Di Bradini Cup 54/U21WC75 RP And Scores Thread

by **Valanora** » Wed Jan 18, 2023 10:52 pm

Starblaydia wrote:OOC:For complete newcomers, please see the Guide to Sports Roleplaying. If you need to ask anything of the host or your opponents, arrange RP angles or generally chat about the goings-on, please use the World Cup Discussion Thread. Misspellings of 'Di Bradini' will be met with zero tolerance.

The Valanora Footballing Association presents

In association with the Starblaydia Football Association:

The Fifty-fourth Di Bradini Cup
a.k.a
The 75th Under-21 World Cup

The Valanora Footballing Association proudly presents the fifty-fourth edition of the Di Bradini Cup, the twenty-second edition of which to be held in the Valanora. Recognized as direct successor to the original Under-21 World Cup run by Total n Utter Insanity, this is also the 75th Under-21 World Cup.

This tournament is named after Starblaydia's most-famous player, the first person to score for Starblaydia's own Under-21s, currently the fifth-highest goalscorer in Starblaydia's history, World Cup Winner, member of the World Cup Hall of Fame and one-time President of the World Cup Committee: Simeone Di Bradini. We present, for your participation: The 54th Di Bradini Cup, a.k.a. The 75th Under-21 World Cup!

Group A
Valanora
Huayramarca
Sylestone
Khantari

Venues: The Battleground, Turmondale Grounds

Group B
Quebec
Bears Armed
Cabo Azure
HUElavia

Venues: Haramos Park, Hellgate

Group C
Lisander
Koronavia
Abanhfleft
Savojarna

Venues: Lathal, The Pitch

Group D
Chromatika
TJUN-ia
Baker Park
Ceni

Venues: Artani, Donna Cathedral

Group E
Ko-oren
Tumbra
Pasarga
Darmen

Venues: Sabinal Stadium, River City Stadium

Group F
Cassadaigua
Xanneria
Elmyia
Qasden

Venues: Angelotic Temple, Miner's Haven

Group G
Poafmersia
Mytanija
Île de Richelieu
Tikariot

Venues: Metropolis, The Tar Pit

Group H
Melbergia
Valladares
Græntfjall
Cardenao

Venues: Raynor Memorial, Duran Palace

Cutoff Window: 8 pm CDT to 11 pm CST

Fixtures
MD1: 1v4, 2v3
MD2: 4v3, 1v2
MD3: 2v4, 3v1
Ro16: A1vD2, B1vC2, C1vB2, D1vA2, E1vH2, F1vG2, G1vF2, H1vE2
QFs: R1vR2, R3vR4, R5vR6, R7vR8
SFs: Q1vQ2, Q3vQ4
3PPo: L1vL2
Final: S1vS2

Schedule
Jan 18th: Draw
Jan 19th: Bye
Jan 20th: Bye
Jan 21st: Bye
Jan 22nd: MD1
Jan 23rd: Bye
Jan 24th: MD2
Jan 25th: Bye
Jan 26th: MD3
Jan 27th: Bye
Jan 28th: Ro16
Jan 29th: Bye
Jan 30th: QFs
Jan 31st: Bye
Feb 1st: SFs
Feb 2nd: Bye
Feb 3rd: 3PPo/Final

by **Valanora** » Wed Jan 18, 2023 10:53 pm

Map of Valanora

Valanora Information
The most important thing to know about traveling through Valanora is that automobiles are banned except for government officials. A high tech railway system connects the entirety of the nation, with three most popular international airports in Raynor City, Gladerial, and Baysleef. A ferry from Rinaldi travels to and from the island of Capri every hour on the hour. The most distinguishing feature of Valanora is the prevalent amount of forests standing in many of the inner half of the nation, even in cities, with the elven attempts to live in harmony with nature. Vanorians are a polite if not a bit high on themselves, believing elvenkind to be superior to humans, though they show a respect for the potential their humanoid cousins have.

Venues

The Battleground

Capacity: 78,000
Location: Raynor City

Artani

Capacity: 74,000
Location: Mar Sara

Angelotic Temple

Capacity: 71,000
Location: Longview

The White Fortress

Capacity: 70,000
Location: Gladerial

Donna Cathedral

Capacity: 60,000
Location: Mar Sara

Hatire Memorial

Capacity: 60,000
Location: Capri

Sabinal Stadium

Capacity: 56,000
Location: Sabinal

Hellgate

Capacity: 54,000
Location: Raynor City

Aranfield Bridge

Capacity: 52,000
Location: Everlin

Duran Palace

Capacity: 51,000
Location: Valanari

Castle de Mot

Capacity: 49,000
Location: Wexax

Rose Gardens

Capacity: 49,000
Location: Kareen

The Pitch

Capacity: 46,000
Location: Turbani

Turmondale Grounds

Capacity: 43,000
Location: Raynor City

Haramos Park

Capacity: 43,000
Location: Cartmot

Caddo Park

Capacity: 42,000
Location: Caddo

Raynor Memorial

Capacity: 40,000
Location: Hondo

The Tar Pit

Capacity: 39,000
Location: Char Sara

Metropolis

Capacity: 39,00
Location: Ibini

Orange Gate Falls

Capacity: 39,000
Location: Monaven

Miner's Haven

Capacity: 36,000
Location: Goldsan

River City Stadium

Capacity: 35,000
Location: Bexar

Tiradir

Capacity: 31,000
Location: Gladerial

Lathal

Capacity: 29,000
Location: Ianisle

by **Cabo Azure** » Thu Jan 19, 2023 5:28 am

In Azurean, the phrase “O Jogo” or “The Game”, especially when capitalized, refers idiomatically to the lifestyle of young professional football players in Cabo Azure. O Jogo is fast-living, hand-to-mouth, and noncommittal. A player living O Jogo stereotypically lives with a billet family, has no job other than playing, dates local girls for short durations of time, and talks about football constantly. O Jogo is a fixture of Azurean culture that dates to the time before O Interregno, when clubs in the island leagues would sign young players from other islands to bolster their chances at reaching the All Islands Championships, then the highest level of football in Cabo Azure.

The Federacion Azureano de Futebol sets the conditions for O Jogo by allowing clubs to pay a lower salary to players under the age of 21, provided they are afforded adequate housing. This leads shrewd managers to fill out their rosters with young talent and billet them cheaply with families in the community, many of whom are happy to show their support and make some money on the side. Not all of these players are typically on the club's travel roster, causing them to have extended periods of downtime while the first team is off-island, during which they have the opportunity to carouse in the community where they are billeted, contributing to their reputation.

Another fixture of O Jogo is the “ligas de verão”, amateur, single-island leagues that compete during the LHP’s off-season. Most Azurean professional clubs field a reserve side in their island’s league, making them something of a showcase for young players. A popular Azurean Internet meme features someone bragging about an accomplishment, only to admit when called out that it was accomplished “in the summer league.”

Upon a player’s twenty-first birthday, both player and club must decide whether to continue their relationship. For the player, he no longer has a billet and must find a place to live if he wants to continue playing, which usually includes finding part-time or seasonal employment to supplement his income. For the club, they must decide if the player fits into their long-term plans, since contracts tend to be long and senior wages, while modest, are still higher than those paid to under-21s. This is the point at which many young Azurean players opt to move overseas, where they may have more opportunities to ply their trade in lower flights of professional football.

For every player that moves abroad or turns professional for their club, there are many more who leave O Jogo after the season they turn 21 (the restrictions apply season-by-season, so a player turning 21 during the season is grandfathered). Some of these return to their home islands and stop playing altogether, while others may sign amateur contracts and continue to play in their island’s liga de verão while working other careers. Amateur players may practice with the first team on an irregular basis, even traveling with the team if injury or fixture congestion requires it.

Las Maçaricitas U21-DBC 54 Schedule
MD1 Bears Armed vs. Cabo Azure
MD2 HUElavia vs. Cabo Azure
MD3 Cabo Azure vs. Quebec

Starting XI vs Bears Armed:
Magalhães | Ventura-D'Cruz | Ribas-Veloso | Gontijo | Loureiro-Delgado-Jose-Ferraz | Dias

by **Khantari** » Thu Jan 19, 2023 6:54 am

Khantari U21 Team
The Fifty-fourth Di Bradini Cup
a.k.a
The 75th Under-21 World Cup

Group A
Valanora 
 Huayramarca
Sylestone 
 Khantari

Management
Khantari Football Council (KFC)
Chair:: Dr. Andres Shawcross, 71 
CEO::  Kerry von Pillers, 51 
Technical Director:: Thanh Beldon, 38 

Head Coach:: Ridley Cometts , 57 
Assistant:: Benton Linder, 38 
Goalkeeper Coach::  Refugio Doering, 59 
Fitness Coach::  Edgardo Shiplett, 38 
Physio:: Ken Lixmouth, 60 
Captain:: Denver Valcloss, 20 
Vice Captain:: Oliver Pattonsky, 20 

My opponent, if they RP first, may do the following:
Choose my goalscorers: Yes
Godmod scoring events: No
RP injuries to my players: Yes
Godmod injuries to my players: No
Hand out yellow cards to my players: Yes
Hand out red cards to my players: Yes
Godmod other events: No



Ground: Grefberg National Stadium, Fort Raleigh (51,200)
Nick name: The Young Khans
Style Modifier: +2.0
Formation: 4-4-2
Trigram: HTR

Team Kits & Sponsors detail

CLUB	KIT MANUFACTURER	MAIN SPONSOR	OTHER SPONSOR
Brigminstry	Ailton Sport	Lunziberger Brewery	Richwind
Fogington	Ailton Sport	Fogington Business Chamber	Reywx Drugs
Fort Raleigh	Senah78	Eagleford Pharmaceutical	Ogosts Marine
Handbarrow Creek	Julian Apparels	Orionland Casino	Banana Creek Casino
Inverster	Elephants	Urban Leaf Reusable Energy	Recos Tyre
Iron Nest Shores	Julian Apparels	Luxfarms Tea	Agung Solar
Lhanaton Xavam	Ailton Sport	Xavam Automotive	General Auto Dealers
Old Cave Grove	Senah78	Bristol Coffee	Silvercoats
Oldenhurst	Julian Apparels	Karla Microtronic	Earls Food
Puckknock Pirate	Elephants	Aldebian Garden	NanoKhantarian
Rottor Lake	Julian Apparels	Gambier Creek Organic	Tegar
Sickle Creek	Vyclyxx	Redflies Semiconductors	Horixon Internets
South Dogknock	Vyclyxx	Ignacius Drugs	Eastcorps
Strathpool	Ailton Sport	Windlord Property	Clearforce Chems
Sutcheth Storm	Elephants	Endemic Soundwave	Royal Golfs
Wesisle Wizard	Kaxak	Olympus Security	bohongbets.com
Witchington Moors	Kaxak	Quincy Hotels	Erecta
Worthberry	Vyclyxx	condor.net	Lager Workshops

by **Elmyia** » Thu Jan 19, 2023 9:17 am

The mood in the camp was sombre. Each player seemed lumbered with woe, brows furrowed, doubts sown. For Elmyia's youth section were not on a good run, and this group in particular were not happy campers. Two group stage eliminations in the Campeonato Rushmori Juvenil. The under-20s, with significant overlap with this group, had performed poorly. In a not particularly strong group, they had wilted, coming away with a solitary point. In three performances they had looked muddled, unhappy, unclear. It was at this point the Elder Coach of Epvalle strode in. He surveyed the room, being present with his surroundings and observering the looks of deep consternation on his charges faces.

