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World Cup 99 - RP Thread

A battle ground for the sportsmen and women of nations worldwide. [In character]

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Farfadillis
Minister
 
Posts: 2417
Founded: Feb 26, 2012
Liberal Democratic Socialists

Postby Farfadillis » Sun Jun 22, 2025 12:19 pm

La algarabía llenó cada rincón de cada pueblo, grande o chico, feo o lindo, comunista o fascista, de Farfadillis. La selección lo había logrado, estaban en octavos de final. No era cierto nominalmente; recién habían quedado segundos en su grupo y se había terminado de determinar la llave para el resto del mundial. Pero les había tocado Drawkland. Era un trámite. Iban a ir, escuchar un himno (Farfadillis no tiene uno por no ser una entidad política en ningún sentido de la palabra; usualmente se reemplaza la sección de su himno con una canción de pop del momento para que la federación gane plata), jugar un rato al fútbol y ganar 6 a 1, 5 a 0 o algo parecido. No tenía mucha ciencia la cosa. Siempre salían así los partidos contra estos tipos azules.

Yuan Zilai, por su parte, al borde de la renuncia a su cargo hacía ya una década, y completamente harto con la impredictibilidad de las reacciones de sus jugadores ante literalmente cualquier noticia, se encontró ante la nada envidiable tarea de tener que lidiar con una reacción que sí era predecible: casi todos sus jugadores daban por hecho que se la iban a dar con Ko-oren (o, capaz, TJUN-ia) en octavos. "Tranqui, poné a los pibes," le dijo Türrângel, de los más veteranos del grupo, cuando se lo topó en el entrenamiento. Le dio un golpecito amigable en la espalda de esos que hacían que el ya endeble por la edad Yuan quedara adolorido por unos días. "Turrângel contra Drawkland no juega," anotó mentalmente.

Mientras iba encaminándose hacia círculo central para reunir a los guachos, ya la vio venir bastante negra: estaban repartiéndose chistes sobre Drawkland. Casi todos demasiado repugnantes como para reproducir en este texto. Hasta los jugadores más serios parecían estar capturados por esta estupidez generalizada: Jáánsêlà, siempre un buen tipo, muy centrado, contó que había empezado a analizar a Ko-oren y TJUN-ia. El único que parecía estar haciendo las cosas bien era Robineau, que estaba practicando patear al arco sin abrir la boca. "Qué andás, míster?" Le iban diciendo a medida caminaba hacia el Szoirsiano. Le interesaba saber si también estaba con ideas estúpidas en la cabeza.

"Che, Dénes, decime una cosa," arrancó Yuan.

"Decime, Yuan," le respondió el delantero.

"Estás concentrado para el partido con Drawkland? El resto se lo está tomando pa la joda."

"Por supuesto. Estoy enfocado en meter seis o siete goles. No voy a tener piedad alguna por más ganado que esté el partido."

Yuan sacudió la cabeza, suspiró, y decidió dejarla por ahí. Al menos Dénes iba a estar enfocado con esa mentalidad. En cualquier caso, rápidamente lo distrajo el cántico que arrancó a escuchar desde el grupete de los jugadores más jóvenes. Un canto farolerano típio, atacando a los rulandeses, modificado para hablar sobre Drawkland.

"En el mundito de Drókland, son virgazos azulados," arrancaba la canción. "Bueno, es cierto," pensó Yuan, tratando de verle algún ángulo lúcido a la mentalidad de sus jugadores.

"Primer nene a los ochenta, no me jodas, son clonados," continuaban. Yuan se rió un poco. Era un arranque normalcito para lo que podría haber sido. "De última, si entran faltándole el respeto al rival de la manera correcta, no pasa nada," racionalizó.

"Miden seis o siete metros, seis o siete comen siempre," seguían. Era cierto, siempre les llenaban la canasta. Seis o siete no estaba lejos de ser verdad si de goles hablamos. Pero no quería que entraran así de confiados.

"Gritan, lloran, por un himno que escuchamos falopeados," terminaban el verso. "No, no, admitir abiertamente el consumo de estupefacientes es subóptimo desde el punto de vista de las relaciones públicas. Esto va a ser todo un drama," empezó a pensar Yuan. Pero rápidamente frenó el pensamiento. "Pará, somos Farfadillis. No existe escándalo que empeore nuestra reputación." Sintió un alivio. Recordó que nada de lo que fuera hacer iba a importar demasiado.

"Hay que matarlos a todos, mamá, que no quede ni un drokiano," seguía predeciblemente el canto. Aclamar por genocidio era una consecuencia natural del canto (recordemos, dirigidos a los rulandeses) que estaban copiando. No podía esperar mucha creatividad ahí. Solo esperaba que la incipiente multa no les implicara un hotel todavía peor equipado si llegaban a ganarle a Drawkland. "No da la plata para algo mejor," ya podía escuchar a Tuskoles afirmarle mientras Lithico™ seguía haciendo negocios multimillionarios instalando redes eléctricas en otros países y vendiendo litio a un precio de mercado imbatible.

"Hay que matarlos a todos, mamá, que no quede ni un drokiano," repetían los jugadores. "Bueno, podría ser peor. Que se entretengan los gurises. Al menos no se están diciendo estas cosas entre sí," pensó. La canción realmente era liviana. Había escuchado infinidades de cosas mucho peores, mucho más racistas, en las últimas dos semanas, ni que hablar los últimos diez años.

"En el mundito de Drokland," los escuchó continuar, esperando una repetición de la canción al pie de la letra.

"[CENSURADO]" continuaron. "No," pensó Yuan. "No, no, no, no, no."

"[MÁS CENSURADO]" continuaba la canción. Empezó a gesticular desesperadamente. Esto se había recontra ido de las manos. "Frenen, frenen hijos de putas, ¡¿cómo van a decir eso?!"

"[IMPOSIBLEMENTE CENSURADO]" continuaron sin chistar. Yuan se vio obligado antes semejante violación de los más sagrados fundamentos de la esencia humana (o Drawkiana) a atacar a sus propios jugadores. Enfiló y de una le pegó flor de voleo a Donato Trigueros, el pendejo que iba dirigiéndolos.

"[TODAVÍA PEOR, CENSURADO]" continuó el resto casi sin chistar. "¡Aguantá, aguantá!" Le gritaba Donato a Yuan, que resulta que, a pesar de su edad y tamaño, sí era más fuerte que el puntero Farolerano. Yuan no paró, se la siguió dando. Los jugadores se vieron obligados a parar de cantar y frenarlo. Terminada la escaramuza, Donato estaba todo ensangrentado. Yuan estaba sacado de sí.

"[CENSURADÍSIMO]" le gritó a Donato mientras lo separaban.

"Míster, no puede decir eso. Tiene que tener cierto nivel de decoro," le increpó Nerianeknoé Ócandefé, el más racista del grupo.

Lo que había escuchado había sido demasiado. "A vos también te la voy a dar pedazo de hijo de puta, ¡mirá que [EXTREMADAMENTE CENSURADO]!" Le gritó antes de volarlo de una piña. Seco en el piso quedó. "Alguien más va a cantar?" Preguntó, desafiándolos.

Ninguno dijo que sí. "Váyanse a la mierda o los mato a todos," continuó el míster. Se fueron, shockeados.

A los segundos se había acercado José Baliñas, que no había andado cantando por haber estado dibujando caricaturas racistas sobre rulandeses y drawkianos. Le puso el brazo alrededor del cuello, cual abrazo lado a lado. "Míster, cada día aprende más a imponerse. Inspira un cierto respeto, ¿sabe? No cualquiera se anima a preguntarle a Dénes Robineau en qué anda pensando."

Yuan optó no responder nada.

"Ah, y creo que alguien va a tener que levantar a Ócandefé, no?"

"Dejalo tirado, ya se va a levantar el muy [CENSURADO]," respondió finalmente el técnico.

Ӿ Ӿ Ӿ Ӿ Ӿ

Parte médica de la FFFF:

Se comunica que por lesiones adquiridas durante un enfrentamiento con un hombre de Yuezhou que no ha podido ser identificado, Donato Trigueros y Nerianeknoé Ócandefé se perderán el partido de dieciseisávos de final contra Drawkland. Esto no importa mucho porque vamos a ganar por goleada igual.

Joy filled every corner of every town, big or small, ugly or pretty, communist or fascist, of Farfadillis. The national team had done it — they were through to the round of 16. Technically untrue; they had just finished second in their group and the knockout bracket had just been finalized. But they were set to face Drawkland. It was a formality. They were going to show up, listen to one anthem (not two; Farfadillis doesn’t have one, as it isn’t a political entity in any sense of the word; the anthem section is usually replaced with a current pop hit so the federation can make money), kick the ball around for a bit, and win 6–1, 5–0, or something along those lines. Nothing too complicated. Matches against these blue guys always went like that.

Yuan Zilai, for his part, on the verge of resigning for the better part of a decade now, and thoroughly fed up with the unpredictability of his players’ reactions to literally any news whatsoever, found himself faced with the unenviable task of handling a reaction that actually was predictable: nearly all his players assumed they’d be facing Ko-oren (or maybe TJUN-ia) in the round of 16. “Relax, play the kids,” said Türrângel, one of the squad’s veterans, when they crossed paths at training. He gave him a friendly pat on the back — the kind that left the already frail Yuan sore for days. Türrângel isn’t playing against Drawkland, he noted mentally.

As he made his way toward the center circle to gather the lads, he could already sense how bad things were going to get: they were swapping jokes about Drawkland. Most too revolting to be reproduced here. Even the more serious players seemed swept up in the generalized stupidity: Jáánsêlà, normally a good guy, very grounded, mentioned he had started analyzing Ko-oren and TJUN-ia. The only one seemingly doing the right thing was Robineau, who was practicing shooting without opening his mouth. What’s up, coach? they kept asking him as he approached the Szoirsian. He was curious to see whether he, too, had dumb ideas in his head.

“Hey, Dénes, tell me something,” Yuan began.

“Go ahead, Yuan,” replied the striker.

“Are you focused on the Drawkland match? The rest are treating it like a joke.”

“Of course. I’m focused on scoring six or seven goals. I will show no mercy, no matter how easy the match is.”

Yuan shook his head, sighed, and decided to leave it at that. At least Dénes seemed focused with that mindset. In any case, he was soon distracted by the chant breaking out from the group of younger players. A typical Faroleran chant, originally aimed at the Rulandese, now reworked to target Drawkland.

"En el mundito de Drókland, son virgazos azulados," the song began. “Well, that’s true,” thought Yuan, trying to find a sliver of lucidity in his players’ mindset.

"Primer nene a los ochenta, no me jodas, son clonados," they continued. Yuan chuckled a bit. Fairly tame, all things considered. “If anything, if they go in disrespecting the opponent the right way, it’s no big deal,” he rationalized.

"Miden seis o siete metros, seis o siete comen siempre," they went on. Also true — they always stuffed their net. Six or seven wasn’t that far off in terms of goals. But he didn’t want them going in that overconfident.

"Gritan, lloran, por un himno que escuchamos falopeados," closed the verse. “No, no, openly admitting drug use is suboptimal from a public relations perspective. This is going to be a disaster,” Yuan began to worry. Then he cut himself off. “Wait, this is Farfadillis. No scandal can actually damage our reputation.” He felt relief. Nothing they did would really matter anyway.

"Hay que matarlos a todos, mamá, que no quede ni un drokiano," the chant went on, predictably. Calling for genocide was a natural continuation of the chant (remember, aimed at the Rulandese) they were copying. He couldn’t expect much originality there. He just hoped the upcoming fine wouldn’t result in an even worse hotel if they actually beat Drawkland. “There’s no money for anything better,” he could already hear Tuskoles telling him while Lithico™ kept raking in multimillion-dollar contracts to install electric grids abroad and sell lithium at unbeatable prices.

"Hay que matarlos a todos, mamá, que no quede ni un drokiano," the players repeated. “Well, could be worse. Let the kids have fun. At least they’re not saying this stuff to each other,” he thought. The song was really pretty tame. He’d heard far worse — and far more racist — things in just the past two weeks, let alone the past ten years.

"En el mundito de Drokland," he heard them continue, expecting a full repeat of the chant.

"[CENSORED]" came next. “No,” thought Yuan. “No, no, no, no, no.”

"[MORE CENSORED]" the song kept going. He started gesturing frantically. This had spun completely out of control. “Stop, stop you motherfuckers, how the hell can you say that?!”

"[IMPOSSIBLY CENSORED]" they sang without hesitation. Yuan was left with no choice. Faced with such a gross violation of the most sacred foundations of human (or Drawkian) decency, he had to physically attack his own players. He stormed over and delivered a powerful uppercut to Donato Trigueros, the kid leading the chant.

"[EVEN WORSE, CENSORED]" the rest continued, barely reacting. “Hold on, hold on!” Donato yelled at Yuan, who, despite his age and size, was stronger than the Faroleran winger. Yuan didn’t stop. He kept hitting him. The players had to step in to restrain him. When the scuffle ended, Donato was bloodied. Yuan was out of control.

"[EXTREMELY CENSORED]" he yelled at Donato as they pulled him away.

“Coach, you can’t say that. There has to be a certain level of decorum,” scolded Nerianeknoé Ócandefé, the most racist guy on the team.

What Yuan had just heard had been too much. “You too, you piece of shit, I’ll fucking [EXTREMELY CENSORED] you!” he screamed before flooring him with a punch. Dropped cold. “Anyone else feel like singing?” he challenged.

No one did. “Get the fuck out of here or I’ll kill you all,” the coach continued. They left, stunned.

Seconds later, José Baliñas came up to him. He hadn’t been singing because he was too busy drawing racist caricatures of Rulandese and Drawkians. He threw his arm over Yuan’s shoulder. “Coach, you’re really learning to assert yourself. Inspires a certain respect, you know? Not everyone has the balls to ask Dénes Robineau what’s on his mind.”

Yuan didn’t respond.

“Oh, and I guess someone should go help Ócandefé up, right?”

“Leave him there. He’ll get up eventually, the fucking [CENSORED],” the coach finally answered.

Ӿ Ӿ Ӿ Ӿ Ӿ

FFFF Medical Report:

We inform that due to injuries sustained during an altercation with an unidentified Yuezhou man, Donato Trigueros and Nerianeknoé Ócandefé will miss the round-of-32 match against Drawkland. This doesn’t matter much, as we’re going to win by a landslide anyway.
The Outlandish Lands of Farfadillis Ӿ Population: 20,814,000 ± 11,186,000
Capital: not applicable Ӿ Demonym: Farf, plural Farves
Shango-Fogoa Premier League (wiki) Ӿ Farfadillis national football team Ӿ Map of Farfadillis Ӿ Name Generator

Champions: World Cup 84, AOCAF Cups 43, 48 and 57 and ARC 5
Hosts: World Cups 85, 91 and 101, Baptisms of Fire 54, 68 and 78, AOCAF Cups 38, 60 and 67 and ARCs 1 and 5

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Kelssek
Minister
 
Posts: 2940
Founded: Mar 19, 2004
Inoffensive Centrist Democracy

Postby Kelssek » Sun Jun 22, 2025 12:28 pm

"And so final whistle in Hoima, it's finished a 2-2 draw between Kelssek and Saterun. Here with all the analysis in our G/S World Cup studio former Kelssek internationals Cassie Mrythe and Thomas Brodif, as well as Patriotes Cup winning coach Victor Clinton are joining us..." After the first match against Doubeia the studio panel were quiet and muted, still processing a sense of shock. This time everyone was annoyed and itching to say something.

Cassie Mrythe got in first. “We took the lead and it’s like, everything is fine. They just sat back. You can’t ever do that, you have to keep control of the game. We never got control of that game. Even in that 3-0 win we looked like we’re going to gift Chromatika a goal at any moment the whole time. I can’t stand–”

Thomas Brodif jumped in at the slightest hint of a pause. “Obey Chidiebere has got to sort this out, because against the world’s top teams -”

“...how disorganized we look out there!”

“ - if he doesn’t sort it out... someone has to take responsibility and leadership. This isn’t going to survive a test against a more elite team that has its s... its stuff together.”

Moe, nominally the panel’s anchor, tried to assert responsibility and leadership. “Ok, a lot of good points there. I think it seems that the panel thinks Kelssek suffered from a lack of...”

“Yes. Lack of communication...”

“Can we... can we...” Moe tried steaming ahead. “Let’s look at the goal where Saterun equalized for the first half to make it 1-1...”

“Yeah. Lack of communication. It’s...” Cassie began. Victor had been quite until now and cut in, pausing the replay where it had appeared on a screen in the studio. “Why is there all that space there? Iain Vergland and Titan Pogbacar each doing their own things here. Kaiden Pepin is lost upfield... and he’s the captain, so you have to be all around the play or you can’t be captain.”

The camera caught Cassie Mrythe, who had been Latrobe captain as a goalkeeper, giving a side-eyed look of befuddlement. They moved to the G/S exclusive TACTICS MEGATRON.

Moe visibly flinched as Thomas jabbed the very expensive large touchscreen with his finger to draw a circle around Titan Pogbacar and a few arrows. “This space here is where the midfield have left themselves all isolated, and I don’t know why the defensive line is in the opposite half.”

“I think Kelssek were on the attack at this point...”

“If you’re the defender, you have to defend.” Surely a clip with meme potential.

“Okay,” Moe interjected. “So we’ve only got a minute as we’re going live to the next match up next, stick around as we find out if... I think it’s most likely Kelssek will get through as a third-place team, but our opponents are still to be decided. Were there positives you took from this match for Kelssek?”

A sharp intake of breath by multiple people was audible. The thought of a potential group stage exit not technically being ruled out, even if quite unlikely with 4 points, had not really occurred to them yet.

“Well I suppose... that they took the lead twice? That’s not nothing, you know. There’s an ability this side has to take the initiative,” said Thomas, while gesturing with a shrug he was unconvinced by what he was saying. “Individually, thoug, that was a good performance by Rémy Niemi. That striker spot has been problematic and it’s been up for grabs. Credit the manager for not just defaulting to Lionel an Deòir as the one who’s been around longest, and credit to the youngster for seizing his chance.”

“They have the quality, I think it’s been shown and proven that each of them has the ability.” But Cassie was equivocal as well. “But there is a different kind of pressure in these World Cup matches. They can do it, that’s the positive, the problem is actually doing it, and whatever the rankings say, this version of Kelssek is not matching up well against the world’s best national teams.”

