Cup of Harmony 82 [rosters/RPs/scores]

[Savojarna]

Moving Forward

Savojarna Ocean Lines Special Connection, neutral waters outside the Licentian Isles

The PA system of the Sleipnir rattled and cracked, as if it were stretching its limbs with the rising sun. Then, finally, it began to speak with a voice that was much clearer than one could have expected from the sonuds of it starting up. “Good morning players and crew, this is your steward speaking. Conditions thus far are smooth as predicted, and we hope that you have had a good night on our ship. We have recently crossed into Esportivan waters and approach the Licentian Isles within an estimated two and a half to three hours. In our ship’s main dining room, you will be able to find a balanced breakfast specifically designed for your needs and provided by the SFFB. For those of you wanting to stay in shape, the ship’s gym room will be open and available. On behalf of your coach, I have been asked to inform you that there will be a brief get-together in the dining room in an hour concerning the upcoming knockout matches. On behalf of the cleaning crew, I have been asked to inform you that you should dispose of toilet paper using the bins provided in your bathrooms whenever possible. And on behalf of the captain, I have been asked to inform you that in a few minutes, we will pass the Grey Rock formation on their western side. This means you will be able to see them against the rising sun, a natural spectacle that some of you might wish to observe; the best position to do so will be either from our bar, which is currently serving coffee and tea, or from the upper deck”.

The novelty of travelling at sea, courtesy of a request of the Licentian Isles and a warning of Montaña Verde that they might not have the best ability to accommodate international flights, started to wear off for the players, making them rather happy to hear that announcement. The Sleipnir was a modern, comfortable ship, but it was not a cruise ship; usually, it served the overnight line from Storevik and Harkka to Pawlograd, a long-range passenger ship that had been repurposed for a two-night trip from Montana Verde to the Isles. As a result, the comfort had been scaled back where they considered it to be useful: bar and restaurant facilities were plentiful and versatile, as they offered a workspace for the business travellers that would usually use the line; there was a gym as to ensure the comfort of “dynamic” businessmen that had been modernised on request - and presumably the bill - of the SFFB to accommodate the national team; but the rooms were still rather barebones. The SFFB paid for upgrading mattresses, so none of their players would end up with a back pain, but the showers still were better garden hoses compared to the hotels they would usually stay in, and the rooms did not exactly have inspiring interior design.

In their cabin, Ola-Mikko Virttu and Lars Alvesen stretched out. “Get your butt out of that bed, Ola. Dima needs us in an hour and I need my morning gym”, Lars shouted from the spartanic bathroom. “Bro, you can’t even see what I’m doing, shut up, I’m getting my clothes”, Ola replied, and eye-rollingly peeled himself from under the blanket, making sure what he said wasn’t going to be a lie. Lars was right to push him, he knew he needed to improve his physical power and agreed to do extra gym sessions. He was too easily pushed off the ball by world class defenders, he noticed. Markko Niskanen, steeled by the Zenith, was easily able to push him off balance in training matches. He didn’t stand much of a chance against Vidkun Nymark either, something he unfortunately already knew from the SFS. Emerging from the bathroom, Lars headed for the door of the cabin and turned down the hallway to the ship gym, located on the second level of the ship, looking out over the sea - although, unluckily for them, not to the side of the Grey Rock.

Up in the bar, Adrian Klaebo and Finn Östberg were taking a good look at said rock. Neither of the two Lok Jarnstad teammates were big morning people, something they decided to try to overcome by getting up extra early and allowing themselves to take a lot of time for their morning routines after noticing that even getting up right on time was still too early for their moods. “I’m scared after that Flavovespia game”, Adrian frowned. “Think the coach wants both of us on the bench now? I don’t get it, we’re training well, aren’t we?”, he mused as he held onto his big mug of milk coffee. Finn took a sip of his strong black tea before responding. “Well, you’re not listening well then, Adi, are you? He’s explained it. He’s giving others a shot. As for me, I’m not playing because I’m too similar to Misha. He’s right, by the way. We don’t have a striker like Bogdan here, we need a winger to score, and it’s not gonna be Misha”. Adrian sighed. “Sure, but… don’t you also just wanna play? Does it not bother you?”

Right as he finished his sentence, the door barged open and a happy Rika Lundell, Mikhail Jashkin, and Aleks Virulainen entered the bar. “Bothered about what, Adi? Is the sea getting to you? We’re almost there, back to solid ground and thumping some teams”, Aleks joked, with her raspy, deep laugh filling up the room. Misha returned to the group, handing his friends cups of coffee. “Come, guys, let’s see the rock!”, Rika shouted from over by the big window looking east. The orange light of the sun reflected in the sea, broken only by the dark grey of the jagged edges of the small island in front of them. Presumably a volcano, although none of them knew for sure, it jutted out from the blue sea and created little white crests on top of the water. The orange of the sun danced over the sea and coloured the foam, while the rock’s sharp edges were unaffected by the natural spectacle around them. The scene elicited power and playfulness at the same time, Adrian thought, just like he wanted to as a creative defensive player. Aleks had no such thoughts, as Misha stepped half a step closer to her. Neither did Rika, who noticed the winger’s move, and saw Aleks responding by leaning into her teammate’s shoulder subtly, and smiled to herself. She had suspected it, and was happy for her friend now that she saw them together like this.

Down below the bar, nobody had time for any sort of love. Dima Lijushkin was sitting over a bowl of porridge with berries, together with Roman Antonov, bent over a tablet computer running videos of Eraman’s group stage games. He had the results written onto a big whiteboard: 2-4, 4-2, 1-1. Lots of goals, offensive aim. Single striker, but three offensive midfield players, kind of similar to his own preferred formation, Dima thought. It would probably be best to play out fast from the back, counter, and use their offence against them. None of this was going to be important to his players before they’d be on the Isles, and he certainly wouldn’t tell them anything about the formation yet, but he was starting to think about it: probably not too offensive at the back to prevent being caught out; in the centre, they’d need to have a solid option to stop Serigala Rudra. “Niskanen as man marker?”, he wrote down on his notebook. Their fullbacks were rather old; maybe a good offence could take advantage. Kimi and Misha would do the job, but he was toying with bringing in Kaisa Gyldenström too. Maybe as a sub, he thought. It would be best to focus on their own strongest powers, and force their game onto Erawan.

Starting Lineup vs. Erawan
Virulainen - Klaey, Zirkova, Nymark, Viipuri - Niskanen, Lundell, Orakhin - Hartikainen, Ehlers, Jashkin

[Trolleborg]

Greetings, compatriots!
It's TTV from Licentian Isles. At last for a time we bring you good news. Our national team despite gloomy predictions and overall depressed mood of the fans did well to get a ticket to the playoffs. Astrograth is a serious opponent, the second seeded team of our group, and this team also needed points. Both teams weren't play careful, calculated game, they didn't stand close to the gates, started the game without reconnaissance, exchanging goal-scoring opportunities in first three minutes. And this set the tone for the whole game: it came out spectacular, rich in creative football and dangerous moments at the both ends of the field.

Our head coach put several players who had spent previous matches on the bench into the lineup this game. He also changed goalkeeper. Many assumed that a change of number one would follow, but believed that the Troghil would give this post to Kotsson, but Soderhelm, who received the shirt in the case. showed himself from the best side. However, one match is not yet an indicator. In general, it must be stated that the lads had a pretty hard time, four defenders with the support of the defensive midfielder barely managed to cope with the three attacking players of the opponents and his midfielders who joined attacks as often as possible. Our flank midfielders also had to return to help despite usual their mode of work. But, nevertheless, although it took two substitutions to replace tired and exhausted players in the defensive line, our lads successfully defended their own.

Despite the fact that both teams had the opportunities to score, and more than five on each side, and can open score even in the first half, finding out who would win had to be postponed until the second half. At the 65th minute, the opponents could tip the scales in their favor: after our defenders showed a regrettable lack of composure in a relatively harmless situation, the experienced Galdiano broke into the box, but Soderhelm showed composure and accurate calculation, parrying his shot.

And just seventy seconds later, a response attack followed, the ball was knocked out with force through the center of the field and there a mobile and fresh Langepaas, just entered game as a substitute, made a sudden accurate shot in a situation where no one expected it. Defenders had just begun to surround him, and what the forward had done was an unpleasant surprise for them and goalkeeper.

The remaining twenty-five minutes were quite heavy, but nevertheless victory is ours. Both teams signed up for the playoffs at the end of the match, and the news of this caused a sincere enthusiasm in the stands.

Lads now face Southwest Eastnorth, who finished second in the group with Electrum, Sarzonia and Indusse, in the first round of the playoffs - a recommendation in itself.

[Southwest Eastnorth]

Jayson Rox had finally gotten home from Montana Verde. He had not checked scores, he had not kept up with the national team, after dumping them last second. This was done in hopes of tarnishing the teams CoH run but it had utterly failed. What started this was a spat with the FA of Southwest Eastnorth over roster building. He had wanted to bring in several young college kids into the fray to help bolster the roster but the FA had been reluctant. This may have been because of previous issues the FA had with Rox. Jayson was seen by many as a bit arrogant and prideful and would usually put the blame on others to the point he even went on public tirades about his rivals conspiring against them. The last big blow was during the CR when he was caught with some Niwoni Kitaran fans who were chanting anti-Banijan sentiments. This had put him on thin ice with the FA and he had in fact almost gotten fired earlier in the WCQs when he got a red card for shouting at the ref but it's was soon revealed the ref had been drunk.

Now when Jayson got home he booted up his pc and started reading the news, he hadn't seen the scores so when he saw the 3-0 loss to Sarzonia, he chuckled.

"Oh hey they lost 3-0"

What he didn't see was the two victories against Indusse and Electrum, but what he saw next shocked him and no on else

FORMER SWEN COACH CALLED OUT BY PLAYERS

And here were some of the excerpts

Selfish Prick!

A rabid Dog has more brain than Jayson did

I swear he took his daddy's inheretence and bought the job with it....

That one particularly stung as his dad was supposed to be the HC of the NT till he did in a car wreck shortly before the CR four cycles ago

That guy fumed so much he could have flood a small stadium with his spit

Needless to say Coach Rox ego took another hit.....

Meanwhile Coach Houton had his first big hiccup with Sarzonia, but it was Sarzonia, they had been around the block a while, and Trolleberg could be a nice opponent for the SWEN Pioneers to face. Things were looking much much better than they had been just a year ago in the qualifiers.

[Legalese]

Three to one.

To the forlorn teenagers in the locker room, the outcome wasn’t, deep down in the places that they only vaguely post about on Twii.tur and secret blogs, a complete surprise. They all knew that Poafmersia was the toughest test of the three matches, and that a draw with Eshialand was not going to be enough to keep them in the top two.

However, for just a moment, they had started to believe. Perhaps it was after Pedro Vasquez returned to form in dramatic fashion. Right off the kick, he charged forward, and did his best Val Kylx impression, seemingly catching the favorites off-guard.

It was a brief moment of glory, one that edges on the fringe of impossible. And for that moment, the rest of the eleven thought they were invincible as well.

That lasted roughly twelve minutes.

By the quarter-hour, it was 2-1 Poafmersia, and while a third would come, the dream had already died.

Pedro looked around the room at his friends and compatriots, his partners in crime and football, for over a decade -- a lifetime for them, and seemingly for him as well.

Alas, he knew the rest of the story, and why they were all here: dragged through history and breaks in the fabric of time and reality to reach a potential their lives never quite reached. In the real timeline, they were late teens in a failed state, one that truly gave way after hosting World Cup 22, the time when the world learned that the state known as Legalese was held together by school paste, some incomplete stories, and only two functioning institutions -- the post and the governing body for football (and in truth, calling the latter “functioning” could be seen as generous).

Needless to say, that’s a world that’s not great for young adults with hopes and dreams. In some ways, the loss to Poafmersia was a fitting metaphor.

With all that in mind, Pedro stood up and called for everyone’s attention. The volume of the sobs lowered, as the kids turned to their friend, their silent leader.

“I have only one thing to say to you all.” He took a deep breath.

“I’m sad about how today went, but it’s hard to be that sad, when I realize that we finally got something we thought we’d never get: our shot at glory. The odds were against us, just as they were on that day in The Raptor Claw with those four big men in white towering over us. But on that day, we held them to a draw, and today, we gave it all we had as well.”

“The truth is, I’ve just wanted the chance to do this all with you. No matter how our lives go, what opportunities we get, what we end up doing from here, we got our shot on the stage, and I can’t tell you how much joy that’s given me.”

“I love you all. Thank you, friends, for today.”

The room turned silent, but not in the way Pedro expected. He saw an odd look on Kerry Kawaguchi’s face.

“Pedro, I’m happy too, but why do you talk like this is the end? This was just a first shot -- we’ll get them next time! That, or maybe we can win the AOCAF!”

Pedro started to correct him, before he had an epiphany.

“You’re right, buddy, this is just the beginning.”

Arturo stood up.
“Alas, for me it is the end. I know I could probably help you all from the bench for another cycle, but I’d already decided awhile ago that it’s time. You all are the future, not me.”

“But you’re young, don’t leave us yet, Artie!” apparently the senior member of the team had more of an effect than he realized.

Pedro waited before adding his own thoughts. “We’ll miss you, skip. Thank you for helping us prepare, for teaching us what you knew.”

Arturo chuckled. “Let’s be honest, I know much more about delivery logistics than this. I’m just glad the post gave me enough time to train.”

Only two functioning institutions…

Pedro smiled. He was now ready.

---

Bright lights again. Pedro looked around the room. He had returned -- at least in terms of attention -- to the chair in front of the dais.

He looked ahead at the bluish figures watching him.

“Before we start, I have a few questions. First, how long has passed since I first came here?”

The man in the middle chuckled. “As long as you think it needs to be. Time, after all, is more of a construct from our perspective.”

“Second: what exactly are you planning to do?”

“Ah, the more important question. As far as we can tell, we can repair the distortion of reality with a reset, of sorts. It’s like turning an electronic device off and back on again.”

“Does it wipe out everything?”

“Hardly! Nothing is ever truly wiped out, no matter what other folks may attempt. What happened has happened and will have always happened.”

