NationStates Jolt Archive

Scores will be telegrammed.

Teams [Rank in square brackets, ranks used are from FHWC8 due to FHWC10 ranks being unavailable; unranked teams are given a rank of 35]

Liverpool England [4]
The Belmore Family [1]
Rejistania [2]
The Weegies
NEWI Cefn Druids [13]
Druida
Sarzonia
Cockbill Street [8]
Aquiliana
Total n Utter Insanity [500]
Lower Biswald
Lovisa [26]
Vilita
Castillanos
Mountainsea
Sanctaphrax
El Dorrado [16]
Clearwater [29]
Kaze Progressa [3]
New Manhattan [7]
Almeric
Dance 2 Revolution
Sliponia [5]
Talzeckia

Group Draw will be done tomorrow.

Estimated Completion Date of Cup: Hopefully by start of footie WC19Q, latest by middle of WC19Q

Sliponia Bombers
http://www.ohahockey.org/development/logo/bombers.gif


Goalkeepers:
no. Name
1 Nicholas Toombs*
2 Rodney Will


Defenders:
no. Name
3 Jimmy Sackett*
4 Harold Pridemore*
5 Gregory Dawson
6 Marvin Godoy
7 Steve Byrum*


Utilitary Fielders:
no. Name
8 Jeffery Samuels
9 Samuel Danielson*
10 Jose Pharr
11 David Mayers*
12 Nathan Giese*
13 John Vandiver*


Attackers:
no. Name
14 Larry Loftin*
15 Jeff Milan
16 Kenneth Mosqueda*
17 Raymond Pierre
18 Bryan Moses*

(*denotes starter)

Can someone give me an idea what a Roster should look like? Is it like Ice Hockey? :)

The Sarzonia Streaks (starters in BOLD)

Coach: Chris Marchment

GOALKEEPERS:
1 Dave Finney (Castleton College, Bausch): This 19 year old won the starting job with his catlike reflexes and his quickness in the cage. His inexperience may prove costly.
30 Ben Hanna (New Jerusalem Jurors, semipro): On the verge of retirement until the national team came calling, may still earn some playing time at 35 years old with his 12 years of semipro experience.

BACKS:
2 Kevin Faulkner (Woodstock City College): Led all defenders in minutes played in the top college league for three straight years. Only an ankle injury his freshman year kept him out of the lineup all four years. At 22 years old, he's expected to have a bright future ahead of him.
4 Bill Houlder (New Daurmont Dragons, semipro): Only took up field hockey his senior year of high school but scored two goals and added one assist in limited playing time. At 24 years old, he's not as experienced as some younger field hockey players on the team.
5 Casey Johnson (Ravenna Rollers): A mainstay behind the first (and so far only professional team in Sarzonia, he usually has marking responsibilities for the opposing team's top forwards. At 28 years old, he is the team captain for his club team and for the national team.
8 Cal Thompson (Portland Pride, semipro): This 26 year old has been playing field hockey since he could pick up a stick. Has great offensive capabilities and often shifts into more of an attacking midfield role when Marchment sends in a defensive player late in the match.
9 Ken Harvey (University of Somerset): This junior has a lot of pure speed, but very little experience in positioning defense, so Marchment will look to keep this 21 year old on the bench until he can improve.
11 Ben Adams (Benatar State College): A sophomore, Adams often shuts down opposing forwards and attacking midfielders, but at 20 years old, he needs more experience before Marchment will try him against internationals.

MIDFIELDERS:
7 Jonathan Candele (University of New Isselmere): This 22 year old set a team record for assists in a season with 19 and added four goals. He is good at distributing the ball, but is lax defensively at times.
10 Brad Ritchie (Rypien Rockers, semipro): At 26 years old, one of only three players over the age of 25. He will be looked upon to provide some steadying leadership for the team since he has been a team captain on his team before. He is known for being aggressive defensively and has spent a lot of time in the penalty box.
12 Jordan Diehl (Woodstock Wizards, semipro): Diehl is known for a deadly accurate left-handed shot from the wings, but struggles in the middle or as a right sided midfielder. Probably the best all-around player on the team. 24 years old.
13 Quentin Barker (Townshend Community College): Just out of high school, the 18 year old earned a starting position on the team by playing heads-and shoulders above the other midfielders in his spot. He has some of the best offensive moves of anyone on the team and the hardest shot on the team. Scored a school record 26 goals for Townshend.
14 Hayden Jeffries (Cooke State University): Jeffries was the overwhelming favorite to start at right midfield until Barker beat him out. He took his demotion well, supporting Barker and the rest of the team and will likely be the first player off the bench for Marchment. At 22 years old, still has improvement ahead of him.
15 Carson Manchester (Saugerties Silver Strike, semipro): The 21 year old elected not to go to a four year university and signed with the Slither after community college. He may go in to play midfield if Marchment sends Barker to join the attack.

FORWARDS
3 Jody Johansson (Nicksia Guides, semipro): Scored a league leading 18 goals in the short season league the Guides play in. As a pure striker, needs service from a playmaking midfielder to be effective. 24 years old.
16 Cory Denton (Rypien): Can serve as distributing midfielder in a pinch, but is better suited to playing up front since defense is not his strong suit. At 21 years old, decided to forego college for a semi-pro career.
17 Paul Linden (Saugerties): Tremendous bench player, but struggles when he starts up front. Scored eight goals in a reserve role for the Silver Strike. At 22 years old, trying to improve his standing on the team.
18 Jake Lamar (Woodstock): Can play either midfield or forward, but with a shortage of pure forwards, he is on the roster in that position. At 23, expected to challenge for a starting job in the future.

It's 10 field players plus 1 keeper.



http://www.usfieldhockey.com/hockey/rules.htm
http://www.fihockey.org/vsite/vcontent/page/custom/0,8510,1181-116515-117782-13003-39980-custom-item,00.html

The rejistani domestic league did suffer from the lack of international competition, but it remained existent. The Asene Hokeji Rejistaniha (Rejistanian (field) hockey association) declared Ini Sil coach of the national team after Xatri Y and Sa-Tri On refused. Ini Sil coached domestic club Sike Sesil before.

The roster:
Miki I Jil (gk)
Kaderi Elin
Meme Ji
Nana Sigil
Sajik He~nji
Keku Takil
Minil Kimi~l
Hamil Venjil
Atasixi Y
Ka~nsu Venisil
Mingil Sane~l

Substitutes:
Esedi Ha~eta (gk)
E~nna Ji
Syku Meke
Nana Sil
Himii Isdil

Vilita Field Cats

Goalkeepers:

Kire Tichaud
Javiato Genzalioao


Backs:

Gal Ochayon
Errundia Morrais
Letande Motak
Rijato Loaina
Joaub Ritaskla

Utilitary Fielders:

Paul Imhof
Pasquale Sordoni
Itker Hultarea
Poail Mustaek
Utane Revdom
Pbaiy Gaksni


Attackers:

Gianni Tonelli
Octav Lupescu
Sijbrand Chenia
Yaobuh Moian
Maurizio Plandaa

Success may be a few 'streaks' away

The Sarzonian national field hockey team began its first practice before its World Cup debut with Coach Chris Marchment concerned the Streaks "can even string two passes together."

"We have a very young team," Marchment said. "Only three guys are older than 25 and we only have one guy who could be considered a full professional. This team is going to have a lot of growing pains in the World Cup."

Unlike other World Cup competitions, which usually result in a national league forming, Sarzonia currently has no plans to establish a professional field hockey league. The sport is little more than a niche sport in many states throughout Sarzonia and attempts to secure financing for a league failed.

"That's going to be a problem for us," said defender Casey Johnson. Johnson, 28, is the only professional player on the Streaks and plays for the only professional team in the country, the Ravenna Rollers. "Other countries have leagues and have support in their sporting communities for field hockey. We don't have that as yet."

Marchment said the long delay between the 10th World Cup and this World Cup may benefit the Streaks.

"There are a lot of teams in this World Cup that are going to be new, and some teams that have played before may be rusty. At least that's what I'd like to think," Marchment said. "If we played the defending champions, it's possible that they might not have played together in a while or they might not even be the same team that hoisted the trophy last time. We might be more level than we think we are."

The team is looking to emphasize a defense-oriented system, a rarity in Sarzonian national team sports.

"We just don't have the experience to play a more wide open style of hockey," midfielder Brad Ritchie said. "Perhaps if we do well here, we'll be able to play more aggressively in a future World Cup, but right now, we have to make sure other teams don't score on us."

That task is going to be up to young goalkeeper Dave Finney. Finney, 19, won the starting job in tryouts and the team's minicamp with sheer athleticism but is short on experience. He hopes to use his quick reflexes to keep the ball out of the back of the net.

"It's going to be a challenge but I look forward to it," Finney said. He could have been speaking for the entire team.

Tigers want to tame Streaks

Unlike the country that orginiated it, the people of the colony of Talzeckia are huge field hockey fans. Where Sarzonia struggled to form one professional team that is reduced to barnstorming tours and playing semi-pro teams and college all stars, the Talzeckian Hockey Association has just concluded its fourth season with a 12 team league.

The Talzeckia Tigers are hoping to get their colonial masters in group play and would like nothing better than to "clean their clocks," Coach Harry Cartwright said.

"We want to show Sarzonia that we're viable on the world stage," Cartwright said. "We have our own culture, our own way of life."

The Tigers are led by all star goalscorer Kenneth Bremont, who scored 24 goals last season in the THA. Combined with a backline that averages 6'1" 185 pounds of pure muscle and blinding speed, and the Tigers expect to make a lot of noise in the tournament.

"The playing field is pretty level," Bremont said. "We've got some great athletes here and we think we can do some serious damage here, especially if we face those damn Sarzonians."

Sanctaphrax announce with great regret that they will not be able to participate or host this world cup due to being attacked by a nazi nation. (See II)

Official Announcement:
-The cup will be wholly hosted in Liverpool England
-Oddslavo [rank 10] will replace Sanctaphrax.

Group 1:
Liverpool England
Oddslavo
El Dorrado
The Weegies
Mountainsea
Dance 2 Revolution

Group 2:
Rejistania
Cockbill Street
NEWI Cefn Druids
Sarzonia
Vilita
Americ

Group 3:
The Belmore Family
Sliponia
Lovisa
Aquiliana
Castillanos
Talzeckia

Group 4:
Kaze Progressa
New Manhattan
Clearwater
Druida
Lower Biswald
Total n Utter Insanity

MD1 is being telegrammed.

Tables
Region 1 Pts W D L GF:GA GD
1. Oddslavo 3 1 0 0 6:1 5
2. Liverpool England 3 1 0 0 5:1 4
3. El Dorrado 3 1 0 0 2:1 1
4. The Weegies 0 0 0 1 1:2 -1
5. Dance 2 Revolution 0 0 0 1 1:5 -4
6. Mountainsea 0 0 0 1 1:6 -5
Region 2 Pts W D L GF:GA GD
1. Cockbill Street 3 1 0 0 4:2 2
2. NEWI Cefn Druids 3 1 0 0 2:0 2
3. Almeric 3 1 0 0 3:2 1
4. Rejistania 0 0 0 1 2:3 -1
5. Vilita 0 0 0 1 2:4 -2
6. Sarzonia 0 0 0 1 0:2 -2
Region 3 Pts W D L GF:GA GD
1. The Belmore Family 3 1 0 0 6:0 6
2. Sliponia 3 1 0 0 5:0 5
3. Lovisa 3 1 0 0 4:3 1
4. Aquiliana 0 0 0 1 3:4 -1
5. Castillanos 0 0 0 1 0:5 -5
6. Talzeckia 0 0 0 1 0:6 -6
Region 4 Pts W D L GF:GA GD
1. Kaze Progressa 3 1 0 0 16:0 16
2. Druida 3 1 0 0 4:2 2
3. New Manhattan 1 0 1 0 4:4 0
Lower Biswald 1 0 1 0 4:4 0
5. Clearwater 0 0 0 1 2:4 -2
6. Total n Utter Insanity 0 0 0 1 0:16 -16

Scores are in your TG boxes.

