World Cup 78 - Roleplay Thread

[Mercedini]

World Cup Qualification MD4 LIVE
Yuezhou vs. Mercedini
@ Yuezhou National Stadium - Somewhere, Yuezhou

Good evening ladies and gentlemen and welcome to a very oriental Yuezhou for MD4 of World Cup Qualification. Today, the hosts welcome Mercedini to the Yuezhou National Stadium for what could be a make or break match for the team in blue and black. Three draws out of three matches has meant this match takes on extra importance for the players and for the manager, as the Golden Eagles attempt to save their campaign after what has been a rather lacklustre first couple of matches. It's been a nice couple of days here in Yuezhou, and I've got to say the food is superb. If you ever come here, try the crispy spicy beef and the special fried rice, it is to die for. Enough about my stomach, onto the match where the stadium is really only half full, there isn't a high turnout at all with the hosts occupying only filling one of the stands while the visiting allocation hasn't been filled to an adequate level either, something which may raise concerns with the MFA. Anyway, the teams are out for the start of the match, it will be intriguing to see how this match pays out.

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0' - Two national anthems later and we are moments away from the start of the match. Interesting to see the divide between the Mercedinians and the Yuezhou, the blue and black contrasting the red and yellow, capitalism verses uhh... maybe communism at a guess. Yuezhou seem confident that they could get a result from their opposition considering their difficulty in finishing games and seeing them through. Billic and Chillotov are upfront once again with the usual suspect in midfield and in defence. They will play Yuezhou who look to be playing in a rather defensive 4-5-1 with Chen Huikang the lone striker upfront. Tactics may come into play early on in this match, we have kicked of the fourth match of qualification, with Yuezhou passing it around to the pleasure of the home fans.

9' - (YZH 0-0 MRC) - We are just about to hit the ten minute mark and it's a slow start to this match. Yuezhou are controlling the pace of this match thanks to their takeover of the possession. Mercedini haven't had that much time on the ball to go forward, but Yuezhou haven't conjured up the chances created by previous teams which spells good new so far for Mercedini. It is goalless, but we haven't seen what Mercedini can do in this came considering their lack of possession.

14' - (YZH 0-0 MRC) - Mercedini have had their first meaningful piece of possession and it is looking pretty promising as Billic and Chillotov are linking up well in this opening period. One half-chance came from Chillotov who sent in a shot from outside of the box but that was well caught by the Yuezhou goalkeeper. It is early days and we have seen what can happen in these types of matches, Mercedini looking the more dangerous in this match but still a log long way to go in this match.

22' - (YZH 0-0 MRC) - Mercedini have gone close yet again with a shot from Nymark. Billic originally had the chance but his dibble attempt was blocked by the standing leg of one of the defenders, the ball came back out to an arriving Nymark who lashed at the shot but his fizzing drive went wide of the mark. Warning shots from the golden eagles, it got the crowds attention and it may have woken up the Yeuzhou defence with that attempt. Can Yuezhou bounce back from that scare or will Mercedini maintain their dominance in this match?

29' - (YZH 0-0 MRC) - Who would have expected this? The wheels have fallen off the Mercedinian wagon as Yuezhou have gone up the other end of the pitch and earned themselves a penalty Chen was weaving is way around and had only just made it into the box when Dosic gave him a shove, he went down and the referee thought there was enough in the tackle to award the spot kick. It's more of the same for Mercedini and Chen has the chance to give his nation the against the run of play.

30' - (YZH 0-0 MRC) - Here he comes... SAVED BY HOSSET and it kicked out of play to avert the danger. The goalkeeper has bailed his teammates out with what could be a crucial save in the grand scheme of things. It wasn't that god of a penalty, waist height and just barely to the keeper's left which made it an easy take for the young Mercedinian goalkeeper. That will do wonders to his and his team's confidence. It remains goalless, and it would be fitting to see Mercedini to go on and win it from here.

37' - (YZH 0-0 MRC) - Confidence is oozing out of the Mercedinian team after that saved penalty as they come forward once again. Less than ten minutes plus stoppage time for get a goal in this game. the wingers are beginning to come into their own as they push forward against a rather defensive Yuezhou team. Whether a successful combination can be found before the end of the first half remains to be seen.

43' - (YZH 0-1 MRC) - GOAL for Mercedini! It's a big big goal just minutes until the final whistle and it's come from an unlikely source. Liam Dosic with his first goal in a long long time, he wheels away in celebration in front of an ironically empty stand with his teammates to celebrate on a sucker punch for the home fans. It came from a Crasic corner which was sent in with pace and was curling in towards the goal. Liam Dosic was arriving and thumped his header straight into the net, no chance for the goalkeeper or the defenders on the line. 1-0 Mercedini with only a couple of minutes remaining in the half.

45+1' - (YZH 0-1 MRC) - No more time to be added on and the referee blows his whistle for the end of the match. A late Yuezhou chance came to nothing which means Mercedini go in to the first half interval with a slender lead against their unranked opposition. A Dosic header late in the half proved to be the difference after a tense, back and forth first half. Yuezhou should feel they have blown a golden chance after a poor penalty was saved, and that gave Mercedini the confidence to go on and prove their worth. At the end of the first half, it's Yuezhou 0, Mercedini 1.

HALF TIME
Yuezhou 0 - 1 Mercedini
Dosic 43'

We have returned from the first half interval and the players are making their final preparations before the beginning of the first half. I have had today's fix of crispy spicy beef and it was delicious thanks for asking. The players are out on the pitch and it doesn't look like any changes have been made. Mercedini had plenty of momentum going in at half-time, let's see if they can continue that now. The second half coming now...

52' - (YZH 0-1 MRC) - Not much action in the opening minutes of this half as Mercedini attempt to consolidate what they have in this game. Yuezhou are coming forward and making moves on the Mercedinian defence, although their training seems to have worked regarding their line and shape, as they are holding the opposition back at the moment. Billic and Chillotov are moving back to support their midfielders, a real team effort from Mercedini, they remain 1-0 up.

61' - (YZH 0-1 MRC) - An hour gone and Mercedini look comfortable in this match, their three draws could be put behind them with a win here and decent performances in the rest of their group matches to ensure a Cup of Harmony place if not a second successive place in the World Cup in Cosumar and Bonesea. The golden eagles are seeing this game out comfortably and look to ensure their first win in the campaign at the fourth time of asking. Still 1-0, and Mercedini are cruising to a victory.

70' - (YZH 0-2 MRC) - They have got what they came for, Mercedini have got a second goal in this match thanks to Tim Crasic from the wing. Chillotov and Billic moved the ball up field and looked to combine to score the goals themselves but Billic looked up and passed to his former club mate who made space and slotted the ball in at the near post. Twenty minutes left in the game and Mercedini have put themselves firmly in the driving seat. 2-0, Mercedini.

77' - (YZH 0-2 MRC) - Time ticking down in this match and the gulf between these two matches is clear to see. Mercedini are controlling nearly every part of the pitch and look to have come a long way since their three draws at the start of this campaign. Bjarnasson looks calm on the touchline for once as he guides his team to a rather comprehensive victory against an unranked team. The match took on extra importance due to their less than perfect start but they have taken the pressure and made it their own as they ease to the win. Still 2-0.

85' - (YZH 0-2 MRC) - Less than five minutes left in the game and it's Yuezhou's time to prove their worth. They are pushing forward and are actually making a fairly decent set of chances. Their formation doesn't exactly do them any favours as Chen is isolated up top and Mercedini are cutting the balls out between the midfield and the lone striker. Mercedini are still two goals to the good and I don't think Yuezhou can make up the difference in such the small time left.

90+3' - (YZH 0-2 MRC) - There we go, Mercedini put their first win on the board with a comprehensive 2-0 win over an unranked Yuezhou side. Goals from Dosic and Crasic round out what was a good night for Mercedini in all. I'm hearing both Nephara and Starblaydia have lost which spells good news for Mercedini, it keeps them within touching distance of the top two with big matches to come in this group. Not much else to say, it's finished here Yuezhou 0, Mercedini 2.

FULL TIME
Yuezhou 0 - 2 Mercedini
Dosic 43', Crasic 70'

A very good night for Mercedini's qualification hopes as they take three points and all the teams of similar calibre lost. Next up for the golden eagles is the biggest challenge of them all, Nephara. They have had a similarly rotten time of qualification and sit below Mercedini with a game in hand. A win for the nation in blue and black means its highly likely that they will head into the top two and sink rivals Nephara even lower that they are. With Mercedini's BYE day on the final day of the circuit, it's important Mercedini produce a barrier between themselves and the chasing pack so that any margins that are cut away when Mercedini aren't playing can be absorbed by the margin, ensuring Mercedini remain competitive in the group. That's all for tonight, goodbye from Yuezhou!

[Vilita]

Vilita have a long history of selecting players from its National Talent Pool throughout a qualification campaign, instead of re-using the same lineup over and over. The belief has always been to spread the experience around so that more players are able to step up when needed, and that the younger players are prepared for the occasion earlier in their career.

Set out to understand what factors directly contributed to the Jungle Cats success in World Cup 77 - and what factors were perhaps at best red herrings, or, at worst, detrimental to either World Cup 77 or continued success in future events, The Football Association of Vilita convened the Football Association of Vilita 'Generation of Champions Analysis Team' (GoCat) who began a detailed analysis of World Cup 77 itself, starting with the World Cup 77 Qualification phase.

Did this theory work in practice? Of course, in the isolated case of World Cup 77, Vilita were triumphant. But the GoCAT needed to determine exactly how much of that experience has been spread across which players - then compare that with the experience of the players used during the World Cup 77 Finals - just to begin to paint the beginning of a picture of whether or not the implementation of player selection policies is a help, a hinderance, or a non-factor in the Jungle Cats success.

Football Association of Vilita, Tivali Ring Stadium, Alikki-Corra, Vilita :: The Midfield has long been the bread and butter of the Vilitan National Team. Many have even asked the question, what came first, the Vilitan Midfield or the 3-5-2? The classic Chicken-and-the-egg scenario. Is the Vilitan Midfield so strong out of Tactical Necessity, or are the Vilitan Tactics driven by how strong their midfield is?

GoCAT certainly didn't have any misguided aspiration of solving such an insolvable riddle, but they did at the very least have full intention on characterizing how midfield players were utilized in the build up to the World Cup 77 Finals and comparing that to the utilization of midfielders in prior campaigns - both those that were successful, few and far between as they may, and the bulk of the other campaigns which ended in disappointment all around.

One other facet of the Vilitan midfield has always been their flexibility to move around. Very rarely was the Vilitan coaching staff satisfied with a player who was not adaptable. Lee Bruce, Umberto Melli, Ruben Laberge. All good footballers sure - Laberge even managed to spend a few seasons over at the pride of Calania, Starblayde club Iskara Daii. But their names are now but whispers to the fans of the modern game. Their impact on their Nation did not stand the test of time. Then you have names like Santo Kecker; the Original Era Jungle Cat's top midfield goalscorer; Calaesa Mitaroka, Jonathon Baledrokadroka... Tanner Nerni who scored the World Cup 20 winning goal. All timeless names in the lore of Vilitan Sport. All could play inside, outside, up and down the pitch. Classic Vilitan Midfielders.

Were the same traits still valued in the modern game? Were players still being used in the classic Vilitan implementation? If they weren't, should they be? If they were, was it helping them or holding them back? GoCAT wanted to know.

Tripate Falcon was just 16 years of age when the Jungle Cats successfully navigated their famous World Cup 68 campaign. Yeaddin Owls midfielder Westii Yahaya was even younger, just academy aged and coming up through the ranks of the Turoki system - one of the few young athletes of National Team calibre that was still choosing the Islander path in Turoki after the "Tide" of change that had swept over the city. While naturally neither played a part in the World Cup 68 final, Tripate Falcon did receive their first invitation to train with the National Team during that campaign and officially registered to the Vilita National Team player pool. The experience of being able to train on the same pitch as legendary figures such as Kristofer Kilpter, Nili Ylimaiina, Miiara Makose and Vilita's all-time CAPs leader Jomur Hulyer would be experience of immeasurable influence on the young midfielders career.

Fast forward to World Cup 77 Qualifying and now it was Falcon and team captain Purapal Eskiiy sharing the role as the experienced midfielder. Falcon and Yahaya led all middies during the World Cup 77 Qualifying campaign with 12 appearances - still, keeping in tradition of Vilitan rotation, having appeared in just two-thirds of matches. Eskiiy, the World Cup 68 hero entering the backside of an illustrious career was just one behind on 11.

Vilitan Midfielder Appearances
World Cup 77 Qualification
Appearances [Goals]


11 [2] - Endur Rotropii :: Marine Coast United
9 [1] - Linkat Cjinder :: Milona-Lpaka AFC
9 [0] - Arocki Tadalek :: Jungle Strike FC
8 [3] - Jirijii Januaa :: Milona-Lpaka AFC
7 [1] - Monner Vileai :: Tropicorp FC
7 [0] - Rintala Sekagaya :: Alikki-Corra FC
4 [1] - Mileke Drokasorna :: Colonial Sile
3 [0] - Kwuimekii Hentetii :: Rammsissil
1 [0] - Tlikao Muratai :: Lonngeylin Coast

Perhaps the most intriguing thing however is that while there were six Vilitan defenders who played in more than one-third of the qualifying matches, there were just seven Vilitan midfielders who could share the same distinction - despite, on average, one to two more midfielders starting on a match-to-match basis. The trio of Yahaya, Falcon and Eskiiy certainly commanded a place in the starting lineup on most occasions while Polaox Torerun of then-Vilitan Champions Turoki Tide and a duo of youngsters, Jurzen Devmiko of Colonial Sile and Va'a-Rio Kiwavyn of Cednia Beach AFC came through with nine appearances a piece.

Partly due to an injury to Turoki Tide midfielder Cavuna Aquafek that relegated the expected starter to just 4 qualifying appearances, and partly due to other unknown reasons, there was then a gap between the 7 players who shared the bulk of the action, and the rest of the Vilitan Midfield Player Pool. Defense-minded Karisto Monafog of UICA Champions Mliona-Lpaka AFC made 6 appearances, one of which coming as a substitute. The numbers just went down from there.

One thing that was not lacking, however, was the contribution on the scoreboard from the midfield players. While the names of legendary Vilitan Strikers is strong, Jungle Cat midfielders have never been afraid to make a name for themselves and the GoCat analysis proved that World Cup 77 Qualifying was no different.

Goals during Qualifying
5 - Polaox Torerun
3 - Tripate Falcon
3 - Purapal Eskiiy
3 - Jurzen Devmiko
2 - Westii Yahaya
2 - Ikala Mravedii
1 - Jyuola Mtalata

Not surprisingly, seven different Vilitan midfielders found their way onto the scoresheet during the World Cup 77 Qualifying campaign - the same number of midfielders as appeared in over one-third of the matches played. However, the two lists of 7 were not equal as despite appearing in 9 matches a piece, Serabi Chamya of Lonngeylin Coast and Va'a-Rio Kiwavn never managed to put one in the back of the net. However, Chamya's Lonngeylin Coast teammate Ikala Mravedii scored not just once, but twice during the course of the campaign despite appearing in just five matches. Likewise Jyuola Mtalata - teammate to Tripate Falcon and Purapal Eskiiy at Eastal Lunar, also managed to score during their five match appearances. Falcon and Eskiiy managed three goals a piece along with Colonial Sile's Jurzen Devmiko but it was the always-dangerous Polaox Torerun that led all midfielders scoring five goals during the qualification campaign - spread out evenly across five different games including two consecutive games, matchdays 14 and 15 where it was Torerun leading off the scoring for the Jungle Cats.

But who would be more prolific overall? Vilita's attack minded midfielders... or their actual Strikers?

