NS World Cup of Masters III Everything Thread

[Sarzonia]

Let's start the second half of the group stage with this RP CUTOFF!

Group 1
HUELavia 2-0 Sarzonia
Lorrana 4-0 Britland Isles

- Group 1              Pld   W  W D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts
1 Lorrana                4   2  1  1   10   4  +6   7
2 HUElavia               4   2  1  1    6   4  +2   7
3 Britland Isles         4   1  1  2    3   8  -5   4
4 Sarzonia               4   1  1  2    2   5  -3   4

Lorrana ahead of HUELavia on head-to-head result
Britland Isles ahead of Sarzonia on head-to-head result.

Group 2
Abanhfleft 7-0 Grey County*
Delaclava 4-1 Srednjaci
*This is believed to be the widest margin of victory in WCOM history

- Group 2              Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts
1 Delaclava              4   3  0  1   13   6  +7   9
2 Abanhfleft             4   3  0  1   12   5  +7   9
3 Grey County            4   1  0  3    4  12  -8   3
4 Srednjaci              4   1  0  3    6  10  -4   3

Delaclava ahead of Abanhfleft on head-to-head result.
Grey County ahead of Srednjaci on head-to-head result.

Group 3
BohemiaIV 1-0 Kriegiersien
Garbelia 0-2 Hebitaka

- Group 3              Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts
1 Kriegiersien           4   3  0  1    7   3  +4   9
2 Garbelia               4   2  0  2    6   5  +1   6
3 Hebitaka               4   2  0  2    5   7  -2   6
4 BohemiaIV              4   1  0  3    5   7  -2   3

Garbelia ahead of Hebitaka on RP bonus.

Group 4
Qasden 4-1 Sannyamathland
Atheara 3-0 Juvenis

- Group 4              Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts
1 Atheara                4   3  1  0    8   3  +5  10
2 Qasden                 4   3  0  1   10   6  +4   9
3 Juvenis                4   0  2  2    7  11  -4   2
4 Sannyamathland         4   0  1  3    7  12  -5   1

Both Atheara and Qasden are through to the knockout rounds, as neither Juvenis nor Sannyamathland can surpass them in points.

[Delaclava]

Molters the class of the MWC after avenging Srendjaci defeat

Euphranor Papadimitrou scored two goals for the fourth game in a row, and Denys Havrylyuk and Jüri Ilves added tallies as the Delaclava over-35 team defeated their Srednjaci counterparts 4-1 to win their third consecutive game in the World Cup of Masters.

Delaclava had sought to avenge an opening 3-2 defeat against the Srednjaci squad, and captain Ronaldo Carvalho admitted that was on the team's minds. "This is a tournament, not a revenge tour," the midfielder explained, "but that said, in this format it's nice to go out there and right your past wrongs, then move on to bigger fish."

And given the manner in which that game proceeded, with Delaclava blowing a 2-0 halftime lead, it was understandable why the Molters were not entirely satisfied to grab the same lead against the same opponent. Havrylyuk opened the scoring in the 11th minute by heading in a cross off the boot of Rigoberto Colon, lengthening his own goal-scoring streak to three games. Papadimitrou doubled the lead in the 37th minute after some fine individual work splitting the defense, finished by a give-and-go with Ronaldo Carvalho that set up the Ossiana FC striker for an easy tap-in past Danijel Šurić.

"That whole, a two-goal lead is the most dangerous, that's crap," Carvalho said. "But for sure, we knew our work wasn't done after 45 minutes. We already learned the hard way against this opponent."

Instead, the Phoenixes continued to dominate the possession metric and take away the ball almost at will in the middle third, with the back line of Jardine, Novikov, and Wozniak ready to put an end to any budding attacks. Ilves got his page started in the MWC scoring book in the 65th minute, hammering the ball home from 24 yards after a failed clear, and Papadimitrou completed his brace in the 72nd minute with a similar long-distance shot on the counterattack that seemed to catch the defense off guard. The Phoenixes had taken full control for all ninety minutes, and it was purely academic that Srednjaci went for broke and spoiled Vazha Gelashvili's clean sheet with a goal from Mislav Matković in the 91st minute.

With their third win in succession, Delaclava now currently stands arguably with the best form in the entire tournament. Although Atheara in Group 4 has a superior 3-1-0 record, Delaclava is tied for the highest goal differential at +7 - and that without the assistance of a needless blowout such as Abanhfleft's 7-0 drubbing of Grey County. Rather, the elder Phoenixes have consistently shown superior skill and tactics to the competition, save for their opening day collapse. Papadimitrou has taken charge as the best player in the tournament - only three teams have scored more goals than him. And with Kriegiersien suffering their first loss to a previously-winless BohemiaIV in Group 3, and Sarzonia still trying to stumble out of Group 1, it seems the World Cup of Masters may be craving a new champion - and the Molters would be more than happy to step up.

"We don't think we're getting ahead of ourselves," manager and striker Baghdasar Parsamyan insisted. "Of course we're going to go one game at a time. But we also know exactly what we set out to do. We've known coming in we were going to have one of the toughest squads, and we came to win. So we're not just setting out to win the game in front of us - we're going to take the steps to make sure we're ready for the late stages."

For now, the immediate challenge is Grey County; Delaclava took the first meeting 3-0. Grey County will be looking to save some face after the record-setting loss to Abanhfleft, but there doesn't seem to be a lot of hope to do that in this matchup. But between now and that seemingly inevitable result are 90 minutes in which anything can happen. Technically speaking.

[Sarzonia]

If the Sarzonian over-35 national football team are going to qualify for the knockout stages for the third time in the three-edition history of the NS World Cup of Masters, they'd better get in gear fast.

The Senior Stars lost their away fixture to HUElavia 2-0, leaving them in fourth place because of the head-to-head tiebreaker with Britland Isles. Lorrana's 4-0 victory over Britland Isles places them in first place in Group 1 owing to their head-to-head result against HUElavia.

