World Cup 93 - RP Thread

by **PotatoFarmers** » Thu Mar 02, 2023 10:29 pm

Poafmersia 7–4 Magnecia
Goalscorer: Leontiy Seet 3' (assisted by Aapeli Shea); Cindy Oriol 17'; Tessa Bjarnesen 30', 70' (assisted by Leontiy Seet); Jordan Huerta 42' (assisted by Bjarnesen), 52' (assited by Michael Jackson); Jimmy Couch 90+1'
Lineup (4-3-3): Aleksander Malloye; Jimmy Couch, Cindy Oriol, Nikkita Alfaro, Jacqi Equine; Michael Jackson, Erle Sartini, Aapeli Shea (c); Tessa Bjarnesen, Jordan Huerta, Leontiy Seet
Substitutes: Diamond Byan (Alfaro 64'); Sylvia Fusco (Sartini 78'); Liina Williamson (Huerta 78'); Taliah Alcock (Bjarnesen 87')

West Barack and East Obama 0–2 Poafmersia
Goalscorer: Jordan Huerta 1' (assisted by Michael Jackson), 89' (assisted by Dagur Lawrence)
Lineup (4-3-3): Nicole Potts; Kilikina Lee, Diamond Byan, Cindy Oriol, Xenophon Robson; Michael Jackson, Min Berg, Aapeli Shea (c); Tessa Bjarnesen, Jordan Huerta, Leontiy Seet
Substitutes: Taliah Alcock (Bjarnesen 62'); Dagur Lawrence (Shea 75'); Sylvia Fusco (Berg 86')

Sporting Daily
Playoff tie against Kandorith away will be Poafmersia 200th WCQ game

The last time Poafmersia played Kandorith, the Red Panjias was just a brand new team, off from clinching 3rd place behind Nephara and Siovanija & Teusland, and was considered the rising star of the WC80s. After all, the team performed ahead of expectations, and if the current format was adopted back then, the Red Panjias would be in the play-off and the rest of the team's history might have been changed. It was the first match for the team at the Cup of Harmony, in Lwanga City Arena, in the city the stadium was named after. That day, Shakira Handris scored the team's first goal in the Cup of Harmony, but they eventually lost 1-2, which was basically a reflection of the Red Panjias' lack of experience against much better teams. Poafmersia eventually fell out of the Group Stage of the competition, to date, the only time Poafmersia never made it past the Group Stage in a World Cup Committee competition (of course we don't talk about the WCQ).

The two-legged tie between Poafmersia and Kandorith will be the second and third time the two teams have faced each other in any match. With the team surviving a scare from Cap Nord to make it into the Play-offs, Adnan Suliaha was extremely careful about the way he worded his expectations for the team. "To say we aren't interested in regaining entry into the World Cup Qualifiers is a lie, but we haven't have a good run on the way to the playoffs, and our playoff record isn't fantastic," said the coach at the pre-match press conference. This is Poafmersia's 4th playoff in total, and the last 2 playoffs have ended in heartbreak for the team (in WCQ90, when they lost to Vdara, and WCQ92, when they lost to Cassadaigua).

Adnan would probably be less worried about their offence, with Jordan Huerta netting a brace in the last 2 games against Magnecia, as well as West Barack and East Obama. Playing the first leg at home, Adnan said that their goal was to get a reasonable lead at home, so as to gain some advantage ahead of a tough return fixture in Kandorith. "If we can get some cushion here, the players would not be as stressed, and all is well for us. Right now, the most important thing is to take things one step at a time, and make sure we win the game in front of us."

Most fans are eager to see the Red Panjias return to the World Cup, and hope that they would be able to see these players play the Red Panjias' 10th World Cup Proper game next year in Chromatika and Tumbra. "Nothing beats seeing our players in the World Cup, its the most prestigious sports tournament in the multiverse," said a fan. Another fan pointed out that the underdog mentality is something the Red Panjias have embraced all this while, and this represents a really good opportunity to show the world how underdogs perform in the World Cup. "Remember World Cup 87? We trashed Omerica at home and then drew away to earn the opportunity to play in our first Proper at the fourth attempt. And against all odds, we defeated Audioslavia, sneaked into the Round of 16, defeated Brenecia, and basically did what many national teams dream of doing - getting into the top 8 on their first try. The last time we are in a World Cup proper was almost 10 years ago, hopefully we can get back in there again and show the world the Potato Way of Football," said 56-years old Johnathan Smith, who bragged to the Daily about his experiences with the team since the very beginning.

This play-off tie would be exceptionally important for this team, given that they would celebrate their 200th World Cup Qualification game in Kandorith. A win there would be a good story for the team and for the press, who are celebrating their 20th anniversary since being founded to contest the World Cup some 20 years ago. Head Coach Adnan Suliaha, the architect behind the team's formation and progress over the years, have downplayed the occasion, saying that the team have crossed milestones "without this much fanfare". "I think we have crossed the 400th game overall sometime in the IAC or one of the friendly tournaments, and yet we didn't make such huge fanfare about it. 200 games in the WCQ is nothing as well, it just shows we have been here for some time, not too little, and not as much as teams like Audioslavia and Krytenia who have been here since god-knows-when."

Poafmersia's game against Kandorith will be held tonight, 7.30pm, in Libira National Stadium, with live broadcast on major Television networks in the country.

by **Chromatika** » Thu Mar 02, 2023 10:30 pm

All posts beneath this one shall be graded for the next cutoff.

by **Flavovespia** » Fri Mar 03, 2023 7:44 am

This is Flavovespia now looks at the 5 most iconic TV moment in history in the nation, rounding up this part on television in the nation.

5. Slam! gatecrashes News at Nine

Slam! has always had a reputation for causing some sort of controversy, whether as an advertising ploy or just dumb ideas, even they struggle to know at times. This one in 6AU however was the most famous. On the TV show Prankd!, comedian Dennis “Joker” Jamieson, was dared to sneak in to a Live TV broadcast. The target, FTV1’s News at Nine. Not content with sneaking in an easy way, , “Joker” Jamieson and a paraglider helped him fly straight into a live outside broadcast in Hadford Hill, startling correspondent George Jack, “Joker” Jamieson for his troubles was then arrested and fined a considerable sum, so too was Slam! by the Independent Broadcasting Regulator. Nevertheless, it became a memorable moment of National TV.

4. Paul Evans become the first Flavovespian Quiz Show millionaire on Exact Match

Exact Match on FTV, first launched in 1BU, became famous for its host gregarious host Barbara Drake, and the perceived toughness. 10 questions, the first 9 requiring an ever increasingly small “correct” range and time to answer to take a step up, with an exact match on the first 9 allowing the contestant an extra non-cash prize as well as cashing in all of their current earnings, not just a proportion based on their closeness. There was always a sense of anticipation as to whether or not anyone would dare take on the 10th question to try and win the £1’000’000 question. Paul Evans became the third to do so. Needing an exact match, he answered 39 for the number of teams in the inaugural Gold Cup within the 30 seconds. It was right, and he left the show a millionaire, the first ever to do so from a quiz show in Flavovespia.

3. Smoke and Mirrors – Shooting of Judge Theobald

Smoke and Mirrors has been running for a decade now, and in the era of hundreds of channels, it has become an impressive hit for state broadcaster FTV1. This is however, one of the most iconic moments not just of the show, but of any fictional drama in Flavovespia. With crime boss Daryl McKenzie on trial for his criminal enterprise activities, but a plausible alibi, many suspected the Series 2 finale would revolve around the final judgment. However, in one of the most shocking twists, not long before the end of the episode. Judge Theobald was shockingly shot from behind en route to the courtroom. The series ended on a total cliffhanger, would she survive, and who was behind it all? Later series would answer those questions, and produce good TV moments of their own, but that was one of the most famous in all of Flavovespia.

2. Richard Thompson on-air meltdown at teenage pranksters

One of the most spectacular moments, that was never planned at all. In 12AU, on FTV1’s News at Midday show, the usually mild mannered correspondent Richard Thompson was supposed to be giving an update on a story on seafront developments in Loxthorpe. That was, until some teenagers cycled behind the camera, making gestures and heckling the camera. After the third time, Thompson, turned around, and dropped a string of profanities, before attempting to chase them down, eventually hurling an empty can at them. He stormed off, telling the camera operator to “f**k off”. Unsurprisingly, he was fired, and yet seemed unrepentant about the whole situation. The clips going viral on Hive, combined with becoming a running joke nationally, made this such a famous moment.

1. Jonathan Bagshaw’s goal to win CAFA Cup 4.

With a limit of one major sporting moment for the category, it’s probably no surprise this won, and became the most iconic TV moment. It’s hard to find a Flavovespian who doesn’t know where they were watching the game and this moment. 89 minutes gone, and Adrian Jones played in Jonathan Bagshaw. Jonathan Bagshaw shot across the goal, got the ball past defender Adam Archer and goalkeeper Norauspu Thurzerthinden, and into the net at the far post. The joyous shouts of commentator Stephen Hunter’s “BAGSHAW….HE’S DONE IT!!!!!”, with the co-commentators cheering in the background, the jubilation of the players on the pitch and the Flavovespians in the stadium were broadcast around the nation. As the team held on to win, and then lifted the trophy, practically everyone in the nation watched on in celebration, at home, in pubs or bars, or in large viewing street parties. It was the biggest step forward for the Flavovespia national team, even more so than that first World Cup Qualification, and everyone remembers it as a day to be proud to be a Flavovespian.

by **Nyowani Kitara** » Fri Mar 03, 2023 9:04 am

Sports Brief: Nyowani Kitara play Baggieland for wild 4-4 draw at Dartmouth Hill, leaving everything left to play for in Dewayo

Playoff Leg 1

HAWTHORN, BAGGIELAND- "In so many ways, the playoffs are nothing like the rest of World Cup Qualifying." Said Liang Wei. "They're a microcosm of an entire campaign within two games. There are many differences. The first, and biggest one, of course, is the familiarity of the opponent. Functionally, it's halftime after 90 minutes, and you get 5 days to make whatever chances you want- tactically, on the pitch, off the pitch. It takes a total team effort if you want to win one of these playoff ties, especially with so much on the line. Baggieland's definitely got talent, and so do we- I imagine this is going to be one of the toughest ties that we have ever played in."

And as they were greeted by the roaring home crowd at Dartmouth Hill, Baggieland looked absolutely inspired. Remember, coming into the game, Okombo said that it would be important for Nyowani Kitara to 'not let Baggieland get going right away'. He had told the public that Nyowani Kitara needed to not allow the crowd to jump right on top of them, and to do whatever was required to take them out of the game. That's how Nyowani Kitara would be able to get a handle on the game. Baggieland must've heard his comments, however- and did anything but allow that exact scenario to happen. Malmquist earning a yellow card and conceding a penatly in just the 7th minute was brutal, as Baggieland took the roof off the place with the early penalty to take a 1-0 lead.

Baggieland were energized, inspired. They would have to ride this wave and try to get a second goal for themselves. And fortunately, if you were a home fan(UNfortunately for us), they were actually able to go out there and get a second. Screw us being the betting favorites- they were throwing all those assumptions on their heads with what was going on here. Baggieland were getting forward, creating chances, and we were simply on our heels. We started slow and sluggish, and Baggieland were making us pay. When Jeff Richardson headed home in the 18th minute to double their lead, things were looking grim for Kitaran fans. We had 180 minutes- but were we going to blow any chance we had at qualifying after less than 20 minutes?

Fortunately, this Nyowani Kitara team actually has a dizzying array of attacking talent. Odede Angonga- starting for a big club in the S-FPL. Wang Jiahui- starter in Mytanija. Olaf Svante- getting regular minutes in Nephara. And, last but certainly not least- Arvid Handsdotter, of the Q-League. We're capable of getting back into a game even if we're on the back heel, especially if we have the belief. That's why you want veterans like Armoni Okombo- he calmed the team down, reminded them of what they were capable of, and encouraged everybody to get forward. And so when Handsdotter struck home from distance in the 33rd minute, and Owino Odede scrambled to fish the ball out of the back of the net, everyone knew- game on.

It wouldn't take much longer to get our second goal, the equalizer. Just three minutes later, a rebound at the near post, and Wang Jiahui went for all sorts of power, turning in a goal from a near impossible angle at close range. Suddenly, it was 2-2, and it was the visiting fans who were excited. The second half would continue to provide ample amounts of excitement. Baggieland did not simply fluke their way to a 2-0 lead early- they had earned it, and they wanted to continue to show that. They were forward and brave in the second half, and were rewarded for their bravery, with Laurie Bassett converting on the counter in the 52nd minute. 3-2 to the hosts.

We needed to come back from behind one more time, didn't we? And we got that goal, too- Odede Angonga, our #9, our go-to man, scoring in the 63rd minute. But even he could not keep Baggieland out of the back of the net on the other end. A wicked, bending free kick by their captain, Bomber Robson, give the hosts a 4-3 lead in the 81st minute. For the third time today, we were asked to try and come from behind- having equalized after a 2-0 deficit, and again after a 3-2 deficit. Now, it was 4-3. Were we up to the task? It turns out- yes, we were. Even with everything going on, we've got the players with the technical ability to really do so. A picture-esque layoff from Owino Odede saw Angonga having the ball at the top of the box, basically unmarked. He wasted no time- the striker took it first time, and buried it into the bottom corner.

89th minute equalizer. Our third equalizer of this contest. A rocket that made it 4-4, which ended up being the final score. "8 goals between us- and still, no winner!" Liang Wei exclaimed. "No, but excellent contest to Baggieland. The fans were fantastic- one of the best atmospheres I've ever been a part of. Their players were organized, compact, inspired. It's going to be a hell of a second leg. A scoring draw is a solid result- we've got to take the initiative in Dewayo and really squeeze Baggieland straight out of the contest."

An excellent contest, top to bottom. A 4-4 draw, yes. Some good- the fact that we came back 3 times. Some bad- we never held a lead against these guys. Who will step up when this tie gets back to Dewayo? Who will be the difference to send us to the World Cup Finals? Or will it be Baggieland, shocking the world, by earning a stunning upset in our capitol city and taking themselves to the greatest tournament in sport for the very first time?

by **Delte** » Fri Mar 03, 2023 10:13 am

Xanneria 1-2 Delte
Tug Boat Captain & Temporary Player-Reporter Austin Lyepolde in Dominica City for Plemon's Almanac

I've been briefed not to dwell overly long on the finer details of our match but suffice it to say the Away Team Mission achieved a singularly unique accomplishment with The Representatives first ever play-off win, which leaves failure to qualify for the World Cup hanging in the balance... if the home team can avoid defeat at Ildemorton Road early tomorrow morning (Deltic time) we will indeed be heading off to Tumbra and or Chromatika for the World Cup Proper for the first time. As ever, the only professional footballer from the valley, Enor Perro, was the team's best player and scorer of one of the goals. He let someone else score the other. I seem to have been returned to my standard role as unused sub, but at least everyone is talking to me again. After the incident with Bears! etc.

WhatsUp Message Leaks Tell Their Own Story
Junior Pencil Sharpener & Political Editor Polka Lunn at the Women's Institute in Rake Teinton for the Shingarter Herald

It's all coming out now. Controversy is never very far away these days where the local WI is concerned, whether it's Nozi Urinals or Tea Cakes For Votes. Or of course, who can forget or forgive the Lockdown Rave scandal at Triton Farm and Sally Orrack's ecstasy bust (better known as Ravegate). If you have no idea what I'm talking about, well first where have you been? and secondly, you can get yourself fully up to speed by reading the latest series of releases of WhatsUp messages between the key figures in the WI Old Wives Gala Planning Committee, where up to thirty - yes, thirty - messages reveal absolutely nothing but Gala Queen Betty Ormray's shocking lack of understanding of emojis, text speak and autocorrect functions. After all, she may not have meant to say 'total glass swan omnishambles' but she certainly must've typed that at some point previous for the app to suggest it in a key message about local primary school teacher Miss Asskinning.

