World Cup 94 [roleplays]

by **HUElavia** » Mon Jul 31, 2023 7:13 am

HUElavia 2–3 Turori
(Aveiro 30' (P), Navarro-Hamada 83' | Makakio 22', Noauryua 73', Aikiki 90+4')
Stadium Konueira, Burnaby, Kelssek

Down, But Not Out

HUElavia lose another close match against Turori, but enters Matchday 3 with options to advance.

Entering Matchday 2, HUElavia was reeling from the stinging defeat to Nephara, after a thrilling near-comeback that ended 4-3. Regardless, the tournament had to march on, and Los Amarillos/Os Amarelos had their strongest opponent yet in Turori, the No. 4 team in the multiverse. Fans flocked to Stadium Konueira in Burnaby to support the team, where the fans were draped in HUElavian colors, HUElavia opted for their white alternative uniforms, allowing Turori to wear their home uniform in exchange. The A-Team was brought out once more, with Coach O'Reagan looking to pull an upset in this World Cup.

The match was a very tactical one, with both teams pushing waves of attacks, looking to open up each other's defenses, but goalkeeping from Mok and Amatopa kept the scoreline at 0-0, gaining applause from the crowd. The opening goal came in the 22nd minute, when Verre'elali was on the ball, being covered by Couto, where Makakio towered over Ardance to send a looping header over Mok into the goal, making it 0-1. The Turori supporters were in joy, jumping around with glee, while the HUElavians were upset and frustrated, where O'Reagan barked orders to keep patience for the team and to keep pressuring. That pressure caused Turori to cave in as in the 30th minute, Amezcua was on the ball, looking to attack, when Edgeli stuck a leg out and clattered Amezcua in the box which gave way for a clear penalty kick. Aveiro stepped up and sent Amatopa the wrong way, as the ball went into the top corner of the goal, making it 1-1. The HUElavian crowd jumped up in cheers and celebration while Aveiro was hugged and congratulated by his teammates for scoring the goal. Despite chances from both teams, the score was 1-1, and both teams knew there was work to be done if either wanted the victory.

In the second half, it was still more of the same, both teams trying to open each other up and try to get something going for a possible victory. In the 73rd minute, Turori was on the counter attack, with Makakio on the ball, being covered by Tarragona, when they sent a low pass to Noauryua, who gave a one time shot that was low and strong, rolled past the fingertips of Mok to hit the post and go into the goal, making it 1-2. The Turori crowd was jumping in cheers and glee once more while Noauryua was mobbed by their teammates for the goal. HUElavia continued to push and push, looking to prevent another loss, where it eventually paid off. In the 83rd minute, a foul by Omalizo over Xuan (in for Amezcua) gave way for a free kick in a dangerous position. Navarro-Hamada opted to take the kick, sent a curving shot over the wall and past the reach of Amatopa into the goal, making it 2-2. Navarro-Hamada was mobbed by his teammates for the goal while the HUElavians jumped and cheered loudly to make the stadium rumble from the celebrations. In what looked like it would end in a draw ended up having another twist to it. In the 90+4th minute, a corner taken by Orani’aoa went into the box, where Aikiki towered over Tarragona and headed the ball past Mok into the goal, making it 2-3, sending the Turori supporters in delirium while Aikiki was mobbed by his teammates and the bench for the goal. At the end, HUElavia lost yet another close match.

Despite the defeat, HUElavia is still mathematically alive to make the knockouts, but needing two specific things to happen. One being HUElavia must defeat Flavovespia by 2 goals or more and Nephara must defeat Turori. It is a tall order, but very much possible, especially with how the team has played during this tournament. The team trains diligently and studies film, with O'Reagan giving a steady and firm hand to train the team to the best they can. The fans have made the trip to Redswyth, looking to cheer on the team in what is a win-or-go-home match. This is the last chance for HUElavia to get any sort of points in this tournament and they are seeking to go all out and guns blazing into this match. Here's to hoping for a miracle to happen and for the team to play well.

FORCA HUELAVIA! VAMOS HUELAVIA! GO HUELAVIA!

by **Graintfjall** » Mon Jul 31, 2023 7:30 am

Græntfjall – 0 (0)
Ásólfur; Hermione, Anarr, Friðjón, París (64’ Harmony (90+7’)); Valtter (87’ Kristmar ); Sara V (53’) (64’ Lotte ), Kæja (c), Danny; Amandara (67’ Rebekka ), Járngrímur (67’ Joel )

Ko-oren – 0 (0)

Amanda Guttisdóttir’s TV appearance had proved surprisingly popular and successful, which was attributable to her spunky attitude and not at all to Græntfjaller television producers running out of brain juice. Three days after the accidental mix-up, she was very deliberately invited back to do it again. Having spent some time looking for her way into media, which had included appearances on cooking shows and an ill-advised travel adventure that ended up accidentally wiping out a previously uncontacted tribe, it seemed like she might finally have found her niche.

“Welcome … to Football And/Or Politics! With Amanda Guttisdóttir!”

“Thank you Brian, it’s a pleasure to be here. And again, I’m sorry about last time.”

“It’s fine, I barely used that eye anyway. So we’re tonight to discuss the way forward. Amanda, what are the options?”

“Well, Prime Minister Kaija Michaelsdóttir is in a tricky position. Her party won comfortably the largest number of votes, but not enough, this time, for an outright majority. It means she’s going to… you were asking about the football, weren’t you?”

“I was, but please, keep going.”

“For the Snow Wolves, it’s broadly the same position. They’re in first place, but, they’re not guaranteed to go through. They will need at least one point from their final game to be sure, just as Kaija will need at least some support from another political party to be sure.”

“Amanda have I mentioned, I think this show is a terrific idea.”

“We’ll see. But something else the two have in common… Kæja Finnvarðsdóttir and Kaija Michaelsdóttir, that is. Their destiny is within their control, but even if they fail, could have it handed to them. If the Snow Wolves lose, but Ko-oren lose as well, and end up with a worse goal difference, then they’d be through anyway. And if the opposition parties aren’t able to form a governing majority without the Progressive Liberals, then Kaija would end up as Prime Minister anyway.”

“Kæja Finnvarðsdóttir would end up as Prime Minister?”

“Can I just say I also think this is an excellent idea for a show, that will definitely have a long shelf life and in no way get old.”

“OK. And what are the chances of success?”

“For…?”

“Yes.”

“OK. Well, for the Snow Wolves, they need a point against Sylestone. Statistically the odds are in their favor. The temptation could be to play for a draw. After all, against Ko-oren, they really tried everything. Threw a lot of bodies forward in attack, but just couldn’t get that decisive final touch. But I didn’t think, watching them, that they’d settled for a draw. Just like, on the campaign trail, I didn’t think Kaija Michaelsdóttir had accepted that she was going to be forced into a coalition: she made a real pitch for the Progressive Liberals as the natural party of government. I hope the Snow Wolves don’t play for a draw against Sylestone and really go for the win, for seeding as much as anything. And similarly, I think the Progressive Liberals should drive a hard bargain in negotiations.”

“So what comes next?”

“Next, I think, will be talks with Reform 30-30. The Blue-Greens have already made clear they won’t work with her and the Left-slate are too disorganized for any agreement to stand. Reform 30-30 are a small party but they’d give her just enough of a majority to form a government. The downside would be it would greatly empower her opponents within her own party, who’d be able to extract more concessions.”

“Right, but I meant in the World Cup.”

“Ah. What comes next is the next game, of course. But I think you mean, after that – if, and it’s still only an if, Sylestone are an excellent team with one of the best defenses in the world, and if they seized an early lead it could be very hard to get back into that game – would be the Round of 16. It’s too difficult to tell at this stage. Græntfjall could end up playing Vilita, or Saint Eleanor, but it could be Baker Park, or Huayramarca. It’s a very confused picture that we won’t really know about until the final games in Group D are played.”

“So it’s impossible to tell whether the Prime Minister would have to give up concessions on missile defense, or health care reform, at this stage?”

“Oh, we’re back on that. What I would say is, Reform 30-30 have an environmentalist agenda and that’s something the Prime Minister has shown interest in, too. But we have to be realistic. Reform 30-30’s manifesto made a lot of promises about electrical vehicles: charging infrastructure, replacing all public buses with electric vehicles, hard targets to phase out older vehicles… And as you know, those are difficult promises to keep because right now Græntfjall just doesn’t have the supply of minerals needed to keep up with modern battery technology, you know, rare earths and stuff.”

“Rare earths?”

“Yes, like neodymium…

“And lithium.”

The Græntfjaller consulate in Puerto Farolero was on fire.

This wasn’t related to the ongoing civil war or the recent invasion, it was just on fire in the way that buildings in Farfadillis tend to spend quite a lot more time on fire than not on fire. It was its default setting, actually, and Snævar Ingvaldsson, third secretary for social, cultural, and religious affairs, found it quite comforting. He refilled his coffee mug in the breakroom, took a leisurely stroll up the corridor, keeping to one side to dodge the flames, and tapped on Sírnir Freygarðsson’s office door. Sírnir was, officially, the deputy attaché for agricultural affairs.

Sírnir was poring over some documents, almost none of which were currently on fire, and barely looked up as Snævar sidled in.

“What’s up, Snævar?”

“Did you see that ludicrous display last night? What was Thor thinking bringing Joel on that early?”

Sírnir still didn’t bother looking up. “Yeah, we’re not doing that.”

Snævar tried again. “Some weather we’re having, huh?”

Sírnir smiled thinly and dragged his eyes from the page. “Snævar, can I help you with something?”

Snævar took this as an invitation to pull up a chair across from Sírnir’s desk; Sírnir sighed, rubbed his tired eyes, and covered over the file he’d been reading. The contents of which seemed to have little to do with agriculture.

“You heard all the shooting last night?”

Sírnir nodded.

“I knew we picked the wrong side,” continued Snævar, glumly.

Sírnir didn’t nod this time, but he was keen to see where Snævar was going with this.

“The way I see it, by backing Farolera, the Prime Minister has put us in a really bad spot. The only ones on their side are Banija, and since when were we cuddly warm with Banija? But from what I hear,” Snævar leaned in and whispered, “From Þórunn…”

“The lunch lady.”

“Yeah, what she says is, there’s are HAMSTERS here in Farolera now. We’re sending in special forces and weapons! We’re going to end up fighting on the wrong side, again.”

“Why the wrong side?” asked Sírnir, rhetorically.

“Because on the other side are Quebec and the United Republics and normally we’re friends with them,” sulked Snævar.

“Well,” said Sírnir calmly, “I wouldn’t put too much stock into what Þórunn says. She knows her way around a stewpot, maybe not so much on the geopolitics.”

“I guess,” moped Snævar. “Anyway. Speaking on lunch, I thought I might head out, want to come with?”

“I’d love to, but another time.” Sírnir smiled, firmly. “I have a lot of work to catch up on.”

Snævar nodded, bid his friend farewell, and headed out, dodging around another bit of the building that had caught fire.

Sírnir, meanwhile, sighed. Þórunn had it right – well, half-right. There were HAMSTERS and weapons on the way from Græntfjall.

They just weren’t heading in quite the direction the Farolerans might have wanted them to.

Sírnir – whose brief in fact extended to one or two matters besides agricultural affairs – flipped open his file again and resumed reading the cable that had been sent to the embassy in Nangang overnight.

“Operation Fisting For Farolera terminated with immediate effect … Operation Curse Our Sudden But Inevitable Betrayal initiated …”

by **Pemecutan** » Mon Jul 31, 2023 7:39 am

Part 1 || Part 2 || Part 3 || Part 4 || Part 5 || Part 6 || Part 7 || Part 8 || Part 9 || Part 10A || Part 10B

Soma Pon Wuku Dungulan, Pawukon 1785

A Little Air to Breathe

Breton, Kelssek - A loud of cheers can be heard throughout Kingswharf as the referee blow the whistle. The one and only goal from Rama Karyadi save Pemecutan from a possible early exit. The match was in high tension right from the start. Both team hopes for a win to secure their position. But it seems that the luck shine upon Pemecutan. That single goal from Karyadi had save the day. The footage of the goal have become a trending topic back in Pemecutan soil. It has been posted, re-posted, shared and played for a million times. And the player himself is nicknamed the saviour.

Despite winning their second match, Pemecutan position is still unsecure. Collecting 3 points from 2 matches, the team is seating in the second position below Kelssek who win both of their matches. In the third match, Pemecutan will be playing against Mytanija. On paper, Pemecutan is slightly superior. But we can't always rely on the paper. "The trauma from five conceded goals are still lingering in the players's mind. It is also alerted us about our defense. On the other hand, a 1-0 match see the real problem with the team's forward. So we need to strengthen all sides," said manager Pramana. Even though saying something like that, Pramana haven't change the team's starter except for Satria Wiradarma who got injured. This conflicting behaviour raise a question within the community. Some commented that he being suicidal with the team. While others still believe in him and thought that he might have a better plan ahead. Nevertheless, this last match is the deciding match whether Pemecutan will advance further in this World Cup or end their journey again in the group stage just like the previous edition.

Pemecutan for Equality

Tandeg Suci - After waiting for 2 years, the State of Tandeg Suci officially implemented the law which give the same-sex couple within the state the right to registered their partnership. They become the second state, after Ubung Metropolitan, and the third entities after Canggu Municipality and Ubung, in Pemecutan to implemented the similar law. The law will give most of the basic rights for the couple as if they are married. The different are the registered partnership are not able to have a combine tax registering and couple bank account. Giri Pelangi leader, Putu Darma Aksana said the implementation is a great move for more acceptance to the LGBTQ community in the country. He added that the community is within the grey zone. They are exist but they are living in a shadow. They are hoped to stay in the closet by the society. Giri Pelangi is the first and the largest LGBTQ+ organization in the country. It was first established to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS in the community. But it later grow into more of a support group and shelter house. In the end of the interview, Aksana hope that this move will be spread to other state.

On the other hand, the conservative party, Pesamuan Pandu Nagari leader, Jaya Kusuma said that the law is heavily supported by the royal family of Tandeg Suci which makes the law easily implemented in the state. He mention the fact that the current Hereditary Prince of Tandeg Suci is confirmed as gay. And he accused that the Hereditary Prince influenced the state's government to force the law into existence. Tandeg Suci royal family denied the accusation.

Other news

Open Import
Pemecutan Ministry of Economy and Trade is still opening the slot for import of some products that are needed for the Galungan and Kuningan holiday. The products includes pork and live pig, chicken and duck, fresh flowers, palm leaves and coconut fruit.

by **Valanora** » Mon Jul 31, 2023 7:49 am

And breathe, allow yourself a moment of respite in the ongoing intense and stressful environment that is the World Cup Finals. An opening draw against Yuezhou made the pressure of the moment all that worse, with the need now to find victories in the last two of the group stage matches for the Marauders to ensure that they were moving on to the knockout rounds. Eventually the pressure in the tournament was going to be dialed up another notch or two but it would have been much preferred if that moment had been in the Round of Sixteen rather than the second matchday and against the most difficult team on paper that the Marauders had to face in their group. Tumbra is a team who has seen their stock rise both relatively quickly in the last few cycles as well as this cycle in particular and they were likely hoping that either ourselves or Chromatika would have been felled during the playoff in order to achieve a pot one status themselves for the Finals. Alas both ourselves and Chromatika were able to emerge victorious from the dreaded playoff stage and ensured instead that Tumbra was going to be the best second seed rather than lowest first seed, changing their fortunes ever so slightly.

Was it a performance that will go down in the annals of history as one of the most memorable for the Marauders and a shining display of what their type of football actually is and why they are considered to be the best team to have taken part in the sport? No, it was far from that, and it was a struggle to come through the ninety minutes with three points in hand, Tumbra did not earn their number nine rank in the world through merely good PR and nothing behind the name to back it up. It a squad that is quite talented and this cycle alone showed a lot of grit to come back from being third in their group and looking out of the group title race to snatching the position at the end of the campaign. That is a squad who refuses to give up or give in even when the situation around them seems like it is collapsing, sticking to their task and seeing it out as best as they are able to. It is commendable and it is the sort of mentality and effort that resonates with the Marauders, as it is typically described as the way that the latter history of the team has found its success, compared to the more machine like efficiency and dominance during its prime of the World Cup 39-52 era.

The game itself was a battle of the midfield, both sides opting for formations that put five in the midfield that usually meant clogging passing lanes and trying to press and force your opponent into a mistake. It is a sign of the modern game to have players looking to be at that high energy and constantly harassing the defenders and midfielders into trying to make an ill fated pass or clearance attempt that turns the advantage over to your own squad. It also has meant that pace and stamina has become more of a valuable commodity in players rather than sheer technical skill, which in of itself is a bit of a disconnect with Vanorian approach to sport that has usually prioritized technical skill over that of raw physical ones. That adjustment could well be attributed to the Marauders general lack of success and inability to truly be a World Cup contender despite the talent that would lead you to believe that they are or should be. The last twenty or so World Cups have definitely seen the national team not have the same ebb and flow it once did nor command the same sort of respect and perhaps even instill fear in its opponents as it once did.

Naturally most would have assumed it would be Lothas Ludwig or Laborious Hawk that would have found the goal that separated the two very closely contested teams. They are the two most recognizable names for the Marauders and are probably the most talented pair as well from the team, although it would not be the case in this affair. Rather it would the seldom heralded Selim Estrada Barrientos, a home grown midfielder of Raynor City United, who would chest down a free kick in the seventy-fourth minute shortly after coming on and put it past Nick Barker in the Tumbra goal on the volley. It might have taken a deflection on the way on net off the legs of one of the Tumbra defenders for how Barker seemed late to react to it, but it went in and that was all that really mattered for either team. A surprisingly stern showing from a defense who had been unable to keep Yuezhou out of goal instead was unable to be beaten, letting the Marauders escape with a much needed win. Thanks to how the group has now played out, they need only earn a draw against the fourth seed of Brookstation in order to progress, although form and confidence would have them pursuing the victory all the same. For the moment a respite has been granted, but it is only temporary, as advancement still has to be earned on the pitch with hard work, the same hard work that let them edge out their Esportiva opposition on this day.

by **Banija** » Mon Jul 31, 2023 9:27 am

Katikkiro Xolile Lubabalo, speaking on a conference call with Ruperto Fox and Alex Teran

Lubabalo wasn't exactly a fan of her political situation- but she knew that she didn't have a choice. They'd need probably a year to fully reset things anyways. Figure out what the hell was going on in Farfadillis, help stabilize the situation, and go back to the polls. So many Banijan premiers would go into office with their focus on domestic issues- but it was foreign policy that would dominate things. And Xolile Lubabalo, seemingly, was falling into that same trap. But, she was dealt the hand that she was dealt. She was ready to solve it.

"Ready, Ruperto?" She asked her Farf legislator. He nodded. "Let's get it done." And just like that, the phone rang.

"Ruperto! Xolile!" Alex Teran exclaimed on the other side. "My friends. My darling, darling friends. I love you guys, you know that?"

"Hey, my man Alex!" Ruperto got along with him much more than his boss did, who was a firm supporter of his, but more importantly, a supporter of Ruperto's- but Xolile had to be directly involved in a conversation of this importance.

"Look, I know that we don't have a lot of-" What exactly Xolile was going to say they didn't have a lot of, nobody would know, as Alex Teran simply started blabbering.

