World Cup 88- Roleplay Thread

[HUElavia]

That's how HUElavia Wins!

HUElavia dominates opening match of the Qualifiers with convincing domination.

Frestovenia 1-3 HUElavia
(Gajetser 78' | Navarro 10' (P), Gagne-Leblanc 37', Di Stefano 90')
(Asvard Stadion, Asvard)

For the 13th consecutive time, HUElavia was participating in the World Cup Qualifiers, this time being more on the outside looking in, as they were playing as a Pot 3 team for the first time in team history (the lowest prior was as Pot 4 in the WC 84 Qualifiers). The team was making their qualifying start visiting the cold nation of Frestovenia, who were looking to pull an upset against Los Amarillos/Os Amarelos. For this match, it was a pretty cool night, but cool enough for the players to be wearing the long sleeves and undershirts to keep warm. The Home Uniform was worn by both teams for the match, with the stadium being a sea of Blue and Black, with a small pocket of Yellow HUElavians in the stadium. The match was played at Asvard Stadion (42,000), in the capital of Asvard. Coach Conavacio opted to play with mainly a mix of starters of backups in order to give space to the different players called up, with Vannier in goal and Navarro as the Captain. Once the anthems were played and the coin toss was done, Frestovenia kicked the ball off and the match was under way!

From the start, HUElavia applied pressure to Frestovenia without mercy, with the starting trio of Navarro, Maximovna, and Tiong Belleza taking shots to give Brune a run for his money. The opening goal came in the 10th minute, when Tiong Belleza was on the ball, looking to get past Vage. She made a step that cause Vage to stick his leg out and foul her in the box, for a very evident penalty kick, which the referee blew his whistle to call it. Navarro stepped up and sent Brune the wrong way as the ball smashed the top corner into the goal, making it 0-1. The crowd was silenced while Navarro celebrated with his teammates with hugs and hi-fives. Frestovenia would take shots from the likes of Artvikker, Gajetser and Lustorp, but the shots would go wide or Vannier made easy saves to keep the clean sheet going. Eventually, HUElavia would pounce on a great opportunity, as in the 37th minute, Pae dispossessed the ball from Lustorp and made a run to send a cross into the box. It went over the likes of the defenders and Brune, as Gagne-Leblanc was left unmarked and gave a header into the goal to make it 0-2. Gagne-Leblanc went to Pae to hug her and get hugs and hi-fives by her teammates while the crowd was silenced, except for the HUElavians present in the stadium. Shortly after, the half ended 0-2, and the team was feeling comfortable.

In the 2nd half, Frestovenia kept on attacking, giving pressure to the HUElavian defense and Vannier. Despite the shots, the team was holding out and keeping the 2-goal difference alive. Halfway through the half, both teams did substitutions, with Rekke in for Lustorp and Skare in for Norvatse, while Di Stefano in for Tiong Belleza, and Dias in for Nazario. Eventually, Frestovenia's attacks pulled off, as in the 78th minute, a cross by Skare went into the box, where the ball met the head of Rekke, who headed it down for Gajetser to tap it in past Vannier to make it 1-2. The crowd went crazy with the goal and began to cheer and chant to support the team. Frestovenia kept on attacking, and HUElavia kept on deflecting the shots to go out. Eventually, in the 90th minute, a shot taken by Artvikker was headed out by Di Donato, and the ball fell to Conti-Esposito, who began to run on a counter-attack. She ran with Di Stefano and Maximovna, where Conti-Esposito passed it to Maximovna, who was covered by Bedere, only to give a low pass to a wide-open Di Stefano, who gave a low, curving shot past the reach of Brune into the goal, making it 1-3. Di Stefano celebrated with Conti-Esposito and Maximovna, as the team came along to celebrate, with the goal securing the victory. Shortly after, the match ended, and HUElavia won their 1st match once again, 12 years later.

With the victory, HUElavia sit in 1st Place with their 3 Points, above Ko-oren and Vdara, who also won their matches. The next two matches will be an away game at ZSeperatists, followed by the home opener against Vdara. The home opener will be played at Estadio Capital in Curumba. The Home Uniform will be worn once again at ZSeperatists, while the Home Alternative will be worn against Vdara. The fans will be flocking for the home opener, which is expected to be a very passionate match. The training continues to go well for the players, while they continue to study film and go over individual drills. In national news, the HUElavian Presidential Election is coming, with the polls seeing the two favorites being President Pomawari Sihui Michi of the Green Party taking on Leonardo Borges Krauss of the Conservative Party. The Liberal Party's Victor Grinda is seen as a possible upset candidate, should some sort of issue come up between the two candidates, but the themes of Security and Economy are the main topics for this election. Here's to what can be a great two matches and a safe and secure election.

FORCA HUELAVIA! VAMOS HUELAVIA! GO HUELAVIA!

XI vs ZSeperatists: 23 Marin, 18 Amaru-Dominguez (C), 15 Grünberg, 3 Vogt, 4 Ezwa, 22 Mantovani-Jardim, 6 Font, 17 Savedra, 19 Togoshi, 21 Gimenes, 20 Yamane

XI vs Vdara: 1 Ramos, 5 Liberman, 2 Mendieta, 3 Muller, 12 Pae, 10 Conti-Esposito, 8 Duran, 11 Sol, 6 Guilbert, 7 Navarro (C), 9 Hamada-Navarro

[Mytanija]

Lev Repin had perhaps been guilty of taking Mytanija’s first game of the World Cup qualifying campaign a little too easy, although a home game against the 355th best team in the multiverse was perhaps one of the only games you could even think about taking easy. It hadn’t worked out for him though, with his inexperienced team struggling to create clear-cut chances and ending the game feebly, a 0-0 draw to start the qualification campaign meant that he and the players left the nominal national stadium – Radnika – with their tails between their legs. The media had given them all a very fair panning in the days afterward, too. Vilim Kupresak had captained the side and he had given a frank post-game interview where he pointedly criticised the team selection, saying that ‘national teams always need to start on the front foot and I’m not sure we did that because we weren’t put in the best position to do it.’

Repin was asked many questions following that contribution from Kupresak, but he accepted the criticism. He had chosen the squad and he had deliberately left out some of the big names. There had been no Jezdimir Ocokoljic, no Jasno Odonelec, and no Mojmir Anac. He had wanted to see what the more inexperienced players could do, to see if he would be able to give the players with more mileage in their legs a rest from time to time. The result against Deniria had demonstrated that he certainly couldn’t do that, even against the group’s weaker teams he would have to use the top players. Perhaps Mytanija were not as far along the upwards trajectory as he had thought. It could prove a valuable lesson if it meant that the national team would perform better from here on, but it was also two points dropped in a game which Mytanija absolutely should have won. They were already playing catch-up and there had only been one game played.

The logic had been that the more inexperienced players would have to be used at some point over the qualification campaign, particularly with the hectic schedules that the best players in the national team have to endure. Some of them would have between 50 and 60 games just with their clubs over the course of a season, that’s not to talk about the addition nine that would be brought into the equation with the national team over the two year qualifying cycle. What better way to see who could be relied on than starting them in an extremely winnable game on the opening day of qualifying? Repin had found out that there could have been many better ways. It had been one of the few missteps that he had experienced in his time as national team manager, but it was one which the Mytanar media had seized upon with glee. Some in the sports dailies had sided with those at the FSM who hadn’t wanted to opt for Repin and his new-fangled tactical tinkering prior to him getting the job. So far he had kept them quiet with two solid performances in Copa Rushmoris and a reasonable 4th place finish in World Cup 87 qualifying. This was the error that those journalists had been waiting for.

He wouldn’t mind too much, but some of the players he selected were always going to be a part of his second squad anyway. He rattled off the names: Semir Besak, Damir Milcic, Dino Racic, Kamil Jernejec, Sefir Ajanovic, Dalibor Vlahovic and Kemal Gajic. They had been the ones who had started the game against Deniria and Dejan Zgela and Maks Shishkin had come off the bench. They were always going to be in the squad for the games against Valanora and Atheara. It was a good blend – sure, some of them needed more games at international level – with plenty of potential. When he selected those players again, along with the more experienced names, it caused carnage. Gazeta Sporta screamed about the players who had let the country down being selected again. Others wondered where Vilim Kupresak was, the captain against Deniria, the one who had spoken against Repin’s team selection.

He probably would have been in the squad too, but Repin could hardly select a player who had come out in the media and questioned his authority. It was a shame because Vilim was a useful player, a great voice in the dressing room and someone who could generally be relied upon. Lev Repin needed to ride out this storm though and he had thought it would be easier to take Kupresak out of the equation entirely. The media response instantly showed him that that might have been a bad decision. When the press conference for the team announcement was held every other question was about Vilim Kupresak. Repin batted them away with platitudes: ‘Vilim is a good player and he’ll be back in future squads’; ‘I just went with those who I felt were the best fit for these games’; ‘it’s a long campaign and there’s going to be plenty of chances for every member of the national pool’ etc. Everybody knew that it was likely to be because of Kupresak’s post-game comments though, the subtext to the decision was easy to read.

To his credit Kupresak actually kept quiet, something that Lev Repin had not really expected him to do. He was known for always being outspoken, never afraid to say what was on his mind, both on the pitch and off it. Whether he would receive Repin warmly whenever they next met was another story, particularly with how the media were blowing things up. Kupresak’s manager at club level, Emil Jefak, had dropped Repin a text message following the team selection. ‘I’ve spoken to Vilim. No hard feelings about the team selection. He says it was heat of the moment after the game and understands you’ve done what had to be done.’ It was certainly useful to know that, but whether Vilim was saying one thing to Jefak and something else to others remained to be seen. Repin had always enjoyed a good relationship with the lad, but sometimes it only takes one thing for someone to change. He would speak to Vilim himself at some point. Hopefully they could clear it up. It was understandable to be frustrated after the game, but sometimes you have to give diplomatic answers to the press. He definitely hadn’t done that.

That draw made the Valanora and Atheara games even more important. He hadn’t expected to get anything against Valanora prior to qualifying, but beating Atheara was crucial now. If they could get something against the elves then it would be a bonus. He wouldn’t be setting the team up negatively against them by any means, but their quality meant that the team could often end up playing quite negatively once they had gotten into their rhythm. Atheara were an interesting team, they played in a 4-4-2 with a diamond and had impressed at times during the Baptism of Fire. Repin knew that that was the sort of formation his 4-3-3/3-1-3-3 hybrid could exploit in the midfield, but the pressure was now well and truly on to ensure that they did that. If someone had said that they would have four points after the first three games heading into the campaign many would have felt something had gone wrong against one of the two lower seeded teams and that was pretty much what had happened. He now needed to ensure that they actually came through those games with that points total, or his neck could quickly end up on the chopping block.

The big names returned to the squad and as they gathered at the FSM training base in Esca ahead of the double header he could see some of the less experienced players appearing almost a bit star-struck. Those who had played at Atletik with Jezdimir Ocokoljic were evidently a bit immune to this, but for the likes of Semir Besak, Damir Milcic, Dino Racic and Sefir Ajanovic it was a case of meeting one of their heroes. It took them all a while to get used to the idea that they would be playing alongside this man who was a genuine superstar of the multiversal game and an idol for millions back home. He’d have to get Jasno Odonelec to put an arm around them at some point, to make sure they knew they deserved to be here and were with the squad to do a job if they were called upon, no matter how their last game had gone with the team.

Repin liked to leave the heart-to-hearts to the leading players on the team, those who the others looked to for inspiration and guidance. He always tried to keep a distance between himself and the players, he wasn’t cold towards them but he always ensured that the relationship was one between player and coach rather than anything else. It was an aspect some in the media had questioned in the wake of the draw with Deniria, perhaps a manager who was closer with the players would foster better results? He hoped he could provide a riposte in the coming games.

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MYTANIJA NATIONAL TEAM SELECTION FOR GAMES AGAINST VALANORA (A) & ATHEARA (H)
Goalkeepers: 1. Pedja Kasun (Ararat Severyan), 12. Semir Besak (Olympic Thessia), 24. Zafer Muminovic (Tekstil Ibon)
Defenders: 2. Srdan Vukovic (1896 Ebor), 3. Grigorij Savicevic (AC Izotz Zubia [AUD]), 4. Mojmir Anac (Olympic Thessia), 5. Patrik Odonelec (Atletik Thessia); 13. Damir Milcic (Tekstil Ibon), 14. Dino Racic (1923 Esca), 15. Kamil Jernejec (Chromatik [CMT]), 16. Petr Isaev (Crvena Zvezda)
Midfielders: 6. Alen Hrdaljko (CDSA), 7. Tahir Fejzuli (Mâ Âlâmëómë [FFD]), 8. Brajko Gavrilovic (1896 Ebor), 10. Jasno Odonelec (Atletik Thessia), 11. Kemal Gajic (FK Arsika); 17. Branko Brkljacic (Atletik Thessia), 18. Sefir Ajanovic (FK Arsika), 19. Dalibor Vlahovic (1896 Ebor), 20. Maks Shishkin (Maethoru SC [KOR]), 21. Boris Kalinic (Workers Union [EUR])
Forwards: 9. Jezdimir Ocokoljic (Energija Chernovets [STL]), 22. Zlatan Andrijasevic (Atletik Thessia), 23. Dejan Zgela (Damogran FC [SRS])

[Juvencus]

The Second Great War of Unification(1876-1892)

The Second Great War of Unification was the first major conflict in Juvencus that featured extensive usage of the railway for the faster moving of infantry and supplies towards the battlefield. Many military leaders saw this as an opportunity to send people to inflitrate the backlines and break their major supply lines as well as stop the faster movement of enemy reinforcements in the field of battle, no matter the outcome of the battle and without regard to the future rebuilding of said lines in case of a victory. However many major inland cities and villages got cut off from the rest of their allies which allowed for a lot of sieges, most of which extremely deadly to happen. In other cases, two such infiltrating forces bumped into each other and being the cause of many battles in random fields, far from places of importance.

