A Tale Of Two Crescents - WC97 Roleplay Thread

[Crpostran]

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[*] Comic strips taken from https://121clicks.com/funny/funny-singl ... nate-fakes on the web, credits given in both RP & here. AI-generated image of player used in Starting XI image for aesthetic purposes only & not for RP grading. A big thank you to Dantopia for his allowing me to use his advertisement. Viva Crpostran!

[Saterun]

Crespo Antonsen breathed a sigh of relief as the plane touched down in Semarland. He wasn't scared of flying, per se, but he didn't love it. Even after a few years of playing professionally and all the flights he had taken with the NT, he still felt uneasy. Now, at least, he could take his mind off of the experience. The Saterun national football team had just landed for their first game of WC97 qualifying. The Claws were kind of in a limbo period, as the original stars started to filter out and new players came in. Crespo himself was pretty young to get a starting spot, and his main backup, Dimitri Kirken-Brice, was the same age as him. Crespo knew the competition for starting spots was beginning to get real. In the IAC, he was pretty much guaranteed a spot over the aging Ndidi Tamaro, but now he was competing with a player that had just finished off an excellent domestic season.

Even though they were competitors, they were also still a team. Crespo had to remember that. They filtered through the airport security and eventually made it outside, where a charter bus was waiting for them. They piled in, and started off on the 20-minute ride to the hotel. Crespo's favorite part of being on the NT, aside from representing his country, was seeing all of the different places they played their games. Next to him, he saw Leandro Alfienk reading an article. A quick peek confirmed Crespo's suspicion: Leandro was reading about the upcoming changes to the A. Liga, Saterun domestic league. Not only were two new teams being added, but an entire U-19 league was being launched. It was going to be the 10th season, so Crespo agreed that it made sense for the sentimental folks down at the A. Liga central offices in Daxler.

When the bus pulled up next to the hotel, Crespo was a little surprised. It looked nothing like any of the hotels he had ever been to, save a few when playing Wonghia Saint-Lupain in the league. Wonghia was the main northern city, and all of the hotels there had been built kind of like the one he was in front of now. They were mainly constructed out of wooden logs, or at least appeared to be, creating a lodge-type feel. The country on the whole reminded Crespo of the Northern Islands of Saterun, which were situated north of the main island. Crespo himself was from the southern town of Anden, and so wasn't very used to the weather of the north. However, the people were always very warm and he got the same feeling about here. Even if it were only for a few days, he got the sense that he would enjoy his visit here.

The next morning, he woke bright and early. There were players in the squad who could sleep through anything, but Crespo always woke up pretty early on matchdays. It had been a while since he last played for the NT, in that IAC quarterfinal against Juvencus, and the nerves were still there. He didn't think they would ever leave him as long as he played at the top level. He quickly got dressed, and went down to the lobby to have some coffee. Only Maksymillian Bates and Cipriano Dalca were there, both at least 5 years his senior. Bates in particular was a living legend right now, currently regarded as the best active Saterun striker in this moment. He was one of the few Saturnalians to play abroad. He was the perfect antecedent to Thiago Esparza: tall, athletic, strong, and great in the air. He also had a lethal finishing streak.

Gradually, the rest of the team filed into the lobby. Crespo felt closest to Vidar Washington and Dante Sutherland, as they also played for his club side Mieteng City. Crespo suspected it was Mieteng's historic first A. Liga title last season that had lifted them into the squad, but they were good, promising players in their own right. However, they would likely have to wait awhile before getting game time, as they were both behind very good players who had long established their starting position. Kameron called Crespo out of his thoughts. "Listen, everyone. The bus leaves in 15 minutes. I just want to say something really quick. I know the IAC did not end how many of you wanted, but we have a chance here to rectify that. Last time, we got off to a very slow start in World Cup Qualifying. I need to see a lot more aggression this time out, and we need to start on the front foot. Now go load up your gear."

Once on the bus, Crespo started what had now become his traditional relaxation routine. He put on his favorite music artist, Synidcate, and blocked out everything else. He knew he deserved his spot here, but he also knew he had Dimitiri ready to take his spot at a moments notice. He needed to play well here today, and start this campaign strong. Although he wanted to keep his eyes closed, it was fascinating to go through the streets of Jansberg, the Semarland capital. It was very different from Anden and Mieteng. Gradually, they arrived at the stadium. It was modest, but well constructed. Crespo closed his eyes one more time before they got off, and just blocked every other sensation out. He knew he needed to focus. It was time to prove himself on the most important stage.

[Valanora]

Valanora Times
Whirlwinds

The start of another qualifying is upon us and though the Marauders enter as the number one ranked team in the land, they do not come into the competition on good form or feeling good about themselves. Controversy surrounds Emeline Millet at the top, as the Ko-oren born manager has seen what many believe to be a regression of results since taking over for Dan Eastwood, as the team has failed to produce a good run in either of the ARCs and fell before making it to the Fianl of World Cup 96, which had been the goal. Failure to get the ball rolling from the outset likely will see the embroiled manager be relieved of her position, with the VSC and VFA facing a lot of pressure from the fan groups to make a change at the managerial position so that some of the best talent that the side has had in the past three decades is not wasted. A talent like Imre Haaland only comes around once in a generation and as he seems to be hitting his prime entering into this qualifying cycle, there is that fear among the supporters that Millet's brand of football will not get the best out of the strikers or the rest of the attacking options that the national team is able to call upon, with her decision to drop a striker from the formation.

Adding a fourth defender was supposed to stabilize a defense that has more often than not been the problematic part of the Vanorian national teams, yet even with a four at the back system the defense has yet to see the significant improvement that Millet had promised to bring to the team when she took over the job. It has been a miserable start to her time as the manager for the fans, especially when you compare it to the start that Eastwood had in winning a regional championship as well as the Eagle's Cup invitational, then getting the side back towards the upper echelons of the World Cup, where the team could be a real title contender once more after a near on decade of struggling to be relevant again. While it is hard to imagine how a five time champion of the competition could ever not be relevant whilst they are still competing, for that time before Eastwood's hiring the team was nought but an also ran who would qualify for the World Cup Finals but would never do more than that, that mediocrity that a lot of footballing federations find themselves mired in and few figure out the riddle on how to escape it without sinking further into the quicksand beneath their feet.

It is a time of change, as the World Cup is entering into a new era as the first bid that offered a Finals of forty-eight teams was accepted by the World Cup Committee and so one hundred fifty-three teams across seventeen groups will be vying for a shot to qualify for one of the forty-six spots in Pasarga or Eastfield Lodge. The all Rushmori World Cup also sees the ever suffering Eastfielders make it once more to the Finals, perhaps signalling a turn of fortunes if they can take advantage of that home crowd advantage and get a result or two, as a number of the best third placed sides in the Finals will being advancing towards a Round of 32. Meanwhile there was a few changes to the pool for the national team as well as a refreshment of the national team kits, provided by Nerio of Dantopia, a sporting goods distrubitor whose kits are sourced exclusively from polyester made from recycled plastics cleaned out from polluted waters. The home kit stays navy but switches to a plain navy shirt with white trim and collar, while the away moves from red to white with a red sash from right to left that sports a mix of red and blue trim, while they have also included a third kit of a dark forest with gold trim.

For the Marauders, they are placed in Group 3 and despite being the number one ranked team and thus a top pot team, the side has been handed a rather difficult draw considering the circumstances. They have been handed the best second seed in Zwangzug, whom the Marauders have a small bit of history against, winning a World Cup Final against them in the early 40 editions when the Marauders and Starblaydia were the dominant forces of the competition. Additionally all of the teams in the group come from the top half of their pot including forty-eighth ranked TJUN-ia, sixty-ninth ranked Polar Islandstates, eighty-fourth ranked Sudilia, as well as Equestria who are dangerous despite being in a downswing in the last few tournaments. There are three teams in the group who sport at least a single World Cup victory and it is a group that poises challenges at every turn. Fortunately the first two games offer a good chance for the side to get their feet underneath them with unranked Megistos at the Hatire Memorial before traveling to sub 200 ranked The Godlands I for the first trip away from the Empire, which has been an issue under Millet.

Getting one of the "easier" teams in the group as the first road trip offers Millet that chance to rewrite the trend and get the team believing in their abilities to get results on the road and that they are the favorites to win the group. Winning the group is obviously the goal for the qualifying campaign but the difficultly of the group might make it where finishing second would also be acceptable, especially given the quality of teams like Zwangzug and Polar Islandstates, the latter of whom has been running riot in the Di Brandini Cup since their return to the international game, showcasing their ability to cultivate talent to a considerable level in a short amount of time that is worthy of their steeped tradition and legacy in the competition. There will also be a handful of third placed teams who automatically qualify while the rest will be having a single legged playoff in a neutral venue to determine the last of the qualifiers. Given the supporters' expectations, failing to finish in the top two will be seen as a failure regardless of how much or how little challenging the group might be. The team wears the burden of the five stars on their crest and the number one ranked team and it need wear it well to navigate it through a difficult but manageable qualifying campaign.

[Valentine Z]

Part 1 – Once again back into the foray.

Exuberant Superintendent T-2000/2904-3 Surveillant Clarissa Alanis Star Breya « La Amoureux Chéri » Millie Taissa Butterfly Mélody Coraline Jolijn Trini Clementine Hollie Samantha Zeta Harumi: Hello there, my lovely friends all across the wonders of the multiverse! Well, we are here once again, haha! It has certainly been a while since our last World Cup, but this is to be expected. I think you all already know the drill by now, so I will try not to make it too wordy or “As you know” exposition dump. Yet another cycle for us, and one that we hope that we will get into a little bit more than just the qualifications and the lower rungs of the playoffs. Now, of course – please do not get me wrong here! I love football and coaching the Valentian Kittens regardless of the outcomes, and we all try our best to finish each of the seasons – be it World Cup, Cup of Harmony, or Independents – on a happy note! A little bit of celebration here and there, or a consolidation dinner to reassure and cheer everyone up. What I would like is for Valentian Kittens to never have that fear of getting kicked or fired for their performance. For a negative attitude, yes, but so far everyone has been okay on that aspect as well, so there’s no need to. With that all said and done, however, I do yearn and would love to have the Kittens be in the semifinals or even the finals. Naturally, it will be quite an arduous task. I mean, look at Gwen’s Angels in IBC too! It took them 9 seasons to get their very first champion and victory. For World Cup, it would be a bit more difficult. To be clear, I am not saying that basketball is easier, oh no! I don’t believe in such things as to which is easier to get. It’s more of, you know, there are several, several teams and nations vying for that title in World Cup, so there’re more teams to go through. Anyway, let’s move on to things!

The Valentian Kittens will be facing quite a lot of challenges across various groups. Namely, the big ones such as Audioslavia, Cardenao, Abanhfleft, and Delte. The others, of course, are also not to be underestimated! It’s more of the fact that we don’t exactly know who they are just yet, and we have not exactly matched up with them. Two mutually exclusive events, of course. Still, we have the matches against Cardenao and Audioslavia lined up, and I’ve a good feeling that we will be able to do it. Even if we are not winning, at least a single draw should be able to help reassure things! I am, of course, not too positive to the point of toxicity; I would, however, like to be optimistic where I can be, or need to be. The Kittens are all looking up to me, and I would really love to make sure that their hopes and dreams are not crushed in a very short span of time without much of an opportunity. I will continue to be writing and updating on the factbooks of Valentine Z, for it has been quite a long time since they have been updated. In the meantime, I believe that I should also help Clementine a little bit more. Clementine Lizbeth “Athena Mk. 3” Hinata Tanaka is her name. Hmm, oh yes! Despite sharing the name with me, well, one of the name, she is not exactly- this is a bit difficult to explain. The Valentians have – with my permission and consent, of course, and they have been lovely! – used my technology, both the hardware and the software, to develop and make more AI and robots. While I can be considered the grand all-mother of this sector of tech, I would technically not go as far as to say that they are my children. Friends, yes, but not direct children. With that out of the way, and this being her third iteration, I think she can learn a little bit more about football team management from myself. Well, let’s see how things go now!

[Alanis Star]

Part 1 – First Iterations.

Clementine Lizbeth “Athena Mk. 3” Hinata Tanaka, hello to you and good day! I hope that this message that I have sent to you, along with the follow-up conversation that we’ve later will lead to a better future for both the Kittens and especially for the Diodes! First and foremost, my sincere and happy congratulations on coaching a World Cup team. After a pretty selective and intensive training and domestic matches, we got these amazing folks that I’m sure that you will be happy to lead. Don’t worry about it – while we operate different teams per se, I will do my best to help you as fairly and cleanly as I possibly can. I cannot and should not give you an outright advantage, it’s just the advice that I have over the seasons. Anyway, I believe that we should start with the basics, which we have already discussed. First and foremost, about Alanis Star. With our team’s name and even having Janice "Athlete Mk.13" Toyoko Ishikawa in the team, it would not come as surprise that some people might started asking as to if Alanis Star is that kind of place. Well, we are a little different compared to the other territories, but in the end, we are still Valentine Z, of course! What does this mean is, it’s still the same people and Valentians. It might come across as a little bit of the same two teams being in place, but we’re in, aren’t we? We’re clear to go! So yeah, let’s go!

