A Tale Of Two Crescents - WC97 Roleplay Thread

[Eshialand]

Restoration
Libonesia 0-4 Eshialand
Eshialand 3-2 Tanirinthia

“Have you got something working yet?”
“Not quite… nothing seems to be coming together, this is one deep-set bug.”

With the software bug that caused Eshialand’s Internet crisis being one of national interest, the National Cybersecurity Agency was called in to fix it. They had isolated the problem to one open source library which had gone on the fritz, but still weren't sure how it had gone wrong or who had caused it… but these were Eshialand's smartest programmers, surely they could fix it!

“What are you doing Gerry…”
“What do you think I'm doing, Elayne?” Gerry said while carrying in a massive CRT TV.
“No I really don't…”
“Well ENN got a rudimentary cable feed going and I was gonna put on the big Tanirinthia game…”
“Really? Now? We have actual work to do you and you're turning on–”
“But everyone in the country is–”

“Not everyone in the country is dealing with restoring everyone else's internet connection, Gerry. Now if you'd excuse me, I have actual debugging to do, and frankly so do you.”

Elayne got back to her work, typing more furiously than ever. She still wasn't quite sure exactly where the code fault lied, and she was slightly unfamiliar with the language this library was using… but as she learned at Eshialand City University, any problem can be solved with the right working music and just a little bit of looking up the documentation–

Oh right, she couldn't look up documentation since the internet was still out. “Urgh, I have to grab a LightScript book from the library…”
“Do you really not know LightScript coding?”
“Nothing this advanced!!! I usually just learn the basics I need for any given language and Moogle the rest…”
“This is why you actually need to learn, sometimes we need to fix Moogle.”
“Okay dumbass, just hold down the fort while I head to the library.”
“For sure, I'll keep your laptop warm for ya.”

While Elayne ran off to fetch the books she needed, Gerry did the only sensible thing he could do to pass the time: flip on the big game. “Oooo, it's just started…”

Thirty minutes later, Elayne came back with her documentation, and despite Gerry’s best attempts to hide it, she still caught him watching the game. “And what the hell are you doing?”

“Well, I, uh, I, couldn't really do anything until you came back with the–”
“Oh you, Mr. YouShould’veLearnedLightScript, are you telling me you didn't learn LightScript? So you're a hypocrite?”
“Okay okay okay hear me out… it's 1-1!! Exciting!”
“Shut up and get reading, we need to buckle down and work here.”

Elayne wasn't one for fun and diversion. Sure, maybe she was known for indulging in some video games when she wasn't working, but when it came time to do her job, ESPECIALLY on a government contract, it was serious mode. As for Gerry…

“OMG they won, we clinched first place!”
“Can you please focus on the job at hand for two seconds??”

He couldn't keep his attention on what actually mattered no matter how much Elayne bothered him to.

---

“Got any fives?”
“Go fish.”
“Urgh… Karsten, it's been two months, when do you think we're going to have an internet connection again?”

“You've really been antsy Josh… I never thought you'd collapse like this, you're usually so well-put-together!”

“I'm sorry, but when you've grown accustomed to the way we've lived for decades… how are you alright right now???”

“Did you know I used to go camping as a kid?”
“Didn't we all?”

“Okay but my dad was a fan of survival. Like, getting out there and having nothing. Got any sevens?”

“Go fish.”

“Damn. Anyway, we used to go out there off the grid for like a week. We never packed food, or a tent, or anything. Why do you think I can eat all those nasty food truck meals without my stomach literally turning inside out? It was all the red berries I ate as a child!”

“Are you sure you didn't also have some weird mushrooms or something?”
“Uhhhh… I don't remember. I guess I had some really weird dreams this one time when I was eight.”
“I'll take that as a yes. Queens?”
“Nah.”
“Darn. But like, you're sure you don't mind being off the grid?”

“Why would I? We could all use a break anyway. Good chance to touch some grass. Do you ever get that chance, in between writing all your blogs for whatever sport's being covered this week?”

Josh didn't really have a good answer for that one. He did spend way too much time caught up in the busyness of the modern world, and he never took time off to focus on the little things anymore.

He didn't much like that Karsten Rhodes of all people was exposing this about himself. “I think I need to use the washroom.” he said, leaving in a huff. He wasn't actually using the washroom to use the washroom, but rather more to think. To ponder. Was his life better now with fewer things to keep him busy? Or was Karsten talking his usual nonsense again?

[Saterun]

Look, if you had one shot or one opportunity
To seize everything you ever wanted in one moment
Would you capture it or just let it slip?

It was the one mountain Kameron Boyd had never summited. He had won his nation its first international trophy at the 20th IAC, had led them to a COH final that same cycle, and was a serial winner in the Saterun domestic scene. He had already made history several times for Saterun, but this one would be arguably more important than the rest. It felt almost destined. Almost. He knew nothing was guaranteed in WCQ, and this was no different. Truth be told, it wouldn't be down to just one moment. It would be down to 5,400 moments, each a second long. 5,400 decisions, each working towards deciding whether or not Saterun would qualify for their first ever World Cup.

Crespo Antonsen couldn't believe where he was in his career. Just 24 years old, already an Independents Champion, CoH finalist, and starting for a NT about to qualify for its first WC proper. If everything went to plan. One more game to go. It was in their hands. Beating Patriotlandia by a sole Maksymillian Bates goal had put the Claws in the driver's seat, and a win against Jeruselem would seal the deal. They had already beaten their next opponents 3-2, but that was at home. Playing away was a whole different ball game. Even just a draw would at least guarantee a play-off spot. But would Saterun have the mental strength to pull through? Crespo wasn't sure.

Thiago Esparza had been through several iterations of the national team. He had played under 3 different managers, and had been the star of the team for years. Now, though, he was aging, and could feel his NT spot slip. Players like Adrian Schlimme and Caesar Ibañez were obviously the next generation, and soon would take their place in the NT. Thiago didn't even know if he would have a starting spot in the next IAC. So that's why taking this opportunity was so important. He thought of the past NT players that had retired, especially former captain Kaka Sarabola. He had managed to stay on through the nation's IAC triumph, but had left the team just as it had started to pick up steam in the international level. Thiago didn't want to leave with any regrets. His time was now.

Success is my only motherfuckin' option, failure's not
So here I go, it's my shot; feet, fail me not
This may be the only opportunity that I got
The moment, you own it, you better never let it go (Go)
You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow
This opportunity comes once in a lifetime, yo

[Banija]

OOC Note: Sorry I can't link to S&T's most recent post due to board issues, but that provides for us the context of my RP

Banijan Star and Crescent University, right before Siovanija & Teusland launch Operation Solar Eclipse

Ankole State University was a school that with... An interesting reputation among Banijans, to say the least. Only a few years ago, were they able to move up to Division I in the Banijan Collegiate Sports Group- the top grouping in college athletics in the country. In many places, that might not matter- but in a place like Banija, as sports mad as it is, and with the popularity of college sports, being able to move up like that was an important status symbol for the school.

Nestled in the little college town of Cyta, Ankole State U has an... Interesting political history, to say the least. It probably really should have been a DI university quite a long time ago. But this was always a school that was associated with a brand of much more radical left-leaning politics than most of this very conservative, deeply religious country was comfortable with. A haven for the Radical Republicans- a long banned Banijan political party, that advocates for the complete secularization of the state, as well as the overthrow of the Monarchy and formation to a Republic. Not to mention the state seizure of a lot of assets.

The Banijan political spectrum is, of course, considerably to the right of most similar nations. So these kind of student activists, much more welcomed in other nations, are quite looked down upon in this nation. Much of them were watching President Steiner's speech. The rumors were true- Siovanija & Teusland were, indeed, going to invade Saint Konrad.

It didn't take long for the students to organize a protest on campus- only 2 hours. 8 PM local time. There was a student speaker who stood up at this protest- the Student Body President. It was an odd assortment of people. No Blue Sun or SKR flags at the protest, of course- but lots of red flags. Student Body President was just 19 years old, but she could surely command a crowd.

"Hey ASU!" She bellowed into her microphone. "Why does Banija keep getting our hands involved in all of this Imperialist stuff? Why are we aiding and abetting the United Republics plan to revive the Teus Empire?"

The crowd cheered her on, as she kept going. "The Teus keep empire building- and the Banijans are supporting it! We need to tear this Government down- this nation needs a Republic!" That kind of language, in some circles, could be considered treasonous talk- but at a campus like ASU, all that would surely be let go.

"Down with the King?" She asked the crowd, in reference to the Kabaka and her support for Republicanism.
"Down with the Empire!" The crowd chanted back, in reference to the Teus Empire. The group of students- not so many, maybe 100 or so total, starting chanting and walking around campus with that, alongside other general anti-war slogans.

---

Sankt Adelheid University campus, coinciding with the end of 'Operation Sonnenfinsternis' in Saint Konrad, 16 hours after the above events

Manuel Odo was sitting in the student center of Sankt Adelheid University at 12:15 PM, local time. SAU was one of Banija's oldest Universities. It was established by Teus Catholic missionaries in the latter half of the 19th century, during the second period of time when Banija was colonized by Quebec (or now Quebec & Shingoryeo). Sitting in the heart of Bwubanza, it was not a University that was dominated by Teus students. That is to be expected- with Banija much more of a new age economic power, there is not a long history of permanent immigration to this country from places not named Farfadillis.

But of course, it certainly had more Teus students than any other school in Banija. For reasons that are not surprising to anybody- there were not many Teus Catholics in this country. While the lion's share of Teus catholics in Banija were ethnically Banijan, the share of the population they were officially listed at was 0.3% of the Kingdom's population- a little more than a rounding error. Per census figures, that meant the country had around 420,000 people listed as Teus Catholics- a small minority in a nation of over 140 million.

There were a decent amount of Teus students who went to this school. Plenty of study abroad folk from Siovanija & Teusland, of course. And also, students who wanted to go away- but not too far away- and go to University abroad, liked to come here. Bwubanza is a Banijan city, through and through, but there is a much stronger presence of this church at this University than any other major one in Banija. Which meant the type of people to come from Siovanija & Teusland out here... Generally more conservative families, who were very into their Teus heritage. Teus students probably didn't make up more than about 15-20% of the student body- a significant minority, to be sure- one of Banija's most diverse institutions of higher learning. But, obviously a mostly Banijan school regardless.

SAU's colors were even black, white, and yellow- the colors of the Imperial Teus flag.

But what did this mean for Manuel Odo?

Manuel Odo was born to a Banijan father(hence the Banijan surname) and a Teus mother(hence the first name), being born in Aissa- a much larger city than Bwubanza, one where you can probably count the total amount of Teus in the town on two hands. They lived there until he was 7, when his father died tragically, after being hit by a bus. Originally intending to live out her days in Aissa, his mother had fallen into a deep depression. She eventually went back to rural Teusland to raise her kids with the help of her grandparents, who were very into their Teus heritage. His grandfather had fully emphasized his Teus heritage, and he grew up quite proud of it.

Banija yearned for him as well- that's why he ended up going to school here. Banija with a Teus influence. Because of that, many students here, Teus and Banijan alike, were following events in Saint Konrad very, very closely. There had been sponteanous protests for a fortnight at the University, begging that Busukuma and Borograd both do more to shut down the menace of the Blue Sun. They had been going on throughout the night- and as one would expect, reports were all over the place on social media. Reports of a serious route by the S&T military, to straight up genocide attempts by the Blue Sun. It was hard to tell what was real, what was false, what were real videos, and what were deepfakes.

And then, suddenly, the video started surfacing- it was Captain Muller walking Valljas Bancu back to the Main Square of his own capitol city. Blue Sun leader captured, city has fallen.

"Is this real?" He heard one girl ask nobody in particular.
"Are the Blue Sun defeated?" He heard somebody else ask.

People were seeing the same video. And then, he went to the website of Banija's newspaper of record, the Busukuma Post- and there was the headline. "Valljas Bancu captured, Operation Solar Eclipse complete." Odo then suddenly got up and stood on the table he was sitting at.

"HEY GUYS!" The room all shut up, staring at him. "FUCK VALLJAS BANCU! VICTORY FOR TEUSLAND!" The room broke out into cheers. Among the Teus students especially, there was real joy- he could even see one dude making the sign of the cross, in prayer.

Them being college students, a lot of people started pouring out onto the lawn behind the student center- a traditional place for major student gatherings. There was a kid who was burning a flag with the Blue Sun Party logo- Odo smiled at it. And two main flags being pulled out- the United Republics flag, of course, was the most common one seen. But also a lot of Teus imperial flags were brought out as well- and Odo simply happened to have his in his backpack at the time. A lot of the Banijans, both those who were Teus Catholic and those who were not, obviously were partial towards Teusland simply by being at this school.

Suddenly, somebody thrust a megaphone into Manuel Odo's hand. Why not? He started the chant.

Call: 'DO YOU HEAR THE BLUE SUN SING?'
Response: 'NOOO NOOOO'
Call: 'DO YOU HEAR THE BLUE SUN SING?'
Response: [i]'NOOO NOOOO'
Call: 'DO YOU HEAR THE BLUE SUN SING?'
Response: [i]'WE CAN'T HEAR A FUCKING THING
NOOO NOOOOO NOOOOOOOO'

More and more students poured out. Surely a decent amount were there to miss class and join a good party. But for a great many students- the succession of Operation Solar Eclipse was a truly joylifting moment for them.