The fields of Praiova were the sight of a battle blown out of proportion as illustrated by Toma Ceprescu circa 1898

Chapter 3: The battle of Praiova(April 24th 1878)

"To think you can win by sheer numbers and technological superiority is a lie in the war. Sometimes the winner is the man who desires freedom the most." Claudio Mutu in his "The Great Attempt Is Not Over" book, circa 1881

The first part of the conflict was indeed very active, rich in skirmished and battles. The thought of the Independentists to rush through Unionist ranks and kill the revolution from within was to become a bleak idea in Praiova, where the combined forces of the Federation of the Crescent and the Union of Tiscan-Demene were help of valiantly by a Pacgliari force that they much outnumbered.

The battle of Praiova took place in the homonymous village in the southeast of the Kingdom of Pacgiari. Being a borderline and relatively isolated village, it was connected by railway for easier access from the other towns and villages of the kingdom, however it was heavily defended by Pacglarese Borderline Partisans as well as the Praiova Division. Leader of the Crescenti force present in the area, the Crescenti 3rd army, which numbered 18,000 men was Colonel Giancarlo Pinheiro, a very ambitious man had planned for a small force to destroy the railway lines 2km to the north of the village, without being spotted in broad daylight and attacking by night time with the larger force.

So the morning of April 24th, 1878 a force of 500 land troops would have to go through the Praiova fields without being spotted by the stationed Pacglarese Borderline Partisans or the Praiova Division. Initially the plan was going fine, though slow moving it would be done in no time by the standards of the time. But by around 2:00 PM local time a scouting unit of the Praiova Division noticed them. A force of 100 would charge in no questions asked and a fierce musket fight would begin. Despite being outnumbered, the Praiova Division recorded no losses, compared to a large number of casualties from the Crescenti force, which returned to camp.

The Praiova Division would get back to the village to warn the Partisans of the imminent Crescenti attack, unbeknownst to them, a force of 6,000 gathered up under the guidance of the 2nd Tiscanodemenese Army's General Jules Hubert was also in the spot to attack the village. At this point the combined force of 24,000 men, including 400 cavalry much outnumbered the village's defense of merely 2,000 men. Hearing the news of the failed expedition and the arrival of the Tiscanodemenese 2nd army, Pinheiro's initial rage turned into a smile. After changing plans and reaching an agreement with Hubert, the plan was to charge at the village and burn it to the ground.

The attack took place immediately at 5:00 PM of that day, which was a tactical mistake, the combined forces would walk through the same part of the fields the Praiova Division was guarding but would be met by the combined force of the Praiova Division and the Pacglarese Borderline Partisans. An enormous battle followed and despite being outnumbered in an open field, the defenders did not care and received very few casualties while fending off bravely against the Independentist combined force. The whole afternoon a bloodshed followed before humiliated, Hubert and Pinheiro decided to tactically retreat from the battlefield.

The massive victory at the fields of Praiova would give enough time for a larger Pacglarese army to come and defend that area, which was much needed for the village to not lose its access to the rest of the Kingdom. The humiliation suffered by both Hubert and Pinheiro would strip them off of their duties effective immediately and replaced with different officers to lead the attacks next time.

Battle Outcome: Pacglarese glorious victory! Praiova remains Pacglarese.

Kingdom of Pacgliari: 2,000 troops, 178 casualties
Federation of the Crescent: 18,000 troops, 300 cavalry, 982 casualties
Union of Tiscan-Demene: 6,000 troops, 100 cavalry, 426 casualties

[Kohnhead]

Kohnhead starts off brilliantly leads Group 11 by the alphabet

Despite some abysmal conditions at Cosmonaut Memorial Stadium home of the Tri Reds from Qzvarkian Qaz who are recent graduates of the 75th Baptism of Fire, Kohnhead was able to walk out with a comfy 4-1 victory and took first place in the Group on the alphabet as Starblaydia also won their first game 4-1. As it should have been the 239th team in the multiverse had no chance against our 61st ranked Brains who were led by Captain Aaron Korkson's first ever International hat trick to jump out to a 3-0 lead early.

The first goal as the rain started to come down harder in Qariq on the Saturday opener of Qualifiers was in the 9th minute. Taylor Rodar received a ball from Rallyton and knocked a cross into the box and Korkson stepped in front of As-Drubal Qahbrerra to head it in past Ashar Yumringuci to make it 1-0 Kohnhead a lead that we would not lose throughout the rest of the game.

Korkson would take advantage of a slip from Max Cunningham to go through the heart of the QQZ defense after receiving a pass from Sophie Johnson before getting around another defender and curling the ball beautifully into the bottom left corner to give himself the brace three minutes before halftime, we had played very well in the first half really dominating the game and not allowing them any real chances to score with Barter missing a good chance narrowly and Rallyton slipping on a fast break.

Emerging from the halftime tunnel we elected to go more defensive and Claire Corton did not come out with the team having suffered a knock in the first half but playing through to the whistle. In her place Callie Porsha came in but due to the timing of these matches Corton should not miss any time aside from the second half of this game. Korkson would score on the counter collecting a long pass from Rallyton that was placed perfectly using his speed to get over the top and get by Neft Ali Per-Es before slotting his third past Yumringuci to make it 3-0 Kohnhead.

In the 62nd minute something quite worrying for the other team would happen when Bryan Faust had a brilliant volley to make it 3-1 and score the first ever WCQ goal for Qzvarkian Qaz but knocked himself out in the process but reports out of there (Qzvarkian Qaz) indicate that he is going to be okay. Kohnhead however not content with just a 3-1 victory added a fourth when Ida Cogginter on for Barter due to the lead scored in the 80th minute with the assist going to Henderson who was also on as a sub this time for Laker. Henderson didn't do much with Cogginter doing most of the damage with some nasty dribbling before her finish hit off of Yumringuci's hand but still went into the goal to make it 4-1 which is how it ended.

In World Cup 87 it was a 7-2 drubbing of Baptism of Fire competitor United Pink States and this time it was a 4-1 drubbing of Baptism of Fire competitor Qzvarkian Qaz as we rise to the top of the table. How we do against the upper pots in Starblaydia, Tikariot, and Darmen will determine the cylce not how much we beat up on BoF teams.

In the other games in the Group pot 1 team Starblaydia took down pot 3 Darmen 4-1 to tie with us at the top of the table. 103rd ranked Garifunya and BoF graduates and a team we know from the NSCAA Pratapgadh played with Pratapgadh taking a 3-1 win. Old powers Wight back from their slumber drew Lorrana at 0 goals a piece while pot 2 Tikariot beat Gouvanarch 4-2 to place themselves in third of the table. As mentioned before Kohnhead have the tiebreaker over Starblaydia due to K coming before S in the English language. Why it's the English language no one knows, maybe it has something to do with Liverpool England a nation that goes by Liventia today but nevertheless English langauge we appreciate you for allowing us to be in first of the table.

Next up we host 103rd ranked and pot 5 Garifunya who just lost to Pratapgadh and it's a game we should be winning as Chicken King Stadium has already sold out for our home opener of the World Cup 88 Qualifiers. After that on this Break we travel to Tequilo not to take on our BoF Groupmates but to take on Wight who have a storied history but should be signifigantly weaker in this edition than they were at their peak although we obviously cannot underestimate the unranked opponent. It was an unranked opponent Mapletish who we lost to twice last cycle something that we cannot afford to do this time around.


Here are the standings

Group 11                                     Pld    W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts 
 1 Kohnhead                                    1    1   0   0     4    1   +3     3
   Starblaydia                                 1    1   0   0     4    1   +3     3
 3 Pratapgadh                                  1    1   0   0     3    1   +2     3
   Tikariot                                    1    1   0   0     4    2   +2     3
 5 Lorrana                                     1    0   1   0     0    0    0     1
   Wight                                       1    0   1   0     0    0    0     1
 7 Garifunya                                   1    0   0   1     1    3   −2     0
   Gouvanarch                                  1    0   0   1     2    4   −2     0
 9 Darmen                                      1    0   0   1     1    4   −3     0
   Qzvarkian Qaz                               1    0   0   1     1    4   −3     0

[Chartistan]

The following is a compilation of Chartistani national team players regarding the Ripperonin controversy ahead of Chartistan's game with Montaña Verde.

Dollarsigns Ago, who gave up 2 goals in the opening game of the qualification cycle against Juvencus (To Julio Campana and Michelangelo Santini): "Ripperonin, Ripperonin, Ripperonin, Ripperonin drug what? Out here while we're trying to play football? We're going to train until tomorrow to take on these Montaña Verde fellas, then we're going to send a blitz out of this stadium and beat them. Whoop them. My mode right now is "I'd gaff about Ripperonin", and there ain't never gonna be any changing!"

Florence "I Love My Country" George, after coming into the stadium's parking lot in his new truck: "Ripperwhatnow? You should see my new truck. Souped up, too high, alligator skin... And yet all these buckos are talking about this Ripperonin drug? Hell if I know, move out of the goddarn way shorty! Anybody want to test this truck after this? I'm not afraid to turn on the TVs on the headrests!"

Adult Royce, who famously didn't realize that they were losing even while Doctor Lucas shouted at him about it: "So there we go, huh? Can't make the qualifiers without a damn controversy! I can't find any words to say about this. They can't let us have fun and support our country without being made fun of for doing what we're doing? I am not bleeding internally from any needles of this supposed "Ripperonin" drug! Just leave me alone and let us play football! Gosh I'm so done..."

Olisa Rodgers, former captain of the Chartistani national team: "Do you all... Just get deja vu about this? Wasn't it 3 cycles ago that I heard about Cocoa-bo and its stimulating effects? I never heard of that before everything went down and I swear we don't have that as a drug here in Chartistan... I hope we all get deja vu about this in the WC91 qualifiers and get mad over hair."

Air Latte, current captain of the Chartistani national team: "Can we just stay all up night without fearmongering about this thing? It's okay if people "RP" about their national team, it's called a natural conversation. A little less standing there and a little more love my team. People are into the Chartistani national team, one which I captain, so much that they shouldn't have to question talking about it and making highlights about their team. So for one last time... I need these people to realize that we're all wanting to see our teams home. To cheer them on, to support them. Any talk about cheating or controversy for support is not what I want to see."

Little Exnash, just exiting someone talking with a bad mouth about his Montero form: "Look, this Ripperonin thing is way overblown. Sell what you're buying and question where you get this news."

Cheesus Cheesus, living meme of the Chartistani national team: "It's whatever, I'm an addict to Ripperonin. I'm not ashamed of it, it's what made me me. You don't get 2 caps for your country without being addicted to something!"

[Valanora]

Didrik Gjedrem had gone into a second Eagles' Cup not with something to prove as he had in the previous edition, where the Marauders had gone into that tournament looking to rally themselves after a disappointing exit from both the World Cup and AOCAF. This time, after having been crowned champions of the last edition and have had a very successful World Cup campaign, Didrik instead was looking towards the future and setting the ground work for the next few years. There was a generational gap that needed to be navigated, for several years there was a bit of an absence of elite footballing talent being cultivated in the Empire, bar a handful and the national team was about to feel its full force. To that end, Didrik had decided that he was going to see what these talented youngsters that were on the fringes of the national pool had in their arsenal, if they were ready not only physically and technically for full international play but as well as mentally. International football had a way of even bringing the best individual players down to the ground if they were not mentally prepared for the rigors of it, of finding ways to develop chemistry with players they would only play together with for a fortnight.

The experiment was a success in that he was able to determine which of the players were and were not ready for the full team and which ones were still in need of a bit of work before taking the full step. The results on the field however were less than ideal and showed that a good few of the players were quite not ready for the rigors of being with the full team for the duration of a qualifying campaign. Regardless of anything else, Lothas Ludwig once again proved that he was not an emerging star, he was now fully a star player that was ready to help lead the team to victory, especially after having been the leading goalscorer in the Finals. Didrik wondered if he was able to learn a bit more from the likes of Laborious Hawk and Harlem Saxstrom to become the sort of player who could elevate the rest of the team around them to play better than they normally would. If the young striker could develop that skill, he would be among the elite players of his generation and would definitely give the Marauders a solid chance at adding another star to their crest over the next decade or as long as he was in the prime of his career.

If there was a glaring weakness in the national pool, particularly within this generational gap and divide that Didrik was going to have to plan for during the upcoming qualifying campaign, it was going to be the defensive unit. All of the veterans had more or less aged out of the squad and the players that were able to be played were not quite up to scratch or still in some dire need of development to be up to the standard of the national team. It was not going to be easy to try and navigate a lengthy qualification campaign with such a massive question mark and glaring weakness of the squad hanging over it, but it was going to be the challenge that he was going to have to solve. Having had turned all other things with the national team into his favor and making things very fortuitous with the national team, he believed that he was going to be up to the task of dealing with this obstacle. There were times with the Rockers that the team had some weaknesses and he was able to have been able to lead them to success, this was hopefully going to be another one of those occurrences.

The opening match was a bit of a disappointing start when it came to the attack and it was going to provide the managerial a lot of material to coach the team up the next time the team got together for an international weekend. It was hopefully just a bit of rust from time off between the full team playing, as Didrik had even sent a heavily rotated side to the AOCAF to allow some of the players a bit of rest before the start of their respective domestic campaign as well as the marathon that World Cup Qualifying can sometimes be. Saxstrom was able to get a goal as the leading lady continues to look like something of a steal since her switch of allegiance from Apox to that of the Empire. Yet the attack lacked a little bit of that killer instinct that one might have expected from such a powerful attack and very talented players. Hosting Mytanija was going to be a real test to see if the team was merely rusty and needed a bit of time to get used to playing with each other again, before a very important and challenging trip away to Geektopia, the second seed in the group. While the Marauders might have been the second ranked team in the WCC, they were going to have to show more than they did in the opening match to show that they were worthy of that ranking.

