A Tale Of Two Crescents - WC97 Roleplay Thread

[Aleirave]

Disapparition
Aleirave 2-1 Tero al Disco

Part 1 - After Haulafo Paka’ula turned Union Stadium away from the island, Refilene Adari’ena had some choice words for him… words that didn't make too much sense, coming from him. Part 2 - Haulafo calls up the only person who he knows can help – King William. However, Aleiravan administrative red tape prevents him from doing his usual rule-bending here.
Part 3 - Haulafo and William approach Alice O’Donnell, the Eshian Election Commissioner, for assistance regarding potential political bribery. At first she claims it isn't her jurisdiction, although in fact it is; she then agrees to help deal with the matter.
Part 4 - Detective Jacob Bronwyn of the Eshian Investigation Service comes to Lahaira to interrogate Refilene, hopefully without the Governor realizing it was even an interrogation to begin with.
Part 5 (lost) - Jacob calls Alice to get her to email him a copy of a search warrant so he can look through Refilene’s checkbook. While the evidence was shaky, Alice saw the probable cause and issued a warrant for the checkbook.
Part 6 - After the internet outage, Alice calls EIS Director Mark Monley to send some backup to help Jacob, knowing he'd need some help finishing the investigation during the technical difficulties. Mark would agree to send reinforcements, but not without much fighting between the two first.
Part 7 - Detectives Neil Rollins and Paula Hannelly arrived on Aleirave, warrant in hand, to bring both Jake and the documents back to Eshialand City for the investigation.
Part 8 - Refilene’s closest advisor suggests he throw in the towel and just tell the EIS everything he knows, but he brushes off the advice, not wanting to give up so easily.
Part 9 - Our investigators discover that the illicit donation was made in a new cryptocurrency, which means the money is worthless thanks to the internet outage… but it also makes the search orders of magnitude harder.
Part 10 - Paula visits Aleirave to try and get some information from Refilene, but he keeps his secrets close. She and Refilene’s advisor would have a chat about it, wondering how they could get the governor to talk.
Part 11 - More evidence comes together, but Tony Beaujoleil is evading all detection… would this be the end of the line?

“Has anyone got any word on this guy’s whereabouts?” Paula asked her fellow detectives after over a week of monitoring.

“Some guy on an Echo Cruise Lines ship saw the stadium pass by on Monday, but apart from that… completely nothing.” Jake said. “And since they passed by in the middle of the ocean… we’re never finding this stadium, he’s a goner.”

“Is there any way we can take this to court anyway?” Paula asked. “We have to be able to try him in absentia, but is it even worth it at this point?”

“Well your silly bargain with Refilene means he’ll get off almost completely scot-free…” Jake lamented, “and nothing will come of Tony if he never shows up again, so what even is the point of taking it to a courtroom if it means nothing will ever happen? Best we can do is issue an immediate arrest warrant for Beaujoleil and hope he shows up on our shores but ha ha ha good luck with that one.”

“So it’s not really worth it to continue?” Paula asked, completely dejected. “Have we lost?”

“Not fully?” Neil answered, completely unsure of whether what he was about to say had any weight. “I mean, I’ve been digging a bit more into what Tony’s motive could’ve been, and I think I found something really interesting.”

“And that is?” Paula asked.

“Well, I had a chat with King William last night, and he had a really interesting insight. I’m not sure if anyone heard or remembers this, but apparently there was some government project that Tony swiped to make the stadium, something called Project Upsilon?”

“I vaguely remember that name…” Jake replied, suddenly interested in what was going on. “But I thought he wasn’t gonna do anything about it, since the stadium was a gift to the nation or whatever.”

“Ah, exactly, you thought. He actually said something slightly different to me… he said that as long as Union Stadium’s existence was in the national interest, he wouldn’t prosecute anything, but since neither the mainland nor Aleirave seemed to want to keep using the stadium, it was no longer in the national interest!”

“And what Will wants to get done always gets done.” Paula replied, realizing what all this meant.

“So naturally,” Neil continued, “he wanted to pay off Refilene to keep using the stadium so it would keep being used by someone, thereby keeping it in the national interest and him out of a lengthy jail sentence for stealing confidential information.”

“That all of a sudden turns this into a very different case…” Jake said, following it up with a quick question for Neil. “Is there any way we can get the king more involved in this investigation? I feel like, with the direction this is going in, he should be tagged in to help us out.”

“I’ll go get a hold of him, since I agree, he really should help us out here, especially since he’ll know a lot about this that none of us probably ever will. As for you two, it’s time to start interviewing engineers who worked on the case and figure out how this thing leaked out to begin with. There are a lot of questions here that I don’t think anyone even bothered to try to answer, and we could really use some answers sooner rather than later.”

“Wow, when Neil gets a case he actually cares about he’s a freakin’ wizard with it.” Paula muttered to Jake, out of Neil’s earshot.

“I know, right? I’ve actually never seen him like this… but he may even be a better detective than us when he’s actually interested.”

---

And so… to the knockouts they would go?

Nobody in their right mind would ever be expecting this, really. Aleirave was a team that had just barely slipped their way into their first ever World Cup qualification, and now here they were, going completely undefeated in their group stage and making it to the Round of 32 in their first-ever shot.

Realistically, did the match against Tero al Disco matter much at all? No, but it did set a powerful tone: Aleirave, when they were going 100% at it, were completely unstoppable forces of nature.

Well… almost completely unstoppable. After all, it seems like whenever there is good news, bad news follows right behind. The good news is that winning Group K meant they’d be playing a 3rd-placed team from the group stage, which usually would mean playing a weaker team they’d have a good chance of beating.

Fate, however, is a cruel b*tch at times, and somehow that 3rd-placed team ended up being Ko-oren, whom Margaret had hated so much they managed to finish 3rd behind the Squornshelan Remnant States and Vdara. The even crueler irony behind it is that, if Aleirave hadn’t beaten Tero al Disco, they’d be playing a weaker Vdara side instead, giving them a nice shot at the octofinals.

But instead it would be Aleirave in the regional matchup against Ko-oren, one that surely couldn’t go wrong in any way whatsoever. If there was good news behind this one, it would be that a loss wouldn’t be a disappointment in any way, but rather just an expectation, an unfortunate fact of being such a low-ranked team slipping deep into the competition.

Aleirave, however, would not be alone this time. This little island would not be the only ones in the multiverse cheering for their Cinderella story, as the mainlanders had found themselves eliminated, winless for the third time in a row, and looking for a story to support… and here were the Seagulls, enemies when something was there to prove, but comrades-in-arms when it counted the most. Fans from across Eshialand would be there rooting for the massive underdogs on the off-chance that maybe, just maybe, fate would find itself subverted once again and Aleirave could make it to the final 16.

Haulafo, as always, was asked about the performance and what his expectations were going forward, and he had a fair amount to say. “Listen, this is probably the end of our odyssey… but it’s been a damn good one, wouldn’t you agree? We’ve done what nobody ever expected, and went 2-1-0 as a 4th seeded team. We avoided the late qualification collapse that used to haunt us so much, and we made it farther than anyone could’ve ever expected from us.

“Even if we lose to Ko-oren by 5-0 or something, it’s been a good one, and we’ll be headed into the next CAFA with a hope we haven’t seen in almost half a decade. And as for the World Cup… this year it’s the Round of 32, and next year it’ll be farther.”

[Baggieland]

King Alsqueak

An Uncouth Story

King Alsqueak and the band of devil-may-care pirates had happened upon a talking chamber pot – but not just any old talking chamber pot – it had galvanic googly eyes as well.

Chamber-pot: "Please don't hurt me. I am Chamber-pot, the mayor of Kirkham and leader of all the sentient beings."

Madame Xianggu: "I don't be trusting anything with googly eyes. Let's kill it!"

King Alsqueak: "Wait! That Sylestonian yokel told us about these strange creatures. I think we're supposed to follow it."

Dundee Talke: "Follow a chamber pot? I'm afraid His Majesty might be going stark-raving mad."

King Alsqueak: "Tell us Mayor Chamber-pot, do any of the sentient beings suffer from wretched afflictions?"

Mayor Chamber-pot: "Well yes, some do. Why do you ask?"

King Alsqueak: "I'm a curer. I have magical curing abilities, and I can cure anyone and anything!"

Mayor Chamber-pot: "Then you must come with me hastily, for there is work to do!"

Dundee Talke: "You might be disappointed, Your Mayorness."

The plucky king and the apathetic pirates followed the mayor through the dense foliage of the forest and into the town.

Washboard: "Who are these strange fellows Mayor Chamber-pot?"

Mayor Chamber-pot: "They have come to cure our sick friends."

[Sarzonia]

The final match of the group stage of World Cup 97 would see a battle of the Stars. The 14 Stars Blue Wolves would oppose the Sarzonian national football team, known as the Stars, in part to see which constellation would shine brightest.

That answer: Neither, as the two sides played to a 1-1 draw that left Sarzonia forward Spencer Wilson cursing himself for a missed goalscoring opportunity that would have given his Stars an all-important 2-0 goal in the 78th minute. He'd chipped a through ball from Harley Masterson cleverly over the outstretched glove of Starsian goalkeeper Emily Davis, but the ball clanged off the crossbar and was soon cleared out of harm's way.

Seconds after the fourth official held up a digital four to represent how much stoppage time Sarzonia would need to kill off, Wolves captain Kira Blade would take advantage of her Sarzonian counterpart and equalise. That tally saw the Starsians on the bench erupt in celebration and Stars goalkeeper John Wells pound the ground in frustration.

At the he final whistle, manager Caleb Rush thought his team had missed their chance to advance to the knockout rounds for the first time since World Cup 54. However, he saw his team's sports information director hand him a note. Sarzonia were through after all, advancing to the Round of Thirty-Two.

At that moment, Rush smiled a wan smile. Sarzonia had accomplished something they hadn't in a long time no matter how you observe time. By the Sarzonian calendar, it had been over 13 years since a Stars side qualified for the knockout rounds. It had been 48 cycles and almost 15 years since Sarzonia advanced past the first knockout round.

The last knockout round match Sarzonia won was way back in the Franz Braddock era of Sarzonian football. Ironically enough, the team Sarzonia defeated in the third place playoff match was their opponent in this matchup: Valanora. That wasn't their last knockout round encounter with Valanora, as the Marauders defeated Sarzonia in the Round of Sixteen during World Cup 51. Either way, history wasn't on Sarzonia's side. The current run of the World Cup also pointed to Sarzonia being heavy underdogs.

That suited Rush just fine. He'd seen the predictions. Overwhelmingly, prognosticators gave Sarzonia no chance of defeating Valanora. Even the Sarzonian press gave Sarzonia zero shot of what would be a large upset.

"Nobody's giving us a chance of winning!" Rush said. "It's going to be us against the whole fuh- uh, damn multiverse!" he said, remembering the scolding he'd just experienced from Charlotte Sandt, wife of technical director Horace Sandt about his free use of profanity.

"We know we've got a good team here and we know we can beat just about anyone if we play well enough." Rush knew he was using a much different tone than his more realistic portrayal of his team's chances during the Sylestone match, but he knew he could get his team motivated to prove "experts" wrong, even those with Sarzonian accents.

In his first review of the Vanors, he saw the average age of the team was drastically higher than anything he'd ever seen before. Then he looked again. Laborious Hawk was jacking the average up massively. The rest of the Vanors averaged a bit more than the Stars in the age department without Laborious Hawk, but with that longstanding member of the Marauders, everything skews up.

Rush scrambled to find someone, anyone who had the notes made by Braddock about facing Hawk, as he was the last Stars manager to have done so. He knew that might not matter in the long run, considering the length of time that passed between Sarzonia's last meeting with Valanora and the upcoming one.

But if Sarzonia were going to prove every prognosticator save one wrong, Rush wanted any advantage he could find.

[Edsmontik]

TO MAKE A LONG STORY SHORT

---

After a terrific qualifying run, the Edsmons hoped for a strong push through the group and maybe into the round of 32.
But match ups were not on their side.
Sure, they drew 2-2 against Zwangzug, but against both Kelssek and Zenic, they lost.
4-3 against Kelssek (which is pretty impressive), and 3-0 against Zenic.
Even if they didn't makee it, what a run they had.
The Eagles weren't afraid to spread the news, because it only shows how they defied the original thoughts and still pushed to qualify.
And for a first time, that's just impressive.

---

But it's not all.
In the Kelssek game, Bervaign was well recovered enough to convince the officials to let him play.
It wasn't recommended, but even through the massive pain, he managed to pull himself through and finish with two goals.
Two! Not one, but two!
The Edsmons were persistent for the win, but the loss did end up killing the vibe for them.
In the Zenic game, some star players such as Stuero were off.
And that did not turn out well for them.
The Edsmons instantly conceded and couldn't coordinate attacks.
Javarqa even stated that Stuero was the better choice for captain.
He had so much influence on the team, he was the commander.
But it all fell apart.
Stuero was subbed in at halftime, but the damage was done, and the Edsmons fell without a response.
The Edsmons will be coming home soon, ready to improve for next year.

---

GROUP D MD2

---

GROUP D MD3

---

We wish all teams that have made it to the round of 32 good luck!
OOC: yes, this is lazy writing. I'm tired

[Commonwealth of Baker Park]

BP get through Delte, into knockouts
Scott McCrae
The Daily Mail Chief Soccer Writer

The odds were stacked against the Commonwealth National Team heading into their final Group I fixture against World Cup 95 winners Delte at Vorgan Park in New Lodger City, as the two sides had only a single point each, while Juvencus would have a Siovanija & Teusland team across town at King Iqbal II Stadium probably resting key players having already wrapped up the group title.

Manager Will Barnard told his team to ignore the outside noise and concentrate on the 90 minutes in front of them by going out & winning, leaving everything on the pitch.

The Bees took his words to heart as they swept past the number 3 ranked team in the multiverse 2-1, leaping past Juvencus into the second automatic advancement place after gli attaccanti couldn't find a winner in their match which ended 2-2, consigning the Sonnelians to the third placers lottery.

Serena McDavid's team leading fifth goal of the tournament in the 37th minute proved to be the winner after Magda Kucera had put Baker Park ahead on 27 minutes with a laser guided missile from 30 yards out; The Representatives clawed back to just a goal down with 11 minutes left but Barnard utilized his subs to replace all four midfield starters during the final 20 minutes to maintain the intensity and bring defender Jon Schulman on for Shelby Engels in the 83rd minute to finally nail the door shut. The four minutes of added time were played out amid the din of the Gold & Black Army celebrating as news filtered through from the other match; the final whistle triggered a celebration not seen in recent memory from the squad as it appeared to lift a weight off the collective back of players and staff.