SATERUN 2 – Ibañez (37’), Kalemanu (64’)
KELSSEK 2 – Niemi (31’), Mylonakis (56’)
Woodwell, Casiraghi, Lalande, Vergland, Bastien, Pogbacar, Pépin (Mao 78’), Moore, Obident (an Deòir 81’), Mylonakis (Rendon 72’), Niemi (Cutter 78’)
Mavuto Field, Hoima (attendance 74,659)
Last edited by Kelssek on Sun Jun 22, 2025 3:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Vdara
Chargé d'Affaires
 
Posts: 453
Founded: Jul 10, 2018
Democratic Socialists

Postby Vdara » Sun Jun 22, 2025 12:32 pm

Molin Park
Felsenkirchen, Siovanija & Teusland


At 3-1 up and cruising, it looked as if Vdara would secure their strongest group stage showing yet. After the opposition had taken the lead just before halftime, the Vdarans hit back hard with Ferrero Fotellis, Sapphira Mariou, and Sophia Kyprianou all appearing on the scoresheet, and fans had started their proclamations of victory somewhat prematurely. Then, disaster struck, and it took the Kwrpanians three minutes to level the match, before a goal from their captain gave them all three points, completed their comeback and, crucially, secured their place in the knockout stages. While it was certain that this game would become known in Kwrpanian folklore as the ‘Miracle of Molin Park’, the Irakleio Informer would probably deem it as the ‘Fuck-up of Felsenkirchen.’ Still, they were through, and that was all that mattered - well, except to manager Markos Moustakakos, who was visibly (and audibly) irate on the touchline after the final whistle.

”Fucks sake, lads! Fucks sake! Where’s your bottle? Where’s the brains?!”

The players trudged into the dressing room with their eyes fixed firmly on the ground in front of them, knowing that Markos was guaranteed to give them some abuse. In theory, there was nothing for Markos to be complaining about. They had matched their highest group stage tally already - and this time, they were in the top spot - and would move on to only their second ever experience of knockout stage football at the World Cup. And yet, even still, the red on his face was clear for all to see as he booted the door off its hinges (something he’d be invoiced for later).

”You know, every training session, every tournament, I like to think that as a team we set high standards - both for ourselves, and for each other. Most of the time, I’ve been assured that these standards were being upheld, and that we wouldn’t be letting things slip. Stuff like playing to the whistle and all that. I want to know where the fuck those standards went today, because that last quarter of an hour was utterly diabolical from all of you, and frankly at full time I was embarrassed to be standing there looking like my trousers had been pulled down in front of thousands of our own supporters. Sure, we’re through to the next round, but we’re fucking lucky that it’s the case. Plenty of other teams have gone home on four points before, and if we hadn’t done the job earlier it could have been us. THANKFULLY, it isn’t, so that’s enough of my ranting for now. This is the first time we’ve ever topped a group at this level, so give yourselves a massive pat on the back. It wasn’t pretty, and we almost threw it all away, but we’re back in the knockouts, thank god. You’ll all be glad to know that we’ve got an Anaian opponent awaiting us, albeit they’re Hapilopper’s oversea’s holdings, so it’ll be a fun matchup there. If any of you still have any reserved anger for a certain Nathan Ellis - I’m looking at you, Ferrero - don’t bother, because he’s dead. The new coach was his assistant, though, so if we lose and you feel angry, feel free to punch his lights out.”

The story with Nathan Ellis - which had occurred fifteen cycles prior - had nevertheless remained fresh in the memory for many who were there on that fateful day. The Hapiloppian’s vile assault on Alexis Fotellis went practically unpunished by the referee, leaving an extremely sour taste in everyone’s mouths. Not to be outdone, a few cycles later, the very same Nathan Ellis snuck into a match against Acastanha by hiding in a laundry basket and reigniting his feud with Fotellis, dressing himself as a player of theirs. The unfortunate and untimely news of his passing came as a great disappointment to the Fotellis family. Not because they had any sympathy for him, but because there was no longer any chance of them beating the shit out of him as retribution. Fortunately, it would be familiar territory that awaited Vdara in the Round of 32, having just recently played against Eshialand at the Stadion Razdrto ‘Vijolicni. Noting the vitriol and passion which would undoubtedly play a massive part in this fixture, Markos gave an impassioned team talk to rile up his players and instil a fighting spirit into them. The full team talk would bore you to tears, so an excerpt to keep you satisfied will have to do.

”I don’t care what it takes, we’re gonna give to them the same energy they gave to us all those years ago - so let’s play dirty. Show these wee dicks absolutely no mercy. I want to see yous pulling their shirts, kicking their shins, the whole nine yards. Particularly those defenders. If anything, whenever you see those defenders, I want you to kick fuck out of them like no tomorrow. Yank the hair from their scalp, claw at their ears, spit at them, do whatever it takes to put them off, to unsettle them, to give us the mental edge. Ferrero, as this is quite a personal tie for you, I give you the right to headbutt absolutely anybody on the pitch, no questions asked. Well, anybody from the opposition. Don’t headbutt your teammates or you’ll never fucking play for us again, got it?”

Having faltered at this exact hurdle just two cycles ago, the Vdarans were clearly desperate not to repeat their mistakes from the Tero al Disco fixture. However, if they were to lose this match, they would not be bowing out with a whimper, but with blood, sweat, tears, and ouzo. Even the food delivery app VdarDash was offering free kebabs in the event of a Vdaran victory. Win, lose, or draw (and lose on penalties), a memorable night is surely to be had for all.
Come for the weather. Stay for the fitba. Leave for somewhere prettier.

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Drawkland
Negotiator
 
Posts: 5401
Founded: Aug 27, 2013
Authoritarian Democracy

corpsguy725

Postby Drawkland » Sun Jun 22, 2025 12:59 pm

CORPSGUY725'S BLOG

World Cup 99 Playoff Edition
fate is a funny thing

Sometimes being a doomer isn't the answer. I wouldn't blame any Drawkian fans for "checking out" from the Kick Corps these last couple cycles. Drawkland's national soccer team had some of its worst performances ever back-to-back, and fell further than they'd been in a very long time. Yet, despite all this, they exploded back onto the scene in a way we haven't seen in year. Like, many years.

I was still in grade school when the Kick Corps first debuted on this World Cup scene, so I remember what that was like. It bore striking resemblance to our World Cup 99 qualifying campaign. The surprisingly good qualifying run, the solid performances against the top pot teams, punching above our pay grade. The clutch final matchday game against the pot one team in the group, getting the exact result we needed to clinch auto qualification. It wasn't exactly the same, despite being 18 matchdays both times. We actually lost fewer games back in World Cup 77's qualifiers, 11-5-2 compared to 99's record of 8-7-3. Still, the miraculous qualifying cycle to give us all hope? It was surprisingly nostalgic for me, and I know I wasn't the only one feeling that way.

Anyway, given that the Corps only scored 1 goal and earned 1 point in the subsequent World Cup 77 group stage, I figured the callback from this cycle would continue in the World Cup 99 group stage as well. Despite my hesitations, my addiction to watching Drawkian national teams won over. I'm glad I did. The Kick Corps outplayed Audioslavia's Bulls from end to end, earning a win in the first matchday. This was a good sign. Drawkland has won the first game of their World Cup group stage 3 times, and 2 of those times they made the knockouts. Which doesn't sound that impressive until you realize that Drawkland's only been to the knockouts 3 times total. Which ... is still not very impressive. But by Drawkian soccer standards, this is excellent!

The loss to Siovanija and Teusland was probably predictable. Playing against the top team in the group in front of their home crowd? We'd have been lucky to draw. This brought things to a final showdown against the Commonwealth of Baker Park. Given how the group was all tied at three points, this was essentially a play-in game for the knockouts. Winner advances, loser probably gets canned on the third place table.

md3 vs baker park

We were all right to be nervous about this game. Though most of these games have happened slowly over the years in the Elite Eleven era, Drawkland vs Baker Park has become a sort of pseudo-rivalry. Every game was hard-fought and defensively ugly. When these sides met in a friendly at State Fairgrounds Stadium prior to this cycle's qualifiers, it brought this series to 7 games played all-time. Only once in those 7 games did either side score less than 3 goals (3-1 Drawkland win, pre-WCQ 88 friendly). Once the draw was released for this group stage, we figured this game would be yet another banger. Unfortunately, given the fact that Baker Park handled the Corps well early and staved off a comeback to preserve a 4-3 win, there wasn't a lot of optimism on the Drawkian side of things.

This match was the 8th all-time between Drawkland and Baker Park, which moves the Commonwealth into a tie for third-most games played against Drawkland (Juvencus 17, HUElavia 10, Silver Beach 8, Qasden/Valladares/Kelssek 7). It did not disappoint as far as historical precedent was concerned. Both sides were playing hard and aggressive out of the gate, but Drawkland's forwards were much more locked in. Carla Murray was in the lineup rather than Queenie Donahue, and she provided two assists in the first half (one to Cam Cross, one to Cece Benbow) that brought the Kick Corps to a quick 2-0 lead. The Corps was careful to not fall into the offsides trap, and very careful planning allowed those goals to score.

A crossing pass from Joan Viola ended up in the perfect spot for Toni Dillan to head in Drawkland's third goal of the game in just the 39th minute. It felt like this would be a blowout of epic proportions with this sort of momentum, but David Coleman put together a very nice dribble sequence right as the first half entered stoppage time. He fired a shot between defenders and just past McKenna Reed's surprised leap to score a goal right before half time.

3-1 has a very different feeling from 3-0, especially since Baker Park got possession first to begin the second half. The Bees were a lot more careful with their possession, and the few chances Drawkland got in the second half were squandered. That inevitable feeling of an impending choke started to stir in our guts. The lead dropped to 3-2, and then it was gone at 3-3. By the 71st minute, Baker Park had equalized thanks to a nice strike from Terrell London. A draw wasn't the end of the world, in fact it would increase our chances of surviving the third place table, but it felt more like we had to avoid losing it altogether.

That all changed in the 86th minute. Drawkland finally held possession for a reasonable amount of time, making a run at Baker Park's goal. Cam Cross shook her man and had a one-on-one shot against the keeper Gillian Albertson. Cross fired, but Albertson deftly swatted it away. The swat wasn't perfect, though, as it spun and bounced off to the side. Cece Benbow ran up to meet it. She had over half the net open in front of her, ball rolling right to her path, and nobody close to stop her. Renee McKenzie of Baker Park was closest, but she had no play at the ball. The only shot she had was to trip up Benbow before she could make a clean kick. McKenzie's ensuing tackle earned an obvious yellow, and being in the penalty area, it awarded Drawkland a penalty shot. Still, you can't blame her for the decision. Benbow had an open goal in front and could've tapped the ball in for the go-ahead goal. At least a penalty shot had a chance of being blocked by Albertson.

Cam Cross, often the set-piece taker for the Corps, got the call for the penalty shot in the 86th. Everybody in Stadion Kaiserhaven knew the stakes here. Even with the Bees having better form for the second half, asking for an equalizer in about five minutes was a tall order. With the crowd roaring, Cross crossed up Albertson and sent the ball skidding to the right corner while Albertson dove to the left. Drawkland had stolen the lead back, 4-3 with just minutes to go. The Kick Corps held strong in the ensuing panic, Jane Michelle Thompson subbing in for an extra defender to ensure nothing went wrong. The Bees fought hard, but there weren't going to be any openings that late.

the cycle at large

Somehow, despite this Corps team being the second-lowest ranked in Drawkian history going into qualifiers, the national team has managed to qualify and snatch six points from the group stage en route to a World Cup knockout round appearance (the fourth in Drawkian history). This six-pointer is also the third-best World Cup group finish for the Kick Corps. Yes, please hold your muted applause. This may sound pretty impressive (by the depressingly sparse Kick Corps World Cup standards), but you have to remember that the barrier to entry has never been lower. It took three cycles for Drawkland to qualify for a 48-team World Cup, and they only did so this time thanks to a final-matchday miracle. They made the World Cup knockouts for the fourth time in team history, but the WC knockout field has been doubled since the last time the Corps made it there.

I'll say it. This is a great treat and hopefully signs of a much-needed rebound going into the highly anticipated World Cup 100 cycle, but it's not anything special. Yes, it's a "playoff appearance" in the World Cup, but it's not even the Round of 16. The Corps could win a playoff game (for the first time, btw) and not even be in the quarterfinals. I am pleased that watching this cycle wasn't a total waste of time, but this hardly moves the needle on Drawkland's legacy.

"oh but corpsguy725, there's still a chance to advance further! just because the Corps is punching above their weight doesn't mean they can't do it a couple more times!" Listen, I'd like to not be a doomer about this either, but I'm just trying to keep us from being more disappointed than we already are. As if the context of this playoff appearance wasn't sketchy enough, look who we're playing. Fucking Farfadillis.

ro32 vs farfadillis

How is this fair? We get a big break, a little morsel of luck after two to three cycles of shithousing, and have to face the damn boogeyman in the first playoff round. I suppose it's very typical for the Corps in the first round. Our first Round of 16 appearance, at home, we had to go against #3 Vilita. The next appearance? Against #3 Valanora. Believe it or not, our third appearance came against #10 Tumbra, but that was World Cup 95 when Tumbra went on to almost win the championship (and likely should've).

Essentially, it's no surprise that we have to run into a juggernaut immediately when leaving the group stage. Now, you can point out that Farfadillis is "only" ranked #11. First of all, that's still a higher rank than any of the teams we faced in this group stage. Second of all, we're talking about the Farves. In five matchups, Drawkland is only 1-2-2 against la Vherderoja, with the two losses being horrific 6-1 drubbings. The first meeting came in the final matchday of World Cup 78's group stage. Hot off their first-ever win in the World Cup group stage against Turori, the old Kick Corps was feeling confident. The always-suspect defense was practically nonexistent against Farfadillis.

Sure, the next four matchups came in the Elite Eleven era in qualifiers, but even those boys got the bad end of a 6-1 stick in one of those away legs. Draws in the World Cup 89 qualifying campaign? A win at home in 84's qualifiers? Irrelevant. The Farves have had the number of the Drawkians when they meet with real stakes. This game is sure to be no different. In fact, with both the old Corps and the Elite suffering from an utter blowout against Farfadillis, it seems its time for the new Corps to pay their dues.

You would think that the Corps would have a fighting chance or make it interesting, like those high-octane games against Baker Park. This simply isn't so. Some people pointed out in my first doomer post following the playoff draw that Drawkland had scored more goals in qualifying than Farfadillis throughout all of the qualifying campaigns in the 90s. "Shouldn't that mean something, especially since we had two horrendous cycles in that total?" Not really. For one, Farfadillis is only behind us by two goals (438 vs 436), and Farfadillis skipped a qualifying campaign due to hosting the Cup. So that stat means nothing.

It also means nothing because the Corps defense has been a real problem. Against a fired-up front like Farf? Forget it. Again, I'm grateful for the ride this cycle, but I'm currently strapping on my bag and preparing to disembark. The ride's over. Let's hope the Corps isn't completely humiliated in the process!

corpsguy725 out
United Dalaran wrote:Goddammit, comrade. I just knew that someday some wild, capitalist, imperialist interstellar empire will swallow our country.

CN on the RMB wrote:drawkland's leader has survived so many assassination attempts that I am fairly certain he is fidel castro in disguise
The INTERSTELLAR EMPIRE of DRAWKLAND
__________★__________
Founder of Sonnel. 75% Legendary. Rule 33.

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Squornshelan Remnant States
Diplomat
 
Posts: 917
Founded: Jun 25, 2018
Liberal Democratic Socialists

Postby Squornshelan Remnant States » Sun Jun 22, 2025 1:00 pm

RP Cutoff for WC99 Round of 32

After these results, five of you will be ready for dancing in the street.


Today's matches are brought to you in part by:

OUTBOX RESTAURANTS, INC.
Image


Outbox specializes in delivering the perfect quick eating experience. Hot, fresh food, provided with fast, friendly service. Customers don't just come to Outbox for the excellent meals, they come for the exceptional atmosphere and prompt serving times. Few national fast food chains have standards as high as Outbox for both food quality and staff performance. On top of this, Outbox has the third-highest average operating hours among national chains in Drawkland, so you'll rarely drive past an Outbox that's closed when you're hungry.

The menu itself is quite familiar to the average fast food customer - a standard variety of hamburgers, cheeseburgers, and other hot sandwiches. A variety of side items such as straight and curly fries (or chips as some call them), chicken fingers, onion rings, and others are found at every location. Outbox also has a reasonably robust breakfast and dessert menu available all day. Full service Outbox locations offer 10 standard "boxes": numbered combos that remain the same everywhere. The only boxes to change consistently are #9 (usually a limited-time menu item that changes every few months, like the Rib Box) and #10 (a regional menu item that depends on the location of that specific store). This consistency between locations is another reason Drawkian travelers can count on Outbox for a good experience no matter where they are.
The Confederacy of Squornshelan Remnant States
Successor State to the Imperium of Squornshelous
Champions:
World Cup 31, World Cup 97, World Cup 100, AOCAF Cup 69, ARC 1, ARC3, ARC4, ICC 2
World Cup:
2nd: 15, 38
3rd: 20, 25
SF: 18, 27
QF: 5, 11, 12, 22, 30, 32, 33, 34, 40
Ro16: 6, 7, 9, 16, 21, 23, 24, 28, 36, 37, 39, 90, 93
Group Stage: 8, 10, 13, 17, 19, 26, 29, 35, 41, 88, 91, 92, 94
DNQ: 14, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 89, 95
Cup of Harmony:
QF: 6, 73, 75, 81
Ro16: 74
Ro32: 79
Group Stage: 76, 77, 87
Regional:
2nd: AOCAF65
3rd: IAC8, AOCAF67, AOCAF68
QF: IAC10, IAC13, AOCAF66, AOCAF70
2nd Round: IAC6, IAC7, IAC12
1st Round: IAC9, IAC11
Other:
BoF68 QF

Squorn is an unknowable entity -Mriin

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Aleirave
Envoy
 
Posts: 207
Founded: Jul 08, 2021
Civil Rights Lovefest

Postby Aleirave » Sun Jun 22, 2025 1:02 pm

Every Moment Counts
Squornshelan Remnant States 3-3 Aleirave


The time? 87th minute. The score? 2-3, the hosts in the lead. There wasn't too much of a question at this point, with how the rest of the matches were currently shaking out, that if this score held, Aleirave would be making the knockouts again, making them two for two out of their trips to the final. All Tatyana Yusenika had to do was not let a fourth goal in. She was doing a solid job defending against one of the best and most offensively-minded teams in the multiverse, but nothing was over whatsoever, especially not with Sevet-Ibilx Kai passing the ball to Øystein Shakhnovich, a sight that these Seagulls never wanted to see.