Champions Tour Series
1. Celebration & Reflection
2. GoCat 77Q: Goalkeepers
3. GoCat 77Q: Defenders

[Kalumba]

The Great Attractions of Kalumba

Published by the Tourist Bureau of Kalumba

Number Five
Peppermint Elephant


Although Kalumba is by and large a conservative society the cities are growing more cosmopolitan and it is in the heart of Kahali that one can find an Afrosian, and Kalumba, icon. Peppermint Elephant was first opened in 1962 amid major protests and challenges in parliament, and was indeed temporarily closed on three separate occasions under the Immorality Act. But after the repeal of that act in 1984 Peppermint Elephant truly took off.

Originally popular with soldiers on leave, seeking respite from the horrors of the independence war, the gentleman's club soon became a fixture of Kalumban saturday nights when their non-nude shows became the starting stage for many of the nations rising stars but also held concerts from legends like Jaoa Maria Tudela, this combined with the relatively lax door policy meant that nearly every young man in Kahali visited.

Although the growth of political correctness has led to some disapproval of the club it remains a fixture of Kahali nightlife and is well worth a visit by any group of young male tourists seeking a good time and the beauty of ebony dancers. On saturdays the club is suitable for all over 14s with variety shows ranging from comedy to musical and accrobat exhibitions.

Don't Delay, Visit Kalumba Today!

[Sargossa]

JV: ‘Welcome back to SargoSport 1, it’s that time again. Live from The Stadii Di Bradini in beautiful downtown Jhanna, it’s Starblaydia versus Sargossa, World Cup qualification points on the line and taking you through all the action it’s Elías Carrasco and first Carlos Acuña. Good afternoon gentlemen.’

CA: ‘Good afternoon Javi. Good afternoon everybody. Welcome to Jhanna for this, the fourth round of World Cup 78 qualifying. It’s been a good start to the campaign for Rafael Barrios’ boys but it’s been an even better start for today’s opponents, standing proudly at the top of Group 12 Starblaydia have set no less a target than a sixth world title. And they’re going the right way about it thus far. I’m delighted to be joined by former Sargossa and Ceni coach Elías Carrasco, Elías this is a huge test for Rafael Barrios and his side, do you think they’ll be overawed by the occasion?’

EC: ‘Good afternoon everyone. I hope not, is the honest answer. I had a look at the stats earlier and this is Sargossa’s 733rd senior international fixture, I like to think at this stage we can leave awe to the new boys. This is without doubt a fantastic venue and Starblaydia obviously come with a huge amount of historical gravitas but we played them as recently as the World Cup 75 qualifiers, taking four points from them in the process. They are to be respected, they’re not to be feared.’

CA: ‘You mention that stat, I can add something to it. Game number 11 was against Starblaydia and that was the nation’s first ever defeat in a World Cup qualifier. Interestingly current Starblaydia coach Ázëwyn Fëanáro scored in that victory.’

EC: ‘Ernesto Farías, who I like to think of as my mentor in football, was on the pitch that night too and I can tell you one of them has aged a lot better than the other!’

CA: ‘That was the World Cup 47 campaign which was also the last time Sargossa were defeated in Starblaydia. Since then we’ve come to Jhanna twice and scored four goals on both occasions. And you know all about one of those occasions.’

EC: ‘The World Cup 70 playoff. That was a really gruelling campaign, which started with a trip to Gregoryisgodistan which was just ghastly. We never quite caught Valladares and ended up in the playoff against Starblaydia. We came here and it was just a night when everything went right. It was phenomenal. But I had a really experienced spine to that side, with Defederico and Escobar immense in midfield and Sosa marshalling the defence. Up front I had a trio of Federico Noyola, Saturnín Quinteros and Stefano Bustos who never gave the Starblaydi defence a break. That 4 – 1 win was one of the proudest moments of my career. When people ask me to pick a career highlight obviously I say the Copa win over Eura but a close second is definitely that night in Jhanna. And I’m delighted to see Armando Abad and Guillermo Lucena, two of my side that night, on Rafael Barrios’ coaching staff.’

CA: ‘One change to the side that beat Makongo, Iván Mayoral starts in place of Rodrigo Marcellán up front.’

EC: ‘I can understand that one. Marcellán has looked a little out of sorts in the previous games while Mayoral came on to score the winner against Makongo. He also adds more of a physical presence up front which should keep Palanadu and Kilgannon occupied.’

CA: ‘We are moments away now from kickoff, but before that there is just one last item of business. As all twenty three of Sargossa’s squad form in a line to face one of the great sights in world football. It’s time for the Raiigar...’

* * * * * * * * * *

CA: ‘Here’s Hanar Nauglamír, a surprise inclusion in this Starblaydi squad, he clips it forward towards Benson. Shadowed by Montero now but he still gets the cross in! And it’s hacked away by Andrés Fernández with Joshua Bentley lurking just behind him. Good start for the home side.’

EC: ‘They certainly look lively but I’ve been really impressed with the back three, they look so organised. Rafa’s clearly got them well drilled. It’s great to see.’

* * * * * * * * * *

CA: ‘It’s a great pass and Kabeya is running between defenders. What a chance! Oh! She’s missed it! Ella Kabeya, with a clear sight of goal has dragged her shot just wide. Best chance of the match so far and it falls to Kabeya and Starblaydia.’

* * * * * * * * * *

CA: ‘That’s a strong challenge from Victorino on Nauglamír, I’m not sure he took much of the ball. And sure enough the Cenian referee flashes a yellow card. It’ll be a freekick to Starblaydia, thirty yards out and to the right of the penalty area. It looks like it’ll be Matranga to swing it in on her left foot. It’s bending in wickedly . . . and Kilgannon! Seth Kilgannon, the Starblaydi captain rises highest but, under pressure, couldn’t keep the header down.’

EC: ‘Again it’s strong defending, from Sebastían Pérez that time. He didn’t give Kilgannon an inch of space.’

* * * * * * * * * *

CA: ‘Beautifully weighted from Vecino and Gamboa races on to it. This time he has got the better of Avathar. To the byline, he lifts it towards the penalty spot. Mayoral. He nods it down. And Marí! Saved by Myhill! Great move by Sargossa. Mayoral finding Marí with the knockdown and the Dínamo Maturín midfielder forced Zak Myhill into a smart stop.’

EC: ‘Really good save from Myhill and good work too from Gamboa. It was really unselfish play from Mayoral, you could argue that he was better placed to try and get the header on goal himself but he served it up for Marí who came so close. A signal of intent from Sargossa.’

* * * * * * * * * *

CA: ‘There goes the whistle for half time and it feels like we’ve been here before. Just like the trip to Mercedini here in Jhanna Sargossa have surrendered the majority of possession, faced the majority of chances yet have emerged unscathed. What do you think Rafael Barrios will be saying in the dressing room?’

EC: ‘Just more of the same, that’s all they need. The side has looked pretty calm, pretty cool and highly organised. They just need to focus on doing more of the same. His is certainly the easier of the two teamtalks.’

CA: ‘No question as to the happier of the teams at half time. After forty-five minutes it’s nil-nil between Starblaydia and Sargossa, back to you in the studio.’

* * * * * * * * * *

CA: ‘Whatever Ázëwyn Fëanáro said at half time seems to have struck a cord with her charges. It’s been a blistering first ten minutes from the hosts, with Sergio Vega denying Kabeya twice and then palming Matranga’s effort from distance over the bar. But the Corsairs have weathered the storm, they’ve dug in and now they look to push forward. It’s Eduardo Larrea, the captain. Oh, it’s a speculative effort from distance which sails harmlessly over the bar. His coach looks unimpressed.’

EC: ‘It’s a real waste, they were getting players forward in support there but I think Larrea suddenly pictured tomorrow’s sporting headlines and went for it himself.’

* * * * * * * * * *

CA: ‘Down goes Mayoral, claiming he was barged into by Kilgallon. It certainly looked a bit clumsy from the centreback. Freekick given and it’s in an attractive spot for the visitors. Just over twenty yards out, a little to the left of Myhill’s goal. Marí’s taking a long look, Gamboa’s there too and Vecino. Mayoral and Fernández are making mischief in the defensive wall. It looks like it’ll be Vecino to strike it . . . OH Vecino! What a hit! What! A! Hit! Alejandro Vecino curls it over the wall and beyond the reach of Zac Myhill. Great strike! And Sargossa lead in Jhanna.’

EC: ‘What a fantastic strike. As soon as it left his foot you knew exactly where it was going. Great goal.’

CA: ‘You can hear some noise know from the thousands who have made the trip from Rushmore. What was noticeable though was the lack of reaction from Rafael Barrios. He knows this is far from over.’

* * * * * * * * * *

CA: ‘As Kabeya looks to get on it. It drops over her shoulder and she attempts an audacious volley that ends up in the stand. I think she had more time than she realised there. It just hasn’t happened for the Jhanna United forward today.’

* * * * * * * * * *

CA: ‘It looks like we’re going to have a double change from Sargossa. It’s going to be Rodrigo Marcellán and David Zambrano to come on. And they’re going to replace Miguel Marí and Iván Mayoral. What do you make of that?’

EC: ‘Zambrano will sit alongside Victorino, in front of the back three, while Marcellán will provide some fresh legs up front. It’s really interesting how international football changes your mindset. I’ve faced Rafa a few times in the SuperLiga and I’ve never once seen him sit on a lead. He always looks for the next goal to kill it off. But here, with the pressure’s magnified exponentially you have to fight for every single point.’

* * * * * * * * * *

CA: ‘It’s a great ball from Larrea and Montero is tearing away. He finds Vecino, Vecino to Marcellán. He’s into the penalty area! Chance here! Oh and it’s a great challenge from Palanadu. He slides in to make the block just as Marcellán was set to pull the trigger.’

* * * * * * * * * *

CA: ‘It’s the substitute Soronúmë, twisting and turning, skipping past Montero. In goes the cross! It’s headed away. Back in by Nauglamír. Cleared again. Matranga. Lovely low ball to Soronúmë! And the effort is just over the angle of post and bar.’

* * * * * * * * * *

CA: ‘Pawel Zapotowski, imperious in the centre. Forward it goes . . . and that’s a great dummy from Soronúmë. Bentley read it, he charges on to it but out comes Vega! Great block! And the spin on the ball takes it away from Kabeya. It just will not fall for the home side. Vega did so well to throw himself at the feet of Bentley, deflecting the effort away and seeing it fall agonisingly out of reach of Ella Kabeya.’

EC: ‘What the home fans would have given to see Kabeya on the end of that instead of Bentley. With her pace she would have got there first and left Vega stranded.’

* * * * * * * * * *

CA: ‘We’re into stoppage time of which there will be four minutes. And we’re going to see a final change for Sargossa. It’s Vecino, the goal scorer, who slowly heads to the touchline. And it’s Jorge Bastos who enters the fray. No prizes for guessing the tactical rationale as a fourth centreback joins the defensive unit.’

* * * * * * * * * *

CA: ‘Listen to the noise coming from the Sargossan fans, the whistles ring out. They’re imploring the referee to blow the whistle. He looks at his watch again. And there it is! That’s the whistle. That’s the match. It’s another famous victory for Sargossa in Jhanna. Now Barrios punches the air, now they can celebrate. Sargossa go level on points with Starblaydia at the top of Group 12. It’s Yuezhou next in Jucaro as Sargossa look to consolidate their position in this group ahead of another one of these horrendous away games, at top seeded Nephara. Join us next time when the qualification campaign continues. Final score from the Stadii Di Bradini in Jhanna it’s Starblaydia nil, Sargossa one.’

[Red Blackiland]

Red Blackiland Sports and Off-topic Chronicles

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Football Passions

Huge smokebomb choreography before the match against Republic of Kaboomlandia by the fans

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Author : Mathias Gërdorffen

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Wilson was a Cruce Estrella fan fan. He went to all the games, and entered into Homeric discussions on the internet to defend his team from the heart. He was a real disregard for the fans of the rival team, the Bluebérry Cavaliers. He was proud to say that his whole family was a Cruce Estrella fan. Until the day when Anna, her daughter started dating Joshua, supporter of the Bluebérry Cavaliers. At first Thomas panicked, rejected their courtship, counseled his daughter to terminate their courtship. He did not tell his friends that his daughter was dating a Bluebierry Cavaliers supporter, and she cried all night when she saw photos of her daughter wearing Facebook on her rival's shirt.
Vilma, Thomas's wife, eventually persuaded her husband to at least respect the two of them together, and said that Joshua was a good, correct and responsible boy. And indeed he was. Thomas did not admit it, but he liked Joshua's stance. The weather only weighed when it had game of Cruce Estrella against the Blueberry Cavaliers.
Joshua and Anna studied, graduated, and some time later decided to marry. Everything went well at the ceremony, until Thomas whimpered in front of all the guests when he discovered that Joshua was wearing the Blueberry Cavaliers shirt under his suit. "It's just to tease me," he said.
Some time later, Anna became pregnant, and had Julian, a boy. Thomas tried to give Estrella Cruce shirts to the baby, flags, but nothing worked. Some of the first things he learned to do were clap his hands when he heard the anthem of the Blueberry Cavaliers E.C., and shout "Blueberry Cavaliers," raising their arms when someone said "Gol" near him.
One other thing he learned very young was to say "Grandpa." In spite of Thomas's dislike of his grandson's footballing preference, the boy was very fond of staying with his grandfather, and often only stopped crying as he went to Thomas's lap. Julian was growing up and with each passing day he and his grandfather were closer and more friends.
One day, championship final between Blueberry Cavaliers and Cruce Estrellaing. Thomas prepared for that historic decision, and was excited to go to the stadium, take his grandson and let him get infected with the Yellow crowd party. When he went to ask Anna to take Julian to the stadium, he discovered that Joshua had already agreed to go with Anna and Julian to the stadium. Vilma was also encouraged to go with her daughter, son-in-law, and grandchild for the first time at the stadium, at that family program, and called Thomas to come as well. He declined, said he would never go to the stadium in the cheering Blueberry Cavaliers, that would be a humiliation for him.
At the entrance to the stadium, Julian cried and wanted his grandfather to come. There was no explanation or combined that made the boy stop crying, he wanted nothing, just wanted the grandfather together. Thomas wound up, annoyed.
End game, Blueberry Cavaliers champion, with a 2 × 0 win over the Cruce Estrella. Blueberry Cavaliers cheerleaders, and Thomas with a tied face, questioning some decisions of the judge of the match, that according to him, had harmed his team. Julian jumps, not content with joy at the victory, and hugs his grandfather, shouting "He's Champion, Grandpa, he's Champ!".
Thomas then notices something very strange. Despite the defeat, he is happy to see his whole family celebrating together, and Julian smiling and jumping with happiness ..
Julius, a worker at a small factory, the father of a family, thought it would be foolish to take part in the strike of his category to protest for better wages, and he preferred to stay home in the morning, enjoying his day off. In the afternoon, he went to the club's headquarters to protest that the president of his team would raise the salary of one of the best players on his team and stand out in the league so that he would not transfer to Europe. The next day, on his way back to work, he discovered that the strike was a fiasco and wages would continue to be frozen and told his colleagues: "I said." He read in the newspaper that the player ended up transferring to Europe and said: "It's absurd."
Wrobel was a fanatical supporter of the Blueberry Cavaliers E. From the top of his 66 years, he had seen many glories and also many defeats of his heart team. He was deeply involved with the club, and was known for much of the crowd and even the club president, players and coaching staff. In the stadium, he shouted, suffered, cried and was deeply pleased with the victories of his team.
The doctor had warned about the worsening of his heart problems, and recommended that he move away from football to avoid problems. Of course he did not hear this recommendation, and suffered a heart attack in the game in which the Blueberry Cavaliers became champion over rival Cruce Estrella. He was rescued, but he could not resist.
Muller, his son, learned of the fatality and went into despair. He did not believe and did not accept that his father had died, especially in football. Muller did not follow football like his father, and found in that sport a culprit by the death of Wrobel.
A few months later, he received home calls from the president of the Blueberry Cavaliers E.C., so that Muller and his mother could go to the stadium in the next game. Muller did not want to go, "If it was not for this stupid team, my dad would still be here," he would say. He ended up convinced by his mother to go only for education, not to do undone.
In the game, a tribute was planned for Wrobel. Muller, still shaken by his father's death, watched the players entering by holding a banner with a photo of Wrobel, along with his wife and Muller as a child, with the words: "He will live forever". Seeing this, the fans also began to sing these words, being accompanied even by the twisted rival. Hearing the whole stadium shouting his father's name, and saying, "Will Live Forever," Muller went to tears, and could understand a little more about what it means to live forever. Mathias is 31 years old, a psychologist and a fan of Vaslui and understands all the contradictions and complications of football. Until the ball rolls.

