NationStates Jolt Archive

As part of their bid to broaden the appeal of international sport to a wider audience and provide an introduction for new entrants to the cut-throat world of international soccer, Kaze Progressa are hosting the Baptism of Fire Tournament. Eight teams who are set to make their World Cup bows in the WC12 qualifying tournament will get their chance to prove themselves in this mini-tournament, featuring two groups of four with the top two progressing to the semi-finals.

Sign up on this thread and be prepared to provide roleplaying - which will be heavily rewarded - and to have fun!

Teams:
Dance 2 Revolution
Abysmalistan
Lovisa
BSE Free Bovines
Gleam Street
Stalag 5
[6/8]

*bump*

The Abysmali Abysmals want to sign up to lose a few matches and to play on better pitches than 'the Swamp'.

Lovisa start inthis cup too

The BSE Free Bovines would enjoy participating in the Baptism of Fire Tournament. Please advise of start date so that I may prepare my team.

Sir Loin
Minister of Sport, Entertainment and Propaganda
Armed Republic of BSE Free Bovines

Gleam Street will join.

Yes, Gleam Street will join. Just to make sure, we say so twice.

Three spots left - we need them full like Mariah Carey needs helium!

Is it allowed to sign up puppets?

Already has been done by two nations (Rejistania using Abysmalistan, Cockbill Street using Gleam Street). So Stalag 5 are more than welcome.

Grreat, ve vill show you how to play football. :twisted:

Would love to sign up for this if spots available- so long as someone tells me whats involved/points me in the direction of an example of whats expected

Cheers all

We'll be there!

How will this tournament be run?

<tag>

Heh, KP, only 1 more post until you are at 888!

can the cid come?

The Patriots of Alex The Tall want to be in.

The Patriots of Alex The Tall want to be in.
But you are not a newbie, you already joined WC XI. Same for the Cid.

k

Welcome all.

Participants will be divided into two groups of four in the draw tomorrow. Each team will play each other once, with the top two in each group progressing to the semi-finals.

Match results will arrive in your telegram inbox daily. It is suggested that you post a roleplay on the match as this will improve future results and increase the fun of the whole competition.

Stalag 5 prroutly prrecents se squad for Se Baptism of Fire Tournament:

Goalkeeper:
Rudi "Die Mütze" Schulz (GK, 32, Headquarter Undertakers)

Defense:
Horsti Knochenbrecher Handke (DC, 25, FC Barracke 9)
Eisenfuss Müller (DC, 27, SC Wachturm)
Blutgrätsche Meier (DR, 26, Headquarter Undertakers)
Pöhler Jürgens (DL, 29, Checkpoint Drums)

Midfield:
Lunge Ferdi (ML, 23, VfB Barracke 7)
Flankengott Kramer (MR, 22, Headquarter Undertakers)
Fussballgott Simon (DMC, 24, Appellplatz Kicker)
Hans Schlagdraufundschluss (AMC, 26, Treffer Schiesstand)

Forward:
Latscher Pohl (FC, 28, Headquarter Undertakers)
Ungeheuer Heim (FC, 30, Appellplatz Kicker)

Subs:
Goalkeeper:
Gustav Schleifer (GK, 32, Headquarter Barracks)

Defense:
Klopper Miessmann (DC, 23, Hools Barracke 5)
Maurer Kieselmann (DC, 25, SC Wachturm)
Ganzlinke Sau (DL, 22, Fichte MK (Mattigool))
Hauwegdas Ei (DR, 26, Checkpoint Drums)

Midfield:
Hacke Cotti (DMC, 27, FC Barracke 9)
Renner Kowski (ML, 21, Headquarter Undertakers)
Banane Hendriks (MR, 20, Headquarter Barracks)
Manni Haudrauf (AMC, 22, Headquarter Undertakers)

Forward:
Bomber Müller (FC, 32, Hools Barracke 5)
Trickser Ernst (FC, 29, SFC Latrine)

Coach:
Ausbilder Schmidt

http://home.arcor.de/cottmann/Stalag5jerseys.jpg

Somehow this corrupt Stalag5 regime abuses our frequencies. :tantrum:

OOC: *lol* Stalag 5, I understand what the names mean!

IC: The AbysmalFA annonuces this roster for the Baptism of Fire tournament:

Goalkeeper:
Xiq (25, 1. FC Abysmal City)
Sil* (26, Abysmalia Shanty town)

Defense:
Lulu (29, BVB Desolation City)
Jurv (23, 1973 SoWhat)
Mink (28, Abysmalia Shanty town)
Stoi (19, 1973 SoWhat)
Lash* (25, Fortuna Abysmal City)
Jiddi* (18, Victoria Abysmal City)
Xenta* (20, 1973 SoWhat)
Dej* (24, 1986 SoWhat)

Midfield:
Woo (24, Victoria Abysmal City)
Clang (27, Bavaria Misery City)
Bong (21, 1986 SoWhat)
Zoing* (22, Bavaria Misery City)
Krrks* (25, BVB Desolation City)
Suuung* (17, Sike kaletri 5th team%, Rejistania)

Forwards:
Meep (20, BVB WorstPlace City)
Hri (17, 1. FC WorstPlace City)
Day (18, 1986 SoWhat)
Wung* (19, Fortuna Abysmal City)
Nada* (21, Abysmalia Shanty town)
Non* (28, 2. FC AnyplaceButHere City)

Coach: Ha~e Hangila (rejistanian citizen, lost his job at the Rejistanian third league club Sike Sekhika due to lacking successes)

*denotes substitute
%tenth rejistanian league

Anyone but the coach thinks it is highly unprobable that the Abysmals win *anything*. The Abysmalis are satisfied if the result is not a two-digit trashing.