"Why have you all got faces like a smacked arse?" He inquired (zen-ly).

Faes around the room turned to each other, seeking someone else to provide explanation, eventually McLoughlin piped up "Well, Mr. Cl-"

"That's not my name anymore, just call me Gaffer"

"Well gaffer, we're afraid of losing. It happens to us often, and Elmyian football seems to exist under a cloud."

The gaffer closed his eyes and inhaled slowly, holding his breath, before gently exhaling "the problem is, you live your lives clouded. By fear. You live in fear of outcomes you cannot control, you rush when poise is needed and you focus on yourself not the whole. But we can fix this, and you will be freed of your fear." McLoughlin coughed gruffly and decided to start addressing other important questions.

"So, are we going to do some training drills?"

"Well, if you'd like to call them as such."

"Great, so what are we going to be doing? Shadow play? Working on automations? Patterns of play?"

The gaffer shook his head mournfully "none of that." They set out onto the field. What followed was a curious series of drills. A small sided game where he biasedly refereed in favour of one team. Another where he pelted them with small rocks. The one that tipped them over the edge was one where they simply were left to sit in silence for half an hour with a ball in front of them.

At the end, McLoughlin decided to ask the questions the whole squad undoubtedly had "so, gaffer, are we going to practice other things? What are our tactical principles going to be?"

The gaffer took a deep breath and replied "We do not need to, everything is kept simple as it should be."

McLoughlin looked lost.

"Pass it to someone in a red shirt and tackle anyone who isn't."

by **Graintfjall** » Fri Jan 20, 2023 12:26 pm

Hobbs sure of his team as new challenges await

Nathanael Hobbs, a little heralded player in his day whose official biography sums up his career with a single word (“mediocre”) and former assistant manager at Fiskidaha FC, could not cut much more different an impression than Sopo Chacuzca, his colorful – verging on the psychedelic – predecessor. As the Tequiloan maverick who took the Græntfjall junior team, the ‘Snow Pups’, to two U-21 World Cup finals, winning one, and oversaw U-20 and U-17 regional titles at the Copa Rushmori Juvenil, moves on to new opportunities, summed up on his official biography with a single word (“. [edited]”), his successor will inherit little of his flair for the unusual and off-the-wall, but take on much the same responsibilities – and with it, a weight of expectation. The side Hobbs will lead to the 54th Di Bradini Cup in Valanora is not some unheralded bunch of kids, but the team that finished runners-up in last year’s U-20 CRJ in Cabo Azure, and contains some of the brightest prospects to have emerged from Græntfjaller academies in years. The quietly spoken Hobbs will have to hope his charges have plenty to say for themselves on the pitch if he is to last as long in the role as Chacuzca.

Job advert

Sub-editor, Háttmark Harbinger
Capable copy editor sought to take a fucking shotgun to our writers’ infatuation with subordinate clauses. That opening paragraph is a hate crime.

During his tenure, Chacuzca was known for highly unusual formations, from the 2-7-1 “Fútbol Ouroboros” to the 4-1-5 “Hammer of Thor”, so it perhaps fitting of the transition to the Hobbs era that the team that runs out to face Valladares at The Tar Pit in the DBC54 opener will line up in that most straightforwardly conventional of formations, 4-4-2. One thing Hobbs will be charged with is getting the most out of that “2”, the dynamic forward pairing of Benjamín Ísarsson and Járngrímur Náttúlfsson. The two young strikers, considered the most promising to have emerged from the youth development programme since Joel Wolfgangsson, scored ten goals between them in Cabo Azure, and exhibit an easygoing “bromance” off the field that has already endeared them to the public. Yet two-striker formations have rarely prospered for Græntfjall at the national level. Neither Justiina Dannysdóttir nor Eiríka Jonathansdóttir were ever able to translate their outstanding domestic form into becoming reliable strike partners for Jason Þórhallursson. With Þórhallursson in the #9 shirt a second striker was arguably not needed, and instead he usually found himself playing in front of one or two attacking midfielders, but since his retirement the search has resumed. Mímir Waltheofsson and Röskvi Tyrfingsson have tussled to take over as the number one option, but have generally been ineffective when playing alongside one another. Ísarsson and Náttúlfsson, both big-bodied true strikers in the classic fashion, appear to offer a glimpse at an exciting new possibility.

Of the two, it is Náttúlfsson who captured the headlines during the offseason with a huge transfer fee attached to his signing for Coret Hawks, joining teammates Rebekka Kajsdóttir and Sæi Adríansson in the Nepharan Zenith. Náttúlfsson pronounced himself excited to test his skills in what he called “the best league in the world”; some domestic observers have doubts about how successful he will be. “He’s a big strong lad who’s used to getting his own way, but up against world class center halves and the traditionally robust defenses he’s going to find in Nephara, it’s going to be a very different situation and I hope he doesn’t get frustrated if goals don’t come quite so easily,” says football journalist Olle Tobiasson. Ísarsson, who failed to attract much foreign interest, slunk off to the Verdean Campeanato where he has torn up the league scoring records with his height and strength too much for a league in which the average center back is less than 5’8” tall. “He too can expect to look to brighter pastures in the future,” says Tobiasson, “And this tournament could be a springboard for that.” Other teammates making big money moves in the offseason captain Samuel Báisson Cháng, who signed for Licentian side AFC Farnsworth, and his sister Hermione, who continues the prosperous exodus to Chromatika’s Red League where she will play with FK Shakhter Z’ai’ai; center back Hrútur Melkíorsson, newly of Squornshelan side Brasta; and defensive midfielder, Hámundur Henrýsson, one of a number of Græntfjallers to join Quebecois side Mipojoseon.

It marks a trend of young players jumping ship earlier and earlier to foreign leagues as the GPL, struggling with issues of racism, corruption, and financial woes, is a less lucrative environment. “It’s easy to forget that players like Jason and Sara K really established themselves in Græntfjall before moving overseas,” says Tobiasson. “This new trend of basically outsourcing youth development is worrying.” Hobbs is taking over at a time when youth development is particularly under the spotlight, with a perception of a national team that has aged out of its prime and needs an infusion of new talent. “There was a lot of disappointment that players like Amandara Navinsdóttir Thakur and Varða Vígsteinsdóttir weren’t picked for the CR,” says commentator Mikkalína Nataníelsdóttir. “But with World Cup qualifiers beginning there’s never been a better time for young players to put their hand up for selection.”

The Snow Pups will play Valladares, Cardenao and Melbergia in the DBC group stage; their opening game will see them without starting centerback Glóa Karvelsdóttir, who must serve a one game suspension for the red card she picked up in the final of the CRJ. That game saw an early lead from Ísarsson blown as ten-player Græntfjall fell to eventual winners Savojarna 3–1. Other selection questions include the attacking midfield role, a role that has produced players including Johanna Álvgeirsdóttir, Sara Kristoffersdóttir and Kæja Finnvarðsdóttir for the national team, and currently seen as a tussle between Sarína Petersdóttir of Endeavour Brenecia and Arnar Heikkisson, returning to Steinaux after a successful loan spell in Cap Nord, and the holding midfield spot, currently held by Kamdyr talent Erin Marshlily, an effective deep-lying playmaker who will nonetheless see stiff competition from the physically imposing ‘destroyer’ Henrýsson, known by his teammates as ‘Harry the Hammer’. Youth football tournaments are notoriously unpredictable, but Græntfjall enter this one with more expectation than usual heaped on their young shoulders, and Hobbs will need to produce results to justify the faith placed in him by KG.

Also in the paper:

NEWS: Prime Minister calls for action on women’s mental health, citing “indefensible” funding disparities
BUSINESS: Could Mlima Kijani be the next solar energy hotspot as companies eyeing impact of green taxes seek diversification?
POLITICS: Blue-Greens propose restoration of some nobility privileges, sparking intense debate
ENTERTAINMENT: The Castle, moving story of immigration and assimilation, sweeps film awards season
SPORT: Youth hockey prospect Kolgrímur Skjöldsson considering entering foreign draft

by **Ko-oren** » Sat Jan 21, 2023 1:55 pm

The Di Bradini Cup - it's been a while! The KFA found it necessary to send semi-youth teams to the CAFA Cup (and after getting two silver medals out of it, who are you to complain about that) but they seem to have turned that policy on its head. Youth teams to the DBC, a mixture of future stars and bubble players to the CAFA, and the best at each position to the World Cup qualifiers (and, for the last 10 cycles, also to the World Cup). Can you believe it? 10 straight successful qualifications to the World Cup - we thought we'd never get there reliably. And to pack two finals (including a win) in there - that's just magical. Even when the architect of it all left to take a job as the WCC President, the next woman up just continued the entire thing, building a modern version of the old 5-4-1... which is more 5-4-1, but now with possession.

In the wake of that, the curriculum of the younger sides was changed so that when they do come through the ranks, they are plug and play in a system they already know. And so, Tomoviko Mivune was given the task to use his own experience from Advance Alara and Darmen's Rushmore United to form the national 5-4-1 into a palatable lessonplan for the youth of Ko-oren. And to anyone who knows something about our clubs: Advance Alara is just about the least compatible club to our national 'identity', which makes Mivune the perfect man for the job, of course. How do we stay relevant and cleansheeted half a decade to a decade from now? As Katherine Davenport seems to think: holding on to the same philosophy for two decades won't do the trick. Some new mechanics must be built into the system for it to survive. Davenport was the one to reduce the team from 5-3-2 to 5-4-1, but she was also the one to introduce so many new ideas on possession which has taken our national team's goal output up despite the 'downgrade' in formation. Funny how little formation seems to mean at times.

That brings us to the next question: if we're doing all this to prepare a new generation of Ko-orenites for the big thing, how many of these players do we realistically expect to see for the over 21 yellowsashes? In short - how good are these guys?

Ciriaco Laza and Kaneyoshi Kaji already have experience for the big NT. The same goes for Obadiah Gillinghurst, and Richard Twickaway has earned some call-ups in the past. These four are 19, 19, 20, and 21 respectively. Out of these, Laza and Kaji seem near guaranteed to play for the Dragonflies for a while given the age of the competition and the lack of similar hype around other players their age. A player too young to even register for the DBC squad - but present in the long list of substitute reserve substitutes, is Charley Mellowby. The Maynard AFC defender, 17 years old, seems to be something special, and it's up to him to try to bring Maynard back to the Top League or if he wants to go straight for the top. Either decision could kill his career before it even begins, but you never know... and then, other players, like Dornared yOraenaig - it's a matter of time: will the pipeline of good strikers stop while there are few places to develop the trade on the national team? Or do club teams more than make up for that with the promise of foreign transfers?

