World Cup 86: Roleplay Thread

[Tioguldos]

DISCONTENT GROWS IN THE RED ARMY SQUAD

It's 11PM. Winter is already leaving in Tioguldós, but the cold is not going away. Even inside the bus, the Red Army players cannot ignore it. The heating is not enough. During the early morning they will arrive at Nasfelo International Airport. There they will board the plane that will take them to Eastfield Lodge for their next match. It is a journey of a few hours, but it is taking forever. Most cannot sleep. Could it be the cold, sneaking in through the windows and blowing in their faces? Could it be the nerves of their first high-level competition?

In silence, Ugós Oroso remembers their passage through the Baptism of Fire. These trips used to be joyous. The team sang, celebrated. They slept early, and in the morning they shared some mates. Coach Mebal used to seat at the back of the bus, making the occasional joke and telling anecdotes of the Revolution in the north. Yet now, something has changed. Jopar and Mongard, sitting in the front, listen to happy music; but through the cold of the night, it reaches the bottom like a distant melancholic melody.

Something bothers him. Oroso is usually the first to start the talks. It is he who usually gets up from his seat to dance and sing. Yet today, he can't take his eyes off the window, even though he's not looking at anything.

Something catches his gaze. In a house, hanging from a window, the red and yellow flag of Tioguldós. He sees it, and pictures the motherland. He looks down. In his jacket, on the side of the heart, sees those colors again. He looks harder. At least that's what he feels. There it is. What he was looking for. Or isn't it? He is not sure. He tries to think faster. The answers go away. He can't take it anymore. It's too much. The pressure. The nerves. The team. The fans.

"Ugós."

"Oh, Nese. Sorry." Nese catched him off guard. "What is it?"

"You don't look fine. Something happens?"

"It's just... I really don't know." He sighs and looks out the window again. "I've been thinking a lot lately. Don't you feel that something has changed?"

"Yeah... I guess." He takes the seat next to Oroso. "Is it because you left Tioguldós?"

"No! What!? No!"

"But-"

"Look, I'm really happy about this. It's a great step in my career and I'm also learning a lot. It's just ..." He pauses. "The plan was to improve myself. We are not achieving results. I'm not scoring."

"Come on, Ugós. It's just a rough patch. I bet Eastfield Lodge will be a piece of cake."

Oroso smiles. "Shut up."

"Now for real, we can win. It's not over for us. Cheer up, gemifa."

Gemifa. Interesting word. Depending on the context, it can be an insult or a friendly way of referring to someone. Sometimes it can take a little of both. Still, Oroso pretends it's just the latter.

Oroso turns and looks at him. "Have you seen the faces of the children after we lose a match?"

"Oh, come on! We cannot win everything! Besides, the kids are always happy to see us."

"Yeah, but I feel like we should be winning. We ought it to the people." He looks at the badge in his jacket again. "We can't simply lose against the weakest team and continue as if nothing had happened."

"Do you want Mebal to come down on us even more?"

"Maybe?"

"I-" Oroso interrupts him before he begins to speak.

"No. I don't mean that." He gestures for Nese to look him directly in the eye. "But we should be more concerned about it."

Nese looks at the floor. Then looks back and without saying anything he gets up, pats Oroso on the shoulder and goes back to his seat.

[Savojarna]

SavojarSports.sj - inside reports from all Savojarna
Narrow loss to Baker Park keeps Savojarna on track, but with a challenge

By Jaukka Halanen

World Cup 86 Qualification - Group 18
Calendar:
Week 1: Savojarna 5-2 West Angola / Savojarna 2-1 Busoga Islands
Week 2: Twicetagria 0-0 Savojarna / Savojarna 5-3 Orion Islands
Week 3: Baker Park 3-2 Savojarna / Savojarna vs. TOTEL
Week 4: Cheergirls vs. Savojarna / Savojarna vs. Mercedini
Week 5: Murphtannia vs. Savojarna / friendly match (TBD)
Week 6: West Angola vs. Savojarna / Busoga Islands vs. Savojarna
Week 7: Savojarna vs. Twicetagria / Orion Islands vs. Savojarna
Week 8: Savojarna vs. Baker Park / TOTEL vs. Savojarna
Week 9: Savojarna vs. Cheergirls / Mercedini vs. Savojarna
Week 10: Savojarna vs. Murphtannia
Standings: 1. Mercedini 12/+5. 2. Baker Park 12/+14. 3. Savojarna 10/+5.
4. Murphtannia 8/-1. 5. Cheergirls 7/-7. 6. Orion Islands 6/-3. 7. Busoga
Islands 5/-1. 8. Twicetagria 5/0. 9. TOTEL 3/-5. 10. West Angola 2/-7.

A valiant fight ended with nothing as Savojarna took a loss back from Belle Haven, Baker Park. The away match at the world’s number eight was always going to be an extremely tough challenge, and few had expected Savojarna to win the game; however, there were feint hopes after the convincing play against Busoga Islands and the first fifty minutes against the Orion Islands. The former had shown that Savojarna were a side that could deal with adversity, the latter showed that even the second string of this side can put on a show and thrusted some previously under-recognised players into the spotlight, such as double goalscorer Kaapo Terkala. Nevertheless, neither of these teams were Baker Park, a side cruising from victory to victory thus far and demolishing poor Cheergirls 7-0 in their opening week. The game was also played with something very close to what we’d expect to be Savojarna’s best XI and resembling the Copa squad from one and a half months ago, a rare occasion. The main points of contention were Kjaer over Forsberg and Jacobsen over Jotansson, as well as few faithfuls of Morten Poulsen; otherwise the game is played with a clear top squad for Savojarna.

The audience seemed to value the scenes as the stadium was nearly full, a great showing for a side that is from a different region and put only in fourth pot, although the name of Savojarna may still carry some more weight than other teams from pot 4. It looked like the Northlights were avid to return the favour of this trust by delivering on a spectacular game. They got for a great shot ten minutes in as Lundell forced Danielle Gaines to a narrow save in the top right corner, as well as a big chance for the hosts as Andersson played an overly ambitious pass right in the feet of Westmoreland, and only a quick reflex by Iiro Pakanen averted early disaster. The game was one of midfield control, with Baker Park’s line of standing high while the three front men pressured the common options of Zirkova, Kjaer and Andersson. On the Savojar side, Rangren instructed Maersk to move up off the ball and form a line of four with the offensive midfield, and pressure the back three with her wingers and the quick Simon Jacobsen. She admitted after the game that Jacobsen’s choice over Jotansson was primarily for this reason, and it paid off.

Twenty-five minutes into the game, a missed pass by Bartok was intercepted by Simon Jacobsen, who tried to look for a counter with Jashkin, who joined in on the attack. The ball quickly progressed, and nineteen metres in front of the goal, Kelly O’Connell had no way of stopping Jacobsen but to grab the Savojar’s shoulder. Taking the invitation, Jacobsen got the free kick and a yellow for tactical fouling, a seemingly worthy sacrifice as the alternative was to let Savojarna’s focal striker enter a 1v1 with Gaines. However, the sacrifice quickly didn’t seem so good anymore, as Krister Voynov lined the ball up perfectly and circled it around the wall to beat Gaines in her bottom left corner and put the Savojars in front. A surprising lead in Baker Park fell into their laps right as the Bees were starting to pick up steam, and the Savojars were trying to make the best of it.

However, Baker Park refused to be shook, and got a good chance quickly after as Pakanen fumbled a cross and forced Zirkova to clear the ball into a corner before the lurking Sabrina Patton. The following corner was close, but JC Bartok’s header went just over the bar, giving Savojarna a much needed breather. The high pressing and fight over midfield control seemed to be taking its toll, and just for a moment, Savojarna slipped as Jamari Bozeman showed his individual skill. He tricked Andersson into going for the tackle right as he was aiming for a long through ball, and with Kjaer giving Missy Tilton half a metre of a head start, it was too late. The striker cleanly beat Pakanen between the legs with a dry, flat shot that would level the game before the break. Some more light slip-ups came in the second half, the first one giving Andersson a yellow card as he was a tad late on Bozeman and had to stop him with illicit means; the second gave Baker Park the lead as Pedersen was caught out on an overlap and couldn’t stop Maria Fernandez from finding Patton at the second corner, and the striker converted the perfectly aimed cross with ease.

The game-swinging moment came a bit after an hour, when Savojarna were slowly moving up the pitch and transforming into a more offensive team. With attack came risk, and with risk came mistakes. A pass to Voynov was slightly too long, and Fernandez - once again - could launch the counter, this time ditching the duel with Pedersen for a long diagonal ball that caught Savojarna off guard. Kjaer was too slow to stop Tilton for a second time, and Zirkova’s last-minute intervention was just a little late, missing the ball by centimetres and hit the player instead, a clear accident, but still a yellow and a penalty for Baker Park. Bozeman, already a candidate to be the man of the match, stepped up for the hosts and beat Pakanen cleanly with a clinical shot to the bottom right, grazing the post a handwidth above ground, leaving no chance for Pakanen despite the Finn choosing the right corner.

Savojarna immediately reacted by bringing in Jotansson, and the man leaving for the second striker was holding midfielder Andersson, leaving Savojarna in a 4-4-2 for the time being. The new formation did let the Northlights have some more agency, as they were now more capable of playing together instead of having the sole striker be monitored closely by the Baker Park defence. However, Danielle Gaines was playing a superb game as the Savojars failed to beat the defences of the Commonwealth. Voynov’s attempt to curl a ball into the top far corner was stopped; Jotansson’s header after the following corner was saved. The pressure kept mounting and Savojarna tried their best, also bringing on Mellin for more power offensively, but his attempt was saved as well, making it look as if Baker Park had it in the bag.

Then, in the final minutes, it got tight again. Out of almost nowhere, the fast Markus Mellin found a gap to dash into and received a ball by Lundell. Mellin, with a lot of space ahead of himself, ran deep and crossed in to the tall, heavy Arvid Jotansson; the joker scored perfectly and gave hope back to the Savojars. Now operating with a back three to match Baker Park, and pushing up as much as possible, they tried desperately to close the gap to 3-2, but they could not quite make it. Otso Ilkkanen, the joker playing in Siovanija & Teusland, almost scored his first goal in the Northlights jersey as he took a shot from nineteen metres, but only hit the post, the ball bouncing out to O’Connell and cleared. Savojarna’s players were clearly struck as the referee whistled and the defeat was clear, but they have fought valiantly and have a chance to bounce back in three days against TOTEL. Placed in third, the match in six weeks at home against Mercedini will set the tone for the campaign and offer Savojarna the chance to finish the first stretch in the lead.

Baker Park 3-2 Savojarna (1-1)
BBP National Stadium, Belle Haven (CBP) - 71’903

GOALS: 27’ Voynov 0-1. 40’ Tilton 1-1 (Bozeman). 57’ Patton 2-1 (Fernandez). 66’ Bozeman 3-1 (penalty). 84’ Jotansson 3-2 (Mellin).
YELLOW CARDS: 25’ O’Connell, 53’ Andersson, 65’ Zirkova.
REMARKS: Andersson misses next match (second yellow card). 90’+1 Ilkkanen hits post.

SAVOJARNA: Pakanen - Pedersen, Kjaer (81’ Ilkkanen), Zirkova, Skov - Andersson (67’ Jotansson), Maersk - Voynov, Lundell, Jashkin (76’ Mellin) - Jacobsen.
BAKER PARK: Gaines - Bartok, N Underwood, O'Connell - Callum, Westmoreland, Taborn, Fernandez - Bozeman - Patton, Tilton.

Savojarna line-ups for Week 4
vs. Cheergirls (4-2-3-1): Larsen - Kiivälä, Kjaer, Forsberg, Nurkanen - Evaldsson, Gren - Rajala, Poulsen, Mellin - Terkala
Bench: Pakanen, Pedersen, Zirkova, Skov, Ilkkanen, Maersk, Voynov, Jashkin, Jotansson
vs. Mercedini (4-2-3-1): Pakanen - Pedersen, Forsberg, Zirkova, Skov - Ilkkanen, Maersk - Voynov, Lundell, Jashkin - Jotansson
Bench: Larsen, Kiivälä, Kjaer, Nurkanen, Evaldsson, Gren, Rajala, Mellin, Terkala

[Twicetagram and JYPe]

Home >> Sports >> International

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Twicetagrien Premier League: Is having an English name enough for them?
by Antonov Vasilyev

After our preview on the Twice Square teams, we are moving on to two teams, not from the same city. In fact, their only similarity is the fact that they both came from non-Russian backgrounds. Today, we’ll be looking at Imperial Alphaxrie and FKAL Timberland.

Imperial Alphaxrie

What's the narrative in 20 words?
An excellent season was completed with them winning the domestic double, as well as breaking records along their successful season.

How did last season go for them?
Last season saw them win both the domestic league and cup. They went on an unbeaten league streak for 28 games before they were held to a draw on the second last match day.

Got any interesting stats from last season?
Their goalkeeper, Han, holds the record for most Golden Boots, having won 6 of them.

Any transfer news?
No transfer updates have been confirmed yet.

Fun fact about the manager?
Daniel Rostov used to be a player manager.

Where will they hope to finish?
Their unblemished run in the league automatically puts them in contention to win the league, so why shouldn’t they?

Our Verdict: 1st

FKAL Timberland

What's the narrative in 20 words?
A season of ups and downs saw them drop places, so they will be looking to improve for this season.

How did last season go for them?
They had an average season, losing to all promoted teams as well has having their star player injured. Having made some major transfers, they’re hoping to go higher.

Got any interesting stats from last season?
Timberland is the only team in Premier League history to lose to all promoted teams during normal league.

Any transfer news?
They have made many changes to their leaky defence, without doing much to their rapidly aging attack.
In: Rominy, Jeanerov, Hassan, Luccinneyv
Out: none (as of June 202 P.Y.)

Fun fact about the manager?
Kope Losecsky is the only manager who has managed a team abroad, managing now annexed Fkutter TOP League’s Harvard Fc.

Where will they hope to finish?
After ending 11th last season, we think they should do better this season. We would be surprised if they were sucked into a relegation battle.

Our Verdict: 8th

[The Jovannic]

The Jovannic 2–1 Zeta Reka and Hugeltaldom: Jovannic Masterclass down Persistent ZRH.

Goals from Jovan Ilohil and Sami Ning defeated Zeta Reka and Hugeltaldom to earn our 4th victory. Gothal Mathee started with a defensive lineup, playing Sua Chow and Gavon Simoli instead of more attacking midfielders like Stockian Lelop and Jin Tze. This worked perfectly as the Zeta Reka and Hugeltaldom attack tired themselves out trying to penetrate the defence and our attack making good thrusts into their defence. Jovan Ilohil eventually scored, a cool pivot play ended with him rounding the keeper and taping in into the empty net. Just 5 minutes later, Sami Ning received the ball at the edge of the box, and promptly smashed the ball into the top right corner. Zeta Reka and Hugeltaldom managed to grab a lifeline but it was too late.

[Nephara]

Nephara 3 - 2 New Lusitania
(4-4-2 / 4-3-3) 1 - Mercator; 2 - Stride (18 - Rostock 86'), 5 - Thorn (c), 6 - Brosch, 3 - Muscadin; 7 - Kuepper (23 - Mrdja 76'), 4 - Shone, 21 - Moxham, 11 - Deventer; 9 - Bastable, 10 - Lovelace (8 - Cromwell 76')
Goals: Shone 18', Bastable 31', Deventer 84'

Sharktail 2 - 4 Nephara
(4-3-3) 1 - Mercator; 2 - Stride (18 - Rostock 70'), 22 - Lockheed, 6 - Brosch (vc), 3 - Muscadin; 8 - Cromwell, 4 - Shone, 21 - Moxham (7 - Kuepper 81'); 23 - Mrdja, 9 - Bastable (c, 14 - Tzorvas 81'), 11 - Deventer
Goals: Mrdja 35', Bastable 42', Cromwell 61', Tzorvas 87'

THE HERALD
ADDED MIDFIELDER PROVIDES ADDED DIMENSION IN PROMISING EARLY SIGN FOR FLEX SYSTEM
Anders Sonnett

With fifteen minutes to play against New Lusitania, the third-seeds of the group, Daniella Strauss needed something more. The Cormorants had started strongly, even boasting a rare goal from Tawny Shone as the Moths midfielder seized on a loose ball and rocketed it past Patrice with pure force.

But the Seleccao had fought their way back level, Paciencia coming off the bench to chest down and smash home Gama's cross before Veiga, where most would have laid off the responsibility, placed a shot past Mercator's near post under pressure from Thorn.

No time to blame the goalkeeper, though one would hope Mercator would blame herself. The Seleccao had sat back since going level, as only made sense, and so far the bodies in midfield and the heart of defence were proving overwhelming. So up stepped Traudl Mrdja, unlikely recent heroine of the nation, and Lothaire Cromwell, a rather more precedented figure... and off went Lovelace.

In need of a goal and you take off a striker? But tactics are rarely that simple. The Eagles Club crowd trusted, because it was Daniella Strauss, someone who is a World Cup trophy away from laying indisputable claim to being the greatest Nephara manager of all time. And they didn't have to wait long to be rewarded; Mrdja ferociously attacked the space behind wingback Horta, and given new space, Moxham managed to break free and find her. The Vermillion forward bore down on the defence but stabbed a diagonal ball to split them and play in Deventer at the far post.

