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(GWNFA Pyramid)
GWNFA Super League
GWNFA Challenge League

United and Eastern Alliance and Western Association operated separately to the GWNFA, and the former had promotion and relegation with semi-pro and high level amateur regional leagues. No promotion or relegation to the GWNFA pyramid.

17BU-10BU

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(GWNFA Pyramid)
GWNFA Super League
GWNFA Challenge League

(United and Eastern Alliance Pyramid)
United and Eastern Alliance Division 1
United and Eastern Alliance Division 2
-----------------------------------------
Semi-pro regional leagues (promotion and relegation to United and Eastern Alliance Division 2). No promotion or relegation to the GWNFA pyramid.

10BU-8BU

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GWNFA Super League
GWNFA Challenge League/(GWNFA) United and Eastern Alliance Premier Division^*
 -------------------------------------United and Eastern Alliance Division 1
-------------------------------------United and Eastern Alliance Division 2
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Semi-pro regional leagues (promotion and relegation to United and Eastern Alliance Division 2)
^* Promotion and relegation still existed from the United and Eastern Alliance leagues, but not to and from the bottom of the GWNFA Challenge League

7BU-4BU

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GWNFA Super League
GWNFA Challenge League/(GWNFA) United and Eastern Alliance Premier Division^*
 -------------------------------------United and Eastern Alliance Division 1
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Semi-pro regional leagues (promotion and relegation to United and Eastern Alliance Division 1)
^* Promotion and relegation still existed from the United and Eastern Alliance leagues, but not to and from the bottom of the GWNFA Challenge League

3BU

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GWNFA Super League
--------------------------------
A collection of regional competitions, to replace the collapsed GWNFA Challenge League and United and Eastern Alliance Division 1


1BU-0U

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Repechage – 34 teams from the top 2 GWNFA flights in 4BU played a home and away round robin to determine the new divisions for the GWFA “modern era”
 

1AU

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Super League
National Division 1


2AU

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Super League
National Division 1
National Division 2


3AU

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Super League
Challenge League
National League
Western Alliance/Eastern Alliance


Note - from 3AU-29AU, the top three tiers are colloquially referred to as “the league” or “league teams”, the Alliance teams as “non-league” or “non-league teams”

4AU-7AU

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Super League
Challenge League
National League
Western Alliance D1/Eastern Alliance D1 (Alliance D1)
Northern Alliance D2/Western Alliance D2/Southern Alliance D2/Eastern Alliance D2 (Alliance D2)


Note – Northern Alliance D2/Western Alliance D2 feed into Western Alliance D1, Southern Alliance D2/Eastern Alliance D2 feed into Eastern Alliance D1

8AU-27AU

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Super League
Challenge League
Western League/Eastern League (National League)
Western Alliance D1/Eastern Alliance D1 (Alliance D1)
Northern Alliance D2/Western Alliance D2/Southern Alliance D2/Eastern Alliance D2 (Alliance D2)


28AU-29AU

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Super League
Challenge League
Western League/Eastern League (National League)
Western Alliance D1/Eastern Alliance D1 (Alliance D1)
Northern Alliance D2/Western Alliance D2/Southern Alliance D2/Eastern Alliance D2 (Alliance D2)
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Promotion and relegation from 8 feeder leagues to the Alliance D2


30AU onwards

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Super League
Challenge League
National League Division 1
National League Division 2
Western Alliance D1/Eastern Alliance D1 (Alliance D1)
Northern Alliance D2/Western Alliance D2/Southern Alliance D2/Eastern Alliance D2 (Alliance D2)
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Promotion and relegation from 8 feeder leagues to the Alliance D2


Note – National League Division 2 is still considered “league”, Alliance D1 is still considered “non-league”

And so without further ado, let’s begin the journey of the 160 clubs. First up is the 15 clubs who call the capital their home, Waldster. Situated in the south east of Flavovespia, the capital is the second-largest city-region, but is one of the most densely populated, and there’s plenty who work in the city, but live in places beyond it’s borders (which we’ll cover later).

