WC72 RP Thread

[Brenecia]

"Jesus wept, Augustine. A red card in the 31st fucking minute."
Augustine Breton remained stubbornly impassive on the other end of the desk. Danielle Granger could read him like a book, and she hated that. Everything about his demeanour screamed; I'm too good for you. You think you're worthy to run this national team? You've never coached a player fit to scrub my boots before.
Annoyingly, he was also a very good defensive midfielder. But he'd let her down, and if there was a way to make amends for that, it didn't seem like he was interesting in finding it.
"Just tell me what he said, Augustine. Tell me what the guy did to make you lash out at his face."
"I didn't like the way he'd been hassling me through the match."
"So you fucking backhanded him?" snapped Fiona Sylver. "And you call yourself a fucking professional."
"I-"
Granger watched, in awe. It was the first time Sylver had spoken through the interrogation, and Breton had just crumbled. In a way, Breton had replaced Sylver for the national team in the role of a deep-lying playmaker... and she was pretty sure they'd briefly played together, too. Must hurt being put down by an idol.
"I don't care how often you've played for the national team in the past, Breton." Sylver said his surname harshly, almost spitting it out. "You disgraced the badge yesterday. You disgraced your country."
"It wasn't like that-"
"You should be ashamed of yourself."
"Now go," said Granger quickly. "Don't bother showing your face again for a while."
Breton slumped out of the chair, then the office.
"Prick," said Sylver, carefully timed so that the door was slightly ajar as she said it. The handle twitched a little before closing.
"Christ, Fiona. You put him in his place."
"Damn fucking right. He was a dumb kid back when I played with him in the Campionato Esportiva... nine, I think. But he was in his early twenties then. Figured he'd at least grow up. I gave him more credit than it seems he deserved."
"Mm..."
"He's meant to be thirty now. And our fucking vice-captain, no less."
Granger drummed her fingers on the desk. Breton was a great player... but did he even fit her system? Kilbane didn't defend much, Purrington barely even ran. They didn't need another playmaker behind them - they needed someone to run about and kick people.
That had been Lilith Fife, against Osarius and Lymantatia. Two marquee clashes, and Breton had evidently expected to start both. Maybe that was why he was acting like such a diva now. The fact was-
"He's still so bloody selfish! I mean, this is the national team! What greater honour is there?"
"Yeah, that."
"I dunno, Dani. I really don't know."
Granger sighed. "Yeah, well, all I know is this, Fiona; we're fucking fifth."

[Volcanoc]

VOLCANIC FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION AWARDS NIGHT, CASABLANCA 8:42om

It is the VFA's awards night. Players are consuming large amounts of alcohol, and are signing many autographs for fans. A conversation is on between National Team & SC Casablanca Thunder goalie Priest Stadin, and Priest Adams, defender for Far Out United in The Sword Bloke.

"Well, it is awards night, Priest Adams. The worst night of the year. 1986s Fireworks disaster, 2001s Massacre and 2014s bombings. So much alcohol. I know I will win goalkeeper of the season."

"I don't even know why I'm here. I don't play for the Thunder anymore, I play in The Sword Bloke, and I have won a domestic cup. I don't know why I was invited, I just came for the free food."

"I played in The Sword Bloke once. I was some budding 18 year old kid, hoping to get a scholarship at Conquerer's Academy... They're a good school. They have good lessons, good football teams, good soccer teams, good hockey teams, good baseball teams, good basketball teams, good teams overall... I was trying for basketball. I was 197cm. I slam-dunked the ball about 80 times. Then they said no. Now I'm in soccer."

"I only play there because their coach is secretly a Volcanic. He claims I play for the WarPeople National Soccer Team."

"Wouldn't he be shot dead?"

"Na. He escapes the police quite easily."

"Ah OK. Excuse me while I get some nachos."

"ALRIGHT EVERYBODY. THE FIRST AWARD OF THE NIGHT IS GOAL OF THE YEAR.
THERE WAS ONE GAOL NOMINATED EVERY ROUND; 22 GOALS, WITH 4 MAKING IT INTO THE FINAL.
SOME FOOTBALL EXPERTS VOTED FOR THEIR FAVOURITE GOAL. OF COURSE WE WILL NOT SAY THE NAMES OF THESE EXPERTS. ANYWAYS, IN 4th PLACE IS THE FABULOUS SCISSOR KICK GOAL FROM CLUB DE LA ERTHON'S PRIEST HALLAWAY!
IN 3RD IS THE SCISSOR KICK GOAL ALSO FROM PRIEST HALLAWAY IN THE LAST GAME OF THE SEASON!
IN 2ND IS PRIEST JOHNCOCK WITH HIS NICE VOLLEY AGAINST THE EAGLES!
AND THE WINNER IS... PRIEST ADAMS WITH A GREAT RUNNING GOAL!

"Bro, that's you. You'd better go up and accept your award."

"Meh, I'm not sure if that's me."

"Yea, I was joking. There's other Priest Adams in the system."

"Of course there is. Anyways, who you voting for in tomorrow's election? Gulan for a 2nd term, Gully for a Liberal stint or Abraham for an Eco-friendly stint?"

"You can't go wrong with Liberals."

"Oh. I'm going with Gulan."

*SMOKE IS SEEN*

3 HOURS LATER IN CASABLANCA ROYAL HOSPITAL, CASABLANCA

"Was that really a fire?"

"Sure was, Priest Adams."

"Do you know who did it?"

"I dunno, Priest Adams. Nobody knows..."

[Gnejs]

THE PORT KEJM READER –
BRINGING YOU THE NEWS SINCE 1905

Late equalizer secured one point for the 'Dandelions' against the Chiata Suns.

The Gnejs team continues to impress and surprise the footballing world after their strong opening against high ranked teams.

Seconded seeded Chiata came to Port Kejm and 'The Dock' looking to secure three points and solidify their runners-up position in Group 15. However, the 'Dandelions' put up a solid defense and confirmed that beating the home team at Kejm Park is not necessarily an easy task.

Nevertheless, let's not fool ourselves, it was obvious who was the better team between the two sides. The Suns quickly took command of the game, kept the ball within their team and launched heavy attacks at regular intervals. The playmaking of midfielders Jesse Carrol and Maria Pearlman was inspiring, and even though the traditional gnejsian defensive style has served us well in the qualifiers, one couldn't help but to wish for players with similar talents. The 'Dandelions' coped with the intense pressure for a good 40 minutes before Chiata striker Douglas Prince released a determined kick from just outside the box that left Åkervik without a chance. The first half ended 0-1, but it could easily have been scored more goals than that.

The second half saw the tempo going down. Chiata's game lost a bit of its momentum, whereas the 'Dandelions' continued playing a solid defense. Apart from a disturbingly close header from Chiata right midfielder Brian Stewart, that just barley missed its target, few great chances materialized for either side. Until the 84th minute when Lokomotiv Esaias defender Simon Thirlwell stole the ball from Pearlman, quickly passed it forward to Nicolai Lennartson who in turn with just a soft touch relayed the ball to Cornelis Ceder, who narrowingly avoided the offside flag. The IFK Nordstjernan forward, who had just replaced Omar Lillestrøm, never hesitated and placed the ball behind Mack Truex in the bottom left corner.

Chiata mounted a last offensive during the closing minutes, but the referee ended the game with the result being 1-1. The disappointment in the Chiata team was evident, whereas the 'Dandelions' celebrated their one point as a victory with the home fans. At the same time Schottia defeated Sarrbia, meaning they move to second place in the group, after the unbeaten giants of the group, Pasarga. The draw at Kejm Park means that Gnejs and Chiata are tied at the nr. three spot in group 15.

The 'Dandelions' next game will also be played at home, when the players of Port Christopher come to 'The Dock'.

THE ESAIAS TIMES –
PROUD AND INDEPENDENT

Trent scores only goal as the 'Dandelions' defeat Port Christopher at Kejm Park

Lokomotiv Esaias midfielder Charles Trent scored his first goal on the national team yesterday, securing Gnejs their second win in the qualifiers. The 'Dandelions' remain undefeated at 'The Dock', and are now tied with the Chiata Suns for second place in Group 15.

Simon Thirlwell had been the only player from a southern team in the 'Dandelions' line-up so far in the qualifiers. Northerners and east coast players, the exceptions being Sven-Erik Andersson and Jebediah Pemberton from the western city of Hagen, have dominated the starting 11. The fact that Lokomotiv Esaias, or any of the other teams, hasn't been well represented has not gone unnoticed, as readers of this publication will know well. In the game against Port Christopher, however, manager Eriksen switched Pemberton for Charles Trent in the center midfield position. Pemberton has done an excellent job so far, but he came across as looking overly tired in the draw against Chiata. This is probably what made Eriksen let Trent get a chance to prove himself last night. And prove himself, he did.

Port Christopher came to 'The Dock' full of confidence, having beaten Vangaziland by two goals in their previous game. The West Pacifican's started out energetic and full of purpose. Willox Street Pirates players Franz Müller and Tim Maitfield especially showed good form, and together they made some very respectable combinations that came close to ending up behind goalkeeper Kjetil Åkervik. The gnejsian players continued to play their distinct defensive football, and made few offensive attempts, apart from two fast counterattacks.

As the gnejsian players showed impressive efficiency in defending, Port Christopher was left with much of the initiative in both the first and second half. Whereas they came close to scoring once or twice in the first 45 minutes, the last 45 saw few real chances. It therefore came as quite the surprise when Trent scored in the 73rd minute. Port Christopher defender James Del Vertio pulled down Jack Wijk, on one of the few excursions the 'Dandelions' had on the opposition's part of the field, and the referee called a free kick. Trent stepped up and released a cannon that goalkeeper Carus Laxium never really had a chance with. When the referee ended the game the 'Dandelions' had secured their second win in the qualifiers, and they are now tied with the Chiata Suns for the second place in Group 15. Who would have thought?

Next up is Sarrbia away. Gnejs have impressed so far when playing at home in Port Kejm, whereas they never really got things going in Vangaziland. Will they be able to bring their game to Sarrbia against the Palmettos?

[Abanhfleft]

CRESCENT NEWS NETWORK
SPORTS CHANNEL - OFFICIAL WEBSITE
ABANHFLEFT • PRIDNESTROVIA • OONTAZ DERT LI NG • COPPER CUPRUM • TRENDSTART • FHULGHAMOUS PENINSULA

WORLD CUP 72 QUALIFIERS: ABANHFLEFT VS SAMEBA
By Malik Qazizadah


Abanhfleft defender Tonya Heaton tries to block a Sameban player from receiving the pass from their teammates. Abanhfleft went down 3-0 in the first half but but managed an incredible comeback in the second half to win 4-3 and grab all three points. (Courtesy of Crescent News Network Sports Channel/Ulysses Turogo)

RELEINTHI, ABANHFLEFT - It was the ultimate comeback tale. Sameba, ranked 57 in the multiverse football rankings, had taken a near-impossible-to-climb 3-0 lead coming into halftime, but a roaring second half effort, spearheaded by Chelsea Stuart, led the way to the improbable comeback by Abanhfleft to win the game 4-3.

There was a single lineup change for Abanhfleft coming into this match as Tonya Heaton stepped into the right back position in place of Claire Osgood, who had been suspended from this match following her red card in the Gabbindon vs Abanhfleft game just a few days earlier.

Sameba shot to an early lead just ten minutes into the first half, when one of the team's unidentified forwards used their head to steer the ball into the net following a long pass from their teammate.

Sameba doubled their lead just a few minutes later when a free kick from 31 yards went in after curving the ball beyond the wall and keeper Victoria Carter.

Just before half-time Sameba looked like they had put an end to the game when their captain sent in a low volley into the right corner of the goal, a goal that simply should not have happened had the Fleftic defense not become as porous as it had become at this stage. It looked as if Sameba had all three points in the bag.

But then something seemed to have been switched on in the Fleftic team, because the Abanhfleft team that stepped onto the field in the second half was a much better and stronger team, both offensively and defensively, than the team that had gone off the pitch in the first half.

Perhaps the Fleftic comeback only really started when the Sameban (?) captain tried to get a ball that had been passed a bit too strongly, only for Carter to come out of her area and grab the ball. The Sameban leaped over the Fleftic keeper, but it seemed as if his foot clipped Carter's left leg before clearing her. A small argument soon followed between the two team captains, which almost escalated when Carter suddenly slapped the Sameban in the face. Players from both sides then moved in to prevent further conflict between the two, but the damage was done. The Sameban captain, already on a yellow card, received his second and was duly sent off for the stamp on Carter, while Carter herself received a straight red for the slap on the Sameban captain. Captain duties were then transferred to Chelsea Stuart, while Lillian Prescott was sacrificed by Kasper Molak to bring on Yelena Valinovskaya.

The Fleftic comeback started when Stuart chipped the ball over the keeper and into the net following a high volley from Allison Torres. Torres had stripped the ball from a Sameban midfielder just moments before and had played a one-two with Stuart before the volley that led to the goal.

Lea Choi was tackled inside the area just as she was about to create a chance, leading to a penalty for Abanhfleft. Stuart took the honors, and through some trickery she managed to make the opposing keeper go to the left while she shot the ball to the right. Things were clearly about to become more interesting.

Abanhfleft finally got the equalizer when Adelaide Singh crossed into the box, and Alexandra Rousseau came out of nowhere to prod the ball into the net with her knee.

Coming into injury time, both teams had failed to make the decisive breakthrough that would give either of them the lead and the win. The clearest chance was in the third minute of added time, when Abanhfleft got a corner. Singh's corner was a bit sloppy, curving out of the area instead of straight into it, but Stuart was on hand to send the ball into the net with an amazing bicycle kick to give her the hattrick and Abanhfleft the vital win in the qualifiers.

This win propels Abanhfleft to second place in Group 12 of the World Cup qualifiers. Abanhfleft will head for Nurovo in the mext match of the World Cup qualifiers.


