World Cup 90--RP Thread

[Krytenia]

Present day, Krytenian Embassy to the Ochre Islands, Bellflower

“Bollocks!” came the shout from the garden of the compound. To be fair, this wasn't an unusual thing to come from the mouth of gardener Ben Stackhouse; having the luxury of being custodial staff, he didn't have to mind his Ps, Qs, or any other consonants.

“Look, Ben, I know this mess with the Consulate and the bureaucrats at the council is frustrating, but really...” Lee Waldstrom, one of the embassy's pen-pushers in residence, scowled at Ben.

“It's not that, Mr Waldstrom. Someone left the door to the camel enclosure open. Humperdink's escaped!”

Lee rubbed the bridge of his nose in annoyance. “We still have those?”

* * * * * * * * * *

Thirteen months ago, KNS Europa, somewhere in the Ocean of Ayes

Upon the deck of the Krytenian naval vessel, Humperdink looked confused – or at least as confused as a camel could be whilst still looking like a camel. Not that he knew his name was Humperdink; the concept of English was lost on him, being a camel and all that. All he knew is that he was surrounded by a lot of water and very little sand.

Humperdink was one of three camels purchased from a livestock trader in Altoro by Emperor Boston, which the Krytenian government had agreed to ship to the Ochre Islands to allow the crazed old despot to ride them on the beaches of New Fenton, surmising that he could cause far less carnage on a slightly ornery quadruped than his usual tank. It was the Emperor who'd chosen the names; one would imagine he was proud of Humperdink as a name, mainly because he had the mental age of a glass of mango juice.

Humperdink didn't know any of this, of course; he was just wondering where the sand had gone.

* * * * * * * * * *

Present day, Crazy Craig's Krytenian Takeaway and High Consulate, Bellflower

'You're polluting Ochre Island air and causing yourself hallucinations of the Camelidae variety!' Kev said, suddenly snapping out of the grief over losing his brownie. 'Si, get in the car. We've got some air monitoring equipment to pick up.'

Geoff blinked rapidly. He could have sworn blind he'd seen a camel. He inhaled deeply. “Now look here, gentlemen, our ingredients may be a bit different from the local fare, but they don't cause hallu-there it is again!” He pointed at the road; sure enough, there was indeed a camel booking it along the tarmac – in the wrong lane, no less. Even more bizarrely, a middle aged man in dirty green overalls appeared to be chasing it down the road on a black bicycle. To add to the surrealism of the whole situation, the bicycle carried a basket on the front and a bendy flagpole on the back, both carrying the Krytenian Celesta.

If Kev hadn't already dropped his vindaloo brownie, that would have done the trick.

Geoff regained his composure and exclaimed to the two council men, “OK, at least tell me you saw that.”

[Milchama]

"Wow!"

"How did that happen?"

"I can't believe we did it!"

"We're going to the World Cup!"

"Well not exactly"

"What do you mean?"

"Playoffs"

"PLAYOFFS?! Who am I supposed to be, Jim Mora?"

"No playoffs in a good way, not a bad way"

"How?"

"Well we weren't supposed to make the playoffs so, you know, we did better than expected"

"Oh my god you're right!"

"Yeah! We're on a roll and we're ready to rock"

"I mean I get being in a hurry to get things but there's no reason to rush and rush until life's no fun"

"Just because all you really want to do is live and die does not mean we need to be in a hurry and don't know why"

"But we do know why, unlike Roger Murrah & Randy VanWarmer who wrote the song for Alabama we do know why, we want to qualify for the World Cup"

"Ok that's fair so who are we against"

"Before we talk about that we need to talk about our game against Barunia"

"Why?"

"Because we won on an 89th minute goal by Marc K. Floren!!!! And that was after extensive pressure in the second half. Also, that first half save by Inthracam will live in memory. Starting at his left hash, moving all the across the goal and launching himself into the upper 90 to stop a clear goal scoring opportunity, BRILLIANT!"

"Look, I know it was a hell of a game, I screamed myself almost horse and the entire country basically shut down the next day because we were all exhausted from what happened but I still want to look forward"

"Ok so who we got?"

"Drawkland"

"Ugh, Cincinnati"

"Yeah, got to get that spelling right. Also what is Cincinnati?"

"It's a bad city in Ohio near Kentucky"

"Yeah still got nothing"

"Ok then, they got mediocre chili, an airport in the wrong state, and a superior town, Louisville just an hour's drive away"

"You're just doing this because you have a brother in law from there and want to make fun of him right?"

"Oh definitely but I'm still going to have fun"

"So what do we know about Drawkland?"

"They're from Sonnel, they're not human, apparently they're their own species, and they're ranked 50th, so much higher than us"

"So we're the underdogs"

"I think we're the lowest ranked team still alive. It's either us or the hard to Hapilopper"

"The email guys"

"Yes"

"Ok then so we should lose"

"I mean we weren't supposed to make the playoffs so yes"

"So we've already won"

"I mean we made some friends along the way and I know that the real victory is the friends you make along the way"

"But I haven't talked to anybody else in like 15 years, it's always you"

"You talked to other people during that fire competition in the War Games and you have a real life"

"No, I only exist in the game"

"What game?"

"Don't worry about it, it will break the 4th wall too much"

"We don't already break the 4th wall too much?"

"We can get worse"

"How?"

"We can literally just talk about a different universe that we know exists"

"Right like our multiverse"

"No the other universe"

"There can only be one universe, it's in the name"

"No, there can be multiple like the NSverse and the RLverse"

"What's the RLverse"

"Where Cincinnati is from"

"That sounds boring"

"It is! But it's real"

"How are we not real?"

"What is the nature of reality? Why are we something rather than nothing?"

"Don't bring Heidegger into this"

"He's from the RLverse"

"Ok then, I see what you mean"

"Yeah, we can create analogs but we must know where we come from"

"Milchama"

"Yes"

"Cool so that was weird"

"Eh, it was pretty normal"

"Since when do we talk about the nature of reality?"

"Pretty much every RP"

"How so?"

"We're the only nation that call it RP and it's unclear where our OOC begins and IC ends"

"Oh everything is strictly IC"

"How do you know?"

"Because it's tabulated as such by the hosts"

"See no other nation talks this way in the middle of IC RPs"

"Yeah but that's just because we're the only ones who can grasp the nature of true reality"

"We don't even know what HaAkademia Shel Krav is about, how can we do that?"

"Luck, skill, the ability and willingness to break the fourth wall"

"Should that have an Oxford comma?"

"1. See Vampire Weekend. 2. No, because the comma in front of skill was the Oxford comma, ability and willingness was one thing"

"Oh ok"

"This is starting to go in circles"

"Yeah we should probably end it"

"Well then there's only one thing"

"Yep it's time to pray to Margaret"

"''Ringa pakia!''
''Uma tiraha!''
''Turi whatia!''
''Hope whai ake!''
''Waewae takahia kia kino!''
''Ka mate, ka mate''
''Ka ora, ka ora''
''Ka mate, ka mate''
''Ka ora, ka ora''
''Tēnei te tangata pūhuruhuru''
''Nāna nei i tiki mai whakawhiti te rā''
''Ā upane, ka upane''
''Whiti te rā, hī!''

"Now repeat after me!"

"Forini! Forini!"
"Finidi! Finidi!"
"George! George!"
"Oh Brother! Oh brother!"

*They strip and run around for 12 minutes*

"We pray the Margaret of SnubNose 38 and Random Number God that you may deliver us victory over Drawkland and any other infidels that we face in international play"

"Sacrifice the Rubber Chicken!"

*Swoosh of an axe and the chicken is dead*

"Margaret we pray that you take this sacrifice of a rubber chicken in good faith and that by your deliverance Milchama does well in all international competitions"

"Come on You Warriors!"

"Let's Go Milchama!"

[Kandorith]

---

Shinonome Kyoai - International

---

In form Kandorith sees direct qualification fall apart.

Either the draw against Remnant States or the defeat against Sendhang have caused the Dragons to miss their direct qualification spot and now need to prove themselves in the playoffs.
By Natsumi Miyasaki
Sports

^{SHARE THIS:}

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 PGroup 20                        Pld    W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts 
1 Squornshelan Remnant States      14   10   2   2    30   16  +14    32
2 Kandorith                        14    9   3   2    39   25  +14    30
3 Chartistan                       14    6   3   5    35   28   +7    21
4 Sendhang                         14    6   2   6    24   22   +2    20
5 The Sarian                       14    3   7   4    31   31    0    16
6 StrayaRoos                       14    4   4   6    20   28   −8    16
7 The Republic of Western Sol      14    2   3   9    16   33  −17     9
8 Southwest Eastnorth              14    0   8   6    30   42  −12     8

With four goals ahead against The Republic of Western Sol, it was waiting for the match of the Remnant States. Their result at the StrayaRoos would either see Kandorith go to the playoffs or become the group winner. In the end, it would lead to a small disappointment as the Squornshelan Remnant States beat StrayaRoos 4 to 1 and ended two points ahead of the Kandorese. The disappointment did not last very long, as a moment later, the realisation came to be; Kandorith would be in the playoffs once again and still had an excellent shot at another appearance in the World Cup.

There was magic happening on the field during the match though, as the Kandorese team was showing excellent form on the field, leaving no mistake from Western Sol unanswered and unpunished. Despite the fact that it did not result in direct qualification, the team and fans can be proud of the Dragons' performance at the completely packed Empress Masumi stadium. Michiyu was seemingly pleased with how the team played but could not help but be disappointed at how Group 20 ended up. "We gave it our best and we made some mistakes, which we know now were costly mistakes during this qualification run," Michiyu commented. "I am happy though that we made it to the playoffs, which gives us a chance to set straight the mistakes we made and to show that we are indeed capable of always playing at our very best like we did tonight. I would not call it a bad result at all. However, we faced a lot of unknown teams and we had to test the waters with these teams, which sometimes indeed led to unforeseen results. The team will just be focusing on the upcoming playoffs from here, and we are looking forward to playing our next match. "

Familiar faces

The Kandorese will face a very familiar side, Equestria, whom they last met during the qualifiers of World Cup 85, where the Kandorese eventually ended in third place but were able to draw Equestria on both occasions. The team ranked in 90th place will first be met in their home stadium. This is where the Dragons will be looking to take the advantage and then, hopefully, keep their heads cool at home. When looking at historical results, the Kandorese have excellent numbers when it comes to reaching the World Cup through the playoffs, with at least five times that being the road to reaching the final tournament for the Dragons. For the manager, Michiyu, qualification might seem crucial too, as the KFA had already stressed that they would definitely see the entire tournament as a failure and the venture with Michiyu as a manager might see the Kandorese not qualify for World Cup 90. Failing to do so might see more drastic changes in the KFA, the national squad, and Kandorse football as a whole, as we have seen in the past.

While the players did not comment too much on reaching the play-offs, there is certainly some nervousness surrounding this match. The Kandorese team is very young when it comes to the average age and has almost no experience when it comes to playing abroad, something which the KFA and Michiyu both have addressed before. The next World Cup might see the first Kandorese players joining the team who do have experience abroad, but for now, this has to wait. The focus of the upcoming match will be on the Kandorese midfield and the attack. If they can finish their attacks as they did against Western Sol, it should be a straightforward match. However, the possibility of a match similar to that with Sendhang looms, as Michiyu has already stated that Yoshihiro Matsumoto will not be playing and will be replaced by Shinji Matsunaga. The reason for this is unknown, but it is rumoured that Matsumoto is suffering from a minor injury and wishes to rest. Another change will be Shinji Toyoda taking over for Mori Takayama, who has told the press that he is not feeling well. For Toyoda, this will be their first starting position in their career, and the twenty-year-old has already said they want to make a lasting impact on both the manager and the fans during the match.

[Drawkland]

The meeting was called in the film room (not the theater room, that's on the other side of the building). Jaxon Madison, one of the de facto leaders of the Elite Eleven, stood at the front of the room in front of the projector. To his side was Elias Keys, who was operating the computer hooked to the projector.

"Alright, men," Jaxon started, "we are once again faced with playoffs to earn our way into the World Cup. Had we not bottled it against Geektopia or Qasden, we could be sitting pretty making plans for Vilita or Baker Park. As we all know, our opponent is Milchama, an older nation making their return and having a bit of an upstart season. These games are easily winnable, but we need to look at our strengths and weaknesses from this campaign so we can make a gameplan for the 'Warriors.' For the film study, Eli hooked our game footage up to his Grading AI to see what it says."

"Hey Eli, what was the acronym for this thing again?" Somebody called sarcastically from the back of the room.

"It's the Elite Eleven Game Grading Artificial Analyzer," Elias sighed. "EEGGAA for short."

The room broke into some stifled laughter before Jaxon spoke back up.

"Buckle down, fellas." Jaxon gestured for the group to get quiet. "Maybe pull out some notepads or something so you can note this stuff for later. And you should be thanking Eli for this, because it's saving us from having to pore through all the match footage ourselves. Alright, pull up the first match."

Elias punched in some keys, and the projector screen lit up with assorted highlights, metrics, and notes from each game. At the bottom of the screen was a simple generated match wrap-up which was the main focus.

MD1: Drawkland 6-2 Winnebogan
Strengths: Excellent assists. Good plays put together by the forwards to open up opportunities against a weak opponent.
Weaknesses: Defense broke down too many times. Allowed too many opportunities against a weak opponent. Goalkeeping mid.
Commentary: Good win to start campaign. Took care of business against a bottom seed.

"Did it just call my goalkeeping mid?" Septimus Xander gaped incredulously.

"Maybe you should consider getting good!" Craig Bakker jabbed Septimus in the ribs and chuckled.

MD2: Saint Eleanor 4-5 Drawkland
Strengths: Good shot efficiency. Scored game-winner on first shot on goal after previous equalizer.
Weaknesses: Horrible pass efficiency. Midfield made many transfer mistakes leading to turnovers. Defense on its heels all game.
Commentary: Showed resolve on the road but allowed too many goals against inferior opposition.

"I'm surprised it isn't calling you out by name, Dominic." Trevor huffed as he wrote some notes down. "Almost all those blown chances were yours."

"I told you I was dealing with IBS before the match. There's only so much I can do!" Dominic protested.

MD3: Drawkland 3-1 The Karodin Tetrarchy
Strengths: Offensive and defensive clinic in first half. Second half featured well-executed timewasting techniques.
Weaknesses: No offense in second half, likely intentional. Allowed late goal in rare defensive breakdown (penalty).
Commentary: Expected outcome. Did not over- or underperform. Offense in great shape after three games.

"I still think that shouldn't have been a penalty ..." Nicholas Kingston growled. "I hate international refs."

MD4: Britonisea 2-4 Drawkland
Strengths: Offense continues to score when necessary. Scored first to start pressure early. Clean sheet in second half.
Weaknesses: Defensive cohesion needs work. Defense was not on the same page when passing off opposing players.
Commentary: Tight game in first half. Sealed win in second half, but game should've been put away earlier.

"Eli, how advanced did you make this damn thing? It's starting to parrot talking points straight from the sports networks."

"I'm pretty sure I trained part of the AI using talking head footage on daytime sports networks. I might have to throw that stuff out."

MD5: Drawkland 2-3 Geektopia
Strengths: Showed resilience despite clearly being outmatched.
Weaknesses: Too many missed shots on offense. Couldn't get ball back late when it was necessary. Lost time of possession battle.
Commentary: Crucial match in the campaign lost at home. Likely prevented outright qualification later.

"Seriously? That's the only strength from this game?" Mike Rodney protested. "What about that crazy double assist for the first goal?"

"That was the second Geektopia game, dumbass."

MD6: Drawkland 4-2 Qasden
Strengths: Scored at will against an ailing defense. Got up early and prevented a comeback easily.
Weaknesses: Defense left some to be desired. Result was never in doubt, but it could've been more convincing.
Commentary: Solid win against a team close to us in rank. Good rebound after bad home loss.

"Is it possible for this thing to not roast the shit out of us constantly?"

"Listen, I'm still making changes to the formula." Elias waved his hand dismissively. "Machine learning is hard to fine-tune."

MD7: Turori 0-3 Drawkland
Strengths: Scored early, applied pressure. Defense played outstanding. Good saves in the net.
Weaknesses: Could've run up the score even more against a backup goalkeeper.
Commentary: The perfect win. Bodes well for the rest of a campaign. Great tonesetter.

"Wow, I didn't know this thing was even capable of non-backhanded compliments," said Nicholas.

"That's what happens when we actually convincingly win big games," Elias replied quietly.

MD8: Winnebogan 2-5 Drawkland
Strengths: Kept gameplan simple and won. Offense scored easily thanks to a subpar defensive unit.
Weaknesses: Defense gave up too many goals in garbage time. Could've reasonably been a shutout.
Commentary: Virtual repeat of the first tie. Got the necessary points without issue.

"Hey, home field advantage is a bitch sometimes!" Septimus insisted. "I'll admit they got in my head for that second goal on the penalty."

"That's something we can work on, then." Roger Apollo scribbled in his notebook.

MD9: Drawkland 2-0 Saint Eleanor
Strengths: Defense played well. Passing game was perhaps best all campaign.
Weaknesses: Offense seemed out of sync. Many shots off target resulted in lower score.
Commentary: Good win to continue forward momentum.

"We were playing in Pittsennat, man." Mike complained. "It was super windy!"

"We were shooting to a net, not kicking field goals." Roger replied. "No excuses, Mike."

MD10: The Karodin Tetrarchy 1-1 Drawkland
Strengths: Defense played well despite bad weather.
Weaknesses: Offense could not get going thanks to rain and bad chemistry.
Commentary: Dropped points that could've been useful later. Could blame weather but a better team would've won.

"Holy shit, 'a better team would've won'?" Ross Hunter exclaimed. "What kind of commentary is that?"

"Is it wrong?" Craig responded, and Ross shut up really quick.

MD11: Drawkland 6-1 Britonisea
Strengths: Most shots on target over this campaign. Dominated time of possession. Defense tight for whole match.
Weaknesses: Several errant passes leading to turnovers. Could've scored even more goals with better accuracy.
Commentary: Another good rebound win, good for morale going into a tough upcoming match.

"Oh great, can't wait to see what it says about Geektopia part 2 ..."

MD12: Geektopia 3-1 Drawkland
Strengths: Good play to score the first goal.
Weaknesses: Zero shots on target for over 50 minutes of gametime. Did not possess the ball convincingly. Defense had no answers.
Commentary: Huge loss that almost guarantees a playoff berth. Could not find the answers against a team well within beatable range.

"See, there's the goal I was talking about!" Mike pointed at the screen as the replay went through. "Look at my finish on that!"

"Did you not read anything else on the screen?" Jaxon shot back.

MD13: Qasden 4-4 Drawkland
Strengths: Kept pace with a hungry team. Opportunities on offense were taken advantage of consistently.
Weaknesses: Very porous defense with little upside. Couldn't stop a lower ranked team when it mattered most.
Commentary: Dropped points lead to failure to auto-qualify. Operation Piss Off The Drawks was a success.

"Okay, how the hell does it know about Qasden's Piss Off The Drawks thing?" Trevor Garnet exclaimed.

"The horrors of AI ... maybe we really have gone too far ..." Craig joked back.

MD14: Drawkland 3-3 Turori
Strengths: Avoided a loss against a top opponent. Offense played well against an elite defense.
Weaknesses: Defense struggled against new offensive gameplan from opponent.
Commentary: Game irrelevant.

"Damn, that commentary is cold."

"Eli, does it have some sort of campaign-wide note?" Roger asked.

"Sure, let me pull it up." Elias moved back over to the computer.

WC90 Qualifying
Overall Strengths: Kept pace with nearly every team. Consistent flashes of good offensive play. Assist game strong.
Overall Weaknesses: Defense and passing game can be hit-or-miss. Offense prone to missing opportunities some games.

"That's just the price we pay for having a formation and gameplan which is much more offense-centric than most other nations." Roger consulted his notes. "As long as we draw up a good gameplan for Milchama and execute, we should be fine."

Immediately after Roger finished speaking, Elias's computer whirred a bit, and the screen changed.

Playoff Projection: Milchama
First Leg: Limpdick draw to set Drawkland up for failure. Defensive breakdown and offensive ineptitude.
Second Leg: Embarrassing loss in regular or extra time to disappoint the home crowd and put Drawkland out of the World Cup.
Outcome: Drawkland sucks lol

"Huh," Elias rubbed his chin as the rest of the Elite Eleven groaned. "Maybe I shouldn't have let any Saritovan websites on the commentary input list."

[Ochre Islands]

Jasper's Guide to the Ochre Islands

Special Edition

After hearing that the planned upgrades to Breakerview Athletics Arena had been completed in time for the end of qualifying for World Cup 90, I moved away from my planned itinerary of these islands and headed back to the Ochre Islands' capital city of Bellflower.

The Arena now sits proudly as the centrepiece of Breakerview Athletics Park, which features two stadiums, the Athletics Arena, which seats a proud 55,751 fans, and Breakerview Football Ground, which seats 48,354. To have two large stadiums so close to each other is odd indeed, but Bellflower City Council is still recovering from being run from Fort Boston, so they are doing their best. There is talk that the football team could move away from the coast so that the Football Ground could be demolished so more of the sea could seen from the coast, and there would be less demand on public infrastructure here at weekends.

The football ground plays host to Bellflower Athletics Union, the most prominent of the 7 Bellflower teams in the football pyramid of the Ochre Islands, though this isn't likely to be 'just' their home for long, as there is talk of there being a ground-sharing venture with the Bellflower Capitals Rugby League side in the works soon, though I'm sure more will be said on that when the time comes.

