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by Kelssek » Sat Sep 07, 2019 7:52 am
by Alasdair I Frosticus » Sat Sep 07, 2019 1:55 pm
by Turori » Sun Sep 08, 2019 6:06 am
:: Turori Goalscorers :: :: 13' Wiztsana Iretziia :: 49' Nua'oma Aikiki :: 82' Daliora Toru'u | :: Turori Statistics :: :: Possession: 53% :: Shots on Target: 9 :: Corner Kicks: 4 | :: Terre Septentrionale Statistics :: :: Possession: 47% :: Shots on Target: 3 :: Corner Kicks: 5 |
Group W Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 Turori 12 10 0 2 36 10 +26 30 Q
2 The Macabees 12 9 2 1 35 16 +19 29 P
3 Terre Septentrionale 12 6 0 6 24 24 0 18
4 Pratapgadh 12 4 3 5 15 21 −6 15
5 Darkmania 12 4 2 6 17 21 −4 14
6 Hyundai-Kia 12 3 0 9 15 32 −17 9
7 Amurbia 12 2 1 9 17 35 −18 7
:: Turori Goalscorers :: :: 1' Nua'oma Aikiki :: 47' Nua'oma Aikiki | :: Turori Statistics :: :: Possession: 58% :: Shots on Target: 7 :: Corner Kicks: 9 | :: Amurbia Statistics :: :: Possession: 42% :: Shots on Target: 4 :: Corner Kicks: 6 |
by Nephara » Sun Sep 08, 2019 7:17 am
Kandonica 2 - 6 Nephara
(4-4-2) 12 - Mercator; 2 - Kielseng, 5 - Thorn, 6 - Steelhenge (22 - Brosch 17'), 3 - Katarec; 13 - Saroszi (7 - Fanaiyan 62'), 15 - Rosenthal, 8 - Klein (c), 16 - Deventer; 17 - Bastable (23 - Breremond 70'), 10 - Metzger
Goals: Bastable 20' 51', Metzger 36', Deventer 44', Kielseng 72', Fanaiyan 87'
Nephara 2 - 0 Geektopia
(4-4-2) 12 - Mercator; 2 - Kielseng (18 - Sanger 67'), 5 - Thorn, 22 - Brosch, 19 - Rouphos; 13 - Saroszi, 4 - Shone, 8 - Klein (c, 21 - Chalk 75'), 11 - Strongbow (vc); 17 - Bastable, 10 - Metzger (14 - Tzorvas 78')
Goals: Saroszi 11', Thorn 34'
by Cassadaigua » Sun Sep 08, 2019 8:30 am
by Turori » Sun Sep 08, 2019 9:22 am
by Commonwealth of Baker Park » Sun Sep 08, 2019 11:13 pm
by Brenecia » Mon Sep 09, 2019 3:37 am
Brenecia 3 - 3 Damukuni
(4-3-3) 1 - Farrell; 2 - Broxham, 5 - Horgan, 6 - Mathers, 3 - Quill (c); 8 - Matheson (14 - Ruskin 77'), 4 - Locke, 13 - Wheeler; 7 - Cheney (15 - Garrard 68'), 10 - Ciogach, 16 - Fletcher (11 - Keynes 77')
Goals: Ciogach 31', Fletcher 57', Matheson 61'
Bolgano 2 - 6 Brenecia
(4-3-3) 1 - Farrell; 2 - Broxham, 5 - Horgan (22 - Beath 82'), 6 - Mathers, 3 - Quill (c, 19 - Prentice 60'); 21 - Case (vc), 4 - Locke, 13 - Wheeler (14 - Ruskin 65'); 15 - Garrard, 10 - Ciogach 16 - Fletcher
Goals: Fletcher 33', Horgan 41', Quill 47', Case 50', Wheeler 61', Ciogach 67'
Banija 2 - 0 Brenecia
(4-3-3) 1 - Farrell; 2 - Broxham, 5 - Horgan, 6 - Mathers, 3 - Quill (c); 21 - Case (8 - Matheson 76'), 4 - Locke, 13 - Wheeler; 7 - Cheney (15 - Garrard 68'), 10 - Ciogach, 16 - Fletcher (11 - Keynes 67')
Brenecia 5 - 3 Hapilopper
(4-3-3) 1 - Farrell; 2 - Broxham (22 - Beath 87'), 5 - Horgan, 6 - Mathers, 3 - Quill (c); 21 - Case, 4 - Locke (23 - Alweather 74'), 13 - Wheeler; 15 - Garrard, 9 - Riordan (17 - Lindauer 74'), 16 - Fletcher
Goals: Garrard 33', Riordan 41' 86', Wheeler 44', Horgan 70'
Vilita 2 - 3 Brenecia
(4-3-3) 1 - Farrell; 2 - Broxham, 22 - Beath, 6 - Mathers, 3 - Quill (c, 19 - Prentice 76'); 8 - Matheson (21 - Case 54'), 4 - Locke (23 - Alweather 89'), 14 - Ruskin; 7 - Cheney, 10 - Ciogach, 16 - Fletcher