Bombers Blow Out Castillanos
Sliponia unleashes five goals.

LIVERPOOL ENGLAND -- The Sliponia Bombers opened up the Field Hockey World Cup XI with a commanding win over Castillanos five to nil. Nicholas Toombs played a spectacular game and came away with the first shut out of the year.

"They couldn't put together a decent shot between the ten of them," Nicholas said. "I almost fell asleep in goal!"

Three different Bombers scored in the game last night. Here is the scoring recap:

Bryan Moses (3)
Kenneth Mosqueda (1)
Larry Loftin (1)

The Bombers await their next opponent, but are unsure as to whom that is, as the host nation has not shared the playing order. Sliponia is confident about moving on, but this will be a difficult task with the top-ranked Belmores lurking around. The Belmore Family currently has a one goal lead on the Sliponia Bombers.

Tigers toothless against Belmore Family, 6-0

The Talzeckian field hockey team was optimistic entering the tournament. They had their sights set on facing their colonial masters in Sarzonia and beating them, but when the Tigers were drawn in Group 3 instead of Sarzonia's Group 2, they realized they had a different challenge ahead of them.

Defending champions The Belmore Family proved the long layoff between World Cups had little effect on them and dominated Talzeckia 6-0.

"We just didn't do anything right," Coach Harry Cartwright said. "They're one of the best teams in the world -- if not the best -- and they showed why. We have a long way to go."

Cartwright tried switching goalkeepers, starter Yancey Jackson was replaced with nine minutes to go in the first half by backup Kerwyn Lacey after allowing four goals, but Lacey didn't do much better. He allowed both goals on just four shots as the Belmore Family took a 6-0 lead into the half. They pulled off the throttle, generating only three shots on goal in the second half.

The Tigers will try to lick their wounds and play a better match against a team that should give them a better chance to win.

"We can't get much worse, I don't think," Cartwright said.

Streaks strike out vs. Druids

The Sarzonian field hockey team was not expecting to light the world on fire with its first match against a highly rated opponent, but they were hopeful of playing at least competitive hockey against regional rivals NEWI Cefn Druids. They accomplished that task, but fell short on the scoreboard, losing 2-0.

"We just couldn't get any scoring chances going until late in the match," Coach Chris Marchment said. "When that happens, you're going to have a hard time winning a hockey game."

The Streaks' best chance came in the 64th minute off the stick of midfielder Cal Thompson, who went forward with the team trailing 1-0. His one-time bid rebounded off the goalkeeper's pads and onto the stick of a Druidish defender who then cleared it out of danger. NEWI Cefn Druids outshot the Streaks 16-8 for the game.

Goalkeeper Dave Finney almost singlehandedly kept his team in the match, making several acrobatic stops to keep their Druidish opponents off the score sheet as much as possible, but he couldn't make up for a leaky defense. Thompson whiffed on a clearing attempt and the Druids' top forward made him pay, pouncing on the ball and firing a wrister past Finney in the 26th minute.

From there, Finney frustrated the Druidish offense several times when his defense gave up near point-blank shots, but he couldn't get to a 68th minute bid by the Druids' hotshot young forward.

"Davey's exhausted," defender and team captain Casey Johnson said. "I don't blame him. We didn't do our parts to help him out."

"We dun got da ball in the net 16 times."
Daniel Belmore

"Duhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh."
Jeremy Belmore

"I like peaches."
Ally Bellend

Junis-Omeh'ny back in action

Yes, that's right, the Junis-Omeh'ny started as we all expected them to start: With a loss on the first day. Through many tournaments, the first match was a ma'ta-viki'het ("unwinnable thing") and again was the tradition active: Almeric used every mistake of Ini Sil's team to increase the score or to attempt to. The Junis-Omeh'ny had too short time for preparation and were often lacking the experience as a team, so much too often misunderstandings occured. Sil'he commented later: "Lose a few, win a few, we're not out yet!"

The result:
Almeric 3
Rejistania 2 (Venisil 5th, Y 43rd)

Former Champs 'whip booty'
1st Half News:

The Belmore Family have marked the return to Field Hockey World Cups with a 6-0 trouncing over Talzeckia. The nerves were edgy going into the match, not having played a match since the historic match in Newi Cefn Druids when we overcame Rejistania 6 -5 . But these were released when the game started;

The first goal came from John Goshawk who, after recieving a beautiful through pass from Alec Mitchel slotted the ball into the back of the goal with the keeper rooted to the spot giving us a 1-0 lead. However, after that goal there were a few close moments especially when Talzeckia were awarded a penalty corner. It was flung back to their powerful number 10 who took a swipe at it. Herreros-Syomons was rooted to the spot as the ball flew into the goal. Luckily for the Belmorians the ball just missed the backboard, giving us a 16, with the goal disallowed.

However, it only took us another 5 minutes to be totally pressurising the Talzeckian defence. And when Dalia had the ball on the left wing and sweeped it into the center, with the goal-keeper lying on the floor having missed the ball it was left to Thomas Baly to tap the ball over the line increasing our lead. But again, Talzeckia hadn't given up all hope, their number 9 had a moment of sheer genius in getting past Dungate and hitting the ball into the feet of Wickersham. With the Belmorians getting ready the Talzeckians seized their oppertunity and smaked the ball into the center of the D where their number 9 managed to get a stick to it and was unlucky not to score as Webb-Martin got a stick to the ball as Herreros-Symons lay on the ground and the ball headed for the top left hand corner.

However, as Webb-Martin hit the ball, TBF were on a counter attack and Alan Belmroe had the ball. It was Baly and Belmore on their keeper. The entered the D, their defence ran as fast as possible to catch up. Belmore flicked the ball into the air, over the keeper, where Baly smashed the ball down and into the goal, 3-0! Now, after the restart Talzeckia looked more down hearted. the 3-0 deposit against the reigning champions would not be one that was easily caught up, but they were aware that they game was still only 25 minutes through and there was 55 left.

However,all dreams of a comeback were shattered as The Belmore Family charged on. As Vivaldi got the ball on the right he pulled in towards the D, seeing that his marker was closely floowing him, Vivaldi cunningly puklled the ball back and blasted it into the center of the D where Alan Belmore managed to get a touch and send it spirling away from their keeper. With only 9 minutes left of the first half, the Talzeckians changed their keeper from Yancey Jackson to Kerwyn Lacey. But this was meley as sign of weekness to the Belmorians who, after the shock resignation by Oli Gadd last night only had one goal-keeper.

This lead to one of the most comical moments in Hockey. as the pushback went to their number 8, he saw the 2 advancing Belmorians (Baly & Belmore) played the ball back to their number 4, who was, incidentally, not expecting the ball. looking up and shouting at others he didn't notice the bal coming back and it was left to the goal keeper. Baly was running in close. The Keeper had the ball under control and for some reason blasted it into Balys stick. The ball flew straight back at him and into the goal. We were up 5 goals to the good with Tom Baly getting a hattrick.

However, I'm sure Belmorians all over the country could not forget the WC10 final, surely we would not be the Rejistania and lose a 5-0 lead. And I'm sure the whole nation breathed a sigh of relief when the goalie lied on the ball in the D resulting in a penalty flick. Alec Mitchel Stood up and placed it in the back off the net. 6-0 Belmores into the break

While the nation's attention is focused on the crazy luck of the football team in Bedistan, over in Liverpool England there was a true destruction in progress as the field hockey team racked up sixteen past the comedy side of Total n Utter Insanity.

It is rumoured that the Insanicans will concede sixteen goals from the start in all games, then block the face of the goal almost totally as far as possible within the rules of hockey. Conspiracy theorists blame the formula.

For the anal among you, the goals were scored by Bahria Bitunsu (x6, the first double hat-trick in FHWC history and with these Insanicans no doubt not the last), Quaza Quazia (x4), Mert Ayuira (x3), Jaulinta Quanz, Arista Tiatuto and Arista Azinait.

The four real opponents in the group await. The playtime is over. The challenge begins in earnest.

FHWC will be stopped, pending results of appeal to the WCC. Puppets should not hosts cups, and if they appeal doesnt work, the whole FHWC will be shut down. I'd like you guys to understand that I put in quite some effort, and HOPE, into my World Cup bid. And now, my bid was beaten by a bid with the PUPPET OF A NATION THAT HOSTED THE PREVIOUS CUP [greedy fella].

FHWC will be stopped, pending results of appeal to the WCC. Puppets should not hosts cups, and if they appeal doesnt work, the whole FHWC will be shut down. I'd like you guys to understand that I put in quite some effort, and HOPE, into my World Cup bid. And now, my bid was beaten by a bid with the PUPPET OF A NATION THAT HOSTED THE PREVIOUS CUP [greedy fella].

As much as I want to keep playing, I support you decision.

FHWC will be stopped, pending results of appeal to the WCC. Puppets should not hosts cups, and if they appeal doesnt work, the whole FHWC will be shut down. I'd like you guys to understand that I put in quite some effort, and HOPE, into my World Cup bid. And now, my bid was beaten by a bid with the PUPPET OF A NATION THAT HOSTED THE PREVIOUS CUP [greedy fella].

If this does happen, which we sincerely hope it doesn't, The Belmore Family will resume as head of the FHWCC and delegate the duty of hosting to someone else. Don't waste this LE, this is going great.

Let me rephrase. The cup will go on. This is just a temporary halt until the WC mess can be sorted out.

Bumping for all the other nations involved.

Tigers announce roster
Coach: Harry Cartwright

Starters in BOLD
Goalkeepers
00 Yancey Jackson
1 Kerwyn Lacey

Defenders
2 Joe Cundiff
3 Marty Clark
12 Geoff Crane
15 Tom Gregory
8 Mark Hanson
11 Wilson Alexander
16 John Orwell

Midfielders
8 Chad Stinchcombe
19 Harvey Benson
17 Vladimir Bogonozki
20 Darren Lansing
21 Brian Terrence
25 Harry Langdon

Forwards
10 Kenneth Bremont
22 David Carson
29 Louis Alcott
33 Brad Wilcox

EDIT: Scores will be TGed soon, but if you can figure out your score from the tables, go ahead and RP.