Back to the topic at hand, dear reader. Bellflower Athletics Arena is an oval sort of stadium, shaped so as to fit a full-size athletics track, whilst giving all supporters a good view of the action on seats in the proud colour (from which our islands take their name!) However, to counteract the usual complaints about viewing football or rugby league matches at an athletics stadium and being far from the action (it is the national stadium for a number of sports, after all), the stadium features retractible seating which can be brought reasonably close to the football pitch (on top of the protected atheletics track), then moved back again for athletics meetings. The planned upgrades were to fit a roof to the entire thing, rather than the part that the leadership would be sat under, and install the aforementioned retractible seating. As the Bostopians had, to their credit, gotten safe, quick and secure construction up to scratch over the past couple hundred years, this was completed without major issues and in a swift timescale.

The Athletics Park is served by a solitary, though vital tram stop, which sits where the 'Front' line meets the 'Blue' line (named for the football player rather than the colour – a lot of pressure being heaped onto her young shoulders I fear). Bellflower's transport systems mainly served to move people back and forth along the seafront – on the aptly named 'Front' line and then from the suburbs to the seafront. The 'Blue' line does just that by providing a link to the 'Front' line from the north-western suburbs of Bellflower, which stretch out toward the motorway which runs around the entire island. I am told that some people in Bellflower need to get two or three trams from home to, say, work though which does cause some consternation and so adds to traffic on the roads instead. I'm trying not to get too sidetracked, but the main coastal road does also pass by the Athetics Park, though this is closed to motor traffic on event days, so that fans have a little bit more room to disperse into after events.

Of course, what would a stadium be without places to eat around it? We have nearby Bowlingswan Way, on the other side of the coastal road to the stadium, where Crazy Craig's Krytenian Takeaway is a notable highlight, for its successful serving of both popular Ochre and Krytenian foods. Don't be fooled though about tales of them accepting shiny beads and pretty marbles as currency, I've seen many a drunk Ochre youth thrown out of there by the Krytenian High Commission staff (who share the building with the Takeaway) then pelted with whatever it was they tried to pay with, whilst also shouting about 'diplomatic immunity'.

I'm pleased to see the hotels nearby serving the stadium are still of a decent standard, with most offering at least a kettle in the room for tea and coffee making facilities, as well as the obvious such as a bed and an en-suite bathroom. Foreign fans – from Savigliane I'm told – who are piling in the for the playoffs are being treated with respect and good wishes from Ochre Islanders, who most of all seem happy to be along for the ride they're on.

Whilst this obviously isn't a full guide to Bellflower, I thought the evening's game would be worthy of note and well worth mentioning as a one-off in my guide before resuming my journey.

(ooc, this carries on a theme from the previous World Cup that I really ought to have carried on but got excited worldbuilding other things.

[Vdara]

Practice Makes Playoffs

In their 6-cycle stretch of World Cup history, Vdara had never been involved in a playoff. They’d won their group twice, and hence never needed to go into a playoff - and yet, here they were. There’s a first time for everything, isn’t there?

VdarArena Training Centre

The players, still getting used to the newly-introduced defensive system, were being put through vigorous drills by Markos and his staff. Playing out from the back was now being encouraged, as well as long balls over the top. There would be no more wingers, necessitating the full-backs to become more active in any attacking moves. Their style of football had to adapt to something that would result in less goals conceded (not that it worked that well against Farf), with the occasional goal from a set piece or counter attack. The midfield three would be crucial in that respect - they were now the lifeblood of the team, connecting attack to defence. Their ability to spot a pass would be crucial to any attacking movement.

Markos: ”Right, lads. I’ve set up a wee 5-a-side between yous. One of yous will get three defenders, a keeper and an attacker, and the other will get the opposite. Your aim will, of course, be to win - but considering your vast differences in focuses, you’ll need to work out some tactics between you. Now, yous have 5 minutes to work out some ideas - your teams are printed on this wee sheet of paper.”

TEAM ONE
Serapheim Metrakis
David Xeniadis
Manousos Athanas
Trifonas Tolakis
Andrianos Petras

TEAM TWO
Zaharias Frangoglou
Tryfon Vlahiades
Alkiviadis Manolakis
Chirstoforos Lazelis
Mathaios Makrotsis

Team One settled on a very defensive style of football, trying to drag their attackers forward while soaking up lots of pressure in order to try and get the odd chance at goal. Athanas would play as an almost-midfielder due to his pace and passing ability, but the rest would stay in their normal positions. This would be good practice for their game against Poafmersia, who play an attacking style of football.

Team Two would have to counter Team One by playing ferocious, attacking football to throw everything and the kitchen sink at their defence - even if it means leaving Vlahiades exposed at the back. This would be good practice for bum rushing Poafmersia’s defenders, as they may be exposed during the match.

Markos: ”Now that you’re all prepared, get set up. When I blow this whistle, I want yous all to show me what you’re made of. The team that leads after ten minutes wins, otherwise it goes to golden goal. May the best five win!”

*peeeeeeep*

1: A truly captivating game of football here, as two depleted and different Vdara sides duke it out on a tiny wee training pitch. The spectators are intently studying every move, mainly because they’re coaching staff and they want to analyse everything each team does.
2: Makrotsis dribbles round Athanas and leaves him on the floor, looks for a teammate to pass to… and finds himself immediately dispossessed. Team One find themselves on the counter attack, with Athanas finding Petras with the pass… who scores! Team One take the lead, and the defensive side get the first strike.
3: Team Two are aggressive right from kickoff, and Lazelis takes a pop from range… which is caught quite easily by Metrakis. The smaller goals make it quite hard to score from range, or at all really.
4: Manolakis is tackled by Tolakis, and the ball is picked up by Athanas who makes the run forward himself and takes a shot at Frangoglou… who keeps it out of the net.
5: A halftime drinks break commences, with Makrotsis appearing to douse himself in water instead of drinking it. Athanas does the same, but water goes down the back of his shirt and he gets very angry at himself. Could this change the game?
6: Lazelis dribbles straight towards Tolakis and sidesteps him… and is brought down in a good free kick position! Moustakakos shouts “free kick”, and praises Lazelis for his intuition. Tolakis looks raging.
7: Manolakis takes the free kick… and scores! Team Two grab a goal back to level this training match, and it hasn’t come from open play!
8: Makrotsis stands for a bit, taking a breather. While he does this, his teammates continue attacking, and lose the ball to a charging Petras. Vlahiades notices this, and puts in a fantastic tackle to stop him. Vlahiades then asks Manolakis if he was paying attention, to which he replies “man’s is just a bit puffed innit”. Vlahiades stares in bewilderment.
9: Team One have a late counter attack as Andrianos Petras charges forward, shrugging off a challenge from Vlahiades… and slots the ball past Frangoglou to give the lead back to Team One!
10: And Team One take the win! The defensive lot share a couple of high fives, before going back to their manager.

Markos: ”Nice, brilliant, good job everyone. You all showed some class against each other, but the defensive lot have proven that sitting back and absorbing the pressure does work. Alas, you lot in Team Two did show some class out there - make sure you show that in the game, eh? Now, a 10-minute game isn’t going to show us how you’ll really do - more intensity in the real thing, not your teammates tackling you, yadda yadda yadda - but it will give us an idea of exactly where to place you all, and who to start. We’ll make a decision soon, based on who’s impressed in training overall.”

Team Sheet v. Poafmersia (changes in italics)
Frangoglou, Vlahiades, Galanatos, Tolakis, Xeniadis, Athanas, Karalas, Tantalopoulos, Stamatelis, Lazelis, Petras

Interestingly, Andrianos Petras would receive his first start for the Vdarans since the removal of the dual-lineup system. His presence was more of a physical one than a pacey one, but his ability to shrug off even the strongest of challenges cannot go unnoticed. He’ll be wanting to prove a point, too - if anyone scores against Poafmersia, it will probably be the fired-up, physical Petras.

[South Newlandia]

For the purposes of RP attribution: This RP was jointly written by South Newlandia and Hapilopper. Hapilopper wrote the lines for Harold, South Newlandia did the lines for Brandon.


“Welcome and good evening, you’re watching the World Cup 90 Playoffs, Hapilopper against South Newlandia, and this is South Newlandia One!”

“Or the Hapilopper Television Network!”

“Yes, this is a joint broadcast between SN1 and HTN. It’s about thirty minutes to kickoff, and the players are warming up, and we’re going to cover the game for you tonight! My name is Brandon van Simonsen, representing South Newlandia,”

“and I’m Harold Kellner from Hapilopper, looking forward to an outstanding matchup.”

“The Capital Stadium is packed tonight; we’ll see the Haps in blue and green, with the Elephants switching to their alternate gray and white kit. When we cover the second leg of the playoffs, South Newlandia will be back to their mainly yellow-green-blue main kit, while Hapilopper will be playing in their mainly black kit.”

“Team Hapilopper will bring its traditional lineup to play here tonight, with Billy Solomon in goal. The defense is at its full strength, with Lewis Pryor, the always friendly Ace Boone, Jerold Dickman, and of course, the team’s father figure, player-coach Nathan Ellis. At midfield, Maverick King, Jimmy Huddleston, William Altenberry and Herb Northrop, no surprises there, and leading the charge, our - rather, Hapilopper’s - most likely goalscorers, Peter Robson and Toby Bryson.”

“So, we’re pretty much seeing the same squad that brought Hapilopper to this spot. Obviously a good sign if you get spared from the injury bug - how much did you think did it help the team that they were able to play as one unit for pretty much the entire campaign?”

“Well, Brandon, it’s helped the team understand each other better. I talked to Jimmy Huddleston today and he said the team has grown into something of a ‘brotherhood,’ a group of players that have worked as a unit. He said ‘We win together, we lose together and we tie together,’ and that sense of brotherhood is evident from the minute you step in the locker room. They play like it, too.”

“With the exception of the main man, Ellis, they also all play in the Hapiloppian League, which probably helps them getting to know each other, too. The most common 11 we saw from the Elephants this tournament play in 10 countries and 11 different leagues, after all.”

“It does indeed, Brandon, for better or for worse. A lot of times, these players will wind up playing against each other in HFA matches and it creates a very interesting dynamic. What sort of dynamic has the South Newlandia team developed from playing in those different leagues and countries?”

“It’s certainly different, Harold, but most of them know each other from the previous international tournaments. Players like Trischuk, Green, Roy, who have been with the team since their first little steps in the 72th Baptism of Fire, and have gone to three World Cups together - obviously something grows. There’s also players like wunderkind Reid Gomez, who has scored 13 goals in 14 matches in qualifying, despite those being the first games he suited up for the Elephants, so you never quite know what you get.”
“And it sounds like that if the Haps are smart, they would have spent these last few days studying Reid Gomez and that core group of players intently. Gomez sounds like a very exciting player, tell me about him for those that may not be familiar.”

“Of course! Gomez has joined St. John's Arsenal in Quebec and Shingoryeo at age 19, originally a native of Kinjestad, South Newlandia, and after slowly rising through the ranks, has earned a golden boot in the Q-League with 29 goals in the 46-game season, earning himself his callup for the qualifiers at age 23, where he was cast into the starting formation immediately, and has delivered very well so far. But back to Hapilopper for a moment. Of course, everyone and their grandma are already familiar with Nathan Ellis, but who would you say is the second-most important player on the squad - who do the Elephants need to watch out for?”

“Probably Toby Bryson. He entered the 11 role, replacing the great Ernie Stevenson, and has done more than enough to fill that role in his own way. He’s not a flashy goal-scorer like Ernie is, he’s not going to pull off the sensational moves, but what he lacks in flash, he more than makes up for in his ability. Last season with the Highway Patrol of Hapilopper City, he scored 27 goals, and he’s scored 12 in this qualification campaign. South Newlandia, watch out, because he’s a threat when he gets the ball near goal.”

“12 goals are even more of an accomplishment considering he did account for more of a third of the goals Hapilopper scored in Group 19, which Gomez was not able to do for South Newlandia. And I’m hearing, we’re having the South Newlandian formation as well!”

“Well, Team Hapilopper is very structured - and predictable, I should say - as far as offensive efforts. This could very well be South Newlandia’s key to victory, as Team Hapilopper loves to give the ball to their strikers and have them score. Midfielders don’t usually score goals on the team and neither do defenders. If Hapilopper’s strikers can remain distracted and away from the ball, it could very well keep them out of the back of the net.”

“We’ll see if Wolverine has the personnel to pull that off! As expected, we have Mikhail Trischuk in goal, the captain and veteran. We’ll see the usual and trusted 4-4-2 diamond, with Roy, Anderson, Barker, and Rios; before them, Stuart, Green, Young and Levy, with Gomez up front together with Bjorn Cohen, which is a bit of a surprise. Brandon Irving was listed as questionable following a possible ankle injury in training; it seems like he isn’t game-ready tonight. Lots of things to talk about, Harold, but I want to start with this - for Hapilopper, Ellis is the only player OVER 25, while for the Elephants, Reid Gomez is the only one UNDER 25. What do you make of this?”

“It’s going to be a battle of youth vs. experience. South Newlandia’s been here before. They’ve had experience in the World Cup Proper. They know what they need to do because they’ve probably been in a win-or-go-home scenario before. For Hapilopper, they’ve got a ton of enthusiasm on their side. You’ve got 10 starting players that will probably remain in this core group for years to come and an 11th that will guide them after his playing days are done. They’re not concerned about anything else, they want to play and they want to win.”

“Then again, this World Cup might be the last dance for some key South Newlandian contributers - Trischuk is 36, and the regression is real. There’s a real chance that the return leg might be the last game he plays for South Newlandia.”

“And that very well be motivation, more than anything else, to have the best match you can have. If this is his last shot at World Cup glory, then I can’t imagine he’s going to play at anything less than his very best. A lot of times, I’ve seen players emerge from the tunnel, knowing it was their last game, or feeling it was their last game, and they want to go out with a bang. And hey, maybe these won’t be Trischuk’s last games. He might have a group stage ahead of him.”

“You’d think he would be on his A-game, but interestingly, he has conceded at least two goals in every single game in the second half of qualifiers, where South Newlandia normally thrives. He did keep a clean sheet in a dead rubber against Zwangzug, but the already World Cup-bound Zebras were resting a lot of their key players. What do you think about the progress Solomon has made, with three crucial clean sheets and strong performances in the second half of qualifiers?”

“Progress is probably the best way to describe it, Brandon. He made his debut at World Cup 89, and it wasn’t entirely the most sterling debut he had, conceding nine goals in his first five matches. I asked him last night about what he’s done to improve his play since his debut, and his response was simple. Nerves. He admitted to being quite nervous in his first matches, getting in the Cooter Harris role as starting keeper, but once he was able to calm himself down and develop a little bit of confidence as time went on, his play improved dramatically. A calm Solomon is a good Solomon. If he gets unnerved quickly, that’s bad news for the Haps, but good news for the Elephants.”

“Confidence is crucial for the team, of course. I’d like to hear a bit about how the Haps were able to bounce back from a crushing matchday 13 defeat - what was going on behind the scenes in Tikariot, and against Rhubarbton the matchday after?”

“The attitude amongst the Haps was simple - this isn’t the end of the world. After the match ended, the coaching staff, led by Thom Perkins, Nathan Ellis and Xannerian Myrone Rhule, they sat the team down and explained to them that their path to a playoff spot was still very doable. They viewed the Tikariot match as a speed bump, they got beat by a very good Owls team, but it was time to put it in the rear-view mirror and focus on a team that they figured they could beat. At the training complex over the next several days, the Haps looked at the scenarios and realized that, even with the Tikariot loss, their path was still very feasible. Rhubarbton was not one of the better sides, and Tikariot, unfortunately for them, had to face down the group winners, Audioslavia. There was always the question of ‘what if,’ but the Haps knew what they had to do, it was very doable, and whatever happens, happens.”

“And what happened was a crushing defeat, that, coupled with some Audioslavian help, sent the team here. Would anyone have expected this going in, from the 118th-ranked team in the Multiverse? For reference, South Newlandia is ranked 18th, no hundred.”

“Well, I can imagine that people across Hapilopper have seen that number and are just hoping, if not praying, for a miracle. South Newlandia is one of the true elites in international football, and it very well could take some divine intervention for Hapilopper to get this one on their side.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure, considering the Haps’ offense has been thriving recently, while the Elephants’ defense has looked very vulnerable, despite playing weaker opposition as a pot one team.”

“That 3-0 win over Zwangzug looked pretty convincing, though, regardless of the circumstances. Any time you can beat a group winner, that’s got to give anyone reason to stop and take notice.”

“Well, it’s been the substitutes of a group winner, beaten by the same starting Elephants that had lost to Texkentuck two matchdays earlier.”

“Anybody can have a bad day. And any time is a good time to break out of a slump. It’s not as if this is a standard-fare group match. This is the first end of what is, essentially, a four-half, 180-minute football match. Winner goes to the World Cup Proper, loser probably goes to the Cup of Harmony. If that’s not motivation to break out of a slump, I don’t know what is. I got a feeling South Newlandia will be at their best tonight for that very reason.”

“Speaking of the four halves, these two will be here in Hapilopper. How much of an advantage does the team have at home, with their fans all here, surely wanting to witness their team take a shot at making it all the way?”

“First of all, let me just say, it’s true: Hapiloppians are nuts. They always have been. The morning after the Rhubarbton match, there was a huge line wrapped around the Capital Stadium box office at five in the morning for people to get their tickets. These are fans that have seen the best of Hapiloppian football, and they’ve seen the worst. They’re gonna be louder, more obnoxious, and wilder than they’ve ever been, probably, trying to find some way to give the Hapiloppians that psychological edge. So, I can imagine that Team Hapilopper would like to think that’s an advantage, but we’ll see. If the Elephants can block that crowd noise out, they’ll be in good shape.”

“As far as the press covered it, the Elephants were training full-contact with extra crowd noise pumped in, ahead of the game tonight. That might have backfired, though, with Irving out now - then again, Irving has been mediocre with only six goals, while Bjorn Cohen has five for himself despite mostly only coming from the bench.”

“If a bench player can score five goals, then that’s someone the Haps need to look out for. But I would sense that the Elephants have done it right, training with extra crowd noise. If that can help them get used to how loud that old Capital Stadium can get, they might have done the smartest thing a visiting side can do.”

“Cohen is a joker at heart, and the entire South Newlandian team has been scoring like crazy in this tournament. They amassed 40 goals in 14 games - do you know how many teams were able to beat that mark, across all teams in all of qualifying?”

“Not many, and those that did have either qualified already or are favorites to win their playoff rounds. Names like Nephara, the Holy Empire, Farfadillis, Pasarga and Drawkland in the playoffs - those are some of the best of the best. If a team can score 40 in 14, the defense has their work cut out for them.”

“Adab is the only other team with 40+ goals you didn’t mention yet, with Pasarga on exactly 40 - so only five teams with more than 40, and all of them traditional scoring powerhouses. Remember when the Elephants were a defensive team the previous cycles?”

“Tell me a little more about it, how did the Elephants play with that different philosophy?”

“It’s been mostly Gomez, to be honest, and the different things he opens up. It’s been necessary too, the defense has taken a step down from their best days, costing the Elephants a shot at direct qualification on a couple of occasions. How do you expect the Haps to try and combat the Elephants’ offense tonight, Harold?”

“Hapilopper’s calling card, almost dating back to the days of the Baptism of Fire, has always been its physicality. Nathan Ellis is known as the Violent Gentleman of Hapiloppian sports, and he’s not above laying one in on an opposing player if it means it stops an offensive effort. Jerold Dickman, his protege, is much along those same lines. Hapilopper’s style of defense is violent, it is physical, and it is crucial to Hapilopper’s efforts to try to pull off the upset. But that may also be its biggest issue - if the team goes too far in its physicality, and it has happened before, the team could find itself without one of its crucial players, or more, if they go too far with it. Now, I can imagine the Elephants have been looking at ways to get around it.”

“The Elephants, despite what you might expect from the name, were never a very physical team compared to others, so that may in fact be a crucial weak spot for the Haps to exploit.”

“Indeed it might, but if they can frustrate the Hapiloppian defense to pull moves that they probably really shouldn’t - and it’s happened before, that weakness could turn into a strength. What gameplan do you think the Elephants should use to get past Hapilopper tonight?”

“I don’t think they’ll be trying anything too complicated, I imagine that Wolverine will mostly let Gomez cook,, try to neutralize the Haps up front, and hope to get into the second leg, at home, from at least an even position. With the away goals rule not in place this time around, scoring on the road leg becomes less crucial.”

“Yes indeed, it’s going to be, unquestionably, a sensational match tonight and in a few days’ time when we travel to Elephant Valley for the second leg. Who wins? I’d say that’s too close to call right now, and I’m looking forward to seeing it.”

“I definitely agree, we’re in for a real treat tonight. Won’t be the first epic showdown between Hapilopper and South Newlandia, either; I don’t think I have to remind you about the epic 5-game showdown back in World Baseball Classic 49 in Newmanistan, the first playoff series in Hapiloppan history and only the second one in South Newlandian history. Of course, both baseball teams have added plenty by this point.”
“And just like what I’m expecting tonight, that one went down to the wire. That one was decided by a 9th inning home run from Jerome Hayden. But it could have gone South Newlandia’s way. Two great nations with two great teams. I expect to see just as good of a showdown today here, and in Elephant Valley. You’re gonna want to stay tuned, because this is gonna be good.”

“The second leg, as you mentioned, will be in Elephant Valley, in the Stadium of Friendship - I hope they won’t have to rename it following the events of this matchup, what do you think?”

“We’ll see how it goes. The way some of those Hapiloppians play, it very well may be the Stadium of Chaos. We’ll see.”

“Right after a short ad break, we’ll be right back for kickoff!”

[Huayramarca]

OOC: All concepts and thoughts expressed here does not represent my actual political views nor are intended to target any kind of social collective expressions.

