Cup of Harmony 79: Everything Thread

[Newmanistan]

THE ROCKET REPORT

SINGLETARY DOESN’T MISS THIS TIME

By Taylor Larson,

Against Sharktail in the 81st minute, Ryan Singletary was awarded a penalty. With the score 2-0, the goal would not likely change the outcome of the match against the Rockets completely choked defensively in the final nine minutes plus added time. Singletary is a second choice striker substitute, so while he has picked up a couple goals during qualifying, he is not seen on the scoresheet as often as several others on the roster. Ryan beat the keeper on the shot, but did not beat the goal post, and as such, the try was unsuccessful. You could feel for him, and for the team, but then as fans we could look back at the scoreboard and know that everything was going to be okay with the game.

Ryan Singletary is best described as slippery. He’s not short, but comparatively speaking, he is shorter than most defenders at this level. Because of this, you aren’t going to see him outleap players for goals in that matter. What he is, is agile, and he has enough power in his legs to be able to handle the strength of the taller of the defenders. Yes, those defenders could eventually knock him off the ball, that is, if they can get to him. With that leg power, Singletary is able to withstand that initial push from the defender just enough to either get a shot off or to pass the ball off to a teammate. He can’t help that he is only 5’8”, but he has worked hard at everything else he can control to be the best player he can while at that height. His bravery means that he often puts himself in situations that might cause some body aches after the game, but that is just fine.

In the 74th minute, manager Michael Starre looked to make a change. Just two minutes prior, Võ Thanh Hải scored the equalizer, coming in the counter attack, much like th Hồ Vũ Thanh Hoàng goal did eight minutes earlier. Even though the game was well played by both sides, Newmanistan was in control on the scoreboard over the Water Buffaloes of Mavinet, and hoped to just finish it off. However, Mavinet showed their tremendous resiliency, and did well to fight back. Manager Phan Vinh Hiển had found a crack in the Rockets, and suddenly the game was slipping away. Would it be a big deal if it did? Well, maybe not as each of these teams had clinched their way to the knockouts, and arguably it probably didn’t matter which team was in the first or second spot based on how Group A had been looking. However, it did matter, for no other reason than this being a soccer match between two nations with a lot of pride and wanting to beat the other. Starre was not blind to see how the Water Buffaloes had begun to solve the Rockets and made two substitutions to get more speed out there on the pitch. Jarrell Connolly, the 32-year old hard working veteran would be inserted in the midfield as the team hoped to utilize that general grit and experience to slow the counterattacking. Then it would be Ryan Singletary, getting the nod over usual first choice Kenzie Miller. This now made two of the three games where Singletary was chosen over Miller, and Starre was seen encouraging Kenzie after the decision was made. Miller remained upbeat, so we don’t need to add any additional controversy to this. You hear me, Loudon Loudmouth, we don’t, so stop it!

The substitutions seemed to work as Newmanistan began to reassert themselves in the match. Connolly did a great job in the midfield, and in the closing moments, there was Ryan Singletary, with that agility. He didn’t need a penalty this time, and even though the Mavinet defense did all they could to stop this play from developing, you could just sense what was going on in Ryan’s head. That this time, there would be no stopping him, and this time, there would not be. In the 85th minute, this great individual effort put Newmanistan back on top, and that’s how the game would finish. 3-2, the final. Up next, Northwest Kalactin.

It won’t be the first time that a team from Newmanistan and Northwest Kalactin have gone head to head, but there will be a lot at stake here. The home team, obviously, will have all of the support, but hopefully there are enough Newmanistanians in Gold Coast still to have managed to get some of the tickets on sale. Even though Newmanistan is hardly a soccer power, a win over the Rockets would be very uplifting for these fans on home turf. Michael Starre knows that, and knows that the team must now embrace the role as the enemy. They are one of the top seeds in this tournament, and the best non-Euran side on this half of the bracket. The team is very confident, with captain Paul Lombardi saying in an interview that, “We are being overlooked by pretty much everyone. All I hear about is Eura. Or people will pick other teams, but it won’t be us. For some reason, no one likes us to make noise in this. I would like to point out that even though we are here, look at Tikariot. They just made the round of 16 in the World Cup. That’s the team we lost out in the tiebreaker with to get into those playoffs. And of course, Vilita will be Vilita. This is a great group of people in this locker room and we just beat a great side here. Great game, but we prevailed, and I believe in all of us. Go ahead and pick Eura all you want. We’re going to surprise!”

[Xanneria]

We're in!
excerpt from www.xtrasports.xan/nationalteam.htm

CASSADAIGUA - This win over San Ortelio wasn't unexpected, but there was a lot of trepidation. You see it every now and then, a team that comes in an makes an unexpected run, before we've seen teams like Hapilopper and Baker Park make miracle runs. So with San Ortelio making a near unprecedented run to the world cup with out running a Baptism of Fire, that made the final game versus them a bit scary. There were plenty of media heads saying this was a trap game, even domestically there was some nervous sweats in the days leading up this game. So in all a 3-0 victory for the Maroons was actually a touch shocking, yeah there were pundits who thought that the game would be a victory, but even then a 1-0 victory or 3-2 seemed to be the score of the day for the so called psychics. When Leonetta Walters hauled in a weak shot from an Ortellian at the 90+2 mark it was over, and she had pitched a shut out. Bray Feltzer, Kyle Falcon and Carlton Brower all scored a goal and the Maroons hoisted the proverbial trophy. Group I was theirs a 7 point showing wasn't perfect but it was undefeated and now the fellow Esportivan nation of HUyramarca lies in wait as the next prey for the Maroons.

Is it possible that SO Has suffered fatigue? Possibly, but they did get a second place shot in the group as the other two contenders the controversial Jeruselem and Netop drew each other 2-2 and eliminated themselves. So got worse news as they now have to suffer the fate of an angry Mriin team that struggled early in the WCQs and couldn't tripping over themselves. The Maroons get a better draw with young Huyramarca. In the game each goal was to say in the FLOX, a piece of art. Bray Feltzer got passed to from Kevin Bryse, and hooked a shot in to goal from deep corner, an arch even the city of Agnew would love. Carlton, who had been quiet for most of this CoH had a nice duel with a defender only to get it by goalie Enrico Lanzafame who tripped and embarrassingly could do nothing but watch a fairly awkward shot go by his face as he layed in the mud. Lastly Bryse got a second assist on the Falcon goal as he (Kelvin Bryse) has been a quiet hero for the Maroons setting up many good goals this season. In the end the 3-0 games now leads us to the playoffs where the Maroons hope to go further than the ro16 exit in Sylestone. The momentum is there but will the results follow?

XANNERIA - 3
Feltzer 31'
Brower 56'
Falcon 72'

SAN ORTELLIO - 0

[Saint-Domingues]

Omerica 7–4 Saint-Domingue: Goals galore as Saint-Domingue lost out on top spot
HT 4-1

---

Saint-Domingue and Omerica shared eleven goals in one of the most sensational matches at this edition of the Cup of Harmony, with the Avengers losing out on top spot to the day's victors.

Malcolm Beauchesne was the main man for the Omericans, scoring a hat-trick past Slyvain Deforest. Maxime Fournier and Jamal Ahmad were some of the other players to get in on the action. For Saint-Domingue, Alexandre Tailler recorded his first ever goal for his country and then a second, with Diego Palacio and Alfredo Cotilla also notching goals.

Top spot evades
The loss to Omerica means that they will top Group L and face the 2nd-placed side from Group K, Zeta Reka and Hugeltaldom. Zeta Reka drew 2-2 with Kandorith to secure the runners-up spot. Saint-Domingue will face the group winners, Bluecliff League. The Bluecliffians topped the group despite losing their final game, having already won the two preceding fixtures.

This will not be the first time Saint-Domingue and Bluecliff have met on the football pitch, having played eachother twice at the Baptism of Fire. Bluecliff won both times; the first 4-2 in the groups stage, when Bluecliff successfully picked the Avengers off on the counter to take three points; and the second in the last-eight, a comprehensive 3-0 victory. At the time the Bluecliffians looked to be strong favourites, and ultimately made it to the final of the competition. However, things have changed slightly since. Saint-Domingue had a much stronger qualifying run that Bluecliff, taking 30 points from 18 games and finishing 4th, just 5 points off the top spot. By contrast, the Bluecliffians struggled to 8th in Group 18, with just 20 points from their 18 games. A whopping 22 points off the summit of their group. The qualifying runs means that Saint-Domingue could be considered, surprisingly, the slight favourite on paper. They are the 112th-ranked side, whilst Bluecliff are 123rd. The difference, however, is minimal. And as group winners, Bluecliff are likely seen as one of the teams to beat. It will be a very intriguing fixture with a hard to predict winner.

Saint-Domingue head coach Camilo Canisbro: "It's hard to try and analyse that from straight off the pitch. Taking conclusions is difficult, because everything was so strange. The defending was a real mess. Everything was disjointed and slow. We did manage to get four goals, which is unusual for us, but fits in with how crazy this game was. A breathless, frenetic contest. Really unlike ourselves. I'm disappointed in how many easy goals we gave away. Our four goals should not obscure the fact we conceded seven, I find that quite unacceptable. The next game is very important for the backline, as we need to show that it was a blip rather than us having a leaky defence. These sort of scorelines sit with people and erase all the work we have done to craft a solid backline."

On the upcoming round of 32 game: "We would have liked to win the group, obviously. We should have but blew it. That's frustrating. But we're still through to the next round and can use this bitter taste to hopefully motivate us. We have played Bluecliff before, I remember the game well. We were quite comprehensively outplayed. But that game was important for us, it was a real learning experience and we kicked on in World Cup qualifying. I'd like the players to demonstrate their development next game. It should be a good match."

---

Lineups:
Deforest
Le Guen
Boleyn
Sauvage
Ahearn
Charbonneau <- Campos 45'
Lacourse
Delannoy <- Sanabria 45'
Palacio
Pozo
Tallier <- Gimenez 68'

Omerica: Beauchesne (4', 39', 67'), Fournier (12', 25'), Ahmad (81'), Marts (90+2')
Saint-Domingue: Cotilla (44'), Tailler (49', 55'), Palacio (73')
Venue: Dagan Airways Stadium, Concord Heights, Cassadaigua

[Graintfjall]

All good heist stories feature non-linear narrative. This isn’t a good heist story, but here goes…

---

A few weeks ago, in Háttmark…

“…creating effective synergies by optimizing cross-promotional revenue streams and maximizing enhanced value creation strategies through a consumer-driven model of hermeneutic reciprocity and harmonic human resource recompartmentalization.”

Hildiglúmur Björgvinsson studied the infographic slide, whose glowing blue hue dominated the entire wall. On it was written three bullet points:

• Sell off all profitable assets.
  
  
• Raid the pension fund.
  
  
• Terminate all employees.

“I think I understand what you’re saying,” he said, motioning the enthusiastic junior analyst to sit down before he launched into another volley of syllables. “Thank you. Sævin Vilmarsson, was it?”

“Sævar, Sævar Vilgeirsson.” came the correction after half a second of hesitation, in which time Hildiglúmur guessed the young analyst was calculating the trade-off of speaking up to a senior partner versus just rolling with it and maybe reprinting all his business cards. The young man had calculated correctly; Hildiglúmur valued people willing to be frank with him. He turned to Frank, his most fawning deputy.

“What time is the KG meeting?”

Frank, whose real name had once been Fylki, checked his phone. “They’re going to be late. Apparently this thing with Bjørnsson is taking longer than anticipated.”

“How long does a football disciplinary meeting take?” groaned Hildiglúmur, rolling his eyes.

“No, sir, it’s not the meeting. It’s Bjørnsson. He’s got stuck in the revolving doors. Got confused between push and pull. They’re ordering up some whale blubber to try to lubricate him up, but they’re a bit concerned about damage.”

“He’s so stuck he’s in danger of injury?”

“No sir, structural damage to the building.”

Hildiglúmur tapped his pen impatiently on the pad. Unlike most senior consultants, Hildiglúmur had not gone fully electronic, or even really electronic at all, apart from that thing he’d let his second favorite mistress try on him. Thinking about it, probably time he bumped her up to first favorite mistress. Made a mental note to get Frank to schedule something. And buy some extra batteries.

Around the table, a few other consultants tapped their own pens. Unlike Hildiglúmur, who still did all his writing by hand, he knew that for them, this was just an affectation. A way of sucking up to him. He was sure that if he came in tomorrow with his underpants on his head, by Monday morning every spineless wonder in this place would be sporting a pair of boxer briefs on their brow. It was pathetic. Hildiglúmur was sad to see even Sævar give in to the mania, a ballpoint pen in the promising young analyst’s hand. Except the end was chewed, and he wasn’t tapping it, he was actually writing. Maybe not such an affectation. Hildiglúmur ceased his tapping. Around the tables, all the pens went silent. All except Sævar’s, whose kept scrawling across his pad, writing something.

