Independent Associations Champs 22 - Everything Thread [IC]

[Britonisea]

Sports Blog
Brityunik Vefecosoin Cairkovoin
http://www.bvc.com/news

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Matchday 1

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Thoughts on the Britonish team performance at the IAC

It's no doubt that the Britonish hosting of this large-scale tournament has been near perfect on all accounts. Stadiums have seen full audiences, with forty two nations competing it is the largest tournament currently on the sporting calendar, hundreds of thousands of fans have travelled to Britonisea without a hitch, engagement online for the IAC22 are at a high - what more could the Britonish want from this hosting? Oh, that's right - good results, which haven't been happening. With only one match left, it's do or die for Team Britonisea as they risk tumbling out of their own tournament before the knockouts which would be an incredibly disappointing result given the general positivity surrounding the Britonish team at the IAC. Looking at the results, the matches against Juvencus and Drawkland were soul-crushing. Focusing on the most recent match against Drawkland in Burgendore, the 5-2 score by the end of the tournament meant that Britonisea’s goal difference swung into the minus making it incredibly hard for Britonisea to qualify from third place. It's very clear that Britonisea will not place in the top two, more favourable positions. Drawkland, Tergania and Juvencus all already have seven points compared to Britonisea's four. And with only three points left to win for the Britonish men, it means that it's impossible to qualify as part of the top 2. This means that Britonisea’s only chance is to be one of the best third placers. In order to finish third in the group, it will need to beat Tergania. Tergania currently has a goal difference of +4 compared to Britonisea's -1. In order to place on top of Tergania, Britonisea needs to win by at least 3 goals. That means Tergania, who is Britonisea’s next opponent, will drop to +1 goal difference compared to Britonisea’s +2. Ideally, Britonisea will need a match similar to HUElavia and Burikina - a 6-0 defeat would then put the nation in contention of qualifying as one of the best third placers. If Britonisea beats Tergania by goal difference, it will then be put against all other nations that have placed third. Group D’s Beepee is currently in third place, but they already have seven points. Even if they draw, they will be ahead of Britonisea when ranking the teams that finished third. Group G's Tanirinthia also has seven points and is an even stronger football nation than Beepee. It can be expected that going into their final match, against winless Kannap, a draw and thus eight points is almost guaranteed. Britons will be praying that Kannap can produce something special and damage Tanirinthia’s goal difference at the same time. Indusse and Reçueçn are also incredibly formidable football nations at the IAC and so make Britonisea’s chances of qualification slim.

At a tournament that the Britonish are hosting, it is incredibly unfortunate that the hosts themselves most probably won't qualify to the knock-out stage. Many things could be to blamed here - the group draw saw Britonisea playing against very difficult opponents including the best nation in the entire tournament. It was widely touted Group C would be one of the most difficult alongside Group B which at the moment is experiencing a four-way tie for that final third place spot. Perhaps for the image of Britonisea in football, this was not the right time to host the tournament. The Britonish football team are getting battered from pillar to post at these international tournaments and never play friendlies - of course the football team are struggling at a tournament where the stakes are high. A team that hasn't even come close to a world cup qualification or an Olympic medal can't be expected to suddenly win big time at the IAC. The general mood amongst the Britonish camp is intense infuriation with a blame game most definitely set to be had at the end of the tournament. The AFB should be proud of the hosting they have done and they cannot be faulted for the effort they've put into hosting an exceptional tournament. Football fans might have wondered why the AFB, who are mostly funding this tournament alongside the Government, chose to spend money on this incredibly expensive 24-day tournament instead of using that money to improve footballing standards in the country? Why was it more important to host the Independents Cup compared to qualifying for the World Cup - a feat that isn't impossible from arguably one of the nations with the best sporting facilities in the multiverse, a nation that has consistently performed well in a wide range of sports if the Olympic Games are anything to go by. Was it worth risking embarrassing the football team such a public fashion? Who’d think a team that is not even ranked in the top 100 should then go and host the largest regional football tournament? In a tournament where placements affect those all important KPB rankings, this wasn't the start the country and team needed or wanted.

Though... The general Britonish public shouldn't be confused for the feelings of the pundits, teams and sports buffs. There were no high expectations from the Britonish public about how well their team would do but one thing they were able to experience was 121 international matches played within their borders. The multiverse’s eyes have been trained on Britonisea so far for the last two weeks and will be for another week and a half. People from across the multiverse have been learning about Britonisea and all of its quirkiness, its strange city and stadium names that are hard to pronounce and even harder to spell. How teams would go from a Gotham-like skyline full of energy and life in the south to sleepy, cold, mountainous but picturesque urban areas in the north. The Britonish have been treated to non stop sporting action lately which has been, reportedly, in preparation for a “much larger sporting event” that The BAS refuse to speak more about. While it could take years for this to come into fruition, the idea of Britonisea's hosting profile expanding has finally happened with the nation bidding for fantastic events and hosting them well and there seems to be no signs of slowing down with a plan to bid for the next Basketball Champs too.

There will be conversations to be had at the AFB after the competition comes to an end, especially in the run up to the next World Cup but it is exciting that Britonisea has turned a new chapter in sports.

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MD5 RP CUTOFF.

Note: All roleplays underneath this post will count as Day 6

[Britonisea]

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Matchday Five

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Official Sponsors of the Independent Associations Championship 22 in Britonisea...

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Match Results

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Group A
StrayaRoos Barrier Islands 1–2 Malta Comino Gozo
Panay Islands and Guimaras 2–3 Edsmontik
Natkr 5–1 West Barack and East Obama

Group A                      Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 Edsmontik                    5   4  1  0   13   7  +6   13
2 StrayaRoos Barrier Islands   5   2  1  2   14  10  +4    7 (Goal Difference)
3 Malta Comino Gozo            5   1  4  0    6   5  +1    7
4 Panay Islands and Guimaras   5   1  3  1   13  11  +2    6
5 Natkr                        5   1  2  2   13  16  −3    5
6 West Barack and East Obama   5   0  1  4    4  14 −10    1

Group B
Delaclava 2–1 Omerica
Burikinia 1–0 Reçueçn
Porotia 1–4 HUElavia

Group B                      Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 HUElavia                     5   4  0  1   19   6 +13   12 (Goal Difference)
2 Delaclava                    5   4  0  1   11   6  +5   12
3 Burikinia                    5   2  1  2    4  11  −7    7
4 Reçueçn                      5   1  1  3    6   8  −2    4
5 Omerica                      5   1  1  3    7  11  −4    4
6 Porotia                      5   1  1  3    3   8  −5    4

Group C
Britonisea 0–0 Tergania
Vaishnavaria 1–0 Drawkland
Grand Exultia 0–1 Juvencus

Group C                      Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 Juvencus                     5   3  2  0   10   7  +3   11
2 Drawkland                    5   3  1  1   16  12  +4   10
3 Tergania                     5   2  2  1   10   6  +4    8
4 Britonisea                   5   1  2  2    6   7  −1    5
5 Grand Exultia                5   1  1  3    7  10  −3    4
6 Vaishnavaria                 5   1  0  4    5  12  −7    3

Group D
Abanhfleft 1–1 New Drakaria
Beepee 0–1 Ile de Richelieu
Elyalanya-Hucalese 0–0 Poafmersia

Group D                      Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 Ile de Richelieu             5   4  0  1   17  10  +7   12
2 Abanhfleft                   5   3  1  1   10   9  +1   10
3 Beepee                       5   2  1  2    7   5  +2    7
4 Elyalanya-Hucalese           5   1  3  1    6   7  −1    6
5 New Drakaria                 5   0  3  2    8  12  −4    3
6 Poafmersia                   5   0  2  3    5  10  −5    2

Group E
Kronbia 0–2 Dhemixia
Safiloa 0–1 Indusse
Calgasia 1–3 Saterun

Group E                      Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 Saterun                      5   4  1  0    8   3  +5   13
2 Indusse                      5   2  3  0    7   3  +4    9
3 Calgasia                     5   2  1  2   11  10  +1    7 (Goal Difference)
4 Dhemixia                     5   2  1  2    8  10  −2    7
5 Kronbia                      5   1  1  3    3   6  −3    4
6 Safiloa                      5   0  1  4    1   6  −5    1

Group F
Adab 2–3 Great Cats Village
Seeberg 1–2 Aphrilia
Borschtslatvia 1–1 Crpostran

Group F                      Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 Aphrilia                     5   5  0  0   13   7  +6   15
2 Crpostran                    5   3  1  1   14   9  +5   10
3 Great Cats Village           5   3  0  2   14  12  +2    9
4 Adab                         5   2  0  3    7   9  −2    6
5 Borschtslatvia               5   0  2  3    6  11  −5    2
6 Seeberg                      5   0  1  4    4  10  −6    1

Group G
Taxhavn 1–0 Schottia
The Elder Lands 1–0 Valentine Z
Kannap 0–1 Tanirinthia

Group G                      Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 Tanirinthia                  5   3  1  1    8   7  +1   10
2 Schottia                     5   2  2  1    9   4  +5    8 (Goal Difference)
3 The Elder Lands              5   2  2  1    7   8  −1    8
4 Taxhavn                      5   2  1  2   10   8  +2    7
5 Valentine Z                  5   2  1  2    7   7   0    7
6 Kannap                       5   0  1  4    2   9  −7    1

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Official Sponsors of the Independent Associations Championship 22 in Britonisea...

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Rankings for Ro.16

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Tiebreakers: Points, GD, H2H results, coin flip (scorinated match)

For some reason I missed out points on the MD1 post, but it most definitely is the first tiebreaker as mentioned on the OP.

1 Aphrilia                     5   5  0  0   13   7  +6   15 (1)
1 Edsmontik                    5   4  1  0   13   7  +6   13 (2)
1 Saterun                      5   4  1  0    8   3  +5   13 (3)
1 HUElavia                     5   4  0  1   19   6 +13   12 (4)
1 Ile de Richelieu             5   4  0  1   17  10  +7   12 (5)
1 Juvencus                     5   3  2  0   10   7  +3   11 (6)
1 Tanirinthia                  5   3  1  1    8   7  +1   10 (7)

2 Delaclava                    5   4  0  1   11   6  +5   12 (8)
2 Crpostran                    5   3  1  1   14   9  +5   10 (9)
2 Drawkland                    5   3  1  1   16  12  +4   10 (10)
2 Abanhfleft                   5   3  1  1   10   9  +1   10 (11)
2 Indusse                      5   2  3  0    7   3  +4    9 (12)
2 Schottia                     5   2  2  1    9   4  +5    8 (13)
2 StrayaRoos Barrier Islands   5   2  1  2   14  10  +4    7 (14)

3 Great Cats Village           5   3  0  2   14  12  +2    9 (15)
3 Tergania                     5   2  2  1   10   6  +4    8 (16)
3 The Elder Lands              5   2  2  1    7   8  −1    8
3 Beepee                       5   2  1  2    7   5  +2    7
3 Calgasia                     5   2  1  2   11  10  +1    7
3 Malta Comino Gozo            5   1  4  0    6   5  +1    7
3 Burikinia                    5   2  1  2    4  11  −7    7

NOTE: Rematches could occur. Information on matches and timings are updated on the Schedules page.

Knock-out bracket

[Malta Comino Gozo]

Malta Comino Gozo 3–3 Natkr

First Half

MCG started the game brightly, and after an even first few minutes, they opened the scoring in the 7th minute. Mark Galea found Darren Grima in the final third, who then passed the ball to Luke Attard on the left. Attard executed a one-two with Grima before firing the ball towards the near post, where it trickled past Natkr goalkeeper Ethan Carter and over the line. Malta Comino Gozo had their first goal of the tournament! This "attacking more" method looked like it might be working!

MCG dominated and struck again in the 20th minute when Nico Micallef scored the second goal. Grima played a phenomenal ball to Attard, who then passed it to Micallef on the left side of the box. The young striker powerfully shot the ball past Carter, who really should have performed better for both goals. MCG seemed in control, but Natkr had looked dangerous, threatening down MCG’s left side. Luke Vella looked very cagey and allowed too many crosses to come in from his side.

Natkr pulled one back in the 27th minute when Stefan Azzopardi failed to clear the ball. Elmer Webb inadvertently headed the ball goalwards, prompting a fine save from MCG goalkeeper Ġakbu Mogg, who could only push it back into a dangerous area. Brandon Hernandez reacted quicker than Daniel Camilleri, tapping the ball easily into the back of the net. The score was now 2-1 to MCG.

Darren Grima was booked for a high challenge in the 32nd minute. MCG was shaken as Natkr equalized in the 37th minute. Following another cross from MCG's right side this, Vella failed to close down James Hawthorne, who floated a delicate cross towards Brandon Hernandez. Hernandez powerfully headed the ball past Mogg to level the score at 2-2.

MCG went close just before the break as Nico Micallef found Timotju Attard in the box. Micallef brought the ball down well to Attard, who fired his shot goalwards. Unfortunately for Attard, Carter made himself big, saving the chance and keeping it at 2-2 at half time.

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Second Half

MCG made a substitution at the break, with Alex Muscat replacing Attard. Natkr started the second half on the front foot, with left-back William Walker forcing a fine save from Mogg when clean through on goal in the 48th minute. Natkr took the lead, making it 3-2 in the 50th minute when Hernandez, played in on the right side of the box, pulled the ball back for Daniel Rodriguez.Rodriguez bested Azzopardi and smashed the ball high into the MCG net.

Azzopardi nearly scored for MCG in the 62nd minute, compelling Carter into a solid save low to his right. Muscat then fired the rebound into the side netting. Natkr threatened again in the 66th minute when Rodriguez went close with a low shot to Mogg’s right, but Mogg made a good save, tipping it around the post. Natkr went close again in the 83rd minute when Jacob Lee beat the offside trap and forced Mogg into a great save. MCG pushed for an equaliser as the game neared its close, and Alex Muscat forced Carter into an acrobatic save in the 88th minute with a powerful shot when cutting in from the left.

