Llamanean Domestic Newswires

by **Super-Llamaland** » Mon Oct 13, 2014 2:04 pm

**PLEASE DO NOT POST UNLESS YOU ARE ME OR HAVE RECEIVED EXPLICIT PERMISSION TO DO SO**

The Llamanean Football League (defunct)
Season One
Season Two
Season Three

SUPERLLEAGUE

Season I
Season II
Season III
Season IV
Season V
Season VI

LLAMANEAN BASEBALL LEAGUE
Season LXXXII
Season LXXXIII

by **Super-Llamaland** » Mon Oct 13, 2014 2:06 pm

Season One
Season Two
SEASON THREE LINKS

PREVIEWS
Part One
Part Two
WEEKS 1-11
The recaps!
MIDSEASON TRANSFERS
Here's your list!
THE HALFTIME REPORT
coming soon!
WEEKS 12-20
THE PENNANT RACE

(Actual links to come when they exist.)

by **Super-Llamaland** » Tue Oct 14, 2014 3:12 pm

TEAM PREVIEWS, HALF ONE: LFL(3)

FC Vargas
Colors: Green and white
Last Year: First (42 pts.)
Manager: Aaron Mendelev (13th year, 8th with Vargas, fifty-three years old)

Expected Starting Lineup (3-2-3-2):

For a team that dealt away their captain and vice-captain in a single year, FC Vargas has inexplicably managed to improve yet again. With the losses of striker Lars Beckert, who scored eleven the year prior at the age of thirty-two, and thirty-six-year-old defensive general Adrien Vladivostok at center-back, Aaron Mendelev freed himself up to tinker around with the team dynamics, bringing in three offensive dynamoes to add firepower to the front line: Emile Marchond, the teenage sensation bought from Taeshan at nineteen for a mere eight mil; Jaime del Olmo, the NT attacking midfielder for Ceni, twenty-five and technically gifted; and finally, from the domestic FC Maydale, Candace Matthews, who spent two years at Maydale between her stretches at Vargas, plucked to receive the captain's armband and anchor the front line in place of Beckert. With a brilliant front line, a serviceable back, and a fantastic young goalie in Reginald Apostaza, Mendelev's Green-and-whites are prime targets to repeat.

KEY PLAYER: Reginald Apostaza. Imports Matthews, del Olmo, Marchond, and the like are all great players, but in the event Vargas loses one to injury, the others can easily pick up the slack. With Apostaza out and not many capable backups on defense or at keeper, the defense will bleed goals every game, and Vargas will quickly slide to the mid-table.

PREDICTION: First. We mentioned the nightmare scenario above, but Apostaza is remarkably durable. With an offense this good, nothing can stop Vargas now.

New Llama Cyclones
Colors: Turquoise-and-green
Manager: David Russell (11th year, 8th with NLC, sixty-three years old)
Last Year: Second (41 pts.)
Probable Formation (1-4-3-2):

Well, when you consider that FC Vargas turned their already-strong offense into an unstoppable one and FC New Llama spent $27 million on strikers, the Cyclones didn't really do a whole lot to change the team that won second and lost two - one on the second leg of a playoff against Vargas (3 - 2 agg) with a chance to make the finals on the line. While the defense has been completely overhauled, Jeckish Owen Savage, Quebecois Jae Sung Park, and the young domestic Adam Bay, all twenty-three or younger, all replacing the expensive older players of before, the offense remains similar to the two-goals-a-game miracles of team chemistry of Season Two. If their performance was legitimate, they could contend for the victory. But with thin backups, in the event of injuries or flops, the Cyclones could find themselves in deep water.

KEY PLAYER: Eric Hoover. The twenty-year-old prodigy has already accumulated a few knee injuries, but remains the inconsistent but athletically brilliant striker he was when they brought him up two years ago. Since then, in the thirty-five games he's played, he's scored fifteen goals, but another injury could spell disaster for the front line and for his breathtaking agility.

PREDICTION: Third. The offense is just too thin for comfort.

FC New Llama

Colors: Navy-and-white
Manager: Carlton Hoover (21st year, 15th with club, sixty-one years old)
Last Year: Third (39 pts.)
Probable Formation (3-2-3-2):

Off the heels of a gutsy, defensive-oriented (Twenty-nine scored and twenty allowed in twenty-two games), third-place finish that the team somehow accomplished with only one real striker in Carlton Hoover's stubborn 5-3-2, Eden Powell (who was dealt on the heels of a seventeen-goal season after the club tried to recruit Jacques Bressler, Xhaká, and Xi Foureleven to take his spot in the traditional New Llama 4-3-2-1), everyone knew that it was time for an overhaul. And overhaul Hoover did.

Trent Birmingham and Mattias Kirkpatrick, the two strikers who combined for eight goals platooning on Eden Powell's left, were both shipped north to Arendellenske clubs. In their place, Hoover spent fourteen million dollars on Quebecois NT player and 23-year-old David Haas, followed by spending another ten million on NT starter Tobias Dickenson. Dickenson, as it turned out, was swapped for Jeckish starter Connor Long for two million to make way for another foreign star, Polaskaan's Iiro Mihaylov. With a refurbished offense and the same defense (although with aging linchpins Sava Milyet and Alan Villanueva a combined sixty-eight, it may not stay too much longer), FC New Llama is a legitimate threat.

Key Player: David Haas

Carlton Hoover is aiming for a complete shakeup of his own FCNLII style, from defensive focus and determination to offensive firepower and athleticism. David Haas embodies this, $14 million dollars and a huge commitment to the 4-4-2 system (you can hardly get rid of a player of Haas or Long's caliber, unless it's via transfer window). If Haas succeeds, expect second or even a challenge for FC Vargas' throne. If not, expect fourth.

Prediction: Second

That offense tho.

FC Apple Valley

Colors: Red-and-black
Manager: Alex Matthews (5th year with FC Apple Valley, 6th year managing, forty-two years old)
Last Year: Fourth (36 pts.)
Predicted Starting Lineup (4-4-2):

Alex Matthews is well-known for his dual policies of "spend naught" and "build about twice as many youth academies as you need", and they've built Apple Valley up into a true contender. With such homegrown stars like Nick Gray (pilfered from Vargas at nineteen as soon as Matthews signed his contract), Alex Vytia (discovered on the U-15 squad and signed two years later), and Erin Lucas (sixteen when Matthews doled out $250,000 to pay her) augmented by Matthews' thrifty but effective foreign signings, Apple Valley features prominently in discussions about UICA qualifiers. But without a real superstar, Apple Valley relies on spirit and team chemistry to play well. How long can they survive before they're outspent?

Key Player: Gordon Kirkpatrick
Forget Jack Thomas: Kirkpatrick is the real anchorman of the offense. The team's best free-kick taker, the ex-FC Denison captain has been one of Matthews' few splurges since said manager arrived five years ago, Alex Matthews spending six million to have him. The striker has every offensive talent and is a true jack-of-all-trades. Extremely durable and hardworking, Kirkpatrick at twenty-eight could still be an Apple Valley mainstay for the next seven years.

Prediction: Fifth. The defense is too fragile and the offense, unlike the higher-spending weak-defense teams, will be unable to pick up the slack if there is an injury.

FC South Bryant

Colors: Turquoise-and-dark gray
Manager: Jason Jimenez (2nd year for FC South Bryant, 5th managing, forty-nine years old)
Last Year: Fifth (34 pts.)
Probable Starting Lineup (3-2-4-1)

With the season-long injury to thirty-three year old left-back Bill Alexander and the abrupt retirement of ex-star Curtis Matthews shortly before the end of the transfer window, Jason Jimenez's desperate scramble was fruitless and the defense suddenly had two gaping holes in it. To fill them, Jimenez disappointedly enlisted perennial benchwarmers Troy Holland and Chris Gennett in their stead. Who knows, maybe one will surprise - although we're understandably skeptical. Olympic star Sara Reykjavik at defensive halfback will need to spend far more time on her own half of the field, meaning the offense will suffer too. Still, the dangerous front line of Nikolaos Ruddington and Eric Cummings should staunch the bloodflow a bit, but we're doubtful that South Bryant can keep up their yearly contention for the UICA prize.

Key Player: Sara Reykjavik

Whether or not Reykjavik can adjust to a defensive game will make or break this team. When on her game, she can be everywhere on the field, impressing with brute brilliance rather than technical profundity. Can she focus more on defense, or will she force a one-year loan until the back line clears up?

Prediction: Seventh.

Pessimistic, we know, but I can't see them doing very well at all after the grenade went off in their defense.

FC Emerald Springs

Color: Emerald (srsly)
Manager: Erik Anderssen (3rd year with Emerald Springs, 10th year managing, fifty-two years old)
Last Year: Sixth (29 pts.)
Probable Starting Lineup (1-4-4-1):

So I had a coworker who hasn't been following closely. I showed him this roster and he said: "I have no idea who any of these people are." I was about to laugh at him when I realized I barely knew either. Then I looked them up and they were quite good. This is the mark of an Erik Anderssen team. They have a decent back line, with Hadrian Allen and Will Cross sharing the young defense's command duties. The midfield is passable, and Andrea Cullens in front is pretty good - this team could actually make a run for it.

Key Player: Adrian Sorenson

Sorenson, by trade a holding midfielder, excels at the counterattack, even at the age of thirty-five. In his last season, the pressure is on him to keep the offense flowing and to stop last year's disastrous run of one-nil losses.

Prediction: Fourth

It's not like anybody else is capable of doing it.

by **Super-Llamaland** » Sat Oct 18, 2014 9:24 am

FC Nikcoro

Colors: Blue-and-white
Manager: Bill Apush (2nd year with FC Nikcoro, 3rd year managing, fifty-two years old)
Last Year: Seventh (27 points)
Probable Formation (4-1-4-1):

Managerial newcomer Bill Apush scored big this transfer window, turning his already-strong defensive line into a brick wall. With star foreigners Kieva Vatal (Ceni) and Branko Jaanssen (Semarland) joining Olympic starter Erin Hendricks, up-and-comer Malcolm Bale (younger brother of Alex Bale, a NT defender playing in The Royal Barangay), and established right-back James Larsen to form one of the best defenses in the league. In place of the retiring Nelson Kirk, Apush chose to gamble on Marcus Denholm-Lebrovsky, an inconsistent enforcer with the potential to ascend to team captaincy. Up front, a solid halfback line plays mainly a supporting role for the brilliant Cristiano Barros, with creativity, agility, and stamina in spades, although the deadly Andrea Cunningham should not be discounted.

Key Player: Cristiano Barros

The defensive line is solid and the halfbacks get their share of goals, but Cristiano Barros is what keeps the front running. Seemingly never-tiring (he was subbed out of a total of three games last season), with the agility and stamina for his trademark dashes through the box as well as a never-ending supply of trick manuevers, Barros could challenge such foreign all-stars as David Haas, Connor Long, and Joe di Scampi for the scoring title.

Prediction: Sixth.

Never count out a team with brilliant players on both sides of the field. FC Nikcoro has the potential to finish much higher than this.

FC Denison

Colors: Silver-and-maroon
Manager: Miles Zhou (1st year with Denison, 3rd year managing, forty-one years old)
2014 Finish: Second (promoted, 51 points)
Expected starting lineup (4-2-4):

For all of Miles Zhou's defensive neglecting, this team has the potential for a top-five finish. Admittedly, for the manager who masterminded a championship as Carlton Hoover's assistant and then quit to manage in the Arendellenske leagues for two years, winning both times, top-five may not sound like much. But with a defensive line that's frighteningly capable, highlighted by the veteran Jurgen Schmidt and the teenage youth academy sensation Nick Vanguard, not to mention the dangerous quartet in the front: ex-FC Vargas star Lars Beckert, the SLL Beach Tigers' poster-girl and deadly shooter Vivian Fernandez, the next Darvalian NT striker Joe di Scampi, and Nepharan import Theo Michaels make up a sterling front line, backed up by the competent, if not spectacular pairing of Hendricks and Virnabono.

Key Player: Kevin Virnabono

As exciting as the front line may sound, FC Denison would be nowhere without their halfbacks. Kevin Virnabono, who often commands the offense, is a fine distributor, and on a team of full shooters he may be enlisted into emergency service quicker than needed. Can he adapt?

Prediction: Eighth. 4-2-4 isn't the best formation, but they could improve a lot from here. Although if you're wondering if the Northern secession will change this, don't! FC Denison won't leave for a while.

FC Talahita

Colors: Scarlet-and-gold
Manager: Lukas Neillsen (5th year with Talahita, 8th year managing, fifty-nine years old)
Last Year: Eighth (26 points)
Probable Formation (4-2-3-1):

The once-proud Talahitans don't look as good as they were before, but this isn't a team to bet against. With the surprisingly-developed Vekaiyun vulpine striker Yiisu Levinastr, who despite his prowess is just twenty-three, supported by ex-national team reserves Karl Montgomery and Lou Canamic and teenage sensation Russell Nightingale, who forced the transfer of Piers Neillsen to faraway Barunia, the offense looks solid. In the back, Lucas Bennett has the help of a young back line whose average age is just over twenty-three. With Bradley Pierce bought from Pine Island and the constant threat of Carson Bogusevic, not to mention cunning holding mid Tyler Zhou, who takes from Neillsen the captain's armband, the team should be able to do something of note this year until injuries cripple them again.

Key Player: Lou Canamic. The right-halfback has the potential to become a key piece on the right flank, supporting Nightingale and Levinastr, or he could be an oft-injured ball hog in the mold of previous seasons. Should he break out and show what made him a U-21 starter, the team could perform far better than expected. We doubt it.

Prediction: Ninth. I'm not sure they have it. If they do, they'll end up in sixth or higher.

FC Rogers

Colors: Forest green-and-white
Last Year: Ninth (25 points)
Manager: Nikola Vladovic (First year with Rogers, first year managing, forty-six years old
Probable Starting Lineup (4-2-2-2):

With improvements in youth-scouting and worldwide transfer systems, as well as the desire to get younger and better that every manager has, it is likely that this will be one of the last teams in the LFL ever to have an average age of 28.3.

No, seriously. There is not one number in the 4-2-2-2 that does not need a part replaced because of age. Whether it's Animaxiander Sagan, the beach soccer hero and thirty-three year old, Eric Belfast, the key to the midfield who is also thirty-five, Alec Jefferson, whose knees are beginning to lose function, or just the fact that you can find five guys over twenty-nine on the team without even looking at the bench. Nikola Vladovic, who replaced the fired "experience be good" Stephen Bartlett, who is now managing in Tree Death, has a tough job, and so does this team.

Key Player: Annabeth Kudlowski. Kudlowski has shown the potential to get on the NT. "But the national team is only men!" Exactly. With this defense, she'll need to be consistently great in order to not bleed goals. Expect a transfer or a loan if Vladovic can't get something together.

Prediction: Eleventh. FC Rogers needs rebuilding. The sad thing about rebuilding is that it requires a copious amount of time spent in the lower divisions, and usually a copious amount of managers as well.

FC Ruby Falls
Colors: Ruby-and-gold
Manager: Curtis Chen (Seventh year at FC Ruby Falls, Eighth year managing, Fifty-one years old)
Last Year: Ninth (25 points)
Expected Starting Lineup (2-3-3-2):

So right off of the uncommonly-old FC Rogers, we get the uncommonly-young FC Ruby Falls, whose average age is 22.3 - six years less than FC Rogers. Why? you might ask. It's simple - FC Ruby Falls is FC Rogers in five years if they can rebuild. The team is beginning to come out of a long slump, with homebred stars of the Abby Christensen and Brittany Nye variety all being called up to the senior team. FC Ruby is admittedly low on foreigners, with Equestrian free-transfer Descent Curtis Chen's only international "purchase" this year, and that was just a courtesy tip. It's a well-balanced team, but their lack of experience might kick in this year and I don't see them contending for a while.

Key Player: Derek Kirkpatrick

Kirkpatrick is one of the few team veterans, despite being younger than the average FC Rogers player: he's enjoyed a decent eight-year career in the LFL, and only recently come to mentor the team offense with Will Jamison. Unlike Jamison, he's had some stellar years with FC Vargas in his youth, and could bring far more experience if he opens up. A few knee injuries have shot his hopes at making it back to the NT fast-track, but he's still a solid player who could change the dynamic of both offense and defense.

Prediction: Tenth

The rebuild is complete with the retirement of ex-captain Zachary Bogusevic, but it won't show effects for a while.

FC Dinschria

Colors: White-and-black-and-navy
Manager: Allen Chavez
Last Year: First (promoted, 60 points)
Probable Starting Lineup (4-4-1-1):

Often called an Arendellenske-Llamanean crossbreed for the sheer volume of Arendellenske-esques or immigrants living in Dinschria (the stadium, annoyingly, is on Dinschria Isle, half a mile off Dinschria City's coast, which is separated from the mainland by one of the world's narrowest channels, and Dinschria City itself is hardly mainland - but I digress), FC Dinschria tends to alternate good and bad seasons, which, annoyingly, gets them relegated every other year and promoted every other year (if you reverse the phenomenon - starting with a good season whilst promoted - you get one year of good football in the top league...followed by Dinschria). We're on track for a bad season, made worse by the fact that they no longer have any star players.

Key Player: Alicia Ferguson. Ericcson and Ramirez are important, sure, but Ferguson is what really holds the team together. With a great lower-level track record and a U-18 scoring title at seventeen - despite the fact that she isn't really a pure scorer - she is Dinschria's one flare out of flip-flop purgatory.

Prediction: Twelfth. The pattern continues.

And that's every preview! Let the season - begin!

by **Super-Llamaland** » Sat Oct 25, 2014 5:31 pm

Weeks 1 - 11: Review

MATCHDAY 1
FC Vargas 2-0 FC Denison
New Llama Cyclones 3-0 FC Dinschria
FC New Llama 6-0 FC Ruby Falls
FC Apple Valley 3-1 FC Rogers
South Bryant FC 1-1 FC Talahita
FC Emerald Springs 0-0 FC Nikcoro

MATCHDAY 2
FC Dinschria 0-3 FC Vargas
FC Ruby Falls 1-0 FC Denison
FC Rogers 1-7 New Llama Cyclones
FC Talahita 3-1 FC New Llama
FC Nikcoro 1-1 FC Apple Valley
FC Emerald Springs 1-0 South Bryant FC

MATCHDAY 3
FC Vargas 0-0 FC Ruby Falls
FC Dinschria 0-0 FC Rogers
FC Denison 2-2 FC Talahita
New Llama Cyclones 1-1 FC Nikcoro
FC New Llama 4-0 FC Emerald Springs
FC Apple Valley 1-0 South Bryant FC

MATCHDAY 4
FC Rogers 0-3 FC Vargas
FC Talahita 1-2 FC Ruby Falls
FC Nikcoro 1-1 FC Dinschria
FC Emerald Springs 2-0 FC Denison
South Bryant FC 0-0 New Llama Cyclones
FC Apple Valley 0-1 FC New Llama

MATCHDAY 5
FC Vargas 2-2 FC Talahita
FC Rogers 2-2 FC Nikcoro
FC Ruby Falls 1-4 FC Emerald Springs
FC Dinschria 0-1 South Bryant FC
FC Denison 2-0 FC Apple Valley
New Llama Cyclones 1-2 FC New Llama

MATCHDAY 6
FC Nikcoro 0-3 FC Vargas
FC Emerald Springs 4-1 FC Talahita
South Bryant FC 0-2 FC Rogers
FC Apple Valley 1-1 FC Ruby Falls
FC New Llama 2-0 FC Dinschria
New Llama Cyclones 2-1 FC Denison

MATCHDAY 7
FC Vargas 3-2 FC Emerald Springs
FC Nikcoro 1-0 South Bryant FC
FC Talahita 3-1 FC Apple Valley
FC Rogers 2-2 FC New Llama
FC Ruby Falls 3-1 New Llama Cyclones
FC Dinschria 1-3 FC Denison

MATCHDAY 8
South Bryant FC 0-1 FC Vargas
FC Apple Valley 2-2 FC Emerald Springs
FC New Llama 1-0 FC Nikcoro
New Llama Cyclones 3-2 FC Talahita
FC Denison 1-0 FC Rogers
FC Dinschria 2-2 FC Ruby Falls

MATCHDAY 9
FC Vargas 3-2 FC Apple Valley
South Bryant FC 0-1 FC New Llama
FC Emerald Springs 0-0 New Llama Cyclones
FC Nikcoro 0-2 FC Denison
FC Talahita 0-0 FC Dinschria
FC Rogers 0-2 FC Ruby Falls

MATCHDAY 10
FC New Llama 0-4 FC Vargas
New Llama Cyclones 3-0 FC Apple Valley
FC Denison 6-1 South Bryant FC
FC Dinschria 2-8 FC Emerald Springs
FC Ruby Falls 2-2 FC Nikcoro
FC Rogers 0-2 FC Talahita

MATCHDAY 11
FC Vargas 1-1 New Llama Cyclones
FC New Llama 1-0 FC Denison
FC Apple Valley 4-1 FC Dinschria
South Bryant FC 3-1 FC Ruby Falls
FC Emerald Springs 6-2 FC Rogers
FC Nikcoro 2-1 FC Talahita

LFL Standings

Team                     P  W  D  L For  Ag  +/- Pts
  1 FC Vargas               11  8  3  0  25   7  +18  27
  2 FC New Llama            11  8  1  2  21  10  +11  25
  3 FC Emerald Springs      11  6  3  2  29  15  +14  21
  4 New Llama Cyclones      11  5  4  2  22  11  +11  19
  5 FC Denison              11  5  1  5  17  12   +5  16
  6 FC Ruby Falls           11  4  4  3  15  20   -5  16
  7 FC Talahita             11  3  4  4  18  18   +0  13
  8 FC Apple Valley         11  3  3  5  15  18   -3  12
  9 FC Nikcoro              11  2  6  3  10  14   -4  12
 10 South Bryant FC         11  2  2  7   6  15   -9   8
 11 FC Rogers               11  1  3  7  10  28  -18   6
 12 FC Dinschria            11  0  4  7   7  27  -20   4

by **Super-Llamaland** » Wed Nov 19, 2014 8:18 pm

LFL HALFTIME REPORT

FC VARGAS

Gained- CB Allen Marsh (28, FC Hovedstad, ARN) , RB Derek Alcantara (26, FC New Llama)
Lost- --NONE--
Standings- 8W3D0L, twenty-seven points (first)

Well, you can't say they got worse. While a few internationals they were looking for went elsewhere (or not at all), and they never stood a chance in the Annabeth Kudlowski Sweepstakes, they still managed to pick up some minor improvements, the best of which included swiping right-back Derek Alcantara from their New Llama competitors. Vargas won't stay unbeaten long, but they should be able to eke out a narrow victory.

FC NEW LLAMA

Gained- RB Mitsuharu Eri (23, Kandorith), LM Tsukamoto Nichiren (17, Kazamatsuri)
Lost- RM Albert Cora (31, to Apple Valley), RB Derek Alcantara (26, to FC Vargas)
Standings- 8W1D2L, twenty-five points (second)

In stark contrast to Vargas, Carlton Hoover's revitalized FC New Llama team sped into second place, matching Vargas win for win and staying only two points behind. And soon after that, their path to the league championship seemed cemented with the additions of foreigners Nichiren and Eri. Of course, dealing out their captain, Albert Cora, might not prove wise - we predict a hiccup, and a hiccup is just long enough for them to stay in second.