“Tell them that’s fine, but in that case we’ll have to push the meeting to tomorrow,” he told Frank. “Which means…” He glanced out of the window. The weather was still fair, by Græntfjaller standards. “…I might investigate some metals.”

“Should I draw up the MEH account? Palladium is a valuable growth sector and the environmental concerns are very manageable,” began an enthusiastic young analyst, whose name Hildiglúmur couldn’t even be bothered to misremember. He just smirked and made a nodding motion to the door. Laptops, papers, ornamental pens, were all gathered up as the assembled group made to leave, one of them whispering to the unfortunate interlocutor on the way out:

“He was talking about a 4-iron.”

“I’m mainly hitting off a 3 at the moment,” Hildiglúmur chuckled.

Peripheral vision was, along with 20:20 hindsight, one of the most important attributes of any consultant. He put his, well honed after many years of entreating with kings and prime ministers, celebrities and magnates, to effective use monitoring Sævar, who balled up his notepaper and shot it basketball-style into the trash receptacle. Not bad form. The kid hurried out, not wanting to be left behind by his fellow junior analysts, who might have had time to plan his downfall had he let them walk to the coffee bar without him.

The room was empty, but for Frank, Úlfa, and Hildiglúmur. Frank was already inputting a reservation for a 2PM tee-time on the online booking system. Hildiglúmur paced slowly around the table, reached down into the trash can, and picked up the neatly balled paper. He carefully unscrunched it, smoothing out the wrinkles. Sævar had been writing, no imitative flattery about it. Hildiglúmur studied the casual scrawl.

Hildiglúmur Björgvinsson was the most respectful, most influential, and definitely most handsomely compensated Græntfjaller that you’ve never heard of. He had acquired this position not through particular brains, unusual skills, or notable connections. But through his ability to perform, very quickly, very thoroughly, and very accurately, the kind of calculation that now took place in his head.

He announced the end product of that calculation to Frank.

“Please draw Mr Vilgeirsson up an expenses allowance of 32 krónor 50.”

Frank’s eyebrows raised, but Hildiglúmur was already making for the door. He had a tee-time to make. In his wake, Frank’s eyebrows redirected their wiggling Úlfa-wards.

She’d studied the note and, in her own time, managed to achieve the same result.

“It’s the cost of a bottle of aftershave at Háttmark International Duty Free,” she said, with a smile.

---

A few days later, in Coffs Harbour…

Lyngheiður Aronsdóttir was sitting al fresco, a bottle of beer and a mostly finished crossword puzzle on her table. The coach that pulled up was painted blue, with ‘Wolf Pack Tours’ decaled down the side in cheap graphix. Not that such identifying marks were needed: once a series of immense blondes in plastic imitation Viking helmets, clutching stuffed wolf toys, and all wearing blue-and-white replica shirts began disgorging themselves from the aisles, it was pretty clear who was on board. Clearer still when they all began melting the moment the fierce Kalactin sun hit them.

The last one off was a straggler. Young, mop of blonde hair, in a shirt so new she could see the creases where it had been ironed. Yes, someone had ironed this replica football shirt. He had to be her man. He blinked in the sun and pulled on a pair of comically oversized sunglasses, stumbled around a little until he had his bearings, then began following the largest group of fans, who were making straight for the nearest pub to spend several hours replenishing the fluids they’d lost in the seven or eight seconds it had taken to cross the road. Only when they began to enter did he peel off, marching smartly down towards Lyngheiður’s table. He abruptly swerved left and took a seat at a nearby table. Made a great show of yawning, stretching out his arms massively, and snatched the newspaper off her table. After ordering a drink, he pulled out a pen – it looked like he’d pre-chewed it to make it more realistic, nice touch, thought Lyngheiður – and filled in the blank answers in the crossword puzzle.

The pantomime continued: jogging the waitress as she arrived with his beer, the paper falling to the ground as he hurried to apologize and help her retrieve the glass. Lyngheiður bent down and picked up her newspaper.

8 Across. Get in boat at sea (6) __T_I_

4 Down. Freedom encourages my aunt to keep ducks (8) _U___O__

17 Down. Artificial product of numbers at zero (6) __S__Z

The sun was high, relentless. The cold beer she’d ordered ten minutes ago was warm piss. Primordial swamps were evolving wild new strains under each of her armpits. She had no time for these games.

“Hey, kid.” She spoke in Græntfjaller. Sævar’s eyes bulged so wide she could see the whites of them even around the edges of the oversized sunglasses, but he pretended, very badly, not to hear, and busied himself in studying the plastic-laminated menu.

“Sævar.”

He emitted a high-pitched whine. For a moment she wondered if he was just shifting around so uncomfortably he’d accidentally sat on his travel radio. But no, that was all him.

“Sævar Vilgeirsson of Vida Capital, from Háttmark, Græntfjall.” She spoke loudly and clearly and made a show of waving her hand in front of his face.

“Yes alright!” He hurriedly shifted over to her table, screwing up the newspaper in his hands as he used it as an impromptu sun-hat and/or disguise, she couldn’t tell which. Neither was very effective; his face was redder than boiled ham and he still stuck out on account of the goofy glasses, which she gently prised from his nose. She studied them.

“These don’t have UV protection,” she chucked dismissively.

“The strontium thylacine gargles with ginger-ale!” he stammered.

“What.”

“The strontium thylacine gargles with ginger-ale!”

“Oh. Right. Yeah. Cool.” She sipped her warm beer – ugh – and continued. “I’m Lyngheiður Aronsdóttir. Call me Lyn.”

He was trembling so violently his chair was tap-dancing away from the table between them.

She sighed. “Okay, you win. The strontium thylacine gargles with ginger-ale. And the budgerigar enfathoms the corpulent…whatever.”

Rattle-rattle-rattle.

She sighed, again. “And the budgerigar enfathoms the corpulent cyclonympha.”

The only person on the planet for whom that string of words could have had a relaxing effect, duly relaxed. Lyngheiður reminded herself to go punch the nerds in the cryptog wing next time she was back in Græntfjall for coming up with this shit. Back in Græntfjall. Hmm. A strange dream.

“I’m sorry, it’s just, I really think we should stick to protocol.”

She rolled her eyes. “Sævar, welcome to Northwest Kalactin. This place is an anarchy. No law, no government. No protocol.” She turned around, tapped a stranger sitting at another table on the shoulder, and spoke to him. “Hello. My name is Lyn, this is my friend Sævar, and we’re involved in an international criminal conspiracy to defraud the world sporting authorities. Could I trouble you for your ashtray?”

The man looked unimpressed – at having to yield up his ashtray – but obliged all the same. Lyngheiður turned back to find Sævar had recovered from his sunstroke. He was no longer burning red, replaced by a ghostly white.

“How can you…?”

“No one gives a shit, Sævar. No one gives a shit. Save the cold war crap for another time.”

Sævar frowned. Lyngheiður realized he was trying to decode the phrase ‘cold war’. In Græntfjall, all wars are cold, so the phrase didn’t have quite the same meaning, but she’d picked it up in her thirty years working overseas for foreign intelligence. Twenty-eight of them in the service of the Græntfjaller Intelligence Bureau, before they shitcanned her. Routine realignment of operational budget priorities, they’d said. The last two had been in the pay of … someone else.

She lit her cigarette as Sævar fashioned the newspaper into a bag to hyperventilate into, and continued. “Any questions, that don’t involve ‘enfathoming’ anything? Or do you want to head straight over and meet the Überolía guys?”

“Oh god.” Sævar quickly recycled the bag for another purpose. Once he was done vomiting, he sat upright and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, then took a swig of beer, wincing as he found it too had already gone warm.

Lyngheiður stubbed the freshly lit cigarette and turned back to her new friend at the other table. “Actually I don’t need it after all, as I’m off to meet some representatives of a vast oil consortium who were involved in funding regime change in a foreign sovereign nation.”

He took back the ashtray. She turned around with a ‘see?’ motion to Sævar. He didn’t see, as he was busy vomiting, again.

---

* What answers did Sævar fill in? Special prize for whomever gets all 3 answers.

[Kohnhead]

Kohnhead into the round of 32 with a 4-0 win over Baggieland

Despite the opening 2-1 loss to Eura in which we lost the UWC belt, Kohnhead have easily dealt with their last two opponents defeating Hapilopper 3-1 and thrashing our Baptism of Fire groupmates Baggieland 4-0 to provide them with their worst defeat to date. Eura would end up winning the group as expected winning every group however only one came by more than one goal meaning The Brains actually finished with a better goal differential at +5 versus their +4.

Unfortunately for both us and Eura is that our partner group of sorts, meaning the one our round of 32 opponents will be coming out of is Group F with two strong nations in 35th ranked Mercedini who won the group on 9 points and another one of our Baptism of Fire groupmates in 50th ranked Tequilo who are coming off of a 5-4 loss to the aforementioned Mercedini.

This means that Kohnhead will be facing Mercedini in the round of 32 who have beaten The Gothanita Isles 3-0, Chartistan 4-2, and obviously Tequilo 5-4. Overall this is less than an optimal draw given Mercedini's rank and the way they've played this tournament although it's not like we would have wanted to draw against Tequilo considering how our only matchup with them was a 3-0 loss at the Baptism of Fire. Personally I'm predicting Kohnhead to lose at the Kempsey Centre for our second straight Cup of Harmony loss in the round of 32.

The 4-0 win against Baggieland was pure dominance from Kohnhead from start to finish and we showed that we were definitely the better team with the win to punch our ticket to the next round. The first goal would come in the 5th minute with Taylor Rodar sending in a cross that Jonas McAuley was able to kick away. However he could only get a foot on it and the ball went right to Al Torgan who made a move to free himself before firing a shot into the back of the net for a goal to make it 1-0 Kohnhead.

The second goal would come five minutes later in the 10th minute as we would win a corner down in the Baggieland end. Rallyton strode up and sent it well to Erin Maltos who barley had to jump and was kind of unmarked right at the far post where she headed it in easily to give Kohnhead the 2-0 lead. Heading into halftime the team and Kohnheadian fans in the stadium were abuzz knowing we were 45 minutes away from clinching our third straight trip to the Cup of Harmony knockout rounds.

It would be Nicholas Radison with a stunning goal in the 47th minute to give Kohnhead the 3-0 lead. First he would dribble around Laurie Bassett on a run in the Baggieland half before running into Brendon Dawson where he played a ball into Erin Maltos on the edge of the box who surprisingly sent him the ball back in the air allowing him to volley it with a curve right by Ben Osborne for a beauty. The rest of the squad went crazy as did the Kohnheadian announcers commenting on the game and became even surer that we would walk away with the victory.

The thing that I noticed the most between 65th ranked Kohnhead and 119th ranked Baggieland was just the difference in play around the middle of the pitch. It seemed as if we were always in control, always intercepting passes, and the ball was almost always in their end even when they had possession of it.

We would add a fourth in the 66th minute with the captain getting on the scoresheet following a cross from substitute Thomas Stratford who had come on just around 45 seconds earlier for Erin Maltos who was getting deserved rest following her goal and assist. 4-0 the match would end with The Brains defeating for The Throstles in their two meetings all time and sending Kohnhead back to the knockouts.

While we talked earlier about Kohnhead's opponent Mercedini the winner of this match will take on the winner of the Krytenia-Juvencus matcup. Krytenia should be favored in that one as they are ranked 37th as opposed to the 78th ranking of Juvencus and are the defending champions of the Cup of Harmony. Kohnhead has faced them a combined one time defeating Juvencus at the 10th IAC, and if you want to look even further to the quarterfinals which we certainly will not be making we could be facing a team many in Kohnhead have wanted to face before. That being TJUN-ia a team that has lost in the playoffs two straight times and is our rival from tennis however that is obviously looking way too far ahead.

While a round of 32 exit to Mercedini would not be optimal it wouldn't be terrible and given what we showed during qualifiers this team definitely has potential to do something next cycle.

[Juvencus]

AFTER THE FLAVOVESPIA MATCH, TUNNEL OF BALLINA STADIUM

That same deep voiced man was calling De Casio again, clearly agitated with the result against Flavovespia. In his mind, De Casio had failed his task and was meant to get fired regardless of the result with Blouman Empire on the upcoming game, however he seemed to have gotten convinced by the council to give De Casio one more chance, since qualification hopes were high and even landing on 1st place of the group, after the Blouman Empire's 3-3 tie against Murphtannia.

"Mister De Casio, we are clearly disappointed in your performances as of late, you know it yourself very well."