The 4-3-3, then, an impromptu weapon? No - Strauss insists they'd been practicing it. "Now that we have a year to prepare for the World Cup, we need an answer for if we're stonewalled," she said, blandly. "We need a legitimate Plan B." So the match against Sharktail loomed as a perfect opportunity to try it from the start, and so it proved.

The Blue Predator [collective] had packed out their 75,000-capacity stadium and were determined to give the fans a show. They've risen quickly through the ranks of world football, and early on managed to give Nephara a taste of why. The stadium erupted when a clever one-two let Chandra break through the midfield and stab a cool finish past Mercator just eleven minutes in. For a while, the Cormorants looked disjoined.

It wouldn't last. By the half-hour mark, with Strauss instructing the team to just calm down a bit and tap it around for a while, the Cormorants had settled. A fine first-time finish from Mrdja rattled past Asra before Deventer set up Bastable for a stooping header to make it 2-1 on the edge of half-time, and while Lothaire Cromwell's goal from a deep-lying run was quickly cancelled out by the substitute Sumareh, Arista Tzorvas came off the bench for Nephara to seal it, making the most of an impressive cameo in an attacking midfield role by Kuepper.

Marica Kuepper, despite having been one of the sacrifices in the first game, makes this work - her ability to back Moxham up as a creative midfielder on the right of the centre (or even play alongside her) provides invaluable flexibility, and she is in turn covered on the right by Mrdja's ability as a winger, her natural position for her club. One wonders if this will affect other callups, as well - though Nepharan players are not exactly renowned for their flexibility.

It builds towards a sense that whether or not this is Our Year, this is The Year. It's hard to see Kuepper still being in the picture two years from now, given the options snapping at her heels and given she'll be 31 by then. Aranea Provost will need to kick on and seize the #1 jersey. Long-term world-class replacements will need to be sourced elsewhere, as well. This side has been together a long, long time... and Strauss will know how to squeeze every bit of blood from them, when the time comes.

We trust.

NEPHARAN NATIONAL TEAM SELECTION - FORTNIGHT 4
Goalkeepers: 1 - Hesterine Mercator (Ulsa, EUR), 12 - Alexandra Markgraf (Sabrefell Moths), 20 - Aranea Provost (Holdefnberg, EUR)
Defenders: 2 - Rovena Stride (AFC Treason), 3 - Vivica Muscadin (Sabrefell Moths), 5 - Roxelana Thorn (Revolutionaries, EUR, c), 6 - Ilyana Brosch (Brinemouth), 18 - Linde Rostock (Stahlburg City), 19 - Bremusa Strassman (Crisisbless), 22 - Gabriel Lockheed (AFC Treason)
Midfielders: 4 - Tawny Shone (Sabrefell Moths), 7 - Marica Kuepper (Jungle Strike, VIL), 8 - Lothaire Cromwell (AFC Treason), 11 - Morena Deventer (Brinemouth), 13 - Ysabet Belgrade (Sabrefell Moths), 15 - Mercurio Kastriot (Crisisbless), 16 - Rasmus Caracole (Coret Hawks), 21 - Chimera Moxham (Crawford City FC, COS)
Forwards: 9 - Kurtis Bastable (Ulsa, EUR), 10 - Konrad Lovelace (Revolutionaries, EUR), 14 - Arista Tzorvas (CA Paulinthal, PAS), 17 - Latona Basilisk (Coret Hawks), 23 - Traudl Mrdja (Vermillion Rage)

SCHEDULE
Nephara 4 - 1 Hwiccemark @ The Iron Hill (Vermillion)
Unimon 3 - 4 Nephara
Nephara 3 - 0 The Minarchist Free State @ Ludd's Hammer (Stahlburg)
Terre Septentrionale 0 - 5 Nephara
Nephara 3 - 2 New Lusitania @ Eagle's Club (Brinemouth)
Sharktail 2 - 4 Nephara
Nephara vs. Mavinet @ Farham Arena (Sabrefell)
Nephara vs. Havynwilde @ The Gauntlet (Treason)
Damukuni vs. Nephara
Hwiccemark vs. Nephara
Nephara vs. Unimon @ Phoenix Rise (Corvistone)
The Minarchist Free State vs. Nephara
Nephara vs. Terre Septentrionale @ Farham Arena (Sabrefell)
New Lusitania vs. Nephara
Nephara vs. Sharktail @ Eagle's Club (Brinemouth)
Mavinet vs. Nephara
Havynwilde vs. Nephara
Nephara vs. Damukuni @ The Gauntlet (Treason)

[Ziwana]

New Sindvpore FC owners outline dynasty vision.

By Chosadziwa Botolo, Chief Football Correspondent

ZCOMM Sport

6 May 2021 • 10:00AM

Sindvpore new designated chairman, Olivier Phiri.Photograph: Kavinga Haqawi/Natty Images

After months of negotiations with the Sindvpore Fan Consortium, the takeover of the club will be completed later today by Sheikh Upile Alahaji and his Sports Society United Group. Already through the designated chairman, Olivier Phiri a vision for Sindvpore FC to become the best football club in Indusse in the next 10 years has been drawn up. Former Ziwana national team manager has been linked with Sindvpore to be the key man to the vision of a golden era of sustained success.

Chairman Phiri talking to Zcomm sports has said:"Sports Society Group does not look only for glory for the club but glory for the community as well. Sports Society started with a local community that wanted to spread good health and keep the youth from anti-social behaviour. Today Sports Society is a billion dollar company but it has not strayed from its roots. The group will build a football academy in Sindvpore for both girls and boys, it will not only provide sports facilities for the youth teams but also education. Education will be provided not only for SIndvpore FC youth players but other youths in the community as well. By providing affordable education and sports facilities, Sports Society will be keeping the youth off the streets and building a glorious future not only for Sindvpore Football Club but the community as well. By focusing on youth, Sindvpore FC will build its own talent to be able to compete in the Liga Prime without relying on the unsustainable practice of buying expensive players from other clubs who usually never fit the clubs vision thus making a loss for a club. This is only the beginning more is to come in the near future.

News of the takeover has been while received this is compared to the initial response most Sindvpore FC fans had when the Sports Society Group first approached the fan consortium. Sindvpore is a great club in the Indusse Primiya Ligi, however due to mismanagement by previous owners, Sindvpore has struggled in the league and has gone into administration atleast twice in the last 18 months. When the Ziwani group approached the consortium they were very skeptical. They did not want a repeat of what had happened under the previous owners. Sports Society of course offered sustainable growth of the club by focusing on youth recruitment and growth. The Sports Society proposal was seen as plausible as Ziwana itself focuses more on youth development with most youth becoming stars by the age of 18. Some of this youngsters actually play in the Ziwana national team. With this in mind the consortium believed that the Ziwani group would indeed provide sustainable growth and success.

However, not all fans are pleased with the takeover especially by a foreign company who do not understand Indusse culture and customs. Furthermore rumours of a complete rebrand of Sindvpore FC has many several fans uneasy. Rebrands are a very sensitive topic, most times companies and football club owners mess up. When a rebrand is planned consultants are hired, often times these consultants have no connecion to the club, its history and culture. As such a corporate concept is made that disregards the clubs culture thus being a generic concept to attract a wide range of fans. This of course grows a clubs numbers but it ignores the local fans who have grown up with the clubs previous brand identity. Since Sports Society Group has roots in local communities, it is possible that they won't make such a mistake but include the fans in the process. The fans against the rebrand will have to accept the changes and forget the nolstagia of the previous brand identity. By Sports Society making a good rebrand the process of acceptance by Sindvpore FC fans will be made easier.

The journey of a new era begins for Sindvpore Football Club. For Ziwani and Indusse football fans interested in the journey and Liga Prime news and live matches please subscribe to Zcomm sports at http://www.zcommsports.com.

[Springmont]

South Winbridge Football Club win most award in NFA 2020 by Sport Desks Congratulations to the South Winbridge Football Club (South Winbridge FC) who won 9 major awards at the National Football Awards 2020. 4 awards for the club and 5 awards for the players prove South Winbridge always aims to be the best in all aspects. The four awards won by South Winbridge cover all the essential elements of modern football. Social Media, Websites, Supporters and Teams. This award is proof that if all the elements combine then the best title will be easier to achieve. The Best Website and Best Social Media Awards show South Winbridge always provides info to supporters. Constantly updated announcements and constantly updated websites make finding team information easy. As a result of the ease of obtaining information, supporters were born who were informed about the team. Thus, the result is a supporter who is united and supports the team either at home or in the opponent's place as well as winning the Best Supporters Award. The best supporters are the supporters who not only support the team but appear disciplined and free from any negative things. This victory will further raise the profile of South Winbridge supporters who will rock the IFCF stage next year. With the best announcements and team information coupled with the best supporters then there is the best football club. It is not easy to earn this award. All management hard work from inside and outside the field should be given credit by all parties. The best football club will definitely produce the best players. As a result, Max Bourguignon won three best player awards (Best Import Player, Talented Striker and League Most Valuable Player) and one each from Salton Kingbury and Mark Fjetland. This award is proof that if you want to be the best then you have to compete with the best of them as well. In South Winbridge, being the best and giving the best is already planted in the hearts of every player. _____END_____

[Cassadaigua]

Team still confident; Sweeney supports Curran,
By Chelsea Dufresne, Concord Heights Times

With two more games in the World Cup qualifiers being completed, and the Fillies picking up four points, it still seems as though the team is doing what they will need to do in order to qualify for World Cup 86. It has not been the complete smooth sailing that it was last time out, and there are several factors for that which have been touched on in prior articles. Against Electrum (pronounced, We-wrecked-’em), a nation tied in the overall rankings with the great nation of Cheergirls, the Fillies pulled out a 6-3 win. It is a scoreline that is great to see, but what was even better is how it happened. Yes, my friends, Madison McClain has finally dismissed the issue of the goose egg in the “goals scored” column for this qualifying campaign.

Let’s face it, Stephanie Sweeney was depending on McClain to step up and do really well, but that has not happened thus far. In the first two games, McClain’s inability to score was not a concern as no one is going to get on the case of a forward for not scoring in their first two games as a starter for the national team in qualifying. In the next two games, her hitting the goalpost three total times, and the general inability to finish became more of a concern. When the Fillies scored 102 goals in World Cup 85 qualifying, the goal scoring was very balanced. Through four games, too many of them were scored by Rachel Schanke or Meghan Wolcott, percentage wise. There is silver lining in that, because both Schanke and Wolcott are playing very well, but you know that the Fillies could be winning by more comfortable margins if the secondary scoring could pick up.

“That is why I am so confident that we’re going to be perfectly fine,” manager Sweeney said when addressing the issue of secondary scoring before the match against Electrum, “we have players who we know will score more. Madison McClain may be starting for the first time, but she has performed very well off the bench. Zack Pierce will get rolling, and even Preston Newfeld will do so. We have others who will chip in, so it is not always going to be about Schanke or Wolcott. However, if Schanke or Wolcott continue to play as they have done, and we start getting that secondary scoring from others, then we can take control of this group. You don’t have to go wire to wire.” McClain has been working hard with Schanke and Wolcott, but said before the match she talked to her old high school coach, Darcie King, who gave her an important piece of advice, “Darcie told me that she doesn’t see my level of confidence. That I am hesitating a split second too long to take the shot and that is leading to my inaccuracy. I then talked to the staff here about it and we went over some things to where it would be better. Steph (Sweeney) told me that could just be a case of nerves.”

It did not take McClain long to get her first shot on target as Preston Newfeld delivered a great long ball to Rachel Schanke who made a sweet, no look behind the back pass to McClain in the penalty area, which completely fooled 20-year old defender Elenora Sapper, allowing McClain to get a great chance. Madison made the most of it, finally scoring, and finally getting that group of monkeys that were on her back. You could see a sense of relief in the celebrations of the 6th minute goal from all of those that were surrounding her. For the rest of the first half here at Dagan Airways Stadium, the Fillies showed that level of swagger and dominance that we saw in the first half of qualifying, scoring three more times, getting a 4-0 lead into the intermission. Schanke scored in the 19th, with Courtney Graham getting a goal in the 28th, and then Meghan Wolcott in the 38th. Manager Sweeney certainly liked the fact that there were four different goal scorers up to this point.

Unfortunately for Cassadaigua, that did not carry over into the second half. Electrum is a great sporting nation, and the team seemed to underestimate the heart and intensity level of the World Cup 78 Champions. This was not just a newly found nation they had on the ropes, it was a former champion, and Electrum dominated the early moments of the second half, getting goals from some sort of Sentient Energy Ball in the 49th (the energy certainly came from that) and Nindethana Nindethana in the 56th. Cassadaigua seemed to get the message after the second goal that they needed to pick it up, and the shift in momentum began to happen at that point. Madison McClain’s second of the match, coming in the 70th, and then Schanke’s second just three minutes later, restored the four goal advantage and all was well again. That Energy Ball again came back to haunt us in the 84th, but by then the game was won.

For the important game against Main Nation Ministry, Sweeney made an interesting decision to give Kelsey Morgan the start. “Kelsey is going to starts, like I said at the start of the qualifying period and this will be one of them,” Sweeney told reporters who thought playing the (typically) attack minded (though a roster has not been provided telling us they will be that again) pot 2 team, should mean the regular starting keeper is in net. However, Morgan has been the starter of this team for the long time, and the 35-year old is still in great overall form, crediting her overall conditioning ever since she was in junior high school. Morgan did well against the attack of the forwards throughout the game. This was a tougher match, especially as the away team, so any kind of result would be okay here. McClain (is she getting hot now?) scored the Fillies lone goal, coming in the 55th minute, breaking a scoreless tie. Unfortunately, eight minutes later, Main Nation Ministry was awarded a penalty following a Brooke Sutter incidental handball, and capitalized on the chance. Cassadaigua will take the draw with three games to go before the midway point.

Since the game, manager Stephanie Sweeney has taken notice of the struggles of longtime Cassadaigua defender Jessica Curran and her first attempt at managing a senior squad in World Cup qualifying. Curran is the manager of Valladares, and they are having a tough time of it right now, being 0-3-3 through six games. It is not believed that the nation is seriously pondering the sacking of her just yet, but no one can be happy out there with such a slow start. “One of the best things about Jessica Curran is her ability to overcome adversity. She began on this team when we were not good and moving up to the ranks and knows how to turn losses and tough draws into wins. Her first few games as a junior coach were not great either, but she learns, and she has done that in the past. It is hard to recover from that kind of start, but believe in Jessica, and she will turn things around.” Former World Cup player Rachel Brenner also spoke out in support of Curran, “Jessica is better then this, and that will show soon.”

[Mercedini]

86th World Cup Qualification Match Review
MDs 3 and 4: vs. Cheergirls, @ West Angola
@ Zoloroni Sports City Stadium - Zoloroni, Mercedini

Good evening ladies and gentlemen and welcome back to the World Cup circuit and Mercedini Sports Daily's coverage of it. Mercedini are back in action in qualification and aim to state their case for why they should be included in the draw for the World Cup Group Stage. The Golden Eagles beat Baker Park and claim a massive scalp early on in their qualification calendar, but Savojarna can't be moved and join them in the fight for supremacy and a spot at the World Cup. Let's review Mercedini's fortunes since we last spoke, including all of the goals and all of the news en route to finding out whether Dini have qualified for their first World Cup in three editions.

World Cup Qualification: Light Through The Darkness

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FULL TIME

WCQ | MD5

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MERCEDINI 2
Talisky 25', Brindliev 71'
CHEERGIRLS 0

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Zoloroni, Mercedini
Attendance - 67,829

Slowly but surely Mercedini are grinding out results, even if they aren't convincing at the best of times. They managed to win both of there matches in the most recent round of games to be played, winning 2-0 at home to Cheergirls before heading to West Angola and edging out a tight game by two goals to one. The win sees the Golden Eagles go top of the group for the moment with five wins out of six following Savojarna's loss to Baker Park. The teams from Pot 1 and Pot 2 now sit top of the tree on 15 points, with Dini top by virtue of the head-to-head ruling, even if Baker Park's goal difference was a whopping ten goals bigger. Following the most recent round of games, Mercedini are in the final stretches of the first half of quals, but still have to play Busoga and Savojarna before the mid-quals break, so are not out of the woods yet. So far, Dini haven't set the group on fire, but they have done enough on individual occasions to grind out a result to put them in the position they do now.

Over to the action and it all kicked off in the Sports City Stadium as Cheergirls arrived in Zoloroni for their match against Mercedini. It took place in the mid-afternoon of the Zoloroni sun, meaning it was a less that full inside the stadium, with the sun blaring down on those who had managed to find the time and make it to the stadium. Once again it was the young guns who earned a run out, with fans sceptical that they could deliver given their catastrophic end to their match against the Orion Islands which saw them lose all three points in the space of six minutes. Their match against TOTEL at home was much more comfortable, with the young players in action having the support of their more experienced colleagues on the pitch in a hybrid of young and old. This was more of the same, with Talisky and Alva up front once again, but now supported by the first-choice midfield line and central defence. Elaani was also between the sticks, who had proven his worth during the dead rubbers of last cycle, plus the previous home tie against the aforementioned TOTEL. It was all gearing up to be a thrilling match, with both sides trying to amass as many points as they could to state their case for a top two spot.