Fleftic women's national football team defender Claire Osgood spotted on her way to Monsanto Stadium before the game between Abanhfleft and Sameba in the World Cup qualifiers. Osgood is serving a one-match suspension following her red card in the game versus Gabbindon and the Liffan Isles and will be expected to return to the first team in time for the match against Nurovo. (Courtesy of Crescent News Network/Mark Featherstone)

                    ABANHFLEFT 4 - 3 SAMEBA
STUART (59', 64' (pen), 90+3')       FORWARD (10')
                ROUSSEAU (77')       FREE KICK (16')
                                     CAPTAIN (44')

ABANHFLEFT
GK: 01 Carter █
RB: 13 Heaton
CB: 03 Jackson
LB: 04 Valentine
RW: 07 Prescott (Valinovskaya - 49')
RM: 05 Maynard (Korovina - 75')
LM: 06 Choi
LW: 08 Singh █
CAM: 09 Torres (Mesbros - 85' █)
RS: 11 Stuart
LS: 10 Rousseau

MATCH STATISTICS
Possession
Abanhfleft: 43%
Sameba: 57%
Shots
Abanhfleft: 10 (7 on target)
Sameba: 16 (10 on target)
Corners
Abanhfleft: 12
Sameba: 12
Fouls
Abanhfleft: 15
Sameba: 9

WORLD CUP QUALIFYING GROUP 12 TABLE

P Group 12                           Pld    W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts 
1 Ko-oren                              4    4   0   0     8    0   +8    12
2 Abanhfleft                           4    2   2   0    10    8   +2     8
3 San José Guayabal                    4    2   0   2    10    8   +2     6
4 New Wolfopolis                       4    1   2   1     5    8   −3     5
5 Walkany                              4    1   1   2     7    7    0     4
6 Sameba                               4    1   1   2     5    8   −3     4
7 Nurovo                               4    1   0   3     6    8   −2     3
8 Gabbindon and The Liffan Isles       4    0   2   2     6   10   −4     2

[Polar Islandstates]

Something New
Hey, hey! Henrik Alstrom here! My good friend Piotr has given me the reins of his blog for the duration whilst he interns on a rig, and, if you don't mind, I'm going to try something new. Yes, I know, you all come to East End Boys, West End Goals because you, like me, are full time members of Tuulari's Baarmi Armi, and you love seeing the Spires knock them in in front of the West End like the rest of us, but that's not what I want to do with my time at the helm of EEBWEG, oh no.

...incidentally, why do none of you ever refer to this place as EEBWEG? That's a cracking acronym. Opportunity missed, Piotr. For shame.

No, what I want to talk about is this game.



Oh, you've heard of it? Great. No, I don't want to know about that time you took KSC Brighthelmstone to the Champions' Cup final.

For those of you who somehow remain blissfully unaware of the thing, Championship Football Manager, or just CFM to its aficionados and those douchebags douchbaggy enough to use the phrase "CFM aficionados" (guilty), is the premier football management simulation game currently out there. If you've been in a CFM-less daze for the entiurity of your life up until this blog, first of all, congratulations on still having social lives, jobs, and partners, and second of all, I'm sorry. You'll understand later.

Yes, countless millions of us have ruined our lives on this game by this point, with the latest annual edition selling in record numbers. So many of you will already be familiar with the heart-dropping disappointment of missing out on your top transfer target due to board-inflicted wage restrictions, the gutwrenching disappointment of losing the title and the cup final in the same matter of days (hours) thanks to an injury to crucial players at a devastating time, or the miserable disappointment of seeing your plucky team of heroes relegated in a freak goal difference turnaround on the last day of the season. All have happened to me. All with AFK Hans Island Pioneers. There's a lot of disappointment in the game, is what I'm saying.

There's a lot of joy as well, mind, and I still go back to my Multiverse-topping East Franz save from time to time when losing in the Buyan Third Division gets me down. I find the shot in the arm of sweeping the SKum aside 6-0 in my 130,000 seater stadium most therapeutic.

However, what has this got to do with a football blog? I hear absolutely none of you ask...

Well, the answer to that question lies in the game's alternate universe mode, new to last year's edition of the game and now fully integrated into the game modes.

How many of you are familiar with the RL Universe? Show of hands, please.

Okay.

Well, for those of you who are thus far uninitiated, the RL Universe has been a phenomenon. What started as a nationstates role-playing game has expanded into other games and other geofiction sites. One person's Svalbard analogy warped into another person's Franz Josef, and another person's San José Guayabal analogy managed to get turned by someone else into both somewhere near Norway and somewhere down in the tropics somewhere. Somehow. Someone made a map, and then someone else made another map, and then someone else made another map. Each built upon the layers built up by the last, and drew on the universe of information generated by, amongst others, the RLStates game-players, where it all started.

Eventually, we ended up with the RL Universe. An agreed upon alternate reality taking in an entire globe's worth of nations. Roughly two hundred, in fact. Obviously, the RL States website has far more than 200 members on it, but for this lucky bunch, they have a Universe. An agreed upon alternate existence that spans multiple platforms, websites, and geofiction sites where each nation has relations with another. Real life bad blood between two users (emulating Saintland and Gregoryisgodistan) has led to established conflicts between those two nations and their respective allies in the game, and understandably users who spoke the same language were grouped together. Geography and climates were agreed upon, and these two hundred nations - though there are occasionally instances where people stop logging in and are replaced or split up into other nations - have found themselves not just members of a role-playing forum, but ambassadors for a whole alternate Universe. For these users, 'ownership' of their nations has become so diluted that their role at the helm of these nations has become something like a Model WA, only the nations are fictional. They can no longer just 'decide' to change their nation's flag, it is something that thousands of people in the zeitgeist would have to agree is something that would actually happen. That is the level of detail that has gone into this.

Other groups of roughly two hundred have formed their own globes, obviously, but none have come close to being as widespread or accepted as the original RL Universe.

You may even have heard of the RL States World Cup. No? Well, in an attempt to mimic our own, the more sports orientated users amongst the RL States users decided to create little computer programs that would accurately replicate things like football results between nations based on certain parameters. The first few were a bit of a shambles, admittedly, but they got their act together soon enough, and established competitions soon became organised. From there, it was a short step to creating domestic teams, clubs, kits, badges, players... all interacting with each other and taking their place in the Universe. Users created heroes on which to base their sporting exploits, now quasi-legendary players like Pele, Maradona, Moore, Beckanbauer, or David Beckham. Beckham, of course, was no more than a picture of Simone Di Bradini stuffed into a red shirt, but the name still reverberates.

Of course, the people behind CFM have been including manipulator packages with their software for many years now, so people like you and me can find out exactly what would happen if, say, the Goose Coast Super-League ever got up and running back in that area's heydey. Rumiatzi win everything, in case you wondered. As expected, it wasn't long before someone started to model the RL Universe in the CFM Creator, and after several million downloads of the most accurate emulation, the makers of the game decided to intervene.

Consequently, here we are. With an Alternate RL Universe setting on the game.

And so, as the Terns struggle without Kohev Küngas-Vaga, I've decided to start a series of blogs that investigate how our favourite and most noteworthy players of recent years would have gotten on in the RL Universe, surrounded by the fictional players and scenarios we've all grown to know and love. Partly because I think it would be interesting, partly because I think it would be fun, and partly because I wanted to see Timo Skye fail and waste away his career in the lower leagues of absolutely nowhere. Alas. More on him later.

Now, a few notes on procedure. To run a fair comparison, each player simulation has taken place in a different save of the game. The current version of the game, CFM XVII, is set up to run the first season in the first RL year after the accepted and agreed upon RL canon so far. So, the RL 2015-2016 season. So, in order to see our players' entire careers I have loaded them up into the game with a date of birth that will see them reaching seventeen roughly around this time regardless of their actual age, and then hit "go on holiday" until the 2050 season. When the game lets me back in, I then go over to our player's stats and track back what has happened to him in the intervening years. I also had to do things like put in my own approximation of the players' abilities and potential skill ratings (I've been fair here, too, so no bitching if your favourite player ends up at Accrington Stanley according to the simulation), and picked out for them an appropriate place of birth in the RL Universe based on which parts of it are based on the places they actually were born.

So, sit back in your chair, grab the last reserves of your Acquan cofé grounds and whip yourself up a mug of the dark black stuff, and read as you discover what happened to RL Kohev Küngas-Vaga. I've even gone as far as to mock up some little Factbook-esque factsheets about the RL versions of the players. Aren't I nice?

---

Kohev Küngas-Vaga

Well, no surprises there, right? At least, not many, anyway. Having looked things up, I was forced to give Kohev a birthplace somewhere in the RL nation of Latvia. Realistically, most of the places meant to emulate parts of the Valhallan Union are in the region of RL known as Europe, with most of them in Scandinavia. Sint Karbijn's emulation has ended up down in the Netherlands, the Rochefroides community has merged with a successful Cotdelapoms emulation, and Bleak Rock has somehow become much, much bigger and a lot further away, but basically they're all up in Scandinavia and not made of islands. Except, that is, for a few parts that we can't ignore. Kohev's birthplace comes under this category, with a little row of RL nations that were handed out to new users when the notoriously unpredictable user USSR was finally banned and his territory divided up amongst newbies and one well-known old time user returning to the game. Latvia is one of these, and actually has a more successful footballing history in recent RL years than its direct neighbours, even qualifying for the European Championships in 2004, when our own little Kohev was just six years old. It should come as no surprise, however, that a player as talented as KKV was scouted and whisked away by the Italian giants of AC Milan long before his youth career at his local club had progressed very far at all. That's right, far from the one-club Northbrook man we know him to be, the RL KKV's talent was simply too notable to allow him to stay with Ventspils.

Interestingly, the RL KKV struggled to make a breakthrough immediately at his new club, with two loan spells at Sassuolo and an unexpectedly struggling Roma side required before he could properly breakthrough into the Milan first team on a regular basis. At Roma in particular, young Kohev would shine, playing fifteen times in the league in a half season loan, during which he managed to help save them from relegation, reach the semi finals of the Italian Cup, and receive a nomination for Best Young Player of the Season. His return to Milan saw him win the Italian Cup, albeit as an unused substitute, and become a club hero by scoring twice in the first derby game against hated rivals Internazionale at Milan's new stadium. For those unaware, that's like Erevik scoring twice against SK. Instant hero.

He wouldn't stay at Milan though, oh no. I did load him up with high loyalty attributes, as befits any one-club man as loyal as KKV, but it would seem these were negated somewhat by him having to move out of little Latvia as a youngster. As such, when Barcelona approached Milan with a record bid for a teenage defender, Milan said yes, and so did KKV. At the age of just nineteen, then, KKV found himself competing for the starting place in the line-up at multiple European and World champions Barcelona, a fictional RL team so famous that surely even the most ignorant of you out there must have heard of them and their distinctive playing philosophy and kit. He went on to be a legend for them. Like has is for Northbrook, he went on to captain the Catalan giants, and won the European Champions League with them on five separate occasions. during his fifteen year career with them. He supplemented this with nine Spanish Cups and ten La Liga championships as Barcelona simply dominated Spanish and European football during this period in the simulation. He was also Player of the Season six times, in the Team of the Season ten times, and World Player of the Year three times - by the looks of it, only some fiercely talented regens in England and Germany stopped him from picking up that accolade more often. An injury in the 2031-32 season allowed a young regen to take his place for the majority of that season however, and by the 2032-33 season it was clear that his best years were behind him, and Barcelona agreed to let their captain and hero leave on a free transfer to Premier League also-rans Tottenham Hotspur having scored over fifty goals for his club from the left-back position he made his own.

At Tottenham, he would be the catalyst for a rejuvenation of the London based club, winning the FA Cup in his season there, and finishing above hated rivals Arsenal (again, think SK-East Franz) the following season to qualify for the Champions League - the first time in ten seasons that Tottenham had done either of those things.

His spell at Tottenham would be little more than a cameo however, and with the club considering him too old for a regular playing position they offered him a coaching or ambassadorial role when his two-year contract ran out. Kohev neatly told them to stuff it, and he moved to Germany on another free transfer to play for German champions Schalke 04. Coming off the bench to play mainly as the defensive midfielder he was for his national team - more on that shortly - he racked up enough appearances and goals over the two seasons he spent there to not just qualify for a league-winners' medal each season, but to get nominations for Player of the Season as well.

By the time a recurrence of his injury kept him out of the last quarter of his last season with Schalke however, it was clear that his playing days were finally, gloriously, coming to an end. A final free transfer to mid-table Torino saw him return to the league in which he made his name, and after ten appearances and two goals - one of which came against Internazionale, for old times' sake, presumably - he finally hung up his boots and took up a coaching role at AC Milan.

His international career was always going to be blighted by the simple fact that he was an outstanding player in a very minor national pool - think Dietar Eygenroy at his peak for Bleak Rock - and so it proved. Despite becoming Latvia's most capped player ever, he would never win any international honours. Aside from helping his side qualify for their first and only World Cup finals in 2026 and 2030 - during neither of which they progressed beyond the group stage - his greatest achievement was undoubtedly scoring the goal in extra time that knocked out what looks like an unexpectedly brilliant Irish side and took Latvia into the quarter-finals of Euro 2028. That injury in his final seasons for Barcelona also kept him out of the national side, of course, and Latvia hadn't qualified for any major tournament since 2030 in this save. They hadn't even come close since, until...

...he became manager of the national team in 2042. Jumping straight from a coaching role at Milan to manager of Latvia, he managed to take them close. Examining the results of the team during his time in charge it looks like only playoff defeats to France, Italy, and Scotland stopped them qualifying for the major tournaments that occurred during his time in charge.

Now, managerial appointments have always been a little random in CFM, with many players of the game including me having regularly seen such odd things as Alexsandr van Sorensen ditching The Fallenmark Islands to take charge at Krsthaven in Semarland, or even to see Tuulari get the sack (!) after finishing second (!!) and taking up the SK job (!!!) after they'd finished 10th the previous season (!!!!!). So, with that in mind, I am not at all surprised to see KKV take up the manager's position at Juventus after Scotland beat Latvia in the 2050 World Cup playoffs, this despite Torino being Juventus' cross-town rivals.

