Baptism of Fire 44 Everything thread.

[Qazox]

Ok.. Due to circumstances beyond Mangolana's control, he was unable to post his MD6 scores yesterday. He should be able to do so tonight. As such, Qazoxian region's MD7 will be pushed back to tommorrow night, to allow my half of the draw the same 48 hours off as Mangolana's half has had. If for some reason Mangolana is unable to post their MD6 scores tonight; Qazox' MD 7 will be postponed until after Mangolana posts their MD6. Hopefully this is not a long delay and we apologize for this incovenience to the BoF competitors.

[Gyatso-kai]

Republic Stadium, HOME Locker Room
Skyline, Mangolana
2248 Hours, 2011.2 October 9

Chilling down from a hard nights practice always seem to take longer than gearing up for the actual battles. Kad'e Tay'haai sat himself down, soaking sweat through his practice kit before the other team members came into the room; though as the Captain, he would often get up as soon as his teammates came in and greet them, whether good or bad.

Voices down the hall, though Tay'haai as he stood. Better get over there...

The doors to the locker room opened as the defensive backs came into the room first. Tay'haai shock each arm, gave a hearty "Kandosii" to each team member and finally, once his head coach Boba Vhett came in, Tay'haai went to his place at the far right of the circle. He looked up at each of his fellow players, the mesh'verde of the National Team, who all bore the same look upon their face.

A look of exhaustion...

Vhett made his way into the middle of the circle, his impressive physical form standing almost in perfect unison with the bodies of his team and a testament to his strategy as a coach: 'Never ask your team to do something you cannot do yourself." he would say during practices. "If I want you to run a dozen miles with a twenty kilo pack, you can bet I will be leading the pack" Today was no exception; having been running the same suicide runs as his team for the last twenty minutes, Vhett looked just as exhausted.

"Ke'sush, ad'ike, settle down,"[/b] spoke Vhett, adjusting his weight to centre over his left leg. "We had an excellent practice today... a solid four hours, in fact. We are in great shape, good form, strong presence...and we are all set for the game tomorrow against Trimasia."

"Will we watch their last game tomorrow or tonight?" The question came from the back of the circle. Vhett smiled at the sarcasm from his team and just shook his head, hands held up.

"Now, now... We are getting awfully late into the night now, so perhaps it can be best saved for the bus ride to the hotel. It is a solid twenty minute ride, so we can just take the highlight reel. To let you to, Trimasia is in last place of Ordonez and today, they drew a blank with Val Tararr. You boys remember them Val Tararrians, eh?"

A couple snide laughs and comments.

"So if we can hurry up, change and get on that bus within twenty... We can enjoy ourselves a rousing watch of a pointless game."

[Carmadin]

OOC: you mind if i rp the delay as a huge storm??

Kihxaw Jahp groaned. He looked at the message on his phone one more time:

New Message
From: Daz, Dowv
Recieved 10-9-11 9:48pm
Message:
Hey kihxaw dnt no if u heard game pstponed dam stadim flooded weve still gt practice 2nite nd were still gonna beat the stuffin outta bredino the 3rd
-Dowv-


he sighed. He hated rain. Especially when it meant he was cooped up inside. And even more especially when it meant that the biggest game of his international football career had to be postponed. Oh well. Can't control nature. Can control how they play. "Hey, guys! You wanna practice a little? We've gotta be in top form for out match tommorow!"



Dowv Daz hopped out of bed. Being the resourceful person he was, he had used the match's postponement to sleep in. He stumbled down to the lobby in his pajamas to find the team gone. But they werent too hard to find. Everyone was in the gym, juggling and passing around a volleyball. "hey guys! What's up?"

"Dowv!! Look who's awake?"

"wait, that aint Dowv. Someone switched him with a zombie!"

Dowv sighed. He freakin loved his team. Always ready for a joke, even when things were as intense as they were now. He grinned, and jogged over to them. "you wanna see if we can match 'em?"

"match who? Dowv, you still sleepin'?

"the Indoor Soccer Team. Kicked outta the WISC in the group stage. Maybe we can enter the next one."

he indicated the wide open gym space.

"Right here. Same teams as hall football. The cones can be goals. Alright, you know the rules. No one can play their normal position. Kihxaw, you're forward."

"awww damn it, can't i be keeper? Just this once? Pretty pretty please?"

"you can be keeper against Bredino the Third. GO!"

and with that, the match was on. The team was ready. Anone could see that. The defensemen playing midfield were flawless, which made one a bit terrified as to what the real midfielders could accomplish. Dowv smiled to himself. This match was theirs. Knockout rounds, here we come.

[Candelaria And Marquez]

[ooc: Just to avoid… or possibly add to… confusion, this ‘ere is a Seunem RP. Except a somewhat tangential… and rambly… one from a furrun newspaper, so I’ll stick it up with this nation and forego any bonus to avoid any argument…]

The Albrecht Herald Online>Arts & Entertainment>Other Entertainment>Sport>International Sport
A Report on a Football Match
By Charlie Ferrani

Ni su padre le conoze: Not even his father knows him.

A phrase added to the lexicon of Candelariasian sportswriters the best part of a quarter of a century ago via a Macabean press conference at one of C&M’s less impressive shots at winning the Di Bradini Cup (that’s the World Under-21 Cup in the popular pastime of association football, for you non-aficionados), polished its buttons, bought a new hat and presented itself for service this weekend, as one of Rushmore’s more unlikely entrants into the forty-fourth edition of the Baptism of Fire took on one of the more likely.

The latter were Carmadin; an aboriginal, continental nation from two hours east and what you and I would still consider the distant, uncharted south. To the Candelariasian viewer – and, as we shall see, there were plenty of them – the Oymaeh D’mow Choyj (‘Yellow, Blue and Red’, though they certainly look ‘Ochre, White and Blue’ to me, I don’t know about you) might have exuded the greater exoticism. They come, after all, from a part of the region that still doesn’t feel quite like our own backyard.

There was a time when we knew our neighbourhood, and were comfortable with it – peaceable stoners to the east; the slightly-threatening-but-not-threatening-enough-to-be-actually-threatening nation to the north-east; the small group of very nearby islands to the north that we would have colonised years ago, we just never got around to it, yeah, that’s it, nothing to do with the giant scary feathered creatures, honest; the people who are basically us except with added capitalism and meerkats to the west; and the former protectorate we can still take a smidgen of colonial pride in to the south-west; the people to the south who are utterly lovely, it’s just a pity about the baseball and antipathy to the letter ‘u’, isn’t it?

By comparison, the misty isles of Pasarga and beefy, authoritative Somewhereistonia felt and feel like a world away. And today, it is the likes of Carmadin who have fast emerged as fixtures of a Greater Rushmore, and it is Candelaria And Marquez who are distant, mysterious, a little land in the forgotten north.

Sometimes, it even feels that way to us.

But Seunem – ahh, Seunem are something different, and something oh-so familiar, all wrapped into the strangest of packages.

Perhaps it was fitting that this encounter, the second Rushmori derby of the BoF, took place on the day that Culture Secretary America Gaicomini MP formerly blocked moves from that most unlikely of rebel insurgent groups, the Candelarias Snooker and Billiards Association, to enter their best and brightest into the forthcoming World Games in Aeropag. This anticipated confirmation of Left Bloc policy rubberstamped the status of representative sport in the Candelarias as being somewhere on a par with domestic violence, a relic of the past, an activity once practised by – even expected of – the best of men, now treated with formal scorn and legislated against to the point of illegality. Candelariasian football appears set to remain an exhibit at the National Football Museum in Beningrad, and the talk of old men. A fossil.

But while our snooker stars remain stuck at home, there are those who have exploited a loophole to don, not the once-famous blue and green, but foreign cloth.

Eighteen months ago, this would have been no traitorous act in itself – this is the country of Daniel Bakker, of Ben Phillips, of Campbell Raviranjan, of Lee Waywide. But in choosing to take on the red and white of Seunem; George Gjorgjinski, Amy Goscard-Magdalen and, above all, Samson Patris and Bavent may have walked into an era-defining storm. Public response has, as yet, been muted – but if Seunem, the Prancing Cart Horses, continue on their current, absurd, path, it will not stay that way for long.