Baker Park will face a familiar foe in the Round of 32, as Banija's Kadongo Kamu will be the Bees opponent in the 25th all-time fixture between the nations. It will be the fifth World Cup Finals they've been matched against one another, with four of those in knockout stage fixtures—the World Cup 85 3rd Place Playoff and the quarterfinals in World Cups 88 & 90 , plus the group stage in World Cup 87--in addition to a pair of meetings in regional competition—the Semi Finals of AOCAF 62 and the quarterfinals of AOCAF 70. Overall the series stands Banija 9 wins, Baker Park 6 wins, and 9 draws, with the most recent meeting being just prior to this cycle's qualifying, a 4-3 Bees win at the BCEL Stadium in Jinja City.

Both teams will travel to New Tavernia for the match at North Ridge Stadium in Westpass, the second smallest venue being used in Eastfield Lodge which will put tickets at a premium for the Arrosian nations, with the winner facing off against the winner of The Kytler Peninsulae and Baggieland.

Will Barnard will take charge of his 108th match, equaling the mark of Ichi Tuzzio for second all time. Barnard was humbled by the milestone.
"I know the number of fixtures we play makes it easy to reach 100 games, but the fact that I'll be on a list with the Maestro on it fills me with a sense of pride. Having a chance to work on staff under him was a privilege and although I may pass him numerically, I would never imagine that I will surpass him as leader. He took, what? five different teams to the World Cup? That's legendary stuff right there."

This first ever 48 team World Cup group stage will certainly go down in the annals as one of the most remarkable series of fixtures ever; four Pot 1 teams were bounced and only 5 finished atop their group while seven Pot 4 teams are moving on, six of which finished either 1st or 2nd. Four of the seven first time qualifiers will be moving on—Tero al Disco, Aphrilla, StrayaRoos and Aliereve while 4 of the top 15 and co-hosts Pasarga missed the cut.

Lineup vs Banija

Rossi; Milner, Kucera, Jones; C. Logan (C), Ryan, Vetter, Altman; Riley; McDavid, Hardison
subs--Cotterill, Frost, O'Connor, Schulman, Park, Garfield, Kirby, A. Boyle, D'Alessandro, Engels, Coleman, Khan.

[Kelssek]

WORLD CUP FOOTBALL
KSK 5-3 ZWZ | An Deòir nets hat-trick in freewheeling group stage finale

by: Agency staff

Let the carnage continue. That seemed to be the message Kelssek had absorbed from their first two matches at the World Cup as they put on another chaotic, free-flowing match in which they were determined simply to outscore their opponent.

In a sign of what kind of match we were going to be in for, Kelssek went ahead after 39 seconds when Zwangzug goalkeeper Tandre Vusin-Jacques came out to clear away a speculative cross by Rory Joseph, only to gift the ball to Lionel an Deòir. As the keeper scrambled backwards the Spartangrad striker had enough time to measure a 35-yard lob that dropped onto the goal line and bounced into the goal over a sliding Juniper McGovern’s desperate attempt to scoop it out and away.

But Zwangzug were level minutes later. Some direct play paid off as Jess McHeran was first to a long ball and spotted the overload developing through the middle. A moment's indecision from Ingrid Lambert was enough to give Ernst Guthnick-Wolf, tucking in off the flank, enough space to shoot past a wrong-footed Jenas Maraipu.

---

Team room #1, Stein-los Stadium
The mood was rather muted although they were 3-2 up at half time. Calen Reamsey was mildly annoyed but tried to keep it in check. Once again, the analytics were not what he wanted, yet again the press was out of sync, they were getting much too exposed down the middle. Yet, though it might not be going as planned, if it was working, best not to risk stifling the good parts by going too far to tighten up the defence, he thought.

“Let’s execute better out there. Clean up our play. Keep it going, keep the pressure on. This one’s ours to take if we do the little things right. Let’s go.”

---

“It wasn’t about that,” said Lionel an Deòir when asked if the message in the team talk was about trying to clamp down defensively after his penalty and a close-range finish from a narrow angle by Chike Obident had put Kelssek back into the lead by half time. “We weren’t hundred per cent happy of course, but we knew that we just had to keep up our levels and tidy up a few things we were slacking on a bit.”

Does that suggest Calen Reamsey torn up his plans and structure? Tournament football can be merciless in its demand for pragmatism. When it’s adapt or be eliminated, it’s a foolish coach who refuses to adapt. And with this longer and bigger tournament, chances are that a different challenge will soon arrive in Kelssek’s path.

That said, it will be a familiar one in the first knockout round, as Kelssek played against Sylestone twice in the last tournament. Their semifinal was a tight affair, and if this rematch goes the same way, it will likely need need something different from the pell-mell full throttle football that has been the feature of this Kelssek team so far.

KELSSEK 5 – an Deòir (1’, pen. 22’, 58’), Obident (26’), Pogbacar (67’)
Maraipu, Buené (Loew 78’), Lambert, Thomsen, Usher, Pogbacar, Pépin (Licea 78’), de Landa, Obident (Heer 45’), Joseph (Goh-Lemaire 65’), an Deòir (87’)
ZWANGZUG 3 – Guthnick-Wolf (11’), McGraw (33’), Palmetto (81’)
Player of the Match: Lionel an Deòir
Stein-los Stadium (attn. 59,221)

[Tikariot]

The clock on the wall of Thunderforge Records’ backroom ticked relentlessly as Nicky, Morgan, and Danica continued their deep dive into the digital world. The more they uncovered, the clearer one thing became: there was a pattern, they just couldn't put their fingers on it yet. It was like a shadow just over their shoulder that would disappear as soon as you'd turn your head.

Nicky stared at her laptop screen, her eyes scanning the next name on the list. “Okay, here’s another one that came through. New victim, same MO: Ethan Harrow, found just last night.” She paused for a moment, waiting for something on her screen to load. “His brother is Anthony Harrow, a senior official in the Department of Energy.”

Morgan leaned forward, stroking his chin. “Department of Energy? That’s interesting. We’ve got military, government, media, and now energy. What’s the deal with Anthony Harrow?”

Nicky clicked open a new tab, quickly pulling up the man’s public records and social media profiles. “Anthony Harrow seems pretty high up—lots of appearances at conferences, government panels on energy policy. Looks like he’s been involved in some major clean energy initiatives. Maybe there’s something there?”

Danica was still on digging duty in the obscure corners of the internet. She looked up and shook her head. "Ethan, not much on him. His social media is almost non-existent, and from what I can gather, he was a pretty quiet guy. No criminal record, no scandals. Worked as a freelance graphic designer.” She paused, scrolling through a few obscure forums. “Hold on a second… there’s a post. It’s old, from about two years ago, on a forum about corporate energy scandals. Ethan posted something vague about his brother being involved in ‘projects that aren’t as green as they seem.’ He didn’t go into detail, but it sounds like there was a bit of tension there.”

Morgan bound his hair together before returning to his laptop where he had pulled up a series of news articles and reports. “That makes sense. Anthony Harrow’s clean energy initiatives are pretty high-profile, but there have been rumours floating around for a while about some shady deals with energy companies behind the scenes. Ethan might’ve known something and kept quiet about it.”

Nicky frowned, leaning back in her chair. “So, is this about secrets? Brothers who know things but don’t—or can’t—speak up about them?”

Morgan shrugged. “Could be. Cain might see these brothers as complicit, even if they’re not directly involved in what their powerful siblings are doing. Maybe it’s not about what the high-profile brothers have done, but what the other one hasn't.”

Danica furrowed her brow, her fingers still tapping away at her keyboard. “That would explain the choice of victims. Cain might be targeting them because they represent complicity. Like they’re guilty by association for not exposing whatever corruption or wrongdoing their brothers are involved in.”

Nicky’s mind raced as the pieces began to fall into place. “It’s possible. If Cain is driven by some twisted sense of justice or revenge, then these brothers would be easy targets—close enough to the people in power to send a message, but not high-profile enough to be heavily guarded or difficult to reach.”

Morgan sat back, making a vague hand gesture. “Well, those brothers maybe not, but he kills both of them, so that argument only works up to a point. But if you look at the crime scenes, the exsanguination, the staging of the bodies like the Vitruvian Man… it's just nuts. It's all ritualistic, symbolic, whatever the symbol may be. Maybe Cain is trying to purify something. Punishing the silent brothers to cleanse whatever corruption they think exists.”

Danica’s eyes widened as she came across another forum post. “Guys, check this out. It’s from an encrypted board, but someone using the handle ‘CainIsComing’ posted a message just a few days before Ethan Harrow was found. It’s cryptic, but it talks about ‘justice for the forsaken’ and ‘those who stand by and let the rot fester.’”

Nicky leaned over to see the screen. “Hm. Could be someone trying to play himself up or it's Cain actually leaving breadcrumbs.”

Morgan frowned. “But what’s the endgame? Is Cain just going to keep killing brothers until… what? Until they’ve punished everyone connected to the institutions they hate?”

Nicky stared at the screen for a moment, lost in thought. “I don’t know. But if Cain is this methodical, there’s more to come. We need to figure out who’s next before it happens.”

Morgan laughs. "Yeah, try to predict what someone insane is going to do next. He's killed himself through several agencies and industries, who knows where he's going next."

Danica scrolled further through the forums. “There’s one more thing. The timing. These murders are all spaced out in a way that seems random at first, but if you look closer, each killing happens right after a major event in the victim’s brother’s life—a promotion, a public appearance, a key decision. It’s almost like Cain is reacting to their success.”

Nicky nodded slowly, a sense of dread creeping in. “That’s it. Cain’s not just punishing the silent brothers. They’re punishing them for benefiting from the system, for being part of the ‘rot’ they think their powerful siblings represent.”

Morgan tapped his fingers on the table. “But how on earth are we supposed to figure out who's next? We need to look at anyone connected to the victims’ brothers who’s about to make a big move maybe?”

Danica stretched. "Who's going for a coffee run? Or get some Projectyle, this is going to be a long night..."

Morgan raised his hand. "I'll go, I need some fresh air anyways."

He stood up and grabbed his jacket. He was happier than ever not to have a brother...

[Aphrilia]

Through to the Round of 32 Aphrilia goes. People seem to be impressed that the team was getting this far.

But The Anchors weren't the only team seemingly impressing the spectators at this World Cup. The likes of Siovanija and Teusland, StrayaRoos, Aleraive, and even hosts Eastfield Lodge are making the fans awe. Many teams outside the Top 30 were certainly grabbing attention for themselves with their performances.

Seven out of the Top 21 didn't make it to the knockout rounds of the World Cup. Many big and well deserving names were missing from this year, despite the World Cup having expanded. Notable names missing such as HUElavia, Drawkland, Audioslavia, Elmyia, among many others. It was an opportunity to say the least.

Aphrilia's next opponent is one of the hosts in the form of Eastfield Lodge. Right in their home soil at Macaronia Tower Park. The other host of the tournament, Pasarga, were already eliminated in the group stages. Due to the massive home advantage that EFL has, many predictions and odds have come in saying that Aphrilia wouldn't be able to get past Eastfield Lodge at all. Yet despite not many having faith in them, the team has shown a lot of positivity for their upcoming knockout round match.

"This is our first ever World Cup! Even if the odds are against us, we'll do our absolute best." Stated the captain of the team, Nathaniel Rosberg in an interview. "Things can happen in football. Even if EFL have home advantage, we'll push our limits no matter what." Added Rosberg later on during the interview. The Anchors were in high spirits, and the fans were certainly as well. This team was still being backed by their home, their supporters, and those choosing to root for them.

And considering the bracket that Aphrilia found itself in, despite the slight chances, there is a possibility that The Anchors could make a decent run. But before the thought of actually doing that, Eastfield Lodge stands in the way. Whether the team gets past or their attempt ends here, it'll sure be a hard fight until the end.

----- CHROMATIKA 0 - 1 APHRILIA -----
GOALS AND BOOKINGS
(30') Ines Forrestal --
(62') Ashton Roberts --
(87') Kevin Lacey

APH SUBSTITUTES
Forrestal OUT / Lacey IN (33')
Green, Cooper OUT / Elliot, Nat. Aston IN (HT)
Paxton OUT / Christonson IN (62')

[TJUN-ia]

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

Welcome back to this Random Ramble. And welcome back to the World Cup. One game remained to fight for, one game to decide everything. So let's get straight to it.

The Match
Jaguars vs Jaguars. It was go time. TJUN-ia and Saterun met at the Stadium of the Moon in Lunas knowing full well that a win for either team could send them through and eliminate the other and a draw would almost certainly eliminate them both, dependant on how Eshialand faired against the already-qualified Valanora. Baring some minor miracle on Eshialand's part all three of David Seems, Li Xiu Ying and Kameron Boyd knew that this game was the game that would determine which side progressed into the knockout stage. To say this was big would be a huge understatement and both teams knew it...so it was all about the game.

Many neutrals were expecting fireworks between the two sides as a potential Ro32 berth was most likely on the line. Instead, what we got was a game that was pretty simple to understand. All you need to know about this game is that despite the fact we were ranked #53 compared to Saterun's #40, that gap didn't matter to us at all. We were here to play for a spot in that knockout round...and Saterun wasn't going to stand in our way. They did take the lead in the 19th minute thanks to Thiago Esparza but after that blip, it was all TJUN-ia from here. Stephan Fiedtkou levelled things up before halftime, Kristina Bay took the lead in the 56th and when Diana Sharafutdinov made it 3-1 in the 62nd, you could tell that the party was ON. Valanora was turning Eshialand into mincemeat and just like that, our mission was complete. There would be, at the very least, one more game from this TJUN-ia squad. And we all love it!

Reactions
Jubilation, as you would expect from a fanbase who had been through so much in recent times. Just making the WC was the dream, and now we're playing knockout football again? It's crazy just how quickly things can change in the world of sports, huh? We were happy to be back in the Cup of Harmony not too long ago and now, we're seemingly back in the big time and ready to try and do something. It's night and day and now, we were looking to make inroads before the new ranking system comes into effect.

Up Next...
And so, it's knockout football, and that sends us across town to Crescent Park to face #21 West Barack and East Obama, the victors of Group A. Considering the tough Ro16 game that would lie ahead for the victor, this may be one of the best shots we had to claim our 2nd ever knockout win. We have faced WBEO in the past, but that was before that team had even made a WC. Now, this beast (piloted by Buck Obamafinakis) has evolved into one that is on the precipice of a breakthrough into the Top 20 and beyond. This team is no joke...and we have to understand that in order to win.