“However, you might have some ability to influence this. You know what happened, and may actually be able to shape the course of events, in some ways. Upon further digging, most of the problems started sometime after the withdrawal of Starblaydi forces from Legalese for the second time. Do you have any idea what went into place?”

“As it turns out, I do. Let’s flip the switch.”

[Oberour Ar Moro]

Advanced Placement

Oberour Ar Moro needed to win, so Oberour Ar Moro won.

With a 1-0 victory over Kyzhurkistan at the Recreation Ground in St. Thomas the Dragoons claimed a spot in the Round of 32. Awaiting them there is fellow Rushmori nation Electrum.

Oberour Ar Moro v Kyzhurkistan was a battle of tactical innovation versus drilled repetition. The Kyzhurkistanis played their defensive style and kept the pace of the game down, attempting to frustrate the free running and aggressives Oberours into making errors. But they did emerge in a new formation the Oberours clearly had not prepared for: A 4-1-2-1-2, instead of their typical 4-2-2.

The Oberours lined up in their well-traveled 4-3-3, though they did begin the match clearly putting extra attention on Kyzhurkistani midfielder Tair Shamshiev and forward Attokur Rakhimov. After the match, Oberour manager Ethan Stevenson said that he and the coaches felt that the match would be fought in the “middle-lane” of the pitch, and that those two players would act as the engine of the opposition offense..

The Kyzhurkistanis, however, decided to preempt this by widening the game, putting pressure on defenders Ivon Bone-Vive and Claudes Filion. Seguinus Tesserant de Linge was quickly stationed deeper on the Oberour side of the field, while on offense the Dragoons attempted to monopolize possession of the ball and when the ball was lost try to restore control immediately.

The match was an uncomfortable one for both sides as each team painfully adjusted to the realities on the ground and their new responsibilities in the game.

When the match went into the half, the Oberour coaching staff adjusted further. The team emerged from the tunnel with two substitutions: Eneour Pique-Pain for Ronan Vrely, and Noel l’Aulogier in for Peire de Baingneus.

Pique-Pain and l’Aulogier are two of the oldest players on the roster, who stepped in for two of the youngest starters. But what they might have lacked in energy they more than compensated for in experience. Further, they proved excellent counters, widening the Oberour stance and working to funnel the game back towards the middle of the pitch, where Iudicael Breut and Laou le Boutonnier wanted to work and could do the most damage.

This change in tactic paid off for Oberour Ar Moro in the 67th minute. Tesserant de Linge, though as the game went on was freed up more-and-more to take an offensive role, demonstrated strong defensive acuity. A smart tackle on a hard-charging Mirbek Zhuraev who surely thought he was in the clear led to Noel l’Aulogier collecting the ball. l’Aulogier crossed the pitch diagonally and passed the ball on to Iudacael Bruet who angled toward goal. He then passed the ball to Nycollas Mauranghas, who retreated away from goal to get involved in the set-up. Mauranghas then smartly passed the ball back to Breut, who from his clear vantage point scored the goal.

Over the next half-hour the Kyzhurkistani attempted to go more attacking, trying to find the goal to draw the game level again. The Oberours responded by trying to expand their lead and make the score truly out of reach. Both sides had opportunities appear and then disperse. Rakhimov had an excellent chance in the 74th that was only saved by the fingertips of Dragoon goalkeeper Olliuer le Duc. In the 82nd minute Oberour substitute Peterne de Courbueil had a shot that hit the outside of the woodwork and went out for a goal kick.

Ultimately, the final whistle blew for a 1-0 win to Oberour Ar Moro. The Dragoons now prepare to face 34th ranked Electrum, who went 2-0-1 in Group F and won the group via goal difference. Electrum has won a World Cup in their history. Oberour Ar Moro are only entering the second round of a Cup of Harmony for the second time ever. But a new history is written every day.

Cup of Harmony 82 Schedule
WIN | DRAW | LOSS

MD01: Oberour Ar Moro 3 – 1 Sendhang
MD02: Independent Athletes from Quebec 5 - 2 Oberour Ar Moro
MD03: Oberour Ar Moro 1 - 0 Kyzhurkistan
Group of 32: Electrum (2-0-1) v Oberour Ar Moro (2-0-1)

[Valentine Z]

Part 3 – Fire and Fire.

For that one particular morning, it was quite a surprise for both the Valentian Kittens and Clarissa as they got the good news – they will be advancing to the playoffs, possibly for the first time in the Valentian history when it comes to their involvement in the international football. Many cheers and jubilations were had, along with Clarissa going as far as coming back in person (robot) in order to celebrate with the Kittens. "I mean, NSSCRA has not started just yet, and you know what – I really do want to congratulate and encourage you guys for the upcoming match!" So far, no injuries were had on the players, at least not the ones that put them out of the game. For the time being, the worst injury was had by Holly who suffered a bit of a headache after that defensive play against Nyowani Kitara's team. It has been quite a devastation for the Valentians, to say the least – with a score of 0-2 against Nyowani Kitara, the Valentians ended up at the second place with 4 points, and becoming one of the two teams to get into the playoffs. "We could score a LOT of goals, but at the same time, we cannot seem to defend that well," commented Nathaniel McMahon, who had had quite a time of his life in the most recent match, "Still, this is going to be particularly interesting." The play against the team from Kingdom of Quebec and Shingoryeo (Quebec) is going to prove to be quite a match, with both teams going as offensively as possible. "Fighting fire with fire, now this is not new," Clarissa remarked, "They are going to be scoring goals, we are going to be scoring goals. We just need to goal harder than them, then we win. It's a relatively simple game plan, don't worry about it!" she said with the usual smile on her face. It always work in making the team (and the other Valentians) a little bit more relaxed, to be able to see her adorable and cheerful face that radiates energy (sometimes even literally). Daina Sreynuon, on the other hand, was not sharing the same sentiment but also not disagreeing that hard. "With all due respect, Clarissa, this is all good and well and we really do appreciate your enthusiasm, and I speak for everyone when I say that we are glad to have made it this far. Still, fighting against the team called "The Grim Reapers"? I'm not sure."

She paused for a while before continuing on, "But of course, we will still try! Not sure how well or disastrous it will be, but hey, you will never know until you try!" Clarissa nodded wholeheartedly, crouching down and giving the team members a firm handshake and a gentle pat on the back. "Don't worry about it, you guys will be fine! Besides, I saved this for the rainy day such as these," she walked towards the device in the middle of the room, to which she poke it and uploaded some bits of information. "It's not exactly information on The Grim Reapers, but it still applies. I call this "What do you do when you are overwhelmed by a lot of goals?", haha! Let me work out some plans in the meantime. After all, we still have one more day to go before we play against them." Clarissa sat down gently, letting the players watch and sift through the resources on the devices. With luck, the two teams might draw. "The odds of winning are not that optimistic, if I have to be honest," Clarissa thought, calculating the scenarios where the Kittens win against the Grim Reapers. Prediction: they won 245,877 games out of the simulated 1 million.

OOC: For this single playoff, my opponent is allowed to godmod injuries on my players so long as they are not career-ending.

[Astograth]

“I’m fit,” said Aire Epherra.

“You’re not,” replied Piarres Erke without looking up from his tablet.

“You know it’s why we lost to Trolleborg, though.”

Erke lifted his eyes to the striker, bathed in the warm glow of the Montfort airport lounge’s mood lighting.

“I thought the reason we lost was Rospide,” he said.

Epherra folded his arms, not without a wince. “Well, partly. You know Gentza wouldn’t have conceded that goal.”

“No, I don’t know,” replied the manager. He’d had this conversation a hundred times with Gentza Bedigax and every member of his Ruland-Urbizania Wanderers clique, Epherra included. He didn’t want to rehash it once again, but if it took the conversation away from Epherra’s injury, it was for the better. “Rospide played well. Bedigax is winding down his career and needs to make way.” He knew what Epherra would say next: he’s one of the best in the world.

“He’s one of the best in the world,” said Epherra.

“He… was… on that spectrum, at one point. Yes. He’s had his day. But you realise Rospide starts for Itzi, yes? Audioslavian champions? Which makes him one of the best in the world, currently?”

Epherra huffed, but didn’t contest the point any further. How much of it was just performative, wondered Erke. Some macho collusion pact to keep all their backs covered, all their buddies starting.

“Each of you will play as I see fit,” he sentenced, and turned back to the reports on the Qasden – Chromatika match.a

“You need me against Chromatika,” insisted Epherra.

“Aire, you’re injured!” hissed Erke, losing patience. “Your pectoral is zakinatu. You need more rest than just Trolleborg. You’ll play in the Round of 16. If we make it.”

“We won’t without me.”

Erke stretched his lips into a mirthless smile. “We’ll just have to see then. Now go… put some shoes on, or something.” Dispensing with the uniform provided by the sponsors, Epherra dressed like he was about to board a party yacht in Iturributa.

“They’re just sandals, man,” said the forward, wiggling his toes.

“You’re 37.”

“And?”

Erke put down his tablet again. “You have to- OK, first of all, you have to behave like one, OK? Look at you. Whining to the boss that your friend isn’t playing, whining that your own injured ass needs to play just because you want to break a record. Which – by the way – you won’t break, because you’re 37 and your pectoral is zakinatu!” the rant left Erke almost breathless. “And you’re going to play football in Montaña Verde, not a bachelor party in Navel Island,” he added, with a dismissive flick of his wrist.

Epherra gave him a curious look. “So… I am going to play football.”

“N- No, I’m j-“

“And how’d you know about the bachelor party?”

That one left Erke speechless. There was an actual bachelor party in Navel Island?

“There’s an actual bachelor party in Navel Island?”

Epherra’s face turned from intrigued to sheepish. “Ohhh no, no, boss,” he laughed. “Just pulling your leg.”

“Who’s getting married?” asked Erke, himself intrigued now. Some debauched party in the Whirl Islands could have real consequences beyond Muhaburu drinking himself into a coma.

“No one!” said Epherra, scurrying away with a smile. “Talk to you later, boss! And remember: you need me!”

On the plane, Erke’s assistant Aberri Buruchaga sat next to him.

“Have you heard about the bachelor party on Navel Island?”

Buruchaga’s blank look answered for him.

“OK, I need you to find out who on the team is getting married.”

“Well, like a third of the squad is engaged.”

“Yes, but who’s getting MARRIED?”

“I think it might be one of the Rulandesers.”

“Why?”

“It would make sense from the whispers on the training ground, now that you mention a party,” said Buruchaga, hand on his chin.

Rulandesers, as Buruchaga put it… Labeaga? Wouldn’t shut up about it. Muhaburu? Couldn’t keep a partner longer than a week. Epherra? Wouldn’t be playing coy. Urgoiti? Not her style.
Erke’s eyes narrowed.

“Tipi Izotzubia.”

[Tikariot]

-- The Tikariot Premier League is covered by Simon Nighthorse and Sakari Pernfors --

Today we want to take a little look behind the scenes at the Tikariot Premier League and more precisely into the audio presentation of the clubs. It has been a long-standing tradition in Tikariot and also abroad for clubs to build their own identities in many ways, be it through their name, their colours, their logo and also through other media, such as audio (and no, there is no -slavia to be found anywhere near, just in case you may be wondering). Throughout the years most of Tikariot's professional teams have adopted a club anthem of some sorts that is played before games to get the fans going and to identify with and we got in touch with some of the people that are responsible for working on finding the right matches to see what goes into finding "the one."

Ancarea FC Kyuss - Green Machine
When trying to decide how to approach this, we came to the decision not to play any favourites and just simply go alphabetical, so the first that was on the list was the Ancarea FC and their marketing director Jess Mackie. "We wanted a song that would reflect what the club stands for, which is 'blood, sweat and tears', something grounded and 'Green Machine' immediately felt like a natural fit with its dirty directness and energy that perfectly encapsulates what the Hogs represent. The moment that riff sets in, the fans know that things are about to heat up!"

Avanaroch White Wings FC Orden Ogan - The Frozen Few
The White Wings' Manager for Multimedia, Liz McMurty, laughed when asked about how come that a team from Paladon had a song called 'The Frozen Few' as club anthem. "I know, I know, we get that question a lot. 'It doesn't get that cold that often here, how does that fit?' And sure, if you just judge it by its title, people are right, but when you're in the stadium, we don't care what the title of the song is, it's a song, it's about the music, especially since it's an instrumental to begin with... It's a signal to the fans, home or away, that things are about to begin, starting slowly and then building up to show that something is coming, something is building and then it all goes boom with a cannon shot that will probably scare people halfway into next week."

Baraldhur AFC After Forever - Mea Culpa
"Many of our fans have called Creighton Park the 'Hallowed Halls of Baraldhur', so we were trying to find something that would match that. So when we found 'Mea Culpa', our team went to create a whole video presentation to go with it with domed halls and candles etc. to reflect that. For special occasions it also gives us the opportunity to bring in an actual choice to do this live, which just adds this little bit of extra," explains Baraldhur's Media Director Sophocles Theodorakis.

Bul Khungur Miners FC Obtained Enslavement - The Shepherd and the Hounds of Hell (first 4 minutes)
With the Miners it apparently was a quite complex process to arrive at a song that would satisfy the management team and fans alike. "With a club as old and steeped in history, you have to be careful what to choose. Bul Khungur has always been a mining town, so there are a lot of legends about what happened down in the mines or what dwells in the mines. You have spirits haunting them, curses placed on some, tall tales that some went far too deep and actually reached hell and this song represents all of that. You've seen the Temple of the Crow with its basalt and how dark and tight it all is, so 'The Shepherd and the Hounds of Hell' is the perfect encapsulation of this impending doom that awaits whichever team dares to set foot in it."

Carathyr Emeralds FC Skyclad - Emerald
For Carathyr's Keith Aymar there never even was a question which song would blast across the Jewel of the Coast before Emeralds home matches. "If a song is called 'Emerald', there's not much else you can really ask for, right? I know that some clubs opt for something more mystical, some for something more aggressive, but that's not what we stand for, we're here for the fans to stand behind the team and have a good time while having it and with the Emerald Coast traditionally featuring a lot of violin in its music, there's not much more you could ask for. This is Carathyr, there's not really much more to say."