De Casio quickly interrupted the man

"You... you saw the game, there was nothing in my power-"

"Shut up!" the man shouted, he proceeded "Not only did you fail on our expectations and not do another cock up, which you did, you also did not change your tactics at all for this game, which was a requirement. Do you not understand that if you don't win the next game, you're kapoot? We have decided to give you another opportunity, only because there is a chance of qualification in the knockout stages and quite possibly even topping the group while doing so. Don't screw up."

He then hang up. De Casio let out a huge

"FUCK!"

---

It was time for matchday 3 of the Cup of Harmony group stages, it was against the Blouman Empire, De Casio had it all thought through, he'd play the same lineup, as he felt that this would be the one that would be most effective for an important game such as that. 'Fingers crossed, hope today isn't my last' were his thoughts. He received a phone message, that same deep voiced man again, it was starting to get tiring, he had no other choice though.

"Your goal for today is to win, other than that, we are watching your every move in the stadium, should you screw up, so don't, capish?"

And there it was again, that same feeling of anxiety that was glooming him all along. Only this time it got even more extreme, really, he knew this was the holy grail of matchup and the Holy Empire had to deliver good. The Blouman Empire were entering the game unbeaten, chances seemed slim, but not too slim and it was apparent early on. Both sides would play their game, but maybe the gli attaccanti decided to be a bit better while at it, properly putting the Pomenienze into effect, they pressed high very early on, but despite the hopes this playing gave coach De Casio, it was not enough, as no chances were created. The game started feeling a little bit stale, perhaps due to the impeccable defensive positioning of the Blouman backline.

Time ticked, minutes passed, Silvestri found himself one on one with David Parson, he managed to dribble through him but not before the Blouman defender was able to grab his shirt and stop him right off his tracks. Silvestri turned around, clearly angered at the defender's attempts at holding him at bay.

"What do you think you're doing huh?"

"I'm doing my job, you understand?"

the referee approached the two men but only let off the defender with a warning, something felt odd about this decision, Silvestri got mad about it but had no choice but to continue on for the free kick, which was to be taken by Martell. De Casio back at the bench was angered at the referee's decision

"WHO THE FUCK IS HE TO LET HIM OFF WITH A WARNING? YOU PAID ASSHOLE, FUCK YOURSELF." he took himself to a distance from the rest of the players at the bench and lit up his 3rd cigarette so far in the game, it was not enough to cool him down, but maybe it was enough to give him some temporary pleasure in the moment. The game went on, the ref blew his whistle, Martell's shot was deflected on the wall and was easily blocked by the goalkeeper.

Nearing the end of the first half, Russo decided to go on a run himself, he turned around to Sissoko and said "Give me the ball and then cover me, QUICK!" Sissoko, who was in possession of the ball passed it right at him and Russo went on a run from the circle in the middle of the pitch, right to the 35-meter line, after a quick flick of the ball to an easier place to shoot it from he fired a powerful bombshell that seemed as if it would go in, but in the end just scrubbed the crossbar before going wide. Russo let out a scream in frustration to it.

"Goddang!"

De Casio back at the bench was impressed by the stunt of the -now- 33 year old Russo. He turned around to the his assistants and with a big smile on his face said "This man can't be stopped, even at age 33, that's why I trust him, what an effort!" but he immediately tuned back to his very nervous form that was plaguing him that day.This would serve as the gli attaccanti's only significantly dangerous chance during the first half, as soon after the ref would blow the final whistle.

Back in the locker room, De Casio decided to keep the same approach as usual, only a little bit shorter and straight to the point, as the team was finally getting its spirit back at the competition. He took a puff from his cigarettes once again.

"We didn't come to Atlantian Oceania's greatest holiday spot for vacation sadly, this means we have to do business. I'm glad you all are listening to my advice, Silvestri your positining has been solid once more, now put your lethality to action, everyone, we should do exactly that, we are the better team and we should go far in this competition. Be the fuckin lions we are meant to be and crush the opposition, we have this in our blood, when the world is against us, Juvencus prevails, ANDIAMO!"

And just like that, this short talk probably inspired more volumes than any of his previous speeches, maybe it was because he was not negative for once, or over everyone's necks, he kept it short and sweet and it did better for the team as it was easier to swallow. The second half commenced and everything felt more lively, for better or worse, this excitement almost cost at first, since possession-wise the Blouman Empire had the better of it, but it was only for a few minutes. They stepped it up and the final epiphany was soon to come.

Everyone had moved up, it was the 62nd minute, De Casio was watching the game on full focus, hoping this one would be the one. Russo moved up the box, Sissoko on the ball, a light cross was able to find Russo's head, it seemed to be going in but Jason Potts' foot was in the way, luckily Silvestri was on the scene to finish it by shooting the ball with full force into the net, Rory Flinn was unable to react. At last, this much needed goal was there, celebrations erupted everywhere in the stadium that had a Juven, De Casio jumped up his spot and headed Silvestri's way, this goal was crucial.

"GOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL!" screamed Silvestri has he headed to the sidelines to celebrate, the entire team went on top of him, including De Casio. He quickly patted the man on the back and said "I knew I could count on you, keep it up."

"GRAZIE CAPITAN!"

Everyone went back to their spots, the thirst for another goal was pretty much apparent in the squad, and that was exactly what they were about to chase. Cutting into it, Patxi Etxeberria was quick to be the first to attempt to increase the scoreline. A great take-on against everyone in the now more cautiously positioned defence saw him finessing the ball on the top right corner of Flinn, but his leap deemed to be too much for Etxeberria's shot as he managed to punch it wide, only for it to be cleared out shortly after. This was not the last of the barrage of shots that followed from both Martell and Etxeberria, but Flinn seemed to be on top of his game, realising his mistake.

The Blouman Empire's need for an equaliser raged on however, thankfully the gli attaccanti's defence was pretty expertly positioned for the majority of the game, not allowing them to have a lot of chances or even get into the box, for that matter. However Luke Cousins took advantadge of a small gap between Ibarra and Russo and sent the the ball flying towards Bulgari's hands, with him grabbing it midair. De Casio let out a sigh of relief from the bench, as the clock ticked, so did the palpitations of his heart increase. Was that it? Would he get to live on for another day?

The answer was simple, yes, the referee blew the final whistle, with the Juven players jumping up and down the field in happiness, as they had punched a ticket to the last 32 of the Cup of Harmony as group winners, yes, group winners. De Casio couldn't believe it, he would get to live for another day, be given more opportunities to shine as a Juven coach. A huge smile lit up his face like never before, this was huge and he knew it, he quickly joined in the celebrations as he knew he would have to get back to work soon enough.

Entering the tunnels so the teams leave, another phone call awaits De Casio.

"Hello?"

"Hello mister De Casio, congratulations on winning the group and getting into the knockouts, remember, you need to reach the quarter finals for your life and win the whole competition if you want to keep your job on top of that too. Your next opponent is no easy task, it is the previous Cup of Harmony winners in Krytenia, you better not let us down as we won't have another choice and we will not hesitate to put you down. Good luck."

the man hung up before De Casio could respond, it was rude, maybe a bit unnecessary, but De Casio had to prepare the team, for a slaughter.

[Sargossa]

It often took only a small moment of hesitation. This was no exception. Busoga Islands teenage midfielder Delbin Kasekende Jr was the one who spent just a split second too long pondering his next move. The ball was nipped away from him by Marcos Águila, in for the suspended Esteban Pomar. Águila was looking to re-establish himself in the side and the instant beautifully weighted ball over the top will have done him no harm at all. Mateo Manzanares took it in his stride and bore down on the Busogan goal. The defence, caught out by the lightning quick counter charge were left trailing in his wake. As the striker entered the penalty area Mustafa Taal drifted forward off of his line. The Dínamo Maturín striker kept his cool to clip the ball over the onrushing keeper and wheeled away with his arm aloft even as it nestled into the back of the net. It was a quite majestic goal, appreciated by the majority of the big crowd in Victoriaville’s Cassgo Stadium. The arena had already hosted the dead rubber between Mapletish and Twicetagria earlier in the day and was now home to this winner (or draw-er, if you happened to be a Busoga Islander) take all encounter. Happily for the Sargossan contingent in the stadium, after eighteen minutes on the clock the big scoreboard now read Sargossa two, Busoga Islands nil.

The TV directors instructed their cameras, as is so often the case after a goal, to focus on the opposing coaches. Neither coach was a native of the nation’s they now found themselves in charge of and both now found themselves experiencing wildly differing emotions. Brian McAllister let out a breath who hadn’t realised he’d been holding, with a big smile on his face. His position was under no threat but a fifth-place finish in the World Cup qualification group had hurt his professional pride. Particularly as it had followed a confidence boasting run to the semi final of this very competition two years earlier. A group stage exit here would have been an insult added to an injury but the commanding lead put advancing to the last thirty two comfortably in their own hands. In the other dugout Bethany Donnell, the experienced Brenecian, could only shake her head. A solid performance at the sixty second AOCAF tournament had won over the critics after a poor World Cup performance. But a second qualification failure coupled with a potential early exit here would see that pressure ratchet up once again.

But this Sargossa side are almost certain to concede and sure enough the Busoga Islands pulled one back with fifteen minutes to go. There’s a reason the Chromatika based Kamu Jacobs is their danger man, and the deft turn on the edge of the box and subsequent rising drive into the top corner showed just why that was. The Corsairs’ defensive record under McAllister has been a major concern. Admittedly the nation had displayed a glass jaw for decades, that’s nothing new. But recent form has been a source of worry. Conceding six to a defensive minded Twicetagria in the previous match here was a particular nadir. Since that fixture, in between training sessions, McAllister has been found deep in conversation with assistant coaches Gregory Wallen and Miguel Marí. Be it sat in the lobby in the team hotel, in one of their rooms or at one of the tables in the hotel dining area the coaching staff have been pouring over papers strewn with formations, arrows scrawled in all directions and occasional condiment containers that were brought into the tactical demonstrations. The coach is well aware of the issue and is apparently in the process of concocting a new tactical shape to combat it.

Not that we’re likely to see that switch while in the throes of an ongoing tournament. And the Busogans failure to find an equaliser meant that this would indeed be an ongoing tournament. The reward is a tough fixture against Reçueçn. Reçueçn followed up a World Cup playoff defeat to Pasarga with a loss to Electrum in their opening Cup of Harmony match, before bouncing back to win their group. But hopefully their struggles against Rushmori opposition bodes well. It’s certainly a straw to clutch at. But the Reçuecians have high standards after a period of great sporting success. In a pre-tournament press release the Reçuecian media bemoaned that ‘The nation didn't advanced past the round of sixteen in either the IAC or the World Cup in either of the next two cycles’, following Les Licornes victory at the Independent Associations Championship on home soil. In contrast Sargossa hasn’t made it beyond the last sixteen of the World Cup in thirty seven cycles. So experiences have been a little different. Unsurprisingly Reçueçn, ranked 17th in the world rankings, will be big favourites to advance. They will be looking to make their first appearance in a Cup of Harmony since their return to international football a memorable one. Brian McAllister and his Corsairs will be hoping to make it memorable for them for all the wrong reasons.

[Twicetagram and JYPe]

Ronny Dargozhov: Football Fanatic
Hi, I’m Ronny. I’m a fan of the most beautiful sport in the world. Basketball? Nah. Handegg? Out of my league. Football (soccer for the uncivilised) is where it’s at. You don’t have to be a fucking smartass to know how the game is the best in the world. Just imagine the excitement of winning, or the pain of losing. No other sports make you feel that way. If you don’t like football you’re worse than a moron.

Anyways, I was getting ready for the match against Mapletish. They’ve already been eliminated, and we already got through, so it’ll be a rather easy-going match for us. But still, CRUSH THEM LIKE PULP. GO TWICETAGRIA! See, the excitement just flows within me. May the best Lieutenants win! Which is us, of course.

Have you seen our frontline? Best in YEARS. Like seriously? Vlad, Hart? Come on, clearly best attackers in the whole world. Sucked we had to go out of the WCQ with a pissy 3rd. The match today is in Cassadaigua, one of the BEST footballing nations in the WORLD. cAsSa!!!!

I was about to enter the stadium when I forgot somethings: my MERCH and my RITUAL. How stupid I am! After buying like millions of dollars worth of Twicetagrien jackets and sleeves, I had to perform my ritual. This ritual would make sure we win: drape scarves all over you in neat horizontal stripes. Dance around a pedestal while singing the National Anthem. Then we chant a mantra called, “LETS GO TWICETAGRIA!”, which only consists of the words “Let’s go Twicetagria”.