[Kandorith]

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Shinonome Kyoai - International

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Kandorith triumphs in game against Gyatso-Kai.
Balanced win, shows attacking prowess of the team
By Natsumi Miyasaki
Sports

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TENKYO, KANYORI — The first qualification match was a hard fought win for the Kandorese national team versus Gyatso-Kai, indeed bringing hopes up somewhat for the fans. The team started the qualification campaign in a doubtful position as the fans had mixed feelings with Watanabe in charge again, as his leadership has not been something to write home about since he took over from Hayabusa. For many Kandorese fans the re-appointment of Watanabe was a reminder of the previous qualification campaign and the Cup of Harmony, where the team crashed out of both tournaments in unimpressive style. The win against Gyatso-Kai however, has seen a more positive response and a slightly more hopeful sound on social media. On Wire there were multiple watch parties and celebrations ignited after the final whistle sounded in the stadium, a much needed win for the morale was achieved in the very first match of the qualifiers. Another user however noted a sarcastic: "Remember how we won our first match during the qualifiers in World Cup 87? I 'member". The user was of-course quickly corrected by other users as Kandorith drew against Græntfjall in the first match of the previous World Cup Qualifiers.

For Watanabe and the team this was a much needed win, the Empire has been in a slump when it comes to football prowess in recent times; falling from rank thirty all the way down to forty-six, a record drop for the Kandorese. Watanabe himself already stated that the current mission was to at least make it to the World Cup once again and treat the fans to attacking and stylish football which for now, is working out great with the new pacey attacking system. Since his takeover of the national team there has been more emphasize on the footballing style of the squad and more focus on the development of a solid system on the entire field; something Hayabusa did not seem to press as much as Watanabe does now.

"I believe in attacking football for sure, but the defence should not suffer from this. I think our new play style fits our mentality as a nation and people as a whole. I truly think our players are so much more than just a defender, midfielder, etc; they are essential links in the entire system which will carry the attack and defence from beginning to the end. For example the midfield: not only are they joining the attack to give the wingers and strikers a base to build on and to pass back to, they also join the defence when they need extra support or to hinder difficult players of the opponent. I also think t hat this new squad is already used to the system and shall press on to greatness in the coming matches.

"Our next match will be a game against a known opponent; Saltstead, I think we have to be quite careful in that match and not lose our concentration for a single minute. They are a tough team who play with prowess and pride. I do think that we can beat them, but it will not be an easy gained victory. I have a great amount of respect for the Stallions and do believe it will be a respectful match to one and another. I know that our second game is always a vital one as it seems to shape how the qualifiers will be going for the rest of the campaign, as it has for all the last qualifiers in recent history. The team lost the second game and crashed out of the tournament. This time we will be going, fighting, for every win we can get and bring the challenge to all teams in our group. Honestly I do think we are in kind of a group of death, not because of the opponents per say; but because we need to be careful with almost every team." Watanabe exclaimed to the press.

Group of death

Watanabe called Group 1 a "group of death", which statistically is not the case yet there is a certain truth to his words. In the past qualifiers the Kandorese team seemed to perform extremely bad against lower ranked teams, which eventually cost them the qualification chance. The team will really need to avoid unnecessary defeats this time or if possible, avoid any defeat. The largest challenges on paper in these qualifiers will be Kelssek, Drawkaland and Saltstead, which are all teams who are determined to try and get a spot in the World Cup. In the end, all groups could be considered a group of death in a way, just not in the way the term is coined.

Saltstead will be the first team which we will face and ranked seventy-first they are definitely not a small fish. The question is if their defeat against Tumbra has embolden them to perform above expectation. For Watanabe the choice is a simple one; to exploit the pace of the Kandorese team and in that pace finding space on the field to score goals or at least, threaten to score goals.

So far there seem to be no large changes in the squad's lineup but there were hints that the second goalkeeper might play a role in this match, although this has not been confirmed and is largely based on rumours on social media like Wire. One thing is for sure, Takeshi Honda might become the star player of these qualifiers as he seems to be in top shape and is playing above all expectation. The twenty-one year old forward from Higaku Antlers has been the driving force in the attack of the Bushi Narehiko and has yet to miss a shot on target. Whenever he has the chance, he will challenge the goalkeeper and go for goal. The players to look out for in the coming game are Honda, Yoshida and Matsumoto, as they also have been nearly flawless in the previous match. The game Kandorith versus Saltstead is one which will surely be a true spectacle to watch as these teams meet each other once again for the first time since Cup of Harmony 79.

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Group 1                                      Pld    W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts 
 1 Revlona                                     1    1   0   0     5    3   +2     3
 2 Drawkland                                   1    1   0   0     4    3   +1     3
   Kandorith                                   1    1   0   0     2    1   +1     3
   Kelssek                                     1    1   0   0     2    1   +1     3
   Tumbra                                      1    1   0   0     1    0   +1     3
 6 Garbelia                                    1    0   0   1     3    4   −1     0
   Gyatso-Kai                                  1    0   0   1     1    2   −1     0
   Saltstead                                   1    0   0   1     0    1   −1     0
   The Juniper Union                           1    0   0   1     1    2   −1     0
10 Marigred                                    1    0   0   1     3    5   −2     0

[Banija]

Mompoloki Mountains, mountain range on the northern part of the Banijan eastern border with Geisenfred, geological survey

The Banijan government had always struggled to do an accurate geological survey in these mountains, along the survey. It was hard to access- couldn't exactly lay down roads among these mountains. And the cold- the only place in the country where it snowed, not many Banijans really wanted to get out here in the first place. And with no evidence of people actually living in these mountains, this range basically went un surveyed. Especially going up the mountains- a hard, steep climb, and the Kuanen River was at the bottom, so why would anyone be up here?

It was damningly cold. John Gutombo had actually never seen snow before- he didn't get out much, and even as a surveyor, had never been beyond Banija's borders before in his life. He'd been to the Busoga Islands while they were still Banijan, of course, but this man wasn't going to count that as a foreign trip. But this may well have been. All the elevation. Snow in this country that didn't really have it, because of the height. And being decently high up the mountains, it was an exhausting walk.

Gutombo saw a cave, and he thought he'd go inside and get a little bit of respite from the snow. He walked into the cave- and it was perfectly draw. Perfectly within the mountain to be able to have anything like an avalanche go right over the top. As he took a sip of water, he took out his high beam flashlight and started looking around. He knew his instructions- step carefully, wasn't trying to accidentally step on anything or kill any baby animals or whatever. But the cave didn't look like any animals had entered it in a while.

Gutombo shined his flashlight on the ground- and what he saw shocked his eyes. "Holy shit." He muttered to himself. "What is this?" He asked himself again. "Is this a... a...." and he didn't quite know how to describe it. Some sort of book? Definitely some writing on it. Like pages were tied into the book instead of bound. And writing in no language he had ever seen before. "What the hell am I looking at." He said to himself, once again. But he knew the instructions with something like this- don't touch anything, let the experts come back.

It was in a spot where it was unlikely to be moved- of course, it looked older than him at the very least, and who knows how long it's been sitting there? But he knew protocol. He took pictures with a non-flash camera. He'd leave this to the historians. When he exited the cave, he made sure to walkie talkie his boss. "Hey boss. You know, I found something here in this cave. You may want to get the historians out here. You won't believe what I Just saw..."

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Mompoloki Mountains, mountain range on the northern part of the Banijan eastern border with Geisenfred, historical expedition, five weeks after the events of the above

Dr. Chydi Obasea was the head of the history program at Northern Moravica University, and one of Banija's premier historians. Obasea was very well-connected in his field, once serving as the Chairman for the Western Regional Education Commission, the higher education accreditation body for the Moravica and Kitara Regions of Banija. His own connections, and even some political, made sure that whenever the Geological Survey found something, that he was always the first to get a call.

It, of course, helped that the current Executive Administrator of the Banijan Geological Survey was a Northern Moravica grad. The old Executive Admin was a Loyola grad- so of course, this NMU historian was not going to get those calls. But Banija's most fierce sporting rivalry extends even to academia. But by the time Gutombo's discovery got kicked all the way up to the chain of command, the Executive Administrator knew he needed to make an immediate call to Obasea.

Obasea only needed about four weeks to put his team together. He was teaching a phD program, and what better way to teach than through lived experience? Four of his students would go with him. Johannes, who was an international student from St. Jakob in Teusland, and three Banijan students- Nicholas, Mazi, and Udo. They would travel with John, who conducted the original geological survey that discovered this cave. THey had to train for it physically, of course, as they'd have to travel up a mountain.

But they prepared, worked out, got ready, and were ready to go. "You know, these mountains are a b*#*@." Dr. Obasea said to John as they were walking towards the cave. "So much wind."

"Well, hopefully what I've got for you is worth seeing." John said. "See- it's right there." The five men walked toward the cave, and into it. Dr. Obasea took note of it- the cave seemed very dry, very empty, very unused. Dr. Obasea pulled out his high beam flashlight, and looked around.

Just then, he saw the book. "That's not a book, John- that's a codex." Dr. Obasea said that, and then took a kneel down by the codex. He did not want to touch it just yet. But he opened it, and very carefully started turning pages. It was written in a language that he, too, had never seen before. "What the hell." The historian muttered to himself. "This is old as heck- must be 500 years old. Seems it's about to fall apart, we need to get this back to Herzegovina City, carefully, to examine this."

"Doctor!" Mazi, one of his students, said. "Look at the walls!"

Dr. Obasea then turned his flashlight to the walls. And he was stunned. The art on the walls. Drawing on the walls of caves is a common thing throughout history. And it was no different here. But it was strange. Hunts. Battles. Families. All sorts of things drawn onto the walls. As he examined the walls, he listened to two more of his students, Udo and Johannes, look at the book together.

"I wonder if this is from Geisenfred." Udo said. "I'm not sure where the border is- but I mean some Geis tribes could've crossed the Kuanen River a long time ago and left one of these here, right? I mean, I've never seen writing like this before."

"We're going to have to carefully extract these and take these to Herzegovina City. This is a discovery guys, congratulations! We don't know what it means. But this is what happens in this field- you learn more information, and you discover what it is. I'm not sure what the heck kind of language we got here, but maybe one of our experts back at the Univ-"

"Oh my gosh!" Johannes exclaimed. Dr. Obasea looked directly at him.

"Johannes, what?" Dr. Obasea said.

"Doctor, these runes are- these are Teus runes." Johannes said. Everybody looked at him, dumbfounded.

"You can read what this says?" Mazi said.

"Well, no. It's not like they teach us how to read ancient runes back home. But I've seen symbols like this before. I obviously have no idea what it says. But the symbols.... No, I'm sure. I think these are Teus."

"Give me a percentage, kid." Dr. Obasea said.

"70%." Johannes said.

"Hmmm." Dr. Obasea pondered. "That's pretty high. Well, great job guys. We're going to have to, very carefully, pick up that codex. We can't read that thing here in a damn cave. We're going to have to take it back to Herzegovina City. And it's freaking cold- I'm trying to get home anyways." Dr. Obasea showed the students how to carefully extract a document that could be hundreds, or even a thousand, years old, and very carefully picked up the codex and put it into an airtight container.

The five did not climb back down the mountain- they were simply picked up by helicopter. Once they got into the helicopter, Obasea grabbed his phone. "Well, Johannes, like I said- I've never seen anything like this. Fortunately, I have the phone number of my counterpart in his country. Let me put in a call to TU Stelburg, maybe they can help us determine if these runes are indeed Teus..."

[Squornshelous]

When the Devil Drives, Chapter 2
Chapter 1
CW: violence, police brutality

Seated on the passenger side of the cruiser, Private-Officer Jukka-Pekka Saarinen's fingers worked restlessly on the pitted plastic of the tac display's keyboard. Up, right, down, left. The blinking cursor moved in a tight square on the screen embedded in the dashboard in front of him.

"Will you cut that out? Driving me crazy with all that clicking and tapping."

Jukka-Pekka, JP to his friends, quickly pulled his right hand back into his lap, "Sorry."

Sergeant-Officer Alexei Bondarenko was his assigned mentor. Short-tempered and quick to reach for his hip, Bondarenko was not the image of a police officer JP had in mind when he'd first applied to the academy. Outside the ballistic glass window, the streets of Santraginus slid by in a blur of colored lights, figures silhouetted for an instant against garish storefronts and signage. JP had been on patrol duty for all of three days, and working diligently to hide his dismay with the way Bondarenko worked. Police work was a tradition in his family, his father had been a patrol officer, before he was killed in a car crash, and both his grandfathers had been as well. At the academy, it had been easy to dismiss the cynicism that some of the cadets seemed to have for their vocation. They were just trying to impress and intimidate each other, he'd told himself. None of them there really knew what it was like. Obviously, the police sometimes had to use force in the line of duty, it was unavoidable. But most of their work was to help, to protect the many, many law-abiding citizens of the Imperium.

Bondarenko didn't seem to share his ideals. The veteran seemingly viewed everyone with suspicion. He casually used force and threats when JP knew it was against policy as outlined in the handbook. Worse than that was the way he talked about the people they met on their patrols. Bondarenko seemed to enjoy intimidating them, to enjoy the power that his badge and uniform gave him. He enjoyed it for its own sake, not for the good it could allow him to do. JP couldn't help but wonder which of them was in the minority.

Tonight the job was something a bit different. Not just patrolling and responding calls. Tonight they'd been tapped for warrant service. A man named Radovan Pelsko was suspected of selling unlicensed softs and implants. To hear Bondarenko talk, there was little enough doubt of that. He'd been known to the department for quite a while now, but always too small time to be worth taking down. He was a useful informant at times, but the rumor was that he had switched suppliers, and was now working with NewCon. Effectively financing a terrorist organization was quite a bit more serious than just selling softs. It was all just rumor of course, but the theory made sense. The cruiser's six tires ground to a halt, and JP thumbed the door latch, kicking it hard to help the elderly pneumatics with the weight. Pushing hard on the handle, he forced it out and up. The door, with its antiquated steel armor, weighed almost 100 kilos, and JP dreaded the day the pneumatics finally failed altogether. Finally, it locked into the up position, and he stepped down to the running board, and then the sidewalk.