There are three Esportivan teams in this knockout: Sylestone (5), Tumbra (9) and ourselves (53). We haven't made the mark that the other two have made, in either the WC or the CE. And yet, in this bracket, we are all on the same team. Maybe we are the goofy part of a 3-headed monster. But at least we are here, at least we made it this far. Making the WC was one thing, making knockouts was the icing on the cake...so how big is the cherry on top then?
We will go as far as we can muster. And we'll play it as we find it.
GO JAGS!

---

SCHEDULE (Group C, Pasarga)
MD1: vs Valanora (1) - Stadium of the Moon, Lunas L 0-3 (4th)
MD2: vs Eshialand (27) - Stilinkeep Stadium, Stilinkeep D 3-3 (4th)
MD3: vs Saterun (40) - Stadium of the Moon, Lunas W 3-0 (2nd)
Ro32: vs West Barack and East Obama (21/A1) - Crescent Park, Lunas

[Flavovespia]

Flavovespia 6 - 1 Myrtle Beach

Flavovespia delivered one of their finest World Cup performances, as they won by a storming 6-1 margin over Myrtle Beach. The late collapse sent Myrtle Beach home when even a moderate loss would’ve been enough to send them into the knockout stages, but for Flavovespia, its 3 wins out of 3 in the group stage, as they enter the expanded 32 team knockout stage.

Flavovespia had the early momentum, although it was fairly slight in this game. Arguably a draw would be a mutually beneficial outcome, but Flavovespia and Victor Adeyemo had made it clear they weren’t interested in taking it easy, despite some squad rotation. Whilst Myrtle Beach tested Nathan Crewe with a good shot in the 11th minute, Flavovespia had a fair number of shots of their own, Amrik Singh, Charles Shepherd and Jonathan Bagshaw all forcing a save or a defensive block.

Flavovespia found the opener in the 39th minute of the first half, finally breaking through after a few near misses. Russell Robinson saw a gap between Donovan Hayes and Martin Boyle and ran through there. Both went for him, and Amrik Singh was left unmarked on the left side of the goal. Robinson slotted the ball into him, and Singh finished with a good first time shot, over the sliding Bradley Page. A tough break for Myrtle Beach, conceding lose to half time, Flavovespia though happy to have taken the lead at this point, and they went into the break 1-0 up.

1-0 became 2-0 just 4 minutes into the second half. This goal came from Jonathan Bagshaw, he was just outside the box and looked in something of a tricky position. However, a narrow space opened up for a shot, and he went for it. Page didn’t see it in time, as the ball beat him and hit the back of the net. The lead doubled, and Flavovespia looked to be building confidence, knowing a group win looked ever closer.

Jonathan Bagshaw got his 2nd, and Flavovespia’s 3rd in the 57th minute. This one came via some good build up play, Myrtle Beach unable to get a tackle in. Christopher Hill played the ball over the defensive line, for Jonathan Bagshaw to run onto, and from a close, but tight angle, he slotted past Page and into the goal. Flavovespia were ramping up the pressure, and Myrtle Beach were beginning to really falter and tire.

Nevertheless, it was Myrtle Beach who clawed one goal back only a few minutes after Flavovespia’s 3rd. Maybe inattentiveness from Flavovespia at the back, but a long cross in by Austin Potts found Caleb Brennan, who won the aerial battle with Nazir Hussain. A good header put the ball past Nathan Crewe and in, making it 3-1. Myrtle Beach were back in with a small shout, crucially that goal would aid their goal difference in the fight for 3rd.

Myrtle Beach had a goal, but it couldn’t stifle the momentum of Flavovespia, who made it 4-1 in the 66th minute. It was a corner from Christopher Hill, floated in towards the penalty spot. Charles Shepherd timed his leap to perfection, heading the ball into the top corner of the net, nothing the defence nor goalkeeper could do there. A fine set piece goal, and Flavovespia were enjoying their football now, the win almost certainly in the bag.

If Flavovespia were going to take it easy at the end, Peter Langdon, the substitute hadn’t got the message. In the 83rd minute, he collected the ball from a John Fletcher clearance some 30 metres out. A sprint towards goal saw him go past 2 defenders who were powerless to stop him, before a driven shot beat Page for pace. 5-1 now, the score getting perilous for Myrtle Beach in their bid to make the knockout stages.

The final goal came in the 89th minute, and again the fresh legs of Peter Langdon proved key against a tired defence. It was Paul Taylor with the long ball forward, past both sets of midfielders. The defence of Myrtle Beach failed to control it cleanly, and Peter Langdon like a flash was in. One on one, he baited Page into sliding for the ball before going around him and finishing with a tap-in. 6-1, the game well beyond doubt, maybe even unnecessary to score more in the eyes of others, but Langdon didn’t care about that. He probably wanted a hat-trick given his form, but the final minutes saw no more opportunities.

For Myrtle Beach, a tough, arguably cruel way for their debut World Cup journey to end. The 6-1 loss puts them 9th in the list of 3rd placed sides, even a smaller loss would’ve seen them through. Flavovespia meanwhile, put on a dominant display in the second half, finishing with 9 points for the first time in their history. They’d stay in Pasarga for the knockout stages, but the good news in terms of the draw had ended there. The Round of 32 sees Flavovespia take on #2 side Farfadillis, and no Flavovespian can forget the heartbreaking World Cup 94 penalty loss, with 2 very dubious red cards. This Round of 32 match is one that surely all Flavovespians hope can avenge that fateful first ever knockout game for Flavovespia. Farfadillis may have only got 3 points in the group stages, but those 3 came from a 0-7 thrashing of Chromatika, nobody can take Farfadillis lightly at all. Should Flavovespia progress, then for a first Quarter Final appearance, it’s a game vs Kelssek or Sylestone, #4 and #5 respectively. For Flavovespia to get to their first ever World Cup Quarter Finals, they’ll have to do it the hard way indeed.

[Banija]

Banija thrash the World Cup co-hosts as an emphatic 6-2 win puts the Kadongo Kamu in the knockout stages

NEW LODGER CITY, EASTFIELD LODGE- (Association) Football is a funny sport, isn't it? Or maybe, to be more accurate- this team is a funny team. We expand the World Cup to get more of the big boys into the tournament- yet, 1/3rd of the Pot 1 teams get bounced from the tournament entirely during the group stages, while 7(!) Pot 4 teams advance to the knockout stages. Those numbers tell you one thing- this World Cup, World Cup 97, is going to go down in history as a particularly historic tournament, one way or another. Kudos to the Rushmoris for this forward-thinking plan. But on the other end, that means no promises- absolutely 0 guarantees from anyone on anything. The defending World cup champions didn't even enter qualifying. The WC95 champions, Delte, earning just 1 point in 3 matches, last place in group. Chaos. Nothing is promised.

So the Banijans, reading this landscape, entered the final MD of group play, knew that the percentages favored them reaching the knockout stages- but, like we said, nothing was promised. A loss, plus a Saint Eleanor, would put Banija in 3rd place, with a good chance we go out of this tournament entirely- which would be just a disgrace to everything we have done to get to this point. All sorts of shenanigans went on before the match- there were rumors that Wangolo snuck his team out of the hotel and into a different hotel, to prevent EFL fans from potentially bothering players before their match- rumors that he technically didn't deny, and only winked at the cameraman. Regardless of where the players came from, they all got to the Memorial Stadium at the same time.

And wow- the atmosphere was brilliant. It always is when you are hosting a World Cup, to be fair. But for a nation like Eastfield Lodge. 49 times have entered into a World Cup cycle, and this is their first time they've ever won a match at the World Cup Finals. It is, quite literally, the greatest point in that storied, long history to be a fan of the Eastfield Lodge national team. And the Banijans simply happen to be the enemy on this day- ergo, it was always going to be insane. "This was, without a doubt, one of the best environments I've ever played in, especially early in the match." Said veteran Banijan CM Aquila Hongo. "Full credit to the EFL faithful- they came early, they were singing, they made their presence heard. Full applause."

There's the key- early in the match. Both teams with 4 points, tied atop the group table- with EFL having the advantage due to goal difference. For the hosts, the instructions were simple- a draw would put them through, and quite possibly put them on top of the group. We were probably through with a draw, and only on top of the group with a win. Wangolo is not one who wants to leave things to chance though- he's always been a go-getter. Go out, get that goal, get that result, and drive the stake into the heart of your opponents. And no exaggeration here- this match was Banija's best performance at a major tournament in nearly 3 cycles. Frustration and angst of nearly 3 full cycles of struggles, and disappointing results. Excised in one day- against the WC co-hosts.

It was within 10 minutes when the Banijans opened the goalscoring. The La Querida man- prior the most embarassing club in the multiverse, but a key piece of their resurrection, this Banijan, getting on the goalscoring sheet. It wasn't a brilliant team goal or anything- he simply had a HIT. Forget XG and all of that- from about 25 yards, he took a speculative shot, and it was perfect- high, pacey, and curling, and the GK didn't have a chance in hell. A hell of a shot to make it 1-0 to the Kadongo Kamu, and suddenly, put us on top of the group in the live table. But that was a goal that would change the view and complexion of the match- change it enough in favor of the Banijans.

The early goal allowed us to relax, and really play our game- and raise stress levels on the side of the hosts. Remember, we have the S-FPL Golden Boot winner on our side- Jônn Wérséô. The Banijans continued to attack, get forward, play on the front foot- and create chances for ourselves. Layvin Son-Saka forced a diving save from the keeper in the 18th minute, while Odongo Kagenda hit the crossbar in the 21st minute. But Jônn Wérséô would take it upon himself to double the lead. Nothing too crazy- just a simple short through ball which got him into the box, and he finished powerfully into the upper corner from about 8 yards out. 2-0 to Banija, and well on our way. We continued to create opportunities, and after Son-Saka got brought down in the box right before halftime, Jônn Wérséô converted from the spot to make it 3-0 at the break.

A thunderous, emphatic lead at the break. Eastfield Lodge, knowing that goal differential was getting away from them, tried to really get things going in the second half. An early goal by Fidelina Noble made it 3-1, but Jônn Wérséô cancelled it out with his third goal of the game, a header, that basically shut down any Eastfield Lodge hopes of a come back. The goal was his third too- his first WC Finals hat trick. Yob Banda and Sabiti Yikala, off the bench, would both also get on the scoresheet for the Banijans in this one, while Gundus-McGraw would get on the scoresheet for Eastfield Lodge. The final score was an emphatic one- Banija 6, Eastfield Lodge 2. A great win, a confidence and momentum building win, that put us on top of the group.

"This was, obviously, a fantastic result." George Wangolo told reporters. "It's hard to win against the WC co-hosts- and we did so in emphatic fashion. We created plenty of opportunties, the finishing was top notch, and we ensured that they could not get back into the game. We've got a wave of confidence and momentum going into the knockout stages, and there's plenty left to do at this tournament." Despite the result, there is, indeed, no rest for the weary at a World Cup. It's going to be a big game- a match against tradtional rivals Baker Park, in the Round of 32. Who is Pam Scott rooting for? Her home country, naturally, but if she attends, she will naturally get a loud shout from Banijan fans- might be the most popular sportsperson in Banija, full sotp.

It's a mouthwatering matchup- a matchup that is worthy of a quarterfinal. "Too early in the tournament for this type of matchup- but we fully embrace what's about to happen here." Said Yob Banda, the Banijan #10. "We obviously played them in a friendly pre-qualifying, but we're a completely different team from then- despite the players being the same, I wouldn't put too much stock into that result, or that performance. We've come so far since then, that result is almost irrelevant. We've got great respect for how they ball in the Commonwealth, and that NT has all sorts of big-game players, salivating at the prospect of this matchup."

The two will meet at what will surely be a packed house at North Ridge Stadium. Will it be the Banijans getting back to the Round of 16? Or will it be the Commonwealth of Baker Park, showcasing their own growth and showing they belong among the best 16 nations in the world? Find out tonight, at 8 PM Local, on Matong Sports.

WC Finals Goal Count Tracker
Goals against Saint Eleanor
Jônn Wérséô(29')

Goals against Mytanija
Lavyin Son-Saka(11', 19')
Odongo Kagenda(55')
Yob Yeyeh Aan(84')

Goals against Eastfield Lodge
Daraja Kanka(9')
Jônn Wérséô(26', 45+1'(P), 58')
Yob Banda(74')
Sabiti Yikala(88')

Total Goal Count Tracker
Jônn Wérséô - 4
Layvin Son-Saka - 2
Odongo Kagenda - 1
Yob Banda - 1
Yob Yeyeh Aan - 1
Daraka Kanka - 1
Sabiti Yikala - 1

[Tumbra]

Tumbra 3-0 Crpostran

TMB (4-2-3-1): 1 - V Jones; 18 - H Kennedy, 4 - S Kerr (24 - B Proudfoot, 78'), 19 - Y Lawson, 3 - T Mercurio (17 - J McCreary, 78'); 16 - S Harrington (23 - H Hindmarsh, 81'), 8 - V Leighton (25 - R McLaren, 70'), 10 - S Monaghan; 14 - E Robertson, 21 - H Colvin; 22 - E Maddison (26 - J Hardaker, 70')

TMB scorers: Erin Robertson (8'), Henrietta Colvin (19'), Edward Maddison (35')

Player of the Match: Henrietta Colvin [TMB]

A hotel
Somewhere in Eastfield Lodge

"You'll be fiiiine. Playing defensive midfielder's not that difficult, Chrissakes."

"Says you, who's been playing defensive midfield for like, thirteen years."

"Seventeen, actually. I specialised at fourteen."

"Yeah, but still..."

"Quit whining, you're not a kid anymore, you dolt."

Stephen Kerr rolled around lazily in bed as he looked at the Black Eagles' tactical plan for the game against Crpostran. It was due to be a rotated side, but since his partner, defensive midfielder Trudy Harrison, was injured, he had to play as captain. She was currently lying next to him, yawning as she leaned her head on his chest. He was due to play in centre defence, but had to push upwards to also play as a quasi-halfback; his defensive partner for the game, Yvonne Lawson, would hang back and play as a libero.

"I was looking forward to sitting on the bench, you know."

"Maybe that'll still happen."

"You know what I mean." Kerr sat up in the bed, scrolling through the preliminary tactical briefing. "You're on the bench," he said with a hint of surprise, his hands instantly going to Trudy's head wound. It had healed in between the StrayaRoos game and this morning, but there was practically zero chance of her stepping on the pitch.

"Yeah, I told him I wanted to be in the squad," Trudy sighed as she felt his hands caress her head wound. "You're not normally like this."

"Injuries are part and parcel of the game, but..."

"What, seeing the blood made you chicken a little?"

"I guess."

Trudy sat up herself. "I appreciate that, actually. But it really isn't that serious. You saw Lucy stitch the wound up, after all."