Ready Player 16: Ardrake Steng
Vignettes of The Representatives

Left midfield, real age 32, for Ughmirren FC; nutritionist:

There’s a lot of fuss around the Valley at the moment about eternal youth and whatnot. Ardrake swears by the phyto-plankton, have you tried it?^[1] He used to go down to the seaside at Irsha and hire a fishing boat out to into Smite Bay, where he’d skim off a bucket of green algae from the edges of the protobiotic slough that still covers a good part of the bay from the Great Big Smite Bay Contamination Scandal some years previous. Though typical life is recovering slowly and the fishing industry is back on track, the leftover slough is teeming with unusual lifeforms and green slime that, says Ardrake, is tremendously good for you - not so much a superfood as an ultra premier ekstraclassa superfood. Nowadays of course he has managed to culture enough that his swimming pool is full of the descendents of the protobiotic slough, and rather green and sticky, curtailing his fishing trips (and his swimming).

Overall, the jury is officially out on the miracle benefits of the little fellows. Does it lift the brain fog and allow for clearer thinking and a quicker wit? There is no doubt Ardrake is at the smarter end of the Representative camp, but there is no independently verified scientific evidence to support the claim as yet. Does it boost the immune system? No-one has ever known Ardrake to catch a cold, we wouldn’t deny it. There does seem to be a higher level of omega-3 in the phyto-plankton syrup so there may be some strength in this argument, though scientists will point out initial measures have shown inconsistencies and with over 1,800 lifeforms present in the slough, it depends on the density of particular spiruloids in the mix and there seems no way to consistently guarantee a fully representative concoction.

Does it provide an anti-ageing defence? I mean, Ardrake isn’t too shabby, is he? Again the omega-3 must be helping, but in all honesty, here in the Delte Valley, can anything compare to the eternally youthful spring waters of the Garga Marsh wetlands? What about added energy and increased metabolism - does the algae provide a ramp to higher levels of energetic output? Well, no-one can deny that Ardrake will run and run all day. How about improvements to gut flora and bowel health? Certainly Ardrake does not complain - he’s pretty regular, by all accounts. Hair growth and keratin strengthening? He does have lovely nails and a proper barnet, to be fair. Improved eyesight and hearing? Faster muscle recovery? Better quality role-play? Protection from rabies, typhoid, kidney disease, chillblains, acne, influenza, common colds, scarlet fever, polio, smallpox, bird flu, pig flu, bat flu, flatulence, bubonic plague, Acquired Metastructural Pediculosis, Captain Trips, scabies, syphillis, twelve monkeys and donkey fever? If you believe Ardrake, then yes, certainly fifteen drops a day from his green pool of slime should see you right.

[1]As this is the Official NS World Cup Sponsored by Source Accreditation Footnotes^[2] I should declare that my girlfriend told me about phyto-plankton and all the things it can do if you ingest it, so credit where it is due.
[2]It's not. I accredit myself for making that up based on observations of recent trends.

by **Gnejs** » Fri Mar 03, 2023 2:14 pm

What do we say to the God of Random Numbers?

Children wept, as news of Dandelion defeat at the hands of Ko-orenite Dragonflies rolled in. Due to their inherent stupidity, they had all succumbed to the gravest of footballing sins; allowing expectation to seep in and corrupt their minds. This was something the Dandelion head coach Bjørnstjerne Eriksen always cautioned against.

Stupid by virtue of their being, it simply proved impossible for the children not to let the favorable results of late twist their minds and incrementally morph fleeting dreams and hopes to solid expectations that became etched into their understanding of the world. They had come to expect that the good times would continue, certain of the intoxicating feeling of triumph persevering into infinity, and success being all but guaranteed.

Oh, how heavy it was, that brutal reality check, when it unrelentingly tsunamied its way in and violently slapped young and rosy checks from Segeltorp to Esaias and everywhere in between. Daycares and schools had to halt their ordinary activities, because the collective display of grief amongst the Union’s youngsters was so intense it disrupted any attempt at normalcy. They would not be comforted, digging themselves ever deeper down their pit of despair.

Young Oliver Torp at Briskeby South Elementary had a tantrum so intense it frightened even the most hardened of educators; the boy promising violent retribution when the Dragonflies came to the Union for the second leg. «If a Friend makes trouble, we make the trouble go away; if you’re not a Friend, we make you go away,» he was heard screaming, while menacingly brandishing a pair of scissors and some sharpened pencils. All the children at the Elderberry Day-Care Center in rural Ängby had to be transferred to the hospital after falling into a catatonic state due to acute and severe depression. It was clear something needed to be done.

It had been such an exciting and optimistic time, the days and weeks after the Dandelions had sealed their spot in the playoffs, and many parents, teachers, uncles, aunties and whatnots were starting to realize that they had in fact been instrumental in feeding this beast. Sports, crafts, history and even math, they had all revolved around football and the Dandelion WCQ campaign in some way, from drawing and coloring the PUFF crest to knitting fan scarves and practicing calculating group stage tiebreakers. The Dandelions, the WCQ and football itself had been everywhere - from the schoolyard banter to the dinner table discussions, and all over magazine headlines and every conceivable aspect of public discourse - and many adults also got caught up in the frenzy of expectations. These were often the ones you would refer to as «being in touch with their inner child», which in other words means they were idiots.

Something needed to be done to lift the youth out of their abyss, but what, and how? An obvious candidate was highlighting the fact that the Dandelions were actually not out of contention for qualification. They had lost, yes, but a second leg on Union soil remained, and while things might look bleak, there was still very much everything to play for. It would be a delicate balancing act, however, encouraging the youth to look forward to the next leg, but at the same not fall into the same trap yet again and nurture their previous delusions back to full strength. One could only imagine what having such expectations shattered twice might do to the collective psyche of the younger generations.

It was the Parents' Committee at the Forget-Me-Not Nursery School in the northern parts of Port Kejm that first started working with realigning the hearts and minds of their little ones, and they did so by invoking an age-old Union sentiment, namely the love of fate, or Amor Fati.

Whatever happens, happens, whatever will be, will be. This should not only be accepted, but embraced, good or bad. True strength lies not in avoiding suffering and falling to pieces or being consumed with rage when confronted with it, but rather in welcoming and affirming the inevitable challenges and struggles that is the inherently meaningless predetermined flux of life, or international football, in this instance. Do not try to find any meaning in these successions of event, it is futile, because the universe does not provide any answers. The only real response is acceptance of an outcome that could never ever have been otherwise and loving it for precisely that reason. If the Dandelions lose, they were always going to lose.

However, it quickly became apparent that the fears, anxieties and other mental adversities the children were struggling with were not that easily overcome by merely talking about fate and acceptance. The answer became shrouding the message in something more exciting and enticing for a young mind, namely by invoking an esoteric God of Random Numbers. An ancient being and master of puppets, she decides our paths, and she does so arbitrarily, but her decision is necessity as such and could never have been anything else. She reigns supreme, and she only rolls her dice once. Whatever happens, happens. Deal with it. Love it.

So, whenever children all over the Union brought up the subject of international football and World Cup qualifications, they were promptly asked the question: What do we say to the God of Random Numbers? And they all answered, Not today, but maybe tomorrow

by **Milchama** » Fri Mar 03, 2023 5:02 pm

"So 1-1"

"Yep and we keep playing people with similar newspapers"

"What do you mean?"

"Well in cricket we're against TJUN-ia and man do their newspaper reports look similar to the Kimi-Suomi newspaper reports"

"Oh my god you're right"

"What's that about?"

"Do they share writers?"

"Is it about similar cultures?"

"I don't think so"

"Why not?"

"Isn't Kimi-Suomi all nordic and use a weird language with too many diacritics"

"I think you're talking about Farfadallis"

"No them too but Kimi Suomi also"

"Really?"

"I mean look at this 'säilyttääksemme' what is that if not too many diacritics for one language"

"Fair enough"

"TJUN-ia never has that many diacritics"

"Yeah good call"

"But the newspaper styles are weirdly similar"

"Oh yeah and the writing is basically the same"

"It's almost like the same person is writing it"

"Are you creating some weird conspiracy theory?"

"Far be it from me to suggest that there are puppet nations in the World Cup that are controlled by other nations that use them for their own nefarious purposes"

"God that sounds like an anti-semitic conspiracy theory"

"Agreed that's why I would never suggest such a thing"

"But you just did"

"Ok fair enough but how could that be true"

"Well look at Vilita and Turori"

"Huh?"

"They also have similar styles of writing"

"Oh my god, you're right!"

"And Nephara and Brenicia"

"And Valanora and Pasarga"

"Well that's not as clear"

"Yeah but look at like Banija and Nyowani Kitara which are really really similar"

"Oh my god you might be right!"

"It's everywhere!"

"This must be stopped!"

"Are you sure?"

"I mean if people are manipulating the WCC to make sure that similar but not exactly the same nations keep on getting preferential treatment we have to do something!"

"Ok but we'd look like weirdos if we said something like 'we think these nations might have similar newspaper writing styles' like so what, things happen"

"And also think about it, Turori and Vilita are right next to each other, Nyowani Kitara is Banija's old colony of course they have similar writing styles"

"Sure but like our newspaper sound nothing like Griensenfried"

"Yeah but they sound a lot like Collonie or Non-Violent Milchama"

"Oh good point"

"So maybe it's a little bit different"

"It could be but I still think we should write the WCC"

"And what would they do?"

"Probably nothing"

"That's my point! Let them do nothing and let's just beat Kimi-Suomi at home to win and qualify"

"I like that idea"

"Me too"

"So then that's at least one thing down"

"Exactly"

by **Audioslavia** » Fri Mar 03, 2023 5:06 pm

For Audioslavia's First Minister, Wilbur Hawes, it was do-or-die time. Even so, this was probably the end. At the head of Audioslavia's centre-left political party, The Party, he had run Audioslavia as best he could over two non-consecutive terms in government, but a series of political bungles looked like they were going to finally finish him from First Ministership - and perhaps politics altogether - for good.

First there was Angel Delight Gate, wherein he was photographed eating a bowl of colourful saccharine gloop with a gold spoon at the swankiest of Catharan restauraunts, which lead to him being pilloried by the working class (angel delight? kids dessert mate), the middle class (why is he dining at swanky restauraunts when he should be running the country), the upper class (that's not a pudding golden spoon, that's a venison golden spoon, the oaf), the left (oh my god not all angels are delightful) and the right (<frothy directionless desperate male bleating about the restaurant being owned by this week's them>) alike.

Then there was Delight Angel Gate, with Ms. "Delight Angel" having been spotted leaning into his car on a notorious moonlit street 'just to ask directions to the nearest all-you-can-eat-buffet', according to Wilbur's hasty but not particularly convincing excuse.

A rare highlight over the last five months had been Swann Glass, a failing glassworks plant that had recovered from almost immediate liquidation by some well-timed subsidies and having been highlighted by Hawes on television as a bastion of Audioslavian glassmanship, with skill far outstripping that of supposed crystal hub Caversham in Krytenia, with all their weak, foreign glass.

Seeing the connection between the two gaffes, his Public Relations department now figured Hawes might be able to claw some poll points back through the Glass Swan, the rapidly rising New Symbol of Audioslavian excellence, by which means the Audioslavian national team were threatening to return to something approaching their former glory.

And so here he was, standing outside the Project Sports Museum in Grand Forum, Cathair, next to a plinth containing the world's most infamous pre-jolt-era trophy. Every news agency in the city, nay, the country, if not the region, had brought their camera crews, with thousands upon thousands of members of the public rubber-necking in the background, trying to catch a glimpse of the glass swan. A lectern and a microphone in front of him, Wilbur Hawes embarked on the speech that he hoped would save his career.

"Times have been tough for Audioslavia. Voted only fiftieth best nation in the world, threatened with Nuclear War as a result and saved only by the strength of our diplomatic relations and, more prominently, our massive ignore-cannon, and, of course, the price of Angel Delight appears to be soaring"

He waited for laughs which did not come, and failed to make it look like he wasn't disappointed that his attempt at self-deprecation hadn't raised even a chuckle.

"But there is hope! Hope for the people of Audioslavia. We are, and have always been, a nation of creators, of cultivators, and of cunt.."

He turned the page of his notes

"-emporary arts connoisseurs. Our film industry has never been stronger, with the next installment of Jeremy Jaffacake's 'The Idiot Project' almost certain to come out 'totally any day now' according to the two year-old voice recording on Jeremy's answering machine. Our farms continue to produce more cereals than a quaker on amphetamines, and our glass industry has never been stronger. Indeed. our glass has never been stronger! Certainly stronger than that glorified perspex they make in Caversham!"

He waited for the dull rumble of 'murrr bloody krytenians murrr' to die down.

"In Audioslavia, our glass is of World standard! In Krytenia, it is Cup of Harmony standard!"

More murmble burmbling, this time with a thousand stamping feet of public approval.

"Our football team, of course, look to qualify for the World Cup once again. Our rightful place in multiversal sport!"

Less confident stamping. It had, of course, 'been a while'.

"And one of the many reasons why our football team is, like our great nation, making leaps and strides forward is due to this, most excellent example of Audioslavian glassmanship, the magic Glass Swan!"

More cheering, louder than before. More stamping, stampier than before. Wilbur figured nobody would pull him up on the 'Audioslavian glassmanship' line if everyone was busy cheering. The swan had, of course, been made in Total n Utter Insanity, one of Audioslavia's oldest - yet most forgotten - international rivals.

"Our glorious, famous Bulls visited Pemecutan, one of the standard bearers for modern football, a modern era that dared to try to pass Audioslavia by, and came away with a draw. In this very city, come Saturday evening, our team will finish the job. We will win! And we will do so not only by showcasing our famed football talents, our peerless desire for victory, but by showing our Mandalnusian rivals that we have something that they, simply, do not. A majestic, magical, reconstructed Glass Swan of Glory!"

Cheerier cheering. Stampier stamping. Shoutier shouting, but brought to almost silence as, carefully, Wilbur Hawes moved to the plinth and, with great attention, picked up the glass swan. There was a hush as Wilbur brought it back to his lectern and his microphone, and began to wave it around with two hands like a netball player looking for a pass.

"With this ornament, this trophy, won by the nation's youth centuries ago, we have defeated the likes of Astograth, Equestria, Valentine Z, Strayaroos, Eshialand, er...

He consulted his notes.

O'Brella? Ryfen... wait no. Wait. Strayaroos. Eshialand. Oh, and Murphtannia! We sent the Murphtannians packing! Thrashing them one-nil! In thirteen matches, our glass swan is undefeated, its beauty undiminished, its wizardry undeniable!"

More cheering. Wilbur could feel it now in his bones. This was it. Four more years. Four more years. He reckoned he could even make them chant it, wouldn't that be something. The cameras snappity-snapped at him as he took in the applause. A big finish now, and people would be talking about this speech long after Wilbur had left this earth. He hoisted the glass swan to the sky.

