Okay, the point is, it's 2048 (plus or minus, who's counting). Years like this don't come along all the time. We've got an international trophy to add to our case! It's a big deal!
So let's get to it.
International competition
As would become a theme, Unión de Ciudagua defeated Catherina FC. They'd beat Sembulan by the same score, but were held to a draw with Sokojiwa Dosi CK to come second on goal difference. Another scoreless draw brought penalties, but Columba Guinassi's shot was saved to send Unión to the seventh place match. That time around, they took care of business to bring home the...gold. As it were.
Alianza Ciruelas got the UICA tournaments off to a fine start for us, winning 6-0. Well, I mean, 3-0 twice. That's a little more reasonable. Universidad de Dénprade eased past SC Myrkan, while Deportivo Peralta rallied to win on away goal; they'd beat more Pasargans without need of tiebreakers, although CA Condadore did lose on away goals. A couple of them.
Although Habsburg and Tudor scored, to general frustration on our end, Alianza Ciruelas kicked more balls past Billiard to make the TQCC group stage. RC Belfort (I don't think we want to know) proved more infuriating, defeating Dénprade to subvert the usual Aguazuleño-Valladar dynamic. 2 de abril lost, but CSD Trecelunas won, their matchups against teams from Estresse Intenso, while an extra time goal from Mergildo Almeyda (thank goodness these name lists still work, bit of a scare the other night!) saw Blén CA get past Reavers de Rosarío. Deportivo Peralta torpedoed Zamba to join Ojedo Cerro in the Globe Cup group stage.
Facing Catherina FC again, Unión de Ciudagua managed to beat them twice more; they split against the other Group F teams but topped the group anyway. Deportivo Peralta provided the offensive performance of their group F, scoring four against Kagoshima Phoenix (no comment. Besides, I'm not sure which leg came first.), but that victory proved to be Deportivo's only points. Ojedo Cerro advanced in more tepid style, while Blén CA failed to advance in a style almost as tepid as Ojedo Cerro's. CSD Trecelunas, on the other hand, progressed to the SBCC knockouts.
Ojedo Cerro followed up a scoreless draw at home with a goal-heavy game away, losing 4-1. Away goals would prove critical for both Unión de Ciudagua and CSD Trecelunas; Juan Esteban Oraglio, Tome Chilavert (of Unión), and Froila Silloniz (Trecelunas) scored those to send them through. CSD Trecelunas followed Blén's lead in drawing 1-1 with the Chorion Bluffs Knights, but broke out in the second leg to advance. Unión de Ciudagua, for their part, edged out Petardos S/A in a pair of close 1-1s; Chilavert got a lucky break in game 1, and they tried being defensive in the second leg. Alex Baxter's goal was rather flukish, but hey, it worked.
The semifinals would bring more offense--and more away goals. This time around, however, the ones that mattered came from Matt Lynch and Aintôrthea Durosa. CSD Trecelunas, on the other hand, erupted at home to make the final.
It was a different sort of drama then Aguazul's last visit to The Battleground. Castañon Terranova put CSD Trecelunas ahead, but the Saints went marching back to tie it up. In extra time, though, Serena Padilla headed in what proved to be the winner, with Silloniz tacking on an insurance goal.
This is, quite frankly, never what the founding...rabble? of CSD Trecelunas expected. Content to do their own things, with football just one of many priorities, they were in some ways the quintessential gimmicky minor league club. It hasn't been buckling down, and it's not like their loose style is translating into particularly beautiful football played for its own sake; they just keep riding whatever wave they happen to be on, and so far, it's worked.
Then came the Super Cup, in which they, uh, actually managed to score. Still, the extra time victory was almost its own reward, and they were content to take their trophy back home and, now that they've proven themselves the best of everybody's lower divisions, fight for a new challenge in the top flight.
Yeah. About that.
Playoff FIX!
So...Blén CA, who the Pumas faced in the playoff, really should have been promoted outright. CSD Trecelunas should have faced San Pablo. Since we noticed this in time, we decided to just replay the game. Nervous administrators were certainly on the visitors' side, as a San Pablo victory would prove anticlimatic at best and potentially unsportsmanlike at first (hey, it's not our fault there's so little movement between divisions, these things are tiny). They played to a most Trecelunas-esque score of 1-1...but then Terranova scored the only goal of the replay. So the teams we thought would get promoted actually did, and the others didn't, so yeah, that's nice.
International transactions
Hoo boy. This is going to be delicate.
First off, Pedro Castro moved from relegated Piratas de Grisolon to promoted Blén CA. Sensible enough.
Otoniel Sepúlveda and Olivar Bravo have returned to Aguazul safe and sound, and are either on their original clubs or retired, but no one particularly cares.
As for Karl Nurkse and Max Markov...well, naturalization per se isn't exactly normal around here. Basically, the new policy is that their clubs, or any Aguazuleño club they should play on in the future, can sign another foreigner without penalty.
Not that they exactly have the wherewithal to do so at the moment, granted, but it's the principle of the thing.
Mapabore Juventud, upon realizing that Bruno Dorantes really has left and probably isn't coming back, decided instead to sign Gunsedal Cisneros.
