THE 124TH RUNNING OF THE REPUBLIC CUP — THE SECOND ROUND
Here we continue, with the gauntlet of the Second Round slicing 64 teams to 32 just after ten matchdays. Some may call it merciless — and, to be fair, it is — but with most lower league teams already having to play 44 league matches, it's difficult for them to squeeze extra matches into the equation. For higher-ranked teams, they've only got to play 38 games — but at the top, you've got the IFCF matches, and the CEdC matches...and that adds up to a lot of football. So much, in fact, that the bigger teams have been pushing for five substitutes at every level of the game; something that players are also happy to accede to. That, and twenty-five player squads.
But nothing'll change until the end of the season, when all the clubs get together to discuss what should be changed.
PREMIER DIVISION, SEASON SIX
PART 3: LEFT BEHIND (MATCHDAYS 11-15)
This is an excerpt from the series Premiership Lives, a documentary about the twenty teams in the Premier Division as they navigate their way through the season.
DANNY HAVERHEAD and JOHN RIEDWELD
talk about Tumbran football culture, future prospects in the IFCF, and keeping success going year after year.
A TV studio, somewhere
"My name's Danny Haverhead, I'm fifty-two this year, and I'm the manager of Serrapince FC. We won the title last year, and we're, well, we're trying to win it again."
"I'm John Riedweld, and I manage Lakewood City. We've won six titles in the past ten years, and we're always on the hunt for more success."
Today's episode differs slightly; after all, there are twenty clubs and only nine episodes of the series to feature the managers. So, of course, double features have been written into the show. Because of course they have. Today's double feature is with Danny Haverhead, the Tikariotian manager of Serrapince, and John Riedweld — the manager of the blue half of Lakewood. Both these managers have locked horns several times over the past few seasons, as their sides dueled to take home the crown of Tumbran football; but their attitude towards each other is known to be remarkably respectful, with both being fairly cordial to each other.
They're now in the same TV studio, sitting opposite each other. It is quite an intimate setting; there's no audience or anything, just the two of them
Serrapince's season hasn't exactly started off well. They're in fifth, but their heroics in reaching the Champions' League Group Stage have essentially ensured a second Champions League spot for Tumbra. It's been a bit of a trade-off for them, all things considered, having lost to City themselves, Clyde Park and Nantwich — but their early fixtures have been fairly brutal, and they can look forward to a relatively easier run-in to the end of the first half of the season.
City, meanwhile, have seemingly shrugged off their malaise from last season where they looked quite unmotivated and were effectively out of the title fight extremely early; and have rocketed to the front of the pack, with seven wins from ten. A lone loss to a Sturrey Athletic team who seemed to frustrate City endlessly with their low block, it's been some brilliant, scintillating football — and something that might justify Riedweld's decision to not dip into the transfer market.
But beneath the teams' successes — Serrapince reaching the Champions League group stages, and City leading the league this early on — therein lies a tension; several of them, in fact. Both managers have to deal with high expectations year-on-year; both managers need to deal with the pressures of constantly being in a title fight, and both these squads will have to go through overhauls soon — Serrapince's strongest eleven's average age is 28.1, while City's talismanic player and captain, Robin Vaughn, is already 31.
Riedweld says the IFCF gauntlet is "exceptionally unpredictable," pointing to the fact that City themselves were knocked out by a team from the "StrayaRoos Barrier Islands" on penalties. For him, he says, the loss ranked amongst the worst moments of his career.
"And, honestly, it's quite difficult to rise up in the ranks when you can get knocked out by a team that has come from seemingly nowhere — you never know what'll happen in the IFCF, so it's best to go in with very little expectations and see what happens. Occasionally, like what Danny's done, you strike gold; but otherwise, in the qualifying rounds, you don't often come out with a lot. [Lakewood] United got knocked out despite having one of the best offenses in the league. Quite frankly, I think it's a miracle we'll be able to move forward with two spots."
Haverhead largely agrees; and he attributes Serrapince's mediocre form in the league to the amount of effort they're putting into the IFCF. The aim, he says, is for Serrapince to keep reaching the group stages for the considerable future; while continually striving for domestic excellence. This is why, he reveals, he and Riedweld have been pushing for twenty-five player squads and five substitutes across the league. For higher-ranked clubs, it'll allow for more rotation and players to get rest; for lower-ranked clubs, who often have to endure gruelling schedules in the lower leagues, it'll allow the same effect to be achieved.