"it's frustrating," said goalkeeper Will Brantley, whom manager Tyrone Manningham pulled from the match in the 41st minute following the second goal from Los Amarillos. Brantley and Manningham exchanged words before the former took his place on the players bench. Following the match, both said "it's over" when asked about any lingering effects of the dispute.

"It's just competitiveness," said Manningham. "Will didn't think he played that badly, and truthfully, he was right. I just felt the team needed to wake up."

Brantley agreed, saying he understood where Manningham was coming from, but he felt he was being blamed for the team's struggles defensively.

"It's the nature of the beast as a goalie," he said. "You sometimes get credit you don't deserve. You sometimes get blame you don't deserve. That's just football."

The Senior Stars (1-1-2, four points) will have to get on track with their offence, as they've only scored two goals in their four matches. Striker Matt Lynch said the teams in their group have focused their energy on stopping him and have utilised aggressive marking to keep the Senior Stars off the score sheet.

"We've gotta make adjustments," he said. "We see how these teams are attacking our offence and we need to adapt to what they're doing."

A victory or a draw by Lorrana may not advance the newcomers over the Senior Stars, but a draw would leave the Senior Stars four points behind the current first place side with one match to play. It also leaves the Senior Stars in a position to need help from Britland Isles in the form of a victory over Los Amarillos, but if Sarzonia and Britland Isles were to both win their matches, it would leave all four teams level on points and then everything would depend on the sixth and final matchday.

"It's interesting," Manningham said. "Like the old curse 'may you live in interesting times'."

Note: Organisers of a potential Senior Football Alliance consisting of over-35 players are seeking financial backing to establish a six-team league that would play a 20-match schedule. Bank of Sarzonia governors are still debating whether to fund a venture that would establish a league that would begin play five weeks after the final match in the current World Cup of Masters.

Alliance organisers have confirmed interest in placing franchises in Portland, Woodstock, Wilmington, and Nicksia. Saugerties is also in discussions as a fifth city. A sixth city is also in the works, but questions about whether the sixth city would be Sarzonian or Delaclav are bogging down the negotiations.

[Abanhfleft]

DISCLAIMER: Gaelic Gamers is an independents sports blogging website created by four cousins with a common liking and passion for sports of all kinds and is in no way or form affiliated with or organized by any official news organization in the Democratic Republic of Abanhfleft. All statements and opinions posted here are our own and not anyone else's.

---

Gaelic Gamers
Presents...

The Football Fallacies
with The Man from Markovsky

WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY OVER-35 TEAM?

Hello and welcome to The Football Fallacies. Right, can someone who's an expert in time travel and multiverses and whatnot come to Sarzonia and take a look at Abanhfleft's over-35 women's football team? Because for some reason this bunch of old ladies have managed to turn back the clock to their prime footballing days, and they just handed Grey County the biggest spanking the World Cup of Masters has ever seen! I mean, just look at the carnage! Seven-bloody-nil! I'm not lying when I said that this was the biggest margin of victory the World Cup of Masters has ever seen. Even the bloody Sarzonians themselves have come out and said so. Christ above, if I was any one of Grey County's players, I'm getting on the very first flight out of Sarzonia towards anywhere else other than back home. There's just no coming back from this! The only way that these players can get rid of the memory of this 7-0 loss is to beat us 8-0 or something crazy like that. Other than that, the shame just sticks to them forever. That's just the way things are.

Take a look at that score sheet if you want to receive a blast from the past. Chelsea Stuart hat trick, Alex Rousseau brace, assists from Torres, Prescott, Singh, and Maynard, and even Claudine goddamn Samaniego finding the back of the bloody net! Yeah, yeah, sure, Claudine Samaniego's an inspiring woman who overcame the odds and had a pretty successful career alongside being a single mother (at the time. I do believe she's married now), but for us Markovsky fans, she's got a bit of a different reputation. Christ above, this is the same woman who literally broke Felicity Ambrose's leg in two! And people still have the temerity to be angry at us Markovskites when we boo her. I just don't get it.

Also, can we talk about Chelsea Stuart turning back the clock fifteen years and scoring her first hat trick in God knows how many years since? That woman out there may have been out of the beautiful game for eight years, but the way she just turned those Grey County defenders inside out for her second goal is just proof positive that class is permanent. There are some things that you can learn and get better at through constant and continued training, and then there are other things that just remain with you for your whole life. They're not learned, they just are.

But now let's talk about Grey County. Look, I know that this is supposed to be a tournament for players over the age of 35 and so, but even then, how the fuck do you let yourself ship seven goals in a single game? Granted, the World Cup of Masters is not on the level of, say, the Independent Associations Championship or the Melayu Archipelago Cup, but even then. Shipping seven goals is just awful football, if you ask me. No matter what level you're at or what age, whether it's in the World Cup or the freaking National Conference, whether you're in the under-18s or the over-35s, you just don't concede seven goals in a game and expect to come out with your dignity intact. You just don't. It's physically impossible. All known laws of science say that there is no way to actually recover from this, aside from the aforementioned 8-0 revenge beating. But given that this is the second time we've played Grey County in this competition, and they're not likely to get out of the group stage anytime soon, they won't get their revenge on us just yet. Although I do dread the day when that comes. Anyway, that's all that there is from me. If you have any comments of your own about this game then feel free to leave them down below. Until then, I've been the Man from Markovsky, still disappointed in our country because why couldn't we have been this good consistently when these girls were still actually playing? Christ above...