Pelsko's place had been a coffee shop, before that a bar, and before that who knew. The screen above the door was mostly dark, and spelled out "Pelsko's Secondhand" in pink cursive letters that mimicked antique tube lighting. There was no way Pelsko could afford the genuine article, but from a distance the approximation might fool someone, particularly if they weren't exactly sober, as many of the block's denizens appeared not to be. Bondarenko wasted no time taking in the sights, and shoved the door open, a sickly electronic chime accompanying him over the threshold. JP followed. Inside, the shop was a chaotic mess. Shelves held cybernetic implants and prosthetics with no apparent organization scheme. Advertisement posters plastered the walls one atop the other until the topmost appeared to have congealed in place, rather than been placed there. Behind the counter, chromatic arrays of software spikes, this one promising improved reflexes, that one to let you see infrared, another simply providing removable memory. It was a lot to take in.

"Alexei! Always a pleasure to see you. This your newest protege?"

"Shut the fuck up Radovan, don't use my name."

"Alexe . . . Officer Bondarenko, please. There's no need for such language, we're old associates aren't we?"

"Maybe we were Radovan, before you decided to turn traitor."

"Traitor! You're joking with me. You know you don't have to resort to such games if you want something from me, I'm always happy to be of service."

Bondarenko unholstered his sidearm, a cheap Lind-Virek 9mm, and slammed it onto the countertop with such force that JP winced, afraid the gun might go off. It had been built by the lowest bidder after all. "You know Radovan, I didn't mind you trying to make a little on the side here and there. Not like you were really hurting anyone. Someone gets a bad batch from you, well, they knew what they were getting into didn't they. But now you fucked up." Bondarenko reached across, grabbed a fistfull of Pelsko's shirt and yanked him bodily over the counter, scattering a display of artificial eyes across the floor. Bondarenko forced the muzzle of his pistol against the shopkeep's temple. All JP could do was stare in horror. He'd seen the look in Bondarenko's eye. "You got yourself some new friends is what I hear Radovan, some very dangerous friends. They sent me to bring you in for questioning, but the way I see it, I oughta take care of things right here and now."

"Sergeant," JP found his voice, and Bondarenko's head snapped up, and the anger in his eyes was like a blow. JP met his gaze with effort, "Our orders."

With a long slow movement Bondarenko looked down at Pelsko, who was pleading incoherently on the floor, then back up at JP. "Maybe you're right rookie. This bastard isn't worth the bullet." JP felt relief wash over him as Bondarenko holstered the gun, and the tone of Pelsko's whimpering changed to one of thanks. Only for a moment though, as Bondarenko's fist lashed out, landing with sickening crunch. Hauled upright, the gibbering shopkeep had his freshly broken nose bashed against his own front door on the way out, before Bondarenko unceremoniously tossed him into the back of the cruiser, slamming the door shut.

"Good work rookie, let's get back."

[Audioslavia]

"And now" says Rohan Cammers, getting up from his chair and standing before the room of reporters, "we can start the qualifying campaign".

The assembled hacks watched as the Apoxian tipped his cork hat towards the group with the slightest of nods, pulled his cagoule back over his shoulders, picked up his hemp manbag and sauntered out of the room.

A figure watched the journos grumble their way out through the side exit and tipped his own hat - not a cork one. There's not enough space to hang corks on a trilby - over his eyes. He clasped shut his grotesquely discoloured mackintosh and did the same to his coat before ambling out of the room behind everyone.

"You were unusually quiet" came the voice of one journalist, looking over his shoulder at the man.
"You're unusually wank" came the reply, which the first journalist ignored. There was a pause. The man in the trilby spoke again. "If only you weren't unusually quiet" he said.
"You can't just say a second comeback after you've already said the first" said the journalist, shaking his head and walking out into the carpark.
"Your face can't just say a..."
"Yeah, whatever, see you in Cathair, Jeremy" said the man.
Jeremy mumbled a quiet 'not if I see you first' to himself and hoped he would be on the same plane as the guy on the way back to Audioslavia so he could insult him properly as a captive audience.

Bloody Poafmersia again.

Audioslavia had come over to the land of the Potato Farmers, played a decent game, conceded a stupid goal and come off the worst against the spuds for the fourth time in recent memory. He could see Audioslavia's press all making the same 'chip on the shoulder' joke in tomorrow's press, which annoyed him because it was lazy journalism and lazy journalism was Jeremy's own schtick.

His phone boopity-booped. He fished it out of his pocket and spent a minute trying to get the fingerprint thing to work. When he eventually remembered that it was the middle finger on his left hand that he'd set to open the phone. He swiped in the general direction of his messages and found a single word. "Foxchester"

Jeremy peered at the word as he was expecting it cascade down the screen like the end boss of Solitaire. He clumsily tapped a response. "Which booking Foxchester?" and hit 'send' before he realised what havoc auto-correct had played with his message.

As he opened the door to a waiting taxi, his phone bloopity-bloopity-blooped. Two messages.

"What"
"?"

Jeremy put his phone back in his pocket and thought about severing his middle finger so that he'd never have to work with messenger services ever again. He decided against it. It would, after all, only serve to halve the efficacy of his ability to greet his Krytenian friends.

"Where to?" said the cab driver.
"Good question" said Jeremy.

[Pasarga]

Last World Cup was a cycle of ups and downs for the Wanderers, with success coming in the form of advancing into the knockouts of the Finals but the failure coming from having thrown away what was supposed to be a commanding lead of their qualifying group and ending up in second at the end of the qualifiers, having to come into the Finals via a very difficult playoff tie. It made both the PFA as well as Meriadoc Griffiths realize that this upcoming cycle was going to be his last one in charge and that was a bit of freedom for the manager, he could go out into this set of qualifiers knowing that he was not trying to impress anyone but rather out just to get results. It also was a bit of a let off, as the current generation that which he had presided over during his tenure at the helm of the Wanderers was about to phase out of the squad completely and with the difficulties that Griffiths had during the Di Bradini Cups, he was not so keen on trying to bring a new generation through the national team pool. That difficult task would be put at someone else's feet, his task now was to take the Wanderers once more into the Finals and compete with Eura and Nephara for the contention of being the best current nation from Rushmore in the game.

As it stood, his defensive unit was in a bit of shambles and he wondered how good they would end up being, especially after they failed to keep a clean sheet against Grandistania in the Stade de Torgos to open up the qualifiers. The Wanderers were supposed to be a top seed, yet they were having quite a bit of troubles with a debutant nation to the World Cup qualifiers. The defense had lost quite a bit of the steel from the Gold Leauge of Eura with players aging out of the team and instead a few more of the players from the SuperLiga were now in the pool. That was likely not the best outcome, as the SuperLiga standard had sunk a few degrees in the last few years and though their standard was still fairly good, it was no longer exceptional. Drawing players from the domestic league was going to be more difficult, as finding players that were actually excellent and not just a big fish in a small pond was going to be a game of luck. Unfortunately Griffiths felt like luck had not been on his side that much during his time with the Wanderers, yet it had not been terribly unlucky either.

The Wanderers were going to be traveling to the southwest of Atlantian Oceania for their second match to take on the Busoga Islands, a team that was going to be reeling a bit after several of their players were injured in a riot from their first match. That news quite displeased Griffiths as a competitor, he wanted his team to win sure, but he wanted them to beat their opposition at their height and not brought down low. Additionally, if the team somehow found a way to capitulate and lose to such a weakened squad, it would no doubt be a horrible morale killer for the Wanderers after what had already been a less than stellar performance to open up the qualifiers in front of the home fans. While not quite as good as their neighbors of Banija and Farfadillis, the Busoga came had been coming a long way over the last few years and going there was far from a match that a result should have been assumed from with a full team, especially with the domestic growth even if their own clubs were not in the top flight of that multi-association league. The exposure and playing against that level of club was going to do wonders for their team.

A few days later the team would be back in Torgos and playing against an old regional foe of West Zirconia, a team that was not what it once was and looking to build themselves back up again. It was not the most difficult of games but it was one that Griffiths was going to have to make sure that the team was prepared, games like this against Hampton Island and Tumbra that had cost them in the last cycle. Focus is what he would need to drill into the team, focus and teamwork was going to need to be what would lead them to victories that talent alone would perhaps not be enough for, a weird statement given their ranking but the state of the team demanded as much. Griffiths needed the team to come together to make up for that inadequacy in the defensive unit or be pleasantly surprised that the defenders are not as poor as he believed them to be. It would be a very interesting international weekend to be sure but it was better to be in the option of tinkering with three points already secured than having had a misstep in that opening match and franticly making changes to try and get things back on course. It was not his favorite way of doing things, but he had learn to embrace the ugly wins in his time in the dual islands.

[North Japan]

HOKUTOU-KO DAILY
The Voice of The People

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Great Victory For Japan

HOKUTOU-KO (JCNA) — In a glorious display of skill the Democratic People's Republic was victorious against the weak team, and nation, Sannyamathland. They were no match against the attacking prowess and the skills of the national football team as they played with their hearts and keeping national pride and dedication in their mind. The game was dedicated to the Great Chairwoman Aki Asami, who has led the Democratic Republic for twenty years already on this day and will do so for eternity. In a shameless display the Japanese controlled the game from start to finish and never did they look like they would fall to the attacks of Sannyamathland. While the nation's people have the same interest towards reaching their goals as the divine Japanese people do, they have been straying from the true way of freedom, which will be their downfall as they fell in the game of football.

Referring to the match as a simple, no sweat win; Takeo Hitachi had the following to say after the match: "It was easier than expected. I knew the team would be in excellent form and we would win but I did not expect to win by this margin. To be honest, I think our opponent needs to take a look at themselves and no longer ignore the errors in their ways towards the eternal revolution. It really does not matter in which way you achieve your goals, as long as it is in accordance with putting the control back to the workers. We have done this over fifty years ago and we have become one of the largest forces when it comes to military prowess and sports achievements. I only hope that the people of Sannyamathland will realize that there is a need to stick to the core principles of communism."

Where the People's Republic excelled, Sannyamathland failed to leave an impression. The team seemed undisciplined and uninspired; both which are unacceptable for a nation which claims to uphold the Soviet values. As fellow nation upholding the needs to set the workers free, there are lessons to be learned. Japan will never fall to accepting division as their nation has shown in their national football; the People's Republic stands as one united shining beacon of freedom and democracy.

Final Results:


Sannyamathland 0 - 5 Japan

Foreign Spy Caught

The Ministry of Justice has concluded a foreign spy, disguised as an exchange student, was caught red handed by multiple institutions as they abused their status as 'student' and were spying for their government. The person in question was found to be taking pictures, videos and was sending them to foreign agencies to try and discredit the People's Republic's regime and people. The 'student' honestly admitted to the ministry that they were indeed spying and were systematically collecting data about the domestic situation of the Glorious Republic and has repeatedly been asking for general pardon. The calls for pardon have not been answered as the criminal in question has indeed been found guilty to espionage and not upholding the values of the People's Republic.

The criminal court stated the following: "The subject has been found guilty on all charges of espionage and defiling the laws of the People's Republic of Japan in unacceptable ways, the defendant has pleaded guilty to these charges and shall therefore receive punishment fitting for these crimes of treason and fraud. The defendant has used our generous student program to commit acts of espionage and treason under the guise of "learning" and "commitment to understand our way of life". The court shall not stand for such acts of violating the laws of the People's Republic and shall therefore sentence the criminal to twenty-five years of reeducation, to be fulfilled in the Institute of Rehabilitation of Nanporo."

[Siovanija and Teusland]

Deep in the Gjoll Jungle, Prinz-Eugens-Land

As the foremost expert in Teus pagan history in Siovanija & Teusland, and quite possibly the world, Professor Klaus Sondheim often found himself in… interesting situations.

For example, while his students visited tropical Vrnovo or went home to their families on semester week break, he was deep in the harsh Gjoll Jungle of Prinz-Eugens-Land, searching for a temple devoted to the pagan god Donnar. He and his small team had found themselves in various states of discomfort over the past few days - extreme heat, having to beat their way through the jungle. And the bugs didn’t quite make things easier.

Luckily for Sondheim, however, he had been on enough expeditions to know how to deal with that sort of thing. Like the time tigers had taken over his camp while searching for another temple in a different part of this jungle. Or when he’d been shot at by local hunters who mistook his movements for that of an animal. There was the temple to Lokke that had included several traps that almost killed him. You just sort of got used to it.

But today, for Siovanija & Teusland’s most famous historian - self-proclaimed, of course - things seemed to be going pretty straightforward. The team had left camp at dawn, and based on the records he had available to him were ‘pretty close’ to the site of the temple. It was one of the last-remaining hidden temples in the jungle, and Sondheim was confident he would be the one to find it.

You see, some 400 years ago when the Teus Empire colonized this land, the Teus Catholic Church thought it would be smart to encourage pagans to emigrate en masse to the new land. They can have the hot, rough jungle, we’ll have cool old Stelburg. Quickly, however, the Teus pagans made alliances with the local tribes, and became quite independent. Now the Church began to regret their move, and after a series of wars forced the pagans out of the southern, actually habitable part of the country and into the rough wilderness. More wars in years following led to gradual religious freedom, but the history couldn’t be changed. Even today, Teus language place names in the south recall the homeland, or Catholic interests: Neu-Marzig, Mariahilf, Sankt Georg. In the north, they are linked with paganism: Donnarsheim, Walhalla. In the north, the various indigenous groups had a shared bond with the pagans, and they grew close together. In the south, they clashed with the Church.

