[Roleplays] :: World Cup 92

by **Civia Welephilostopia** » Thu Oct 06, 2022 10:40 pm

To say our qualifying journey so far has been mixed would be... pretty true to be honest, we've had easy losses and hard wins against sides that many thought we couldn't beat, well we're sitting 4th last so to say we aren't going to make it would have a good chance of being true.

The 6-2 loss:
I honestly don't believe that we got pounded that bad, I mean sure we got 2 goals in return but I'd rather lose 3-0 than 6-2, but still it was an ok game, we did better with running and possesion but we still need to improve when it come to the oppositions pressure when we have control of the ball.

The 3-0 win:
Absolutely fantastic is all I can say, a massive win, even if it wasn's against a more well established team it still feels good the crush another team, still, hopefully we win our next game. Goodbye!

Posted at 11:27pm by Roger Japolson.

by **Delte** » Thu Oct 06, 2022 11:06 pm

Cheetahs and reptiles Coalison 1–2 Delte
Marine architect & Temporary Player-Reporter Chastinardo Sule in DeepMoss, Coalison for Stoic Magazine

I've been briefed not to dwell overly long on the finer details of our match here in the Esportiva region (still an odd place by the way) but suffice it to say the Away Team Mission returned to winning ways against the various beasts called Alison, and we had to get over being intimidated by the size of the badge on the opposition players shirt which seemed like it was about the size of a hot air balloon. At first it was hard to see beyond them, even from the bench where I spent the whole afternoon, and it's no surprise that the Representatives fell behind. Once our eyes adjusted to the sheer scale of the thing, we were quickly back on track and performed much better in the second half. If we weren't observing Stoics Thursday we might have complained about tactical distraction, but since we won we agreed to let it pass. I still have a slight remnant of the thing in my vision when I close my eyes but the physio says it will fade in time.

On a different note, I was sorry to be away on tour when my team won in the Cup Final, it sounds like a banger. Coach Cerrough says I'll still get a medal though, on account of my sacrifice for the valley.

Elsewhere in the world of Deltic Football...

The Three O'Clock Saturday Mixed Nines Football Cup Final
Oswark Town 13-0 Nallery Reds
Sports Correspondent Polka Lunn At Ildemorton Road for the Ughmirren Broadsheets

Who says the magic of the Cup is dead (and other football clichés)? Probably Morff Drainne, head coach of Nallery Reds. Conveniently organised for the World Cup bye day, the culmination of this season's edition of the oldest competition in the valley and perhaps the multiverse (hypergerontological disruptions notwithstanding) ended in an old-fashioned lop-sided shellacking reminiscent of when Old Delteisians, Oswark Grammar School and the Bonesea national team used to play 8-1-1 formations known as 'the umbrella.' It was a washout for the village team hoping to cause an upset and add to the rare occasions where an Early Closing Wednesday Parish Championship team had beaten a Delte Valley Tuesday Evening & Sunday Lunchtime Super League contender to the Cup title. No upset here, with Town's prolific goal machine Gurning Brapp-Brapp Haahaahaala scoring nineteen goals, four of which were chalked off for offside and two for sympathy. He only had fifteen touches, too. Incredible. If only he were Deltic. Rumour has it he will be expelled by the All-Week Super Ultra Premier Football Association, the FA, after the domestic season closes at the end of the month, simply because he's far too good to be fair on anyone else.

The Quick & The Delts
3/6 : Hyper-Gerontological Syndrome

5 July 2022: The squad had only been back in the country a fortnight after their visit to the Cup of Harmony when Doctor ‘Doc’ Orem Ustingham, the winger with the medical practice in Ughmirren, summoned them all to a meeting to explain his theory on why they all looked - and felt - three years older than when they had first taken up the call of The Representatives and got on a bullet train bound for Farfadillis and the Baptism of Fire, back in April.

“Was it only April,” said Coach Clentin, “seems like years ago!”

They all agreed they felt a little older, a little wiser, than that day on Platform 3 of Oswark Station when Tam Nailer’s Blazing Mandollin Orchestra saw them off on their expedition to conquer the world. They didn’t conquer the world, of course, and Tam Nailer was busy when they got back in June so the Delte FA, that is to say the All-Week Super Ultra Premier Football Association, booked the Uskoranton Colliery Marching Band instead to welcome home the ragged travellers. Guests waiting for them on Platform 3 all remarked on just how ragged they looked, sparking some concerns that perhaps they had all caught the pox in Mertagne.

The good Doc called the meeting to inform them otherwise.

“It’s not the Mertipox,” he explained, “but we have definitely picked up something unpleasant. Have you all heard about the World Cup starting up again in September?”

There were nods of heads and grumbles and the odd ‘bloody ridiculous’ from the usually stoic Delts.

“If you look at the news coming out of Ko-oren and the other bits of the football world,” continued the good Doctor, “they all think years have passed since the last World Cup. I’m convinced this is related. Our young stars the Tasher brothers here have been helping me piece things together - ”

Onun & Borus Tasher, the teenage tearaways in the national team who now looked like twenty-something tearaways, held up their hands to acknowledge they had been working with Doc Orem. They each had a quite severe scar all the way around one forearm.

“Thanks to our volunteers,” continued the Doc, “I have been able confirm, beyond a reasonable doubt, that they have physically aged three years whilst out and about in the world this spring and summer with The Representatives. I’ve done the same experiment on myself,” - here he held up his scarred arm - “and I have also aged three years. I put it to you chaps, that beyond the valley, time is moving a lot faster. If we go out there, we age quicker. Out there they are living on quicktime.”

“I did wonder about their squeaky voices,” observed Aleard Sullenden, the brewer and midfielder. Others nodded assent.

“What have you done to discover that?” wondered Skelimino Bane, the centre half and physical therapist, with a professional interest, “what is the procedure?”

“It’s really quite simple, actually. I took a slice of armbone, see, and just counted the rings,” said the Doc, holding a disc of bone up to the light, “three more than there should be.”

by **Acastanha** » Thu Oct 06, 2022 11:52 pm

Partido Liberal Democrático de Palidas

Partido Liberal Democrático de Palidas
Palidas Liberal Democratic Party


Teodoro Wainatu


Abbreviation         PLDP
President            Teodoro Wainatu
Founded              21 August 2000
                     22 years ago
Merge from           Partido Sindical Democrático
                     O Nacional Liberalismo
Ideology             Democratic socialism
                     Social liberalism
Political position   Center-left
Party colours        Red, yellow

Partido Liberal Democrático de Palidas (English: Palidas Liberal Democratic Party, abbreviated as PLDP) is a center-left political party in Acastanha which based in Palidas Republic. The party was established as a merge of two big parties, Partido Sindical Democrático (PSD) and O Nacional Liberalismo (ONL) in 2002. It currently hold 15 of 100 seats in the Conselho Popular. PLDP was a dominant party following their establishment in 2002. It shows with their success of winning 2006 and 2010 general elections. They are always in the government coalition except in their first election, 2002.

After Arrakan Civil War and the New Constitution passed, PSD and ONL showing a decline in popularity and votes counting. They were a big parties before the Civil War and continuously control the government from the country independence in 1973 until their last election (before the civil war) in 1982. Their lowest position was in 1998 Election which triggered their intention to merge. Both parties have a similar ideology which makes them easier to merge. And in late 2000, PLDP established. Their first election in 2002 gained a mediocre result. Winning around 10% of the total votes at the time, the new party saw themselves at the opposition side. The party then change their campaign mechanism and focus on Palidas. They wants to get the largest share of votes in the region. And in 2006 Election, they were success to win around 14% of the national votes and pushed as the third largest party at the time. They were in coalition with UdP at the time to established a government. This coalition continue until today as the coalition success to win the majority of the votes for the next 3 elections.

Regionally, PLDP often in coalition with Novo Movimento de Palidas (NMP) or Ketampi Bersatu (KB). In national level, União do Povo (UdP) is their main ally. The current vice president of Acastanhada, Miranda Garbuno is PLDP politician. Garbuno was the party president before she was paired with Joao Makarin in 2014 Presidential Election. She step down from party president position after she and Makarin won the election. The pair went ahead to won their second term in office in 2018 election.

Party Chairman and Faction Leaders

Party Chairman : Teodoro Wainatu
Conselho Popular : Águeda Pantaloke
Conselho Estadual : Dudu Yuktamole
Palidas Republic Parliament : Isac Baritsar
Região da Capital Parliament : Raissa Sinxo

Representation
Conselho Popular
Total : 15/100 seats
Palidas Republic : 14/39 seats
Região da Capital : 1/4 seats

Conselho Estadual
Total : 18/75 seats
Palidas Republic : 16/35 seats
Região da Capital : 2/5 seats

Palidas Republic Parliament
Total : 26/80 seats
Cabo Province : 9/20 seats
Espinhosa Province : 13/39 seats
Madeira Province : 1/5 seats
Nascente Province : 2/9 seats
Ocidental Province : 1/7 seats

MD 9
Acastanha v Ganes Ame
@ Estádio da Unidade Nacional, Amarelda, Região da Capital

MD 10
Soldera v Acastanha

Calls up

Starter
31 GK  Santiago Karba
12 LB  Rafael Oronako
3  CB  Santiago Urupao
16 CB  Dionisio Leimanki
4  RB  Jorge Vidshav (C)
17 LM  Lisandro Turtapa
6  CM  Plinio Adondare
20 CM  Nóe Brinanko
9  RM  David Gothrado
22 ST  Manuel Brandas
11 AT  Felix Kalchankar
Substitute
23 GK  Armando Padia
33 GK  Tiago Kalabar
13 LB  Manuel Savalor
2  CB  David Erunde
27 RB  Casimiro Urinjane
7  LM  Pedro Ustankar
8  CM  Igor Erdagh
28 RM  Andre Aramde
10 ST  David Yushankar

by **Eura** » Fri Oct 07, 2022 12:23 am

WORLD CUP 92 QUALIFYING – GROUP 4 – MATCHDAY 7
Eura 4–0 Estorvipa and Estorpiva
Scorers:
Robshaw 27, Phillips 42, West 66, Sharp 75
Lineup:
1. T Hammond
2. A Mason
4. J Menard
5. T Green (sub Byrd 81)
25. Q Phillips
3. L Almwood (sub Reeve 56)
28. T Matthews (sub Brown 65)
8. V Robshaw (sub Vincent 60)
20. B West
14. A Sharp
17. R Brookfield (sub Singh 70)

WORLD CUP 92 QUALIFYING – GROUP 4 – MATCHDAY 8
Equestria 2–5 Eura
Scorers:
Robson 12, 62, Sharp 35, Singh 40, Woodman 57
Lineup:
1. T Hammond
4. J Menard
15. K Sherwood
19. J Byrd (sub Green 76)
6. J Gates
16. O Vincent (sub Stewart 45)
11. B Malone (sub Mason 70)
10. S Singh
7. A Woodman (sub Almwood 73)
9. S Robson (sub Matthews 66)
14. A Sharp

The Brigham Herald (Brigham, centre-left, broadsheet)
MYTANIJA WELCOMES EURAN PM AS NATIONS REAFFIRM RELATIONSHIP

After a successful milestone visit to Yuezhou, Prime Minister Harry Barnham has moved on to more familiar territory from a Euran perspective - Mytanija. His plane touched down in darkness at Esca International without much fuss, but make no mistake, any Euran state visit to Mytanija is a big deal locally. Few countries as geographically distant as Eura and Mytanija have as much recent shared history. This was also the first proper Euran state visit in many years, with the last Liberal PM, Ian Smith, having been the first PM not to visit Mytanija since before the Mytanar Conflict. Once safely disembarked, Barnham and his entourage were whisked away to one of Esca’s flashier government buildings.

There he would meet Premier Ana Mecava-Catic, leader of Jedinstvo, serving her second term in charge of the country with a third to follow looking like a good bet. The Premier and Prime Minister took a brief photo op for the evening news bulletins in the host country, then went behind closed doors for bilateral talks. This business first approach reflected Barnham’s desire to come away from this foreign tour with clear progress, but also Mecava-Catic’s likely reluctance to appear too close with the Eurans, given the complex relationship between the two nations.

Complex is if anything probably an understatement. When the Mytanar Conflict was raging many decades ago, Mytanija was descending from one of Rushmore’s most prosperous, upcoming societies to a war-torn pit of despair. On the other side of Rushmore, Eura was opening up to the world and asserting itself after a long period of ominous consolidation. When evidence began to emerge of large scale ethnic cleansing and genocide in Mytanija under the regime of mass murdering dictator Natella Kalinina, the then Euran Prime Minister James Lafferton - the last Social Party leader to achieve high office before Barnham – took a fateful decision to intervene out of a mix of genuine humanitarian concern, and a resolve to announce Eura as a power to be reckoned with.

Euran military and economic support helped strengthen the Mytanar resistance movement as it began to flourish, even risking a flashpoint with Sameba, which had sent hundreds of thousands of personnel to Mytanija to support Kalinina on an ill-fated expedition. Eventually the famous “MB” launched a major offensive simultaneously with a massive Euran military intervention, working together to topple the regime in a bloody but rapid conquest of the country. The Eurans remained after the regime change and eventually detained Kalinina, who even now still rots in an undisclosed secure location.

But as the remnants of Kalinina’s regime organised for a final roll of the dice and the MB split, an initially successful Euran peacekeeping operation found itself taking politically disastrous casualties. An intensive (and at times brutal) Euran-led counterinsurgency largely wiped out the regime remnants but soured the post-war honeymoon in the Euran-Mytanar relationship. After a decade the Eurans left, having spent a lot of money and lives for mixed results, while the Mytanars remained without a stable successor to the dictatorship. In time the country would drag itself out of the proverbial ditch. Their trust in the Eurans, liberators not long ago, had been greatly diminished.

The impact of this episode on both countries resonates today, with a sizeable Mytanar diaspora in Eura that has taken on a life of its own, and a growing movement in the other direction after the Great Endemian War. That conflict, in part caused by Sameba’s humiliation in Mytanija influencing the thinking of later Sameban dictator Emile Gartanzo, also exposed Eurans to the evils of genocide Mytanars had previously been subjected to. It opened an avenue of mutual understanding that both sides previously lacked.

Thankfully, both countries have been able to move on somewhat from those horrors and both Barnham and Mecava-Catic came away from their discussions sounding positive. It was no shock that the main topic of conversation was the Common Rushmori Community; Eura is keen to persuade the Mytanars to finally consider joining the Community, regarding Mytanija as a core Rushmori democracy and a key power in the west of the region.

His host has struck a more sceptical tone about the CRC in the past, as have her compatriots as a whole. Many in Mytanija openly fear the prospect of the CRC being a vehicle to blow away their firmly left wing economic model in favour of free market neoliberalism. It is perhaps unsurprising then that there’s been no sign of any formal agreement struck on the issue. But it is notable that sources on both sides indicate that it at least remains an open topic of discussion, which in Euran eyes is a win, and it is likely that Eura will continue to look for ways to incentivise Mytanar membership.

Otherwise, the focus was on the crucial bilateral ties the two countries share, including high levels of trade and cultural exchange despite geography, divergent economic systems and differing geopolitical roles. And while Eura and Mytanija are not “allies” in the conventional sense, they have a habit of aligning on many issues, such as the Nyowani Kitara conflict where both backed the government of Nafuna Akongo. Both parties stressed that Barnham and Mecava-Catic had a thorough discussion of these mutual strategic interests. “Certainly, we seem to be closer to being on the same page than we ever were with the Liberals in charge!” quipped a Euran diplomat to this paper.

With an election around the corner Mecava-Catic needs some padding for her case to the Mytanar people – and Barnham is a source of much needed good news. Sources friendly to her government told the country’s press that the Premier placed a strong emphasis on growing Mytanar industries and trade, especially in clothing, textiles and automobiles, without opening them up too much to the international markets. They have also claimed she has personally secured “substantial” Euran investment in a deal soon to be finalised, but no further details have been given yet.

On the Euran side, Barnham is thought to have secured renewed commitments towards dealing with organised crime and migration, but once again with little detail yet publicised. It’s a sensitive topic for Barnham domestically, with some criticism emerging at home around crime groups operating within migrant communities. But no progress has been made on a long standing Euran push for a mutual extradition treaty, which has been flatly rejected by successive Mytanar administrations. However, this subject has also become a political hot potato for Mecava-Catic, who has appeared reluctant to engage with what could be an area of weakness against the right leaning MNK opposition.

History was not entirely absent from this visit by any means, despite the focus on the present and future. In fact, Barnham made a point of showing deference to their legacy as he and the Premier ventured across the country over a couple of days. As previous Euran leaders have done, he visited the notorious Eskobirsk concentration camps that Eura helped reveal to the world as part of its justification for intervention – and made a pointed reference on sight to North Cassadaigua, saying “we must make sure we learn from history…and do not repeat it.”

However, he seemed to demonstrate a reflectiveness missing from the agenda of previous Euran leaders since the Mytanar Conflict. Barnham visited the northern cities and towns where the revolution began, making a speech to a curious crowd of students in Thessia which was frank about what he labelled the “difficult echoes of the past”, and effusively praised the social and economic achievements of post-war Mytanija without fixating too much on the mixed outcomes of Euran reconstruction projects. The tone deafness of Crow, Yarley and Smith – even of Judge – was distinctly absent.

Crucially, he became the first Euran leader to visit the southern port of Trunca. As part of the Euran campaign to bring down Kalinina, the city was dealt a devastating blow by an overwhelming air and sea based assault unlike anywhere else in the country. Over the course of less than two days, Euran ships and naval aircraft essentially reduced most of the city core and its port to rubble. The military justification was sound – the Eurans wiped out the dangerous Mytanar Navy surface fleet, prevented any chance of the regime using its southern armoured forces to counterattack against the MB advance, or repel the Euran Marine Corps landings on the east coast.

