World Cup 77 - Roleplay Thread

by **Flardania** » Sat Feb 25, 2017 6:53 pm

Kairaku is the largest city in the Taisuist Republic of Kirishima. It is located in Koyanagi Prefecture on the Island of Zipangu and is an economic, tech, fashion, entertainment, religious, political and lust based activities hub. The city is serviced by the Nia Tepplin Memorial International Airport and home to the Dreamscape Arena. To the North of the city is the sacred national park known as Cheongsonyeon Forest. While the forest is open to visitors 90% remains reserved for members of the Lake Shorian Faith. The city is also home to the Tetsuya G. Saeki Convention Expo Center, headquarters to the International Freedom Coalition and more. It is a city of high profile and stature and as such served as the perfect stage for the Kitsunes' match with Valanora.

The scene was tense as the Kitsunes were down 1-0 with three minutes to go. The mood was silent as Seong Mi-Soo looked to the score of the Brigantii-Sameba match on display. *Cue Music* 4-0 it read. The whole team, staff, and fans knew what this meant especially with Brigantii playing one of the easiest teams in the group in the next match, Ancharmunn. It meant that the Kitsunes qualification hopes were practically dashed draw or lose. Because of scheduling and their own lack of luck in the first half, they were in a position where anything short of a miracle would not be enough to save their dying hopes and dreams. The Kitsunes were going to fight hard in the next match regardless as there would always be a slim hope, however, it was time for the Kitsunes to do what they used to do as a lower rank team...spoil the fun. If the Kitsunes were potentially not going to qualify because of Valanora, hence taking something from them, then the Kitsunes were going to take something in return. Valanora's perfect qualifying record.

It was a free kick for the Kitsunes just outside the box...and well within Ako Izumi's goldilocks zone. Her free kicks were already deadly but playing abroad in the sunrise islands with tougher goalkeepers, strengthened her. "Just outside the box huh, that's a mistake. And mistakes can ruin perfection." Ako thought, being the angriest she ever was since the time a guy she had a crush on in middle school was not who she thought he was. Ako looked at the ball and the positioning of the keeper. "Tch too easy" she thought before kicking the ball just over the wall into the far corner of the net. The cheers of the fans put a smile on her face but that was it. There was no mood to celebrate, however, the cheers were for the classic Kitsune sequence that went well executed and was usually the bane of various teams in the past. Something that went back to the feudal days of Kirishima, A Hanko no saigo no kōi (Last act of Defiance).

With the final whistle blown, the excitement from the act of defiance was gone. Valanora was still going through and because of them, the Kitsunes may tragically end up going home due to bad luck. Sure there was always a Cup of Harmony and a way to save rank and experience but without facing stronger sides....the experience would be inadequate unless the team medaled. The walk into the tunnel, as a result, was a long and silent one.

"So that's it huh because we couldn't beat the damn Mercenary Islands, or beat Tomikosan or even beat Mriin in the first half, heck Sameba couldn't show up, of all days this is how it ends huh!" Rin yelled breaking the silence knocking over a table. Rin was a great and fun guy but as his expressive nature was clearly showing, his anger could come out at times as well.

Miyoko shook her head "Tch" was the sound she made before punching her locker. "Damn just only if I move quicker and stopped that goal." Miyoko stated.

Koharu who was currently topless save for a towel draped around her neck, was on her way to the shower before she stopped short. "Geez, well duh. We all could've done differently, but so could they." Koharu stated trying to increase the viewpoint of her teammates before Eizan got the wrong message.

"She's right, but who were we kidding? Like hell, we were going to be able to come back and find a world cup spot. We essentially had to pull off a Valanora after such a terrible first half. To think we of all teams would have a change of luck and qualify is laughable." Eizan stated.

"Enough"! Mi-soo yelled, shutting up the room. If anyone has a reason to be pissed or disappointed is me. If anyone is going to get punished, or reprimanded or criticized.....it's going to be me okay?' Mi-Soo added before taking a breath. "Look it doesn't matter how slim our chances are. It doesn't matter that a F.A that has a narrow world view is on the verge of being rewarded with the easiest opposition imaginable for their next match. Look we had a bad first half and we did something incredible regardless. We have a Cup of Harmony spot right in the bag, heck I bet we are the first team name on the list. Let's save moping around for if we really don't make the World Cup and if we have an early COH exit. Brigantii may have an easy opponent but they still need to play regardless how unlikely a slip up is. Look if we win and they fail to we can still be golden. They may have beat Sameba 4-0 but it wasn't five zero. We still have the goal differential and head to head matchup advantage. So we still have a tournament to compete in. Let's do our job and beat Tomikosan because I'm sure you'll feel awful if Brigantii failed to win and we couldn't capitalize on it. Alright? Great we still have work to do let's do this!

"Damn motivating players aaaand yourself is definitely the hardest part of being a manager. I need a drink....." Mi-Soo thought as she grabbed her jacket and stopped what she was doing. "I need a drink?" she thought before laughing to herself. "Yep, I really am sounding like my old man." Mi-soo added to her thoughts before leaving the locker room. In a few hours, she would be passed out in her room with a playbook clutched in her arms and tears streaming down her face.

by **Turori** » Sat Feb 25, 2017 7:04 pm

. . . .

. . . .
The entrance to Cocoabo Park

. . . .
. . . .

On the topic of Qualifying AND Cocoabo Preservation :: It was the final home fixture of the World Cup 77 Qualification campaign for the Turori Eels, and the implications were enormous. While the Eels were the better team on paper, they absolutely had to win or face elimination from the World Cup 77 Qualification race. Instead of hosting the game just steps from their training facility at Eel's Park in Eelandii; or, in the mega-fanatic hotbed of Cednia Beach, the Football Association of Turori decided, in collaboration with the Cocoabo Preservation Society, to host this match in the Cocoabo Forest at Cocoabo Park Arena.

The whole day was basically a massive advertisement for Cocoabo Preservation. Doors to the ground opened 12 hours before the scheduled evening kickoff time. There were Cocoabo-Related activities taking place both inside and outside the Arena. Outside the Arena, the activities were mostly educational in nature and included 'up close and personal' experiences where citizens and Cocoabo could mingle in close proximity. Every young Turorian child seemed to be at the event and, assuming all also attended the match, would likely have made the average age in attendance at Turori's Matchday 17 fixture the youngest in National Team history.

Inside the arena, seated guests were treated to a montage of events that ranged from historical to ridiculous. It was clear that the the money being spent both by the Preservation Society and by Tropicorp in the Cocoabo Forest was being spent. Whether it was well spent or not depends on ones definition of well spent. While there were not many folks in the arena early in the day, the first item on the video board was a historical montage called "Cocoabo In Sport" and feature the story behind the World Cup 30 era Cocoabo that actually represented the Turori National Team in official sporting competitions including World Cup Qualifying. It was an incredible story of patience and training from the citizens who were there. They linked the decision to train and use Cocoabo on the National Team back to the day's preservation events in noting that it was an "earlier time" when Cocoabo weren't as appreciated, so humanizing them and giving a reason for the whole nation to rally behind them was critical to their survival, and eventually things like the Cocoabo Preservation Society were created to continue that great work.

As kickoff time drew near, perhaps the single most spectacular - or ridiculous show took place. With the stadium over half full - many lingerers were still interacting with the Cocoabo outside the gates - the teams entered the field and prepared for the National Anthem. There was an awkward pause with the players lined up and many started to realize there were no flags in the stadium yet. Then, one by one, supporters started to look and point up into the sky.

Then, the situation became more clear, as the pair of skydiving Cocoabo aimed their way towards the center circle with the National Flags of Turori and Savojarna in tow.

Many of the fans were in awe and forgot to actually sing the Anthem. The Cocoabo didn't seem to miss a beat and both executed near-perfect landings inside the Center Circle, staggered by about 26 seconds in time. The sight of the Skydiving Cocoabo also seemed to pique the interest of the fans still lingering outside the stadium as the seats were now quickly filling in.

Once the match got started, the fans certainly got a show worth the trip from the Island Emirate over to the mainland and the Cocoabo Forest. With the Eels having averaged just 1.25 goals scored per game over the first 16 match days, many fans were just hopefully they would see a goal - any goal - scored, particularly for the kids. Instead, however, they were treated to what, in Turorian terms, would be considered a high-scoring affair. By halftime, the Eels were already up 2-0 and before full time they added a third to record their most emphatic victory of the World Cup 77 Qualifying campaign - and recent Turorian history. It didn't take long for some pundits to suggest that perhaps the Turori National Team should call the Cocoabo Park Arena as their home park moving forward!

As the dust settled, the emphatic victory was also crucially important in the Group 6 table as both Anglatia and Eastfield Lodge dropped points - Anglatia being held at home in a goalless draw with Great Caledonia and North Hybernia and Eastfield Lodge drawing 2-2 away to Mattijana. It sets up an intense finally matchday of action in what is undoubtedly the most exciting Group remaining in World Cup Qualifying. Just 6 of the 15 Groups still have even a single qualifying position up for grabs, but of those, only Group 6 realistically has two available spots where it is possible that the Group leaders entering Matchday 18 fails to reach The Royal Kingdom of Quebec and San Jose Guayabal. And that is exactly the situation the Turori Eels are hoping for as the Eels are currently on the outside looking in, just one point behind leaders Anglatia and level on points but short on goal differential in comparison with Eastfield Lodge. With the two leaders set to square off in what will likely instantly become a World Cup Qualifying classic, Turori will visit Group 6's bottom side, winless Kaisaru, knowing now that they are in control of their own fate, and a victory would send the Turori National Team to the World Cup 77 finals to be joined by the winner of the classic duel in Eastfield Lodge. Any other result would be a shame, not only for the Eel's who likely fail to qualify for the World Cup Finals if they drop points to Kaisaru - but also to the classic matchup in Eastfield Lodge, as if the Eel's do not win against Kaisaru, the amazing case of scheduling foresight pitting the top two teams against each other will have been rendered irrelevant.

Away fans headed to Kaisaru have been warned to bring multiple forms of identification and lots of cash currency with them due to the fact that the recent national instability has forced many government entities inside the Empirical Lands to Cease to Exist. Fans who didn't already have plans to attend the match in Kaisaru are also warned that flights to and from the Empirical Lands have largely been suspended or are subject to cancellation. The developing situation in Kaisaru is not seen currently as a threat to the safety of Turorian citizens. However, it could result in logistical hurdles that fans may not wish to deal with. The Football Association of Turori has announced that due to the uncertainty in the ability of fans to travel to Kaisaru for the Eels final match of the campaign, the Almintora National Stadium will be open to the public with no admission fee and the match will be live streamed on the video screen. Fans are encouraged to bring their own snacks, however there will be limited concessions available for the event.

Last.fm · by **Cosumar** » Sat Feb 25, 2017 7:15 pm

Top 3 Reasons Why You Must Watch Cosumar-95X Tonight

by Calandra Villalta
Courier Soccer Columnist

KALDUKOSIC -- The Vanquishers have been comfortably World Cup bound for some weeks, but tonight's Qualifying finale at Leviathan Arena is set to be a special occasion that transcends the task of advancing. If you live in the Fiefdom, call yourself a football fan and didn't claim a physical seat in the mere 26 seconds tickets were on sale, you simply HAVE to tune in tonight at 8 on CSBN. Let's count down the top three reasons why.

3. Chance To Displace Gregoryisgodistan From Group 11 Throne

95X is a respected regional rival that the team will always get up and play hard against even in a friendly. So it will be good competition. Plus, Cosumar has the added incentive of 1st place within reach. We've topped our Qualifying group for the last three World Cups running and Gethin Ramsey would love to keep that proud streak intact. But the most compelling reason why the Vanquishers really want to win the group is the simple fact of who currently leads it.

Gregoryisgodistan. Tensions between Cosumar and the infamous Esportivan dictatorship have been palpable since Lord Almighty Gregory ordered the executions of 39 members of the Heathen Front, Cosumar's most passionate traveling supporter group, after 90 members had already been slain by his forces. They visited Gregoryisgodistan at the start of the second leg of Qualifying and were supposedly caught influencing locals to question Lord Gregory. King James II responded by blacklisting Gregoryisgodistan from all trade or humanitarian aid and proposing punitive measures in multiple international governing bodies. Typically-pacifist Cosumarites have staged street demonstrations urging King James II for a stronger Cosumarite response to the atrocities, which involved a giant brownie cutter and utter eradication of the deceased's remains. Cosumarite social media have been flooded with outrage at Lord Gregory's regime and even the Gregoryisgodistani people. Footage surfaced of hundreds of thousands of them cheering on the gruesome executions.

For obvious emotional and political reasons that transcend football, Cosumar would like nothing more than to win against 95X tonight and symbolically dethrone Gregoryisgodistan from the top of Group 11. If the Vanquishers win, a Gregoryisgodistan loss against Zambanana would do the trick. It's not particularly likely, but the Foot Slaves have been inconsistent of late - being blown out by lowly Ndaku a couple matchdays ago. Keep your eyes on both games tonight to watch the drama unfold.

2. Gethin Ramsey's Final Game at Leviathan Arena

GETHIN RAMSEY
Only Cosumar coach to win a WCC tournament
Only Cosumar coach to reach Quarterfinals
Only Cosumar coach never to fail to qualify

Gethin Ramsey, a bona-fide Vanquishers icon after five-and-a-half cycles at the helm, finally announced his impending retirement on Monday night. The 76-year-old privately gave what was by all accounts an emotional speech to his players before the Olastor match (which they went on to win 6-2), and then delivered a more characteristically stoic, formal announcement to the press the following night.

Ramsey confirmed the long-held suspicion that he would say goodbye to the beautiful game at the conclusion of World Cup 77, citing health concerns and a desire to spend his remaining years with his family, in his homeland. The Fiefdom's favorite Nepharim will certainly be missed, but not one soul will detract from his legacy him for leaving sooner than hoped - even if his stated goal of taking Cosumar to the quarterfinals goes unfulfilled. "The Savior", as some supporters call him, has a permanent place in the annals of Cosumarite history - arriving at a crucial moment and transforming the fundamental nature and image of our national team. But he has suffered from chronic migraines throughout this Qualification campaign as well as acid reflex and other debilitating lung conditions, leaving him physically and mentally unable to do his best. ...And everyone knows that anything less than the best is not good enough for Gethin Ramsey.

Tonight will be a bittersweet moment for both Ramsey and the home crowd that has supported him over the years. As Ramsey graces the sideline of Leviathan Arena for one final time, the 100,000 in attendance are sure to let all of their appreciation pour over him. Ramsey's longtime captain, Anders Engström, hinted that the players and supporter groups might have something special in store for the oft-acrimonious but beloved gaffer. It is sure to be a special moment in the history of Cosumarite football - right up there with the touching tribute to Farris Crowley after World Cup 72. You don't want to miss it.

1. FSF to Unveil Permanent Monument to 129 Supporters Slain in Gregoryisgodistan

How can the home curtain call of a Cosumarite legend not be the #1 reason to watch tonight's match? Well, as I said before, some things are just bigger than the game.

As you surely know, 129 people - 129 unique and passionate individuals with their own stories and families - saw their lives simultaneously cut short for attempting to do positive humanitarian work while supporting their country in Gregoryisgodistan. These people are heroes. Their names are listed below.

It's sobering to see them all listed out like that...like we will tonight. Before the match, there will be a ceremony honoring the 129 members of the Heathen Front who never made it back to Cosumar. At the back of the section where the Heathen Front normally sits at Leviathan Arena, behind the home goal, a large plaque has been erected, engraved in rock, with each of the 129 names encircled by 129 stars. In addition, the Heathen Front, which still boasts over 2000 members, will leave 129 seats empty for the duration of the match out of respect for their compatriots who could not be with them tonight.

After the unveiling of the monument, as the Cosumarite national anthem is played before kickoff, all 129 names and faces will be shown on the jumbo screen during a 129-second moment of silence. The 95X football federation is also showing its support by adding a 129 patch to their shirts for this match.

This is a moment for our nation to come together in solidarity with our fallen brothers and sisters, heal, and recognize that further violence by retaliating against Gregoryisgodistan is not the way to honor them. Some things are bigger than sport, but sport also has a unique ability to unite people in such times of hurt. This is one of those occasions. Every Cosumarite should tune in, even if they have never watched a second of football in their lives.

by **Amnarei-asud** » Sat Feb 25, 2017 7:24 pm

From up here on the cliffs The Hood could see for miles. Down to his left, the main stand of The Rock stretched out before him. Beyond that, Ain Salah, and beyond that, the sea was just about visible as a blue arc on the edge of the world. On all other sides, beyond the initial landscape that obstructed his passage forwards, the desert stretched out until it became dunes or arid mountainous valleys.

He checked his map again. The southern Eyk cliff-edge. He was sure he was in the right place, so why couldn't he see the kismet? Kismet? Was it kismet or Kismet? He wasn't sure. What he was sure of though, was that nothing he could see around him looked like that image of the 9 year old temple entrance he'd been shown by the mysterious Amal a fortnight ago. He chuckled to himself as he moved over another crag and into a little gully where the wind had carved out a path from the solid rock. Him, a man who'd worn a hood over his head for the past however long it was, calling someone else mysterious.

She was mysterious, though. And not just in the hokey "oooh you don't know who I am" way that The Hood was. How on earth had she sent that rant to Saab, as she claimed? Was he in league with her? Had he been faking it on her command? Or was there something more sinister at work?

More questions, again. Still more questions than answers, and questions that The Hood had been thinking about for the past fortnight on his own. Fortunately, his stewing and self-introspection had managed to go largely unnoticed by Sato and the team. Whatever misdemeanour or misunderstanding had befallen Semarland had clearly been resolved in the eyes of the WCC, and they'd been allowed back into the tournament, thus finally eliminating the Fennecs' slim hopes once and for all. Therefore, it seemed natural to the players he was around that he'd be a bit upset. They were, too. But even despite that, they still didn't quite understand why he'd abandoned them once again for this final qualification stage match. It all seemed a bit odd. He'd tried to isolate Saab during the fortnight, too, to try and ascertain just how much he knew about Amal, if anything. He'd had no luck there, either, but was at least a little bit grateful that no further questions had arisen as a result of this action, or rather, lack of it.

"You're late," came a voice from behind him.

"We never set a time!" he protested, spinning around and facing Amal.

"I said in a fortnight. It's been a fortnight and three hours, fourteen minutes, and eight seconds," she smiled, betraying the joke, and looked him up and down from where she'd been leaning up against a pillar of rock.

"What?" he asked.

"Aren't you hot in that thing?" she asked, referring to his robes.

"You get used to it. Is this where it is then? This kismet," he asked, "only, I'm lost. I've definitely never been here before, in case that's relevant information."

"Look for yourself," said Amal stepping to one side.