Dhun Lagarr FC Dreadful Shadows - Providence
'Providence' is one of the darkest and most melancholic club anthems of the TPL. The Bulls' Delphine Girouard sheds some (muted) light on their choice. "Dhun Lagarr is surrounded by the Dhunmoor, which often is dark, cloudy, foggy and we want to convey that same feeling in the stadium. Mute the light, get out the fog machines and then have 'Providence' play as the players come out, silhouetted against the fog. You'll just have to trust me that it works way better when you see it."

Eivora Athletic FC Prima Nocta - Stones and Metal

Emerald Coast Raiders FC Alestorm - Drink
The conversation with the Emerald Coast Raiders' Quartermaster Quinton O'Toole was short and to the point, as his response was a simple, but efficient "Yarrr!" Who can argue with that?

Guillarim Blades FC D.A.D - Rim of Hell
"We know that people don't like to travel to Guillarim. Why? I'm not sure, but some say because it feels like we're this god-forsaken place in the mountain that could lead anywhere," marketing director Xeraphina Fagerlind laughs. "So we figured that if people already have this feeling, why not make them really feel it? Yeah, some might not like the 'hell' reference, but if you're not from here, we don't want you to make yourself comfortable, we want your points, plain and simple. So when that riff hits, we want you to know what you got yourself into by coming here."

Kyethas Rivermen FC Running Wild - The Curse

Miruan City FC The Gathering - Strange Machines
Angelina Farris, Director of Media at Miruan City, says that the Lions wanted to make sure not just to represent the club, but the city overall. "Miruan is known for its car industry and back in the days the cars were seen as 'strange machines', so having this song really works. We weren't necessarily looking for an aggressive approach musically either, but wanted something more atmospheric and immersive and this song fits that. There are no strobe effects or anything harsh, but warm colours that bathe the stadium and you have this whole body experience in a way when it all reverberates."

Oriannor Mountaineers FC Amon Amarth - Victorious March
"Confident, strong, fearless. Three of the main traits the Mountaineers represent and three things that we were looking for when doing some research for our song," Roger Wentworth, Media Manager of the Oriannor Mountaineers, explains. "This is not just about having a song play when the team comes in, this is about the core principles of the club and you can't just pick something random off the shelf and just stick it in, no, it's part of a whole, part of a package and 'Victorious March' has all of what I had mentioned and from the get-go makes clear that we're here to win and nothing else counts. At first people were taken aback by the vocals and thought that we were taking it too far, but let's face it, sometimes you just have to get a little louder to get your point across, right?"

Parakleion Firebirds FC Conception - Roll the Fire
Director of Club Identity, Sofia Hayworth, is very open about the Firebirds' approach to the process. "Being the Firebirds', it was clear that it had to be something fire-related one way or another. Taking that as foundation we decided to go hivemind and reached out to the fans to send us their suggestions and also independently went out as a group and just searched, listened, felt to see, if anything touched us, if we felt a connection. I completely lost count how many songs we listened to until one of our interns actually found 'Roll the Fire', which was a fan submission, and when we played that at one of our meetings, we knew that this was 'it!'"

Port Rhovanyon AFC Ignea - Leviathan
With a nickname that is supposed to strike fear in anybody even just hearing it, the reigning champions Port Rhovanyon went on a hunt for a song that would match the intensity and feeling of the mythical beast. When reaching out to the Director of Media Magic (we are not kidding with this, by the way) of the Kraken, Jennie Christiansen, it felt as if we stepped right into dark world that wasn't quite what we were ready for. "Imagine sitting in the stadium for the first time and the lights go out. The first thing you hear are those eerie vocals and keyboards in complete darkness. Then you get the guitar and the lights go on and off whenever that drum hits and from there it just builds until you get the full wall of sound hitting you out of nowhere. I've heard this song countless times and it gives me goosebumps every time I hear it even now. It's perfect! In recent years we've also worked on a 3D hologram projection that makes it look as if the tentacles come right out of the pitch and the year we premiered that, we won the Multimedia of the Year award, something we're very proud of! Sure, it didn't quite make us very popular in Græntfjall, but you can't win every battle."

Port Tacassam FC Axel Rudi Pell - The Masquerade Ball
Port Tacassam's Media Director Britt-Louise Ringström is struggling for words. "The masquerade balls have been a very, very long-standing tradition of Port Tacassam and Acrassia as a whole. We wanted to pay homage to this tradition and feel that this song is a perfect depiction and it also really lends itself to its realization in the stadium with the lights going to a low, dark burgundy, masqued dancers on the video screen and just this whole atmosphere translating with fog machines and spotlights, mysterious and everything. It's really hard to put into words, but it's beautiful really."

Pyathora Mariners FC Nydvind - Plying the Oars
"The Mariners' close ties to the Navy were an important thing we wanted to include in our anthem," writes Naeve Anderson from Pyathora. "Yes, I know that we're far removed from propelling the ships with oars these days, but it's all about honouring the tradition as well. When we tested out a couple of songs with different fan groups, this one definitely had found a lot of approval because its atmosphere and tying past and present together. Just close your eyes and imagine the stadium all in dark blue light and it just works!"

Tikariot City FC SkyEye - The Arrival
"We wanted something epic, something majestic, something that would resemble an owl soaring through the skies and then as it lands in the stadium the music really starts up and signals that things are getting serious," points out marketing director Eamon Farquhar. "We've been experimenting with an owl hologram, a bit similar to what Port Rhovanyon does with the kraken tentacles, but more complex, because instead of just sticking out of the pitch, we're trying to get an image of an owl flying into the stadium to coincide with the music, it'll be grand!"

Valnohar Rovers FC Saxon - Solid Ball of Rock
For the Rovers, finding a matching anthem was no science as Vyacheslav Konstantinov explains. "Valnohar is not a pretty and fancy place, it is industrial, it is gritty, it is very blue collar. We don't have any legends or lore, we have hard-working people that come to the stadium for a hard-working team, so a 'Solid Ball of Rock' is just what the city and club are and stand for. Nothing more, nothing less."

Vantanoch FC Pretty Maids - Future World

Vilharady Owls FC Gotthard - Standing in the Light

Xanark City FC Dead Crown - Before the Rain
"We're from Xark, we're different." This is what we originally received as a response from Xanark City from an email address that said 'Media Dragon', but it felt a little, well, barebones. Upon asking for more details, the Dragon responded equally cryptically: "We're from Xark, we're different in many ways. We come from the North and we have heard the sound of the silence. We are not silent." After we didn't receive any reaction after this one, we gave up.

Ysgrann Bay Eagles FC Rotting Christ - Hallowed by thy Name

At the deadline for this article not all clubs had responded, so for these teams we included only the references to their anthems for completeness.

OOC Note: IC the band names don't exist as they are real bands, just the songs, I left the names in the titles, however, as both reference and respect for the artists.

[Eshialand]

Survival
Eshialand 2-1 República Guanacasteca

How did the fisherman know more about this than Moffré? Coach Morgan asked himself. Why did he trust me more?

The match against la República Guanacasteca wasn't pretty, and it was close, but it was just barely enough. Eshialand won by one goal and, thanks to Legalese losing by two to Poafmersia, advanced to the Round of 32 on goal differential, 0 to Legalese's -1. It was far from a glamorous way to make the CoH knockouts, more like tumbling in compared to the flying in on the back of the miracle that was CoH 80's match against Kandorith, but it got the job done. Eshialand was through, to play what was on paper a fair match against Nyowani Kitara.

Making it to the CoH playoffs with a fair-on-paper match was, however, all to familiar to this team; two years ago, that team was Eraman, and the Owls flubbed it in extra time. This year, something would have to change. Yes, this was better than the disaster that was 81, but surely the team could do better than they did in their debut cycle, a year that began without an Eshian Soccer Federation at all!

Coach had to rally all the troops for this one. This would have to be a showcase, a spectacle, a chance for this team to shine like they've never shone before... how could they pull this off?

"Look, I know that this has been a an odd year. It started as cursed as the last one ended, but by the IAC, things really turned around! In that sense, 2023 was far better than 2022... but in another sense, there have been problems. Our IAC ended to one of the lowest-ranked teams left after we beat both of the top 2. Qualifying got agonizingly close to qualification. The Cup of Harmony almost ended as badly as last year. There's been pain, but a different type of pain.

"There have also been changes, of course. Our Anaian friends are here now, to name the most glaring example. Yeah, change isn't always the best thing for people, but at the end of the day, change has been good for us. We've taken change and rolled with it, and I love that about you all.

"Now, this is gonna be a challenge. Of course it will be! But remember, we're the same team at our core as the one who won that Baptism of Fire. We're the same team as the one that got to the IAC Quarterfinals. Sure, there are new faces, but here we are, forever Eshialand, forever the Owls.

"We may not win the next round, sure! We may lose to Nyowani Kitara, and end this Cup of Harmony in almost the exact same position as we ended the one in Græntfjall... but at the end of the day, no matter what, we're back. We're not dealing with 2022 levels of disaster. Eshialand is out of its sophomore slump, and we've announced that to the world.

"This is probably not our year, let's face it. I don't see us winning the Cup, but you know what? That's okay. You're an amazing team, and people know that again. We aren't jokes. We're gonna go into the next match knowing that we aren't jokes. NYK will be a challenge, but you're so much more prepared for it, at least mentally, then you would've been this time last year. We can do this Owls, and even if you don't win, we're ready for 2024, I know it."

After the meeting, Jake and Alice walk out of the stadium to go eat lunch, and they asked each other the same question:

"Do you know what the heck he was talking about?"

[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 comes out with a pair of first half goals enough to put them atop their group and into the knockout stages of the Cup of Harmony


Odede Angonga(#9) celebrates the game's opening goal against Valentine Z

GARTON BAY, MONTFORT PARISH, THE LICENTIAN ISLES- The Cup of Harmony is a tournament that is not an easy tournament to find success at. It is a tournament with nations in all sorts of different places on their footballing journeys. Some are fallen superpowers(Banija last tournament, Starblaydia this tournament), that use this tournament as a one and done to re-gain confidence, hopefully get a trophy along the way, and then get right back to where they belong. Others are nations that sometimes go to the World Cup, and sometimes don't, that see this tournament as a serious opportunity to earn a major international trophy and try to get back to the World Cup- these are the nations with the highest chance of winning the Cup of Harmony. Although nations from the first category do win it quite regularly- see Pasarga's absolutely dominant performance at CoH 76. The way they sliced apart everybody they played, that might be one of the most dominant singular tournament performances of all time, although The Holy Empire at this year's World Cup is well on track to surpassing that.

And finally, there are yet others, like Nyowani Kitara, who has never even qualified for a World Cup, and see this tournament as a golden opportunity to really improve their nation's footballing standard in a high-pressure environment- and also their last chance for a feel good story heading into the next cycle. It is least likely that a nation from this category is going to actually pick up a trophy at the Cup of Harmony. We find ourselves, of course, in this last category. However, of course, having a successful tournament is not just about winning the trophy. It is about continuing to put down building blocks, continuing to perform well in those high pressure environments, and continue to make your team stronger as the Copa Rushmori looms around the corner in about a year's time.

But this is a useful measuring stick for where our nation stands. Nyowani Kitara came to Cup of Harmony 81, last time around, and that was where we were really able to, for the first time, really show ourselves off on the world stage. The Copa Rushmori entering World Cup 89 Qualifying was extremely difficult. We had gotten dead last in our group in that Copa, allowing 12 goals in just 3 games, despite earning a draw against the eventual tournament champions, Sargossa. World Cup 89 Qualifying was an adventure. It wasn't a bad performance, considering the circumstances(first ever Qualifiers in the midst of a Civil War). But it wasn't really anything to write home about, either. We didn't threaten anybody, we weren't that memorable, and not a single person anywhere was talking about the national team- which, of course, made sense considering all else we had in our country.

But CoH 81 was where, for the first time, we were really able to make an impression for our country in this sport on the world stage. We won our group at CoH 81, stunning much bigger nations like New Lusitania, by a score of 4-0, where we really got attention as a legitimate contender for bigger things in the sport. Taking that next step up. Although we fell in penalties in the Round of 16 of that Cup of Harmony, our strong performance really showed a lot of people what we were capable of. That's when we seriously started to get the respect of our peers. We used confidence built off of that to earn our first ever appearance in the CR knockout stages, upsetting former world champions Pasarga on the way and only getting eliminated by the hosts, Hispinas, in a tight 4-3 loss in the Round of 16. Players use that time to build fraternity with one another, to improve their skill playing with one another, and that rolled over to World Cup Qualifying.

We almost stunned the multiverse by potentially pulling off what surely would have been one of the most unlikely World Cup Qualifications in recent history. We went a combined 4-1-1 against Chromatika, Eura, and Sargossa. We went to the World Cup Qualification, despite numerous starters defecting from the national team mid-campaign due to capitalist propaganda from the outside. It was a miracle run to get to the playoffs, and that will be remembered for a long time by Kitarans. Ultimately, drawn against Ethane, we were simply overpowered. In this sport, as in all sports, a man-for-man talent advantage is usually going to get the job done, and that was true in the playoffs, where we fell apart on the road against Ethane in the second leg. But despite that disappointment, that does not put us in damper spirits- instead, it inspires us to get better, to use these sort of tournaments to eventually reach that goal.

Which leads us to Matchday 3 of this tournament. A campaign that, so far, looking nothing like our World Cup Qualifying campaign. When, for 16 games, we were high-flying, scoring goals at a stunning rate and conceding them at an alarming rate, we were built around our offense, defense be damned. But through two games, we hadn't conceded, and had only scored once. In this game against Valentine Z, we had an opportunity for a number of things. A chance to win our CoH group for the second tournament in a row. A chance to, with even a draw, give us a chance in the knockouts. We've never won a knockout stage match- have a first round knockout exit at the Baptism of Fire, Copa Rushmori, and Cup of Harmony. An opportunity to gain an opportunity to do a couple of things that would continue taking us that step forward.