MCG finally equalised in stoppage time in the 91st minute after sub Daniel White floated the ball in from a set piece on the right-hand side of the pitch. Nico Micallef nodded the ball into the bottom corner.

Final Score: 3-3

Final Thoughts

It had been the best game so far for MCG, but in reality, it meant they sat in fourth currently. 3 goals for 3 goals against didn't quite cut it. Malta Comino Gozo is, in theory, still eligible for second-place direct qualification. But with a neutral goal difference it will be tough as it's the first tiebreaker. Malta Comino Gozo face StrayaRoos Barrier Islands next

[Panay Islands and Guimaras]

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ANOTHER RIVALRY DEFEAT LEADS TO AN EARLY EXIT FOR THE CARABAOS
stadejunterparten, Junterparten, Britonisea


Panayense fans during the players' entrance

All hell break loose for the frenemies Edsmontik and Panay Islands and Guimaras as they're hoping to get a finish for the top as the Panayenses and Edsmons battle it out who's the noisiest crowd in all of IAC's history. As for the first half, it was very intense for the both sides as 2 Edsmons banging up on Chiang, but suddenly passes to Edu Heo, but fouled by an Edsmon, which led to a fight between the both sides and the crowd does love it, giving an Edsmon a yellow card where Ricalde hits a panenka to the Edsmon goalkeeper. But the Edsmon domination has started where Stuero and his gang did a "tiki-taka" on the defensive trio of Heo, Chiang, and Angeles. And oh boy Stuero did a volley! The Edsmons again did teach their sons how to play football with Stuero trying to make a hattrick with a goal over Aldovino. After a disappointing performance, Aldovino was subbed by a veteran by the name of Jorge Ledesma. Ledesma immediately stopped Stuero's hattrick attempt and made the MRT trio go back to their prime as Martinelli would score on his goal over the keeper. It was all fun and games for the Panayenses until a mistake from Nam made the Edsmons have higher advantage to win and Stuero, finally did a hattrick of its own. The whole Panayense crowd were silent and then, the game is over. It's over for the Carabaos. "We did a good job sometimes in our debut.", says Pierini. "But we hope for the best as we're going for an early exit." The journey of the Carabaos into their first IAC is over, will they have their own success at the next world cup will be the best for them?

[Grand Exultia]

Juvencus – 3-4-3 formation	Grand Exultia – 4-2-4 formation

Giovanni Manfreddini            Elandor Elenion
Jimmy Maldonaldo                Nepthys Thoth-Manon
Juan Carlos Oliveira            Sigunda Steiner
Jean Claude Vermini             Wilhelm Kaputpfeifer
Virgile Bengoetxea	        Odelinda Daskruger
Gabriella Lando	                Rikecos Duskstriker
Giacomo Laganà	                Loruruk Hazeeye
Lina Rodrigo	                Sable Gillyflower
Toninho Curie	                Lupold Starkzahn
Bartolo Amadei	                Aria Vielener
Hera DeSanctis	                Gimli Brambleberry

In Grand Exultias final encounter of the competition they faced off against a Juvencus squad, who rested several key players due to the perceived lack of danger posed by the rookie nation. The match ended in a 1-0 victory for Juvencus, thanks to a standout performance from Hera DeSanctis, who scored the decisive goal.
From the opening whistle, Grand Exultia, employing an aggressive 4-2-4 formation, sought to dominate possession and push forward. The home side’s strategy was evident as they quickly established a rhythm, with Aria Vielener and Gimli Brambleberry leading the charge in attack, frequently tested the Juvencus defence to no avail. Juvencus, in their 3-4-3 setup, aimed to counter with speed and creativity. Lina Rodrigo and Toninho Curie orchestrated several promising attacks, while Bartolo Amadei found himself in dangerous positions, trying to exploit any gaps in the Grand Exultia backline. Despite a few close calls, including a shot from Rodrigo that rattled the crossbar, the first half ended scoreless as both teams struggled to convert their opportunities.
The second half brought even more intensity, with both teams fully committed to attacking. Grand Exultia continued to press forward, and in the 67th minute, they were punished by Juvencus who finally broke the deadlock. Following a swift counterattack, Lina Rodrigo delivered a perfectly weighted cross into the box and Hera DeSanctis met the ball with a crunching volley that flew past Grand Exultia goalkeeper Elenion, sending the away crowd into a frenzy. Stung by the goal, Grand Exultia ramped up their offensive efforts, with substitutes introducing fresh legs to their lineup the introduction of Larissa Syllis for Steiner shifting to a 5 up the top end of the field. Gillyflower and Zweiburg pushed the pace, creating more chances. Vielener’s persistence in the final third drew fouls, earning Grand Exultia set-piece opportunities however, the Juvencus defense, anchored by Manfreddini and Jimmy Maldonaldo, held strong, blocking shots and clearing danger. As the clock wound down, a freak injury to Manfreddini forcing a substitute spurred Grand Exultia to throw caution to the wind, fully committing to attack. They created several last-minute chances, but Juvencus’ goalkeeper, Agusto Dimitrievski-Garcia, was in excellent form, making crucial saves to deny Vielener and Syllis their frustrations grew as Juvencus expertly managed the game, slowing down the pace and breaking up play. At the final whistle Juvencus knew they had done enough to top the group and Grand Exultia will have to wait until the next competition to see if they can improve.

[Borschtslatvia]

AND IN THE END

Once more, the soccer team from Borschtslatvia fails to impress. Much like the Petunias (who are Borschtslatvia's women's soccer team) in the Jenna Raven Cup 6, the Beet Brigadiers fail to make it to the semi-finals, and thus, say goodbye to the Independent Associations Champs 22. Their latest game against Crpostran ended in a 1-1 tie.

"I view this as a learning experience," Brigadiers team manager, Bennett Jeffries, said. "It was our very first tournament. No one expected them to make it to the finals. Yes, their performance was a disaster, but with a little more practice, I'm sure they can do better. I hope."

Though Jeffries does think that a lot of the Brigadiers' performance problems was due to the spectators. Ever since the first match, the Brigadiers have been berated at non-stop. None of the members of the opposing teams have been guilty of this, however. Many of the spectators have been heard singing the refrain to the 1969 hit song by Steam, "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye." For those of you who are not fans of oldies music, like the author of this article is, that's the song that goes "Na na na na. Na na na na. Hey, hey, hey! Goodbye!"

Despite the humiliating defeats of the IAC 22, this will not stop the Brigadiers from participating in future tournaments.

"A winner never quits," Jeffries said. "Every team has had setbacks, no matter how many tourneys they've played in. Even the world champs have lost at one time or another. We'll be back. Borschtslatvia's motto is The Beet Goes On, and we'll prove it!"

[Saterun]

It had been a hectic, if successful, IAC campaign for the Claws so far. The had just beaten Calgasia 3-1, to secure first place in the group and 3rd seed in the knockouts. They would take on Strayaroos Barrier Islands in their Round of 16 tie, a game that had them as heavy favorites. After that match, the path to the final got a little more tricky, as there was a good chance that they would play Juvencus in the quarterfinal. They had been eliminated by the very same team at the very same stage in the previous edition of the tournament, and Kameron was trying to avoid a repeat of that result at all costs. He would likely be resting some of his starters, in order to make sure that they were fit and healthy for the quarterfinal. However, they still had to get there, so he couldn't overlook their next opponents.

All of this was swirling around his head as he stood in the Telm City International Airport. They had located gate E12, where Adrian was supposed to fly out of, but there was still no sign of the player himself. Lisa was walking around, trying to intercept Adrian before he could even make it to the gate. Kameron just wanted to have one last talk with him, to try to convince him to stay in Britonisea. If for nothing else, an extra pair of legs would be a real asset towards the latter stages of the tournament. But he couldn't force Adrian to stay. If the player wanted to leave, Kameron couldn't say no. He would need all of his persuasive powers to pull this one off.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a flash of green and red. He might have been trying to escape the team, but like all Saterunalians, Adrian was highly patriotic and tended to prefer items made in the colors of his home country. Combining red and green clothing was also the type of fashion statement likely to only come from a professional footballer. Kameron took off, trying to keep Adrian in sight. The forward was obviously trying to keep a low profile, ducking between other passengers and keeping his eyes down. Kameron was about to lose his last chance to intervene. Luckily, by some miracle, Lisa popped out from around the corner, completely cutting Adrian off. His confusion gave Kameron just enough time to catch up, and he finally had his chance.

A few minutes later, all three of them were sitting in the waiting lounge of gate E12. Around them, people were quickly checking their passes, making sure that they were at the right concourse. The flight would start boarding in 10 minutes. Kameron knew the message he wanted to send, but words escaped him. Fortunately, Lisa began talking before the silence could get too heavy. "Adrian, I know it's tough to be away from home for so long. I experienced similar feelings when I went as assistant coach to my first-ever international tournament. But trust me, it got so much better over time. I'm so glad I stayed." Adrian's expression remained the same. Kameron was worried they had lost him, but he finally spoke.

"I'm ok with the time and distance. I've played multiversal games for Mieteng. But then, it was only a city counting on me, and one that I knew would forgive me for any mistakes. Now, I have an entire country watching my every move, and who knows what will happen if I slip up?" Although Kameron wasn't happy, per se, he was finally articulate. He had been wondering what the core reason for Adrian's sudden flee had been, and now they had finally gotten to the bottom of it.

"Adrian, I can't guarantee that you'll be perfect in every game. No one can. But if you play to the level you do at Mieteng, you'll be just fine. I know the games have more weight now that we're in the knockout stages, so I can slowly rotate you back into the squad. But I need commitment from you. If your nation or I call on you, will you be ready?" Adrian didn't move at first. Over the speakers, Kameron heard that boarding had started. Slowly, Adrian crumpled up his flight ticket. It was a small gesture, but symbolic nonetheless. Adrian Schlimme was staying in Britonisea.

[HUElavia]

Porotia 1–4 HUElavia
(Otoshimovich 84' | Dias 3', Cavalcanti 30', Milano 45', Narita 77')
Stadium Arebry, Telm City, Britonisea

This Team Can Do It All!

HUElavia wins Group B with a dominating victory over Porotia to get Schottia for the Round-of-16!

Well, another IAC edition Group Stage has come, and yet again HUElavia advances out of the Group Stage. At this point, it's an expectation, the bare minimum even, for Los Amarillos/Os Amarelos in every edition. While they did have the knockouts assured, they still needed to go for a win to guarantee 1st Place in Group B and likely a good seeding position. With a mix of starters and backups starting, HUElavia came out to mainly a HUElavian crowd at Stadium Arebry looking to cheer on the team.

The opening goal came in the 3rd minute, when Wahle sent a cross into the box, where Dias towered over Nashak to head the ball past a diving Bashrovi into the goal to make it 0-1. The HUElavians erupted with joy and applause while Dias did a dance and celebrated with her teammates. The second goal came in the 30th minute, when a pass by Schmidt got to Cavalcanti, who gave a shot from 23 yards out to leave Bashrovi flat-footed as the ball went into the top corner of the goal, making it 0-2. Cavalcanti did The Cross and hugged his teammates in celebration over the great goal. In the 45th minute, a cross from Llopis would go into the box, and Milano would do an acrobatic shot outside the box and it would pass the fingertips of Bashrovi into the goal, making it 0-3. The HUElavian crowd erupted in joy and amazement at the goal while Milano was hugged and patted for the fantastic goal. HUElavia would continue to press throughout the match, but with less intensity, and in the 77th minute, Narita (in for Aguero), would take a low shot from distance to scrape past the fingertips of Bashrovi into the goal, making it 0-4. In the 84th minute, a pass from Kana (in for Utrasevic, reached Otoshimovich, who gave a blistering shot past Arakawa into the goal, making it the definitive 1-4 to end the match.

With the victory, HUElavia advance to the IAC 22 knockouts as the No. 4 seed, winning Group B over Delaclava thanks to the massive goal difference. Once the Group Stage was completed, HUElavia was seeded with Schottia for the Round-of-16. Coach Casillas was quoted saying "We're grateful for the performance we gave out there, shame we conceded that one goal, but it is what it is. The offense has been playing great and we couldn't ask for anything better. We now take on Schottia, one of the original teams of the IAC, and they're a strong and respectable side. We can't underestimate them and we need to give it our best out there for the Round-of-16. We do hope to count on the fans to serve as that 12th player and really make noise during our match. We hope to make it another memorable knockout match for our team and country." HUElavia and Schottia will play at Stade Doportedas, with a strong HUElavian backing expected to turn up for the match, especially with the A-Team returning to the field. The match will be the 2nd match played in the knockouts, playing at 6 PM, which will be late morning to early afternoon viewing times back in HUElavia. It is now that the IAC truly begins, with every match being do-or-die not just for HUElavia, but for the other remaining teams. Here's to what can be another historic advance in one of our favorite tournaments.

FORCA HUELAVIA! VAMOS HUELAVIA! GO HUELAVIA!

[Abanhfleft]

It probably wasn’t fair to call the match between Abanhfleft and New Drakaria in the final matchday of the group stage of the 22nd Independent Associations Championship a “do or die” match; a lot of analysts had opted to reserve that descriptor for the match between Beepee and Ile de Richelieu, leaders of Group D in the aforementioned tournament. But there was a sense that claiming victory over the Drakarians would be of utmost importance to the Revolutionaries of Abanhfleft. If Abanhfleft won, and Ile de Richelieu lost against a Beepee side seeking to reclaim a place in international football then the Revolutionaries would top the group all by themselves. If Abanhfleft drew or, God forbid, lost against New Drakaria, then all bets were off. The Revolutionaries could end up anywhere in the group, and there was always a non-zero chance that they wouldn’t even make it out despite winning their first three games in the competition, which would have been just a totally Abanhfleft thing for Abanhfleft to do.