---

Kabaka- King
Omugabe/Omugaba- Prince/Princess
Katikkiro- Prime Minister
Waziri- Foreign Minister

Select Prinicipals Meeting on the developing Saint Konrad crisis, 2.5 hours after the above events

Saint-Konrad Crisis Principals

His Majesty the Kabaka- Mwanga
The Waziri- Omugaba Immaculate
The Katikkiro- Boaz Gor
Banijan Ambassador to Siovanija & Teusland- Afiya Oyange (PRESENT ON VIDEO CALL)
Omugabe Ssemanda

"Thank you all for meeting today." As usual, the Kabaka, even still at 95 years old, could command a room if he wanted to. And on this day, at this moment- he wanted to do exactly that.

"I just got off the phone with President Steiner." The room sat- obviously nobody was going to attempt to interrupt His Majesty. "While there were obviously casualties, Operation, uh Operation-" He paused, and then attempted his own pronounciation of the Teus term- "Sonnenfinsternis- erm, Solar Eclipse. Operation Solar Eclipse went off without a hitch. Obviously, and unfortunately, there were some casualties. But from their preliminary reports, a lot of the population refused to fight the United Republics, and many of them turned over and outright supported Siovanija & Teusland."

"One can say then, that this can only be seen as a success." Said Omugaba Immaculate.

"Unmitigated." He said, looking at his daughter before turning back to the room at-large. "The local socialist party was all on board. Guards and police officers were turning over weapons en masse. And of course, we've all seen the video of Bancu's capture." Everybody nodded. "There's plenty to do for them, of course- but the hardest part seems to be over. They know how to conduct an election- I don't foresee any problems with a quick transition back to locally elected civilian rule."

"I've given the President my congratulations already." The Kabaka continued. "I'm not sure that we really need this Committee anymore." Everyone seemed to nod their head and agree. "We will keep it around, just in case- but as for regular meetings, the ones that require the direct attendance of the Prinicipals... We will put that on pause for now."

"Boaz- you'll make a speech to the Lukiiko?" The Katikkiro nodded- he had a statement prepared for tomorrow morning, to address Banija's elected Parliamentarians on the issue. "Afiya, see to it that you are at the military parade in Stelburg. Far too short notice for one of us to hop on a flight- but show that Banija was there." She gave the thumbs up on the video call. "And Omugaba Immaculate- make sure you make a public statement offering congratulations in your press conference tomorrow morning. It is a big day for them. As for you Ssemanda- take S&T's Ambassador to Banija out to a nice dinner. Them and their family. I'm sure the Ambassador is elated."

And seeing no questions, the Kabaka ended the meeting. Cool and in command- came in, took care of business, left. For now, the immediate crisis was over.

[Juvencus]

Il Scudelliano is under new management, one that presents the news about la squadra as it should instead of being a third party newspaper that supports the team only when it wants, and will remain that way until further notice

THE MIGHTY TERMINATORS SLAY YET ANOTHER UNBEATABLE OBSTACLE ON THE WAY TO GROUP TOPPING - MULTIVERSAL DISTURBANCES DISTURB SCHEDULE

When humans face themselves with the impossible a barrier is imposed initially. Upon further inspection, they realise that even the greatest walls have cracks through what seemed to be impenetrable material. La squadra seems to have taken advantadge of its momentum through the entirety of the qualifiers, something not even the horrifying timing of these qualifiers could prevent. Words of an impending apocalypse in a nearby universe has sent ripples through the entirety of the multiverse, something that has messed up communications and schedules multiverse-wide. With games postponed days or even weeks behind schedule. The games against Cattstan and against Ko-oren were 2 weeks apart in a break that should have been just 3 days.

Absolute dominance could describe both games but in a different definition of the word. Against Cattstan, relentless pressure would eventually crumble the global minnows' defensive line, ultimately leading to Luizinho scoring a quick brace with 2 strikingly similar headers. A possession-based game would see the midfielders hold the ball for the majority of the game, as Sissoko would nail the ball on the top right side of the net following a long range effort. The cherry on top came in the form of a Nora Barrault penalty in the 88th minute to seal the deal. Meanwhile the match against Ko-oren went exactly how anyone would expect a meeting between an ultra-attacking and ultra-defending team to go. Juvencus kept barraging the Ko-orenite side, hoping to find net as the Dragonflies would take advantadge of any and all counter-attacks presented to them. Eventually, the energy of the crowd was enough to be passed onto the team and with Ceferino Audiol scroring a penalty right before half-time, the tempo would turn onto la squadra's favor almost completely. With Audiol being substituted for more familiarised Jorba, the player who did leave his mark in the Ko-orenite stadiums would score a head following a direct cross by Oliveira in the dying stages of the game. Such a goal did not only make the crowd erupt, but even Gaetan himself started celebrating, basking in his team's newfound success.

Such a showing over two games has not gone unnoticed and for the first time in history, Gaetan's doubters have mostly remained silent as the ex-Scudelli coach praised his team's performances, stating

"The team's engines have started to work in full swing and we may be seeing ourselves getting familiarised with a team performing UP TO PAR. Whatever standards you had for the previous, subpar versions of this team, this team will be fulfilling to the very end. Our players have a strong character and with the values I am giving them, they will be bringing us a lot of silverware back at home real soon. As for the present, our focus is on the final games to make sure we top this group. No matter who it is, how they play or when we play them, multiversal-wide events will not be affecting us whatsoever. Consistency is key and we have copious amounts of it. As for those 2-3 of you who are still doubting me, keep running your mouths, I will be proving you wrong every time."

[The Kytler Peninsulae]

OOC: this RP is an expansion of what I believe to be a forum-nommed one from the prior window.

When the Kytlerians snuck out of the dystopian setting of West Barack and East Obama and their plane home took off, they allowed themselves to let out the cry they'd been waiting on ever since the final whistle if not before, and hadn't done for fear of unthinkable things happening to them in this brutal tyranny.

"YES WE CAN! YES WE CAN! YES WE CAN!"

If it wasn't for the fact that jet engines tend to make more noise than anyone or anything inside the cabin - it kind of goes with the "yeeting dozens of people off the ground and 10km into the air whilst accelerating up to over 800 km/h" territory, not to mention the inherent soundproofing properties of a frame that can protect its occupants from the hazards of travelling that high and fast - you would have heard the sound resonate over the military airfield as the Kytlerian plane rolled along the runway. They'd thought of it as a rallying cry before - a message that they can indeed become the first Kytlerian team to qualify for a World Cup, especially given the expansion to 48 teams (in fact, if qualifying strictly ran on world rankings, they'd be the last team in) - but felt unable to use it publicly until this away game was done and dusted.

Especially because, until then, the likeliest response was "NO YOU CAN'T! NO YOU CAN'T! NO YOU CAN'T!" An opening defeat to Captina Island left them behind the proverbial eight-ball from the start, and while they remained at least in touch by avoiding further defeats, that included home draws to the top two seeds in the group, teams that would have to be faced on enemy territory the second go-around. And goodness were these locations ever enemy territory. The talk had been about the Huayramarca match and the expected dangerous heat and humidity, but at least that was a modern stadium with modern facilities and a modern organising body running the show. This? Not so much.

It was the kind of environment you almost never play high-level competition in, for any sport, let alone the most popular in the multiverse. How the Obamen have managed to be so solid with these facilities and an apparently genuinely enforced ban on team sport that these players basically have specific exemptions from remains a mystery, with idle speculation that they're on a series of performance-enhancing substances that include but are not limited to RPDs. Or at least Dwayne Obama is, for the veteran goalie - in multiple senses, for he has been a literal military pilot - has been almost impossible to score on. Unless you're Danny Markusson, apparently; the Kytlerian followed up his rebound goal at the ZOS with an even bigger one here, heading in a Vincent cross ten minutes from the end of a brutal, attritional contest that by then had become a 10-on-10 affair courtesy of red cards for Bark Obamallama and Teun Donk for "second" bookable offences to go with the two or three others that a stricter official might have given either of them. Especially as the first Obamallama booking was for a slide tackle that badly injured Emrys Floyd, putting his participation for the rest of the qualifying campaign into question and crucially hurting his Borlfield Town club given the potential for him to miss time for them too.

On the plane, someone wrote "YES WE CAN" on Floyd's ankle strapping. It's since become the symbol of this campaign, one that has taken quite the wild ride in that time; after a painful 2-1 loss in Huayramarca, a 4-4 (!) draw in Langenia separated tense 1-0 home defeats of Libesia and Al-Tamagha. With Huayramarca failing to match the Kytlerians in overcoming the challenge of a trip to West Barack and East Obama - the Obamen winning by the 1-0 score they seem to think is the optimal result for every match - the top four are separated by just two points going into the final window. A seemingly complex situation is actually a bit easier to resolve than it looks; head-to-head is the only tiebreaker, so the Kytlerians will overtake Kamijiro if and only if they beat them, regardless of what the latter do in Al-Tamazgha a few days earlier. (We think. Time dilation has gone even more wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey than usual of late, which is saying something.) Huayramarca, meanwhile, will be at least in the top three if they beat Caribbia at home, and frankly they deserve everything Margaret can throw at them if they don't. The Obamen are also effectively safe with both Libesia (away) and Langenia (at home) on deck, and 32 points is a lock to be one of the top seven third-place tallies, so the equation is remarkably straightforward; the Kytlerians will secure their first ever World Cup qualification if and only if they go to Kamijiro and win.

It's a mighty if, but with the Kytlerians in possession of the most obvious X-factor on either side in Vincent and a potentially magnificently-timed bye to rest up in while Kamijiro play a match that looks significant, feels significant, but is almost certainly not significant...

"It's all we could have asked for. Going down to the final match with our fate in our own hands."

That's how Vincent put it. And he could not have put it better.

[Sarzonia]

The "trap-match speech" is something that Sarzonia managers typically trot out regardless of when in the group stage their team faces a lower-ranked opponent.

For this Sarzonian national football team, however, manager Caleb Rush considered the possibility that the trap-match speech might not be necessary. In the days leading up to the newly rescheduled away contest against Osterhalten, Rush noticed his team training was especially sharp.

"The team had a real sense of urgency out there," on the training pitch," Rush said after he ushered the players indoors into the air conditioned indoor facility as Woodstock began experiencing air temperatures near 35 degrees Celsius with higher than normal humidity.

Rush said afterward that his decision to end training a half hour early was due in part to the weather. He also said it was partly because of the crispness of the training session.

"I felt like we were about as ready to go as we could be," he said. "No need to expend all our bullets in training and be out of firepower for the match against Osterhalten."

The move paid off. Sarzonia have finally begun flashing some of their expected form of late, and they certainly did so against Osterhalten en route to a 3-0 away victory that helped Sarzonia retain a hold on the all important third spot in Group Six with three matches remaining.

The top two teams in each group automatically qualify for the World Cup proper. The top seven third place sides also qualify automatically. The remaining 10 third place sides compete in a playoff to determine the final five spots.

Spencer Wilson, who scored one goal and assisted on the other two markers, said the team were running out of time to ensure that they weren't sweating out an additional match for a World Cup berth.

"We don't want it to come down to that," he said of a possible playoff appearance for the second consecutive World Cup qualifying campaign. "Playoffs and us don't get on."

The result improved Sarzonia record to 6-6-1 with the lone victors over the Stars, Flavovespia, set to take on the Stars at Dave Wilson Stadium in Woodstock. Stadium officials said they issued refunds to 11,890 supporters who were unable to attend the match on the rescheduled date.

"It's not ideal to have such an important match against the highest ranked opponent in the group be rescheduled, " Incorporated Football Federation chairman Zack Wilson said. "We're aware that many of our supporters scheduled their obligations around the original date. We apologise for any inconvenience," he said. "Even though it was out of our control, that fact doesn't bring any comfort for those whose are now unable to attend the match." Zack Wilson is Spencer Wilson's father.

Stadium management made the "difficult decision" to shut off the protocols that typically prevent foreign Web addresses from accessing tickets to sections beyond the south end zone. Zack Wilson acknowledged that potentially opened the door for Flavovespia supporters to purchase seats in sections typically dedicated to Stars supporters, but Zack Wilson said the IFF's hands were tied.

"We were directed to be more flexible about our usual seating arrangements," he said. "Under the circumstances, we couldn't refuse."

[Recuecn]

Franky had finally done it.

After months of searching, he'd determined his next career. Of course, he still had a good few years left as a soccer player. But it was a load off his mind to know his next step.

There had been many steps along the way. He'd been a canoe tour guide, an administrative assistant, and more. Some of those positions had been useful learning experiences and introduced him to new people—his stint for the temp agency had let him do some helpful networking for example. Other experiences seemed less productive—like the time he had dumped the whole équipe nationale in the river on a canoe tour. He still struggled to see the upside of that situation, although the team loved the story and still gave him grief about it.

The networking had been the most important part. As an administrative assistant he had lucked out with a chance to meet the Minister of Sport. The minister had taken an interest in him, and to make a long story short, Franky had been promised a spot in the ministry after he retired from playing.