1985 Elections: Performance and Activities from the Candidates in the Last Days of Campaign

Written by: Mario Chicaiza
28/03/1985 – Last Update 9:50 P.M.

The race for the presidential seat and the ridings of the Huayramarcan Nation Assembly are on hot and red fire, as there’s only one week left for the D-Day and only four days prior the electoral silence that the law requires. The candidates for Presidency and National Assembly are visiting the territory in order to captivate, with their agendas, the remnants of undecided voters that might help to tilt the balance from one side to the other. There’re also some movements from inside the Supreme Electoral Committee in regards of logistics and the lessons learned from the Primary Elections and their fails that caused some discomfort among elder people.

In this bulletin, we will cover three different topics that might be relevant for the readers to consider as the process is wrapping up: the say from the Supreme Electoral Committee (SEC), what the candidates are doing and will plan to do in the final days and some projections coming from the opinion polls, which are doing their last research just before the electoral silence and reflection period. This will provide you, for sure, the best panorama in order to analyse the somewhat complex world of politics, specially in a dynamic and diverse nation such as Huayramarca is; remember, our compromise is to provide you every angle possible without any kind of skewness or leaning towards certain political party.

Supreme Electoral Committee: After some days of deliberation and planning, featuring representatives from the five registered political parties taking part of this election, the SEC has released through press conference the instructions for the D-Day in Huayramarca. From the half an hour speech from Juliana Márquez, we have extracted the most important points of her intervention.

• Opening of Voting Centres: The SEC has procured to have everything sorted out in all voting centres by 7:00 a.m. Central, which means 6:00 a.m. Islands and 8:00 a.m. Jungle. This means that the targeted opening time for the centres is 8:00 a.m. Central (Add an hour for Jungle and subtract an hour for Islands).

• Liaisons and Logistics: Every voting centre will have liaisons in order to provide assistants for disable and elder voters in order to let them exercise one of their most important rights as a citizen. Throughout the day, no matter about the most frequent voting time for elder people, they will be given priority to vote, so they won’t need to expose themselves to extreme amounts of sun for those places which feature an extremely sunny forecast for the weekend.

• Weather and supplies: As a different point compared to the past Primary, there’s not a heatwave forecasted for the day, although the transition to winter time might give us some rains and sun peaks as climate tends to get volatile during autumn. Márquez has announced that the liaisons will provide water and candies for those in need in order to prevent health issues, also with enough room to accommodate people trying to hide from rain.

• Closing Logistics: The voting window is expected to last for eight hours, so the end of the process would be around 4:00 p.m. Central (3:00 p.m. Islands and 5:00 p.m. Jungle). The counting process will begin after everybody on queue during the last-minute finishes voting. It’s expected that the counting process will last some hours and might end around 10:00 p.m., with some possibility of extension depending of the outcome of voting.

During the press conference, there was no disagreement from the members of the five political parties, as our gesture analyser noticed, there was only compliance and compromise that could indicate their acceptance to the game rules, in order to ensure a truly democratic process that might provide satisfaction to the people across Huayramarca.

After some minutes, the people in social media expressed themselves with satisfaction from the responses provided from the SEC president, although caution was dominant people due to the lack of success of the plan that was put into work during the primaries, which had severe failures and lacked of a good implementation that could have helped some people to make the process even faster to do.

Now in matters of Presidential Candidates, we will go from the extreme left to the extreme right of the political spectrum, walking through the centre during this interesting path. We will try to be as concise as possible in order to provide people with a better panorama of the most important remarks and campaign promises from the five candidates to president. Aside from that, some combined talk about their prospects for the National Assembly.

• Communist Party of Huayramarca: Cristina Perlaza has emphasised in moving outside her comfort zone in the Archipelago and Yungas, this time she has targeted the Sierra in order to conquer some undecided voters or convince with a better set of offerings and promises compared to Ñucanchi Ñan, the ones who dominate at the highlands. Perlaza spent some time in the neighbourhoods of Sopocachi and at the centre of the Metropolitan District, those appearances helped her to consolidate her speech and promises such as the followings: “The Party is people’s vanguard, we will join forces with Anaia and promote unity through treaties such as AORTA, which could’ve prevented a nightmare-ish situation for those fans who awaited in the border for even a day after returining from Krytenia by car.”

Perlaza also mentioned that “Mining is a closed chapter for us, we will proceed with it while respecting the holy shrines of our native people.” There were some interesting points of view in terms of education: “Huayramarcan children desperately need support to grow in better conditions, we need to make sure we will get capable entrepreneurs, architects and engineers for a better destiny. We will bolster the expenditures of education two-fold, by diverting fonds from the military and earnings from the tourism industry.” Some members of the military showed their dismay to this proposal, as they argued that “We need to safeguard or land from any kind of potential foreign invasion that could happen tomorrow or after tomorrow.”

In other activities made by Perlaza in Cajamarca, she took some time in order to reply to the military members who expressed dismay “There’s more productivity in Engineers than people waiting for the moment to take a gun to fight things that can be prevented from escalation through dialogue.” Things look like Perlaza has broke apart from the Army, to the point that it seems like an unfixable divorce, there’s some chatter in the background that Perlaza doesn’t disregards the possibility to disband the armed forces and banning them through a Constitutional Reform.

The Communist candidates for parliament are holding group activities at swing departments such as the Coastal ones, specifically at Junín where they called up community members in order to explain them their “Cooperative Farming” proposal in which the Communists pretend to consolidate exports through a zonal brand to other outposts of Anaia in order to provide focalised development for people with an equal opportunities premise.

• Ñucanchi Ñan: The current Vice-President of Huayramarca, Martha Mamani, has intensified her campaign across the Coast, specifically in Guayaquil and Lima in order to also gain advantage from any potential voting turnover in those regions. The fact of being Christian Values Alliance and Popular Party strongholds, Mamani’s determination doesn’t let her stop from trying to persuade voters with energetic speeches, such as the one she gave in Guayaquil: “This is a heroic city for the revolution, many of the social transformations we have done and we will continue doing, if elected, are inspired from your valiant struggle against Mina’s dictatorship five years ago.

Her speeches have been mostly focused to show her compromise towards Anaian Integration, a topic she said “I promise to bolster this, as I have a far better knowledge and ideals for this than any other candidate. We have promoted the signing of the AORTA treaty and also OAGHHE in order to make the hostels of this place meet the highest standards, hence, attracting more tourists with higher capacity of money expenditure in the region.” Some of those words were also mentioned in Lima, although she added “Have you considered the possibility to export your arepas to the Ochre Islands, as an example? Export some handicrafts to Audioslavia or Starblaydia? We will provide accessible technical capacitation in order to help you to export those or even other products to the nation you think it may suit better in Anaia.”

In Lima, too, as she spent two days in the province, including some meetings in the region close to the Yungas, she mentioned that farmers will be included in different projects in order to diversify their operations. “We can foster the creation of cooperatives, but the Government will provide another income source by buying milk, dairy cream, cheese and derivates in order to provide with the best foods to our children while they are in school.” This has opened a door that the government might drop out contracts with corporates in order to provide with fresh food from local or relatively close farms from the location of the school. This measure, according to her, will provide farmers with “a safe income source year-round.”

Meanwhile, candidates of the party have visited the Jungle in order to break the wall between Conservative voters and the Progressive ideals that Ñucanchi Ñan embraces. Nauta and Sechura were some of the places visited, where the candidates offered better health services and infrastructure premises coming from the oil funds generated by the province of Sechura. According to this, one of the main complaints of Sechurans might be solved, as their money would remain in their region and not be sent for equalisation funds (common fund of departments).

• Christian Values Alliance: After a solid performance in the debate made in February, Salma Machado has managed to perform decently after it, taking advantage of her now recognised skills for argumentation and good proposals presented during the event. In her visit to Cocoamarca she said that “another debate would be interesting in order to show the population the best option for the future of Huayramarca, an option that fulfills the will of God in its entirety.” During a three-day visit through the department, visiting several cities and some important cocoa plantations, she mentioned that “Agriculture will be a milestone of her success as President, if elected” as she “understands the daily struggle of farmers to make money for a living.”

While on the “Vista al Cielo” cocoa plantation, near the Cocoamarcan Yungas, she said that “Her commitment for an open ANAIA through AORTA would open the exploration of new markets through right of roaming in the visiting countries.” While adding that “She has already planned a strategy in order to work with the Anaian countries in order to create a free-trade union in order to give preferences to regional products in a win-win relationship between siblings.” The plan, though, has to be discussed through the different parliaments of the interested countries and may take some time depending on the interest of the other parties and the process of collective negotiations; this, according to economists, make the proposal “difficult to be implemented on time.”

Machado also took time to do some spicy declarations towards other candidates during her visit, including the following ones: “There’s no intention from my other competitors in structuring something that pleases the eyes of God” and “No coherent ideas from them, only from the Christian Values Alliance, we are properly guided to perform to the expectations desired from the Huayramarcan people; the can trust us that we will do our very best in order to deliver what this nation truly deserves and had been neglected to enjoy since 150 years ago.”

The candidates for parliament from the Alliance split in two, by accompanying her in different locations of Cocoamarca and also through the Sierra region, trying to appeal voters with a religious mindset that their speech and proposals fit in what they want and consider suitable for Huayramarca. The projections made during the last days have shown a waning lead from the Alliance against Ñucanchi Ñan, hence, the alarms are on through the party’s committees across the nation.

• Conservative Party: Leaded by Ricardo Flores, the Conservatives have struggled during the last weeks due to some controverted expressions from the candidate towards a recent wave of Faroleran immigration to the nation “I hereby condemn the invasion of that people against Huayramarca and its families. We might be suffering but we are trying to improve the life conditions and related standards for this nation, but this invasion may mark a standby to our plans, as they will suck up resources that we would use in other stuff.” The words have caused widespread condemnation from the Government, Christian Values Alliance and Communist Party, which launched a joint communiqué expressing “shock and dismay against the treatment of Farolerans seeking for a better life in Huayramarca.”

The Conservative Party has been backlashed by every angle possible during the last month and a half of campaign, even by members of the party themselves by accident with speeches and declarations such as the ones provided by Flores against the immigration of Farolerans. The “Conservative Pride, Huayramarca Wide” motto is not fitting anymore among the Huayramarcan populace, as the party has showed a sharp decline in voting intentions across the country, except for Sechura, Madre de Dios and Cocoamarca (Jungle), whose support continues to be an important stronghold that keeps the party floating in a decent position to take advantage or a sudden surge and come back to the position we are used to see them.

As the Conservative candidate has decided to do a face-washing tour across Huayramarca, specially in the Coastal and Archipelagic regions, Flores has emphasised that “he has the right solutions for Huayramarca in order to achieve development, through the exploitation of mining, investment of resources in the tourism industry through loans with low interest rates. The people that has expected the Conservative candidate to speak about Anaian Integration issues were, somewhat, disappointed as he decided to avoid the topic; according to some sources, the candidate has avoided the topic in order to avoid “heating himself up” while speaking, as a strategy to avoid him “from attacking himself more and more.”

The Conservative parliamentary candidates, in the other hand, are enjoying a good period of stability in the preferences among people, many consider that they could provide the much-needed balance in order to provide better reflection and debate to motions in the Assembly. They continue to be the second most preferred option behind Ñucanchi Ñan, as the Christian Values Alliance is falling a bit down in the trends of preference during the last days, the reason of this situation is the performance of the current MPs of the party across the nation, as people consider, in polls, as the party that has managed to “deliver their promises” in a best manner compared to the other parties.

• Popular Party: Armando Jamarara has managed to improve his performance over time, as he has, somehow, “clicked” better with the people from the Yungas Region and some departments of the Sierra. Jamarara focused more on economic and Anaian Integration strategies as a way to consolidate himself as a “better option” with “broad offerings” for the people, who he considers as “his boss”. The candidate has performed more and more decently through the days as he managed to attract significant amounts of people in the Sierra, specifically on Cajamarca. For the last days, he will consolidate his last efforts in the Sierra, as he considers that there’s “a lot of undecided people” that are losing their confidence in the traditional parties.

The candidate presented himself as “the best option” and the “only candidate that knows your daily struggles in order to provide your family with something decent for a living.” His populistic rhetoric has bolstered his chances in the opinion polls, although not enough in order to propel him to a comfortable position to fight against Ñucanchi Ñan and Christian Values in a vs. In regards of Anaian Integration, Jamarara mentioned “We will ally with our friends in in an unconditional way, as it’s the will of my boss, the people of Huayramarca, desires to do. In order to achieve this, we will have to sign AORTA and promote, in a consensus with the other nations, a Free-Trade Agreement that allows everybody to exchange goods in favourable conditions.”

In an event in Tulcán, he considered that “Our economy can be recovered easily, we need to attract talents from Québec & Shingoryeo and more Huayramarcans abroad to promote business, innovation and better manufacturing of goods and services.” This program, known as “Welcome Back, My Friend” will provide those people with loans and flexible settlement opportunities across Huayramarca, with social housing as they manage to accommodate back at home. According to Jamarara, treaties will be signed with enterprises in order to provide them with decent employment opportunities in the private sector, also in the Public Sector as the Government needs more people to keep it efficient.” The last declaration, according to experts, might be the gestation of more burden in process and bureaucracy that could cost “millions and headaches” to the taxpayers in Huayramarca.

The Popular Party candidates for the parliament spread across Huayramarca in order to campaign for themselves and propel the image of Jamarara, across the nation, as a “man of compromise and respectful of his word and promises towards people, his boses.” The last appearance of Jamarara in the campaign will be done in Lima, his stronghold, with a message where he will “demonstrate the power of people” and will “make sure to emphasise in the key points of his campaign, in order to keep it fresh on peoples’ collective mind.”

Conclusions: As we get closer to the end of the campaign, the trends remain practically similar as the ones formed after the debate, although the Conservative Party doesn’t looks as strong as it did before, due to the lack of capability of his candidate to handle his words. The rest have taken advantage of the situation and positioned as “a better option” compared to Conservatives. Same number of horses in competition at the front, 4, but one different name that could turn the election into a photo finish situation!

[Omerica]

|national football| |club football| |basketball| |hockey| |volleyball| |lacrosse| |tennis| |cycling| |golf|

---

Alexis Stephanidis announces her intent to step down as Omerica manager at the cycle’s end
“I’ve offered my country everything I can,” Stephanidis says as she sets the United Republican Soccer Federation off on a search for a new manager

Keldabe, Gyatso-kai — Despite ending the qualifying campaign on a high note, Alexis Stephanidis has announced that she will be stepping down as manager of the Omerica national team after leading the Incorrigibles to a first failed qualification campaign in three cycles, with her departure to take effect at the start of World Cup 91 qualification.

“This really started when Astograth knocked us out,” Stephanidis stated in her post-match press conference in Keldabe, referring to the Incorrigibles’ 3–1 defeat in Forestia which confirmed Omerica’s elimination from finals contention. “Part of the game is knowing when to fold, when the right time to bow out is. When you take a country that had only qualified once in 14 attempts to consecutive finals, you kinda get job security, but I can’t help but think that maybe I’ve done all I can in this position. I’ve offered my country everything I can and that’s why I believe it’s time for me to move on, for a new person to come in who can write the next chapter in our history, a great chapter.”

Stephanidis’s announcement was timed to ensure that the United Republican Soccer Federation would have ample time to search for her replacement, with the manager claiming that it “would be reckless to have the Federation scrambling for a successor.” The timing means that Stephanidis would manage Omerica at the Cup of Harmony in the unlikely event that Omerica were extended a berth, with her successor to be in place for the start of World Cup 91 qualification; if Omerica are not extended a spot in the Cup of Harmony, Stephanidis’s time as manager would come to an end immediately.

Stephanidis leaves the Omerica post having managed more games than any other person, being the only manager to surpass a hundred games with the Incorrigibles. She also leaves as Omerica’s most winning manager, having secured 73 victories over the course of 129 games, two more than Ryan Pritchard and Anne-Sophie Groothuis put together. Her 1.89 points per game ratio and 56.6% win rate as of the end of qualifying place her firmly first all-time, ahead of Groothuis’s 1.63 points per game over her 96 games and Ryan Pritchard 49.1% win rate over his 53.

“It’s been an honour and the privilege of a lifetime to give something back to my country,” she stated as she fought back tears. “I had dreamed of wearing the shirt and facing the great nations of the world, but I never got the chance. Every little girl in this country is so immensely lucky to get the opportunity I never had, but I’m blessed to have made my mark in a different way. I’ll cherish this time for the rest of my life.”

Social media immediately responded with a sense of disappointment at Stephanidis’s announcement. “Hot take: but we’ve never had anyone better in the job. We were truly blessed,” an anonymous Northavonian stated on Honkr. “It’s been an honour and a privilege to watch my friend Alex blossom in my old job,” Groothuis stated. “She has been an inspiration and she will be dearly missed.”

However, there was conversely a sense of excitement at the prospect of a new manager, with Corona Christiana’s treble-winning Amaya Allen-Stone popular in online circles, despite her stated intention to remain with the club at the Stephen Reading. Other commonly mentioned candidates were Licentian Fabrizio Kaal and Saltsteader Chrisiane van Åupħen, with the former free after being sacked by the Royal Quebecois Football Association and the latter’s job with Saltstead under question due to administrative issues at the Royal Saltsteadish Football Association. However, it is believed (though not confirmed) that the URSF will be seeking to hire an Omerican candidate.

Neither Stephanidis nor the United Republican Soccer Federation have returned SFRD’s request for comment. ⚜️

---

For your reading pleasure
▶ Opinion polling shows a deadlock awaiting, as no party looks likely to claim a Commons majority
▶ Liberals angle for a Democratic-Liberal coalition, ruling out any cooperation with the hard-right
▶ The Federal Academy of Science and Technology closes temporarily after chemistry lab blaze
▶ IN RETROSPECT: Looking back at the greatest moments of Alexis Stephanidis’s Omerica tenure

---

[PotatoFarmers]

It was still nervousness on the big stage that cost the team their valuable direct spot. Yes, this is a team that is undergoing a renewal process. Yes, this team got themsleves in a slightly less challenging group. Yes, this team didn't really mess up much, except for a shock draw against Havynwilde away. The games that they lost seems particularly reasonable in nature on paper. But this team lacks the mental nerve of traditional Poafmersian teams. Which is why they are now stuck in this sticky situation.

Everyone could remember back in World Cup 84, on the Red Panjias' debut in the World Cup qualifiers. Drawn against Nephara and Siovanija & Teusland, both teams ran riot against the Red Panjias. Together with a variety of other, more experienced nations. But they fought hard. Never gave up, always looking for a solid finish in the qualification group. Ended 3rd, after a series of surprise performances. Despite not managing to grab a point off either of the top 2 seeds home or away, the team was seen as a hero on the final matchday, and everyone was celebrating the players' return.

World Cup 87. A seemingly impossible run. Poafmersia squeezed themselves ahead of Krytenia into the playoffs, and played fellow Indies powerhouses Omerica. The team had nothing to lose - the "batch of 84" flagbearer, Trolleborg, had gotten into World Cup proper the previous cycle, was on course to get in this time, and Poafmersia was just one step away from it. Then came the performance of the players' lives, as they defeated Omerica and pushed themselves into the World Cup. Despite just grabbing 1 win against Audioslavia, it was enough to squeeze into Round of 16, and a shock win against Brenecia in that round meant that the Red Panjias made the top 8 on their debut in the tournament proper. That cycle, the players were once again, treated like heros.

Now we are at this point. The tables have now turned against the tide of Red Panjias. In the past, Trolleborg was seen as the flag bearer of the batch. Poafmersia, with 2 solid World Cup performances in 87 and 88, was seen to be the next one. Until the Red Panjias failed to make it into the World Cup in 89. In 90, TJUN-ia took the lead by booking their direct qualification spot. Poafmersia and Trolleborg didn't, instead finding themselves in the playoffs, aiming to make it 3 teams in the Finals. What stands ahead of Poafmersia is...Vdara. Vdara has been a honorable member of the batch, having debuted that year without participation in the Baptism of Fire. But this can only show how important this fixture is for the Red Panjias. For the younger ones who are aiming to get their first World Cup apparence, they need to realise the importance of this match. Understand that they have nothing to lose and should fight their way forward. Know the struggles of their seniors and the ones before them.

The match awaits.

[Commonwealth of Baker Park]

Playoffs?? Don't talk to Baker Park about Playoffs!
https://youtu.be/-oSFYxDGKy8

CUTOFF for Leg 1

[Brenecia]

Brenecia 3 - 1 Polkopia
(4-2-3-1) 12 - Tanner; 2 - Bravender, 5 - Leadbetter, 3 - Roscommon (c), 22 - Seeler; 19 - Mikoliunas (23 - Briggs 89'), 4 - Schofield (8 - Conway 70'); 7 - Carpenter, 9 - White (13 - Garrard 78'), 10 - Byrne; 14 - Tristram
Goals: Tristram 7', White 47', Byrne 75'

The trouble was, Wright reflected: when you started to slip, you slipped big.
See, the thing with Brenecia was that there hadn't been one moment. One big obvious moment you could point to and say: yeah, that's where it turned. Instead, the Patriots had simply... drifted. Gradually at first, but alarmingly over time. They were fresh off getting swept off the board easily at the World Cup and before you knew it they might not reach the World Cup at all, for the first time in 25 years, and that... well, that wasn't even unexpected. She probably wouldn't even be fired for it, which was honestly a disgrace.
Still... they weren't out of this yet.
That's why it was so important to come out firing. Wright's instructions had been, to the word, "Murder them!" Mikoliunas took it too literally, already cautioned for an attempted homicide on Marchuk that would have absolutely been red in the second half, but Danand Tristram took it more figuratively, more constructively. Byrne wrested the ball from Marchuk, swept in a high cross, and Tristram beat Zubokov in the air to head it low and decisively past Huzhyak.
The rest of the first half was good, and pleasingly, the plan worked. Leadbetter stuck behind, sweeping up troubles - though he'd not be playing anyone offside - and though a couple of times, the young, lethal Kosyo almost opened up space, Roscommon was quick to close him down. Two shots were rushed, one scooped high and wide, the other shot straight at Sorcha Tanner. Other than that it was all Brenecian dominance... though a sterile dominance. Mhacha White wasn't firing. Yet.