NM/CH: New scoring record, 18-0 vs. TnUI

Region 1 Pts W D L GF:GA GD
1. Oddslavo 6 2 0 0 10:2 8
2. Liverpool England 6 2 0 0 7:2 5
3. El Dorrado 3 1 0 1 3:3 0
4. Mountainsea 3 1 0 1 5:6 -1
5. The Weegies 0 0 0 2 1:6 -5
6. Dance 2 Revolution 0 0 0 2 2:9 -7
Region 2 Pts W D L GF:GA GD
1. Cockbill Street 6 2 0 0 10:5 5
2. Rejistania 3 1 0 1 6:5 1
3. Vilita 3 1 0 1 7:7 0
4. NEWI Cefn Druids 3 1 0 1 4:4 0
5. Almeric 3 1 0 1 6:8 -2
6. Sarzonia 0 0 0 2 3:7 -4
Region 3 Pts W D L GF:GA GD
1. The Belmore Family 6 2 0 0 9:1 8
2. Sliponia 4 1 1 0 7:2 5
3. Aquiliana 3 1 0 1 9:7 2
4. Lovisa 3 1 0 1 5:6 -1
5. Talzeckia 1 0 1 1 2:8 -6
6. Castillanos 0 0 0 2 3:11 -8
Region 4 Pts W D L GF:GA GD
1. Druida 6 2 0 0 7:4 3
2. New Manhattan 4 1 1 0 22:4 18
3. Kaze Progressa 3 1 0 1 19:9 10
4. Clearwater 3 1 0 1 11:7 4
5. Lower Biswald 1 0 1 1 6:7 -1
6. Total n Utter Insanity 0 0 0 2 0:34 -34

Bombers Draw Talzeckia
Sliponia keeps up offensive attack.

LIVERPOOL ENGLAND -- Sliponia bombarded Talzeckia with two goals but unfortunately allowed two goals. Sliponia fell behind early, 0-2, but then battled back to make everything equal on the board, 2-2. Nicholas Toombs was interviewed about his performance.

"They had some good shots, but I think I did the best I could," Nicholas said. "I let up two goals early which I feel terrible about, but I managed to keep them out of the net the rest of the game. My goal for our next match is go for another shut out."

Bryan Moses had both goals last night bringing his cup total to five goals.

The Bombers await their next opponent, either Lovisa, Aquiliana or the Belmore Family. Sliponia is confident about moving on, but this will be a difficult task with the top-ranked Belmores lurking around. The Belmore Family currently has a two point lead on the Sliponia Bombers.

Streaks score, but lose to Vilita

The Sarzonian national field hockey team finally put the ball in the back of the net against the Vilita Field Cats, but unfortunately for the Streaks, their defense was shaky, conceding five goals en route to a 5-3 loss that put the Streaks dead last in Region 2.

"We just didn't mark as tightly as we should have," Coach Chris Marchment said. "As well as we played against the NEWI Cefn Druids, we played as poorly against Vilita. We failed in all aspects of the game except perhaps offense."

Forward Cory Denton scored the first goal in Streaks' history 18 minutes into the match, pouncing on a loose ball near the Vilita goal and slammed the ball past goalkeeper Kire Tichaud for a 1-0 lead.

However, Denton's elation at putting his team in the lead for the first time was short-lived. Vilitan forward Gianni Tonelli split the defense, including Casey Johnson, the Streaks' only professional player, who bit on Tonelli's fake and slammed the ball past goalkeeper Dave Finney in the 21st minute to draw the game level at 1-1.

"I think we'd all like to have that [sequence] back," Johnson said. "We're all accountable for how poorly we played. Myself included."

Vilita was not done. Midfielder Pbaiy Gaksni earned a penalty corner and took full advantage, burying a shot past Finney and into the net in the 27th minute. Marchment sent in reserve goalkeeper Ben Hanna to try to settle the team down, but he gave up three goals in the next four shots, forcing Marchment to send Finney back into the game.

"I tried to spark the team and send a message to Dave, but it didn't work," Marchment said. "I have to be careful that I don't destroy Dave's confidence."

The Streaks scored twice shortly after intermission, but could get no closer as the Field Cats tightened up defensively and didn't allow a shot on goal for the last 27 minutes of the match.

With a record of 0-2, the Streaks clearly are in need of some help.

"Things are going to have to get better from here on out," Marchment said. "They can't get much worse than last place, even if you're Total n' Utter Insanity." The TnUI side lost 18-0 against New Manhattan.

Tigers sharper but can't hold win

The Talzeckian field hockey team got a couple of firsts in its match against Sliponia: It's first goal (Kenneth Bremont in the eighth minute after a penalty corner) and its first standings point, but the Tigers gave up two goals to Bryan Moses and walked off the field with a 2-2 draw.

"We're disappointed that we didn't get the full three [points for a victory]," Coach Harry Cartwright said. "That being said, we're glad we got at leasts something. That's more than I can say for Sarzonia."

The Streaks lost to regional rivals Vilita 5-3, dropping them in last pace in Region 2. Meanwhile, the colonial team has one point and is in fifth place in Region 3.

Midfielder Darren Lansing made the score 2-0 after a breakaway led to a goal in the 22nd minute. Lansing beat Nicholas Toombs top shelf with a blistering drive that left Toombs little chance to stop it.

"It felt good to get the first goal out of the way and get the first standings point, but we've got to do a better job of closing the door," Cartwright said. Goalkeeper Yancey Jackson made a marked improvement over his outing against The Belmore Family, making 18 stops, but each one of Moses's two goals "should have been saved," Cartwright said.

Cartwright said goalkeeper Kerwyn Lacey would start his first match of the World Cup.

"We may as well see what we've got there," Cartwright said. "I'd rather have my guys have more experience at this stage of the World Cup."

Field Cats After Regional Honors

-------------------The Vilitan Field Cats are one match away from taking home Regional Bragging rights from the Field Hockey World Cup, after taking down the Sarzonia Streaks 5-3.

-------------------Gianni Tonelli starred for the Field Cats, with the relatively unknown Forward coming through with a handful of goals, thrusting him into the World Spotlight, and already capturing the attention of the media. Tonelli however, refused to comment after the match, and through a friend indicated the team was very focused on the NEWI Cefn Druids match.

-------------------The Druids have already beaten Sarzonia 2-0, so Vilita would come out Victorious with just a draw against the Druids. A draw would see the teams level on points and goal differential, however Vilita would capitalize having scored more goals against Sarzonia to take the first ever Atlantian Oceania Performance Trophy* from the Field Hockey World Cup. Sarzonia have already been eliminated from contention following two consecutive losses to AO Opposition in their opening two Field Hockey World Cup matches.

For the anal among you, the goals were scored by Bahria Bitunsu (x6, the first double hat-trick in FHWC history and with these Insanicans no doubt not the last), Quaza Quazia (x4), Mert Ayuira (x3), Jaulinta Quanz, Arista Tiatuto and Arista Azinait.
OOC: Only because I didn't RP NM 8-1 NEWI... http://terranordalis.thirdgeek.com/images/smiles/icon_wink.gif

The New City Picayune – Computer-generated doesn’t mean low quality!
Dragons Burn Insanicians, Reclaim Record
LIVERPOOL ENGLAND—The Dragons, New Manhattan’s international field hockey team, reclaimed their record for the highest-scoring FHWC match from the Progressans today, defeating (a huge understatement) the Insanicians 18‒0. Total n Utter Insanity started out with a style fitting for their name, surrounding the goal in an effort that could only be called System Karela. In the 4th minute, an Insanician player used an unusual device to run through Manhattanite players and score a goal. After a complaint from Dragons player Steve Simmons, the Capitalizt referee confiscated the device and exchanged it for a large stack of Manhattanite simoleons. Coach Chris Mrzigod quickly attached the device to the ball and let Simmons hit it, watching it fly past the Insanician barrier and into the goal. The remaining 85 minutes were entirely uneventful as the Insanicians allowed 17 more goals, one more than what was needed to break Kaze Progressa’s 16‒0 scoring record.
Final Score—FHWC9 First Round MD3:
New Manhattan 8* (Tohill 9, 16, 25, 37, 62, Mencia 20, 48, 71)
NEWI Cefn Druids 1 (<Druid> 85)

Final Score—FHWC11 First Round MD1:
Kaze Progressa 16* (...)
Total n Utter Insanity 0

Final Score—FHWC11 First Round MD2:
New Manhattan 18* (Simmons 5, 16, 32, 34, 46, 65, 83, Parmalee 8, 30, 83, 84, Golian 29, 70, Warmington 36, 69, 82, Rinkel 53, 59)
Total n Utter Insanity 0

*indicates FHWC scoring record

No Jas' today

The matches between the druids and the Rejistaniha'ny always have a special quality. The last matches had seen a number of own goals for both sides. At one part, rejistani goalie Janake I Jasra even advanced to the third position of the Druidish top-scorer list. this time, two very offensive teams met and both sides had their share of chances. once it looked as if the new rejistani goalie Miki I Jil would concede an own goal too, but the ball, which he tried to parry went centimetres off. The fierce rejistani attacking was successfull in the end: Y'he (who indeed reminds a bit of Xatri Y) and Mingil Sane~l brought the Rejistaniha'ny ahead and despite late goals of two Trevors, the team was victorious.

Rejistania 4 (Y 9th 36th 51st, Sane~l 18th)
NEWI Cefn Druids 2 (Trevor 52nd 56th)

Day 3 Tables
If you can figure out your scores from the tables, feel free to RP. TGs on the way.

Region 1 Pts W D L GF:GA GD
1. Oddslavo 9 3 0 0 13:4 9
2. Liverpool England 9 3 0 0 12:3 9
3. El Dorrado 6 2 0 1 8:4 4
4. Mountainsea 3 1 0 2 6:11 -5
5. The Weegies 0 0 0 3 3:9 -6
6. Dance 2 Revolution 0 0 0 3 3:14 -11
Region 2 Pts W D L GF:GA GD
1. Cockbill Street 7 2 1 0 12:7 5
2. Rejistania 6 2 0 1 12:8 4
3. NEWI Cefn Druids 6 2 0 1 10:6 4
4. Vilita 3 1 0 2 10:13 -3
5. Almeric 3 1 0 2 8:14 -6
6. Sarzonia 1 0 1 2 5:9 -4
Region 3 Pts W D L GF:GA GD
1. The Belmore Family 9 3 0 0 12:3 9
2. Aquiliana 6 2 0 1 14:11 3
3. Sliponia 4 1 1 1 11:7 4
4. Talzeckia 4 1 1 1 6:10 -4
5. Lovisa 3 1 0 2 7:10 -3
6. Castillanos 0 0 0 3 5:14 -9
Region 4 Pts W D L GF:GA GD
1. Druida 9 3 0 0 11:6 5
2. Clearwater 6 2 0 1 31:7 24
3. New Manhattan 4 1 1 1 24:8 16
4. Lower Biswald 4 1 1 1 9:8 1
5. Kaze Progressa 3 1 0 2 20:12 8
6. Total n Utter Insanity 0 0 0 3 0:54 -54


NEW SCORING RECORD
Clearwater 20-0 TnUI

Top 4 teams qualify from each group.

Streaks finally make point, 2-2

The Sarzonian field hockey team had been carving a reputation as one of the more futile teams in the Field Hockey World Cup, but forward Cory Denton prevented the Streaks from matching Total 'n Utter Insanity in the won-loss category with a last-second goal that lifted Sarzonia to a 2-2 draw against Group 2 leading Cockbill Street.

"Considering the fact that we haven't won, it's a disappointment that we're not able to put it together, but we are playing better," Coach Chris Marchment said. "We're encouraged that we're still mathematically in the mix to advance to the knockout rounds."

The Streaks seemed to start the match behind 2-0 as goals from the Streetians' top forward left Marchment looking to the bench at veteran backup goalkeeper Ben Hanna. However, starting 'keeper Dave Finney settled in, making 13 saves over the rest of the match and keeping his team from falling farther behind.

