2036 SFA Community Shield
Played @ May 26 Revolution Memorial Stadium, Riuwiee
Fleftic Army 2–3 Malabon SC
Zardain (23') Wheeler (31')
Van Driessche (70') Bugarani (45+1')
Onus (58')
Referee: Jorrel Mansingco (Ceneisis)
Malabon SC have gotten their title defense campaign off to a great start, picking up another bit of silverware while also beating a fellow FPL team in Fleftic Army. This could have opened up in a tense environment with both teams staying in their own halves in the hopes of nicking it late, but that kind of mentality wouldn’t have gone down well with the spectators. However, Malabon might have actually done well to stay back just a little bit, as it was from a counterattack that they conceded the opening goal of the game courtesy of the Army’s stalwart striker, Arabante Zardain. Unfortunately, though Warriors fans would have undoubtedly begun imagining their team lifting up the Shield at that moment, it also served as a wake-up call for Malabon as the Ravens cleaned up their act and began playing the way that they did during their title-winning run. Also, Army’s lead didn’t last too long as Manuel Wheeler restored parity from a corner kick before Anwar Bugarani capped off the first half with a goal from just inside the box. New signing Jeremy Onus would then put the result beyond any doubt, although Wout Van Driessche did his best to make this contest closer than it actually was with a somewhat late goal, but it was indeed nothing more than a consolation. Fleftic Army will have to wait some more time before being able to add the Community Shield to their trophy cabinet; in the meantime, Malabon SC will celebrate winning the Shield for the fifth time.
[img]malabon.png[/img]
Congratulations to Malabon SC, your 2036 SFA Community Shield winners!
Congratulations to Malabon SC, your 2036 SFA Community Shield winners!
Matchday One Scores
Fleftic Army 3–5 Xemlice Rovers
Bananas 3–4 Arsenal de Releinthi
Sarvusdalamoive 2–2 Wanda Island Wanderers
Ludogorets Markovsky 0–1 Sporting Ceneisis
Admiral Porcusces 2–1 Thereisnogodistan
Riuwiee United 0–1 Fleftic Air Force
Malabon SC 1–0 Atletico San Sebastian
Rosenpfelblatz City 1–3 Locomotive Imgortur
Paulsen 2–3 All-Inclusive Haranguer
Gyouza Young Lads 3–3 Athletic Dorfdifving
What a way for the FPL to welcome Atletico San Sebastian back to the fold. The Royal Blues would have probably hoped to have an easy start to the season so that they can put some points in the bank immediately before going up against the big teams, but they won’t open their first ever Premier League campaign in two decades with a victory courtesy of the defending champions. It always sucks that someone has to be the first team to face the champions in a new season, and Atletico San Sebastian had the dubious “honor” of opening their season at San Roque Park. The good thing for them though, if it could even be considered that, is that Malabon didn’t utterly thrash them to open their own campaign, though this was more the result of the Ravens’ forwards being unable to hit the broad side of a barn than any sense of mercy. Still, Anwar Bugarani’s goal at the half-hour mark was more than enough for the Ravens to bag all three points. A win is a win is a win, even if their forwards could have been a little more clinical with their finishing.
One team that can’t be accused of not being clinical though is Xemlice Rovers, and the fact that the Gamekeepers netted five goals in the actual season opener on the road to Fleftic Army means that the team from Lotharstadt will take a lot of the headlines in Matchday One. Isaiah Ivy, one of the brighter spots for the Rovers in the previous season, looks to pick up right where he left off by scoring a brace against the Warriors, and new arrival Dalton Wilson looks to have struck up an excellent relationship with Ivy almost immediately. Wilson assisted both of Ivy’s goals, and if hockey assists were counted in football, Isaiah would have half of the credit for creating the goal that opened the Xannerian’s account in the FPL. Army, still reeling from losing out on the Community Shield, was determined not to lose yet another game of football, but Xemlice’s offense proved to be simply too much. That didn’t prevent them from getting in some licks of their own, with Arabante Zardain once again staking his claim for the FPL Golden Boot with a thunderous strike in the 33rd minute.