Alanis Star is an autonomous region of Valentine Z, lead by myself and Adriana. It comprises of South America (including Mexico), Canada, and Greenland. This was just for Earth itself, of course. We also have expanded to Mars together with the rest of the Valentians and the other autonomous regions. I can tell you about the territory in Atlantian Oceania, but that is a bit in the archives right now, so I will need to actively draw that information if you need it. For the time being, and more importantly, we have also established a territory in Esportiva, with Node 93 as the only city. We bordered Sorlovia, and our neighbors include Hapilopper, Newmanistan, Ares-Y-Penthesilea, and Star United States, so we are absolutely in good hands with our neighbors and they will not be giving us trouble. Not to suggest that they would, of course! I think they know that we have established a territory here with the usage of a portal, because Valentine Z is in another universe entirely. We even have one player from Node 93, Janice as I have already introduced! Moving on, about Alanis Star itself, yes. We are more or less like the other Valentians, but in the sense that I have proposed that we be the technological hub for the entire country. Valentine Z would be the main administrative region, Alanis Star would be tech, Voorzichtigheid on defenses, Victoriaans Nederlands on the more cultures-across-time aspect (the culture is not just restricted to the countries under Victoriaans Nederlands), and of course, Vostrov would be research, development, and education. Going back, that means that Alanis Star has a bit more robots and AI living together with us compared to the other countries. We also have a bit more glass architecture- which I get that many people don’t like them. They are just a bit more commonplace, we didn’t and are not demolishing anything else. The people, of course, are flesh and blood like us. Alanis Star, and the Valentians, do not believe in cybernetic enhancements (save for replacements, and even then, they are vat-grown and they are compatible with organic bodies). The most we will work with is exoskeletons. I, along with the rest of the Valentians, do not want to go down that route whereby we’re modifying our bodies way too much to the point of- yeah..

As for why I am telling you all of this – well, you are still quite a relatively young prototype, Clementine! I did not mean that badly, of course, but this is an orientation that I have to give with the utmost neutrality! You can find and read the rest of the materials at your own time, and there are read-only archives and drives that have been made accessible to you, thanks to Adriana herself. Once again, I would like to wish you luck with the opponents that you will be facing – which, from my reading, you will be competing with the likes of Qusmo, Chromatika, The 14 Stars, Baggieland, and the like. The first thing you will want to do is to check who your opponents are. For the next two days, you will be facing Chromatika on the first day, and then the second day will be your break. So, read up on Chromatika’s team and please do let me know of the questions you might have. Once again, I do not have, nor will I, divulge information that is not available to us or gives us a clear unfair advantage; instead, I can give you general advice on what you can do against certain teams. For Chromatika’s Anomalies as they are called, they have a very strong history and have been around since World Cup 73, very huge history going for them. They also like to play very offensively, so expect the goals coming your way. My general advice against all the teams? Go all-out offense. We are NOT made with defenses in mind, our tall players will not be able to reap the rewards of just blocking shots. No, we have those long legs in the team, might as well use them to the fullest advantage! I understand that it’ll be quite overwhelming for you, but also remember that you and your team will have a break on the 2nd day, and with a high-ranking team out of the way, you can focus on the rest (who are also not to be underestimated). Good luck!

[City of Myrtle Beach]

CBCSports Myrtle Beach

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MATCHDAY ONE
Bears Armed 4 – 4 Myrtle Beach
@ Wimbley Stadium, Bears Armed; attendance 58,303; overcast 68F; kickoff 6pm local time

Bears Armed:
19' Kuthbearrh
36', 77' White
53' Bruin

Myrtle Beach:
16', 82' Farmer
33' Brennan
47' Mann

It's matchday one versus Bears Armed, and... wow, they really are all bears. The people there are incredibly kind, but traveling to this country that seems to be ripped straight out of some kind of novel is just a confusing experience. I don't think I'll be going back, even if it was a nice trip. Notably, this match was mostly free of the Myrtle Beach hooliganism that usually plagues international games. I wouldn't want to fight a bear, and it appears that most others share that sentiment. Not all others of course- it's still Myrtle Beach- but it was a nice break from the usual type of match. The match itself was interesting. The lead was traded a handful of times, and 8 goals were scored in the end which people always love. The first goal was thrown in by Farmer at the 16 minute mark, which was promptly met with a counter-attack from Bears Armed and a 19-minute goal by Bears striker Urrma Kuthbearrh.

In minute 33, Brennan tossed another one in, putting Myrtle up 1-2. This was once again met with another goal from Bears, this one by forward Sarranna White in minute 36, tying it up 2-2. It remained at 2-2 going into the half. Typically, the half at a Myrtle Beach game would consist of at least one person doing something stupid on the field and another getting in a fight with a fan from the other team over something minor and ending up in the hospital. Fortunately, this one went off without a hitch. This meant the game was able to progress once halftime was over instead of getting delayed a bit because someone was popping fireworks in the stands and filling the pitch with smoke. Right out of the gate, Mann took the ball all the way down the field and lobbed it into the goal in minute 47, putting Myrtle up once again 2-3. This lead remained for longer than the other two, but by minute 53 a well-placed ball by Bears midfielder Steffannee Bruin slid past Page and made it a 3-3 game.

As the homestretch began, the game was still tied. The ball continued to simply bounce back and forth between the two teams. That was until minute 77, when Bears forward White once again put another point on the board for their team, putting Bears Armed up 4-3. Farmer quickly followed up with another goal, making it 4-4 for the end of the game.

A draw on matchday one is obviously a disappointing start in the WCQ, but it’s better than a loss. The trip to Bears Armed was incredibly interesting too- it’s definitely one of the most unique places I’ve been while covering the World Cup for CBC these past few years. On matchday two Myrtle Beach will play at home vs Drawkland, who took home a 3-0 win today vs Yakk.

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MATCHDAY TWO
Myrtle Beach 1 – 3 Drawkland
@ Grand Strand Stadium, Myrtle Beach; attendance 38,603; rainy 91F; kickoff 6pm local time

Myrtle Beach:
45+2’ Farmer
Yellow on Newman 79’

Drawkland:
29’, 82’ Fields
63’ Collingwood

Myrtle Beach got to stay home this time as Drawkland came all the way from Sonnel. I’d never heard of that place before then, but I’ve never heard of most of the places in the qualifiers before going to them, so… The match kicked off with a whimper as nothing of any particular interest happened for the first 20 or so minutes. The match finally began picking up beyond the usual “ball goes left. ball goes right.” that seems to plague football these days. I still insist football would be more interesting if people were allowed to fight like in hockey. Well, the players specifically- people fight all the time in the stands.

In minute 29, striker Riley Fields of Drawkland kicked the ball clean past the defense and right into the goal, putting them up 0-1. It was looking like that lead would persist into the half before Farmer put a ball right into the goal just before injury time was up in the 45th minute plus two, making it a 1-1 game going into the half.

The second half went off with a bang as Farmer kicked a ball right on target… and right over the top of the goal. Yikes. There were more opportunities for goals after that, but nothing came as close as that ball. Praxis Collingwood of Drawkland was able to take them into the lead 1-2 in the 63rd minute. Drawkland continued to pull past Myrtle with the lead on possession going into the 79th minute. In minute 79, Newman was given a yellow card for doing a bit of a nasty tackle on Drawkland forward Cam Cross- nothing too bad, and they were back up after a quick check. A free kick was given to Drawkland, which was made into a goal in the 82nd minute by Fields. This extended Drawkland’s lead to 1-3, and that was how it remained for the remainder of the game.

A disappointing loss at home for this one. Definitely not a good start to the qualifiers, then. Myrtle Beach will visit Vaishnavaria, ranked 259th, for matchday three, then will return home vs HUElavia for matchday four.

[The Godlands I]

BoF, QF vs Restresas, 90th minute

The rain was pouring down. Abraham gritted his teeth. For the third time in the last ten minutes, he watched the Restresians mount a lethal counterattack. I can't hold this forever, he thought, grimacing. Just a few more minutes. 3 points to 3 read the scoreboard, three from Anon and three from the Restresian player Indiana Pablo. Despite holding a 2-0 lead from the first half, and a 3-0 lead from the 50th minute, the game had slipped away from the Gods. But if they could hold out for just a little bit more...

First, it was Juno who lost possession off an interception. She was tired, everyone was. Except, Abraham thought, maybe Acorn? He watched the distance runner drive down the player, once again Indiana Pablo, who was driving the ball up the field. But he, too, was beaten. Abraham dropped back into the net as the ball came past the midfield and he faced a one-on-one situation. Him vs Indiana.

But with all of his energy focused on the man in front of him, another Restresian player made their move. By the time Abraham had realised what happened, the ball went from Indiana to Tio Howard and was flying towards the upper-right corner. With an outstretched hand, he desperately bid to stop the ball.

In that moment, he became completely aware of everything. The ball flying into the net; the raindrops smashing against it, the ground, his jersey, the net; the sensation of his hand reaching out and the muscles and nerves that had worked so hard to push that. And in that moment, he felt... lethargic. The ball hit the back of the net, and Abraham collapsed onto his knees. The BoF run was over.

BoF Quarterfinal - George Bowen Stadium, Hesham, Tumbra

The Godlands 3 - 4 Restresas

6’ Goal - Anon ⚽
10’ Goal - Anon ⚽
20’ Yellow Card - Acorn
36’ Yellow Card - Lane Sanchez
50’ Goal - Anon ⚽
60’ Goal - Indiana Pablo ⚽
61’ Yellow Card - Anon
65’ Goal - Indiana Pablo ⚽
70’ Yellow Card - Iris
72’ Goal - Indiana Pablo ⚽
90’ Goal - Tio Howard ⚽

damn, was that too cliche?
WC, Preseason

Abraham sighed. The bureaucratic test was tiring, but at the very least he had passed it. Koroa City had agreed to give The Godlands I their share of land. Perfect. All he had to do was organize some construction and he'd have the stadium ready for playing.

3 WEEKS LATER

"Alright everyone, we're here." Abraham stepped outside, and the rest of the team followed.

As they stepped out, they realised what they were looking at. Anon was the first to speak. "How the fuck did you afford this?"

"I took out a loan," Abraham replied nonchalantly.

"For what, a billion dollars?" Juno scolded him. "We can't afford this!"

"I'm sure it'll be fine in the end," Abraham concluded. "Come on, check out the inside.

[Qusmo]

The Mathletic
Informed analysis.

Qusmo’s World Cup 97 Qualifying group preview
Everything you need to know about Group 1

It’s safe to say that Qusmo’s national team, as of late, has not been doing very well. Qusmo has lost a team-record seven matches in succession, & it’s possible the winless run could last even longer. If Qusmo’s eight-match unbeaten run to tighten its margin of defeat in World Cup 96 Qualifying & advance to the quarterfinals of Cup of Harmony 88 were removed from its record, the team’s post-Collapse history would read four wins, one draw, & fifteen losses over the course of twenty matches. As teams across the Multiverse prepare for their opening fixtures of World Cup 97 Qualifying, Tlanx-Nulzk Hal needs to stanch the bleeding immediately & get Qusmo back to its winning ways — but how, against whom, & what thereafter?

Opening fixture

Qusmo has a bye on matchday one, but their opening fixture is a home match at Mastad Qusma against the Fourteen Stars. Tactically, Keira Walcott’s Blue Wolves will likely mirror Tlanx-Nulzk’s 4-3-3 shape & focus on attacking football, albeit in a setup resembling Tlanx-Nulzk’s original Qusma midfield three at Qastyr.

However, the personnel at each manager’s disposal will be very different. Whereas much has been made of Qusmo’s aging player pool, leading to a majority of Qusmo’s roster being in their thirties, including every expected starter aside from wingers & fullbacks, the Fourteen Stars have prioritized affording international experience to a younger group of players who could form the team’s core in the future. About two-thirds of the team’s roster is in their teens or twenties, & both eighteen-year-old striker Lukas Lauritzen & seventeen-year-old right winger Kimora Frazier are a full two decades younger than Qusma starting centre back Ibilx-Irtix Ono.

The team plays rapidly, too, & that could be a challenge for a centre back pairing with a combined age of seventy-one & no young players anywhere along its spine. A win over this top-hundred team would go a long way towards generating more optimism & momentum around the Qusma national team, which has been sorely lacking in the buildup to the tournament. However, a home loss to the team a pot below Qusmo to extend the Quxruxy’s losing streak to eight could invite doomerism just a single match into the team’s Qualifying campaign.

Full campaign

Of course, a single match doesn’t make or break a Qualifying campaign, despite how frenzied chatter around the team has seemed in the lead-up. Qusmo is the pot four nation in a nine-team group. The top two teams will qualify to the World Cup directly, & about a third of groups’ third-placed teams will also qualify automatically, qualify via a playoff, or be eliminated in a playoff, respectively. Having finished in third place in their previous Qualifying group, third place has to be Qusmo’s goal for World Cup 97 Qualifying, especially given seventy percent of third-placed teams will qualify for the newly-expanded forty-eight-team World Cup. So who else will Qusmo have to compete against for one of those top three spots? Let’s take a look.

Familiar faces

Qusmo has seen their group’s top seed before. In World Cup 83 Qualifying — the team’s final Qualifying campaign before the Collapse — Qusmo visited the Capitalizt Dome on matchday five before hosting Chromatika at Mastad Qusma in the return leg. In World Cup 97 Qualifying, Qusmo will visit the Capitalizt Dome on matchday five before hosting Chromatika at Mastad Qusma in the return fixture. Given the two teams’ differences in stature from where they were fourteen cycles ago, Qusmo would likely be happy with three points from their pair of fixtures against Chromatika, as they managed to do the first time around with a three-nil away loss followed by a three-one home win.