What I was surprised to see, was that the game reckoned he turned down offers from Barcelona and Schalke to take up the position at mid-table Juventus. Schalke, I could understand, he was only there for two seasons. A highly successful and well thought-of two seasons, yes, but only two seasons nonetheless. However, turning down Barcelona? He was a hero there! Barcelona are even now listed amongst his 'favoured clubs' in his in-game factfile! And he turned them down to opt for the fallen giants of Juventus? Weird. This game is weird.

We're lucky that this happened in the summer of 2050, to be honest, as the game doesn't normally preserve information like which offers he turned down. I was able to fill in the gaps and assume some natural conclusions during his club career thanks to the transfer information, injury logs, and playing stats, but it was only thanks to the most recent news items in the inbox that I spotted he'd turned down Barcelona.

I guess we'll never know.

---

Anyway, this was successful, wasn't it? Successful enough to warrant me running another simulation for my next blog, anyway. So, I reckon next time I'll rattle out some stats for Alexsandr van Sorensen, stick them through the game, cook up another thirty-five years of data whilst I'm at work, and write-up the results tomorrow night.

Til then, pip pip!

Henrik. x.


Part 1: Kohev Küngas-Vaga
Part 2: Alexsandr van Sorensen
Part 3: Felix Saarinen
Part 4: Jean-Eric Villeneuve
Part 5: Tolgus Tregajorran
Part 6: Lee Sharp
Part 7: Henning Blonqvist
Part 8: Steffan Pekarik
Part 9: Petter Bielsen
Part 10a+b: Niko Marek + Ernesto Farías
Part 11a+b: Zacharias Juul + Mateus Carvalho
Part 12a+b: Timo Skye + 'Laborious Hawk vs Valrauncion'

[Fhulghamous Peninsula]

CRESCENT NEWS NETWORK
SPORTS CHANNEL - OFFICIAL WEBSITE
ABANHFLEFT • PRIDNESTROVIA • OONTAZ DERT LI NG • COPPER CUPRUM • TRENDSTART • FHULGHAMOUS PENINSULA

MARINOS THIMPODOPOULOS SIGN LUKASZ PRZYBOROWSKI


Lukasz Przyborowski holds up his new jersey alongside Marinos Thimpodopoulos manager Orestes Katsouranis, Jr. The Pruski international reportedly joined the side recently promoted to the Fleftic Premier League on a two-year contract that would give him an estimated NS$48,000 per week in wages. (Courtesy of Crescent News Network Sports Channel/Ulysses Turogo)

PORT THIMPODOPOULOS, FHULGHAMOUS PENINSULA - Marinos Thimpodopoulos have signed Pruski forward Lukasz Przyborowski on a two-year contract.

Przyborowski, 30, joins on a free transfer after not renewing his contract with Puszcza Puszczykowo, where he scored fifteen goals in 34 appearances.

Marinos are also looking to secure the services of Deios Sporting goalkeeper Cheim Ogem, but sources within the Fhulghamousian club report that the talks may have stalled, along with a loan offer for Panem keeper Walnut Durant of District 11 Harvesters. Katsouranis had said earlier that the club looks to sign a keeper, a midfielder, and at least one forward to keep them within the Premier League.

WORLD CUP 72 QUALIFIERS: FHULGHAMOUS PENINSULA VS MUROVANKA
By Malik Qazizadah


Fhulghamous Peninsula's Rashidunnin Ali calmly collects the ball after a tame attempt from a Murovanka player. The Fhulghamous dominated their opponents all throughout the game and walked away with a deserved 2-0 win and all three points. (Courtesy of Crescent News Network Sports Channel/Maksim Renniger)

PORT THIMPODOPOULOS, FHULGHAMOUS PENINSULA - A confident Fhulghamous Peninsula side saw them cruise to a 2-0 victory against unranked Murovanka, whom they hosted in Arena Marinos today.

The visitors saw little of the goal and barely touched the ball as the Fhulghamousians applied relentless pressure on them, and goals from Mephistopheles and Lucian von Frankreich made sure that the better team walked away with the win.

Sebastiano struck the post after firing off a whistling rocket that looked to go in until it took a slight curve in its path.

Mephistopheles himself was initially unlucky as he failed to put enough power in his shot to trouble the Murovanka keeper.

John Hainaut's header flew high above the bar following the corner from Mephistopheles.

Mephistopheles finally broke through the Murovanka defense when he fired off a shot from outside the box that slotted neatly in the gap between the keeper's fingers and the far post.

In the second half, Fhulghamous Peninsula didn't let up the pressure. In fact, they seemed to press their opponents even further coming into the last forty-five minutes.

Fhulghamous doubled their lead courtesy of the shot from Lucian von Frankreich, who received the pass from Salvatore Pelucci, who had subbed on for his brother Sebastiano. Von Frankreich took a touch and then volleyed the ball into the near post, which the Murovanka keeper wasn't able to stop despite from honestly cool acrobatics.

Fhulghamous Peninsula moves up to second place in Group 7. They will go to Matthewsiania for their next qualifying game.

FHULGHAMOUS PENINSULA 2 - 0 MUROVANKA
 MEPHISTOPHELES (38')
 VON FRANKREICH (72')

FHULGHAMOUS PENINSULA
GK: 01 Ali █
RB: 02 Montemayor
RCB: 03 Singerstein
LCB: 04 Hainaut
LB: 05 Kamakura █ (Zaman - 83')
RM: 06 Power Jr.
RCM: 07 Moskowitz █ (Tavistock - 70')
LCM: 08 von Frankreich
LM: 09 Suzuki
RS: 10 Sebastiano
LS: 11 Mephistopheles (O'Mitchell - 82')

MATCH STATISTICS
Possession
Fhulghamous Peninsula: 75%
Murovanka: 25%
Shots
Fhulghamous Peninsula: 23 (12 on target)
Murovanka: 5 (1 on target)
Corners
Fhulghamous Peninsula: 16
Murovanka: 6
Fouls
Fhulghamous Peninsula: 10
Murovanka: 29

WORLD CUP QUALIFYING GROUP 7 TABLE

P Group 7                            Pld    W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts 
1 Blouman Empire                       4    2   2   0     4    2   +2     8
2 Fhulghamous Penisula                 4    2   1   1     6    3   +3     7
3 Matthewsiania                        4    2   1   1     8    6   +2     7
4 Augsticinia                          4    2   1   1     3    3    0     7
5 Carialus                             4    1   3   0     5    3   +2     6
6 Mertagne                             4    1   2   1     4    4    0     5
7 Szavoda                              4    1   0   3     5    8   −3     3
8 Murovanka                            4    0   0   4     2    8   −6     0

[Krytenia]

HopeNation
By Rubio Sanchéz in Emberton

NICKNAMES. Every team has one, and for many years the Krytenian national football team has been know on these shores as the Aces. In fact, they still are. Elsewhere, however, it's become a different story. From the rolling plains of Valanora, to the tennis courts of Electrum, Krytenia have a new soubriquet; "The Lucky Buggers".

Take their latest victims. HopNation are the group's second seeds, and widely expected to push Valladares all the way in Group Eleven. Krytenia, and their brand of fast-paced, attacking, never-say-die football, had other ideas. It took less than fifty seconds for the Aces to get themselves on the scoresheet; with Lecho Loontas drifting out of position, Sam Barcali had the freedom of the right wing, and his cross found the head of Ronnie van Rijn. The Avenida Victoria stiker made no mistake at the ground he used to call his home.

One became two shortly before the half-hour, as Krytenia stamped their authority on the game. This time it was van Rijn's turn to be the provider, as his slide-rule pass to Darren Radcliffe unlocked the Hops' defence. With just the goalkeeper to beat, Radcliffe kept his cool and slotted home; the 190,000 or so fans crammed into the Isserson Olympic Stadium erupted into pure joy. The Aces could even have had a third before the break in a half they utterly dominated, but Valrauncion was denied as Oeny Subanos tipped his fizzing low drive round the post.

Krytenia threatened more of the same in the second half, with HopNation, playing in their change strips of orange, reduced to counter-attacks and hopefull long balls. Surprisingly, though, one of those long balls provided the Hops with an avenue back into the game. Joel Scott misjudged a header back to the goalkeeper, and Pech Schytaing chased hard to catch the unfortunate David Heaton in no-mans land and spoke the ball home.

Far from heads dropping, though, the goal only served to galvanise the Krytenians. Once more, they poured forward in numbers; once more, they laid siege on Subanos' goal. Van Rijn thumped a post, and Valrauncion again saw a great shot well saved. What he didn't see a few minutes later was Sid Raefwar, and the two collided with a heavy thud, leading to both players taking no further part in the game. No Valrauncion, though, was no problem. In the seventy-sixth minute, substitute Will Oss latched onto a Samuel Alinas pass, brought it down to his feet, and lashed it past Subanos before the Hops keeper had a chance to move.

The copybook was blotted late on when Vinny Frenz mistimed a tackle on Schytaing in the box, leading to a red card and a penalty; Schytaing saw his kick saved by Heaton, but Ike Myer reacted quickest to the parry and had the simple task of lofting the ball over the prone Krytenian goalkeeper and into the net. Three-two was the final score, and if we're honest it flattered the visitors. Krytenia, though, had no problems with the final score, as Valladares and Kernansquillec drew to put the Aces back on top of the table.

It all means that Krytenia travel to their next game in an unusual position; favourites. Whilst the Aces have defied the formbook, strutting around their theoretically superior opponents (Kernansquillec excepted) like they'd never been away, Kumbhalgarh have zero points and a nation name that sounds like an Ursine having a particularly mucus-y sneeze. Victory will mean the world will continue to gawp slack-jawed at these men in sky blue still topping the table against all the odds. Onward!

KRYTENIA - 3
van Rijn 1
Radcliffe 29
Oss 76

HOPNATION - 2
Schytaing 57
Myer 86

[Augusticinia]

Augusticinia gets past Szavoda

Augusticinia defeated Szavoda yesterday in Munich. In the 77th Minunte substitute Evan Harrell was given the through lob. He got past the last defender, trapped the ball, and shot a low ball into the right corner while Szavodan Goalkeeper, Nemanja Petrovic was off his line. Gerard Jameson of Augusticinia will miss the next match due to accumulating two yellow cards in the past two games. He recieved one in the last game against the Blouman Empire and recieved one in the game against Szavoda. Augusticinia is currently in 4th Place with 7 points. Szavoda is now in 7th place with 3 points.

Match Statistics
Goals: Augusticinia {1} Szavoda {0}
Shot on Target (Including Goals): Augusticinia {6} Szavoda {6}
Total Shots: Augusticinia {12} Szavoda {15}
Fouls: Augusticinia {7} Szavoda {10}
Corners: Augusticinia {4} Szavoda {3}
Free-Kicks (Near Goal): Augusticinia {2} Szavoda {0}
Offsides: Augusticinia {3} Szavoda {0}
Yellow Cards: Augusticinia {3} Szavoda {0}
Red Cards: Augusticinia {0} Szavoda {0}
Possession: Augusticinia {66%} Szavoda {34%}

Full Match Report
6": Wilhelm Markov (Augusticinia) tries to shoot from a distance but the ball goes over the Goal
9": Branimir Milic (Szavoda) tries to tap the ball in but it goes off to the side.
18": Charles MacBranian (Augusticinia) gets the ball in the box and drills it towards the Lower-Left Corner but it bounces off of a defender's foot
21": Harry Wu (Augusticinia) tries to shoot from outside of the box. It is aimed towards the the Upper-Right Corner but it is knocked over the crossbar by the Keeper
24": Pero Milovanovic (Szavoda) tries to tap the ball in but the ball goes out
27": Vladimir Maier (Augusticinia) will take the Free-Kick. The ball sails over the goal
29": Zar Mihailovic (Szavoda) tries to get the ball into the goal during a goal line scramble but his ball goes out
32": Tim Lukic (Szavoda) tries to shoot from the Half-Way line but the ball barely goes over the goal
34": Harry Wu (Augusticinia) shoots from outside of the box aiming for the center of the goal but it is blocked by the keeper
35": Yellow Card Louis Mendoza is given a yellow card for a bad tackle
40": Mijo Nikazic (Szavoda) shoots from way out of the box. The ball is on target but is caught by the Augusticinian Keeper
42": John Watson (Augusticinia) tries to shoot from the middle of the box but the ball goes wide
43": Yellow Card Gerard Jameson receives a Yellow Card for a Handball
48": Ljuban Zoric (Szavoda) tries to take a header but the header is blocker by the Augusticinian Keeper
54": Pero Milovanovic (Szavoda) tries to fire the ball from outside of the box but the ball goes over the goal
58": Louis Mendoza (Augusticinia) takes the header. It bounces off of the ground into the Keeper's Glove's
61": Nemanja Radic (Szavoda) tries to drill the ball into the goal from outside of the box but it is caught by the keeper
64": Pero Milovanovic (Szavoda) tries to put a header into the goal but it is caught by the Augusticinian Keeper
67": Simon Filipovic (Szavoda) tries to head the ball into the Upper-Right Corner but it is blocked by the Augusticinian Keeper
69": Mijo Nikazic (Szavoda) attempts to shoot from outside of the box but the ball flies over the goal
71": Louis Mendoza (Augusticinia) tries to slide the ball in during a goal line scramble but the ball goes out.
73": John Watson (Augusticinia) tries to head the ball in but the ball goes over the goal
77": GOAL!!! Evan Harrell (Augusticinia) receives the through lob. He traps the ball and shoots it into the Lower-Right Corner while the Szavodan Goalkeeper is off his line
76": Yellow Card Stephan Dragić is given a Yellow Card for pushing a player down
80": Augusticinia receives a Free-Kick. Vladimir Maier aims for the left side but the shot is saved by the keeper.
82": Simon Filipovic (Szavoda) tries to score from the backheel but the ball goes out
87": Wilhelm Markov (Augusticinia) tries to head the ball in but the ball goes out to the side
90 +1": Isijia Jovanovic (Szavoda) tries to score on a volley but the ball goes over the goal and out.
90 +3": Stefan Petrovic (Szavoda) tries to pass the ball into the goal but the ball rolls out

Man of the Match: Evan Harrell


Louis Mendoza's Tackle

[Gregoryisgodistan]

Lord Almighty Gregory's Speech to the People, Part 1

"Good morning, ladies, gentlemen, and slaves. I speak to you today to announce that a peace agreement has been reached. No, not with our enemies who we are fighting currently, that would be silly. Rather, with the nation of Patistan. Patistan has agreed to provide us with material military support and troops in our war against the SETO menaces, in exchange for us removing them from the Enemy List. We have done so, effective immediately. Therefore, please do not kill any Patistanis on our soil or you and your family will face the death penalty for your capital crime of murder. Additionally, we will not provide diplomatic assistance if you murder Patistanis in other countries, and if your family is here, we will execute them too. So don't do it.