Just don't let it in... Tatyana thought to herself. This is your chance...

Øystein took his shot, and Tatyana was barely able to tip away with her fingers. The ball sailed over the net, and the score remained, as it had, with the Seagulls being one goal down. She took a deep breath, and the stress left her body as she exhaled. This was still a dangerous team that could still absolutely score, but with any luck, that was going to be one of their last good opportunities. The Seagulls were able to take possession back relatively soon, and as Nakelia Lifevaneka brought the ball back up the pitch, Tatyana pumped her fist a little. Her job was, for the most part, done.

All thought immediately left Fyodor Veshchik's mind as the pass came in from Nakelia. After such a long and grueling match, his mind seemed to be checked out. He kept telling Haulafo that he was fine during this match, but he really was in absolute shambles. He ran the ball up the pitch as best he could, even though he wasn't even paying attention to anything going on. His feet were doing all the work, and his brain none.

Some sort of primal instinct kicked in when he got close enough to the goal. That little thing in the back of a footballer's mind that senses an opportunity. No thought was needed for this; he set up his shot, and by some stroke of luck, in the eighty-ninth minute...

...he tied up the match.

This score would hold for the rest of the match, the whole team celebrating when the final whistle blew. As for Fyodor, he simply collapsed at full time. He was over-exhausted from this whole ordeal, and he wanted to get back to bed. It was all too much for him. He may have been a hero for this match, but this heroism took every ounce of his being.

Since Aleirave and Squornshelous tied this match, and they were already tied on every other metric that could separate them, a WCC official had to come onto the pitch after the whistle to flip a coin, deciding which of these teams would be second and which would be third. Aleirave lost this coin flip, but none of it mattered, as 4 points was more than enough to make it into the knockouts. The Seagulls were enormously back.

Losing this coinflip meant that, while the Black-and-Reds would be playing their next match against Doubeia, Aleirave would be squaring off against their fellow Anaians, StrayaRoos. The Emus had won an absolutely stacked Group K, featuring last year's third-placers Tanirinthia, debutants Vixette, and the Seagulls' rivals from Huayramarca. While Aleirave had never played StrayaRoos in WCC competition, they did have a few scuffles in the CAFA Cup, including a notable one in New Fligsive back in CAFA V, to kick off the Islanders' second 4th-place run. That match hadn't broken Aleirave's way, but there was much hope that this match would end differently: "We've improved a lot since then," Haulafo said, "this is our chance to get the upper hand. No matter what may've happened before, never count us out."

Ironically enough, if the Seagulls won this match, a familiar story would repeat itself in the Round of 16, as Aleirave would, for the third time out of 10 World Cup Final matches, be up against their hosts, at least if they won their match against Doubeia. They'd already lost to them in the Round of 16 back in 97, but this draw rekindled hopes that, should Aleirave get to that stage, they could indeed do this. "I see what the bracket looks like, but I'm not too worried if I'm being honest." Haulafo continued. "We'll get there if we get there, and we've shown that we have what it takes to get there, and even further beyond. This is our turn to fly."
All my posts are IC unless I either explicitly say so or they're on NSG.

Sidenote, if I'm posting on NSG, DM me to make sure if I'm alright. Something's probably gone wrong for me.

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Squornshelan Remnant States
Diplomat
 
Posts: 917
Founded: Jun 25, 2018
Liberal Democratic Socialists

WC99 MD3 RP

Postby Squornshelan Remnant States » Sun Jun 22, 2025 1:35 pm

Esti couldn't decide whether her feeling was more of exhaustion or frustration.

She hadn't seen any playtime in the third match, but the grind of having to watch her teammates slog through yet another close match against a team they ought to have easily outclassed had worn her down nonetheless. She felt as if she'd gone all 90 with those out on the field. At least, having not played, even she couldn't find a way to blame herself for this result. Madeiros, despite not calling her name this time around, also didn't seem upset with her, or at the wingers in general. Øystein'd had an excellent outing, potting two and nearly completing the hat trick late. It would have been a very different result and feeling if he had, despite the team's continuing defensive lapses, but even so, you couldn't really find any fault with him for this one.

Esti did feel worry and sympathy for her Algolia teammates though. Neither Hamida nor Pia had been at their best this tournament, and she knew it was eating at them, no matter how much they kept a steady outward demeanor. The two were professionals, and despite the team managing to back into the knockout rounds they knew that what they'd brought so far was not good enough. Taking second in the group on a coin toss was not the rousing home performance that the team, their manager, the SCFA, and most of all the supporters had been expecting. Madeiros's remarks post-match had been brief, not giving away much, but the determination to avoid another early knockout exit was clearly there, and with things not turning around and another potentially dangerous lower seed awaiting in Doubeia, Esti knew there was a real possibility that her roommates might be joining her on the bench for the round of 32.

She wanted to do something for them, as they'd helped her a few days ago, but given the current mood around the team, she wasn't sure that sneaking out to a bar again was the best idea.

Instead, she turned to some rivals-turned friends for help.

An hour and change after they'd gotten back to the hotel, and Esti had been busy. She still wasn't quite sure how she'd managed it, but she'd talked the hotel concierge into giving her the use of one of their smaller meeting rooms, together with its projector and sound system. She'd also managed to not only get her roommates down to the room, but also brought along the two new signings for their cross-town rivals, Inder Starovoitov and Eibhlin O'Corra, along with the quartet from Sivolvia Capitalizt: Nur Amjol, Adnan Hobeika, Øystein Shakhnovich, and most intimidating of all, living legendary striker Rasha Sargsa. The eight other players, all older and more experienced than her, stared expectantly as she fumbled briefly with the microphone.

"Today was frustrating, and we're all feeling a lot right now. I think we need something to shake all of that loose, so I figured, karaoke and dance battle. Team Damogran versus team Yassaca. What do you think?"

There was a moment of silence as they all looked at her in seeming incredulity. Then, smiles broke out. When Rasha came out with a "why not" and a shrug, it was on.

Pop songs, folk ballads, and rock anthems rang out from the conference room, eventually attracting more of the team. Ronan, Sonja, Rhiannon, and Zahida, all based in Chromatika joined in as Team Rainbow, though they were unable to persuade Bláha to come along, the first choice keeper preferring solitude. It was still quite late when they eventually drifted back to their rooms, but at least they would only be tired, not hungover the next day, and the mood had certainly been changed. The frustrating draw was still fresh in mind, but it wasn't the evening's only memory anymore.

I did something right tonight. Was Esti's last thought before falling asleep.
The Confederacy of Squornshelan Remnant States
Successor State to the Imperium of Squornshelous
Champions:
World Cup 31, World Cup 97, World Cup 100, AOCAF Cup 69, ARC 1, ARC3, ARC4, ICC 2
World Cup:
2nd: 15, 38
3rd: 20, 25
SF: 18, 27
QF: 5, 11, 12, 22, 30, 32, 33, 34, 40
Ro16: 6, 7, 9, 16, 21, 23, 24, 28, 36, 37, 39, 90, 93
Group Stage: 8, 10, 13, 17, 19, 26, 29, 35, 41, 88, 91, 92, 94
DNQ: 14, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 89, 95
Cup of Harmony:
QF: 6, 73, 75, 81
Ro16: 74
Ro32: 79
Group Stage: 76, 77, 87
Regional:
2nd: AOCAF65
3rd: IAC8, AOCAF67, AOCAF68
QF: IAC10, IAC13, AOCAF66, AOCAF70
2nd Round: IAC6, IAC7, IAC12
1st Round: IAC9, IAC11
Other:
BoF68 QF

Squorn is an unknowable entity -Mriin

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Kwrpania
Spokesperson
 
Posts: 106
Founded: Apr 03, 2024
Democratic Socialists

Postby Kwrpania » Sun Jun 22, 2025 2:02 pm

OOC note: This RP was written with approval from the owners of the respective characters - feel free to reach out on Discord for any clarification.

Lucas Meilling didn't hear the whistle. The sound of blood rushing through his head thundered through his ears. Full-time. Another draw. An undefeated group stage, at the World Cup. Surely that was good enough. It must be good enough.

He blinked, and the field was gone.

He stood in a misty field - so, so misty. He couldn't see the sky, he could barely see the ground beneath his feet. This wasn't the stadium - he was somewhere else entirely.

VOPEI ZEID NONGMIZ GAB SEIP GUNGBIRI TEIB, a voice roared from the darkness.

What?

RING FEIV. RING SEIP NOTA TEIB RUG.

Lucas feared. An image entered his head - himself, on the pitch in Molding, in Graintfjall. Falling to his knees as the third Euran goal hit the back of the net. The roar of the crowd. The Cup of Harmony trophy sitting on the side of the pitch - he wouldn't get to hold it.

Another image. Despair, in Chromatika. So much joy that they had finally qualified - just to limp out of the tournament.

Another. Valanora, in Pasarga. A draw would do. The best team in the world. His shot flew over the bar. So close, and yet so far over.

Another. The next cycle. Rushmore. He hated it in Rushmore. MacGofraidh wheeling away. He couldn't jump high enough.

Another. Eshialand City. Sudilia. Disaster. Another. Reńban. Those damned fireworks. Who the hell lets people set off fireworks in a forest?

Something clicked in his mind. He'd heard that language before - he didn't know those words, but he recognized them. It was Kwrpan.

"Where am I?" he asked, tentatively.

ZUDZIG VIB TUMNEIR KOK.

"Is this hell?"

IT WILL ALL BECOME CLEAR.

It became clear, and yet no less opaque. The fog lifted, and yet revealed nothing at all. A matte gray sky. Lifeless grass, as if it had been painted on... whatever surface this was.

*pop*

Another person came into view. He recognized Lucas - Lucas recognized him. The Vdaran goalkeeper. What was his name- Nicolides?

"Πού στο καλό βρίσκομαι;" Where the hell am I?

It was still not clear. It wasn't clear at all. His heart jumped. Fear rose in his throat. He had to get out of this place. The game. The stadium. Teusland - he had to get back to Teusland.

"Φύγε μακριά μου, φίλε!" Get away from me, man!

The gray entered his eyes. It was closing in. He had to get out.

Wait.

Why was Nicolides here?

In Kwrpan... hell? purgatory? Whatever this place was?

YOUR MEMORY WEAKENS YOU. YOUR MIND FALTERS. YOU MUST BECOME STRONGER, LUCAS.

He swung. The Vdaran recoiled, holding his cheek. "Τι στο καλό"? What the hell?

The field. Teusland. He was back. The sun washed over his face as he watched the jumbotron. They were showing the other game. Vdara-Kwrpania. Level. Seconds to go. They could go through like this.

The image wasn't in his mind anymore. The fullback, overlapping. Releasing the winger. Crossed in. Magnws-rym. He recognized that guy.

Reń fyv. Reń syp nota tyb rwg. Fear not. Fear is the killer of souls.

Header. Goal, Kwrpania.

Image


Vdara 3-4 Kwrpania
Molin Park, Felsenkirchen, Teusland, Siovanija & Teusland
Lineup: Fakswr-rof; Synydwb-pyt, Petobsw-nam, Fandwrsw-vyz, Mamzwb-bab; Pykpytyr-myf, Vabwpetob-zok, Magnws-rab, Taftyr-mwń; Magnws-rym, Vabwpro-pyt
Goals: Magnws-rym 45', Fotellis 49', Mariou 71', Kyprianou 73', Pykpytyr-myf 77', Vabwpro-pyt 80', Magnws-rym 90+6'

Valanora vs. Kwrpania
Istria Olympic Stadium, Istria, Moravica, Banija
Projected Lineup: Fakswr-rof; Synydwb-pyt, Petobsw-nam, Fandwrsw-vyz, Mamzwb-bab; Pykpytyr-myf, Vabwpetob-zok, Magnws-rab, Taftyr-mwń; Magnws-rym, Vabwpro-pyt

"vopy zyd nońmez gab syp gwńbere tyb" - "stand and show what you are made of"
"zwdzeg veb twmnyr kok" - "it will all become clear"
The Riverine State of Kwrpania (KWR)
Population: 4.1 million - Capital: Kwrpanmap - Largest City: Tydebwg - Domestic Sportswire
Copa Rushmori 49 co-host
Baptism of Fire 86 third place
World Cup:
Ro32 - 99

User avatar
TJUN-ia
Minister
 
Posts: 3370
Founded: Oct 04, 2019
Left-Leaning College State

Rambles WC99 XII (Pyazhnaya)

Postby TJUN-ia » Sun Jun 22, 2025 2:17 pm

The Random Rambles of a Jaguar - WC99 Edition
with Killian Looker


And so, here we are...another World Cup Group Stage that goes down to the final day. For the Jaguars of TJUN-ia, this is now thrice in a row that this has happened - where the Jags enter the final day needing a win to qualify and finish on 4pts and a record of 1-1-1. That 4-point mark has been reached in the last two cycles, and now, we had to make it three-from-three if we wanted to make our third-straight WC Knockout Stage. Having to rely on this same scenario over and over again certainly frustrated David Seems and Li Xiu Ying, who would've preferred things to be simpler on this final day...but here we are. Once more, we have a target to reach...can we make it three in a row?

The Game
The Striterax Cybernetics Arena was just as imposing as ever for this crucial contest as we faced #63 Pyazhnaya in a game we knew we had to win to progress to the next stage. A draw or defeat to Aleksandra Agratova and her team wouldn't be enough at all, so it was a case of all or nothing, and we knew we had to answer the call. The first half between +1.5 and +3 on the International A/D Scale (IA/DS) was tight and twisty, with both sides simply refusing to give up their position, as both of them needed this win to potentially advance. Nothing came out of the first 45, as Gao Wu Shi and Elisey Moroshkin were acting as brick walls in their resolve, but everyone knew the second half would be the one to decide it all. Things were cagey from here on out, with both sides having clear opportunities squandered until the 77th...because that was when Maryam Doutsi let one rip from outside the box, found top bins and sent our fans into a frenzy. We defended like hell for the final 10 minutes+, but in the end, the prophecy had been achieved. All hail 1-1-1 - TJUN-ia's WC Group Strategy Forevermore! We did it again...we did it again.

Reaction
ALL HAIL THE 1-1-1!

On the one hand, it is pretty hilarious that 1-1-1 has been our group record over the past three editions of this tournament, with this campaign differing because the draw came first this time and not the defeat. Our GDs have also closely matched each other, with -1 in 97 and 0 in both 98 and now 99. The fact that all of TJUN-ia's recent efforts can be boiled down to 4 points in a WC group is...interesting. On the one hand, doing this thrice in a row showed commitment to our quest to be competitive while also showing our fight in difficult situations. But on the other hand, having to win our way into the knockouts of all the WCs we have been to in this run of form isn't exactly fun, right? Some do wish that TJUN-ia can qualify for the knockouts before MD3, just to feel something different. While winning to get in does get the adrenaline flowing, it's not always healthy.

What's Next?
And so, for the third time in a row, TJUN-ia's stay at the World Cup has been extended into the Knockout Phase. The first time we did this, we beat Saterun 3-1 to make it in - and then we beat West Barack and East Obama on pens and Juvencus 2-1 before Tikariot finally put us in the ground...but only after extra time. Last time, it was a chaotic 4-3 win over Myrtle Beach that sent us through to a date with the Dragonflies of Ko-oren - who we beat 4-2 before Sarzonia took us out 1-3. Now we've done it again, a 1-0 win over Pyazhnaya to qualify, and who is awaiting us at the Albert III Memorial Stadium in Dodoma, Banija? The Dragonflies of Ko-oren.

Who is the head coach of this team? Tomoviko Mivune? Katanmak Juliasterinthen? Whoever it is, it doesn't really matter - because this is Ko-oren we're talking about, we know how these guys play. -5 on the IA/DS is an achievement in of itself but that is how the Draginflies have always rolled - counter, counter, counter until the ends of the Earth. It is certainly admirable.

We also know that the Dragonflies will be hungry for revenge - after all, the squads from two years ago haven't changed too much. That 4-2 win against then #11 Ko-oren, with us at #22, felt big at the time...but now, the roles have reversed. For the very first time in this fixture, TJUN-is is the higher ranked of the two - #15 to our opponent's #19. How does that new dynamic play out in this game? Who knows, but that is certainly something to note.

When we kicked off WC97 with that 3-0 defeat to Valanora, we were ranked 53rd in the world. Entering this World Cup, we were ranked 15th.
That shows how much we have grown since we ended our drought...but to Seems and Li, that is not enough.
Now, they expect us to have a go of winning a knockout game. And after that? See what happens.
TJUN-ia is good at football...but now, we need to show it.
MARCH ON!
GO JAGS!



SCHEDULE (Group L, Squornshelan Remnant States)
MD1: vs Oberour Ar Moro (32) - Admiral Cherenkov Stadium, Santraginus D 4-4 (T-2nd)
MD2: vs Saint Eleanor (10) - Striterax Cybernetics Arena, Striterax L 2-3 (T-3rd)
MD3: vs Pyazhnaya (63) - Striterax Cybernetics Arena, Striterax W 1-0 (2nd/1-1-1/4pts/0GD
Ro32: vs Ko-oren (19/E1) - Albert III Memorial Stadium, Dodoma (BAN)
1st: ECC4/5, NSSCRA13, RLWC22, IBS20, EBT3, EIHT2, ET20V
2nd: NSCF24/26, ARWC4, WC:TOTS, IBC34, IBS17, RUWC33/35, ECC6, EKT, WCoH52, T20WC18, CE43, EIHT4
3rd: ARWC3, IBC32/41, ECC3/7, ARWC6, ET20 4/6, ECT, RUWC37, WCoH56
NSSCRA
#07 Michael Stefan (S13 T1 Champ)/#64 Alfonso Mercado/#03 Maddison Riley-Jones (S10 T2 Champ)
#96 Alice Jepkosgei/#70 Gongming Gao [NCR]/#79 Axel Chase

WGPO: #11 Lane Carter/ #9 Batu Tüvshinbayar (WGP2 S5 Champion)
NSTT: 4 S-Titles/2 D-Titles

UN - U1
TJUN (taʒən) - An organ of the UN that focuses on "international role-play" (i.e. USA = Fang the Sniper) (U2)
TJUN-ia (taʒənia) - The testing grounds of TJUN members, but operates as an independent nation. (U3)

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Banija
Negotiator
 
Posts: 5144
Founded: Mar 06, 2015
Capitalist Paradise

Postby Banija » Sun Jun 22, 2025 5:18 pm

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"By the skin of their teeth"- Despite loss to Reçueçn, Banijans find a way to back into the Round of 32 on home soil


DODOMA, BUNYORO- By the technical definition of the word, this is not the worst group stage that the Kadongo Kamu have ever had. We've been grouped on a few occasions- the most recent of which was last cycle, when we earned just 1 point across three games, despite being ranked #8 in the world at the time. But in terms of all the times we've advanced from our group... Well, we haven't entered a knockout stage of the World Cup in a less inspiring fashion possibly ever. Doing so when you lose your last game of the group stages never builds confidence- we were fortunate that results elsewhere meant that we had advanced, at minimum, via the third place table before the simultaneous rubber matches of Group E had kicked off.