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Drawkons Wise Warriors: The next game of Das SpielHaus

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Learn about the dragons in the land of Drawkland

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Mainstory Quest #4 - Through The Past of The Times [Part 2]

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Continuing from the first part of the mission.
There are two new areas outside of the main hall, that will need to be visited, at least one time: the headquarters of the officers and the barracks, both places have two entrances, down or upstairs, the doors from below will be locked at the beginning, in the first time the group departs the main hall, the gauge will begin to tick down after a few moments and every subsequent time the group the group leaves the main hall, the gauge will begin to tick down immediately. Right after a veteran is saved, the gauge increases slightly and the mission will fail if the gauge is completely emptied, then a group member says they hear fighting when the gauge depletes by about half and another will warn the Henig when the gauge is depleted by about 80% and every time the group returns to the main hall, at lease two Corrupted Templars will be there and will be more depending on how much of the gauge has depleted before returning, more level of depletion of the gauge means more corrupted templars. The so-called Corrupted Templars are a splinter faction of rebel templars have become corrupted by the use of the so-called 'Refined Likitia'.
Any other member in the main hall cannot be defeated, they can be used to draw threat and let some group members pick at them from range, or even the upper level, the gauge quickly refills to maximum after defeating all corrupted templars in the main hall and enemy groups can be avoided in order to conserve time and health. Before proceeding, exit the main hall, the templars will erect a barricade here after one of the new areas is entered and examine the throne near the barrier to acquire another Insection text entry. There is no right way to do this, so the best advice is to get the veterans first, in order to make the defense of the main hall easier, since there are two in the barracks, its better to go there first.
Turn left immediately and turn right at the top of the ramp into the open area, a set of stairs immediately to the left leads to a sack, a group of enemies is here but they can be bypassed. However, another Insection text entry can be found in the small shed that they spawn near, as well as some gold to loot, acouple more enemies will spawn if the party lingers near this area for too long after killing the initial group of enemies. There is a breakwable wall directly across the yard, and it contains three loot boxes, go through the door to the left of the breakable wall, pass through this room, and turn left at the bifurcation, then assist the first veteran, Warrior-Captain Còmhghan, then just head back to the bifurcation, and go up the large stairs assting the second veteran Warrior-First Lieutenant Gill'Iosa, you'll find a a locked door here that leads down to a prison, there are two locked cells here, one contains a loot box and some gold and the other contains a couple of sacks and some gold, return to where the second veteran was encountered, head past the wooden structure, cross the bridge and enter the tower to find a door that leads back to the most high floor of the main hall. When returning, be sure to knock down a ladder, so the group can climb back up, after dispatching all the corrupted templars, search down the above floor knocking down the rest of the ladders, one chest contains a banner of the templar order and the other another Insection text entry. After it, be ready to reach the headquarters of the officers.

Drawkons - Refined Likitia

Just head downstairs, cross the bridge, turn on the left and pass through a room to help the third veteran, Warrior-Second Lieutenant Ailpein MacEachaidh, then go towards the west, turn into the left side near the tower, cross the bridge, break up the wall and fall down into the ramp created which is the only to enter in this place. You can search for a lot of items, after it, leave the room, some enemies will appear, just kill them and enter in the tower directly in your front then enter in the middle door across the yard, a cutscene triggers with Catháin who informs a scheme to kill the Empress of Tunidria, then grab the Lord Tsaga'lah's key, search for the large boxes, which contains some random materials but also the Friseal Ritual, a unique dark blade which gives five skill points of magic, +8 of will, +4 of intelligence and +5 of physical robustness, then just exit the room and turn in the west-left, jump over the fence and open the door to the northwest-right, go up the stairs on the right and pick up the refined likitia fragments, if you want to search for items there's another three larger boxes and some notes, exit the room going to the right to enter the large archway, then get back to the main hall to talk with Warrior-Captain Seán Angluinn. He, MacGhille and another four first lieutenants will now dispel the barrier and the group must fight off against huge amounts of corrupted templars. The group will face waves of 8 enemies, 3 of warriors, 2 of corrupted templars and another 3 of archers. Most part of a wave must be killed before more enemies will show up.

Drawkons - Fighting the Angry Vallash Demon

This fight have a timer, so retreat to the entrance of the hall and letting enemies waste time reaching the group is a good strategy, then run back to the entrance and disengage to move faster, you can use the panoramic camera to see it in a tactical viewpoint. Any remaining enemies will die immediately once the barrier is dispelled, once the barrier is down, go up the stairs on the left, and go at the top to find supplies if needed. Now it's time to fight the Angry Vallash Demon, it is immune to all disabling effects and can produce an attack that slows down nearby group teammates and does spirit damage inflicting a fear status but a mage can use tricks to get rid of this fear status trick, but the slowdown effect will continue. After the demon produces this attack, this always come from the ground, throwing magic projectiles with the chance to multiple hit multiple group members. Right after the creature losts 1/3 of its HP, will go back into a defensive shield and spawn corrupted templars, and will then transform into a big, red shape with fog eyes and the attack style will change, then Catháin will join the fight until the demon is dead. Consider turning off any warrior's taunting skills after Catháin joins, as he has a limitless supply of potions and the Angry Vallash Demon will attack him fairly consistently if not taunted. After losing 2/3 of its HP, will go back to the standard form, and magic projectiles, again, will begin erupting from the ground, similar to when closing a rift. From this point it's a matter of the group healing potions overcoming the Angry Vallash Demons' health. After that, Seán reaches from the main hall, with the surviving templars and Lord Tsaga'lah, if he also survived and Henig must decide how to receive the templars' aid. The lord says that do hope it won't effect their concord, you can say that they're a useful and needed ally (Manuela and Menech'lech approves), or to them get out of your way (Menech'lech disapproves). Seán says that the templars are ready to hear what the Insection needs of them, you can say that want help with the crack and fast (Dark Wrath, Manuela and Anna approves), or that you need true faithful warrior-templars (Manuela approves), that they know what they need to do (Dark Wrath approves) or that Henig sent you (Seratas disapproves and Menech'lech approves). Seán will explain that the Templar Order is leaderless, filled by betrayal and that they need to rebuild it, you can speak to them to rebuild it as their partners (Bondi, Cvallach, Dark Wrath, Menech'lech, Anna approves and Seratas, Manuela, Catháin disapproves), or to the templars yield and serve your group (Bondi, Cvallach, Dark Wrath, Anna disapproves and Catháin, Manuela and Seratas approves), doesn't matter which way you respond, the warriors and templars will join in the Insection against the crack.
Go back to Smallah'ch to unlock two Insection text entries, Cvallach will rebuke the Henig depending on whether the templars are allies or conscripts, Catháin will appear on the war desk and Henig must decide whether to accept his help, Catháin says that can do that and wants to help, you can choose for he staying with your group and that he's trustfull (Cvallach disapproves) or that he's not trustfull at all and it's too dangerous which means that he should be killed (Cvallach approves), if he's not recruited into the group, he makes everyone forget about him and disappears. The preparations to seal the crack and receive the new allied warrior templare starts right now as the mission ends.

[New Gazi]

Gazilian Unconventional Forces Terminate #1 Target After 2 Years

In the late spring of 2015, a terror cell launched a massive, coordinated attack on Vangaziland's railroads during commuter hours. The attack was followed up soon after with a bombing in New Hayesalia, targeting a Vannish diplomat in a crowded area. Vangaziland and her allies spun up into a war. The regime translated into English as 'The Red Wind' was declared a dangerous entity.

The initial air war began in July 2015. New Gazi joined later in March 2015. They operated out of Camp Lion, North in the Capital Province. One of the battalion's worked in the province near Port Khalifiya with the Vannish Marines.

There were also special forces assets which may have been based at one of the Coalition FOBs. Team 211 was named after the Hausa word for hurricane or typhoon. Guguwa-8, Team 211 was New Gazi's premier unconventional forces unit.

Late on the night of New Gazi's 2-3 loss to Super-Llamaland, Team 211 participated in a raid on a 5 story building along with coalition Tier 1 assets. Details are sparse and classified. A few things were released. Some of the teams infiltrated on the ground. This made some analysts think local transports may have been used to sneak forces in undercover.

In 1975, an earlier form of New Gazi commando unit traveled deep behind enemy lines simply by sneaking a semi-trailer across the border. A similar strategy may have been used to avoid Red Wind guards in other buildings or on hills in the neighborhood.

It also came out that some witnesses saw a helicopter in the area but said it, "sounded quiet" or that it had a "weird silhouette". This was most likely one of Vangaziland's stealth helicopters. New Gazi doesn't have such advanced technology, but they do have well trained soldiers.

The commandos inserting from the roof used ropes to breach the windows, that were open and glassless in the Middle Eastern style. It was a quick descent stopped by a break. With the night vision, any hostiles could be identified. It was a late night assault. With the fairly loose rules of engagement in Al-Khalifiya, it is implied that many of these soldiers may have been taken out while sleeping or at least dazed.

Evidence for this came when released photos showed silenced submachine guns being used. When questioned, Gazilian Brigadier General Kwame Akoyo said, "This is not a daycare. In the tier one world, it is not pretty. It is not glorious. This is serious business. This is not a game, but a move to help usher stability into a nation. We will do what we have to."

Reports were released that a Vannish Special Forces One operative lost his life in the operation. Flags flew at half mast across Vangaziland. New Gazi joined in the mourning. The Vangazi took major reports on casualties very seriously. They are currently days away from fully signing away the former conscript segment of their armed forces. 18 months of military service were mandatory for men and women between the ages of 18-24.

The people were connected to the military. The people of New Gazi are as well, but in different ways. By that token, President Malcom Ibori was one of the first major allies to pull their forces from Al-Khalifiya. That helped draw the wave that led to a somewhat surprise announcement from the Prince Of Vangaziland announcing that conventional coalition units would be out of the country by autumn.

Since the last conventional Gazilian forces had withdrawn weeks ago, the recent operation shows there may still be an unconventional deployment helping the new Khalifiyan government stand its ground.

There is a tie to New Gazi's left winger. Staff Sergeant Gulliver Diya is Uffe Diya's older brother. The connection was pointed out after leaked photos of a Gazilian training exercise were posted on a controversial website. Operatives were supposed to have their identities classified. Some knew him from college sports, as he chose to take his athletic talent into the military. The site later posted papers showing Gulliver passed some of the later courses in a UF selection program, in a partial record that was "discovered".

It's not clear if SSG Diya took part in the raid to kill the terrorist known as Brother Abbzan. The Gazilian Unconventional Forces community is small. There is a good chance that a promising soldier and strong athlete could make it to the most elite Team, being 211, seeing as how he had been known to be in the community. He was most likely on that mission, with news of his brother's game possibly on his mind.



The soldiers in black are from New Gazi. The middle soldier is believed to be from Vangaziland.

[Nephara]

Nephara 2-3 Tveidalen
(4-3-3 / 4-3-2) 20 - Tsattalios; 2 - Rafford (s/o 39'), 22 - Rathskeller, 6 - Scharner, 19 - Vicelich; 23 - Kuralay (14 - Rowan 67'), 4 - Rainsford (c), 8 - Gosforth; 10 - Covenant (21 - Amokachi 50'), 17 - Stavanger, 16 - Strongbow (18 - Koehler 40')
Goals: Stavanger 26', Rowan 84'

"We're doing the right thing here," said Fegelein, tone deliberately calm and measured.
Michael Brandon nodded.
"I mean, we can't just- ! We can't stagnate! We need to find a better way, and if we shed a bit of blood along the way, then, well, who cares?"
"Mhm."
"Better a couple of defeats here than..."
"Right."
"And, fuck, I mean. What the hell was Raffs thinking? I thought maybe she'd learn some discipline at, you know, some point, but..."
Brandon sighed. Fegelein got like this sometimes. Like maybe if she said enough angry words the last three hours would undo themselves and they'd get another chance to do it again and this time the dice wouldn't fall where they did, but... the world didn't go like that.
Times like this needed a firm hand.
"Ame, we get done once on the break, go down a man and then get beaten out in set pieces twice. We're playing an unfamiliar style shorn of one attacker. It happens. The peanut gallery won't see past the scoreline but, well... fuck 'em."
Fegelein slumped onto the desk. "I've wanted this job all my life," she said softly.
"I know." Brandon wanted it too, but it probably wasn't the best thiing to say right now.
"And I never thought I'd get it! Starling was just this decent middling side out of the spotlight and, sure, I thought I could build something quiet and good there, and then we won promotion, twice, and it just..."
"Mhm."
"It... it got out of hand."
Brandon blinked. "The finest achievement in club management in living memory got 'out of hand.'"
"Right! And now I'm in a job I've only dreamed of and it's... the NFA are on my back, half my players are hyper-aggressive ill-disciplined serial killers on the pitch, and now we're losing to fucking Tveidalen at home?"
"There's always blips. They've come early this cycle. But... I think, for the next matches. Mercedini away-"
"Christ."
"-and Sargossa home, and no, it's an opportunity. Win those two and the crisis is forgotten. But, I think..."
"No more experimenting, for the time being." Fegelein managed a thin smile.
"Yeah. Right now, we go with what we know works now."

NEPHARIM NATIONAL TEAM SELECTION - FORTNIGHT 3
Goalkeepers: 1 - Gideon Fletcher (AFC Treason), 12 - Justinian Hargrave (Starling), 20 - Andreas Swoboda (AFC Serpentine)
Defenders: 2 - Mirko Koehler (Starling), 3 - Sieglinde Lohengrin (Crisisbless), 5 - Dieter Konoval (KT Moreazerua, AUD), 6 - Malachite Scharner (Jungle Strike, VIL), 18 - Diedrich Frostmarris (Molsbik Arkjet, SEM), 19 - Scylla Vyntra (AFC Treason), 22 - Kieran Ritter (Bastion, EUR)
Midfielders: 4 - Tanith Rainsford (Mâ Âlâmëómë, FFD, c), 7 - Adnan Szalai (Ulsa, EUR), 8 - Vedran Tarashaj (AFC Treason), 11 - Raquel Naeher (Cartagena Desert Foxes, OSR), 13 - Andrea Bereveskos (Sabrefell Athletic), 14 - Konrad Gosforth (Mâ Âlâmëómë, FFD), 15 - Helmut Chilmark (Duke of the North, PAS), 16 - Rowena Strongbow (Cranequin Wanderers), 23 - Marijana Kuralay (Brinemouth)
Forwards: 9 - Estrella Hawke (Starling), 10 - Avila Wardenier (Sabrefell Athletic), 17 - Dragan Stavanger (Tannenberg FC, VLD), 21 - Penumbra Amokachi (Eastweald, COS)

SCHEDULE
Bye
Nephara 1-1 Darmen @ Phoenix Rise (Corvistone)
St. Saratoga 0-4 Nephara
Nephara 2-3 Tveidalen @ The Iron Hill (Vermillion)
Mercedini vs. Nephara
Nephara vs. Sargossa @ The Gauntlet (Treason)
Bape-Supreme vs. Nephara
Nephara vs. Starblaydia @ Farham Arena (Sabrefell)
Yuezhou vs. Nephara
Bye
Darmen vs. Nephara
Nephara vs. St. Saratoga @ Godswatch (Crisisbless)
Tveidalen vs. Nephara
Nephara vs. Mercedini @ Farham Arena (Sabrefell)
Sargossa vs. Nephara
Nephara vs. Bape-Supreme @ Portsgate (Brinemouth)
Starblaydia vs. Nephara
Nephara vs. Yuezhou @ Phoenix Rise (Corvistone)

[Turori]

Where the Cocoabo Roam...