Matchday Two Scores
Xemlice Rovers 2–2 Athletic Dorfdifving
All-Inclusive Haranguer 3–3 Gyouza Young Lads
Locomotive Imgortur 1–1 Paulsen
Atletico San Sebastian 2–2 Rosenpfelblatz City
Fleftic Air Force 1–0 Malabon SC
Thereisnogodistan 1–2 Riuwiee United
Sporting Ceneisis 0–1 Admiral Porcusces
Wanda Island Wanderers 0–0 Ludogorets Markovsky
Arsenal de Releinthi 1–2 Sarvusdalamoive
Fleftic Army 2–1 Bananas
Well, this wasn’t part of the script. Malabon wasn’t supposed to lose this early in the season, especially not against Fleftic Air Force. But that’s the thing about football though; it doesn’t really care for stories all that much. Sometimes even the best teams in the sport lose, and on Matchday Two, Malabon SC lost. Once again, the Ravens just weren’t clinical enough, and this time it cost them. Could it cost Malabon their title defense? Possibly, although it’s still too early in the season to tell. But this was definitely three points dropped for Malabon, and quite possibly three points stolen by Fleftic Air Force. That said, Johnson Hoyas gave the Golden Eagles something to fight for when he scored a header in just the 5th minute, and their goalkeeper (and Air Force reservist) Timotheos Psomopoulos did an excellent job of keeping out the handful of Malabon chances that actually came his way, so did Air Force really still this win? Or were they actually good value for it?
Another team that can’t be accused of not being clinical enough, or another two teams that are actually more clinical than the defending champions, are All-Inclusive Haranguer and Gyouza Young Lads. These are two teams seeking to make a mark in the Premier League this season, and if they can keep up this momentum then there is definitely a distinct possibility that either one or maybe even both Haranguer and Gyouza can surprise us all. The Sand Tigers and the Lads were scoring goals back and forth, with momentum swinging more like a metronome than a pendulum given how many times the lead changed hands. But neither team was able to truly assert their dominance exactly because neither could truly capitalize on it when they had it. One guy who did assert his dominance in the game though was Tuan Parthosi, Gyouza’s new Squornshelan striker, with the newcomer bagging a brace to open his account in the FPL. Perhaps it’s now time to watch his career with great interest?
Matchday Three Scores
Bananas 4–5 Xemlice Rovers
Sarvusdalamoive 3–4 Fleftic Army
Ludogorets Markovsky 3–0 Arsenal de Releinthi
Admiral Porcusces 0–3 Wanda Island Wanderers
Riuwiee United 0–1 Sporting Ceneisis
Malabon SC 0–0 Thereisnogodistan
Rosenpfelblatz City 5–4 Fleftic Air Force
Paulsen 3–1 Atletico San Sebastian
Gyouza Young Lads 3–1 Locomotive Imgortur
Athletic Dorfdifving 2–2 All-Inclusive Haranguer
Take your pick as to which match should be considered game of the matchday: the one between Bananas and Xemlice Rovers, or the one between Rosenpfelblatz City and Fleftic Air Force? Most Fleftic fans would have a hard time choosing between those two matches as they both delivered in the one thing that most fans want to see: goals. While it is a thing that has happened a handful of times throughout the history of the FPL, two games ending with nine goals scored between the two teams hasn’t yet happened often enough that it’s no longer noteworthy. Two players would bring home the match ball at the end of their respective games, although one of them would be undoubtedly happier than the other. Lucas von Wolfberg steered Rosenpfelblatz to victory over the Golden Eagles, but they had to fight for all three points. Meanwhile, while Mustafa Bensoussan may have staked his own claim for winning the FPL Golden Boot once again, it’s safe to say that he would rather have had only a brace or even zero goals to his name if it meant that Bananas would have picked up the W instead. Football can be such a cruel mistress sometimes.