Even better than that, Qusmo would take the chance to recreate that Qualifying campaign in a heartbeat: that away loss to Chromatika was the only match Qusmo failed to win throughout the entirety of its Qualifying campaign, en route to winning the group & qualifying automatically for the World Cup. Of course, Qusmo’s party was infamously cut short, as after opening World Cup 83 with a win over the Holy Empire, Qusmo lost both its next matches & was eliminated in the group stage of a tournament for the first time ever, in the midst of the Collapse. Perhaps Qusma fans would be content with a slightly worse Qualifying campaign if it meant not reliving what happened during the actual tournament proper.

Likewise, although it is making its debut under its new name & a new state identity, Qusmo already has some history with Sangti & the Filindo Isles. Namely, Qusmo has history with one of its predecessor states, Filindostan. For one thing, there is at least some crosspollination between the two nations’ footballing cultures. Cralt-Nirlo Fox, the first Qusma manager to manage a foreign national team, took their first job outside Qusmo as an assistant for Filindostan under the tutelage of Equestrian legend Twilight Striker.

Further, in very different eras for both nations, before each nation’s respective devastating conflicts, Qusmo had faced Filindostan in a friendly at the 70 000-capacity Filindostan National Stadium in San Marco. On lucky number matchday thirteen, Qusmo will face Sangti & the Filindo Isles at the 80 000-seat Nuevo Estadio Nacional in Nuevo San Marco. Now an unranked nation making its own redebut on the Multiversal stage, Qusmo’s fixture with Sangti & the Filindo Isles is no longer the clash of a pair of top-fifty nations it initially was, but the competitive setting alone will drive the match’s stakes higher. Qusmo will hope a different state name & a different time can produce a different result than the one-nil loss the team succumbed to while visiting the original San Marco.

Regional trends

In addition to the Fourteen Stars, Chromatika, & Sangti & the Filindo Isles, Qusmo will also have to square up against Baggieland, the United States of Nova Calania, Quakmybush, the Grearish Union, & Alanis Star. One opponent not on that list: any from Rushmore. Qusmo has struggled against teams from within its own region, before & especially after the Collapse. Qusmo’s last six matches have all come against regional opposition, & all have been losses. Before that, Qusmo’s first five post-Collapse matches were in the group stage of Copa Rushmori XLV, & they lost four, drew once, & did not earn a victory.

Meanwhile, Qusmo does not have to face those historical headwinds in World Cup 97 Qualifying — or many historical regional headwinds at all. Fully half of Qusmo’s eight opponents hail from Esportiva, while another two come from Arrosia, one still claims the banner of Atlantian Oceania, & another is from an Independent region called B71. As a matter of fact, Qusmo has never faced a nation from any of these regions since the Collapse. Qusmo had much better records against regions such as these before the Collapse, but it now has a chance to write history anew.

Overall

Qusmo faces a difficult challenge in World Cup 97 Qualifying. In only its second cycle since its post-Collapse redebut, the public expectation for an expanded, forty-eight-team World Cup is now to qualify. Certainly, a path at least exists. As a pot four team in a tournament format where third place affords a good chance at qualification, Qusmo could set a goal of finishing Qualifying ahead of every lower-ranked team in Group 1, plus one of Chromatika, Baggieland, or the United States of Nova Calania. It is possible. However, Tlanx-Nulzk’s Qusmo will have to play worlds better over the course of the next sixteen matches & eighteen matchdays than they’ve done for the past seven matches if they want to have any hope.

[Restresas]

After Restresas's 6-3 defeat to Tanirinthia in Maresda:

"FUCKING HELL!!" Wesley says to himself after the game, as the squirrels without their star struggled massively... And as a result, the locker room was a complete mess after the game, which surprised the players, and Bob Dragus, the RFFA commissioner. "WESLEY! This is unlike you..." Bob told the manager in a very concerned tone. The players, usually calm and composed, were surprised to see their manager so... infuriated. "Coach..." interim captain Marcus George said softly, "we can all talk about it. We're all a bit irked by how we played today, but this is... unlike you." After shedding tears, Wesley looked to his boss and his players and said "I've had an awful week... and it showed with my tactics. Injured my knee, and I just found out a minute ago that my wife has breast cancer... I just..." A hobbling Indiana, after competing with stabbings for over a month is finally letting himself recover, talked to his manager and said that "We've all been through hell, but this is something else..." Everyone then told him to try and take a break, leaving assistant manager and key Lockeroom voice Al Hernadez to step up and prove himself in the big role.

Al, a former Sleepers Club player, told the locker room that "this can't continue. Eshialand, Pyazhnaya, and all of these excellent clubs are hunting for our ass... and we can't hold back anymore." Despite being battered and bruised, calling Restresas quitters is like smoking in this nation, you can't. The day ends with heavy hearts, but none heavier than Sesfa Dedmon, a former Beaver player for many years, and despite being with the Beavers' rival for a couple of years, he is still heavily respected on the west side, and part of that is because of his role in the Super Beaver team as the young striker that could do it all. Sesfa comes over to Wesley and tells him "My brother... you can do this... take the time you need, we'll do the rest of the qualifying for you."

Once Wesley gets back home in Mount Heavens the next morning, his sons hug him immediately, and he stays home for a while, even when Amanda went in for her initial looks at it, Wesley stayed home. The reason was unknown for many people, but Wesley, in his journal to the team the next day, stated that "This feels like the culmination of years of sorrow and defeat for me... years being injured while being an all-time great for the club I love, and continuous pressure finally got to me. I need some time for myself, my sons, and my wife to heal and recover from years of pressure and stress on my end." At the end of the journal, Wesley appointed young Lane as co-captain for his wit, leadership, and hard work to get to this spot, despite being only 20 years old. For Wesley, all he could do was hope for the best, and in the words of the Beavers' motto... "vivir en la muerte y la vida."

The following night on an episode of RWF War, champion El Grande Titan came out to jeers by the heavily rowdy fans in Dacia, while mentioning the Tanirinthia loss in heavy joy stating that "Perhaps that Street Punk Denis could perform better at 'The Life of the Restless' than what those weakling squirrels did last night. I mean, WHY does a manager tear up the locker room like that after a loss?!" The crowd immediately starts booing, reading the reports on RSN for the story of Wesley causing this approach to be a good way to gain heat, and the general episode received 4 to 4.5 star reviews for smart wording of current events in the nation, and doing so in a way that helps kayfabe, while acknowledging some rather serious events.

For politics... the Banijan registration stuff is finally getting in, and Banijan influence in Restresas is growing, but surprisingly enough, it isn't Banija's imports that are getting headlines, but Restresas's, citing the nation's hidden gem features like the sunflower curry, world class baskets, and unique and incredible emeralds that are currently one of the world's more fashionable trends... leading to Restresian globalization not only much quicker than initially anticipated, but also putting the nation in a spotlight that continues to grow every month.

[Tero al Disco]

OOC: so I'm trying do something that I can prewrite (cos I'm swimming in exams rn), therefore I got the idea to make a new series narrating some of the players' lives, their hometowns, how did they grow up, their football careers, etc. This was inspired by Siovanija & Teusland's DBC RP series, so all props to you STL, you're a marvellous RPer.
Without further ado...

---

STORY OF MY LIFE - PART 1: FACUNDO GROSSO

Facundo Rubén Grosso, 24 years old, b. 2002 in Moncloa, Marquira.

In one of the many calendars used in Tero al Disco because that's a thing that they have somehow not come around to decide to standardise the calendar or that there is one calendar that everybody follows but that I haven't wrapped my head around yet...the year is 2002, at least under the calendar used by the Asociación Terense de Fútbol (ATF), the Terense FA.

The year is 2002. Terense football is now seeing a lot of upset champions around the end of the 1990s-start of the 2000s, with Tacurú, for example, entering their golden age. This year though, Gimnasia y Bala would get the title in a somewhat unsurprising fashion, although it would be the only title won by Gimnasia in a long time, before their period of domination really kicked in some years later. Juanma Santillán, who'd later feature in the pantheon of Terense rock musicians, topped the charts with Soledad, a song which turned out to be quite unremarkable among all of his other hits. To put it bluntly, it's yet another love song (grrrr), playing out how you'd expect a generic love song to do. Tero al Disco was stuck in international isolation.

In the city of Moncloa, only less than an hour's drive away from Tero al Disco capital, is where our protagonist for this episode would be born. The first thing to note when talking about his football allegiances, is that he was a huge Moncloa fan. He was made to support el Bordó by his father, also a huge fan. Grosso was born in north Moncloa, a hotbed for Laureles, Moncloa (club)'s crosstown arch-rivals, supporters. When talking about the demographics of the city, it's split in two by the train tracks that pass through it: Moncloa Norte, north Moncloa, which is home to working- and lower-class people, as well as Laure supporters; and then Moncloa Sur, the south, with more middle-class people sprinkled in, and a nucleus for el Bordó. Moncloa's old stadium was located in the southern city, and the Estadio Municipal, the city's flagship stadium, lies some 400 meters from the train tracks, in Moncloa Sur.

His father, Orlando, worked as a butcher, while his mother, Blanca, was a hairdresser, both doing their jobs in Moncloa Norte. Orlando explains, "we were fine, to be honest, we had enough money to reach the end of the month; we couldn't pull off some grand tour extravaganza...We had it just like any other average family." After being asked about the north-south divide, he also says: "You shouldn't treat that as if it was the dirt-poor beggars and then- and then it's," chuckling, "the rich, the- the oligarchs...Most people here don't really think about that."

Facundo also explains that his dad also tried to make him a Moncloa fan as early as possible. "I remember him telling me about how, the moment I was born, he had rushed to the nearest store to buy me the smallest Moncloa shirt available, because he didn't want me to become anything other than a Moncloa fan myself. Obviously those shirts would be too big for me, becuse they were made for 2-year-olds, not a recently born baby like me. Dad took me, Mum, and my two brothers to every Moncloa game that he could go to, and I'd say his plan worked. We three were Moncloa 'till we die very quickly. My dream was for me to one day go into the pitch with a maroon shirt. When I was little, 6 or 7 years old, the other kids, they supported el Laure, and they taunted me endlessly because we had gone down to the fourth division like, 15 years ago, at that moment. I was a shy kid so Dad taught me how to stand for myself! Then when we actually played I didn't let 'em pass, I was a brick wall."

His first foray into competitive football was after joining the youth setup of Sociedad Hispana, another Moncloa club whose tiny stadium is located only 2km away from the Grossos' house. "The first match I played, I was eight years old. We played another team from the area, their name escapes me, and we blew them out. Next week, I played for Hispana's U11s, and that match I scored, and then I made four assists, from the back. We ended up scoring...ten? Eleven? The other team's manager came to me directly and he said: 'you need to sign up for Moncloa, you're just too good for this, you'll do big.' That's what I vividly remember."

Six months later, he would join Moncloa's academy. The requirements to be inside a major club's academy were more lax back in those days (yeah, it's 2010...not really "back in those days" is it), so all one player would need to make it inside an academy of the caliber would be to pass a trial, and then get trained by staff with much more experience in professional football. But nonetheless Grosso would be a clear standout as a ball-playing midfielder, playing alongside Alvaro Biaggi in the academy, and later on playing alongside him in the first team.

At 17 years old, he'd finally make his debut in the big dance of Terense football. He was registered in Moncloa's senior team for season 2020, still a youngster, which meant that this time he wasn't going to get that many minutes on the pitch, but that at one point in the season he'd make his debut being the club's best center-back prospect. On round 5, Moncloa were losing 3-1 against Norteño by halftime, with an awful performance by one of Moncloa's center-backs back then, Mauricio Antonino. At that stage, Moncloa's manager, Miguel Montserrat, who was about to retire by the end of the year, decided to sub on the young Grosso for Antonino. Facundo would have a solid start to his career, which included a key clearance from the goal line. El Bordó would draw it 3-3, but with 10 minutes to spare Norteño scored a fourth goal and the final one, with the match ending in a 4-3 nailbiter.

Grosso would be given more and more importance at the back, but with him Moncloa would hardly achieve anything of note. That would be until season 2024, where Moncloa would finally be the champions of Tero al Disco. Grosso had a somewhat solid performance in the five seasons between, but he had more of a subtle intervention in the team. Another key event to his football career was that, for the first time, Tero al Disco would be participating in the World Cup. He wasn't called up to the 26-man Baptism of Fire squad, where the Teros wound up in third place, but he was included in the player pool for the main tournament's qualifiers, with the hopes that he would get a cap for the Teros sometime.

After the first two rounds of the WCQs, Grosso seemed like his new unlocked dream would be achieved. With Tero al Disco having defeated Saltidia and Saterun, Alfredo Félix, the Teros' manager, called up Grosso for the next two-match series, in which they'd face Sannyamathland at home, and then Aphrilia away. Needless to say, it was a very exciting feeling for Grosso; it was more of an exciting feeling to be able to participate in this new experiment called "the Terense NT", rather than that of having made a lifelong dream come true, because no one had ever had that dream before, in their childhoods. Loads of other players were also getting their debuts for the Teros, and the changing room atmosphere was that.