"Pemecutan, in their own home, could not defeat us. They scored on us, yes, one of only two teams to have done so in thirteen games with our mascot, here, but Marc-Antoine Trigintillion and his beautiful left foot ensured that we, and our swan, remain undefeated, and only we and our swan have what it takes to make it all the way, all the way! to the World Cup! To destiny itself! And let not the pearllessness of its eyes and the fractures of its skin blight its magnificence, for who of us bears not fractures and losses, yet who among us is not more beautiful because of it? We Audioslavians have our scars, but our scars make us Audioslavians! And if there's one thing our people deserve, every man, every woman, every mother, every worker, every nurse, every glassblower, it's a touch of the divine, a spark of magic, the kiss of Margaret herself onto our cherry cheeks, a drop of our claret blood in the wishing well, the hand of good fortune guiding our way through the darkness, the unknown, through to glory! Through to eternity! Through the never! Through the always! Through the everlasting glory of our ancient nation! Herding our Bull from the field of hope to the silvery abattoir of resolution where it may rutt with sexy cows among the stars! What better symbol for our emotional transparency! Our fractured glory! Our new found art of flight! Than this, a new beacon for a new Audioslavia, leading us to the promised land! This glorious cygnet! This bird of destiny! This beautiful! Excellent! Glass! Swawhoops"

Everyone knew where they were, and what they were doing, when they heard the sound.

by **Pemecutan** » Sat Mar 04, 2023 2:56 am

Chapter 1 || Chapter 2 || News || Chapter 3 || Chapter 4 || Chapter 5 || Chapter 6 || Chapter 7 || Chapter 8 || Chapter 9 || Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Days have passed. And I blame myself for not yet taking any action. Not that I don't want to. I just wants to clear my head awhile from the issue. Luckily, the protest have subside. Maybe their energy have been burnout after 3 weeks of constants protests. Can't believe that they don't have other job than do the protest. But most of them are college students, so maybe they have more free time, right?

Honestly, I'm not 100% forgetting about the issue. It's still lingering in my head despite I'm taking and resolving other tasks. I have my responsibility as Patih Madya to govern the country. After about a week being away for Inter-Nations Conference, now I have time to to checks what happen in my own backyard. It's good to meet them. Urban and rural people. Touch their issues right from the source. Environment still become the largest issue as I travel around. Garbage management, renewable energy, plastics waste. These are the issues that we're facing know. Despite most of this issues are the responsibility of the local government, but I do need to check their development. While about energy, that have to be revolve gradually. Currently, about 20% of Pemecutan electricity is generated from renewable energy. Hydro power is their backbone. Although solar panel is now on the trend. I can see numerous houses and buildings using solar panel for their alternative energy source. But this can only be seen in major and big cities across the country.

After touring the mainland and Petang Islands, it is now the time to visit Kanginan. Mengwi, their capital is my next destination. Hopefully I am not welcomed by another demonstration.

"Please heading this way, Sir!" order my guard.
My hope was not come true. And the airport is swarm by the protesters. Seems like their energy has been comeback. My guard help me to pass the crowd. Most of them are harmless. They are screaming and chanting their demands repeatedly. But just that. No violence. Until I finally arrive at the car. Out of nowhere, someone pass through the barricade and throw some rotten eggs to me. The guards are unprepared. So do I. And the eggs pouring all over my body and hair. My clothes are wet and smell bad. The guard try to catch the culprit but I prevent them. The other guard push me into the car to avoid any more harmful objects being thrown out. The car slowly move as I am inside. We're going to the hotel where I can rest.

Welcome to Hell

Finished showering, I smell myself again. The bad smell have gone. I seat at the edge of the bed and turn on the TV. News about the incident have gone viral. Thank God I've called my wife so she won't be worry. The news media sometimes exaggerating everything. No harm was happened. Just a little bit smelly. Seeing the video footage about the incident, I recall about the issue again. The 'what shouldn I do?' question start to lingering in my head. Maybe I need to change my schedule and have a talks with them. And I can go ahead with the idea to mediate both sides. They have to seat together and resolve this problem. The mass should be calmer if I do it. But the question is, would they agree to meet? And who am I need to invite to the discussion? Well, I can think of it later. First, I need to calm the mass.

"Are you sure about this?" ask Wiradarma. We meet first in the morning. A day after I arrived in Mengwi. A day after the incident.
"I have to do that. The people need to be assured," answer me.
"I did that several times and they keep protesting again and again. I don't know if they will hear your voice," he doubting.
"I don't know how they will react. But at least I try. Besides I'm also coming here to meet all the leaders. Not just my routine safari," I explain to him.
"Meet the leaders?" Wiradarma seems confused.
"Both sides have to meet each other so we can resolve this issue. If nothing's happened then the protests will keep continue. The masses energy which can be use elsewhere are burnt with their constant protests. If I can persuade both parties to come together and solve this together then the protest will subside."
"Good luck with that, My Lord. Both are headstrong," he bluntly say it.
"So you know who behind all this?" I ask him right away.
His attitude change. He becomes timid and anxious.
"No. No. Of course not. I'm just saying it randomly. Based on my observation. Both sides don't back down. Kanginan side with the constant protests. And Pemecutan side who rejected any changes. They don't stop bickering," he explain it with a tremble voice.

Knowing the reaction, I believe he does know. But he doesn't want to tell me. This makes me more assured that someone in high ranking is behind all this. But does that means the five youngsters are just a pawn? Or do they know who's behind this? Hhmm. I need to get the intelligence involved in this. These youngsters background needs to be check. Until then, I will start to persuade these leaders so they want to talks with the Pemecutan leaders. Fingers crossed.

"After lunch you have a schedule to meet the major of Mengwi, My Lord. Continued with inspection to several public facilities," informed my secretary.

And that's when my plan is ruined.

by **Baggieland** » Sat Mar 04, 2023 4:25 am

by **Saint Eleanor** » Sat Mar 04, 2023 5:06 am

World Cup 93 - playoff, first leg
Brenecia 4 (Lienke Covolan goal 21', Jadwiga Lofthouse goals 39' and 59', Mor-Rioghain Stokes goal 81')
Saint Eleanor 1 (David Newcastle goal 66', Sam Newbridge red card 78')

You've seen the match with your own eyes and the VHS tapes of both halves have been playing almost on loop at an office in the Nat Lib for the past couple of days...

What single Brenecian tactic do you believe most swung the playoff first leg in their favour?

John Bailey: Keeping track of all of this isn't my job, but I'd say they got to loose balls a good portion of the time - if not more in the more advanced areas. It wouldn't be fair to call them brutish, but they were tough, capable, and quicker-witted than we were on their shiny, new and very well-kept home turf. It isn't about possession, and it isn't exactly about what you do with it; how many chances you get with it is the point. They had more chances, scored far more goals and pretty much stuck me and the rest of us in the middle of nowhere.

Cathy Winchester: The post-match consensus appears to be that I did a far better job looking after Maerhen Wake than Exandra did Katua Byrne. Wake was, by and large, not a problem; he was the least effective Brenecian, which means he caused me a lot of trouble and had a couple of really decent chances. All the people he was supplying were. The striker of the day, obviously. But we were in a state where an obvious pass sideways to Covolan did the job equally well. If not better; she was the closest thing we had to a nightmare. Close Covolan down after fifteen minutes, do it cleanly and you're going into the home leg with a 50/50 chance of making it.

Exandra Davies: Would "national pride" be a tactic? Brenecia's struggles away from football are so well-documented that the Esportivan Union literally voted to have a look at them. Their struggles in football, compared with what's been happening under Erin Camden, is something I think everyone who is serious about the threat they pose now should take a look at. Some of our fans - definitely not the players - thought that having a good enough qualification record, combined with a whispered awareness of Brenecia not being very good in recent years, would be enough. That has obviously not happened. If we do not engineer the greatest comeback in Eleanorian history... well.

Sam Newbridge: The tapes... they burn. Our shape was consistent. Theirs was not. They were unpredictable and Miss Camden absolutely made them that way. She probably told them you can spin around with the ball, wait for other people to get there, pass it on, hammer it on, move it yourself and don't be afraid to get it if you don't have it. How much of that were we doing? Thought so. They were up and at us all the time. We were never at them, except for a couple of minutes in the second half.

Liam West: There were a few occasions when Sylvia was almost desperate to get herself sent off; she had to look after Iseult Conway, who was hardly a big danger and was one of the least obviously flashy people out there, but was bloody well excellent when she took her chances and almost always landed her distributions right. If you do that and then multiply it by however many times, you're in the black. If you're making Iseult Conway look like Esther Axelrod-Conway, meanwhile, you have not done a good job.

Bridget Coombe: Mistakes were made - a lot of them! Most importantly, our right flank was too obviously forward-minded, perhaps too convinced that simply because this was de facto knockout football meant we had to do anything and everything necessary to score goals. Katua Byrne knew this; we did intercept some of her crosses, but I'd say around four in five of them were from the centre. That's not because they're good; they are. That's because we left that area exposed far too often and failed to track back rapidly enough, she was allowed to make more runs than a pumped-up sprinter preparing for the Olympics and kerching! Exposure means exploitation. When you're playing for your nation's reputation, you should know this.

David Newcastle: The Brenecian defence was not a brick wall. That would be assigning to them quantities of destructability and surpassableness that they just did not have. Our efforts were scant and, if they didn't hound us off the ball, they watched, then pounced and started moving. Their efforts were many, but we were sloppy, often didn't really care and let them do almost whatever; it was what we were doing, but faster and with more clinical good fortune.

Sylvia Hollenberg: At her best, Marietta Briggs was annoying. At her worst, Marietta Briggs was annoying. Some of the geekier people in the team will point out to me that "60% of a small number is a small number" - but she broke up 60% of the serious, fledgling attacks we tried to get moving on. By forcible means if necessary, of course. Had we gotten past her more often, there's a better chance we could have gotten past the nominal defenders, too; it's unfortunate we weren't a bit more diverse in our strategies getting forward.

Dekamela weMexala: Knowing when to win free kicks... is not the most obvious thing you could know about if you play football. If I'm in charge, you get the ball moving every chance you get, no complaining, no excuses - move or I'll shout at you. These people were really good at it, however. They think you win a free kick, that's a chance to move the ball with no immediate disturbance, perhaps even get a clean shot on goal - or something close to it. They were even doing it to me! No surprise that if you're being fractious all the time and the other people are like "this is okay," you'll come out with more and better opportunities.

Steve Pilchard: The Brenecian midfield was very effective when it wanted to be, which was all of the time. If it wanted to move the ball to the big ladies up front, then it did that. If it wanted to stop me or anyone else from getting the ball, then it did that. We can break down every other midfield we play against - to some extent - except that lot. That showed very painfully and we're going to need a lot of innovative solutions and even more Good Old Margaret to stop them next time, never mind close the gap.

Jessica Martin: If you're not being closed down, you almost always have a lot of space to yourself. If you are, however, that's a bloody annoying story. There are a lot of defenders who see you moving inside, give up and let the people in the channel have a go. Nimue Culpepper does not. She has the proper, hard-as-nails attitude and persistence that a lot of people who've spent a few years within eight hundred yards of the Barbarossa have picked up. This means she moved inside, thought instinctively I was going to get on them and gave the move the silent treatment. Defending is one thing, but you need a solid foundation up front against a side that also has exactly that - or you're screwed.

Tim Brandon: We were tepid far more than we were insepid the other night. This was because we were made to shut up light years before Jeong and Wheeler could intercept whatever we were coming up with. A bit more ingenuity and us lot would be quids in. Instead we get staid, boring and what-the-fuck up against inventive and explosive - not the words you associate with Saint Eleanor or with Brenecia. When you have no clue and the other team has years' worth of solutions to the crossword, you know you need a lot more than a new plan.

Georgia Wood: The Brenecians were extremely consistent. They scored every twenty minutes or so, in case you haven't noticed. Serious attempts... were a bit more frequent, but I'd say that they took advantage of us simply because they could, rather than - as certain teams think - because they just thought a goal would result if they bothered enough times. Trying is, unfortunately, more effort than the median opponent dedicates.

Hugh Roanoke: it would be beyond the point for me to say why we were bad. It would, however, be both precise and very prescient for me to say they were good because they had a very, very clear focus: win or die. Priscilla Evans - quiet, softly-spoken, everyone loves her - doesn't have that job security. Bridget Coombe doesn't, although she's far too perfect to be anywhere near football anyway. Liam West would be captain forever if he could play for us forever. The Brenecians are changing all the time while we have 24 of the 26 players from the Cup of Harmony still around. Something has to be done, please and thank you.

Lydia Nicholls: With a couple of exceptions, Saint Eleanor has a reputation for being a bit quiet. This lot will do absolutely anything within their power to get a good result. Props to them for biting chunks out of our energy, benefitting from well-timed substitutions, and marking our players in all the right places. Shame on us for barely trying most of the game, getting repeatedly found out, continuing with plans we knew weren't working and losing Sam about this late on for being bloody well stupid on a few occasions.

Esther Launceston: Oh my life. Where do I start? Covolan. She was extremely important; perhaps the most important person who was playing. She knew who she was pinging off balls to almost as if this was the biggest game of her life and she'd be permanently exiled from the national team if she made a mistake. That, and we were repeatedly giving away avoidable free kicks in ridiculous that she took every opportunity to benefit from. She scored one, let in Stokes for the second after some absentminded defending, and - had the closer chances been converted - would have left us maybe... six goals down? Sorry; I had a good cry in my bedroom before I went to sleep after the game. That's a strategy, mind, not a tactic.

Adam Denby: I heard a bit about Derdriu Wright and where she left the team before the game. Her legacy's still around some places, but the decision to keep the Wright consensus of one person up the front was important. Saint Eleanor plays one, for convenience's sake; two if you count Steve like some people do. They don't: it's a fully-blown, uncompromising approach with two decent, rounded central mids. Lofthouse scoring two was bad enough; she hardly swept through the defence, but she knew her positioning and the buildup play in the four behind her befuddled some of us. Stokes scoring one was fucking silly and everyone deserves to know it was.

Aaron Francis: I'm a bit suspect that when I was walking around the streets of Rozelle - and, unfortunately, not Lastcreek, one-half of the site of those smart-arse crimson bastards' utter annihilation the other year - I noticed nobody said Esther should start. Not me, her. If she was there, we'd be down 2-1 tops and looking ahead to the next game with all of those airy corporate buzzwords that I suspect some of the really posh Brenecians like using. Post-industrial hypercapitalism and all that, guv, no? Learned those words from my roommates in the Communist Society at the Polytechnic.

Harriet Williams: In recent times, the midfield three has proven a convenient guide to what the rest of the team's doing. On this occasion, the defensive midfielders in the setup actually marked the Brenecian central midfielders. There were two caveats. Firstly, Steve was getting too far ahead of himself - assuming he could just sit in front of Briggs and get the ball. This failed to pay off too often; it suffices to say that their wide players were crammed with energy too. Secondly, the marking setup disappeared for a couple of minutes while Bridget was forced into defence; Sylvia is getting much, much better at solo marking, but it wasn't good enough and we had to drag Esther into this absolute shambles. Steve went off, thankfully, and most of our issues disappeared after that. You won't attempt silly passes if the man who's responsible for receiving a lot of your silly passes gets subbed off.

Naresmet taFrexala: If you look at this - or this, or this, or this - you'll see that they had possession almost all the time. What did they do with it? Either they moved forwards, or they thought very carefully about where and how to give the ball to other people before doing so. We did the moving. We did not do the thinking. If you aren't serious, you will not get serious results. This is the trap that ate us alive against Sendhang. Against Brenecia, it just threw us in the waste compactor and hoped we'd get out alive.

Christina Fulton: What the Brenecians knew was how to go wide as a primary option - something we like avoiding due to fears about wasting our more central players, a tactic we ironically last used in the Cup of Harmony final. Didn't seem to faze them that much at the time. Brenecia out wide, as you'd expect, is big, buzzing and brilliant. We either had no answer or answered them too early - and while they didn't score anything, they were repeatedly hitting crosses in for players more offensively capable than they were to convert. We should have stopped them at the source, then maybe we'd have been in with a half-decent shout.