Goals: Fletcher 16', Quill 22', Ruskin 87'
by Sargossa » Mon Sep 09, 2019 4:01 am
by Equestrian States » Mon Sep 09, 2019 6:38 am
.Hoofball in Equestria: A Brief Primer
by Meticulous Quill
Equestria’s most popular sport is easily football, or hoofball as the country’s sapient ungulate natives call the game. The sport was first introduced to Equestria nearly 200 years ago by foreign merchants, but it wasn’t until just a few decades ago that hoofball began its rise to the heights of popularity that it enjoys today.
The Equestrian national hoofball team, nicknamed the Ponies, made their first international appearances at the 45th Baptism of Fire and the 58th World Cup, but performed rather poorly in their debut cycle. However, under the guidance of manager Twilight Striker, the team rapidly climbed the ranks over the next two cycles. The Ponies reached the knockout rounds of the 51st Cup of Harmony before nearly stunning the multiverse by qualifying for the 60th World Cup, only to be denied by a 2-1 added extra time defeat against 21st-ranked Astograth.
It seemed to Equestrian hoofball supporters that they were on the cusp of becoming a force to be reckoned with in the international game, but the next several cycles were defined not by the Ponies’ successes, but rather by their failures. The Equestrians routinely underperformed at the Cup of Harmony, either coming up agonizingly short in the second-round or bombing out of the tournament in the group stage. However, it was the Ponies’ failure to qualify for the World Cup which truly frustrated the fans and players alike. Between World Cups 60-63, the Equestrians competed in three qualifying playoffs and lost each time by just one goal.
In the months prior to the World Cup 64 qualifying campaign, manager Twilight Striker found herself under intense pressure from the press, supporters, and the Hoofball Association, to produce results or else face being sacked. The Ponies were seeded third in their qualifying group, behind World Cup stalwarts Sargossa and an ascendant Osarius team, and most pundits predicted the Equestrians would once more be relegated to the Cup of Harmony. However, the Ponies took the group by storm, opening the campaign with eight consecutive victories and remaining undefeated for an incredible 15 matches until Osarius narrowly overcame the Equestrians 1-0 at Cloudsdale’s Sky-High Coliseum. Despite dominating the group for much of the campaign, the Equestrians were facing yet another potential playoff after Osarius clinched the group title and its automatic World Cup berth. Fortunately for the Ponies, another path to the finals was available: finishing as one of the top overall runners-up. A late goal from Rainbow Blitz on the final match day secured the Equestrians a draw against Sargossa in front of over 90,000 screaming Ponies supporters at the Equestria Dome in Canterlot, the result just enough to clinch Equestria a spot at the 64th World Cup in Wight and New Montreal States.