"Hey, my idiot assistant Marcelo keeps accidentally setting all of my field reports on fire." Alex Teran stopped, then continued. "Of course, things were going quite gloriously for Faroleran forces until the other day. We had Yue forces and, uhh, well- I haven't read the report because Marcelo keeps accidentally knocking fire onto them. Marco Hertel and, uh... Some other insane Quebecois?"

"Yeah, our intelligence says that-" Xolile Lubabalo was, once again, interrupted by the S-FPL Co-Commissioner and FFFF President.

"Anyways, we had probably the most effectively organized and strategic military retreat in all of Atlantian Oceanian history executed yesterday. Executed, of course, by me- the world's greatest military commander." Alex Teran went on. Xolile simply looked at one of her aides- the chaotic Faroleran withdrawal from their capitol had been disastrous by all accounts, nothing more than soldiers turning, grabbing their guns, commandering the closest possible vehicle, and booking it. They stared at each other, and looked back.

"Alex." Ruperto then asked. "What do you need?"

"Well, of course, we are fighting a lot of forces. And now, having been invaded- by what functionally counts as the Yue private military forces."

"Where are you? You left the capitol?" Xolile asked.

"Well- we're in the outskirts. What you'd call suburbs." Suddenly, there was some yelling in the background. And then, the sound of a gunshot. "Look, yeah, we gotta run. But c'mon- please! Help us! Without you, Farolera will die." It turned out that the Faroleran aid simply fired the gun behind him for dramatic effect. But- it worked.

Xolile Lubabalo simply looked at the ground. "Call a cabinet meeting, Ruperto. We're gonna have to do this, the proper way. Let the Speaker now we're taking an emergency motion to the Lukiiko tomorrow...."

Katikkiro Xolile Lubabalo, speaking to the Lukiiko

"My fellow members of the Lukiiko!" The Katikkiro boomed to a raucous body. There were rumors on what she would speak about- but the Constitution was clear. The Lukiiko had to expressly clear any foreign deployment of Banijan troops, and she was asking precisely for that.

"Just yesterday, I spoke on the phone with Mr. Alex Teran, and was joined by the honourable member from La Olla! (Ruperto Fox) The Kingdom faces no choice- we must move in, militarily, to save the Faroleran project. Without Banijan military forces on the island, we cannot- I repeat, we cannot- have any sort of diplomatic solution. The island is quickly turning into a playground of destruction. We all know what kind of crisis that would cause, correct?"

A ton of both cheers and jeers in the body, before the Speaker got the legislators to calm down so she could continue speaking. "The refugee crisis spawned by the Farf chaos from nearly 3 decades ago would dwarf what we would see now. It would span another refugee crisis among Farves. Banija has always, and will always, hold its arms open to those who need help, especially those from our closest neighbor in Farfadillis.

"Banija has a responsibility to Farfadillis. We cannot allow it to become a Rushmori Playground of Destruction. We cannot allow Marco Hertel and his paramilitary to take over the country. Or the actions of a Yue billionaire to turn the entire land into a vassal state. Nope- Banija must step in. We must, militarily, rescue Farfadillis. And we must, and we will, be at the forefront of a solution where the Farf people are at the heart, not the bottom lines of some Yue billionaire who loves lithium-shitting bats."

The debate was fierce. But time was of the essence- they rushed this vote. Clearing the calendar, they spent 5.5 hours debating this resolution- and then, by a party line, 302-297 vote, the resolution was approved. A deployment to the island of Farfadillis. And Banija's military leaders would be ready.

Two days later, General Assan Beword, the Chief of Staff of the Banijan Royal Army

The Lukiiko, technically, did not declare war. On the ground, that was semantics- they were sending soldiers into a warzone, who intended to fight. Diplomatically, though, it meant a few things. Obviously it meant that they were not officially at a state of war with a nation like Yuezhou. And attacking a military led by a Quebecois citizen, Marco Hertel, who was one of Banija's chief allies, meant the job of the Banijan Ambassador to Quebec was significantly easier. Hertel didn't have much support back home, of course- but Banija was doing what needed to be done.

Beword had just had his plan of invasion approved. A double invasion force. One that would land directly at Puerto Farolero, and try to fight their way into the city. Then, another force of men landing in northern Farolera, and just trying to simply go through as much of the north as possible. The terrain in Farfadillis made crossing even one of the constituent nations, Farolera, nearly an impossible task- but the Banijans gaining a strong foothold in the northern part of Farolera would mean, no matter what, that they'd be involved in whatever future agreement would be had.

The military version of a hedge.

Of course, they'd be welcomed into northern Farolera. Support of the people and the military, they did not expect to have to fire a shot there. And spending years clearing the seas leading into Farolera of kraken, they generally had sea superiority. And, of course, the advantage of geography. They didn't need ships or an aircraft carrier to get planes to Farfadillis- that was quite an easy flight for a military aircraft to make, from Banija to Farfadillis.

The plan is simple.

#1- Start naval battles in the sea. Battleship deployment to fight ships from UR who are coming to support the Yue presence.

#2- Start aerial battles. Second priority, after sea superiority, is air superiority. Preventing UR planes from making the last part of their flights from Yuezhou to Farfadillis. Start bombing targets on the ground controlled by the joint forces of Marco Hertel and the United Republics.

#3- Blockade Puerto Farolera. A tough task to try to launch a blockade of an area while fighting off kraken at the same time.

#4- Invade the city.

#5- Find and secure Alex Teran.

There would be diplomatic reachout to the United Republics, to try and ensure things didn't go completely batshit.. But the General did not concern himself with the diplomatic portion- he had his orders.

He had just gotten to the situation room. The Kabaka and the Katikkiro had both given the go-ahead. And he said the magic words- "Operation Goat Meat is a go." Forces were on the move. Forces were firing.

Would the ambitious gambit work? 25,000 Banijan troops being deployed- in total. Not a small number, but not so large either. Would it be enough?

by **Saint Eleanor** » Mon Jul 31, 2023 9:51 am

OOC 1: The cost of summer holiday childcare in England was recently estimated at ~£156 per week - so ~£8,100/yr, extrapolating, or (assuming 30hrs/week) £5.20/hr. £5.20 = $6.68 due to exchange rates, so the annual dollar figure should be something close to $10,500. Say a nice round 10k for my sanity's sake.

OOC 2: To avoid confusion over RP permissions: know that this match report is fully approved by Huayramarca.

Channel 4 presents THE RACE TO THE WORLD CUP - World Cup 94, second group game
HUAYRAMARCA 3-4 SAINT ELEANOR (Bryan Tello 15, Ian Mamani 47, Edwin Condori 71; Steve Pilchard 35, Jessica Martin 53, Adam Denby 78, Bridget Coombe 89)

Report by Candy Hewitt, Channel 4 football analyst: Captain Bridget Coombe dragged Saint Eleanor out of potential trouble in dramatic fashion, scoring what proved to be the odd goal in seven against Huayramarca at the Álfgrímur Arena in Paschvík, Græntfjall to keep Eleanorian hopes of advancement seriously alive. Astonishingly, prolifigacy and slacking was the order of the day in the opening stages: three of the five shots attempted in the first half-hour veered off target. Rick Goldsmith, off-balance already, put considerable effort into making his shot even worth considering for Juan Mamani, but a palm was enough for the defence to clear. Brian Tello, by contrast, took far more care - getting in front of Esther Launceston, rounding her almost the moment he chested the ball to safety, then almost gliding his effort well beyond John Bailey's reach.
Just about every action today had an opposite reaction. There was no guarantee, however, it would be anything like equal. The opening goal was fulbo at its most fundamental. Steve Pilchard's response, a mere twenty minutes later, was almost a glorious failure. Having initially earned a pass from Exandra Davies, there he could barely get one touch before Nicolás Allauca tapped it out. Fortunately, Sylvia Hollenberg - the dual-national Atoccian princess finally making her debut on this stage - was there to almost immediately return the ball to Pilchard. Barely skipping past Allauca and Ian Mamani, he spotted and passed to Jessica Martin, who was clumsy on the ball but (not for the first time) had a hand in a goal, moving it to him when he was almost lateral to the backline. At that point, he proceeded to smash a long-range effort past the other Mamani and get the team level.
Huayramarca saw this lapse as an existential threat, almost immediately piling on their fellow Anaians. Tello chanced his arm, as he obviously would, and should have put them ahead with a fine fifteen-yard effort that was somehow saved. Gabriel Sayritupac was at it more than most, copping a yellow for tipping over Cathy Winchester almost by accident, generally holding her off when he did play by the rules and barely lashing the outside side netting with his late first-half attempt. It was his fellow winger Abraham Mendoza who proved the most crucial with the first attack after the restart, however, sticking around with the ball and holding Davies off long enough to allow Ian Mamani to enter the box, where he faced minimal challenge in putting them ahead again. Saint Eleanor should have spotted him - he's the team's attacking nucleus and has scored just over once every four games himself - and it is an indictment of their defensive strategy, or lack thereof, that they did not.
The White Stars would never have surrendered without a fight, however. Jessica Martin, Mendoza's opposite number, gave it to them, dribbling from right behind the halfway line, evading Allauca and Carlos Vilca, cutting inside before the rest of the back four could notice and bending her attempt just past Juan Mamani with the outside of her foot. Jamie Rodgers, of SESB, thinks that the move "caught Vilca by surprise." It did not: Martin simply denied him the time he needed for a true response. When he got it, she was bluntly silenced for the remainer. Tim Brandon was brought on in her place for the final moments, but it's safe to argue that every single person in Huayramarca knows his modus operandi and he proved to be a little more effective foil from the go.
The first Huayramarcan response was pure, focused determination. This one proved to be a touch messier, a touch less effective. Sure, there was a Mamani blaster that made Saint Eleanor take notice, a low and droning Sayritupac shot that Bailey couldn't grab onto the first time. The fundamentals, however, weren't as strong as they could have been. Orlando Mina is good at distributing the ball when he isn't facing the prospect of Coombe standing right in front of Mamani willing to hoover up his pass; she set off a mini-chain of passes which left Rick Goldsmith, underwhelming enough to have had one shot off target in sixty minutes, in the position where his copping the bar was surprising for the worse rather than the better. Santiago Chumacero is good at defending - or, at least, not looking like Kevin Quispe - when he isn't sweeping Pilchard off his feet, surrendering a free kick that would have at least tested Juan Mamani if Coombe had only been more inventive with the delivery.
With Sayritupac having been taken off, however - perhaps for purely tactical reasons, perhaps to stave off the injuries he is so well-known for - it was Edwin Condori's time to shine, and did he deliver. He was no less menacing towards Winchester, proving willing to backtrack to almost any extent necessary and chase what was effectively the back six as far as he could to help move the play on. You would be hard-pressed to say he cracked the Eleanorian code when he wrong-footed Winchester, beat Sam Newbridge with pure pace and just about hit the top of the inside of the net right before Launceston could even move the ball out for a corner - but you wouldn't have been far wrong. For the third time - surely the last, if you'd have paid any attention to how patchy the White Stars were in the second half thusfar too - Huayramarca would enjoy the lead.
The only problem was that Huayramarca was, all too often, just not given the chance to stretch out their lead. It's not that they slacked off - they never slack off, not in games as important as these - but that their opposition finally picked up their defensive acumen where they left it at Franz Josef City. Tello did successfully trick Newbridge into fouling him, an incident followed by a shouting match which got both parties in the referee's book - he must have figured that Launceston, straight-laced and introverted, wouldn't do either of those things - but the resultant free-kick ended up nowhere near the goal and, in general, the defenders did an exemplary job at staving off forward pushes before Bailey could be troubled by them.
With the defence in place, it was in the dying ten or twelve minutes that Eleanorian attacking forces could finally make their voices heard. First it was Adam Denby who put Huayramarca to their own sword; brought on almost solely because of Goldsmith's ineptness today, he proved much better as he connected with an early (if forced) pass from Brandon, almost drifted past Allauca and Quispe and - wisely - refused to let Chumacero lure him into danger as he launched a perfect equaliser. David Newcastle, largely out-perfected by Paolo Manco in a quiet individual number, had the final word with five minutes to go; there was some outcry from fans when Quispe arguably used too much force to stop him in his tracks, but the officials' minds were never going to be swayed.
In the end, the fatal mistake belonged to Allauca, who brought down Coombe in what seemed like the most unpromising position Huayramarca could have set up, a nearly-impenetrable thicket of five Condors and three other White Stars ahead of them. From almost thirty yards out and with Goldsmith long gone, there was only one reasonable course of action; of course, she lifted it into the opposite top corner. Finally, the breakthrough - and, once again, with mere minutes remaining. Elena Diaz's takedown on matchday one, on behalf of Baker Park, was gritty, fortitious, perhaps even desperate. This was calm and stylish, as almost expected of Coombe, and came without a hint of trouble too. Maybe, just maybe, she should have helped Saint Eleanor widen their newfound lead in the few minutes they had left, trying to lob a speculative pass in Denby's direction - but Mamani, seemingly in the order of milliseconds, denied the final touch.
This was a win - and one which, much like last time, Huayramarca would have wished they could have, somehow, made the draw it deserved. It was a hard-fought win, one which demanded everyone's attention as their opening loss should have. It was a gratifying win, one which ensured that their overall record would be at least the equal of their only other World Cup showing. It was an instructive win, one which showed them that neglecting defence as much as they did is not only unwanted in the new tactical environment but could prove, and might yet still prove, fatal for their hopes. Most importantly, however, it is a paradoxical win. If their opponents today win their final game, any meaningful result will make the White Stars go through. A draw will require Saint Eleanor to win... a loss, however, will mean they need to win big.

⨷ ⨷ ⨷ ⨷ ⨷ ⨶ ⨷

Thirty Years of Eleanorians - 2003: "I almost can't afford childcare - but I have no other choice"
Published by Simon Howard on June 8th 2005

When Joe and Katie Parsons started saving to help their daughter Beth afford childcare, they knew they had a long road ahead - and not only because they'd have to scramble together enough money for something close to thirty months of childcare. "I'm an admin worker and she helps out behind the stage with the local supermarket, so you can see we don't make a stack of cash. But when you go to some of these places, you're looking at something like eight thousand dollars for a full year of childcare - that's about two grand less than what it is elsewhere in the city but still a lot."

While Beth will not be able to start until the start of "Childcare Term 3" in a month - the start of the year's third quarter - the financial load is at least alleviated by the fact that childcare for two-year-olds is less intense, shorter and cheaper: about $2,500 for a fifteen-hour week over the rest of 2005. "At the rate we've been saving so far, I think we have enough to cover Beth for that period. I'd love to say I'm not too sure what we're going to do when she's three and four, but as I said, that's costing a lot more and we might have to put her on part-time hours, if you know what I'm saying."

Obviously, fifteen-hour "part-time" childcare is cheaper than its thirty-hour "full-time" equivalent - even for older children - which also means it is generally preferred among lower-income and working-class Eleanorians. "We have plenty of vicious cycles here but this is one of the worst. No childcare and you have to sit out of work and hope your other half makes more; lots of it and you're making as much as you did but with a bit more strain on your money. Really, most of us don't have any option but to take out a few hours so the child isn't completely isolated, we can still just about afford it if we cut back a lot and have some of our own times with the children as well. I can't imagine what the situation's like for those with more children."

While the Ministry for Literacy and Numeracy say it has no plans to subsidise childcare, pointing to the relative lack of obstacles for setting up daycare centres, only four new centres have been created in the broader north-western city over the past ten years. The district council in Allington, where the Parsons family live, say it has been able to keep costs down by subsidising daycares rather than places - a markedly different approach from the other, predominantly middle-class districts that have reduced prices below the Eleanorian average. "They're throwing money at childcare centres but nobody wants to open one. We have the most barebones child-staff ratio possible, the staff don't earn a lot to cut down on costs - don't ask me how that works - and we don't even have that much of a shortage but we still can't keep costs down. This isn't a north-west problem, believe me, but we're getting it more than most."

While the Parsons have already found a childcare provider for Beth this year - Joe calls their centre of choice "a nice, cozy place where nobody gets into trouble, which isn't something you get every day here" - their fears for her future appear to be well-founded. "There is a lot of teasing in schools, I think I should know, but I'm not sure anyone's willing to do anything about it unless it gets really serious. Two-year-olds don't seem like the kinds of people who care about what strangers think but when you get further up the childcare tree... let's say I think Beth is going to notice who her other part-timers are and which ones are the full-timers. You know how other places have people bullied over uniform or free school meals? This is an earlier-on version of that. I reckon she'll survive, though."

by **Delte** » Mon Jul 31, 2023 10:29 am

Delte 2-3 Banija
Sports Correspondent Kim Samrodd at the New Skoðarhüb, Hartburg for the Skimpy Matchday Report & Negligible Detail Express (Monday Night Special)

I won't dwell overly long on the finer details of this match, and it goes without saying that Enor Perro was our best player yet again while Young Henry Lightman looks entirely destined for stardom if only someone would read this report and sign him (for free, completely free), but certainly mention should be made of the valiant efforts by all our Reps to Not Get Embarrassed by the world number one national team. How one defines 'embarrassed' in a sporting context and to what extent they were successful might be open to interpretation, but looking back to last year's hapless 0-5 defeat to Huayremarca in World Cup '91 qualifying, when we weren't feeling even slightly embarrassed, suggests that losing 2-3 to Banija in a competition they are favourites to win now that Gnejs, Enda Clentin's Dandelions, have been eliminated is even slighter than not slightly embarrased. Perhaps not slightly embarrassed at all, one little bit, is nearer the mark. Although rightback Perran Garimund failing to appear for the start of the match on account of his being caught up in the Incident At The Library is perhaps a little embarrassing for him personally. Taxhavnite Eddie von Dach was restored to the starting line-up and didn't look embarrassed at any stage, on account of all three Banijan goals coming either from the left or the centre of play. He even registered an assist as Enor Perro scored against some familiar faces that he's been battling with over the years (or months, depending on your perspective) in the Shango-Lets-All-Blow-Each-Other-To-Bits-Fogoa Conference League.

Ready Player 19: Henry Lightman
Vignettes of The Representatives

Forward, age 17, for Rothwarrodton FC; occupation upholsterers' apprentice -

He's the greatest!
 He's fantastic! 
Wherever there's a chance he'll be there, 
He's the ace! 
He's amazing! 
He's the strongest he's the quickest he's the best -
 Henry Lighthouse!
 Henry Lighthouse! 
HENRY LIGHTMAN!!!

He's the greatest! 
He's fantastic! 
Wherever there's a chance he'll be there, 
He's the ace! 
He's amazing! 
He's the strongest he's the quickest he's the best - 
Henry Lighthouse! 