There was already some controversy brewing within the Fleftic camp after their bombastic manager Basil Santa Cruz had placed most of the blame for their defeat at the hands of Ile de Richelieu on Sven Fahrni, a big blonde barbarian of a player who by all metrics had actually contributed a lot in the game itself, if not necessarily the victory. Santa Cruz already had a history of throwing players under the bus whenever a given game didn’t go the way he wanted, which usually meant that someone on his team would always get the blame after a draw or a loss. Many of the players who had played under Santa Cruz resented him for it, as they had almost always been the target of his deflection at one time or another. There were some people, fans and analysts alike, who thought that Fahrni was going to bite back at his manager after Santa Cruz’s latest comments, as even though Sven Fahrni had developed a reputation for being a robotic personality, those familiar with him knew that he actually had a mean streak in him, and some of the more opportunistic members of the fandom had wanted or hoped that Fahrni would say some scathing words of his own about the manager of the Fleftic men’s football team. Instead, Fahrni chose to take the high road, claiming that he was going to use Santa Cruz’s criticism to better himself and his performances for the national team. But deep down, Sven’s friends knew that it was only a matter of time before he blew up.

That moment would come in the match against New Drakaria, but what people wouldn’t have expected was the manner in which Sven Fahrni was pushed over the edge. Abanhfleft had taken an early lead over their opponents courtesy of an attempted cross by Carlos Lado that looped into the back of the net (Lado would claim that he had always intended to go for goal but everyone knew that he actually attempted to cross into the box and the curve of the ball took it into the far post anyway), and over the course of the next seventy minutes had been forced to sit inside their own half thanks to increasing pressure from the Drakarians. The Fleftics held firm in the face of the Drakarian onslaught, but they did pay the price somewhat in that the Revolutionaries accumulated five yellow cards, the most yellow cards that the team had had in the current tournament. Sven Fahrni was one of those who found their name in the referee’s notebook after he had tackled Christian Warwick a little too strongly. But that wasn’t the incident that would make Sven blow his top; in fact, he actually looked like he knew that the booking was coming and was almost apologetic to his opponent for it; almost being the key word. But the actual incident that would tip Sven Fahrni over the edge would happen in the 75th minute.

Abanhfleft was defending a corner, New Drakaria’s ninth of the game. The Revolutionaries had dealt with this particular situation before, and most of the fans of the team in white expected their team to take care of it once again, and when the ball went in from the left-sided corner, it did look like Abanhfleft had survived this latest set piece unscathed. Suddenly, the referee blew his whistle, and his finger was pointed to the spot; he had just awarded New Drakaria a penalty. Naturally, this decision didn’t go over well with the Fleftics, and a couple of Abanhfleft players immediately swarmed the man in black to argue against the penalty being called against them. Of course, the referee wouldn’t hear any of it, and in any case the only way he could overturn his decision was if the video assistant referee called him over to have another look. However, the images being played over and over on the screens were not a really convincing argument on rescinding the penalty. The VAR screen showed two players, Jeoffrey Xerxes for New Drakaria and substitute Iraklis Babalioutas for Abanhfleft, twirling around just in front of the penalty spot as if they were dancing. The twirling went on for a few moments before both young men fell to the ground, at which point the referee called the foul. The VAR let the footage replay on the stadium screens two more times before confirming the penalty, much to the delight of the Drakarian supporters and the chagrin of the Fleftics.

“What the hell!?” Sven Fahrni suddenly shouted. “That’s not a fucking penalty! That’s never a fucking penalty!” he shouted as he made his way towards the referee. “You can’t give that as a penalty, man! Ira wasn’t trying to bring down the other guy! He was trying to keep him from breaking his neck!”

“Sir, please back off, or I will book you for dissent,” the referee said, raising his hand in an attempt to placate Sven. But the big blonde was having none of it. “No! You can’t penalize a guy for trying to save someone’s life! That’s just wrong!” Sven continued.

The referee didn’t say anything more after that; instead, he simply reached into his pocket and showed Sven Fahrni both the yellow and the red card; the big man from Ludogorets Markovsky was now headed for an early shower after getting two yellow cards.

“No! I don’t fucking believe it!” Sven shouted. “You can’t send a man off for telling the truth! Are you fucking kidding me?!” he continued even as the referee also brandished his yellow card at the younger Babalioutas brother for hauling down an opposing player inside the penalty area.

“Just get out of here, Sven,” Carlos Lado, currently Abanhfleft’s only goalscorer in the game, said to Fahrni while leading the latter towards the tunnel. “Don’t make it worse for you than it already is.”

“Worse for me?! What about Ira?” Sven asked. “He doesn’t deserve to get carded! He doesn’t deserve to get a penalty called against him! He tried to save the guy from falling! We all saw the same thing on the screens! I know we all saw the same thing!”

“Trust me, Sven, we know,” Carlos assured him. “I’m sure we’ll appeal this. Just get out of here and cool down, please.”

“Fine,” Sven said while rolling his eyes, and then he made the walk of shame across the pitch to the benches and down the tunnel to the locker rooms. He could hear the cheers coming from the red side of the stadium as New Drakaria converted their penalty, and then the lack of loud cheering after that told him that the game had ended in a draw. But even as he was toweling himself dry after the shower, Sven could already imagine the criticism headed his way, spearheaded by none other than his own manager Basil Santa Cruz.

However, there was yet to be another twist in this tale as, while Santa Cruz did have some scathing words for Sven Fahrni, to the surprise and shock of many he had decided to take young Iraklis Babalioutas to task for the foul and the subsequent penalty. Santa Cruz deflecting the blame after needlessly dropping points was not that surprising; in fact, people were expecting it from him. What they didn’t expect was that he would go all in on blaming the draw on Iraklis, despite the fact that it was Sven Fahrni who had gotten himself sent off for dissent and made the task of recovering all three points harder for the Revolutionaries.

“Oh, fuck,” Sam Baburov muttered as Santa Cruz went off on the younger Babalioutas in the post-game press conference. “Someone’s not gonna like this.”

---

         ABAHFLEFT 1 - 1 NEW DRAKARIA       
  CARLOS LADO (5')       XERXES (77' pen.)
  FAHRNI (█ █ 76')

[Aphrilia]

For many, the match between Aphrilia and Seeberg had ended up being a mere formality. A 2 - 1 win had sealed The Anchors as the top seed of the tournament, whilst also handing The Horkenheimers their fourth loss in Group F. Crpostran would end up being the other team to go through alongside Aphrilia, drawing their match against Borschtslatvia.

Thus Aphrilia, being the number one seed was drawn up against Tergania for the Round of 16, who were the second best third placed team thanks to goal differential. This was where Aphrilia had found themselves in the last edition of the Independent Association Championship, losing out to a strong Juvencus side that had a perfect group qualifiers with a 3 - 2 scoreline after a somewhat bumpy group stage. Despite this edition's group stage results, it's clear the team is still wary of the knockout rounds.

Afterall, it's do-or-die here. It doesn't matter if you went undefeated in the groups or not.

"You and your opponent want the same thing, so you have to want it more than they do." Manager Christopher Vermont said in an interview regarding the upcoming knockout match. "We've been here before but we want to go further, so we'll do our absolute best to get there." He later added on. The fans are hopeful and cheering the team on for a good result, the mood seems to be somewhat jubilant for the Aphrilian camp. No one is celebrating early, but rather everyone is certain to fight to their best abilities.

Yet despite knowing that, there was a sense of dread growing for a certain someone. Nathaniel Rosberg, the captain for The Anchors, has a lingering feeling. Afterall this tournament is his last as captain and while he is just one game from fulfilling the mission he set out for, there was darkness wandering in his mind.

"What if he failed?" "Everyone will be disappointed if we lose." "What would my legacy as captain be if we don't make it?"

No matter how many times he's assured by either himself or someone else, those thoughts are always there. Even though he will no longer bear the responsibility of this feeling after this IAC, he can't help but still feel it. It's what happens when you're accustomed to something for so long. And as he pondered on that thought while scrolling social media, a text notification popped up. Of course, it was from his wife. Unusually, this message was quite long. As Rosberg opened it, the text read:

"Love of my Life♡" sent a timed message:
Hey sweetheart, congratulations on making to the knockouts! Really sorry I couldn't voice call, hectic work day and the kids are asleep :( so I thought a long text could be good compensation. I just wanted to say the congratulations and that me and the kids will be watching the games all together with our families compared to just me and the kids :D young man if you have any doubt for yourself just know that I'm proud of you, your parents are proud, even the kids is proud of you as well! I know you have some draining thoughts whenever high-stake situations come along, don't think I do not know your habits. You're the most determined and caring man I've met who never gives up even with the dread right on your neck, and that's why I do not regret marrying you all those years ago, never will. So just do your best and I'm certain fate will reward you and your team's efforts. And even if you fail, you're still the love of my life nonetheless :D

Lots of love and care, your wife ♡♡♡ (Who is likely asleep by the time this is sent).

Rosberg smiled after reading the text message. He quickly typed a short reply back.

"You" sent a message:
Thanks babe :) I really needed that assurance and support, good night.

SEEBERG 1 - 2 APHRILIA
GOALS / BOOKINGS
(10') Ines Forrestal
Reiner Benjamin -- (30')
Per Steuermann (45+4')
(67') Mitch Young
(80') -- Mike Aston

APHRILIAN SUBSTITUTIONS
Green OUT / Elliot IN (30')
Forrestal, Gordon OUT / Stewart, Karnwell IN (HT)
Haze OUT / Paxton IN (67')

[Juvencus]

The Second Great War of Unification(1876-1892)

Nationalism is a hot topic of discussion in Juvencus. Its roots and what constitutes Juven nationalism have always baffled historians, political scientists and other people of interest. Juvenism as it has come to be called encompasses a lot of the chain of culture that constitute Juven culture. This could mean two things. One could be tracing back to the Pomen Empire and its successor states all over the nation, the other is language-based. The latter are called Panjuvenists, to them since Juvencus is the source of many romance languages it has to be the source of all languages and people groups that speak those languages. This idea got particularly popular during the latter stages of the war.


Puerta de los Qurijanos, Cordoba ~Circa 1870s

Chapter 26: The Bloody Week & Liberation of Cordoba (January 22nd-29th, 1892)
"Reversing what is done is impossible now, all we can do is move forward for a better day." ~Unknown soldier, ~1880s

With 2 Independentist factions out of the way and the morale at an all-time high despite the big losses that came at Cuori, Cordoba, the Crescent's Wonder was next on the list. Cordoba had always been a special city in Juven history, a city of true religious and ethnic diversity with half of its inhabitants being Catholic and the other half Muslim. It was inhabited by Qurijans from the 16th century onward and as a city in a location that is reminiscent of their old homeland, it was easy for them to adjust.

Through the war, Juven and Qurijan interests would clash. The majority of Qurijans in the area ironically pushed for the unification of the nation, seeing their interests aligning with Pomena. Meanwhile, the Juven of the city, richer as they often were by the status quo aligned more towards Scudelli. While the war would ignite such differences between the groups, the Qurijans would see themselves unable to fight for the Unionist cause mostly because of fears of repercussions in the form of massacres and even expulsion. With no other place nearby willing to accept such big numbers throught the entirety of the war, they had to result in riots and short rebellions that often got crushed but a full-blown participation was out of the window and that was until news of Cuori's capture reached the city.

First Phase(The Riots) (January 22-24th): By serendipitous(for the war) circumstances, while the Unionists were setting up to siege the city, the Qurijans would incite riots in different parts of Cordoba. The Puerta de los Qurijanos as well as the area surrounding Green Mosque(also known as he Grand Mosque of Abdulaziz Hussein) would become the two biggest centers of concern for the Independentist defenders. While the Green Mosque riots would be more peaceful, their demands would seem more ludicrous as they requested the immediate surrender of the city to the Unionists, the Puerta de los Qurijanos on the other would turn deadly. Accounts vary as to who opened fired to who, but armed Qurijans would clash with armed Independentists which would result in a deadly fight that would incite panic to the crowd gathered there. Many people would die but the Independentists would put an end to those by the afternoon of the 24th. Peace would not be restored for long, however.

Second Phase(The Bombardment) (January 25-28th): Artillery positions were placed in 3 places surrounding Cordoba, one directly north, then the other two at the southeast and southwest ends of the city respectively. There was no need to for cavalry or camelry interference or skirmishes to clear out the areas as the Independentists were trapped inside for yet another last stand. By order of Gianluca IV, cannons would fire during the day hours, firing for a few minutes every couple hours and would cease their attacks at night. Many areas of the city would be damaged, Juven and Qurijan quarters in equal measure, with many people falling to the fire. The Mufti Ahmed Cami and the Iglesia de Santa Maria del Desierto, two places of worship across from each other and one of the symbols of the city were both damaged severely, bringing the Independentist morale down. Fights would also occure in the outskirs of Cordoba, as the Unionists would push forward trying to create openings and break in to capture the city. Such break would be found the late night hours of the 28th and the combined force of the Unionists with the Qurijans would be too much for the Independentists to handle but they would do a last stand regardless.

Final Phase(The Liberation) (January 29th): With gruesome fighting taking place all over the city, the Federal Government of the Crescent would have to formally surrender the city or face the complete extinction of all its defenders and independentist inhabitants. With so much blood being spilt, they had no other choice on the matter. The city as well as the rest of the Crescent Federation would be passed over to the Juven state in the late afternoon hours of January 29th effective immediately. Now at last, the entire focus would be on whatever Independentists dissidents support Scudelli as well as Scudelli itself, the hardest and most taxing part of the war was about to begin.