Stephen groaned. "You know that's not why I worried."

"Yeah, yeah. Blood from the head and all." Trudy got out of bed, stretching as she did. "Quit staring as if it's your first time seeing me like this," she giggled.

"Can't help it," Stephen chuckled. He eventually got out of bed as well, but then rolled his eyes as he saw Trudy put on her headguard. "Well, okay, I might stop staring if you keep wearing that. You look ridiculous. Do you really have to wear that all the time?"

"Isla said it'd help me get used to it. And since I have to wear the headguard for the rest of the tournament...I dunno. She has a point, I feel. C'moooon...I'm still Trudy..."

Stephen broke into a small smile. "I guess you are."

---

The Valiant
Later that day

"...Harrison's unusual choice of headgear has attracted some attention, with manager Michael Campbell acknowledging that it was 'unorthodox' but he was 'taking no chances'. The headgear, which is apparently from rugby, is legal to wear in football, and Harrison will likely wear it until the end of the tournament. What do you think, then, Will?"

Crpostran had folded easier than expected. Stephen half suspected it was because they were demoralised from already having been eliminated — their two head-to-head losses against the other two nations in Group L meant they couldn't fight for third even if they beat the Black Eagles — but he hadn't expected Erin Robertson, that ever-mercurial left-winger, to crack them open within ten minutes. Trudy was on the bench, wearing her headguard, but she wasn't touching the pitch tonight.

The rotated side had slipped in with little issues, and Tumbra were sitting pretty on a two-goal lead after twenty minutes; it was at about this time that the Black Eagles would normally pack up shop, sit back, and rely on their defensive strengths to see out the rest of the game. But they smelled blood, particularly striker Edward Maddison; he was basically dragging the entire team forward with him as he searched for his own shot at goal; known for being outcome-focused at the best of times and ridiculously selfish at the worst of them, the dogged look of determination on his face reflected the sense of naked ambition that most Tumbran footballers were told to hide, or, at the very least, play down. Most of them listened. Madders, as he was known, did not do that.

He did strike in the end — with ten to go in the first half — and acquiesced to playing defensively, having netted his goal. From then on, Tumbra played their own game; their usual game, the boring game, the defensive game that frustrated so many and had brought them eight home wins from eight home games in the qualifying cycle. Stephen himself came off with twelve minutes to go; and finally took his seat next to Trudy on the substitutes' bench after.

"I told you it wasn't that hard."

"God, I'm tired." Stephen smiled, tiredly. They tried not to show affection in public — it usually ended up being fodder for the tabloids, and they didn't want to be told that their relationship was distracting from the game — but they were sat at the back of the subs' bench, and were pretty concealed. Quietly, his fingers found hers; they quickly intertwined their hands, and Trudy squeezed his hand thrice — once for each word of I love you.

They were back in the knockouts, even if another game stood between them and the round of 16; but it didn't matter.

[Milchama]

"FRAUDS!"

"We're all frauds!"

"And yet..."

"We made it to Sextodecimos"

"Are we really going to do that?'

"Fine we made it to double octos"

"Much better and more debatey"

"So we still made it out of the group stage!"

"Go us!"

"So who we got?"

"Mertagne"

"Are they good?"

"Better than us"

"That's irrelevant, literally every team is better than us we're frauds remember"

"Yeah this is the first World Cup since we moved from Jolt that we could have qualified for and then this is the first World Cup in history where we would have advanced from the Group Stages with a third place finish"

"Oh my god we are serial frauds"

"It's so fraudulent"

"Horribly fake"

"Just an AI copy of a real thing fakery"

"Awful stuff"

"We have no chance of ever doing better"

"Can we spend the winter writing songs about getting better?"

"1. It's the fall. 2. We're not the Wonder Years or Proper. for that matter"

"The period in Proper. really messes with the sentence and makes it look like you're doing a grammatical error when you're not"

"Definitely."

"I don't know if we should be commenting on how things look written if we're technically speaking in an oral medium"

"I was imagining?"

"Sure, we'll go with that"

"Anyway, can we beat Mertagne?"

"Well we're undefeated in must win games so far"

"How many games is that?"

"The playoff game, MD 2 and MD 3 in the group stage"

"Was MD 2 really a must win?"

"I mean we had to win one and we did"

"We also didn't really win MD 3"

"No but a last minute draw that led to mass booing from the host nation as they got knocked out counts. Why? is just really good at that"

"So that also means we'll have a hostile crowd"

"Oh most definitely"

"And we're frauds"

"Yep"

"So we're screwed"

"Almost certainly, I would argue that if we win this game Mertagne should fire their head coach because they suck and should not be managing at international level"

"That's fair"

"So then there is only one thing to do"

"Yes"

"Let Us Pray"

"Say what I say and do what I do"

"''Ringa pakia!''
''Uma tiraha!''
''Turi whatia!''
''Hope whai ake!''
''Waewae takahia kia kino!''
''Ka mate, ka mate''
''Ka ora, ka ora''
''Ka mate, ka mate''
''Ka ora, ka ora''
''Tēnei te tangata pūhuruhuru''
''Nāna nei i tiki mai whakawhiti te rā''
''Ā upane, ka upane''
''Whiti te rā, hī!''

"Now repeat after me!"

"Forini! Forini!"
"Finidi! Finidi!"
"George! George!"
"Oh Brother! Oh brother!"

*They strip and run around for 16 minutes*

"We pray the Margaret of SnubNose 38 and Random Number God that you may deliver us victory over all infidels that we face in international play"

"Sacrifice the Rubber Chicken!"

*Swoosh of an axe and the chicken is dead*

"Margaret we pray that you take this sacrifice of a rubber chicken in good faith and that by your deliverance Milchama does well in all international competitions"

"Come on You Warriors!"

"Let's Go Milchama!"

[Ko-oren]

Jersey Numbers

Much ado about nothing - jersey numbers. Some make a big deal out of them - such as a defensive midfielder having to play as the 5, or as the 6, and the centrebacks needing 2 and 3, or 2 and 5, or 3 and 4... the possibilities are endless.

Where do jersey number conventions come from? In many cases, they're from the first widely adopted formation in that nation. If your nation's football heritage landed on the 4-3-3, chances are that you're used to seeing numbers 2-5 used for defenders, 6-8 for midfielders, and 9-11 for strikers - with some leeway for an attacking midfielder wearing 10. If your country started out with the 4-4-2, 3-2-5, 5-5 - it's likely you associate different numbers with different positions.

In Ko-oren, two things are different. One: we're duodecimal - we count in twelves - and two: our football heritage settled on different systems around the same time.

To address the first: we count in twelves, which means that we have eleven single-digit numbers, which means that in teams of 11 (football, gridiron, cricket), we can give all starting players a single digit number: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and, for international use, X and = for 10 and 11 (X from Roman, and = as a 90-degree tilted tiny '11').

To address the second: there are three different traditions that were all equally entrenched at the same time. There was the South Coast Convention, which adopted 'global' rules football first, including clubs such as Branvon, Miradela, Castelo, Bruncester, Cirelbourne, and Sydberg - the old guard - and they adopted the (at the time) modern 3-2-5, numbering their defenders 2-4, midfielders 5 and 6, and strikers 7 through 11 (or '='). There was the Northeastern Convention, which also adopted 'global' rules football, but those supplanted an already existing football code, and they ran with the formation that already existed in that old form of Ko-orenite Football - the 4-2-4 - with defenders 2-5, midfielders 6 and 7, and strikers 8-11, but with a lot of variation and trickery, and eventually one of the wide strikers dropping back to form a 5-2-3. And while Straudum, the shining example of this convention, might have adopted the simple 1-11 from back to forward, some local clubs still number their defenders 2-5 and 8 (or 11), midfielders 6-7, and strikers 8-10 or 9-11.

Third was the Bay Convention with main proponents Aminey and Maethoru (the two most successful clubs in Ko-oren, no matter what the South Coast may claim) with a variation on the 4-2-4, which they insisted should be played with a diamond in defence and a diamond in attack. This meant two wide defenders and two wingers, only one centreback, effectively creating a 3-4-3. In this system, a lot came down to the specifics of the individual players, or the gameplan as to which opponent should be shutdown by the defensive midfielder/forward defender. Over time, the system turned into a true 3-4-3 as used by Aminey, or a 4-3-3 as used by Maethoru (moving back the 'forward defender' for a 4-man back line, and leaving the rest intact). In some cases, it merged into a 5-3-2: the wingers were moved back, the wide defenders moved inside (that makes five), the two strikers playing in front of each other (like Ko-oren's World Cup 55-59 Qualifier squad with Shiribeshi and Tokachi playing as a true striker and a second striker), and three remaining players in the middle of the field.

As you can imagine, squad numbers were a little tedious in the third system, which came to be the prevailing system all over. Some coaches preferred to give their players nonsensical numbers as to confuse the opponent pre-kickoff. Others were methodical in their numbering, usually 2-5 for the defenders, 6-7 for the midfield, and 8-11 for the forwards. But if the double diamond 4-2-4 merged into a 5-3-2, defenders wore 2, 3, 4, 8, and 11. If it changed into a 3-4-3, like Aminey, defenders have 2-4, midfielders have 5, 6, 7, and 9, and forwards have 8, 10, and 11.

And in the modern game? Well, the KFA tried to cull 'weird' numbers (over, say, 30) and nonsensical squad numbering, and urged its clubs to give its defenders the lowest available numbers, the forwards the highest available numbers, and the midfielders get whatever's left. And so, boringly, the Top League marched from the UICA into the IFCF and on.

[Zenic]

The full force of the Zenician supporters were out in display as the Zenic National Futbol Team were practicing for their Round of 32 matchup.

The cheers seemed to never fully die down unless there was a team huddle but they would rise back up once practice resumed. "Festive crowd today," Zys pointed out as he walked along the training pitch. He and Tipi were taking quick peeks at each of the positional groups as they trained for the upcoming match. The forwards were working on their breakaway play, the midfielders focused on passing accurately while under pressure, the defenders on tackling while the goalkeepers practiced on stopping long distance attempts. "Considering the Dark Tide will be in attendance, we could use all the help we can get to balance them out, even if it's just a little," replied Tipi as they made it to the end of the pitch and turned back. "Why don't we have a name for our supporters?" Tipi looked at Zys with consternation. "You were never great with names; every new "formation" had some incomprehensible name to it so if you feel that we need a name for our supporters, please get some help before making up something yourself." Zys tossed up his hands in feigned defeat.

"Speaking of all the help we can get, Dr. Mihail and her staff working on Giuseppe, Burley, and Hank. They should be good for the Round of 32 but caution should be exercised during training to make sure it happens." Zys listened as he continued to walk and look. "Nori and Gopal have stepped up when needed during the qualifiers so they should have little issue filling in. Lew hasn't played as much so we'll need to keep an eye on him during training to see how ready he is."

"What about Nelson and Thuan?," asked Zys. "Everything looks fine medically and nothing negative on the reports from the staff," replied Tipi, flipping through the papers in hand. "We'll need them to step up regardless as they play in the Tikariot Premier League so they know some of these players pretty well. Anything they can provide us with can be used to slow down this absurdly aggressive team will be vital." Tipi wrote down the aforementioned players on her list of things to focus on.

Just then, the crowd in attendance roared in celebration. Almost everyone on the pitch, including Zys and Tipi stopped to look at what the crowd was reacting to: Giuseppe, Burley, and Hank jogging out of the adjacent building and onto the pitch for training. They decided to warm up and stretch in their own little group before spreading out to their respective position training. "That solves one potential issue." Tipi nodded in agreement. "Now, we just have to make sure and beat Tikariot so we advance past the first round of the knockout stages." Zys had seen the toll that several first round eliminations could do to even the best of managers.

"I really want to try and not make that a habit."

[The Kytler Peninsulae]

The Kytlerian national identity has essentially been forged around two things; sport, and hiding away from sport in a desperate bid to find a second thing. With the Andersonian Revolution now fully unravelled as the Giisost Reopening created the new (old) normal, and only a handful of domestic terrorists still trying to undo it, it's safe to say that the first thing has won out; this is every bit as sport-obsessed a nation as any in Rushmore, and that is saying something.

For a while, the mood was giddy at simply having international sport again - especially when the returning teams went right back to the Kytlerian tradition of overachieving on debut (or in the case of the actual debutant chess team, literally won the first two Elephant Chess Cups they competed for). But as something resembling actual expectations emerged, so too did some of the old negativity, or possibly just standard-issue what-are-you-doing whines at players and coaches who fall short of those expectations. Andrew Patterson was on the end of those for much of this qualifying campaign, one that they entered as arguably slight favourites to successfully navigate but which they would not have escaped without a memorable 2-0 away win in Kamijiro on the final day of qualifying. Even then, they were very obviously in one of the 16 "bonus" slots at this expanded tournament, and when they were drawn with Chromatika and Farfadillis, the reasonable assumption was that they were just making up the numbers. This assumption was being anything but disproven for 92 turgid minutes against presumptive group whipping boys Aphrilia, who then scored in the 93rd minute, or so they thought; the goal was chalked off for a foul in the buildup, the Kytlerians scored a winner of their own immediately afterwards, and suddenly everything changed.

When a Chromatika side who'd just lost 7-0 to Farfadillis lined up against the Kytlerians days later, you could at least credit the upset victory to some residual trauma on the Anomalies (not to mention their suspended players from the red cards that catalysed that collapse). But when the Farf team themselves were the opposition - arguably the best attacking team in the multiverse, a nation whose mere reputation has caused NSL clubs to take blind potshots on their academy strays in the assumption bad Farf players beat good Kytlerian ones - the jig was sure to be up. Maybe the Farf team themselves thought as much, despite having been stung by Aphrilia in the previous match in an upset so big you could see it from the other side of the portal to Eastfield Lodge; certainly that would be the explanation for them being seen to consume an... experimental Lithico™ product before the game. Some have speculated the product in question is simply a street drug in liquid form. Either way, under its influence, La Vherderoja played like dopes, seemingly trying too hard to make something happen and ultimately not trusting in their undoubted technical gifts, they frequently conceded possession and then gave away cheap fouls with unnerving regularity when they did. One of those, ten minutes before the break, was located level with the left post and 10m back from the edge of the box; the referee didn't have to get the magic spray out, the wall's legal position was literally already marked on the pitch.

Vincent territory, in other words. And with Básilió Fórténté locked to the far post and trusting in the wall to guard the rest of the goal, the Kytlerian standard-bearer - their one superstar player - did a superstar thing. Having shaped his runup to curl right-footed around the wall one way, his actual strike was a trivela that sent it the other way, past the left side of a wall that had quite simply not been placed for this shape of shot. You'd have thought that Farves, of all people, would have been prepared to accept a trivela free kick as something inside the realms of possibility. You would, on this evidence, have thought wrong. The ball duly flew past a virtually static Fórténté, who was probably never getting near it thanks to that initial positioning and didn't exactly make a grand effort to disprove this, and it was 1-0 to the Kytlerians for the third straight group match.