‘Samson’ – as he must be known, in shirt-speak – scored his fifth goal in four games on Saturday to confirm his status as one of the tournament’s top performers thus far, and help maintain his new nation’s undefeated record. Early figures suggest his display was watched by the highest Candelariasian television audience for an international sporting encounter since before Beatrice. And while that might have been in the tens of thousands rather than the millions, tucked away on TTO2, it is sign enough that a movement, no matter how small, is re-emerging. And with it, a simple question.

Hero or villian? For some, Samson and his plucky band of international misfits have not merely captured the zeitgeist, but captured it, imprisoned it, stripped it to its underwear and forced it to parade with joyless sexuality in front of a hooting crowd of dead-eyed Western soccer perverts. From near ubiquity, the Candelariasian sport enthusiast has become a creature unwilling to emerge into the full glare of public scrutiny, the unacceptable minority. A man such as Samson is a pin-up, a radical, who has dared to toss aside his hair shirt and pull on one of international colours. He reflects a mood. It’s time. It’s time we stopped punishing ourselves, and them. It’s time we remembered that which has made us who we are, and found a way to reclaim it. And a man representing a country of which we have never heard points the way.

In the eyes of many others, the Albrecht Turkish striker and his cohorts risk becoming pariahs, to be tried and found guilty by the public, media and state alike. We can only guess at how the trio will be received when they return to their native land – if they return. They may as yet follow the path of Ignacio Vélez, a genuine Candelariasian sporting legend turned virtual exile. And even the kindest souls among us may feel that they have made an impetuous mistake. For this is not the time. Not while C&M still burns, not while we still mourn. And not while the sporting smokescreen that dominated our lives for decades remains reviled by so many.

To others still, reading this piece, it may seem self-absorbed indeed to view the successes of these men and women – twenty of whom are not from our own islands – through the prism of our own private lamentations. But herein squats the point. Seunem have no travelling supporters in Qazox, save those sympathetic neutrals among the crowd – and with Carmadin themselves having captured plenty of hearts, they were few voices celebrating Samson’s equaliser to find. We cannot know for sure, but the absence of any Seunemi press corps suggests that there is little interest in their achievements back home. What little we do know of this distant Rushmori island state indicates that few there may even be aware that the tournament is taking place.

And as such, it truly does seems as though the country with the most invested in Seunem’s continued participation in the BoF is us.

As their renown and viewership grows, we have to decide. As a line in the sand, as a watermark for the future. Do we support Samson, and his players from pub and park and schoolyard? Or do we wish him, and they, ill?

Haven’t decided yet? Have you considered the third option – not to care one way or another?

Of course you haven’t. And that, gentle Candelariasian reader, tells its own story.

The match? Oh, forgettable. There were one or two individual performances to excite, if one was in the mood to be exited. The flicks, tricks and – most importantly – goals of Dowv Daz mark him out as a top-class player in the making, one that in another time and place every CMSC1 club would be falling over each other to snatch the signature of. For ‘our’ Seunem, teenager Ezechias Sa’an’tin and Evesbadnes enjoyed a start in place of the suspended, mysterious Thome Devero and produced the original curate’s egg of a performance. His cameos thus far have introduced us to a remarkable young player – at his best filled with tantalising gifts, able to make a mockery of the most competent of defenders with his quick feet and prenatural spatial awareness. At his worst, the seemingly self-trained Branta islander is a cargo cult footballer, his play an echo of the beautiful game from one who has never before seen it played, only heard of it. At his lowest points, his feet dance to the music of the Shags, an imitation and nothing more; at his best his soles are Bach’s.

After frustrating his opponents and team-mates alike for an hour, his reward finally came with a perfectly picked-out pass to our Sam, a despairing Kihxaw Jahp, and a first international assist to his name. Seunem thereafter, needing just a point to assure their progression into the later stages (which later stage specifically I fully admit to be a little beyond me at this current point, with BoF44’s gently baffling format something of a minefield to one who has spent these many months secluded from international sport… I still haven’t got my head around World Cup 54 yet…), clung on with a defensive display that went far beyond the natural capabilities of a thirty-nine year-old coach in the Mytanar second division, a goalkeeper from the Polarian fourth, and someone from Chesapeake Bay.

In another place, another time, this piece of scribbling would have been about them, and young Ezechias. Instead it’s about Samson, and about us.

We have a decision to make.

It’s not just about football.

We’re Candelaria And Marquez. It’s never just about football.

Baptism of Fire 44 Group Stage – Club Group, Matchday Six
@ Estadia Pika, Pika City, Qazox

Seunem 1
Samson 61

Carmadin 1
Daz 22

[Seunem]

“No! No, don’t be silly, of course I haven’t been ignoring you…”

“Mum? Mum, you’re breaking up again… Look, stand still, for Christ’s sake!”

“No. No, in what way was I ‘lying’? Not by omish… All I said, yes, all I said was that I was going to Qazox, I’d see you in a fortnight, well, c’mon…! What else was I going to be going to bloody Qazox for? I haven’t just discovered an inner love for cycling or something, have I? I wasn’t going to pay homage to the Holy Ox.”

“Look, the reception’s not great at the best of times. Ip… ap… bip… bop-bip… Muh… bre… Ng… puh…”

“No, I’m not laughing at you… Edi, look, yes, I was going to Qazox for the Baptism of Fire. Of course I was. You’d only have had to ask Darren or someone. I’d’ve thought you might’ve been a tad excited for me, to be honest…”

“Mum? No, no I can hear you fine now. Yes. Yes. Yes… Okay, so I’m in the paper. So what, it’s only the Herald. Who reads the bloody Herald nowadays? It’s hardly a paper of repute, post-Beatrice, is it?”

“I’m not going to be a ‘national hate figure’, Edi… Who was it? Ferrani, oh he’s a right pretentious little wannabe. It’ll all blow over in a week, God knows there’s enough other stuff for people to be talking about. I answered the call of my country, what else was I going t… Well, if you’re ever called-up for international duty, honey, that’ll be your decision, won’t it?”

“No, I’ll be perfectly safe. Yes, I know what it’s like, mum, I’ve only been away three weeks. And it’s barely been a week for you, if that, by the way! I’ll probably be home in twenty-four hours, your time, we’re bound to get knocked out sooner or later… No, mummy, look…”

“‘Mummy’…?”

“Shut up. No, mum, not you, I’m not telling you to shut… No…”

“No, Edi, why would I be calling you ‘mummy’… You specifically forbade me from playing those kinds of ga… Alright, alright. Yes, I should have texted you, maybe once or twice more. Yes, and mom too. Yes, I’m sure she is… And okay, I’m in the paper, but it’s just some newbie journo trying to make a name for himself.”

“Yes, alright… I will. Yes. You’re going all warpy again, mum, I can barely hear you… No, I don’t know why we were singing the anthem in the style of Bjorn & the Gladiolis, these things are kinda spontaneous…”

“Did I? I’ve might’ve done, yeah. No, I expect I was… slightly sozzled, maybe. It was one drink… I’ve got to keep an eye on the others, yes… Did I mention we qualified, by the way? Yeah, we’re doing stupidly well, nice of you to enquire. Yes, I’m sure we’ll have a qualifying campaign, that’s kinda how it tends to work… No, I won’t… No, I won’t be based over there, why would I be? Look, we can talk about this when I get home, I won’t be… A week, I dunno? Yes, yes, you board up the windows, sweetness. Get a dog. One of those big yellow jobs. Bite your arm off as soon as look at yo… I’m not, I’m not mocking you, I know you’re upset, I just…”

“Eh? No, yes, no… Yes, I’m still listening, I was just… No, that’s one of my team-mates. Yes, that one, the one in the article, yes. He plays for… well, he used to be play for Albrecht Turkish, mum, he’s pretty famous… Yes, the beefy one… I… I think he probably was the one Connie had up on her… Yes. NO! No, she won’t be ‘jealous’, mother, because… Because I’m getting to meet him, yes, and play alongside him and stuff, yes, well obviously that’s what you meant, yes…”

“Yeah, five goals in four games, it’s pretty good goi… Oh, you’ve got to go, have you? Right, doorbell, ‘kay. No, no, don’t let me keep you, it’s nice to… Yes, well I’ll text you. I’ll call you, even. Yeah, I know…”

“Mum, c’mon, I’m fine, I will be fine, and I know full well what this call is costing you, the temporal recalibration tariff alone must… Alright, yeah. Yeah, and you. And dad, and Connie and Richard and everyone, yeah…”

“Okay, yes. Yes. Okay. Tell mom I said ‘hi’. And yours. Yes. Okay. Hey? I love you. Yep. I know. Yep. Speak to you soon. Bye. Byebyebye…”

“Mm-hm. Hanging up now, mum. Bye mum. Kiss-kiss. Bye-ee…”

The plant life surrounding the carpark outside the Seunem team hotel in Pika City gratefully received two long, drawn-out sighs.