            ABANHFLEFT 7 - 0 GREY COUNTY
    ROUSSEAU (5', 49')
          TORRES (18')
STUART (30', 35', 68')
       SAMANIEGO (83')

[Garbelia]

Results for the tournament thus far:

MD1:
Hebitaka 0-2 Garbelia
             Scratchington (54, 78)

MD2:
Garbelia 1-2 Kriegiersien
Fishor (75) Alberz (5, 90+3)

MD3:
Garbelia                    3-1 BohemiaIV
Scratchington (14,39,67)    Cole (85)

MD4:
Garbelia 0-2 Hebitaka
           UNKNOWN (45, 81)

Best players: Lutra Scratchington (5 goals), Oti Rivered (3 assists), Otta Trootzon (1 assist, conceded 2 goals), Mewsle Fishor (1 goal)

Fan opinions:

@Otterface Wow. I want these oldies to come back and play. Lutra must have a few years of service left in her? A contract, please!
@Lutra_Otto_Rules Otta Trootzon, take a bow. I'll take you over the knackered guy we have right now.
@OTTERZ Get out Arthur Goodotter! #bringbacklutra

[Lorrana]

Match Review: Lorrana 4-0 Britland Isles

Epav redirected Mopir Keposlar's cross for the go-ahead goal in the 60th minute, second-half substitute Yavozam Bisir added a pair of goals, and Lorrana beat the Britland Isles 4-0 in the group stage of the Masters' Cup in Sarzonia. Mopir Keposlar had a goal and two assists for Lorrana, scoring his first goals in almost 6 years. Playing two days after his 37th birthday, Epav scored just after Epmi Ond hit the crossbar. Substitutes were waiting on the sidelines at the time to come in for both Epav and Ond.

Bisir, who replaced Ond, scored on a right-foot shot from just inside the penalty area in the 73rd minute off a short pass from Mopir Keposlar. Bisir scored again in the 78th, scoring on a right-foot shot from 8 yards, and Keposlar scored on a sliding shot from 3 yards in the first minute of stoppage time off a cross from Adald Esso, another second-half sub.

Lorrana has two group stage matches left.

The Masters' Cup is limited to players 35 and older.

- Group 1              Pld   W  W D  L  GF  GA  GD  Pts
1 Lorrana                4   2  1  1    10   4  +6   7
2 HUElavia               4   2  1  1     6   4  +2   7
3 Britland Isles         4   1  1  2     3   8  -5   4
4 Sarzonia               4   1  1  2     2   5  -3   4

Lorrana ahead of HUELavia on head-to-head result
Britland Isles ahead of Sarzonia on head-to-head result.

[Sarzonia]

We'll get one step closer to deciding what the knockout rounds will look like after we cut off RPs now!

Group 1
Sarzonia 1-2 Lorrana
Britland Isles 3-1 HUElavia

-           
Group 1                 Pld  W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts
1 Lorrana                5   3  1  1   12   5  +7  10
2 HUElavia               5   2  1  2    7   7   0   7
3 Britland Isles         5   2  1  2    6   9  -3   7
4 Sarzonia               5   1  1  3    3   7  -4   4

Notes: Lorrana have qualified because neither HUElavia nor Britland Isles can overtake them on tiebreakers. Sarzonia are eliminated because they cannot overcome tiebreakers.

Group 2
Grey County 0-1 Delaclava
Srednjaci 1-2 Abanhfleft

- Group 2              Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts
1 Delaclava              5   4  0  1   14   6  +8  12
2 Abanhfleft             5   4  0  1   14   6  +8  12
3 Grey County            5   1  0  4    4  13  -9   3
4 Srednjaci              5   1  0  4    7  12  -5   3

The Abanhfleft-Delaclava match will determine which team win the group and which team finish as runners up.

Group 3
Kriegiersien 4-2 Garbelia
BohemiaIV 2-0 Hebitaka

- Group 3              Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts
1 Kriegiersien           5   4  0  1   11   5  +6  12
2 Garbelia               5   2  0  3    8   9  -1   6
3 Hebitaka               5   2  0  3    5   9  -4   6
4 BohemiaIV              5   2  0  3    7   7   0   6

Kriegiersien have qualified.
Three-way tie sorted first by head-to-head between Garbelia and BohemiaIV, which favours Garbelia. Garbelia ahead of Hebitaka on total goal differential, as head-to-head results and head-to-head goal differential are level.

Group 4
Sannyamathland 2-0 Atheara
Juvenis 3 Qasden

- Group 4              Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts
1 Atheara                5   3  1  1    8   5 +3  10
2 Qasden                 5   3  0  2   11   9  +2   9
3 Juvenis                5   1  2  2   10  12  -2   5
4 Sannyamathland         5   1  1  3    9  12  -3   4

Both Atheara and Qasden are through to the knockout rounds, as neither Juvenis nor Sannyamathland can surpass them in points.

[Atheara]

@ASRHO (Athearan Sports and Recreational Hobby Organization) Posted:
Matchday Results So Far
MD 1:
Atheara 1 - 1 Juvenis
Qasden 2 - 1 Sannyamathland

MD 2:
Atheara 2 - 1 Sannyamathland
Qasden 3 - 2 Juvenis

MD 3:
Atheara 2 - 1 Qasden
Sannyamathland 4 - 4 Juvenis

MD 4:
Atheara 3 - 0 Juvenis
Qasden 4 - 1 Sannyamathland

MD 5:
Atheara 0 - 2 Sannyamathland
Qasden 1 - 3 Juvenis

Any opinions so far, fellow Athearans and Sport fans?

Comments:
@dystopain Damn, both Atheara and Qasden got an upset. I guess Match 6 is gonna be more thrilling. I AM BUYING TICKETS RIGHT NOW!
Reply from @ASRHO
You better do it! The hype is too much to pass!

@JustANorFa Oh yes, yes. This is what i expected. How did this happen?
Reply from @ASRHO
Don't know. Only time can tell. We should be going to the Quarter Finals no matter the result, but a win would be best!

@WoodStock Jeez, we were on a run. Well that's fine, i expect some miracle to happen.
Reply from @ASRHO
We also expect it! Join us by watching the match later!

[Kriegiersien]

The Schoenwetter Herald

Sport – Soccer

NS World Cup of Masters III

Kriegiersien 4-2 Garbelia
Goals for Kriegiersien: Peter Boneyard, Hannes-Noah Travemünder ,Wilhelm Freesinger, Di Bradini77

After beating the squad from Garbelia in an entertaining game with 4-2 the World Champion is already qualified. 68.276 people wanted to see the otters beaten by Kriegiersien and the team to go to Sarzonia. Or vice versa. Before they had lost 0-1 to Bohemia, who with two wins in a row now have a chance to qualify again.