The cordial atmosphere continues when they're both asked about their rivalry; both agree it exists, because "it's a natural thing"; but it's rather a friendly one, and there's a lot both of them can learn from each other. For them, both of them are relatively secure in their jobs — unless, of course, "something unforseen" happens. And both of them have a very cordial relationship with the owners of their clubs, too. For Riedweld, it comes with how much time he's spent in the job — John Ashburn apparently leaves much of the day-to-day running of the club to him, and he's got full control over transfer policy, effectively. For Haverhead, it took a bit of time and convincing; but the results have brought him security and trust from the board.
So far, the interview's been quite boring.
MATCHDAY 11
Lakewood United 1–2 Newton Wanderers
Serrapince 2–0 Delphi Lionesses
Sturrey Athletic 1–1 Kingsbury United
Macarthur City 2–0 Bencoolen City
Couno Rangers 1–2 Lakewood City
Colbrook City 1–0 Glenmont AFC
Straton 0–1 Fraser Valley
Hesham 0–1 Ridgewell Rovers
Columbia City 4–4 West Couno United
FC Inter Nantwich 1–0 Clyde Park
The topic then turns to the future, and how the two teams are managing transitioning from the current generation of players at Serrapince and City. As mentioned above, both of these clubs will have to deal with this problem somewhere in the future; City's talisman is 31, and Serrapince's average age in their eleven is 28.
"It's a constant process, I think," says Haverhead. "We're always identifying talent for who's leaving, and who's growing older. And I don't want to fall into the trap that so many clubs have fallen into. Sure, it takes a lot of effort, but I think avoiding dropping off after an important few players leave is crucial to continued success."
"Youth development is important, particularly," agrees Riedweld.
The interviewer, however, hangs on to what Haverhead has said about the trap; and questions Haverhead about it.
"Well..."
MATCHDAY 12
Clyde Park 1–2 Lakewood United
West Couno United 4–4 FC Inter Nantwich
Ridgewell Rovers 3–1 Columbia City
Fraser Valley 1-3 Hesham
Glenmont AFC 1–2 Straton
Lakewood City 2–1 Colbrook City
Bencoolen City 1–2 Couno Rangers
Kingsbury United 2–0 Macarthur City
Delphi Lionesses 0–0 Sturrey Athletic
Newton Wanderers 1–3 Serrapince
"The trap, I feel, and it's something that I've observed a lot since coming to Tumbra, is the tendency for a team to ride a lot on the strength of one player. I mean, even this decade, we've got our new striker, Sallay, at his old team Straton — they were riding on him. And even before him, they were riding quite heavily on Daniel Galbraith, and I think after his retirement he's been quite open about his last years at Straton. At Clark City, you've got William Wight; even now, I think, you're seeing it with West Couno and Vasya Reisinger..."
"I think there's a difference between someone being the best player on the team and an overrealiance on them, Danny," Riedweld cuts in. "You want to play to the strengths of the players you've got."
"Oh, of course, but the difference comes when you're over-relying on one player. And Straton definitely did that with Vazsony, and Daniel, and we're still seeing the effects of that overreliance today. Of course, there are mitigating factors, but I think one of the reasons why Straton didn't invest heavily in their team when Daniel Galbraith was growing older was because they just kept believing he'd keep chugging on. And yes, he did, and when he up and left they managed to secure Sallay; but the cycle continued again."
MATCHDAY 13
Lakewood United 1–1 Serrapince
Sturrey Athletic 0–1 Newton Wanderers
Macarthur City 0–0 Delphi Lionesses
Couno Rangers 3–0 Kingsbury United
Colbrook City 0–0 Bencoolen City
Straton 3–3 Lakewood City
Hesham 1–2 Glenmont AFC
Columbia City 2-1 Fraser Valley
FC Inter Nantwich 1–0 Ridgewell Rovers
Clyde Park 3–1 West Couno United
"So what I'm saying, John, is that there's a particular trend of Tumbran football clubs becoming overreliant and complacent because they've got one player who does all the work. Sure, I subscribed to this ideology a bit when I signed Hermaeus in my first season at the club for ten million, but we've particularly focused on beefing up the rest of the squad since. Football's a game of eleven players, at the end of the day, and you've got to make sure you've got as strong an eleven as possible."