FC EMERALD SPRINGS

Gained- DM Jorge Sanchez (23, FC Ruby Falls)
Lost- CB Will Cross (21, to FC Emerald Springs U21)
Standings- 6W3D2L, twenty-one points (third)

Wow, Emerald Springs did literally nothing. Aside from picking up the disgruntled Jorge Sanchez (they replaced me with a former U-21 champion who will probably captain the side! How could they!?!?!?), all they did was drop a defender to make room for him. Naturally, many will consider Will Cross the wrong choice - but it won't really matter after that stunning series of blowouts. Tied for fifth - they have to fall sometimes, even if they are doing well.
NEW LLAMA CYCLONES

Gained- --NONE--
Lost- --NONE--
Standings- 5W4D2L, nineteen points (fourth)

Of course, while Emerald Springs did literally nothing, they were in fact just figuratively doing nothing. If you really wanted to do nothing, Erik Anderssen, you should've done something like David Russell's Cyclones and actually done nothing. Of course, this is all banter. The Cyclones have a decent core, Eric Hoover should've been far better, and I can see them dropping to fifth if that doesn't change quickly.

FC DENISON

Gained- ST Daniel Niemi (25, Hakifao), GK Hector Ferly (21, Kernansquillec), CM Alicia Ferguson (21, from FC Dinschria)
Lost- GK Joseph Fitzgerald (26, to FC Hovedstad (ARN)), ST Theo Michaels (22, to FC Los Juantos (LFL-B)), RM Kevin Virnabono (31, to FC South Bryant)
Standings- 5W1D5L, sixteen points (T-fifth)

That moment when you take a 4 - 2 - 4 and try to deal out the midfield for stronger attackers. Denison's plan would have fallen apart if they had failed to get Alicia Ferguson - dealing Virnabono was extremely risky. But their wheeling and dealing paid off, and they made three large improvements - Ferguson for Virnabono, Niemi for Michaels, and Ferly for Fitzgerald. I can see them in third with a hint of luck.

FC RUBY FALLS

Gained- L/CB Ragnar Asbjorn (22, Furellum)
Lost- DM Jorge Sanchez (23, to FC Emerald Springs)
Standings- 4W4D3L, sixteen points (T-fifth)

Only one swap, but certainly a good one. Dealing away the incompetent Jorge Sanchez is good, but when you couple it with buying Ragnar Asbjorn - one of the best players in Furellum - things are certainly looking up. Fourth.

FC TALAHITA

Gained- CM Rupert Anderssen (20, from FC Dincshria), RM Juln Mnng (22, New Drakonika)
Lost- DM Jay Hughes (36, retirement)
Standings- 3W4D4L, thirteen points (seventh)

Not much to see here; just fixing up the midfield. They'll stumble and then move on - I see seventh in their future, although Anderssen and Mnng are both talented, they're starting to look a bit crowded and Russell Nightingale really shouldn't be this good.

FC APPLE VALLEY

Gained- RM Albert Cora (31, from FC New Llama)
Lost- --NONE--
Standings- 3W3D5L, twelve points (T-eighth)

What a disaster, and adding Albert Cora's veteran presence will only change that a little. They'll need to fix themselves quickly, but they didn't make enough changes for that. Ninth.

FC NIKCORO

Gained- --NONE--
Lost- --NONE--
Standings- 2W6D3L, twelve points (T-eighth)

After drawing six times in the first eleven games, there's reason to believe that Nikcoro, especially since that dangerous left-side trio of Barros, Denholm-Lebrovsky, and Cunningham, will improve, but they're already in a rut and will need to make ground quickly. Eighth.

SOUTH BRYANT FC

Gained- RM Kevin Virnabono (31, FC Denison), RB Adrian Rakatoronina (23, Racao)
Lost- LB Troy Adrian and RB Chris Gennett (Released)
Standings- 2W2D7L, eight points (tenth)

South Bryant improved greatly at face value, but Virnabono crowds the midfield instead of adding to the defense, and the Racaoan Rakatoronina can only do so much. Tenth.

FC ROGERS

Gained- GK Knut Ré (28, Sandwich Territories), LM Sven Murdock (23, FC Dinschria)
Lost- LB James Almora (23, FC Dinschria), LB Kenneth Milano (28, FC Synellebørg, Vjaalsbürg), GK Annabeth Kudlowski (26, FC Apple Valley)
Standings- 1W3D7L, six points (eleventh)

FC DINSCHRIA

Gained- CM Eleuterio Ortiz (24, Masseau), CAM Sebastian Lindberg (29, Vjaalsbürg), LB James Almora (23, FC Rogers)
Lost- CM Alicia Ferguson (21, FC Denison) CM Rupert Anderssen (20, FC Talahita) LM Sven Murdock (23, to FC Rogers)
Standings- 0W4D7L, four points (twelfth)

by **Super-Llamaland** » Thu Nov 20, 2014 3:46 pm

LIST OF TRANSFERS

International Window (24 hours)

RB Ximo Chavarría (Masseau) to FC South Bryant for $4.55m
CM Eleuterio Ortiz (Masseau) to FC Dinschria for $5m
ST Daniel Niemi (Hakifao) to FC Denison for $3.5m
RB Andrian Rakotonirina (Racao) to FC South Bryant for $5.5m
GK Knut Ré (Sandwich Territories) to FC Rogers for $2.75m
LCB Ragnar Asbjorn (Furellum) to FC Ruby Falls for $11.5m
RB Mitsuharu Eri (Kandorith) to FC New Llama for $8.5m
RM Juln Mnng (New Drakonika) to FC Talahita for $5m
LM Tsukamoto Nichiren (Kazamatsuri) to FC New Llama for $8m
CAM Sebastian Lindberg (Vjaalsbürg) to FC Dinschria for $5.6m
GK Hector Ferly (Kernansquillec) to FC Denison for $5m

Domestic Window (longer)

RB Derek Alcantara, 26, from FC New Llama Cyclones to FC Vargas for $3.5m
GK Joseph Fitzgerald, 26, from FC Denison to FC Hovedstad (ARN) for $2.75m
ST Theo Michaels, 22, from FC Denison to FC Los Juantos (LFL-B) for $2.25m
LB Sven Murdock, 23, from FC Dinschria to FC Rogers for LB James Almora, 23
LM Tyson Hendricks, 30, from FC Denison to FC Talahita for $5.25m (later sent back for $5.3m)
RM Kevin Virnabono, 31, from FC Denison to FC South Bryant for $6.15m
DM Jay Hughes, 36, announces his retirement from FC Talahita to a giant floating coconut in the tropics.
RM Albert Cora, 31, from FC New Llama to FC Apple Valley for $6.75m
DM Jorge Sanchez, 23, from FC Ruby Falls to FC Emerald Springs for $2.1m
CB Will Cross, 21, from FC Emerald Springs to FC Emerald Springs U-21 for $350k
LB Troy Adrian and RB Chris Gennett of FC South Bryant released
GK Annabeth Kudlowski, 26, from FC Rogers to FC Apple Valley for $9.75m
CM Alicia Ferguson, 21, from FC Dinschria to FC Denison for $11.8m
LB Kenneth Milano, 28, from FC Rogers to FC Synellebørg (VJA) for $300k
CM Rupert Anderssen, 20, from FC Dinschria to FC Talahita for $5.7m
CB Allen Marsh, 28, from FC Hovedstad (ARN) to FC Vargas for $1m

by **Super-Llamaland** » Tue Nov 25, 2014 6:27 pm

LFL HALFTIME REPORT - GOALS TALLY

Clements 1, Walquist 1, Kirkpatrick 3, Cross 2, Boughs 1, Smythe 3, Norbert 3, del Olmo 7, Lucas 1, Barnes 6, Mihaylov 6, Haas 5, Marchond 1, Cullens 3, T. Michaels 3, Beckert 3, Sanchez 1, Michaels 2, Long 5, Moyer 1, Cora 3, Alcantara 1, Zhou 1, Mills 11, Nye 1, Belfast 1, Christensen 1, Ericcson 2, T Wade 1, Norman 2, Lucas 2, Vytia 3, Levinastr 10, Sanchez 1, Marchond 1, C. Matthews 4, Jamison 5, Hoover 8, Walden 6, Park 1, Montgomery 2, Gennett 1, A. Jefferson 3, Canamic 2, Sorenson 2, George 5, Myers-Briggs 3, Nightingale 4, Barros 7, Alves 3, Norman 1, Kirkpatrick 4, Jimenez 1, di Scampi 6, Fernandez 1, A Cunningham 1, Eñoni 1, Nicaragua 3, Murdock 1, Punto 2, Nye 1, Virnabono 1, Hendricks 1, Reykjavik 1, Watkins 4, Ferguson 2, Denholm-Lebrovsky 1, Piers 1, Ruddington 3, Sanchez 1, Harris 1

TOP TEN:

MILLS, Alex - CM - EMERALD SPRINGS - 20 YRS OLD (11)
LEVINASTR, Yiisu - ST - TALAHITA - 19 YRS OLD (10)
HOOVER, Eric - ST - CYCLONES - 29 YRS OLD (8)
DEL OLMO, Jaime - AM - NEW LLAMA - 25 YRS OLD (7)
BARROS, Cristiano - ST - NIKCORO - 29 YRS OLD (7)
DI SCAMPI, Joe - ST - DENISON - 17 YRS OLD (6)
WALDEN, Frank - DM - VARGAS - 27 YRS OLD (6)
MIHAYLOV, Iiro - CM - NEW LLAMA - 24 YRS OLD (6)
BARNES, Alex - RM - CYCLONES - 25 YRS OLD (6)
HAAS, David - ST - NEW LLAMA - 23 YRS OLD (5)
LONG, Connor - ST - NEW LLAMA - 29 YRS OLD (5)
HANES, George - LM - EMERALD SPRINGS - 29 YRS OLD (5)

by **Super-Llamaland** » Tue Dec 09, 2014 5:29 pm

MATCHDAY 12
FC Denison 1-4 FC Vargas
FC Dinschria 1-1 New Llama Cyclones
FC Ruby Falls 0-3 FC New Llama
FC Rogers 0-0 FC Apple Valley
FC Talahita 1-0 South Bryant FC
FC Nikcoro 2-1 FC Emerald Springs
MATCHDAY 13
FC Vargas 3-0 FC Dinschria
FC Denison 0-1 FC Ruby Falls
New Llama Cyclones 3-0 FC Rogers
FC New Llama 0-1 FC Talahita
FC Apple Valley 2-0 FC Nikcoro
South Bryant FC 0-0 FC Emerald Springs
MATCHDAY 14
FC Ruby Falls 3-5 FC Vargas
FC Rogers 0-0 FC Dinschria
FC Talahita 0-2 FC Denison
FC Nikcoro 3-0 New Llama Cyclones
FC Emerald Springs 0-3 FC New Llama
South Bryant FC 2-2 FC Apple Valley
MATCHDAY 15
FC Vargas 2-0 FC Rogers
FC Ruby Falls 4-0 FC Talahita
FC Dinschria 0-2 FC Nikcoro
FC Denison 2-1 FC Emerald Springs
New Llama Cyclones 1-1 South Bryant FC
FC New Llama 2-1 FC Apple Valley
MATCHDAY 16
FC Talahita 4-1 FC Vargas
FC Nikcoro 0-0 FC Rogers
FC Emerald Springs 0-0 FC Ruby Falls
South Bryant FC 0-1 FC Dinschria
FC Apple Valley 1-1 FC Denison
FC New Llama 1-1 New Llama Cyclones
MATCHDAY 17
FC Vargas 2-3 FC Nikcoro
FC Talahita 1-1 FC Emerald Springs
FC Rogers 1-6 South Bryant FC
FC Ruby Falls 0-3 FC Apple Valley
FC Dinschria 1-1 FC New Llama
FC Denison 0-1 New Llama Cyclones
MATCHDAY 18
FC Emerald Springs 1-0 FC Vargas
South Bryant FC 0-1 FC Nikcoro
FC Apple Valley 3-1 FC Talahita
FC New Llama 4-1 FC Rogers
New Llama Cyclones 4-0 FC Ruby Falls
FC Denison 4-0 FC Dinschria
MATCHDAY 19
FC Vargas 1-0 South Bryant FC
FC Emerald Springs 4-1 FC Apple Valley
FC Nikcoro 0-3 FC New Llama
FC Talahita 0-4 New Llama Cyclones
FC Rogers 2-1 FC Denison
FC Ruby Falls 0-2 FC Dinschria

LFL Standings

    Team                     P   W  D   L For  Ag  +/- Pts
  1 FC Vargas               19  13  3   3  43  19  +24  42
  2 FC New Llama            19  13  3   3  38  15  +23  42
  3 New Llama Cyclones      19   9  7   3  37  17  +20  34
  4 FC Emerald Springs      19   8  6   5  37  24  +13  30
  5 FC Nikcoro              19   7  7   5  21  22   -1  28
  6 FC Denison              19   8  2   9  28  22   +6  26
  7 FC Apple Valley         19   6  6   7  28  28   +0  24
  8 FC Talahita             19   6  5   8  26  33   -7  23
  9 FC Ruby Falls           19   6  5   8  23  37  -14  23
 10 South Bryant FC         19   3  5  11  15  23   -8  14
 11 FC Dinschria            19   2  7  10  12  38  -26  13
 12 FC Rogers               19   2  6  11  14  44  -30  12

by **Super-Llamaland** » Tue Dec 09, 2014 5:31 pm

MATCHDAY 20
FC Apple Valley 1-3 FC Vargas
FC New Llama 1-0 South Bryant FC
New Llama Cyclones 0-1 FC Emerald Springs
FC Denison 2-1 FC Nikcoro
FC Dinschria 0-3 FC Talahita
FC Ruby Falls 0-1 FC Rogers

LFL Standings

    Team                     P   W  D   L For  Ag  +/- Pts
  1 FC Vargas               20  14  3   3  46  20  +26  45
  2 FC New Llama            20  14  3   3  39  15  +24  45
  3 New Llama Cyclones      20   9  7   4  37  18  +19  34
  4 FC Emerald Springs      20   9  6   5  38  24  +14  33
  5 FC Denison              20   9  2   9  30  23   +7  29
  6 FC Nikcoro              20   7  7   6  22  24   -2  28
  7 FC Talahita             20   7  5   8  29  33   -4  26
  8 FC Apple Valley         20   6  6   8  29  31   -2  24
  9 FC Ruby Falls           20   6  5   9  23  38  -15  23
 10 FC Rogers               20   3  6  11  15  44  -29  15
 11 South Bryant FC         20   3  5  12  15  24   -9  14
 12 FC Dinschria            20   2  7  11  12  41  -29  13

MATCHDAY 21
FC Vargas 0-3 FC New Llama
FC Apple Valley 1-1 New Llama Cyclones
South Bryant FC 0-1 FC Denison
FC Emerald Springs 1-0 FC Dinschria
FC Nikcoro 1-0 FC Ruby Falls
FC Talahita 1-0 FC Rogers

LFL Standings

    Team                     P   W  D   L For  Ag  +/- Pts
  1 FC New Llama            21  15  3   3  42  15  +27  48
  2 FC Vargas               21  14  3   4  46  23  +23  45
  3 FC Emerald Springs      21  10  6   5  39  24  +15  36
  4 New Llama Cyclones      21   9  8   4  38  19  +19  35
  5 FC Denison              21  10  2   9  31  23   +8  32
  6 FC Nikcoro              21   8  7   6  23  24   -1  31
  7 FC Talahita             21   8  5   8  30  33   -3  29
  8 FC Apple Valley         21   6  7   8  30  32   -2  25
  9 FC Ruby Falls           21   6  5  10  23  39  -16  23
 10 FC Rogers               21   3  6  12  15  45  -30  15
 11 South Bryant FC         21   3  5  13  15  25  -10  14
 12 FC Dinschria            21   2  7  12  12  42  -30  13

MATCHDAY 22
New Llama Cyclones 1-1 FC Vargas
FC Denison 1-0 FC New Llama
FC Dinschria 0-2 FC Apple Valley
FC Ruby Falls 2-2 South Bryant FC
FC Rogers 2-4 FC Emerald Springs
FC Talahita 2-0 FC Nikcoro

LFL Standings

    Team                     P   W  D   L For  Ag  +/- Pts
  1 FC New Llama            22  15  3   4  42  16  +26  48
  2 FC Vargas               22  14  4   4  47  24  +23  46
  3 FC Emerald Springs      22  11  6   5  43  26  +17  39
  4 New Llama Cyclones      22   9  9   4  39  20  +19  36
  5 FC Denison              22  11  2   9  32  23   +9  35
  6 FC Talahita             22   9  5   8  32  33   -1  32
  7 FC Nikcoro              22   8  7   7  23  26   -3  31
  8 FC Apple Valley         22   7  7   8  32  32   +0  28
  9 FC Ruby Falls           22   6  6  10  25  41  -16  24
 10 South Bryant FC         22   3  6  13  17  27  -10  15
 11 FC Rogers               22   3  6  13  17  49  -32  15
 12 FC Dinschria            22   2  7  13  12  44  -32  13

by **Super-Llamaland** » Thu Feb 19, 2015 9:21 pm

Randomly imported stars. Overly expensive teams. Occasionally good matches. Get ready for THE FIFTH SEASON OF THE LFL.

Where we Left Off - When the LFL season ended a few months ago, it was FC New Llama to narrowly edge out Vargas in a two-way race to the end. With an exciting three-nil rout in the dying embers of the season, New Llama's second-half comeback was sealed, as was Vargas' fate. Meanwhile, while FC Emerald Springs qualified for the second Globe Cup spot comfortably, the race for the final UICA position was equally close - but in the end, the New Llama Cyclones edged out FC Denison by a single point, Talahita and Nikcoro finishing close behind as well.

At the Champions' Cup, league champions FC New Llama faced up against a relatively new Northbrook club from the Western Borderlands, winning one-two, three-one. However, after a surprise one-nil upset, a two-nil loss meant that FC New Llama was seen out of the Champions' Cup by famous Nepharim club AFC Treason. This followed with an embarrassing four-one defeat in the Globe Cup playoffs at the hands of Real Cintore of the Royal Barangay, although pride was somewhat salvaged with a two-one victory in the second match. All in all, while FC New Llama's performance was mediocre, nobody realistically expected them to beat AFC Treason and their play was mostly admirable.

In the first round of the Globe Cup, Peidimont St-Peters, a Chiatan team, was absolutely humiliated by the New Llama Cyclones, six-to-one aggregate with the Cyclones scoring thrice in both matches. In round two, the Cyclones continued their hot streak, defeating Mangolana City narrowly (3-2, 2-1) and advancing undefeated to the next round. Meanwhile, FC Vargas edged out Greater Watford's Bovingdon FC 1-2, 1-0, only winning on away goals. Unfortunately, Emerald Springs ruined the streak by losing, shut out twice in a row, to Apox's Urbanista - conceding five goals in two matches was certainly not how they expected to go out.

But while Vargas faltered against another Watfordian club, Leavesden Rovers FC, two-nil, nil-nil, the Cyclones beat Dainer's Estrela D'Alva four-three aggregate, winning the first match two-one and holding on to draw the second to advance undefeated after three rounds. This put them in an exciting two-round playoff against Buyan's Tjelberg Forening with the chance to advance to the Globe Cup beyond or possibly beside their New Llama brethren. Of course, they promptly lost two-one in consecutive matches.

In the end, two Globe Cup playoff contestants is a cheering sign. Can the Llamaneans top this feat in the next UICA cycle? We'll just have to wait and see...

all logos designed by Meski Sports
THE HEAVYWEIGHTS

FC New Llama
Last Year - First (48 pts.)
Colors - Navy-and-white
Manager - Carlton Hoover (22nd year, 16th with club, sixty-two years old)
In - Josva Svensson (from FC Denison)
Out - DM Alan Villanueva (retirement)

Expected Starting Lineup (3-2-3-2)

Carlton Hoover's finally brought the Penbrooke Cup back to New Llama City, but after such a storied season New Llama hasn't really done much. Megan Carlson will be relied upon again to stop goals, although the defense, lead by Kandorith NTer Mitsuharu Eri, is far stronger this year. The retirement of Alan Villanueva stings, but Josva Svensson is a competent replacement and might make up for the fact that Sava Milyet may no longer have knees. The midfield is strong - James Moyer has lost a few steps but not his innate playmaking touch, Nichiren is a dynamic star from Kazamatsuri, and the Polaaskani Mihaylov's field vision and space-creating ability have blossomed. But the crown jewel of this team, at least money-wise, is still the attack, with two NTers from up-and-coming nations, David Haas of Quebec and Connor Long of Jeckland, both fiendish strikers who should challenge for the golden boot. They haven't changed nearly as much as they did last year, but this is still a team to watch out for. PREDICTION - SECOND

FC Vargas
Last Year - Second (46 pts.)
Colors - Green-and-white
Manager - Michael Niemitz (13th year, 1st with club, fifty-one years old)
In: CB Roland O'Tour (McKleigh), DM Dylan Hall (Blouman Empire), LM Caleb Horas (Star United States), ST Pech Schyating (HopNation)
Out: LM Kyle Smythe, ST Aaron Norbert, DM Frank Walden

Expected Starting Lineup (1-4-4-1):

I suppose that's one way to try to win a championship. After a disappointing second-place finish, nobody could've expected that manager Aaron Mendelev, after securing Caleb Horas and Roland O'Tour for the team, would have abruptly decided to take a one-year sabbatical. In his place, the team management brought in famed Eirelian club coach Michael Niemitz. This proved to be an interesting choice, as it indicates that they won't be welcoming their longtime manager back. Niemitz then proceeded to spend over forty million dollars on HopTonian striker Pech Schyating, snapping up one of the greatest talents on the ninth-ranked team in the world. He then followed by getting Bloumani halfback Dylan Hall to play alongside Ben Wayne.

