Cup of Harmony 70 Everything Thread - Eshan/Drawkland

[Drawkland]

DRAWKLAND SEMIFINAL CUTOFF
The guns just get bigger and bigger.


Nephara 0–0 Abanhfleft (2–0 AET)

[Drawkland]

Big Guns, Big Goals
An ESHAN/ DRAWKLAND PRODUCTION
FINALS MATCH FIXTURES


3rd Place Match: Buyan vs Abanhfleft
Stadii Echani (150,000); Puente Independencia, Eshan

Cup of Harmony 70: Qasden vs Nephara
National Pitch (150,000); Metropolon, Drawkland

Eshan will scorinate the 3PPO, Drawkland the Grand Final.
Both matches will be scorinated at the same time, in a little less than 48 hours.

[Nephara]

Nephara 0-0 Abanhfleft (2-0 aet)
(4-3-3) 20 - Tsattalios; 2 - Rafford, 5 - Konoval, 6 - Scharner, 3 - Lohengrin; 8 - Tarashaj, 4 - Rainsford (c), 14 - Gosforth (15 - Rowan 81'); 7 - Szalai (13 - Bereveskos 72'), 17 - Stavanger (9 - Hawke 72'), 21 - Amokachi
Goals: Hawke 92', Rowan 98'

THE HERALD
CORMORANTS MUST RETURN TO TROPHY HABIT
Michael Brandon

Birds hoard valuables. Everyone knows that. Bowerbirds collect various blue items to line their nests, magpies steal silver, and Cormorants find trophies. The last was three years ago - the farewell to the Campionato Esportiva - and it didn't sate the Nepharim silverlust for long.

What Nephara has lacked has been a credible performance in the World Cup since winning it. 75 was a bizarre, stumbling performance that managed one win in regulation time across its duration, and it was followed up by consecutive second round exits that took Shale's job.

Nephara has to do better than mediocrity at the main event.

It's not surprising that we, culturally, have a chequered relationship with the Cup of Harmony. It is a valuable way for smaller nations to get tournament experience, of course, but coming from the sharp end of the rankings it has a stench of failure. Nephara should not be here now.

But at the same time, without our CoH victory, we would not have won our Grand Slam that provides us our trinity of stars, a feat matched by just one another nation across the WCC's long history. And it is still a WCC trophy, at the end of the day. And we are one match from claiming it.

I am not a believer in false modesty.

My managerial career thus far has lasted eleven matches. We have won ten and drawn one. Defensively, we have stood up to the harshest scrutiny, while our attack has been capable of punching through the toughest defence. Abanhfleft were a tough opponent, but with a goalkeeper pushing the scales at 15 stone, their best chance was always to be by scoring, and we denied them that and picked them apart. The fans knew, as did the players, that victory was close to inevitable, long before the scoresheet reflected that.

Qasden are the final step, aiming to defend their title. They, too, feel as though they should be at the main event - and I have some empathy for a side who slipped unexpectedly in the closing stages of qualifying. But at the end of the day, I have every confidence that our players will overcome them.

Naysayers were worried that failure to qualify would mean the end of an era. I aim to prove, starting with a win tomorrow, that it is just the beginning.

[Abanhfleft]

OOC: I don't have a ready continuation to either Exiles or Red Sand, but I do have a continuation for the Young Guns series, so the story continues from here! Also, no match report for now as I want to make the cutoff for the 3PPO.