It would be against Sannyamathland where Grosso would make his first appearance for the national team. It would be played in the Marcelo Sassari stadium in Inticuna. The first half was either somewhat mixed for the Teros, or they played better than Sannyamathland. Leonardi scored the first in the 2nd minute of extra time to close the first half, but Sannyamathland would respond with 13 minutes gone into the second, and that period afterwards would be the best one for them, carrying the momentum. It was at this stage that Félix decided to sub off Isaac Kunz and Cristian Riese (BOF83 veterans) for new bloods like Domingo Cuevas and our protagonist of this story. The ending would be pretty uneventful: 1-1. The next match with Aphrilia would see Grosso actually start for the first ever time for the Teros, but it seemed like all the honours were earned after getting subbed on against the Soviets.

He would play against Audioslavia afterwards, which resulted in a quite funny moment when the Bulls' Marc-Antoine Trigintillion celebrated the only goal of the match in his face after having made an intentional foul on Marc-Antoine. The Teros would fall victim to the Audioslavians' post-football, which in summary involved plenty of time-wasting and complaining. In the WCQ he'd earn 5 more caps.

With him recently going overseas to join Taxhavnite club Septentriennes, it looks as if he's trying to hop on a rising league like Taxhavn's SteuerLig, maybe to be able to project himself possibly towards the best leagues in the world in the future. It's either that, or that he's just a mercenary who's only willing to play for the highest bidder (which will become a somewhat common feature in Terense players in the future. Tero al Disco doesn't have that much money!)

So there you have it now. Facundo Grosso. Definitely showing lots of promise now. We shall see how it goes for him in the WCQ97.

Projected squad (5-2-3 - the players numbered 1-11 would be the preferred starting 11)
Roster for reference

[HOT-DAMN]

Laughing Dog Bar and Grill, Kensington Town, Hapilopper
The day of World Cup 97 Match 1: Kelssek v. Kensington Town

Anyone that wanted to get a beer at Laughing Dog on this day was greeted by a locked door and a hand-written note taped to it: “CLOSED: We’re playing against Kelssek! Wish us luck!”

A man that had just finished his 10-hour shift at the local warehouse¹ looked at the note, shook his head and walked away. His feet were burning with excruciating pain, and all he wanted was a couple of cold beers and that Thunderchicken 65² recipe that they were making at Laughing Dog now. But he knew that many of the bar’s regulars, its owner and lead bartender were part of that silly beer league team that, somehow or another, had made it to the CAFA Cup and now to the World Cup qualifiers.

“Luck, you’ll fuckin’ need it,” the man grumbled as he waddled away, his feet crying enough.

He was right. He was so right.

The beer leaguers were, well, beer leaguers. They were known for enjoying a cold one or two in the middle of the game and pulling pranks on each other, sometimes in mid-game. Kelssek, on the other hand, was not just a strong footballing nation - they boasted the 4th ranked team in the multiverse.

Kelssek, on the other hand, didn’t just make a deep run in the last World Cup - they came within a goal of winning the final. On paper, this should be a blowout of the highest order. A team that made it to the World Cup Final against a bunch of barflies.

Some of the sportsbooks across Hapilopper wouldn’t put a line up on the outcome of the match - but rather a prop bet: “Will Kelssek win by 10 or more goals?”³

The Hapilopper Television Network, which was airing all the Hapilopper and HOT-DAMN matches live on their network (and every other World Cup qualifier on their streaming service), warned viewers that what they were about to see would not be pretty. That a blowout would be expected. That Kelssek winning by four or five goals - against this team of beer leaguers - would be a victory.

Exhibition Place, Kirkenes, Kelssek
Leading up to the match

Jimmy Eaton knew it, too. The beer leaguers knew it. The mood inside the locker room at Exhibition Place in Kirkenes, Kelssek was sour, dour and everything in between. Nobody said anything. Not a soul. The way the players, coaches and support staff looked at each other, they started to wonder if maybe they had made a colossal mistake.

Maybe they should have stayed home. Maybe they should have gone back to the bar, gotten some cold beers and watched the matches. After all, this wasn’t just some slapdick team they were getting ready to play - this was the team that almost won the World Cup proper last year.

“Well... let’s get this over with,” Jimmy said as he looked at the clock, indicating to him that it was time to go. Time for the execution. Time for the beer leaguers to meet their eventual demise. In two hours, it would all be over, and they could enjoy a cold one together.

But as the beer leaguers took the field, something hit them. These people in the blue jerseys standing next to them looked like normal human beings - even if they were in better shape than they were. Jimmy grimly looked over at his group of beer leaguers and saw that, for one reason or another, they had seen something in the Voyagers that gave them hope. And then, there was something else that loosened the beer leaguers up even more.

A support staff member from Laughing Dog rushed over to Jimmy just before the national anthems were to be played.

“Were you supposed to give the stadium people the Hapiloppian national anthem?” the staff member asked Jimmy in a panic.

“I thought that was your job,” Jimmy replied.

“I gave them something, it wasn’t that...” the staff member replied.

Jimmy’s eyes went wide with incredulity.

“Well, what the hell song did you give them?” Jimmy asked.

Instead of playing the Hapiloppian national anthem, the stadium played the song the staff member gave them - and it was hardly “The Sun Always Shines on Hapilopper.”

Instead, it was “The Ballad of Bruce Tatum,” a song concocted by Elwood Davis and Eddie Deacon one night as Bruce, wearing stupid fake elf ears for some reason, was passed out on a bench outside Laughing Dog in the middle of a driving rainstorm after he had been overserved and blew chunks all over the bar, several stools and a couple of patrons. The song was extremely vulgar, not fit for broadcast on Hapiloppian television (or a roleplay on this forum) and very, very funny. Instead of being nervous as hell, many of the beer leaguers were doubled over in laughter as they realized what was being played for their first World Cup qualifying match.⁴

Bruce Tatum, however, stood at attention, veins bulging from his forehead with rage, lower lip quivering in white-hot fury. He felt like someone had pranked him on the global stage. Jimmy Eaton’s first reaction was that he wanted that support staff member shot. But then he saw his boys unable to maintain their composure and realized that maybe this might be what they needed.

“I’m fired, aren’t I?” the staff member asked.

“We’ll talk about it when we get home,” Jimmy replied. “Christ on a bike, man.”

But as the whistle blew, it seemed like the beer leaguers had gotten over their nerves. They were loose, happy and ready to go. And shockingly, it seemed like they could match move for move with the Voyagers.

Nah, just kidding. Lionel an Deoir caught the beer leaguers unaware in the first 20 seconds and sent a screamer past Jim Dash’s head and into the back of the net. All Jim could do was look grimly at the Voyagers celebrating and immediately figured it would be the first of many.

What Jim didn’t know, however, was that the rest of the team had huddled up not far away and told each other to knock that shit off. Take this assignment seriously - because these were human beings like they were, and they could be beat.

When play resumed, it seemed like the beer leaguers had gotten their act together - and while they had a few missteps against the Voyagers - which was to be expected considering the immense disparity between the two teams - they were actually playing decently well. And within minutes, Charlie Downer had found an opportunity, broke away from the path and had launched a missile past Jenas Maraipu at goal and, against all odds, the beer leaguers had tied the World Cup finalists.

Throughout much of the match, it seemed like the two teams had an answer for each other - to the point where back home, people were convincing each other to tune into the match. By the time there were 10 minutes left in the game, millions of Hapiloppians were watching the Kelssek/HOT-DAMN game, even more than those watching an exciting Hapilopper-Indusse game.

That man, still recovering from a hard day in the warehouse, was watching incredulously at another bar as he slowly sipped his cider. So was everyone else.

“I can’t believe it. Those motherfuckers are gonna do it,” the man said. “They’re gonna hold even with Kelssek.”

It wasn’t often that Hapiloppians celebrated a draw. It wasn’t often that people would celebrate a tie game. But with the match inexplicably tied 3-3 in injury time, millions of people across Hapilopper cried for the whistle to blow as the beer leaguers were throwing everything but the kitchen sink at the Voyagers to keep them from taking the lead. And when that whistle blew to end the game, most everyone across Hapilopper broke out into spontaneous celebrations with what they had just seen.

But in Kelssek, the beer leaguers were just trying to stay upright as the match ended. They had gone up against one of the best teams in the multiverse and barely survived. As the whistle blew, Jimmy Clifford’s legs gave out and he collapsed. He sat up and noticed assistant coach and head bartender Tyler Swanson walking his way. Usually, Tyler would have a beer in his hand to give to him, but not on this occasion.

“Y’all did good,” Tyler said. “Damn good.”

Jimmy Eaton, meanwhile, had tears in his eyes as he walked over to shake the hand of Kelssek manager Calen Reamsey. When he walked back to his team, you could see - very clearly - that the emotions were too much for him. He expected his team would get blown out in a massive way. He expected it was going to be brutal. But instead, his group of beer leaguers - these average Joes that get together in the evenings, do stupid things and have too much fun at Laughing Dog - had actually gone toe-to-toe with the top team in the group, the team that had come so close to winning the last World Cup.

The next day, a copy of the Buckridge Sentinel carried the headline “LAUGHING DOG BAR BEATS KELSSEK, 3-3.” Jimmy got a copy and had it framed in about the most prominent place of the bar he could find.

Because if nothing else happened of note in this World Cup qualifier, and if nothing else happened of note with Laughing Dog’s soccer team, they could carry it for the rest of their lives - that they took the World Cup finalists to the limit and could hang with them.

And if they could hang with them, they could hang with anyone, right?

---

FOOTNOTES:
1 - Hi.
2 - A cross between Rob Zombie's "Thunder Kiss '65" and "Chicken 65", an Indian dish.
3 - What I expected the outcome would be. Sorry, Kels.
4 - If this needs to be removed, let me know. My intention is to make people laugh, not to make people look bad.

[Eastfield Lodge]

Welcome one and all MD1/2 cutoff for Groups 1-8.

[Hapilopper]

Nathan Ellis Field at Capital Stadium, Hapilopper City
The day of World Cup 97 Qualifying Match 2: Hapilopper v. Beepee
For the first time in several years, there was a certain attitude pervading the Stadium District of Hapilopper City that made you excited to watch football, that made you want to get a ticket and walk into the old Mother Church to watch the home team kick ass. In the restaurants and bars across the district, the party had already begun. Strangers, friends and acquaintances alike got to know each other and love each other as they expressed hope for the night’s game, and how just a few days before, the Haps had taken a close one over Indusse, and at the same time, that group of beer leaguers from Kensington Town had tied the number four team in the multiverse, Kelssek.

The mood all across the Stadium District was that of a massive party, as well it should. This was a homecoming for the Hapilopper National Football Team, its first game in several years in Capital Stadium. Many fans were decked out in the black Nathan Ellis jersey, the one with the skull and crossbones and the words “WIN THE WHOLE F--KING THING” on the back. The Haps would be in all black in the Nathan Ellis kit for this game, but they weren’t going to be there for a sad occasion. That party atmosphere spilled into the stadium as the fans found their seats - where the Haps were already warming up.

Members of the Ellis Football squad - seeing the wilding party come into the stadium, had huge smiles emerge on their faces as they watched their fans dance their way into their seats. The music, the drums, the trumpets, they were already blaring loudly through the stadium. This felt different. This felt much more like a party than past Hapiloppian matches had in the past.

Thom Perkins and Ernie Stevenson didn’t even care that their players had stopped what they were doing to watch the fans dance their way into the stadium. They were loving the spectacle just as much. Leading the parade was a man wearing a blue and green top hat and a blue and green suit, grooving his way toward the front row. A camera caught his dance down to the front row and he looked up in time to see his face on the video board next to the dot-matrix screens rounding the roof of the stadium, next to the words “WELCOME HOME TO CAPITAL STADIUM.”

But not everyone was feeling the mood. Dom Probst, head of the Hapilopper Football Association, was sitting at the bar of the owner’s box overlooking the west end zone of the stadium, in a less-than-pleasant mood. Just a few days before, those damn beer leaguers had tied Kelssek - Kelssek! One of the top teams in the multiverse!

It had caused Dom to lose sleep, and a lot of it. He feared that those beer leaguers could actually beat his national team. And he feared what could happen if they did. Dom had not made the trip to Indusse for the first game, and watched from his office as Hapilopper put away the Indusse National Team with a late goal from Stan McLamb on one screen, and the Kensington Town Soccer Club go toe-to-toe with Kelssek, in one of the most electrifying matches in recent memory.

When the whistle blew in Kelssek, Dom turned off the television and stared out into space.

“Shit, I thought this was gonna be a joke,” Dom said nervously.

So on this day in Capital Stadium, as the wilding party filled out the 66,000 seats, Dom walked over to the front row of the seats in the owner’s box and sadly, nervously, forlornly, wondered what was to come.

He had nothing to worry about. The Hapiloppians took that energy from the party-like atmosphere and put that to good use, against this poor, overmatched team from Beepee. Members of the Hapiloppians decided they wouldn’t just take this team out, they would bully them into submission and make a statement on this muggy evening in Hapilopper City. As the teams were playing the national anthems, Rod Cutt looked over and sized up some of the players from the Beepee squad. He was looking to see whose ass he wanted to kick. He wanted to make a statement. He wanted to live up to the Number of Violence.

In Hapilopper, Number Five meant Violence. It was a reputation cultivated by Nathan Ellis and followed by his many disciples. In Hapilopper, facing down a Number Five meant you were going to get hurt. And some poor bastard from Beepee was about to learn it the hard way.

It was the ninth minute, and some guy from Beepee had started on a breakaway. We don’t really know what his name was because for some reason their roster came back all smudged so we couldn’t understand the name. But what’s important is he was “that poor bastard about to get made an example of.”

The Beepeep was running down the field with the ball, and the rest of the Haps were holding back. They could see Rod Cutt waiting for this poor guy. As he got close enough, Rod launched himself and fired out his left arm.