Nevertheless, the damage done was enormous and civilian casualties high; Lafferton would later admit in his memoirs that, were Trunca not a “regime loyalist city”, there would have been a more serious backlash against the Euran military’s actions. To this day, some of the eldest citizens of Trunca remain bitter about the experience. So, Barnham’s visit was very significant, and involved him visiting survivors of the assault, the city war museum and a new development project that forms part of a revival of the city which has flourished under Mecava-Catic.

These sombre moments may seem like political theatre to some, but those close to Barnham insist the tone of these visits was an overdue correction of the record on Eura’s complicated past in Mytanija. Barnham finished the historic element of his trip at the Euran Forces Mytanija Monument and Cemetery east of Esca, which hosts a permanent memorial to the more than 15,000 Euran troops who died during Eura’s decade long military presence, many of whom were buried there; a modest counterbalancing moment to remind his domestic audience that, no, he hadn’t forgotten how much worse things might have turned out if the Eurans had never came.

On his way out of the country, Barnham was treated to a special opportunity he had reportedly been keen on – a visit to the legendary Mytanski Institut za Sport where the elite Mytanar boxing set up is based. Eura has made huge strides in its own boxing success in recent years, and together the two countries dominated many of the boxing events at the most recent Olympics. The Mytanars would never admit it of course, but the Eurans might just have caught up with them, one Euran journalist on site said to Barnham. “Now, now, where would be the diplomacy in that?” he replied with a grin. One photo op of a middle aged politician hitting a punching bag later, and he was on his way to Nyowani Kitara, with another successful journey under his belt.

works? · by **Abanhfleft** » Fri Oct 07, 2022 2:40 am

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

Gaelic Gamers
Presents...

The Football Fallacies
with The Man from Markovsky

92ND WORLD CUP QUALIFYING RECAP: PRESS F IN THE CHAT TO PAY RESPECTS

Hello and welcome to The Football Fallacies. Right, so now I think it’s safe to say that Abanhfleft is going nowhere in this World Cup qualification campaign. See, this is what happens when you develop a culture of mediocrity and bottling in the biggest stage in world football! You lose or draw a few games here and there, and before you know it, Abanhfleft has fallen by the wayside and we are now literally struggling to compete against most other nations also taking part in the World Cup qualifiers. I mean, I don’t really understand what’s gone wrong with this team. Need I remind you all that this is pretty much the same team that won the Jenna Raven Cup in Baker Park? Mostly the same team, and mostly the same tactics being executed by Kate Bernanos, but for some reason none of these things are working right now.

I think the Hiroko Kellerman cheat code got nerfed, guys. Yeah, that probably explains it. I don’t really know what else would, if I’m being honest. I can’t even believe that I’m trying to find excuses for this team, but I guess that’s what happens when you finally win some silverware after decades upon decades of waiting for something that everyone thought would not come within their lifetimes. There used to be a time when I would absolutely jump down the throats of the whole national team for turning in these awful performances, but now I’m just stuck trying to find an explanation. But I don’t think anyone will disagree with me when I say that Hiroko Kellerman really looks like she’s been nerfed for this particular campaign. I mean, she still does those runs into the box where she tries to pull the defenders way out of shape, but now it looks like everyone’s seen her doing this stuff in the Jenna Raven Cup which is why everyone now knows not to take the bait when she does do that now.

But I also think that it’s safe to say that our defense is still pretty shit. We never got a clean sheet during our entire run to the Jenna Raven Cup, and it didn’t really look like that was going to change during the World Cup qualifiers. Why is it that we look like we’re allergic to clean sheets though? I mean, there’s a long-running joke here in Abanhfleft that whoever wins the Golden Glove in the FPL [Fleftic Premier League] is pretty much guaranteed to be one of the best keepers in the rest of the multiverse, but when it comes to our own goalkeepers, it would appear that the inverse is true. Whoever manages to let in the most goals without regard for the final result is good enough to represent the country on the international stage. But it’s not just our goalkeepers. I’ve harped on and on about this before but circumstances are really forcing me to rehash my own talking points. Our defenders are just as much at fault for some of the disasters that our games had devolved into. There’s just no use denying it.

At least when we lost to Saint Eleanor, we lost to a team of fellow humans. Imagine losing to a bunch of hamsters! Couldn’t be me! Couldn’t be my team or my country who lost to a bunch of hamsters. Oh no no. Now please excuse me while I go to the dark corner of my apartment to cry my frustrations out. But seriously now, how the fuck did we not score a single goal against a team of bloody hamsters? Yes, these hamsters are in human-sized mech suits and they’re being coached by bloody Juan Tzimisces and Simeone Di Bradini, but still, we conceded a goal to someone named Radar Snicklefritz the 1st! And within five minutes of the first half as well! If that isn’t indicative of the absolute nadir that Fleftic football has hit after the dizzying heights of winning the Jenna Raven Cup then I don’t know what is. Oh my god, this qualification campaign is collapsing faster than my hopes of getting a date with Genny Capistrano [Fleftic women’s national volleyball team player]. Not that I had a shot with her anyway, but it’s the thought that counts! Granted, that’s probably what the SFA thinks about this particular campaign as well…

Anyway, that’s all that there is for me now. I have no more energy for this kind of bullshitin my football. If you’ve got any thoughts or comments of your own about the games against Saint Eleanor and the Holy Empire then feel free to leave them down below. If you’d like to read detailed match reports and overreactions then those are available on this website. Until then, I’ve been the Man from Markovsky, getting even more disappointed in my country by the matchday.

    ABANHFLEFT 1 - 2 SAINT ELEANOR  
  KONTOS (75')       MARTIN (22')
                     COOMBE (56')

    THE HOLY EMPIRE 1 - 0 ABANHFLEFT  
  SNACKLEFRITZ (5')

by **Eraman** » Fri Oct 07, 2022 4:57 am

Day 9 - Month 9 - Year 12

FRONT PAGE

Budget to be tabled earlier, will there be a snap election?

Anara: The presentation of the Year 13 Budget on the 5th day of the 10th month, a month early from the actual date is seen as a big sign that the Bendahara will call for a snap election at the end of the year.

Political analyst from Universiti Cittapura, Prof. Dr. Mustari Bumi, said the change in presentation date is a clear signal that the general election would be held this year.

He said it is possible that the Bendahara will dissolve the People's Council after the presentation of the Budget is complete or while the People's Council is still in session.

"It is a clear sign that the general election is coming soon and will probably be held when the budget is presented. If it happens, it will be the second time the People's Council will be dissolved while it is still in session after the first time in the previous general election."

"At that time, the former Bendahara, Tun Sengalang Petara who was under immense pressure from his own party decided to call for a snap election and announced his resignation as the Bendahara while the People's Council was in session," he told Eraman Journal.

Eraman Journal yesterday reported that the Bendahara, Tun Rendra Usin confirmed that the Year 13 Budget, which was supposed to be tabled on the 5th day of the 11th month will be tabled a month earlier. It is expected to be tabled on the 5th day of the 10th month after being decided in the Four Level Leaders Meeting.

Prof. Dr. Mustari Bumi explained that if the People's Council is dissolved, the general election is expected to be held at the end of the 11th month or the beginning of the 12th month after giving at least 60 days to the Election Commission to make preparations, including arranging the date of nomination of candidates.

"I don't expect another date or it will be missed because the country is expected to be tested by natural events such as floods which usually happen at the end of every year," he said.

Senior Fellow of the Eraman Strategic Research, Prof. Dr. Puteh Senang also agreed that the Budget presentation date is a sign of a snap election and will be an important matter in determining the actual date of the election.

"Usually the budget date will be pushed back but this time it has been brought forward. When it is presented, passed or not, a snap election will be announced.

"If there is not enough of a majority to pass the Budget, it will make it easier for the Bendahara to make decisions. Even if it is passed, it will not prevent the Bendahara from dissolving the People's Council," he said.

The last time Eraman had a general election was 4 years ago in Year 8 and the current 5-year term is scheduled to end on the 11th month of next year.

by **PotatoFarmers** » Fri Oct 07, 2022 6:59 am

Legalese 3–1 Poafmersia
Goalscorers: Jordan Huerta 84' (assisted by Jackson)
Lineup: Nicole Potts (c); Kilikina Lee, Nacro Astro, Diamond Byan, Jacqi Equine; Michael Jackson, Min Berg, Aapeli Shea; Tessa Bjarnesen, Jordan Huerta, Leontiy Seet
Substitutes: Xenophon Robson (Equine 50'); Erle Sartini (Shea 74'); Janelle Frederick (Bjarnesen 74'); Cindy Oriol (Byan 85')

Poafmersia 3–2 Kuraita
Goalscorers: Dagur Lawrence 15' (assisted by Huerta), 86' (assisted by Jackson); Jordan Huerta 50' (assisted by Hall)
Lineup (3-4-3): Nicole Potts (c); Cindy Oriol, Diamond Byan, Kelefe Hans; Leonora Hall, Michael Jackson, Erle Sartini, Verbena Zoltánfi; Liina Williamson, Jordan Huerta, Dagur Lawrence
Substitutes: Valentin Gotti (Zoltánfi 62'); Liadan Holmström (Byan 79'); Magreta Rym (Sartini 79'); Agapito Murphy (Williamson 87')

Links for the 2112 Elections series:
Part A (Before the Polls): (Short) Prelude | Cochas and Democracy Front | Ramadau Trish and Farmers League | Nitrishi-pai and Makara Party | Piskn and Tikahs | Dalaris and Bijara Party | Gikash and Congress Party | Hitimatias and Kibi Party (To Be Published)

Part B (Aftermath): Polls Closes | Hung Parliament Procedures

Poafmer Times

Election 2112: Kibi Party believes they might lose some votes, but enough to get across the line
Reported by Johnny Rayson with inputs from Poafmer Times politics team

Jottim - Preliminary results coming in the state seems to point at slight gains for the ruling Kibi Party, though they can't really say the same nationwide as reports are coming out of Cochas that more parties may have broken the 10 million barrier and that the party lost their supermajority in the city.

Here in the corner state of Bikasta, where preliminary results came in the earliest just barely 2 hours after poll closed, a number of Kibi Party officials, including Second Minister of Education Gale Jacoby and Minister of Home Affairs Eliza Yatsin, have been gathering at local headquarters with televisions comprising live streams of the various news outlets. Preliminary results typically make it by 7am the day after polling day, but they are often just indicative results published with 10-20% of votes counted. Vote counting continues through the weekend, and provided state-level tallies aren't close enough for recount margin, they would likely be ready by noon time on Sunday, with Poafmersian efficiency up for show for the election. That was what happened 6 years ago. For recounts to happen, the margin between 2 parties need to within 2% of the national tally, or 2 million, whichever is higher. The privilege of asking for a recount without a court order is only given to the top half of contesting parties, provided they attain at least 10% of the total vote count. Both the Kibi Party and the Congress Party did call for a recount 6 years ago in Nitrishi-pai, found around few thousand votes that were misattributed, and that did nothing to change the order in the state.

The Times had the opportunity to speak to Mr. Jacoby a few hours ago, where they think they do have enough votes to maintain a two-third majority in the Ridimag. "What we understand currently (at 1am) is that there we continue to be on track for outright wins in 8 out of 10 states, similar to what have predicted and aimed for at the start of the election season. There may be some losses here and there, but as compared to 6 years ago, we are doing better in the early states based on preliminary count," he said. When asked about states they were particularly concerned about, Mr. Jacoby said, "Well for me personally I am the leader of the party in the state, so of course I have a particular interest in the results here in Jottim. But apart from that, it would be 2 states - namely Cochas, which is a very good bellwether of how our party will do nationwide, as well as in Nitrishi-pai, when we are particularly concerned based on local trends."

Cochas, the largest state with around 190 million votes, will be the last state to return their preliminary counts, though their preliminary counts continue to be good indications as they are typically made with around 20-30 million votes counted. In the last election, when the preliminary count was released, it was released with 24 million votes counted, with more than 18 million votes for Kibi Party. That paved the way for an utter dominance by the party in the nation, with the party obtaining close to 78.3% of the votes in Cochas. It was also an indicator of the close battles between Democracy Front and Makara Party, which came out to be rather accurate at the national level.

As of writing, 5 states have returned their preliminary counts, with Dalaris and Piskn also further updating their counts with an approximate 45% and 75% of votes counted respectively. Among the results returned, Piskn and Dalaris looks like strong wins for Kibi Party, while a supermajority is likely in Bikasta. In Forche, where Kibi Party is fighting to maintain their super majority, Democracy Front seems to have gained quite a few percentage points, following their 1.81% showing last election. The biggest question mark is likely to come out of Nitrishi-pai, where 4 parties are hovering around the 15-20% mark, while Bijara Party made a marked jump. Bijara Party, who campaigned really hard in Nitrishi-pai this time round, has already obtained 3 times their result 6 years ago, where they managed a miserable 129 thousand votes out of 44 million voters. With Bijara Party and Socialist Party acting as proper party-poppers this time, it remains to be seen who would be the winner of the state and whether the 2-way alliance between Makara Party & Congress Party will continue this season.

Bikasta Prelim Results
Kibi Party - 4,519,128 (79.05%)
Congress Party - 461,273 (8.07%)
Democracy Front - 412,610 (7.22%)
Makara Party - 200,012 (3.50%)
Bijara Party - 78,129 (1.37%)
Socialist Party - 45,137 (0.79%)
Farmers League Party - 287 (0.01%)
Total - 5,716,576 (Expected Count: 55 million)

Forche Prelim Results
Kibi Party - 3,008,192 (65.32%)
Congress Party - 471,291 (10.23%)
Democracy Front - 401,112 (8.71%)
Makara Party - 298,472 (6.48%)
Socialist Party - 258,120 (5.61%)
Bijara Party - 152,702 (3.32%)
Farmers League Party - 15,102 (0.33%)
Total - 4,604,991 (Expected Count: 44 million)

Nitrishi-pai Prelim Results
Makara Party - 972,813 (21.91%)
Congress Party - 930,812 (20.97%)
Kibi Party - 834,512 (18.80%)
Democracy Front - 778,277 (17.53%)
Bijara Party - 461,281 (10.39%)
Socialist Party - 352,812 (7.95%)
Farmers League Party - 109,291 (2.46%)
Total - 4,439,798 (Expected Count : 44 million)

Piskn Latest Results (75% counted)
Kibi Party - 21,612,602 (93.55%)
Congress Party - 1,012,801 (4.38%)
Socialist Party - 261,781 (1.13%)
Democracy Front - 106,182 (0.46%)
Makara Party - 100,281 (0.43%)
Bijara Party - 7,182 (0.03%)
Farmers League Party - 1,200 (0.01%)
Total - 23,102,029 (Expected Count : 30 million)

Dalaris Latest Results (40% counted)
Kibi Party - 18,601,220 (89.47%)
Democracy Front - 741,712 (3.57%)
Congress Party - 720,027 (3.46%)
Makara Party - 711,278 (3.42%)
Socialist Party - 8,288 (0.04%)
Bijara Party - 6,376 (0.03%)
Farmers League Party - 500 (0.00%)
Total - 20,789,401 (Expected Count : 50 million)

Sporting Daily

WCQ92: Crunch time for Red Panjias as we approach end of first half
Reported by Jenson Dosben

Fiskadaha - It was Dagur Lawrence with an 86th minute winner that helped the Red Panjia secure yet another 3 points against minnows Kuraita, helping the team to keep second place in the World Cup Qualifiers, heading into a triple header with games against second seeds Hapilopper, fifth seeds Kimi-Suomi, and sixth seeds Srednjaci to come before the team rounds up the first half of the qualifiers.

Against Kuraita, who were undefeated on the road prior to the match, Poafmersia opted for a 3-4-3 formation in a bid to put more men in midfield against the opponent's 3-4-1-2. This is the first time that Adnan adopted the formation this qualifiers. Adnan also rested a few regulars for the match, with Michael Jackson parterning Erle Sartini in central midfield, while Dagur Lawrence and Liina Williamson plays up front alongside Jordan Huerta. Even though the vice-captain had a number of chances, it was the Serrapince FC striker that opened the scoring against Kuraita, running into the perfect space for Huerta to get the ball to him, and all Lawrence had to do was to tap the ball in past a stunned keeper. Despite the Red Panjias being higher ranked, the opponents were quite similar in terms of skill set and strategy, and a nice goal from Domantas Vaskevičius helped to level the scoreline before halftime. It was Huerta who found the back of the net after a nice byline cross from Leonora Hall, but it was Vaskevičius who ran dribbled past 2 defenders to equalise in the 70th minute. It was up to Lawrence to equalise before the end of the game, much to the relief of the 52,000 home fans watching the game at the Libira National Stadium.

Poafmersia gets a nice little break this weekend, before a triple header next week rounding up the first half of the qualifiers. On Monday, the Red Panjias start off with a trip to Kimi-Suomi to play the Eagle-Owls in the 37,000-capacity The Nest. Kimi-Suomi, who are on a 4-game unbeaten streak heading into the next fixture, are unbeaten at home, though the Red Panjias wouldn't want to leave Kimi City with anything less than 3 full points. This is followed by a home game against second seeds Hapilopper. The Haps didn't have the best of starts, having been on the end of shock defeats against Tecoia, Omerica and Kimi-Suomi. However, they also have their good days, as evidently seen by their performance in the last qualifier, when they ended the 20-game qualifiers unbeaten. The final game on Sunday will be against sixth seeds Srednjaci, which provided a good surprise last cycle when they made it into the playoff stage. While they have not provided any information about their current roster of players, nor any information for visiting teams this cycle, it is expected that the Red Panjias should be playing their game in Katanija, in their national stadium nicknamed as the "Blue Oyster", as per their historical information 2 years ago. For Poafmersia to capitalise on poor results by top seed Pemecutan, the expectation would be for us to take at least 7 points from these 3 games, allowing us to keep up and be on pace for a top 2 finish, which was the target set by the team at the start of the season.

by **West Barack and East Obama** » Fri Oct 07, 2022 8:02 am

BBC OFFICIAL PLAYER PROFILES: Super Subs!