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Tier 1	Super League
	Waldster FC Founded: 89BU Stadium: Hornet's Nest (75000) Rivals: Hadford Hill FC, St Astons City FC (major) One of the most well-known clubs in all of Flavovespia. The capital’s team, the first professional team in the nation, and for many decades, right at the top of the nation’s football hierarchy. The club is very identifiable to many in the nation, in their yellow kits, and in recent seasons thanks to the IFCF, they’ve began to appear in international tournaments, although only so far in qualifying rounds. Matches involving them and their 2 main rivals, to make up the Big 3, are hotly anticipated across the nation, even if the three sides aren’t the dominant forces of the nation yet. Hornet’s Nest is also the largest stadium in Flavovespia, and home to many international games, cup finals, and famous matches for Waldster.
	Gann FC Founded: 73BU Stadium: Gann Street (planned capacity 11765) Rivals: Hillsight Bridge FC, Camber Place FC (minor) Gann have existed for a little over 100 years now. The team come from the Gann district of Waldster, typically associated with the fishing industry, and hence their nickname of The Fishermen. For many decades, they were a small semi-pro level side in the Waldster League, and stayed committed to the division even as it remained staunchly independent of either of the national systems in the classic era. One of the founding 16 teams of the Eastern Alliance (now Eastern Alliance D1),they won promotion to the third tier National League for the first time in 6AU, and promotion to the second tier Challenge League for the first time in 13AU. In 29AU, only their third appearance in the Challenge League, they became the first ever side to make it a double promotion to the Super League, and the first time a second side from a city had made it into the top flight.
Tier 3	National League Division 1
	FC North Waldster Founded: 4AU Stadium: Waldster Fields (2762) Rivals: UA North Waldster (major) FC North Waldster have had a contentious history. Officially considered a “new team”, as opposed to a renaming of North Waldster Amateurs, some feel that meant their place in the leagues was unearned. North Waldster Amateurs has been in existence for decades, but when they unexpectedly won the inaugural Eastern Alliance in 3AU, rules on amateur sides precluded them entering the third tier National League. The solution was a rebrand to FC North Waldster, but that lead to a dispute over if they were the same club, eventually the GWFA (now FFA) said no a few years later but let FC North Waldster continue on anyway. The club’s best season was their only second tier appearance in 29AU, even if it ended in relegation to the new third tier. They’ve also won the non-league Alliance Shield twice. They have a fledging fanbase across the northern districts of the capital.
Tier 4	National League Division 2
	Woodbrook FC Founded: 0U Stadium: Woodbrook Stadium (1821) Rivals: Queens Road FC (minor) Woodbrook are a relatively new side, especially by the standards of Waldster. They Founded only in 0U, in the district of Woodbrook in the capital, but were ambitious from the start. They were one of 64 teams to join the GWFA pyramid’s level 5 in the Southern Alliance D2 in 4AU, were promoted to the Eastern Alliance D1 in 7AU, and then promoted to the Eastern League just 4 years later, and a little after a decade since forming. The team have carved out a niche support within Woodbrook, although some of the more traditional Waldster sides see them as nouveau riche upstarts.
	Camber Place FC Founded: 62BU Stadium: Camber Place Arena (1880) Rivals: Hillsight Bridge FC (major), Gann FC (minor) Camber Place is a seaside resort on the coast of Waldster, overlooking Henhaven Island. Originally the name was exclusively that of the resort park, but later became the name of the small coastal district, that does have a seaside resort character. Camber Place were almost unknown as a side, until 44BU where they only lost narrowly to Waldster in Round 4 of the Gold Cup. In the classic era, their highest achievement was a few top half finishes in the Waldster League, but were barely heard of outside the capital. 10AU saw them first appear in the third tier Eastern League, but that’s their highest level of play. The team, nicknamed The Chippies, wear a distinctive amber and red striped top with white shorts, colours associated with the Camber Place resort and district.
Tier 5	Alliance D1
	Dame Roundabout FC Founded: Stadium: 60BU Dame Stadium (566) Rivals: FC North Orbital (major), Waldster Junction FC (minor) Dame Roundabout are so named after the road junction and metro station in the vicinity, and not a specific geographic district. Dame Roundabout managed a 5th in their inaurgual season in the Waldster League in 58BU, ahead of Henhaven Islanders and only behind the 4 Outer Waldster city sides. Their early decades were arguably the most successful, relegation in 37BU back to the minor Waldster divisions. The modern era has seen them be entirely non-league, but recent seasons have seen them rise up towards the higher end of the Eastern Alliance D1, and the dream of a league place could come true if their upwards trajectory continues. They have a fierce local rivalry with FC North Waldster, but other than that, they’re limited in notoriety, outside of the capital.
	Waldster Junction FC Founded: 68BU Stadium: Junction Bypass (525) Rivals: Dame Roundabout FC (minor) One of the few teams in Waldster to be a factory team who still operate to this day, Waldster Junction owes its name to the railway workers of the Waldster railways and metro, with Waldster Junction the famous terminus. As a saying in the capital goes “all trains arrive at the Junction”. Brief appearances early in their history in the Waldster League came to an end as the factory teams couldn’t compete with city teams and semi-pro outfits. In the modern era, now only associated with the railways by naming rights, it wasn’t until 17AU until they won promotion to the Eastern Alliance D1. However, they’ve been on an upwards trend, twice losing in the playoffs to win promotion to the league, and very recently going all the way to Round 3 of the Flavovespia Gold Cup, and only losing to (at the time Super League) Vale on extra time.