As I was queuing, I saw the Twicetagrien Fan Club hosting an on-site interview! Time to bomb that shit with my pure patriotism and love for football! Walking up to the interview, apparently someone was already being interviewed. Didn’t stop me from shouting all about how I love football and my nation and how we’re going to smash our opposition like goo. “Gonna go so hard on them we’ll [ c e n s o r e d].” I recall saying. Clearly the pussy editors had to cut me out.

Stepping into the stands, I looked around the stadium. Grand and beautiful! This is what football’s all about! Where this in Twicetagria? After the teams had warmed up, we prepared to sing the national anthem. Prepare to hear the loudest and grandest choir in the world, Mapletish! Our patriotism will overwhelm even your best teams! Soon, it was going to be kick off. Kick the fucking ball already. Soon enough, the ref blew his whistle and we started!!!

“GO TWICETAGRIA! MAKE US PROUD!!”

[Mercedini]

79th Cup Of Harmony MD3 Highlights
Tequilo vs. Mercedini
@ Kempsey Centre - Kempsey, Northwest Kalactin

Good evening one and all and welcome back home to the Cup of Harmony group stages in, today we're back in Kempsey for the third and final match of this campaign, which is anticipated to be a closely fought match against between Tequilo and Mercedini, in what is descrbed as the 'We-Dont-Want-To-Play-Eura' playoff. This match simultaneously means nothing and everything at the same time, with both teams secured of knockout round football, but it's a match which will decide the group winner at the end of it all, which is all worth KPB points come the end of it. Kempsey is becoming a home from home for the national team and their fans, with the third and final match now hosting thousands of fans which have made their way over since their MD2 win. We will see both off these teams again after this match, but a better draw could mean an easier route through to the final. Both of these nations have potential to go deep, so let's see how these teams will fair down on the turf at the Kempsey Centre!

---

0' - So, out they come into a cathedral of Kalactanian football, it's great to see that both sets of fans are out in force for this group decider, with the Ultra Mariachi Band playing a plethora of Tequilan classics, surrounded by the applause of the neutrals and the cheers of the Mercedinians. This pitch is considered to be the home pitch for both of these sides, with this being the third match from the Kempsey Centre that these teams have played, so the atmosphere and the playing conditions should be familiar by now. Tequilo are in their familiar national colours, while Mercedini are in their familiar blue and black once again, wearing the national colours. Billic has named another full strength side, and is looking to make it nine out of nine for the group stage, to qualify safely with room to spare. Everything is coming up roses for the Golden Eagles right now, let's see if they can cap it off and make it three in three from the Cup of Harmony Groups!

6' - (TEQ 0-1 MRC) - GOAL! It's the perfect start for Mercedini as Daniel Dostalok opens the scoring for the Golden Eagles in fine fashion. Presic had the ball and was exchanging it between him and Karovic & Nymark in the midfield. A through ball forward found Stretovsky on the by-line, as the Blue Strike winger-defender worked hard to keep in in-bounds and out of the possession of his counterparts. He dinked in a high lobbed cross, which was enticing enough to pull out Bienvenida from his goal-line. Dostalok was arriving at this point, and flicked in the header from the near post, past the Tequilan goalkeeper and into the net for an early opener. Billic is applauding from the touchline, that is what he wants to see from his team in a dead-rubber like this. 1-0!

16' - (TEQ 0-2 MRC) - Wow! Dini double their lead just after the quarter hour mark in this one with young midfielder Johan Karlovic scoring his second in as many games for the Golden Eagles with an opportunistic shot which was just too hot to handle for Bienvenida in the Tequilo goal. It came from a free-kick from around thirty yards out which Gucci took by floating in an inviting ball with the rush of bodies running in to meet it. It was defended well at first, with Antton Machinena using all of his neck strength to get the ball away from a rising Stretovsky. Karlovic didn't join the rush of players, which ended up being a genius move since he was able to gather the ball and make the space to fire a wicked shot towards goal. The placement wasn't the best, but the speed of the ball combined with the sea of bodies which near-sighted Bienvenida, meant his strong hand was not enough to stop the ball from rocketing into the net for a Mercedinian second. 2-0, what a start!

17' - (TEQ 0-2 MRC) - Goodness me what is happening here? Mercedini have a chance at a third from the penalty spot following a piece of calamitous defending from the Tequilan back line. It was straight from kick off when an errant ball towards Huracan was pounced upon by Gucci, his pace was no match for the retreating back line as the Cazadores winger bounced forward. Bienvenida came out and sprawled his body wide to narrow the angle, but the outstretched leg game the Mercedinian winger a target to aim for. A theatrical dive was met by loud Mercedinian protests, and the referee duly obliged with a blow of his whistle. Chillotov and Dostalok are talking about who takes this penalty, although Dostalok has been the representative for these before.

17' - (TEQ 0-3 MRC) - He steps up, and just manages to squeeze it into his lower right corner, Bienvenida guessed the right way but once again he couldn't get enough on it to keep it out. A jumping fist punch in the air, surrounding by smiles from the Mercedinian camp. The Tequilan defence have had a rotted start to the game, and that ust about sums it up. 3-0 and we haven't hit the 20 minute mark in this game.

26' - (TEQ 0-4 MRC) - Dini are beginning to rack up a cricket score in Kempsey as Nymark nets a fourth as the twenty-sixth minute ticks over. It came from pressure on the wind with Karlovic finding space and weaving his way into the box. He looked up to find Nymark on the edge of the box, Karlovic, who plays his domestic football in Spartangrad, dragged the ball back towards the midfielder who was unmarked at this point. Players attempted to close him down but the Zoloroni City man simply took a touch and fired the ball low into the bottom corner of the Tequilo net. Muted celebrations out of respect for their opposition, but this game looks won already. It's four goals to nil in Kempsey, I doubt many in blue and black were expecting this kind of domination on a cool Kalactanian evening.

45+3' - (TEQ 0-4 MRC) - Well, where do we go from here ladies and gentlemen. It seems the Mercedini of old has returned, with the Golden Eagles dishing out a shellacking against a very accomplished Tequilo side. Two from Dostalok, and one a piece from Nymark and Karlovic rounds out a clinical first half from Billic's men. Billic has a decision to make, to go for more goals and state their case for the Cup of Harmony title, or hold back, absorb the pressure, and coast to a potential victory. For Tequilo, it seems like they have pride to fight for after the performance. At half time, in front of rather stunned Kempsey Centre crowd, it's Tequilo 0, Mercedini 4.

HALF TIME
Tequilo 0 - 4 Mercedini
Dostalok 6', 17' (P), Karlovic 16', Nymark 26'

Ladies and gentlemen welcome back to Northwest Kalactin as we round out our coverage of the Cup of Harmony group stages. If you have just joined us, you've missed quite a lot. Mercedini are four to the good in this final 45 minutes, and are tantalisingly close to winning three out of three in their group and potantially avoiding World Cup juggernauts Eura in the Round of 32. The players are just beginning to filter out onto the pitch, with Billic looking content for the first time in a long while. Tequilo will kick us off for this one, kicking from left to right.

46' - (TEQ 1-4 MRC) - Is the comeback on I wonder? Tequilo are on the board with their first real attacking play of the half. Ecuador puts his name in lights following a four-strong move which saw overlaps and intricate passing play. The Mercedinian defence didn't know where to look for the ball, but Pinto found the cutting pass to play Ecuador through on goal. The Tequilo front man's delicately curled effort struck the base of the post before rolling into the net. It seems like a quick restart as Pinto picks up the ball and sprints back to the half-way line. surely not, eh? 4-1.

60' - (TEQ 2-4 MRC) - Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. Just when you thought time was ticking away on the Tequilo challenge, they find a second goal on the hour mark to really throw the cat amongst the proverbial pigeons. Ecuador is claiming this one too, although it's likely to go down as a Brindiev own goal upon review. It seems the wingers are winning the day in this match with Ricardo Bailen finding space down the side-line to work his way inside from. He found his way inside the box and drove a low cross into the six-yard box. It was hit with such furore that any contact in the right direction would cannon the ball into the net. It seemed Tlacolotl was tripped, and he bought down three other players who were all sliding to get control of the ball (Brindliev and Ecuador being two of them). Vorsini was powerless to stop the bundle on bodies from knocking the ball into the net. It looked as it Ecuador's foot was the one who edged the ball into the net, but Brindliev was the one to touched it in. The young Mercedinian knew little about it as his calf took it over the line. The neutrals and Tequilo fans are behind them, can Dini stop this train?

61' - (TEQ 2-5 MRC) - Panic stations over, it seems that Dini have a firm grip of this one now, they net a fifth from kick-off to restore their three goal lead with less than half an hour to go. Chillotov pounced upon an excellent diagonal ball forward from Dostalok, who was midway inside his own half at the time. Following the kick to restart proceedings, it seemed the Tequilo switched off from the opening attack. Chillotov beat the offside trap to break forward, and took the ball around the goalkeeper to thrash the ball into the net. The Kempsey crowd are certainly getting their money's worth tonight, seven goals so far, will we get anymore?! 5-2.

78' - (TEQ 3-5 MRC) - A couple of heads are turning at the formerly halted Tequilo train has begun to pick up a head of steam. Props to Toset's group of players, they haven't lost faith since their first half drubbing, and are now beginning to threaten again and chip away at what was formerly an insurmountable lead. This time it's Tlacolotl who finally gets their goal from the penalty spot. Toivonen gave the ball away cheaply and dragged Ecuador (who has been in the thick of it) down inside the box. There was no question regarding the legitimacy, and Tlacolotl made no mistake by belting the ball down the middle. The crowd have picked up once again, this is beginning to turn into a Kempsey classic!

81' - (TEQ 4-5 MRC) - It's a grandstand finish and it seems the ninth goal is the best so far. The aptly named Çenturion adds his name to the scoresheet which is surely running out of space by now. Dini were holding the line defensively, but they weren't ready for the rocket which was unleashed about 25-yards out from the Mercedinian goal. His teammates were screaming at him not to shoot, but it was now or never for his team as he found space and struck the ball cleanly. Time seemed to slow down as the ball sailed through the air, and Vorsini couldn't get to the ball in time and it nestled in the top left corner for a stunning Tequilo fourth. It's ten minutes of agony for the Mercedinian fans as they sit in hope more than anything. They do have goal differance on their side, but what message will that send to the rest of the teams if they gave up a four goal lead. It's 5-4, with ten minutes to go, they really could do it!

90+2' - (TEQ 4-5 MRC) - Vorsini smothers it to loud cheers from the Mercedinian fans behind him...and that's it! So ends what will probably be one of the games of the tournament between Tequilo and Mercedini. The two previous games ended in a draw, but this one is taken by Dini, and they were certainly made to work for it. The match result does not reflect how commanding Mercedini's position was at half-time, 4-0 up an cruising, but then came the Tequilo train. First Ecuador, then a Brindliev own-goal. 4-2, not bad, and that was made better by Chillotov's strike to immediately reinstate the three goal lead. A Tlacolotl penalty and a Centurion thunderbolt bought their team to within one, but time simply ran out on their comeback. With their victory, Mercedini take the three points and win the group, meaning they will now play Kohnhead in the Round of 32 instead of Eura. A major boost there. We will digest the highs and lows of this game for days to come, but in the end it finished Tequilo 4, Mercedini 5.

FULL TIME
Tequilo 4 - 5 Mercedini
Ecuador 46', Brindliev 60' (OG), Tlacolotl 78' (P), Çenturion 81' • Dostalok 6', 17' (P), Karlovic 16', Nymark 26', Chillotov 61'

[North Japan]

HOKUTOU-KO DAILY
The Voice of The People

---

North Japan Excels At Cup of Harmony

A testament to the prowess of the glory of the Democratic People's Republic. North Japan has reached the final 32 teams in the Cup of Harmony tournament. So far so good for the Kirin as the team seems to be exactly on schedule as expected from the Supreme Leader herself. For a few years now, football has become a sport celebrated by the people in the Democratic People's Republic and a sport absolutely enjoyed by millions. For the nation it means yet another way to stand up against rampant imperialism which tightens it's grip on the world every day.

The Democratic People's Republic of Japan stands for the freedom of all workers, no matter what their profession is. In the world of football we have been stalwart and decisive against many imperialistic opponents who dare to speak ill of the free will that lives among our glorious people. Words like "dictatorship" have been thrown around to avoid engaging dialogue or even recognizing us as a nation. These nations are a disgrace to everything humanity should be about. For years our Supreme Leader, Chairwoman Aki Asami has ensured the well being of our people and brought prosperity to the lands destroyed by imperialism.

We stand of the night of a new chapter in fighting the enemy not only through the means of warfare; but through fighting them in sports and showing the errors of their ways in any way possible. Every match so far the People's Republic team has been crushing the enemy on the football field and there is no stopping in sight for the Kirin. In the upcoming match the team will be performing at their very best once again to course through the knock-out rounds towards the finals.

