Campionato Esportiva 35 - Everything

[Sylestone]

Quarterfinals

Robostania 0–1 Tumbra @ Carson Stadium, Cleorough

Sylestone 1–0 South Newlandia @ Sunlife Stadium, Halpenley * scorinated by Ko-oren

Natanians and Nosts 1–0 Acadiana @ Ground of Dunkirk, Dunkirk

Brenecia 0–1 The Tumbran Northlands @ Sentient Oval, Kirkham


Semifinal Draw

Tumbra (9) vs (4) Sylestone @ Avondale International Sports Stadium, Avondale

Natanians and Nosts (15) vs (6) The Tumbran Northlands @ The Bay Reserve, Betham

[Tumbra]

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News > Latest
Election 2033 latest: Liberals close to overall majority; Alliance leader Granger to resign after 30-seat loss

By Tamsin Shaw
TBC News

STRATON — Prime Minister Stephen Williams declared victory for the Liberal/National coalition at 5.45am on Sunday, as Labour leader Bertram Andrews phoned the Prime Minister to concede the closely-fought election. Speaking in the lobby of the Altontop Hotel in the middle of Straton, the Prime Minister graciously thanked his opponent, before setting out his priorities for his government's second term — including pushing through the raft of legislation that would see the number of states in Tumbra 'flattened' to ten from the current 25, as the simultaneous referendum conducted alongside the federal election passed.

Current projections by TBC News place the Liberals on track for a small, four-seat overall majority, gaining ten seats from Labour in crucial western constituencies as the party extends its hold on the West. Stephen Williams' "Western Strategy," as political commentators called it, focused on the economic growth and benefits that the federal government brought to the under-developed region of the country, paid off — but only just.

"Williams' strategy was salient, but in a region where he already had a lot of seats — and, mind, the census meant that the West currently has the least number of seats since we went to 650 seats, trying to go for the difficult-to-win urban Labour seats was a risky strategy," said TBC Political Editor Philip Hewson during TBC's election coverage. "But it also reflects how much he knows he's unpopular along the east coast of the country, and especially in the two-most populated states of Napier and Bechor."

Tumbra's 51st Parliament will play host to only six parties in five groupings, as the right-wing Conservative Party lost both its seats in Parliament, while the populist New Democratic Party failed to win any seats. The new Parliament will also be notable for the smallest crossbench in years, with only 38 seats going to the non-big two parties of the Liberals and Labour. Notably, the left-wing Alliance lost thirty seats, as voters deserted the party for Labour.

"Voters seemed to be swayed by Labour's rhetoric of the need to unseat the Liberals," said defeated Alliance candidate Kelly Nishimura, who contested in the swing seat of Dunman in Bencoolen, aiming to succeed retiring MP James Mitchell. "I don't think it helped that the Northlands issue is largely settled, unfortunately, and the country seems to be fairly positive on the additional revenue the colonialist enterprise will generate for the country."

Alliance leader Cressida Granger, speaking early on election night, announced her intention to resign as leader — but expressed a hope that the Alliance would become a permanent grouping of the Progressive and Green parties. "What we have created over the past six years has unified the progressive left of the country — and created a united front for progress as we fight for the environment, and fight for justice," was the choice quote as she defiantly declared that this was not the end for the Alliance.

Williams' second cabinet is expected to shore up the position of the 'moderate' faction within the Liberal Party, though it is expected that the Prime Minister extends the coalition agreement with the Moderate Party to further secure his party's majority within Parliament.

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[Sylestone]

SENTIENTS PRODUCE BEST PERFORMANCE OF CAMPIONATO AS ILLNESS SPREADS THROUGH CAMP

Sylestone (4-4-1-1 → 5-4-1): Fuller; Holt ( 90’) - Mornington - Faucett - Keller ( 13’) (Toilet 46
); Holmes - Rodway (Blair 87’) - Brown - Jones (Fridge 72’); Fleetwood (Nutt 72’ ( 78’)); Strathfield (Blamey 46’)

South Newlandia (4-3-3): Khan; McBride ( 61’) (Mazza 64’) - Barker (Westond 75’) - Lerida - Flores ( 88’); Lancaster - Wallis ( 45+1’) ( 71’) - Bois-Miller (Moss 64’); Sloan (Johnson 75’) - Diaz ( 90+2’) - Irving (Hanson 84’)

HALPENLEY, SYLESTONE - They could really go all the way, you know. Ever since those pair of draws over Irithoren and Hannasea earlier in the campaign, the Sentients have been improving every match, and it’s all culminating to this thrilling semifinal encounter with Tumbra. With a determined 1-0 triumph over an experienced South Newlandia side, the side coached by Mojmir Anac have officially reached new heights under their reinvigoration, becoming the 55th nation in Esportivan history to reach the semifinals of the region’s premier football tournament. Although the quarterfinal fixture against one of the Sentients’ fiercest local rivals was certainly hard-fought, the better team on the day won and ultimately, there wasn’t necessarily any doubt about that.