Bovine Times

Bovines to participate in Trial by Fire Tournament

El Toro.
The Ministry of Sport, Entertainment and Propaganda announced today that a team of footballers from The Armed Republic of BSE Free Bovines will be making its international debut at the Trial by Fire Tournament set to get underway shortly. 22 of our nation's best footballers have already been chosen and have reported to the national training facility in Barnville. They will be led by coach Jack Galloway.*

The selected players are:

Goalkeepers:
1**** Devon
22** Ankole

Defensemen:
2**** Kerry
3**** Angus
4 Ayr
5 Brown
12 Charolais
13 Chianina
14 Dexter
15 Corriente

Midfielders:
6 Holstein
7 Friesian
8 Jersey
10 Piedmontese
16 Hereford
17 Romagnola
18 Simmental
19 Limousin

Forwards:
9 Brahms
11 Salers
20 Zebu
21 Santa Gertrudis

Sorry to ask- but purely out of interest wot teams are involved in the cup?

The final team list:

Dance 2 Revolution
Lennon_Marx
Stalag 5
BSE Free Bovines
Gleam Street
Lovisa
Abysmalistan
Gaadland

The draw is taking place at around 8pm. Follow it live on mIRC (server irc.esper.net, port 6667, channel #wcc) or wait for it to appear here soon afterwards.

Marxian Sporting Telegraph

GREEN LEOPARDS IN TOURNAMENT

Prime Minister Lennon Marx shocked many yesterday on the announcement that the Green Leopards would make a debut in international competitions in the Baptism of Fire Tournament. The nation's greatest player Alex Dunn who has just been readdmitted to the sporting world following a suspension for gambling was surprised by the announcement. "I would have thought he'd tell us." Dunn commented after the announcement was made. Despite his layoff Dunn has impressed coaching staff who have commented recently to anyone who would listen that he is a changed man and will start in his customary midfield role, instead of the expected bench seat. The experience he gained from playing in a number of Leagues overseas will no doubt be of some use to the Green Leopards, as will his crossing, and despite not being named captain he remains confident he will command a presense on the field. "I lost two years in my prime to Match fixing, Im going to make sure that my teammates realise just how stupid match fixing is." Captain Richard Deck of the Cartine Springs Cougars, who are well represented in the national team was praising of Dunn. "We have learnt a lot from him already in training camp, and we cant thank him enough for his commitment to the team." Dunn and old mate Craig Backshaw will be the veterens of what is a decidedly young looking team.

The Squad
First XI
Craig Backshall (Los Alamino African Endangered Rhinos) GK, 30
Richard Deck (Carine Springs Cougars) DC (C), 25
Troy Willis (RodCliffe Rebels) DC, 21
Scott McGinnis (Rodcliffe) DR, 18
Heinz Marx (Werbrone Wizards) DL, 20
Alexis Timms (Cartine Springs) DMC, 18
Alex Dunn (No club) MR, 31
Anil Shah (Palyton Pirates), ML 22
Alex Brown (Carine Springs) AMC, 16
Graeme Obrien (Dancraig Dinosaurs) SC 20
Hasan Sheikh (Werbrone) SC 27

Reserves
Damian Monteleone (Rodcliffe) GK, 24
Martin Clayton (Dancraig) D/M C, 22
Mike McGurie (Cartine Springs) M R/L 19
Patrick Beck (Werbrone) DR 23
John Arles (Palyton) DL 26
Andrew Yang (Los Alamino) AM R/L/C 23
Rick Dawes (Ketoine Kickers) SC 21.


The last four reserves were later announced-
Mick Bothan (Ketoine) SC 25
Arthur Edwards (Palyton) DC 24
Rick Edwards (Palyton) ML 20
Paul Rickars (Orphod Rock Olympic) D C/L 19

The draw has been made. Delays have been caused by an egg-throwing protest outside the K-Arena, Kaza, where the draw was to take place.

GROUP A
Lennon_Marx
Lovisa
Abysmalistan
Gleam Street

GROUP B
Gaadland
Dance 2 Revolution
Stalag 5
BSE Free Bovines

Match schedule:
DAY ONE [Friday 6th]1v2, 3v4
DAY TWO [Saturday 7th] 1v3, 2v4
DAY THREE [Sunday 8th] 1v4, 2v3
SEMI FINALS [Monday 10th] Winner A vs 2nd B, Winner B vs 2nd A
FINAL and THIRD PLACE PLAYOFF [Tuesday 11th]

All dates are dates of telegramming of results: results are posted next day.

great. Its excellent time for our team, who trening for World Cup and European Championship.

I hope we are the best in this tournament. :wink:

great. Its excellent time for our team, who trening for World Cup and European Championship.

I hope we are the best in this tournament. :wink:

great. Its excellent time for our team, who trening for World Cup and European Championship.

I hope we are the best in this tournament. :wink:

you shouldnt have any trouble getting past us!!

Matchday 1 results are about to be telegrammed - you should have them by the time you read this.

And here's a complete list of the fixtures and their locations:

MATCHDAY 1

Lennon_Marx v Lovisa [K-Arena, Kaza]
Abysmalistan v Gleam Street [Mount Doori Arena, Quarua]

Gaadland v Dance 2 Revolution [The Flatpack Arena, Storavora]
Stalag 5 v BSE Free Bovines [Harry Potter Stadium, Pageas]

MATCHDAY 2

Lennon_Marx v Abysmalistan [Daurama Dome]
Lovisa v Gleam Street [Spearman Stadium, Ugiata]

Gaadland v Stalag 5 [Cheese International Stadium, Frizkao]
Dance 2 Revolution v BSE Free Bovines [The Flatpack Arena, Storavora]

MATCHDAY 3

Lennon_Marx v Gleam Street [Spearman Stadium, Ugiata]
Abysmalistan v Lovisa [Mount Doori Arena, Quarua]

Gaadland v BSE Free Bovines [Harry Potter Stadium, Pageas]
Dance 2 Revolution v Stalag 5 [Cheese International Stadium, Frizkao]

SEMI FINALS

Winner Group A vs 2nd Group B [Daurama Dome]
Winner Group B vs 2nd Group A [Harry Potter Stadium, Pageas]

THIRD PLACE PLAYOFF [Mount Doori Arena, Quarua]

FINAL [K-Arena, Kaza]

The Abysmal times

Abysmalistan started lucky
The Abysmalistanians started with an unbelievable amount of luck into this tournament. Abysmal players scored 3 goals in the previous match: two against the oppenent Gleam Street, one goal against themselfes. Ha~e Hangila said after the match, that at the end the 'deciding bit of luck' lacked, goalie Xiq said that even that bit of luck was missing in Abysmalistan since the place exists.