Cheergirls, despite their low rank and high odds of qualification, had become the surprise package of the group so far with seven point from their opening four games to cement them firmly into the top half of the group. Dini have come undone against overachieving minnows in the past, so they had to deliver to keep their momentum going into their matches against Busoga and Savojarna, which could become group defining giving the teams' proximity in the world rankings and in the group at large. Billic looked pensive on the edge of the technical area as the kick off was signalled for the fifth match of qualification.

Dini always takes themselves seriously in tournaments like this, and are trying to get back to the World Cup following their recent cycles in which they were bested by teams in a lower pot. Cheergirls had the name and had the look, but they were a team that couldn't be taken for granted in this match, given the teams at the top, the lack of margin between them, and the fact that Cheergirls had already taken on teams above them and given them a fun for their money (apart from their 7-0 loss at home to Baker Park, their one dark spot so far). The opening ten minutes or so were defined by Mercedini dominating possession, but not having the territory nor the chances to make the Cheergirls sweat. The first chance did fall to Dini, with a opening for Alva resulting in an optimistic shot from the Mercedini, which didn't yield any real result as the ball sailed wide of the post.

Eventually, Mercedini's possession did tell as Talisky opened the scoring thanks to a delicious counter attack from the home side, which made use of the large pitch of the Sports City Stadium. It came from a Cheergirls from a free kick which hit the wall and was immediately moved forward to Garzallo who was sprinting forward over the half way line. It was a one-on-one at the time versus Garzallo's marker, but Talisky who initially made the block in the wall, was found by a through ball by Garzallo who sneaked it past his marker to put Talisky through. He only had the goalkeeper to beat, and the youngster lifted the ball over the sprawling goalkeeper for the opener on the 25-minute mark. A knee slide in the corner was the celebration for his first goal of the campaign, and that would settle some early nerves for the home fans, although they knew it was very similar to their match against the Orion Islands, and we all knew what happened then.

Dini were dominant in the first half at home, with Cheergirls never really getting a look in. The attack was young, but the defence was experianced and had a grip on the game, and that was telling. The Golden Eagles looked comfortable at the back and didn't really look at risk of conceding (bar the odd freak goal that can happen), but they could never convert a chance to make it safe for them to experiment. Talisky and Alva were being fed the ball in golden moments, but they squandered their chances time and time again, which meant their opponents were always in with a chance. By the time the half-time whistle blew, Dini had 73% possession, eight shots, but two on target and only one goal to show. No boos, but no cheers from the crowd, everything was still to play for.

Back out for the second half, the away allocation wasn't full, but it was pretty full given the scope and scale of the match between these two sides. The sun was still blaring down onto the stands, even with the roof, but the temperature was slowly dropping with evening approaching, which made the conditions in the stadium much more bearable for the players who had to exert themselves to further their chances of qualification.

The families, tourists and corporate partners in the stands weren't exactly the kind of people you would expect to make loud chants and hostile atmospheres a thing, meaning the Sports City Stadium contained a quiet chunter rather than any sort of support that the players would normally expect. The mid-afternoon time slot is probably something that would not want to be repeated by the MFA, given the lack of fans in the stadium and lack of TV viewers. Nonetheless, the players had to get a result regardless of who is behind them in the stadium, and for the moment they had that result in their hands.

The points were made safe midway through the second half from a corner, as Brindliev needed two bites at the cherry to bag his first of the campaign and Dini's second of the match. It involved Garzallo again as he whipped it in with pace from the far side. It was headed goalward initially by Brindliev who's strong header was met by an equally strong palm from Katie Golden, but it only bought it back out to Brindliev who took another stab and bundled the ball into the net to give Dini clear daylight in the match.

That was all she wrote from Dini in the match, they took their foot off the gas for the remaining twenty minutes as Billic subbed out some of the more crucial players to give the lesser-used ones a run out. It bought Cheergirls back into the game who went close on one occasion, Tara Milford's deflected shot forcing a save out of Elaani to preserve the goalkeeper's clean sheet. After all that though, it was the Golden Eagles who rode this one out and recorded a 2-0 in at home to the Cheergirls who took a hit but still had high hopes of a fruitful qualification cycle.

The flight the following day took Dini over to West Angola, who were mid-table opposition that Mercedini had played many times in the past, and seemed to be a good luck charm for the national side, holding a positive all-time record against the nation. This continued in West Angola, as the Golden Eagles came from a goal down to turn it all around in the second half to record a narrow 2-1 win in favour of the team in blue and black. Chillotov netted both in the final twenty minutes to turn around the opener from West Angola which came in the first minute of stoppage time, courtesy of Andrew Thomas with a low drive.

Their second consecutive 2-0-0 week means Dini are top of the group, but only just, as we head into the final series of games that these teams will have to play. Dini are level on points with Baker Park, and are only one point ahead of Savojarna, who they still have to play. It is beginning to look like a three-horse race for the two potential spots at the World Cup Group Stage from this group, and given the track records of all three of these sides, it's anyone's guess as to who will end up on top.

For Dini, the next two matches will be against Murphtannia at home before Dini make the trip Savojarna for a crucial match which will likely leave the winner firmly in the top two. That's all from us for now, we bid you a good night from the Sports City Stadium.

[Tikariot]

Alistair McIntosh: Good evening ladies and gentlemen, from a slightly different venue than usual. We have escaped our studio and are enjoying the beautiful late summer night of Alcassar. The next two games are behind us and it had not been the most promising duo we had to face, with Port Ember from pot 2 and Filindostan from pot 3, making them the clear favourites.

Duncan Haldane: The World Cup qualifiers are a tough competition in their own, because you get drawn some pretty heavy hitters, especially if you're in pot 7 like us. Now we had done surprisingly well in Mriin, only losing by one goal, so if we can replicate that kind of performance, minus the big mistake at the end, then we might have some chances to at least win another point in those two games.

Martin Seagrave: If you look at the last two games, there was so much more focus than in the first two, some of which likely has come from the line-up changes that coach Stuart Ekstrom had put in place and at least for the Port Ember game there were no further changes, even though I'm sure the coach would have liked to see Iain Aspinall back in the line-up, but he had to sit out this game outy as well with some light hamstring issues, so Ellis Wagstaff would get his second World Cup start after having scored the winning goal actually against South Newlandia.

Alistair McIntosh: Was it right to keep him in the line-up instead of Grimaud, who had scored against the Southern Palm Islands?

Anders Svedberg: It's a toss-up. They both are on a good run and he could have brought either of them on, he opted for Wagstaff, so that he could keep the same line-up again.

Duncan Haldane: So the wholesale changes he made especially in defence seem to have worked wonders, let's have a look at how Port Ember had done in the first games.

Before going into the qualifiers for World Cup 86, Port Ember was one of the favourites to at least get into the playoffs, if not more, having been drawn out of pot 2. On match day 1 it was a journey to South Newlandia that was on the menu and the Elephants managed to hold Port Ember to a goalless draw, which was not quite what the Port Emberians had in mind, but their fortunes would not get a whole lot better in their first home game against Natanians and Nosts, where they did score three goals, but also conceded the same amount, giving them a 0-2-0 start.

For game three they had to travel to the Southern Palm Islands and they fell 2-3, dropping them to the eighth position after three games and then to ninth after four, dropping another three points at home in a 0-1 loss to group leaders TJUN-ia.

Alistair McIntosh: So we were going to face an opponent coming into the Dhaencunor Arena on a downward spiral. Advantage for us to be able to strike someone who is already down or a danger for them being eager to bounce back?

Anders Svedberg: Going with how they have been playing, I am not exactly sure that they have the spirit to come back with a vengeance. Yes, all of their games have been very close decisions, but still the way they played is definintely not what you would expect from a second pot entry, so our chances for at least wresting one point away from them was fairly realistic.

Martin Seagrave: As mentioned before, Tikariot went into the game with the same line up that had beaten the Southern Palm Islands on match day 4, with Romain Chatelet in goal, a defense of Zion Grimes, James Coronello, Walter Thomas and Vincent Liniack, then our three-man midfield of Marvin Thorniley, Rory McNair and Ozan Welch and upfront trying to drum up some more goals Morris Nighthorse, Graydon Sheffield and, as mentioned before, Ellis Wagstaff. But things did not quite start out as hoped.

As to be expected the Snowy Owls are cautious at first, so not to run into an open knife in case Port Ember decides to actually show up for the game, and here they come. Middie 3 pushes the ball over to Middie 2. Back to Deffie 3, there is no space for their forwards to get away form their defenders. Middie 2 again, a lot of lateral passes right now. out to Middie 4, back to Deffie 4. Long pass forward! Middie 3 is free on the corner of the box, takes the ball on the bounce and IT'S IN! WHAT A GOAL!! He takes a chance to take it as a one-timer, as they would say in hockey, and Chatelet can just watch as it hits the back of the net!

Alistair McIntosh: Again an early goal conceded. Lapse of focus? Mistake in defense to have Middie 3 this free?

Duncan Haldane: Mh, this is a tough one. You see all the lateral passes before that, because they couldn't find an opening, but you also have to see that these guys are not 38th in the world for nothing, that is more than 200 places ahead of us, they have some excellent talent in their ranks and it just showed there. He just has this eye for the situation, and manages to sneak into that little pocket there, that is just individual class. But if you look at the shot, he just went for broke there. If he hits it right, it is a stunner of a goal, if he hits it wrong, it'll be a throw-in and in this case he just hit it exactly right.

Anders Svedberg: One thing that the team has shown, though, is spirit. And they didn't wait long to push forward.

Martin Seagrave: That they did, but also Port Ember did them the favour of falling back almost immediately. It almost felt as if they were so happy to be in the lead that they decided to basically stop playing forward, which is a very optimistic tactic when taking the lead after seven minutes.

Anders Svedberg: Good point. A side effect of that, though, was also that there was next to no space for our forwards to go anywhere. In the 25 minutes after the goal we had a possession percentage of 72, but zero shots on goal.

Patience is a virtue they say and right now the Snowy Owls are definitely very virtuous. Ever since the goal Port Ember opted for a 9-1-0 formation and the space in front of their goal is tighter than a duck's #$@. Welch has the ball, gives it to McNair. Pushes it over to Thorniley. He tries to give it a go, but there is no space for him to go. Now Nighthorse. Oh, he suddenly goes for a hook and run, took Deffie 1 by surprise there! Cuts inside, puts it through to Sheffield, back to the goal, he let's it deflect back and MCNAIR! Holy humping hornets, he comes a-running and you'd think he would need a gun licence for this shot!

Martin Seagrave: This seems to be becoming a specialty of Rory McNair, those brute force goals.

Anders Svedberg: Well, in a game like this with them playing like a turtle and going full retreat, filigree won't get you anywhere. Sure, Nighthorse had a flash of brilliance there when he switched gears on a dime here and managed to tear a hole into the defense, but that was just because they had shown a lot of patience at first and took them by surprise. Very nicely done by Sheffield, though, not even trying anything himself but seeing McNair coming in like a freight train.

Alistair McIntosh: Yeah, sometimes you just have to force your way through. Doesn't always work, but what did they really have to lose?

SH: Not much at that point. Now you would expect Port Ember opening up a bit after this, trying to score a second goal and actual record their first win of the campaign, but they didn't, which was a disappointment to me.

Martin Seagrave: Me as well. Just like in the first few matches they just seem complacent and definitely do not show the willingness to go the extra mile to succeed here. And that puts a team like us in a tight spot. Will a draw at the end be seen as winning a point or losing two giving how they have been playing. If you just go with the premise of number 38 versus number 243, which is going to be what the record books will say, then yes, we definitely will have won a point and that is what we in the end should focus on.

Alistair McIntosh: So we kind of already given away the ending of the game here, but it did stay 1-1 and I have to say that it was almost painful to watch at times. I am not exactly sure if Port Ember are even trying to qualify this year because they surely don't play like it, it's kind of sad.

DS: It is, isn't it? So with this point we remain fourth while Port Ember actually drops to last place as Se Vende Skooma managed to beat South Newlandia 1-0, which kind of puts things into perspective a bit. But looking ahead, Filindostan were next and looking at their campaign so far, it looks eerily similar to Port Ember's.

Anders Svedberg: Very much so. They started out with a 2-3 loss at home against TJUN-ia, followed by 6-3 win in Union Europae, so looked like they just had a glitch in the first game, finding their way in the second. Then on match day 3 a goalless draw against Mriin, which is respectable enough, but then a 0-1 loss in South Newlandia and a 0-2 at home against the Southern Palm Islands and here we are, Tikariot in fourth, Filindostan in eighth.

Alistair McIntosh: Yes, they seem a little bit livelier than Port Ember so far, but not by far. Two changes in the Tikariot lineup for this game, Giovanni Vacarese coming in for Ozan Welch and Adrian Grimaud replacing Ellis Wagstaff.

Martin Seagrave: Regular changes throughout a campaign, nothing to really read into.

Alistair McIntosh: So now to the game, Filindostan with a quite defensive formation to start things off with, 5-4-1, not very promising for an exciting game.

Anders Svedberg: Haha, no, but it is something to be expected from a team that lost two games in a row against lower seeded teams.

Martin Seagrave: We didn't.

Anders Svedberg: Well, we are not a normal team.

Duncan Haldane: Ooh, I can already see the headlines tomorrow...

Anders Svedberg: You know what I mean!

Duncan Haldane: Yes, but if you just try hard enough you can misunderstand anything.

Anders Svedberg: OK, where were we?

Martin Seagrave: Alcassar? Filindostan?

Anders Svedberg: Ah yes. So two teams meeting that are on completely opposite ends of the spectrum, one unbeaten for three games, the other one without a win in three games. And I just want to specifically mention our fans here, who really are like our twelfth player with their support.

The teams are coming out of the catacombs and look at the Tikariot fans here, it is like a wall of black over there, with some purple spots. It does look kind of impressive. Filindostan winning the coin toss and electing to kick off first, Rory McNair chosing to play away from the black wall first. And here we go players are taking their position just outside of the centre circle, actually in the formation they will be playing in. The arms go up and so do the collective arms of the fans in black. There is the drum and the clap. Gives me goosebumps every time seeing what, twenty thousand fans, all clad in black, doing the thunder clap in perfect sync.

Alistair McIntosh: What does this feel like when you are the opposing team?

Anders Svedberg: It IS impressive and seeing this black wall of fans, and by extension the team on the pitch, do this, can leave quite the impression, if it is the first time.

Alistair McIntosh: Can it make a difference for the game?

Anders Svedberg: It shouldn't, especially on the level of play we are seeing here, but throughout the game to have these fans and also the rest of the stadium go all out with their chants and all that, it can definitely make a difference as in extra motivation and energy for our team.

Alistair McIntosh: And they could use all the energy they could, beacuse as nice as it is out here right now, Alcassar in the late afternoon can get very hot and muggy and we got a lot of that tonight.

Anders Svedberg: It was and it is not a whole lot of fun to play in that.

35 minutes played and we're at something of a stalemate, one team can't get through to the other goal, the other one doesn't want to. Possession of 69 to 31%, shots 3-nil, shots on goal zero. To be honest, if it wasn't for the impressive performance by the Tikariot fans here, there'd be a distinct chance I'd be asleep by now and probably a couple of players as well, I'm actually not sure if everybody down there IS awake, especially our defense has not seen the ball in about 15 minutes.

Duncan Haldane: It was a horrible game for that, Tikariot trying to break down the bus that Filindostan had parked and chained down in front of their own goal and pretty much zero efforts by the guests to mount any kind of attack.

Alistair McIntosh: So at half time Coach Ekstrom tried to get something going, anything basically, but to the surprise of many he did not change anybody up front, but instead went for the midfield. Lloyd Cumbernauld for Giovanni Vacarese and Nicholas van Haar for Rory McNair.

Martin Seagrave: Well, this actually made sense. Usually in games like these you try to bring on a fresh forward, so that maybe he could convert the balls that would come into or towards the box, but in this game there was nothing to convert. So trying to bring on different, fresher players in midfield to actually get balls into the box, that was the aim here.

Alistair McIntosh: And up to a point it worked early on in the second half.

Finally a little bit more energy in the game, maybe also because the Snowy Owls are now playing towards their fans, maybe with Cumbernauld and van Haar trying to cause some more ruckus in the Filindostanian half. There is Cumbernauld getting the ball from Liniack, quick cross to Grimaud, takes the ball down with the chest. Looks like he is trying to play chicken with the Filindostan defender here and nutmeg! He pulls into the box, shoots! And only hits the sidenetting. Still not a shot on goal, but the most exciting moment in the game so far and we are 55 minutes into this snoozefest.

Alistair McIntosh: So what is a valid tactic in a game like this?

Martin Seagrave: To stay awake? No, seriously the only hope you can have is to try to wear them down, make them lose their focus. That's pretty much it.

Duncan Haldane: So Ekstrom took off Marvin Thorniley for Jenson McTierney, likely in his quest for the unpredictable pass that might tear the defense apart, which feels like a valid attempt to break through this.

Alistair McIntosh: So hypothetically speaking as a coach, would it be viewed as an acceptable achievement to have taken two points out of these two matches?

Duncan Haldane: That's hard to say. I guess in a way it could be viewed as that, but seeing the game, I would still view it as a disappointment.

Alistair McIntosh: Well, let's see if things were looking any better in the last half hour.

Bad news is that we are still are sitting at 0-0, but good news is that with Cumbernauld, van Haar and McTierney things have been looking up. And coming to think of it, Ekstrom has switched out the complete midfield. Anyways, Cumbernauld on the left side and the fans are waking up a bit again, almost as if they can sense something is about to happen here. High cross to McTierney, takes down the ball and fake out, past the defender, maybe this is it. Lays it back to Thomas, with the heal to van Haar, he shoots - curled right into the top corner! GOAL! Tikariot is in the lead! FINALLY!