"With that historic deal reached, we will better be able to fight on both fronts. Between our Patistani allies, our Quebecois allies, and ourselves, we are making good progress in fighting the Wee-publicans and Guaya Beans. Right now, our troops continue to push into the Holy Republican Empire after launching human blitzkrieg and bombs. There have been heavy casualties on both sides, but our troops continue to bravely and nobly push on. Unfortunately, they faced a heavily armed civilian population, but in terms of the laws the foolish World Assembly passed, this only makes us more justified in shooting them and burning their homes. Of course, I don't particularly care what the stupid World Assembly thinks, but it's nice to know they won't condemn us for this because our soldiers were fighting in defense against an armed population rather than attacking random civilians. I don't want to fight the World Assembly Army too. Oh wait, they don't have one. Maybe we should invade World Assembly headquarters and proclaim me Supreme Deity and Overlord of the Multiverse. Who's going to stop us? But we don't have the resources for that right now. We need to focus on vanquishing our Enemies here at home. As our troops continue to push on while repelling the Guayabalense troops who invade our shores, we must never surrender. We must destroy all our foes. We must vanquish them into nothingness. Wee-publica must be completely destroyed, as must Guayabeanworld or whatever they're called. Fortunately, Gloriax has not come to the aid of their SETO brethren yet, so we do not quite need to wipe them off the map right now. But Guaya will perish. Wee-publcia will perish. We have already killed thousands upon thousands of people, civilian and soldier alike, in both countries, and while we have lost many of our own soldiers, they died bravely and nobly fighting for their country and for that, they died martyrs, all previous sins forgiven. Blessed be the soldiers who fight and die for their country. Cursed be those who call for peace against an Enemy like the Republicans or Guayabalense. But thankfully, we and Patistan have put aside our differences and managed to work together to defeat mutual foes. Neither of us like Consul Kulseth, nobody does, not even his own mother. So we will work together to destroy his country and hopefully eventually execute him. We will work with Legion of Lucifer and other activist groups to capture him, and then figure out what to do with his body. Maybe we can take a lesson from King Solomon in Consul Kulseth's phony Bible - slice his body in half, let Legion of Lucifer keep half, and we take the other half. And we can each do whatever we want with our own half. I would be amenable to that as a fair solution if Legion of Lucifer wants. That's pretty much the only lesson we can take from their phony Bible though - slice evil-doers in half and split their body between two good-doers doing the Lord's work. I like it. And then we can burn all the Bibles in the town squares.

"Additionally, I am offering Samuel Izmailov and his supporters a truce. Work with us now to overthrow the Consul and execute him, and we will give anyone who joins forces with us, including Izmailov himself, permanent exemption from the Enemy List. This even applies if Izmailov takes power, as long as he commits no acts of aggression against Gregoryisgodistan or our allies. Of course, any of his past, present, or future supporters who do not ally with us, excluding descendants of his supporters who are currently minors or not yet born, will be fair game for death if we feel like it. Keep in mind that if Izmailov comes to power and attacks us, all agreements are off and we will respond as harshly as we are now. But Izmailov wants power, his personal army wants power, and we are willing to work with his supporters to get him that as long as he promises his government will be friendly, or at least not aggressive, to Gregoryisgodistan in the future. Now is the time for a new chapter in the history of the multiverse. We must overthrow Kulseth at all costs, eliminate his agents from the False Church, and blow their nation up bit by glorious bit. But anyone who wants to help us will be permanently exempt, even those we have previously condemned. Now is the chance to save yourselves. Work with us, work with our army, join forces your army and ours, and we can make you great. All we ask is that when you are in power, you do not attack or aggress us. And we will do the same for you if that happens. Perhaps we can even buy some nuclear weapons from your government, not to use on you of course, but on other Enemies.

"Now, I must talk about other matters, the latest menacing thing our Guaya fiends have done."

OOC: To be continued in a separate post after SJG RP's.

[Kernansquillec]

KERS HOLD VALLADARES AS TABLE TIGHTENS UP

On paper it was Kernansquillec's toughest game of qualifying: an away trip to Valladares, the group's top seeds. The game against their Rushmori rivals was set to be even more important as both teams went into the match unbeaten in their first three games. Going into the game, Valladares were topping group 11 and were clear favourites. But after two wins on the bounce and with their team unbeaten since the end of World Cup 71 qualifying Kernansquillecans supporters did have reason to hope for a result.

The return of Zac Poutre may have been a boost for the Green and Whites but immediately from kick-off they were being put under pressure from the hosts who wanted to stamp their authority on the game early on. Despite spending long periods without possession the Kers successfully limited Valladares to few chances of note with their best efforts coming from long range efforts that Ellysa safely dealt with. Kernansquillec started to grow into the game, but just as they started looking a match for Valladares SK Franz Josef City forward Pedrinho punished the Kers on the break. As a promising Kernansquillecan attack broke down with a poor cross that was easily caught by Andrés Orozco, the keeper's quick punt downfield set up a four on three attack. Number 8 Rubén Morantes dragged his defender outwide before using his pace to brake past Mary Cressac. The space he created gave him just enough time to power the ball across goal where Pedrinho had made a run across the face of the goal. The forward got the slightest of touches to send the ball flying past Ellysa to open the scoring.

While going behind was slightly harsh on the Kernansquillecans who had been playing well, it did little to put them off and both sides continued to match each other up until half time. A frantic start to the second half saw the game gets turned on it's head as the Kers hit back with two quickfire goals. Marie Iris claimed her first goal of the campaign with a magnificent solo effort. The Rennes winger nutmegged Valladares' captain Jéremy Carrasso before curling the ball just inside the far post leaving Orozco unable to get to the ball in time. Just eight minutes later Gashotov was on hand to finish off another nicely worked move from the Kernansquillecans. The full-back had pushed up to support Noupen and Iris who combined in midfield before Noupen slipped an inch-perfect ball between two defenders into the path of the onrushing Gashotov who had read the move perfectly. The defender took a touch before putting the ball beyond the keeper to score his first senior international goal and giving the Kernansquillecans a surprise lead in Swangard.

Falling behind didn't go down well with Valladares who will have felt hard done by. After shouting a lot at his side, Juan Andrés Verzeri got his team to up the tempo and the world number 15s put the Green and Whites under considerable pressure for quite a while after the Gashotov goal. It took Valladares just eight minutes to get back on level terms. This time it was Rozenthal who was on hand to level things up. The forward outjumped Melodie Corren and got to the corner kick first to head home. But despite conceding a second and being under the cosh for the fair part of the rest of the match, the Kers held on to claim a deserved and valuable point in Valladares.

The draw between the two sides coupled with Krytenia's (yet another) surprise win, this time against HopNation means that Krytenia retake the lead in group 11 with Kernansquillec staying in third place on goal difference. The whole of group 11 is proving to be a very tight affair. Five of the eight sides are at least within three points of a playoff spot, while the top four teams are covered by just two points. What makes this even more of a surprise is that Bears Armed, one of the teams tipped to do well, are currently stuck in seventh place, six points of top spot after just four games. The Ursines have lost their last three games on the bounce, conceding an average of 3.5 goals per game. The group is looking somewhat promising for the Kers however: as it stands the Green and Whites have played all of the teams in the top four and have clocked up one win and two draws. Their remaining games of this first half of qualifying will still be difficult with the likes of Panem, Bears Armed and Garifunya still to come. But on paper at least, the Kernansquillecans should go into those games as favourites this time. Their rivals will also be playing some tough games over the same period: Valladares' next game will involve a clash with HopNation, while Krytenia have also yet to play Valladares.

One thing is for sure: group 11 is truly proving itself to be a group of death. Up next for Kernansquillec will be Panem, the newly crowned Baptism of Fire champions. Despite a rough start to qualifying Panem have now picked up four points from the last six on offer and clocked up an astonishing 3-0 win over Bears Armed. Harry Broudant isn't expected to make any changes to his starting XI with no new injury concerns. Tickets are still available for the game against Panem at the Green Jewel for fans who may still want to make the game.

Valladares 2 - 2 Kernansquillec
(Pedrinho 29', Rozenthal 66' / Iris 50', Gashotov 58')
Alexander I National Stadium, Swangard

# Group 11                           Pld    W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts   Form
1 Krytenia                             4    3   0   1    10    9   +1     9   WWLW
2 Valladares                           4    2   2   0    13    8   +5     8   XWWX
3 Kernansquillec                       4    2   2   0     9    6   +3     8   XWWX
4 HopNation                            4    2   1   1     9    6   +3     7   XWWL
5 Garifunya                            4    1   2   1     9   10   −1     5   XLXW
6 Panem                                4    1   1   2     8    8   ±0     4   LLXW
7 Bears Armed                          4    1   0   3    12   14   −2     3   WLLL                    Qualification position
8 Kumbhalgarh                          4    0   0   4     5   14   −9     0   LLLL                    Playoff position

[Electrum]

Centralis Herald - Comment - Chris Siewert

Geopolitical nightmares across the multiverse a troubling sign for the times ahead

Never before in the history of Electrum have we seen new and shifting alliances across the board throughout the multiverse. In fact, for some, even Atlantian Oceania might be a swell place to live in, with all the conflict that is going on across the two other main sporting regions, Esportiva and Rushmore. In Esportiva, already, there have been hundreds of fatalities in the Gregoryisgodistan conflict, with now Royal Kingdom of Quebec declaring war against the Holy Republican Empire (Free Republics), and sending soldiers over to Gregoryisgodistan per a military deal. In Rushmore, it seems like the Quebecois are at it again, this time helping to build the Floriana dam, a dam designed to generate hydroelectricity, but will affect Electrum downstream, this time more impactful because of the Prescottian highland drought.

As for the latter conflict, it seems that the Valladars and their client state, Rio Oscuro have timed the dam's construction at a very convenient time. At a time where water levels are historically the lowest, the Great Lake risks losing depth, and the chance for greater desertification and erosion is higher because of the drought, Valladares is trying to push onto us the idea that they want to control our affairs. It's the only explanation for the sudden need to dam a river, instead of other renewable energies which I would argue are more effective (because they decentralise power generation). By doing this, they make water a suddenly scarce commodity which Electrum do depends on for both mining and agriculture.

It's a smart move, but as they say, "If you want to gather honey, don't kick over the beehive." Electrumites are already very disapproving of this, and although the usual method for Electrum to get their out of way of conflicts is better trade deals or more commerce, that isn't going to cut it for the government. Meanwhile, another river that flows through Rio Oscuro, which then flows through Rhodesiah and then into Electrum might also be at risk of more damming, again, reducing the water downstream. Rhodesiah supplies both water and food supplies to Eura's almost unbelievably high population of a few billion. And with the current circumstance of the Euran government (Liberal Party) refusing to do anything despite the opposition's willingness to do something (Social Party), Electrum has a few friends left in this world.

It was in fact, quite a surprise that a bipartite agreement had been struck almost out of nowhere with another Rushmori nation coming to the aid of Electrum -- Sargossa. Long ago, Electrum had renounced pretty much all of it's warring functions, and the army, navy and airforce have been bare-bones at best. A pacifist nation in a hotbed of regional powers is not a good deal for anyone, so it was a no-brainer when Senator Takumi Itsuki, the foreign minister walked out of his offices with the Sargossan ambassador for a new and wide-ranging agreement. The island chain in the North-West of Electrum extended an entirely unsolicited offer to build a base in Electrum's west, just north of Prescott, and precipitously close to Rio Oscuro. The air base will be built with Electrum resources, but funded entirely by the Sargossan military, who will also pay a rent for using the base. Further agreements into joint training exercises and technological co-operation are said to be in the works.

That agreement caps off a great start for Senator Takumi Itsuki, the Minsiter for Foreign Affairs and Trade, who adds yet another agreement to the list. The career politician, who steadily rose up the ranks, first as a Trade Committee member has become a minister with resounding success. After the Quebecois agreement for mining operations and the Eura Free Trade Association, he had not one, but two agreements signed this week. Another agreement was signed just before the Sargossan one, and another Quebecois company, Dongrae Aquatics, based in Chicoutimi had agreed to build the new desalination plant just north of Junin, which will convert sea water into water through reverse osmosis. In a statement, he said that, "We invited a few companies from across the multiverse with this tender to build the plant, but with welcome co-operation from the Quebecois government, we have decided that Dongrae Aquatics will be our choice." When questioned on whether this was a knee-jerk reaction to Valladares-Rio Oscuro, he simply said, "No comment."

But the governing coalition party, the Greens Society aren't happy. They are quite concerned that the desalination plant, to which saline water will be released into the ocean will mean the destruction of important fish and bird species. In a deal which saw them shut out of the Environment ministry during the government formation, only their leader, Marco Lombardi, got a a ministry as the Minister for Science and Technology. In what was essentially an open rebellion, several prominent Greens MPs, including Janet Wilkins said that, "We cannot stand by further destruction of the environment by this government!" Marco, of course, was uncontactable, but his MPs made it very clear that they were losing confidence in the current government and arrangements. Should they block the next appropriations bill, then Governor-General Wunderlich will have no choice but to call a double-election to break the deadlock. The current desalination plant bill is expected to pass with help from the opposition Conservatives party.