For a more complete backstory regarding Cocoabo Forest please visit the Historical Record on the Atlantian Oceania Forum

Cocoabo Park, Cocoabo Forest :: The partnership between the Cocoabo Preservation Society and Tropicorp has already paid dividends for the entire region of Atlantian Oceania, with the revitalization of under-utilized land in Northern Calania in addition to a brand new tourist destination just North of Turori. But that was just the immediate, surface effects. The long term effects of the partnership between the Cocoabo Preservation Society and Tropicorp were intended to be far more reaching.

Ever since taking guardianship over the lands of the Cocoabo Forest from the protectorship of the Atlantian Oceania Regional Defense Organization, there was a two phase approach taking from Tropicorp and the Cocoabo Preservation Society. Firstly, the public facing side of the house, Cocoabo Park. Serving as a combination Vacation Resort, Theme Park and Cocoabo Enrichment facility, Cocoabo Park has grown ever since initially being opened as a way for members of the general public unfamiliar and uncomfortable approaching a Cocoabo in the Wild an environment to learn about the history of the Cocoabo, ongoing preservation efforts and to experience a Cocoabo up close and personal.

Away from the primary tourist areas in Cocoabo Park, however, there was another side to the endeavor. From the Cocoabo Preservation Society perspective, the additional lands in the Cocoabo Forest for various Flocks of Cocoabo to roam free and unperturbed was a major selling point. For Tropicorp however, there was opportunity. Opportunity to tap into the Cocoabo's renowned trainability. Stories of Cocoabo Enrichment programmes of a time long again when Cocoabo were trained in athletics to the point where they could compete... and even defeat citizen teams. And Those were amateur programmes. What could a program with the full backing and support of a quasi-governmental entity achieve?

After years of investment in both training and infrastructure, the answers were starting to come out. After a test run in the Cocoabo Forest, Tropicorp and the Cocoabo Preservation Society offered their Flock of Footsport playing Cocoabo to the Football Association of Turori. The Flock flew to Cosumar after a period of adaptation and contested boldly in the 69th Cup of Harmony competition, reaching the Semi-Finals and ultimately finishing in 3rd place.

At the same time, elsewhere in the Cocoabo Forest, a Team of Behavioural researchers and trained Cocoabo integrees were working on an entirely different problem; how to turn a Cocoabo into a world class motor-racing driver.

After building a test track, the training began and a mini-flock of 5 Cocoabo was selected for the activities. But from the beginning of the training, it was clear that one Cocoabo excelled over all others. Cocoabo #23.

Now known familiarly a "Fast Cocoabo" - Cocoabo #23 has graduated from it's Training Programme at Cocoabo Park and is scheduled to participate in the inaugural World Grand Prix 2 Championship season using a specially modified Grand Prix vehicle Cocoabo adaption kit designed by Tropicorp Engineering. Initially there was some doubt amongst the Tropicorp team based in the Cocoabo Forest about whether or not Cocoabo #23 would be competitive when removed from the familiarity of the Cocoabo Forest test track.

Those doubts were quickly erased at Fast Cocoabo's first public outing, the Junixwagen Trials in New Scaiva. Cocoabo #23 managed a fast lap of 1:55.713 in the test session - a full 3 seconds faster than the nearest competitor, Cesaro Whittaker of Eastfield Lodge. Ironically, it is now Whittaker himself who is rumored to be Cocoabo #23's teammate at Tropicorp Engineering.

And now, the greatest test, as the Cocoabo Flock of Footsport goes head to head with the Turori National Team during World Cup 78 Qualifying. With the World Grand Prix 2 season just around the corner and the World Cup 78 Qualifying having begun, now is the moment of reckoning for the Cocoabo Enrichment Program at Cocoabo Park and The Tropicorp Initiative. Cocoabo Enrichment and Training is no longer a theory... no longer an experiment. Cocoabo Enrichment is Real. Cocoabo Enrichment is Here. The final question is... how effective has it been?

[Union of Socialist Alpine Republics]

The Alpine Union draws against the Scottopian Isles

New Greenock, Scottopian Isles - (NAP) The Union of Socialist Alpine Republics travelled to the Scottopian Isles for a game against this unranked team and coach Wlodzimierz Jastrzebowski decided to start Jennifer O'Byrne in goal. Jennifer O'Byrne was sensational at the Baptism of Fire 64 in Bonesea, leading Great caledonia and North Hybernia to the semi finals. The Caledonians lost 2-0 against Rule Theriault's Nordernious in the semi final and lost 3-2 against Drawkland in the 3rd place match. Now Great Caledonia and North Hybernia is part of the Alpine Union and Jennifer O'Byrne is the 2nd goalkeeper.

So, Jennifer O'Byrne is in goal against the Scottopian Isles and it's her first international game since the union. The Scottopian Isles attacked early at the 2nd minute when Scott McCulloch dribbled with the ball and passed to Allistar Peterson who made a header pass to Nick Hernandez. Nick Hernandez heads the ball right into the net and the Scottopian Isles are leading 1-0. The Scottopian Isles attacked again at the 16th minute when Douglas McEdison passed to Jakob Van Drimmlin who dribbled and made a cross to Micheal Baxters. Micheal Baxters shoots and the ball in in the net. 2-0 Scottopian Isles. The Bisons underestimated the Scottopians and started to play better after the 2nd goal. At the 23rd minute, Yannick Ksiezniakiewicz passed to Amelia Zalwowska who passed to Zbigniew Zajaczkowski. Zbigniew Zajaczkowski passed to Amelia Zalwowska in the penalty area who shoots and scores! 2-1 Scottopian Isles. The Scottopian Isles added another goal at the 31st minute when after a corner kick, defenseman Krzysztof Januszkiewicz clears the ball and Richard Goulding intercepts the ball and shoots from 75 meters, Jennifer O'Byrne can't stop the ball and it's a goal. The Scottopian Isles are leading 3-1.

The Scottopian Isles attacked again at the 39th minute when Angus Ferguson dribbled and passed to Allistar Peterson. Allistar Peterson dribbles and he's tackled by Sascha Welzmüller. It's a clean tackle and the play continues. Yannick Ksiezniakiewicz takes the lose ball and passed to Sarah Schroffenegger who dribbles and passes to Jean-François Kleineheismann. Jean-François Kleineheismann dribbles and makes a cross to Zbigniew Zajaczkowski who shoots and scores! A few minutes later durring the added time, it's a goal kick by Jennifer O'Byrne, she kicks the ball as far as she can and no one touches the ball, the ball goes into the net and it's a goal for the Alpine Union! The game is tied at 3-3 at the halftime! It's not the first time she scores a goal, she also scored in the Baptism of Fire 64.

At the 65th minute, Angus Ferguson passed to Micheal Baxters who shoots. The ball touched Przemyslaw Zawistowski's hand and it's a penalty kick for the Scottopian Isles. Nick Hernandez kicks and it's a goal. 4-3 Scottopian Isles. Cristiano Fernando enters in the game at the 72nd minute to add more offense and play as an attacking midfielder and Sascha Welzmüller subs out. The Reprezentacja Alpejski attacked at the 85th minute when Pawel Wawrzynkiewicz passed the ball to Cristiano Fernando who passed to Amelia Zalwowska who shoots. The ball touches Andrew Rimandos' hand and goes over the net. It's a corner kick for the Bisons! Yannick Ksiezniakiewicz takes the corner kick, he kicks the ball in the penalty area, Bartosz Strzyzowski kicks the ball on the post! Pawel Wawrzynkiewicz takes the lose ball and shoot in an empty net and the game is tied again at 4-4 and this is the final score!

The game ended with a 4-4 draw against the Scottopian Isles. The Union of Socialist Alpine Republics are in 6th place with a win, a draw and a loss. The Bisons will recieve Jeruselem on matchday 5. The game will be played at A.J. Rooney Recreation Ground in the Southern Virgin islands, a republic which doesn't only allow nudity but also encourage it. The game will be shown recorded during the after shed hour with black bars hiding private parts so Alpine kids can watch the game on tv. The USAR will still wear their uniforms but you never know what Jeruselem will wear or not wear. Zofia Kwietniewska will be back into the net after sitting against the Scottopian Isles.

BOXSCORE

2nd minute: Nick Hernandez assisted by Allistar Peterson
16th minute: Micheal Baxters assisted by Jakob Van Drimmlin
23rd minute: Amelia Zalwowska assisted by Zbigniew Zajaczkowski
31st minute: Richard Goulding unassisted
39th minute: Zbigniew Zajaczkowski assisted by Jean-François Kleineheismann
45th +1 minute: Jennifer O'Byrne unassisted

65th minute: Nick Hernandez (penalty)
85th minute: Pawel Wawrzynkiewicz unassisted

YELLOW CARDS

Scottopian Isles: Scott McCulloch
Alpine Union: Przemyslaw Zawistowski, Sascha Welzmüller

RED CARDS

Scottopian Isles: none
Alpine Union: none

[Kaboomlandia]

Phoenix making strong run in Group 15 with win over Gegernia

After a 2-0 loss to Schottia to open up the Kaboomlandia Phoenix campaign in World Cup 78, the team has come back strong, putting up consecutive shutouts against Lisander and Gegernia to climb back to third place in a competitive Group 15. The Kaboomlandians are one of the higher-ranked teams in this group, which makes it critical for the team to get the job done against lower-ranked teams. "I'm liking where our formation was this game, helping to keep the ball in the Gegernian end for most of the game," commented head coach Tom Burns, who helped to reinvent the team's defensive system to get the offense moving again. The Phoenix' defensive system held Gegernia to just three shots on goal the entire game.

"These games, which are against the weaker competition in this group, are really important to refine the system and gear up for Super-Llamaland and Schottia," explained midfielder Ben Bradbury. Indeed, while the trap wasn't at its best against Schottia allowing two goals against, it tightened up and has been picture-perfect in the two games following. Forcing offsides at midfield allows the Phoenix to regain possession on restarts, and turnovers from putting nine players in the offensive end led to both of the Phoenix goals this tournament, from Tanner Libin and Rene Allard.

The Phoenix will next take on 103rd-ranked Gumusservi in a game that is critical if they want to make up ground on Schottia and Super-Llamaland.

[Damukuni]

"We have a problem."

Naruto Oyodama, vice president of footballing operations at the Damukuni Football Association, gazed at his audience with a furtive glance at the back row where stood a gauntlet of reporters, hanging on to every word he spoke.

"And I'm pretty sure" -- here, he gave this last row an apologetic glance -- "we already know what it is. And you're probably here looking for answers."

Even though the third-floor conference room in the Damukuni FA's half of the building shared by them and the Board of Control for Cricket in Damukuni was carpeted with some of the finest material to be synthetically generated, any pin dropped would still be heard as though it were the clang of a pair of marching cymbals.

"However, I can assure you that Mr. Yamamoto is doing a fine job of leading the team in Miss Tracey's --" Here Oyadama paused, sensing the room was about to become a volcano of questions, answers, "incidents and accidents, hints and allegations." He knew at this point he would have to choose a word.

A word which, for years, would determine attitudes toward the World Cup selections, CE selections, and the whole Football Association for years to come.

A word which would send the room into a dizzying fright.

A word which some would consider offensive to the situation at hand, now that OASIS was investigating the incident.

A word that others would consider a great political triumph, even though governing the nation itself was not at stake, but would also guarantee the politicisation of the association to a sickening extent.

A word that would be mulled over by print media, electronic media, television, subspace communications (in the Sonnel States), and throughout much of the region and the world.

So Oyadama chose a word that would best help the sea of sycophants in the room understand what was really going on with his friend and colleague:

"-- absence."

[Taeshan]

After a rather boring affair on the road at New Danican where the Purple Knights of Taeshan were unable to score, but kept their opponents scoreless the Knights returned home for the second time in the young qualifying campaign to the X Island Metropark to play a third new opponent in Soltsteed. The offense continued to look lackluster in the road game but almost immediately on the teams return to Taeshan the offense seemed to spring into form as the team really pushed the tempo. Ultimately after a rather boring tie, the Knights got the scoring underway early in the third game of the campaign as Enrique Fuegahita buried a free kick from 34 yards in the 21st minute of the game after many minuted of dangerous attack and a free kick won by Anton Vader.

The second half was much like the first half as the Purple Knights attack really continued to push the issue and for much of the game it looked like it could be a total blowout but after the second goal, the 69th career tally from Miles Snavely, the visitors seemed to shore up the defense a little and besides a few close chances for Knights attacker Landon van Neymar pretty much nothing seemed close to going in. As the minutes waned the Knights went a bit more defensive with a solid 2-0 lead and continue to push forward with the ball, but with less of a push behind their front 3 and ultimately the team now stands at 7 points after the first three matches of the season which is less than the desired 9, but keeps them well in contention with all of their big games still to remain.

[Eastfield Lodge]

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Sport >>> Football >>> World Cup 78

Eastfield Lodge held to frustrating draw

Eastfield Lodge line-up

GK: Korbin Harvey
CB: Lucas Bacon
CB: Dylan Bell Jnr
RB: Eskama Nagi
LB: Nicroana Hemmings
DMF: Amitee Abdalla
AMF: Osbaldo Bevan (<> Methuselah Wallis-Iqbal 56’)
AMF: The Doctor
RWF: Fedrea Quazin
LWF: Elizabeth Hansen (<> Georgina Wadimu 56’)
ST: Liane Fransson (<> Tia Drenas 69’)

Colonial Australia line-up

GK: Player One
SW: Player Two
CB: Player Three
CB: Player Four
CB: Player Five (<> Player Thirteen 68’)
RB: Player Six
RB: Player Seven
LB: Player Eight (<> Player Fifteen 63’)
LB: Player Nine
DMF: Player Ten (<> Player Eighteen 78’)
DMF: Player Eleven

Eastfield Lodge 0-0 Colonial Australia

84% - Possession - 16%
51 - Shots - 0
23 - Shots on Target - 0
18 - Corners - 1
8 - Fouls - 37

Location: Parliament Stadium, Lodgertia, Eastfield Lodge
Attendance: 64,362
Referee: Tenzing Cheltzer

Despite the best efforts of the home side, the visitors Colonial Australia executed their surprise gameplan to perfection in Lodgertia last night to deny the hosts a chance for three points to keep up with Eshan and The Holy Empire in Group 13 of qualification for World Cup 78.

It looked like a perfect game in which an Eastfield Lodge side, one that has been struggling to score goals as of late, could build some attacking confidence going into the crunch matches with Eshan and the Holy Empire - after all, only 4 goals in three games is noticeably less than the team’s usual output. Even last night’s visitors, Colonial Australia, rooted to the bottom of the group table with no points and a goal difference of -9, had scored more in their opening three matches, a grand total of 5 goals. On the other hand, it was the goals against tally of 14 that Lowell Brown was targeting in this match - shipping 4.6 goals per match should have meant an easy match to get going with the goal fountain. And so the team trained in anticipation of a side that cared little for defence and was quite keen on attacking, one with little structure and discipline to their nature.