It’s a conflict that defined the history of this land, and in the ‘exodus to the jungle,’ a number of Teus pagan temples were secretly built in these harsh lands, safe from the reach of the Catholic Church. Often, they were built near settlements of the tribes, particularly the Emfi and Tugolo who had strong relationships with the Teus pagans. And now, hundreds of years later, many of them had been forgotten. Who knew what historical artifacts - and, of course, treasure - could lay inside?

Just after noon, Sondheim thought he’d spotted it - an old, stone building, almost fort-like in structure, designed as such in case the Catholic armies ever came across it. But he was sure it was the one - and when the group approached and Sondheim read the old Teus runic letters, he was proven correct. ‘Temple of Donnar’ it said, and Sondheim wondered to himself what would lay inside.

Could it be the gold, like in the temple of Woden? Now that had been a great discovery, Sondheim thought - the compensation for that discovery had set him up for life. Sondheim was a historian before a treasure hunter, though, and he also imagined finding more pages of Volkmar’s Saga, the important but incomplete record of Teus history written in around 600 which had been almost like a Bible for the old pagans. Only about 200 of its 687 pages had ever been discovered - 13 of them by Sondheim himself. Then, of course, it could’ve been like that temple for Lokke he’d found earlier - only fool’s gold inside, one more trick from the trickster God.

Stepping into the temple, he knew he’d have to be careful - these had been designed to defend against Catholic invaders, and many contained quite vicious traps. He noted one tripwire he’d had to step over. It didn’t take him long, however, to get to the main hall. On the walls were carved designs of Teus pagan Gods, such as Donnar himself, seemingly leading a large army into battle in the jungle. On the altar were a number of beautiful cloths with inscriptions in Teus runic language, covered in cobwebs. Behind was a wooden carving of Donnar himself - quite beautiful, Sondheim thought, and definitely something that deserved to be found in the Imperial Museum of Stelburg. He reached for the carving, and grabbed it - without realizing that a hornet’s nest lay just behind.

Not a trap meant for the Catholics, but one created perhaps by Woden himself. Suddenly, dozens of venomous, potentially deadly Gjoll Jungle hornets came flying towards Sondheim. One sting could mean the hospital, upwards of 10? You wouldn’t even be able to dial 9-1-1. Sondheim turned and sprinted back out towards the entrance, but in his haste forgot to avoid the tripwire he’d stepped over before. Suddenly, rocks started falling from above, hitting him on the head - but most dangerously, threatening to block the exit. He ran faster than ever before, and dove out of what remained of the entrance way onto the grass outside. The rocks had stopped the hornets’ chase, and now covered most of the doorway.

“Klaus, everything alright?” yelled one of his assistants.

The historian took stock of himself, rubbed some blood off his face, but stood back up, adjusted his hat, and as if nothing had happened, said “Yes, just tripped a bit on my way out. Anyways, let’s start heading back, we’ve not got much time to waste. I’ve found a new piece for the Imperial Museum’s collection.

Three days later, after the brutal hike back through the jungle, Sondheim was back on a plane to Stelburg, ready to resume his other duties.

Four days later - TU Stelburg, Stelburg, Teusland

This was the less glamorous part of the job. Sondheim served as a Professor of History at TU Stelburg, the most prestigious university in Siovanija & Teusland, as well as being on the board at the Imperial Museum. It meant he had to teach a few classes per year - much less exciting than, well, hiking through the Gjoll Jungle. And Sondheim lived for adventure.

He responded to a few emails - he thought the syllabus had been very clear that the final report was due next Monday, but a number of students seemed to suddenly have had family emergencies come up. Nothing changes, he thought. He packed up his computer and his notes, preparing for the short walk from his office to the class, when suddenly his phone rang.

Dr. Chydi Obasea. One of Banija’s top historians, Sondheim had never worked directly with him, but the two had swapped stories before at university and museum events. Sondheim wondered what a Banijan history professor could possibly need an expert on Teus pagan history for, however.

“Dr. Obasea, it’s excellent to hear from you! How’ve you been?”

“I’m doing well. Dr. Sondheim, firstly, congratulations on your big find the other day! The Imperial Museum must be proud of its biggest adventurer.”

“Haha, well, someone has to do it!”

“The Gjoll jungle must be hot this time of year. Wouldn’t you like a chance to really cool off?”

“What do you have in mind?”

“The Mompoloki Mountains. I just got back from a trip up there - a surveyor stumbled on a cave with all sorts of carvings, and a mysterious book. One of my students thinks it happens to be in the Teus runic language. Luckily, you happen to be an expert on that sort of thing.”

A book? Sondheim didn’t want to get too excited yet. “I’ll be there. Guess I’ll have to pack a sweater for once,” he laughed. “I’ll give you a call once I get to Herzegovina City.”

Sondheim taught his class that day, before rushing over to Stelburg International Airport to get on the next flight to Banija. He couldn’t help wonder what it could be - the Teus hadn’t reported first contact with Banija until long after the conversion to Catholicism and adoption of the Latin alphabet. What was a book with Teus runes doing in Banija? Sondheim had to find out.

[Krytenia]

Now Here's The Tricky Part
By Rami Niblick in Lionsgate, Acronius

ONE down, seventeen to go. Having finally slayed the demon of Matchday One failure, the Dragons move on to their next tests. If there's one thing recent campaigns have shown us, it's that it's a marathon and not a sprint. That's the thing about marathons, though; you're basically worried about two other people in the race - namely the runner in front and the one behind. That basically sums up the next two opponents for Krytenia, as they travel to Acronius before welcoming Reçueçn to the Isserson.

Fourth seeds Acronius are a bit of a quandary. They're good enough to hold their own in individual matches, but just seem to lack the punch to elevate themselves to the next level over the course of a campaign. Gutting the side four years ago couldn't help them find a way past TJUN-ia or Cassadaigua in World Cup 87 qualifying, and with a goalkeeper their own media describes as "distinctly average", there's the opportunity for the likes of Neil Smith and Alun Belmwr to absolutely fill their boots. Certainly, even if they are the visitors, the Krytenia team will surely feel this is a game they can win and win well.

Reçueçn, meanwhile, are seeded second in Group 15 and as such will have a massive bullseye painted on their backs. There is one major stumbling block to immediately overcome; they play in purple. Starblaydia and Matthewsania alike have proved to be violet-hued thorns in the Dragons' collective sides, and Les Licornes will be looking to add their names to that particular list. Colour-related superstitions aside, though, Bonheur Relié's charges are a force to be reckoned with. Unlucky not to make it to the big dance at World Cup 87 - blame Pasarga for that one - they want to right that particular wrong, and if that means dumping on both sides of the Cove, then so be it. Harold Saunders is basically Cormac O'Neill in a different uniform, whilst Franky Adams is the thinking man's V*******ion. This will be the acid test for the Dragons; win this, and the last thirty-two will be firmly in their sights.

Even at this very early stage, then, there are six absolutely massive points up for grabs. Let's hope Paul Davis' squad can summon the mental fortitude to pass both tests and put Krytenia well and truly in the driving seat on the road to the C&C Football Factory. Onward!

[Zwangzug]

The Spenson Star

*Fifth seeds Rangers FC held the national team to a scoreless draw in the opening match of World Cup 88 qualifiers, an achievement credited to their spectacles. "Look, you have to give them credit," said pundit Kenzie Stern-Brighton. "Some cultures might discriminate against near- or far-sighted people pursuing athletic careers. And some other cowards might opt for contact lenses or laser surgery because they don't like 'looking like nerds' or 'going in for risky headers' or 'melodramatic scenes when your metaphorical representation of intelligence gets shattered everywhere.' But fair play to the 'Gers, they make glasses look cool." Stern-Brighton had no comment on the opposition's facial hair, but admitted that Flora Helanderikis' scarf was "rather dashing."

*The government has issued a preliminary travel advisory with regards to Zwangzug's matchday fifteen game in North Japan. "Look, we can't actually stop you," said Pierre Dromard, Department of Transportation bureaucrat. "Wait, we can? The government has power to do that? I mean, I guess that's why we're not one of those dictatorships, but seriously...Anyway look I know it's a long way away and we can't stop you if you really want to go, but I would think twice if I were you, because apparently writing down objective truth and facts about what happened during the game is 'espionage' and 'propaganda' instead of 'being a stats nerd.'" At press time, an insufferable deconstructionist who was trying to question the possibility of "objective truth and facts" was seen falling out the window of Dromard's office.

*Concerns have been raised about the specter of performance-enhancing drugs in the World Cup after The Turnip reported on "Ripperonin." "Back in my day," said former midfielder Satenik Banach, "the WCC took drug abuse seriously. We all had to pee in cups and stuff. Of course the way my intestines were I'm not sure what they found in my samples, there was probably a lot of interesting supplements that they weren't looking for. But I didn't use any of it to cheat, bleepit." Banach's advice on managing frequent visits to the toilet has been highly sought-after ahead of the match with Sylestone that will close out the first half.

"Actually there's nothing new under the sun, you know?" said history nerd Cheryl Woen. "Back in, uh, not my day, but somebody's, there was this whole thing in Candelaria And Marquez and Kura-Pelland about 'RP-inin' and the supplement 'Verbosita,' both nations did some thorough reporting on the dangers of...I'm not helping my case, am I." Upon being informed that the world was, in fact, better off for the recent international surge of attention given to these matters, and did not need her pointless reminiscences, Woen attempted to acquire tickets to the Matchday Fifteen game in North Japan.

[Zeta Reka and Hugeltaldom]

A younger man walked in, with a flannel shirt and sunglasses, the later of which came off. “Djoko, you well?” the man asked before “Yes—“ “good!” the young man was quick to interrupt Djoko “Shall we start?” he asked “the green room is a bit too cramped. Let’s not take people’s time up.” Djoko looked a bit perplexed, but gave an affirmative gesticulation. “We have a few questions. You haven’t done any interviews like this that we are aware of, so everything is a bit of a low ball, something you’ll be answering one thousand times.” the young man was a bit unimpressed, Djoko scented a ego in that mouth and those eyes. “It’s a living isn’t it? I’m guessing we’ll be on any moment?” Ljubica clapped her hands, "this will be rolling before the third matchup,” she said, "You’ll be introduced by Iwan again. Okay? Okay! Five… four… three… two…”

Djoko perked up, “Thank you again, Iwan. I’m here against the beautiful waters here at the Klink Lodge for another tell all with a member of Zeta Reka, and even Hugeltaldom’s hottest sports team. My guest at this time is someone who’s been rising through the Rekan game over the last few years. Zaur-Luka Igorić. Zaur, I have to tell you, this is a pleasure to be here with you in your first sit down interview, and hopefully not the last.” Zaur looked over, adjusting his shirt to fit snugly, some kind of rock band was being promoted it seemed to Djoko. “Thanks for having me, it’s an honor” Zaur said as Djoko’s brain compared his acting to either wood or a man selling used dinghy boats. “You’ve been highly touted in the papers in this country since you were young. Now you’re playing for the purple and teal in the Rekan league. We’ve never had that opportunity however to learn about who you are.” Zaur smirked, “Well, yeah, I’ve been in the news for a while, growing up in Platinastigrade, I was scoring at the under fifteen level for a while before I got sold to Ogroven. —” “Most expensive transfer for your age” “— I went from a club… yeah, I was… I weet from a club that had less scoring options to one with a front three, so my numbers have changed, but still, it’s been easy for me. Growing up, the ball was almost a deity. Of course it was not. Nobody would ever pray to a ball. Godheads in Nephara? Well, honestly I find that blasphemous. I also hear people sacrifice rubber chickens?” Djoko tilted his head, “Some say that.” he said as Zaur waved his hands “Well, I’d rather eat chicken myself.” Zaur said, leaning back further in his chair.

Djoko soldered on, holding back laughter, “Of course the nation is watching this interview while we’re in the midst of a World Cup campaign. The next matchup on the agenda is a huge one, Audioslavia. Tell me, Zaur, what are your thoughts coming into a big matchup like this.” Zaur flicked some of hair behind both of his ears. “Audioslavia… that’s a huge nation in this sport when it comes to prestige. They are a famous side. A lot of people will be watching the game.” Djoko looked over to his producer unamused. “The team will be a challenge of course. Your contemporaries Brown and Côtescassées, plus players like Erwin Spijkers and Rijsbergen, who play in some of the best club sides in the world.” Zaur shrugged, “Yeah, but they’re playing us, and me. Face to face, nothing else is going to matter. You know I was there when we flicked two extra time goals off of Brenecia.”—Djoko nodded along for the cameras, looking over his papers from moment to moment— “Now,” Zaur said sternly, his cast puffing up, “you’re all well and right about how good they are, they probably won’t get eliminated in qualifying, I think that happens once every like… seven or eight times. Plus side is that they’ve gotten into seven of the last seven, so we are due to kick their ass.”

Djoko put a thumb on his chin, looking over the softball questions prepared for Igorić. “You have a lot of confidence, to be sure” Djoko said. The old man looked up at his producer with a smile, “So,” he said “were there any chickens in the Republic’s cup?” Djoko said, referencing a domestic embarrassment Igorić faced two seasons ago. Zaur scoffed, “I don’t know, ask the waiter.” The two looked at each other with a smirk, “You like asking questions?” Zaur asked, to which he got a quick reply “It’s in my job title.” Djoko smiled, looking over at a producer who was rolling her hands. “So, you’ve been all around the world, you’re a student of the game. Tell me, with your experience, where do you rank as a fullback?” Zaur shrugged, sipping his glass of water. “You’re the guy with the most head knowledge.” he said, before pausing. After a time, and another sip, Zaur spoke up, “Do you know how to find where I am in these rankings?” he asked. “You look at the fullbacks who were great in Zeta Reka before we were internationalized. Also look at those who have been good backs, Jan Macík, Cathy Stokes, Marcin Close, whoever your favorite is. See what I do? See what they did?” Djoko looked a bit perplexed, “With all due respect,” he said,” you’re comparing yourself to some true legends of the game.” Zaur nodded his head, “What is wrong?”— he while adjusting his collar, —“Oh, I’m not better—“ “A bold assumption, yes.” “—they would have to earn starts in a locker room with me though.” Djoko looked up at his guest “Perhaps,” he said sternly, “but you wouldn’t be successful without confidence either, some might say you're the most confident player in the country.” Even after the exchange, Igorić didn’t flinch a bit nor did the host. “Well, thank you for coming here, Zaur” Djoko began to move a hand across his chest as he spoke, “I think the nation knows more about you.” Zaur nodded back, “They knew a lot” he said.

