NS World Cup of Masters (35+ football) Everything Thread

[Sarzonia]

The goal scoring drought was even more frustrating for Matt Lynch than he let on.

Sure, the Sarzonian over-35 national team were through to the knockout rounds and were about to kick off against Sylestone at the shiny new Shipyard Stadium in Wilmington. Sure, they were there because Will Brantley was playing some of the best football of his career, even better than his days as the starting goalkeeper for a team appearing in the World Cup finals. Sure, they were one of the stingiest defensive teams of this World Cup of Masters.

But Lynch was rueing missed opportunities that could have turned drab scoreless draws into victories. Victories that would have given Sarzonia better position in the knockout rounds than here in Wilmington. They wanted to stay in Woodstock and play at Dave Wilson Stadium. They would have gladly settled for Nicksia and Mike Sarzo Stadium, but they were relegated to playing here and playing a foe with a better record because Lynch lost his scoring touch.

He still muttered to himself after the match, but at least he had a 56th minute goal to ease some of the frustrations. It proved to be the only goal of the match and Sarzonia slipped past Sylestone 1-0, earning a trip up north to Portland to face The Jovannic, which also won its match 1-0, defeating Darmen in a shock upset that sent the team with the best record overall packing.

"It felt good to get off the schneid," Lynch said. "I was beginning to lose confidence in myself."

"They're rounding into good form," manager Tyrone Manningham said of The Jovannic, which slipped in as the number eight seeds despite a 3-2-3 record in Group 4. "They looked dead in the water in the first half of qualifying but woke up just in the nick of time."

Second seeded New Waldensia defeated No. 7 Northwest Kalactin 3-2 and Kriegiersien knocked out Megistos 3-2. Those teams will play each other at The Shipyard, which Kriegiersien have taken to as sort of a home away from home. At least the maintenance staff will have more time to clean up if their guests trash the dressing room again.

[Sarzonia]

Four teams remain in this competition to see which collection of older players will be able to recapture the glory days of the past or write a new legacy.

All four teams are [url=https://youtu.be/KYc5H7VvZbc]almost there, but only one team will be able to walk off the pitch at Dave Wilson Stadium with championship dreams fulfilled. We're about ready to find out who. RP cutoff!

Semifinal at The Iron Bowl in Portland
New Waldensia 0-1 Kriegiersien

Semifinal at Shipyard Stadium in Wilmington
Sarzonia v. The Jovannic

Third Place Playoff at Mike Sarzo Stadium in Nicksia
New Waldensia v. Sarzonia-The Jovannic losee

Final at Dave Wilson Stadium in Woodstock
Kriegiersien v. Sarzonia-The Jovannic winner

[Delaclava]

Semifinal at Shipyard Stadium in Wilmington
Sarzonia 0–0 (2–0 AET) The Jovannic

Third Place Playoff at Mike Sarzo Stadium in Nicksia
New Waldensia v. The Jovannic

Final at Dave Wilson Stadium in Woodstock
Kriegiersien v. Sarzonia

[Kriegiersien]

The Kriegiersiens returned to Wilmington for the semi final. The bars and tourist information were happy, the people who to had clean up behind them not.

And the players from New Waldensia weren’t either. Wilhelm Freesinger made his first goal, swirling around one of the many Goalkeepers of the opponent, scoring the winning goal.
On the other side Sissy Looper saved shots in a form long not seen.




So it was the goodbye for Wilmington, on to the final. To Woodstock. To the capital. To glory. The opponent yet to figure out.



On the bus the team was singing.
“
Who helped up the drunken orc,
who helped up the drunken orc,
who helped up the drunken orc
and then stole his gold?

We drank away his money,
we drank away his money,
we drank away his money
until to the morning.

Who sits therefor in prison,
who sits therefor in prison,
who sits therefor in prison?
it’s the bloody orc!
“

Timon Haudels stopped the drunken caterwauling.