Rick Goldsmith: This is Brenecia. If your name's Bridget Coombe, you know Brenecia has a lot of world-beating players, they're a well-oiled machine and they were always going to give us a fight. Even if your name isn't Bridget Coombe, you probably know they've become really good since Erin Camden took over, didn't really change the squad other than booking Esther Sidle a one-way return ticket to the Licentian Islands and told them to just carry on doing what they're doing but 20% better. A lot of people thought they'd changed and we might have been preparing for a Brenecia that not only didn't show up, but might have been weaker through no fault of their own. They knew their gameplan. We knew nothing.

Arielle Richardson: From past experience with my outfielders, Eleanorians thrive under pressure. Most teams give them that knowingly. Some, including those who aren't particularly superb at football, do so blindly. Brenecia, with a couple of exceptions, never bothered. It was our incompetence, our failings and our misgivings that let the door several miles open for them to just throw stuff inside. They didn't need to push us because we were already far from our best. They didn't want to push us because we'd stop relaxing if they did.

Corporal Denise Livingston: Erin Camden is not the best manager that's ever lived. Two hours of watching this would leave you convinced, though. For starters: the entire squad has been drilled to get moving, know where the ball is, snuff it out and use that snuff to make magical things - and this did not happen overnight. Rapid and effective turnover is the dividing line between a team that succeeds and a team that gets handed a plasticine model of its buttcheeks.

Natalie Monaco: On some occasions, when they got a bit fed up of Briggs and company stopping their direct passes, Sylvia and Bridget decided to float passes into the wide areas for our lot to get onto. Some of these were denied by the pure human errors we see in most games. One of them was latched onto by David, who wasted no time in just whipping the whip-round and getting us an impressive one goal back, out of three. The vast majority of them were, however, almost immediately cut out. Those forward passes were just allowed by us; pressing didn't happen to the extent players were out of position and overoptimistic in doing so. If we can be sensible at home, we have a decent chance. If we can't, make that zero.

Melcheta Pazorzal: Did we have "a striker" today or did we just have Dekky wasting 85 minutes of her life waiting for close-range passes that never happened and crosses that some of the smaller animals at the zoo could have gotten to? Ask that question to everyone who was with those guys the other day and get back to me. If we can score eight goals against Cardenao but we hardly get anything here, it's on us, not on them, for not working out how effectively-organised they were. Not closely-packed, just close.

Priscilla Evans: It wouldn't be fair of me to select just one incident. There were mistakes, errors and faults on our side almost everywhere you looked; I'm not sure David even meant to pull one back when he did. They knew what they were, and capitalised accordingly. We'll need the miracle of all miracles to get back in this one; I'd very much welcome it if it emerged, however.

Lieutenant Stephen Mitcham: I'm with Priscilla on this one, I'm afraid. I've had a look at the player feedback and everyone's absolutely spot-on, however; I'll try not to remind them of everything because they fully well know how to improve, but some general feedback would be useful the morning beforehand.

by **Ko-oren** » Sat Mar 04, 2023 6:15 am

Constitution of Ko-oren Draft 0.4

Section 1 - Preamble
Chapter 1 - Preamble

A short section that outlines the country and lists its basic values (meritocracy, sustainability, solidarity, peace). It makes note of the 'spirit of the law' and how the intentions behind a law - the intentions based on the basic values of the country - might outweigh the literal meaning of the text. It makes a note of the risk involved with a meritocratic society and concentration and corruption of power, and that the sustainability and solidarity principles might outweigh the meritocratic principles.

Section 2 - Freedoms and Provisions
Chapter 2 - Human Rights
Chapter 3 - Freedoms and Liberties
Chapter 4 - Duties

A short section that copies most of the universal declaration of human rights, then dives deeper into those in chapter 3 and adds freedoms that apply in a rapidly changing, meritocratic, peaceful, social country. Chapter 4 is always a source of debate: it tells that people must adhere to the duties in chapter 4 in order to continually enjoy the freedoms in chapter 3. The government can provide the freedoms in chapter 3 to an extent, but without reciprocity, horizontally (not just between government and people, but also between people) as outlined in chapter 4, these freedoms will erode. Chapter 3 also mentions a freedom of language.

Section 3 - Government
Chapter 5 - Separation of Powers
Chapter 6 - The Executive Branch (the Cabinet)
Chapter 7 - The Legislative Branch (the Ministries)
Chapter 8 - The Judicial Branch
Chapter 9 - The Auditory Branch (the Parliament)
Chapter X - The Branch of Checks and Balances (the Ombudsman, Comptroller, Auditor, Ethics Commissioner, Integrity Commissioner, Privacy & Information Commissioner, the Law Reform offices, the Electoral Commission, and the Bureau of Applications and Appointments)

A very hefty section that defines roles in the government. It starts with chapter 5 by saying that these powers should not interfere, and where they must collaborate. Chapter 6 outlines the executive branch, which consists of the prime minister and their cabinet. Chapter 7 is vastly different from most countries' in that the legislative power comes from work done on the ministries - the ministers who oversee them are only their superior to some extent, in spirit of keeping the powers separate. Chapter 8 is as you would expect and lists the pyramid of the Supreme Court to devolved courts down to the lowest level, as well as a separate Constitutional court, which refers back to the 'spirit of the law' and how sometimes the intention of a law overrides the exact text. Chapter 9 goes into the rights of parliament, as a body that checks the work done by the Executive and Legislative branches. Finally, the Branch of Checks and Balances establishes offices that help the other branches to commit to their responsibilities - but also sometimes hinder them by the advice they give and the facts that underpin the advice. All chapters also note how the people involved come into power (appointment, in most cases except parliament), term limits, etcetera.

Section 4 - Justice
Chapter = - Spirit of the Law
Chapter 10 - The Auditory Branch, 2

This section expands on the remarks in chapters 8 and 9: it further outlines when the Constitutional Court may come into action and in which cases intention may override literal text. It also outlines the rights of parliament and its role in various processes, ranging from appointments made under the meritocratic principles to laws and budgets put forth by the legislative branch, and policies enacted by the executive branch.

Section 5 - Devolution
Chapter 11 - Subdivisions
Chapter 12 - Regions
Chapter 13 - Municipal governments
Chapter 14 - Special Jurisdictions

A fairly long section on local governments, from subdivisions (11) to municipalities (13). Regions only come into play in some policies or in cases where a subdivision is too large while municipalities are too finely detailed. A good example of this - albeit not a constitutional one - is tourism boards, which advertise regions that supercede subdivisions, or regions that are made up of small parts of other subdivisions. Chapter 14 deals with temporarily established governments, or governments for a specific domain or policy area; maritime, aerial, to give some examples.

Section 6 - Finance
Chapter 15 - Mint
Chapter 16 - Central Bank
Chapter 17 - Taxation

A recent addition that explicitly names the currency (chapter 15) and the rules and regulations surrounding its use (chapter 15, 16). The tax office is established in chapter 17: who can levy tax who determines what it is used for, and to what extent the tax office stands separately from the central bank and any branch.

Section 7 - International
Chapter 18 - Regional
Chapter 19 - International
Chapter 1X - Constellation

Chapter 18 deals with our position in the region including the delegacy of Anaia, and the country's stance on regional cooperation as well as the role Ko-oren is to take. Chapter 19 does more or less the same thing but for bilateral relations, treaties, etcetera. Chapter 1X (22 in decimal) deals with overseas Ko-orenite possessions, their role in the system, and to what extent legislation applies to them. It opens up a wide range of possibilities for degrees of autonomy and independence under the (diplomatic) protection of Ko-oren.

Section 8 - Constitution
Chapter 1= - Periodic Reform
Chapter 20 - Historic Changes

An increasingly long section detailing how the constitution is a living document that needs change as the world changes around it. It mentions that the preamble is to be left intact, and that the country's values supercede all. Chapter 20 (24 in decimal) lists the committees that have worked on previous changes and refers to documents where the exact changes are listed.

by **TJUN-ia** » Sat Mar 04, 2023 1:39 pm

By Peter Davis

After 1 win and 1 loss secured us 2nd in the group, the Jagaurs of TJUN-is found themselves in the same situation they were in 2 years ago - hosting 2nd in the WCQ playoffs against a team from Mandalanusa. In one way, not reaching a 3rd World Cup in 4 Cycles via winning the group did sting a little bit...but in the end, the playoffs aren't exactly our bogey anymore and everyone knew for certain that we would have a chance to go on a "qualification streak" for the very first time in our history. Li Xiu Ying was still in charge for both legs of this duel and while TJUN-ia's playoff history still cast a bit of a shadow, she knew that her team had what it took to get back to the big dance and she didn't want that to go to waste at all. This series was going to be interesting all the same...but who would get that advantage first?

The Daulapura Stadium in Daula would host the first leg against the Monkey Kings of Eraman, managed by Agung Suryanantha in a 4-2-3-1 with +3.17 modifier. As the lower seed, Eraman was hosting this first leg, but the fact that they beat Cassadaigua to this spot on Goal Difference alone meant that we had to take them seriously - especially considering what was on the line. We expected this game to be a close encounter that would set up the 2nd leg and in the first half, it certainly did feel that way. As the higher seeds, we were seen as the obvious favourite, but the Monkey Kings had the crowd on their side and that could certainly be a defining factor if we allowed it to be. We took the lead thanks to a 21st minute strike from Malhrani al-Kalhrani, but the hosts would strike back with a vengeance thanks to some beautiful footwork and finish from Putra Daulapura Wikra Petara that would mean that we would enter half time on level pegging. Then the game changed as the additions of both Frederico Jiminez and Jose Lozano de la Cruz would open up our options and allow these Jaguars to change the narrative and push the home crowd towards despair. Jackson Smith-Scott was supplied by de la Cruz to make it 2-1, Jiminez was simply unstopable to make it 3-1 and de la Cruz would head home the 4th to just to throw this tie wide open. That would be how the first 90 ended, 4-1. We were simply in control...and on the road at that.

The National Stadium in TJUN-ia City must host the 2nd leg, a 2nd leg that seems already sown up but one that isn't in the bag just yet. TJUN-ia has blown bigger leads before, has made a surefire situation cumble beneath their feet, and the pressure will be on us to not blow it on our home soil.
Our fate is in our hands once again.
Now, we have to finish the job we started.
ONWARDS TO THE JAGBASE!
GO JAGS!

MD1: @United Bongo States of America (265) W 3-1 (1st)
MD2: @Srednjaci (101) L 0-1 (5th)
---------------Boot It!---------------
MD3: vs Savojarna (37) - National Stadium, TJUN-ia City W 1-0 (3rd)
MD4: @Elmyia (124) - Tollington Park, Mosfleet W 1-0 (2nd)
---------------Boot It!---------------
MD5: vs Varavel (284) - Salam Liljamie Stadium, Al Kalifa W 7-2 (2nd)
MD6: @Nephara (11) - The Farham Arena, Sabrefell L 1-2 (2nd)
---------------Boot It!---------------
MD7: vs Archalit (183) - Stade de la Victoire, Roi Ville W 7-3 (2nd)
MD8: @95X (159) - City Stadium, 95X City W 3-2 (2nd)
---------------Boot It!---------------
MD9: vs Caribbia (222) - Estadio Universidad Carlandas, Carlandas W 5-1 (2nd)
MD10: @Ziwana (82) - Ziwanicell National Stadium, Birnin-Likulu L 3-5 (2nd)
---------------Boot It!---------------
MD11: vs Baggieland (71) - Beregozera Stadium, Szensky W 2-1 (2nd)
MD12: vs United Bongo States of America (265) - Tallawah Stadium, Port Town/Portuaria W 3-0 (2nd)
---------------Boot It!---------------
MD13: vs Srednjaci (101) - Ke Kahua Pāʻani o Pua Aloalo, Kepu Manu W 5-1 (2nd)
MD14: @Savojarna (37) L 0-1 (2nd)
---------------Boot It!---------------
MD15: vs Elmyia (124) - Zebra Stadium, Toropo/Almadinat D 2-2 (2nd)
MD16: @Varavel (284) - Stadion Glendoorn, somewhere in Varavel D 4-4 (2nd)
---------------Boot It!---------------
MD17: vs Nephara (11) - National Stadium, TJUN-ia City W 3-2 (2nd)
MD18: @Archalit (183) - Archalit Olympic Stadium, Charkara W 3-2 (2nd)
---------------Boot It!---------------
MD19: vs 95X (159) - Estádio do Pacífico, Rio Pacífico W 8-2 (2nd)
MD20: @Caribbia (222) W 3-0 (2nd)
---------------Boot It!---------------
MD21: vs Ziwana (82) - Tiankong Stadium, Tiankong W 2-1 (2nd)
MD22: @Baggieland (71) - Dartmouth Hill, Hawthorn L 0-3 (2nd/15-2-5/47pts/+30GD)
-------------------------------------------------
Playoff - vs Eraman (54/15-3)
1st Leg (@Daulapura Stadium, Daula (?)): W 4-1
2nd Leg (@National Stadium, TJUN-ia City):

by **Pasarga** » Sat Mar 04, 2023 2:58 pm

"With the final numbers tallied and counted, the referendum vote officially ends with a majority favor for remaining in the Common Rushmori Community. The cities of the nation pushed the remain vote over the finish line, with the end result being fifty-three point one percent in favor of remaining in the CRC. Her majesty Azra Majistar must be relieved to not have to undo the work that her father put in to getting Pasarga admitted to the pro-democracy organization and can return her matters to domestic affairs and the ongoing rebuilding project of those areas most heavily effected by last year's attempted coup of the government. With the Eternal Flame party maintaining a firm control of the parliament, holding forty-nine of the sixty seats, they are expected to have little trouble pushing through their agendas in the upcoming sessions. It will then be up to the Queen whether to accept or reject whatever legislation that will wind up on her desk." There's a brief bit of static as the channel is changed on the television.

"The Wanderers travel to Quebec knowing that if they can find a way to avoid defeat, that they will have their ticket punched to the Finals being held in Tumbra and Chromatika. It has been a long climb back for the Wanderers who had fallen as into the bottom half of the table at a point during the qualifiers, have failed to play up to their standards during the first half of the campaign. When Zachary Orengo took over shortly after the halfway point of the campaign, he had a lot of work to do with the team but he has managed to do it, getting the team up to a top three position by the end of the campaign and qualifying them for the playoff. While playoffs are never easy nor are they a desirable outcome, considering how poorly the team was playing before Orengo took charge, it came as a small relief for the legion of fans of the national team, very worried that the Wanderers were going to miss out on a second straight Finals."

The lights flickered throughout the room as the images on the screen showed highlights of the campaign, both the highs and the lows that the Wanderers experienced throughout the qualifiers.

"There is a lot of speculation if Salai is still the go to striker for the Wanderers, as Magana seemed to be the in form striker during the campaign, outscoring the star striker almost two to one. Yet both of them are twenty-nine and the way that each plays, there should be considerable concerns as to how much longer they will be able to play at an elite level once they do get into their thirties. While it is true that players are starting to play at a high level more and more into their mid thirties rather than their early thirties, it also usually comes with those players taking a more reduced role or shifting backwards in the field. Salai has shown significant ability to play on the wing, so that may be the future for the star if his pace and strength does begin to wane in the coming years, but Magana is an out and out striker, who might not be able to take that change in role well. But it is all speculation for the time being, as both remain the best that the Wanderers have to provide in the attack and could do so for some time with seemingly a generational gap in talent."