The first half against Valentine Z, was excellent. Wang Jiahui, who largely struggled for two games, really came out in gangbusters. We largely dominated proceedings for the first 45 minutes, which was enough. The statistics simply back it up. Our xG for the half was a stunning 2.7, so the pair of goals we scored were more than deserved. Valentine Z came out on their back foots, largely looking for a draw in a game we were looking for all three points, and we were able to punish them. Our first goal was in the 15th minute, when Wang Jiahui finally recorded his first stat of the day by whipping a cross to Odede Angonga, who was able to head the ball into the back of the net. Just six minutes later, we got our second goal, when Jekuche Jokonya whipped in a brilliant shot from outside the box. We created a few more seriously quality opportunities in the half, but we could not finish.

For the second half, we mostly rested on our laurels, and were content to hold out the draw. Liang Wei, once again, congratulated his team. "Winning your group twice in a row, at a tournament like this, is an extremely difficult task." He told reporters. "And yet- here we are. The first thing I want to do is congratulate this team, especially the way we've turned it around in the back." After conceding nearly 3 goals per game throughout qualifying, it is like night and day. Give the back line some more training time, and suddenly, they're elite. 270 minutes played- three goals scored, no goals conceded. The only team, out of 56 at the tournament, to not concede once during group play. What happened?

It's hard to pinpoint, really. But the defenders seem to be holding back a little back, and not getting forward as much. Which means that while their offense is less high-octaone, it also means that they are defending in depth. And when the wingbacks do get forward, NYK's midfielders are doing a much better job of tracking back on defense. Which means, that yes, you attack in smaller numbers- the defensive crisis is resolved, for now. We'll see how long Liang Wei can resist sending his wingbacks forward. But for now, it's a strategy that's worked. Can they earn their first ever knockout stage victory of any kind against Eshialand in Montaña Verde? Or will this first knockout round be the end of the line, once again, for the Kitarans in the Cup of Harmony?

We shall see. But whatever the result, it should be one hell of an entertaining tie in Montaña Verde between these two up and coming sides.

[Montana Verde]

Cutoff for Round of 32

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Results (Verdean bracket)

Poafmersia 4–4 Muralos (5–5 AET) (5–4 pen.)
Zeta Reka and Hügeltaldom 1–2 Gyatso-kai
Chromatika 2–0 Astograth
Barunia 2–3 Omerica
Starblaydia 4–3 Sarzonia
Wreckeria 0–0 Flavovespia (0–0 AET) (2–4 pen.)
Nyowani Kitara 3–0 Eshialand
Cabo Azure 1–0 Kimi-Suomi

Round of 16

Poafmersia v Gyatso-kai
Chromatika v Omerica
Starblaydia v Flavovespia
Nyowani Kitara v Cabo Azure

Venues listed here.

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RP bonus info

Both hosts are grading all RPs to produce an average score. For the purposes of these stats, multiple RPs by one participant within a cutoff window are treated as one combined RP. While those eliminated are welcome to continue RPing in order to conclude their storylines, only RPs by qualifiers advancing were included in the grading.

23 participants earned RP bonus.
9 participants earned max RP bonus.
The mean RP earned 85% of max bonus.
The median RP earned 95% of max bonus.

[The Licentian Isles]

Round of 32

Savojarna 1–0 Eraman – LTI Stadium, Montfort, Montfort Parish
Mercedini 5–3 Savigliane – Adamson Park, Montfort, Montfort Parish
Acastanha 2–3 Qasden – Gardiner-Stewart Stadium, Abingdon, Abingdon Parish
Krytenia 6–3 Tikariot – Coliseum of the Gaels, Abingdon, Abingdon Parish
Yuezhou 3–1 Estorvipa and Estorpiva – St Bart’s Oval, St Bart’s, St Bart’s Parish
Trolleborg 0–0 Southwest Eastnorth (1–1 AET) (4–3 pen.) – St Ninian’s Athletic Ground, Rafford, St Bart’s Parish
Independent Athletes from Quebec 1–2 Valentine Z – Barton Software Arena, Colesham, Colesham Parish
Electrum 1–1 Oberour ar Moro (2–1 AET) – Farnworth Municipal Stadium, Farnworth, Colesham Parish

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Round of 16

Savojarna v Mercedini – LTI Stadium, Montfort, Montfort Parish
Qasden v Krytenia – Gardiner-Stewart Stadium, Abingdon, Abingdon Parish
Yuezhou v Trolleborg – St Bart’s Oval, St Bart’s, St Bart’s Parish
Valentine Z v Electrum – Barton Software Arena, Colesham, Colesham Parish

[Muralos]

Two Matches for the Books
(OOC: Muralos has already been eliminated, and I don't have the time or energy to fully RP these two matches, but I am posting these scorelines for record keeping purposes.)

Muralos 5 - 3 Geektopia
Muralosian scorers: A. Brava 22' (assist Rui), V. Lin 29' (assist V. Lumin), M. Zheng 52' (pen.), G. Zhong 72', J. Abramovich 88' (assist Rui, off an indirect free kick)
Geektopian scorers: Abdill 35', Zalie 'amquk 64', Lertora 85'

Muralos 4 - 4 Poafmersia (5-5 a.e.t.; 4-5 pen.)
Muralosian scorers: J. Abramovich 6', Smedun 72', L. Donaldson 76', V. Lin 80' (assist Rui), A. Brava 107' (assist M. Zheng)
Poafmersian scorers: I. Innocenti 30', 57', 97', M. Tuft 40', 43'
Penalties: Brava, Lin, Rui, Shchedrina, Zhong (X) | Innocenti, Dufour, Murphy, Tuft, Astrauskas

[Krytenia]

Dragons Fling A Tik Six
By Rami Niblick in Abingdon, The Licentian Isles

ANY accusations of Richard Valens being too defensive to be Krytenia manager are officially dead and in hell. This was a Dragons performance that oozed confidence as the side survived an early scare to absolutely bury their opponents from Tikariot. True, the Krytenians did maintain that patient style that has become a Valens trademark, but it was a case of being unhurried rather than unnecessary caution.

You wouldn't have expected such a consummate performance, though, judging by the first two minutes. Tikariot kicked off, and immediately went onto the front foot, putting pressure from the start on Krytenia's back four. Quick movement of the ball, with Celyn Monaghan pulling the strings, led to the error of Elias Molinari being dragged out of position; Virgil Wickens took full advantage, threading the ball to an unmarked Adrien Grimaud who slotted past an exposed James Orwell to give the team in black and fuchsia the lead.

There's an old adage, though, that it is possible to score too early. Certainly, this seemed to be the case. Conceding almost right off the bat served mainly to perform a hard reboot on the Krytenian team, and whereas a side led by Paul Davis or Jerome Jaffacake-Phillips might have panicked, the patented Richard Valens psychology is to play your own game and trust in the team rather than try and rush to an equaliser. Scott Stringer, Robert Reeder, and Carlos Senna took control of the means of production, keeping the ball central and probing for an opening in Tikariot's defence. Denied the oxygen of having the football, the Owlets were starting to look uncomfortable and impatient, and this is where the mistakes came in. Cande Montalban in particular was causing untold headaches for the Tikariotian centre-backs, and on fourteen minutes, his shielded quick pass to Ciaran Rafferty took Xander Augustinsson out of the play, allowing the Hibs man to find Alun Belmwr with space to shoot into the top corner. Despite some spirited efforts from Monaghan and the Owlets - good name for a pop-rock band, that - Krytenia continued their patient pressure, with Stinger again chief puppetmaster. The frustration showed shortly before the half hour; Augustinsson left a leg out on Montalban, conceding a free-kick in a dangerous position. Reeder's strike from the set-piece was sublime, with curl and dip to barely clear the Tikariot wall and nick past the despairing hands of Brian Merson to put Krytenia in front.

By half-time, Krytenia were completely in control as Tikariot found themselves chasing a game they initially led. Gaps began to open, Belmwr was denied a second by the crossbar, and it seemed almost inevitable that the Dragons would score again. They were proved correct when Stringer's long-range effort deflected off Caleb McKinley and went out for a corner. Senna's delivery was deep, Reeder headed the ball back across the face, and Montalban stuck out a leg and poked home in the ensuing melee. Not the prettiest goal the Chromatik FC player will ever score, but they all count, and it meant Krytenia went into the break with a useful safety net.

Brian McAllister is a canny manager, and he knew that the best way to get back into the game was to force Krytenia out of their comfort zone. With Clement McIlroy and Kelvin Rowley working the overlaps to try and crowd out the Krytenian midfield, they initially met with some success, pushing on and creating chances. Adam Dodd was unlucky not to pull one back with a glancing header that flashed past the post, and Morris Nighthorse had a thumping strike well saved by Orwell. Certainly, Krytenia were reminded that they were still in a game, and the job was only half done.

Pushing forward, though, leaves gaps behind, and Krytenia have some pretty useful full-backs of their own. It would be fair to say that the Dragons' fourth was against the run of play, but there again it's also fair to say that Pablo Diaz' interception of Wickens' cross-field pass was world class. Diaz has a lovely turn of pace, and with Rowley on the back foot he and Reeder had bags of space on the right flank. Reeder's cross found the head of Belmwr, who gave Merson no chance as he guided the ball into the bottom corner.

Tikariot, though seemingly beaten at this point, were not bowed. The Owlets never feel that they are out of a game as long as there is time on the clock, and they stuck to their high tempo, trying to keep Krytenia on the back foot. To be fair to them, with the unfortunate exception of the Diaz interception, the plan had been working. A second goal was deserved, and when it came it was an absolute world-class strike. Nighthorse, receiving the ball a full thirty yards out, unleashed a thumping drive that blazed past Orwell and into the corner. Game on.

Or was it? Valens' reaction was to remove Rafferty and instead look to shore up the middle, bringing on Tom Kelleher essentially as a leash for Monaghan, choking the central fulcrum of the Tikarotian team. Though the Owlets continued to use the flanks well, that lack of a release valve seemed to take the air out of the band, and Krytenia, upping their pace to match their opponents, regained their foothold in the game. The faster play was more suited to an Ousevale man of the type that Stringer is, and he found himself in his element as chaos reigned around him. Quick movement of the ball with Senna allowed him to bear down on the defence, before laying off to Montalban who had the space and time to pick his spot and put the game beyond the Owlets. There was still time for an insurance policy, too, Stringer himself picking up a goal capping off another quick passing movement, as the Dragons hit a half-dozen for the second time in three matches.

Admittedly, there was a small blotting of the copybook late on, as substitute Rob Armthorpe was too casual passing back to Orwell, allowing Dodd to get there first and score. By this point, though, the game was long gone, and Tikariot will go home frustrated at letting the game getting away from them and wondering what might have been.

Next up, then, is the round of sixteen. Krytenia showed in this match that they have vulnerabilities, but they also have the strength of character to work past them. At this stage of the competition, that mental fortitude could prove crucial. Their opponents are Qasden, and the cat-loving nation will be looking to have the last meow. If the Dragons can get it right, though, they can be the big dogs of that particular yard. Onward!

KRYTENIA - 6
Belmwr 14, 57
Reeder 29
Montalban 43, 78
Stringer 86

TIKARIOT - 3
Grimaud 2
Nighthorse 66
Dodd 90+1

[HUElavia]

End of the Road.

HUElavia's Cup of Harmony ends in a bitter draw to Brookstation, sending them out of the tournament with questions ahead.

Brookstation 2-2 HUElavia
(Robes 67', Cust 88' | Yamane 51', Nascimento 79')
(LTI Stadium, Montfort, The Licentian Isles)

Entering Matchday 3, HUElavia was obligated to go all out for a victory against Brookstation to at least hope the team could advance to the knockout stage of the Cup of Harmony. Coach Leonardo Conavacio opted to use the A-Team once again, hoping that they could generate a favorable result. Unfortunately, that would not be the case. Despite taking the lead twice in the game, Brookstation ended up getting two goals to try to stay alive, where ultimately, both teams ended with a draw, 2 points, and eliminated. In what has been one of the worst performances of the HUElavian Football Team in any tournament, the HUElavian press and fans have given much ire and criticism on the handling of the team. On top of that, lapses in the defense has made the media and fans alike criticize players such as Vogt and Coentrao for their errors during this game, as well as backup players like Casillas from the lack of goalkeeping for the first game.

Despite these criticisms, the president of the HUElavian Football Association (HFA), Rebecca Fonseca Nazário, announced that after having a lengthy discussion with Coach Conavacio in Curumba upon the team's return, they will be keeping him for two more years to have him manage the team for the 15th Independent Associations Championship. While much of the supporters did not like the decision, the players came onto social media to voice their support of the coach and how they are happy to have him around for at least two more years. This was especially the case with the players who played for him in the Wonder Cup, where he jumpstarted their international careers and brought them into the national spotlight once again.

While it was noted that Conavacio would face a sack for not making the knockout rounds of the Cup of Harmony, the Wonder Cup title has given him insurance to continue managing the team in what has been over a decade upon the helm of the team. Currently aged 67, Conavacio's possible final test with the HUElavian team is what he was hired for: To Win the IAC. As it stands, IAC 15 may very well be the final tournament he manages Los Amarillos/Os Amarelos, which will depend on the performance and his age. A win will guarantee his job, allowing him to make the decision if he wants to continue or retire, anything short of the title would mark the end of his tenure with the team.

There are talented players in HUElavia and there is enough star power for the team to go all-in for the title, but the question becomes whether the team can overcome the psychological barrier that has been the IAC Final, the match that they have lost a disgraceful 5 times, to the point where people question whether the team is cursed, as well as the team has become a meme in the multiverse for this level of futility.

The next two years will be dedicated to find the very best players to be picked for the 23-player roster, one where the eyes will be on the team. While the media and fans are more than glad and proud to support the team, being this good of a national team comes with massive expectations, especially because of all the times they have made it to the peak of Independent Football, only to fall short.

Here's to a better future.

FORCA HUELAVIA! VAMOS HUELAVIA! GO HUELAVIA!

[Flavovespia]

Wreckeria 0 (2-4p) 0 Flavovespia

Football can be a game of fine margins, and in the ultimate test of nerves, it was Flavovespia who made up for the heartbreak of the last game with a tense victory on penalties. The 120 minutes that preceded it were a display of defensive dominance, and it all came down in the end to 8 kicks from the spot to determine who was in the Round of 16.

