Final whistle blows, Cardenao 1-1 Tikariot...
President Mihaly Otamendi forced out a half smile as the referee blew the final whistle, with Cardenao drawing Tikariot 1-1. He let out a sigh, as a fanatic football fan himself anything other than a win for the national team was a sore disappointment. Still though, he applauded the team and waved out to the crowd in attendance.
On the field, things were…they were not the most ideal. Two draws and a humbling 5-2 loss to Banija meant the national team had a lot of work to do on the field to secure qualifying to the knockout stages of the tournament they were hosting. Looking at the bright side though, draws against Huayramarca and Tikariot were certainly results worth celebrating as the qualification period for the 93rd World Cup loomed ever nearer. The football enthusiast in Mihaly was also thrilled to be getting a look at some alternative options for the national team, and indeed there were some players looking like they might have a shot at making the full national team when that time came.
Off the field though, the Cardenao Cup was thus far a massive success. The eyes of the world were on Cardenao and countless billions had tuned in over the first three matchdays to watch the ten prestigious nations do battle. The world champions Zwangzug and the runners-up Banija were both big draws, while the swashbuckling style of Huayraball was attracting viewers as well. The matchup between Ceni and Drawkland had been a major event as well, with viewers all across the multiverse tuning in to watch the legendary Andrew Arrowsword manage his team on Cardenaoan soil. All matches were broadcasted through the state owned Cardenao Television Network (CTN), this allowed Mihaly to directly oversee how Cardenao was presenting itself on the international stage. To that end, any advertisements played fell under one of a few distinct categories.
The first could only be called blatant national cheerleading, clear and obvious propaganda pieces meant to show off Cardenao. There were environmental bits, longer ads that showed a variety of different national landscapes, cities, monuments, and things that gave a sense of what Cardenao was at its barest. There were short personal ads that showed a ‘random’ Cardenaoan and had them explain how great Cardenao was for this cultural reason or that particular location or whatever it was Mihaly wanted them to say. These were just a few of these sort of PR fluff bits CTN were putting out, designed to showcase the fundamental positive and enticing aspects of Cardenao. Gotta look legitimate, right?
Then there were those created to entice tourists. Hey, do you like beaches? Check out all of these great beaches! Do you like fishing AND mountain climbing? Feel free to visit the Strait of Cardenao and the San Gabriel Mountains. Partying? Beautiful oceanside towns and modernish cities? Trekking through varied biomes ranging from Mediterranean to dense jungles to great basin cold deserts to actual deserts and everything between? Do you like enjoying a top class level of life on a bottom class budget? Do you like watching ten of the best teams in the world battling it out for bragging rights? Welcome to Cardenao, please give us your money.
Mihaly had other tourism ads carefully targeted at very different audiences: businesses and industries. At the core of his Six Year Plan was the need for rapid industrialization across all sectors to achieve a consistently high level of economic growth, and to that end there were pieces advertising various export and import opportunities. Tax incentives to attract foreign investment, exciting opportunities to purchase cheap Cardenaoan textiles, garments, and the plentiful raw materials just waiting to be put to use in the right hands. National governments were invited to get in on the action too, a dose of economic assistance could be a very wise investment in the up and coming Cardenao. Despite only appearing six years ago, look at the countries currently playing in Cardenao. Look at the international viewership, the tournament and national infrastructure, the obvious ambition to make a mark and move up on the international stage. An investment now is sure to pay off later.
The President of Cardenao smiled and waved to his citizens as he strode out of the stadium back to the Presidential Palace. There was much business to attend to these days as he oversaw an ever increasing list of minute details of his nation’s well being, from the comprehensive ad campaign he devised for the football tournament he created to maintaining the growing ledger of nations proven to be his ally and a friend to Cardenao.
Mihaly had a very productive meeting with his personal friend and Banijan Ambassador, Toyuwa Okafor. Banija was the first and closest ally to Cardenao, and had provided a great deal of aid in a variety of forms. Several great naval ships of war and decades of military technology, the backbone of a comprehensive rail and metro network via RTC, sharing general technology and straight up injections of cash were but a few of the boons of this friendship with the Atlantian Oceania nation.
Riding the high of that, it was time to deepen a relationship with a nation in Rushmore, and who better than Tikariot, a nation Cardenao already exported millions of dollars worth of coffee to every year. They could be a strategic ally to have, with their financial, technological, and intelligence expertise all highly desired. It would also be beneficial to have a close ally in yet another region.
The two nations shared several national philosophies and had first met in the qualifying phase of the 91st World Cup. Mihaly had met Prime Minister Roderick Armitage after a clash between their nations and the two quickly became friends, and now it was to him that Mihaly drafted up a correspondence. It was the drab technospeak of diplomacy but the message was clear: Let’s get serious about this relationship. The goal was to create an official alliance between the two nations, nothing nearly as intense as the one with Banija, but the relationship between Tikariot and Cardenao was due official recognition. The message was polished up and sent along the usual line of communication to the Prime Minister, and the table was set for the two to meet.
Another piece had been played in Mihaly’s grand scheme, if this move came to fruition then it would make the Cardenao Invitational even that much more of a success. Mihaly smiled to himself, the board was opening up just like he planned it to.
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