Behind her, hidden partially by the pillar, a second gully led off from the first one, down into a little dip. In the centre of that dip, surrounded by the walls of the outcrop, lay a dry, dusty temple entrance. The kismet from the photo. "9 years old"

"Holy crap..." said The Hood, walking past Amal towards it. The closer he got, the more he realised the marks he'd assumed were carvings on the photographs weren't just simple arabian patterns at all, but were intricately stylised letters and words, running all the way around it. Measure roughly four metres in each dimension, and two metres tall, the recessed columns that were made to look like they were supporting it all seemed to have been carved from the same piece of stone. The Hood reached out a hand to trace the markings. The stone was cold, despite the blazing sunlight above them, and seemed to be made of a different rock to the outcrop they were on. He looked around, confused. There surely wasn't enough space between the walls of the gully and the kismet for it to have been a naturally occurring seam of different rock. Not on all four sides.

"It's definitely artificial," said Amal from behind him, confirming what he'd been thinking, "but I don't know how it got here. I don't think it matters, fortunately."

"What do the carvings mean?" asked The Hood.

"You can't read that?"

"No," said The Hood slowly, straining his eyes to look closer, just in case, "it just looks like a nonsense stream of letters, punctuation, and words that don't follow on from each other. The word 'string' seems to feature a lot, but I couldn't tell you why."

"I see," said Amal, joining The Hood at the apparent entrance, "that's interesting."

"Why, can you?"

"Yes, as it happens."

"And what does it say?"

"Not a lot. Just describes where we are, what it's made of. What the surroundings are like."

"You said it's a temple entrance?"

"I did," said Amal.

"Small temple," said The Hood.

"It's below us," corrected Amal, gesturing down with her eyes, "set into the cliff somewhere, underneath The Rock perhaps. My guess is that all three of the kismet lead into the same area. We're at this one because you recognised it, or seemed to, anyway. I just wish I could work out how to get in to the damn thing."

"It's strange," agreed The Hood, "I've definitely never been here before, but I feel like I know it well. In a previous life, almost."

Amal's eyes lit up and betrayed her excitement at this statement from The Hood.

"What?" he asked, spotting it, "How is that connected?"

"Oh-" started Amal with another coy smile on her face, like the ones she'd used at the museum.

"No," interrupted The Hood, "not this again. This time you're giving me answers. You're telling me what's going on. You said you 'sent' Saab that rant that he made. How? Is he a stooge? Can I not trust him?"

"It's complicated," started Amal, "but I can try to explai-"

"That's not good enough!" shouted The Hood, storming off to the side of the gully.

Amal walked over to him, calmly holding her arms out in front of her, "honestly, Hood. I wouldn't be holding things from you if I didn't think it was for your own good. Amnarei-asud has taken your memories from you, like it does with everyone. I can't just tell you everything. Your mind will reject it. I have to show you how to work it out yourself. And for that I need to know how to get into this temple."

"No!" shouted The Hood.

Frustrated, he snatched at a loose piece of rock on the gully wall, drew his arm back to to throw it, and looked menacingly at Amal. Deciding he wasn't capable of that, he instead chose to aim at the temple entrance. His fellow kismet. With a crash and a shatter, the rock broke straight through a shallow panel of stone that had previously been imperceptibly different to the rest of the structure. As the thin tablet piece fell away with a high pitched tinkle, Amal was already upon them like a shot.

"Incredible!" she shouted in glee, leaping over the sand and tracing her fingers over the new words and letters revealed by The Hood's little act of petulance.

"What?" he shrugged, "it's just more code."

"Yes, but it tells me how to get in!" said Amal excitedly.

The Hood watched as her eyes scanned across the lines quickly, and then looked confused as her shoulders slumped in disappointment.

"What?" he asked, "what is it?"

"It's a three-way lock," she explained, "a fail-safe to stop one random act of hacking from allowing access to the temple. There needs to be someone with designated file permissions at each kismet, otherwise the doors won't open. Who else can we bring?"

"See, this is what I mean," The Hood said simply, staring at her, unable to make sense of anything she'd said, "I don't understand what you're talking about. Who are you? File permissions?"

Amal sighed.

"Fine, listen," she started, "I'll tell you some of what you need to know. But the rest, and you must trust me on this, the rest you will need to decipher for yourself at a later date."

"Who are you?" persisted The Hood.

"I am who I said I was. A file manager."

"Yes, but for who?"

"For the ultimate administrator," continued Amal, cryptically.

"Who is that?" asked The Hood, thinking back to Saab's rant and the bits he had sort of worked out. This not being one of them. He went back to his pocket and reciting again:
"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.
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."

"Think about it, Hood," replied Amal, we're at a temple. Of sorts, anyway..."

The Hood frowned, a quizzical look on his face. "God?"

"The gods." corrected Amal.

"They're real?!"

"In a way," mused Amal, "not in the way you're thinking, though. We're really more a kind of custodian. We keep things ticking over."

"You're a god," said The Hood sceptically.

"A minor one, I suppose. If you want to insist on using the term 'gods', I suppose I am one, yes."

"Then, why are you here?" asked The Hood, agreeing tacitly to go along with this and meet her at least halfway for the time being.

"Because, as I know you've worked out, the world is messed up," explained Amal, leaning into the limited shade created by the kismet, "something went wrong a long time ago and corrupted a whole host of source code for the universe. Amnarei-asud in particular. It's a safe assumption that the corruption in this country isn't all down to the government; something is badly messed up with the writing that creates this entire place."

"Source code?"

"It's where most of the creationist religions come closest to the truth," replied Amal.

"So, this is a simulation? A computer game?" asked The Hood.

"In a way. I'm not saying there's one guy out there controlling your every move and deciding what's going to happen to next with every stroke of his keyboard, but to a certain extent you're an executable operating within certain parameters set out by this code."

"And you manage it?"

"Some of it, yes," confirmed Amal, "but, like I said, I'm only a 'minor god'; a file manager. Different levels of administration have different permissions. I can see the code written into everything, and I can detect errors, but I can't just go around creating and destroying stuff. That's not within my permissions. I can temporarily use remote access to control other 'executables' - that's how I spoke to you through Saab that time - but it isn't advised. "

"So, this doorway?" realising he'd actually been right with his hunch that Saab's rant had been technological in origin.

"Can't touch it," said Amal.

"But, I can?"

"Ah yes," smiled Amal, "as I believe you've probably worked out, Hood, you're a bit wrong. You don't belong here. Whatever fracture in the code has happened won't have happened without backup and reboot failsafes being built into the system. Unfortunately for me, I don't have the permissions to access them, as they go above my head. Even more unfortunately, nobody in charge and nobody in Amnarei-asud has really noticed the problem with their memory yet."

"And, this failsafe is in the temple?" asked The Hood, catching on.

"It is. It's like a backup is hidden down there somewhere, we just need to get down there and activate it."

"Why a temple, by the way?"

"Hm?"

"Why is the backup not in a library or something? Why is it in a temple?"

"Oh, that's just our little joke," explained Amal, "it's what we call temporary file stores, so that's how they appear."

"Why me, though?"

"Because you fragmented, Hood! You feel things are different. You detect these connections with other fragmented artefacts like you can't with other Asud, because they don't have them. For whatever reason, and I'm genuinely really not sure why on this one, when this big change happened to Amnarei-asud, you weren't affected in exactly the same way. It went a bit wrong, and you weren't subjected to the same lines of coding as everyone else."

"And now?"

"And now the writing you just uncovered with your wanton vandalism talks about the three passkeys encrypted in the artefacts called the griffon, the joker, and the hacker. It's quite clever really," enthused Amal, "your errors are unique, and so these coding errors are what is being used to grant access to the backup in the temple. You need to be returned to the location of the backup, otherwise it won't work, and I can't get in. I suppose it would be like changing a tablecloth with plates still on it. You need to be shaken off it first, so the only way to access it requires all three artefacts being returned."

"Hang on, I'm an artefact?" asked The Hood, incredulously.

"You are," smiled Amal, "you, Saab, and Al-Tanaka. Walking runtime errors, waiting to happen."

"We haven't happened yet?"

"Well, the whole thing is unstable, Hood. It's why I'm so anxious to get you down there. I don't know what could still happen to make it harder for me."

The Hood looked around, his head spinning with this raft off new information. Maybe he'd preferred living in ignorance. Maybe the idea of living without memories forever wasn't such a bad proposition, now.

"Where are Saab and Al-Tanaka," continued Amal, "can you get them here?"

"Saab is at the game, I assume," shrugged The Hood, thinking of the Fennecs and wondering how they were getting on without him, "but Al-Tanaka is on the President's flagship. He's a prisoner by any other name."

"Ah."

"There's no way I can get him here," said The Hood, thinking of his previous near miss and feeling his blood run cold despite the heat. He didn't fancy running that gauntlet again. "None at all."

"Okay," said Amal, a plan clearly formulating behind her eyes, "I can probably manipulate my own permissions and applied skins long enough to fool one of the temple entrances, but we'd still need the third person. What about Saab?"

"Possibly? I don't know, really," shrugged The Hood, "I could ask the team to do some hill training I suppose, and then ask him if he wants to look at this cool temple I found... what will happen to the last plate?"

"Al-Tanaka?"

"Yes," said The Hood, concerned, "he won't be here."

"Well, we might just have to take that risk," said Amal.

"So I just need to bring Saab to one of the other temples and tell him to stand there for a bit?"

"Saab can't know," enforced Amal quickly, grabbing The Hood by the shoulder, "he isn't affected in the same way as you. Hitting him with this much information as you might break him entirely. You have to get him here under false pretences. I'll work out which of the other two entrances he has to get to."

"Why do I feel like you're keeping a lot of information from me, here?" asked The Hood warily, "You sent that rant to Saab, what was all that stuff about water damage, and being shut down? And what will happen to Al-Tanaka if he isn't here?"

"When the time comes, Hood," explained Amal, this time with a hardness behind her eyes that he hadn't seen before. A warning not to press too far, "the consequences may be unexpected. I do not wish to alarm you or scare you off. Best I keep some things to myself for now."

The Hood swallowed against the hard knot that had suddenly appeared in his throat.

"You need to come back here again, Hood," she continued, with a grave tone in her voice, "only this time, you need to bring Saab with you."

"And then we can fix Amnarei-asud? Fix everyone's memories? Fix me?"

"...in a way," Amal said, avoiding the question and refusing to meet The Hood's eye.

"So," continued The Hood, oblivious to this evasion and distracted by more practical matters, "just how am I supposed to kidnap the team's best player without anyone noticing?"

The sun beat overhead with an audible pulse, or was that the blood rushing in The Hood's ears? He watched as Amal held out her hands with a shrug, and looked to the sky. The dust rising from a distant sandstorm was giving the afternoon light a strange orange tone. For more reasons than one, The Hood started to feel like it was the end of the world.

by **Eura** » Sat Feb 25, 2017 7:30 pm

OOC - Continued from here.

Dark clouds rumbled over the suburban sprawl of Oakstone. Fires flickered in the night, the burning embers of a battle fought with tooth and nail. The war between Eura and Sameba was now months into its course, and after a lengthy advance, the Sameban Army had come to a halt in the Euran megacity of Oakstone. They had never been expected to get this far, but nevertheless the Eurans had been ready. Three Army Corps had been brought forward, armed to the teeth, with the support of hundreds of thousands of civilian volunteers as the wider population evacuated south. After the throwing of nukes, of tanks and men into meatgrinders across the borderlands, airstrikes and naval battles, a real point of potential decisiveness had been reached. The Sameban Army now couldn't stop, with the Eurans apparently not in any mood to negotiate, nor could the Eurans allow the humiliation of losing a major city to the crackpots up north. Everyone knew it even if they were too scared to admit the significance of this one titanic battle, involving millions of troops on both sides. In the first two weeks, the Sameban's had taken fourteen districts of the city's north and upper centre, but were taking heavy casualties on the ground and in the air. The Euran Army was fighting an unusual asymmetrical defensive battle defined by urban warfare and siege tactics, holding back its mechanised military leviathan in some respects while trying to grind the Samebans down as much as possible. Despite this reality, it seemed that after several weeks, a stalemate was settling in. The Samebans had set up camp in a factory ground on the northern outskirts, while the Euran Army had turned the Oak House football stadium into a command and control centre of epic proportions. Standing in the middle of that stadium were a couple of journalists from Mertagne. They had quite a story to tell.

To the north of Oakstone, indeed well beyond the north of the city and a number of smaller towns and cities that were now worryingly quiet under Sameban occupation, the invaders had been mostly in control for well over a month. It was around that time that Monty and Kat, buried under quite a lot of concrete and struggling to survive, had been told the news by Lieutenant Brown. The CO had finally got a full update on every sickening detail of the first few weeks of the war above, with his soldiers having spent most of their time pinned down underground. He laid it all out, leaving everyone in shock. Then came the disaster. A loud explosion, a terrible groaning and crushing sound, before the collapse of several tunnels. Whatever caused it, First Section were on their own, with only the journalists, Lieutenant Brown and three other infantrymen for company. Before long the water was tainted and food supply running low. Brown had to make a judgement call and fast. 'You know why we are all here.'
'To sign our own death warrant?'
'Shut the fuck up, Stein.' Stein's wounds had healed somewhat but she remained not quite ready for action. Miraculously 1st Sections only other casualties so far were anyone with minor wounds and Private Neerall, who had succumbed to a gunshot wound a week ago following some brutal tunnel fighting. 'We can't stay down here forever. The front has moved south, meaning Sameban forces are likely in transit above us. God knows how many of our boys have managed to keep on fighting, but we have to presume they have all pulled back. That was certainly Wattlove's plan, its just our bad luck that we were covering the escape when we got cut off. We don't have much food or water, but everyone here is combat capable and we have a fair amount of ammo and kit. That means this is probably the only chance we will get to leave the fortification network and move south up top, on foot, without walking into thousands of Green conscripts. Any objections?' It was unusual for Brown to consult the rank and file, but realistically none of them were going to object.

Among all the chaos there was allegedly a documentary in the making, but the journalists had filmed or written little in the past week or so as desperation set in. Monty was quietly convinced they were going to die. Kat was more optimistic, but despairing over the brutality she had witnessed. Rowan, by comparison, was somewhat sanguine about it all. 'You know Kat, it could be worse.'
'How?'
'We could have been killed in the assault. Or captured even. Can you imagine that?'
'Yes, but I'm not going to, and if you bring it up again I'm going to break you. Got that?' Rowan learned his lesson and none of the trio spoke to one another as they quietly followed Eura's finest through the maze of fortifications they had become encased inside. The stench of decay in the upper levels was overwhelming. It became very clear why the closer to the exits they got, as the bodies of Samebans and Eurans alike piled up in different bunkers. For whatever reason, the Samebans hadn't returned for their dead, perhaps having given up on fully cracking these positions once they had been overrun. Trying to get out was a frustrating experience as the squad found several blocked entrances first, before finally stumbling across a blast door designed for vehicle access, which was very unusual this near to the border. Lance Corporal Barton was the one with the appropriate training to open it, so he got to work with his laptop while the others double checked their equipment and prepared to embrace the madness of the world above. None of them could be entirely sure what was waiting for them on the surface. Sergeant Mace was being as paternal as ever in making sure that complacency wasn't an issue. 'I want to get you all home safe, all right? A lot of people have died but that doesn't mean we have to as well. I don't want to see any heroics, just keep it calm and clinical. We are going to stay down, we are going to stay quiet, and we are going to get back home in one piece.' For the next few moments First Section digested Mace's pep talk in stoic silence. This was going to be tough. Being captured likely meant summary execution of torture, but dying wasn't a fun prospect to think about either. Unfortunately, hiding was no longer an option, and there was a war waiting to be won after all.

by **San Jose Guayabal** » Sat Feb 25, 2017 7:43 pm

And this is the end, now you're under pressure!

Matchday Eighteen Cutoff

by **Spaam** » Sun Feb 26, 2017 4:01 am

”...the Socialist Northern Islands got the consolation goal at the end, but the penalty from Elzeros and the brace from wunderkind Sehelin ensured that Spaam finishes the qualifying season unbeaten at home. Unfortunately, it will take a miracle for them to qualify as Veldgouwen are overwhelming favourites to win tonight’s match against Hirvania. We’ll be back after the break…”

Queen Oruzaadov, supreme monarch of the Disunited Kingdom of Spaam, turned off the radio in disgust, as giant, scarred behemoth of a man walked into her office. She dismissed her aide with the wave of her hand, who left the room, closing the door behind him. The man, who was bald and had a face that looked like it had been repeatedly broken into pieces and put back together badly, again and again, waited calmly in front of her desk.

“Did you punish Brother Alea for his failure?” the queen finally asked after a minute.

“Yes, your majesty,” the man replied, in a deep, toneless voice, “he was nailed to the cross-bar.”

“Very well. You will go and lead the remainder of the Defenders. They must continue to appease Margaret; perhaps she will show us mercy in the Cup of Harmony.”

“Your will is my command, your highness.”

“Now leave me.” The regent again dismissed the man with the wave of her hand, who left the office, also closing the door behind him.

The future of the nation had always been her primary concern, since she had taken the rule from her father twenty years ago. For over fifty years her family had been trying to rebuild her country, after its almost complete destruction over a hundred years of brutal war. Slowly, ever so slowly, it had been returning to a fraction of its former glory. The World Cup was to be the thing that would unite its people, to push the population to glorious new heights of productivity and innovation, as they did hundreds of years ago. But everything she had done was to naught; their fantastic spaaming machine had been sabotaged and destroyed by that traitorous young archaeologist, and now their goddess Margaret had forsaken them. As they said, it would take a miracle for them to qualify.

Of course, there was another chance in four years time, but four years was a long time for a small nation. And she had spent so much energy, money and people to get this far. It was not fair that she had come so close for it to be taken away from her. Queen Oruzaadov pressed a button on her desk, and an aide came to the door, a young woman.

“Fetch me some wine,” the ruler said imperiously. It was time to start looking forward, as she always had. There were many ways to accomplish tasks, and there was still the Cup of Harmony to look forward to. Though something niggled at the back of her mind, something incongruous. She shook her head, as her aide came back with her wine. The young woman put a golden chalice on her desk, and poured in some red wine from a decanter, before putting next to the chalice and stepping back quietly. Sniffing the wine, she took in the aroma before taking a sip. It was delicious, and should have immediately calmed her, but there was still something bothering her.

Picking a pen up off the desk, she began to write, pausing only to start to ask her aide for the evening edition of the news. That was when she realised what she had missed.

“Mela Lunaan.” The queen said her name as an accusation.

“Your majesty.” The young woman replied in kind, her eyes burning with anger at her regent.

“You dare show your face here, after what you did in the cavern? I will have you executed for your treason!”

“My treason? My treason? You have been playing with people’s minds and lives! People have died because of your manic plans. You can’t manipulate the media or invoke divine intervention to win football games, they have to be won through skill!”

“That is immaterial! I will do whatever it takes to make Spaam great again!”

“It has to be done through hard work and honesty, not through crazy ideas!”

“You are a sad little girl. You will never amount to anything!” The queen produced a revolver from under her desk and pointed it at the archaeologist.

“Perhaps, but at least I can stop the bloodshed.”