He's terrific! 
He's magnific! 
He's the greatest advanced forward in the world -
 Henry Lighthouse!
 Power Lighthouse! 
He's the fastest he's the greatest he's the best -
 Henry Lighthouse!
 Henry Lighthouse!
 HENRY LIGHTMAN!!!
 (Available immediately after the World Cup on a free transfer, terms and conditions may apply, scoring rate may go down as well as up, please contact the owner by telegram)

Rake Teinton Women's Institute International Charabang
Far Faraway Correspondent & Travel Editor Sally Nuskcharde for the Shingarter Herald

Whether it was the Prosaic Union who put in a good word for the Women's Institute or whether the local authorities had been convinced that a bunch of old ladies from a remote village in a valley in the farthest corner of the multiverse were simply too geriatric to be a threat to national security, it was decided after the Great Library Sit- & Knit-In of Hovfinger not to deport the Charabang on the condition that they promised on all they held dear that they would behave for the winner-takes-all matchday seven meeting of The Representatives and the Independent Athletes of Quebec in Maigburg. What could possibly go wrong? Well, let's consider the evidence:

The Bubonic Plague: God, not them. The infamous ultras of the Quebecois national teams in various sports have made their names known for their love of indulgences, festivities and most importantly causing chaos and fury wherever they go. Armed with pyrotechnics, torches and of course the hand-held flares, they are famous for their fluorescent banners that are either used to intimidate visiting sides or to humiliate the Grim Reapers for poor performance. Armed with drums, vuvuzelas and musical instruments on top, the sound of the buzzing fans are often a challenge for anybody - both home and away - to play, and while the Bubonic Plague has remained mostly apolitical outside of its usual nationalistic dose, their penchant to end up on various events better belong to current affairs (see: Quebec-Farfadillis second round match that has led into nationwide protests and a massive forest fire across Szoirsia).

- Quebec and Shingoryeo
OOC: Acknowledged with thanks

The Rake Teinton Women's Institute Charabang: Dogs, not them. The infamous moderates of the Deltic foreign legion in various charabangs to the far faraway have made their names known for their love of scones, cream teas and most importantly causing offence and indignation wherever they go. Armed with floral embroidered handbags the size of Bonesea, kerchiefs for any occasion and of course the hand-held crocheting needles, they are famous for their comfortable cardigans that are either used to non-plus lackadaisical shopkeepers or to embarrass fellow Delts who fail to match their standards of becoming. Armed with hearing aids, personal battery-powered cooling fans and smartphones with ringtones turned to 100 that they don't know how to answer, the sound of the chattering ladies are often a challenge for anybody - both in the valley and the far faraway - to encounter, and while the Rake Teinton Women's Institute has hardly remained apolitical outside of it's usual 'garden village in bloom' competitions, their penchant to end up on various charanbangs related to the continuous NS World Cup belong to the sports pages of the Shingarter Herald (see: Old Wives Gala Queen Elections of 2022 that led to valley-wide mockery and a moderatley shocking chimney fire in Margaret Honeyshine's house on Rake Corner).

- Queenie and Sheila Yeovil
IC: Joint secretaries, Rake Teinton WI Charabang Organising Committee

 OOC: 'Henry Lighthouse' adapted from the RL theme tune of the cartoon superhero, Danger Mouse

by **Independent Athletes from Quebec** » Mon Jul 31, 2023 10:43 am

OOC: The spoilered article on Mauril Yoon was RP'd for the IBC 37 and thus not be graded. Rest, however, are open for grading purposes.

Thanks once again to multiple users who have made this possible, another chapter will be provided regardless of my qualification status after MD3.

Starting XI vs. Delte (3-4-2-1, also a 3-4-3):
S. Middleton
Cizeron - Salihamidzic - H. Kim
Miller - McTavish - Wawanolett - Joo P.S.
Hong Y.S. - M'bah-Pinho
Huitema-Omeasoo

Key Substitutes: DF Noel-Hercule McKinley, DF/MF Mariano Kang, MF/FW Otis Tekaronhonte, FW Eloise Kweon, FW Amina Salihamidzic Beckie

SOCIAL SEASONS OF SHIN-GORYEO: SYNOPSIS

For those wondering about the Social Seasons, an introductory article about it is available here.

Year   Season  Month  City            Function
    1    Small   Oct.  Dongnae-Halifax Festival de Dongnae
Brief synopsis: Raoul-Christophe 'R.C.' Jang-Nolan meets his friend Louise and tells her that there will be a new film project of his that could be his 'finest work', but will likely require assistance from a specific studio. 
With a set plan for the presentation of the project, R.C. heads to the premiere at the Festival de Dongnae, where he lightly drops the notes of Rico Sierra, the Quebeco-Krytenian chair of the Monte-Sierra studio, of 'Barbenheimer'. 
Sierra finds it amusing, but informs R.C. to give about a month before deciding on the project.
Cutoffs to occur: July 1 (Louise) - July 3 (Raoul-Christophe) - July 5 (Festival Review)
---
    1    Small   Nov.  Joongyeong      Bal des Ballons
Cutoff to occur: July 7 - July 9
---
    1    None    Oct.  Mlima Kijani        Testiculos Ceremony
Cutoffs to occur: July 27 - July 31
---
    1    Large   June  Montevicio      Montevicio Emerald Ball
    1    Large   July  Joongyeong      Grand Prix de Joongyeong
    2    Small   Oct.  Joongyeong      Final Night of QBC Proms
    1    Large   April Joongyeong      Jongmyo Jerye
    2    Large   May   Songak          Athlone Gala
    2    Large   July  Adelphi Castle  Adelphite Festival

The Social Seasons of Shin-goryeo

PART 6 - T-culos (?) - Armando Sierra-Heo

'Papito! It's almost time for Testiculos,' Armando Sierra-Heo, a tall, toned son of Rico, entered the room and looked at the four individuals inside. 'I hope I didn't interrupt an important meeting.' Armando had dark, curly hair cut short and wore a blue and gold Avidia United jersey and white shorts. Looking more like his father, who had ability to charm the most difficult-looking of men, than his mother, Armando carried with him a light, pleasant smile that would sometimes turn into a smirk.

At age twelve, young Armando would normally call his parents' two-room apartment, which was located right in the Concord Heights Boulevard at the heart of Joongyeong's plush 2eme arrondissement, home. But for most of his time, he was really spending many weeks and months out of town or abroad with his parents whose work schedules - originally as international basketball star and then emerging film producer, and more recently the Montesierra co. chair and Perce Town co-owners - had meant that they would be away for much of the year. Thus he, who had already missed multiple days on his first two months of first year (or year seven) with Lycée-Alexandre-IV, was every bit aloof or ambivalent towards traditional curricula that his mother's family excelled within.

Rico, of course, was happy to have his son on this trip. 'Si, Si, Armando. Why don't you come have a seat with the gentlemen here? I see that they too would be glad to take a little bit of time off the tough times,' Rico answered as he checked back at Raoul-Christophe and the two executive producers, who then responded to their CEO with a slight nod to their head. 'But it will be just for five minutes, you know how long these speeches can be..'

'Of course, dad. It's going to be a short one. Besides, who wouldn't want to watch Reba Wawanolett?' Armando smiled back at his father. 'And one day, Perce Town will have a Testiculo too. I bet it will be AKK (shortened name for Korniloff-Kouyate) - as expected from every Grim Reapers' number-ten.'

Nevermind the fact that Anna Korniloff-Kouyate, while coming from Perce Town's world-class academy that has produced many internationals, came before the Sierra-Heos' time with the club. 'Now, let's turn on the television.' Rico said, as he quickly leaned back into his seat. Being a Krytenian had meant that he, while not being able to witness recent glories of his own country on the World Cup proper (we are purposefully discounting the Cup of Harmony 80 run for narrative sake, folks), still knew it was in his own interest to catch the ceremony. And he, with Jin Zhi Xian having to check the operations of the ships back in the Haiguaidian proper, was not really worried about what the others would think of either.

'Well, it's certainly a ceremony we are seeing...' Chae Sang-Beom said, the old director happy to see the very moment Rebecca-Anne 'Reba' Wawanolett stepping into the podium. What he would not notice, howeve, was the hand gestures made by Raoul-Christophe and young Armando, who immediately noticed the oddity on Wawanolett.

'Papito, what's the very badge Reba Wawanolett wearing?' he asked, his left index finger pointing to a massive, circular sky-blue badge with a white cross and a skull and fleur-de-lis intertwined right in the middle of it. Rico, who didn't notice the sign first, didn't know how to explain to his son about the current Great War of Farfadillis, or the ongoing RQFA-Grim Reapers' dispute that was being fought outside the pitches, and drew a light 'mmm'.

The silence instead would be broken by Raoul-Christophe. 'That's the Rulandese symbol, and knowing the way the fleur-skull's designed, that's about the war isn't it?' Raoul-Christophe raised, as he saw the Chromatik midfielder open his mouth. 'Interesting to see how the public has managed to galvanise themselves around the matter if anything.'

'Precisely so,' said Goh Seung-Jae, the other executive producer being amused to see how such a display, one that gets hard enough to explain as it was, would be made in the heart of Mlima Kijani. 'It does bring us to a very interesting premise though, one that could solve our problem. Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Rico?'

The volume of the actual speech itself was lowered, as the producers and Rico had looked at one another again. Armando, who didn't exactly realise what he was about to cause, looked at them in surprise, and chose to keep watching the speech. The speech, in every sense, was a well-measured, carefully-delivered one of humility where Reba Wawanolett, a Zenit Attawapiskat product who had the privilege of working with legendary Jannick Kontiola (who was also coincidentally a Zenit product fourty years prior), thanked her parents and teammates for making the Testiculos honour. It was one that would follow Songak-native Abel Wesoloski-Okafor as a back-to-back Quebecois recipient (nevermind the fact Abel himself has chosen to represent Banija instead!), one that no doubt felt deeply to Armando's heart.

As for the adults, they knew they had to reach out to a contact. Chae Sang-Beom's eyes, one of excellent acumen when it comes to maximising action relative to value (something that Raoul-Christophe admittedly lacked), glowed on the possibility. Raoul-Christophe also saw a great potential with the idea that was quietly planted inside the head, and while the Pomme d'Or winner still had to figure out on how to make the filming work, he knew that Ruland would be where this quiet vision of a 1940s village, set in middle of the Southern Rushmori War, could be draped in pink.

Rico, while a bit more hesitant due to the logistics in actually reaching Ruland without being shot down, also saw enough premise in the idea itself. Besides, for the hesitation the Avides held towards this idea, he had a contact, a familiar face, who could facilitate this. An agent who's got to know every major sportspeople in this country, whether through representation or acquaintance, in a matter of five years.

Quebec and Shingoryeo wrote:
The Mathletes - Scientific, Literary Venue of Sports Journalism

For Mauril Yoon, Attention, Flexibility and Excitement is key to becoming the next Quebecois super-agent

Hector Satriano Nam

KATTERIMUNK - Mauril 'Mo' Goh knows he's a lucky man.

If anything, he's too aware of it. Too often his friends would tease him saying that he has too good of memory, and that his ability to let an impression or a recollection play into his mind routinely gets into his head.

From time to time he thinks about what-ifs as well: What if he had not worn a retro Dexter Ahn Fighting Irish jersey? What if he had chosen not to wear the shades at Bonneville Airport? Two years ago he didn't always wear his trademark shades, and to this day only chooses to wear it when on a trip. He rarely wears old jerseys in public too, preferring to leave that 'domain of those who have earned the right to wear them'.

And yet he did that day at Bonneville Airport. 'A pure matter of chance, only because I had run out of clothes to wear for rest of that trip,' Mauril says, sitting on his flat in Downtown Attawapiskat he bought last year. 'And if I didn't wear that, I wouldn't have had that fateful moment.'

And if that moment didn't lead into a conversation, he would not be finding himself where he stands right now. If that didn't lead into him reaching out, he'd not be standing in the red carpet of the Maytime Athlone Gala, finding himself alongside a star-studded group of clients and dressed according to Mode editor-in-chief Jamila Schiller's recommendations. There would be no boardroom meeting with the country's biggest sponsors, meetings with QBL, QWBL and QBO general managers, not to mention executive boxes to the World Cup and multiple visits to the Daemyeonggong Palace. If Luigi Tüjângér-Arngna'naaq didn't stop him because of how he was smitten by the Dexter Ahn Fighting Irish jersey from his rookie campaign, he would not be in the line to succeed as Quebec's next biggest super-agent.

In May 2058, things definitely looked different than it does right now. Luigi was 23-year old forward who had long been a staple for the Quebecois men's national basketball team. He was at the Bonneville Airport after running a training camp he had set up in the Bonneville area, where his wife Ada Beleskey came from, and was on his way back to Wansan. While a basketballer by the virtue of his height, and his light frame had not exactly made him a football player in his youth days, Luigi held significant sport for the sport of gridiron and would remember the year and the edition of most replica or authentic jerseys he would see on streets.

So when Luigi who barely got past the customs for his flight back home - 'There's a long story behind that with my luggage, I'll explain another day', says he - but the 24-year old managed to draw Luigi's attention on time with the Dexter Ahn jersey and shades. After much deliberation between him and his partner, footballer Jordyn Mah then of Wansan Noksaekjeonsa, Luigi would approach Mauril about the jersey. And while Mauril only had the jersey because of his uncle who had played with the quarterback considered to be the greatest Quebecois to have played with Kingston Argonauts, he knew his efforts to answer a question would not go wrong. A quick chat later they would exchange numbers and naturally became friends.

Four years later, the 28-year-old Mauril Yoon's still feeling the buzz of his recent fame. First a basketball fan, he is watching on the executive box at Galaxy Arena in Katterimunk, talking to Basketball Quebec executives and like-minded coaches and agents with their respective views on the Grim Reapers. Yoon dresses simply with a dark suit and dark, well-polished Stefano Mariani shoes, but keeps his style of wearing without a tie.

When asked who's his favourite women's basketball player, he responds straightaway. 'June Mayberry, and not even close,' Mauril says. 'She has impeccable footwork and shoots elegantly, but really has that sense of tempo that is very hard to be ignored. She was one of the biggest reasons behind our championship win back in Poafmersia.'

And to prove that he's not joking about his adoration of the swing-woman, Mauril heads to the sidelines to see Mayberry, who immediately welcomes him with an embrace. 'Not bad huh?' Mayberry says. 'Nope, it's a good day of competition for you guys,' Mauril grins back. 'I'm not the player here.'

And Mauril is aware of that. If anything, what he's most aware of is the fact that he's next in line as the next Quebecois superagent. He is aware that it is a difficult world with agents all competing against each other, with them trying to figure who's going to represent who, and what can bring the best out of them, but that goes past his interest range. When Mauril Yoon was named the successor to chair the Maison M corporation last April to succeed the retiring legend in Pierre McCarthy, he had made the final part clear.

'His situation is interesting for sure,' answers FAS TV commentator Simone Cha. 'Pierre McCarthy's never the one to take a lot of clients, and only takes several athletes he considers to be generation-defining. Think of it like a Marvel movie phase, maybe, but previous generation would have the Wesoloski-Okafor brothers - yes, this includes the volleyball legend and the Testiculos winner - while household names Zinaida Woodcarver, Joelinton Dyxkeson, and Jean-Christophe Babin are all there.

'Obviously none of the names mentioned here are going anytime soon, but is Maison M already preparing for the next generation? Quite bold, but if the rumours of Pierre McCarthy's health issues prove to be true, then we must consider this to be a pre-emptive action than an ill-prepared move.'

When asked about the transition, which is aligned with his representation of a half-dozen budding stars of teenage years, Mauril limits commenting on it. 'Whatever the words Pierre and I had discussed about the future of the organisation stay between us for now,' says Mauril. 'But I assure you there won't be much change. We aren't that different of people after all.'

Two weeks after Mauril had returned from his friend's wedding in Bonneville, Luigi called him saying that he had booked a dinner at Joongyeong's 'Le Relais de Pomene', a famous steakhouse known to be frequented by members of the political elite for his connotation. Luigi and Mauril both held degrees at a Lotus League institution - Mauril wrote a Masters thesis on contemporary Korean literature with neo-modernist oeuvres of Asher Lundrigan - and held love of travelling coming from their familial backgrounds. Luigi spoke 6 languages, attributed to his growth in Iqaluit with an Inuit father and Rulandese mother, while Mauril grew up with a ex-diplomat mother.

Passionate and friendly, Mauril would stay in distance, watching Luigi spend a full month, back and forth between Joongyeong and Wansan, for a full month. There they would talk for hours, of course, but knew they had to keep distance. 'We had to establish the common ground first,' Luigi says. 'Get too close and you could fall into a dangerous territory. Get too far apart and you lose the meaning of trying to figure out who's the right person to represent you.'

The efforts would pay off, however, with Mauril receiving a call from Pierre McCarthy, Luigi's agent with his own cadre of uber-famous clients. Upon Mauril answering the call, 50-year old McCarthy told him that he was interested to bring him as a young assistant. 'You know what you are doing, young gun,' Mauril says, recalling the very words said by the super-agent. 'And he said that he wanted me to come to Songak to start working for the Maison M.'

In the past four years since then, Mauril Yoon would become a distinguishable part of the Maison M machine that, while maintaining its current group of marquee clients. bBst demonstrated through back-to-back Testiculos winners Abel Wesoloski-Okafor (Pierre's client dating back to Mipojoseon academy days) and Rebecca-Anne Wawanolett (Mauril's client), this is a membership that continues to expand while maintaining uniquity attached to its name. He makes that part clear when asked about it: 'Pierre and I may be doing things on same picture, but we have different clients and we express our feelings and plans differently,' he says. 'Pierre wants more...consistent guys, while I welcome more character guys. It's been a blast because we were able to compartmentalise on that.'

Passionate with his love of the life of party, and also with underrated sense of culture and politics, Mauril would not stay quietly within the domains of representation, seeking to improve the player brand altogether. His love of travel and understanding of many sports alike would lead him into most unexpected of cities and destinations he would go, and Mauril would note them back to both the head office and the client. He also keeps a close eye on the organisational directions, something that he, who hopes to transition into more traditional sports administration in distant future, likes looking into.

Being under Pierre McCarthy, a Jorge Mendesian figure who prefers to minimise clashes between his clients and teams, has no doubt helped him to develop quickly. While working on his certification under the RQOC, McCarthy let Mauril take part in negotiations, ask past and present GMs questions, and also to attend open meetings of the Imperial and Royal sporting councils (two crown agencies part of the Ministry of Sports) and the Royal Quebecois Olympic Committee. 'I learned a lot, just absorbing everything out there,' Mauril says. 'and to not take things for granted. Always look into the forest and not the trees because you always have to look into everything when you are an agent.'

This sentiment rings across his clients who, while coming from different sports, bond easily with one another through same range of interests and backgrounds. This is particularly evident among his younger clients - Tihon striker Oberon M'bah-Pinho and Levis Athletic phenom Horace Karugunda have been good friends for past half-decade, with both growing up under athletic families of one another in Joongyeong, while Karugunda and Montreal Koreana winger Didier Garnacho, who represents his father's country in Kirungabi, share connections as members of the Quebec's sizeable Kirungan diaspora. Also on his roster is Layvin Son-Saka, the Quebeco-Banijan left winger who scored 27 goals in his sophomore season with St. John's Arsenal as a seventeen year old - a natural choice given Abel Wesoloski-Okafor's value to the Kadongo Kamu.

'Common ground, across all sports, is very important,' says Mauril. 'That's also why it's going to be difficult to represent more than, maybe, ten members at a time. You have to give a proper damn detail across multiple sports, and you can't stick to one sport or do fifty clients. That's not fair towards nobody.'

And he's still working towards finding the right answer to it.