The Abysmals had some problems in the beginning of the match, because the pitch differs incredibly from Abysmal pitches. Since in Kaze Progressa is much better weather than in Abysmalistan, the pitch was not at all swamp-like or at least muddy. Perhaps the Abysmal confusion allowed it Gleam Street to archieve the first goal in the 2nd minute. Whole Abysmalistan expected the match to end at least two-digit, but Ha~e Hangila apparently was able to motivate the players, so they at least pretended to attack and defend not-that-bad. Despite this, Gleam Street extended the lead to a 0-2 in the 37th minute.

It started to rain in the 40th minute and at half-time, it started to rain cats and dogs, the weather atarted to get really abysmal or even abysmalistanian. 'You call it bad weather, we call it home-advantage' Ha~e Hangila was overheard. The Abysmals played less bad. During one Abysmal attack, Meep tripped over his own feet. The referee thought, that a Gleam Streetian had fouled him and warned the Streeter and awarded a free kick to the Abysmals. Hri shot it and he did a thing, which no one expected: his shot sailed past the goalkeeper and was counted. suddently the score was only 1-2 against the Abysmals. the second goal was even more unbelievable: Meep's shot hit at first a bird, which was flying by and then the ball bounced into the goal. Suddently the score was at a level, which no one would consider possible: 2-2 for the Abysmals. In the 87th minute, a cross from Stoi to goalie Xiq decided the match: Xiq couldn't reach the ball and it rolled into the goal. At the end the Abysmals were the team, which scored more often, but the Streeter were the ones to win the match.

Didn't get any telegramm. :cry:

GREEN LEOPARDS UPSET LOVISA IN DEBUT

In their international debut at the K-Arena in Kaza, Lennon Marx stunned their more highly fancied opponents from Lovisa 1-0 to the amazement of travelling fans in the stand. A rather boring match saw only 6 shots on target throughout the entire match as both teams attempted to make sure that they could salvage at least a point. The first half saw little action other than a flurry of yellow cards to a number of the Green Leopards team. On the hour mark, Alex Dunn showed why he was the first player from teh country to become an overseas professional, crossing perfectly to Graeme O'brien who headed the ball just wide, but three minutes later in a carbon copy of the move Obrien was fouled in the air and the referee had no hesitation in pointing to the spot despite the replay suggesting there was minimal if any contact. Dunn stepped up and cooly slotted the ball to the right of the Lovisa goalkeeper for the only goal of the match. Dunn's celebration in which he mimed passing money on to a teammate earnt a fairly tough reprimand from the LMFA but was well taken by those in the stands who roared with laughter upon seeing it. Alex Brown who was largely ineffective and Hasan Sheikh were both taken off within 5 minutes to make way for the defensively minded Martin Clayton and Arthur Edwards as the Green Leopards backed off and setup fort in front of the 18 yard box, and were lucky not to give away the lead in the 78th minute when a nervous backpass from Edwards caused momentary trouble in the Leopards defence which luckily did not lead to a goal.

After the match, many of the players were too exhausted for words, though Captain Deck congratulated the Lovisa team, "They played very well, and were extremely hard to break down and we look forawrd to another match between the two nations at some point." Coach Anton Lewis was a little less guarded. "Words cannot describe how proud I am of the players today, their endeavours were simply heroic and I can't ask any more from this young team. I tell you what, this is what I as a coach live for, to see my team play as confidently as they did today makes me feel so incredibly proud."

The jubilant scenes from fans at the ground after the match showed that the People of Lennon Marx are able to accept Soccer into their lives, whilst still supporting cricket, which at domestic level at least has always been sport number one. The entire nation is expected to await with baited breath the last two matches of this round in order to see whether they can in fact make it into the knockout stage, although LM's next match against Abysmalistan is expected to be a closely fought encounter, although with fine weather expected as a result of the match being played indoors at the Daurmara Dome, this could be to the Leopards advantage.

Bovine Times

Bovines Debut with Magical Draw

Pageas. The Bovines took the field today for the first time representing their nation in an international tournament. A small but very vocal group of fans chanted ?BSE, BSE, BSE? as the team emerged from the tunnel into the magical atmosphere of Harry Potter Stadium. At the start of the match, both teams wanted to hold the ball as much as possible in an attempt to figure out their opponent's strategy and to calm down their nerves.
Stalag 5 appeared to gain their footing first, as they settled down and started passing the ball very effectively after the 30th minute. Midfielders Flankengott Kramer and Fussballgott Simon showed great skill winning and moving the ball and giving their big attacker Ungeheuer Heim several chances before the end of the first half. Bovines goalkeeper Devon showed remarkable positioning and luck saving a point blank shot from Heim in the 41st minute. Stalag 5 finally broke through in the 44th minute. Again it was a play started by Simon deep in his own half . He intercepted a slow pass by Piedmontese at the top of the arc and quickly found Kramer running down the right sideline. Kramer floated a beautiful pass from about 25 meters out and found Heim at the penalty spot. Heim jumped over the Bovine defense and sent his header into the left corner of the net beyond the reach of a diving Devon.
The Bovines showed little offense in the first half, managing only long range shots against the net defended by Schulz. Their best chance came in the 40th minute, when the twins Holstein and Friesian combined for a defensive stop in midfield and passed the ball to Piedmontese. For the first time in the game he managed to beat Schlagdraufundschluss with a quick move and blasted a shot from 20 meters before Simon could close him down. The shot seem to hit Muller and nearly wrong footed Schulz. Neither Brahms nor Salers, who were slow all day could get to the short rebound.

