Di Bradini Cup 57/U21WC78 RP And Scores Thread

by **Valanora** » Thu Mar 07, 2024 7:16 am

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-Seventh Di Bradini Cup
a.k.a
The 78th Under-21 World Cup

The Valanora Footballing Association proudly presents the fifty-seventh edition of the Di Bradini Cup, the twenty-fifth edition to be held within Valanora. Recognized as direct successor to the original Under-21 World Cup run by Total n Utter Insanity, this is also the 78th 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 57th Di Bradini Cup, a.k.a. The 78th Under-21 World Cup!

Helpful Di Bradini Cup/U21 World Cup Links
Guide to Sports Roleplaying || General Sports Roleplaying Questions || OOC Discussion Thread || DBC 57 Signup/Roster Thread || Previous Edition

Format
We have 32 teams! Ergo, it'll look like a senior World Cup- 8 groups of 4. Single round robin, top 2 in each group move onto the Round of 16. From there, the tournament is single knockout. All games will take place in Valanora.

Groups
Group A
Valanora
Carpathia and Ruthenia
Baker Park
Lisander

Venues: The Battleground, Turmondale Grounds

Group B
Polar Islandstates
Quebec and Shingoryeo
Farfadillis
Devonta

Venues: Artani, Donna Cathedral

Group C
Aphrilia
The Kytler Peninsulae
TJUN-ia
Cabo Azure

Venues: Haramos Park, Hellgate

Group D
Yuezhou
Semarland
Cardenao
Saint-Jean-Jacques et Burnham-on-Stove

Venues: Lathal, The Pitch

Group E
Tumbra
Vdara
Abanhfleft
Conania

Venues: Sabinal Stadium, River City Stadium

Group F
Zenic
Squornshelan Remnant States
Vyktoria
Saterun

Venues: Angelotic Temple, Miner's Haven

Group G
Crpostran
Sylestone
Siovanija & Teusland
Bears Armed

Venues: Metropolis, The Tar Pit

Group H
The 14 Stars
Tikariot
Huayramarca
VonHoolia

Venues: Raynor Memorial, Duran Palace

Calendar
Group Stage Dates & Matchday Schedule
CUTOFF TIMES: 1 PM- 3 PM EDT.
Matchday 1- Sunday, Mar 10th. Matchups: 1v4, 2v3.
Matchday 2- Tuesday, Mar 12th. Matchups: 4v3, 1v2.
Matchday 3- Thursday, Mar 14th. Matchups: 2v4, 3v1.
Knockout Stage Schedule
Round of 16- Saturday, Mar 16th. Matchups: A1vD2, B1vC2, C1vB1, D1vA2, E1vH2, F1vG2, G1vF2, H1vE2
Quarterfinals- Monday, Mar 18th. Matchups: R1vR2, R3vR4, R5vR6, R7vR8
Semifinals- Wednesday, Mar 20th. Matchups: Q1vQ2, Q3vQ4
3PPO/Final- Friday, Mar 22nd.

Group Stage Tiebreakers
1) Overall Goal Differential
2) H-2-H
3) Coin Toss(aka RP bonus only scored match between the two teams)

RP Permissions
Please post this either with your roster or your first RP with a yes or a no(with any qualifiers) for each question. These are all permissions to help facilitate an acceptable RP to you if somebody else RPs your match first, and vice versa.

Code: Select all: [u]RP Permissions[/u] [b]Choose my scorers:[/b] [b]Choose my scoring events:[/b] [b]Godmod scoring events:[/b] [b]RP injuries to my players:[/b] [b]Godmod Injuries to my players:[/b] [b]Give Yellow Cards to my players:[/b] [b]Give Red Cards to my players[/b]: [b]Godmod other events:[/b]

As a side note, please do not reserve posts. Only the host nations may reserve posts, and only for their basic IC information- everyone else is encouraged to use the draft feature on the boards if they must come back to their post later.

May the games begin!

by **Valanora** » Thu Mar 07, 2024 7:19 am

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 **Polar Islandstates** » Thu Mar 07, 2024 4:11 pm

OOC: Yes, stil finishing off this much delayed introduction I'm afraid. Tournament specific RP to follow.

SOUR CHERRIES
Chapter 6
Pep Talk
Volume One
Bjarnarey - Jasmine - Stina - Federico, pt1 - Federico, pt2 - Lightbulbs and Headlines - Jos - Pep Talk
** ** ** ** **

“What did you mean by ‘us’?” asked Alexsandr, looking at Jasmine.

“Mm?” asked Jasmine, being dragged somewhat unwillingly out of the reflective period of consideration she’d just entered into.

“Just now, when you were talking to Jos about any trapdoors he may or may not put in to the system he may or may not be about to be asked to make.”

“What about it?”

“You said ‘us’. ‘What about us’. Who is the ‘us’ in that sentence?” pressed Alexsandr, fearing that events were about to overtake him.

“Well, the four of us, of course. Five, now, I suppose,” she added, nodding at Jos.

“Are we an ‘us’?”

“Alexsandr, I know you didn’t start this, not really. None of us did. But, well; look at us. We’re all here, and we all share the same ambitions for our country. We reject the powers in charge. We reject this future totally.”

“I’m sure plenty of people do, but if they can’t do anything about it I’m not sure what you expect five strangers to achieve,” whispered Alexsandr, conscious of who may have still been around them in the café. After all, four people had so far joined in on his previously private table already.

“Sure, but what do they all lack?”

“Sorry?”

“Think about these groups that I’ve been investigating and trying to find out more about. What do they all lack? The reason I’m here in Bjarnarey in the first place was to give them a voice.”

“Okay, with you so far. And so, this ‘us’, is...”

“Us. We’re that voice. We can provide the unity they lack. Ironically, the one thing that The Party is shoving down the throats of the people is the one thing that all these dissenting voices are missing: unity. The poor, mislead, consenting, blinded population have all been told that what this nation needs to keep us all safe from a perceived Sargossan threat is unity, and they’ve voted for The Party with that in mind for decades. And they’re about to vote away their rights forever in order to keep seeking that safety. But at what cost? It just so happens however that that unity is exactly what we need to topple th-“

“Woah, topple?!” interrupted Alexsandr, a little louder than he meant to.

“Sure! You can’t tell me that that isn’t what you’ve been working towards? Showing your face in public again, saying not-quite-the-wrong things. Trying to poke your nose in places here and there...?”

Alexsandr looked at Jasmine’s face and pondered. He’d never really thought too hard about the end-goal of what he was doing. He wanted more freedom; sure. He hated what The Party were doing; definitely. He wanted a better future for his country; absolutely. He flat out despised Orion Lund; almost certainly. But, the word ‘topple’ had seemed to cross a threshold in his mind. Whilst he was working on his little schemes and secret texts with Sebastian, he guessed it had all felt a long way away. Easy to chip away at an impossibly big wall and say you tried, without ever having to actually expend too much effort. A token attempt to topple a wannabe dictator. But now he’d been taken off-leash. Jasmine was offering him a ladder up and over the wall, or a battering ram to go straight through it – it wasn’t entirely clear which yet – and he felt himself losing his nerve a little. There were big dogs on the other side of that wall, after all.

“I mean...”

“C’mon, Alexsandr.”

“I guess I just thought we could, y’know, squeeze the edges back out again.”

“Except I’ve seen this happen throughout my career in cases abroad,” pressed Jasmine, nodding respectfully in Jos’ direction, “there is no ‘squeezing the edges back out’. Not with people like Lund. There’s only one logical conclusion to achieving what you’ve started tentatively doing, and that’s the ‘r word’. However we go about it.”

“And that’s... up to us?” asked Federico, chiming in.

“Why not?” asked Jasmine, flatly.

Federico and Alexsandr shared a look.

“What we need is unity,” continued Jasmine, “each individual voice is scared of speaking out, into the darkness; a darkness where you never know who is listening. But if we can give them someone to talk to, or even just know they’re not the only group talking, I think we can achieve something.”

“You think we can start a rev-... an ‘r word’?” asked Stina, curious.

“Of course. Look at us. We all can have a part to play, without ever actually looking like we’re doing all that much. Not really. Not suspiciously. I’ve covered these situations before, and we have the makings of what you need to succeed and make a regime change stick.”

“Such as?”

“Well, for a start, you need a regional situation that won’t really care what we do within our own borders. The Party are hardly best buddies with anyone after three decades of closed borders, so; tick. We’ve got mass frustration in significant clusters of society, and those that aren’t frustrated yet soon will be when they realise what this vote actually means for them, so; double tick. We’ve got a pending economic crisis if what Jos has heard is to be believed – I’d like to see The Party’s message of Unity work when people in the Polar Islandstates start having to queue for bread and soup - so, treble tick...”

“But what about us?” interrupted Alexsandr.

“If we want to start something, we can,” said Jasmine again, attempting to convince the assembled figures of her point by moving round the table in turn, “maybe we won’t finish the job ourselves, but we can provide that unifying figurehead that kicks things off. I can use my contacts to find and put these groups of disgruntled people in touch with each other. I’m a recognisable face. People will trust me. Alexsandr; you’re a god damn hero to the people, you could be the next president if you were ten years younger. The people will do whatever you asked them to. Federico; you can dispel anything anyone says about East Külmsaar that doesn’t ring true to you, and besides which, you’re about to be the national team manager! They’ll love you, after Iosef you will have more or less a free rein with the people for a long time. Stina; you are key to this. You’re in daily contact with fed-up and dissident elites, no? The business managers, the owners, the economic drivers of this country. They won’t want to see their wealth slip away if they think The Party can no longer work in their favour. They can provide plenty of pressure when the time comes. And Jos; oh my, you bring so much to the table...”

“Except that Tuskol-“ started Jos, before Jasmine held her hand up to silence him.

“...except that it’s all pending for now, understood,” she conceded, “but that doesn’t ruin my point. Fate, or whatever, has brought us here, together. I think we’d be idiots to waste that.”

The four of them looked at each other. They had to concede, Jasmine had been very persuasive. It wasn’t quite an election-winning speech, but, it had been a while since any of them had heard anyone say out loud that things should, no, could be different. Not just in terms of wishing life away, but in an achievable and tangible way. Maybe they really could oust The Party, before it was too late.

“So, then what are you suggesting?” asked Alexsandr, feeling a little like he was being talked into what his subconscious had been trying to talk him into for months. A liminal gate had been moved through, his perception forever changed for the journey.

“That we start a movement. Right here, right now.” Said Jasmine, thumping her hand on the table and attracting rather more stares than intended. “Although we do still need to fill some gaps in our knowledge base still, so maybe we should resolve to see if we can do that, first.”

“Such as?” asked Stina.

“Well, we’d need a military expert for a start.”

“A mil-”

“Calm down, calm down,” cooled Jasmine, “I’m not suggesting we march on the Ensign Tower. I just meant someone with knowledge of how the military itself works. If it looks like enough of the navy are locked in step with The Party no matter what then we’re dead in water before we even have the chance to be dead in the water.”

There were a few more nervous glances at that last comment.

“I’m not talking civil war here, of course, I just think we need to know how many units will choose not to act if The Party asks them to. That’s all it it takes. Enough units to refuse to do what they're told and mutiny. Then of course,” continued the former television journalist, “we’ve got to get knowledge from inside the police force, for similar reasons, and I’d like to know more about what’s going on inside the OO, too.”

“Well that’ll be near impossible,” scoffed Federico, overcompensating somewhat.

“Not necessarily,” countered Jasmine casually, “spies and officers like that need to have a certain lack of empathy to be able to turn in people that trust them, or even people that they themselves care about. There will be plenty of zealots, sure, but do yout really think they’re all going to hold their employers in such high esteem that there won’t be any turncoats? Nah, there are plenty that will be in the OO for their own benefit only. We just need to find one. And then of course, we need some strategy.”

“Strategy?”

“Sure. We’ve got the symbols, now we need the strategy. Alexsandr, Federico and I are well-known enough to provide faces that the people can rally round – although, Federico, I guess in your case it’ll need to be a bit less explosive – but we don’t actually have someone who can plan how we actually go about this.”

“I thought... I thought that’s what you were doing now?” queried Alexsandr.

“Well, in a way, but I’ve never actually run a revol-, an ‘r word’ on the ground, have I? Only observed them. Jos?” she added, looking at the man from Ruland.

“Well...” he answered, screwing up his face and shaking it from side to side slightly.

“Exactly. So we need someone who’s going to get their hands dirty. Someone who can do the illegal legwork whilst we stay clean and say the ‘right’ things at the ‘right’ times. A grass-roots politician or activist or something. Come to think of it, I wouldn’t mind an actual politician getting involved,” added Jasmine, setting her face in a determined way, “that would give what we were talking about some legitimacy. Alexsandr and I are well known, but we’re not actually politicians. Someone to look to as a ‘future’, any future, would help enormously.”

“So, how do we get all those? That so-“ started Federico, before he was interrupted by the doors to the café flying open with a crash so violent it seemed to sever him from the rest of his sentence, the words just hanging in the air.

A figure stood there, half-silhouetted in a shabby pea coat, assuaging Alexsandr’s immediate fears that this was an OO raid, and then strode purposefully over to the café counter, smiling as he went.

“I don’t believe it,” smiled Jasmine, “of all the people...”

“Why, who is it?” whispered Federico, twisting mid-lunge, unable to see the man’s face from his seat.

“A future.”