By Interviewer-General Martin Obamaquais

Atheara - With the Obama Carers taking a break on this matchday, BBC Interviewer-General Martin Obamaquais decided to meet up with members of the team recuperating after their 0-0 snoozefest against Atheara.

However, this will be a unique player profile session. First of all, no quotes from Obamaquais will be included in here for the first time ever. This is an experimental approach to see if reducing the amount of comments from the Interviewer-General would reduce the amount of defamation and discrimination lawsuits the BBC faces. Secondly, we won't profiling national heroes such as Trent Vobama or Wolfgang Obamadeus-Mozart for this edition, nope. Today, we will be introducing the unsung heroes of the Obama Carers who had been putting in stellar performances recently. Yes, today we're talking to Bogdan Obammus and Jean-Marie Ouibama!

Jean-Marie Ouibama

Jean-Marie Marcel Ouibama is a 27 year old French-born Obaman. Born Jean-Marie Marcel Guichard, he and his family immigrated to New Barack City in West Barack at the age of four. His family's name was changed to 'Ouibama'. From a young age, he had a keen interest in sports. Due to most sports being banned, Ouibama trained heavily in weightlifting and sprinting, the reason behind the athlete's remarkable speed and fitness. In spite of early success in under-12 track and field competitions, Ouibama decided to give up athletics and pursue his true passion - becoming the first Obaman to land on the Moon.

Ouibama continued training his fitness, and was eventually granted a scholarship into Frederick Obamatown Military Academy. Ouibama quickly rose through the ranks to become the youngest Colonel in the Obaman military's history. However, each time he requested for the Obaman government to establish a space programme, it was denied by the government. Getting increasingly frustrated with the lack of progress on getting to space, Ouibama threatened to defect to a Lozhoan private military contractor. The government thus made a deal: he'd lend his skills to the football team, and if the Obamen won an international trophy, he could go to space.

Ouibama has two cats, loves bread, and his favourite music artist is "DJ Momo and the Obamasaurus".

Bogdan Obammus

Bodgan Francis Obammus is a 33 year old Obaman talent manager. Born into a humble working class family in the suburbs of Jakartington WB, tragedy struck two years later when his sister Kate Obammus was born blind. Sensing an opportunity of a lifetime to make a silver lining our of a dark cloud, Obammus' parents decided to hone Kate's echolocation skills, which gained her minor fame in the region. Bogdan was tasked with organising magic shows and other gigs to show off how she could pinpoint an apple 200m from her.

Soon, Obammus' powers got her selected into the West Barack and East Obama national team. As part of the deal, aspiring footballer Bodgan demanded to be included in any prospective football team, and he was. While he is not really that great at any aspect of the game, he's considered a good laugh on the team and regularly cracks jokes with the other benchwarmers during games. How wholesome! While he was pretty poor against Sevendia, he was rock solid against Atheara, keeping a clean sheet whilst Bark Obamallama served his ban.

Obammus has two cats, loves hummus, and his favourite music artist is "DJ Momo and the Obamasaurus".

by **Flavovespia** » Fri Oct 07, 2022 8:12 am

Flavovespia 6 - 2 Civia Welephilostopia

Flavovespia got back to winning ways in some style with an emphatic victory over Civia Welephilostopia. A half dozen goals were scored by the hosts, and they looked in control throughout.

Flavovespia made a few changes after 1 point in their last 2. Paul Taylor was immediately back in after suspension, and Robert Totten would replace David Clark in the line up, to give the midfield just a bit more in attack. Flavovespia flew out of the gates and were up within 6 minutes. Kieron Player had been bitten by the goal scoring bug, and he got a 2nd in 2 games, This one a low driven shot following a half cleared cross, that found its way through a crowd of legs and unsighted goalkeeper Solomon. Flavovespia made it 2-0 in the 17th minute. This one saw Adrian Jones turn and outmuscle Ahmed, before an accurate shot past Solomon to double the lead.

Flavovespia were looking in control, and their 3rd goal was something of a gift. Robert Totten’s shot from range seemed to have been covered by Solomon, only for him to fumble the shot and it bounced out of his hands and into the net. A fortuitous goal for Flavovespia, but they’d take it. It wasn’t all one way traffic through, and Civia Welephilostopia gave themselves some hope in the 42nd minute. Kevin played in a well timed curling ball low into the box, and Luca got ahead of Paul Taylor and steered the ball past Aarif Muhammad and into the net. A good attack and a good finish, and the home side knew this wasn’t won yet.

The 3-1 lead became 4-1 shortly before the break. Jonathan Bagshaw had been fairly quiet this game, but he got himself an assist, a classic dribble down the wing, and then he played the ball back from near the goal line into the path of Adrian Jones. Jones sidefooted it hard and into the net, Solomon with little chance of making a save. That goal made a comeback look even harder, a disheartening time to concede.

Flavovespia showed no mercy, coming out of the break still with their foot on the pedal, and they got a 5th in the 53rd minute. Bagshaw had his shot parried away by Solomon, but there wasn’t a defender near the rebound and Michael Cole put his laces through it to slam it into the net. 5-1 now, and it was becoming a bit of a rout by this point. Even with Flavovespia making a few substitutions to preserve energy in some of their players, they found a 6th in the 72nd minute. This one was simply the defence caught napping, Kieron Player went directly over the top, with Michael Cole dodging the offside trap to set up a one vs one. He made no mistake to slot in his second.

Civia Welephilostopia would get a consolation second goal in the 86th minute. They put together some good sustained passing, and Joseph would dart and cut inside, before shooting across the face of goal and in. A well worked goal, maybe exploiting some of Flavovespia’s fresher faces on the pitch a little, but the outcome of the game had been long settled. 6-2 it would finish, and after a few stumbles in previous games, Flavovespia were back on track and showing what they can do when they get into top gear.

República Guanacasteca 0 - 2 Flavovespia

Flavovespia came away from República Guanacasteca with another 3 points to press their claim for a berth in World Cup 92. It wasn’t quite the free flowing scoring of the previous encounter, but the team will be pleased with an away win and a clean sheet.

Flavovespia made the most of their early pressure in the opening minutes. República Guanacasteca were struggling to clear from a free-kick, and eventually the ball fell to Jonathan Goldstone. On the half volley he was able to hit the target, beat Sergio González, and get his first goal in Flavovespian colours. A deserved moment for a player who’s been a domestic breakthrough recently.

República Guanacasteca actually had the majority of possession in the first half, but Flavovespia played to their strengths and kept back, preventing many balls into the box. The midfield, including Jonathan Goldstone were also doing a fine job closing down the creative options of the hosts. Nevertheless towards the end of the first half, Sean Fuller forced a good save out of Aarif Muhammad with a knuckleball shot on the edge of the box. Flavovespia meanwhile thought thry had a second in the dying seconds of the first half, but Jonathan Bagshaw was unfortunately a metre or so offside when Michael Cole played the ball in.

Into the second half and again República Guanacasteca seemed to have the bulk of the possession. However the midfield were struggling under the pressing of Flavovespia, and passes to Kenneth Ingram and Sean Fuller tended to drift wide of the optimum spot. Flavovespia were doing a good job of weathering the storm and looked dangerous on the break.

The second goal would come on the break. A clearance fell to Jonathan Bagshaw who played it diagonally to Michael Cole. Michael Cole cleared the last defender, and as he entered the box he drew González in. Adrian Jones ran in at the far post, the ball was squared to him and he tapped it in. 0-2 now, and hosts República Guanacasteca had the wind taken out of their sails.

República Guanacasteca couldn’t mount a comeback despite putting more forward in the final minutes. They came close to bring hit on the counter again, but for some timely interceptions. 0-2 it would finish, despite some pressure from the hosts, Flavovespia were able to make it a relatively comfortable victory.

At the top of the group, Flavovespia lead by a point from Jeruselem and Zwangzug. Delaclava lie 5 points behind Flavovespia after a home loss to Jeruselem, but have a game in hand on the Top 3. A home game vs Delaclava and a trip to Jeruselem rounds out the opening half of the Qualifiers for Flavovespia, 2 matches that could be key to the battle at the top for all involved.

by **Tumbra** » Fri Oct 07, 2022 9:35 am

Tumbra 4-0 Saltstead

TMB (4-2-3-1): 13 - Russell; 2 - Moss (18 - Kemp, 65'), 4 - Kerr, 5 - Ashburn, 3 - Harris (27 - Green, 65'); 15 - Finnemore (8 - Hicks, 73'), 16 - Fisher, 10 - Cole (38 - Coleman, 79'); 17 - Hilton, 9 - Vaughn (21 - Crossley, 79'); 11 - Riordan

TMB scorers: Mark Finnemore (33'), Robin Vaughn (39'), Nick Riordan (61', 83')

Player of the Match: Robin Vaughn [TMB]
69X 0-1 Tumbra

TMB (4-2-3-1): 13 - Russell; 2 - Moss, 4 - Kerr (14 - Pritchett, 78'), 36 - Proudfoot, 3 - Harris (27 - Green, 69'); 15 - Finnemore (16 - Fisher, 78'), 8 - Hicks, 10 - Cole (23 - Monaghan, 84'); 17 - Hilton (7 - Wells, 84'), 21 - Crossley; 11 - Riordan

TMB scorers: Nick Riordan (69')

Player of the Match: Nick Riordan [TMB]

Linden, Anne van der. "Constructivism in International Relations." Lecture, University of Kingsbury, Kingsbury, Tumbra, February 6, 2030.

Van der Linden: So we've come to the end of the section of our course on theories in international relations. For the next few weeks, we'll be looking at certain international incidents from years gone past, such as the Corvidae Wars, Endemian Wars, the collapse of Gregoryisgodistan and more modern issues, like the Graentfjaller's supposed war on terror in Jabal Akhdar, or the Pavolan-Terranean rivalry that some have said could either be a "frigid war" or something that somehow could lead to the break-up of Rushmore. But for a moment, I'd like to talk about Tumbran foreign policy. As I'm sure many of you know, the country you and I both live in is at war in the Northlands, no matter how much the government tries to say otherwise.

There is laughter in the classroom.

But if we look at why the war is being waged from the perspective of an international relations student — which, by the way, all of you are now, there's no escaping me because the period for you to drop this class ended two weeks ago — perhaps we can look beyond the official explanation, or all the screaming from various sides that is going on. So, for the last ten or so minutes of this class, let's try and do a deeper dive into Tumbran foreign policy as it stands now. Can I perhaps get a brave few individuals to share what they think? Yes?

Student 1: Ahh, well, certainly Tumbran foreign policy seems to be based on the the theory of liberalism. I mean, you see, we're in the Esportivan Union and all that. I think that surely means that, uh, the Government believes that co-operation between states is viable. Which is a key part of, the, uh, liberalist mentality in international relations.

Van der Linden: Right! Good. The country's presence in the Esportivan Union alongside countries like my own, the Licentian Isles, and others like Brenecia and Nova Anglicana does mean that the government's foreign policy is, to a certain extent, shaped by liberalism. And in this case, like we covered in the previous lecture, this is an example of liberal institutionalist thought in action. People like, say, Sean Fullerton of Grearia and Kenneth Everett, your former Prime Minister, are examples of liberal institutionalist doers. After all, if Tumbra didn't believe in the possibility of co-operation between nations, the country certainly wouldn't be playing host to the Assembly of Esportiva in this very city. Very good. Anyone else have a different view? Yes?

Student 2: I mean, surely there's got to be some elements of realism in there as well, yeah? Like, the invasion of the Northlands I think is a pretty classic case of classical realism. I think it was in the Cordoban Dialogue, where the attackers told the Cordobans that they had to surrender or be destroyed, and weren't really that concerned about the morality of the situation. Uh. I think there's some similarities to what we're observing in the Northlands now, where Tumbra is, uh, seeking power for the sake of it...

There are murmurs in the classroom. The student, a girl with glasses, looks around sheepishly. Professor Van der Linden gives her an encouraging look, motivating her to continue.

Student 2: So yeah. What we're seeing in the Northlands right now, I think, is somewhat similar to that. I think the country is trying to assert itself not just on the regional stage, but the global one, too, and invading the Northlands is partly motivated by that.

Van der Linden: Excellent! Very good. What you've raised up here is a classic example of what we call human nature realism, or classical realism. If we go back to what we discussed in Week 3, when we took a look at different types of realism — classical, defensive and offensive — it seems that the Tumbran government is going with a very classical realist approach to its foreign policy. Like what we saw in ancient Juvencus, the government doesn't really seem to be bothered with morality when it comes to international relations in this specific scenario. And if we take a look at the other document we discussed in Week 3, the Six Principles of Political Realism, it can be argued that the government is currently trying to increase its power through acquiring new land and resources for itself, while also showing the world that Tumbra's military is very much a strong one that should be looked at with respect. Or fear, if you're South Newlandian. Yes?

Student 3: Doesn't this mean that it's more offensive realism than classical realism, though? Since we're trying to maximise our power in the region rather than just trying to survive. Like, we're acting very aggressively, trying to get as much power as possible, not just to survive, but also to become a big regional power.

Van der Linden: Yes, that's certainly one way of looking at it. If you take the higher-level course offered by Professor Joseph Schwartzmann that really focuses on realism in today's international relations, Tumbra's foreign policy can be viewed from the lens of offensive realism. Part of this is because the government's actions certainly can be argued to be in service of trying to attain a regional hegemony through amassing as much power as possible. But I think that it'd be a more concrete example if Tumbra were at war with a country that more resembled an actual country. Not that I don't think the United Clans are a country, of course; I certainly think they are. But if Tumbra ever repealed Clause 17 of the Constitution, somehow — and for those that don't know what it is, Clause 17 essentially bars Tumbra from declaring an offensive war on another country, and I say somehow, because there's another clause in the Constitution that makes that clause unamendable — and went to war with, say, Prinz-Eugens-Land, or Apox, over the Mortinenses Dependent Territory, for example, then I think we'd be able to say that Tumbra is truly on the path of offensive realism.

Student 3: Could Tumbra not be trying to achieve regional hegemony regardless of whether Clause 17 exists?

Van der Linden: I think if you ask amongst the faculty here, you'll receive different answers from all of us, and none of us will be able to say with complete confidence whether we're right or not because we don't work for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I definitely think that, though, in the past decade, Tumbra has been trying to grow its power by any means possible. Whether if it's through absolute gains, like benefits through co-operation by being in the Esportivan Union, or relative gains, seeing the country gain power at the expense of others that are not as active like your neighbours to the west, the country is trying to gain as much power as possible. Will it be to the extent that Tumbra becomes a regional hegemon? That, well, we're not sure. After all, we've got the presence of possibly the biggest military superpower in AREIMA, Eura, in Esportiva too. How many of you have heard of Fiadh Cove?

There are more murmurs in the classroom. A few tentative hands are raised.

Van der Linden: A few of you, definitely. Fiadh Cove, for those unaware, is the name of the Euran military base in Brenecia, giving the Eurans a position in Esportiva. And that, I think, will be the biggest obstacle in Tumbra gaining the status of regional hegemon. If you talk to Professor Schwartzmann, however, he will disagree with me; he will think that Tumbra will not try to gain as much power as possible, but rather just enough power to survive, an approach known as defensive realism. Personally, though, I think the Northlands situation shows that the country's on a more offensive than defensive path. Professor Schwartzmann's approach seems to be based on the fact that Tumbra don't want to do too much, before the country gets the entire power of the Euran military thrown at it. And I think there's merit in there, too.

Right! I think that's all the time we have for today. Thank you to everyone for participating in this last section of the lecture. I hope this has certainly opened your eyes as to why studying international relations theory is really important. Next week, as I mentioned, we'll be studying some important events in AREIMA's history, beginning with the Endemian War, and trying to look at why the war began in the first place. I'll see the first batch of tutorial students in the classroom in an hour's time. See you!

TUMBRAN SQUAD FOR MATCHES AGAINST ZIWANA AND CAP NORD - WORLD CUP 92 QUALIFICATION
Goalkeepers: 1 - Nick Barker [Lakewood City, TMB], 12 - Victoria Jones [Lakewood City, TMB], 13 - Richard Russell [Lakewood United, TMB]
Defenders: 2 - Nicholas Moss [Miruan City, TKT], 3 - Nigel Harris [Lakewood United, TMB] 4 - Stephen Kerr [Chromatik, CMT], 5 - Ian Ashburn [Lakewood City, TMB], 14 - Wendy Pritchett [Grande Mountain, CDG], 27 - James Green [Bavingtor FC, FVA], 31 - Raymond Perry [Serrapince, TMB], 34 - Annie Renton [Victoriaville City, CDG], 32 - Carole Bond [Macarthur City, TMB]
Midfielders: 6 - Trudy Harrison [Chromatik, CMT], 8 - Vincent Hicks [Lhor, CMT], 10 - Phil Cole [Osarese Marcadia, AUD], 16 - Andrew Fisher [FC Inter Nantwich, TMB], 23 - Susan Monaghan [Sabrefell Athletic, NPH], 28 - Valerie Morris [Lakewood City, TMB], 37 - Vince Cahill [Serrapince, TMB], 43 - Cathal Maguire [Wirr Tsi, CMT]
Wingers: 7 - Valerie Wells [AFC Treason, NPH], 9 - Robin Vaughn [Lakewood City, TMB], 39 - Julie Hardaker [Perce Town, QUE], 40 - Harvey Osbourne [Straton, TMB]
Strikers: 11 - Nick Riordan [Sabrefell Moths, NPH], 22 - Bruce Nolan [Couno Rangers, TMB], 33 - Charlotte Henshaw [Lakewood City, TMB]

by **Nyowani Kitara** » Fri Oct 07, 2022 10:24 am

OOC Note: This newsletter has a slight anti-socialist bent, but they are fairly strict about the whole 'sticking to sports' thing

Nyowani Kitara Football Weekly
The voice for the working people of Nyowani Kitara

6 Point Window- while not at their best, rotated squads secure key 6 point window as we get into the dog days of World Cup Qualifying

IBARNET, NYOWANI KITARA- We are in the middle of World Cup Qualifying- what we like to call, the dog days. The early days are over, so the excitement and newness of international football to club football has worn off. And yet, we are still far away from the decisive weekends of World Cup Qualifying, as we sit firmly in the middle of the Qualification cycle. Ergo, the dog days. "Just because it's the middle of Qualifying, it doesn't mean that these games aren't just as important as games that are played towards the beginning, or towards the end." Said Liang Wei. "But these are when upsets are most likely to happen. Players are tired, players aren't 100%, you're rotating your squads, etc... The best of the best ensure that these types of games raise their skill levels and their ceilings, rather than bring down these teams."