“My mum,” Amy explained, redundantly, kicking awkwardly at the air.

“Yeah. That was, uh, Edith. My girlf… fiancée.”

“Your girl-fiancée, huh? You, um… Haven’t heard you mention anything about a girl-fiancée.”

“Wasn’t aware I had to,” said Samson, briskly. Ni-i-i-ice… Playing it smooth there, Sammy-boy, added Samson’s brain.

“Whatever. Sooo… We’ve made the papers. Quite an achievement, that. For a footballer, these days. Unless they find your mangled corpse, you don’t even make the back pages of the Herald…”

“They’re not going to find my mangled corpse, are they?”

Amy ignored this. “Did you mention you’d been made captain? She must be proud of you…”

“Yeah. Surprised, I should think. Never been thought of as captain material…”

“No, you said. Well, you’re getting on a bit now, aren’t you? Soon be the big three-oh. ‘Spect you’re mellowing with age. Facing up to responsibility. It’s probably having a girl-fiancée that does it.”

“Probably, yes. She’s, uh… She’s a good influence on me, is Edi.”

“Sounds like it, aye.”

“Yeah.”

Autumn leaves scattered pointedly around their feet for a bit in the still air of the after-storm, attempting to be all pathetic and fallacy-y. The two Candelariasians sought desperately for new lines of conversation, before sentences tumbled forth simultaneously.

“So, did your sister really have posters of me on he–”

“So, I suppose we’d better be going and getting our jabs agai… No, sorry, you first…”

“No, no, you… And how many band-aids have you got through, is it now?”

“I dunno, twelve? And it’s a ‘sticking plaster’, Sam, how long have you lived in my country? And I’m just one of nature’s fiddlers… And maybe, y’know… you should just come out and ask him? About your concerns and that.”

“Mister Thomas? You really think he’d give us a straight answer?”

“Give you a straight answer. I couldn’t care one way or t’other, but if it’s bothering you that much…”

“It doesn’t bother you that we’re probably cheating our way into the knock-outs?”

Amy shrugged. “It’s legal, innit? So it gives us an advantage, so what? So does expensive boots. So does having a foreign coach, or paying for better training facilities, or… vitamin supplements, I dunno. It’s all cheating, innit? Anything more than eleven men…”

“Or lady-men…”

“Or lady-men, and a ball… Frankly, we deserve an advantage, don’t we? Seunem doesn’t have any footballers, at least not ones that are any better than a pub player in the rest of the world, by the looks of it. We’re at an innate disadvantage. Nothing wrong with levelling things a bit. Besides, I don’t feel like I’m on something…”

“How would you even know? You can’t expect to, I dunno, feel or fizzy or something, or see loads of pretty colo… colours…”

The woman bit her lip, and made every show of trying to erase the previous sentence from history. Sam offered her a lop-sided, apologetic grin.

“I’m suppose it’s just me being captain…Ugh, responsibility,” he added, shuddering. “It’s just the, uh, eternal dichotomy, isn’t it? Are you the manager’s man in the dressing room, or the player’s player in the manager’s office?”

“There’s probably an analogy there,” Amy muttered.

“Okay, you know what, fine. Fine!” Sam snapped, flashing an irritable hand at a passing leaf. “Let’s have it out, shall we? Right here, why not!?”

“I don’t want to ‘have it out’. There’s nothing to ‘have out’.”

“Oh, come on! All the little barbs, all the times you go all cold. Just say it, you blame me.”

“Well why shouldn’t I!?” Amy shouted back, hotly. “It was your fucking fault! All of you!”

“There were millions of us, Amy! Fucking millions! Half the country, practically!”

“Oh, come off it, it’s not the same! They were scared!”

“So were we!”

“And they didn’t know everything, did they? Not your average civil servant, not even your average journalist, but you did! You were a footballer, people loved you! You were on my sister’s bedroom wall, for fuck’s sake! They’d have listened!”

“I could have been deported!”

“GOOD! You had no right to be there in the first place! Richly rewarded for your silence, weren’t you?”

“Christ, can you hear yourself!? You sound like a damned Daily News columnist now!”

“Oh, don’t give me that, you know my grandparents were immigrants too…”

“Yeah, even more so! Absolve your gran’s generation, blame me and my parents, is that it? We were all in the same boat, we all had to keep our mouths shut! I bet you knew more than most!”

“I didn’t know anything! None of it!”

“Well that’s not my fault, is it!?”

“I didn’t know about elves, or, or, hidden dimensions, or Gordon Bay, or the Devices, or Green Island, oh God, Green Island… I didn’t know there were sentient bears, or mice, or bloody svartálfar, or faeries. I didn’t know there was any Ministry of Rational, Remedial, whatever the fuck it was! I didn’t know that everything I thought I knew about the world was a great, fat lie! I didn’t kno–”

“And I didn’t know I was going to have to live all through that either, did I!? You want to blame professional footballers for this, really!? You think you had it bad, imagine what it was like for them! Imagine what it was like for the forty year-olds, the sixty year-olds, the old internationals! Seeing wives they’d never marry, children they’d never have, friends they’d never meet, it was hell, Amy! It was hell enough for me. None of us asked for this,” Sam gasped, taking a gulp full of air and attempting to steady himself. “You think we should’ve spoken out? Yeah, maybe. Maybe we just took the money and the girls and the adulation, and ignored our… ignored our responsibilities. Maybe, I dunno. But, Christ almighty, we were punished for it! And we’re still living it!”

“Yeah… Must be so dreadful for you all, locked away in your mansions.”

“We’re hated. Not just by reactionary shout-in-the-street nutters, or, or… Daily News columnists. By nice people. That’s no life, Ames. Look, you know I don’t care about Seunem any more than you do, I’m here because it means I’m not there. It means no-one but you and me and George and Kyle, no-one else knows. It means I don’t have to look anyone in the eye, and say ‘Yeah, okay, I’m sorry. I wish we’d said something, I wish we’d tried to stop this’. I wish we weren’t so successful, I wish you all didn’t love us and idolise us so much, I wish to God we hadn’t proven such a disappointment. And I wish we hadn’t been spared, but… Who says it would have made any difference? No-one knew Beatrice was coming, Amy. Not any of us, anyway. I was just a footballer. Same as you…”

Amy attempted a small smile. “Except slightly better…”

“Marginally, yeah,” Sam conceded. “Um. Need a tissue?”

“S’all right. Got one up my sleeve…”

“Right. Why do girls always have old tissues up…? Look, I’m sorry, I’m sorry on all our behalves that w–”

“Yeah, yeah. Alright. I just needed to… I needed to vent. I don’t blame you,” she sighed. “Heh… If I’d trained on a tad better, it would’ve been me, right? Me instead of Jhanna, and…”

“Oi!”

The two turned sharply as Andrion Customers trotted across the carpark.

“Yes, Andy?”

“Blimey… What’s it they say? You could shovel up the sexual tension in here with a spoon, stick it in an old jam jar and enter it for the village fête.”

“Go away, Andy.”

“Gaffer’s going t’get us our jabs and then go over the formations for Zevvy… whatever it is. Or watch while Kyle and Boggers do it for ‘im, anyway.”

“Alright, Andrion.”

“So… He wants you in ten minutes, or summat. That should probably be plenty toime enough, looking at it. There’s a nice patch o’ grass down there, next to that Citroen, if yo–”

“Fuck off, A.”

“Roigh’ you are, cap’n.”

They watched the grinning midfielder hurry back inside the hotel.