"If the pair and the team want to not be remembered as the team that plunged the Wanderers back into mediocrity though, they will need to go into Quebec and somehow find a way to come out with at least a draw against the Reapers. This is going to be quite the tall task for the Wanderers as they failed to earn points off of their fellow top three seeds during the group stage, betting thoroughly trounced by Valanora and Flavovespia when they were playing them. The three to two victory in Torgos is the first signs that this team is actually capable of playing well against their peers but now they will need to find a way to translate that success on the road, where they were also woeful during the campaign. Any sort of result in Quebec will be a huge shift in fortune for the squad during this campaign and will see them through to the Finals, while capitulating to the home side might be the signal that the Wanderers will once more be fading into obscurity after having believed they had reaffirmed themselves after the last series of failed qualifications."

by **Sylestone** » Sat Mar 04, 2023 3:02 pm

Sylestone (4-4-1-1 → 4-3-1-1 → 4-1-3-1): Fuller; Holt ( 81’) (Ironing Board 85’) - Mornington ( 8’) - Hand Sanitiser - Toilet; Cayden Holmes (Henling 73’) - Rodway (Bar Stool 85’) - Brown ( 34’) - Jones; Fleetwood (Keyes 73’); Hightower (Strathfield 85’ ( 88’))

Huayramarca (4-2-1-3): J Mamami; Olaya - Chumacero ( 67’) (Alcabú 80’) - K Quispe - Fernández ( 88’); Mina - Allauca (Huanca 62’ ( 76’)); I Mamani (Cedeño 90+3’); Matsabanda - Tello - Sayritupac (Condori 80’)

AVONDALE, SYLESTONE - As soon as Hugo Mornington saw it, his heart began to sink through layers upon layers of hope, the life snuffed out of his poor soul. He wasn’t the only one either, as over a hundred thousand breaths were released from their mouths, dimming the atmosphere from the full-throated roar it was at kickoff to a murmur, if that. Just eight minutes into Sylestone’s first ever playoff match - against Huayramarca at the 86,500-seater in the heart of the nation’s capital of Avondale - the very worst thing was about to occur - everyone was sure of it.

The 27-year-old centre back - widely considered amongst the nation to be one of the very best in the multiverse after his exploits throughout World Cup Qualifying - didn’t even need to take a glance at the referee as he marched towards him, his hand reaching for that dreaded back pocket. By the time the fatal glimmer of that cardboard red rectangle was shone in his direction, Mornington was already halfway off the field, fuming at himself. As soon as he’d committed to it, he’d known he was going to face at least some sort of consequence, his momentum ensuring that the Huayramarcan striker Bryan Tello would tumble to the surface alongside him. A small reserve of hope deep inside him kept on telling him that the worst he would receive would be a booking, but his brain told him otherwise. Just eight minutes into the game, the Sentients were down to ten and their best defender was off, not to play another minute of football in the playoffs.

From that point onwards, there was only one result coming out of the game. Sure, Raphael Brown was a capable defender in his own right - after all, he plays as a centre back at Belgrave - but he’s just that much better at playing in the midfield, and his lack of presence really showed. Without the fourth player in the midfield line, the Condors were able to take control of the game with their high intensity, gradually perforating the stoic Sylesotnean back line. Without Hugo Mornington’s assured presence in the defence, the goals began to leak.

The first blow came just seven minutes after the Hesham-based defender was sent off, when René Matsabanda found himself in some space behind the Toilet on the left wing and crossed the ball behind the defensive line, where Gabriel Sayrritupac was lurking. Despite the pace of left back Eden Holt, the 28-year-old still managed to get away from her, slotting the ball from the edge of the six yard box past Georgina Fuller’s outstretched right leg and into the bottom corner of the net.

The goal had been coming for quite a while, but it still required an excellent cross from the 18-year-old Matsabanda and a superb finish from Sayritupac to convert the pressure into a 1-0 lead. Although a sublime counter in the 38th minute led to Gemma Rodway equalising, Huayramarca’s second goal was always coming, when Bryan Tello received a ball over the top late into first half stoppage time and put on the boosters, soaring him away from the trudging runs of the Hand Sanitiser and Raphael Brown. Once again, Georgina Fuller stood no chance and did supremely well to get a fingertip to Tello’s chip, halting the speed of the ball just a tiny bit. But even Holt’s extreme pace wasn’t adequate enough to successfully cycle back and clear the ball from the goal line, with the technology affirming Huayramarca’s 2-1 lead heading into the break.

Two goals. If the Condors were to score just one more, it would mark the most goals the Sylestonean national football team had conceded in one actual, competitive match since the team’s return to international football. Sure, they’d suffered two 3-0 defeats over the past year - once against Quebec & Shingoryeo and another time against arch-rivals Lozho - but both were in friendlies where experimentation was present. But if anyone was to score three goals against the Sentients in a professional match, it would undoubtedly be the hyper-aggressive Huayramarcans.

And sure enough, come the 65th minute of the match, it happened. Once again, the boot of Gabriel Sayritupac provided the killer blow as he scrambled the shot through a disorganised Sylestonean defensive unit, just past the stretching dive of the goalkeeper. It was an absolute shambles - and showed for certain that the hosts were gradually beginning to lose the plot with only ten on field against obviously superior opponents. If they were to find a way back from this deficit, a whole piece of classic national spirit would be required. With only 25 minutes to spare and two goals down, though, a comeback didn’t look likely at all.

Yet, five minutes later, that spirit shone right through, as if it were a dazzling light. With the crowd still backing their team to the very death, the out-of-form Alyssa Hightower used that fuel to convert a stunning long range shot from outside the box, curling it directly beyond the dive of Juan Mamami, grazing the post as it nestled beyond the line. A subdued celebration in front of her club’s home crowd followed - she literally raised an arm in celebration before heading in a beeline towards the ball. 3-2 was the score and the Sentients were back in it.

What happened in the final half hour of the game - including the eight eventual minutes of gruelling stoppage time added onto the end of the second half - was either an impressively elaborate trap by Huayramarca manager Blâás Âgínsôgnó (he’s from Farfadillis in case you couldn’t tell) that Mojmir Anac fell right into, or a bit of luck on the visitors’ behalf. Because for the very first time in the match, the Sentients began to genuinely dominate, to an extent where by the 85th minute when the score was 3-2, Anac decided to take a big risk, with the instructions carried out with Riley Strathfield to switch to an aggressive-minded 4-2-3-1 formation.

It had been a tactic that had worked before, but today would not be one of those days. With the Sentients going as hard as they could for that goal they craved so much, Huayramarca simply sat back, waiting for their opponents to expose themselves at the back… and absolutely crush them with supreme efficiency.

The first of the two fatal knockout punches came just as the match ticked over into stoppage time, when Condor skipper Ian Mamani found himself alone on the break, scything between the weary Sylestonean defenders with ease due to his creativity and yet again, giving Georgina Fuller no chance at stopping the shot. And then the second goal, the fifth for Huayramarca came as the Hand Sanitiser made an un-Sentient-like error in the back line, gifting Bryan Tello the ball merely three minutes after Mamani had doubled Huayramarca’s lead. Home fans filed out of the stadium as Tello safely slotted the ball past the forlorn goalkeeper as Fuller trudged back into her own net for what felt like the umpteenth time over the past two hours, crestfallen. She hadn’t done much wrong but yet, conceding five goals wasn’t exactly ideal.

Now, for the very first time throughout his tenure, Anac was under pressure from the media and fans after what proved to be a tactical decision that all but knocked Sylestone out of the World Cup Qualifiers without having stepped foot in Huayramarca for the second leg. But as he indicated in a pre-match interview, you sometimes have to take risks, figuring it was worth the risk to try and draw the game, fully aware of the possible consequences. Sometimes, those are the bold strategies you have to order and sometimes, they simply do not work out.

Now, the Sentients face a task as difficult as surviving the toxins of the western amethyst snake - known to kill a full-grown adult within an hour. With a three-goal deficit leading into their away leg at Puerto San Carlos in Huayramarca, chances of qualification were essentially out the door. As far as anyone was concerned, a vastly successful campaign had come to an abrupt end but ultimately, if any team was going to come back from this, the spirit within this Sylestonean outfit meant that anything felt possible.

Sure, it’s a long shot. But in football, anything can happen. Can the Sentients come back firing and give the Condors a mighty scare?

Sylestone 2-5 Huayramarca
                                       Rodway 38’          Sayritupac 15’, 65’
                                       Hightower 70’       Tello 45+5’, 90+4’
                                                             I Mamani 90+1’

Starting Lineup vs Huayramarca @ Estadio Marítimo, Puerto San Carlos, Huayramarca

Fuller; Holt - Pearson - Faucett - Keller; Henling - Rodway - Brown - Jones; Fleetwood; Strathfield

by **Mytanija** » Sat Mar 04, 2023 3:18 pm

Kitanchev had never been the biggest fan of pre-game press conferences. He hadn’t enjoyed them when he was manager of FK Arsika and he hadn’t ever really enjoyed them as manager of Mytanija. They offered opportunities for the media to ask questions, ostensibly to inform their readers of a team’s preparations for their next match, but a lot of the time – certainly in Mytanija – they were used by the media to create friction. This friction often came about between a manager and his players, but it could even be between the manager and the club, or in this case the manager and the national governing body. Mytanija were 2-0 down after the first leg of their World Cup 93 qualifying playoff match versus Turori, a lead which would be extremely difficult to overturn, even with home advantage for the second leg.

The manager knew that the press conference would cover questions about the second leg, about how he thought his team could overcome the deficit, but he also knew that there were likely to be questions about his future. Kitanchev had signed a three-cycle deal, as was pretty standard in Mytanija, but there were murmurs about an early break-up after a disappointing showing at the World Cup 92 proper, an even more disappointing second round exit from the Copa Rushmori held in Mytanija and now, perhaps, an exit following the playoff versus Turori and subsequent drop into the Cup of Harmony for the first time since the 88th World Cup cycle. If the FSM wanted reasons to break things off slightly earlier than expected, then Kitanchev had certainly provided them. The strong start to World Cup 93 qualifying perhaps made it even worse. They had been showing the level needed, but it had gone awry somewhere and a tough playoff against Turori appeared to be on the verge of ending a positive streak of four qualifications in a row.

“Good afternoon, Dzvezdan,” started Dalibor Kosec, from Gazeta Sporta, Kitanchev knew him well from covering Top League games. “How do you feel about your team’s performance in the first leg of the playoff tie against Turori?”

“Hi Dalibor. Well, obviously, we are disappointed with the result. We go into every game trying to win, as has been demonstrated in how we approached games against highly ranked teams in the past. We wanted to at least give ourselves a level playing field for the second leg, so ending up on the end of a 2-0 defeat really stings and has left us with a lot of work to do in the second leg. We couldn’t do what we wanted to do. However, I have faith in my team, and I believe we can still turn things around in the second leg.” Kitanchev finished. Very few managers would say different and Kitanchev definitely wasn’t in the camp which would happily lean into friction with players to create a response.

“The team has struggled somewhat ever since the halfway point of World Cup qualifying. The results have been much more inconsistent once the pressure has ramped up. Do you think the pressure is getting to the players?” Kosec asked.

“I think it’s natural for there to be pressure in important matches like these, but as professionals we need to be able to handle it.” Kitanchev paused, his players had made more mistakes after the halfway point of qualifying. Whether that was down to the pressure or just pure human error he couldn’t be sure. “We have a talented squad and we’ve been working hard to prepare for this tie against Turori. I believe my players are capable of rising to the occasion, no matter what level of pressure surrounds the game.”

“The team have been criticised for its defensive lapses in recent games after such a strong start at that end of the pitch. How do you plan to address this issue in time for the second leg?”

“I think any of the players will tell you I place a big emphasis on our defensive shape and organisation in training. We work a lot on concepts around rest defence, being in positions which allow us to track back into a shape which won’t leave space for the opposition.” Kitanchev said. “I believe we’ll be much stronger in the second leg after reinforcing this and making some tweaks. We know we can’t afford to concede anymore goals, being 2-0 down after the first leg, so we’ll be focusing on keeping things tight at the back whilst still looking to carry a threat at the other end ourselves.”

“And just one last one,” Kosec said, looking sheepishly towards the FSM press officer. The press officer shook his head but allowed Kosec to continue. “What’s your message to the people, the fans, who are disappointed with the national team’s recent performances?”

“I understand their frustration.” Kitanchev said simply. It was a tricky question, because he did understand the frustration, even if the reasons for some of the results were more complex than simply blaming the manager. “I want to assure them that we’ll be doing everything we can to get the result that we need and make it to the World Cup. That will be difficult, so we need their support now more than ever and I hope that we’ll see a noisy Novi Atletskistadion for the second leg and that they will help us get the result we need.”

“Thanks, Dzvezdan.” Kosec said, Kitanchev nodded back at him as the press officer lazily pointed off somewhere else.

“Hi Dzvezdan,” The next journalist began. “Asmir Hrustic, Sportmag.”

“Hi Asmir.” Dzvezdan replied. Asmir was a less recognisable face, writing for a magazine which usually focused more on Mytanija’s Olympic sports rather than football, but the World Cup was always the biggest show in town and they – like everybody else – would be covering the playoff against Turori which could, however unlikely it now was, lead to a World Cup spot.

“You mentioned a noisy Novi Atletskistadion there, just how big a factor do you believe the home atmosphere could be in the second leg against Turori? And particularly with the game being held in Thessia?”

“Well, I think anybody who has ever been to, watched, played or managed at the Novi Atletskistadion can tell you is that it can be an extremely intimidating environment for visiting teams, especially with the ultras there. That’s true whether it’s Atletik playing or if the national team is – perhaps even more so if it’s Mytanija, with the ultras groups putting aside some of their differences for the country.” Kitanchev said, smiling. It didn’t happen often, but sometimes they did come together for Mytanija. “However, many of Turori’s team will have played in the Champions’ League before and played matches in various countries – perhaps even in Mytanija – so they will have experienced a broad range of atmospheres and have some familiarity with hostile ones. They’ll know what to expect. That being said, there’s no doubt that there’s something special about the atmosphere in international matches. The whole nation rallies behind the eleven players on the pitch and that manifests itself in the stadium. We expect the Novi Atletskistadion to be alive and we’ll be trying to give our fans something to get behind.”

It was a lengthy answer, but football support and its impact on results was a complex subject. The question almost had an infinitely long answer, distilling one down to what Dzvezdan had said was about the best he could do. Before the press officer could move on, he wanted to add one thing:

“In the end, though, it’s up to us – as coaching staff and players – to perform and create a plan and execute it on the pitch. The atmosphere can help and we want our supporters right behind us, but that alone won’t win us the game. We have to do it on the pitch.”

“Thanks Dzvezdan, good luck.” Asmir replied, Kitanchev nodded his thanks and the press officer moved on once again. This time to a lady with hair which was dyed a reddish-brown colour. She had a full-fringe and wore heavy eye make-up. Kitanchev probably would have thought she was quite attractive were she not nearly twenty years his junior.

“Hi Dzvezdan, Jana Spinaljkovic, Odmev.” Ah, Dzvezdan thought, a reporter from the sports pages of one of Mytanija’s broadsheets. Interesting. The question could be about sport or it could be about Graintfjall’s exploitation of Akhdari fossil fuels and its implications on Mytanija’s energy mix. “Denis Ovsyannikov has been one of the standout players for the team during this World Cup qualifying campaign. How important will he be in the second leg of the tie against Turori?”

“Well,” Kitanchev started, the question actually felt quite a soft ball one compared to some of the curveballs which could be thrown from those quarters. “Denis is an exceptionally talented player; he’s been instrumental to our qualifying campaign and has shown his quality with Atletik Thessia and in being nominated to the Testiculos longlist. He has a bright future ahead of him and we’re all very proud of what he has accomplished so far. But we all know it’s not just about one player. We have a strong team, and everyone contributes to our success.”

“And what about Nurija Papez, who has formed a solid midfield partnership with Ovsyannikov?” Jana asked, deciding not to press on the impact that Ovsi specifically might have.

“Nurija is another talented young player who has been playing very well for us in a difficult role. He’s an important part of our midfield and he’s another who has a great future ahead of him as well. It’s great to have these young players in the team and I’m sure they’ll continue to develop and improve in the future.”