'If we wanna do this, we cannot do this without Mauril Yoon's help. Other times we would rely upon a more proven contact, like the Quebecois Consulate, but the Consulate itself is a five-floored fortress of own and you will need Erin Kang or Mathinna Bouck's name to get around there. Trust me bros,' Rico Sierra said, as he looked back into the part where Reba Wawanolett would finish the five-minute speech with a simple shout 'FORZA RULANDEA'. 'Old man Pierre McCarthy would be saying no, sure, but he's still hospitalised, and this young buck Mauril I heard is a thrill-seeker.'

While the speech was followed with a mix of boos and applauses reflecting the venue, not to mention frowns from the eyes of Graintfjaller presenters and Abel Wesoloski-Okafor, he knew this was still a task worth taking. 'Go get him on the call.' Raoul-Christophe said.

by **Tumbra** » Mon Jul 31, 2023 10:58 am

The following roleplay has been retconned. In the interest of not letting it become lost media, it has been spoilered.

SPECIAL EDITION: PARLIAMENT DISSOLVED
Country Thrown Into Election Mode By Surprise Announcement; Union of Right-Leaning Parties Announce Alliance; Hung Parliament Seen As Most Likely Outcome

STRATON: Midway into the country's Parliamentary term, Tumbrans all across the country will be heading back to the polls after Prime Minister Stephen Williams dissolved the House of Representatives — the lower house of the country's federal Parliament — this morning. The move comes after a crisis in the government involving the right-wing, rural interest National Party, long-time coalition partners of the centre-right Liberal Party, forcibly split itself from its near century-old coalition agreement. The move was enacted, according to National leader and former Deputy Prime Minister Jack Hinchcliffe, was to allow the National caucus to "strike its own path" in an "increasingly hostile environment to the time-honoured Tumbran tradition of federalism."

For his part, Hinchcliffe's sudden move — which drew criticism from certain quarters of the National Party, not least his predecessor as leader, Jon Blair — also split the National Party in twain. Votes conducted in the northeastern branches of the National Party — those in Napier and Bechor — gave an indicative result that they would remain allied to the Liberals, and would look towards "closer relations with the Liberals," in a joint statement released by both branches. The man considered to be the leader of that northeastern branch — Minister for Health Tom Gregory — formally submitted his resignation from the federal National Party and caucused with the Liberals this morning. He was joined by the nine other National MPs from Bechor and Napier, as well as Jon Blair — bringing the National splitters to eleven, from a caucus of thirty-one.

The move by the Nationals to leave the government deprives the Government of its majority, with the Government now seating 321 members (296 Liberals, 14 Moderates and 11 rebel Nationals), while the total numbers on Opposition benches total 329 (285 Labour, 21 from the Alliance, 20 from the Hinchcliffe Nationals, and 3 from the far-left Social Democrats). The left-leaning parties have confirmed that they will be unwilling to lend the Government supply, even in any form of confidence-and-supply deal, meaning the situation for the Prime Minister had become unteneable.

In a short, terse statement delivered on the doorstep of his central Straton offices, the Prime Minister announced that he was seeking the dissolution of Parliament and "go back to the country for a renewed mandate". The opposition Labour party, seemingly having pre-empted the move, called for a "movement of left-wing unity" with the progressive Alliance and the socialist Social Democrats; with leader Bertram Andrews announcing that his party was "ready for government" barely three hours after the news of the dissolution. The National-led right, meanwhile, is reportedly in eleventh-hour talks with several other smaller parties on the right — including the right-wing New Democrats, who have 7 Senators in the upper house of Tumbra's parliament but 0 MPs — and the Conservatives, who have been without parliamentary representation since 2033. There have also been reports of former Georgia Premier and presidential candidate Max Young's Federalist Movement being in talks to join this nascent right-wing alliance; which would present Young as a prime ministerial candidate of the unified right focusing on stopping the "Flattening" — the popular term for the merging of the 25 states of Tumbra into 10 larger, easier-to-administer provinces.

"It certainly feels like a pivotal moment in Tumbran political history that we're living through," said Associate Professor Marcus Landingham of the University of Couno. "This split in the National Party looks to be near-permanent, and could see the Nationals focus more on southern issues now that they've effectively shed their northeastern branches." Political commentators were abuzz throughout the afternoon, focusing on the leaders of the various right-wing parties and the prospect of the alliance — tentatively called the People's Party — and how their entrance into the political scene might spell danger for the Liberals.

A snap poll released right after the dissolution revealed that support for both left and right-wing alliances — the usually centrist Moderates were counted as part of the right, owing to their association with the Liberal Party over the past six years of government — showed that Labour and the Liberals are neck and neck, with the prospect of a truly hung parliament in the mix. Should Parliament find itself in deadlock, then the country might find itself going through several rounds of elections as it struggles to find a government — similar to the situation five years ago, where two elections were held in 2029 to find a stable government.

by **Huayramarca** » Mon Jul 31, 2023 11:00 am

OOC: The Huayramarcan elections have happened already, but that will be covered in the next couple of RPs.

News Compact – 15/09/1989

Written by: Cristina Caicedo
15/09/1989 – Last Updated: 11:36 P.M.

Huayramarcan National Team: In one of the rarest, but most powerful gestures from La Banda de la Alpaca for years, the supporters group sang, after the Condors got defeated 3-4 against the Saint Eleanor’s Peregrin Hawks, the song that football fans across the Multiverse have heard in Spanish-speaking countries, a popular war cry for the hurtful fan after their team got defeated in a key match… ”Jugadores, la concha de su madre was heard in Paschvík after that match.

The Huayramarcan players, sad after the defeat that left them dead last in Group D standings after two matches, made gestures asking for apologies after a rather tasteless, and disappointing start for a team that was expected to replicate what they did in the last WC Group Stage (3-0-0). As it happens with every team around, some may have ups and then downs, but the capability to react is what matters the most, it will be the time for Huayramarca to show what they’re built of, to show that the moniker of being the 7^th best team in the Multiverse, earned through hard work, is not in vain, to prove out that the last World Cup was not a mere casualty, or even worse, a fluke/outlier.

To get into context, singing “jugadores” during a match is one of the greatest symptoms of dissatisfaction of a fanbase against their team, a clear indicative that they need to improve before the fans decide to scale things up. In most nations, that could have more footballing culture compared to the one that Huayramarca has, football fan groups are often empowered to show their feelings, be it positive or negative, towards the team, as an attempt to make them feel better, or cause internal “feedback” to let them improve. In this case, there are some interesting words that show the extent of Huayramarcan Spanish profanities that we will explain for those reading us, or even getting in touch with our culture for the first time.

“La concha de su madre” (your mother’s cunt) is a big way to kick off a chant, to refer explicitly to their mothers is one of the harshest and more common ways to insult in Huayramarca, to the point that “your mom” insults are the ultimate display of anger of a person before, of course, wishing them their death, this is complimented by “la concha” which is a heavy slur we won’t interpret in-depth because of its highly vulgar meaning. “¿por qué no ponen huevo?” (Why don’t you show grit?) is the main complain of the fan base, as they’ve been recriminating a lack of compromise, and even arrogance from the team, some people have said that the Huayramarcan National Team has showed a lot of overconfidence in the field, this due to the excessive number of attempts to do fantasy movements, such as backheel passes, attempting to dribble the entire defence, etc. That is, for fans, lack of grit, “falta de huevos.”

Blâás Âgínsôgnó, the manager of the National Team, said in a press availability “My teams always play with grit, that’s something I emphasise them every single day.” Then he continued saying “The day I notice somebody playing without ‘huevos’ that’s the day I’ll kick them out of this National Team for good.” Grit has been a stalwart of the Huayramarcan National Team since Mr. Âgínsôgnó took the Condors in command, showing high-intensity football from beginning to end of the match, pressing the rivals and keeping control of the ball for most of the game, as a way to showcase their imprint of football, and tying the rivals’ hands for good. During this Qualifier, the team was able to recover after two defeats in a row, in a pretty similar scenario to this one, but the team was able to recover soundly from it, jumping from third to first in the Group 2 leaderboard.

“Queremos campeonato” (We want a championship). This demand is pretty clear, and part of the overall question fans, and pretty much everybody in Huayramarca, asked at the beginning of this cycle “Will we be able to give the next step towards silverware?” Solid performances both at WC and CAFA, reaching Quarterfinals in both, have made the fans wonder if there is chance to do so, if we can see legendary players such as Bryan Tello lift cups into the air. There is a thing that these two matches, and the defeats against Zwangzug and Flavovespia, have showed of the Condors… “The Condors are too fearful sometimes.” Fearful as respectful of the rivals, innocent as they haven’t had as much experience as other nations such as Baker Park (who achieved their 15^th qualification in a row, or basically, every single WC Cycle they’ve taken part of).

Despite Huayramarca has already five cycles of straight World Cup Finals qualifications, there’s still need to do further progress in this tournament to not only get used to it, but to gather experience and enable a cycle of feedforwarding to future players, one they can get used to it since their early years in football and earn enough experience for future breakthroughs in this kind of tournaments. History has said “Do one great World Cup, have two horrible performances before having another great tournament” that’s a bit of a mental limitation from the players, as they need to break paradigms and play as they usually do, high-intensity football, high concentration and dedication to outscore the rivals as much as possible.

“We know the fans want some silverware, but that takes time to build, takes a lot of effort and dedication, lot of great and horrible moments in the same proportion.” Said Bryan Tello in a press conference, then he added “We haven’t been in the best of shapes in this World Cup Qualifier, but be sure that this isn’t over until it’s over.” Refering to the chances of a qualification if they manage to defeat Vilita in the next matchday. Hopes and Vilita are a word that has repeated quite a lot as of late, as a newcomers in World Cup 90 in Vilita hoping to qualify for Round of 16 in our maiden appearance, hoping to perform the first immaculate performance of this team in history in a World Cup Finals to say the less; the Vilitans have been there, as witnesses, that hope and Huayramarca are a dynamic duo.

But things are not only depending on what we get from the Vilitans, it goes further away as our hope also depends on a result combination of Baker Park defeating Saint Eleanor, as simple as that. The Eleanorans, who are tied with the Vilitans, have a +1-goal difference, compared to the +2 that the Vilitans have. If Huayramarca (-2) defeats Vilita by two, they get over the Vilitans in the GD, aside from the head-to-head tiebreaker. In the other hand, a 1-0 victory from Baker Park and a hypothetical victory of Huayramarca by two goals would be enough to send the Condors to the Round of 16/Octofinals once again. Summarising, Huayramarca must win by two or more, Baker Park must win, no matter how.

Ian Mamani has some words on fans and the delicate combination that could send Huayamarca either to heaven or hell: “It is not the best situation we could have been facing, but it is preferable than being totally out of contention. If there is hope, we will be willing to fight and achieve victory. Fans shall know that the rivals also play. They, as we, want to win this trophy, they want glory… But we will demonstrate against Vilita that we want glory, we are thirsty of it!”

Continuing in the analysis of what has failed, Mr. Âgínsôgnó was somewhat critic with the midfield, as he said “I have talked with the players, we need to have more control of the tempo and the ball, we must not be dominated when it comes to handling, we must have improve our connections between the midfield and the attack, we must not waste players like Bryan (Tello) and Diego (Uscamayta) who can be decisive for us when it comes to create chances.” Then, the manager added, “We need to create chaos for the rival and order for us, in chaos we will thrive, henceforth we need to be unpredictable for our rival. We will achieve that if we give more freedom to players, which is something I’ll give for the next game, I’ll let them have fun and do what they do best, outscoring.”

And that’s the fact that stands, Huayramarca has been displaying a quite predictable pattern in these two matches, as Orlando Mina and Nicolás Allauca have been trying to connect directly with Gabriel Sayritupac or Abraham Mendoza, instead of allowing Ian Mamani to do said job. Mamani has been, usually, a complete source of random passing and unpredictability, the field where fulbo flourishes the most. It isn’t only that, it is also how Allauca and Mina combine with Mamani the ingredient that adds more chances for the midfield to cause havoc to the rivals, not omitting Mamani; that lack of creativity has paid a quite expensive toll to the team, being the root cause for being almost against the ropes. More predictable patterns, the easier to the rival to predict what the Condors will do.

Fans, in the other hand, are now showing more optimism than before, as they will not let the Condors fall, hence support will be guaranteed at this critical match. Huayramarcan, don’t let your team go down, support it and make those 11 players be as strong as the 36 million people backing them, there’s no tomorrow! It is the time to find the way, no matter how, but to find it and get through the Round of 16 against all the odds. We are Huayramarca, a nation built between the harsh climate of mountains, the impenetrable jungle, the seas, and coast, let’s show them all what are we built of!

Ocean of Ayes Crisis: After some months in this situation, going through different crisis in electoral issues and timings, René Dañín has been confirmed to continue in the round table to discuss the solution to the issue in the Ocean of Ayes, same as Gabriel Silva and Erminia Carranza. Being the experts, and being in touch with the whole situation as it started, has helped the troika to continue in the negotiations, which are continuing to move towards a Carranza-Mihaly Accord, a proposal that might allow Cardenao to take over the Isla Aloshaki, without any backlash from the Anaian community, as it would be a protocol to have a “smooth transition” according to Carranza. Meanwhile, there are different points in analysis outside of it, such as the drug-smuggling task force that would allow the nations in the Ocean of Ayes have more military presence, but under a unified structure.

In related points to the military taskforce, the Huayramarcan Navy and the Anti Narcotics Division of the Huayramarcan National Police have intercepted, what it seems to be, a makeshift submarine of unknown origin but with a Delaclav pilot acting as a mule. The pilot, aged 21, whose name hasn’t been released yet was detained 500 kilometers away from the shores of the San Carlos Archipelago, in an operation that required the support of the ~~decrepit~~ state-of-the-art HNS Illapa (named after the Huayramarcan mythological god of war, chaos and thunder), the Delaclav mule surrendered after getting out of the submarine, swearing the officers and trying to flee while intoxicated with cocaine.

The mule, in an interview, said “I expected to sell the drug in Huayramarca, then send it to Mertagne through the mountains were, easily, could be seen as snow. You know, there’s a big market there and I need to take advantage of, I need to… [mule proceeds to sniff the drug under police possession] make a living and have a profitable business, as every entrepreneur would like to.” The police are said to send the “entrepreneur mule”, as it has been christened in social media, to the Torre Penitenciaria located in Guayaquil’s infamous Guasmo Norte (a zone known for being a hot spot for drug dealing) where the mule will wait for his trial.

This situation has made Carranza and Silva emphasise in the importance of an anti drug-smuggling joint task force, this also after rumours from corruption watchdogs in Huayramarca that the Anti Narcotics Division is, apparently, not destroying the drugs, but rather selling it to Mertagnian smugglers across the mountains in the border. A serious allegation made and supported by evidence of sudden enrichment of police officers having luxurious mansions and vehicles, is “a clear indication that Huayramarca needs help” to combat drug smuggling, henceforth “a task force” will be needed to combat the situation.

The diplomats at the Koroa City Summit are still analysing the proposals of the Huayramarcan troika, but it may be likely that they will receive enough support to cede Isla Aloshaki to Cardenao, and creating the anti drug-smuggling task force to hit the mafia that has been born inside the Huayramarcan police.

More News At Trome:

Delaclav Mule: Bad Hamster releases a single reggaeton song about the odyssey of the mule, mixing it with romantic content. Los Sesenta hits feature the song in top 1.
People searching for snow at the border of Mertagne and Huayramarca. Hordes searching for it to be higher than the mountains.
Police officer arrested after selling drugs online: “It is only the tip of the iceberg called Huayramarcan National Police” says Corruption Watchdogs.
Felling alone? Pubs offer 50% discounts to let people watch Huayramarca vs Vilita
Virus-infected USB kills two AI’s, perpetrator under investigation of police.

by **Kelssek** » Mon Jul 31, 2023 11:04 am

Maradrogba’s goal sees Kelssek into second round

Kelssek survived a late battle but suffered significant casualties as they guaranteed a spot in the last sixteen of the World Cup with a win against Mytanija. After taking a two-goal lead, Mytanija fought back twice to stay oe goal behind, but ultimately couldn’t grab the vital equalizer. Kelssek faced a nervous end to the match after being down to ten players when Issac Lafreniere was sent off following a fracas in the 86th minute of play.

Danielle Maradroga’s pinpoint strike stood as the winner after the dust had settled, and the Kelssek team will have a sense of relief that they got out of there with three points. A pair of quick goals in the first half helped them on the way, as Eoin Bream struck the opening goal from an acute angle that had the Mytanija goalkeeper upbraiding the defenders for leaving the midfielder free. Loïc Maçon-Petrault had Kelssek 2-0 ahead less than two minutes later as he met Bryan Hartpoach’s corner kick with a glancing header that spun into the roof of the net.

Mytanija pulled a goal back shortly after the second half got underway and Danille Maradrogba used her pace to win a 50-50 ball and howitzer a shot that clipped the inside the far post before restoring the two-goal advantage. Myantija’s talismanic striker Drazen Skara came up with a touch of skill to keep his team in touching distance.

Tempers flared after Alejandra Younes clattered into a tackle on Mytanija’s Ismet Zmiric, who got up from the tangle of legs by kneeling on the Kelssek player. This drew a crowd as both teams took exception to various occurences. Lafrenière was sent off after the fracas when a video review saw him catching a Mytanija player on the chin with his elbow. He will be suspended for at least the final group match against Audioslavia, but further sanctions could follow if tournament officials deem the violent conduct serious enough.

Saint-Louis stood behind his player and suggested the Mytanija players were the instigators. “It’s unfortunate, he’s putting his arm up to protect himself and the guy getting into his face takes it in the chin. I have to accept the decision but I don’t understand how there was only one red card.”

Another possible absence could be captain Colm Ó Tuathail, who suffered an apparent hamstring injury late in the match and was substituted in the 83rd minute. Saint-Louis confirmed the medical staff were assessing Ó Tuathail but suggested it was a minor problem.

“I don’t have anything to tell you. He felt he had to come off and we’ll have to see, we do not have to risk it but I know he’ll really want to play against Audioslavia.”

MYTANIJA 2 – Papez (50’), Skara (74’)
KELSSEK 3 – Bream (26’), Maçon-Petrault (28’), Maradrogba (61’)
Maraipu, Buené, Lambert, Camserhe, Usher (Earrach 78’), Bream (dí Völará 78’), Ó Tuathail (Younes 83’), Lafrenière, Maradrogba (Hartpoach 78’), Maçon-Petrault (Goh-Lemaire 83’), Ahmad

by **Tikariot** » Mon Jul 31, 2023 11:58 am

Part 1 of Darkness Descends
Part 2 of Darkness Descends
Part 3 of Darkness Descends
Part 4 of Darkness Descends
Part 5 of Darkness Descends
Part 6 of Darkness Descends
Part 7 of Darkness Descends
Part 8 of Darkness Descends
Part 9 of Darkness Descends
Part 10 of Darkness Descends
Part 11 of Darkness Descends
Part 12 of Darkness Descends
Part 13 of Darkness Descends

Lucifer has disappeared, leaving the quartet around The Shadow in the debilitating cold of the ice cavern.

“Let’s get out of here before we freeze to the ground.” The Shadow gives a determined nod and starts to walk further into the cavern.

“Do you know where we have to go?” Sanford asks.

“Absolutely no idea.”

“Oh, fantastic…”

The cavern stretches as far as they can see, the distance looking like an amorphous mass of white and grey. Time has lost its meaning and the unchanging cold is really taking its toll now, the numbness from the ice they have been walking on spreading further and further, breathing becoming harder and more painful.