As NYK played the two teams at the bottom of their group, then- what would happen? Would one of them throw an early wrench into our Qualification ambitions? Or would we be able to earn a 6 point window, and keep on track our chase of the Cordian Isles in the table?

Matchday 7- Away to New South Yukon

On Matchday 7, we got on a plane and flew out to Qualifying debutants New South Yukon. A team that, so far, have earned just a lone point throughout World Cup Qualifying. A team that hadn't done much- but clearly, relished a chance to get some points off of a World Cup participant, who have a legitimate chance of winning this group outright. New South Yukon fought hard from the beginning, as they didn't merely sit back- but tried to take the front foot and establish themselves in the game. Of course, that's a big risk when the other team is more talented than you. And they felt that risk in just the 7th minute, when an interception by Arvid Handsdotter turned into a brilliant counter-attack. He played a great ball down the sideline to Wang Jiahui, as Kitarans flew forward. A cross was punched by their goalkeeper, but he didn't get nearly enough- and the bouncing ball landed at the feet of Mhara Vera, the 23 year old CM.

Vera took a first time strike, and rocketed the bouncing volley into the bottom corner of the net. An early 1-0 lead for Nyowani Kitara, as the away fans were cheering loudly. Of course, it was against the very early run of play- but a goal is a goal no matter how they come, and most importantly- a 1-0 lead for the favorites is a 1-0 lead for the favorites. But credit to New South Yukon, they did not stray away from their game plan. They thought that they could attack the Kitarans and control possesion, and they did exactly that. After that goal, they did not vary- the only chances the Kitarans had were some counter-attacking attempts, but the game was mostly controlled by the New South Yukoners. Bigombe had to make four saves in the first half, including an incredible diving save off of a header in the 37th minute. They also, on the last play of the first half, hit the crossbar on a long, knuckle-balling shot, as Bigombe breathed a huge sigh of relief.

While we led on the scoreboard, they were the better team in basically every way- every way, of course, besides on the scoreboard. Liang Wei made a few changes, but the second half was largely the same. New South Yukon controlled a lot of possesion, but yet, they didn't quite have the talent to break NYK down entirely in the final third. "Look- if we played like this against a higher-ranked team, we probably lose 3-0." Said one of our own TV analysts. "New South Yukon could control the middle of the field, but they didn't have the ruthlessness at the front that could score and get that equalizing goal, that could've really put our team on our backs." An error from New South Yukon in the back really messed things up for them. In the 87th minute, they had a corner kick, trying to get a goal for that point.

They only had two guys hanging on the edge of the box, and just one player back, plus their goalkeeper. When Malmquist rose above and headed the ball out, players were flying forward. For NYK- we had Josef Sparv running forward with the ball, with Janani Nyaoro running up one flank, and Zhou Mushonga, coming from his wingback position to run up the other. They only had just a centerback in play. A great through ball to Nyaoro saw him get behind the defense. When the goalkeeper came out to challenge him, a pass to a WIDE open Mushonga saw the left back tap the ball into an empty net. Taking the air out of the game, the second goal buried them. 2-0 up, and that was the final score.

"Well, you know- that's not exactly how we drew it up." Liang Wei said, clearly showing his frustration. "We need to play a lot better than that if we want to make the playoffs, let alone our goal of direct World Cup Qualification."

Matchday 8- Home against Sevendia

A poor performance, but 3 points anyways. Nobody's out here playing absolutely fantastic football for 20 straight games anyways, right? Liang Wei, in the pre-game PC for this one, spoke about that. "I mean, the ability to gain a result, even three points, when you aren't playing at your best, is key in something as long and tiring as World Cup Qualifying." He told reporters. "WE don't want to play like that all the time- but three points earned, sometimes, are three points earned. We forget about it and move onto the next match."

It would've been nice if we could've played Sevendia on Matchday 7 as opposed to Matchday 8, right? But although it was Matchday 8, both teams had already had their bye- so playing Sevendia on Matchday 7, for both sides, was a spectacular feeling. "The traveling fans, getting ready for what they felt was their biggest game of the campaign, were quite fantastic in every way. It was quite an exotic sight. It's like game 7 for them is their World Cup Final or something." Said one of the NYK TV analysts. And while there wasn't expected to be a huge traveling fanbase, as they're a country with less than a million people, Sevendia fans came out in droves for Game 7. Probably a full third of the stadium was wearing Sevendia merch. They were chanting and marching throughout the city, making a ton of noise.

"Gotta love the environment, right?" Said a slightly bewildered Odede Angonga, who nevertheless said he respected it. And Sevendia's two biggest moments were, indeed, in their favorite number. In the 6th minute, a late challenge from their CB on the edge of the box yielded a penalty, and Angonga stepped up to take it. But he should've delayed by 30 seconds, right? He took the penalty in the 7th minute, and in the 7th minute of game 7, Sevendia's goalkeeper was never going to miss this opportunity. Angonga went to the keeper's right, and Sebastian-Seven Proven guessed correctly- diving right to save what had actually been a well-taken penalty. Great goalkeeping beats good penalty taking, of course.

And the game was back and forth between the two opponents, although neither could do much to the other. But in the 77th minute of game 7, Sevendia broke down the doors. A brilliant counter-attack led to a four on 2, and a wide open Sean-Seven Raven heading in a cross- taking the header exactly 7 yards from goal, in the 77th minute. The irony was too much- Sevendians rushed to the front of the stands, as the celebrations for the away team were mad. The Euran referee was doing all he good to try and restore order, even though nobody had rushed the field. Tears were flowing, players were going into the stands, and the referee was issuing yellow cards like mad. Six full minutes of celebration. By the time all the players got back onto the field, he had issued 6 different yellow cards during the celebration.

Unfortunately, one of those had gone to Seattle-Seven Badven, who had already picked up another yellow earlier in the game. He was sent off, and Sevendia were down to 10 men to try and defend their lead. An 88th minute equalizer from Angonga led to a 90+4' winner from Owino Odede, in a game that was a spectacular comeback for Nyowani Kitara. Liang Wei spoke after the match. "Well, game 7 of World Cup Qualifying against Sevendia- throw out rankings, records, on paper, whatever. It's going to be an absolute brawl until the finish, and that is what this was. These were some of the hardest three points we've earned all cycle, and we'll cherish them."

During the next window, NYK will travel to 8th place and 91st ranked Abanhfleft, before 7th place and 140th ranked Atheara pays a visit to Bujukamba.

by **Cardenao** » Fri Oct 07, 2022 11:04 am

Chímo's Christening (Part 1)

Chímo Ventura let out a long sigh. The strain of the World Cup was starting to take its toll on him and the rest of the squad, the constant mental drain of the qualifying campaign was exhausting. Every match, every second of those 90 minutes was the most important match, that missed shot, mis-timed tackle, that unlucky deflection, all of those had potentially massive ramifications. Ranked 101st in the world, there realistically weren’t any actual expectations for Cardenao, at least in the ‘actually qualifying and possibly winning the whole thing’ sense, no there were no expectations. Foreign countries weren’t concerned about the team, nobody outside cared.

Chímo got up from his seat and walked around the metal table that sat on the shaded stone patio. “But the fans man, our people, they fucking care. They..they watch it all, every second, living and dying with us and that’s some fucking pressure alright! I just…I don’t want to let them down, I mean everyone is hyped and we’ve actually gotten some decent results and we’re only three points out of qualifying and the whole thing is just too much man, I get wigged out about it all,” he said, giving voice to the inner turmoil that comes with dealing with external expectations. It was true. While there were no real expectations, the 2-2 draw against Chromatika was another in a string of somewhat remarkable results for Cardenao against much higher ranked teams, such as the draws against Banija and Ko-oren, or the epic 4-3 victory over Pasarga to close out the WC91 campaign. The potential shown in these results created expectations, expectations created pressure, and pressure can sometimes be a bitch to deal with as the 19 year old from La Escuela Nacíonal DCPF was finding out.

Chímo looked over, mid-existential rant, to see Hendrix Salvadore take a drag from the joint he’d been holding, grab a can of Bermudame (one of Cardenao’s most popular beers) and open it, suck the marijuana down even deeper into his chest, take a long swig from the can, then belch out a plume plume of white smoke. Chímo could only look on in astonishment, though he shouldn’t’ve been confused considering Salvadore’s mixed Quebec-Cardenao heritage meant he had the proclivity for the worst sorts of hedonism. This was made infinitely worse due to Hendrix’s close friendship with Marco Hertel of Quebec, the two frequently scene partaking in debauchery to the extreme at Hertel’s infamous PlayToy Mansion along with the Banijan basketball star Amadou Secka.

“How can you just sit there and do that man??” Chímo pursed his lips with his perfectionist, straightedge (for a Cardenaoan at least) disposition naturally rumbling around anxiously at the display of…frat boy varsity athlete behavior of his national teammate. Well, more than teammates, the pair were certainly bloomed into friends over their time together, Hendrix Salvadore is very much a big brother and was always understanding of the unique pressure Chímo shouldered as the golden child of Cardenaoan football. He felt what the young lad most needed was to learn the art and skill of ‘grande chillin’ and he called it. The art of self-numbness through pleasure, that’s what Chímo needed. Hendrix Salvadore had found it to be the perfect concoction for lifting the weighted stress that is external expectations, and he had learned from the best. To that end, Salvadore pulled a plastic baggie filled with a vibrant blue powder and put it on the table.

Hendrix Salvadore was a regular at the infamous PlayToy mansion in Quebec, where everything that respectful, god fearing people don’t want to see, is precisely what’s on display. Mountains of marijuana, women, cocaine, crystal chandeliers, promethazine, and percocet had long been the order of business in the PlayToy Mansion, but the Salvadore had changed the party game when he brought his long favorite ‘grande chillin’ material to the show. CAD-E,the blue Cardenaoan powdered drug that was built around a base of cocaine with a mix of other drugs haphazardly thrown in, usually a combination of MDMA, ketamine, and 2C-B, and some other stuff in there depending on who made that particular batch. Indeed, that was both the fun and danger of the drug, CAD-E could easily be made at home with a varying amount of additional drugs added to it. No two CAD-E trips were the same due to this, with the amount and type of drugs added to CAD-E totally dependent on what the maker had lying around. Fortunately Salvadore’s supplier was generally consistent in the effect of his product as he was the source for many high profile Cardenaoan aficionados.

When Hendrix Salvadore first knocked on the PlayToy Mansion door and offered those inside some of the Cardenaoan drug, it instantly boosted him into the social stratosphere thanks to the Quebecois love of all things party focused. The party drug spread like wildfire to the point where Salvadore was earning considerably more through providing the drug than he was from his footballing activities. It wasn’t long until his CAD-E party powder got the nose, and thus the attention, of Marco Hertel, the Champions League winning star midfielder and son of Grim Reapers' legend Xavier and Princess Anna of Jeruselem, and the two formed an immediate bond over CAD-E and their love of partying, recklessness, and their shared belief that paying child support was entirely optional. The sound of his cellphone ringing snapped Hendrix back to the present; he looked at the caller ID screen and smiled as he accepted the call.

“Yo!”

……………

“I’m grande chillin Seckaaaaa my friend, how are you?”

……………

“Word word, you know I’ll be back at the Mansion. I got this World Cup match against…fuck I don’t even know but then we got a bye matchday so I’ll be crashing it around then.”

……………

“Haha yeah I’ll have a boatload of it my man, we’ll be CAD-E chillin haha it’ll be a class time haha”

……………

“Word well I’ll catch you then, be good boss,” Hendrix Salvadore terminated the call and threw his phone on the table. He looked at Chímo Ventura, who had been quietly fidgeting this entire time.

“Do you know who that was?” Salvadore asked.

“Umm nah I can’t say that I do, sounded like one of your boys though,” the 19 year old responded.

“‘One of my boys’ fuck’s sake we gotta get you cultured my man. That was Amadou Sesko, one of Banija’s greatest basketball players of all time. We keep it loose, chill and party a bit, you know how it is.”

“So you party with one of the basketball GOATs and a Champions League winning star player?”

“That is correct,” Hendrix fired back, sensing a moment was close.

“I mean it’s pretty obvious things are working well if everyone is succeeding despite…” Chímo pointed to the bag of blue CAD-E in front of Hendrix, who took his car key out, dipped it into powder, and helped himself to a quick key bump of the happy powder.

“You’re damn fucking right things are working out! We’re in with a chance to qualify for the World Cup, I’m friends with massive stars and I’m jacked. Not only that but I wear the freshest clothes, eat at the chillest restaurants and hang out with the hottest dudes.”

“What?”

“Nevermind, the point is it is my life and I am rocking it, I have zero stress, zero worries, I just sit back and enjoy this life because I deserve it, it’s my life and I deserve it. So why don’t you just chill out, you carry everything on you little homie, the weight of the world, the weight of yourself, it’s drowning you, and if you aren’t able to find an outlet that releases all that pressure, you’re screwed my man. I’ve seen it happen many times before and I really don’t want to see it happen to you.”

Chímo sat back, that was surprisingly…considerate from Salvadore, and there was a lot of truth to it. Chímo was tired, tired of the pressure, tired of the expectations, tired of how carefully he needed to manage himself every single second when out in public, he was tired of being the golden boy, tired of it all. He missed feeling like a kid, feeling the simple joy of kicking a ball around in the street with his friends. He wanted to go back, everything was just crushing and dark for the kid who’d had the spotlight on him his entire life. Without fully thinking it through, Chímo made a rash decision and opened his mouth.

“Pass me the joint would you?”

Chímo Ventura, shining star of Cardenaoan football, took a drag for the first time, inhaled, and saw his world explode in a mix of colors, sounds, and images, all pouring into and through him, everything combining in dazzling brilliance and, for a moment, he thought he could hear the color green and actually see the sound of Hendrix's voice, a voice that was slowly fading away.

"Hey man, you don't look so good."

Chímo passed out.

Scooter McNash sat at the table and was just about at his wits end. He sat across a mass of faceless journalists and had just spent went felt like an eternity answering their stupid attempts at trapping him in an unflattering soundbyte. He looked over at Missy Crown, the Cardenaoan press officer and gave a nod, which she recognized and stepped forward.

“Alright you lot, final questionnnnn…you, Timo, in the retro Polar Islandstates jersey, you’re up. That’s a nice pun by the way, I appreciate that!”

“Thanks Missy, Timo with The Cardenao Correspondent. Scooter, great result against Chromatika to get a draw. Obviously the incredible performance from Chímo Ventura is the big takeaway, coming into the game for the injured Fabrizio Viscarra and put on quite the show by scoring both goals. Any words on the lad’s performance?”

“Well first this has been a long time coming, well…I don’t even want to say that, I mean we’ve known about Chímo’s quality from our Baptism of Fire. I mean he’d scored seven (7) goals for us in 15 matches coming into this World Cup so he’s always been producing. What we saw tonight though, in a right wing position he doesn’t play mind you, was just brilliant. I saw a relaxed player who looked totally at ease on the pitch, I mean his second goal was just natural brilliance, the way he croquetad pass the defenders and rolled it through their keeper’s legs, that is pure experiencing the moment and letting the action flow through you. I don’t know what happened to help him make this mental change, but if he keeps up this level of play, man he’s going to be scary in a few years.” Scooter McNash leaned back in his chair.

“He already is.”

by **Hopal** » Fri Oct 07, 2022 12:21 pm

The Hopal Herald Sports

WORLD CUP 92: A First Look

The Qualifiers for the 92nd World Cup are getting underway across the multiverse, and for the second straight time, Team Hopal is fighting for a spot at the World Cup. They would rather you not mention their run of it, though, as it was, put quite simply, a disaster for Team Hopal. In 19 games for Team Hopal at the last World Cup Qualifying, they only managed to score 2 wins and 1 draws, with a whopping 16 loses. The team looked tired, disorganized, and unmotivated as they just seemed they let team after team score in their net without putting up much of a fight. It's something that the team would rather not be reminded of, and that was apparent at today's press conference for the team, where the cloud of the last World Cup Qualifying loomed large over them.

This press conference today was really about drawing a line under the events of the last World Cup Cycle for Team Hopal and turning the page as they try and turn the page and reset expectations as they undertake the challenges of this World Cup cycle. But as much as they would liked the start afresh, they could not escape the cloud of their last World Cup run, with reporter after reporter asking again and again about the events of the last World Cup Qualifying.

Head Coach Tom Villiers spoke of Team Hopal's performance at the last World Cup Qualifying, "Of course it was disappointing, I thought we were a much better team than what we showed. But we were new to this, and I expect that the reality of what it was and expectation of what we thought it was were not the same. It was much harder than we thought it would be, and we weren't prepared enough for what we faced, and we were rightfully defeated, and that's how it went. But I think that we have assembled here a better team, and team with much more experience, we've already been through this one time, and I think we are better prepared now to meet whatever faces us ahead. So to answer your question, yes, our last performance was disappointing. Yes, we were soundly defeated, and some would say rightfully so. Yes, those defeats will affect us this time around, but not in the way you expect, we will learn from our mistakes, and we will succeed in future. I think we have, maybe the best team Hopal has fielded for an international tournament, and I think we can see some real success this time 'round."