“And whatever the outcome of the second leg against Turori, how do you think the experience of this campaign will help the young players that have been involved in this campaign? It’s been a bit of a transitional pool of players between generations, will this benefit them going forwards?”

“Yeah, I think so. It should be invaluable for them, playing in high-pressure matches is a great learning experience and everybody knows that international matches between the top-ranked nations is the highest-level of our sport. It should help them grow as players. Whatever happens, we’ll take the lessons learned and use them to help them develop and become a better team overall in the future. There’s a lot of young lads for whom this will be the first of several runs at qualifying for World Cups – Denis and Nurija, but look at Drazen, Mirko, Nenad, Muharem, Bosko etc – they’ll all be coming back and with larger roles, so we need them to be ready, hopefully this will have helped them in that preparation.”

“On a slightly different note, the team has struggled to convert chances into goals in recent matches and even creating those chances has been a bit of a struggle. Why do you think this has been such a problem, is it a system or tactical issue?” Jana asked, and Dzvezdan bristled ever so slightly. She certainly was asking questions about the sport. Difficult ones.

“I don’t think it’s a problem with our system or tactics.” He said coldly. “We have players who are more than capable of scoring goals, and we’ve shown that in the past. It’s true that we’ve had some difficulty finishing our chances lately, particularly if you compare our goalscoring record to that of similarly ranked sides, but we’re working on that in training and I believe we’ll see results if we keep working at it.”

“Given that Mytanija could be out after the second leg against Turori there’s not that much time to work on it, surely? Some have suggested that your focus on keeping things tight at the back has affected the team’s fluency in attack. What would you say to that?” Jana pressed.

“That’s two questions, Jana.” The FSM press officer said.

“I know, but all related to the team, come on.” She smiled craftily.

“You know that we can’t show favouritism, you’ve already had several questions.” Came the reply, a few reporters murmured their disapproval and in the end the press officer waved his hand. Kitanchev would be expected to answer it. Dzvezdan went a little colder inside. It didn’t say much for the FSM’s support of him as Mytanija coach.

“Well, let me just say that I completely disagree with that. There’s always time to work on improving and whilst our defensive shape and organisation are important it doesn’t mean that we neglect our attacking play. We try for a balanced approach, and we’re always looking to create opportunities to score whilst controlling matches. We’ve had some matches where we’ve been more successful than others, but that’s football, you can’t win every match by five or six goals. We managed to put four past the Banijans across two games, that’s pretty good going against the number two ranked side in football. I think that shows that our system can cause problems for even the best teams.”

“Cheers Dzvezdan,” Jana smiled again. Dzvezdan shook his head slightly, a micro-action which would have the newspapers micro-analysing his demeanour in the coming days. The press officer gestured to another journalist.

“Thanks, hi Dzvezdan, Mario Hrgovic, Gazeta Mytanija.” Ah, now it was the tabloids, Dzvezdan’s favourite people. When they weren’t rummaging through his bins for tidbits or following his wife around town they were screaming headlines about how he’d fallen out with this player or that. He had a special disdain reserved for them and he didn’t usually answer their questions at any length, preferring to keep things at a distance from them in every single way. “Dzvezdan, there has been some speculation about your future as Mytanija manager in recent days, can you comment on that at all?”

“Hang on,” the press officer started.

“No, leave it.” Kitanchev said grimly. He had had a feeling that this would be coming from somewhere. He’d break his self-imposed rule this time. “Look, I am fully focused on the second leg against Turori right now. That’s my priority, I’m not thinking about anything else at the moment.”

“Your contract would end at the conclusion of the next qualifying cycle, but given that the national team has underperformed at a Copa Rushmori on home soil and in this qualifying cycle, do you think that the FSM will consider their options at an earlier stage? And do you feel any extra pressure with that possibly going on in the background?”

“I’m sorry,” the press officer jumped in. “But we can’t allow questions about Dzvezdan’s future. It’s unfair to ask a manager about their job security and I would expect a journalist of your calibre and experience to know better, Mario.”

“Look,” Mario said. “I apologise if the question is inappropriate, but I was simply trying to understand how Dzvezdan is feeling about the pressure that he might be facing as manager.”

That fucker, Kitanchev thought. Well, he wasn’t going to allow him to have any satisfaction, dressing it up as an innocent question.

“Please, it’s okay,” Dzvezdan said, looking towards the press officer, who waved his arms erratically, completely undermined. “I appreciate the concern, but I think it’s important to address the issue. I understand that results haven’t been what we wanted, both at the Copa and after such a good start to qualifying for World Cup 93. We’ve been inconsistent, I know that there may be questions about my future because of that. I’m fully focused on the task at hand, which is the second leg against Turori. We still have a chance to progress and that’s what we’re focused on right now. I can’t control what might happen regarding my role. My job is to focus on the team and do my best to get results on the pitch. I believe in my abilities as a coach, I think the result against Banija shows what I can do with these players. We’ve had some setbacks, but I’m confident we can bounce back and finish strong against Turori.”

“But what would you say to those who are disappointed with the way things have petered out? Those who are disappointed and might believe a change in leadership is the way forward?” Mario asked, still pushing.

“I understand their frustrations, and I share their disappointment. We looked like we were in a really strong position for an auto-qualification spot, and we let that slip. But I want them to know that we are working hard to get to the World Cup, we have one last chance in this second leg, we have a talented group and we’re committed to giving everything we have to achieve success. Hopefully with a full Novi Atletskistadion behind us we can create a memorable moment in the history of Mytanar football. As for my future, that’s something that will be decided by the FSM, and I’ll respect any decisions, whatever they may be, whenever they come.”

“Cheers Dzvezdan,” Mario smirked. He’d got his answer. “We wish you all the best for the second leg against Turori.”

by **Graintfjall** » Sat Mar 04, 2023 3:47 pm

What kind of day has it been?

When Græntfjall ground out a hard fought 3–2 in Ceni to cap their qualifying group for World Cup 93 with a win, the match was by some measure a dead rubber. For the Snow Wolves automatic qualification was already guaranteed, while Ceni were coming off an away win in Stevencousin that had assured them of a spot in the playoffs regardless. Yet the result did have a small measure of wider significance: it propelled Ingþór Auðbjörnsson’s record since taking over as manager clear of his nearest contenders, Pam Scott and Dan Eastwood, who have respectively led Banija (ranked #2 in the world) and Valanora (ranked #1) to 32 wins over the last 42 games of World Cup qualifying. Thor’s 33rd win ranks behind only Kate DiMarini, manager of reigning world champions Zwangzug. Not bad company to keep.

Under Thor, the Snow Wolves’ 105 points in World Cup qualifying are joint second with Scott (behind DiMarini on an eye watering 116); their goal difference, of +61, is the fourth best in that period (behind Valanora on a comical +72, Farfadillis on +63 and Banija on +62; Zwangzug’s is +60). Only Banija (1) and Valanora (2) have lost fewer games. Even Græntfjall’s defense, much criticized since Thor has taken over, is ranked just outside the top 10 (a list led, predictably, by post-football giants Audioslavia, just followed by K0-0ren). The top-line summary of the stats*: Græntfjall have fared very well in World Cup qualifying under their new manager, and have lived up to, and perhaps surpassed, their #5 world ranking.

Græntfjaller media has previously reflected on why this record of success hasn’t quite translated to the public, and previously asked why Sara Kristoffersdóttir, who led the Snow Wolves through World Cup qualifying with 10 goals, isn’t more popular. Some of the team’s inability to connect with the public may reflect the demise of the bigger personalities, such as Amanda Guttisdóttir, now moving into media work as her playing career winds down, and Jason Þórhallursson, who is currently missing, putting to an end any rumors of a late comeback. “There’s no question the current NT reflects a higher degree of professionalism than some past iterations,” says football journalist Olle Tobiasson, “And with that comes good results but also a bit of a trade-off in folk-hero mythopœicism.”

Græntfjall’s qualifying period began a year ago in Stevencousin. Over the course of the year, some players’ stock has risen and that of some fallen. Among the winners have been Björnólfur Ernestisson, who after a chastening spell in the international wilderness is firmly back in possession of the #1 jersey, keeping 7 clean sheets and bringing a welcome sense of command and control to Græntfjall’s defenses; Anarr Ebergsson, who began the Di Bradini Cup not even favored to start for the U-21 national team and finished the World Cup qualifiers scoring twice against Ceni; Sara Vatnarsdóttir, who made the most of her late call-up with a fine display in midfield against Ceni to make the trip to Tumbra/Chromatika as the 26th name in the squad; Erin Marshlily, the Kamdyr whose steady performances have seen her emerge as first choice holding midfielder in the 4 – 1 – 3 – 2/4 – 3 – 3 system favored throughout the qualifiers by Thor; Hermione Hui, who has become the starting right back despite Alyssia Noahsdóttir’s impressive form a year ago at the Copa Rushmori; and Tom Ernestisson, whose status as third center back seems to reign eternal long past almost all of his peers retiring or ageing out of selection.

Losers including Jasmijn Spiderlair, who failed to play once in qualifying and appears to have slid entirely from the NT selection; Eiríka Jonathansdóttir, whose resurgent form in Mytanija has failed to see a call-up materialize; Mikkel Rúnarsson, dropped after an error-strewn CR to the misery of his giant foam hand-wearing cabal of supporters; Klængur Ulfarsson, who has been left behind by his peers Eyvar Mathiason and Asbjørn Vilbjörnsson, too technically limited to be trusted with a regular playing role; Ari Hlynursbur, whose second coming was but a brief flutter despite their strong form in Astograth; and Emilia Hrafnþórsdóttir, who failed to play once in qualifying despite fine play at the Eagl’e’s’ Cup. Amandara Navinsdóttir Thakur, Varða Vígsteinsdóttir and Arnar Heikkisson are among the young prospects who also missed out on selection for the finals after limited involvement through qualifying.

The most surprising name in Thor’s final 26 may be Hrútur Melkíorsson. Picking a teenager (Hermione and Rebekka have turned 20) seems a throwback to the bad old days when a callow Sara K was brutally exposed in her first outing. And Melkíorsson comes with some history, having already been disciplined at the Di Bradini Cup for breaking team rules. But the heavyset defender-cum-DM fits a role that clearly intrigues Thor, bridging the possibilities of a three-CB formation with a deep-lying midfielder behind the midfield three of Rebekka Kajsdóttir, Kæja Finnvarðsdóttir and Danny Oddkellsson. Reidar Rögnvaldursson was tried in the role through qualifying and found wanting; even Ernestisson was occasionally fielded in the position. Though clearly behind Marshlily and Valtter Marvinsson in the depth chart, the move to five substitutions means Melkíorsson “could play some important late minutes” according to Tobiasson.

* Important disclaimer about all these stats: they exclude teams that only went through one qualifying spell in that period (e.g. Vilita, Tumbra, Squidroidia, Sylestone), they’re probably wrong, and they’re 100% nerdclown BS.

Also in the paper:

NEWS: Græntfjaller organizers praised for reducing paper waste by repeatedly failing to produce CORNCOB draft that’s “coming soon, we promise”
BUSINESS: Quarterly growth ticks up as Græntfjall extends longest continual economic expansion since Restoration
POLITICS: Queen signs controversial gun bill into law, ending debate over possible veto
TRAVEL: Your guide to the best kraken-safe destination wedding venues!
SPORT: Græntfjaller organizers “literally shitting themselves” over finding sufficient Cup of Harmony venues

by **Kimi-Suomi** » Sat Mar 04, 2023 4:43 pm

Hyvät naiset ja herrat, olemme taas pudotuspeleissä! And it feels so fucking good. The Huuhkajat of Kimi-Suomi did what they needed to do to complete a pattern that perfectly sums up the last 4 years: AOCAF SF, WCQ Playoffs, AOCAF SF, WCQ Playoffs*. That asterisk means that while that pattern is nice and all and a perfect demonstration of how far we have come as a jalkapallomaa, we could do better...and we have the chance to do so this time around. Two years ago, we fought valiantly despite never being in that position before - now we have that experience and hoped to push towards those pearly gates come what may. Esko Laaksonen knew the improvements were there to try and make a stab at the ultimate uncharted territory...the question was, could they actually do it?

The Nest would be ready for an all-AO Playoff as Milchama would come to Pesä to duke it out for one of those Golden Tickets and you just knew that both teams would be bringing their A-Game to this beautiful venue in the cold of Northern AO. Darryl Lamarein's 3-3-4 (with a +3 modifier) was a set-up that we have never really encountered before and during the first half, that unpredictability caught us right in the ass and the visitors would take the lead in the 32nd thanks to a cool finish from Elliot Flok past Peter Nurmi. That would certainly sting at half time but from the start of the 2nd half, we would be pushing via the counterattack to try and get back into the contest one way or another...and in the 65th, we would find the equaliser as a free kick from Mika Noronen would be headed past the sturdy Morc Entersher by substitute Maria Tuominen. The rest of this game would be spent trying our very best to break that tie but in the end, the score would remain 1-1 at the final whistle. It ended in a draw, but the advantage would be with the visitors as they would host the 2nd leg.

One more game. The scores are level. We must go to Milchama looking to try and make history, knowing full well that the odds and the crowd will be against us.
We cannot give up now.
We came so close 2 years ago...and we do not want to come so close again.
Me olemme valmiina. Ei ole väliä, olemme valmiita.
LÄHETÄÄN HELVETTIIN!
NOSTA KUIN HUUHKAJAT!

by **Kandorith** » Sat Mar 04, 2023 8:15 pm

Shinonome Kyoai - International

Playoff stalemalte gives hope for home game.

While playing against Poafmersia, the Kandorese team failed to impress. Manager Miyuchi under fire.
By Natsumi Miyasaki
Sports

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Michiyu admitted they are no miracle worker in their role in leading the Kandorese national team. Despite few success in the qualification, Michiyu said they understood the disappointment. "I have worked hard to get this roster together and build something which represents the nation as a whole, but I do admit, we could have done better," Michiyu exclaimed.

Despite the team's current success, Michiyu acknowledged their own shortcomings as a manager, stating that they have "failed the nation in many ways" and that "a lot of people are focusing their anger in the wrong ways." they took full responsibility for the team's previous failures, saying, "It is not the fantastic players we have on the field right now, it is me. I have failed to deliver. I have failed to reach the same heights and expectations of our football."

Despite these admissions, Michiyu remained resolute in their determination to bring success to the Kandorese football team. "The expectations are enormous, but I stood here. I answered that call again. A call where no one dared to rise up. I do not know where the nation would be without me," they said.

Michiyu also highlighted the team's recent achievements, saying, "I brought our football to new heights, and I will continue to do so. We are standing on a pivotal point right now, and I do believe we will win this."

The Kandorese football team has been a mixed bag in the current qualification, with a few notable successes but also several disappointing results. However, under Michiyu's leadership, the team has managed to reach the playoffs only on goal difference. The coach's dedication to the team's success and willingness to take responsibility for their past shortcomings has once again earned the respect of both fans and players alike.

Despite Michiyu's admission of previous failings, the team's recent success has given Kandorese football fans hope that they may once again compete at the highest level of international football. With Michiyu at the helm, the team seems determined to continue their idea of playing football with their own style and one day achieve the remarkable trophy of the World Cup.

Train traffic to Ginza from Tenkyo is suspended untill the seventh of March

Train services from Tenkyo to Ginza has suffered an incident which called for the suspension of the high-speed railway to shut down for the coming days.

By Hiromi Sugihara
General

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The high-speed train travel came to a halt today after a group of dangerous criminals hijacked a train running from Tenkyo to the station of Ginza. The situation is believed to have begun when a group of six individuals, all of whom were armed, boarded the train and made their way to the rear carriage where they began to carry out a sinister plan.