We're going to need a good generation, given that the current one - taking us to the finals of 87 and 89 - is starting to 'die out'. Theshendan is 40, for god's sake, and he's still playing at Gehrenna FC 'for the love of the game'. That's a lot of love, turning up for that club day in day out when you could sit back and relax. Longchambon is 34. Janoreirinthen is 36. Van Schelven - remember he was our collective darling, growing up in front of us? He's 33. Benjamin's 35. The new generation's already here in the form of Entatingnun, Mallerbury, Parsons, and Van Kalvenhaar. But they're all in their late 20s already, so the generation after that has to get ready ASAP as well.

And to be very fair, beyond Laza and Kaji, we can't see too many of them making it.

Not to the tune of what we're used to, at least. Not the multiversal talents of the guys I mentioned. Very good players, transcending the Top League and probably turning out for some good teams in good leagues, surely. But guys that put the Dragonflies on their back and then simply 'have fun' (and defeat) the Audioslavias, Valanoras, and Holy Empires? That's a very, very tall order. Nothing to get too worked up about - the depth certainly seems to be more present than in previous iterations of the national team - but the cream of the crop is hard to find.

by **Savojarna** » Sun Jan 22, 2023 10:28 am

SavojarSports.sj - inside reports from all Savojarna
Northlights U-21 to take on DBC - five players to watch

By Jaukka Halanen

The Northlights have not been to the Di Bradini Cup, the world’s premier youth football tournament, for a few years. The last generation that had travelled out to the world’s youth football peak was six years ago, spearheaded by an 18 year old Lars Alvesen that came freshly off the SFS B top scorer title and secured a move to Partisan mid-tournament. Jelena Tretjakov, Sven Vikarby, Gudjohn Magnusson, Ruslan Novikov and Tatjana Kovalenko are all alumni of that team, having made their mark in the SFS A; others have even made international careers like Vladimir Orakhin and Solveig Vedmark. This time around, there are going to be 23 new players travelling to Valanora and fighting the world’s best. Notably, the team is somewhat flipped from last time - where DBC51 had a roster full of offensive firepower around Alvesen and Vedmark, and backed by the energetic midfield of Orakhin and Tretjakov, this year’s edition centers much more around Savojarna’s impressive defence. Still, we will look at five players to watch from all parts of the pitch:

1. Centre-back: Kenneth Röysveit (20, AFC Treason/NPH)
Savojarna’s number 4 is on everyone’s mind here. Röysveit burst onto the scene two years ago, when the infamous transfer ban stopped SK Cuprum Grennvik from replacing their retiring centre-back Matias Rydman and the loaned Artjom Sobchuk from Lok. As a result, Cuprum had to rely on Röysveit and Thea Leifsen, his teammate from the Högvald National Academy’s blue side, to take those places. While Leifsen had a solid season herself coming mostly off the bench, and will take her former teammate’s side in Valanora, it was Röysveit who captured the imagination of Cuprum. As a reward, the centre-back was linked to multiple strong clubs this off-season, but having roots in Nephara, he immediately answered when the Zenith called. Moving to AFC Treason, the tall and physically strong defender will want to show his skill off captaining the Savojar side, and show his ability to assist goalkeeper Jonas Hilde in keeping his sheets clean.

2. Central midfielder: Alexander Ilikin (21, CASK Thorsborg)
The other player that can be thought of as being an established player in an internationally somewhat relevant side in the U-21 Northlights, Ilikin is the second focus of this team. Formerly an AFK Savojagrad centre-back, Ilikin has moved to Högvald late, only at age 16, and was converted there into a defensive midfielder by Denis Johansson, Savojarna U-18 coach and sporting director of the National Football Academy. Ilikin had established himself surprisingly quickly for CASK thanks to supreme stamina and willingness to run, acting as a sweeper behind the advanced wingers and playmaker Arnar Jons. He even stood up to the star-studded Chromatik in the IFCF Champions League final, although he was criticised heavily for his role in that match and appeared a little bit out of this depth. Still, Ilikin comes in as an SFS A regular at a strong team, and a Champions League winner.

3. Offensive midfielder: Valtteri Silverberg (20, FK Torpedo Pawlograd)
Valtteri Silverberg comes out of the strong Partisan Sjoedrhavn youth school, where he has been trained to follow in the path of physical, running-heavy playmakers carved by Morten Poulsen and Jelena Tretjakov. Silverberg lacks their physical presence, but proved this season that he works pretty well in a more classical playmaker position like what he assumed at Torpedo. While not a regular starter, he has gotten playtime behind Dmitri Ryzhikov and put in a strong argument for his future - and a strong argument for his role in the youth national team. Completing the strong axis to the forward, Silverberg carries the ball around the front half of the pitch, and likes to play through balls to the wingers or carrying the ball up himself to threaten a goal. Also a proficient free kick taker who has racked up a few montage shots from resting balls.

4. Right midfielder: Boris Kajanov (20, AFK Savojagrad)
Among Savojarna’s starters, Kajanov is not a star; playing at AFK Savojagrad, he is not in the big names of the SFS A nor is he regularly starting, sharing his playtime with the returning former Partisan star Göran Jaerbyn. However, he has already shown he can have an impact from the bench at AFK, where he gets a lot of trust and could prove his incredible speed. Unfortunately, he lacks the cleverness of a Jaerbyn, which is why he hasn’t quite been able to challenge the veteran’s position. However, Kajanov is extremely aggressive and skilled; in the often more chaotic environment of U-21 football, his individual skill and confidence to go for aggressive and spectacular plays could easily make him one of the big discoveries of this tournament. Coming into the tournament in great form, and as a part of a team that is running hot in the SFS, he will be given a lot of attention.

5. Leftback: Tom Krogstrup (19, Partisan Sjoedrhavn)
The only player on our list that is not expected to start, he is a rough gem. Krogstrup has proven himself in the U-18 national team (although not on an international tournament stage) and has been a strong presence in the youth championships before being picked up by Partisan’s first team. Krogstrup has not been playing a whole lot yet given his lack of experience, and the expectations of the team. However, when he played, he has shown two things: Great understanding of defensive positioning and decision-making for his age, and an individual technique that makes him a threat for assists from range. As a supportive leftback, he is not a particularly spectacular view, but a quietly strong player that has been lauded by multiple experts. This is likely going to be his first big international trial, and he could be a breakout player.

by **Koronavia** » Sun Jan 22, 2023 10:40 am

Koronavia Sport Network

Koronavian football is on a change

Just a few months ago the Koronavian Football Board announced the creation of a Koronavian U21 national football team at a press conference in the Taaglecht Superstadium. The U21 national team was a part of the football board's "Expand & Fix plan", which aims to fix the many holes in the national side while also making new branches of the national team. Of course there was just a single way to go with the "expand" part: youth. It is no secret that one of the secrets to any great national side is its future, the young talent which will help it remain great on the international stage.

"We believe that it is absolutely necessary for any good national team to have a youth division. This is why we're now making a U21 team. We've already found a coach, we've found the ideal players and we've filed the paperwork to participate in the upcoming Di Bradini Cup. The only thing that remains is to have a few training sessions with the new players and see how they do in their first go at international football." said Koronavian Football Board president Stefan Schwarz at the event.

A few days before the start of this cycle's Di Bradini Cup we got detailed information about Koronavia's U21 squad in the list of players, the formation, the coach and the playing style, and oh boy, has everything changed from the original philosophies of "the father of Koronavian international footballing", Andreas Görlitz. It's full-on defense instead of Koronavia's normal attacking spirit, so we will have to get used to many changes in Koronavia's playing style.

First, we start with the great and exciting news that Koronavia will, for the first time in its short run in international football, feature women in its squad along with the men. Furthermore, right-winger Karolin Stocker has been given the captain's armband, and will hopefully lead the U21 team to success in the future.

The U21 team's coach is also a female. Kira Eisenstadt was signed by the football board to lead the (hopefully) future stars into their first taste of international football after winning the Koronavian U21 First National Division with Weißenräschen Youth FC, a club that was on the brink of relegation and bankruptcy at the start of the season.

Koronavia will play its first U21 match against Abanhfleft, a very tough opponent to kick off a campaign against, especially with youngsters that have zero international experience. But for now the main priority will be to develop the squad and experiment until the "correct formula" is found. We remain confident in the future of Koronavia's international football.

by **Bears Armed** » Sun Jan 22, 2023 11:56 am

The Bear-Belles are en route to Valanaora, aboard a chartered airplane (I'll name the model, airline, and home nation, once somebody else in the IDU answers my OOC request to suply a suitable plane...) that has been specially modified to suit them. The seats are double-width, with extra leg-room so that they can be reclined back for sleeping without impoosing too badly on the person behind, and the galley has been enlarged as well. Most of the passengers are sleeping, or at least trying to sleep, because Bears in general prefer not to be awake while they are so far up from the ground, but some are watching an in-flight movie instead. The latter has the title of 'Godzillas in the Mist' and is about a Human woman studying -- and trying to arrange protection for -- the endangered 'Mountain Godzillas' of some foreign land. (It wasn't made in Bears Armed and, again, I'll name the country of origin if & when another IDU member volunteers for that role.)
Among the people on board are not only the usual media team -- reporters Bark "Not a survivor of the doomed planet Krapton, for true!" Brent and his wfe Florise Fane, and [bowtie-wearing, ginger-furred] camera-bear Jamms Bearthorrowmew "Jammy" Urrsen, accompanied by the latter's wife Lurrsee (who is Florise's younger sister) and their young daughter Erissabear -- but also a back-up team (regretably with less experience in this role) in case the actual World Cup's qualifiers commence before this DBC finishes, because if that happens then their seniors would have to redeploy to cover the latter tournament instead.

There is an announcement over he loudspeaker:
"This is your captain speaking. We are now entering Valanoran airspace. I repeat, we are now entering Valanoran airspace."

The mystic known as Sermharn the Wanderer, who is reclining -- although wide awake -- in a seat near the rear of the passenger cabin, breathes a sigh of reief at this news. As invited visitors Within Valanoran jurisdiction they fall under the spiritual protection of that nation's patron goddess Elune, and thus now are safe from the risk of "meddling" by the quasi-draconic avatar of Chaos most commonly known by thename of Discord who on a previous occasion had turned an entire Ursine football team (who were slightly outside that aegis when he acted) temporarily tinto 'Ponies' of various kinds!
(Yes, I mean that 'Discord', the one from MLP. I'm not actually a Brony, but I'd picked up some information about the series here & there and a remark by one of the relevant contest's hosts -- referring instead to the 'Discord' that's an online communications channel, actually -- inspired me to include him in my RP on that occasion...)

Meanwhile, closer to the mid-point of the cabin's length, the team's manager and coaches are studying what little information the sapient Ravens employed for scouting other nation's teams have beeen able to gather so far about the Belles' group-stage opponents since this tournament's schedule was announced. They have already noted that all three of those rival sides are all-human, and that all three of them favour attacking-based srategies to various extents -- ss the Belles themselves also do -- rather than more defensive ones.