Gerauld, his friend the goalie, had been impressed when he'd told him. "I thought you'd wind up as a commentator, like everyone else does," he said.

"Not a coach?" asked Franky. He knew that Gerauld would probably wind up coaching someday.

"Didn't seem like your style," said Gerauld. "But I knew it would be something to do with the sport. It's your calling."

Emanuele, Franky's bestie on the team, gave him a harder time. "You worried all year about getting a job, when you're already a celebrity athlete? I'll never understand you, Franky."

But Franky was very happy. His quarter-life crisis was resolved. He'd figured out his future. He wouldn't have to waste away in retirement, no matter how far away that was, doing nothing. He'd be able to make a difference in the ministry, standing up for the team he loved.

Now if only that team would win its games.

[Tikariot]

Prologue
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6 - Floating around somewhere in the aether at the moment.
Part 7

The rain was pounding against the roof and walls of the cabin, but Cain couldn’t have cared less, he had work to do. Two large jute bags lay in front of the altar in the centre of the cabin and Cain’s lips curled into a thin smile. One showed some signs of life inside, but he didn’t mind anymore, if anything, it made his work more interesting.

He bent down, unfastening the rough twine that held the first sack closed, and with a deliberate motion, he peeled back the burlap. The body inside was barely clinging to awareness. He was bound and gagged, his face swollen and bloodied from his attempts to escape. Cain’s eyes showed no emotion as he observed his pitiful state.

The young man had matted hair and a gash above his right eye and groaned as he tried to focus his vision on his captor. Terror flickered in his eyes as he recognized the figure towering over him, the dim light from the torches casting grotesque shadows across Cain’s face. The young man tried to scream, but the gag muffled his voice into a whimper. Cain crouched down, his face inches from the man's, and watched the fear ripple through him, savouring the power he held over this life.

"You’ll be the second," Cain whispered, his voice dripping with malice. "And your brother here," he nudged the bag with his boot with no response, "will be first. And you – you can watch..." The terror in the man’s eyes grew with the realization that his torment was far from over.

He grabbed the man by his collar, dragging him across the rough stone floor toward one of the hanging cages. The man thrashed weakly, his movements uncoordinated from the beating he had already endured. Cain paid no mind to the resistance; it only fueled his perverse pleasure. With a grunt, Cain lifted the man and shoved him into one of the rusted cages. The door slammed shut with a resonant clang, and Cain secured it with a heavy padlock. The man inside sobbed, his voice barely audible over the wind howling outside. Cain stepped back, admiring the sight of his new prisoner suspended in the air, the cage swaying slightly from the weight of its occupant.

The second victim was easier to handle. He opened the bag to reveal an unconscious man, resembling an older version of the man still sobbing in the cage. He dragged him unceremoniously across the rough floor to a second cage, his limp body folded into the tight confines of the iron bars. Cain locked this cage as well, a sense of completion washing over him as the click of the padlock echoed in the cavernous room. He took a moment to survey the scene—the two cages hanging side by side, their occupants trapped in a nightmare from which they would never awaken.

Cain turned toward the altar the wine press looming large and menacing, its iron gears gleaming in the flickering torchlight. The blood-stained vats below were empty, ready to receive more. He approached the altar, his footsteps echoing on the stone floor. Reaching for a lever attached to the side of the press, Cain paused, feeling a deep sense of anticipation rise within him. He slowly and deliberately checked every part of the press, an eerie smile on his face. With a swift motion, Cain pulled the lever. The gears of the wine press creaked into action, grinding together, ready for its next task.

He moved to the first cage, where the conscious victim was now hyperventilating, panic overtaking him. Cain unlocked the cage and hauled the man out, dragging him toward the altar. The man screamed through the gag, a muffled, desperate sound that echoed off the stone walls.

[Aleirave]

Beyond the World, a World Beyond
Burikinia 1-0 Aleirave
Aleirave 3-2 Kanzlia

In the times since the Great Eshian Internet Outage, Aleirave's reverted to... peace.

The last time Aleirave had been this peaceful... no strife, no worries of what's going on outside, no schedules... Aleirave was in a place it hadn't been in for centuries. Pure, undiluted paradise. Sure, there was a bit of a panicked period where this paradise came with the shock of losing so much they had come to rely on, but now that the islanders had had the chance to get used to the new -- or rather, old -- normal, things were a lot better.

The modern world wasn't really something they ever needed after all. Newfangled conveniences were nothing but that: conveniences. Now that they were rid of the phones and computers that caused so much unnecessary stress, they could just... unwind. Get back to the good things in life, in this absolute paradise they called home.

"Stop writing some hyper-idealized storybook and tell this island's story like it actually is!!!!"

Sergei once again threw out the draft of his new article. He needed to write something for the Reporter, but Lakalo kept telling him to throw out every single draft he wrote of his piece about the outage, and it wasn't like any more news was coming in without any way of said news getting to the island in the first place. There was nothing left but covering the island's reaction to the outage and publishing that novel he'd been working on as a weekly serial.

"SERGEI! SERGEI!" Lakalo shouted, bursting through the door.
"What's wrong this time, I haven't even put my pencil on the page yet!"
"No no no, nothing is wrong, in fact I have most excellent news!"
"Hm?"
"The Seagulls beat Kanzlia! They've clinched third place!!"

Now that... that was some newsworthy news for the Reporter. For the first time ever, the Aleiravan National Football Team, at bare minimum, would be seeing World Cup Playoff action in their seventh attempt. Sergei was stunned at such a thing. This was not the Aleiravan team he knew. The Seagulls he knew held first or second for the first half of qualifying before ending in the middle of the pack, far from good, far from bad. There were no words to describe what he had just heard... except for four.

"They'll lose the playoff."
"Sergei, come on now. This is a good moment! Certainly the only news that's fit for you to publish."
"Maybe you should show some damn respect for the only person on this island who's willing to work for you?"
"Maybe you should show some respect for the only person on this island willing to hire you!"

Arguments like these between Lakalo and Sergei were unfortunately quite the common occurrence. The two absolutely hated each other's guts but alas, they were necessary to keep the island ticking. Without the Reporter, who would write the news? And these two were the Reporter. So, after every argument, they always had to step back for a moment to cool off, before remembering how to work together once again. No matter how many times they had a fight over something silly, they'd make up and make the paper happen every time.

"Sergei, you know and I know you can write a better article than this..."

Although sometimes that reconciliation could take just a little while longer than usual.

[Kamijiro]

Bolts of Lightning, Part Eight: End of the Line

Every single Lightning player gave the same generic response heading into matchday fifteen.
"We know what we have to do." - Katsu Fujiwara.
"It's simple, really. Twelve points." - Kaneto Kanazono.
"No room for error." - Michael Azevedo.
"Just win, baby." - Soji Kokubun.
"Four for four on wins." - Jokichi Asumi.

Running the gauntlet of qualification is never an easy feat. But winning the first two of the four makes the odds much, much better. An away day in Libesia culminated in a one-nil win for Kamijiro - courtesy of a Philippe Seraphin headed goal off a deep Wagner Machado cross. The following home match at the Raijin-shi National Arena resulted in another win, two-nil over Langenia. Both goals came from Katsu Fujiwara, one an early penalty and the other off a finessed shot into the top corner, assisted by a lay-off from Darren Williams.

The results elsewhere were the main attention of the post-match conversation. The Obamen had beaten Huayramarca by a score of one to nil. This isn't necessarily ideal for the Kamijiroans - had they lost, the Kamijiroans would have leapfrogged them for second. Whether or not those points for the Obamen end up being a deciding factor remains to be seen. Both the Obamen and Kamijiroans have two more matches to play, and winning out would mean qualification for both sides, regardless of Huayramarca's result.

However, the road to the main stage isn't easy for the Lightning. Al-Tamazgha as an away day isn't going to be a walk in the park. They sit at 111th in the world and have won four matches thus far, sitting on 14 points. Their most recent match was a one-nil loss to The Kytler Peninsulae and the reverse fixture was a big-time home win for the Kamijiroans - hopefully the results continue in that way.

Aside from that, the final matchday is the final, ultimate test. A showdown for the ages, with everything to play for...

The (currently) fourth-place Kytler Peninsulae come to (currently) third-place Kamijiro. The Kytler Peninsulae are 55th in the world - nine spots above the Lightning. They also have the advantage of coming off of a bye. The reverse fixture was a one-all draw...

The "math" currently stands here:
- Two wins means either in first or second in the group guaranteed. That's the goal, end-all-be-all.

"We know what we have to do."

[Qasden]

---

Last Call to Lights
Documentary Gets its Dramatic Conclusion as Vans Given Final Shot at Glory

---

By Wallace Wallows

---

Ultimately, the abrupt designation of Aldous Greene as the one to wear turtlenecks on the sidelines was one that paid its fees in IOU's worth a show.

Despite the unorthodox reasons for how Greene and QAFA came back to each other's arms, the pick of a man who abandoned the Blue-Reds the first chance he got was...controversial, to say the least. Granted, how slippery would the floors of QAFA be, were their gaffer selections completely squeaky clean. Still, the fans lamented the uninspiring choice to follow up the disastrous sequel of Vandelhaar's tenure that deserved to be sent directly to dvd; and with the World Cup opening its biblically accurate arm-like appendages to an additional 16 countries this go around, the gimmick of Aldous seemed like an inappropriate choice for such a pivotal chance for the Vans to get back to where they wanna be.

14 matches later, and all but 2 left to go, the opening nights of Greene's directorial debut have left Qads cautiously optimistic. The Blue-Reds, as exhausted of a roster as they are, sit a mere 3 goals behind the cutoff line for playoff contention, a position they've held many times in past renditions.

A position they've failed to leap frog out of in just as many attempts.

Despite the hunky-doriness of the fantastic 4th place position, they share their hopes of progression alongside 4 other group opponents, each of which have their own trials and tribulations to undergo in order to be one of the final two meant to continue this campaign. And I'm not saying 2 just to negate the malignant despair of the dreaded playoff spot (which, to be fair, is a sore sight for Qad eyes when looking at our record); rather, that first place has already been locked up and ready to ship off to either a moon-shaped island or lodge-shaped field with its contents hailing from Bears Armed. Despite being the Pot 5 team that we should've had a playfully competitive rivalry with this cycle, the ursines decided to steam roll the entirety of the group, losing once out of 14 in order to clinch a WC Finals spot ahead of teams 4 pots ahead of them. I guess Marlene's doing wonder runs, now. Case in point, their accession leaves an uncomfortably open field for the final showdown. Myrtle Beach and Drawkland, a pair of powerhouses that've rightfully given Qasden a hard time this cycle, stand in the way of Calcio Calico's last gasp opportunity to continue their story for another episode. Behind the Blue-Reds, however, stand two more opponents: HUElavia and West Vdara, both with a possible (albeit increasingly farfetched) chance to make their own jump at the next stage. How can the Qads keep their game going? The only way you're supposed to: analytical breakdowns at hours of the day only sickos consider healthy. To keep us all on a level playing field in terms of knowledge, I've gone through the liberty of compiling the final tidbits of data without needing to wait for the graphics department to catch up.

Entering the penultimate matchday, Myrtle Beach has 27 points, Drawkland and Qasden have 23, HUElavia has 22, and West Vdara has 19. Despite the seemingly easy opponent in a struggling Vaishnavaria, The 10th-ranked multiversal side in HUElavia have the unfortunate tax of a day to rest and relax at a time in the game where resting and relaxing is punishable by reading the update notes of the average aviary simulation game. Ultimately, this results in their maximum achievable total being 25, leaving them vulnerable to elimination, should the Kick Corps or Vans go so much as one set of 90 minutes without allowing their opponents to win. The same perils would afflict the far flung candidate of West Vdara, who stands a full 4 points back and given the Herculean task of earning their last 6 against Bears Armed and Drawkland, a task that, surprisingly, they succeeded in the first half of qualifiers, so maybe not as Herculean as perceived. As tantalizing as a thought it may be in the eyes of football hipsters to see one of these two advance from far back, it would equally have to rely on not only themselves getting the wins necessary, but on two of their fellow groupmates: North/South Slavo-Baltia, and Yakk, both of whom have nothing to lose, but also nothing left to play for.

The obscure Arrosian landscape of which Yakk calls Yakk has given Qasden trouble in the past, as a 2-1 win over the Blue-Reds cost us an untimely group stage exit at the last ARC in Baker Park, ending the manager career of Lori Vandelhaar. The loss was somewhat reprised, however, in the interior town of Elder earlier this campaign, with a convincing, albeit unconfident, 2-0 win over the sky blue banner. Still, with their other opponent this window being the near insurmountable Ursines, Yakk will be looking to exit this tournament on a highest of highs by being another nation's lowest of lows, one we can't afford to let happen at this stage in the games.

North and South Slavo-Baltia isn't a face we have to face anymore, as a gout-establishing draw at their place put the second half of the qualifiers on doubtwatch for the lads in multiple feline-adjacent colors. Instead they're the Drawkians' problem, though if they clipped them the first time, I'd be suspicious of the idea they'd be able to retaliate.