“Guys and madam. I am honored to be captain and part of the team..”
“Hear, hear!”
“A team of legends. Of names bigger than their bodies.."
Laughter erupted.
"At the beginning I doubted that you are the epic legends I heard of..”
“Boooo!”
“..but in the last days I have seen why. We...you stormed into the final and I couldn’t be more proud to be able to play with you in this tournament of Masters of their craft. A shame that you never played international for Kriegiersien. Cheers.”
The team rejoiced. Gert Lessels stood up, staggering.
“But we do now. And if we are in the final, why not win this thing? Whoever comes, we beat them! If not for Kriegeesi..Krii… for our nation, then for us! Let’s become World Champion!”
“Of the masters.”
“But World Champion!”
Everyone joined in.

Later they watched together the other semi-final. At least the ones who didn’t fall asleep. It was Sarzonia, the host, a team with younger, World Cup experienced players who won in Overtime. But that was the final Haudels always had wished for. And the others were ok with it, too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t93PJlv3EgQ&ab_channel=DRoy

[Sarzonia]

Matt Lynch might not win the most valuable player of this newly-established tournament. He might not even be the most valuable player on his team right now.

But with the Sarzonian over-35 national team now one victory away from lifting a brand new championship trophy, he doesn't particularly care.

"I'd rather not score a single goal and see us win a title than score goals and have us lose," Lynch said.

He scored the first goal of the extra sessions after Sarzonia and Sylestone played to a goalless draw and assisted on a marker by fellow forward and Incorporated Football Federation Chairman Zack Wilson in Sarzonia's 2-0 victory after extra time in a match played at the new Iron Bowl in Portland. The Senior Stars will face Kriegiersien, who defeated New Waldensia 1-0 in the other semifinal at Shipyard Stadium in Wilmington.

The Senior Stars have a collection of players that played football at the highest levels and couldn't quite pull off a championship. Their best finish was a victory in the third place playoff during the World Cup 47 cycle. Now, they have a chance at a consolation prize that may be new, but potentially could grow in prestige if the tournament gathers support in the international footballing community.

"It'd be nice if this tournament could gather support, but we're going to take this seriously whether it does or not," he said.

For Sarzonia, their MVP would most likely be goalkeeper Will Brantley, who hasn't allowed a goal since Sarzonia's last defeat, 1-0 to Northwest Kalactin on the second matchday of the World Cup of Masters. He's currently riding a goalless streak of 732 minutes and has strung together a streak of eight consecutive clean sheets.

"We've all just gotten into a better rhythm since the second matchday," Brantley said. "It took us a little bit of time to find our legs again, but we've really started playing to better form. I mean, I don't think we could beat the likes of an in form Banija or Nephara, but we're certainly doing well for ourselves."

Manager Tyrone Manningham said Kriegiersien side would pose "a great challenge," and added that their penchant for exploring all that Wilmington had to offer was well known among the Senior Stars players.

"They've been having the most fun of anyone in this tournament including us," he said. "They've shown a lot of spirit and their media have been the most active in covering this tournament. We expect it will be a great atmosphere at Dave Wilson Stadium. IFF officials said they've been notified by stadium personnel that the game was sold out of the usual allotment of 70,000 tickets and would open additional seating to the stated 105,900 capacity for the Final.

"This final isn't going to compete with a home match, so we're going to have the venue to ourselves," Manningham told reporters. "It'll be nice to see a sold out crowd cheering the teams on. Even if a significant number of supporters would be supporting Kriegiersien.

"That atmosphere's going to be unreal," he said.

[Sarzonia]

Two teams are still fighting for the right to lift a brand new trophy aloft after aa tournament that started out with 20 teams and a dream.

Those two teams will play tonight. In the meantime, we'll find out which team claimed the consolation prize of a third place playoff victory after this RP cutoff!

Third Place Playoff at Mike Sarzo Stadium in Nicksia

New Waldensia 1-0 The Jovannic

[Delaclava]

Final at Dave Wilson Stadium in Woodstock

Kriegiersien 0–4 Sarzonia

[Sarzonia]

Players like Matt Lynch, Zack Wilson, and Will Brantley weren't able to add a second World Cup title to Sarzonia's collection of international trophies when they plied their trade with the Sarzonian national football team.