Of course, all of these international replacements meant that they lost three of their best players - Smythe, Walden, and Norbert - but the raw talent of Schyating, savvy playmaking of Hall, paciness of Horas, and defensive skill of O'Tour (with Carlton Schmidt inexplicably agreeing to stay as a backup)

In the front, Candace Matthews is solid, Emile Marchond is doing fairly well for such a young age despite some minor offseason injuries, and Jaime del Olmo is coming off a Golden Boot in his first year in the league. This team looks like a contender, but if they can't bring home a cup, there'll be a crisis financially. PREDICTION - FIRST

THE CHALLENGERS
FC Emerald Springs
Last Year - Third (39 pts.)
Colors - Emerald
Manager - Stanislas Bogusevic (1st year with Emerald Springs, 8th year managing, fifty-six years old)
In: L-CDM Ernest Laboucane (Quebec), LM Elmar Knutsen (Quebec), CAM William Corriander (Quebec)
Out: LM George Hanes, CB Will Cross

Expected Starting Lineup (4-2-3-1):

Emerald Springs has a new look this year under the guidance of new manager Stanislas Bogusevic, a Helvetican with experience in Arøndeshölm and Eirelia. Adopting a 4-2-3-1 that looks shaky at best with no right-winger and two of the best center-attacking midfielders in the league, nevertheless he inherits an Emerald team that seems solid as ever coming off a third-place finish. Keeper AJ Ramires is nationally capped and Hadrian Allen and Sagan Myers-Briggs lead a solid bunch in the back. Laboucane and Watkins are decent enough holding midfielders, but nothing special - although you can't doubt the Quebecois' experienced. Alex Mills almost won the golden boot last year, and flanked by more Quebecois (Corriander and Knutsen) he should have a decent chance at it again, and Andrea Cullens in striker is vicious on the run. This team looks as good as ever, but with the Cyclones and Denison knocking at their door they may disappoint. PREDICTION - FOURTH
New Llama Cyclones
Last Year - 36 pts. (fourth)
Colors - Turquoise-and-green
Manager - David Russell (12th year, 9th with NLC, sixty-four years old)
In: LB Junice Alcade (Quebec), LM Frans Laurensen (Polaaskan)
Out: LB Eñoni (retirement), LM Wayne Carter

Expected Starting Lineup (5-4-1 diamond):

The 5-4-1 diamond David Russell has opted to go with seems like a surrender for one of the greatest resistors to the mid-2000s trend. But you can't argue it's a fairly good team for the formation - one powerful striker, Eric Hoover, with a decent enough bunch of halfbacks to play the diamond. Sweeper Adam Bay leads a defense stingier than last year, with three young internationals between him and aging-but-strong captain AJ Gennett. In the front, the midfield is a bit - more than a bit, actually - old, with Laurensen and Walden both pushing the mid-30s, but flanked by Barnes and Montgomery they should have enough room to create plays - Montgomery in particular will be a glad recipient of many of their passes. In the front, Eric Hoover is the prototypical star striker and the best thing to come out of their youth system in quite a few years. PREDICTION - THIRD

FC Denison
Last Year -
Colors -
Manager -
In:
Out:

Expected Starting Lineup (1-4-4-1):
FC Nikcoro
Last Year -
Colors -
Manager -
In:
Out:

Expected Starting Lineup (1-4-4-1):

THE REST OF THE BUNCH

1 FC New Llama 22 15 3 4 42 16 +26 48
2 FC Vargas 22 14 4 4 47 24 +23 46
3 FC Emerald Springs 22 11 6 5 43 26 +17 39
4 New Llama Cyclones 22 9 9 4 39 20 +19 36
5 FC Denison 22 11 2 9 32 23 +9 35
6 FC Talahita 22 9 5 8 32 33 -1 32
7 FC Nikcoro 22 8 7 7 23 26 -3 31
8 FC Apple Valley 22 7 7 8 32 32 +0 28
9 FC Ruby Falls 22 6 6 10 25 41 -16 24
10 South Bryant FC 22 3 6 13 17 27 -10 15
11 FC Rogers 22 3 6 13 17 49 -32 15
12 FC Dinschria 22 2 7 13 12 44 -32 13

by **Super-Llamaland** » Fri Jul 01, 2016 3:25 pm

SEASON I PREVIEW

Llamanean fans have waited a long time for this to happen. After years of disorganization and corruption, Aaron Brandt and the rest of the FA have finally gotten their act together to create a new league. SuperLLeague promises fun-to-watch play and seems to strike the right balance between promising domestic players and high-profile imports. Eight of Super-Llamaland's finest teams - from Kyrinson to Los Juantos - duke it out for the ultimate prize over a 21-game season. Who will bring the trophy home for the first time in a decade?

AFC Ruby
Manager: David Russell (+2.5); Stadium: Falls Field (28,500); Colors: Ruby and Silver; Formation: 4-4-2
GK: Claudia Kelly [C] (#01, 33, BRE), Emily Kouzmanoff (#13, 19)
Defense: Jane Walden (#02, 26), Chris Myers-Briggs (#03, 22), Justine Love (#06, 30), Marcelo Ferreira (#05, 31), Morgan Lewicki (#17, 28), Eric Springer (#18, 30)
Midfield: Cameron Petridis (#10, 24), Seleste Yu (#07, 29), James Hennessey (#28, 35), Michael Kennedy (#08, 28), Geraldine DeGrom (#20, 34), Kurt Riedel (#17, 35)
Forward: Felix Prowse (#09, 34, BRE), Michael Beeler (#11, 18), Immanuel Petrarch (#22, 25), Emory Byrne (#20, 29)

Despite being relatively underfunded, AFC Ruby still has managed to build a decent team that could challenge for a spot in the Globe Cup. First came the surprise signing of manager David Russell, freshly returned from Gloriax, a nation that no longer exists, where he had managed their up-and-coming national team. Then came the signings of standout youth players Chris Myers-Briggs and Michael Beeler, as well as a number of underrated players that could play a huge role in the team’s success, such as holding midfielder Petridis and the more attack-minded Yu. While Russell was expected to throw just Beeler, who has been known for questionable off-field choices in the past, up top alone and teenage Emily Kouzmanoff in the net, his bringing in of experienced Brenecians Prowse and Kelly to fill those gaps was widely hailed as a good move. Then again, for all this team’s potential, they don’t have much team chemistry or depth, meaning that they’re quite the wild-card.

BSC Vargas
Manager: Phillip Henriksen (0); Stadium: Centennial Field (52,000); Colors: Green and Yellow; Formation: 5-3-2
GK: Aranha (#01, 20, USI), Rebecca Boumediene (#13, 25)
Defense: Carlos Hechavarria (#02, 29), Erik Gunnarsson (#03, 30), Sandor Constantinescu (#05, 27), Emily Ren (#06, 25), Kris Strausberg (#09, 26), Chelsea Marino (#15, 28), Troy Bradlee (#17, 22), Jessica Myers (#25, 28)
Midfield: Finn Richter (#08, 33, NPH), Angel Sanders (#10, 35, ETN), Caroline Rasmussen (#18, 26), Markus Klein (#28, 27), Meghan Rasmussen (#30, 19)
Striker: Violet Ticheli (#11, 24), Franz Christensen (#12, 25), Bryant Geiger (#20, 28)

While imports Aranha, Richter, and Sanders are all of high quality, the undoubted star of this team is Kris Strausberg. After losing his left arm in a bus crash at age sixteen, Strausberg has somehow worked his way onto the national team and BSC Vargas. Along with Hechavarria, the two form a very strong pair of wingbacks, bombing up and down the flanks with ease, while the nucleus of Gunnarsson, Constantinescu, and Ren keep things tight in the middle. Sanders is a deep-lying playmaker in the Sturgeon/Wiggins mould, and Richter and Rasmussen are solid. Up front, Violet Ticheli shows immense promise but is still a bit raw even at twenty-four, while Christensen is unremarkable and Geiger quick to lose his temper. A team that should do decently, if not remarkably, well.

Emerald City Harmony
Manager: Erik Anderssen (-5); Stadium: Emerald Coliseum (20,000); Colors: Green and Black; Formation: 3-5-2
GK: Johannes Sindelaar [C] (#01, 26), Matthew Jorgensen (#12, 18), Fiona Wintergreen (#13, 20)
Defense: Jan Caulson (#18, 29, NPH), Kris Suarez (#03, 25), Henrick Davenport (#05, 33, NPH), Emily Gustav (#14, 17), James Cairo (#16, 25)
Midfield: George Naismith (#18, 25), Eliza Korakov (#08, 30), Trevor Fournier (#10, 20), Marin Tresor (#06, 17), Griffin Varga (#17, 28), Arturo Jimenez (#27, 24), Megan Thurmond (#29, 18), Michael Nordstrom (#35, 26)
Forward: Paul Novak (#32, 28), Jake Wesley (#20, 24), Aurelio Sandoval (#30, 26), Allison Ticheli (#11, 25, INJ), Eric Grimm (#9, 26, INJ)

Erik Anderssen has returned to Emerald Springs. This time, he’s not in charge of surprise almost-league champions Emerald Springs FC, but instead newly created Emerald City Harmony. While Anderssen managed to create a defensive powerhouse led by Arondic star Sindelaar, talented center-back Suarez, and two Nepharim in Jan Caulson and Henrick Davenport (who played fairly well last year for Starling), Emerald’s attack is considerably less proven. Anderssen gambled on two currently-injured players, Allison Ticheli and Eric Grimm, while counting on the rather mediocre triumvirate of Novak, Wesley, and Sandoval to hold down the line in the short term. Naismith, Korakov, Acronian starter Marin Tresor, and Varga are all fairly defensive, and the attacking-midfielder Trevor Fournier, considered by many future NT starting material, will be counted on to lead the attack with his brilliant incisiveness backed up by the playmaking of those behind him.

Kyrinson
Manager: Tim Robespierre (+3.5); Stadium: LlamaCard (55,000); Colors: Green and Sky Blue; Formation: 4-1-4-1
GK: Mark Horowitz (#01, 35), James Franklin (#12, 28)
Defense: Rook Cypress (#02, 32, NPH), Victor Kucinski (#05, 31), Jared Blake (#03, 30), McKenna Fordham (#17, 28), Michael Cordero (#16, 25), Emma Glass (#14, 28)
Midfield: James Blake (#06, 30), Harrison Stevensson (#07, 28), Stefan Rinaldi (#10, 19), Chris Foster [C] (#08, 35), Morgan Ericsson (#11, 28), Kevin Allende (#18, 36), Jordan Svensson (#19, 28), Bethany Hart (#25, 28)
Forward: Jayce Alnwick (#14, 30, NPH), Bret Saberhagen (#22, 35), Taylor Moore (#20, 28)

Most “Twin Pines” fans, upon seeing the team rookie manager and former Kyrinson FC star Tim Robespierre had picked, had the same reaction - Why is this team so old? It’s true - seven members of the starting eleven are thirty or older, including Nepharim starting striker Alnwick, center-midfielder and captain Chris Foster, and three-fourths of the back line. The engine of this team is the midfield, led by Foster, who delights in dirty work, paired with the flashy Stefan Rinaldi, and backed up by the tireless if inefficient James Blake, one of two “1”s in the 4-1-4-1 formation. The other one, Alnwick, was a decent poacher by Nepharim standards, which naturally would make her a very good one by Llamanean ones. Overall, the team is well-balanced and potentially dangerous, but their championship window will be closing very quickly.

Los-Juantos Coastal
Manager: Leo de la Cruz (+5); Stadium: Tenacity Park (40,000); Colors: Scarlet and Gold; Formation: 4-2-3-1
GK: Nicholas Lindberg [C] (#01, 26), Maria Kovacic (#23, 19)
Defense: Evangelista Sandoval (#30, 26), Emily Cypress (#02, 29), Kiernan Gustav (#15, 33), Kevin Jorgensen (#03, 28), Alex Bale (#25, 35), Jeff Martinsen (#16, 28)
Midfield: Vincent Christensen (#05, 38), Petra Suleimann (#06, 24), Jake Appel (#18, 26), Ryan Zhou (#07, 29), Felix Adamson (#35, 26), Alice Møller (#10, 20), Jacob Hull-Benson (#36, 28), Caroline Jensen (#20, 26)
Forward: Guto (#11, 26, USI), Roman Pierce (#22, 28), Felicity Jennings (#24, 30)

For better or for worse, Los-Juantos Coastal is a team defined by their manager Leonidas De La Cruz, the infamously hot-headed manager who led AC Bartolome in the Miklandian Leagues to three consecutive championships before being fired over abusing his players. Perhaps that isn’t the best environment for potential NT backup Nicholas Lindberg, but their surprise hiring of Eric Matthews may help. The defense is rather porous, with Sandoval and Jorgensen providing little help for the overworked trio of centerbacks Cypress, Gustav, and impact sub Alex Bale, who frankly probably aren’t good enough to fully compensate. Up front, Guto is a flashy finisher who should have little issues adjusting - but if he does, Pierce is a more than capable backup. The midfield is a complete wild-card - depending on form, it could be the best - or the worst - in the league: Christensen is strong and adds a playmaking aspect to the midfield but is old and oft-injured, Suleimann has decent stamina but not much finesse due to picking up football later in her life, and Zhou, Adamson, and Møller are complete unknowns. Los-Juantos could be the surprise package of the season - or de la Cruz’s infamous temper could strike again and drive the entire club down with the manager.

New Llama Capitals
Manager: Tobyn Clearwater (+3.75); Stadium: Tyler Rocke (37,500); Colors: Blue and Silver; Formation: 4-3-3
GK: Marcus Siegrist (#01, 28), Jenna Marquette-Dunsinane (#13, 22)
Defense: Corey Dunbar (#02, 25), Immanuel Sorensen (#03, 28), Wictor Henriksen (#05, 30), Madeline Warwick (#16, 23), Jeff Vasquez (#18, 26), Emma Vanderwaal (#14, 20)
Midfield: Christian Whetham (#08, 29), Jonathan Rhoderick [C] (#10, 34), Taylor Morrison (#07, 29), Anna Walquist (#17, 28), Nemanja Volkhov (#29, 26)
Forward: Madison Rojas (#20, 22), Axel Korborg (#11, 17), Petra Wladecki (#18, 26), Caroline Rasmussen (#9, 34), Leonidas Suarez (#25, 38)

Ex-national team manager Tobyn Clearwater has constructed a balanced, dangerous team. Siegrist in goal is sometimes too aggressive but an excellent distributor, while the duo of Sorensen and Henriksen are solid enough to hold down the fort while Dunbar and Warwick go forwards. The midfield of Whetham, Hicanan star Matthieu Rhoderick’s brother Jonathan, and Morrison are all proven playmakers and like to push forwards, even if they aren’t the most athletic. The incisive, capable Rojas and Wladecki flank unproven but undoubtedly talented Korborg in the front, often with one of the wingers crossing at Korborg and the other winger. It’s worth noting, though, that the team tends to lack depth, especially at the top - Rasmussen and Suarez make great impact subs, but neither will be able to keep up in a starting role if a starter goes down.

New Llama Stars
Manager: Jeremy Hayes (+2); Stadium: Arthur Clarke (50,000); Colors: Green and White; Formation: 4-3-3
GK: Erika Blanton (#01, 27), Dmitry Vasiliev (#13, 25)
Defense: Jason Walker (#02, 29), Michael Gunning (#03, 26), Stern Chaucer (#18, 30, NPH), Mark Sorensen (#10, 29), Ava Florentin (#16, 26), Emma Feldman (#06, 31)
Midfield: Sebastian Romero (#09, 25), Jake Raburn (#07, 36), Annalisa Sigurdsson (#20, 20), Nicholas Fletcher (#25, 20), Christine Valdevic (#33, 26)
Forward: Francis Mandelbrot [C] (#11, 27), Uerlisson (#29, 28, MTH), Mia Ticheli (#36, 28), Yadier Rivera (#20, 36), Caitlyn Gunning (#22, 19)

Jeremy Hayes has assembled a terrifying club. National team prospect Michael Gunning and Nepharim Free Transfer Stern Chaucer form a solid nucleus, allowing Walker and Sorensen (who wears #10 for a reason) to bomb down their respective flanks. All three midfielders are capable of devastating passing, especially Jake Raburn in the center, and Sigurdsson and Romero are absurdly fast and have strong positioning. Francis Mandelbrot, who Hayes found lighting up the Quebecois lower tiers after Mandelbrot moved from Hicanan-controlled Isle Benoit, could very possibly be the second-most prolific goal-scorer in the league - first, of course, being former Matthewsianian national-teamer Uerlisson. A strong supporting cast makes the Stars title favorites at the start of the year, although with the dangerously risk-seeking (but occasionally fantastic) Erika Blanton in goal, nothing is guaranteed.

SC Nikcoro
Manager: Alexandra Jimenez (+5); Stadium: Rivera Field (23,800); Colors: Red and Black; Formation: 4-2-4
GK: Justin Vasquez (#13, 25), Ramon Mendello (#01, 41)
Defense: Kelsey Chapman (#52, 28), McKenzie Rivera [C] (#03, 31), Justin Holland (#06, 25), Tristan Lin (#05, 26), Tim Wheaton (#40, 23), Caroline Kucinski (#35, 26)
Midfield: Marcos Ramirez (#07, 26), Annalise Mondale (#06, 23), Bryant Soto (#32, 25), Marcia Walquist (#16, 29)
Forward: Phillip Moyes (#11, 25), Jason Da Silva (#09, 30), Kevin De Laac (#10, 27), Emily Alcantara (#20, 25), Leónidas De Las Hoyas (#20, 35), Michael Silva (#30, 28), Neil Waller (#02, 22)

Many a Llamanean manager has been criticized for their team selection, but none quite in the same way as this. Neutral observers can’t help but wonder why there are so many city natives in the starting lineup, and while most thought it would at least gain the young team local fans, things haven’t turned out as Jimenez may have hoped. For one thing, the team is laughably bad - Vasquez in goal was a semipro up until now (and Mendello’s injured half the time). Jimenez’s 4-2-4 formation places far too much weight on Mondale and Ramirez, both of whom are decent at best, and the back four isn’t solid enough to pick up much of the slack. If Jimenez can lead her bunch of local players to the top half of the table, her gamble will have paid off. But for a manager as inexperienced as Jimenez is, it’s a big “if”.

by **Super-Llamaland** » Wed Jul 06, 2016 12:29 pm

MATCHDAYS 1-7

MD1
SC Nikcoro 0–5 New Llama Stars
Kyrinson 1–0 Emerald City Harmony
New Llama Capitals 1–0 Los-Juantos Coastal
BSC Vargas 0–1 AFC Ruby

The season starts in style - in New Llama, the Stars repeatedly punch past a hapless Nikcoro defense and win five-nil. Francis Mandelbrot becomes immortalized in trivia questions worldwide by corralling a beautiful cross from Ticheli and firing past Justin Vasquez in the third minute, and things only get worse for Alexandra Jimenez’s side - Mandelbrot scores another in the eighth and Uerlisson’s brace puts SC down four-nil at the half before Annalisa Sigurdsson smashes a fifth one in on the other side of the break to close scoring. Every other game ends one goal to zero, but while New Llama’s and Ruby’s victories are relatively straight forwards, Kyrinson and Emerald City are scoreless for ninety-two minutes before Kris Suarez is sent off and Nepharim striker Jayce Alnwick puts Kyrinson ahead for good with a flawless penalty past Sindelaar. A disappointing start for Emerald, who have title aspirations, to be sure - but an away loss against a good team is nothing to panic over.

MD2
New Llama Stars 1–0 AFC Ruby
Los-Juantos Coastal 2–0 BSC Vargas
Emerald City Harmony 3–1 New Llama Capitals
SC Nikcoro 1–7 Kyrinson

SC Nikcoro, fresh off a 5-0 loss to New Llama, proceed to lose 7-1 to Kyrinson - Alnwick scores four, Ericsson, Saberhagen, and Cordero all add to the tally, and Stefan Rinaldi breaks a record with five assists. Despite how flashy his celebration is (two backflips and a caution for taking his shirt off), Marcos Ramirez’s free-kick goal has to be the least relevant goal ever to be scored in the young league’s history. Title favorites Emerald City recover after their initial loss to easily defeat New Llama, Fournier, Tresor, and Wesley (who have a combined age of 61) all scoring. AFC Ruby already looks impressive holding the Stars to eighty-three scoreless minutes, Brenecian keeper Claudia Kelly making a number of impressive saves before Uerlisson finally gets himself wide-open and fires into the corner - Kelly tips it out, but Mia Ticheli gets to the rebound first and taps it in to finish off Ruby. While the Stars wait until the final minutes to win their game, Los-Juantos’ win over BSC Vargas is much more straightforward: Guto scores after fifty-six seconds and Evangelista Sandoval after three hundred and two more, and Coastal, showing uncharacteristically solid defense for a Leo de la Cruz team, manage to shut Vargas out for the other 5,042.

MD3
Kyrinson 0–5 New Llama Stars
New Llama Capitals 9–1 SC Nikcoro
BSC Vargas 0–1 Emerald City Harmony
AFC Ruby 3–0 Los-Juantos Coastal

After giving up a combined twelve goals in her first two matches as manager, one might expect Alexandra Jimenez to place more of a priority on defense. She doesn’t, and while Jason da Silva manages an early goal, they concede four goals in the first half - and five more in the second. Korborg scores three, Rojas two, Wladecki two, Warwick one, and Nikcoro defender Justin Holland sends a bullet header (far better than anything Nikcoro had produced) into his own net with three minutes to play, the perfect ending to the match - but not, inexplicably, Jimenez’s job. An absolute humiliation for Nikcoro. The New Llama Stars, who started Nikcoro’s defensive woes off with a five-nil thumping, do the same to Kyrinson - Jayce Alnwick, who has scored five goals in her first two matches in the nation, rarely gets the ball and is uncharacteristically wasteful when she does. Mandelbrot and Uerlisson combine for all five goals in the first thirty minutes of the match, but the real MVP is the fantastic Jake Raburn, who has the game of his life. Emerald City Harmony’s strong defense keeps Vargas silent until the before uninspiring Paul Novak can score one late, and Ruby continues their strong run with a resounding victory over Los-Juantos.

MD4
New Llama Stars 1–1 Los-Juantos Coastal
Emerald City Harmony 0–1 AFC Ruby
SC Nikcoro 0–3 BSC Vargas
Kyrinson 1–0 New Llama Capitals

Emerald City, while not particularly bad, are still a massive disappointment four games into the season. Instead, it’s red-hot AFC Ruby who grab all three points, led by a strong defensive effort and a tremendous volley off Michael Beeler’s left boot that gives them the lead after sixteen minutes. New Llama isn’t so great either - the Capitals lose one-nil to Kyrinson and the dominant Jayce Alnwick, and the Stars can only manage a draw against a Los-Juantos team that is far inferior on paper - Korborg putting his team ahead early before Ryan Zhou heads one in late to recover a point on the road. Not bad.

SC Nikcoro’s woes continue, although their three-nil loss is their best performance of the season and Aranha is tested multiple times. Not that it matters - Kris Strausberg scores early, Rasmussen late in the first half, and Angel Sanders assisting the third goal of the night on a beautifully curved free kick that Richter couldn’t help but head home.

MD5
New Llama Capitals 1–1 New Llama Stars
BSC Vargas 1–0 Kyrinson
AFC Ruby 7–0 SC Nikcoro
Los-Juantos Coastal 1–2 Emerald City Harmony

...and, after what was at least a step in the right direction, SC Nikcoro immediately returns to form, AFC Ruby doing the honors this time. Cameron Petridis is on his best form of the season, scoring a goal and assisting two more, and Felix Prowse, supplied well by the midfield, manages to score a hat-trick. The first of three New Llama Derbies is a fast-paced, exciting match - chances are plentiful, but keepers Marcus Siegrist of Capitals and Erika Blanton of Stars prove to be up to the challenge, both keepers managing to save penalties. With the score still knotted at zero apiece, the last ten minutes yields two goals - 38-year-old Suarez volleys in a perfect cross from Juniper Rojas in the eighty-third, but after Madison Rojas is called offsides in the eighty-seventh trying to double her team’s lead, Uerlisson saves the day for the Stars with seconds to spare.

MD6
New Llama Stars 1–1 Emerald City Harmony
SC Nikcoro 4–4 Los-Juantos Coastal
Kyrinson 3–1 AFC Ruby
New Llama Capitals 1–1 BSC Vargas

Los-Juantos Coastal have to be absolutely humiliated - not only are they the first team to give up multiple goals to Nikcoro, but they’ve done the unthinkable by gifting Alexandra Jimenez’s team their first point of the season. The two teams combine for three own goals, one of which decides the game: Emily Cypress’s backheel redirection of a rather weak shot from Phillip Moyes would have been rather clever if she was on the attack, but instead the center-back wraps up an embarrassing game by rerouting Moyes’ ball past Nicholas Lindberg and into the net. An absolutely furious Leo De La Cruz goes off during his press conference, and Cypress is released within the hour, her place given to veteran Alex Bale.