“Jabs, then…”

“Aye. Say something, Sam. If you think it’s that important.”

“Might do. Yeah. ‘Cause we should… ‘Cause the past is done, isn’t it? Whatever we can say about the past, it’s definitely done now.”

“It’s another country…”

“Yeah. And so’s C&M, so… We’ve got another country to focus on, haven’t we?”

“Children a-born in Seunemi sands, eh?”

“Eh… We’re close enough.”

They both turned and ambled across the asphalt.

“Old jam jar, eh?”

Sam coughed. “The only good use for an old jam jar is catching tiddlers, I reckon.”

“Aye. Um. That’s not a footballers’ euphemism for roasting grammar school girls, is it?”

“You really have a chip on your shoulder about not making it in the top-flight, don’t you…?”

“Oi! I thought we were being friends. Shouldn’t you have texted Edith by now, she’ll be wondering if you’re all right. On the hour, every hour, isn’t it?”

“Pfeh. You’re just mardy you haven’t started a game yet.”

“Ow… Way to find my sore spot, Sammy…”

“Shh… You’ll get Andrion’s tongue a-wagging again.”

“Oh, shut up…”

[Brendino the 3rd]

Storm Delays Final Group Match Against Carmadin
The news was past along this morning and its been confirmed that a storm has delayed the must win match-up for Brendino the 3rd.

We're a little disappointed we couldn't play today, we felt ready to come out and win.

That was a statement given by the head coach Corrin Keiger in response to the delay. The delay comes after a promising day of practice from the international squad. The Brendino the 3rd attache reported that the offense looked devastating with forward Joseph Pratt coming into form at the perfect time. He leads the team with 7 goals (although some have come during Market Cup 4) and also has 1 assist.

We need this win. I'm going to do everything in my power to score and keep the lead to get us on to the knockout rounds. Jayden [McKenzie] is on form and we all have complete faith that we can come away with a victory against Carmadin

[Qazox]

It's me again. I cannot reach Mangolana at this time. But after much thought, and no offense is meant towards my erstwhile partner in this bid, the BoF MUST GO ON. As such, I will scorinate Mangolana's MD 6 results and will have them posted at midnight tonight. Qazox' MD 7 results will be posted shortly there after. Please bear in mind that Mangolana's and My own RP bonuses for his half of the draw maybe different, and as such the results that will be posted do reflect Qazox' RP Bonus for those teams, not Mangolana's. I apologize again for this delay and I hope that you forgive us for this unexpected occurance.

RP Cutoff for Mangolana' MD 6. Scores to be posted approximately @ 12:01 am EDT.

[Qazox]

Teams that have qualified for the knockout rounds in Blue. Teams eliminated are in Red. (sorry about not having more in depth qualification scenarios)

Ordonez Group
Camwood 1–3 Arcatea
Trimasia 0–0 Gyatso-kai
Mapletish 1–0 Tal Vararr

Ordonez Standings

   Team           P W D L For Ag +/- Pts
 1 Mapletish      4 4 0 0  6  1 +5 12
 2 Arcatea        4 2 1 1  8  6 +2  7
 3 Camwood        5 2 1 2  8  8 +0  7
 4 Gyatso-kai     4 1 2 1  8  7 +1  5
 5 Tal Vararr     5 0 2 3  3  7 -4  2
 6 Trimasia       4 0 2 2  0  4 -4  2

Mapletish-- Clinched group title and 1st round bye.
Arcatea-- Clinched knockout round berth due to H2H win v. Camwood.
Camwood-- Clinches knockout round berth with a Gyatso-kai loss or draw.
Gyatso-kai-- Clinches knockout round berth with a win v. Mapletish.


Montgomery Group
New Gaelicia 1–1 Osesnsasandaes
Tryienne 2–1 Wadomia
Nicole Scherzinger 2–1 Eggy216

Montgomery Standings

   Team                       P W D L For Ag +/- Pts
 1 Nicole Scherzinger         5 5 0 0 11  3 +8 15
 2 Osesnsasandaes             5 2 2 1  6  4 +2  8
 3 Tryienne                   5 2 2 1  5  4 +1  8
 4 Wadomia                    5 2 1 2  4  4 +0  7
 5 New Gaelicia               5 1 3 1  4  5 -1  6
 6 Eggy216                    6 0 3 3  4  7 -3  3
 7 The Vuhifellian States     5 0 1 4  4 11 -7  1

Nicole Scherzinger-- Clinched group title and 1st round bye.
Osesnsasandaes/Tryienne-- Winner (if one) of their MD7 game clinches a knockout round berth. Both teams can clinch with a draw and losses or draws by both Wadomia and New Gaelicia.
Wadomia-- Clinches knockout round berth with win v. Nicole Scherzinger.
New Gaelicia- Clinches knockout round berth with win v. The Vuhifellian States and Wadomia loss or draw.


Shogun Group
Iphmopf 0–1 Braxil
Freezingland 0–1 The Peterwood Estate
Lonaga 1–1 Greater Coventry

Shogun Standings

   Team                     P W D L For Ag +/- Pts
 1 Iphmopf                  5 4 0 1 12  3  +9 12
 2 Greater Coventry         5 2 2 1  5  3  +2  9
 3 Braxil                   4 2 2 0  4  1  +3  8
 4 The Peterwood Estate     4 1 1 2  1  7  -6  4
 5 Lonaga                   4 0 2 2  2  6  -4  2
 6 Freezingland             4 0 1 3  3  7  -4  1

No qualifying scenarios for this group.
Iphmopf has clinched group title and 1st round bye.

Jimenez Group
The Golden Tamarind 2–2 Rouge Pioneers
Hladio Huggers 0–1 Hippostania
Miley World 1–0 Cygning

Jimenez Standings

   Team                    P W D L For Ag +/- Pts
 1 The Golden Tamarind     5 4 1 0 11  3  +8 13
 2 Miley World             5 3 1 1  4  2  +2 10
 3 Rouge Pioneers          5 2 3 0  9  7  +2  9
 4 Cygning                 6 1 3 2  9 12  -3  6
 5 Hippostania             5 1 1 3  8 11  -3  4
 6 Hladio Huggers          5 1 1 3  2  5  -3  4
 7 Ohio Island             5 0 2 3  3  7  -4  2

No qualification scenarios for this group.
The Golden Tamarind-- clinched group title and 1st round bye based on H2H win v. Miley World

[Qazox]

And the Qazox Region is now cutoff as well. Scores up ASAP. The playoff schedule will be backed up by one day (starting Wednesday).

[Qazox]

The Playoff match-ups will be posted after Mangolana's MD 7 scores.
G= group winner and 1st round bye.
K= Knockout round qualifer.

Club Group
Carmadin 0–1 Brendino the 3rd
Zhevalsso-zhevalsso 0–3 Seunem
Byes: Thatius and Zoobians

Club Group              Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 Seunem                  5   3  2  0   10   3  +7   11 G
2 Brendino the 3rd        5   3  0  2    7   6  +1    9 K
3 Thatius                 5   2  2  1    9   9   0    8 K
4 Carmadin                5   1  3  1    3   3   0    6
5 Zhevalsso-zhevalsso     5   1  1  3    6  11  −5    4
6 Zoobians                5   1  0  4    5   8  −3    3

Diamond Group
Skalholt 1–0 Triimoria
Yiland 1–0 Côte de Platine
Dixie Provinces 1–2 The Kytler Peninsulae
Bye: Howdeellow

Diamond Group           Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 The Kytler Peninsulae   6   5  0  1   15   3 +12   15 G
2 Skalholt                6   3  1  2    3   5  −2   10 K
3 Howdeellow              6   2  3  1    6   3  +3    9 K
4 Yiland                  6   2  2  2    3   4  −1    8
5 Côte de Platine         6   2  1  3    3   4  −1    7
6 Triimoria               6   1  2  3    3  10  −7    5
7 Dixie Provinces         6   0  3  3    5   9  −4    3

Heart Group
Puttania 1–0 Garon-Averia
Krumbia 0–1 Chuckio
Lymantatia 2–1 Ipeland
Bye: Ponoka

Heart Group             Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 Lymantatia              6   3  2  1   10   7  +3   11 G
2 Chuckio                 6   2  3  1    3   2  +1    9 K
3 Ipeland                 6   2  2  2   10   5  +5    8 K
4 Puttania                6   2  2  2    3   4  −1    8
5 Ponoka                  6   2  2  2    9  14  −5    8
6 Krumbia                 6   2  1  3    6   8  −2    7
7 Garon-Averia            6   1  2  3    5   6  −1    5

Ipeland wins knockut round berth based over Puttania and Ponoka based on H2H record (2-0-0 v. Puttania and Ponoka).
Puttania ahead of Ponoka on overall GD as H2H meeting was a 1-1 draw.