The Ponies were not expected to do much at the World Cup 64, drawn into Group H alongside 5th-ranked Polar Islandstates and 11th-ranked Saugeais, and lost their first ever World Cup match 2-0 against the Polarians. The Equestrians scratched out a 2-2 draw against Saugeais to keep their second-round dreams alive by a thread, though the Ponies would need help from Polar Islandstates to advance. Unfortunately, despite Equestria earning their first finals win against rivals Yesopalitha, Saugeais defeated Polar Islandstates to eliminate the Ponies from the tournament.
The appearance of the national team at the 64th World Cup marked the beginning of Equestrian hoofball’s first golden age. Backed by a youth program that was churning out potential world-class stars at a remarkable rate, culminating in the under-21 national team winning the 27th Di Bradini Cup, the Ponies qualified directly for each of the next two World Cups. But these successes were marred by the team’s continued failure to make a serious run at the World Cup, eliminated each time in the group stage, even after completing the World Cup 66 cycle without losing a single game in qualifying or at the finals.
Then, before the 67th World Cup, the Hoofball Association announced that Equestria would be bidding with Cassadaigua for the rights to host the next World Cup. One of the most fiercely contested votes in the World Cup Committee’s history went in favor of the Cassadagan-Equestrian bid, and preparations began immediately to welcome the multiverse to Equestria’s shores. By the time the World Cup started, both the nation and the team were ready. The Ponies, undefeated in a pre-tournament friendly tour, started the tournament with a 2-0 win against New Sideburn (known today as Nephara). A pair of draws against Antoletia and top-ranked Polar Islandstates were enough for the Ponies to break through another barrier and advance to the knockout stage for the first time. Sadly, the Equestrians’ dreams of a deep run on home soil were dashed almost immediately in a 2-0 loss against Valladares in the second round, but the future seemed limitless for the Ponies.
Entering the 68th World Cup cycle, the Equestrians were ranked 15th and comfortably the top seed in their qualifying group. Having qualified for the last four World Cups, the Ponies were heavily favored to make it five straight appearances. At first, everything seemed to be going as planned, the Equestrians winning seven of their first eight matches, the only hiccup coming in a loss to second-seeded Zwangzug; but then, the collapse began. Another loss to Zwangzug and a pair of draws against lowly Levivania and the Gandham Islands relegated the Ponies to the runners-up playoffs where they were drawn against 171st-ranked Armakistan in the first of two rounds of playoffs.
Equestria entered the first leg in Armakistan expecting to quickly overpower the Armaks, but were left fuming after slumping to a 1-0 defeat in which the Ponies were reduced to seven players thanks to an over-zealous Sanctii referee, whom Equestrian supporters insist to this day was determined to cost them the match. The Equestrians rallied at home in the second leg for a 5-3 win to advance to the second round of playoffs and were again drawn against a significantly lower ranked opponent: 104th-ranked Buyan. In what can only be described as a catastrophic scheduling error, the host committee scheduled the Ponies to play at home for the first leg despite being the higher seed. Many in Equestria called foul, asserting that the error was a malicious plot by their rivals in the Free Republics to put the Ponies at a disadvantage in the fixture, but the World Cup Committee declined to correct the host committee’s supposed mistake. The Ponies lost the first match 1-0, forcing them to play from behind in the decisive second game in Buyan, in which they were humiliated and eliminated in a 4-2 defeat.
The 60th Cup of Harmony offered the Equestrians an opportunity to salvage something from a hugely disappointing cycle, but the Ponies would underperform once again in the consolation tournament, crashing out on penalties to hosts Kinitaria in the second round.
The following cycle, with longtime captain and star striker Fire Dash set to retire at the end of the campaign, the Ponies were largely back to their usual form during the group stage, shrugging off a few mild upsets and the disappointment of World Cup 68 to win their group. Unfortunately, the qualifying format for the 69th World Cup relegated Equestria to yet another playoff, as only some group winners were granted direct qualification and the Ponies fell just one point short of the cutoff. Against heavy underdogs New Montreal States, the Ponies would lose the first leg in Canterlot 3-1. However, on the road in New Montreal, the Equestrians rallied to tie the aggregate score at 5-5, and were in position to advance on away goals when New Montreal States scored a soul-crushing last-minute goal that sent the Ponies crashing out of the World Cup through a qualifying playoff for the fifth time. The Ponies would not be invited to participate in the 61st Cup of Harmony, and Twilight Striker resigned as national team manager the following day.