It would not take long, though, and it would reflect little of anyone's actual play. Another quick start, this time just two minutes after kickoff, and White had darted free past Siyan and, well... shot.
High. Hard. Yet with a gentle arc, shaving the underside of the bar; Huzhyak dived but had no chance. 2-0.
Not secure yet, though. There was still an away leg to come, and almost immediately after, Kosyo nearly scored, wriggling away from his marker and this time, evading Roscommon, too. His shot was low, and while Tanner went the right way, enough to cover it, Leadbetter fucked up by helping, blocking the shot with his heel... sending it squirrelling away, still on goal. Tanner had to sweep out desperately with her feet to scramble it away, and Roscommon barely managed to clear it out for a corner in time. One, yet again, Sorcha Tanner claimed. Another successful gamble, then. Wright had to smile.
They needed to press on; Conway came in for Schofield, and it didn't take long for her to chalk up an assist, arrowing a long diagonal pass into the path of Katua Byrne, away from all markers, who swept a low and confident strike into the bottom corner, shaving someone's ankle and Huzhyak's finger on the way.
3-0. Could they start booking their tickets, yet? Oh. Azarov arriving late in the box, sweeping a cross across the face of goal; Roscommon and Kosyo got in one another's way, Tanner dithered and allowed Marchuk to stab a lifeline between her feet. And there were other late chances, too, a free kick from Siyan beaten against the frame of the goal with Tanner motionless. Nevertheless: victory was Brenecia's... for the time being.

It was the next day, lingering around her office, that Derdriu Wright got the lingering feeling she'd forgotten something. Something big, something breathing down her neck.
"Dri, hey."
Something connected to the low attendance, last night, which had been pricking at her...
"Dri!" prodded her assistant manager, Hendry Jackson.
Wright jolted back to life, glowered over at him, as he stared wide-eyed at a laptop. "What?"
"Come, look... !"
She did, sweeping around the desk to look at the screen.
"Look here." Jackson angled it to let her see better, and Wright's jaw dropped.

THE ROZELLE OBSERVER
Queen gives blessing to CPP coalition of convenience that puts White Cross into power
Ferry Kane

"Oh... oh, shit."
"I know, right? In all the excitement, I never expected to see this."
Wright steepled her hands behind her head. "Oh, shit, oh shit, oh shit. Shit..."
"But there it is, plain as day." Jackson leaned back in his seat with satisfaction. "Positive spin."
"Oh-- what." Wright blinked. "Spin?"
Jackson tapped the screen with his finger.

THE ROZELLE OBSERVER
Reshuffle proves Wright right and doubters wrong
Tara Ousted

Wright stared slackly.
Jackson nudged her. "What did you think I was talking about?"
"Oh," said Wright, weakly. "Oh, nothing important, I suppose..."

[TJUN-ia]

By Peter Davis

We won in Szensky against Darkmania. We lost in Ethane. Now, once again, our fate would have to be decided in the Capital...in the presence of the ghosts of our past. Chromatika in 86, Siovanija and Teusland in 87, Oberour Ar Moro in 88, Turori in 89 - all where our dream to reach the World Cup itself fell into the darkness for another two years. It's been like this for so long, we don't know any other world where this doesn't happen. TJUN-ia shows some good before eventually falling - it's just how we are. Only the NSTT and Motorsports have shown us a different path, one where we can succeed against all the odds and forge our own path to greatness. Some of the other sports have gotten close to their nirvana - Basketball is #2 rn, Baseball is consistent, Aussie Rules is always up there, NSFB is love and life, WB is getting there as well after 10-0 - but football is the toughest of them all to reach that point, no matter how hard you may try. The Nine certainly did, giving up their bodies for our right to be in the World Cup - but they will never get to play in that golden zone and that is definitely sad. Now, their replacements and those they left behind fought it out in the National Stadium in TJUN-ia City for the dream to finally be realised - hopefully, that is.

Both TJUN-ia and HUElavia knew victory would see them through as group winners while anything else will see either or both sides succumb to Ethane depending on how they do on Aut-Ves-Nat with all games in the group kicking off at the same time for obvious reasons. Both teams would come out to a thunderous atmosphere here in the Captial, also for obvious reasons. TJUN-ia and HUElavia have met countless times across the past few years and David Seems, Li Xiu Ying and Leonardo Conavacio are all certainly quite familiar with each other at this point and both sides knew how the other side would try to play the game at this point. The anthems were sung with such conviction from both sides, the sellout crowd from both nations in full song, before the true dual could begin. All everyone knew was that in two hours, one of these teams would move on - the question of who remained to be resolved right here, right now.

TJUN-ia were in their traditional Blue-and-Orange Home kits, while HUElavia were in their Special Aways with the Blue Shirts and White Shorts. Everyone and their extended family knew that both teams were going to absolutely fight for every inch of the pitch here in the Capital and that is exactly what happened here, the play was very rough for, once again, obvious reasons. Both teams were hungry to make the WC, either a return or a debut, and all 22 players out there would certainly fight for their right to compete alongside the elite of the sport that ebbs and flows all the time. The home support here was as emphatic as it has ever been in this stadium, greater than those games of challenges long gone due to the gravity of the situation, Jackson Levi-Holt was in the stands of course, and so when Kepo Ulawaya found his way past Lucas Lettmann in the 24th to give us the lead, the rumbling of the stadium was certainly in full effect. But HUElavia were in a fighting mood as well and Sol Woo-Jin would equalise in the 44th to send the teams into the tunnel deadlocked and with Ethane 1-0 up in Aut-Ves-Nat, both teams knew the remaining 45 would decide everyone's fate.

The second half would decide it all and HUElavia shocked everyone by taking the lead, with Napoleone Torrisi heading past Harold Gylfisson to give the visitors and our sort-of rivals the lead after only 49 minutes and suddenly, everyone in this station was at panic stations. Everyone knew that H2H would succumb us to 3rd even if we pegged back our opponents into a draw, so TJUN-ia had to score at least twice to avoid that and somehow make history on our own soil. So, the pressure was well and truly ramped up on our end and HUElavia attempted to clamp down on any attempt to overturn the result. But if TJUN-ia was in a pickle, they certainly knew who to call and when Prince Carter and Archer Andrews came on, the game certainly changed. These two always seem to help us get out of a rut whenever possible and they certainly did that again in the 68th, Carter finding Andrews who slotted it home to tie it up and give the Jaguars 21 minutes to try and find the winner that would send them to either Vilita or the Commonwealth of Baker Park. Those 21 minutes would certainly be very tense and very fucking painful, with both sides looking to find that all-important winner that would crown the victor and eliminate the loser - do-or-die football at its finest. The clock was getting close to its conclusion, 5 minutes were about to be added to the clock, and TJUN-ia would be awarded a corner. Preston Chapman would take it and from here, stuff would happen. JBBST with the call...

C1: I'm getting stressed rn.
C2: Don't blame you at all.
C1: Can't blame anyone at all. Chapman has a corner as we enter 5 minutes of injury time. Take deep breaths...calm down. Chapman to take, to try and win this game, to try and send us to the promised land. Ok...here we go. Chapman fires and it- AAAAAAAAAH!
C2: OH MY GOODNESS! HOLY SHIT!
C1: PRINCE CARTER! PRINCE! CARTER! GALARIAN BY BLOOD! TJUN-IAN BY LAW! A LIVING LEGEND OF TJUN-IA RIGHT NOW! TJUN-ia 3-2 HUElavia! 5 minutes or more to defend it! HOLY SHIT INDEED!

The final moments of the curse to end all curses were one of the most excruciating moments in the history of TJUN-ia as an entity. The tens of thousands in attendance and millions watching across TJUN-ia and the billions across all 3 Universes were all willing the defence to hold, the clock to run out and for that damned referee to blow that whistle one final time. Some in the crowd were already on the athletics track and waiting for the moment the greatest pitch invasion of all time could begin and the TJUN-ian bench couldn't even look at what was happening. Seems and Li had to do their job, but all the coaches and other players on that bench were just waiting with just nervousness that the entire country could understand.

But that final whistle did indeed come, as it always should, and as soon as that was made clear, pandemonium set in across the nation and right here in its beating heart. Prince Carter was hounded by practically the entire stadium, the hero of the night being treated as such by everyone who even got close, tears streaming down most of the team's faces. He would later recall how he lost count on how many people hugged him that night and that would be totally understandable. Respect would also be paid to our opponents in HUElavia, eliminated at practically the 11th hour after a brilliant campaign by all. They deserved something from the night but in the end, it just wasn't to be. The resulting night and national holiday that would follow (because of course, it was declared that by the Secretary-General himself) would be the biggest party in TJUN-ian history as the entire nation celebrated like the world was coming to an end. Maybe it was. Maybe it will. But no one gave a flying fuck. TJUN-ia was going to the World Cup at long last and nobody cared about anything else. We could end up going 0-3 and conceding 14 goals and nobody would care. The real reward will be going there, going to the WC and being presented as equals to the Vilitas and Baker Parks of the world. TJUN-ia had finally arrived and now, we must represent our Blue-and-Orange Banner of Peace with pride. If this story is ever retold, maybe by those who deem themselves fools, then I'd advise them to end the video here now. The journey is over. We've finally won. Now, it is time for us to fight once more. Now, it is time for TJUN-ia to show the WCC and the WC Elite what this nation from The North Pacific can do.

GO JAGS!

---

SCHEDULE (Group 15)
MD1: vs United States of Great America (UR) - National Stadium, TJUN-ia City W 4-0 (1st)
----------------------Boot It!----------------------
MD2: vs Aut-Ves-Nat (142) - National Stadium, TJUN-ia City W 4-2 (1st)
MD3: @United Adaikes (244) W 1-0 (1st)
----------------------Boot It!----------------------
MD4: vs Ranoria (67) - Tiankong Stadium, Tiankong L 0-1 (2nd)
MD5: @Darkmania (104) - Nätionaljë Stëduÿm, Örkendrem W 1-0 (1st)
----------------------Boot It!----------------------
MD6: vs Ethane (14) - Beregozera Stadium, Szensky W 4-0 (1st)
MD7: @HUElavia (41) - Estadio Nacional, Curumba L 2-4 (1st/W5-D0-L2/15pts/+9GD)
----------------------Boot It!----------------------
MD8: @United States of Great America (UR) W 3-1 (1st)
MD9: @Aut-Ves-Nat (142) W 4-2 (1st)
----------------------Boot It!----------------------
MD10: vs United Adaikes (244) - Tiankong Stadium, Tiankong W 2-1 (1st)
MD11: @Ranoria (67) - Smith Field, Richardson D 0-0 (1st)
----------------------Boot It!----------------------
MD12: vs Darkmania (104) - Beregozera Stadium, Szensky W 3-0 (1st)
MD13: @Ethane (14) L 0-2 (2nd [H2H])
----------------------Boot It!----------------------
MD14: vs HUElavia (41) - National Stadium, TJUN-ia City W 3-2 (1st/W10-D1-L3/31pts/+16GD)
WC90 BOUND!

[Tumbra]

Kohnhead 0-3 Tumbra

TMB (4-2-3-1): 1 - John Lennon; 2 - Ryan Hughes, 5 - Ian Ashburn, 14 - Stephen Kerr (20 - Douglas Moore, 71'), 19 - Chris Carter; 6 - Vincent Hicks, 15 - Trudy Harrison, 10 - Phil Cole (23 - Andrew Fisher, 79'); 7 - George Hilton, 9 - Robin Vaughn (21 - Lynne Crossley, 60'); 11 - Nick Riordan

TMB scorers: Phil Cole (19'), Vincent Hicks (32'), Nick Riordan (75')

Player of the Match: Vincent Hicks (TMB)

my ordinary life
a twofer set in the defender meets midfielder universe

Kingsbury, Georgia
One month before the events of Season One, Part One: A Day In Kven

I. harrison

As always — and I really should get that curtain fixed — it's the sun that wakes me. It shines through my window, through the little hole in my curtains, and just in the right place that whenever I open my eyes I find myself with a faceful of sunlight. Thankfully the rest of the apartment's in better shape, now — Mrs Jones essentially re-painted everyone's apartments, and I managed to use whatever was left over after the month's rent was due to buy some actual possessions — but that damn curtain needs to be fixed.

Oh well. At least it works well as an alarm clock.

And after the usual morning routine, it's down to Paul's for some breakfast. Well, he doesn't cook it; his mom, Marnie, does, and she's insisted I eat her food after realising that firstly, that I was subsisting on largely takeaway food, and secondly, that I didn't know how to cook. So there it is; and usually Paul's there, with a great smile on his face, and his six year-old younger sister, Elaine, all getting ready for the day ahead. In a way, it's almost like she's adopted me as one of her own; and I spend a lot of evenings at her place with her these days, looking after Elaine when Marnie's still working at the fish market and Paul's at his after-school job at one of the small businesses that dot these parts of the city. Her husband, Scott, is usually out on the seas; and is rarely home, if ever. But it's the closest thing I've got to a new family in this place.

In a way, I've felt less alone.

In another, the lie that I alone know I am living makes me feel more alone than ever.

My serving's particularly large today; but of course, it's matchday today. Kingsbury United Ladies versus Wentworth City Ladies, in the Second Division of the Tumbran Woman's Super League. As Marnie heaps another hashbrown onto my plate, she pats my shoulders reassuringly; Paul sniggers at the gesture, but flashes another huge smile when I glance back up at him with a quizzical look. According to Marnie, Paul's always happy when he's by my side; and she's never seen him happier than in the year I've spent at number 70, Crawford Street. Which, in a way, is oddly satisfying; and he always has been a great friend. Always coming round to fix things — he's at vocational school, trying to become a handyman — leaving me little gifts, sending messages of encouragement. I've suspected for a while that he may see me as more than just a neighbour; but I don't feel the same way towards him. I just don't, simply, and the fact that I'm literally living a lie right now only complicates things.

I finish my meal, and right on cue Old Man Fraser knocks on the door, curtly asking if I'm ready to go; and I, of course, answer yes. Fraser's in his sixties, now, and runs a small tow truck business; but he warmed up to me incredibly quickly. He's the one that takes me to the club in the mornings; in the evenings all I can do is squeeze onto a public bus and ride home. Our ride, as always, is silent — he's not one for many words, nor am I, really — but he always wishes me good luck before whenever he drops me off.

The mood in our tiny dressing room is down, as always; new rumours have emerged that KUFC will stop fielding a women's team next season. Someone from higher management's here today, keen to reassure us that it's not true, that Kingsbury values the women's game, bla bla bla. But it's not just that, really; compared to the palatial quarters of the men's dressing room, ours is relatively spartan. Shows you how much this country cares about the women's game, huh. It's less of hurt at the rumours and more of the lucid fear reappearing that our careers, unlike those of our male counterparts, are more fragile and may disappear at any moment. We may be professionals, and signed to professional terms, but we're paid a pittance — I can barely cover my monthly living expenses, while Harry Henderson on the men's team recently bought a third car.

---

II. barton

The game's basically slowed to a crawl now that the heavens have opened up; the pitch has basically turned into green and brown slop, and the ball's going everywhere. There's mud all over my shorts, it's the eighty-seventh minute; I glance over at the fourth official, and she's scribbled down "2" on a chalkboard — no fancy timing boards here please, we're women — which just makes me roll my eyes. Just — fucking — end — it — quickly.

I sprint — or what can be called a sprint in these conditions, you get the bloody idea — to a position left open by the Wentworth midfield, and shout for the ball; it comes rolling my way, and I have to use all my willpower to predict its bounce and not let it run out of bounds. I find a black-shirted Wentworth midfielder running for the ball, too, and pick up the pace; immediately I shield the ball from her and use the mud to my advantage, sinking a leg deeper into it and holding my ground, while using my other leg to kick the ball away. A rash challenge from her comes, but I keep my balance — just — and chase after the ball again, knocking it on and into the path of a winger making a run. She crosses it in, and with a heavy thunk, the ball's sank into the goal by our striker. Polite applause from the stands. We cheer.

The cheers are louder than the applause.

The score's now six-nil.

We end up kicking the ball around for three minutes after dispossessing Wentworth for what seems like the twentieth time this half, just praying that the match ends; and, quite honestly, it seems Wentworth just want the same. The entire team doesn't really celebrate the win — we're twenty-five games into a twenty-six game season, and we've dropped points just once, in a nil-nil draw to Couno Rangers — and troop off into the dressing room. One man, however, seems to want to get my attention; and I oblige. I think he's a fan; but it turns out he's someone else altogether.

"Greetings," he says, a warm and comfortable voice behind it. "My name's Toby Barton, and I'm the manager of the Under-18 Tumbran football team."

"We haven't got an under-18 Tumbran football team," I point out, somewhat irritatedly. "Much less one for women." Is he here just to rile me up or what?

"Of course we haven't. I'm going to be its first manager."

"Still doesn't explain why you're looking for me. Matter of fact, you're looking at games of the wrong sex. The men's stadium," I point at the white monolith that is Fletcher Park, "is that way."

Barton remains unfazed, and smiles warmly. "I do believe I was watching the correct game, Ms. Harrison, and as a matter of fact I do know that I was watching the correct player. I've been watching your games for a while, now, and I had to come in person myself to make my offer; I'd like you to be on my team."

"Uh, I'm a girl."

"I know that," he says. "I did not mishear you. But you did not mishear me, either. I am calling up a team of both male and female players to represent Tumbra at the Under-18 World Cup in Zeta Reka and Hugeltaldom. And, once again, I would like to offer you a spot on my team."

I frown. He can't be serious.

"I am serious." He withdraws his Tumbran Football Federation identification card and shows it to me. I pluck it from his fingers and inspect it myself. It's genuine, all right. He's got my attention. "I am absolutely serious about this.."

"How long will you be here?"

"As long as needed."

"Give me some time. Then we'll talk."

"Certainly."

---

III. keating

Two letters arrive the next morning; the first one's from Walter, explaining how things are going on the Harrison estate. They've been searching for me, but to no avail, and they haven't been too high-key about it, either, lest the tabloids start squawking. He explains that they're giving up for now, and that he's accepted that I won't be coming back for now; but his focus has now shifted to waiting for me to come back. He doesn't say it outright in his letter — bless him — but I'm pretty sure Dad wants me to come back and grovel for forgiveness.

I feel something in my heart stir as I read Walter's intricate, flowy handwriting; he obviously is very worried for me, but ends off his message with full faith that I will make it outside the Harrison household. I'm never going back if I can help it. He's my one last connection to my old, ordinary life; though to the masses it would be extraordinarily extra-ordinary. But it's one I'm willing to give up. Is it anger at Dad for expecting me to go back? Is it the familial, selfless love that Walter's been showing? I don't know.

The second letter's just the confirmation that I'll be on the plane to Zeta Reka. It's almost surreal that I'm holding it, but Barton's reasons for wanting me on the plane were legitimate; he sees me as the keystone of the team, and my sex comes second; but a very important second it will be. If all goes well, then we'll be able to start some conversations we've been skirting around for a long time. If not, well...

I thought Paul'd be pleased with how my career's going; but he seemed more upset with the development, if anything. I told him during one of the many nights that we go walking along the dockside, and he just...got quite angry. Questioned why I wanted to deviate from this ordinary life I was leading — if only he knew — and why I even wanted to do this in the first place.

Since that night, however, the smile's disappeared from his face. Marnie's asked me, gently, whether anything went on between the two of us; not wanting to hurt her feelings, I just say we've had a disagreement. Which is true. It's not entirely true — he got angry on his own, and I'm not sure why he's disagreeing with me wanting to further my own career — but it's true enough.

Like the rest of my life, I guess.

---

IV. jones

It's the night before I leave for Straton, and the block's congregated in Mrs. Jones' apartment to celebrate my achievement of me being actually picked for a tournament. There's a cake, there's food, and overall everyone's just wishing me a good life and to not forget them when I'm famous.

I'll never forget them. Not Mrs. Jones, who took me in; not Fraser, who grumpily, but always ferried me to training and matches; not Elaine, whose inquisitive nature brightened up many an evening of mine, nor the rest of the neighbours, who took pity on a girl who really shouldn't be pitied, and basically made her one of their own. And here they all are, celebrating one of their own making me out.

Despite me being the furthest thing from being one of them.

I feel like telling them the truth, telling them who I really am, and it pains me that I won't ever be able to tell them the truth.

Ever.

And as my eyes scan the room, there's the lone figure of Paul, skulking in the corner; still looking displeased at the fact that I'm leaving. Before the party dies down I realise that he's disappeared, and I know exactly where he's gone. Making a few half-hearted excuses — I need to get milk from the corner store that closes at nine, and it's eight forty-five — I push my way out of the door, leaving everyone behind. But I need to do this. I need closure from him, find out exactly why he's been behaving this way, and what the fuck he wants by acting this way at my going-away party.

---

V. carter

The cold air of the sea hits me, again, though I'm more than used to the smell by now; and I can see his silhouette in the distance. I take big, large steps towards him; nearly running at this point, but I slow myself when I know he can see what I'm doing. To my...horror...he's got a cigarette in his mouth, which he lights as I slowly walk towards him. He remains silent, staring out into Kingsbury Bay, attentions seemingly fixated on the little flashing dots in the distance. But I know he wants me to start the conversation. And because I'm impatient as hell and I actually remembered in the last thirty seconds that I do need something from the corner store, I oblige his silly little wish.