“This starts to feel as if he only gave you the ring to get us on the way to endlessly wander around here until we freeze to death.” Myfanwy’s voice sounds frail and shaky, her teeth chattering.

“The thought has occurred.”

“Wh-when?”

“I don’t know, I have completely lost any feeling for time.”

“And feet and hands…” Alistair mutters under his breath.

The Shadow stops and turns toward the others. “Do any of you have any better plan than continuing?”

The three shake their heads.

“Didn’t think so.”

Without another word, he turns and continues on. After another indeterminate period, their steps have become sluggish and slow, their strength waning quickly. Suddenly Myfanwy exclaims, “Look!”

The Shadow looks up and follows her outstretched arm. In the distance, a red glow can be seen amid the endless sea of white and grey. They all seem reinvigorated with the end of the icy desert finally in sight. At least, that is what they are hoping. The terrain is still treacherous, however; more than once, they almost slip and fall as they speed up. Ever so slowly, the glow becomes stronger even though they still cannot see the source.

The Shadow hopes they will make it to this Thunderforge Lucifer had spoken of before their strength runs out. Despite the renewed hope, this nagging doubt refuses to go away. What if they had gone through this whole ordeal and had risked their lives more than once just to fail before the last step? Finally, the glow becomes stronger, and what appears to be a smaller cavernous tunnel emerges from the ice. Despite the ground still as slippery as before, they embark on a jog, excited to finally leave the cold.

They are finally making faster progress, and the cold becomes less painful as they get closer to the tunnel. Unfortunately, one side effect of the rise in temperature is that the ice is starting to melt ever so slightly, causing a thin film of water on top that makes it even more slippery than before, hampering their progress somewhat.

Suddenly, Myfanwy’s foot breaks through the ice and arms flailing, she tries to regain her footing, but the slipperiness makes it almost impossible. The Shadow and Alistair both grab one of her arms, pulling her with them toward the approaching tunnel, barely able to keep their momentum and silently hoping that this was not an omen of the ice becoming too thin to walk on.

Thankfully, the rising temperature causes the ice to give way to solid rock quickly, and they collapse to the ground, exhausted. The heat emanating from the tunnel feels scorching after the numbing cold of Cocytus. Despite not knowing if they are alone or if there is any danger lurking in the tunnel ahead, they give in to their exhaustion and pass out within moments.

He has no idea how much time has passed when he awakes. He feels warm and strangely comfortable despite the hard stone under his back. A warm and soft shape is snuggled up against him. Opening his eyes, he sees a wild array of red hair splayed across his chest and shoulder, and he can’t help but smile. He knows that they have to continue on, but at the same time, he doesn’t want this moment to end. Carefully lifting his head, he sees Alistair and Sanford fast asleep as well, Alistair’s snores echoing through the tunnel entrance and he muses that this alone likely was enough to keep any potential predators at bay.

He puts his hand on Myfanwy’s shoulder and gently shakes her awake, eliciting a groan and her trying to swat away his hand. He can’t help but chuckle. “Hey, sleeping beauty, we’ve got get going.”

“No.”

“You want to stay in hell?”

“Maybe.”

He laughs out loud.

“Stop it, trying to sleep here.”

The Shadow takes a deep breath. “You can sleep as much as you want to once we’re out of here.”

Myfanwy lifts her head, but her face remains obscured by her hair. “Promise?”

“Promise.”

She sighs. “Alright.”

With another loud groan, she sits up, trying to sort through her tangled hair. As The Shadow tries to get up, he feels as if a whole battalion of minotaurs has repeatedly run over him. He limps over to the two sleeping men and shakes them awake, getting the same negative response as Myfanwy’s.

Stretching to get some of the kinks out of his muscles, he states matter-of-factly, “Alright, if you want to stay here, we’re going. Come, milady, we have a forge to find.”

Myfanwy gives a soft laugh as she joins The Shadow in the tunnel. It starkly contrasts the icy wasteland they had traversed and is more akin to the previous circles of hell. The ground is uneven and shiny, almost like the rock had turned to glass. The walls and ceiling resemble petrified flesh, muscles that had turned stone. Flames snake through every crack and crevice, giving the tunnel an infernal feel, almost as if it is alive.

Myfanwy moves closer to him, her uneasiness clear as her head quickly moves from side to side as if expecting the walls to lunge at them. The tunnel begins to wind, its walls looking increasingly twisted and contorted as if the tunnel turned to stone in the throes of pain, narrowing as they advance.

After countless twists and turns, the tunnel terminates in a forge, which looks like an open maw. The fires burning inside the forge are stifling even at a distance. The Shadow looks at Myfanwy, the flames reflecting in her wide-open emerald eyes. He reaches into his pocket, taking out the nine rings they had collected on their journey through the nine circles of hell.

“I guess this is the Thunderforge.” He looks around, and much of the stone and wood surrounding them is aflame, but without actually burning.

“Why did you just leave us?” A deep voice echoes through the tunnel. They turn around and see Alistair and Sanford at a dead run.

“I told you we’re leaving. You’re the ones that didn’t react.”

“Holy shit!” The two new arrivals stare at the forge. “This is it, hm?”

The Shadow nods and starts to explore the forge.

“What are you looking for?” Myfanwy asks.

“A crucible to melt those rings in and some sort of a mould; there has to be something around here.”

They split up to search more efficiently, their progress hampered by the flames springing out of nowhere. Eventually, Sanford calls out, “I have a crucible. Oh shit! This is hot!” He drops the metal vessel, sending it clattering across the ground. Alistair hands him a heavy set of tongs.

“There’s a mould here, I think.” Myfanwy points at a large stone cube with a hole in its top.

The Shadow nods and grabs the tongs from Sanford, placing the crucible on the edge of hte forge. He drops the rings into the container and places the crucible in the fire, wincing against the sheer force and temperature of the flames.

“How long are you going to keep that in there?”

“It’s probably melted already, but I don’t really feel like getting my eyebrows singed off.”

“I have an idea!” Myfanwy exclaims as she grabs another metal container and runs off into the tunnel. The men exchange confused glances. A few minutes later, she reappears, balancing the container, which turns out to be full of water from the melted ice. Without saying anything or breaking a stride, she walks up to The Shadow and dumps it over his head.

“What the--” he jumps back, the icy water almost giving him a heart attack.

“Now you’re wet, so you can’t get singed!”

Despite the absurdity of the scene, he can’t help but laugh. “Y-you are impossible.”

“Just do it!”

He tries to regain his composure and quickly sobers up as he catches Myfanwy’s eyes shooting daggers at him. He walks back to the forge, lifting the tongs and taking a deep breath, he pushes them into the roaring fire. Moments later, he places the glowing container on the edge of the forge. Taking a step back from the blasting heat. He looks at Myfanwy, and she raises an eyebrow.

“Thank you, it worked!”

“Yet you doubted me! See if I follow you into hell again,” she scoffs playfully.

Chuckling, The Shadow grabs the tongs again, carefully manoeuvering the crucible to the mould, pouring the melted gold into it with shaking arms.

“How long are we going to wait?” Sanford asks.

“I have no idea how long gold takes to set, but given how stupidly hot it is here, it’ll probably be a while.”

“Let’s go back to the tunnel entrance while we wait and don’t get cooked,” Alistair suggests.

The Shadow nods. “Yeah, I might get steamed if we stay.” He immediately laughs at the death glare Myfanwy gives him. “I’m just joking, your idea was great.”

Half an hour, or at least what felt like half an hour, later they return to the forge, the fire extinguished. The quartet looks at each other in surprise and confusion. The only source of light are the various flames flickering through the cracks and crevices around the cavernous room. The Shadow approaches the stone mould, trying to find a way to open it, but it looks seamless.

“This is one solid block! This does not open! What now?”

“Please allow me.” The Shadow turns toward Alistair, who has found a large hammer. “Stand back!”

He grabs the hammer in both hands, lifts it high above his head and swings it forward with as much force as possible. As the hammerhead strikes the stone’s surface, a deafening crack fills the chamber, the hammer handle breaking and the head rebounding off the stone, almost hitting Alistair back in the face, clattering into the shadows.

All eyes turn back toward the stone cube, which looks untouched. Then, a tiny crack appears on its rough surface. Like a spiderweb, the crack expands quickly across the whole block before suddenly stopping. The Shadow looks at Myfanwy, who just shrugs. At that moment, the whole block collapses, breaking apart into a heap of fragments.

For a moment, nobody is moving, unsure what to do. Then, The Shadow steps forward, starting to move the debris aside. At first, it seems as if nothing is in the whole pile until, almost at the very bottom, something faintly glimmers in the dim light. He reaches down, and as he pulls it out, it is a golden medallion with a pentagram. He lifts it up, and the detail work is far more intricate than a regularly cast medallion would normally be.

“What’s this?” Myfanwy asks with worry.

He looks around, and a strange mist emanates from cracks in the ground and walls. They turn to escape, but whatever the mist is, it proves too strong, and blackness takes them.

He slowly feels his brain to wake up. He feels wind, cool wind, the air fresh. Birds are chirping, and the low rustle of leaves is transported by the wind. He opens his eyes and closes them again immediately, the sunlight far stronger than any illumination he had seen in any circle of hell. A shadow appears above him, and he opens his eyes slowly. Myfanwy is kneeling by his side, leaning over him.

“Am I in heaven?”

She raises an eyebrow. “Uh, no, but we’re out of hell!”

He smiles at her. “Then this is heaven…”

Line-up for Match Day 3 against the Banija

by **Yue Zhou** » Mon Jul 31, 2023 12:45 pm

World Cup 94 Group Stage MD2: Yuezhou 2 - 0 Brookstation
Yue Starting Lineup: Zhao; Lu (Huang HT), Deng, Yuan, Dong; Wan, Zhaxi (Guo 57); Jiang (Dai 70), Mingsdottír Zhang, Luo Nanwei; Liang (Luo Chuan 81)
Goals: Yuan 50, Mingsdottír Zhang 84
Yuezhou were far from their best in a nervy first half that saw the Dreamers fail to convert several close calls. But in the end, an assured second-half performance saw them pull away to secure a comfortable victory. Brookstation got off to a strong start, with Clyde Park's Moussa Wague in particular torching the Yue defense in the first half. Despite strong performances on the wings, though, the Dreamers were unable to break through the center of the pitch, leading to many crosses that Yuan Mingrong and Deng Daiyu were able to handle. Still, Brookstation twice had strong chances to go up 2-0 - with Robes missing a header at the back post and Wague curling a shot off the post from eight yards out.

Yet again, though, it would be the Dragons to come roaring back after halftime. First, it was Yuan Mingrong who sealed his claim to Man of the Match by heading in Jiang Jieren's corner-kick, rising above both the aging Scott and the young Jacobus to flick the ball past Logan. Conceding such a goal after a strong first half really took the wind out of the Dreamers' sails, and Wague was tamed somewhat by the equally wild presence of Huang Han, a halftime substitute for Lu Lanying, at left-back. It was no surprise then that the run of play steadily shifted in the Dragons' direction for the rest of the second half. Just to be safe, though, it would be Kara Mingsdottír Zhang to score her second World Cup goal in what is rapidly becoming a breakout campaign on the world stage. Zhang would latch onto Luo Chuan's incisive pass, round Lawrence Butler's aggressive tackle, and slot home for Yuezhou's second. The Dragons now have a simple mission: don't lose to Tumbra, and they'll be - miraculously - through to the first knockouts berth in national history. Even a loss could see both Yuezhou and Tumbra through if Brookstation upset Valanora - but Elaine Ashdown's bunch are unlikely to want to leave it to chance.

"Giving Græntfjall cheap natural resources, huh? Didn't you win the Presidency by promising not to do that?" Ma Ailun scoffed via teleconference.

"Ask him," said Liang Ziyou, gesturing to his Foreign Minister - turned - part-time billionaire whisperer.

Zhuang Weilun nodded. "The situation on the ground has...evolved, somewhat. Banija is more than capable of establishing naval dominance if it comes down to us two. They're bigger, they're modernized, and they're just across the Shango-Fogoa. We can hold them for now, but in the medium-to-long term, they'll wrest back the sea. And then you'll be stuck there until they ship enough troops over to swing the tide in Terán's favor."

"Well then, give Überolía more permits, or leave the CRC. Why sell me out?"

"You're welcome to talk to Græntfjall yourself, Ma," Liang offered.

Ma seethed before turning to the fourth person on the video call. "Tuskoles, what do you think? I know what I'm going to say next, but this is a good learning experience."

Tuskoles Yagaras, Ma's right-hand man, thought for a moment and then responded. "Thanks for the opportunity, boss. This might actually be good for us if we can have a say in the negotiation of the exact terms. You've been talking about breaking through to the Græntfjaller market, and this is a way to ensure that Græntfjall follows infrastructure standards that are compatible with Jolt vehicles. A businessman of your caliber can probably get a pretty good deal on the lithium and neodymium rights, and some level of influence in the policies that Kaija ends up pushing through."

"Exactly right, Tusk-"

Liang took the opportunity to interject. "Direct Jolt involvement in war negotiations? Fuck off. That's for the government's eyes only."

"We're the ones bailing you out of this. I didn't have to fundraise for Liberation Army, and if this is my return on investment I sure as hell won't next time."

"Uh, hey, Tuskoles," Zhuang Weilun added. "You probably can't be involved at the highest level of negotiations without a security clearance. But we can try to get on the same page before we talk to Græntfjall. And you can just lobby for your standards to be adopted worldwide as a private company, right?"

Ma perked up upon hearing this. "How about that, Tuskoles? Do you think it's feasible?"

"Hm, I don't know...there was that CORNCOB summit a few years ago, so there's some appetite in Græntfjall to be seen as a diplomatic leader on such issues - especially for Kaija's coalition math to work out in the wake of the recent election. If we frame this in terms of a bilateral government agreement to promote electric vehicles and develop infrastructure, and Græntfjall also separately backstabs Terán for resources, that could be a better point of entry."

"Yeah, that's workable," Zhuang said. "Throw in some fluff about 'public-private partnerships' and we can make it work."

"Exactly what I was thinking, Tuskoles," Ma added with an approving nod.

"Fine," Liang Ziyou said. "It's agreed, then. Have your guys send Zhuang's guys something. And Zhuang? Let's talk after this."

by **Squornshelan Remnant States** » Mon Jul 31, 2023 12:52 pm

An Open Letter to Alex Terán

I don't expect that you know me, Mr. Terán.

My name is Lyyti Vang. I suppose there's some chance you might have heard of my during my footballing career, but either way, that's beside the point.

I write to you, and to the peace-loving peoples of Atlantian Oceania and the wider multiverse beyond, as co-founder of the Brighton-Vang Foundation. I realize that you likely do not know our foundation or our work, but we have become all too familiar with yours. Even before the outbreak of hostilities, when war between Farolera and Rülândéá was mere rumor, ordinary people from across Farfadillis have sought refuge beyond its borders. By plunging half of Farfadillis into war, you have not only killed thousands, but forced tens, perhaps hundreds of thousands to flee their homes.

Here, in the SRS, the Brighton-Vang Foundation and other like-minded organizations have worked to house a small portion of those whom you have displaced. To feed those whom you have starved. To console and comfort those whose loved ones have been lost to your war. I do not doubt that you will look on the suffering inflicted on the peoples you have branded your enemies with delight. But war devastates all who come in contact with it. We have taken in not only Indujan and Rülândése refugees, but many from among your own Faroleran people. If you are not moved by the suffering you have caused beyond your borders, perhaps you will consider those whose cause you claim to champion.

Know that the work of foundations like ours will never be enough to keep pace with the destruction of this war, and that every week, every day, every hour it lasts, more innocents are made victims. Now, this flame you have kindled threatens to grow into a conflagration. Yue and Quebecois troops have landed on your shores. The Banijan navy patrols near your coast. Græntfjall supports you for the moment, seeking another toehold in the region to support their ambitions in Jabal Akhdar. How long now before this war draws in the whole region? How long before the fighting spreads far enough that those caught in its pat find only more violence at every turn? Do you really want a world war fought on your own front lawn?

But it is within your power to end this. You, unique among leaders, can put a stop to the fighting today, if you so choose. And so in the name of the displaced Farves taken in here and elsewhere, and especially those who did not survive the journey toward safety, I beg you. Withdraw your troops. Call for a ceasefire and sit down to the negotiating table. End the killing and the destruction, and let your people rebuild their lives. Today, the fate of Farfadillis, and perhaps all of Atlantian Oceania, depends on you.

Squornshelan Remnant States - 5
Pasarga - 6

Goals:
SRS: Bondarov 24, 60; Ness 55; Volam 78; Byqvist 86
PAS: Salai 11, 18, 72; Sarrazin 16; Biró 70; Pálffy 90+2

Lineup:
SRS: Shimski; Nyberg, Titov, Van (Fridtjofs 90+3), Halfariani (Sauber 58'); Hashemi, Sevet-Ibilx (Byqvist 71'); Bondarov, Volam, Yonte (Maksimov 58'); Ness

What's to be said? For the first time this cycle, the Black-and-Reds conceded more than two goals, and as a result an excellent display of finishing by the attack went utterly to waste. The team will not advance to the knockouts, will not achieve the expectation of making a quarterfinal, and despite enjoying regional success, winning the AOCAF Cup isn't quite the mark of excellence it used to be, and the Squornshelan public will now wait at least two more years for the team's first World Cup knockout victory of the modern era. Not since World Cup 40 has a Squornshelan team won a winner-take all match on the multiverse's biggest stage, and frankly, it's getting old. Now, the team will attempt to save some mostly meaningless face against Gnejs, while SCFA leadership considers the way forward. Will Penrooke's regional success be enough to avoid the boot for this letdown? He did, after all, bring the SRS it's first winner's medal of the current century. How many players from the current roster are about to suit up for their last international match? This result definitely does have the feel of a watershed moment for what has been a very stable first team these last few cycles. Is anyone's position safe? Will strong performances in matchday 3 serve to influence the SCFA, or are the decisions already made? When's the Superleague kick off anyway, and would I rather watch a meaningnless World Cup match or the meaningless ceremonial Supercup? Oh right, no Supercup this season, Algolia won the double. Weird rule, they should change that.