Rumours that the team would play their last world championship were confirmed by Wilhelm Freesinger: „This will be our last time at the World Cup, it is time to let younger old players to compete for Kriegiersien“, and debunked by Marky Mark: „We will never stop!“


In the other groups other thrilling events shocked the world.

Abanhfleft destroyed Grey County in a historical record win 7-0 and is also already qualified, like Lorrana, Delaclava, Atheara and Qasden. But shockingly first edition winner and both time final opponent for Kriegiersien, host Sarzonia, won’t qualify for the World Cup, after losing 1-2 against Lorrana.

That the host isn‘t already qualified and then even misses the qualification is a rare sight. Hopefully this won‘t discourage the audience.

“Well, at least we can’t lose against Sarzonia this time”, said Coach Haudels, “but as long as these damned Abanhfleftis are there, we have to prevent them from stealing us a trophy again.”

[Abanhfleft]

DISCLAIMER: Gaelic Gamers is an independents sports blogging website created by four cousins with a common liking and passion for sports of all kinds and is in no way or form affiliated with or organized by any official news organization in the Democratic Republic of Abanhfleft. All statements and opinions posted here are our own and not anyone else's.

---

Gaelic Gamers
Presents...

The Football Fallacies
with The Man from Markovsky

I DO NOT LIKE WHERE THIS IS GOING

Hello and welcome to The Football Fallacies. Right, so we're in matchday five of six in the 3rd World Cup of Masters here in Sarzonia. We're just fresh off of the biggest victory this tournament has ever seen, and you can say that the mood is once again good. So when it came time to play Srednjaci for the second time this tournament we were all like "Get ready to have some more fun, girls!" You know, because I was talking about the women's national team. You got it? All right, got it.

Okay, Srednjaci versus Abanhfleft 2: Electric Boogaloo. Could we be about to witness a replay of The Demolishing of Grey County? Eh... not exactly. If we're going to stick to the movie and television theme, this is literally a new season recycling the plot of an older season! Oh, you know exactly which TV series I'm talking about here. At least Srednjaci had the bastard decency to let us score first this time around instead of actually repeating every single plot point there is and thinking that none of us are going to notice. Oh yes, I'm never going to let them live it down, and I'm going to make sure I've got others who are as dedicated to this particular cause as I am.

All right, before I distract myself even further, let's get back to talking about the match itself. So we scored the first goal of this game, and it looks like we're going to cruise to yet another win. And then Antonio Lozanovic comes out of nowhere and strikes a beauty of a shot straight into the top right corner! Scoring a goal like that at any age is always going to be a special event. The only thing I hate about it is that it was bloody scored against us. If Lozanovic had scored it against Grey County or Delaclava, I would probably be able to appreciate it in its entirety. But because he scored it against us, I'm not gonna lie. I'm kinda biased against it!

You can see throughout the entire shot that Patty Foulke never even bothers to go for it. Now, for the vast majority of my life as a Ludogorets fan, Patty Foulke has been the bane of my existence, simply because she turns into prime James Tarragona whenever she plays against the Ludogorets Ladies! Christ above, every time I saw her name on the team sheet I would just pray and hope that she would slip up even just once so Ludogorets would at least have a bastard chance against Rosen City. Of course I would have to bite the bullet and hope that all those accumulated prayers didn't get granted when Fat Patty plays for the national team, but more often than not that's exactly what happens. But this, well, I guess this is a little bit excusable. First of all, it's a wonderstrike. Not even the absolute best goalkeeper in the multiverse is going to have even a shadow of a chance of stopping that bastard ball from finding the back of the net, so Fat Patty was all right in thinking "Why even bother?" Second of all, Fat Patty's been out of the game for what? Ten years or more already? The rustiness is very much obvious from where I'm standing. The only reason Abanhfleft ever remained in this game was because our defenders were still able to defend. Imagine that! A defensive line actually able to defend! It's a downright miracle! Clearly these lasses need to teach every single defender in Abanhfleft a lesson about the subtle and not-so-subtle art of defending. Some of them actually bloody need it! Also, there's that weight problem that Fat Patty has, or had. She was big on the body positivity scene a few years back, but it appears she's dropped quite a few pounds between then and now, so I guess she decided that she liked being able to continue playing if the possibility came around. I don't know, don't judge me?!

Anyway, Chelsea Stuart was the hero once again, bailing us out in the 75th minute with an excellent header off of a Cecilia Johnson corner, and now we are set up for yet another date with destiny, and destiny's name is Delaclava. The game between us and Delaclava is literally for the group itself. It's going to determine who's on top of the group and who has to settle for second place. Currently, we're in second place because Delaclava beat us last time around. Now I don't know what to expect from this team of old ladies, but what I do know is that we might just see Steph Bryan back in between the sticks. Goalkeeper rotation is oh so important to the national team after all. Apart from that, it's a complete bastard toss-up. We could win, they could win. And I don't know which one will be more unexpected. Anyway, that's all there is for me. If you've got any comments about our game against Srednjaci or predictions against Delaclava, feel free to leave them down below. Until then, I've been the Man from Markovsky, feeling like I'm about to be disappointed in our country once again.

██████SREDNJACI 1 - 2 ABANHFLEFT
LOZANOVIC (38')       TORRES (15')
                      STUART (75')

[Lorrana]

Sarzonia Stars 1-2 Lorrana Veterans

Lorrana beat hosts Sarzonia 2-1 in the second to last matchday of the group stage and confirmed their advancement into the Round of 16.

Meanwhile, Sarzonia was eliminated from making it into further rounds.

Lorrana had two goals disallowed in the first half - first when Aida Liazar's header was ruled out by the VAR and then when Oanleia was well offside before slotting home.

They led when Ezai smashed home at the near post from Epmi Ond's cross.

Sarzonia was level when defender Zoey Lawson volleyed in from Joanne Carter-Walsh's corner.