"We think we'll be able to break through soon," Finney said. "We're getting there."

Forward Jody Johansson finally got off the scoring schneid and banged in a rebound in the 28th minute for his first goal of the World Cup. Even though he and the team celebrated now that the team was back in the game, it still looked like the team would be frustrated yet again.

With the stadium clock looming toward the 70th minute, Denton converted a penalty corner that left Cockbill Street stunned and the Streaks celebrating. Cockbill Street (2-1-0) remained in first place in Region 2, but instead of taking a commanding lead, the front runners face a tight race for the group lead. For the Streaks, they kept their slim chances at a berth in the knockout stages alive.

Bombers Upset About Upset
Slips not sure they should have lost.

LIVERPOOL ENGLAND -- Sliponia bombarded Aquilana with four goals back-and-forth until Aquilana scored that highly contested fifth goal. Coach Jake Russels was interviewed about his performance and that goal.

"That's complete crap," Russels said. "We let up some goals, yes, but that fifth goal was not a goal. It went on the scoreboard, but they obviously fouled our man, hard, to get the ball. They marched down the field and passed it to a man offsides! How did the officials miss it? We should have played circles around these guys!"

Four Bombers contributed one goal each last night. Here's the recap, with total goals in parenthesis.
Bryan Moses (6)
Kenneth Mosqueda (2)
Larry Loftin (2)
David Mayers(1)

The Bombers await their next opponent, either Lovisa or the Belmore Family. Sliponia is confident about moving on, but this will be a difficult task with the top-ranked Belmores lurking around. The Belmore Family currently has a two point lead on the Sliponia Bombers.

[OOC: How do I lose to a team that I am ranked higher than, as well as RP more than?]

Tigers claw past Lovisa, 4-2

Talzeckia's colonial masters Sarzonia couldn't beat Lovisa in their national sport -- football -- until their fifth try. However, the Talzeckian field hockey team was able to accomplish what Sarzonia couldn't in its first attempt by defeating Lovisa's national team 4-2 to give the Tigers their first win of the World Cup.

Kerwyn Lacey made the most of his first starting assignment between the pipes, making 11 saves to lead the way for the Tigers. Forward Kenneth Bremont scored two goals, including a clinical finish of a penalty stroke, forward David Carson and midfielder Chad Stinchcombe added goals, and the Tigers found themselves only two points behind second place Sliponia for one of the two quarterfinal berths.

"We've got a new mission now," Coach Harry Cartwright said. "We have to focus on the fact that we now have a chance to advance to the knockout stages and we have to keep improving."

The Tigers struck first when Carson faked past a Lovisan defender in the offensive third of the field and fired a laser shot that was tipped aside by the goalkeeper. Midfielder Darren Lansing tried to poke in the rebound, but he was fouled in the area by the Lovisan defender, setting up a penalty stroke. Up stepped Bremont, and he cooly sent a screamer into the back of the net for a 1-0 lead in the 16th minute.

Lovisa came right back with a rebound off a long shot setting up their top forward for the goal, but the Tigers scored three straight goals in a 10 minute span to turn the game into a rout. Lovisa didn't score again until the 64th minute and tried to send as many players forward as possible, but the Tigers' defense shut the door.

"I give the credit to the 'D,' like totally," Lacey said. "They made things real easy for me." Cartwright announced that Lacey would start the team's next match.

"How can you not," Cartwright said. "He's earned it."

Despite the Tigers' minus-four goal differential in the first three matches played, they are optimistic they are a good team and one that will be reckoned with in the future. The opening 6-0 loss to defending champions The Belmore Family is suddenly not looking as negative as it did just two matches ago.

"We were playing our first match," Cartwright said. "We hadn't fielded a competitive team before then and were facing the defending champions. We've grown up fast."

[OOC: How do I lose to a team that I am ranked higher than, as well as RP more than?]

[OOC: The same way I lose in the Under 21 World Cup when I RP and post a roster and I face teams that do neither. :rolleyes:]

[OOC: How do I lose to a team that I am ranked higher than, as well as RP more than?]

OOC: Margaret!

IC:

V is for victory
The Rejistaniha'ny defeated the Vilitan Field Cats with the resounding score of 6:3. The rejistanian team, which since Field Hockey World Cup 2 searches for a catchy nickname, had a good start and took the lead early. Vilitan goalie Kire Tichaud concede for the first time in the 5th minute when Atasixi Y scored from a penalty flick. Vilita equalized after a defensive error of Meme Ji and Nana Sigil. The rejistani Hetaki did continue and was successfull several times: Ka~nsu Venisil brought the Rejistaniha'ny ahead and increased the lead 7 minutes later. After a controveral foul, Vilita recieved a penalty flick, Tonelli'he took it and the ball went past Miki I Jil, 3:2.

Later in the match, the Orange-Blues were able to extend the lead, especially due to the skill of substitute Syku Meke, who came in for Venisil'he. The north rejistani field hockey player, who plays for second division team Hetkali Hokeji showed that the nanti simu is underestimated in terms of field hockey talent. He archieved his first international hat trick. When the score already was 4:2, the attacks of the Field cats became more desperate. One of theese attacks led to the 5:3 by Lupescu'he.

Coach Ini Sil said that he was pleased with the team and believes that qualification is possible despite the competition.

The result:
Rejistania 6 (Y 5th 38th, Venisil 17th 24th, Meke 45th 51st 57th)
Vilita 3 (Lupescu 9th 48th, Tonelli 27th)

OOC: Margaret!

[OOC: Huh?]

OOC: Look in the wiki: http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/index.php/Margaret

[OOC: Kill Margaret!]

Matchday 4 Tables, complete with elimination/qualification codes - top 4 qualify

Region 1 Pts W D L GF:GA GD
Q. Oddslavo 10 3 1 0 16:7 9
Q. Liverpool England 10 3 1 0 15:6 9
Q. El Dorrado 9 3 0 1 14:7 7
4. The Weegies 3 1 0 3 7:9 -2
5. Mountainsea 3 1 0 3 9:17 -8
6. Dance 2 Revolution 0 0 0 4 3:18 -15
Region 2 Pts W D L GF:GA GD
Q. Rejistania 9 3 0 1 17:12 5
2. Cockbill Street 7 2 1 1 16:12 4
3. NEWI Cefn Druids 6 2 0 2 13:10 3
4. Vilita 6 2 0 2 14:16 -2
5. Sarzonia 4 1 1 2 11:12 -1
6. Almeric 3 1 0 3 11:20 -9
Region 3 Pts W D L GF:GA GD
Q. The Belmore Family 10 3 1 0 19:10 9
Q. Aquiliana 9 3 0 1 22:13 9
3. Sliponia 5 1 2 1 18:14 4
4. Lovisa 4 1 1 2 8:11 -3
5. Talzeckia 4 1 1 2 8:18 -10
6. Castillanos 1 0 1 3 6:15 -9
Region 4 Pts W D L GF:GA GD
Q. Druida 12 4 0 0 26:6 20
Q. New Manhattan 7 2 1 1 28:10 18
Q. Lower Biswald 7 2 1 1 13:11 2
4. Clearwater 6 2 0 2 34:11 23
5. Kaze Progressa 3 1 0 3 22:16 6
E. Total n Utter Insanity 0 0 0 4 0:69 -69

Cockbill Street and Clearwater have all but qualified, only a mathematical miracle will eliminate them.

Streaks finally pull one out, 6-3

The Sarzonian field hockey team got close in their last match, but finally got the win the team had been starving for in the first three matches of the 11th Field Hockey World Cup. The team knocked Almeric into last place in Region 2 with a 6-3 win that suddenly gave new life to a team that looked dead in the water just two matchdays ago.

"It feels good to finally break that skid," Coach Chris Marchment said. "We'd been making slow, but steady progress and we finally pulled it out in the end. You have to feel good for the boys."

Goalkeeper Dave Finney was under constant pressure once again, but this time, the Streaks offense applied even more pressure to Almeric. Forward Jody Johansson scored a hat trick and reserve forward Paul Linden added a pair of goals to put the Streaks ahead for good.

After the team trailed 1-0 just 11 minutes in, they poured in four goals in the next seven minutes to take a lead that Almeric would never seriously threaten.

"We're finally starting to get our legs under us a bit as a team," midfielder Jordan Diehl said. "We're going to have an uphill battle to advance to the knockout round, but we're at least in the mix."

The Streaks will have to defeat second ranked Rejistania in their final match and have Vilita lose or draw their next match. The Streaks can also advance if they combine an upset win over Rejistania with a loss by the NEWI Cefn Druids. Either way, they will have to fill their end of the bargain first, and no one is expecting them to have a chance.

"You saw what happened to Talzeckia," Marchment said. "They got decimated by The Belmore Family and Talzeckia has professionals playing out there. We're a bunch of amateurs. I wouldn't be surprised if we slanied."

"Where's that Margaret," back Casey Johnson asked. "I'm going to be taking her a few *ahem* sacrifices to see if we can accomplish the impossible dream." For the Streaks, just winning one game seemed to be the impossible dream. Now that the team has that accomplished, they can look towards another impossible dream.

Tigers tamed against Aquiliana

The Talzeckian field hockey team was riding a modest two game unbeaten run in the 11th Field Hockey World Cup, putting it in position to advance to the knockout rounds in its first foray into international competition.

However, Aquiliana had other ideas. They followed an example set by top ranked and defending champions The Belmore Family and poured in eight goals against a Tigers defense that suddenly had no answers. The backline that Coach Harry Cartwright was counting on to keep scores close against the best of the best betrayed him and the Tigers time and time again.

"We were pathetic out there, simply pathetic," Cartwright said. "It was worse than the first game against The Belmore Family because back then, we had never played against a team of that caliber. We were just plain embarrassed tonight."

Cartwright didn't remove goalkeeper Kerwyn Lacey until he gave up the seventh goal of the match in the 57th minute and Cartwright announced Lacey would start the next match against last place Castillanos.

"Only one of those goals, the last one, was Kerwyn's fault," Cartwright answered sharply when a reporter asked why he didn't bring goalkeeper Yancey Jackson into the match. "It's not fair to Kerwyn to blame him for the loss because every one of those 10 [field players] failed him."

"I'd still like to have had those goals back," Lacey said. "I thought I should have stopped all those shots. I know I could have."

No, he couldn't have. Lacey made 24 saves in addition to allowing those seven goals and Aquiliana shot 38 times against Talzeckian goalkeepers.

"Thirty eight shots on goal? That's insane," midfielder Darren Lansing said. "That's not on Kerwyn no matter what he'd tell you. That's a team effort or lack thereof."

To encourage more RPing, all Matchday 5 [tomorrow] RPs will count double, increasing your chances of winning your first knockout fixture. This bouns is only for MD5.

To encourage more RPing, all Matchday 5 [tomorrow] RPs will count double, increasing your chances of winning your first knockout fixture. This bouns is only for MD5.
A post-MD5 RP? That will be in this space, then.

UPDATE
There will NOT be a matchday tomorrow, instead it will be on Saturday, due to the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States. This is so you can post all your pre-MD5 RPs, which shall also count double. Post-MD4 RPs do not count double, even if your pre-MD5 RP is posted together with it.