[Crpostran]

[Drawkland]

BURGENDORE, BRITONISEA
Unfortunately there was no time to explain in the cafe in Burgendore. Jaxon Madison and Elias Keys were worried that the keychain Nicole Warren picked up could have a microphone or other recording device, and they didn't want to risk giving away their knowledge of the potential breach. It was perfectly acceptable reasoning, but Nicole and everybody else that was out of the loop didn't know that. They had to be content with eating lunch in a general state of unease.

Lunch at the cafe ended up taking longer than expected due to delays in the kitchen, so the ladies had to hurry back to the hotel to check out and meet at the team bus for travel to the airport. Though the Elite Eleven members were staying in the same hotel, they had to travel on their own dime, being effectively no more than fans. The one exception there was Nicholas Kingston, who was technically part of Kick Corps staff and traveled with the team.

Ellzidan gave everybody the courtesy of actually being present on the bus for team travel, but she was sitting towards the front of the bus with the manager Francesca Wells. Nicole, Cam, and Sarah sat in a clump in the back, as they often did. The trio were friendly with their mortal teammates, but the social and physical divide between them became more pronounced every cycle.

After a brief conversation with his fellow team staff members, Nicholas Kingston moved from the front of the bus to the back of the bus. Though he didn't have a particular relationship with any of the immortal Kick Corps trio, he was still friendly with them, having interacted many times since the girls had gotten close with the Elite.

"How was lunch?" Nicholas asked jovially as he approached the back two rows. Cam and Nicole were sitting together, with Sarah in the row ahead and an empty seat.

"It was great. Fantastic, even. It's a shame you weren't there, really!" Sarah stuck out her tongue. Apparently she was still annoyed at being the odd one out. "Where were you, anyway?"

"None of your business." Nicholas sent a mocking smile back in Sarah's direction. "Glad to hear you had a fantastic time, though."

"It was nice, but it ran a little long because our food took forever to come out," Cam answered earnestly, trying to avert a snarkfest.

"Yeah, I saw you guys rushing back into the hotel." Nicholas laughed, propping a knee on the open seat next to Sarah for stability and leaning over the back of the chair. "I was telling the driver we should leave you all behind but he wasn't having it."

"Thanks a bunch," Nicole replied dryly. Suddenly, a thought popped into her head. "Hey, would you happen to know why Jaxon and Elias are acting so weirdly?"

"You're going to have to be more specific." Nicholas paused. "Much more specific."

"Some fan gave me a nice souvenir keychain this morning and Elias saw it at lunch. He and Jaxon kept looking at each other like something was wrong but wouldn't tell us anything. I was curious if you knew anything about that."

"A keychain?" Nicholas repeated, furrowing his brow. "Do you have it on you?"

"I don't think so," Nicole replied after a moment. "I had it on my purse and I think I stuffed it in my luggage during our rush to get out of the hotel room."

"Hm." Nicholas shrugged. "I got no clue. You know how Elias is, they were probably discussing something ... internally."

"That's what I'm concerned about." Nicole sighed. "They wouldn't say what the deal was! Mike doesn't know either."

"Have they given you grief over fan gifts before?" Nicholas asked. Now he was curious what the issue could be. There certainly wasn't anything discussed within the Elite about it, which made it even more mysterious. Was Jaxon hiding something?

"No, not that I can remember." Nicole stopped to think, then remembered something. "Actually there was that one thing that Mike got at the Olympics. I remember Eli picking it up, he seemed almost enamored with it and took it with him."

"Oh, was it that coaster thing?" Nicholas vaguely recalled some Olympic keepsake being placed in the Elite Complex lobby.

"Yeah, that's it." Nicole nodded. "He wasn't weird about it like he was with the keychain today, though."

"Beats me." Nicholas shrugged again. "I'm sure we'll get the lowdown soon. Maybe keep it stuffed in your luggage, though. Just in case."

"Sure."

"Alright, well." Nicholas said after a moment of nobody speaking. "See y'all at the airport."

"You're not staying back here?" Sarah asked, poking Nicholas on the thigh as he shifted out of the seat next to her.

"Why would I do that?" Nicholas said as he started walking back up the aisle towards the front of the bus.

"I don't think he's interested, Sarah," Cam whispered as Nicholas moved further away.

"Maybe he's just playing hard to get," Sarah huffed.

---

ALOQUIRBE, BRITONISEA
The final group stage match against Vaishnavaria did not go the way the Kick Corps hoped. It was clear that Francesca Wells was frustrated with the Corps defense's general leakiness, so the gameplan was modified to be a little more defensive. The result was a pathetic performance offensively where the Corps had trouble putting pressure on Vaishnavaria at all. Drawkland had several shots on goal, but none were particularly threatening.

The 1-0 final score was not what the Corps had in mind going into the playoffs. The loss dropped them from potentially being the #2 seed in the tournament all the way down to #10. Even through all that, Nicole Warren couldn't get the keychain issue out of her mind. She almost wanted to throw it away since it appeared to be causing so much trouble, but she felt like that would somehow be a mistake.

Thankfully, she wouldn't have to wait much longer. Though Drawkland had completed their group stage and landed second in the group behind Juvencus, there were still a couple groups which weren't playing their final matchday until the next evening. The playoff seeding for the Corps was still up in the air, so there'd be no telling which city their next match would be played in. Thus, the Corps would be spending the night in Aloquirbe and flying to their next destination the following evening, once the final two groups had their results officialized.

This gave the Corps players a free afternoon out on the island of Aloquirbe, and Jaxon Madison decided this would be a good time to brief their party on the situation. He wrangled up the Kick Corps trio and his Elite members, minus Septimus and Ellzidan who were scarcely seen outside of matches. There wasn't really time to reserve a more secure venue, and Jaxon feared eavesdropping if they went to a restaurant. It almost seemed counterintuitive to hold a meeting with potentiall sensitive information in public, but Jaxon found a good spot for it.

After the various couples and friends ate their lunches separately on their own time, they slowly started trickling in to a city park on Aloquirbe's coast. Jaxon located a patio with a few small picnic tables right next to the bay. The sound of the wind and waves was quiet enough that he could speak at the tables without having to yell, but loud enough that anybody walking nearby wouldn't be able to hear without being noticeably close to the group.

Sarah was the last to arrive, trailing a few feet behind Elias and Ross as they approached the patio. Elias was heading for the spot next to Nicholas at one table, but Sarah suddenly put on a burst of speed. As discreetly as she could, she shoved past Elias and slid into the bench right next to Nicholas. Elias shrugged, he and Ross moving to a different table.

"Alright, let's get this over with," Jaxon started as the now-fully-present group turned their attention to him. "Nicole, do you still have that keychain with you?"

"No," Nicole replied immediately. Just like Nicholas had recommended, she'd kept it buried in her luggage in the hotel room.

"Good." Jaxon turned to address the group as a whole. "Since the Olympics in Electrum, we've been dealing with what could potentially be a security breach. Some stuff got out about Dominic from a source that should not have any of that information. Nothing damaging, but it's the kind of thing that shouldn't be public. About us. About our ... attributes.

"Elias tracked down the potential source to a keepsake that one of the Elite had obtained from a fan at the Olympics. He and some others tried to get to the owner of the device, but their trail came up dry. Now we've been waiting to see if a second incursion would be coming, now that we'd be at another international tournament."

"Oh shit," Mike breathed, comprehension dawning on him. "It wasn't that coaster thing that I-"

"It was," Elias confirmed curtly. "It's not your fault, man, we didn't know any better."

Things clicked for Nicole regarding the keychain she'd picked up. She immediately felt a pit develop in her stomach, but she kept quiet to see what else Jaxon would reveal.

"We believe that this keychain Nicole received a few days ago might be that second attempt at gathering information from us. With just the one incident, we could maybe brush it away as a particularly ambitious and morally ambigious journalist. With this second incident, it adds weight to our fear that it might be something greater at work."

"Do you know that this keychain is some sort of recording device?" Cam Cross asked, narrowing her eyes. "We all saw you at lunch, Elias just looked it over and handed it back."

"I haven't checked it yet." Elias replied. "I want to, but we have to discuss this away from the keychain in case it really is picking up information. Our greatest weapon right now is feigning ignorance. It'll keep whoever's doing this from accelerating their plans or doing a better job at covering their tracks."

"It's been months since the Olympics, though." Sarah pointed out. "Why wait until now? Why wait until we're abroad at a tournament for this?"

"Fixture schedules are published." Nicholas spoke up. "Particularly investigative people can easily find out where the teams are staying, and they know when they'll be moving. Plus, you're more likely to not find a fan encounter weird when you're at a tournament. It makes sense that they may run into you; we're staying in the same areas. It makes sense that they'll have team memorabilia with them, since they're at a tournament to cheer on the team. If a random fan approached you in the offseason at home and tried to hand you stuff you'd be a lot more suspicious."

"Exactly," Jaxon agreed. "This is all speculation, of course. Like Eli said, we still have to check the keychain for any sort of electronic communication. It could be benign."

"The keychain had my name and kit number on it," Nicole realized after a moment. "If this isn't benign then this had to be targeted specifically for me. The coaster thing Mike picked up didn't have his name on it. It didn't even mention the Elite, it just had the Team DRK logo on it."

"Maybe they had multiple keychains," Ross suggested. "They'd pull out the relevant one for whichever player they ran into. There's only three of you immortals on the team. Well, four, but I don't think anybody would be stupid enough to try and pull a fast one on Ellzidan like that."

"Oh, so I'm gullible enough to fall for it then?" Nicole replied, a little hurt. "And if this is such a big deal, why didn't you tell any of us?"

"That's not what Ross is saying," Elias said quickly. "He just means-"

"We still don't know what we're up against," Jaxon interrupted. "If there really is some greater conspiracy, we need to gather as much information as we can without revealing ourselves. Since our first encounter came up dry, we needed to allow space for a second encounter, to see if we could get more out of it."

"You still could've told us," Cam insisted, in Nicole's defense. "Keeping us in the dark just stressed us out more."

"Again, the stealth is the most important part here." Jaxon stepped closer, looking at Nicole directly. "If you'd known about this, you might've given something away when the 'fan' gave the keychain to you. You could've had a tell, or been overly suspicious. If they know that we're on to them, they might get more discreet before we have a chance to learn more."

"You didn't trust me to handle the situation properly," Nicole said flatly. "Understood."

"You know that's not how he means it-" Mike started to say, putting his arm around Nicole's shoulder in an attempt to console her.

"The mind is a strange thing," Jaxon replied with an even gaze. "Some people give away more than they realize. It wasn't personal, I was just erring on the side of caution. And quite frankly, until a few weeks ago, we were hoping our investigation would turn out right and we wouldn't need to bother you all with this."

"Well fine, I won't bother." Nicole folded her arms. "You can have my stupid keychain and do whatever you want with it. If you don't want me involved, then I'll stay uninvolved."

"Nicole, you have to keep it." Elias leaned towards her. "If somebody other than you takes it, they may realize our suspicions. It wouldn't make sense for you to give away an item that has your name on it, unless you threw it away. But we can't really investigate the source if you throw it out."

"So what, I'm just supposed to carry this thing around that's recording divine-knows-what about me until you all figure it out?" Nicole scoffed in frustration. "Great plan, guys. I'm really excited about it."

"What could be the worst that could happen anyway?" Sarah piped up suddenly. "We kinda went through a whole gauntlet that means we don't have to worry about life or death situations."

"The first breach resulted in information about Dominic's past being leaked." Jaxon said carefully. "If they're trying to glean information about our history, then they're more than likely looking for things they shouldn't be allowed to know. The type of things the Accords were founded to prevent people knowing about."

"That's life or death." Nicholas added quietly.

"Fine, fine." Sarah shrugged. "I get it. So what do we do now."

"Business as usual," Elias replied. "We're going to monitor the situation, but for now we need to act like nothing's amiss. Just be careful when the keychain is in earshot, in case it's recording. Jaxon and I will discuss how we want to move forward."

"Nice and specific. Thanks." Nicole muttered.

"I'm sorry things happened like this." Jaxon took a deep breath to collect himself. "However, I think this is the biggest step to unraveling this whole mystery. So just bear with us, and if you have questions, you can ask me. Just as long as the keychain isn't nearby."

"Yes, sir!" Ross gave an exaggerative salute to try and calm the tension down, which half worked.

"Alright," is all Nicole said. The pit in her stomach had only grown larger.

[Edsmontik]

FINISHING OFF OUR RIVALS
LIVE ON ISN NOW

The Edsmons had arrived in Junterapten for the Panay game after three days of rest.
Nothing would stop them here from taking out the Panay.
There couldn't possibly be an obstacle (other than the fans) that would stop them.
Nothing.

---

3/3/2030
IAC22 - GROUP A - MD5
Stadejunterapten, Junterapten
EDSMONTIK VS PANAY ISLANDS & GUIMARAS

PRE-GAME
"So what happened?"
"I swiped him right off, and won that game easily."
"That's cool.
"What are you guys talking about?"
"Chess."
"Oh."
The Edsmons were stuck in heavy traffic.
Junterapten was pretty crowded, especially because of the upcoming Panay-Edsmon game.
The majority were Edsmons, but only by a bit.
Panay fans would definitely be celebrating wildly.
So the Edsmons fans would counter with their own wild intro-celebrations.
Soon, they hopped off.
Time to get started.

KICKOFF
"Der Vdes, icht ben, vitkoben, Stuero! vitkobben Bervaign! Reiber dict ver hober!"
The Edsmons were having a heck of a time chanting as their players entered the field, with flags waving high and instruments blaring the anthem.
A group of sax players even started joining in, playing Edsmon melodies.
The anthems were sung, and fans of each side chanted along.
After kickoff for the Panay was decided, the Edsmons began feeling the tension.
"It's going to be a tough match." Stuero noted.
Ricalde, the Panay star, stood at the ball ready for anything.