Spade Group
Megadia 1–1 Kazerjan
Euskirribakondara 4–3 Deep Freid Bacon
Byes: Blutrieger and Beldonia

Spade Group             Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 Euskirribakondara       5   4  1  0    9   4  +5   13 G
2 Megadia                 5   2  3  0   16   6 +10    9 K
3 Deep Freid Bacon        5   2  0  3    6  10  −4    6 K
4 Kazerjan                5   1  2  2    2   4  −2    5
5 Blutrieger              5   1  2  2    4   9  −5    5
6 Beldonia                5   0  2  3    3   7  −4    2

Kazerjan ahead of Blutrieger based on overall GD as H2H meeting was 0-0 draw.

[Mapletish]

Mapletish clinched group title and round 1 bye after a win against tal Vararr

A disappointing match for Mapletish,as Mapletish finish their 4th match with a 1-0 win.The match has got little or almost none goalmouth action as instructed by Patterson Dellars so as to secure a win.Junio scored the opener in the 75th minute from outside the box with a stunning freekick.
It looks like there is obviously nothing to report as Mapletish pass the ball around the field with ease and Mapletish's players are on the ball for the entire first half,reaching a 100% procession at the halftime whistle.Tal Vararr lose the ball at the start of the second half and vitally lost important procession as Mapletish came back with a 95% procession of the ball and they controlled the entire game until a red mist came in the 75th minute as Oakes was brought down by one of Tal Vararr defender and Junio replaced him as he score the decider of the game.Due to the storm before the game,the media was not ready to reach the venue so there won't be any press conference.

[Krumbia]

Tuesday, 11th October, 2011

Krumbia Knocked Out

Following a 1-nil defeat against Krumbia by Chuckio, Krumbia has not made it through the group stages. Chuckio's goal was scored by Gerald Bewley in the 57th minutes of the match. Some excellent saves were made by their goalkeeper, Benjamin Minton and some excellent saves were made by the Krumbian keeper, Alan Flynn. Unfortunately, Patterson received a red card for a nasty slide tackle, and was sent off in the 63rd minute of the match. Krumbia is now going to try its luck in the qualifying rounds of the World Cup in a months time.

Interview With Manager Emanuel Walker

"Mr. Walker, how do you feel about yesterday's defeat?"
"Well, we tried our hardest and nothing could help the fact they performed better than us. We had enough possesion and shots, but they had more."
"What's the team going to do now?"
"Well, we're schedueled to play in the qualifying rounds of the world cup. We might be able to get some freindlies in before then though."
"Okay. Who do you think has played best this competition?"
"It's hard to say. All the players have tried their hardest, I can't really pick a 'man of the tournament'."
"Okay, thankyou Mr. Walker. You answered our questions well."

[Brendino the 3rd]

Pratt Delivers in Thrilling 1-0 Victory Over Carmadin
After a delay in the final match, the much hyped matchup between Carmadin and Brendino the 3rd took place last night to a packed crowd. The match-up victor would see their hopes at the BoF 44 Cup continue. After two early losses in the group stage, the Ferrets' hope to advanced seemed all but over, but after three key victories, including this one against Carmadin, Brendino the 3rd found themselves in second place in the group, behind Seunem. "We're really excited to advance, but we have to give Carmadin credit. The played an excellent game." said Coach Keiger after the game. In the press conferences prior to the game, Brendino the 3rd forward Joseph Pratt made many comments about coming through for the team, and that's exactly what he did, clinching the victory with a thrilling shot into the top corner after a brilliant feed from midfielder Onder Trommel in the 86th minute. "I'm glad I could score, this goal means alot!" stated an ecstatic Pratt. Keeper Jayden McKenzie played another stellar game in net, racking up 9 saves. After the match, captain William Fleming spoke about their hopes in the knockout rounds:

I think as a team we believe we can advance far into these knockout stages. We have the offense, defense, and goalkeeping all coming together at the same time and it makes our outlook so much better. Now its time we focus and try to get another victory. I would also like to thank the hosts and organizers for a wonderful tournament so far.

[The Kytler Peninsulae]

From the increasingly-desperately-downmarket Daily Flash.

SOCCER DRUGS EATEN BY SHOCKER PUGS
Big dogs take a bite out of team chances

Our Kytlerian soccer boys saw their hopes of Baptism of Fire glory gnawed away - by a pack of SNIFFER DOGS.

They sniffed out the supplies of controversial drug Verbosita directed to the team from a seizure in Edencliff last week - and immediately started to GOBBLE through the bags one at a time.

A second shipment has been sent to Qazox in the hope that it will boost the team chances. Verbosita, and its milder counterpart RP-inin, is believed to improve sporting performance.

But it remains illegal for recreational use - and has been associated with an EPIDEMIC of bad behaviour in our secondary schools.

----

In the team hotel.

"So, yeah, we didn't get that Verbosita after all. Big deal," sighed Thomas Morgan, the Kytlerian manager, as he prepared his team for an as-yet-unknown opponent in the last 16.

"We could always just do what we ought to do and just eat healthy food and not bother with this psychotic nonsense," suggested his assistant, Robert Wilcox.

"Well, we're doing that anyway, aren't we? And besides, you know the use of Verbosita and RP-inin are positively encouraged."

"But we took some of those before the Howdeellow match, and we looked dazed and confused. Why else didn't we score against a team with the most ludicrously aggressive strategy I've seen since that Adrian bloke lost four hundred grand on Deal or No Deal?"

"Bad finishing happens all the time, and we've addressed it in training. Next question with a stupid game show reference?"

"Is the tournament final going to use golden balls?"

[The Golden Tamarind]

Tamarindia 2-2 Rouge Pioneers

Amidst the delays and chaos of life in Mangolana, the Tamarins could celebrate and commiserate with the good, the bad, and the downright bizarre news that another day in the Baptism of Fire brings. The good news is that after two days and nights of alleged biblical-scale disasters, storms, floods, perhaps pestilences – certainly Daniel Magnín complained that his sleep was disturbed by a cockroach intruder 'the size of a Mangolanadian warthog dropping' – and a stunning silence from the authorities as anarchy and mystery reigned supreme in equal measure, at least the games got underway again thanks entirely to an impressive airlift operation by Qazoxi Special Forces. The game brought to an end Tamarindia's hopes of a perfect record however, but that bad news was tempered by results elsewhere ensuring the Great Yellow Curtain has qualified for the knock-out stages and a first round bye to boot.

Despite the result, there was no evidence to suggest that the uncertainty of the imploding tournament was having a profound effect on the Tamarins, who played superbly and must be wondering how they didn't come away with the result in the bag. An early setback was partly to blame – Sarriaho Demini rounded the usually reliable Otto Moscoso after three minutes, and seemed to catch Arnold Tapia unawares to snatch an early lead for the Pioneers. Stunned into action, the Tamarins piled on the pressure, with the wings and the full backs overlapping in an attacking display of cavalier proportions. It cost them dearly. On a rare counter, the Pioneers caught their opponents over-committed, left them for dead, and the pacy Ben Blue doubled the lead on 40 minutes. A major setback looked in the offing for Tamarindia, who had dominated the game but found themselves two goals behind. From the restart a determined Masvidal thrust forward with the ball, surprising everyone with a run into the penalty box, drawing a remarkable save from Derry. From the resulting corner Hannibal got a powerful header in unchallenged, and Derry was finally beaten. The second half was of a similar vein as the Tamarins pressed to tip the scales in their favour, and substitute Daniel Magnín, on for captain Olavarria as the team went to an attacking 4-3-3, hit the equaliser with a screamer from 35 yards with thirty minutes to go. If Derry was disappointed not to have done better with that, he made up for it afterwards, in a man-of-the-match display leaping this way and that, marshalling a shell-shocked defence, and generally keeping the Tamarins at bay single-handedly for the rest of the game. With the spoils shared, both teams could celebrated qualification to the next round, but the Tamarins will have to look at their recklessness in the first half and do some more work on the training ground to redraw the Great Yellow Curtain, which was looking a little saggy in Qazox last night.