***POW!!!***

Rod launched with all his might and clotheslined this poor Beepeep as hard as he could. The Beepeep never saw it coming until it was too late. He saw Rod’s arm just a second before it made contact and never had a chance to move. His body flipped through the air, landing on the artificial turf like a ragdoll. The poor guy had been knocked cold, and Rod loved it. Like Nathan Ellis did to Alexis Fotellis so many years before.

Rod raised his left hand up to deliver the “horns” gesture, like Nathan had done after clotheslining Alexis that day against Vdara. The fans at Capital Stadium were delighted, erupting with delight as Rod played to the crowd. Many gave the horns back. Another Beepeep ran over to give Rod the what for, and all he got in response was a scary smile - one that said “I’ll do it to you too, asshole.”

The referee was not impressed, and incredibly, didn’t send Rod off - but he almost did. After the victim came to and got back to playing, he ran over to give Rod a piece of his mind, but Rod faked that he was going to clothesline him again. And that was that.

From there, the Haps were on it all the way, and it seemed that Beepee never stood a chance. Stan McLamb scored three goals in the first half, setting quite a tone for the Haps.

In the clubhouse in halftime, Jared Kelcey walked over to Stan McLamb, who had his feet up and a big smile on his face.

“Hey, can I score one?” Jared asked. “I want to do something.”

“What are you gonna do?” Stan asked.

“Something cool, I figure I won’t get another chance like this,” Jared replied.

“I’m gonna regret this, but sure,” Stan replied chuckling.

It happened in the 56th minute. McLamb was rushing down the field with the ball, and heard Jared shout “OVER HERE! OVER HERE!” For a brief moment, McLamb thought it was a terrible idea, but what the hell, it’s not like this game was competitive. So he fired the ball to Kelcey, who started dribbling the ball down the pitch. Figuring he had a shot at scoring a goal, he stared down the Beepeep keeper, launched it wide left - but not so wide to send it into the hot dog vendor going up the 15th row of seats trying to sell his wares - and slipped.

Jared lost his footing and he couldn’t slow down. The keeper decided he needed to watch Jared to make sure they didn’t collide so as to not get mowed down. That allowed the ball to go into the net.

But at the same time one ball hit the net, two balls hit the right side crossbar. Rather than celebrating his goal, Jared was screaming in pain against the crossbar of the net, his legs straddling it. And instead of celebrating the goal, Stan McLamb walked over, shaking his head and chuckling. So was the referee. So was Ernie Stevenson.

“Kelcey?” Stan started. “You might be the stupidest person I’ve ever met. Was that your plan?”

“What plan?” the referee asked.

“This dumbshit decided he was going to crotch himself on the net scoring a goal!” Stan explained. “How do you do that?”

“If you’re gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough,” the referee replied.

“I know that’s right,” Stan responded.

Unfortunately for Jared Kelcey, that was NOT his plan. He had something else in mind, but it backfired horribly in the process. The “one goal, two balls” incident, as one wiseass on social media put it, became the most viral video from the second match day for World Cup 97 qualifiers. There was the regular angle. There was the reverse angle. There was the slow-mo angle. There was an angle zoomed in real close on Jared. And there was some weird sports science guy explaining why nuts meeting crossbar hurt like you would not believe.

By the time the Haps would return to Nathan Ellis Field at Capital Stadium, that particular net had the words “THE NUTCRACKER” written on it - and an outline of where Jared had landed. Unfortunately for Jared, the name stuck. Television commentary teams started calling that particular side of the pitch “The Nutcracker Goal.”

Yikes.

[Kronbia]

---

The Noticias Deportivo Nacional will publish, starting this week, in serials, stories about the beginning of football in Kronbia.



1. Match in the Eastern Port

Football was not widespread in Kronbia, where the popular sports were basketball and baseball, which were widely played and had fans all over the island. Football began to appear in Kronbia in the late 1980s, when a foreign ship (the container ship Santa Maria) was in the Eastern Port of Costa de Palmeras. Some sailors performed a ball show on the loading dock in the port, after which they invited the dock workers to play with them. For three days, the ship remained in the port for maintenance. Every day, its sailors played a match with a group of dock workers. Every day the number of workers present to watch and cheer on their colleagues on the dock increased.

After that, the port workers formed several teams and played matches among themselves and at other times they played against the sailors of foreign ships. After that, football began to spread in the streets of the Costa de Palmeras among the youth.

---

First win in the World Cup 97 qualification

Kronbia men's national football team started the World Cup 97 qualification very strongly, topping Group 10 with two wins. In the first round, the team traveled to Chrizenia to face its counterpart, where Kronbia national team managed to win 5-0. Ovidio Florencio scored a hat-trick, Ismael Gabriel scored a goal, and Alfredo scored a goal.

In the second round, Kronbia national team faced Delte, ranked fifth, at Estadio Cerro del Sol in Ciudad de Halcon, with a large crowd. The team managed to snatch the win. Delte took the lead with a goal by Hennequin Perdu in the 21 minute, and then in the 37 minute, Ismael Gabriel managed to draw for Kronbia from a free kick. In the second half, Delte took the lead again with a goal by Tai Cerotha in the 53 minute, but the fans' cheers motivated the Kronbia players, and the brilliant Ovidio Florencio managed to draw for Kronbia in the 67 minute. The draw continued until the 83 minute, when the Delte defenders clashed with Alfredo, and after he was fouled in the penalty area, he got a penalty kick from which Ovidio Florencio scored the winning goal, Kronbia fans shaking the Estadio Cerro del Sol with cheers celebrating the first victory on their home.

---

[The Kytler Peninsulae]

For the first time ever, the Kytlerians enter a World Cup cycle with genuine expectation to make it to the finals.

That's partly because they're ascending - Vincent has especially been responsible for this, and his performances in the Q-League have cranked the hype train up on him still further - but mostly because there's more spaces to fill, as this is the tournament where the long-rumoured 48-team World Cup format has been formally introduced. The Kytlerians, ranked 55th in the world under a ranking system that is set to be tweaked next cycle in another sign of a brand new era in this competition and this sport, are high amongst the list of potential beneficiaries; they are a third seed, every third-place team will at least get a playoff to qualify, and seven of the 17 will go through automatically.

Unfortunately, they've landed in a tricky group. Kamijiro are a particularly dangerous fourth seed in the group, while the second seeds are a rising side in their own right in West Barack and East Obama, one of the more improbable success stories in multiversal soccer given that the sport is technically illegal there. That particular road trip - to a "stadium" that's actually some kind of military or prison facility - will certainly be one of the more distinctive that this team will ever face. Huayramarca, whom the Kytlerians faced last cycle to painful results, are the top seeds in a group that also feature a dangerous floater in Captina Island. (Floater, island... no pun intended.) It was there that the Kytlerians begin their campaign, before welcoming the Obamen to Zube Olympic Stadium.

"It's going to be tricky, but a lot more teams can dare to dream now, and we're definitely one of them," manager Andrew Patterson ahead of that opening match. "We're here to do something we've never done before, and considering our nation's success in other sport it's high time we made a World Cup proper."

Vincent agrees. "This has been the missing piece for us for so very long, as a nation, and if we are to change that it will be a huge achievement in the most competitive sport in the multiverse. Anything is possible with belief and execution, but we know how challenging it will be."

Those challenges will include, to some extent, an enemy within. Isolationist sentiment has been returning to some pockets of Kytlerian sport, and RPD supplies are said to be being restricted by guerrilla action from Varnian terrorist groups. Security is tight around the University of Zube, whose famed Margaret Institute is a key source of pure RPDs to Kytlerian national teams (and also the literal players in the case of the two-time Elephant Chess Cup winners...) - it's been some time since they felt this threatened. "We thought that this threat had receded, but this is exactly the way to ensure it doesn't," said an anonymous security guard. "We have to be vigilant to protect what this country's all about. Freedom, and sport."

The other problem - more controllable in theory, but at least as awkward in practice - is that, for perhaps the first time, Patterson isn't sure of his best XI. He had a default lineup for multiple years, but the limitations of Zachary Ellis-John at left-back and the emergence of multiple young options at the base of midfield - a role that Patterson had mostly filled with FC Alaer central defender Shrifflu Mocks and the now out-of-form Finn Murphy - has complicated things quite a bit. And against Captina Island, that uncertainty started to present itself, in particular from Charleston DiCanio on the right challenging Teun Donk in a left-back role he's not filled for the last two seasons. Two first-half goals were created through him - both converted by Giorgio Fontana - and while the Kytlerians fired right back through Vincent, Danny Markusson missed two big chances to equalise in the second half and a key early test had been failed.

A key second test - home to a top-25 nation - was next, and that went rather better. Pockets of anti-RPD protestors outside the ground dispersed quickly and a sell-out crowd - not something you see too often at the ZOS these days - roared their approval when Markusson followed in the rebound after veteran goalkeeper Dwayne Obama could only tip a fierce Vincent drive back into the danger zone. The Obaman side would fire back just after the break, however, when substitute Pal Gore - on for Harvey Chobamya after the compulsive leg exerciser suffered an ankle sprain that one has to categorise as an overuse injury on some level - drilled a low shot off the inside of the post from the edge of the box, ghosting in unmarked behind defender-turned-midfielder Xavier LaMotta. Both sides hit the woodwork without scoring in the following ten minutes - Lily Chobamya hitting the bar from a free kick, Rick Flash smashing the post with his first touch after coming on as a substitute - but neither goalkeeper would be beaten again, Obama making a particularly impressive save to deny Vincent in the 85th minute.

"To get off the mark was so important, and we did worry after the first game, so this is big," Markusson told an interviewer after the match. "We still have easier matches to come where we can rack up the points, and we need to take advantage of those opportunities."

Perhaps a reliable RPD supply will help.

[Sarzonia]

There's something about Opening Day.

It doesn't matter which sport it is, nor whether the match is the first of a small number of contests or a lengthy season. The first one, especially at home always brings excitement.

That was especially true for the Sarzonian national football team in its return to Dave Wilson Stadium in Woodstock to open World Cup 97 qualifying against Darkmania. It wasn't just the fact that it opened a new era for World Cup football. The team honoured the Under 18 national team that just won the 22nd Under 18 World Cup in Captina Island. The crowd at Dave Wilson Stadium, all 105,934 in sum, roared their approval as Max Wilcox and company soaked in the wild applause of a grateful fan base.

But after that full-throated enthusiasm died down, it was time for the regular team to get started. They would begin successfully, getting two Spencer Wilson goals as Sarzonia defeated Darkmania 2-0.

After the match, the talk wasn't about Wilson's two goals or any of goalkeeper John Wells's six saves. The first question facing manager Caleb Rush was about the expanded World Cup. Rush quickly drew the focus back.

"That's getting a little bit ahead of ourselves," Rush said. "We still gotta get there, wherever there is. We did some things well tonight against a quality opponent, but we have another tough opponent away to Gnejs."

The Stars entered Group 6 as the Pot 2 side with Flavovespia leading the way as the highest ranked team at No. 12. Gnejs are the Pot 3 side, so Rush said he was approaching that contest feeling a need to secure at least one point.

"I don't know that this group would be considered a group of death, per se, but we know we can't really afford to slip up considering the quality of teams we have here." After the away match against Gnejs, Sarzonia will face Carpathia and Ruthenia, a side whom Rush and the Stars battled three times during the World Cup 96 cycle.

Wells chuckled when he was asked about comments from Carpathian media suggesting they wanted a restraining order against the Stars.

"Yeah, I think they've gotten to know us rather well," he said. "We're going to be facing them five times in two cycles, more if we face them again in the proper or the Cup of Harmony. I get the feeling they don't like us too well, nor are we particularly fond of them."

That first battle of the World Cup 97 cycle will happen at Dave Wilson Stadium. The match is already sold out.

Speaking of familiar names, former regional neighbours Legalese will host the Stars after the Carpathians depart Woodstock. Sarzonia play home to Osterhalten after their bye on Matchday Five, then travel to Flavovespia for Matchday Six.

Rush may not admit to feeling the expectation of qualifying for a World Cup proper that expanded to 48 countries prior to the Century Edition proposal offered by Incorporated Football Federation chairman Zack Wilson, but he said that there was an opportunity to demonstrate the rapid growth a team that leapt from being ranked 112th in the football multiverse to 38th.

"We still have work to do," he said. "We aren't done by any means."

[HUElavia]

HUElavia 3-2 North and South Slavo-Baltia
(Jacquet 10', Uchee 48' (P), Milano 90+4' | Lagounov 25' (P), Tomic 76')
Bolovets Olympic Stadium, Bolovets, HUElavia

West Vdara 1-0 HUElavia
(Dimitrakopoulos 38')

It's been just about 25 cycles since The United States of HUElavia started participating in Multiversal Football, having a very tough, but exciting history. Even in recent events of having unprecedented heights at the World Cup, I think now's a great time for us to go over the history of such a notable team, one of the current best teams in the Multiverse, as well as one of the faces of the Independent Association Championship. We got plenty of faces and characters to go over, as well as many, many rivalries, as well as the highs and lows of this football-loving nation. Ladies and Gentlemen, I welcome you to:

Amarelo/Amarillo

The story of HUElavian Football.

Episode 1:

"Welcome to the show, Kid."