Taking aside the situation in Rushmore, it seems that the Royal Kingdom of Quebec is involved yet again, with them recently sending thousand of soldiers to Gregoryisgodistan to fight the Holy Republican Empire. Patistan has also recently stated that they will support Gregoryisgodistan going into war. Those three nations will be going against SETO, an alliance of Gloriax, San Jose Guayabal, Holy Republican Empire and Coconut Isle. The Sword Bloke might also leap into the war, which could make a combined total of seven nations in this conflict. With ever growing distrust throughout the multiverse, and the already shaking government of Electrum, it seems like we will be going through a turbulent phase of the multiverse's history. Maybe nothing will come from the Rushmore issue. But the horse has well and truly bolted in Esportiva -- I can only hope that as many lives lost are minimised, so we can get back to peace.

[Timbermunich]

Timbermunich

World Cup 72

Snow
In the winter months it is very common for a white fluffy powder to cover the canopy and eventually drift down to the ground below. If one were to venture above the canopy they might find a one to two foot layer of snow holding fast to the leaves, this slowly works its way through the cover and falls to the ground. The process makes it appear as though it snows for an extended period of time to the people below, however it actually only snows a couple days above the canopy during the winter months. Many people enjoy the snow cover that is produced, while others find it outright annoying. One thing the snow does that all people agree is a benefit is helping to maintain the ground moisture during the winter months where there is little actual presipitation to water anything. Like the rain any excess snow is collected and stored. However when melted the snow water is only used for crops and nothing else, which allows the rain collection to be used for better process like drinking. The people of Timbermuich also agree that even without the snow in the winter months they would be perfectly okay in terms of water availability. This could be in part because they try to harvest as much as possible during the summer months and the water consumption during winter is rather low. But that withstanding the snow is a welcome addition to the water supply, plus it makes all the lower trees and shrubs glisten in the light that penetrates the canopy so people are likely to enjoy the little snow that we get.

---

Scores – current record: 3-1-0
MD1 – Draw: Timbermunich 0-0 Royal Kingdom of Quebec
MD2 – Win: The Fallenmark Islands 1-2 Timbermunich
MD3 – Win: Timbermunich 3 – 1 Nandezia
MD4 – Win: Timbermunich 5 – 3 Assiciated Godlands

[Super-Llamaland]

FRIENDLIES - What the Pre-Cup Matches Show About the Tigers

Gloriax 3 - 3 Super-Llamaland ~ Tenacity Park, Los Juantos, Super-Llamaland
---
GLX: Purinton 36, Spahn 45+1, Coppinger 72
SLL: Nilssen 42, Karnstedt 65, Magnusson 89
---
POSSESSION - Gloriax 47% - 53% Super-Llamaland
SHOTS - Gloriax 10 - 9 Super-Llamaland
SHOTS ON GOAL - Gloriax 7 - 6 Super-Llamaland
---
CAUTIONED - Agudieres 72
EJECTED - None
---
GLORIAX (4-3-3) - Kuhlmann; Bayne, Stcyr, Pinney, Ketner; Hiett, Mangano, Weekes; Coppinger, Stockard, Purinton
SUPER-LLAMALAND (5-3-2) - Finch; Carmichael, Myers, Agudieres (Bale 75), Herleksson, Karnstedt; Rainier (Stanton 63), Dickinson, Player; Nilssen (Cartwright 67), Magnusson
---
Recap
After twenty-five minutes, the game was looking to be a plodding midfield-heavy game - Anthony Player wasn’t sharp, the strikers were feuding over any balls he managed to poke through, and Tobias Dickinson was noticeably limping after basically tripping over Otis Kinney’s clean tackle. The defense looked fine - Gloriax’s Mangano was strong, but Purinton and Coppinger were taking a while to heat up, especially with some strong play from Sebastian Myers. But the offense was cold.

Then the fireworks started. Myers won another tackle, slipping in front of Mangano and getting his foot on what would have been a through ball to Lore Coppinger. The left-back spun and fired, and Adrian Carmichael, after taking a few steps, dropped a perfect pass at the charging Karnstedt’s feet. Karnstedt dodged Xuan Stcyr and sliced a pass to Alicia Magnusson, but she ran into trouble on the right and her shot went wide.

The Tigers threatened a few more times, but couldn’t convert, and when Carmichael’s tackle clipped Coppinger’s ankle, giving Gloriax a free-kick, it was Gloriax to take the lead early, Eloisa Purinton running out for Mangano’s pass, spinning, and firing a bullet past Jared Finch.

Gloriax tried to push for a second goal, though, with the defense looking vulnerable and Coppinger recovered, but Mangano’s shot bounced off the post and Agudieres managed to smash a pass upfield - Tobias Dickinson beat out Otis Kinney to the ball, and his through pass found Lotus Park striker Kristopher Nilssen for a smash home.

It wouldn’t last long though - Agudieres, the nominal sweeper, wandered too far out and was caught unaware by an absolute frozen rope off the foot of Lore Coppinger that Spahn, sneaking behind Herleksson, headed in. A mistake that shouldn’t have been made, but nevertheless Gianna Spahn had the Black Tigers up two-one over the...Regular Tigers, I guess.

The second half slowed down a bit, Super-Llamaland playing more cautiously on defense and Gloriax not trying to push as hard - once again, it reverted to midfield play. But this time, Anthony Player was warmed up and looking more dangerous in the center, so Hoover cleverly had Player and Dickinson switch places. The strategy paid off early, with Player’s playmaking in the middle and Dickinson quickly adapting to the wing. It was only a matter of time before they scored again, quickly pushing forwards, but it was Tristan Karnstedt who volleyed a corner from Dickinson into the back of the net to tie things up again.

Unfortunately, once again it wouldn’t last long - Agudieres was cautioned for a hard tackle on Mangano as he sprinted towards the goal for a shot - likely the right move, but Agudieres’ execution was deplorable and Mangano went sprawling. Coppinger, ankle perfectly fine, got the ball by Finch and it was three-two. There it would remain for quite some time - but Alicia Magnusson in the eighty-ninth received a perfect cross from Lily Stanton after the latter managed to dribble into the box and slammed it home to tie the game in the last minutes.
---
Lessons learned -
1.) Carlton Hoover is pretty good

This match started pretty much as expected, Hoover trotting out the same eleven that he’s expected to play during the qualifiers - but the stocky ex-New Llama manager showed a remarkable ability to adapt to his circumstances during the match against an energetic Gloriax team. If anything he’s a little too set in his ways - taking out Nilssen was the right move, but he really shouldn’t have waited that long.

Still, Hoover is capable of making the right moves here, and he’s known to be a good motivator. He’s the right fit for the job.

2.) Although Nilssen and Magnusson are the Tigers’ best, putting them together isn’t going to work

In sixty-seven minutes of Nilssen/Magnusson, they never seemed to mesh and both held onto the ball longer than they should have. While

3.) Lily Stanton is better than we thought

...and Kyle Rainier sucks. Rainier looked inconsistent and scared in sixty-three minutes, while Stanton was incisive and looked strong in the remainder, eventually setting up Alicia Magnusson’s late strike to draw up the game. One game isn’t much of a sample size, but if they both keep it up Hoover will have an increasingly hard time defending his choice of Rainier in the starting lineup.

[Greater Watford]

Chapter 4: Eastern Alliance D2, Colney Heath Village FC

Colney Heath, just within the boundaries of North Mymms, is the final place I visited as part of the chapters on Level 5 teams. Unlike the previous 3 teams, Colney Heath Village FC started out as one of the Eastern Alliance D1 team way back in Season 3. In that season, they came 16th, and the next season were relegated (there was no relegation in the first year). Since then, the team have failed to even make the promotion playoffs, and are struggling to get a foot on the ladder.

Upon visiting the ground, it was clear that there was serious work needed. There were 2 stands, each of 500 seats along the touchline. Behind the goals, however, were large wooden boards to catch stray shots. However, these boards had clearly been weathered and worn down, and needed replacement. A few advertising hoardings were taped up, a case of the owners not paying up, either through administration or just a lack of care.

It’s certainly a tough time for Colney Heath Village FC, and part of the reason is that they play in the Eastern Alliance D2 , despite being more suited geographically to the Northern or Southern Alliance D2, being located centrally in the country. This is part of the reason, assistant manager and player Kamen Rodi says, for the decline. “We can’t sign professionals who can be available 24/7 for the club, and we’re isolated from the other sides in our division. When we were relegated 5 years ago, many players simply left, not giving us a chance, and we couldn’t find the suitable replacements”.

I asked Rodi if he thought the Alliance had problems with team location. “Well the concentration is skewed of course. But I don’t think that’s the biggest concern. The AA seem to want all the teams to stay within a division, and not move across divisions, unless numbers are unbalanced. Hence, we’re supposedly an “Eastern” team, but try saying we’re Eastern compared to the seaside teams along the East Coast. It’s a silly rule at times”. There’s a sentiment among the smaller teams that they’re too small for the GWFA to care too much, and the AA seems to be incapable of solving solutions.

There’s been some solutions put forward. At the end of Season 10, the next year after this book goes to press, the AA has promised a review into the teams and divisions, and is willing to make changes. There are rumours of a potential merge and divide of the Southern and Eastern Alliance, which could split the Watford and Harlequin teams across the 2 leagues, reducing the financial imbalance of the Southern League. More controversial, is the rumoured plans to introduce relegation to amateur leagues, extending the pyramid. Proponents say this will stop weak teams from playing out year after year with no goal in sight. Opponents say that it will destabilise the teams near the bottom, and produce and endless cycle of teams from the amateur leagues going up then straight back down.

Colney Heath Village FC are a microcosm of what can happen to a small team who hit hard times, they’ve been forced to drop ground improvement plans, they’ve lost fans, and players are hard to come by. Teams at this level can struggle to find the extra push that can bring them up to the next level, and there is outside pressure on the league by the teams to sort this problem out. As many have said, it’s bizarre an almost amateur league can be less competitive than the top flight in Greater Watford.

Robert Rainshaw

[Free Republics]

Consul Kulseth was closely monitoring the Gregoryisgodistani invasion of Nejax. Everything was under control in the war and all was going according to plan. Gregoryisgodistan had sent a substantial portion of their Army to certain death at the hands of heavily armed Nejan gun enthusiasts. Meanwhile, they had left their expensive and undoubtedly irreplaceable aircraft carriers undefended. High Air Marshall Zito and Admiral Golovanov had recommended this very course of action to ensure that civilians would do the bulk of the fighting, the Army would be denied the glory of defeating Gregoryisgodistan's best and they could launch a coordinated all-out assault against the aircraft carriers, crippling Gregoryisgodistan's capacity to wage war in the future.

No sooner had Gregoryisgodistani troops landed in Nejax than the Holy Republican Navy and Air Force sprung into action, both aggressively pursuing the aircraft carriers. Given how far they were from Gregoryisgodistan, if the carriers were sunk, that would guarantee the destruction of all of the planes involved in this attack. The orders from the high command were clear: every single Gregoryisgodistani aircraft carrier must be sunk, whatever the cost, in order to send a message to anybody who might even think of invading our homeland in the future. The Republican Army and law enforcement were also given clear instructions that any surrendering Gregoryisgodistani soldiers should be detoxified of whatever was in the gruel and prune juice and then given a choice between defection (to the HRE) and conversion (to the True Church) or a swift death. Consul Kulseth cared not what the death toll was, only that Gregoryisgodistan be destroyed and the first step toward that was to annihilate their invasion force.

As the fighting carried on, images and videos of the events in Nejax found their way onto Sanctustube and civilians involved in the fighting sent out up-to-the-minute updates on Chatter. The cities of Oldston and Falkamore were rapidly turning into slaughterhouses. A video of a man driving his Republican flag pickup truck directly into marching Gregoryisgodistani troops went viral. This was war at its most primitive and ruthless, with no regard whatsoever for international law.

Yet the most iconic video of the battle would feature an 8 year old boy named Markus Scholz sitting on top of his rooftop shooting an assault rifle at advancing troops. Markus owned one of the top spots on the leaderboard for the current Medal of Duty game and he was just as good of a shot in real life as he was in virtual war. The little boy fearlessly fired at troops and even tossed a grenade that killed a half-dozen men. Later that evening, media outlets throughout the Empire would report that he had been shot in the leg by a Gregoryisgodistani soldier, shortly after his little sister uploaded the viral video "Big Bro Is My Hero" to Sanctustube and taken to the local hospital with the other Holy Republican wounded.

Meanwhile, The Holy Republican Army was busy providing extra security for the National Soccer Team's next home match in Jolarus while fighting off Legion of Lucifer rebels in the north. At this point, military strategists did not wish to risk spreading the country's forces too thin by invading Gregoryisgodistan or trying to put down the Taiyouese revolt. Their times would come. The National Soccer Team had just defeated Cosumar on the road. While Nejax needed to be cleared of enemy troops before they played Torisakia in Oldston on the 7th matchday of Qualifying, there was still plenty of time to do just that.

With the country at war, most of the nation's industry shifted their production focus to war-related goods. However, that didn't stop items featuring the Republican flag from selling out throughout the country or companies from doing everything that they could to meet the demand. One particularly popular item was a head covering for ladies featuring the flag, as Republican women in particular made a point of showing off their patriotism lest anybody think they were sympathetic to enemies of the regime. Name change requests from men whose given name was any variant of "Greg" were also extremely common. Following the declaration of war against Quebec, there had even been a dramatic upsurge in anonymous tips reporting illegal condom dealers. Given how heavily a Quebecois and therefore enemy company dominated the international condom market, it was now the duty of every patriotic Republican to report anybody who might be funneling cash to enemies of the Empire.