And to the bizarre news that the nation of Mangolana is hidden tonight in a stormcloud of violent weather fronts, rumours of shut-down and insurrection, and three long nights of nothingness. We checked the map – it's still there on paper. But what a strange world this multiverse of ours is. Do you remember that Astillero team, the one that fell out of the ugly bus?

Astillero 1973
Chacón's Chicos

Every nation has it's football team tragedy narrative. We think most recently of poor Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, and historically of Manchester United in Munich, the Zambia World Cup Squad, Marshall Thundering Herd, the Bulgarian rhythmic gymnastics women's team. And that's just in real life. Never mind the carnage of the multiverse, the official statistics to which this author does not have access. But hundreds of sports men and women must have died in plane crashes, train crashes, and titanic sea disasters. In this strange world, other more bizarre fates must surely have been met by the players and their entourages that represent the imaginative outpourings of RP poets and dramatists. I can but guess at the strangest. In Tamarindia, our poor paradise, we are blessed with a largely tragedy-free sports history, unless you count the performance of Club Malí's zero-win season of 1968 a tragedy, or the colour configurations of the infamous Azteca away strips down the years, or the narrow defeat to the Taeshan nursery team of under-5s in the di Bradini Cup final. But real tragedy, heartfelt loss, the wiping out of a whole team in their prime by a mistimed air traffic control call on a stormy Thursday night – thank the jumping monkey, that has never happened here. But spare a thought for the 1973 Astillero team, who had a tragedy of sorts, although it will not ruin the story to tell you that in the end, there were no fatalities and a happy ending. Of sorts.

Chacón's Chicos & A Barrel of Botulynum

Great things were expected of manager Amiel Chacón's young Astillero team. Assembled from some of the most exciting youth prospects of the early 70s and playing Chacón's highly technical and attractive attacking game, the youngsters had progressed well in the 71 and 72 seasons, finishing strongly in fourth place in the powerful Oriental regional league both times. 1973 was expected to be their season, the season for Chacón's Chicos, as they were becoming known – for their age and dashing good looks – when tragedy overtook them on a preseason tour of the neighbouring Kingdom of Chimor. On a coach approaching the grim, huge industrial city of Sanabria, they ploughed into a truck that had pulled out in front of them loaded with a highly toxic liquid, Hebenon Botulynum A3, commonly known as Sanabria Cocktail. The Chimorese use it for all manner of unpleasant chemical processes, not least of which is organic mutation.

You wouldn't use Hebenon Botulynum A3 to make superheroes. Or supervillains. You shouldn't really use it on humans at all. Potentially fatal, in the case of the Astillero tragedy, a miracle overtook the tragedy that overtook the team bus. A combination of a sudden mountain storm, a fearsome downpour, and the quick reaction of the plant safety team from where the truck emerged, meant there were – against all odds – no fatalities. Chacón's Chicos would start their season on time, but fundamentally different.

Bartelemy's Brow & Aristóbulo's Burns

The sticker company that published the annual album wanted to use archive photographs of the players pre-tragedy for the upcoming 1973 season. It's understood that would've suited the players just fine, too, but the club, in a misguided display of tolerance and solidarity, insisted on a new set of photographs with all the players in their botulynum-mutated glory. A few of the pre-tragedy stickers did make it on to the market and are highly sought-after, by the players themselves as much as anyone. But the general issue is one of the most disturbing team pages in the history of sports stickers, comparable perhaps only to the infamous Carlisle United brutes team of the same era. It's hard to know where to begin – or where to look. Poor Bartelemy Baca came out of it very badly, since he was sitting near the front of the coach a the time of the accident. He could never shake the nickname Neanderthal, while the manager's son, keeper Beda Chacón, aged 30 years overnight and won the title El Trasgo, The Goblin. Also close to the front of the 'ugly bus', as it became known, were Aristóbulo and Jacq Rentería who became uncontrollably hairy, and Elbio Collazo who lost his neck. Anaxagoras and Gustav Gaitan, near the back of the bus, fared better, but let us not go so far as to use the word 'fair'. Interestingly, Nicodemo Balderas was injured and not on the Ugly Bus – that was just the way he looked.

A Happy Ending. Of Sorts.

Despite the 'troubles' of Chacón's Chicos, the team went on to lift the Regional title three times in that decade, including in that fateful 1973 season, with a brand of attractive attacking football that belied their general ragged appearance. It was a style that was the foundation of all Astillero teams that have followed, a blue-print for the beautiful game they play in Cisne today. But for all their influence on the field, the Chicos are rarely seen or celebrated at The Goods Yard Stadium. It was an ugly sort of beauty, that Astillero '73 philosophy. The sort you only want to remember personally, with a mental airbrush, not something you want to be confronted with in pictures or in real life.

[Arcatea]

Mangolana City, Mangolana- A win last night against Camwood has clinched Arcatea a berth in the next round. The score of the match was 3-1, and it was a very exciting match for Arcatea, as Craig Deal asserted his dominance by scoring a hat trick. "To go from sitting on the bench the first match against Mapletish to leading the team in goals is amazing. I've really worked hard since we've gotten here in Mangolana; I was shocked to make the national team when I wasn't really trying turning try-outs. But when I put on the uniform for the first time against Mapletish, I knew I needed to give 100% to Arcatea. We are hoping to get far in this tournament, and I know that this team has it in them to win this." Claimed Deal. Manager Marvin Glove didn't have much to say at the post-match press conference "We are going to focus on our last game against Trimasia, our goal is to finish the group in second place which will happen with a win. Trimasia hasn't won a game yet or even scored a goal, but we aren't going to play any differently than we would against a better team. That being said, we may make some changes to our line-up to give some guys on the bench more time on the field."

[Ipeland]

Ipeland qualify for knockout round
Sparrows qualify despite loss to Lymantatia

Ipeland's superior goal difference helped them qualify to the knockout round, despite a 2-1 loss to Lymantatia. The first goal was scored by Lymantatia, against the run of play, with Judith Beauclerk sliding it into the bottom right corner, in the 31st minute. Ipeland equalised in first half injury time, Stuart Holden hitting a powerful shot into the top corner.
Lymantatia scored the winner on the 76th minute, Judith Beauclerk scoring again

[Gyatso-kai]

REPUBLIC ASSOCIATED TIMES
Gyatso-kai DRAWS!!! Needs Victory to Advance!

Printed in Volume XVI, 2011.2.10.08

---

Match Report

Coming off of the 3-3 draw against Camwood yesterday, the Bisons came onto the pitch somewhat tired. It was a hard-worked game yesterday and obviously not gaining a win made the night unbearable. We heard that the Bisons were out all night practicing, so perhaps Vhett worked them too hard.

The ball was given to Trimasia as they won the pre-game coin toss. On the very first drive, Trimasian lead striker *smudge smudge* brought the ball through the unsuspecting defence to get the first shot on target of the game within the first 27 seconds. The first half would be a dominant showing by Gyatso-kai, controlling the ball and making several key strikes on the net, yet Trimasian goalkeeper *smudge smudge* was an impassable wall today; makes a man wonder how ths team is in last place of the group.

HALF TIME: TRIMASIA 0 - 0 GYATSO-KAI

At the start of the second half, Gyatso-kai was beginning to show its fatigue; Whereas the Bisons held twenty shots in the first half with fourteen on target, the second half saw just nine shots with six on target. "We couldn't get our enegry back," spoke Kotcy'e Bralor after the game. "We spent so much of it trying to get an early lead that when it came to the (second half) we simply were out of steam..."

Bralor was absolutely right for the second half was by-far onthe worse second halves played by Our Bisons in recent memory and it is certainly showing well.