At the start of the second half, Bovines coach Galloway pulled his experienced attackers Brahms and Salers in favor of the youngsters Zebu and Santa Gertrudis. He also pulled Brown from defense and inserted Romagnola into the midfield. The changes paid off quickly, as Zebu and Santa Gertrudis combined for a give and go in the Stalag 5 area. This time Schulz could not stop the short range shot of Zebu and the score was even at 1. Romagnola also appeared to slow the Stalag 5 midfield combination of Simon and Kramer with several pass deflections early in the second half.

The Bovine midfield stumbled again in the 80th minute. Handke cutoff a Piedmontese pass to Zebu and connected with Schlagdraufundschluss for a quick counter attack. The ball was squared to Kramer who faked a run and passed to Ferdi who was wide open on the left. Ferdi managed a beautiful pass to Heim in the Bovine area. The big man showed a fine touch getting the ball to Pohl who was pulled down by Angus and Ayr. Both Bovines were shown the yellow card for the tackle and the ball was placed on the PK spot. Heim scored easily sending a hard low shot past Devon.

The Bovines applied pressure for the last part of the match. But the defensive combination of Muller, Handke, and Schulz always seemed to have an answer. In the 90th minute, Romagnola stole the ball in midfield and quickly found Friesian on the right side. Friesian raced down the sideline step for step with a tiring Ferdi, as Simon approached to help, the Bovine midfielder found Piedmontese on a diagonal run. The quick pass pulled Jurgens and Muller out of position allowing Santa Gertrudis to sneak in behind the defense. The Piedmontese pass went between the two Stalag defenders and to Santa Gertrudis, all of the Stalag 5 defensemen raised their hands calling for offsides, but the assistant referee's flag stayed put. Santa Gertrudis placed a low hard shot past a stunned Schulz.

Stalag 5 coach Ausbilder Schmidt was overheard to say ?wir wurden beraubt,? on his way off the pitch. Bovine translators said that meant ?Good luck on your next match, comrade.?

Coach Jack Galloway said that he was pleased with the team's performance. ?My players did not know what to expect today. They were very nervous in the first half. The first goal from the opposition seemed to wake them up.? Asked about his substitutions in the second half he said, ?Well our attack was non existant in the first half, Salers and Brahms were standing around, I had to do something. I was pleased with the play from my two youngsters Santa Gertrudis and Zebu, they showed me some heart out there.? Asked about the substitution of Romagnola for Brown he explained, ?Brown was doing fine, but I wanted a better open field defender to deal with the combination of Kramer and Simon in the middle. Romagnola is the better man for that type of job.?

Coach Galloway said that he was hoping to watch the other match in Group B when he returned to the hotel. "Hopefully, Mrs. Galloway remembered to hit the record button on the VCR before she went shopping today."

OOC @ BSE: And Pageas have a pretty good set of shops. Not quite as good as Kaza, but still good. Especially along the seafront.

Great RPing so far guys... here's the results in full.

GROUP A

Lennon_Marx 1 Lovisa 0 [K-Arena, Kaza]
Abysmalistan 2 Gleam Street 3 [Mount Doori Arena, Quarua]

GROUP B
Gaddland 1 Dance 2 Revolution 3 [The Flatpack Arena, Storavora]
Stalag 5 2 BSE Free Bovines 2 [Harry Potter Stadium, Pageas]

Day 2 results are being TGed in the next few minutes, so check your TG boxes now as you should have the result there.

Wahrheit
The only truth

Wir wurden beraubt

Headquarter The transmission of Stalag 5's first interregional football match was interrupted by BSE terrorists. Therefore our great people could not see, how our brave team was cheated.
Although the far better team they were cheated by the referee, and BSE (this name speaks for itselfs) succeeded a lucky draw.
Ausbilder Schmidt: "Guten Morgen, ihr Luschen!! Was a good match, Heim made the goals. Referee stole our victory. Wegtreten!"

Wahrheit
The only truth

Stalag 5 blitzkriegs Gadland

Headquarter Our glorious Football team battles down Gadland last night. After 2 minutes Heim made his 3rd goal in tournament. Fussballgott Simon sent the ball down the right flank to Flankengott Kramer, who broke trough the still sleeping Gadland defense. He then crossed the ball to the near post, where Ungeheuer Heim's header let te Gadland keeper no chance. Ausbilder Schmidt then tried out a new tactic, which he called the big wall. The ten field players had to build one row and Gadland did not seem to know the offside rules. 60 times the offside trap did work. It was a wonderful example for Stalag 5 discipline.

The Abysmal times

Abysmalistan bewitched?
The Abysmals have archieved their second close defeat, close at least for Abysmal standards. The final score was 0-2 but it didn't reflect the match accuratly since 2 Marxian goals were disallowed due to questionable offside decisions. Coach Ha~e Hangila said to reporters: "Sh*t happens!"

The Abysmals started again with an offensive 4-3-3 formation or to say it more accurately: they tried to play agressively and the total lack of tactical play was intended to be a 4-3-3 formation. They had not one single chance in the first half. The only thing which resembled a chance was as in the the 30th minute a shot of Meep missed the goalswidely. The Marxians however were the clearly superiour team: their first chance in the 3rd minute was parried by goalie Xiq, who either had the skill to be at the right place at the right time of fell down and grabbed the ball while falling. It is not exactly clear what exactly happened. Until the 15th minute, Xiq could parry the numerous chances. He surely was the least-bad player of the match. In the 15th minute, a fast shot of Alex Brown was too fast for Xiq but the referree disallowed the goal since he saw Alex Dunn in an offside position. Only two minutes later, the Marxists archieved the second goal which was counted. A header by Hasan Sheikh was high for the abysmal goalie. The score was 0-1. The Abysmals tried to attack to equalize the score, but they had no no-failure. In the extra time of the first half, Graeme Obrien scored the second goal for the Marxists. This time it was a bit strange since Hasan Sheikh and Graeme Obrien outsmarted the whole Abysmal defense.

The second half saw few chances for the Marxists and no chances fot the Abysmals. The Marxists prefered to play defensively to secure their lead from abysmal flukes and the Abysmals had no hope to get past the Marxists defense.