But this is Farfadillis we're talking about. They always score. Right?

Wrong.

Continued loss of focus and a sound Kytlerian defensive structure limited their scoring opportunities more than usual; Kuno Zeelen stopped the few shots that did get through, including two excellent saves late on to deny teenage substitute Edmün Léloj. As the final whistle blew, the Kytlerian supporters inside North Ridge Stadium roared their approval, then unveiled a new chant, one reportedly picked up from an issue with the portal to Eastfield Lodge taking some of the fans briefly on a detour to another multiverse;

We're Kytler forever
Whatever the weather
We won't go away
And our hearts will leave here never
This time is forever
We're here to stay

Not only had this team broken new ground, and produced at least one of the biggest shocks of a World Cup that's been absolutely laden with them, they'd apparently picked up a new anthem on the way almost by accident.

Baggieland are next. The Kytlerians are somehow entering their first ever World Cup knockout match as honest-to-goodness favourites amongst neutral observers. What happened to the old Kytlerian narrative that they can win at any sport except soccer? Did that also get lost in the portal?

[Siovanija and Teusland]

RBC Sports

Nation Prepares for World Cup Knockout

All across Siovanija & Teusland, fans are getting prepared for one of the biggest sporting events the country has seen since the return from isolation - the Round of 32 match at World Cup 97 with StrayaRoos.

The incredible underdog story will continue for one more match, as the Goldhorns - who started this World Cup campaign very much as outsiders - head to the knockout stage for the first time since World Cup 87, 10 years ago. Of course, many things have changed since then - and at the time, Siovanija & Teusland were ranked in the upper tier of the world rankings. To have made it here, as the 71st ranked team in the world, is an incredible achievement. No-one had expected the Goldhorns to qualify, no-one had expected the Goldhorns to win their group - now, the team enters the knockout round with complete freedom and no pressure whatsoever.

The final match of the group stage saw the Goldhorns taking on Juvencus. It was a match between two teams with very different situations facing them - for La Squadra, a result was absolutely necessary to have a chance of getting out of Group I and into the playoff rounds. For the Goldhorns, meanwhile, with the group victory already sewed up, it was a chance to rotate the team, get some World Cup minutes in many of the squad’s depth pieces’ legs, and rest those who would be vital for the Round of 32.

The midfield saw major change, with Egon von Stein of 1912 Stelburg and Mats Winter of TSV Marzig getting the start alongside Dieter Rosberg, with the duo of Jesper Porsche and Damir Prekmurje instead getting a rest. Paul Steinhausl, who has played a remarkable number of minutes between Qualifying and the Finals campaign, also was left on the bench in favour of club teammate Arnold Apel. Some of the best performing players from the victories over Delte and Baker Park, however, did get to play - including Einar Hackl.

When asked if he would’ve preferred to rest his star forward, Dominik Weismann replied: “I don’t think Einar would’ve talked to me for a few days if I gave him the time off, haha. He’s eager to play, and he’s got plenty of energy and I’m happy for him to keep up his form.” The young striker laughed when told of his manager’s comments, adding “Yeah, he’s got that right! But seriously, I’m the kind of player who does the best when I play consistently, and I told Dominik that I want to keep in that rhythm with the knockouts coming up.” The other shift for the Goldhorns was in goal, where Per Holz was given the day off with Koloman Bodeker replacing him. “It’s a real honour to be under the bar here at the World Cup, and I’ll make the most of my chance,” said the Raynor City United man.

As for the match itself, it was excellent viewing for the neutral observer. Two very attacking-minded teams, and each quite involved in the game. The Goldhorns did not show up to take it easy here, instead eager to match the intensity that Juvencus would show. It was something of a preview of a knockout match, an experience that could only be beneficial for the young Goldhorns. Juvencus were putting the Goldhorns under heavy pressure early, and it was only a great save from Koloman Bodeker that kept it at 0-0 after the initial flurry. The Goldhorns, who had sought to control the tempo early in games against Delte and Baker Park, were instead instantly relegated to the counter.

Still, the team in gold would find a way to strike first. The move started with Mats Winter, who made a good tackle in the middle of the park on Giuseppe Conte to recover the ball. Winter held firm despite some solid pressing from Sara Ponce in an attempt to get the ball back, and made a good pass to Egon von Stein. The 1912 Stelburg midfielder made a run of his own into the Juvencus half, and things were looking good for the Goldhorns. He slid a pass to Reto Zschokke, who cut in towards the goal and fired a shot that was initially stopped by Juan Carlos Ungaro. Ungaro, however, couldn’t fully control the rebound and it fell fortuitously to Einar Hackl, who banged in the rebound for his 5th of the tournament so far.

Things didn’t go quite to plan for Siovanija & Teusland after that, however. WIth their lives in this tournament on the line, the intensity from Juvencus continued to increase, and just before halftime they would find a way to equalize. A barrage of pressure was applied in the Goldhorns’ penalty area, and for a while they seemed capable of dealing with it. Silvio Rodl in particular was managing the backline quite well, and a shot off the post was the closest that Juvencus had come. Soon enough, though, they would break through - the talent of Ceferino Audiol all but guaranteed it. Audiol would fire a powerful shot from just outside the box that left Bodeker with no chance, and suddenly it was 1-1.

After the half-time, again it was Juvencus with the upper hand. La Squadra could in theory advance with a draw, but a win would certainly be better for them - and they definitely wanted to make that happen. Audiol again had several good chances, and it seemed to be a matter of when and not if that they would score again. A great move by Carlo Bevilacqua beat Rolf Reichenbach, and Bevilacqua then had the chance to come in towards the net. With the option of passing to a surging Audiol, Bevilacqua slide the pass across - and the Serrapince forward was perfectly-placed to knock it into the net.

For the first time in these World Cup Finals, then, the Goldhorns were trailing a match - down 2-1 to Juvencus with 34 minutes left. With the result not pivotal to the Goldhorns, substitutions brought on a few players who had not yet made any minutes at the World Cup - Sandro Lorenz, Erwin Sanner and Michael Burger. Soon enough, a good movement from Burger would create an opportunity for the Goldhorns. Veljko Vadimic now had the ball, and with Burger’s run catching the Juvencus defenders off guard, he was able to drop back to Egon von Stein in plenty of space. Von Stein, with an eye for goal, drilled a shot that was powerful enough to beat Ungaro to the top right corner and equalize, 2-2.

That’s how things would finish up, a result that would end up being a positive one for both teams. The Goldhorns, of course, were assured of the group win, but with the draw kept an unbeaten record through the group stage of World Cup 97. For Juvencus, in the third place position of Group I, 3 points was enough to advance to the Round of 32, where they will take on Yuezhou, crossing over to the Pasargan side of the bracket. The Goldhorns, meanwhile, have been drawn with StrayaRoos.

StrayaRoos managed to qualify for the World Cup after a difficult fight in Group 13 of Qualifying, where they finished with a 9-4-3 record, good enough for a 3rd place finish in the group with 31 points. The group featured Mertagne and Aphrllia as other World Cup Qualifiers. The team from StrayaRoos were ranked as one of the top 3rd place teams in qualifying, and thus avoided needing to play the play-off. In the World Cup itself, StrayaRoos were drawn into Group L, alongside Crpostran, Tumbra and Tanirinthia. The first match of the tournament looked very promising, with a 3-0 win over Crpostran - but it was followed up by 3-1 and 4-0 losses to Tumbra and Tanirinthia respectively. Despite the losses, StrayaRoos made it through as one of the best third place teams, and will face the Goldhorns.

While the Goldhorns have had a stronger performance so far at the World Cup, it would be quite unfair to count out the team from StrayaRoos, who, despite being a lower seed, are higher ranked than the Goldhorns, at #56 in the world. Not only are the team from StrayaRoos the highest ranked team in this Round of 32 match - they are also the higher ranked team in this ‘set’ of matches - with the winner of this game playing either hosts and #69 Eastfield Lodge or #60 Aphrilia in the Round of 16. It’s a set of matches that will offer one of these four teams a chance to really add to the chaos we have seen at the World Cup so far, with several #1 seeds - including Goldhorns’ groupmates Delte - failing to get out of their group.

While the Goldhorns will have to leave what’s become familiar ground at the King Iqbal II Stadium in New Lodger City in favour of the Olympic Park in Mount Salt City, there’s a good feeling in the squad. “Absolutely. It’s going to be the biggest match of our careers for many of us, and so all of the tests we’ve faced so far are going to help immensely in preparing. As so often at a tournament like this, it’s two strong teams going against each other, and it’ll come down to whoever is better prepared on the day,” said captain Jesper Porsche. “I’m really looking forward to it, of course, I’m feeling full of confidence and I know that I have the chance to make the difference for us,” said Einar Hackl - who is now the Goldhorn with the most World Cup goals of all time, beating Michael Ribbeck’s tally of 4 after his 5th goal of this tournament against Juvencus.

Back home, too, preparations are being made for the match. “I haven’t been this excited for a match in quite a while,” said one man on the street in Stelburg today. “They’ve played really excellent, far beyond what I or anyone expected, and we all want to see what they can do next.” Another passerby, wearing an Einar Hackl national team shirt, said “Of course I think we can win! I was too young to watch in the days of Thorsten Kramer, but my dad says this is the best Goldhorns team he’s ever seen.” In Borograd, too, there’s excitement, with one woman telling us that “I’ve always preferred hockey, really, but it’s impossible not to get mixed up in it! This is why international sports is so incredible, that this team could go so far already.”

We spoke with Dietrich Bauer, the owner of a popular Stelburg sports bar to get his thoughts as well. Due to the time difference from southwestern Arrosia to Rushmore, the match will kick off quite late at night back home - Bauer’s bar has extended its opening hours. “We’ve been pretty much full up for every game so far, and I was literally getting calls in the middle of the Baker Park game from people asking to reserve a table for the Round of 32. It’s been great for business, and great to see the spirit in the city, too.” Bauer added that “I’m quite glad it’s summer, so we can have an outdoor setup too, haha.”

In Marzig, the match will be played live at the Volksbankstadion, with tickets already sold out. In Borograd, Felsenkirchen, St. Jakob and Stelburg, the game will be on the big screen in many of the cities’ public squares and festivities, with everyone being encouraged to get out and support the Goldhorns - the national team posted on social media asking employers to ‘let your employees be an hour or two late in the morning,’ due to the late kick off time. In Vrnovo, a popular summer getaway, screens will be set up at the beach to allow tourists to watch. Even AirRepublika are getting in on the hype, with the airline announcing the game will be available on the in-flight entertainment of all flights that overlap with the time of the match.

Win or lose, the country has truly embraced ‘Goldhorns-fever’ in a way that has not been seen in quite a long time. In a difficult moment for the country, following a summer of tension and war, this underdog Goldhorns team has served as a true unifying force for the entire nation. No matter how this story eventually ends, it’s one that will be told for quite a long time, of the team who did what no-one thought possible over and over again, at a time when the country needed that joy that can only come from international sport.

Only a few words left to say, then: Come on Siovanija & Teusland!

Siovanija & Teusland 2-2 Juvencus
King Iqbal II Stadium, New Lodger City

XI: Bodeker; Metzger, Apel, Rodl (Sanner 65’), Reichenbach; von Stein, Winter (Lorenz 65’), Rosberg; Vadimic, Zschokke, Hackl (Burger 65’)
Goals: Einar Hackl 19’, Egon von Stein 72’
Man of the Match: Egon von Stein

Expected XI vs StrayaRoos: Holz; Schwefel, Steinhausl, Apel, Reichenbach; Porsche, Prekmurje, Le Meji; Vadimic, A. Kosch-Kovarik, Hackl

[Tero al Disco]

TERO AL DISCO OVERPOWERED BY ALEIRAVE TO END THE GROUP STAGES

by EMMANUEL DALMEIDA. SEPTEMBER 13th, 2024.

---

With the team having virtually qualified to the expanded knockout stages of the World Cup prior to the third round of the groups, the Teros stumble to an all-or-nothing Aleirave team and end up in second place, where they'll be facing Vdara in the round of 32.

By the end of round 2, Terenses and Aleiravans had secured a ticket into at least a third place spot. With the World Cup expanding to 48 teams, and more importantly in this context, the knockout stages expanding from 16 to 32 teams, now most of the third-placed teams could qualify to the knockouts. The historic 6-2 defeat of Huayramarca meant a great push towards ending up in knockout places, and it would take a defeat just as hard to get them back down to third place at worst, where their 4 points would mostly make them pretty well of inside the whole third-placed rankings.

Tero al Disco's oponents, Aleirave (like many other teams and countries), has a special place inside multiversal football. With the Anaian island nation having a population of just over 50.000 inhabitants, it's needless to say that representing a country of such size in one of the most important competitions in the world is a gigantic honour; especially if you do well, which makes it even bigger. Haulafo Paka'ula's team had come to matchday 3 also with a win and a draw: 3-3 against Huayramarca (who by the end of this round will have consumated a terrible experience this time, losing 2-3 to Baggieland), and then 2-1 to the Baggies, making this fixture the final for the title of Group K. Like the Huayramarcans, Aleirave also possess an extremely(*) attacking style of play, with the aggregate of naturally having a winning attitude (because it's a country with 50.000 inhabitants against The Big Boys), and related to this is their going all or nothing. Eventually this would turn out to be the destabilising factor.

With this being the last of the three consecutive group matches that Tero al Disco would play in the Parliament Stadium in Lodgertia, and also Aleirave's only one in the Eastfielder capital, it'd be normal to think that the Teros could use this as an advantage over their rivals, although apparently there isn't that much between the Parliament Stadium and the Olympic Park (where Aleirave played their two previous matches) that could be capitalised off tactically. The teams would set foot on the pitch about ten minutes from kickoff, whatever Eastfielder pitch they were used to...

As Neraveke Ho'uminalu kicked off for the Seagulls, and then the Teros won a throw-in about 30 seconds in, the Terense players could watch the Aleiravans' intense style of defending. Obviously, as an attacking side, pressing on as if the world depended on it, and when they'd get the ball and try to cook up a chance they'd mostly all swarm towards the area, trying to overwhelm the defense (or at least that's what it seemed like in the Tero al Disco match); when they had to defend a ball, they'd do the opposite but going back down this time. It was another contrast to Alfredo Félix's style, where although there seems to be plenty of flair among the forward line, the defense looks more rigid, with a sweeper that only goes past the halfway line in occassion and defenders that run with the ball, mostly to end up passing it to a forward player.

