The Hopalian National Team
at the 92nd World Cup
at the 92nd World Cup
Kits
Nation Name: Hopal
Trigram: HOP
Nickname: The Suns
Formation: 4-3-2-1
Style Mod: +1.8
Staff
Head Coach and General Manager: Tom Villiers 48 M
Special Assistant and Tactician: John Ashcroft 46 M
Goalkeeping Coach: Karin Bartos 40 F
Defensive Coach: Allison Woodville 45 F
Offensive Coach: David Horages 40 M
Head of the Medical Staff: Dr. Liam Samuelson 51 M
Starting 11
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
Reserves
GK Travis Durant 21 M
GK Joilee Parik 21 F
GK Helen Oburhabel 19 F
DF Hector Cruz 21 M
DF Brian Atwood 22 M
DF Kyle Barker 19 M
DF Hunter Dablohaber 21 M
DF Lucy Anderson 30 F
MID Jake Gonchar 29 M
MID Kaylee Marks 26 F
MID Don Duble 28 M
MID Kevin Bird 22 M
MID Justin Gubre 26 M
MID Lewis Archer 25 M
AT James Harker 23 M
AT Erin Tarter 21 F
Captain: Tommy Sanchez
Assistant Captains: Kay Redford, Peter Fikudal
Penalty Kick: Tommy Sanchez
Free Kick: Tommy Sanchez, Uma Frey
Corner Kick: Peter Fikudal, Kelly Hart
About the Team
Tom Villiers is looking for a turnaround, and that is quite apparent if you look at the team that he has assembled for this year's World Cup, the 92nd edition of the tournament, and the second which he has led Team Hopal into. The last world cup cycle was supposed to be Team Hopal's formal introduction onto the world stage of international soccer. But the results for Team Hopal were less than stellar. In the Baptism of Fire, a tournament for nations participating in their first world cup cycles, Team Hopal didn't fare all too badly for themselves. They finished at the top of their group with 2 wins and 1 loss, before going on to lost in the Round of 16, 1-0 against the Trollish Islands in extra time. So Team Hopal's results in the Baptism of Fire weren't all too bad, but Tom Villiers must have been looking for more than to make it to the Round of 16. After all, most of, or at least many of the teams competing in the Baptism of Fire were competing in their first international tournament. While Team Hopal had competed in various international tournaments before, including several Independents' Cups. As a result hopes were high for Team Hopal going into the tournament, and there was this slightly arrogant attitude among fans that Team Hopal had a chance at winning it all, that the team had enough experience to wipe out all of the sport's newcomers. So this Round of 16 loss stung for many fans, and in the Team Hopal locker room too. It wasn't the best start to the world cup cycle for Team Hopal, and it would only go downhill from there. The loss in the Baptism of Fire clearly affected the Hopalian team as they went into the World Cup Qualifying, giving way to an abysmal result. With only 2 wins, 2 draws, and an astounding 16 losses in the group stage of Qualifying, this clearly was not Tom Villiers' plan for Team Hopal's grand introduction onto the world stage. The team looked disorganized and dysfunctional, they couldn't keep hold of the ball. Conceding 48 goals, while only scoring 22, the clearly couldn't keep the ball out of their net, and had some trouble getting the ball into the opposing team's net. Tom Villiers looked angry, disappointed, distraught, uncomposed, and clearly not in control of his team, throughout the tournament, as they kept on suffering through 20 matches of the group stage. Nobody was happy at the end of the tournament, the Captain Tommy Sanchez couldn't explain what went wrong, there were calls for Tom Villiers' firing, the whole locker room was at a loss for words, and they were all clearly determined to do better for next time. So, now we're here at this next time, so what's happened between these two world cup cycles? Well we have seen quite the shift in the team's personnel and as it seems Tom Villiers' ideology. He's brought in one huge new addition to his front bench. John Ashcroft is the Head Coach and General Manager of the Hopalian Under-18 Team, and he's been hired by Tom Villiers to act as his "Special Assistant" and Tactician for this tournament. Ashcroft led the U-18 team at the 17th U-18 World Cup, where he brought a really young, fun, dynamic, exciting team together, which captured the attention of the Hopalian populace, bringing itself all the way to the Round of 16, losing to Baker Park, a titan of U-18 soccer. Ashcroft had really been pushing for a U-18 National Program in Hopal, similarly to the adults' National Program, where players could train and work together all year round, something that he wishes to further by joining this National Team, and is rumoured to already be in the works. But by bringing in John Ashcroft, Tom Villiers is telling us that he's changing up his style of play, and is shifting his playing strategy to something more offensive, fast, and exciting, something more like what that U-18 team was. We can already see that in how he's putting together his lineup. He's keeping his 4-3-2-1 formation, still trying to balance his new offence-minded ideology with a good defence, keeping for good defenders out back. Two bigger, stronger, older players down the middle, Kay Redford, a longtime veteran and Assistant Captain of the team, and Karos Yamover who didn't have the best debut on the National Team way back when, but has trained hard since the last world cup cycle, and has built himself into a bigger, stronger, and more intimating force