“Break!” the producer yelled. Both men shook hands, with Djoko whispering into the younger man’s ear “My boy, I’ve seen a lot of kids come up like you,” he said before walking away and finishing his sentence out loud, “they learn to love their shin guards.”

---

Rosters for WCQ Matches 2 & 3 (assuming no injuries or suspensions)

vs. Murphtania
GK: Dejan Wasić
LWB: Zaur-Luka Igorić
CB: Anubis Zlatkowić
CB: Ali Faruq
RWB: Steffanow Kostessen
DM: Stani Gröss
CM: Tomislaw Radowić
AM: Želmir Kolarowić (c)
LF: Jad
CF: Arnald Gal
RF: Miloš Simeoniwić
Named Subs
GK: Branislaw Mucić, Ratimir Ljajić
CB: Tito Jankoslawić, Damjan Protić
L/RB, CM: Hermann Hamppe
CM: Stanimir Rekawić
DM: Nikola Branić
AM: Marko Zup
L/CF: Stojan Heiden
CF: Adam Wladić-Hermann
R/CF: Josip Jorowić

vs. Audioslaiva
GK: Zlatko Wukowić
LWB: Zaur-Luka Igorić
CB: Wlad Wlad
CB: Ali Faruq
RWB: Yuri Kewić
DM: Stani Gröss
CM: Stanimir Rekawić
AM: Želmir Kolarowić (c)
LF: Arnald Gal
CF: Bogdan Rawić
RF: Jad
Named Subs
GK: Dejan Wasić, Branislaw Mucić
CB: Anubis Zlatkowić, Damjan Protić
L/RB, CM: Hermann Hamppe
CM: Stanimir Rekawić
DM: Nikola Branić
AM: Marko Zup
L/RF: Jad
FW: Wladmir Imilić
CF: Adam Wladić-Hermann

Special notes

• Gal and Kolarowić are the top scores in the campaign with (1) goal each
• Yuri Kewić has a yellow card after being booked against Sharktail
• Wlad Wlad unequivocally absent against Murphtania due to a sudden but preexisting familial issue
• Reserves italicized

[Hampton Island]

Conversation Between Stafford City CEO and manager Ned Haygood

Haygood: Boss, this isn’t going to work.

CEO: What are you complaining about?

Haygood: The bears. They are absolutely clueless and have no idea how to properly play a ninety minute game of soccer. After the first ten minutes or so, they lost all interest and were very easily distracted.

CEO: Yeah, I saw that. But it is just one game, give them a chance. We have the most ferocious midfield out of anyone in this group, and maybe in all of qualifying.

Haygood: We’re not Bears Armed.

CEO: We don’t need to be Bears Armed. You’ve seen our bears in baseball, the trainers do a fantastic job getting them to play, and baseball is a much more complicated game. Think about it, they play the outfield, know what base to throw it too, and all that stuff.

Haygood: That is because they understand the signals that they are given over the course of the game. I like what the trainers do with the bears in baseball for sure, but there is a big difference between baseball and soccer.

CEO: I know, baseball is far more difficult. If they can play baseball, they can play soccer. Just like I said.

Haygood: But boss, you are overlooking one very important thing, and that is that during a baseball game they go back and forth between the field and the dugout. On the soccer field, there is a continuous clock. No time for any of them to rest, and like we saw, they got bored. We can’t be losing to Togonistan when we have Nephara in this group.

CEO: Well, we lost to them. We can recover from it. Yes, maybe there will be an adjustment period with the bears, but when they were in the mood to play, they were completely unstoppable. We’ll get them to become more interested without distractions. How was the overall chemistry between them and the humans?

Haygood: The humans are frustrated because they feel like they are playing short handed, and I really don’t blame them.

CEO: Well, the humans can be coached a lot easier, so they need to learn how to cope with this situation. The bears are to remain in the game. Ratings for that match were very high, and that is the most important thing to me. The stadium is sold out to watch them at home, they are all to play all ninety minutes unless they get a red card or something.

Haygood: Sure, but when will we be willing to accept that this is a failed experiment if we do not start getting results.

CEO: The results will come in time. You are overreacting to one game. We’ll bounce back.

[Queenisa]

The Queenisa Cheerleading Team

Announcing the Queenisa Cheerleading team ! Welcome to the New Cheerleading team, meant to give Queenisan players an motivation to play better in tough positions and overall show the glory of Queenisa - Victory is all we care about in this World Cup. Leaded by Lucinda, This team has over 20 members and They all share one message - Courage.

Prologue

The Cheerleading team prepares to cheerlead a few hours before the matches even take place and practice in the secret hub located someone in the stadium that is usually not accessible to a usual spectator. They have the master perfection - they participated in more then 100 games nationally and global wide to spread the influence of Queenisan Culture.

[Turori]

Edgeli leads Eels to Victory in First WCQ Match as Head Coach

Eel's Park in Eelandii Turori was packed to the brim as the Turori National Team would open their World Cup 88 Qualification campaign against Baggieland. It was a first meeting between the two sides with Turori entering the campaign in the undesirable position of being a top seed that very few pundits were projecting to be able to win their own group to secure advancement to the World Cup Finals. Of course, Turori's National Citizen Squad did not care much for what the pundits had to say and preferred to do their talking on the pitch. The Eels would do just that delighting their home fans by taking an early 1-0 lead through veteran Xanneria based forward Wiztsana Iretziia. Having just turned 37 and playing along side 38 your old Arlington City attacker Meldi'ita Mungwaii, Turori's supposed new look squad under head coach Tarek Edgeli instead appeared to be very much an old look - starting one of the oldest all-citizen attacking twosomes in the history of the modern game.

It was proven effective just four minutes into the match when Mungwaii was able to skillfully play Iretziia to their left and the former Galatica striker whistled a shot past Ben Osborne to secure the Turori National Team's first goal of the tournament. Despite having over 100 places between them in the latest World Cup Committee Rankings, however, it was a very tightly fought match and perhaps a sign of things to come in a talented group 15 pool that includes nations such as Krytenia, Recuecn and Valentine Z.

While Baggieland were keeping up the pressure, Turori continued to have the better of the quality chances and converted a second before the half on a free kick after Naraiza Ruaplal was fouled outside the Baggieland penalty area. Kentu Umaka'a lined up the shot with no tricks or redirections and simply placed the free kick perfectly to split the wall and beat Osborne's reach as the Baggieland keeper found themselves picking the ball out of the net for the second time on the day. The half time whistle was a welcome reprieve for the Throstles of Baggieland in their vertically striped kits - not because they were unable to keep up with the pace of play presented by the Eels in the first half but simply because Turori were able to capitalize on their chances to go up 2-0 and Baggieland needed the interval to regroup and re-vector their attack if they were going to get back into the game.

In fact, after the restart Baggieland were able to find more success in keeping the homeside off the board, improving on their ability to force the ball to the outside and deny Turori the quality goal scoring opportunities they were afforded over the opening forty five minutes. Baggieland would even claw a goal back in the 73rd minute through substitute forward Ginger Astle but it would not be enough as the Turori National Team would hold on to open their World Cup 88 Qualifying campaign with a 2-1 victory.

 Turori [2] - [1] Baggieland
				
	GOALS:	Turori 	:: 4' Wiztsana Iretziia:: 41' Kentu Umaka'a             		
	STATS:	Turori 	:: Possession: 55%:: Shots: 4:: Corners: 6	Baggieland 	:: Possession: 45%:: Shots: 4:: Corners: 8
	Lineup:	[GK] Timaala Hualtia, [D.] Mikki Mayelli, [D.] Lulu Pumaziiri, [D.] Biliki Rona'atu'i, [D.]  Moumouni Verre'elali, [ML]  Kentu Umaka'a, [MC] Naraiza Ruaplal, [MC]  Daliora Toru'u, [MR]  Kiidallen Aeroluzzi, [FC] Meldi'ita Mungwaii, [FC] Wiztsana Iretziia			
	Bench:	[FC] Nua'oma Aikiki, [FC] Kala'a Yuliizala, [M] Kinabo Telioa, [M] Lati'ala Giaoka, [U ] Yitizo Mpala'a, [D] Amakli Inuro'o, [GK] Wiyauw An'maude

Fans at Eel's Park in Eelandii showed their appreciate to new head coach Tarek Edgeli - a former star player for the National Team in their own right, on the occasion of their first official World Cup Campaign victory with the Turori National Team. After having coached Turori to back-to-back Bronze medals in Eagle's Cup IX and Eagle's Cup X, Edgeli's first ever World Cup Qualifying match in charge of the Turori National Team after having replaced former manager Klaillal Tuirma in the off season would ultimately have the perfect outcome - a critical three points in the bucket toward the goal of qualifying for the World Cup Finals in Cassadaigua and Chromatika and an early confidence boost to prove wrong the naysayers that suggested Turori could be one of the Tier 1 sides in jeaopardy of failing to advance to the World Cup Finals.

There would be no easy days for Turori in World Cup 88 Qualifying Group 15 as they were set to hit the road and travel to Valentine Z for a match against the nation known better for their dazzling arrray of Stock Car racing drivers in the NSSCRA. With no prior meetings between Turori and Valentine Z it is difficult to project just how the Turori National team will do against the Valentians but one thing working in their favor could be focus and rest. The Valentine Z roster includes a number of players who have seen very little in the form of an athletic vacation in recent seasons with goal scoring responsibilities being left to Clarissa Alanis Star Samantha Humani. If that name sounds familiar it is because Alanis Star is also a long time competitor in the NSSCRA along with Valentian teammates Anastasia Freya Thida Myat Yadana Aye - the NSSCRA 10 Champion, Gwen Tracer Allison Fate Eveline Oxton, Jolyn Maxine Caulfield Helen Ceeta Maximovna and more recently Goalkeeper Holly Aurora Lapia Radiant Starlight who recently made their stock car racing debut during NSSCRA 10.

The match against Valentine Z will be played at Fate Stadium in Naypyithaw, home of the First Valentian Olympic Games. While Nigel's Army is sure to make their way into the arena they may have some difficulty seeing the pitch around some of the locals who are likely to be relaxed in their standard form - that which would see them towering over Turorian Citizens in attendance. Luckily should any Traveling Turorian in attendance find themselves unable to see the pitch, the hosts will be providing a high-quality tablet at each fan's seat offering interactive 360 degree views of the live action on the pitch as well as user-controlled instant replay capabilities. While the technical achievements off the pitch are sure to catch the eye of even the most tech-illiterate fans in attendance, once the match kicks off Nigel's Army will be out in full force supporting the action on the pitch and looking to will the Turori National Team to a win over Valentine Z.

[New Lusitania and the Algarves]

And We're off... and to a Good Start!
New Lusitania 4-2 Sapim
@AlgarvesArena | Att: 34 981
pt | EN