While missing the Cup of Harmony, Equestria was invited to host and participate in the Runner Cup, a consolation tournament for the teams which failed to reach the consolation tournament. The Hoofball Association accepted and appointed then-Canterlot Stars manager Pearly White as the interim boss of the national team. Pearly White's team showed no mercy to their overmatched opponents and easily won the tournament, the Ponies’ performance earning the young unicorn the job on a permanent basis.
The newly appointed manager’s mettle was not to be tested during World Cup 70 qualifying, however, as the Equestrians were selected to co-host the tournament with San José Guayabal, granting the Ponies a reprieve from the challenge of qualifying as a lower seed. Despite a series of encouraging performances in friendly matches against some of the multiverse’s best sides, expectations for the Equestrians at the World Cup were low, as the Ponies entered the tournament ranked just 40th in the multiverse. Thus, it came as a complete surprise when the Equestrians not only advanced from, but finished atop of, Group A ahead of favorites 14th-ranked Nephara. Though the Ponies would again bow out in the second round, this time in a 4-3 thriller against Legalese, the future looked bright once more for Equestrian hoofball. The following cycle, the Equestrians breezed through qualifying without a single defeat, but were eliminated in the World Cup 71 group stage after being drawn into a group of death with defending champions Osarius, the future champions from the Unified Sunrise Islands (now Kita-Hinode), and a talented Apox team.
At this point, the historical record becomes somewhat muddled. Equestrian sources claim that they were elected hosts for the 72nd World Cup but lost all contact with the outside world before the tournament began thanks to the “interdimensional magical shenanigans” of Discord, a deity of chaos and disharmony. Meanwhile, non-local records show that the Ponies not only hosted that tournament, but also participated in World Cups 72-78 with infrequent success. For the sake of maintaining impartiality, this Lonely Multiverse guide will not be covering this period, known as the ‘Equestrian Temporal Stasis’.1
Regardless, by the 79th World Cup in this dimension, the Equestrians were ranked a lowly 62nd when (according to local sources) they returned from stasis. It took some time for the Ponies to shake off the alleged effects of this stasis, but improved gradually as the qualifying campaign wore on, including a stunning 3-2 upset of the 5th-ranked Holy Empire in the Dreamed Realm. However, the slow start the Ponies had endured doomed the team’s qualifying efforts to failure.
It was at the 71st Cup of Harmony that the Equestrians would meet the Banijans, now the Ponies’ fiercest rivals. In a pre-tournament friendly, the Ponies had dominated the Kadongo Kamu 3-1, but the rivalry truly began in a do-or-die group stage fixture, which the Equestrians emerged victorious from by a 2-0 score and subsequently advanced to the knockout stage. In the second round, the Ponies defeated Filindostan to reach the quarterfinals of a WCC-sanctioned tournament for the first time in the team’s history, before being eliminated by New Gazi in the next round.
Hoping to make up for “missing” World Cup 72, the Hoofball Association partnered with their counterparts in Starblaydia to secure the hosting rights for the 80th World Cup. Once more, the Equestrians were on the main stage alongside the multiverse’s best. Expectations for the Ponies were low, but excitement was sky-high among Equestrian hoofball fans. In a nail-biting opening fixture against none other than the Kadongo Kamu, against whose home nation the Equestrians were actively at war with over the Busogan Islands, the Ponies claimed another victory. A win the following week against New Gazi not only avenged the Equestrian’s earlier Cup of Harmony defeat, but also secured the Ponies’ advancement.