And thank heavens for that- because Banija's performance, for honestly the third straight match, seemed... Lifeless. Devoid of energy. "There's something wrong with this team's attack." Said Lemuel Bereket, a former starting goalkeeper for the NT, who is now a pundit. "One goal through three games... And that goal was a defender via an early set piece. Now, of course, it was against Ko-oren, which should not be discounted. But three games- Son-Saka, Resnais-Mahama, and Kagenda, a trio that was marketed as a three-headed monster... None of them have scored. They aren't really even out there getting quality opportunities for themselves- it's an offense that's flat, and lacking creativity." He then, surprisingly on air, grabbed a cupcake and started eating while he talked. "Trischuk has ran out the same attack for three straight games, and it's not working- 1 goal through three games is unacceptable. Now we've got an elite opponent in Tikariot, and unless something drastic changes, there's only one way this ends- Banija going out, with a whimper, in the Round of 32 at a home World Cup."

That is, naturally, a fate that the Banijans want to avoid. But before we talk more about the attack, and what the manager is doing to fix that, the defense should be commended as well. As poor as we have been getting forward, we are clamping down on the other end, and suffocating the attacks of our opponents. There were some risky moves- including replacing the left side of our defense from a successful 3rd place finish at the ARCs in Siovanija & Teusland. Opio Ssambwa, a longtime starter at LB who was benched during that tournament, was brought back- and while he hasn't gone 90 in any of Banija's first 3 games, he's been critical, with the 34 year old scoring the only goal of the tournament so far for Banija. Sometimes, in big tournaments, you just need your veterans to step up when the pressure is really ramped up- and his goal is the difference between us having a game tomorrow, and getting grouped on home soil.

But the biggest revelation in the back, has been the successful partnership between Kanyago Rouse-Jurun and Ensa Janneh at CB. Janneh's been here for a few ycles, but Rouse-Jurun is just 17 years old- and he's killing it in the Q-League. He jumped all the way up to a starting role, and he's been successful at it. "Rouse-Jurun has just been a monster in the box." Bereket said in his studio show, again while eating a cupcake. "Dominant in the air- if he's marking a striker, or an opposing CB, his 6'9, 250 pound frame simply means you're not winning anything in the air against us if he's in the vicinity. And he takes so much attention on attacking set pieces- as his range and game smarts grow, he's going to be a world-class defender, for sure."

The defense- working. The offense, not. And with Trischuk recognizing that something has to change if they want to do things here in the knockout stages, he's made a few changes to the Banijan starting XI.

Starters: 4-2-1-3.
Players who are based in a foreign league are bolded.
Players who are making their NT debuts during the pre-WC99 friendly tour are italicized.
BSL = Banijan Soccer League, Banija's second tier. National league. S-FPL is the joint first tier soccer league for Farfadillis, Banija, and the Busoga Islands.
GK #1 Biran Jarju. Age 30. Plays for FC Capri in the Elven Premiership in Valanora.
LB #2 Opio Ssambwa. Age 34. Plays for Herzegovina City FC in the S-FPL.
LCB #5 Kanyago Rouse-Jurun. Age 17. Plays for Montreal Koreana in the Q-League.
RCB #3 Ensa Janneh. Age 30. Plays for Hondo FC in the Elven Premiership in Valanora.
RB #15 Daraja Kanka. Age 28. Plays for La Querida in the S-FPL.
CM #6 Yob Yeyeh Aan. Age 30. Banijan/Farf dual-national. Plays for FK Arsika in Mytanija.
CM #8 Sherif Kinteh. Age 22. Plays for SC Rinaldi in the Elven Premiership in Valanora. First start of the tournament.
CAM #15 Zaharija Zdjelar-Siwangeh. Age 25. Plays for Jinja City FC in the S-FPL. Formerly capped by the Farf NT, eligible for a U21 one-time switch. First start of the tournament.
LW #7 Lavyin Son-Saka. Age 28. Plays for St. John's Arsenal in the Q-League. Captain.
ST #9 Cyrile Resnais-Mahama. Age 22. Plays for Tihon in the Red League.
RW #21 Muhangi Wentibwa. Age 24. Plays for 1912 Stelburg in the Regionalliga Stelburg, and the Meisterschaft, in Siovanija & Teusland. First start of the tournament.
Bench:
GK #35 Kasozi Ssempewo. Age 27. Plays for Herzegovina City FC in the S-FPL.
GK #39 Salathiel Kavuuma. Age 29. Plays for the Busukuma Force in the S-FPL.
LB #20 Kabiru Suso. Age 29. Plays for Mar Sara FC in the Elven Premiership in Valanora.
RCB #4 Opio Anjait. Age 30. Plays for Busukuma AC in the S-FPL.
LCB #30 Kutaaka Muteesa. Age 33. Plays for St. John's Arsenal in the Q-League.
RB #31 Kristina Lobondo. Age 24. Plays for Herzegovina City FC in the S-FPL.
CM #14 Araba Fanja. Age 28. Plays for Herzegovina City FC in the S-FPL.
CM #25 Musoke Owole. Age 19. Plays for Herzegovina City FC in the S-FPL.
CAM #10 Yob Banda. Age 28. Plays for Busukuma AC in the S-FPL.
RW/LW #11 Odongo Kagenda. Age 31. Plays for Herzegovina City FC in the S-FPL.
RW/LW #22 Banta Kairaba. Age 22. Plays for Rolalas FC in the Elven Premiership in Valanora.
ST #12 Jônn Wérséô. Age 30. Plays for Mâ Âlâmëómë in the S-FPL. Rulandea, Farfadillis. Farf/Banijan dual-national, born to Farf refugees in Busukuma.


Three key changes, and maybe controversially- one change not made. Let's go through them, shall we?

First, in the central midfield- Araba Fanja out of the starting XI, and Sherif Kinteh into the lineup. Getting younger, and just as importantly, more offensive minded. Fanja is a player who definitely loves to get back, and is one most comfortable defending. He's not going to orchestrate an offense, and most of his passes are conservative- sideways and backwards. He's not taking a ton of risks to break down a defense, while Kinteh is. "Fanja is a good player for this team, but right now, the attack is at a low point." Bereket said in his studio show. "It makes sense that we want more of a risk taker here- we've got to find where the goals come from, and Kinteh will do a better job getting this team into a more aggressive mindset."

The second change, is surprisingly, at the #10. Yob Banda has held onto this spot for years- starring for club and country, consistently rejecting moves to leave Busukuma AC. And his spot hasn't really been threatened for a while. But he's in particular had a poor tournament- and so Zaharija Zdjelar-Siwangeh, the Farf dual-national, is set to make his first start of the tournament. "Trischuk probably wishes he had more options at this position- but you work with what you got." Bereket told reporters. "Not much of a difference stylistically, but Banda's in a funk... so the manager is looking for a spark."

And last, but most surprising- Kagenda, a stalwart at the winger spot for over a decade, off- and Wentibwa getting a start. "This one kind of sends a message- if Kagenda can get benched, anyone can." Bereket said. "Kagenda hasn't performed to his normal levels in this tournament, and so Wentibwa, who has played well at the club leve, gets the start. A lot to be asked- we haven't seen a competitive game Banija has played without Kagenda since Atlantian Oceania existed. But hey- if a former World cup winner is getting benched, then you know this is real."

Resnais-Mahama is staying in the #9 role. He's struggled too- But Trischuk is showing faith. "I know what he's capable of, and he fits everything this team wants." Trischuk told reporters. "He's a lot closer to breaking out than he looks- truly, I believe that he's on the cusp of doing great, explosive things for this NT."

And there you have it. All those changes ahead of Tikariot. Will they pay off, and is Trischuk a genius? Or do they reek of desperation, and an early elimination at home is already guaranteed? We'll find out, very soon, in Aissa.
Former champion of quite a few things. Former President of even more things.
Kabaka = King
Lubuga = Queen Consort
Isebantu = Crown Prince
Waziri = Foreign Minister
Katikkiro = Prime Minister
Omugabe/Omugaba= Prince/Princess
Banija Domestic Sports | Map of Banija
NSCF 14 CHAMPIONS(Loyola-Istria), NSCF 17 CHAMPIONS(Loyola-Istria), NSCF 19 CHAMPIONS(Northern Moravica), NSCF 21 CHAMPIONS(Loyola-Istria)
World Cup 86, 93, and 94. IBC 30, 31, 32, 33. WBC 47, 51, 56, and 60. WB 44 and 45. National Trophy Cabinet.
Does your country need public transit? Contact the RTC!
If you see this, assume you have an embassy in my country and we have an embassy in yours!

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Siovanija and Teusland
Diplomat
 
Posts: 994
Founded: Mar 01, 2017
Iron Fist Consumerists

Postby Siovanija and Teusland » Sun Jun 22, 2025 5:25 pm

It's do-or-die as we cutoff for the Round of 32 matches in Banija!

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Today's cutoff is sponsored by Aravir Cyber Security. As Tikariot’s premier name in digital defence, Aravir Cyber Security combines cutting-edge technology with state-of-the-art vigilance to keep businesses and individuals safe in our ever-evolving cyber landscape. With a history of safeguarding critical infrastructure and global financial systems, Aravir is ready to bring that same precision and protection to the digital backbone of World Cup 99. In an event watched by billions and targeted by many, you’ll want the world’s finest digital shield on your side. Who can break the code to qualify for the next round?
The United Republics of Siovanija & Teusland
Capital: Borograd | Population: 74,245,000 | Demonyms: Siovanijan, Teus | Country Code: STL

World Cup of Hockey 40, 41 & 42 Champions ⋆ World Junior Hockey Championship 14 Champions

World Cup 99 Co-Host

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StrayaRoos
Ambassador
 
Posts: 1421
Founded: Sep 08, 2021
Left-Leaning College State

Postby StrayaRoos » Sun Jun 22, 2025 5:25 pm

We. Won. Our. Group. What the hell just happened? (No, like seriously. What was that?) Now, entering as one of 8 seeded group winners, the Emus face Aleirave in the Round of 32, following a well-fought 2-1 victory over Huayramarca.

Against Huayramarca, the Emus took an early lead, with Ibtisam Zümra scoring off a counterattack following a goal kick in the 22nd minute. The Emus largely held a stalemate for the next 45 minutes, until Cruz Kaiplo headed corner home, but Kevin Quispe almost got his head to deflect it, but it didn’t change course and sailed into the back of the net, making it 2-0 to the Emus after 67 minutes. Huayramarca attempted to mount a comeback in the last half-hour of the game, but a singular goal from Bryan Tello off a 83rd minute free-kick wasn’t nearly enough to salvage a point for the Condors. So, after that the Emus ended up winning group K.

Now, the Emus face Aleirave in the Round of 32, who lost a coin flip for second place in their group, after having an unbreakable tie with the Squornshelan Remnant States on all other metrics. It’s probably for the best that we ended up with Aleirave over the SRS, considering there’d probably be over 70% of the stadium cheering against us and for the latter, since they’re the hosts. Although, it’s very possible for an upset to occur and the Emus to go out at the final 32 again, considering that’s exactly what we did to Kamijiro last time around. In, well, very similar circumstances as this match. The lowest seeded group winner against one of the best 3rd placers. It’s a giant deja vu. And not a good one.
СтраяРус ❤️ Україна
Fly Air STR, the Spirit of StrayaRoos
He/They
WOMBLE TILL I DIE

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Banija
Negotiator
 
Posts: 5144
Founded: Mar 06, 2015
Capitalist Paradise

Postby Banija » Sun Jun 22, 2025 6:38 pm

The final cutoff of the Round of 32 is brought to you by Libero Security

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Serving all your security needs here at World Cup 99!

Does the World Cup make you lose it?
Former champion of quite a few things. Former President of even more things.
Kabaka = King
Lubuga = Queen Consort
Isebantu = Crown Prince
Waziri = Foreign Minister
Katikkiro = Prime Minister
Omugabe/Omugaba= Prince/Princess
Banija Domestic Sports | Map of Banija
NSCF 14 CHAMPIONS(Loyola-Istria), NSCF 17 CHAMPIONS(Loyola-Istria), NSCF 19 CHAMPIONS(Northern Moravica), NSCF 21 CHAMPIONS(Loyola-Istria)
World Cup 86, 93, and 94. IBC 30, 31, 32, 33. WBC 47, 51, 56, and 60. WB 44 and 45. National Trophy Cabinet.
Does your country need public transit? Contact the RTC!
If you see this, assume you have an embassy in my country and we have an embassy in yours!

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Qurviva Kingdom
Secretary
 
Posts: 40
Founded: Jun 18, 2025
Ex-Nation

Can I apply my team?

Postby Qurviva Kingdom » Sun Jun 22, 2025 7:01 pm

Can I apply my team?

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Gnejs
Minister
 
Posts: 3385
Founded: May 11, 2006
Left-wing Utopia

Postby Gnejs » Sun Jun 22, 2025 11:45 pm

Oyez! Oyez! Oyez!

Come gather around, you children of spring, one last time, and let us pay homage to those who stood tall while everything around them crumbled.

It was time to go home. In the sense of the common expression, of course, because in actuality The Dandelions no longer had any home. Strictly speaking, there were some notable exceptions to this general rule, seeing as the few Dandelions who plied their trade abroad did in fact have a «home» of sorts that they could return to. The loss of a spiritual, or ancestral, home was common to all of them, however.

Alas, they needed to go somewhere, because their adventures at the 99th World Cup had come to an end. Now, if you know anything about Prosaic Union diasporic history, you will be aware that those who survived when The Prosaic Union of Gnejs ceased to be walked many different paths and ended up in many different places. However, it was The Dandelions and their choices that ended up making a somewhat shabby district of St. Bernadine City, Taxhavn, the nodal point of gathering for a large share of PUG-survivors.

Indeed, while it looked like the Prosaic Union national football team, nicknamed The Dandelions, would have no choice but to disband, Fate would have it that they would rise anew as Dandelions once more. The reason was down to Georg Bardo, Hibiskus Andersson and Mikkel Bukt, the three Taxhavn professionals who had recently pooled their resources together to buy the inconsequential and largely forgotten way-down-the-pyramid Southern League team Dandelion Town FC, based in the St. Albyn district of St. Bernadine City. At the outset, it was said the three Friends were looking to give something back to the island, but other voices had the move down to an urge to get in on the «money train» that Taxhavn football had developed into. There was never any doubt about why they picked that particular sleepy low-tier club, however; it was all in the name.

So it was there they went, The Dandelions and their families, when the final whistle of their 99th World Cup adventure sounded. To Taxhavn and the outskirts of St. Bernadine City, and subsequently many other survivors from across the world followed. The Dandelions decided to make St. Albyn their new home for several reasons, chiefly because this was where Dandelion Town FC was based and Georg had promised everyone a spot on the team, but there was also something compelling with the name. St. Albyn. In their native tongue, it would translate into something like The Village of the Saintly Alder, and this resonated deeply with the gnejsian survivors and their antiquated naturalist tendencies. You’d have to look far for any greenery or deep spiritual connection with «the land» amongst the rundown grey housing projects and logistics lots though, and while there was nothing wrong with St. Albyn per se, nothing was quite right either. Due to its somewhat derelict and rundown state, it did however also boast something very unusual for large parts of Taxhavn, namely reasonably affordable housing prices. This was a blessing for a bunch of refugees with very little to their name, and it was a combined effort of very reasonably termed loans from BSN and some substantial donations from the Molineux Goat Cheese Company offshore accounts that made the gnejsian settlement in St. Albyn possible.

This is where our story, the tale of how The Prosaic Union of Gnejs ceased to be, finally ends. It is a sad story, but not without a glimmer of hope tucked in between the folds of tragedy. For, out of darkness cometh light, and while The Prosaic Union itself was gone, it was never forgotten, and the end to the tale of how it ceased to be is also where the many stories of those who remained begins.

I’ve said before that there are different ways of telling the tale of how The Prosaic Union of Gnejs ceased to be, and I’ll leave you with yet another version, which I myself am fairly fond of. Scholars have named it «The Poetic, or Aphoristic Tradition», and it is usually a simple solitary line, to this day still seen scribbled on the rundown walls of the St. Albyn district:

Oh, fair Gnejs, yours was a song of slab and gravel.

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Flavovespia
Diplomat
 
Posts: 804
Founded: Mar 22, 2019
Inoffensive Centrist Democracy

Postby Flavovespia » Mon Jun 23, 2025 8:28 am

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Five For Flavovespia


Against Huayramarca in the Round of 32, Flavovespia showed why they’re made of, in a thrilling and spectacular 5-2 win. A place in the Round of 16 is cemented, as World Cup 99 continues on for Flavovespia.

Much like the group stages for Flavovespia, it was a good start for them. They had the upper hand in the opening minutes and that paid off in the 10th minute. Charles Shepherd slotted the ball out wide to his right, finding the run of Jonathan Bagshaw. Bagshaw held his nerve, and shot low with pace to beat the goalkeeper and open his tally for this tournament.

Huayramarca weren’t going to sink after conceding one, and battd well in the first half. They would equalise just before the half hour mark. A looping cross saw Peter Marriott misread the flight of the ball, it flew above his outstretched arms and he was in no position to block the header in. Huayramarca were in the ascendancy, but Marriott went from zero to hero, a string of saves keeping it at 1-1 in the first half.