Welcome to another cycle of World Cup football. This year, 180 nations start their journey to join hosts Cassadaigua and Chromatika in the Final Tournament in the road to win the coveted trophy. Qualifying will be done through 18 groups of 10 with the format being similar to the previous edition’s – group winners qualify with the top 6 runners-up with the other second-placed teams settling it in the play-off.
New Lusitania start another cycle with the same old hope, with some players on the verge of retirement already attempting to make it before time runs out. Francisco Grilo commands the team once more, in his third cycle, following a very positive attempt which saw the Selecção lose in the playoff but then also reach the quarterfinals of the Cup of Harmony. Despite the daunting opposition of last time’s group – including such teams as then champions Banija – World Cup 88 doesn’t make thing easy. Farfadillis spearhead the group as the top seed and 4th ranked in the multiverse. The Equipa das Quinas will also have to face the Ponies of Equestria (ranked 38th) for the first time in a competitive fashion. Yuezhou (78th), a resurgent Havynwilde (113th) and Netop (92nd) will also be tough challenges. Further down, Arklanda (169th), Le Choix (208th) and Tolanka (322nd) are the other ranked teams participating, not forgetting of course, unranked Sapim with whom New Lusitania start the calendar road at home this week.
New Lusitania meanwhile are at the end of a transition phase as the older players get ready to play their National Team swansong soon as the newer generation starts to step up – Caldeirão, Pereira, Lopes, Palhagueira get increasingly accustomed to being titulary players in the squad. Grilo himself has mentioned that “there is some confidence in this team’s project this time” and that hope is “clearly very high this time among fans, but we’ll keep playing on a game-to-game basis”. Whether come Matchday 18 he can cement New Lusitania in the roll of teams to make it is still to be seen but with morale high for now, fans can at least dream too.
With everything set up, New Lusitania started their road in the sunny south as the AlgarvesArena provided a good backdrop for the first matchday of Group 18 against Sapim. A practically full house awaited in anticipation of the the start of a very long road. Grilo had started an unconventional eleven with a 3-4-3 consisting of Patríce in goal; Mendonça, Ferradura and Pedralva in defence. Caldeirão, Fernando, Guerra and Pereira were the first four to debut in the middle of the park this cycle as Veiga, Jota and Paciente were the strikers to feed onto tonight. Alejandro Vega had it all set up to impress from the get-go with Sapim, fielding only the very best. Ortiz would be stopping shots, Junior, Castillo, Gomes and Rafinha being the back-four for New Lusitania to get behind. Zico and Adillo would have to feed the ball in midfield with support from the two wingers onto Toledo, Nunes, Storck and Pablo who constituted a strong front four. With all the formalities taken care of this sunny afternoon gave away its permission to commence qualifying.
New Lusitania would have their worked cut out with this minnow as they pushed hard in what promised to be a good opener. Caldeirão pushed forward plenty and helped build the first goal of the match when he launched a good counterattack in Paciente’s direction who didn’t think twice on where to put it - 1-0 and the fans were getting what they came for only fifteen minutes in. A follow-up wouldn’t take too long either as Pereira sent a through-ball sliding across the pitch onto an unmarked Jota, fruit of a clear defensive mistake by Castillo this time. It wouldn’t be halftime without New Lusitania conceding a goal though and the whistle would blow with the scoreline 2-1 – Adillo and Gomes worked hard to get the ball up to Nunes, which put his team back in it with a great strike. As the teams returned, both sides felt slightly revitalised for another good forty-five minutes of play. A foul by Zico to delay the Lusitanian attack meant a free kick for the home side. Fernando was too far away to do anything personally, but his cross to Palhagueira had some good vision and a header was soon produced to put the scoreline at 3-1. The away side did well to still put themselves withing some stance of talking themselves into producing points when a fabulous chance by Storck got them within a goal of the leading side. A good shot, but everyone indeed questioned where Pedralva, in this situation, was to let him through. A fourth and final goal was still done to wrap things up was marked on the scoring sheets when Mendonça proved his worth with a rapid run onward to cross it in where Veiga anticipated the cross arming a volley up to put it in the back of the net on eighty-four minutes of play.
All in all, a very positive game for New Lusitania but Sapim clearly took a lot of the spotlight by putting up such a good fight, away and in their first game no less, meaning they’ll be one of the ones to watch further down the rankings. Meanwhile the Selecção may have put some good points on the board but travelling to Havynwilde so soon will be a challenge. Elsewhere in the group stage, Equestria’s victory against the Selecção’s next opponents by 1-4 put them at the top followed by Tolanka (vs. Netop 0-3) alongside the Lusitanian outfit. Farfadillis got a hard-earned victory in Yuezhou (3-4) and Le Choix, too, got off on the right foot. With matchday two in a mere matter of days, it’ll be interesting to see how teams fare then with the entirety of the country hoping for another win for the Selecção.

[Huayramarca]

Huayramarcan Side-Backs Struggled but Delivered Three Golden Points.

Santiago Chumacero and Carlos Vilca weren't having their best night of their careers at Inkopolis, constant movements of the Squidroidian wingers were showing how vulnerable we were on that side yesterday. Omar Caicedo had to do some substitutions in order to avoid more sufferings in said positions, those movements proved to be right as Luciano Olaya helped Huayramarca to earn a valuable victory against one of the top ranked squads in our World Cup Qualifier Group.

Written by: Laura Fernández
08/02/1983 - 12:16.

Huayramarcan football fans who were thinking that the road would be easier were proven mistaken, as Ian Mamani said in the latest press conference “Easier said than done, there are nine more teams that they also want to achieve the same results as us, but we must keep our path into the right direction with our humility and attitude to face the upcoming challenges” Squidroidia posed a real threat to Huayramarca during yesterday’s match in Inkopolis, Squidroidia; Sho Itō and Shiba Tetsuo were a headache to Santiago Chumacero and Carlos Vilca, the Squidroidian offensive duo were leaking into the wings with ease, but fortunately they weren’t able to score past Juan Mamani’s goal, who had a brilliant performance by virtue of saving severe goal opportunities from the rival.

Adam Johnson, the Squidroidian manager of Barunian nationality against Omar Caicedo; a duel of diametral opposite football styles. Johnson prefers a slightly more defensive football style that relies on how the wingers could break the rival’s defense to deliver some crosses searching for Makino Hideo or Sho Itō, who moved closer to the second post of the rival’s goal. Meanwhile, Omar Caicedo’s idea of pressing and trying to suffocate the rival’s offensive ideas from their very own defense, a stamina-demandant game idea that would try to desperate Johnson’s starting XI.

Some Huayramarcan football fans, now gathered around an organized fan group called “Ultra Bicolor” made the quite exasperated trip to Squidroidia, an odyssey of 40+ hours from Huayramarca and reaching several destinations that helped as a logistical connection that led to Inkopolis. Around 1000 fans, few but a noisy group enough to disturb the relative calm ambiance in Inkopolis City Stadium, a venue which looked crowded and ready to inaugurate the World Cup Qualifier, but not so noisy compared to other venues across the multiverse.

Omar Caicedo used his always trustworthy starting XI, with the same idea as always, trying to snatch something as fast as possible in order to have a relatively calm match after getting some advantage. Meanwhile, Adam Johnson changed his usual mind and decided to go into offensive mode for this match, there is always a need to show off how good is your national team in your debut game at home for a World Cup Qualifier, this one wasn’t exception, hence the midfielders were some meters forward from their usual position (Kabuto, Yoneda, Takara, Shiba) in order to block any attempt that our midfield could do to organize some offensive movements.
The kick-off time arrived and the Squidroidians moved off the ball from the midfield, it was notorious immediately that Takara would make his team to move forward and push the Huayramarcans in order to keep them on their half of the pitch. At the 6th minute, a large cross from Takara to Sho derived into the first real opportunity of the match, Sho dribbled past Chumacero and crossed the ball to Makino, the striker received the ball and turned over his own axis in 180°, faced Mamani in a 1v1 but the Huayramarcan keeper was able to crouch and grab the ball before Makino would kick it.

Huayramarca held the ball for some minutes, able to create some dangerous situations on the wings, but those attempts were successfully stopped by Yoichi Shigeko and Tomatsu Kane (left back and right back respectively). Gabriel Sayritupac managed at the 13th minute to dribble Tomatsu after the Squidroidian missed a tackle chance on the Huayramarcan winger, he took advantage of the chance and crossed a ball right to Abraham Mendoza, the other winger took the ball and shot right into the hands of Takemoto Shingen. Both sides were providing a decent match insofar that both goalkeepers had to intervene at least once, but there was more to come.

At the 16th minute, Shiba broke deep into Carlos Vilca’s side but Kevin Quispe appeared in order to tackle and recover the ball, Quispe passed the ball to Ian Mamani, the captain hold it for some seconds until he saw Mendoza sprinting in the left wing, a 40 meters cross found Mendoza able to quickly cross it before Yoichi would attempt to block it, the ball reached Bryan Tello, the striker was able to jump between Umezaki Moronobu and Muto Toki to nod the ball and send it right into Takemoto’s goal. Huayramarca was now leading up the scoreboard and that was enough reason to try to protect said advantages, but Caicedo didn’t expected to see what was about to happen…

Huayramarca saw how Shiba and Sho were receiving precise passes from Takara, the Squidroidian midfielder was exploiting the gaps between Orlando Mina and Ian Mamani in the midfield, Mina wasn’t being able to block those pass attempts due to the presence of Kabuto, who was defending Takara against any blockade attempts from Mina. Shiba and Sho were winning the 1v1’s against Chumacero and Vilca with some ease, this based on the speed and agility that the Squidroidians were displaying, enough to feed Makino with some passes to the midfield. At the 25th minute, Makino received a ball from Shiba, the Squidroidian striker received the ball and nodded it to the right post of Juan Mamani, the goalkeeper saved it with a dive and sent the ball outside the pitch, this caused a corner for the home squad.

Pressure was assured, the Squids were continuing to exert it, to the extent of finally managing to equalize the score through Makino at the 30th minute. Shiba put a nice filtered pass to Makino, the striker managed to dribble Quispe in order to have another 1v1 against Mamani, the goalkeeper now wasn’t able to contain the shot that went into the left post of his goal. Inkopolis City Stadium went into roaring after the goal. Things were looking dark for Huayramarca, because the side backs weren’t able to contain the Squidroidian wingers, hence, they were getting severe danger opportunities with relative ease.

Makino would have another chance at the 38th minute, the striker retreated some meters in order to take the ball and move forward with it, the striker managed to do so and positioned himself at the edge of the box, Sho received the ball in another filtered pass, the winger shot and Mamani deflected the ball, causing a throw in. The rivals threw the ball as fast as possible, Makino received the ball and shot, but Juan Mamani took the ball and tried to chill off the game for some seconds by laying in the floor; a traditional antic that was being useful for the Condors in their attempt to recompose themselves in defense and preparing themselves to attack.

After that, no more goal situations happened and both teams went to the dressing rooms with one goal apiece. It seemed that Caicedo figured out that there were issues in the side backs, hence, Luciano Olaya and Andrés Alcabú warmed up during the half time, it was a predictable move after seeing how Vilca and Chumacero were easily outpaced by the Squidroidians, perhaps, the side backs struggled because zonal marking wasn’t being as effective as usual, because the rival side switched positions in order to create confusion and take advantage of it in the Huayramarcan defense.

The Squidroidians continued to exploit the gaps of the Huayramarcan defense for the time they could continue to do so, Alcabú and Olaya were still warming up at the 50th minute of the match, where Sho left Chumacero on the floor and crossed the ball to Makino, the striker struggled to find a way to shot the ball and Felipe Fernández appeared to tackle and recover the ball. That was the straw that broke the camel, Olaya entered to the pitch for Carlos Vilca at the 54th minute, then, Andrés Alcabú instead of Santiago Chumacero three minutes later.

Now, it seemed that the Huayramarcan defense was now working properly, Sho wasn’t able to move past Alcabú, the defender stopped the Squidroidian winger at the 59th minute with a sliding tackle, Alcabú recovered the ball and gave it to Ian Mamani. The midfielder was now able to do his game: retain the ball for the time he could, try to generate some filtered passes or crosses forward in order to make some damage against the local side.

At the 65th minute, Ian Mamani controlled the ball after recovering from Takara in a counterattack attempt, Mamani crossed the ball right into Mendoza’s wing, the winger held the ball and dribbled Yoichi and entered in the box, crossed to Sayritupac, the right-wing player shot from the edge of the box but Takemoto stopped the ball by blocking two times. The referee presses Takemoto in order to restart the match, but he ignored, hence he almost got yellow-carded to restart the match.

Huayramarca was attempting new ways in order to score a goal, but the Squidroidian defense applied themselves hard in order to impede the Condors to score past them. Ian Mamani continued to conduct the timing of the match, continuous pass attempts to Luciano Olaya, who was trying to move forward, was receiving balls and also helped to conduct the match right where Huayramarca needed. It was the 74th minute where Gabriel Sayritupac managed to recover a ball, he passed it to a until-then discrete Orlando Mina, the midfielder moved via brute-force and then passed to Bryan Tello, the striker shot without thinking about it but sent it away from the goal.

Only mere nine minutes away from the end of the match and there was some pressure from both teams in order to end the match, Luciano Olaya moved forward and passed the ball to Ian Mamani, the midfielder decided to give the pass back to Olaya, the left back went to the attacking zone and decided to kick from mid-range, Olaya sent it right into the mid of the right post, Takemoto wasn’t able to send the ball away and Huayramarca consolidated the 2-1 lead and the vital goal to earn three points.

Huayramarca now has to prepare in order to face Nephara, the World Cup Champion at the Estadio Nacional in the Distrito Metropolitano at 19:30 next Friday, in a match that Omar Caicedo has dubbed as “A test of fire” where “The team needs to be fully concentrated and avoid mistakes” and “the needed to take advantage of the altitude is imperative”. The captain, Ian Mamani said that “We are 11 vs 11, they have won the World Cup and our best display of respect is to give it all and compete in the best way we can” This match is crucial, despite being early in the Qualifiers, in order to start consolidating the points needed to aspire for Qualification or Playoffs. Let’s support Huayramarca, unconditionally, so our players can feel even more comfortable in this important match!

[Oberour Ar Moro]

On screen a series of sports related graphics shift to a studio surrounded by large screens. A man behind a desk begins to speak. "Thank you for tuning into Page One here on Antenne Sports, I am Alain le Bris. Our top story is in fact a confluence of stories. Football, violence, police, social media, protest, and more.”

“The Oberour Ar Moro national football team is finalizing their preparations for tomorrow’s World Cup qualifying match against Shreekaristan. At the same time, the city of Regium prepares for the first international football match since the riots that took place before the Oberour-Mytanijar match last month.”

“In a press conference this afternoon, representatives of the Ministry of Culture, the City of Regium, and Regium Gendarmerie laid out their approaches for preventing any further outbreaks of violence associated with Oberour football.”

“I want to assure everyone, Regium citizen and Dragoons football fan alike, that to prevent the kind of scenes we saw previously is our highest goal.” On screen, it reads “Jean Guisset” under the man speaking. Under his name is “Deputy Prefect, Regium Gendarmerie”.

“Guisset, along with Iunanau la Beguine with the Ministry of Culture and Mahé Ronet with the City of Regium met with press today and laid out specifics for the Parade Grounds and Regium for tomorrow.”

“The Gendarmerie will be ‘extremely mobilized’, and the Parade Grounds metro station will be closed on national team match days for the near future. Also discussed were routing into the stadium and

“It was hard to not notice that Regium Gendarmerie Prefect Keriane Bec-d’Ouë was again not in attendance for this press briefing. Under questioning, Guisset was adamant that Bec-d’Ouë was not suspended as a punishment for the breakdown in order, and was still in charge of the Gendarmerie of Regium. Though his current whereabouts were not given.”

“While not represented at the press briefing, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Oberour Ar Moro Ambassador to Mytanija Glaudre Catellier has also released some updates on their work with Mytanija to identify and punish foreign rioters.”