Two other games end in draws, but nobody else finds themselves unemployed. New Llama and Emerald City, considered the two title favorites, battle to the end in a nervy draw, Trevor Fournier converting a penalty off Jason Walker’s brash challenge before Francis Mandelbrot saves the Stars with run that perfectly coincided with Suarez’s misplaced pass. Meanwhile, on the other side of town, the Capitals are down early when six-five Erik Gunnarsson flicks a header past two defenders and Marcus Siegrist, but Wictor Henriksen returns the favor by heading in Jonathan Rhoderick’s impressive free-kick to equalize. Of course, not everyone grabs a point today - Kyrinson looks impressive in defeating AFC Ruby, although expensive super-sub Immanuel Petrarch’s first goal late was at least some consolation for Ruby.

MD7
BSC Vargas 0–3 New Llama Stars
AFC Ruby 5–1 New Llama Capitals
Los-Juantos Coastal 5–3 Kyrinson
Emerald City Harmony 4–0 SC Nikcoro

Emerald City, who have been just okay so far, end the first third of the season on a positive note, routing SC Nikcoro four-nil. Alexandra Jimenez, who has been growing progressively nervous about her job security, makes headlines for skipping out on the press conference without any advance notice. The Nikcoro media, already ready to kill her, well...want to kill her even more. Eric Grimm marks his first game back from injury by scoring two goals and immediately hurting himself again within the first twenty minutes, but his substitute Arturo Sandoval manages a brace of his own and Emerald City finds themselves just two points off first place and in a respectable enough third. Meanwhile, a cruising New Llama Stars scores three goals in the first half - off the boots of Mandelbrot, Uerlisson, and Mark Sorensen, and shuts BSC Vargas down, although Erika Blanton acting up in the first half and subsequent replacement by Dmitry Vasiliev is something to watch.

Los-Juantos Coastal and AFC Ruby both put five past their opponents, but their matches couldn’t be less similar - while Kyrinson stays with Coastal before Roman Pierce, on for a disappointing Guto, puts Los-Juantos ahead with three minutes to play (and then doubles his tally with a masterclass goal two minutes later), AFC Ruby, who find themselves tied for first place, run away with things in the first half, Prowse, Petridis, and Kennedy scoring in the first before Emory Byrne adds a brace in his debut, Corey Dunbar’s late strike little consolation for the Capitals, who are underperforming as much as Ruby is overperforming.

SuperLleague Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 New Llama Stars 7 4 3 0 17 3 +14 15
2 AFC Ruby 7 5 0 2 18 5 +13 15
3 Emerald City Harmony 7 4 1 2 11 5 +6 13
4 Kyrinson 7 4 0 3 15 13 +2 12
5 New Llama Capitals 7 2 2 3 14 12 +2 8
6 Los-Juantos Coastal 7 2 2 3 13 14 −1 8
7 BSC Vargas 7 2 1 4 5 8 −3 7
8 SC Nikcoro 7 0 1 6 6 39 −33 1

The New Llama Stars, propelled by a very strong start to the season by forwards Uerlisson and Francis Mandelbrot, are unbeaten and in the lead. But tied for them is a team not many suspected would be there, AFC Ruby. Emerald City Harmony, who most suspected would be in first but instead rank a mere sixth in goals scored, third in goals allowed, and third overall, and Kyrinson, propelled to the final Globe Cup spot by Jayce Alnwick's heroics, are just a point behind.

At the bottom of the table is the team everyone expected to be there, SC Nikcoro, who have found themselves on pace to concede five and a half goals per game. While BSC Vargas is a not-insurmountable six points in front, Nikcoro will need to step it up to avoid relegation, and the fact that Alexandra Jimenez still has a job is astounding. Capitals and Coastal, very different teams, as well as disappointing BSC Vargas in seventh place, are separated by just one point - while each of the three teams has the potential to make a play for a Globe Cup spot, they'll have to focus on avoiding a spot in the relegation playoff with Nikcoro.

The scoring leaders so far are Uerlisson of the Stars, with seven, his teammate Francis Mandelbrot on six (the two have combined for thirteen of Stars' seventeen goals), and Kyrinson's Jayce Alnwick at five.

by **Super-Llamaland** » Mon Jul 11, 2016 11:56 am

MATCHDAYS 8-14

MD8
New Llama Stars 7–1 SC Nikcoro
Emerald City Harmony 1–0 Kyrinson
Los-Juantos Coastal 1–1 New Llama Capitals
AFC Ruby 4–4 BSC Vargas

Following another huge loss to New Llama Stars, Alexandra Jimenez is told that if she loses another game, she’ll lose her job with it. Her next match is away against Kyrinson. Nikcoro’s board would be best off finding another manager quickly. For the Stars, the big story isn’t Uerlisson or Francis Mandelbrot, but midfielder Annalisa Sigurdsson, who scores a hat-trick off free kicks and absolutely guts Nikcoro’s defense with a number of strong assists. With talk of Raburn wrapping up his career elsewhere, Sigurdsson could play a lot bigger of a role next season.

Emerald City Harmony, in what is becoming a pattern, holds Kyrinson scoreless for all ninety minutes and scores off a set-piece - this time, Trevor Fournier heads in Tresor’s free-kick at the end of the first half. Ruby and Vargas play to a much, much more exciting four-all draw, with five goals scored in the last ten minutes capped off with a thunderous volley from Felix Prowse to equalize with seconds to play - on a heavier note for Ruby, Michael Beeler injures himself driving drunk after the match, although Emory Byrne and Immanuel Petrarch are both good enough replacements.

The massively disappointing New Llama Capitals once again draw, this time to a Coastal team that is inferior on paper but finds an equalizer late off Guto’s right thigh. Could Tobyn Clearwater be on the hot seat?

MD9
AFC Ruby 0–0 New Llama Stars
BSC Vargas 0–2 Los-Juantos Coastal
New Llama Capitals 0–1 Emerald City Harmony
Kyrinson 1–1 SC Nikcoro

Alexandra Jimenez, told she’d be fired if she lost another match, inexplicably manages to draw with Kyrinson, on the road. Michael Silva fires home from long range late to save the day after it’s none other than Jayce Alnwick who scores early in the second half. With the struggling New Llama Capitals and BSC Vargas up next, could Jimenez save her job? Nikcoro fans hope not. Emerald City Harmony visits New Llama and grinds out another one-nil victory, Henrick Davenport the hero late after a corner-kick nearly headed in is instead blocked and cleared by the sprawling Nepharim. Capitals striker Axel Korborg notes that “Emerald’s playstyle is ruining this league,” to which Johannes Sindelaar acidly replies: “At least we’re not in seventh”.

Meanwhile, the other New Llama team plays AFC Ruby in a battle of the league leaders...and draw nil-nil in a rather dull game. Emory Byrne and Felix Prowse both struggle, and Petrarch will no doubt be given a shot next match. As for New Llama, Francis Mandelbrot hurts himself in the first half, but word on the street is that he’ll be back to play Kyrinson.

MD10
New Llama Stars 1–3 Kyrinson
SC Nikcoro 0–7 New Llama Capitals
Emerald City Harmony 0–1 BSC Vargas
Los-Juantos Coastal 1–3 AFC Ruby

Alexandra Jimenez, fresh off her greatest triumph, resigns after twelve minutes of a match after Korborg scores twice, Wladecki and Rojas once each, and Christian Whetham a fifth goal. At least she wasn’t fired. Warwick and Rhoderick cap off a seven-nil drubbing in the first half before Nikcoro manages to regroup and hold them to seven.

New Llama Stars are upset at home by Kyrinson. This time, it’s not Jayce Alnwick who leads Kyrinson to victory. Instead, it’s Stefan Rinaldi - the teenage midfielder, who had been enduring a stretch of poor form, assists all three goals and comprehensively outplays Jake Raburn and Annalisa Sigurdsson (take your pick) in terms of midfield general-ing. AFC Ruby wins three-one instead of losing three-one, thus taking the lead. Immanuel Petrarch scores a hat-trick - Michael who?

MD11
Los-Juantos Coastal 0–5 New Llama Stars
AFC Ruby 0–2 Emerald City Harmony
BSC Vargas 4–1 SC Nikcoro
New Llama Capitals 3–3 Kyrinson

Under the purview of interim manager Nicolae Saucedo, SC Nikcoro manages to take an early lead over Vargas on a Tristan Lin shot from long range! It doesn’t last, of course, and although Saucedo retires the 4-2-4, replaces it with a 5-3-2, and tries his hardest to make Nikcoro competitive, he certainly can’t do it in one week, especially with the players he has. Richter, Ticheli, Rasmussen, and Geiger all score for Vargas to put the game away. In Los Juantos, a furious Leo de la Cruz resigns after a five-nil home defeat at the hands of the New Llama Stars, in which his defense made a number of horrid mistakes. “I’m evidently not the right man for this club,” he says to reporters. He is, apparently, the right man for SC Nikcoro, who immediately offer him a contract (which is rejected)...leading Saucedo to resign (“Clearly something hasn’t worked out; I feel disrespected, to be quite honest”). Whoops.

Meanwhile, the Capitals draw Kyrinson at home - while they seem more energetic than they have all season, Axel Korborg looking very dangerous, it’s the pairing of Rinaldi and Alnwick that pour forth and manage to level the game late. Emerald City’s win away at AFC Ruby, while a massive stepping stone for Erik Anderssen’s men, is far more straightforward - Jake Wesley and Marin Tresor score early and Harmony lock things down for the day.

MD12
New Llama Stars 2–5 New Llama Capitals
Kyrinson 3–1 BSC Vargas
SC Nikcoro 2–4 AFC Ruby
Emerald City Harmony 0–3 Los-Juantos Coastal

It’s almost something out of a movie script - hours after resigning, Leo de la Cruz returns to Los-Juantos, is given another shot, benches his star striker, changes his formation to a 3-5-2, and then outfoxes Erik Anderssen and beats Emerald City on the road three-nil (Guto replacement Felicity Jennings scoring a brace). Meanwhile, SC Nikcoro, so dysfunctional that they don’t even play with a manager, somehow manage to keep championship contenders AFC Ruby on their toes until Immanuel Petrarch and Emory Byrne seal the game with a goal apiece (Prowse out due to a minor knock during training, and Beeler now in prison). And, continuing with the trend of absurd things happening, the struggling New Llama Capitals pay a visit to their overperforming cousins and proceed to thrash them five-two. Oh, and Marcus Siegrist, the Capitals’ keeper, convinces Wladecki to let him take a penalty and scores on a humiliated Erika Blanton, who is almost certainly going to lose her guaranteed starting spot over this.

Kyrinson beats BSC Vargas three-one at home fueled by Stefan Rinaldi and Jayce Alnwick, which is...pretty normal, I guess.

MD13
Emerald City Harmony 1–1 New Llama Stars
Los-Juantos Coastal 3–1 SC Nikcoro
AFC Ruby 1–1 Kyrinson
BSC Vargas 1–0 New Llama Capitals
New Llama Stars had been having a rough time, but Jeremy Hayes managed to stop that, steering the team to a draw against Emerald City. With Dmitry Vasiliev in goal for the first time this season, the Stars managed to flip the script and score early on the Harmony, Sebastian Romero breaking his goal drought after a beautiful one-two with Annalisa Sigurdsson. Of course, things couldn’t hold, and indeed it would be Eric Grimm, thrown forwards at a whim, who managed to draw a penalty that Trevor Fournier coolly slotted home. Meanwhile, Tobyn Clearwater is the third manager of eight to resign after his team collapses late and lets Finn Richter fire past Siegrist. The Capitals are in serious trouble, although it’s unlikely they’ll be relegated. Somehow, Alex Cartwright, still busy running for office,is enlisted to succeed Clearwater for a few weeks.

AFC Ruby could be cooling down after a very, very hot start - they can only scrape one point at home against Kyrinson, only Petrarch saving the team late after Harrison Stevensson’s early free-kick strike. Meanwhile, Los-Juantos and Leo de la Cruz manage to defeat SC Nikcoro, still without a manager but not doing too badly, three-one - although after the match, Tyler Lazio becomes the third manager of the season for the ailing Nikcoro.

MD14
New Llama Stars 1–0 BSC Vargas
New Llama Capitals 0–3 AFC Ruby
Kyrinson 1–0 Los-Juantos Coastal
SC Nikcoro 0–1 Emerald City Harmony

Across four games in one of the highest-scoring leagues out there, a total of...six goals are scored. Well then. New Llama Stars’ Mark Sorensen humiliates the Vargas defense and manages to free Ticheli with a picture-perfect cross that the veteran Miklandian can’t help but volley past a diving Aranha, who did well to get a hand on the ball but not quite well enough to stop it. Emerald City Harmony manages another one-nil victory by smashing a goal in early (this time it’s Aurelio Sandoval, in for a struggling Paul Novak, to do the honors with a thunderbolt from long range) and sitting back afterwards, thus making SC Nikcoro - who haven’t lost one-nil all season - look a lot better than they really are. And Kyrinson’s defense shows up to play at LlamaCard Stadium, the Twin Pines managing to hold Los-Juantos, the most attacking-minded team in the league, to a one-nil victory (Chris Foster bending a free-kick over the wall and past Nicholas Lindberg), Guto’s penalty kick saved by Horowitz to Leo de la Cruz’s disgust.

Of course, not every match could end one-nil - AFC Ruby travels to New Llama City and vanquishes the Capitals three-nil, the calming hand of Alex Cartwright (which leaves with the rest of Alex Cartwright after the match) little help. Things are going up in flames for a Capitals side that has managed only three points out of their last seven games. As we pull into the Cup Break, can interim manager Eric Hoover pull things back in time? Because right now, Nikcoro’s total incompetence is the only thing between the Capitals and last place.

SuperLleague Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 AFC Ruby 14 8 3 3 33 15 +18 27
2 New Llama Stars 14 7 5 2 34 13 +21 26
3 Emerald City Harmony 14 8 2 4 17 10 +7 26
4 Kyrinson 14 7 3 4 27 21 +6 24
5 Los-Juantos Coastal 14 5 3 6 23 25 −2 18
6 BSC Vargas 14 5 2 7 16 19 −3 17
7 New Llama Capitals 14 4 4 6 30 23 +7 16
8 SC Nikcoro 14 0 2 12 12 66 −54 2

by **Super-Llamaland** » Tue Jul 12, 2016 2:47 pm

Stats Update, Cup Break

The Cup break. A welcome reprieve from the drudgery of league competition that comes in the form of even higher-stakes competition. Sixteen teams (this year, it's eight SuperLleague teams, six SecondLleague teams, and two semi-pro regional teams) battle off in a single-elimination tournament each year at a neutrally chosen site. This year, it's Schunemann Pitch in Emerald Springs that defeats second-tier Olympic East's 67 Coliseum.

CUP - ROUND ONE

QUARTERFINALS

(1) AFC Ruby 3–1 (8) SC Nikcoro
Byrne 26, Yu 35, Petridis 42; Lin 1
AFC Ruby haven't been particularly convincing, have they? This worrying trend continues as Ruby buckles just enough to allow Tristan Lin to score the quickest goal in Llamanean history at twenty-eight seconds. But they manage to buckle down, and while Nikcoro crumbles around them, Emory Byrne, Celeste Yu, and Cameron Petridis score within sixteen minutes of each other to seal the game. Nikcoro go home, but at least they take a record home with them.
(4) Kyrinson 2–1 (5) Los-Juantos Coastal
Alnwick 56, 57; Bale 66
As does the another southern club remaining, Los-Juantos - they give up the closest two goals together, letting Jayce Alnwick smash in a tremendous volley at 55:48...and then convert a penalty at 56:33. Still, Bale's free-kick gave Coastal fans something to cheer about, even if they couldn't break Kyrinson for the rest of the match.
(2) New Llama Stars 5–0 (10) Olympic East
Uerlisson 7, 39, Sorensen 16, Florentin 45+2, Romero 50
Olympic East won't have much to cheer about, though, besides the imminent signing of Alex Cartwright. Uerlisson scores within mere minutes, Sorensen is next to break the Olympic East defense, and Uerlisson, Florentin, and Romero all score within minutes of each other. Kurtis Mann and Jordan Carrasco are decent but not good enough to break Stars' defense for a goal, and the defense, well...five goals speak for themselves. Olympic will go home in the quarterfinals licking their wounds. Literal wounds, in the case of Carrasco, but hopefully he isn't licking them.
(3) Emerald City Harmony 1–1 (11) Nandaozhou Sharks (1–1 AET) (4–3 pen.)
Fournier 50, Yao 40
Fournier O A. Ticheli O Grimm X Suarez O Tresor O / Yao O Marcussen X Wei O Constantin O Magnolia X
A thriller of a match. Nandaozhou turn up the pressure early, and Chelsea Yao scores with five minutes to play in the first half - Nandaozhou, at the halftime break, looks like they could pull a serious upset over the Harmony. In fact, they also do at the beginning of the second half, but when Eric Grimm goes down in the box, the referee calls for a penalty kick, and Trevor Fournier easily converts it. The next seventy minutes (AET included) are nerve-racking, both sides getting a number of solid chances. Still, it goes to penalties. Goalscorers Trevor Fournier and Chelsea Yao each add another notch to their belt, but after Allison Ticheli, in her first match back from retirement, rolls one past the opposing keeper and into the corner, Ally Marcussen's effort is tipped out by a wonderful Johannes Sindelaar - most keepers wouldn't even have gotten to the shot, sent straight for the top right corner. Of course, Grimm coughs up the lead immediately after, and Kris Suarez and Rafael Constantin ensure it'll go to the fifth kick. Marin Tresor is calm, composed, and a game-winner after his shot gets through and Rebecca Magnolia's is punched out by Sindelaar. Emerald City nearly go out early, but instead it's almost-Cinderella story Nandaozhou.

SEMIFINALS

(1) AFC Ruby 3–0 (4) Kyrinson
Prowse 67, Byrne 86, Glass (og) 90+2
Heartbreak for a Kyrinson team that'd barely scraped into the semifinals but looked as if they could advance one round further. Stefan Rinaldi and Jayce Alnwick both left early in the first half with minor knocks, a devastating turn of events for the Twin Pines, but somehow Kyrinson regrouped and shut a dominant AFC Ruby down for the rest of the half, led by captain Chris Foster and midfielder Harrison Stevensson. To the neutral crowd's delight, Kyrinson began to pressure Ruby at the start of the second half.

But they couldn't keep it up. The exhausted midfield, the engine of the team, began to buckle, and Felix Prowse managed to reel in an errant pass from Immanuel Petrarch and flick one over Horowitz's head. Kyrinson desperately searched for an equalizer, and at one point they almost got it - had Stevensson's beautiful through-ball fallen to Alnwick, the Nepharim would have tied the game. Instead, substitute Bret Saberhagen whipped a shot over the crossbar. Minutes later, Emory Byrne broke past Kelly and rolled the ball into an open net, and reserve center-back Emma Glass added insult to injury with an own-goal in stoppage time to cap off a three-nil rout. It'll be high-flying AFC Ruby who take move on to the next round, while Kyrinson, not wanting risk their pursuit of a Globe Cup spot, will likely not even try for third.

(2) New Llama Stars 0–1 (3) Emerald City Harmony
Davenport 90
For ninety minutes, New Llama Stars and Emerald City Harmony battle to a standstill. The game, atypical for a Llamanean cup semifinal, lacks elegance and refinery. Instead, both teams hunker down into trench warfare, and Fournier, Uerlisson, and Caulson all earn yellows that will stop them from playing in the final. Both sides threaten, but Erika Blanton is having the night of her life. And Johannes Sindelaar is as strong as always.

With minutes left to play, though, Harmony run up the field for one last attack. Trevor Fournier, exhausted, finds enough strength to connect with a beautiful shot, seemingly destined for the bottom-left corner. But, in front of a horrified home crowd, Erika Blanton, who has been so inconsistent all season long, flings herself at the ball and punches it back across the line. Corner-kick.

New Llama's triumph won't last long, though. It's Acronian star Marin Tresor who takes the set-piece. His corner is headed off the bar by Eliza Korakov, but it's Nepharim defender Henrick Davenport who gets a boot on the ball first and kicks it through the defense and into the net. The home crowd is jubilant. Davenport has just brought the Harmony into a finals contested at home.

3PPO: New Llama Stars 3 - 0 Kyrinson

Vincent 38, M. Gunning 45+1, Rivera 88

In a match that perhaps nobody cares about, as evidenced by the presence of only three starters (Stars' Blanton and Gunning, Kyrinson's Victor Kucinski), New Llama Stars' B-team defeats Kyrinson's B-team three-nil. U-18 player Carsten Vincent, a promising right-winger who takes the place of Mandelbrot, strikes late in the first half off a pass from Michael Gunning, who continues to assert his presence with a majestic flicked header to close the half. And, in one of the match's bright spots, Yadier Rivera comes on for his last game in a Stars jersey before retiring - and closes the match out with a thunderous long-range shot at the end of the match, earning wild applause from Stars fans present.

by **Super-Llamaland** » Thu Jul 14, 2016 1:34 pm

AFC RUBY - EMERALD CITY HARMONY

SCHUNEMANN PITCH, EMERALD CITY

AFC RUBY (4-4-2): Kelly (C); Walden, Myers-Briggs, Lewicki (Love 80) (Riedel 119), Ferreira; Petridis, Yu, Hennessey, Kennedy; Prowse, Petrarch (Byrne 53)
EMERALD CITY HARMONY (3-5-2): Sindelaar (C) (Jorgensen 7); Cairo (Gustav 68), Suarez, Davenport; Thurmond, Korakov, Tresor, Varga, Jimenez; A. Ticheli (Wesley 45), Grimm

Ruby. Harmony. Two of the best teams in the league. Two teams with a historic rivalry. In Emerald's home stadium. A Cup win on the line. It's safe to say that this will be one of the best matches of the season.

But things don't start so well for home team Harmony (designated as the nominal away team, although their thousands of fans will say otherwise). In the seventh minute, star goalkeeper Johannes Sindelaar goes up for a ball but collides with Ruby's Michael Kennedy. Kennedy gets a yellow, and Harmony a penalty, but Sindelaar is out for the day. It'll be up to eighteen-year-old Matthew Jorgensen to tend the net for the rest of the game. To add insult to injury, Marin Tresor manages to sky the penalty. Ruby, already slight favorites, are pegged by most to win.

The first half, despite the noticeable absence of Harmony star Trevor Fournier, is a beautiful showcase of all the SuperLleague has to offer. Although Tresor has set himself up to be the goat, he pushes forwards and generals the midfield with a flurry of passes and well-timed runs. On the other side, Cameron Petridis and Michael Kennedy are dangerous as always on the wings, but the center midfielders, usually the team's weakness, have seriously stepped things up - especially Celeste Yu, arguably the best player on either side for the first half. Both sides have their chances, but Erik Anderssen's gamble to play two strikers returning from injury, Allison Ticheli and Eric Grimm, doesn't quite pay off. Both are rusty and squander a number of chances, and, although the substitutions of Megan Thurmond and Arturo Jimenez help immensely, Harmony don't exactly have much attacking talent to support the foundering strikers. Young Jake Wesley comes on for an ailing Ticheli at the half, which ends scoreless.

Harmony had been the better team in the first half, but Ruby dominate the second. Felix Prowse nearly scores twice, but Jorgensen is made of sterner stuff. A disappointing Immanuel Petrarch is taken off for Emory Byrne, who is even more dangerous than Prowse, bombing through the entire defense before setting someone else up with a rolled pass several times. The three-man back line, which has young Cairo starting in the suspended Nepharim Caulson's place, is doing all they can, but the midfielders are proving more attacking-minded than usual.