Talking about cruel results, Malabon SC’s title defense has faltered yet again, this time at home against Samwell Crownover’s Thereisnogodistan FC. It would seem as if the Ravens had used up all of the good luck that they had accumulated through the years when they won the Premier League title last season, and now their collective bad luck has come to collect. Even Anwar Bugarani, whom Malabon once could count on to score when everyone else was misfiring, could not find the target against the visitors. Bugarani, along with perhaps all of his teammates, would probably be able to find a way to miss an open goal even with everything else seemingly going their way. The Ravens chose a very poor time to stop scoring goals, and because of that, their title defense is now seemingly at risk of collapsing before it had even begun. Then again, isn’t that usually the story of pretty much every title defense in the FPL since it became an accredited member of the UICA, and later the IFCF? It’s almost as all these championship-winning teams had forgotten what it was that made them champions in the first place. No wonder no team has won back-to-back titles for over a decade.
Matchday Four Scores
Xemlice Rovers 1–0 All-Inclusive Haranguer
Locomotive Imgortur 1–0 Athletic Dorfdifving
Atletico San Sebastian 2–3 Gyouza Young Lads
Fleftic Air Force 2–1 Paulsen
Thereisnogodistan 0–1 Rosenpfelblatz City
Sporting Ceneisis 0–0 Malabon SC
Wanda Island Wanderers 1–0 Riuwiee United
Arsenal de Releinthi 0–0 Admiral Porcusces
Fleftic Army 2–2 Ludogorets Markovsky
Bananas 2–3 Sarvusdalamoive
Xemlice Rovers continues its little winning streak, picking up another victory at the expense of All-Inclusive Haranguer, although this one was not as massive as their other victories, at least in terms of goals scored. That said, in this particular case it would appear that the old adage of “sometimes one goal is enough” was proven to be right thanks to Copperite midfielder Nobana Susuku finding the back of the net in the 67th minute. To be fair to the Gamekeepers though, they did their utmost best to score more than just one goal in this contest. But a combination of excellent goalkeeping from Haranguer’s Mladen Kabachnik and Xemlice perhaps getting infected by the same “can’t score anymore” virus that seems to have struck Malabon made sure that the scoreline to this match would end up being a somewhat reasonable one. Note, though, that it’s only reasonable to fans of smart, defensive, and tactical football; of which there aren’t a lot in Abanhfleft. If this had ended 2-0, practically nobody would be calling this match a waste of 90 minutes.
Here’s an actual waste of 90 minutes of one’s life though, and that is the contest between Malabon SC and Sporting Ceneisis. If the Ravens were already having issues scoring in front of a raucous home crowd, how much more difficult are they going to find the task of finding the back of the net if they have to do it against an equally raucous but hostile crowd? The Sporting Ceneisis fanbase has never been known for their subtlety, and the 45 thousand or so Blues fans who had crowded into Throckmorton Bridge for this match made it known very loudly that they thought it very funny that Malabon had lost their shooting touch, but in much cruder and more vulgar terms. Some Malabon players handled the pressure better than others, but former Fleftic under-21 international Audric Dubreucq was not one of those. Things got a little too heated between Dubreucq and Ceneisis’ Luke Barry, resulting in Dubreucq getting sent off for an early shower. And although Audric would admit after the game that he let himself and his team down, the reality is that the entire Malabon squad had let down the club and their fans by getting off to one of the worst starts that the Ravens had seen in their history.