** ** ** ** **
Bjarnarey - Jasmine - Stina - Federico, pt1 - Federico, pt2 - Lightbulbs and Headlines - Jos – Pep Talk
Volume One

by **Tumbra** » Fri Mar 08, 2024 11:56 am

"My own coaching staff? Yes, but after this Cup," says Branting in run-up to Di Bradini Cup

BEXAR — In the run-up to the Under-21 World Cup, more commonly known as the Di Bradini Cup, Tumbran national team manager Thomas Branting took questions ahead of the Junior Eagles' first game against Conania. While discussing the possibility of Branting getting his own, dedicated coaching staff, Branting, the former manager of third-tier side Pomeroy Mountaineers, responded that while it would be "nice" to have a dedicated coaching team, Tumbra's participation in the Cup as a whole was a "rather uncertain thing until the last minute," meaning that it was difficult to get changes to Branting's coaching staff. "It is nice to be able to deploy the entire firepower of the national team's squad on this Cup, even if I personally enjoy working with a smaller staff," he said to laughter. "What I can, and will say, however, is that Tumbra is committed to participating in international football for the medium to long-term." Prior to World Cup 95, there were rumblings that the Tumbran Football Federation (TFF), the organisation that oversees most football in Tumbra, were considering pulling the plug on the nation's World Cup programme, and restricting its international participation to merely regional football. To test this, there were rumours that the two editions of the International Festival of Youth Football (IFYFF), a similar tournament for under-21 football, was organised to test Tumbra's hosting capacity.

"I can't comment on that rumour, surely," said Branting as he closed the press conference when asked about the IFYFF as a direct competitor to the Di Bradini Cup. "I wasn't privy to any of those conversations, and it's not my job to be involved in that. All I'm focused on is the upcoming Under-21 World Cup, which has us matched up against three very strong opponents, and we'll be hoping to bring Tumbra's first youth trophy home since that time we won the 51st edition of this tournament fourteen years ago."

Election campaign heats up as Labour leader Andrews wins first debate

STRATON — Amidst criticisms that the federal election campaign has become "almost presidential" with its focus on the leaders of the two major parties, the first federal election debate was held in Straton, the nation's capital, at the convocation hall of the Tumbran National University. The debate, the first of three planned, saw the leaders of the five major parties contesting the election — Bertram Andrews of the centre-left Labour Party, Max Young of the right-wing United Party, Michael Berkeley of the progressive and environmentalist Alliance, Johanna Browne of the centrist Moderate Party, and Justin Spearing of the far-left Social Democratic Party — come together for a ninety-minute forum during which they debated various topics. Most airtime, however, was given to Andrews and Young, with the two dominating the discussion despite there being five people on stage.

"It's absolutely ridiculous for the two of them to be monopolising the time out there like this," said boofer user @scentrononimon19 on the social media platform. "You'd think that the country is only choosing between those two. Might as well have a special debate for those two to duke it out." The sentiment was echoed by several media personalities after the debate; in response to those criticisms, the Council of Federal Election Debates, which is in charge of the organisation of these debates, released a statement in which they said that they would take into account "all perspectives" when hosting debates, and that the focus on Andrews and Young was a "natural consequence" of those two being the politicians most likely to become Prime Minister.

The debate itself saw Labour leader Andrews win both in a snap poll conducted after the debate, as well as a head-to-head poll comparing him and United leader Max Young; Andrews managed to land several hard hits on the former Georgia premier and one-time presidential candidate, saying that he was "Lawrence Newell with a smile and talking about his family," referring to the relatively unpopular incumbent conservative Prime Minister, who has taken a back-seat in this campaign. The second election debate is scheduled to take place in Fontwell in two weeks, though Alliance and Moderate Party leaders Berkeley and Browne have reportedly been "heavily reconsidering" their participation in the debates.

by **Zenic** » Fri Mar 08, 2024 7:00 pm

Debutantes and Empirical Firsts

Here in Longview, within the nation of Valanora (The Eternal Empire), the Youthful Survivors arrive to debut an all new staff and squad in the 57th edition of the prestigious Di Bradini Cup (officially the U21 World Cup). For the first time in the history of national team sports, the Empire has gone with a female head coach / manager: Consolación Regina has been tapped to lead this squad full of energetic collegiate and amateur players through their first national competition.

After the revival and rebranding of the futbol federation into the FZF, the Icon and federation president Luke Killian alongside Survivors manager Geraldo Zys held a press conference introducing Consolación Regina a few months before the International Confederations Cup and the Di Bradini Cup. There, the three of them announced that this tournament’s squad would feature all new players, confirming that the two or three players on the senior national team who were eligible to participate would sit out and rest up for the World Cup Qualifiers. The newest members of the Youthful Survivors would be made up of both collegiate players and amateur players who met the stipulations to play. And to help ensure and maintain future success for the futbol sides, Regina would be taught the intricacies of his somewhat offensive-minded 3-5-2 tactic so any players that moved up to the senior squad could do so seamlessly.

And we’ll get to see how successful this tactic is in the hands of a different manager as Zenic lands into Group F alongside Squornshelan Remnant States, Vyktoria, and Saterun. The Youthful Survivors face off against The Claws (Saterun) at the Angelotic Temple to kick off their campaign before they head off to nearby Goldsan to battle the Black-and-Reds (Squornshelan Remnant States) and The Maroon Dragons (Vyktoria) at the Miner’s Haven. This group has the potential to be a shootout on top of a shootout as every manager runs an offensive-minded strategy.

All I can guarantee is that I will be among the crowd of Zenicians who travel to support the Youthful Survivors as they battle for glory amongst the rising stars.

-- Koralia Dev

Koralia Dev is one of our newest and most enthusiastic writers at The Leinz Herald. A graduate from the prestigious New Citium University, Koralia graduated with her Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and has been working for the Herald covering foreign and international sporting events. We are excited to have her cover the Empire of Zenic’s return to sporting events, both domestic and international.

by **Valanora** » Sun Mar 10, 2024 8:32 am

Valanora Times
Spring Eternal

Thousands, perhaps millions, have began to flock to the Empire's shores as the preparations for the upcoming Di Bradini Cup are being finalized in the run up to the opening match between our own team and the one from Lisander. In what has become an established tournament over the years to be held within the Empire and recently with the youth team being reintroduced and entered into the competition, it has become something of a soft spot for many Vanorian followers of the sport and enthusiasts about youth football. This is the tournament where many future stars of both club and international football have made their big breakthroughs in the past and highlights the growing talents and prospects from across the sport who are right on the edge or even among their club's and nation's senior teams. What the Di Bradini Cup is, is the excitement and hope that comes with what might yet come to be and the thought of prospects growing into good to elite talents to lead their respective teams to the next great phase in their history, that feeling that hope springs eternal, in the Eternal Empire no less.

For the youth team of the Empire, their group will take on a very rose hue as three of the four teams in the group hail from the Arrosia region, the only team who does not is the Marauders first opponent in Lisander. Veterans of the tournament in Baker Park are on of the regional rivals that the Marauders will be vying off with, though that will be the last game in the group and the Marauders are hoping that they will have advancement out of the group secured by then so that the pressure in the match is lessened. Baker Park traditionally is a tough out in the tournament and make it into the knockout stage of the tournament, meaning that they are the early favorite to be the biggest contenders to the host team for advancement. When the two teams do meet up, there likely will be no shortage of goals between the two, as both like to get out on the front foot and try to play in a more attacking manner, which should hopefully leave some gaps for the players to exploit and provide for entertaining football, though entertainment that will hopefully also come with a result for our home squad.

Attacking philosophy is a trend among the group, with Lisander playing a near all out attack sort of style and it is going to likely put a lot of pressure on to the defense, though the defense is ironically one of the places of strength for the team as the projected three starters on the backline all are twenty and among the older players in the team. It is a group who have a lot of raw talent that needs refinement but has shown moments of brilliance on the training pitch and will hoping to be able to hold their own and allow the sides' more attacking players and creative types be able to work the space that Lisander is likely to give up with that attacking mentality. Carpathia and Ruthenia looks to be a real wild card within the group, being only recently returned from isolation after quite a long time away from the game even by Vanorian standards, and whose players are going to be quite eager to prove that their team is ready, willing, and able to contend with the rest of the region and the entire sport. They employ an unorthodox formation and one that could even give the Vanorian midfield a bit of a problem if they don't work well together but that is an issue for the second matchday. For now, the team prepares for the opening ceremony and curtain raiser in the Battleground, a stadium that will not see again unless they make the Final.

by **Siovanija and Teusland** » Sun Mar 10, 2024 10:55 am

Score!

FutureWatch

Siovanija’s Top 5 Academies: #5-2

With Siovanija & Teusland’s return to international youth football at the Di Bradini Cup, we at Score! felt it would be a great opportunity to dig further into youth football in the country - namely, the youth academies that have produced several of the players representing the young Goldhorns here in Valanora. We’ll run a top 5 list for both Siovanija and for Teusland, and let’s get started with the top 5 football youth academies in Siovanija…

#5 - Vrnovo Mesto

It’s funny how the identity of a club can be so different from the city it represents. The city of Vrnovo, located a few hundred kilometres south of mainland Siovanija as part of the Southern Isles, is renowned in Siovanija & Teusland as a top vacation destination - it’s the only place in the country that rarely sees snow, meaning that once you are bored of winter by mid-January you can hop on a flight and be on the beach in Vrnovo in just a few hours. With lots of historic cultural buildings, as well as nationally famous restaurants and nightlife, Vrnovo is the ‘city of fun’ for all of Siovanija and Teusland, and its residents famous for a laid-back attitude that is very different from their cousins in the rest of the country, who take themselves more seriously. But Vrnovo Mesto, the football club? Once upon a time, they were famous for being the most boring club in the country. Pragmatic, defensive football saw them regularly taking 0-0 draws, and Daniel Pingov as captain became the stereotypical Vrnovo player - harsh tackles, tough physical play, and time-wasting strengths.

The club’s academy once produced a great deal of players like this, too. But after a few relegations from the top tier, spending years as a yo-yo club, the board recognized that this wasn’t going to be sustainable if Vrnovo hoped to compete with the bigger clubs in the country. They needed a playstyle more befitting of their city and its culture. The academy was completely re-tooled, with coaches brought in from the famous academies in Borograd as well as significant investment in training facilities. Zdeno Stajskal, once the Republikaliga’s Young Player of the Year, was the first player to graduate from the ‘new Vrnovo method’ - a creative mindset, a willingness to take risks, and above all technical skill. Stajskal became a big part of Vrnovo winning their first major trophy, the President’s Cup, and is one of the best players to ever come out of the club’s academy. On the Di Bradini Cup team, one can look at young forward Timotej Zakaijev, almost the exact opposite of the classical Vrnovo player: small, speedy, and incredibly quick on the ball. It’s a playstyle that will surely excite Vrnovo fans for years to come.

Vrnovo has historically struggled with recruitment of young players, as the Southern Isles do not have the biggest (permanent) population, and it’s quite a long trip from places like Borograd and Vlaikograd that are hotbeds of Siovanijan football. However, with the growth of the club’s academy and its status as a city that is quite nice to live in for a rich professional footballer, that has changed in recent years. Football in the United Republics was once very simple: you typically played for your hometown team. Since the beginning of the international era, however, players have had more options and Vrnovo is certainly a good one. Stajskal was from Vrnovo himself, but Zakaijev comes from Venkovets, near Borograd, and was recruited at age 13. The advent of very cheap flights to the mainland, as well as the excellent lifestyle on offer, has greatly helped Vrnovo in this way.

10 years ago you would not think to put Vrnovo on this list, and now they have built something truly special in the Southern Isles - it will be interesting to follow where this club can go from here.

#4 - Energija Chernovets

Looking for great offensive talents? The Energija Chernovets academy, in recent years, has become one of the best places in the country to look. Similarly to Vrnovo above, many years ago you wouldn’t even think of putting Chernovets on this list. That was mainly due to a factor outside of their control - Chernovets’ status as a closed city meant they could recruit only from local talent and not factor in the broad recruiting base of eastern Siovanija around them. The opening, however, changed things and Chernovets have really stepped up their game in recent years.

Once the city opened up, change happened rapidly - players from across the region, mostly rural in nature, preferred to go to the provincial centre of Chernovets instead of the big lights of Borograd, which seemed far away and didn’t match as easily with the lifestyle the players had been used to. The club’s youth coaches also have an incredible talent for the development of attackers. Legendary forward Miroslav Dinev came out of the academy here, as did current first team stars Jarozlav Jezek and Kazimir Karatanov. While he isn’t at the Di Bradini Cup, instead staying with his U18 age group, Veselin Oresnik is thought of as a potential future great in the forward position for Chernovets. The forwards that come out of this academy are poachers: Dinev was known for his incredible finishing ability from almost anywhere in the box, and Oresnik today has been praised for his movement inside the box that makes him very hard to defend against. Peter Gornik, on the DBC roster and a Chernovets academy grad, has been noted also for his explosiveness down the wing.

Some say that the Chernovets academy is actually underrated - many focus on the great number of forwards and attacking wingers that have come through the ranks, and forget some of the other top talent, like midfielders Viktor Dimitrov and Vsevolod Hristov who have been key in the first team of the club. How could we also forget Taras Maksimov, the legendary defender, as well? And some of that can be seen here at the Di Bradini Cup as well - 3 players from Chernovets on the roster, and we have a goalkeeper, midfielder and left winger. Chernovets are hoping to grow and diversify the talent they produce, and to that end have recently taken a review of the coaching they offer to young midfielders and defenders, to increase how competitive they are with the bigger academies of the country. It must be noted that, for their size - without access to the incredible resources of the two Borograd clubs - Energija have done very well as talent producers.