It was a reversion to the Matchday 2 squad that defeated Soldera for Flavovespia, in this Round of 32 tie. Flavovespia had stayed in Montaña Verde, but the eastern coastal city of Valerigua, and the Estadio Revolución Verde was the venue for this encounter. Flavovespia were in their purple third kit, the black, orange and white kit of Wreckeria was deemed too much of a clash with either the yellow home kit or black away kit of Flavovespia. It was also a poignant occasion for Wreckeria no matter the result, there was much uncertainty on whether this tournament would be their last ever, a loss in this game could end the era of Wreckeria.

As with many knockout games, it was a very tentative start. There was little marauding forward by the Flavovespian full backs, and it was clear David Clark and Kieron Player were sitting deep, not allowing much space in behind them at all. Sig Justice was seeing plenty of the ball for Wreckeria, but he could rarely pick out a teammate to make a threatening move. 24 minutes before even a single shot on target happened, and Jonathan Bagshaw’s effort from the edge of the box wasn’t a big test for John Marlowe.

The first 45 minutes ended with the score at 0-0, and the tally for shots and shots on target not much higher. The politest way to describe it would be a nervy, cautious knockout game, but a cup classic, this was not. Neither side looked disappointed in all fairness, but there was maybe a sense amongst Flavovespians that they should be trying to press their theoretical advantage based on KPB ranking and group points.

The second half nearly began with a goal. Huey Hooper and Clive Carson got in a muddle, and Scott Coleman pounced on the ball. He then tried to square it across to Jonathan Bagshaw, but the young winger got the ball caught under his feet, and by the time he was ready to shoot, Scott Murphy had hoofed the ball away. It was a missed opportunity for Flavovespia, and Scott Murphy certainly looked unimpressed at his fellow defenders.

But for a testing shot by Gary Bronson halfway through the second half, that Lucky Diamond saved well, the advantage in the game seemed to be going towards Flavovespia. Michael Cole finally returned to the team substituted on for Jonathan Bagshaw, and it livened up the attacking trio of Flavovespia. A fair few decent chances were saved or blocked, and Michael Cole in particular looked like he had something to prove.

The game however, would remain goalless after 90 minutes, and the tired legs on the pitch would have to muster up another 30 minutes of energy. Only 3 minutes in, and a typically bruising challenge by Scott Murphy on Michael Cole saw the two players square up, before teammates ran in to drag them apart. The agony of the video referee thankfully ended without the red card being shown, only a yellow for each. Fatigue was setting in, and at the extra time half time, the dreaded penalty shootout began to look more and more likely.

The minutes ticked on, and although the play was getting more open, a goal didn’t seem that likely. The question about who would be taking penalties, who wouldn’t, would subs come on just for that purpose came to mind? Rinaldi sent almost all of his available substitutes down to warm up, including the goalkeeper, but in the end chose to make no changes. And after 120 minutes, despite a late corner for Flavovespia causing a bit of panic before John Marlowe grabbed the ball and fell on it, it finished goalless. Penalties it would be.

The toss went the way of Flavovespia, who’d take the first penalty, in front of the Wreckeria end of the ground. Scott Coleman, penalty take for Flavovespia went up first, and a firm strike to his left opened the scoring. Gord Sheppard did the same to tie up the shootout, showing no emotion whatsoever. Steven Hall went to the right, sending John Marlowe the wrong way. Young David Marlin didn’t let the pressure get to him, a shot that went straight down the ground into the bottom corner made it 2-2. Up next, Michael Cole, and with a rocket of a shot that seemed like it’d take the net off, made it 3-2. Then, Gary Bronson didn’t get the power or placement needed on his shot, it wasn’t far off the centre, and Lucky Diamond parried it away. Advantage to Flavovespia.

Robert Totten was up next. He went the unconventional route, going just under the crossbar in the centre. He got it just right, and with John Marlowe committed to a dive, the Wreckeria goalkeeper couldn’t save it. It was down to Booby Belcher to keep his side in the Cup of Harmony 82. He ran up, and struck the ball fiercely to his left. But he could only watch as Lucky Diamond went the same way, and swatted the ball out of the air with his left hand. Belcher stood, head in his hands, as his teammates realised it was over. Lucky Diamond leapt up, pulled his shirt off and ran, waving it over his head before diving into the embrace of his teammates. Flavovespia were through on penalties, and the game-winning save made by Lucky Diamond, his hand outstretched, his hair flowing with his dive, became the image of the game.

Flavovespia move on to the Round of 16. Their opponents for this game, the favourites to go and win it all, and fellow WCQ90 Group 12 opponents, Starblaydia. Starblaydia found Sarzonia a tricky opponent in their Round of 32 game, but a 7 goal thriller was edged by the favourites, 4-3. Estadio Deportivo Cyprien Portillo Serrato, Rocalaro is the venue, for a game that on paper has a likely winner and it isn’t Flavovespia. Nevertheless, it was the Round of 16 in CAFA2 where Flavovespia, thanks to a stunning hat-trick in 5 minutes by Robert Totten, shocked Starblaydia with a 4-3 victory. 1 win, 1 draw and 1 loss for each in the 3 matchups for these nations, and despite being the underdogs, Flavovespia know that maybe, just maybe, it could be their day.

[Trolleborg]

Greetings, compatriots!
It’s TTV from Licentian Isles, where “our” part of CoH playoffs was played. Our team made it to playoff not without many troubles – it can be said, instead, that players take a spot with big difficulties. In the first round we have team from Southwest Eastnorth as opposition. A team that performed well in the last qualifying tournament for the World Cup, but extremely unsuccessful: being certainly not the weakest in its group, and demonstrating quite a high-quality game, it finished last, failing to win a single victory with eight draws and six losses, and this is after a decent finish in the top half of the table a season earlier. However, in the strange qualifying tournament full of weird results of the, it was not at all surprising.

The true strength of the team was revealed at CoH, as it confidently passed the group stage with a sturdy teams, but at the end it suffered a quarrel in the top brass ranks, its young coach (almost half of the players are younger) left the team, and, as a result, one would expect some lack of composure from the players . But it didn't work out that way. The match turned out to be difficult for our team, requiring a lot of strength and nerves. It remains to be seen how seriously this will affect the future games.

Our head coach this time settled on almost the same squad that won the last match of the group stage. And again entrusted post number 1 to Soderhelm. I don't think that many would envy this goalkeeper, albeit an experienced and one who has seen a lot, but now he has taken on his shoulders the brunt of responsibility for the team at such a difficult moment. Again, a redoubt of four defenders was built in front of the goal, one of which was constantly pulled back to help and insure his comrades, and a defensive midfielder, this post this time was entrusted to the highly experienced Groningen. Apparently, coach also take into the account that the attacking players of opponents are mostly people of a decent age, since both flank defenders were selected taking into account their speed qualities and constantly can in addition to defensive duties pumped up pressure on opponents far forward.

But all smart decisions of Morten Troghil almost to the very end of the game did not lead to anything. The lads had the opportunity to open score, and they were very good, but the ball, as sometimes it’s possible to say, did not want to go into the net. In each episode, something was missing: somewhere speed, sometimes concentration, somewhere experience, sometimes perseverance. And when there was everything right, Mick Bolen got in the way of the ball.

So the match went to extra time, and shortly after it started, Ulysses Barnett shocked the fans of our team - after his powerful shot, the ball bounced off two defenders and ended up in the goal of Soderhelm, who had been playing confidently before.

On the TV screens the shock was clearly visible on the sweat-drenched faces of our heavily breathing football players. Everything they had done before collapsed in one second. After 95 minutes of playing with a clear advantage to be on the losing side... there have been such matches in the history of our team, and usually they are ended badly. The head coach, however, immediately jumped to the touchline and energetically inspired his players - and, apparently, found the right words. Pretty quickly the team came to its senses, and after the break, we finally saw it as we wanted to been. Nevertheless, the speed and beauty of the moves does not replace scores on the scoreboard. Success came when many already believed that the performance at the tournament was over.

After a struggle on the outskirts of the penalty area and directly in it, Pathmor managed to push the ball forward and there Langepaas, with his characteristic talent to be at the right time in the right place, was able to shoot at the goal – and made a proper shot!

And this goal brought the team to the second ever penalty shootout in its history. We all experienced these moments together with the players, let's live it again.


SWEN begins...

Sean Bravaro take the ball

and send it right into the corner.
0-1

Skrta goes to the box. Sets the ball carefully. Made a run...

Keeper almost touch ball, but almost is not enough in this case
1-1

Experienced Phillip Di Grassi move unhurriedly from the center of the field... Prepare to shot...

and Soderhelm masterfully parried his shot!!
Score in penalty shots remain 1-1!

Kranforde has a chance to put Trolleborg forward.

And he did this!!
2-1

Mark Sternes next one in the line...

and he made a good shot, Soderhelm almost reach it... Unfortunately, only almost...
2-2

Morten Troll goes to made a shot.

and made score
3-2!

Tim Mincer, only foreign-league player in SWEN team, young hope of the country.

Ahhhh, Soderhelm again move where the ball goes... and missed it by no more than two fingers
3-3

Pathmoor walk into the box. Unusual choice, it must be said. He almost never take a penalty shots on himself.

But in this case he make all as if did penalty kicks every game
4-3

Ulysses Barnett goes to the spot. He made a short run

and while our goalkeeper again guess right, left goalpost help him!
4-3, we won!!

Fans on the stands and throughout whole Trolleborg cry and yell in delight. But there was really no time for leisure time and relaxation – we have on hands tough game with Yuezhou

[Gyatso-kai]

2-1 GYATSO-KAI! ON TO THE ROUND OF SIXTEEN!

ONLINE EDITION

16 FEBRUARY 2022.1

TOURNAMENT - CUP OF HARMONY (Multi-Verse)

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Written by TORO Nobuda

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YARIRIO, MONTAÑA VERDE --- The Bisons of Gyatso-kai continue to impress fans both at home and abroad, taking Zeta Reka and Hügeltaldom down 2-1 in the opening match of the Cup of Harmony Proper in Yaririo.

Struggling to build momentum in the first half of the game – with the Bisons being outshot 19-8, and only having a 38% possession rate – it would be a header from Dag’da Skirata in the sixty-third minute that would signal the change for the Avatarian team. The long pass from Ma Haijing had originated from a steal by the right side half of the ‘Northern Duo’ who, at thirty-seven-years-of-age continues to break the stereotypes of older Avatarian players by remaining just as fast and just as strong as he was back in the last Cup of Harmony he played in.

”It isn’t as easy as it once was,” Ma spoke during a post-game interview. ”You still go out and practice just as hard, you train as hard. But man, does the body need just a few minutes more in the morning shower to recoup.”

Evidently he took a bit more than a few minutes, with Ma knocking in his 75th multiverse goal in the eighty-eighth minute. For the midfielder from Northern AFC, scoring in late games is certainly not something he is unfamiliar with; given the style preferred by Interim Head Coach Wong Haru – himself a former midfielder for the National Team – midfielders will often press more forward on the offensive and switch from the native 4-5-1 into what is termed the “Avatar’s Spear” in which the four defense players spread out, pushing the strongest one – in this case, Hashimoto Isamiru thanks to his amazing endurance – into a more “centreback” role, while the midfielders invert into forward-orientated wedge designed to funnel the ball constantly back to the striker and the two forward midfielders, often Ma and Takahashi Hikaru, providing additional pressure and playing more like forwards. Hisakawa Si Woo, known as one of the most technical midfielders on the Bisons, finds himself coming in between the two forward midfielders and will often make shots of his own.

The man doesn’t have thirty-six goals by sitting on the back end and keeping defence together…

Just as the weapon it is named after, ‘The Avatar’s Spear” often succeeds in hitting its mark. Of course, this formation is also the reason so many one-goal-behind games for the Bisons often wind up as two-goal-behind games. All the forward momentum will often lead the backfield weaker, and creates a lot of negative space at the midfield that is often filled by a long pass from a front steal and will find the team scrambling to readapt and shift back…

Luckily for the Bisons this match… ZR&H did no such thing. And when time expired, and additional time ran out, the Bisons were celebrating at midfield.

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THE NEXT MATCH

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vs Poafmersia₄
Style: + π
Colors: RED // ORANGE
CoH 82 Record: 3-0-0 (9pts), 1st Group K

The Red Panjia’s of the People’s Republic of Poafmersia are undefeated in the tournament to date. This is, of course, after coming off a World Cup campaign that saw them go 9-2-3 in the group stage, just a lone point behind Pasarga and earning a spot in the Play-In Rounds, where the Red Panjias faced Vdara twice and were not able to score; while the Vdarans made just a single goal in the second match to advance.

That elimination inspired the Poafmersian side…

Some of the more rambunchous fans in the multi-verse, the team is just as energetic. We’ve faced them twice before – not that long ago in World Cup LXXXVII – and came out of both matches defeated; an aggregate score of 8-5. They play a similar game to us, with both of our teams rated by ASPN as +3 style, though, Poafmersia is a team that is known for punishing every mistake you make and capitalizing on every chance they get.

Just have to make as little mistakes as possible… Easy right?

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Copyright 2022.1 Avatarian Sports Programming Network. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
URL: http://www.aspn.com.gk/articles/coh/01300221
© 2022 Avatarian Sports Programming Network

[Chromatika]

Estadio Departamental Patricio Ordóñez Berganza
Medemenia, Montaña Verde

After the last player left the pitch, after waiving off the custodian and stating that she would be gone within the half hour, Sandra Sybill sat, alone, at the middle of the pitch. For all its different quirks, Montaña Verde was a beautiful nation; she'd really enjoyed the stay in the country, while starting to get her feet under her in this very difficult tournament that they were a part of. After being left in shambles due to the game against Nyowani Kitara, after losing their Captain and multiple veterans as they tried to pick up the pieces, the Anomalies had made their way to this foreign nation with the hopes of starting anew.

The match against The 14 Stars - just scraping by - was not the best start, but they managed the feat. Drawkland gave them all that they could handle, but they salvaged a draw. Then, Juxon Fillar had put on a clinic against Qasden, getting the three points needed in order to get to the knockout rounds. and winning the group. There had been a few earned smiles after that match, the team starting to believe again, starting to be themselves again, starting to be Chromatiks again...