For the most part, however, everyday life in most of the Holy Republican Empire was still going on the same as it always had, even in wartime. Sure, the police were working overtime more frequently now and citizens were regularly informed of their duty to carry firearms while in public for the sake of national defense, life went on and most Republicans would never get the privilege of shooting at enemy troops. While Consul Kulseth used the ongoing invasion as an excuse to further restrict dissent and further weaken due process for accused criminals, few cared. Few objected even when Consul Kulseth decreed that citizens would be legally required to quarter troops in their homes upon request and provide for the needs of the soldiers for who would be so unpatriotic as to refuse to support the troops in a time of war? In the name of defeating Gregoryisgodistan and the Legion of Lucifer, Consul Kulseth was gradually turning the Holy Republican Empire into a totalitarian police state with de-facto universal conscription and he was doing so with the overwhelming support of the populace. Freedom, in the HRE, was well and truly dead. Now, there was only war and if Consul Kulseth had his way, the war would not end until there were no nations left in the multiverse that were not run by the True Church...

[Alasdair I Frosticus]

OOC - see the Holy Empire roster for a detailed explanation of what's going on here.


World Cup 72
An oratorio by Jorge Handeles

ACT 1, SCENE 4
(Matchday 3 - Tumbra Away)


Chorus - 'For the First Time We Must Play Away'

For the first time we must play away
Away! Away!
Away-ay-ay-ay-ay
What fresh delights await us
When we now play away.
Away! Away!
Away-ay-ay-ay-ay


Recitative - 'Surely, We Must Win This Day'
(Manuel Strategopouloso)

Surely, we must win this day
Tumbra will prove to be no obstacle
And we shall brush them aside with ease


Aria - My Heart Fills With Foreboding
(Jose Tarchoniotes)

My heart fills with foreboding
Forebo-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-ding
With foreboding my heart fills
Tumbra are no mugs, I fear
And we underestimate them at our peril
Hubris haunts our every step

My heart fills with foreboding
Forebo-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-ding
Forebo-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-ding
Forebo-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-ding
Forebo-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-ding
With foreboding my heart fills


Duet - 'Our Defence is Overwhelmed'
(Jorge Asones and Jose Tarchoniotes)

Our defence is overwhelm-ed
Our opponents are inspired
Our defence is overwhelm-ed
Our opponents are inspired
Overwhelm-ed (inspired)!
Inspired (overwhelm-ed)!
Overwhelm-ed (inspired)!
Inspired (overwhelm-ed)!

Three-nil down at half time we are
Truly we are dejected.
Our defence is overwhelm-ed
Our opponents are inspired
Overwhelm-ed (inspired)!
Inspired (overwhelm-ed)!
Overwhelm-ed (inspired)!
Inspired (overwhelm-ed)!


Chorus - 'And With These Goals We Are Healed'

And with these goals we are healed
Hea-ea-ea-ea-led, hea-ea-ea-ea-led
A mighty comeback this has been
From three-nil down to win five-three
And with these goals we are healed
Hea-ea-ea-ea-led, hea-ea-ea-ea-led

Drama!
Excitement!
A mighty comeback this has been
And with these goals we are healed
Hea-ea-ea-ea-led, hea-ea-ea-ea-led


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


ACT 2, SCENE 1
(Matchday 4 - The United North States in the Imperial Hippodrome)


Recitative - 'A Warning We Hath Received'
(Andres Daphopates as Juan Tzimisces)

A warning we hath received
We took Tumbra for granted.
At home against the weakest team in the group
We must do better


Aria - 'Take None For Granted'
(Andres Daphopates as Juan Tzimisces)

Take none for granted
Each may have their day
The weakest may rise to the occasion
The meek will have their day

Hath not Krytenia won 'gainst Bears Armed?
Hath not Kandorith defeated Polar Islandstates at last?
Take none for granted
Each may have their day


Chorus - 'Banish Sorrow, Banish Care'

Banish sorrow, banish care,
Grief should ne'er approach our team
Halftime now approacheth and
Three-nil up we are
Three-nil up we are
Banish sorrow, banish care,
Grief should ne'er approach our team


Recitative - 'The True Order Hath Been Restored'
(Miguel Lebournes)

The true order hath been restored
And we brush the opponents aside with ease
With the game won inside the first forty five
I shall now desport myself with less care.


Duet - 'Thanks to This Lovesome Ground'
(Miguel Lebournes and John Balsamono)

Thanks to this lovesome ground,
These gilded domes and most smooth grass,
So fair the game, so rich the sport,
The gods themselves might to this ground resort.
(repeat)


Aria - 'Face Now My Wrath, Ye Foolish Ones'
(Andres Daphopates as Juan Tzimisces)

Face now my wrath, ye foolish ones
That second half was unacceptable
Unacceptable, unacceptable
That second half was unacceptable

Did I not say before the match
That each may have their day?
And yet you switched off at three-nil up
And lost the second half one nil

What happened in the Tumbra match?
Who led at half time?
Face now my wrath, ye foolish ones
That second half was unacceptable
Face now my wrath, ye foolish ones
That second half was unacceptable


Chorus - 'Thus Saith the Coach'

Thus saith the coach, in his full wroth:
Yet once a little while and he will shake
The heavens
The earth
The sea
And the dry land.

And he will shake the team; and the desire to win all games shall come.
And he will sha-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-ke
And he will sha-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-ke
And he will sha-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-ke
And I will shake the team; and the desire to win all games shall come.

[Torisakia]

July 9, 2015
12:10 PM TST

TORISAKIA MATCH A SLUGFEST; DROPS TO LONS 1-0

TOKAI, TORISAKIA - Torisakia dropped their first match of World Cup 72 last night with a 1-0 loss against Lons at home. Lons was sitting at last place in Group 13 while Torisakia sat at the top. The Ice Birds' slow and more relaxed pace contributed to the slugfest that only saw eight total shots taken by Torisakia, only two of which were on goal. The match started off normally, with a back-and-forth possession between the two. The first and only goal of the match came at the 23rd minute when a Striker for Lons sailed one over the head of Eric Klossowski. Vidar Hofwegen, who was starting at CM for Esa Vähälä who had received a red card in the last match and had to sit out, did most of the carrying. Hofwegen took five of the eight shots, and almost scored on two cornerkicks. Defensively, the Ice Birds pressed hard. Holding Lons to only six shots in the first and not allowing a possession inside the penalty area until the 79th minute. Their lock-down defense but unwillingness to do anything offensively largely contributed to the slow loss. Other sports news outlets have stated that the absence of Esa Vähälä caused the slow offensive production. Vähälä had scored two goals in the three games prior to his ejection. He also contributed to two goals against Cosumar and currently holds the highest number of assists on the team.

"Obviously we didn't show up to perform," said Damion Segher, Manager, "We thought this game would be an easy win and that [they] wouldn't even try to compete."

A match that over 80,000 people attended, the first twenty or so minutes of the match were probably the most entertaining. Four times both teams came close to scoring. Lucas van Zandvoort just missed the left side of the net on a shot 12 yards out at the 8th minute. Lons missed two golden opportunities at the 12th and 13th minute as both shots sailed over the net. Lons also got away with a blatant foul in the penalty area that would've set up Torisakia with a penalty shot. At the 18th minute, Logan Brantley almost scored when Johnny Kelso crossed over and Brantley missed the header by a cuple of inches, causing the ball to go far left past the net. After Lons' goal at the 23rd minute, Torisakia took very few offensive opportunities to score when they had them. The Ice Birds intercepted Lons' a total of ten times near their goal, and only two shots were taken out of them. Compared to Torisakia who was only intercepted six times near their own goal. Torisakia would try to produce results nearing the 90th minute, even given five minutes of extra time. However, their efforts wouldn't be enough and the undefeated dream died for the Ice Birds against the worst team in the group.

Torisakia takes on next Buyan, who beat Stellonia yesterday 3-0 and currently sits in second place in Group 13, just behind The Holy Republican Empire. A win against them would most likely propel Torisakia into second place, which would make for an interesting Matchday 7 against The Holy Republican Empire if they win out. Of course the Ice Birds aren't out of it yet, as there is still six more matchdays left to qualify. Manager Damion Segher stated post-game that this loss would actually fuel their confidence for the next matches to come, and hopefully will teach the team that they have to show up and play all 90 minutes if they want to win and show the world that they are relevant.

Goals: 23' ST#13 (Lons)
Man of the Match: ST#13 (Lons)

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[Bears Armed]

Urra SunBlesséd — the older of the two versions of that famous person who, due to (OOC: as explained in my RP during several of the other "recent" World Cup campaigns...) the vagaries of a cosmic ‘Crisis’ and the mysterious phenomenon to which metaphysicists attach the label ‘Hypertime’, are now co-existing in the present day; with this one being the ‘Supervising Manger’ for their nation’s football team — rose to her feet and leaned slightly forward over her desk as the two visitors whom she’d been expecting entered the small office [behind the scenes at Wimbley Stadium] that she’d commandeered for this private meeting.

“Urrgah!”
“Hokay, the Belles losing their pre-qualfiiers ‘friendly’ match against Osarius I can accept, bearing in mind that at present those opponents are rated as Number One in all the worlds — are the current holders of the World Cup, in fact — and were even playing at home into the bargain.
“The Belles letting in a couple of goals, both more or less accidentally , near the end of their steamRrollering victory here over the group’s seventh seed Kumbhalgarh? Well, accidents happen, and at least our girls didn’t get so careless until after they already had triumph firmly in-paw.
“The Belles, following that, losing narrowly to ‘unranked Krytenia? Even bearing in mind the Kryties’ past form, hwhich was un-rreflected in their modern rranking simply because they took a few cycles out from international competition? Disappointing, for true, although not a complete surprise after those opponents had already opened their qualifying campaign by scraping together a win over the group’s sixth seed Panem — themselves winners of the latest Baptism of Fire — ‘away’… but then, bearing in mind not only that past rrecord but also my own memories of how good the Kryties used to be on the pitch — and of Valrauncion’s playing, both for them and for Starblaydia too — I actually rrather expected them to out-perform the general expectation anyhows…
“The Belles then losing again, this time to ‘first seed’ Valladares? Hr’rmm? Playing against a team that the World Cup Committee ranks almost four-eights places higher than urrs and less than two-eights places down from top of its rratings boards? For true, although obviously I would have hrreally liked to see our girls bring three points back from that match, I’d have been pleasantly surprised if they’d just managed a draw instead… and at least they did manage to score a couple of goals even against those opponents, showing that they are still a team that rrivals need to take seriously…”
“But…
“Our girls then losing yet AGAIN, this time to the very same Panem that had lost both of its previous two qualifiers? Leaving urrs hrright down at seven-of-eightth place in our group? For true?!
“Bear-on-a-stick, hwhat the furless, forest-burning shittyness HAPPENED out there!?!”

(She paused briefly, took several deep breaths to help herself calm down and followed those with a large swig of treacle-hrrum for good measure, and then continued in a more measured tone…)

“Ayyuh, the Belles were playing ‘away’, and I do understand that our girls generally tend to perform better on ‘home’ ground and in front of crowds that contain more friendly faces than their audience there did, too: Been there and done that myself, just as the two of you have, as you should both be able to rremember…
“Ayyuh, Panem are the team that won the latest Baptism of Fire and, as we ourrselves proved all those years ago hwhen we held that same honour, teams in that position can manage a LOT better in the qualifiers than their initial Ranking alone would suggest.
“Anything else, anything that I’ve missed? Jet-lag, maybeso; “too furless hot”; our girls’ food there drugged by a ‘rabid’ fan of their hosts, even though they were supposed to rrestrict themselves to the meals provided by the official caterers hwhom — partly for that verry rreason, after events in Somehwheresistonia during an actual World Cup all those years ago — we sent along; upset tummies for some other reason, instead; a Jinx-spirit of some kind haunting them; something else?”

(She finished this listing of reasons that had been used to justify ‘upset’ defeats for the Belles during various previous qualifying campaigns, and stared at her guests. Both of those other she-Bears, who were her own younger counterpart [currently serving as the team’s Captain) and the latter’s former team-mate Marra SunDaughter who had preceded her in that leadership role before becoming their newest Chief Coach instead. It was Marra who spoke first to answer her…)

“Ayyuh, partly it was ‘jet-lag’ or hwhatever else one could call the condition hwhen the last stage of our outbound journey actually had to be made by ]hovercraft instead… and, for future reference, let me inform you that Bears and hovercraft seem not to mix very well on the first paw: That was the verry first time that I’d ever ridden in one meself, and if there’s ever a third — our homebound journey too—then that will be too soon for me, for true.
“Partly, too, it was a factor that we hadn’t had trouble with in any campaign beforepaw, as I recall: The air in those parts is strangely thin, somehow, hwhich was why we had to transfer into that infernal machine at some distance out rrather than competing our voyage by the aeroplane in hwhich we’d originally set out: It doesn’t weaken the local humans, who of course have become adapted to that situation; and apparently it doesn’t affect visiting humans much, neither, but for urrs it was a bit of a problem…”

“Hr’rmm…” interjected the elder Urra, intrigued at hearing this snippet of information. (OOC: It look to me as though that ‘State of Panem’ is based on ideas from the ]‘Hunger Games’ stories, and although I haven’t read any of those books or seen any of those films I’ve picked up a few pieces of information here-&-there about the setting: IIRC that thin air, which makes aircraft unusable, really is a ‘canonical’ detail…)

“but mostly,” added the younger version of Urra, “It was just a combination of better-than-forecast play by the Panemanians and of luck favouring them that day…
“Ur’rmm, I know that we made the usual offerings to Margaret in this season’s opening ceremonies, but… maybeso we should try giving her something more, now, too?”