Aleirave started to have a handful of opportunities since the start of the match thanks to their high-octane football which ended up overwhelming their Terense opponents. In the fifth minute they give the Teros their first scare as Gildo Durand lost his mark, letting Fyodor Veshchik on the loose, with a shot that latter hit the post and went out for a goal kick. It has to be said that the Aleiravan pressing on the Terense half of the pitch was excelent, with Tero al Disco's chances later devolving to someone getting near the opposing goalkeeper after receiving a ball hoofed out, mostly from their own penalty area. Gildo, however, would later become one of the best players for the first 45 minutes, as he'd take on the role of the playmaker (something that he's also demonstrated playing for Quebecois side Perce Town) and scooping up many clever passes to the left flank of the pitch. Valeri Tyonko, the Aleirave starting right-midfielder, also had to...relax, after making a challenging tackle on Miguel Napoliello; the gist is that it was actually reviewed by VAR, although he didn't end up sent off.

Now relying more on counters, Tero al Disco ended the first half optimistic that if they scored from a counter-attack, the same situation that happened with Huayramarca would repeat. In other words, that Aleirave would implode. But the Seagulls were still getting away with many threats at the goal.

They would start out the second half with that atmosphere full of hope. Aleirave would come out from the changing rooms a bit fresher, and they'd show that soon after the referee re-started the action...: The Aleiravan forwards outnumbered the defense, broke through their lines, and Ho'uminalu found herself one on one with Braian Rico. The 28-year-old smashed it home, sending the small Aleiravan contingent of fans wild (and now, thinking of this, that's something I didn't talk about as an advantage: we basically played at home, in front of almost exclusively our fans in a nearly-filled Parliament Stadium).

Now, the Terenses were the ones shell-shocked, the opposite of what they had hoped for. The Seagulls considered that this would be the perfect time they'd fire away all they had. Inmediately they looked to encroach towards the goal and score a second, capitalising on how that unexpected goal was a hard hit to the Terense players. In short, they'd get what they were looking for, with Aleksandr Vraletsky heading it in right after a corner, with Tero al Disco now being in a two-goal deficit. No one in the team, in the country, wanted to suffer what they inflicted in the last match, so Félix turned towards the tried-and-tested tactic of cooling the game down so the opposition were out of their momentum.

It would work somewhat, but not without Ho'uminalu getting a brace of hers disallowed minutes later after the second goal. They just had to endure the next few minutes, and then they'd see how they'd restart to try to get a point back (even though they were virtually qualified at this point). They succeeded in doing that, but when they started to plan attacks by playing the ball from the back, the Seagulls' pressing proved to still be a bit too much to handle, and things almost went back to square one. In these times, Gildo Durand appeared again as a key piece. The Teros would still have to get things done by counter-attacks, and Gildo would serve as a trampoline for that sort of plays.

It seemed like, with all of this, Tero al Disco would start to get back, but only some isolated chances would actually end up proving some sort of danger. The first scare was when, after a long pass from Durand, Alexander Cornelli made a perfect touch forwards, beating Grigori Zhentoniov in the process, but Cornelli's final shot would end up over the crossbar. Five minutes later and we would see a 22-year-old Melchor Gallina make a deep pass to Hernando Lucero. Lucero came crashing towards the Seagull penalty area, and although he could pass it to Alvaro Biaggi to his side, the AM decided to take the riskier shot at chipping the ball over keeper Falena Rukipiato. Nonetheless, it went in, and with ten minutes to time a glimmer of hope appeared.

Aleirave had recognised that they relaxed a little bit on that one, so how were they going to respond to that? With all they were running, they decided that they were going to press even harder. They'd risk their defense in their process (which was performing quite well for an offensive team such as the Seagulls), but in the best of cases they'd choke the Teros out of crafting a good chance that could give them the equaliser. It quickly became an entertaining end-to-end match, but in the dying minutes the Seagulls would get what they were committed to. Tero al Disco would have a close free kick or a corner here or there, but they'd go nowhere, and Aleirave would eventually run out as the winners, by 2-1.

The end of the group stage sees Aleirave win the group with 7 points, having won the de-facto Group K final. Next, Tero al Disco and Baggieland tied on 4 points, but with Tero al Disco having a solidly superior goal difference the Teros are in second place; on the other hand, Baggieland is in third but they advance anyway as one of the best thirds. Huayramarca end up in last place with 1 point. On the knockout stages, Tero al Disco will stay in Eastfield Lodge, but this time they'll move cities (or, rather, countries, because from our research there apparently is an Eastfield Lodge universe), as they'll face Vdara in the Vareona Park in Xilon, in the Scholarly Empire. Vdara come from group J, which is notorious in that all the teams have finished with 4 points. Anyways, Vdara are a higher-ranked team than Tero al Disco, also having an attacking style of play, and with plenty of World Cup experience under their belt, having participated in the 87th, 89th, 95th, and 96th editions. Despite all of this, World Cup 97 is the first time that they've advanced past the group stages. Well, we'll see what happens next.

[Yue Zhou]

WORLD CUP 97 MD3: Gnejs 1 - 2 YUEZHOU
Starting Lineup (4-3-3): Zhao; Huang, Zeminsson Yao, Zhao, Milosevic (Yuanjunsson Ren 56); Pan (Dong 78), Zhaxi (Wen 63); Lin (Ansdottír Lin 78), Mingsdottír Zhang, Fu (Liang 56); Zheng
Goals: Andersson 27 / Zheng 39, Liang 73
Summary: Yuezhou wrapped up an undefeated group stage with a relatively comfortable win over the group third seeds and the Dragons' Rushmori rivals, Gnejs. Once again, Elaine Ashdown found her team down early - if Yuezhou isn't able to make a deep run this World Cup, slow starts will absolutely be a key reason why - as, after a period of sustained pressure, Thrasymachos Andersson fired home from a close angle to put the Dandelions up 1-0. The Dragons, as they have every single match this World Cup, locked in immediately afterwards, and it was only a matter of time before the equalizer: Zheng Hong very nearly, but not quite, muffed an inch-perfect cross from Songwei Milosevic, but did enough to bundle it over the line while falling down backwards. Enda Clentin did his best to rally the troops, but Gnejs, needing a win to advance, were solid at the back posed little threat for the majority of the second half. The former World Cup champion pushed his men further and further forward as the match entered its final minutes, at which point big Liang Wei popped up with a far-post header that ended the Prosaic Union's run - and possibly closed the book on Enda Clentin's time in Rushmore.

---

WORLD CUP 97, ROUND OF 32: Yuezhou - Juvencus
Starting Lineup (4-3-3): Zhao; Huang, Zeminsson Yao, Deng, Milosevic; Pan, Dong; Lin, Mingsdottír Zhang, Fu; Tsang
Yuezhou would've hoped for a softer first opponent than the world's #16 team after a dominant group stage, but seeing some of the other sections of the group draw, can at least content themselves with knowing that they're not in the Quarter of Death. Juvencus drew every single match of the group stage after an undefeated - but draw-heavy - qualifying run, bringing them to eight draws in nineteen matches this cycle. The two teams have history, with la squadra defeating Yuezhou in the group stage of Cup of Harmony 84 to steal the group title on the final matchday. Of course, Yuezhou - led at the time by Chen Huikang - would then go on to exact their revenge in the semifinals of the same tournament. The two teams' fortunes have improved since then, as both have become World Cup mainstays, but Juvencus are hoping to get their revenge on the Dragons and spark the kind of deep tournament run that they've achieved many times, but never in the World Cup. With Deng Daiyu, and somewhat hastily, Leona Tsang, back from injury, the team would've been at full strength - but with Zhaxi Jianzan suspended due to an accumulation of yellow cards, Kirkenes' Dong Yichun will be thrown into the fire against one of the best attacks in the world.

"No, I understand...we've been really impressed with your work in Kelssek, but of course it can be difficult to find the right time to leave such a project...uh huh...yes, of course, just let us know when you make your final decision...sure. Great, yes, you too. Bye."

Huang Quanan sighed and put down his cell phone. "He said he'll think about it, but that it's unlikely that he wants to leave Mazinaw Vanorian so early into his tenure. We can put him down as a tentative no."

YFA President Xu Xiaoliang nodded thoughtfully. "So Ren Fang is out-"

"Tentatively," Huang said, with some acid behind it.

"As is Ruo Xiaolan, Liang Bo, and Lu Qiang."

"Yes, they are all out. Uh, non-tentatively."

"So assuming that Ren says no, that's all your candidates gone."

Huang sighed. The YFA had given him his dream job, but it was hard to stay happy about that when Xu Xiaoliang was your boss. He'd tasked Huang with "assessing external candidates for key personnel decisions", which more recently had become "replacing the winningest national team coach of all time". Replacing Elaine Ashdown would be hard enough, but Xu's constraints for the next manager: young but not naïve, tactically pragmatic but not overly defensive, Yue but managing abroad - made it virtually impossible. They had agreed on exactly two candidates: Ruo Xiaolan, the former goalkeeping coach who had led Urrheddiao to a shock Red League championship, was the dream, but she'd said no almost immediately. More realistic was Ren Fang, a longtime assistant in Kelssek who, when given the reins to Mazinaw Vanorian, had impressed with a midtable finish from a newly-promoted team. Now, there were exactly zero remaining candidates they agreed upon.

"Well," Xu said. "This has not gone according to plan. We'll need an interim for the Copa Rushmori, assuming your team can't find anyone by then. Thank God it's this one we're sending an interim coach for, and not the home Copa. Kang Guilin will right the ship for our new manager."

"No." He didn't even realize he'd said it until he saw Xu scowl in response.

"If you didn't want this outcome, you should've found us a manager."

"President Xu, I, uh...accept my failings in finding an acceptable manager before the Copa Rushmori, and would be happy to help find an interim."

"Good. Continue."

"We cannot put Kang Guilin in a managerial role. First of all, he's eighty years old. And second, the last time he was around the national team, it was a disaster. This is a young team with plenty of dual nationals, not party loyalists. They'll never play for him."

"Kang Guilin is a national hero with a previously successful stint at the exact position he'd be taking over at. And Elaine Ashdown may think differently, but Kang's stint as advisor only ended the way it did because that thug Wan Sheping put him in the hospital."

"Sure. But we can agree that the age thing is a concern, right? Especially with the heart issues that ended his last managerial stint. I can find someone better if we need an interim."

"And if you can't?" the President of the YFA said, with a raised eyebrow.

"I'll resign," he said without a moment's hesitation. "My team will start working on this Plan B at once. In the meantime, which of the criteria you gave me would you be willing to loosen for an exceptional candidate?"

"If they're sufficiently aligned with Yue values, I suppose it doesn't matter where exactly they are from."

Huang nodded. "I'll take that into consideration."

"Good. You may go." Before Huang could leave the room, Xu Xiaoliang added: "We need a manager, Huang."

We have one, Huang thought to himself, but that was one line he wouldn't cross.

[Tanirinthia]

---

OF FATES AND FORTUNES
Chapter Twenty Three - Balderdash

---

Clara made her way with the rest of the delegation to the hotel, marvelling at the main focus of the city; a stadium suspended in the sky as if a cloud, truly a marvel of engineering like something out of the sci-fi almanacs she read growing up, she would have to have a proper look around when the team played a match there. Whilst on the way there an annoyingly familiar face popped next to hers, over the last several months she had seemingly attracted the desires of one Nathaniel Hampton, supposedly from the actual football side of the operation a coach of some kind. Supposedly as there were three several ranging from the most generous to the most paranoid, the first he simply hadn't gotten from her politeness that she was not interested, the second he knew she wasn't interested and that he was going to win her over, that he didn't believe that she wasn't interested that I was simply playing hard-to-get, and finally the one option I most worried about, he wasn't interested in her in that way, but had been sent by either the government or the entity to spy on her. She had long since learned to treat coincidence with great suspicion, and given the timing of Nathaniel's interest, this was the option she had firmly landed on.

After finally managing to part ways, excusing herself by saying the trip had worn her out and she was going to put her head down, she headed up to her hotel room, swept the room with the bug killer and began to unpack when she heard a knock at the door.

"Nathaniel, please I really do need to hit the sack" she said wearily

"Oh our friend Nathaniel been making his moves again?" came the reply from Jasper on the other side of the door

Clara's expression changed instantly a beaming smile launched over her face as she leapt to open the door, and upon doing so was met by Jasper with a big stupid grin in his face.

"You know you really should put that boy out of his misery, one way or the other..." Jasper said, his grin only growing.

"Get in here you muppet" said Clara, grabbing him and pulling him in the room and closing the door behind him "I've killed any bugs in here already so no-one, Nathaniel included should be able to spy on us!"

"Still determined he's a spy are you, true it does boggle the mind as to why he might want to spend time in the company of a beautiful woman... You're right, only reason that it could possibly be, definitely a spy"

A pillow struck Jasper square in the face cutting him short, as Clara held the other one ready should he carry on teasing her like this.

"Truce!"

Clara agreed, although making sure the pillow was still in reach. Jasper seemed in a very giddy mood and seemed bursting to say something. She looked expectantly at him, urging him to say whatever it was.

"You saw in the pamphlet over the history of this place yes?" Clara nodded "I've managed to secure us a behind the scenes trip to their Museum of Football, access to the archives not on public display!"

"That great news" she said taking his hand and sitting him next to herself "But you've got to calm down you, we can't get too excited remember or we start to hope, and that let's the door open for... it"

It pained her to do this, it was so lovely seeing him like this happy, carefree.