Team Captain Tommy Sanchez also spoke of the team's performance at the last World Cup Qualifying, "Of course we're upset, we're disappointed, we thought we could do much better. But the fact of the matter is, that's how it ended up, that was the result, and there's nothing that we can do now to change that. We just have to move on. You know, there were a lot of long faces in the locker room last year, after that last game of the World Cup Qualifying, and we were very upset at where we ended up last time, and we made a vow to make we never got that low again. So you know, we're going to fulfil that vow, those of us who were on the team last remember what it was like to finish that badly, and we don't want to be there again. So I think we're determined, we have the energy, the spirit going into this World Cup Qualifying, and we're ready to face what comes our way, and to win."

The U-18 Team Manager and "Special Assistant and Tactician" of the Senior Team for this World Cup Cycle, John Ashcroft was also on hand to take question. He was asked what his job was and why he thinks he was brought on. "I was massively honoured to offered this role on Team Hopal, and will do everything I can to help and support this team in the days ahead as a member of the coaching staff." Tom Villiers also answered the question, "John has a wide range of expertise from his both on the U-18 team and before that coaching on this team, and we are pleased on the coaching staff to help us out this World Cup Cycle." John Ashcroft was also asked if his joining the team was part of him trying to secure a National U-18 Soccer Program, to which he said this: "Of course I hope the Hopalian Olympic Committee will fund a U-18 National Program for Hopal, and I believe there are many benefits to be had form that, as I have stated previously. But my main goal for joining this coach on this team is to help this team succeed as much as it can." Tom Villiers was also asked if he thought that his job was at stake at this tournament, "I do I will be judged by fans in Hopal by what happens at this tournament, as I should be, but I don't think I shouldn't about my job, or that should be my focus. My focus right now is having this team succeed at this tournament."

We also got a first look at this team as they trained before their first flight overseas to play Jeruselem. At the Hopalian National Soccer Centre in Hopton we saw the Starting 11 for the match against Jeruselem train altogether for the very first time. We saw Uma and Harris Frey (the Frey brothers) playing for the first time together in years, and we saw their great chemistry, even if they did seem a bit out of practice, but they elicited great potential. We saw the team's leaders Tommy Sanchez, Kay Redford, and Peter Fikudal really guiding the younger players on the team, and they showed some good leadership, or at least guidance, something that was perhaps lacking on the last team. We saw Alex Gargin shaping up in net, and Karos Yamover training, a player who has clearly been training a lot since the last World Cup Cycle, and may be shaping to have a permanent role on the Starting 11. But we also Tom Villiers, and his coaching style going into this World Cup Cycle, he was putting a lot of pressure on the team, and each of the players, clearly not wanting a repeat of what happened at the last World Cup Qualifying, but he also looked a man desperate to hold onto his job.

The Hopal Herald Sports

WORLD CUP 92: Team Hopal Kicks Off World Cup Qualifying with Grueling 1-0 Loss to República Guanacasteca (Helen's Thoughts)

Hi there, I'm Helen Hernandez, I'm a former professional soccer player and a former member of the Hopalian National Program and I've played for the Hopalian National Team at multiple tournaments across the multiverse. I'm covering the Qualifiers for the 92nd World Cup here for the Hopal Herald as part of my column: Helen's Thoughts. After every match you'll find me here giving me some of my thoughts and analysis giving you a rundown of the game's key moments and performances from my personal perspective as a former soccer player. This is an important tournament for Team Hopal, well all World Cups are, but this one is especially so, especially for one man in particular. Tom Villiers may be fighting for his career here, will he be able to stay on as Head of the Hopalian National Program? Will this new style of offensive play work out for Team Hopal? Will Uma Frey be able to replicate his success on the U-18 Team here on the senior team? What happens to the Hopalian defence? Who will survive in the Hopalian net? These are all questions here at this 92nd World Cup Qualifying for Team Hopal, and these are the questions that I will ponder as we progress this tournament, and hopefully I'll be able to give you some answer. Starting here today with this 1-0 loss for Team Hopal to República Guanacasteca.

First I just want to note about the game overall, this was a hard-fought match, right out of the gate, this was not a blowout by any means, and was a hard-fought tough match on both sides.
Coming out of the gate this was a very different looking team, the players, the older ones at least, the ones who had fought the last World Cup cycle, looked energized, rejuvenated, and ready to face this next World Cup Cycle. After the stinging losses and performance at the last World Cup Qualifying for Team Hopal, these players must have thought of nothing else between these two World Cup cycles but how they lost so badly last time, and how badly they want to prove themselves this time. They must have been hyping themselves up quite a bit, I know some of these players, particularly Tommy Sanchez, who is a really energizing captain who breathes energy into the team, and I really don't know what happened last time for him, why the team was in such a down mood, throughout the tournament, but things were definitely different this time. They really had a chip on their shoulder this time 'round, and they played like it.
But for the of the newer players, some of the players who weren't on that last World Cup team, the Frey brothers, Karos Yamover, Alex Gargin, too even. They looked quite tired, already, just having gone into the tournament, which there shouldn't much reason why for that. They had a training session right before the game, it ended less than half an hour before the game, which shouldn't be happening. The players would have had to gone straight to the stadium and locker room after training and immediately change for the game, and get out there as fast as possible. My training session were always at least an hour before the game, I had to decompress a bit before the game, to calm my nerves, and then I'd get on the field warm up a bit and get into the game. The newer players looked and overworked, and they shouldn't look like that on the first game of a tournament. Is Tom Villiers overtraining them?
So both sides had their moments throughout the game, República Guanacasteca was certainly quite strong, and held up throughout the game, almost getting to Team Hopal many times. The whole was and forth and possession with both teams making plays and getting the ball up and down the field and into the opposition zone.
Peter Fikudal, who had some struggles in the last World Cup Cycle, not as much as the rest of the team, but he had his trouble. He started to show his true colours again, he was of great help for Team Hopal, he was loud, he was in his element, he helped set up the team, and got the ball up into the opposition zone, and created some real possibilities for Team Hopal. But one can't help but notice he still had his struggles, and perhaps wasn't as good or effective as he once was, so one has to wonder; Is age catching up to Peter Fikudal?
The Frey brothers were simply amazing for Team Hopal, no one, or at least no one on the República Guanacasteca team, can break their chemistry. They were in lock step with each other, and while Harris Frey did look very inexperienced, and had the ball taken off him a few times. But together they were dangerous, and they created some opportunities where Uma Frey was just that close to scoring[, it was incredible for Team Hopal, and has to be just as, or at least close to what Tom Villiers had hoped for in them.
The Hopalian defence and Alex Gargin held up well enough through this match, they only let one goal in for República Guanacasteca, which was near 70 minutes, after a bit of a struggle for the República Guanacasteca team. But it's a new setup, and they're still learning.
All in all it wasn't a bad game for Team Hopal, it could have been worse, and it wasn't what happened last year, or least it didn't seem like it. In the end it was just a 1-0 loss, which after a hard-fought game is a bit disappointing for Team Hopal, who I'm sure would have liked to have gone away with at least a draw, but it's progress, at least in the eyes of an avid fan. But Tom Villiers is keeping together his Starting 11 for the next match back in Hopal, without making any changes, that might pose some problems for Team Hopal, especially if Tom Villiers is overworking them.

Starting 11 for MD2
GK Alex Gargin 26 M
FB Kaylee Haboshinter 21 F
FB Allison Terrace 22 F
CB Kay Redford 32 F
CB Karos Yamover 28 M
CM Kelly Hart 26 F
CM Peter Fikudal 28 M
CM Wendy Stein 25 F
OM Harris Frey 23 M
OM Uma Frey 19 M
CF Tommy Sanchez 28 M

Schedule
MD1: vs República Guanacasteca - L 1-0
MD2: vs Delaclava
MD3: vs Jeruselem
MD4: vs Flavovespia
MD5: vs Efnakia
MD6: vs Britland
MD7: vs Togonistan
MD8: BYE
MD9: vs Zwangzug
MD10: vs Ochre Islands
MD11: vs Civia Welephilostopia
MD12: vs República Guanacasteca
MD13: vs Delaclava
MD14: vs Jeruselem
MD15: vs Flavovespia
MD16: vs Efnakia
MD17: vs Britland
MD18: vs Togonistan
MD19: BYE
MD20: Zwangzug
MD21: Ochre Islands
MD22: Civia Welephilostopia

by **Brookstation** » Fri Oct 07, 2022 1:09 pm

I||II||III||IV|V|VI|VII|VIII|IX|X|XI|XII|XIII

The 20 is a blog series where authors of Brookstation's biggest football blog, The Beautiful Game documents the lives of some of the best players to have played in Brook soil. Aimed at inaugurating the 50th edition of the Harrison Shield, we document the lives of the players who define the top 20 football clubs in Brookstation.

EMILIANO SILVANO: ONE MAN ARMY

In today's world , a player is often judged by the amount of silverware he can credit to his name. It has become our preconceived notion that a player can only be judged by the number of awards he has won and thus while settling a dispute between two players of an equally great stature, we consider these very pieces of silverware as the deciding factor. Yet there is one player who has proved this fact to be a completely baseless one and throughout the 90 minutes he had the ball to his feet, he would enchant the field with a magical display of footwork which makes him one of Brookstation's greatest irrespective of the negligible number of silverware credited to his name.

Emiliano Silvano was first spotted by Volint manager David Hesham but it wouldn't be soon since Hesham would be sacked from the club. Hesham's successor, Terry Goldberg would however keep this recommendation in mind and sign the young player for an emerging Red Tube Volint side. After a fantastic season with Volint at the beginning of the new millennial, Silvano would soon make an impression on the team and become an obvious starter for the team. Volint, although still fighting against the prospect of relegation, did make their efforts to stay as strong as possible and occasionally like every other small club, even Volint had their days when the club would pull up an absolute surprise against a prolific club.

Volint's chance in 2000 would come in their Harrison Shield matchup against FC 69 Norwegian wood. With the game goalless after 90 minutes, a feat not less worthy of appreciation , Silvano would finally put Red Tube in the lead. Silvano always aimed at achieving milestones and by the end of the 2002 season, Silvano has already broken several records in the club, having only played in the red and white jersey for 3 years. But there was more to Silvano's career.

The 25 year old would make his return to Norwegian wood in 2003, this time playing against Clube de Norwegian wood. Heavyweight clubs usually don't prefer their default lineup when it comes to playing a side battling against relegation but to stop Silvano, Alex Martinez's team started with the likes of Hen Campbell, Ricardo Perez and Matt Strike, largely regarded as one of the strongest defensive lineups in the league at that time. Yet the beauty lied in the fact that irrespective of such an intricate and strong defensive approach, Silvano couldn't be stopped. Strike's header gave Norwegian wood a lead before half time but as soon as the second half processed, Silvano flung his leg at the incoming ball giving it way right past the Norwegian wood net. It was difficult to make out whether Silvano actually planned on scooping the ball in that unusual manner but nevertheless, Silvano managed to net it for Red Tube as always. Jeremy Dixon's last moment header shrugged off the slight chance Volint possessed for upsetting the Fortress but Silvano's selfless efforts that day has been well appreciated by many.

"Honestly speaking, we never thought that the game was going to be this difficult. It seemed as if we were playing a club of our mettle and the reason for our quite dismal condition has to be credited completely to Silvano."-Jeremy Dixon(Clube de Norwegian wood midfielder 1998-2009)

Red Tube Volint would finish at an impressive 11th position in the table, a pretty unexpected feat indeed. Thus the 2005 season started with quite a load on Volint's shoulders. A draw against Nnem Suns would immediately stagnate the club's dream start to the league but Silvano's winning goal against Shkotan FC would bring back the club's hopes on track. However, one could just dream of Volint continuing with their impressive run. In the midst of the season, Silvano would suffer a knee injury during their match with Artiana which would rule Silvano out for the rest of the season and this would end Volint's expectations for a better finish.

Silvano dribbling the ball past Morioh Town's Starr

Not only would it deal a serious blow to the club's performance as Turner would struggle to find a nearly suitable replacement for Silvano, with the club already running low on funds but at the same time, the club could never really recover from the blow. By the time, Silvano made his return to the team, Volint found themselves in the second division. Silvano, once demanded by pretty much every club now found himself in an isolated helpless situation with other clubs still having doubts regarding his fitness. This left Silvano no option but to continue for his very own club. The 2007 was a stellar one for Volint and although competition was not nearly as intense as the first division, Volint emerged as champions of the League gaining an immediate promotion to the first division. Silvano played a vital role in bringing together the success of the club and without the dominance of Silvano , the dream of playing in front of crowds of 30000 people would remain a futile one.

Silvano returned to the first division with an instant impact, scoring in five consecutive games and although he broke his streak against Other side of Paradise, Silvano was at the peak of his career. Along with Nkunku, Silvano would set up a brilliant forward duo and this duo bore the strength required to retain Volint in the league. Having cruised past relegation during his return to the first division, another mid table finish would be a great satisfaction to the Volint fans. That very season, Silvano would achieve the impossible, finishing as the joint highest scorer with Alexander Cust and Dario Hughes, becoming the first and only player in Volint's history to do so.

Silvano would end his career playing for the very Volint side he started and dedicated his career to. When Silvano would hang up his boots, he would have the distinction of undoubtedly being the best player in Volint's history having scored the highest number of goals for the club. His legacy is still contained within the club with a stand recently being named after the club's legend. Silvano soon found another passion after retiring from the game, a passion in music and although many might know him today as an occasional online guitarist, Silvano's exploits on the football field will always be a lesson for players in the future.

MORE FROM THE BEAUTIFUL GAME :
Silvano and Nkunku: The deadly duo that never achieved fame
Dragonflies bring an end to Brookstation's unbeaten streak
Race for qualification becomes more intense as the second half approaches

by **Cap Nord** » Fri Oct 07, 2022 1:14 pm

“Good evening and welcome to the ChannelOne News. It’s one past seven and my name is Aileen Douglas.”
“And I am Alex van der Sloot.”

[insert your own cool jingle]

“We open with the newest developments in what has already been called the Herklotz Crisis and the Koronavian Situation within the specialized press. As it appears, Capnordic citizen Joachim Herklotz has been detained by the Koronavian authorities for a few weeks already. During a visit to Taaglecht, Herklotz was stopped in his car during what appeared to be a routine speed control. Herklotz disappeared off the radar for a while until news of his detention trickled down to the party committee of the NUP. Herklotz himself is a member of said committee, having been a key figure within the National Union Party since the Silk Revolution. Not a lot is known about the circumstances in which Herklotz is being held nor the accusations for which the Swamund native is prosecuted. Party leader Farrell made a passionate statement about the current status of his fellow party member.

”It is a gross breach of the Koronavian institutes that, even after a few weeks, we have no whereabouts on Joachim nor the situation in which he finds himself. It breaks our heart to see that he is being held hostage by a government which uses him as a victim only to exploit the weakness of our own ministers. If the government gives priority to vague international relations over the wellbeing of its citizens, think how little they would do for you and yours in a difficult situation. It is time that Capnordic politics focuses on the Capnordians rather than their own ‘relations’ and business deals.”

“Later this afternoon, Prime Minister Wellers refused to react when leaving the Three Towers. Fellow liberal minister Durand, who left the parliament building a few minutes later, had a short reaction in store.”

”Negotiations are ongoing with regards to Mr. Herklotz and we will continue to have those until there is a satisfactory outcome. These sort of cases demonstrate why our nation needs to open up for the international scene and reinforce its position within the Esportivan community.”

“As indicated by minister Durand, this situation is not bound to be resolved swiftly but the rising pressure of the opposition, led by the NUP, turns on the screws for a more thorough statement.”

[insert your own cool jingle]

“Prime Minister Wellers and minister Durand were in the Three Towers to present their plan to initiate the application process for the Esportivan Union. Said application would contain a seat in the Defense Bloc and the so-called EUFAC, or Foreign Aid Commission. The Prime Minister himself addressed the semicircular, noting the importance of modernizing our defensive international position.

”Dear members of parliament, to conclude, I want to insist that all of you think beyond the next vote and pay attention to the long-term future of our nation. For our splendid isolation might lose its adjective faster than expected.”

“A vote is to be held within three weeks, but going by the signals of the constituting parties of the coalition, a majority would be found for the application. Signing any treaty would require a two-third majority and, considering the strong opposition of the NUP, the FarmersRight party and the LibDem Coalition, this seems to be out of reach for now.”

[insert your own cool jingle]

“A new report by the Central Bank indicates that the previously estimated inflation rate of the year needs to be corrected. Currently, the forecasts from the CB assume an inflation of over nine percent, which would be the highest in twenty years. Whilst energy prices were the initial catalyst for the current cost of living crisis, the main contributor for the growing inflation is now perceived to be the basket of food and beverages. The price of a filled shopping cart grew over the last four months by an eight up to a sixth, hitting the lowest income groups disproportionately. Governor of the Central Bank Agnetha Nilsson elaborates.”

”The current trend is a result of the rise in energy prices witnessed. Combined with a poor winter season for the harvest, this caused the purchase prices of food products to balloon. So far, no direct measures have been taken but if the trend continues, measures on the short term loans will need to be taken.”

“The government, spearheaded by Minister of Economy Lieve Mosselschuit, corroborated the line chosen by the Central Bank, claiming this rise so far fell within the natural fluctuations of the market. She anticipates a natural recovery within a half year. The minister insisted that if the trend would continue, measures would be taken for the small and medium businesses, but that none are required as of today. This stance has been highly criticized by the parties to the left and right of the spectrum, as demonstrated by the intervention of RedReaction MP Gudme Mogensen during the debate.”