Then, the most recent match, a showdown against Astograth at Estadio Polideportivo Presentación Acuna Archuleta, in Cotata.

Sandra was the most overjoyed about the way that this team was ramping up to something. Every game, they looked more put together and on the same page. Every game, they took initiative, controlled the time of possession, and made sure that the flow of the match went in their favor. It had been tough going to start to believe in themselves again, but before that match against Astograth, when she saw Juxon, the new Captain, talking to the rest of the squad, she felt a sense of peace come over her that she hadn't felt during her entire tenure as the Manager for the Anomalies. No, not even in the early moments of the qualifying cycle had she felt the sense of serenity and trust in her squad.

What followed was the best ninety minutes of football yet for the Anomalies under Sybill. Juxon Fillar stopped all seven shots on goal, though he didn't need to do much with just how well the back four were playing together. The defensive midfield - Kateryna Zuniga and Kaia Larriet-Cortes - bottled down any Astograthian attack, while the wingers played well with Haley Hauser in pushing the pace and getting the ball to Alician Gainsbourg. To nobody's surprise, it would be Gainsbourg that opened the scoring with a tap-in after a particularly nice piece of passing play with Vasiliy Marten Kuznetsov, giving Chromatika the early lead.

However, the team would not sit back on their laurels, pushing the pace; scarcely twelve minutes after scoring the first goal, Chromatika would be the one to add on right before halftime, with VMK himself scoring from medium range on a neat left-footed shot that announced to the rest of the field that Chromatika was getting closer and closer to being on form.

In the second half, Chromatika would bottle down, play a bit further back, and be a little safe in holding out the two-nil victory, being content with maintaining the lead.

Now, well... The next match would the the most important in Sandra Sybill's brief tenure as the Manager of the Anomalies. Arguably, the match against Nyowani Kitara had been more important, it was true; that match could have resulted in the Chromatiks advancing to the qualifying playoffs, after all.

She still remembered the look in Viktor Karras, Jr.'s eyes when he had told her that she had one chance to redeem herself for the Chromatika job, but it would require reaching at least the Quarterfinals for the Cup of Harmony. Sure, the goal was always to win the entire thing - there had only been two teams ranked higher than Chromatika in the competition, after all - but step one was to show that she wasn't a total failure and that she deserved another shot with the qualifying efforts of World Cup 91.

Sybill herself remembered the bittersweet feeling of not being able to make the World Cup Finals, having suffered that fate in the first few teams to represent Chromatika. She also remembered the elation of qualifying, and the glory that was to be a part of the team that had placed fourth in the World Cup. She wanted more than anything to help the next generation of Chromatiks, and especially the Fillar siblings, reach that level of plateau - and she had this one chance to prove that her level of devotion was genuine.

So, the Round of Sixteen. Omerica, a side that, though not fancy nor eye-catching, still plays a solid brand of football, having defeated Barunia in the Round of Thirty-Two after a 1-2-0 Group Stage result. Not the most difficult of opponents, but the World Cup so far had shown that there were no easy points, and this group of players were no strangers to heartbreak.

They had no room for that in their lives any longer. Enough had been lost already, especially pride and face after the debacle against Nyowani Kitara. No, it was time to cement both Sybill's tenure as the Manager for one more cycle but also the Anomalies' status as a team that had just run across unfortunate circumstances. Rumors abounded about what else could change if they would falter - would the team go through an entirely new rebuild and only retain half the roster? Would they dare go for another Chromatik Manager or pull in a foreigner after only one cycle of domestic management, further cementing the fact that perhaps Chromatik managers were a joke?

She had one chance with her team to put all those naysayers to rest, to paint a future with potential and possibility. Reaching the Semifinals or winning the entire thing would be the best message, but this would be the opening salvo.

In her mind's eye, she went back to that look on Juxon's face as he rallied the troops. That subtle look of belief, of purpose, of oneness.

They were ready.

[Qasden]

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Up With the Dukes: The Job's Not Done

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By Tomathan Hammerland

I was perfectly happy with getting to spend the rest of the Cup of Harmony in the Licentian Isles without needing to work again. Qasden had made the knockouts, a goal milestone for Icarus Darsten's managerial debut cycle. Winning was irrelevant, I just wanna sleep in while in a country whose ancient languages I don't understand. But noOoOo, I gotta do more employment credibility. Wrong'uns, all of em, making me use my time in Esportiva responsibly

Where to put the blame? The hexadecafinal! After failing to outlast a hangry Chromatik team looking for the candy bar of victory, the Vans had dropped in an anti-climatically climatically fashion. A mere shifting from 1 to 2 threw the River's End down a flight of ranking stairs, towards the bottom of an insurmountable trench. No harm, of course, as The 14 Stars and Drawkland played each other out of the cup with a draw, but the fall from that brief sense of glory would prove disastrous for not only our hopes of taking the title, but the wallets of QAFA funders for travel costs. Thanks to the L, Qasden's premier hodge podge of players were shipped off to the Licentian Isles, never having to deal with the rainforest rumbleground in Montaña Verde again for the remainder of the tournament. As fun as Rocalaro was, the change in climate was a bit more welcoming.

So, tagged with an ugly 25th seed and dropped off in an archipelago with a language that scares me, the nation's cream of the crop were primed to contest for an unwinnable trophy against teams performing better than them at every stage of the tournament. Marlene help us. The aforementioned hexadeca would be a rather tame one, in comparison to others: a battle of the bands against an overperforming Acastanha. The Melayuans had started their quest for harmony in similar vain to our own: being the 3rd-pot club with partial hopes and partialer dreams. Some early hits and misses gave way to a title match against the top side, Mercedini, where Acastanha diverged from our shared path to take the better, more illustrious one. A dub for them awarded seed #8, plopping them face to face against a bunch of cats with jerseys strapped over there heads. For either, a win here would be significant towards legitimizing underdog power; and with the battleground of choice being the adoring Gardiner-Stewart Stadium of Abingdon, the match was sure to be a thriller come the whistle.

Oh! Looks like the whistle went awhile ago. You know how many ferry tours there are in this country? It was either that or the game, and your boy can absolutely not miss out on looking at feral water outside of their glasses. From what I could tell from another person's report on the game, it was quite the match. A back and forth possession of the ball granted numerous opportunities for goals to be exchanged, ultimately leading to a bass boost in offense to secure the final goal. 3-2, the imaginary crowd goes wild. Team AO still has more than Gyatso-Kai to work with, something to keep snubbing those pesky Anaians while also contributing to the total destruction of another region's delegation. Fun! But for Qasden, who really wasn't sure who to call now, how does their future favor them? Truth be told, I wrote it somewhere on here, but you're gonna have to go through some more mini reports of other Octofinals. They're back, baby, and so help us, more of these countries are gonna cram up the graphics machine back home. We'll just focus on who's left in our side of the bracket, coupled with some cazoozling of the actual layouts.

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An upset is always enjoyable to watch, unless it's not, then it's not fun anymore. In this case, we're presented with the rare parallel to our run in #28 Valentine Z, an underranked, cat-based squad defying the laws of the game for no other reason than spite and twelve bags of loose catnip. The vulenrable Kittens lucked themselves into a knockout spot when groupmates HUElavia and Brookstation drew themselves out of the will, giving way to an unlikely Top 2. For their group's winner, Nyowani Kitara, progression pitted them against a nihilistically optimistic Eshialand. For Valentine Z, a daunting match against the contest's #5, the Independent Athletes from Quebec. Despite the obvious disadvantage, the undercats kept themselves busy enough by making the shocking early exit of the Grim Reapers a reality, 2-1ing the trans-regional escapade dead in their tracks. With the largest name in their hexadecile gone, it's off to play the David against another Goliath: #12 Electrum. While still a mystery to this day as to where they got their gold star, the Electrumites and their ass-kicking flag took to the showdown by starting off right: barely winning their group by a single goal. Had Sarzonia not crush Southwest Eastnorth as badly as they did, it'd be pretty easy to assume the Rushmoris wouldn't be in the place they are now. Even with the group title, however, Electrum still seemed rattled going into the Round of 32, having to barely scrape past Oberour Ar Moro in extra time to advance. Where to go now? An aspiring runner up challenges a group winner for a quarter-final spot, where anyone's game can lead to greatness or something, idk, I spent too long on this one.

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Let's not spend that much time on the rest of these, yeah? Unlike the last matchup, #4 Yuezhou and #13 Trolleborg observe themselves in a rather tight competition. The Dragons (the first ones, anyways) came away with a rather successful group, winning against the likes of Savigliane and Saterun and drawing Mertange. 7 points is nothing to laugh at here, especially when it gifts you a challenge in BoF firehouse, Estorvipa and Estorpiva. The twin names ended up meaning nothing to Yuezhou, brutally massacring them in the hexadeca in order to make their mad dash to the quarters that soon await them. The defending champions, meanwhile, found group solace with a narrow victory over Astograth to push them towards a low, but comforting mid-seed. Due to play Southwest Eastnorth, the non-Yuezhou Dragons fought tooth and nail with these directionally omniscient wanderers, so much so that it took penalties to break the tie and save the defense run. How well this'll translate here is another story, but one to keep an unassuming eye on.

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Haha, you thought this would ever be in order; but instead it's me, disorganization! A familiar sight in sports, the 1v16 is often regarded as an open and shut case for whoever gets that figgy pudding first. That being said, when it's #1 Savojarna taking on #16 Mercedini, you begin to understand the stakes in a truly competitive match. While the snow-white kings of the group stage clipped an ambitious Eraman 1-0, the Golden Eagles took to the skies in an all-out aviary goalwar against the Swans of Savigliane, bringing death, destruction, and neither of those happening because this is football, not football. 5-3, the battle of 2 almost identical squads ended in a show for the stars. Mercedini has every right to fear the Savojars, but as Rushmori stronk as they may be, the top dogs of the house are gonna need a whole lotta arrows to take down these birds of prey.

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Yay, immediate relevancy! So, with #8 Acastanha gunned down, #25 Qasden, one of the lowest still in the tournament, now find themselves at the behest of a once laughable, now frightening giant. The #9 Krytenia came into the Cup of Harmony as the top seed of their group, took said group in goals scored, and now stood towering over the Vans, complete with a mantle made from Owls. Tikariot was much more believed to pull off the upset here, given the nation's high ranking outside the knockouts. Unfortunately, the thing about the cyan dragons is that, until the semi-finals, they are nothing but an impossible hell to try and rule over. In absolutely brutal match ensued at Abingdon's Coliseum of the Gaels, feathers and scales flying into the stands like t-shirts from a cannon. In the end, however, a fresh batch of maroon poultry was served, 6-3. The Anaian Dragons now look at the puny AO Vans with nothing but an image as a stepping stone towards their 2nd CoH title, a thought agreed upon by every analyst comparing the two's pre-games. There's been multiple times in the past where Qasden's played the plucky lower team that somehow makes it deep in the tournament, but Darsten's efforts towards bringing the silver star back to the Principality may be a suddenly smaller chance of becoming a reality when face to face with an actually threatening shade of light blue.

---

So there we have it, a tale of defenses and upsets, of comings and goings, capitalizing with the ultimate preliminary capitulation of an ex-captain's plans to usurp the formers before him. Krytenian success looms sickly among the already cyan-soaked streets of the Licentian Isles, a home for the Dragons in matches not against TLI themselves. Still, in all its absoluteness, a victory for Anaia would not come without mischief being afoot. The Vans have won 2 of these things from the back of the pack, made the finals as one of the lowest ranked teams ever in AOCAF, and now stand at the foregrounds of a path once carved by the man who managed Darsten himself. If we go out here, then nothing may change in the grand hopes of repeating the successes of Merritt. But, should we win, then nothing, nothing at all, will be able to contain an onslaught of...uh, I don't know, the zoomies? Either slay the dragon, or scare the ever-lasting daylights out of them, that is the mission. Can the Vans piss off every bookmaker in the universe? Will Richard Valens really let his own run, on the FA's tricentennial, be foiled before a proper clash against Starblaydia? Stay tuned, stay updated, and stay alert for whenever I have to do another one of these. Go Vans and whatnot, maybe y'all aren't monsters. Give em a good bonking for me.

---

[Electrum]

OOC: I will be on a ten day holiday starting after this cutoff

The Turnip: Valentian Scientists Discover New Technology That Will Revolutionise The Way We Eat Food
by Billiam Maskey, chief-editor-in-chief

Good morning crypto bros!

The Bolts are playing Valentine Z in The Licentian Isles and this has given us the perfect opportunity to talk about the latest developments in Valentian society. As everyone knows, they are super advanced with their cybernetically augmented humans and for putting their entire currency on the blockchain. That's right, in Valentine Z they're going hype beast for cryptos. This ain't no rug pull. They're going guerilla. Valentins are HODLing to the moon. There's no FUD here. We're WAGMI.

With that in mind, how boring is it to eat food? You eat a block of solid mass solely to provide your body with the nutrients required to survive on a day-to-day basis. Sure, you could take a photo of your food before deciding not to put it on social media because you feel self conscious but there's no fun to it. There's no gamification, you just pay money and derive no satisfaction from consuming the matter.

And what's worse is that you're eating the same meal that many hundreds of people have eaten before. It's not a unique experience. Whether it's cereal from the supermarket to the wagyu tenderloin at the sole high-end restaurant in Valentine Z, someone's eaten it before. Well. It's not exactly not unique -- every meal is invariably cooked slightly differently, but there's no way to record that information because we eat the food almost immediately. No information is ever captured unless the occasional photo is taken or the meal gets sent back to the chef (in reality, your mum as you are tenuously middle class and cannot afford to go to high-end restaurants) because the steak was supposed to be cooked well done and it was not completely burnt.

Enter the Nutritious Fungible Token, or the NFT. The NFT is all about registering every meal onto the blockchain. Each meal is assigned a unique twenty-five digit number that represents the experience that was had eating said meal. Every time a meal is cooked, the chef registers it on the blockchain, it gets verified in a parcel of transactions and that experience is forever logged in your NFT account.