“You can’t stop… me…” As Queen Oruzaadov tried to get her words out, her hand faltered. She tried to stand up, but couldn’t get out of her chair. “What… did you…”

“Iocane powder, your majesty. Long live the queen.” Mela turned and walked out of the office.

”And that’s full time! Hirvania has managed to pull out a scoreless draw against Veldgouwen in an amazing game and the visitors will be bitterly disappointed not to take the three points…”

“So you made a decision, then, Margaret.”

“I guess I did, Mike.”

“Spaam in the World Cup… it’s been a long time since that happened, and we’re gods.”

“I gave them a leg up. From now on, they’re on their own. I have a feeling that they won’t be so fervent in their worship anyway.”

“No, I guess they won’t, Maggie. Hey, feel like causing a plague in Sarian?”

“Might as well, never liked them much anyway.”

by **Tinhampton** » Sun Feb 26, 2017 6:37 am

OOC: The text below the Tinhampton Herald headline is a roleplay unto itself, not the story.

REBUILD THE WALL 0-1 TINHAMPTON: NUCLEAR NO-SHOW ROUNDS OFF THE COMPETITION

Another early Priscilla Evans winner secures victory for Tinhampton, helping Miners hit the 30-point mark
Rebuild The Wall 0 -- Tinhampton 1 (Evans 0'14')

The Ryan's Garage Arena was never the most active of places in Tinhampton. There was occasional speculation about who would move to the Guns, or why the Social Democratic List was set for another emphatic victory, or why Tinhamptonian New Year on the 26th of February even happened (or whether it would supersede regular New Year's), but those were matters to be left behind. For now, a team comprised of Tinhampton City reserves, staff and fans took to the pitch and racked up some astounding results.
It started with the compilation of players, then the draw, then the "Tins Full Of Fun" thought up by a Gregoryisgodistan journalist. The qualification phase itself started with a damp squib of a 1-0 loss to Electrum, thanks but no thanks to a free kick from Abigail Knight, before a late goal by Mohammed al-Khazr helped us gain a 1-0 victory, our first. This was then followed up by our biggest victory, 5-1 against fellow minnows the Andromeda Archipelago (coming back from 1-0 down at half-time). Our fourth game continued this seemingly never-ending streak of victories and increased our confidence, walking away 2-1 victors against New Gazi, with stoppage-time goals from Simon Wood and al-Khazr again.
With the end of the beginning nigh, it was a surprise to nobody that Tinhampton was agonisingly by superior outfits twice over - by the Boring Paradise 3-1 at home (a by-product of a failed attempt to snatch a point), and against Ethane 1-0 away (a result of a red-card and a 77th-minute penalty). Despite only needing to beat Damukuni 3-0 to go above them in the table, it turned out to be the opposite story, as we forfeited 3-0 due to protests about our staff. It looked like our staff swap was working, as we came out victorious by a goal in the next two games - coming back to defeat Korizland 2-1 on their turf, before defeating Rebuild The Wall 1-0 with a strike from Priscilla Evans. Some would argue that 12 seconds was not enough time to do the now-nuked opposition justice.
And so to the second half of qualifying, where we were unable to replicate shocks from the likes of Freyhill in Round 10, again going down 1-0 to the Electrumites (with Jake Latham heading in the 85th-minute winner this time around). After another 1-0 victory in Cetheque, followed by a disappointing scoreless draw against the Andromeda Archipelago's visitors, a 3-1 loss to New Gazi (which ruled both sides out of winning the group, a spot all but assured by Ethane) was supposed to be the tip of the iceberg in terms of the sixth-placed squad's all-round awfulness... right?
As it turned out, the Miners (as fans had started calling them) were not ready to go down without a fight, starting their final-five renaissance by winning 2-0 at the Boring Paradise, a move followed up by a 1-1 draw against Ethane, only the second draw for the Red Kites (more impressive, given the fact that we led for three minutes). Despite being eliminated after another one-all draw at Damukuni (seen by many as an excellent result against the world's 20th-best team), we came back in style with a 2-0 victory at Korizland, rounding off with another 1-0 victory against Rebuild The Wall's team (or lack of thereof). You will not be surprised to learn that Priscilla Evans tapped in a 14-second goal to secure this, followed by another early exit.
This was an impressive campaign from an unranked team widely expected to do worse, but which could have done better. It was the second-best qualifying performance from any unranked team (after Spaam, who ended up qualifying for the actual thing), and the last such team to be eliminated (after just 16 rounds). With this, Tinhampton are expected to gain a KPB score of around 6.67, as well as a strong position in the KPB table. A few silly mistakes early on were largely rectified, even if it was too late.
And what of the Tinhampton Football Association, you may ask? Well, although Election Season is well underway, Tinhampton's four largest parties have guaranteed to recognise the TFA as sovereign if they win (a line set to be followed by whoever they end up in a coalition with), marking a break in attitude with mandating that Tinhamptonians play for the federal team. In addition, Tinhampton are set to sign up for the 78th World Cup, one of the few certainties in an otherwise foggy world. As for the distant future, the provisional TFA management are writing up "Operation Centurion" - a plan to help our team hoist aloft the World Cup by its 100th iteration - as I speak...

by **Abristan** » Sun Feb 26, 2017 9:39 am

Tyler drained the dregs of his juice, and tapping Darren on the shoulder motioned to the door.

"Lets get out of here mate. Maybe we should go and help at that damn fan rally Jacko emailed us about. Take our mind off the bloody draw with Verceola".

Tyler and Darren roused the other members of their gang, slumped on the couches, before strolling out into the bright light of the Abristani wintery morning. They headed on the bus down to Valewood Square, and turned the corner from the bus stop to see a huge figure leaning over a diminutive looking man dressed in a very formal shirt and smart shoes...

5 minutes earlier...

Simon Cathcart climbed hesitantly up the rickety ladder on to the steel balcony of the quaint Falchioni restaurant in Valewood Square. The first three or four steps were fine, but after that his vertigo began to kick in, and with his head swimming had to squint to prevent himself being sick. Reaching the top of the ladder, he had to haul himself over the rough steel of the balcony, and he flopped lamely onto the cold metal floor. He sat their dazed for a moment before remembering why he had climbed up there in the first place, and he unfurled the green and white banner he had folded over his shoulder. The words We are proud of you were emblazoned on the sign, along with an Abristani FA crest.

As a member of the national football fan club he had been invited to put up decorations for the event to commemorate the end of Abristan's first world cup qualification. Even if they hadn't qualified they had picked up five pretty decent win, and a couple of hard fought draws, and so most fan club members had agreed to come out to Valewood to support the team on their return. Simon was quite strange for a fan club member. Unlike most members, who could be described as 'passionate' to be polite, Simon was a quiet, unassuming man who worked for law firm Zayne And Associates, who had their head offices here in Valewood. He had just finished work, and had dashed here to help the other members, some of whom had been working in the square for hours.

Simon grabbed the staple gun out of his tool belt the overseer had given him and holding one end of the banner against a wooden telephone pole, pulled the trigger, securing it firmly in place. He turned and grabbing the other end of the banner secured it to a convenient hook hanging out of the wall of the restaurant. Trembling he went back to the balcony edge, and slowly lowered himself onto the stepladder again and descended to the floor, only to find the hulking figure of Matty Falchioni standing over him. Simon gulped and backed away and Matty frowned at him angrily.

"Thats my bloody wall you stuck that monstrosity to you know! Did I give you and your hooligan friends permission to stick stuff to my restaurant. No I bloody well did not. So you better get back there and take it down, and maybe we can forget anything ever happened".

"Im so sorry Mr Falchioni. I had no idea. My overseer just told me-"

"I don't care for your excuses mister, just get the banner down".

Simon groaned inside. He hated heights and this idiot was making him go up again. Suddenly he heard footsteps behind him and turned to see a group of the other members of the fan club behind him. He sort of recognised the man at the front of the pack. His name was Rider or something like that.

"You don't have to obey that idiot mate. Leave the damn banner where it is". Tyler turned to face Mr Falchioni. "And you, I expected better, even from a terrible chef like you. Aren't you a damn patriot mate? Don't you want to support our team? Or maybe if you don't want to support the team maybe me and my friends won't support your damn business".

Matty walked over to Tyler, standing a good three inches over him. "You don't scare me Tyler White. And if have far more customers than you and your merry bloody men".

Darren, Ahmed, Denny and Mikal all stepped forward, along with a few other of the fan-club members who knew Tyler.

"Tyler may not scare, but do you really want to fight all...", Denny looked around, counting the men, "11 of us. A couple of Verceola fans tried to mess with us mate, and you don't wanna know what happened to them".

Matty grunted, but backed off into his restaurant. Denny and others jeered as he slammed his door behind him. Simon looked fearfully at Denny.

"So what did you do to the Verceola fans?"

Denny burst out laughing.

"Absolutely nothing. You really believed that nonsense. We may look like thugs to people like you and Matty but we are decent really. You want some help with the rest of those banners?"

Simon nodded before stepping forward and shaking Denny's outstretched hand.

by **Mercedini** » Sun Feb 26, 2017 2:20 pm

Newsdesk: 26/02/17
@ Zoloroni Sports City Stadium - Zoloroni, Mercedini

Hello and Welcome to today's edition of Newsdesk, where we give you all the developing stories around the multiverse, broadcasting in Mercedini and across the multiverse. We're back with more sports coverage regarding Mercedinian teams and teams from across the multiverse. We have a HAYOOOOOOGE developing stories in multiple sports across the country so let's get riiiiight into the noooz. Starting with World Cup Qualification.

World Cup Qualification: Glory Glory Hallelujah

FINAL SCORE
WCQ | MD16
MERCEDINI 4
Billic 17', 44', Presic 21', Chillotov 90+4'
WEST ANGOLA 2
Taylor 37', Ricardo 79'
Zoloroni, Mercedini

Mercedini had finally done what they had never done before and that is to qualify for arguably the biggest tournament in sport, the World Cup. They finally pushed themselves over the finished line with an emphatic yet surprising victory over Pot 3 team West Angola. There was plenty to anticipate going into the match with Mercedini only needing a point to advance while Wast Angola needed a win to keep their slim qualification hopes alive. The players entered the cauldron which was the Sports City Stadium with Mercedini expected to hold the advantage after their 2-2 draw in West Angola. Once again, Bjarnasson picked his strongest team to see the game through and to ensure the players who got them this far finished the job off. The match kicked off with Mercedini potentially ninety minutes away from a flight to Quebec and San Jose Guayabal. Both teams seemed up for the match with West Angola serving the early pressure in the game, the lone striker Ricardo stinging the palms of Hosset in the opening ten minutes, giving the West Angolans a chance that they could keep their hopes alive. However, it was the home side who opened the scoring with a well worked goal which started on the wing, Presic worked his way to the by-line and beat his defender with a cheeky nutmeg he sprinted into the box and scythed it across the face of goal, the goal was put on a plate for the unmarked Billic who tapped the ball into the net, sending the Sports City Stadium into pandemonium with only 17 minutes on the clock. The game restarted but it was clear that West Angola had not learnt their lesson in defence as four minutes later, Mercedini doubled their lead thanks to a goalkeeping which gave Ross Presic an unlikely yet vital goal. It game from another attack down the wing with Crasic controlling the ball well on the half way line before releasing a long diagonal ball towards Presic who rushed forward with the ball. Once again, he let out an early fizzing cross into the box before Billic but this time the star striker couldn't get a touch on the ball, but inexplicably the ball ended up in the net after the goalkeeper couldn't cover the post and the cross went straight in, he couldn't dive for the original ball due to Billic being dangerous in the air but the home fans in the stadium rejoiced as their team went 2-0 up in 21 minutes. West Angola got a goal back thanks to a fierce Taylor header which halved the defecit and gave the visitors a chance, but Mercedini put one foot into the World Cup just before half-time thanks to a second goal from Billic. A simple pass forward to Billic who cut in and curled the ball into the net to give Mercedini 3-1 lead going into halftime. The teams came back out for the second half with the relief in the stadium palpable. The teams kicked off once again with Mercedini almost home and dry. West Angola made it difficult for the hosts with the West Angolans holding the lion's share of possession and having a multitude of dangerous chances to get another goal in this game, those chances came into fruition with about ten minutes of the game remaining with a low drive from Ricardo beating the dive of Hosset and giving the visitors a faint chance of a comeback. After the restart, the match's intensity was turned to 11 and West Angola thought they had an equaliser but the offside flag was held up very late and the celebrations had to stop, what happened next will probably go down in Mercedinian sporting folklore.

Mercedinian Sports Daily wrote:90+4' - (MRC 3-2 WAG) - This is probably West Angola's last chance in this game, they have a corner and we've seen them score a goal from a corner before, let's see if they can repeat this feat. It would be heart-breaking for the Mercedinian fans if they scored at this late late stage. The goalkeeper is up for West Angola to get that extra man. The cross comes...and... it's headed out by Nymark!!! The ball comes out and it's a foot race to the ball between Chillotov and one of the West Angolan defenders. Chillotov gets there first and punts the ball forward for him to chase once again. He's gonna get there and it's an open goal if he wants to shoot. There it goes!! The ball is flying towards the goal is it gonna sneak in...it..IS!!!! GOALL!!!!! Ben Chillotov has finished the match off with Mercedini's fourth goal of the game to give Mercedini the three points. We're going to the World Cup folks. We're going to the World Cup. 4-2!

At the end of the match, the crowd celebrated their nation earning their World Cup berth as the team piled on top of one another to celebrate their victory. A 4-2 win was more than enough for Mercedini to send themselves through to the World Cup finals for the first time.

FINAL SCORE
WCQ | MD17
KERNOVI 1
no roster 49'
MERCEDINI 5
Alotic 5', Aznelik 45+1', Dostalok 55', 88', Kraljic 73'
Kernovi City, Kernovi

With Mercedini already qualified and Kernovi already eliminated, there wasn't much to play for in the match apart from ranking points and pride. Considering they qualified in the earlier match, Bjarnasson elected to field many of the substitutes who had been waiting in the wings while the first team got the nation through to their first World Cup Finals and boy did they perform. A 5-1 thrashing in Kernovi stated the case for many of them to be included in the first team with four players getting on the score sheet including a brace for Handon United's own Daniel Dostalok. The match was a bit of a damp squib with both teams playing in an empty stadium on a cold night in Kernovi. The opening minutes were slow from Kernovi and they were caught out on a very early counter attack which ended up with Charlie Alotic getting his first competitive goal by slotting the ball between the legs of the goalkeeper and into the net, finishing a deadly move for Mercedini. Mercedini doubled their lead before the break with a headed goal from Aznelik in first half stoppage time which wrapped up the game before the interval, the couple hundred who had bothered to travel to Kernovi applauded their team as they ended the first half two goals to the good. Bjarnasson stuck with his team which seemed to be cruising to another win, with the household names such as Billic, Chillotov and Hosset watching on from the bench. In the second half, Kernovi burst into life with a goal which hardly anyone was anticipating. That goal ignited a bit of energy into the Kernovian team but they were scythed down moments later as Dostalok followed up his impressive competitive debut with a goal as he chipped the oncoming goalkeeper after a tremendous through ball from Kraljic put it on a plate for Dostalok, and the quote 'rising star' at Handon United in Schottis dispatched the chance with ease, re-establishing Mercedini's two goal lead in the fixture. Further goals from Kraljic and a second from Dostalok rounded out an impressive away result which matched their best result of the campaign this far and meant Mercedini held plenty of momentum going into their final game.

FINAL SCORE
WCQ | MD17
MERCEDINI 4
Dostalok 11', Crasic 23', Pujanic 59', Jackic 72'
PRUSY KROLEWSKIE 1
Keineheismann 18'
Zoloroni, Mercedini

Mercedini rounded out their campaign with a thirteenth win in qualification, finishing their qualification campaign at the Sports City Stadium with another big win over Prusy Krolewskie. As was the last match, there wasn't much to play for but that didn't stop the home fans from creating a party atmosphere for their final match of qualification before they officially enter the World Cup Finals. The match began with a flurry of goals in the opening thirty minutes with both teams scoring in a frantic first half. As is usually the case, Mercedini opened the scoring with Daniel Dostalok linking up well with Kraljic before sending in a low shot which beat the dive of the goalkeeper and ended up in the net, giving Mercedini another lead. Prusy struck back almost instantly with a defensive lapse from Mercedini which let in Kleineheismann for a one-on-one with the oncoming, he calmly rounded the goalkeeper and slotted the ball into the net for the equaliser, even though it was irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. The action wasn't done yet as Prusy didn't get themselves organised in time for another Mercedian attack. Alotic found himself in space down the wing and cut inside before sending a lofted a ball to Crasic whose half-volley was hit with enough force to carry the ball in despite the Prusy goalkeeper getting a strong hand to the shot, 2-1 to Mercedini, the madness subsided in the end and that was how it stayed going into half-time.
Going into the second half, not much changed but Mercedini maintained and enhanced their dominance in the match where Prusy were only really playing for pride. The match was ultimately sealed mid-way through the second half with further goals from Pujanic and Jackic but the game far from Prusy's reach as the Golden Eagles rounded out an impressive qualifying run with another win to send them to the World Cup Finals in style.

   Group 12                                  Pld    W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts     H     A
 1 Vilita                                     18   13   4   1    47   21  +26    43    4-5   1-5
 2 Mercedini                                  18   13   3   2    47   25  +22    42
 3 Savalen                                    18    9   4   5    48   38  +10    31    4-3   1-0
 4 Gadirya                                    18    8   4   6    29   23   +6    28    0-0   2-1
 5 West Angola                                18    7   4   7    36   33   +3    25    4-2   0-0
 6 Kitsunia-Deesse                            18    6   5   7    36   35   +1    23    2-0   3-2
 7 Prusy Krolewskie                           18    6   5   7    30   30    0    23    4-1   1-0
 8 Schutzenphalia and West Ruhntuhnkuhnland   18    5   2  11    20   40  −20    17    5-1   5-2
 9 Kernovi                                    18    3   6   9    21   38  −17    15    3-0   5-1
10 Collatis                                   18    0   3  15    17   48  −31     3    2-2   1-0

It speaks for itself, Mercedini sit second with a massive 11 point margin between themselves and Pot 2 side Savalen, many expected Mercedini to be struggling in this group and for Savalen and West Angola to be fighting it out for the other spot, they were wrong and now Mercedini will enter the lion's den of the World Cup Finals. Hopefully they don't get dicked and put up a respectable performance. The beers are on me!

That's all from us after what has been a crazy couple of days for Mercedinian sport. Mercedini finally proved the doubters wrong and qualified for the biggest tournament of them all. We will be back with more coverage of the development in Quebec, San Jose Guayabal and the rest of the multiverse. We hope you look after your liver tonight. From Zoloroni, goodnight!

by **Drawkland** » Mon Feb 27, 2017 9:04 am

KICK CORPS PLAYER BIOGRAPHIES
It's come to our attention that many people don't know a lot about Kick Corps players outside of what they've seen on the international stage. We feel that this is unfair to the players and thus, we want to showcase them a little of our players' history, personality, personal life, and of course, playing style. Maybe this will help future opponents or scouts understand our players more and lead to a brighter and better future for Drawkland in soccer.