”Many of you may not feel the rising cost of living as the velvet cushions you, but for those who were already carrying a larger burden than needed, every day is now becoming a struggle. The position of the government to those is clear: save yourself. I would say, people of Cap Nord, save yourself by sending this government home.”

[insert your own cool jingle]

“In regional news, a scandal erupted in the Melundhavn city council as councilor Lene Brun was caught on camera in the Stade des Marais waving the ‘royal insignia’ version of the Capnordic flag. Mayor Kristiansen insisted that Brun, member of the National Union Party, would relent her seat in the council, but she refused. As the NUP supported the minority coalition in Melundhavn, mayor Kristiansen was forced to declare the end of her tenure. As per instructions, this gives him one month to form a new coalition. Otherwise, steps towards a new vote will be taken.”

[insert your own cool jingle]

“With regards to the crisis situation in Montaña Verde, the proposal of MP Heinz Klammer of the Leftists to provide aid to the coastal nation has been voted down. Klammer suggested a series of convoys to the Rainforest Republic, which has been hit by a devastating earthquake and subsequent tsunami. At the moment, still a large portion of the population needs to rely on domestic and foreign aid for primary necessities such as energy, water and medicine. The proposal focussed on the latter and even got the support of the pharmaceutical industry, but was voted down by 114 nays to 85 yays. The Leftists are currently preparing a second proposal which would focus on a delegation of expert engineers, who have gained experience in the Sigma Works and the hydroelectric plants along the Scheper. Nonetheless, direct support for the suffering population of Montaña Verde seems to be far away.”

[insert your own cool jingle]

“Tensions are rising around the governmental crisis within Brenecia, with sources calling its democracy ‘at risk’. The growing influence of Eura, both economically and politically, has undermined the already fragile position of the Brenecian right-wing government headed by Esther Smetona. Both the military and left-wing forces under Nadia Hawthorn are growing in terms of influence. The latter has been visited recently by a delegation of the RedReaction Youth, a trip that received a lot of criticism from both fellow politicians as observers.”

[insert your own cool jingle]

“Under the eye of manager Jon Forseth, the national football team has departed to Esca for the first leg of the most daunting doubleheader of the qualification campaign. The day after tomorrow, the Whalers will face Mytanija at the Utcastadion. The latter is the team of the moment, marking four consecutive victories without a single goal against. For the game, Forseth will not be able to play Dirk Lemmeling, who is out with a knee injury, or yellow-carded Brian MacLean. Sporting Noordende’s Trevor Barrington is expected to plug the hole in midfield, but mystery still surrounds the decision on the right-back position in the absence of MacLean and Poulsen. Most observers expect Deirdre Barnett to feature against her foot, but during the last training season on domestic soil, defensive midfielder Kenneth Breuker seemed to pick up the role and to handle the risk of Ovcina on the right wing. Five days after the confrontation with Mytanija, Cap Nord will compete against group favorites Tumbra in the SendBank Arena, a game which should see MacLean return to the starting eleven. Manager Jon Forseth remained optimistic despite the task ahead.”

”Of course these are, in terms of player value, far superior opponents. But it’s a funny game and we can be a funny team.”

[insert your own cool jingle]

“The domestic FA is discussing new regulations with regards to foreign players in the Premier Division. As a pilot project, teams were allowed to sign an international player during the past winter transfer season. Currently, a proposal is on the table to allow the presence of four players without a Capnordic passport in the selection, of whom at least one needs to be Esportivan. Players who played three seasons or more within the Capnordic football pyramid before the age of twenty-one would be exempt of the ruling, allowing as such the introduction of young internationals.”

[insert your own cool jingle]

“This evening, the sixteenth matchday of the Polar Gin Top Championship kicks off and with the end of the rugby season approaching, all eyes are on the confrontation between Crester Tigers and Braelowan Warriors. For the latter, a victory on the road is required to remain on par with leader Valognes Athlétique, who have extended one arm already to their fifth title. For the Warriors, who see McDouglas return to the starting line-up, this is also a matter of revenge after the home fixture. During a tumultuous final few minutes, Crester could snag a surprise five points when a field goal was scored. It goes without saying that there will be no lack of motivation with the Warriors to rectify said 13-15 scoreline.”

[insert your own cool jingle]

“And we wrap up tonight with these images from the aquarium of Lydholm, where a pair of seal puppies were born. These are the first pups as part of a breeding program to protect and improve the population of the animal that once frolicked along all domestic coasts, but which has been limited to the Gronvaller Bay in more recent times.”

by **Mertagne** » Fri Oct 07, 2022 1:33 pm

MERTAGNE UNFAZED BY DAUNTING EAGLE'S CLUB GRUDGE MATCH

Brinemouth's imposing Eagle's Club stadium would not exist if not for the hard work, gall, and ultimate inability to convert of Mertagnian football players. Constructed decades ago at this point, the stadium's iconic branding serves as a faraway reminder of the one-sided rivalry that Mertagne has over the Cormorants, as it was The Calanian Union that was handily browbeat 2 goals to 1 in the final of Nephara's Eagle's Cup win - a match that many agreed either kicked off or showcased the long golden age of Nepharim football. However, last night that rivalry crept out from under the Nepharim bed and shook the ankles of Igrene Cantor's team, either jolting them awake from a fairly sleepy start to the qualifiers of the 92nd World Cup or plunging them further into the nightmare that is Group 3.

Brinemouth was clearly a deliberate choice of stadium in which to host the game, and a gambit that the Mertagnian team didn't immediately see coming. Eyes rolled and knees shook in the aftermath of the decision, but with the game being one of a key string of three nicknamed the "Rivals of Future Past" leg of the qualifiers, the pressure was laid on so thickly that a reminder of a bitter defeat was simply a match on the bonfire. Mertagne had much to prove, and this was brought into focus after the events of the previous matchday - a rough 2-6 defeat at home to the Fillies of Cassadaigua. Not enough nuts had been cracked, and the Mertagnian team had more to prove than ever.

Morale was low as the players exposed themselves to the windless air of the Brinemouth Eagle's Club, walking into the pitch for the national anthems. A sizeable contingent of Mertagnians had made the journey to watch the game, alongside a large group of neutrals from Terranea, Calania, and beyond. Comorant football puts arses on seats, one particularly spicy radio punter claimed, and they certainly weren't wrong as the heralded hotbed of a stadium reached near its capacity.

The Calanians came dressed in the blue of the away kit, its herringbone-esque downward arrow pattern hoping to apply more to the hometeam than to the folks on whose chests it emblazoned. Nephara, certainly a more subdued and comfortable side, stood proudly and eyed the Calanians with the respect they would offer any team, yet at the same time posited a steely resolve in which they knew they would get off to a better start.

And a better start they had, as possession was held comfortably in the opening minutes of the match. Provost had an easy opening, with little in the way of a Mertagnian shot on target to block or play for. The finale of the Cormorants' opening salvo was enough to eke out an opportunity to crack the Mertagnian defence, after a corner from Kvasina found Idina Slazenger's head in the right place at the right time, and the ensuing ball knocked straight past Rhiannon Fawn and into the back of the net. Fourteen minutes in, and Mertagne found themselves further on the back foot, one goal to nothing.

The middle of the first half would prove to a tight, tactical game, with neither side willing to give up ground. Passes were precisely timed, and possession idly swayed from one team to the other off the back of excellent interception from players such as Martine Aldergrass and Isolde Reader. The Chromatik raised thread that ran through this team added a much needed colour to the play of the Cormorants, and this allowed for the pressure to continue to mount up well towards the end of the first half. Nephara relented in the 43rd minute, however, just before half time, with Tara Number reaping the rewards of some excellent centre play from Neron Everdell which saw the ball cut neatly through the defensive core of Reniira Clevinger and Sven Copperhead. Number saw her chance and made Provost work to stop but, but the Nepharim goalkeeper's deflection went slightly awry with the ball clearing the goal line and pinging into the top of the net. By the end of the first half, the score was neatly tied up at one goal a piece.

In the locker room, morale was markedly improved by holding the Cormorants to a draw at half time. Mertagne were fully expecting to walk away from an away game against one of the top ten teams in the multiverse with nothing but a learning experience, and yet they had held their own in a surgical half. There was certainly a decision to be made, however, as it was unlikely that the remaining 45 or so minutes would keep the current status quo.

The second half started with a similar stagnant air from both sides, but soon turned ugly. A fumbled tackle from Neron Everdell saw him stick his proverbial elbows too far out in an attempt to win possession from Kestrel Anharbour, seeing him receive a yellow card with a scowl on his face. This tackle proved to be a unyielding thorn in the Nepharim's side, as just ten minutes later, Anharbour was replaced with Madita Brewer.

The deadlock that had presented itself needed to be broken, and Fëanáro's tactical placement of Frederick Prost up front, substituting out a lost looking Graham Ellerby, was poised to be the unholy bullet with which to splinter the scoreline. A dangerous move for sure, switching to a 3-3-4 formation and tipping the scales in favour of the attack as Fëanáro is want to do situations like these, but against a side that is so well versed in exploiting the tactical weaknesses of their opponents it was certainly a gamble. One that Fëanáro clearly thought was worth it, considering that, in comparison to their expectations, Mertagne were above their station. Prost's entrance was for all the jellybeans, and his first challenge up the box was firmly slammed down by the Cormorant defence.

It was just after the hour mark when things began to boil over. The precision which defined the first half was starting to come undone, and a particularly messy win of possession from a Mertagnian run into the home side's defending third was scorned by the referee, who awarded the green goblins a free kick. Heather Gell, keeping the pressure of the attacking entourage on the defending side, stepped up to the fray and the spray to deliver the boot. From the distance, it was unlikely to be a screamer into the goal, and so the ball was played neatly into space to be picked up by a stood to attention Frederick Prost, who this time was not smacked down by the Nepharim defence and instead deftly played the ball past Aranea Provost and sent the visiting stands into a frenzy. Sixty-six minutes in saw Mertagne eke out a lead, which they were ill equipped to defend. Many across the nation certainly weren't thinking it, however - one particularly egregious gaffe saw the aforementioned radio punter, who was commentating the game, completely fail to spot the goal, thinking it a miss, and staunchly believing that the away side hadn't equalised at all until a few minutes later when he took a closer look at the scoreboard.

Fëanáro, singinfcantly more on the pulse of the game, again made the decision to drop back from an attacking formation, cycling out now tired striker Tara Number and replacing her with a fresher midfield face in Jordan Will. A fluid midfield consisting of Aldergrass, Everdell, Will, and Emberson, would hopefully allow for the three in defence to slot in neatly behind and cover off any chance of a Nepharim counter-attack. The mission was accomplished - Mertagne had indeed scored more goals than the opponent - but now the pre-football recipe needed approximately half an hour to be fully cooked. The Cormorants stood well poised to pull it out of the oven early, exposing the side and revealing a soggy bottom, and a few minutes before the end of the match, a strong run from an impassioned Felixe Vetiver threatened to do just that. The pivotal attack saw Vetiver carve a path through the Mertagnian players that stopped just short of the goal, as her challenge was met equally by a staunch Rhiannon Fawn who looked to turn Nepharim heads. The shot, on target of course, was caught cleanly in Fawns hands, who rose the ball above her head and shook it as she eyed the home stands. Many were certainly pondering if the 23 year old was making a statement, almost asking for a first team call up to Starling in the Zenith's next season. Time will tell if her skill has earned the respect of her peers or simply angered them further, but the stopped shot took just enough wind of the home side's sails to see Mertagne steal - and really steal - three well deserved points at a stadium that, in an alternate multiverse, sits in the beating heartlands of a different dour green marshy nation.

by **Valanora** » Fri Oct 07, 2022 1:37 pm

The 3-4-1-2 or known locally as the Vanorian 3-5-2 has been a staple of the Vanorian setup since the team first entered into international competition, the first instance of record being part of a time where the Vanorian material plane had not come to fully rest in region known as Atlantian Oceania. Thrice the Marauders entered into a regional championship hosted by the then quite proud region of The YoungWorld and twice in those three entries the Marauders emerged as the victors. This success prompted a search out for even more competition, the first of which would come in Ice Hockey and the Cherry Cup as the championship tournament was known as then before eventually the Marauders would join the World Cup in the 29th edition of the tournament. As far back as these events are, what records remain of those times reveal to us that the national team has been using this formation and this style of tactic since its inception and has found success almost from the word go with their unorthodox approach the the three at the back system.

Why the three five two though, why did the Marauders employ what at the time was a controversial system with only three defenders at the back and five in the midfield? To understand that, you have to understand the Vanorian mindset, which does not like to be threatened and will find ways to be on the front foot even when the circumstances are highly against them. Throughout the military campaigns of the empire, she would often find ways to turn defensive situations into those in which if they were not on the offensive, then they were in control of and dictating the terms of engagement. This preference then finds its way into the sporting culture as well, where in sports where possession is considered to be a positive indicator of control of the match or game, the Vanorian way to to control that possession when they are not able to be pressing against the defenses of their opponents. Five World Cups, multiple regional trophies, Olympic gold medals with the women's teams, as well as six World Cup of Hockey titles seems to show the level of success that this mindset has given the Vanorian athlete at the grandest of stages.

So we have seen that the Marauders as well as other teams representing the Empire have found success with a control based attacking system regardless of the sport that is being employed in. What about the peculiar way that the Marauders use their three five two system, which differs heavily from almost every other team that employs a three at the back system? Rather than using a pair of fullbacks and a centerback, three centerbacks are used, which in of itself is not that odd, but it becomes very unusual when then in the midfield rather than a pair of wingbacks or wide midfielders, the team makes use of two wingers who like to push heavily into the attack rather than find their way backtracking into defense. This looks to make the defense quite vulnerable to the wings and it would if not for the exceptional pace that is so often a staple of the Vanorian athlete, which allows the two wide centerbacks the ability to drift out towards the wings and the destroyer role in the midfield plays the screening force for the central defender and tracks back to supplement the defense, while six in the attack often finds a way to overload even the best resistance that an opponent is able to muster.

There was a time where the tactics were considered to be changed, as the Marauders seemed to have been found out by their opponents in the late 60s and early 70 editions of the World Cup, culminating in the first time the side failed to qualify for the Finals since World Cup 33. However a quick recovery and resurgence brought back the faith that the staff, players, and fans had in the system and has seen it remain in play even now, as Didrik has the Marauders threatening once more to win a World Cup. There are matches at times where the lack of defensive cover does seem to be exploited by the opposition or the offensive weapons get flustered by a side deciding to play ten behind the ball in hopes of denying the side any good opportunities on net, but on the whole it is a system that has stood the test of time. The players often maelable enough to switch to an emergency formation to see out a match or push for a late goal, but it has been the solid base of Vanorian success since her inception and looks to keep on doing so for the foreseeable future.

by **TJUN-ia** » Fri Oct 07, 2022 2:07 pm

By Peter Davis

After two tight and twisty draws drew up a mixed reaction in the North Pacific, the Jaguars of TJUN-ia had a bye week to rest up and try and figure out how to avoid the dreaded "Draw Masters" nickname from being put into reality in a satirical context. Both Ziwana and Cap Nord had fought hard to get a draw against this Jaguars team and while that was certainly a good sign of defensive progress, both David Seems and Li Xiu Ying were obviously in the camp of wanting 3 points in a game instead of 1. Of course, there's nothing you can do in a bye week and everyone simply had to watch as their 3-3-0 team slipped down to 3rd, but a lot of games were still left to be played and we gotta get some points somewhere...right?

Tiankong Stadium was the host for this only game of the break as we looked to take something away from a Cabo Azure side that entered this contest with 11 points in 6th place. Of course, we were expecting a fight from Paulinho and Las Maçaricas due to their status as a Pot 4 team, but the contest we ended up with was certainly a bit frustrating. Just like the games against Ziwana and Cap Nord, we took the lead twice only for the visitors to peg us back each time. In the first half, we took the lead through a superb shot past Ambrosio Gomez from Archer Andrews only for Nicodemo Corte-Real to slot home the equaliser. In the 2nd half, we had hope of actually getting the dub thanks to a nice goal from Kim Choi-ya, only for Narciso Maciel to break our hearts once more in the 86th minute. That meant this game ended in a 2-2 draw, our 3rd draw in a row, which slumps us down the table into 5th. Despite our best efforts, we are reverting to our Draw Master ways. Lord help us all.

Our next two games will certainly be very interesting as we head on the road to face an Ancherion squad only 3 points behind us and then we head to Beregozera to face Pot 2 Mytanija in a big game for KS, Szensky and TJUN-ia as a whole. Two big games on the horizon...let's hope for points, please? GO JAGS!