It seemed that Colonial Australia anticipated this, or just decided to stop conceding so many goals, and surprised literally everybody with a nondescript roster line-up (as per usual), but instead of an attacking formation, the minnows had clearly opted for an eleven-players-behind-the-ball “park the bus” approach. In fact, the minnows had the first kick-off, and they simply punted the ball downfield, and subsequently retreated to their third of the pitch, clearly not showing even an iota of interest in attacking the Eastfielder net. They were just sitting back, preparing for a siege, and clearly signalling “See if you can break us down” to everyone in the stadium. And it is notable that there were less than 100 travelling fans supporting them, reflected in the wall of discontent voiced at the clear disregard for exciting football the visitors were putting on.

There was still a match to be played however, and so the hosts went about trying to break down the Colonial defence. Not that the visitors were keen on being broken down, displaying a level of defensive discipline that there was evidence of not even being possible in their previous matches and that would have made even the most ardent fans of System Karela proud. The front five of the Eastfield Lodge attack were met with a seemingly impenetrable wall in the first ten minutes, runners being blocked at every opportunity, balls over the top being swept up by the auxiliary full backs or the sweeper, long shots being deflected or blocked entirely. The first shot that actually reached the keeper came in the 13th minute, when The Doctor managed to dribble his way through the defence, luck on his side as the ball kept ricocheting back into his path - unfortunately, his shot was too weak to cause the keeper much trouble as the ball had bobbled a bit too far for his reach.

Another feature of the Australian game plan was the constant breaking up of any attacking tempo - tackles flying in left, right and centre, clearly aimed to disrupt play as opposed to winning the ball. It was certainly effective, and in the first twenty minutes, the hosts failed to build up more than 4 consecutive passes in the opposition’s third before losing the ball in some way. That many tackles would also lead to many fouls however, but the visitors had even come up with a method of defending the set pieces, swarming the box with all their players, aside from the two or three left on the line to help block everything. Again, there was no concept of the counterattack present in the Colonial’s gameplay, thus hoof the ball clear and reorganise. By the end of the first half, the Colonials had racked 15 fouls and three yellow cards, just from persistent fouling. The closest the hosts had gotten to scoring was a quick free kick in the 32nd minute that actually saw Liane Fransson beat her two markers to a low cross, only for her snap shot to hit the inside of the post and bounce away from danger before being cleared even further from danger. Quazin had another good chance about 5 minutes later, picking up on a loose ball after a tackle and being given advantage, only to find her cross-cum-shot bounce of the crossbar at the far post, the keeper well beaten.

The second half was more of the same, much to the dismay of pretty much everybody in the stadium, barring the Colonial Australian team and bench - even their fans were bored out of their minds. The first major incident of the game came three minutes after the restart, when Fransson was denied what looked like a stonewall penalty, after having her shirt pulled back by the sweeper when the pair were chasing a ball down, only for the ref to rule it as a coming together. The Colonial defence kept on doing their jobs, blocking literally every attack the hosts could throw at them - by the hour mark, the defence has taken up a permanent base camp at the halfway line, with even goalkeeper Korbin Harvey venturing halfway up the Eastfielder half to mop up the clearances - even with the keeper that far out, they still refused to take a shot. The next clear cut chance fell to substitute Georgina Wadimu in the 70th minute, getting on the end of a wicked deflection off Amitee Abdalla’s long range effort but only able to find the side netting from an acute angle. The first Colonial touch inside the Eastfielder half took place shortly after that, when Wallis-Iqbal was pressured into a very overcooked backpass, in the end firing it all the way back for a corner. The visitors didn’t even come up for the corner however, they just sent one of the ‘holding midfielders’ up to kick the ball out for a throw in next to the opposite corner flag, before the player jogged back into his own half.

No matter what tactic the hosts tried, the Colonial defence stood resolute and unyielding, but they were racking up yellow cards quite quickly, and by the eightieth minute, all but two of their players (including two of the three substitutes) were on yellow cards - ironically, the only player in the starting line-up not booked was actually subbed off for a groin strain, and then came perilously close to being booked for time-wasting, which his replacement was actually booked for in taking too long to take a free kick. Even their goalie was given a booking for handling the ball outside the box. But after the team was mostly booked, the referee never needed to pull out the red card, as none of the opposition players fouled significantly enough to warrant the second yellow. The fouls kept racking up, in the end with 37 fouls committed by the visitors compared to Eastfield Lodge’s 8. Wave after wave of attacks were repelled, and in the end a grateful referee blew the full-time whistle, ending the match for an even more grateful set of fans who had been literally bored out of their skulls for over 2 hours - those that hasn’t left early, that is.

The stats clearly showed how farcical this match was. Eastfield Lodge had a grand total of 51 shots, of which 23 were on target - however, only 6 of the 51 weren’t blocked in any way by an outfield player. Colonial Australia only had 14 percent of the ball in possession, and only touched the ball once inside the Eastfielder half in the entire game - the one corner they accidentally had.

Combined with results elsewhere, that leaves Eastfield Lodge in third in their group, level on points with qualification contender Eshan, who managed to get an away draw against group leaders and favourites The Holy Empire, who maintain their three point lead over the two teams. However, it should be noted that Eshan have had their first bye and thus have a game in hand, as do Acronius and Olastor who are a point behind Eastfield Lodge as it currently stands.

Group 13
The Holy Empire 1–1 Eshan
Eastfield Lodge 0–0 Colonial Australia
San Regada 2–5 Oontaz Dert Li Ng
Acronius 4–0 Acapais

   Group 13                             Pld    W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts 
 1 The Holy Empire                        4    3   1   0    11    6   +5    10
 2 Eshan                                  3    2   1   0    12    6   +6     7
 3 Eastfield Lodge                        4    2   1   1     4    2   +2     7
 4 Acronius                               3    2   0   1     7    3   +4     6
 5 Olastor                                3    2   0   1     7    6   +1     6
 6 San Regada                             3    1   1   1     4    6   −2     4
 7 Oontaz Dert Li Ng                      4    1   0   3     5    6   −1     3
 8 Acapais                                4    0   1   3     3    9   −6     1
 9 Colonial Australia                     4    0   1   3     5   14   −9     1

---

(OOC: Obviously based off THE’s most recent World Cup Lies post, and should be taken about as seriously.)

The Jester Journal
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ICELFA announce plans to manage exposed Echani hallucination

In a shocking reveal by Holy Empire-based publication, the Mammoth Compendium of World Cup Lies, a publication that seems to be dedicated to exposing all the lies that are espoused regarding every team in the World Cup, it turns that Eshan does not actually have a national football team, and we were all collectively hallucinating one into existence.

So, the truth is out. Viewers of last night’s match between the Holy Empire and Eshan will have tuned into the match after being bored witless by the match between Eastfield Lodge and Colonial Australia, only to find an equally boring match on the other side, giving weight to the theory that football is actually rubbish and we’re all wasting our time and money partaking in such a pointless activity.

The more eagle-eyed viewers will have noted that the so-called ‘Echani team’ did not get a single touch of the ball throughout the match. Today we can reveal the truth. Insider monks from the Archregimancy noticed that the so-called ‘Echani team’ did not turn up to the portal to whisk their dreams away into another realm. Further investigation revealed the presence of substantial amounts of hallucinatory substances in the air, and the local populace in a constantly tripped out state, enough to will whatever collective hallucination they were having into existence. No wonder the Echani people thought they had a half-decent World Cup team, what with the World Cup going on.

If you watch the footage of the match more closely, you will notice, as the Compendium puts it, that “the Holy Empire was aimlessly passing the ball around last night, and more or less ignoring the existence of the opposition last night – well, that’s because it’s hard to play a team that isn’t there. And it’s even harder to pretend the team that isn’t there really is there when there are only 11 men on the pitch”. Now that we have all been enlightened, what do we do?

We contacted the World Cup Committee and the organisers of the World Cup located in Cosumar and Bonesea, but they decided not to comment. Well, not constructively, anyway:

We at the WCC can comprehensively confirm the corporeality of the Echani national football team, and reject all accusations that we are all hallucinating a distinctly above-average national football team. Surely, a hallucinated national team would be the best in the world, right?

We have two lines of inquiry regarding this matter. Firstly, what are you smoking? And secondly, can we have some.

Meh, who cares?

Obviously, as Eshan are Eastfield Lodge’s next opponents, what should ICELFA do about this situation, as news of the so-called ‘Echani team’s’ non-existence spreads? Well, we contacted them, and this is spokesperson said in the press conference:

We understand the gravity of this situation and how necessary it is for the hallucination to continue, in order to preserve the balance of the multiverse. Therefore, we have decided to bring along 14 animatronic psycho-visual machines. The machines will take the forms of the hallucinated players for us to play against. We will provide these as a gift to the Echani people for use in more matches until they sort out the acid-filled air they have there and get a real football team.

How this will pan out, we can only wait and see.

---

MD1: Acronius 2-1 Eastfield Lodge
Line-up (4-1-2-3): Harvey - Towers, Bacon, Nagi, Siddique - Abdalla, Bevan (Soria 63’), The Doctor - Wadimu, Quazin (Hansen 73’), Drenas (Fransson 73’)
Goals (Assists): Wadimu (67’ - Soria)

MD2: Eastfield Lodge 1-0 Acapais
Line-up (4-1-2-3): Harvey - Towers, Bell Jnr, Rehman, Siddique - Onatish, Soria (Abdalla 75’), The Doctor - Asif (Berretti 54’), Quazin, Drenas
Goals (Assists): Drenas (32’ - Asif)

MD3: Oontaz Dert Li Ng 0-2 Eastfield Lodge
Line-up (4-1-2-3): Harvey - Bacon, Bell Jnr, Nagi, Phal - Rice, King (Abdalla 65’), The Doctor - Glibin (Quazin 65’), Hansen, Fransson
Goals (Assists): Own Goal (23’ - Hansen), Own Goal (85’ - Rice)

Line-up to play Eshan (4-1-2-3)
Harvey - Bacon, Bell Jnr, Nagi, Phal - Rice, Bevan, The Doctor - Glibin, Hansen, Drenas

[Drawkland]

IAROCAV
The immortal leader of Drawkland is one of the most famous figures of Sonnel. Indeed, Iarocav may be one of the most influential people to ever grace the multiverse, at least his corner of it. Leading Drawkland to its inception, through many wars, and to where it stands today, the nation would likely be lost to time without his efforts protecting it, through political, spiritual, and metaphysical strife.
Only decades away from his 5000th birthday, Iarocav's dreams are populated by him having faint visions of the future or reliving memories of his past. During the 78th World Cup, for whatever reason,
the First Drawkian begins to relive his childhood and ascent to the leadership of Drawkland, way back in the more ancient times. What follows is an account of these dreams.

The sun dawned on a new day in Sadeg. Iarocav was already awake, he had been for about an hour already, and was doing his warmup rounds at the castle stronghold in the center of the large village. Sadeg was a kingdom, and the king, Sirvatal, lived inside the thick walls of the castle. This, too, was where the military was based, and thus where most of the warriors, old, young, and still in training, spent their days. Iarocav was the 7th and youngest child of Spartacav, one of the greatest warriors in the kingdom. As a son of a warrior, Iarocav was due to become a fighter himself. That day he was 19, but it was close to being his birthday.

Iarocav's morning routine consisted of a short workout mainly stressing endurance. He would get up an hour before the sun would rise and begin his run. His family lived in a nicely-built hovel almost shouting distance from the castle, and so he would run to the castle, climb up to the walls, do 2 laps, climb back down, and then run through every tunnel and byway inside the walls. The run would cap with 2 more laps around the top, before climbing down a final time, and running up to the door of his mentor, Major Redonak. He was instructed to never stop or slow down, or else he'd be reprimanded. It was a hard run to pull off, but now after months of doing it, he'd gotten quite used to the strain. His first few weeks of doing it, the sun would already be peeking out from over the top of the castle walls, but now, the sun would be lucky to breach the horizon before he'd be at Redonak's door, panting.

When he was 16, he was told by his father that he was due to become a warrior by the time he was 20. To this Iarocav was rather dismayed, because he'd never really had the fighting instinct that his brothers, Aramorcav and Serocav, seemed to have. He was by no means a runt, as he still had some strength, but he wasn't as strong or large like his older brothers. His wit is really what prevented him from being an outcast from his siblings, and he continued to sharpen it every day.

Iarocav worked at the archive within the castle walls, a library of sorts, where the writings of Sadeg's passed scholars and the writings stolen from conquered kingdoms were kept. He'd grown quite attached to the head librarian, Taykonna, an ancient man who everyone expected to drop dead at any moment, and of a girl who also worked there, Charlolad. He'd expressed these grievances of becoming a warrior to them. It's not as if I'm afraid of fighting or find the actions distasteful, he'd said, it's just that I feel I'd never be any good at it. Any good at what? Charlolad asked him. Well, the foot soldier fighting thing. I could never match against those huge swordsmen of Cajel, for example. You're certainly skinny enough to dodge a flaming arrow from Hellenmack, though, she chortled, and Iarocav laughed with her. It was here that Taykonna entered the conversation. Perhaps you could be an officer? You're much more witty than the average brute out there, and that's an alternative your father would be loath to disagree with. Iarocav couldn't say no to that.

And so he suggested that instead of becoming an average foot soldier in service of Sadeg, that he instead become a sort of officer or small-scale leader instead. His father lit up at the idea, mainly because it meant his youngest son was actually willing to follow in his footsteps, and so he heartily agreed. To do that, though, Iarocav would need a mentor, someone with experience in the military and one who could truly teach him in the arts of being an effective leader. It took several months of begging, but Spartacav managed to convince Redonak, an older and revered Major in the Sadeg infantry, to mentor Iarocav. And for several years, Iarocav spent 7 out of 9 days of the week training with Redonak in his area of the barracks.

Usually Redonak would take this time to have a curt greeting and then dig right in to military strategy, organizing troops, how to counteract enemy movement, the like. Then they would go to the combat training area of the barracks and practice hand-to-hand combat, and then a variety of other activities depending on the day. Being the last day of the week, it likely would've been a small trek by the two of them to the top of the valley, as Sadeg was located in the center of a large depression in an otherwise flat area. Originally this was done to teach survival skills, but after 3 long years, Redonak's extensive knowledge on the subject was exhausted, and it was done just as a break from the hard routine every working day of the week. Today was different, however. Iarocav had almost forgotten.

"Aye, boy," Redonak said as Iarocav let himself in, "No teachings today. Refresh yourself, perhaps take a dip in the moat. Assemble your finest tunic, I know your father owns plenty. Today's the day."
"Right, sir," Iarocav replied quickly, and left the building as silently as he entered. He ran out of the castle, took a detour to the wide river that flowed through the valley, so he could clean himself of the morning run's sweat and grime that had accumulated since the last time he'd bathed. He then ran back home. He used to barely be able to run anywhere without growing weary but now he could go for seemingly hours without really getting sore. Nobody was in the house when he arrived, probably off to their work. He went to his father and mother's room, and took a fine tunic from his father's drawer and put it on. He didn't really feel nervous, just apprehensive of what was to come.

He gathered everything he'd needed, and traveled back to the castle, this time slowly, striding with confidence back to the castle, over the drawbridge, under the gatehouse, through the courtyard and barracks and into the main hall. There were two halls in the main stronghold building, one for eating, the dining hall, and the main hall, which was often known as the throne room, where ceremonies took place. Iarocav looked about. The vast room was uninhabited at the moment. Sirvatal's throne sat at one end, with two smaller thrones on either side, one for his queen and one for his heir. It was funny, really, because he had no heir. Nobody to take his place if he were to die or disappear. But that's not my concern, Iarocav thought to himself.

He stood in awe of what was display in the hall. A septet of chandeliers hung from the ceiling and large carpets and paintings graced the tall walls. It was truly a beautiful room. He gave it another look over and then walked into a side room where he was supposed to sit. And then all he could do is wait.