That changes after a close call. Cameron Petridis finds Yu, who begins to run forwards to discover a noticeable lack of resistance. The young center-midfielder cuts between Kris Suarez, already pulled hopelessly out of position, and Cairo before firing on target - Jorgensen barely punches it away and Davenport clears, but both are furious anyways. Anderssen notices, and makes a huge gamble - taking out Cairo for a seventeen-year-old, Emily Gustav.

It turns out not to matter - Gustav is brushed aside by a charging Michael Kennedy, who cuts in and crosses to the middle. It's young Emory Byrne whose volley is saved by Jorgensen, but it's punched away just far enough for Felix Prowse to swoop in and score. With ten minutes to play, David Russell brings on Justine Love and orders everyone to hunker down for the rest of the game.

Emerald push forwards, desperate. Their two star players are gone, they're down by a goal, and the home crowd has begun to turn on them. But Jake Wesley's nerves are getting to him, and Eric Grimm is just bad. Harmony can't find a goal, despite their relentless attempts. With five minutes left, they switch tactics and begin to bomb long passes down the flanks, hoping to get lucky and find someone open.

With minutes to spare, they get lucky. Emily Gustav launches a cannon down the left sideline, and Marcelo Ferreira, sprinting out to get the ball, is instead beaten by Megan Thurmond, who sprints down the line, bringing Justine Love out. Thurmond gets a cross off just in time, and although Kelly is quick to the ball, Jake Wesley is still quicker. He heads it over Kelly, but Chris Myers-Briggs intercepts the ball with a slide tackle...that rolls the ball straight to a surprised-looking Marin Tresor, who easily scores.

Extra-time is thirty minutes of pure nerves. Kurt Riedel is brought on for Love with five minutes left. It's time for penalties. AFC Ruby have the clear advantage, possessing Claudia Kelly, the experienced Brenecian. On the other hand, while Sindelaar is the best keeper in the world, he's sitting on the sideline, and eighteen-year-old Matthew Jorgensen will just have to hope his teammates are good.

Things don't get off to a good start for Jorgensen. Felix Prowse hits a rocket into the top-left corner, and although Kennedy's effort is much more savable, the rookie keeper dives the wrong way. Luckily for Harmony, Tresor and Thurmond convert as well, but Harmony have to be missing Trevor Fournier dearly right now. Petridis makes things three-two, but Jorgensen isn't as lucky this time. Arturo Jimenez hits the crossbar, and Emory Byrne converts his shot to make things four-two. If Harmony wants to win, they'll have to convert both their shots and hope Kurt Riedel, who was brought on just to take a penalty, misses.

After Griffin Varga strokes one into the net, Riedel steps up and smacks the ball at the top-right corner. It looks impossible to stop. Jorgensen punches it out, and Eric Grimm stutter-steps and converts. It's four-all after five shots apiece. Marcelo Ferreira immediately misses, and Harmony are on the verge of winning the Cup. Jake Wesley fires low and hard. Kelly dives and stops it. Ruby are still alive. Yu, Hennessey, Davenport, and Suarez all convert their shots. After eight shots each, the scoreboard reads six to six.

Myers-Briggs steps up and launches a shot. It's clearly wide. Everyone realizes it's wide. Not Jorgensen. The keeper blocks it anyways, but it trickles back through his outstretched arms and into the net. Korakov's shot is much more straightforwards. Walden scores on the badly shaken Jorgensen, but Emily Gustav, who is seventeen years old and who has never played at this level, manages to surprise Kelly and roll one right down the middle.

Eight-all. The goalkeepers will decide who wins it.

Claudia Kelly is up first. Her target is a nervous Matthew Jorgensen. The Brenecian goalkeeper, clearly worried, steps up and unleashes a left-footed kick. Jorgensen is frozen, the ball sails into the net, and it's nine-eight.

Matthew Jorgensen steps up next. He rushes up to the ball, tries to feint past Kelly, but launches over the crossbar. It's over. Kelly picks herself up and rushes into her jubilant teammates.

A nine-eight penalty shootout. What a way to end the cup.

AFC RUBY 1 - 1 EMERALD CITY HARMONY (1 - 1 AET, Ruby wins 9-8 on penalties)

SCHUNEMANN PITCH, EMERALD CITY

Prowse 79, Tresor 88

by **Super-Llamaland** » Thu Jul 14, 2016 4:35 pm

MD15-21

MD15
SC Nikcoro 1–6 New Llama Stars
Kyrinson 0–1 Emerald City Harmony
New Llama Capitals 3–5 Los-Juantos Coastal
BSC Vargas 1–1 AFC Ruby

After a refreshing cup break in which AFC Ruby won 9-8 on penalties to win the Llamanean Cup, the final leg of the pennant race begins. Ruby, Stars, Emerald, and Kyrinson atop the table are separated by just three points. Los-Juantos, Vargas, and Capitals are all fighting to avoid the relegation playoff and perhaps get the last Globe Cup spot, but they can rest easy knowing that if they do finish seventh, their opponent will be hapless Nikcoro, who will be going down no matter who they face.

Nonetheless, Stars decide it’s an opportune time to pad their goal differential, thrashing Nikcoro six-one - Francis Mandelbrot scores a hat-trick and the resurgent Sebastian Romero adds a hat-trick of his own, although one of those goals was into his own net off a set-piece. An absolutely exhausted Kyrinson team nearly takes a point off Harmony but falter late, Trevor Fournier, back from suspension, doing the honors.

The Capitals’ nightmare season, which has them in seventh place (and also featured a first-round cup exit to SecondLleague’s Olympic East), continues - with a golden opportunity at home to take care of business and leapfrog Los-Juantos, they manage to take a three-two lead with just fifteen minutes to play. But goals from Alice Moller, Roman Pierce, and Ryan Zhou sink the slumping Capitals again.

AFC Ruby, fresh off winning the entire Cup, seem a bit...complacent against Vargas, and it shows: although Petrarch scores early to take the lead, Ruby has no answer to Kris Strausberg’s terrific goal in which the right-back sprints the length of the goal past a number of snoozing defenders and chips it over Kelly’s head.

MD16
New Llama Stars 1–2 AFC Ruby
Los-Juantos Coastal 0–1 BSC Vargas
Emerald City Harmony 1–0 New Llama Capitals
SC Nikcoro 5–1 Kyrinson

SC Nikcoro win their first game of the season. It only took them sixteen matches to do so, but they somehow manage a five-one thrashing of exhausted Kyrinson, whose prolonged cup run really did them no favors. Annalise Mondale, Neil Waller, Kelsey Chapman, Justin Holland all score in the first half, while Nikcoro gets lucky off an own-goal in the second, and Alnwick’s late appearance and subsequent goal are little consolation for anyone not watching the scoring title.

Capitals lose again, this time to the Harmony, who once again score early (Davenport again) and stifle any attempts to score late. BSC Vargas does the same, Kris Strausberg scoring his second goal in two matches.

Meanwhile, New Llama Stars seemingly have the league lead at the half, with a one-nil lead fueled by Sigurdsson’s brilliant free-kick, but AFC Ruby manage to overcome the Stars’ defense, with first Prowse and then Byrne scoring early in the second half. It’s still not the most newsworthy story of the day in Ruby Falls, though - Michael Beeler, having been caught drinking and driving again, has been released by AFC Ruby.

SuperLleague Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 Emerald City Harmony 16 10 2 4 19 10 +9 32
2 AFC Ruby 16 9 4 3 36 17 +19 31
3 New Llama Stars 16 8 5 3 41 16 +25 29
4 Kyrinson 16 7 3 6 28 27 +1 24
5 Los-Juantos Coastal 16 6 3 7 28 29 −1 21
6 BSC Vargas 16 6 3 7 18 20 −2 21
7 New Llama Capitals 16 4 4 8 33 29 +4 16
8 SC Nikcoro 16 1 2 13 18 73 −55 5

MD17
Kyrinson 1–3 New Llama Stars
New Llama Capitals 1–1 SC Nikcoro
BSC Vargas 0–2 Emerald City Harmony
AFC Ruby 5–3 Los-Juantos Coastal

New Llama Stars manage to recover to beat Kyrinson at Forest Park. Kyrinson are falling fast, with Vargas and Coastal just three points behind them, and they’ll have to reverse course quickly if they want to keep that Globe Cup spot. There’s some that think that, with the lack of depth on the roster, the Globe Cup wouldn’t do them much good, though.

That one-all draw has to be the nadir of Capitals’ season. They barely manage to claw back a point off Rasmussen’s late strike after Nikcoro scores early. A frankly horrific performance for Capitals, and if they keep this trend up, they could be plying their trade in SecondLleague next year.

Meanwhile, Stars don’t gain any ground. Ruby and Harmony both take care of business, with Harmony’s usual strategy altered by Wesley’s late goal and Ruby overcoming their uncharacteristically porous defense.

MD18
New Llama Stars 3–0 Los-Juantos Coastal
Emerald City Harmony 0–0 AFC Ruby
SC Nikcoro 1–5 BSC Vargas
Kyrinson 0–3 New Llama Capitals

Harmony and Ruby both have a chance to take the league lead with a victory in a dramatic reprise of the Cup final - instead, they grind out a dull draw. It’s a perfect opportunity for the New Llama Stars, whose flawless victory over Leo de la Cruz’s Los-Juantos Coastal boosts them to second in the standings and just a point behind league-leading Harmony. Kris Strausberg becomes the first defender to score a hat-trick, as the one-armed wing-back puts four goals past Nikcoro to launch Vargas into the last Globe Cup spot with just three matches to play. Meanwhile, slumping Capitals face slumping Kyrinson, and the New Llama club is the one that breaks their losing streak with a resounding victory over Kyrinson.

SuperLleague Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 Emerald City Harmony 18 11 3 4 21 10 +11 36
2 New Llama Stars 18 10 5 3 47 17 +30 35
3 AFC Ruby 18 10 5 3 41 20 +21 35
4 BSC Vargas 18 7 3 8 23 23 0 24
5 Kyrinson 18 7 3 8 29 33 −4 24
6 Los-Juantos Coastal 18 6 3 9 31 37 −6 21
7 New Llama Capitals 18 5 5 8 37 30 +7 20
8 SC Nikcoro 18 1 3 14 20 79 −59 6

With just three matches to play, things are seriously heating up, both at the top - where Harmony (36), Stars (35), and Ruby (35) are the only teams still in contention, and at the middle - where Vargas and Kyrinson are level at 24 while Coastal and Capitals have equally good shots at making the Globe Cup and being relegated. The only constant appears to be Nikcoro in last place as all eight teams gear up for an exciting end to the season.

MD19
New Llama Capitals 3–0 New Llama Stars
BSC Vargas 1–3 Kyrinson
AFC Ruby 1–1 SC Nikcoro
Los-Juantos Coastal 0–2 Emerald City Harmony

Emerald City Harmony take a commanding three-point lead with two games to play, but it’s only really because they’re the only team not to seriously screw up. One more victory after their two-nil cruise over Los-Juantos (they’ve only given up ten goals in nineteen league matches this season) will clinch them the first-ever SuperLleague title.
New Llama Stars travel to their struggling neighbors and find themselves down early from a beautiful header from Petra Wladecki that beats Blanton at her near post. They decide to band together and face this adversity, growing together as a team and keeping themselves firmly in the hunt for that championship...just kidding. They immediately give up two more goals to Axel Korborg and Wladecki, the defense crumpling up and the front line not doing much better, before effectively eliminating themselves from the championship.

AFC Ruby have it even worse, though, drawing one-all with SC Nikcoro after a late own-goal when Claudia Kelly trips over a rolled shot from Tristan Lin, thus drawing the game after Petrarch’s early strike. Meanwhile, Kyrinson finally get their act together and re-establish their control over the final Globe Cup spot with a three-one victory over BSC Vargas - not that Vargas, led by Kris Strausberg (again!), go down meekly - they nearly equalize the score at two several times before the resurgent Jayce Alnwick can finally finish them off.

SuperLleague Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 Emerald City Harmony 19 12 3 4 23 10 +13 39
2 AFC Ruby 19 10 6 3 42 21 +21 36
3 New Llama Stars 19 10 5 4 47 20 +27 35
4 Kyrinson 19 8 3 8 32 34 −2 27
5 BSC Vargas 19 7 3 9 24 26 −2 24
6 New Llama Capitals 19 6 5 8 40 30 +10 23
7 Los-Juantos Coastal 19 6 3 10 31 39 −8 21
8 SC Nikcoro 19 1 4 14 21 80 −59 7

MD20
BSC Vargas 1–3 New Llama Stars
AFC Ruby 3–0 New Llama Capitals
Los-Juantos Coastal 2–0 Kyrinson
Emerald City Harmony 2–1 SC Nikcoro

The second-to-last matchday sees Los-Juantos Coastal’s two-nil upset of Kyrinson the only unexpected result (Roman Pierce the hero of the day as Coastal claws back into sixth place), while Kyrinson is lucky to keep their spot in fourth place despite the disappointing loss (they’ve taken only three points of their last six matches). Meanwhile, although Kris Strausberg scores yet another goal, continuing the one-armed wing-back’s freakish run of strong form, New Llama Stars quickly recovers from a rather poor ninety minutes (the last sixty of the previous match and the first thirty of this one) to score three goals in quick succession towards the start of the second half (Mandelbrot, Sigurdsson, Romero). Meanwhile, AFC Ruby managed a resounding three-nil defeat of New Llama Capitals.

Both teams then looked to Emerald City, needing the Harmony to lose to have any shot at the title. While Harmony had gotten an easy draw, hapless SC NIkcoro away, Nikcoro had somehow managed to keep themselves in the game, down just one-nil, despite the fact that they had nothing left to play for. When Harmony’s Kris Suarez’s careless backheel found itself into the net at the eighty-ninth minute, fans in both New Llama and Ruby Falls erupted. The tie wouldn’t last for long, though. Just after kickoff, a determined-looking Trevor Fournier abruptly dashed through the Nikcoro defense, rifled the ball into the net, and leapt into the stands after coming to the realization that he may have just won the league for Emerald City.

SuperLleague Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 Emerald City Harmony 20 13 3 4 25 11 +14 42
2 AFC Ruby 20 11 6 3 45 21 +24 39
3 New Llama Stars 20 11 5 4 50 21 +29 38
4 Kyrinson 20 8 3 9 32 36 −4 27
5 BSC Vargas 20 7 3 10 25 29 −4 24
6 Los-Juantos Coastal 20 7 3 10 33 39 −6 24
7 New Llama Capitals 20 6 5 9 40 33 +7 23
8 SC Nikcoro 20 1 4 15 22 82 −60 7

MD21
Emerald City Harmony 0–1 New Llama Stars
AFC Ruby 3–3 Kyrinson
BSC Vargas 2–0 New Llama Capitals
SC Nikcoro 2–5 Los-Juantos Coastal

With five minutes left in their respective games, New Llama leads Emerald City one-nil from a Mia Ticheli header, while Ruby narrowly leads Kyrinson three-two. But while the first scoreline doesn’t change, Jayce Alnwick wins the league - for the Harmony, smashing a volley into the top-right corner and breaking Ruby Falls’ hearts. Emerald City Harmony are the champions. And, while they may have their share of cup regrets (coughcough 9-8 penalty shootout coughcoughcough), they only barely crawl over the line, winning the league by a single point they likely wouldn’t have found if they’d won the Cup.

The latter two games are much less interesting. Vargas easily beating a furious New Llama Capitals team, resigning them to the relegation playoff - although Alnwick’s goal also has the effect of keeping both Vargas and Los-Juantos out of the Globe Cup. And a horrifying season from SC Nikcoro is capped off in the most fitting way possible - a five-two loss to Coastal.

SuperLleague Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 Emerald City Harmony 21 13 3 5 25 12 +13 42
2 New Llama Stars 21 12 5 4 51 21 +30 41
3 AFC Ruby 21 11 7 3 48 24 +24 40
4 Kyrinson 21 8 4 9 35 39 −4 28
5 BSC Vargas 21 8 3 10 27 29 −2 27
6 Los-Juantos Coastal 21 8 3 10 38 41 −3 27
7 New Llama Capitals 21 6 5 10 40 35 +5 23
8 SC Nikcoro 21 1 4 16 24 87 −63 7

by **Super-Llamaland** » Thu Jul 14, 2016 4:52 pm

SuperLleague Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 Emerald City Harmony 21 13 3 5 25 12 +13 42 CC
2 New Llama Stars 21 12 5 4 51 21 +30 41
3 AFC Ruby 21 11 7 3 48 24 +24 40
4 Kyrinson 21 8 4 9 35 39 −4 28 GC
5 BSC Vargas 21 8 3 10 27 29 −2 27
6 Los-Juantos Coastal 21 8 3 10 38 41 −3 27
7 New Llama Capitals 21 6 5 10 40 35 +5 23
8 SC Nikcoro 21 1 4 16 24 87 −63 7 Relegation Playoff

SecondLleague Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 Wheathampton Warriors 20 15 4 0 37 6 +31 49
2 Olympic East 20 12 4 3 32 11 +21 40 Promotion Playoff, SBCC
3 Nandaozhou Sharks 20 8 6 5 19 21 −2 30
4 Talahita Tigers 20 4 5 10 23 40 −17 17 SBCC
5 SC Azure 20 4 3 12 7 17 −10 15
6 New Llama Generals 20 1 4 14 16 39 −23 7

by **Super-Llamaland** » Tue Aug 30, 2016 4:55 pm

SEASON 2 PREVIEW

AFC Ruby
Manager: David Russell (+2.5); Stadium: Falls Field (28,500); Colors: Ruby and Silver; Formation: 4-4-2 diamond
GK: Claudia Kelly [C] (#01, 34, BRE), Emily Kouzmanoff (#13, 20)
Defense: Jane Walden (#02, 27), Chris Myers-Briggs (#03, 23), Cassandra Costell (#06, 33, NPH), Marcelo Ferreira (#05, 32),, Emmanuel Saint Marcel (#14, 18, SEM), Morgan Lewicki (#17, 29), Eric Springer (#18, 31)
Midfield: Seleste Yu (#07, 30), Cameron Petridis (#10, 25), Damian Conagher (#18, 32, NPH), Michael Kennedy (#08, 29), Geraldine DeGrom (#20, 35), Kurt Riedel (#17, 36)
Forward: Felix Prowse (#09, 35, BRE), Immanuel Petrarch (#11, 26), Emory Byrne (#20, 30), Alfonse Gerard (#22, 26)

In: Emmanuel Saint Marcel (DC, SEM, Kangemark Sport, 18, free), Cassandra Costell (CB, NPH, Crisisbless United, free), Damian Conagher (CM, NPH, Parrhesia United, 32, free)
Out: Michael Beeler (ST, SLL, 18, released), Justine Love (CB, SLL, 30, Wheathampton, $300k), James Hennessey (retired)

Fresh off an exciting season in which Ruby won the Cup in a 9-8 penalty shootout and finished third in the league despite having a shot at winning the double on the final matchday, David Russell’s AFC Ruby has locked down and made a number of further improvements. Brenecian Claudia Kelly is a solid keeper, and Emily Kouzmanoff is a worthy understudy who can step in as needed. The defense, strengthened with the disappointing Justine Love’s departure and the arrival of Nepharim Cassandra Costell, was decent last year and should improve. The midfield is solid - a relatively wide diamond with Conagher in back, Petridis (who broke out last season), and Seleste Yu and goalscoring Michael Kennedy on the wings. Up front, Felix Prowse was very good last season but is getting older, while Petrarch and Byrne are both starting-quality.

The concern last season was that Ruby didn’t have enough chemistry or depth, but they appear to have gotten past that. Although money is a bit tight, as evidenced by the selling of backup-quality Love and a few promising youth players, Russell’s squad still has what it takes to win the league. Still, they’re not particularly deep in midfield, with only the aging DeGrom and Riedel to back things up - the midfield will probably determine how well Ruby plays this season.

BSC Vargas
Manager: Phillip Henriksen (0); Stadium: Centennial Field (52,000); Colors: Green and Yellow; Formation: 5-3-2
GK: Aranha (#01, 21, USI), Rebecca Boumediene (#13, 26)
Defense: Erik Gunnarsson (#03, 31), Scott Sonnett (#02, 32, BRE), Sandor Constantinescu (#05, 28), Emily Ren (#06, 26), Jeff Martinsen (#16, 30),[/b] Chelsea Marino (#15, 28), Troy Bradlee (#17, 23), Jessica Myers (#25, 29)
Midfield: Finn Richter (#08, 34, NPH), Angel Sanders [C] (#10, 36, ETN), Markus Klein (#28, 28), [/b]Caroline Rasmussen (#18, 27), Markus Klein (#28, 28), Meghan Rasmussen (#30, 20)
Striker: Jack Muskerry (#09, 24, NPH), Violet Ticheli (#11, 25),, Chandler Southwick (#37, 37), Franz Christensen (#12, 26)

In: Jack Muskerry (ST, 24, NPH, Violence Chariots), Scott Sonnett (L/CB, 32, BRE, Rosbank Town), Chandler Southwick (ST, 37, SLL, Francisca Orient), Jeff Martinsen (RB, 29, SLL, Los-Juantos Coastal)
Out: Kris Strausberg (RB, 26, SLL, London FC, 4m), Carlos Hechaverria (LB, 29, Niesburg Chariots, 1m), Bryant Geiger (ST, 28, released)

Things don’t look very good for BSC Vargas. With money tight and Kris Strausberg demanding a move, the team was forced to sell their star right-back, who scored eleven goals last season as a wing-back, to Quebecois club London FC. They didn’t do too much with the money, either. Arondic champions Niesburg stole Carlos Hechiaverria, who was tapped to replace Strausberg as wing-back and creator. To replace the wing-backs, Phillip Henriksen brought in Jeff Martinsen, who couldn’t make the starting eleven at Los-Juantos, and Brenecian Scott Sonnett, whose arrival will push the dynamic Gunnarsson over to the left wing-back.

The midfield doesn’t help matters, either. Richter and Ethanian captain Angel Sanders are good but aging, and Caroline Rasmussen didn’t exactly impress last season - perhaps the pacy Klein will do better? At least they’re solid up front, though - Violet Ticheli was decent last season up front, and instead of the middling Christensen and now-released Geiger to back her up, she has strong finisher Jack Muskerry, a Nepharim who could see a few years in the starting spot for Vargas, by her side and impact sub Chandler Southwick backing up.

Still, despite the solid attack, Varags aren’t particularly good at other positions. They definitely won’t see the Globe Cup after falling just short last season, and will probably just try to stay alive and make some noise in the SuperCup.