FIRST-HALF
*PUNT!*
Ricalde fired a pass to the right, where Tiu came in to dribble.
He circled around Rehcikt before losing the ball to Wejikaj.
The left-midfielder then drove forward before firing a left footed pass right to Bervaign.
Bervaign, who quickly received the ball, ran up and around the Panay midfield.
Using his footwork, he skilled past Angeles, and evaded Chiang.
From the right angle he now was at, he fired a cross...

But Panay defender Heo was just able to come in and deflect it out to Chiang.
With possession back, the Panay quickly spiraled forward, passing and attempting to outrun their opponents.
But the Edsmons held firm, with Reus Dalsen intercepting a missed dribble from Miguelito.
Fighting past the attackers, Dalsen quickly merged into the center and fired off a strong ball to the wing.
Front here, Reuhans received, and pushed forward to pass to Stuero.
The Panay, realizing the threat of Stuero, quickly came in to intercept, but footwork was all it took to beat them
Martin Stuero scraped alongt he edge, drifting past Nam and Rodriguez before flicking the ball right above Del Castro.
The Edsmon tore forward dribbling towards the center and passing to Zeukalmen.

Zeukalmen took two dribbles before reeling back and firing a powershot right towards Aldovino.
The ball scraped past Angeles, entering the penalty box.
But with a strong hand, Aldovino sent Zeukalmen's ball right into the post and out.
"Nice try, you almost got it." Stuero said, fist bumping Zeukalmen.
"Alright, whatever you say." Oddevre responded.
"That was a compliment you know."
"Oh."

As Chiang and Heo made some passes, the Edsmons prepared for what was to come.
The ball was punted out, and Ghreksbvy and Zeukalmen covered Ricalde.
Even with that, the Panay superstar drove right past both of them and made a deadrun for der-Zyfragken.
He slipped past both Shouzvenkreden and der-Suiozkeafter, flicked the ball use, and fired a clean shot into the corner...
But oh boy, der-Stoiuben was there to save the day.
He dived at the perfect time, instantly blocking the Panay shot and saving the Edsmons from conceding.
A corner kick would follow.

As the ball soared through the air, the Edsmons backed and shoved, they jumped and dived, but none of them got to the ball.
Instead, Chiang made a stop, was surrounded by der-Suiozkeafter and Zuekalmen, but passed right to Heo, who had a kind of clear shot on goal...
*TWEEET!!!*
The Panay fans booed as der-Suiozkeafter stood up, yelling at the referee.
He had slide tackled Heo, who was not slowly beginning to stand up.
A fight soon broke out, and Mavkrav receieved the first yellow card of the game.
der-Ghavyr looked out in disappointment as the Panay were now set up for a penalty.

der-Stoiuben tried to read Javier Ricalde, but it seemed impossible.
The youngster had no clear sight of where he was shooting.
The body language wasn't helpful either, Ricalde was calm as he backtracked.
*TWEET!*
The sound pierced the air and Ricalde fired.
der-Stoiuben dived right, but quickly realized his mistake as the ball came rolling down the center.

As he stood up, he watched as the Panay celebrated.
He felt guilty for not waiting a bit before diving, but he knew the Eagles knew better than to quickly blame him.
Elterhad watched as the Edsmons argued with der-Suiozkeafter, who soon saw the glowing number 32 in red and the glowing number 26 in green at the sidelines.
From there, he knew he'd killed off his team's trust.

The next part of the game went somewhat fine for the Edsmons, but they were more than just motivated to beat the Panayenses.
Stuero, along with Bervaign and Rehcikt drew up, receiving from the midfield line.
"Push!" Zeukalmen called from the center.
The Edsmons rushed forward, creating a passing pattern that drove the Panay off-track.
After a bit of passing, the three merged closer into the center, before Bervaign finally was ready to assist a finish.
Using his left foot, he collided with Heo for a flick, and kicked the ball right up for Stuero.
In the box, Stuero fought with Chiang, before dashing forward and slamming his right foot into the still falling ball.
*PUNT!*
The ball soared, screaming and cutting as it fell towards the net.
Aldovino dived, but it was too little too late for the Carabaos.

"GOALLLL!!!!"
Stuero ran, celebrating and sliding.
He did his iconic salute, before standing up and pointing to the fans.
Seeing this, the Edsmon fans erupted, shooting blue and white confetti.
They blasted their music. they waved their flags high, and they held their shirts up.
His team surrounded him, and they all chanted as they walked back.

Both sides would soon get more chances as the half closed down, with both Stuero and Ricalde shining the best.
But whatever was next to come would have to wait for the second half.

HALFTIME
der-Ghavyr was outside talking to der-Suiozkeafter.
Meanwhile, the other Edsmons were just chilling in their locker room.
Everyone was having a good time, just talking and watching game footage.
Soon enough, they hopped back out, ready for what was to come.

SECOND-HALF
The Panay's Aldovino was off for a veteran known as Ledesma.
It wasn't concerning, but the Edsmons have never played against this keeper, so they had no experience.
However, now they were starting.
Which gave them a great chance for a win.

Bervaign quickly kicked off, finding Rehcikt and running up.
The Edsmon tactic was simple yet hard to stop; the midfield controlled the ball until one of three attackers were open enough that they could be passed to.
Edsmon midfielders like Reuhans, Ystermakt, or Zeukalmen were especially good with this, which is why they're normally found in the center.
The Panay had seemingly caught up to it, but were having more trouble stopping it than they thought they'd have.
Zeukalmen, who had the ball now, fired a strong pass that looked towards Stuero- but was aimed for Bervaign.
The striker ran forward, catching the ball and simply dribbling past Martinelli and Rodriguez.
He then jolted forward, skipping simply past the first defender before getting brutally tackled from behind by Del Castro.

Bervaign slowly got up with the help of Stuero and Reuhans.
The Edsmon watched as Del Castro received his booking: a yellow card.
And he was carried off, limping.

"So early in the half, and already an injury." said the commentator, sighing.
The Edsmons were a little angry now.
Del Castro had just come from behind, and tackled Bervaign, not the ball.
IT was only a yellow card.
They were going to win the game for Bervaign now.
Shortly came Utravak, who replaced Bervaign.
"We gotta make it through the rest of the tournament with only you now Utravak." Stuero said. "Reiovus is injured, and you saw Bervaign. If you're injured, it's game over."
"Got it. I'll try to stay safe." Utravak said.

From pretty close to the box, up stepped Jervanois, ready to take the kick.
"You got this Vlakken." Reuhans said, patting him on the back.
With a few steps, the right-back fired the shot.
And the ball soared, curving to the left, towards the goal...

"CLEARED BY CHIANG! WHAT A STOP!"
Jervanois sighed, jogging back to his position.
Even with the fail, the Panay were nervous- the Edsmons could clearly win if they had the chance.
Or as they thought.

The Panay were instantly charging, taking advantage of the soaring ball.
Swerving past the slower defenders, they took off.
Ricalde sent a pass to Martinelli, who began his run while Travdt and Javarqa tried to chase him down.
But it wasn't enough, and the Panay midfielder flicked the ball right over der-Stoiuben.
Everything dropped into slow motion as the ball dropped and der-Stoiuben tried to turn around.
The Edsmons and Panayense were all sprinting, just trying to get to the scene.
Martinelli began cutting right, celebrating prematurely, but the ball was going in anyways.

As the game seemed to cut back into normal speed, the ball rolled into the back of the net and the Carabaos were in the lead.
Martinelli celebrated sliding down on the grass, and his team followed right behind.
The Panayense were loud- screaming type loud.
The Edsmons quieted down, but stayed hopeful as they knew it was only minute 60.

And soon, off came Javarqa for the much quicker Shouzvenkreden,
Right after, Off came Rehcikt for Svaardaen.
der-Ghavyr had wanted to bring on the quick and strong Fruedenne, but he was unsure.
So he decided to wait on it.
Soon enough, the Edsmons managed their own chance.

"Stuero's on the ball, running down here."
He cut into the center like every other time, but then cut back out.
He flicked the ball, crossing it inwards.
A header from Svaardaen happened, but the ball only deflected off of Ledesma.
The substitute Panay goalkeeper was not going to concede.

The next minute, the Panay attacked, but Edsmontik's Shouzvenkreden proved to be quick enough to take over and beat down his opponents.
The minute after, the Edsmons were up front, making their own attack.
A trade.
Then another.
The Edsmons needed a goal, now that it approached the 70th minute.
Eventually, Svaardaen would find Stuero far up the field, far enough for a beauty.

From the center, the forward launched the ball, sending it up to near the penalty box, where Stuero was.
Using his skillful footwork, Stuero caught the ball, spun around, and began dribbling right away,
And in a matter of seconds, he passed all three defenders, juked out the goalkeeper, and tapped the ball into the goal to secure Edsmontik the equalizer.

Just like that, it was 2-2, the Edsmons were ready to take over.
Off came Wejikaj for Fruedenne.
der-Ghavyr had one last thing he was going to do, but knowing Stuero, he'd rather finish his hattrick.

And so that's what he did, a damaging error in midfield by Nam, and out came Utravak with an interception.
He sent a curved through pass that skipped over the defense and right to Stuero.
With a quick dribble and a flick up, Stuero slammed the final ball right past Ledesma.
And that was it, minute 79, 3-2.
The Edsmons were ahead, and with Stuero now coming off for Fotserr, the new energy was needed to park the bus and blockade the Panay.

And eventually, the final whistle blew.
The Edsmons had not only beat their greatest rivals,
But had topped their group,
And finished without one single loss.
*TWEET, TWEET, TWEEEEET!*

POST GAME STATISTICS
(TBA, I'll have to make the stats for MD4 first, For the Great Cats Village, just know that the lineup will be the same as MD1 except Rehcikt is replaced with Svaardaen, Lankiv is in instead of der-Zyfragken, Bervaign is replaced with Utravak, and der-Suiozkeafter is replaced by Travdt.)

[Britonisea]

MD6 RP CUTOFF.

Note: All roleplays underneath this post will count as Day 7

[Britonisea]

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Matchday Six

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Official Sponsors of the Independent Associations Championship 22 in Britonisea...

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Match Results

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Aphrilia 1–0 Tergania
Delaclava 2–1 Crpostran
HUElavia 2–1 Schottia
Ile de Richelieu 1–0 Indusse
Edsmontik 2–1 Great Cats Village
Tanirinthia 2–4 Drawkland
Saterun 1–0 StrayaRoos Barrier Islands
Juvencus 2–2 Abanhfleft (3–2 AET)

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Quarterfinal Fixtures

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Note: There is a day break between the Day 18 matches (the last two Ro16 matches listed above) and Day 19.

Day 19
Aphrillia v Delaclava @ Stade Doportedas (75,000), Doportedas, 6pm
HUElavia v Ile de Richelieu @ Stadium Arebry (57,499), Telm City, 9pm

Day 20
Edsmontik v Drawkland @ Aloquirbe City Stadium (56,000), Aloquirbe, 6pm
Saterun v Juvencus @ Stadium Strata (80,000), Telm City, 9pm

[Calgasia]

Home of the Calgasian Sports

Farewell to Britonisea

Adlers are eliminated despite an encouraging performance

The Adlers, moments after their defeat 1-3 to Saterun that meant their elimination from IAC 22

This IAC 22 has had a lot of "first time" for the Calgasian Men's National Football team. The first championship, the first match, the first crushing defeat, the first win, the first blowout win... as well as the first glimmers of hope and ultimately, the first tears after the elimination.
The Adlers have left their mark in Britonish soil, with a distinctive style that has engaged both the nation and neutral fans from across the multiverse. The players can leave IAC 22 with their heads held high, knowing that they have played at their top level, and that there is an enormous potential for our young nation in multiverse sports and football. Now more than ever, Vorwärts, Calgasia!

"Obviously we didn't want to be eliminated, but we knew that going to the Round of 16 was more like a will rather than a real possibility, but overall I feel very happy with our performance, exceeding our own expectations. Being third in a difficult group demonstrates that this group can compete with everyone, and that we are in the good path to become a strong football nation in the multiverse. Now it's time to rest and enjoy a very deserved holidays, but we'll be back with new energies." said Coach Sedler to CRF Sport


Follow all the news about the Calgasian sports and teams in CRF Sport

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OOC
A warm thank you to Britonisea for carrying the weight of hosting this IAC 22
Thank you to Indusse, Saterun, Kronbia, Dhemixia and Safiloa, the rivals in Group E. It's been fun and very competitive. Best of luck to Saterun in their QFs
Thanks to all RP players, I had good fun reading (most of) your posts
See you in the stadiums around NS Sports!

[Taxhavn]

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Taxhavn 1-0 Schottia
Stoney Broke

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Despite an impressive win against the overall more impressive returners Schottia, Taxhavn are out. Zubi Zuberbuhler's late strike sent the boys home with a small comfort, but the complex array of results needed to keep a place in the tournament proved too much to hope for and time has run out the Taxhavnite campaign. Concentrate on the league, as they say.

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Reunion
Part 6/7: Head-The-Ball

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by Sports Editor Kit Samrodd

Roel Meganck to take the kick and the Veldts are stacking the box here, they sense an opportunity… Meganck lofts it in… Masschelin’s up… thunders in the header! Veldgouwen are back in the game! What a header… what a header!… there is no stopping Piet Masschelin there. 1-3 and game on!

In the early days of the Independent Associations Championship, and the heydey of the Bonesligg domestic competition in Bonesea, the average football weighed about 450g at kick-off, and more than twice that by the final whistle if it was a rainy Tuesday night in Skiveness when factoring in the water absorption rate of the leather used at the time.