Pepe Raúl Corretja and Claudio Albornos have signed for Shadows and Zhevassi respectively, while Ojedo Cerro have acquired Yegor Zbruyev.
And finally, if we cast our attentions back, oh, five years or so, we would recall a shadowy time in the annals of world football. A time when, it seemed, some of the magic had gone out of the world. When the futures of clubs like, oh, ISC Rig were particularly uncertain. It was then when a backup striker emerged onto the scene of the Somewhereistonian fourth division--
All right, yes, strictly speaking almost all the team--Do you want to do this? Because--Right, no, I understand, your gave your word, but...there's a parable on the matter...No, no, I can see why it'd be important to you--all right, fine, you do this part and I'll do the color commentary. Okay?
Hola. Pues, se llama Ervins Tāls. Y ahora, va a jugar con CF Clan Tropa. Y...pues. ¿Tienes algo interesante para decir?
Well, that depends on whether he has a catchy nickname or anything yet. Pity the macron doesn't really make it long in the usual sense.
We could have called him "Heads Or" or something. You people don't know what you're missing.
And...okay, never mind, I guess I'll finish this on my own. Fair enough.
Primera División
Well, the fear was that Unión de Ciudagua would pull away, and that didn't happen. Heading into the final matchday, they led the tables, yes, but only by one point above two different teams; Ciruelas, threatening as...not ever. Sometimes? And a resurgent Mapabore. Both of them had bottom-half competition to face, so a great fight would have seemed in the works...
had it not been for the fact that Unión were facing Trecelunas FC. In last place. With eight points. Who had lost to Unión de Ciudagua in the first leg.
7-0.
At least the new teams didn't overachieve too much, for a change--CSD Trecelunas weren't much better, and the derby was a draw. (It did, however, feature one of the five goals Trecelunas FC had managed heading into the final matchday.) Blén CA had mixed results; a sixth-place finish belies the fact they were just a point off the Globe Cup, but Ojedo Cerro, in taking that spot, seem a bit more like what we expected from them. Still, we could be heading for an all-Supercentro first division in the relatively near future.
Oh yeah, about that whole three-horse race thing. Um, Trecelunas FC actually did provide some drama in their match.
They--that is to say, Lalo Santillian--scored a goal. So Santillian became the team's outright leader. With, er, two, the other having come against Alianza Ciruelas on matchday three.
So, Unión de Ciudagua put away four to take their...fourth title in five seasons. But it was close! Um, yeah. And besides, they're in the top ten of the UICA rankings now, they've gotta be pretty good. Behind them, Mapabore Juventud almost closed the goal differential gap on Alianza Ciruelas, but the goal they conceded to Gloria Losa consigned them to the Globe Cup. Not that they necessarily mind that.
Team P W D L For Ag +/- Pts
1 Unión de Ciudagua 18 10 4 4 43 21 +22 34 C/TQCC
2 Alianza Ciruelas 18 9 6 3 19 11 +8 33 TQCC
3 Mapabore Juventud 18 10 3 5 25 18 +7 33 GC
4 Deportivo Peralta 18 7 7 4 26 23 +3 28 GC
5 Ojedo Cerro 18 6 9 3 19 12 +7 27 GC
6 Blén CA 18 8 2 8 17 19 -2 26
7 CA Condadore 18 7 3 8 26 26 +0 24
8 Estudiantes de Íguen 18 5 7 6 9 9 +0 22
9 CSD Trecelunas 18 3 3 12 11 31 -20 12
10 Trecelunas FC 18 2 2 14 6 31 -25 8
Segunda División
Um, okay. Piratas de Grisolon did sink pretty far. But San Pablo didn't! They...anything but didn't, actually. They won the league. By eleven points.
And...da da dah. CD Quemavilla, with the last SBCC spot. Yeah, they...scored at least five goals, um, four times? People like goals down here, darn it! Well, not all of them, but, but, many of them.
And...FC Nacional...have a better goal difference than the last time they were in the second division. That's gotta count for something.
Team P W D L For Ag +/- Pts
1 San Pablo 18 14 1 3 53 19 +34 43 C/SBCC
2 Arcrés Millos 18 9 5 4 32 26 +6 32 SBCC
3 12 de noviembre 18 9 3 6 23 22 +1 30 SBCC
4 CD Quemavilla 18 8 4 6 49 27 +22 28 SBCC
5 2 de abril 18 7 4 7 19 18 +1 25
6 ICD Villago 18 7 3 8 16 26 -10 24
7 Piratas de Grisolon 18 7 2 9 25 40 -15 23
8 Universidad de Dénprade 18 6 4 8 32 31 +1 22
9 Lobernians 18 5 7 6 18 20 -2 22
10 FC Nacional 18 0 3 15 12 50 -38 3
Anyway, the suggestion box for what to do about this league is open...now.
Si gente quiere decir muchas cosas sobre un equipo y su nombre y que significa y así, sería mejor si... ganaran un partido.
Gracias, Emilio.
TQCC: Estadio Aramis Peralta, Ciudad Peralta (68,000)
GC: Estadio Paridos, Mapabore (34,000)
SBCC: Estadio Moacom, Arcrés (55,500)
Supercup sponsorship bid: Conbal (all caps, HelveticaNeue Bold or something similar.)