Young Guns, Part Eleven

Acoflosa International Airport
Acoflosa, Mercedini

Throughout the flight from Riuwiee over to Acoflosa, the capital of Mercedini, Kelly McGinnis thought long and hard about who she was going to talk to about the conversation that she had just had with one of the members of the "Real Fans of Abanhfleft," those deluded people who were well and truly convinced that there was a wide-ranging campaign going on to deny Abanhfleft the fruit of her sporting labors. The "Real Fans" were now attempting to recruit members right inside the country's sporting programs so that when the time came for them to spout their deluded "ideology," the athletes whom they had contacted would stand up and declare that they also believed the "Real Fans" and their belief that someone was trying to keep Abanhfleft down. The guy who had spoken to Kelly had claimed that they already had many athletes in their pocket and that they were just waiting for the big moment before they revealed how many of Abanhfleft's athletes also believed their ideology, but Kelly wasn't so sure about that. If that was indeed true then why were they still wasting their time on a young and little-known athletic prospect such as her? She may have been named as the next Chelsea Stuart but she was nowhere near to having the influence that Chelsea has right now, and Kelly also knew that if Chelsea were in her position, there was no way that she would agree with what the "Real Fans" thought. Chelsea was very much a person who took full account of her actions and would not blame anyone else for what she had done.

As for the people whom Kelly could tell about what she had just experienced, she could say that she was spoilt for choice. Her family was a great place to start with to tell about her impromptu meeting with the "Real Fans." Her twin brother Kenny was another good person to talk to as well. But then Kelly remembered what the man from the "Real Fans" had told her and how she shouldn't tell anyone else about the meeting or else they would have to take drastic measures against her. Kelly then began to wonder just how the "Real Fans" would know if she had talked to someone else about their meeting, and then she was suddenly struck by a paranoid thought: what if the "Real Fans" had somehow managed to bug her phone to find out if she was talking to other people about her meeting with the "Real Fans"? Then that would give them a reason to perform their "drastic measures" on her.

So her family was out, as well as everyone else on her phone. Kelly then thought about picking up a disposable phone and then calling someone else through it. But who would she call? Who should she call? Gareth Williamson? His sister Charlene? Bernie McCutchen? Amelie Rusev? Guildenstern Cardew? Someone else in that silver-medal-winning squad in the 3rd Sporting World Cup? What if the "Real Fans" decided to bug their phones as well? Was Kelly growing too paranoid for her own good?

And then Kelly settled upon a name that was so obvious that she couldn't believe that she hadn't thought of him before. As soon as her flight to Acoflosa, the Mercedinian aerial hub, arrived at the airport, Kelly got out and bought a disposable phone. Then with the disposable in one hand and her actual phone in the other, she scrolled through her contacts list until she came upon the number she needed, and then she dialed that number on the disposable phone.

"Come on, come on, pick up," Kelly muttered as the line rang in her ear.

"Hello," the man at the other end of the call said. "Who is this and how did you get my private number?"

"Coach, it's Kelly. Kelly McGinnis, from the Sporting World Cup."

"Ah, Kelly, it's you," Heinrich Wurzmann, the Pridnestrovian founder of Abanhfleft's Alternative Football Program and Kelly's manager along with the rest of the under-18 national team during the 3rd Sporting World Cup, replied in recognition of her name. "I'm sorry that I didn't recognize your name so soon. I didn't recognize the number calling me. Did you get a new phone that I don't know about?" he asked.

"Yeah, as a matter of fact, I did," Kelly admitted. "But it's not because of what you think it is. I have something... very important to say."

"Okay, Kelly, I'm listening," Wurzmann said. "Anyway, where are you? Are you in Mercedini now?"

"Yeah, my flight landed just a few minutes ago. Anyway, on my way to the airport in Besanza, the taxi driver I got drove me to a dark parking lot."

"I don't think I like the way that this is going, Kelly," Wurzmann admitted. "You're not telling that you were..."

"No, coach, I wasn't, but you could say that it was something else worse," Kelly said. "All right, what happened was that the driver of the taxi that I called over brought me to a parking lot and left me behind, and then another guy got into the driver's seat and... well, we had a long talk."

"Who was this guy? Do you know him? Did you know him?"

"No, coach, and frankly, I don't think I want to know him. He, um, wanted to talk about a very sensitive subject."

"And what kind of a sensitive subject is that, Kelly?" Wurzmann asked.

"Um, well, let's just say that do you remember when Abanhfleft drew against an Ethane side that had a number of overage players?" Kelly asked back. "This guy wanted to talk about that and other similar subjects."

"I don't think I get what you mean," Wurzmann admitted once again.

"All right, coach, remember those guys who, well, believe that Ethane should have forfeited that game in the Di Bradini Cup so that we could have won the whole tournament? I'm talking about those guys, coach."