Lennon Marx Breeze Past Abysmalistan-through to next round

Just 24 hours after the amazing performance against Lovisa in their international debut, Lennon Marx brushed aside the strong Abysmalistan team with a confident 2-0 win and in the process booked a place in the semi-finals. Prime Minister Lennon Marx after hearing the result has declared shall the team win its final 1st round match against Gleam Street at Ugiata's Spearman Stadium their will be a public day of celebration in our fine nation. The game started positively for Lennon Marx as the team reverted to a more attacking 4-4-2 formation than the one used against Lovisa yesterday. After 10 minutes, a pin point through ball from Right Defender Scott McGinnis split the defence open and Graeme Obrien despite being through on goal was unable to slot it past the Xiq, who acrobatically saved, forcing a corner from which Hasan Sheikh rose above Lulu and Mink to head the ball over the bar. On 25 minutes Heinz Marx, son of our leader was carried off the field with what appeared to be 2nd degree burns as a result of colliding with a flare thrown by what had previously been a decidedly mild crowd. Marx was later released from hospital, as while the burns appeared at first to be quite severe the medical staff assured Marx and his teammates that they werent as bad as expected- Marx should play in the semi final. Palyton's 26 year old Left Defender John Arles who had been a surprise selection into the national team came on for his debut and on half an hour executed a glorious give and go with Palyton teammate Anil Shah before crossing the ball into a waiting Alex Brown, who after letting it bounce ripped a roaring piledriver from the edge of the area that burst past Xiq and into the top corner for Brown's first goal in over a year in any competition, having spent the last 10 months out with a torn ACL ligament. The play for the rest of the half was decidedly dull as both teams appeared happy to play out the half without much exertion. Following a rather stern warning from Coach Lewis about the dangers of being only a goal in front, the Green Leopards blazed out of the blocks, but apart from a number of wasted chances (the most glaring being Timms' shot from 6 yards that sailed 30 feet over the bar) they had little to show from it. Finally on 78 minutes Backshall fired the ball forward to where Sheikh capitalised on confusion between Mink and Stoi to intercept the pass and teed the ball up nicely for Obrien who made no mistake from 10 yards, Xiq in the end palming the ball into the goal. Despite complaints of offside from the Abysmalistan defence, the goal stood and the Green Leopards were on the way to victory. That goal was the last action for the match for Obrien who left the field with a mild ankle strain but should be ready for the Gleam Street match. One player who wont will be his replacement, Los Alamino's Andrew Yang who two minutes aftercoming on the field, recklessly went in two footed on Woo and was promptly sent off, LM down to 10 men for the last 10 minutes, as Lewis took off Man of the Match Brown immediately for lanky defender Edwards as LM elected to sit back on the box and invite Abysmalistan to attack them. This tactic worked out fine and Lennon Marx came away from the match 2-0 winners, and yet to concede a goal to either opponent thus far in the tournament.

Again Deck was most gracious in victory songratulating the opponents for their game. "As I always say, the has to be two teams for a soccer match, and we could not have asked for fairer opponents than Abysmalistan, we just hope Heinz is ok." Brown had this to say. "We knew when we were drawn to play Abysmalistan here it would be more difficult for them than us, with the immaculately prepared pitch which is something we hear they dont experience often at home, but they performed well and I must say I'm astounded by some of the saves Craig [Backshall] made today to keep the cleansheet- they should have scored, simply put."

This win assures Lennon Marx of at least second place on the table with two wins from two matches, and should the Group A match be a draw, the Green Leopards wil win the group. Otherwise they will have the last game against Gleam Street to achieve that honour. No doubt the fans at home are stunned and exhilerated by the performance so far by their national team. Up to 5000 Lennon Marx Nationals have already bought tickets for the final group match. A great day for our young nation.

Welcome back to Evening Sport and Entertainment on BSE television. I am your host Talkin Head Maxx. For the second half of tonight's show we leave the familiar names and faces of the Premier Rodeo and Bull Riding League and turn our focus to football. This is a relatively young sport in our country, but it has caught the attention of our youth, specially those living in our growing cities.

For the first time in history a team of footballers has gone outside our borders to represent our country in the Trial by Fire Tournament in Kaza. Yesterday our national team, the Bovines as they like to be called, tied the team from Stalag 5 2 - 2. This was the first point ever earned by our footballers in the international stage.
Coming up on your screen are the results of all day 1 matches. I remind those listening in on the short wave simulcast that it is pointless for you to stare at your radio.

TRIAL BY FIRE TOURNAMENT
RESULTS DAY 1
GROUP A
Lennon_Marx 1 Lovisa 0 [K-Arena, Kaza]
Abysmalistan 2 Gleam Street 3 [Mount Doori Arena, Quarua]

GROUP B
Gaddland 1 Dance 2 Revolution 3 [The Flatpack Arena, Storavora]
Stalag 5 2 BSE Free Bovines 2 [Harry Potter Stadium, Pageas]

I am happy to report that earlier today our national team earned its first ever victory in international football. The Bovines beat a tough team from Dance 2 Revolution by a score of 1 - 0. The game took place in the Flatpack Arena in Storavora. We have a couple of highlights for you and remind you that the today's match will be shown in its entirety at 2300 hours, and simulcast on short wave for our radio audience. As always the Ministry of Sport, Entertainment, and Propaganda encourages all citizens that are not working to watch.

This is 15 minutes into the first half, the Bovines are in their blue kit moving from left to right. Here is Romagnola intercepting a Revolution pass in midfield. He passes the ball to Holstein on the right, Holstein shows some good pace getting by the Revolution defender and crossing a beautiful ball into the area. Piedmontese rises above the Revolution defense and heads the ball just over the crossbar. At the 30 minute mark, Piedmontese spots the youngster Zebu on a diagonal run in the area. Zebu attempts to slot the ball in the top right hand corner of the net, but is denied by the woodwork.

Moving on to the second half, the Bovines are now moving from right to left. At the 60 minute mark, the youngsters Zebu and Santa Gertrudis combined on a beautiful give and go at the edge of the area. Zebu broke through the Revolution defense and pushed the ball into the far post just out of reach of the keeper. That was the only goal the Bovines needed today.