Statistics for Piet Masschelin’s early career at his hometown club of Piershaven Club are hard to come by, but we do know he scored 138 goals in 225 matches for club and country before his transfer to SS Skiveness in Bonesea, at the age of 27. At the Boreal Island club he was an instant fixture in the first team and became a club and town legend. He played on until he was 38, another eleven seasons in which he was rarely off the team sheet, and accumulated an astonishing 264 goals in 372 appearances, making him the record scorer at the club and fifth overall in the long history of the Bonesligg. In total he played in 597 senior matches as a professional.

Beyond that, we have to start estimating. Let us assume around 20 matches per season in his youth years, and he was a bit of a late developer at his first club, so perhaps an additional six seasons in the youth team - 120 matches. Piet’s primary weapon was his head. He could leap like a gazelle, and head the ball like a cannon going off. He was a target man. In the first IAC final, he scored Veldgouwen’s only goal with one of his nine headers. In a recent study, strikers averaged 5.13 headers per match but let’s not forget that heading was Piet’s speciality; the median of the two figures, 7.065 multiplied by the number of games in youth and senior football comes out at approximately 5,065 headers over two decades.

Let’s try to factor in training, although it’s going to be very approximate data. We’ll go for two training matches per week, for thirty-eight weeks of a season, for twenty-six seasons including youth, at two-thirds the average number of headers compared to competitive games. That’s another 9,129 headers. And that’s without heading practice (something that doesn’t happen now, allegedly, although players still seem to be pretty good at heading the ball). So, lets say two header training sessions a week through his career, for a quarter hour each, perhaps one header every 10 seconds, six per minute. Doesn’t sound like an awful lot of practice to me. 177,840 headers. In total, Piet may well have headed the ball 192,034 times during his career. Add in a few seasons of coaching at SS Skiveness when he officially hung up his boots, and you are maybe looking at 200,000 headers.

… thunders in the header! … What a header… what a header!… there is no stopping Piet Masschelin there.

As it turns out, there is a way to stop Piet Masschelin. When we think of the acronym CTE, we usually think in terms of nation states - a catastrophic termination event. ‘Earthquakes, tsunamis, nuclear explosions,’ as I said in my opening post of this story, ‘invasions and annexations, zombie apocalypses, expired sell-by dates, irreality waves - you name it, history is littered with disasters so large that whole nations more or less sink beneath their cataclysmic impacts. Sometimes literally sink.’ What we rarely think about is the more personal CTE associated with ageing footballers like the Legend of Skiveness, Piet Masschelin - Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy; and the players that sink beneath its cataclysmic impact.

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Reunion
Part 7/7: Skiveness

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by Sports Editor Kit Samrodd

Is it wrong to be so immensely proud, in the present circumstances, that Evelyn Conjure - now in my estimation the multiversal GOAT and the hell with Simeone di Bradini or Laborious Hawk - takes my arm and allows me to escort her up the pier to where the ceremonial boat awaits its send-off?

Since we met in St. Bernadine City, in Taxhavn, nearly a year ago, we have been in regular correspondence about our trip back then, about revisiting the site of the first IAC final, and especially about our companion, her dear friend Piet Masschelin, and his struggle in the face of insurmountable odds against deteriorating brain injury. It would be a bit of a stretch - and vanity on my part - to say we have become close. Honestly I guess it is more a case that we have a shared experience, an intense one, that is hard to truly express to anyone else who wasn’t there.

Of course there was Jannes Masschelin, Piet’s son, who accompanied his father for what turned out to be a pretty challenging journey to the most southerly and most temporary of Boreal Islands. We take our place beside Jannes on the pier, exchanging brief and restrained hugs with him, his wife Elsa and their two young adult sons, Thijs and Piet Jr. Evelyn is clearly considered very much a part of this family, while I am here in an honourary position as Evelyn’s escort. Yes, whether wrong or no, I am immensely proud to be part of this, and to accompany Evelyn Conjure for the witnessing of one final journey.

Elsa of course is a native Boneswoman - or woman of Bonesea - who met Piet shortly after his transfer from Piershaven in his home country of Veldgouwen to SS Skiveness; and this is a thoroughly native Boney ceremony. Piet never went back to the country of his birth, took the ‘Oath of Fealty’ that is the rite of naturalisation for his adopted country, married here, became a local footballing legend, and later, a master bee-keeper.

It is a year since our tour of the hustle and bustle of the Taxhavn megapolis St. Bernadine. Out here, on the quiet pier in Skiveness, looking out across calm, misty Boreal waters, you can hear the lonesome corncrake’s cry, calling to us from sad shires, and you forget there is a world out there. A medicine man, almost a theatrical role for these modern-day a-viking types of Bonesea, recounts the comic stories of the ‘Shambolic tradition’, and there is a grim laughter at the fun poked at more sincere religious ceremonies. It is strangely cathartic. We sing a couple of sea shanties.

Other traditions are passed up for a more modern approach. No longer a sacrificial rower to take the funeral boat out into the water, soaked in flammable whale oil and about to be pelted by flaming arrows to start the immolation of the honoured warrior lying in state. Nowadays the boat is remote controlled, and an automatic ignition sets it alight when it has reached a certain distance. Health and safety and human rights. And yet still it is a powerful and dignified ceremony, the end of a great warrior, the Legend of Skiveness, aflame in the twilight, a reminder of his greatness. Evelyn grips me a little tighter. I don’t suppose I will see her again either. Unless we all meet up once more in Valhalla, or Wight Spit, or wherever the old warhorse is supposed to be going.

[Drawkland]

QUICKENDEN, BRITONISEA
It was time to put a plan into action. As the Kick Corps traveled to Quickenden for the first round of the IAC-22 playoffs, Jaxon Madison and Elias Keys formulated a plan. The rest of the Elite present helped a little bit, but this had been Eli's project from the get-go, and Jaxon was normally considered the authority figure, so his input was also necessary.

With a few days between their travel day and the actual Round of 16 game, the Kick Corps had time to burn in Quickenden outside their team practices. This provided plenty of time for the Elite to enact Phase 1 of the plan.

Elias Keys and Ross Hunter knocked on the door of Nicole Warren's hotel room. It was time for them to scan the keychain and see if there was really anything wrong with it. A few moments later, Nicole opened the door. Cam Cross and Sarah Arrowsword were also present, sitting in the chairs on the far side of the room.

"Hey! Fancy seeing you here!" Nicole said with a smile, though there was a clear bit of apprehension in her voice.

"Thanks for inviting us," Elias said cordially.

"Just like old times!" Ross exclaimed. The three of them had spent some time together in the weird post-immortality phase after Nicole had broken up with Mike. Ellzidan made Elias and Ross better acquaint themselves with Nicole in the meantime while the drama sorted itself out. Since Nicole was back with Mike, though, she'd been spending most of her time with him instead.

"Just like old times," Nicole agreed. "Come on in," she said, motioning the duo into the room. She silently pointed to the keychain, sitting prominently next to a pile of other junk on the desk in the corner of the room.

"Is there anything good on TV here?" Ross asked while he and Elias pulled out their phones and walked over to the desk.

"I don't know." Nicole found the remote and switched on the TV, but she was watching Ross and Elias the whole time.

"There's nowhere to sit," Elias whined, but his attention was on his phone. This was all part of the plan: in case the keychain was recording audio, they had to simulate a normal conversation to sound like nothing was amiss.

"There's an open seat right here!" Sarah pointed at her own lap, sitting in the desk chair a few feet away.

"Mmm, no, I don't think I will." Elias pointed at something on his phone screen, and Ross nodded silently.

"Desperation's not a good look on you," Ross added.

"That was uncalled for!" Sarah sputtered. "Just because we're pretend-uh, never mind." She caught herself before mentioning their plan.

"Whatever," Ross blew a raspberry, but again his full attention was on his phone screen. He and Elias had made a variety of gadgets together, most of which would attach to their phones for ease of use. The scanners they had were lighting up around the keychain. It was definitely doing something.

"Ugh," Elias groaned after a moment. "Jaxon just texted me."

"What did he say?" Nicole asked quickly. That was their code sentence for the verdict on the keychain.

"He says he wants to talk to us." Elias gave a meaningful look. "It sounds like he's at the hotel right now."

"Ah." Nicole felt a chill down her spine. That meant the keychain was picking up some sort of audio, and the signal was being sent somewhere inside the building. Whoever it was that was doing this, they weren't afraid of being close.

"Yeah, I think we're gonna have to bail." Ross gave one more check on his phone, and shook his head. "Sorry we were only here for a minute."

"Can we come with?" Sarah asked suddenly.

"Uhhh ... no." Elias answered, after a brief look at Ross. "I think Jaxon wants to talk Elite business. Nothing fun."

"Fine."

"Will you be back?" Nicole asked hopefully.

"Maybe." Ross shrugged. "I guess it depends on what Jaxon says."

"Alright, well just let me know." Nicole paused for a moment before adding, "Please."

---

The Elite Eleven were graciously allowed to view the Kick Corps practice that day. It seemed that the new manager Francesca Wells wasn't bullish on the idea, but there was this several-thousand-year-old elf on the bench who pleaded their case. So, the six attending members of the Elite (including Septimus this time!) were milling around on the sideline of the practice field in Quickenden.

A few of them were taking a passing interest in watching the team prepare. How would they rebound after their first loss of the tournament against an inferior side? Would the defense finally keep it together? Would they manage to overcome the depressing mentality of a shutout to prevail against a toougher opponent a few days later? From the sideline it seemed like the team was more motivated than before. Perhaps their "shock" run in the Cup of Harmony built a culture of resilience in the team. Or maybe it was all show. It's a lot easier to be confident in practice, after all.

The playoff match against Tanirinthia wasn't really on the minds of the Elite, however. Certainly not Jaxon or Elias, at least. The moment practice was over, it'd be time to brief the girls on Phase 2 of the operation ... hopefully without getting Ellzidan's attention.

The time came. Francesca Wells gave a final address to the team, and sent them along to enjoy the rest of the evening. As the players slowly peeled apart and started heading towards the locker room, the Elite contingent were joined by the four immortal members of the Corps.

"How'd you like the practice?" Cam asked pleasantly once they were in earshot.

"It was fun. Nice to see the differences in routine and drills and all that," Jaxon replied with a smile. He gave Cam a little peck on the forehead.

"Are we going to get a rundown now or what?" Sarah asked bluntly. Her patience was thinning, apparently. "I need to know the next move."

Ellzidan seemed occupied talking to Septimus for a moment, but she turned her head as Sarah spoke.

"Well ..." Jaxon hesitated, and accidentally caught Ellzidan's eye. So much for the idea of being inconspicuous. "Yes. We're thinking the best plan is to allow an intentional leak. Something we can track and verify. Something we know couldn't have come from anywhere else."

"So I'm going to have to keep carrying that keychain around?" Nicole asked. "This thing is stressing me out constantly and you want me to keep it?"

"You don't have to keep it forever. Just for the duration of the tournament," Elias clarified. "We can 'accidentally' let something slip, then we're good. If anything, once they have some 'information' from you, they may figure they got what they needed and stop bothering you."

"I doubt that." Cam narrowed her eyes. "If they're looking for info and get some, they're going to want to keep tugging at that branch."

"We'll handle this delicately." Jaxon insisted. "Nicole knows what to look for now, and she'll discreetly ditch the keychain once this trip is over. That threat is neutralized, and hopefully by then we'll be on the trail of whoever's doing this."

"So we're going to have to do another staged conversation?" Sarah groaned. "That was so annoying to deal with."

"Correction, Cam and Nicole will." Elias replied. "You almost blew it for us earlier today. Plus, we think maybe pretending to get a little drunk might make the conversation more believable. But Sarah not getting hammered would be unrealistic, and no offense Sarah, I don't trust you to stay in line with alcohol in your system."

"That's so unfair!" Sarah said indignantly. "When have I ever messed up a plan while drunk?" Several seconds went by without so much as a smile, implying that she was completely serious. This caused everybody else in the group to bust out laughing.

"Sarah, the fact that any of us are here right now is because you almost immediately spilled the beans about the Quest because you were drunk with your brother." Cam said between giggles.

"Oh shit, that was me, wasn't it." Sarah grimaced, realizing her error. After a moment of listening to everybody continue laughing she rolled her eyes. "Fine, Cam and Nicole can do the thing. I didn't want to anyway."

"Okay, okay." Jaxon nodded. "So we can discuss what information we want to have Nicole or Cam leak about their past or the quest or whatever just to see if it sticks to our little stalker. It doesn't even have to be true, honestly, just something unique enough that we know it came from the recorder."

"In the meantime, Elias and I will attempt to lock onto the signal of the receiving device." Ross shook the phone in his hand. "We'll see if we can track the perp back to Drawkland without giving ourselves away. Hopefully that's happening more than a week from now and not in 3 days, right ladies?"

"Oh, Tanirinthia is going down." Sarah smacked her palm with her other fist. The group started wandering back to the locker room, as the rest of the pitch was now empty.

As the group started to walk back, Jaxon lagged behind, thinking over potential avenues for their plan. He felt that getting Eli and Ross to follow the alleged listener was too much of a risk, but he didn't want the trail to dry up like it did after the Olympics. Stealth only goes so far if you can't advance your knowledge any further.

Jaxon held his breath as he noticed Ellzidan begin to fall back behind the rest of the group and fall in step with him. It wasn't going perfectly, but he felt he was handling the issue. He didn't want her help. He didn't want to have to answer to someone that perceived their authority being above his. At least Lerocav gave the impression of equals when they discussed this issue prior.

"And what sort of operation are you running right now?" Ellzidan asked quietly.