Pft, nahh. Anyway, we'll be progressing along through the lineup, starting with the Starters and then going into the Reserves. Once we finish the current lineup this series will obviously cease, but we'll release a new installment every time new players are called up to the team.

Part 6: Corrie Archer, Katie Madison

CORRIE ARCHER
Age: 23 Position: Withdrawn Forward Corps Number: 10

Corrie Archer was born to Wesley Archer and Annie Warren Archer, much further south than most other Kick Corps members, being grown and raised in Corinth City, in the Melo District of Malicollet. However, despite growing up away from the bustling epicenter of both Drawkland and sport in Drawkland, her parents still ensured she grew up on soccer. See, her parents were members of the Drawk Corps, the massive intranational conglomerate organization. And, as Drawk Corps' most visible influence is sporting (the Drawk Corps and the "____" Corps defining a Drawkian National Team in a certain sport are entirely different organizations. They may be related but- okay, we'll leave this discussion for another time), the Archers had some sort of grand visions for their young Corrie, who was the older of children. Her sister Lily was also pushed into sport but ended up being a field commander for the Drawk Corps Drum Corps (also another distinction, "Drum Corps" aren't the same as "Drawk Corps" although Drawk Corps HAS a drum corps, and they're entirely unrelated to "____" Corps and- okay I'm really going to stop now, I promise this time). Corrie, however, took to soccer like a ring in a bell. She was easily the most proficient striker in the city of Corinth, even when she was in high school. And, being in a Drawk Corps family, she got immediate access to Drawk Corps University after graduating a year early. While she is technically still enrolled in Drawk Corps University, because Drawk Corps owns both the DLK team of the same name and the University, Corrie's managed to play professionally and study for her Animal Studies degree at the same time.

As far as actual playing goes, Corrie is a solid striker. She's a slightly more flashy player, not exactly like a Cam Cross, but far from being a Jackie Crawford. She's got a solid center of gravity, being able to maneuver through defenders easily, but is slightly weak in the legs. In other words, she's hard to take down unless her legs get tangled, then she drops like a rock. Corrie isn't taller or shorter than your average Drawkian, she's quite average and uses this to her advantage, being able to take the power of an imposing presence while retaining better speed and agility. She isn't the most ingenious of players, sometimes lacking in field vision, but on occasion she gets absolutely switched on in the game, and becomes a fearsome force on the field. We can't tell exactly what triggers it. Probably has something to do with the tides, phase of the moon, and some sort of biological cycle. Still, she's an invaluable resource to any team keeping her on, even when she can't supply results goal-wise, she's still a proficient passer and playmaker in the frontfield.

While Corrie is still pretty clearly a younger player, she has made significant waves off the field for her attitude and appearance. She's famous for appearing on those "sports" magazine covers in the multitudes, and we can't really say that the reasoning for that is flawed. She has medium brown hair that she wears as a ponytail in action but down off the pitch on occasion. She also has a large social media presence, and is something of a celebrity around those who follow sports and even those who don't. Really, we wouldn't be surprised if she ends up getting into movies before her career is over. She's also a rather loudmouthed presence when talking and seems to be one of those gossipy types. She also reportedly has a strange and massive affinity for ... guinea pigs? When we asked a few teammates about her personal life almost all of them mentioned that she basically runs a guinea pig farm within her small house on the outskirts of Drawk City. Explains her choice in degree at least. She's been in a few relationships, mainly with celebrities that we'd describe as all being either "douchebags" or "creeps." Oh well, to each their own?

KATIE MADISON
Age: 22 Position: Center Forward Corps Number: 11

Katie Madison was born to Eric Madison and Hailey Lafayette Madison, right in the heart of Drawk City. The Madison family, as you might've heard if you follow other Drawkian national teams, is a very prolific one, with a whole slew of children. You have Gerald Madison in basketball, Daniel Madison in gridiron, Will Madison in racing, Roger Madison in baseball, of course Katie in soccer, and a whole slew of others which are less notable for the average international layman. Pretty much all the Madison siblings had a similar childhood, and Katie was no exception. Both Eric and Hailey were famous in the sports world, and they wanted their children to be successful in sports. Perhaps they tried a little too hard? Nahh, we wouldn't want to say that officially and get fired. Anyway, Katie played in many sports as a young child, as her parents tried to see which sport she would truly excel at. By the time she reached school she had seemed to like soccer the best, and so they educated her in that sport, hiring professional trainers and imparting her with their own knowledge. By the time she reached high school, her older siblings had reached college or the pros and thus more attention and more responsibility shifted to her shoulders despite only being in high school. Similar to Corrie, she graduated and was immediately accepted to Drawk Corps University as her parents were members of the Corps. Drawk Corps immediately pushed her up to the pros at the age of 20 as she began studying Sports Strategy, perhaps hoping to become a coach or manager once she retires from play.

Katie is a commanding force on the field, no doubt. Her physical and awareness skills are unmatched by all those except the likes of Ellzidan. Her knowledge of the sport is incredible, and she remains totally calm and controlled under pressure, only letting her emotion control her play in very specific situations. Usually she's an all-around solid player, but in intense situations when emotions get the best of her she gets much more reckless but a lot more powerful while striking. She has a style which combines both flashy and straight striking plays, employing whatever works best in certain game situations or against certain sides. She's just the classic "fantastic player" that comes to mind when one imagines the ideal good striker for a team.

Katie has light brown hair which she wears short, usually no further than her shoulders. In action she wears it behind her ears with a headband of some sort, while off the pitch she just wears it straight down. In formal events she's been seen curling it. She's actually not extremely attractive in figure but decently in face, but does that really matter on the pitch? She's a golden girl in attitude, being a source of positivity and good banter in public eyes, but sometimes a bit less fresh when not on record. Katie has also been a source of Drawk Corps public advertisement and as a "face for the Corps," both Drawk and Kick. She currently lives in the Drawk Corps University Extended Dorms, and doesn't seem to have any romantic interests, even though she could probably score on a whim (just like her striking style).

by **Schottia** » Tue Feb 28, 2017 1:53 am

SBCNEWS Online...
Football special - The Road to San Jose Guayabal and Quebec. Part Two
Including final squad selcetion...

Schottia 3-0 Abristan
Line-up: McNott, Watt, M.Killanen, Souter, Paul, Conjure, McDonald, Coultan (Ünterhausen), Rudden (Rexmont), E.Killanen, Martel-Burns (Crew)
Goals: Killanen (2), Coultan

It was so far so good Schottia as they passed the half way stage in the WCQs. A near 100% record, which included a draw with Ceni in Rushmore, had us top of the table and looking relatively comfortable. That said there was still work to do, and with fives times world champions, Starblaydia, still breathing down our necks, Lionel Mah's players couldn't afford to let up, as they went into the return fixtures.

First up for Schottia was the visit of Abristan; a nation who are relatively new to WCC football, but have impressed in flashes for far this tournament. Eoin Killanen had one of his best matches this cycle, with a double in the opening thirty minutes, to send Schottia well on their way. The highlight of this match, however, was Kim Coultan's "stunning volley" twenty minutes from time, which even drew plaudits from the Abristan press.

Conjure and McDonald did their best to stamp their authority on this one early on, putting in a strong performance in the centre of the park. Schottia were also impressive at the back though, Molly Killanen in particular making the most of a rare opportunity to start. Late on, Jeremy McNott had to be on his toes in the Schottia goal, to keep out LeMoyen Turka's stinging effort and preserve the clean sheet. On the whole however, it was a good display from Schottia, against an Abristan side that played with a lot of determination.

Kalumba 2-3 Schottia
Line-up: Gould, Watt, Doig, M.Ünterhausen, Paul, Conjure, J.Ünterhausen, Coultan, Rudden (Martel-Burns), E.Killanen, McCormack (Luna)
Goals: McCormack, Conjure, Martel-Burns

Of all the matches in this round of fixtures, the visit to Kalumba was potentially the most daunting for Schottia. As has been well documented, the side from Luta Continua inflicted upon us our heaviest ever defeat, back in the early days of Barry Gorman's reign. And indeed, the group's seventh seeds had enough about them at home, to keep Schottia honest in this one. Martel-Burns was dropped to the bench, and McDonald was out injured, meaning the Larry Watt took the captain's armband, and Centralis Heart striker, McCormack, started up front.

Schottia didn't make things easy for themselves, going 1-0 down after only fifteen minutes, as Peterson Watusi converted from close range. Lionel Mah's players buckled down though, and pulled level five minutes later, as Johannas Ünterhausen played McCormack though on goal. Schottia then got their noses in front just before half time, as Larry Watt's corner broke kindly into the path of Evelyn Conjure, for the much sought after Blue Coast 1981 midfielder to fire home from the edge of the area. There was precious little in this game, and at points the home side looked very much the better team. It seemed inevitable that Kalumba would square things again, and they did just that on the eighty minute mark. Mah's response was to make a double change, bringing on two of the stars of Schottia's U15 WC winning side, with just ten minutes left on the clock. This proved to be the right decision, as Martel-Burns pounce in the dying seconds to keep Schottia top of group with her eleventh goal of the qualifiers.

Schottia 1-0 Starblaydia
Line-up: McNott, Watt, Doig, Souter, Paul, Cummings, McDonald, Rudden (Rexmont), E.Killanen Luna (Crew), Martel-Burns (McCormack)
Goals: Crew

Right from the moment the group draw was made, the match with Starblydia at Harbour Hill Stadium had "must-win" written all over it. After a narrow victory in the first fixture, this match was set up as a good old-fashioned six pointer. Despite its importance, Schottia were forced to go into this one minus top stars: Conjure, Johannas Ünterhausen, and Coultan. Port Sebastian’s Vera Cummings slotted into the midfield, with 18-year-old Camila Luna given the unenviable task of filling in for Coultan.

The match was very evenly poised throughout the opening forty-five, with Luna, and Eoin Killanen having the best of the chances for the hosts. In the second half, Mah was forced to switch to a 4-4-2, with Heron Crew coming on for Luna, and it seemed to have the desired effect. A great run to the edge of the box from Chloe Rudden, meant the Sabrefell Athletic winger was able to deliver the ball across goal, to where Crew was on hand to turn the ball in from close range.

It this point Schottia were nine points clear of third, and there was certainly a sense that qualification for their third World Cup could be on the cards. However, other than the two defeats we had inflicted on them, Starblaydia seemed to be holding strong, and as a result, there was little prospect of wrapping this one up early.

Huri de Wintre 1–3 Schottia
Line-up: McNott, Watt (Abner), Doig, Souter, Paul, Conjure, McDonald, Coultan, Rudden (Kennicot), E.Killanen (McCormack), Martel-Burns
Goals: Martel-Burns (2), Killanen

As Schottia travelled to Huri de Wintre, it was more of a case of holding their nerves as opposed to anything else. Evelyn Conjure was back for this one, as was Kim Coultan, meaning that the team had a more familiar look to it.

Despite an early scare, where the group's only unranked side put themselves a goal up, Schottia actually looked very composed. Corrine Martel-Burns pulled them back level, with a typical poachers goal, before Eoin Killanen proved his world-class credentials with a looping strike from the angle of the box. In the second half Schottia threw John McCormack out on the right wing, and his pace seemed to cause the home side a few problems. With fourteen minutes left on the clock, the former Lammerton man crossed the ball in for Martel-Burns to prod home her second, sliding in at the back post.

Schottia 3–1 Verceola
Line-up: McNott, Watt, Doig, Souter, Paul, Conjure, McDonald (J.Ünterhausen), Coultan, Rudden, E.Killanen (Corsie), McCormack (Crew)
Goals: McCormack, Crew, McDonald

Matel-Burns was suspended for this one, after being sent-off whilst celebrating her last minute goal against Huri de Wintre. Therefore it was once again let to McCormack to lead the line as they welcomed Vercelola to Harbour Hill. Other than that, it was what we would now consider a full strength starting eleven.

McCormack caused Verceola all sorts of problems early on with his direct running, as he and Rudden in particular, looked to exploit any openings they could. It was to be the Terranean League star, however, who gave Schottia the lead after seventeen minutes, driving his strike past the keeper from the edge of the area. Despite their dominance, Schottia found themselves back on level terms just before half time, as Verceola proved they were not just here to make up numbers. Schottia needed two late goals from Heron Crew and captain Jenny McDonald get them over the line in this one, as their opponents were in it right up until the end. We also saw Chatswood star, Gary Corsie, make a rare appearance, coming on for the last ten minutes. His inclusion will perhaps give fans some hope that he could be making a long awaited return to form.

Schottia 0-2 Ceni
Line-up: McNott, Watt, Doig, Souter, Paul, Conjure, McDonald (Bia), Coultan, Rudden (Rexmont), E.Killanen, Crew (Brankovič)
Goals:

This was the first opportunity for Schottia to secure their qualification, unfortunately however, it came against Ceni, a side on the verge of making the world's top ten. Despite the mammoth task facing them, Schottia would have been quietly confident going into the game. They had earned a 2-2 draw in Rushmore, in a match were they had possibly even been the better side. They were of course still missing centre-forward, Corrine Matel-Burns, but Heron Crew is an experienced international striker, and a decent replacement.

After a strong opening ten minutes, Schottia found the going a little tougher than expected however, as Ceni proved why they have made the last four World Cups. Adrián del Toro and Marc-André Onasi were menacing throughout, as Schottia really struggled with Ceni's energy in the wide areas. Goals from Kira Koromin, and a late strike from rising star, Andrew Arrowsword, ensured that it was back to the drawing board for Schottia. That said, this defeat at the end of a gruelling campaign, would perhaps serve as a wakeup call for the Tyranians.

The Sarian 1–5 Schottia
Line-up: McNott, Watt, M.Killanen, Souter, Paul, J.Ünterhausen, McDonald, Coultan (Cummings), Rudden, E.Killanen (Bia), Martel-Burns (Curren)
Goals: E.Killanen (2) Martel-Burns, Coultan, Rudden

Schottia were still just one win away from securing a return to the World Cup finals, and next up they faced a trip to Esportiva to take on a Sarian side they had previously put eight goals past. As we mentioned previously, this current set of players is a far cry from the Sarian team of old, who were semi regulars at the World Cup finals, and Lionel Mah would have viewed this as an excellent chance to get things done and dusted. Molly Killanen was preferred to Paul Doig at left back, and Corrine Martel-Burns finally made her return from suspension to spearhead the attack, as Schottia looked to go into this one all guns blazing.

Eion Killanen got things going early in the first half, rushing to the by-line before his strike deflected in off the keeper at their near post. It was what Schottia needed to settle any early nerves, and travelling support could breath a further sigh of relief shortly after, as Martel-Burns burst through the Sarian defence to rocket home the second. Schottia should have had things sewn up at this point, but instead the gave the home side a way back into the match, after a slip up for Larry Watt, just on the stroke of half time. Schottia came out strongly in the second half though, firstly thanks to Eoin Killanen's well taken second. Schottia then went 4-1 up, as Kim Coultan curled home a free kick from twenty metres out, after Lucy Curren was brought down. And Chloe Rudden rounded things off in stoppage time, after latching onto a loose ball inside the Sarian box.

With the three points in the bag, Schottia's fans could afford to start thinking about booking their holidays in the summer. This is also the first time the Tyranian nation have ever qualified with matches to spare.

Schottia 3–1 Nuevo Caracas
Line-up: Kurovski, Thompson, Doig, Keats, Paul, Gerrish, McDonald, Luna, Kennicot (Crillin), E.Killanen (Crew), Curren (Brankovič)
Goals: Curren, E.Killanen, Crew

Schottia took the opportunity to make a couple of changes, as they faced Nuevo Caracas at home, handing debuts to Olympic Nassau Bay's Anna Kurovski, and the highly rated Dundee midfielder, Jim Gerrish. There was also a rare start for Maximum Rover's Lucy Curren, as Lionel Mah was clearly looking a rest to some of the players he has used so extensively over the last year.

Curren has never really made a massive impact in white and green, but sixteen goals in the Nepharim Premiership would suggest that she should maybe have been capped more. This point was further reinforced when the 27-year-old broke free of her marker after 32 minutes to open this scoring in this match. Schottia were two nil up shortly after, while an excellent through ball from Camila Luna cut the defence open before Eoin Killanen finished from close range. Despite a late goal from the visitors, Schottia wrapped things up when Heron Crew headed in a cross from Centralis Heart winger, Cerys Kennicot.

Kinzenland 0–0 Schottia
Line-up: Gould, Abner, M.Killanen, M.Ünterhausen, Ross, Corsie, J.Ünterhausen (Bia), Coultan (Luna), Rexmont, Cummings, Brankovič (Glendening)
Goals:

In the final match of the qualifiers, Schottia made the trip to Kinzenland. Lionel Mah threw one or two of his fringe players in from the star, with the most notable inclusion, a first start for Gary Corsie in almost six years. The erratic Chatswood players is still trying to put his career back together, and a decent performance here shows that he is maybe en route to doing that.

Despite good chances for Rexmont and Brankovič, this one had 0-0 written all over it, and the result, in the end, meant that Schottia were knocked off the top spot in the group by the very-impressive Ceni.

Today also saw the announcement of the final twenty-three, who will travel to the World Cup, after an absence of four years from the tournament. There were no massive surprises, as Lionel Mah and his staff went with the same players who performed so well during the qualifiers. There are however, twelve players in line to make their first WC-Finals appearances - most notably McNott, Conjure, and Martel-Burns - proving just how much the squad has changed since WC74. Everyone in this current squad have been capped at some point over the last twelve months though, as Mah seems to have gone with experience wherever possible, putting his faith in the group of player she has slowly built around himself.