"Ah, I think I now see what you mean," Wurzmann said. "All right, Kelly, why are you telling me this again?"

"I needed to tell this to someone, to get this off my chest," Kelly said. "Well, now that I've done it, thanks for listening, coach. You've been a great help."

"Of course, of course," Wurzmann said, and then he and Kelly said their goodbyes and Kelly ended the call. Kelly then looked around surreptitiously for a moment and then she tried to sneakily throw away the disposable phone into a trash receptacle and she couldn't help but wince when the phone clanged around in the metal bin. At least I got to feel a little bit like a spy, Kelly told herself as she walked away from the trash bin.

Kelly then waited for the next train from Acoflosa to Hoventon (where the club she had loaned herself out to was located), which ran at every half-hour. Kelly took a look at the train's route map and saw that Hoventon was right at the end of the line, and that it would take about an hour and fifteen minutes (or 75 minutes for those who liked to complicate things) to get from Acoflosa to Hoventon. Kelly sighed and allowed herself to be taken along for the ride. At least it would help take her mind off of the things that had just happened to her and the things that she had just done.

Kelly was also pleased to see that the Mercedinian rail network (or at least this particular railroad) was on a scenic route, meaning that she passed by a number of small Mercedinian communities on her way to Hoventon. She also walked around the train some to stretch her legs during the journey, and she was also not averse to hopping out of the train whenever it was stopped. She only had to remember to get back onboard whenever the conductors called for "All aboard!"

Finally, the train arrived in Hoventon, and Kelly got off along with a number of other locals who were in Hoventon for all sorts of reasons. Kelly looked around the station and immediately went over to the information counter where she knocked on the Plexiglas window and asked the woman manning the counter, "Excuse me, but do you know the way to Hoven & Corlington Town?"

"Ooh, a football fan!" the woman said. "How nice of you to take an interest in our own football club! Everyone else just pays attention to the big boys over in Acoflosa and Zoloroni. It's nice to see young people like you actually take an interest in Mercedini's other clubs! All right, love, here's how you get to the Town." The woman then listed off the directions that Kelly should take on her way to the headquarters of Hoventon & Corlington Town and even graciously provided her with a map so that Kelly would recognize the landmarks when she saw them. Kelly thanked the information counter lady and then she went out of the station to make her way towards Hoventon & Corlington Town and her destiny.

It was because of Kelly thinking of all of the possibilities regarding her future that she didn't notice the parked grey minivan that drove out of the station's parking lot and begun to follow her. The driver of the minivan kept at least two car-lengths' distance between her and Kelly but Kelly was so caught up in her mind about her possibilities that the driver need not have bothered with the separation. And then, when the timing was right, when there was no one else around to see the commission of the deed, the van accelerated towards Kelly and then stopped right beside her. The sliding door to the side of the van opened up and two people reached out to grab Kelly. One stuck a black cloth bag over her head while the other grabbed Kelly by the shoulders and then physically carried her into the van. Kelly struggled against her captors even as the door slid shut and the driver peeled away from the scene of the crime but one of her captors said to her, "Don't hurt us, Kelly! We are your friends!"

"If you are my friends then why are you kidnapping me?" Kelly asked back.

"It's a risk we had to take," the captor who was talking to her, the one who sounded like the leader of the group, replied. "Right now, though, we don't have time to answer your questions so I suggest you hold them until we get to where we have to be."

Kelly's mind immediately began racing at full speed. Who were these people? Were they from the Real Fans? How could they have found out about her conversation with Heinrich Wurzmann? Did they bug his phone as well? Was nowhere safe from these deranged assholes?

Finally, Kelly felt the van coming to a stop, but her captors had her stay in her seat in their van until they had gotten out, and only then did they take hold of Kelly's arms to help guide her out of the vehicle as the black sack was still over her head. "Can I take this thing off now?" Kelly asked as she felt her sweat begin to pool in front of her nose and mouth.

