AOCAF LVII || Everything Thread

[Mriin]

Cutoff || 3PPO
A bronze jig courtesy of honorary co-host Qusmo.

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Equestrian States 2–2 Valanora (2–2 AET) (12–13 pen.) || @Iron Alley, Hosingr

[Farfadillis]

The Kamikaze
A site dedicated to Farf football

National Team Section

Top 5 Fôrté Wínrôuge moments
submitted one year ago

With the 81t World Cup almost upon us, I, the humble writer of this blog, would like to dedicate an article to remembering the best moments that the best player in our nation's history, Fôrté Wínrôuge, has had playing for us. This could be his last World Cup, after all. I doubt it will be, but you never know what destiny has in store for you.

Fôrté has been a top performer for the national team ever since he was nineteen. Nowadays, at thirty-four, he is still one of the best players. That's fifteen years of being a key player for the national team, something only players like Dandalleion, Kâí, Fôx and Mêndêlöíndçêl managed. But this entry is not about his longevity, at least not directly. It is about the heights he managed to reach with the national team, which were unprecedented. Even most of those that got to watch Dandalleion from the beginning roughly forty years ago will tell you Fôrté was still at least slightly above him when at his best.

Without further ado, here are the five times Wínrôuge made us believe he was not from this Multiverse:

#5 His total domination of the Farf league

Now, this isn't strictly a moment, nor something he did playing for the national team, but Fôrté's domination of the Farf Freitball Ligá just has to get a mention at some point. Mâ Âlâmëómë were incredibly scary at lots of points in his career, and it was precisely because of him. To this day it is unlikely Fôrté has gotten over the heartbreak of losing a CC final on penalties. He broke both goalscoring and assist records and he was easily the most dominant player in many seasons. Some years ago, it wasn't surprising when he bagged five in one game. Sure, the Farf league collaborated in that, but he'd get one of those games per season when at his peak.

You can tell just how important he was for the league by looking at its state since his departure. Our league has been in shambles internationally. Not even Mâ Âlâmëómë is pulling its weight. I'm sure things would be very different if peak Wínrôuge was still in their line-up.

#4 That one game against Valanora

This was just two years ago, so I might be going off some recency bias here. We all know this was Çíânflöné's game. We will always remember it as that one time he scored a fucking hat-trick against Valanora. But you know who scored the other goal? And who assisted two of his cousin's three goals? Fôrté, of course.

On the days leading up to this game the rumors that there was a feud going on between the two cousins had gained a lot of traction. Supposedly, Wínrôuge was deeply jealous of the fact that his cousin had won two Galáctico Awards (and two Champions' Cups) while he, the better player, had lost two of those finals and never even come close to getting that award. And, to be honest, the rumors didn't seem unfounded at all if you looked at how they played on the pitch. Their once seemingly-telepathic understanding seemed to be completely gone. They argued a lot on the pitch.

But things changed that game. Fôrté seemed to put aside whatever grudge he held, if he even held one, and proceeded to have a masterclass performance in one of the most important games in the national team's history. Yes, his cousin had an even better performance, but we have to remember he wouldn't have destroyed the Vanorians without Fôrté's help. His last assist, in particular, the one for the hat-trick, was absolutely exquisite. Also, the opener was his. A fantastic free kick. I think that, as time goes on, we'll start recognizing that game not as "Çíânflöné vs Valanora" and more as "the cousins vs Valanora".

#3 When he almost scored in that AOCAF Cup final

Now, this one is not really about his ability-high, so to speak. This one is about the only trophy he's won playing for the national team. His trophy-high, we might call it. Now, this was seventeen years ago, at the very beginning of Fôrté's career, but it still deserved a mention. Those of us who were around to watch that tournament all remember it for what it was: Kâí's crowning tournament, Dandalleion's final goodbye, and Wínrôuge's... first hello?

Wínrôuge had a very good tournament as an impact sub, but the most defining moment for him has to be the time he almost scored the winner against Osarius minutes away from full time. Why was it relevant if it was an almost? Well, because Dandalleion wouldn't have scored the most emotional goal in Farfadillis' history without him.

Alex Terán, noawadays of presidential fame, sent Fôrté through on goal with a precise through pass. Facing the goalkeeper one-on-one, he chipped it over him despite being nineteen years old and at the second-biggest stage in international football. The ball was goal-bound, but Santana (barely) got to it. He cleared it as best as he could, but he couldn't clear it well because he'd, well, barely even gotten to it. Dandalleion got to the rebound first and that's why we've got two regional titles.