Playing in the first World Cup of Masters as the first-ever over-35 national team in Sarzonia's history, they finally earned a consolation prize worthy of firing up a round of Guitar Hero one more time. Lynch led the Senior Stars with a hat trick, Wilson added a goal and two assists, and Brantley made seven saves en route to his ninth consecutive clean sheet and Sarzonia claimed a 4-0 victory over Kriegiersien to capture a championship many on the team thought was years overdue.

"That match was a lot tougher than the scoreline will tell you," said Lynch, who earned the most valuable player of the match while Brantley captured the MVP of the tournament. "That team over there is a better team than even they thought they were."

Sarzonia wasted little time hitting the scoresheet through a Lynch goal, as he worked a combination with midfielder Ettore Salivani, Jr. and fired a rising shot past the goalkeeper to give the host nation Stars a 1-0 lead just six minutes into the match. The goal energised the largely Sarzonian crowd that packed into Dave Wilson Stadium, silencing the roughly 30,000 Kriegiersien supporters who brought great enthusiasm and energy into a cavernous stadium that was sold out for the first time in the tournament.

Sarzonia would make it 2-0 through another Lynch goal as his pressure forced a turnover near the 18-yard box and he faked out the Kriegiersien defender and beat the keeper with a blast that recalled some of his best goals during his World Cup career. That 26th minute tally would put the pressure on the "home" side from Kriegiersien, who were so designated as the highest remaining seed in the tournament ahead of No. 4 Sarzonia.

Wilson would provide Sarzonia with a third goal and all the momentum heading into the dressing room at halftime with a cheeky shot that just sailed over the outstretched glove of the goalkeeper and into the net in the 44th minute of the first half. Wilson exulted in celebration, letting out the kind of yell he'd otherwise been too reserved to through the rest of the tournament.

Finally, with Kriegiersien essentially abandoning any attempt at defence in the vain hope of clawing back into the match, Lynch provided the on-pitch exclamation point with his third goal, and from there, it was up to the Senior Stars midfield to keep Kriegiersien from threatening the now-massive lead Sarzonia built up.

Four minutes of stoppage time later, the Delaclav referee blew their whistle with four short bursts and the 70,122 Sarzonia supporters in the stands let out a long cheer. They'd seen players they grew up watching and falling short of glory finally win a title. They watched Lynch cry tears of cathartic joy years after his tears of frustration and anguish at Sarzonia falling short of a World Cup title. They watched Brantley earn his stripes as a star goalkeeper with a total goalless streak of 462 minutes.

They saw Tyrone Manningham lift his arms high into the night sky in Woodstock as his charges ran, power walked or ambled toward the centre circle to celebrate a championship in this first of its kind tournament. Now Manningham could look forward to turning from Wilson's coach to being his subordinate sitting across from him as Wilson the Incorporated Football Federation chairman evaluated Manningham's performance as the coach of a team that included Wilson the player.

It was a night that a team of World Cup veterans finally managed to earn some silverware they felt was long overdue. And it was a night when grown men were allowed to exult like children one last time for posterity's sake.

[Kriegiersien]

0:4 in the final against Sarzonia.


They had made history. The first Kriegiersien soccer team to reach a final.
The first sport team that lost a final outside the Olympics.

The second part made the coach a bit unhappy.

“I think we lost a bit too high. Around four goals too high! I thought we had overcome the worst after the 0-3 against The Jovannic, but I was wrong”, ranted Haudels.
“At least it wasn’t double digits”, grumbled the Keeper.



Kriegiersien fan after the 1:0


Another Kriegiersien fan after the 26th minute



“At least we won something. While for Sarzonia it is just the consolation prize after a career of ‘only’ third places in World Cups, for us the silver medal is gold”, said Wilhelm Freesinger.

Freesinger also got an award for “oldest player to score with the left foot” while the most other prizes went to Sarzonia, even “team with the most red cards” and “fairest team” what looked a bit suspicious for some spectators.


Most of the team are happy to come back home for a heroes welcome but Topscorer Alberz said that “having a nice vacation with clothes on was great”, before pulled away by the Coach.