"Balderdash I say! Balderdash! I'm tired of this thing taking our happiness away, yes we will find what we find here, we will be thorough and not leave anything to chance, and that may give us no more knowledge that we had before we got here. But I'm not going to let that thing steal my joy any longer, look out your window Clara, we're on a different world, there's a floating stadium, we're at the multiversal World Cup, there's a million billion things out there to give us happiness. I won't let it be a thief any longer, I'm not going to ignore the things right in front of me"

Jasper moved close to her, she felt her heart pounding in her chest, his big beautiful eyes were burning in hers

"Balderdash then" she said, pulling him in to a deep kiss

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 | Chapter Nineteen | Chapter Twenty | Chapter Twenty-One | Chapter Twenty-Two

[Mytanija]

MYTANIJA 2-1 SAINT ELEANOR

MYT: Ovsyannikov 24’, Vdovichenko 68’

EXT: Coombe 56’

MYT: 1. Vasilevski; 2. Jesenko (sub. Beganović 61’), 3. Mbala-Ekakia (c), 4. Vlahovljaković, 5. Lusamba (sub. Klanac 61’); 7. Vdovichenko, 6. Papež, 8. Šaranja (sub. Gicić 71’); 10. Ovsyannikov (sub. Stojadinović–Srpkinja 75’); 9. Issoumou, 11. Papić–Papratović (sub. Kovačec 61’)

Ermin Držić smiled to himself, pacing the touchline with his right arm held across his chest, cradling the elbow of his left arm as the left hand half-covered his mouth. The Mytanija head coach was dressed in the quasi business casual attire which had become all the rage in football management circles of late, a black merino wool half-zip jumper and grey tapered chinos, the hem of which sat just above the top of his ankle. On his feet a pair of the iconic, if you frequent Mytanar cities or fashion shows, Odeća Yolanda Savić trainers – all-white, crisp, with a green motif of Mytanija’s most famous pole vaulter on the tongue of the trainer and a green heeltab emblazoned with a white Odeća logo and ‘YOLANDA SAVIĆ’ just below. On his wrist an expensive watch, the sort of item where the pricetag would make an ordinary person wince, the value could pay-off their mortgage.

Držić wouldn’t have looked out of place at one of those fashion shows, perhaps deep in conversation with a model about getting them lined up for a big shoot; or as a journalist speaking with a dynamic tyro of the fashion design world that was about to hit the big time with their first line for a big fashion house or brand. Or he could just be a guy with a bit of cash, frequenting Ebor’s famed marina with his wife or Prizren’s exclusive bars with his friends and generally enjoying the finer things in life. He had, in fact, chosen to remain in work despite the fact that he could have retired from his football career many moons ago. He had done so because he loved the sport, he loved being involved in it and he loved, still, how alive it made him feel.

Mytanija were 1-0 up through who other than Denis Ovsyannikov. The number ten position was exactly the same position that Držić played during his career, but watching Ovsi was like watching a master when Držić had never got beyond earnest hobbyist. Ovsyannikov could do things with a ball that few others were able to do. Those that could were the ones that the football world remembered forever, legends of the sport that deservedly went down in the annals of history – names which drew respect, just by there mere mention. Držić knew that if Ovsyannikov could lift a trophy or two with the national team during his career, that he was destined to be remembered in that sort of company too. Maybe he already was, even without those baubles to his name.

Here, Ovsyannikov had semi-acrobatically volleyed an effort in from just inside the penalty area, towards the right-hand side of the goal. Mumin Jesenko had got down the line, the ball finding its way to him from the Mytanar midfield and the left-back swung a cross into the box. At first it looked like the sort of cross which would be difficult to control, never mind one which could be turned into a shooting opportunity. The fact that it was Denis Ovsyannikov underneath the cross perhaps single-handedly allowed the former event to happen, never mind the latter. With his first touch Ovsi trapped the ball in the air, dinking it up slightly amidst a spirited defensive challenge from the Eleanorian players, with his second he swung his left boot at it, twisting his hips to generate power and volleyed it towards goal. Arielle Richardson dived, but the placement of the shot in the top corner made her efforts futile.

Ovsyannikov pulled away in celebration, emitted almost a calm roar – as if such a thing could exist – but it was almost an acknowledgement that he knew he could conjure up that sort of moment if his team required it. His teammates mobbed him and the celebrations on the bench were similarly raucous. Držić hugged his assistant manager, punched the air and then realised that no matter what he did on the training pitch it didn’t matter too much when players like that – both playing for Mytanija and for other nations – existed.

So Ermin Držić smiled, because what else could you do in the event of something like that happening?

Half-time came and went and Bridget Coombe scored an equaliser for Saint Eleanor. Ermin Držić smiled again, albeit this time a bit more grimly, a sense of grudging player as the defensive midfielder who wasn’t a great scorer of goals but a scorer of great goals got her team back into the match. The importance of the goal to the Eleanorians of course being the source of its greatness, it didn’t quite have the aesthetic and technical brilliance of Ovsi’s volley but at 1-1 it gave Saint Eleanor the chance to get ahead and consign Mytanija to a group stage, nul points exit from the World Cup.

The Hoops rode out the storm of the next ten minutes, Držić was particularly pleased with how Potap Vdovichenko handled himself, hustling and harrying in the centre of the pitch and trying to make it difficult for the Eleanorians to sustain the pressure they had been building. Držić knew how important it was to return him straight to the team after his one-game suspension. It was lucky that he hadn’t got an extra game ban for the fairly extraordinary show of dissent, though the referee perhaps hadn’t understood him as the young midfielder switched between Terranean, Thessian and Magev as he hurled insults at him. The referee had also taken an unusual approach with his bookings throughout the game, including by failing to book the Eastfield Lodge midfielder who had spurred Vdovichenko’s dissent and second bookable offence.

Here, Vdovichenko had been excellent, keeping his cool and doing his job. Držić saw some signs of a young Gavril Atsev in his play, the sort of praise which showed the level that Vdovichenko could reach and the reason why Atletik had spent a good chunk of cash to bring him to Thessia as the legend’s eventual replacement. His temperament could be an issue, but there weren’t too many Mytanar players for whom it couldn’t become a problem, so the Mytanar public had rather let Vdovichenko off – particularly given that the sports media had reported the incident fairly. The referee had made an unusual decision, Vdovichenko had been rightly aggrieved, Držić’s reaction of anger at the officials first and an arm around the young midfielder’s shoulder second demonstrated that he didn’t blame him for the eventual loss.

Slavko Frantsaliiski had done okay against Banija in a helter-skelter match, but it wasn’t the same impact Vdovichenko could have in that position, so Držić brought him straight back into the team once the suspension was served. An immense show of trust which would only serve to bring Vdovichenko back into the fold in everybody’s minds and, hopefully, instil some confidence in the 22-year-old.
A Mytanar move flowed down the right side of the pitch, Držić had swapped both of his fullbacks as Jesenko and Lusamba were looking a little bit leggy and on came Idris Beganović and Lukas Klanac in their stead. Here, Klanac had moved the ball up the pitch and was now looking for a pass inside. The ever-energetic Ante Šaranja offered an option inside and Klanac instantly played a pass into him. Šaranja turned and got his head up, searching for a ball in to Denis Ovsyannikov or perhaps into the feet of another substitute, the young striker Blaž Kovačec. He decided against either option and sent a looping, searching ball further towards the back post, about in line with the penalty spot. The cross was for Lacina Issoumou, and the big striker leaped high, much higher than any of the Eleanorian defenders and knocked the ball down with his head, back towards the edge of the penalty area.

Usually here it would be Denis Ovsyannikov to strike the decisive blow, but this time it was the young midfielder who had nearly been turned into the nation’s number one villain only a week prior, against Eastfield Lodge. Potap Vdovichenko ran onto Issoumou’s knock down and took one touch to get the ball out of his feet, before swishing a delicate left boot at the ball to steer it into the right corner of the goal. A beautiful finish, full of technique and poise, and one which had Mytanija 2-1 up and ahead in the match again. Vdovichenko roared, turning to run towards the bench where Ermin Držić was pumping his fist in celebration.
Vdovichenko pointed towards his coach and almost crashed into him to embrace him.

“Thank you, gaffer!” Vdovichenko shouted tearfully, almost inaudible over the cacophony of sound in the stadium.

“Don’t you worry son,” Ermin Držić replied, squeezing the young midfielder tight, before pushing him away and laughing. “Mind my white trainers though, won’t you?!”

[Vdara]

Comin’ On Strong

With spirits riding at what was perhaps an all-time high, Vdara came into their final group stage match with a spring in their step and their heads held high. With the best third placed teams advancing, four points would likely be enough to make it to the Round of 32, and the team seemingly knew this, despite the fact that there was always the caveat that they could still finish bottom of their group. This didn’t seem to phase them whatsoever, though, and with Bears Armed up next, the general vibe suggested that a solid result was possible to secure qualification. Of course, this didn’t happen, and Vdara lost 3-2 - but due to the intricacies and general weirdness of the group, the team still advanced despite each team finishing on four points. A quadruple tie-break, if you will. Vdara would finish behind the Squornshelan Remnant States due to the aforementioned side’s far superior goal differential, but would also stay ahead of Ko-oren by a bawhair due to their head-to-head record. As it turned out, that first matchday victory was far more crucial than it felt at first. The third matchday loss, however, would also be crucial, as Bears Armed had already faced Vdara’s bitter rivals and noisy neighbours: the Western Vdaran Territories (or West Vdara. or Shithole. Call it what you want!). If Vdara’s World Cup group could be considered weird, West Vdara’s Qualifiers group was mental. Having defeated top seeds HUElavia and notched another victory over Drawkland, they cemented their place in footballing folklore by defeating eventual qualifiers Bears Armed twice, before emphatically declaring that it was all because of socialism. To them, anything and everything could - and WOULD - be propagandised for the benefit of the state. So naturally, when the whistle blew on Vdara’s loss to the bears, in the deepest darkest corner of the (West) Vdaran Information and Intelligence Bureau, the fax machines, typewriters, and other outdated machinery began to hum, purr, rattle, and blow themselves to pieces whilst printing and broadcasting everything they could to get one over on the superior Vdara, or as they liked to put us - ‘the Treacherous East’.

Meanwhile, in West Vdara…

THE FOLLOWING STATEMENT HAS BEEN APPROVED AND PRODUCED BY THE VDARAN INFORMATION AND INTELLIGENCE BUREAU. SHOULD THIS STATEMENT BE EDITED OR DISTRUSTED FOR ANY REASON, THE PENALTY IS IMPRISONMENT.

”Comrades, rejoice! The pompous and pretentious Easterners have been resoundingly defeated by Bears Armed! Indeed, the ursine usurpers, in a gesture of goodwill and respect for our glorious socialist utopia, put three goals past a poor, disunited East Vdaran defence, plagued by the guilt of their capitalistic ideals and perhaps distracted by thoughts of materialism. So sad to see a nation with the majority of the world’s recognition be such a disappointment to the Vdaran name! Trust us when we say it will not be long before the highest ranked Vdara is the true Vdara, the real Vdara, the BEST Vdara - West Vdara. As for our Cup of Harmony campaign, you may ignore it - for we have always decried it as a mere extension of the capitalist system which rots the core of the great sport that is football. But again, we must celebrate what is evident - West Vdara is superior! Glory to the Party! Glory to the state! Glory greatest country!”

END TRANSMISSION

Snap Back To Reality

After this period of brief disappointment and embarrassment, came feelings of elation as everyone slowly came to the realisation that Vdara had still made it out of the group stage for the very first time, and were now bound for knockout stage football after five failed attempts. It might have taken an expansion of the tournament as a whole, but we don’t care. The eccentric Tero al Disco awaits them in the knockouts, and with this side being a relative newcomer to the world of sports, there is hope among fans that Vdara can extend their good run in this World Cup - but they cannot get ahead of themselves. Tero al Disco have defeated far better sides than Vdara through their rise to the top, including CAFA Champions Ochre Islands, previous opponents Yuezhou, and plucky underdogs Damukuni. If Vdara were going to progress to the next round, they weren’t going to do it easily.

(edit: during the writing of this RP, i somehow lost my trousers. this isn’t crucial information, i just thought it was funny.)

[West Barack and East Obama]

BBC OFFICIAL REPORT: West Barack and East Obama Lock In and Send Pasargans Packing

By Football Correspondent Gary Obamaniker

Lunas, Pasarga - After a shocking 4-1 defeat to Sargossa on the second matchday, coupled with a resurgent Milchama claiming Pasarga's scalp, Group A was bust wide open, leaving West Barack and East Obama in crisis. Losing so much of their footing to a shaky defensive performance and relying on a result against the hosts in their national stadium sent many Obamen into stress comas. With the Obamen previously bottling qualification for the knockouts in the past two editions—a devastating implosion to The Holy Empire and a loss against eventual winners Brookstation—you would forgive passionate Obaman fans for resigning to defeat, knowing that the coach's plan to sit behind and rely on a defence that broke our collective trust already was foolish. Well, I'm not forgiving anyone. If you weren't here after 4-1 to Sargossa, you don't get to be here after we 1-0 Pasarga. GTFO my page!

Of course, it was never in doubt. West Barack and East Obama's National Football Team is one of the best in the world, and all of our doubters are just scrubs who couldn't lace the boots of the substitutes. Speaking of substitutes, almost all of them came off the bench in the game yesterday throughout key moments during the game, with permanent benchwarmers Jean-Marie Ouibama, Bogdan Obammus and Andrew Vobama shuffled slowly onto the pitch during the most inconvenient times for the Pasargans, such as right before their set pieces. Overall, the 1-0 victory was a masterclass in the most underrated parts of this beautiful game: grittiness, grinding down the opponents to a fatigued shadow of their peaks, tactical fouls, and Football Top Bantz Moments Compilation-worthy shithousery.

The game started off slowly, as expected, with the Obamen switching formation to five at the back, four in the middle, and Fred Olibama as the lone striker. Pasarga themselves took things slowly too, likely aware that a draw was also all they needed to progress to the knockouts and any slip-ups would put them in severe jeopardy, knowing how tight the group was. West Barack and East Obama made no attempts to attack the goal and instead preserved their energy and focused on redistributing possession at the back and keeping the ball far away from star forward Nawar Taqwaa Bazzi. Even as the crowd roared and the ground started to tremble, stalwart Obaman destroyers like Barack Denovitz and Bark Obamallama kept their cool and avoided slip-ups. Even Wolfgang Obamadeus-Mozart, one of the few players trusted with carrying the ball forward in normal Obaman tactics, adapted well to the lockdown defence style with well-timed tackles and runs.

In the second half, however, everything came crashing down. Frustrated and demanding entertainment, the crowd became raucous. The thing about a home crowd is that they're a double-edged sword: the wrath of angry fans can be just as punishing as their happy cheers can be uplifting (which is why our fantastic Fort Obama and Pentagram Underworld stadiums are such fantastic atmospheres, due to their sterility and safety. Come visit!) Pasarga's defence began to show cracks, and Fred Olibama pounced at a misplaced pass in the 70th minute at the back from Slava Jakšić to fire the Obamen to victory with a thirty-yard volley, which was about as close as he was allowed to get to the penalty box anyways. The alarmed Pasargans rallied to rain hellfire on the Obaman defence after that, knowing that a loss would condemn the team to third or even fourth place. Winger Kat Földessi even had a brilliant chance to equalise when she cut in at the 89th minute, but Dwayne Obama tipped it over the crossbar. In the end, the Obamen remained as strong as ever and clutched a defensive performance for the ages, which sent the Wanderers home and the Obama Carers to the top of their group.