So that should leave one game left between two qualifier-hopefuls: Myrtle Beach and Qasden. Despite a slow start, the Beachgoers took off in the second slate of games to nab second from beneath Drawkland, having the points and goal difference to keep that spot locked for safekeeping. The problem? They, like HUElavia two pots above them, have a bye, which is the whole reason I kept myself up for so long to preach gospel to the rubbish bin. Despite the 3-1 thrashing of the Vans at Grand Strand Stadium, Myrtle Beach's cinderella run to the big show is left at the jeopardizing clock hands of a Qad-side hellbent to reinstate the Stade de Solis as a place of home advantage prowess.

A draw against either Yakk or Myrtle Beach would ultimately send the latter through on GD (unless we can beat them by 9 goals somehow), while a loss at all spells the end of yet another iteration of the same bridesmaid tale that's been told since WC86. So, with one final push, can the Vans keep their dreams alive by making the playoffs for a 3rd season out of the past 4? Or will the stinging lights of Fyre burn out the Blue-Reds everlasting ambitions? Stay tuned, stay updated, and stay alert for more reports on QAFA's greatest atrocities, as soon as I can find a good coffee machine in the airport.

---

[StrayaRoos]

So. Group 13 is easily the most competitive in qualifying this World Cup. Five teams are still alive, and each team could finish first or fifth. Nobody’s even assured of going into the third-place roulette. With two matches remaining, 6581 possible win/loss/draw scenarios could happen. But, we’re willing to place good money on the Emus making it through, although the football gods are fickle beings and can change allegiance at the worst time, 11 games unbeaten speaks for itself. 8 wins and 3 draws, top of the group table in the second half of the qualifiers.

The odds coming into the final window aren't stacked in the Emus' favour, with them needing Aphrilia and Elymia to lose once. Or drop points in the case of the former. Elymia is unlikely to lose to Lisander and Caerbannog, but if Oberour au Moro doesn’t win at Brusseldorf, who are capable of completely turning the competition on its head, and the Emus don’t lose against the 78th-ranked OAM side on MD18, Elymia’s results won’t matter, and passage to Pasarga and Eastfield Lodge will be secured.

But if the chaos scenario happens, where Aphrilia and Elymia win both of their games and OAM wins against Brusseldorf, with Mertagne drawing with Hispanas, the Emus will have to win to qualify. And we know what happens with the Emus in win-or-die scenarios. They keep the pace in normal time before the wheels fall off the bike after 90 minutes. This has happened twice in a row; honestly, we wouldn’t be surprised if it happened again.

After the month-long suspension of World Cup Qualifying due to a freak multiversal event that caused the loss of a window’s worth of news articles and other literature, as well as the scores for MD13/14, the Emus didn’t show any of the problems that you’d expect a team coming back from a large period off the field. The game was back and forth for the first 25 minutes as the side got back into their rhythm, but Yasmeen Karmea scored in the 33rd minute to make it 1-0, and then the bus was parked for the remaining 57 minutes. Not the fun and explosive football that the emus are known for, but effective football. Still works either way

After Lisander, the Emus hosted Brusseldorf and did what they’re best at. Belting anyone and everyone who steps onto Roosian soil. The onslaught started in the 23rd minute, as Ella Vidya sent a corner into the box, which met the head of Kaniehtiio Lindiwe. 1-0. Lindiwe scored a second at the stroke of halftime, a powerful shot from the top left corner of the box that sped past Gimenza Azoulay’s head into the net. Then a chance of a Brusseldorfian resurgence started at the hour mark, as Wolfenden and Steyr started breaking through the midfield and into the final third, something they hadn’t been able to do in the first 60, and eventually got the breakthrough as Wolfenden scored a perfectly timed volley that didn’t Seyma have much of a chance of saving, making it 2-1. Calixto Conti chose this time to make subs, bringing on 21-year-old left back Lara Jraena for her second cap, and first since giving up a goal that genuinely could decide qualification at this point, and she became an absolute menace to the opposition, sending crosses and long balls into the box, briefly becoming a bigger threat than Ella Vidya’s been for most of the qualifiers. And this worked out well, as Zane Shalik scored a third for the Emus from a Jraena cross in the 73rd minute, followed by a fourth scored by Jraena herself, somewhat accidentally, in stoppage time, as she aimed for Kristina Iris and some sort of communication breakdown had Iris move a bit too far to the left, but it still went in anyway, rebounding in off the post, making it 4-1 at Panem Stadium

[North Oharan Valley Union]

Timestamp: 30 August 2024 - 08h56
Tags: Football, World Cup 97, Green Lions

---

The Spanner in the Works
The Green Lions get on the nerves of all challengers

Is it the lack of pressure? With qualification out of reach, the troops from Serhey Baltuk could have leaned back but the reverse happened. As the manager had said before, the focus was on the next campaign already, with younger players receiving more minutes on the pitch and a bit more tactical liberty. A decision that paid off as first United Hawkland and then Zenic were beaten cleanly: two nations that took the kick off with travels to Eastfield Lodge and Pasarga in mind. But as importantly seems to be the improved chemistry within the team. The qualifying process might be long but across this many games, a better interaction is forged.

This is visible during the games, with players starting to link up in the knowledge of how their teammates will run but also off the field. The camaraderie with which strikers Holmsen and Ghazaryan gave a duo interview told libraries about the group that was created by Baltuk. His dismissal of Danylyuk and Radzins was not without controversy but it aided to create a positive atmosphere within the NT. Calling them ‘one big group of friends’ might be one step too far but the initial distrust seems to evaporate and links across regional borders are made. In its way, even without targeting so, the national team starts to emulate the vision our politicians have for the young Union.

Whatever the cause, the Green Lions got a home victory over Zenic, only the second one of the campaign. The previous one, beating group whipping boy Of the Holy See, seems ages ago (and considering it played out on the opening night, it actually is ages ago in the rapidly evolving world of football). A strong opening half had given a 2-0 lead but the Survivors lived up to their nickname and came back for a rather difficult second half. The equalizer seemed written in the stars but then Ievalds Krastins made a hopeless run into the box. He could have been cornered anyway, but Avanaroch’s Thuan Byford tackled him nonetheless: lunging himself to the grass, both arms spread open, Krastins already knew in which corner he would tuck away the 3-1 and put the game to sleep.

Quite the blow for the Zenicians, whose form cannot be blamed: the following day, they managed to put themselves back in the qualifying race with a win over Tumbra. Those two results ensured that the tickets for the World Cup and the playoffs will be undecided till the final game. Only the Commonwealth of Baker Park can rest assured: despite a draw against Delitai, the group win is in the pocket. Not coincidentally, Baker Park remains the team our Green Lions struggled with the most, leading to two high-scoring losses. But all other main challengers already dropped points to the Union. The pot one side of the group, Tumbra, will have chilly memories of their night in Vilarme, a goalless draw. If that had been a win, the ticket would have been punched already but now the Black Eagles better win their final group match… Against the Union. The saying goes that lightning does not strike twice so Tumbra seems assured, but the little voice in the back of the head of the always cautious Michael Campbell will not stay silent till the final whistle.

Still, the game in Trenton Park will not be the decisive clash of the night as Riena and the Survivors clash in the Wavelet Arena. With its peculiar dimensions and slick surface, the stadium is known as a bit of a fortress for the home side: one does not simply walk into Riena and win as all but one of the teams in this group discovered (with Baker Park the unsurprising outlier). But the Wavelets will need more than a draw as that would put them back H2H: with a must-win for Zenic against hapless Of the Holy See on the final matchday, Riena requires to create that three point gap. With that, a play-off berth can be won by them… In Vilarme. Indeed, till the final match, the Green Lions will avoid dead rubbers and could be the deciders of the outcome of this group. Not for the first time: beating United Hawkland on the road put them out of the contest, something Adab (after two wins against Baltuk’s boys) is not (or at least not mathematically). With much still at stake, the two last games for the Green Lions could be a thrilling affair and they are expected to draw a good viewing, both in the stadium as on television. The combination of a strong opponent that needs to win points and a rapidly improving team from our side could lead to two clashes to remember.

[The 14 Stars]

Starsian Wave

As the player come off a bye and a match with Qusmo which they won theyre heading with great confidence towards the final matches, the sky looks bright and there is no need to worry about.
Only thing that could maybe be considered a negative was the announcement of Samir Arash veteran Desert Lions defender and long time National team reserve that after this tournament he will no longer be available for the team by any means.
In his statement he expressed his discontent of being with the team for long years, helping in its foundation and building it up from the ground but never been given the ability to even just make his debut.
Samir Arash at age 31 has always been a solid reserve, he was not bad but there was always someone better whether it was Sarah Nolan or Grace Edwards or anyone else he was always the guy left out and put on the bench.
He is now quite done with that, he doesn't hold any grudge towards the team or the coach but just had hoped for atleast an opportunity to play one game aswell which was never given, not by Landry, not by Saturn and not by Walcott either who states she finds it sad to see him go but also explains that she has to field the strongest line-up and Samir Arash does not belong in it and there had been no safe opportunity to play him during these really close qualifiers that she seeks to win at.

In a question to who should replace him Keira Walcott stated that she will look for a young player and that certain players from the league and the U18 3rd place side have caught her interest to see if they are up for the next step.
If we ask our experts they most likely expect Leonora Snowden or Katarina Roux to step up to fill the gap however there are also sources saying Victor Meyer the son of Klaus Meyer could be a potential replacement.
Each of them is young holds potential to step up and also plenty of future as the current need would be for someone who can stand behind Grace Edwards and Eva Weber to learn from them and become more prominent in the future.

For the match against Chromatika no real changes were made to the line-up as the experienced players were needed to keep this strong Chromatik side in check which was the toughest opponent left in their group to face.
It was a very tough game and while we improved alot and played well the Chromatik side belongs to the best and it was too much to ask from our players to go out there and beat Chromatika one of the strongest football nations, it would have been nice if we did but they dominated from the start putting two goals early past Davis despite her best efforts she simply couldn't save it.
Right before half time we finally managed to do something back with a great pass from Schulz to Blade as Blade clinically finished a 1 on 1 situation with the Chromatik goalkeeper making it two against one with halftime being there.
During halftime it was clear that the Starsians would be very lucky if they could sneak a point away and even that was pretty doubtful which showed the clear diffrence between the top teams and our teams that still existed within this multiverse that is.

Coach Walcott responded by taking out Elizabeth Phillips and replacing her with Iris Olivier and also taking out Layla Raharinaivo replacing her with Johanna Koch and Lina Hansen was subbed out in favour of Ozan Karazhan.
Quite some changes but all for the better as the Starsian side increased its offensive capabilities but still failed to stop the Chromatik's from scoring another two goals leaving our team in the dust, it was only late into the match where a good pass from Sol to Olivier and a long shot from Olivier hit the back of the net to mark the second goal of our side showing strength despite hardship, it was tough to see our team lose given the spot we're in but we knew this was a tough opponent and were content with the game.
In a post interview with coach Walcott she commented to the following.

''We're all facing challenges during our lives and in important situations, i think today shows that we can win in style but also lose worthy which makes this team a side respected by other teams and also taken seriously.
Our Chromatik opponents would not field their strongest line-up if they knew they were playing a weaker team, the fact they do so is showing they are actually recognizing the improvements in our team and our football, this will only become stronger as the years go on and i am sure that this team is capable of going very far within their current spirit.''

Alanis Star

Its a battle between Stars! for this game we welcome the people of Alanis Star to our huge country with billions of people living in it as we get set for another game of football for the world cup qualification cycle 97.
Alanis Star is coming off a bad match with Qusmo getting trashed 4-0 while we battled honourably but still lost against a dominating Chromatika which is something we have bounced back from and are currently over and focus on the game at hand.
A slightly diffrent line-up as we show you some minor additions were made, this because the Alanis Star team by no means has the strength the other teams have and coach Walcott basically has decided to field plenty of youth again.

gk - Emily Davis
lb - Maddie Saturn
cb - Federico Zaratti
cb - Gideon Nightwalker
rb - Eva Weber
LM - Lina Hansen
CM - Selena Corson
RM - Johanna Koch
LW - Elizabeth Phillips
ST - Lukas Lauritzen
RW - Kimora Frazier

Federico Zaratti was captain for this game, he was the vice leader of the team behind Kira Blade who was given rest for the last two games by coach Walcott but could always be brought on in emergency.
However the last two games would be essential, win both and automatic qualification was within reach, lose one of them and you'd still have a playoff spot but you'd have to yet again play a match which you might not really want to.
Coach Walcott wanted a direct qualification if possible and it was not out of the question but certainly tough.
They dominated the Alanis Star team easily, by the end of the first half we had a three goal lead all goals were scored by Lauritzen with a long shot and two headers from a corner he seemed to be unstoppable the Starsian striker taller then two meters.
Lauritzen was subbed off the second half for Schulz this to give Lauritzen some rest aswell and by everyone's surprise after a penalty was earned by Schulz it was Kimora Frazier who stepped up to take it, the 17 year old winger had played a good game today but not a key role, now was her opportunity to play that key role, she took a small run and smashed the ball in the right lower corner out of reach for the goalkeeper and scored her goal for the team again making her appearance unique.
Kimora was the new rising star in this team, the girl to beat and totally noticed and marked as the successor to Kira Blade sharing many similarities and having Kira as her mentor is a great motivation for this young energetic girl.