	Hillsight Bridge FC Founded: 70BU Stadium: Bridge Lane (1080) Rivals: Camber Place FC (major), Gann FC (minor) Hillsight Bridge are so named after the bridge that was built to connect Waldster and Henhaven Island. The team are a century old, one of plenty that Founded for the intent of playing in the Waldster League, founded in 69BU. The team were often in the lower-midtable of the Waldster League, and back in the era of The National rankings of the 50sBU and 40sBU, could place in the 40’s nationally. Another team who arguably were hurt by the stubbornness of the Waldster League to stay independent in the classic era of any national pyramid. In the modern era, they entered in 3AU into the Eastern Alliance. Sporadic appearances into the Eastern League have been made, but Hillsight Bridge have largely remained in the semi-pro non league Eastern Alliance D1. A strong local rivalry with Camber Place exists between the two sides.
	FC North Orbital Founded: 59BU Stadium: Orbital Bypass (811) Rivals: Dame Roundabout FC (major), FC North Waldster, UA North Waldster (minor) This team is one not named after a particular district, but the “North Orbital” segment of roads in the northern part of the capital, finished in the year of the club’s founding. Founded in 59BU, they quickly made their way into the Waldster League. By 51BU, they looked a promising side, coming 7th in an era where the Outer Waldster sides were still in the league, and were ranked 29th nationally. However next season, financial issues stemming from overambition forced them back to effectively amateur status. The team’s only season in the league was 24AU, but relegation quickly followed afterwards. The dream is a return to the league, but for the small side, it’s a tough battle especially with the Eastern Alliance D1 down to 1.5 promotion spots to the league.
Tier 6	Alliance D2
	Waldster Waterfields Founded: 62BU Stadium: Waterfields Way (735) Rivals: Courtiers FC (major), Digsbury FC, Waldster Harriers FC, Courtiers FC (minor) Another one of the older Waldster sides, the Waterfields is the nickname for a collection of districts along the south west side of Waldster. Prone to flooding, prior to the construction of sea barriers in the later part of the 100sBU. They had some decent showings in the 50sBU, but were sadly relegated in 46BU as the Waldster League contracted. Just 3 years later, and they managed to take Hadford Hill to extra time in Round 3 of the Gold Cup, losing 4-3 AET. Recent years has seen them bounce between the Eastern Alliance D1 and Southern Alliance D2, as they aim to try and establish themselves in the upper echelons of non-league football.
	Waldster Harriers FC Founded: 0U Stadium: Harriers Stadium (770) Rivals: Courtiers FC, Waldster Waterfields (minor) Eccentric ex-footballer Harry Harrison decided to form this side at the start of the modern era, with an audacious bid to try and push his side into the league when the third tier was added in 2AU. It failed, and he had to eventually accept a berth in the Southern Alliance D2 upon its formation. They never achieved the dreams of Harry Harrison, who passed away in 21AU. The club have only reached the Eastern Alliance D1 in 26AU to 27AU. Some of the older Waldster sides definitely aren’t a fan of them, especially as they play up an avant garde image.
	UA North Waldster Founded: 4AU Stadium: New Waldster Park (971) Rivals: FC North Waldster (major) The contentious other side of the North Waldster Amateurs coin, UA North Waldster Founded in 4AU, as United Amatuers North Waldster and immediately had a place awarded in the new Alliance D2 level, to make up for North Waldster Amateurs dropping their amateur status. Some call it hypocritical however, after amateurism was made illegal in 21AU in the Alliance leagues, the club simply rebranded as UA North Waldster. UA North Waldster still have a small following, even if the amateur purists dropped the side, but they struggle now in the shadow of FC North Waldster at a local level.
	Queens Road FC Founded: 12BU Stadium: Central Road (1000) Rivals: Woodbrook FC (minor) Queens Road are very much by stature and history one of the smallest sides of Waldster. Founded in 12BU, they were completely amateur, and only worked their way into the Waldster League in 3AU. However, an impressive performance earned them a berth into the GWFA’s Southern Alliance D2 for 4AU. They were still a relative unknown, until back to back promotions in 15AU and 16AU sent them into the Eastern League. 2 seasons they survived in the third tier, although by 20AU, they were back down in the fifth tier, the Alliance D2 level. Their ground capacity is 1000, no seats removed from their 2 seasons in the third tier, but the club will rarely hit that amount.
	Digsbury FC Founded: 76BU Stadium: Bourne Way (811) Rivals: Courtiers FC, Waldster Waterfields, Waldster Harriers FC (minor) Digsbury are over a century old, but have had little to catch the eye, especially in the modern era. Digsbury is the name of one of the districts of Waldster, but has a relatively small population by Waldster standards. The club briefly spent time in the Waldster League from 61BU to 55BU, but financial trouble forced their withdrawal. The creation of the third tier Western and Eastern League in 8AU, from the third tier National League, created 16 spaces all the way down at the Alliance D2 level. Rarely have they ever looked like promotion contenders however, and a Round 1 cup appearance in 20AU is one of their highlights. 300-500 typically make their way down to Bourne Way on most matchdays, as Digsbury remain one of the little known sides of Waldster and the nation.
	Courtiers FC Founded: 83BU Stadium: Ferris Road (530) Rivals: Waldster Waterfields (major), Digsbury FC, Waldster Harriers (minor) Courtiers, a district of Waldster, is home to one of the oldest clubs in the nation still playing. They’re one of a handful of the original 39 clubs in the first Gold Cup of 79BU to still play. They’ve spent much of their history as an amateur side, although had minor success as a semi-pro outfit in the later days of the Waldster League and classic era. Sadly for them however, they could never return to that level of success in the modern era, and have been mired in the Southern Alliance D2, as other newer side overtake them. A small but committed fanbase follow them ,with an extensive collection of past memories handed down generations.

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OOC: Tier 1-4 kit graphics taken direct from my domestic newswire