World-Cup Finals: Squad of 23
No.       Position     Name                     Club                       Caps        Goals
01        GK           Jeremy McNott             Cornellians             41          0
02        RB           Larry Watt                1860 Azoth              68          2
03        LB           Paul Doig                 Port Sebastian          31          0
04        CB           Gareth Soutar             Sporting Cenial         53          5
05        CB           Stephen Paul              Falourr                 32          2
06        CM           Jenny McDonald            Coret Hawks (c)         43          5
08        CM           Evelyn Conjure            Blue Coast 1981         21          3
11        AMC/R        Kim Coultan               Crawford City           74          21
07        AML/WF       Chloe Rudden              Sabrefell Athletic      67          14
10        AMR/L/C      Eoin Killanen             Mâ Âlâmëómë             106         48
13        CF           Corrine Martel-Burns      St Johns Arsenal        41          33
12        GK           Harry Gould               FC Soessch              4           0
23        RB           Bella Thompson            Mallox                  16          0
14        LB           Molly Killanen            FC Samotath             5           0
15        CB           Mark Ünterhausen          Jansberg                8           0
16        RM           Joey Bia                  Port Sebastian          59          7
21        AML/R        Steven Rexmont            Port Sebastian          11          2
22        AML/C        Cerys Kennicot            Centralis Heart         18          3
17        CM           Vera Cummings             Port Sebastian          9           1
18        C/DM         Johannas Ünterhausen      Real Chinchinhua        41          6
19        ACM          Camila Soria-Luna         Marine Coast United     8           1
09        C/LM         John McCormack            Centralis Heart         31          14
20        CF           Heron Crew                Eastal Lunar            51          21

by **Northern Sunrise Islands** » Tue Feb 28, 2017 11:50 am

POLITICS
Hammer wins

"Outdoing Eric Fahrenheit" was Mike Hammer's motto

The eight-year tenure of Eric Fahrenheit as Northern Sunrisian president (thanks to a sheer lack of interested voters at four different election attempts) finally ended last Sunday as Apathics' candidate Mike Hammer won by a slight (a mere 2%) margin over Gateway Initiative's candidate (and therefore new vice-president) Lea St. John. Mike Hammer's campaign was certainly unusual if compared to most countries, where he instead focused on his strength and combat skills over specific platforms, citing the Sunrise's uncanny near-utopic traits, promising only to extend Fahrenheit's efforts towards equality between races, accommodation maneuvers towards refugees and expansion towards the Digital realm and an increase of outer space colonies; the latter possibly being a co-organized effort between Northern Sunrise Islands and Upper Sunrise Islands. The new president's political career is, in a way, short, having been only briefly mayor of Hammer's hometown Mars Hill, NC; being elected during one of the failed elections where Fahrenheit remained at his position by default. Mike Hammer's brief run, however, involved a hands-on investigation against the brief Sick Gear Gang who had an affiliation to the Free Edenia movement. Hammer was also remarkable for a respectable wrestling career, which might've justified his election. Hammer's joining of the Apathics was not, however, based after any sort of similar opinion towards the rest of the party's beliefs that "voting is pointless" but rather as it was the only party interested on having him in board. "I'm proud to stand in front of all of you as the next Northern Sunrisian president." said Hammer, struggling to fit in a tuxedo. "...Now I know why Eric ruled out the obligatory suits choice of wear, dear Arceus!"

Mike Hammer's campaign, "Outdoing Eric Fahrenheit" was focused towards showing how much Hammer was capable of outdoing Fahrenheit in trivial competition, downplaying the focus of most of the failing parties towards the rather uninteresting, tiny issues. In the end, he managed to get Fahrenheit's seal of approval after a beer drinking contest, one of Eric's most memorable marks. This helped the political advertising block have some sort of relevance, lessening the turn away feeling most of the boring candidates would bring or the general annoyance of candidates of more radical parties. No one was exactly sure what was the plan of Madam Cleopatra de Gael, candidate of the NecroParty, whose political advertising was mostly based out of weird tarot tricks. The runner-up, Lea St. John, spent most of her time telling about how "kick-ass" contact with other sort of people would be, which is something other candidates would take note but not with the same genuine interest Miss Lea had. "Well... Uh... We didn't win but that's cool." Lea pointed out from her home at Stilwater. "I... I think the big guy will help us out with rockets and all."

One could say the sheer lack of interest the Sunrisians have with politics streams from 2002 where psychotic Marty Arlington tried to show a trustable face, handling things rather neutrally all the while pumping himself with chemicals to turn into a Giratinean-like beast. After being put down, his vice Matthew Sioux was brought up. Matthew had a tough job, cleaning up the mess left by many of his predecessors but left the Sunrisians with an opening to other nations and overall had a fantastic career. He departed the position in 2012 after Thiago Souto won and Sioux's handpicked successor fell short. Souto's run wasn't very different as he had a rather easier time solving problems. Fahrenheit's charismatic personality and a sheer desire for "opening a can of whoop-ass" led Northern Sunrise to its' current benchmark spot, not to mention most of its' territorial expansion and sudden technological boost. Eric, however, felt bored on his position of president and soon wished out, only to find his charisma managed to drop the number of interested voters to a minimum. After begging and pushing successors he could trust, Fahrenheit found a rival of sorts on Hammer and their interactions were enough to push interest towards Mike.

When asked about what 'Big Mike' would bring to the table, he didn't reveal much. "Eric left Northern Sunrise in a pretty good state, I'll honestly just continue with what he was doing. Now, I don't promise I'll go around beating evildoers up like I did back in Mars Hill... but if my people need it, I shall roam around with my trusty pipe, beating anyone that ever could dare to hurt the islands... And that's a fact!" He then proceeded to piledrive a shark, the image used for most of his campaigns. Eric Fahrenheit, former president, will not leave Mardi however as odds are he'll join the government as the Defense Minister.

2002 - MARTY ARLINGTON (GREENP) / MATTHEW SIOUX (NAT)
2004 - MATTHEW SIOUX (NAT) / KIRA SHINZAKI (NEKO)
2008 - MATTHEW SIOUX (NAT) / LEONARD BRIGHTON (REP)
2012 - THIAGO SOUTO (ARSOP) / KEVIN HOLLAND (NAT)
2016 - ERIC FAHRENHEIT (NAT) / HELENA MANAUS (REP)
2024 - MIKE HAMMER (APATHY) / LEA ST. JOHN (GATE)

List of the former five presidents and their respective vice-presidents.

by **Anglatia** » Tue Feb 28, 2017 12:46 pm

OOC: Meh, this doesn't meet my usual standards but hopefully it will be enough to keep me from getting completely rolled in the group stage. I'm writing about Allie and the other young misfits of the national team for now, but you'll see more from me and Fleft about the Corsairs in the World Baseball Classic, in case you were wondering when you'll get to see them again. Now, without further ado, here's the first part of the next chapter in the story of Allie and the rest of this youth class...

Family

Chapter One: Inheritance

In less than forty eight hours, Allie Vacek and the Explorers would play the most important match of their lives. They would play in Eastfield Lodge, and all they needed was a win or a draw to secure their position in the World Cup finals, at the top of the group. The younger generation had been able to succeed in doing what the older one couldn’t, leading the team into a qualifying spot, but they now needed one more match to seal the deal after great wins at Brenecia and at Turori, teams that had beat them at home. Most of the players had left for Eastfield Lodge already to begin practicing, but not Allie. She was still in Ceneisis, because she had to sort out certain problems that interim manager Indah Nystrom had given her a leave for.

According to Indah, it was more important for Allie to prepare her mind for this next national team trip than it was for her to prepare her body. She’d said it like that, but Allie knew that Indah was really telling her to fix her addiction problem and, to an extent, her depression. As one of the top players on the team now after her quick rise, Indah wanted to make sure that Allie had her head straight while she was around her national team teammates. That meant no drinking, no smoking weed, and no emotional outbursts. It also wouldn’t be a good influence if she was constantly depressed around everyone else, which she had been at times because of the way her career was going and because of her family situation. And, while it had remained unsaid, Indah also didn’t want Allie to distract any of the other players by sleeping around, especially not with Darren Harbin, who was a starter and was also no stranger to waking up in Allie’s bed.

So all of that was the reason why everyone else was leaving for the most important match in national team history, and Allie Vacek was sitting in an office in Ceneisis and talking to her club’s shrink. It wasn’t something that she wanted to do, but if she slipped up later she would at least be able to tell Indah that she had tried to do what she wanted, by making an attempt at getting help… Even though in reality, she was barely trying to help herself, and mainly doing it to get others off of her back. Still, she found herself sitting across from the shrink, her eyes glancing at the clock every so often to see how much more time she had to spend here.

“You tell me that you suffer from both addiction and depression,” the shrink said, snapping her away from her thoughts. “I have a question for you that could reveal more about the root of your problems. Do you believe that you became depressed because of your addictions, or do you believe that the reason why you have addictions is because you’re depressed? If your depression were to go away tomorrow, would you still drink alcohol and smoke marijuana?”

That was an interesting question. Allie unfolded her arms and shifted in her seat, thinking back through the years to try to find which one had come first for her. “I think I started drinking to get over the sadness and anger and all the other emotions I felt after leaving home for the first time. I left Underfell at fourteen years old to play football for the Lane Jets and to attend the private high school that the team is linked to. I didn’t have a ton of money, or much at all really, but when you’re that good at football, there’s always other ways to get drinks. People, usually older students, would give them to me if I asked, so I guess my drinking problem started at fourteen. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was already pretty depressed by then.”

“And what made you depressed at fourteen? Can you track it back to a specific reason?” the man asked, taking notes as he examined her face.

“Uh… It was a lot of things. My dad left before I could form many memories of him, and as you know, my mother never really cared for me. She only took care of me grudgingly, because it was hard for her to put food on the table for both of us after my dad left, and she resented me because of that. Because we were poor, she tried to turn me into some perfect student so I could go to college and get some high paying job, but that didn’t work out. I turned out to be good at football instead,” started Allie, pausing to recollect her thoughts. “As soon as the offers from foreign teams started rolling in when I was thirteen, because everyone wanted me to be a part of their academy system, she basically kicked me out and forced me to move to Lane to play, even though I didn’t want to. Then when I was fifteen and sixteen and I started making money on endorsements, and she forced me to give it all to her because she said she couldn’t trust me with it…”

“So you believe that your problems started with your mother?”

Allie shook her head. “She’s a big part of it but not the only part. You see, I also grew up in one of the worst neighborhoods in the Empire of Greater Anglatia. You may have heard of it… It’s called Logeri, and it’s a neighborhood in East Underfell that’s cut off from the rest of the city by razor wire fences and it also has stone walls in certain places to block it off from the other parts of the city. It used to be a decent neighborhood, but because of the conflicts in Kisote, there were a lot of displaced Muslims in the Empire and the regional government voted to move all of the migrants who were fleeing the war into East Underfell. Logeri was the neighborhood that had the highest percentage of them, and it went to shit pretty quickly. By the time I was born, things were… At their worst. The neighborhood kids didn’t like me because I was Valerian and because I grew up as sort of a Christian. They didn’t like it that I wasn’t an immigrant like them. I had to fight every day just to not die there, in Logeri, and the police rarely did anything at all because they didn’t like going into the neighborhood. It was too high risk for them, so they were happy to wall it off from everyone else and let all of the violence stay within those walls.”

The shrink nodded, and wrote down some more notes in his book. “Okay. Is there anything else that you think may have contributed to your depression?”

Allie shrugged. “You could say that my father leaving had something to do with it. I never had anyone to help me through all of the stuff I mentioned. My mother never was much of a help, and while my uncle Veli and my cousin, Kesha, stopped by sometimes, they were always in West Underfell and I was in East Underfell. It was too dangerous for them to spend much time around me, and eventually, my mother drove them away because her attitude rubbed the rest of her family the wrong way and she cut herself off from them. She told them never to talk to me again, and I didn’t see them until her funeral after that. I also had a best friend that was another Valerian like me, but I never saw her again after she got kidnapped by gang members right in front of me one day. When I arrived in Lane, I needed support from my family more than I had ever needed it before, and my father never showed up or sent me letters or gave me a call or anything. He only came back when I got famous, and tried to say it was because my mom wouldn’t let him talk to me.”

“It sounds like you had a rough upbringing and you began drinking and smoking in response to that,” the shrink said, and then he looked at his book and back to Allie. “The notes that I already have here, from your national team medical staff, also say that you have low self esteem and that you deal with it by… Overcompensating, and sleeping around? Do you want to explain that, or tell me how accurate that statement is?”

“What can I say? It feels good to be wanted,” Allie said, looking down and avoiding the shrink’s eyes. “I’m not going to act like I don’t wake up in a bunch of different beds on different days, but it’s not like I even have any long term relationships. It just gets my mind off of my problems and it makes me feel good for a night without giving me a hangover the next morning like drinking would. Some of my coaches think it’s a distraction, but it’s really not… I’ve been that way ever since I was in Lane, and it never hurt my play there. And about the self esteem thing… I think they misread that. Like I said, I just want to be wanted. That doesn’t mean I hate myself or anything like that.”

There was silence in the office while the shrink took more notes, and then he looked back at Allie and finally made eye contact. “But it’s not good for you to gain your self worth from your… Romantic partners. What happens if those partners no longer want you? Will that send you back into depression, because you believe that no one wants you?”

“I don’t know… Ugh, you sound like my dad,” Allie blurted out without thinking. She didn’t mean to mention her dad, because she knew that she would have to answer questions about the meaning of what she had just said.

“What do you mean? Did your father tell you similar things?”

“Yeah, not exactly what you said, but not far off from it either. He told me that I have really low self esteem and that because I believe that I’m worthless, I have to keep multiple lovers around me at all times to remind myself that I’m not. He said that he knows how I am because he was the same way when he was younger, and he also said that I inherited my addiction problem from him. I didn’t believe him at all until my half-sister, Sive, started doing everything she could to get attention… I still don’t think that I have bad self esteem, though,” Allie said, her voice lowering at the end as she grew less and less confident in what she was saying. “I think you’re confusing wanting others to love me with not loving myself-”

“That’s not what I’m saying at all. The point was that it isn’t enough for you to love yourself, you also consistently act like you need others to love you, and then you get depressed when they don’t. That causes you to seek further validation from lovers and friends, which, in a way, means that you have something of an addiction to their attention in the same way that you have an addiction to alcohol.”

That was a bold statement, and Allie folded her arms. But what he was saying wasn’t necessarily wrong, and she realized that as soon as he explained it better. “Whatever, I don’t see why it’s a bad thing anyway. Everyone wants people to like them, I just need the affection of certain people more than others do. So what if I’m a little needy? If you grew up in a neighborhood where all of the neighbors wanted to kill you ever since you were a little kid, you’d probably need more positive attention too. Just saying…”

“You aren’t wrong, but that doesn’t change the fact that relying on others for your self worth is the easiest way to see your self esteem crash when others change their opinions of you-”

“You know what, I’m done here. I don’t need to hear the same things my dad told me,” Allie said, standing up and grabbing her backpack. She was obviously uncomfortable, because her eyes kept darting from side to side as she avoided making eye contact, and she also looked like she really didn’t want to keep talking about this subject. “I have a match in less than two days and you’re giving me too much to think about. I get what you’re trying to say, but I also disagree, and we’ll finish this conversation another time. I tried to give these visits a chance, I really did, but you’re making it hard on me by acting like you know more about me than I know about myself. So if you don’t mind, I’m going to go now-”

“Allie-”

“I said I’m going to go now,” Allie snapped, and with that, she opened the door and stepped out before slamming it behind her and walking at a brisk pace towards the end of the hall. When she reached the lobby, the receptionist asked if she was going to make another appointment, but she ignored the question and stormed out, stepping out of the building and into the parking lot where her sports car was waiting for her. As soon as she opened the car door and climbed inside, she grabbed her head in her hands in frustration and held back tears. Somehow, the assessment that the shrink had given had been spot on. She just hadn’t realized it before that meeting. However, she still wasn’t willing to change, and that presented a new challenge.

It definitely did give her a lot to think about before the Explorers’ match in Eastfield Lodge.

=====

The clock said that it was pretty late at night. One or two in the morning, in fact. For a moment, Allison Torres wondered if the clock was wrong, as she was awoken by a loud banging on her door. She glanced back at the time and at the door to her bedroom, and realized that the sound was coming not from her bedroom door, but from the main door to the apartment. Someone wanted to get in, and they were making quite a lot of noise to get her attention. She pulled the covers further up, and tried to tune out the noise and hope the person would go away. She’d find out who was there and then talk to them in the morning, but right now wasn’t a good time. After a long day that had involved plenty of team activities, all she wanted to do was sleep.

The noise continued, though, and it got louder. The person at the door was really knocking hard, and it sounded more like they were punching the door than knocking. Allison wondered who was there, but she wouldn’t have to wait long to find that out. “Let me in! Let me in!” a distressed voice screamed, and she recognized it immediately as Allie Vacek. That meant that this was likely important, because Allie was always in some kind of trouble. The fact that Allie couldn’t wait until the morning to talk to her also told Allison that it was important, because for all the things that she’d brought up with her, Allie had never come to Allison at one in the morning to talk.

“Wait a minute, I just woke up!” Allison shouted back, and she rolled out of bed and quickly pulled on a nightgown and put on a pair of slippers before leaving her bedroom and opening the main door for Allie. She wasn’t sure what she had been expecting, but Allie’s current state was much worse than she thought it would be. The younger girl was in tears, and her blue hair was a mess, as if she had also woken up recently. As soon as the door opened, she stepped inside and closed it before wrapping Allison up in the tightest hug that she’d ever received from a teammate. “What’s wrong? Did something happen?”

Allie kept hugging her, but she couldn’t really speak yet. Despite being small for an Anglatian footballer, she still had vice grip strength when she wanted to, and this was one of those times. Allison felt like she was being crushed, but she didn’t say anything because she realized how emotional Allie was and she saw that the girl did look like she definitely needed a hug. After a few moments of Allie not saying anything, Allison spoke up again. “You can talk when you’re ready. You want me to get you something, and then we can sit down and talk? Coffee? Tea?”

“Coffee,” Allie managed to say, in a choked up voice, and she went and sat down in the living room as Allison went to turn the coffee maker on. She wouldn’t look up, she just kept staring down at her feet, and she was taking deep breaths to keep herself from crying anymore. One thing that Allie never did was cry in front of others. She’d grown up in a place where showing weakness in public was taboo for someone like her. If she showed any kind of weakness, she’d get picked on and targeted even more. So if she was here and she was openly crying, Allison knew that something was very, very wrong. Then again, Allie hadn’t been herself recently. Allison had already accidentally made her cry while giving her a speech about responsibility, not long ago.

When Allison returned, with two cups of coffee, Allie was a bit more composed but still obviously shaken. It still took her some time before she was able to make herself talk, and when she did, she started explaining what had happened without giving Allison any context for what she was talking about. “So, I got off of the phone with Luke Hennessy,” she said. “Imperial Intelligence agent from the Western Anglatian branch…”

“Okay. Did this agent tell you something, is that why you’re so upset?”

“Yes. He told me that Eshe Al-Hatem was found dead in Patierre, via stab wound. He said that she was about to be retrieved by Imperial Intelligence, but they found her that way… In case you don’t know, Eshe is the girl that was in my bed that day when you walked in, and I tried to warn her to not go back to Patierre but she wouldn’t listen to me,” Allie said, her voice low as she spoke. “I… I knew that there would be a trap waiting for her and she didn’t listen. Now she’s dead, partly because of me. I know we weren’t on the best of terms, or at least not as good as we used to be, when she died… But... “

“But?” asked Allison, before giving Allie some time to get herself back together.

“She was the only person that I’ve been with for more than a few months and now she’s gone and part of the reason is because I couldn't do my job and keep her from going back to Patierre,” Allie said, and then she started crying again. “There’s a story behind it… I’ll tell you in one minute… Just let me get myself together first. I’m not really taking it well so far, as you can see…”

“Take as long as you need, Allie.”