The Alanis Star team managed to secure a penalty aswell late game after a foul on Saturn's side earning her a yellow and they scored leaving Davis in the dust but it was not enough, a clean 4-1 set the pace for the last two games.
It was do or die for the Starsian team, they were very close to their first world cup appearance and they weren't gonna let this one slip through their hands again, both matches should theoretically be won by a team of our caliber, however it was still really tricky.

[Katzeburg]

If you were to look up the definition of ‘tired’ in the Katzeburgian dictionary, an image of Josef Brand would show - the man had been through the wringer in the last week.

As he sat down at a small table in a small room at the KFF headquarters, he sighed - he was done. The TV interview was a disaster, with more criticism levelled at the KFF than ever before. It had become the sole talking point in the nation at the moment and that was in no small part due to Brand.

Marvin sat opposite Josef, with a look of pure confusion stretching across his often marble-like face.

“I don’t know if you’ve seen the latest email from our data team,” Marvin said off-handely. “But apparently 37% of Katzeburgians know of the KFF but don’t even know we have a football team. I imagine they just assume we are a massive pot of shitstirrers that get funded by the government, presumably.”

Josef looked down at the table, trying anything to not respond to Marvin. He had no energy from the shallackings he received in the straight aftermath of the interview.

“I mean, don’t get me wrong,” Marvin continued. “I love a good trainwreck as much as the next person, but should we go over the highlights once more?”

Josef failed to respond. Marvin got up out of his seat and wandered over to the TV, flicking it on where a video was already loaded of the 15 minutes of absolute disaster Josef had unleashed on the nation.

Marvin clicked play and on screen, Josef shuffled himself awkwardly into a seat next to Becka Haberkorn, the Katzeburgian national manager.

“Thank you for joining us Josef,” said Otis Huffman - the KBC sports journalist who had trapped him in a hell of his own making.

“What is the KFF’s view on all this? We’ve heard a lot from the national team about the clear internal process in place, but very little of that seems to have made it out publicly.”

Josef sat stunned, as if he was trying to do his best impression of a statue in hopes they would just move on. But as silence continued to fill the air, the sweet, sweet desire to end it all grew too great for Josef.

“W-well, it’s, it’s a funny thing,” Josef started stammering out. “But we’ve taken a clear and direct plan to be clear and direct about… how clear and direct we have been.”

Otis sat there motionless, almost as if he was trying to egg Josef on to continuing.

“Of course, we’ve been quite clear and direct about our response, which is to ensure the KFF remains clear and direct in its main operation.”

“Sure Josef, but can you explain to me - without using the words clear and direct - what exactly the KFF is doing and why the entire management team shouldn’t be shown the door?”

Josef continued to stammer as off-screen, Marvin picked up a remote.

“We can skip most of this shite to be honest,” Marvin said as he jammed his finger on the fast forward button. “You said clear and direct so many times over the next two minutes it lost all meaning as a word. Ahh, here’s my next favourite part!”

Marvin took his finger off the button as on-screen, Josef was now looking absolutely ragged - he was sweating so much he look as if he had been dipped underwater, he had adjusted his tie so loosely it looked like a noose was hanging around his neck, and between words, he was rapidly trying to dab off his forehead sweat.

“...Look, look, look - I think we are getting off topic here!” Josef protested. “I mean - who hasn’t had thoughts about what they would do if they got seven minutes in heaven with Drake Wruck, but that has nothing to do with the direction the KFF is heading in! And Otis, I know you and I are buddies, so you would never actively aim to set me up like this, but the fact is the KFF is clear and direct about what we are doing and if you need me to spell it out, I can be clear and direct up your ass about it!”

“Are-are you ok?” Otis said, now with a hint of concern.

“Oh shove it Otis - All I’m saying is, who knows why the KFF would get involved with things of that nature? Even if we did, it would have been a long time ago, well before the KFF was even formed - like we are talking years ago, back when I would have been in school still, and I know you aren’t dragging me onto national television to talk about the time I got dumped by Katie Marshall because I couldn’t perform, and to even insinuate that is the case with our brave Blue Cats is ridiculous!”

“I-I didn’t…” Otis started, but Josef was still going.

“And another thing - No, none of us are perfect Otis, like for me? I have a scar on my knee from that one time I fell down several flights of stairs, and I know you aren’t perfect either!”

Marvin jammed his finger on the fast forward button again. “I mean most of it is just funny mind, but needless to say you’ve done a brilliant job diverting attention away from the whole shitshow and onto you,” he said.

“You’ve also stolen all interest away from our team’s final window which is less than ideal, but on the bright side, you’ll be the poster child for PR consultants up and down the country as what not to do on TV.”

Josef sighed and wondered to himself if there were any nice cottages in West Katzeburg where he could move to and just disappear from the world entirely. His goose was well and truly cooked.

---

Darkmania 4 - 3 Katzeburg
(M.Ret 11’, 23’, 77’, 85’ // Wruck 38’, Arkwright 70’, Niles 75’)

Possession - 58% // 42%
Shots on Target - 6 // 6
Shots - 14 // 15
Fouls - 12 // 17

1 Whinery, 2 Howland, 15 Clarkson (Levitt 65’), 4 Knepp, 5 Colbert, 6 Plank, 7 Horsfall, 18 Arkwright, 19 Spears (Moores 65’), 10 Wruck (Field 65’), 11 Niles

Player of the Match - M.Ret (DAR)

Katzeburg 4 - 5 Gnejs
(Wruck 27’, 61’, Niles 33’, Cummings 79’ // Bardo 30’, 68’, Ceder 44’, Mack 74’, Kärv 84’)

Possession - 35% // 65%
Shots on Target - 11 // 13
Shots - 20 // 27
Fouls - 4 // 8

1 Whinery, 2 Howland, 15 Clarkson, 4 Knepp, 5 Colbert (Morton 65’), 6 Plank, 7 Horsfall, 9 Cummings (Arkwright 65’), 19 Spears, 10 Wruck, 11 Niles (Johns 65’)

Player of the Match - Bardo (PUG)

Carpathia and Ruthenia 1 - 2 Katzeburg
(Bassi 25’ // Plank 70’, Wruck 89’)

Possession - 65% // 35%
Shots on Target - 6 // 9
Shots - 12 // 17
Fouls - 10 // 7

1 Whinery, 2 Howland (Herman 65’), 15 Clarkson, 4 Knepp, 5 Colbert, 6 Plank, 7 Horsfall, 18 Arkwright, 19 Spears (Cummings 65’), 10 Wruck, 11 Niles (Marsh 65’)

Player of the Match - Wruck (KAT)

‘No room for error’ as Katzeburg head to all-or-nothing final window

A winning goal in the dying seconds from Drake Wruck away at Carpathia and Ruthenia has kept Katzeburg in with a chance of securing third place in Group 6 of the World Cup Qualifiers heading into the final two matchdays.

It was a mixed penultimate window for the Blue Cats, falling 5-4 in a rollercoaster clash against Gnejs at Katzestadt Arena before securing a historic upset win away at the 61st ranked nation to keep the side in the hunt for third place.

For a side which earlier in the qualifiers went down 5-1 to Gnejs, Katzeburg put in a spirited showing against the world number 45, but fell away at the death, with a late goal from Kärv securing the win for Gnejs and leaving Katzeburg four points behind Sazronia with three games to go.

But the Blue Cats would fight to a huge victory in their next clash, a do-or-die against Carpathia and Ruthenia. Despite a poor early start, with an early goal from Carpathia and Ruthenia captain Bassi dominating the early discussions, Katzeburg would roar back in style with a strong second half showing.

Serena Plank levelled the scores 20 minutes from time with a powerful effort from close range, before Drake Wruck scored his 14th goal of the qualifiers just one minute from stoppage time - capitalising on a long ball through from Erik Clarkson to round keeper Federica Antonini and slot the ball into the bottom right corner of the net.

The win was Katzeburg’s second of the cycle over the side, and with Sarzonia falling to a 2-0 loss against group leaders Flavovespia, it left the final spot wide open heading into the final two matchdays.

Katzeburg next hosts Legalese in a huge clash which the side needs to win to likely keep pace with Sarzonia, who face an already eliminated Ossidiacqua. Legalese still mathematically have a chance at third, but would need to knock off the Blue Cats and hope Sarzonia fails to secure a win over Ossidiacqua.

Should the Blue Cats keep in touch with Sarzonia, it sets up a mammoth clash on the final matchday as Katzeburg travels to Sarzonia for an all-or-nothing clash, with the winner to claim third place.

Ahead of two of the biggest games in the nation’s young history, Katzeburg manager Becka Haberkorn downplayed the importance of the clashes.

“We’ve done a fantastic job coming this far in our debut run,” Haberkorn said.

“To be heading into the final two matchdays still in with a chance is a huge victory in my books, and we can look back at this campaign with some fond memories and historic results - there will be a lot of pressure on the side heading into these next two games, but Legalese and Sarzonia are sides we respect and know we will be up for a tough pair of games.

“In my books, there’s no room for error, but if we get to the final matchday with a chance still, then that’s a cherry on top - heading away to Sarzonia needing a result is a huge ask, and even if we don’t get over the line and into third, then we’ve at least done the best we could and that’s all that matters.”

Haberkorn has opted for consistency going into the final two matchdays, naming an unchanged squad from the previous three games. She will no doubt be looking to players like Drake Wruck, Meriel Arkwright, and Deena Knepp to make the difference in what could be games with no margins for error.

+--------+----------+-------------------+-----+--------+--------+----------------------+-------------+--------------+---------------+----------------+
| Roster | Position | Player            | Age | Gender | Nation | Club                 | League Apps | League Goals | National Apps | National Goals |
+--------+----------+-------------------+-----+--------+--------+----------------------+-------------+--------------+---------------+----------------+
| 1      | GK       | Ry Whinery        | 27  | F      | KAT    | Katzestadt AFC       | 26          | 0            | 23            | 0              |
| 2      | D        | Katharine Howland | 18  | F      | KAT    | Barenwold FC         | 26          | 3            | 23            | 1              |
| 15     | D        | Erik Clarkson     | 19  | M      | KAT    | Inverhaven City      | 26          | 2            | 19            | 0              |
| 4      | D        | Deena Knepp       | 29  | F      | KAT    | Axmund City          | 26          | 4            | 23            | 1              |
| 5      | D        | Faithe Colbert    | 28  | F      | KAT    | Katzestadt Rovers    | 26          | 4            | 24            | 1              |
| 6      | M        | Serena Plank      | 18  | F      | KAT    | Katzestadt AFC       | 26          | 10           | 24            | 5              |
| 7      | M        | Vera Horsfall     | 30  | F      | KAT    | Katzestadt Rovers    | 26          | 10           | 24            | 3              |
| 18     | M        | Meriel Arkwright  | 25  | F      | KAT    | Inverhaven City      | 26          | 11           | 16            | 2              |
| 19     | M        | Elmer Spears      | 17  | M      | KAT    | Axmund City          | 26          | 4            | 20            | 0              |
| 10     | F        | Drake Wruck       | 31  | M      | KAT    | Katzestadt Rovers    | 26          | 20           | 24            | 25             |
| 11     | F        | Lambert Niles     | 30  | M      | KAT    | Axmund City          | 26          | 19           | 20            | 11             |
| 13     | GK       | McKinley Clinton  | 33  | F      | KAT    | Inverhaven Ironworks | 26          | 0            | 0             | 0              |
| 23     | GK       | Geffrey Queen     | 22  | M      | KAT    | Inverhaven City      | 26          | 0            | 0             | 0              |
| 3      | D        | Owen Levitt       | 35  | M      | KAT    | Inverhaven City      | 26          | 4            | 17            | 1              |
| 16     | D        | Elicia Morton     | 19  | F      | KAT    | Katzestadt Rovers    | 26          | 2            | 7             | 0              |
| 27     | D        | Laurence Herman   | 22  | M      | KAT    | Katzestadt AFC       | 26          | 3            | 2             | 0              |
| 9      | M        | Tilman Cummings   | 35  | M      | KAT    | Barenwold FC         | 26          | 4            | 15            | 1              |
| 32     | M        | Royce Earls       | 23  | M      | KAT    | Axmund United        | 26          | 6            | 4             | 0              |
| 34     | M        | Petra Moores      | 17  | F      | KAT    | Shorham FC           | 26          | 6            | 5             | 0              |
| 20     | F        | Jaxxon Johns      | 24  | M      | KAT    | Axmund United        | 26          | 14           | 11            | 2              |
| 22     | F        | Clay Marsh        | 17  | M      | KAT    | Axmund United        | 26          | 13           | 7             | 5              |
| 35     | F        | Lloyd Field       | 25  | M      | KAT    | Katzestadt AFC       | 26          | 15           | 6             | 3              |
+--------+----------+-------------------+-----+--------+--------+----------------------+-------------+--------------+---------------+----------------+

[Aphrilia]

Group 13, by definition, is likely one of if not the most competitive qualifying groups throughout this years qualifying.

Even with just two matchdays remaining, the top five teams were all still in theory, within the fight for a qualifying or playoff spot. Mertagne, StrayaRoos, Oberour Ar Moro, Elmyia, and Aphrilia were still hunting for that top three finish. And with the first two only having one match left, things seem tense as people are wondering what the end result will be.