FULL TIME: TRIMASIA 0 - 0 GYATSO-KAI

---

Match Stats

TRIMASIA	0	-	0	GYATSO-KAI
-
39%  Possesion  61%
10  Shots  29
8  On Target  20
1  Corners  12
27  Fouls  26
1  Bookings  0
0  Red Cards  0
-
Man of the Match
:::NOT AWARDED:::

---

Post Match comments

We must work harder... We must overcome this block of draws and pull a W into our column. It is us or them now...

Maki Li --- Defensive Midfielder, Gyatso-kai National Team

What can I say? We kept the door shut, but we couldn't open it on our side. Tomorrow will be a trial of strength... We need to get a key and unlock that door. Hell... KICK IT DOWN!

Boba Vhett --- Head Coach of the Avatarian National Team

Ugh #bisons. WTF?! I need a win vs #mapletish. pUll It tOgEthEr!!! #WC57

zhAO2127 --- REPitter User

---

Schedule

03.10 at Tal Varrar - WIN 1-3
04.10 BYE DAY
05.10 vs Arcatea - LOSS 2-3
06.10 BYE DAY
07.10 vs Camwood - DRAW 3-3
08.10 at Trimasia - DRAW 0-0
09.10 vs Mapletish

---

The Group

The other group games were equally as unexciting: Camwood's 1–3 loss to Arcatea gave them the berth needed to advance to the Knockout Round. In addition, Mapletish --- having clinched the group title in their previous match --- finally gave the sinking ship that was Tal Varrar their final salute in a 1-nil loss. Having loss 3 games, Tal Varrar has been knocked out of contention for the Knockout Rounds, as have the Trimasian team --- both of which sit winless after 5 and 4 games, respectively.

As it sits, Gyatso-kai still holds a chance at advancing if they can get the act together and score just one more goal than the Mapletish in tomorrow's match. Will it be possible for the Bisons to defeat the undefeated? If not, then Camwood will advance. Do or die...


The Scores
Camwood 1–3 Arcatea
Mapletish 1–0 Tal Vararr

The Table

Ordonez Standings
  Team           P W D L For Ag +/- Pts
 1 Mapletish      4 4 0 0  6  1 +5 12
 2 Arcatea        4 2 1 1  8  6 +2  7
 3 Camwood        5 2 1 2  8  8 +0  7
 4 Gyatso-kai     4 1 2 1  8  7 +1  5
 5 Tal Vararr     5 0 2 3  3  7 -4  2
 6 Trimasia       4 0 2 2  0  4 -4  2

The Goalscorers for Gyatso-kai

Wad'e TAY'HAAI	4	GKI
WAKAHISA Hikaru		4	GKI
MAKI Li			1
Kotyc'e BRALOR		1

---

The Next Match

Preview: Mapletish
What can you say about going against a team which has remained undefeated? Mapletish plays hard, goes for goals early in the match and closes with an immaculate defence. Can Gyatso-kai bring down the giant?

The Lineup for the Match

------------------------01------------------------
-------------05--------------------06-------------
--------02------------------------------03--------
--------------------------------------------------
--------04------------------------------08--------
-------------07--------------------11-------------
-------------------09--------10-------------------

[Miley World]

Miley World Daily Mail

Miley World wins over Cygning and clinches knockout round berth!

After this 2 day delay due to heavy rain in Mangolana, the game between Miley World and Cygning was finally played. It was a hard played game by both teams, as they both wanted to advance to the knockout round. The only goal of the game was at the 34 minute. Gennaro Bianchiaparello tripped Grégory Dedieu and Miley World were awarded a penalty. Dedieu shoots and he scores! Bianchiaparello got a yellow card by the way. 2 Miley World players got a yellow card in the game either. And goalkeeper Bradley Jones played an outstanding game, blocking 6 shots.


Boxscore:
'34 Gégory Dedieu (penalty) (Miley World)

Yellow Cards:
'34 Gennaro Bianchiaparello (Cygning)
'52 Connor Downing (Miley World)
'74 Fabrice Durand (Miley World)

With that win over Cygning, Miley World clinches knockout round berth. Miley World will be 2nd in the Jimenez standings with a win vs Hippostania. However if Miley World loses vs Hippostania and Rouge Pioneers wins vs Hladio Huggers, Miley World will be 3rd in the standings. It's important for Miley World to win vs Hippostania cuz if they're 3rd they'll probably play against a better team than if they're 2nd. Here are the standing for the Jimenez group:

Jimenez Standings

   Team                    P W D L For Ag +/- Pts
 1 The Golden Tamarind     5 4 1 0 11  3  +8 13
 2 Miley World             5 3 1 1  4  2  +2 10
 3 Rouge Pioneers          5 2 3 0  9  7  +2  9
 4 Cygning                 6 1 3 2  9 12  -3  6
 5 Hippostania             5 1 1 3  8 11  -3  4
 6 Hladio Huggers          5 1 1 3  2  5  -3  4
 7 Ohio Island             5 0 2 3  3  7  -4  2

[Lymantatia]

Lymantatia is number 1 in its group, so people are celebrating at the Rovácha Mall, Lymantatia City at 8pm tomorrow.

[Gyatso-kai]

Republic Stadium, HOME Locker Room
Skyline, Mangolana
1945 Hours, 2011.2 October 10

With the game set to begin in less than an hour, Kad'e Tay'haai sat in the locker room, staring at his phone. He had received a text message from his brother --- first-line right wing Wad'e on the Gyatso-kai National Hockey Team --- just shortly before he arrived and was still reading:

Code: Select all

Damn robots, vod. They rigged the series! The ice was terrible... I swear there were magnets under the ice to keep us from scoring. Hope you do good today against Mapletish. K'oyacyi!

He smiled at his youthful brother; seven years his junior, he only wished he had excelled at hockey or his brother at football. Had they, it would have been a sight to see. He took out his wallet, looking at the picture of his family at the last Harvest festival; his brother, though younger, was a much more solidly built man. Of course, they both played different sports: Whereas Kad'e relied on his speed and agility to score the goals, his brother Wad'e relied on strength.

Forever different, though always together.

The doors to the locker room swung open as Boba Vhett came walking in. He had the serious look of a soldier strewn across his face and the look of anger in his eyes. Tay'haai quickly tossed his phone into his locker and stood to approach his Coach. Just as soon as he stood, Vhett gave him the signal to take a seat and the Coach made his way to the centre of the room.

"K'olar, ner ade! Jii!"

The command "Come here, my sons. Now!" was certainly not lost on the team, as each of the twenty-four men, in various arrays of readiness, each came to attention around Vhett. It was a welcoming sight for Vhett who was bred and raised in a military family: He prided himself on strength and command, and having twenty-four younger, stronger men come to his beck and call was... reassuring.

"Now, I do not need to reiterate how important today's game is, do I?"

"No, sir!" shouted the men in unison. One voice from twenty-four sources.

"We most certainly do not have a pakod task before us. And you can be certain you are going to work for this win! We must win! Mhi ganae umaangeroya ibi'tuur! You cannot fail! It is simply NOT an option."

The room was eerily silent as Vhett began to pace. His face growing red with passion, his voice strong and enamoured on the subject of the game: Here was a man who had been at this point before, facing an impossible enemy and knowing defeat was not a choice he could live with. Tay'haai wondered how often Vhett had faced this scenario.

"Now, I know that most of you are Mando'a, as is quite common in our sports at home... How many of you know "Vode An"?

'Vode An', or 'Brothers All', was a battle chant taught to Mandalorian soldiers to bring unity in the face of adversity. It's lyrics were wrought with words of 'glory', 'indomitable', and 'venegeance', it was a song sung to bring great strength to the men who sung it. In addition to the lyrics, a rhythmic dance accompanied the song; a dance made up of hard hits to the body of the 'brother' before you, all brothers standing in one united circle. It was a rough chant, one men did not do lightly.

"Well? Any of you?"

Tay'haai raised his hand first, followed by Kotcy'e Bralor, Maki Li --- both of whom were veterans of the Grand Army of the Republic --- and Wong Haru, the son of a clone trooper. The men each walked forward, already knowing what Vhett had wanted before he had to say it. Tay'haai, the Captain of the team, would take the lead as the caller, with the others taking the lead as the answers. The other men on the team --- fluent in Mandalorian thanks to Vhett --- formed a circle around Tay'haai, Bralor, Maki and Wong, who themselves had formed a circle. Taking off his shirt to match his four 'vode', Tay'haai spread his arms wide and brought them quickly to his chest in a strong hit.