Emerald City Harmony
Manager: Erik Anderssen (-5); Stadium: Emerald Coliseum (20,000); Colors: Green and Black; Formation: 3-5-2
GK: Johannes Sindelaar [C] (#01, 27),Fiona Wintergreen (#12, 21)
Defense: Jan Caulson (#18, 30, NPH), Tim Ferraro (#16, 24), Henrick Davenport (#05, 34, NPH), Kris Suarez (#03, 26), Emily Gustav (#14, 18)
Midfield: Willard Banks (#11, 28, HSZ), Eliza Korakov (#08, 30), Trevor Fournier (#10, 21), Marin Tresor (#06, 18), Marco Saint Paul (#09, 18, ANG), Griffin Varga (#17, 29), Arturo Jimenez (#27, 25), Megan Thurmond (#29, 19)
Forward: Allison Ticheli (#19, 26), Jake Wesley (#20, 25), Costa Barros (#29, 21, USI), Aurelio Sandoval (#30, 27), Tobias Ebenezer (#32, 19)

Out: ST Paul Novak, GK Matthew Jorgensen, CB James Cairo (released), Michael Nordstrom (MF, 26, Wheathampton Warriors, $500k), Aurelio Sandoval (ST, 26, Nandaozhou Sharks, $200k), Eric Grimm (ST, 26, Southfeld Athletic, $150k), George Naismith (CM, 25, Southfeld Athletic, $75k)
In: Willard Banks (MF, 28, HSZ, Rappolz, free), Marco Saint Paul (CAM, ANG, Bathgate City Youth, 17, 1.25m), Tim Ferraro (CB, 24, Nandaozhou Sharks), Tobias Ebenezer (ST, 19, U21, promoted)

The defending champions got busy and improved markedly over the summer - while the defense, led by Sindelaar and Davenport and supplemented by second-tier Nandaozhou’s anchor Tim Ferraro, has improved (with both backups, Gustav and Suarez, very good defenders in their own right) , but the attack has as well. Hasznian international Banks and Anglatian prospect Saint Paul come on for Varga and Naismith, joining CAM and future NTer Trevor Fournier in adding a more attack-minded feel to the team. The new midfield won’t sacrifice the team’s defensive capability, though. Acronian international Marin Tresor is rock-solid and surprisingly good with free-kicks, while Eliza Korakov is decent but expected to be replaced by the promising Megan Thurmond sometime this season. Up front, who Erik Anderssen will play is a complete mystery - but Ticheli, who looked good when not injured, and young Jake Wesley, are favored to start, although Sunrisan Costa Barros is knocking on the door.

This team is heavy on star-power, solid throughout the lineup, and considerably deep on the bench. Anything less than a repeat would be a disappointment, even with Ruby and Stars right behind them.

Kyrinson
Manager: Tim Robespierre (+3.5); Stadium: LlamaCard (55,000); Colors: Green and Sky Blue; Formation: 4-3-1-2
GK: Mark Horowitz (#01, 36), James Franklin (#12, 29)
Defense: Rook Cypress (#02, 33, NPH), Victor Kucinski (#05, 31), Michael Cordero (#16, 26), McKenna Fordham (#17, 30), Jared Blake (#03, 30), Emma Glass (#14, 28)
Midfield: James Blake (#06, 32), Harrison Stevensson (#07, 29), Stefan Rinaldi (#10, 20), Morgan Ericsson (#11, 29), Chris Foster [C] (#08, 36), Jordan Svensson (#19, 29), Bethany Hart (#25, 29)
Forward: Jayce Alnwick (#14, 31, NPH), Nolan Garcia (#20, 23, MIA), Emma Isoaho (#32, 31) Taylor Moore (#31, 29)

In: Nolan Garcia (ST, Eastweald, MIA, 23, free), Emma Isoaho (ST, SC In’eodong Undine, SLL, 31, $1m)
Out: Bret Saberhagen (retired), Kevin Allende (retired)

Tim Robespierre was reportedly told over the summer to bring in new blood, and while he definitely brought in talent, all the talent brought in was at the position they needed least. While strikers Nolan Garcia and overqualified substitute Emma Isoaho (a former Llamanean NT shortlist candidate) will pair well with Alnwick, the team’s best goal-scorer last season, the defense and midfield still could use major improvement. The team is still relying on three players with a combined age of 100 to anchor the defense (keeper Horowitz and defenders Cypress and Kucinski), while Cordero and Fordham could be upgraded. The team’s midfield is good but aging - although Stefan Rinaldi has been given free rein to wreak havoc on the opposing defense, much of his supporting cast is aging and losing effectiveness, including now-benched captain Chris Foster, whose passing seriously helped Rinaldi last season. While Kyrinson will be solid as ever, they still don’t have much time on their hands before their core becomes too old to carry the team. Can Robespierre adapt before then?

Los-Juantos Coastal
Manager: Leo de la Cruz (+5); Stadium: Tenacity Park (40,000); Colors: Scarlet and Gold; Formation: 4-2-3-1
GK: Nicholas Lindberg [C] (#01, 27), Maria Kovacic (#23, 20)
Defense: Evangelista Sandoval (#30, 27), Ephraim Wagner (#02, 26), Kiernan Gustav (#15, 34), Kevin Jorgensen (#03, 29), Alex Bale (#25, 36), Jeff Martinsen (#16, 29)
Midfield: Jake Appel (#18, 27), Petra Suleimann (#06, 25), Vincent Christensen (#05, 39), Ryan Zhou (#07, 30), Felix Adamson (#35, 27), Alice Møller (#10, 21),[/b] Jacob Hull-Benson (#36, 29), Caroline Jensen (#20, 27)
Forward: Roman Pierce (#11, 29), Felicity Jennings (#24, 31)

Los-Juantos, despite their sixth-place finish, were a pleasant surprise last season. Under the management of fiery manager Leonidas De La Cruz, an infamously hot-headed manager who led AC Bartolome to three consecutive championships before being fired over abusing his players. Potential NT backup Nicholas Lindberg is solid in goal but won’t get much help - Ephraim Wagner and Kiernan Gustav are decent if unproven, but neither high-profile signing Sandoval nor Jorgensen are there for their defensive ability - this is a team that wins with relentless, high-energy attack. While star striker Guto, who scored ten goals but clashed with De La Cruz, has been shipped off to the Capitals, who will use him to replace Axel Korborg, Roman Pierce proved a more than capable understudy De La Cruz is willing to hand the reins to, and veteran Jennings is a capable backup.

But the real surprise last season, although still a wild-card this season, is the midfield. Suleimann and Appel are pacy midfielders who keep the front four well-supplied, although neither has the greatest technique and midfield maestro VIncent Christensen is, well, thirty-nine and on the bench. As for the attacking three, Zhou and Adamson proved themselves capable last season, but the real gem is Alice Møller, who was named to the all-league XI last season and who proved invaluable as a playmaker and a goalscorer.

While De La Cruz may not think so, though, downgrading from Guto to Roman Pierce will be a minus. Still, most pundits will feel confident pegging them to stay afloat this season, and they still have an outside shot at the Globe Cup.

New Llama Capitals
Manager: Curtis Chen (+1), Stadium: Tyler Rocke (37,500); Colors: Blue and Silver; Formation: 4-3-3
GK: Marcus Siegrist [C] (#01, 29), Jenna Marquette-Dunsinane (#13, 23)
Defense: Corey Dunbar (#02, 26), Immanuel Sorensen (#03, 29), Ellis Holloway (#15, 26, HSZ), Madeline Warwick (#16, 24),, Wictor Henriksen (#05, 31), Emma Vanderwaal (#14, 21), Krisztina Berky (#06, 16)
Midfield: Christian Whetham (#08, 30), Anna Walquist (#17, 29), Nemanja Volkhov (#07, 27) Jonathan Rhoderick (#10, 35), Taylor Morrison (#18, 30)
Forward: Madison Rojas (#20, 23), Guto (#09, 28, USI), Petra Wladecki (#18, 27), Margus Gerrard (#30, 21), Edward Korsky (#32, 27)

In: Krisztina Berky (RB, 16, PAS, Myrtha Dalin), Ellis Holloway (CB, HSZ, Sterling, 26, $750,000), Margus Gerrard (FW, 20, ARN, Niesburg Chariots, $500,000), Edward Korsky (FW, 26, EYR, Red Star Hlavne, $375,000), Guto (ST, 27, USI, Los-Juantos Coastal, $600,000)
Out: Caroline Rasmussen (retired), Leonidas Suarez (retired), Jeff Vasquez (Wheathampton Warriors, $50k), Axel Korborg (Whitehaven Triumph, $3m)

Capitals kept themselves busy over the summer. While Axel Korborg’s presence up top will be missed after the striker demanded a transfer and got one to Ceni, Los-Juantos’ Guto is a more than capable replacement. Meanwhile, the talented but unproven purchases Gerrard and Korsky will both start the season on the bench to back up a front line that was more than capable of scoring goals last season. Of course, scoring goals isn’t really their issue - it’s the defense. And new manager Curtis Chen, formerly of the LFL’s Ruby Falls FC, has made moves there, too - Hasznian international Holloway was bought for a relatively low price of $750,000, while Pasargan Krisztina Berky is more of a long-term buy. Still, while Sorensen and Holloway form a stable center-back pairing, Dunbar and Warwick are still not the greatest of fullbacks, defensively or offensively, and missing out on talented Chromatikan Aysu Damjana - to Stars - will hurt.

But, while the attack is good and the defense is...passable, the midfield, which was a tremendous flop last year, will really determine Capitals’ fate. Chen has made a number of changes - aging Jonathan Rhoderick and ineffective Taylor Morrison taken out for younger, pacier Walquist and Volkhov. This should improve things, but the midfield is still unproven. Can Capitals recover from last season’s nightmare?

New Llama Stars
Manager: Jeremy Hayes (+3); Stadium: Arthur Clarke (50,000); Colors: Green and White; Formation: 4-3-3
GK: Sebastian Nielsen (#01, 33, ACR), Erika Blanton (#12, 28)
Defense: Aysu Damjana (#06, 23, CMT), Michael Gunning (#03, 27), Stern Chaucer (#18, 31, NPH), Mark Sorensen (#10, 30), Ava Florentin (#16, 27), Jason Walker (#02, 30)
Midfield: Sebastian Romero (#09, 26), Jake Raburn (#07, 37), Annalisa Sigurdsson (#20, 21), Christine Valdevic (#33, 27), Bryant Vanderwaal (#35, 18)
Forward: Francis Mandelbrot [C] (#11, 28), Uerlisson (#29, 29, MTH), Mia Ticheli (#36, 29), Carsten Vincent (#31, 20), Caitlyn Gunning (#22, 20)

Hayes took a team that almost won it all and made it better. Erika Blanton turned from one of the best keepers in the league into a disgruntled backup - Acronian NT starter Sebastian Nielsen taking the helm. In defense, the towering Aysu Damjana will prove a strong pickup on both sides of the pitch - what’s better, they stole her from Cyclones despite bidding less for the six-seven fullback. Gunning and Nepharim Chaucer form a strong partnership in the middle, while Mark Sorensen remains a goal-scoring threat.

Old as Jake Raburn may be, he’s still an extremely effective playmaker, and Romero and set-piece legend Sigurdsson are both incisive and ingenious. The midfield they form is rather limited in defensive capability - Raburn preferring to drift around while the other two keep the pressure - but last season, the strong defense managed to keep most goals out, and the additions of Damjana and Nielsen can only help. Up front, Uerlisson and Francis Mandelbrot were both incredibly effective last season, Ticheli proved a capable support winger, and talented prospects Carsten Vincent and Caitlyn Gunning are still both waiting for their turn. The Stars, fresh off a second-place run, are even better and deeper than ever. Anything less than first would be a disappointment.

In: Sebastian Nielsen (GK, ACR, Londontown Rovers FC, 33, $2m), Carsten Vincent (FW, SLL, U21, 20, promoted), Aysu Damjana (LB, CMT, Myana, 23, $2.75m), Bryant Vanderwaal (MF, SLL, U21, 18, promoted)
Out: Dmitry Vasiliev (GK, EYR, Londontown Rovers FC, 25, free), ST Yadier Rivera (retired), DF Emma Feldman (31, SLL, released), Nicholas Fletcher (DF, SLL, Wheathampton Warriors, free)

Olympic East
Manager: David Korhonen (+1); Stadium: Olympic Field (36,000); Colors: Emerald and Silver; Formation: 4-4-2

GK: Sigrid Cooper (#01, 29, NPH), Emily Johanssen (#13, 25)
Defense: Paul Althusse (#03, 18, ACR), Jan Mertesacker (#02, 30), Megan Olafson (#14, 28), Tristan Lin (#05, 26), Cora Wilkensen (#15, 17), Will Henry (#26, 28)
Midfield: Jordan Svensson (#19, 28), Justin Koehler (#08, 26), Kurtis Mann (#09, 25), Adria Sigurorzson (#07, 29) Gedeon Gyenis (#06, 16, PAS), Markus Rasmussen (#18, 23)
Forward: Alex Cartwright (#10, 44), Jordan Carrasco [C] (#11, 26), Magnus Florentssen (#30, 28), Meghan Lin (#32, 27)

Newly-promoted Olympic East have done an incredible job of building a SuperLleague-quality team over the summer. While Emily Johanssen was serviceable last season, Nepharim Sigrid Cooper is a huge improvement. The team took a lot of risks in the defense - counting on hot-headed Acronian Paul Althusse to not get himself suspended, mercurial northerner Mertesacker to anchor the defense, and 17-year-old Cora Wilkinsen to be the first player off the bench. Still, if everything clicks, the team will have an exceptional back line. The midfield, to contrast, is sturdy and reliable - Kurtis Mann can be counted on to exploit gaps in any defense, Koehler is a high-intensity defensive midfielder who overwhelmed SecondLleague with his paciness and tackling efficiency, and the towering Sigurorzson is vicious as a winger or as a right-midfielder. And up front, alongside captain Jordan Carrasco, is none other than East Llama native and Llamanean legend Alex Cartwright. If they can keep it together for the entire year, Olympic East have a very good chance at staying up - and an outside shot at the Globe Cup.

by **Super-Llamaland** » Sat Sep 03, 2016 5:05 pm

MD1-7

MD1
BSC Vargas 0–3 New Llama Stars
AFC Ruby 0–2 Emerald City Harmony
Los-Juantos Coastal 1–0 Olympic East
New Llama Capitals 1–1 Kyrinson

The season kicks off in Vargas, where BSC is hoping to get off to a strong start and establish themselves as Globe Cup contenders. They manage to do the exact opposite of that - Francis Mandelbrot scores within ten minutes, Uerlisson is there to double the lead, and new signing Aysu Damjana manages to head in a Uerlisson corner-kick to make it three-nil early in the second half. Vargas is blown away and never recovers. The second game of the season, much more anticipated than the first, is just as dull - while Harmony-Ruby is a great matchup on paper, Trevor Fournier and Jake Wesley both score within ten minutes, and nothing happens for the rest of the match.

Things are much more exciting when the marquee clubs get out of the way. Los-Juantos and Olympic play a match that seems the exact opposite of the one-nil final scoreline, with a number of close calls from both sides. In the end, though, although Cartwright nearly scores from thirty yards out with a minute to play, it’s Roman Pierce who comes out of nowhere to head in a last-chance corner-kick. Meanwhile, New Llama Capitals grab a one-nil advantage early from Guto, but Jayce Alnwick equalizes in the last few minutes to salvage a point. The home crowd is massively disappointed.

MD2
New Llama Stars 0–5 Kyrinson
Olympic East 0–5 New Llama Capitals
Emerald City Harmony 1–1 Los-Juantos Coastal
BSC Vargas 0–1 AFC Ruby

A full-strength New Llama Stars, at home, against a decent but aging team. A match they should easily win, right? Wrong. Jayce Alnwick slips past an overly aggressive Mark Sorensen, receives a perfect pass from Stefan Rinaldi, and fires a curved shot past Nielsen in the third minute. In the fifth minute, Harrison Stevenson is hacked down in the box and Alnwick fires in the resulting penalty. And in the ninth minute, after the injured Aysu Damjana is swapped out for Jason Walker, Rinaldi humiliates an out-of-form Walker, looks up to find empty space, and rolls it past Nielsen. Three-nil before the tenth minute. Stars manage to hold the Twin Pines back for the next few minutes, but Rinaldi assists newcomers Isoaho and Nolan Garcia towards the start of the second half to finish them off for good. New Llama Capitals, in nearby East Llama, also manage a five-nil victory over Olympic East - Cartwright, Carrasco, and Mann find their supply cut off as the defense and midfielder Koehler are brutally exploited by Capitals’ attack - Guto is the man of the match with a first-half hat-trick.

Los-Juantos, impressively, manages to snag a point from Emerald City away. Harmony were as solid as usual, Costa Barros scoring fairly early before Harmony parked the bus - this time, though, it was Alice Møller who managed to find space to unleash a devastating curled shot into the top-right corner - Sindelaar, impressive as he is, didn’t stand a chance. In Vargas, a scrappy BSC side led by Erik Gunnarsson manages to keep things level until the final minutes, when a ball ricochets off Prowse’s knee and into the goal.

MD3
AFC Ruby 1–1 New Llama Stars
Los-Juantos Coastal 6–1 BSC Vargas
New Llama Capitals 2–2 Emerald City Harmony
Kyrinson 1–0 Olympic East

Los-Juantos have gotten off to an impossibly good start. A win against Olympic East, a draw against defending champions Harmony, and now a six-one annihilation of BSC Vargas. Zhou and backup striker Jennings both find braces in the first half, and although new addition Muskerry pulls one back, Alice Møller comes on late to assist Pierce and score one for herself. Stars come out with a vastly different backline after their demolition against Kyrinson - Damjana, Valdevic, Gunning, Florentin is unorthodox, but works well enough, giving up a late goal to Michael Kennedy after Sebastian Romero found a gap in the defense to slide a shot through.

Curtis Chen’s New Llama Capitals have been a revelation. Harmony are on their best form of the season, but find themselves clinging to a point at the end of the match - Sindelaar is as good as usual, but even he struggles to fend back Capitals’ late-game barrage fuelled by substitute Edward Korsky, who scores to put the capital club up two-one before Fournier’s free-kick finds its way into the goal by way of Ticheli’s head. Olympic East recover from their last match and admirably hold Kyrinson to a nil-nil draw for seventy-six minutes before substitute Isoaho finds Jayce Alnwick in the box for an easy goal.

MD4
New Llama Stars 2–1 Olympic East
Emerald City Harmony 1–0 Kyrinson
BSC Vargas 1–3 New Llama Capitals
AFC Ruby 1–1 Los-Juantos Coastal

After four matches, BSC Vargas still haven’t found their first point. Markus Klein’s beautiful pass sets up the surprising Muskerry for an early goal, but it’s the dominant Cyclones who pull all three back within the half and hold on to win. After a decent enough first season, Phillip Henriksen’s team is in huge trouble. Olympic East, only with one point themselves, equalize early in the second half - it’s Cartwright, naturally, set up beautifully by Kurtis Mann - against an underwhelming Stars, but although Uerlisson is having an off night, his substitute Carsten Vincent manages to slip through East’s fragile defense and set up Francis Mandelbrot for the finishing blow.

Harmony, despite their two-nil win over AFC Ruby and perfect record, have been rather underwhelming this season. That continues as they barely get by an Alnwick-less Kyrinson team, Marin Tresor saving the day off a curled free-kick Horowitz should’ve been able to handle. Even more shockingly, AFC Ruby, after a one-all draw, still only have one win in four matches.

MD5
Los-Juantos Coastal 1–3 New Llama Stars
New Llama Capitals 1–2 AFC Ruby
Kyrinson 4–0 BSC Vargas
Olympic East 0–0 Emerald City Harmony

Stars have recovered well from their five-nil defeat to Kyrinson. Although they’re still working out their defensive arrangement (Damjana-Gunning-Chaucer-Sorensen and Damjana-Gunning-Valdevic-Florentin the two favored lineups), their front three has no such issues - Carsten Vincent, starting in place of the injured Ticheli, opens the scoring by heading in Mandelbrot’s cross, and although Jake Appel equalizes off a free-kick towards the end of the half, Vincent assists Mandelbrot’s long range shot and then finds a third goal off a lucky bounce, likely usurping the right-wing spot for good. The other Capital team aren’t as lucky - Ruby get off to a slow start, but Petrarch and Kennedy fire past the New Llama Capitals late. A metaphor for this season, they hope.

But not Harmony, who are unable to get past Sigrid Cooper and Olympic East. While they’re solid as ever defensively, not even Cartwright able to get through, being unable to score against one of the weakest backlines in the league is not a great sign. Meanwhile, Kyrinson continue their inconsistent ways - After barely getting by Kyrinson and losing to Harmony, they thrash BSC Vargas four-nil, Stefan Rinaldi having one of the best individual performances of the season.

MD6
New Llama Stars 2–3 Emerald City Harmony
BSC Vargas 2–0 Olympic East
AFC Ruby 1–0 Kyrinson
Los-Juantos Coastal 1–1 New Llama Capitals

AFC Ruby has not won a match by more than a goal the entire season. They have a goal difference of +1 in six matches. They are also, after a similarly underwhelming one-nil defeat of Kyrinson in which Michael Cordero scores on his own net, a point out of first place - Harmony, for all their struggles this season, still manage to fire their way back into the top spot with a three-two thriller in the Stars’ home field - new players Saint Paul and Banks both equalize goals off the foot of Francis Mandelbrot, but it’s none other than Trevor Fournier who squeezes by a defender before curling a shot past Nielsen.

In a different sort of high-stakes match, BSC Vargas (0 points) and Olympic East (1 point) play, both striving for the heady heights of seventh place. It’s Erik Gunnarsson who slips by the feckless Olympic East defense on a corner-kick for an easy goal after just ten minutes, and, despite all of East’s efforts, Violet Ticheli does the same thing at the end of the match.

MD7
New Llama Capitals 0–2 New Llama Stars
Kyrinson 3–3 Los-Juantos Coastal
Olympic East 0–1 AFC Ruby
Emerald City Harmony 0–1 BSC Vargas

Emerald City are at home against the second-worst team in the league, but miraculously still manage to lose, dropping two spots in the tables. With five minutes to play and Harmony pushing further and further up the pitch in an attempt to actually score and get all three points, Gunnarsson strips Trevor Fournier of the ball and sends a pass through the entire midfield to Chandler Southwick, who immediately shoots from thirty yards out for whatever reason. And scores, giving Vargas a one-nil victory against the defending champions. Los-Juantos draws their fourth match of the season - fifth place isn’t bad considering the loss of Guto, but Leo de la Cruz wants Globe Cup football next season. Tim Robespierre and the Twin Pines won’t be too upset over placing fourth for a second season, though, even if their contention window is running out quickly.

In New Llama, the two capital teams face off. This time, young Carsten Vincent is starting at striker, shifting Uerlisson to the right wing. Vincent proceeds to score two goals in the first half hour. The Capitals have no response, and are dropped into sixth (a win would’ve found them in third). Although New Llama’s “second club” got off to a hot start under new manager Curtis Chen, reality has come quickly. They have gotten one point out their last three matches. Ruby are on the opposite trajectory - another one-goal win over Olympic East (who have scored one goal the entire season) combined with Harmony’s blunder sends them to the top of the SuperLleague after seven matches.

Pld    W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts 
1 AFC Ruby                7    4   2   1     7    5   +2    14
2 New Llama Stars         7    4   1   2    13   11   +2    13
3 Emerald City Harmony    7    3   3   1     9    6   +3    12
4 Kyrinson                7    3   2   2    14    6   +8    11
5 Los-Juantos Coastal     7    2   4   1    14   10   +4    10
6 New Llama Capitals      7    2   3   2    13    9   +4     9
7 BSC Vargas              7    2   0   5     5   17  −12     6
8 Olympic East            7    0   1   6     1   12  −11     1

by **Super-Llamaland** » Sat Sep 10, 2016 1:57 pm

MD8-14

MD8
New Llama Stars 1–1 BSC Vargas
Emerald City Harmony 1–0 AFC Ruby
Olympic East 0–4 Los-Juantos Coastal
Kyrinson 6–5 New Llama Capitals

Eleven goals in one match. Eleven! Granted, it’s Kyrinson and Capitals, but still! The match is one of the best of the season - Capitals fall behind four-one at the half, Stefan Rinaldi once again too good to handle and the Garcia - Isoaho pairing deadly. They proceed to score four goals in the opening ten minutes of the second half, led by Guto, before proceeding to cough up two more on the other end to close out scoring as Kyrinson finally manage to right the ship, substitute Jared Blake performing surprisingly well.