Nobody expected the Equestrians to defeat the Chromatiks in the second round, but the Ponies miraculously kept their run alive in a 2-1 upset. Despite being ranked just 41st entering the tournament, the Equestrians were through to the World Cup quarterfinals for the first time. Brenecia would eliminate the Ponies in the following round en route to claiming their first title, but the Ponies performance had placed them right back where they belonged in the conversation of the multiverse’s hoofball elite.
In the last two cycles, the Ponies have shrugged off the mantle of also-rans, returning to the quarterfinals at World Cup 81 and reaching the second round at World Cup 82, and climbing into the top ten rankings. Meanwhile, at the regional level, the Ponies have been consistent contenders in the AOCAF Cup. In front of a hostile local crowd against Banija in the 58th AOCAF Final, the Ponies won their first ever major title.
Thus, we reach the present, where the 7th-ranked Equestrians are dreaming of becoming the first host nation to win the World Cup on home soil since The Holy Empire. The streets of Canterlot, Manehattan, Stalliongrad, and every other town in Equestria are buzzing with anticipation and excitement. As such, Lonely Multiverse readers should expect an electric atmosphere at every World Cup match in Equestria.
1 Lonely Multiverse refrains from making any judgement or recommendation regarding which version(s) of reality it or its readers should accept, and encourages readers to be cautious when addressing the topic with those who may be sensitive to such controversial subjects
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by Zwangzug » Mon Sep 09, 2019 8:59 am
by Banija » Mon Sep 09, 2019 10:27 am
by Mercedini » Mon Sep 09, 2019 11:26 am
by Free Republics » Mon Sep 09, 2019 2:50 pm
by Recuecn » Mon Sep 09, 2019 5:56 pm
by Vilita » Mon Sep 09, 2019 6:25 pm
Group H
Vilita (1)
Audioslavia (17)
The Macabees (36)
Baker Park (12)MD1 v. Baker Park
BCEL Stadium
MD2 v. Audioslavia
Mavuto Field
MD3 v. The Macabees
The Wolf's Den
by Chromatika » Mon Sep 09, 2019 7:15 pm
Recap of Playoff Group Game 3: Busoga Islands 3-3 Chromatika
Goals: Conrad '65, Victoriane '71, Sierra '77
Starting Lineup: Nier; Ruth - de Aea - Ibex - Damjana; Thorben - Mora - Montague - Conrad; Andisori, K. (C) - Victoriane.
Substitutes: Kelly -> Thorben '49, Sierra -> Andisori '73, An -> Ruth '82
Recap: Honestly, this post does it more justice.
by Commonwealth of Baker Park » Mon Sep 09, 2019 7:19 pm
lineup vs Vilita: Gordon; Briggs, Vasillias(C), Foreman; Haller, Westmoreland, Taborn, Navarro; Bozeman; Sandoval, Patton
by Mriin » Mon Sep 09, 2019 7:38 pm
by Farfadillis » Mon Sep 09, 2019 7:53 pm
by Banija » Mon Sep 09, 2019 8:12 pm
*Clips of past World Cups are shown as deep voiced narrator begins to talk*
Narrator: We started with 170. Now? We have 32. 32 sides, 32 countries, who will fight for the ultimate trophy.
*Clip shown of VIlitans scoring in the 82nd World Cup FInal*
Narrator: We are in the midst of one of the greatest ever sides in this sport. Can anyone take their crown?
*Clip shown of big time goals in World Cup Qualifying*
Narrator: The history. The passion. Why this competition just means so much more- why we sacrifice it all to get that silverware.
*Banijan highlights from AOCAF LVIII start showing*
Narrator: The Greater Southwest is the center of the sporting world. Who will triumph in Equestria and Banija? Who will rise in Atlantian Oceania's Southwest? Whose theater of dreams will these countries be?
*Then a montage of celebrating fans at World Cup, from various countries and tournaments*
Narrator: The World Cup is here. Say your prayers. Calm your nerves. The World Cup is here- are you ready?
by Equestrian States » Mon Sep 09, 2019 9:12 pm
by Eura » Mon Sep 09, 2019 9:56 pm
by Banija » Mon Sep 09, 2019 10:15 pm
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