“Okay, well, it’s a long story, and it starts like this…”

by **Audioslavia** » Wed Mar 01, 2017 4:44 pm

Continued from here

"I think we should probably get this car off the road" came the voice in the back. Mo shook his head, warily.
"I'll go one further" said Mo. "I think we should probably get this car off the road, burn it, burn your clothes, burn you and burn anyone who ever met you"
"You've met me"
"Exactly"
"Look, just keep going. I've got a wee place just outside of town, on the beach. I can take a dip in the sea to get this scrubbed, you can scrub the car."
"I am not..."
"Hey" said the voice in the back. "It aint my car, kid. You want to use it again, you take a bottle of bleach"
"I'd rather drink the bleach than touch any part of that back seat"
"Your call. As long as I can get this coat cleaned I won't mind."
"Cleaned?, Jeremy, that coat had seen better days anyway. Actually, no, let me rephrase that. That coat has seen worse days than this. Being covered in rotting human feces is not even the worst thing that's happened to that coat. This... for me.... for me this is the worst thing to ever happen. For your coat, it's a Thursday."
"It's a Friday"
"You know what I mean"
"You're right, by the way" said Jeremy, furtively trying to remove a blob of poo from another blob of slightly different coloured poo and largely failing, "it was once held hostage by a Krytenian for around a century."
"Right"
"Fate worse than death"
"Death, Jeremy... death has nothing on you right now"
"Never has."

---

Mo pretended not to be able to see the withered, naked figure of Jeremy Jaffacake in the distance, as if there wasn't a stuffingless faded leather cushion bobbing around in the Bight Sea scrubbing itself with a loofah and singing a lah-de-dah version of Нессун Дорма as a tatty old mackintosh-cum-trenchcoat was drying in the evening sun. Instead, Mo concentrated on aiming his pitifully weak jet of hosepipe water onto the backseat of his car.
"I'm just mixing it all together" he shouted, towards Jeremy. "It's like I'm just making some tepid tea-coloured shit"
"Krytenian tea" shouted Jeremy, in between verses. "Same ingredients" he called, over the lapping waves. Jeremy was forlorn to see that some of those lapping waves were now mixing with the stream of detritus coming from the car. "I say! Careful there, Mo, you're getting it in the sea"
"Well where... where do you expect it to go?"
"Anyway" called Jeremy, "I'm almost done. How's it going over there?"
"Badly. This is the worst thing I've ever seen. How... how did you manage to..."
"Oversight" called Jeremy, a little louder now. Mo noticed that Jeremy was coming back to the shore, shuffling his naked body back to the claret and green beach-hut that apparently belonged to Jeremy. "Shall I put the kettle on?"
"Put *something* on for god's sake. And yes."
"Tea?"
"No"

---

After a while, Mo was in the beach hut himself. The car was clean enough to get on the road, but there was little doubt that there'd be no getting rid of either the stains or the smell. The car would last until Mo was back in Kjelstad city and then would have to be scrapped. He'd be lucky to get even a hundred dollars for it even for parts. Even the most scruffy of scrapdealers would notice that smell a mile away.
"I found my thingmy" said Jeremy, pointing towards a small glinting chip on the sideboard, next to the carton of godawful instant coffee that somehow had the cheek to give itself an Italian name. "Good job, too. They cost a bomb, they do"
"What the hell is it?" asked Mo, dreading the answer, "and why and how did you get it in my computer?" he added, dreading those answers even more.
"It's fairly harmless, as illegal hacking things go" said Jeremy, a little too nonchalantly for Mo's taste. "It logs incoming and outgoing emails. Doesn't touch passwords, credit card information or anything nefarious like that. I've used a few in my time to keep up to date with various publications."
"Keep up to date with?"
"Blatantly steal information from" said Jeremy, who Mo assumed had already searched the hut for bugs. "The 'how' and 'why' are thanks to various connections with various nefarious types. Suffice to say yours isn't the only laptop that we have tabs on"
"And who is 'we'?"
"Well, me, really, and a couple of friends. Journo friends. Former hacks, unemployed castaways from the death of print journalism. A bit like yourself, really"
"I don't think print journalism is quite dead yet" said Mo, defiantly.
"You lost your job as a journalist for a print newspaper today" said Jeremy, "and the world's most renowned print journalist has taken, not only to making YouTube videos, but also to crawling inside toilets at defunct print newspapers looking for equipment for computers that he used to be able to buy without thinking, but can't now because he's lost a fair bit of his fortune via the death of the print industry"
"Well when you put it like that" said Mo, "but why me?"
"Why not?" shrugged Jeremy, "you're a useful fellow to keep tabs on. You're good at your job.."
"Was"
"Were. You were good at your job. Plenty of connections. One of which is a certain Sheik Yamin, which is a very big connection indeed"
"And what do you want with.."
"Oh, oh nothing at all"
"So.."
"It's Sheik Yamin, though, I mean... Abdul Yamin, the richest oil mogul in the world, or so he claims. I don't have anything to do with him, per se, just now, but let's just say... I don't know... I don't know if it's giving too much away" said Jeremy, taking a sip of coffee. Mo cocked his head to one side, not wanting to pry. Or, rather, he wanted to pry, but knew from a few years in the journalism trade that looking like you were wanting to pry wasn't the best way to get information.
"Let's just say" continued Jeremy, "that at the moment I have a keener inerest that usual in keeping up to date with the multiverse's islamo-arabic nations right now"
"Keeping up to date with" repeated Mo, raising an eyebrow.
"Quite"
"Just Kjeligsted?"
"Oh, no"
"Every arab-ish nation?"
"Oh, no"
"One in particular"
"Oh, yes"
"Which one?"
"Now that, Mo, would be telling" said Jeremy, eyes a-twinkling.
"Anyway" said Mo, letting the conversation rest for a moment. "What do you want with me now?"
"I have a proposition, actually..."

To be continued

by **Spaam** » Thu Mar 02, 2017 6:17 am

Drawkland Series Ends In Loss

The two match friendly competition between World Cup minnows Spaam and Drawkland ended in a loss to the hosts in Nilmenas last week. After an entertaining scoreless draw at Corps Central Stadium in Drawkland, Nilmenas Football Stadium hosted their first international game in the return match. Ranked 83rd in the world and fresh off a successful qualifying campaign, the Orange and Black were still the underdogs against the first-time World Cup qualifiers. Excitingly though, it was a full house, with a large contingent of Kick Corps fans making their way to West Spaam to cheer on their team.

The first half was much of a repeat of their first match, with the star strikers - Sehelin & Elzeros for Spaam and Madison & Archer for Drawkland - failing to find traction in a game that was dominated by the midfield. National captain Farlinar Reyen led the way from defense, ensuring that most forays into their defensive quarter was shut down quickly. But it was the ancient Ellzidan who starred in the game, making sure that most Spaamanian attacking movements were ultimately unsuccessful. The best chance of the first half came from a rare mistake from Drawkish sweeper Sarah Arrowsword, which was pounced on opportunistically by Merlara Sehelin. Unfortunately for the hosts, keeper Savannah Everett managed a diving save on the eventual strike.

Any thoughts of another scoreless game were quickly wiped out shortly after the restart, with Ellzidan surprising everyone with a 30 metre shot on goal that managed to float over veteran keeper Eletha Gilhana’s head. With the visitors in the lead, the game turned a corner, with attack playing second fiddle to defense. The Spaamanian midfield started to push the ball up more quickly, with the Ralora twins finding space up the side with regularity, but the Drawkish defense kept strong, with heavy marking against the forward pack. Meanwhile, the Kick Corps managed to progress the ball more quickly, and it was a matter of time before Katie Madison stretched their lead in the 70th minute, heading a nicely placed cross past Gilhana.

Despite some more creative and desperate forward play, to the delight of the crowd, Spaam were unable to claw the score back. Coach Hewelan Faaberos was circumspect in his team’s two goals to nil loss: “Having come from an unbeaten streak stretching back almost a year, it’s good to get some perspective as we head into the World Cup. Of course we’re disappointed with the loss, but Drawkland played extremely well, and we have to be able to match it with teams of their caliber.” This was Spaam’s last international game before the World Cup starting next month, when they head to the Royal Kingdom of Quebec.

SPAAM 0-2 DRAWKLAND
                    (Ellzidan 47’ Madison 70’)

World Cup Preview

Everyone remembers Spaam’s miraculous qualifying campaign, the unranked team matching it with the world’s best, and qualifying at the last game. A lot of skill and no small amount of luck have delivered the former football world powers to the big stage for the first time in almost two hundred years, and at their first try since redisunification. Now that the tickets have been booked to Quebec, it’s time to look at the teams they’ll be facing to see if they can make it one step further than they ever dreamed possible three years ago.

Pasarga

Pasarga have made a name for themselves the past few years, dominating every team they have faced. Ranked just outside the top fifteen, they lost just once in qualifying to the never-to-be-underestimated Nova Anglicana, and were at the top of the table the entire season. The Wanderers are almost certain to make it through to the next round, but a draw against them may not be quite as out of reach as might be hoped. Their striker Ingþór Auðbjörnsson has scored just as many points as Sehelin, while their keeper Aswad Munif Shalhoub is well known for his clean sheets. Our first test will be hard, but it will be an exciting match nonetheless.

Semarland

Semarland have coasted recently and are Spaam’s best chance for points. Still ranked 23rd in the world, they were almost eliminated from qualifying, and just managed to pick up enough points at the end of the season. Their last match was a loss to the lowly United States of Devonta so the Spaamanians will be holding some hope of pushing them. Kwame Nelson is their most dangerous player, and will give Inasys a lot of trouble if he isn’t checked. They will almost certainly be joining the Orange and Black at the bottom of the group table, but expect an entertaining matchup in any case.

Quebec

Spaam were unlucky enough to be drawn against the hosts, who will be our third match in the group stage. Our last meeting against them around a year ago saw them send us to our biggest loss. An Elzeros double prevented it from being a whitewash, but our defense was given a wake-up call in that game. A top fifteen nation, and with a home ground advantage, our best chance is to keep the margin low to protect our goal difference. Elzeros and Sehelin will have to be at their best to match it with the likes of Hazel Van Robben whose hat-trick demoralised Gilhana. After what will most likely be Spaam’s last World Cup game until the next iteration, the Grim Reapers will be looking to go deep in the tournament.

Paatukar City Win Nineteenth National Title

Paatukar CIty completed the formality on the weekend and took out their ninteenth National League title, their first in five years. With Orinos Elzeros and the Ralora twins leading the way, City finished with a 17 point margin over second place. Their final match was an entertaining ten goal extravaganza, eventually overcoming Highbay City six goals to four. However, with their title confirmed over a month ago, it was the five-way battle for second that held everyone’s attention. Last year’s almost-champions Nilmenas City were at a goal difference disadvantage to their cross-town rivals Nilmenas Elven going into the last week, but three other Paatukar teams (North, United and Port) all still had a chance.

Nilmenas City took first blood on Thursday night with an easy win over wooden spooners Skaganes United, with 19-year-old Merlara Sehelin scoring a brace in that game. Last years champions Paatukar United then failed to score in their draw against North, sending them both out of contention. Port Paatukar’s win wasn’t enough to catch Nilmenas City, but temporarily pushed them into third position. It was the elven derby that would decide the final positions, Paatukar hosting Nilmenas, but it ended without score, and relegating them to equal third. This was Nilmenas City’s second second place in a row, and has given the West Spaam a boost as they won’t have to share representative duties with Sehelin.

Meanwhile, in the newly renamed second division, North Skaganes has won the Queen Oruzaadov Cup, in memory of the late regent. Balava will join them in the National League next year, despite a four goal loss to East Kurelin. They will be replacing Skaganes United and Kurelin City who had very disappointing seasons.

by **Bonesea** » Thu Mar 02, 2017 2:19 pm

by **Gregoryisgodistan** » Thu Mar 02, 2017 5:17 pm

OOC: In case you're wondering, this was my inspiration. Greatest Wikipedia page ever.

List of Lord Almighty Gregory's Titles

Lord Almighty Gregory: This one is self-explanatory. It is his most common name, for everyday use. He is Lord, he is Almighty, and he is Gregory. He is Lord Almighty Gregory. All citizens of Gregoryisgodistan must worship Lord Almighty Gregory, for he is God. If they do not, they and their families will be executed with the Brownie Cutter of Death.

Military SuperDuperUltraMegaColossal Greatest General Of All Time Who In His Infinite Wisdom Guides And Leads His Holy Army: This is Lord Almighty Gregory's military title and rank. It is equivalent to six-star general. Military General is equivalent to one-star general, Military SUperGeneral to two-star general, Military SuperDuperGeneral to three-star general, Military SuperDuperUltraGeneral to four-star General, and Military SuperDuperUltraMega General to five-star general. Lord Almighty Gregory is the Supreme General of the Gregoryisgodistani Armed Forces.

Master of Gruel And Prune Juice: Lord Almighty Gregory gives prune juice and gruel to every Gregoryisgodistani in his infinite wisdom and kindness. That is the only food and drink which commoners can consume. If they eat or drink anything else, they are executed via Brownie Cutter of Death along with their families. However, Government VIPs such as Lord Almighty Gregory and his friends can eat and drink whatever they want. They often have slaves prepare grand meals for them.

Great Leader Who Is The Most Perfect Leader of All-Time And Is Totally And Utterly Almighty God: One of many titles specifying Lord Almighty Gregory is great and that he is God. You'll soon be sensing a theme with these.

The Greatest One: Truly, since Lord Almighty Gregory is God, he must be The Greatest One. This should go without saying. Still, The Greatest One is one of Lord Almighty Gregory's official titles, simply because he is God and if he says it's one of his official titles, it is.

Master Of The Multiverse: Lord Almighty Gregory created the Multiverse and all the creatures in it, from talking ponies to humans to the elves of Valanora to goats to llamas to ferrets to owls to Cookie Monsters. Although Cookie Monsters are not real in this Universe, presumably they are real in some Universe of the Multiverse, judging by the players on the national team of the so-called "Holy Empire", which is really The Unholy Empire, but all that is besides the point. This article is about Lord Almighty Gregory, not the Dreamy Realm.

Lord and Master: He is Lord. He is Master. He is Lord and Master. He is Lord and Master of the entire Multiverse. Are you sensing a theme yet?

Lord of the Slaves: Gregoryisgodistan practices slavery, a most holy practice. Citizens serve as slaves to those most loyal to Lord Almighty Gregory, so that they can be rewarded for their loyalty. Some also serve as slaves to the nation as a whole, working in slave labor camps. Lord Almighty Gregory is a strong supporter of slavery, as are all Gregoryisgodistanis. Slavery is great, but Lord Almighty Gregory is greater. Nothing and nobody can be greater than Lord Almighty Gregory.

My God, My Lord, My Master: This is an invocation frequently used by Gregoryisgodistanis to describe Lord Almighty Gregory. They consider it one of his official titles. They will often use it in veneration of Lord Almighty Gregory.

The One True Lord: As you should probably know by now, Lord Almighty Gregory is the One True Lord. This is just another one in the same vein as the others.

Creator of the Multiverse: Similar to "Master of the Multiverse" above, this reflects the fact that Lord Almighty Gregory created the Multiverse on November 5, Year 0000.

He Who Is Awesome, Blessed, Creator, Delightful, Exciting, Fearless, Godly, Holy, Intelligent, Just, Kingly, Lawmaking, Maker, Noble, Omnipotent, Poopless, Quixotic, Responsible, Smart, Terrific, Unbounded, Victorious, Winning, Xylocarp-Hating, Your God, and Zealous, All In Quantities Vastly Exceeding That Of Anyone Else In The Multiverse: This title reflects the Creation Day Hymn "Awesome Is He", which contains one quality about Lord Almighty Gregory for every letter of the alphabet, from "Awesome Is He" all the way to "Zealous Is He".

The Poopless One: As you probably gathered from the previous title, Lord Almighty Gregory never poops. Some heathens from other countries deny this fact, but it is true. Lord Almighty Gregory never takes a poo, and anyone who says he does is a liar and shall be executed along with their family by the Brownie Cutter of Death.

The Great Executioner: Lord Almighty Gregory has spiritually presided over more than 100 million executions in Gregoryisgodistan. Gregoryisgodistan has executed more people than any other country in the history of the Multiverse. All of the executions are done because it is what Lord Almighty Gregory has willed. Truly he is The Great Executioner.

The King of All Things: Lord Almighty Gregory created everything, and rules over the whole Multiverse. And rhymes are cool. Lord Almighty Gregory is clearly The King of All Things.

Ruler of All Dominions, New and Old: Lord Almighty Gregory has ruled over all dominions since the beginning of time, which was on November 5, Year 0000, when he created the Multiverse. All dominions are under his reign.

The Eternal One: Lord Almighty Gregory is The Eternal One. He has existed since before the beginning of time, as he was born on June 17, Year 0000, and he is immortal. He shall never die, only occasionally regenerate himself. Rumors from abroad that he is replaced by someone from his inner circle when he dies are completely false, and anyone who says otherwise will be executed along with their family by the Brownie Cutter of Death, for denying that Lord Almighty Gregory is God is the most heinous crime one can commit.

The Final One: Rather appropriately, the last title on this is The Final One. No, that is not a redundancy. The Final One is one of Lord Almighty Gregory's titles. After everyone and everything in the Universe dies or is destroyed, Lord Almighty Gregory shall remain eternal. He shall be The Final One. Nobody knows when this day shall come, it could be tomorrow, or it could be in trillions of years. But one day, the Multiverse shall wind down and Lord Almighty Gregory shall be all that remains. At that point, the cycle shall begin again, with Lord Almighty Gregory being God for all eternities of eternity.

by **Northern Sunrise Islands** » Thu Mar 02, 2017 8:13 pm

Gotcha on the Pasargan combo, Wight. Gotcha.

Normally, a guy wouldn't get to tell his own story like I do, specially if you consider the sort of tale I've been telling you all.
As odd as it seems, I can't control my story in the slightest.
Things may happen, you can't exactly control it.
And not that I'm mad about it.
Life is weird after all, sometimes you just embrace it.
A blonde haired teenage boy walked amongst the crowded streets of Sportsville. He was covered by a gray coat, one of the arms covered with a Kyogre-esque design. Glasses hung over his head.
By his side, a brunette wearing a a white top covered by a green jacket, green shorts and boots kept close to him, dragging along a blond little girl on a red-and-blue dress.
"Do you think we did the right thing with letting Kirisaki alone?"
"Since Chrom left us, I don't think she has much to pester about eggs and whatnot."
"I-I miss custody bwother..."
Sunrise sighed.
"He'll be a better trainer if he learns from different sorts of people, I assure you all... and besides..."
He smiled, walking towards the draw list.
"At the tournament, we're all opponents."