"See, the problem is is that you've got to build teams in very different ways; sometimes, a player's just too good that you have to build a team around them. I'll very much admit that I've done that with Robin Vaughn, but I don't think that there's a problem of overreliance on a player."
"So," the interview intervenes, "do you think there's a problem in Tumbran football with overrelying on one player? One word answers, to sum up, please."
MATCHDAY 14
West Couno United 1–2 Lakewood United
Ridgewell Rovers 1–0 Clyde Park
Fraser Valley 1–2 FC Inter Nantwich
Glenmont AFC 0–2 Columbia City
Lakewood City 0–0 Hesham
Bencoolen City 1–3 Straton
Kingsbury United 1–3 Colbrook City
Delphi Lionesses 0–0 Couno Rangers
Newton Wanderers 0–1 Macarthur City
Serrapince 0–1 Sturrey Athletic
"Yes."
"No."
"I'll be honest, John, there's a bit of myopia from your side; and I feel that you might be heading down this path with Robin. If we're going to try and move Tumbra up a tier in the IFCF rankings, we're going to have to bring our strongest game to the IFCF..."
MATCHDAY 15
Lakewood United 3–1 Sturrey Athletic
Macarthur City 1–2 Serrapince
Couno Rangers 1–0 Newton Wanderers
Colbrook City 2-4 Delphi Lionesses
Straton 0–1 Kingsbury United
Hesham 0–0 Bencoolen City
Columbia City 0–2 Lakewood City
FC Inter Nantwich 0–1 Glenmont AFC
Clyde Park 0–1 Fraser Valley
West Couno United 1–1 Ridgewell Rovers
The episode ends on a rather tense note, as Riedweld and Haverhead look rather uncomfortable after debating their approach to football. A particular note from Haverhead was a warning that Riedweld "would be left in the dust as teams around the world continue to reinforce their squad, and you let yourself stay at the mercy of whether the talent pool of the city of Lakewood produces good players." At the end of it, though, the two shake hands; it's been a tough but fair debate over the future of Tumbran football.
The episode ends on footage of Serrapince's Champions League win over reigning Champions' League winners Namiri Forest, and the cheering Serrapince fans as Haverhead looks on.
Standings After Matchday Fifteen
Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Chg Form
1 Lakewood City 15 10 4 1 34 15 +19 34 -0 WWDDW
2 Lakewood United 15 10 2 3 32 11 +21 32 -0 LWDWW
3 Couno Rangers 15 10 1 4 24 11 +13 31 -0 LWWDW
4 Serrapince 15 9 2 4 28 11 +17 29 ▲1 WWDLW
5 FC Inter Nantwich 15 8 5 2 23 10 +13 29 ▲1 WDWWL
6 Kingsbury United 15 8 3 4 22 19 +3 27 ▼2 DWLLW
7 Ridgewell Rovers 15 7 4 4 17 12 +5 25 ▲2 WWLWD
8 Columbia City 15 7 3 5 21 22 −1 24 -0 DLWWL
9 West Couno United 15 6 4 5 25 23 +2 22 ▼2 DDLLD
10 Macarthur City 15 6 3 6 13 15 −2 21 ▲2 WLDWL
11 Sturrey Athletic 15 5 5 5 11 16 −5 20 -0 DDLWL
12 Clyde Park 15 5 3 7 13 14 −1 18 ▼2 LLWLL
13 Hesham 15 5 3 7 14 15 −1 18 -0 LWLDD
14 Straton 15 4 5 6 15 18 −3 17 -0 LWDWL
15 Delphi Lionesses 15 3 7 5 15 20 −5 16 -0 LDDDW
16 Colbrook City 15 3 4 8 12 22 −10 13 ▲2 WLDWL
17 Glenmont AFC 15 3 4 8 12 27 −15 13 -0 LLWLW
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18 Bencoolen City 15 3 3 9 10 22 −12 12 ▼2 LLDLD
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19 Fraser Valley 15 3 1 11 15 27 −12 10 -0 WLLLW
20 Newton Wanderers 15 2 0 13 10 36 −26 6 -0 WLWLL