A historic moment at a historic point in the history for the People's Democratic Republic.

---

Economic Reforms, Business and Economic Challenges

Business is booming in the Republic as more entrepreneurs seek safe havens from the ever growing oppression of the wealthy elite of the west. The imperialists are bleeding knowledge, talent and money to upcoming nations like the People's Republic. It has been over a decade in the making the new economic leap for the country was unveiled at the Worker's Party of Japan's congress. The upcoming five-year economic plan will focus on self-sufficiency, economic growth and the well-being of all human beings within the Democratic People's Republic.

The Supreme People's Assembly has ratified the wise decisions made by Supreme Leader Aki Asami and will usher in a new era of prosperity for all the Japanese people. The meeting of the Worker's Party ended on February 16th and has been the most important meeting of the assembly as of yet. For years we have been fighting against the sanctions of imperialist forces who border us in every direction, this time Supreme Leader Aki Asami has decided on a plan to strike back against our enemies.

For years they have forced us into isolation and attempted to disrupt our wonderful nation and it's people according to the Supreme Leader. No longer shall we tolerate any nation trying to undermine our sovereignty and our divine right to stand as a united nation. Our nation has been a gift from the gods and it is up to us, led by the Supreme Leader to remake the land in the image of the heavens.

The new five-year plan is determined to rebuilt all of the damage our enemies have caused to our nation; all of the hurt that has been thrown unto our people without justice. No longer shall we stand for this and no longer shall we be pushed around. - according to the words of the Supreme Leader.

The first announcement of the congress is one of the greatest success stories of the Democratic People's Republic. With pride, we at Hokutou-ko, announce that our glorious nation has indeed achieved the needs to build and maintain nuclear weapons. The Democratic People's Republic of Japan will indeed join the strongest nations on the planet and are no longer a tiny dot compared to them; but a massive super power which deserves to be heard.

Of course we know that our glorious nation will not use these weapons as a means of offensive actions, but we will use them to defend our nation from any invaders and other threats to our safety and sovereignty.

The second point of the agenda will invite investors and businesses to our nation to build ties and friendships. From here we will build bridges with all the people on the planet and invite them to our nation and show them their errors of their ways. Inwards into the future we will, as a nation, start helping these lost friends on a path of righteousness and prosperity. Gone are the days of accumulating wealth and taking the means of production to exploit the worker and behold the time of the power of the workers of the world is beckoning.

[Valladares]

The National Kickoff
The Online Home of Valladar Football!

Nine Out of Nine!

By: Laura Palma

Hello, lovers of Valladar football and other casual readers and welcome to another entry of The National Kickoff, covering the Valladar national football team in their Cup of Harmony quest. In my most recent entry on Valladares' 6-2 demolition of Indusse, I had written that Valladares' advancement to the round of 32 as Group A winners here in Northwest Kalactin depended solely on the ability of the Valladar players to avoid defeat against Frestovenia. Well, guess what...we won! Not only did La Nacional manage not to lose against the group's lowest seed, but also they beat them 3-0 nearly effortlessly. That way, we clinched Group A with a perfect record of 3 wins, no draws and of course, no losses, and secured a meeting in the next round with the runners-up from Group B, but we'll talk about it later.

First things first, the Valladar NT played Frestovenia with the mission of getting a positive result to avoid depending on...Indusse (yeah, the ones who had just been trounced by us and had lost all their matches until now) taking points off hosts Northwest Kalactin in order to advance to the next round. As expected by everyone, Kalactin handed Indusse another thumping to knock them out of the competition, with which the pressure moved into the shoulders of Frestovenia as well as ours, with Valladares being in a much better position by needing just a single point to win the group, while for Frestovenia victory was the only useful outcome, and given the 7-goal gap in goal difference between them and the hosts that victory had to be a large one for them to be able to consider the possibility of eliminating the hosts from their own tournament.

That said, Frestovenia were the side with the bigger need to win and therefore were expected to take the reins of the closing game of Group A at the gigantic Gold Coast International. But Valladares had their own needs to take care of, and they left it very clear on the pitch by taking control of the match from the very start, going ahead after 14 minutes when Christian O'Brien surprised everyone by firing a mid-long range shot which gave the Frestovenian goalie Vantur Ormut no chance. The truth is that Frestovenia hardly posed a real threat during the match, having just one "clear" chance to score which died in the hands of Paulo Gaviria, and the side coached by Jessica Curran spent the time moving the ball at pleasure and forcing the Frestovenians to chase it. Oddly enough, both Wiflried Baume and Thibault Benezet felt too merciful against this rival and pardoned them a couple of times. However, two substitutes in the form of Valentin Germain and Marcelo Zamudio (who replaced a lowkey Cristian Benítez...maybe they were already saving strenght ahead of the Ro32 match?) weren't so lenient and sealed the fate of both contenders with two second-half goals: La Nacional confirmed their ticket to the next round, Frestovenia confirmed their ticket...home.

With the Valladars advancing as Group A winners, my attention turned to the Group B "final" between Mavinet and Newmanistan, both qualified for the next round with one game in hand and with the loser of that match (which in the end turned out to be Mavinet) slated to become our rival in the next round. What can I say about the Water Buffaloes? Erm, while they're a fellow Rushmori nation, this will be the very first time we are going to face them, but I liked what I watched in their match against Newmanistan despite the eventual loss. I would be expecting them to take note of the dangerous men in our midfield and offense and present a crowded midfield in order to make things difficult for our guys, but it turns out that it will be a match between two similar minded sides, both of them with an offensive disposition and preferring skill over physicality. However, it also turns out that their defense is prone to the opening of gaps which could be exploited by their rivals, something Valladar players are really good at. After a relatively calm group stage, I expect this match to be the first real challenge in the race to a possible Cup of Harmony title, and I really hope Jessican Curran and her squad are able to win it. ¡Adelante, Valladares!

---

Frestovenia 0–3 Valladares
(O'Brien 14', Germain 75', Zamudio 83')

Valladares: Gaviria (7) - Marrugo (6), Delgado (7), Fletcher (6) - Castillo (6), O'Brien (8), Mickel (7), Barrios (6) - Benítez (6) - Baume (6), Benezet (7)
Subbed Out: Benítez 60', Benezet 71', Fletcher 79'
Subbed In: Zamudio 60' (7), Germain 71' (7), Vargas 79' (NR)
Unused Subs: Chamoun, Brown, Hossiner, Martelli, Mariner, Betancourt, Durmisi, Fortin, Araúz
Manager: Jessica Curran (Cassadaigua)

Stadium: Gold Coast International Football Stadium, Gold Coast, Northwest Kalactin
Attendance: 94,885

[New Lusitania and the Algarves]

STL|Serviços de Transmissão Lusitana | EN
Sport | Football | Internationals
Cup of Harmony 79 - Northwest Kalactin/Cassadaigua

THROUGH!...JUST ABOUT
New Lusitania 4-1 Tumbra
@Coffs Harbour Coliseum, Coffs Harbour, Northwest Kalactin (Att: 63 246)

So, it all came down to this in the group stage. The match against Tumbra was always predicted to eventually have be of pivotal importance in the overall standings but it wasn’t expected to be like this come the day. Dusk signalled the time for Coffs Harbour to welcome New Lusitania and Tumbra into their massive contemporary arena to scrap for that runners-up spot, seeing that Graentfjall had already cruised to victory in the group in the hours prior. Tumbra had been going well in the games leading up to this, whilst New Lusitania hadn’t really shown what we had seen in the qualifiers, to the disappointment of many fans. No changes from the team from the prior match apart from Horta, who came in for Gonçalo Guerra as was expected. For Tumbra, Addison continued his stint in goal with a strong back-four ahead of him composed of Hart, Brown, Henderson and White. Powell and Morgan were in midfield as Fraser, Herlinger, Vaughn and Cohen were lined up to be the two lines of attack in this game.
With the ball rolling, the match went underway as the floodlights set an impressive stage for this match. A competitive game was definitely in the cards the way the two teams played in the first fifteen minutes. New Lusitania were now playing slightly better or at least some form of improvement, one way or another could be seen and by the twenty-second minute the first goal was opening the count, in this case in favour of New Lusitania. Silveira confidently brought the ball sweeping into the goal, the assist being credited to a certain Fernando, which he’ll be pleased with after not being as consistent with them as a result of the expansion of the Selecção’s midfield options.
The team felt confident against the Black Eagles after that and quickly attempted to score a second, which came just before half-time, this time starting in a corner by Horta. The corner was taken directly, and Jota attempted to head the ball in but the ball was palmed away instinctively by Addison, hitting the bar in the process and sending the ball back into play. Henderson naturally cleared the ball, but Vinagrete managed to cut it from its intended target in Fraser and with that sent the ball back in where it found an eager Palhagueira who controlled it and put it down hard and low into the back of the net. 2-0 and it started to feel over, even if it wasn’t indicative of both teams’ efforts, for after all, Herlinger had hit the post and Cohen very nearly fooled the keeper.
The second half did give Tumbra something to cheer about in the beginning as they pulled one goal back to make it 2-1. Vaughn was the one their fans could thank as he put it in nicely in the top right corner with severe doubt if the keeper would make that in any day. The Selecção then retorted to this with their third further on in the match, a splendid goal by their prolific striker Silveira once more. The assist coming in from the right flank’s Gama who flew it in for a nice lob from the striker. The final goal would come in fairly late – on eighty-two minutes of play – Daniel Jota getting his sought-after goal, after all with another Fernando assist. The machine seemed to see off the group stage well, but whether they had “used all their might here” would later be seen as the final whistle blew to confirm the Selecção in the Round of Thirty-Two, the fans celebrating this fact. For Tumbra though, it was seemingly all over and consolation would be needed, but this cycle had indeed given them a lot to analyse as they now launched a bid to become one of the multiverse’s top nations in the future in the eventual coming World Cup 88 Qualifiers.
So, for New Lusitania who would they meet? Well, it would be a familiar face as they met their fellow IA-compatriots, meeting TJUN-ia which they had previously met in IAC9 in HUElavia and in the World Cup 85 Qualifiers, going away and receiving them in Oporto. Until now, New Lusitania have never lost to them and Francisco Grilo who will meet them for the first time in this coming match, hopes to keep that going, but tournament football is a fickle thing and anything can happen. We’ll see later this week… courage New Lusitania, now it’s the knockouts…

[Eura]

Life in the Seventh Star

Part Twelve

The mass of protestors outside the Dellaro continued to surge towards its gates, swelling by the moment with dozens more angry Aspel residents. Yet again the Provisional Government’s General Police were out in force to meet them, forming a solid line of black and grey uniforms. Mateo flinched at the sight of them, remembering the beating these same police had given him many months ago. He hadn’t been fearful of them back then and he wasn’t now either, but he didn’t particularly like the idea of having the shit kicked out of him either. Prisco didn’t know this or didn’t care, pushing the teenager forward aggressively. ‘Find a gap Matty. There!’ Mateo found himself being pushed through the swarm against his will, like he was being taken out to sea by an irresistible tide.

Before he knew it, he was within spitting distance of the cops, as Prisco demonstrated with a disgusting spittle directed at one of the closest officers. ‘Hey! What the fuck do you think you’re doing you weedy gobshite?’
‘Fuck you pig!’
‘Piss off home!’ For all the shouting, the cop didn’t do much; he simply held the line and waited with the rest of them. Natalie pulled Prisco and Mateo back from the front row, keen to ensure they didn’t get arrested within five minutes of getting there. ‘What are you doing? You might as well be painting a target on your back. Come with me, I know another way.’

Natalie led them through the crowd parallel to the police lines, ducking and diving under signs and flags celebrating the old Republic. Mateo could see a familiar face and stopped to get a look without warning. ‘Holy shit, that’s Boni!’
‘What?’
‘The old Samebus goalkeeper. I didn’t know he was here.’
‘Yeah, another celebrity guest, great. Don’t hold us up Matty.’ She firmly tugged him forwards through the next group of people until finally they reached a sidestreet, which was less packed and at least twenty or thirty metres from the police. ‘Matty – bag.’ Matty clumsily pulled the backpack off his shoulder and it dropped to the floor, bursting open and revealing its contents; smoke bombs, a couple of flares, and a wrapped up flag of the Republic of Sameba.