And then in the second half the flurry came. In the 49th minute, Flavovespia had Jonathan Bagshaw break down the right wing. He stayed wide, and fired in a great cross. Charles Shepherd headed it in stride, to restore the lead. 4 minutes later the lead was doubled. Charles Shepherd and Peter Langdon played a great one-two, splitting open the defence and allowing Charles Shepherd to slot in his second and Flavovespia’s third.

Was there a route back for Huayramarca? Well 72 minutes in and they thought so. A bit of a careless goal to concede, Roger Burden was dispossessed just outside the box by a strong challenge. A quick ball in, a quick shot away, and it was 3-2. A bit of tension in the air now of this thriller.

Flavovespia though kept the pressure up and cracked Huayramarca. 6 minutes to go, and substitute David Atkinson was brought down inside the box by a loose challenge. Stepping up for a hat-trick was Charles Shepherd, he hit the penalty with full power and found the net. Then in 87 minutes, Jonathan Bagshaw intercepted 25 metres out, he saw the keeper out of position and chipped him to make it 5-2. The game was all but over now, and despite Bagshaw’s efforts to also get a hat-trick, it finished a superb 5-2.

Kelssek will be the next opponents of Flavovespia. Ranked #7, they got here via a 3rd place group finish and 2-3 win over HUElavia. A side who’ve knocked Flavovespia out of a World Cup, there’ll be a sense of vengeance for some players in Brantisvogan, Squornshelan Remnant States. #1 v #7 will most likely be a close game, Flavovespia must be firing on all cylinders to stay in this tournament.
Patricia Evans
Formerly the Republic of Greater Waldster, internationally known as Greater Watford. IC It's a long story (OOC I didn't like using real place names)

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Tikariot
Minister
 
Posts: 2523
Founded: Jun 06, 2020
Democratic Socialists

Postby Tikariot » Mon Jun 23, 2025 9:06 am

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Chapter 1: Welcome to Sugar Creek
Chapter 2: Cupcake Awakening
Chapter 3: Death by Dessert
Chapter 4: Sugar-Crazed Carnage
Chapter 5: The Sweet Survivors
Chapter 6: The Anti-Cupcake Plan
Chapter 7: Into the Cupcake Nest
Chapter 8: Bake or Die
Chapter 9: Frostbite Frenzy
Chapter 10: The Queen Rises
Chapter 11: Final Recipe
Chapter 12: Bakepocalypse Now
Chapter 13: Sugarfall

Chapter 14: Revenge is a Dish Best Served Frosted

The smoke still hung over Sugar Creek, a swirling fog of scorched sugar and broken dreams. The bakery lay in smouldering ruin, frosting coating the pavement in thick, slippery layers. The survivors—Doug, Lucy, Sheriff Bob, Gwyneth, and Crumble—stood, still panting, still stunned.

Lucy had just crushed the last whispering cupcake fragment, but not before it had twitched… and spoken.

"Cupcake… revenge…"

The group stared at the cracked pavement where it had lain, the words still ringing in their ears.

"That didn’t sound like a dying cupcake," said Gwyneth. "That sounded like a… prophecy."

"Or a curse," added Crumble, eyes darting. "I’ve seen infestations. They never whisper."

Doug clenched his fists. "Then we finish it. No more frosting. No more monsters. We stop this madness for good."

---

From beneath the rubble of Sweet Delights, something groaned. The ground trembled. Loose tiles cracked. And then, rising like a horror from a mixing bowl in Tartarus, came a new terror.

A being of chaos, built from scorched cupcake parts, strands of licorice, fondant shields, gooey caramel veins, and the last flickers of unstable Vita Sweets magic. Towering above the debris, it pulsed like a thundercloud made of dessert.

The Primeval Bake.

It opened its gaping, frosting-choked maw and released a scream that shattered nearby windows and sent seagulls fleeing. The sound was part growl, part mixer-on-overload.

"That’s… new," Bob muttered, raising his revolver only to realize, once again, bullets were pointless.

"It’s the core of the curse," Doug said. "The book hinted at this. The Supreme Cupcake was just a symptom. This is the Bake itself—born of everything we destroyed."

The creature began rampaging toward the town square, absorbing debris, pulling in burnt cupcakes, rebuilding itself with every step.

---

The survivors raced to the only building left untouched by the blast: Gwyneth’s vegan bakery, its reinforced gluten-free walls standing proud.

Inside, the group slammed the door behind them, panting.

"We bake one final weapon," Doug declared. "One last cake to end all this. A counter-spell."

Gwyneth hesitated. "Using what? We barely have any supplies left."

"Then we improvise. Like Lucy’s recipes."

Lucy gave a thumbs-up, holding a lemon rind in her teeth. "For zest!"

Crumble and Bob raided cabinets. Gwyneth whipped up a stable Fire Frosting core. Lucy mixed dry ingredients by sheer instinct, using her hands and an old salad spinner. Doug tore the last spell page from the *Dark Arts of Confectionary* and slid it under the cake tray.

Soon, on the centre table of Gwyneth’s bakery, sat the Anti-Everything Cake.

A layer cake infused with Fire Frosting, lemon rind, truth sprinkles, ancient sealing syrup, and love (probably). Its candle flickered.

"Now we need to deliver it," Bob said, limping toward the front.

"I’ll go," Lucy said.

"You always say that," Doug said.

"And I always do it."

They strapped the cake to an old delivery drone cart Gwyneth had used in her tech-forward, meatless muffin days.

Lucy stood aboard, gripping the side like a confectionary Joan of Arc.

Outside, the Primeval Bake loomed, devouring a gazebo. Frosting whirlwinds threatened to level the street.

"Full speed!" Lucy shouted.

Bob hit the ignition. The drone cart roared to life and tore down the frosting-choked street.

---

As Lucy closed in, the Primeval Bake turned its horrible gaze toward her, licorice tendrils lashing.

"BON APPÉTIT, YOU ABOMINABLE BRÛLÉE!" she screamed.

She leapt, cake in arms, into the churning molten core.

A single second of stillness.

Then, a soundless explosion. Not fire, but frosting.

A wave of purified sugar magic rippled out in rings. The Primeval Bake convulsed. Fissures formed across its fondant plates. Chunks of it exploded outward as the magic within unspooled.

With a last horrible cry, the creature dissolved into flour, eggs, and ordinary, lifeless sprinkles.

---

Sugar Creek went silent. The frosting fog lifted. The damage was immense—but the threat was over.

One by one, survivors crawled from debris. Bob dragged Lucy from a pile of overturned chairs and cookie sheets.

She coughed up a puff of powdered sugar and grinned. "I think I stuck the landing."

Doug helped Gwyneth to her feet. Crumble sat beside the crater, gently petting a still-warm baking tray.

Doug looked around at the scorched buildings, the battered survivors, the slowly clearing sky.

"We did it. We really did it."

He looked down at the final spell page from the dark tome, now charred but legible. One word stood out, glowing faintly:

*Balance.*

"Let’s hope that’s what we’ve restored."

Gwyneth nodded, brushing a caramel strand from her cheek. "But let’s also agree to never bake anything from a magical book again."

Everyone agreed.
Tikariot - Rushmore - Trigramme: TKT
Sporting achievements:
Champions: Copa Rushmori 42, 47 & 48, Brevity Cup 6 & 7, IBS XI
World Cups: Third place: 97, 99, Quarter Final: 100, Round of 16: 87, 98, Group Stage: 88, 89, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96. Hosted: 89, 98, 100.
Copa Rushmori: Winner: 42, 47, 48, 50, Runner-Up: 42, 47, 49, Fourth Place: 41, Quarter Finals: 38, 44, 45, 46, Round of 16: 37, 40, Group Stage: 36, 39, 43.
Cup of Harmony Round of 32: 78, 82, 83. Hosted: 91.
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Audioslavia
Retired Moderator
 
Posts: 3924
Founded: Antiquity
Inoffensive Centrist Democracy

Postby Audioslavia » Mon Jun 23, 2025 12:05 pm

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A Tern of the Tides

Written: January 2023


Time passes. A search effort that has not come close to finding the five men has been called off. Magnus Ragnorak has begun to talk to a rock

<bit about that Ragnorak and his rock needs to go here>

That's it. That's the long bit about Ragnorak. The most interesting character on the island and I never got around to writing about him.

A few hundred kilometres away, in an underfunded radar station, Karla Mikkel is sifting through high definition satellite photographs taken of the area. This is not her job. She doesn’t get paid enough to do that, let alone this, yet here she is, overlaying image after image on one another to try to find something, anything, that might point to where this aeroplane crashed.

Ordering the last two files for that page and pushing her heavy set glasses back up her nose, Karla clicked the button that made the software do a rough lining up of how the images would look on grid form. The machine whirred into life, the little mocking hourglass turning and turning, until the composite image flashed up on her, line by line.

From here on in, it was usually a case of zooming right into the edges of the photographs, and making sure they lined up perfectly with the photographs around it, before sending it off for analysis and filing away. It was a slow and heavy process, but Karla was a meticulous person, and she liked the work. If you're the kind of person who gets annoyed if the cutlery in the draw doesn't all spoon each other in the same direction, then perhaps data entry might be worth looking into as a career.

As the third or fourth line flashed up however, something attracted Karla's attention. Putting down her coffee mug, she leaned in for a closer look. There was definitely something there other than the endless sweeps of blue-green that made up the ocean. She was used to seeing small islands crop up from time to time. Most of them were known already, so when she heard nothing back from the analysis department about them she didn't raise much of an eyebrow, even seeing ships wasn't an unheard of thing. But this was neither.

At first glance it looked like an ink blot had landed on the screen and somebody had tried to wipe it away, but this was a computer screen, that couldn't be right.

Could it be?

No, surely it couldn't... could it?“
:- Polar Islandstates, 2011-08-03


Karla has not given up, and neither has Astograth’s national football team. They have not lost since their defeat to Polar Islandstates in the first round of qualifying. Even so, they find themselves in the penultimate game requiring a win over Polaria to keep their chances of qualifying alive. In the arctic north, perhaps only a few dozen kilometres from the lost men, the Terns and the Olibondeka play out a nil-all draw. Polar Islandstates go on to defeat Osarius in the playoffs to qualify for the World Cup in only their second attempt.

It’s good news to all but three Polarians. Finn Henrikson’s condition has gotten worse. The wound from his arm break has turned. During an expedition inland, he will not be able to stop himself from falling, and will injure himself further. Without medical attention, he will die.


................................................................................................................................................................................
The sound of a mosquito caught Aer’s attention. A mosquito? There hadn't been any flying life on this island since they got here, it wasn't exactly the season for them either. Aer frowned, why would a-

He leapt up, his legs suddenly full of energy. Yes! There! In the sky!"

"Laurgain! Erlis! Morriyas! Finn! Magnus! Finn! Henriksen! Erlis! Erlis! Morriyas!" Aer shoted their names, first names, last names, whatever. He needed them to see it as well. He needed them to see it and prove to him that this wasn't just some cruel trick played on his mind by his desperate imagination.

The plane was getting closer now, Aer could almost make it out. A single seater by the looks of it. Not big enough to carry them or even land in the first place, but it was something. Suddenly, Aer remembered the smoke, and ran to what was left of the shack to kick about in the embers and ash, kicking up dust and clouds of black smoke that drifted lazily before falling again. Was it enough? Would the pilot see them? If he wasn't looking for them there was always that chance...

"Oh, oh, OH!" shouted Erlis, sitting up quickly, Morriyas following suit, pointing and shouting.

Running along the island, Aer did star jumps at the end of the plateau as the plane began to disappear, the mosquito noise subsiding. Had he seen them?
.
."Did you find one?" asked Morriyas without looking up.

"Aye, this rock makes sparks. Will it work with this though?" said Erlis, pointing at the gathered tinder.

"It's all we have".

The Ituraitzi kneeled with difficulty and tried to start the fire.

"How's Finn?" he asked Morriyas.

"Faint. The injury's horrific, and so's his arm at this point”

"Is Ragnorak still petting that blasted rock of his?" asked Erlis before hitting his fingers with the iron and cursing loudly.

"Yeah. Talks to it too."

At last, the sparks lit up one of the leaves, and the three of them started to fan it carefully.

Aer arrived, panting.
"Um, guys? What do we do when we have the fire?"

“Txaki txirraki big”

“Oh”
“Um, guys, Børk do børk do børk børk have the fire?”

"We make it big”

"Oh”
Was that it? Did those wings dip from side to side? Aer didn't imagine it, surely? That would be too cruel. A direct passover by a plane that didn't even spot them would just be so horrible. He didn't want to believe it. He ran back to the Astograthi, Ragnorak still tending to his rock like nothing had happened..
"Erlis, Morriyas, did you see those wings dip?!"

"Er, deep?"

The pair looked at each other, puzzled.

"Yeah, dip. You know..."
“Erlis, Morriyas, did you børk those wings børk?

“Er, dip?”



“Yeah, børk, you børk?”
Holding out his arms like a plane, Aer mimed the up down dipping of the wings that was the international symbol for a plane spotting anyone needing rescue from below, but the message was lost in translation..
:- Polar Islandstates, August 4th 2011 (Abridged):- Astograth, August 3rd 2011 (Abridged)


As I said at the start. They all survive. The four men carry a now unconscious Finn Henriksen to the rescue boat that responds to the message sent by this waggly-winged aeroplane.

They are safe. All five will resume their roles in the multiverse.

Bayardo Morriyas had played for Royal Association, a staunch team of the Astograthian establishment, his entire career. His return from apparent death only furthered his legend among fans of the club, right up until Iturributa declared independence. To the horror of Royal Association’s fans, he declared allegiance to the new republic, going on to manage the Iturributan National Team between cycles 62 and 65.

Laurguain Erlis also had a rebellious streak in him. The long time Ituraitz FC captain would manage an Ituraitz “National” team at the first World Cuppet. Previously pragmatic almost to a fault, Erlis became more open emotionally after the incident, although would rarely, if ever, talk about what happened on the island. His nephew, Maurin, would go on to play for Ituraitz FC.

Maurin’s arrival at Ituraitz coincided with the retirement of Tomas Aer, who had joined the Astograthian club - or Iturributan club, depending on who you ask - from Jan Mayen shortly after the incident. He would return to the club as manager at the start of the IFCF era, lasting three seasons before ending his managerial career at Cap Nordique of Donnaconna.

Magnus Ragnorak would become WCC President between cycles 64 and 66. A full retrospective of his life would take a whole episode.

Finn Henriksen, who further injured himself during a hopeless, exhausted expedition up a hill, breaking his leg horribly, wakes up in hospital without even having witnessed his and everyone’s rescue. He will find that his leg has been amputated. He’ll have a brief moment where he realises that his football career is over, and then. And then he is *never mentioned again*. He is first mentioned on the flight over to open this youth centre. He breaks his arm in a plane crash, goes through sheer despair, loses his leg, never plays football again and that’s that.

Except that’s *technically* not true. In the same Cuppet tournament that saw Laurguain Erlis take charge of a breakaway Ituraitz national team, Finn Henriksen would be listed as playing for a rebel Kuril Archipelago national team. Nothing else is mentioned about him. Like, for example, *how he is able to play football*. I eventually even just asked PIS myself.

Audio — 19/04/2023, 16:19
I read your and Asto's plane crash RP last year. Finn Henriksen goes through an inordinate amount of human suffering and then you never mention him again
I wanted to yell at you about never mentioning him again
PIS — 19/04/2023, 16:19
Ooooh
Which tournament was that
Audio — 19/04/2023, 16:20
your second one. 56?
PIS — 19/04/2023, 16:20
Might need to reread that
Though he might getting on a bit
Audio — 19/04/2023, 16:20
Mriin occasionally reminds me of storylines I completely forgot about and makes me finish them off. This is me doing this to you
PIS — 19/04/2023, 17:26
Okay he apparently was fit enough to be in the Kuril squad at a subsequent Cuppet so apparently I didn't attribute much cultural significance to him...
Audio — 19/04/2023, 18:42
I saw this and figured it was an error
Or the one leg thing was solved
still, figured it was worth mentioning
glad to have you back by the way
PIS — 19/04/2023, 20:08
Thanks!
Nice to be back


I vote that the reader can choose to infer their own ending to Finn Henriksen's story.

I’m calling it a prosthetic leg.




It was a passage of play to make the eyes water, whether tears of joy or of pain, of second hand embarrassment or perhaps plain old cringe that this here was your sport, and here were some idiots ruining it on the grandest stage of all.

It started with the sublime, and the silhouette of Eastfield Lodge’s Boet Caceres dancing down the right flank, first flicking the ball over the outstretched leg of GoranYurán, then by beating Gould with a drop of the shoulders towards one direction, a lurch to the other, and finally a neat shuffle of the ball from one foot to the other to evade the off-balance full-back’s final attempt at sniping the ball clear. Now behind the defence, but slightly off balance himself, with his torso ahead of his legs and his body on the way to collapsing artlessly to the turf, Caceres’s final act is to sweep the ball out from under him with his right foot, squaring the ball to his left. The goalkeeper has only just made his mind up to rush out towards Caceres and now looks very stupid as Fidelina Noble prances forward onto the ball, a yard ahead of the nearest Audioslavian defender, to tuck the ball into the net for a deserved 1-0.

But there’s Vidoqc. A 32 year-old veteran of the Audioslavian league. What he lacks in pace, he makes up in sheer dastardliness. A tug of the shirt. Very short but very, very firm. And downwards, not backwards. Backwards is a penalty and a red card. Downwards should be too, but it more often results in your opponent simply losing their balance. Refs should be on the lookout for this stuff, it’s basic. Striker goes through, suddenly seems to stop: penalty. Red card. But striker goes through, suddenly seems to lose their balance just slightly, well, it’s the excitement, isn’t it? And if they fall over completely then, well, good luck trying to prove downward pressure on the replay.

Noble would probably have gotten the penalty if they’d gone down in the box, screaming in fake pain and injustice. Instead, irony of ironies, she played like a Champion. She reached the ball but, off balance, she gets underneath it with the side-footed finish. Eastfielders in the area and watching on at home are already in mid-air in celebration when the ball hits the underside of the bar. It bounces a yard before the line. Desperate to get onto the loose ball first, Noble sprints towards it. It’s dropping as she gets to it, but still too high to do anything with. The decision of whether to leave it for whoever’s approaching behind her or to hope to all hell that her header doesn’t send the ball over the bar - and if she gets any pace on this header whatsoever, it’s going straight over the bar - is made for her by a call.