But Lorrana scored the winner just before the hour mark, as Ezai fed Oanleia, who beat two defenders before poking home.

Tonight, Lorrana plays their final group stage match against Huelavia

-           
Group 1                 Pld  W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts
1 Lorrana                5   3  1  1   12   5  +7  10
2 Huelavia               5   2  1  2    7   7   0   7
3 Britland Isles         5   2  1  2    6   9  -3   7
4 Sarzonia               5   1  1  3    3   7  -4   4

Notes: Lorrana have qualified because neither Huelavia nor Britland Isles can overtake them on tiebreakers. Sarzonia are eliminated because they cannot overcome tiebreakers.

[Delaclava]

In Grey County snoozefest, Gelashvili stays wide awake

Euphranor Papadimitrou scored his ninth goal of the tournament on a 27th-minute penalty, Vazha Gelashvili made eight saves, including three in the final five minutes, and a lackluster Delaclava squad managed a 1-0 victory over Grey County to qualify for the World Cup of Masters quarterfinals.

“It was a tough outing for us,” manager Baghdasar Parsamyan said. “Some days it’s hard to get out of the rocking chairs and play. Just a win on those days is good enough.”

Midfielder Ronaldo Carvalho admitted it was hard to stay focused for the game, knowing how they had previously defeated Grey County and after watching Abanhfleft destroy them 7-0. “It may sound harsh, but that’s not a quality squad, just not on our level at all. So we weren’t fully dialed in, we made some mistakes. It happens.”

Indeed, the Phoenixes only managed to possess the ball 58% of the time, routinely giving the ball away in the midfield, with Carvalho and Jan Wagner among the more serial culprits with bad passing and loose ball-handling. The Phoenixes got their lone tally after a strike from Denys Havrylyuk was batted down by a defender’s hand. Papadimitrou easily buried the penalty in the bottom left corner.

Other than that, the game largely remained in the middle third, with lackluster attacking from both teams. Fans and even some of the bench players could be observed yawning and nodding off. An entire section of spectators was huddled under blankets despite the mild 65-degree weather, completing crossword puzzles rather than taking in the game at hand.

The lack of control in the midfield meant that Gelashvili was more tested than in previous games, but he held up well to the challenge in putting together his first clean sheet of the tournament. “We’re used to having some back and forth games,” the AC Espene veteran said. “We counterattack a lot, it leaves us vulnerable but it’s okay because the defense and I can make the plays we need to make. And getting a shutout feels really good when we hadn’t done it yet. I don’t see why we couldn’t do it again against better teams.”

With Delaclava’s qualification for the quarterfinals sealed, the final challenge in Group 2 is a rematch with Abanhfleft, who remains level on record at 4-1 after a 2-1 victory over Srednjaci. The winner of the game will win the group and establish themselves as the clear title favorites. Delaclava won the first meeting 4-2, so they will pick up the group win in case of a draw, but that’s not what the Phoenixes are looking for.

“This is the game we wanted to get to,” Havrylyuk said, “and I think that’s why we looked past today a little bit. But we feel good about the squad and we really want to make a statement. No more slow starts or mid-game napping for us.”

[Sarzonia]

For Zack Wilson, the Sarzonian over-35 national football team's 2-1 home defeat to Lorrana, a setback that officially slammed the door on Sarzonia's chances to qualify for the knockout round brought a swirl of emotions.

Of course, there was disappointment. Frustration. Anger. But there were also questions about the status of Senior Stars manager Tyrone Manningham.

Wilson understood the questions. Besides being an attacking player on a Senior Stars team that saw its offence abandon them at the worst possible time, he was also Manningham's boss as the chairman of the Incorporated Football Federation.

As a player, he likely would have had a strong opinion about Manningham's job performance as manager. However, he didn't have the luxury of being able to shoot off at the hip about his team's manager. He also had to take the long view as IFF chairman.

"I don't have the bandwidth to answer questions about [Manningham's] status right now," he said. "We will assess everything in due time after the Cup."

[Atheara]

Atheara Was Here, And They Want To Make It Count

The Final Athearan Match Up in Group 4 was against Qasden. No matter the result, Atheara will qualify none the less. But they want to win, because they might jinx themselves like in the WJHC. The Veteran Minutemen are ready to give Qasden a fight for the Champion of Group 4. Atheara will be facing many great teams after this. Delaclava and Abahnfleft are two names, but Kriegiersien is probably the best team on the field currently, with a statistic of 4 - 0 - 1 and also being one of the champions. Sarzonia failed to qualify, which is suprising, and Lorrana will be taking Group 1 as Champions, most likely.

When we asked Coach Aldei Kyarlsson about what Tactics and Strategies Atheara commonly uses in Football, the answers were interesting to say the least. "Athearan Football relies on Counter-Attacks, Technique and Stability, Accuracy and Precision, and last but not least, Crosses and Passes. A Team that has a defensive line up can strike by Counter Attacks if the enemy does not play correctly. This style in my opinion will suit to play against Delaclava, as they are known to be a bit aggressive. But this whole tactic is not perfect yet, so only time can tell. High risk, High reward. That is what Atheara suits best."

The Formation that the Veteran Minutemen use is also a formation that can easily start a fast Counter Attack. The two DM's and CM form something known as a Spearhead, and when one of them has the ball, they can generally charge through enemy formations with the forwards supporting them up-front. However, this is also considered a Do or Die strategy. Atheara aims for the Championships, wanting to get their first ever trophy.

Good luck for all of us.

[Sarzonia]

Let's find out which eight teams will make the trek (or very short!) trip to Sarzonia after this RP CUTOFF!

Group 1
Britland Isles 0-3 Sarzonia
HUElavia 1-3 Lorrana

-           
 Group 1                 Pld  W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts
1 Lorrana                  6  4  1  1   15   6  +9  13
2 HUElavia                 6  2  1  3    8  10  -2   7
3 Sarzonia                 6  2  1  3    6   7  -1   7
4 Britland Isles           6  2  1  3    6  12  -6   7

HUElavia win tiebreakers against Britland Isles (goal differential in head-to-head results) and Sarzonia (head-to-head results), thus, they have qualified.