SCHEDULE (Group 9)
MD1: vs Talannua (227) - Tallawah Stadium, Port Town W 4-2 (T-2nd)
MD2: @Qasden (80) D 3-3 (4th)
-----------------Boot It!-----------------
MD3: vs Saltstead (95) - Zebra Stadium, Toropo W 3-0 (2nd)
MD4: @Sixty-ninE X (UR) W 4-2 (2nd)
-----------------Boot It!-----------------
MD5: vs Ziwana (146) - Stade de la Victoire, Roi Ville D 2-2 (2nd)
MD6: @Cap Nord (176) - SendBank Arena, Stennköping D 3-3 (2nd)
-----------------Boot It!-----------------
MD7: BYE (3rd)
MD8: vs Cabo Azure (60) - Tiankong Stadium, Tiankong D 2-2 (5th)
-----------------Boot It!-----------------
MD9: @Ancherion (113)
MD10: vs Mytanija (19) - Beregozera Stadium, Szensky
-----------------Boot It!-----------------
MD11: @Tumbra (4)
MD12: @Talannua (227)
-----------------Boot It!-----------------
MD13: vs Qasden (80) - Ke Kahua Pāʻani o Pua Aloalo, Kepu Manu
MD14: @Saltstead (95)
-----------------Boot It!-----------------
MD15: vs Sixty-ninE X (UR) - Salam Liljamie Stadium, Al Kalifa
MD16: @Ziwana (146) - Ziwanicell National Stadium, Birnin-Likulu
-----------------Boot It!-----------------
MD17: vs Cap Nord (176) - Estadio Universidad Carlandas, Carlandas
MD18: BYE
-----------------Boot It!-----------------
MD19: @Cabo Azure (60)
MD20: vs Ancherion (113) - Estádio do Pacífico, Rio Pacífico
-----------------Boot It!-----------------
MD21: @Mytanija (19) - Radnika, Esca
MD22: vs Tumbra (4) - National Stadium, TJUN-ia City

by **Chromatika** » Fri Oct 07, 2022 2:31 pm

ONE
TWO
THREE
FOUR

MD7: (31) Chromatika 2-0 (46) Sendhang
Goals: Killian 32', Hauser 59'
Starting XI (3-4-1-2): Fillar, J. (C); Ansov - de Aea - Anbient; Fillar, G. - Zuniga - Hauser - Ighv; Kuznetsov; Killian - Oveni.
Substitutes: Kruetzberg -> Fillar, G. (49'), Xuen-Zhukov -> Oveni (49'), Régine -> de Aea (63'), Coulibaly -> Ansov (82'), Si -> Kuznetsov (82')
MD8 (101) Cardenao 2-2 (31) Chromatika
Goals: Kuznetsov 59', Oveni 75'
Starting XI (3-4-1-2): Fillar, J. (C); Ansov - de Aea - Anbient; Fillar, G. - Zuniga - Hauser - Ighv; Kuznetsov; Killian - Oveni.
Substitutes: Fillar, E. -> Ighv (53'), Fillar, B. -> Hauser (53'), Park -> Killian (71'), Aimée -> Anbient (71'), Si -> Zuniga (82')

MD9 vs. (108) Xanneria @ United Center, Urrheddiao, Urrhed Island, Chromatika (Cap. 120,000) and MD10 @ (290) Atetancillo
Predicted Starting XI (3-4-1-2): Begley (C); Coulibaly - Régine - Mixon; Baum - Ju - Laurette - Womack; Phoen; Delaya - Xuen-Zhukov.
Reserves: GK Lorée Bautista, GK Jacob Descombes, DCR Paisley Paterson, DC Gwina Ansoll, DCL Damon Ingram, DCL Cylie Nodis, WBR Elouan Christelle, WBR Emilie Kruetzberg, BWM Eli Apt, AP Baillaire Fillar, WBL Edith Fillar, AP Tyoma Laurette, F9 Paskal Toussaint, P Sandara Park, AF Hank Killian

The Red League All-Decade Team
05: Center Backs - First Team

By: Jordan Lawless, Chief Correspondent

When it comes to defenders, what should we base our decisions off of? Obviously, seeing how the team did in conceding goals is a huge metric, but not the only one. Sometimes, great defenders can be overcome by lack of cohesion, and other times, a team only concedes as many goals as it did because there was a player that was carrying the team. It is hard to decide on two pairs of center backs that really shined through the decade, but here is our attempt at a stab.

The Red League All-Decade First Team Center Back:

Alan Wiseman, Urrheddiao

An integral part of the United back line for multiple seasons (winning First Team All-Red League from Seasons Four through Seven and Second Team in Seasons Eight and Nine), Alan Wiseman may be one of the most decorated Center Backs to ever play in the Red League. When he joined Urrheddiao, he was a solid squad player for the Baker Park National Team, playing the man marking centerback role and the third defender role in zonal coverage. United helped him cement his skills, and he ended up having more than sixty caps for Baker Park. Though Urrheddiao were never a title contender, they maintained their status as one of the best defensive teams in the league by virtue of Wiseman's skills, and later, his leadership.

The Red League All-Decade Second Team Center Back:

Jens Clemence, Myana

Though not a part of the Nepharan National Team at the moment, Jens Clemence is very important as a figure in Chromatik footballing history, as he is one of the best CCFA-grown foreign players to ever play the sport. Graduating from Southern Chromatik University, he immediately moved to Myana, where he's become a huge part of the Islanders' resurgence to be one of the best players in the league. Not only is he fundamentally sound defensively, but he's also good with his head, as he decided the Red League title a few years ago by a clean header. As a resident foreigner, Clemence will be a huge part of Myana's identity going forward.

Next: Left Backs

The Third Chromatik Premier Election

Meet the Candidates, Interlude 1: Notable Political Events in the Last 2 Years and How They Impact Chromatik Politics

1. The Traditionalist Party is dead, and the Rainbow Party's partnership with the Saebitdang fractures. The Traditionalists folded more than two years ago, and the Rainbow Party entered an uneasy partnership with the Saebitdang as Keri Wyse Aart and Hélène Embroise shook hands on the new reparations that they would tack onto the previous BIV populace. As that program has run its course, further divisions have occurred between the Rainbow Party and the Saebitdang, and within the individual parties themselves. The Saebitdang continues to priorotize a Chromatika-first mentality, while the Rainbow Party are still hoping to keep its close ties with Banija and Anaia as a whole. This has led to other parties like the Red Party and the Spade Party (Socialists) gaining a bit of a wave, and with the fact that the Chambers of the Legislature is expanding from 81 to 243 seats, Chromatik politics remains in a state of flux. Will it even matter who wins the Premiership if the CoL is split into so many pieces? What will Chromatika have to do to have a functioning government?

2. The Rainbow Party's dominance is over. We're not just talking about the emergence of the Saebitdang, though they did take away so many of the seats. No, it's the fact that the Rainbow Party is starting to develop cliques within their own parties. There are the Royal Apologists that want to become good friends with the monarchies of the world, leaning on Chromatika's relationship with Banija and Quebec; there are the Stalwarts, who are looking to make sure that Chromatika pays attention to its borders and militaristic defense while also bringing up the country's educational base; and lastly, there is the Wildcard that is Jung Jin-Shil - the one that wants to have Chromatika take the lead in settling unknown lands in Anaia. As these are the three biggest candidates within the party, there are those that are a bit frustrated by the lack of options, and that leaves the fact that most of those think that Jung is perhaps the best choice. This Premiership race is one to watch for the most established party in Chromatika.

3. The Saebitdang is here to stay - but which candidate is best? The Saebitdang broke down The Rainbow Party's dominance by splitting away, and look to be a bit more centralized in terms of power. Hélène Embroise remains in power and will be the favorite to be the Saebitdang's candidate when we head to the popular election, but there are other choices out there like Ilyana Basketerina and Hagiwara Chisuzu. More on them in future articles to come, but they should provide a decent counterweight to Embroise's centralized power, though not expected to contend for the spot as the Saebitdang's candidate.

4. Chromatika purchases capital ships from Eura. By purchasing two amphibious assault carriers and a light aircraft carriers from the Euran Navy, the Chromatik State Navy finally has acquired ships that are bigger than Battleships. Christened the Radiance, the Judgment, and the Ange de la Paix, they now make up the bulk of the Chromatik Navy as the country starts to build its infrastructure. This move showed the strength of Finnja Kornhäusel and The Stalwarts, while also playing into the hands of many of the others, including Jung Jin-Shil, Ilyana Basketerina, and Svyatopolk Tkacho. As the Chromatik military has started to truly recover from the rigors of the Rainbow Revolution, this shows that the country considers militaristic security to be of huge import, as well as keeping an eye on the waters around then country's oceans.

5. Keira Andisori recognized as most popular District Commissioner in Chromatika. In a poll, Keira Andisori led all District/Island Commissioners as the most liked District Commissioner in the country, with 71% of those that voted voting in support of the Chromatik legend. Andisori, who's become a reliable politician after an insane career as part of the Anomalies, has maintained her status as a rising star in politics. Starting off her career as part of the Shadow Writers, Andisori always wanted to do more for Chromatika than just play football, and she is starting to make true on that promise. With her support group consisting of many of the most popular stars in Chromatik sports (Sarai Gwenderyn, Alisen Mayamoto, and Park Jung-Hyuk), it will only be a matter of time before Andisori becomes a prime candidate for the Premiership, maybe in an election or two.

Next: The Rainbow Party #3 - Jung Jin-Shil, The Wildcard

World Cup 92 Qualifying, Part 4: Road Woes

HOME
MD2 - 3-0 W (Ko-oren)
MD4 - 2-1 W (Yakk)
MD7 - 2-0 W (Sendhang)

AWAY
MD1 - 2-2 D (Juvencus)
MD3 - 3-1 W (Lisander)
MD5 - 0-0 D (Gnejs)
MD7 - 2-2 D (Cardenao)

Why has Chromatika faltered on the road? Yes, they haven't lost a single game yet this Campaign, but three draws on the road hasn't been great. Here are three reasons why Chromatika has struggled on the road so far this campaign.

1. Slow starts. Chromatika historically does better in the second half as their conditioning takes over, but they've fallen behind in multiple games on the road. Hanging on for dear life is a way to go, but Chromatika needs to do a better job of just how much they are willing to concede.

2. The crowd. Chromatika has struggled with the home crowd's noise in road games, often times not being able to coordinate with each other. Perhaps they need to start figuring out how to do nonverbal communication - but the team is showing their youth by how much they are struggling in away venues.

3. Tactics, tactics. Chromatika is still getting used to Repin's tactics, and it's still showing. There are moments where they haven't been clean in their early approach, and that will improve as the campaign rolls on.

More important away games await, though they'll have more home gams in the second half.

by **Kimi-Suomi** » Fri Oct 07, 2022 2:48 pm

Well...look what happens when I talk about our record, huh? Last time out, we had a bye and then a draw that left us with only 6 points and a 1-3-1 record after the first 5 games of this WCQ process. Many back in Kimi Kaupunki and beyond felt that while yes, losing only one game thus far wasn't the worse thing to happen to this team, those 3 draws certainly hampered our early progress thus far. Esko Laaksonen has certainly tried to get the very best out of this unit, but even he realised that things needed to be changed quickly if a playoff spot is on the cards. The mantra he tried to instil before this double-header? "Tarvitsemme kolme, emme yhtä." We need three, not one.

Up first on MD7 was the highly anticipated return of Hapilopper to Pesä for NSSCRA Night 2, when the HM merchandise was out in full force and so were two epic tifos...one depicting "Meidän Kilpavartijamme" with Daniel Marx and his 4 drivers (Lam Chow-Cheung, Aurélia Karvonen, Ilmari Pëkannen and Kaarina Salo) wielding traditional Finnish Ulfberht swords, and another depicting a sharp Huuhkajat with sharp talons attacking a demonic depiction of Hapilopper Assistant Manager Nate Elis (who was wielding a shield of blue, green and white) with the caption "IT'S TIME FOR REVENGE, BASTARD!", clearly emphasising the mission of today's contest. The game itself was certainly as bruising as expected, with both sides certainly going at it to claim a key win, and initially, this looked like another draw in the making as efforts from Peter Robson and Toby Bryson were countered by Valtteri Nordström and Hannu Koivu. Most people in the Kimi Stadium, including Haps Manager Thom Perkins, probably thought this game was heading that way with about two minutes left in the send half...but then substitute Mika Noronen found a way past Ace Boone before slotting it past Billy Soloman to send Pesä into a fucking frenzy. The celebrations at the final whistle were certainly deserving. At the third attempt, the smile had finally been ripped from Nate Ellis' face. A very big win indeed.

Then came a road trip to Srednjaci, a team who was just ahead of the Huuhkajat entering today's game...but afterwards, they looked miles apart. We don't usually see games where Kimi-Suomi just smashes an opponent into the dust with no mercy...but today was one of them, with poor Srednjaci (the Pot 6 team, mind you) showing little to no resistance despite hosting this game. Kimi Airo managed a 1st half brace, Tero Salo headed home a Heidi Itälä corner and Annina Tuominen ended up slotting home from the bench. Kauko Loukamaa managed a great clean sheet and when you're saying that, you know today was good. That performance, coupled with some other chaotic results, meant that the Huuhkajat jumped up to P3 in the table with 13 games to play.

We certainly needed those two wins but now, the tests are getting tougher. Perunanviljelijät [Poafmersia] are next to come to Pesä, the 2nd placed team in this group by only 2 points, before we travel over to old foes Pemecutan to face a top seed we lead by Goal Difference alone. Two massive fucking games. Let's have a crack, shall we? NOSTA KUIN HUUHKAJAT!

by **Pasarga** » Fri Oct 07, 2022 2:48 pm

Torgos has fallen after a seven day siege from the hired mercenaries by the parliamentarians who had thus far attempted to unjustly unseat the heirs of King Jakub, Azra and Iskander, through political machinations and then an attempted assassination. The first mortar shot on Torgos had finally made the Majistar that they were allegedly trying to put on the throne was beginning to question their true motives. Ezid Majistar might have been ambitious and truly believed his to be the rightful claim but the firing on the capital of the nation and who knows how many citizens wounded or killed in the collateral? From all reports coming from Torgos, all two hundred men and women from the Royal Guard who had manned the defenses in Torgos against the unbeatable odds had been killed or captured upon the storming of the city. For the first time in history, Pasargan blood had been spilled in the capital in warfare and if he was to be the king of the dual islands, was this supposed to be how he was to do it? On the blood of those he was meant to rule, a carpet made of the bodies of those who were his subjects?

In Stilinkeep, Iskander was starting to recovery from the attempt on his life, but Azra and Aslan disagreed on the next move. Azra wanted to ensure that those who had fled Torgos and made it to Pargis were taken care but Aslan insisted that the royal loyalists, who were being called the "Greens" in the media, were able to bring their forces together and attempt to retake Torgos post haste. The Torgos Tribune had coined the parliamentarian forces as the "Red and Golds" in their last edition before the fall of the city and those descriptors seemed to have been catching on in both national and international media. Green forces were apparently rallying in Paulinthal and Stein-los, while the Air Force and Navy were doing what they were able to to maintain the security of Peynol, though there had been heavy defections from the Army corps after the fall of Torgos, with General Aziz estimating that nearly one third of standing troops had switched sides in support of the parliamentarians, whatever their end goal was. While support in the south of Pargis was staunchly in favor of the Royal Siblings, the Red and Golds held Pargis from Torgos and the north, with the key port of Troubalose also seized within twenty-four hours of Torgos' fall.

"They have the heart of the nation while we sit and lick our wounds. We need to show that we are going to stand up to them cousin or else we are like as not to see even more defections from the troops and perhaps even support among the people switching over to the Parliamentarians. They could see them as the rightful rulers if we are unable to show some sort of resistance while we gather our forces." Aslan pointedly said to Queen Azra, whose worried look of the past few weeks had seemingly become a permanent feature.

"We have to safeguard the people, thousands fled Torgos across the sea to Peynol before the city's capture. If only making sure that they are given food and shelter while they are displaced, then we can think about retalitory strikes, the people have to come first. If we do not take care of those who are loyal to us, how are we supposed to keep their loyalty, particularly if this ends up becoming a prolonged conflict? Peynol might currently be safe harbor but we can not become a nation divided, seen only to be caring about ourselves and those who are housing us." The Queen's voice was stern and impassioned despite the quite obvious emotional wear and tear.

The General Aziz did urge caution as well but agreed with Aslan that at least a token show of resistance would help bolster the morale of those looking to support the Royal Siblings.

"Where do we anticipate them to strike next?" The Queen unfolded a map of the dual islands before the assembled people and took a hard look at it. "They already hold North Pargis, assuming they are stationing at least token garrisons to maintain their hold. The north of the isle is likely lost to us for the time being, however south of Torgos is huge swathes of rural places until you hit Targas and Sardin if you follow the river. We know that we have forces gathering in the south in Paulinthal and Stein-los, they are unlikely going to attempt to force march to the very south of the island. You have to feed an army on march and there are few large enough bodies of water or comfortable places to make camp between Torgos and Targas, Sardin on the other hand is directly south on the river. It is there that they are going to strike next, I believe."

"Hrmm, it is not a far journey from Torgos to Sardin, likely can be done within a week. We could not hope to intercept them with the forces from Paulinthal or Stein-los though, they would get there after any attempted battle. However, we can send air strikes to harass their column if we can locate it along the riverbanks. It will be small victory even if successful but it can show that you are not prepared to go down without a fight and can perhaps stall them that those in the south can force march or we get word from our international allies that support is on the way."

Quebec and Sargossa had both offered aid before the outbreak of actual conflict and Eura seem interested in the outcome, but to what end no one was quite sure. It was believed the Eurans perhaps had given some sort of pledge to the Parliamentarians but nothing of substance could be pinned against them and the boldly disowned them after the attempt on the royal siblings lives. What were their words worth when the chips were down?

by **North Cassadaigua** » Fri Oct 07, 2022 3:25 pm

My Story,
by Brittany Celetano- Defender

I haven’t been on this earth as long as other people on this team. I’m 22, and we called the town that I grew up in, Newtonville, and it is twenty miles south of the Cooper River, in the central portion of what is now considered North Cassadaigua. It was difficult to live there, because being so close to the River, pirates were always looking to steal from those who lived nearby. When I was 16, I was hanging out with a couple of my friends, and a group of them came up to us with knives and demanded everything we had. I don’t know what they were expecting to get, because I had $13 on me at the time, and no form of electronics. My friends were similar, but the thieves didn’t care, they were looking for anything they could get. When I went home from that experience, I told my mother all about it, and she told me about similar experiences she had. She was robbed at knife or gunpoint a total of four times over the course of her life. My father, who passed away when I was nine, also was victimized by them. My mom talked about how much she wanted to get out of Newtonville, but we did not have enough money to make any kind of relocation. We were stuck, in a town without central authority and a makeshift police force that did what they could, but they were undermanned, and more often than not, not as well armed as the criminals.