“PAISLEY’S BALL!”

Fidelina ducks out of her leap and, upon landing, makes herself as small as possible, anticipating Paisley Lysander’s imminent finish for 1-0. In the heat of the moment it hadn’t even occurred to her, she would admit later, that Paisley wasn't even playing. The ball drops onto the boot of Uriah Malcolm, mid-leap, hooking the ball away acrobatically, with Lodge substitute Vonn Cope two yards further back and waving his hands furiously in Malcom’s direction, his face turned towards the referee.

In football, you are categorically not allowed to cheat by pretending to be a member of the other team and screaming ‘<name’s ball> at an opponent. You shout “Keeper’s ball” before leaping to head home a corner, the goal gets disallowed and you get booked. Don’t believe me? Read the rules.

Laws of the Game, Part 12
There are different circumstances when a player must be cautioned for unsporting behaviour including if a player… verbally distracts an opponent during play or at a restart


That’s what should happen. Like the shirt-pulling incident, though, there’s an element of psychology involved. Namely: There’s no chance a referee is going to give a foul for that in the knockout stages of the World Cup.

The clearance finds Koren Lorentzen, who mis-controls it, curses, figures Ivo Cavagnaro is probably up there somewhere, and hooks the bouncing ball as far forward as he can. Ivo Cavagnaro is, as fans of his club KT Itzalovalle so often put it on social media, “about as onside as the goalie’s fuckin waterbottle”. Govran Bastarretxea is onside, starting his run in his own half, but it’ll take him ages to catch up with the ball, which bounces twenty yards before the edge of the penalty area. Its second bounce brings it to the feet of Yuvin O'Sullivan, who elects to pass the ball first time to Zak Webber, who is in acres of space. No. Hectares. If hectares are bigger than acres, I can’t remember.

It’s an error. It’s just one of those things. If you’re a goalkeeper, and you’re not under pressure, don’t play a first-time pass. It doesn’t matter how slowly the ball is rolling, or bouncing. You stand a much better chance of playing the pass you want if you take a touch first. The inside of O'Sullivan’s boot contains O'Sullivan’s ankle, which is round and solid and can send a ball travelling in the most unpredictable of directions. In this case, it seems to send the ball towards Lorentzen, whose ears prick up at the sight of a ball rolling towards him, forty yards from goal, and a keeper twenty yards off his line.

If you give lobs marks out of 10, this one gets a 0. There’s no way in which ‘mis-hit grass-cutter’ even qualifies as a lob. He gets plenty of pace on the shot, sure, but that’s not even enough for a mark of ‘1’ if the ball barely strays a foot from the ground. The nature of the shot, though, means O'Sullivan has no idea what’s happening. His back is turned, he’s sprinting back to goal, and as he looks over one shoulder then the next, he can’t locate the ball. He’s covered half the distance to his own goal when he sees, to his horror, the ball rolling just inches away from his stride, to his right. It’s too late to dive for it, he can only speed up and try to chase it. He speeds up, the ball slows down, he dives, he swipes, and sends the ball along his own goal-line. It grazes the foot of the left hand post and rolls to the comparative safety of Sadid St Cleer, who does her namesake saint proud and thumps the ball into touch.

The referee blows his whistle.

“Goal” he signals.

The linesman seems to agree. All three officials are jogging back to their starting positions.

Harun Farrow reaches the referee first, his eyes wide, his arms gesturing towards the goal. O'Sullivan is sprinting to their location, his finger wagging from side to side, a metronome accompanying the ensuing chaos. Experts in exactly This Sort Of Thing, the Audioslavians themselves crowd the referee, distracting him with misinformation like a Bostopian social media bot brigade during a missile test. The referee acts like a fifty-something politically inactive Boofer user and assumes, because both sides are bad, there’s probably nothing wrong with what just happened.

Replays, later, showed the ball had had three further inches to travel before registering as a goal.

Audioslavia, now the second weakest team left in the tournament, can make further gains in their apparent quest to become the most hated team left, as they take on a popular Siovanija and Teusland outfit in the round of sixteen.
Last edited by Audioslavia on Mon Jun 23, 2025 3:10 pm, edited 2 times in total.
=♉︎=IF YOUR SIGNATURE IS LARGER THAN THIS, WHY? THE SHORTER THE SIG, THE GREATER THE LENGTHS PEOPLE GO TO READ IT◤♕◢

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Siovanija and Teusland
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Postby Siovanija and Teusland » Mon Jun 23, 2025 1:22 pm

Trouble in Paradise

Part IV


Serdar Buranov sat patiently in the lobby of the Hotel Siovanija.

He wondered if any of the passers-by would know who he was. The boss of the Buranov crime family kept an exceptionally low profile - only 3 pictures of him had ever gotten into the newspapers, and his name wasn’t all that well known outside of the island of Vrnovo itself, beyond ‘friends of friends.’ Even if they didn’t know him, he wondered if he’d impacted their lives - surely for the worse, he thought. A feeling of not-quite-but-almost guilt came over him with that thought.

Oh, Serdar, he heard his father’s voice say. Save it for your therapist. Whatever callousness that imagined voice came with, it was right. Eyes on the prize: Karamov.

Could it really be him, though? Serdar was sure, but not sure. Vladimir Orlov wouldn’t make that kind of move without someone backing him. The Oyos from Busoga he’d known about, yes, but even that wasn’t necessarily enough to change the power. And Karamov had every reason to want him dead - all of his problems, all of his issues, Serdar was the only man that could ever answer for them. There were still things that didn’t make sense, though. The would-be assassins were found dead on the property - combined with his mentor Evgeni Dusek’s words, that meant one thing: there had to be a traitor within his own family. The traitor had let them into the house, given them the angle they needed - and silenced them when it failed. Identifying the traitor was more important, arguably, than confirming it was Karamov - and Serdar really had no leads.

He waited a few more minutes in the lobby, checking his watch. The TV was playing Karamov’s speech - the typical populist bullshit, Serdar thought. He’d never agreed with Karamov politically - except for when it benefitted his wallet, of course. And he remembered more words from Evgeni Dusek, a warning given during the peak of isolation: Your father did business with Ruslan Karamov, he respected Ruslan Karamov. But he never trusted Ruslan Karamov. That this man would seek to break a country in two, to harm countless lives, only to cover up his own crimes? Serdar could sleep at night justifying that the people he’d impacted were bad people, asking for it - he didn’t know how Karamov could do the same.

Suddenly, his burner phone lit up with a text: “Room 1972.” Calmly, he stood up, nodded to his right hand man Bojan Jurkovic - driver, friend, confidant. Bojan followed Serdar into the elevator - but they’d agreed he would wait outside the room, just in case. Serdar opened the door and strolled in, finding Ruslan Karamov standing at the window.

“Serdar, my friend! It’s good to see you!”

Serdar hadn’t seen him in nearly 2 years - the last time together, they were riding jetskis off Vrnovo. Karamov’s hair was noticeably greyer, and Serdar could barely hide his look of pity and contempt as he greeted Karamov back.

“I must congratulate you on your speech today, I saw it in the lobby - brilliant as always!”

“Ah, I wouldn’t go that far! But I appreciate it. Now, my friend, what are you here to see me about?”

Serdar paused. Might as well get it over with. “Did you hear about what happened in my home?”

Karamov looked frozen. He met Serdar’s gaze, but couldn’t form a response. Serdar continued:

“In my home! In my bedroom, where my wife sleeps! Where my children come and play with their toys. In my home.”

Serdar could sense fear in Karamov as he stuttered out his next words: “My guy at the police department told me. I heard a little, not a lot. Just that the guys were killed.”

But those words were enough to indict him. How could Karamov have known? There was a reason Serdar had kept this so tight lipped, made his meetings with Orlov and Karamov as quick as possible - not even the police in Vrnovo knew about the attempt just yet. Karamov could only have one source - his man on the inside. Serdar wouldn’t reveal his hand just yet.

He stared at Karamov, before sitting down in the armchair, crossing his legs. “Ruslan. I’m going to take my revenge.”

Karamov looked at him: “You know who it was?”

“It wasn’t Orlov, it wasn’t Oyo. It was Evgeni Dusek. My father’s right hand man, he never got over me being boss at such a young age. He claims he’s too old, he’s retired, but he wants to go out as boss.”

Karamov’s brow furrowed. “You’re serious? How do you know?”

“He acts like I’m his son, but in reality he thinks he’ll live forever. He wants me out.”

“Is there any way that I can help you?”

“I’ve already made my move. Things will get rough in Vrnovo for a while, but I’ll handle it. The best way you can help me is to take care of yourself there in Stelburg.”

“I’m working on it. It’s tough. Lara Hauser would do anything to put me behind bars, and honestly, I don’t blame her. I need something to get this referendum going, and I need it soon.”

Serdar smiled. “You’re a cunning guy, Ruslan. You’ll think of something.”

With that, the two men rose and embraced. It was certain to be the last time the two would ever meet in person, Serdar knew. But who would be left standing after it all?

Serdar left the room confident that Ruslan Karamov was behind the attempt on his life. He still had no real idea who had betrayed him from the inside. He’d tossed the name of his mentor, Evgeni Dusek, just to see how Karamov would react. While Karamov’s initial slip-up had given away his plot, he’d been smart enough to conceal the identity of his man on the inside. The boss and his right hand man, Bojan, headed down the elevator and into the parking garage.

“To the airport, boss?”

“Yeah, call up the pilot. I want to get back to Vrnovo as soon as possible, check in on Marijana and the kids.”

“For sure, boss.”

The airport at Siovanska Gora was a pretty small one - just one terminal and runway for the small amount of traffic it saw. While the city was the 4th largest in Siovanija, there wasn’t really much here. The VIP portion of the terminal was also quite small, and Bojan was able to pull the car up directly to the entranceway.

“I’ll go park the car. See you on the plane,”

“Yeah, see you shortly Bojan.” With that, Serdar got out of the car, and well-disguised in sunglasses and a baseball cap, entered the terminal.

Everything seemed normal - at first. Security was a breeze, he was the only one in the VIP section, and he soon glimpsed his sleek, black executive jet sitting on the runway. This thing would have him back home just in time for dinner. That’s about when things started to go wrong.

First of all, it was taking Bojan quite a long time to park that car.

Second of all, where was his pilot? Suddenly, a young man in a pilot’s uniform approached him. “Mr. Gurianov,” he said - that was the fake name Serdar had the plane licensed under. “I’ll be your pilot today.”

Serdar looked him over. “What happened to Mojmir?” Serdar always used the same pilot on every flight he took.

“Crew resource management regulations, or some bullshit. The jet company called, said he couldn’t fly back because he’s accumulated too many hours or something. But don’t worry, Mr. Gurianov, I have over 1000 hours on the Falke 47. You’re in good hands.”

Against all better judgement, Serdar walked across the tarmac and boarded the jet. It was laid out just as he’d left it, that was true - but something was off. As he sat in his seat, his phone pinged with a text. Bojan.

“Hey boss - rental company needs me to sign some papers. You go on ahead - there’s a flight home tomorrow, plus I’ve got family in town. I’ll text Andrey to pick you up.”

Serdar looked out the window of the plane. Why was there a team of armed security guards between his jet and the terminal building? And why did they have fire hoses?

Bojan.

Karamov.

Serdar sprung out of his seat just as the pilot was getting ready to move the plane. “Uh excuse me, Captain… Gonchar? I think I’m going to stay a little bit longer here. My friend is having problems with security, I’m going to go get him.”

The captain turned out of his seat and smiled. “Oh, he’ll be perfectly fine, no need to worry.”

Serdar was confused. His hand reached into his suit jacket - feeling the Zastava Z-23 pistol he always kept on him. His heart was beating faster. “Well, in any case, I’d like to get off the plane.”

“I’m afraid I can’t let you do that. We’ve already left the terminal.”

“Do you know who I am? Open the fucking door.”

The pilot turned now to face Serdar. He had a grin on his face. “Ruslan Karamov says hello.” The pilot drew for his own pistol.

But before he could, Serdar had put a bullet between his eyes. Before he could appreciate the fact that he’d just had another brush with death, he looked out the window - the security guards. Clearly confused as to why the plane had stopped its role, they were now moving towards the plane itself, guns drawn. What was he going to do now? Serdar ran into the cockpit, looking for anything he could find to open the plane’s door. He heard voices from outside.

“He’s there! Open fire!”

The bullets started to ring out, but luckily for Serdar, the glass was doing a great job tolerating their fire. Serdar sat in the pilot's seat; he first thought to try to drive the plane away from the fire. Then, he saw a button on his seat: “Eject.” Fuck it, he thought. Upon press, the cockpit window opened up and his seat flew high into the air.

Not 2 seconds later, the plane exploded into a big ball of fire.

As his parachute popped, Serdar barely had time to register that this had been the plan - the pilot would go for takeoff, eject from the plane, and then the thing was rigged to blow and kill him.

Luckily for him, his parachute landed in a grassy field about 250m away from the plane itself. He could visually confirm that all of the “security guards” had been killed in the explosion. He took a moment to compose himself - this was unbelievable, like something out of a movie. He only knew three things: he was alive, Bojan was the traitor, and he needed to get the hell out of here.

He couldn’t go back through the airport - did Karamov have more men waiting inside? He ran as fast as he could around the building, climbing the fence that closed off the runways and escaping into the field next to the parking lot. There he ran towards the cars, hearing the alarms of fire trucks, police cars and ambulances getting closer.

As he ran, he noticed his own car sitting there - with Bojan still at the wheel. That bastard. Serdar sprinted towards the car, screaming “Bojan! Bojan!” He saw his old friend’s eyes go pale, before he quickly started the car and reversed from the parking spot. Just as Serdar reached the car, Bojan had already pulled out and was speeding away. That didn’t stop Serdar from putting 3 bullets through the back window, a parting gift to his old friend, but he knew he had to let him go for now - he had more important matters to deal with.

He ran to the arrivals section of the parking lot - a few cars were still here, waiting for passengers now stuck in the airport due to the explosion. The first car was a beautiful, luxurious TMW - the kind of car Serdar would have in his own collection. He had a taste for such things - but also the mind of a criminal. And right now, the shitbox Pomorie AvtoFabrika car behind it would attract far less attention. Serdar banged on the window of the car - it was an elderly man, perhaps picking up his wife from a trip with friends, or picking up a grandchild returning from a school trip.

To Serdar, it didn’t matter.

“Get out of the fucking car and give me the keys. Now.” Serdar pointed the gun directly at him.

The old man did exactly as told, silently, as if frozen by fear. He’d left the keys in the ignition. Perfect.

Serdar slammed the door, and hit the gas. Before the police had been able to show up, he was already on the road back to the highway. His mind was still processing the last 10 minutes. There was a lot to unravel here - the second assassination attempt he’d faced in 48 hours, his closest friend betraying him. It all made sense - of course they’d known that night when he’d arrive home, and of course Bojan was the first in his room after it had happened.

He’d process it later. For now, the question was - where would he go? Bojan would’ve told Karamov he’d lived already, and all over Siovanija Karamov would have men looking for him. Vrnovo wasn’t an option - and what was he gonna do, swim there? As the stolen car approached the highway, Serdar looked at the big sign ahead of him:

NATIONAL HIGHWAY 1
Westbound to BOROGRAD
Eastbound to STELBURG


An idea formed in his head. He started humming the old showtune in his head:

Springtime in Stelburg, when all the bluebirds sing

World Cup 99 - Round of 32

Siovanija & Teusland 4-4 (4-4 AET, 4-3 pens) Pasarga

Mollin Park, Felsenkirchen

XI: Kranz; Schwefel, Sanner, Apel, Reichenbach (Mesko 96’); Porsche, Winter (Wind 70’), Le Meji; Korlikov (Weber 70’), A. Kosch-Kovrik, Hackl
Goals: Einar Hackl 7’, Xorge Le Meji 50’, Wolf Wind 73’, 80’,

XI vs Audioslavia: Kranz; Schwefel, Sanner, Apel, Reichenbach; Porsche, Winter, Le Meji; Weber, A. Kosch-Kovarik, Hackl

Preview: They’ve done it - the Goldhorns knock out Pasarga in historic fashion to advance to the Round of 16. Einar Hackl got things going with a goal in the first ten minutes of the game and for a time it looked like the Goldhorns were in good control of this game. But the Wanderers had other ideas - and two goals on the verge of half-time gave them a 2-1 lead at the break. The start of the second half saw a flurry of offence, with Pasarga going up 3-1 and Xorge Le Meji pegging them back to 3-2 all within the space of just 97 seconds. But when Pasarga took a 2 goal lead again in the 65th minute, even the most optimistic of the Goldhorns’ supporters in Felsenkirchen were downbeat. And then, in addition to the wind from the sea blowing through the ground - Wolf Wind arrived on the scene. The super sub scored twice in his first 10 minutes on the pitch, the Goldhorns switching to an all-out 4-4-2 formation in the later stages, and made himself the hero as he sent this one to extra time. But the job wasn’t done yet - and in extra time, Pasarga had more than a few chances to make something happen. Penalties. Would you believe that in the entire history of the national team, before today, they’d only been in 2 penalty shootouts? Both losses, both to Valanora. Today, at least one part of that story would change - after a wild shootout. The Goldhorns’ first three takers (Hackl, Wind, Weber) all scored, while Bogdan Laszlo’s effort was stopped by Sepp Kranz. Aleksander Kosch-Kovarik had a golden opportunity for the Goldhorns - but he missed the net. Pasarga scored, levelling the teams again at 3-3. Jesper Porsche stepped up in his home stadium and scored - and Sepp Kranz got a hand to the effort of Pista Benedek, sealing the victory for the Goldhorns. An incredible match, an incredible win - and the opportunity to write more history at this home World Cup. Next up, the Goldhorns will face a rematch with Audioslavia in the Round of 16 on familiar ground at the Nationalstadion in Stelburg. The Bulls defeated Eastfield Lodge 1-0 in Kaiserhaven to earn the opportunity to face the Goldhorns once more. It’s been a tournament of firsts for the Goldhorns so far: first time winning the group after losing on MD1, first time defeating Audioslavia, first time defeating Pasarga, first ever win on penalties. Will the next first be a first time Quarterfinal?
The United Republics of Siovanija & Teusland
Capital: Borograd | Population: 74,245,000 | Demonyms: Siovanijan, Teus | Country Code: STL

World Cup of Hockey 40, 41 & 42 Champions ⋆ World Junior Hockey Championship 14 Champions

World Cup 99 Co-Host

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Chromatika
Senator
 
Posts: 3546
Founded: Aug 05, 2015
Democratic Socialists

Postby Chromatika » Mon Jun 23, 2025 9:49 pm

World Cup 99 Proper Round of 32: Chromatika 3-2 Kanzlia
Goals: Xuen-Zhukov 20', Fillar, G. 45+1', Han Cunningham 88'
Starting XI: (3-4-1-2) - Sourtois; Coulibaly - Jackson-Jones - Nodis; Fillar, G. - Mesic-Mizayaki - Fillar, B. - Fillar, E.; Françine-Miklavivec; Xuen-Zhukov (C) - Howard-Dawes.
Substitutes: Jean-Baptiste -> Howard-Dawes (59'), Han Cunningham -> Jackson-Jones (59'), Gundsdorf -> Mesic-Mizayaki (70'), Paterson -> Coulibaly (70'), Prenn -> Fillar, B. (80')
Projected Lineups for World Cup 99 Round of Sixteen
vs. (02) Valanora @ Star Field, Herzegovina City, Banija
Starting XI: Sourtois; Coulibaly - Jackson-Jones - Nodis; Fillar, G. - Mesic-Mizayaki - Fillar, B. - Fillar, E.; Françine-Miklavivec; Xuen-Zhukov (C) - Howard-Dawes.
Substitutes: GK Jessika Aniston, GK Jill Swanson, DCR Paisley Paterson, DC Claudia Lethbridge-Antonio, DCL Uemura Saburo, DC Samantha Han Cunningham, WBR Jacoliene Hauptmeijer, WBL Nemes Mátyás, WBL Róża Panaś, CDM Jayla Lethbridge-Antonio, CDM Eden Gundsdorf, AM Maddie Prenn, AF Kaytlyn Jean-Baptiste, CF Harriet Baïe-Verte, AF Adélaide Bittencourt


UP HIGH

Han Cunningham Header Propels Chromatika to Round of Sixteen


Being a third string center back on a roster, especially when the one ahead of you is already the media's favorite, a legacy of a former national team star, and actually good at the job, means that you don't expect to go into the game very often. Not when Eileen Jackson-Jones, the team's starting center back, was solid; and absolutely not when the aforementioned player is one Claudia Lethbridge-Antonio, who needs no introduction.