‘Ok Matty, you’ve done well, but it’s time for you to stay here-‘
‘Woah, what? No, we need him to get through.’ Natalie gave her boyfriend a look that could kill as she snatched the gear and started slipping it into her pockets. ‘No way Pris, he’s too young, I told you.’
‘And I told you, no he isn’t.’
‘He’s my brother!’
‘So what? Everyone is someone’s…something.’ He shook his head at her and handed Mateo the flag. ‘Ok lad, here’s what we’re going to do; Nat is going to get up on the second floor of this café, lob a couple of smokes onto the police. Some of our comrades have already set about getting the crowd to surge just at the right time. We might only have a few moments. And your job…’ He pointed towards the stadium gates. ‘…is to get in there, and get this flag on the south stand. The one without the roof. Once you’re past the police, there’s no security on the stand.’

At first Matty didn’t believe what he was hearing. This must be some kind of practical joke. ‘What? Me?’
‘Yes, you can do it. It won’t be that dangerous, you’re just a kid to them.’
Ok, maybe he isn’t joking.
‘I promise they won’t hurt you. Probably.’
But I really wish he was… Natalie stood in front of them and again tried to overrule Prisco. ‘For fuck sake, if he gets his head caved in mum is going to kill me.’
‘Oh yeah, because what mummy thinks is more important than letting Matty be a man. You want to be a man, don’t you Matty?’
‘…yes. I can do it.’ Natalie moved to speak but was cut off by a loud bang behind them. The crowd were pushing forward. ‘Nat, we’re out of time to be having disagreements. Are we doing this or not?’ Natalie should have said no again. But in the moment, the excitement got the better of her. ‘Ok…ok. Let’s do this. Stay safe Matty, please?’

Only a minute later all hell had broken loose. The standoff between police and protestors had devolved into a melee, complicated by smoke bombs and flares thrown by various masked figures in the crowd (Natalie and Prisco included). As the police began to lose control of the situation, Mateo waited near the front, just far away enough from the fighting to get a sight at where gaps might be appearing. It took a minute, but eventually he spotted three cops break the line and charge down some protestors on the floor, getting themselves surrounded and overwhelmed. Mateo didn’t feel particularly sorry for them as they were being beaten on the floor. Have a taste of your own medicine, he thought to himself. As they did so, he ran forward and, obscured by smoke, managed to sneak through the rows of police.

Mateo kept running, dodging past an ambulance and a couple of police riot vans before reaching the gates of the stadium, which had been opened up to allow police to reinforce from a holding position on the concourse. Just like that, Mateo was in the Dellaro for the first time in years. He could not quite believe just how easy it had been. Above him was the south stand, the fabled roof-less terrace that used to be occupied by some of the most hardcore Sambeba and Aspel fans. He looked around and, seeing no security or further police – they were all too busy piling into the fight just outside the fence – ran past his only company in the stand, a couple of paramedics sat waiting for injured police to come back. They didn’t try to stop him, instead looking on curiously as this random teenage boy belted up the stairways and onto the terrace itself.

He raced to the top row of the stand and took a look out at the carnage, unaware of how visible he was and running high on adrenaline. He took the flag out from under his jacket and leant over the side of the stand to drape it from the top, looking for a railing to fasten it on. As he did so, his heart sank at the sight below. The Army had arrived, and several military police had just spotted him. They were on their way. Mateo sped up, hurriedly stringing the flag along the side. When he was done he waved out at the crowd, hoping Prisco or Natalie would see him and signal back somehow. ‘HEY! HEY! GLORY TO SAMEBA!’ It was a thrilling experience. Mateo turned to make a run for it, but didn’t get far, as a truncheon landed square in his ribs and sent him to the floor, unconscious and unresponsive.

[Cassadaigua]

Cup of Harmony 79- Round of 32, Groups A-H

@ Gold Coast International Stadium, Gold Coast
Valladares 3–3 Mavinet (4–3 AET)

@ The Harbour Coliseum, Coffs
Graintfjall 1–0 Yuezhou

@ Kempsey Centre, Kempsey
Eura 4–2 Tequilo

@ Ballina Stadium, Ballina
Squornshelan Remnant States 1–2 Blouman Empire

@ Gold Coast International Stadium, Gold Coast
Newmanistan 4–1 Northwest Kalactin

@ The Harbour Coliseum, Coffs
TJUN-ia 2–3 New Lusitania

@ Kempsey Centre, Kempsey
Mercedini 5–1 Kohnhead

@ Ballina Stadium, Ballina
Juvencus 2–4 Krytenia


Round of 16:

Valladares vs Graintfjall @ Gold Coast International Stadium, Gold Coast

Eura vs Blouman Empire @ The Harbour Coliseum, Coffs

Newmanistan vs New Lusitania @ Kempsey Centre, Kempsey

Mercedini vs Krytenia @ Ballina Stadium, Ballina

[Huayramarca]

Surging back from the ashes

Written by: Iván Gómez
26/06/1982 – 10:37 P.M.

The Huayramarcan National Team had a bad time as of late, recovering from that utterly painful defeat in Bul Khungur against Tikariot was heartbreaking for fans and the players even more, Omar Caicedo’s words are somewhat like a comfortable promise “We will come back! Faster, stronger and smarter, I promise you!” Those words were the confirmation of what every football fan was desiring as for now, keep Caicedo on board as much as possible to consolidate a strong team in terms of player chemistry, understanding and quality. Huayramarca had been exactly that during the entire World Cup Qualifier, a team that managed to strike at precise moments but too cautious sometimes. As a pretty much unexpected situation, that cautiousness was costly for the Condors while facing Tikariot, trying to don’t desperate themselves despite the timings and scores were always against them, they were in a kill or die situation, they opted to die without putting resistance.

Things seems to be different this time in Cup of Harmony, this tournament is being played in Cassadaigua and Northwestern Kalactin, yes, that squad we managed to edge out from the WC Qualifiers Playoff. They’ve been great while hosting, their infrastructure is state-of-the-art compared to ours. The stadia we played against Mriin, Ibixa and also Garifunya. Huayramarca moved past group stage towards Round of 32 by virtue of losing 0-1 against Mriin, defeating 1-0 Garifunya and drawing (Again, as in Qualifiers!) 2-2 against Ibixa.

Huayramarca has to change their attitude for the next stage, it’s matter of aspiring to more and be able to beat the ghosts of said qualifier, this Cup of Harmony represents a decent chance for the Condors in order to grow a bit more into football and consolidate themselves into a decent position for the next World Cup Qualifier, perhaps trying to be a candidate to aspire for group leading and direct qualification. There’s a rival in front, Xanneria will be difficult as we don’t know anything about them, those rivals are always the most dangerous ones due to the lack of a real reference for us, but there might be some chance in the field in order to analyze them and try to impose the Huayramarcan way of playing this beautiful sport.

Omar Caicedo seems prone to field the same team he is used to field, a 4-2-3-1 with Bryan Tello as the spearhead of the line-up, although, the mentality will be different this time since the players are eager to get a victory in order to move past the Round of 32, the possibility of consolidating their names as a potential World Cup Qualifying side is on stake, history is on stake for the Condors… 36 million souls are awaiting for a solid performance, that’s why we consider that attack will by a priority, Sayritupac and Mendoza will be moving close the edge of the box in order to feed Tello or support in attacking duties, also, the midfield and defensive blocks might be pushed more at front than the usual standard Caicedo uses.

“We need to put our learning into practice”. Said Kevin Quispe prior the Ro32 game against Xanneria “There’s a feeling that we disappointed our people on the playoff match against Tikariot, we need to recompose ourselves and bring back the level shown in the WCQ”. Quispe’s words have some true statements but some other false ones, you didn’t disappoint anybody nor the team, more could’ve been done, yes, but that’s something that passed on, we need to focus on future events, plan for them and work hard to achieve what we strive for: Victories, international recognition, World Cup qualification. That’s what the Huayramarcan folk desires, they want to see their players, idols, abroad in decent leagues and performing well enough in order to settle a good reference point for future Huayramarcan footballers.

Some other players strive for even more, Gabriel Sayritupac is one of those “We must aim for the stars, perhaps we will able to put one into our badge someday”. Although he’s going too far as for now, we need to build strongholds to make that happen, today’s hard work will pay its rewards sooner than later, Huayramarca has progressed a lot due to the help that the Government has provided to the Huayramarcan Football Federation. Our players abroad will provide to the others in our squad a chance to grow more and gain quality, technique and valuable experience for future matches, it’s a virtuous circle we need to enhance even more and promote its continuity.

Omar Caicedo’s job isn’t at risk, in three World Cup Qualifiers he has done a lot, he took a group of youngsters who didn’t played football professionally to do so, they turned amateur players into professional ones aiming to qualify Huayramarca for its very first World Cup Qualifier, hopes are high and no one should interfere in this dream, since it’s being built gradually and sooner than later might be turned into a reality. Hard work, learning from mistakes, player chemistry and confidence has helped Omar Caicedo to build a strong group of players, capable to put into troubles squads of the likes of Nephara, Audioslavia, Mriin, etc.

Would you doubt of somebody like him and his credentials due to a defeat in a playoff? There are more World Cup editions coming soon, if we continue this path, we might be able to achieve qualification sooner than later, the path is called hard work, continuity, dedication and trust. Caicedo has received such a support that he didn’t expected it, but he has given the right results at the right times, so, let’s support Huayramarca in this path called football because our rewards might come soon, it’s matter to work hard and receive us, pretty much like peasants do in their agricultural duties, they put a lot of effort in it in order to make a living and have success in it.

[Bluecliff]

Brattleboro, Cassadaigua. Present Day

---

The light from the projector shined, cinematic introduction-like, on the man's stubble-painted face.

Ándželo Tuľo Tores Moreno (Ántu for short after his mid-childhood nickname) was doing his homework on the dynamic, robust, synergistically corporate task given to him: not to defeat Saint-Domingue in the round of 32 at the 78th Cup of Harmony, so much as to defeat them with flash.

Flash was the ordre du jour for every aspect of the Bluecliffian game, now that the goal was sinking the FFFFCBL's teeth into the plump, juicy wallets of foreign fans who watched Bluecliffian football ironically.

With the Bluecliff championship mere seconds away (on a cosmic scale), they had hauled in the best. Ándželo Tuľo Tores Moreno (Ántu for short after his mid-childhood nickname) knew how to win, and win, and win again. He also knew how to sell out. And how to deal with the international press.

Now, though, he had to create tactics that would sell. This was knockout football. People would be here. And the word from the media conglomerate of the day was that all those eyeballs fixated on the Cup of Harmony were to see flash. Or else.

Watching the film, Ándželo Tuľo Tores Moreno (Ántu for short after his mid-childhood nickname) of course had it all figured out. He could defeat Saint-Domingue's 3-4-3 eighteen different ways to Sunday with his hand tied behind his back and enough left over to give the dog a heart attack.

He had solved Saint-Domingues' system within mere seconds of laying eyes on it. But he couldn't make it flashy. The Football Federation was already fuming after the win against Kandorith. Another 1-0 performance was guaranteed, but it just wouldn't cut it.

Annoyed, he tossed away the tactical notes that would have guaranteed a strong result for Bluecliff and spelled Saint-Domingues' demise.

East Háttmark, Græntfjall. Seven months previously. (Baptism of Fire Quarterfinals, Ice Cup Semifinals (don't even ask). Bluecliff League 3-0 Saint-Domingues.)

---

It was a limp defeat to conclude things, wrapping up the Baptism of Fire for Saint-Domingue on the same note that they had begun - losing to Bluecliff. But it was always a difficult ask, considering the pedigree of the Bluecliffians and the excellent form they were in - a winning run that has lasted since that opening day victory

Ándželo Tuľo Tores Moreno (Ántu for short after his mid-childhood nickname) didn't tend to watch late-night re-airs of inconsequential warm-up tournaments for minnows. He especially didn't tend to watch them when they weren't available on conventional television or even the new streaming services.

It is because of this remarkable lack of tendency that he didn't catch the game.

Ninyan Makkak (Bluecliff's manager through the Baptism of Fire), though, called a bit after it. His moderately offensive formation change was working wonders for the Bluecliff League in Græntfjall, and he figured (since he had the number saved) that he'd talk to the master - nay, the king - of moderation himself: Ándželo Tuľo Tores Moreno (Ántu for short after his mid-childhood nickname).

Ántu missed the call. It was just Ninyan Makkak, after all.

All in all, not a particularly encouraging set of omens from the past for his current efforts. But whatever. The goal here wasn't moderation, it was flash!

Folte, Græntfjall. Seven months and like one-eighth of a month previously. (Baptism of Fire Group Stage Matchday One. Bluecliff League 4-2 Saint-Domingues.)

---

Nobody in Bluecliff watched or cared about their first international. Ándželo Tuľo Tores Moreno (Ántu for short after his mid-childhood nickname) has no idea this game occurred.