Sure, the Elephants didn’t play as well as they could but on the day, they were nothing but outclassed by a dominant Sylestonean outfit, spurred on by a home crowd under the scorching desert heat. Even with the game played an hour after sunset, the temperature was still in the mid-30s by the time the referee blew his whistle - it usually doesn’t drop rapidly until close to midnight, and even then only if the breeze blows in from the nearby Conton Ranges to the north and northwest. With players - particularly those donning the South Newlandia jersey - taking water breaks whenever possible, it became rather obvious pretty quickly that the final result of the game would come down to which side was fitter at the end of the day.

But Lesley Keller hadn’t heard about that. Just seventy seconds into the fixture, the Sylestone right-back found some space on the wing, tearing up towards the corner flag with her characteristic pace and leaving Chromatik wingback Jet McBride in her wake. Despite Anac’s pre-game talk composing primarily of the importance of hanging back and waiting for the opposition to tire themselves out before attacking them on the counter, the words had obviously gone in one of Keller’s ears and out the other, the roar of the crowd behind her as she cut the ball into the box, right to where centre forward Riley Strathfield was lurking.

With two defenders and the goalkeeper between him and the goal, though, scoring would not be easy despite the cross finding his head. Instead of heading in the vague direction of goal, Strathfield went the other way, finding unmarked former skipper Raphael Brown on the edge of the box. One touch and shot was all that was required and Edward Khan had no chance, the ball nestling in the bottom corner as the 52,000-strong crowd exploded.

No more than ninety seconds in, and Sylestone had the lead. Sure, it might not have come in the way it was expected to come, but it was a lead nonetheless. And if there was something the Sentients were good at, it was holding onto those leads.

And so they did. Despite the best efforts of the Elephants, egged on by no small portion of the Sunlife Stadium crowd, the unbreakable nature of the Sylestonean back four made it rather difficult for them to trouble Georgina Fuller. Sure, they dominated possession but for the remainder of the half, the hosts had the better of the chances despite only few coming their way, coming closest when Riley Strathfield hit the outside of the post from a tight angle attempting to squeeze the ball between the Elephant goalkeeper and that front post.

It all seemed so easy for the hosts. Sure, the Elephants were putting up a fight but at this rate, their path to the semifinal was more difficult than free climbing the cliffs of the Rothetnesbu Volcano in Sylestone’s east.

And then came the catch. Before the match, the trio of Lesley Keller, Riley Strathfield and substitute forward Cameron Keyes all admitted to “not feeling 100%”, albeit all three passed their medical tests and were deemed fit to play. However, as Keller and Strathfield ran around on the field, their conditions visibly worsened - the two major contributors to Raphael Brown’s inaugural Sylestonean goal were seen panting and coughing on the live stream. Not wanting to risk further harm, the pair were pulled off at half-time, to be replaced by the Toilet - probably a change that was coming anyway as the Sentients consolidated a 1-0 lead - and Hayden Blamey.

Despite the changes, though, South Newlandia could not find an opening. As time passed and Angela Diaz, fresh off a double hat-trick against Bongo Johnson in their round of 16 clash, became more frustrated, the Elephants began to test their luck with shots from further and further away and frankly, none seemed to trouble Georgina Fuller. Of the shots on target, only one from Donald Lancaster in the 68th minute actually forced Fuller into a dive and even then, at no point did she truly appear troubled.

Things went from bad to worse for the Elephants as Finnley Wallis, already on a yellow card, completed a rather agricultural tackle on Gemma Rodway as she broke on the counter, earning himself a second booking and leaving the field in the 71st minute. A minor complaint was all that the referee had to deal with but deep down, the 41-year-old knew that he was well and truly in the wrong.