Someone took hold of the sack and pulled it away from Kelly's head, a little too roughly for her tastes. Kelly found herself sitting down on a wooden chair that was the kind usually seen in grade school public schools. A man and a woman were standing in front of her. The man had black hair and stubble on a narrow face which tapered to a sharp chin as well as startlingly blue eyes which were almost white. The woman was shorter and stockier than the man but Kelly could tell that she was just as fit, if not fitter, as the man. She had a round face with round brown eyes the color of milk chocolate framed by long locks of curly brown hair. If Kelly squinted her eyes, she could convince herself that the woman standing before her was Tonya Heaton, currently of the Fleftic women's national football team and Marinos Thimpodopoulos Women's Football Club of the Fleftic Ladies' Premier League.

Kelly heard footsteps behind her and she turned around to see who was making them. When she saw the third person who had pretended to be her captor, she almost had to suppress a laugh. Is this for real? she asked herself. A doppelganger of Tonya Heaton was already standing before her; why not add Miriam Hannibal to the mix? The Miriam Hannibal lookalike was, just as the famous athlete she looked like, a tall and slim woman with long sleek black hair that fell straight down her shoulders and her body. Her eyebrows were, also like Hannibal's, arched up in such a way that it gave her a somewhat disdainful look on the world around her.

"All right, Kelly, I know what you're thinking," the man said before Kelly could open her mouth. "You're probably thinking that either we're from the Real Fans of Abanhfleft or Miriam Hannibal and Tonya Heaton had you kidnapped right here in Mercedini for whatever reason known only to themselves. Both couldn't be further from the truth, although I have to tell you that you are among friends, Kelly."

"But who are you, then?" Kelly asked.

"We're from the RBI," the man replied. "I have a friend in the Bureau who's investigating the case of the Real Fans but since he's busy with matters closer to home, he's decided to pass along this particular part of the case to me and my friends. By the way, my name is Daniel, and these are my friends Hannah and Esperanza."

"Hi there," Kelly said hesitantly.

"So, what was it you wanted to tell us about the Real Fans again?" Esperanza, the Miriam Hannibal lookalike, asked.

"What do you want to know?" Kelly asked in reply.

"When did you meet with the Real Fans?" Hannah, the Tonya Heaton doppelganger, said. "What did you talk about? Did they tell you anything about their membership or their plans?"

"Okay, I think you RBI guys might want to sit down for this because this is a long story," Kelly said. "So it all started when I called for a cab to take me to Besanza Airport...."

[Eshan]

ESHAN THIRD PLACE PLAYOFF
WILL YOU BE THE THIRD?

Buyan 0–1 Abanhfleft

Commiserations to the loser, congratulations to the winner, a big thank you to everyone who voted for Drawkland and I to hold this prestigious tournament, and the biggest of thanks to the RPing participants; you make the game great!

[Qasden]

---

Defenders Shut Down Hedgehogs, Reach 2nd Straight Final

---

The time is M E O W.

On the final day of handheld guns, the Qads, coming off of a fresh win over Red Blackiland, arrived in Alixa to face the undauntingly daunting Aggrey-Fynn Land. The final match necessary for Merritt to keep his job as the head coach of Qasden, the Vans battled the Wavy Ones with high intentions of advancement. An hour and a half later, the Blue-Reds pull out of a stagnant equalizer to end the newcomers' show, 2-1, birthing their entry into the CoH Semi-Final in Rosaria.

For their semi-final match, the Vans must take on the returning veterans of Buyan. The hedgehogs return saw a great showing of uttered pain, as they and fellow returnees, Polar Islandstates, were repeated rammed in the first half of qualifiers in Group 6. While in the second half they retaliated, it wasn't enough to surpass the group giants, ending up in fifth place. During their stay in the CoH's luscious Group B, the team endured a 2-5 defeat against Ceni, a 6-2 smashing of Darmen, and a scoreless draw against Jeckland, which all somehow translated into them earning the 2nd place in the group. In the R16, the Buyanese took on an undefeated Kalumban side, partly responsible for Mercedini's shock elimination in the group stage. Defeating them 1-0, the team then took on the platypi of Apox in the quarters, resulting in 1-0 victory in extra time. Now traveling to the capital of Eshan, both the Vans and Hedgehogs ponder endlessly about the deciding shot that will send one of them to Metropolon.