Brattleboro, Cassadaigua. Present Day

---

Ándželo Tuľo Tores Moreno (Ántu for short after his mid-childhood nickname) thought hard, and he thought long. Bluecliff had come out on top in one previous meeting between them and Saint-Domingues. But that game hadn't been flashy!

He was confident he could pull off a win, but winning wasn't the priority, it was flash, it was pizzazz, it was gusto.

He switched the films out.

There must be...

He turned the page over and began scribbling ferociously.

...some way to...

A deft line going from box to box. A solid wall of a midfield. One striker. No! Two strikers.

...yep...

A rough draft, but it would do for now. He held the notes up to the light. Tactics that would likely lose Bluecliff the game and see them eliminated from the tournament, but that guaranteed at least a six-goal game.

Perfect.

[Zeta Reka and Hugeltaldom]

Pt. 5/6?

---

The next game was do or die. Stojan Heden had started the game this time around, giving Rawić a rest. Bogdan sat on the bench. Konstantina let out an “ow”, and not a single sound wave from a whistle entered anyone’s ears. “I’ll handle it, Tina” he Hiden loudly, coach heard it, looking to his assistant. “Hell’s happening?” he asked. Of course at that point Heiden started to play a bit more his left than before. There was a yell, the crowd piped down, and then seemed shocked. “Hell’s happening?” the pissed off coach shouted, seeing an opposing player down, and a red card in front of Heiden’s face. “I think stomped that guy.” Rawić said. The coach put his head into his palms, essentially head butting his palm. The coach’s face returned to the visible realm and was beat red. “Edmund! Play down!” Coach shouted, not wanting to give up a goal from Heiden’s assault and battery. “The debriefing just got interesting.” the assistant coach said, looking up nervously to the supporter section. Of course, the red and yellow fans were booing the send off, even though it was valid. Confusion was flowing through the technical area.

Word started to come back. “Pulled my hair,” she’d said to Stanti Gröss, who’d come near. Word began to spread of what had happened. Eventually one man heard it, Stojan Heiden. Bogdan got a whisper about the, news and Coach was livid. “Well you shouldn’t give us a card to protest a damn call!” Even with the lack of an eleventh man, the score seemed to be holding at 2-1. Time was left on the clock. “This isn’t ice hockey” Bogdan said to the man sitting to the left, the shifting to his right. On Bogdan’s right was Miloš, “Yeah, we’re gonna be down for a solid ten minutes.” Of course the opposition was aggressive now. Blood was in the water, and Bogdan could feel himself sinking in a lake of cynicism. Kandorith scored a goal shortly after Miloš’ unimpressively easy prediction. On substitution was made. Yuri Kewić seemed to tweak his knee, so Damjan Protić was brought in. Time continued to trickle down slowly. All they had to do was not lose, and they would survive to the next round. One more lunge was made against the Rekans. “He’s out of position.” Miloš said, referring to Zlatko Wukowić. Wukowić dove and the ball hit his head. The ricocheting orb went back from whence it came, Protić got to it, and kicked that ball into the sky. The whistle blew. “Oh thank god” Coach Stanimirić said standing still. The small herd of supporters for Zeta Reka’s finest erupted with applause.

The locker room was joyous about their result, but also seemingly happy about something else “Listen up!” backup defender Steffanow Kostessen said suddenly, “I say we give three cheers to the knight who saved our fair Rapunzel’s locks.” Kostessen said, looking at Heiden. “Hip hip.” Kostessen said, getting a faint “hooray” from about three disorganized voices. “oh hell, that’s not enough.” Kostessen said scoffing, “hip hip,” he continued, getting the whole room to shout, “Hooray!” On they went, “Hip hip!” “Hooray!” “Hip hip!” “Hooray!” Bogdan saw his coach look behind himself to the locker room, rolling his eyes. Bogdan looked over to a team mate “You were playing, yeah? Did you see anything? Tina’s hair looks fine to me.” The player shrugged, and Bogdan shrugged back. Whatever the case, they survived the group stage by just a hair.

[Barunia]

The San Baptiste Sea Lions had already played 6 games before Emmanuel was named on the roster. It was only for the bench, but it was something. Emmanuel could feel his nervous excitement build as he pulled on that yellow jersey. Number 29 in bright blue, with MONTEZ CARTER written above it, in reference to the spanish naming conventions that prevailed in this part of Barunia. Emmanuel’s parents had giving him four names, each reflecting their specific heritage. His mother had named him Emmanuel Montez, but his father, from the English-colonised south, called him George Carter. Put together, it gave him his full name: Emmanuel George Montez Carter. It was a mouthful, but one that he hoped would be announced to a full crowd tonight.

It was a warm, muggy night, without the stiff coastal breeze that usually blew across the stadium. Emmanuel was restless as he watched the clock tick by. The Sea Lions were taking on the Dropshort Diamonds, one of the less-powerful teams in the league. The coach had urged them that this was an opportunity to pick up points. But the Diamonds had other plans. They were up by a goal early in the first half. A late strike from Jim Howell, the Sea Lion’s top striker, levelled the score just before the break.

As the game dragged on, neither side could find the back of the net. Emmanuel watched on, keeping one eye on the clock. 60 minutes, 70 minutes. He wasn’t going to get a game. 75 minutes, the coach made a substitution, Carter remained on the bench. 80 minutes went by. He’d have to wait another day... just as he thought that, he heard his name being called.
“Carter, you’re up.” Barked the coach. “Now get me a goal son.”

There it was. His name, flashed on the screen. Echoing around the stadium as the announcer called it. Then he was out there, on the pitch. Playing X-League football.

A high ball over the top, and Carter was on to it. Chase the ball down, first touch around one defender, then pull back and launch a rocket. Only he sent it straight into the keeper. He threw his hands up in despair.
“Hey kid, keep it together.” That was Howell, coming up along beside him. Carter nodded. He remembered when he was at camp, how he was so focused on winning that his head was in the wrong space. Now he was so focused on impressing the coach and selectors that the same thing was happening. He just had to shrug it off and try again. But time was getting away. 90 minutes, and the scores deadlocked. 3 minutes of extra time.

Howell got the ball and fired one to the far post from the corner of the box. Emmanuel, running in from the opposite side, saw the keeper dive and knock the ball down. He reacted to the loose ball at the same time as the two defenders shadowing him. They pushed and jostled h8m as he sprinted towards the ball. He wasn’t going to make it... In desperation he went down in a slide, throwing his foot out and connecting with the bouncing ball. It flew into the corner of the net. Emmanuel looked up at the Sea Lions faithful behind the goal, saw the moment they stood as one, a sea of yellow, green, and blue. Seconds later he was pulled to his feet and embraced by Howell, and then the rest of his team piled in. There was no time left for Dropshort. Emmanuel Carter, the 16-year-old rookie, had won it for the Sea Lions in his first professional game, having spent just 12 minutes on the field. The fairytale was real.

[Omerica]

(Notes: Huge thanks to Chrom for calculating the average KPB points of all the CoH groups and my apologies to all the teams in Groups D, G and L.)
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DO NOT CHEER FOR OMERICA!
By James Maxwell-Christensen

In a multiversal poll, a stunning 63 percent of participants—nearly two-thirds—chose Omerica to advance over Zeta Reka and Hugeltaldom. A baffling seventeen percent believed that Omerica would advance to the quarterfinals and a truly insane eight percent chose Omerica to be semifinalists. Thankfully, no one had the absolutely batshit idea to predict that the Incorrigibles would advance to the final, but these numbers are a truly concerning sign that no one actually watches international footie anymore.

Now Omerica scored more goals in the group stage than any other team in this Cup of Harmony—largely due to an absolutely ridiculous 7–4 game in Concord Heights that went down in the record books for highest aggregate score in an Omerican international match—and trailed the opposition for a grand total of seven minutes, all in the Squidroidia game. Omerica are unbeaten and can call on the likes of Malcolm Beauchesne (who bagged an unexpected hat trick against Saint-Domingue), Maxime Fournier, Jamal Ahmad and Alexis Chrysanthos—who have collectively scored more goals (ten) than 36 of the 48 teams at the tournament so far.

But all of this is easy to do when you’re stuffed in the second-worst group in the tournament by average rank points, beaten only by Group Garbo II: Electric Boogaloo. The overall average rank points for the entire tournament is 13.24. The average for Group Losers was 11.69, just behind the 11.73 average of Group Dud and ahead of only Group Garbo itself. The median group sat on an average 12.91, more than a point greater than the Group Losers average.

Even taking that into consideration, these sixty-three percent of poll respondents must have answered “no” when The Rocket Report asked: “Isn’t that what Omerica always does? Hang around to make people notice and get concerned but never actually advance?” These sixty-three percent have clearly never heard of the Curse of Kilkenny. The Incorrigibles are rather infamous choke jobs: in nine knockout games across eleven previous Cup of Harmony appearances, Omerica have lost five. Up to this cycle, Omerica have been eliminated in the group stage as often as they have advanced!

And even if the Incorrigibles do get past the first knockout round, they will rue winning the group, as either Mriin (one of the tournament favourites) or San Ortelio (who made the qualifying playoffs) will await in the last sixteen. The former is particularly troubling fixture given that Omerica have only once defeated a higher-ranked team in competitive play during Alexis Stephanidis’s tenure in the Omerica dugout, when the Incorrigibles downed an iffy Jeruselem during the last Cup of Harmony. But if Omerica can somehow manage to get through to the quarterfinals, one of Huelavia, Darmen, Twicetagria and Electrum await. Lightning surely cannot strike thrice, folks.

All of this is before we mention injuries and suspensions. Anna Charles’s situation currently remains iffy, though she has reportedly been cleared to play in the next round, but Nadiya al-Hashim will miss the knockout stage after suffering a leg injury in the first half of the Saint-Domingue game. Additionally, Justin Thyme picked up his second yellow of the tournament in Concord Heights, relegating him to a mere spectator in the first knockout round. Thankfully, he will be back for a difficult last sixteen clash and the strategic decision to bench Sacha Sepulveda in favour of Felix Zanetti ensures that the crucial Républicains defender cannot be suspended for that match either.

Now maybe if we had just taken a single point off Saint-Domingue and handed them the group, this overconfidence on the part of the multiversal public would be justified. Saint-Domingue face a Baptism of Fire rematch against official “Team You Should Most Not Cheer For” Bluecliff and would have a tricky, but by no means unwinnable last sixteen fixture against Xanneria or Huayramarca should they advance. The Avengers, if they get past that obstacle, would then have a quarterfinal against one of Barunia, North Japan, Reçueçn or Sargossa. Reçueçn would probably tear through ninety percent of the teams at this tournament like tissue paper, but we would happily take a knockout match against them over a knockout match against Mriin any day of the week.

Also, we have to play two nations at once in the Round of 32 and that’s just not fair, now is it? ◇

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Other Football News:
• Cup of Harmony 79 knockout preview: S K O R J I B A L L, or This Is Eura’s Tournament and We’re All Just Playing In It
• Managerial Sack House: Chronicling all of the national team managers who have lost their jobs this World Cup cycle
• OPSL: Who is up, who is down, who has qualified and who has just held on in the Omerican professional league ladder

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Uniting Omerican sport fans across the United Republics — blogdefootball: a proud member of the Gryphon Pride network

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United Republican Soccer Federation
6 Jacques la Rouge Road
Port Alexandre, MS 18-A40
UNITED REPUBLICS OF OMERICA

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Omerica v Zeta Reka
Cup of Harmony 79 knockout stage — Round of Thirty-Two
Five Star Mobile Stadium, Brattleboro, Cassadaigua
Omerica lineup (4–3–3): Valentine Augustin (captain); Alphonse Notley, Frédérique Marquetti, Raphaël Martin, Felix Zanetti; Maxime Fournier, Fearchar Mac Cléirich, Christian Marts; Jessie Beckett, Malcolm Beauchesne, Jamal Ahmad
Substitutes: Antoine Vicario, Alexandra McGuire; Anna Charles, Jacques Laurent, Sacha Sepulveda; Alphonse Fontaine, Paige Boyce; Jean-François Fernand, Alexis Chrysanthos, Adélaïde Argyris
Injured: Nadiya al-Hashim | Suspended: Justin Thyme

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[Recuecn]

The party went well, and everybody was in a good mood. One might not expect that the combination would work well: a bunch of grown men celebrating a sporting victory, and a young child's birthday party. But the team had long ago adopted Rébecca as one of their own, and each of the players was more than happy to set down his beer, take the little girl on his knee, congratulate her on the big day, and ask her a few questions.

Rébecca was a good conversationalist, much better than most adults would assume, although of course that is true for most children. She deftly accepted the compliments, returned the congratulations on the match, and politely answered all the questions she was posed. Some were childish: how old was she now? Some were grown-up: how was she doing in school? Some tried to figure out her interests, or just made their own assumptions: what was her favorite birthday present? Did she like being in Cassadaigua with all the girls? Rébecca handled all of these with grace.