Harmony and Ruby meet up again - the result a one-nil Emerald win just as boring as their first match. Ruby won’t be too upset at losing, but Michael Kennedy goes down with a torn ACL and suddenly they’ve almost no midfield depth and thirty-six-year-old Kurt Riedel starting. Stars are tripped up as well, conceding late to a ridiculously in-form Erik Gunnarsson as BSC Vargas continues their hot streak after Carsten Vincent finds another goal early - and it’s once again Harmony on top of the league table.

Olympic East are at home against a slumping Los-Juantos, seemingly an opportune time to take their first win of the season after just one point in seven games. Desperate, David Korhonen decides to swap out underwhelming veteran Megan Olafson with teenager Cora Wilkenson, who proceeds to reward the manager’s faith in her by somehow scoring two own goals. Olympic are throttled, four-nil, and still haven’t won in eight matches.

MD9
Kyrinson 1–2 New Llama Stars
New Llama Capitals 3–1 Olympic East
Los-Juantos Coastal 4–3 Emerald City Harmony
AFC Ruby 4–2 BSC Vargas

The story of the day has to be Emerald City losing four-three to Los-Juantos. Even if it weren’t Los-Juantos, or if they’d won four-three, it would have been a huge story - it’s the most vulnerable the famous Harmony defense has looked all season. Caulson is so ineffective that Erik Anderssen throws only-marginally-better Kris Suarez on, while Davenport and Ferraro both seem worse than usual and the midfield is busy scoring against Los-Juantos. It works for a while - Saint Paul, Banks, and Allison Ticheli all score to give the team a three-two lead, but while pushing for a fourth, Alice Møller finds space and fires from long range to score - and Roman Pierce gifts his team all three points with a well-timed late header. Kyrinson suffers a similar fate, an early Nolan Garcia goal negated by two late Francis Mandelbrot ones. It’s not all good news for Stars, though - Mia Ticheli, agitated by the lack of starting time, is demanding Stars release her so that she can sign on elsewhere.

Capitals are looking a bit better of late - Olympic East has arguably their best performance of the season, but goals from Wladecki and Guto towards the end of the first half shift moment towards them, and not even substitute forward Markus Rasmussen’s strike off a lucky bounce changes much - the loss puts Olympic thirteen points out of safety after nine matches. Korhonen’s job is on the line. Finally, AFC Ruby struggles to get past Vargas, only barely pulling ahead Emory Byrne’s late-game heroics - the loss of Kennedy is hitting them hard.

MD10
New Llama Stars 4–3 AFC Ruby
BSC Vargas 5–0 Los-Juantos Coastal
Emerald City Harmony 0–1 New Llama Capitals
Olympic East 5–1 Kyrinson

Capitals pull off a major upset against Harmony - with the win, they move into third place, leapfrogging Harmony and Ruby (who wouldn’t make the Globe Cup if the season ended today). Harmony are defensively compact and threaten a number of times on the attack, but the Wesley-Barros partnership is surprisingly wasteful and the match stays at nil-nil until Nemanja Volkhov, who has been one of the greatest surprises of Capitals’ season, slits Harmony open with a beautiful run and threads the ball between Ferraro and Davenport. Kris Suarez, caught out of position, sprints to get it, but it’s Edward Korsky who beats Suarez to it and beats a sprawling Sindelaar. It’s just the latest in Capitals’ long string of victories - could the “Other New Llama Team” actually contend for a title this year?

Not if Stars have their way - Ruby is the latest victim of their four-game unbeaten streak, despite David Russell’s successful but daring decision to switch to a 4-3-3 with a fluid front line of Immanuel Petrarch flanked by Gerrard and Byrne. As it turns out, Alfonse Gerrard is a very good left-winger, assisting Petrarch’s two goals and scoring a third to help AFC come back from a three-nil deficit to tie things up. Unfortunately, they can’t preserve that scoreline: Stars’ back four may be crumpling defensively, but they manage to score the fourth and final goal on their own - Michael Gunning making a daring run into midfield before dumping off to Sorensen, who takes off down the right wing before crossing off Damjana’s head and into the goal.

Meanwhile, the two worst sides in the league both suddenly decide to destroy their opponents. Olympic and Vargas both score five goals and leave Los-Juantos and Kyrinson (who get Alnwick back, not that it helps much) wondering what just happened.

MD11
Olympic East 5–6 New Llama Stars
Kyrinson 1–2 Emerald City Harmony
New Llama Capitals 1–0 BSC Vargas
Los-Juantos Coastal 0–0 AFC Ruby

Jayce Alnwick’s back! The Nepharim striker, having a down year (goalless in her last seven matches) finally manages to find the net, although Stefan Rinaldi deserves more credit for setting up the goal. It doesn’t help much. Up against a determined Harmony team, Kyrinson wilts, conceding to Trevor Fournier and Banks, both goals assisted by the impressive Saint Paul. They’re now mired in sixth place and four points from dropping into the relegation playoff spot, while Harmony are, well, still in third behind the Capitals, who barely manage to overcome a surging BSC Vargas, but ahead of Ruby, who are even worse, drawing nil-nil to Coastal.

Meanwhile, Olympic East, who still have just four points out of ten matches, have their best performance of the season. The power trio of Kurtis Mann, Jordan Carrasco, and Alex Cartwright is excellent, combining for four goals and five assists against the weakened Stars defense. They are up by three goals on two separate occasions (three-nil after just thirty minutes and five-two with thirty minutes to play). The defense implodes and they concede six and lose. Olympic East now have four points out of eleven matches.

MD12
New Llama Stars 7–1 Los-Juantos Coastal
AFC Ruby 3–6 New Llama Capitals
BSC Vargas 0–1 Kyrinson
Emerald City Harmony 1–0 Olympic East

Stars, a week after scoring six, score seven on upstarts Los-Juantos, dumping them into sixth (Kyrinson’s Nolan Garcia sealing the deal with a late goal against Vargas). Capitals, after two weeks of one-nil wins, manage a six-three win over Ruby to keep firm control on second. There are nine weeks left to play, but it really is looking like a Stars-Capitals pennant race will decide the league champion - although Harmony, despite a decidedly unimpressive one-nil win over unlucky Olympic, who play the exact opposite of last week’s match and still lose, have managed to stay deadlocked with Capitals.
MD13
Emerald City Harmony 2–2 New Llama Stars
Olympic East 1–0 BSC Vargas
Kyrinson 3–3 AFC Ruby
New Llama Capitals 3–0 Los-Juantos Coastal

Capitals continue their run of good form on both sides of the pitch, scoring three on Coastal (Volkhov managing to assist all three goals) while holding the team’s strong offense at bay. Stars are in considerably more trouble after starting right-winger Mia Ticheli decides she’s had enough and forces a release (she’s picked up by the desperate AFC Ruby later that day), forcing Hayes to throw in an unprepared Caitlyn Gunning at right-wing. Still, the team battles to a two-all standstill against Harmony. They’re still in first place, but that will change if they lose to Capitals next week.

A somewhat-revitalized Kyrinson and a somewhat-revitalized AFC Ruby face off. The score is three-two (Kyrinson ahead by goals from Alnwick, Isoaho, and Rinaldi) when David Russell decides to bring in Mia Ticheli, who had been officially signed two hours ago. Ticheli scores, because of course she does, salvaging a point out of the match and placing Ruby back in the final Globe Cup spot.

Olympic East is at home against BSC Vargas, perhaps the easiest match they’ll have for the rest of the season. And sure enough, they finally manage to eke out a win, Kurtis Mann dribbling through the defense before firing just inside the post at the start of the second half. They have seven points now, just three behind Vargas - but after that, Los-Juantos Coastal is still ten points away. Only one of Olympic and Vargas will start next season in the top flight.

MD14
New Llama Stars 1–3 New Llama Capitals
Los-Juantos Coastal 0–0 Kyrinson
AFC Ruby 0–0 Olympic East
BSC Vargas 1–0 Emerald City Harmony

The atmosphere in New Llama is tense. Fans from across the country pour in to watch the spectacle. It’s the Stars, who have comfortably led for most of the season, up against the upstart New Llama Capitals, who have a shiny new manager and a shiny new midfield, both of which have put them in second ahead of league champs Harmony and cup champs Ruby. When Guto scores off a beautiful Volkhov corner-kick in the tenth minute, and when Carsten Vincent decides passing is optional and darts down the right wing before cutting in and rolling it past Marcus Siegrist, the crowd goes berserk. It’s one of the liveliest football games in the nation’s history. Football has truly made a comeback in Super-Llamaland. At the start of the second half, Petra Wladecki catches a pass from Volkhov, sprints between Damjana and Gunning, and curls one into the top corner to take the lead. Stars push further and further forwards, but can’t score against the Capitals’ defense, and it’s Edward Korsky who finishes the Stars off. For the first time ever, the New Llama Capitals are at the top of the table.

Harmony are five points back of the New Llama teams after somehow managing to lose to Vargas, and Ruby seven after somehow managing to draw Olympic East - this is the capital city’s year to shine.

SuperLleague Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 New Llama Capitals 14 8 3 3 35 20 +15 27
2 New Llama Stars 14 8 3 3 36 27 +9 27
3 Emerald City Harmony 14 6 4 4 18 15 +3 22
4 AFC Ruby 14 5 5 4 20 21 −1 20
5 Kyrinson 14 5 4 5 27 23 +4 19
6 Los-Juantos Coastal 14 4 6 4 23 28 −5 18
7 BSC Vargas 14 4 1 9 14 25 −11 13
8 Olympic East 14 2 2 10 13 27 −14 8

by **Super-Llamaland** » Wed Sep 14, 2016 9:42 am

CUP BREAK

Last year, AFC Ruby edged out Emerald City on their home court in a thrilling match that ended 9-8 on penalties. This year, Arthur C. Clarke, host of many Cup of Harmony games and home to the New Llama Stars, will be hosting the SuperCup.

(1) New Llama Capitals 4–2 (8) Olympic East
Wladecki 39, Volkhov 41, Guto 68, Walquist 90+2; Cartwright 45+1, Sigurorzson 57
An absolute thriller. Capitals get off to a strong start, but Olympic East, despite their last-place league status, are undeterred. The two sides repeatedly counterpunch until Nemanja Volkhov ducks between Althusse and Mertesacker to rifle a pass towards the far post - it's not an easy goal, but Wladecki comfortably manages to get to the ball and reroute it into the net. Two minutes later, Guto makes a beautiful run through the box, destroying Olafson in the process, before back-heeling to Volkhov. Olympic East are in dire straits, but Cartwright pulls a wondergoal out of his hat, drifting out to head a clear over two defenders and strike it into the goal. And, on the other side of the half, Mann finds Adria Sigurorzson for a long-range strike. Things are looking up for Olympic, but not for long. Their defensive vulnerability today catches up to them against a far better Capitals team. Guto slides past overworked Tristan Lin and curls a shot home (Cooper distinctly mediocre on the day), and although East nearly equalize, it's Walquist late to finish off the underdogs.
(4) AFC Ruby 2–1 (12) 1940 Asure
Prowse 34, Petridis 55; Elias 25
1940 give AFC Ruby an early scare, coming out of the gate dominant and in control. Yohan Elias' 25th-minute goal isn't the first he's put into a net (an earlier strike ruled offsides). But Felix Prowse scores the luckiest of goals, only 1940's goalkeeper's failed attempt to come out and clear the ball on a counterattack giving him an open goal that he effortlessly taps into. And 1940 are very wasteful and tire quickly, letting Cameron Petridis come on at the half and deliver the finishing blow.
(2) New Llama Stars 2–1 (10) Nandaozhou Sharks
Damjana 29, Mandelbrot 90+1; Herleksson 80
Pricey offseason pickup Aysu Damjana was lauded for her offensive skills, and it shows. The left-back is a constant threat today, nearly scoring two goals before heading Vincent's cross through the defense to give Stars the lead. The capital team tries to lock things down late, but to no avail - Nandaozhou look greatly improved in the second despite Chelsea Yao's non-impact, and Sigurd Herleksson manages to catch up to a loose ball and curl one through, sending the away fans into a frenzy. But Francis Mandelbrot finds a goal late to kill off the threat.
(3) Emerald City Harmony 0–1 (11) SC Nikcoro
Isoaho 26
Harmony are definitely surprised when Etienne Isoaho catches up to a cross from Romero, slips by Suarez and Ferraro, and fires past Sindelaar, but there isn't much concern in Emerald City, even when they still trail one-nil going into the half. After all, Nikcoro aren't known at all for their defensive prowess, a season off conceding roughly five goals a game.

Nikcoro proceed to park the bus effectively, dominate possession, threaten Sindelaar's goal a few more times (with a worse keeper, Emerald could have lost three-nil), and somehow defeat the reigning league champions.

(1) New Llama Capitals 4–1 (4) AFC Ruby
Volkhov 9, Guto 25, 32, Rojas 47; Byrne 75

Defending cup champions AFC Ruby are up against high-flying New Llama. The capital's "other team", a season after placing seventh and barely avoiding relegation, are in the cup semifinals and atop the league table. Injury-crippled Ruby don't have a chance of stopping them. By the half, Nemanja Volkhov and Guto have put Capitals up three-nil, and recent acquisition Madison Rojas scores from distance right at the start of the second half. Emory Byrne's late goal is little consolation for AFC Ruby.

(2) New Llama Stars 2–2 (11) SC Nikcoro (3–2 AET)
Sigurdsson 5, Uerlisson 19, Romero 117; Isoaho 45+1, Russo 75

Stars aren't sure how to approach SC Nikcoro, the scrappy underdog team who have found new life in the SecondLleague after the worst season by any team in recent memory. They decide to just go out and attack - but it's still telling that New Llama won't rotate for Nikcoro in the semifinals.

Stars' strategy works. Uerlisson is hacked down by Miranda, and Annalisa Sigurdsson takes the resulting free-kick and shoves it through every defender and the keeper and into the goal. A few minutes later, Mandelbrot finds Uerlisson all-but-open in the box, the underdogs' defensive stability against Emerald already gone, and sends a pass to the Matthewsianian that gets hammered into the goal. Etienne Isoaho pulls back a goal via penalty kick at the end of the half, but Stars are comfortably ahead and dominating. At least until Russo catches up to a loose ball on the sideline, decimates the Stars' nonexistent right flank (Sorensen having been out marauding on the other end), and curls a wonderful shot in at the near post. Suddenly, it's two-all, and throwing all the troops forwards does Jeremy Hayes no good. The two teams are going to extra time. They are evenly matched. Both sides threaten, but ultimately, it's Sebastian Romero who gets to the ball first in a skirmish inside the box and fires it off a defender and past the keeper. Nikcoro were nearly the underdog story of the decade. Instead, Stars advance to an all-capital final.

by **Super-Llamaland** » Sat Sep 17, 2016 10:33 pm

THE SECOND SUPERCUP FINAL

ARTHUR C. CLARKE, NEW LLAMA CITY

New Llama Capitals (4-3-3): Siegrist; Dunbar, Sorensen, Holloway, Warwick; Rhoderick, Walquist, Volkhov; Rojas, Guto, Wladecki

With substitutes chosen from Marquette, Henriksen, Berky, Whetham, Gerrard, Korsky

New Llama Stars (4-3-3): Nielsen; Damjana, Chaucer, Gunning, Sorensen; Romero, Raburn, Sigurdsson; Mandelbrot, Uerlisson, Vincent

With substitutes chosen from Blanton, Florentin, Walker, Valdevic, Vanderwaal, Gunning

The streets of New Llama City are abuzz. Arthur C. Clarke is absolutely packed with fans of both sides. The match feels like the pinnacle of SuperLleague so far - no matter what happens, this will be a resounding success for the LFA. Domestic football in Super-Llamaland is truly back. Many in the nation, because of Llamanea's long-standing baseball passion, consider the Cup title more important than the League. This is especially true in AFC Ruby this season.

Jeremy Hayes has decided to stick with what's worked: the attack-minded 4-3-3 that has gotten them to second place and to the cup championship. Sebastian Nielsen, Acronian national, is supported by the pairing of Stern Chaucer and Michael Gunning while Chromatik Damjana and Mark Sorensen provide a more attacking presence. Jake Raburn gets all the accolades of the three midfielders - they're well-deserved, as the former national team starter is still a brilliant creator and distributor. But Annalisa Sigurdsson (excellent on set pieces) and Sebastian Romero (who scored the goal that brought Stars to the final) should not be underestimated. Up front, a front three of Francis Mandelbrot, Uerlisson (both capped for their national teams), and phenom Carsten Vincent will bring the team plenty of goals and reduce the offensive load on the midfield.

Meanwhile, Curtis Chen's overperforming Capitals have made a small change, bringing in Jonathan Rhoderick for extra playmaking flair. The Hicañan was a massive disappointment last season, but has been fairly effective this year as an impact sub.

The game starts. Both sides take a while to get going. The Stars seem to have the early advantage, with both Mandelbrot and Uerlisson missing decent chances. But their advantage on the attack also translates to a weakness on defense, especially on their right. Mark Sorensen has forgotten to show up, but Michael Gunning is managing to do two people's jobs at center-back.

The first chance comes early. Madison Rojas reels in Jonathan Roderick's pass in the eighteenth minute and promptly realizes that there is literally nobody covering her. Gunning peels off from Guto in an attempt to stop her, while Chaucer smartly races over to fill in and Damjana shifts over. Rojas, undeterred, spins and finds Nemanja Volkhov, who decides to attempt a shot from outside the box. The ball is well-struck - dipping and curving towards the post - but, unfortunately, it's the same post that Sebastian Nielsen is standing near.

But Capitals keep pressing, Nemanja Volkhov leading the team's offensive efforts. The pacy midfielder is, despite Sigurdsson and Romero doing fairly well for themselves, controlling the midfield when Curtis Chen decides to aim him at the left flank, where Mark Sorensen should be. For a few minutes, Volkhov does nothing but sprint past Sorensen and rifle in a cross. The strong work of the other three defenders - as well as a brilliant save from Nielsen off a Guto volley - keeps the game scoreless, though.

Stars quickly manage to punch back. When Volkhov is dispossessed by an excellent Chaucer, the Nepharim center-back looks forwards and rifles a long-pass to Jake Raburn, who hesitates, shuffles a bit to the right, and then launches a pass that lands a few yards in front of the front-left corner of the box. It's a gamble - but it's one that works. Sorensen goes back to retrieve it while Siegrist takes a few steps out - but Francis Mandelbrot bursts through both of them, corrals the ball, and finds a wide-open - but offsides - Carsten Vincent for an easy goal. With Volkhov busy tearing Sorensen apart, the triumvirate of Raburn, Sigurdsson, and Romero are able to easily lock down Stars' hold over the midfield and lay siege to the Capitals defense for the rest of the half. Both sides are getting restless, though - even though, at one point, Uerlisson finds himself with an open goal (Raburn cutting apart the defense with a through-ball), the Matthewsianian still fires off the post and out. And the other players are all similarly wasteful. Going into the half, it's nil-nil.

Both sides make some changes. For Curtis Chen's Capitals, Edward Korsky comes on for the disappointing Rojas and Christian Whetham is thrown on for the ineffective Rhoderick. Meanwhile, Jeremy Hayes puts on Caitlyn Gunning on the left wing and shifts Mandelbrot to center-forward at Uerlisson's expense. Flanking Mandelbrot with two twenty-year-olds is a bold move, but Uerlisson's ineffectiveness this season warrants the change.

The Capitals come on with renewed vigor. Nemanja Volkhov immediately bursts through the entire defense before being hacked down by a desperate Damjana, who earns a yellow. Both sides have a number of very good chances over the first twenty minutes or so of the half, after which Hayes decides to take the Chromatik defender out for Jason Walker. It's a mistake. Walker brings none of Damjana's defensive prowess and only part of her attacking capabilities. With Walker and Sorensen on the wings, Wladecki and Korsky are able to launch a brutal assault on the Stars defense. It's only a matter of time before one of them finds a goal, everyone recognizes. But when Korsky ducks past Michael Gunning and rolls a beautiful pass straight into the path of Petra Wladecki that nobody can do a thing about (Chaucer caught expecting a pass to Guto and Walker AWOL), Stars fans still go silent. Curtis Chen, believing his team cup champions, parks the bus, shifting the formation to a 5-3-2. Jeremy Hayes subs in the fresh legs of Bryant Vanderwaal for Raburn. They push forwards, but the Capitals hold tight into stoppage time. Their fans are ready to celebrate. When Sorensen inexplicably manages to strip Korsky of the ball, every player, coach, and fan knows that this is the Stars' last chance.

Mark Sorensen runs up the wing for half the pitch and rifles a pass to Sigurdsson. The midfielder plays it forwards to no-one in particular - it's Mandelbrot who catches up to it, Holloway nipping on his heels. He spins, considers shooting, but decides against it. Instead, he runs diagonally and plays a cheeky pass to Carsten Vincent. The phenom has been one of the best players of the year. The equalizer here would cap off one of the best debut seasons a youth callus has had in the Llamanean leagues. He hits the post.

Out of nowhere, it's Mark Sorensen who beats three defenders to the ball and rolls it between Siegrist's legs. Extra-time.

For all the late-stoppage drama, though, extra time is rather bland. Before anyone knows it, it's time for penalties. Petra Wladecki is up first, facing Sebastian Nielsen. She takes three steps to the ball and slots it into the bottom-right corner. Mandelbrot is a bit showier, aiming for the top-right and putting it away with a bit of curve. Guto tries a similar tactic, but isn't as lucky, avoiding Nielsen's hands but hitting the crossbar instead. Carsten Vincent is next. The youngster aims for the bottom-right corner and rolls it. Siegrist begins his dive, realizes what Vincent is doing (the stutter-step gives it away), and tries to reverse course. He succeeds in slapping the ball away, but not before injuring himself. Curtis Chen has a sub left, though. On comes Jenna Marquetoe-Dunsinane in her third appearance for the Capitals.

Luckily for her, Rojas fires past Nielsen to put the team up two-one. They'll need the goal - Sebastian Romero is merciless, banging it off the post and in to equalize. But after substitute Whetham effortlessly scores, set-piece master Annalisa Sigurdsson is up. She sends a devastating strike middle-high and just inside the right post. Marquetoe-Dunsinane guesses correctly and punches it out. A Corey Dunbar roller in later, Capitals are Llamanean champions.

(1) New Llama Capitals 1–1 (2) New Llama Stars (1–1 AET) (4–2 pen.)
Wladecki 79, Sorensen 90+2
Wladecki X, Guto O, Rojas X, Whetham X, Dunbar X / Mandelbrot X, Vincent O, Romero X, Sigurdsson O

by **Super-Llamaland** » Sat Sep 24, 2016 2:00 pm

MD15
BSC Vargas 2–0 New Llama Stars
AFC Ruby 1–0 Emerald City Harmony
Los-Juantos Coastal 1–0 Olympic East
New Llama Capitals 1–1 Kyrinson

Stars haven’t been having the best of weeks, having just been dispatched on penalties in the cup finals, in their home stadium, by their biggest rivals. It gets worse. BSC Vargas, led by Erik Gunnarsson and Jessica Myers (in for the slumping Martinsen), look dangerous all night against the tired Stars. After immense pressure, Vargas breaks through at the start of the second half - Emily Ren plays a perfect pass to Jack Muskerry, who smashes it in for the lead. Stars try to rally, and Hayes throws in his starters, but Vargas manage to fend off the threat and draw a penalty after Gunning sees red that Ticheli easily converts. Two-nil, BSC.