Finally, it was time to begin the bloodshed of tankdom.

The first half of the matchup saw a variety of fans from across the globe cheering and booing and wailing in an almost unison harmony. Why? Because there was practically no bloody action on the field! The black and white ball with guns found itself hurdling back and forth multiple times, but it could not find solace. Its desire to be snug behind a person in brightly colored clothes and gloves and tugged deep within the white netting was denied by the sake of defenders and attackers. The opposition does not get punished for kicking the ball, but by kicking another one of its own brings consequences the temporarily feralizes them in small fits of rage and tainted reason. Was this its purpose? To be there when somebody needs to release their skill, their passion, their overall lust for the game? To be slowly driven towards its flat inevitable death, one kick at a time? To be sheathed behind a block of glass after being vandalized by one's signature marking? Is this the life of a soccer ball? To be punished for things it could not control? One could only ponder how far its legacy has gone....OH HEY IT'S HALFTIME! 47 minutes of gameplay ended on a scoreless face to bring the first battle of 2 to an end.

"I may have gotten to keep my job," said Jon Merritt, Coach of the NT since its inauguration into international play, "but my fate is far from decided. I may have to fight twenty more cycles if I have to, but I know that our team must survive this very tournament. I wish for Qasden's CoH legacy not to end at the hands of Buyan, Abanhfkeft or even Nephara, but rather to the hands of WC Qualification. I don't care how many times we fail to qualify until the day we do, but until that day, our Cup of Harmony record shall stay shatterless for as long as eternity itself.".

The second half commenced with the Buyanese adversarians kicking off straight into Qad territory. 49 minutes in, Buyan attacker, Emil Eklund, goes in for the rebound off of Abbott's hands but ALAS the goal could not be found. 62 minutes into the match, Ryan Xandreas goes for the long goal but misses it by a hair. As the hedgehogs retrieve the ball, suddenly, the Vans snapped into war mode. On and on, the hogs tried and failed, but it was at the 81st minute when finally, the netting was shook. After 2 back-to-back crossbar hits by Foster and Xandreas, Jerry Bostun slides the ball underneath the diving keeper, ending the operation, 1-0.

The fanzones in Rosaria and T.V. City went ballistically ecstatic in a fest of flare. Arsenal-loads of fireworks went off in the motherland, flares of blue and red shone brightly in Eshan, and soon the flights to Sonnel became clogged up with Qads. For 2 straight cycles, the Qasden Vans have reached the Cup of Harmony championships. It's one of the highest peaks it appears for TQ, as already a statue of the beloved Qasden Van mascot is being made as we speak in Taxson to be displayed at the capitol. For once, the Defenders will be able to defend something.

Last up for the Vans are the Cormorants of Nephara. Yes, Nephara. During the qualifiers, the Black and Green, managed by famed Directus midfielder, Michael Brandon, choked hard in the Group of Death, as the Nepharim team was outclassed by Starblaydia and Sargossa. While in the Cup of Harmony, the Cormorants have absolutely dominated their path, smashing in Yue Zhou and Scottopian Isles in the KOs. In the semi-finals, the team just barely fell through, defeating Abanhfleft 1-0 in extra time.

That's all we have for this report. Will the Qasden Vans successfully defend their CoH title? Will the Nephara Cormorants eliminate Merritt for their second? Only one star will lead the show, so stay tuned, stay updated, and stay golden for future reports, live from the bustling corp streets of Metropolon, Drawkland!!!

[Drawkland]

DRAWKLAND FINAL CUTOFF
WHO BROUGHT A KNIFE TO THE GUN FIGHT? COH 70 COMES DOWN TO THIS!

Qasden 3–0 Nephara

Thanks everyone for a great Cup of Harmony. Congrats to the winner and Commiserations to the loser, that's a terrible way to go out.
We hope to see all 32 of you again next cycle for World Cup 79, and hopefully you won't be stuck in this tourney again! Good luck to all.