"Kote!!" Tay'haai shouted, his voice ringing long in the confined locker room. "Kandosii sa kar'ta, Vode an."

His brothers all slapped their arms against each other's shoulders, echoing back a different call. "Tsad Droten a'den mhi, Vode an!"

Tay'haai brought his left arm off Maki's shoulder, striking his forearm across the back of Maki, while the same motion was made to him. He didn't grimace at the pain of a larger man bringing full strikes to his body, just kept his face proud and stern. "Bal kote, darasuum kote!" Now his right arm would strike across Maki's back before the two arms would come off his brother, only to be strongly driven into his sides with two up-turned fist. Tay'haai was still calling. "Jorso'ran kando a tome!"

Answered back in an even louder than before. "Sa kyr'am nau tracyn kad, Vode an!"

Tay'haai once again placed his arms to Maki's shoulders, appearing to be gripping them as an ape grips the tree he hangs one-handed from. "Kandosii sa ka'rta, Vode an! Tsad Droten a'den mhi, Vode an!"

An elaborate series of sped-up hits, steps, punches, slaps, shoulders, all in unison to the beat of the song. EVen though the men in the outer circle did not know the movements, many of them knew the words and joined in singing the song in unison.

"Bal...
Motir ca'tra nau tracinya.
Gra'tua cuun hett su dralshy'a.
Aruetyc runi solus cet o'r.
Motir ca'tra nau tracinya.
Gra'tua cuun hett su dralshy'a.
Aruetyc runi trattok'o.
Sa kyr'am nau tracyn kad, Vode an! "

Perhaps today would be a miracle...

[Nicole Scherzinger]

Good evening ladies, I am Victoria Kent, your host of Ladies Sports Live. One last team stands in Nicole Scherzinger's way- Wadomia. After an impressive 5-0 start, Nicole Scherzinger leads their group and advances to the knockout stage with a first round bye. Their last test comes against the powerful team of Wadomia, who will be determined to win this one. If they lose, they're out of the tournament. If they win, they advance, and can possibly be a foe that Nicole Scherzinger's team might have to face later on. A winning record against them would prove valuable. Our reporter in the field, Natalia Williams caught up with Team Captain Madison Dervishi after the team's win against Eggy216.

"Madison, we know that you guys have a perfect record going into this match. What was the key to securing yet another win against Eggy216?"

"Well, teamwork I must say first. Everyone, from Diana to myself, we worked our tails off to get the job done and score the two goals that we did."

"And two really impressive goals. You had one thanks to an assist from Elizabeth Dubois, and Maria Murguía also had one in the last five minutes of the game. The header Maria had was amazing, perfectly placed in the back of the goal."

"Yeah, I couldn't believe it to be honest. I was afraid that we would be drawing them, but for some reason, Maria came up with that shot. Everyone was going crazy after that, and Coach Maxine was ecstatic."

"So the next match is against Wadomia. What do you guys think you'll do to prepare for them? You have your 5-0 record to defend, after all."

"Well, the players know that there is not as much pressure as there was before, because we already have qualified, but we still need to keep our level of play up really high. If we lose, we could face Wadomia later on in the knockout stage, and they could know that they've beaten us before, and could do it again. Besides, 6-0 looks really nice for a team that just made it's debut."

"I agree. So back home in Nicole Scherzinger, everyone has been really happy of y'alls performance. The Queen has officially called these next two weeks as a holiday, in order for people to party and watch the game. So basically every night there is a huge party, whether in the downtown of the capital or in people's homes. What do you guys do after the games? Watch your competitors, sleep?

"Well we like to go rest some. The spa treatments are the best, in my opinion, and I love just to relax after the game. All that running, it can be exhausting. Thank goodness to whomever invented the jacuzzi. I practically go in there every day."

"Alright, well I know you gotta go. Seems like the team is leaving. Thank you for talking to us Madison."

"Thank you."

"Alright, back to you Victoria."

[Arcatea]

Narcana, Mangolana- During Arcatea's press conference after practice this afternoon, Manager Marvin Glove announced he would make a few changes to the line-up for tonight's game. "I've decided to give a few key players some rest since we've already clinched a berth into the next round. (Craig) Deal will be benched after his hat-trick yesterday. He played great, but we think its time for some of the other guys to step up and show they deserve their spot on this team. I'll be giving most of the guys who have been benched for the first few games some time to play by starting them tonight." Glove said. Below is the line-up for tonight:


GK-Rick Hale
DF#30-Nick Cole
DF#10-Grant Calvin
DF #5- Hank Delphane
DF# 20- Chris Orion
MF#17- Ernie Glove
MF#3-Lee Sung
MF#6- Prince Elman
FW#2- Yanson Milrick
FW#27- Frank Valery
FW#14- Bill Ziremen

Reserves
GK #1- Mike Wilson
DF #12- Reggie Johnson
DF #7- Tom Price
MF#4- Owen Man
FW#11-Craig Deal

[Qazox]

RP Cutoff for Mangolana MD7.

[Qazox]

Teams that have qualified for the knockout rounds in Blue.
G= Group winner and 1st round bye
K= Knockout Round qualifier

Ordonez Group
Gyatso-kai 3–1 Mapletish
Arcatea 3–0 Trimasia

Ordonez Standings

   Team           P W D L For Ag +/- Pts
 1 Mapletish      5 4 0 1  7  4 +3 12 G
 2 Arcatea        5 3 1 1 11  6 +5 10 K
 3 Gyatso-kai     5 2 2 1 11  8 +3  8 K
 4 Camwood        5 2 1 2  8  8 +0  7
 5 Tal Vararr     5 0 2 3  3  7 -4  2
 6 Trimasia       5 0 2 3  0  7 -7  2

Tal Vararr ahead of Trimasia based on overall GD, as H2H was a 0-0 draw.

Montgomery Group
Wadomia 0–4 Nicole Scherzinger
Osesnsasandaes 0–0 Tryienne
The Vuhifefellian States 1–0 New Gaelicia

Montgomery Standings

   Team                       P W D L For Ag +/- Pts
 1 Nicole Scherzinger         6 6 0 0 15  3 +12 18 G
 2 Osesnsasandaes             6 2 3 1  6  4 +2  9 K
 3 Tryienne                   6 2 3 1  5  4 +1  9 K
 4 Wadomia                    6 2 1 3  4  8 -4  7
 5 New Gaelicia               6 1 3 1  4  6 -2  6
 6 The Vuhifellian States     6 1 1 4  5 11 -6  4
 7 Eggy216                    6 0 3 3  4  7 -3  3

Osesnsasandaes ahead of Tryienne based on overall GD as H2H was a 0-0 draw.

Shogun Group
The Peterwood Estate 1–0 Lonaga
Braxil 0–2 Freezingland

Shogun Standings

   Team                     P W D L For Ag +/- Pts
 1 Iphmopf                  5 4 0 1 12  3  +9 12 G
 2 Greater Coventry         5 2 2 1  5  3  +2  9 K
 3 Braxil                   5 2 2 1  4  3  +1  8 K
 4 The Peterwood Estate     5 2 1 2  1  7  -6  7
 6 Freezingland             5 1 1 3  5  7  -2  4
 5 Lonaga                   5 0 2 3  2  7  -5  2

Jimenez Group
Hippostania 0–1 Miley World
Rouge Pioneers 2–0 Hladio Huggers
Ohio Island 1–2 The Golden Tamarind

Jimenez Standings

   Team                    P W D L For Ag +/- Pts
 1 The Golden Tamarind     6 5 1 0 13  4  +9 16
 2 Miley World             6 4 1 1  5  2  +3 13
 3 Rouge Pioneers          6 3 3 0 11  7  +4 12
 4 Cygning                 6 1 3 2  9 12  -3  6
 5 Hippostania             6 1 1 4  8 12  -4  4
 6 Hladio Huggers          6 1 1 4  2  7  -5  4
 7 Ohio Island             6 0 2 4  4  9  -5  2

Hippostania ahead of Hladio Huggers based on H2H win.

Playoff round schedules will be up shortly.