MD01: SRS 11- 1 BRS @ Killough Grove (cap. 31,400), Han Wavel, Han Dold, SRS
MD02: ROS 0 - 1 SRS @ TBA
MD03: SRS 0 - 0 BAR @ New Rudlit Arena (cap. 31,200), Rudlit, West Flania, SRS
MD04: KRY 0 - 4 SRS @ TBA
MD05: SRS 1 - 0 INS @ Synesoft Arena (cap. 46,950), Syneca, Sivolvia, SRS
MD06: DOR 1 - 1 SRS @ TBA
MD07: SRS 2 - 0 TGI @ Overburg Arena (cap. 46,222), Damogran, Algolia, SRS
MD08: CPT 2 v 1 SRS @ Captina Company Sports Ground (cap. ), Geneva City, CPT
MD09: SRS 1 v 0 PUG @ Viltvodle Civic Arena (cap. 58,300), Viltvodle, Megabrantis, SRS
MD10: CBA 0 - 1 SRS @ TBA
MD11:      BYE
MD12: BRS 2 v 3 SRS @ Wimbley Stadium (cap. ~100,000), Council Groves, BRS
MD13: SRS 2 v 2 ROS @ Smolak Systemy Stadion (cap. 31,200), Sjerezo, Molvania, SRS
MD14: BAR 0 v 3 SRS @ TBA
MD15: SRS 1 v 2 KRY @ Striterax Cybernetics Arena (cap. 64,325), Striterax, Isle of Squornshelous, SRS
MD16: INS 2 v 3 SRS @ Aditya Varma Kulashekara International Stadium (cap. 131,561), New Hind City, INS
MD17: SRS 2 v 1 DOR @ Emerald Coast Colliseum (cap. 38,500), Vassilian, Algolia, SRS
MD18: TGI 0 v 1 SRS @ TBA
MD19: SRS 4 v 1 CPT @ Black Raven Field (cap. 35,400), Yassaca, Sivolvia, SRS
MD20: PUG 2 v 2 SRS @ Kejm Park (cap. 28,000), Port Kejm, PUG
MD21: SRS 3 v 2 CBA @ Radlov Arena (cap. 76,800), Brantisvogan, Megabrantis, SRS
MD22:      BYE

First Round Schedule:

MD20: CMT 2 v 1 SRS @ Florus Stadion, Altendalur, GRÆ
MD20: SRS 5 v 6 PAS @ Grand National Arena, Háttmark, GRÆ
MD20: PUG   v   SRS @ TQG Langvöllur Arena, Hofvinger, GRÆ

by **Mytanija** » Mon Jul 31, 2023 1:27 pm

KELSSEK DEFEAT LEAVES HOOPS ON BRINK OF EXIT
BEING BEATEN BY THE ODD GOAL IN FIVE STINGS RAVNJAK IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE

by Nevenka Planinc

“I do try to keep things solid at the back, but sometimes, particularly in international football, there’s only so much planning that you can do. The individual quality of the players means that even the best laid plans can be smashed to pieces.” Misel Ravnjak grumbled following Mytanija’s 3-2 defeat at the hands of World Cup 94 hosts, Kelssek. He had a point, too, with all three of Kelssek’s goals being fine finishes and Mytanija proving no slouches in front of goal themselves, two fine goals pegging the hosts back twice – though the Hoops could not find a late equaliser to take something from the match.

Semir Besak remonstrated with captain Bigger Mbala-Ekakia and Foma Koshkin for allowing Eoin Bream space in the penalty area to get his shot on goal away, though questions could reasonably be asked of the goalkeeper too for being beaten so cleanly at his near post. In truth, neither goalkeeper nor defenders could have stopped what was a fine effort from Bream, one which deserved a goal and reflected the pattern of the opening half an hour. Besak was a little more level-headed post-game: “[T]here isn’t much you can do about those sorts of shots. Perhaps I could have got to it or perhaps one of the lads could have got across to block it, but credit has to go to Eoin there, he’s put it somewhere it’s very difficult to get to. Real quality.”

Ravnjak went from bemused to apoplectic on the sideline when Mytanija found themselves 2-0 down less than two full minutes later. Bryan Hartpoach’s corner was well-taken and Loïc Maçon-Petrault managed to make the first contact, expertly glancing it into the net in between Besak and Papez, stationed on the post. Papez couldn’t move in time and Besak was stranded. Moments later he was angrily throwing the ball into the ground and yelling obscenities at nobody in particular, perhaps seeing ghosts of the Kelssekian attack which had just put Mytanija further behind. Ravnjak’s anger was more concentrated, specifically targeted at his side’s inability to defend the set piece. “You simply cannot concede goals like that at this level, it’s well-worked and a good contact, but we have to snuff those opportunities out and make sure they don’t get to the ball first.” Ravnjak said.

Mytanija started better after half-time, silencing the raucous home crowd for a while with some prolonged periods of possession and attractive attacking play. An adventurous run down the right by Matija Gvardjancic got the Hoops into a dangerous position and when his cross was half-cleared by Loisé Camserhe, Nurija Papez found himself unusually far forward to redirect the clearance back on goal. Papez’s effort managed to sneak just inside the left post, with Jenas Maraipu uncharacteristically unmoved by the effort, perhaps wrong-footed by the quick change of direction and Papez’s quick-thinking. Suddenly Mytanija’s tails were up, and they were pressing for an equaliser, though this left gaps at the back and Ravnjak’s side much more vulnerable to the counterattack.

Kelssek soon capitalised on this by restoring their two-goal lead. Danielle Maradrogba will feature in Foma Koshkin’s nightmares after this game, beating the Lhor defender to a 50-50 with her pace allowing her to streak past him before unleashing a rocket of a strike on goal, in off the post and Besak left with no chance.

“It’s not often you feel that your goalkeeper couldn’t have done much about any of the goals when you concede three in a game, but Semir has been hard done by with the ones today. Maradrogba’s was a thing of beauty, though Foma’s defending should have been better.” Ravnjak said.

Drazen Skara did pull another one back, notching yet another goal in what has been a highly prolific campaign for the striker. It was, in every sense, a classic Skara goal. He took the ball with his back to goal (from Denis Ovsyannikov, which is becoming pretty classic for Skara goals in the hooped shirt of Mytanija), used his strength to hold off the defender before taking a touch out of his feet, spinning and rifling the ball past Maraipu. A goal which would have been fitting of a much higher stage than an ultimately futile attempt at a comeback in the group stage of the World Cup, but unfortunately for Skara he’s playing for a Mytanija which cannot quite reconcile its evident individual quality with its performances as a team.

Just as against Audioslavia, nothing came despite Mytanija pushing hard, though this time there was also no point to fall back upon, no crumb of comfort to take from the draw. It was defeat. And a defeat which leaves Mytanija in a highly precarious position at the foot of Group E. Failure to win on matchday 3 will see the Hoops return home, exiting yet another international tournament at an early juncture. This time it is perhaps unsurprising, Mytanija’s team feels like a team of individuals, one which Ravnjak hasn’t yet managed to knit together in the way which Lev Repin did. This still feels like a Kitanchevesque team, and that might bother some at the FSM who never quite believed that Misel Ravnjak could create a winning formula from Mytanija’s evidently useful component parts.

Pemecutan will be the opponent on the final matchday, and it is a difficult assignment. They are ranked a mere seven spots lower than Kelssek in the world rankings, though they were on the end of a 5-2 beating at the hands of the hosts, something which Mytanija’s comparatively tighter system managed to avoid (it’s all relative, isn’t it? Misel Ravnjak was having kittens when being beaten 3-2, he might have spontaneously combust if he oversaw a 5-2 defeat in the group stage of a World Cup – especially after the 4-1 drubbing Banija handed his side on home soil!). Pemecutan recovered from that disappointment to beat Audioslavia 1-0 in their second game, a result which means that a point against Mytanija could be enough for them to qualify through to the knockout rounds. It’s likely that they’ll be going all out to win, however, as an Audioslavian win in that scenario would send them home – goal difference being the first tiebreaker means that first game defeat could be a sting in the tail for Pemecutan yet.

It's also likely they’ll be going all out to win because it’s nice to control your own fate, and that was the line Misel Ravnjak was taking once he had had a chance to reach equilibrium after what was a fractious encounter against Kelssek:

“Look it, if we win and we win comfortably then we’re likely to go through here. Audioslavia and ourselves have the same points and goal difference, so if we can win our game, be clinical in front of goal and show what we can do against Pemecutan then it gives us a fantastic chance and we have a chance to control our own fate. But to do that we have to be better than we have been up until now. And our discipline has to be a bit better, we saw how the referees were quick to react to Lafrenière elbowing Damien [Gannot]. That shows how quickly the Kelssekian players overreacting spiralled and it could easily be us against somebody else, we have to watch for that. Referees often treat us differently due to this supposed ‘reputation’ Mytanars have, so we can’t allow them the opportunity to make those kinds of decisions. It was nice that someone else was deservedly on the end of one for once.”

by **Farfadillis** » Mon Jul 31, 2023 1:28 pm

Word back home had already reached the national team's camp. The Farolerans and the Ferdullaelans (who just really hated the Rulandese but were playing no part in the war) were clearly very deflated, while most of the rest of the players seemed elated. Puerto Farolero had been successfully stormed, and the Faroleran army was struggling to juggle that with two difficult fronts.

Yuan Zilai, being Yue, was being hailed as a hero by a good chunk of the squad, and finding a macumba inside his hotel room regularly too. The duality of Farves. Not all macumba was bad, but even with his relative lack of experience with the intricacies of Farf religion, he could kinda tell that a beheaded chicken covered in shit probably did not mean 'I am currently on good terms with you'.

Troublesome for him, perhaps, was the fact that two of the nailed-on starters were Faroleran. Odalis Pokéésé was half-Rulandese, to make matters worse. How was he to show neutrality if he couldn't fill the national team's diversity quotas. To say nothing of the fact that the Rulandese kept hogging up spots in the starting eleven. For the match against Elmyia, he figured, he could have some wiggle room in the way of replacing good players with also good players while not affecting the team's chances of coming away with three points too much. If he lost... well, he had this strange feeling he wouldn't exactly miss the dynamics of a Farf dressing room, ongoing war or not.

First, Régulo Ramos Rivas in goal. Not the better Faroleran, Rogerio Defigueroa, on the basis that Régulo played for Alex Terán-controlled La Nueva Avenida, while Rogerio had betrayed his fellow countrymen by signing for Rulandese club Mâ Âlâmëómë. Second? Josué Degaray, the most unabashedly pro-Terán player in the squad, would be given the captain's armband. He'd sub in Gavilán Quelabura for Jáánsêlà at some point, what with Gavilán being fairly mute politically, while Yonatoño de la Garza, despite not holding any political opinions cause he was thick as shit, would start ahead of Aixenxó purely because he was one of the most well-known Faroleran players in the Multiverse. Kilgallić, for her part, would switch to the right wing and replace Trlimándã Wôl, since she was the one player in the squad who truly had zero connections to either side of the war.

Things did not go as well as Yuan intended, however. The Farf fans, who had been so wholesome with their "Muchachos" chant the previous World Cup, had a much nastier chant in store for this game. Kelssek, perhaps only second to Banija in terms of Farf diaspora in absolute numbers, was one of the best possible settings for the chant to make its debut.

Throughout the match—in which the non-Faroleran players stood out, with Robineau and Sürréo grabbing a brace each, for example—the following chant could be heard, on repeat, alternating between loud and very loud:

"Cómo me voy a olvidar?!" [How could I forget?!]
"Cuando quemaron! A la vecina!" [When they burned! The neighbor(ing nation)!]
"Cómo me voy a olvidar?!" [How could I forget?!]
"Fue lo mejor que me pasó en la vida" [It was the best thing that ever happened to me]
"Las botas faroleras" [The Faroleran military]
"Morfaron plomo todo todo el día" [Ate lead (got shot) all day long]
"Y al poco tiempo después" [And a short time after]
"Terán supo que su hijo se moría" [Terán learned that his son was dying]
"Es mi ilusión verte en el frente" [It's my dream, to see you in the front]
"Y a los balazos correrte" [And make you run away with bullets]
"Matar miles una vez mas" [To kill thousands, once again]
"Y que se extinga Farolera" [And extinguish Farolera]

What's worse, most of the non-Faroleran players encouraged the chant and even joined in throughout the match as Farfadillis cruised to what felt like its first important win in a long, long while. They were playing good football, and not against fodder! The last time they'd done this away from home had been about ten years ago.

The final tally of Yuan Zilai's little play was the following: a resoundingly appealing-to-the-eye 4-2 win over the pot 4 team he'd underestimated, fights breaking out in the dressing room as a way to celebrate the turning of the tide in the war, Josué Degaray injuring himself by jumping to the stands and getting into a one-vs-all fistfight with the fans after the game's conclusion (out for two games, perhaps more if he gets suspended; his eye now looks kind of weird and he should maybe see a doctor), a confident Robineau confidently stating he hoped all Farolerans would die horrifying deaths in the coming weeks with a shit-eating grin on his face as the rest of the team joined him to chant the new insensitive chant, Frédéric Ybl pickpocketing him in the sixty-fifth minute while he was too busy giving directions, and a probable ticket to the round of sixteen—provided they didn't lose by two goals to Cassadaigua, as Zwangzug had beaten them earlier.

Yuan Zilai, witnessing the aftermath of his decisions, finally had an epiphany: he was swimming against the current... in front of a waterfall. He had to sit back, hope they did well at the World Cup, add it to his CV, and see the rest of his stint out in one piece. Two at most.

Ӿ Ӿ Ӿ Ӿ Ӿ

Dear Lyyti Vang,

As we say here in Farolera, loosely translated for your convenience: I shit on your dead ancestors.

Yours truly,
Alex Terán

by **Saint Eleanor** » Mon Jul 31, 2023 1:54 pm

World Cup 94 - Group D, second game
Huayramarca 3 (Bryan Tello goal 15', Ian Mamani goal 47', Edwin Condori goal 71')
Saint Eleanor 4 (Steve Pilchard goal 35', Jessica Martin goal 53', Adam Denby goal 78', Bridget Coombe goal 89')

Saint Eleanor will make the octofinal if:

They WIN by two or more goals, because Saint Eleanor [6pts, +1 GD at worst] will overtake Baker Park [6pts, 0 GD at best] on goal difference. However:
- If Vilita win, Vilita advances as well: Vilita will have 6pts and +2 GD at worst
- If Vilita lose (or draw), Baker Park advances as well: Vilita will have no more than 4pts and so cannot overtake CBP
They WIN by one goal, and Vilita lose or draw against Huayramarca (Baker Park will have 6pts with +1 GD, Saint Eleanor will have 6pts with 0 GD; Vilita will have 4 (or 3); Huayramarca will have 1 (or 3))
They DRAW, and Vilita lose against Huayramarca (Baker Park will have 7 points; Saint Eleanor will have 4; Vilita and Huayramarca will have 3. A draw for Vilita will qualify them instead)

Saint Eleanor will be ELIMINATED if:

They WIN by one goal, and Vilita also win (Vilita will have 6 points with at least +2 goal difference, Baker Park will have 6 with +1 GD, and Saint Eleanor will have 6 with 0 GD. Thus Saint Eleanor finish third on goal difference)
They DRAW, and Vilita draw against Huayramarca (Baker Park will have 7 points; Vilita will have 4 with +1 GD; Saint Eleanor will have 4 with -1 GD; Huayramarca will have 1)
They DRAW, and Vilita win against Huayramarca (Baker Park will have 7 points; Vilita will have 6; Saint Eleanor will have 4; Huayramarca will have 0)
They LOSE, under ANY circumstances. In addition to Baker Park advancing, by virtue of winning all their games (and assuming that Saint Eleanor loses by one goal):
- If Vilita win (or draw), Vilita advances: Baker Park will have 9 points; Vilita will have 6 (or 4); Saint Eleanor will have 3; Huayramarca will have 0 (or 1)
- If Vilita lose by one goal, Vilita advances: Saint Eleanor will have a goal difference of -2, Huayramarca will have -1 GD and Vilita will have 0 GD. Saint Eleanor will thus finish fourth on goal difference
- If Vilita lose by two goals, Huayramarca advances: Saint Eleanor will have -2 GD, Huayramarca will have 0 GD and Vilita will have -1 GD. Saint Eleanor will thus finish fourth on goal difference
- If Vilita lose by three goals, Huayramarca advances: Saint Eleanor will have -2 GD, Huayramarca will have 1 GD and Vilita will have -2 GD. Saint Eleanor will thus finish fourth on head-to-head
- If Vilita lose by four or more goals, Huayramarca advances: Saint Eleanor will have -2 GD, Huayramarca will have 2 GD at worst and Vilita will have -3 GD at best. Saint Eleanor will thus finish third on goal difference

Thirty Years of Eleanorians - 2004: "I want every mum to have access to formula milk"
Published by Lucy Richards on June 13th 2005

Despite murmurs to the contrary advising an early start on nut paste every now and then, the official Eleanorian Ministry of Health recommendation remains exclusive breastfeeding for the baby's first twelve months. Sarah Brown follows the rules with her baby boy Thomas, but she wishes they didn't exist. "The status quo in almost every other country is to allow new mums to buy baby formula off the shelf at the local supermarket. I've heard in a few places it's better for you but you just can't get it here, really."

Formula milk is only available on prescription for those who need it, but Brown attests that the process is more strenuous than people think. "I'm in a new mothers' circle where we meet up every month or so to talk about the issues we're facing. One of the people I normally talk to there can't express breastmilk naturally so she's had to get a prescription for baby formula. To do that, she had to show her doctors before she was born that she had trouble, let's just put it politely like that, and she's said how offended she was by it. Baby formula hasn't been a really big topic of discussion in the circle but I think about half of the mums think the situation isn't ideal, half of them think promoting breastfeeding like we do is still a good thing"

The formula milk restrictions were put in place shortly after Saint Eleanor won its independence, as part of a drive to encourage adherence with advice from the MoH and other wings of the government. Some discontent does, however, exist. "People complain about everything else in the big book but they haven't been put down. I think we have a good reason to complain about this - the baby formula has nutrients in it, it's easier to feed your baby with and the people I've asked from other countries say it's just better. I'm shocked they haven't made it more available here."

For its part, the MoH has said that the rules have "proven very successful" and have contributed to newborns' health outcomes having gone up throughout national independence. But Brown, who runs a small domestic shipping operation out of Newbanks, says it isn't good for business either. "Happy mums and happy dads have happy kids. When your mum's at your desk all the time rather than having a look at the other parts of her job because she can't bottle-feed you or leave it to daddy to do the job, do you think you're going to be happy? I didn't think so."

Brown accepts that change is unlikely any time soon given how few people are willing to openly call for looser restrictions: "it's like the trend we see with so many people wanting to roll back our abortion laws a hundred years." Nevertheless, she remains convinced to stay on the frontlines of the formula milk war, pointing to how "people here have always valued their freedom of choice when it comes to the shopping and what they want to do with their lives and I'm surprised they've never been allowed an alternative to continued breastfeeding for so many months after they give birth."

by **Turori** » Mon Jul 31, 2023 1:59 pm

Turori Sport Report: Late Winner Gets Eels back on Track

World Cup 94 Finals Matchday 2, Stadium Konueira, Burnaby, Kelssek :: Despite a hard fought battle on the opening matchday of the World Cup 94 Finals, the Turori National Team had only a mistake-filled 0-2 defeat to show for their efforts as they packed their bags and headed south for their matchday two fixture against HUElavia. Turori would play a part in an even more exciting matchup than they had on the opening day of competition with the scoreline bouncing back and forth throughout the afternoon until the game winning goal finally came deep into stoppage time.

Despite giving up two goals in the opening match, it would be Derizi Amatopa in goal for Turori once more with Tarek Edgeli stating in a pre-match press conference that it was "Never a Question" that the EuraLeague based goalkeeper would retain their starting position on Matchday two despite the Eels first defeat of the campaign coming one matchday prior. It was the Eels who struck first in the match with Moumouni Verre'elali making up for their mistakes against Flavovespia to set up Lutara Makakio for the games first goal with a header sent looping over the HUElavian goalkeeper. However, Turori's lead would last just a matter of minutes as once again they fell victim to a lack of discipline when Karek Edgeli committed a foul inside the area allowing HUElavia to equalize from the penalty spot.

At half time, Edgeli talked to the team, and explained to them that as the 4th seed in the Multiverse, everyone expected them to win and very few would cheer when they accomplished that. But every time they lose, the crowd goes wild. After briefly chewing out their namesake for the first half foul, Edgeli encouraged the team to "shut up the presses" and "win a damn game like you're supposed to" according to those in the locker room at the time.

It took some time into the second half before the Eels would finally find their footing once more as HUElavia was doing everything they could to maintain their advantage. Finally, it seemed the Turori National Team might have had the advantage they needed to take three points when Lutara Makakio dished the ball off to Lumlao Noauryua who restored the Eels one-goal advantage. Yet once again, it was little lapses of concentration that cost the Eels. Noauryua foolishly picked up the corner flag in celebration and tossed it like a javelin, narrowly missing an unsuspecting ball boy. The Turorian was extremely lucky to only receive a yellow card for the off the ball decision but for head coach Tarek Edgeli it didn't matter and a message had to be send. Edgeli would use the Eels last substitution to remove the goalscorer from the game. Just minutes later, Karek Edgeli went down after a collision and had to come off the field for treatment with no one left to replace them. With Edgeli still on the sidelines, HUElavia earned a free kick which they were able to convert with a direct shot that beat Amatopa and once again the scores were level.

It seemed as if Turori would have to settle for a point but things finally broke their way when a breakdown in communication in the HUElavia defense led to a late corner kick for the Eels deep into stoppage time. As the delivery came in from Cuoabaza Orani’aoa, Nua'oma Aikiki rose to meet it and isntantly propel themselves into hero status just one matchday after being left on the bench in the loss to Flavovespia. Wit hthe victory, the Turori National Team would find themselves level on points with Flavovespia for second position in Group G knowing that their fate at the World Cup 94 Finals was only partially in their own hands. With a final match to play against Group G leaders Nephara, the Eels only guaranteed path to the World Cup 94 Knockout Rounds would be a 2-goal victory over the cormorants, one of the teams the Eels has played most in their recent history. Any other result would require great assistance from the Flavovespia v. HUElavia matchup and, without it, The top seeded Eels could be heading out of the World Cup 94 Finals at the Group Stage.

TURORI NATIONAL ✓

@TuroriNat
The Turori #Eels rebounded at the World Cup 94 Finals in Burnaby, Kelssek. Despite more errors and two more goals conceded, the Eels attack finally got in gear and the introduction of Nua'oma Aikiki in the second half provided the Boost the Turori National Team needed to earn their first three points of the campaign. Now Turori still find themselves in a need-to-win scenario against Nephara where only a multi-goal difference result will assure the Eels a place in the Round of 16.

#WC94F - #TURvHUE - #GroupG

by **Eura** » Mon Jul 31, 2023 2:01 pm

WORLD CUP 94 – GROUP A – MATCHDAY 2
Eura 1–0 Sylestone
Scorers:
Sharp 70
Lineup:
13. J Hewitt
2. A Mason
4. J Menard
25. M Pearce
3. M Taylor (sub Doherty 90+2)
6. J Gates
8. O Vincent (sub Clarke 69)
12. D Barnes (sub Phillips 83)
11. O James
9. A Sharp (sub Miller 78)
14. K Archer (sub West 45)

emplor.eur/main/sport/football
STEELY SYLESTONE BREACHED BY SHARP STUNNER
Euran striker’s penchant for screaming winners continues

Defeat to Graintfjall has placed Eura in the unenviable position of needing positive results against Sylestone and Ko-oren, just the kind of traditionally ultra-defensive sides that Eurans have often struggled with. Fortunately, Glen Merson’s team got the first half of the job done on a soaking, grim night in Altendalur, courtesy of Alex Sharp’s latest entry to the World Cup highlight reels.

Eura’s trio of group stage matches are being held in the space of a week making rotation a necessity in the middle tie, even with Eura desperate for a result after losing their opener. Tom Hammond was possibly unlucky to be dropped after conceding five against Graintfjall when barely putting a foot wrong, let down by lacklustre defending, but John Hewitt came in regardless. Adam Woodman – once wonderkid, now old guard – came out of the side for Dean Barnes, with Owen James switching to the left flank. Kate Archer would start for Sophie Singh up top. Most crucially of all, captain Jack Menard would be joined by Martin Pearce on his return to the defence.

These five changes would have to be enough to preserve fresh legs for Ko-ren while also providing the firepower needed to break down a notoriously stubborn Sylestone. The Sentients ironclad defence is the latest competitor in the art of putting ten men behind the ball, challenging in a field dominated by teams such as South Covello in the past. Not to mention those Ko-orenites, of course, who edged out Sylestone with a 1-0 win the game prior. That result made this one a must win for both sides, with either defeat or a draw making progress from the group stage unlikely. The high stakes nature of the game was complicated by the soggy weather at the Florus Stadion, meaning a game-changing slip or skid could be waiting behind every move.

Sylestone put their stall out early; they were going to try and snatch a lead early on and then lock themselves down in the classic style. Riley Strathfield pounded Hewitt’s gloves with an early strike from range, maybe hoping for an early doors mistake from the Farrenton keeper. Hewitt made no such error and pouched the ball easily. Because of the Sentients initial assault, the Eurans sat deep, Jermaine Gates patrolling in front of the defence to intercept balls forward, while Alex Sharp cut a lone figure up front as Archer dropped into the midfield.

The ambition of Eura’s opponents was not matched with a suitable end product. After Strathfield’s taster, only the veteran Raphael Brown could draw another comfortable save out of Hewitt. 20 minutes of Sylestone pressure would be followed by a slightly longer period of Eura gradually turning the screw, reaching half time with 63% possession (although they had little to show for it). A toothless performance from Archer saw her replaced by attacking midfielder Ben West; Eura were going to change shape, switching to a 4-2-3-1 designed to lure out the Sylestone defence and work a way through the gaps as they emerged.

West has become an important squad player in the Euran setup and almost vindicated his arrival immediately with a close range effort that hit the side netting. Where Eura had been the better side just before the break, they were the dominant one after it. West forced a diving save out of Ryan Macleay before Sharp attempted a cocky overhead kick from a corner. His effort was dangerously close for the Sentient, skimming the bar as it flew over. A gorgeous passing move nearly heralded Eura’s opener, a slick 25-pass dance that ended with James beating Lesley Keller all ends up, flicking a deft lob into the box as soon as he was past him, Dean Barnes tapping the ball down from hip height on the other flank, only for the waiting Oscar Vincent to blast the ball over and into the crowd.

Sharp had played his part so far but had not found a way to pierce Sylestone’s impervious defensive wall. Eura’s half a dozen shots on target (and several off) since half time had not done the trick, including two from Sharp. In the 69th minute, Vincent came off to be replaced by Ed Clarke, who would receive the ball almost immediately and whip a cross into Sharp, only for Alana Faucett to meet the incoming ball with a towering header clear. Sharp fumed and kicked the grass; Clarke apologetically held his hands in the air. Within a minute there would be no need for apologies anymore.

An innocuous pass across midfield from Gemma Rodway seemed to mark the start of Sylestone’s first counterattack in some time, as they started to come out of their fortress to find the goal they badly needed. If they had been hoping that the Eurans were now tired then they were wrong. Clarke leapt at his chance to make a sliding interception of the pass, diverting the ball in the direction of Gates, who showed great quick thinking to toe poke the ball away from the onrushing Cayden Holmes and into space. Substitute Sylestone fullback Holly Statton made a crucial hesitation – and so did Abigail Jones in front of her. That left Owen James the time to reach the loose ball first and break away.

The Sentients beat a hasty retreat as they found themselves truly exposed and playing a high line for the first time all game. At this level, you only need to open a wound once for the opposition to smell blood; James had been on the ball no longer than two seconds when he used his left foot to scoop the ball forward, and inwards, direct to the feet of Sharp. Sharp was 25 yards from goal and had only Sylestone’s captain Hugo Mornington to beat. But Sharp had become fed up with “fannying about” (official Euran terminology) after 70 minutes of tiptoeing around an unbeatable low block.

He instead chose to let fly with a ripper of a strike, putting his right foot through the ball as hard as he could, his foot rising as high as a 90-degree angle, leaving Mornington without the time to react or block. Sharp has history of scoring attractive goals at major tournaments. In this match he would add to that history, as well as his two goal tally from the Graintfjall game, wheeling off to celebrate before his furious strike had even graced the back of the net. Not that there was much point waiting. Macleay was beaten the moment the ball left Sharp’s boot, watching helplessly as it rocketed into the top right hand corner.

Any Euran celebrations were short lived. The weather was turning for the worse somehow, getting windier and wetter. Sylestone’s manager Mojmir Anac would look to take advantage. The Mytanar’s side had not been able to fulfil his preferred counterattacking strategy in this game – and when they had tried they had conceded. They would pivot towards a 4-2-3-1 and go all out on the attack with the thrashing wind behind them. Eura started to get edgy. Fouls crept into their game. A series of long free kicks would be lumped into the Euran penalty area in search of an equaliser. Cleared each time, but dangerous, nonetheless.

Right at the end of the game there would be a hair-raising moment for the Eurans as they decided to shut up shop and defend their lead. A floaty corner, only Sylestone’s third of the game, was punched clear by Hewitt and headed further on by Menard, only for the Sentients to regain possession. Rodway hammered an instinctive drive towards goal. From 40 yards it might not have normally been such a threat, but there were multiple bodies in the way and the weather made visibility poor. The ball ricocheted off substitute Max Paterson on the way and then Pearce’s knee, spooning up in the air at speed and apparently toward goal. Hewitt proved his worth, finding his balance as late as he could before throwing himself right to make a last gasp save.

In stoppage time the Sentients seemed to finally lose their vigour. Ironically, Eura had worn them down with a stellar defensive performance late in the game. There was a golden opportunity for Eura to put the icing on the cake with a fantastic second. It was quite similar to the first – an interception feeding James, who in turn fed the striker, this time Tess Miller after Alex Sharp had been brought off to rest.

Eura’s young star did brilliantly to control the ball under pressure from two defenders, and made a similar choice to Sharp in opting to shoot from outside of the area, but she couldn’t find the same power and Macleay managed to divert the shot wide of the goal. The corner that bought gave Eura a much needed time wasting opportunity and within seconds the game was over. Glen Merson shook hands firmly with Anac and did not celebrate afterwards. He simply acknowledged the Euran fans with a wave, his eyes already set on the challenge against Ko-oren to come.

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by **Graintfjall** » Mon Jul 31, 2023 2:04 pm

Cutoff (for Groups E-H) will take place when this song finishes (so you have about 3 mins):

Lucinda Williams -- Rock 'n' Roll Heart

Please allow a little extra time for processing of results. Also note:

The cutoff for games on the side of the bracket I'm scorinating (E1vH2, etc.) will be 2 hours late on Wednesday, that is, 2300 UTC.

by **Kelssek** » Mon Jul 31, 2023 2:10 pm

Cutoff for the matches in Græntfjall.

by **Audioslavia** » Mon Jul 31, 2023 2:40 pm

When Tiebreakers Attack!
You had so many arguments about tiebreakers in our last article that it became profitable to write a whole nother one!

Congratulations to Audioslavia for taking their first World Cup Finals win since World Cup 90! It's a shame about the final table but, as we've already shown, some tables are just silly, especially those without Audioslavia at the top.

We mentioned Commerce Heights and their profound mixture of luck and misfortune when it came to tiebreakers. Today, we’ll mention near-neighbours Jasiyun (no, I’m not doing the diacritics) and their use of the Sacred Art of Tiebreakers to qualify for World Cup 42.

Picture the scene: You’re Az-cz. You’ve qualified for each of the last ten World Cups on the bounce, winning two of them. Two cycles ago you reached the semis, and you’re fresh off of a commendable Last 16 appearance in World Cup 41. You’re the top seed in your team’s group by a huge margin. Horror: You lose two of your first three games. Hey, it happens. You win or draw each of your last nine to finish on 22 points, level with the team in second. That team is Jasiyun, against whom you have a 0-1-1 record but, look, there are the tiebreakers: Goal Difference is more important than Head to Head. You’ve got this!

So… why are you third?

World Cup 42 is, I believe (and I haven’ done a great deal of checking, this is Bullsfeed after all) the only World Cup to use Wins as their second tiebreaker after points. Az-cz’s goal-difference is four better than that of Jasiyun, but it’s for nought. They drop into a playoff that they will lose to Rennidan, whose World Cup 42 Group F contains a Jeruselem team that will finish ahead of Tynelia on Goal Difference, the third tiebreaker, behind points and wins. Had Head to Head been the third tiebreaker, Tynelia would have progressed in their stead.

Tynelia lose out to Jeruselem on Goal Difference, the third tiebreaker

World Cup 42 aside, Head to Head and Goal Difference are the two accepted ‘second’ tiebreakers. Only one team has managed to fall foul of each of them without ever having taking advantage of either. Step forward Vilita.

Using tiebreakers set by Turori, of all nations, Vilita lost out to Eauz in Group B of World Cup 19 despite their victory over the former champions on matchday two. To add insult to injury, hosts, rivals and occasional team-mates Turori progressed from Group A over 100th-ranked Shonar Bangla despite having lost to that same team on matchday 3. Generations later, using tiebreakers set by, er, let’s say Mertagne, then top-seeds Vilita finished level with Farfadillis, and on better goal difference, only to lose out to their having lost to the Farves on the final matchday. Had tiebreakers been switched, they’d have progressed both times.

Have you or some team you know ever been disadvantaged by the use of the Wrong tiebreaker system? You may be due compensation! Consult Margaret by sacrificing a rubber chicken and await either your immediate recompense or a clip round the ear for disturbing Her. To find out whether you're eligible, click below.

Which teams have been Advantaged or Disadvantaged by the tie-breaking system used by hosts.
                      A D V A N T A G E D                   D I S A D V A N T A G E D
Team                  Qualifying          Finals            Qualifying          Finals
Adihan----------------03808NSFS-----------050GNSFS---------------------------------------------------------
Akbarabad-----------------------------------------------------------------------050GNSFS-------------------
Akbarland-----------------------------------------------------------------------007HJOLT-------------------
Alex The Tall-----------------------------------------------01309JOLT--------------------------------------
Ancharmunn------------06010NSFS----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Antoletia---------------------------------------------------07106SQIS--------------------------------------
Aquilla---------------00904JOLT----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ariddia-----------------------------------031BVISS---------------------------------------------------------
Aurendia--------------03106VISS----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Az-cz-------------------------------------------------------04206WC36--------------------------------------
Banija------------------------------------085CNSFS---------------------------------------------------------
Bears Armed-----------0441025FS----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bedistan----------------------------------019GJOLT---------------------------------------------------------
Bettia----------------04003NSFS-----------------------------02614WC12--------------------------------------
Brenecia----------------------------------------------------06810SLIS--------------------------------------
Capivara Group--------05410NSFS----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Carialus--------------07106SQIS-----------------------------06818SLIS--------------------------------------
Casari----------------0250625FS-03905S_IS------------------------------------------------------------------
Chromatika------------07520NSFS----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Churchma----------------------------------------------------05704NSFS--------------------------------------
Clearwater--------------------------------------------------01008JOLT--------------------------------------
Cockbill Street---------------------------------------------01509JOLT--------------------------------------
Commerce Heights--------------------------------------------0250625FS-----------026DWC12-029GCASC-033CVISS-
Dance 2 Revolution------------------------017AJOLT---------------------------------------------------------
Dark Outcasts---------00906JOLT-----------007HJOLT------------------------------006EJOLT-010CJOLT----------
Darmen------------------------------------064FSQIS---------------------------------------------------------
Demonic Beings--------00804JOLT----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Demot-------------------------------------034DZWCO---------------------------------------------------------
Eauz------------------01006JOLT-----------019BJOLT------------------------------011EJOLT-017AJOLT----------
EL CID THE HERO-----------------------------------------------------------------019GJOLT-------------------
Electrum--------------07420SQIS----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Errinundera-----------00801JOLT----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eshan-------------------------------------------------------08503NSFS--------------------------------------
Ethane------------------------------------------------------07510NSFS--------------------------------------
Eystrck-----------------------------------------------------01710JOLT--------------------------------------
Farfadillis-------------------------------066GSQIS---------------------------------------------------------
Filindostan-------------------------------------------------08214NSFS--------------------------------------
Flardania---------------------------------------------------07520NSFS--------------------------------------
Fmjphoenix----------------------------------------------------------------------023DWC12-------------------
Free Republics----------------------------------------------07420SQIS--------------------------------------
Geisenfried-----------03803NSFS----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Giant Zucchini----------------------------------------------02103WC21--------------------------------------
Gloriax-----------------------------------071BSQIS---------------------------------------------------------
Haraki------------------------------------004FJOLT---------------------------------------------------------
Jasiyun---------------04206WC36-----------------------------03905S_IS--------------------------------------
Jeru FC-------------------------------------------------------------------------045FS_IS-------------------
Jeruselem---------------------------------042FWC36----------02101WC21-----------044E25FS-------------------
Juvencus--------------09114SQIS----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kaboomlandia----------07618SQIS----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kalumba---------------05704NSFS----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kaze Progressa--------01906JOLT----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kazzoria----------------------------------056CNSFS---------------------------------------------------------
Kernansquillec----------------------------073CSQIS---------------------------------------------------------
Khytenna----------------------------------------------------05613NSFS--------------------------------------
Kita-Hinode---------------------------------------------------------------------073CSQIS-------------------
Ko-oren-----------------------------------091BNSFS---------------------------------------------------------
Krytenia----------------------------------026DWC12---------------------------------------------------------
Legalese----------------------------------------------------06305SQIS-----------071BSQIS-------------------
Lethislavania-------------------------------------------------------------------020GWC20-------------------
Liamopolis-Liamton------------------------------------------02412WC20--------------------------------------
Lovebug---------------01408JOLT----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lovisa----------------01509JOLT-----------------------------04003NSFS--------------------------------------
Mantwenic---------------------------------------------------05301NSFS--------------------------------------
Mapletish-------------06305SQIS----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Matthewsiania---------07510NSFS----------------------------------------------------------------------------
McPsychoville-----------------------------029GCASC---------------------------------------------------------
Mertagne--------------06818SLIS----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nephara-----------------------------------------------------07812SQIS--------------------------------------
Nethertopia-----------05111NSFS----------------------------------------------------------------------------
New Lusitania-----------------------------------------------08818NSFS--------------------------------------
Newmanistan-------------------------------------------------08717SGIS--------------------------------------
Northern Bettia-----------------------------------------------------------------035BZWCO-------------------
Nova Britannicus----------------------------------------------------------------025G25FS-------------------
Oglethorpia-----------02412WC20-------------------------------------------------004FJOLT-------------------
Oliverry------------------------------------------------------------------------032FVISS-------------------
One Red Dot-----------02101WC21-------------------------------------------------019FJOLT-------------------
Pasarga-----------------------------------078GSQIS----------05111NSFS--------------------------------------
Pavesia-----------------------------------------------------00801JOLT--------------------------------------
Peisandros--------------------------------044E25FS---------------------------------------------------------
Praying2God-----------02614WC12----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Prux--------------------------------------------------------0441025FS--------------------------------------
Qazox-----------------05613NSFS-------------------------------------------------033BVISS-------------------
Qlumez------------------------------------------------------05403NSFS--------------------------------------
Questionable Rulership05403NSFS----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Quohog------------------------------------------------------00804JOLT--------------------------------------
Rejistania--------------------------------023DWC12-035BZWCO------------------------------------------------
Rhodesia----------------------------------------------------06010NSFS--------------------------------------
Runaway Moose---------01309JOLT-----------006EJOLT---------------------------------------------------------
Sarzonia----------------------------------------------------0440225FS-----------085CNSFS-------------------
Saugeais--------------05429NSFS----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Schiavonia------------06810SLIS----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Semarland-----------------------------------------------------------------------078GSQIS-------------------
Shonar Bangla-------------------------------------------------------------------019AJOLT-------------------
Silver Beach------------------------------------------------05410NSFS--------------------------------------
Siovanija and Teusland08308NSFS----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Soviet Massacre-------05417NSFS----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Spaam-----------------02006WC20-----------020GWC20----------00904JOLT-01006JOLT-031BVISS-------------------
Squornshelous-----------------------------------------------08308NSFS-----------091BNSFS-------------------
Starblaydia-----------07812SQIS-08214NSFS-025G25FS-045FS_IS-07618SQIS-09114SQIS-056CNSFS-------------------
Svecia----------------01008JOLT----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tadjikistan-----------02103WC21-----------------------------03106VISS--------------------------------------
Taeshan---------------0440225FS----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Terre Septentrionale--08503NSFS----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Archregimancy-------------------------032FVISS----------03808NSFS--------------------------------------
The Belmore Family------------------------------------------01408JOLT--------------------------------------
The Eagles Nest---------------------------017CJOLT---------------------------------------------------------
The Han Empire----------------------------------------------03803NSFS--------------------------------------
The Holy Empire---------------------------033CVISS---------------------------------------------------------
The Lowland Clans-------------------------010CJOLT-011EJOLT------------------------------------------------
The Redavic Union-------------------------------------------00906JOLT--------------------------------------
The Weegies-------------------------------------------------01906JOLT--------------------------------------
Tikariot--------------08717SGIS----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Turori----------------01710JOLT-----------019AJOLT------------------------------017CJOLT-------------------
Tynelia-------------------------------------------------------------------------042FWC36-------------------
Unibot------------------------------------------------------05417NSFS--------------------------------------
Vilita--------------------------------------------------------------------------019BJOLT-066GSQIS----------
Wella-------------------------------------019FJOLT----------02006WC20--------------------------------------
Wentland----------------------------------033BVISS---------------------------------------------------------
West Angola---------------------------------------------------------------------064FSQIS-------------------
West Zirconia---------05301NSFS-----------------------------0440225FS--------------------------------------
Western cuba------------------------------------------------05429NSFS--------------------------------------
Yuezhou---------------08818NSFS----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Zwangzug------------------------------------------------------------------------034DZWCO-------------------

KEY:
QUALIFIERS: CCCGGSCOR
FINALS: CCCGSCOR
 C = Cycle
 G = Group
 SCOR = Scorinator
 SQIS = SQIS Scorinator
 NSFS = NSFS Scorinator
  **IS = Early version of SQIS scorinator / Variation of SQIS scorinator
  **FS = Early version of NSFS scorinator / Variation of NSFS scorinator
  JOLT = Pre-WC20 scorinator
  ZWCO = Zwangzug's World Cup Organizer
  VISS = Vilita's Scorinator
  WC## = A reuse of the scorinator used for said World Cup
Examples: 
08818NSFS = World Cup 88 Qualifiers, Group 18, NSFS Scorinator
034DZWCO = World Cup 34 Finals, Group D, Zwangzug's World Cup Organizer

Note: First Round groups involving three-way ties have not been included 
because that would require me looking them all up and balls to that

by **Graintfjall** » Tue Aug 01, 2023 4:58 am

Sylestone – 0 (0)

Græntfjall – 6 (4)
Ásólfur; Hermione, Anarr, Asbjørn (1’) (81’ Friðjón ), París; Valtter (35’) (45’ Kristmar ); Sara V (45’ Lotte ), Kæja (c) (21’, 50’), Danny; Amandara (72’ Rebekka ), Járngrímur (15’, 37’, 60’) (72’ Joel )

Snow Wolves stung by criticism of rout

Græntfjaller national football team players have admitted their frustration after the team’s 6–0 win over Sylestone in World Cup 94 was met with a mixed reception from sports journalists and fans. Needing just one point to guarantee advancement out of Group A, the Snow Wolves smashed the hapless World Cup debutants Sylestone, going 2–0 up inside 15 minutes and continued to score through the second half as Járngrímur Náttúlfsson achieved his first international hat-trick and captain Kæja Finnvarðsdóttir took her tournament tally to five, while news from Hartburg reported that Ko-oren were leading Eura 1–0, rendering the game a dead rubber and further massaging of goal difference unnecessary. Hitting out at journalists, defender Asbjørn Vilbjörnsson – who, returning from an injury lay-off against Ko-oren, scored a stunning goal to open the scoring – said the criticism was unwarranted: “We’ve got more bad ink than had we lost 6–0.”

Græntfjaller sports does not have any traditional prohibition against ‘running up the score’, as exists in some cultures, and with goal difference an important tiebreaker, scoring as many goals as possible makes tactical sense. Nonetheless, with Sylestone already unable to advance out of Group A and clearly mentally checked out – they rested 6 of their first choice starters, including 2 of their highly prized defensive corps – and with Ko-oren’s “post-football” system unlikely to yield a yawning gulf in margin of victory, the thrashing did not have the impact of such a result in a more competitive game. Each successive Græntfjaller goal seemed to draw less and less enthusiasm from a packed crowd at the Grand National Arena, some of whom began flocking to the exits well before the final whistle. Some journalists also questioned whether earning top seeding out of the group was of any real consequenceanyway given a tie now awaits with vaunted World Cup finals veterans Commonwealth of Baker Park.

Veteran football journalist Olle Tobiasson didn’t criticize the scoring, but questioned the team selection employed. “Playing a first choice team for a full sixty minutes before any substitutions seemed like an unnecessary risk,” he said in his Friday column for the Harbinger. The decision not to rest starters had one obvious casualty, as defensive midfielder Valtter Marvinsson picked up a second yellow card that will see him miss the Round of 16 clash with Baker Park. “Spare a thought for Benjamín [Ísarsson], Tóbías [Hallvarðsson], and Sarína [Petersdóttir],” wrote Tobiasson in his column, noting that much had been made of the talented group of young strikers available to Thor but that the decision to stick with Járngrímur and Amandara Navinsdóttir Thakur had denied them any game time. “What was essentially a dead rubber was the perfect chance to blood some of these players and see what they were capable of, as opposed to having them have to enter the playoffs cold.”

The Háttmark game began under blessedly clear skies after a week of murky weather that has put something of a cloud over what was meant to be a celebration of the Græntfjaller summer. Well wrapped up in long sleeves (and with reserve goalkeeper Brick Wall, starting in place of rested first choice Ryan Macleay, sporting some thermal insulation bricks) Sylestone’s players shivered their way through the national anthems and looked to have one eye on the plane home. No eyes, certainly, were spared for Asbjørn Vilbjörnsson, who was fit again after missing the Ko-orenite draw with an ankle niggle: he was totally unmarked as he thundered home a volley barely 60 seconds into the match after strolling into space from a Hermione Hui long free-kick. Járngrímur Náttúlfsson’s attempt at a spectacular overhead kick ended with him flat on his ass, but a few minutes later he got on the scoresheet, outjumping Hand Sanitiser – another reserve getting a game as Mojmir Anac rewarded some of Sylestone’s veteran sentients with a World Cup start – to meet a Finnvarðsdóttir corner with a powerful header that rang in off the bar.

After going 2–0 down early, Sylestone seemed to surrender – an early substitution of Abigail Jones for Fridge seemed like a white flag, or at least, a white goods – and the rout was on as Finnvarðsdóttir finished off a genuinely lovely bit of flowing football as she linked up with Thakur and Sara Vatnarsdóttir. Marvinsson’s clumsy and unnecessary tackle on Charlotte Eastwood (starting as Riley Strathfield was rested, although Sylestone’s star striker did make a late appearance as a substitute) saw him dismayed to see yellow and with it earn a one-match suspension; the lesson was not lost on Thor, who pulled Sara V, also on a yellow from the Ko-oren game, at half-time, for Lotte Leonardsdóttir. Náttúlfsson had by then made it 4–0 with his second, an excellent finish from a quality through-ball from Finnvarðsdóttir. The second half was a more staid affair, though there was time for Finnvarðsdóttir to extend her tournament tally to 5 as she chipped Brick Wall, and on the hour mark Náttúlfsson claimed his hat-trick with a terrific strike from 20 yards. It was a goal worthy of a better match situation than turning a 5–0 lead to 6–0.

Finnvarðsdóttir, who exchanged shirts at the final whistle with Rose Fleetwood, was complimentary about Sylestone after the game, praising their exceptional qualifying run and backing them to feature in future World Cups. “It just wasn’t their night,” she said, while taking pride in the “complete” Snow Wolves performance. Perhaps she was not expecting to awake to a deluge of criticism in the morning newspapers after guiding her team into the World Cup Round of 16: instead of being celebrated for a fourth consecutive playoff appearance and a tournament-leading +8 goal difference, she found her team slated as “bullies” and the win as “meaningless”. After watching the evening games, with wins for Vilita and Saint Eleanor pushing Baker Park into second place in Group D, she spoke to press, saying she “understood” some of the criticism but felt it was “unfair” not to expect the team to play “every World Cup finals game as hard as we can”.

Aside from Marvinsson’s enforced absence, Thor seems set on two changes for the Baker Park match-up. With some doubts about París Vilgeirsdóttir’s defensive solidity, Harmony Serpentmane is expected to make her first start at left-back, while Leonardsdóttir, who has impressed in her substitute appearances, appear alongside her former national youth World Cup winning teammates Sara V and Kæja Finnvarðsdóttir in an attacking midfield set-up that has no room for the slightly unfortunate Danny Oddkellsson. Asbjørn Vilbjörnsson, after 90 largely untroubled minutes against Sylestone, is also expected to be fit. Baker Park are opponents against whom Græntfjall have surprisingly little football history, having never previously met in WCC sanctioned play, a few friendlies and Eagl’e’s’ Cup meetings being the extent of their competitive encounters to date.

However, there is one major bit of context for the game: Baker Park manager Will Barnard, who spent a decade in Græntfjall managing North Háttmark side Gunzlach. A regular GPL contender with the Gunners, Barnard was generally regarded as the best manager to stick with the GPL during the lean years of financial contraction, and his loss to Gunzlach has certainly been Baker Park’s gain. His nurturing of Gunzlach’s youth development system has provided the Snow Wolves with several World Cup players, including París Vilgeirsdóttir and Hrútur Melkíorsson from the present squad. Defensive midfielder Luke Olivera has also played in Græntfjall for Korsbach for many years. With storms expected to blow through the day before, weather for the match at the Florus Stadion in Altendalur (temporarily renamed the Altendalur Stadion for the tournament duration in compliance with sponsorship rules) is forecast to be fair. On the strength of their performance against Sylestone, the Snow Wolves can look forward to similarly blue skies; but the clouds lurking on the horizon remain as journalists question whether an opportunity to prepare for tougher opposition has been wasted

Also in the paper:

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by **Flavovespia** » Tue Aug 01, 2023 9:26 am

Flavovespia got the win they needed in their final group game to send themselves to the knock out stages of a World Cup for the first ever time. The result in the other group game also saw Flavovespia achieve this goal as Group G winners.

Three changes were made to the starting line up for this crucial game. Andrew Dance started in defence over Stan Scott-Wilson, David Wassell replaced Jonathan Goldstone, and young Peter Langdon started ahead of Adrian Jones.

It was certainly a nervy start to proceedings. HUElavia needed a win of at least two goals to stand any chance of progression, and so came out firing. Flavovespia seemed to be struggling to clear their lines, and Nathan Crewe twice saved good chances from Cristiano Aveiro Junior. For the first 15, maybe even 30 minutes, it was hard to argue against HUElavia being the better side.

Flavovespia however came closest so far in the 32nd minute. Michael Cole was fouled just outside the box, the perfect position for a Kieron Player free kick. Player swung the ball in, and Ji-Hu Mok was in full flight to tip the free kick over the bar. Then, in the resulting corner, Stuart Cookson rose highest, but just couldn’t keep his header down, as it landed on the roof of the net. The first half would finish goalless, but Flavovespia had found their feet.

Going into the second half, it’d be clear attacking football would have to come, HUElavia needed at least a 2 goal win, and Flavovespia needed a win to secure a knockout berth, regardless of the result between Turori and Nephara. The game even with plenty of time to go began to get mote stretched, and more end to end.

The 63rd minute saw the decisive moment come along. Jonathan Bagshaw
Darted past Jean-Marc Gounelle, and sent in an angled early cross to the back post. Michael Cole got there first, chested the ball down, and on the half volley struck the ball cleanly. Ji-Hu Mok had no chance as the ball flew in, just inside the far post. Flavovespia were in the lead, with less than half an hour to go.

With the lead, Flavovespia knew that holding on against HUElavia would be enough. There was a definite shift to defensive focus now, as their opponents had to go for broke. However whilst all the fans were nervous, the players showed no signs. Stuart Cookson and Paul Taylor in particular looked so strong, clearing anything coming their way.

As the minutes ticked on and on, belief kept growing. Flavovespia would’ve liked a second, but Ji-Hu Mok was in good form, and kept HUElavia with hope. But, there was to be no comeback for HUElavia. The final whistle blew, and it was 1-0 to Flavovespia. Flavovespia were through, and critically with Turori beating Nephara 1-0, Flavovespia had won the group, with Nephara second.

Into the knockout stages now, and a step into the unknown for Flavovespia. Farfadillis will be Flavovespia’s Round of 16 opponents. The teams met twice in AOCAF 59, with Farfadillis winning both times, 1-0 and 0-3 the score. The last meeting between these sides was in AOCAF 61, a 3-3 draw after extra time saw Flavovespia lose on penalties in the Round of 16. This time Flavovespia will hope they can finally win against Farfadillis in the fourth attempt.
Provisional starting line up:

WC Ro16: Crewe, Lyons©--Cookson--Taylor--Dance, Adams--Player--Wassell, Cole--Birmingham--Bagshaw

by **Yue Zhou** » Tue Aug 01, 2023 4:12 pm

Dragons Make History, but Wan's Fate Uncertain After Postmatch Fight
Li Hongwu, the Beiyun Daily Sports

NEORVINS, KELSSEK -- The Yuezhou national football team stunned the world by holding onto a scoreless draw against Tumbra to secure their first-ever advancement to the World Cup knockout stages. The draw meant that the Dragons had not only progressed out of the group stage, but had won the group while going unbeaten against the gauntlet of Valanora, Tumbra, and Brookstation, whose draw against Valanora saw Tumbra knocked out of the tournament early. However, as the Dragons prepare for a rematch against qualifying groupmates Pemecutan in the Round of Sixteen, they face the prospect of vice-captain and midfield star Wan Sheping being suspended by the YFA for a postmatch clash with coach Kang Guilin.

Coming into the match on three points to the Dragons' four, Tumbra (until recently managed by Yueren Yuan Zilai) knew they needed a win to guarantee their advancement to the Round of 16. After consecutive failures to advance from the last sixteen following a fourth-place finish, Black Eagles fans may have been slightly nervous to be put in another must-win position, but Peter Gregg Gabriel projected confidence prematch, and the Esportivans got off to a quick start. Valerie Wells in particular found considerable joy on Yuezhou's right flank, with the AFC Treason winger often getting the better of Dong Xiaowang in the opening half. However, as is becoming a trend at this World Cup, Yuezhou held down the center of their half, and the best chance the Black Eagles were able to get in the first half was a scuffed half-volley off the boot of Nick Riordan from close range. For their part, Yuezhou parlayed their defensive solidity into a few counterattacks, but heroic performances by Stephen Kerr and Ian Ashburn extinguished these threats.

The Black Eagles began to pick up more urgency as the second half passed by, knowing that a scoreless draw would be unlikely to cut it unless Brookstation could save them in Kirkenes. But Elaine Ashdown, reading the live table, opted to close up shop at the back, bringing on Guo Hong and Luo Chuan for Kara Mingsdottír Zhang and Liang Wei before putting a pair of fullbacks, Huang Han and Pu Zhongtai, on the wings. Tumbran manager Gabriel tried to counter by reinforcing the Black Eagles' attack, but Yuezhou held firm despite surrendering the lion's share of both possession and opportunities. Substitute Susan Monaghan had the best opportunity of the match with just ten minutes to play, but few in the Tumbran faithful would blame her for hitting the post from a narrow angle with Yuan Mingrong breathing down her neck.

In the end, it would be the dullest of results, a 0-0 draw, to send Yuezhou through and the fans into celebration. But the celebrations became increasingly muted as rumors of a dust-up between Wan Sheping and Kang Guilin, with the latter headed to the hospital in Kelssek, first surfaced and were then verified. Kang, the former manager of both Yuezhou and Græntfjall, had only recently come out of retirement at age seventy-six to serve as a "special advisor" to Elaine Ashdown, although it was reported that Ashdown only took Kang on at the behest of the Yue Football Association. It soon became clear that a postmatch discussion of the Yue Intervention in Farfadillis had turned into a "spirited" debate over general topics in Yue politics. After Kang, a noted supporter of right-wing Yue politics, made disparaging remarks about the loyalties of Wan's club manager Zhaxi Nanlei (who hails from the separatist region of Sangau), things escalated between them and they had to be physically separated.

With only a few days until Yuezhou's next match against Pemecutan, it is unclear how the YFA plans to resolve the situation. Wan's metronomic presence in midfield and ability to snuff out opposing attacks makes him a key player for the national team, who are far less likely to beat Pemecutan (and further make history in the quarterfinals) without him. It is also suggested that Wan did not instigate the incident or act especially violently toward Kang, and Elaine Ashdown has reportedly asked that he be allowed to play for the remainder of the World Cup campaign. However, Kang does remain hospitalized with a badly bruised hip, and the former manager enjoys an almost mythical status within the halls of the YFA.

Whatever the outcome, the YFA's history of blatant politicization will surely leave many Yue fans feeling persecuted. During the days of the People's Federation, the YFA was a symbol of the socialist government and regularly barred "dissident" players from being called up. Even in the early years of the United Republics, northern and central clubs accused the YFA of favoring Nanhai and Jiangdong in their organization of the Yue Super! League. Kang's reputation among the Nanhai right wing, as well as Wan's association with the controversial topic of Sangauese Independence, threaten to make this a national issue. It's a quandary that will leave Elaine Ashdown, the YFA, and players trying their best to keep things together as they embark on what could be a legendary World Cup run...as long as they don't self-destruct before the Round of Sixteen even starts.

lineup to face Pemecutan (4-2-3-1): Zhao; Lu, Hu, Yuan, Dong; Wan, Guo; Jiang, Mingsdottír Zhang, Luo; Liang
unavailable: Zhaxi Jianzan (accumulation of cards), Li Jianguo (ankle)

World Cup 94 [roleplays]

Thirty Years of Eleanorians: 2003

WCF-94 G3

WC94 Group MD2

Thirty Years of Eleanorians: 2004

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