Group 2
Srednjaci 3-2 Grey County
Abanhfleft 5-0 Delaclava

- Group 2              Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts
1 Abanhfleft             6   5  0  1   19   6 +13  15
2 Delaclava              6   4  0  2   14  11  +3  12
3 Srednjaci              6   2  0  4   10  14  -4   6
4 Grey County            6   1  0  5    6  16 -10   3

Group 3
Hebitaka 1-0 Kriegiersien
BohemiaIV 0-3 Garbelia

- Group 3              Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts
1 Kriegiersien           6   4  0  2   11   6  +5  12
2 Garbelia               6   3  0  3   11   9  +2   9
3 Hebitaka               6   3  0  3    6   9  -3   9
4 BohemiaIV              6   2  0  4    7  10  -3   6

Garbelia ahead of Hebitaka on total goal differential, as head-to-head results and head-to-head goal differential are level.

Group 4
Juvenis 3-1 Sannyamathland
Qasden 2-1 Atheara

- Group 4              Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts
1 Qasden                 6   4  0  2   13  10  +3  12
2 Atheara                6   3  1  2    9   7  +2  10
3 Juvenis                6   2  2  2   13  13   0   8
4 Sannyamathland         6   1  1  4   10  15  -5   4

KNOCKOUT ROUND SEEDINGS
1. Abanhfleft (5-0-1, 15 points, Group 2 champions)
2. Lorrana (4-1-1, 13 points, Group 1 champions)
3. Kriegiersien (4-0-2, 12 points, Group 3 champions, plus-five goal differential)
4. Qasden (4-0-2, 12 points, Group 4 champions, plus-three goal differential)
5. Delaclava (4-0-2, 12 points, Group 2 runners up)
6. Atheara (3-1-2, 10 points, Group 4 runners up)
7. Garbelia (3-0-3, nine points, Group 3 runners up)
8. HUElavia (2-1-3, seven points, Group 1 runners up)

QUARTERFINALS MATCHES
Abanhfleft v. HUElavia
Dave Wilson Stadium, Woodstock

Lorrana v. Garbelia
Iron Bowl, Portland

Kriegiersien v. Atheara
Shipyard Stadium, Wilmington

Qasden v. Delaclava
Mike Sarzo Stadium, Nicksia

Reminder: There will be NO day off between the end of the group stage and the start of the knockout rounds.

[Abanhfleft]

DISCLAIMER: Gaelic Gamers is an independents sports blogging website created by four cousins with a common liking and passion for sports of all kinds and is in no way or form affiliated with or organized by any official news organization in the Democratic Republic of Abanhfleft. All statements and opinions posted here are our own and not anyone else's.

---

Gaelic Gamers
Presents...

The Football Fallacies
with The Man from Markovsky

NOT THESE GUYS AGAIN

Hello and welcome to The Football Fallacies. Right, so apparently all the luck that the women's national team have not had since we first came to the multiveral footballing scene has been transferred to our over-35 team, because not only have they won their game against Delaclava in the World Cup of Masters, but they've also managed to make themselves the first seed overall in the playoffs! And you wanna know what we got as a reward for this stellar performance? Guess what! It's yet another rematch with the great people of HUElavia! Oh God, I can hear Dara Kean from Gabbing on Gridiron crying into his pint right now. Yeah, he doesn't say it, but I'm pretty sure that his visit to HUElavia for the recent Arena Bowl has scarred him emotionally, and maybe for life. He doesn't want to talk about it and I don't bother him about it. That seems like a perfectly serviceable professional relationship for me.

Anyway, so we faced Delaclava again in the World Cup of Masters to determine who's going to win the group. We didn't do so well against these guys the first time around, losing 4-2 in a game where the bastard age difference between the two teams couldn't be more fecking obvious. So it's safe to say that I was not looking forward to this match. I was not looking forward to this bunch of players on the wrong side of 30 going up against our bunch of players who are mostly already past 40 years of age. So imagine my bastard surprise when the ladies of Abanhfleft seemingly turned back the clock once again and started playing like they were in their respective primes! I'll tell you something though. Looks like Fat Patty Foulke has been demoted to third-string goalkeeper after this result. She's the only goalkeeper out of the three that we have that hasn't been able to keep a clean sheet, so it's pretty obvious where that's going to come from.

And another thing: who in the world lets Allison bloody Torres score two bastard goals in a single game? I never really understood why my fellow Ludogorets fans were seemingly deathly afraid of her every time we had to play Sporting Ceneisis. The woman could never seem to score against us in the twenty or so years that I've been watching football matches semi-professionally. Christ above, when playing against Markovsky, Allison Torres couldn't even assist an old lady across the road! And all she ever really does for the national team is to provide a distraction to the opposition defenders so Stuart or Rousseau could sneak in somewhere and score all the goals. So when you allow a player like Allison Torres to score a brace against you, it doesn't really make your team look any good! Christ above, even Adelaide fucking Singh scored against Delaclava! Addie's a fucking cross and Inshallah merchant, for crying out loud. She was crossing balls into the box with a prayer before it was cool. Yes, I just said. Addie Singh is a football hipster. That goal of hers wasn't even an actual shot, it was more of a cross that just had enough spin to take it underneath the crossbar. But she's going to claim it anyway, just as she has every right to doing so.

Anyway, that's all that there is for me. If you've got any comments about our second game against Delaclava or predictions against HUElavia, feel free to leave them down below. Until then, I've been the Man from Markovsky, still disappointed in our country because why couldn't we take advantage of our true golden generation of women players while they were still in their prime?

       ABANHFLEFT 5 - 0 DELACLAVA
   ROUSSEAU (13')
TORRES (29', 64')
      SINGH (40')
     STUART (47')

[Kriegiersien]

The Schoenwetter Herald

Sport – Soccer

NS World Cup of Masters III

Hebitaka 1-0 Kriegiersien


The travel to Hebitaka was fruitless, but now Wilmington awaits again. A city were the Kriegiersien team had good times.