Funnily enough, though, going down to ten seemed to kick the Elephants into gear. With all to play for and not much time to reap the rewards, each touch of the ball was greeted with urgency as the Sentients were forced further and further back… but only to pounce on a mistake and force their opponents into resetting. With Alexander Nutt replacing Rose Fleetwood to create a five-strong back line, it became harder than ever to break down the Sylestonean defence for whenever one of the South Newlandian forwards received the ball, they’d always find someone in their face bearing down upon them. Taking advantage of the Elephants’ high press in the dying stages of the encounter, Gemma Rodway, Abigail Jones and Hayden Blamey began to look for the counter. For a while, it distracted the South Newlandian back line but as six minutes of stoppage time was called, the threat of the counter dissipated - they did not care if 1-0 became 2-0, all that mattered was a goal.

Five minutes in, Donald Lancaster found Angela Diaz with a through ball to leave her one-on-one with Fuller, the crowd watching and refusing to budge, as if a single movement would change the entire course of proceedings. A fake and a quick little stepover and Fuller had no chance, leaving the young forward in front of an open net…

But the touch to beat Fuller was a little heavy and Hugo Mornington was onto it, shouldering the youngster and stealing the ball away, booting it up the pitch as the crowd behind the goal burst into cheering. Although there was still a minute to play, the damage was done. Heads began to go down in the away portion of the crowd as visiting fans began to pack their bags, knowing the result. They’d come close, but in the end, the better team on the day won.

Up there with the 1-0’s over Kandorith and Jeruselem, the 4-0 against Tjorl and the 8-2 versus Macbon, this may well have been up there among the Sentients’ best performances. Everyone had done their bit to grab the win, all the way down from Callum Blair’s doggedness in the closing stages of the match to Raphael Brown’s goal and Hugo Mornington’s last-gasp defending. It had been a thorough team performance, but as always, there was still work to be done.

Still, they’d have to be even better against Tumbra in the semifinal. In the four fixtures the Sentients have played against the powerhouse over the past year, not once have they netted the ball into the back of the Eagles’ net. Unless they won on penalties, that would be something they’d have to overcome if they wanted to play in the final. With South Newlandia, Cap Nord, Xanneria and Brenecia all out due to upsets of varying degrees, the stage seemed set for yet another Tumbran Campionato Esportiva triumph. With Lesley Keller, Riley Strathfield and Cameron Keyes looking unlikely to participate, the odds are heavily stacked against the hosts.

If the Sentients can’t stop them, then the only thing that could might be the possibility of a final between Tumbra and the Northlands being abandoned due to the imminent threat of a full-scale war.

Fun times!

Sylestone 1-0 South Newlandia
                                         Brown 2’

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Starting Lineup vs Tumbra @ Avondale International Sports Stadium, Avondale

Fuller; Holt - Mornington - Faucett - Toilet; Holmes - Rodway - Brown - Jones; Fleetwood; Blamey

[Natanians and Nosts]

Born in 1848,Márcus Táavora was the consul and president of the Republic of Natanians and Nosts elected in 1906.
From N-City,son of a surgeon-dentist (Otávio-Mihai Táavora,1801-1903) and a pharmacist (Mihaela-Iúlia Juaréz,1815-1920),he went to law school,nerly bankrupting his family,having to work excessively to pay the debts.He had four siblings:João Táavora (1838-1923,a surgeon-dentist,who inherited the business from his father,and passed itto his son,who was first in his class,and the first family member to get a Bacherlor's degree in the field), George Táavora (1840-1925,a soldier,died in a car crash,a terrible accident that saddenned the whole family), Mihaela Juaréz (1850-1945,a dentist with a Barchelor's degree,met a man from Minalata and moved there after marriage) and Iúlia-Iúnia Táavora (1852-1947,worked as a teacher for over ten years,after getting married,left classes to become a housewife).
He was married in 1873 to Ioana Ionescu (1845-1938,a friend of his for a long time,they fell for each other after realising life would be awful separated,she was a clerk at her family's small cloth business,became a nurse in 1897 and was keen on assisting the necessitated,travelled to many isolated places,helping whomever she could.Died of old age while sleeping.),with whom he had three children:Mihai Táavora (1874-1960,following his father's footsteps,he became a lawyer and joined politics,while deputy,he helped to create the public deffensor system),Mihail Ionescu (1875-1962,a chemist by profession,but a photographer by hobby,taking some well-nown photographs of his time's N-City) and Ioana Táavora (1876-1968,a housewife,married to João Virgílio Souza,who would later become consul,she had eight children and raised them with great care,she started photographing sometime in her 60's,capturing some of Natanians and Nosts' natural beauty).He was a lawyer in N-City when João Manuel Cláudio Poe was elected the first consul of the Republic of Natanians and Nosts,and was in direct touch with the changes that happened,and with how the things stayed the same.Getting interest in joining politics,and with support from his wife,he was candidate for mayor of N-City for three times,before winning after a fourth try,serving as the mayor during the year of 1895.During the turn of the century,he got deeply involved with public admnistration and worked with the people,trying to bring them close to the government,althoough limited only to N-City and its proximities.In 1906,he was candidate for consul for the only time in his life,and won the vote,declaring himself president for his mandate,which lasted only the following year.
His mandate saw the second expansion in the republic's Chamber of Deputies to be approved.After that year,he worked intensely as a lawer for the poor,travelling the whole country several times with his wife.After her death he became reclusive and only had bright moments with his family and when reading books.
He died of old age in 1946,in his house,allegedly missing his wife constantly on his last few days.