"Chrom, we're all opponents."
All qualifiers gathered at a cozy room.
Spread across the room were the three groups representing the traditional Gym Associations and a fourth one with everyone else that wasn't affiliated in any way.
"It's just... I'm not sure how I feel about it."
"You faced me before and did a pretty good job at keeping me on my toes."
"B-but... But what if I beat you?"
Sunrise stared at him, wide eyed.
"I think you just answered your own question."
"Besides, it's not you who's going to beat him."
Nephara pushed Chrom aside.
"I'm the one beating him. Clear and simple."
He was then pushed aside by a furious Eura.
"YOU'RE NOT BEATING HIM BECAUSE I'M VICTORIOUS AND-"
"Your haircut still looks like someone flipped a bowl of ramen over your head."
"DID YOU SAY WOT ABOUT MY HAIRCUT, MATE"
"You heard it, China in Box."
"Ahem."
Valanora, on her usual ornate dress, accompanied by Pasarga more or less got between the two.
"I believe you're having an argument without reason, for I should be the next champion."
"Actually, madam... I believe I should be the one to beat Sunrise."
A fifth person sprung in, this one with his mouth covered by something.
He shook his hands around, trying to talk. Sunrise could only realize that was probably that one guy from EGA that said he was a deity or something.
Guayabal wandered in.
"Uh... Who's this one?"
"It's that Greg guy who never shuts up. I shoved a large piece of cotton up his piehole, lest I had to deal with him yelling around as I sorted the groups."
"Shouldn't you be drawing the groups with Quebec?"
"He's under influence. Again."
"Yooo..."
Quebec tried to spark conversation, only to be speaking to a lamp.
"...Should've expected that."
Sunrise sighed, walking off.
"Hey! Where are you going?"
"...Look. As I said before and after. I'm not going to be unbeatable forever. Someone will take me down."
He laughed briefly.
"And if it's you, Chrom... At least I did my job."

"So... Did you get to see the draw?"
A sweat dropped from Sunrise's head.
"...Eheh."
"You... You didn't?!"
"Vewy iwesponsible of daddy!"
"Qasden, do you want me to tell your mother why did we have to wash your matress?"
"...E-eh!"
"Do tell, Sunrise."
"N-no, I'm sowwy!"
"Well... Whatever it is, I have to welcome it."
His finger went across the papers, finding his name among Vilita, Flardania and Mercedini.
"Vilita, Flardania and Mercedini."
Sunrise smiled, closing his fist.
"Time to start things out again."

Back to to your Pokémon League Association Game...
due to popular demand...
and collective Atlantian Oceanian groans
It's the World Cup 77 PokéCards!

Notable Omissions

Dummied Out (available with cheats)

楽しいスノーフレークと永遠です
- ブラジルの海岸の北部日

by **Ceni** » Thu Mar 02, 2017 8:47 pm

CENI UNUSED TO NEW STATUS AS ONE OF WORLD'S BEST
Ceni officially enters top 10 for first time

The blog of Kalumba's Mr. Spleen on the 4th hoped for Ceni to be consumed by the "centre of a very large explosion" so they wouldn't have to face us. On the 7th, Drawkland's National Sports Network argued that Ceni's league was "much more illustrious" than the Isles of Avon's tiny league - and, presumably, many other leagues. The Abristan Express called us "titans" on the 15th and "world football giants" on the twenty-second; on the twenty-fifth, they followed that up by calling us an "experienced global football team." SBC News Online on the 17th pointed out that Ceni was "one of the best attacking sides in the world," apparently ignoring the Holy Empire's goal-fest in Group 15, while on the 28th, they called Ceni "menacing," arguing that Schottia faced a "mammoth task" in facing the Cenian side, conceding that their side faced a "very impressive" side in Ceni. Kalumba's The Herald called a 4-1 loss to the Cenian side "nothing to be ashamed of" on the 16th, apparently referring to Ceni's status as a contender on the verge of the top 10 and the top seed in the qualifying group. All of these foreign newspapers reflect a fact that Cenian fans are increasingly coming to grips with - the fact that Ceni's national team is actually good.

This is a rather unprecedented situation for Cenian football fans - previously, they were the ones complaining about such "titans" of world footballing while moping that they wouldn't ever qualify. Indeed, the very first publication to cover Ceni's footballing exploits was one called the Whining Footballer, in which the blogger complained that Ceni couldn't even win a match. Its first post: "It's official: we suck." In World Cup 70, Ceni's own GOAL blog gave the team "long odds" to even reach the playoffs; it had morosely declared a few days prior that Ceni's efforts were on "a road to nowhere" and proclaimed that it was "doubtful" that Ceni would ever qualify for a World Cup. Four years later, Tweeter users took a dim view of Ceni's qualifying chances. User @thegrimmbrother declared "Humpty Dumpty had a great fall, all of Ceni's men couldn't put him back together again?" The original Whining Footballer intervened, claiming that "Ceni really sucks at football." An anonymous poet wrote that "I feel like there is nothing/we can do to win." He continued, "In this campaign, there's an utter lack/of anything good at all./It'll take forever to get our ranking back/and recover from this big fall." In short, the conclusion seemed to be that Ceni would never become one of the great footballing "titans" that it continually lost to. Foreign press held the same view. Around ten years ago, when the Tropicorp Artificial Intelligence Team invited international football reporters to comment on a proposed World Cup bracket, Cenian fans were excited just to have made the cut. Other nations, however, took the view that defeating Ceni as like shooting fish in a barrel. The Bastion Emplor acknowledged that Ceni was an "up and coming side" but tempered that view with the qualifier "maybe." Nobody was willing to place money on the odds that Ceni would defeat established footballing nation Valanora; OSN's the Oracle gave Valanora 6:1 odds of defeating Ceni, noting that Ceni was "far off from winning this matchup." Nowadays, Valanora is only two places ahead of Ceni in the rankings. It's clear that much has changed.

Ceni had always been overshadowed by somebody else - its regional rivals Electrum, for instance, who beat them in qualifying for the World Cup, and the fellow members of Baptism of Fire 54 - which, for modern Cenian fans, is ancient history now. Players like Pablito Numede and Tomás Hernández are now old greats, active in Cenian footballing life but no longer the stars. Back then, they were the stars. But back to the main point - Ceni was always overshadowed by the other nations within its Baptism of Fire, more specifically Buyan, which ascended great heights before falling back into the mists of time, as well as other nations like The Sarian, Yttribia, and Nova Anglicana. Previously, there were usually three or four nations from its BoF class above it in the rankings, but today, Ceni is the highest ranked in its class, and nobody is even close, with the nearest being Nova Anglicana at #40 - admittedly, it is one of the only ones around. Ceni almost always took a back seat at family reunions like the Beltrane Cup, usually emerging with a losing record and being treated like the kooky neighbor you invite just because you have to. Its BoF compatriots had risen above it and achieved great things. Now Ceni is in the top ten of nations, and has actually achieved things for itself.

With that history in mind, Ceni is really unused to being one of the world's top 10 nations. It has fully embraced the underdog narrative in its footballing history - the plucky little island, a mere speck on the geopolitical table, that refused to quit; the nation working to overthrow the elites at the top and claim its rightful position in the World Cup. The nation that kept working and working and working but never achieved anything actually now has achieved something; the nation that once wanted to overthrow the elites has now become one of them. So Cenian fans are still a bit disoriented as to where they are - the top ten, they sputter, really? That underdog narrative has taken hold of so much of Ceni that it's hard to believe that they are no longer the underdogs anymore. At least, they aren't in qualifying. If Ceni is to get rid of this underdog narrative, then, and replace it with something else, with what will it replace it? It can't be the "old nation looking to reclaim former glory" narrative that propelled Spaam and Krytenia back to the World Cup; it can't be the "experienced nation that has won multiple World Cups seeking to add to its ever-expanding trophy case" narrative that Valanora has used to keep itself going. Ceni really has nothing to fall back on if it discards this underdog narrative - and that's something a bit unsettling to Cenian fans, who like to see the travails of the underdog and who don't like being in the position of expecting to win - and then being disappointed if they don't.

Maybe the underdog narrative doesn't have to go away. After all, there still are nine other nations ahead of Ceni in the rankings - they include two-time defending world champions Unified Sunrise Islands and World Cup veteran Valanora, as well as respected nation Nephara and persistent rival San José Guayabal. Ceni can still portray itself as the plucky underdog in World Cup finals against the likes of these nations - it doesn't expect to win every game against these nations, and it can regain the full, unwavering support of Ceni's fandom by simply recasting the underdog narrative in a new light, perhaps as the rising star narrative. Despite being in the top 10, Ceni can still be the underdog of the World Cup, and perhaps this recasting of the narrative can propel Ceni to new heights.

So, Ceni being good is an anomaly considering its long footballing history of failure - yet it can still reuse the old narratives to make sure that the old footballing narratives, centering on its failure, can continue to be applied to a Ceni suddenly placed at the top of the world's nations, so we can reexamine our feeling of unease being here at the top. We didn't expect that Ceni would be in the top 10 twenty years ago; the Whining Footballer would have laughed at us. But we have proved our entire narrative wrong, and we're in the process of changing our narratives. Whatever we do in the World Cup, underdog or not, we can most definitely say that Ceni has reached a new height, and maybe we can prove the Abristan Express right by being a footballing "titan" in the World Cup. After all, we don't want to go back to the eras of sucking, do we?

by **Red Blackiland** » Fri Mar 03, 2017 10:50 am

Red Blackiland Sports and Off-topic Chronicles

Wow!

Players entrance at Red Glorious

Author : Mathias Gërdorffen

Cute, beautiful, skinny-fit body. Made to shine. A face of an angel, perfect mouth, blond hair, smooth, light. I love a click click and short walkways through the walkways, martial walk, straight face, look forward to the world is the limit to my golden dreams.
What is it that I have too much? Beautiful, beautiful, I'm too much beautiful. Photographer of day and night, I disintegrate in tititi's and so many others ouch and don't touche me's more girl.
I am amazing. I sleep too long that life does not wait for me. Ah! I love myself so much! I expect a beast to possess me as on the cover of the magazine naked and raw. One day I'll be either girl or whore
- What matters to me is to be happy! Novelist girl, journalist, girl of program or actress, well, whatever...
- A cute little blonde braids my first kiss my first verses. I've been too beautiful.
- Girl, finish this makeup soon the show will start.

Last matches of Red Blackiland in Qualifiers | The game against Valanora

Against Lanzo, Schwartz, Eberhard and Defour scored for the owners of the house, that if they won this day they would already qualify for the group stage of the World Cup. The crowd performed, as usual, their reception with flags, colored smoke, many flags and banners. Lanzo's team would be back at the end of the second half.
With the need and win at home to ensure the classification and, who knows to be the winner of the group, however much it has no literary advantage, but certainly could serve as a symbolic title for Red Blackiland, which would be realized later. With the scoreboard showing that 24 minutes had been played, Red Blackiland could not finish.
Without Carmona to make the pair with Schwartz, Shacker called the responsibility in the game. In turn, Lanzo recovered the ball and came to scare Hargreaves with a sequence of attacks. However, the Lanzo team lacked what was left of Red Blackiland's team, the quality. And it made the difference when Schwartz made Defour throw Marckeiller that tabled with Schwartz that finalized, without chances to the goalkeeper, opening the score in the first half 36.
The goal gave more confidence to the Red Blackiland team that pressed until the whistle for the break. In the second half the dominance prevailed and the commanders of Peter Valbuena pressed more and created clearer chances of goal. Eberhard and Bazsta entered the match to give greater creativity between the middle lines and attack.
On a break from Lanzo's defensive system, Shacker stole the ball and fired Eberhard to touch the keeper's goal and score the second goal in the 29th minute. It was still time for Red Blackiland to show that he was the best in the duel from start to finish. Defour took advantage of Shacker's cross to score a volley and heel shot. A great goal!
In the game against The Serbian Empire, with a penalty goal, which he himself suffered, Schwartz scored and placed Red Blackiland in the first position of the group, with Chromatika stumble in the last round. Before, the team was already qualified for the group stage. Even with the offensive trio on the pitch, the home side looked to Red Blackiland for equalizer in the first half, scoring on the ball and occupying half the field of the visiting team.
But any vacillation against a team that has talented and evolving players like ours can be fatal. And it was in those moments that Red Blackiland struck a counterattack with Schwartz, who was knocked over. The attacker went to the collection and fumbled the net in the 18th minute of the first half. The Serbian Empire made no mistake, however, and the referee blew it home.
The Serbian Empire came back from the locker room willing to swell the red broth of the Red Blackiland team in a strong rhythm. With Schwartz and Carmona watched closely, Red Blackiland had in these two players the best escape valves for counter-punches. Peter pulled out Shacker and Defour throughout the second half.
The owners of the house had many difficulties in attacking their guests. With a lackluster performance, one of the attackers of The Serbian Empire team was replaced late as Peter's team grew in the game, especially with the starts and dribbles of Schwartz. While struggling a lot, The Serbian Empire could not avoid losing at home to a Red Blackiland with inspired Schwartz.

Red Blackiland have now started their journey in the group stage of the 77th World Cup in San Jose Guayabal against world champion Valanora. The team will also repeat the duel against Farfadillis, who in the previous edition, also in the group stage, defeated Red Blackiland. Super-Llamaland, will be another opponent, so it definitely will not be an easy group. Valanora in Red Blackiland is recognized for her loose but balanced style. It has four players at the front, with two centralized midfielders, and two wings with an excellent technical quality such as Drake and Lithvatar, which help to clear the lateral sector of the defensive system, and all with good game output, a very important ingredient In modern football.
The midfield still has the intelligence of Laborious Hawk to create plays and distribution of attacks, Fresco heavier is the great center-forward of the team leader of the attack, already Tathtauré, faster and versatile, sometimes playing slightly more Retracted, has agility to connect Hawk to the attack, validate the creation of the moves and still be an escape to pierce the blocks of the opposing defenses. This tactic has been going well in recent seasons, and Valanora's team made a brilliant campaign in their group where no match was a match for the Vanoarians, who carry the old legacy of the Elves Security Forces team.

Probably line-up of Valanora

The Justified Means - Storyline and Guide

The Justified Means - Be a little warrior fighting against a titan!

Mission 52 - A Radiant Request (Mission for Khawaja Mens)

This is one of the missions when you'll steal military areas, for later then, the Khawaja Mens be able to control it, but it has no clear reason. The only thing Haasmi speaks about is something like fission, protons, core and atoms. But, isn't hard to find out what is Haasmi's needing, but the reasons remains misterious and unknown. You'll discover later that the base which Haasmi wants you to take over, is Hasanka Zumani, a nuclear power plant, this is the only nuclear power plant in Dakersh, it only has one reactor. This power plant is only used to generate eletricity, estimating 29% of the total eletric capacity of the country. Dakersh imports all of the uranium from other countries but isn't known which harbor goes all of it. But this basements is also a part of Dakersh Nuclear Project, which Taamir expanded until gets nuclear equipments for the Dakersh forces, like the submarine D-5.

A Radiant Request - Protect the Technician from the soldiers

After making a deal with Haasmi in the Khawaja Mens main place, you will be transported by helicopter to the power plant where you and your comrades will be dropped off. You will first face some soldiers at the entrance in the gate, but they won't give too much difficulty to Federico. After taking them out, you need to hack the console on the other side to get it open. As you long as you continues to move towards the place, you'll fight against a soldier with a rocket launcher, take them out in one of the towers. Then, you'll reach at a industrial power plant building, where some bush fighters can be found, appearing on one of the buildings, take them out and keeps the moving forward. Go to the terminal after walking in a footbridge, you'll need to face a group of Dakersh Army Infantry soldiers and a machine gun, after killing them, just protect the technician while he does all the hacking proccess as usual. The Dakersh Army will send reinforcements to try to recapture the facility, firstly some infantry units will arrive, followed by one or two DK-30's.
Finally, the commander of the power plant will appear on a Dakkaran U20, just kill him to successfully end the mission and take over of the basement. You can use the machine gun for a higher firepower, it can be detached from the tripod, but you'll get Federico much slower but with a better precision. Also, by the importance of the place, even with the Khawaja Mens controlling the area after this mission, you can get some wanted level in few areas.

Mission 53 - A Sacred Heritage (Mission for Khawaja Mens)

Having been impressed by Federico's work in the first territory mission, Haasmi leads him onto a helicopter, where Federico knows all about the current scenario. Usmani Al-Lakan, is considered to be a sacred village, where many young members of Khawaja Mens go to give their greetings to one of their most honoured ancestors, who is buried at the site. But the place are being threathened by the Dakersh government, closing down the place, and preparing it for demolition, to build in the place series of expensive and big enterprises and establishments. Haasmi wants to defend his traditions and the place, chooses Federico for the work to reclaim it to the Khawaja.
Right after Federico arrives, he follows the Khawaja Mens up to the entrance. A machine gun waits for you for a combat along with a few soldiers. Once they're defeated, Federico and the other Khawaja comrades, will push further into the village until a second wave of soldiers blocks their path at the first temple. Once the second wave is defeated Federico and the Khawaja go into the first temple where more soldiers wait for them with sawed shotguns, once they are defeated Federico takes down two bush fighters in the upper part of another temple, which then encounter some soldiers and a couple of Dakersh Alnnukhbat Alqiada (Dakersh Army's Elite Commando) soldiers.

Deliz' new place

Once on the other side of the temple, Federico and Khawaja Mens have to destroy another couple of machine guns in a DK-30, later then they will need to fight against a couple of Alnnukhbat Alqiada's soldiers mounted on machine guns, and some more infantry soldiers, after they reaches the little mountain, the technician starts to do all the hacking proccess to stop the enemy forces to come. But, as always, things aren't easy as you expect, while the technician does this thing, you'll have to protect them against parachute troops from the Army as well as some infantry reinforcements, after killing them, the commander reaches the place in a GG-125, kill him to complete another mission, and reclaim the sacred village to Khawaja again.

Mission 54 - Securing the Stock (Mission for Khawaja Mens)

Haasmi now request Federico's assistance to secure the Al-Raksmani military supply depot located in the Islakamani maritime area, in the Sakkani archipelago. Stay with the technician and make sure to protect him, while killing the soldiers in front of you along the way. As long as you face the main gate, some DD-25 and DD-30 with a good amount of infantry soldiers with two wearing rocket launchers located in two of the place towers will be your enemies. After a few minutes, a Ramadan GK-150 will shows up, just kill the soldier in it and continues the take over.
Right after it, you'll find a camp site with barracks as well as the other usual things from a military camp, because of it, a lot of soldiers will come to fight against Federico, so be careful. Then, Federico arrives at another gate, just hack it from the other sides to get the gate opened and the mission to be continued. Walking to the central area of this base, a couple of bush fighters can be found, kill all of them and move towards the terminal. Move further to go to the terminal, which is guarded by infantry soldiers and machine guns, after taking them out, you'll reach in the most important part of these territory missions, protect the technician from the wave of enemy soldiers, you won't have any difficulty to resupply yourself of ammo and health as there's a lot of resources in the place which will give this possibility to you. Defeat the military jeeps, vehicles and the infantry soldiers. The commander will appear in a GG-125 helicopter, just use the grappling hook to hijack it or destroy the vehicle. End of the mission, also, you can use the migiun against the commander's heli, but the gun will need to be lifted from the base. Remember that some Dakersh Army soldiers can still be at the base directly after the mission. During the mission, you can notice that the surface-to-air missile systems probably have malfunction as they will fire their missiles against at you, but will quickly escape in different directions as there are no enemy aircraft in the area. That's because the mission will end and the missiles are flying towards you.