#2 His performances in AOCAF Cup 53

Fôrté's peak came in roughly this period. His performances in World Cup 77 were key for us to make it to the World Cup semifinals for the first time ever. But his very peak came in the AOCAF Cup that followed that tournament. Çíânflöné and him carried an all-Rulandese team to the very final, before finally falling 4-2 to a talented Vanorian side.

For those that need their memories refreshed, the Rulandese genocide occurred right after the World Cup third-place play-off. As a political statement, Çötàvíê called up an exclusively-Rulandese squad for the following AOCAF Cup. It wasn't exactly a bad team, but it was missing some extremely important players. Nonetheless, Wínrôuge and Çíânflöné were absolutely unpayable that tournament, specially Fôrté. They dispatched team after team, with their biggest highlight being beating hosts Chromatika 1-0 in the semifinals, against most pundits' predictions.

Like the final against Revolutionaries, that one game against Valanora is likely to still haunt him in his sleep. Still, that squad achieved exactly what it sought out to do: make a political statement. Ruland gained enormous visibility after that tournament, and it's no coincidence the rebels got considerably more threatening after it. Whether Fôrté and Täjó were happy with that we'll probably never know.

#1 His brace against Audioslavia

Finally, I think we all knew this one was coming. Round of sixteen game against Audioslavia. The team that used to always, always beat us, with just one exception in AOCAF Cup 44. In fact, they even beat us in AOCAF Cup 48, a tournament we won. Safe to say few Farves were optimistic.

The game was hard-fought. Very hard-fought. As you all know, we won 3-2 on extra time, thanks to a Süns Söh header, off of a Wínrôuge corner kick. But that's not the reason this performance is in the number one spot. It's the two goals before the third that people remember the most.

The Rulandese, then at his almost-peak we talked about in moment #2, scored two fantastic goals from outside the box to send the game to extra time. The first goal was one of those bouncy, unpredictable shots that he occasionally pulled off when he dared to do crazy things, something we sorely miss nowadays. The shot was fantastic, one of the best he scored for the national team. The second was equally fantastic, a perfectly-placed, very powerful shot that the Audioslavian goalkeeper couldn't hope to stop.

It was that masterclass performance that gave our team the much-needed morale boost to get past Schottia in the following game. We eventually fell to hosts San José Guayabal on penalties, sadly. But that Wínrôuge performance made us all believe that we could be world champions, and our national team has changed ever since that game. This was the inflection point, not the game against Schottia. If we've reached the semifinals thrice now, it's because of this one game. So thank you, Fôrté Wínrôuge. Thank you for all you've given us.

Ӿ Ӿ Ӿ Ӿ Ӿ

He closed his laptop. He'd read that article countless times since Farfadillis' collapse. He yearned for better times. He yearned for when all he cared about was the football that he played, and the people that he pleased. He could no longer enjoy being on a football pitch. It was as if though there was nothing he was playing for.

All his life, he'd been this arrogant dickhead, always focused on himself. Now, though, he felt hollow without the common people. The ones that watched him and put him on a pedestal. It wasn't that he was feeling as a king of the ashes, however. He was feeling demoralized because of the atrocities happening back home. Why was he even in Mriin? Who cared if they won or lost? It's not like they'd find out back home for another few months. Furthermore, they likely didn't even care anymore. Far more important things were going on now.

It was because of this that he only communicated his decision to retire from the NT to his teammates. In years past, he would've made a big show out of it. But he wasn't interested in those things anymore. He'd go out, play against Cosumar, and that would be the end of his international career. He no longer cared for the trophy, important as it would've seemed just one year before.

If a tree falls in a forest and nobody hears it, does it actually make a sound? He used to find his philosophy teacher in school insufferable. Still, he now seemed more relevant than ever.

He entered the pitch. He wanted to make the game memorable, but only to himself. This would be his one last dance and, the way he saw it, nobody else was watching.

[Mriin]

Cutoff || Final
On the night of a matchday, you can hear the Mrii fight song clear across the city... even when they're knocked out.

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Cosumar 2–2 Farfadillis (2–2 AET) (7–8 pen.) || @Haven, Maal

Congratulations to the winner, a hard-fought commiserations to the runner-up, and a great big thank you to everyone who participated!