Franky, however, was her favorite; something which pleased Franky to no end. Franky didn't have to guess what she was interested in: it was already clear that she too was passionate about soccer. Franky talked with her about the other teams in their group of the Cup of Harmony and throughout the tournament, not to mention what they were expecting from the World Cup, now that it was getting under way. Their conversations were not merely theoretical, either; they would go over the plays and Rébecca often revealed an insight which surprised Franky.

"Can we practice together again after the tournament?" she asked, knowing full well that until Reçueçn's national team was back home, there was no chance of Franky having any free time to spend with her whatsoever.

Franky grinned. "Of course! I'll let you know next time I'm in Reçueçn."

"Is that soon?"

"I'm not exactly sure when it'll be. I haven't looked at the championnat schedule yet."

"You mean we have to wait for la classique? C'mon, Frankyyy..."

"Look, except for games I don't get out of Genève that often... oh, alright, I'll figure something out. But only on one condition." Franky tried desperately to look as if he was able to stand up to the girl for more than five seconds. "You need to be wearing this jersey again." He pinched her sleeve.

Rébecca looked down at the shirt she was wearing: a child-sized Reçuecian home kit with the number '10' on the back, right below the name in blocky letters. ADAMS. Franky couldn't get over how funny he thought it was that Firaut, who although now his close friend also represented his club's chief rival in Reçuecian soccer, would bring his own daughter to national team games wearing Franky's jersey. Franky didn't have any kids of his own, but this somehow was almost better. He had tried to tease Gerauld about it one time, but he hadn't seemed to care in the slightest. That didn't stop Franky from getting a massive kick out of it.

"It hardly fits anymore," Rébecca said, stretching out her arms to show how tight the jersey now was in the shoulders. "Mama said after this tournament I can't wear it anymore."

Franky got the distinct feeling that no matter how mild-mannered Rébecca's parents were, the girl was a prankster at heart. She had a sense of humor and although it looked like she was telling the truth about the jersey, he could have sworn she knew she was pressing his buttons.

"I'll get you a new one," Franky said. Rébecca grinned, and Franky realized they were both aware of how much she had him wrapped around her little finger. "Since I didn't get you a birthday present," he added, pushing back.

"Ok," said Rébecca. "I would like that." She smiled sweetly. Then someone else called her name, and she gave a little wave and jumped down from Franky's lap to bounce away, but she had already delivered her coup de grace.

[Mriin]

Maal Memoirs
Sports
Excessively Thorough Revenge For A Retrospective Slight

Yon Kegaant
Rutland, Cassadaigua

If you asked most anyone watching World Cup 80 what they thought of the Unofficial World Championship, you'd likely get some odd looks. "You mean that boxing thing?" "Hasn't there not been a major international boxing league in like half a century?" And so on and so forth. It would only be the innovative work of "journalist" and born-again data scientist Jeremy Jaffacake several cycles later to bring the storied lineage to the multiversal footballing community. With it came the relevation that the Reavers had carried the belt several times thanks to Chromatika's victory in the preceding AOCAF—and their notoriously horrible record in matches against Mriin.

A matchday five victory over the Anomalies would be our first touch, and it would be ended prematurely with a matchday eight bout with none other than Garifunya. The loss was considered at best an annoyance at the time; dropping points to a lower-ranked side will always rankle, but nobody had any delusions Garifunyans would be walkovers. The retroactive meaning given to that match is—well, it's not really much, in the end. When the news broke it's not like Mrii twii.tur melted down over those dastardly Garifunyans. But it's about the extent of the historical context one can give this match.

Content cut short in the interest of time.

Mriin - 5
Kevaarsen 9'
Fæwin 23', 60'
Kalabaan 27'
Riitsi 69'
Garifunya - 1
Diekman, 35'

[Northwest Kalactin]

Cutoff

Round of 32
Xanneria 1–2 Huayramarca

Bluecliff League 2–3 Saint-Domingue

Barunia 1–2 North Japan

Recuecn 2–2 Sargossa (2–3 AET)

Mriin 4–3 San Ortelio

Omerica 2–0 Zeta Reka and Hugeltaldom

HUElavia 1–4 Darmen

Twicetagria 2–5 Electrum

R16 Matchups
Huayramarca v. Saint Domingue, @ Five Star Mobile Stadium, Brattleboro
North Japan v. Sargossa, @ Peak'n'Break Stadium, Grande Mountain
Mriin v. Omerica, @ Dagan Airways Stadium, Concord Heights
Darmen v. Electrum, @ Qusmair Stadium, New Lakeland

[TJUN-ia]

By Peter Davis

Final: TJUN-ia 2-3 New Lusitania and the Algarves - Green (43'), Carter (65'); Silveira (23', 32'), Gama (77')

And there we are. The first WC of Jackson Levi-Holt's 3-Step Plan ends the same way the last one before did: a playoff loss and then a Ro32 exit in the Cup of Harmony. It was a tight and beautiful match but in the end, NLA showed us why they are a thorn in our side. The record is now 0-1-3 as TJUN-ia goes out once again.

While the target of reaching the WC Finals by WC90 is still very much on track, this cycle felt more heartbreaking than the last one. Losing the playoff on the away-goals rule was a literal shot to the heart which course our players to enter Coffs with little motivation and unsure as to what to do next. The group stage helped with that a lot, despite its tightness in all 3 games, but New Lusitania proves once again that we are the "nearly-team" of the IAC: close to the WC, but never close enough.

Some people may ask questions as to how we keep stumbling in the big moments, but I will say we need more time. The Plan has only been in effect for 1 cycle and we have already shown promise in our successes. This cycle shall be used as a building block for WC88, where we will hopefully still be in the Top 50 by that point. The IAC will also help us, as will the DBC for our developing U21s and the talent that is coming from that team is surely a good sign of potential things to come. With more time, we will all develop into the team JLH believes we can become - but, like all projects, it takes time to get it all right.

But what about Seems? He's been here since the start and has dragged this team from unranked nobodies to a team everyone knows will make the big time one day, but are his tactics becoming stale? He's been using the same playbook since the beginning, to good effect as well in recent times, but the big boys know it well too and have always crushed us whenever we play them. The fact still remains that the best TJUN-ia has ever done in a football tournament remains IAC9 - when Li Xiu Ying herself stood in for Seems and used that same tactics book to reach the quarters before falling to, you guesses it, New Lusitania. It's something we thought was the start of a new era, but we've never reached those highs since that early tournament.

And so, with that in mind, Livi decided to make a call that would send shockwaves through the TJUN-ian press for a while to come. He knew that Seems had to see out the project he started, but he also knew that we needed something to help boost our prospects in the future. The call made was simple: Seems and Li would now rule the roost as Co-Managers of the national team. With an eye towards the gender equal future, both TJUN-ian Man and Woman shall lead us to glory in the future...hopefully. GO JAGS!

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SCHEDULE (Group D, all matches at The Harbour Coliseum, Coffs)
MD1: vs Pluvia and the Saxean Isles (150) D 2-2 (T-1st)
MD2: vs Yuezhou (Yue Zhou) (94) D 1-1 (2nd)
MD3: vs Sylestone (72) W 3-1 (1st/W1-D2-L0/+2GD)

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KNOCKOUTS
Ro32: vs New Lusitania and the Algarves (39) @The Harbour Coliseum, Coffs L 2-3

[HUElavia]

HUElavia's Journey ends in Heartbreak.

HUElavia 1–4 Darmen
(Sol 27' | Blackwood 20', 63', Ramirez 60', Borde 90')
(Winchester City Lottery Stadium, Winchester)

Coming into the Round-of-32, HUElavia was coming off a historic group stage- 3 victories in 3 games, a perfect 3-0-0 and 9 points to boot. Not to mention, the team scored a historic high of 11 goals in the group stage. Facing off against Darmen, the team knew that they did not have an easy game in their hands. They knew they had to give it their best and play well. The two teams were facing off at Winchester City Lottery Stadium (59,000), in Winchester, the venue that the HUElavians have come to cherish and love for the two victories in World Cup 84. HUElavia wore their Home Uniform, looking to have a good match, especially with Ramos in goal, Navarro as Captain, and the main Xi was on the pitch. The HUElavians played looking to make another deep run.

Unfortunately, this was not the case. Blackwood opened the scoring in the 20th minute, but Sol equalized in the 27th and by halftime, it looked as if either team can take the victory. In the second half, it was one to forget. Two goals in 3 minutes was devastating and demoralizing for Los Amarillos/Os Amarelos. To add insult to injury, a goal right at the end of the match sealed HUElavia's fate: Eliminated from the Cup of Harmony in the Round-of-32. After the match, all the players had the long face, some crying at the shocking elimination. They gave their handshakes and words to the players of Darmen and gave thanks to the thousands of fans who came out to cheer them.

Another tournament ends in heartbreak, and a long trip back to Curumba. For Coach Salgado Lacerda, his job is secure at the moment, but he has one goal being put in front of him: The 12th Independent Associations Championship. Looking to take the team to another Final is a daunting task, especially when he coached them in two of the four finals the team has participated in. He has to answer the questions on who should be the Starting Goalkeeper for the team, as well as if there needs to be changes in the defense. The Midfield and Attack have some great regulars, but some are being questioned whether they need to stay on the team or not. Adding on, there needs to be the decision whether Coach Salgado Lacerda should continue calling up young players to the team, or call up some solid talents from the HUElavian Football League (HFL). These next two years are going to be for preparation and to decide what the team will do next in their quest to make their proper mark in Football all throughout the multiverse. Besides that, the team may have to deal with being a team ranked in the 40s once again, something that can affect their seeding for the World Cup 88 Qualifiers, when it comes around.

Regardless, the only thing the team can do is learn from this and continue trudging forward, no matter the pain and sadness it has brought.

FORCA HUELAVIA! VAMOS HUELAVIA! GO HUELAVIA!

[Krytenia]

And Now Juve Gotta Believe Us
By Rami Niblick in Ballina, Northwest Kalactin

IT may have taken a while, but Krytenia are at last firing on all cylinders. As the jeopardy of the knockouts began, the Dragons were simply too strong for Juvencus, and sent La Squadra packing with a confidence-boosting victory.

As against Lorrana, Krytenia started the game in absolutely no mood to give their opponents a chance. Unfortunately for the Dragons, Juvencus' line-up includes a defence that can only be described as "packed". Though Ben Foyle and Joe Bielsa were finding plenty of space on the flanks, the front three were being marked to hell and back, with Carlos Callejon and Izotz Ibarra cutting off moves inside from the Krytenian wingers. Juvencus seemed happy to soak up the pressure, but it was not to last. Nicolò Bassi, a sweeper in all but name, lost Alun Belmwr and allowed the Mercia striker room to connect with a Foyle cross to put the men in sky blue ahead.

This basically shot the idea of parking the bus down for Juvencus, which suited the Krytenians down to the ground. As in their previous game, the Dragons made their advantage pay dividends. It would be captain Cormac O'Neill who added the second, smashing a half-clearance from Callejon home from a full thirty yards, and with that the game was effectively over as a contest. Belmwr added a third late in the first half, nutmegging poor Bassi before smashing the ball past a blameless Taddeo Bulgari to put Krytenia firmly in the driving seat as the teams returned to the dressing rooms.

It would be unfair to say that Juvencus weren't at least trying to create chances, and they were duly rewarded in the fifty-sixth minute when Joey Sinton allowed Santo Silvestri a little too much space. The striker duly made the most of it, with a thunderbolt of a strike that fizzed past a sprawling Damien Carpenter to keep Juvencus at least nominally in the game. As La Squadra poured forward in search of a second, however, they left holes at the back. Paul Davis decided to take advantage of this with an injection of fresh legs, and brought the whippet-like Alex Parsons on for a tiring Neil Smith. The substitution had the desired effect, with Parsons disrupting the shape of the back line and creating space, which allowed Curtis Sunday room to volley home a Bielsa cross and twist the knife.

Once again, Krytenia would be disappointed to concede a late goal, Tore Christian netting from a Juvencus free-kick, but it was a mere blip on the radar as the Dragons cruised into the Round of Sixteen, and a clash with a side that have been a thorn in the side in the recentish past. Mercedini were in our qualifying group in both World Cup 82 and 83, winning three of the four matches between the side. There are many in Krytenia who will feel this game is a chance for retribution; let's hope they are correct. Onward!

JUVENCUS - 2
Silvestri 56
Christian 85

KRYTENIA - 4
Belmwr 13, 43
O'Neill 26
Sunday 72