Coach Jack Galloway wasted no time switching to a defensive lineup. He took advantage of the 5 substitute rule of this tournament and took out the attackers Zebu and Santa Gertrudis, the midfield tandem of Holstein and Friesian, he also removed Angus from the backline. He replaced the attacking players with midfielders Hereford, Simmental, Limousin, and brought in the defenders Brown and Chianina. The Bovines had no trouble hanging on for the last 30minutes as they formed a double defensive line in front of Devon and allowed the Dance 2 Revolution team only long range shots.
I spoke with coach Galloway shortly after the end of the match and here is a portion of that interview.

THM - Congratulations coach, things are going well in the tournament?
CJG - Yes Maxx, I am doing very well how are you?
THM - Thats good coach how is the team?
CJG - Mrs. Galloway is fine also, she had a wonderful time shopping yesterday in Pageas. I don't know what she planned to do during today's match.
THM - Thats terrific coach, can we talk about the TEAM?
CJC - My boys stayed back in BSE they couldn't get off from school. I hope they are behaving themselves.
THM - THANKS COACH. Always a pleasure. And now back to the studio.

The Abysmal times:

National team lost first time ever
The Abysmali Abysmals have archieved the first loss in the Baptism of Fire tournament. The other losses were seen as a win in Abysmalistan according to our motto: "A small loss is a high win! A draw exceeds expectation!" Lovisa trashed the team 1-5. The Abysmals should get used to it, since it will happen often in the world cup. coach Ha~e Hangila was not available for comment since he started senseless aggression against unanimate objects.

Everyone thought that the Abysmals couldn't get worse than against the Marxists - well, they were proven wrong. The first half saw 4 skillfull lovisan goals and one hideous own-goal of the Abysmals. The Abysmalistanian defense was nearly non-existant. Xiq, the only nearly-non-bad player of the team couldn't play because he was suspected to have influenza. Sil replaced him. The half-time result was 0-5 against the Abysmals.

In the second half, the Abysmals attacked as they could but it was without any success for 44 minutes. Lovisa played only defensive because they didn't want to disgrace the Abysmals anymore. In the 89th minute however, the Abysmals had a chance to score. again an arguable penalty kick was awarded to the Abysmals. Bong shot it and archieved the only goal for the Abysmals in this match.

The Abysmals leave this tournament without gaining one single point and still are "far beyond expectation" according to the chief of the FA, Il. he expected the Abysmals to concde at least 15 goals in the three mathces while they only conceded 10 and shot 3 goals against the opponent.

Green Leopards March On
Ugiata. The Green Leopards marched on to the semi-finals of the Baptism of Fire Tournament, maintaining their 100% record, despite conceding their first ever goal in Internationals in a well fought match against Gleam Street. Playing in front of Prime Minister Lennon Marx who arrived this morning after the amazing events in the NSIRC, a full debut was given to John Arles who performed magnificently against the Abysmalistan team, when he was forced to replace Heinz Marx after the incident with the flares. It was Arles who on 25 minutes gifted Gleam Street a goal after he slipped on the edge of his own box, the ball intercepted by the Gleam Street Striker and buried passed an ailing Backshall, visibly affected by a sickening collision with Deck minutes before when defending a corner. This effort confirmed to Coach Lewis the backup keeper was required and Monteleone was brought on for Backshall, who in an MRI following the game was revealed to be fine and is expected to start in the Semi-final. Monteleone's first ation very nearly was to pick the ball out of the net, after a header from a Gleam Street forward cannoned into the crossbar, and the followup was blazed inches wide. Slowly the Green Leopards began to get back into the match, Brown missing a sitter on 35 minutes, and Shah forcing a maginificent save 2 minutes later. From the ensuing corner, Willis rose above the defence to head the ball in off the crossbar and the teams went into the break on level pegging. Following stern words from Lewis and a change of personnel during the break; Rick Dawes coming on for the vastly ineffective Obrien, LM dominated the play in the second half, a number of miraculous saves denying Dawes, Sheikh, Dunn, Brown and Timms. However, just five minutes from time, McGinnis teed the ball up for Brown, who from just 30 metres from his own goal launched on a run, beating 6 defenders in the process before laying the ball off for Sheikh who scored the winning goal, which dribbled in, as a result of a horribly mis-hit shot that nevertheless made it past the out of position Gleam Street goalie. The scenes following the goal were that of jubilation, as the LM nationals in the crowd went absolutely wild, realising theyd have to increase the length of their visas in order to be present for the knockout stages.

The reaction from the players was inspiring, completing a lap of honour, whilst their fans sang triumphantly the National Anthem "Peace Is Just A Green leopard Away." In a postmatch interview McGinnis was overheard to say "We are so greatful to our hosts at this tournament, who couldnt have prepared a better event, the pitches we have played on have been nothing short of sensational. We can't wait for the knockout stages- this competition has pushed towards what will hopefully be a reasonable World Cup campaign, but we want to finish this off here first." Captain Deck was quick to pay respect to the other team. "They dominated us in the first half, and we were lucky not to be down at the half, but we just seemed to override them in the second half- WE WON THE GROUP!!"

The public reaction at home was no less excited, television sales going through the roof as the public embraces their nation's great showing thus far

Bovine Times

Bovines Playing for Draw Come Up Short in the End

PAGEAS
The Bovines obviously playing for a draw and a chance to move on to the knockout round of the Trial By Fire Tournament stumbled today against a well balanced Gaadland side. Coach Jack Galloway fielded a young and defensive minded team for today's match in Harry Potter Stadium.

Gaadland started the scoring in the 10th minute after Corriente fouled a Gaadlandian defender making an overlapping run on the right side. The ball was placed about 20 meters from goal. The Gaadlandian cross found the head of an unmarked central defender who had moved up for the set piece. He buried the ball into the net, not giving reserve keeper Ankole a chance. Gaadland struck again in the 35th minute with a well timed run from midfield by their play maker. He beat two Bovine players and dashed into the box where he looped the ball over a charging Ankole. The Bovines got one back in the 45th minute with an overlapping run by Dexter down the right sideline. He bulled his way down the field and sent a hard cross into the Gaadlandian area. The ball seemed to deflect off a couple of players before rolling into the back of the net. Simmental was credited with the goal even though it was unclear whether he actually touched the ball in the scramble. The halftime whistle blew with Gaadland ahead 2 ? 1.