Fleftic Premier League Table After Matchday Four
FPL Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Xemlice Rovers 4 3 1 0 13 9 +4 10 Champions League qualification
2 Fleftic Air Force 4 3 0 1 8 6 +2 9 Challengers' Cup qualification
3 Wanda Island Wanderers 4 2 2 0 6 2 +4 8 Challengers' Cup qualification
4 Gyouza Young Lads 4 2 2 0 12 9 +3 8 Challengers' Cup qualification
5 Sarvusdalamoive 4 2 1 1 10 9 +1 7
6 Locomotive Imgortur 4 2 1 1 6 5 +1 7
7 Sporting Ceneisis 4 2 1 1 2 1 +1 7
8 Fleftic Army 4 2 1 1 11 11 0 7
9 Rosenpfelblatz City 4 2 1 1 9 9 0 7
10 Admiral Porcusces 4 2 1 1 3 4 −1 7
11 Ludogorets Markovsky 4 1 2 1 5 3 +2 5
12 All-Inclusive Haranguer 4 1 2 1 8 8 0 5
13 Malabon SC 4 1 2 1 1 1 0 5
14 Paulsen 4 1 1 2 7 7 0 4
15 Arsenal de Releinthi 4 1 1 2 5 8 −3 4
16 Athletic Dorfdifving 4 0 3 1 7 8 −1 3
17 Riuwiee United 4 1 0 3 2 4 −2 3
18 Thereisnogodistan 4 0 1 3 2 5 −3 1 Relegation to Unang Liga
19 Atletico San Sebastian 4 0 1 3 5 9 −4 1 Relegation to Unang Liga
20 Bananas 4 0 0 4 10 14 −4 0 Relegation to Unang Liga
Could this season be the one where Xemlice Rovers finally wins the title once again? It’s definitely not outside the realm of possibility, considering that Malabon SC was in a similar position last season, and look what happened to them. Yes, it’s still too early in the season to tell who’s going to be part of the title chase, but if last season is anything to go by, Xemlice definitely has a case to make for themselves. They, like Malabon last year, have topped the table without any defeats to their name. The only difference is that the Gamekeepers have drawn one game in the four that they’ve played so far, while the Ravens won four out of four. Still, Xemlice is most definitely in a better place right now than the defending champions, who are currently mired deep in the mid-table with seemingly no avenue for escape. Again, it’s a situation that almost exactly mirrors that of last season, where Arsenal de Releinthi got off to a poor start and could never really recover from it. Is the same fate in store for Malabon? Or can they pull something out of the bag and salvage what could become a horrid season for them?
Speaking of horrid, it is absolutely horrid at the bottom of the table for the likes of Bananas and Atletico San Sebastian. This wasn’t the grand return to the top flight that the Royal Blues were expecting when they got promoted, but at the same time the club and their fans would have believed that this team was capable of much more than this. At least San Sebastian have one measly point to their name; Bananas don’t even have that. There is a distinct possibility that Mustafa Bensoussan, much as he would like to win the Golden Boot yet again, would rather trade one of his goals for a win for his team instead. But all is not lost for the Gorillas just yet. If the standings after Matchday Four of last season are anything to go by, Bananas could easily win the SFA Cup and avoid relegation with a couple of points and games to spare. After all, Fleftic Army was in the exact same position that Bananas are in right now, and they’re still in the top flight, aren’t they? And as for Thereisnogodistan, there’s no respite for them too. The Atheists are in the same position that Dynamo Ja was in last season, and look what happened to those guys. Samwell Crownover’s job may still be safe for the moment, but things could change easily in the FPL, and he would do well to remember that.
Abanhfleft)
Tikariot)
Siovanija and Teusland / 
Valanora)
Fhulghamous Peninsula)
The 14 Stars)
Copper Cuprum)
Sultanate of Oontaz)
Doubeia)
Island of the Lost)
Farfadillis)
Estorvipa and Estorpiva)
Pridnestrovia)
Chromatika, female)
Naixi, ?)
Pyazhnaya, female)
Squornshelan Remnant States)
Xanneria)
Myrtle Beach)
Kelssek)
Tero al Disco)
South Newlandia)
TJUN-ia)
Flavovespia)
Yuezhou)
Savojarna)
Elmyia)
Patriotlandia)
Crpostran)
Sylestone)
Cardenao)
Mytanija)
Katzeburg)
Natanians and Nosts)
Auprussia)
Juvencus)
Gouvanarch)
Pemecutan)
Geektopia)
Schutzenphalia and West Ruhntuhnkuhnland)
Quebec and Shingoryeo)
Anglatia / 
Mercedini)
Commonwealth of Baker Park)
Mertagne)