Your schedule for Matchday 5

Liverpool England vs The Weegies; Oddslavo vs El Dorrado, Mountainsea vs Dance 2 Revolution

Rejistania vs Sarzonia; Cockbill Street vs NEWI Cefn Druids; Vilita vs Almeric

The Belmore Family vs Aquiliana; Sliponia vs Lovisa; Castillanos vs Talzeckia

Kaze Progressa vs Druida; New Manhattan vs Clearwater; Lower Biswald vs Total n Utter Insanity

Your post-group phase bracket:
Second Round
QF
Group 1, 1st-- SF
|----------
Group 2, 4th-- |
|----------
Group 1, 2nd-- | |
|---------- |
Group 2, 3rd-- |
|
Group 1, 3rd-- |
|---------- |
Group 2, 2nd-- | |
|----------
Group 1, 4th-- |
|----------
Group 2, 1st--

Group 3, 1st--
|----------
Group 4, 4th-- |
|----------
Group 3, 2nd-- | |
|---------- |
Group 4, 3rd-- |
|
Group 3, 3rd-- |
|---------- |
Group 4, 2nd-- | |
|----------
Group 3, 4th-- |
|----------
Druida--------

Moderate Success For Field-Hockey-ists
Almost Through To Second Round

Remember field hockey? That crazy sport where the players run around with sticks in their hands, and they have to bend over to make a proper shot? Well - the Streetian floorball players have given it a go, and they haven't done too badly. Despite only taking one point in their last two games - drawing 2-2 with Sarzonia after a lot of shots were completely wasted, and losing 4-5 to the Rejis (why are we not surprised?) in a match that could very well have gone the other way. If it had, the Streeters would have been through to the second round already, but as it stands, there is a minute chance of being knocked out. The Street plays NEWI Cefn Druids in the last round, and a draw will be enough to be assured of a third placed finish - though the Streeters are in fact ranked higher than the Druids owing to some good performances in the home cup over forty years ago. It will be interesting to see whether Bjorn Hammerhock and his humanoids can manage to get to the second round on Friday - though few in the Streetian nation deeply care.

Field Cats take AO Honors


------------------Gianni Tonelli scored twice before goals from Gal Ochayon and Pasquale Sordoni gave Vilita the victory over NEWI Cefn Druids in a shock result that handed the first ever Atlantian Oceania Performance Cup* of Field Hockey to the Atlantian Oceania Founders.

------------------The Trophy was invented in Field Hockey World Cup 11 after Three Atlantian Oceania nations, NEWI Cefn Druids, Sarzonia and Vilita were drawn in the same qualifying stage group of the competition. Other Atlantian Oceania Nations, such as Aquiliana and lesser Druida also entered the tournament, but the big 3 being paired together saw almost necessary imsertion of an extraordinary challenge for the Atlantian Oceania Trio.

------------------NEWI Cefn Druids took the first step towards the trophy on Matchday 1 by downing Sarzonia 2-0. Goalless Sarzonia needed a win over Vilita to stand any chance at claiming the first Atlantian Oceania Performance Cup* of Field Hockey, but an impressive performance by Gianni Tonelli led Vilita to a hard-earned exciting 5-3 victory.

------------------This result left One match to settle it all, a pre-destined championship match between Vilita and NEWI Cefn Druids. Vilita would claim the trophy with a draw due to Goals Scored amongst the Atlantian Oceania nations, but few expected this rule to come into effect. The Druids entered the match as favorites, but hot stick Tonelli put the Field Cats 2-0 ahead early. NEWI Cefn Druids fought back to take a 3-2 lead with time running out, before goals from Vilita's Gal Ochayon and Pasquale Sordoni gave the Field Cats the vital qualifying points, and the Atlantian Oceania Performance Cup* of Field Hockey.

The Tribune Tribune
Serving Druid Tribune and the surrounding area

HOCKEY DEBUTANTS KEEP ONLY 100% RECORD GOING!
By Trefor Milford

After seeing their nations' football team cause so many shocks in their first ever World Cup, the people of Druida are now being treated to a repeat performance by their field hockey team.

Somehow, the Druidan team, known more affectionately as the rocks, have won every single game, despite starting the tournament as the joint second lowest ranked nation. The first two games, against Clearwater and Lower Biswald looked like exactly what they were - games between nations who have rarely played the sport full of errors.

But the biggest shock was to come against New Manhattan. They were, of course, famous for thrashing NEWI Cefn Druids 8-1 once, and for that we are truly greatful. And now, of course, the rocks have beaten them, too! So they are definately one of our favourite nations, whether we actually agree with them politically or not.

Of course, when you are on such a good run, you are bound to slip up at sometime, and the rocks duly did against Total n Utter Insanity. Druida only managed to score 15 goals against them, less than any other team in the group has so far. But, it means that Druida have the best record of all the nations in the competition. Not something we expected when we started out.

Hopefully we can keep the record going in our final group game, which is against Kaze Progressa. The Progressans are another nation who are very much liked by Druida at the moment, after knocking the Druidish football team out of World Cup 18! Oh, the joy that brought to so many of us!!! Anyway, even if the rocks lose, they'll still go through, so who really cares? As the rocks' coach Trefor Llandwr put it, "Let's just have a little celebration with them, and if the ball goes in the goal, then so be it... you mean they need to thrash us to go through? We can't get thrashed, we're going to have to be up for this one!"

Bombers Draw the Group Winner
Slips were good enough.

LIVERPOOL ENGLAND -- Bombarding went both ways in last night's match between Sliponia and the Belmore Family. 7-7 was the final tally and a well played match. Coach Russels had the following to say.

"Meh," Russels said. "The team is crushed. We traveled all this way to be screwed over by one goal. I apologize to all of Sliponia. Had we known things would have gone this way, we don't know if we would have entered. Our ranking, which was already lower than it should have been, we now lower even more. It's a wicked spiral all because of that dang Margaret! In regards to the Lovisa game, we don't really care. There's no point in winning, losing, or drawing as Aquiliana screwed us over and is now going to the next round."

The Bombers await their next opponent, Lovisa, although they are still haunted by the evil acts of Aquiliana and Margaret. Had Sliponia not been ruthlessly cheated in that match, Sliponia would be qualifying to the next round.

Belmorians get Lovisa 3-1

The Belmorians are celebrating after beating a downheartened Lovisa side 3-1. After our first romp over Talzekia 6-0. The Lovisan side were certainly feeling the pressure.

Nowadays we rarely see a good Belmorian sporting side. We've been confined to 50th in the latest World Cup rankings, making us the joke of the world. However, as we prepare to host WC!9 in less than 2 years time, our Field Hockey team is shaping up nicely for FHWC11.

This was compounded as midfielder Shahen Dalia come through in the 22nd minute to recieve an Alec Mitchell stunner of a pass to place the ball into the back of the goal, through their keeprs legs, delighting the Belmorian Crowd. However to his astonishment an allignment of female streakers ran onto the pitch and began feeling up members of the Belmorian and Lovisan squads. The police came in but thanks to them being fat Liverpudlians (no offese LE, or Livepudlians, it's only a joke) it took them over 20 minutes to catch the naked women. However, The Daily Belmorian is not complaining.

The second goal came from an unlikely situation. For the first time in the match, the Lovisans were applying lots of pressure to the Belmorians, having 4 successive short corners. However, they made a fatal mistake. Their number 9 played the ball slwly back to their number 6 after he had recieved the ball from the short corner. However, this quickly intercepted by Alex Dungate who blasted the ball down to Tom Baly who ran down the win and plased the ball nicely out of the Goalkeepers reach to John Goshawk who slotted the ball away making the score 2-0 to the good with half time rapidly encroaching.

As the teams went in at half time, the Belmorians were looking stronger than ever, expecting the second half to be a breeze. However, there they were solomnly mistaken. Straight after the brake, the Lovisans were the strongest we've ever seen a Lovisan Hockey Team. And they were well rewarded. An amazingly classy goal which was simply superb. Their player 8 collected th abll, chipped it over Wickershams stick found himself in the D and smaked the ball under Webb-Martins stick and far beyond Herros-Symons's reach.

And it did not stop there, the Lovisans continued to pile on the pressure forcing several saves from Herros-Symons, notably when he dived full legnth, just tapping the ball out of the air and around the post with the edge of his stick. But the Belmorians survived the pressure. With only 3 minutes to go Aaron Odedra flicked the ball past their keeper ensuring a 3-1 victory to the Blues.

Streaks look to avoid 'slani' effort

The Sarzonian field hockey team has been consistently competitive if not consistently good over the course of its first four matches in the 11th Field Hockey World Cup. So far, the Streaks have only lost two matches by two goals each and have one win by three goals.

The team is still on the outside looking in when it comes to the knockout round picture. They will need to win against the world's second ranked team and hope Vilita loses or draws or NEWI Cefn Druids loses to advance.

"We can't worry about the scoreboard," Coach Chris Marchment said. "We have to play our game. That's going to be difficult enough without our looking over our shoulders at the score sheet."

Pundits are saying that even if the Streaks fail to qualify for the knockout stages, the fact they have played well would help the sport in Sarzonia. A country with only one professional field hockey team and a series of semi-pro teams playing against countries that have full national leagues wasn't expected to do anything, sports talk show host Lin Barker said.

"The fact they've been in every game says a lot about where this team can go if we get good enough support," Barker said. "I think we might be able to get a league going in two years and if we can, that will improve our team dramatically when they have the next World Cup."

But the Streaks still are trying to focus on this Cup.

"We've got a job to do," defender Casey Johnson said. He was late to a late night practice session after reportedly "searching for Margaret." The cashier at the local drug store said she saw Johnson buy a pack of condoms and have a gleam in his eye. Johnson declined to answer questions about that report.

Tigers hope to rebound into knockout stages

Despite losing games by scores of 6-0 and 8-2, Talzeckian field hockey coach Harry Cartwright has much to be happy about. Even though the team has a record of only 1-2-1 and four standings points in Region 3 of the 11th Field Hockey World Cup, the Tigers are encouraged about their chances to advance to the second round.

"We're tied with Lovisa for fourth place," Cartwright said. "We're trailing in goal differential, but we beat them head-to-head and they're facing Sliponia. If we win or draw and Lovisa loses, we're in."

The Tigers are hoping that Castillanos will be the cure they need to give them a strong all-around game, as the fellow World Cup debutants are in last place in the group. Castillanos has one draw in four matches and would need a miracle to advance past both Sarzonia and Lovisa.

"We still have to make sure we do our parts," goalkeeper Kerwyn Lacey said. "If we lose, it doesn't matter what else happens. We're going home."

Cartwright said Lacey would start the match against Castillanos.

"He's earned the right to start," Cartwright said. "He's played as well as you could expect. We failed him defensively in our last game [an 8-2 loss to Aquiliana]. We've played our best hockey with Kerwyn in there, so we're going to ride him, hopefully to a berth in the knockout round."

The Talzeckian league has received a boost from the team's performance in the World Cup in spite of the two blowout losses.

"We've got a sense of pride in Talzeckia now," midfielder Darren Lansing said. "We're starting to establish our own identity out of the shadows of those damn Sarzonians."

Matchday 5 - Early Tables

You all have a total of TWO (2) days to RP your MD5 results/your second round matchups. Remember RP bonus counts double this MD.