"Never knew you'd started smoking, Paul Carter."

"Eh, you pick it up at school."

"What would Marnie say?"

"What she doesn't know won't hurt her."

"I could tell her about this, right now, and —"

"You won't."

"Whatever. So why'd you come here, anyway?"

"To smoke." The two-word answer's curt, terse, whatever. His pause lingers. "Didn't expect you to show up, though."

"As if."

"You decided to come hunting for me."

"You were generally being a shithead at my going-away party. And you disappeared. And you came to our usual spot. You want to talk."

"I just wanted to remind myself of how things were before you got your head got turned."

"So it's about this again. What's your guff with it? It's not like it harms you."

"Listen, we've all been allocated our lot in life. Our lot's been to live an ordinary life. So why not just...go with it? Plus, you could stay with us. Things could go back to how they were before."

"Because it's my fucking career, and I've got to make it no matter what. Thought you'd understand. Evidently not." I turn away, preparing to walk back — I can still make it to the corner store, if I sprint; and I'm wearing my running shoes —

"I don't want to lose you," comes the shout as I begin walking away. It intrigues me enough that I stop where I am and turn around. Probably exactly what he wanted.

"God." He spits out his cigarette, stamps on it and walks towards me, slowly, forcing me to wait for him. "Y'know, Trudy...I don't know how to explain it. The day you came into my life I knew you were somebody special."

Oh no.

"All this talk of you leaving...got me worried. That I'd lose you. That you'd move, and I'd never be able to tell you how I feel."

I stare at him, wordlessly. He takes it as a cue to continue.

"Truth is, I've seen you as more than a friend for quite a long while. Been wanting to tell you, but never got the opportunity. So that's it."

"That's it?"

"I mean, yeah." He smiles at me again, a complete difference from the aloof image he was showing a few minutes ago. Yeah. Like that's real. He's good-looking. That's about it for the list of redeeming characteristics he's got.

"I don't know what to say," I say, making his ears perk up. My next words have to be chosen very, very carefully. I dance around in my mind, for a bit, thinking of the correct words to say — but then I remember that he doesn't deserve anything. The way he's treated me over the past few weeks? Yeah. Fuck that. He's being let down as brutally as possible.

"But, eh, I don't see you in that way." I turn, and begin to walk away.

He doesn't follow.

---

VI. Nine

Fraser gives me one last ride in his tow truck, but this time it's to Kingsbury Station. I spy a tear in the corner of his eye as he waves goodbye to me like it's the last time I'll ever see him, but then I remind him that there's a good chance I'll be back. I don't comment on the tear. He just smiles — warmly — and tells me to give everything the best I've got.

It's early in the morning, meaning I haven't had time to say goodbye to anyone else; not to Mrs. Jones, not to Elaine, not to Marnie. Deep down, I feel a pang of regret at not thanking her for all she's done for me. Maybe one day I'll return.

The train ride's long, and it's very, very cold even when in the stations where I'm transferring around from train to train; but I'm in Straton in less than four hours. It's not a city that's alien to me; after all, it was basically my second home before I decided to run away. The sense of familiarity gnaws away at me, again; I shouldn't know this, but I do, because of who I am.

In a way, I'll never be able to fully separate myself from the Trudy I was before and the Trudy I am now, will I?

Either way, I soon find myself at the headquarters of the football federation; and soon, we find out who exactly we're going to be spending the next month with. Nine girls. Fourteen boys. It's awkward, of course; many of the boys aren't sure how to deal with the fact that there are now girls here and the girls are all very unfamiliar with everything that's going on.

The first night in the hotel us girls, at my invitation, all gather in my room and we all introduce ourselves to each other. Victoria. Annie. Wendy. Tracey. Susan. Valerie. Julie. Lynne. All of us are remarkably similar in that we were all handpicked by Toby; evidently he thought we were the best faces to represent the movement. But as we talk, we find out that we're so much more than that; we're all eager to prove ourselves, we're all looking to go fully professional, all full of hopes and dreams. All — well, mostly all, as I repeat the lie that by now's become second nature to me, as much as I hate it — of us come from humble backgrounds. All of us want to continue doing what we love.

As the weeks go by before our flight to northwestern Esportiva, we forge a sense of togetherness; but we're still quite split by gender. The boys generally ignore us unless they really need to talk to us, or interact with us. There are a few who do talk to us, but mostly they keep to themselves. I don't think they're used to having girls around. Either that or I suppose they think it's their game, after all. And it has been. For the past hundred years.

We're going to change that.

---

VI. kerr

We made it out of the group stages fine. But we're probably going to have to go home after our match against Tequilo. They're strong, fast, disciplined; we can't even beat the Equestrian States. But a win against Græntfjall put us where we are, and we've got a free day before we head off towards Platinastigrade, so Toby decided that we should just soak in the scenery. At least if we head home we'll have made some good memories.

But as I sit, scrolling through my phone and considering what I should do if things don't work out and I actually have to leave football — Kingsbury dissolving the women's team is now official, and I've got nowhere to go —, I notice one of the boys just standing in the middle of the town square, looking around. I know him. He's been one of the few boys who hasn't completely pooh-poohed our existence, and has actually been pretty nice to us. The boys elected him captain, which means we've had to talk on certain occasions; but otherwise we've kept our distance.

I sip on the iced coffee at my table, and sneak glances at him; Business Degree at Kingsbury Botany University. Fuck, he's looking at me. Marketing Degree at Lakewood University. I don't have any of the qualifications required to apply for this degree. Gain A Interdisciplinary Education in Clyde University. Fuck, he's walking here. What the fuck does he want?

The door opens with the bell on it jingling to represent someone's arrival. Annoyed, I try to ignore him as he orders food — a waffle with an iced chocolate — but he then decides to sit next to me.

"Beautiful day, isn't i—"

defender meets midfielder will return

Tumbra vs Kohnhead - WCQ90 Playoffs, Leg 2
Goalkeepers: 1 - John Lennon [Lakewood City], 12 - Nick Barker [FC Inter Nantwich], 13 - Frank Johnson [Abingdon Celtic, TLI]
Defenders: 2 - Ryan Hughes [Lakewood City], 3 - Nigel Harris [Lakewood United], 4 - Harry Henderson [Aleiuisia Capital, ZRH], 5 - Ian Ashburn [Lakewood City], 14 - Stephen Kerr [Chromatik, CMT], 18 - Michael Campbell [Straton FC], 26 - Raymond Perry [Serrapince FC], 27 - Mike Sheppard [Kingston FC, QUE]
Midfielders: 6 - Vincent Hicks [FK Metropola Borograd, STL], 8 - Craig McGrath [Serrapince FC], 10 - Phil Cole [Osarese Marcadia], 15 - Trudy Harrison [Chromatik, CMT], 16 - Alan Morgan [Lakewood City], 23 - Andrew Fisher [FC Inter Nantwich]
Wingers: 7 - George Hilton [Serrapince FC], 9 - Robin Vaughn [Lakewood City], 17 - Neil Fraser [Lakewood City], 21 - Lynne Crossley [Strathcona Internationals, KSK]
Strikers: 11 - Nick Riordan [Serrapince FC], 22 - Nigel Erskine [Anomalies, CMT]

[Nyowani Kitara]

Note: This government owned media source is the most biased media sources in the entire country, so read this media source, especially the other news section, with a critical eye. Foreign media observers would call it a KPWC propaganda outlet, a charge that they would most certainly deny. They routinely charge the Free Press with straight up fabrications, something the newspaper rigorously denies. With recent legalization of opposition outlets within the country, its reach will inevitably decline, but in response it is doubling down on its loyalty to the President, and particularly, the party. Obviously, everything is strictly IC.

The Kitara People's Free Press
The voice for the working people of Nyowani Kitara

SPORTS- Nyowani Kitara defense collapses late in 2-2 home draw with Ethane in the first leg of the World Cup 90 Qualification playoffs


Kitarans(wearing white) react to Ethane's equalizing goal deep into stoppage time

DEWAYO, NYOWANI KITARA- The atmosphere for a match like this was always going to be stunning. The first true home game of World Cup Qualifying, coming in the form of the playoffs? After World Cup 89 Qualifying rotated between fans being present, and fans not present, because of the civil war, and this cycle our home games played abroad, in Tikariot, this was the first World Cup Qualifier of a new era. Where peace for our time was finally achieved, under the reign of our glorious President. But the noise levels. The energy level. A sold out Dewayo National Stadium was the anticipation. And the President herself, of course, was attending in one of the box suites. A chance for this country, finally united peacefully, with a chance to qualify for the World Cup Finals for the very first time.

How far this country has come in such short time, right? Four cycles overall- and just our second World Cup Qualifying cycle. The first time we saw the national team compete on the world stage, Tage Hermansson was simply a player-coach. We couldn't even hire a real coach. We struggled through our first three Copa Rushmoris. Copa Rushmori 37 was our first major chance to make a big splash, but a 6-1 opening day loss to Sargossa basically doomed our campaign, as goals allowed as the tiebreakers ahead of goals for, or head to head wins(both of which favored us over Mavinet, the team who advanced ahead of us). A long memory, yes? Of course. But a solid performance in World Cup Qualifying 89, despite everything going on. Winning our group at the last Cup of Harmony. Beating Pasarga at the most recent Copa Rushmori. Slowly and surely, improving at every step.

The question remains- can we get to the World Cup? And we've got to beat Ethane, over two legs, to make it happen. "Look, we've taken on giants and beaten them throughout this World Cup Qualifying cycle." Liang Wei said. "It's not easy to make a World Cup, and we'll come out with confidence against Ethane." And he is right, in a sense. We beat Pasarga at the Copa Rushmori. We've notched a total of 4 wins against Sargossa, Eura, and Chromatika during World Cup Qualifying, with two of those on the road and two of those at home, in Tikariot. So this team does not play with fear against the big boys. This team has never been afraid to take the game at their opponents, and they figured to do the same against Ethane, especially being egged on by this home crowd.

Nafuna Akongo herself was the national anthem singer, as the President sang while the crowd bellowed it. Unity in Dewayo. Liang Wei wearing a wristband with the image of our Yue comrade, Ren Qiang. The Kitarans standing there, united, with the Red Kites also standing there, listening to the noise of the home crowd. Now, looking at the way the two teams operate, there was going to be a lot of pressure heaved on the match. Ethane is known for their defensiveness stoutness, as they like to defend and possess the ball deep in their own territory. We, of course, consistently try to break teams down and love to blitz forward in numbers, especially in transition. So everybody expected a lot of Ethane possession in the midfield, as we tried to take the ball off of them and press.

Early on, it was clear that Ethane would be content with an away draw. They were possessing the ball deep, passing it around, making our players run. Fortunately, in just the 7th minute, we were able to turn defense into offense in a flash. One of our better transition moves of the entire campaign. A Salem Lagum interception saw what looked like most of the team flying forward. He played it to Nicholas Ekdahl down the right wing, and our squad had numbers. He whipped in a cross and it would be Armoni Okombo, our captain, who was unmarked on the back post. Okombo took it on the half-volley and smashed the ball into the back of the net, sending the stadium into raptures with an early 1-0 lead.

With the early goal, the teams settled in for what would be a long affair. Ethane possessed the ball for huge periods of time(finishing the game with 62% possession!) but their creativity in the final third was poor. But they were good enough to stifle our attack, ensuring that we could not break forward in transition, or even in periods of possession, making themselves almost impossible to break down. A neutral would say the rest of the first half was quite boring, but we went into the break still up 1-0. We were battling, as Ethane slowly started to try and get further forward to equalize. Even a 1-0 road loss is not the end of the world, especially with the away goals rule no longer in effect. So they wouldn't try to overstretch themselves.

But in the 72nd minute, as we were trying to counter, Olaf Svante dribbled into a pair of Ethanian defenders. Despite nearly being guaranteed to give up the ball, he was able to earn a foul, giving our team a free kick in a dangerous position. Svante had a chance to bend a wicked cross into the box, and he did just that, whipping a perfect cross into the box. Catarina Malmquist was perfectly positioned, and she head the ball past the goalkeeper for our second goal of the game. The stadium came to life. And the hopes were there. Could Nyowani Kitara really hold a clean sheet? Could they really launch a legendary home win against a team ranked as highly as Ethane?

A 1-0 game would not have been the end of the world, but going two goals down? Would put the Red Kites in a serious hole. They were forced to basically throw all caution to the wind and try to get forward, to at least help them chase at home. The Kitarans mostly held until the 86th minute, when Malmquist, who had scored just 15 minutes earlier, brought down Oliver Reid, from a perfect position to launch a free kick. Muhammad Palmer bent in a brilliant free kick, to cut our lead in half, and the stage for a final frantic few minutes. They were pushing, we were defending. But, of course, our defense has always been our biggest weakness. It is not necessarily the position we are most comfortable in. And the moment happened. Palmer, Ethane's goalscorer, whipping in a cross. Everybody frantically there, but poor form on an attempted clearance by Tendenka Mutsekwa puts the ball into his own net. Painful. Terrible. 2 goals to 2. Full time.

A 2-2 home draw, in isolation, against a team as good as Ethane is actually quite a very high-quality result. But the way it went down? Foul, free kick, own goal? A bitter pill to swallow for Nyowani Kitara. "Look- credit has to be given to Ethane- they fought furiously, even in this tremendous environment, and earned the draw. Tendenka Mutsekwa was unlucky- simple as that. I'll back him as my center back any day of the week." Liang Wei, of course, was not about to put his starting centerback on blast before the 2nd leg- he'd knew that he'd need Mutsekwa to have his confidence. But there is no getting around it, that was a painful way to have a draw. But Okombo, the captain, tried to put things in perspective for the fanbase after the match.

"Look, a 2-2 draw at home against a team like Ethane is a strong result." He said. "The away goals rule is no more- so this is a result we can work with. What is most important is that we are not in a position where we have to go and chase the game at King Edward IV, which would play right into their hands. Everything's level, it will be win and you're in- to the World Cup Finals. We're not scared. We're going to play our regular gameplan. We obviously had a lot of good things happen in this match, we're going to have to clean up a couple of things in the back. But this team is solid, I love the position we are in, and, most importantly- we get Angonga back for their second leg." Team doctors, who did not clear Angonga for the first leg, have cleared him for the second leg, where Nyowani Kitara will be missing their leading goalscorer.

---

Nafuna Akongo, at Parliament House, in Dewayo, Nyowani Kitara

In a little less than a year's time, Nyowani Kitara would have a democratically elected President. It would potentially be Nafuna Akongo- but it could potentially be somebody else. She knew this plenty well, and she was well aware of what her fate could be in that time period. She knew, in her heart of hearts, that this was surely better than a civil war. Even if she lost, she was young. She had a whole life ahead of her. She could go to University, at home or abroad. She could take a break from politics, travel, and then come back and get back into politics.

But she had no intention of losing. And she had no intention of losing the referendum, although she knew that, ultimately, both votes were out of her control. There were a few reasons why she had wanted to have the referendum ahead of a general election, and Max Ulf had a few reasons of his own. What were her reasons? Well, the first was she simply wanted practice campaigning. She firmly planned to campaign on behalf of the no side, to keep Nyowani Kitara. She could have a dry run of what a campaign looks like. And second, and most importantly, it would maximize her own time as President of the Democratic Republic. In reality, she knew one thing to be true- campaign season started for her the moment she signed that treaty in Tikariot.

She'd have the long lead-in to try and impress Kitaran voters. It was truly difficult to try and gauge her chances. How could you not have an opinion on the victor of your country's civil war? But she was gonna try. Everything she was going to do, between now and election day, was in favor of a campaign that would help the KPWC, and ultimately, keep herself in power. That's why she was out there, the day before, singing the national anthem in front of the roaring crowd. Conflating sport with politics? She certainly was not above that. But attaching herself to what was popular, was something that she felt she needed to do.

But the election was not the only thing on her mind. She had to deal with both the present, as in, her immediate security, as well the long-term future, as in, what if she lost? How did she secure herself in the present? In the immediacy, she made a move on the KPWC Central Military Commission. The momentum of having a peace agreement probably sealed her safety, especially with Euran and Nepharan troops in this part of the country. Still- could never be too safe. Adm. Oscar Karlsson, General Hazael Ooko, and General Jehoram Oyange were all kicked off the Central Military Commission, and spread across the country. All communications? Tightly monitored. Karlsson sent to oversee KFF de-commissioning in the south. Men would be hostile to him- which was the point. Can't focus on politics in Dewayo if you've got all you can handle in Inhalo. KFF soldiers who probably hate him and UR troops? Not ideal.

Ooko? Was actually sent abroad. Given an honorable discharge, and declared Nyowani Kitara's new Ambassador to Mytanija. Mytanija was close enough for the President to keep an eye on him, but far enough away where he wasn't a threat. Especially in a country that had declared their support for Nafuna Akongo. She didn't dare appoint him an Ambassador to Nephara or Eura- the two countries who actually had the cache in Dewayo to support an attempt to coup her early, if they wanted to. It was unlikely, but she was her father's daughter- gotta have some paranoia baked in there. As for Oyange? His was the most complicated to deal with. She forced him to retire. Offered him a retirement pension to retire in Sanford. Convinced him to take the package(he couldn't say no!)

Oyange wasn't just living it up in retirement though. Nafuna Akongo was watching him. Eyes and ears on the ground. Tracking his phone. Etc... Something, of course, that she could no longer do to people in the opposition. But enemies within the party? Well, nobody was advocating for these Generals. But she looked out for her own future too. She knew she might lose the election. And depending on who won... Who knows what could happen to her? Public inquires? Prosecutions for crimes by her Army? She falls on the sword of her father's and great uncle's sins? Even dictators in poor countries are loaded. She started, quietly, transferring some cash assets from her Father's will to an undisclosed bank account in Sanford. She was actually very wealthy- both her Father and great Uncle were not considered frugal people. Some cash by sale of assets to the state- particularly, the "Zelotes Akongo Garden", which somehow went unscathed during the entire war.

She slowly started moving cash to PREMIER Bank, in the form of a trust. She remembered the call as well as anybody. The account manager hadn't asked many questions. There was the one she remembered. "Did you obtain the money through corrupt, fraudulent, or illicit activities?" She simply laughed. "Not illegal in this country." She responded. That was enough for the account manager. If anyone was watching, they would've seen $5 million deposited into a trust at that Sanford bank. Taking advantage of Sanford's laws. She never knew what could happen once she was out of power. Assets seized? She knew she did not want to live out her days like Gustav Isaksson would. Just in case she ever had to.. She had enough money to slip away into Sanford, and support her lifestyle. Nafuna Akongo, ready for anything.

As she thought about all this, the Parliamentary session was declared. The All-Kitara Workers Council was, still, a body that effectively rubber-stamped legislation. Challenging nothing. A propoganda theatre, really. Still a place for the President to perform theatrics.

The Speaker gaveled the chamber into session. "We stand here, ready to debate and endorse the Varakoula Peace Accords!"

"Mr. Speaker, point of order!" Yelled one legislator. The Speaker granted it. "Mr. Speaker, I invite the General-Secretary of the KPWC, the victor and unifier of Nyowani Kitara, the Leader of the Revolution, and the woman who has defeated both Malik Akongo and Max Ulf, and most importantly, the President of the Democratic Republic, Nafuna Akongo, to speak!"

"So ordered!" The Speaker yelled. The legislators got up in rapturous applause- just as they had practiced.

She strode up. "Comrades!" She said. "The people of this Democratic Republic are entering a new era! One, forged by the blood and sacrifice of our brothers-in-arms." She held up her hands, as the applause went on. "My brother- has been defeated and disgraced, no longer able to call this nation home. That is why I signed the Peace Accords in Varakoula- it gives our nation a path to a sovereign future. There are things we do not like, yes. Some people may fear. But have faith. We will win the day, and together, the future."

"There will be a referendum in the North." There were a couple of boos. "But fear not- we will win this referendum!" Nafuna Akongo said. "I have faith that the people of Nyowani Kitara want to be remain unified." She spoke with more conviction than she actually had- a country that hasn't had any kind of vote in 35 years was impossible to poll. It was probably likely that the DFLK won their country. But she wasn't going to say that. "We will win that vote. And then, in the General election, we will win a majority in the newly constituted Assembly. The Revolution is not dead- it is being refreshed. It is being reborn! Socialism shall live on forever here in Nyowani Kitara!"

And as all votes tended to go in the All-Kitara Workers Council, the accords passed unanimously. She smiled. It was official. The War was over. The country was moving on. And she- she was determined to be the woman who would lead Nyowani Kitara into a new era.

Varakoula Peace Accords- Full Text

[HUElavia]

TJUN-ia 3-2 HUElavia
(Ulawaya 24', Andrews 68', Carter 90'| Sol 44', Torrisi 49')
(National Stadium, TJUN-ia City, TJUN-ia)

Final Result: 
9-1-4, 36 GF, 26 GA, +10 GD, 28 Points, 3rd Place

A Chef's Voyage

Gorging in Goang

"Hi, my name's Antoine Brousseau. For several years, I've been a chef for many years, working in various restaurants throughout HUElavia. The sights and smells of cuisine have been a part of my life since I was very young. But now, it's time for a new change in my life. It's time to travel throughout the country and sample the various dishes this country has to offer. I don't know what's ahead for me, but I got the appetite to find out. This is A Chef's Voyage."

Towards the eastern state of Alcantia, lies a fairly new and sprawling city by the name of Goang. A city with a population of 6 million inhabitants makes it the 24th largest city in HUElavia, but is expected to grow massively in the coming years. Goang was founded over 30 years ago when immigrants from East Jeong left their country that was going through a war with West Jeong, where they looked for a country they can call home. Fortunately, they found it in HUElavia, and began making cities along the coast with some inland. Now, Goang is the cultural capital of the Jeong people in HUElavia, having set up buildings with the Korean language, filled with neon and bright signage for people to enjoy.