Eyewitnesses reported that chaos ensued as the criminals started to threaten passengers and staff with their weapons, causing many of the passengers to panic and attempt to flee. The actions of the criminals caused the train to come to a halt in the Miyazaki tunnel near Shojiwara, where it remained stranded for several hours as police and emergency services arrived to try and resolve the situation.

Initial reports suggested that the hijackers were seeking a valuable item that was believed to be on board the train. However, it is now understood that their true objective was to take revenge on a former member of an organized crime member who had double-crossed them and was believed to be travelling on the train.

As the situation unfolded, authorities were informed of the hijacking and rushed to the scene. Negotiations between the police and the hijackers continued for several hours, during which time a number of passengers were injured and required medical attention. Eventually, the police were able to apprehend the criminals and secure the train, but not before the situation had caused significant disruption to travel across the region.

The Tenkyo Railway Company has issued a statement apologizing for the incident and assuring the public that it is taking steps to review its security procedures in order to prevent any similar incidents from occurring in the future. The stranded passengers have been evacuated and provided with support and assistance by the local authorities.

The hijacking has raised serious concerns about the safety of the high-speed trajectory train travel, with many passengers and commuters expressing their shock and dismay at the events that unfolded. Authorities have urged the public to remain calm and not to blame the railway company for the actions of a small group of criminals.

The full details of the hijacking are still emerging, and police are continuing to investigate the incident in order to bring those connected to the incident to justice. The Tenkyo Railway Company has assured passengers that it is doing everything in its power to ensure the safety and security of its services, and has urged all passengers to remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity immediately.

by **Turori** » Sat Mar 04, 2023 9:39 pm

Turori Sport Report

World Cup 93 Qualifying Playoff Leg 1 :: A hot and cold qualifying campaign for the Turori National Team had led to an underwhelming points all and a final matchday defeat relegating the Eels to the 3rd place in the group and a low-seed for the World Cup 93 Qualification Playoffs. If not for a scrappy draw against Krytenia on the penultimate matchday, Turori would have actually been the only Top-Seeded nation in the World Cup Qualifying Groups to fail to qualify for either the World Cup Finals or a World Cup Playoff match. The Turori National Team suffered 5 defeats - more than any other top seeded nation and in fact the next most defeats suffered by a top seed was 3. To say Tarek Edgeli's Eels had under-performed would be an understatement.

After having led the Turori National Team to an Eagle's Cup Title, two World Cup Finals and a Cup of Champions trophy, many felt that Tarek Edgeli's position as head coach of the Turori National Team was virtually untouchable. Edgeli would be the coach of the team until their last breath in the multiverse. In sports, however, past accomplishments fade quickly. World Cup 88 was a jubilant yet distant memory. Now, Tarek Edgeli and the Eels were getting a reputation of botching key matches. It started with the World Cup 91 Final when the heavily favored Eels were upended handily by a Graintfjaller team over 20 places behind them in the World Cup Committee Rankings. Then, in World Cup 92 Qualifying, the Eels needed only to defeat an even lower ranked Savigliane on the final matchday to earn automatic qualification to the World Cup Finals yet conceded five goals in defeat and had to settle for the Playoffs. After an even worse defeat in a similar must-win scenario to close out World Cup 93 Qualifying, Edgeli's Eels had handily deserved their new found reputation as chokers.

Any team can lose a game. Thats why the games are played on the field and not on paper. The pain of being drubbed in the World Cup 82 Final by Rivals Vilita was very real for all Turorians. Yet Vilita were the defending World Cup Champions, and were favored in that game. The pain of losing the World Cup 91 Final was different. It was the first time they had ever been so heavily favored in such a big game, and they lost. Any given Sunday. Just one data point. Now, heading into the World Cup 93 Qualification playoffs, there were now 3 data points. Three consecutive make-or-break games against teams ranked between 27th and 35th in the World Cup Committee Rankings that the Turori National Team could not win. Couldn't even come close to winning. Just got destroyed on the field and had to walk out with their tails between their legs.

Given the data, it was no surprise that when the draw for the World Cup 93 Qualification Playoffs was revealed, and the Turori National Team were drawn against 29th ranked side Mytanija, questions quickly came as to whether there needed to be a change before the Playoffs to prevent yet another lopsided upset defeat from keeping the Eels out of the World Cup Finals. It was the first time since Edgeli was named head coach of the Turori National Team prior to World Cup 88 that there had been any media scuttlebutt regarding whether or not it was time for the Football Assocation of Turori to move on from the most accomplished coach in National History. Ultimately, Edgeli's supporters still outweighed the skeptics and no change would be made ahead of the playoffs but the fact that the conversations were happening just emphasizes the gravity of the situation for Edgeli and the Turori National Team coaching staff.

There were some positives during the Qualifying campaign that were likely pointed to as rationale for not making any changes at this juncture. Most importantly, perhaps, was the Eels performance against 23rd ranked regional rivals the Commonwealth of Baker Park. Edgeli's Eels became just the fourth team in the history of competitive footsport to sweep two World Cup Qualifying matches against the Commonwealth of Baker Park. It hadn't been done since World Cup 86. Yet the Eels had done it. Had they lost either game, they would not have made the Playoffs at all. Now, Edgeli and the Eels would have to switch their focus. After squaring off with The Cordian Isles for a spot in the World Cup Finals during the World Cup 91 and World Cup 92 Playoffs, the Eels would be facing a new foe in Mytanija, a team which the Eels have not faced in the modern era.

With the Eels Struggles in World Cup Qualifying, they would be the lower seed entering the playoff which would mean the two-legged matchup would get started in Turori. The Cednia Beach Center in Cednia, home of Cednia Beach AFC, would be the chosen venue to ensure maximum attendance by Nigel's Army and the entire Turori National fan base.

While Tarek Edgeli kept their cards close to their chest coming into the game, it was no secret where the head coach was leaning. After being dismantled by lower ranked opposition in their two previous matches, starting goalkeeper Derizi Amatopa was relegated to the bench and in their place was the veteran Inland Peaks FC netminder Timaala Hualtia. The other notable casualy in the starting lineup would be the Jungle Strike FC attackers, Nua'oma Aikiki and Lutara Makakio who were each kept off the scoresheet against Krytenia and Tikario. Instead, the primary target for the Eels would be Loala Inkabu, the Bastion attacker and Testiculos Nominee who was the only player on the scoresheet for the Eels in the lopsided defeat to Tikariot.

Inkabu would pay back the faith shown from head coach Tarek Edgeli and reward the 100,000+ in attendance when they fired a rocket of a shot past Mytanijan goalkeeper Semir Besak. It was a critical tone-setting tally that lit a fire under the home crowd who, like all the players, had started the match with a default level of nerves. While a single goal in the opening leg was far from a ticket to the World Cup Finals, it certainly was far better than conceding five to your opponents before ever sniffing the back of the net as the Eels had just one game prior. With the advantage both on the scoreboard and in possession, head coach Tarek Edgeli would make only moderate changes at the half with a pair of like for like substitutions to keep the players fresh and crisp without messing much with the strategy.

As the second half wore on the Eels were holding firm, and things got even more solid at the back in the 72nd minute when Planio'o Nrujsa came onto the field. While the Fans kept the songs going from the stands, Tarek Edgeli was more than aware of the fact that a single goal advantage was not much to take on the road in a two-legged playoff, and encouraged the Eels to take another drive up the field. In the 76th minute the Eels would see two more sets of fresh legs introduced with Lumlao Noauryua and Tsinuzpa Rana'aiao coming into the match. It would prove to be an impactful substitution as it would be Noauryua who less than 5 minutes after coming onto the pitch would feed the through ball that found Turakia Diijelhma in stride breaking through the penalty area. As Besak rushed out to cut down the angle, Diijelhma coolly chipped the ball over the top and watched as it looped down under the cross bar and into the back of the net. Coconut drinks flew into the air as the fans celebrated with a roar that could be heard throughout the Island Emirate. Edgeli and the Eels had gotten the all-important second goal to give them just a sliver of breathing room as they headed back into hostile Rushmori territory for the second leg.

When the full time whistle blew, it was a meaningful triumph for the Eels who had struggled throughout the campaign and the previous two campaigns to defeat teams of similar ranking as Mytanija. Controlling the possession and converting on their shots it would be different this time. Edgeli had taken a gamble benching star goalkeeper Derizi Amatopa for the experienced but less acclaimed goalkeeper from Inland Peaks and Timaala Hualtia performed with one of the best performances of their national team career - if not through the number of saves but simply for the importance of each and every one of them. The only questions remaining now were whether Tarek Edgeli would make any changes to the team for the second leg and would the 2nd Ranked Turori National Team be able to take care of business on the road to punch their ticket to the World Cup Finals.

 Turori 2 - 0 Mytanija	
	Turori Goals:	:: 10' Loala Inkabu:: 80' Turakia Diijelhma             
	Stats :: Turori 	:: Possession: 61%:: Shots: 8:: Corners: 7 :: Mytanija :: Possession: 39%:: Shots: 3:: Corners: 5
	Turori Lineup :: 	Timaala Hualtia, Karek Edgeli, Moumouni Verre'elali, Amakli Inuro'o (Lumlao Noauryua 76'), H’munao Cagomia (Tsinuzpa Rana’aiao 76'), Cuoabaza Orani’aoa (Kinabo Telioa 45'), Kiidallen Aeroluzzi (Planio’o Nrujsa 72'), Naraiza Ruaplal, Tulaki Rauogba (Biliki Rona'atu'i 45'), Turakia Diijelhma, Loala Inkabu

World Cup 81/82/83/84

The first Monday in March is Settlers & Immigrants Day in Baker Park, when the nation's diversity of its citizens and their ancestors are celebrated; it is preceded on the Sunday before by an interfaith service held at St John's Palace--home of the Head of State--where the various leaders of the many faiths, denominations and religious creeds practiced in the Commonwealth are presented with readings from various holy & sacred texts by prominent laypersons including the top representatives of the government.

The four verses of the national anthem “Hear Our Voices, Commonwealth” are sung at intervals between groups of readings, and a brief oratory is presented as a celebratory affirmation of the freedom enjoyed by all citizens.

Prime Minister-designate Rebecca Schoenlein had chosen her reading with deliberate focus; it would be far outside of her own upbringing in religion as the daughter of a Jewish mother and Lutheran father in East Liverpool, Endover; her education at Catalpa Hall College, University of Endover that exposed her to Mennonite theology; and her 28 year marriage to a Methodist.

Her selection from the Book of Mormon would be in tribute to the Isebantu Mutumbi and Omugabe Ssekamanya of Banija, and she made sure to understand the context that the passage was presented in
the Book of Alma 40:20-25.

"Now, my son, I do not say that their resurrection cometh at the resurrection of Christ; but behold, I give it as my opinion, that the souls and the bodies are reunited, of the righteous, at the resurrection of Christ, and his ascension into heaven.
But whether it be at his resurrection or after, I do not say; but this much I say, that there is a space between death and the resurrection of the body, and a state of the soul in happiness or in misery until the time which is appointed of God that the dead shall come forth, and be reunited, both soul and body, and be brought to stand before God, and be judged according to their works.
Yea, this bringeth about the restoration of those things of which has been spoken by the mouths of the prophets.

The soul shall be restored to the body, and the body to the soul; yea, and every limb and joint shall be restored to its body; yea, even a hair of the head shall not be lost; but all things shall be restored to their proper and perfect frame.
And now, my son, this is the restoration of which has been spoken by the mouths of the prophets—
And then shall the righteous shine forth in the kingdom of God."

She stepped away from the podium to resume her seat, and after doing so sought out a face in the crowd she knew well--the patriarch of the Banijan Puritan Church of Latter Day Saints from Mansfield, with whom she was on a first name basis (naturally). She might've consulted him in advance to help in making a selection, but had instead taken her own initiative to research and interpret the words through her own complex religious background. It didn't take long for them to make eye contact, and he gave an approving smile and nod to his friend the PM.

At the luncheon afterwards, the two had a chance to catch up face to face for the first time since the funeral.
"Prime Minister, I offer my thanks for your reading from our holy text. You never cease to amaze me with your respect for Banijan culture and acknowledgement of our community that have found a home in Baker Park."
"You are very welcome, Patriarch. This is Settlers and Immigrants weekend and the Banijan diaspora have contributed to our nation in numerous ways. I considered it a great honor to be able to have a few minutes with the Kabaka to express our feelings and sense of sorrow. I think this was a chance for me to do the same for our citizens who now live here."

________________________________________________________________________________
© Sporting Times Weekend 2023
Will the Circle be Unbroken?
by Mindy Cartwright, National Soccer Editor

The overall sense around the Commonwealth of Baker Park National Team squad in the aftermath of their 3-3 draw against Drawkland at the Spartan Veterans Stadium in Sadeg in the first leg of the World Cup 93 Playoff was that they'd pulled off a daylight heist right under the noses of the hosts.

The draw guarantees them nothing at this point as their 3 goals to the good will mean nothing if they don't come away with a home win when the sides meet again in Belle Haven.

“We still have a lot of work to do in the tie and we're going to see a team that will be eager to get an early lead and put the pressure on us to respond, so we'll need to factor that into the plan for the match,” said Manager Jen Prescott at her media briefing ahead of the return fixture.

The Bees are one of ten nations that came away from the first leg away even or ahead in their playoff,
and will look to close the deal in front of their home support. BP have won nine of the eleven home fixtures they've played, outscoring the opposition 28-11, and have 16 wins and a draw in their last 20 matches played within the Commonwealth including a 5-1 record at the BBP; as has been previously mentioned this will mark the 999th all-time match for the National Team and will be the 358th at home (225 in the mixed gender era) in that span with a .755 point winning percentage.

Prescott maintained her upbeat mood that was evident prior to the first leg, going so far as to revisit the 'whistling past the graveyard' theme she struck last week.
“I started to wonder about whether tempting the spirits was a good idea after I remembered that the Elite Eleven are supposedly immortal? (laughter) I reckon that either any negative spirit mojo was neutralized from us being on Sonnel or that it will boomerang back on me now that we are here. I can never get my head around what sorts of positive or negative cosmic voodoo will work when we go to far off places or across dementia...no, dimensions, that's the word. (laughter) Maybe I'm crossing dementia, who knows?” (more laughter)

Serena McDavid's tying goal with 11 minutes remaining from the sub's bench might go down in lore at some point in the future, but that will depend largely on the result unknown at this point; she will be in the starting XI for the second leg for her 43rd international appearance with one of the top five goals per cap ratios in BPNT history.

The FAC announced that it had informed Drawkland that the BPNT would be wearing the "Ghost Whites" away kit in commemoration of the occasion, and that the away allocation of 21,000 tickets had sold out.

Lineup vs Drawkland (2nd Leg) @ BBP National Stadium (74,000)

Johnston (C); Bruce, Onikambe, Bauer; Park, Vuckovic, Shanahan, Boyle; Moorman; Gibson, McDavid
subs: McCormack, Edmonds, Hardwick, D'Amico, Vetter, Altman, Price, Harris, Mack

by **Ceni** » Sat Mar 04, 2023 10:13 pm

Cenial Halcyon National Stadium, Cenial
Ceni 1-0 Flavovespia
 Ellex-Mar '23

Hornet's Nest, Waldster
STARTING LINEUP vs. FLAVOVESPIA
Kosokhan; Farthen, Windtide, Guri-Montague, Casa-Alta; Renning, Kirchner, Santa Oria, As. Koromin; Cyn-Penzag, Ellex-Mar

How much is there to say about a game where only one goal was scored?

It all happened so fast. Flavovespia's back line, four strong, had all congregated in the goal box area for a relatively routine clearance as they continued their game plan: direct football. Kieron Player looked gruff in the midfield, ready to take the defensive pass from Andrew Dance and get the ball going. Zane Kirchner looked perhaps a little less ominous, ready to redirect that defensive pass back towards Marco Santa Oria or Asher Koromin to start the offensive cycle all over again.