What seemed like much time later, there was a small sort of fanfare, and Iarocav moved to the front foyer area. Then, two heralds opened up the massive doors to the hall. There was an assembly of people - a small one, really, but still enough people to call an assembly, perhaps a dozen, maybe two. Iarocav shook his head slightly so he could concentrate on the task at hand. On the opposite side of the hall stood the king himself - Sirvatal was poised in front of his throne, with Redonak at his right hand and Spartacav at his left. Iarocav strode slowly, confidently to a position at the steps of the platform which contained the throne. He gave a deep bow to the leader of Sadeg, his home, and then stood up, hands behind his back, as motionless as he could pull off. He flashed back to training with Redonak where he was forced to stand at attention for 3 straight hours, getting a slap by the flat of a sword whenever a body part moved. That was so long ago, he thought.

"We are gathered here today to revel in the commencement of Iarocav, seventh son of Spartacav and Fornaka, into the ranks of military officer in the noble forces of Sadeg," a herald proclaimed, and everybody in the crowd gave a single, solitary clap, before settling in. There were no chairs, so those in attendance, mainly friends of Iarocav and friends of his family, simply stood closer to the young man than they were. The room grew quiet as the side conversations ceased.

Sadeg was not known for its fluff and pomp and circumstance, and thus the ceremony got right to the point. Neither his mentor nor father spoke, instead it was the man between them, emblazoned in the gold and navy blue of the kingdom's colors.
"Iarocav, son of Spartacav. Today you have completed your training under your guide and mentor," Sirvatal said. He didn't have a booming voice, but it was certainly solid and filled the hall with his words.
"I have found your mentor's description of your deeds and knowledge as well as your father's testimony to be satisfactory to my standards and the standards of those who have stood before me. Thus, I am verily impressed and inclined to grant you a rank of military officer in the militia of Sadeg." Iarocav bowed slightly at these words, and the king continued.
"Thus I must implore your loyalty, to ensure that the leadership in our armed forces will remain loyal and focused on defending our kingdom and its interests. Do you, Iarocav, pledge your allegiance to I, Sirvatal, the king of Sadeg, and my command?"
"Yes, my lord." Iarocav replied, his younger voice ringing in the seemingly massive hall.
"And much more importantly, do you pledge your allegiance and promise to protect Sadeg and her people at all costs, no matter who commands it?"
"Yes, my lord." Iarocav repeated, more confident this time.
"Then I shall grant you the rank of Corporal in this force. By the graces of our ancestors and those who reside above us, I hereby ordain you as the leader of Patrol 89." At this moment, aides came from either end of the hall, carrying items in their arms. They stopped at the edges of the platform, and traveled around it, until they were at Iarocav's sides.
"Those who served you shall now ornament you with your arms. Please serve them, your arms, and your kingdom well." In sync, Redonak and Spartacav stepped off the throne platform, down the steps, and removed the items from the aides' arms. Spartacav now had a chestplate and leg armor, and gently put them over his son's tunic and trousers. Iarocav remained as still as he could, his head and eyes looking up beyond the king to the seal of Sadeg, a massive mural of it situated on the wall above the throne. When Spartacav finished, Redonak took his items, a sword, its sheath, and armor for the arms, and fastened them to Iarocav. Looking down at his shoulder which now had plates adorned to them, one had the Corporal rank insignia forged into it, and the other the number 89. He didn't look, but he knew the seal of Sadeg was on the chest, proudly proclaiming his kingdom and heritage.

It's a lot of fuss for just commanding a dozen or so people, Iarocav thought, but he shook it away. This was his moment.
"With your arms upon you and the credibility with you, you may now go on to command a new generation of soldiers for the glory of our kingdom. Good luck," finished Sirvatal, and the king exited the platform and left the hall. Iarocav turned to everybody else in attendance as they applauded his achievement. He began to walk out of the hall, but suddenly it started to feel like he was drifting away ...

---

Slowly, Iarocav sat up in his bed. He got out of the covers and went down the hall, rubbing his eyes and yawning before going down the spiral staircase to the private foyer of his manor. His wife, Meliauden, was sitting at the table in the kitchen, reading her tablet screen and sipping at a coffee.
"How did you sleep?" she asked sweetly as he walked in and sat at the chair across the table from her.
"Slept well. I had a dream about when I was confirmed as a Corporal."
"Wow, that's a really early memory, isn't it?"
"One of the earliest ones. Probably one of the more important ones too. It was like the first time I felt like I had a purpose."
"Do you think it was a one-shot or that you'll have a memory series again?"
"Felt like a series. There was too much beforehand for it to just be a hit-and-run dream, if you get my drift."
"I gotchu there. Sounds exciting."
"One of the best times of my life right there. I hope I'll be able to relive that whole period. Might take awhile though. A lot happened."
"Indeed."
"Anyway, how did the Kick Corps do in Anthor? I sorta regret missing the game, but I was tired after meeting with Paceman and Misty for drinks. I probably could've just stayed longer at the bar and the game might've come on, but I knew they wouldn't be interested. Plus, they looked like they weren't having fun."
"Huh, a tame mushroom king and a magical wolf-person whose main nemeses are sometimes alcoholics. Who would've guessed?"
"I know, I know, shocking. I really wanted to talk with Luna, but he ended up having to miss and ended up inviting the other two, so I guess it's just fate."
"Yeah, good thing too. They lost 5-4."
"We put up 4 against Anthor and still lost? Bugger."
"I know. I watched the first half and we were up 2-3 thanks to Corrie Archer hitting a brace but they definitely lost steam after the half. Ellzidan had 4 shots at the goal in the last 5 minutes but couldn't get an equalizer. I'm watching the replay right now."
"Who's even on the Anthorian squad?"
"No clue. The site is throwing up an error when I try to click on them."
"Did their association not even submit their roster to the press? Come on."
"That's how it happens, I suppose."
"Are we third then? Fourth?"
"Tied for third with Pasarga and Cassadaigua, we all have 2 wins and 2 losses. Anthor and the RedBlacks are still undefeated, but Anthor is in second because they had a bye, they're only at 3 wins compared to RedBlack's 4."
"Some people have all the luck. We should be in second right now."
"Ah, don't complain. We beat Pasarga, remember?"
"True. I'll have to crack the whip on Ellzidan, I really want us to qualify again."
"More likely she'll crack the whip on you to pipe down and be patient," Meliauden chuckled, and Iarocav chuckled with her.
"True, true. You can't rush greatness. Someday we'll be at the top. Someday."
"A World Cup win would make a great 5000th birthday present, eh?"
"God, I hope it doesn't take that long. That's still like 16 years away. This whole starting squad will be nostalgic reserves by then."
"You might be right. At least you can take heart in the fact that it'll happen in our lifetime."
"Oh, don't be morbid, Meli."

[Scottopian Isles]

Scottopian Isles Football Association @SIFA Baxters, Goulding & Hernandez all hit the net as Bluebirds tie USAR 4-4 in New Greenock #PlayBeautifully #WorldCup78 #Qualifiers #ScottopianIsles RETWEETSLIKES 926K1.7M 12:41p.m - 27 JUN 2017

[Mriin]

Operating off of information PIS provided in their CR27 RPs.

"I cannot stress how important a part of World Cup history the Terns are." Don Mizzet leaned against the oversized podium of the rented-out Maal parliamentary room, one specially designed for when the elected officials of the Dragon population deigned a matter of enough import to harangue the Satyr legislature. Today, however, it housed the entirety of the Mriinian National Team's staff, from players to trainers to caterers. "Polar Islandstates spent decades as one of the world's top footballing nations, their teams constantly fearsome foes in both the World Cup and the UICA competitions put together in Aeropag. They were a pillar of consistency in excellence, and quite frankly, the single team I most looked up to when I began following international sport. And that's not even considering the vast political influence they had over the sport, their statesmen leading the World Cup Committee for nearly as long a time as their teams participated, ushering in an era of unprecedented diversity in the sport--under their leadership football flourished across the multiverse. Gone were the days of select nations rolling over the competition year after year, be it Bedistan of the '20s, Bedistan and Arridia of the '30s, the Elvish Menace of the '40s--that's Valanora and Starblaydia, if there are those who are somehow unfamiliar with those still very-much-currently-relevant nations--or the sheer dominance of Aguazul in the 50's. Since the reign of Sol Kirkkegaard, one of the greatest football minds to have ever lived, only three nations have won two titles. The level of play has risen magnificently, and the upper echelons of play are now so much closer in skill, and thus, naturally, more exciting! Kirkkegaard himself, unfortunately, was still but a mortal man, and recently passed on. As still a relative outsider to the wider footballing world, I was deeply saddened that I could not attend, but I hear the ceremony was a beautiful symbol of how many he had touched, with contingents from countless nations coming to mourn."

Don trailed off for a moment, then looked down to the podium--he had been speaking off the cuff until that point--and caught his line of thought. "Now, you may be wondering why I've decided to give you all this brief history lesson on our next opponent. If anything, you might think, we should be talking strategy, although that might not even be necessary against a side that's now unranked and flunked quite terribly in their recent Copa Rushmori appearance. But the reason I gathered you all here today, is to ask a favor of all of you. Pay no attention the side's recent failings, nor the surprising lack of communication from their FA since the start of this World Cup. Don't think we can take it easy after the brutality that was us forcing Barunia to a draw. They are still the Terns, and a symbol of Kirkkegaard's work. All I ask of you is to honor the man's memory by putting it all down on the field. Celebrate everything he did for the game, and the game itself, by just playing some damn good football. Do I make myself clear?" The room responded warmly; the applause wasn't thunderous, as it seems most of the support staff had checked out quite a while ago, but the players themselves rose to their hooves and cheered; hell, playing good football is what they were there for, might as well do it for a cause like that!

---

It was halftime, and Don was lying face-down on the sideline benches of Haven Stadium. The score was 4-0 in favor of his team. He wasn't sure what to think anymore.

"Come on, Don," said Gerard as he nudged his gaffer, "this ain't right. I know you wanted a good game out of this but hiding in plain sight ain't gonna change the score."

A low rumbling sound was all that came from the prostrate dragon, causing the ring of players surrounding him to loosen.

Save for Mari, who stepped forward, the kind soul that she is. "Is there anything you want us to do? Perhaps... go a little easy for the second half, to not totally embarrass them?"

That, at last, broke the dragon out of his reverie, his head slowly craning up. "No... nothing like that. If anything 'going easy' on them would be even more of an insult. Go out there and play as you have, and what happens happens. If the Terns, in their disheveled and disorganized state, aren't prepared to hold up Kirkkegaard's legacy, so be it. We'll do what we can, because we must."

[Aggrey-Fynn Land]

LANDER SPORTS NETWORK

Your plug for all things sport.

---

SPECIAL REPORT: THE TEAM TRAVELS TO SUNNYSIDE FOR UPCOMING MATCH

A note: this article is not written by one of our correspondents, it is actually written by the team's captain, Roman Kendrick.

After our 0-0 draw with Brigantii, we flew back to Samueltown to enjoy our week long break from football. When we got to the airport, there were droves of fans waiting on our arrival. When they caught a glimpse of us gliding down the elevator, a collective cheer rose up congratulating us for our efforts. After all, it was no small feat to hold the 43rd best team in the world to a goalless draw. We were mobbed as we attempted to exit the terminal by fans who repeatedly congratulated us for our efforts. Some also asked for autographs, which we gladly gave; after all, we didn't have any games to play for a week. We left the airport and got into the team bus. We went to a cafe, where Jerry gave us a pep talk. "We've done a good job boys" he began, before a cheer erupted among my teammates. He waited until the cheer subsided. "I think we've shown the multiverse what we're made of, but this is only the beginning. We've only been through three matchdays; there are 15 more still to go, and a lot can change in 15 games. I want you guys to keep the fire going; we'll need it if we want a shot at qualifying." With those words in our heads, we sat down to eat. I ordered two pancakes with a side of hash browns and a glass of orange juice. In about 15 minutes time, my food came. I took a bite, and then stopped to think. The cafe was in downtown Samueltown, so there was a pretty good view of the skyline. I looked around and was instantly glad to be back in Aggrey-Fynn Land. The pancakes were good though, so I hurried up and ate them before they became cold. After the meal, we piled back into the team bus. "As you all know, we will not be staying in Samueltown this week. We are traveling to Sunnyside, where the game will be held.", Donny told us once we got on the bus. Sunnyside is a long way away from Samueltown; first you had to ride 500 miles southbound to Trillville, before traveling 500 miles east to Sunnyside. I started to yawn; the sun was setting, and the trip would take several hours, so I wanted to get some rest on the way there. Before I dozed off, I heard Donny say, "like Jerry told you lot, we've started something great here. We gotta keep the fire going for the next game! Will you guys rise to the occasion!?" he began to shout. "We will Donny", I murmured to nobody in particular. "Just watch us do it."

[Soltsteed]

---

X Island Metropark
Matchday 4

---

This interview is going to be fun…

It was the standard stuff. What went wrong. What can you improve on. What will you do differently against Frejo. Et cetera. Et cetera.

“We’re in our first qualifying campaign, so we have to temper our expectations,” Jan-Peter explained for what seemed like the twenty-millionth time, “but to hold two higher-ranked teams to draws is a promising start. We’ve kept a qualifying favourite to a draw and nicked a point away from home against higher-ranked opposition, so we’re proving that our victory is SPAWK was no fluke. We can roll with the big boys and I know the Stallions will be in the World Cup finals sooner than most people think.”

Another reporter dashed up. “Christine Shipley from the Walland Daily Press. What is your goal in this campaign and does this loss hinder that in any way?”

Finally, a semi-reasonable question, Wietdal thought to himself. “Our goal is to do the best we can. I am confident that we will beat Sulsuland on the final table and with that away draw in Kahali, I am confident that we can pip Kalumba. If we can get fourth or better, I’ll consider this campaign a success. Fifth is acceptable. Anything worse is a goddamned shame.

“As for what this does for our campaign, it’s disappointing, but it’s survivable. If we start losing games that we would be expected to win, then we have a problem, but for right now, this is to be completely expected. We’re doing better than the numbers say we should be.”

“Michäl Rothaas from De Regal Hingst,” the next reporter proclaimed in Soltsteedish. “Everything you’ve said so far is ridiculous.”

Wietdal’s expression visibly soured, remembering the Regal Hingst’s libellous accusations about the team after their first group match in the Baptism of Fire.

“We’re sitting in sixth. New Danican are currently in second. When will you admit that we are failing and have the courtesy to resign?”

Wietdal audibly groaned before replying. “The idea that because we’re behind New Danican, we’re automatically failing is ridiculous. It completely fails to grasp the concept of nuance and circumstance.

“These early tables are wildly erratic and won’t settle down for a few weeks yet. Plus we were frontloaded with difficult games. The only easy match we’ve had thus far is against Heif, but they haven’t managed a single point in their entire international history. Hell, we beat them by two in our final group match in SPAWK and we got home pitch advantage last week. For the matches we’ve faced and the fact that we nicked a point off Flardania and Kalumba, I say we’re doing well. If we start losing to Frejo and Sulsuland, then I will start panicking.”

“John Ashton. Patriot Express.”

Not another bunch of nationalist pricks…

“Aggrey-Fynn Land, the team we defeated for the Baptism title, are sitting higher in their group than we are. Loynn and Kel-Assuk are sitting in fourth. And then there’s Löptsegl, Tveidalen, Furby Island, Kecrazia, Kyrjasmark all doing better than us. Even Finland are doing better than us. Is it time to admit that our BoF win might have been a fluke?”

“No,” Wietdal said bluntly. “We worked hard for that title and earned it through blood, sweat and tears. Even in the difficult position that we were in after the first match, we never surrendered to what everyone in the Soltsteedish press assumed to be our fate and kept on fighting. Look what it got us. If this remains the situation at the halfway mark, then come back and ask that question. Until then, no.

“We in the red and black are going to kick Frejoan arse quite proudly next week and the press are going to cheer about it like typical fair weather friends.”