on the defence. While on the wings we have two fast and efficient youngsters in Allison Terrace and Kaylee Haboshinter, who have earned themselves a permanent spot on the Hopalian defence as two absolute workhorses, up and down and across the field. But up front is where we see the real changes, as Tom Villiers puts together his more offence-minded team. There's the veteran Peter Fikudal, the Assistant Captain who's before been called the quarterback of the team, and there's Kelly Hart and Wendy Stein right alongside him, two fast and loud midfielders, who can bring the ball right to where the attackers need them. Further up we have two brother, Uma and Harris Frey, the younger Uma emerged as a superstar way back at the 11th U-18 Championship, and more recently captained the team at the 17th U-18 World Cup, the last in which he could compete, as he just turned 19. These two haven't played together since the 11th U-18 Championship, but these are two high-flying, risk-taking, offensive-minded, goal-scoring youngsters, Uma more so than Harris, who's just recently found his element, and Tom Villiers is hoping to spark something by putting them together. Finally up front as the team's sole attacker we have long time veteran and Captain Tommy Sanchez. Now let's look at the last piece of this lineup, and that's in goal, where Team Hopal's faced numerous challenges over the last few years. After a disastrous performance the 15th Independents' Cup longtime goalkeeper Adrian Turcotte and Goalkeeping Coach Helen De Retna both retired, leaving a hole in net. Longtime backup Alex Gargin stepped into Turcotte's shoes, and Turcotte himself replaced Helen De Retna in the last World Cup Cycle, but as explained earlier that didn't end very well for Team Hopal. So for this World Cup Cycle, U-18 Team Goalkeeping Coach Karin Bartos has brought onto the National Team. Bartos has trained several young goalkeepers on the U-18 team, including the three backups for Gargin this time around, Travis Durant, Joilee Parik, and Helen Oburhabel, there are an unusual three Hopalian backup goalkeeper at this tournament, just becuase of the wide crop of young Hopalian goalkeepers that Bartos has brought up. Tom Villiers' is praying that this is the formula which will bring him success this around, or there will be real questions over whether he should face the sack.
Record in World Cups
91st World Cup - 2-2-16 - 8Pts - 22GF-48GA - Eliminated in the Qualifying Group Stage
Stadiums
Home games in the Qualifying will alternate between the following stadiums in the listed order.
Stadium Name: Light of Hope National Stadium
City: Hopton
Capacity: 100,000
Description: The newly-finished stadium resides right in the centre of the Hopalian Capital, and the large sprawling metropolis which is Hopton. An initiative spearheaded by Prime Minister Harry Felixon, this newly-built stadium is meant to represent Team Hopal's emergence on the world stage, and as the Prime Minister stated meant to "unite the nation". With the capacity of 100,000, this huge and expensive undertaking is meant to attract fans from across the country and bring the country together with the "light of hope".
Matches to be Played: MD2 vs Delaclava, MD11 vs Civia Welephilostopia, MD18 vs Togonistan
Stadium Name: Port Hope-Stophoe-Amy Recovery Stadium
City: Port Hope
Capacity: 53,000
Description: Built in the aftermath of Hurricane Amy, which completely destroyed the Port Hope, Hopal's second largest city, and much of the Hopalian coastline. In Amy's aftermath, the whole city of Port Hope was rebuilt, and this stadium was meant to represent Port Hope, and Hopal's recovery in the aftermath of the hurricane. Named after longtime Port Hope resident and Former Prime Minister John Stophoe, who led Hopal through much of Amy's recovery.
Matches to be Played: MD4 vs Flavovespia, MD12 vs República Guanacasteca, MD21 vs Ochre Islands
Stadium Name: University Pitch
City: Hopton
Capacity: 25,000
Description: Once Hopal's largest stadium, when Hopal was much less of a sporting nation. The University Pitch resides in Hopton's University District, sitting right outside of the governmental core, it's facilities are used by both the University of Hopal and Hopton College.
Matches to be Played: MD6 vs Britland, MD14 vs Jeruselem
Stadium Name: Leo Donnes-Valley Stadium
City: Laurent
Capacity: 30,000
Description: This stadium, also built in the aftermath of Hurricane Amy, which also greatly affected Hopal's rural valley region. This stadium was built in the centre of the region where most of Hopal's agricultural output comes from, and is meant to be the regional stadium. This stadium named after Major Leo Donnes, a Hopalian military hero who gave his life in the service of saving others during Hurricane Amy, was built to showcase the nation's (and Independence Party's) care for the valley region, and it's being chosen as a host of these qualifiers as showcasing the continued importance of the region.
Matches to be Played: MD9 vs Zwangzug, MD16 vs Efnakia
RP PERMISSIONS
If my opponent roleplays first, they may:
Choose my starting lineup: No
Choose my goalscorers: Yes
Godmod scoring events: No
RP injuries to my players: Yes
Godmod injuries to my players: No
Hand out yellow cards to my players: Yes
Hand out red cards to my players: Yes
Godmod other events: No
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