“We didn’t take the last group match too serious, because we were already qualified. But we don’t want to disappoint the people in Wilmington. We will show everything we have”, said the Coach.

If that means more coins for the tourism industry and wild parties or a better game was left unclear. Atheara will be the opponent, who also ended the qualification with a loss, but on second place.

“I have analysed their fast counter attacking play-style and we have a surprise for them coming”, the coach said Finger-tenting.

[Delaclava]

One last ride for longtime friends and teammates Pena and Marsh

Delaclava's last game, a 5-0 drubbing at the hands of Abanhfleft, wasn't all bad news. For one, the Molters had already secured advancement to the quarterfinals, and emerged as the highest-seeded runners-up, where they will play Qasden, winners of Group 4 with the same record as Delaclava. The loss wasn't ideal, but the Molters can still pick themselves up and go on a title run from here (hopefully without running into the Fleftics again).

But it was also the first taste of action for Geoffrey Pena and Troy Marsh, who saw around 20 minutes of scoreless action in the midfield after Abanhfleft finished their scoring by the 64th minute. And although the rest of the game concluded relatively uneventfully, it was a calming reassurance for the long-time teammates at Cleopatrana SC - that the game of international football, even on the over-35 level, has passed them by.

"It's been a great run for both of us," Pena said after the game. "And it was a pleasure to do a favor to Baghdasar (Parsamyan) and fill out the team so we could take part here. This has been a great competition - and now we can step away before we make complete fools of ourselves out there," he joked.

Marsh noted the depth of players on the team who still continue to play top-level football in Delaclava - indeed, Pena, Marsh, and Parsamyan are the only retired players on the squad. "It's cool to get a squad together and make our debut in this competition. I think going forward, there will be more and more Masters players who are still active, and want this additional international challenge. Not everyone's a Euphranor Papadimitrou. When you get to 35 years old, that tends to be it for getting a senior call-up. So this is an awesome opportunity."

Marsh and Pena both played their entire careers for Cleopatrana SC - the 40-year-old Marsh for 20 years, the 37-year-old Pena for 18. They saw the club go all the way from mid-table back to the top, and it all culminated in three titles in their final four years. You couldn't ask for a better end to a domestic career. The two are both prominent business professionals in inland Cleopatrana; their wives co-manage several cafes and bars in the area; their kids attend school together and figure to someday become soccer stars themselves.

And as they enter their quarterfinal against Qasden, they are well aware that there are anywhere between one and three games remaining in their playing careers. They hope to end the tournament on top, but understand the competition is tough. "You can't always write your fairytale ending," Marsh said. "Some people might have suggested we'd take those UFL titles and run off into the sunset. But we came to play this tournament to help another friend and longtime teammate, and an incredible manager in Baghdasar. Sport is more than the results - it's about the lifelong friendships and bonds you build. It's a satisfying last hurrah for those of us who put in the work for two decades with the Pharaohs."

And Pena concluded: "If we don't win the tournament, we'll at least know we gave it our all."

[Sarzonia]

Time to see which teams pack up and leave and which ones guarantee themselves two more matches in Sarzonia! RP CUTOFF!

QUARTERFINALS
(1) Abanhfleft 0-0 (0-1 AET) (8) HUElavia
Dave Wilson Stadium, Woodstock

(2) Lorrana 3-1 (7) Garbelia
Iron Bowl, Portland

(3) Kriegiersien 3-1 (6) Atheara
Shipyard Stadium, Wilmington

(4) Qasden 0-1 (5) Delaclava
Mike Sarzo Stadium, Nicksia

SEMIFINALS
(2) Lorrana v. (8) HUElavia
Iron Bowl, Portland

(3) Kriegiersien v. (5) Delaclava
Shipyard Stadium, Wilmington

[Delaclava]

Papa Euph hangs ten in MWC quarterfinal

Euphranor Papadimitrou scored his tenth goal of the Masters World Cup and Delaclava's over-35 team defeated their Qasden counterparts 1-0 to set up a semifinal clash with defending champions Kriegiersien.

Papadimitrou has been the focal point of the offense and the unquestionable star of the team - a status he comes by honestly, as consistently one of the best players in the United Football League - but was humble in acknowledging his goal tally in the competition. "It's easy to look good and put up nice numbers with this group. We've all had a long time to know each other's games. We have a good rapport and can fit in well to an attacking style and generate offense."

Papadimitrou's goal came in the 37th minute, heading in a cross from Rigoberto Colon off a broken Qasden attack in the midfield. The Phoenixes could not put up any more goals but controlled possession and attacking time throughout the game and never seemed in danger of surrendering the one-goal lead.

The next opponents, Kriegiersien, are the defending champions and successfully won Group 3, but they have looked far from invincible, dropping flat games to the unheralded BohemiaIV and Hebitaka. In fairness, the Molters have their own share of challenges - they have scored just two goals in the past three games and are still a little sore from a 5-0 loss to Abanhfleft, who was eliminated 1-0 in extra time by HUElavia. But Papadimitrou thinks his team is up to the task: "We've had some tough, nervous games, for sure. We're just trying to trust the process, continuing to stay aggressive and take risks. Hopefully, we'll break the ice on our scoring at the right time."

[Kriegiersien]

The Schoenwetter Joker

Sport

Kriegiersien 3-1 Atheara


What a quarter-final at World Cup of Masters. Abanhfleft, dominating the competition with stunning games and lots of goals suddenly was beaten by HUElavia 0-1 in Overtime.
Lorrana quietly adapted away the next opponent, the Otter from Garbelia and Delaclava conserved their dream for the title by beating Qasden.
But to the main story:

The Kriegiersien team moved on. 3 Goals from Kai Alberz let them stay in their preferred place, Wilmington and reaching the semi-final against Delaclava. They countered the counter attack style of Athera with an unusual cautious defensive style and with three moments of genius from Alberz.
Alberz had one of his days were everything works, different to the days were he is a complete failure.
The team after that went on a further tour through their beloved bars and restaurants in Wilmington to celebrate the victory until morning.
"Play hard, party hard, pwn Papadimitrou", ist now the motto of the team.