As Ceni's midfield thought about the previous 22 minutes, they repeated the images over and over again: Flavovespia's fullbacks, uninterested in engaging defensively in the midfield, sat in their end of the field, letting Ceni have possession but clearing the ball as soon as Ceni's attack crossed a certain point.

As Player and Kirchner ruminated over that pattern in their own ways, plotting their next moves, the decisive goal struck. Ceni's forwards celebrated. Flavovespia's fullbacks walked to the center pitch, dejected. Kirchner and Player looked at each other: What had happened in the chaos?

Let's zoom in to the chaos at the Flavovespia goal, then.

In addition to the gaggle of Flavocespia defenders (if gaggle is the right word there), Sebastian Ellex-Mar was right in the mix. Of course he was; it's exactly on brand for Ellex-Mar to get involved in things that he has absolutely no business getting involved in. At that point, Marco Santa Oria had come in on the left, trying to reach Ellex-Mar in an admittedly low probability attempt at goal. Left back David Lyons headed the ball upwards, trying to allow Andrew Dance to clear the ball outward.

But Dance didn't have enough room to maneuver. Ellex-Mar headed the rebound right past a stunned Aarif Muhammad.

As we said, it all happened so fast.

But the rest of the match happened so slowly. Obviously, it didn't happen in slow motion: The full 90 minutes came and went, and then some. But nobody else had scored in the Cenial Halcyon National Stadium; the score stood at one-nil in Ceni's favor ever since that fateful goal in the 23rd minute.

So Ceni would emerge from the playoff with an ever-so-tenuous one-nil lead. A draw will send Ceni through; a Flavovespia victory by just one goal would be acceptable for player-manager Adrián del Toro, given that Ceni secured its first ever World Cup qualification against the dead-and-gone Gregoryisgodistan on penalties — but, of course, that was at home and not on the road.

With Ceni's first qualification in literal decades on the line, the trip to Waldster will be the highest stakes away match since our playoff match against Ko-oren last cycle.

Do we dare to hope? Do we dare?

To Triumph, To Hope
Chapter Seven: Send Me On My Way (Part Two)
Continued from here.

"As a final reminder, electronics will not work in TiSoFah." Nicole Warren had been rambling on about preparation for the quest for a while now, but she had finally started to wind down a little. Andrew had wanted to fall asleep through Nicole's disquisition, but he knew he had to pay attention to Nicole because... she knew everything about the quest (well, everything that a mere mortal could know). Liam and Andrew knew exactly nothing beyond what Sarah had told them and the packing list that Nicole had given them.

When Nicole mentioned the packing list, Andrew had uttered a curse word. "Did we get everything on the packing list? Do we still even have the packing list?" He started to panic a little bit, but he calmed himself down when Nicole reminded the group that they still had a little time to get everything they might still need. That made Andrew's mind wander as to what they might need, how they might get it, and if the Drawkians would give them the evil eye while they were doing so...

Nicole's last statement snapped Andrew out of his momentary brain fog."This would be a good time to finalize any arrangements in case you... well, you know... don't come back," she said. At that, Andrew saw Liam's face turn entirely white.

Nicole asked if any questions remained; Andrew meekly nodded his no, and Nicole dismissed the group.

Andrew then turned to his boyfriend. "Second thoughts?" he asked.

Liam nodded. "Nobody likes to wrestle with their own mortality. I think Nicole's pronouncement just made everything a little bit more real for me."

Andrew caressed Liam's hand. "I can't cite the latest philosophy, or even the most classic philosophy, but I know we're going to get through this. The power of love always wins, right?"

Liam groaned. "You're too cringe for me. Lucky that I love you."

The two stood up as the group exited the room, much like a business seminar finally dispersing after a boring day at the office and ready to go home. "Let's keep ourselves busy so we don't have to think too much about dying," said Andrew. "Where is that packing list again?"

———

Andrew and Liam pulled up to the meeting point at the Valsum volcano's base. The great mountain had loomed over them for miles as they drove over the desolate Drawkian roads, steadily drifting away from civilization as the volcano's kennet tones grew more and more ominous.

Of course, Sarah Arrowsword took the moment to make fun of the human duo for being a little less than human — or, in this case, being a little less than Drawkian. "This is the tiniest car I've ever seen!" Sarah had said. Andrew didn't remember what he had said to her in response, but he knew that her usual sarcastic and ribbing tone would get on his nerves as they literally tried to move heaven and earth to achieve immortality — not to play God, but perhaps to become gods.

By that standard, Andrew thought that the trip would be long and arduous — even if they didn't have to fight any demons while trudging through TiSoFah. Jack Hoyt and Leo Cross were delayed, for whatever BS reason, and Nicole argued with Jaxon Madison over whether they should leave the duo behind. Just when that argument reached ahead, the duo finally arrived, sniping at each other. "The trip's starting with discord rather than concord," Andrew muttered to himself. "What a great start."

As Andrew ruminated over the long and strenuous path ahead of him, Liam appeared behind his boyfriend to give him a brief massage. "Ready for this?" he asked.

"I feel weird without my phone in my pocket," said Andrew, skirting Liam's question somewhat. "I'll definitely get the urge to reach into my pocket to post something on social media, only to find it's not there."

"Shhhhh," Liam said, continuing his massage. "Let's be relaxed about this."

"You want to relax, huh?" said Andrew, a smile growing across his face. "I thought you were the one with nerves. You looked as white as a ghost last night at the meeting when Nicole mentioned the d-word."

Liam shrugged. "We're here now. Let's get on with it."

Nicole motioned for the two lovebirds to follow them as they began their ascent. Liam squeezed Andrew, and off they went. They had been sent on their way.

by **Quebec and Shingoryeo** » Sat Mar 04, 2023 10:27 pm

-DELETE, NOT ON RIGHT ACCOUNT-

by **Drawkland** » Sat Mar 04, 2023 10:27 pm

The win was in reach. It was so painfully in reach. Through 75 minutes, the Elite Eleven had played a banger of a game. The atmosphere at The Vet was insane. The back-and-forth action had left the crowd breathless, with the score 2-2 going into halftime. Early in the second half, Mike Rodney buried a crossing shot into the back of the net to ignite the crowd in the 52nd minute. From there, the Elite decided it was time to really bear down. The defense constricted, content with forcing the Bees offense to waste time trying to find an appropriate opening.

For twenty minutes, it seemed like victory was at hand. The Kick Corps held strong, and Septimus Xander seemed unstoppable in net, swatting away four shots in that time frame. In the seventy-fifth minute, though, the tides would turn. Serena McDavid came off the bench with a mission. Fifteen minutes separated Baker Park from needing a big result at home, with all the pressure. McDavid found that unacceptable.

Merely four minutes later, McDavid pulled a move on Elias Keys that put him on skates, giving her just enough space to slip a shot right under the arm of the leaping Xander. 11 minutes left in the game, and the score was now tied at three. The shot sucked the energy out of the stadium, but not the noise. Fans of the Drawkian national teams had decided to never go silent in times of strife, instead electing to very loudly proclaim their distaste at the turn of events. Though the jeering continued to echo through Spartan Veteran Stadium, the life behind it was gone.

The Elite Eleven battled valiantly to steal the game back in the closing minutes, but there simply wasn't enough time with the Baker Park defense burning enough time to earn the final whistle.

Now the series turned to Belle Haven in Baker Park. BBP National Stadium, by far the most iconic venue in the Commonwealth, would play host to this final rubber. The pressure was entirely on the Kick Corps now, having to find a way to win in hostile territory.

All the things said about this developing rivalry continue to be true. Now, the score is still level, and there are just 90 fewer minutes left for the competitors to get their result. If there's any consolation, the away goals rule not being present means the Elite Eleven just have to keep the score level, and they could pull for a chaotic penalty shootout. I'm sure every Drawkian fan would prefer a clean, dominant win in 90 minutes ... but given the short history between the Corps and the Bees, this simply won't be the case.

On only one occasion, in the four meetings between Baker Park and Drawkland prior to this cycle, had a side score less than 3 goals. The first meeting, 3-4 Baker Park. Then 3-1 Drawkland, and 4-3 Drawkland. Baker Park evened the record last cycle with a 3-5 win, and now this 3-3 draw in the first leg just kept the record even. We would predict a 4-3 win. Perhaps a 3-3 or 4-4 game going to penalties. Maybe all trends will be bucked with a simple 1-0 victory? There's a lot to consider.

Some news outlets had noted was set to be Baker Park's 1000th official national team match. The team itself didn't acknowledge this, though they did sport a special "ghost white" kit for the occasion, which was a total sellout in the 72k seater in Belle Haven. To contrast, the Kick Corps decided to wear the classic Drawkian black-and-reds. Whether dressing in black was an omen for themselves or for their opposition, it remained to be seen. Once again, it all comes down to this.

by **Huayramarca** » Sat Mar 04, 2023 10:28 pm

The Post Match: Sylestone 2-5 Huayramarca

Written by: Carlos Rodríguez
30/07/1988 – Last Updated: 10:20 P.M.

The Huayramarcan National Team has managed to extract oil and gold after visiting the Sylestonian sentients. A resounding 2-5 victory of the Condors, who managed to get advantage of the red card of Mornington at the 8^th minute of the game, after fouling Bryan Tello in the penalty area, caused the Sylestonians a big gap in defence, and fatigue, that was managed well by the wingers of the team and by the manager, who performed the right substitutions in the match to achieve the score.

Today, we are in our usual live cast after the match to analyse the performance of the national team through the game, the keys of tonight’s performance and what the team should do for the upcoming match at Estadio Marítimo, Puerto San Carlos, San Carlos Archipelago. As always, here we go with Miguel Vidaurre, Gabriel Landázuri, Miriam Choque and Eduardo Tello.

MV: Huayramarca did what they had to do. To start pressing and force the rival team to commit mistakes, the Sylestonians paid their first error with the heaviest of the disciplinary consequences possible.

MC: Bryan Tello did it nicely, he controlled the ball as he should do and forced Mornington to pull him off of his gravity centre to take the ball back, but it should be said that one not simply fouls Bryan Tello… He is a dangerous player and special measures should be taken with him, not doing the simple marking duty as he is a strong player.

ET: Indeed, Bryan is that kind of player that forces any defender to think outside the box, to try outsmart him to control the situation and avoid risks in the box. It is, perhaps, the lack of adaptation into the match from the rival defence that caused a dangerous foul

GL: I agree with you all, but I think that Tello did knew that Mornington was there, so he faked a little bit and caused the foul…

MC: Faking?! The defender grabbed his arm, evidently and in front the referee, in a clear attempt to drag him down? What are you saying?

GL: Look, Bryan turns a bit and noticed the presence of the attacker, then he tried to found him and caused the foul. The referee had to point out near the spot because of Tello’s malicia. He had to do so and it worked well to break the ice.

MV: No matter how, but Tello did opened the can with a solid assist to Gabriel Sayritupac, who slotted the ball to the middle-left corner of the goal. It should be clear that the kick was difficult to save as he usually kicks pretty hard.

GL: Of course, it was a solid shot and the keeper had little to nothing to do to prevent the goal.

ET: I had some worries with the consistence of the team through the first half. It left me an impression that the team wasn’t focusing on attacking more or trying to explode the disadvantage from the Sentients, instead, the locals were pushing quite hard for a couple of minutes.

GL: The positional change of Holmes, who went from the midfield and got back to defend was notorious. That made Toilet play with more freedom in the midfield, he started to create as he wasn’t depending anymore on any push from the rivals.

MC: The Toilet had no flushes during the first half.

The panel laughed.

MC: Jokes aside, Toilet did perform nicely, his vision of the game was important to distribute the ball to the sides of Jones and Hightower; although they weren’t able to connect the last pass to Fleetwood, as he was being closely chased by Kevin Quispe’s tough personal marking.

MV: Ian Mamani had some struggles with Toilet, as it was flowing freely past Ian and he wasn’t controlling the midfield.

GL: Indeed. I’d also add how lax was Orlando Mina while marking. I think he needed to be stronger during the first half.

ET: I think that part of the responsibility of Sylestone tying the match was due to the lack of control from Orlando, as Toilet passed through quickly and passed that ball to Rodway in that always mortal back pass.

MC: I have to emphasise on how capable was Huayramarca to reorganise quickly after that goal… The manager asked the team to press more and overflow the Toilet through fast passing sequences.

GL: Part of the advantage we had in the match is that our team is faster overall. We did great transitioning and managed to press harder, so the rivals didn’t feel comfortable despite having equalised a couple of minutes ago.

MV: That pass from Orlando Mina, who finally found his normal shape, to René Matsabanda was crucial. Matsabanda knew that he had a whole wing to exploit as the Sylestonians took quite a while to cover the spaces, he only received pressure when he was about to cross.

ET: It was a great cross, solid as it was strong enough to cross the area and legs of the defender fast- Sayri was, as always, at the right time and place to slot it home.

MC: It was a cold-water bucket for the locals. Being able to hold us for a draw at the first half, with 10 man was great for them, but Matsabanda had different plans with that cross.

GL: Huayramarca did changed their mentality after that goal almost in half time, it was critical to go with advantage to the dressing rooms.

MV: Second half didn’t have some significant changes, though, as the Condors kept passing the ball each other to cause the Sentients fatigue, as they were running behind the ball and being unable to recover it.

GL: That’s what they should have done through the first half. I’m sure that the score could have been even better.

ET: It was a 2-5, no room for complaints. They did their job.

MC: Still, the best was about to come for Huayramarca. Let’s review carefully the sequence of the third goal. Look at that pass from Ian Mamani through the mid to Bryan Tello… Delicatessen.

GL: It was a beauty of a pass, leaving Bryan alone for the 1v1 vs Fuller. Tello did what we expected from him to do, a nice chip-in that Fuller was about to save, but fortunately failed to do so.

MV: It was about to get cleared from the defender, Fuller did what it was needed to do to prevent Tello from scoring but wasn’t enough.

ET: Difficult to save that kind of plays.

MV: Then, the rest of the gams is known, as there was a series of mishaps and lack of concentration from both teams that produced the final result. Now, let’s analyse on what should be done for the upcoming match.

MC: We need to have a strong team; we hope there’s no relaxation as it can be dangerous. It’s true that the advantage exists, it is true that there’s home advantage too, but there’s no reason to be overconfident.

ET: Intensity is needed. There’s a short span of recovery for the teams, Sylestone has had more effort and we need to take advantage of it with possession and pressing.

GL: Hierarchy. We need to impose our game plan since the beginning, our experience and home advantage. There’s no other way round, we need to be precise and swift while attacking, no room for relaxation or overconfidence.

MV: I do consider something different. We need to see what the rival has to offer, try to desperate them and then force them to commit mistakes as we did in the first leg. If they decide to be extremely offensive, we need to attack and take advantage of it.

ET: I don’t think that the manager would do some relevant changes, he will stick to the plan or do some improvements based on what he observed during the first half of the match, as it was the most vulnerable moment of the match.

GL: Of course, there’s a need to fix that gap of performance and ensure that the team will stick to a real game plan, continuity and intensity through the match. That’s the key aspect to ensure that we will have decent performances.

With that being said, Huayramarca ventures for the second leg of the series vs Sylestone, with the support from the people to perform nicely and achieve qualification if they succeed in their mission of getting victory. San Carlos awaits us for a promising match, where the rival will play with their best team and intentions to overcome the situation, but Huayramarca also with the hope to qualify for the fourth time straight to the World Cup Finals. Tickets have been sold out already, the gates will be open early to make sure the fans will be comfortable and sit for this match. Let’s go Huayramarca, let’s soar for victory!

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