The Anchors being the fifth placed team with a mere twenty five points seem somewhat out of it according to many. Especially when they are four points behind third placed OAM. However, Aphrilia's last opponents are Brusseldorf and Lisander. Even if chances are slim, they are still chances despite the near impossible situation.

And the thing is, Aphrilia has faced near impossible odds before.

- Group 13                           Pld    W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts 
1 Mertagne                            15    9   3   3    34   19  +15    30
2 StrayaRoos                          15    9   3   3    37   19  +18    30
3 Oberour Ar Moro                     14    9   2   3    31   23   +8    29
4 Elmyia                              14    8   2   4    42   26  +16    26
5 Aphrilia                            14    7   4   3    21   18   +3    25
6 Hispinas                            14    5   1   8    26   31   −5    16     E
7 Brusseldorf                         14    4   3   7    25   32   −7    15     E
8 Lisander                            14    3   1  10    15   30  −15    10     E
9 Caerbannog                          14    0   1  13    12   45  −33     1     E

WC97 Qualifying Group 13 as of Matchday 16

- Group 19                                Pld    W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts 
1 Audioslavia                              11    9   0   2    20    8  +12    27 
2 Cabo Azure                               10    6   3   1    26   16  +10    21 - In contention for WC OR play-off spot
3 Tero al Disco                            10    5   2   3     9    6   +3    17
4 Aphrilia                                 10    5   1   4     9    7   +2    16 - In contention for play-off spot
5 Saterun                                  11    4   2   5    20   15   +5    14
6 Sannyamathland                           10    1   2   7    12   23  −11     5
7 Saltidia                                 10    0   2   8     3   24  −21     2 - Eliminated

WC96 Qualifying Group 19 as of Matchday 12

The situation Aphrilia finds itself within Group 13 is eerily reminiscent of last cycle in Group 19. Two matches left, behind by a good amount of points, being the worst team still with a mathematical chance of contending for a playoff spot, and up against better teams fighting for that finish. And despite that, we went through during last cycle.

However, a few differences are still abound. This time around, we've already faced off against every country currently above us in standing, which means we have less of a direct hand at the possibility of us finishing top three. Our best bet is that everyone above us somehow drop points in a way that we get enough points for a top three finish.

The mathematical odds and variables to consider are too much, hence we do not have any data to go off. But essentially, Aphrilia wins both of their remaining matches and we merely hope that the rolls of the dice allow us to slip by. It's a thin margin of chance, but just like last cycle, we did it once and we can do it again.

Though whilst we, the fans and supporters, can only hope that good fortune blesses us once again, the players seem like they'll be doing their utmost for these final two matchdays. During interviews, they all have said in essence, the exact same message for all of us Aphrilians and supporters of The Anchors.

"We'll do our absolute best, and even if we fail, we can at least say we gave our damnest."

On the other hand, manager Christopher Vermont has said something else regarding the tricky situation Aphrilia has found itself in after seeing the standings of Group 13 by the end of Matchday 14, where we were finally able to dispatch Hispinas thanks to a lone goal by Kevin Lacey very late into the match.

"...Alright, what the actual fu-

-kay, apologies. Now, regarding the situation. The tactical revisions I made seem to not have worked against the top teams of the group, but I still have hope for this team. I am more than certain that we can grab a good finish. I believe in this team, as they do believe in me and I have to say... Believe in us, that we can do it. And if at the end we were unable to do it, there isn't much to say. We would have just been outmatched, and we'll just have to hope that next cycle is better for us. But right now, we have that fighting chance, and thus I say wish us good luck and we'll fight to the brink and back for these two final matchdays. That's all."

[Audioslavia]

An Excerpt from The Anorak’s Guide to Audioslavian Statues, from its section on Saint Audius, by far the longest chapter of the book.

The Second miracle of Saint Audius came as a middle-aged man, wearing what at the time were deemed ‘shockingly futuristic’ clothes - something of a fashion at the time, although this is not usually depicted in statues.

Having recovered from his injuries from the gaseous bull incident, Audius dabbled with various hobbies, such as alcoholism, gambling and, worst of all, darts.

Darts has been a popular hobby in Audioslavia for millennia. Its invention is credited to an argument in a pub between Saint Audius himself and another drunken patron over which of them were the best archer. Both resolved to ‘take this outside’, but it was raining, and so they endeavoured to try to solve the situation by coming up with a way to have an indoors version of the sport.

After the fist-fight, onlookers remarked that they hadn’t actually figured out who was the better shot, noting that they had eschewed the traditional ringed target and, in any case, hadn’t even brought their bows with them. Within half an hour, a series of rings had been drawn on a board, random numbers between one and twenty had been drawn around the edges, triples, doubles and bulls-eyes had been invented (Saint Audius had argued against the name, having seen deep into the eyes of the bull and certainly not associating them with the idea of victory). Feathers were attached to the ends of some sharp bits of metal, and thus, darts had almost been invented. All that was left to do was to present a small black board and a piece of chalk, and each man was asked how quickly they could do maths in their head. After a brief moment of panic, a kind gentleman offered to shout the numbers out for them in a geordie accent.

Saint Audius’s opponent went first, scoring six (treble three, bounce-out, wall). Saint Audius then replied by aiming for the bulls-eye, missing, and accidentally hitting treble twenty.

“Sixty” announced the Geordie.
“What” said Saint Audius. “Three twenties aren’t sixty”
“Sixty” repeated the Geordie. “Twenty plus twenty plus twenty is sixty”
“Wait so this is worth more than the snake’s eye”
“We all decided on bulls-eye and you know it” said the Geordie. “And yes”
“But” said Saint Audius, casually tossing another arrow at the board. “That means worms-eyes aren’t worth the most points”
“Sixty” said the Geordie. “And yes”
Saint Audius glared at the Geordie and tossed his other arrow at the board, again, without looking. "That's just bad planning"
“One huuuundred and eeeeeeighty” announced the Geordie.

While his opponent fired, hitting seven (wall, barmaid, seven), Saint Audius remonstrated further. When it came to his turn again, he stepped up to the line and threw another treble twenty, this time while looking downwards.

“We need a name for this line” said Saint Audius
“Sixty” said the Geordie.
“No” said Saint Audius. “That’d just be confusing” he continued, throwing another arrow.
“Sixty” said the Geordie.
“Mate, we can’t call this line sixty, okay?”
“Okay” said the Geordie, in his Geordie accent.
“Yeah maybe that’d work” said Saint Audius, throwing another arrow.
“One huuuundred and eeeeeeighty” announced the Geordie.

Saint Audius’s opponent hit sixty-one (twenty-five, double eighteen, dog)

“Audius, you require one hundred and forty one” said the Geordie.
“What” said Saint Audius.
“To finish” said the Geordie. “You require exactly 141 points”
“Exactly?” said Audius. “I can’t just hit a higher number and win?”
“No” said the Geordie. “You require exactly 141”
“And” said the opponent. “He needs to finish on a double”
“What!” said Audius. “Nobody in the history of this sport has ever needed to do that”
“The sport is four minutes old” said his opponent. “And as co-inventor, I say you have to finish on a double”
“Aye I’ll have a double rum and fuckin coke” said Saint Audius, glaring at his opponent, throwing randomly at the board and hitting treble nineteen.
“Fifty Seven” said the Geordie
“What’s 141 minus 57?” Asked Saint Audius. Everyone went blank for a few seconds.
“Ninety… twelve?” Offered his opponent.
“No” said Saint Audius, “it’s like eighty something. Here I’ll just”
Saint Audius threw and arrow and hit treble twenty.
“Okay, sixty plus fifty-seven minus one hundred and forty-one?”
“Minus 24” said the Geordie
“Okay so I need to hit positive 24 to win”
“Double positive twelve” said the Geordie. “We’ll have to turn the board around though”
“Well then we’d have to draw the entire board again” said Saint Audius. “Can’t you just imagine a plus sign next to each number”
It was agreed, after a short discussion, that everyone would imagine the numbers all had plusses next to them, rather than imagining they all had minuses next to them.
Saint Audius, turning to his opponent, asked if he really, really was imagining a negative number, and threw his final arrow.

Saint Audius hits a nine-dart finish without even looking

Thus, the second miracle of Saint Audius was complete. His third miracle, the invention of the concept of negative numbers, and of zero, would only be ratified much, much later.

[Ko-oren]

Gehrennan Language Wiki Article, Part I

Phonology

Consonants
The sounds of the Matali dialects are found in nearly all dialects, with the other forms retaining sound distinctions from earlier forms of the language that have since collapsed or disappeared from Matali Gehrennan. The chart below shows only phonemes: the extensive system of allophony is highly dependent on dialect and granular geography.

	Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m	n
Plosive	p b	t d		k g	(ʔ)
Fricative		θ ð s z ʃ ʒ		x		h
Approximant	w	l	j
Rhotic		r

Vowels
Matali Gehrennan has a limited vowel inventory with only five phonemes. Again, extensive allophony creates significant differences among speakers, and while other Gehrennan dialects are based on the same vowels, they are realised differently. Standard Matali Gehrennan has no vowel length distinction but postvocalic /h/-deletion creates a lengthening effect in some speakers.

	Front	Back
High	i	u
Mid	ɛ~e	ɔ~o
Low	a

Diphthongs
Phonemic /au/ exists as the sixth phonemic vowel, sometimes produced as /ɒ/, a back rounded counterpart to /a/, which otherwise misses in the monophthong vowel table. /ae/ might have existed as a phoneme in the past and survives in the city of Maethoru and is often realised /ɛ:/ in the modern form. Similarly, there is some evidence for /ai/ and /ao/, which do not persist in modern writing or vocabulary, and have likely collapsed to /ɛ~e/ and /ɔ~o/ respectively.

Phonotactics
The syllable structure of Standard Matali Gehrennan is (C)V(C), with any phonemic consonant able to appear as initial consonant. /h/ may appear in any coda position. Rhotics, approximants, nasals, and fricatives may appear in word final coda position. Morphology - verb and noun suffixes - can put any consonant in non-word final coda position.

Grammar
Gehrennan is a agglutinative language, making use of a considerable number of suffixes.

Verbs
Verbs are generally structured in the following manner:

Stem + [Causative] + Aspect + [Mood] + [Tense]

Causative
If the causative is marked on a noun or pronoun, a vowel after the verb stem is used to indicate a more exact relationship between constituents. No marking implies 'X caused Y to [stem]'. O implies 'X makes Y [stem]' and e implies 'X lets/allows Y to [stem]'.

Aspect
A required part of the verb buildup, there are many aspect suffixes to denote in what manner an action happens. Often used is progressive nate, often reduced to nt or nth. Negation is also considered an aspect suffix (gu). There are several suffixes used to mark how an action happens in temporal relation to other actions: sa if it happens at the same time, ju if the action happens before the other action, and lau if it happens after. This is the main way Standard Matali Gehrennan discerns clauses. There are suffixes for the intent of an action: shezu for 'on purpose', nera for accidental or random, and zhau for half-completed actions and/or repeated attempts.

Mood
No marking implies the indicative mood. in is used for imperatives, dek for potential, edh for a suggestion or desired outcome (volition). Imperatives, potentials, and volitions can also be expressed with other verbs or adverbs and mood is therefore not always marked.

Tense
Standard Matali Gehrennan discerns four tenses. If unmarked, near future is implied. Distant future is marked with ahath. Similarly, there are two pasts: distant past ebi and near past pau. To indicate an action is currently happening or starting, the progressive aspect nate is used.

Passive
Lacking a distinct suffix for voice, the passive is implied with a causative suffix without a causative marked on a noun or pronoun in the sentence, creating a sentence structure like '[empty] causes Y to [verb]'.

Nouns
Nouns carry up to two suffixes: one for case and one for number.

Case
There are three types of case suffixes: valency, location/time, and relation.

Standard Matali Gehrennan has an extensive valency system in use:

• 1st Argument: Agent of transitive verb (sha) and subject of intransitive verb (unmarked)
• 2nd Argument: Object of transitive verb go
• 3rd Argument: Indirect object/recipient abi and benefactive uru
• 4th Argument: Causative ar tying into causative verb suffixes.
• 5th Argument: Volitional o often used in similar manner to the 4th argument.

A sentence using all five would look and be marked as such:

Ann (5th) wants Ben (4th) to allow Cindy (1st) to give a book (2nd) to Dan (3rd), or
Anno Benar Cindysha Danabi bithago (book) nerne (give), taking only into account valency suffixes.

For location and time, a simple system of towards/until (tu), away from/from [time] (mi), at/on/in (din), and outside (ki) is in use.

For relation suffixes, there is the comitative amei, comparative alu, and instrumental uthu as simple suffixes requiring no explanation. For a possessive relationship, there is ini to mark the owner and engiu to mark the owned, with only one of these required, and the directionality of the relationship dictates which of the two suffixes is used. There is ikui for 'as, like' but is used as a topic marker as well. For other relationships, prepositions are used and awa marks the constituent to which the preposition applies.