Finally, we've fixed this problem that's been plaguing us for centuries! Finally you can say that you ate a triple patty-triple cheese Big Jack without your friends replying "We don't believe you'd be such a fatass" and "Well I ate a triple-triple Big Jack too but you don't hear me bragging about it," because you can simply reply with "Well it's true and I was the only one to eat the triple-triple Big Jack #1093420109379477947777777, not you." Truly, what an advanced society the Valentians are. We hear that they plan to digitise the entire universe so that you can be a loser on the "metaverse" too. Food for thought.

[Cabo Azure]

Doctor Fonseca, pt 5
Portelo, six years ago
It was early spring, and Ronnie was quiet. She’d been quiet all winter, and a substantial portion of the fall before that, but Abby found it much more unsettling having her sit sullenly at the breakfast table while the sun shone outside. A year ago, Ronnie had been fifteen, and her biggest worry had been cajoling Abby to let her take the ferry to Sao Vicente to see her boyfriend, a scrawny lad whose mother had named him Luis in feeble homage to Ronnie’s father, Abby’s ex-husband. Now the boyfriend was gone, swept away in the tidal wave that had crashed into Abby’s family’s life, and Ronnie wasn’t happy about it.

Nor was Luis, for whatever his opinion counted. Neither of the Luises, Abby’s ex-husband nor Ronnie’s ex-boyfriend, had been thrilled about the news coming to light that Dr. Abigail Fonseca was really the lost Princess Abby, who disappeared thirty years ago following the coup that deposed her brother. Abby’s Luis had known the whole time; as a scared undergraduate, she’d confided in her advisor, and that trust had grown over time into a marriage with three children. Luis was, ironically, a staunch republican and had spent most of that marriage trying to convince Abby not to retake the throne that was rightfully hers.

It was so close now, she could taste it. Decades of wheedling the Gang of Seven and their cronies, meeting through intermediaries and over encrypted email, were finally paying off. All that was left was to implement the protections the Gang had demanded for their families–new passports and tickets overseas–and they would step down, a peaceful transfer of power unlike anything ever seen in Rushmore. The monarchy would be restored, Abby would finally be crowned queen…and she would promptly abdicate to her son, Manuel.

She’d cross that bridge when she came to it. For now, the queen-in-waiting had a faculty meeting and a sullen teenage daughter who hadn’t left her spot since breakfast. Each day Abby had told herself she would find a way in, a gap in Ronnie’s emotional armor that would allow her to comfort and reassure her as a mother should. Ronnie, however, was proving to be as dogged and unwavering as her father, sitting silently at the table each day until Abby left. She still went to school, thank God, and her grades had actually improved, as if to spite all of Abby’s years of positive reinforcement.

Once her mother was gone to her meeting, Ronnie produced her cell phone and dialed. Manuel had called her while Abby was puttering around in the kitchen, but Ronnie wasn’t about to let their mother eavesdrop on a private conversation. Her elder brother was ten years her senior, but they’d always been closer to each other than to either of their parents or Alex. Ronnie had been the only one to understand when Manuel dropped out of college to work as a bartender in Sao Simone, and thus far Manuel had been the only one with a shred of empathy for Ronnie in her breakup with Luis.

“Hey, big brother,” Ronnie said when Manuel picked up.

“Hey, girl,” said Manuel. She could tell he was driving his cab by the crinkle-paper static behind his voice. “Have you checked the mail yet?”

“Like my email?”

“No, goofball, the snail mail. Like the mailbox out front. Go check it and call me back.”

Ronnie furrowed her brow, but after checking thoroughly to make sure her mother was gone, ventured out into the street. The Fonseca family home was a townhouse on a narrow cobblestone street in the section of Portelo that was known as the Terraces because it was carved from the side of the Colina Real. The street was mostly inhabited by university professors and military officers with families, the petit-bourgeois that sat between the elites on top of the hill and the working class whose houses ringed the bottom, closer to the sea.

The mail was mostly the normal stuff–junk mail and bills–but she found what Manuel was talking about soon enough. A small envelope with a return address in Quebec and enough postage to have come from Atlantian Oceania. Returning to the kitchen, she found a knife and opened it without much ceremony; the card inside was ornate, navy blue cardstock with a gold lame border, but the message was written in pen in Alex’s hand, which was well on its way to being a doctor’s illegible scrawl.

“Dear Sister,
I don’t know where to start. There isn’t anyone I would even consider for my maid of honor, besides you. You understand me in ways no one could hope to (not even Manuel–especially not him!), and you have always been there when I needed you. Will you be my maid of honor?

Love,
Alex”

Unsure of what else to do, Ronnie returned to her phone and dialed Manuel. He answered on the first ring.

“Did you get it?” he asked before she could say anything else.

“Yes,” she said. “Should I go? The address is in Quebec.”

“Of course you should go, stupid,” Manuel chided, “I’m going.”

“I’ve never even been out of the country.”

“Nor have I,” Manuel reminded her. “Nor had Alex, before she flew to Quebec the first time. It’ll be an adventure.”

“What will Mom say?”

“Not one damn thing,” Manuel assured. “After all it was her idea to send Alex to Quebec in the first place.”

–

It stung. Abby could almost taste blood from the forceful slap her elder daughter had given her, inviting Ronnie and Manuel, asking Ronnie to be her maid of honor, but not even telling Abby. She hadn’t bothered to call Luis and ask if he’d been invited; if he had been, she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction, and if he hadn’t, she didn’t want him trying to commiserate with her. She couldn’t forgive him for the video chat wherein he’d spilled the beans to Alex without offering, as far as she could tell, a shred of resistance or an attempt at an explanation. Some part of her hoped that Alex would empathize with the secret princess narrative crafted around Abby, and that would bring her daughter back to her. The wedding invites were the last nail in the coffin of that hope.

Still if there were one thing Princess Abigail could be, it was dignified, and so she dutifully helped Ronnie prepare. Together they applied for her passport, went shopping in Sao Simone for a dress and a suitcase, and booked her ticket. Ronnie had never flown before, and she seemed surprised she’d have to take an airplane to Atlantian Oceania–wasn’t there a boat she could take instead? Every store they went to, Abby looked at the mother of the bride section and felt like crying.

Manuel was helpful, in his own way. He would send his mother text messages asking if a white suit was appropriate or if he should wear heels, the absurd sense of humor he’d inherited from Luis and improved upon. Talking to him was also fraught, however, as she was keeping a secret from him which rivaled the one she’d kept from the three siblings all those years. In negotiations with the Gang of Seven and their supporters, one of the demands the other side had refused to drop was that Abby herself not be queen. They seemed to think her years in Cassadaigua as a girl and her continuing ties to that country and other monarchies meant she was a plant. To her surprise, when she’d suggested Manuel as a substitute, they’d accepted immediately, and so unbeknownst to him, her son was effectively king in waiting.

[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 dominates knockout tie, beating Eshialand by a score of 3-0 to set up a Round of 16 date with Cabo Azure


Nyowani Kitara celebrates the opening goal in their victory over Eshialand

YARIRIO, MONTAÑA VERDE- The knockout stages of the Cup of Harmony. With so many teams in the knockout stages, Round of 32, we aren't quite separating the contenders from the pretenders quite yet. That's more Round of 16 and Quarterfinal territory. But it is an important step. Especially for nations like Eshialand and Nyowani Kitara. Neither of us have been to a World Cup, and both are trying to prove ourselves on the world stage. How can they change the perception of how the world views football in each country? A deep run at the Cup of Harmony would do wonders. And with this opportunity sitting squarely in front of both teams, the first step to making any kind of run would be a win in this game.

Nyowani Kitara entered the contest having won their group for the second tournament in a row, and then getting the Eshialand draw. The team, surprisingly, has been elite on the back end. We've printed so many words about it, but it's so hard to believe. A team that conceded well over 2 goals per contest in World Cup Qualifying, not conceding once across three games in group play. It has been down to Liang Wei's adjustments, particularly his instructions for his wingbacks to not come forward as much. Of course, these type of moves are risky. It fixes the leak in the back- but could they generate enough offense without their wingbacks? So far, they've done enough. They haven't been lighting up scoreboards like they did throughout World Cup Qualifying, when they were basically a worse version of Farfadillis, but they were creating enough opportunities, and, most importantly, taking the opportunities given to them.

They've been improving throughout the tournament. A 0-0 draw against HUElavia, and a 1-0 win in their opening match. In the all-important game 3, instead of potentially match-fixing like their dirty capitalist counterparts in the World Cup, Nyowani Kitara actually went for the win. A 2-0 performance, their best performance of the tournament, was enough for them to win the group. And Valentine Z, thanks to a draw in the HUElavia game, were able to advance as well. The game got us the #6 seed for the knockout stages, a great return for a team that was the 22nd highest ranked team in the tournament, and 57th highest ranked team in the multiverse. And our draw? Eshialand.

Fortunately for Nyowani Kitara, we were able to carry forward that form into this knockout stage game and, for lack of a better term, absolutely blitz Eshialand. From the word go, our team had the advantage, and we moved to press the advantage against our opponents early on. Wang Jiahui forcing a diving save from the Eshialand goalkeeper in the opening 40 seconds of the game really set the tone of the match. Eshialand looked quite surprised at the energy that Nyowani Kitara had early on, and Liang Wei wanted to make sure that his team pressed their advantage. They played an aggressive press, and it simply seemed that Eshialand could not handle the amount of pressing. When defender Sarah Silver, under pressure from Owino Odede, had a pass intercepted by Salem Lagum, it sprung Nyowani Kitara forward. He played a through ball to Odede, who hit a cross to Wang Jiahui. Wang was wide open, and the Yue-born national team player finally scored his first NT goal for Nyowani Kitara in the 9th minute.

You could see exactly how much it meant to him, as he screamed while the Nyowani Kitara fans chanted his name. While there was no way they could sustain that intensity of pressing, after that opening goal, they were able to sit back a little bit. They had the 1-0, they were going to take control of the match and dictate its terms. Nyowani Kitara continued to hold most of possesion, as they frustrated Eshialand's ability to play balls into the final third, and do much with the ball once they had it in the final third. Eshialand's crosses were not dangerous, as they were mostly high and looping into the arms of the goalkeeper, thanks to great pressure from Nyowani Kitara's fullbacks. It would be a counter-attack led by one of Nyowani Kitara's fullbacks that would create the team's second goal.

Armoni Okombo, the team captain, was able to swipe the ball off of the feet of his opponent and counter back down the pitch. A brilliant team movement. The ball to Salem Lagum, who played the ball to his midfield partner Ramah Abong'o, who played a long ball down the opposite sideline to Wang Jiahui. The team's newest player had the ball with the Eshialand defense backpedaling on their heels, as Nyowani Kitara players sprinted ahead to press their numerical advantage in the final third on this play. Wang was able to play the ball on the ground to Owino Odede, who played the ball back, first time, to Ramah Abong'o around the 18. Abong'o took one dribble of the ball, and smashed it into the bottom corner of the net. Going for power on the ground, the ball was able to avoid the legs of defenders, and Eshialand's goalkeeper did not have a legitimate chance to get to the ball. 32nd minute, the score was 2-0, and Nyowani Kitara were well on their way.

A 51st minute penalty was converted by Owino Odede, and that was all she wrote. 3-0 was the scoreline, and Nyowani Kitara was obviously thrilled with the way they played. But Liang Wei told reporters that the team would keep their focus. "Look, I'm happy with the way things went today." He told reporters. "A 3-0 win at a major tournament is a 3-0 win at a major tournament, no matter what way you slice it. But there is plenty to be done. Happy with the way we performed. But it only gets tougher. Cabo Azure is an excellent team, they are stout defensively and can counter with pace. We are going to have to leave everything on the field if we want to advance from the Round of 16."

What a game, what a win. And now Cabo Azure and Nyowani Kitara will compete fiercely for a birth in the CoH Quarterfinals.

[PotatoFarmers]

Poafmersia 4-1 Legalese
Poafmersia Goalscorers: Aleka Dufour 12', 44' (assisted by Jackson); Michael Jackson 77'; Makana Tuft 82' (pen)

Poafmersian Lineup: Nicole Potts; Nasri Sanchez, Ali Berger, Hollis Stephenson, Natalia Abbott; Leonara Hall, Michael Jackson, Min Berg, Valentin Gotti; Makana Tuft (c), Aleka Dufour
Poafmersian Substitutes: Lesia Astrauskas (Berg 69'); Jordan Huerta (Dufour 81')

Poafmersia 5-5 Muralos (4-4 FT)
Poafmersia wins 5-4 on penalties
Poafmersian Goalscorers: Iulianus Innocenti 30' (assisted by Jackson), 57', 97' (assisted by Gotti), Makana Tuft 40' (assisted by Dufour), 43'
Poafmersian Penalty Takers: Innocenti, Dufour, Murphy, Tuft, Astrauskas

Poafmersian Lineup: Shirou Amatore; Hollis Stephenson, Diamond Byan, Ali Berger; Leonara Hall, Michael Jackson, Lesia Astrauskas, Valentin Gotti; Makana Tuft (c), Iulianus Innocenti, Aleka Dufour
Poafmersian Substitutes: Nasri Sanchez (Byan 78'); Min Berg (Jackson 86')

For and against the Jacquan format
Reported by the Sporting Daily

4 years ago, at the 13th IAC, Poafmersia proposed hosting a tournament with it weird "double group stage" format. Back that, as many nations from inside and outside the independent sphere of football looked with interest, the Poafmersian Football Association (PFFA) decided that the Jacquan format was not going to be the next Casaran, and proved it with a chaotic yet interesting Stage 1. The end result? The technocrats in the Poafmersian government hailed the PFFA's hosting as a success. The officials from other countries were satisfied. A new format was born. Of course, the technical complexities of the fixture generation list was high, though the officials found some ways of simplifying the process. Nevertheless, it was considered a PR success, if you ask the average Poafmer.

This year, as the Red Panjias aim to make up for their absence at the World Cup with a strong Cup of Harmony response, the PFFA continues to spread its influence. 2 Poafmers have been rumored to be helping another country with the hosting of a tournament involving the system, while the PFFA considers a potential bid with another nation using the format in a WCC competition. Here, we invite 2 panelists to speak on the Jacquan system, and discuss whether they support such a format being implemented in lieu of the World Cup Qualifiers or the traditional group stage in football tournaments.