Alistair McIntosh: It feels like it took forever but they did finally manage to find a way through and just like against Port Ember, it was brute force that brought some decisive action. Should we try this more often?

Martin Seagrave: Haha, it would seem like it, but it all depends on the opponent and if they are as destructive as Filindostan were today, it is a valid instrument.

Alistair McIntosh: So we will not subject you to any footage from the other 32 minutes, because despite a few almost-chances there was nothing really worth covering anymore, so instead let's have a look at the table and what lays ahead of us. Tikariot is still in fourth position, but even with Union Europae, just one behind TJUN-ia and four behind Mriin, so given that we had zero points after two games, this is an amazing turnaround with ten out of twelve possible points.

Martin Seagrave: The team has shown some tremendous spirit here not to just throw in the towel after the first two matches, but instead to come back with this devil-may-care attitude and showing everybody what they are made of. This tells a lot about the quality of character of the team. And looking at the next two matches, they will be very important before going into our first match against TJUN-ia, which some people already say could be the battle for the second position.

Alistair McIntosh: That would be a little presumptious, though, as there still are a lot of games to play.

Martin Seagrave: Oh absolutely, but that has never stopped the press and fans from spinning grand tales.

Anders Svedberg: Haha, that is true. So tomorrow we will be facing off with Se Vende Skooma, who are coming off one win and draw in the last two games, including a 1-0 over South Newlandia, and then we will move to Port Rhovanyon and our first meeting with Natanians and Nosts, so technically we will be playing the ninth and eighth, but we should not forget that Se Vende Skooma managed to draw 2-2 in Mriin, so nobody to be taken lightly.

Alistair McIntosh: Have we heard anything from the Tikariot camp concerning the projected starting eleven for the next game?

Duncan Haldane: Indeed we have and we will likely have two changes, Donald Jowlit will be getting his third cap and first start and Iain Aspinall is back, pushing Adrian Grimaud back onto the bench.

Alistair McIntosh: We just also received some related big news. The first two transfers of the off season have been confirmed! Two members of Juvencus' national team, who are currently in the World Cup qualification as well, are making their way into the Tikariot Premier League! 26-year old Júlien Cantù is coming from USC Toro and is joining the Bul Khungur Miners, a good passer with a great eye for his team mates are just what the Miners need in their quest to climb the table again and also stay on top again.

Martin Seagrave: Yes, it would be nice for them not to break down again like last season. And speaking of breaking down, the Baraldhur AFC, who had suffered the same fate, also were able to snag up a midfielder, Michelangelo Santini, 23 years old, comes from Internazionale Serone and is a speedy offense minded player that has a reputation for plenty of assists.

Anders Svedberg: Now this could be one of the most dangerous left sides in the TPL, Santini and Morris Nighthorse!

Duncan Haldane: Oh yes, if these two can feed off each other a lot of TPL defenses could be in a lot of trouble!

Alistair McIntosh: The official transfer window is going to open within the next few weeks and I am sure that it is going to be a busy one for the TPL.

Anders Svedberg: It definitely will be. The top teams are likely going to look into bringing in some international talent to supplement their own, while some players are probably going to go the other way test out the waters abroad to see, if they can further their career there.

Alistair McIntosh: But for now our focus should still be on the World Cup qualifiers and we will, of course, continue our coverage as in-depth as ever and if we get any other transfer news or rumours, we will also keep you up to date. Thank you, gentlemen, for your usual insight and for you folks at home, stay safe until we meet again!

[Alasdair I Frosticus]

OOC - permission to have some silly fun as a result of his last RP sought from Delaclava, and freely granted; but all the silliness is my fault alone.

IT'S....

THE WORLD CUP SHOW!

With Your World Cup Hall of Fame Hosts Basil and Theo

"Hi there! I'm Basil!"

"And I'm Theo! Welcome to this extraordinarily exciting football match between the Holy Empire and 'Delaclava'"

"Oh yes, and lots to talk about here, Theo - including why you're doing little finger quotation marks in the air around 'Delaclava'"

"Absolutely Basil... because in extraordinary circumstances the real Delaclav team has point-blank refused to travel to the Holy Empire"

"Because of this pesky MARG-20 probability virus. Which may be entirely harmless to mundies anyway; well, mostly harmless, anyway. Probably."

"In fairness to Delaclava, there's a lot we don't know about MARG-20 and it's impact on the behaviour of margaretites at this stage, Basil. But we do know that it's taken some very sensitive negotiations to allow this match to go ahead. Originally, the Delaclavs had hoped to allow alternate-reality versions of the national team starters to be employed for the match, but that ran into some problems..."

"Quite, Theo. HEFA did their best to help, but there was the problem that none of the alternate reality versions of Delaclava they could find had a similar ability to the primary multiverse version of the Delaclavs. They did find a very similar nation called Celadlava that offered some promise, but the Delaclavs declined to allow Celedlava to represent Delaclava after finding out that the Celadlavs were not fully humanoid and all had donkeys' heads."

"And very fetching they were too, Basil. Eventually a compromise was reached whereby HEFA offered to produce dream simulacra of the entire Delaclav national team; the Holy Empire have themselves fielded dream simulacra of members of their squad in past World Cups, so this is permitted under WCC rules. This did require direct access to the dreams of the Delaclav players and officials, but so long as the oneirologists involved promised not to go prying further, the DFA president Ted McQueen allowed this solution to go ahead."

"Though I think both manager Johannes Detmer and captain Keaton Durbridge expressed reservations."

"Regardless, we're here to watch the Holy Empire take on the Delaclav dream simulacra in what promises to be a very exciting football match, with both teams playing an attacking 3-5-2 formation. For any of you cute little mundies who might be watching - and thank you ever so much for watching the oldest and best commentary team in the World Cup - dream simulacra of individuals replicate the originals in every single way, guaranteeing..."

"Well, almost every single way, Theo."

"I'm sorry, Basil?"

"Well, creating the dream simulacra required accessing the dreams of the Delaclav players... and it seems that they all dreamed of an... enhancement; they all simultaneously dreamed of the same enhancement."

"What sort of enhancement?"

"Much bigger penises."

"I see. So this alternative squad may not have the heads of donkeys..."

"But they are hung like donkeys; yes, Theo."

"Well, Basil; let's just hope we were able to provide them with appropriately supportive undergarments. On with the match...."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

<1st minute>
"And in a quite improbable turn of events, Delaclava have scored directly from the kickoff with a speculative shot by 'Meyer' that caught Comneno off his line; it just sailed in from the centre circle. Basil."

"A lucky, lucky shot there, Theo, that surely sets some sort of record for the fastest goal ever scored in World Cup qualification. You have to think that MARG-20 is having some impact, what with the entire squad infected, and random unlikely events happening throughout the 90 minutes."

"It's something to do with MARG-20 disrupting the flow of margaretites around the infected, I believe."

"Well, I ain't not being no boffin, Theo, but it probably has something to do with quantum mechanics and a macroverse version of the uncertainty principle; or summat. I ain't not knowing much about no fancy science stuff."

"Sounds plausible, anyway, Basil; and as soon as the dream simulacra Delaclav players..."

"...and their implausibly huge pensises."

"And their implausibly huge penises stop celebrating, we can have our second kick-off within the opening 10 seconds of the match."


<34th minute>
"Which is why in some realities, abnormally sized male generative organs can become sentient, wreaking havoc when they try to strangle their host..."

"I have to stop you there, Basil, because Belmores is lining up to take a free kick following a foul by 'Cicak'; that looked accidental - improbable, even - as not-Cicak's boot came loose, tripping Ceraluso even though the two players were some 2 metres apart at the time."

"Not entirely sure that's a foul, I must say, Theo."

"Well, it's not the most improbable thing to happen so far, Basil, and no doubt we'll see more... Belmores takes a run up... And trips! He falls forward, inadvertently knocking the ball under the Delaclav simulacra with his head! And 'Ross' is wrong-footed by this unlikely turn of events, and has to watch the ball roll over the line... and the referee grants it! Belmores scores - quite improbably and wholly accidentally!"

"That was... quite unlikely. It's almost as if those disrupted margaretites are targeting this match, Theo."


<65th minute>
"...the one about the two nuns, the donkey, and the plate of spaghetti - though..."

"Sorry to interrupt, Basil, but after 20 minutes where nothing particularly unlikely has taken place, the Holy Empire have a corner kick. Belmores goes to take the corner. He swings it in. 'Ross' punches it clear. It falls to 'Nazaretian', who tries to... and OH DEAR. You have to feel for 'Nazaretian' there, who in trying to ferociously kick the ball clear, instead shanked it into his own net. A catastrophic and quite improbable own goal from the gritty young simulacra there."

"If that had been intentional, it would have made many a highlight reel, Theo."

"The curve on that ball, Basil; goodness, if he could work out how to do that on purpose, it would be the best trick shot in global football."

"Or he could have just been a bit unlucky, Theo. Still, at least that means Belmores won't score all of the goals this match..."

"Which on recent form might itself be mildly improbable, Basil."


<76th minute>
"Belmores takes the pass from Tzanicites. He jinks left; he jinks right... the not-Delaclav defenders seem to be strangely unbalanced here; it's almost as if..."

"...as if they've temporarily lost their balance due to their unfeasibly large penises, Theo."

"Oh yes... bad luck there certainly - though whether it's strictly speaking bad luck or merely the consequences of vanity..."

"Or both"

"Or both, Belmores still has the ball, he jinks again... he shoots... HE SCORES! The Holy Empire lead 3-1!"

"Let this be a lesson to young mammalian males everywhere, Theo, not to dream of having unfeasibly large penises. The consequences can be terrible."

"Absolutely, Basil. This third imperial goal saddens me, let me tell you. Saddens me."


<90th minute>
"And the final whistle blows. And in other news, due to wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey non-linear time stuff that's so difficult to explain to mundies, the Holy Empire have, in Ordinary Reality subjective time, simultaneously beaten Juvencus 4-2 away from home, with Belmores scoring all four goals in a series of mildly unlikely events that need not detain us here. But what about this match, Basil?"

"Well, nemesis so often follows hubris, Theo, and you have to think that the dream simulacra Delaclavs were actually in there with a shout until the unlikely sequence of events involving their unfeasibly large penises."

"Yes, be careful what you wish for is the message I think we'll take from this match, Basil. And with the Holy Empire still undefeated, I think we're all looking forward to whatever sequence of unlikely events might arise in the Audioslavia match..."

[The Orion Islands]

Orionites Deliver Against Busoga Islands, Tournament Already A Success According to SFA

The Eagles delivered a second win in World Cup qualification for the Orionite Republic, showing that the Orionite Soccer Football Association's investments in rebuilding the sport after nearly a century of decline have paid off. Bookmakers before the tournament put the Orionite team down as having a chance to only win one game in the qualification phase, most likely against historical doormat TOTEL, as expectations for Orionite participation were very low. A not insignificant amount of Deputies and Senators, from all four major parties, questioned the benefit to Orionite taxpayers. The SFA also received a very low rights fee for the 18 game schedule, and tickets for the first two home games had to be sold for as little as one dollar to get a full house. But then, the Eagles stunned Mercedini on their home soil, prompting interest in the team to soar. The first half against the Busoga Islands started like many other, slow for the home side. The Busoga attack was furious for 35 minutes, producing 15 shots on net, all but a high corner shot being saved by Clinton Maxwell. Maxwell's saves were widely seen as some of the best in Orionite soccer history, frequently leaving the OBC commentators speechless. Around the 36 minute mark, a Busogan attack ran into a brick wall, with Lloyd Barnes and Manuel Silva teaming up to perform an incredible steal. The Orionite attack was never able to get past midfield before the half, with the midfielders repeatedly making some questionable at best passes. What Acting Manager Caleb Rennell said at the half is unknown, but it lead to another magical second half. At the 55th minute mark, the Orionite attack came on to Busoga like a pack of dogs. Rudy Bowman found Damon Henderson, who then performed a masterful fake out and shot to equalize at one. 15 more minutes of furious attack was undertaken, with both Henderson and Steven Keller getting three shots each, but one could get the last inch of separation from the goalie. At the eighty minute mark, a beautiful clear by Maxwell found Luke Simpson, who found Nicolas Reese with an opportunity. The Orionite was successful in converting, giving the Eagles a 2-1 lead. After full time was declared, the crowd at Victoria Park stormed the field to celebrate Orion outperforming expectations. This second win in qualification guarantees nothing beyond that, as Orion could still finish tenth, but it shows that Orion won't go down without a fight.

[Northwest Kalactin]

As Kalactin Falls Into Anarchy, What Does This Mean for Sports?
Well, it is pretty clear at this point, everyone knows that there is no turning back now. Northwest Kalactin has fallen into anarchy, and they will not be turning back this point. Northwest Kalactin had their regular civil unrest problems multiply in the recent months which ended up causing the nations to fall into anarchy. The nation had their many sports leagues play games behind closed doors during the worst part of the protests, so it appears that they will be able to keep going as usual. Sports currently look to still be going strong, but let’s see what they may look like after he full change takes place in Gold Coast.

1. More Money
Now, with more capitalism and less financial restrictions being imposed on the teams and the owners, they will be able to throw more money around than before. This will lead to players being paid more money, and probably better resources the teams. We will likely start to see more international players being signed into the Kalactanian leagues because of this also, leading to higher quality teams and players across the board in all of the leagues. It will also give the teams much better training facilities, which can lead to overall better youth teams and players than before.

2. Schools that Dominate High School and College
Without state-funded schools anymore, the already good private schools will be able to absolutely dominate sporting spectrum. Schools like St. Mikes at the high school level will be one of the clear best schools for sports in Gold Coast. This could also lead to schools like Akers State and Northwest Ballina State turning into privately owned schools, which may be very interesting to watch in the long run. It may also mean that many players who are unable to afford the costs of private school may have to jump directly into a Pro Academy when they turn 14-15 years old, so their families are able to support theirselves.

3. Higher Youth Skill
With presumably less schooling for kids to go to now, many youth players will have more time to fit in extra training, overall boosting their chances of making to the higher levels, and making them better players. The small group of youth willing to get up and train all day rather than sit scrolling through Twii.tur all day will benefit, as they will have more time to expand their horizons. It may also allow for a larger amount of private boarding sports schools for youth to get better. Overall, it will make this next generation one of the best ones ever produced by the nation.

4. More Teams in Leagues
With more owners willing to Buy teams, we may soon run out of teams for them to but! This will probably lead to large number of expansion teams in the non pro-rel leagues. It could also help the onset of new sports like Hockey and Cricket, which may start to have growing teams soon. With more teams it will mean more cities will get a shot at getting on the Kalactanian sports map, which could help some cities grow their sporting youth soon.

[Riennic Isles]

The Riena Sentinel

---

Hinodejin Empire 1-2 Riena
Shock win over top seeds breathes new life into Riena's qualifying campaign

---

• Hinodejin Empire: Matsumono-Gide (2')
• Riena: Igarashi (37'), Haneda (90+3')

When Riena strode out onto the pitch of the Tentai National Stadium, the deafening cheers of a capacity crowd ringing in their ears, even the most optimistic of Riena fans would have been hard pressed to see their team going home with anything but a comprehensive defeat and zero points to show for their efforts. Yet, through a combination of hard work, good luck, and a singular bloody-mindedness that has so often been lacking during these qualifiers, Riena emerged from the maw of the beast bloodied and bruised, but with a 2-1 win and three invaluable points that has injected fresh optimism and direction into a previously ailing campaign.

Going into the match against top seeds the Hinodejin Empire, few men would have been brave enough bet on Riena managing to eke out a point, let alone three. That sentiment seemed to be shared by Riena manager Kanata Shiranami, who attempted to downplay expectations ahead of the encounter. "When you look at the talent the Hinodejin Empire have in their ranks, the form and momentum they are building, and the historical strength of a team which has been perennial qualifiers for the World Cup proper - it's fair to say that we will be massive underdogs against one of the powerhouses of multiversal football. I expect us to play to the best of our ability, and hopefully we'll be able to give the fans something to cheer about at the end of the ninety minutes."

The form book was certainly in agreement with Shiranami's downbeat assessment. In the first few matches of this qualifying campaign, Riena had at times played without confidence or conviction, and they had been made to count the cost of painful setbacks against Springmont and Ziwana. The Hinodejin Empire's performance, meanwhile, was in stark contrast to the would-be pretenders - they had laid down an early marker for the rest of Group 12 by stringing together an ominous run of four straight victories, en route to topping the table with a four-point gap ahead of second-placed Trolleborg.

As the first whistle was blown under overcast skies, it was not difficult to take the inclement weather as a sign of things to come for the underdogs - and so it proved. The crowd had barely made themselves comfortable in their seats when the deadlock was broken in emphatic fashion with ninety seconds on the clock. Dominating the ball right from the off, the Hinodejin quickly shuttled the ball to Mackenzie de la Torre down the left flank. The left-back caught Minami Kagura unaware with his pace, burning into the final third and swinging in a floated cross into the area. Mana Amemiya thought she had removed the danger with a headed clearance, but she had not reckoned for a moment of inspiration from Choji Matsumono-Gide, who popped up on the edge of the area ahead of his marker to spank a scorching first-time volley beyond a helpless Miho Minato.