Number
Standard Matali Gehrennan discerns six numbers:

• Zero - ne
• One - (i)m
• Few - kel
• Many - tal
• All - zhes
• Unknown/irrelevant/Mass noun - ok (or sometimes: no suffix)

Pronouns
Standard Matali Gehrennan features the same number suffixes as in the noun section. On top of that, there is 1st person and 1st person humble (speaker), 2nd person and 2nd person humble (listener), and 3rd person (others). 1st person humble is a way to indicate respect for the listener. 2nd person humble is a way to instead lower the other and is often seen disrespectful, unless the listener is also part of your group in an utterance where other listeners may be present, and can be used in a respectful manner in the same way as the 1st person humble.

• 1st person: ezh
• 1st person humble: lau, lai, la-
• 2nd person: as, at, ath, adh
• 2nd person humble: ma, man
• 3rd person: der

Derivation
Standard Matali Gehrennan makes heavy use of suffixes to turn noun, adjectives, and verbs into other word classes.

Noun to verb
Become more nation-like: oren-midh
Make something more nation-like: oren-ibish
The act of -ing: oren-ta

Noun to adjective
Pertaining to a nation: oren-akh
Nation(al)-ism: oren-ahn
In the manner of a nation: oren-oth

Adjective to adjective[i]
Blue-ish: pakhta-re

[i]Adjective to adverb
Bluely: pakhta-(h)aun

Adjective to verb
To [be] blue: pakhta-(h)e

Adjective to noun
A thing that is great: jar-em
Greatness: jar-alin

Verb to noun
The one who sees: arkh-en
Whom was seen: arkh-a
What one sees with: ar(a)kh-inth
Something that sees: ar(a)kh-es
Something that is (to be) seen: ar(a)kh-em
The act of seeing: ar(a)kh-elash
Where someone/something sees: ar(a)kh-i

Verb to adjective
Visible: ar(a)kh-gat

Word order
The general word order in Standard Matali Gehrennan is OSV. Object - causative - recipient - subject/agent - verb.

Generally, the language is head-final and has adjectives preceding nouns (in some cases, adjectives and nouns are written without a space in between). After the verb, standalone particles may be used for emphasis:

• Volition: wa
• As expected/assertive: se, nga
• Contrary/unexpectedly: pa
• Asking concensus: she, ha
• Yes/no question: lani
• Yet/already: neme

Example Text
Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Gehrennan:

Lauzhes zhihaun au kelimaun kahladin au lomisdin digilkhajanth. Derzhesha arekahlahnalingo au wikholgo gajikhajanthsa nauz kelimemzhesikui kimkhajanth.

Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in English:

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

[Tanirinthia]

---

OF FATES AND FORTUNES
Chapter Eighteen - Discrepancies

---

"So what the deal with the ice queen?"

Jasper chuckled, which Clara realised with a sense of irony broke the ice of tension in the room.

"Melinda certainly takes a while to warm up to anyone, and does rule her domain I suppose. She's one of the head scientists here, was crucial in developing the technology to allow travel to the other worlds. You hear stories of a lucky break maybe once in a scientists life, apple falling on a head, petri dishes left out, all leading to breakthroughs. She has had more than her share of luck, as you can imagine traveling to other worlds would seem to need many breakthroughs in many areas of science, and in the space of ten years through more than one happy accident those things have all come together with her at the scene of each."

Clara saw a furrow appear on Jasper's face

"You think she knows about it, is maybe working for it, doing its bidding?" she asked Jasper

Jasper began to shake his head

"I don't think so, from what I have seen so far of this entity's behaviour is that it seems to put things in the path of people with some knowledge of how they might act. When I looked into my predecessors death, my assignment to the archivist office, the circumstances that led to it's release, I could find no evidence of personal involvement. The closest thing I could find is some varying cults, not just on Tanirinth but on the worlds we've been to, that seem to worship and serve entities that resemble the lore of the entity we face. In fact I found some that involve the sacrifice of rubber chickens, how one sacrifices rubber chickens I cannot fathom. But I can find no evidence that they are actually communicating with at least our entity, for example there doesn't seem to have been a statistically significant change since the entity's release."

"You're winding me up now, rubber chickens!?" she replied with incredulity

"Hand to the Gods! Now that we are going to be travelling across the multiverse you will have to open your mind to the absurd, rubber chickens are the least of what's out there. I mean there probably is a world out there populated entirely by sentient rubber chickens, perhaps that's were the myth originated from?"

"I suppose the definition of strange will keep becoming looser the deeper into the rabbit hole we fall. So if she's not a knowing agent of this entity the what did she want?"

"Why to stop my smuggling of course!" Jasper replied triumphantly, and with what Clara assumed was his attempt at panache. It certainly didn't come off quite how he would have wanted as Clara replied sportingly

"Smuggling?"

Jasper clearly a little wounded by the incredulity and snorting of her response, replied softly

"Well with want I was and now we are embarking on, mine and your activities are bound to be found out at various points, especially with our enemy so powerful, I needed a believable cover story. So when for example Melinda Lucas one day happens to need to look over the logs for inter world transit, she would happen to notice a difference in mass transported, your return... So I thought me smuggling some contraband would be believable, you think not?"

"Oh Jasper, I sure the story will work, but please ever try to look whatever you were attempting there, rake-ish? Rogue-ish?"

"Knavish. I was going for knavish." he replied sheepishly

Chapter One | Chapter Two | Chapter Three | Chapter Four | Chapter Five | Chapter Six | Chapter Seven | Chapter Eight | Chapter Nine | Chapter Ten | Chapter Eleven | Chapter Twelve | Chapter Thirteen | Chapter Fourteen | Chapter Fifteen | Chapter Sixteen | Chapter Seventeen | Chapter Eighteen

[TJUN-ia]

The Random Rambles of a Jaguar - WC97 Qualifying Edition
with Killian Looker

Welcome back to this Random Ramble. Two points ahead, once again. With three games yet to play, the Jaguars of TJUN-ia knew that they had to win the games they had in front of them and hope for the best. That is all they could realistically do while keeping one eye on the road ahead and the other on what Sudilia was doing with their schedule and the game in hand that they have on us. The goal for the Jagaurs in this scenario is to try and be in front by more than 3 points entering our bye, so that we may have the lead entering the final day road trip. That is what David Seems and Li Xiu Ying have been pushing this team about in preparation for this final double-header...but did it all stick?

The Matches
Our 14th game would come against The Godlands I, the team of 5 with the strength of 23, over at their new digs: the Ascended Stadium in Koroa City. This team was wacky as fuck and drew with us in Kepu Manu the last time we met but we had newfound belief and focus from the whole 'fighting to make the WC' thing and so with that in mind, we pressed forward towards glory...and a big win at that. Anon (Indra) caught us out to take the lead in the 6th minute but we would strike back hard as Fernandino got two and Stephan Fiedtkou one to make it 3-1 at half time. Anon got one back in the 2nd half but Paek Un-hui and Dakota Monroe would make sure the three points came back home with us. A big three points at that. As expected, Valanora crushed Sudilia 3-1 - so the gap was up to five.

With the gap increased, our final home game was boosted with an added sense of importance and the drive towards a potential celebration of a huge scale. With this gap in our hands, we knew we had to press forward against Equestria and all of Tiankong Stadium knew it - so while this place was as friendly as ever, there was a sense the crowd wanted a show to calm the nerves entering the final day. To that end, we delivered...and in some style at that. Both halves ended 3-1 in our favour as we demolished the former World Champs with relative ease. Stephan Fiedtkou got a hattrick in the first half, that's how well we were doing in this contest. In the 2nd, Regina McDuff got a brace and Diana Sharafutdinov would seal the deal on a brilliant performance and a brilliant way to close the home campaign. 6-2. Game. On.

Reactions
We have taken points in 10 of our last 11 games, and 7 of them were wins on the board. So what do you think is the mood in the fanbase right now? We're five points in front right now and even if Sudilia beat The Godlands I on our bye, we will still have a 2-point lead heading into the final day - meaning we would only need to equal or better their result to secure Top 3 and either a ticket to the WC or a playoff spot. We have a good chance of making it right now, but things are not set in stone just yet.

What's Next...
One more game. The Polar Islandstates await us at the Nasjonale Stadion in Franz Josef City. Sudilia will play Equestria at the same time. Maybe our Top 3 spot is already secured thanks to The Godlands I. Maybe we will enter this game with a 2-point cushion to defend. Maybe victory means the WC itself. Maybe victory means a tough Playoff draw ahead. But no matter what happens now, the mission of David Seems and Li Xiu Ying is close to completion. They have dragged us back to contention. Now, we have to finish the job.
GO JAGS!

---

SCHEDULE (Group 3)
MD1: @Sudilia (84) L 0-2 (T-8th)
MD2: vs Zwangzug (19) - Beregozera Stadium, Szensky L 0-1 (7th)
---------------Ramble---------------
MD3: @East Leaf (266) W 2-1 (7th)
MD4: vs Valanora (1) - National Stadium, TJUN-ia City L 2-3 (8th)
---------------Ramble---------------
MD5: @Megistos (UR) D 3-3 (6th)
MD6: vs The Godlands I (201) - Ke Kahua Pāʻani o Pua Aloalo, Kepu Manu D 1-1 (7th)
---------------Ramble---------------
MD7: @Equestria (Equestrian States) (108) W 3-2 (5th)
MD8: BYE (6th)
---------------Ramble---------------
MD9: vs Polar Islandstates (69) - Stade de la Victoire, Roi Ville W 5-3 (4th)
MD10: vs Sudilia (84) - Estadio Universidad Carlandas, Carlandas W 3-1 (4th)
---------------Ramble---------------
MD11: @Zwangzug (19) - Wayr Stadium, Rackham Range D 0-0 (4th)
MD12: vs East Leaf (266) - Estádio do Pacífico, Rio Pacífico W 2-1 (3rd)
---------------Ramble---------------
MD13: @Valanora (1) - Hatire Memorial, Capri L 1-2 (3rd)
MD14: vs Megistos (UR) - Zebra Stadium, Toropo/Almadinat W 3-0 (3rd)
---------------Ramble---------------
MD15: @The Godlands I (201) - Ascended Stadium, Koroa City W 5-2 (3rd)
MD16: vs Equestria (Equestrian States) (108) - Tiankong Stadium, Tiankong W 6-2 (3rd)
---------------Ramble---------------
MD17: BYE (3rd)
MD18: @Polar Islandstates (69) - Nasjonale Stadion, Franz Josef City

[Alasdair I Frosticus]

A STATEMENT FROM THE HOLY EMPIRE FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION

The Banija Match

The Holy Empire Football Association is aware of certain statements coming from the squad management. Mr Tzimisces and Mr Di Bradini have been quoted in Ordinary Reality media as saying "well done to Banija", "there are absolutely no excuses; the better team won on the day", "Son-Saka is a world-class player; he always seems to do well against us", "fair play to Wangolo for getting his tactics right on the day", and "we have to do better; it's no good slaughtering the weaker teams in the group if you can't beat the better teams - this is a long-term problem for us".

Here at HEFA, we applaud the managers' sense of sportsmanship, but we would like to outline some mitigating factors that we would urge you cute little mundies to take into consideration when judging this result:

1) The squad were exhausted after saving the multiverse from the recent timeslip. What, you don't know what a timeslip is? You didn't even notice a timeslip? Fine; but take our word for it - the squad were very, very tired.

2) In order to reward the gnomes for saving the multiverse, we allowed them to bring all of their friends and family to the away match as a reward. All of their friends and family; as a result, there were no imperial citizens in attendance. This seems to have distracted the squad - just look at what happened when Gnostic launched himself into the crowd after scoring the first goal - and isn't a mistake we'll be making again. We are, however, grateful to the Banija authorities for not making an issue about the number of home supporters who left the match with slightly painful ankles.

3) The Holy Empire had already qualified prior to the match, and this seems to have demotivated the gnomes. Note that when launching themselves into the air, the players said "WOOOOO?" instead of "WEEEEEEE!". This is a sure sign that the gnomes were struggling to summon up their usual levels of enthusiasm. We have hired a sports psychologist with extensive experience of working with garden gnomes in order to address this moving forward.

4) While we accept that this was an innocent mistake on the part of our otherwise generous and patient hosts, the Kadongo Kamu had provided the Holy Empire with an artificial turf training pitch instead of a natural grass training pitch. Unfortunately, garden gnomes always interact better with a natural environment - they're garden gnomes, not astroturf gnomes - and they all took to the pitch for the match with a nasty foot rash that impaired their performance.

We understand that this was an important result for the Kadongo Kamu, and we wish them the best moving forward. We only wish to offer an outline of circumstances which help to explain why the squad was not at its best yesterday evening.