[Farfadillis]

Stiin could not understand why he needed to go to a therapist. As far as he was concerned, he'd done nothing wrong. It could happen to anyone. Yes, he should've never brought all of his newly-bought flamingos out for a walk, but who could've imagined the consequences would be so dire for everyone involved? He'd left a trail of chaos and destruction behind, but through no fault of his own, he thought. This therapist, wasn't as convinced.

"So, why do you think you did it?" The therapist asked for what must have been the hundredth time. For a therapist, he sure wasn't persuasive. Or good.

"I already told you. They were 75% off. It was a bargain."

"Stiin, you know it's not the flamingos I'm asking you about."

"You know, all of the names I gave them start with 'J'. Jason, José, James, John, Juán, José -"

"Why'd you name two of them José?"

"I named five of them José, but you didn't let me finish. Jorge, János, Jerónimo, Julián, Julian, please notice the accent there." The therapist dozed off hoping his client wouldn't notice. "José, José, José, Jack, Jacob, Jacques, Jaden, Joe, Joel... are you even listening!?"

The therapist snapped back. "Sorry, yes, yes, fascinating."

"Ok, at any rate, it wasn't José's fault. Those kids had it coming."

"Stiin, there's no need to be defensive. I'm here to understand, not judge." He said that to all his clients. "Now, please tell me why you did it."

Stiin took a deep breath, then sighed. "If I tell you, you promise to stop asking?"

"Yes, Stiin, I promise."

"Jerónimo really wanted to go out for a walk. And I want to be a good flamingo-dad, so I took all of my flamingo-children out for a walk, not just Jerónimo, lest they start thinking I have a favorite flamingo. You have children, don't you? I'm sure you understand."

"Uh... that hardly explains the part about the -"

"The rest of the fiasco was a natural consequence of that decision."

"Wait, but what about the pool noodle and the -"

"José was hungry, is all I will say. But, trust me, if any of the tragic events could've been avoided, they would've been."

Ӿ Ӿ Ӿ Ӿ Ӿ

"Well, how is he doing?" Asked Héctor Rossizzo, Stiin's Farf manager at Violence Chariots, and also the person who sent him to a therapist in the first place.

"Wow, that was some terrible exposition."

"What?"

"Nevermind. Stiin's completely crazy, but I've had two Farf clients before and I'm not noticing any massive deviations. I think it might just be your country that is the problem."

"Ok, now with less racism?"

"Kid's completely cuckoo, and there's no way to fix that. You're better off cutting your losses and selling him first chance you get."

"Ok, any other options?"

"Tell him to stop buying flamingos, he's developing an unhealthy attachment."

"Will that do it?"

"Your guess is as good as mine."

[Oontaz Dert Li Ng]

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

WORLD CUP 78 QUALIFIERS: SAN REGADA VS OONTAZ
By Abdulmecid Macasaysayan


Oontaz's Godzilla celebrates his hat trick against San Regada. (Courtesy of Crescent News Network Sports Channel/Oliver Hassanal)

SAN REGADA - Godzilla scored a hat trick and Karimabdul Dimaintindihan and Uziel Gal Tza'eer got goals as the Sultanate of Oontaz earned its first win in the World Cup 78 qualifiers in stunning and thrilling fashion.

The game didn't start off that way, though, as Christian Saavedra drew first blood for the hosts after slotting home his strike partner Franco Hernández's diagonal pass.

Dimaintindihan then equalized from 30 meters, the Thereisnogodistan FC midfielder banging home the free kick conceded by Arturo Toselli after a rash challenge on Oren Ya'akovi.

1-1 was how the score would remain at half-time, but it was in the second half in which Godzilla would finally explode into goalscoring form and secure all three points for the Lions of Sand and Sea.

His first goal for the campaign was a cheeky chip over the Regadan goalkeeper after Godzilla had been put through by a pinpoint pass from Dimaintindihan, and then he doubled his tally just seven minutes later with a rasping belter from just inside the box.

Tza'eer got his name on the score sheet after he headed home Ya'akovi's cross before Godzilla put the finishing touches to the Oontaznik victory and completed his hat trick with an outside-of-the-boot strike from just six yards.

Marvin Bejarano scored what was little more than a consolation goal even though it was a golazo of a sideways bicycle kick.

Oontaz manager Ador Macaspac: "Well, we finally won. It took us some time but we finally won something. This is no laughing matter but it is something to celebrate. Godzilla's hat trick was superb. It's all that he deserves and more. We could have scored more goals. But we're happy with the three points."

    SAN REGADA 2 - 5 OONTAZ
 SAAVEDRA (9')       DIMAINTINDIHAN (29')
BEJARANO (84')       GODZILLA (57', 64', 77')
                     TZA'EER (70')

OONTAZ DERT LI NG
GK: 1 Ansarifarid
RB: 25 Opulencia
RCB: 3 Macaraig
LCB: 49 Campanilla (Sarimanok - 57')
LB: 15 Portencio
DM: 5 San Marcelino █
CM: 7 Abu Nayef
RW: 9 Ya'akovi
CAM: 20 Dimaintindihan (Estevez - 83')
LW: 12 Tza'eer
ST: 7 Godzilla

SAN REGADA
GK: 1 López
RB: 6 Toselli
RCB: 5 Zapata (Uribe - 80')
CB: 4 Martínez
LCB: 3 Callejón
LB: 2 Monreal
RM: 7 Bejarano
CM: 8 Torres (Vizcarra - 55')
LM: 9 Santos Borré
RS: 11 Hernández
LS: 10 Saavedra (Muriel - 74')

MATCH STATISTICS
Possession
San Regada: 50%
Oontaz: 50%
Shots
San Regada: 9 (4 on target)
Oontaz: 11 (7 on target)
Corners
San Regada: 4
Oontaz: 6
Fouls
San Regada: 12
Oontaz: 15

[Eshan]

(OOC: Please reference this brilliant post from Alasdair I Frosticus for the first half of this RP)

OFFICIAL GOVERNMENT COMMUNICATION
Ministry of Truth
Classification TOP SECRET
Review for Publication: World Cup Match Report from The Holy Empire re: Eshan-THE football match
Recommended print status: DO NOT PRINT/NATIONAL SECURITY RISK
Status: Edited and censored as below

You’ve no doubt read the reports about Eshan… About ‘wonderkid’ goalkeeper Aurélian Gautier; about how central midfielder Artemis Montanari is ‘an incredibly cerebral player with world class vision and a passing ability to match’; about the ‘absolutely blistering pace’ and ‘lethality in front of goal’ of central forward Anthony Baudelio; about how the Echani national team ‘plays a high-energy attacking game’ in a 4-3-3 formation (arguably more of a 4-2-1-3) – which under normal circumstances would make them an exciting match for the Holy Empire’s attacking 3-5-2 formation. Alas, the Mammoth Compendium of World Cup Lies can finally reveal the truth about this ostensibly exciting Echani team…

It doesn’t exist.

‘But, Mammoth Compendium authors’ we hear our loyal readership cry, ‘we watched the Echanis take on the Holy Empire in a stutifyingly dull 0-0 draw last night, a match that we’d rather slit our wrists than force ourselves to watch again; how two such exciting attacking teams could play such dull football escapes us, but we definitely watched the match’.

Well, you certainly thought you watched the match. We’re in the position to reveal otherwise…

When the monks from the Archregimancy set up the portal in Eshan to bring the Echanis into the Dreamed Realm, we were genuinely looking forward to the match. Could cosmic gigolo and former God-Emperor of Audioslavia John Palaeologo shut down the talented Baudelio? Would the multiverse conquering former pop star Miguel Attaliates – of ‘Bing-a-Bong-a-Boo (Shama-Lama-Loo)’ fame – prove the equal of Montanari’s silky passing skills? Would Iago Sphrantzes’ experimental multimedia performance art bamboozle the still young and naïve Gautier? Would the Tzimisces – Di Bradini management team out-think young Alexio del Nieran on the Echani benc?

We will never know.

The minute the Echanis passed through the portal, the TRUTH was revealed… This is no real football team, but rather a mental construct willed into being by the Echani nation. The residents of the Republic of Eshan believe that they have a top-50 national football team, and this collective belief has been enough to will the team into some form of shadowy existence in Ordinary Reality – largely because all of the other mundy nations have accepted the collective Echani hallucination as real. Therefore the entirety of Ordinary Reality believes in the reality of a football team that doesn’t actually exist.

They think, therefore it is.

Dreamed Realm denizens might be superficially impressed at the extent that this effort of will has created its own reality. Is this not the very essence of the Dreamed Realm? The problem is that the Echanis are not the result of the manipulation of reality, but rather of a collective mental delusion; a mass hallucination that has infected the entirety of Ordinary Reality. As a result, the minute the Eshan team passed through the portal, they ceased to exist.

As you can imagine, this put HEFA in a spot of bother. Any attempt to reveal the TRUTH could have resulted in the collapse of any number of mundy civilisations as the enormity of the Echani mass hallucination became more widely known. The blood of billions, the ashes of countless cities, the cries of untold numbers of innocents could have been on the hands of the Holy Empire. The consequences were unthinkable.

Better to pretend a football match was taking place.

So if it looked to Imperial citizens like the Holy Empire was aimlessly passing the ball around last night, and more or less ignoring the existence of the opposition last night – well, that’s because it’s hard to play a team that isn’t there. And it’s even harder to pretend the team that isn’t there really is there when there are only 11 men on the pitch. Still, our lads did their best; and if they looked a little listless on the night, who can blame them?

Let’s just not tell the mundies what we discovered last night; it might literally kill them…

---

The Rosaria Post
A Month Into The Presidential Race; How Are The Seven Candidates Fairing

As we enter the come to the second month of campaigning for the 50th Echani President, we have been able to examine the candidates and identify their various policy proposals, their characters, and their guiding ideologies. The seven candidates provide a varied approach to the political future of the nation, and it will surely be interesting to see how each candidate approaches their campaign and attempts to win over more voters. The first month of campaigning centered around the candidates hitting the stump to deliver their messages and simply gain recognition among the national electorate. This article will exam how the seven individuals running for President have fared the past month and they will be presented in a descending order based on the candidate's poll aggregate at the time of writing.

Social democrat Senator Revan Fitzgerald Bernat:33.5% (up from 32%)

Still the frontrunner in this contest, Greater Eshan Senator Revan Bernat only made a modest gain in support but continues to hold the highest appeal amongst Echani voters. The 47 year old has managed to build a movement that appeals to a broad range of Echani voters, with a notable advantage in the young voters and left leaning constituency. Senator Bernat centers his appeal around his connection with voters; his ability to connect to the audience, shifting his tone and mannerism to who he’s engaging, his passionate appeals to love of country and touching the desire to build strong nation where every citizen is a success. Echani naturally believe themselves to be a special race, a great people who can accomplish any task and overcome any obstacle, and it’s devastating to a society that imagines itself to be great to not be perfect in every way. Senator Bernat touches on this, calling out the inequalities that exist in education, housing, employment, all facets of life are pervaded with the sickness that is, in his opinion, resultant of unrestrained capitalism.

As a social democrat, Revan is pushing for a comprehensive reform of our economic system. Speaking on the matter, he advocates for a revised tax system that increases the rate large corporations and superstores will have to pay out. The Eshan Stock Exchange will also be a target, with Senator Bernat seeking to implement a wide range of speculation and investment based taxes, along with aiming to increase capital and luxury good taxes. This will undeniably lead to a huge boon in revenue for the government and will certainly be enough to fund his ambitious social program spending spree. At the core of his philosophy is the belief that if you provide significant aide for the bottom of our society, not so much as help pull them up as rocket boost them up the ladder, than you can shoot forward the entire Echani economy and social stratosphere. He scores points among libertarians for his legalization for most drugs and decriminalizes the use of more harmful substances to help encourage rehabilitation. Senator Bernat does win hold support among small business and the arms industry for his commitment to increase government subsidies to small businesses and a planned military expansion. Combined with additional plans for public works projects and infrastructure expansion promise to put together a very promising jobs boots and significant cut in unemployment. However, the elite-centric taxes could push away our best minds and discourage further foreign investment, so he has a very fine line to walk.

He picked up voters from Green Party candidate Senator Cruyff’s five point drop and now enjoys a five and a half point edge over Octavian Salazaar. His path to the Presidency revolves is pretty straightforward; continue to hammer his message and simply spend time among his voters, his ability to connect with them is almost unmatched in our nation’s history, while also beating down competitors that are drawing away his voters, there’s a total of 25.5% of the vote being split by the Green and Socialist candidates and those are likely social democrat voters. Do that and he’s well into the majority and victory.

Second: Conservative Octavian Salazaar: 30% (Up from 26%)

The winner of the ‘biggest gain’ award, the Conservative candidate for President former People’s Representative Octavian Salazaar picked up three points from Libertarian Alexandre Haviland and the soon to be sunk ship that is MoralEshan!’s Priscilla Lang. A smooth talking, handsome man at the age of 53, Octavian Salazaar is the ultimate Echani success story; from poverty to wealth, relinquishing his hold on his capital and serving in government, going back to being an industry pillar, and then self-funding a campaign for President. It’s everything you aspire to be, minus military service in defending the country, but as a two-term member of the People’s House it’s certainly a comparable situation.

Octavian Salazaar has centered his campaign around unlocking what he calls the drive of character that exists in our fundamental fiber as Echani. It’s a brilliant political strategy from him as it perfectly encapsulates our national character and the strength of the individual (another rhetorical being he promises to get the best of) that has, or at least is perceived to be a major reason for our historical success as a nation.

He claims to not be a destructive conservative who will totally upend the social safety net, rather he aims to change the welfare mindset from nourishment to incentive by tying working requirements, albeit loose requirements, to corresponding bonus payments; a sort of incentivized government payout in addition to a base pay. He will continue and has alluded to even expanding the generous tax cuts and incentives for businesses and the investing class to jump the economy forward, in addition to a military boost in spending and development.

His road to winning the nomination is to defeat his main opponent in the libertarian Phoenix Party’s nominee Alexandre Haviland and to pick-up the near-eight percent of the electorate there. He can win points off the Green party and Socialist candidates, but not as much as Senator Revan Bernat will pull so it will be a hard battle. He has access to far more money to campaign on and that will be a significant force multiplier for him. The race is far, far, far from over.

Green Party Senator Narcisa van Laren Cruyff in third with 14% (Up from 19%)

The biggest loser of the first month of the campaigning, Senator Cruyff from the Green Party dropped a whooping five points as her lack of charisma drew her voters to more fiery candidates in Revan Bernat and Caelius Makélélé. It’s not that she doesn’t hold good policy viewpoints, or would be an ineffective President, just that she doesn’t inspire the way Echani want their leader to. The President is the soul of the nation, speaking with them and guiding through life, and it is essential that Echani see you as a leader.

She also loses voters due to her desire to reign in defense spending; that’s a political death wish for the hawkish and nationalist Echani population, so that stance is also drawing away supporters. However, she also plays to another part of the Echani creature by being a pillar of the environmentalism movement in our nation, and Echani love nature and vote very heavily on environmental issues. She can certainly gain voting support if she positions herself as be best hope for the environment, but her path to the Presidency is looking slimmer and slimmer as the daily polls show her continuing to slide down in rankings.

Socialist Candidate Caelius Hugo Makélélé 11.5(10)%

Enjoying only a modest boost in the polls but much higher name recognition and sky rocketing enthusiasm amongst his base, Caelius Huge Makélélé is doing better than the polls are saying and can look forward with a quiet optimism. The socialist candidate brings a fiery and passionate oratory style that has quickly endeared him to Echani regardless if they support him or not. Capable of weaving intricate tales of with his personal and family history, our shared heritage as Echani, his political philosophy, and vision for how Eshan can be the best to bring the audience to their feet in applause and generate more sound bites than any other candidate aside from NSEPP candidate Sergius Domitian. He calls Echani to action and gets them swept up in a wave of national pride and wanting to help your fellow citizens.