Capitals draw Kyrinson, Alnwick and Wladecki (who looks very good) both scoring and neophyte Jenna Marquette-Dunsinane letting a stoppable goal through late. Not that she’ll be considered a hero any less for her performance in the cup final. Meanwhile, in Ruby Falls, AFC and Harmony are deadlocked - but, although Ruby is still less than full-strength (Petrarch going down during the match won’t help), Alfonse Gerard pokes one between Caulson and Ferraro late. Harmony are now, with just six matches to play, six points behind Capitals and five behind Stars. Their repeat dreams are just about over.

MD16
New Llama Stars 1–3 Kyrinson
Olympic East 1–2 New Llama Capitals
Emerald City Harmony 1–0 Los-Juantos Coastal
BSC Vargas 0–0 AFC Ruby

The two-match losing streak Stars are on becomes three. Hayes boldly throws out a three-man back line of Damjana, Chaucer, and Walker. Jason Walker somehow is solely responsible for both early Kyrinson goals for allowing Stefan Rinaldi to exploit him and find Alnwick (once) and Garcia (once) for goals. He becomes the earliest non-injury substitution SuperLleague has ever seen, departing in the thirty-fifth minute for the sturdier Ava Florentin, who drifts off her man on a corner-kick anyways and allows Nolan Garcia to make it three-nil at the half. Combined with Capitals’ two-one win over Olympic, a result that, despite the close scoreline, was never really in doubt (Carrasco’s lone goal coming well after Wictor Henriksen opened his account and Wladecki doubled the scoreline), it means that Capitals have a four-point advantage atop the table.

Emerald City find themselves unable to produce a goal against Coastal’s porous defense. A draw here will put them eight points down with six matches to play and end their season hopes. Miraculously, though, in stoppage time, Trevor Fournier decides to run past all the opposing defenders and whip a shot past Lindberg, keeping Harmony alive for another week. Ruby, put in a similar situation, aren’t as lucky. A win would’ve had them a point out of second place and just five points away from the Capitals, but instead they could drop out of the Globe Cup places.

SuperLleague Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 New Llama Capitals 16 9 4 3 38 22 +16 31
2 New Llama Stars 16 8 3 5 37 32 +5 27
3 Emerald City Harmony 16 7 4 5 19 16 +3 25
4 AFC Ruby 16 6 6 4 21 21 0 24
5 Kyrinson 16 6 5 5 31 25 +6 23
6 Los-Juantos Coastal 16 5 6 5 24 29 −5 21
7 BSC Vargas 16 5 2 9 16 25 −9 17
8 Olympic East 16 2 2 12 14 30 −16 8

Six matches to go, and the only certainty is Olympic at the bottom. Capitals’ position atop the table is fairly secure - could the team that placed seventh last season win the double this season? Below them are Stars, Harmony, and Ruby - none of the old guard are doing that poorly this season, not even injury-wracked AFC Ruby, but Capitals have surpassed all expectations. Kyrinson and Coastal are one and three points out of the Globe Cup spots, though - Ruby must be vigilant. BSC Vargas has an outside shot of avoiding the lottery of the relegation playoff, four points away from Los-Juantos, and will be pushing hard to get out of seventh.

MD17
AFC Ruby 1–1 New Llama Stars
Los-Juantos Coastal 1–1 BSC Vargas
New Llama Capitals 0–4 Emerald City Harmony
Kyrinson 1–1 Olympic East

Harmony come to New Llama City a week removed from barely getting a goal past Los-Juantos. With Siegrist back from injury and Berky at left-back the only change from a full-strength lineup, Capitals are looking unbeatable. Until the nineteenth minute, when forgotten midfielder Eliza Korakov corrals an errant clear from Warwick and smashes a shot past Siegrist and into the goal. Capitals go on the attack, trying to pull the goal back. But Harmony’s midfield are brilliant, poking every conceivable hole in their opponent's’ defense and outrunning even the energetic Nemanja Volkhov, finding himself desperately in need of reinforcement that Rhoderick and Walquist can’t provide. Saint Paul slips between two defenders to find Banks, who crosses it to Jake Wesley for an easy headed goal in the thirtieth minute. Trevor Fournier goes on another marauding run before rolling a pass to Ticheli on the penalty dot that the striker can’t help but viciously bend into the net. Capitals are waving the white flag by the time substitute Barros, in the forty-ninth, adds a fourth goal off a beautiful cross from Saint Paul. Suddenly, Capitals are just three points ahead of Harmony and looking very vulnerable.

Meanwhile, Ruby and Stars face off in Ruby Falls. The loser will be effectively eliminated from winning the league. Stars are painfully aware of this after Yu gets on the board early, and Francis Mandelbrot delivers late in the first half to equalize. But because of Capitals’ collapse, the Stars are just three points behind Capitals and level with Harmony.

MD18
New Llama Stars 1–2 Olympic East
Emerald City Harmony 2–0 Kyrinson
BSC Vargas 4–0 New Llama Capitals
AFC Ruby 1–1 Los-Juantos Coastal

Capitals’ dramatic collapse continues. Relegation candidates BSC Vargas welcome Capitals, and Volkhov drives his team forwards early. Then, in the fifteenth minute, Volkhov goes down for the season. With only Whetham and Walquist (as well as hastily-thrown-on Rhoderick) manning midfield, even BSC Vargas can outrun Capitals. Markus Klein and Caroline Rasmussen are tireless, completely embarrassing their New Llama counterparts, and Jack Muskerry scores a brace in the first half. Curtis Chen throws on Berky and Vanderwaal in a desperate attempt to stop the bleeding. It doesn’t work, as halftime substitute Chandler Southwick comes on and manages two more goals. The Capitals have, in the space of two games, lost all their momentum. Harmony’s easy win over Kyrinson and narrow goal difference advantage put the defending champions, who many wrote off, in first place.

The Stars, with a win at home over minnows Olympic East, would join Capitals and Harmony atop the table. Things get off to a decent start - Uerlisson scoring very early before Adria Sigurorzson loops one over Nielsen on the counter-attack late in the half. After thirty minutes of battling, though, it’s Alex Cartwright who slips between Gunning and Chaucer and fires East ahead for good - and Stars into third place.

SuperLleague Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 Emerald City Harmony 18 9 4 5 25 16 +9 31
2 New Llama Capitals 18 9 4 5 38 30 +8 31
3 New Llama Stars 18 8 4 6 39 35 +4 28
4 AFC Ruby 18 6 8 4 23 23 0 26
5 Kyrinson 18 6 6 6 32 28 +4 24
6 Los-Juantos Coastal 18 5 8 5 26 31 −5 23
7 BSC Vargas 18 6 3 9 21 26 −5 21
8 Olympic East 18 3 3 12 17 32 −15 12

MD19
Los-Juantos Coastal 3–0 New Llama Stars
New Llama Capitals 0–5 AFC Ruby
Kyrinson 2–4 BSC Vargas
Olympic East 0–1 Emerald City Harmony

Harmony are winning the league by default. Away in East Llama to a second-string team that is now just saving strength for the relegation playoff, they barely manage to win the match, Anglatian Saint Paul scoring late to secure all three points. But Capitals, now missing engine Nemanja Volkhov and goalkeeper Marcus Siegrist to injury, are taken apart by AFC Ruby, and Stars somehow get three-nil’d by Coastal.

Interestingly enough, although Kyrinson is ahead two-nil after thirty minutes, BSC Vargas rally behind Southwick (who scores three) and pull themselves level with sixth-place Kyrinson. Could it be the Twin Pines, a year removed from Globe Cup qualification, who go down to SecondLleague?

SuperLleague Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 Emerald City Harmony 19 10 4 5 26 16 +10 34
2 New Llama Capitals 19 9 4 6 38 35 +3 31
3 AFC Ruby 19 7 8 4 28 23 +5 29
4 New Llama Stars 19 8 4 7 39 38 +1 28
5 Los-Juantos Coastal 19 6 8 5 29 31 −2 26
6 Kyrinson 19 6 6 7 34 32 +2 24
7 BSC Vargas 19 7 3 9 25 28 −3 24
8 Olympic East 19 3 3 13 17 33 −16 12

MD20
New Llama Stars 1–0 Emerald City Harmony
BSC Vargas 0–1 Olympic East
AFC Ruby 1–3 Kyrinson
Los-Juantos Coastal 7–1 New Llama Capitals

Matchday 20. Harmony getting any points at Arthur C. Clarke will win them the league, and everybody knows it. Especially Stars, not wanting to finish second again. They come out as hard as they can and score almost immediately, Francis Mandelbrot shaking off Ferraro and Caulson before somehow getting a thunderous shot past Johannes Sindelaar. Stars then park the bus, and although Harmony is much more well-rounded this season than last, they still can’t find a way around the magnificent three-man back line of Damjana, Gunning, and Chaucer, with Sigurdsson and Romero excellent on both ends. Stars stay alive. Capitals, meanwhile, concede seven to surging Los-Juantos, end up with a negative goal differential for the first time this season, and drop to third place. Olympic East’s Korhonen, with nothing to gain, throws out a team of nobodies to play Vargas. Journeyman left-back Keith Blanton scores in the sixty-fifth minute to grab all three points.

SuperLleague Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 Emerald City Harmony 20 10 4 6 26 17 +9 34
2 New Llama Stars 20 9 4 7 40 38 +2 31
3 New Llama Capitals 20 9 4 7 39 42 −3 31
4 Los-Juantos Coastal 20 7 8 5 36 32 +4 29
5 AFC Ruby 20 7 8 5 29 26 +3 29
6 Kyrinson 20 7 6 7 37 33 +4 27
7 BSC Vargas 20 7 3 10 25 29 −4 24
8 Olympic East 20 4 3 13 18 33 −15 15

by **Super-Llamaland** » Sat Oct 01, 2016 2:03 pm

SuperLleague Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 Emerald City Harmony 20 10 4 6 26 17 +9 34
2 New Llama Stars 20 9 4 7 40 38 +2 31
3 New Llama Capitals 20 9 4 7 39 42 −3 31
4 Los-Juantos Coastal 20 7 8 5 36 32 +4 29
5 AFC Ruby 20 7 8 5 29 26 +3 29
6 Kyrinson 20 7 6 7 37 33 +4 27
7 BSC Vargas 20 7 3 10 25 29 −4 24
8 Olympic East 20 4 3 13 18 33 −15 15

New Llama Capitals v. New Llama Stars. The first three matches of the Capital Derby this season were thrilling, hopeful matches. The fourth and final one? Much more grim - both sides know that only a win will give them any chance at winning the League and stopping Harmony from repeating. Madison Rojas goes down in training, continuing Capitals’ run of horrid luck. Curtis Chen throws out the best lineup he can offer: Marquette - Berky, Vanderwaal, Holloway, Henriksen - Whetham, Walquist, Korsky - Gerrard, Guto, Wladecki. It’s a gamble, but they need gambles. Meanwhile, Jeremy Hayes, knows that he has a lot of ground to make up. He’s put out the lineup that’s served his team so well this year: Nielsen - Damjana, M. Gunning, Walker, Sorensen - Romero, Raburn, Sigurdsson - Mandelbrot, Uerlisson, Vincent.

Kyrinson - Los-Juantos Coastal. Coastal, to keep their spot in the Globe Cup, need more points than Ruby, who will be playing Olympic East - nothing less than a big win will be necessary. Leo de la Cruz sticks to his guns. Lindberg - Sandoval, Wagner, Gustav, Jorgensen - Appel, Suleimann - Zhou, Adamson, Møller - Pierce. Kyrinson will need a miracle - Ruby losing - to make it in. But a draw will make sure they stay afloat this season. Robespierre is accordingly conservative. Horowitz - Cypress, Kucinski, Cordero, Blake - Blake, Stevensson, Foster - Rinaldi - Alnwick, Garcia.

Olympic East - AFC Ruby. Olympic East have no hope of climbing out of eighth. David Korhonen, again, plays absolutely nobody of note, besides Jordan Carrasco, who insists on going down with his men. Johanssen - Blanton, Wilkensen, Henry, Fyodor - Gyenis, Rasmussen, Herrera - Douglass, Carrasco, Jenkins. AFC Ruby need a win - a big win - to get back into their Globe Cup spot. Kelly - Walden, Myers-Briggs, Costell, Saint Marcel - Yu, Conager, DeGrom, Petridis - Petrarch, Byrne.

Emerald City Harmony - BSC Vargas. Emerald City are at home and only need a draw to win the league. Sindelaar - Gustav, Ferraro, Davenport - Banks, Varga, Fournier, Saint Paul, Korakov - Ticheli, Sandoval is a bit of rotation, but should do the job. Meanwhile, BSC need a win to have any chance to not play the relegation playoff. Henriksen tries to strike a balance between trying to climb into sixth place while still being prepared for a playoff. He goes with Aranha - Gunnarsson, Marino, Ren, Myers, Martinsen - Richter, Rasmussen, Klein - Ticheli, Christensen.

The atmosphere everywhere is tense. Harmony nearly have things locked up, but Stars still has a shot at things. Coastal (29), Ruby (29), and Kyrinson (27) are all in the running for the final Globe Cup spot, while both Capital teams and Harmony have taken the first two - with Coastal and Kyrinson matched up, things should be interesting. Finally, BSC Vargas (24) is desperate to rise into sixth place, while Olympic East (15) have resigned themselves to the playoff.

Kyrinson-Coastal and Olympic-Ruby both kick off at the same time. Ruby are all over the Olympic East defense at first, but Emily Johanssen somehow manages five saves in the opening fifteen minutes as AFC Ruby send all they can at her goal but somehow fall short every time. The midfield isn’t great, and the defense is barely around, but Johanssen manages to single-handedly keep the match scoreless. Meanwhile in Kyrinson, both sides appear evenly matched - Stefan Rinaldi and Alice Møller are both on top of their game, the former continuing an excellent season, the latter showing more bursts of brilliance that have been drowned out by an inconsistent, unremarkable campaign.

Johanssen can’t hold forever. First Henry and then Fyodor are easily sidestepped by rampaging Seleste Yu, who fires a cross behind Wilkensen that Immanuel Petrarch runs into, narrowly beating out Blanton, and knocks past the Olympic East goalkeeper. Twenty minutes in, the final matchday has its first goal.

Rinaldi makes a scintillating run into the penalty box before going down. It’s Jayce Alnwick to take the resulting penalty. She hasn’t missed a penalty in nearly two seasons in the SuperLleague. To everyone in the league, it’s one-nil Kyrinson after twenty-five. Alnwick skies one over the crossbar. Not that it’ll matter if AFC Ruby keeps on destroying Olympic East.

Ruby have 32, Coastal 30, and Kyrinson 28 after half an hour. Unfortunately, for Los-Juantos, AFC Ruby just keeps on increasing their lead over Olympic East. Just fifteen minutes after Petrarch stabs one through, Gideon Gyenis makes a run and tries his luck on goal. It’s blocked easily by Saint Marcel, who sends a floating clear that somehow evades every defender and drops into front of Emory Byrne. Johanssen does well just to stop Byrne’s initial assault on the goal, palming the ball away, but nobody is there to clear the ball out and stop the threat. Except for Yu, who has different intentions and rolls one the other way. Coastal push hard for a goal, Møller hitting the crossbar twice, but AFC Ruby maintain their two-nil advantage and Los-Juantos and Kyrinson go into the half scoreless.

At the half, Leo de la Cruz goes all out. Center-back Kiernan Gustav is taken out for backup striker Felicity Jennings, who is enlisted as a false nine. The reasonable-seeming 4-2-3-1 becomes a 3-5-2 / 3-3-4 hybrid. Kyrinson, though, parks the bus, giving up their Globe Cup chances a season after placing fourth. Out goes the tiring Alnwick, in comes captain Chris Foster in what may be his last match.
Los-Juantos punch hard, but they can’t get through. Still, another hope arises when Jordan Carrasco single-handedly scores by running through every Ruby defender. Perhaps Olympic East can force a draw and save Coastal’s GC spot?

Jordan Carrasco, after sixty minutes of nagging from Korhonen, finally agrees to be subbed out. East’s chances at a draw collapse, as do Coastal’s Globe Cup hopes unless they can find a goal. They can’t. AFC Ruby, for all their issues this season, will return to the Globe Cup. Los-Juantos, whose season got off to such a promising start, will finish fifth. And Kyrinson seal their sixth-place spot - good enough to stay out of relegation, but Twin Pines fans will be left wanting more.

In New Llama City, as Ruby is securing their spot in the Globe Cup, both Stars and Capitals know that they need a win and a Harmony loss to win the league. If neither of those happen, both will at least have a Globe Cup spot as consolation. But all Harmony has to do is defeat slumping BSC Vargas at home - while the two capital teams are forced to play each other. The atmosphere is tense in New Llama City, but decidedly more upbeat in Emerald Springs - Harmony fans know that their repeat is all but assured.

The two matches kick off. In Tyler Rocke, Stars establish dominance early, shoving back a desperate Capitals side with their midfield might. After a few minutes, Capitals' unorthodox midfield manages to stabilize a bit - Whetham and Walquist drop back to form a stable partnership, while Edward Korsky drifts forwards in a support role. Still, Stars look dominant. A goal will come at any second. Meanwhile in Emerald Springs, BSC Vargas aren't going down without a fight. Harmony pressure early, Fournier driving much of the attack, but BSC Vargas, defensively inconsistent all year, hold them off easily - and Gunnarsson and Martinsen manage to make some noise on the wings, even if none of it results in much.

Capitals won't stay strong forever. The team surges forwards in attack, Korsky going up front to play a 4-2-4 despite Chen's reservations, but although Petra Wladecki nearly fires a volley through, it's Gunning who makes a stellar block and clears it off the line. With Whetham and Walquist both caught pressing too high up, the ball drops to young prodigy Carsten Vincent. The prodigy takes it past Vanderwaal and up the field before rolling one back to Uerlisson. Uerlisson, too, darts forwards before slipping a pass past Berky - and Francis Mandelbrot's shot from distance easily beats Marquette-Dunsinane and goes in.

All eyes turn to Emerald City, where Harmony are expected to match the goal with one of their own. Aurelio Sandoval makes a brilliantly-timed run into the box, and Fournier sends a pass his way. But Emily Ren comes out of nowhere to stop the threat. Later, it’s Sandoval again who takes off down the wing and rifles a low, hard cross into the box. This time, Saint Paul makes contact, but his volley is looped harmlessly over the bar. Thirty minutes in, and Harmony and Vargas are still scoreless. But BSC know they aren’t going to get out of the relegation playoff now. At halftime, significant rotation is made - key players Richter, Ticheli, and Gunnarsson all come off. Stars’ job just got a lot harder.
But not even BSC Vargas’ B-team will let a single goal through. Emerald City push forwards and substitute Jake Wesley and Marin Tresor on in an attempt to secure the win, Anderssen not willing to bet the title on Harmony’s defense turning in a flawless performance.

In the sixty-third minute, Harmony are threatened - Davenport is a good defender, but he isn't as fast as Markus Klein, who gets by him and flares a cross towards the far post. It's too far away for Sindelaar to get to, and instead Muskerry darts forwards to take it. Suddenly, Ferraro and Sindelaar are the only thing between Muskerry and the goal. The Nepharim striker takes a straightforward approach - he moves to the right, cuts to the left to leave Ferraro behind, and fires on goal. It's a well-placed shot - at the bottom left corner. But it's not good enough for Johannes Sindelaar, who is moving before the shot even arrives, and who palms it out for a corner that Gunnarsson will mishit. The pressure is still on Harmony, though - especially when Uerlisson collapses in the box (and is taken off), Vanderwaal is carded, and Francis Mandelbrot scores the resulting penalty kick to make things two-nil with twenty minutes to play.

With twenty minutes left, Stars are ahead two-nil - they soon make that three-nil, substitute Caitlyn Gunning bombing forwards, collecting a beautiful pass from Raburn, and rolling the ball into the goal - while Harmony and Vargas are still scoreless. A single goal will guarantee Harmony’s progression, while a Vargas goal would put New Llama level with Emerald City - meaning a twenty-second tiebreaker match. Stars will cruise to a three-nil win and anxiously watch the result in Emerald Springs.

Ten minutes to play. Vargas continue to apply pressure, especially Klein and Muskerry. Without Gunnarsson, though, they don’t have much support - until Emily Ren steps up, bombing forwards from her position in central defense and setting up Klein and Sanders with a decent supply of passes. Markus Klein is especially dangerous on the night, and the pairing of Muskerry and Christensen seems effective up front even if they are the second- and fourth-choice strikers. Still, Harmony are only here because of their strong defense. They aren’t about to give up a goal to Vargas.

At least, until Jeff Martinsen strips Banks and passes up to Emily Ren. Ren takes a few steps forward and plays it back, letting Martinsen drive up the right wing. He runs into trouble (Saint Paul), backtracks, and sends a pass Sanders’ way. The veteran from Ethane immediately launches a pass into the left corner, where it’s Muskerry who catches up to it and crosses to Klein. Vargas are in a decent position, but Harmony are still the best defensive team in the league. At least, until Ferraro drifts out of position and Klein, in a stroke of genius, rolls a pass into the new gap for Nepharim Muskerry. Suddenly, with Ferraro out of the picture and Davenport out of range, Sindelaar is the only thing between Muskerry and goal. The Arondic keeper comes out, but Muskerry darts around him and fires on the open goal. One-nil, Vargas?

Davenport comes out of nowhere, sliding at the ball, and manages to deflect it off the post. There’s momentary shock before everyone realizes the ball is still in play, followed by havoc. It’s Saint Paul who manages to navigate Emerald’s way out of the mess, though. The Anglatian midfielder sprints up the pitch, plays a neat one-two with Wesley, and draws Aranha out of her goal. He rolls it to Trevor Fournier. BSC Vargas don’t have a chance of stopping Fournier’s thunderbolt. Harmony take a one-nil lead, effectively clinching their second straight title, and everyone knows it. Saint Paul and Fournier leap into the stands. Emerald City shakes with celebration.

They were six points back, in third place, with just five matches to go. But somehow, Harmony managed to recover and leapfrog both Stars and Capitals. And ten minutes later, they stand on top of Super-Llamaland to reclaim their throne.

New Llama Capitals 0–3 New Llama Stars
Kyrinson 0–0 Los-Juantos Coastal
Olympic East 1–2 AFC Ruby
Emerald City Harmony 1–0 BSC Vargas

SuperLleague Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 Emerald City Harmony 21 11 4 6 27 17 +10 37
2 New Llama Stars 21 10 4 7 43 38 +5 34
3 AFC Ruby 21 8 8 5 31 27 +4 32
4 New Llama Capitals 21 9 4 8 39 45 −6 31
5 Los-Juantos Coastal 21 7 9 5 36 32 +4 30
6 Kyrinson 21 7 7 7 37 33 +4 28
7 BSC Vargas 21 7 3 11 25 30 −5 24
8 Olympic East 21 4 3 14 19 35 −16 15

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