My first stop in this bright city would be to Midnight, a popular chain of Jeong BBQ restaurants created by immigrant Duck-Young Cho. Of course, there is only one great dish I'm here to enjoy: Bulgogi. It is a gui made of thin, marinated slices of beef or pork grilled on a barbecue or on a stove-top griddle. Now, it's time to dig in. *Takes bite* Mmmmm, delicious! It's very rich in taste, has a savory profile with some hints of saltiness in it. Might as well try a mix here with the sauce... *Mixes and takes bite* Mmmmm, this one is sweet! Has a nice sweet and savory mix to it which really is nice. Given that HUElavians are very passionate about their food and their BBQ, the Jeong people really have stepped up their game with this great dish.

I spend the day admiring the sights and sounds of the city. People go walking by, some busy with work, some enjoying some shopping in the area and some just vibing to the scene. I notice a small concert in a local large park, where a Jeong-HUElavia Boy Band is playing a concert, while thousands of fans are enjoying the show. I visit a museum in the area that displayed Jeong culture, especially the paintings and calligraphy of the Jeong. A pleasing experience to see how the arts are enjoyed by the Jeong and Jeong-HUElavians.

I end up visiting a local restaurant in the city called Krazy Kimbap, where they sell, as the name implies, Kimbap. While it is similar to Sushi, Kimbap tends to be more filled with items, making it more balanced and with more heft. I order a nice plate of Beef Kimbap, and it's time to eat. *Takes bite* Mmmmm, great serving here! The rice has a sweeter taste to it, as well as some nice seasoning. The beef tastes savory with some saltiness to it. The vegetables in it taste very fresh and great, really makes a phenomenal combination with each bite. A solid food to have if you're looking for something unique from Aesia.

After having some bits of Kimbap and strolling around the city, I stop by one last restaurant for dinner, Cho's. Here, I look forward to having one last dish for dinner: Andong-jjimdak. A boiled dish made with made with chicken, various vegetables marinated in a ganjang (Korean soy sauce) based sauce. *Takes Bite* Mmmmm, very delicious, has a nice savory and sweet taste to it! The vegetables taste very fresh, the broth is very nice, having that sweet and savory taste due to the soy sauce. There is a spicy kick in it as well, coming from the dried chili peppers. Very fulfilling meal to have, especially after a long day going around your business.

Goang is truly a great and growing city. People seem to love it here and from what it seems, it looks like the Jeong people have made this feel like home, like in Aesia. This booming city can only go up from here, and I'm certain they're bound to make a name for themselves in HUElavia in the future, whether it be in Sports, Business, or in Entertainment. All in all, these people are hard-working and innovative people who seek to make the most of their situation, and it seems the HUElavians have welcomed them with open arms to further enrich the HUElavian Culture.

Join me next time as I travel back home to my hometown, Lourdes, the cultural capital of the Francs and the French Language in HUElavia. Expect a very sentimentalized visit to my childhood places where I learned how to be a chef. See you next time.

[Mytanija]

MYTANIJA SQUAD FOR PLAY-OFF SECOND LEG AGAINST TROLLEBORG (H)
Goalkeepers: 1. Semir Besak (Mipojoseon [QUE]); 12. Pedja Kasun (Ararat Severyan); 23. Dragisa Lazarevic (Litala ’93)
Defenders: 13. Ermin Urankar (Anomalies [CMT]); 3. Grigorij Savicevic (AC Izotz Zubia [AUD]), 4. Bigger Mbala-Ekakia (Wirr Tsi [CMT]), 5. Amar Kovacevic (Ituraitz FC [ASG]); 6. Patrik Odonelec (CA Paulinthal [PAS]); 2. Damir Milcic (Anomalies [CMT]); 26. Mahir Kapetanovic (Liria Prizren), 15. Kamil Jernejec (Chromatik [CMT]), 16. Adnan Sulejmanovic (Atletik Thessia); 27. Slobodan Vujovic (Royal Rumiatzi [ASG])
Midfielders: 7. Mersudin Smajic (Stahlburg City [NPH]), 18. Dordo Urbanc (Spartangrad [EUR]); 10. Jasno Odonelec (Atletik Thessia); 8. Alen Hrdaljko (CA Paulinthal [PAS]), 30. Gavril Atsev (Atletik Thessia); 20. Omer Kuhar-Arh (Atletik Thessia) ; 19. Dusko Ocokoljic (St. Thomas [TLI]), 28. Zijad Kurtcehajic (Crossroads [CMT])
Forwards: 9. Jezdimir Ocokoljic (Energija Chernovets [STL]), 11. Damien Gannot (Sabrefell Athletic [NPH]); 32. Zlatan Andrijasevic (Z’ai’ai [CMT]), 40. Fran Prpic-Bosanac (Workers Union [EUR])

TROLLS FORCED INTO THE LIGHT
FIRST-HALF FLURRY GIVES HOOPS STRONG CHANCE OF QUALIFYING; LATE CONCESSION KEEPS TROLLEBORG HOPES ALIVE

by Nevenka Planinc

TROLLEBORG 1-3 MYTANIJA
TRB: Skrta 90+1’
MYT: J. Ocokoljic 8’, P. Odonelec 13’, Urbanc 18’

TRB: 1. Krogh; 2. Loonstrup, 3. Lejder, 4. Du Riis (c), 5. Wolters; 7. Windass (sub. Groningen 72’), 6. Skrta, 8. Troll, 11. Gronholm (sub. Kroonquist 55’); 9. Kerr, 10. Kranforde (sub. Berglund 72’)

MYT: 1. Besak; 3. Savicevic, 4. Mbala-Ekakia, 5. Kovacevic; 13. Urankar, 18. Urbanc (sub. D. Ocokoljic 81’), 7. Smajic (sub. Kurtcehajic 62’), 8. Hrdaljko (c), 6. P. Odonelec; 9. J. Ocokoljic, 11. Gannot (sub. Mehic 70’)

Lev Repin decided to go with a midfield full of energy for the first leg of the World Cup qualification play-off and it paid off rather handsomely. Mytanija’s desire to press was evident inside the first minute as Alen Hrdaljko – wearing the captain’s armband in the absence of Jasno Odonelec – hurried Morten Troll and forced the Trolleborg talisman to slice a pass intended for Stuart Kerr out for a throw-in inside his own half of the pitch. The away end roared its approval and the tone was set for the first twenty minutes of the match. Those first twenty minutes would go rather swimmingly for a Hoops side determined to get their noses in front in this tie.

Repin has usually gone for a 3-4-1-2 over the past few years but in recent times he has begun to select a true 3-5-2 formation with three central midfielders, particularly in the big games. This has usually meant Mersudin Smajic, one of Alen Hrdaljko or Dordo Urbanc and then a playmaker in the mould of Gavril Atsev, Edin Aganovic or Sefir Ajanovic. Here, away from home and in front of a partisan crowd, Repin went for something slightly different. Mersudin Smajic was still there, deftly controlling the game with his superb passing, positioning and anticipation. However, both Dordo Urbanc and Alen Hrdaljko were on the pitch and this was indicative of the style Repin wanted. He didn’t want technical perfection, he didn’t even particularly want creativity; he wanted hard work, desire and a match turned into a war of attrition in the centre of the pitch.

It was Mytanija’s three central midfielders versus Trolleborg’s two and the three constantly shut down the passing options available to Troll and Skrta. The number of times Mytanija won the ball back with Urbanc and Hrdaljko hunting the opposition as a pair demonstrated the approach Repin was trying for and it allowed Mytanija to unsettle the home side, winning the ball high up the pitch and far away from their own goal. Where the ball-playing ability of an Atsev might have created chances it was instead the high-pressing game which was the playmaker and it worked a treat with all three of Mytanija’s goals coming from the team winning the ball inside the Trolleborg half.

Hrdaljko led by example by picking the pocket of Kasper Windass out on Trolleborg’s left before immediately playing the ball inside to Dordo Urbanc. As soon as Hrdaljko had won the ball left wing-back Ermin Urankar had got on his bike, overlapping at speed down the left and Urbanc found his former Ararat team mate almost telepathically. The muscle memory of playing alongside each other at club level hadn’t quite faded away just yet. Urankar took one touch – an excellent one – to take the ball past another Kasper, this time Kasper Wolters, and with his second touch hit a driven cross across the face of the goal. Jezdimir Ocokoljic did what he does best, getting across his man and turning the ball into the net with his left boot. 1-0 Mytanija.

The second came in similar fashion, this time it was Urbanc winning the ball in the middle, robbing Brutil Skrta rather brutally before sweeping the ball out to Patrik Odonelec. Urbanc’s passing range has perhaps been a little underrated in Mytanija but he has demonstrated that it is a strong part of his game with the national team. Patrik Odonelec played a neat one-two with Damien Gannot on the edge of the Trolleborg penalty area, getting to the ball before Loonstrup and poking a scruffy shot under Jesper Krogh. The goalkeeper might have done a bit better but he was perhaps expecting a slightly better shot, the fact that it was so poor seemed to wrong foot the goalkeeper entirely. Mytanija had won the ball high up again though and in the space of five minutes had given themselves a two goal lead. Repin’s workmanlike formation seemed to be working.

If any further confirmation were needed the Hoops added a third five minutes after, a 3-0 lead constructed inside the opening twenty minutes. This time Urbanc got himself on the end of a chance to cap off a superb individual performance. Mersudin Smajic – not always known for his pressing ability in the middle of the pitch – strode from his deep-lying position to get in front of Morten Troll, intercepting an under hit pass out of defence. Smajic found Gannot who was forced wide by Lejder, Gannot managed to dink a ball to the back post where Ocokoljic managed to nod the ball back into the centre of the goal and Urbanc was on hand to volley home. It was an excellent counter-pressing goal with the movement and interplay after winning the ball back being inch perfect throughout and showing that the Hoops can play in a different way to their usually possession dominant style.

Afterwards Mytanija took the sting out of the game, slowing play down and refusing to be drawn into forcing passes into tight areas. Zijad Kurtcehajic came on for Mersudin Smajic just after the hour mark, an indication that Repin was happy with the score line and wanted to shore things up a little bit. Vido Mehic was introduced for Damien Gannot with twenty minutes left, adding fresh legs to renew the pressing effort at the top end of the pitch. Finally Dordo Urbanc was withdrawn with about ten minutes on the clock, able to receive a well-deserved standing ovation from the travelling support. Dusko Ocokoljic came on to fulfil a similar role for what remained of the match.

A Trolleborg attack late in the game resulted in a corner and whilst Mytanija dealt with the initial set-piece reasonably well they rather went to sleep as the ball came back and Brutil Skrta – who had otherwise endured a tough game – managed to turn home a deflected cross to give the home side an injury time consolation goal which perhaps keeps the tie alive. Mytanija will be confident heading into the second leg, but Lev Repin sounded a note of caution: “In the same way that we have managed to put this performance in away from home Trolleborg are more than capable of doing it to us back at Radnika. We can’t let our levels drop and we will go out to win the game. Treat it as a standalone fixture and worry about the aggregate score when the final whistle has been blown.”

Whilst the manager remains cautious Mytanar fans will be extremely hopeful that a second consecutive qualification to the World Cup appears to be on the cards. A two goal lead is promising and even more than that the performance from the team was exceptional, particularly in the first-half of the match. Some might wonder why they didn’t try to keep pushing the boot on the throat whilst they were on top but at international level it is never quite as easy as that. Tactically speaking it will be interesting to see whether Repin tries to mimic his approach here for the second leg or perhaps brings a more creative central midfielder to the 3-5-2 or even reverts to the 3-4-1-2 which is more in keeping with his tactical style down the years.

[Ochre Islands]

'A camel?'

'A camel! That extraordinary mammal!'

'With even toes and a friendly nose?'

'Being chased by a bicycle rode by a man who glows!'

'That'll be his high-vis pal.'

There was always one. In this case, that 'one' was Mr. Dave Ellie, who was back at Crazy Craig's Krytenian Takeaway and High Consulate after hearing about camels going down the street being chased by a man on a bike. Fortunately, Mr. Ellie had other collections to make from the shops along Bowlingswan Way that he'd 'forgotten' about on his way to his third breakfast of the morning back at the depot, where a third breakfast had been successfully negotiated by the unions shortly before the Ochres gained their independence.

'So who's the bloke on the bike?' Mr. Ellie asked Si and a clearly dejected Kev, who was at least sad about something other than his dropped brownie for a change. 'That'll be our Ben' Si said. 'Fastest cyclist this side of the timing line.' 'Eh? So who's on the other side of the timing line?' Mr. Ellie asked, confused.

'Everyone else, he's pretty slow to be honest' Kev said, still sad about the camel rhyme being disrupted by the bushy-eyebrowed man hanging out of the driver's window of a bin lorry.

'So then, are you two going to do anything about that camel, or will you just withdraw your accusation of me having hallucinations of camels and be on your way?'

They'd forgotten Geoff was still here, even after he had been the one to point out that the camel was there in the first place. Si and Kev looked at each other. 'Suppose he has a point, Kev' Si said, starting to wonder whether the Krytenians weren't actually all that bad, before quickly snapping out of the horrendous mind palace he'd found himself in. 'Yes. Shall we just head back to the car and think about our options?' 'That would make sense Si' Kev responded, so they headed back to the car. Kev set about putting stuff away in the back before returning to his seat in the front.

Si was about to turn the engine on when the pair of them heard a noise coming from the back seat. 'Kev mate, there's something in the back of the car.' Kev turned around, then looked back at Si. Si looked back at Kev, then the pair of them looked into the back of the car again.

'HELLO I'M A CAMEL'

Now that was a shock. Camels didn't usually introduce themselves as 'A CAMEL'. Especially when they were sitting in the back of one of Bellflower City Council's pool cars. 'Hello Mr. Camel. I'm Kev. Want a bit of brownie?'

[Hapilopper]

Capital Stadium, Hapilopper City
Following World Cup 90 Qualifying Playoff Leg 1: Hapilopper 1-1 South Newlandia
As soon as the final whistle blew to end the first leg of the playoff, Nathan Ellis stopped running and let himself fall to the turf at Capital Stadium. It had been one of the toughest games of his entire career, and Nathan had felt it throughout the match. It was one thing to play a team like Rhubarbton, where the Haps could take it easy and still score five goals. It was another thing to take on the South Newlandia Elephants, the 18th ranked side in the multiverse, and from the moment the whistle blew to start the match, until the final whistle to end it, South Newlandia showed exactly why they were 18th in the world, not letting up once and making the Haps earn every ball, every pass, every shot, and yes, every goal.

Nathan was feeling all of that pressure from the South Newlandia Elephants as he lay on the turf. Trainers rushed over to check on him, fearing that he had suffered some sort of health crisis, but Nathan let them know he was fine; he just needed to lay there, take in what had just happened, and catch his breath. After all, he felt like he had been at 110 percent the whole match.

After a few minutes, he sat up and looked around at the stadium and at some of the Team Hapilopper staff that were around him, including head coach Thom Perkins and assistant manager Myrone Rhule. Reaching for a large bottle of water, Nathan allowed himself to take in the situation. Fans were slowly filing out of Capital Stadium and into downtown Hapilopper City. There were messages on the video boards across the old stadium wishing the Haps luck as they traveled to Elephant Valley in South Newlandia for the second leg.

“You good, Ellis?” Thom asked.

“Yeah, fine. Jesus Christ, those guys are tough,” Nathan replied. “We’ve got to work on this this week. God damn, that’s one of the best teams I’ve ever played. They won’t give you nothin’.”

“Yeah,” Thom replied. “More motivation to work our asses off this week. Y’all did good tonight. Damn good.”

“Yeah, would have liked to led after this one though,” Nathan said, still catching his breath. “Holy shit, man. They’re gonna be tougher than ever when they get home.”

Slowly, but surely, Nathan got up to his feet, to the cheers of those remaining in the stadium. He waved to the fans and walked back to the tunnel, where there were still a large crowd of fans waiting to cheer Nathan for his performance – as physical and rough as ever. When he got to the tunnel, he stopped and waved at the fans at the tunnel.

“Man, y’all kick ass,” Nathan said to the fans. “We do it for you. This one’s for you. We’re gonna win it in South Newlandia for you guys. Sorry we couldn’t do it here tonight. They’re good.”

The fans cheered as Nathan went back under the tunnel and went into the locker room, where the rest of the team was already unwinding from the match. Nathan got back to his locker and sat down. Jerold Dickman, whose locker was next to Nathan’s, looked over at his teammate and smiled.

“Man, you’re a madman,” Jerold said. “How about you, me and Billy get a steak tomorrow? I owe you one.”

Nathan sat there for a bit, closed his eyes for a bit and then looked at Jerold.

“Not now, man,” Nathan said. “I appreciate you wanting to pay up, but let’s do this after we’re out. Either out of this, or out of a World Cup stage. Because when we get that steak, we’re getting whiskey. We’re getting good whiskey, and we’re getting a lot of whiskey. Because frankly I think we need to have a get-together once we’re done.”

“Yeah?” Jerold asked.

“Hell yeah,” Nathan replied emphatically. “Dickman, understand something. I feel like this is the best team I’ve ever played with. Ever. We’ve got to celebrate once we’re done. You buy the steak for me, sure. But I’m buying the whiskey. We’re gonna party when this is over, because no matter what? We’ve won!”

“What do you mean?” Jerold asked.

“What do I mean? We just took one of the 20 best football teams in the multiverse to the limit. I don’t think a lot of people expected us to do much this World Cup… matter of fact, hold that thought.”

Nathan got up, grabbed a chair and stood on it. As he had spoken to his teammate, something had just hit him and hit him hard, and he felt the whole team needed to hear it.

“Gentlemen… Ashley… I need to address all of you. Because I think there’s something that I need to say,” Nathan started. “I saw something tonight in South Newlandia that I didn’t see before, and to be perfectly honest with you, I think we can beat them. 18th in the world, I don’t give a crap. South Newlandia is a beatable football team. Just like Brenecia was seven years ago when we whooped their asses. It doesn’t matter that we’re 118th in the world… who gives a shit? The fact is, South Newlandia is just as beatable. They’re a football team. They’re not impenetrable. They’ve got their weaknesses.”

And as the players listened, Nathan explained what he felt their weaknesses were. After all, he felt like he knew one of those weaknesses.

“They’re old,” Nathan said. “They’re older than you. You’ve got exuberance. You’ve got enthusiasm. They’ve got experience, yes, but you can run around them and wear their asses out. You’ve got that energy. I don’t. I felt like I was gonna pass out after we were done. I’m an old fart, certainly a lot older than y’all are. You can do this.”

Members of Team Hapilopper nodded their heads. They knew that Nathan knew what he was talking about.

“And hear me out,” Nathan continued, very clearly getting into a rhythm. “I’m not going to say this to blow smoke up your ass. This team is the best team I have ever been a part of. There’s a reason I fight for each and every last one of y’all. Look at Dom Probst over there. I threatened to rip his head off if y’all didn’t get a chance to play this year. Not for me. If I don’t make it, I don’t make it. I’ve been dreaming about it forever, but I did it for you. I saw it last year. Even as we lost those first five matches last year. But none of you gave up. You took those five losses last years as learning experiences. A lot of times, with other teams I’ve played with, people would just give up. They’d take the money and run. Why the fuck do you think we failed to qualify five years ago?”

Nathan got off his chair and started walking around the locker room, staring at each and every one of the players on the squad.

“I don’t see that in any of you,” he continued. “I see a group of players with a will to win that just… holy shit. It gets to me every time I see y’all fight for it. Jesus H. Tap-Dancing Christ, Will Altenberry. I thought we were gonna see a fight when you took that ball away from Reid Gomez. I ran over there and you had a crazed look on your face. You weren’t going to let him score another one, were you?”

“Shit no,” Will shouted. “He ain’t scoring SHIT on me!”

“That’s what I like to hear,” Nathan said, smiling. “Jesus, man, that’s what the fuck I want to hear. I want to hear that fire in people. You’ve got it. There’s other teams I wouldn’t have seen that from. They would have been defeated before we even got started. They would have believed the hype. Oh, they’re too good. South Newlandia’s too good. We’ve just got too lucky. We’re too full of our own shit.”

The other players and coaches continued listening intently, many nodding their heads.

“But you know what we’re gonna do? You know what we have done? We did something different. Instead of going out there and getting beat with our tails between our legs, we went out there and told the world, FUCK YOU. WE’RE GONNA TAKE THIS ONE. WE’RE GONNA GO OUT THERE AND WE’RE GONNA SHOW THE WORLD THAT WE AIN’T DONE YET. WE’RE GONNA TAKE IT, AND WE’RE GOING INTO THAT GOD DAMN WORLD CUP, AND I’LL BE DAMNED IF WE’RE GONNA LET SOME ELEPHANT ROLL OVER US!”

Nathan’s volume was raising rapidly. It was clear that he was fired up like never before. It was clear he saw the goal within sight. The goal he had dreamt of since he was a little boy watching World Cup 60, watching the Holy Empire take down Eura in the final. And since he could feel it so close, it was getting to him. The emotions were getting to him, and that was as evident as it had ever been.

“LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING,” Nathan shouted, grabbing a chair and throwing it against a wall, nearly striking Dom Probst in the face. “WE’RE GONNA GO OUT THERE, WE’RE GONNA STEP ON THEIR FACE WITH A HOBNAIL BOOT¹ AND WE’RE GONNA BREAK THEIR NOSES! WE’RE GONNA CRUSH THEIR FACES! WE’RE GONNA TAKE THEIR ASSES DOWN AND GOD DAMN IT, WE’RE GONNA FUCKING QUALIFY!”