(Music)

Now, we have to begin by specifying what sort of HUElavian Football history we're going to describe. First and foremost, we won't be going over the HUElavian clubs. There have been quite a few that have played in the HUElavian Football League, HUElavia's First Division in the footballing pyramid, so we need to omit that stuff. Otherwise, we'd be talking about club football for days, if not weeks. Another omission is going to be the Women's National Football team that comes out every once in a while for the Jenna Raven Cup/Women's World Cup. Sorry ladies, but do believe me, you will play a pivotal role in this story down the line. We also have to omit the U18 and U21 National Teams. The U18 have historically been strong and have had histories of deep runs, but those tournaments will have to be left aside. The U21 team has historically sucked ass in most U21 World Cups. If only the HFA dedicated time and resources to the U21 team like they did to the U18 team, maybe they'd have deep runs too.

Thus, we're down to the National Football Team. This team that will be the protagonist to our story. A team that went from a "field filler" to a powerhouse. While our domestic teams may not be consistently good at a regional level, if they ever remember to sign up for regional competitions, when the players come together for the National Team, HUElavia becomes a different being. Our story begins 100 years ago in our beautiful, tropical nation with handsome men and beautiful women and with a desire to be seen in the international stage. The Democracy of HUElavia, as it was formerly named, wanted to put its might into the Multiverse with it's most popular local sport: Football. (music)

Founded a few decades prioor, the HUElavian Football Association decided to organize their own tournament. They named this tournament The Unity Cup. Why was it named that? From the old newspaper clippings once can find, the HFA wanted to unify novice teams into a competition in the name of Football and Sportsmanship. The tournament would see a bunch of newcomers take place, but there are some notable names in the multiverse that would appear, including the likes of Kaboomlandia, Ethane and Banija- yes, THAT Banija, who will appear much later in our story in a more crucial aspect. HUElavia fielded mainly players from Western HUElavia, given that while the country was recently unified decades prior, but many from the Hispanophone Eastern HUElavia refusing to play out of a grudge against the West. Thus, HUElavia gave it's first foray into International Football with the following:

HUElavia 3-1 San Sola W, HUElavia 0–0 Mitoland D, Saint Jordi 1–2 HUElavia W, HUElavia 1–0 Kaboomlandia W (QFs), HUElavia 0–1 Modorsica L (SFs), HUElavia 2–1 San Sola W (3P)

Not bad for hosting one's first ever tournament in their first ever set of matches in International Football. There was some decent showings of fans coming to the games, but nothing to the levels we will eventually see in future tournaments this young nation will hold. There were reports that there would be another Unity Cup, but that never came. Maybe someday it'll come back. After all, HUElavia loves to unite others through football and sportsmanship. These matches do not count for the official record of HUElavian Football, but this did spark the interest the nation had to interact with other nations. Thus, the team signed up for the 61st Baptism of Fire, being co-hosted by Ceni and Red Blackland. At long last, HUElavia would make it's debut in a major tournament!

(Music)
Arioslavia 2-0 HUElavia L, HUElavia 0-2 Amazonesta L, Owner-osity 2-0 HUElavia L

0-0-3 Record, 0 GF, 6 GA, -6 GD, 0 Pts, 31st of 32 teams.

The Gang Gets Obliterated. What a terrible start for this young team. Getting Dos-a-Cero'ed in every game was a tough thing to watch. Looking at records, it doesn't even look like the HFA bothered to leave behind a record of who played! One can only assume that the squad that went to the Unity Cup were the ones who played. But, this truly was a sobering moment for the National Team. With this tough elimination, it did put us on the map of Multiversal Football. Albeit, in a very shitty ranking: 298. No worries dear viewer, this is the lowest this team will ever be ranked in our story.

Thus, we enter our first qualifiers in HUElavian history: World Cup 74 Qualifiers. While still lowly ranked, still it's a great chance to learn and to take in the experience of Multiversal Football. Coming into Matchday 1 of the qualifiers, the very first qualifying match, what better place to host it than Estadio Nacional! Although, it ain't the Estadio Nacional that people know today. The old Estadio Nacional was more circular with more of a one tier seating all around the pitch. In fact, Estadio Costeiro in HUEsilia was modeled after the old stadium when it was built, so that's as good of an image we can get towards how the stadium looked. On a clear evening in Curumba, we'd finally make history:

HUElavia 2–1 Aestate W

Would you look at that? Our first official qualifier, our first official goals and our first official victory. Nalmar would be the first ever goal scorer for HUElavia with a fantastic volley in the 7th minute, while Captain Omar Alcantara would get a free kick in the 77th minute and would send it over the wall into the goal, with Aestate getting in additional time their lone goal. Truly was a fantastic moment, with reports saying that Old Estadio Nacional was rocking and cheering for joy at the team's first ever victory in an official match. There was much blind optimism that the team can get off the right foot and at least contend to be a midtable team. Well, let's see how we did!

The Holy Empire 4–2 HUElavia L, HUElavia 2–3 Schottia L, Bears Armed 5–0 HUElavia L, HUElavia 1–1 Whovian Tardisia D, New Gelderland 0–1 HUElavia W, Aestate 1–0 HUElavia L, HUElavia 0–3 The Holy Empire L, Schottia 5–3 HUElavia L, HUElavia 0–5 Bears Armed L, Whovian Tardisia 5–2 HUElavia L, HUElavia 0–1 New Gelderland L

2-1-9 Record, 13 GF, 34 GA, -21 GD, 7 Pts

7th place out of 7

Jesus Christ. What a terrible mark to start one's multiversal journey. After starting so decent and getting to 5th Place at the halfway mark, even having an outside shot to come back up only to just piss it away. And not just piss it, but collapse fully with 6 consecutive losses to close out the qualifiers. It's rough, but we gotta start somewhere. After this cycle, HUElavia's suffering was not in vain. We ended up going up to 137th in the rankings. Not bad for what was one's first 12 matches. Still, it was a painful start and one must keep climbing if the National Team wants to enshrine themselves to footballing history.

(Song)

Overall Record:
2-1-12, 13 GF, 46 GA, -33 GD, 7 Pts

[Tikariot]

Prologue

Chapter 1
It was supposed to be a great day for him – the Avanaroch Avalanche in town, trying to raise a last effort to make it into the playoffs that had eluded them for so long and made them the mockery of the whole THL and even more so the rest of Tikariot. They had posted a series of wins leading up to the emotionally charged game against the best domestic team from the east, the Emerald Guard Carathyr, who had been struggling themselves over the past few games and he was convinced that their streak would lead them past their rivals, so confident that he even had scraped together some of his money to place a bet on them, money that he should have used to pay off some of his credit cards, but with all the puzzle pieces in place, how could he not tempt fate and go for the cash-out?

That was about an hour and a half ago, when he walked through the gates of the Caradome, proudly wearing his Avalanche jersey and relishing in the snotty comments the opposing fans threw at him, as his team would prove them wrong. Unfortunately, the gods of hockey seemed to have had different plans this evening, because the second period had just ended and he still was staring at the ice in disbelief, it was his worst nightmare come true, a washout, not having been able to get past the Emerald Guards’ keeper even once, while allowing a ghastly nine goals in return and showing no will to fight back, it was a slaughter and he wondered if it would have been any better if he had not bothered to rush to make it in time.

His cell phone shook him out of his trance, he looked at the display and with dismay recognized the number of his assistant Duncan Carlyle, a young fellow fresh from school, thinking that by applying all the latest nonsense they learned he could solve everything short of the greenhouse effect all on his own. “Yeah”, he snarled into the phone. “Chief, we have another one... and Deputy Chief Hordichuk wants to see you – now!” With a sigh of resignation, he said “Fine, I’m coming” and hung up. A ruined evening just got worse...

His name was Raymond Hastings, Sergeant with the Carathyr Police Service, 45 years old and going nowhere fast. He’s been in the Force for almost two decades and somehow never managed to take off, his two promotions were more out of seniority than excellence and it continued with others climbing up the ladder faster than he could even imagine. He had been with homicide for five years and he was loathing every single day, but it was a job, one where he despite everything still had a fair amount of freedom to do things and it was safe. Well, depends on how safe you could call a job that has left several nice souvenirs along your body in the shape of scarred gunshot wounds, so maybe it is better to call it secure. At least he was not married or otherwise attached, which made it easier to cope with the odd hours and surely also the money, but it didn’t quite work out the same way when it came down to social functions, where we continuously got teased about appearing alone again. Well, he did not need anybody...

* * * * * *

“Wow, what a game!” exclaimed Morgan Samuelsson, “they really kick the Avalanche halfway into next week!” and took a generous swig of Mother Cerveza, the Cardenaoan beer that was so expensive to get in Carathyr that he had to save it for special occasions. The Emerald Guards’ rout of the hated Avalanche definitely deserved that, he found. He was half sitting, half hovering over the old couch set in the corner of the backroom of his uncle’s music shop, the best place to watch the games with his friends (other than going to the Dome, of course) and without having to worry about neighbours complaining about the noise.

He had always been a fan of the Emerald Guard and now that his favourite Polarian player Riku Pallavuori finally had donned the emerald jersey, he was wearing his with even more pride. He had tried playing hockey himself, but that worked well until they had told him that his hair was a problem and that he’d have to cut it if he wanted to continue, so when the decision came to continue hockey or to part at least with parts of his waist length hair, the hair won and he contented himself with being a fan. His other passion was the reason, why they all actually were where they were, in said backroom, because what had originally brought them together was music, meeting at concerts, finding out about the music store and then about the great backroom, where they were hanging out most of the time, to listen to music, watch games and movies, surf the web and just have fun.

While six of them sat like glued to the screen to cheer for their team, one sat apart, with headphones on trying to catch the latest news over the police radio frequency. Nicky Carliss never was into sports, not into watching, not into playing, not into even wanting to hear about them, but she had a very keen interest in the latest news and especially the criminal side of things, which was why she had decided to go illegal and monitor the police frequencies to see, if there was anything happening. A “Holy crap” from her corner caught the attention of the others, who were just discussing the first two periods of the game, but suddenly were silenced.

“You guys have heard of that weird case that they call the ‘Cain Killer’, right?” Morgan and the two Robertson twins Brent and Danica nodded in agreement. “Well, they found another one over in Westwinds...”
“How many are they at now?” asked Danica. “Seven?”
Nicky shook her head, “It’s the ninth and they still have no clue what is happening and why, it almost seems as if they don’t want to find anything, the guy just has to leave something behind, no?”

Seeing the confused faces on the other three friends, Nicky sighed at the ignorance of some and quickly began to explain what this was about. About half a year back police had found a body in a strip mall, mostly exsanguinated, with the word “Cain” smeared next to it on a wall, obviously in blood. Not that the deed itself was horrifying enough, but DNA tests showed that the blood used for the word “Cain” was not the blood of the victim. Over the course of the following half year they had found seven more victims, all killed the same way with the word “Cain” in blood next to them. The lack of blood at the locations of the bodies was a clear indicator that the murder had happened elsewhere, but overall police was still in the dark, with no leads to follow, not even a hint at a pattern, as the locations seemed randomly scattered across town.

“And tonight it looks like number 9 met its maker...” Nicky concluded, waiting for a reaction from the others. The only one speaking up was Thierry Arsenault, a rock of a man, who did not care about the news, as they kept changing every day and usually were depressing beginning until end, “And your point is?”
With an exasperated sigh Nicky took a deep breath to swallow the response she would have loved to shoot back and as calmly as she could tried to explain that it was insane that such a maniac could freely roam the streets of their city and police being completely clueless.

“I wonder if Serrated Scalpel might consider this guy for their next album” chuckled Brent, referring to the Balkashian band’s penchant for using serial killers for the lyrical concept of their releases. “But seriously, it’s interesting to follow something like this, but what do you want to do? Track him down on your own? It’s not as if he’s left tons of clues to find him or riddles to solve.”
“No, silly”, Nicky retorted, “I just find it is important to be aware of what is happening and keep our eyes and ears open.”
“Yeah, because Carathyr is just four blocks, so we can set up camp and monitor every move, eh?” he continued to mock. The only reply he got, was a piece of cheese sailing his way.

[Delte]

---

Delte 5-0 Oclea
Trainee Sports Correspondent Pola Bedeloe at Ildemorton Road for the Oswark Parish Advertiser

---

I won't dwell overly long on the finer details of this match but certainly mention should be made of the performance of outgoing Sports Correspondent Kit Samrodd, who did a thorough handover with me during this match before returning to his new role as Sports Editor for TAX Magazine in Taxhavn, which he tells me is more fascinating than it sounds.

Anyway.

Kit showed me where to sit in the press box, what questions to ask in my first press conference, what seasoning to add to my hot Oxemite halftime drink to make it more palatable, what colour, size and horizontal rule tags to use in formatting my articles, how to ignore all the match details and what incident to pick out to summarise the whole event in a pithy paragraph. It was a fascinating apprenticeship and he told me I was lucky to get an easy start, what with postman Irki Mynster delivering a perfect performance to score four times, oiler Chipper Osgood getting the fifth.

At the same time, or maybe a few minutes after...

---

Kronbia 3-2 Delte
Citizen journalist and 'Green Hedge' travelling ultra Tyrell de Turqua at Estadio Cerro del Sol, in Ciudad de Halcon, Kronbia for Up The Reps Football Fanzine

---

I've been all over the multiverse supporting The Reps and suffice it to say the Away Team Mission always gives you something to write home about, if only briefly.

In brief, we fans were stunned by how loud the stadium was - very shouty indeed - and curious about the size of the text in their matchday programme, which was extra big to help with a national shortage of sight, we assume. The cola-drinkers, who had backed their team all the way to the Baptism of Fire final, were mad keen for more glory and goals from Tai Cerotha and Henni Perdu did not discourage them. They just shouted louder, and in the end, the strong almost fully-professional line-up of the Away Team Mission could not withstand a creditable showing from the home team. A poor start that will rile the Rake Teinton Women's Institute back home.

I heard that the home team played like a bunch of proper Deltic amateurs, and won convincingly.

...which is nice.

---

We Are No Longer The Champions (Unsurprisingly)
Your Comprehensive Guide To World Cup 97: Part Two - The Away Team

---

Outgoing Sports Correspondent Kit Samrodd For The Oswark Parish Advertiser

Declaring that the series of disappointments including the last World Cup was actually the fault of several players who turned professional after their success (rather than a xenophobic selection policy) the new administration at the Deltic FA blamed the likes of Tai Cerotha, Iack Tase and even the heroic captain Enor Perro for losing their passion by selling out. This bizarre argument unfortunately seemed to be endorsed by the rank amateurs selected for IAC-21, who went on to win the whole damn thing, thus giving the FA more inflammatory material to work with. But Ida Spankhurst has worked some loophole magic, and she has done that by making sure all the professional footballers are in the Away Team Mission, where the old women of the FA don't have to go and watch them - since the FA, and the Women's Institute, refuse to leave our green and pleasant land to mix amongst dirty foreigners, dirty elves, and utterly filthy dwarves.

It means a strong group going to visit the likes of BoF finalist Kronbia and the only nation to win the World Cup Grand Slam in the wrong order, Audioslavia. No fewer than seven World Cup '95 winners and the bulk of the last IAC-winning team have been named in the team, including all-time Reps top scorer Tai Cerotha and of course the team captain, complete midfielder and total legend Enor Perro, both of whom are presently forbidden to play at Ildemorton Road for the home team due to their professional status - Tai at Tijhuis Archimedes in Taxhavn and Enor at Rülândéá Kôstä in Farfadillis-on-Fire.

Steed Tombes, Deni Vagabonde and Hennequin Perdu, all refugees from the Rushmori River Republic humanitarian crisis all those years ago (last year, Deltic time) have opted to persevere both with their contribution to Deltic footballing history and with fixing all the things in the valley. The Cooperites, as they are known, are great fixer-uppers, and the handyman-to-head-of-population ratio is at an all-time high (something the xenophobic Rake Teinton WI care not to mention in their inflammatory speeches). Meanwhile the Pink Army has been defeated back home, the Cooper River liberated, and the invading Queen Cassie XXXIII has abdicated, which was cause for celebration in the Sicouti-speaking refugee village of Ageness; however the carnival atmosphere was enough to persuade everyone to stay on, keep enjoying the healthy waters of the river and the green fields of the valley, and in the case of Steed, Deni and Henni, to try again for the World Cup.

Talking of green, future star defender Pokey Fayle of Gangrene Mountain, the next valley along, is back to continue building his reputation as a cultured centre-half who can play out from the back. He's got an IAC-21 winners medal now to sit alongside his IAC-20 runner's up medal, and entered the hearts of all the Deltic travelling fans when he alarmed them with an outpouring of emotion at the end of the Indies final victory over Juvencus, something not usually very appealing to the stoic Delts - but in Pokey's case, an exception has been made.

With all the Oilers joining from that victory in Tanirinthia, there is no room in the squad for new faces, which means disappointment for some of the young blood being raised at Tunn's Farm, the school of excellence for young Deltic footballers. That includes graduates Tudor Nelmoe, Tanner Turch and Lenny Skissa, all of whom are now playing abroad in professional outfits from as far away as Polar Islandstates, Quebec, Shingoryeo and Chromatika, to name but a few of the destinations the old ladies of the WI will never go to. And talking of professionals, what about Wark Oddny, Alex Mills, Herman Avelson, Tyr Tadoe and Benjamin Youngblood?

Who?

The professionals you've never heard of - playing for clubs in Taxhavn, these five have enjoyed careers of different lengths without ever getting on the radar of the Representatives selection teams. But with the SteuerLig now in an ambitious phase and rising up the rankings of club coefficients, they may have hoped for some recognition in the away team alongside other professionals. Maybe next time, fellas!

[Gnejs]

How Baggieland got a Rock of Friendship

Salvation on a ship

The sea was in a foul mood, but that did not put a damper on the disposition of our motley crew traveling the seventy-seven seas from Baggieland to Union shores. The royal adviser Dundee Talke and pirate extraordinaire Madame Xianggu had stocked the old cog with a variety of board games, kippers, plenty of ale and some sort of sparkling honey wine that young Fandango was particularly partial to. Everyone was having a grand old time. Apart from court jester Oddstein Øye.

Oddstein had made a decision, but it wasn’t one that made life any easier. The conundrum was whether he should allow the Baggies to rob the House of Molineux, or if he should try and stop them. He had decided to not let the crime pass unopposed, but at the same time not let it be known that he was in fact the agent foiling the grand scheme. Not an easily maneuverable position, for sure, but certainly a pragmatic alternative all things considered.

He considered multiple approaches to alerting Molineux, but alas it was a struggle. He tried to drop suitably subtle hints during game nights and meals, but unfortunately the crew’s favorite game quickly became Kick The Jester - which made hinting, or speaking, a chore - and he was often forced to share his meager rations with Sammy the parrot up in the lookout tower; it was almost like Talke and the others purposely tried to keep him away from young Fandango. Did they suspect his treason?

The few times Oddstein got a chance to get close to his countryman was when the king called upon his storytelling services, often as a light late night entertainment accompanying brandy and crumpets in the captain’s quarters. While the king preferred jokes, Oddstein mostly utilized these opportunities to tell old gnejsian folk tales, laden with not so subtle innuendos and hints. He told the auld tales about The man who trusted the wrong pirate, The man who fraternized with a foreign royal house, The man who got robbed by a pirate and a foreign royal house and the classic The man who thought he was going home with a grand solution but instead brought nothing but misery. Oddstein was very pleased with using these old tales as a vehicle of conveyance, and was surprised there were so many of them that perfectly fitted the current scenario, but unfortunately all his clever warnings fell on deaf ears as young Fandango remained as oblivious to the coming perils as ever.

One night, when they were only days from docking on the western Union shores, a rare moment occurred when Oddstein found himself alone with Fandango on the port side of things. Knowing such an opportunity was unlikely to come again, Oddstein grasped it and quickly dragged his countryman away from prying eyes and spoke clearly. «It’s a trap,» he said, looking Fandango straight into the eyes. «They want nothing but your bags of ancestral gold,» he continued. «The king knows naught about curing fungal plagues and cares only for riches,» he insisted. Unfortunately, young master Molineux only scoffed and demanded Oddstein remove his filthy pawn paws from Fandango’s purple velvet shirt, saying he could not understand a word of the provincial drivel Oddstein’s lowborn mouth produced.

And so it was, despite Oddstein Øye’s clandestine but ultimately futile heroics, that young Fandango Molineux continued his folly of leading a band of foxy pirates into the proverbial henhouse.

Meanwhile, back in Gnejs

Old Hedvig, grand matriarch of The House of Molineux, surveyed the postman’s daily offerings of correspondence. She stirred her teacup absentmindedly and flicked through letters from distant relatives, the prime minister and various local organizations. Same old, but suddenly something out of the ordinary caught her eye. The perfumed lilac envelope, the neat handwriting with the distinct curving to the F’s; it could only be her son. She had almost forgotten about her youngest boy, the utterly reprehensible Fandango. She sighed deeply, closed her eyes and recomposed herself, thinking: «Perhaps this journey has done him well. Perhaps his mind has matured.» A shy smile played over her lips and she nodded to herself. Yes, perhaps Fandango had finally grown up. She delicately sliced open the envelope with her letter knife, and started reading.

Mother!!

The answer to all The Union woes is within hand, and the solution will be brought to our fair shores by none other than yours truly! Your son! Your boy! The fabulous Fandango Molineux, first of his name!

Break out the fine silver and all our very best cutlery, the ones you usually only reserve for when the amtsman visits, because you’ll soon be hosting a king!

Faithfully yours,

/Fandango

**********

Today’s News

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Sports

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Shaky start to WCQ still sees Dandelions bag two points
By: Augustin Falk

If you’re anything like me, the start of the qualifications for the 97th World Cup sneaked up on you. Of course it did, kicking off in summer during the general staff holiday where pretty much the entire Union is shut down and either lounging on the beach or winding down in the deep woods or up on the mountains. Alas, the WCQ waits for no man, woman or child, and the last couple of days saw The Dandelions spring into action for their first two games of a long qualification campaign.

Enda Clentin’s men first traveled south to Anaia and The United Communities of Legalese (Enda Clentin himself of course traveled nowhere, instead remaining in the valley of Delte and coaching the team remotely), where they were up against a fresh and fast-paced Legalite team that no doubt have their hopes and intentions set on reprising their strong run from the last WCQ. While The Dandelion style of play should ideally be one of high press and “intense but unemotional defending from the front”, the team quickly found themselves pressed way back by an energetic home team (who no doubt profited from the fierce support offered from the crowd at National Stadium in Central Junction) and struggled to make much of a mark on the first half of the game. Dandelion captain August Bjørneboe and the rest of his team likely counted themselves lucky to come away with a 0-0 scoreline after the first 45 minutes. The second half saw The Dandelions regain a little bit of initiative, and while they still had a hard time to put on any dominating display, a few glimpses of attacking momentum combined with a more stoic rigor to the defense left them looking a slightly stronger side. In the end the points were shared, after Georg Bardo managed to sneak one past Kawacatoose Swamp Johnson in the 73rd minute, which equalized a Legalite goal (Isaac Longboat, header from a corner) just minutes earlier. I don’t think many would disagree with me when I say it was a shaky first effort from The Dandelions, and that they should treasure the point they brought home.

The second matchday was spent at home in Port Kejm, where The Dandelions welcomed The Stars of Sarzonia to Kejm Park. “Summer” made its presence felt here, as the stands were far from capacity and in all honesty it was a little embarrassing seeing the team going up against the second seed of Group 6 without much in the way of crowd support. The Dandelion effort once again left much to be desired, but fortunately the defensive line - Taxhavn FC Städeli professional Hibiskus Andersson in particular - put on a robust display and kept the scoreline down to 0-1, and The Dandelions somewhat in the game, at halftime. The second half in many ways mirrored the first, where a strong Sarzonian side kept pushing, and The Dandelions defended well but had problems creating much of their own game. Striker Kitt Morgan and midfielder Layton George especially made their presence felt in the Sarzonian offensive, but by a solid defensive effort and more than a little bit of luck, the visiting team was denied anymore goals. The game did see one more goal though, and deserved or not it was once again Georg Bardo (another Taxhavn pro) who leveled the game with a well-placed shot from outside the box and made the final score read 1-1.

In sum, it was far from a convincing start from The Dandelions, but at the same time they managed to come away with two decent results (snagging a point from Sarzonia especially) and converting underwhelming efforts into points is often essential for a team looking for a top three finish.

The next window won’t offer much in terms of relaxation, with a tough away fixture in Osterhalten (currently with one point after two matchdays), followed by a visit from top seed Flavovespia who have opened strong with two consecutive wins. The Dandelions currently sit in fifth place in Group 6

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Comics

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Uncle Apple and Dandy Lion
By: Fandango Molineux III


OOC: comic made by combining stuff in google drawing.

[Kanzlia]

Kanzlia victorious in opener but not without controversy

STORY OF THE DAY – SPORTS

ILOILO CITY, PANAY ISLANDS AND GUIMARAS – Kanzlia victorious in their opening match after a heated affair at the end of the game. The win provides good momentum for the exiles and they hope to continue this momentum in the second game at home.

Kanzlia's campaign begins in Iloilo City in Panay Islands and Guimaras. The hosts welcomed the Kanzlian side at the Paulino Alcantara Stadium with an excited fully-packed stadium. A reported 2,000 away fans were present in the stands. The match proved to be a tight game with the manager of Tero al Disco passport masterfully organised the defence of the Panay side. However the same could be said with Vassilis's side with Bagheria and Ardentius playing superbly in the back with many Panay attacks getting bogged down. Javier Misael Ruíz Ricalde, in particular, caused the most problems for the defensive duo, multiple times testing Jackie Stadt who was given his debut by Vassilis in the place of usual starter Z. Mido.

The second half the tempo continued with both sides struggling to find opportunities to seize. However the deadlock was finally broken in the 73rd minute when Sylverio van Coevorden intercepted a misplaced pass from Eduardo Heo. The defenders panicked and desperately tried to tackle the 22-year-old forward whatever the price is. Sylverio clinically placed the ball past Miguel Andrés Aldovino, not before a careless slide tackle Conrado Sergio Ángeles brought Sylverio down. The goal was awarded but not before a brawl ensued on the pitch between Angelo Wolf, Evert van Selm, and Maurice Bouma against the Panayese defenders. Conrado Sergio Angeles was shown the red card for the tackle but Angelo Wolf was given a yellow card for inciting the brawl. Sylverio van Coevorden had to be subbed off with an injury to his ankle. The game ended with a noticeable different tempo with tension definitely felt throughout the stadiums. A further 2 yellow cards were given by the referee in the game.

Manager Vassilis van Coevorden didn't want to discuss the injury sustained by his son. stating, "That type of tackle is not permissible in today's game, but he (Angeles) took a careless risk and was punished properly by the referee."

Kanzlia will face the United Mandaran States for their next game held at home.

Events:
73' Sylverio v. Coevorden goal
74' Conrado Sergio Ángeles sent off

Kanzlia continues superb form with surprising win against UMS

STORY OF THE DAY – SPORTS

SZBEDANSK, KANZLIA – Stadia Szbedansk saw witness to a victory against a top team courtesy of a lone goal from Ardentius van Coevorden. The victory maintains Kanzlia's perfect start to their qualification campaign.

Stadia Szbedansk was fully packed with eager supporters hoping for a miracle against an 18th-ranked United Mandaran Side. Once the game started it was very clear to all of the quality the UMR side showcased. But regardless, Vassilis continued his defensive display from the Panay game here with Bagheria and Ardentius crucial once again. Posession was a hard thing to gain for the Exiles as the UMR played with discipline unseen by previous Kanzlian opponents. The Kanzlians would gain their first chance with an excruciating miss from Sylverio van Coevorden who received a well placed cross from Maurice Bouma. His curling shot narrowly missed the top left corner leaving the entire home fans frustrated.

By the second half the Kanzlians seemed more determined and played much better. It seems like the UMR side are struggling with long crosses from the midfield and this the Kanzlians exploited but with no avail. The deadlock, just like in the Panay game, was broken in the 73rd minute during a corner kick. A cross from Evert van Selm found the belting header of Bagheria, this however was blocked by a defender. The rebound however was shot in a hard half-volley by Ardentius van Coevorden which left the UMR goalkeeper powerless to prevent it going in. Jubilations were immense with the entire stadium cheering loudly to the goal. The game continued with UMR receiving multiple chances but thanks to Z. Mido's goalkeeping prowess, none of those chance were converted to goals. The game ended with a 1-0 victory for Kanzlia.

In the post-match press conference, Ardentius van Coevorden couldn't stop smiling with his performance: "It was a hard-fought and tiring match, but hey we as a team got there and I couldn't be more proud of us. I hope this victory brings immense joy to my family and of course to all Kanzlians."

This victory means that Kanzlia tops Group 5 with 6 points. An unexpected opening campaign and the Exiles will want to continue this form until the end.

Events:
73' Ardentius v. Coevorden goal

[The Ko-orenite Constellation]

As said, Ostfalen and Hinterpommoren is a little different from the rest. Meritocracy and ecology are not exactly on their radar, and even just thinking one of the two is important would have been enough for a spot in the Constellation. The odd collection of dukes and duchesses, counts and countesses, barons and baronesses do their best to hold on to power in the green river valleys, keeping century-old traditions, embracing their strange internal politics, and so on. It wouldn't come as a surprise that their Constellation indices - meritocracy, equality, economy, HDI - aren't all that positive about the territory: it's the lowest scorer in the meritocracy index in the Constellation aside from Ponga & Waratahoren (not in the World Cup), it has a middling economy - still based on fossil fuels and industry - and a well below average HDI owing to its worse education and life expectancy.

In equality, however, it's doing surprisingly well. If you're not from the tiny noble class, there are multiple ways to climb the ladder as a privileged citizen through numerous business opportunities. The territory is rapidly industrialising and with it, entire neighbourhoods are saved from poverty each year. There's a real optimism, at least as long as the leading class keeps this going, and for now they have the domestic issues under control, but refuse to accept a lot of the help available to them from the rest of the Constellation.

The territory is further divided into six areas: the two princedoms of Hinterpommoren and Ostfalen and the duchies of Westerreich, Rhaus, Zwölfe, and Und. The princedoms lie centrally and have some of the bigger cities - Sonnenburg and Königinneburg in Hinterpommoren, Niedrigernzollern and Mauvaiß in Ostfalen - and control many of the important resources for industrialisation. All the water they need from the many rivers, wood from the forests, grain from the fields. That's not to say there's nothing going on elsewhere: coal deposits in Rhaus, otherwise an area with just a few villages and settlements dotted around, and in Und, are gripping the attention of the nation's business leaders, while Westerreich provides important national defence and Zwölfe is the kind of free trade duchy that most of the territory's goods flow through in some form.

In many ways, the territory is at a crossroads, but not a simple fork in the road with only two choices. There's tradition and nobility down one road, or industry and wealth down another, or the Constellation's progressive meritocracy down another - or any combination of those, though elements of one will always be at odds or downright incompatible with another.

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In sports, they've just gone and merged the various leagues from cities, duchies, princedoms, etcetera. The Staatsliga has eight teams, with a slight focus on representing all constituencies rather than going for outright best clubs.

* 1. Staatsliga                   Pld    W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts 
1 Schwarz-Weiß Leichtin            28   17   6   5    51   26  +25    57
2 VfB Anderhalberstadt             28   15   7   6    44   25  +19    52
3 Katzenbüttel am Zwölfe           28   13   8   7    48   29  +19    47
4 SGS Schwerenstein                28   13   6   9    43   29  +14    45
5 Hinterpommern Königinneburg      28    8   7  13    31   49  −18    31
6 Leibeigenenberger SV             28    4  14  10    30   38   −8    26
7 1. FC Sonnenburg                 28    5  11  12    25   46  −21    26
8 Allemannia Mauvaiß               28    4   7  17    27   57  −30    19

The industrial cities of Leichtin, Anderhalberstadt, and Katzenbüttel are far and away better, while the army club, Schwerenstein, never strays far from their mark.

Apart from football, ice hockey and handball are also gaining popularity, and the individual disciplines - winter sports, shooting, as well as upcoming motorsports - are currently valued far more than the team codes.

[Panay Islands and Guimaras]

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A DISASTROUS OPENER AT HOME
Iloílo City, Federal Canton

The stadium was full of Panayense supporters with thwir drums, trapo banners, and instruments, even though there are some 2,000 Kanzlians watching their team to win, the match begins with the Panayense defense masterclass thanks to Pierini, even though the Kanzlians Bagheria and Ardentius tried to break the defense. Javi Ricalde, the star, gave some massive defensive problems for the Kanzlians. It was normal on the first half until the second half came. The Panayenses and the Kanzlians are having a neck-and-neck situation, until a mistake from Heo gave van Coevorden a goal for the Kanzlians. While Coevorden was celebrating, Conrado Ángeles gave him a vicious slide tackle and incite the brawl that many Panayenses love to watch. A brawl between Heo, Chiang, and Ángeles against Kanzlian defenders Wolf, vam Selm, and Bouma was chaotic. It's so bad that Ángeles was sent off for the tackle and 2 yellow cards for the Kanzlians. Pierini was disappointed for their performance, stated that they need to do well and not being so arrogants. The Panayenses will face Boring Paradise for an away game, and hoping they would win this time.

[Avisora]

Avisora top WCQ Group 2 after a pair of wins!

Image AI generated
Pikwee, Central - 9 August, 2024

The Penguins are off to a flying start after winning their first two World Cup Qualifier matches, scoring 6 goals while receiving only 1. We are all happy, but it's not time for celebration just yet. Despite defeating the top ranked team in the group, we must remember Avisora is still the 3rd worst ranked nation and 16 tough matches lay ahead. Here's an interview with the team's manager before matchday 3:

How do you think the team has reacted these first two games following the great results in the Baptism of Fire?

"The Baptism of Fire was such a good warm-up for us, and this time getting to play at home gives us an edge, there's nothing like playing in front of your people. We're following the same routines I think we've gotten into, eating well, staying focused only on the match ahead. The traveling is a bit heavy, but I'm letting the players 4 of the 7 days on rest weeks so they can get some physical and mental relaxation."

How are you dealing with the changes in opponent level? Apparently you've dealt good with it, considering you beat one of the best teams in the world in Ko-oren.

"I think most of them have gotten used to the demand, they're asking a lot out of themselves and pushing their teammates to be even better. We're growing in confidence but I've got to make sure we don't fall into over-confidence, we're still proving ourselves to the world in our first qualifiers."

Who do you think will be most important players for us?

"We certainly have to play as a team, right? We're getting nowhere if we don't, and I'm definitely seeing a team that has grown better together, especially after the previous tournament. Like I said, they're pushing each other to be better and even if they don't play I can see their wishing those who do play to do the best that they can. Andrés [Pacheco] has grown into a fantastic captain, so I'm definitely looking for him to step up, particularly when the young ones get desperate or those kinds of situations."

Thanks, Pedro, I'm sure we'll see each other soon. Best of luck the rest of the way!

"Thanks for having me, we'll do our best to make every single Avisoran proud of their football team."

Moving on, here are the summaries for the first two qualifying games:
Avisora 5-1 Cattstan

The Penguins visited Cattstan to deliver a handful of goals! A 2nd minute goal from Benito Colón set the tone for a smashing win. Andrés Pacheco put up a cross from a free kick which Colón headed into the far post. It was then Colón who assisted the first of Diego Sanabria's goals, hitting a low cross into the six-yard box for Sanabria to easily put it past the diving goalkeeper. Pacheco and Sanabria linked up for the third, with Pacheco delivering another great cross which Sanabria easily headed in for the Avisoran 3rd. In the 32nd minute, Pacheco hit a deadly through ball which Sanabria hit first-time past the near-post. Avisora went 4-0 up back to the locker room. The team certainly took their foot off the pedal in the second half, scoring the 5th in the 53rd minute after Eduardo Pérez played a simple 1-2 with right-back Oscar Cruz, who hit a rocket past the goalkeeper. The Avisoran defense look tired in the 87th minute when they allowed the Cattstan striker to get to a slow through ball and put it in the back of the net.

Timeline
'2 - Avisora goal (Colón)
'7 - Avisora goal (Sanabria)
'28 - Avisora goal (Sanabria)
'32 - Avisora goal (Sanabria)
'53 - Avisora goal (Cruz)
'73 - Eurípides Urrutia subs Benito Colón
'80 - Miguel Sánchez subs Diego Sanabria
'87 - Cattstan goal
'88 - Ricardo Jiménez subs Oscar Cruz

Avisora 1-0 Ko-oren

In a historic match at home, Avisora beat former World Cup winners Ko-oren in a packed National Stadium. The first half was marked by a clear Ko-orenite dominance, though the Avisoran defense has seemed to become more disciplined after the BoF, and the Dragonflies could only generate two clear-cut chances. The Penguins were happy playing for the draw but a 60th minute Ko-orenite free kick fell into the hands of goalkeeper Bocachica, who launched the ball forward for Julio Sandoval who hadn't ran much all game and cruised past the defenders, chipping the ball past the experienced Edou Bittencourt. The Avisoran defense held tight the remaining half hour, holding on for their second win of the WCQ.

Timeline
'20 - Annefleur Nakasarudhen subs Purelbusak Entatingun (discomfort in his right leg)
'40 - Yellow card to Folkert Nieuwboom
'57 - Conrat Loper subs Harmon Mulvahil
'60 - Yellow card to Oscar Cruz
'61 - Avisoran goal (Sandoval)
'68 - Victor de la Renta subs Eduardo Pérez
'74 - Horacio Vega subs Gadiel Ayala
'77 - Fernando Barrera subs Edgardo Vega
'89 - Yellow card to Christian Zafra

Top Avisoran goalscorers in the World Cup 97 Qualifiers
1. Diego Sanabria - 3
2. Benito Colón, Oscar Cruz, Julio Sandoval - 1

[Indusse]

IFA Today
Indusse's World Cup Dreams to End Early?

Indusse's national football team is having a tough time in their quest to make it to World Cup 97. After doing amazingly well in World Cup 96, they've lost their first two games in the qualifying stage. Fans are worried this might mean this is not a good start and would not favour their world cup dreams.

Last year, Indusse shocked everyone by getting to the Round of Sixteen of World Cup 96. It was the best the country had ever done, and it made people around the world sit up and take notice. Everyone back home was super proud and excited to see what the team could do next.

But things aren't going so well as we are into a new season. In their first game against Happiloper, Indusse lost 1-0. They played well and had lots of chances to score, but just couldn't get the ball in the net. Happiloper managed to sneak in a goal near the end of the game, and that was it putting an end to a deserved victory.

The second game against Mytanija was even tougher. Indusse lost 4-2 in a match that had fans on the edge of their seats. Captain Mersiás scored first with an awesome long-range shot in the 23rd minute. But then Mytanija came back strong, scoring three times before halftime.

Indusse tried to fight back in the second half. Rahul B Kumar scored with a great header from a corner kick in the 62nd minute. For a while, it looked like Indusse might make a comeback. But Mytanija scored again, pretty much ending Indusse's hopes.

After the game, people noticed Captain Mersiás and Coach Newman having what looked like a heated chat on the sidelines. When asked about it later, both of them said it was no big deal. Coach Newman told reporters, "We were just talking about how to do better in the next game. We're both frustrated, but we're working together to fix things."

Mersiás agreed, saying, "Coach and I want the same thing - for our team to win. We've faced tough times before and come out stronger."

Some experts think Indusse might be struggling because other teams are taking them more seriously now. Mariah Kovács, a football analyst, said, "Last year, no one expected much from Indusse. Now, teams are really preparing for them, which makes things harder."

Coach Newman is trying to stay positive. He said, "We know what we did wrong in the first two games, and we're working hard to fix it. This team has what it takes to win, we just need to believe in ourselves again."

For now, Indusse fans are holding their breath, hoping their team can turn things around. Everyone's wondering: can Indusse find that World Cup magic again, or was last year just a one-time thing? The next few games will tell us a lot about what this team is really made of.