We didn’t have any form of organized sports. Many of us just took a ball, a not very well inflated soccer ball, and played in an open field. It was just a way to pass time, and the games were not competitive for any other reason but to have bragging rights over your friends before you ended up playing again. I liked playing soccer, though, and soon learned that I was better playing defense than I was at offense. So, I just stayed in my comfort zone whenever we played. Never did I imagine having a greater soccer career, it was just a game.

Two years ago, when the Cassadagan army moved forward into the region, it was pretty scary. Their troops took aim at the villages closer to the border first, so in Newtonville, we were always going to be one of the last ones. There was all kind of news reports that came out about it, and my family talked about what we would do when they arrived here. For us, it was a no brainer, we would want to become Cassadagan citizens. I think we would have loved to have been that already, but we were stuck where we were, and had no way and not enough funds to move to Cassadaigua outright. The roads were terrible, you can’t just hop on a freeway, like I have read about in other nations, and the way that Princess Brianna has promised to do within the territory now. The events in Gastineau took place before the troops arrived in Newtonville, as did the change in who was leading the operation. This also led to the insurgency to the north, now known as The River Republic, trying to come to greater power, too. At the time, they were not fully formed, not to the way they are now, but I tell ya, none of us thought highly of what they were doing. I could understand what angered them, but for those of who want to become Cassadagans, all they are doing is infringing on our rights. Eventually, the troops did arrive at our house, and it was not really difficult for us since we already knew what we were going to do. These days in Newtonville, we have a much stronger police force, and a town infrastructure which is greatly improving under Princess Brianna.

As for my playing soccer, when word came out about the tryouts and tournaments, I signed up just to have some fun. Then, after talking to a coach more, I was able to improve my game more and more. It was a lot more exciting to play games when the result mattered instead of just playing with your friends, but I was still thrilled while being surprised to get the call from Jessica Tolson that I had been selected to join the North Cassadaigua team. A year ago, I had never played a game that mattered. Now, I am representing a country in World Cup qualifiers, including playing against the reigning World Cup champions. We’re not intimidated by Audioslavia and Graintfjall because we don’t know that we should be. We haven’t followed World Cup qualifiers in the past, we don’t who’s good now, who was good before, and who isn’t supposed to be as good. They are all just another group of players, wearing the jersey of the nation that they are from. Then, the referee gives us a soccer ball. A perfectly inflated soccer ball this time. And we just play. Play, and have fun.

by **Savojarna** » Fri Oct 07, 2022 3:51 pm

SavojarSports.sj - inside reports from all Savojarna
Savojarna secure crucial points against HUElavia

By Jaukka Halanen

HUElavia are the fourth pot team in the Savojar World Cup Qualifying group, but the two are extremely close, with Savojarna being Pot 3’s lowest seed and HUElavia Pot 4’s highest. In the table, the two are close as well, with Savojarna topping the group ahead of MD10 opponent Adab from Pot 2, and HUElavia four points behind in third. A loss would have likely cost the Northlights the lead as Adab were favoured at home against Captina Island, and HUElavia would have closed the gap down to a single point. It was therefore a crucial away game as Savojarna travelled to the 100’000 seater Estadio Nacional in Curumba - and the Northlights lived up to the pressure.

Maersk chose for a surprising lineup decision, opting for the well-playing Kaisa Gyldenström over the usual suspect Jashkin on the left. She also went for Ansgar Klaey on the leftback position, with Viipuri on the right; in the midfield, Markko Niskanen was suspended following an unnecessary yellow card three days ago and was replaced by the more offensive Vladimir Orakhin. With the fast and technical Gyldenström starting on the right, a lot of the early Savojar offence did go through this side, and almost resulted in a goal as Ehlers got a flat cross and shot from nine metres, but sent it over the bar after twelve minutes. A somewhat nervous start from Savojarna seemed to stabilise after that chance, but went absolutely haywire as a nice combination saw Nascimento alone in front of Zirkova, and the striker surprised everyone by playing the ball wide to the right, where Aveiro came in to score from close range.

From this position, the Northlights suddenly had to play from behind now and were doing their best to get through the HUElavian side, but struggled to build well faced with HUElavia’s stable central midfield and a pretty powerful press from the striker and wingers, hemming if the potential for Savojarna to build up the solid base they usually rely on. However, a hard working Orakhin started to alleviate this issue, as the Goodfeather FC midfielder kept dropping back more and more to provide support, and carried the ball forward towards Poulsen and Gyldenström. It was on the other side, however, where Savojarna found their best chance in the first half as Finn Östberg proved his overview, slotting a laser pass between Vargas and Higashi to find Lars Alvesen. However, the striker star recently sold to Nephara’s Stahlburg City for eleven million NSD floundered in front of the goal. Instead of setting up Ehlers for what would have been a certain goal, he looked for the shot himself and hit Casillas right on the body, ending the chance.

Savojarna came back somewhat more offensive as Östberg was taken off for the offensive prodigy Ruslan Novikov, who was instrumental in their earlier victory over Brenecia. The Northlights did manage to get a bigger threat out of that change, as they now had two offensively powerful flanks; Poulsen’s attempt at a shot from the edge of the box sent a gasp around the stadium as it was just about cleared into a corner by Casillas. An hour in, the Savojars already took their second swap, bringing more strength up front by subbing on Nichajev for Ehlers; only a few minutes later, it was Gyldenström who found the new man with a through ball. Lavezzi managed to get the ball off Nichajev, but he did so by way of a rough charge that the referee ruled a foul. Lars Alvesen took the responsibility and beat Casillas with a shot to the top left. Following the goal, the game seemed to somewhat flatten as Savojarna pushed back HUElavia, but were notably aware of overpushing and opted to preserve an away draw in the final stages of the game, opting for a central midfielder in the name of Jelena Tretjakov for the final stages of the match.

With the game more or less fizzling out after that penalty, it seemed like both teams were happy with the 1-1. Joker Lópes got close to a late victory goal for HUElavia, but was denied by Virulainen at close range five minutes before the end, resulting in a drawn game that had started notably more interesting than it ended. The Savojars still will be fine with that draw as it maintains their joint lead ahead of a crucial double-header coming up. Next up will be the direct duel with the leaders Adab in Sjoedrhavn, with the Northlights looking to take the sole lead of the group by winning their home game against the group’s second seed. Finding the win at home against Adab would mean that the Savojars would open the door to Electrum and Vilita as they would stand three points clear at the top of the group. They will then travel to 8th-placed Polkopia in a game that needs to be won from a position of favourites, regardless of their result against Adab. With no suspensions, Maersk is likely to be able to put down her best team in the next game, and taking an important shot at pushing open the door to the World Cup.

by **Ranoria** » Fri Oct 07, 2022 4:23 pm

Snow Bears Survive Two Scoreless Matches Without A Loss To Make It 6 Straight Shutouts

So, we hate to say it, but our sports writer needed a week off. After being asked to write seven consecutive reports on soccer games, a sport he is innately unfamiliar with, he had a mental breakdown. So the interns are filling in here. We know they’re not really up to the task, so we’ve threatened to fire them if this article doesn’t get a ton of interaction - so make sure to like, comment, and share! That’s right, we’re holding their careers hostage and your clicks are the ransom!

Oh boy if that isn’t the introduction! The Snow Bears remain undefeated at 5-2-0, and while they only very briefly held the group lead after week 7 over Kandorith, that’s probably the first time any Ranorian soccer team has led their qualifying group. (We checked with our supervisor, he isn’t going to dock us for not digging into the records there). So hey, that’s a huge win! Better yet, our defense has allowed a WC92 Qualifying-low 1 goal so far as Kris Reinhardt continues to dominate at centers with fan-favorite Vincent Emilia making a few athletic saves to help chip in.

Reinhardt - along with fellow Richardson University alumn Tatiana Queen, actually appeared during pregame ceremonies at Richardson’s game against Elephant Valley University in Catherine, Delaclava for NSCF week 11, as members of what’s shaping up to be our best national soccer team ever, it’s good publicity for the university.

Anyway, that’s all we’ve got. Entertain yourselves with these pretty social media posts and charts. Especially the social media posts, we record the number of clicks they get so seriously it’ll help us out, I like this job.

@VickHamilton_Reporter Excited to see how this team finishes after a hit start, they’re still technically undefeated! We’re heavy underdogs against a juggernaut in Kandorith of course but those matchups will be good litmus tests for a team that was almost pulled after the last WCQ. #FoodForThought

@Will_Jackson_RSNNot sure where this surge is coming from - the losses will come, but the Snow Bears are playing out of their minds and have only conceded one goal so far in this tournament, the best mark so far in the qualifiers.

Match Results                                
MD1: Ranoria 2–1 Squornshelan Remnant States
MD2: Bongo Johnson 0–4 Ranoria
MD3: Ranoria 1–0 North and South Vietnam
MD4: Sargossa 0–1 Ranoria
MD5: Ranoria 3–0 South Covello
MD6: Yuezhou 0–0 Ranoria
MD7: Ranoria 0–0 Pyazhnaya

 PGroup Standings                  Pld    W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts
 1 Kandorith                         7    6   0   1    24   10  +14    18
 2 Ranoria                           7    5   2   0    11    1  +10    17
 3 Yuezhou                           8    4   3   1    14    8   +6    15
 4 Squornshelan Remnant States       7    3   3   1    15   13   +2    12
 5 Pyazhnaya                         8    3   2   3    12   13   −1    11
 6 Sargossa                          7    3   1   3    11    9   +2    10
 7 The Licentian Isles               7    3   1   3    12   14   −2    10
 8 South Covello                     7    2   1   4     9   13   −4     7
 9 Boring Paradise                   7    1   2   4    18   26   −8     5
10 Bongo Johnson                     8    1   1   6     6   17  −11     4
11 North and South Vietnam           7    0   2   5     5   13   −8     2

by **Mytanija** » Fri Oct 07, 2022 4:36 pm

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Elena had watched the MKV news items on Premier Mecava-Catic’s meeting with her Euran counterpart. She had watched as the newsreader spoke about extradition agreements and commitments to deal with organised crime. Elena had never really been a patriot, but after speaking to Dragomir Pesic she felt truly ashamed of her country. Well, she felt truly ashamed about some of her compatriots who were callous enough to exploit poor and vulnerable people for their own financial gain. Watching Mecava-Catic didn’t make her feel much better either, Elena didn’t doubt that the Premier had good intentions, that she really did want to prevent organised crime groups using Mytanija as a base for their activities. It just felt like any agreements were loose, that they would be ineffective, and these groups would flourish no matter what was done. Crime always seemed to pay.

The meeting with Dragomir was enlightening, even if it did make Elena shudder slightly at the grotesque nature of the underworld. The ‘Mytanar Mafija’ had its fingers in several proverbial pies. There were drugs, the obvious centrepiece of their money-making schemes, but since the collapse of their gun-running monopoly there was also prostitution and the related human trafficking; and a great deal of white-collar crime which the Eurans were perhaps unaware of or perhaps content to turn a blind eye to. Dragomir had remarked that the amount of money laundered was perhaps into the billions of Coruns, it would be near enough impossible to ever accurately predict just how much the various groups had managed to clean.

It was also becoming a little bit clearer that the concept of a ‘Mytanar Mafija’ was rather nebulous. It wasn’t particularly applicable in Mytanija itself, never mind overseas, where the streets were run by a mishmash of immigrants and young dual nationals, to all intents and purposes Euran kids born to Mytanar parents. They would all work with Thessia’s Five Families, Ebor’s Grmek-Kabrovsek firm, Esca’s Administration or Miago’s Preloznjak family to some degree, but it wasn’t clear how much control the well-known Mytanar crime groups exerted over the groups operating on Euran soil. Elena would need to investigate that.

Then there were these strange kidnappings, ostensibly to punish those who crossed the criminals. Pesic had remarked that even if they weren’t happening with that much regularity the very idea of them may be enough to frighten people into compliance and Elena was inclined to agree. She had never been particularly tough and was now an intensely middle-class journalist on the verge of middle-age, but she couldn’t imagine many things that would be scarier than being kidnapped and taken away from your home on a flight to Mytanija by people threatening to kill you if you didn’t stay quiet.

Dalibor, Elena’s editor, was pestering her again, wondering if there was a story in this. Elena still didn’t know, though there did appear to be the makings of something. She really wanted to tell the story, it was an intoxicating mix of crime, immigration and society, but at the moment it wasn’t actually clear what she would be writing about. So here she was packing a suitcase – that same intensely middle-class journalist on the verge of middle-age – preparing to go to Eura and do a little more digging on the ground. She didn’t have a very thought-out plan of how she was going to approach it yet, she would call on some favours from old Euran journalist friends, she would spend some time in the large Mytanar émigré communities in cities like Brigham and Callodown. She would ask if people were going missing and not returning. She would ask about the effect of drugs on these communities, about prostitution and she would see what she could come up with.

Dalibor was resigned to losing her for a bit longer. He had said that she had ‘the glint’ in her eye about this. That she wouldn’t be content without going and having a look for herself. Luckily for him, when that was the case Elena usually provided the goods. It was why Epoha had broken so many enormous stories over the years in Mytanija. Here there was potential for something which could be broken much more widely, the Eurans were taking an interest in Mytanija again and with the reach of Mytanar organised crime it could be something which could send shockwaves much further afield. It was a risk Dalibor was willing to take, so Elena would be getting a flight from Thessia Alex Util in the morning.

From Ana Mecava-Catic’s position it had been a successful visit. Barnham had been happy to stick to the script. Trade was a strong card for Mecava-Catic, particularly given that growth had slowed a little and she needed to reinforce all the hard work her and her party had put in to develop the economy since coming to power nearly eight years prior. Key industries for Mytanija, automobiles, clothing and textiles, were thrust into the limelight and Barnham had accepted that there was huge scope for deals in those areas to help further support the growth of the Mytanar economy as the country continued to recover from the Mytanar Conflict. Policy wonks would work on the finer details, but the news of substantial Euran investment without opening up the Mytanar market too much was a great headline for the Premier and the media reported on it favourably.

To get those deals Barnham would need something in return, of course, such was the nature of international relations realpolitik. He had been very keen to discuss the prospect of Mytanija joining the Common Rushmori Community, underlining the fact that it was a key democratic power in the west of the region and would perhaps be able to bolster its influence with membership. Mecava-Catic had always been skeptical, along with many Mytanars, particularly when the country’s economic recovery was still in its fledgling stages. Jedinstvo wanted the recovery to be evenly distributed, for the people to be able to benefit from it equitably. Exposure to foreign markets could potentially put that under threat and one of the key tenets of CRC membership was free trade, for many it was a non-starter.

Mecava-Catic had to tread carefully, she would not be making any firm commitments, although she did praise the CRC’s ‘spirit of cooperation’ and said that whilst her party’s policy towards membership remained unchanged that they were always open to ‘creative solutions’. Barnham and the Eurans were happy with that and that was good enough for the Premier too, everybody got what they needed. What ‘creative solutions’ meant was open to interpretation. Ana was skeptical that the CRC would agree to concepts of ‘associate membership’ which had been floated in some Mytanar circles, this would allow countries to join free movement and military aspects of the CRC without having to commit to liberalisation of domestic markets. It didn’t seem likely that the CRC would agree to such a deal and Ana could understand why. Why would they allow Mytanija to benefit from freedom of movement and collective security without having to open up the country’s economy, it would be Mytanija having its cake and stealing a bit of the CRC’s.

Discussions of organised crime and immigration were held in much more hushed tones, Ana said that her government were doing everything they could at home but that the gangs were powerful and had long-standing roots in their communities. They were difficult to control. The Eurans were pleased to have Mytanar migrants for the most part, it supported the labyrinthine Euran economy and Mytanars were happy to do jobs many Eurans would prefer not to think about. They could earn money and send remittances home. Ana had agreed that she would ramp-up attempts to crackdown on organised crime and illegal immigration, but she reminded Barnham that their were two countries involved in those issues. Talk of a mutual extradition treaty was speedily quashed, ‘Harry, you know I can not do that’ said the Premier in heavily Thessian-accented Endemian English.

The Mytanar public had long been opposed to anything of the sort. Even Natella Kalinina had never been brought to Mytanija to face justice because of how strongly people felt about Mytanars being sent the other way. It wouldn’t quite amount to political suicide, but it was perhaps tantamount to it, Mecava-Catic would be regarded as the politician who had finally given in to the Eurans, the one who allowed Mytanars to face the Euran version of justice. It would be deeply unwise to agree to such a thing, particularly when Mecava-Catic enjoyed such support in cities with deep ties to some of the larger organised crime gangs. The Eurans didn’t always appreciate that these gangs often did a lot of good for their local communities, they enjoyed a lot of popular support even despite the bad things they did. Sending their leaders to rot in a Euran jail could conceivably lose Jedinstvo an election.

So there would be no extradition agreement. Mecava-Catic had kept a few ace cards close to her chest too, she had made no mention of the approach from Græntfjall. She wanted to see exactly what was proposed and consider how it would affect her party’s electoral chances. If human trafficking were to be painted as a problem stemming directly from Mytanija under her government then she would perhaps have to be pragmatic, refuse to engage and instead work with the Eurans on addressing it behind the scenes. They were at least content to be discreet until there were positive results.

Ana also didn’t know how the Eurans would react to Græntfjall looking to exert influence on Mytanija. The relationship with the Eurans may have been strained because of the years following their intervention in the Mytanar Conflict (and, to a lesser extent, the impact of Mytanar immigration and organised crime in Eura), but there had been a genuine sense of Barnham trying to right the wrongs of that era. He seemed genuine when he spoke of Eura making mistakes when Mytanija needed more targeted support to rebuild the country following the war. Ana wasn’t sure it was worth jeopardising that recovering relationship, sometimes sticking with the devil you know is the wisest decision.

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