The early goal completely knocked the wind out of Riena's sails. Shiranami had laid her stall out with a relatively defensive-minded, counter-attacking 3-4-3, but the Riena defence looked all at sea for the first quarter of an hour. It was no exaggeration to say that the Wavelets could easily have been down by a boatload of goals but for the rub of the green. Yui Narita, an unconvincing defender at the best of times, came perilously close to conceding a penalty with a trip on the Hinodejin captain Iori Saitou; on her right, the inexperienced Hinata Yukihana slipped with the ball at her feet to let Ayane Hayabusa in - only the base of the post prevented the Perce Town winger from doubling her team's tally on the night. For her part, Minato had to be alert as the Hinodejin peppered her goal with alarming regularity, and she was forced into a number of excellent saves to deny the likes of Saitou and Tokei.

Rattled at the sight of her defence being dismantled with such impunity by the well-oiled Hinodejin attack, Shiranami acted quickly to move wingbacks Kaede Igarashi and Minami Kagura deeper, calculating that a deep back five would deprive the Hinodejin attackers of space and restore some semblance of defensive solidity to her team. The Hinodejin chances dried up, but at the same time, the tactical change meant that Riena were deprived of two of their most effective attacking outlets. That allowed the Hinodejin license to dominate the ball in the middle of the park, with the Riennese midfield left chasing shadows as they were kept comfortably at arm's length.

With just under ten minutes of the first half to play, the game had begun to settle into a routine pattern. The Hinodejin Empire were content to keep hold of the ball and their lead, and Riena were happy to see out the rest of the half without conceding, before regrouping for the start of the second half - but Kaede Igarashi had other ideas. Standing over a free-kick conceded by Hiro Sarutobi-Zeegelaar thirty yards from goal, the Riena vice-captain stepped up to do what she does so well, hitting a swerving strike beyond the outside of the defensive wall and into the back of Rina Lazareva's net.

The equaliser gave the Wavelets an injection of confidence, and they were able to play their way back into the game by degrees until they were going toe-to-toe with their more illustrious opponents. The Riena midfield pairing of Hijiri Sakuranami and Meru Matsukai grew in influence as the game went on, keeping their Hinodejin counterparts on their toes with their unrelenting pressing. Nowhere was this more evident than when Sakuranami hounded Marietta Tesla into losing the ball deep within her own half. But for all that Sakuranami offers the team, a deadly finisher she is not - and so it proved as she ballooned her effort straight into the Hinodejin fans behind Lazareva's goal. Yet the Hinodejin would not be cowed by Riena's resurgence. Hayabusa and Hayabausa threatened whenever they burst down the flanks with the ball, and Saitou was the focal point for the Hinodejin attack, keeping the Riena defence honest with his rare blend of technique and physicality.

With the score finely poised at 1-1, the game morphed into a thrilling, end-to-end affair which could have gone either way. The pendulum swung with a dizzying frequency - one moment, Kanzaki would be attacking a drilled cross deep inside the Hinodejin penalty area; the next, Tokei could be found hitting the outside of Minato's post with a long-range rocket that left the frame of the goal shaking. But for all the attacking play and flurries of chances on show, neither team could quite manage to find the killer touch that would put the game to bed.

As the minutes ticked away, both managers showed their hands with their substitutions. As the Empire looked to snatch a late winner, their very own Empress Satomi III opted to call on the cavalry in the hope that they would provide fresh impetus in attack. In contrast, Riena's changes reflected Shiranami's desire to see out the game with a share of the spoils. Defensive-minded midfielders Mishiro Kawakaze and Sara Kirimiya were summoned from the bench to add a measure of steel and control in midfield, while Towa Amatsuka ploughed a lone furrow up front, fighting gamely to hold the ball up in the face of relentless Hinodejin pressure.

Just as the game looked like it was heading towards a draw, the effervescent Cocoa Haneda decided the time was ripe to take matters into her own hands. Collecting a booming cross-field pass from Narita with an exquisite piece of chest control, Haneda evaded Matsumono-Gide's weak attempt at a tackle and steamed into the area at pace, where she showed the presence of mind to draw Lazareva from her line before calmly chipping the ball over the prone goalkeeper and into the back of the net, sparking wild celebrations on the Riena bench.

After the disappointments of previous matchdays, this was a statement victory that underlines just how much potential this youthful Riena cohort has. And yet, for all their promise, this is still a team that can flatter to deceive just when the pressure is highest and the expectations heaviest. It falls on Shiranami to ally the burgeoning talent at her disposal with the steel and grittiness that characterises the best teams in the multiverse. This is not to take anything away from a top-notch performance on the day. The greatest teams are forged in the hottest of flames; and today, in the high-pressure crucible of the Tentai National Stadium, we may have witnessed this Riena team take their first step towards greatness in their own right.

Hinodejin Empire (4-2-3-1): Lazareva; de la Torre, Geun, Fujiwara, Matsumono-Gide; Sarutobi-Zeegelaar, Tesla; Hayabusa, Tokei, Hayabausa; Saitou
Substitutes: Sitrembel, Imabayama, Marufuji, Nanamikawa (67'), Taishizuno, Komatsu (81'), van de Kraan (67')

Riena (3-4-3): Minato; Amemiya, Narita, Yukihana; Igarashi, Sakuranami, Matsukai, Kagura; Haneda, Kanzaki, Steiner
Substitutes: Kugimiya, Uruha, Ishibashi, Kawakaze (75'), Kirimiya (84'), Amatsuka (81'), Ayanami

[Kohnhead]

The Brains are in serious trouble after a loss to the Sultanate of Oontaz



The Sultanate of Oontaz had stunned the World as the 257th ranked team by beating 23rd ranked Kelssek 1-0 in their 4th match to put them into second of the table right after Equestria, tied with them on 8 points. Yet lightning couldn't strike twice, they weren't supposed to then knock off 74th ranked Kohnhead 1-0 as well. The World just doesn't work that way, except for that's exactly what happened as we were upset by the same score in a disappointing loss to a team we had expected to easily defeat.

I give full props to the Sultanate of Oontaz, taking down us and Kelssek and putting yourself in 3rd of the table one point back from 15th ranked Equestria is a task that cannot be done by accident, this team is for real. However as incorrect as their ranking may be, this is a match we have to win if we want any chance of even competing to qualify.

Coming off of our 3-0 loss to Equestria we looked hungry to take out our anger on an overachieving Sultanate of Oontaz squad was how the match looked for the first 35 minutes. It's a shame we couldn't finish two really close chances and had 71% possession after half an hour. The first of these chances was a Audrey Henderson 1 on 1 with the keeper in which she took one too many dribbles which allowed the 40 year old Septimio Barranquillano to dive on it before she could finish.

Despite this failure of a finish we continued to dominate the match and reached our second extremely close chance. Nicholas Radison played it down the line to Charles Laker who had lots of space on the right side. Laker made a move around Marco Portencio and launched a cross into the box where Erin Maltos jumped and volleyed it wither her leg sending it right at the goal except it clanged off the crossbar and went back into the air. Aaron Korkson won the jump for the header but his was extremely weak and Barranquillano easily caught it to end the chance.

From here on the tide of the match seemed to completely change as we stopped dominating possession and we didn't have unlimited amounts of space on our attacks like we had before. Something seemed to change in the Sultanate of Oontaz players and something seemed to change in the Kohnhead players. We seemed to lose skill and the ability to attack while they seemed to gain it.

They scored the winner in the 56th minute as Seif Daher played it forward to Mubarak Zidane who finished it scoring past Bertha Sanders. We got one more good chance but Ida Cogginter's header was too strong and went over the bar. You could just see the frustration on everyone's faces as the final 15 minutes came and left as we slumped to this horrid defeat.

In our next match which was not the focus of this article we defeated unranked Bostopia, 4-2 in what was a must win game. Erin Maltos had a brace, Linus Rallyton, and Ida Cogginter were the other scorers with Radison, Rallyton, and Laker picking up assists.

Group 13                             Pld    W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts 
 1 Kelssek                                6    4   1   1    15    7   +8    13
 2 Equestria                              6    3   3   0    13    4   +9    12
 3 Sultanate of Oontaz                    6    3   3   0     7    4   +3    12
 4 Geektopia                              6    2   3   1    19   17   +2     9
 5 Oberour Ar Moro                        6    2   2   2    13   11   +2     8
 6 Kohnhead                               6    2   2   2     9   10   −1     8
 7 Indusse                                6    0   4   2     8   11   −3     4
 8 Libonesia                              6    0   4   2     5    9   −4     4
 9 Woryand                                6    1   1   4    10   19   −9     4
10 Bostopia                               6    0   3   3    14   21   −7     3

The win kept us in 6th place, only a point behind 4th but 4 behind the Sultanate of Oontaz who sit in 3rd. In our next match we travel to take on 7th placed and 129th ranked Indusse in what has turned into another must win match if we want to stay competitive in these qualifiers. The lineup will be the same for that match.

[Starblaydia]

Two home matches in a row greeted Starblaydia on Matchdays five and six, the only time in these Qualifiers when they had this scheduled, compared with two upcoming double-Away trips thanks to the quirks of the round robin format. Preparing for two matches at Jhanna's Stadii Di Bradini meant that the freshly-opened Oberyn Park, Starblaydia's new national elite performance centre for football, was getting its first real high-intensity usage.

The senior national team was going through their training drills, preparing for old enemies Krytenia and new challengers in the mustachioed and bespectacled Rangers FC side. The Under-21 side, too, just a year out from the 49th Di Bradini Cup, were being put through their paces in what had quickly become the most highly prized facility in world football. Some of the Under-18 side had graduated through to the Under-21s, while yet more youngsters were coming through and joining up with the youngest of the competitive youth teams themselves. Cross-pollination from the three age groups was officially frowned upon, with Under-18s not able to access the Under-21 areas, and those same Under-21s barred from entering the grounds held by the senior side, that was already becoming hallowed turf. In reality, however, several players under 21 were in the senior team, so the likes of April Hoyt and Omar Al Qubaisi were able to jump between two worlds, while the 18 year olds Lucian Damocles and Ruby Narvaez could be found pretty much anywhere on the training complex.

Anywhere except the executive management offices, that is, specifically the Administrator's office, which had decor to an extent that would turn many a CEO green with the purest form of envy. As overseer of the latest top-level performance centre for football in the multiverse, Valrauncion hadn't actually done anything yet. Sure, he'd made the first official mark at the site with a commemorative shovel, cut the ribbon on the opening and taken the clicks of the cameras, but in terms of administrating, in terms of leading and in terms of, you know, actually doing the slightest bit of anything whatsoever, he was all out.

What he did actually manage to achieve on the average day, however, was read the paper. The Cy'Un, specifically, for which he'd gotten a taste for the journalistic style of when living back in Krytenia. Rami Niblick was always his favourite writer, though he wondered quite what possessed three entire generations of the Niblick family to name their sons Ramses, and also why he'd never been able to find anyone else called that in the lands west of the Bekk. Still, RN3 writing about the goings on in the upcoming Bekkside derby would surely be worth reading for its analysis of Group 16. Starblaydia had moved into first position in the group, not exactly firmly, but top of the group was still top of the group. The closest challengers on paper, Darmen, had been dispatched in an eight goal thriller, and even early group leaders Mattijana had slipped behind thanks to defeat at The Jovannic.

Starblaydia's only blip in their four matches to this point had been, incredibly, the 6-6 draw in Zeta Reka and Hugeltaldom, a match that had smashed the team's all-time record for highest-scoring game. Realising that Starblaydia had been involved in the joint-highest scoring draw in the history of the World Cup, too, was a fairly neat footnote, with the scoreline only ever occurring four times in the previous 85 cycles. It had completely demolished any attempt at the statistics showing the usual hardy, defensive fortress-dwellers at this stage that the pundits usually looked for, but so far every other game had been won by a clean two goal margin.

But Rami wasn't writing about the group shakedown, he was writing about one of the oldest active rivalries in the history of the World Cup. Valrauncion himself had scored in one of those matches a century or more ago, fittingly in a 1-1 draw in the Finals of World Cup 49. It had been the beginning of the end for Starblaydia at that point, the five-times champions stuttering through eight further games without a win against their Cyan foes in a run of ten matches between World Cup 47 and World Cup 56. After that, everything had just faded away until a revival in World Cup 65. Since then, Krytenia had only won a single game in six meetings, and that was on penalties. Penalty wins always counted as draws in the record books anyway, Valrauncion was pretty sure, so the momentum was very much in Starblaydia's favour.

The article practically wrote itself at that point, Valrauncion was sure, so he read beyond the byline to prove himself correct.

...Valrauncion in Starblaydia is just another footballer, knowledgeable enough to steer the youngsters, but with his ego firmly checked in at the door for the sake of the white and purple. Valrauncion in Krytenia, meanwhile, was a player revered as a God-Emperor before his unchecked ego exploded in the face of the KFA...

Despite having both feet firmly planted on his desk, Valrauncion nearly fell off his chair. He read and re-read the paragraph, before reading the rest of the article, going back to the part mentioning him only three or seven more times before he'd finished the full piece. Eyes lingering over the page, unable to tear themselves away, he pressed his intercom button that gave him a direct line to his PA, who sat just outside the office, but some thirty yards away.

"Rania," he said before she'd acknowledge him, "I want you to do one of those internet-computer find, um, explore things, to get results of stuff."

"A search, boss?"

"That's what I said."

"If I may ask," Rania was forced to wonder aloud after a few moments, "what you'd like me to search for, sir?"

Two words came through the speaker, through gritted teeth and a solidly rocked self-image: "Valrauncion. Ego."

Rania knew much better than to explain to her boss that the search had returned more than 5.5 million results in 1.21 seconds.

[Pluvia and the Saxean Isles]

Royal Marienburg University Department of History, Marienburg, Pluvia and the Saxean Isles

Prof. Charles Cunningham, assistant professor in the history department at Royal Marienburg University, shivered with excitement. A small book had been found in the attic of an old, private house in Marienburg while someone was doing some cleaning up for an estate sale. The contents of this book appeared to be a diary, and one written in an old hand, dating from more than a century ago at least. This most unlikely occurrence almost certainly happened by chance, but he could only see the hand of Providence at work. The person who found it happened to be a bit of an amateur historian and had brought it to the university instead of selling it because they thought it had belonged to a member of the royal family. He was only an assistant professor, but he was an expert in Pluvian royal and 19th century history, so it had fallen to him. Old Rufus Strongmire was the department chair, but he was a mediaevalist and the person had felt it best to go to Cunningham. If he had known what was in it, Strongmire would have given his right arm to possess the book. Based on a careful examination of the book, its binding and pages, the handwriting, and the contents, Cunningham had concluded that the diary belonged to none other than King William Henrik II. Known by such sobriquets as The Liberal King and The Founder of Modern Pluvia, William II was a singular figure in Pluvian history and the focus of much of Cunningham's research. This was an extraordinary find and one that promised to change Pluvian understandings of their history and of William II.

William II was the only son of King Alfred III. Alfred was king during the mid-19th century, and was the last of the absolute monarchs before accepting a constitution under increased public and elite pressure in 1860. The new constitution guaranteed freedom of religion (a major concern for non-Catholics in the country) and freedom of association and the press, as well as an elected legislature. However, Alfred retained executive authority, and there were still measures he and the legislature took to stifle criticism and limit the influence of the nascent socialist and social-democratic movement. Alfred was a nationalist through and through, and a staunch Roman Catholic, and viewed his role as protecting the nation and protecting the Catholic faith. His allies were among the landed aristocracy and the religious establishment of the country. His son would evince more liberal tendencies.

The book was written in the Latin alphabet, that was easy enough, but William II appears to have written much of it in a mixture of three languages: modern Pluvian of the 19th century, orthographically and linguistically proper. Then the same, but peppered with slang typical of the "Young Gallants", a group of middle and upper-class young liberals, most of whom served in the army, and with numerous mixed-up words or military ciphers. Finally, some of it was written in Saxean, and a Saxean argot typical of the fishermen and dockworkers of Claesey during the 19th century. Some of it seemed to correspond to different periods of his life, while in others, it seemed aimed at deceiving any people that might be snooping through the diary. It had taken a while, but Cunningham had figured out much of the early parts of the diary.

Roughly translated, here was the first entry:

February 11, 1883

I write this diary that I may have a place to organise my thoughts, for my head is full of them! I am eighteen to-day, officially a man according to the law, though my father insists I will not be a man until I have taken up my military command. The traditional posting for the Crown Prince is the 1st Royal Lancers. Although I maintain that the military is not the panacea my father seems to think it is, I am excited to join the Lancers. Many of the sons of the first families of our nation, and thus my friends and companions, are to be posted to that regiment as well.

I am also about to matriculate at the Royal Marienburg University, along with many of my fellows. I have not given a thought to what I will read yet, but it is traditional for members of the royal family to read law, classical literature, and moral philosophy. However, since our nation is now a constitutional one, I am considering the study of political philosophy. My friends (and my father) know I have no desire for the crown yet, but only God in heaven knows the course of a man's life, and a man must be prepared when the hand of Providence thrusts a mighty task upon him.

I must end here today. Father and especially Mother have been preparing furiously for my eighteenth birthday and soon there shall be innumerable preparations I must undertake, countless ceremonies and notables' hands to shake, and no rest until the dinner, dancing, and no doubt, carousing with my fellows are well and truly through. What hardships one endures as a man of high station.