[The Tumbran Northlands]

Moments

In the Northlands, the football team's success hasn't exactly translated to enthusiasm in its populace. Why?

It's a tranquil day up in the Northlands. It's freezing, as usual — temperatures up in the heights of the Northlands rarely break 15 degrees, even in summer — but there's a unique sense of calm to the area that this land hasn't exactly seen for a few hundred years. Centuries of intra-clan battles that saw the technology level of the area lag severely behind the rest of the world, before a concerted pacification campaign by Tumbra finally put an end to these squabbles have meant that this part of Esportiva has rarely seen peace.

But that new, fragile peace may not last for long. Multinational gas companies — chief amongst which are Origas, Mertagne's state-owned gas company, and Shingoryeo Gas, from Quebec and Shingoryeo — have already begun prospecting for natural gas, alongside the Tumbran-owned Northern Gas company, which essentially runs the entire gas-extracting operations in the Northlands.

"I can 'ear them comin'," says Franz, a 76 year-old retiree who moved from Tumbra when the government offered a stipend for any Northlander settler. "I came 'ere for peace and quiet, but I don't think tha's lastin' for long. Not wit' all tha' blastin' that's about to happen." Franz spends his days in the far west of the territory — a largely uninhabited region known as the Western Reaches, which used to be a stronghold of the terrorist United Clans group — watching football. He tries to follow the Premier Division campaign of his favourite team, FC Inter Nantwich — and has followed the Tumbran national football team in their forays throughout the Campionato Esportiva too.

But when I ask him about the Northlands football team, he looks at me quizzically.

The Northlander football team, comprised largely of Tumbran footballers playing in the second tier, has been the quiet success story of the Campionato. Well, as quiet as a team from the hotly-debated Northlands can be, anyway. A semi-final berth, triumphing over five-time regional champions Brenecia, was the last of manager Colin Barrendale's expectations when the team set foot in Sylestone. Internationally, the team have racked up controversy as debate has raged over whether opposing teams should refuse to play them in non-recognition of their status; but none of them have seemed to reach the frigid shores of the North.

Not many people even knew the Northlands were sending a team to the Campionato anyway. Only 35% of people in a recent survey conducted in the Northlands said they knew about the team, and an even more dismal 7% of people said they were supporting the Northlands team, as opposed to a whopping 72% of respondents who said they were supporting the main, Tumbran, team.

"It's a nice surprise, for the Northlands team to reach the semi-finals," says Mona Scott, 22, a waitress in Blackthorn. "But I don't think many people care. My mates have all been just following Tumbran football. Bit strange that we're even sending a team, innit — we're not like a permanent nation or anything. Our official name's got 'Tumbran' in it, for heavens' sake."

The Northlander team was pushed by the Northern Territory Football Association (NTFA) as part of a supposed bid to prove the nation's legitimacy on the world stage. Of course, to any casual observer, this "bid" was as thin as rice-paper, and easily-punched through as well; of course, it's a bit hard not to do so when twenty-six of the twenty-six players that have played for the Northlands were...born in Tumbra. None of them have Northlander heritage; and possibly the only professional football player with Northlander heritage, Petra Hall, playing for Ararat Serevyan in Mytanija, has refused to play for Tumbra until the country 'gets out' of the Northlands.

But perhaps the real objective was to try and generate some kind of belonging to the Northlands. First Minister-designate Ethan Sand has promised the establishment of a football league in the Northlands "as soon as possible" - it seems like he belongs to the school of "football is the best way to build group identities." And really, who can blame him? The turnout rate for the recent election was just 35%; it seems that nobody really cares about the Northlands - and those that do, more often than not, want the land to be free from the Tumbran yoke. To most settlers — Mona, especially — the Northlands is, and remains, just a place where money can be made before returning home to Tumbra.

Ultimately, the situation seems to have been summed up by Mona in a few sentences. "It's a bit weird, innit - we're a nation, and we're not a nation, so we've got our own flag, but it's got the Tumbran flag on it, and we've got our own passports, but they're also Tumbran passports," says Mona. "It's like a bit of a chimaera of a nation we've got. I've got a degree in English, did you know that?"

[Sylestone]

Semifinals

Tumbra 1–0 Sylestone @ Avondale International Sports Stadium, Avondale * scorinated by Ko-oren

Natanians and Nosts 0–1 The Tumbran Northlands @ The Bay Reserve, Betham


Third Place Playoff
Sylestone vs Natanians and Nosts @ The Trees, Pesfield


Final

Tumbra vs The Tumbran Northlands @ Chamberley Institute of Sport, Chamberley

[Tumbra]

SPORTS: PETER GABRIEL FAVOURITE TO TAKE OVER NATIONAL TEAM JOB PERMANENTLY; ODDS ON WIGHT, GALBRAITH SLASHED DRAMATICALLY

Couno — For the Tumbran Football Federation, finding a successor for Yuan Zilai, Tumbra's longest-serving and most successful international manager, was always going to be a daunting task. Yet, it seems that the search is drawing to a close — and the manager they were looking for seems to have been right in front of them.

Betting markets slashed the odds on Peter Gabriel, the long-serving assistant manager and three-time interim manager of the team. This came after he successfully led the team to the Campionato Esportiva 35 final, beating hosts Sylestone in a heavily contested match which more casual fans derided as "boring anti-football". Having previously led the team on two separate occasions — for six matches after Marco Hemmings handed over power due to family issues, and for Tumbra's first-ever Eagles' Cup foray, where they finished third — Gabriel's stint at the head of the team this time represents the most fruitful time at team, with the possibility of Tumbra winning its fourth regional title in five cycles highlighting the dominance of the national team over the region at large.

Gabriel is well known in the national-team set-up for being a calming presence, able to make himself heard thanks to his wealth of experience with the team, and is fluent in Yue, a language he picked up to better converse with Yuan Zilai, his former boss. His rapport with core members of the squad was part of the reason why he was the "undisputed favourite" right from the get-go, according to commentator Russell White on Aurora Soccer Saturday. Other candidates, like William Wight of Hesham, Daniel Galbraith of Nantwich, and Ted Bayh, were either deemed too inexperienced, were uninterested in the job, and deemed too controversial for the job. Bayh, formerly of Straton, Lakewood United, and Clyde Park, was widely seen as the first choice for the job had Gabriel not brought the team to success. It seems, however, that his audition has been passed with flying colours.

Gabriel is expected to officially be unveiled as the new national team manager after the Campionato final, regardless of the result. The Black Eagles are heavily favoured against the team from the Northlands, though manager Colin Barrendale's (formerly of Sturrey and Macarthur) shrewd usage of defensive football has shined throughout. Controversy over the nature of the Northlander team has also spread throughout the tournament, with some questioning the reason for their presence.

With the football federation embroiled in a battle with the breakaway T-League over the future of domestic football organisation in the country, and the Federation attempting to string together a competition for teams not in the new T-League, perhaps a national team manager isn't top priority at the current moment; but Gabriel's appointment is expected to be warmly received by fans and players alike. Widely regarded as a continuity candidate, Gabriel's style of pragmatic, defense-first football is as much Tumbran as crinkle-cut fries; and that is widely expected to continue, even as Gabriel has indicated a willingness to toy with the team's formation in the upcoming World Cup qualification campaign.

[Sylestone]

Third Place Playoff

Sylestone 1–1 Natanians and Nosts (1–2 AET) * scorinated by Zwangug

Tumbra 0–0 The Tumbran Northlands (0–1 AET)

this region is a joke