“Less officially Oberour Ar Moro’s interest in the role of encrypted messaging applications in the coordinated violence is under heavy scrutiny. Among speculation that the Ministry of Industry may censor and limit communication applications, there are reports of possible protests in Regium tomorrow night.”

“If this weren’t enough, an investigative news report out of Electrum has landed like a bombshell, sending international football into a frenzy. What is ‘Ripperonin’, and is it in Oberour Ar Moro? We turn to correspondent Lucrèce de Viuepont with more…”

---

The television on the wall kept on making news as a man and woman worked over a table. The woman was reading something on a laptop, while the man was packing a bag.

"So there will be more police presence, and there's going to be protests on the streets. Do you think there will be any issues?" said the woman, before picking up a small electronic device and looking it over.

"They'll be more focused across the city, 1093 Rue Sainte-Opportune is kilometers away from the Parade Grounds. I'll be gone before they could even get there. Besides, I doubt they'll be the first called at all."

The man then picked up a pistol off the table and looked it over. "Frankly, I think I'd prefer dealing with the gendarmerie than who I'll probably get." He cocked the slide, and began examining the gun. The two continued to work, bathed in the sound of television sports chatter.

---

World Cup 88 Qualification Schedule
WIN | DRAW | LOSS

MD01: Euran Oceania Territories 2 - 2 Oberour Ar Moro
MD02: Oberour Ar Moro (0-1-0) vs Shreekaristan (0-0-1)
MD03: Srednjaci (1-0-0) vs Oberour Ar Moro (0-1-0)
MD04: Oberour Ar Moro (0-1-0) vs Bongo Johnson (0-0-1)
MD05: Banija (1-0-0) vs Oberour Ar Moro (0-1-0)
MD06: Oberour Ar Moro (0-1-0) vs Ibixa (0-0-1)
MD07: Astograth (1-0-0) vs Oberour Ar Moro (0-1-0)
MD08: Malandrin (0-0-1) vs Oberour Ar Moro (0-1-0)
MD09: Oberour Ar Moro (0-1-0) vs TJUN-ia (1-0-0)
MD10: Oberour Ar Moro (0-1-0) vs Euran Oceania Territories (0-1-0)
MD11: Shreekaristan (0-0-1) vs Oberour Ar Moro (0-1-0)
MD12: Oberour Ar Moro (0-1-0) vs Srednjaci (1-0-0)
MD13: Bongo Johnson (0-0-1) vs Oberour Ar Moro (0-1-0)
MD14: Oberour Ar Moro (0-1-0) vs Banija (1-0-0)
MD15: Ibixa (0-0-1) vs Oberour Ar Moro (0-1-0)
MD16: Oberour Ar Moro (0-1-0) vs Astograth (1-0-0)
MD17: Oberour Ar Moro (0-1-0) vs Malandrin (0-0-1)
MD18: TJUN-ia (1-0-0) vs Oberour Ar Moro (0-1-0)

[Eura]

WORLD CUP 88 QUALIFYING - MATCHDAY 1
EURA 5 – 0 QASDEN
Scorers: Woodman 21, Tomlinson 26, 50, Walker 43, Rogers 58
Lineup: 1. K Belgrave, 4. J Menard, 15. A Coles, 5. D Steele (Green 82), 6. M Rowland (Erskine 71), 8. C Rogers, 11. B Malone, 12. A Woodman (Pickton 60), 7. M Woakes, 10. I Tomlinson, 14. S Walker

Ollie held his head in his hands. It had happened again.
Cassadaigua goalkeeper Danielle Cotter wheeled away to celebrate with her teammates, the hero – heroine? – of the evening. Vincent Robshaw sank to his knees. One nation stood victorious, another sank deep, dazed and broken.
This was the chance, Ollie thought to himself, as did millions more Eurans probably, gutted by the failure of their team to win the Copa Rushmori on home soil. They had been in such good form, the hype and excitement had been so overwhelming and visceral and real – it wasn’t just media generated, everyone felt it.
And now it all lay in tatters.
Never mind, Ollie told himself. Just a game, isn’t it? He pulled on his jacket, filed out of the silenced pub with the rest of the punters present, and made his way home to a welcoming bed.

Many months later

‘Wake up. Oi!’ Ollie’s housemate Chris stood over him, an almost finished cigarette pursed in his lips. ‘Hungover eh?’
‘Ah, get fucked.’
‘Mmm.’ Chris took a drag and flicked the butt into Ollie’s grubby en-suite sink. ‘Come on, its two in the afternoon mate. Football starts soon.’ Ollie turned over as if Chris weren’t there. He was not in the mood for football, and especially not the Euran national team. He’d had enough heartbreak. Having rolled over, he was now facing a pile of unpaid bills stacked up on his bedside table. Ollie was a little known comedian from the Brigham circuit, who dabbled in silly musical numbers and the like. His self-employment was not going well.
Bugger. Up he would have to get. Time was money, after all.

‘What channel is it on?’
‘Southern One. Fancy a beer?’
‘No, I’m alright.’ Last night had seen the group of them pay a lengthy visit to their local, the same place where they watched that Copa Rushmori defeat. Ollie really didn’t need any more alcohol right now, unless he wanted to give his insides a beating.
The screen fizzled into life as Ollie took a seat in his boxers and t-shirt next to Chris and their other housemate, James. The other two were in a perky mood – Ollie was less excitable. His head still hurt and the room was a total mess. Their dog Rufus had practically made a bed out of the empty crisp packets on the other sofa. ‘Hey, Rufus, get over here. Come on boy…’ Rufus looked up at his owner, calculating whether or not food was on offer. Food was not on offer. He lowered his head again and settled down where he lay. ‘Fine then. Suit yourself.’
‘Will you shut up? It’s on!’

An ad break had come to an end to reveal a high-def panoramic view of Bastion Arena. It was filled to the rafters with fans, every player was out on the pitch ready to go, and an angsty Skorji Oslograd patrolled the touchline. Chris and James were already debating the state of the opposition with great enthusiasm. ‘Qasden are quite good aren’t they?’
‘Not sure. I know they made the World Cup a few times in the past. I think we beat them in a group game once didn’t we?’
‘Who knows…hold on, let me search it. Yeah, here it is, 4-2 at 79. Joel Sutton scored his last international goal! Seems like an age ago now.’
‘No idea how that lot didn’t win in 78. Maybe if we’d gone to more games rather than pissing around at uni we might have swung their luck.’
‘Hah, think it would take a lot more than that mate.’ Ollie allowed himself to relax a bit so he could put his troubles out of mind.

It worked for a few minutes until Scott Walker skied a shot from an easy scoring position. ‘Fucking hell, keep your head down! Basic, hell, I’d have buried that.’
‘Ollie, mate, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you score in five a side, let alone a proper game.’
‘Yeah yeah, you know what I mean. Is Bond not fit?’
‘Nope. Shocking!’ Chris said, lacing his comment with sarcasm. ‘Who cares about him, he phones it in these days anyway. If he was as good as he thinks we would have qualified for 87.’
‘Oh give over…’
‘Its true. He should just call it a day for goodness sake.’
‘You can’t argue with the stats, surely?’
‘Stats don’t matter if you can’t get on the bloody pitch to keep them coming.’
‘Touché.’

Eura spent the best part of twenty minutes building up to nothing in a variety of ways. Meanwhile, Ollie had whipped out his notebook and started jotting some things down.
‘What are you doing?’ Chris asked.
‘Lyrics, I guess’ Ollie said, ‘for a song.’
‘Football one? Stick to the stand-up mate, it’s your speciality.’ Chris was in no position to mock Ollie’s career troubles, so he was quick on the comeback. ‘Like your band is doing so well.’
‘Ah, fuck you.’
‘Love you buddy! Now leave me to it.’ Ollie tapped the pad with his pen impatiently, willing an idea to come to him.
”Ian Smith’s Lonely Hearts Club.” No, unoriginal. Everyone thinks he’s a wet blanket already.
Tap.
Something to do with the World Cup could work. But I can’t jinx it…
Tap.
Past…glories of the past. Winners? Winners in the past, now we finish last…nahhh.
Tap.

‘Lads. Observe my beauty.’ Chris had thrown on his special edition CR37 shirt with the “Victors Welcome” tagline spread across the front, with a list of soulless megacorporations – sorry, friendly local businesses – dotted around it.
Cringeworthy was one word for it. ‘Real pretty. Why are you still single again?’ Ollie quipped. Chris gave him a gentle punch in the arm and sat back down. ‘I knew you’d think so. Stop looking so glum, anyway, come on. I know you’re still not over the Copa but we’re Eura! We’ll bounce back…here we go, we’ve got a corner. Their keeper looks shaky as fuck, I fancy this you know!’
At that moment, an idea clicked in Ollie’s tired and still slightly drunk brain. He glanced back at the shirt.
A meme might make for something popular. Take it and run with it.
Tap.
And maybe I don’t need to be so negative? But not too positive either. Something in the middle, something honest.
Tap.
Something we would sing if we won or lost.

That was it. The key to the whole thing had struck him like a lightning bolt. How do you make the perfect football song? You take a catchy phrase to be the basis of it and the chorus, stick together the rest in a way that resonates with how people actually feel watching football, and make it hopeful, if bittersweet. Maybe even a bit ironic, or self-deprecating. How could you capture what it is to be a modern Euran football fan without being a bit self-deprecating?
Something we would sing…if we won or lost.
He uncapped his pen and matched it to the paper, drafting out the opening line.
‘We’re gonna’ victor, we’ll victor…’ Ollie was mumbling it under his breath. ‘Victors welcome, that’s us- no. That’s shit.’
James spotted Ollie talking to himself and talked over him with a mouth full of popcorn. ‘Arfh yuu wutchang tis orr nut?’
‘Hold on…We’re gonna’ victor, we’ll victor, we’ll…Eura…is going to victor.’
James had finished chewing. ‘Eh? Why going to? You said gonna’ before, just say that again.’
And there it was. The start of something on the page. And, as if it were divine intervention at play, instructing Ollie to write the song, Adam Woodman had just smashed in Eura’s opener. As James and Chris celebrated, Ollie muttered the lyrics to himself over and over, and again as each goal went in.

We’re gonna’ victor,
We’re gonna’ victor,
We’ll victor,
Eura’s gonna’ victor…

‘Guys, get the guitars and the keyboard. Seriously, I think I’ve hit gold.’
‘What? Are you still pissed?’
‘Gold. Gee-oh-ell-fucking-dee, you get me? Now, go on, we’ve got a song to make.’

[Hispinas]

The following events occurred prior to the first match of the qualifiers.

Aerohispinas Flight 5566
Passenger Cabin

Almost all of the national team players and coaches were in the charter Aerohispinas flight from Hispinas to a country known as Annyeong Oppa. The lack of responses from the pre-qualifying friendly invitations sent from the Royal Hispinas Football Federation (FRHF) forced the hand of the staff to stage a training camp in one of nations few knew of, although the players anticipated a high quality of training they will undertake at the nation.

"Is Casimiro not joining the camp?" Ozeano, the vice-captain, asked Cordovan, who is the captain of the squad for the qualifiers. "No, he would not have the time to join up with the squad for the camp, as some of the days fall in the league season overseas. He told me that the he is focusing on cracking the starting lineup for his club in Tikariot."

"Eivora Athletic, is it?"

"Yes, that one. Lucky him to be one of the first from our generation to play overseas. Since the Hispino football league season starts a bit later than other leagues in Rushmore and in the multiverse, seems that we have lots of time to organize a training camp like these."

"But, does anyone of us know where the heck is Annyeong Oppa?"

"Coach only gave us info that it is a more than 24 hour trip, with two stopovers in Gergary, and in Ginadjkrum, before we can arrive there. We just have went by the first stopover and we will go to Ginadjkrum for the second, so we should have additional rest prior to making it to the Sonnelian nation."

"Beats me, the other members of the team are just playing around."

"Let them be, they should be alert and attentive once we go there, training camp should be no joke at all."

The team continued their rest and relaxation state as they continue their travel to Annyeong Oppa, where a training camp like no other awaits them.

[Twicetagram and JYPe]

Anastasia Romanov
The first day of training was, well, interesting to say the least.

Ever since the domestic league was dissolved, the few hundreds of professional players have been caught off guard. No one really anticipated that happening. In a frantic hurry, some of us went to work normal jobs, some went back to school, and the more established and well known ones just called it a day. I'd imagine sitting in your $15.5 million mansion doing fuck all is exciting.

For myself, I'm working as a barista. I have my mother to thank for that. My mom owns a café, and that was the only reason why I'm employed. I couldn't fathom going back to school or sit in an office.

Our first meetup was awkward. The once fit and prepared players looked a tad bit out of shape. I remembered talking about the domestic league and some cheeky banter was thrown around. As for now? The only thing we talked about was how shitty our new jobs were.

"I can't and won't believe I was denied 5 times..." quipped Ronny. Ever since the domestic league vaporized into thin air he has been job hopping. For 3 years at that. Pretty impressive I must say. The only other talk going around these days was how Daniil's wedding was partypooped twice by former Imperial ultras, and how Eli managed to shag his boss' wife.

In addition to acting like normal people, everyone also looked a bit out of shape. I mean, people still had their own grassroots clubs, but that was way less intense than what was during the domestic season. Still, it was as if we were an amateur club. We technically were, but with a "national team" disguise. Ryoviste looked very grim today, as if he knew what had happened to Augustin.

Right, Augustin. Reports saying he was killed starting spreading, before being verified by the FA. It was a dark day overall for the Twicetagrien footballing scene. One of our star players was suddenly and mysteriously killed. Rominevskiy also went missing, but we know for sure he didn't die. Adrian was quiet the whole time. I mean, he is a quiet person in general, but today he looked as if he was still covering from the shock. I couldn't blame him.

It was such a weird day in general, but I felt a whoosh of relief when I could finally freely play the game I was brought up with. Much better than being a barista.