[Valladares]

THE METROPOLIS HERALD
Metropolis, Tuesday, September 8^th, 2020

HOME | IN THE CAPITAL | DOMESTIC | RUSHMORE | INTERNATIONAL | ECONOMICS | SPORT | WORLD CUP 86 | TODAY'S LIFE

WORLD CUP 86 | VFA deny rumors on possible dismissal of manager Curran

METROPOLIS (VAP) — Despite the poor start to the current World Cup qualifiers of the Valladar national football team, which has seen La Nacional go winless in six games, drawing three and losing the remaining three, as well as raising doubts over the continuity of Dagan manager Jessica Curran as national team coach, the Valladar Football Association has confirmed through a press release that there is no intention to carry out a coup of rudder in the managerial position of the national team, and that manager Curran will continue at the helm until at least, the end of the current World Cup cycle.

In the statement, posted this morning on the Valladar Football Association's website, the VFA pondered Curran's positive attributes as well as her resilience and her ability to learn, while also stating that the project they wished to carry on with the Dagan gaffer was a long-term one and reminding the fans of the third place achieved at the most recent Copa Rushmori in what was the maiden event for Curran at the helm.

"When the VFA and Jessica came to an agreement for her arrival to the Valladar national football team, we did it convinced that this would be a long-term project and without the pressure to obtain results early. Jessica is a young manager with great potential who is taking her first steps in a restless and thankless environment such as the managerial direction of a national team and has arrived to Valladares with the experience of a former player as well as interesting ideas she would like to implement in order to improve the performance of the national team. Because she is young, she can still learn from her mistakes, and she has also shown in the past an ability to overcome adversity. We are still trusting that those traits will appear sooner than later and we are hereby giving her our endorsement still in the hopes that that this situation will be eventually reversed and better things will be coming at a later time. The third place at the 35th Copa Rushmori should not be forgotten just yet, given that this is a good sample of her ability to manage a national team."

In its release, the VFA also stated that the players acknowledged their fault in the current campaign, but reassured the fans that they were commited and willing to reverse La Nacional's fortunes, while also confirming their support for manager Curran.

"The players are aware that this start is below the expectations set at the start of the campaign, and would like to apologize to the fans for the results achieved until the moment. Regardless of the current situation, they are still fully committed to do their best efforts to turn the current situation around, and are willing to show that at the national team, everyone from the biggest start to the kitman, is pushing towards the same goal. They are also sympathetic towards Jessica and would like to express to her their unrestricted support as manager of the national team as they are well aware of her achievements as a player and have faith in the success of her process as manager."

Finally, the Association invited fans and the press to surround the team at this difficult time and to be patient with the current members of the national team, hoping that the long-term process started with the Dagan manager will eventually bear its fruits.

"All things considered, we would like to invite the press as well as our fans to have patience and trust in this process. We are the ones most worried by the current state of this campaign, however, we are still confident in Jessica's as well as the squad's skills and abilities and we are absolutely sure that in the future, these hardships we are currently going through will be exchanged by the joy of success. This is the moment when we need to be united and around the same goal. Onward, Valladares!"

With this endorsement towards the current process led by Jessica Curran, it is now expected that the fortunes of the Valladar national football team start improving in the upcoming double matchday of World Cup qualification, which will see Valladares travel to Garifunya and return to the country to host Astograth in Canalave. With Valladares now trailing Group 5's second-placed Siovanija & Teusland by 12 points, victory in those two matches is imperative if hopes of returning to the World Cup finals are to be still kept.

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Valladares 2–3 Siovanija & Teusland
(Baume 27', Benezet 80'; Kramer 19', Ilev 36', Tauscher 75')

Valladares: Gaviria - Rosero, Delgado, Rueda - Rojas, O'Brien, Mickel, Padilla - Baume, Pearson, Fortin
Subbed Out: Mickel 46', Fortin 69', Delgado 81'
Subbed In: Betancourt 46', Benezet 69', Matheus 81'
Unused Subs: Dussan, Brown, Núñez, Martelli, Malicki, Barrios, Valdivia, Vasseur, Chamoun
Manager: Jessica Curran (Cassadaigua)

Stadium: White Meadow Arena, Carloburgo, Mountbatten
Attendance: 63,175
Weather: 17°C, rainy

NorraLesse 2–2 Valladares
(unknown scorers 36', 62'; Fortin 24', Pearson 57')

Valladares: Gaviria - Rosero, Delgado, Rueda - Rojas, O'Brien, Mickel, Padilla - Baume, Pearson, Fortin
Subbed Out: O'Brien 64', Baume 72', Pearson 81'
Subbed In: Malicki 64', Valdivia 72', Benezet 81'
Unused Subs: Dussan, Brown, Matheus, Núñez, Martelli, Betancourt, Barrios, Vasseur, Chamoun
Manager: Jessica Curran (Cassadaigua)

VALLADAR NATIONAL FOOTBALL TEAM SELECTION - MATCHDAY 7 & 8: GARIFUNYA/ASTOGRATH
Goalkeepers: 1 - Paulo Gaviria (Nacional), 12 - Pierre Dussan (AS Bezieres), 23 - Lucien Chamoun (Fontvielle Impact)
Defenders: 2 - Jair Marrugo (Nacional), 3 - Martín Delgado (Port Sebastian, SCT), 4 - Santiago Rueda (Nacional), 13 - Jonás Romero (AS Bezieres), 14 - Nicholas Hossiner (Rolalas FC, VAL), 15 - Geoffrey Démont (Fontvielle Impact)
Midfielders: 5 - Leonardo Rojas (AS Bezieres), 6 - Christian O'Brien (Tanrısal, PAS), 7 - Daniel Lachlant (Club Stein-los, PAS), 8 - Mateo Padilla (Fontvielle Impact), 16 - Bryan Castillo (Hondo FC, VAL), 17 - Nick Mariner (Tihon, CMT), 18 - Fabio Betancourt (Hondo FC, VAL), 19 - Alexis Durmisi (Urbizania Wanderers, ASG)
Forwards: 9 - Wilfried Baume (AC Izotz Zubia, AUD), 10 - Alexandre (Montreal Koreana, QUE), 11 - Thibault Benezet (Sabrefell Athletic, NPH), 20 - Aymeric Fortin (1830 Cathair FC, VLD), 21 - Pierre Vasseur (Burnaby SC, KSK), 22 - Valentin Germain (Crisisbless, NPH)

(OOC: Players 1-11 are starters; 12-23 bench/reserves)

[The Sarian]

Apologies of my lack of RPing thusfar, I have been moving whilst recovering from two months of high-intensity work. Hopefully this RP kickstarts a return to regular service.

Format shamelessly borrowed from Eura's RPs in World Cup 85 Qualifying.

De Telegraaf Sport
The Sarian leads group after six games
Big away wins at Sargossa and Vilita give the Bustards a dream start

Few would have predicted The Sarian emerging from the first six games atop the group. The schedule was cruel on the Bustards; handing the fourth seeds away fixtures at all of the seeds ahead of them. It could have destroyed the momentum of their qualifying campaign before it began, instead the side have a perfect away record: the sole stain being a shock home loss to Staypuftonia. If pundits went into the qualifying campaign pessimistic, opinions have done a sharp u-turn. While Vilita are too good a side to stay off of first place for too long, a playoff place is now a real possibility.

The Sarian 2–1 Pluvia and the Saxean Isles

Lineup: Oodel Duoztiun / Trent Kindvanbruux (Walt Beunaad), Jaxon Pieuz , Zej Zamuuol, Ceutiz Maazden / Wictor Buul, Hugo Sint Lo, Jodi Lauri (Maarta Denell), Maeri Beniut (Cnut Zumer) / Fleur Rietdekker / Lach Houten
Goalscorers: Hugo Sint Lo, Cnut Zumer

There was a bit of rust to shake-off when The Sarian hosted Pluvia and the Saxean Isles at De Volkenstadion. Indeed, the argument that the hyper-partisan De Commons crowd provided the difference is not without merit. The provincial crowd is famously more rambunctious than their capital equivalents, and provided a wall of noise to pick the side up after a difficult opening half an hour. The Baptism of Fire graduates looked dangerous, consistently probing Oodel Duoztiun's goal. Thorsten Bishop particularly impressed for the visitors, having a goal ruled out for offside in the twelfth minute before being denied by Duoztiun's dragging foot moments later. But it was The Sarian who took the lead on the cusp of half-time: Ceutiz Maazden cut a thirty-yard pass through to Maeri Beniut. Beniut strolled past Lyle Mullens and nut-megged Marcus Rabb en-route to giving Hugo Sint Lo a free shot on the Pluvian goal. The Bustards continued to be the better side in the second half - Lach Houten and Fleur Rietdekker both coming close. It was Jaxon Pieuz who came closest, however. It took nearly three minutes for VAR to rule that the Saari captain's header hadn't crossed the line before being hacked away by Axel Newman. Moments later, the scores would be equal: Walt Beunaad, fresh on as a substitute, slipped whilst dealing with a routine clearance. Carsten Grisbaum didn't need to be asked twice to convert for the visitors. Fluke goals aside, the Saari side were still on top; though the failure to turn this domination into victory became more and more concerning as the clock ticked on. In the end, Cnut Zumer's seventy-eighth minute goal was relatively routine: Fleur Rietdekker played him through for a simple two-touch tap past Kilian Kistler. It was a nervous victory, but convincing nonetheless.

Sargossa 0–1 The Sarian

Lineup: Oodel Duoztiun / Walt Beunaad, Jaxon Pieuz, Zej Zamuuol (Henri Brejzun), Diemer Haum / Wictor Buul, Luc Bisop (Hugo Sint Lo), Jodi Lauri, Maeri Beniut / Mohammad Islam / Wera Pauwelz (Lach Houten)
Goalscorers: Mohammad Islam

Travelling to Sargossa provided the first real challenge of the qualifying campaign: if The Sarian is going reach the stated aims of challenging for a playoff spot, the side needed to come back with a credible result. It was another nervy game, but each minute added more pressure on the Corsairs. Jaxon Piuez and Zej Zamuuol put in a fine shift in defence, frustrating the likes of Mauricio Sainz and Diego Alejandro Costa - a dynamic duo who play together for both club and country. The Sargosan attack was energetic but not especially potent - of thirteen shots on goal, just two caused only trouble to Oodel Duoztiun. The most ignominious came toward the end of the match: an awkward bounce had caught Diemer Haum out and set Costa free. The striker was already beginning to celebrate when his left-footed shot clattered against the post. It was in this context that the Saari goal came: Mohammad Islam converting after being unmarked from a Wictor Buul corner. The home crowd grew increasingly impatient as their side failed to equalise, but the Bustards were able to hang on for an important victory.

The Sarian 1–3 Staypuftonia

Lineup: Lex Horn / Walt Beunaad, Jaxon Pieuz, Criuzi Siwaad, Diemer Haum / Wictor Buul (Lach Houten), Maarta Denell (Jodi Lauri), Luc Bisop, Cnut Zumer (Maeri Beniut) / Fleur Rietdekker / Ghini Bondstad
Goalscorers: Maeri Beniut

It took just twelve minutes for the good work of the Sargossan result to go down the drain. Under a torrent of rain, the visitors took a two goal lead before the Saari team realised they were behind. In situations like this, the De Commons crowd can be somewhat of a curse - the ire being turned on their own side. Staypuftonia, fearing a Saari comeback, dug in trenches and survived a period of solid attacking play by The Sarian. Ghini Bondstad, making her first appearance of the qualifying campaign, came close on two occasions whilst Luc Bisop hit the crossbar with a speculative effort from distance. Nevertheless, the Bustards went into half-time two goals down. The side looked positive in the second half, but stretched lines presented a few opportunities for Staypuftonia. After a number of good stops from Lex Horn, the goal finally came and the visitors were three up. Maeri Beniut would come on from the bench to score a fantastic solo effort, but it would be nothing more than a consolation goal.

[Flavovespia]

Flavovespia 1-3 Devonta

The end of Richard Crawford's time as manager of Flavovespia came at the conclusion of this game. The 4th defeat in 5, and 3rd consecutive home loss for Flavovespia was too much for the FFA to accept, and in the evening hours after the game, the decision was made.

Back to the 4-2-2-2 of old, Flavovespia looked the better side in the early stages. Scott Coleman had a good shot well saved and held by the Devonta keeper. The defence as well, with some older names returning, looked more assured, and Devonta struggled to find a clear effort early on. Flavovespia should’ve found a way through, but the front line began to struggle to create opportunities as the first half developed. Then, with minutes to go, a cross in was misread by Paul Brown, leaving David Meehan powerless to prevent the opener. 0-1 it was, and the crowd were visibly annoyed at the break.

Flavovespia needed a goal back and quickly in the second half. Thankfully, Scott Coleman took only 7 minutes since the restart to do it. From 30 metres out, he outwitted the centre back to get a clear sight of goal, and made no mistake to equalise. 1-1, and Flavovespia looked to turn the tide of the game.

Sadly, there would be no more good news for the hosts. Somewhat against the run of play, a good past created a shooting opportunity for Devonta, and Meehan didn’t do enough to turn the ball away, as it rolled into the net. Flavovespia were back behind, and lacked composure. Frustrations boiled over and Alexander May would see red for a reckless challenge on an advanced midfielder. 10 vs 11 and Flavovespia still had to push forward for an equaliser. It’s little surprise when they were caught on the counter, and scored a tap-in with 2 strikers up against Meehan.

With 3 points from 5, 9th out of 10 in the group and qualification hopes seemingly in tatters, Richard Crawford received his marching orders from the FFA. Arnold Stevenson, his assistant manager, was retained as the interim manager, at least for the match against Kulefati. Nobody knows if he’ll stay for 1 game, 3 games or the end of qualifiers, but the search for a new manager has begun.

Kulefati 0-2 Flavovespia

Arnold Stevenson may only be the temporary manager, but he at least prevented another poor result for Flavovespia, as they managed a 0-2 win in Kulefati. Flavovespia still lie a long way off getting close to the Top 2, but there were signs of improvement.

The main change for Flavovespia was a switch to a 4-2-3-1. After one game on the bench, Aarif Muhammad returned to goal, and Paul Rodwell and David Blythe returned to the defence. Stevenson was taking any opportunity he had to try and make an impression.

In a match that began with bottom vs second bottom, neither side made the greatest of starts, not able to move the ball around with ease to create opportunities. It would be Flavovespia who managed to eventually work it out on the pitch. A dangerous attack saw Ace beat a defender for pace, only to be caught inside the box. The penalty was given and Coleman stepped up to taken. It was on target, the keeper went the wrong way, and Flavovespia were 0-1 up.

3 minutes later, and Flavovespia doubled their lead. A poor clearance from the Kulefati keeper fell to James King. King’s pass was much more accurate than the one he intercepted, playing Steven Hall clean through and the attacking midfielder shot on target, beyond the keeper to score. Hall and Coleman were both on 4 goals so far these qualifiers, those two forward players were at least exceeding expectations.

The second half saw Kulefati put in some good spells of play, but ultimately seemed unable to quite make that final chance work. They had a fair few shots, but most were either wildly inaccurate, or not enough to truly challenge Aarif Muhammad. To the Flavovespian keeper’s credit, he didn’t seem at all demotivated by his game out, if anything he looked more fired up to keep his place in the side.

Flavovespia had a few attacks going forward, but seemed to play with more caution, keen to just come away with 3 points instead of risking it in the chase of more goals. Maybe they had the ability on the day to do it, but in the end, Stevenson was keen to show some game management and attention.

The game finished 0-2, in the end a fairly comfortable win for Flavovespia. In the context of the qualifiers however, it was a key win under a lot of pressure to try and get something back for Flavovespia. It’s a small but significant step away to trying to claw something back.

The next 2 games

For Flavovespia, a team who’ve lost every home game so far, they next host a team who’ve won every away game so far, Wymondham. On the form of the group, this is almost a foregone conclusion. However, there’s still over 250 places between Flavovespia and Wymondham in the KPB Rankings, which could make a difference as the Hornets return to Saints Park.

Then Flavovespia travel to fellow AO side Québec. The nations met in the last edition of the AOCAF Cup 61, in the Round of 24. In extra time, a 115th minute goal by Steven Hall eliminated Québec. Footballers and football fans have long memories, so this could be a feisty game. With Québec hosting and in 3rd, and Flavovespia 3rd from bottom, Québec likely go in as favourites, but Flavovespia will fancy their chances.

For Arnold Stevenson, he’ll definitely be in charge of those two games. Whether or not he stays on afterwards depends on the performances in those games. The rumour going around is 4 points could be enough to secure a contract to lead Flavovespia until the end of the qualifiers.

The Football Clubs Of Flavovespia

Next up comes the region of Outer Waldster. This contains the 4 city-regions directly outside the north of Waldster - Galling, Stanmorn, Towerhaite and Vale. All are to some extent commuter belt areas for Waldster, but are large enough to have a strong local identity and economy. Also included in this category is Henhaven Island. A small island south-east of Waldster, it's well known for it's holiday and party atmosphere, and also it's older traditions. It's grouped in with Outer Waldster, especially in football where the Henhaven Island sides have played in the Waldster League before.