Meanwhile (again), in the section of seats set aside for representatives of the media, Erissabear Fane-Urrsen is currently asleep... to her mother's great relief. Lurrsee herself doesn't mind flying aboard planes, unlike so many of her compatriots, but Erissabear seems positively energized by it and tends to take it as inspiration fortaking flight in person using the feathered wings that she possesses as an after-effect of the 'Ponies' incident. (Lurrsee had been turned into a Pegasus on that occasion, and as neither she nor anybody else around had yet realized that she was pregnant this fact was not properly taken into account when she was returned to her true form.) Lurrsee and Jammy had had to keep her on a tight rein, earlier in this voyage, so that she couldn't zip off around the cabin...

works? · by **Abanhfleft** » Sun Jan 22, 2023 12:34 pm

DISCLAIMER: Gaelic Gamers is an independents sports blogging website created by four cousins with a common liking and passion for sports of all kinds and is in no way or form affiliated with or organized by any official news organization in the Democratic Republic of Abanhfleft. All statements and opinions posted here are our own and not anyone else's.

Gaelic Gamers
Presents...

The Football Fallacies
with The Man from Markovsky

WHO TO LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING PLAY IN THE 54TH DI BRADINI CUP (AND WHO SHOULD BE HERE INSTEAD OF THOSE WHO ACTUALLY CAME)

Hello and welcome to The Football Fallacies. Right, so with another edition of the Di Bradini Cup coming down upon us, let’s take a look at some of the players whom I believe would make a massive impact for Abanhfleft in this tournament, and then we’ll take a look at some notable omissions from this squad whom the new manager Roman Aydarov decided not to call up for whatever reason. Frankly, it might be related to the fact that the Under-18 World Cup is also around the corner, but we’ll get to that later. For now, I’ll just be talking about the stars and the potential stars in the making of this Young Revolutionaries team. Let’s go.

1. Sven Fahrni (AKA The Literal Robot Football Player)
Honestly, lads, I am still in complete and utter disbelief that Ludogorets Markovsky have managed to sign Sven bloody Fahrni from Airbus Fhulghamous Besanza, and that we were apparently the only team who was seriously pursuing this guy in the first place! Sure, he spent another season back in the Fhulghamous on loan after we signed him, and now it looks like he’s going to go on loan again to Admiral Novorossiysk in Pridnestrovia this time, but honestly speaking, I really can’t wait for the moment when he finally puts on that green shirt for the first time and finally gets the chance to terrorize Fleftic Premier League defenses. And I don’t think I’m alone in that particular regard. I know a lot of fellow Ludogorets fans who can’t wait to see what Sven can do for the Foresters on the pitch. I mean, we already know what he can do on the pitch, but we wanna see him do it for the bloody Foresters!

Fahrni, dubbed “The Terminator” due to his simple and absolutely robotic nature, is a literal metronome in the midfield, usually playing in an advanced role and practically marshaling the rest of his teammates to where he needs them to be. He’s also bulked up considerably from the time he first broke into the national team setup, which only lends even more credence to the comparisons with the unstoppable killing machine made famous in the movies. At least Sven hasn’t killed anybody yet, at least not that we know of, but personally, I wouldn’t go out of my way to antagonize the bastard. In any case, the point that I was trying to make is that Sven Fahrni is already going to be the orchestrator of Abanhfleft in the Di Bradini Cup, and if it looks like he can’t get the job done, it’s all on his teammates, not him.

2. Iraklis Babalioutas (AKA The Heart and Soul of the Team)
Look, it’s no secret that Iraklis is a guy who wears his heart on his sleeve, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Everyone has emotions, and some show them a lot more than others, boys and girls included. And Iraklis has never been afraid to show to the whole world exactly what he feels at any given moment. Everyone remembers the time when the cameras caught him crying after we drew against the 14 Stars in the 15th Under-18 World Cup in Tumbra, as well as the time that he was caught crying (with joy this time) when he assisted Semistan Baburov in scoring our fourth goal against Starblaydia in the 52nd Di Bradini Cup. It was also clear that he had cried his eyes out when he had crocked his knee in training and couldn’t take part for the rest of that tournament when he gave that interview, and even though they didn’t show it, I know that the lad cried yet again when Pasarga knocked us out of the Di Bradini Cup for the thousandth time in the cup’s history. And people still wonder why I’ve got the bloody Wanderers on my bloody shit list…

Now, as to why I think Iraklis will become one of the key players for the Revolutionaries in this particular Di Bradini Cup, well, I already gave you bastards the answer. Sure, the lad might be thinner than the latest tablet computer and his knees may be more brittle than dried macaroni, but it’s the fact that he’s such an overt crybaby that makes him pretty much the perfect vice-captain for this team. Like I said, he wears his emotions on his sleeves. Sven Fahrni is the kind of guy who knows exactly what he and the team need to do in order to win, but since he’s a robot, he’s not really trained yet to show any human emotion, so that’s all on Iraklis’s shoulders. And the guy can do it, I know. Whether it's on the pitch or from the bench from the stands because he twanged his knee yet again, you all know that he’s going to be passionate about the team. Maybe Sven should donate one of his titanium kneecaps to Iraklis so the other guy isn’t sitting on the physio’s table all the time.

3. Peyton Villosillo (AKA The X-Factor)
I’ll be perfectly honest, I never really expected to see this name pop up in the final 23-man squad that Roman Aydarov was going to take the Valanora, but I do understand why he did it. I mean, literally nobody in Abanhfleft knew who Peyton was until the moment when she literally shut down every single right winger and right wingback playing in the Women’s Premier League in the second half of the 2035-36 season when she first suited up for Eielo Sunlight in place of the injured Deirdre Uysiuseng. Defenders and fullbacks like her don’t get much attention from fans and media because their job is the kind of thing that you don’t notice at all if they do it well, and Peyton Villosillo might as well be invisible to the media and the fans. But she sure as hell wasn’t invisible to the players whom she shut down though! And I guess that that’s the hope that we have for her here in Valanora: let her fly under the radar by coming off the bench instead of starting games so that opposition wingers will be taken by surprise. Imagine if she ends up being invisible in the way that most football fans use the word though…

And now that we’re done with the potential breakout stars of this Young Revolutionaries squad, let’s move on to the notable snubs. Most of these snubs are probably because the Under-18 World Cup is happening at almost the exact same time and it would just be cruel of the SFA to ask these boys and girls to fly between Valanora and either one of Baker Park or Schutz and West Ruhntuhn, whichever one of them ends up getting the hosting rights. But now let’s take a look at why they’ll be missed in this under-21 team. Let’s go.

1. Beth Anderson (AKA The Feel-Good Story of the Month)
I mean, Beth Anderson has already made a name for herself in the previous Under-18 World Cup in Gortolekua with her blistering pace and pinpoint passing ability. But she’s also been making the rounds lately due to her story with her father Ben, who’s currently playing for the Abanhfleft Revolution in the World Baseball Classic and the team from the city that shall not be named. It’s not everyday you hear a story about a baseball prospect who suddenly became a teen dad before he’s gotten his feet on the ground, and yet he kept working his way up the system before finally becoming an established player on his own right, and now you’ve got a father-daughter sporting duo looking to tear up the sporting scene in the near future! But to get back to the original point, Beth’s speed would have been vital with regards to trying to force open locked defenses, even if only just as an option from the bench. Then again, Roman Aydarov doesn’t use wingers in his formation so maybe this was a stupid pick in the first place. Or maybe he’s the stupid one for not using wingers? I don’t even know anymore…

2. Faustino Kissane (AKA The Sven Fahrni Beta Version)
Obviously Faustino Kissane is never ever going to walk into the starting eleven of a team that has Sven bloody Fahrni in it as well, but he definitely would have been a much better bench option than the likes of Ronald Lagatoc or Buchheim Khanchil! For one, Faust is actually a multidimensional player with passes, pace, and shot accuracy in his arsenal, unlike either Lagatoc or Khanchil who are both more one-dimensional. He is literally just a human version of Sven Fahrni, and Roman Aydarov is currently looking real stupid for snubbing this guy in favor of the current options he has. Sure, Lagatoc can ping passes left and right, but he’s got the pace of a bloody sack of potatoes! And don’t even get me started on Khanchil. I’ve seen the bastard be described as a box-to-box midfielder but the guy literally runs out of gas after 50 minutes! Don’t ever expect him to be able to press for an extended period of time or even press at all. He’s just not built for that. But Faust Kissane is, and though he’s definitely a much better fit for the under-18 team right now, he’ll be sorely missed in the under-21 squad this time around.

3. Kimberley Fitzgerald (AKA The Pick from Literally Out of Nowhere)
And now, last but most certainly not the least, we have Kim Fitzgerald. Now I know what you bastards are probably thinking. The Man from Markovsky has eaten so much dog food due to his bets on either Abanhfleft or Ludogorets not bottling it against their opposition that his brain has literally turned into dog food itself! Well, it hasn’t! It’s more like oatmeal porridge but that’s beside the point! But why in the world would I put a bloody goalkeeper into my list of big snubs for the Fleftic under-21 team? Not to say that she’s a better option than either one of Jaqui Vizcaya or Florian Rusinek, but even at just her young age, she probably is. Shit is just honestly weird. Heck, if I was manager of the under-21s I might even start her instead of Barawy Munir, but that’s only because of hindsight in the form of all that’s happened in Gortolekua. That being said, I am most definitely not going to let Kim stay on the pitch if it goes to penalties. Kim Fitzgerald is a fantastic shot-stopper, don’t get me wrong, and while her ball distribution could still use some work, she’s a serviceable enough goalkeeper for a youth team. But she just doesn’t have a single bone of shithousery in her body, and Roman Aydarov probably recognized that as well.

Anyway, that’s all that I have to say about the potential stars and biggest snubs for this Abanhfleft team in the Di Bradini Cup. If you’ve got any thoughts or comments of your own about these stars and snubs, or if you think you’ve got some picks for either one of those then feel free to leave them in the comments down below. Until then, I’ve been the Man from Markovsky, hoping that I won’t be disappointed in my country once again. Which could happen if for some reason we meet Pasarga somewhere down the line once again. Christ above, those bloody Wanderers are going to be the death of me…

by **Chromatika** » Sun Jan 22, 2023 2:05 pm

DBC Coverage 1: Five Reasons to Give This Team A Pass Should They Falter

When it comes to naming powerhouses of youth football, some nations come to mind immediately: Tumbra, Pasarga, Græntfjall, to name a few. It's a tricky field to dominate - as every year, the crop of players that can play for you changes. Some FAs have rules regarding who can participate, others simply age out, while some others find better things to do than to commit themselves to a career that may never take off.

For the last few DBCs, Chromatika has done well enough, but it's been led by some names that have become household by now: Hailee Sourtois, Grayson Fillar, Edith Fillar, Baillaire Fillar, Lavrentiy Xuen-Zhukov, along with a plethora of others.

The Chromatik Football Federation has decreed that the DBC should be used as a proving ground for collegiate-aged talent, not a place where players who have already made it to the big stage go to pad their stats. So, this new team, still under the capable leadership of Claude Pare-Achel, the Zwangzug Manager usually in charge of Chromia Central College University, will have many an excuse as to why they may falter. Here are the five most readily available excuses for this team failing.

1. Who is that at keeper?

Raoul Carpathia. Hailee Sourtois. Van Enax. Siane Sundrifter. Some of the up and coming names in Chromatik goalkeeping came through the DBC squad, but they had considerably more hype than the three that Chromatika are sending on this tournament. The senior among them is Vindonio Borgese, a Junior, and he's the third string. Jill Swanson gets the starting nod ahead of Christopher Silverman, but only barely; Swanson has the cerebral game down, but will need to set herself apart from Silverman, who can mouth at opponents but has the raw skill. Gone are the days of the keeper barking out orders to the defense; expect the Young Anomalies' keeper, whoever it is, to defer to the back three in terms of setting things up and running the game.

2. Who's going to score the goals?

Running a 3-4-3 means hoping your wingers, along with your side midfielders, set up your striker for success while also taking shots as they come along. Is Elaine Howard-Dawes really the player you want? She's no Laventiy Xuen-Zhukov - nowhere near - and lacks the ability to get by that last defender for the goal. Chromatika will need to have Usagi or Natsumi set up Howard-Dawes in ideal situations to score their goals - or have Halik or Peters shoot from range. The limited scope of scoring may come to bite the team in the butt, but at least they know what they have to do to get the ball into the back of the net. Right?

3. Who will be the physical backbone?

"That's easy," you might say, "Park Hyun-Jung is the best defender of the three, while Colley is good on the ground. As long as MacDonald from the Defensive Midfield position drops back to help Aletta, the most forward-pressing of the three, Chromatika should be fine defensively." Yes, that is true on paper. How many young teams have you seen that can actually hold that kind of formation for all of ninety minutes? The issue here is that the three starting defenders' skills are so extremely different. Park and Colley can't do much offensively, while Aletta is a liability defensively. Can they maintain such fluidity throughout all of ninety minutes? Will MacDonald know when the back three need help? Otherwise, Chromatika's defense will be like a sieve, and they'll give up so many goals.

4. Who will be the leader?

Colby MacDonald was named Captain, but mostly because he is one of the only players to have played at all in the last DBC. With so many new players, it's important to have that voice to lead the squad. Eyes are on Yasuda Usagi, Shishido Natsumi, Marc Dunn, Marion Goo, Jerome Dwyer, Hannah McTavish, Eileen Jackson-Jones, Odwin Muir, Ramata Colley, Carson Aletta, or Vindoniio Borgese - the group of Juniors. Will one of them step into that leadership role? Or will a younger player surprise everyone by stepping up to the plate? Any team that strives to make a playoff run will need a leader - it'll be interesting to see who steps up.

5. Does the collegiate all star system work?

The CFF have along made the DBC be populated by an all-star squad of sorts from the CCFA. That means that players who have played against each other all year long have to now consider each other teammates. That is hard for even the professionals with lots of experience - just how much more difficult will it be for youngsters? Chromatiks are, by nature, well-mannered; a lot of things will be microaggressions and things that can sometimes be swept under the rug. Another thing for this team to navigate.

This will be a hard cycle to navigate. The team has more than enough reasons to fail. So, will they?

by **Khantari** » Sun Jan 22, 2023 5:13 pm

Construction of the Fogington Sports Complex will begin in early 2023
by Robert Caddilac

The redevelopment of the Fogington Sports Complex (Fogington SpoCom) here, including the construction of a new stadium, is expected to be carried out early next year, said Khantari Investment Chief Executive Officer (Incorporation) James Farlay. According to him, the development of the land of more than 80 hectares is expected to take three to four years to complete. He said, for now, his party is examining the initial concept design of the complex presented by the appointed developer, Stargate Heavy Const. Ltd (Stargate). "KhanInvest is also pleased and welcomes the people of this state to send feedback on the new development concept by expressing their opinions and what they want (for the new sports complex). Mr. Farlay said that the feedback will be open for a month and after that KhanInvest and Stargate will hold a public exhibition and then seek approval from the state government which is expected to be obtained at the end of this year.

Meanwhile, Stargate Group Managing Director Peter Liverpool said his side aims to build the entire complex to be able to receive approval from the International Football Bodies that can accommodate up to 35,000 spectators. "The construction cost of this complex has yet to be ascertained, but it is expected to be completed within three to four years," he said. Mr. Liverpool said that the construction of the complex will also involve the construction of commercial facilities and other public facilities which will directly provide returns to the stadium management.

He said, it directly gives them income and is able to cover the cost of maintaining and improving the complex without having to burden the state government's finances. "Among the developments proposed for the complex include the construction of hotels, commercial sites, indoor stadiums, and public parks," he said. Regarding the name of the complex, Mr. Liverpool said it was up to the state government if it wanted to use a new name after it was completed. "So far, we will keep the existing name which is Fogington Sports Complex," he said.

The Fifty-fourth Di Bradini Cup::: Match

Venues ::: The Battleground & Turmondale Grounds

Group A:: MD1 - Valanora vs. Khantari
Group A:: MD2 - Khantari vs. Sylestone
Group A:: MD3 - Huayramarca vs. Khantari

by **Valladares** » Sun Jan 22, 2023 6:04 pm

The National Kickoff
The Online Home of Valladar Football!

Valladar U21s return to the DBC, what can we expect?

By: Marco Rodas

Hello, lovers of Valladar football and other casual readers and welcome to another entry of The National Kickoff, this time covering the Valladar under-21 national football team in their return to the Di Bradini Cup! La Mininacional are back into the world competition for U21 footballers for the first time since their shock win inthe 48th DBC and the underwhelming performance as titleholders in the immediately following tournament, after which the VFA did not bother to keep sending youngsters to this kind of competitions...until now. The successive failures to qualify for the World Cup by the senior squad, coupled with an administrative oversight that saw the VFA not entering the most recent edition of the competition (WC92, not the upcoming 93 for which Valladares did enter) and the demands from the senior team's manager Federico Rassmussen to find new blood for the team that will take part in the upcoming World Cup qualifiers which even encouraged to take over the managerial post of the U21 squad as well, were the main reasons that motivated (or forced) the VFA to field a team in this competition again, looking to finally find the next golden generation of Valladar football.

And you might be wondering, what could we expect from this comeback appearance? Well, here are some keys for you to start following this edition of the most famous competition in youth football, with the Mininacional making their return to the fray:

Out for redemption
Unfortunately, the immediate track record for this group of 23 players that travelled to Valanora for the DBC is not good, given that this is the very same team that took part in the regional Campeonato Juvenil held in Cabo Azure last year (an U-20 competition) and went unceremoniously out in the group stage with two defeats at the hands of Mytanija and Savojarna and a scoreless draw against Gnejs, scoring only one goal in the process. Mind you, that lone goal was not even scored by a forward, that honour going to Tannenberg FC midfielder Brandon Flórez, who did it after coming from the bench in the final game against Savojarna when there was nothing else to do and it was certain we were heading home.

With that poor performance at the regional competition casting doubt on the ability of this squad and filling the general public with concern for the future of the national team, there should be only one thing in the mind of those players looking for a launching pad for their footballing careers: a good performance at the Di Bradini Cup in order to heal their own reputation, redeem themselves to the eyes of the people, and also make a name for themselves in the process. And by "good", not only do we mean "scoring more than a goal", but also "at least making it out of the group stage". This group of players could take a look at the likes of Mauricio Arboleda, Andrés Abrigo, Marcelo Escobar, Adrien Trolli, Iván Valenzuela or Gabriel Riveros, all of them jumping abroad after winning the DBC, and get some inspiration from them. If you cannot win in the end, at least make sure you tried...

Who will be the ones to watch?
Although the performance in the CRJ was largely negative, we still consider there are some good things that deserve to be rescued out of this crop of players, and individuals who managed to show some interesting things that could be of use to the Valladar NT both in this competition as well as the upcoming World Cup qualifiers in the little time they spent in Cabo Azure last year:

From the back to the front, we begin with keeper Aaron Bostwick, who despite being Eterna Stars's third goalie, has seen some unusual increase of activity in the most recent year and at the Campeonato Rushmori did some interesting saves against that spared the Valladar defense from a bigger disaster (not his fault that neither the defense nor the players up front did not really meet their end of the bargain). People in Valanora might not want to remember this player, who by chance in life was the keeper for the Stars in their historic 1-0 win at The Battleground in the most recent Cup Winners' Cup and his saves that day left Raynor City United with a foot out of that competition. Now he's back in the Eternal Empire and looking to make a bigger impact with the sky blue shirt of the Valladar NT. In the defense, although they had their relatively big issues at keeping Bostwick safe in Cabo Azure, I would like to highlight two players that should be considered by Rassmussen in the senior NT as soon as the upcoming WCQ campaign: one of them is Fontvielle Impact's Emmanuel Richetti, who has stood out in the reserve team of l'Impact as a reliable centreback, strong in the air, unafraid to make a tackle and be the leading voice in a young squad, and has earned his promotion to the senior squad with full merit; the other one is left-back Steven Castro, coming from northern Valladares and from a team that has made a serious effort to rival Nacional and their famed Guzmán-Cress Academy in recent years: Nord Energie FC. In a position in which all of the main referents are either foreign or veteran, Castro (Torneo de Reservas winner with the Electric side, by the way) is called to represent a much-needed renewal, and it should not come as a surprise to anyone if he gets to keep working with Rassmussen in a few months.

With 21 years, two Torneo de Reservas titles with the Guzmán-Cress Academy and some interesting appearances with Nacional in the last Liga-1 season, Carlos Sierra will have a nice opportunity to show his talent as an assist-maker to the multiverse, whilst the forwards (who should be the most pressed to make a good showing here in order not to repeat last year's failure) will be spearheaded by striker Jason Reis from Edmonton United, who was instrumental in the Monties' salvation from a swift return to Liga-2 and won the award to Revelation Player in Liga-1 last season. Although his efforts in the domestic league were relatively well rewarded, he didn't have much luck at the regional U20 tournament and anxiety in his maiden international experience worked against him, missing some great chances to score especially in that match against Gnejs. Hopefully (for him and all of us) things will be different this time...

Who are the rivals?
The Valladar U21 NT has been drawn into a tricky Group H, along with the runners-up of that Campeonato Juvenil Rushmori held in Cabo Azure, Græntfjall, as well as two question marks in Melbergia and Cardenao. Whilst yours truly and the other staff members of this humble blog have not had the chance to watch a match of the U21 squads of both Melbergia and Cardenao, we did manage to watch the matches of the Græntfjaller team in our regional competition. And precisely, the Snow Pups will be the first rival standing in Valladares' way towards a second U21WC crown. With one DBC title and two Rushmori titles at both U-20 and U-17 levels, as well as boasting some of the brightest talents that have emerged out of those lands (don't be fooled by their recent internal chaos that has seen them away from IFCF competitions for a while), we'd have to be too bold to deny that Græntfjall are coming as the favourites to top this group and maybe win this competition in the process. However, the Mininacional will be out to show that the most recent showing at the CRJ was nothing but a fluke and what a better way to do so than by delivering an upset to one of the multiverse's strongest sides in youth football. And who knows, perhaps we could make our own case for a second DBC title while we're at it...¡Adelante, Valladares!

by **Ceni** » Sun Jan 22, 2023 6:24 pm

Santiago de Ceni in 24 hours — with Xoán del Alcázar

In partnership with the Cenian Football Association to promote the upcoming Di Bradini Cup domestically, Wanderlust has decided to feature several players' perspectives on their favourite cities in Ceni. In this first installment, we hand over the reins to Xoán del Alcázar, who plays as a striker for the Cenian under 21 team.

My name is Xoán, and I'm happy to take your readers on a tour of Santiago de Ceni!

A few of you may be wondering how I got my name. "Xoán" is not Faroleran, but from a similar language called Finisterran. It's just their equivalent of the name Juan, but my parents wanted me to have a more unusual name. And an "alcázar" is just a word for a specific type of castle which apparently originates from all our ancestors back in Endemia. Unfortunately, I've never seen one in person.

The publication and our manager, Andrew Arrowsword, asked us to write about one city or neighborhood that is really meaningful to us. Although I've played in Lexington for the past couple of years, I grew up in Santiago, and it's definitely my home.

So with that out of the way, let's start our day in my favourite place in Ceni!

If I'm not making myself coffee at home, I like to eat out at El Jardín Secreto, which is hidden behind an old Spanish-style wall with ivy and vines hanging over it. But when you knock on the blue pastel door, you enter a verdant garden covered in the branches of trees and with beautiful flowers all around you. There, you can have a Santiago de Ceni classic breakfast: a cafe bombón with tejeringos. They are so good together: the sweetened condensed milk goes really great with espresso, and the tejeringos have a nice, chewy texture, which is lightened by the powdered sugar on top.

I might then spend a few hours at the Castillo de San Vicente, the old fort overlooking the harbor. Named after the Saint's Day when Valladar explorers reached this corner of Ceni, the castle was built to defend the city against pirates and the occasional kraken that might surface to wreak havoc on ships close to shore. Since the main atrium is outside, I don't like to spend a lot of time here when it gets hot, but then again, the tunnels and storerooms underneath the main fort are cool — in more ways than one! I remember vividly scampering around those tunnels as a little kid.

After the fort, explore Santiago's old town, which has so many colorful rowhouses. You've already walked uphill to get to the fort, so everything is all downhill from here, fortunately. Before you get to lunch, stop by "La Iglesia Verde". It has a real name, but I can't remember it for the life of me. Besides, nobody I know calls it by its real name, anyway. It gets its nickname because it's... well, green! Lots of ivy likes to grow along the walls here, and I have absolutely no clue why.

For lunch, head towards the promenade — or malecón, in Faroleran — to survey the vast variety of street vendors hawking their wares. You can get lots of stuff here: choripanes (chorizo sausage in a hot dog bun), freshly grilled fish that was literally caught this morning, the Cenian classic of fish and chips, or more "boring" Euran food like hamburgers and their ilk. Personally, I prefer to get empanadillas — little empanadas — and cod fritters, which we call bacalaoitos here.

After a delicious lunch on the malecón, continue strolling down the seaside area. To your left, gawk at the sunbathers, beachgoers, and kite-fliers on the popular beach; to your right, enjoy the trellises that have a variety of plants hanging down them. One of the reasons why I like Santiago so much is the greenery; I kind of miss that in Lexington, which is more urbanized.

We're headed towards the Taurendil Institute, which hosts the Tomás Hernández Academy where a lot of my teammates here at the Di Bradini Cup play. But before we get there, let's head into the uniquely designed Centro Cultural María Belén Sastre, named after a famous author who wrote about life in Santiago during Cenian unification. Its circular motifs remind many people of a snail, so lots of people call it "El Caracol". They have a small cafe (so you can have another cafe bombon if you already missed its sweet, milky deliciousness), a library, a bookshop, a performance space, and a rooftop terrace to enjoy the sea breeze. Today, I'm watching a flamenco performance. It isn't a distinctly Cenian cultural production, but the dancers are still amazing, and I had fun regardless.

Finally, we reach the Taurendil Institute. Frankly, it's not the biggest tourist attraction out there, but if you like Colonial Revival architecture mixed with lots and lots of glass, this university is for you. (And, I guess if you're a fan of either the Taurendil Tigers in NSCAA or the Academy team, you'll be quite familiar with this campus as well.)

For dinner, let's take the tram back into Old Town for one of my favourite restaurants: El Carnicero de Santiago. No, it's not a butcher of people; it's just a restaurant where they serve lots and lots of meat dishes, from delicate veal milanesas to hunks of lamb chops to the finest steaks (imported from Electrum and New Gelderland, of course). It's really emblematic of the cuisine up here, which features a lot of meat despite the decided lack of pastures in Ceni.

If you want a good time as dusk settles in, then I recommend Club Solo in the business district, which is another quick tram ride away. In the daytime, the business district appears slow except for rush hour because there aren't as many tourists crawling around. But at night, the modern, gleaming portion of town transforms into the nightlife hub of Northern Ceni as DJs encourage you to dance the night away with reggaeton, salsa, cumbia, and other beats. But I certainly wouldn't recommend spending too much time there the eve of any important football match...

Well, that's it from me — catch me in the upcoming Di Bradini Cup in Valanora in our trademark red and orange bench tracksuits, and go Tir Snakes!

by **Tikariot** » Sun Jan 22, 2023 7:49 pm

Winston Curtis: Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to a new episode of 'Tikariot Tonight.' Tonight we will be taking a look at the reappearance of the Tikariot Snowy Owlets in the latest edition of the storied Di Bradini Cup in Valanora. The DBC is entering its 54th edition and the stakes are as high as ever. I have with me Desideria Caravaggio, the youth team director of the Tikariot Football Federation, welcome to 'Tikariot Tonight', Desideria.

Desideria Caravaggio: Thank you for having me.

Winston Curtis: So, the Snowy Owlets had not participated in the DBC in several years, what was the reason for this?

Desideria Caravaggio: It was a mix of several different things coming together. It all began with a clerical error, where we, I will be quite frank, simply missed the deadline for registration. You see, the organizing committee had a somewhat different modus to sign up, where it was an extremely tight timeline and with the limited slots it was a race to the finish line, so to say, and unfortunately we haven't been the fastest to react and we missed out on a few editions.

Winston Curtis: That's not good. Now, with Tikariot being in the tournament again, did something change?

Desideria Caravaggio: Yes, several things actually. For one, we have made big changes to the administrative side of Tikariot's youth teams and have put many new procedures in place that have made things a lot more efficient.

Winston Curtis: Don't many new procedures usually mean a lot more bureaucracy?

Desideria Caravaggio: Yes and no. While yes, we have many new procedures that we did not have before, they have increased efficiency so much that they are more than worth it. The other big change is an adjustment of the registration procedure, which now isn't just focused on the speed of the sign-up, but requires a more complete registration and this has levelled the playing field a bit more as well.

Winston Curtis: That's good to hear. Now let's have a look at the tournament. It is basically a U21 tournament and is widely seen as a World Cup for this age group. What was Tikariot's approach concerning the nomination process?

Desideria Caravaggio: Well, we actually didn't just go with the age, because otherwise there would have been a few senior team regulars that would have been nominated, but we wanted to give young players that have not yet been playing internationally a chance to gain this valuable experience.

Winston Curtis: But wouldn't nominating the overall best players increase the chances for success?

Desideria Caravaggio: Yes, they likely would, but as I said, we came to the conclusion that the international experience would be at least as important.

Winston Curtis: This seems counterproductive, though, wouldn't you normally enter a competition with the intention to win?

Desideria Caravaggio: (laughs) Yes, of course, and we still feel that we have a chance to win the cup. Pierica and her team spent a lot of time scouting the players and we have full trust in her decision. She would not have nominated these fine players if she was not convinced that they have what it takes.

Winston Curtis: Looking at the squad, there are quite a few 17- and 18-year-olds, what is your view on the lack of experience, as many of them have barely played any TPL experience, if any at all?

Desideria Caravaggio: This is a problem that most teams are going to have, it's just within the nature of the tournament.

Winston Curtis: Hank Stevenson, Samuel Arncross, Daniel Sankalin and Ixtlilxochitl are all starters in their teams. Are they looked at to be leaders for the team?

Desideria Caravaggio: In a way, yes, but I have seen the team together during their training camp and they have really managed to build up some good bonds and cohesion.

Winston Curtis: The draw has pitted Tikariot with Poafmersia, Mytania and Ile de Richelieu, and is quite widely regarded as one of the most difficult groups. How big would you see the chances of advancing?

Desideria Caravaggio: Winston, there is no easy group in this tournament and if you look at many of the last tournaments, almost any group that had Tikariot in it has been labelled as "group of death" or a tough group in general. But I think that we have a pretty good chance, but it will be tough. I still think that we will advance as second behind Mytanija.

Winston Curtis: What is the reasoning behind putting Mytanija in first?

Desideria Caravaggio: They have an outstanding youth system that they have put a big focus on. It's a constant ebb and flow and they definitely are riding a high and have been for a while. Just look at the TPL, we have some of their young talents in our league as well. But we will approach every game with the same kind of focus and take it one game at a time.

Winston Curtis: Thank you Desideria, if you at home want to follow the DBC, you can stay right here as we will be going to Valanora right after this show for Tikariot's first game against Poafmersia.

by **Qasden** » Sun Jan 22, 2023 8:33 pm

Starblaydians Be Damned: The SupernoVans are Here to Throttle
By Johnasson St.Swallomoi
Alright, let's get one thing straight before we start keeling in our peels here. This UnderVans squad is gonna make waves so large, they'll turn Audioslavia back into an island. This is a crew more ambitious than any other band of whiny debt-havers we've ever had, and before you know it, they'll be gone just as quickly because they're biologically incapable of handling all that clout.

We'll have to admit, historical trends in a tournament so down bad for Di Bradini indicate an eternal virginity for a title-starved demographic. Of the 4 knockout appearances Qasden has made in the tournament, none of them were able to break past the quarter-finals. Hell, last time the UnderVans so much as graced the quarters themselves was DBC 40, a staggering 14 generations of wannabe legends ago. With such a limp legacy behind them, why should we care about these hairball offshoots, anyhow? To put it simply...contracts, lots of contracts. More than half of the 24-strong are already signed with clubs abroad: scaling from the insurmountable Kirkenes FC of Kelssek to the questionable query of Baker Park's Mansfield County SC. These meowers got moxie, and dangling in front of them is the best mouse money can buy: the opportunity to play for the WC93 National Qualifying Team. Some of these fractionally-fully developed folks were able to get a taste of the real deal at the recent AOCAF 68, with Ronin Otero and Carl K. Umstroke getting to dance the pitch with such iconic names as...Vance Justice and...uh...Robby O'Stalingra—y'know what, we'll get back to you on that front. Regardless, we have a battle hardened battalion keen on killing defenses from across the figuratively global multiverse. Osmer Kerrison, the longtime bridesmaid of lower-level football, is the man most understanding of the signature offensive style of gameplay our country has become accustomed to. We're able to do so much damage with such a level of aggressive tactics; so why, in all moments in time, would Kerrison decree for a focus on defense?!

The UnderVans, with all their flash and flare, are going total blue-ball for fans of full-on goal fests. The Captaincy, typically honored to a midfielder, is instead being bestowed upon former third-string goalkeeper, Tessanne Warsong. The Sterling Heights netsetter, while once having to wallow in the shadows the spotlights Meghan Maurie-Cane and Gaunting Norwood, has been shown to be a bit more responsible on the clubside of things, having only allowed 27 goals in this last season, a Bronze Glove if Cassadaiguan Soccer League offered Bronze Gloves. Warsong was found to be a tremendous addition to an elsewise lackluster team, a perfect fit for a national role only contested otherwise by a somewhat underrated Olivia Waverly-Wolff. Tessanne finds herself wrapped in a defense of steel gallium, a grouping of QAFAcademy prodigies, most of whom haven't been able to find reputable work until recently (Umstroke in Perce Town, precisely). Vega Neptune and Fatime Desiree were mainstays in former competitions, albeit insignificant ones. Destin Harmonica, rumored to play in Vilita and Turori (though with no formal confirmation by their FAs), serves as the Vice Captain to the real Vice Captain: Alice Sauvage, who we can legitimately confirm is playing abroad. The Mazinaw Vanorian midfielder forms a troika of Kelssek Super-not-Stars meddling in the lower top table for the past who knows how long, being joined by Passerine's Ronin Otero and FC Novonaya's Lor Starcutter, who made that connection irrelevant after getting signed to the relatively great team, Kirkenes FC. The domestic rivals are coalesced into a shotgun midfield mesh with one another, whether they like it or not. To keep some diversity in there, however, we did add a token Athearan to the mix, that being Real Nova's Ellienne Paumontaro, a prospect that, in recent times, has noticeably fallen off the radar. If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't be able to transition to the forwards of this freight train waiting to wreck, the helm of a discouraged attack being Hornchurch's Lacey Lane and Pale City's Devin Ruby. The former's become more of a glossover in the National rosters, but her ambitions and lack of true competition at her age keeps her Silver League status at a near untouchable state in the U21s.

With those two, we reach our next big question: who we messin' with and who we gonna get messed with? For starts, Marlene has graced us with a group of cheap travel costs, the UVans placed in a Group F based in somewhat close establishments based in Longview and Goldsan, Valanora. The two stadia, while pretty, are unfortunately packed with poised prospects from some of the multiverse's best. From hotshot newcomers, Elmyia, to always familiar Xanneria, our first range of foes will kick off at the Angelotic Temple against Warsong's own employers: Cassadaigua. The pink and very dark gray are a given in a tourney like this, being recognized as one of the best all-female associations to come out of the infinite primordial soup mix packet. Much of their starting talent comes from the local league's cream of the crop, most notably with Tessanne's counterpart, Meghan Lewis of the championed Starksville United. Indeed, Cassadaigua is looking to run up Valanora's top tournament based of a Starblaydi from eons ago, but the opening setup for both sides will be key points in determining their trajectories, both on the pitch and in the transfer windows. Can Qasden's not-quite-golden-but-maybe-like-an-Iridium Generation suit themselves up for the better against the group's top puppy? Will the Rushmori powerhouses prevent Kerrison's plans of a strong defense from becoming a reality? Stay tuned, stay updated, and stay alert for future calls on this adventure's return, right here at the 54th Di Bradini Cup!

by **Pasarga** » Sun Jan 22, 2023 9:47 pm

The national team setup for Pasarga is suffering a bit of a crisis of faith, having first failed to qualify for the World Cup (despite one of the best qualifying records), followed then by a very poor account of themselves in the Cup of Harmony and the Copa Rushmori, and finally a failure for the young players to give much hope after failing to impress in the Campeonato Juvenil Rushmori. The mood surrounding the national team is one that looks bleak and the fans themselves also do not seem to have that same usually faith that has been seemingly ever present within the squad's supporters since their first entry into international competition just under a century ago. Coming into this tournament in the Eternal Empire in such poor spirits is likely not going to make getting a favorable outcome all that much better, especially considering the quality of competition that the Young Wanderers have found themselves drawn against. Drawn into Group E, where the team will be located in Sabine and Caddonia with the venues selected as the Sabinal Stadium and River City Stadium, the side will face off against Ko-oren, Darmen, and Tumbra's youth teams.

To further complicate matters, it is a particularly barren generation of players that Jürgen Eisenhower, a former national team player himself, has to try and work with. It is rumored that the manager was having a difficult time finding enough eligible players to even field a team at this tournament and had to make some phone calls to try and find players who had Pasargan nationality outside of the dual islands. This is reportedly the case for Bogdan Laszlo, whom the manager claims to have found will playing a management video game and managing in Audioslavia, with Eisenhower finding the attacking midfielder slash striker and going to watch him in person. If this is true, it does paint something of a dire picture for not just the youth team but the senior national team in the coming years, especially with the aforementioned poor run of form that the senior team has been experiencing for over the last two years of competition. However we have seen time and time again that nations with a small population be able to compete at the highest of levels and even be among title contenders in tournaments.

Yet hope must endure on for the Young Wanderers and the senior team alike and so the team will press on here in the Eternal Empire and do their best to try and advance out of a tricky group. This may become a case of where diamonds are forged from the intense pressure that is pushed upon them from outside forces, where one or many different players will rise to the occasion and see this team perform better than what looks to be a fairly average group on the surface. Perhaps one of the few boons on the side is that most of the players on the team seem well suited to playing in multiple positions and it allows the manager more flexibility when it comes to tactics and the approach to the game. The Young Wanderers are not a team that are going to open themselves up freely for a free flowing attack, though nor are they going to completely hunker down and try to withstand the attacks of more attacking minded opposition. A good Wanderers squad, be it at the youth or senior level, is built from the foundations of a solid midfield, so expect the Wanderers to attempt to dominate possession and the pace of the game when and where they are able to. This is where one of the few potential stars can shine, with Áron Gombos from CA Paulinthal, one of the few holdovers from the last tournament and players who have seen meaningful matches with their club's first team.

by **Independent Athletes from Quebec** » Sun Jan 22, 2023 9:56 pm

OOC: ICly the DBC happens mid-WCQ-92, with the latest season being the one that had just required IFCF submission for December. So in this aspect we are speaking from retrospective - ICly the writer would not have known if the Grim Reapers were going to make a dramatic comeback to qualify for the World Cup on the second half of it all!

DBC MD1 Preview: Leading up to the match, and the Group B opponents

Hello all! The odd-numbered year's summer means that it's time for another Di Bradini Cup, as thirty-two nations from all across the Multiverse enter the prestigious Under-21 World Cup that has been running for the 75th time, with 54th time under the current Di Bradini Cup named in honour of the late Starblaydi legend. The Grim Reapers enter the legendary, highly-coveted competition for the first time in six years, after which the intra-organisational dispute within the RQFA ranks and extraordinary circumstances have caused the tournament's fifty-fourth edition to be postponed until midway into the World Cup 92 cycle.

Traditionally the Quebecois have not exactly been known for their performance on the Di Bradini Cup or its younger equivalent of the Under-18 World Cup. Normally the RQFA, unlike many other federations of comparable statures in the mid-upper tier of footballing names nowadays, drive themselves around the competition, preferring to use the age-side competition to check up on the calibre of young prospects who come up from the clubs' depth charts, many of them who do end up being called up at the senior level the following cycle. They are also used to experiment various tactics that start with a 4-2-3-1 base, as with the national team, but often expand into a wide range of situational plays.

With that said the Grim Reapers' inconsistent, troubling pattern so far in the first half of the World Cup qualifying campaign, contrasting with the excitement over an outstanding performance by the Quebecois clubs in the IFCF tournaments, once again necessiated the search for the next generation of Quebecois talent to come up, and the RQFA, with the opportunity come knocking, was quick enough to return to the competition. Now, with the historic agreement made between the RQFA and the Quebecois Intercollegiate Sports (QIS) to allow call-ups of collegiate players for the Under-21 team for the first time, this new team has a lot to stand for, hopefully to prove and to make it into the deeper stretches of the tournament.

As for the tournament itself, the Grim Reapers are drawn into a strong Group B in Haramos Park, Hellgate, with teams not exactly familiar to the Quebecois faithful for a consistent rivalry, but more for past encounters that have gone between them. For example, it was over forty years ago when the Grim Reapers had faced off against Bears Armed on a heated playoff draw that finished 3-3 on aggregate, with the Grim Reapers advancing on the virtue of away goals scored. Since then the Ursines have taken significant time away from the international tournament, not making their way back to the World Cup or the junior-level competition until recently, but they have performed well. With the Grim Reapers expected to be either heavily excited or deflated after their first match against HUElavia, the focus for the Grim Reapers' players will have to be on staying alert and able to secure as many points as possible.

While Quebecois footballing history with HUElavia, their first opponent on the group stage, is not as distinct, with no World Cup level encounter, but there's a major intersection between the two with Leonardo Conavacio, legendary Grim Reapers' striker best remembered for scoring the penalty that propelled the Quebecois to the World Cup 77 semifinals, serving as the HUElavia national team's manager. While Conavacio, who had already achieved varying degrees of success with Haligonian and Eterna Stars, had failed to bring HUElavia back to the World Cup stage, he had nonetheless set the team up for a good path, walking off on a high note with the first ever IAC title won in the homesoil as well. So there's already that connection between the two nations.

As for Cabo Azure, there's lot more to speak about. The Rushmori islandstate, which have most recently made the name for themselves with an outstanding Copa Rushmori performance and a qualification play-off appearance where they had come short against Vilita, is no slouch, and already features eight players, including Kingston FC's Miguel Gontijo, plying their trades abroad. It is also a side that has recently drawn some attention in the Quebecois media for two reasons - Pio 'Mago Magico' Mendonca's transfer saga that saw the party-loving striker move to CSKA Quebec for obvious reasons, but more importantly the selection of M'bah-Pinho brothers.

The Quebecois brothers of Azurean extraction, who grew up in Levis, an industrial city of 500,000 just south of Joongyeong, have made their names known with Tobias breaking out as a centreback for Baie-Verte before his midseason transfer to St. John's Arsenal, while Oberon, who was signed to Kingston FC academy on a scholarship five years, scored 21 goals on the rookie season for the Reds. The brothers' international future remains largely up in the air with Tobias remaining uncommitted to either of his nations, while 17-year-old Oberon's one of the first names requested by Eric Varsteeg, their newly-appointed Under-18 and Under-21 national team manager, to represent the Tricolour Taegeuk. While the positives could be found with the RQFA securing Oberon's services, especially after allowing the likes of Abel Wesoloski-Okafor and Hendrix Cha to Banija and Cardenao, Tobias's lack of commitment to the national team raises questions for the Quebecois, whose depth on the centreback remains a challenge.