[Madesu]

Football || F1 || Tennis

Matchday 4 World Cup 72 Qualifiers FieldReport

---

LARUE: "Hello everybody and welcome to this matchday 4 FieldReport coverage, I'm Yochanan Larue. Today Madesu once again met with Venta de la Mesilla. Madesu's recent encounter with the Mesillanoes was in matchday 3 of the Baptism of Fire, where Madesu won 2-1. Today the Mesillanoes and Madesenes played in a much bigger vast, and competitive battlefield than the ones in the BoF. The Mesillanoes took on Madesu in Lumumbaville, Madesu's home turf. It was the Mesillanoes who kicked off first. Both sides of the field were always on the attack, both were very dynamic throughout the match. For 25 minutes there was intense football, where Madesu already had 3 shots on target and the Mesillanoes had 2. But in the 25th minute Madesu was on the attack where Madesene midfielder Leroi Mendes moved the ball up the center and gave a long pass to attacker Levi Melende on the left. Melende then seeks an opportunity to cross it over to another attacker Delroy Gibson and Gibson heads the ball in to give Madesu a 1-0 lead.In the 33rd minute the Mesillanoes sought revenge in response to Madesu's goal, when Mesillano attacker Manuel Reid was in Madesene territory and attempted a shot, and it went in to level the match. On the 37th minute the Mesillanoes were on the move again when Mesillano midfielder Lucinda Perez made a long pass to Manuel Reid but Madesene goalkeeper Amos Chapman was there to save and clear it. From there until halftime was back and forth play from both teams.

"On the 47th minute, exactly 2 minutes after both teams come back on the field Madesu is on the attack when midfielder Nicéphore Osbourne passes to attacker Rosaire Richelieu, where, surrounded by Mesillano defenders, fakes a shot and passes back to Osbourne where he makes a goal to give Madesu a 2-1 lead. By the 73rd minute Madesene midfielder Leroi Mendes provides a corner kick, where Madesene defender and team captain Jerônimo Pressley puts it in to give Madesu a 3-1 lead now. The 77th minute Madesene defender Mario Bullard commits a foul worthy for a yellow card when he slid right into Mesillano attacker Haywood White in attempt to steal the ball away from him. By the 85th minute Mesillano defender committed a foul on Levi Melende when Virgil Wilkins practically pulls Melende down and too receives a yellow card. Pretty much 3 minutes later the Mesillanoes are on the move when Manuel Reid takes it up solo and shoots and scores for Venta de la Mesilla to make it 3-2. From there onto the 93rd minute both sides give it their all to try to score even more goals or level the match. By the time the final whistle blew it was Madesu who was declared winner of their 4th matchday. This win relieved millions of Madesene football fans after their loss against Vilitia just a few days ago. This NSHQ Football FieldReport was brought to you by Yony, GameStation, Bisa, and Ecer. Madesu's next match will be in a few days, thank you for watching, and good night!"

[Ko-oren]

It's business as usual

The Dragonflies march on after a 2-0 victory over Nurovo. It was a match we have had many of so far: Ko-oren having a stronger team, leaving the opponent with the sense of an upset, but still not allowing them anything at the end of the game. Macedo kept a clean sheet, but after the injury scare of last match, Darius Fitzpatrick, as the Union of Ko-oren head coach, picked two goalkeepers to fill up the empty spots on the roster. The goalkeeper debate that took place completely overshadowed the match against Nurovo. And another fact went completely unnoticed: Ko-oren is the only team in qualifying left with no goal conceded!

First of all let us discuss the Nurovo game. As said, it's a match that can be called typically Ko-orenite: completely controlling the pace of the match, leaving Nurovo with the illusion of an upset and then destroying said illusion with excellent defence and one, two or three goals somewhere during the match. And at the end, still having the opponent say that 'they felt like they could win here', joining the long line of teams who are 'better than Ko-oren, but with zero points at the end of the line'. Chuluun scored a late opening goal, after 79 minutes, and Eregrent finished the job with a 84th minute header into the top corner.

Darius Fitzpatrick has called two young goalkeepers to the team: Storm Enshadilsa has officially stated that this cycle, he will not join the national team because it's him in the starting XI or not at all. And Cláudia Macedo is doing a great job, keeping four clean sheets, so there is no reason for the head coach to review his earlier decision. In his place, and to fill up the 23th spot on the roster, he has called Trent Booth from Zakhozan and Nosekeni Nbekeni from Protea to the national team of the Union!

Trent Booth is an obvious choice, the 24-year old keeping his team in third in the Northern League. His defence was not good enough for a championship, but third still means that his team is among the 12 best out of a total of 73 teams in the system. Booth excels in quick reaction, and he gets rid of a ball effectively.

Nbekeni is a less obvious choice: her team finished 7th in the Western League. She has allowed 79 goals - just a tad better than league worst iMangatshebale. She is only 20 years old, with a fairly bad team, if we may say so. Nbekeni, in my opinion, has a larger chance of becoming future's number one goalkeeper: she has it all, she needs to develop, and consider a move to a larger team.

[Garifunya]

Part 1

"Explain yourself, soldier!" said Gillaat. "What's all this about protestors?"

"Mr. President, sir, there is no time to explain! We must get you to safety!" gabbled the aide.

Gillaat grabbed the man by his shoulders and looked him square in the eye. "Get me Kommandant Bouker! Now!"

The aide saluted and dashed off. Gillaat turned and looked at the members of the Federal Council. "I will not be frightened by some traitorous rabble! Do any of you know anything about this?"

Koel spread his hands and smiled. "Mr. President, surely this is only an unruly crowd drummed up by colonialists working through those foreign aid workers that you said had been spreading lies about you and your government. The Jandaams will disperse them."

Gillaat put his hand to his chin. "Perhaps. But perhaps the source is closer to home..." He glanced suspiciously at Prins. Fortunately for Immanuel Prins, Kommandant Bouker of the Jandaamkorps chose that moment to enter the room.

He saluted. "Mr. President, sir!"

"What is the meaning of this, Jeroom? Why are there protestors at my gates?"

"Mr. President, do you recall a few days ago when we informed you that a number of individuals had gathered in Independence Park?"

"Yes, they were mostly young people. Singing songs and dancing, as I recall. A sort of outdoor party."

"Yes, Mr. President, that is what we believed at the time. They did not appear to be harming anyone, so we let them alone. But today at 08:00, a number of these individuals began moving from Independence Park towards the Presidential Palace. We swiftly called in a number of Jandaams to prevent them from reaching the palace and established a protective cordon. At first they only sang, mainly old hymns. But the crowd began to grow, and the songs changed. At once, the entire crowd took up an ancient French song, "Ça Ira". The songs sings of-"

"I know what the song describes!" snapped Gillaat. "They mean revolution. Why have you not dispersed them?"

"We ordered them to disperse, but they refused. Our next move was to bring in the Aanvalkorps (OOC: riot police) to push them back from their position, but the crush of people caused them to have to fall back. The protestors then rushed our men and injured several of them. We moved back inside the grounds of the Presidential Palace, and the protestors have contented themselves with throwing rocks and bottles, but the crowd continues to grow."

"Have they given any indication of who leads them? Do they have a spokesperson?"

"They have not. However, signs indicate they are dissatisfied with unemployment, crime, and corruption."

Just then, an aide arrived and whispered into the Kommandant's ear. The Kommandant leaned over and spoke quietly with Gillaat for a moment.

Gillaat straightened up. "Very well. Gentlemen, I am authorizing the Jandaamkorps to take all appropriate measures to disperse the crowd and protect the Palace." He turned towards Kluinsteker and Prins. "Additionally, I am ordering the immediate arrest of Immanuel Prins."

[Valladares]

THE METROPOLIS HERALD
Metropolis, Thursday, July 9, 2015

HOME | IN THE CAPITAL | DOMESTIC | RUSHMORE | INTERNATIONAL | ECONOMICS | SPORT | TODAY'S LIFE

State of the pitch at National Stadium raises concerns following Valladar draw vs. Kernansquillec

METROPOLIS (VAP) — The Valladar national football team managed to salvage a 2-2 draw at home against Rushmori rivals Kernansquillec in a rainy night in Swangard thanks to goals by Pedrinho and Frank Rozenthal. Whilst the World Cup qualifiers are still in an early stage, La Nacional has already dropped four points at home with Garifunya stealing one point in the opening game. However, all eyes were focused on the state of the grass at Alexander I National Stadium, which recently underwent some important renovation works in preparation for the 61st Cup of Harmony and the 20th Copa Rushmori.

Although there were no comments regarding the issue from the Kernansquillec players, coaching staff or media, Valladar coach Juan Andrés Verzeri blamed the wet pitch and puddles for the downfall in performance during most of the second half: "I think the poor state of the pitch played a role in the way Valladares played tonight. I don't wish to sound like a loser for blaming other external circumstances but this type of pitch does not suit our style, as it wears down players in a quicker way. In several moments of the match, the downpour was so heavy that the game had to be suspended but the referee carried on nevertheless. We shouldn't demean Kernansquillec, though. They played an intelligent game tonight, and we should be expecting them to do the same in the return game."

Meanwhile, some local fans questioned the big amounts of cash invested by the authorities in the most recent renovation, noting that starting from this season, the pitch will suffer greater deterioration than usual due to the moving of Metropolis Alligators to the National Stadium on a permanent basis: "Okay, so they invested the taxpayers' money in more concrete and seats to expand the stands, even to enable Wi-Fi, but what about the field? It hasn't been touched in a long time. With MA now playing here things are going to get worse as they'll be using the stadium at least once every two weeks." Another fan stated that "the National Stadium should have the best pitch of the country, but today it is one of the worst ones", while another one said that "it's inconceivable that a rain is able to make the field look like if it was a part of the Montreux Swamps, and this is another proof of the incompetence of the stadium owners."

The Board of Liga-1 club Metropolis Alligators declined to talk on the issue, however, The Metropolis Herald managed to reach Andreas Lewis from the National Stadium Trust, the entity that currently manages the stadium. In response to the complaints expressed, Mr. Lewis said that the stadium administration was currently working on a reneval of the deal with the company that formerly performed maintenance works on the field, whose contract expired one month ago. "Talks are well underway and both parties expect to reach an agreement soon, in the best interests of Valladar football."

Next for the Valladar national football team will be a six-pointer in the form of the group's second seeds HopNation on the road before returning to the country to play Kumbhalgarh in Bezieres. Alexander I National Stadium will host its second and last qualifier when HopNation visits Valladares for the return leg on Matchday 12.

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[Recuecn]

Due to the huge travel budget required, and the time differences between countries, not everyone who has wanted to has been able to follow the Reçuecian World Cup qualification campaign. Thus, here are the updates on the last three games from the sports reporters who have been following the team.

Reçueçn Surprises J.U. with Shutout

by Georges Quint, sports reporter

Rack City, Jeckish Union--Not many Reçuecian fans came along to the Jeckish Union, but the atmosphere for the teams' first qualification match was tense and excited. Jeckish fans packed the stadium to watch their side start their campaign with a victory over Reçueçn, an all-but-unknown underdog, looking to start off on their first world cup attempt ever with a continuation of their performance in the Baptism of Fire (where, for those unaware, they were eliminated in the quarterfinals on PK's). The atmosphere began to die down, however, when, after a Jeckish shot off the post, the Reçuecians took control of the ball and started playing the defensive game that is quickly becoming their trademark. The fans grew discontent with our side, which contented itself with maintaining possession and staying back. Bright and Saunders seemed to struggle to get the ball past the Jeckish mid-field, so our attacks were infrequent. The second half began the same way, and the sense of pressure and tension that had existed at the beginning only started to reappear in the last ten minutes when the Jeckish Union grew desperate for a goal and with a series of daring tackles, got off a few shots. Firaut, however, was as staunch as always in goal, and held the shutout to the end. In summary: a very quiet, nothing-to-see game, remarkable only because we didn't expect Reçueçn to be this good--or this boring.

Lymantatia puts Reçueçn in its Place

by Georges Quint, sports reporter

Laurentia, Lymantatia--The Reçuecian team's mood has been up-beat in the face of difficulty, expecting the best. While an admirable psyche for a sports team, it is a bit of an overestimation of their own powers, and their fans have been less dishonest with themselves. Nobody expected Reçueçn to win against Lymantatia, the 70th ranked team in the multi-verse and the same side that gave Osarius its humiliating defeat last match-day, and in front of the latter's home crowd, no less. Our realism was justified as Lymantatia scored a 3-1 win over Reçueçn--a solid win, as expected.

The game was the opposite of last match-day, where the scoreline was surprising but the game was dull. This time, the loss was exactly what the bookies expected, but the actual game was a sight to see. Most of the attraction was Lymantatia's skill on the attack, but Firaut put forth a stellar effort as well. His spectacular saves were only out-classed by the three Lymantatian goals, which had to be equally skillful to surpass his goal-keeping--a low bullet to the far corner to start the match; a double deflection on a corner kick before the half; and a ball which took a bad bounce off what appears to have been a bump on the pitch to finish with a bang. The last goal was made even more exciting by the fact that Franky Adams had found the back of the net from 23 meters out twenty-odd minutes before, making the last quarter of the game a tense search for a Reçuecian equalizer, smashed only at the last minute. In summary: although a disappointing (if not unexpected) result, if your friends recorded the game, it's worth watching, if only for the skill displayed by both sides.

Varmelle Fails to Take Home Win

by Georges Quint, sports reporter

Reçueçn, Reçueçn--In a game somewhat similar to the first against the Jeckish Union, Reçueçn scored another draw against a higer-ranked team. This time, Firaut lost the shut-out, but Franky Adams struck again to even it out--all in the first ten minutes. Reçueçn's first home game, the Carl III stadium was packed to maximum capacity, with another crowd gathering in the square outside to watch the game free of charge on the mega-screen. The electric atmosphere held Reçueçn in the game; after a sloppy first eight minutes, letting in a goal by Varmelle's Reiher and allowing far too many shots on goal and way too much offensive domination, the Reçuecian team seemed to be despairing when a "Ruh-swess-in!" chant, the first of the qualification quest, was started. Bringing back the spirit of the team, our boys pulled themselves together, launched a counter-attack, and scored. They still had eighty minutes to go. Unfortunately, the Reçuecians couldn't keep up the exhausting pace, and Varmelle's much greater experience allowed them to fight back over the rest of the game, refusing to allow Reçueçn a winning goal (although they couldn't find one of their own, either). A much more interesting game than the first, chances abounded for both sides, Firaut and Varmelle's Finley both performing well and the attacks pleasing the crowd. Not having hoped for the best, the fans were happy to leave with a tie against a team better in the standings, if not on the field, although the same cannot be said for the Varmellian players.

Yet Another Draw for Reçueçn

by Georges Quint, sports reporter

Salteyraross, Skarosbrekka--Reçueçn has had yet another draw, yet another shut-out.

While the defense must be praised, one starts to ask questions about our attack, despite the fat that it contains some of the biggest names in Reçuecian football. The oft-quoted maxim is that offense is the best form of defense, and while our own defenders seem to get along fine without it, our forwards certainly can't. I'd like to put forward my own new take on the maxim: offense is the best form of offense.. Our defense is doing great right now, we just cannot score goals. Against Skarosbrekka, a team from our own Baptism of Fire--the most recent--we should have been able to do better. We have only three points now after four games. While winning them all is not to be expected, winning a single one would double our points, and move us up to fourth place in the group. In any of the three games that we drew out of the last four, if our players had somehow found a way to exert themselves just that one single, tiny, extra bit, we could have won and be doing just fine. If we had been able to convert just one corner kick in each game, we'd be sitting tied on points with Osarius. In games against higher-ranked teams draws have been fine, but not against lower-ranked ones, and we're so tantalizingly close to a win that this win-less streak is becoming unacceptable.

[Schottia]

OOC: This post, relating to a transfer which has been agreed for the next window, follows on from here, but is designed to hopefully stand on its own.

Cutting Out The Middleman

Part One

---

53 minutes into the World Cup Qualifier.
Arena Malluma Maŭra, Sarrbia

He knew it was in. Every inch of the way, Gary Corsie knew it was in the back of the net. It was that thud of his boot against the leather ball, which told him that he couldn't have connected better. The world then seemed to skip forward a couple of frames at a time, as out of nowhere he was mobbed by his teammates. He had never been good with too much physical contact, probably a result of an under affectionate father, or so a therapist would no doubt tell him. He should really think about seeing a therapist. There was a team doctor who would recommend one. Maybe he would talk about it this week.

He had been going through the Sarrbia game in something of a daze. For a start it was too warm for him, and secondly he had a thousand more important things on his mind. He might have been playing well, but equally he might not have been; he simply didn't care. He hated football. Happy now? He hated it, and the truth was that he had never liked it. His parents had forced him to go to one of the national academies, guilt tripping him by moving house and changing their jobs. It was tantamount to:

"There we go Gary, we've given up our lives for you, now you better make us proud.

What kind of pressure was that to put on a 12-year-old boy? Having your parents living through you. It was like holding a gun at his head and forcing him to play football. Well he could give it up now. He could go to university like he always wanted to do, he wasn't too old yet. But that would involve growing a backbone, and that was something he simply didn't have. Gary wasn't the kind of person who stood by what he believed in, or acted with conviction.

She was probably cheating on him. Chloe that is to say. It stood to reason. She was out in Nephara making headlines, playing in a competitive league, she around exciting new people. Gary represented the life that she left behind. The calls, the emails, they had all gotten less frequent over the last year. There was no doubt in his mind, she was moving on. She was bigger and better than him now; he had just been a stepping-stone, just a leg up onto the bottom rung of the ladder.

'Great goal honey.' Gary felt the unmistakable grip of Chloe Rudden's hand on his upper arm, pulling him back from the mob. 'We can do this.' She added, slinging an arm round his neck and giving him a squeeze. It was a rare public show of affection, in front of the other players. She was strangely guarded about that, but then again he understood. She was trying to make a career for herself, to establish herself as an individual. She didn't want to do it by hanging on to his coat tails.

The one problem with this concession was that the only time they had together these days was around the rest of the team. Although Gary wasn't an enormous fan of physical contact, there was a line somewhere. At the bare minimum you expected to at least be able to hug your own partner. Curt nods of the head and cold, formal, pats on the arm in the corridor were a bit of a joke.

Their free time together, their only time together for that matter, had been reduced to a quick "how do you do" on the training field, or a coffee together in various hotels around the world. Well Gary would have a coffee, she normally opted for water. That was the key difference between them, the water verses coffee thing. It summed it all up nicely. Neither of them were footballers, that much was easily deduced from looking at them. With the way they both dressed and with their outside interests, they would fit in better with a University crowd or in some hipster cafe. What set them apart was the way that each viewed their lot in life.

Where Chloe saw being a footballer as a chance to travel the world, Gary grumbled about the flying.

Chloe often commented on the way it kept her fit, Gary felt guilty about putting on weight.

Chloe would sometimes joke about people recognising her in the street, Gary hid himself away as a recluse.

That was how it always had been in their relationship, Chloe was the beacon of hope and Gary was the bucket of dirt used to suffocate the flames of optomism. Actually it was worse than that, Gary was a black hole for happiness. He only took and never gave back, he constantly used Chloe as an emotional crutch to lean on. All he had even succeeded in doing was clipping the poor girls wings, it was a miracle she was still so positive through all of this.

The kindest thing to do was let her leave, allow her to go off and find some nice guy in Nephara who would let her realise her potential. Maybe Gary should finally follow through with his plan, and quit football. It had been on the back of his mind for some time now, years even. All that was keeping him here now was Chloe, because he knew that it was the only way he would every get to see her.

It was the best thing to do, just quit and take up something else, he had enough money squirreled away. Maybe he could travel, then come back and enrol at the University of Handon, study something he believed in. That would be the best way to heal his relationship with Chloe, make her proud of him for doing what he enjoyed. But this wasn't the Gary Corsie way...

Actually he had been forming a better idea, one that was so snivelling that it even made him feel embarrassed. This "better idea" was so terrible in fact, that his agent had begged him to reconsider. It should have sent alarm bells ringing in Gary's head when his own agent, the man who made money out of him playing, was imploring him to quit the sport. In the end Gary had had to go behind the man's back. In all his days in football he had never heard of an international footballer cold-calling a club manager and asking for a job.

"I mean, I don't know how this works. Should I email you my cv?

Long and excruciating story short, Emery Lineker (for some reason) had believed the crap-pile of a story he had spun her and offered him a place in the Chatswood squad. This was it! This was what he had been waiting for. Him and his young partner able to set up home together, it would be just like it was a year ago when they first started dating. Just the two of them, starting out together in a new country. Perhaps Gary was getting ahead of himself, but maybe he could propose? This was all going to be perfect. As soon as he moved out there, they would stop drifting apart and feel close again, he was sure of it. The only problem was that he hadn't told her yet.

It had only been a couple of days since the call, but at some point it would make the newspapers. That wouldn't exactly be an ideal way for her to find out... No. That was definitely one to be avoided.

But this was good, it would work. Chatswood played in the city of Treason, an hour and a half's drive from North Laithland where Chloe played. Living together would be easy enough. All he needed to do now was deliver the good news.

Handon International Airport, Schottia.

'You didn't need to get the tram with me to the airport hon.' Said Chloe as they waited in the queue at the coffee kiosk so that Gary could get a caffeinated drink. 'It's, like, supper early in the morning and we'll see each other again before the Pasarga match.' She placed a slender yet strong arm around his car tyre of a waistband. Gary filched somewhat; his slight roll of fat was something that they never talked about. He knew he should be in better shape, and she knew that he knew. There was no point discussing the elephant corpse in the middle of the room. Chloe's figure didn't help Gary much either in terms of self-esteem. Next to her borderline perfect body, Gary looked like one of those Man V. Food Challengers.

'Don't be silly Chlo, of course I'm going to see you off. I love you.' Besides, he needed to tell her about the transfer maybe the tram ride in would have been the prefect time, but that, like all the other opportunities, had come and gone.

'And at least you're up nice and early now, maybe you can get some of your reading done when you get back.'

What? No "I love too." Why didn't she tell him that she loved him too? She was planning to break up with him; that had to be it. It was a good think that he was moving to Nephara before it was too late.

Time was ticking on now, and he still hadn't told her that they were going to be playing in the same league soon. He didn't even know whether Chatswood were a good team, such was his utter disinterest in the sport. He was pretty sure they finished near the top of the table, he could vaguely remember them being in the Globe cup a few years back. Anyway, it didn't really matter whom he played for, it was being close Chloe that was important.

The Airport speaker system began to crackle into life, announcing Chloe's flight had started boarding.

'Okay Gary this is it I guess.' She said standing on her tiptoes to kiss him on the lips. 'I'll see you in a few weeks.' She hugged him tightly before taking her passport and boarding pass over to the attendant. It was now or never for Gary.

'Chloe.' She stopped and turned round, something in his voice startling her. 'I... I'm going to be playing for Chetworth next season.'

'Chetworth?' The look she gave him could not have been more confused. All the time the flight staff were trying to get her attention, so as they could check her ticket.

'What are they called then? Is it something like Chegwin?' He face was now contorted into a grimace. She probably thought that this was it, her boyfriend had finally lost his mind, she wouldn't have been the only one to have seen it coming. 'They're a Nepharim side, no? They play in Treason... I hope.'

'What? Chatswood.' She asked looking back at him as passed through the boarding gate. She had the look of someone who had witnessed a car accident.

'That's the one.' Said Gary snapping his fingers and pointing at her, trying desperately to inject some positivity as she disappeared out of sight. 'It's great we can move in together!'

[Farfadillis]

(OOC: This RP mentions some players in my roster. Would be easier to understand if you looked them up in my roster when they're mentioned.)

Deep in the city centre of Ruland, there's a new pub everyone's talking about. Founded by Frederik Wallenberg, ex-Buyanese international and Avenida Leal player, it doesn't need much publicity. With Wallenberg himself as bartender, it's got quite the pull with the general public. What better way to get drunk than with a well-known footballer supplying the alcohol?

Despite its unreasonable location, the Wâllénbâr often has relatively famous people visiting it. The occasional Ruland-based footballer, some famous band member (bassists don't count), the rare government official with no concern for PR, and yes, the head of state even visited once.

Frederik was looking inside the fridge when he heard the phone ring. He'd told the tax collector to wait another week, but that guy was pretty insistent. Besides, his family never called. Who else could it be?

"Hello? Who's there?"

"Is this Frederik's house?"

"Look, sir, I told you to give me another week. It's barely been two -"

"Don't tell me you're still bullshiting tax collectors, Fred." That cheeky tone was definitely not the one he was expecting. This wasn't that annoying asshole. He couldn't quite put his finger on it but he sounded very... familiar.

"Wait, who's there?"

"Horacio. Geez, it hasn't been that long!" Of course. That silly Faroleran accent couldn't be anyone else's. "How's that pub of yours going?"

"Great, as always. A bit too crowded nowadays, I might have to move it somewhere else, but otherwise everything's fine."

"Oh, too crowded? Well, I hope that doesn't bother you too much..." The striker paused. "Thing is, I was gonna ask you something."

"Sorry man, no discounts, no exceptions." How many times had friends called him looking for that already? Too many, that's the answer.

"Don't be silly. I'm not a cheap-ass like you." Horacio stopped to think for a moment. "Though I guess that if I wasn't a professional footballer I would ask you for a good amount of money for my idea."

"I'm not following you." He hated it when Horacio acted like the other person knew exactly what he was saying. "But you are sounding pretty delirious. I wouldn't pay you a dime."

"Oh, I'm sure you would. I'm not sure you're gonna take me seriously, though." There he was, dancing around the point as Frederik hated so much.

"Stop fucking around and tell me already."

"See..." He paused. "How do I put it..."

"Not again" Wallenberg lamented to himself.

"It's kind of like... you see... the team's all gathered together for next match. It's gonna be in Ruland. You see, the FFFF..."

"I couldn't care less about what those whackoes are up to now, just cut to the point." Sometimes he needed to be rude for Horacio to cut to the damn point.

"Well, I was thinking it would be nice if the team could hang out together every once in a while. We're a pretty tight-knit bunch, you know. Then I remembered you had a pub in the city we are now." No, that couldn't be it. Horacio hadn't ever been this kind.

"Are you serious?" He pulled off pranks all the time. But one like this would be crossing the line.

"Yes. I figured it would be great publicity for you, too. So I guess everyone wins?"

"When you say 'the team' you mean the whole, entire, complete Farf national team?"

"Yes, the entire team."

"I love you man. I really do. So, tonight?"

"Yes, tonight."

"Sounds like you could've called me sooner." He pondered for a bit. "Say... I've not been keeping up with the call-ups all that much lately. Who would I know personally out of you guys?"

"Well, there's Ostadar, though your personalities always clashed. Still, must be interesting to catch up with him after so much time, right?"

"Well, yeah, so long as he doesn't take every chance he has to have a shot at me. Just the 'Grathi kid, then?"

"Oh, no, no. Not just him. Though he's no longer that young, you know. But talking about young players, do you remember Ruy Monrazón? He played for the youth team, and we faced them a few times."

"The fucker that just wouldn't give up, not even after the fifth goal? He sure was talented."

"Yes, that guy. I'm sure you'll like him. But anyway, there's another certain Astograthian you know with us..."

"Oh, Itxaso's coming? I really hope he's better at poker now..."

"He said he didn't want a rematch, sorry. Also, he's not in the squad this time around, but I'm sure we could give Björg a call."

"I'm not sure he'd want to move his lazy ass to his car and drive from one state to another. Specially when 'another' means 'Ruland'."

"Heh, maybe he'll make an exception. Anyway, we'll be there by midnight, does that sound cool?"

"Sure, sure."

"Oh, also, please don't make too much of a fuss about it. We don't want to spend the entire night pen on paper."

"Yeah, yeah, sure. Anyway, got to go now. I've got to get things ready."

"Sure, see you in a few hours."

"See ya. Take care." He put the phone down.

Moving the pub to a new location was going to be a necessity soon, apparently... He really would've liked more time to plan everything out, though. Worst part, most of these guys played abroad, they would probably ask for some rare foreign drinks. There was no time to get Astograthian wine/vodka/whatever. He could already picture Ostadar making fun of him. "What? You don't have Astograthian [insert whatever he drank in Astograth here]? Gee, I'm not surprised..."