______________________
Tier 1	Super League
	Stanmorn FC Formed: 69BU Stadium: Stanley Lane (26475) Rivals: Sporting Towerhaite, Vale FC (major), Galling Rangers 7AU, Waldster FC (minor) Stanmorn began in the Waldster League as one of it’s dominant sides, and in the 28 years before the GWNFA Super League formed, they won 16 times. However, they were never able to win when it mattered to qualify for the GWNFA Super League, when their 3 main rivals of Outer Waldster did. Only in 15BU did they first taste top flight football. A yo-yo side between the top two flights for decades, winning 3 of the 4 cups between 15AU-18AU lead to them earning enough to establish themselves in the top flight and 26AU saw them finally become the Super League champions. They may not have won a second title yet, but they’re the best of the Outer Waldster sides, and are arguably in the present as good as Waldster.
	Sporting Towerhaite Formed: 71BU Stadium: Towerhaite Stadium (16404) Rivals: Stanmorn FC, Vale FC (major), Galling Rangers 7AU, Waldster FC (minor) The team in their distinctive ecru kits have had a fair amount of history. Formed in 71BU as Towerhaite Sports Society, early years saw a fierce rivalry both on the pitch and in the courts with Team Towerhaite, who eventually went defunct. They won 4 Waldster League titles, the last of which in 34BU gave them the chance to qualify for the GWNFA Super League, which they took. 22BU saw them become Sporting Towerhaite, although the name change saw them relegated to the GWNFA Challenge League. Since then they’ve always been a side bouncing around the top two tiers with a high frequency, the cup win of 5AU probably their biggest honour.
Tier 2	Challenge League
	Vale FC Formed: 69BU Stadium: The Vale Stadium (19069) Rivals: Stanmorn FC, Vale FC (major), Galling Rangers 7AU, Waldster FC (minor) Vale FC also formed with the intention of competing in the Waldster League. Only 4 times did they win it, but they took that 4th win, much like rivals Sporting Towerhaite (then Towerhaite Sports Society) to win qualification to the GWNFA Super League at the end of 33BU. The 10sBU decade was their halcyon era, fighting for the Top 3 in the era where the Big 3 were dominant. Of the Outer Waldster sides, they’ve obviously done better than Galling Rangers, but lag behind the achievments of Stanmorn and Sporting Towerhaite in the modern era, with no cup wins, or cup finals, or Top 4 Super League placings.
	Henhaven Islanders FC Formed: 63BU Stadium: Island Stadium (10000) Rivals: none Henhaven Islanders FC, as the name suggests, are the primary team of the small island off the coast, near Waldster. A favourite of the neutrals, their Gold Cup win of 53BU, a decade after forming is their finest hour. Originally members of the Waldster League, they moved to the United Football League in 30BU before becoming founders of the GWNFA Challenge League in 22BU. However they were generally considered relative minnows at professional level in the classic era. However in the inaugural modern era season, they won their first promotion to the top flight ever. Since then, they’ve largely been a second tier side, but have had appearances in the first and third tiers.
Tier 4	National League Division 2
	Henhaven Beachside Formed: 60BU Stadium: Seaside Street (1946) Rivals: Henhaven Palace FC (major) Much as the name suggests, this club play on the northern coast of Henhaven Island, and their stadium overlooks the beach and sea. This in no small part is where their yellow and blue kits take their inspiration from. They would enter the Waldster League alongside local rivals Henhaven Palace in 54BU, but were relegated in 46BU. Unlike other sides, they’d enter the feeder leagues to the United and Eastern Alliance pyramid, and would make the United and Eastern Alliance Division 2, spending 14BU-9BU at that level. They were one of the 32 Alliance sides in 3AU, and also became one of the first 3 to win promotion to the league (then the National League at the third tier). They’ve spent most of their time since in the Eastern League, and were a penalty shootout away from the Challenge League, back in 17AU.
	Radstye Rangers FC Formed: 55BU Stadium: Radstye Road (3347) Rivals: Vale FC (minor) Radstye Rangers formed after the collapse of the short-lived Radstye Athletics. In the city-region of Vale, Radstye is a small town somewhat independently minded of the more urban city are of Vale. The side, went from humble beginnings all the way to the Gold Cup quarter finals in 50BU. They then were relatively successful for a non-city side in the Waldster League. Unlike many of their peers, they did enter the United and Eastern Alliance Pyramid, making up to its second tier. Sadly, despite predictions when they started in the National Division 2 in 2AU that they were one of the stronger sides, they’ve never yet reached beyond the third tier, instead they’ve fallen into the non-league pyramid at times.
	Leabury FC Formed: 46BU Stadium: Leabury Park Stadium (2992) Rivals: Galling Rangers 7AU (major), Midlandsee FC (minor) Leabury is a suburb of Galling, but the club has become more well known since the collapse of Galling Rangers. Originally Leabury Casuals, the club was reformed and renamed in 46BU when they became semi-pro and joined the Waldster League. Members of the Waldster League in the classic era, the club was one of a fair number that fell from prominence as that league stubbornly resisted joining the United & Eastern Alliance, and couldn’t find a way into the pyramids of the classic era. The modern era saw them join the Alliance D1, and they’d go on to win promotion to the league at the end of 8AU. The club have a strong rivalry with intra-city rivals Galling Rangers 7AU, which is becoming fiercer due to the two sides often playing at the same level.
Tier 5	Alliance D1
	Henhaven Palace FC Formed: 62BU Stadium: Palace Road (1908) Rivals: Henhaven Beachside (major) Taking their name from the Palace that stands on the north of the island, Henhaven Palace have a similar early history to their rivals. Both joined the Waldster League in the same year, and would eventually enter the feeder leagues for the United and Eastern Alliance pyramid. However Henhaven Palace never won promotion to it. It would be 8AU when they first reached the league, thanks in part to the expansion. They’ve spent much of the modern era as a league side, but have ended up in the Alliance D1 on a handful of occasions, including the present day. An Alliance Shield win in 24AU somewhat makes up for that though.
	Galling Rangers 7AU Formed: Stadium: Galling Avenue (10000) Rivals: Leabury FC (major), Stanmorn FC, Sporting Towerhaite, Vale FC (minor) The original Galling Rangers were one of the bigger Outer Waldster sides. They were one of the 8 inaugural GWNFA Super League founders in 41BU, and remained members all the way to 3BU. However by that point, they were in financial trouble. They stron, only to be liquidated halfway through 5AU. The phoenix club formed in 7AU, entered the Alliance D2 in 8AU, and won 2 promotions in a row. Sadly they’ve not been able to reach the status their original club ever did, often struggling to stay in the league.
	Queens FC Formed: 42BU Stadium: Queens Stadium (1104) Rivals: Kings FC (major), Ifleii FC (minor) Queens FC were formed in honour of the “Queen of Henhaven Island” (now a purely ceremonial title, but still unique in Flavovespia). Unsurprisingly, Kings FC, their friendly rivals, are the patronymic version. Queens FC in the classic era were one of two sides with an unusual squad selection method (the other is easy to guess). An annual draft of the best amateur players in Henhaven Island would be undertaken, to choose the representatives. They only competed in the Gold Cup and an exhibition side in the classic era until 10BU, when they adopted the more standard model of squad building. 4AU saw them join the Alliance D2, but until 18AU were a small team. That year saw them win the Southern Alliance D2 and reach Round 3 of the cup. Then, the following season, they reached Round 2 of the cup but more importantly won the promotion playoffs for a first year appearance. They’ve since had a few league stints, but none more than 2 seasons long.
	Brimton FC Formed: 68BU Stadium: Brimton Stadium (1804) Rivals: Hollytree FC (major) The suburb of Brimton in Towerhaite plays home to this semi-pro side. Whilst not members of the Waldster League all the time, due to some relegations over the years, they were generally one of the more regarded semi-pro sides in the league. Another side who remained loyal to the Waldster League and its feeders throughout the classic era, it’d be 4AU when they entered the national pyramid, much like other teams. They quickly however managed to improve their stature, and first tasted league football in 9AU. They’ve largely been in the Alliance D1, but have occasionally risen above that or dropped below that. Recently they made the Alliance Shield final, although were beaten on penalties by Westwood FC.
	Kings FC Formed: 42BU Stadium: Kings Park (775) Rivals: Queens FC (major), Ifleii FC (minor) Kings FC are the friendly rivals and in some ways companion team to Queens FC. Like their matronymic counterparts, they for a little over 3 decades existed as a drafted exhibition side, until finally both joined the amateur leagues as more conventional sides. Kings however, have become the lesser of the two sides in terms of performance. They’ve not escaped non-league and played in the league yet, and most of their ventures into the Alliance D1 have been short lived. Both Kings and Queens are to an extent still seen as relics of a bygone era.
Tier 6	Alliance D2
	Marely Park FC Formed: 61BU Stadium: Marely Park (552) Rivals: Brimton FC, Hollytree FC (minor) Marely Park is a small suburb in Stanmorn, home to this semi-pro side. Early years saw them briefly compete in the Waldster League, but they failed to attract significant funding to sustain that level of play, and dropped out after 2 seasons. From there, they were an amateur side for the rest of the classic era. They did enough however, in the smaller leagues to qualify for the Alliance D2 in 4AU. They’ve struggled however to achieve much more than brief promotions to the Alliance D1, and compared to other Outer Waldster sides, have a small fanbase.
	Hollytree FC Formed: 44BU Stadium: Gasporth Street (855) Rivals: Brimton FC (major) The intra-Towerhaite rivals of Brimton, Hollytree don’t quite have the relative of history of their neighbours, but are still fierce competitors. They were amateur for the first few decades, although they did reach the Gold Cup proper a few times. They went semi-pro upon reaching the Waldster League, whereupon their rivalry kicked up a notch. The modern era have seen them spent most of their time in the Alliance D2, with the odd promotion. The suburban side arguably may not have quite the population to draw for to consistently match Brimton, but they’ll still try.
	Ifleii FC Formed: 7BU Stadium: Ifleii Arena (837) Rivals: Queens FC, Kings FC (minor) Named after the Ifleii Cove on the south of the island, Ifleii are very much the new kids on the block in Henhaven Island. They quickly won the local amateur island league, and were one of the 64 sides in the first Alliance D2. Within a decade they’d look like a consistent Alliance D1 side, but that would be as far as they could ho. The club simply didn’t have the finances to compete any further, not least with 4 other teams on Henhavan Island at a similar level (Henhaven Islanders obviously much higher up the pyramid), and Ifleii fell back towards the lower echelons of the pyramid.
	Midlandsee FC Formed: 60BU Stadium: Midlandsee Fields (808) Rivals: Leabury FC (major) The 3rd side from Galling, Midlandsee were an early “local area” side, as the era of factory teams ended and local sides started. They entered the Waldster League 2 years after founding, but dropped out after 6 seasons, unable to afford semi-pro football. They would win promotion back in 45BU, and stayed for a few decades, before relegation back to the smaller leagues ensued. The modern era, they’ve struggled to get out of the basement of the Alliance, only a single season in the Alliance D1 level has been any noticeable success. They have a small but strong local following, but struggle in the wake of Galling Rangers 7AU and Leabury.
	The Rooks Formed: 52BU Stadium: Airedale (655) Rivals: none The Rooks were named after the two towers that overlook the coast in Vale. They made brief appearance in the later Gold Cup competitions, but aside from that were largely an amateur side. In 16Bu they briefly won promotion to the Waldster League, but were relegated, unable to compete with the semi-pro sides. For much of the modern era, they were outside the league and non-league Alliance pyramid, playing in the (now almost all amateur) Waldster League. Then in 29AU, they reached the Preliminary Round 3, the final round before Round 1 proper of the Flavovespia Gold Cup, and won the Waldster League, to make it into the Alliance D2 for 30AU.

Code: Select all

OOC: Tier 1-4 kit graphics taken direct from my domestic newswire

[Sarzonia]

Losing a match against a team ranked hundreds of places in the world rankings is one thing. Regardless of whether it's at home or away, for a Pot 2 side, it's an inexcusable embarrassment.

Losing to the 12th ranked team in the world by a 3-2 margin in an away match is completely different. So, too was the Sarzonian national football team's level of play despite the Farves taking a 2-0 lead in the 39th minute of play.

"That was against the run of play," manager Kevin Connelly said. "We missed a couple of opportunities in the first 18 minutes that could have put us out in front." There was Brady Reynolds firing a free kick from just outside the 18-yard box that just caromed off the top of the goal and out to a Farf defender who quickly cleared the ball out of danger.

There was Clayton Wilson with a nutmeg and a rising shot that sailed just wide of the goalpost for a goal kick. Jake Campos thought he scored a 41st minute tally that would have halved the hosts' lead, but the offside flag was up. Connelly was about to argue the call, but he saw the replay and it clearly showed that Cayden Aguirre mistimed his run by about a half second and he was a hair past the last defender before Wilson fired the cross to Campos.

With the second half under way, forward Holly Cambrio subbed on for Aguirre after he suffered a cramp. Cambrio brought the Stars back into the match with a cross that found a leaping Campos for a header in the 52nd minute. Six minutes later, Campos returned the favour, slipping a pass to Cambrio as both players worked a four-on-two with Wilson and midfielder Brady Reynolds.

However, goalkeeper Carlton Sandt ran out too aggressively to attempt to cut the angle on a shot attempt in the 72nd minute.

Sure, the Stars weren't where they hoped they'd be after the biggest test of the first half, but they played a noticeably better match against Farfadillis than they had at any point, including their previous match at home to unranked Nagore.

"We've got something to build on," Reynolds said. "At least it's a start."

[Tequilo]

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THE RESTORATION OF GARCÍA de CORCOLES
2/3 Rehabilitation

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Resuscitation | Rehabilitation | Reorientation

“What in the name of wights? … What happened? … Where am I?”

Where he was, was propped on a stool with his arms looped around some ropes that stretched horizontally around a small square stage, reminding him of a wrestling ring. In fact, where he was, was on a stool in the corner of a wrestling ring. Two moustachioed coaches in tracksuits loomed over him, accompanied by a giant grizzly brown bear, up on her rear haunches, three metres tall with a towel over one front clawed paw, and a sponge in the other.

“You are three rounds down in the qualifying slam of SuperBearMania Weekend Blitz-Banger III; this is the SunBarra Arena in Furness, Bears Armed, and you need to get your stools together, sunshine!” said the giant anthropomorphic bear, rather ominously and in bigger-than-usual lettering.

One of the coaches smiled a deadly smile. His eyes were entirely dead, and it felt to him that they had met before, very recently, and it surely had not gone well.

“Let me dab these,” said the smiley coach, ministering some local analgesic to wounds on his face, “you’ll not be hurting now.” It was of little comfort.

Bears Armed? Hadn’t that nation disappeared back in the depths of time, in a cataclysmic termination event? Was this some kind of a joke?

“You probably think this is some kind of a joke,” said the other smiley coach, with eyes that did not smile, “but we are deadly serious here at Blitz-Banger III. We are rebuilding you, García de Corcoles, making you strongerbetterfaster than before; but I expect you have forgotten most of your training presently because you’ve been entirely outmatched by The PunishUrr this evening and she seems to have knocked all the sense out of you. Allow number one to recap.”

The first coach leaned in a little and swabbed at his eye socket, which García noticed was tremendously painful, now he came to think about it. “The thing is,” said the coach, “after we fixed you up in the lovely facility at Mount Errion Infirmary, our bosses insisted that you needed to be fixed up even better - you know, as superhuman as humanly possible, to quote my supervisor. So we brought you here to Furness, to train with the she-bears in the Monster Wrestle Academy, do you remember that? You’ve done tremendously well, overall, so credit to you for that. We want to get you back out in the world soon, we’ve got this magnificent storyline shaping up in Tequilo and we just need you to be fit and ready for the occasion, so Marra SunBear here -” at this, the giant anthropomorphic bear with the towel and the sponge grinned horrifically - such big sharp teeth - and squeezed the cooling sponge over his head, which García noticed was tremendously hot, now he came to think about it, “Marra has been kind enough to put you through your paces, so much so that we all though it was a good idea to try you out at Blitz-Banger III.”

“Harrrummmph,” said the bear - Marra, is it? - “I’m not so sure that was the correct decision, to be hhhhhhonest.”

“Now then, Marra, it was worth a try, we can always patch him up again after,” said the other coach to the bear.

All this blathering on was fine and dandy, although it was hard to concentrate in an arena full of roaring bears, but García really wished these dead-eye coaches, who were so familiar, would just get to the darned point. “Who are you people,” he interrupted, “and what exactly do you want with me? Will you just get to the darned point.”

The first coach leaned in and squirted a little sweet refreshing juice into his mouth from a bottle of brilliant green liquid, while the other coach opened his mouth as if he were about to come to the darned point. Just then, a bell rang three times and the volume in the arena notched up considerably. The two coaches and the giant talking bear seemed to fade into the margins of his vision, which tunnelled now to the opposite corner of the ring. An insanely vicious-looking monster, a bear of iron and hate, fangs dripping with a terrible lust for violence and claws flexing like the blades of a circular saw and a pelt dripping in blood… well, you get the picture, it was an awful sight. Someone pushed García in the back and simultaneously whipped away his stool, so that he was up on his feet and staggering toward the monster who rose to greet him with a chilling roar. ‘What is this now,’ wondered García, observing the beast stride toward him, and noting it wearing a mask and a leotard of sorts; he was half way through trying to recall if he had ever heard of a wrestling bear when the wrestling bear slapped him clean into the middle of next week.