The matchups presented by the three teams, whose penchant for up-tempo style of play that is closer to us than that of our regional rival Ko-oren or more competitive one in Mytanija, suggest that the challenge will be placed upon the Under-21s, who are often more familiar to the defensive tempo of the Q-League that runs counter to the national team, on putting damage control to their respective chances. In the senior level the Grim Reapers have not exactly done that, and strong backline depth can only do so well with a formidable goalkeeper, something that this Team Quebec lacks in terms of potential. Age-side tournaments are often remembered for being particularly volatile in nature, however, and we would only find out the exact nature of their post-competition verdict...until after the final whistle had blown for them. Whether it will be within 3 games or more remains to be seen.

by **Valanora** » Sun Jan 22, 2023 10:26 pm

Matchday 1

Group A
Valanora 2–1 Khantari
Huayramarca 3–2 Sylestone

Group B
Quebec 3–0 HUElavia
Bears Armed 1–1 Cabo Azure

Group C
Lisander 2–2 Savojarna
Koronavia 0–0 Abanhfleft

Group D
Chromatika 4–4 Ceni
TJUN-ia 5–2 Baker Park

Group E
Ko-oren 3–4 Darmen
Tumbra 2–2 Pasarga

Group F
Cassadaigua 0–0 Qasden
Xanneria 2–2 Elmyia

Group G
Poafmersia 2–1 Tikariot
Mytanija 1–0 Île de Richelieu

Group H
Melbergia 0–0 Cardenao
Valladares 3–1 Græntfjall

by **Khantari** » Sun Jan 22, 2023 10:48 pm

Cassaholm Academy Compound once became the choice of Inverster FC
by Loc Sanderham

Stevencousin - Cassaholm Academy Compound, Cassaholm was selected as Khantari Super League champion, Inverster FC's training center throughout the pre-season campaign. This area is located 30 minutes from Cassaholm Airport & was built in 2010. The Cassaholm Academy Compound is actually a special stadium for football but can also be used for other sports. This world-class multipurpose training center has:

1 rugby fields
3 football fields
2 cricket pitches
2 netball courts
4 tennis courts
1 basketball court

All of these are equipped with dressing rooms and floodlights for the comfort of the team. Inverster FC kicked off their friendly match against Stevencousin League Champions, Meldrum Fall yesterday, and this match took place in the main stadium which can accommodate 50,000 supporters. Apart from that, Inverster FC has also seen training on one of the fields located outside the main stadium. Many teams choose The Cassaholm Academy Compound as a training center especially the northern Zecrarth football club during the winter holidays. Before Inverster FC, other top squads also spent time training at the same facility. In fact, Inverster FC is scheduled to meet two clubs from Stevencousin starting today in a friendly match to test the compatibility of the players and the strength of the team. Citing sources from fotbul.com, it is understood that the team that is their opponent is two clubs from the Stevencousin Super League namely Meldrum Fall and Holmdock Highlander, and one club from the Anjung Batu League, Pejabat President FC. Coincidentally, the club chose Stevencousin as their pre-season destination and the opportunity was used by Inverster FC to arrange friendly matches against stronger opponents while assessing the performance of the players.

The Fifty-fourth Di Bradini Cup::: Match

Venues ::: The Battleground & Turmondale Grounds

Group A:: MD1 - Valanora vs. Khantari [2-1] - Gus Inkloser min. 71
Group A:: MD2 - Khantari vs. Sylestone
Group A:: MD3 - Huayramarca vs. Khantari

by **Koronavia** » Mon Jan 23, 2023 12:18 am

Koronavia Sport Network

Bitter-sweet result for Koronavia against Abanhfleft as a weird group forms again

It is a goalless draw for Koronavia against Abanhfleft as many expected for the debuting side to be swiftly defeated. However, as it turned out, the new squad was pretty good at passing the ball amongst each other and not letting the more experienced side get the ball a lot.

Admittably, and also slightly regrettably, this new defensive style makes for some of the most boring and Ko-orenite football, but it seems to be working, as the rookie side managed to hold Abanhfleft to nothing but a single point and no goals. It was, however, almost the surprise result of the group when Koronavian striker Ludwig Neugebauer ran away with the ball after an opportunity opened when the Abanhfleft midfield almost fell asleep, and scored a goal that was unfortunately immediately caught offside. Abanhfleft also had some chances when the Koronavian side couldn't quite park its bus right, but it was either misses or some promising goalkeeping from the 18 year old Thorsten Niedenthal.

In the other match of Group C, Lisander and Savojarna made an incredibly exciting match in contrast to Koronavia and Abanhfleft's encounter, getting a 2-2 draw. This draws all teams to a single point, which makes for an interesting setup to matchday 2, in which Koronavia goes against Lisander. Could they put up the same performance which will be able to put the worst cases of insomnia to sleep, will it fall in painful defeat (as usual) or will it pull off a miracle to win? The only way to find out is watch.

by **Ile de Richelieu** » Mon Jan 23, 2023 1:53 am

Île de Richelieu lost their DiBradini Cup game opener

Char Sara, Valanora - On the first matchday of the under 21 tournament called « Di Bradini Cup », île de Richelieu faced a nation named Mytanija and lost 1-0. Mytanija took an early lead at the 2nd minute when Tadej Roskar scored a header goal on a corner kick by Muharem Hajdarpasic. It was the only goal of the game. The Cardinals were welcomed in the tournament by a team making lots of rough tackles and dirty plays. Île de Richelieu answered with some dirty plays too. Mytanars received 6 yellow cards and a red card in the game while Richelois had 5 yellow cards and one red card. At the 81st minute, Tadej Roskar was dribbling with the ball when Pierre-Alexandre Sorensen tackled him pretty hard outside the penalty area. Ajdin Mujezinovic wasn't pleased with the tackle and headbutted Sorensen and we saw a small altercation involving most players on the field. Both Sorensen and Mujezinovic recieved a red card and won't play on matchday 2. Tadej Roskar only had a small bruise and will be ok for matchday 2. The final score was 1-0 and Île de Richelieu will play against Tikariot on matchday 2. Francis Boudreau will replace Sorensen in the starting XI. Outside the stadium, 3 Richelois fans were attacked by 6 or 7 Mytanar fans and have been taken to Char Sara University's hospital while the Mytanars are in police custody.

Players to watch

Île de Richelieu is a relatively weak team with weak attackers, midfielders and goalkeepers. Only the defence is decent and will try to stop opposing players before then can shoot the ball. Here is the top 5 beat U-21 players:

Mamadou Ndiaye - Right Side Defender. Ndiaye is 21 years old. It's his first and last Di Bradini Cup. He's known for his speed and making good non-dirty tackles. He's tall and very athletic and can win aerial battles. Last;y, he's also a good passer.

Astrid Kjellberg - Defensive midfielder. Kjellberg is 21 years old and is our team captain and has great leadership skills. She's one of the best passer on the team, along with Ndiaye. She anticipates the play very well, both offensively and defensively. She can make good tackles. She's more a passer than a shooter.

Vladimir Gutierrez Salazar - Central defender. Gutierrez Salazar is only 19 years old and he's actually one of the best player on the team. He's also one of the prospects with the most potential, along with 16 years old Xavier Maisonneuve-Tranchemontagne. Guitierrez Salazar is the best tackler on the team, and sometimes he can tackle a little too hard. He has a good vision anticipation, he can move well on the field and has great leadership skills.

Pierre-Alexandre Sorensen - Central defender. Sorensen is 20 years old. He's a good tackler and a good passer.

Chloé Lambert - Striker. Lambert is 20 years old. She's a good shooter and has good speed.

Anne-Élisabeth Désormeaux

by **Xanneria** » Mon Jan 23, 2023 10:33 am

A Collegiate All-Star team draws a U-21 team
SOURCE: http://www.xtrasports.xan/dibrandicup.htm

Xanneria Collegiate All Stars starting XI - GK Tadia Nolenko LB Vaslisu Juriviceus CB Jamal Akron RB Brynn Satterfield LDM Towson Cowper RDM Ruudi Punir LOM Harmony Ghilcrest ROM Archer LeBlanc LW Windy Groves RW Pete Ross ST Josh Graham

VALANORA - The Xannerian U-21 adventure started off in earnest yesterday as Xanneria's "College All-Star" team played off against the Under 21s of Elmyia, a team that has all the potential to be a football power in the upcoming cycles. Xanneria had entered a handful of U-21s before hand but the issues mainly arose with the leagues lack of academy players, making roster construction somewhat of a crapshoot. But for the 75th Under 21 World Cup / DiBrandi Cup Xanneria's governing football body (FAX) has teamed up with the governing body of college sports in Xanneria (AICS) to form a U-21 squad. the AICS or Association of InterCollegiate Sports is the main governing body for college and university sponsored sports. The AICS has two separate divisions, One for schools that offer scholarships called Division A and a second for non-schalorship sports called Division B. Division A is usually the one most people associate with Xanneria's college sports scene and is the one where all 26 players on the roster come from.

The roster was compromised of 26 players. 11 of them from the men's all-star team, 11 from the women's all-star team and four selected by the coaches, who were players considered as their toughest opponents. The rosters are expected to be constantly changing as to also give each player a chance to shine for the scouts of other leagues who may happen to be watching the games.

The game versus Elmyia was played at Miner's Haven, a fairly mundane 36,000 seater in Goldsan. Weather was a fine cloudless day and fans in maroon and blue packed the stands on each side, with each fanbase adoirning their side of the stadium with, crowd pleasing large flags of their home nation to wave. A22 minutes in, the first goal would happen. Sam Depel got the ball on a breakaway with only Tadia Nolenko and Jamal Akron to stop him, both Xannerians overcommited to defending Depel and he passed it to Laura Wittingham. Nolenko did her best to get herself back in position to defend the shot but it was to late and Wittingham scored!

The Xannerian team counter at minute 31! A corner kick saw a header by Harmony Ghilcrest just barely get by Goalkeeper Eirini Knight. It was a close one as Knight had gotten his/her paws on the ball right at the line and for a few nervous ticks of the clock the fans held breath to see if it was a goal and then the buzzer went off on the refs watch and goal Xanneria! Minute 37 saw the Maroons U-21 team go up 2-1 when Josh Graham scored on a Penelty kick. Those three goals looked to be the final score at first as the next 40 minutes went by with out anything of note going on for the Maroons, but then in minute 80 a hero was born for the Elmyian team when Will Cork, a sub who had just been subbed in five minutes prior, had his time in the Valanora sun. The Center Mid got by the Maroons defense and Cork sent a screamer by Nolenko from just outside the goal area. This would lead to the game being tied. 1 point for each team, not as good as three points but not as bad as 0 points.

XANNERIA - 2
Ghilcrest 31'
Graham 37' (PK)

ELMYIA - 2
Wittingham 22'
Cork 80'

by **Graintfjall** » Mon Jan 23, 2023 10:49 am

Valladares 3–1 Græntfjall
Goals: Reis 39’ (pen.), 84’, Castro 74’; Bjarnfinnur 80’

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Di Bradini Cup 54/U21WC75 RP And Scores Thread

Di Bradini Cup 54/U21WC75 RP And Scores Thread

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