The rest of Team Hapilopper had no idea what the hell a hobnail boot was or why Nathan was starting to sound like some old-school college football announcer, but they got it. They got the enthusiasm, they got the fire. And they knew that they’d have to work harder than ever over the next few days if they’d have a hope in hell of taking down South Newlandia when they traveled to Elephant Valley.

And Dom Probst wasn’t even upset that Nathan had almost beheaded him with a chair. He understood that Nathan wasn’t angry, he was fired up. He was fired up for Team Hapilopper’s chances of taking down South Newlandia and qualifying for their first World Cup Proper. In fact, he had a smile on his face. But Nathan wasn’t done speaking yet. He was just about done, but he wasn’t done yet.

“Gang, this is our moment,” he said, much softer than he had been earlier. He actually sounded like he was about to cry. “This week is ours. In a few days, we’re going to South Newlandia, and we’re going to play in the most important game in our lives. The game we’ve dreamt of. The game we imagined we’d be in when we played on the school yard. The game we pretended we were in when we were in the back yard or on our neighborhood street. There’s a lot of kids out there in this country that are dreaming that same dream that we did. There’s a lot of people out there counting on us. Gang, our finest moment is ahead of us. We’ve got to make the most of it. And I think we can.”

And that was it. Nathan sat back down at his locker and contemplated the match. For the rest of the squad, Nathan’s speech had resonated with them. The fire, the intensity, the passion, lingered on, and it stuck with the team as they started training for the second leg the next morning. Nathan was out there with them, getting going at eight the next morning. There was a little more intensity. A little more power. A little more physicality.

A spot in the most glorious tournament in all of sports counted on it.

---

OOC NOTES:
1 - "Hobnail Boot" is shamelessly lifted from a heat-of-the-moment call from Georgia Bulldogs radio announcer Larry Munson, circa 2001. No, I don't know what a hobnail boot is. I always liked that call, even if I'm not a Georgia fan.

[Milchama]

From 1000 AM the HaLohamim National Sports Radio:

"Trois going forward passes it to Waver, Waver waving through the midfield gives it over to Schneider on the wing. Schneider running forward past the defender, is on the wing open for a cross. She hits it to Floren. WHO SCORES! 1-0 Milchama!"

"What a great start in the 6th minute. The Warriors take an early lead. Just a classic counter attacking move all started by Trois who has played excellently this World Cup. He's able to shrug off Rodney and from there it's all to the races"

"Great play all around, especially by Floren, just good stuff"

...

"And that's a hard foul on ben Johansson. He'll get the free kick on the left side of the box about 30 yards out"

"This is a great place for an attacking free kick. Milchama has been fantastic on headers so far this tournament. Of course with all of Drawkland's players being around 7 ft tall it does negate a lot of height advantage that the Warriors have enjoyed"

"Absolutely but this is a running and quick team, not a brute strength team so expect some fireworks"

"And the freekick is taken quickly. On the ground, over to Johnson who shoots AND SCORES!!!!!!!!!! 2-1 MILCHAMA!!!!!!!!!!!! ELOISE JOHNSON FROM 18 YARDS OUT AND THE WARRIORS LEAD AGAIN!"

"What a beautiful play. The Elite Eleven were completely confused by the short, fast free kick, left Johnson open and she's scored so many beauties from that range for Chaialim. Wonderful work on the training ground and perfect execution"

...

"The Warriors struggling here with the physicality of Drawkland, another lost 50/50 ball, and another bad play by Waver but the ball is picked out by Witson who passes a hero ball for Floren, WHO GETS ON THE END OF IT, HE'S ONSIDE, IT'S ONE ON ONE WITH THE KEEPER AND IT'S THROUGH THE LEGS! TIE GAME! 3-3."

"What a play by Ittai Witson, just an incredible long pass and Marc J. Floren on the end of it as usual"

"You mean Marc K. Floren"

"No look at that guy, that's Marc J. Floren"

"How did he get on the field? He's not even on the roster. Did Milchama make a sub?"

"Doesn't look like it, and now he looks like he's away. The only possibility is that Marc J. Floren temporarily took over someone's body, shape shifted, scored a goal when Milchama most needed it, and then went away"

"Yes there are no other logical possibilities"

"Also, he's never done that before so that's perfect for us from a RP perspective"

"I don't know what that means but it's a tie game now at 3-3 in the 68th minute so it's 22 minutes to settle it all in the first leg here from Alexandria"

...

"It's the 82nd minute, both teams are now playing a lot more defensively, and it's looking like an unlikely draw. Milchama now attempting to do something like attack. Schneider and ben Johansson back on the wing. Schneider with the ball, swings it over to Waver in the middle, beats his person, forward at the edge of the box and he passes it to his right to Holden Flomes. Flomes takes a quick shot and it's off the keeper and OFF THE POST AND SCHNEIDER WINS THE FOOTRACE! HE HAS A TAP IN AND IT'S 4-3 MILCHAMA!!!!! Flomes took what looked like an easy shot but Xander made a mess of it, knocked it off the post and Dee Schneider won the footrace and suddenly Milchama is in the lead!"

"What a turn of events! It looked likely to end in a draw and suddenly Milchama has scored the last 2 goals and have taken the lead! What a game!"

"What a game indeed"

...

"Drawkland is doing everything in their power to come forward. They have all 11 forward for this corner kick."

"I mean this is basically last chance saloon time so that makes sense for The Elite Eleven to have everybody forward"

"The Warriors, obviously, with everybody back"

"And the kick goes up and it's picked up by Inthracam who just kicks it immediately"

"Wait a second there's nobody back there"

"Is that going to the goal."

"Nope, Kingston is back there and he'll get there first but he's being closed down by Flomes who takes the ball! He passes it across to Floren who shoots and SCORES!" 5-3 MILCHAMA! WE'RE GOING TO WIN THE GAME!! THE WARRIORS, IN ONLY THEIR SECOND QUALIFYING CAMPAIGN SINCE THE ISOLATION ARE ONE GAME AWAY FROM THE WORLD CUP! OH MY GOD! I CANNOT BELIEVE IT!!! AESH AESH MILCHAMA!

"LOH TESACHECK HAGANAH! And it's the lack of haganah by our forwards that got us that goal. Both Floren and Flomes were playing as poachers and with the long kick by Inthracam they were both ready to pounce. What a weird goal!"

"But what an incredible goal!"

...

"AND THE REF HAS BLOWN THE FINAL WHISTLE! IT'S MILCHAMA 5 DRAWKLAND 3! MILCHAMA WIN! We are one win away from the World Cup. Our first World Cup since the 60s! We are so so so close to qualifying!"

"Oh my god! I can't believe this team, this campaign, this everything! I would have been so happy if we finished in 4th place but we kept not losing, then we kept winning, and then second place with 3 games to go AND NOW! WE'RE ONE WIN AWAY!"

"Not even a win, just a draw"

"Oh my god! What a game!"

"WHAT! A! GAME!"

"Come on You Warriors!"

"Let's Go Milchama!"

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

And now a prayer to Margaret:
"Yep it's time to pray to Margaret"

"''Ringa pakia!''
''Uma tiraha!''
''Turi whatia!''
''Hope whai ake!''
''Waewae takahia kia kino!''
''Ka mate, ka mate''
''Ka ora, ka ora''
''Ka mate, ka mate''
''Ka ora, ka ora''
''Tēnei te tangata pūhuruhuru''
''Nāna nei i tiki mai whakawhiti te rā''
''Ā upane, ka upane''
''Whiti te rā, hī!''

"Now repeat after me!"

"Forini! Forini!"
"Finidi! Finidi!"
"George! George!"
"Oh Brother! Oh brother!"

*They strip and run around for 12 minutes*

"We pray the Margaret of SnubNose 38 and Random Number God that you may deliver us victory over Drawkland and any other infidels that we face in international play"

"Sacrifice the Rubber Chicken!"

*Swoosh of an axe and the chicken is dead*

"Margaret we pray that you take this sacrifice of a rubber chicken in good faith and that by your deliverance Milchama does well in all international competitions"

"Come on You Warriors!"

"Let's Go Milchama!"

[PotatoFarmers]

Vdara 0-0 Poafmersia
Poafmersia Lineup (3-4-3): Suzanne Trengove; Nasri Sanchez, Hollis Stephenson, Ali Berger; Leonora Hall, Nero Wood, Michael Jackson, Valentin Gotti; Agapito Murphy, Makana Tuft (c), Jordan Huerta
Substitutes: Aleka Dufour (Tuft 71', c); Magreta Rym (Wood 84')

One more chance - Red Panjias return home again for "all or nothing" match to secure qualification against Vdara
Reported by Sporting Daily

Fiskadaha - Poafmersia will return home for their important "all or nothing" fixture against Vdara tonight, needing a win to secure their return to the World Cup proper, following their goalless draw in Vdara.

For the Red Panjias, this will be the "second chance" for the team to capture the much awaited ticket to the World Cup, following the disappointing loss at home against Pasarga in Matchday 14 that resulted in these 2 extra fixtures. For the players, it is an important 2 fixtures to build up their personal confidence, which the head coach calling these matches a "key learning point" for the youngsters. "We knew very well we didn't need to play the replay if we didn't lose that match against Pasarga, so we will be aiming to correct that wrong with this result," said Adnan Suliaha. Team captain Makana Tuft echoed the sentiments, adding that the older players will be looking to push hard to correct all the mistakes of the past. "Last cycle's dissapointment, the failure in the IAC, and also the missed opportunity against Pasarga, these are things we have been reflecting upon, ane we will be looking to correct the mistakes."

Fans would be expected to turn up for the fixture in full force, aiming for the Red Panjias to get a good result to mark the occassion. "Hopefully we get the advantage playing 90 minutes at home. Everyone wants Poafmersia in the World Cup, and we all know that Adnan Suliaha is capable of leading the team to do so," said a fan. Others pointed to the young squad and believed that it is a "new chapter" in Poafmersian football history. "A win will definitely start that chapter," commented another fan.

Some of the regular starters will likely play a bigger role in rhe fixture. Iulianus Innocenti missed leg 1 with stomach flu, but will be expected to feature to provide the squad with more potency and creativity up front. Nicole Potts may return to goal, but Suzanne Trengove's excellent performance in the first leg may let her earn the start over the vice-captain, who is returning from a hamstring injury. Ali Berger, who provides slightly more pace than the ageing Mitchel Rosales, will likely start alongside Stephenson.

[Ethane]

The home fans will be behind their team as Ethane push for World Cup qualification in the final game of the playoffs.

It has been a tight contest thrroughout for the team in their fiery colours, but against the grain they managed to squeeze into playoff contention with crucial wins against TJUN-ia and HUElavia. A final daay victory combined with a game between the top two in the group opened the way for a route into the playoffs, which is where the Red Kites have found themselves.

Competition has been fierce, as you should expect at this level. Every team in the playoffs, arguably, is deserving of a place in the World Cup (which explains some of the previous discouse around increasing the size of the tournament). But not every team will make it through these brutal playoff rounds,, with most playoff outcomes still very much up in the air.

Nonemoreso than Ethane. The Red Kites were drawn against Nyowani Kitara for their playoff fixtures - one game at home and one game away. You'll know the nation from all the news emerging from the country in international discourse, but they've not always been a well-established in the football scene, and are really trying to breekthrough at the moment, much the same as Ethane are into those top tier teams. Playoff victory and qualification into the World Cup could be crucial for both these team''s future prospects. But again, only one can go through. Only one can prosper.

The first game of the playoffs was intense, with Ethane visiting Nyowani Kitara for their first of two games. It was a brutal game, and Nyowani Kitara had the creative edge for much of the 90 minutes, Ethane clearly content with a draw to take it level back home to their own fans.

The game broke early for Nyowani Kitara though, with a fantastic counter and cross in from Ekdahl leaving the goal on a silver platter for Armoni Okombo. This was the start Nyowani Kitara needed, and it was clear that the Red Kites had been caaught napping, getting too complacent in the game early on. Walker was furious on the sidelines, priding himself on his defensive record.

After the break and a stale first half, Nyowani Kitara found another breakthrough in a cross from a setpiece, which Catarina Malmquist buried in the back of the net with their head. Ethane needed to rally and fast to keep in the game, and position well for the next fixture.

Aginst typical Ethanian caution, they had to go all-out to try to salvage something from this game in the dying minutes, knowing any goal they picked up now would be crucial for the overall playoff scenario, especially with the away-goals rule abolished for these playoffs.

And the scenes when Ethane were able tp pull it off. Muhammad Palmer scored off a set piece in the 86th minute, before tragic own goal from Tendenka Mutsekwa handed a draw to the vicitors. With that result, it's all to play for in Ethane - but can Nyowani Kitara pull off the result they're dreaming of?

[Savigliane]

This is a continuation of a previous storyline. To make life easier on those who haven't followed it previously, I've added a summary of what's happened in the preceding chapters in this factbook.

FIND YOURSELF

---

8. Secondo

Acqui Bollente, Savigliane

Lucia didn't interact with Violette Bartois much, but she strongly believed that the second most powerful person in Savigliano politics didn't like her much. The leader of the Alliance des Sociaux-Democratés party, partners with Alberto Caccini in a governing coalition, had a standing meeting with representatives of the Interdimensional Travel Task Force - which meant Lucia. The two had never met. Part of it was probably that Bartois hated Acqui Bollente - Lucia had heard she was rarely in the area, period, preferring to spend her time whipping votes and aligning legislative priorities down in Villeneuve. The thing about having two capitals is that sometimes you just didn't see anybody. But the whispers from some of her colleagues in the ITTF's policy department suggested that she was pretty blasé about their whole deal in general. Some people were never going to believe interdimensional travel was possible until they saw it with their own eyes, and she didn't fault Bartois for falling into this latter category.

But this made it all the more surprising when the cancellation email hadn't landed in her inbox. And even more surprising than some broken email scheduler, when she'd met the ASD leader in a small conference room the next day.

"It's an honor to meet you, MP Bartois," Lucia had started. It would soon become clear that this was not the way Violette Bartois wanted the meeting to progress. "Would you like me to catch you up from the beginning, or-"

"I've read the weekly reports you've sent, thanks. Anything earth-shattering this week?"

"Erm, not particularly. We've made reasonable progress on transponder technology that can help us send signals through dimensional barriers with improved accuracy."

"You've tested that?" There it was.

"This is all in the lab so far. We're not as far ahead as Bianca Fiore would like you to think."

"Hmm." Bartois thought for a bit, then leaned forwards. "How familiar are you with portal technology? If I'm correct, the proposed theoretical approaches have been more in the space of field generation, no?"

"Well, I'm not one of the scientists working on that, but-"

"So you are working on it? As an organization, obviously."

"That problem has...raised some interest. But besides the natural progression from just applying our knowledge in transportation field generation to a small area instead of an entire nation, there hasn't been much noteworthy work."

Violette Bartois leaned forwards again, forcing Lucia to meet her stare. "But there has been a natural progression. Surely, if you're working on moving an entire nation, then creating a portal and walking everyone through must be child's play."

"The fluctuations in the field are much stronger when concentrated on such a small area. It's...tough to modulate."

"But theoretically possible."

"Sure. May I ask-"

"I think it would be in your best interest as an organization to spend much more time and resources in this area. I'll talk to Alberto and his guys about getting the funding officially, ah, reallocated." Seeing Lucia's initial gasp of shock, she continued, smiling. "Look, you've seen the polls - or if not, I'll tell them to you. People view the field generation approach, moving an entire nation at once, as risky. The idea is that if we put all of our eggs in that basket and things go haywire, we've got nothing left. However! If we open a gateway to the original dimension - which plenty of other nations have achieved, maybe through more indirect means - then we can always just get all of our people through and close it. One at a time. Slower? Maybe. But impossible to oppose. Nobody is being moved without their consent."

Lucia continued to say nothing as she frantically caught up to what the politician was saying. "Fiore wants to make this election about the portal? Let's make it about the stupid fucking portal. I want her to say she doesn't care about the 600,000 stranded Saviglianos she left behind to the nation's face."

"Has Caccini-"

"Don't worry about it. Lucia, right? I'll see you next week. With updates!"

---

Stade National, shortly before MD14 v. Valladares

"I've been thinking that you might be right about Bianca," Adrian said idly, as he laced up

Thea glanced over. "Is this really the time? Match starts in like, thirty. Tlanx will want us out there."

Adrian sighed. "I don't know. But, like, she said she was seeing a therapist before she came back. I don't think PTSD is out of the question."

"Well look at you, playing psychologist. Is that what you told the de Rossi twins?" Adrian glared at her teammate, who continued: "Look, let's say she does have PTSD or something. I'm not here to judge. But that doesn't excuse what she's done. You know what Piano stands for as well as I do. I mean, she turned her back on us before we started doing this, is all I'm saying."

"She told me a lot about what they did to her. I mean, the Occitans, after the Portal Event. They diagnosed her with some kind of schizophrenia, all but threw her out on the street. Is it so surprising what she's doing now? And then, coming back, and getting dropped from the national team and forced into retirement. Maybe it's like, a cry for help? And how shitty would I be for missing that and focusing on tearing her down?"

"I've gone through my own shit, Adrian. You know what I did? I went and got help. If she asked us to help her we would have. Nah, what she needs is to feel needed. As soon as she wasn't the savior anymore, she went to get that feeling somewhere else. Evangelista makes her feel special, like a hero again. Now shut up," the striker concluded, standing up, "and go beat Valladares."

Adrian looked up, exasperated. "I don't know why I bother coming to you with this."

"Well, stop it, then. Look, you heard Tlanx last night. We have one job right now for Savigliane, and it's to get the nation's collective ass over the finish line. Are you going to do that, or are you going to keep blaming yourself for something unrelated?" With that, Thea walked out. Adrian sighed, and looked back down to his phone, finger hovering over its screen with trepidation. He knew he shouldn't do it, that it was a distraction. That the bridge had already been burned, and any attempts to rebuild it could be devastating for his team and his country. But he couldn't get her out of his head.

Would you like to unblock this user? the phone asked again. "Fuck it," he said out loud, tapping to affirm.

"There we go," said Thea, as Adrian rejoined the team in the tunnel. "What'd you say the Occitans called her? Schizophrenic?"

Adrian looked up, startled. "Thea, you can't-"

"Just wondering," she replied with a wink, and then they were entering Stade National.

MD14: Savigliane 2 - 1 Valladares
Lineup: D'Ambrosio; Lamontagne, Garcia, Blanco (C), Vitale (Romano 62); Chastain, Buvalelli (Dutto 70), Toscani; Rossi (Roux 74), Squarciafichi, Barthelemy
Goals: Vitale 27, Chastain 59 // Fortin 43

---

In front of a sold-out Stade National that was absolutely rocking, Savigliane came away with all three points in a lose-and-go-home clash with former World Cup runner-ups Valladares, sending the nation to their first-ever World Cup Qualifying Playoff. Tlanx-Nulzk Hal came in with their strongest possible eleven, but were given trouble early by the likes of Cristian Benítez and Thibaut Benezet. Federico Rasmussen's 3-2-3-2 proved surprisingly effective at shutting down Savigliane's attack earlier, and Benezet likely could've made it one-nil with a low, curling strike in the twelfth minute that D'Ambrosio barely palmed wide. The first goal came somewhat against the run of play, though, as Giovanna Vitale dusted Durmisi on the break before playing a neat one-two with Toscani and rifling home from a wide angle. The home crowd was ecstatic, but their jubilation would quickly be shut down as Aymeric Fortin, so strong all qualifiers in keeping Valladares in the hunt, volleyed a beautiful delivery from Betancourt into the back of the net from close range.

The two teams went into the second half level, but Savigliane had settled into the match after the first goal and were surging forwards with increasing frequency. In the fifty-ninth minute, Zoë Barthelemy would make a surprising cut into the penalty area with the ball after a prolonged period of Savigliano possession. The winger overhit her cross, but Rossi managed to get to it first on the other end, and his second ball in intersected perfectly with the surging run of Óceane Chastain, who couldn't help but bury it from such a short distance. Thea Squarciafichi likely could've doubled the advantage shortly afterwards, but Lucien Chamoun made a fantastic double save to keep La Nacional in it. Increasingly desperate and needing two goals to advance, Valladares poured forwards and nearly converted when Vitale left Durmisi unmarked in the box, only for the winger's shot to be heroically deflected wide by Chiara Blanco. But in the end, they would fall just short after a heroic run from Pot 4 - sending Savigliane into the playoffs, two matches away from returning to the World Cup.

Qualifying Playoffs, Leg 1: Ochre Islands 1 - 0 Savigliane
Lineup: D'Ambrosio; Lamontagne, Garcia, Blanco (C), Vitale; Chastain, Buvalelli (Auvergne 57), Toscani (Montevecchi 57); Rossi, Squarciafichi (Roux 65), Barthelemy
Goals: Willingham 45+1

---

The Savigliano media may have written off impressive-but-unranked Ochre Islands as a free pass to the World Cup Proper. But when center-back Jordan Willingham's header left Nico D'Ambrosio frozen and the Islanders in the lead, all bets were off. The goal came slightly against the run of play - the Swans had the lion's share of possession in the first half - but wasn't especially surprising to neutrals. Despite all their possession, Savigliane never really seriously tested Patrick Horton in net, and there was a sense of underestimation that led them to take their foot off the gas pedal. When Chiara Blanco brought Blue Gibson down in a dangerous location and Phillip Lambert's lofted free-kick found a heroically leaping Willingham, though, things changed very quickly. The Swans pushed forwards with vigor, and Squarciafichi and Bonagiunta Rossi both had excellent chances that were sent just out of target. But everything Tlanx tried - including the controversial substitutions of Squarciafichi and Gabriel Buvalelli, two of the team's strongest performers during qualifiers - was countered by a steadfast Ochre Islands defense. Fueled by the ecstasy of the fans at Breakerview, the team held firm, led by Lambert and Potential Future National Hero Willingham, and Savigliane couldn't find their way through. Now, for the second straight cycle, a debutant is just one playoff leg away from a shock qualification to the World Cup - great news for neutrals, but not so much for the Swans.