Gaadland wasted no time extending their lead in the second half. In the 50th minute their playmaker struck again in a dangerous run from the midfield. This time he teamed up with another Gaadlandian player at the top of the box for a quick give and go that seemed to confuse the Bovine defensemen. The Gaadlandian showed no hesitation as he smashed a rising shot past a diving Ankole. The Bovines responded in the 65th minute on a free kick from about 20 meters and just to the left of the Gaadlandian goal. The youngster Limousin sent a hard left footed shot bending over the Gaadlandian wall, the keeper managed to get a hand on it but could not get it around the post. The Bovines spent the rest of the game searching for an equalizer, but it was not to be as they were denied by great defensive plays by the Gaadlandian keeper and his central defenders. At the final whistle it was Gaadland 3 ? Bovines 2.

The Bovines have four points in the group and now must await the result of the Stalag 5 ? Dance 2 Revolution match. A win or draw by Stalag 5 would put both teams through to the next round.

Wahrheit
The only truth

Stalag 5 makes it to Semi-Finals

Headquarter Our proud and glorious nation now has another reason to look down to these countries calling themselves nations. Our brave national football team is winner of Group B in Baptism of Fire Tournament and made it to the semifinals. A draw against Dance 2 Revolution (they should better fight instead of dance) was enough. Coach Schmidt again tried the big wall tactic. Some people said that it was a boring match but they do not understand the tactic. In fact its just a lesson for the players to keep discipline. Our glorious team already showed how to play football and they'll show it again when they will have reached the final. In the meantime they are excercising in front of their hotel.

SEMI-FINALS
Lennon_Marx vs Dance 2 Revolution
Lovisa vs Stalag 5

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Lovisa in semifinal!

We are very happy, because Lovisa go to semifinal.
Of course now it will be a very hard match for us, because Stalag 5 is very good team.

Semi Finals beckon

We'll see how the semis go, but it appears to me that Group B may have been the stronger group- bizarrely enuff tho the Green Leopards go in 6-4 favourites with the bookies. On behalf of the entire nation of Lennon Marx we wish all four remaining teams good luck, lets hope the games are well fought.

The Green Leopards squad for the semi final

Damian Monteleone (GK)
Scott McGinnis (DR)
Richard Deck (DC)
Troy Willis (DC)
Heinz Marx (DL)
Alexis Timms (DMC)
Alex Brown (AMC)
Alex Dunn (MR)
Anil Shah (ML)
Hasan Sheikh (FC)
Graeme Obrien (SC)

Brown and Shah reasonably lucky to keep his place, whilst Backshall couldnt quite get back to full fitness in time

Welcome to Evening Sport and Entertainment on BSE television. I am your host Talkin Head Maxx. The Bovines failed to advance to the knockout round in the Trial by Fire Tournament. Yesterday's 3 x 2 loss to the team from Gaadland sent the Bovines and their fans packing.

Our reporter on the scene is J. Michael Badger he is trying to get some player reactions as the team prepares to leave for the airport..

THM Can you hear us J. Michael?

JMB Yes, Maxx I hear you loud and clear. The biggest news out of the Bovine camp today is the fact that the team bus seems to have left for the airport without any of the players or coaches on board. We have an unconfirmed report that Coach Galloway's wife had the entire hotel staff bringing packages and luggage down from her room to the bus. It appears that the bus departed shortly afterwards. Some players arrived in time to see the bus rounding the corner and speeding off in the direction of the airport. Now there is complete pandemonium as players and coaches attempt to reach the airport before the scheduled departure of their return flight to El Toro.

THM The flight is a charter, can't the airline just wait for the team.

JMB No, it seems that the airline wants the plane back in passenger service as soon as possible and will not delay the departure for more than a few minutes. Maxx I just remembered, I am booked on that flight as well and I have to get to the airport. This is J. Michael Badger signing off.

Wahrheit
The only truth

Lovisa vs Stalag 5

Headquarter Stalag 5 will meet Lovisa in semi-final of Baptism of Fire Tournament, a rather unknown team. They won against Abysmalistan 5:1 and lost against Lennon Marx. It is still unknown how they played against Gleam Street. Ausbilder Schmidt stated that this is probably another deliberate handicap to our team by the hosts. "First no information to Stalag 5 about our match aginst BSE, now no information about our next opponent. But we are used to this kind of politics, because everybody fears our glorious team. To show you our disdain I'll tell you which team will play."
GK: Schulz
Defense: Handke, Müller, Sau, Ei
Midfield: Ferdi, Simon, Haudrauf, Kramer
Attack: Pohl, Heim

D2R Times


Lennon_Marx 0 - 1 Dance 2 Revolution(AET)

Today, Dance 2 Revolution Managed to beat a well organised Lennon_Marx team, but barely. In the 23rd minute, goalkeeper Paul Handplant sliced a passback, which hit the bar. Luckily for the D2R International Team, things got better. in the 42nd minute Genom Maeda was stopped from scoring his 3rd of the tournament by a combination of Defender, Goalkeeper and Post. The 2nd half was very uneventful, except for a Sending off for replacement Left Back Karl Samba. Lennon_Marx took advantage off the hole in the defence, only to be denied by Paul Handplant and the solid defending of the two Central Defenders, who forced extra time.
It did not take long for Dance 2 Revolution to get off the mark in Extra Time, after a clearance was poorly dealt with and left Jack Vivid to stylishly lob the Lennon_Marx goalkeeper in the 94th minute. Tired and annoyed, the Lennon_Marx strike force tried a last minute attack, but denied by the bar again. Eventful match, especially for the woodwork.
D2R Times' Man Of The Match: Alexander Stomp

Green Leopards Lose In Extra time
After a number of chances for both teams in what was a largely defensive match, the full time score remained scoreless, forcing extra time. Tired and confused in what was the Green Leopards first ever experience of such an event (drawn cup games in Lennon Marx are replayed) they were outplayed in extratime the fatigued Deck gifting a goal after chronically underhitting a clearance. Worse to come, was two minutes later when keeper Monteleone whilst attempting a goal kick, tore a hamstring muscle, forcing him from the game, which was held up two minutes for the injury. Having used all 3 substitutes, Coach Lewis appointed Graeme Obrien, who has some limted goalkeeping experience, and the team were probably lucky not to concede more goals than they did, especially when three minutes in to the second half of injury time when Alex Dunn kicked back at Stomp, the referee sending Dunn off, and the Green Leopards down to nine men. The eventual end of the match was marked by a very gracious LM team shaking hands and swapping shirts with the Dance 2 Revolution players.

