BELLES GO ‘BALTIC’!
No, we didn’t say ‘Balti’, we said ‘Baltic’: Not a style of cuisine, a part of the full name for the nation of Somewhereistonia which is the land where the Bear-Belles will play their ‘group stage’ matches — and hopefully at last, this, some more games too — in this year’s World Cup tournament. That country is in the region of Rushmore, along with our friendly rivals of old the Nethertopians and the not-such-friends Candelabrans…
The details of the group draw have reached us, and our girls have been drawn into Group ‘E’ in which they will face the national teams of The Archregimancy (who are ranked at threeEights-and-four’th in the worlds by the NSWCC), our hosts Somewhereistonia themselves (ranked at fiveEights-and-five’th), and Aguazul (ranked at eight-plus-five’th). As the Belles are now ranked at threeEights-and-seven’th this makes them only the group’s third-rated seed, but nevertheless we really do think that this time they have a verrry GOOD chance of progressing onwards beyond the tournament’s group stage!
Hokay, yes, so journalists writing in this paper have said that at about this stage for several previous World Cups too, but THIS time we’re even more confident than on any of those earlier occasions. Let’s smell our three group-stage games, all of which will be played at a site called Viella Stadium (which is the home of a team called ‘ISC Rig’, and has a capacity — by Human standards, anyhows — of fifty-seven thousands) in their scehduled sequence _
MatchDay 1
Bears Armed v The Archregimancy: Our girls have never played against the holy men of that nation before, although there have been a few meetings between the Belles and their new opponents’ neighbours ‘The Holy Empire’ (Who could ever forget Ug-Ug? “Ug-Ug know not how to lose!”) through the years. Although they actually exist in a plane of their own that is called ‘The Dreamed Realm’, both of those countries have proven themselves capable of fielding verrry effective teams in the ‘real’ worlds too… but according to the NSWCC’s calculations, if the Archregimancy’s current squad is better than our girls on average then it is only very slightly so: A three-place difference in rankings is hardly anything at all when compared to the differences in level between the Belles and some of the higher-rated sides whom they’ve overcome in their past triumphs, after all.
We’re told that The Archregimancy is an all-male community, but its footballers have accepted that they will sometimes need to play against female sides, and have done so successfully against teams of both Human and Elf women — and, being Human themselves, will probably find our girls less distracting than they would those others. Still, our girls should possess physical superiority over their rivals, which should help. A little bird tells me that although the Belles’ full roster actually includes one follower of the same faith to which their rivals on this occasion adhere she is not going to be fielded during this match in case respect for her opponents' spirituality might subconsciously hold her back from doing her best against them.
Oh, and one other thing: The Archregimancy’s “ national anthem”, which will be performed in the stadium ‘shortly’ before the start of play, is actually a religious service that lasts for almost a watch! I gather that the playing of our own anthem ‘Peace’, which will follow that, will then itself be followed by [fairly short] services of blessing for the Belles from both of their chaplains — of the ‘One-Plus-Seven’ and ‘Ursion’ faiths, respectively — to help balance any spiritual edge that might be invoked through that rite.. and I expect that we’ll see some pent-up impatience lending extra force to our girls’ pre-game harrdiharr after that, too, don’t you?
Forecast: Win, maybe draw
MatchDay 2
Bears Armed v Somewhereistonia: The hosts are another ‘Baptism of Fire’-winning nation, and our girls consequently played against Somewhereistonian teams in the trio of ‘Eternal Flame’ competitions that were held during the qualifying stages for three consecutive World Cups some years ago, but this is the first occasion when they will meet within an actual World Cup itself. Looking at our opponents’ NSWCC ranking, some people might wonder whether they would actually be in this competition if their being of the hosting nations this time around hadn’t automatically given them a place, but from what we[/]I have seen of them in the past they [i]might have been under-rated a bit when the latest table was compiled. Will the Belles live up to their better overall record in this game? Will the opponents having the home crowd on their side give them a serious edge? If for some reason you can get to one but only one of our girls’ games there then try to make it this match, to help cheer them on against the locals, hokay?
Forecast: Win
MatchDay 3
Aguazul v Bears Armed: Facing their ‘best’ opponents last, this is likely to be the Belles’ toughest challenge during the group stage. Aguazul isn’t a team that our girls have met often before this, not at all, but then perhaps that’s for the best as far as playing against them now is concerned: They aren’t one of the rrreally high-flying sides, but they’ve played their way steadily up through the tables. I’d say that an unfamiliarity on their players’ part with facing Ursine opponents is likely to be the main factor that helps the Belles here.
Forecast: Draw.
Helping the Belles of course, will be the fact that manager Marra SunDaughter made a full recovery from the mysterious ailment that struck her down towards the end of the qualifying series and has now been back at her job for several months... although those of the other Bears who had rejoined the squad as players after also being miraculously ‘rejuvenated’ when she was, a couple of years before that, have now all been “retired” back to coaching and assistant-managerial positions just in case which might 9although I certainly hope NOT, of course!) have weakened the team slightly.(Team details, page ‘S-2’; Group, page ‘S-7’.)
“It takes a worried Bear, to sing a worried song;
Takes a worried Bear to sing a worried song:
It takes a worried Bear to sing a worried song;
I’m worried now, but I won’t be worried long.”
"The Belles they are in Somewhere, along with you and me;
Far better here than Nowhere, I’m sure that you’ll agree;
How do you think they’ll do here? I bet they’ll win all three!
I’m worried now, but I won’t be worried long.”
“ It takes a worried Bear to sing a worried song,
Takes a worried Bear to sing a worried song:
It takes a worried Bear to sing a worried song,
I’m worried now, but I won’t be worried long.”
*(Singing fades out in the distance)*
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OOC: I'll post a revised roster tomorrow, but you can take it that any character with 'rejuvenated' in their details will now NOT be playing.
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Starblaydia