TAPALUPÉ, Tequilo - So much football, so little time… don’t worry, when you don’t have time for the big read (and we don’t have time for the big write) let the GOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL-a!!! Daily take the strain - all your analysis, in numbers, with our unique and exclusive Copametro…

NEAR TOP AFTER NETOP WIN BEFORE KO-OREN COLLAPSE

The Agave-Blues showed plenty of promise for their first win on the road in this campaign, a comfortable victory in Netop aided and abetted by Netopian keeper Jonny Howells receiving his marching orders for two yellow cards; captain Mateo Tafalla struck a brace of penalties either side of half time as the hosts imploded midway through the game. Tequilo lost crucial defender Huracan for the next game through suspension for his second yellow card of qualifying, while winger Isodoro Artechevarria took a knock and was replaced by the returning Xaime Medal for the crucial home tie against group favourites Ko-oren, who were threatening to run away with the group.

That threat was undiminished following the Dragonflies win at Palacios de Cristal in Gardaresso, their second consecutive victory on Tequiloan soil, although the Agave-Blues did well to contain the visitors and their dangerous counter-punch until Saushilu Janoreirinthen delivered the vital winner early in the second half. There was no coming back in front of a raucous crowd in Antivador, and frustrations boiled over for young substitute striker Alexandro Calvoecheaga who was sent-off with a straight red card for losing his senses and throwing a punch at Maximilien Longchambon. He had only been on the pitch for six minutes, and will miss the next three games through suspension. In more bad news, Mateo Tafalla will miss the next two games through injury, with flamboyant CF Frantxizko-A midfielder Nuno Inchasta expected to make his debut as replacement; usual back-up Niño Pinto remains on the injury list.

VITAL STATISTICS
Netop 0-3 TEQUILO HT: 0-2

Location: Foster Park, Netop
Attendance: 7,491 + The Ultra-Mariachis (8 sombreros+dog)
Scorers: Tlacolotl 44’ Tafalla 45' (pen) 55' (pen)
Booked: Howells (2), Vaughan, Riggs, Wormald, Nixon | Zambo, Huracan
Sent off: Howells (2 yellow cards)
Tequilo Line-Up: Oscar Bienvenido | Patrick Zambo, Haize Apeiztegui, Huracan, Huachalla | Ixtub Tün | Isidoro Artechevarria, Mateo Tafalla (sub: Cio Çenturion), Ricardo Bailén | Tlacolotl, Alexandro Calvoecheaga
Player of the Match: Huachalla (Tequilo)

TEQUILO 0-1 Ko-oren HT: 0-0

Location: Palacios de Cristal, Gardaresso
Attendance: 81,000
Scorers: Janoreirinthen 53'
Booked: Bienvenido, Zambo, Apeiztegui, Medal, Lea | Hellegeland, Mizuno, Yokota
Sent off: Calvoecheaga
Tequilo Line-Up: Oscar Bienvenido | Patrick Zambo (sub: Llösë Lea), Haize Apeiztegui, Noxochinoch, Huachalla | Ixtub Tün | Xaime Medal, Mateo Tafalla, Leyton | Tlacolotl, Ecuador (sub: Alexandre Calvoecheaga)
Player of the Match: Domingos Noya (Ko-oren)

NEXT UP
Two away games follow and coach Isaac Martí will be looking for six points to put Los Pitxileros in a strong position for the all-important home game with 95X. The coach says he has a target of seven from the next nine to finish the first half of qualifying in a challenging position, and followers of the Agave-Blues would have taken that before the start of the competition. But let’s not take too much for granted; previous complacency has been costly and it is a weakness in the Tequilo make-up that the coaches will be working hard to eradicate. There will be no captain Mateo Tafalla for the next double-header and the armband will be worn by veteran Haize Apeiztegui, with Nuno Inchasti playing in his advanced midfield position. The coach looks like he will rotate strike partners for national top scorer Tlacolotl, with first Ecuador starting against Semarland, and then Ito against Quebecois Acadiana. Patrick Zambo, Xaime Medal and Alexandro Calvoecheaga all sit out the next game with suspensions, and while the former two will return for selection against the Quebecois, Alexandro’s first half of qualifying is now over as he won’t be eligible again until the home tie against Iles Rogieres at the start of the second round of matches.

Confirmed Line-Up for TEQUILO @ Semarland: Oscar Bienvenido | Llösë Lea, Haize Apeiztegui, Huracan, Huachalla | Ixtub Tün | Isidoro Artechevarria, Nuno Inchasti, Leyton | Tlacolotl, Ecuador

Venue: Natunolstadion, Jansberg

Expected Line-Up for TEQUILO @ Quebecois Acadiana: Oscar Bienvenido | Llösë Lea, Haize Apeiztegui, Huracan, Chicchan | Ixtub Tün | Xaime Medal, Nuno Inchasti, Leyton | Tlacolotl, Ito

Venue: Some Stadium, Quebecois Acadiana

[Krytenia]

Part I: Miasma
Part II: Mistral

IBIXAN PIECES

Part III: Tempestuous

The village of Goathenberg was a few short hours ride outside of Istanbull. Having procured the use of a reasonably speedy horse, Dr Fisher arrived at this backwater settlement. It was typical, in terms of being what you'd expect from a rural Ibexi settlement; a few scattered small huts and houses made from local stone, a central meeting place with a place clearly meant for a warming fire during the colder nights. What wasn't typical about it whas what - or rather who - resided in the home set a little further from the rest of the village.

Ordo looked up at the human entering his sanctum. "I hear you have questions, medicine man. Tell me, what troubles you that you require my counsel?"
"Thank you for taking the time to speak to me, Ordo. I have it on good authority you are an expert of lore. I wish to understand more on the coming of the sands. The first one."
"Ah, it is dark times of which you speak. Very dark times. Hm. Let me tell you the tale as I see it."

"In a time long passed, there were two tribes; the Ibexi and the Ahlenfi. The leader of the Ibexi was great and terrible, and his name drew awe and fear from the Ibexi. He was Shang Lér, and he despised the Ahlenfi. It was said he could control the very earth he walked upon, and that one day, he decided to invoke his horrific wrath upon the Ahlenfi. The sands of Calania rose, and swallowed the Ahlenfi whole.

Sadly, though, the gods looked unkindly on Shang Lér's hubris. The sands did not merely stop at the border, but crept upon the nation of Ibex itself. The lush fields became barren desert, and the arrogant and power-hungry inner circle of the Ibexi were doomed. The land, it is said, is now cursed to be inhospitable, the sands returning to foil every opportunity that those who live here attempt to rebuild and reclaim the land. The Syndicatians, who sold their land lest they follow the same fate. The Krytenians, of course, you know. The Calanians, too. Those who live here learn to respect the desert, or else face the wrath of the sands."

Dr. Fisher mused over the words for a while. "Do you believe this is what happened?"
"I cannot say, doctor. But even the most fanciful parts of lore and legend are built on foundations of truth."
"Could you help me discover the truth I seek?"
The Ibexi elder slowly shook his head. "I fear I have no further answers for you, only more stories and more questions. Perhaps, though...perhaps I can direct you to someone who might be of some assistance. A Krytenian Ibixan, he lives by a small oasis on the border. They call him Hermit. He doesn't usually brook visitors, but he came to see me before with similar questions. If he has answers, he may impart them with you. Tell him you are a friend of Ordo, and the door may open for you."
"That's...actually really helpful. Is there a way to thank you?"
Ordo mused momentarily. "Promise me, if you find your answers, that you will share them with me. Perhaps if there is a lesson in the tale, we can learn it together."

[Kandorith]

---

Shinonome Kyoai - International
News From The Empire

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Recent Results Show Trouble Within Team

The Kandorese team has played against Lochario and Valanora in the past two matches. Where the team is hailed as one of the best teams of the nation ever, a lot of things are left to desired while the team faces tougher opponents. The Lotus Warriors were simply outplayed and outclassed.

Hayabusa kept with his original starting eleven for both matches. The only difference was playing Ando Masatake at the cost of captain Tanaka. The Kandorese team had the normal strategy with playing mostly on the midfield and the flanks and during attacks the team would try to utilize their speed and flanking gameplay to break through the defense of any team. At least, that was the plan according to Hayabusa.

After both matches a disappointed Hayabusa did not want to comment and was visibly awestruck at the last whistle, especially after the game against Lochario. The Kandorese team simply could not get a grip on both matches and had to leave the game to the opponent. After both matches some problems in the team have come to light. In the attack the Kandorese lack finishing and prowess. On defense the team seems to lack confidence and willpower. Both these problems seem to be a returning ailment for the Kandorese national team and we have seen it many times before. These small ailments were never in doubt as during the tournament the Kandorese team would grow but this time the team seems a bit lost and looking for directions.

"I think the team players are brilliant, that is why I chose them, and that is also why I will not lay the blame fully on them. Hayabusa said. "Yes we have to do better, much better. I think I am mostly to blame as we need to return on the field with more confidence. The last two games have shown where things are going wrong and what is going wrong. More focus will be put on our tactics and indeed defending against tough opponents.

"For now I am still not fully disappointed. There is still quite a long way to go and anything could still happen. I can even say with a straight face that we will pick ourselves up again and will return to performing as we did in the opening games of the campaign. We have shown just how brilliant we can be when a plan comes together during the Cup of Harmony and I am quite sure we can be contenders for the World Cup too, as long as we keep our composure."

Where Hayabusa still believes in a turn around fans are critical of the coach as the team has failed to impress the home fans throughout the six games played now. The national team is seemingly headed for disaster and are waiting for light at the end of the tunnel or at least a spark of hope. The largest trouble for the team seems to be playing until the second half. Nothing really happens for the Kandorese during the first half and they are mostly being toyed with before the first goal falls against them. Every time this first goal seems to be a slight wake-up call for the players, but is never enough of a rough awakening.

Even during the second half the team seems lost and does not react well enough to any threat. Even the goalkeeper was cleverly played around on multiple occasions. The only real players that are worth being in the selection are the wingers of the Kandorese team as they seem to steal the show time and time again, sadly no one is ever on their receiving end or in a proper position.

Kandorith has started up their powerplant again, but somehow the lines do not seem to be connected. The team is now waiting for a mechanic to fix the connection of the players. This mechanic should be Hayabusa, but arguably even he seems to be unable to fix this mechanical problem.

---

   Group 9                              Pld    W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts 
 1 Ancherion                              6    5   0   1    12    6   +6    15
 2 Valanora                               6    4   2   0    19   10   +9    14
 3 Qasden                                 6    4   1   1    16    8   +8    13
 4 Lochario                               6    4   0   2    14   10   +4    12
 5 Kandorith                              6    3   2   1    19   13   +6    11
 6 Emastalia                              6    2   1   3     9   13   −4     7
 7 Solharcht Kirale                       6    1   1   4     6   18  −12     4
 8 Kencana                                6    1   1   4     2    7   −5     4
   Schottia                               6    1   1   4     9   14   −5     4
10 Glazgo                                 6    0   1   5     7   14   −7     1

[Squornshelan Remnant States]

With heavy influence from and much admiration for The Players' Tribune

How we Play Football in Traal
Reuter Storsjo

Life is different up here.

The first thing that strikes most visitors is how flat it is. You also won't see any trees up here on the tundra. A few main roads are paved, but most are dirt or gravel. Just a few of the things you get used to living on the permafrost of the Flanian tundra. When they dug the foundations for most of the port and downtown, they didn't use excavators. They used dynamite. The highway south to Rudlit, down through Robben's Pass in the Northern Reach is our only land connection with the rest of the Confederacy. I've ridden it a few times. It's probably the roughest stretch of road I've ever been on. The only other road out of town is an 80-mile gravel track along the coast to Hrund. That's where most of the oil wells are, but Hrund doesn't have a deepwater harbor like ours, so for the most part, the only people living out there are the actual field workers, and the only traffic heading that way is trucks carrying their equipment. It goes without saying then, that there's not as much to do here as in the big cities in the south. The internet is slow, and the price of groceries is high, so most families don't have a lot of disposable income. Toys and games, electronics and so on all have to be shipped in by boat or plane, so getting something like that as a kid is a real luxury.

Instead we play sports. Football in summer, hockey in winter.

I think some of the hockey mentality leaks into the way we think about football. A lot of hockey teams up here play a neutral zone trap. It's a team focused style of play. Sure, there are star players, but everyone on the ice has to be working, and playing hard at both ends if you're going to win. You're focused on defense first and foremost, but you always have to be ready to jump into the attack when an opportunity presents itself. Fullback in a nutshell.

I'll always remember my first serious youth team. Before that, I pretty much played wherever I wanted. My new coach, Halder Ecvar was his name, sat me down and told he he was moving me to fullback. I complained of course, said I'd always been an attacker before, but he wasn't having any of it. I think I spent the rest of the day moping around the house, thought about quitting. Luckily my mom coaxed the story out of me after dinner that night and talked me out of it. Thanks Mom. I showed up to practice the next day and started learning how to be a defender.

Didn't play much my first year, I wasn't very good, to be honest. Got caught upfield too often, was too aggressive with my challenges. I fell for a lot of crossovers and headfakes before I learned to be more patient. I have to give Coach Halder credit though. I don't know what he saw, but in the end, fullback suited me better than winger ever had. Coach Halder put me in the first team my second year. I still made mistakes, still gave up shots I shouldn't, but we were doing better, winning more. I was also working harder on the field than I ever had in my life (all 14 years of it). We ended up winning our youth league that year, and a week or so later, a phone call came one evening. I was being invited to join the Traal Athletics youth academy.

Let me explain something to you about Traal Athletics. This is more than a football club. Traal is not a rich city, and Athletics is not a rich club, but they always compete. Our manager, Lopal Daror is a huge part of that. You know how people in some tinpot dictatorship will have a portrait of the dictator on the wall in their home? People in Traal have portraits of Lopal Daror. It's a source of pride for Flania, even if your support one of the other teams. Traal has always been there to represent us among all the Brantid and Algolian teams. Every kid dreams about pulling on the sky blue and burgundy. I definitely did. Their back line in those days was just unreal to think about: Geladi, Antrobus, Nakhutin, and of course Oleb in the middle.

The players I was up against in practice at Athletics were on a different level from anyone I'd faced before. Doron Aldra entered the academy the same year I did. it was unreal the things he could do on the ball. I was a little intimidated by him, and a little jealous too. This was a guy people were talking about as a future team captain, next to some no name kid from Portside. He was getting national team callups while I was still warming the bench behind Maryl [Antrobus] and Margath [Helder]. We ended up becoming friends though. It was lucky for me we did. The Academy sometimes made me wonder if I had what it takes to be a footballer. You start playing in youth leagues on a national scale, and you realize that ever single player on both rosters was the best on their team growing up. Things weren't gender integrated yet then, so I never had to face Izoni [Hocij] or Lavanya [Naqvi], but there was this one guy on Lublova's team who was just miserable to try to defend. You might have heard of him, his name's Jzeovak Vladcik.

I definitely had some rough times at the academy. Its your friends on the team that get you through though, pick you up after a bad game, help you keep your head on straight. Above all, it's just the culture, that when things are bad, you put your head down and work until they get better. When I look back at it now, I don't think there's any other way I could've gotten here.

Team Selection for Matchdays 7 and 8 against Verceola and Barunia:

GK: Stovar Krieven, Dagmund Zarek, Marzanna Furnadjiev
LB: Valda Harkhan, Jirar Malgos
RB: Reuter Storsjo, Bruenna Savo
CB: Rudi Dalso, Walda Harkhan, Svardo Vrboska, Aryel Ciernik
DM: Shrike Hagaz, Selvala Tabur
LM: Jzeovak Vladcik, Lavanya Naqvi, Izoni Hocij
RM: Oliwer Starosta
CM: Jirar Lomidan, Mithya Hashemi, Viordar Rebljeten
ST: Lyzolda Petrov, Kaalia Gerstlauer, Jeska Verhulst

SRS Qualifying Schedule:

MD 1: SRS 2-2 EUS @ Green Heart Center (cap. 20,760), Han Wavel, Han Dold, SRS
MD 2: ZWZ 0-1 SRS @ City Athletic Venue, Arlington, ZWZ
MD 3: SRS 1-2 SCO @ Albrechtsson Park (cap. 65,400), Damogran, Algolia, SRS
MD 4: WUD 0-2 SRS @ TBA
MD 5: SRS 3-2  LGL @ The Lutenstaad (cap. 75,000), Lutenblag, Molvania, SRS
MD 6: LDS 0-0 SRS @ TBA
MD 7: SRS  v  FVR @ Emerald Coast Colosseum (cap. 31,200), Vassilian, Algolia, SRS
MD 8: BAU  v  SRS @ Sun Stadium (cap. 95,000), Porthaven, Havenia, BAU
MD 9: SRS  v  AFT @ Viltvodle Civic Arena (cap. 58,300), Viltvodle, Megabrantis, SRS
MD10: EUS  v  SRS @ TBA
MD11: SRS  v  ZWZ @ Raftel Park (cap. 59,870), Chalesm, Megabrantis, SRS
MD12: SCO  v  SRS @ Revolution Stadium (cap. 42,000), Riverview, SCO
MD13: SRS  v  WUD @ Henkmar Field (cap. 29,850), Brasta, Sivolvia, SRS
MD14: LGL  v  SRS @ TBA
MD15: SRS  v  LDS @ Flanoil Arena (cap. 50,350), Traal, West Flania, SRS
MD16: FVR  v  SRS @ TBA
MD17: SRS  v  BAU @ Olympiastad (cap. 47,550), Arkintoofle, Megabrantis, SRS
MD18: AFT  v  SRS @ TBA