[Sarzonia]

We started this tournament with 16 teams. We're now down to four.

Let's find out who plays for the gold next!

SEMIFINALS

(2) Lorrana 0-0 (0-0 AET, 4-5 HUElavia)
Iron Bowl, Portland

(3) Kriegiersien 2-5 (5) Delaclava
Shipyard Stadium, Wilmington

Therefore, the 3PPO will be
(2) Lorrana v. (3) Kriegiersien
Iron Bowl, Portland

And the final will be
(5) Delaclava v. (8) HUElavia
Dave Wilson Stadium, Woodstock

[Delaclava]

Molters crush Kriegiersien to advance to MWC final

A new champion will be crowned at the World Cup of Masters.

The Delaclava over-35 football team got a brace from Euphranor Papadimitrou and goals from Denys Havrylyuk, Jüri Ilves, and Ruadh Jardine, to defeat the only surviving MWC champions Kriegiersien 5-2 at Shipyard Stadium in Wilmington, Sarzonia and earn a spot in the championship.

"It was pretty close to a perfect game for us," Papadimitrou said. "We just felt really comfortable in our ball movement early and that made a difference. We knew the goals were going to come if we kept making the right moves, and it was the perfect moment today for that kind of offensive production."

Jardine insisted the team wasn't intimidated going up against the defending champions of the competition. "We're all long-time professionals, we know better than to get wrapped up in what's on paper. We kind of figure out what to expect stylistically, then we go out and play the game." He added, "We weren't really bothered by the uniforms either. Even at their ages. Swing low, sweet chariots."

Kriegiersien had successfully employed containing defensive tactics in response to Atheara's counter-attack style to win their quarterfinal 3-1, and they looked to proceed similarly here. But in doing so, their defenders left too much room, allowing Ilves to punish them early with a long 30-yard strike in the seventh minute that beat Sissy Looper just under the crossbar. That set the tone for the game, in which Kriegiersien struggled to contain both the Phoenixes' speed up front as well as their willingness to go for the long shot. Papadimitrou made the score 2-0 in the 38th minute off a nifty no-look flick on from Havrylyuk, and manager Baghdasar Parsamyan instructed his squad to put the screws to the opposition, pushing all men up for a corner kick in the 45th minute. The tactic paid off, as Wilhelm Freesinger cleared out Jan Wagner's corner right to Jardine, who blasted a strike from the arc inside the right post.

The defending champions fought valiantly to keep their repeat hopes alive, drawing back to 3-1 and then 4-2 with goals from Marc Gocher in the 50th and 74th minutes, but they had no answer on the other end of the field. Papadimitrou got his second goal in the 69th minute with a nice bicycle kick as he found himself turned around at the top of the box. Havrylyuk closed the scoring in the 88th minute by taking a leading pass from Ronaldo Carvalho that split the center backs. "We knew they wouldn't go away easy," Carvalho said. "They've got a championship mentality and they brought out the best in us. I'm sure we'll face them in another tournament, and they'll have an answer for us. For today, we're ecstatic to get the victory."

The World Cup of Masters, in its third edition, will for the first time see a final matchup other than hosts Sarzonia and Kriegiersien. The Stars won the first edition, and Team Bunker 70436 the second; the Stars were narrowly eliminated in the group stage of this competition. Instead, Delaclava will meet HUElavia, who scrapped through the group stage with a 2-1-3 record before surviving an extra-time quarterfinal against Abanhfleft and defeating Lorrana in penalties 5-4. Even though HUElavia has scored just one goal in 240 minutes of knockout play, Parsamyan assured that his squad won't take them lightly.

"When you have a team that's had a rough go of it and they're still here, that's absolutely the hardest team to beat in a competition," he said. "They're going to make this game ugly, they're going to slow us down and disrupt our attack. We're going to have to be patient, keep creating our chances like we did today. We have ninety minutes to work with, that's plenty of time to generate the offense that we need... And we're playing for a championship here. It's a huge opportunity for these guys, they're still playing but maybe not in these kind of situations. We're ninety good minutes from lifting a trophy, and no one here's going to pass up any chances."

[Srednjaci]

NS WORLD CUP OF MASTERS III

The Srednjaci achieved two victories, not bad for our seniors.
Although we sent the team to the championship not expecting much, maybe possibly a point, ours managed to win twice.
Great !!

Group 2              Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts
1 Abanhfleft             6   5  0  1   19   6 +13  15
2 Delaclava              6   4  0  2   14  11  +3  12
3 Srednjaci              6   2  0  4   10  14  -4   6
4 Grey County            6   1  0  5    6  16 -10   3

MD 1 Srednjaci 3-2 Delaclava
MD 2 Abanhfleft 2-1 Srednjaci
MD 3 Grey County 2-1 Srednjaci
MD 4 Delaclava 4-1 Srednjaci
MD 5 Srednjaci 1-2 Abanhfleft
MD 6 Srednjaci 3-2 Grey County

[Sarzonia]

We've traveled a long and winding road with a few bumps along the way, buy now we have reached the final day of the third edition of the NS World Cup of Masters!

For the first time in the competition's history, a team other than the host nation Sarzonia or consistently strong Kriegiersien will hoist the big trophy.

To start off with, let's find out which team will don bronze medals and which ones will be resigned to wear pewter medals after this RP CUTOFF!

Third Place Playoff at The Iron Bowl in Portland
(2) Lorrana 0-3 Kriegiersien

And now the main event! Will HUElavia continue their shock run to the final with an improbable title or will it be first time participants Delaclava who win the crown in front of a packed crowd at Dave Wilson Stadium in Woodstock? Let's find out!

And the winner is...

(5)Delaclava 3-1 (8) HUElavia

Congratulations to

Delaclava

on winning the third edition of the NS World Cup of Masters! For Sarzonia supporters, it's the next best thing to the Stars winning!

Thanks to everyone who participated!