So, Samantha Han Cunningham had decided to herself that she wouldn't let the circumstances prohibit her from learning as much as she could on this trip to Banija for the World Cup Proper. She would partake in the practices, enjoy the time with her teammates, feel the atmosphere of being at a host nation for an event such as the World Cup Proper, and be ready just in case she was called into action, since injuries were part of the game, after all.

After two dramatic wins in the World Cup Proper Group Stage, Chromatika finally won a World Cup Proper Group for the first time in what felt like an age, and were taking on Kanzlia in the Round of Thirty-Two. As expected from a lower ranked side that had overcome the odds time and time again, the Kanzlians weren't taking the game lying down. Though Lavrentiy had opened the scoring in the twentieth minute on a nice through-ball from Edith - the two have been doing that for many cycles now - Paulo Tiyan answered just eight minutes later on a set piece, his header being precise; then, it was Kanzlia that actually took the lead behind a Kartioch beauty from range before Grayson Fillar scored a rare goal in first half injury time to tie the game into halftime.

Samantha was shocked to have Alnia Khabibullina, the team's Manager, come up to her first at halftime. Jackson-Jones ran hard in the first half knowing that one of the substitutes would most likely be for her position in the second half - and this would be no exception... Except this time, Alina had Samantha in mind.

"I think the Kanzlians are going to continue to utilize set pieces to try to score the goal they need," explained Alina, "I need your skills, your height, and your defensive positioning to make sure that doesn't happen. Do you think you can do that?"

What surprised her more than Alina picking her was the fact that Claudia was the first to come up to her immediately afterwards, saying, "You've got this Sam. Alina's right - this is a better situation for you than for me. Make sure you don't let them get another one from set pieces - the midfield has it so they can't just tear past us in the flow of the game, they're going to try to make the set pieces count. Don't let them."

With the words of encouragement from a player who was both her friend and rival, Samantha began to warm up in earnest. Sure enough, fourteen minutes into the second half, Samantha was inserted into the game - her first minutes in the World Cup Proper - to replace Eileen, the veteran giving her a reassuring high-five and a smile as the Tumbran-Chromatik entered.

It was only two minutes later that she had her first assignment. The dangerous Karlioch took another sharp corner, but Samantha was successful in making sure she was in the right place for a clearance. She kept her wits about her, exchanged words with Hailee Sourtois and the other two defenders, and carried on.

Just like any other game she had played in before, she eventually settled into a rhythm. As stated by Claudia, the Kanzlians did not have the ability to get through the middle of the pitch with the ball on the ground. It was all long, lobbing passes to try to create space for their forwards to go into, hoping that the Chromatik defense would make a mistake that would result in a set piece. This played into Samantha's strengths, and as the game went on, she started to get more and more confident in her ability to tie up where she was on the pitch.

It was when Maddie Prenn was subbed on in the eightieth minute that Samantha heard the next part of her mission: to participate on the other end in set pieces, too. Maddie was Chromatika's best midfield substitute who could contribute on taking set pieces; the fact that Alina had decided to keep Edith in for the whole game instead of putting in Nemes Mátyás meant that it would be Maddie's job to contribute the dangerous shots. As one of the tallest ones on the pitch at the moment - Paisley and Cylie being the other two, but Samantha had better hops than either of them - she would be one of the targets to try to head the ball in on a free kick.

As the game started to wind down toward the end of regulation, the Kanzlians looked like they were content with letting the game go to extras. Chromatika took advantage, and a nice, spirited run by Kaytlyn Jean-Baptiste resulted in a foul from outside the box.

Back in training camp, Samantha had practiced time and time again how to be in the right spot during these free kicks. Maddie liked a curving shot that aimed to be to the left front of the net, and Samantha could see that with the way that the Kanzlian backfield was acting, she would have a shot.

The whistle blew, and Maddie Prenn kicked the ball. It hung in the air for what seemed like an eternity, before dipping down at the exact spot that the two of them had practiced hundreds of times back in Chromia. Samantha jumped, angled her head, and hit the ball at the exact right angle for it to be directed away from a charging Rick Zijlstra and into the back of the net for what ended up being the game winner.

It was the first international goal of her career.

Chances are, those would be the last minutes she'd play this World Cup Proper - but in case she was called upon again, she would be ready, no matter who the opponent was in the future.

And she would never forget this game and the magical moment she had been a part of.
Former User of the Nations of Yesopalitha and Falconfar

Champion: WBC 52, NSCF 24, 26, 28, and CoH 82
Regional Tournaments: AOCAF 55 Champions, 52 & 63 Runners-Up
WC Proper Appearances: Second Place: 93 Semifinals: 76 Quarterfinals: 77, 78 Round of Sixteen: 79, 80, 87, 88, 92, 94, 99 Round of Thirty-Two: 98, 100 Group Stage: 81, 83, 84, 86, 89, 95, 96, 97
CoH Appearances: 77 (Ro16), 85 (Ro16), 90 (Champions), 91 (QF)
KPB Ranking: 16 (Post 100)
RP Population: 22 million

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Edsmontik
Chargé d'Affaires
 
Posts: 474
Founded: Feb 02, 2024
Iron Fist Consumerists

Ro32

Postby Edsmontik » Tue Jun 24, 2025 6:33 am

Edsmontik 1-0 West Barack and East Obama
M. Stuero (68') | None

World Cup Round of 32
Full Time - 3:04PM, Friday, 12/12/2031, BCEL Stadium, Jinja City, Hangaza, Banija

"A team that hates the game cannot possibly win. If WBEO doesn't allow any sort of game in their nation, why is there a national squad?"

"Probably some campaign to promote whatever they like."

"It gives me the chills honestly, to know a government that doesn't like the game."

"There could be another reason behind it, who knows?"

After a second half goal from none other than Maartin Stuero, the Eagles managed to scrape through to the round of 16 with a 1-0 victory.
It wasn't a big win, but still important.
Every step and every goal contributed to the pathway toward a trophy.

"What matters is that we won here."

"Okay Maartin, you're cool for that goal, but no need to say the same thing over and over again."

"I'm not wrong, am I? We're now closer to our goal. You assisted me there, so you deserve credit too, Maktholm." Stuero said.

"Anyways," Ghreksbvy began, "Who are we playing next? Hopefully someone easy."

A voice interrupted the two.

"It's never easy." der-Ghavyr said, while mysteriously closing the door behind him. "We're up against Tikariot next, who will most likely be a pain to beat. However, they did end on the same points as us in the group stage."

With only four days until the next match against Tikariot, the Edsmons would have to plan out everything.
Tikariot is a very attacking team.
To deal with that, the Eagles have to be very defensive and very attacking at the same time.
They will go full defense to block out and intercept the ball, and then instantly send it forward in a few passes to slide past the weaker defense.
If the plan works Edsmontik is in perfect condition to slide into the quarterfinals.

It is very risky though.
Sending everyone on the attack means that Tikariot will be open for their own attack if they intercept.
That will leave der-Stoiuben vulnerable to conceding.
Unless Ivikt and Benzor manage to stop the Tikariot strikers, the Edsmon team may be in a pit one it's only the back line left.

Edsmontik will also have to take full advantage of corners, especially knowing Stuero and Javarqa's good heading abilities.
Free kicks will also have to be used as long ranged shots, just to maximize goal chance.
Stuero will take all free kicks, except for ones where the distance is too far to shoot.
This game will be a fight to survive, rank 8 in the world Tikariot vs. rank 4 in the world Edsmontik.
Definitely one of the more "DEATH" matches of the Round of 16.

If Edsmontik wins this game against Tikariot, they will find themselves up against either five-time world champion Valanora, or a Group 7 foe known as Chromatika.
Valanora is completely new to the Eagles, but Chromatika isn't.
Additionally, Valanora is ranked 2nd, right above the Eagles by two.
Here's hoping that Edsmontik gets the easier match if they beat Tikariot.
Either way, a big team will be going home.

***

Next Lineup (GK -- LB, CB, CB, RB -- LM, CM, RM -- LCF, RCF, ST)
E. der-Stoiuben -- S. Kizani, I. Javarqa, B. Norseden, V. Jervanois -- L. Fruedenne, D. Verto, M. Ghreksbvy -- M. Rehcikt, M. Stuero [C], S. Utravak
THE KARMIC REPUBLIC OF EDSMONTIK
TRIGRAMME: EDS | DENONYM: Edsmon | POPULATION: 198,650,000 | DEKLAEDER: Viktor Fragraeit (EGCP) | LANGUAGE: Vdesic
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BoF 84 Champions, Multiversal Cup 1 Champions, NSWC 98 Semifinalists, IAC 24 Third Place, DBC60/U21WC81 Third Place
panzvastekolektion.eds: Popular Pages - EFA to Expand the FDVL to 20 Teams by 2040 - Edsmontik Upgrades Its Air Force: What's Next? - Edsmontik Unveils a New War Memorial in Central Trosiciti

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Banija
Negotiator
 
Posts: 5144
Founded: Mar 06, 2015
Capitalist Paradise

Postby Banija » Tue Jun 24, 2025 7:41 am

Image

Banija bow out in the Round of 32 as questions abound about the future of the Kadongo Kamu


AISSA, HANGAZA- With just 1 goal scored across 3 group games(and none from open play), Trischuk overturned his starting XI, trying to spark something in the attack going forward.. And while he was able to do that, the stout defense fell apart- as Tikariot slashed this defense apart for a 3-2 victory, that looked closer on the scoreboard than it was on the pitch. Wentibwa's goal in the 7th minute of second half stoppage time(when only 5 was given) made this look closer, but let it be clear- the 55,000+ who packed the stadium in the Hangazan capitol, and the millions more who were watching from home, saw one thing- Tikariot completely outclassed Banija, and it left a frustrated fanbase in a dejected mood, seeking more questions than answers. The leading question, of course- a better group stage could've avoided such a rough opponent in this stage of the tournament, right?

It was the first half of the World Cup 90s when Banija were balling, three straight Finals. But now the last 5 cycles have largely been disappointments- the only successful World Cup of the last 5 is the quarterfinal run we made at World Cup 97. With an aging roster, it might be time to get some new blood in there- and granular decisions will need to be made.

But with the World Cup on home soil, all that is on pause. The RBSA is running the show here, alongside its counterparts in Siovanija & Teusland, and the Squornshelan Remnant States, and is focused on putting on a spectacular World Cup on home soil. "Hosting the World Cup is a tremendous honor, and we're fully focused on ensuring that the experience is enjoyable for both the fans, and the teams. It's an honor, to host the World Cup preceding the 100th- and we are determined to ensure that the spectacle here in Banija, especially for the Final, is spectacular." Said RBSA Executive Chairman, and World Cup 99 Host Committee Co-Chairman, Robel Ezera.

Enjoy the party, enjoy the vibes, go to a few games. Home World Cups don't come around too often- enjoy it while it lasts. You'll have plenty of time to dissect the sad state of the Banijan NT after the tournament, we promise you that.
Former champion of quite a few things. Former President of even more things.
Kabaka = King
Lubuga = Queen Consort
Isebantu = Crown Prince
Waziri = Foreign Minister
Katikkiro = Prime Minister
Omugabe/Omugaba= Prince/Princess
Banija Domestic Sports | Map of Banija
NSCF 14 CHAMPIONS(Loyola-Istria), NSCF 17 CHAMPIONS(Loyola-Istria), NSCF 19 CHAMPIONS(Northern Moravica), NSCF 21 CHAMPIONS(Loyola-Istria)
World Cup 86, 93, and 94. IBC 30, 31, 32, 33. WBC 47, 51, 56, and 60. WB 44 and 45. National Trophy Cabinet.
Does your country need public transit? Contact the RTC!
If you see this, assume you have an embassy in my country and we have an embassy in yours!

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Aphrilia
Envoy
 
Posts: 347
Founded: Oct 20, 2023
Father Knows Best State

Postby Aphrilia » Tue Jun 24, 2025 7:42 am

The Further We Go
The whistle blows and the fans go crazy. Tanirinthia 0, Aphrilia 1.

The Aphrilians that came all the way from home to here, in the Squornshelan Remnant States to support their national team, were not disappointed. In fact, they were delighted. The Anchors for the first time in their history would be making their appearance in the World Cup Round of 16. If you went to the past, back when Aphrilia was starting out on the multiversal stage and told a fan that, "Aphrilia will make it to the Round of 16 within five cycles," people would call you crazy. And whilst others have made it further in less time, for this team... No, this nation, it had always just been about having forward progress. Now here they were, another step further than the last time they made it to the Round of 32.

There really was only one man that could have scored the winning goal against Tanirinthia. 75th minute, both sides have had their chances with four on target for Aphrilia and five for Tanirinthia. As this was the knockout stage, both teams had stepped up in their performance, especially Aphrilia knowing that this was their second ever Round of 32 appearance. Jessica Rhine-Faust and Brent Wallace had pushed the ball up the field with several passes despite drifting left, and this was a chance for The Anchors to score. Wallace with the ball passes back to the center, and Nathaniel Rosberg falls back from inside the box to pick it up. As he fell back moving to the left, once with the ball and outside the box, Rosberg took his chance and made a shot with his weak foot. It was in, thus the goal that won Aphrilia the game. But what about the man himself?

Well, currently he was in bed, chatting with his wife who was back home in Aphrilia.

Mikaela Somner was one happy woman with one happy husband. And a happy family as well. Rosberg knew that they were all watching every game that the national team was playing ever since the start of qualifying. Seeing him score in the knockouts with such fashion, was well, it was incredible. Ever since the decision to step down as captain, he's been able to spend the off-time from the national team as a husband and a dad without worrying about his job. Sure, he still works out and trains, but he has more time for his family.

"You should rest now, Saint Eleanor will be a tough match." His wife texted. Rosberg quickly writes a response and sends it, "Alright. Love you very much, good night." With that, he closed his phone and puts it to the side. Things will only get tougher, but Rosberg is determined to do the best as he can. Especially knowing that this was very well his last World Cup ever.

Meanwhile...
"I'm just glad we were able to pull through in the end."

"I'm just as glad too." Those were the words, and the response to those words from Phillip Karnwell and Ines Forrestal. The two had some alone time, for once, and were spending it together as they drank some coffee. No one to bother the both of them, just some well needed peace and quiet. But there were some things swelling within the former's mind. "Ines... Do you remember when I proposed to be your boyfriend?" The younger man asked. Ines merely giggled slightly, nodding. "Of course I do, what about it?"

Phillip wasn't sure on what to say, if he was going to be fine after saying what he was thinking of. "Did you ever think for a second that perhaps we should have married already and that I'm a-" "No, and I don't think so at all." Ines responded before Phillip could even finish his question. It was a moment of assertive answer from the older woman. "I'm not letting you ridicule or doubt yourself, not even for a second young man." Ines added on, with a face of worry and confusion. Phillip just glanced aside, embarrassed from even asking.

"I think it's perfectly fine that we have yet to marry. I don't have any plans on settling down, and I am sure you don't either. And if it's about the fact that you have no idea on what to do, then..." Ines gazed upon Phillip rather playfully, with the latter looking slightly nervous. "Then we can definitely do it together. Surprise proposals aren't always the way, you know." She finished. Phillip breathed a sigh of relief, before saying, "Thanks. That's definitely lifted the worries I have regarding us." He remarked.

Ines laughs slightly, finishing up her cup of coffee before responding. "We can worry about marriage later, Phil. We're still in the World Cup, don't snooze off. Everything will be just fine as long as we continue to do the best that we can. You're the main goalkeeper, remember that." Phil nodded, understanding that there was immense pressure on him, and the team, to perform.

But unlike all the way back, he's resolute in his mind and determined to do his utmost. No matter the result.
"...I'll never trust the same, I'll see friendship as just another game...! Full of winners and losers, selfish abusers... You failed to fly but somehow I’m to blame...!?"