Region 1 Pts W D L GF:GA GD
1. Oddslavo 13 4 1 0 22:9 13
2. Liverpool England 11 3 2 0 18:9 9
3. El Dorrado 9 3 0 2 16:13 3
4. The Weegies 4 1 1 3 10:12 -2
5. Mountainsea 3 1 0 4 12:22 -10
6. Dance 2 Revolution 3 1 0 4 8:21 -13
Region 2 Pts W D L GF:GA GD
1. Rejistania 12 4 0 1 20:14 6
2. NEWI Cefn Druids 9 3 0 2 17:13 4
3. Cockbill Street 7 2 1 2 19:16 3
4. Vilita 6 2 0 3 15:18 -3
5. Almeric 6 2 0 3 13:21 -8
6. Sarzonia 4 1 1 3 13:15 -2
Region 3 Pts W D L GF:GA GD
1. The Belmore Family 13 4 1 0 24:13 11
2. Aquiliana 9 3 0 2 25:18 7
3. Sliponia 8 2 2 1 22:16 6
4. Talzeckia 7 2 1 2 12:19 -7
5. Lovisa 4 1 1 3 10:15 -5
6. Castillanos 1 0 1 4 7:19 -12
Region 4 Pts W D L GF:GA GD
1. Druida 15 5 0 0 30:7 23
2. Lower Biswald 10 3 1 1 33:11 22
3. New Manhattan 8 2 2 1 32:14 18
4. Clearwater 7 2 1 2 38:15 23
5. Kaze Progressa 3 1 0 4 23:20 3
6. Total n Utter Insanity 0 0 0 5 0:89 -89

Teams in blue have qualified for the second round.
Teams in red have been eliminated.

Notes:
Only 5-0-0: Druida
Worst ever performance at a FHWC: Total n Utter Insanity (0-0-5, 0:89)
Highest Scoring FHWC game: Clearwater 20-0 Total n Utter Insanity; Lower Biswald 20-0 Total n Utter Insanity

Jayhawks Eat Crow
Slips qualify to next round.

LIVERPOOL ENGLAND -- Well, Coach Russels will have some interesting quotes following the most recent tables. Evidently no one in Sliponia was aware that the top four nations in FHWC qualified. What short attention spans we have.

"Heh," Russels said. "Forget everything I said. Except for the Maraget-Auquilia stuff. We got screwed in that match. However, it didn't matter because we still qualified!"

Sliponia is euphoric about advancing. More info will be given once the schedule is known.

Streaks sent home by hard-fought loss

The odds were stacked against them. Facing the team ranked second in the world in a must-win game for the chance to advance to the knockout stages proved to be too much for the debutant Sarzonian national field hockey team, but the scoreline of 3-2 Rejistania only began to tell the story.

"That may have been the best all-around game we've ever played," Coach Chris Marchment said. "We fought our guts out against that team and we had our chances," he said, his voice breaking.

He never finished the sentence but that proved to be typical of the Streaks. They scored twice against Rejistania but had four quality chances shrugged aside by sterling goalkeeper play. Goalkeeper Dave Finney also faced a torrent of shots, a team record 28, and saw Rejistania dent the net three times.

"It's discouraging any time you lose," Finney said. "But we're going to look at this first experience in the World Cup as an opportunity for us to grow as a sporting nation and in this sport."

After the final whistle, two semi-pro teams in Sarzonia announced they received enough sponsorship to turn professional. The Portland Pride announced that the largest corporation in Sarzonia, the Portland Iron Works, would sponsor the team and the players would turn full-time immediately. Maverick Burger World owner Larry Jacobi purchased the Woodstock Wizards and also turned that team professional.

"We're going to be able to play the game we love and get paid for it," midfielder Jordan Diehl said. "No more working eight hour days and rushing to practice and games. We can make a decent living. Now we only need a league."

Representatives from different businesses, including the Katharine Graham Publishing Company in Wilmington announced they would get together to form a professional league, which they are projecting will have eight teams. They said they expected the league to lose money its first few years, but implementing a salary cap and single entity player allocations would set up a business model that could survive the early lean years.

"We see a future for the sport in Sarzonia," Leonard Downie IV, the chief executive of Graham Co. said. "We want to ensure that future remains bright."

Tigers pounce into playoffs

It wasn't pretty, but it was effective. Despite having the worst goal differential of any of the remaining 16 teams in the 11th World Cup, Talzeckia's field hockey team advanced to the knockout stages with an impressive 4-1 win over group doormats Castillanos.

"We did just what we had to do," Coach Harry Cartwright said. "We have a couple of ugly results in our back pocket, but we were able to accomplish our first goal, to advance to the knockout stage."

The Tigers (2-2-1, fourth place Region 3) have a tall order ahead of them against Druida, the only unblemished team in the World Cup. Despite the seeming mismatch, Talzeckia is undaunted.

"We're happy to be where we are now," goalkeeper Kerwyn Lacey said. "We played our best game of the tournament to get into the next round, so we know we can put a good game together. We just have to do it at another level."

Regardless of the outcome of the game against Druida, the Tigers were encouraged by two things: Advancing to the knockout stages and seeing Sarzonia eliminated.

"They only had a minus-2 goal differential didn't they," Cartwright asked. "That doesn't matter because they're going home and we're staying put for now."

3:00 A.M. Practice
Coach Berndt Forrest walked onto the pitch and addressed the team.
"We've worked too hard and travelled too far to give up now. We have a job to do against Dance2Revolution and I know we can do it!"
They were still groggy and punch drunk from the el Dorradan defeat. It was a national embarassment back home but since the El Dorradans were such good neighbours they thankfully didn't rub it in.
A hand went up "Coach. How come we have to practice so early in the morning? It's killing us."
"Well Jo, we have to take what we've been given. There's only a limited amount of practice time available and the 3 to 5:30 spot was all that was left."
"But in that one game we were exhausted and Liverpool England smoked us!" added another player.
"Yes they did. But they are a great team. They are champions! You should be proud to have been smoked by such a great squad!"
They players looked at each other a little confused.
"But we don't get to play out games until evening and by then we're knackered." There were grumbles and muffled assents from the rest of the team.
"Lou, In International play you have to learn to reset you internal clock to whatever schedule you're given. You've done great so far..."
"Great? The Mountainsea Monitor said we were once again holding up the proud tradition of sucking Internationally in sports!"
"Ah but that was before we skunked the Weegies! Don't believe a word of that drivel. We're better than that. We are going to go out there and play our hearts out. We are going to run circles around Dance2Revolution."
"I dunno, they're pretty good.."
"They may be good but we have beginner's luck on our side. There's a new day dawning in International sports and the athletes of Mountainsea are going to make their mark!" He blew his whistle and got everyone on their feet again. "Okay, I want ten laps around the pitch and then you can hit the showers."
They did a bit of stretching and then ran some final laps around the field.
"Do you think coach is right?" he said panting as he ran.
"I dunno, maybe. I mean we can't get much worse..."

The FHALE (Field Hockey Association of Liverpool England) have questioned reports coming in from Mountainsea that the nation are champions. FHALE President Yuno Grigi told reporters that perhaps the Mountainsea-ers mistook this cup for FHWC9, when the team were defending champs.

Coach Berndt Forrest read the headline with disgust.
Mountainsea Drowning IN FHWC: Dance2Revolution 5 - Mountainsea 3
"Bloody rubbish!" he tossed the paper on the wet floor of the change room.
"That rag isn't worthy of lining a birdcage."
"I had that reporter from FHALE chasing me after the game coach."
"What did you tell him?"
"Oh just good stuff, I said that you said they had a great team of champions."
The coach looked pleased with himself.
"They said you were confused."
Coach Forrest furrowed his brow. "Confused?! What did they mean by that?"
"He said that LE were defending champions not champions..."
"That's what I bloody meant. If they were defending champions they must have been champions once right?" The exasperated coach looked tired.
"Yeah, I guess..."
"They have a long history of good performances, hence they play like champions. Aww, nevermind that's old news. We have to concentrate on what's to come."

[ooc: You KNOW you're eliminated, Mtsea?]

A Street to victory

The Orange-Blues defeated Cockbill Street by just one goal, it was the young majuvedi player Syku Meke who made the diffence in this match. The Streeters were of course playing highly offensively (there is something like a natural bias against good defensive tactics in Cockbill Street), but also the Rejistaniha'ny wanted to win and you only win by scoring. The Streeters had the better start and went ahead, but after the first 15 minutes, the Rejistaniha'ny found into the match better. The entire match saw fierce attacking from both sides. The first half ended level at 2:2. The second half was as exciting as the first one. In the dying minutes of the match, everything looked as if it would end level, but then Syku Meke did the unthinkable (at least if you are either dessimistic or superstious): he brought the Rejistaniha'ny ahead 5:4

The result:
Rejistania 5 (Sane~l 18th 45th, Venisil 27th, Y 37th, Meke 58th)
Cockbill Street 4

"We cannot win the first match!"

Coach Ini Sil has found the time to answer the questions of our reporter in Liverpool England, Mejya Yniiki.

MY: Hejida Sil'he!

IS: Hejida Yniiki'he.

MY: Are you satisfied so far with the competition?

IS: Surely! We cannot win the first match, but we won and we qualified despite that!

MY: Despite some very close matches, which could end as loss too?

IS: That can happen, yes, this team had not much international experience in all the years of the hiatus, but until now, they eventually always managed to turn things, Halija Kansa'he'ny*.

MY: So you say, enjoy the stroke of luck as it lasts?

IS: You are misunderstanding me now. I say: that We had serious problems in preparation and tht we had to start from zero, well, from oh point 5, seeing that there is an organized league. They will not reach the level of the 9th cup that soon, I think, but that does not mean that they are Abysmali.

MY: Or even worse: From Total n Utter Insanity!

IS: Indeed, what they did... I was reminded of Ravea... except that they sometimes found the right goal a few times.

MY: Ravea participated in field hockey?

IS: Yes - and got the everliving hell beaten out of them.

MY: Another question: What is your opinion on Syku Mede?

IS: Him, he is sometimes a bit strange, well since he's from nanti simu, I guess I should expect that, but he has talent.

MY: But he never plays from the beginning... can you tell me why's that?

IS: I can: He is like the seleke: refuses to speak any Jis. I often shout orders in Jis, he wouldn't understand them.

MY: Is the language barrier the reason why many players come from the Jis-speaking regions of Rejistania?

IS: Indeed, rejistanian is a terrible language for anything but burreaucratic nonsense. Sentences are horribly long or horrible inexact - or both.

MY: I see. What are your expectations for the second round?

IS: Win or lose.... for either team

*thanks to the gods

Slips Double Up on Lovisa
Slips 4 Lovisa 2.

LIVERPOOL ENGLAND -- Sliponia bombarded Lovisa with two goals back-and-forth until Sliponia scored two unanswered goals at the end of the second half. Coach Jake Russels was interviewed about the team's performance.

"It was great," Russels said. "Oh I loved watching that game. We cannot wait until the knock out phase starts. I think we have a chance of winning it all this year!"

The Bombers await their next opponent and will be practicing heavily to prepare for anyone.

The Tribune Tribune
Serving Druid Tribune and the surrounding area

ROCKS ROCK ON
Trefor Milford on Kaze Progressa 1 Druida 4

Druida kept their 100% FHWC record yesterday after thrashing, and knocking out, our good friends the Progressans. Well, I say good friends, they most definately are now, the way in which they allowed Druida to run all over them!

