Official Game Statements:

Game 207 (Friendly match)

Game 207: Eastern Delgamia - Aros (09-20-299)

The Technical Information:

Final score: EASTERN DELGAMIA 2 - AROS 2
Played in: Filorro Football Arena, Filorro, Eastern Delgamia
Attendance: 38,300
Referee: Brad Barkley (Lamb's Cove)
Goals: Beijocudabaca (EDE, 32nd), Ellis (ARO, 54th), Levenz (ARO,
60th), Loinazunhe (EDE, 73rd)
Yellow Cards: Zandarte (EDE, 48th)
Substitutions: Impurrunhe for Mirrari (EDE, 45th), Yup for Jenkins
(ARO, 55th), Loinazunhe for Lozonhuon (EDE, 61st)

Match Commentary:

A dreary draw, but a thrilling ending!

The VexCup bronze medallists, Eastern Delgamia, came ever so close to
beating the second-worst team on the planet (according to IVEFA
ratings), Aros, but ever so close was not good enough.

At the beginning, the winner seemed apparent to everyone. Eastern
Delgamia was coming off a triumph over the giants of the game, Westria,
to win the bronze medal at the VexGames. Aros, was coming off a
three-nil loss to Draconia, at home, and then a six-four loss to
Christiana, just next door. And the conquerers were playing at home.

>From the first whistle, each team wished to play defensive, a situation
described by San Patricians as 'el fútbol bovino'. The first half
monotony was broken a few times, in runs on goal, but mainly by Eastern
Delgamia. Frohilihe Mirrari, the 24 year old EDelg goal-keeper, proved
with whatever chances he had that he was a good goalie for the VexCup,
and could definitely be taken to WZ.

The only goal in the half was to Auxkhi Beijocudabaca, the 26 year old
from Redveho, now signed for Namuria, in the thirty-second minute, with
some great teamwork and passing done by the Eastern Delgamian forwards.
B'baca was the lucky one who got the shot off.

Half time, and EDelg Coach Jounhe Olibeireinha did as he promised, by
switching his two of his three goalkeepers, Frohilihe Mirrari for
Ubelteko Impurrunhe, in an attempt to figure out which ones should go
to WZ 99. Eastern Delgamia decided to sit back and defend their lead,
but they refused to lie down and get battered. They were a little
aggressive at times, culminating in Santxolhe Zandarte's yellow card,
three minutes after the break.

Six minutes after that, Robin Ellis, Number 11 for Aros, scored the
equaliser with a free kick from five yards outside the box, a curving
kick that went round the Eastern Delgamian wall. Directly after the
goal, Aros decided to improve the flow in midfield, by taking off the
tired Frank Jenkins, and replacing him with Yup.

Five minutes after the substitution, Dan Levenz, an Aros midfielder,
scored his team's second goal, to put them in to the lead. They
actually had a chance of winning at this point!

So Eastern Delgamia figured to beef up on offence, and to make sure
that they didn't lose this one, by swapping Hannoto Loinazunhe for
Jereminhe Lozonhuon. They started up an attack, and persisted with in
for thirteen minutes, until the substitute L'zunhe scored the equaliser.

The Aros coach, Vinn Kanoair, figured "Hey! We've got a draw, and
that's fantastic. We don't want a loss, of course, so we'll beef up our
defense."
The EDelg coach, Jounhe Olibeireinha, figured "Hey! This team is the
second worst in the world, and we're tying with them. We gotta beat
them!"

That resulted in some spectacular Eastern Delgamian tactics, passing,
and shots. It also resulted in many saves by Rachid Osmanli, who put on
a display good enough to send him to five VexCups. As much as Eastern
Delgamia tried they could not get it into the back of the net, until
the last minute of injury time, when Beijocudabaca put it past Osmanli.
They were about to celebrate, when Ulanovan linesman Ivan Chernyenko
ruled B'baca offside. Brad Barkley then declared it full time, and both
teams walked away with a draw.

Both teams will be participating in the VexCup. Aros is in Group F,
with Christiana, who they met in the first round of the VexGames, and
who lost to Eastern Delgamia in the next round, and 'Territories',
which is assumed to be Watts and Mealing, who last lost to IWK in the
first round of the VexGames. Aros is the third seed of that group.
Eastern Delgamia is in Group H, with Drinomar and Namuria. Drinomar
last lost to Westria 1-0 in overtime, which was not a very convincing
result. Namuria hasn't played an international before, but their
official religion is soccer, and their league, the Holy Championship,
has been getting a lot of coverage. A goal-scorer in this match, Auxkhi
Beijocudabaca, has been signed to play for Nashikaar Pelgamur.
The dates for these games have not been finalised.



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