For the Jacquan Format
By Adnan Suliaha, Head Coach, Poafmersian National Team
Talk about Group of Death. Unbalanced groups. Strong teams being stuck to play round robin with other strong teams, resulting in their elimination. Weaker teams being handed "free pass" in easy groups. These were the problems associated with the general group stage; especially when used as part of the biennial World Cup Qualifiers. With this aggregated group stage, you are given a fixture list, not a group. Your results are compared against fellow teams in the competition, and your fixture list can be more diverse, rather than getting stuck to a fixed group draw. You still know your fixtures in advance for planning purposes; but there is no longer a notion of being worried of a "difficult" group dynamics, because that simply doesn't exist. You just have to keep yourself in the top X in the entire tournament.

There has been people who complain that the Jacuqan format continues to create "Group of Death" for teams, just that instead of a Group, it becomes a "Fixture List of Death" for that one team. That is something which, fortunately or unfortunately, we cannot avoid. What we can avoid, however, is letting multiple teams suffer from the same situation. With no groups in mind, even if you draw against tough opponents on your list, as long as you gain the points to be top X in the tournament, you are still through. The best application can be the World Cup Qualifiers. Some groups may easily be a 3-way fight, while others have just 1 strong team and a bunch of weaker teams. Assuming only 2 teams qualify, for the case of Group 1, a strong team would have been eliminated, while a weaker team (who may not have survived if they are placed in another group) qualifies from Group 2. Is that fair? Well, no, because qualification is likely to have been helped because of the groupings. The aggregated group stage has no groups, so that being a factor is minimised. It may be easy to draw 3 tough opponents in your 4-team group stage; but it may not be that easy to draw 6 tough opponents in a double round-robin 4-pot Aggregated Group Stage (the official name of the Jacquan format).

The World Cup Qualifiers would surely benefit from this. Pots can afford to be slightly larger because teams will play 2 different opponents from a pot, potentially balancing out the differences caused by the large size of the pot. Teams would surely not have to worry about group of deaths, as well as getting eliminated because of small margins and unbalanced group dynamics. Qualification to the playoffs and the World Cup proper is determined purely by positioning and results now that this has happened. Furthermore, this can also be seen as a way to shorten Qualifiers. With number of signups consistently on the higher numbers may be a potential problem, but we need to understand everyone's concerns, so the place can be more balanced. If you guys are complaining about the length, we think this might be a more accurate one, where we can fix the number of fixtures more easily vis-a-vis a standard group stage.

The people who worry this may become the Casaran shouldn't be worried. There is no indications of this becoming like Casaran; given that we provide fixtures beforehand, follow all standard rules of setting up pots and arranging fixtures using pots. And don't be misled - don't call it the Jacquan, and assume those 2 formats are related. They aren't.

Against the Jacquan Format
By Jabik Henderson. Former National Team Goalkeeper
Twisting the Casaran.

That is what I would consider the Jacquan format to be, for the past 4 years when I have been hearing about the concept. An aggregated group stage means the number of tiebreakers has been reduced; like Casaran, tiebreaking would be tough. The Jacquan format creates potential for weirder fixture lists; this cannot be ignored because it is "statiscally impossible". Eshialand missed out on advancement barely in the AGS back in IAC13; and teams like Eshialand, who could have gotten a better position in a group stage, to be drawn a ridiculous fixture list and drop out of qualification. Saying that it reduces randomness is a lie, because now we throw the dice for twice the amount of times as compared to a traditional group stage. Now, 1 set of dice to decide who plays which team number. Then assigning numbers to every team. The technical complexities of this model doesn't justify the result either, giving you one more point to think about.

The Jacquan Format reduces the good things behind having strong group dynamics. Having group dynamics allow for inter-nation rivalries to blossom; especially when both of you are fighting for that 1 qualification spot. The Jacquan format prevents teams from getting a true "gauge" of their opponents because they are now playing teams which you might not see in the stage. A traditional group stage is the basics of a standard tournament; make it Jacquan group stage now, and next thing you do, is to use the format to determine the tournament winner. I rather not see that. Ranking a bunch of teams in one table? That just reeks of Casaran, so if the multiverse thinks deciding the qualification based on Casarn results is bad, I don't see how this could be anything better.

[Valentine Z]

Part 4 – Turn of the Season.

Exuberant Superintendent T-2000/2904-3 Surveillant Clarissa Alanis Star Breya « La Amoureux Chéri » Millie Taissa Butterfly Mélody Coraline Jolijn Trini Clementine Hollie Samantha Zeta Harumi has predicted and ran a million matches on her head on that night. She was still in Valentine Z, soon to head over to the Proving Grounds for NSSCRA 12. Still, being able to send her results and predictions (merely text outputs) to her other shell was already a nice enough alternative. Going back, to anyone else outside of Valentine Z, or even for a computer from the modern eras, calculating even ten matches would have been unthinkable, let alone a million. However, running through several variables and using the input of both the Valentian Kittens and The Grim Reapers (Independent Athletes from Quebec's team). She has the information regarding the team members, and that was unfortunately as much as she got directly from their roster. For the other bits, she had to run several small random scenarios and as a result the sheer number of matches that she is trying to predict; the matches have either the Kittens or the Reapers playing in an ever so slightly different method and way, which in turn resulted in the Butterfly Effect snowballing over and creating scenarios. The best match the Kittens have against the Reapers was a 5-0 (the odds being 119 matches out of 1 million), and the worst being a totally catastrophic 0-7 (the odds being 202,544 matches out of 1 million). The best case scenarios were 1-2 or 1-1, as Clarissa have calculated. As luck and fate would have it, the match against the Reapers stalled at 1-1 at the 80th minute of the match. With players like Jean-Christophe BABIN and Holly Annemiek Gerrieke Van De Hoogte having scored for each of their teams, both the Kittens and the Reapers were evenly matched; none of them could score any more goals against the other team, with the defenders doing their best even for both teams having a rather aggressive and offensive playstyle. Clarissa watched from the bench, her eyes tracking the movements and trajectories of every single players out there. She could not do anything with it on the game itself due to the rules and rather, it was all for the purpose of preparing for the next matches, if any. Antel (#30) started giving a few signals here and there to the rest of the Valentian players out of sheer desperation, waiting and trying to get a way around them and to score that one goal if possible. "So with our Defenders having our back," Antel thought to himself, "Now what is left is what we can coordinate a kick and a potential goal through sheer misdirection." He gave a few hand signals to the more distant Valentians on the field, hoping that they get whatever he was trying to imply and to do. It took a few seconds of facial cues and signals, but sooner or later they managed to get a somewhat of an idea of what they were supposed to do – what to expect.

The keyword of the match was "somewhat". To say that the Valentians played it haphazardly would have been a massive understatement. It all started with Antel (#30) kicking the ball forward to Emerson (#7), but instead of him getting the ball, Štěpánka (#6) went towards the ball from behind and intercepted from her own teammate, leaving Emerson with questions but still trying to go with the flow of it (if there was any at that moment). With Štěpánka lining up the shot, she was seemingly going to kick it hard towards Sandra Middleton, who in turn was expecting yet another kick to intercept. However, in an unusual turn of events, Štěpánka kicked the ball back into the middle towards Sammie (#20), who in turn got confused and started running a few meters with it back towards the goal. "Step, what the heck?!" was the only thing in his mind, but as he has just observed a few of his teammates on the field communicating beforehand, he thought this was part of the plan. "Whatever this is, this better work!" he thought, passing it down further to Helen (#50). Helen, on the other hand, was relatively away from the opponents and as a result, kicked the ball hard forward this time, directing it to Daina (#31), followed by going back to Emerson (#7). Now with fewer players surrounding him and due to the misdirection that they have caused, Emerson prepared and kicked it hard, perhaps a little too hard that he nearly tear through his shoe. The ball came in towards the Reapers' goalpost with such speed and strength, with Sandra trying her best to block it. It was going to be sensational.

With just 7 minutes left on the clock, the ball rebounded and went into the net, earning the Valentians the goal. "GOALLLL! WE DID IT!" came the screams from the Valentians as they celebrated and piled around each other. The celebration ended with Emerson getting a sprained ankle after Antel (#30) jumped onto him and his goal-kicking leg giving in. Antel's eyes went wide, remorseful that he injured his friend and teammate. "It's not you," Emerson said weakly as he was taken onto the stretcher, "I kicked too hard, my feet hit the ground too hard. See you guys later at the lounge." With Emerson out for this match and the next one, a substitute was called into the last few minutes of the match, with no more scores from either team. The Valentians have done the impossible. They were expecting to not get this far and to get utterly defeated and steamrolled by the Reapers. And yet, there they are.

2-1.

Many celebrations and cheers were heard, with the team checking up on Emerson as he lied down on the bed in the medical tent, tended by Lead Ambassador Germaine Athena “Mercy De Herzhafter Schutzengel” Sylvi Angelina Zoe Sophia Jen Alanna Rx J. Hailie Ziegler Halls Constance Pauletta Ginevra Lola Lauran Ambra Tschanz and other official medical personnel. "Just keep him from playing for now," one of them commented with Germaine giving a nod, "His ankle should be fine again in a few days, thankfully not that bad." For that time being, the Valentians were celebrating a little too much that they didn't even mind their next match – against the titan that is Electrum. For that particular night, they will be taking in a copious amount of non-alcoholic drinks, particularly fizzy juices. "You can't go wrong with fizzy strawberry sodas," Sammie remarked, cheering and toasting from his bed with the rest.

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For that one particular moment, Head Diplomat Charlene Jeannie Natalia Adeline Marceline “Wanbyeoghan Hyeobsang-Ga” Celestie Christine Irelle Dva. Arianna Rees Edith Novena Annie Ciara W. I. Bethany Myong Suh-Hyung was confused. Tagging with the Valentian Kittens for anything newsworthy and acting as their personal journalist and interviewer, she has written a handful of news pieces for Valentine Z from the days of old, helping out in the resolute project with Valentijn and the newly-formed Sixty in the 1990s. Having been writing domestic news for decades, Charlene got her chance when the Valentians started participating in NSSCRA, followed by WGPC/WGP2, and finally to World Cup, Cup of Harmony, IBC, and many more. This is simply one of her many tours, to which she always have an excitement for, and tonight was certainly no exception – for two things. First and foremost, the Valentians winning against the Reapers, that much was obviously newsworthy. Secondly, was perhaps an unusual site that she came across. "The… Turnip?" she mouthed as she watched her laptop, showing the rest of the team what is up, as well as to Clarissa's body and forwarding it to Valentijn. It definitely wasn't anything damaging to their reputation and to be perfectly honest, it was a harmless piece of satire. Charlene was simply intrigued along with the rest of the Valentians. "I mean, at least they seem to know us quite well!" Valentijn commented back on the group chat with The Sixty, "I definitely am aware that it is satire, but it's still quite hilarious to see where they are going with this. Intelligence Officer Jenny Claudia Joy Lena Linette “Sombra De Kenshutsu Sa Renai Hakkā” Marce Tanya Mayweather Ik. D. Do. S. Morishita Whitney Sakurano Fujima Felice Hoshiko Radiance, the resident white hat hacker and computer security for Valentine Z, expressed visible disgust and snide not at the article but at the mentioning of the blockchain. "Yuck, that again? We have no need for that! We really don't! The other day, I swear I came across this news on the other universe, and one of the companies were proposing about – get this – NFTs for colors. That's it – you own the NFT for colors with the hopes that you might get something in the future. What?!"

For Foresittend Marcus Alan Ariel Maximillian “Unendlichkeit Jäger” Swifty Felix Maverick Prometheus Revlin Lynx Artyom Lichtenstein Baptiste C. Talon Haydn Lincoln Taal Reynolds Fang Wu Ying, he saw what is possibly the perfect opportunity to promote one of the wonders of Valentine Z. "We can run the ad and campaign for Sunny Side Farms!" he suggested, "Not in for the money, of course, but figured that it will help our friends out there get the idea of what we have as a food, and for cheap prices. None of this blockchain and NFT nonsense, of course. Every meal ethically cooked and made, from the ingredients to the end products that goes into the restaurants. Perfect." Charlene agreed with the idea, followed by the two gathering up their poster from Clarissa's tourism guide, and the factbook writings that they have for the visitors and historians and researchers of Valentine Z. "Of course, we will have to acknowledge the fact that The Turnip wrote satire, and we have took it with finesse and lightheartedness. With that said, we can then provide some fun facts about where our food comes from. 꿩 먹고 알 먹는다, see?"

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We Are Not Kidding Right Meow - Valentian Fun Facts!

Author: Head Diplomat Charlene Jeannie Natalia Adeline Marceline “Wanbyeoghan Hyeobsang-Ga” Celestie Christine Irelle Dva. Arianna Rees Edith Novena Annie Ciara W. I. Bethany Myong Suh-Hyung.

Editor: Foresittend Marcus Alan Ariel Maximillian “Unendlichkeit Jäger” Swifty Felix Maverick Prometheus Revlin Lynx Artyom Lichtenstein Baptiste C. Talon Haydn Lincoln Taal Reynolds Fang Wu Ying.

A warm hello and hi from the friends of the multiverse – the Valentians! Of course, we have read through the piece from The Turnip and we must say, it is very, very amusing! One of our computer security officers was wincing a little bit at the idea of blockchains, but don't worry, she is laughing with us and with you guys as well! It is an amusing article, and we like it! Now that has been said, we would also like to take this opportunity to talk about one of our government-owned industries – Sunny Side Farms! It's a Government-owned company that, as the name suggests, deals with agricultural needs and wants for Valentians whether they are on Earth or are on Mars. With the practice as old as time, combined with the futuristic technology and developments from Valentine Z, Sunny Side Farms is able to provide both animal and plant products to the ever-growing dietary needs of the Valentians while keeping the negative environmental impact to its bare minimum. Due to the acceptance and tastiness involved, lab-grown meat have also been grown on a regular basis and are replacing a large amount of the Valentians' diets.

Due to the lack of a fork in our second picture, that doesn't mean you have to eat it without utensils!