His platform revolves around aggressively targeting the social and economic elite to help expand and solidify the welfare safety net and to pour resources into the disadvantaged people of our community and the the run down areas of our nation. He puts forth a very strong message that calls to a lot of Echani citizens core beliefs about strength and community, and with his oratory skill, it’s not hard to see him continuing to hang around the race until the very end.

To win the Presidency Caelius needs to break down Senator Cruyff and steal her voters, not letting Senator Revan Bernat siphon off anymore and continue to pull away. He might be able to gain some from disillusioned libertarian voters but that’s far from certain. He will have to attack Senator Bernat to stop him advancing and bring voters from that camp into his own. It’s a very tough road, but his status as a cool-headed, smooth-talking leader is something that will certainly help to keep his campaign alive and expanding.

Libertarian Phoenix Party nominee Alexandre Haviland with 7.5% (Down from 9%)

Falling down in the rankings, the general consensus is that the candidate from the libertarian Phoenix Party does not have long to last. Alexandre Haviland isn’t the right candidate for this race, a straight shooting, humble and down to earth country boy in the mold of a cowboy from years long past. In a different election where voters want an outside, that would certainly see him have a severe boost in appeal, but given the popularity of such elite candidates and speakers such as Revan Bernat, Caelius Makélélé, and Octavian Salaazar, Alexandre Haviland’s easy going speaking style doesn’t grab the public imagination nor does it translate into voting support.

His platform and party are very popular; Echani are very libertarian individuals in the sense that they want the freedom to live their own life, in their own way, on their own terms with minimal regulation of their daily affairs, and the libertarian party mindset and manifesto is certainly appealing in that sense.

To win the Presidency, Alexandre Haviland needs to……be running in a different Presidential cycle.

Fascist National Socialist Echani People's Party Candidate Sergius Domitian with 3% (Up from 2.5%)

One of the more worrisome Presidential candidates in Echani electoral history is that of the newly formed National Socialist Echani People’s Party. Deeply fascist in nature, the controversial Sergius Domitian has proposed a policy platform that revolves around certain nationalistic and race/heritage-based notions of superiority. All non-Echani citizens and immigrants are to be given guest status, and according to a manifesto released in one of Domitian’s speeches would be kicked out if need be to support our state, aggressive expansion of Echani borders, state-run media, and perhaps paradoxically, an expanded and more robust welfare network.

Sergius Domitian has enjoyed a slight bump in the polls, and his three point standings in the polls show that his ideas have taken hold and are popular. That’s something that the Echani people are going to have to confront and deal with, but in fairness it’s not hard to see how his vision has taken hold. We are all fiercely in love with Eshan and being Echani. It’s who we are, it’s our pride, it’s in our blood. And appealing to that patriotism and our inherent sense of Echani superiority and desire to conquer is a great way to gain support. While he has no path to the Presidency this cycle, the future is a pearl for Sergius Domitian, and that should concern us all.

MoralEshan! candidate Priscilla Lang with .5% (Down from 1.5%)

Done.

[Cosumar]

We love the World Cup, but they say that Love is a Battlefield...

...Who will be triumphant on tonight's?

---

Matchday 5 RP Cutoff
Scores

[Flardania]

---

Kiri was not only thrilled to have defeated Eura but thrilled with how smooth her battle with Gardevoir went. The two were on the same page for the first time in a long time with Gardevoir even doing some movements without being told too.

"That was amazing Kiri! You were all cool and confident how did you do it?"
"I uh. I'll be honest I got some advice from.....from dad."

Kiri smiled softly. Sure she got her independence from Acronius but she was one of those who had an overall positive relationship. Whenever Acronius was off doing his own thing or at the very least was not annoying her, she had no problem with her step-father.

"You spoke with Acronius!? What advice did he give? "
"Well he just made me remember who I am and who Gardevoir and I wish to be. Heh I've been too busy trying to find tactics that work against the greats in hopes of upsets....but I haven't been having fun battling that way and that isn't who I am. Me and Gardevoir both believe in Ruthless Aggression. Don't get me wrong, defense is good but It isn't as important to me and Gardevoir as I made it seem..."

Kiri stated smiling sheepishly.

"Well have you ever considered that Ruthless Agression failed because you were a rookie and not that it was a bad strategy?"
"Hnnnng"
Kiri grunted as if she was stabbed by a text bubble
"And have you thought about telling your dad about how you did against Eura?"
"Hnnnng"
Kiri once again as she hanged her head in shame.
"Oh um of course.....I was planning on celebrating with dad especially since he as a day off tommorrow... "
Kiri responded sheepishly
".........Lemme Guess, you don't know where your dad is huh?"
"......no......
Kiri responded with a sigh
"haha Figures anyway Zamunda, where is Acronius? "
"He should be nearby facing San Regada."
"What!? We need to go now!!"

---

"You had a good fight Electrobuzz, return."
"So....she beat you too huh?"
"ah Dani, what a surprise. Yeah I lost but when did you face her?"
"About a week ago in an exhibition. She's new and tough kinda like Ang was."

Kiri responded ignoring the fact that Acronius had called her Dani

"Do you plan on her being a new rival?"
"I dunno maybe......"
"Anyway what brings you here. It's not every day that you pay attention to your old man!"
"I uh listened to your advice and I beat Eura."
"Wait it actually worked....cough.....I mean I'm proud of you......"
>.> <.<
".....I was going to say I wanted to celebrate with you and maybe invite you to my match tomorrow but forget it!"
"Hey Dani wait, huh Dani why are you going faster.....slow down!"

[Nephara]

Mercedini 0-0 Nephara
(4-4-2) 1 - Fletcher; 19 - Vyntra, 5 - Konoval, 6 - Scharner, 3 - Lohengrin; 7 - Szalai, 4 - Rainsford (c), 8 - Tarashaj (14 - Gosforth 64'), 11 - Naeher (16 - Strongbow 82'); 17 - Stavanger, 21 - Amokachi (10 - Wardenier 70')

Penumbra Amokachi put the ball on the spot.
This wasn't her job. It was Tanith's. And it was Raquel Naeher who'd won the penalty, hacked down by Noah Park on the edge of the box. It was their edge in a finely-balanced match, roughly two-thirds through. Both teams had had their chances, the home side buoyed on by a baying home crowd eager to turn over a disappointing series of draws, a side confident it could take the lead just as soon as it managed to get the ball either to Billic, whose skill was unquestioned, or Chillotov, a forward who could someday eclipse him. The Nepharim defence, with Scylla Vyntra slotting neatly back into it like the past couple of years just hadn't happened, was functioning like well-oiled clockwork, and Gideon Fletcher was making every save expected of him. Rainsford had been doing great work cleaning up in the midfield and Konrad Gosforth, with pretty much his first action of the game coming on for Tarashaj, had played the pass to release Naeher to make the run to be hacked down by Park, and now they were here. All of that had been complicated. Now it was simple. Hosset versus Amokachi.
Rainsford had objected when Amokachi had took the ball, but not too loudly, that would just alert their hosts to that discord. But this was her right. She was their main striker, undoubtedly world-class, and most gallingly of all she'd been one goal away from the summit for two long years.
First, Fegelein had come in and scratched her off the side for the Copa Rushmori for a bevy of senseless reasons. And, now that it was qualifying, she'd taken the chance to shuffle the pack instead, yet again letting the young guns take the spotlight, and there was something to be said for her, sure, but Penumbra Amokachi, the warrior-queen of Nephara, had waited long enough.
She stared Hosset down. She didn't know too much about him, except that many of these players he was young, talented and probably looking to win a big contract abroad.
... Wait. Hadn't he saved a penalty last match, too? There'd been a few words in Rainsford's ear over which way he'd dived or... or... something.
Shit.
Whatever. She adjusted the ball a bit with her toe, settled in. This was like any other shot from the box - this was her territory.
She ran up. She slowed. Hosset bounced a little on his heels but remained steadfastly still in the centre, calling her bluff, and Amokachi's momentum suddenly drained from her and the best she could do would be to follow through, hooking the ball on target to the left but not into the side, not quickly and at what commentators always called 'a comfortable height'...
... and Hosset, providing the highlight of this rather dull, forgettable match, sprung to his right and hammered the ball away with an iron-wristed hand. Naeher and Park, ironically, were the two the ball fell to - this time, Park reacted quicker and hooked it over his head, and Mercedini were suddenly on the break after another armour-splitting pass from Nymark, then it was Billic and Chill- ahh, and a world-class covering challenge by Dieter Konoval. Thank Christ.
All somewhat irrelevant to Amokachi, who just trudged slowly from the penalty spot. Rainsford, the captain, clapped her on the back - consolation for the cameras, but in reality it was a hard smack. "Nice work," she hissed, and hustled off to do her job.
And on the sidelines, Fegelein muttered something to Avila Wardenier, who got briskly to her feet and started warming up. Soon it was time for the walk of shame for the substitution, the gaze of her entire team focused squarely upon her, not the sprightly Wardenier, and some sarcastic cheering from the home crowd.
For once in her life, Amokachi couldn't look any of them in the eye.

[Schottia]

The Tale of Paul Thompson

Part six.

Losing

Paradise Street, San Marco (During the UICA Champions' Cup 67 Qualifiers)

On the most humid evenings in San Marco, Evelyn was at loss as to what to do. Walking became a chore, sitting became sweaty work, and anywhere that skin touched skin, just became sticky and uncomfortable. On nights like this, the only hope you had was to turn the air conditioning up to full and lay like a starfish somewhere cool. She had come to the conclusion, about a year after moving here, that human beings just weren't meant to live in this climate. It was unnatural. Especially coming from Schottia: a place her Mother would have described balmy if the temperature got above fifteen Celsius. Of course, the Schottic weather was not perfect by any means - it was the only place Evelyn had ever been hit by icy wind in the front and back at the same time - but right now, she would have taken the Handon wind over this any day.

Evelyn had just taken a cold shower. The sun was no longer on her bedroom balcony, but the marble tiles had retained much of their heat, and she could feel their warmth drying the soles of her feet as she walked. The coolness of her hair lay wet around her shoulders, and was a welcome relief. The domestic season in Port Christopher was shorter and started later than most UICA accredited leagues, allowing the players miss the worst of the summer temperatures. However, for those teams finishing near the top of the league, the UICA qualifiers started earlier, and their was no way of getting around that. Blue Coast's lowly ranking meant that they went into the early rounds of qualifying and Evelyn had already taken part in a couple of friendly matches in preparation. Training sessions in this heat were just unreal - the entire squad standing around, hands on hips, tying to take in enough cold water to prevent them from passing out. The matches were all scheduled for the evening, but it didn't make all that much difference. The humidity was so intense that it didn't even present much of an advantage for the Christopheran teams. Evelyn had even heard people say that teams prepared for away games on the island by training in steam rooms.

They had made the Champions' Cup group stage last year, although they had found themselves sorely out of their depth when they got there. This year, however, the non-champions path had presented them with a far harder route, and Raynor City was about as bad a draw as they could have got. It hadn't worked out for Evelyn in the transfer window, and her reluctance to put in a transfer request had left her stranded here for another season. There had been talk of interest from Cornellians, but whether or not they had made a bid or not, she had no idea. The Ocean Shore's group wouldn't let her go without big money exchanging hands, so maybe they had dismissed the odd enquiry out of hand. There was something about knowing that she was marooned here for at least another year that was hard to take. She had had her heart set on a move and it had come to nothing. The Schottian had been counting down the days she had left of this melting rock, and now she had to start again at 365. For this reason she needed another big season, she needed to seem like she was improving as a player. Any potential bidders next season had to believe they were buying into someone on the way up.

This was why putting in a good display - a good team display - against the Valanorans was so vitally important. The risk in going up against an established side like Raynor City was that, by contrast, they ended up looking like the discarded rejects from Jim Henson's workbench. She, and Coast, had to look slick and polished, like a proper football club, and not like the dregs and barrel scrapings that they were.

'Is there any more wine Ross?'

'Oh just go down to the cellar. The big room at the end, the light switch in a bit of string on your right.'

'There's enough down there to float a battle ship.'

'Tell him he can only have one if he carries it back with his teeth.'

'Between his butt cheeks...'

Raised voices and raucous laughter carried from the garden next door. As she craned her neck, Evelyn could just make out Ross, Chad, Danny, and Paul standing in the middle of the lawn. It had been a year and two months since she had dragged Paul Thompson from the ditch at the bottom of her garden, and back then it would have never crossed her mind that he could become such a permanent fixture. His cooking abilities, along with is capacity to drink seemingly inhuman quantities of alcohol, and apparently endless lust for life had made him an instant hit. Paul now cooked for several of the players living on Paradise Street, working to a rota system to ensure that each of them had their dinners served at the allotted time. The more Evelyn thought about it, the more impressive it actually was that Paul fitted it into his day-to-day life, which to her mind involved eating, drinking, and precious little else

'EV! EV!'

She ducked down behind the carved stood pillars, which surrounded her balcony, but not quickly enough. That was karma for prying.

'EV! COME ON DOWN AND JOIN US.' It was Ross, who already seemed worse for ware in terms of alcohol consumption. She dived back inside her room, and pulled a t-shirt on before returning to the balcony.

'I'm just...' she was reluctant to shout. 'I'M JUST ABOUT TO WATCH A MOVIE THEN GO TO BED.' It was only a lie in the sense that she had made it up there and then. It was an entirely plausible scenario, and actually now that she had thought of the idea, she most likely would watch a movie.

'YEAH,' Chad Duquez chimed in. 'WE'RE DRINKING STUFF, AND SMOKING STUFF! IT'LL BE FUN!' The Quebecois winger had a way of infecting everything he touched with the same reckless sense of abandon. It was like a disease. Evelyn never saw him without a cigarette in his hand, and often wondered if he were ever sober. How the player had managed to hack it in the Project +90 programme was anyone's guess, but he had certainly found his place in the world, living on Port Christopher. It wasn't even worth thinking about, the amount he probably spent in casinos, and nightclubs. Remarkably though - despite falling into bed wasted at five every morning - on the pitch, the guy’s form was incredible.

'NO THANKS CHAD.' The Quebecois couldn't even stand in one spot in the middle of Ross' lawn. He kept teetering around as if the ground were titling, his knees bending this way and that like in some weird dance routine. 'HAVE A GOOD NIGHT GUYS.' Evelyn made a mental note to lock her doors before bed; the pool incident from last year was still at the forefront of her mind.

Evelyn didn't doubt that Chad could sustain this lifestyle, especially in the short term, but she knew for a fact that Ross could not. He got a headache after a glass of sparkling wine, and a couple of bottles of beer were enough to have him gibbering away about his innermost hopes and fears. Being the only two Schottian's in the side, she and Ross had bonded early on, with Evelyn settling into the older sister role. The fact that they were neighbours here on Paradise Street had further reinforced this, and they had often shared memories of home, and a mutual support of Schottic football. When Evelyn had received her first call up to the senior team, there had been no one happier than Ross.

She retreated back inside, but she could still hear her teammates next door. By the sounds of it, Paul had returned with more wine, and this had succeeded in causing further hilarity. Evelyn pushed the balcony doors to, muffling the majority of the sound. If Raynor City could see this scene, she doubted they would be quaking in their boots. This was the problem with playing in Port Christopher, the fact that the league became a receptacle for the has-beens and never-will-bes, they all developed this inferiority complex. There were good players sprinkled amongst the shite, but there was no escaping the fact that the chaff to wheat ratio was rather skewed. Because of this there was a propensity for self-deprecation, and shallowness. Evelyn was just keeping her head down. Getting noticed was hard enough in the Super-League, the number of pretty decent players who were nowhere near there respective national teams attested to that fact.

Now that she had a foot in the door, she needed to keep going. Getting off of this melting lump of rock was one thing; but making sure it became a springboard, as opposed to walking the plank with your hands tied behind your back was quite another.