"Nothing that concerns you." Jaxon looked over defiantly but respectful. "Just a little snag the Elite have been dealing with. We've got it handled."

"I'd argue that involving my players makes it my concern."

"They're not your players anymore, you're not the manager."

"My teammates then." Ellzidan narrowed her eyes. "And mentioning that fact is not going to get you on my good side."

"It's a minor security thing," Jaxon insisted. "If you really care, you can go ask Lerocav about it."

"I prefer to avoid talking to that child whenever possible, so I'll pass." Ellzidan tilted her head. "And what does he have to do with this?"

"This is a ... long term project. Started during the Olympics." Jaxon pressed his lips together. "Accords business, or so he thinks."

"I see." Ellzidan turned her head sharply, flicking her braid around. "No matter. I happen to have a confidential project of my own that may begin shortly."

"Oh?"

"Nothing that concerns you," Ellzidan echoed. "Much more important than whatever silly drama you're entangled in. It's on a need-to-know basis."

"That's why you're telling me about it, I assume?" Jaxon raised his eyebrows.

"Certainly not." Ellzidan grinned. "Just wanted you to know that you're not the only one who can be annoying about things. See you around." With that, the elf trotted back to the main group, falling in step with her boyfriend Septimus.

"Could've been worse," Jaxon muttered. Now to hope the second phase would go off without a hitch.

[Delaclava]

Delaclava springs surprise on Crpostran, into IAC QF

DELACLAVA 2 — 1 CRPOSTRAN
Pavia 73' Vonn 90+2' | Hudson 58'
Tkachuk; Johansson, Crosley, Peterson, Nunez; Pavia, Artakian (Huszar 77'), Wright (St. Pierre 38'), Ty. Amundsen; Th. Amundsen (Korda 77'), Vonn

Jeremy Vonn's sixth goal of the tournament was his biggest yet, sending Delaclava over Crpostran 2-1 and into the Indepedents Cup quarterfinals in Burgendore, Britonisea.

The victory marks Delaclava's first trip to the regional quarterfinals since its third-place finish at IAC18, and is perhaps a welcome surprise for a team that has since seen middling World Cup results and a complete turnover in personnel. However, manager Vera Dohnanyi believes the outcome is well within the team's expectations.

"We opened very strong, then the bump in the road against Porotia, but it happens...Once we got past HUElavia, a very strong side, you start thinking ok, we have something here. IAC has many strong sides, and it became apparent pretty quickly that we are one of them."

Despite the Phoenixes' credentials, they had failed to take a point against Crpostran in three tries and currently rank below the Sapphire Strikers in both the World Ranking and IAC Ranking systems. But it quickly became clear that this would be the most even contest between the two sides, in a first half in which Delaclava slightly led possession and each side managed four shots on goal, all stopped by David Tkachuk and Hugo Dubois.

Even though it was Crpostran, thanks to a quick shot by Dominic Dubois, that would finally get on the board first in the 58th minute, the Phoenixes hardly looked rattled and continued to press forward. Their perseverance paid off when Delaclava won a corner kick; Simyan Artakian's service fell to the ground after neither Taag Johansson nor William Turner was able to cleanly play the ball. In the resulting scramble, the ball popped out to Johnny Pavia, who without a touch pushed it through the traffic and inside the left post, where Marco Santoro had abandoned his station just a bit too late. It was the 19-year-old's first international goal.

Despite the extra time lying ahead, both sides seemed intent on finishing the match inside the regular distance, and it was Crpostran who found themselves on the attack with time winding down. But when Johansson won a challenge from Alex Hudson, all hell broke loose the other way, with Johansson finding Tyler Amundsen and Amundsen tearing down the right side with nothing but space. He confronted Dubois himself, coming into the box before curling a hard shot that nicked the bottom of Dubois' glove and continued towards the net. Vonn, tracking with Amundsen all the way down the center of the field, won the footrace and tapped the ball into the net before celebrating with his team. Despite the Crpostranian protests, video review confirmed Vonn's onside position and the goal. Crpostran had barely kicked off to resume before the referee signaled the end of the match

Delaclava continues onward to face Aphrilia. The class of the group stage, Aphrilia were the only team to win all five games, including Crpostran and Adab, and earned a tidy victory 1-0 over Tergania. Elsewhere in Round of 16 action, Sonnel shone bright with Drawkland and Juvencus respectively defeating Tanirinthia 4-2 and Abanhfleft 3-2 AET to set up a potential semifinal clash; and a potential Delaclav rematch with HUElavia looms possible after HUElavia won 2-1 against Schottia.

Before any of that is possible, Aphrilia and its suffocating style will prove a tough test. But Vonn believed that the Phoenixes were more than up to the task, given the team's relative youth and proximity to its physical prime. "They have consistently improved, from what we gather. But we have so much talent, and so much chemistry right now. We have beaten champions and up-and-comers alike. There is nothing they can throw at us we can't handle; we just have to handle it."

[Saterun]

As the final whistle blew at Stadium Strata, Kameron quickly scribbled down his post-match thoughts. The Claws had been defensively solid again, having only conceded three times in the tournament, but they had failed to make an overwhelming amount of chances pay in a continually frustrating attacking performance. The sole goal that had pushed them over the line had been a Maksymillian Bates header early in the second half, although the scoreline didn't bely the dominance the Claws had managed. They kept their opponents to only two shots during the whole game, while racking up 12 shots and 59% possession for themselves. However, there was only one stat that mattered, and Kameron had to figure out a way to improve it.

Over in Quickenden, the Juvencus-Abanhfleft match had gone into extra time, meaning the Claws had to wait at least 30 minutes more to find out who they would play in the final. This continued the overall trend in the Round of 16, where only Drawkland's victory over Tanirinthia had been secured by more than one goal. The defenses were on top, at least for now, and Saterun was fully on that trend. While Kameron was glad that they were getting better defensively, he knew he had to bring back the attacking form Saterun had experienced early in his reign. He had kept Adrian Schlimme on the bench for this game, wanting to ease him back into the squad, but pretty soon he would have to start bringing the young striker onto the pitch. Although Kameron knew Adrian was unsure of himself, Kameron was quite confident of the player's abilities, having been on the receiving end of some goalscoring masterclasses in the A. Liga when Adrian's Mieteng City faced Kameron's Futsworth United.

The key seemed to be vitality. Thiago and even Ruben were tiring, and Maksymillian was more of a finisher than a creator. As Kameron walked into the dressing room, he knew he'd have to work something out between his forwards. Thiago, Ruben, and Maksymillian all deserved a spot in the starting XI, but there was definitely a possibility that Adrian would come on for one of them sometime later in the tournament. For now, he would continue to start Thiago and Maksymillian, especially against whoever they faced in the quarters. The squad was in generally high spirits once they got on the bus, although the forwards were noticeably more quiet. This dip in form was affecting morale, and the quicker Kameron solved it, the better.

By the time they had made it back to the hotel, Juvencus had managed to triumph over Abanhfleft in extra time. For the second tournament in a row, Saterun would face La Squadra in the quarterfinals. Saterun was technically the higher-seeded team, but Juvencus was ranked higher and had come out on top in their last encounter. It would be a real test of the Claws to get a result out of this one. Once Kameron had finished giving his players the classic "no partying" lecture, he returned to his room, where he would lock himself away for the next few hours. Although they still had three days until their testimonial against Juvencus, Kameron wanted to start working right away. Kameron had always thought that one of the largest contributors to his success as a manager was his love of the nitty-gritty tactical and match analysis, especially the finer data points that many coaches tended to ignore. For example, the data on the past match between the Claws and Juvencus showed an unusually large number of through balls conceded, suggesting that Juvencus were strong on the wings and tended to focus play down that side.

For about 2 1/2 hours, Kameron pored over match data and tactical decisions. He would continue to play his starting eleven, as none of them showed injury worry at this stage. The most important thing was keeping the chemistry between the starting players, as when they came together it could be beautiful. Finally, by around midnight, he decided it was time to sleep. Kameron was able to function pretty well on only about six hours, but he needed to be sharp for training tomorrow. Before he went to sleep, he quickly checked up with Lisa about Adrian. Kameron hadn't brought on the striker last game, and hadn't really had a chance to asses his mood. Lisa assured him that Adrian was all accounted for, and Kameron breathed a sign of relief. It looked like they had managed to make him stay.

The next morning at training, the squad was in high spirits. Nothing like the possibility of revenge to motivate a team. Kameron noticed all of the players visibly working harder, especially Leandro. In this game, nothing was certain, but if Leandro kept developing the leadership skills he had started to show, then he could be a decent candidate for the replacement of Hans-Jürgen Becker as captain, once the latter retired. Leandro was already the best Saterun right-back Kameron had ever seen, so his skill was no issue. He had already started to marshal the right side of the pitch, with his slight seniority over Crespo Antonsen having established an efficient chain of command. If Kameron was being honest, he was really excited by this team. They were just getting better and better, and the sky was the limit.

[HUElavia]

HUElavia 2–1 Schottia
(Uchee 18', 82' | Dobrescu 51')
Stade Doportedas, Doportedas, Britonisea

UCHEE THE ULTIMATE HERO!!!

Uchee scores a great brace to send HUElavia past a tough Schottia into the Quarter-Finals!

Once again, another Round-of-16 matchup awaited HUElavia. It was the 15th time, and 15th consecutive that Los Amarillos/Os Amarelos would be in the knockouts. This truly was the bare minimum expected out of any HUElavian team at this point. Despite the excitement to be among the 16 best in the Multiverse outside of the sporting regions, there's always the anxiety of a knockout match. Especially the case after 16 straight years of going out in the Last-16, having a 20 year wait until HUElavia would make it past that round that was being nicknamed "La Maldicion de Los Octavos." Coming into a resurging and youthful Schottia, one of the originals of the IAC, HUElavia would not be holding back. There was no need to underestimate their opponent. Coming out to a sold out crowd of 50-50 support, Coach Casillas' A-Team went out in full force looking to go for the win.

The match was of calculations and caution, as both teams were not looking to give the other a chance to open the scoring. Some chances from HUElavia's front three of Dias, Uchee and Milano would get to the reach of Smith, but the Schottian defense would stand strong and put in blocks and interceptions to stop HUElavian attacks. Schottia's front three of Aubach, MacAterick and Dobrescu would also try Ancel, but the young HUElavian goalkeeper would stay strong in the attacks and the HUElavian defense would also tighten up to prevent any chances from getting near goal. The opening goal would come in the 18th minute, when Coentrao-Nascimento was on the ball, taking on McReynolds, giving a pass to her left for Lobo to get the ball, where he gave a cross into the box, and Uchee was left alone to head the ball towards the diving reach of Smith into the goal making it 1-0. Uchee did The Cross and ran to the corner flag to dance and hug with his teammates while the HUElavian crowd erupted with joy and passion, spraying water, sodas and beer around in joy. Despite some attacks from Schottia, the HUElavian defense would buckle down and not allow the pressure and shots get to Ancel. At the half, it was 1-0 and still hung in the balance.

The second half saw Schottia attempt attacks and put more pressure to the HUElavians. Such persistence would pay off as in the 51st minute, bad pass from Kim towards Di Laura would be intercepted by Janke, who began to run towards the HUElavian defense, facing off against Alvarez and Lobo, before passing to her right to Dobrescu, who gave a one-time low shot past the dive of Ancel into the goal, making it 1-1. The Schottians in the crowd erupted in joy and passion, cheering at the fantastic play for the goal while Dobrescu hugged and celebrated with his teammates, especially with Janke for the smart interception and play to set up the goal. Coach Casillas barked orders while Alvarez would wave his arms up and down and clap his hands to motivate the team and the HUElavian crowd to keep putting pressure. HUElavia would attack, more and more, wanting to really give it to the Shottians. Evnetually, Mantovani would come in for Dias, Manco for Miyamoto and Dias for Kim in an attempt to bring fresh legs to the match. Pressure kept on mounting and mounting, but despite the attacks from Schottia, it was beginning to feel like HUElavia would capitalize. Such would happen, as In the 82nd minute, a pass from Dias would pin point to Uchee, who got past his marker in Woodman, to go one-on-one against Smith, putting a shot between her legs to roll into the goal to make it 2-1. The HUElavian crowd erupted once again, jumping and cheering with passion, making the stadium rumble, while Uchee did The Cross and was mobbed by his teammates and the bench for the great goal, in the end coming up to hug Dias and commemorate him for the fantastic assist to set up the right play at the right time. The Schottians began to really push forward and pressure more and more, but the HUElavian defense would block, including some of the midfield and attackers getting in on the defense. After 5 minutes of stoppage time, the referee blew her whistle and the HUElavian bench came onto the pitch to hug their exhausted teammates as they outlasted Schottia and advanced to the Quarter-Finals once again.

HUElavia will now face off against Ile de Richelieu, who came off a 1-0 upset over Indusse to advance. Coach Casillas was quoted saying "It was a tense and tough match, but this team proved they had the nerve and motivation to go out there for the win. Uchee especially, was just at the right place at the right time and he bailed us out once again with his scoring. We got a big game against Ile de Richlieu, and they're a strongand respectable opponent. We need to be on our A-Game, give it our best and go for the win. We still count on crowd support to help us play well." It's expected to be another 50-50 crowd in terms of support, but regardless, the players are motivated and seem to be loving the HUElavian crowd and public sympathizers present in their matches. Here's to what can eb another historic advance in HUElavian football.

FORCA HUELAVIA! VAMOS HUELAVIA! GO HUELAVIA!

[Aphrilia]

Aphrilia are in the quarterfinals. That is an achievement to say the least.

Considering what the team was aiming for, this definitely is a massive result. A simple and clean 1 - 0 victory against Tergania ensured that The Anchors would be in the final eight. The had made it further than last edition, and for them it was objective completed. But who says that The Anchors are finished here? They're in the quarterfinals for goodness sake.