"I was quite pleased with my performance yesterday," boasted Buck Obamafinakis in a press conference this morning. "I mean, did you see those substitutions? Oooh, they were perfect. I mean, you gotta hand it to me, right? I'm the backbone of this operation. Wait, just hold still; let me get my tablet out. I'll show you, uh, the replay right here. You see how Vobama drags his feet at the perfect pace to slow down the game and play mind games while also avoiding a booking for time wasting? Clinical stuff. Um, and the players did a good job, I guess."

Coming up next, West Barack and East Obama will play old foes TJUN-ia in Crescent Park. The Obamen last played the Jags in the 17th Independents Association Championship, where the Obama Carers pulled off a then-upset with a 2-1 victory. Now, the tables have turned with the Obamen expected to progress beyond this stage, with TJUN-ia falling to 53rd in the rankings and failing to qualify for recent editions of the World Cup. However, us Obamen should be well familiar with the power of the underdog, and the Jags are not to be underestimated.

"Yeah, a stellar performance was on display last night, but we're going to need to keep up the momentum going into the next match." remarked Buck Obamafinakis. "We let our guard down against Sargossa and ended up letting in four goals as well. Now that our defence is focused again, we can't let it go. Speaking of focus, do you see this clip of me on the sidelines? I mean, that concentrated, determined expression. Like, I'm not one to self-glaze, but that's some serious aura over there. Like, I dunno, wouldn't you agree that it's cover photo material for Championship Obamanager's next edition? No?"

[Sylestone]

ANAC APOLOGY AS SENTIENTS DRAWN “KILLER” PATH

BELJA, PASARGA - They should’ve known better. Mojmir Anac himself admitted it in a post match interview, where he stated that “the fault is mine. We will do better next time.”

But now, the costly mistake - which handed Mertagne a second win over the Sentients four years after they defeated them 3-0 in front of a home Pesfield crowd - has seen Sylestone get drawn into a knockout path that can only be described as lethal.

Of course, these are the 32 best teams in the world. It was always going to be far, far from easy. But this hard, no one could have imagined.

And all because of Conwal Ibarborde’s ability to escape his defender in the 87th minute to knock Domiinic Moko’s corner past Ryan Macleay, providing the World Cup’s most boring game to date with a lifeline of entertainment as the Sentients suddenly went on the all out attack, looking to capitalise on the momentum they have had all match to pull one back and re-assert their standing at the top of Group F, of which they had just lost.

But even though Jack Moseley came agonisingly close just two minutes later, the substitute winger cutting in with his weak left foot and firing a deceptively powerful shot into the crossbar from fifteen metres out after a sublime through ball from Thomas Hellyer and a mesmerising run through the defence. It’s the kind of stuff the Sentients were doing plenty of in their opening two World Cup fixtures, where they’d utilise their midfielders’ expert passing ability to find the holes in the defence for the forwards and wingers to run onto and score with vicious counter attacks and yet, here, they had seemingly been instructed to just tray and go for the point.

And now here they were, reaping the costs. What appeared like such a promising campaign after conceding just the one goal through qualifiers (have I said that’s a record?) and two 1-0 victories over the 14 Stars and Sarzonia is now hanging by a literal thread.

For their round of 32 opponent is a familiar face. One particular Kelssek, one of only four opponents who sits above them in the official KPB rankings. Kelssek, who eliminated Sylestone in the World Cup semifinals two years ago to curb what was a dream run to that stage, and a group stage opponent of whom the Sentients fought out a tough draw with to ensure both side’s progression to the knockout stage.

It’s arguably the biggest match of the entire round of 32 stage, at least from a quality perspective. Obviously, with games such as Banija vs Commonwealth of Baker Park out there, it might not be the most heated, but it’s certainly a game between two teams with the quality on the field to make it far further than the final 32 - hell, Kelssek finished second just two years ago, and Sylestone third place. And with the the confidence of a 5-3 triumph over Zwangzug hanging on their shoulder, they will be raring to go in a fixture that will see a side playing at full throttle match one of the staunchest defences the World Cup scene has ever seen.

For both teams, a win appears a long way away, Kelssek perhaps slight favourites due to their momentum from their last game, alongside the not-so-distant history between these two teams. But the Sentients are far from a long shot and ranked fifth in the world, the eventual victors of this clash will certainly be seen as a team ready to take it deep. Even with a round of 16 clash against Flavovespia or Farfadillis - both top ten in the world - standing beyond the Stadium of the Moon, and then a likely clash against either Valanora or a team to have previously beaten the Marauders in the quarterfinal.

But to be the best, you’ve got to beat the best. And the team to escape this absolute hellhole of a bracket will surely go into the latter stages of the tournament as a hot favourite, if not the favourite to take the trophy.

---

Sylestone vs Mertagne @ Stadium of the Moon, Lunas, Pasarga

Sylestone (4-4-1-1): Macleay; Wettenhall - Mornington - Blackall - Statton (Molineux 88’); Ryland - Gallagher (Hellyer 77’) - Lawson - Jones (Moseley 62’); Sarcav-Jones (White 62’); Freeling (Eastwood 88’)

Mertagne (4-4-2): Fawn; Murell (Thurtle 68’) - Ibarborde ( 33’) - Irizarri - Moko; Bickley (Plant 83’) - Will - Du Moucel (Larreko 57’) - Quennell (Callan 57’ ( 74’)); Curwood - Armenadriz (Eveson 57’)

Sylestone 0-1 Mertagne
                                                               Ibarborde 87'

---

Starting XI vs Kelssek @ Stadium of the Moon, Lunas, Pasarga

Macleay; Wettenhall - Mornington - Blackall - Statton; Ryland - Hellyer - Lawson - Moseley; Sarcav-Jones; Eastwood

[Squornshelan Remnant States]

Undertow
Chapter 12, Chapter 13, Chapter 14, Chapter 15

Over the past several years, Squornshelous has seen significant immigration, including large refugee populations who have formed their own communities alongside native ethnicities, and pre-existing immigrant groups. This has led to concern about increasing crime, particularly among right-leaning segments of society, and there has been an overall increase in the number of organized crime factions active in the Confederacy. The story has followed three point of view characters. The first is Detective Lieutenant Jarogniew “Jarek” Brixen, who is a young anti-narcotics officer posted in the city of Lublova, which is in the far west of the SRS, on the border with Quebec. Both native and Quebecois criminal factions are active in the city, primarily in drug smuggling. Recently, an attempted assassination of a Lublova crime figure led to a shootout in public and several innocent deaths, putting the spotlight on the city. The second character is Oihana “Hana” Redrin, a small-time criminal living in the large, centrally-located city of Brantisvogan. She and her partner, Cristián Refuerzo are obliged to work for a long-established Sarzonian-Squornshelan criminal organization, but recently tried to get into drug dealing in partnership with a rival group based in the old Imperial Squornshelan capital, Vogsphere. They were caught, and are more firmly under the Sarzonians' thumb than ever, though they're plotting a way out. The final character is Torsten “Lykken” Sitnikov, a mid-level gangster based in the eastern port city of Arkintoofle, but reporting to bosses across the straights in Santraginus (I really need to make a map, lol). His organization are fierce rivals of the Vogsphere gang, and have also been doing business with the group who carried out the attempted hit in Lublova. He is worried that things are getting out of control, but isn't sure what to do about it. Finally, a macguffin very large, invaluable diamond was found to have been switched with a fake, and the whereabouts of the genuine item are unknown, though a suspiciously similar gem was stolen by Hana and Cristián and appropriated by their immediate boss, el Copioso. Approximately one year has passed since the previous chapter.

Chapter 16
Lykken

Lykken stood, hands on hips in front of an unfolded road map of Brantisvogan. It had been surprisingly difficult to find a physical map that had the level of detail he and his team needed. Transit maps unfolded suitably large to make notes, but were abstracted and showed few streets. He'd almost resorted to manually printing out a mosaic of digital maps on printer paper, but Big Al had eventually arrived with a much yellowed and poorly refolded road map of Brantisvogan and its surroundings. It was some 40 years old and missing several newer developments, but then, Big All had found it in the glovebox of his mothers car. It would do.

On the map, Lykken had marked out the locations of known pieces of the Vogsphere drug operation in blue marker. Warehouses where product was kept, lots where vehicles were staged, clubs their dealers worked. He knew there were a lot of gaps in his knowledge, but a list of targets was still a list of targets. Alongside the blue, he'd added the numerous road closures and locations of outdoor showings of the Black-and-Reds upcoming knockout match against Tanirinthia. The areas immediately around Radlov Arena and Megabrantid Financial Field were practically crosshatched with red, as were the environs of several of the city's larger parks. Just to be on the judicious side, he also made careful passes with the red marker over major entertainment districts were bars would have the game on and a lot of people would be out and about. Where people were getting drunk watching football, that's where the police would be also.

That left just the green marker, which traced along the roads linking blue to blue, never touching the red. Annotations guessed at where traffic along the green paths might be heaviest, and indicated alternate routes and potential shortcuts.

Alongside Lykken, Line Valstad crossed her arms and frowned at the much augmented map on the wall. "Are you planning to open a portal to the Dreamed Realm, or are you just taking up modern art?"

Lykken sighed. "This is the play, Line. We don't know everything, but we do know enough. It's time to hit Vogsphere again, and the night of the match is our best option. It's all marked out here." He swept a hand across the map. "Targets ranked by priority, primary and alternate routes in and out of each, contingencies planned for."

"You want me to commit to a huge attack on Vogsphere's operation on the night when there'll be more police out on the street than any other?" Line seemed genuinely angry now, turning her eyes toward Lykken with a sharp movement of her head. "I wouldn't expect this kind of stupidity from you."

"It's not stupid, Line, just listen for a minute and I'll show you."

"You've got thirty seconds."

"There'll be tons of police out, yes but all of them here, around these spots," he swept a finger from one cluster of red lines to another. "They'll be out keeping the drunks and hooligans in order, breaking up fights, stopping vandalism. They'll call in every uniform they can to cover these streets, but where are they going to come from? Can't just hire a bunch of new cops out of nowhere." He pointed to several of the blue-makred areas. "They'll have no choice but to reduce their patrols in other areas to get the coverage they need. There won't be enough of them to cover the entire city, and especially if we keep things as quiet as we can, we might even pull this off without anyone but Vogsphere noticing."

Line took a harder look at the map, eyes tracing from one scrawl of marker to another. Her mouth formed a hard, straight line, but she didn't say anything for a few long seconds. Lykken let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. The fact she hadn't instantly rejected his reasoning might be a cause for optimism. "Traffic will be a nightmare with this many road closures," she said. Lykken felt a little lift internally. She was considering the plan, actually looking at its strong and weak points. Now it was just a matter of showing his work.

"I've planned for that, as you can see here," Lykken indicated his annotations in green. "Each route we'll need has at least two alternates, and I've got a deal mostly in place with the Mutri to provide a little extra muscle on standby. They owe me a favor after that deal from last year."

"And you're paying them well," Line deadpanned.

"And I'm paying them well," Lykken agreed, "Fairly though, and it'll be worth the expense for the damage we can inflict on Vogsphere."

---

Hana

The Vogsphere safehouse Hana and Cristián had been holed up in was pretty much a dump. It beat the alternatives though. Their bridged with the Sarzonian and his bosses were quite thoroughly burned at this point. Hard to come back from getting walked in on while burglarizing your boss for what might have been his single most valuable possession. The thought of what Copioso might do to get his diamond back, and worse, what he'd have his men do afterward really did not bear thinking about. They'd also very nearly ended up cold on the ground after arriving at Jørgen Petrov's favorite nightclub and rushing past the bouncers into the VIP area. The top Vogsphere man in Brantisvogan, Petrov hadn't been there, but several of his men who seemed particularly on edge had been, and only after a lot of shouted explanations were they willing to point their weapons somewhere else than at Hana and Cristián's heads.

The two had still not found out what was going on that night. Their meeting with Petrov had been cancelled, and every member of the Vogsphere organization they'd met since then had seemed particularly tense and trigger happy. They'd still yet to meet with Jørgen now weeks later. Instead, they'd once been frog-marched into a room where they found "Raps" Drabløs, their original contact who had set the meeting. There was no apology, no explanation, just a brief acknowledgement that he was aware of them before he issued orders to his men and they were whisked away to their current accommodation. It was a two-room apartment that they were sharing with a surly young man who gave no name other than "Krangler." The place had electricity and running water, but that was about all you could really say positively about it. Yellowed wallpaper peeled in the kitchenette and bedroom, and the original color of the floors had long ago been lost to time and grime.

Still, it had an ancient crt television and the three of them were gathered in front of it on a sofa that had not quite finished collapsing in on itself. Prematch commentary for the SRS's first World Cup knockout match in almost a decade was ongoing, and the view was impressive. The Black-and-Reds were set to face off with the Mighty Oaks of Tanirinthia in one of the most unusual stadia this side of Deleclava. Apparently once a flying aircraft carrier, the Valiant would expend a truly shocking amount of fuel and energy in order to stage the match a few hundred meters up in the air. None of Hana, Cristián, nor Krangler could reason out why, apart from looking cool. They were also puzzled about the need to carry aircraft into the sky, as most seemed perfectly capable of getting airborne on their own. In any case, it was certainly a novel venue, and visually stunning when seen from the perspective of a news helicopter.

In a rare moment of loquacity, Krangler launched into a lengthy story about a friend of his who had tried to attend an IAC match in Tanirinthia and been kicked out. Apparently this friend's father had built some sort of 'jumpship' back during the last days of the Imperial Pocket Dimension. The friend had the bright idea to use it for an interdimensional joyride to bypass Tanirinthian border controls. It hadn't gone well, and he'd supposedly arrived back home a few weeks later without his vehicle. Hana didn't believe a word of it. As kickoff neared, Hana wished she and Cristián could be out at one of the parks, watching and having a drink with some of their friends, rather than the surly young man on the couch next to her now. In such a large crowd, they'd most likely have been safe from Copioso's retribution for the night, but Krangler was immovable in his adherence to Raps's orders, and so they stayed put. Better to be safe, she consoled herself. And for the two of them, here in Brantisvogan, there really wasn't anywhere any safer than a bratva safehouse.

World Cup Schedule and Results:

MD01 BRS 0–4 SRS @ Vareona Park, (cap. 48,000), Xilon, Scholarly Empire, EFL
MD02 VDR 1–1 SRS @ Niexai Lane (cap. 64,000) Jam Town, Jammy Forests, EFL
MD03 SRS 1–2 KOR @ Vareona Park, (cap. 48,000), Xilon, Scholarly Empire, EFL
Ro16 SRS  v  TAN @ The Valiant, (cap. 35,000), Toclofania, Twilight Heaven, EFL