The Holy Empire Football Association

[Sajnur]

World Cup Qualifying 97: The Third Place Teams

P  Team             Gr  Pld   W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts   Games Left

1  Tikariot          4  14    9   4   1    34   19  +15    31   The Fortem (A), Alexandrianonisimo (H)
2  Sargossa          2  14   10   0   4    40   18  +22    30   Doubeia (A), Poafmersia (H)
3  Kamijiro         12  14    9   2   3    27   12  +15    29   Al Tamazgha (A), Kytler Peninsulae (H)
4  The 14 Stars      1  14    9   2   3    41   31  +10    29   Grearish Union (A), Quakmybush (H)
5  Oberour Ar Moro  13  14    9   2   3    31   23   +8    29   Brusseldorf (A), Strayaroos (H)
6  Hapilopper       11  14    9   1   4    34   23  +11    28   Ile de Richelieu (H), Britonisea (A)
7  Milchama         15  15    9   1   5    28   19   +9    28   Amenria (A)
8  Sajnur           14  15    8   4   3    30   22   +8    28   Kimi Suomi (A)
9  Tjunia            3  15    8   3   4    36   24  +12    27   Polar Islandstates (A)
10 Aleirave          5  14    8   3   3    34   26   +8    27   Boring Paradise (A), Crpostran (H)
11 Cardenao         10  14    8   3   3    20   19   +1    27   Kronbia (A), Siovanija and Teusland (H)
12 Eura             17  15    7   5   3    25   16   +9    26   Krytenia (A)
13 Edsmontik        16  14    7   5   2    23   14   +9    26   Hakushia (H), Xanneria (A)
14 Zenic             8  14    7   3   4    40   24  +16    24   Riena (A), Of the Holy See (H)
15 Sarzonia          6  14    6   6   2    33   24   +9    24   Ossidiacqua (A), Katzeburg (H)
16 Patriotlandia     7  14    7   2   5    28   21   +7    23   Jeruselem (H), Semarland (A)
17 Drawkland         9  14    7   2   5    29   25   +4    23   N&S Slavo Baltia (A), West Vdara (H)

Guaranteed at least 3rd in group
Cannot finish 2nd in group

[Elmyia]

The Overlap
Elmyia's Savalas Reliance

Elmyia's qualifying campaign took another hit in a long line of them, an efficient Mertagne picking up a 3-2 win over Elmyia that looked more comfortable than the scoreline would suggest. Elmyia paired this with their own efficient display over a slightly hapless Hispinas side, although two first half goals shipped to the minnows revealed a weakness that might come into play more in a trickier tie against Lisander.

The news that Savalas was to be out injured before the Mertagne game was a big blow. The young central defender has been almost ever-present in this Elmyia side since she turned 18, and with good reason. When she came through she was almost an entirely new style of defender for Elmyia, a nation previously used to a sweeper and two marking the opposite forwards. She, by contrast, had the attributes to thrive with only one other centre-back pairing her, could hold a high offside line due to her pace and could make up for a lack of raw physicality through excellent timing. As Benni Massi transitioned Elmyia from a player to player to a zonal marking system she was key.

Even more so when Pau Porras came in as manager. To play as high as he wishes, and to build quickly through the lines, you need players in the backline who are quick, intelligent and able on the ball. Given her ability to avoid situations where she will lose out on strength, she essentially lacks weakness. Then she tore her hamstring.

The loss of such a key player can unbalance many a team, but centre-back is one area where Elmyia currently lack strength in depth. In truth, academies are only just moving past training players up to act as sweepers or blockers. In truth most of those in the national team setup are largely converted sweepers doing a job, including the likes of Pozzo and Nanni. Nanni stepped in, alongside the tough, but erratic, Maria Grosso for this fixture. With Grosso's tendency to go ahead of the line and engage, her partner needs to be prepared to be left in one on ones, to have to backpedal at pace.

Nanni can do some of this, but when faced with chaos around him he did the thing most defenders would do, he retreated. If Grosso goes forward and he falls too far back, however, then a lot of space can open up in between them. Against Hispinas, Heguy and Solorzano took full advantage. Twice. From an early 3-0 lead, established through some excellent work from Benedetti, Marakakis and Blair, they were pulled back to within a goal. As it went, Elmyia's midfield slowed their tempo, leading to fewer turnovers meaning this was tested less for the remainder of the game.

Clear though, Mertagne were watching. Nanni again dropped too deep, as the rest of the side attempted to furiously race back, Eveson and Trebuchet found themselves in space time and again. Grosso tried to rectify this, dropping deeper, but this left a horrendously wide gap between the backline and the midfield, leaving Kit Simmons in a lot of space. He remains unparalleled as a defender of wide spaces, but when he's outmatched 3 to 1 on a regular basis you're going to struggle.

On the plus side, the teams Elmyia have left to face will likely cede the ball and will struggle to get their attacks started. Elmyia's pressing from the front remains of sufficient quality to pen in sides outside the top 100. The negative is that the damage may already be done, Elmyia will need to be perfect in the last two games, and even that might merely be sufficient for a place in the play-offs. Should they make it there, they will have a job getting through barring a fast return for Savalas.

[Xanneria]

The following is taken from a picturebook entitled "The Railroads of Xanneria" a sister publication of "The Railroads of the Yak Empire"

---

XANNERIA - 2
Burns 18'
Young 33'

---

HERATU - 3
??? 15' 68'
??? 45+2

XANNERIA - 1
Danube Jr 38'

---

SAINT ELENOR - 1
Northend 27'

[The Ko-orenite Constellation]

MD1: Shahrbanoren v The Martian Independent Republic 2-0w
MD2: Ostfalen und Hinterpommoren @ Patriotlandia 3-1w
MD3: Ndugutisaoren v Saterun 1-2l
MD4: Cang Prathoren @ Jeruselem 2-2d
MD5: Isidoren v Semarland 0-0d
MD6: Tarören @ Josifovo 2-2d
MD7: BYE
MD8: Chanmingoren v Sylestone 0-1l
MD9: Uruashoren @ Aquitayne 0-0d

MD10: Isidoren @ The Martian Independent Republic 1-0w
MD11: Cang Prathoren v Patriotlandia 2-2d
MD12: Chanmingoren @ Saterun 5-2l
MD13: Uruashoren v Jeruselem 3-3d
MD14: Shahrbanoren @ Semarland 1-1d
MD15: Ostfalen und Hinterpommoren v Josifovo 2-1w
MD16: BYE
MD17: Ndugutisaoren @ Sylestone
MD18: Tarören v Aquitayne

Shahrbanoren: 2-0 win, 1-1 draw
Kicking off the very first match on behalf of the Constellation, the Shahrbanoren team have done everything that could be asked from them. They might not have been scheduled to play the most established teams, especially with how Semarland have clocked out as the qualification cycle chugged along, but they still got the results in the few opportunities they had. Kamran, the promising Venant striker, got things going with the first goal for this nation, and Nasirian doubled the lead at the end of the first half, but it was the titans of the defence that deserve the credits for keeping the Martians from getting a shot at Danesh even once. There were shots, sure, but not on target. Mousavi had the Martians in her pocket, Dirbaz managed to intercept a few passes that could've gotten the red and yellow team in trouble, and Marazban (far from flawless otherwise) blocked two more shots from going in. It was a Venant Shahibad party once Hashempour came on for Golshani and Pahlevan was brought on in the final minutes for temporisation over Dirbaz, meaning the old adage - just select half your national team from one or two successful clubs - was a valuable one. In the second match, you can't get them all, and Mofid scored the only Shahrbanoreni goal of the game, but one of the first shots Danesh faced actually went in as a 37th minute equaliser. No more goals after that: it was too risky to get Mofid, Dirbaz, and Farahani between the lines and sacrifice structure, which did enough to get Semarland out of contention but didn't do much for their own chances.

Ostfalen und Hinterpommoren: 3-1 win, 2-1 win
The golden team for the Constellation so far, they have six points from two matches and it's against two top 150 teams: 135th Patriotlandia were on the receiving end of a 3-1 upset but then the team did it again against 34th ranked Josifovo with a massive 2-1 win. And that makes OFHP the most successful territory already - no matter how lucky they got their lead in both games. Patriotlandia simply hadn't had their offside cues right, putting nimble young winger Grattenauer in her own post code, in possession, with only the goalie to beat. There were worries about the team's philosophy and gameplan - namely that it didn't have any - but when scoring opportunities present themselves you don't need much of a system to create chances. There were worries about the team's youth - especially Hodenhagen, Stoltzenberg, Grattenauer, and Schauenstein in charge of anything attacking while barely being in charge of anything at their clubs - but youthful naivete and opportunism won that day. Nordenflycht headed in the second goal, then Patriotlandia got a start of a comeback, but Nordenflycht scored his second right after to put the game to bed. In their second game, Josifovo looked like they already threw in the towel by the second half - still 0-0 - playing some uninspired football, if disciplined, that took some breaking down to score on. It was again Grattenauer who tore apart the links between the defenders, receiving the ball between the lines, setting up a shot from distance by Drachenfels for the 1-0. After the equaliser, a late corner kick stumbled into the net with Rappoltstein the last to touch the ball. There was a big difference between OFHP in their first and second game: the ease of the first was turned into a gameplan by the second, with a rigid defence but fairly fluid roles further up, with the four young playmakers all hitting their stride.

Ndugutisaoren: 2-1 loss
Expected to be the best the Constellation had to offer, they're pitted against some difficult opponents. And against Saterun, it wasn't a huge surprise that the team ended up with a loss. There's something funny to play for in the next match against Sylestone (who have conceded only one goal so far), namely to hand them their first loss. Both teams will have trouble scoring (Sylestone effectively doing what Ko-oren have been trying for decades) but maybe, just maybe, there's something there for Ndugutisaoren to salvage. In the Saterun game, there was something there to make fans hopeful for the second match, but the team lacked the surprise factor that Shahrbanoren and OFHP brought to the table: it was structured, maybe a little boring, led by a 35-year old Njoka who never was the fastest and now certainly isn't, and at some point a static playmaker will count against you. Nyaguthi, Kenyatta, and Mwara were posted a little too close to one another - it was all in the plan but it was far too easy to remove all three from play with only a few defenders. Kenyatta did score the only Ndugutisaoren goal, a result of a few crafty passes in the box and an immaculate finish in the far corner.

Cang Prathoren: 2-2 draw, 2-2 draw
Maybe entering the tournament with the lowest expectations, they got a lot of fun out of their 180 minutes of fame. Eight goals total is pretty much around where we would've pinned this team, but the equal split between goals scored and conceded is a welcome surprise. They were lightning fast through the midfield but got bogged down up front - Kartawijaya and Kurniawan too light to force their way through. Lucky for them, An, Do, Ho, Tanasugarn, and Sasmita had overlaps and a scary amount of movement to them. This was always going to be their strength, but it's a double-edged sword: it leaves you tremendously vulnerable. Like the rest of the team, Chuan, Pradchaphet, Sakdathorn, and Sriroj are fast but light, so when it came down to slow, bruising attacks, there's always a chance a bulky forward can muscle through. And that's what Jeruselem did and what Patriotlandia improved on. In the end, they had Kartawijaya scoring once, An scoring twice, and Budiaman scoring their fourth, but costly errors meant BCP couldn't escape with a win.

Isidoren: 0-0 draw, 1-0 win
Maybe not a complete surprise like the Ostfalen and Hinterpommoren results, but Isidoren was certainly not seen as the heavyweights they turned out to be. On the face of it, they could well rival Ndugutisaoren in quality, between the gamesmanship, some individual brilliance, and an awesome plan. Their schedule was alike Shahrbanoren's, with some low pot opponents, but to get out with four points is a feat and then some. Cancio is a monster on the touch line, Malapeir is a slippery eel, Ulloa is a pitbull, and Pérez has gotten his communication in the back right. Everything that needed to go right, went right, and ultimately it's just a single goal by Laborde, late in the second Martian game, that expresses the difference. Isidoren and their far-too-big league should get some extra attention: while thinly spread, the talent that is there shines as bright as the talent from elsewhere.

Tarören: 2-2 draw
It's hard to pin Tarören before they've played both their games. In the 90 minutes we've witnessed, we've seen basically Isidoren-light, but we expected Isidoren-heavy. A vulnerable team that's comfortable as long as the game's easy to read, but despite the Sülüzerspor dominance scatters quickly if things don't go right. That said, they can fight back into any fixture because the mentality's there, sharpened in the many city derbies of the league. Bulut and Buruk aren't the defensive pairing we thought they were, Sener made two small mistakes but both were goals.

Chanmingoren: 1-0 loss, 5-2 loss
Perhaps the most secretive member of the Constellation - even their team information was redacted halfway through the campaign and unavailable for a while - they weren't blessed by the easiest opponents but they didn't do themselves much good with their actual play. We saw some Straudum-esque defending, but without an outlet up front to pose danger and intimidate the defence, all that happened was Chanmingoren defending for 180 minutes but without the quality that is at Ko-oren's disposal. As a whole, the team was slow and quickly running out of options in the build-up, between Meng, Wu, and Chen often as the endpoint of a spell of posession. But to concede six goals in two games? Well, turns out that the league and its players aren't completely there yet.

Uruashoren: 0-0 draw, 3-3 draw
A bit of everything for the smallest selection of the Constellation. They couldn't beat Aquitayne despite numerous barrages and minute-long sieges of their goal, but then they got some space against Jeruselem and pulled three goals from it. Mirrors of their opponents, they are, with stamina for days given the altitude they normally operate at - and maybe that had some hand in their 3-3 home draw against a much better Jeruselem squad - given they came back from 3-1 down to keep a point at home with a 85th minute Cancha goal and a 90+3rd minute equaliser from Rimayhuaman. Had you gambled that the second backup defender would score, you would have netted quite a win, but thankfully gambling and many other modern terrors haven't overtaken Uruashoren league football yet. Either way, they're the wildcard we didn't know we needed - or deserved.