Lineup to play World Cup 90 Qualifying Playoffs, Leg 2: D'Ambrosio; Lamontagne, Garcia, Blanco (C), Vitale; Chastain, Buvalelli, Toscani; Rossi, Squarciafichi, Montevecchi

The stakes could not possibly be higher. Win, and Savigliane will either be given an extra-time lifeline or make a triumphant return to the World Cup. Draw or lose, and they will be heading home for a second consecutive cycle - and the Tlanxball Era might finally end. The Qusmi manager, likely cognizant that this could be their final game on the Stadio del Piero touchline, has opted to tinker a little, inserting Calliope Montevecchi back into her spot on the right-wing and hoping the increased midfield control and playmaking will pay off. Other than that, the lineup remains unchanged. Will there be a hero tonight for I Cigni, and who might it be? We can only wait to find out - and pray.

[Drawkland]

E X P E D I T I O N . . .

This is the third (fourth?) chapter of an extended storyline. Below are the previous sections.

A Hint * A Tease * A Story * A Contradiction * A Roster

Elite 1 * Elite 2 * Elite 3 * Elite 4 * Elite 5 * Elite 6
Elite 7 * Elite 8 * Elite 9 * Elite 10 * Elite 11

Expired 1 * Expired 2 * Expired 3 * Expired 4 * Expired 5 * Expired 6
Expired 7 * Expired 8 * Expired 9 * Expired 10 * Expired 11

Expedition 1 * Expedition 2

Each member of the group instinctively closed their eyes when they went through the portal. It felt like jumping through a thin curtain of jello. As they all came through the other side, they went through various cycles of exhaling, rubbing their eyes, and slowly taking in their surroundings. They had come out through an empty stone ring, large enough in size and shape to fit an average Drawkian, and landed on a circular stone platform on a mountainside. Jaxon was the last to come through, and the quickest to be accustomed to the new surroundings. He made a quick headcount to be sure nobody messed up, then looked out at the view.

It was definitely nighttime in Drawkland by the time the group had gone through the portal, but here in TiSoFaH, the sun was still up. It was clearly starting to sink towards the horizon, but there would certainly be a few hours of daylight left. The view itself was impressive in scope but not very pretty on the eyes.

"Why is it so ... ugly?" Katie Madison asked, shielding her eyes from the sun.

"TiSoFaH was once inhabited by a great civilization." Nicole Warren reached into her pack to retrieve her notebook, then flipped around for the page she was looking for. "Their technology was likely even more advanced than Drawkland in the present day. A great and terrible war ravaged the land, however, and eventually it all crumbled. A great warrior, or general, or inventor, we don't know which, struck the deathblow which would permanently end their civilization. Fed up by the hateful and wasteful nature of everybody on the planet, he ordered that almost every weapon in his arsenal be used across the globe. The environmental and physical damage wiped out all technology and turned most of the world into desolate wastelands. The effects on the magnetic field of the planet were permanent, and any electronic devices within the atmosphere are entirely disabled instantly upon arrival."

"Yeah ... I can unfortunately confirm that last part." Allison Summers sighed and held up her phone, which was now clearly inoperable.

The desolate wasteland Nicole had mentioned was clearly on display for the group as they looked upon the landscape. They were at the edge of a great mountain range, with little vegetation outside of various shrubbery and brush. The mountains gave way to weak foothills, and then flattened into a dusty, desert-like plain. At least it wasn't too hot at the moment. There were a few trees scattered here and there, but very little cover. Far in the distance, they could barely make out some sort of settlement.

"Is that where we'll be staying?" Andrew asked, motioning towards the settlement.

"We're very out of place here, especially now," said Jaxon. "Even when the Elite came here, which was centuries ago, we had a bit of a culture shock, and so did the locals. They're used to seeing travelers from other worlds, as you can tell by the amount of portal-like doors on this platform here. Still though, most of the people who come here are from other realms were magic is more common than technology, and things like bright nylon and polyester tents are bizarre and strange."

"Yeah, I was planning for us to make camp in a nearby secluded area," Nicole added. "We should only need to go through one or two habited places, mostly to pick up more food and supplies. We look pretty 'modern' right now, so maybe we can find more contemporary outfits for this area soon."

"Did anybody bring binoculars?" Jack Hoy asked. "I have a nice pair of digital ones that I had to leave at home. I should've bought some crappy analog ones when we were in town yesterday."

"I do!" Cam Cross replied cheerily. She took off her backpack and rummaged through a smaller pocket, producing a small case and handing it to Jack.

"Oh yeah, this is doing the trick," Jack said once he'd got the binoculars to his eyes and in focus. "I can see that settlement way better. It's got a wooden wall around the center, and a pair of entrance gates which are wide open. Lots of little buildings outside the wall too."

By now, Jaxon had reached into his pack and pulled out a small spyglass. He was surveying the landscape, trying to look for a good spot to make camp.

"Where did you guys stay on your first night?" Nicole asked Jaxon, shielding her eyes from the lowering sun.

"I think we stayed at the village there. The culture shock thing was a big deal. Pretty sure they didn't take kindly to our attitudes and we got thrown out of town in the middle of the night."

"How did you get thrown out in the middle of the night?" Sarah Arrowsword asked.

"Got into a brawl in a tavern which also happened to be the only inn open." Jaxon cracked a smirk. "I don't think anybody will recognize me, but it'll still be a bad idea to go back there with such a large group regardless." He paused for a moment. "The place looks smaller than I remember, too."

"Something's off about this place," Jack said after a minute or two of quiet.

"Maybe because it's a medieval village in a dimension you've never been in before?" Riley Hoyt offered, sarcasm dripping in his voice.

"No man, I mean it!" Jack insisted. "I've been scoping it out for like five minutes now and I haven't seen anybody walking around. No smoke coming from any chimneys, no animals walking around, nothing."

Jaxon turned his attention from a small grove of gnarly trees back to the village. "He's right. It's like a ghost town."

"I want to check this place out," said Leo Cross. He'd taken the binoculars from Jack and was looking at the seemingly empty village himself. "Maybe there's something useful there."

Most of the group turned to look at Nicole.

"Is this my decision?" Nicole asked. "I don't know what to do. I don't want to split up, especially this early.

"Well, I think me and the fellas will go down and check out the town regardless," Jack said, motioning to the other Grid Corps guys.

"I still think it would be best if we stayed out of potential trouble and made our own camp somewhere else." Jaxon countered, then pointed out towards the landscape. "I've already seen a couple solid spots where we could make camp for the night."

Nicole sighed, looking between Jaxon, the rest of the party, and the Grid Corps boys, who were already adjusting their backpacks to leave.

"Fine." Nicole decided after a tense moment. "Let's just see what this village thing is about. Maybe we could grab some more realm-appropriate supplies. At least it would be here and not in a bigger place where more people could see us."

"Fair enough," Jaxon nodded and replaced his spyglass. The rest of the party got their packs ready to go, and Nicole flipped through her notebook to a tab labelled "2". It was a rough map of TiSoFaH which she'd copied by hand. Well, it was the version Iarocav had made of the nearby region, which was also centuries old if not even older. TiSoFaH may be a realm locked in time technologically, but that doesn't mean everything stays the same.

---

Though the sun was clearly lowering in the sky, it seemed to stay up forever. Nicole expected the party to barely make it to the settlement before dark, but it wasn't even sundown by the time they were approaching the fields surrounding the town.

"I should've checked what time we went through the portal." Nicole looked at her analog watch, which indicated it should be some time early in the morning. "I've lost all sense of time and how long we've been here.

"The day and night cycle is longer here. We'll go through a sort of jet lag," Jaxon explained. "We probably won't ever fit on the cycle for this place, since our circadian rhythm is built for shorter days and nights. This planet just rotates slower."

"I don't care about what time it is anyway!" said Sarah. "I'm tired. We've been hiking all day, spelunking, and then hiking again all night, which is actually day again. It feels like I've pulled an all-nighter, but I've been walking the whole time."

"Well, we're almost in town. These are the outerlying farms." Jaxon pointed at a small, dilapidated barn in a field surrounded by the ruined remains of a wooden fence. "They clearly haven't been growing anything recently."

"I still don't see anybody in town." Jack had been looking forward towards the village for the past few minutes, ignoring the empty farms. "I feel like we'd be able to hear towny noises by now, we're certainly close enough."

He was right. The rest of the group stopped talking, and all they could hear were their own muted footsteps against the dusty ground. Besides that, there was just the occasional sweeping breeze that rustled the grass. Even as they got closer and approached some of the outerlying shacks and shanties, it was nearly silent.

"I'm not appreciating the vibe here ..." Allison muttered to herself.

"Yeah, it's not been a warm welcome," Katie agreed.

"I get the feeling that something bad happened here, like, recently." Sarah looked closer at some of the buildings they were passing. "I'm not an archaeologist or anything, but it feels like these houses haven't been abandoned for very long."

"Do you think we should go?" Nicole whispered to Jaxon, though it was so quiet that the rest of the group could hear her too.

"No, I think it'll be too late to find a good spot to camp out." Jaxon raised his voice enough to where he wasn't whispering anymore. "Our best bet is to find an empty house or inn and just crash there for the night. We ought to continue on as soon as we can, though. This place is giving me the creeps."

"It wasn't like this when you came here last?" Andrew asked, curiously.

"Not at all. For one, it was bigger. They even had an outer wall made of stone, which we should've passed through already. It's probably long gone. This place used to be like a trading hub of sorts. It was one of the bigger settlements this far, er, west, I think. Clearly its best days are behind it. We might be able to find the inn we tried to stay at, I heard before we were kicked out that it was a historic establishment that had survived through centuries of various reigns over the city. I'm sure that if there's anybody left here, it'd be whoever is now the innkeeper."

Once the group reached the center of town, passing through the open wooden gatehouse, the emptiness became even more eerie. Most of the businesses still displayed their wares in front. Doors were open, though it was clear that dirt and other elements had made their way into the buildings. In the very center was a large, open plaza, though the ground was still just packed dirt. A small collection of barren trees stood in the center, and at the edges of the plaza were dozens of carts and stands. It was clearly a meeting place or market. At one end was a raised wooden stage, which had partially collapsed.

Like the rest of the town, the plaza didn't show any signs of abject conflict, but it was still empty. Lots of the carts had now-rotten food piled in them, and other wares were scattered around.

"Hey," Jaxon said abruptly, breaking the silence. "I think that's the tavern we got kicked out of. I recognize the sign out front."

The group followed him up to the building, which was partially made of stone and had wooden trim. It was about three stories tall, and clearly extended back out of sight. The second and third floors extended over the entrance, creating a sort of porch in front. Unlike most of the buildings in the town, the door was shut.

"Should we go in?" Nicole asked Jaxon, clearly a little nervous.

"I'll go in first to see if there's anything amiss. After all, if I get injured it's no problem. I'll come back out and let you know if it's safe to come in." Jaxon patted his waistband, then slowly inched under the overhang towards the door.

With the rest of the group stepping back and mostly huddled together, Jaxon came up to the door. There was a knob, which he tried. It was locked. He gave another cursory glance around the outside of the building, then inhaled sharply. He rammed his shoulder into the door, and it popped open immediately. He stumbled through the opening and into the building. The rest of the group gaped in surprise, and inched back towards the tavern. Most of the group kept their eyes trained on the tavern itself, while a few others kept watch elsewhere around the plaza. Despite the crash of the door breaking open, the rest of the town remained silent.

After a few tense minutes, Jaxon strode out of the building, seeming to be uninjured.

"Come on in, guys. It's spooky in there, but not a soul to be found."

The group obliged, with various murmurings among themselves as they entered the tavern. Jaxon had found a box of matches in his pack, and was busy lighting some of the candles around the bar.

"There's still some food back here that looks safe to eat. Drink, too, but it's mostly alcohol. We could get a fire going and have dinner, then sleep for most of the night. We'll probably wake up well before sunrise given how long nights are here, but that's fine. We'll hit the road and be well on our way by the time the sun is up."

"Do you think we could go out while you guys get dinner going?" Jack asked. "Since most of this stuff was abandoned, I don't think anybody will care if we take it. We have to bulk up on supplies anyway, and this will be easier than trying to buy them somewhere else."

"Go ahead," Jaxon replied immediately, before Nicole could say anything. "Stay together, though, and try to get things for everybody."

"We'll go with them." Andrew grabbed Liam's hand. "That's about half the group, us plus the gridiron guys."

"Sure thing. Hurry up, though, sun will be setting soon." Jaxon turned back to enter the kitchen area of the tavern. Before he got there, Nicole stopped him.

"Are you sure about all this? This place is making everybody uneasy." Nicole looked over her shoulder at the remaining group behind her. "Especially me."

"I don't like it here either." Jaxon murmured, and motioned for Nicole to follow him into the stockroom. "Jack is right, though. Scavenging from here will be immensely easier than trying to barter for goods, especially in a larger city. The less we're seen by locals, the better. Did Iarocav or anybody else warn you of the bandits that roam these lands?"

"He said a little bit," Nicole lied. She didn't remember this part, or at least didn't write it down.

"They became very common after the Drawkionels came through here. Before them, hardly anybody knew of this realm, it was a little backwater planet in a relatively sparse dimension of our universe. That's why the creator of the maze built it here. It was rife with magical energy, unable to be affected by modern technology, and in the arcane equivalent of the middle of nowhere. He didn't want just anybody to stumble upon it. Only the worthy and the wily could even find this place to begin with, much less learn of the gauntlet and prize within."

"What does that have to do with the bandits, though?"

"Well, the gatekeeping put forth by the creator was sort of ruined by the Drawkionels, especially Iarocav. Before them, the only people who attempted the maze were generally powerful wizards and warriors who had traveled through many realms, and had spoken to the creator himself. Once they attained immortality, they'd go on their way doing whatever they were doing before, which was usually just roaming through magical realms, or isolating themselves in far-flung wizard towers. The Drawkionels were the first immortals who were open about what had happened, and it put TiSoFaH on the map, so to speak.

"That's why the platform we arrived on was so fancy. Back in the Drawkionel's time, it was just a cave on the mountainside. Once more travelers came through, whoever was in charge at the time decided to make the entrance a little more grand, which only fueled further travel. Most of it wasn't from Sonnel, mind you, but it was there nonetheless. More and more people were attempting the Undying Quest, as it started to be called. A vast majority failed. The reputation had grown enough, though, that now the locals were aware it was happening.

"It didn't take long for thieves to try and cash in on the action. It's already bad enough to be a naive foreigner in a strange land, you stick out like a sore thumb and you usually have valuables. Now you have naive foreigners who are also loaded with various arcane relics to help protect themselves in the maze. Valuable materials are one thing, but high-powered magical objects fetch more than their weight in gold. Nowadays there's not many people who come through for the quest. Even when we did it back in the day, it was already a rarity again, but you still had to be on the lookout. The bandits now are more than prepared to hone in on anybody who isn't a local."

"Will we have to stay hidden? I only know the main roads here on my map ..."

"We're traveling in a larger group, so we should be okay to travel on main roads. We should be avoiding large cities at all costs, though. Hopefully the boys grab enough goods here that all we'll have to do is maybe trade with some farmers for additional food on the way. That's the main reason I relented on coming here rather than staying away. If we get out of here without trouble, it'll make the rest of the trip to the maze much easier."

"Okay, well I hope you're right," Nicole said.

"Me too. Now give me a hand with this barrel."

---

I understand this is a large number of characters to know, so here's a quick list of each of the party members.

Nicole Warren: Former Kick Corps member (edge defender).
Cam Cross: Former Kick Corps member (forward).
Sarah Arrowsword: Former Kick Corps member (centerback).
Andrew Arrowsword: Former Ceni National Team member (striker). Half-brother of Sarah.
Liam Penderyn: Cenian tennis star. Boyfriend of Andrew.
Katie Madison: Former Kick Corps member (forward).
Allison Summers: Drawk Corps member (midfielder). Domestic teammate of Katie.
Leo Cross: Current Grid Corps member (defensive end). Second cousin of Cam.
Jack Hoy: Current Grid Corps member (running back).
Riley Hoyt: Retired Grid Corps member (tight end).
Jaxon Madison: Elite Eleven member.

This story was meant to be finished last year. The events of this RP occurred sometime during the WC88 cycle.

[Vdara]

Full Time: Vdara 0-0 Poafmersia

Home Team Dressing Room
VdarArena

With one leg over and done with, the players were quite happy. They’d kept a clean sheet, and played quite well when you consider their relatively recent change in style.

Tryfon: ”It’s working, we’ve actually kept a clean sheet against a side that likes to attack - fuckin’ incredible!”

Markos: ”Aye, aye. Brilliant job - we held them to a draw, we withstood the pressure, yadda yadda yadda. We didn’t score, though, and that could be crucial when you consider that the next leg is away from home. Defending at your own stadium is one thing, but when the away fans are willing you to break, that’s when it’ll get really tough. I’ve got faith in you lot, though. A little more attacking prowess and we’ll be right as rain, I’d say.”

Tryfon: ”Here, Markos… have you had any thoughts about penalty duty?”

Markos: ”Well, duh. Lambros is first choice penalty taker, as per.”

Tryfon: ”No, I mean… we’re playing defensive football, right? So if we’re all about defending, there’s a good chance we take this game to extra time - and if we keep defending there, there’s a good chance the game goes to penalties. Do we know what the order could be for that?”

Markos: ”See, this is why you’re the captain Tryfon - you know the right things to ask.”

Markos looked around the room, trying to read into some emotions when the word “penalty” was uttered. This didn’t give him any idea as to who was good at penalties, so he went for a much simpler option.

Markos: ”Hands up if you’ve ever taken a penalty.”

Most of the room put their hands up, save for the goalkeepers.

Markos: ”Good start. Who here is actually good at penalties?”

Hands begin to drop. 9 hands remain.

Markos: ”Even better. Who can remain composed under pressure?”

More hands drop. 6 left.

Markos: ”That’s all I needed to know. You six, meet up at the training ground tomorrow - I’ll need to run some more programs.”

VdarArena Training Centre

A quick spot kick drill established Frangoglou’s ability to save penalties, as well as the six who claimed they were both good at taking penalties and could remain composed. Hence, an order was established, with some notes:

PENALTY TAKERS:
1. Lambros Tantalopoulos - quick run-up, powerful, accurate penalties. usually hits bottom corner
2. Tryfon Vlahiades - slow run-up, accurate, but hit quite lightly. usually hits left side, either top or bottom
3. Kimon Karalas - average run-up, powerful, but very much a loose cannon. hits everywhere and anywhere, but possibly the crossbar if he isn’t careful
4. Chirstoforos Lazelis - quick run-up, accurate, finessed placement. often to the right, but occasionally changed direction when challenged
5. David Xeniadis - slow run-up, often chips down the middle, looks goalkeeper directly in eye
6. Mathaios Makrotsis - quick run-up, unpredictable, always looks nervous but is assuredly composed when taking spot kicks

(any further penalties shall be decided then and there, by whoever feels confident enough to strut their stuff and take a spot kick)

Markos: ”Now that we’ve got that sorted, I think it’s time we get a game plan sorted. It’s all or nothing in this next match, lads - this determines if we’re going back to glory or sent packing. So, to start; you should be aggressively marking an attacker each when they’re on the ball. Don’t let them have a sniff at goal, and don’t let them come anywhere close to having a shot. We’re trying to stop them from actually playing their style, stifling their entire attacking play. Now, when you do get the ball off of them, you’ll need to move it forward as quick and as abruptly as possible. Preferably, you will try and launch it to the attacker making a run further forward up the pitch in a diagonal direction, depending on where you are. If you’re on the right, look for an attacker on the far left side, and vice versa. Cross balls are notoriously hard to defend, and if we do it right we can catch them out when they least expect. Lastly, do your absolute best to prevent an attack if we happen to be hit on the counter from a corner. If you’re the last man and someone’s about to get past you, take one for the team - scythe them to the floor. You might get a card, and you might even be dismissed, but if you’re preventing a goal you’ll be a hero in my eyes, got it? If all that works out, that should either result in a goal or take us to penalties - and, while I don’t think we’ve been involved in a penalty shootout for years, I think we’ve definitely got the capability to pull through one.”

Tryfon: ”You’re not banking on taking the game to penalties, are you?”

Markos: ”Not at all, I’m banking on you lot to pull off a defensive miracle against decent opposition. Sound good?”

Tryfon: ”Yep, it does. I’ll do my job on the pitch to lead these boys to victory - you just try to do the same on the sidelines.”

Markos: ”That’s what I like to hear, man! Authority and ambition, two key things from a captain. If any of you want to steal Tryfon’s armband when he retires, follow his lead on this - it’ll do you a world of good. Anyhow, enough rambling - we’ve got somewhere to be soon, so get yourselves sufficiently fit, rested and recuperated; optimal mental strength is required for a massive game like this.”

Despite the fact that they’d played six group stage games before this, the expectation and ambition that hung over this fixture made it one of the most important in Vdara’s history. They’d never made consecutive World Cups, and a win in their first ever playoff would certainly bring about the hope of making more World Cups in the future. Under Markos’ tenure, the aim had always been to turn Vdara from hopefuls to mainstays - and this would be a true step forward in that aim. As for whether this will happen or not, we will just have to wait and see. Fortune favours the brave, after all.