It was a rout, not like anyone's games against the Insanician 'team', but still damn convincing by normal standards. It means that, despite being unranked, the rocks are unrivalled in the best record stakes.

And so onto the next round, where we will face another unranked side, Talzeckia. They finished fourth in their group, but a convincing three points ahead of Lovisa, a nation with a lot more sporting experience than themselves. So it should make for a good, close match. Come on the Rocks!!!

Belmorians edge out Castillanos

The Belmorins celebrated another match undeafeated as we got the better of Castillanos. However this was probably the hardest match so far for the Belmorians and it shows that we are, by no strech of the imagination, unbeatable.

Infact it was the Castillanian fans who were going wild after only 15 minutes when their number 9 smaked the ball into the D from a long corner and thier number 8 caught it slightly, changing the balls direction and sent the keeper the wrong way. The Castillanos fans went wild, in what is obviously their biggest Field Hockey World Cup match ever, they were leading, there was a massive party atmosphere.

However, this did not last long. The Belmorians swifty came back at the Castillanians with several shots and soring only 5 minutes before the break when Goshawk flew the ball down the wing to Dalia who smaked the ball into the center where Alec Mitchell picked up the glory.

And with that, the two teams went back into their dressing rooms with the score level. A massive achievement for Castillanos but a depressing display by the Belmorians.

As the second half began it was obvious that Castillanos were happy to settle for the draw as they began to play on the back foot, and with the current Belmorian side, that was a very bad idea. Their skills in ringing the 16 hitter meant that 9 times out of ten the Belmorians would get the ball as soon as they hit it off. And this lead to the Belmorians second goal; As their number 2 took the 16 the ball was blasted between 2 players in the ring, but still Baly got to it. He straight away blasted the ball onto the center spot where Alan Belmore was waiting to knock the ball past the goal keeper making the score 2-1.

And it didn't stop there. As Castillanos got on their first attack from the game they had a free hit, but thanks to fantastic ringing abilities the Belmorians got the ball back and Goshawk smaked it down. This ensued in a almighty chase where Belmore just beat their number 2 to the ball. He went to the far corner of the D and smaked the ball through the keeper legs almost certifying the win for the Belmorians.

But this did not mean that Castillanos, with only 3 minutes to go, a swift manouver fond their number 10 one-on-one with Herreros-Symons. He dumied a shot then quickly passed it out wide to their number 6 who blasted the ball into the back of the net giving them a glint of hope.

But it was not to be for Castillanos. They were soundly defeated 3-2.

THE BELMORE FAMILY 3

CASTILLANOS 2

Tigers look to prey on Giants

After a World Cup qualifying stage that saw the Talzeckian colonial team advance past the knockout stages while its colonial masters in Sarzonia went home, the Tigers quickly had reality set in when they realized they would face the tournament's most impressive team so far: Druida.

"They didn't even have so much as a draw in qualifying," Coach Harry Cartwright said. "We're going to have to play a much better game of hockey than we did against the Belmore Family or Aquiliana."

If there was one thing Sarzonia (1-1-3, last place, Group 2) had over Talzeckia, it was competiveness against tough teams. The Streaks lost 3-2 to Rejistania and didn't lose by more than two goals in any match in the tournament. Talzeckia lost 6-0 in its first ever match against The Belmore Family and 8-2 to Aquiliana en route to a minus-seven goal differential that is worst among teams in the second round.

Druida has a plus-23 goal differential that was built in part on a match against tournament doormat Total n Utter Insanity, which set a futility record in the World Cup.

"Please, TnUI is so bad even Sarzonia could score 10 on them," goalkeeper Kerwyn Lacey said. "Their other matches were a lot closer. We can't let them beat us psychologically or we don't have a snowball's chance in Hell against them on the field."

It has been 48 hours. Scorination is underway. Telegrams are going out soon. Scores here:

Round of 16
Oddslavo 4 Vilita 4 AET: 4:4 APS: 9:8
Liverpool England 3 Cockbill Street 1
El Dorrado 3 NEWI Cefn Druids 7
The Weegies 3 Rejistania 4
The Belmore Family 7 Clearwater 3
Aquiliana 1 New Manhattan 3
Sliponia 7 Lower Biswald 1
Talzeckia 3 Druida 1


Second Round
QF
Oddslavo------ SF
|-Oddslavo--
Vilita-------- |
|----------
Liv. England-- | |
|-Liv Eng--- |
C'bill Street- |
|
El Dorrado---- |
|-NEWI CD--- |
NEWI C. D.---- | |
|----------
The Weegies--- |
|Rejistania-
Rejistania----

TBF-----------
|----TBF----
Clearwater---- |
|----------
Aquiliana----- | |
|--N. Manh.- |
New Manhattan- |
|
Sliponia------ |
|-Sliponia-- |
Lower Biswald- | |
|----------
Talzeckia----- |
|-Talzeckia-
Druida--------

Tigers slay Druida, 3-1

On paper, it was a mismatch. Druida came into the knockout stages of the 11th Field Hockey World Cup with an unblemished 5-0-0 mark after outscoring opponents 30-7. Talzeckia came into their debut tournament with modest goals of surpassing their colonial masters in Sarzonia.

All of a sudden, the Tigers will have to replot their goals. They put together the best game they have in their brief history and rudely dumped Druida 3-1. They will face Sliponia, a side they earned a 2-2 draw against in group play.

"It was hard to tell which team was the World Cup neophyte and which team was expected to hoist the trophy," Coach Harry Cartwright said. "I am so proud of my lads, you have no idea."

Cartwright couldn't say any more as his press conference was drowned out by screaming Tigers players. Goalkeeper Kerwyn Lacey stoned Druida time and time again, making 21 saves and denying some of the best shots Druida fired in the tournament.

"We just played like we had nothing to lose," forward Kenneth Bremont (two goals) said. "No one except the guys in this room said we had a chance of winning this game. We proved 'em wrong."

"We shook up the world," midfielder Darren Lansing said. "We shook up the world!"

Lower Biswald "Owned"
As the kids would say.

Sliponia Bombers celebrate. (Image) (http://photo1.dukenews.duke.edu/pages/%20Sports%20Information/Lacrosse,%20Men's/2000%20Season/%20Groups/Celebration%2002.th.jpg)

LIVERPOOL ENGLAND -- Sliponia showed absolutely no mercy in their 7-1 defeat over Lower Biswald. The Bombers were proficient on offense and defense. Compared to the Bombers, Lower Biswald's team looked like a team from one of Sliponia's "lower" leagues.Coach Jake Russels was interviewed about the team's performance.

"It was great," Russels said. "Oh I loved watching that game. We cannot wait play Talzeckia. We are ready for them and will do a great job of attacking and defending. We drew them in our last meeting, but this match will have a much better result; a result in Sliponia's favor. I think we have a chance of winning it all this year! This match against Talzeckia is for bragging rights as well as moving a step forward. We are quickly gaining a rivalry with this nation that can rival the one we have with NEWI Cefn Druids. We're looking forward to beating them!"

The Bombers await group rival Talzeckia in the next phase of the round. Talzeckia defeated the only unblemished team by a tally of 3-1. Coach Russels feels that why Talzeckia has improved, the Bombers have improved more. Three of the four qualifiers from Sliponia's group remain. After the next matchday there either be two or one; Sliponia wants to be in that group. If the Bombers win they will face either top-ranked Belmore Family or New Manhattan. If the Slips can win their, they will face either Rejistania, heated rivals NEWI Cefn Druids, Liverpool England, or Oddslavo. Stay with us as we follow Sliponia on the road to the Field Hockey World Cup!

OOC: In 7 hours and 18 minutes I am leaving for college visit at a school 3 hours away, and will not return until Monday. With that said, I'm going to RP as if I won my matches just incase I'm not here to RP for them. I hope that is okay.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Talzeckia Gets Toweled Off
Slips make the final four.

Sliponia Bombers celebrate. (Image) (http://photo1.dukenews.duke.edu/pages/%20Sports%20Information/Lacrosse,%20Men's/2000%20Season/%20Groups/Celebration%2002.th.jpg)

LIVERPOOL ENGLAND -- Sliponia ended the match against Talzeckia with a (insert score) finish over the Tigers. The Bombers were proficient on offense and defense. Both teams left everything they had on the field, but luckily for our Slips, our team gave more.Coach Jake Russels was interviewed about the team's performance.

"It was great," Russels said. "It was a well-played and hard fought match. I am so proud of my boys. Hopefully this win over a nation that we consider to be a big rival, will give them the confidence to beat (insert next opponent)."

The Bombers await (insert team) in the next phase of the round. (insert team) defeated (insert team) by a tally of (insert score). Coach Russels feels (insert summary about Sliponia Bombers and other team). (insert number) of the four qualifiers from Sliponia's group remain. Stay with us as we follow Sliponia on the road to the Field Hockey World Cup!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Slips Make Championship Match
Nation goes into pandemonium.

Sliponia Bombers celebrate. (Image) (http://photo1.dukenews.duke.edu/pages/%20Sports%20Information/Lacrosse,%20Men's/2000%20Season/%20Groups/Celebration%2002.th.jpg)

LIVERPOOL ENGLAND -- Sliponia ended the match against (insert team) with a (insert score). The Bombers were proficient on offense and defense. Both teams left everything they had on the field, but luckily for our Slips, our team gave more. Coach Jake Russels was interviewed about the team's performance.

"It was great," Russels said. "It was a well-played and hard fought match. I am so proud of my boys. Hopefully this win over (insert team) will give us a big boost of confidence so that we can compete against (insert next opponent) and bring the Cup home to Sliponia!"

The Bombers await (insert team) in the championship match. (insert team) defeated (insert team) by a tally of (insert score). Coach Russels feels (insert summary about Sliponia Bombers and other team). Stay with us as we follow Sliponia on the road to the Field Hockey World Cup!

Tigers face 'presumptive little bastards'

Talzeckia's field hockey team began the final stages of preparations for its first-ever rematch during the 11th Field Hockey World Cup with Tigers players and coaches fuming over reports in the Sliponian papers that the team was already banking on winning the match.

"Who do those presumptive little bastards think they are," Coach Harry Cartwright asked. "They clearly didn't watch the Druida game [a 3-1 Talzeckia win]."

The team has plastered the comments from Sliponia on the bulletin board and said it would give them added incentive to face a team that it earned a 2-2 draw against for its first standings point.

"We were planning to leave it on the field anyway," forward Kenneth Bremont said. "But with those newspaper reports, we've got all kinds of motivation now. They'll be sorry they crossed us."

For a neophyte team, Talzeckia is already developing sporting rivalries, including colonial masters Sarzonia and now Sliponia. The Bombers finished third in Region 3 while the Tigers came in fourth, but Sliponia set up its part of the rematch with a 7-1 win over Lower Biswald.

"It's part of the game," Cartwright said. "Even if we're not a country as yet, if we're competing in sports on the world's stage, we're going to develop rivalries."