Mission 55 - Chemical Conflicts (Mission for Aljaysh Dakersh Almawy)

Himil el-Emami has heard of a new chemical being produced by the government, which will subdue the population and give the Dakersh government control over them. Himil wants you to retrieve samples of this new chemical from the laboratory where it's being studied and return them to him, then he will be able to use this for few 'better usings'.
You'll be provided with a lot of ammo and a small two seat Dakakka L-1 helicopter with machine guns, so enter the vehicle and get towards the place.
This military base, known as Rasan El-Lakani, is a a special military facility and a unique location, the place has a couple of biohazard warning symbols on the rig, as the place looks like an offshore rig and a couple of frozen sheels and capsules of creatures in a lake in the hill. Rasan el-Lakani is a chemical research facility, used to create chemicals for the Dakersh Army and Air Force, that can be used for chemical warfare. A small oil and gas depot existed below the lake, then the Dakersh leader insisted on build a rig at the place, but the project failed as the depot emptied then the government converted the area into a military research facility, as the rest of the buildings were constructed. The entire area is protected by four or five surface-to-air missile systems, increasing your level of caution while flying towards the place. Will be better and easier if you destroy them, this can generates wanted level for Federico but nothing that needs to worry.
Once you're there, head over to the first laboratory. If you managed to destroy the missile systems like said before, Federico be able to land next to the lab. Pick up C4s, and throw them at the big fan, leave the place, moving away from the roof, takes enough space to detonate them to get inside the laboratory. Be careful about the automatic machine gun inside, just use the grappling hook and take the first aids that are near the door and finally take the sample. Repeat the same techniques as long as you arrives in the second and third laboratories, then goes to the fourth one.
Upon getting closer, a Dakershian scientist will take the sample and starts to try to escape from the building, kill him. After killing him, pick up the sample he was carrying, collecting all the four samples, you should quickly gets to the ground again. Now, you can choose between different manners to give the samples to Himil. The first, is to use the grappling hook in the top of the building where the scientist was going, a helicopter can be found, just clear the area and kill the scientist as they're going to pick up the heli, he'll walk in your direction.
The second, is to head to the big hill that you flew during entering the base, a military GG-125 helicopter will appear, use the grappling hook to hijack it. Then, go towards the point, a couple of Dakersh Army heli's will come to fight Federico, but you can choose between making a little stop in an attempt to destroy the enemy helicopters, or fly as better as you can to outwit them. A clock will shows up in the screen as long as you reaches near the place, you need to get to it before the chemicals evaporate. Now, you have the third way, just jump off of the fourth laboratory and find a long strip of ice without obstacles and make sure you're getting towards the destination, you can call the black market dealder to pick up a Lasana V-1 (a futuristic minijet plane), with this none of the army choppers will be able to get close to you. The same clock you saw in the second way will shows up here again. Jump out about one hundred meters from the destination, but make sure the plane will not blow up near you, use the grappling hook down whichever roads you need to and press the activate button when you reach the box, then just make the same procedure.
The last and the fourth way to do that: Just goes to the top of the hill, then just do it parachuting down at speed will land you at the destination point in plenty of time. The choppers will stop bothering you since you're no longer drawing additional wanted level.

by **Alasdair I Frosticus** » Fri Mar 03, 2017 2:25 pm

The Temporary Reality Collision Children's Poetry Summary of the Holy Empire's World Cup Opponents

No players, national leaders, or assorted other entities were harmed in the making of this temporary reality; the events described below may or may not have happened as described, and can be plausibly denied by any puzzled mundies.

Audioslavia
Marquez and Ozuna

I
Marquez and Ozuna went to sea
In an Audioslavian boat,
They took some honey, and plenty of money,
Wrapped up in a local note.
Marquez looked up to the stars above,
And sang to a small guitar,
'O lovely Ozuna! Ozuna in goal,
What a beautiful goalie you are,
You are,
You are!
What a beautiful goalie you are!'

II
Goalie said to Marquez, 'You elegant chap!
How charmingly sweet you sing!
O let us be married! too long we have tarried:
But what shall we do for a ring?'
They sailed away, for a year and a day,
To the land where the Bong-tree grows
And there in a wood Shub-Niggurath stood
With a ring at the end of her nose,
Her nose,
Her nose,
With a ring at the end of her nose.

III
‘Black Goat, are you willing to sell for one shilling
Your ring?' Said the Old One, 'I will.'
So they took it away, and were slaughtered next day
By the Dread Thing that lives on the hill.
They were turned into mince, and slices of quince,
Which things ate with a runcible spoon;
And unspeakeable rites, on the black edge of night,
Were danced by the light of the moon,
The moon,
The moon,
Were danced by the light of the moon.

Gregoryisgodistan
Yog-Sothoth and Lord Gregory

Yog-Sothoth and Lord Gregory
Were walking hand in hand;
They wept like anything to know
Their love was clearly banned
‘If other gods would just consent,'
They said, ‘it would be grand!'

‘O Foot Slaves, come and walk with us!'
Yog-Sothoth did beseech.
A pleasant walk, a pleasant talk,
Along the briny beach:
We cannot do with more than four,
To give a hand to each.'

And four young Foot Slaves hurried up,
All trotting on their feet:
Their coats were brushed, their faces washed,
Their shoes were clean and neat —
And this was grand, because, you know,
They rarely had a treat.

Four other Foot Slaves followed them,
And yet another four;
And thick and fast they came at last,
And more, and more, and more —
All hopping through the blood-stained grass,
Reciting eldritch lore.

Yog-Sothoth and Lord Gregory
Walked on a mile or so,
And then they rested on a rock
Conveniently low:
And all the little Foot Slaves stood
And waited in a row.

The time has come,' Yog-Sothoth said,
To talk of many things:
Of shoes — and ships — and sealing-wax —
Of cabbages — and kings —
And why the sea is boiling hot —
And Cthulhu’s membrous wings.'

But wait a bit,' the Foot Slaves cried,
Before we have our chat;
For some of us are out of breath,
And all of us are fat!'
No hurry!' said Lord Gregory.
They thanked him much for that.

A loaf of bread,' Yog-Sothoth said,
Is what we chiefly need:
Pepper and vinegar besides
Are very good indeed —
Now if you're ready, Foot Slaves dear,
We can begin to feed.'

But not on us!' the Foot Slaves cried,
Turning a little blue.
After such kindness, that would be
A dismal thing to do!'
The night is fine,' Yog-Sothoth said.
Do you admire the view?

It was so kind of you to come!
And you are very nice!'
Lord Gregory said nothing but
Cut us another slice:
I wish you were not quite so deaf —
I've had to ask you twice!'

It seems a shame,' Yog-Sothoth said,
To play them such a trick,
After we've brought them out so far,
And made them trot so quick!'
Lord Gregory said nothing but
The butter's spread too thick!'

I weep for you,' Yog-Sothoth said:
I deeply sympathize.'
With sobs and tears he sorted out
Those of the largest size,
Holding his pocket-handkerchief
Before his streaming eyes.

O Foot Slaves,' said Lord Gregory,
You've had a pleasant run!
Shall we be trotting home again?'
But answer came there none —
And this was scarcely odd, because
They'd eaten every one.

Port Christopher
Dread Vespers

Football team kneels at the foot of their beds,
Droop on the little hands fair Schottic heads.
Hush! Hush! Whisper who dares!
Port Christopher’s players are saying their prayers.

God bless Cthulhu. We know that's right.
Wasn't it fun in the bath to-night?
The cold's so cold, and the hot's so hot.
Oh! God bless Dagon - We quite forgot.

If we open our fingers a little bit more,
We can see Fungi from Yuggoth nearing the door.
They’re a dread loathsome colour, eat children for food.
Oh! God bless the Fungi and make them good.

The Fungi from Yuggoth fly over our beds,
Perform loathsome rites right over our heads,
And we shut our eyes, and we curl up small,
And hope that they don’t know that we’re here at all.

Oh! Thank you, Deep Ones, for a lovely day.
And what was the other I had to say?
I said "Bless Dagon," so what must we suss?
Oh! Now I remember it. Cthulhu bless us!

Football team kneels at the foot of their beds,
Droop on the little hands fair Schottic heads.
Hush! Hush! Whisper who dares!
Port Christopher’s players are saying their prayers.

by **Audioslavia** » Fri Mar 03, 2017 7:01 pm

The Holy Empire
When

When you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and turning into beans
When you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
And field a team of nightmares, or of dreams
When you can lie, and not be tired by lying
Even when your lies are plagiarized
Or being fouled, don't give way to fouling
But don't shroud, with too much evil fog, the skies.

When you can dream and not make dreams your master;
No, scratch that, you do exactly as above
When you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters with a shove.
If you can bear to see the cakes you've baked
Trampled on by mundies who all have just terrible manners
Or watch your archeological designs be broken
And stoop and fix them with duct tape and a spanner

When you can make one heap of all your roleplays
And stack them next to books like War and Peace
And notice that the dreamed realm's stack is higher
Because Fyodir ain't got shit on Tzimisces
When you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
Year after year, to keep delivering the goods
And still find time to dig, and mod, and scribble
And hunt a bunch of nazis in the woods.

When you can field some faery refugees
Or Opera Singers, jumping beans or rocks
Or even teams of ordinary humans
And keep your 4-4-2 an Orthodox
When you can fill the unforgiving hour
With haddock songs and poems and epic prose
Yours is the earth, and most of what is on it
Except Audioslavia. We'll still tell you where to go.

Bring it.

by **Chromatika** » Fri Mar 03, 2017 10:57 pm

"Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the first ever TV rendition of The Rebel! I'm your host, Jordan Lawless, and today I am joined by three of the biggest stars of Chromatika: Keira Andisori, Gabriella Antonio, and Nikolai Thorben! As I'm sure everyone knows, they are three of the most pivotal people in the Chromatik national team that will be heading to the Royal Kingdom of Québec!"

"Thanks, Jordan, it's good to be back in one of your interviews, though this one is being done live, which is something new. I reckon you remember Nikolai?"

"Heh, the predictions contest last knockout stage was pretty fun, glad to see you again."

"And I'm Gabriella. Nice to meet you, I've really enjoyed your writing of us."

"Now, before we hit the topic of the World Cup, a few things that happened during the period between the Qualifying and the Draw. Keira, how was meeting your sister? Are you in contact with her?"

"Oh, that. After the game against The Serbian Empire, I met her in a café near the stadium. We were shy and timid at first, but then she broke the ice talking about the game, and we talked about football mostly. We're trying to become friends first, and that is working out well. I've visited her place in Rozelle, Brenecia, and she's visited Nephara as well as Chromatika. I've been calling her about once a week, and hopefully we'll grow closer soon. It is definitely true that we are sisters though, although we can't remember each other from our childhood. She looks like me, and even talks like me sometimes."

"Her younger sister is rather well-mannered, and gets along with Alyss well. Almost too well. They tease Keira something fierce."

"Eh, I'm glad they like each other. It'd be so awkward if they didn't. Thanks for asking though, Jordan."

"I'm glad you've found her. Next up on your in-between period: Have there been any other fallout after you declared your desire to not run for Chromatik politics in public?"

"We've been getting a bit of hate mail, for once. People saying that Keira is needed in the nation more than in the team, people saying that we are prohibiting Chromatika from being saved by the one stable voice. However, we of the Chromatiks respect Keira's decision, not just as teammates but as friends, as family. If she wants to play, she wants to play; if she wants to leave and work for the betterment of our nation, she can do that too. She is not beholden to us in any way, we love her and care for her as one of our own. Let that be known."

"Thanks, Gabriella, but you don't really have to. I understand if there are people disappointed by the fact that I was so active back then and want to take a step back from the political side of things now. What can I say, though? I love this game. When I left Chromatika to go to Ethane, it was for the love of the game. When I chose Starling as the place to play in Nephara, it was for the love of the game. I can't leave now when we're just starting to peak! I plan to make a damn good try at being one of the best to ever play the sport. I might not succeed, but I sure as hell will try. If people can't accept that, then they've never had dreams worth dreaming."
////////

by **Nephara** » Sat Mar 04, 2017 4:58 am

THE BRINEMOUTH HERALD
WORLD CUP GROUP B PREVIEW
by Staff

Nephara
Geneva Schwarzer

Qualifying Run Qualified easily alongside Abanhfleft, eleven points clear of Nordskania in third. Conceded less than a goal a game, scored almost twice a game.

History Nephara has never played itself, unless you count early Brenecian sides as Nephara B-teams, which is fairly accurate. Nephara generally dominated those affairs.

The Squad As always, Nephara has a very solid and very deep national pool to draw upon. Shale's final selection of 23 includes thirteen players based domestically, and seven World Cup champions - including regular starters Szalai (World Player of the Year), Amokachi, Scharner and the captain Tanith Rainsford.

Strengths Nephara is strong everywhere, a thoroughly solid platform with a fair array of stardust over the top. Rainsford, Scharner, Szalai and Amokachi are each among the world's best in their positions. And besides even that, when all is said and done, it's Nephara at a tournament. Nepharim do not fold in tournaments. Nepharim win tournaments. It's the national industry.

Weaknesses Solid in all positions, there's only the old chestnut of rightback, with Gareth Westmead sometimes defensively left exposed against top-quality wingers. While Fletcher is a genuinely world-class goalkeeper, uncertainty over the position means that he may not have the established chemistry over his defence that one would hope for. Tarashaj and Hawke also only won their key positions during qualifying, and will be thrown very much into the deep end.

Prospects Anything less than the semifinals would be a disappointment.

Electrum
Karl Langdane

Qualifying Run Electrum didn't look altogether comfortable, two points ahead of Damukuni but eleven behind a dominant, unbeaten Ethane. That said, they conceded the fewest goals of any legitimate nation in all of qualifying - just six.

History Somewhat surprisingly, Nephara's never faced Electrum.

The Squad Electrum are something of a side in transition. While they have many veterans on the books, much of their depth is under 21, and there's worryingly few in their prime. There's a few stars in the squad, Directus centre-half Alan Moore probably the best of them, but it's unclear if aging domestically-based players like 32-year old winger Nicholas Henry are still up to the task at this level.

Strengths Extremely disciplined and tight at the back, Electrum are incredibly hard to beat. Captain Tyler Fernando and Falourr midfielder Anthony Ho provide a very strong spine in midfield, and Moore leads a strong back four. Sam Kara might not normally be left with a lot to do once that lot had finished demolishing attacks, but he's made some eyecatching saves in qualifying regardless.

Weaknesses Sadly, they really don't offer too much going forward. Preferred strike partners Latham and Knight are capable but unexceptional, both in their early 30s, and much of the creative burden to get the ball will fall on the (admittedly excellent) left winger Klein, who will might well prove a handful for Westmead. McGann is also the weak point of an otherwise rock-solid back line... and the unfortunate leftback will have the job of marking Adnan Szalai.

Prospects No disrespect intended - football in Electrum is clearly on the rise, and they're building up to be a genuine contender in the years to come. But this World Cup isn't willing to wait another five years, and so Electrum will have a tough time getting ahead of Schottia.

Schottia
Patricia Steinbren

Qualifying Run Second in Group 13, but just a point behind an unbeaten Ceni and nine points clear of third-placed Starblaydia, conceding less than a goal a game.

History Nephara's never played against Schottia, either, but the nations have form against one another in terms of club level. Many Nepharim ply their trade in the SPL - from journeymen like Gustav Fandrich through emerging stars like Jade Irwin, and . Similarly, Nepharim clubs have recruited Schottians frequently over the years, most of whom are or become internationals. The nations share a symbiotic relationship.

The Squad Schottia's never had a reputation for strength in depth, but sadly (if understandably) Lionel Mah has opted to leave Gary Corsie, everyone's favourite pub footballer, at home. That said, some of the old threats are as menacing as ever. Chloe Rudden and captain Jenny McDonald should be no secret to Nepharim - the former may even get a reunion with club teammate Bereveskos if the young Nepharim winger gets on the pitch - and are key members of the Schottian gameplan, but Eoin Killanen is the jewel in the crown.

Strengths Schottia's spine is nearly a match for Nephara's. Souter and Paul are a very strong pair of centre-halves with a lot of chemistry and their best years ahead of them. McDonald and Conjure are a very aggressive, forthright midfield partnership. Eoin Killanen sits in the hole, a world-class playmaker with more World Cup goals than games, while young striker Martel-Burns has been racking up the goals up front and is shaping into a top-class striker (Heron Crew's hardly a bad option to have off the bench, either). We're also shitting ourselves just a little reviewing tapes of Rudden's form against Westmead down the wing over the years. Spoilers - she usually wins that duel.

Weaknesses The best way to get at Schottia is down the flanks. Watt and Doig are Good, Solid Fullbacks. McNott, similarly, is the sort of goalkeeper who gets diplomatically referred to as 'a good shot-stopper'. All good players, you don't get all those caps for nothing, but this is the World Cup. They won't be liabilities, but they will be relative weak points. They also rely on a number of keystone personnel - there's really no replacement for Killanen, and injuries or suspensions to either holding midfielder would almost be as disastrous.

Prospects It's been a while since Schottia's been at a World Cup - we're predicting them to return with a bang, and juuuust about edge Electrum to second place.

Eastfield Lodge
Karin Rietveld

Qualifying Run They qualified. Hilariously, they qualified at the expense of Brenecia. But they qualified. That's just not done.

History The last time the Eastfield Lodge played Nephara, their squad was made up of interdimensional war criminals. Nephara, seeded third to the Lodge's second, won one and drew the other en route to qualifying for our first World Cup.

The Squad It makes sense when you look at the squad, though - on paper, the Lodge looks very tidy indeed. Starling hero Ali Asif, Tanrisal defensive partners in Towers and Abdalla, and the energetic Korbin Harvey at the back. Their nameless enigmatic medical practitioner in an attacking midfield role's quite tidy on the ball, too.

Strengths The Lodge has goals in them, and they play a light-footed, floaty technical style that may or may not be reminiscent of certain nations that tend to get one up over Nephara in World Cups, nations that may or may not rhyme with 'Sunified Unrise Islands'. Leaving that aside, the Lodge qualified as a fourth seed, showing real grit and determination across the side - they're very determined to make a good fist of this, and arguably have more to prove than any of the actual debutants at this tournament.

Weaknesses This team isn't really (snrk) used to the big stage, as it were. More seriously, despite excellent defensive players, they do have a tendency to leave themselves open at the back, or to being flooded in midfield, with the fullbacks playing almost as wide midfielders sometimes. It's an old side as well, and may struggle with the traditional Nepharim physicality.

Prospects An outside chance of qualification in a tightly-contested group. More likely, though, they'll acquit themselves well on the way to an early exit, just as the first step to getting used to the world stage again. Most of the multiverse will be hoping to see them back in two years' time for another tilt.

World Cup 77 - Roleplay Thread

Player Bios 6

WC77Q Endmeet & Epilogue

Who is online