Surely they can go further, just a bit more? Who knows, there's two rounds left until the final and any team can get there. There are a lot of doubts however. The Anchors have Delaclava's Phoenixes to face off against, and they are a much more prolific nation in football than Aphrilia are. Third place in the 18th edition of the Independents Championship and gold medalists in the Games of the V Olympiad. Yet despite their stature, despite the fact that Aphrilia have to look up in order to look at Delaclava, spirits remain high. Amongst many fans even more so, as they're hopeful that this team will bring a fight until the end.

"Aphrilia have gone up against the likes of Cabo Azure, Oberour Ar Moro, Elmyia, and Mertagne and put up a hell of a fight. We won against Farfadillis and Chromatika to survive our first ever World Cup Group Stage. What's being said here is that we've been against the odds before, and it was possible to win. It may be early to call it, but we should start seeing ourselves on equal footing against these household footballing nations." One fan commented on social media under the national team's post announcement of their match against Delaclava.

Another commenter said, "We'll just have to do 110% if they're expecting us to bring 100%, it's all about upping our game to an S Tier." Many comments showing that Aphrilians believe in this to be an opportunity and thinking that they can do this have been flooding online communities. Clearly, the country is in full support and hope that the team can go all the way.

Even some of the players had exclaimed their hopes for the remainder tournament.

"We've said it once, but, morale in the team is at an all time high. You see in videos of us training or being about and you can kind of tell the mood's great. Every team is in the final stretch here, and it's all about making it to the finish line. Everyone here is going to do their best to pull things through and make it all the way." Remarked Logan Campton, who has been one of Aphrilia's best performing players throughout the tournament as a whole. It always felt that he upped his ante ever since that match against The Kytler Peninsulae.

Even the captain himself, Nathaniel Rosberg, had a few things to say. "I'm personally really happy we were able to reach this point in the first place. But there is somethin that the fans are eyeing for, which is what we'll do our best to achieve. If our journey ends here, we can say that it was quite the successful tournament. But if we can go all the way, well, what's the harm in doing so? Only good awaits us if we end up reaching that pinnacle, so we'll do our utmost."

We'll just have to see how it all ends up panning out.

APHRILIA 1 – 0 TERGANIA
GOALS / BOOKINGS
Nathaniel Rosberg (41')
Amelia Haze -- (55')
Kevin Lacey -- (78')

APHRILIAN SUBSTITUTIONS
Stewart, Rosberg OUT / Forrestal, Lacey IN (HT)
Haze OUT / Christonson IN (55')
McPraxley, Campton OUT / Roberts, Brentford IN (79')

[Juvencus]

OOC: Harsh topics are part of this roleplay, more sensitive readers are advised NOT to read this for your sake and mine. Love you <3

The Second Great War of Unification(1876-1892)

Juvencus is a land where multiple languages are spoken but this was not always the case. For the Unionists' ideology a continuation of the Pomen Empire had to be established and proven to the masses. While there were obvious propaganda tactics in each region that managed to follow the ideology, in real terms the linguistic groups had been woven through thousands of years of seperation with the only similarity being some mutual intelligibility especially in more frontier areas. This mutual intelligibility was enough to be used in propaganda as proof of oneness in Juvencus. Besides that, the common religion of the inhabitants was also commonly used, as liturgical language has been the same everywhere.


View of Duoma ~Circa 1880s

Chapter 28: Push to Santo Domenico - Battle of Duoma (February 3rd-7th, 1892)
"A man can only feel sufficient once he sees his homeland united, otherwise a gap in the heart will remain until the end of his life." ~Unknown soldier's journal, ~1890s

To defeat the Scudellois and remaining Independentists, the plan was to move troops simultaneously and surround Scudelli itself as fast as possible and finish the war. The liberation of Santo Domenico was paramount to the plans of the Juven. This ally to the cause had been under harsh Scudellois occupation for the last 11 years. This included massacres every so often in many villages, like Grotto, Medena and Fuoritanto. Mass rapes were also included especially in Vinceti, as many women had been brutalised by the harsh Scudellois troops occupying the area in an attempt at ethnic cleansing and population replacement. The inhabitants were at a major disadvantadge as any and all rebellions were crushed with major repercussions.

Duoma had been the site of many such rebellions, as such the once-bustling village of 4,000 people had its population halved as the majority of the men and boys aged 12 and up had been massacred as well as any women which resisted rape. A strong force of Scudellois was stationed in the village which is not too far away from Cuori. Its position in a hilly region gives it a major defensive advantadge against any opponent and to capture it the Scudellois had many losses in the first place.

Fortifications around the village were built in such a way that movement of any troops would be arduous for any invasive force and nearly impossible to penetrate without the support of artillery, which artillery was hard to carry around in those conditions. As such the first day of fighting was done without artillery fire in a rushed combat setting as the defenders opened fire first, not letting the Juven set up and catching them off-guard.

This would result in many casualties for the Juven in the first day of combat, without any significant advancement. The second day would become easier as the support of minimal artillery fire would still manage to create some gaps in the Scudellois defence which would lead into hand in hand combat in the south side of the village. However, without any major breakthrough this progress would be superficial at best. It would be a bit of a confidence booster.

The rest of the week would have similar outcomes, as bit by bit there would be gaps in the Scudellois defence which eventually would be taken advantadge of by the 7th of February 1892. The most major artillery fire to date in this battle would break through thick Scudellois fortifications on the eastern side of the village and a big combined force of some Uhlaner cavalry and infantrymen would be able to defeat the Independentist force of the village by the end of the day, as they would be forced to surrender the village.

A major victory for the Juven as they can finally hold on to the new possessions without this headache over their heads and push towards Santo Domenico and eventually Scudelli in peace.

Battle Outcome: Major Juven victory!

The Juven State: 75,000 troops(both battles), 7,650 casualties(Cordoba), 1,345 casualties(Duoma)
Independentists: 55,000 troops(both battles), 11,500 casualties(Cordoba), 1,000 casualties(Duoma)

[Edsmontik]

OOC: RPs are going to be MUCH shorter due to my limited time as well as my class projects.

ENTERING QUARTERS, EDSMONS MIGHT HAVE A CHANCE
LIVE ON ISN NOW

They flew right past the Panayense on the last matchday.
They gained second in total for highest points scored.
And they're here, with a large number of injuries.
Reiovus, Bervaign, Wejikaj, and der-Suiokzeafter staying off until he learns how to not give up a penalty.
With the now approaching round of 16, will they survive the Great Cat's Village, or fall downhill in an upset?
We just have to find out.

---

3/7/2030
IAC22 - Ro16
Stadium Arebry, Telm City
EDSMONTIK VS GREAT CATS VILLAGE

PRE-GAME
8:00PM.
The Edsmons had just left their motel in Telm City and were headed right for Stadium Arebry.
The motel was fairly large; hallways that were wildly confusing, which lead to a few lost folks.
But otherwise, the Edsmons thought it was a beautiful place.
Everyone was crowded onto the slightly smaller bus, which was slowly taking them through traffic to the stadium.
They were tired; they'd been on the bus for about half an hour already, and they'd barely moved a block.
Traffic was horribly tight.
"I should have taken the roads." the driver said. "didn't realize the highways were this jammed."
Everyone could agree.

KICKOFF
After arriving about fifteen minutes from kickoff, the Edsmons got right to work with their warmups, discussing plans and making sure everyone was ready.
Now, they were on the pitch, ready for the battle.
Great Cats Village was an unranked team and showed that in barely scraping through to the knockouts on nine points in third.
But that was still pretty impressive.
The Edsmons would have to tear through these guys for a spot against either Drawkland or Tanirinthia.
Utravak, standing at the ball, was trying to make sure he wasn't seeing things.
These were not humans, these were cats.
Humanoid cats.
Utravak thought when he was invited to join the NSSport world with Edsmontik that he'd face off against humans.
But he just kept thinking he was dreaming and decided to move on.
The whistle sent waves blaring across the field.
And with a strong foot, he sent the ball right to Maartin Stuero.

FIRST-HALF
Stuero, receieved, took a run, and charged quickly towards the wing.
He scraped past a few cats, flicking the ball around and sort of shoving them out of his way.
It was unusual that non-humans can compete, but he had to deal with it.
As they said, rules were rules.

He kept going, chopping past the Cats' midfield and moving to the center.
From there, he lay a pass to Utravak, who dragged the ball away from each player.
As he dribbled, he turned the ball and flicked it up.
The more practice he put into that trick, the better he'd do it.
Like Stuero had told him.
So he kept flicking, turning, and dribbling as the cats chased him.
He fired a pass right, and from there, Svaardaen fired a powershot to the right corner...
*PING!*
The ball smashed into the crossbar, causing it to vibrate almost uncontrollably.
Unfortunately for the Edsmons, GCV goalkeeper Grobenyaar picked it right up.

The Edsmons, you could say, were biased.
Very, very biased.
They were on the side of everything "Normal" however you would describe it.
Politically, and in life.
Something genuinely disgusted Edsmon fans, even though the media had specifically explained to them to "not act weird around other species."
But hey, they didn't listen.
Or they forgot.

What followed after the cats touched the ball was a mid-loudness "boooo."
Aespana looked up from the bench and sighed.
"Fans will be fans." he told Fotserr, who was sitting next to him.
"They definitely will." Fotserr replied.
The Edsmons were harsh on the cats; the pushed, pulled, and intercepted everything.
In the back, the Edsmons made sort of a wall, which the Cats had no problem failing to get around.
So they kept going.
Pushing, pressuring, and shooting.
The Cats had essentially no chance.
Minute after minute though, bad luck just kept consuming the Edsmons as each post and crossbar made them all most frustrated.
Until finally there was a light.

No, an actual light.
As Stuero drove down the side of the field, a laser pointer got right into his face.
"Some jerk probably disguised it as a pen." he thought.
But he quickly fired the ball to his left, where Utravak headed it right to Svaardaen, who passed it back to Ghreksbvy...
*PUNT!!*
It felt as if the sound barrier had been broken (it had not) as Ghreksbvy fired the ball.
As it soared through the air, it slammed right into the back of the net and almost ripping past it.
His volley left both teams and commentators speechless.

"YEAHHH!"
And with that, the silence was broken.
The Edsmons raced to celebrate, as Ghreksbvy finally saw his first goal of the tournament.

The goalscoring stopped abruptly though, as once again the bad luck blocked out the Edsmons.
Shot after shot, each ball kept ripping into the crossbar or post.
And once again, the frustration levels grew.
Not in one game had they ever missed as many shots as this.

Soon, the half closed down.
But all was still tense.

HALFTIME
"You guys need to loosen up, I get that you're all angry, but we can't stay mad because we'll only mess up more."
There was probably no happiness in that room.
Even one nil up, the Edsmons had expected more.
They missed so many chances that would have probably sent them to 5-0 by this time.
With a sigh, der-Ghavyr continued speaking.
"If you guys are going to stay mad forever, you won't be getting anything done. It's tough, but you have to deal with it. Get back out there, and show us what you guys got."

SECOND-HALF
The Cats started off this time, creating quick passes to try and lure the Edsmons.
Cats did attack birds, after all.
Over the first few minutes, everything was calm, with the Edsmons playing defensively and only choosing certain moments to attack.
But the fans and players knew alike what was going to happen.
The Great Cats Village would be in for a treat later.

As more minutes ticked away, the Edsmons slowly got more attacking.
The front three began driving father up, and they were slowly relying less on the midfield.
Seemingly noticing this, the cats began to fall into defense but not before it was too late.

In the 57th minute, up came the three, and this time, they weren't circling back, but now they were pushing.
Usingt eh support of the midfield, they pushed until the penalty box, where they began to fire passes.
Stuero sent a through to Utravak, who fired a quick lob to Svaardaen.
An exchange of passes between Svaardaen and Stuero, and then...

*PUNT!*
"Svaardaen's shot is soariINGG!!! WHAT A GOAL!"
2-0.
The Edsmons just had to hold this lead.

Shortly after, the cats started off desperate.
They fought the Edsmons; pushing deep behind the lines.
They tried breaking the defense, but failed many times.
Even so, they kept trying.

Rain soon began pouring, and even then, they fought.
Nothing was to stop them.
The Edsmons pushed too, fighting and hoping for another goal.
The fans were screaming, singing, holding up flags and signs.
And as the minutes ticked, the Edsmons knew their victory was coming.

Soon, off came Fruedenne and Stuero for Aespana and Fotserr.
"Great game Martin." called out Shouzvenkreden.
"It was alright. We could have done better." he replied.
"Hey, you scored though. We're 2-0 up in the 70th minute, nothing could go wrong."
"If you say so. But that's not what I'm talking about."
"Then what's bothering you?"
"I don't even know. My fatigue? After that K-Cup injury I've never been the same.
"We're like brothers. You'll get better soon. You're in your prime anyways.
"I guess."

But things turned as a slip the in the wet grass by Travdt let the GCV striker through for a chance.
Lankiv quickly moved in, reaching his arms out.
The striker moved the right, being quickly followed by Lankiv.
But the wet grass caught him just like Travdt, and he slipped into a bad position.
And just like that, the ball slammed into the left side of the net, away from Lankiv.
The Edsmons had fallen down the cliff.

Less than 10 minutes later the final whistle blew, and the Edsmons, feeling more fatigued than ever, tiredly celebrated their 2-1 win and advance to the quarters.
*TWEET, TWEET, TWEEEEET!*

POST-GAME STATS
(TBA, I'm seriously behind on these, for MD4 until I get knocked out, there won't be offsides, yellows, reds, goals, subs and that stuff listed, just a picture and the lineup.)