Round of 8
Oddslavo 3 Liverpool England 4
NEWI Cefn Druids 2 Rejistania 3
The Belmore Family 4 New Manhattan 4 AET: 4:4 APC: 6:5
Sliponia 2 Talzeckia 3

Leaving the knockout bracket as such:

Second Round
QF
Oddslavo------ SF
|-Oddslavo--
Vilita-------- |
|--Liv Eng--
Liv. England-- | |
|-Liv Eng--- |
C'bill Street- |
|
El Dorrado---- |
|-NEWI CD--- |
NEWI C. D.---- | |
|Rejistania-
The Weegies--- |
|Rejistania-
Rejistania----

TBF-----------
|----TBF----
Clearwater---- |
|----TBF----
Aquiliana----- | |
|--N. Manh.- |
New Manhattan- |
|
Sliponia------ |
|-Sliponia-- |
Lower Biswald- | |
|-Talzeckia-
Talzeckia----- |
|-Talzeckia-
Druida--------

Tigers give rivals the Slip 3-2

It's not too often that a team just seven games into its existence develops a rivalry with another team, particularly in only its second meeting. But after a tense 2-2 draw against Sliponia, the Tigers faced the Bombers a second time with a trip to the semifinals of the 11th Field Hockey World Cup at stake.

The Tigers continued their Cinderfella run through the knockout stages by knocking off Sliponia 3-2 to advance to the semifinals of the World Cup.

"We've been playing inspired hockey the last two games," Coach Harry Cartwright said. "We've been much more crisp with our passing game and we've been steady in the back in the last two games. I'm very proud of what we've accomplished so far."

Playing a quarterfinal game when the team wasn't expected to accomplish anything could have been plenty of motivation for the Tigers, but Talzeckia was incensed when goalkeeper Kerwyn Lacey read a newspaper account that reported that Sliponia already won.

"That really [ticked] us off," Lacey said. "We wanted to make them pay."

The Tigers will now look forward to another rematch, this one against defending champions The Belmore Family. Tigers players swear this game will be much different from their first meeting.

"The first time we played them, we were a little bit in awe," Cartwright said. "There's much more at stake now."

Rejistaniha'ny advance to the semifinals

After the connections to the state of Liverpool England were disturbed by an effect on quantum level called RL, the rejistani media had no way to be informed about the state of the Rejistaniha'ny. When this quantum effects were bypassed, we found out, that the rejistani national team defeated The Weegies in a 7 goal thriller eventually by two late goals of Atasixi Y. The defense of the Rejistaniha'ny was very leaky in this match. The match against the druids took place mostly in the middle of the field: both teams blocked the respective other very soon. The half time score was 2:2. In the dying seconds of the match, Druid player Trevor Righteous* was nearly equalised the score after Syku Mede brought the Orange-Blues ahead, but the ball missed by centimetres. The Orange-Blues will face the hosts Liverpool England in the next match.

The results:
Rejistania 4 (Y 14th 58 59th, Meke 48th)
The Weegies 3

Rejistania 3 (Sane~l 19th, Venisil 27th, Meke 36th)
NEWI Cefn Druids 2


*OOC: can't find roster
OOC2: Slani RL!

Semi Final Results
Liverpool England 5 Rejistania 2 +
The Belmore Family 6 Talzeckia 3

-Final [Friday] will be scorinated by Legalese.
-Third Place Playoff [Thursday] will be scorinated by me and WILL be TGed.

+Rejis complained to me about this score, saying I shouldnt have scorinated it. Well,....

Leagion Scorinations/Resims: 15
Rejistanian Wins: 5 + 1 AET
Liverpool England Wins: 8 + 1 AET
Largest Margin of victory for LE: 3 goals; 5-2 twice; 6-3 once
Largest Margin of victory for Rejis: 6 goals; 7-1
Highest Scoring: LE 5-6 Rejis

7 all draw leaves crowd more than satisfied

The crowd got a real showing yesterday as the Belmorians scraped a goal with all the time in up to manage a 7-7 draw.

The first half started strongly for the Belmorians with Alan Belmore placing the ball into a Sliponians feet to deliver a short corner. Goshawk played it out to Mitchell who stopped the ball, dragged it into the D and blasted the ball against the top of the backboard. But this did not deter the Sliponians, they came back at the Belmorians from all angles trying to feed a ball into a lose striker.

But it came to no avail and when Will Edwards blasted a ball from a 16 to Tom Baly who dragged the ball past two defenders and thread it through to Goshawk who nicely placed the ball into the corner of the goal giving the Belmorians a healthy 2-0 lead.

But this did not last long. When the Sliponian number 9 barged past Vivaldi and smacked the ball into the centre of the goal, their number 6 was their to collect the ball and smack it under the diving keeper to bring the score back with only a 1 goal difference 12 minutes into the match.

However, the Belmorians are not ranked number 1 for nothing. We quickly began the offensive from the off with Alec Mittchell smashing the ball down towards the corner giving Sliponia a hit-in only a couple of yards off their line. Due to our famed rinning, Goshawk was able to stop the ball nicely, turn and blast the ball into the center of the D. The ball was collected by Alan Belmore who placed it into the goal to restore the Belmorian lead.

And the Sliponians must have had another dent in the armour when, after coming narrowly close with a shot rebounding off the post went 4-1 down when Alec Mitchell used his wizrdry skill to get past 3 defenders and a goalie to take him into an open goal giving the Belmorians a nice lead.

However, we relaxed too much. We left some slack defending and Tom Wickersham was caught in a daze as their number 10 tapped a ball over his stick then smacked it into the back of the net to delerious support of the Sliponian crowd to take the score back to only 2 in it. And the game became even closer when their number 11's free hit caught a deflection in the D taking the score to 4-3.

The crowd were now starting to realise that this would be a thrilling match. Only 32 minutes into the 1st half and the score was already 4-3. The fans began to boom out their chants trying to get their team to score another before the break, both were answered.

However it was the Belmorians who had their way first. Alec Mitchell caught onto a running ball and flung it back onto the top of the D. Alan Belmore reieved it and played it out wide to Baly. Baly ran in a bit and played it to Odedra on the penalty spot. Odedra took took a shot which looked like it was spirling away from the goal until Alan Belmore tapped it into the goal. 5-3. But the Sliponians knew a 2 goal deposit would be impossible to make up in the second half. So they began a full blown offensive on The Belmore Family. Strike after stike came poring at us until in the final minute of the half their number 7 flicked the ball into the corner of the goal. The teams went into the break at 5-4.


After the break the Sliponians have obviously just had an awesome speech from their manager. They came out fired up and ready for action. They came out and from the play-back they were strong. Their number 10 played it out to their number 8 who got past Odedra and played it out to their number 10. Wickersham came forwards so their number 10 played it out to their number 9 on the left. He pulled it into the conerer and played theb ball into the center. Their number 10 caught onto the ball and finished the fabulous move with a goal.

And they did not finish their, they took the lead for the first time in the match when Herroros-Symons lay on the ball giving them a penalty flick. Their number 10 strode up nicely and placed it into the corner of the goal. 6-5.

But the Belmorians struck back with 15 minutes to go. When Odedra whacked the ball into their D from a penalty flick we could not believe our luck when we equalised because their goalie kicked the ball into our Tom Baly’s raised stickflying the ball into the goal.

Now, there was only 6 minutes left. Sliponia stepped up to the plate and after a well worked manouver found themselves 7-6 up, this is the highest scoring (with both teams scoring) match in FHWCWC History (Probably). The Belmorians seemed like they were cruising for defeat but with 2 seconds to go TBF were awarded a penalty corner. Baly played the ball out to Mitchell. The whistle went, Mitchell slammed into the ball, letting it fly into the backboard. The Sliponians were outraged, the goal was after the whistle, but the Ref gave it. (OOC: This could actually happe, I can explain the rule to anyone who wants it)

FINAL SCORE:
THE BELMORE FAMILY 7

SLIPONIA 7

OOC: LE, it was not about the fact that I lost, it was because I think no one should be able to scorinate his/her own matches. Well, RP my match anyways, I have no time.

Tigers trumped in semis, 6-3

It was fun while it lasted.

Defending champions the Belmore Family put a quick end to the Talzeckian field hockey team's Cinderfella run through the 11th Field Hockey World Cup knockout stages with a 6-3 win that earned it a date with host nation Liverpool England. The loss left the Tigers (4-3-1) to face second ranked Rejistania in the third place match.

"Obviously, any loss is going to hurt," Coach Harry Cartwright said. "The closer you get to the finals, the more it's going to hurt. But our guys played their guts out. I'm very proud of the work they put into this tournament and what they accomplished."

Like the previous game, the Belmore Family jumped out to an early lead on the Tigers, getting three goals behind goalkeeper Kerwyn Lacey before the game was 10 minutes old. Unlike the last time, Cartwright left Lacey in and unlike the first game, the Tigers came back. Forward Kenneth Bremont scored two goals in 1:39, the fastest two goals by Talzeckia in its brief history, to cut the halftime deficit to 3-2.

"I kept Kerwyn in the game because he's our keeper now," Cartwright said. "Kenny did a great job to keep us in the game and give us some hope going into the half."

The Belmore Family answered the mini-run by Talzeckia with a goal just eight minutes into the second half, but the Tigers would not go away meekly. Midfielder Darren Lansing caught the opposing defense napping with a quick shot from outside and brought the Tigers to within 4-3 with just 10 minutes to go. From there, an exhausted Tigers defense had no answers for the world's top ranked team and The Belmore Family scored the last two goals of the match in rapid fire fashion, including the last goal with just 50 seconds left.

"We're going to take a lot of positives from this Cup," Lansing said. "No matter what happens against Rejistania, we accomplished some great things."

The team said it would view match tapes of Rejistania, especially Sarzonia's hard-fought 3-2 loss.

"We think Sarzonia did some things that we can exploit," Cartwright said. "Hopefully, we'll be right about that."

[02/12/04 - 15:11:21] <@LE> Official Field Hockey World Cup 11 Score
[02/12/04 - 15:11:26] <@LE> Third Place Playoff
[02/12/04 - 15:11:27] <@LE> Rejistania 4 Talzeckia 3

Congratulations to Rejistania for securing third place, and to Talzeckia for finishing fourth in their debut cup.

Tigers stopped short, 4-3

Facing the world's second ranked team coming into World Cup 11, the Talzeckian colonial field hockey team was picked by many pundits to be blown off the field before the opening face off, but the Tigers weren't listening. They jumped out to a 3-0 lead before heavily-favored Rejistania scored four unanswered goals in a span of 12 minutes in the second half to wrest the third place game from the Tigers, 4-3.

"We didn't get the prize we wanted," Coach Harry Cartwright said. "No matter what, that's going to bother us for a little bit." Cartwright refused to answer questions about the team's accomplishments going from new team to semifinalist in its first foray into international competition.

Talzeckia's run through the tournament came as a surprise to many observers, as a colony that had never sniffed a sport at a high level faced off against the world's top ranked team twice and later the world's second ranked team, but when the team earned a draw and a win against the world's fifth ranked team and defeated the 29th ranked team decisively, it made a statement that there would be a new team to contend with.

"We're beginning to establish ourselves on the international stage with our own identity," goalkeeper Kerwyn Lacey said. He and forward Kenneth Bremont were named co-MVPs of the team after the loss to Rejistania. "We've developed a sense of pride in being Talzeckian."

The team said it is looking forward to the next World Cup, even if they will bear the mantle of favorite and will be one of the teams being gunned for.

"It's going to be a new challenge for us," Cartwright said. "It should be a lot of fun in the years ahead."

[03/12/04 - 14:05:19] <@CH|MakingUpStadia> Liverpool England 4-5 The Belmore Family

Congratulations to The Belmore Family for winning FHWC11 [and claiming revenge for their FHWC8 final defeat]!