-+ THE KINGDOM OF APHRILIA +-
Religious Immortality, Sporting Passion, and Lack of Factbooks.
NS Stats were kept out in the freezing winter.
FOOTBALL
QFs WC 99, 100 / R16 WC 101 / R32 WC 97
CHAMPIONS of IAC 24 / THIRD of IAC 23 / 4th IAC 22 / R16 IAC 20, 21, 25

BASKETBALL
THIRD of IBC 44 / QFs IBC 42, 43 / R16 IBC 39, 40, 41

OTHER
NSSCRA 15 ROTY Runner-Up (Alexander Rivier)

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TJUN-ia
Minister
 
Posts: 3370
Founded: Oct 04, 2019
Left-Leaning College State

Postby TJUN-ia » Tue Jun 24, 2025 8:01 am

Of course.
The one time there is an expectation to do anything, we fall at the first hurdle.
Typical TJUN-ia, as always.

We wanted to enter the next cycle, the Centennial World Cup, with a positive outlook on ourselves.
Making it the knockouts thrice in a row means that yes, TJUN-ia is good at this sport.
But after winning 2 knockout games in 97 and 1 in 98, we come up empty-handed in 99.
So to many, we are Good...but aren't Great yet.

So that will be our new target once we get into the 100s - to become Great.
What does that mean? I guess...aim for Top 8 again and see what happens from there.
Very tricky, of course...but we will try all the same.

Gao Wu Shi, Harlem Baringer-Tahiri, Helena Mikazawa, Mikela Djé-Djé, Paek Un-hui and Stephan Fiedtkou cannot fight for us anymore.
They are all bowing out with their heads held high after helping us rise through it all.

But as it turns out, that isn't the only thing that is changing.
When the team got back to TJUN-ia, a press conference was held in TJUN-ia City that would confirm news that people knew would come, but many not this quickly.
David Seems and Li Xiu Ying are stepping away from the National Team after the next cycle.
WC100 might be their last dance.

That is the mission now.
Give them a great send off, both in CE and in WC.
For they have given us so much, right from the start.

MARCH ON!
GO JAGS!




SCHEDULE (Group L, Squornshelan Remnant States)
MD1: vs Oberour Ar Moro (32) - Admiral Cherenkov Stadium, Santraginus D 4-4 (T-2nd)
MD2: vs Saint Eleanor (10) - Striterax Cybernetics Arena, Striterax L 2-3 (T-3rd)
MD3: vs Pyazhnaya (63) - Striterax Cybernetics Arena, Striterax W 1-0 (2nd/1-1-1/4pts/0GD
Ro32: vs Ko-oren (19/E1) - Albert III Memorial Stadium, Dodoma (BAN) L 1-1 (2-3 pens)
1st: ECC4/5, NSSCRA13, RLWC22, IBS20, EBT3, EIHT2, ET20V
2nd: NSCF24/26, ARWC4, WC:TOTS, IBC34, IBS17, RUWC33/35, ECC6, EKT, WCoH52, T20WC18, CE43, EIHT4
3rd: ARWC3, IBC32/41, ECC3/7, ARWC6, ET20 4/6, ECT, RUWC37, WCoH56
NSSCRA
#07 Michael Stefan (S13 T1 Champ)/#64 Alfonso Mercado/#03 Maddison Riley-Jones (S10 T2 Champ)
#96 Alice Jepkosgei/#70 Gongming Gao [NCR]/#79 Axel Chase

WGPO: #11 Lane Carter/ #9 Batu Tüvshinbayar (WGP2 S5 Champion)
NSTT: 4 S-Titles/2 D-Titles

UN - U1
TJUN (taʒən) - An organ of the UN that focuses on "international role-play" (i.e. USA = Fang the Sniper) (U2)
TJUN-ia (taʒənia) - The testing grounds of TJUN members, but operates as an independent nation. (U3)

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Vdara
Chargé d'Affaires
 
Posts: 453
Founded: Jul 10, 2018
Democratic Socialists

Postby Vdara » Tue Jun 24, 2025 9:40 am

Battle of Borograd

Sometimes, when you follow your own team, you have to take the bad and the ugly alongside the good. The Battle of Borograd, as it has come to be known, saw one of the most shameful displays of “football” that had ever been seen from a Vdaran team, one which shocked supporters worldwide. All ideas of free-flowing football had gone out of the window, leading to by far the dirtiest and chaotic game in Vdaran history. Prior to the match, Markos had given the order to his squad to win at all costs, no matter what. That meant that the Vdaran squad came out the blocks with a fire in their bellies, and it was no surprise when the first tackle of the match came in the very first minute, as Takis Pipades hacked down Anthony Donis while he was dribbling his way past half the Vdaran midfield. This set the tone extremely early on for what would be a hard-fought fixture between two teams who were not unfamiliar with playing dirty - and boy, would it be dirty. The referee already had his work cut out for him within ten minutes, as Gael Hicks went two-footed into a challenge against Sophia Kyprianou, who was clean through on goal. The prolific striker clutched her ankle in pain, and Hicks feigned that he would help her up by extending his hand out only to show her the middle finger when she reached back. How very courteous. Hicks got away with only a yellow card - god knows how - but the resulting free kick gave Grazzja Le Brun a brilliant opportunity to try and score the first goal of the game. Said opportunity was delayed, however, by HOT-DAMN’s inability to correctly set up a defensive free kick wall, as they debated where the foul had taken place, where to stand, and how many should be standing in a wall. None of this would matter, unfortunately, as Le Brun’s set piece shot didn’t come anywhere close to threatening the goalkeeper. Better luck next time, I suppose.

Several more minutes went by without incident, but shit hit the fan when HOT-DAMN’s Cale Mallett managed to avoid several harsh tackles from Vdara’s defenders and slotted the ball past Illiana Alexandrou with relative ease. As the Beer Leaguer cartwheeled in celebration and the Hapiloppian crowd cheered wildly, over on the touchline Moustakakos could barely contain his anger.

”What are we doing here, guys? Come on, focus! Get your heads back in the fucking game and FOCUS!”

He paced around his technical area, side-eyeing Ernie Stevenston who seemed to be enjoying himself. Given his team were winning a knockout stage match, you’d think he’d be allowed to be happy, but this seemed to be diametrically opposed to Markos’ morals. Feeling an angry streak bubbling up inside him, he had a pop at the HOT-DAMN manager, who was grinning from ear to ear.

”Wipe the smile off your face, Ernie. You know as well as I do that it’ll never last.”

Markos was not unfamiliar with beefing other managers, of course - just a few cycles prior, Beefsteak City’s Jerome Salisbury and he had a large falling out during the Baptism of Fire - but he usually tried to keep his mean streaks behind closed doors. On this special occasional, as it were, he elected to play dirty like his players. Leading by example, you could put it. He got no reply from Ernie, who simply glared back before focusing his attention on the game, but he knew that he had gotten into his head. Circumstances on the pitch weren’t much prettier, with six yellow cards being handed out within the first half an hour, and the pitch itself was beginning to look rather rough with the sheer force which was going into each tackle. If things continued like this, the once-immaculate pitch of the Stadion Razdrto ‘Vijolicni would soon look like a minefield, with a warring atmosphere to match. Blades of grass and chunks of turf continued to fly into the air as player’s uncompromisingly flew into challenges, flinging each other into the air. Thank god it hadn’t rained, because if it had - you’d be forgiven for thinking it had become trench warfare. The next fifteen minutes flew by, with yellow cards handed out here and there, before a ceasefire- I mean, the halftime whistle was sounded. Players from both sides groaned in pain as they trudged into their respective dressing rooms, many of them with bruised shins and muddy shorts. Despite his side being 1-0 down, the players were treated to a very rare sight of Markos being pleased amidst a scoreline which was going against them.

”That’s more fucking like it, lads and lasses! None of this pretentious ‘moral high ground’ shite, I told yous all to play dirty and kick the hell out of them, and you have. It might have felt more like a game of rugby than football, but sooner or later they’ll tire out before we do, because you’re far, far better than that lot. We have more stamina, more talent, and more grit and tenacity than they could ever dream of. They may be fellow Anaians, and there may be very little disparity in the rankings, but fuck that. I’m not sure how much they have left in the tank, but I’m certain we’ve got more, so don’t even think about resting - not even for a second. We cannot afford to let them off the hook in any way, shape, or form. Even if one of them is writhing around on the floor, crying in pain, boot them in the balls. I mean it, kick them when they’re down. If it’s any consolation, they’d do the same to you. They wouldn’t even piss on you if you were on fire. So, let’s regroup, let’s keep this up and, who knows - maybe we’ve got a goal coming in our future.”

Re-energised, both teams flew back onto the pitch, ready to continue the clash of the century. Ferrero Fotellis had barely had enough time to get the ball out of his feet after kickoff before Michael Shammes - a halftime HOT-DAMN substitute - had clattered him, throwing him to the floor. Before Shames had even had a chance to point and laugh, Takis Pipades came hurtling over and shoulder-barged him to the floor, earning himself a yellow card - Vdara’s 7th of the match alone. Inevitably, the tone had been set once more, and the Battle of Borograd had resumed where it had left off. More and more blows were exchanged, and still nobody had been sent off, up until around the 70th minute. Trifonas Tolakis, who had come on at halftime and earned himself a card for pushing over A.J. Butterball (whom he claimed had goaded him into it), was sent off for a horrendous boot-to-knee tackle on Buckshot Bellwood, who remained in pain as the Vdaran centreback strode into the tunnel and received a pat on the back from his manager. Bellwood gingerly rose to his feet, the HOT-DAMN crowd clapping him as he did so.

Time continued to tick by, and alarm bells began to ring as the game entered its 85th minute. Pushing harder than ever before, the Vdarans had managed to win a corner from a counter-attack, and Grazzja Le Brun stood over the ball, ready to send it into the box. The corner itself wasn’t very good, being hit low and hard, but a miscue from substitute defender Brady Jackson allowed the ball to the feet of Euro Papadopoulos, who tried to chip it over everyone. His chip shot thumped off the crossbar, but bounced off the back of Jackson’s head, and would have gone into the net if not for the quick reactions of Jim Dash, who punched it in whichever direction he could. Unfortunately for him, his punch launched the ball directly to the foot of Alessia La Rosa, who expertly volleyed it past Dash and levelled the match in the dying stages, much to the delight of the travelling Vdaran fans. Over on the touchline, Markos simply raised his fist in the air and shook it in approval. He instructed his team to ”park the bus”, preferring to try and win it in extra time rather than lose it in the last five minutes. Once the full ninety minutes were over, there was a short break which allowed Markos to reiterate the instruction of parking the bus - playing as defensively as possible to see out the match. Thus, the added time was anticlimactically uneventful, with no more sendings off or even yellow cards. “Utter woke nonsense”, as the kids would say.

The full time whistle sounded to conclude the additional thirty minutes, and the Vdarans entered into a huddle with their manager in order to determine the order of penalty takers. After some deliberation, an order was set, and Markos was quick to give them some words of encouragement before the most important penalty shootout of their careers.

”You’ve all done spectacularly well to get as far as this, but this is your chance to write your name in the history books, and to be remembered forever. Don’t fuck it up.”

With tensions high, Vdaran captain Alessia La Rosa - the imprint of a set of studs still in her knee from an earlier challenge - would be the first to take a penalty. Lacking hesitation, she placed the ball on the spot, took a few steps back, and rifled it into the top left corner. A no nonsense, proper penalty. 1-0.

HOT-DAMN’s Cale Mallett, the also-bruised earlier goalscorer, had the first right of reply. Being somewhat of a showman, he tried to gee up the Hapiloppian crowd behind, who began to make some more noise for their main man. Try though Alexandrou might, she knew her chances of stopping a shot from Cale ‘Whack-A-Goal’ Mallett would be almost zero from the penalty spot, and she was proven right when his shot had already flown past her before she had even had a chance to pick a side to dive to. Rooted to the spot, ball in the net. The crowd behind reacted with joy, and young Mallett celebrated in kind. 1-1.

There had been some deliberation as to who would take Vdara’s second penalty, but full-back Grazzja Le Brun was the one who rocked up to the penalty spot in the end. The cold gaze from Dash between the sticks was enough to unsettle her slightly, prompting her to readjust the position of the ball on the spot. She clearly wasn’t comfortable whatsoever, so it was little surprise when her shot scudded against the underside of the crossbar. Fortunately, it still went in, and she wiped the sweat off her brow without much embarrassment. ”Phew.” 2-1.

Buckshot Belwood, who had somehow managed to avoid serious injury despite the earlier scything challenge from Tolakis, was next to the spot. Alexandrou hopped up and down on the spot, pointing to her left. ”Go on, shoot there, you know you want to.” Belwood appeared unfazed by the goalie’s attempts to put him off, striking the ball with just the right amount of power and precision whilst Alexandrou dived in the wrong direction. Unluckily for him, although his ball also clunked against the woodwork, it bounced away, allowing the Vdaran crowd on the opposite end of the ground to cheer their loudest all day. 2-1.

It was now Maria Hadjipavlou’s turn to try and cement the advantage that Belwood’s misfire had enabled the Vdarans to try and gain. She seemed a hell of a lot more confident than Le Brun had been, but Dash’s stony and uncompromising gaze also revealed signs of confidence. Hadjipavlou’s shot was good, but Dash saved it comfortably, shaking his rear end to the delighted Hapiloppian crowd. Maria, head in her hands, trudged back to her teammates who were quick to reassure her. Dash, on the other hand, was busy trying to get the crowd singing his ‘theme song’. ”I'm a Dash man, *bewp bewp*, yes I'm a Dash man…” Needless to say, it wasn’t working, partially because the majority of them were too drunk to follow along with the tune. They were pleased to see him twerking, though. 2-1.

Justin Cherry, who did not match his strike partner’s earlier display of showmanship, came next. A consummate professional, he seemed far less likely to mess around than any of his teammates, and thus his penalty was taken and scored without incident. 2-2.

Vice-captain Takis Pipades stepped up next for Vdara, looking to regain the slender lead they held. The HOT-DAMN crowd, enjoying this spectacle, hurled some boos down at him, but his balls of steel allowed him to tune those out and smack the ball into the net in a manner not too dissimilar from La Rosa. He sarcastically cupped his ears to the crowd, who booed him even harder, before shushing them and chuckling on his way back to his teammates. 3-2.

Zack Webster, who was on the older side of the Beer Leaguers, appeared totally uninterested by everything that was going on as he made his way towards the penalty spot. Probably a good thing, if anything. With composure for days, he didn’t even give himself much of a run-up, just swung his boot at the ball from a standing position and allowed it to sail into the net. 3-3.

Things were starting to get extremely stressful, and Sapphira Mariou readied herself with beads of sweat practically pouring off of her. It wasn’t even that hot, she was just a bag of nerves who, truth be told, didn’t think she would have to take a penalty, particularly with her being the fifth penalty taker. Evidently, she had far too much faith in her own team - or not enough faith in HOT-DAMN’s. Either way, it was critical that she scored, which only seemed to pile even more pressure onto her. Just by the look of her, you could tell her confidence was lacking, so when her ball sailed over the crossbar and smacked an unfortunate HOT-DAMN fan in the crowd in the face and spilled his beer, there was very little surprise. 3-3.

Mariou’s nerves had gifted HOT-DAMN a chance to win it with their fifth kick in this shootout, and Bruce Tatum swaggered to the spot like he was heading to the club. He placed the ball onto the spot, before eyeing up the Vdaran keeper. ”Try and save this, sweetcheeks.” He blew her a kiss, which only served to anger her. That was the aim, of course. Tatum had an abnormally long run-up - perhaps to give himself enough time to pick up speed - and as he thundered towards the ball, Alexandrou stared into his eyes. They kept looking to the right. Thus, as the shot flew from the Beer Leaguer’s boot, Illiana flung herself to her right and, with her arm outstretched, directed the ball wide. HOT-DAMN’s man appeared shocked, and Alexandrou thumped her fist against her chest with aura as the crowd behind her groaned. It was now sudden death, and everything was level at 3-3.

Up stepped Ferrero Fotellis. Staring down HOT-DAMN’s Jim Dash, he tried to give off the impression that he was confident, assured, and willing to take the penalty. Inside, however, he was absolutely bricking it. Taking backwards steps away from the ball, he could almost feel his heart ready to fall out of his arse. He began muttering to himself, psyching himself up. ”No pressure. Just the hope of a nation depending on you.” If anything, it just made him more scared. He cast his mind back to when he was small, when he first saw the video of his dad getting clattered by the Hapiloppian captain, and the anger it made him feel. How he wished to get back at him, and how the chance had slipped away. Almost on autopilot, the adrenalin and the anger pulsating through his body, Ferrero began his run-up, darting full-pelt at the ball. He swung his leg at it as if it had personally wronged his family, mindlessly blootering it in the direction of the goal. Just then, it felt as if time had slowed to a mere crawl, and Ferrero watched in horror as the ball flew straight down the middle…and the net bulged. He didn’t even have time to celebrate, not rationally anyway. 4-3, and finished.

The thirty-thousand strong travelling crowd let out a roar, the like of which had never been heard before from a Vdaran cohort of this size. Decades of toil, of anguish, and of stress were released in an instant, as if the past fifteen cycles had all been building up to a moment like this. Fotellis - who had never actually stopped running since he began his run-up - whipped off his shirt, twirling it above his head as he ran towards his teammates, who in turn were running towards him. Many of the fans, too, had made their way onto the pitch, joining the team in fervent celebration. For the first time ever, Vdara had made it to the Round of 16 of the World Cup. It hadn’t been pretty - quite the opposite, in fact - but absolutely none of that mattered. After all, it’s not how you win, just that you win. Many results over the past few cycles had made many feel like something like this was impossible - a Round of 32 loss to Tero al Disco here, a 4-2 loss to Baker Park there, with many more embarrassing results in between. None of that mattered now as, at long last, the promised land had been reached, and fans up and down the country celebrated as if they had won the whole thing. Before they could dream of that, however, they’d have to navigate their way past prior foes Kamijiro, who Markos had gotten very familiar with last cycle - having been invoiced for breaking an antique dressing room door and, having refused payment, found that the wheels had been removed from his sportscar. Now facing one another again at such an advanced stage, lord only knows what tactics they’d conjure up in order to secure victory…
Come for the weather. Stay for the fitba. Leave for somewhere prettier.

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