The tournament has taught the green Leopards much about international sport, and the team will be looking forward to the third place playoff. However they are expected to be crucified, as with niether goalkeeper being fit, Obrien will again have to play between trhe poles. Dunn, as a result of his red card will also sit the match out and Andrew Yang, will make a full international debut in his place.

Wahrheit
The only truth

Stalag 5 sent home Lovisa

Headquarter Success, success! Our glorious football team is through to the final of Baptism of Fire Tournament. The blitzkrieg goes on. Fussballgott Simon's ideas were the offspring of the victory. His unbelievable passes tortured Lovisa and fed Ungeheuer Heim who scored for the fourth and fifth time. His headers were an all time danger to the Lovisa goalkeeper, who was lucky when the match was over.
After 10 minutes Heim made his first goal. Fussballgott send the ball down the left flank, Lunge Ferdi made his way, passed to Pohl, who saw Heim near the box. Heim won the header against Lovisa's keeper.
Five minutes later Heim scored again, when Lovisa's keeper tried to clear and the ball hit Heim's head.
In the final Stalag 5 will meet the revolutionary two dancers. They should be no match for us.

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Lovisa lose.

Lovisa lose with Stalag 5 in semifinal 2-0.
We congratulations Stalag and i hope You win all tournament.
We are prode with team who start in world first time. This was are very good time and place for training before World Championships.
And We hope in WC play better.

Ich finde Stalag 5 ist am besten team in The Baptist of Fire tournament.

Gute spiele. :wink:

Well Lovisa, we meet ur fine team once again- what an honour- afterall ur fans dont throw flares...

D2R Times

D2R survive Baptism of Fire Final!

Stalag 5 1 - 2 Dance 2 Revolution (AET)

After 120 minutes of play, D2R are the Baptism of Fire Winners. This did not start off easy, in the 5th minute, a defensive miscommunication by D2R left the Stalag strike force to rattle the net with an extremly powerful shot, unsavable by Handplant. Though the power on the shot was unnecessary from 8 yards out, Stalag did not regret. The ball seemingly was glued to the middle of the park in what became a scrappy 1st half with an astonishing 32 fouls overall, not what the F.A. would call 'Fair Play' really. The 2nd half started off better for D2R, after the first 7 seconds of play, a shot by Paul Double hit the upper side of the bar, a warning of things to come by D2R, but Miracles were performed by the Stalag GK and D2R were ready to accept defeat, but a life line came from the penalty spot, as in the 92nd minute Genom Maeda was taken down just inside the box by a very hard tackle, and with Maeda out, the secondary penalty taker had to step up, of course Jay-Jay Step was not going to miss and sent the goalkeeper the wrong way. Extra time followed, with the 1st half of extra time being rather boring, with no real chances either end. But the 2nd half was more interesting, Stalag hitting the woodwork 3 times in a row, and Handplant saving an amazing Overhead attempt, but it was D2R who would go to win in the 114th minute, a powerful volley from the edge of the box was beyond the keeper. Another Extra Time win for Dance 2 Revolution

Lennon Marx 2 Lovisa 0- Green Leopards win Third place
After being unceremoniously dumped out of the main draw by Dance 2 Revolution, The Green Leopards regained some pride, taking out third place in a display that left all 16000 attending LM fans suitably impressed. The team they fielded today was markedly different to the original lineup, with Obrien filling in as goalkeeper, Mike McGurie filling in for the suspended Dunn and Rick Dawes replacing Obrien up front.

Right from the opening whistle the Green Leopards had Lovisa's measure as they came out by far the more attacking, and the game was to flow much more easily than it had in the team's first meeting, and they were not slow in capitalizing on their advantage. After 10 minutes, McGurie's excellently flighted corner ws knocked down by Sheikh for Dawes who slotted past Lovisa's ailing keeper, to score his first International goal and delight the Marxian fans. Five minutes before the half, a superb run by McGinnis from his own box, brought him to 20 metres out before he let rip with a ballterror that literally burst out the back of the net. 2-0 up at the half, LM laid back in the second half and were nearly made to pay on a number of occasions but for Obrien's amazing set of saves, they may have lost the game. the striker-cum-keeper showed his more experienced teammates a thing or two about keeping, putting in a Man of The Match display and keeping a clean sheet, whilst at the other end, only one shot was hit, from 35 yards and that blazed over the top. In the end, the Green Leopards a little lucky to keep the clean sheet, but happy nonethless with third place. "We would have preferred to get to the final, obviously," Deck commented following the game, "but third place and a chance to go to WC 13 will help our advancement immensely." A hearty thankyou to the hosts Kaze Progressa and their organising of the event and the way they assisted us all the way- a good job and the strawberry and cream in the press box- just delicious- hopefully some countries we visit in the future will have the cullinary abilities of the People here, a hard place to leave. But off to LM we head in waiting for the next tournament. This has been Andrew Tomms at the Baptism of Fire Tournament for the Marxian Sporting Telegraph saying we hoped you enjoyed our coverage of the tournament

Cheers all

This is Ausbilder Schmidt:" Want to congratulate D2R to their win of Baptism of Fire Tournament. Was a nice match. Was our first defeat in interregional football. Also want to thank the hosts of this tournament to give us the opportunity to get used to interregional football. Thank you."

Congratulations D2R. :wink: