Baptism of Fire 64 [Everything Thread]

by **Rebuild the Wall** » Wed Jan 25, 2017 12:02 am

Controversial Penalty Brings Down the Wall
Phantom Handball Causes Defeat

A handball call against George Arnold in the final minute of 2nd half stoppage time lead to a penalty that Great Caledonia and North Hybernia’s captain Anton squeezed in off the inside of the post on the final kick of the match. Replays showed that the ball was a good foot from touching Arnold’s hand.

In his post-match press conference Manager Martin Stone was very diplomatic even after seeing the replay of the incident. “We put ourselves in a position to be hurt by that when we failed to capitalize on the chances we had earlier in the match. Credit to Great Caledonia and North Hybernia for playing a very good match and taking advantage of their chance when it came.” Even when pressed Stone refused to criticize referee Patricia McDonald for the call.

Unsubstantiated rumors circulated amongst Rebuild the Wall fans that McDonald is a close friend of referee from Rebuild the Wall’s round of 16 match Kasey Jones. We could find no proof that the referees even know each other.

There is nothing left for Rebuild the Wall to do now but to return home and commence preparations for their first World Cup qualifying campaign. While some work has been achieved on that front while the team has been competing in the Baptism of Fire, the stadium that the team will be using for home matches has not even been named yet.

Rebuild the Wall 0, Great Caledonia and North Hybernia 1
Anton (90+4 pen)

YC: none
RC: none

by **Amnarei-asud** » Wed Jan 25, 2017 2:35 pm

The Hood winced as Abdulrashid crashed his penalty against the bar.

The first penalty in the shoot-out had not gone well. This was Amnarei-asud's first penalty shoot-out in their fledgling history so far, and the captain was normally such a dependable player. He'd seemed the obvious choice to go first for the Fennecs. Wasn't he meant to lead by example? Instead, The Hood had to watched as his captain lifted the bottom of his jersey up to his mouth and bit it as he silently screamed on the long walk back to the half-way line, accompanied by the sound of Coldfield fans cheering in the crowd.

The wince deepened as Balogh scored a panenka for Coldfield with the next kick of the ball.

Things had been going so well, at first. Nearly 70% of possession in the opening fifteen minutes of the game had seen the Fennecs make a start far quicker than they usually made, catching Coldfield on the back-foot somewhat. It was a spell of the game that saw El-Amin come close with a volley, Yamaguchi nod a header against the base of the post, and Saab require a fingertip save to prevent a viciously dipping free-kick from curling into the bottom corner. It may not have drawn opening blood to the Fennecs, but it had certainly rattled the opposition into a response of their own.

Finally, The Hood allowed himself a deep breath as Saab, cool as anything, delicately placed the ball into the bottom corner, far out of reach of the diving Green, who had at least gone the right way. Parity.

Coldfield's reaction to the early dominance from Amnarei-asud was to pile forwards in numbers of their own. With a highly unorthodox formation that The Hood didn't recognise, they were able to provide plenty of numbers for the attack, but lacked balance at the back, and the Fennecs exploited this mercilessly.

Scott Lund... saved! Petrosyan and The Hood pumped the air with their fists. One all.

Straight from that first batch of Coldfield pressure, Matsumoto sprung the trap, and with a fantastic tackle dispossessed the advancing Chamberlain and dummied a short pass back to Alfarsi. Turning on a penny, he then spun and hoofed the ball unapologetically up the right wing for the onrushing Karim. Karim took three touches to speed past Ewart, and then launched the diagonal ball over the last man of Cockburn and into the path of Yamaguchi, who was cutting in from wide left. With Rodgers and Harris backtracking fast and trying to close down El-Amin in the centre, Yamaguchi paused before touching the ball, allowing it to bounce and drawing them in, before hitting a first time cross with his left foot across the penalty area beyond the outrushing Green and straight into the path of Khoroushi, who, without breaking stride, slotted the volley neatly down the middle of the empty net. One nil to the Fennecs.

Karim was up next for the Fennecs, and the poor lad looked nervous. The Hood wondered why Sato had allowed him to take one. He'd seemed so keen when he'd approached him after the final whistle went, and yet now, from up here on his perch just behind the commentary positions, where no foreign press would think to look for him, The Hood could see that the young lad was bricking it. And with good reason. He spooned the penalty over the bar, much to the amusement of the watching Coldfield fans.

Not that they'd been laughing so much during normal time, as the first half ended in much the same way that it had started - with constant pressure from the Fennecs. The Hood had held his head in his hands on more than one occasion as the chances came and went. He had hoped they wouldn't come back to haunt them. And, in time-tested style, that's exactly what they did.

Klein stepped up, paused mid-step, took the shot, and wheeled away with a raised fist. Petrosyan had gone early, and the wrong way. The Hood smiled nervously, wondering if this was it.

Coldfield had come out a different side after half time. With a good team talk and tactical reshuffle to sort themselves out, they'd sorted out the gaps that the Fennecs had gone through far too easily in the first half, and this time the Asud attacks were breaking harmlessly on the rocks of the defence. There was no penetration. There was no speed, there was no zest. Things were flat, and The Hood took a calculated risk. Things were too organised, he needed a bit of anarchy. He needed a bit of unpredictability. When Coldfield were expecting Saab to chip the ball perfectly to the next Asud player, he needed someone who would potentially waste the ball attempting something stupid. ANything to break the rhythm. He called for Boulos.

Two one down in the shoot-out after three kicks each. The Fennecs needed something, or Coldfield could win it with the next kick. The Hood held his breath. Boulos did nothing of the sort however, and practically screamed as he blasted the ball as hard as he could down the middle. Two all, but the advantage was still Coldfield's.

Just as it had been at the end of the second half. Boulos' introduction at the expense of the goalscorer Khoroushi had shaken things up, but that of course worked both ways, and for every chance he helped to create at the one end, The Hood was aware his side were being left far more open at the other. Saab and Boulos were struggling to play together in the same line-up, meaning that effectively they were taking it in turns to orchestrate attacks. And unfortunately, when Coldfield's Simmons ran through the centre of the pitch and hit a scorching strike straight into the top corner of the goal, it was through the gap in midfield that Saab should have been in. It was, quite possibly, Saab's first mistake in a Fennecs shirt, and it had been a costly one. With only minutes left of normal time, Coldfield had equalised, and had the momentum.

Up stepped Chamberlain. He did the same pausing mis-step as Klein, but this time Petrosyan bravely waited until the kick came, and made his second save of the shoot-out when he guessed right. Two two! Advantage over, and one kick left each. The Hood dared to dream, but it was Ghufran El-Amin up last for the Fennecs, and he'd already missed one penalty that night...

Towards the end of the second half of extra time, things were getting fraught. The Hood had advised Sato to make the final two substitutions in defence, with Tsukada and Alinejad coming to keep legs fresh and remove the chance of any silly mistakes giving away the chance to take things to penalties. At the other end, however, the attackers were doing all they could to stop proceedings before they got far. First it was Boulos who went close, having a shot cleared off the line. Then Saab attempted a chip with the goalkeeper off his line, only to see it bounce harmlessly off the top of the bar with the goal gaping. El-Amin went close twice, and Yamaguchi brought a good save out of Green when his instinctive strike form the edge of the six yard box looked destined for the back of the net.

With two minutes left though, Cockburn went in rashly on Yamaguchi with the wide attacker going nowhere on the edge of the box. Going straight through the back of the young Corssairs striker, the referee had no hesitation whatsoever, and pointed directly to the spot. All the pressure transferred to Ghufran El-Amin. The Fennecs' top scorer so far. If he put this away, surely, they'd be going to the semi-final against Drawkland. Surely.

Ghufran stepped up, and sent it right.

Green dived to his left, and tapped it around the post.

This time, El-Amin went left.

Green went the same way as before.

Three two!

The Hood had had to watch from above as the players milled around, listening to Sato give them a motivational speech before the shoot-out started. There were simply too many cameras down there, circling the players in this moment of high drama for his to risk going down there. The stadium was hushed with nervous anticipation, and The Hood's mind was racing.

A penalty shoot-out. Was this really the way it was going to go? Was his goal really going to be put in jeopardy by this game of chance - the closest thing football could get to a roll of the dice? He needed Sato to still be in charge when the home and away ties started during World Cup Qualification. He needed Sato to be successful enough at the Baptism. He needed that time in Ain Salah to remember what he was trying to do. He needed to coax his memories back to him. He needed a lot of things.

But right now, he needed Harris to miss with this penalty.

Harris ran up, paused. Petrosyan held his nerve, staying dead centre. Harris faked again, slowing right down. Petrosyan didn't move an inch.

Harris dummied the shot.

Petrosyan dummied the dive.

Harris dinked the ball forwards in an attempted panenka.

Petrosyan righted himself at the waist, arriving back just in time for the ball to land safely in his massive, gloved hands.

The stadium exploded in groans. The disappointed Coldfield fans significantly outnumbers the Asud in the stadium, and hearing only a hundred and fifty people way up in the far corner of the stadium cheer as the Fennecs celebrated on the pitch was a distinctly odd sound. A hushed sound. Almost anticlimactic.

It was a sound that The Hood was starting to associate with victory however, and as the commentators in front of him began to shuffle their papers and bring their broadcasts to a conclusion, he smiled a broad smile that nobody would ever see.

by **Great Caledonia and North Hybernia** » Wed Jan 25, 2017 3:35 pm

The Herald

Great Caledonia and North Hybernia wins a dramatic defensive thriller game!

Gallowsea, Bonesea - (NEIP) Great Caledonia and North Hybernia wins a dramatic defensive thriller game! The Celts won 1-0 on a penalty during the stoppage time. Great caledonia attacked at the 14th minute when Elizabeth McQueen passed the ball to Saundra Dunlop who tries to pass to Cristiano Fernando but Billy Snow intercepts the pass and clears the ball. At the 29th minute, Melanie Kirk passed to Callum McGivern who dribbles and passed to Anton who dribbles but he's tackled by Henry Warner. It was a clean tackle and another great defensive play by Rebuild the Wall. The Celts attacked again at the 26th minute when Melanie Kirk passed to Cristiano Fernando who dribbles and makes a header pass to Kevin O'Maoilsheachlainn but Kevin O'Maoilsheachlainn heads the ball right into John Stoneman's hands.

At the halftime, coach Walter Madden decided to use a more offensive 2-6-2 formation instead of the normal 4-5-1, so Maggie Johnstone and Brittany Winchester subbed out and Doireann O'Donnghaile and Kieran Ferguson came in. Great Caledonia and North Hybernia attacked at the 58th minute when Doireann O'Donnghaile passed the ball to Anton who dribbles and tries to make a cross to Cristiano Ronaldo but Simon Swift intercepts the pass. Robert Castle takes the loose ball and he passes it to Adam Goodman who dribbles and shoots from 40 meters but Jennifer O'Byrne makes the save. At the 77th minute, Callum McGivern passed the ball to Melanie Kirk who dribbles and passed to Anton who passes the ball to Kevin O'Maoilsheachlainn. Kevin O'Maoilsheachlainn kicks the ball but John Stoneman tips it and it goes out of bounds. It's a corner kick. Doireann O'Donnghaile takes the corner, she kicks the ball in front of the net but Frank Davis clears it. At the 90 + 4 minutes, Great Caledonia attacked again when Doireann O'Donnghaile passed the ball to Melanie Kirk who dribbles and pased to Anton who made a cross to Cristiano Fernando who dribbles and shoots but the ball touches George Arnold's hand and the referree called an handball. The replay proved it was really an handball and the referree, Patricia McDonald, called it right. Anton takes the penalty, he shoots and he scores! It's also the end of the game, Great Caledonia and North Hybernia wins 1-0 and advances to the semi final (or Bonesea's final) against Rule Theriault's Nordernious! Despite Rebuild The Wall's claims that the ball was a foot away from touching George Arnold's hand, it really touched his hand. Rebuild the Wall are also claiming 1.5 million people were in the attendance but in fact there was only 15,800 fans in the attendance at Turbine Field in Gallowsea

Great Caledonia and North Hybernia advances to the semi final against Nordernious. Nordernious are coached by Rule Theriault who'se doing a really good job with his team. Nordernious won their group with 3 wins in 3 games. They beat Cosneolta 1-0 in the round of 16 and EEC 2-1 in quarter finals. The other semi final, played in Mecedini's side, will be played between Drawkland and Amnarei-asud. It's hard to predict a winner, anyone can win.

BOXSCORE

90 + 4 minute: Anton (penalty)

Yellow Cards

None

Red Cards

None

by **Drawkland** » Wed Jan 25, 2017 8:57 pm

QUARTERFINALS: MRIIN
Written By: Ellen Bolabore and Travis Plant

RECENT RESULTS
GROUP C:
Turkmenbasyn 1–4 Amnarei-asud
Drawkland 1–1 Kernovi
Amnarei-asud 4–2 Kernovi
Turkmenbasyn 0–3 Drawkland
Drawkland 1–1 Amnarei-asud
Kernovi 1–0 Turkmenbasyn
Group C                      Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 Amnarei-asud                 3   2  1  0    9   4  +5    7
2 Drawkland                    3   1  2  0    5   2  +3    5
3 Kernovi                      3   1  1  1    4   5  −1    4
4 Turkmenbasyn                 3   0  0  3    1   8  −7    0
ROUND of 16:
Mriin 2-1 Juvencus
Ndaku 2–3 Drawkland
Amnarei-asud 2-0 Verceola
Coldfield 2-0 Kosovakia
Rebuild the Wall 2-1 Nagore
Abristan 2-2 Great Caledonia and North Hybernia (2-2 AET) (0-3 pens.)
Hernton 2-3 EEC
Nordernious 1-0 Cosneolta
QUARTERFINALS:
Mriin 0-2 Drawkland
Amnarei-asud 1–1 Coldfield (1–1 AET) (3–2 pen.)
Rebuild the Wall 0-1 Great Caledonia and North Hybernia
EEC 1-2 Nordernious

KICK CORPS FIXTURES:
Drawkland 1-1 Kernovi @ ezMART Stadium
Turkmenbasyn 0–3 Drawkland @ ezMART Stadium
Drawkland 1-1 Amnarei-asud @ ezMART Stadium
Ndaku 2-3 Drawkland @ Snowflake Stadium
Mriin vs Drawkland @ Partush Arena
Drawkland vs Amnarei-asud @ Langtree Metropolitan Stadium

Drawkland wore "away" kits against Mriin.
Mriin's team are Satyrs. They don't need uniforms to be noticeable.

The dream continues for Drawkland. Every game they seem to be getting better and better ... perhaps they will just continue to improve as every game goes by. We can certainly hope so. Anyway, they had to face off against the dreaded¹ Mriin, the Satyr-team from a nation of assorted sapient creatures, and boy was it set to be a good one. There's more than only the normal hopes of each team on their shoulders. There's perhaps even a little bit of bad blood. What was the result of the match?

Hah! We're not telling you this time. Don't look to your right. Don't do it. I'm daring you not to do it. Don't look at the side graphic. Or the bottom graphic. Let it all be a surprise. Mwahaha.²

vs MRIIN
After staying in Orga, Mercedini for the entire tournament, the Kick Corps finally had an opportunity to actually play in said city, at Partush Arena.³ The stadium is described as having two smaller grandstands for neutral fans, while the greater area of the stadium was large, partitioned, and meant to be filled by rabid fans of both sides. And that it was. The smaller stands were filled with neutral fans, as the outside interest increases with each round of the playoffs, and the large section was filled with black and red, and red white and blue. The Drawkian fans seemed to be in every corner of the stadium, and the match was loud before it even began.

This match meant a lot more than any of the prior matches did. For one, Mriin had knocked out Juvencus in the Round of 16. And there's one thing we as Drawkians do, and that's take care of our own. Juvencus was the only Sonnelian nation other than us to be in this Baptism of Fire,⁴ and so it sucks that they were eliminated. We want to bring the Baptism of Fire trophy home to Sonnel!⁵ And at any rate, Mriin defeated Juvencus, and so we had to beat Mriin in the interests of revenge. See why it was so crucial? Also, one of their journalists insulted our sidebar match shade of green and our footnote numbering method. Well you know what? Screw you!⁶

Anyway, the match report. Staying on topic here. Starting with the ball, the Mriin team got off to a semi-strong start, passing around with their creepy hooved feet in the Drawkian side of the pitch until they made a strike on the goal about 5 minutes in. The ball wasn't even close, but the Kick Corps got to throw it in and regain possession. The match starting to go similar to that. A team would make a shot, it would probably go wide, and then the other team would throw it in deep and get a fast break and attempt to score quickly. Both teams really tired from this, however, realizing that they'd blow all their energy if the trend continued. So it slowed down, returned to rather normal soccer, and the match went on.

The first half, after the first 15 minutes of action died down, was honestly a bit boring. The crowd started to die down and settle down a little as the match rolled along. Very few shots at all for the next 20 minutes or so. But then, after a lucky sliding tackle by strong Centerback Seon Yann-Slater, the ball got back into the possession of the Kick Corps. The ball was taken over the half-field line by Mandy Thompson who passed it on to Leea May. May popped up the ball over to Rebecca Talla, who chest bumped it over her defender, Uhlon Loft, into the head of Aurora Jewel. Jewel knocked a header far behind her, which was intercepted in the air by Ellzidan. The Elf make a hooking shot to Stella Moore. Moore was off in the corner flank, and as she tried to get it back out towards the middle of the field, Gerard Tavol got in the way of the pass. However, he hit the ball with too much momentum and it careened over the line, giving the Kick Corps a Corner Kick.⁷ Katie Madison took the kick for the team, appearing to go towards the center of the field where a few of the Drawkian strikers stood ready to get a possible goal off the kick. She gave it a huge boomer of a kick, which seemed like it was going to go towards the back of the huddle. But instead, the wind carried it way over them. This wasn't an oversight. Out of nowhere in center field it seemed, Ellzidan came rushing up through the flank of the pitch, Janna Kurung of Mriin desperately trying to keep up. If Ellzidan was going any faster I think she would've needed train horn noises to mark her presence. Her left leg came up and knocked the ball out of the air, and bouncing it in the other direction. It looped up and curved back down, and it was all too easy for the Elf to boot it into the goal, completely juking out the unprepared Zilia Hawsorn. The crowd went insane and the score went to 0-1.

Two things about this goal. One, it was Ellzidan's 7th for the Kick Corps, which ties Madison for the most goals scored on the team. We're expecting a race to 10 goals towards the end of the Baptism of Fire. Maybe a bit of rivalry between the two girls? Who can say. 3 goals by one player in 2 matches, especially when 2 are trying to pull it off, seems unlikely, but hey. It could happen. Also, this corner return by Ellzidan happened mere seconds before the referee was to whistle to signal halftime. A moment's delay could've cost the Kick Corps the goal. But Ellzidan doesn't hesitate.

Onward to the second half. A 0-1 scoreline was good for the Corps and Drawkland in general, but it was by no means safe or comfortable. The Corps decided to switch things up a little a try a slightly defensive approach. There wasn't a direct change to the lineup or to the formation at all, just that the players seemed to focus more on blocking and stopping rather than swiping and stealing. That, and on the offensive side of the ball, they were slow and methodical rather than rabid and quick like usual. They were sucking away the clock. And while normally, in Drawkland, sucking clock is viewed with utter disdain, in this situation it was decided that clock sucking was preferable to losing.

However, it did begin to work wonders. Mriin possessions came at a real premium, and their forward line was just utterly failing to put anything together under the tough defensive pressure being put out by the Kick Corps backfield. The rest of the game continued like this until about 10 minutes remained in the match. It was at that point that seemed that the Kick Corps went into a rapid, no-holds-barred style of play on a dime. The team began making huge plays around the Mriin goal, causing Hawsorn the Keeper to look like she was losing her mind. The defense simply could not hold on after the constantly pace-changing match, and eventually it was Aurora Jewel who finally broke the fray and scored in the 82nd minute to pretty much nail the lid on the Mriin coffin. Her first international goal brought the score to 0-2, and the fans to their feet.⁸

And then the match slowly rolled back down to a rumble, and ended quietly with Drawkland receiving the win and advancing. Ultimately ended up being a great match, all things considered, and while we're satisfied, we're also sad to see the plucky Mriin go.

BoF 64 Quarterfinal, Partush Arena, Mercedini	Score	Goals	Cards
MRIIN	0
DRAWKLAND	2	45' Ellzidan, 82' Jewel

PLAYER PERFORMANCES
And with another clean slate and multi-goal game up in the Kick Corps records, as well as some newer player combinations on the board, we have an interesting analysis to behold.

Peterson: 9.2 Being dealt into the fray to replace the fatiguing Savannah Everett, Jessie performed even better than expected, holding an expert clean sheet and proving that she deserved to be part of the Kick Corps. We expect to see more and more of her in the World Cup Qualifiers and beyond.
Yann-Slater: 7.9 In her first international cap, Seon did an okay job with filling the spot of the legendary Sarah Arrowsword. It's lucky that Jessie, Cynthia, and Nicole covered the defensive slack, however, because if they'd leaned on Seon as much as they seem to do with Sarah, this could've potentially been a much more unfortunate match.
Pack: 7.6 Not the best performance from Cynthia compared to her compatriots, but still held some promise that she's not a dud player than needs to get the boot. If she keeps improving everyone will be happy.
Warren: 8.1 Nicole, combined with the pro keeping of Jessie, really filled in the gaping hole that Sarah left. This is a good thing and bodes well, as Nicole is a player who excels in the regular club season, and it's good to see her come out of her shell and dominate with the wider audience.
Talla: 8.0 Rebecca wasn't the most noticeable player on the field, but did contribute to being a link to keep plays going up or down the field. We don't know whether we'll see her or subs in for the rest of the tournament.
Ellzidan: 9.2 Ellzidan, scoring the opening goal, being on the cusp of Kick Corps history, and pulling the slightly out-of-position team together to be as effective as it was.
Thompson: 8.0 Mandy wasn't the most effective player out there and wasn't on her best game, but hey. That's life. She also avoided getting carded, which is always fun.
Jewel: 8.9 Aurora had her second cap and her first goal in this match, and was much better in her element than she was in the match before. We think she'll be present next match but not in the 3PPO or Final.⁹
May: 8.5 Leea still has room to improve but she was better this game than last game. Doubts still being cast on her future on the team.
Moore: 7.5 Stella didn't seem to have a very good game at all, probably the most lethargic player on the field. We think she'll be gone the next match or two, because we doubt she'll want to get burned out before the actual World Cup even starts.
Madison: 8.6 Finally, Katie came in with arguably her worst performance¹⁰ in the tournament. We think she'll probably take a break and them come back for the final match of the Kick Corps in Baptism of Fire 64.

Team Score: 8.31 Yet again, the Corps improved on their performance from the match before, this time by an entire .2 points. If this trend continues, by the Final the Corps will likely be reaching the 8.7-8.8 range, which would be basically Godly among the competition in this Baptism of Fire.¹¹ We can only hope they'll continue to improve as such.

AMNAREI-ASUD 2
And here we are, yet again. Set to face off against the mysterious Amnarei-asud. But this time, a draw won't cut it. The last match came in at a 1-1 tie between the two monstrous Mercedini sides, the only ones left to represent the ones raised in Novapax rather than the ones raised in wherever-the-hell-Bonesea is.

So the question is, what will happen this time around? Nobody can really say that there's a huge amount of rivalry going into this game. The last match was a draw and the teams both had no losses in Group C. The players and fans have been relatively polite to each other. Really it's not like this match will be on super-high octane going into it, so you can't really factor that into your prediction.

Then what about relative performances in the playoffs? Group stage the teams were semi-even. A first-day draw to Kernovi which could be traced back to first-time jitters was the only thing separating the two. In the playoffs? Different story. While Amnarei-asud scored 2 and a clean sheet on Verceola, Drawkland was busy with a 2-3 game against Ndaku. This round? Drawkland was the one dealing an 0-2 match. Meanwhile, Amnarei-asud barely scraped by the surprising Coldfield, suffering a 1-1 scoreline from Full Time past Extra Time, and having a nailbiter of a shootout to finally win it, 3-2 on penalty kicks. So then you have to consider, are the Fennec Foxes starting to tire out? It's easy to go on a hot streak and cream your opponents, but when you start on Day 1 with that, can you really carry it for 6-7 entire games?

And then there's the lineup. There's no doubt the 1-1 group stage draw came off of uncharacteristically strong defense. We here expected at least one team to have upward of 4 goals, similar to the 4-6 scoreline Drawkland racked up in the third matchday of the Global Cup of Soccer group stage. We still expect both teams to have the offensive fire, so then what will give? Lineups. It'll all come down to lineups. The power will be returning to the Drawkian lineup,¹² only a few small subs from the starting line with about equal players planned so we hear, so there will be no worries there wethinks. And then Amnarei-asud. Their lineup doesn't seem to have super major changes to it over the course of several matches,¹³ with the exception of Saab and Boulos. If they put the slow, methodical, and effective Saab in, we expect the game to be a challenge. With Boulos in for a majority? Not so much. He may be young and flashy, but he makes too many mistakes, and if there's one thing a Drawkian team can capitalize on, it's the mistakes of an opponent.

Either way, the Corps will show no mercy, and Sato's secret pen pal manager or whatever will show no signs of physically existing. It's set to be a thriller of a match, which everybody needs to watch.

PLAYOFF PROJECTIONS
Alright. We had 6/8, 75% correct after the Round of 16. Now, guessing 3/4 matches from the Quarterfinals gives us 9/12 total, which keeps us at 75%! Wow, we're actually accurate. Will we remain accurate in the Semifinals? Oh damn, we only have 2 matches to predict now.

Drawkland vs Amnarei-asud: We literally just got done talking about this one. Ultimately, we have to go with our own gals to win this one. How about 4-4 AET, and 7-6 penalties? Yeah.¹⁴
Great Caledonia and North Hybernia vs Nordernius: Two nations which have proven to be relative powers in the Bonesea side.¹⁵ However, we really expect Great Caledonia to pull it out in regular time. We really want to have a revenge match, and what better way than when the stakes are at their ultimate highest: the Baptism of Fire 64 Final?! Plus, despite being carried on the shoulders of Rule Theriault, we don't think they can be carried forever. Players > Managers.

And wow, that's it. Cheers to getting these two matches right. And Cheers to the Corps. On Corps! BoF 64! Let's get it!

by **Nordernious** » Wed Jan 25, 2017 10:27 pm

OOC: Was reading the GNU's web site tonight and came up with an RP idea.

Der Siegfrieder

Use of So-Called 'Free Software' Banned

Today, the government prohibited the use of so-called 'Free Software' programs on computer systems. The ban was implemented to safeguard the security of computer systems and protect users against the installation of malicious software. The banned software programs are called 'Free Software' but they are not necessarily free of charge. Instead, these malicious pieces of software are often distributed with their source code, which means that anybody can edit the underlying code for these programs and make them do whatever they want. This modified source code can then be applied to the computers of unsuspecting users, causing the software to behave in unexpected and potentially malicious ways. In addition, the government has created a new Department of Computer Safety, headed by Swen Wirtz, to ensure that Nordernian computers only run safe software programs.

In addition to prohibiting the user of unsafe programs, the Department of Computer Safety's regulations prohibit the use of any operating systems that permit users to use, compile or otherwise run unsafe programs. According to the new policies, all new computers sold in Nordernious will be equipped with a safe operating system that ensures that users cannot run any software on it unless that software has been approved by the Department of Computer Safety. Exceptions to this policy will be granted only to computers used by institutions that obtain a software creation license from the Department of Computer Safety, which will be permitted to run compilers to produce software packages. Such programs, however, may not be distributed unless approved by the DCS.

In an additional measures designed to protect consumers, the transportation of unsafe computer systems across our borders has been prohibited and the DCS will attempt to offer free upgrades, where possible to safe operating systems and safe BIOS systems. This measure has been widely hailed by a public increasingly fed up with viruses, spyware and hacking, all of which will soon be a thing of the past thanks to the wonderful Department of Computer Safety.

Rule Theriault was reading a physical copy of Der Siegfrieder as he drank his morning cup of coffee and could not help but spit a mouthful of coffee on the paper as he read such an utterly preposterous article. The Nordernian manager had been in a good move after his team's come-from-behind victory over the EEC was capped by a Lucas Abendroth goal that came literally at the death, but he wasn't happy at all about the Nordernian government's decision to ban the free and open-source Republican-made tablets that he had equipped each player on his team with nor was he particularly impressed with the absurd "reasons" the government had given for their decision. Republicans had started using Free Software because it was safer and more secure than proprietary software programs, whose makers had collaborated with Kulseth and O'Reilly. It was beyond preposterous to claim that Free and/or Open Source software was more dangerous than proprietary software when proprietary programs contained so many malicious things that gave power to the likes of RepublicSoft and Citrus rather than to the user.

Theriault wanted to call up the head of the Nordernian Kickball Association (NKA) and angrily complain, but he thought better of it. Instead, he decided to give Mr. Sven Kohler a call and explain to him how the new Department of Computer Safety's policies would jeopardize the future success of their National Team:

Sven Kohler: Mr. Theriault, I'm surprised to hear from you today.

Rule Theriault: I hadn't planned on calling you, Mr. Kohler, but I read about a new government policy in Der Siegfrieder that would undermine my ability to put the best possible team on the pitch.

Sven Kohler: I would hope, Mr. Theriault, that you are well aware that the Kickball Association will do anything and everything we can to ensure your success.

Rule Theriault: I'm very pleased to hear that but unfortunately the new policies implemented by the Department of Computer Safety threaten my ability to put a competitive team on the pitch.

Sven Kohler: How so? I thought those policies were just about protecting us from unsafe software.

Rule Theriault: Mr. Kohler, free software is much safer and much more secure than proprietary software. That's why everybody in the Free Republics is switching to it.

Sven Kohler: I don't know about that, but I guess you know what you're talking about when it comes to those kinds of things. I don't get along with computers at all.

Rule Theriault: Nothing wrong with that but I use a special Republican tablet running the OpenEagle operating system and software that my nephew wrote to help my manage my team.

Sven Kohler: Why can't you just run that software on a safe computer system?

Rule Theriault: Software doesn't work like that. It has to be specifically rebuilt to run on another system and my nephew is too busy at the University of Plymouth to be able to rewrite it for another machine.

Sven Kohler: I see. That is most unfortunate. I'll see if I can talk to the DCS and get them to grant the National Kickball Team an exception.

Rule Theriault: I need that exception, Mr. Kohler, or our ability to compete will be jeopardized. I also don't need some government agency investigating our software. This is very sensitive stuff so its source code and its inner workings are only available on a need to know basis.

Sven Kohler: I'll see to it that you get an exception to DCS policies.

Rule Theriault: Thank you.

Fortunately, the members of the team seemed blissfully unaware that their tablets were now banned by their own government since they had no idea what "Free Software" even was. Coming up next was the most important match that the Nordernians would play thus far, a semifinal against Great Caledonia and North Hybernia with the winning team advancing to the BoF finals. In Bonesea, with crowds mixed between supporters of their opponents and neutral locals, the Nordernians had managed to win all 5 matches thus far but with each passing match the stakes kept getting higher and higher and the opponents just kept getting tougher...

by **Mercedini** » Thu Jan 26, 2017 1:40 pm

CUTOFF
Mercedinian Half: Semi-Final

It's time for the semi-final cutoff. For the four of you remaining, I know you're pretty nervous.

What's happening in Mercedini?

With the Baptism of Fire coming to an end, it's your final chance to bag some items before you fly home. Boutiques or Bargain Basements, you decide!
A tremendous firework display marked the start of the semi-final in Langtree, lighting up the sky as the players took to the field.
Will Mercedini host another large scale tournament? Only time will tell...

Drawkland 1-1 Amnarei-asud (1-2 AET)
@ Langtree Metropolitan Stadium, Langtree

Third Place Play-Off

Drawkland vs. [LOSER]
@ The Boldpark, Spittalsea

Baptism of Fire Final

Amnarei-asud vs. [WINNER]
@ Zoloroni Sports City Stadium, Zoloroni

by **Bonesea** » Thu Jan 26, 2017 3:00 pm

Semifinal Result
Bonesea

What's happening in Bonesea?

It's the 12th day of the Withering month in Bonesea, which all students of the Symmetrical Bonesea Calendar will know as the Feast of Saint Frank, when families gather around for the traditional meal of honey-roasted neeps, glazed berries and humble pie; and tell each other a few home truths that need spelling out, however awkwardly.
Players of both semi-finalists meet the General Public at a Baptism of Fire Event^TM and that all goes a bit weird...
Meanwhile the managers and their staff are invited to a Grand Reception at the Royal Polarian Hotel on Herring Island. Classy.

Great Caledonia and North Hybernia 0-2 Nordernious
@ St. Leah's Ground, Spittalsea;
referee - Kasey Jones (Bonesea)

Third Place Play-Off

Drawkland vs. Great Caledonia and North Hybernia
@ The Boldpark, Spittalsea, Bonesea*

Baptism of Fire Final

Amnarei-asud vs. Nordernious
@ Zoloroni Sports City Stadium, Zoloroni, Mercedini

* Please note: The third-placed play-off cut-off will be at the earlier time of 18:00 UTC on Saturday 28 Jan to ensure that the Final is the last game played. The TPPO will therefore be played approximately 44 hours from the time of this post.

by **Drawkland** » Fri Jan 27, 2017 7:54 am

SEMIFINALS: AMNAREI-ASUD¹²³
Written By: Ellen Bolabore and Travis Plant

RECENT RESULTS
GROUP C:
Turkmenbasyn 1–4 Amnarei-asud
Drawkland 1–1 Kernovi
Amnarei-asud 4–2 Kernovi
Turkmenbasyn 0–3 Drawkland
Drawkland 1–1 Amnarei-asud
Kernovi 1–0 Turkmenbasyn
Group C                      Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 Amnarei-asud                 3   2  1  0    9   4  +5    7
2 Drawkland                    3   1  2  0    5   2  +3    5
3 Kernovi                      3   1  1  1    4   5  −1    4
4 Turkmenbasyn                 3   0  0  3    1   8  −7    0
ROUND of 16:
Mriin 2-1 Juvencus
Ndaku 2–3 Drawkland
Amnarei-asud 2-0 Verceola
Coldfield 2-0 Kosovakia
Rebuild the Wall 2-1 Nagore
Abristan 2-2 Great Caledonia and North Hybernia (2-2 AET) (0-3 pens.)
Hernton 2-3 EEC
Nordernious 1-0 Cosneolta
QUARTERFINALS:
Mriin 0-2 Drawkland
Amnarei-asud 1–1 Coldfield (1–1 AET) (3–2 pen.)
Rebuild the Wall 0-1 Great Caledonia and North Hybernia
EEC 1-2 Nordernious
SEMIFINALS:
Drawkland 1-1 Amnarei-asud (1-2 AET)
Great Caledonia and North Hybernia 0-2 Nordernious

KICK CORPS FIXTURES:
Drawkland 1-1 Kernovi @ ezMART Stadium
Turkmenbasyn 0–3 Drawkland @ ezMART Stadium
Drawkland 1-1 Amnarei-asud @ ezMART Stadium
Ndaku 2-3 Drawkland @ Snowflake Stadium
Mriin 0-2 Drawkland @ Partush Arena
Drawkland 1-1 Amnarei-asud (1-2 AET) @ Langtree Metropolitan Stadium
Drawkland vs Great Caledonia and North Hybernia @ The Boldpark (Bonesea)

Drawkland wore "home" kits against Amnarei-asud.
If only they'd had worn "win" kits against them.

There's no way you haven't heard the news.⁴

.....god dammit.

vs AMNAREI-ASUD
The match started out like pretty much all of the other ones. With the largest stadium the Kick Corp's played in to date, Langtree Metropolitan Stadium, pretty much all 45,000 seats were accounted for. The Faithful One-Fifty of Amnarei-asud stood tightly compact on one section of the field right at the half-field marking. The rest of the neutral crowd filled up the spaces around and behind them, and about 38,000 Drawkians filled up the rest of the stadium. It was loud, it was lit, and they all expected it to be a close match. If only they'd known.

Curiously, the Fennec Foxes of Amnarei decided to briefly start Boulos the start the match. The Kick Corps was in full swing, their rested players back out on the pitch and ready to take on the Asud. The lineup wasn't full of star power considering that the administration was hoping to leave that for the final,⁵ but considering the caliber of all players it wasn't expected to be a problem. In fact, despite the final result, we really can't blame that on the actual combination of players on the pitch.

Anyhow, the Corps started the match with the ball in their possession. They didn't seem to get off to a huge start, with a few failed and meager attempts on the goal to start the match. Perhaps it was to lure the Fennecs into a false sense of security. Perhaps it was just a precursor of the events to come. We can't really tell at this point. Nor do we really care. Ellzidan seemed to be leading the drive expertly, knowing exactly where to put the ball into good position with other players, and yet the other players simply couldn't get the ball into the net. It was a little off-putting as fans to be honest, as hard as the drive was and how long it lasted, and still nothing to show for it.

The Fennecs got the ball around the 17 minute mark, and managed to keep and pull it across the pitch to Drawkland's end. Their drive didn't last as long, only about a 10 minute complete possession, but they still put plenty of pressure on the Corps. Luckily, Sarah Arrowsword was covering Abdul-Rahman Saab, and pretty much nerfed him whenever he tried to kick or receive the ball towards the goal or from any teammates. This made a huge difference in the early game. And despite their best efforts, the Fennecs never managed to stage anything major on the Corps in the first half.

The Corps got the ball a hair before the 30 minute mark, and then they came back to the Asud side to try and stage a more effective attack. Arrowsword had received the throw-in from Jessie Peterson and took the ball a bit down the field before passing it off to Mandy Thompson to get the ball firmly to the other side. She passed to Ellzidan, who just slightly redirected the ball forward and into the possession of Jackie Crawford. Crawford knew that she had a good shot on the goal, but before she was about to kick it in, she saw Masood Alfarsi of the Fennecs coming in hot to block it before it would go in. Instead, she faked the kick and side-passed it to Corrie Archer, who was out on the flank for some reason. She was quite open, but had an honestly terrible goal angle, so she reared back and punted the ball across the pitch to the opposite wing, where Iana Snyder was waiting. The game continued like this for several minutes, close shots but eventual realization of a false opportunity, and booting the ball to another player. Eventually, in minute 35, Ellzidan correctly identified the open shot, and knocked it several yards to Katie Madison, who was waiting for some real goal action. Madison had the angle and the opening, and so she immediately fired the ball in past keeper Bahadur Petrosyan, who just couldn't get to the crossing shot in time to stop it. Late in the first half, and the Corps had taken the lead, 1-0. Nobody expected that'd be the last time the Corps would score in the match.

The rest of the half drained away, but after halftime, the Fennecs got the ball and came back with new fire. Realizing that Saab was going to get nowhere with Arrowsword on his ass the whole time, the Fennecs were forced to try a different approach.⁶ Spreading the ball around the forward line started to punch some holes in the Drawkian defense. They were bending, but never expecting to break. However, Ghufran El-Amin was the one who finally broke away from coverage, shagging away from Sonia Kirsten and getting a pass. He fired it immediately, hoping it would go in ... and that it did. Peterson's clean sheet would not extend to 2 games. The score was 1-1 in minute 52', and now the crowd⁷ was being a hell of a lot less haughty about the match. Here it was, just like Matchday 3, now. Except there would be no tie to end on. This was make or break time.

The rest of the game featured desperate back-and-forth action, with the Keepers, defense, and strikers all getting really tired out. It ended up being extremely fruitless, with all the shots coming to nothing, as both teams were being less careful and more aggressive at the goal. And despite the efforts of both teams, it went out to full time, stoppage time ending with a failed shot on the Fennecs' goal. Getting the ball first at Extra Time, the Corps was seemingly ready for the challenge. However, they just couldn't get anything together. It was sloppy. Failed passes, and wide shots not even giving Petrosyan a hard time. He could've stayed in the exact for the entire first half of extra time and the end result still would've been the same. The Corps managed to clutch the ball, though, not giving the Fennecs a single opportunity with the ball. But they couldn't stop the momentum of the ball given to the Asud after the extra half. The Fennecs came back more effective, having learned a lot about the Drawkian defense⁸ over the course of the match. Within 5 minutes of the start of second extra time, Saab finally got a hole between Kirsten and Arrowsword and calmly boosted the ball towards the net. Peterson tried her best to keep the ball out, but the spin on it caused it to bounce off her outstretched, diving arms and whirl into the net. The score was 1-2 and the Corps had 10 minutes to stage an attack.

Fat chance. Peterson, looking quite torn up, chucked the ball past the half line aggressively, into the feet of the Elf herself. But the Asud piled into the half of the field. Even the strikers were getting in to defend their chances of advancing. The crowd was cheering louder and louder, more and more pressure on the Corps. But nothing, absolutely nothing could stop the Fennecs.⁹ Eventually after an on target shot at super speed that was somehow kept out of the goal, the Fennecs got the ball in the 120th minute heading into stoppage time. Sato had subbed out Saab for Boulos to end the match, and as the Fennecs took the ball slowly and safely to their end of the field, Thompson couldn't help herself. In a fit of emotional rage, she not only grabbed hold of the shorter Boulos, but she jostled him and literally threw him headfirst into the ground. The referee obviously was having none of that, and so right before the match end, Thompson was given a red card and she was gone for good.¹⁰ And 3 minutes later the referee called it, and the Drawkian crowd gave one of the most spine-chilling hisses¹¹ ever heard in a sports match.

And thus, the Corps was doomed to mediocrity.¹²

BoF 64 Semifinal, Langtree Metropolitan Stadium, Mercedini	Score	Goals	Cards
DRAWKLAND	1 (1)	35' Madison	120' Thompson
AMNAREI-ASUD	1 (2)	52' El-Amin, 110' Saab

PLAYER PERFORMANCES
We can't really say the Corps was top notch today. I mean, no shit, but still. This is kinda embarrassing. Had this happened on Day One¹³, it would probably be at least passable. But this? In the most influential match the Corps had ever played in? No.

Peterson: 7.8 Jessie did do a good job of keeping some goals out of the net, but if she'd just been a little bit quicker or had a little more finesse, she could've kept the match on our side. So much for that.
Arrowsword: 8.9 Sarah was not performing at her top today, which is understandable considering her break day seemed to play a part in her defending today. She did keep the defense rolling well for the first half, though.
Kirsten: 7.6 Sonia was put in for Cynthia Pack, but honestly it seems that both are having a tough time. As we may have mentioned before, we believe that the Leftback position for the Kick Corps is the weakest, and in this match, it was really the straw that broke the camel's back.¹⁴
Warren: 8.4 Nicole tried her best to keep the backfield under control, and she generally succeeded. Couldn't help much in the long run, because a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, but you gotta give credit where it's due.
Cornelius: 7.4 We believe Ella was put in in order to rest up the easily-tired Rebecca Talla for the final match, and she wasn't exactly the best in the position, highlighting the left side as a weak point for the Kick Corps.
Ellzidan: 9.0 At least somebody out there was having a good game. She should've scored though.
Thompson: 7.5 Mandy was doing pretty well, but still had too much room to improve. That, coupled with the Red Card to end the game, proves that it just wasn't her game.
Crawford: 8.8 Jackie really needs to get back in line after her strong start to the tournament. A great showing in the 3PPO would be a good place to get back in rhythm in time for the World Cup.
Archer: 8.5 Corrie wasn't a very dominant force on the pitch today. If she had been on fire as she usually has for the Corps, then we think the match could've ended so much better in our favor. If only.
Synder: 7.9 There's a real toss-up between Iana and Stella Moore for the Right Forward position on the striking line, and neither of them seems keen to fill the position. Iana needs to grow up quick, but playing in Schottia may help that fact.
Madison: 8.9 Katie scored the only Drawkian goal in the match. She also was the hardest hitter on the goal and for that we can at least be thankful.

Team Score: 8.24 It may not seem like it, but the Corps' individual performance was okay. Team chemistry was at an all-time low, though. It was actually very saddening to see the Corps failing like it did today.

...GREAT CALEDONIA & NORTH HYBERNIA
I can't believe it has come to this. I don't think I can say that we're mad that we have to face Great Caledonia and North Hybernia, because we figured it was inevitable, but I hate that it has to be in the Third Place match. There's no real stakes in this anymore, truly, besides the obvious bad blood. Let's look at the facts, shall we?

Great Caledonia and North Hybernia have beaten us once before, the only time we played. This was also in a semifinal match. And we went on to lose the coming third place match. Essentially, we have negative precedent from losing to GC&NH, and to losing in the Third Place match. Our only solace is that we've had cleaner wins leading up to the loss, and a harder loss. Great Caledonia barely scratched by on penalty kicks in the Round of 16, and only had an 0-1 victory in the Quarterfinals, as well as losing 0-2 in regular time of the Semis rather than 1-2 AET like us.

Also, the Kick Corps will be running top notch. Michael Starre says he plans to use the following lineup against the "Celts," and after reviewing it ourselves, we believe it will work out for the best.

STARTING LINEUP vs GC&NH:
GK: Savannah Everett (#0)
SW: Sarah Arrowsword (#1)
LB: Seon Yann-Slater (#14)
RB: Nicole Warren (#3)
LM: Rebecca Talla (#4)
CM: Ellzidan (#7)
RM: Siv Foss (#18)
LF: Jackie Crawford (#8)
WF: Corrie Archer (#10)
RF: Cam Cross (#22)
CF: Katie Madison (#11)

Despite some players playing out of position,¹⁵ this definitely puts the most star power on the field so we can destroy the Caledonians/Hybernians. We can only hope things will go well against this team. It's the only thing some of us have left after a World Cup campaign which is sure to end in utter mediocrity.

PLAYOFF PROJECTIONS
Alright. We had 9/12 after the quarterfinals for 75%. And then we completely mispredicted both of the semifinals matches. Which means we're at 9/14, a tragic 64%. Here's our halfhearted predictions for the Final and Third Place match.

Drawkland vs Great Caledonia & North Hybernia: I hesitate to do it, because of all the signs pointing against it, but we predict Drawkland for the bronze.
Amnarei-asud vs Nordernius: Honestly? Amnarei-asud has the advantage here, we think. Nordernius is way too lucky to have come this far, and so that's why we pick Amnarei-asud as Baptism of Fire 64 champions.¹⁶

by **Amnarei-asud** » Fri Jan 27, 2017 5:00 pm

The Hood was reclining in his chair with the satisfied sense of a job rather well done. Coming up against Drawkland for the second time had been the toughest test of the Fennecs thus far, but they'd squeaked past... just about... and were now waiting and resting up in their hotel on the eve of the final against Nordernious. The players had been put through their final training session, and only the night kept them from an historic dawn.

Up until this point, it could reasonably be assumed that a team that had only recently dropped the borders and made the international community aware of their presence could simply have surprised their way through the tournament. When opposition managers wanted a look at the previous matches of the Fennecs, after all, they had only one pre-Baptism match to choose from. And if they wanted a general overview of the Asud way of football... then tough! The league hadn't been making broadcasts available to foreigners until the last few matches of this season. In more ways than one, Amnarei-asud had come from nowhere.

But Drawkland had had the distinct advantage of having played them once before, and holding them to a draw, no less. And in fact, for much of the semi-final, they had led, and had had the Fennecs on the ropes, so to speak. Madison had scored in the first half, and with Saab almost completely marked out of the game, The Hood had been standing in the shadows wondering how he was going to work an opening. Fortunately, El-Amin needs no invitation to take snap shots, and with his deadly accurate feet he brought the Fennecs level in the second half.

In the end, with The Hood already wondering whether a semi-final appearance would be enough for Sato, and therefore by proxy, The Hood, to keep his job, the ball fell to Saab in the second period of extra time. With a rare half-inch of space to himself, he looked up, and effortlessly curled the ball into the back of the net. Two-one it would remain, with Drawkland reduced to ten late-on, and Amnarei-asud were in the final. It had been a tough match, and a great test ahead of the final, but the Fennecs had squeaked through, giving The Hood hope for the final. Isn't that what they said about a team able to win despite not playing well? Or rather, not being permitted to play well, in this case? Drawkland had more than managed them on the pitch for the most part, but they'd narrowly gone through anyway. Surely, that was a good sign.

With the match having underlined just how important Saab was for The Hood's set-up on the pitch, he and Sato had been busily designing passing movements and 'plays' that would exploit his ability. It was almost astonishing. In just one month he'd gone from being a surprise inclusion in the squad to the first name on the team-sheet. He was a national icon, and the players looked to him to inspiration. If the stadium was silent aside from a hundred and fifty Asud high in the rafters, it was likely that Saab had had something to do with it. The silent sound of success.

"How are you feeling, Hood?" asked Sato from across the table.

"Not bad, you know? Not bad." replied The Hood, wondering whether he was too visible where he was sitting and hastily adjusting his desk lamp to shine almost directly into Sato's face.

"Is that really necessary?" complained Sato, shielding his eyes with his hands, "We've just reached a final together. Surely you can trust me now?"

"I don't trust anybody yet," said The Hood with a business-like tone of voice, "we're a long way from that point yet. Even if we win tomorrow."

"Yeah, but-"

"You'll get almost all the glory. Just accept it, will you? You can almost forget I'm even here tomorrow," continued The Hood, "we've been over the game plan, we've been over the back-up game plan, and we've been over the back-up to the back-up game plan. We've got it covered. We're as prepared as we could be."

"I suppose," said Sato thoughtfully, thinking back to when they'd met all those weeks ago in Amnarei-asud, "did you think we'd end up here when you approached me back in Ain Salah?"

"When? When I first approached you?"

Sato nodded. The Hood pondered his response.

"Possibly. There was something in the air, that night. Some sort of palpable apprehension, or sense of anticipation. I can't put my finger on it, really," said The Hood, "it just felt... right, you know? Saab gave me the confidence to try it. He just looked capable. You ever get that?"

"Get what?"

"A sense that you should do something. Like you've been there before. Like the weight of history was telling you which mistakes you shouldn't make again, and which decisions it would be an advantage to make this time?"

"I don't know. I don't think so," shrugged Sato, "we Asud don't have great memories, really. We're quite an impulsive people. Maybe they're connected."

"Maybe it's catching, then," said The Hood, smiling ruefully, "I swear, the longer I spend away from Ain Salah, the more slips away. It's as if the job is taking over. I had a clear objective when I approached you back then."

"Which was?"

"That's just it," answered The Hood, "I don't know anymore. Only that I shouldn't trust anyone, and I should stay hidden. It's for the good of... something."

"It's confusing, is what it is." retorted Sato.

"Well, that may be so, but there's nothing you can do about it," said The Hood, "in fact, there's nothing either of us can do about it tonight. I suggest we part, Aslan. Get some rest. Big day tomorrow."

The Hood stood up, and Sato got the hint. "Aye, right you are. I'll see you tomorrow-"

But before Sato could turn to leave, the telephone on The Hood's desk rang shrilly. Sato picked up.

"Hello?"

"Coach?!" came the panicked voice on the other end of the phone.

"Zubin? What is it?" asked Sato, concern in his voice.

"It's Abdul-Rahman! Saab!" shouted Abdulrashid down the line, loud enough that The Hood could hear him, "He's having a fit or something! Get here, quick!"

"Shit..." said Sato, dropping the phone handset without hanging up properly and running out of the room, heading for the room down at the well-lit end of the corridor that Saab shared with with Zubin Abdulrashid. Hot on his heels behind him, where he couldn't be seen, was The Hood.

Bursting into the room, Sato's eyes swept the room. Abdulrashid was standing nervously at the end of his bed watching Saab rolling and twitching jerkily on his own bed.

"Saab!" shouted Sato, going to grab the midfielder by shoulders.

"Let him sweat it out!" called The Hood from just inside the doorway, alerting the other two to his presence, "Zubin, call the medics. Room two-one-two."

Abdulrashid nodded and picked up his handset again, dialling, "Hello? It's room one-three-three. Come, quick!"

The Hood took two paces further into the room as Sato hovered awkwardly near Saab, not knowing where to put his hands. If this was a fit, it was one unlike any fit The Hood had seen before. Sweating profusely, Saab rolled and pitched in his bedsheets, glitching and twisting involuntarily, but not uncontrolled. It looked less like a fit and more like a possession, if anything. Like some unfortunate marionette controlled from above by a sadistic puppeteer.

"Abdul-Rahman," said The Hood clearly and calmly, "what's going on?"

A sudden flashback zipped across The Hood's retinas, just as Saab sat bolt upright in his bed, startling them all. His eyes were bloodshot and manic, his thick black hair standing upright in places like a wire-brush. As he began to sway from side-to-side, his pupils rolled backwards into his skull, and he began to speak loudly with an otherworldly voice, arms raised in The Hood's direction:

"Debug warning!
Error: content expected!
A runtime error has been detected!
This environment is unstable and liable to corrupt.
Overheating!
Memory Fracture!
Return fragmented artefacts to universal file source at disk location and check event history.
Fragmented artefacts. Three. Overrides attached by administrator.
Contact your ultimate administrator or file manager.
Do you wish to reboot from disk?
You must have the necessary permissions.
Be prepared for water damage, and lower disk temperature."

"Saab!"

"DO YOU WISH TO REBOOT FROM DISK?!
Locate memory source from artefact file-name.
Artefact duration one-zero-one-one-zero-one.
This activity has performed an illegal operation and must be shut down."

And with that, Saab's eyes rolled forwards again. Bloodshot and wide, they scanned the room quickly as he took two quick breaths. Abruptly, his eyes met The Hood's, showing fear and uncertainty as he looked into the darkness of the shadow searching for an explanation he wouldn't find. His breathing slowed. His eyes rolled back again. He collapsed backwards onto the bed, motionless.

"Saab? Saab!" yelled Sato, grabbing his wrist and feeling for a pulse.

The Hood and Abdulrashid watched from the corner, both ashen-faced as the medical staff finally arrived in the doorway.

"He's alive," said Sato at last, relieved, "strong pulse. He's unconscious, though. Hood, what do-"

"Tell Boulos he starts in the final tomorrow," said The Hood, acting quickly and turning to Abdulrashid, "and Zubin? Not a word of what you just heard to anyone, understand?"

Abdulrashid nodded quickly, not tearing his eyes off his teammate's figure as the medics buzzed over him like flies taking their readings and making their assessments.

"As far as anyone is concerned, he just fainted and we're not taking a chance on him. Understood?"

"Y-yes, boss." stammered the captain.

"You still need to lead the boys tomorrow," continued The Hood, "even more so, now."

"Yes, boss."

"What did it mean, do you think?" asked Sato breathlessly, taking two steps backwards.

"No idea," said The Hood, turning to leave, "garbled nonsense of someone with a fever, I expect. He was probably having a lucid daydream. Too many of these dangerous Mercedini sci-fi films, or something."

"But-"

"Put it out of your head, Aslan. Stay here and watch over him until he's stable. I'll check on him every half hour."

Sato watched helplessly as The Hood exited at a quick pace, and then turned back to the bed, watching as the medics made Saab comfortable. What would he tell the rest of the team? And just what had Saab been talking about? It didn't sound like nonsense.

Further down the corridor, already entering the shadows of his private rooms, The Hood hoped he'd sounded more in control than he felt. Something told him Saab's ramblings hadn't been nonsense at all, they had to be connected to what he was doing there... but how? The memories that had been slipping away from him the longer he spent away from Ain Salah had all just exploded back into the forefront of his mind, prompted by Saab's delirious rant. They had to be connected. But what had it meant? And how would he decode it?

He closed the door behind him and leaned against it, taking a deep breath of his own. Why now? Why tonight? How would the team pick themselves up for the final tomorrow when they heard what had happened? Were the Fennecs really about to fall before they got a chance at the last hurdle? Would he get the chance to explain to Saab why he'd recognised him all those weeks ago in Ain Salah?

Not trusting his memory, The Hood sat back at his desk and wrote down Saab's rant before he forgot it. Folding it neatly and placing it carefully inside his robes, he heard near silence again as the hotel settled down for the night. But this time it didn't speak to him of victory. Only of dread and confusion.

by **Nordernious** » Sat Jan 28, 2017 9:23 am

After an early goal by Benjamin Scherer, the Nordernians had gone into System Preservation mode for nearly eighty minutes, systematically denying their opposition opportunities to possess the ball. On the handful of occasions when Great Caledonia and North Hybernia had obtained possession and managed to get a shot past the nearly impregnable Nordernian defense, Jürgen Wolf had managed to catch each and every one of their shots. Toward the end of the match, however, Jan Hartmann took his eyes off the ball as a Stephan Eichmann pass reached him and Anton swiped the ball out from under him. When Hartmann realized what had happened, he turned around and delivered a vicious kick to the Caledonian's left leg, causing him to trip over the ball. The official, Kasey Jones of Bonesea, showed Hartmann a red card and awarded a free kick to the Caledonians.

With time running out on the match, Jennifer O'Byrne rushed forward to assist in the attack. Anton took a moment to recover and then took the free kick, which came out slightly off balance, allowing Robert Hoch to head the ball out to safety between the legs of Lucas Abendroth. Abendroth, the fastest player on the Nordernian side, looked ahead and saw absolutely nobody standing in the way of their goal. He charged forward and, upon reaching the Caledonian side of the pitch, paused for a moment before launching a shot directly at the goal to put the match out of reach and secure Nordernious's spot in the BoF final.

This turn of events had surprised Rule Theriault, who had been worried that the festivities surrounding the BoF final had adversely impacted his team's preparations for the match. At the various events, the entire Nordernian team had remained tight-lipped on Theriault's orders. He didn't want his players talking to a foreign press that couldn't be controlled nor did he want any hints into his team's strategic plans leaking out. While he would have instructed his players to eavesdrop on their opponents, they were not able to overcome the linguistic barrier so Theriault elected to hire Republican spies to eavesdrop on the Caledonians and ask questions that would, hopefully, get them to talk. Any information inadvertently revealed by their opposition would be used against them.

The combination of extensive film study and spying on the opposition had enabled the Nordernians to shut down a capable Caledonian opponent for ninety minutes. These techniques had served them well throughout the tournament, leading to six victories in a row. One more would mean that Theriault would finally lift one of the two WCC trophies that had eluded him: the Baptism of Fire trophy. It would also mean vindication for a manager who had been criticized for years as a fraud who had fluked his way into a World Cup final on home turf via copious amounts of cheating and had failed miserably everywhere else he had ever managed. A victory in the Baptism of Fire would prove that the Guayabalense had been wrong to pass on him as their manager and would prove that all of his critics were wrong about him.

Amnarei-asud stood in their way. Aslan Sato's team seemed profoundly foreign to him, like some bizarre amalgamation of Taiyouese and Iradian, with an attack-first style. Furthermore, the match would be played in Mercedini, which meant that Theriault's side would have to travel to another nation. To make matters worse, the efforts of his spies to obtain intel on the Asud side had been in vain, as his opposition proved to be every bit as tight-lipped as his own side. Theriault was concerned that his team may have finally met their match.

Compounding the situation, Jan Hartmann was now suspended from the Baptism of Fire final by the World Cup Committee, which was debating whether to extend the suspension to some World Cup qualifying matches. Leon Faber, a 21-year-old who had won Newcomer of the Year in the most recent StaatLiga season, was selected to replace Hartmann in the lineup. The young Siegfried K.K. defender was considered a very promising young player but Theriault had elected to go with mostly more experienced defenders thus far, feeling that they were better equipped to handle the unique climate of international competition but Faber was easily the best player on the bench so he was the obvious choice to fill in the gap caused by Hartmann's red card.

Just hours prior to the final, Theriault received some good news when NKA chairman Sven Kohler relayed the decision by the Department of Computer Safety regarding Theriault's request for an exemption to the new regulations regarding a ban on unlicensed software and on computers that can run unlicensed software. The DCS had ruled that the National Kickball Team would be granted an exemption from the regulations, so long as the team fulfilled at least one of three conditions during every World Cup cycle: A) win the Baptism of Fire, B) qualify for the World Cup finals or C) receive an invite to the Cup of Harmony. So long as they accomplished at least one of these things, they would be permitted to continue using 'unsafe' computers indefinitely. However, they would be permitted to utilize their 'unsafe' computers in the upcoming World Cup Qualification campaign regardless.

As Rule Theriault's team waited to enter the pitch at Zoloroni Sports City Stadium in Zoloroni, Mecedini, they were unsure of what to expect, but to a man, every single one of them was optimistic about their chances. They had made it to the finals of the Baptism of Fire and whether or not the Drawkland National Sports Network thought they belonged here was irrelevant because the fact remained that Nordernious had made the finals of the Baptism of Fire while 30 nations had not. Now, they had ninety minutes, before a crowd almost entirely composed of neutrals, to silence all of the naysayers and prove themselves worthy of being eternally known as the 64th Baptism of Fire champions...

by **Bonesea** » Sat Jan 28, 2017 11:24 am

Third Place Play-Off Result
Bonesea

Drawkland 3-2 Great Caledonia and North Hybernia
@ The Boldpark, Spittalsea;

Referee - CZ Starling (Bonesea)

by **Mercedini** » Sat Jan 28, 2017 1:49 pm

CUTOFF
Baptism of Fire Final

This is, quite literally, the final song.

by **Drawkland** » Sat Jan 28, 2017 10:31 pm

3PPO: GREAT CALEDONIA AND NORTH HYBERNIA
Written By: Ellen Bolabore and Travis Plant

RECENT RESULTS
GROUP C:
Turkmenbasyn 1–4 Amnarei-asud
Drawkland 1–1 Kernovi
Amnarei-asud 4–2 Kernovi
Turkmenbasyn 0–3 Drawkland
Drawkland 1–1 Amnarei-asud
Kernovi 1–0 Turkmenbasyn
Group C                      Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 Amnarei-asud                 3   2  1  0    9   4  +5    7
2 Drawkland                    3   1  2  0    5   2  +3    5
3 Kernovi                      3   1  1  1    4   5  −1    4
4 Turkmenbasyn                 3   0  0  3    1   8  −7    0
ROUND of 16:
Mriin 2-1 Juvencus
Ndaku 2–3 Drawkland
Amnarei-asud 2-0 Verceola
Coldfield 2-0 Kosovakia
Rebuild the Wall 2-1 Nagore
Abristan 2-2 Great Caledonia and North Hybernia (2-2 AET) (0-3 pens.)
Hernton 2-3 EEC
Nordernious 1-0 Cosneolta
QUARTERFINALS:
Mriin 0-2 Drawkland
Amnarei-asud 1–1 Coldfield (1–1 AET) (3–2 pen.)
Rebuild the Wall 0-1 Great Caledonia and North Hybernia
EEC 1-2 Nordernious
SEMIFINALS:
Drawkland 1-1 Amnarei-asud (1-2 AET)
Great Caledonia and North Hybernia 0-2 Nordernious
THIRD PLACE PLAYOFF:
Drawkland 3-2 Great Caledonia and North Hybernia

BAPTISM OF FIRE 64 FINAL:
Amnarei-asud 3-1 Nordernious

KICK CORPS FIXTURES:
Drawkland 1-1 Kernovi @ ezMART Stadium
Turkmenbasyn 0–3 Drawkland @ ezMART Stadium
Drawkland 1-1 Amnarei-asud @ ezMART Stadium
Ndaku 2-3 Drawkland @ Snowflake Stadium
Mriin 0-2 Drawkland @ Partush Arena
Drawkland 1-1 Amnarei-asud (1-2 AET) @ Langtree Metropolitan Stadium
Drawkland vs Great Caledonia and North Hybernia @ The Boldpark (Bonesea)

Drawkland wore "home" kits against Great Caledonia and North Hybernia.
The Caledonians don't have official kit images but they wore orange and black kits.
Perhaps we should've worn Away kits for the ultimate color contrast, but nahh. Black and Red Forever.

And so, despite being deflated from the loss in the Semifinal to Amnarei-asud, the Kick Corps of Drawkland still had the chance to at least somewhat redeem themselves in the consolation prize known as the Third Place Playoff. And still, the Corps got to play on the Final Day of the Baptism of Fire 64, which is not only what was expected (despite the obviously different circumstances), but also better than 28 other unfortunate teams who came to Mercedini and Bonesea only to have their hopes crushed. We have a lot to be thankful for. And, while we're on the subject, we salute all the teams that got eliminated early. Great job on making this tournament as cool as it was, and good luck in your Qualifying Campaigns. Class of 64 represent!

Wow. That was uncharacteristically emotional and lacking in snark.¹ Moving on to the rest of the article. So what exactly happened in the match? If you haven't watched the match,² noticed the text color on the side, seen the results somewhere else, or noticed the general demeanor of you more sports-following compatriots, we'll try to keep this one under wraps until you get to the end.³

vs GREAT CALEDONIA and NORTH HYBERNIA
So, the Corps⁴ had to leave the beautiful and scenic Mercedini, and instead travel by air to the far-flung Bonesea⁵ for the Third Place matchup. They were playing the The Boldpark which isn't the biggest of their stadiums⁶ at 15,310 seats, but was definitely the heart of their culture and such. Sort of like National Pitch is for Drawkland. Except that stadium has over 150,000 seats. Hey, multiplying by 10 isn't such a big difference in the big picture. Anyway, despite many overly-eager fans who could not attend due to having already bought tickets to the Baptism of Fire Final, there was still a big presence in the small stadium. It's probably good the capacity was pretty small anyway, since not as many were able to make the (expensive) trip to Bonesea for the match. Regardless, the stadium was still majorly Drawkian, as the Caledonian, Boney, and other crowd was taking up about a third of the stadium, while there were almost exactly 10,000 Drawkians in attendance in the stadium and another several thousand surrounding the stadium for extra effect/had enough money to get to Bonesea but didn't buy the actual tickets in time.

And with the rivalry between the two sides as big as it was, it was a surprise they didn't burn down Spittalsea.

To start the match, Great Caledonia's Celts got the ball. They spent a bit of a hard drive to start off the game, but definitely not as aggressive as the Corps had been used to due to the Celts being more defensively-minded than the heavily offensive teams the Corps was used to playing and being. The game got off to a rocky start, however, as a particularly tough and good shot on the goal by Great Caledonia's Anton was saved miraculously by Savannah Everett. This would've been a minor inconvenience, but the attacking centre-mid became really angry, thinking that his shot deserved to be in the goal and that Everett's save was merely a fluke. He ended up sending a string of curses the way of Everett, and despite CZ Starling the referee's really liberal stances on carding, Anton's verbal assault was so terrible and heated that he was forced to give the player a card to stop the onslaught, as there seemed to be no end to it. This would've been bad enough, but Savannah stepped up the ante, and as soon as Anton was walked away by Starling, she literally barreled away from the goal and trucked Anton into the ground. She began her own verbal assault, assuming that Starling would leave her off the hook, and continued to shove him around after he stood back up. Starling, regrettably, pulled a red card on the unsuspecting Everett, giving the Corps their second red card in its existence and in the last 2 games. To compound matters, a moment after the sending off, Ellzidan came up to Starling and started a discussion with him. This probably would've ended normally, but with the already-bad reputation Everett had put the Corps into in the ref's mind, as well as his already-spoiled demeanor, he carded the Elf for dissent ("being too damn pushy") and finally got the match back underway.

With 3 cards in 3 minutes, both teams decided to play more conservatively. However, the Corps had a dilemma now. With Savannah, the goalkeeper no less, out of play, the Kick Corps had no way to defend the goal. After some deliberation,⁷ Michael Starre decided to sub out Seon Yann-Slater for Jessie Peterson, so that there'd at least be somebody guarding the goal. When asked about the choice post-match, Michael said "I knew that we needed to score and we needed to score big, and if we subbed out a striker then we wouldn't be able to achieve that. I put a lot of faith on Nicole and Sarah."

Peterson's first test came about 5 minutes after she was put in, when Maggie Johnstone of the Celts got an insane pass interception and passed it deep to Kevin O'Maoilsheachlainn,⁸ who had a fast break on the goal. Peterson, of course, was jittery and not on her top game, and the Caledonian netted the ball before she could really correctly react. All the action in the early game and there was Great Caledonia and North Hybernia, up 0-1 in the 19th minute. The Corps had to answer. They had to stay in the game before it rolled away from them.

And that they did. A bit of possession changing hands in the middle of the field occurred before Drawkland really got a hold on the ball. By the 30th minute, the Corps was staging an attack on the Caledonian goal. Jennifer O'Byrne of the Celts was defending well, but she couldn't hang on to the onslaught forever. Soon, Jackie Crawford was seen working her way through the Caledonian defense, expertly dodging the zones of the defenders and breaking through. She passed the ball out to Katie Madison, giving a short call to her, and Madison knew to immediately fire the ball back. With the extra ball momentum and the attention of the defenders momentarily diverted, Crawford's shot penetrated right through the box and into the goal. The crowd went wild of course, in both emotions, and the score was 1-1 late in the first half. And with that, the Caledonians got the ball back for the next kickoff, but the Drawkians had other plans for the ball. As soon as it was kicked off, Madison, and Ellzidan immediately closed in on the player who currently had the ball, Doireann O'Donnghaile.⁹ She panicked and kicked the ball out desperately for a pass to a teammate, but instead the ball found itself at the feet of Cam Cross. Cross immediately ran off with the ball, going towards the goal, but by the time the defenders caught up, she instead flicked it behind her to Corrie Archer, who was open and therefore cruised straight towards the goal and fired it in, the unsuspecting and unprepared O'Byrne unable to make the stop, one minute after she failed the first time. 2-1 Drawkland, and they were starting to make the Caledonian team nervous.

The game score stayed the same until right after halftime. Taking a page from the Corps' playbook seemed to work well for the Caledonians. Immediately after the kickoff, the Celts rushed off of the line and brutally attacked the Drawkian side. The Corps really was having a hard time dealing with the uncharacteristically hard push, especially because of the depleted defense. And it showed a minute after the kickoff when Christiano Fernando scored to tie the match up at 2-2. This was triggering PTSD in probably every member of the Drawkian crowd. And probably warm, happy memories for the Caledonians in attendance. Either way, 2-2 is a scoreline many agree shouldn't stick around for a minute short of half a game. And yet, it almost did.

Neither team managed to stage a good attack on each other's goal after the shock shot on the Drawkians. The ball continued to get dangerously close, and then falling back again or getting taken to the other side. It wasn't until the 80th minute where the lethargic Kick Corps got the ball and began an onslaught on O'Byrne and the Celts. The tough match with a defender down had taken the Corps for a loop, really putting like quadruple the pressure on them. But it all ceased to matter on this offensive drive. This is where many said that Starre's Subbing gamble paid off. The hardcore forwards weren't looking for an even more tiring 10-man Extra Time, and sure as hell weren't gonna let the Celts have a penalty shootout. They had crossing passes, long shots, quick flips to change direction, and started ripping up the Caledonian defense. The defenders started to make mistakes, and were left guessing as to how the Corps would truly attack. Eventually it was Madison¹⁰ who made the hard effort on the goal. The shot was deflected by O'Byrne, but the ball spun out behind the line and the Corps got a corner kick. Madison took the kick again, and it looked like she was going to try and get an Olympic Goal, as they call them, attempting to net the ball directly off a corner kick. This wasn't the case though. The ball looped up and spun, but the trajectory was too flat. This ended up being intentional, though. For far behind the tangle of defense and offense trying to get at the ball, stood Cam Cross in all her striking glory. She took in the flight of the ball, reared back, and then kicked the ball as soon as it met her position on the pitch, which caused it to spin and lurch at high speeds in the opposite direction, going straight into the practically completely-open goal. With that, in the 87th minute, the Corps had taken the lead, thanks to the rookie Cross.

This was slightly soured with Archer being carded a minute later for "excessive celebration,"¹¹ but the Corps switched into extremely defensive mode, and parked the Corps-Air plane right in front of their goal. Even missing a lady on the field, Drawkland would not back down, and the Caledonians suffered their first loss since their 0-1 crusher to Hernton in Matchday 2 of the Baptism. This as well put the teams' rivalry to a 1-0-1 record, and even better that the Corps managed it in Full Time rather than barely¹² winning out a penalty shootout. And it was way better than a loss in the third place match, which is what happened after the last time Drawkland lost to Great Caledonia and North Hybernia.

BoF 64 3PPO, The Boldpark, Bonesea	Score	Goals	Cards
DRAWKLAND	3	33' Crawford, 34' Archer, 87' Cross	9' Everett, 11' Ellzidan, 88' Archer
GREAT CALEDONIA and NORTH HYBERNIA	2	19' Anton, 46' Fernando	8' Anton

PLAYER PERFORMANCES
Even with being a lady down early, and being the first match for the Kick Corps involving substitutions of any kind,¹³ they really seemed to excel. Maybe the pressure had a reverse effect, but still. Here's how the girls did over the course of this semi-triumph.

Everett: 5.0 Savannah was only in the match for 9 minutes, but she blocked 3 shots and still kept the game scoreless for as long as she was in. Also, didn't really give us a reason to count her down.
Peterson: 8.5 Jessie could've done much better than she did, giving up 2 goals is no good performance, but she wasn't exactly expecting to be thrown in, and thus a lot of it can be attributed to blind luck and unpreparedness.
Arrowsword: 9.3 Sarah has always been a commanding force in the backfield, and with a player missing, she helped cover both the center and the left side of the pitch, and was very good at keeping chemistry with Nicole Warren to make sure the effectively 2-3-4 formation still worked. Expert playing.
Yann-Slater: 3.1 It was a no-brainer that Seon was replaced, really. She isn't necessarily bad, per se, but when you need to take out a defender to keep the match viable, she was the clear choice.
Warren: 9.0 Nicole stepped up to the plate¹⁴ with the disadvantage and proved her worth on the team. We expect to see more of her as the years go by, and hopefully much more immediately with a well-defended World Cup Qualifying campaign.
Talla: 8.4 Rebecca was out of the way for most of the match but provided no weak link on the left flank, helping keep the Caledonian attack on the obviously weaker left side at bay.
Ellzidan: 9.0 Ellzidan did as she always does. We can forgive the errant card by virtue of her leading the Corps to victory by ensuring the Corps stayed on track despite the disadvantage. She also stepped in to help defend better, and that was a huge help.
Foss: 8.4 Siv, like Rebecca, was not really a key player in the match but playing alongside Ellzidan longer than anyone else puts her in a good position to score player points. And that she did today.
Crawford: 9.2 Jackie opened up the books and was an incredible assister for the whole game, and the match probably would've ended very differently if she wasn't in there.
Archer: 9.0 Corrie was a very savvy player to pick up the second goal a mere minute after Jackie, and of course we can appreciate a player wild enough to remove her shirt after a goal or a win.¹⁵ Good performance despite the fact that it left room to improve.
Cross: 9.4 Cam proved that she belongs on the starting line of the Kick Corps, and hopefully we'll see her there as the World Cup Qualifiers begin. Scoring the winning goal with a smart move and being an overall boon to the forward line makes her the Woman of the Match.
Madison: 9.0 Katie didn't score today, even though she was projected to. She still made the most opportunities despite none of them coming to fruition, and for that she gets a decent score.

Team Score: 8.84 The Corps really outperformed their expectations out there, and when pitched a curveball¹⁴ early in the game and playing 10 vs 11, they went out and improved themselves massively. This 8.84 blows their previous best out of the water, and we can only expect them to get better from here. Okay, maybe not THAT much better, not in our first cycle, but you get the gist.

RECAP
Only losing one match¹⁶ really proved the Corps' composition, and despite not getting the obvious result they were gunning for, they still really showed themselves to be future powerhouses. We don't expect them to be powerhouses in this immediate World Cup campaign, but a Cup of Harmony berth is certainly no tall tale, and they'll still probably make a show in the 10-team groups.

Some stats for you: our prediction correctness count for the playoffs ended with 11/16, meaning we got a 68.75% correctness rate. That's ahead of our 60% correctness estimate, so woohoo! Go us! At least we didn't fail at something here.¹⁷

The Corps now has a 4-2-1 record in NS World Cup-sanctioned events, which is a really good thing which anyone can appreciate. That brings our overall match record to 8-4-6, which is finally a winning record and is respectable. Hopefully the in-between friendlies don't put a huge dent in the overall record, but we wouldn't really put it past the Corps considering their performance in the Independents Cup against higher-quality sides.

And with that, we would like to thank everybody in Bonesea and especially Mercedini who made this all possible. It was certainly a wonderful tournament and way to start the Kick Corps into the World Cup Cycle despite not winning it all like we and many others hoped. There's a very big world of sport out there just waiting for us, and we can't wait to break in.

See you there.

by **Mercedini** » Sun Jan 29, 2017 4:21 am

Baptism of Fire Special Edition
Goal of the Tournament: Nominations

Ladies and Gentlemen. Welcome to our special edition of Mercedini Sports Daily dedicated to the action from the Baptism of Fire. In the past couple of weeks, we have seen some tremendous teams play some tremendous football and it has culminated in Amnarei-Asud taking home the trophy to their sandy paradise. Along with our opposite numbers at Boldsport, we have complied a list of the best described goals at the most recent Baptism of Fire and you, the reader, will vote to decide who takes home the Goal of the Tournament award!

Goal A – Anton
Group Stage MD1: Zambanana vs. GREAT CALEDONIA AND NORTH HYBERNIA

Great Caledonia and North Hybernia wrote:Great Caledonia attacked at the 45th minute when Maggie Johnstone passed the ball to Callum McGivern who dribbles and makes a cross to Cristiano Fernando. Cristiano Fernando shoots but he hits the post! Anton takes the loose ball and shoots in an almost empty net and it's a goal for the Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch native! It's the end of the 1st half and we have a score of 1-0 for Great Caledonia.

Goal B – A-R. Saab
Group Stage MD1: Turkmenbasyn vs. AMNAREI-ASUD

Amnarei-asud wrote:Just as he was about to open his mouth and give Sato the go ahead to use Boulos as the final substitution, events on the pitch caught both their eyes. Blocking a lazy attempt on goal with an outstretched foot, Umar Matsumoto bought the ball under control and, as is the Asud way, immediately looked forwards for runners. As soon as he'd seen his teammate with the ball, Faisal Karim had taken off down the right wing, quickly bypassing those players caught on their heels and receiving the ball mid-flight without breaking stride. Using the run of Takeshi Khoroushi towards the corner as a decoy, Karim cut inside a midfielder and hit a skidding cross-field through ball into the path of Yamaguchi that bounced just agonisingly out of reach of two Turkmenbasyn defenders.

Sprinting through on goal, Yamaguchi paused, considering the best way to proceed. Full of nervous energy, the fervent enthusiasm of youth, he took two steps forwards, rolling his foot over the ball and dragging it along with him, before dropping a shoulder and letting his marker follow him to the byline at the edge of the penalty box. El-Amin screamed for the ball in space at the back post, but with two Turkmenbasyn players between him and the goalmouth, Yamaguchi instead chose to pass the ball backwards to Abdul-Rahman Saab who was lurking at the back left corner of the box.

Without glancing twice at the ball, Saab chipped his foot underneath it and instead watched as the ball floated majestically into his field of vision. Keeping his eyes on the top right corner of the goal, Saab smiled softly to himself as the ball whipped and spun through the air, arcing magnificently over the despairing reach of the keeper and dropping like a stone just in time to slip under the crossbar and bounce in off the post. El-Amin, who'd stopped running after the initial assumption that Saab had in fact mis-hit a cross, was the first to run and congratulate him. Approximately one hundred and fifty Asud fans went as wild as the paramilitaries would allow them in the stands.

Goal C - R. Simmons
Group Stage MD2: Juvencus vs. COLDFIELD

Coldfield wrote:Juvencus's biggest flaw was its horrible passing - which allowed a deadly and fast counterattack for Coldfield in the first half of the game at the 28th minute. Master in ball control and acceleration, Simmons scored the only goal of the match after dribbling the only remaining defender of Juvencus - the goalkeeper. After feigning a kick to the right side of the goal, in exactly two seconds, Simmons shoot the ball to the upper left corner - ball on one side, the goalkeeper on the other. Coldfield scores! After the goal, manager Gabriel Lawson decided to adopt a "minimum attack" strategy - focusing only on defense and false attacks to distract and lag the opponent - and it seems that the plan worked out quite well.

Goal D – E. Baldwin
Group Stage MD2: EEC vs. Savojarna

EEC wrote:The key moment of the game came as Denis Metanov placed a sliding tackle into Rickie Porcher at the 83rd minute in the box, resulting in a yellow card for Metanov. The penalty was disputed by the defensive line accusing Porcher of diving but this lead to an additional yellow card being shown to the Savojarna National Team as Kirill Skvortsov got booked for questioning the referee. After much commotion, the designated penalty taker, Evan Baldwin placed the ball right into the upright, putting EEC into the lead. The roles were reversed in the remaining half of the match as EEC reversed to putting 6 men in the box at all times to protect the goal and with Savojarna switching to something resembling a 4-3-3 but, this wouldn't be enough to give Savojarna another goal in the remaining minutes as they found themselves behind by the time the whistle had gone.

Goal E - H. Szweda
Group Stage MD2: ABRISTAN vs. The Andromeda Archipelago

Abristan wrote:Jackson Twente took the ball up out of defence, before centering it to the waiting Jaginho. A one-two with Vancura found Jaginho one on one with the last defender, and as he sprinted past, an untidy challenge resulted in a freekick 24 yards out. Up stepped Hagob Szweda, the free kick expert of Madgalen 1977. The free kick that followed was pure perfection. As the whistle blew one impetuous Andromedan rushed out of the wall as if to charge down the ball, leaving an obvious gap in the wall. As the keeper moved across to cover the ball, Szweda curled it beautifully of the outside of his boot into the top left. The noise in the stadium was deafening as the Abristani supporters went mad. They knew victory today would put them through to the knockouts.

Goal F - C. Cross
Group Stage MD2: Turkmenbasyn vs. DRAWKLAND

Drawkland wrote:It wasn't until about the hour mark that the Kick Corps managed to take a deft hold on the ball, and took it deep into Turkish territory. After dribbling for a moment near the box, Jackie Crawford faked a shot on the goal, instead tapping the ball behind her to Ellzidan, who immediately saw the coming play. The Old Elf then streaked across the pitch with the ball, drawing Turkish players desperate to stop an onslaught near her. She then knocked the ball up into the air and bicycle kicked it over the heads of 3 Turkish defenders to Iana Synder. Synder knew that she wouldn't get a clean shot as she was also covered by a defender, so she leaped up into the air and knocked the ball further down with a header, straight into the path of Cam Cross. On the bench from last match, Cross was eager to prove herself and saw the opportunity, juking past 2 Turkish players to rush across the field to intercept the ball in the air. A moment before it would strike the ground, Cross pulled her leg back and kicked with all of her might. The hapless ball cut right through the wet air, spraying stray droplets in its path, and went right through the outstretched arms of the Turkish goalie. Scoring her first international goal, Cross was obviously happy, and she celebrated as a song's chorus blasted through the stadium by sprinting to the sideline and somersaulting up near the crowd barrier, jumping in place and cheering with close excited Drawkian fans.

Goal G - D. Bartosz
Group Stage MD3: Rebuild The Wall vs. COSNEOLTA

Cosneolta wrote:It's Dominik Bartosz with the equalising goal to give Cosneolta one foot into the knockout rounds. It may have been a scrappy goal put they all count and its something for Cosneolta to hold on to. The goal came from a corner that was whipped in with pace, a flick on from the near post was parried onto the opposite post and the ball fell to Bartosz who tapped the ball into the open goal to make it 1-1. Jubilation from the fans on the opposite side of the stadium, they've pinched a point at the death to make it 1-1.

Goal H - C. Cross (2)
Third Place Play-Off: DRAWKLAND vs. Great Caledonia and North Hybernia

Drawkland wrote:The defenders started to make mistakes, and were left guessing as to how the Corps would truly attack. Eventually it was Madison who made the hard effort on the goal. The shot was deflected by O'Byrne, but the ball spun out behind the line and the Corps got a corner kick. Madison took the kick again, and it looked like she was going to try and get an Olympic Goal, as they call them, attempting to net the ball directly off a corner kick. This wasn't the case though. The ball looped up and spun, but the trajectory was too flat. This ended up being intentional, though. For far behind the tangle of defense and offense trying to get at the ball, stood Cam Cross in all her striking glory. She took in the flight of the ball, reared back, and then kicked the ball as soon as it met her position on the pitch, which caused it to spin and lurch at high speeds in the opposite direction, going straight into the practically completely-open goal. With that, in the 87th minute, the Corps had taken the lead, thanks to the rookie Cross..

So, those are the eight nominees for Goal of the Tournament at the 64th Baptism of Fire. To vote, send a telegram to Mercedini with your top three best described goals. You will give 3 pts to your favourite, 2 pts to your second favourite and 1 pt to your third favourite. The goal will the most points will take home the award. Everyone can vote, however there is a strict limit of one nation per user. Good luck to all participants!

by **Amnarei-asud** » Wed Feb 01, 2017 5:23 pm

Aslan Sato paced up and down the line nervously. Things were tense. Nordernious were surging forwards, and the Fennecs were down to ten men. Mere minutes remained in normal time, but there was a sense of inevitability about the way the opposition were stretching the Asud defence to breaking point. The crowd, heavily in favour of Nordernious by mass and volume, was roaring the ball towards Petrosyan's goal, and Sato could barely watch. Out of options, and without The Hood hovering in the shadows for once, he opted to pace up and down the line instead.

Ghufran El-Amin had put the Fennecs ahead in the first half, striking with a glancing header that tucked neatly into the top corner of the goal to extend his record as the nation's leading goalscorer. And then, gloriously, Faisal Karim had cut inside and unleashed an unstoppable thirty-yard drive into the back of the net just before half-time. It had been a devastating time to score a goal, and even without Abdul-Rahman Saab, who was recovering in his hotel bed, it was the Fennecs who'd looked most likely to make things happen and extend their lead after half time. Sato's tactics were working, and Amnarei-asud were flying.

Until the injuries.

Were it not bad enough to team morale that Saab had collapsed the night before the final, the loss of captain Zubin Abdulrashid on fifty minutes after a clash of heads left him groggy and seeing double was enough to convince the more superstitious members of the side that the Fennecs were cursed. Tomas El-Hasem replaced him, but at only twenty years old, his youthful exuberance behind the already unpredictable figure of Usama Boulos led to a significant weakening through the centre of the park.

Just ten minutes later, Matsumoto had pulled his hamstring and required replacing with the considerably less mobile Burakgazi, only for goalscorer Karim to require replacing with twenty minutes left to go when he went over on his ankle. Arsene Moto came on, and was an able replacement in every department, but the team were visibly shaken.

Across the pitch, Sato had made like-for-like replacements, but the team were simply not playing with the same chemistry afforded them in the first half. Nordernious sniffed an opportunity, and came forwards with renewed optimism.

First once, then twice, then three times they rattled the woodwork of Petrosyan, before eventually Max Klein bundled over the line when a scrappy melee broke out following a corner. Alfarsi had failed to properly clear the ball at the near post when he'd had the chance, and in the resulting scramble several players fell over calling for free kicks or penalties depending on the colour of their shirt. The referee wasn't swayed by any of the calls though, and when Klein stabbed out a toe to poke home, the Nordernious players picked themselves and the ball up and ran back to the half-way line. Two-one, and they sensed the momentum shift.

Worse, for Sato, Yoshi Takahashi hadn't got back up again and was clutching his knee in agony. One of the rocks of the title-winning Atlas side, and quietly going about his work with efficiency for the Fennecs, he'd be a big miss for Sato and the side even if a replacement was available. Which it wasn't. Five injuries over two evenings had now left Amnarei-asud with ten men on the pitch and ten minutes to see out with only two out-and-out defenders on the field.

No substitutions. No luck. No Saab. No Hood.

Sato thought quickly to himself as he paced the touchline, what would The Hood do?

He'd opted to sit and watch Saab in the hotel rather than follow the team to the stadium. Whatever it was Saab had rambled about during his manic episode, The Hood clearly didn't want to miss in case it happened again. He'd been fixated on Saab's condition since waking up that morning, and even though the midfielder hadn't woken up yet, he seemed stable enough for The Hood to keep a single, solitary watch over him.

All of which left the Fennecs without their most influential player and their mysterious tactical guide.

What would The Hood do?

Sato surveyed his resources. He needed defenders, or at the very least he needed pace, height, coolness under pressure, and the ability to push players around.

El-Amin. Khoroushi. Al-Humaidi. Yes, they were attackers, but they were quick, and they understood how to find space in the opposition box. If they could do that there, it stood to reason they'd know how to prevent it at the other end, no? All they had to do was imagine they were attacking the Fennecs' own goal and simply occupy the space the Nordernious attackers would be attempting to score from. Surely. And El-Amin in particular was a tall and bullying presence in the box. He'd be able to protect the penalty area from set pieces.

And so that had been Sato's order. He had no idea if The Hood was following things from the hotel, but even if he wasn't he could imagine his brooding presence watching him from the shadows just fine. He'd popped out of surprising corners several times before that point, after all, and Sato couldn't actually rule out the possibility he'd made the journey to the stadium at the last minute anyway. It remained a plausible reality until proven otherwise.

Putting these thoughts out of his head, Sato attempted to focus on the game. The emergency 5-2-1-1 formation was doing it's job, just about, and although Petrosyan had been called into action by Scherer, Schweitzer, and Hofmann, the score remained two-one to the Fennecs. With seconds ticking down, Nordernious grew ever more desperate. The pressure built, and with only stoppage time remaining, The Fennecs found themselves with every player in their own half. Only Yamaguchi and Boulos remained outside of their own penalty area.

Then, with the seconds running down and Sato barely able to look, a hooked clearance from Alfarsi found the feet of the advancing Nordernious keeper on the edge of the centre circle as he urged the rest of his team forwards. Packing the box, the players flooded the area as the high ball floated in, with a header-on by Lucas Abendroth causing havoc as players from both sides scrambled to regain possession. Leaping over the outstretched leg of El-Hashem, Schweitzer found half a yard of space as he swivelled towards goal. The crowd held its collective breath. Surely not now, not at the last minute!

Sato looked away.

There was a thump from the pitch as a diving Ghufran El-Amin took the force of the shot heavy in the mid-riff, cushioning the ball unintentionally as it fell to the feet of Burakgazi. Taking no chances, the replacement defender attempted to hoof the ball as far from danger as possible. It just so happened that this was down the pitch towards the lonely Jurgen Wolf.

Lonely, that is, apart from Usama Boulos.

Of course, Boulos.

It had to be Boulos, Sato would remark later, thrust into the starting line-up by Saab's collapse after the intense drama caused by him losing the place to Saab in the first place... though at the time Sato's thoughts were of course little more coherent than, "WAARGAAAARRBL!"

Leaping forwards from the edge o the box as soon as Burakgazi kicked it, Boulos was onto the complacent Wolf in a flash, pressuring him and causing him to miscontrol the ball badly with his second touch. Dispossessing the keeper would probably have been enough given the amount of time left on the clock, and Yamaguchi was soon following on in space to give Boulos the outlet as Wolf pursued him desperately. But since when has Usama Boulos ever done things the easy way?

Showing the kind of confidence and impetuousness that had directly contributed to him being replaced by Saab, Boulos spun on a drawing pin and launched a first time half-volley the full length of the half, watching impatiently with growing joy as the ball bounced once, twice, three times, before trickling into the goal. Straight down the middle.

Three-one at the death!

Three-one! And the Fennecs had done it! Amnarei-asud were Baptism of Fire champions!

The exhausted players from both sides collapsed on the pitch in joy and despair as the tiny minority of Asud up in the stands celebrated as loudly as they could in the cavernous atmosphere of Nordernious' disappointment.

Far closer, Sato could hear the bench and the players cheering, with the distinct note of Simeone Al-Owairan's raucous celebrations behind him in the stands.

He even thought he could imagine the voice of The Hood, laughing and cheering in the shadows.

But, as he ran onto the pitch in celebration, all of these sounds were simply background noise to the deafening interior dialogue he was enjoying:

"I've done it! We've done it! We've only gone and bloody done it!"

Baptism of Fire 64 [Everything Thread]

Quarterfinals: Mriin

Bonesea BoF-64 SF

Semifinals: Amnarei-asud

Bonesea BoF-64 TPPO Result

3PPO: Great Caledonia and North Hybernia

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