Known for poachers and explosive players, the Chernovets academy is an excellent route to professional football and the national team for any young Siovanijan player.

#3 - TSV Marzig

Is this cheating a bit? Any true Marzig supporter will be reeling that we’ve listed them alongside the Siovanijan clubs, but we took the decision to rank clubs based on the Regionalliga system they fell into. So, TSV Marzig find themselves here. The Marzigers have often been known for a philosophy of youth development and importance within the club. They don’t have the pressure many of the biggest clubs in the country do to win every match and regularly battle for trophies, and their fans are always deeply thrilled to see a new debutant who graduated from the academy reaching the starting XI.

Known as Hechingertor after the city district the club’s facilities are located in, the strength of the club’s academy comes from its unique historic position. Marzig, as the main city of the Teus-speaking community in Siovanija, was historically isolated from the rest of the country: no Siovanijan player wanted to sign for the club (or else be labeled a traitor) and no Teus player from ‘actual’ Teusland wanted to leave the Teus league system. As a result, almost every penny was invested into the academy, where the club had full access to players from the entire small-but-mighty Teus community in the region. Marzig became known for a youth ethos, and they punched above their weight in the Siovanijan competitions, winning 8 Siovanijan championships and 8 President’s Cup national titles as well, all with exclusively Marzig-born players in the lineup.

Excellent players of all stripes have played for the club: Ludwig Reichwein one of the biggest legends, who later plied his trade for FC Teussen Stelburg, as well as names like Horst Hackl, Kasper Martz, Kurt Witzel, Bjorn Panzer, and a more recent hero Josef Kosch-Kovarik, who recently departed for Mytanijan shores. Each of these players have had the opportunity to wear the Goldhorns shirt, and Marzig have taken a leading role in their development. It’s not just skill that gets developed here: the club’s unique position gives it a ‘never say die’ attitude that is bred into players from the moment they arrive at Hechingertor, and Marzig are known as ‘mentality monsters.’ Fierce derby matches with rivals FK Pomorie, or a President’s Cup Final, Marzigers never fold - even in the Republikaliga era, they dominated their derby rivals and brought home 2 Cups.

Hechingertor is known for a comprehensive curriculum - Marzig pioneered sports science in Siovanijan football, and modeled many of their teaching methods based on lessons learned from the famous FC Teussen Stelburg academy, Hochzoll - where a similar focus on youth is placed. Paskal Kaiser, the young midfielder at the DBC who comes from the Marzig academy, has already debuted in the first team at Marzig, another element of the academy’s successful program: even with foreign transfers available, managers are encouraged to look inwards, and former boss Ole Sauer was famous for his focus on the club’s young talent.

To become a success, Marzig needed to master the game of youth development - and having done so remain one of the most important clubs in the country.

#2 - Olympia Borograd

Really? This may come as a shock to some - Olympia were once renowned for their youth academy, that has developed some of the finest names in the history of the Siovanijan game. Olympia itself, of course, is a multi-sport program that has also developed many of the most famous ice hockey and Olympic athletes from across the country. How, then, can they be ranked 2nd on this list?

Let’s focus on the positives first. Olympia has the largest staff, and the most developed facilities, of any club in Siovanija, and are second only to Teussen in the entire country on that front. The names that have come through the Zeleni vrt, or “Green Garden,” are incredibly impressive: Lojze Kokalj, Ivo Romanov, Krasimir Kynev, Denis Dezelac, Vladimir Kostov…we could fill a whole page. Even on today’s Di Bradini Cup team, Olympia feature 3 representatives, including the junior team’s captain, Klaud Zorko. Zorko himself comes from that Kostov mold, of a bold, destructive midfield presence who stops all in his path. Zeleni vrt has an almost legendary status in Olympia’s club culture, with young players from the club’s academy often being presented at games of the senior squad, and the Olimpski-Stadion often hosting the U19s for important matches. There’s not one archetype of a ‘typical’ Olympia academy graduate: the club’s connection with the Olympia Athletic Union, Siovanija’s largest amateur athletics club, and broad coaching experience, means that you can find players of any position and role who have come from Zeleni vrt and gone on to become stars.

We don’t want to focus too much on the negatives, but what then has caused Olympia to slip from position #1 in recent years? Two things: one in their control, and one without. Olympia can’t worry too much about the investment their neighbours in FK Metropola Borograd (hint for the #1 to be revealed later) have put into their facilities, the revolutionary principles the Violets have developed in recent years, or the fact that Metropola’s downtown location is just, simply, a lot more convenient for young Borograd players than Olympia’s location in the suburbs. The competition between Olympia and Metropola for local talent has gone on for years, and will continue for many more. Olympia have, however, been a bit neglectful of the academy in recent years. Sensing themselves slipping behind Teussen in the Republikaliga, they developed a broad recruitment strategy of talented foreign stars - and funded this by selling many of the top talents in their academy. At the same time, with more money coming into many Siovanijan clubs, several of Olympia’s top coaches were poached to go elsewhere - sure, losing 1 or 2 coaches to see out their careers in sunny Vrnovo isn’t a problem, but the loss of institutional knowledge and culture that builds up over time is. With the incredible pressure on Olympia in recent years to return to their glory days, after falling behind both of their hated rivals, it’s also become a lot harder for the club to integrate young players into the starting XI, as they have become expected to perform immediately. 3 players at the Di Bradini Cup is still strong, but Olympia have only 1 player in the Siovanija & Teusland squad for the U18 World Cup.

It’s not all bad, however. Olympia still produces incredible talents - 7 of their first team squad are U25 graduates of the academy. And with the hiring of several former players from the old ‘glory days,’ including Ivo Romanov, as a higher-up in the academy, there is a hope the club can get back to its roots and compete for the top spot once again.

While #1 might now be obvious, make sure to tune in to our next article for the reveal, as well as some honourable mentions of top Siovanijan academies!

by **Independent Athletes from Quebec** » Sun Mar 10, 2024 11:26 am

The Mathletes - Scientific, Literary Venue of Sports Journalism

Under-18 national team manager Jang Seong-Woo promoted to the Under-21 national team, looks forward to DBC-57 in a year's time

Guy Lambord-Chifley

JOONGYEONG, JOONGYEONG -- Under-18 national team manager, Jang Seong-Woo, has been appointed as the new manager of the Quebecois Under-21 national team.

The 55-year old has met with the RQFA Executive Board for the confirmation, after attending two rounds of interview and presentation phase in a shortlist that would see current Sylestonian League 1 manager Radko Vujadinovic and former CSKA and SFPL star Tessa Maitfield.

'The decision was one that we have taken long, serious looks before making a decision. The promotion of Mr. Jang, with his proven coaching pedigree and recent history of success, is one that we have come to decide as best moving forward,' the RQFA statement on the appointment wrote.

The announcement came after a highly-anticipated coaching search to replace outgoing Sam Oronhyatekha after two-cycle stint with the under-21 national team. Oronhyatekha's time with the Under-21 national team is considered to be mostly underwhelming, with the Quebecois affected by both difficult group stage fixtures and shorter call-up windows.

A longtime championship and youth team manager after an unremarkable playing career, 55-year old Jang Seong-Woo has led the Quebecois national team to a third-place finish in the last Under-18 World Cup in Tumbra after stringing together a remarkable set of wins over Trolleborg, Semarland and Elmyia, with only elimination-round loss coming against tournament winners Chromatika.

Jang will be expected to start immediately, with his long-time right hand Guy Nerland-Barnes and recent Q-League retiree Jeremy Kim set to join as assistants. The expectations for the upcoming Di Bradini Cup, once again to take part in Valanora, are yet to be stated, but the RQFA will be expected to keep relatively longer leashes for Jang considering his proven history as a youth-level manager.

by **Valanora** » Sun Mar 10, 2024 11:49 am

Matchday 1

Group A
Valanora 2–3 Lisander*
Carpathia and Ruthenia 3–3 Baker Park

Group B
Polar Islandstates 1–0 Devonta
Quebec and Shingoryeo 1–2 Farfadillis

Group C
Aphrilia 1–1 Cabo Azure
The Kytler Peninsulae 2–1 TJUN-ia

Group D
Yuezhou 0–1 Saint-Jean-Jacques et Burnham-on-Stove
Semarland 2–0 Cardenao

Group E
Tumbra 1–0 Conania
Vdara 2–1 Abanhfleft

Group F
Zenic 1–0 Saterun
Squornshelan Remnant States 5–4 Vyktoria

Group G
Crpostran 2–2 Bears Armed
Sylestone 0–1 Siovanija & Teusland

Group H
The 14 Stars 3–0 VonHoolia
Tikariot 1–2 Huayramarca

*scorinated by Audioslavia

works? · by **Abanhfleft** » Sun Mar 10, 2024 12:05 pm

“There were already question marks over the possible fate of Roman Aydarov after the Abanhfleft under-21 manager crashed out of the 56th Di Bradini Cup in Valanora just two years after winning the third-place playoff against Chromatika, and now that Abanhfleft has been eliminated in the 7th Brevity Cup—also in the group stage—those question marks have only gotten bigger. Is Roman Aydarov still the man for the job of managing the youth, the future of Fleftic football, especially given that his results have gone on a downward trend ever since he made the final of the 54th Di Bradini Cup? Is it time for the SFA to move on from Aydarov? The Pridnestrovian’s current contract has him in charge until the end of the 57th Di Bradini Cup, but can he bring the Young Revolutionaries back to the final? All that and more in tonight’s edition of World Football—”

Roman Mikhailovich Aydarov turned off the television in his hotel room with a snort of disgust. It was always so easy for those pundits, those analysts, to go over every single detail in every single match of football with a fine-toothed comb and pick apart the things that went poorly for any given team, and sometimes they would even pick apart the things that did go well because they all knew that it was now an industry of hot takes. Good and proper analysis, if it still existed in the modern iteration of the media, was exceedingly rare, but taking things out of context and extrapolating all sorts of things and scenarios out of those tiny moments was what brought eyeballs to the content, even if it was just people screaming at the so-called “experts” that they were wrong and the viewers and their dead grandmothers knew better. And boy, did some of those “viewers” believe that they actually knew better than the people that had actually been on the pitch and in the sidelines trying to make a football club and team tick over like a well-oiled machine. Roman would have actually found it funny if those “armchair managers” weren’t also annoying.

The thing though about the pundits that were actually on television was that they did raise more than just a handful of good points, even if most of those were buried under soundbites and clips that were carefully curated to attract the short attention spans of the modern-day media consumer. And Roman actually agreed with some of those points. Not all, of course, because he as a manager still had a lot more insight into the stuff that those pundits loved to talk and theorize about without knowing any of the context, but sometimes they did talk some sense between themselves. And one of those things was the mentality of the players in the team.

Mentality had long been one of the weak links in the Fleftic national football team setup, and some would even say that it was the weakest link of them all. There were a lot of people (most of whom were not natives of Abanhfleft, although there were definitely some Fleftics who also felt the same) who thought that the Fleftic people were entitled, especially in the belief that the Revolutionaries deserved at least one international football trophy under their belt. But what those people failed to realize was that there had been times in which Abanhfleft truly deserved to end a tournament on top, only for the team to fall at the final hurdle. That wasn’t even getting into all of the other times that Abanhfleft did well in the group stages only to be eliminated by some team nobody had heard of before and won’t ever hear from again in the very first round of the knockout stages. Thus there were now a lot of players who were of the belief that Abanhfleft was cursed to never ever win a single football trophy, and that led to a lot of players either not believing that they could actually win it, or that they weren’t going to win it even despite having put in their best efforts. Football had often been called a cruel sport because sometimes, the deserving team doesn’t get the win, but in Abanhfleft’s case, the feeling among a lot of players and even some of the staff was that the sport had been crueler to them than they felt they deserved. And that kind of mentality was something that Roman Aydarov had tried, and ultimately failed, to get rid of.

Roman Aydarov had come into Abanhfleft’s youth team setup as the outsider from Pridnestrovia, a country whose style of football had mostly been seen as antithetical to the Fleftic way because of its focus on defensive solidity over attacking freedom, but because the Fleftic way hadn’t brought the country the results that it wanted, the Samahang Futbol ng Abanhfleft had decide that perhaps something different was the solution. And it almost was the solution, seeing as Abanhfleft made it to the final of the Di Bradini Cup for the first time since the tournament’s 43rd edition when Roman first took charge of the under-21 team at the start of the 54th Di Bradini Cup. The Pridnestrovian defensive discipline that Roman had worked so hard to instill into those young men and women under his tutelage all fell apart in the span of ninety minutes against an Elmyia side that had shocked the entire footballing world with its rapid rise from obscurity to potential dark horse courtesy of their victory over the Young Revolutionaries in the Under-21 World Cup. Roman had tried to drill into his young trainees’ heads time and time again that their team’s previous history, not just in the Di Bradini Cup but in all of the other competitions that Abanhfleft had ever been part of, was in the past and that they were more than capable of writing their own history right in the moment. However, the gravity of the occasion and previous doubts had come together that fateful afternoon in Valanora into a destructive combination for the Young Revolutionaries, and they haven’t come close to winning the ultimate prize in youth football since.

A quick look at the history and trajectory of the Abanhleft under-21 team in the Di Bradini Cup since Roman Aydarov took over would show that the Young Revolutionaries came very close to the top right at the start, went down a little despite winning the third place playoff against Chromatika in the DBC after they lost against Elmyia, and then the team took a sharp nosedive with two consecutive eliminations in the group stage. That wasn’t the trajectory that the SFA had envisaged when they had appointed Roman to the job of managing the Fleftic under-21 team; in fact, it was the complete opposite of what they wanted, and because of that, Roman was now on the hot seat. Then, as luck or fate or whatever would have it, Roman had the opportunity to make amends when the Independent Associations Championship and the Brevity Cup, two competitions for which Abanhfleft had qualified, were due to occur at almost the same time. Since the SFA couldn’t possibly send the senior men’s team to take part in both tournaments, it was decided that the senior team would take part in the Independents Cup in HUElavia while an under-23 team would represent the Democratic Republic in the Brevity Cup in the Royal Kingdom of Quebec. Since he was the one with the most experience in managing in that level of youth football for Abanhfleft, Roman was given the job of managing said under-23 team along with a simple and inflexible mandate: win the Brevity Cup or else.

Not only did Roman Aydarov fail to win the Brevity Cup, but he also carried over his recent lousy record in the group stages and went 0-for-3 against teams from Valentine Z, Qasden, and even North Pole and South Lapland. And though he would never admit it to anyone else, Roman did feel as if Abanhfleft had not been given a fair chance at actually trying to get out of the group stage of the Brevity Cup that time. Their first opponent, the Valentians, were seven feet tall and above. There were those who would say that such a size disadvantage shouldn’t be reason enough for Roman Aydarov to fail to win that game; however, Roman and the Fleftic under-23s actually did come close to claiming at least a point against Valentine Z, but it just wasn’t to be. Then the team from North Pole and South Lapland brought to the pitch such a tepid and defensive style of football that even a Pridnestrovian like Roman Aydarov thought was too negative. There were moments in that particular game that Roman half-expected an actual and literal fortress to rise up from the pitch given how stodgy (some would say solid) NP&SL’s defense was. But the loss against the Vans was a complete and utter capitulation from the lads, and in such a situation the only thing that Roman thought he could do was throw up his hands and air his frustrations at the end of the match itself.

There were some people who didn’t take lightly to the fact that Roman looked like he was throwing his players under the bus after the cataclysm against Qasden, but those people were forgetting (legitimately or conveniently) that Roman had actually shouldered most of the blame in the first two defeats. It could be argued that there was a chance that Abanhfleft could have actually won at least one, if not both games, if only the Fleftics had managed to convert more of the chances that they made. Scoring goals wasn’t really their problem against the Valentians, and they could have made North Pole and South Lapland play according to their game plan and not the other way around had they actually managed to convert one of the many chances that Abanhfleft had in the first fifteen minutes. But the lads practically threw in the towel against Qasden when there was still a possibility that a win over the Vans could have actually propelled the Revolutionaries through to the playoffs, and for that Roman felt that he had the right to rip into his squad. But clearly the SFA thought otherwise, because as soon as the under-23 team arrived back in Riuwiee in disgrace, Roman was summarily informed that his managerial contract would not be extended beyond its original endpoint of the 57th Di Bradini Cup.

That decision hadn’t yet been made public, but anyone with two eyes and a brain cell would have come to that conclusion anyway given Roman’s recent track record. Maybe, even without the post-match tirade against his own team, Roman wouldn’t have received a contract extension anyway given that he had practically squandered the momentum that he had built up for the under-21 team by failing to get out of the group stage in the last two consecutive Di Bradini Cups. The 57th Di Bradini Cup was probably going to be Roman’s last time in charge of the youth team even without the calamitous collapse at the Brevity Cup. Conversely though, it did mean that Roman Aydarov was still in charge of Abanhfleft’s under-21 team for one more DBC, and that afforded him an opportunity to walk away with his head held high and maybe even have a trophy over it.

In that particular situation, Roman was almost in the same shoes as his counterpart in the Fleftic senior women’s team, Kate Bernanos. Bernanos had been through both ups and downs during her time in charge of the Fleftic women’s team, and after being informed that the 5th Jenna Raven Cup was going to be her final time taking charge of the Lady Revolutionaries, Bernanos made it her mission to go out with a bang. She had the task of winning the Jenna Raven Cup, and Kate Bernanos succeeded in that task in all respects, and along the way she knocked off a national rival in Sarzonia on her way to the gold. Roman Aydarov wanted nothing more than to replicate Kate Bernanos’s final tournament in charge of the Fleftic women’s team and bring home that Di Bradini Cup that had proven so elusive for the Young Revolutionaries on his own way out of the door. However, there was one crucial difference between Roman and Kate, and it wasn’t their respective genders. Kate Bernanos had already won the Jenna Raven Cup once before she left; Roman Aydarov hadn’t won the Di Bradini Cup yet. Yes, he had come close once, in his very first tournament in charge, but Elmyia had made sure that his dreams of lifting the trophy remained just that: dreams. And he felt that such a difference was very massive in his situation because he, unlike Kate Bernanos, didn’t have history on his side.

Then again, he himself said that history was all in the past, and that his players could write their own history in the present. Perhaps it was time that he took his own advice.

             VDARA 2 - 1 ABANHFLEFT         
  ZOGRAFIDES (10')       MONTELIBANO (25')
   HAMZAOGLU (83')

by **Saint-Jean-Jacques et Burnham-on-Stove** » Mon Mar 11, 2024 9:50 am

Saint-Jean-Jacques et Burnham-on-Stove starts the Di Bradini Cup 57 on the right foot

Ianisle,Valanora - It's a good time for sports, we have olympic hockey, World Bowl playoffs and youth soccer cups simultaneously. I'm in Valanora to cover the Di Bradini Cup 57 and on matchday 1, Saint-Jean-Jacques et Burnham-on-Stove won 1-0 against Yuezhou, which should not be confused with Shanzhou. Yuezhou is located in Rushmore while Shanzhou is located in Anaia, more precisely in Nova Calania just north of Saint-Jean-Jacques et Burnham-on-Stove and will join us in the upcoming Nova Calanian union. Both teams had their scoring chances but goalkeepers were alert. Adalbert Yu and Anne-Élisabeth Mongrain are the real deal and have a great future going ahead. Mongrain made a fantastic save at the 23rd minute when Steffan Zhao headed the ball towards her. Yu was phenomemal when he stopped Rodrigo Guénette-Velazquez' shot at the 33rd minute. Emmitt Hong committed a foul at the 67th minute.It wasn't enough to give him a yellow card but the Tapirs got a free kick. Zhang Hao Yu, who has dual Shanzhouan and Jean-Jacquois citizenship, kicks the ball and it's a goal! Saint-Jean-Jacques et Burnham-on-Stove won 1-0.

Semarland beat Cardenao 2-0 and both Semarland and the Tapirs are at the top of group D with a win. On matchday 2, Saint-Jean-Jacques et Burnham-on-Stove will stay in Ianisle to play against Cardenao while Yuezhou and Semarland will play each other in Turbani. The starting XI remains unchanged.

GAME SUMMARY

67th   GOAL SAINT-JEAN-JACQUES ET BoS   Zhang Hao Yu (free kick)

Players to watch

Who are the players to watch or those with the brightess future?

Rodrigo Guénette-Velazquez, striker, is arguably the best under 21 player in Saint-Jean-Jacques et Burnham-on-Stove and in Nova Calania. He should be a big part of the offense in this 57th Di Bradini Cup. In the future he will be on the national team's starting XI for sure, and might be even better than Frédérique Goudreau-Luneau. He has a powerful shot and knows how to escape man-marking.

Morgan Klingenberg, central attacking midfielder or side midfielder, is the 3rd child of the Klingenberg family. Her older brother, Kyle (27), is on the national team while Megan (24) is currently « on the bubble ». She also have a younger brother, Kayden (17) who is currently at the RTC Under-18 Cup. Her father, Otto, is an assistant manager for the Under-21 team. She's expected to be the better one of the 4 Klingenbergs and have a spot on the national team. she has speed and excels at both passing and shooting.

Anne-Élisabeth Mongrain, goalkeeper, is expected to be on the national team and eventually challenge Serge Bleau-Bean to be the #1 gooalkeeper, probably in 5 years from now. She's agile and has good reflexes.

Louis-Paul Ouzilleau, side defender or central defender, is a versatile defenseman who can play at all defense positions. He has a very good chance to be on the national team in the future. He has good anticipation, speed and marking abilities.

Bonus player: Krzysztof Olkowski, central defender, is only 19 years old and probably have the brightess future out of all the players listed, besides Guénette-Velazquez. Currently not part of the team because he only have Odleglian citizenship (a nation in Anaia just north of Shanzhou and south west of Krytenia), but when Nova Calanian nations will unite, he will be part of the Nova Calanian team. Olkowski is a terrific tackler, he's never out of position and also have speed and good passing abilities.

Chloé Bellefleur

by **TJUN-ia** » Mon Mar 11, 2024 3:53 pm

The Random Rambles of a Jaguar
with Killian Looker

What is a "TJUN-ia"? You know, whenever we take part in these competitions across the globe - especially the earlier ones - we always get asked this question. What are you? Who are you? How does TJUN-ia even work? How can a place like TJUN-ia...even exist? Like...how?

Normally, the TJUN-ian answer to this question would be "It just does, we don't have time to go into it"...but we do have time now...so what do I even say?

OK, let's start with our model of existence. We believe in The Jagaur, our head of state and leader of TJUN, and the three universes he inhabits: U1, the "real world", U2, the TJUN world, and U3, the TJUN-ia world. The real world is all about entities such as "Texas A&M" and whatever, which sounds like a corporation. The TJUN world is where the "TJUN" bit of our name comes from and, in no uncertain terms, that is the most important bit. All the different nationalities present? TJUN. The Regional System? TJUN. The fact our capital region is called the JagBase? TJUN. It's always been TJUN. TJUN accounts for 3 of The Jaguar's 4 titles: Founder and Secretary-General of The Jaguar's United Nations, TJUN Representative to the United Kingdom and TJUN Regional Representative to England. It's all TJUN. And while TJUN rarely gets involved in the affairs of state, they have the right to do so if deemed absolutely necessary (see: Territoire du Nord).

TJUN-ia was founded by employees of TJUN initially as a project to help train new TJUN Representatives in the Art of International Roleplay, to help them gain the skills they would need in TJUN as a whole, but soon enough, more and more people from U2 started to move in and a local government was required...hence the creation of TJUN-ia as a state. Its current mission? To be a functioning nation-state in this U3 landscape and to represent our collective TJUN-ian interest on the international stage - that of democracy, liberty, equality and humanity. How well have we done in this goal? Depends on who you ask. Some say the fact we have come so far from where we started, now prospective members of the Esportivan Union and fully integrated into the international domain. Others feel that we are slowly losing our power as a wildcard and that things should change...starting with our enforced neutrality from New York.

What do I think? Nah, I shouldn't say...I'm only here to ramble and not anything else. Maybe in the future I will. See you next time!

KYP 2-1 TJU
(Ceedast Baspaalt 34', Raven Lomu 82'/Nur Syaliza Sazali 45+1')

(more info on TJUN-ian politics cane be found here.)

SCHEDULE
MD1: vs The Kytler Peninsulae L 1-2
MD2: vs Cabo Azure
MD3: vs Aphrilia

by **Siovanija and Teusland** » Mon Mar 11, 2024 5:48 pm

Score!

FutureWatch

Siovanija’s Top 5 Academies: The Winner

After revealing spots 5 through 2 yesterday, we can now reveal the club we here at Score!’s FutureWatch department have decided has the best academy in Siovanija. The factors used to determine the ranking included a combination of players playing internationally for Siovanija & Teusland, players currently playing at the youth level internationally, first-team players coming straight from the academy, as well as factors such as facilities, reputation, and ability to recruit players. Before we get to the #1, however, let’s look at some honourable mentions…

Honourable Mentions

Zvezda Vlaikograd, FK Pomorie

Just missing out on our top 5 are these clubs, some of the biggest in Siovanija, who also have academies worth mentioning and which have brought plenty of players from their ranks into the former Republikaliga and the top tier of Siovanijan football.

Zvezda Vlaikograd were, of course, the biggest omission from our list. The main club of the second largest city in Siovanija, Zvezda have come to dominate the northwestern region of the country in its regional league and retain their status as, historically, one of the biggest clubs in the country. However, the years of decline between the end of the glory days and the beginning of the Republikaliga era also affected the club’s youth development program. These were all factor’s in the club starting the Republikaliga era in the second tier, despite having the 3rd most Siovanijan titles of any club. The ‘renovation plan’ that was started by the club’s management, however, has paid off and saw them win a President’s Cup title, become top tier mainstays, and importantly, invest once again in youth. Many key first-team players are now graduates of the Zvezda academy, and there is a representative at the Di Bradini Cup in young left back Krasimir Bliznakov - all in all, Zvezda are certainly on the up.

FK Pomorie, the eternal rivals of our #3 ranked TSV Marzig, have followed a bit of a different path from the club they are forever linked with. While Marzig developed an incredible youth setup out of necessity, Pomorie found it much harder to compete in that regard and did not develop the same youth-focused culture. Perhaps due to a want to distance from the rivals as much as possible, their fans have always preferred the ‘new signing’ to the ‘new academy grad’ in the lineup. However, it’s fair to say that this is changing in recent years, after Pomorie struggled to stabilize themselves in the old Republikaliga. Similarly to Vrnovo, a new project has begun to redevelop the club’s facilities, and while they are still a few years behind many other Siovanijan clubs, you can see the pathways opening up: more first-teamers than ever before are academy graduates at the club, and youth players from across northern Siovanija are beginning to consider the Pomorie academy before heading towards the national capital.

In the lower league system, some other names of note include Atletik Orlovets, FK Sinomorets and SK Republika Borograd. While these academies do not produce star national team players as some of the ones we are listing, they often provide a solid output of players who can reach the top tier or just below it - and the big Borograd clubs in particular often target the Orlovets and Republika academies for some of their own young talents.

Now, it’s time to reveal, the top academy of Siovanija…

#1 - FK Metropola Borograd

As we hinted at yesterday, the Violets take top spot here! Vratnik, the neighbourhood in downtown Borograd’s eastern districts where the club’s facilities are located, has always been an incredibly famous name in Siovanijan youth football - for many years, Borograd kids have dreamed of getting selected to play in Metropola’s youth system. However, until very recently, it was considered that Olympia Borograd had just a bit of an edge on them - why has that changed? Let’s find out.

First of all, when considering the Metropola academy, one could read a list of famous names that could almost fill Metropola’s stadium: Stanimir Ilev, Anton Dimitrov, Andrey Bunev, Lyubomir Dimitrov, Blahoslav Zak, Sobeslav Volf, Julijan Koprvic, Viktor Venev, Frantisek Polak. That is a long list of players who have worn the purple shirt and also had the honour of playing for their country, and once you factor in the youth levels as well, the list keeps growing: 4 Vratnik-grown players have found their way to the Di Bradini Cup squad - including Veljko Vadimic, who had the beautiful assist on Uwe Seidl’s goal in the junior Goldhorns’ 1-0 victory over Sylestone on matchday 1 of the Di Bradini Cup. There are also Drakon Zaikov, Edvard Svejger and Simeon Bratkovic - each of whom have already made first team debuts for the Borograd outfit.

With the level of big names coming out of the academy here, one can easily point to some of the incredible names of forwards and call Metropola specialists in producing excellent strikers. Ilev managed 122 goals across 5 full-time seasons at Metropola, while Anton Dimitrov had 120 goals in 6 seasons before both men moved abroad for chances elsewhere. Ilev really became a star, however, in Pasarga, where he spent several years playing for CA Paulinthal. The awards say it all: 5 Golden Boots, a 4-time Foreign Player of the Year winner, and Player of the Season twice. Internationally, too, Ilev had an impact for the Goldhorns: competing with other legendary forwards like Michael Ribbeck for playing time, he managed over 20 goals for the Goldhorns.

It’s not just in this position, however, that Metropola academy grads have shone. Viktor Venev passed his #1 shirt to Julijan Koprvic upon retirement, leaving an unbroken 26-year run of Metropola #1 goalkeepers who are Vratnik grads. Koprvic, at age 33, still has plenty of years to play himself. Metropola do have a knack for producing keepers, perhaps because of the excellent strikers they have faced. Sobseslav Volf, Lyubomir Dimitrov and Frantisek Polak are all legendary defenders for the club who the young Bratkovic and Zaikov will seek to emulate. Andrey Bunev is one of the club’s most cherished heroes: a one-club man, who still turns out for the Violets, aged 34 now and typically coming off the bench. In his prime, however, he was an undefendable winger who terrorized the Republikaliga as part of Metropola’s run of 3 titles in 6 seasons. In the midfield, too, the present day Metropola squad has Kazimir Mares and Damir Prekmurje in the lineup - unfortunately a few years too old to be at the DBC, but excellent young stars who, ironically, find themselves with a more ‘Teus’ style of play than Siovanijan.

It’s not just the excellent players they’ve produced that put Metropola on top of our list. It’s the club’s investment and commitment to its young players. They have had to compete with neighbours Olympia Borograd since time immemorial, and with Olympia a club firm in its traditions and confident in its past, Metropola have instead had to pave the way forward. Metropola’s scouts are taught not to necessarily look for the ‘best’ player every time, but the one with the most dedication and ability to improve. They have brought in excellent coaches from across Siovanija, and pre-isolation had started bringing in some foreign influence as well. The club are hoping to expand on that in the modern day and look to bring in young foreign talent to their ranks once again. One area in which Metropola have charted their own path is also in the competition they face - the club participate in all Siovanijan youth leagues, of course, but the junior program isn’t national until you hit the U19 category. Metropola are known for promoting young players up to get experience playing against Teus clubs as well, and they also often participate in Teus youth tournaments and events where possible, to expose their young players to the ‘other’ side of football in this country from a young age.

The overall culture of the club under Alan Dzekov has also been a major factor in the development of the club’s academy. When the board decided to build the Stadion Razdrto, Dzekov pushed for even more investment into the club’s youth facilities, and the complex at Vratnik is now arguably second only to FC Teussen Stelburg in the country in its advanced facilities. Dzekov was brought in as manager after a few rough seasons for the Violets, and given the task of turning the club around. He has done all that and more - 3 league titles, 3 Cup wins, winners of the Regionalliga Borograd in all 4 seasons so far. Part of this turnaround has been Dzekov’s trust in the Metropola academy. He has given plenty of players first-team debuts, and has also utilized strategic partnerships to send players such as Rostislav Jagr on loan at a young age to further their exposure to first-team football. While the club had an excellent group of foreign players when isolation hit, Dzekov wasn’t so worried about the club’s future: he knew the talent available to him, many of whom had already made first-team debuts. 9 of the starting XI for Metropola this season come from the youth academy, and there are 4 players aged under 23 on the bench. Even in depth the academy has some bright future names: 3 players from the club’s youth setup are at the U18 World Cup.
The ‘Violet Revolution’ which has seen, in the last 10 years, Metropola under Alan Dzekov become the biggest club in Siovanija has certainly applied to their youth academy and there can be no doubt that, right now, Vratnik is the best in Siovanija.

Tune in next time as we begin our list of the top academies in Teusland!

by **Zenic** » Mon Mar 11, 2024 10:11 pm

“Well, I think that went pretty well for a debut.”

Consolación Regina settled down alongside Vaclovas Paškal for a drink and to decompress. The two of them, along with the rest of the staff and squad, were on the train ride from Longview to Goldsan where they would remain for the rest of the group stage of the DBC. “No better way to start off a managerial career than with a win,” replied Paškal.

The squad had just come off a 1-0 win over the Saterun U-21 squad playing in front of a massive crowd at the impressive and intimidating Angelotic Temple. “60-40 possession in our favor, 16-12 SOG in our favor, 1-0 in our favor. Had the lead in several major categories but not by a lot. A fantastic curling shot from Guilherme was pretty much the difference maker. Then again, the U-21 squads of two current regional champions was always going to be a close match.”

Paškal had been serving drinks for himself and Regina during that review and handed off one of them to Regina. “And now we get to face off against ANOTHER regional champion’s U-21 squad. Squornshelan Remnant States had an absolute SHOOTOUT with Vyktoria, which they managed to win 5-4,” stated Paškal. Regina took a sip from her drink while looking at the stats of that match on her phone. “A win here puts us in the driver’s seat of Group F. So, make sure the defense keeps up the great work and make sure we get higher quality shots than we did against Saterun.” Paškal nodded in agreement.

Two squads looking to double up their nation’s trophies for this cycle should make for an INTENSE matchup.

by **Tumbra** » Tue Mar 12, 2024 7:46 am

Tumbra 1-0 Conania

TMB (4-2-3-1): 1 - C Moreau; 2 - C Maartens (18 - J Chen, 85'), 4 - R Campbell, 5 - A Reid (20 - W Nicholson, 80'), 19 - A Devine; 6 - C Holsworth (25 - S Rushmore, 85'), 8 - M Russelar, 10 - L Simonyan; 17 - J Berkenbosch, 21 - C Taggart (9 - O Chalmers, 62'); 11 - E Vesper (22 - J Ruelan, 62')

TMB scorers: Johan Berkenbosch (74')

Player of the Match: Matthias Russelar [TMB]

Tumbra opens Di Bradini Cup campaign with cautious win over Conania

SABINAL, VALANORA — Tumbra opened their Di Bradini Cup campaign — their third youth tournament under the stewardship of under-21 manager Thomas Branting — under a cloudy night in Valanora, and came away with a narrow 1-0 win over debutants Conania. The match, which marks the return of a team bearing the Black Eagles' name after the team declined to enter the previous edition, saw Johan Berkenbosch — a Tumbran with Licentian heritage, who plays for FC Inter Nantwich — score late on to secure all three points after a 'nervy' first half. "The win is ours, and now we must focus for our next match against Vdara," said Branting after the match, who downplayed praise of the team. "They know what I've got to say. It was an average performance, in my opinion, and we have to do better against them." Tumbra and Vdara have a fledgling footballing rivalry, having faced off three times in the recent World Cup 95 cycle, and with the last match being particularly ill-tempered after Tumbra continually disrupted the flow of play; it ended up being Tumbra's only victory in a particularly treacherous group stage which memorably required a coinflip to get out of.

"I don't think grudges carry that far, if I'm honest," said Branting after the match, acting casually. "But we will be on guard. I'm not Michael Campbell, this isn't the team that went to the World Cup, and we're in a position where injuries suffered here could dog a career that might last for the next ten, fifteen years. My style is light tackles, especially at this level; and I can only hope that's reciprocated." Tumbra stand joint top of Group C with Vdara, who themselves beat perennial footballing bridesmaids Abanhfleft on the first day of the Under-21 World Cup. Fleftic manager Roman Aydarov, who is Pridnestrovian, is reportedly under pressure to deliver a good result after an early exit in another friendly tournament. But Branting was confident about the Fleftic's records. "They've got a lot of spunk in them, and I think they can go far."

Couno Rangers' shirt sponsor deal under "close investigation" as Thomas Kim says "everything aboveboard"

STRATON — Couno Rangers' new era under the ownership of billionaire Thomas Kim has run into early controversy, as a shirt sponsorship deal with lithium extraction corporation Lithico™ has reportedly had an investigation opened into it by the Tumbran Football Federation (TFF). The TFF said that its investigation was "in its early stages," but was related to "the potential for a serious conflict of interest when it comes to sponsorship and the artificial overvaluating of said sponsorships." The conflict of interest mentioned by the TFF relates to Kim, who is a member of the Lithico™ board of directors, and the valuation of Lithico™'s front-of-shirt deal which would be the biggest in Tumbran footballing history.

Kim, who has taken a prolonged leave of absence from Lithico™ in order to campaign for election in the marginal seat of Foxchester West as a right-wing United Party candidate, denied the allegations and said that "everything was aboveboard and perfectly legal" when it came to the sponsorship. "I am focused on getting the message through to the people of Foxchester West on what I can do for them when it comes to representation in Parliament. Such questions are a distraction and, quite frankly, are irrelevant to the election campaign." Kim, if elected, would instantly become the Member of Parliament with the highest net worth, though his election would also force his resignation from all other business posts, as required in the Constitution. Perhaps worryingly, however, Foxchester West seems to be trending towards a Labour victory, with its candidate, state legislator Olivia Strickland, holding a narrow lead in polls conducted within the seat.

While the investigation is in its early stages, a finding that Couno were guilty of inflating the value of Lithico™'s front-of-shirt deal could possibly see them subject to heavy fines, points deductions, and bans from international competitions for up to three years.

Labour proposes new law to reform campaign finance regulations as election campaign heats up

KINGSBURY — On a visit to the southern metropolis of Kingsbury on the campaign trail, Leader of the Opposition Bertram Andrews announced a policy that "may not sound exceptionally important, but is fundamentally important to the functioning of our democracy" as he unveiled new campaign finance regulations which would "ensure that the most important voice in politics is the ordinary citizen, not who can afford to pay," and politics "cannot be allowed to turn into a pay-to-play game."

Mr. Andrews, who has struck a distinctively populist tone during the campaign — perhaps in response to the right wing's positioning of a force for change despite having been in office for the last eight years — has engaged in a war of words with United Party prime ministerial candidate Max Young, who in his 2026 campaign to become Premier of Georgia was accused of taking large sums of money from the wealthy Harrison family, deeply embedded with Tumbra's media ecosystem, in order to bolster his campaign. Young won a large majority at that election, but the allegation was cleared by the state anti-corruption organisation. Young, who has dismissed the statements that have resurfaced as a "witchhunt," shot back at Andrews' speech a few hours later, saying that "the only reason why he wants these campaign finance laws is because he knows his own party isn't able to fundraise as much as some others."

The short statement has been widely interpreted as a political gaffe, especially as every other party in the campaign has welcomed the commitment by Mr. Andrews to introduce these laws. Labour, who themselves have been embroiled in scandals of a similar nature in the past, seized the opportunity to launch a social media campaign, amplifying the remarks made by Mr. Andrews to a national audience. The move also comes as Mr. Young slips behind Mr. Andrews in perceptions of trust, as there are concerns within the right that the gruelling eight-week campaign might have exposed Mr. Young "too much" to the public. Labour have slipped into a small, but consistent lead, over the right-wing United Party both in first preference polling as well as the two-party preferred vote, and are now favourites to at least finish as the largest party in the election.

by **Polar Islandstates** » Tue Mar 12, 2024 8:10 am

For many football players, a first tournament appearance for your national team at junior age level is the trigger to start thinking about those legends who came before you. And with good reason – by the time a young player had made it that far, they’d likely already gotten used to being compared to those who’d previously grabbed the spotlight. There was a seemlingly endless conveyor belt of identi-hacks fresh out of university writing courses that were all too keen to lazily fall into the same tropes and cliches as those whose desks they were filling. ‘Ten reasons this young Jan Mayen starlet could be the next Kohev Küngas-Vaga’, ‘Dima Petersen reborn? This Red Star Severny teenager could be the Next Big Thing’, ‘The Longyearbyen academy star with Bjerregaard’s records in his sights’...

The list of uninspired clickbait headlines went on as long as you had the patience to keep scrolling, and, because apparently the public lacked the imagination to picture a player without picturing their playing style as being a cross between one former star and another, it was a trend that showed no sign of slowing down.

It would be easy therefore, for any young player on the advent of their youth debut, to start to believe the hype. To fall into the trap of thinking that, simply because Sven Svensson and the rest of the churnalists had ad-space to sell, their path to being the next Terns legend was sealed in stone. How disappointing for so many, then, that this never happened. The kerbsides of the road to stardom were littered with relative nobodies. Beaten, battered, bruised, and just not quite as good as they were told they could be. Good players, no doubt – winners of the odd senior cap, some of them – and many a professional career was lived out in the upper echelons of the league pyramid without a care in the world, despite a deficit of stardust. There were plenty of players too without the drive to make good on their talent, starting out with the world at their feet and ending as one of many ‘former youth internationals’ that were traded amongst the non-league teams like shiny stickers in the playground. Talented, yes, but ultimately comfortable.

But Jari-Andrej Coia didn’t want to be comfortable; he wanted to be a star. Fortunately for Jari-Andrej, he was lucky enough to be born with three incredible assets in his locker.

Firstly, he was gifted with one the highest natural ability levels Novaya Sibir’s academy had ever seen. Quick enough over 400m to have pursued an athletics career should he have chosen to, with a wicked left boot and an almost instinctive ability to read the game defensively, he had made his first appearance for the senior team aged just sixteen, and had more than held his own against the adults on the opposition sides. He’d found opportunities harder to come by during the season the Reds got relegated from Divisjon One, with the management seemingly hoping to protect his development from such a rough and desperate environment, but his breakthrough last year as the Reds swept to promotion had been impressive enough that Mytanar giants Atletik Težia had acquired the promise of his services for the year after. If he’d wanted to, he would’ve been able to find any number of almost identical articles about him, comparing his talent to some of the Terns’ greats. He knew exactly what was hoped for from him.

True, he had talent coming out of his ears, but he also knew that would mean nothing without a bit of maturity, and the drive to prove himself. And this was really where Jari-Andrej stood out against his peers. Born into a wealthy family, he’d always felt the need to work harder than anyone else on the training pitch. First out, last in. He was determined to prove that he wasn’t there simply because the Coia name was plastered over half the city. It would have been the easiest thing in the world to rest on the laurels of his family’s money and live an easy and uncomplicated life as a consultant analyst, or analyst consultant, or whatever it was his brothers did for their parents’ companies, but the very idea repulsed him. He was going to show the city, no, the multiverse, that his was a talent he’d worked hard to nurture and realise on the football pitch. It wasn’t even that he wanted to be a star, so much as he was determined to prove that he wasn’t going to be another nepo-baby, wasting his potential in the modern day officer school of upper management.

Winning, to Jari-Andrej, was less important than ‘not losing’. And that was what made him such a great defender. The mindset wasn’t of personal glory, but denying others the chance to gloat at his expense. He was driven by this fear of failure to the point he ended up pursuing excellence, and attacking, as the first line of defence.

Which is where the third gift in his locker really came into its own, or, should that be, her own.

Jari-Andrej was the youngest of four sons. After three children in their mid-twenties, his parents had focused on building their respective businesses to what they were today, until out popped Jari-Andrej years later, somewhat unexpectedly. With ten years between him and his nearest brother, he had ended up spending a lot of time on his own, either in the house or otherwise in the care of his mother’s little sister, a woman with an encyclopaedic knowledge of the Terns, and a mild obsession with the players who never quite made the jump to the history books.

Affectionately dubbed ‘Mad Aunt Val’, it was she who first passed on her interest to Jari-Andrej, and then, once it became clear how good he could be, his progress became her obsession. Without any sort of background in the game however, she passed on her expertise in the only way she knew how – by showing him re-runs and matches of days gone by, and vividly describing the things she’d seen various players do whilst she drove a young Jari-Andrej to and from his training sessions as a boy.

So it was that when he lined up in the tunnel ahead of this, his first international match against Devonta, Jari-Andrej wasn’t stretching his neck muscles or getting into ‘the zone’ like he could observe some of his colleagues doing, he was thinking about the exploits of Terns and Chicks full-backs and wing-backs of long ago.

But rather than trying to imagine what Petter Nikkel would’ve done in this situation, his mind was considering what it was that Luka Baalsen had done wrong to get dropped all that time ago. He wasn’t trying to emulate Zacharias Juul, or even Edvar Folke: he was trying hard not to emulate the mistakes of Alexis St Olaf, or Anders Weiss. What was it his Mad Aunt Val had told him about Pol de Huyer? Something about not switching off when defending corners?

The names of Chicks full-backs who’d come before him and never made a senior appearance for the Terns drifted in front of his eyes as the teams sang, or stood for, the national anthems…

Lucas Opland, Martijn Solem, Otto Zhdanov, Mateusz Yatskaya , Mika Haagenstadt… he could have gone on and on. They probably all had very decent careers, sure, but as soon as you were out of the national team picture, Aunt Val didn’t really pay you much attention, and so, neither did Jari-Andrej.

He was determined not to be another one to add to that list.

He was going to do himself justice.

He was not going to fail.

And so, sure enough, whenever he had the chance to advance, he advanced. Whenever he was called upon to defend, he did so. Stopping the opposition became a way of life over the first half of that match, and though the Chicks hadn’t really threatened at the other end, with the amount of turnover in attacking talent from the previous title-winning squad to this one, the boss hadn’t been too negative at half time. However, the only thing he’d said directly to Jari-Andrej was enough to change the trajectory of the entire match.

“Jari-Andrej, take the shackles off, yeah?”

’Take the shackles off.’

Jari-Andrej pictured not Erik Zhamaletdinov saying that, but his aunt. And it wasn’t his own ability that he was imagining being shackled to, but the history books. He had a sudden vision of his name, hidden in a list somewhere in an appendix, with an asterisk next to it indicating a call-up that didn’t result in a cap by way of a diversion through a footnote scrawled in italic point four text.

Well.

Fuck that.

Jari-Andrej Coia was nobody’s addendum.

Five minutes into the second half, he tracked the run of Hiroko Nakijima perfectly, choosing the exactly perfect time to apply a burst of speed and take the ball right off his opposition winger’s toes. A midfielder in lime green suddenly broke free from marking Loïc in the midfield, and Jari-Andrej backed himself once again. Launching forwards, he struck the ball far beyond the tackler and set off in a footrace against himself in order to keep it in. With Cameron David Cohen busting a gut to come across and block the cross, Jari-Andrej clocked Loïc drifting into the space behind him, and, before the ball ran out across the byline, ran past the ball and drew his right foot back sharply, neatly backheeling the ball into Loïc’s path almost without breaking his stride.

But he wasn’t done yet.

Arcing his run to avoid slamming into the advertising hoardings, Jari-Andrej barely slowed down as he looped back onto the pitch beyond the outmanoeuvred Cohen and into an onside position again. Collecting the laconic return pass from Loïc, he was now running towards the six-yard-box with the ball, parallel to goal-line.

He glanced up and could see Roald Eike-Rasmussen hanging back in space to his right, and Volkhardt Grief sprinting as he could to get close to the rear post. As a left-footed player, the defenders in the middle automatically assumed the pull back to Roald would make more sense, and almost imperceptibly started changing their momentum to cover the pass and block any shot whilst the keeper strode out to cover the near post shot.

Jari-Andrej was almost cornered, but had one last trick up his sleeve.

With the outside of his right-foot, just as the defenders were moving to block the left-footed pull-back, Jari-Andrej sliced a pass across the six-yard-box, spinning and whorling with enough pace to wrong-foot the keeper but just enough spin to arc gracefully and given Volkhardt enough time to arrive at the back post and slam home the Chicks’ first goal of their title defence.

Jari-Andrej celebrated with the rest of his teammates, but as the mob broke and started jogging back to their own half, he looked for his Mad Aunt in the crowd and spotted the back of her head as she enthusiastically hugged a couple of representatives from Sibir and Mytanija.

He smiled. It was a start. The first volume of his career history had just been started. It wasn’t even the first chapter of the first book, of course, but as a first sentence it wasn’t a bad opening.

And not an asterisk in sight.

by **Valanora** » Tue Mar 12, 2024 9:11 am

"Listen, we need to get more of our players starting in the Premiership. It is all well and good that they are on the roster and make appearances, but the top teams in the league have now and for most of our past played mostly foreigners in their starting positions and left home grown talents to just be support players. Other leagues aren't buying Vanorians like they used to and we can no longer count on foreign clubs investing in Vanorian futures or even in the present, we have to start developing our own and getting them playing time at the highest of levels for the continued success of the national team. The dream for six has been as close as it has ever been in decades with three monumental efforts in the last four outings at the World Cup but those teams were built on players who were mostly developed outside of the Empire, it is time we build from within and not rely on the without." It was the same spiel that had been going on for nearly a decade now, except now it was actually Kasper Volheim's issue rather than merely giving the advice to those who had to deal with these issues directly.

"I agree, there could be more done to see more Vanorians actually starting on the best teams in the league but we can not pretend that this is not already happening without interference from the federation or the league. Look at Raynor City United, the team that everyone agrees is the best team in the Empire and has been for most of everyones lives for decades upon decades. Half of their starting line up is made up of Vanorian players, all but one of those being home grown at their club and it is a legacy that they have, the same is true for Mar Sara FC and how they are traditionally the second or third best team in the league. FC Capri is nearly famous for its development of players, including being one of the first clubs to included Vyintanese and then Sabine and Caddonese players into their setup. We have to hold faith that they players will earn their way to starting positions through merit rather than any sort of mandated need for a certain amount of Vanorians in the matchday squad or starting eleven. Banija instituted such a policy and look at how their league and national team has fallen off, it is by no means a proven path towards a better national team." Kasper explained calmly to the VFA representative.

The representative let out an exasperated sigh, knowing that they were likely not going to get the endorsement that they were hoping for with the Under 21 manager after having already been rebuffed from the national team manager, though that had been expected with the manager being from Ko-oren. It was going to be an uphill battle to get people behind the idea of a domestic quota in the Premiership but he had not expected to be like pulling teeth and being shown why it might not work, when a World Cup champion could fall off as their generational team was phased out to their new domestic influenced one. "Maybe putting an officially policy into play is not the correct idea but there has to be ways to encourage the teams to develop and play these players who are from the Empire rather than rely on imports from abroad."

"You are clearly not paying attention, of my twenty-five man roster for the Di Bradini Cup, only seven of them are not based in the Empire and those that aren't are part of their club's senior team first team. The teams have already done this of their own violition and are getting the players into the first teams, where they are having to earn their playing time just like everyone else. Those who have the ability and drive to become better than what they already are, are going to do just that with access to some of the best coaching and training in the entire sport and those that won't will peter out and become depth options or find their way to clubs where they are part of the first team. This is the way that club football goes and while the federation could encourage the use of the academies more, if we want the clubs to be competitive in the transfer market as well as international competition, then they have to continue to operate as they do. Have faith that Vanorians will rise to the top as has been the norm over the course of most of our time in the sport and that the national team will get the talent it needs to continue to compete."

by **Valanora** » Tue Mar 12, 2024 10:31 am

Matchday 2

Group A
Lisander 1–2 Baker Park
Valanora 0–0 Carpathia and Ruthenia*

P Group A                 Pld    W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts 
1 Baker Park                2    1   1   0     5    4   +1     4
2 Lisander                  2    1   0   1     4    4    0     3
3 Carpathia and Ruthenia    2    0   2   0     3    3    0     2
4 Valanora                  2    0   1   1     2    3   −1     1

Group B
Devonta 3–7 Farfadillis
Polar Islandstates 3–1 Quebec and Shingoryeo

P Group B                                   Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 Farfadillis                                 2   2  0  0    9   4  +5    6     Q
2 Polar Islandstates                          2   2  0  0    4   1  +3    6     Q
3 Quebec and Shingoryeo                       2   0  0  2    2   5  −3    0
4 Devonta                                     2   0  0  2    3   8  −5    0

Group C
Cabo Azure 1–3 TJUN-ia
Aphrilia 0–1 The Kytler Peninsulae

P Group C                                   Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 The Kytler Peninsulae                       2   2  0  0    3   1  +2    6     Q
2 TJUN-ia                                     2   1  0  1    4   3  +1    3
3 Aphrilia                                    2   0  1  1    1   2  −1    1
4 Cabo Azure                                  2   0  1  1    2   4  −2    1

Group D
Saint-Jean-Jacques et Burnham-on-Stove 1–0 Cardenao
Yuezhou 1–2 Semarland

P Group D                                   Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 Semarland                                   2   2  0  0    4   1  +3    6     Q
2 Saint-Jean-Jacques et Burnham-on-Stove      2   2  0  0    2   0  +2    6     Q
3 Yuezhou                                     2   0  0  2    1   3  −2    0
4 Cardenao                                    2   0  0  2    0   3  −3    0

Group E
Conania 3–3 Abanhfleft
Tumbra 0–0 Vdara

P Group E                                   Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 Tumbra                                      2   1  1  0    1   0  +1    4
  Vdara                                       2   1  1  0    2   1  +1    4
3 Abanhfleft                                  2   0  1  1    4   5  −1    1
  Conania                                     2   0  1  1    3   4  −1    1

Group F
Saterun 4–4 Vyktoria
Zenic 4–2 Squornshelan Remnant States

P Group F                                   Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 Zenic                                       2   2  0  0    5   2  +3    6     Q
2 Squornshelan Remnant States                 2   1  0  1    7   8  −1    3
3 Saterun                                     2   0  1  1    4   5  −1    1
  Vyktoria                                    2   0  1  1    8   9  −1    1

Group G
Bears Armed 1–0 Siovanija & Teusland
Crpostran 1–0 Sylestone

P Group G                                   Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 Bears Armed                                 2   1  1  0    3   2  +1    4
  Crpostran                                   2   1  1  0    3   2  +1    4
3 Siovanija & Teusland                        2   1  0  1    1   1   0    3
4 Sylestone                                   2   0  0  2    0   2  −2    0     E

Group H
VonHoolia 1–0 Huayramarca
The 14 Stars 5–3 Tikariot

P Group H                                   Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 The 14 Stars                                2   2  0  0    8   3  +5    6     Q
2 Huayramarca                                 2   1  0  1    2   2   0    3
3 VonHoolia                                   2   1  0  1    1   3  −2    3
4 Tikariot                                    2   0  0  2    4   7  −3    0

*Scorinated by Mertagne

by **Siovanija and Teusland** » Tue Mar 12, 2024 11:23 am

Stahlherzen.st

The #1 Online Stahl Sterzing Fanblog

The Interview: Uwe Seidl

The announcement of the return of Siovanija & Teusland to international football was widely celebrated by football fans across this country - but Stahl Sterzing supporters like us had our celebration when the squad was announced for the Di Bradini Cup. Uwe Seidl, the young hero who powered us to promotion to the top Regionalliga Stelburg and was part of an excellent first campaign, was given the #9 shirt for the junior Goldhorns - and thus became the first player from Stahl Sterzing to ever represent his country internationally. After the Goldhorns’ 1-0 loss on matchday 2, Uwe joined Stahlherzen for a quick chat about his career so far and future plans.

Stahlherzen.st (SH): Uwe, we appreciate you joining us from Valanora! Doesn’t it feel good to be playing international football again?

Uwe Seidl (US): It feels really special. I wasn’t really old enough to remember the old days, to be honest, but of course I’ve seen plenty of highlights and heard from family about just how special being back is. It’s special to be representing the national junior squad just in general, and being part of the team that returns to the competition is something I really cherish.

SH: We’ll get back to the tournament later, but let’s start with some background. Uwe, let’s be honest, our club is very beautiful but when foreign fans saw it next to your name on the roster, we’re sure they were questioning ‘who?’ You grew up in Sterzing, so tell the world: what does Stahl mean to you?

US: Well, it’s certainly a beautiful club, and having grown up attending matches even when we were in the 5th tier, it’s really an honour to wear the shirt. Sterzing is the most beautiful town in Teusland in my opinion, you have castles, mountains and the beautiful town centre that hasn’t changed all that much in hundreds of years. Getting to play for my hometown club, at a young age, I’m just really grateful for that opportunity. The club has been my life and I’m happy to give everything for the coach, but also the fans who support us everywhere we go.

SH: You were an instrumental part of Stahl’s promotion to the 1. Regionalliga Stelburg, at just 17 years old. You had 16 goals in that campaign, and the club won the second tier title. How do you reflect on that season?

US: Yeah, naturally that was my first chance with the big team, and winning a trophy in front of our fans was something special. It was great to really see how far I had come over the season, starting the year off the bench and finishing it as a starter. But to be honest? All year, we only had one goal, getting to the top Regionalliga, and that’s where my head is at now.

SH: Good, because that’s where we are going next! The Regionalliga campaign this season. You’ve had the opportunity to play in the Franz-Gorz-Stadion, the most famous stadium in the country. The Oststelburgstadion, another stage familiar to all Teus football fans. Many had written us off going into the season, but you really outperformed all the expectations to come 5th. What was the moment you will remember most about the season?

US: Playing at the Franz-Gorz-Stadion, for sure. I’ve been there before, on a visit to Stelburg, and I can’t lie to you, I have a heart for FC Teussen Stelburg as well, so it felt very special to walk through the famous halls of that stadium onto the pitch. We couldn’t hold onto the draw that day, really unfortunately, but managing to score a goal and celebrate with the away end, that was something special.

SH: We won’t hold the Teussen affection against you, Uwe. Could you see yourself playing for the legendary club one day?

US: Right now my focus is on Sterzing, doing my best job for the club and giving everything for the Goldhorns. But at the same time, is there a Teus kid who hasn’t dreamt of wearing the black and gold? I don’t know how my career will go, but it would certainly be a childhood dream fulfilled.

SH: Just as long as it’s not the club from 062. (Ed. note: the area code of Stahlberg)

US: Hahaha, no, don’t worry, I would never play for them!

SH: We’re referring, of course, to the eternal rivals of Stahl Sterzing: SW Stahlberg. Can you describe for us, as a Sterzing man yourself, what that rivalry is?

US: Yeah, sure, so Sterzing and Stahlberg are obviously quite close and we kind of have similar backgrounds: towns high up in the mountains, mining is a big profession, even similar accents. That’s where the similarities stop. In Stahlberg, they’ve really become a fully industrial city, you don’t really see any traces of history and there’s kind of a dullness to the city. Sterzing, we’ve preserved our traditions and our life, and the town is full of spirit and colour in a way Stahlberg isn’t. In Sterzing, we see people from Stahlberg as a bit arrogant, thinking they are better than they really are, and not real Westmarkers (Ed. note: the region both clubs are in).

SH: That about sums it up off the pitch, but on the pitch, it’s a different story. SW Stahlberg, of course, have a history in the Republikaliga and produced legendary Goldhorns forward Michael Ribbeck. Stahl were not really relevant in the Republikaliga era, and it was almost 22 years since the last derby match before this season. This season, we faced them 4 times. 1 win, 1 draw, 2 losses. What moment stands out for you?

US: Ah, you don’t even need to ask! The winning goal at home, obviously. Last derby match of the season, really the last thing to play for in the season for us with only a few games left. We lost the first two quite handedly, which was a big disappointment, but then we managed to draw in Stahlberg which gave us a lot of confidence. That last match, it was just a battle the whole game, we really gave everything, and then when the ball finally fell my way at the end, it was just pure instinct. I don’t even remember much of what happened next.

SH: 1-0 in the 87th minute, and Stahl won our first derby in 26 years. The fireworks, the pitch invasion, it was a special night in the history of the club. 5th place was an excellent start - Uwe, can we expect Meisterschaft football next season?

US: Hahaha, that will be a tough ask! There are a lot of incredible teams in the division. But of course, our goal is to do everything possible to get the best results for the club and finish as high as we can. Hopefully above Stahlberg this time around.

SH: Now let’s look at the Di Bradini Cup. How did it feel getting to practice and train with the squad for the first time?

US: Actually, it was a bit difficult at first - a lot of the guys have known each other for years, played with and against each other at various levels. I knew some of the Teussen boys a bit, and actually Reiner Werkner as well, but of course you’re a bit shy at first. Luckily we have a great group, everybody here gets along great and respects everyone, and I’ve been able to fit in fast.

SH: It certainly looked like you had a great deal of chemistry with Veljko Vadimic in the match against Sylestone, where you got on the end of an excellent cross for the winning goal. Veljko is obviously one of the hottest prospects in the country right now - what’s it like playing with him?

US: Yeah, Veljko is incredibly talented. I’d love to say we worked on that move on the training pitch, but you can’t script for what he can do! I was lucky to be in the right place at the right time, and he gave me an excellent chance to do what I do best. Playing with someone as capable as that, it’s all about getting in the right positions and having the confidence that you’re going to get opportunities.

SH: What’s the biggest thing you’ve learned so far from playing for the Goldhorns, be it on the training pitch or in the matches so far, that you’ll take back to Sterzing with you?

US: In terms of football, I’m learning every day on the pitch with this team, new tricks and new things to put in my own personal training plan at the club. But also off the pitch - the Teussen guys, for example, it’s interesting to see how they mentally prepare for matches, how they recover, things like that. Most importantly, though, I will take back a lot of confidence - I know that I belong here.

SH: You certainly do Uwe. Thank you so much for your time, and best of luck the rest of the way in Valanora! You have a must-win coming up on MD3 and we’ll be fully supporting you here in Teusland. We can’t wait to see you back in the white shirt in Sterzing, too.

US: Thanks guys, I appreciate it!

by **The Kytler Peninsulae** » Tue Mar 12, 2024 11:27 am

It was a historic moment when the Kytlerian Under-21s walked onto the field with their TJUN-ia counterparts at the expansive Hellgate multi-purpose venue in Raynor City. For a certain breed of dyed-in-the-wool isolationist Kytlerian conservatives - they still exist even though they no longer run the country and have been shunned by pretty much everyone else - this venue name was entirely appropriate, for another part of their carefully crafted world fell apart with this. Paula Foster, the AFC Edencliff manager taking temporary charge of this team mostly because that club side's starting front three are all both eligible for the Di Bradini Cup and more than good enough in isolation to start for it even without their established synergy, is the first woman to manage a Kytlerian national "men's" team. Except this isn't a men's team. One of those front three is Agnes Oddkellsdóttir, and there are other women - plural - in the squad. Joanne Walgrave, Bay City United's unlikely heroine at times last season (including scoring the 89th-minute goal that ended FC Alaer's 16-game unbeaten start), was on the bench alongside 18-year-old defender Vanessa Hall, but Flora Jones-Byrne was in from the start at left-back. Only fitting that AFC Carroll Lewiston, whose famed "Girl Power" side broke the NSL's Big Four stranglehold and sparked a gender-equalising revolution in the subsequent decade, would provide a starter for this historic team. (There was even gender diversity beyond that, with Alex Gunnarsbur on the bench, though they aren't the first non-binary player in a Kytlerian squad.)

It was also only fitting that the Kytlerians would take the lead with a goal catalysed by both of their female players. Jones-Byrne exchanged passes on the left with Oddkellsdóttir before playing an early cross towards Rick Flash at the near post. His shot was blocked by the covering Felicia Alba, but the ball fell kindly for the onrushing Ceedast Baspaalt to find the bottom right corner past the dive of Gloria Pon. Both TJUN-ia and the Kytlerian cultural conservatives needed some succour at that point, and they got it in first-half stoppage time when Nur Syaliza Sazali deceived Jones-Byrne off the ball to cut inside for a one-on-one shooting opportunity against Jonas Jvarsson, who could only tip the resultant shot onto the inside of the post. He may have prevented the net rippling, but the ball crossed the line and the Jaguars were level.

And so it remained for most of the second half, both teams missing chances by small margins - Maryam Doutsi's speculative daisy-cutter on the hour the closest of all as it clipped the outside of the post on its way out - before, in the 82nd minute, inspiration struck. After Baspaalt won an aerial duel, Gunnarsbur - on as a 66th-minute substitute for Stijn Beverwijk - immediately played the ball forward to Oddkellsdóttir, who had her back to goal 30 yards out with a wall of defenders behind her. She dragged the ball back towards halfway for a couple of strides, before unleashing a delightful backheel to Gunnarsbur, who had rushed in behind the Jaguars' midfield double pivot and suddenly was able to pick out Raven Lomu in front of them, with all kinds of space - and, crucially, just about onside as they played the ball his way. Lomu took a steadying touch, then thumped the ball past a helpless Pon for what would prove to be the decisive goal.

From a Vephra man to an exchange of passes between two Icelander not-men that freed up an aboriginal man to score. This truly is a team representing a young Kytlerian generation that has grown up, at last, with some sense of hope that they could represent their country at sport, a hope realised with the Giisost administration's landslide victory five years ago. And now they had a hard-fought victory over a nation in TJUN-ia who have become a regular, friendly opponent across multiple sports in this new Kytlerian sporting era, most famously at the Elephant Chess Cup where their dynasty has seemingly been passed on to the Kytlerian Scholars. There's no Kytlerian soccer dynasty in the near future - and, realistically, not the far future either, the competition is just that ferocious - but there is hope, and perhaps the sense of a foundation of the next Kytlerian team to make a senior World Cup.

Which, considering that team would also be the first to do so, is no small deal.

And the hope would continue to build in the second match, against Aphrilia. That's because Foster's Edencliff have been known for their adventurous style and haven't always matched that with defensive discipline; while only two sides scored more than their 57 goals last season, the 48 they allowed over the 30-game season was more than relegated Aardswood United. In a league with an average of 2.67 goals per game last season, Edencliff's 3.5 was the joint-highest mark.

Of course, when you look at that environment, it's perhaps less of a surprise that Foster might not leak goals when armed with defensive talent from those other, lower-scoring NSL teams (and also Edencliff's own cultured left-footed centre-back Xavier LaMotta). Multiple excellent saving tackles from Oliver Vandome of Ranford & Willsbrook (32 goals conceded last season) and plenty of industrious midfield ball-winning from Baspaalt of Newbridge Town (25 goals conceded in the second-tier Gregg's League North last season before a 1-0 win in the promotion playoff) kept the Aphrili side from developing their own patient attacks, leaving little to do for Jvarsson between the sticks. (His overachieving Zeiven City side allowed 37 goals last season, if you're counting.)

With the barely existent Aphrili threat extinguished, all Foster's charges had to do was find a way past the Junior Anchors' defensive wall. Six minutes into the second half, that is exactly what they did, Lomu and Oddkellsdóttir exchanging one-touch passes before 17-year-old Quebecois-Kytlerian Kirk Balesson - on as a half-time substitute for the injured right-back Ferrys Gackbang - simply ghosted into the right half-space unnoticed. Oddkellsdóttir looped a pass over the head of a disorientated Zachary Brimstone, who was reduced to fire and fury as Balesson blasted a left-footed shot past Alexander Thompson into the far corner. Venting his spleen at the rest of his defensive line, he would quickly pick up two yellow cards in the next five minutes for rash tackles on first Lomu and then Balesson himself, and from then on the only surprise was that there were not more Kytlerian goals incoming. None were ever going to be needed, though, and they're through to the octofinals with a game to spare.

With Tikariot and Yuezhou both losing their opening two matches - and Græntfjall not even participating in this competition, whilst losing their hosting rights for the Under-18 World Cup at the 11th hour - suddenly there is a possibility that the Kytlerians, less than a decade removed from isolation, could be emerging as the rising force in West Pavolan soccer. The sport that proved so elusive a source of even the most modest Kytlerian success in previous eras could be providing a change of tune in this one.

by **The 14 Stars** » Tue Mar 12, 2024 12:47 pm

Rivalry or pure luck?

As the youngsters from the U18 beat Tikariot now also the U21 team which is seen as a new golden generation right now slams the proverbial door on the team of Tikariot beating them in a heated match.
In the first match against VonHoolia a newcomer in the football world the Starsian team achieved a sounding three to zero win over them and this was much reason for celebrations already as they easily played the match.

After kicking off the first game it was a pretty one sided one dominated by the Starsian side playing a high pressure and high intensity game which was visible after 12 minutes when Iris Olivier scored the first goal.
A quick goal meant a head start for these young wolves as they seemed hungry for victory as stated previously in interviews, many times had they been not too successful in U21 tournaments and had more luck in U18 tournaments, this year again the U18's did surprisingly well given they weren't considered a really strong generation but had their own key players.
In the 45+2 minute another goal was scored this time it was Joanna Bressing who was the daughter of one of the better female goalkeepers in the 14 Stars Julia Bressing but unlike her she was a striker and loved scoring the goals.

In halftime not much changed no subs no warmups, everything was fine and the team got a pep talk from coach Luca Viloca who himself never had been able to reach the status of international sadly.
He had been a decent player but never one that really stood out from the rest but as a coach he had a good mentality and his positivity was very loved by the entire team that embraced this change in coaching from earlier years where results were everything.
Vonhoolia made some changes here and there but unfortunately for them it all came too late as in the second half in the 68th minute the third and last goal was scored by the Starsian side making it even more painful.
Super talent Iris Olivier scored her second goal of the day getting the crowd all fired up, she was also named as woman of the match with an outstanding preformance against a seemingly rookie opponent that yet had to grow.

They took a few days of rest after some light training before taking up heavy preparation for a clash unlike any others, it was against Tikariot a team that was tough, known and very stubborn no easy opponent to say.

In the next match the line-up remained the same, it was the strongest team they've had in years.....but it was now or never and if they won a direct qualification of the young wolves was assured.
With that kick-off a night of sensation and excitement would start as it were the players from Tikariot who within 10 minutes had the first ball in the back of net Aslaug being the lucky player to score the first of many goals to come.
While the Starsians were already in the slump after that quick goal saw their team retaliate, quick passing and good usage of the wing players who both had superior speed and dribbling skill to their counterparts, Olivier crossed the ball for Bressing to miss but Lina Hansen with a shot from long distance hammered it home as the crowd went wild over the goal.
Within 15 minutes the score was equal once more, the Tikariotans did certainly not expect such a quick equalizer, they continued to pressure the starsian defense for the rest of the first half as finally in the 40th minute Katamajaki scored the 1-2 for Tikariot.

During halftime the Starsians switched to a 4-4-2 formation, this formation changed with several subsitutes as follows

GK - Schwarz
LB - Eriksen
CB - Ares
CB - Zimmermann
RB - Snowden
LM - Hansen
CM - Corson
CM - Klein (sub)
RM - Koch
ST - Bressing
ST - Nuñez

In the second half it was quickly equalized through a goal from Bressing as Olivier and Huber had been left behind and Klein and Nunez were their replacements and this same Nuñez would also score the 3-2 not too much later.
Now the score was in the favor of the Starsians again and the crowd did not know what they were watching, they had expected a dominant tikariot but now saw a full clash between two strong teams a lovely thing to see for any fan.
As the match went on a last bit of effort sees Molyneux equalize it once again but after that goal something snaps and they start playing worse and worse and in the last minutes 80-90th minute Nuñez scores two more goals ending the game 5-3 in Starsian favor through a strong display from the two strikers up front who receive excellent assists from Koch and Klein respectively.

Every illusion was gone for the opponents but as the final whistle was blown all players and many fans swarmed onto the field into one huge crazy party so much security was unable to stop it in time.
All the players and fans were shouting and cheering on the field, they had qualified for the next round and beaten a major football nation along the way a better start of the Di Bradini cup campaign was impossible for these youngsters, they had done the same job as their U18 counterparts and beaten Tikariot.

It was the start of a dream and now in the last match they played for a perfect score but also for fun, they had done their job for now but the entire coaching staff even was full of joy complimenting about the players to the tv stations.
From the association also much praise for the achievement has been stated but also that the real challenge is only starting and that they are an inspiration to many future players aspiring to be like them.

by **Zenic** » Tue Mar 12, 2024 9:37 pm

No flukes in this Haven

It would be safe to assume that a potential letdown was on course for the Youthful Survivors after a hard fought required victory against Saterun. No one would really have faulted anyone with such sentiments. And yet they would be proven incredibly wrong.

As the Empire and Squornshelan Remnant States stepped onto the pitch, the expectation was a high scoring affair with some tension as the winner would most likely qualify and the loser would have an uphill battle on their hands. Luckily for our readers, Taisia Baylee scored early in the 11th minute off of a great through ball by Lazaro Vidal to give Zenic the lead that they would not relinquish for the rest of the match.

After a bit of back and forth action, Guilherme Kiki scored the second goal of the match, and his second of the tournament, with a header on an Imants Deodato corner in the 37th minute. Shortly after, a bit of a scuffle broke out after a desperation foul by Gastone Ewart led to a penalty in favor of the Black-and-Reds. After both parties were warned and sanctioned, Kaija Salovaara stepped up and made it a 2-1 scoreline just before halftime.

The second half had Regina and her squad come out swinging. Ugo Jan cleared the ball from just outside their box over to Vidal past the halfway mark, who headed the ball forward to Sung Kyung on the right flank. Dribbling until the opposition box, Sung held the ball up before dribbling the ball to make space and cross the ball into the box low and hard. Somehow, it ended up at the feet of Akimitsu Kenji who put it past Ismailov for the 3-1 score. 7 minutes later in the 62nd minute, Ugo Jan starred again but this time, he would be the one putting the ball into the back of the net on another Deodato corner to score the 4th Zenician goal in the match and 5th overall of the tournament. A late goal by Tahira Vongxay helped bring the scoreline to its final position: 4-2 in favor of the Youthful Survivors.

As the whistle blew, the squad and staff celebrated the victory as they realized that the other group F match of the second matchday (Saterun vs Vyktoria) ended in an entertaining 4-4 draw. Thus, Consolación Regina has already qualified for the knockout stages in her first tournament as U-21 national team manager by winning her first two matches.

Now, our young representatives square off against Vyktoria to see if this young squad can stay focused and add another accomplishment this tournament: winning Group F.

-- Koralia Dev

Koralia Dev is one of our newest and most enthusiastic writers at The Leinz Herald. A graduate from the prestigious New Citium University, Koralia graduated with her Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and has been working for the Herald covering foreign and international sporting events. We are excited to have her cover the Empire of Zenic’s return to sporting events, both domestic and international.

World Cup 81/82/83/84

© Sporting Times Daily 2024
DBC skid ends where last win occurred
by Mindy Cartwright, National Soccer Editor

The Commonwealth of Baker Park Under-21 National Team celebrated their 2-1 win over Lisander on matchday 2 of the 57th DiBradini Cup perhaps a bit more enthusiastically than another team might've done under similar circumstances, but it was a result that was a long time coming for many of the players.

Baker Park defeated Tumbra 1-0 in the Final of the 53rd DBC/74th U21WC at The Battleground in Raynor City, capturing for the Gold & Black the Youth double of victories in the U18 and U21 World Cups; but since that day it's been an empty road for the side in the Eternal Empire.

The opening day 3-3 draw against Carpathia and Ruthenia marked the 10th consecutive match winless since the Championship, and the return to The Battleground was important in more ways than just a search for a victory.
Lisander had defeated the host nation on matchday 1, meaning a second consecutive victory would see them qualify for the knockout stage with a match to spare, while a draw or defeat for BP would force a possible winner take all final day encounter against the Marauders.

As it stands, only a defeat at the Turmondale Grounds will keep the Bees out of the round of 16, although a draw between Lisander and Carpathia & Ruthenia would also allow BP to squeak through; the fixture will mark the eighth time the BP Under-21's have played at the venue, which will equal the number of appearances at the White Fortress in Gladerial for most across the 16 editions the Commonwealth have entered.

by **Saint-Jean-Jacques et Burnham-on-Stove** » Wed Mar 13, 2024 6:34 am

2nd win in a row!

Ianisle, Valanora - Saint-Jean-Jacques et Burnham-on-Stove's under 21 team has been impressive so far with two wins in a row. On matchday 2, the Tapirs won 1-0 against our Anaian neighbors, Cardenao, and Anne-Élisabeth Mongrain still haven't allowed a goal in two games. The Tapirs attacked at the 2nd minute when Morgan Klingenberg made a cross to Rodrigo Guénette-Velazquez who kicks it past Kai Chidubem and the score is 1-0. The rest of the game is Anne-Élisabeth Mongrain's story, who blocked all 12 shots on target.

The Tapirs are tied in 1st place with Semarland, both teams have 2 wins in 2 games for 6 points and they will face each other in Ianisle. Bost teams are already qualified for the round of 16, so this game will only have seeding purpose. The winner will play against a weaker opponent in theory, and the loser will play against a group winner. Guillaume Castonguay had two yellow cards and was sent off at the 81st minute, he will miss matchday 3 against Semarland and Nicolas Montpetit-Hervieux will replace him in the starting XI.

I'm actually upset that we play all of our 3 games in Ianisle and don't need to travel by train. Valanora is a beautifull scenic nation and I enjoy our train rides as much as the game itself and this year we play all three games in Ianisle, so it's unfortunate. Hopefully our round of 16 game will be played in another city so we can take the train and enjoy the landscape.

GAME SUMMARY

2nd   GOAL SAINT-JEAN-JACQUES ET BoS   Rodrigo Guénette-Velazquez assisted by Morgan Klingenberg

Chloé Bellefleur

by **TJUN-ia** » Wed Mar 13, 2024 3:49 pm

The Random Rambles of a Jaguar
with Killian Looker

Why Esportiva? The responses I received to the 1st edition of 'The Random Rambles of a Jaguar' have been nothing short of remarkable and I thank you all for your honesty and your comments when the first edition dropped. Maybe this will become a regular thing, who knows at this point, but what I can say is that I hope you all are doing OK and thank you for spending your time with me.

So when TJUN-ia was founded (a process I explained last time out), we were immediately placed in The North Pacific due to local environments and that was a relationship we were fine with. While TNP wasn't a sporting region (not in the slightest), it was a good place to base ourselves while we built ourselves from the ground up, both in sporting terms and in state-building terms. We were completely fine with partaking in international competitions representing the TNP, representing the IAC as a result and partaking in the tournament for 'Others'. We enjoyed all the formats they came up with and the fact we were 'different' by playing in the IAC...it was all a blast.

But in time, we realised we were missing out on things the sporting regions had: a regional championship in several sports and a sense of community we couldn't get from being one nation from many regions in a collection that just so happened to face each other in a regional competition. We envied community...which is why The Jaguar moved us to Esportiva. Plus, the dramatic fall of Atlantian Oceania and the rise of Arrosia in its place helped create a changing environment that helped permmiate this vision and once Kimi-Suomi moved to Anaia, we weren't afraid of making a leap of our own anymore.

Why Esportiva specifically however? Well, the Esportivan Union seemed like a good place to be for a nation looking to embed itself into a community (even if our application hasn't been formally responded to just yet). Plus it just seemed to be the right place to go, as the Jaguar explained:

""Why Esportiva? Well, the Home-General and myself felt that it would be the best fit. Going to AO seemed like a no-go, we didn't want to share Anaia with our Finnish friends and going to Rushmore? After everything between us and Cassadaigua? Nah...that wouldn't have worked. In this sense, Esportiva was the best option available"

At the same time, the fact that nations such as Hapilopper and South Newlandia were already here meant this making the transition was going to be easier than normal...so all the positives just added up.

Anyway, I think that's enough for now. Chat to you again soon!

CBZ 1-3 TJU
Rafael Silveira 21'/Belle Whitewater 18', 67', Andaya Wongsodimedjo 90+1'

SCHEDULE
MD1: vs The Kytler Peninsulae L 1-2
MD2: vs Cabo Azure W 3-1
MD3: vs Aphrilia

Di Bradini Cup 57/U21WC78 RP And Scores Thread

Di Bradini Cup 57/U21WC78 RP And Scores Thread

Rambles I

Rambles II

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