Games 67, 68, and 69  (SYL-NGR, SOL-FCLR, and KTZ-WHI) 11-09-298

Game 67: Sylvian-Northern Gronk (Vexillium Cup CD'98)

IVEFA announces the result from today's match played in the Vexillium
Cup CD'98, November 9, 298:

The Technical Information:

Final score: SYLVIAN 1 - NORTHERN GRONK 3
Played in: Williamsport, Christiana (WillWest Stadium)
Attendance: 60,000
Referee: Mark Hansen (Maryport)
Goals: Onix-Gar (NGR, 37.), Sinisterfoot (NGR, 44.), Darcon (SYL, 56.),
Rimlahim (NGR, 65.)
Yellow cards:  Allen (SYL, 49.)
Substitutions: Karavn for Smelik (SYL, 45.)

Match commentary:

Sylvian's cinderella-story is over as Gronk finally trumps!

Northern Gronk, although securely winning their first two matches, both
1-0 incidentally, had to take some criticism on their strategic and
"boring" playing style, but today they somewhat separted from their
previous philisophy, and it made for a much better game overall, as they
played some exciting ball in the first half, and scored two goals, both
from corner standard-situations.

Sylvian, one of the big surprises of the cup, had aspirations on
advancing to the next rounds with a draw, but after the first half, it
was the Hurricanes two up, and Sylvian had to respond with more
offense.  The first part of the second half saw a great charge by
Sylvian to make up the 2 goal deficit, and indeed, Darcon was able to
close up to one goal.  Despite heavy efforts, Sylvian could not manage
to score again, as Gronk again showed that they have one of the best
defenses on the planet.  Sylvian kept running up against the famous
"wall" that already the other teams of group B had to experience in
their games.

NGR actually manage to score another goal, despite their defensive
tactics in the second half, again Radimir Rimlahim was successful!
The rest of the way, Gronk freed up a little, and there followed a
pretty entertaining back-and forth of counters, however, without any
further score.

Gronk goes on as group B champion, without point loss.  Meanwhile,
Sylvian's bid is sadly over after their great surprise at the beginning,
when they beat the FCLR in a shocking upset!

IVEFA announces the result from today's match played in the Vexillium
Cup CD'98, November 9, 298:

The Technical Information:

Final score: SOLELHADA 1 - FCLR 1
Played in: Easton, Christiana (Sunrise Stadium)
Attendance: 50,000
Referee: Nicolas Jousfrippe (Africablue)
Goals: Dalista (FCLR, 63.), Langles (SOL, 85.)
Yellow cards:  Fabre (SOL, 20.), Morol (FCLR, 32.)
Substitutions: Langles for Fabre (SOL, 45.)

Match commentary:

Los Diables Roges dance for joy as they advance in the last minute!

Both teams knew that this was the decisive match as to who would advance
to the next round, as the Sylvian-Northern Gronk match had already been
finished before.  FCLR knew they had to win big, Solelhada knew all they
needed is a draw.  And Solelhada thus very much stuck to their strategy
- try to achieve the 0-0 through heavy defensive play!  And indeed ot
worked.  In the first half, FCLR had little opportunity to break through
the ten-man-defense of the devils, a strategy which had irritated them
already when applied by the Hurricanes in FCLR's 0-1 loss.  Solelhada
just kept rebuffing all attacks, and Delmas took care of the rest.   he
score at halftime was 0-0.

After the break, the devils continued this, but FCLR began attacking
more viciously.  They needed to make something happen, and do it
quickly.  But Solelhada kept building their wall, and it took until the
63. minute for Dalista finally to capitalize on a defensive lapse in
concentration.  His shot on goal seemed to vent all the frustration of
the previous lost games of the cup, and the painstaking efforts of FCLR
against Gronk, and Solelhada, both of which deployed this annoying
defensive play - his shot was hit so hard, not only was it completely
unchallenged into the goal, but afterwards, the ball started deflating,
and had to be replaced!

So FCLR was ahead, finally.  But they needed much more than that!
Solelhada, on the other hand, now needed to score, or otherwise Sylvian
would advance on more goals scored!  Langles, who had entered in the
second half, was covered precisly by Vebaste, and was not a factor at
first, and the rest of the team hardly ventured outside their own half
until Dalista scored.  Now, however, they had no choice but to attack
themselves!
 

For 15 minutes, the game finally became exciting, as both teams were in
full attack mode.  Linitencatoriel missed one high, and on the next
attack, de la Mar pulled to the left, both narrow misses!
However, in the 85. minute, when things were already desperate for FCLR,
AND for Solelhada, Vebaste made a critical error, and Langles turned
around a very quick counter that found him alone in front of the FCLR
goal!  Keeper Candene was unable to clear the storming star striker of
the Devils, who put a powerful hook into the upper near corner, and gave
Solelhada all they needed - a draw!!  The Devils were overjoyed, and
after the last five minutes had passed, they broke into some unabashed
celebrations on the field!  The disappointment of their elimination
after the group rounds in WHCON had finally been vindicated!

For the FCLR, there remained only the consolation of one point, in a Cup
that was generally one to forget.  Perhaps the FCLR would have fared
better if they had participated in the WHCON to get some additional
experience and exposure to international competition, especially after
the loss to Sylvian.  But bygones are bygones, and we must surely beware
of the Confederates again soon!

IVEFA announces the result from today's match played in the Vexillium
Cup CD'98, November 9, 298:

The Technical Information:

Final score: EASTERN ZARTANIA 1 - WHITLAM 1
Played in: Port Celt, Christiana (Seaswept Stadium)
Attendance: 90,000
Referee: Ulf-Ingar Kundur (Islandia)
Goals: Henrickson (KTZ, 55.), Armstark (WHI, 62.)
Yellow cards:  Al-Dhabi (WHI, 31.), Duvall (KTZ, 41.), Chen (WHI, 70.)
Substitutions: duCron for Duvall (KTZ, 45.)

Match commentary:

Decision in the big rivalry is once again postponed!!

I do not recall any game that has had so much hype around it than the
meeting of Eastern Zartania and Whitlam today.  These two great rivals
are very similar in strength, are from the same region and with common
roots, both have recently made great strides in development of soccer in
their nations and become Vexillium soccer powers, and, of course, have
met in a very inconclusive drawn game in Gough earlier this year in the
Tom Koh Trophy, which left a little sour taste in both mouths.  They
were itching for a rematch, each eager to finally prove their
superiority with a win.  The media have given this match more pre-game
buildup and hype than any other so far in the Cup, and the Seaswept
stadium, which had especially been selected for this big game due to its
maximum capacity was filled to the last seat!

The game itself was fast and exciting, both teams really put their all
effort into it, and had a great time while doing so.  KTZ impressed with
their relative discipline, as their usual somewhat rough style was
replaced with an interesting 5-1-4 scheme, which ultimatelt probably did
not work as hoped, as Racine as the lone midfielder was sometimes, well,
on his own, in trying to engineer the necessary offensive initiatives.

The low score of 1 each does not reflect the excitement of the game,
which saw plenty of chances for both.  In fact, two goals more never
happened:  a goal by Blacklock in the 20. minute was disallowed due to
offsides by the very astute referee Kundur, and a penalty shot for
Eastern Zartania after a foul from Al-Dhabi in the 31. minute, taken by
Armstark, was sensationally held by keeper Zaytseva.  So both teams had
some luck, or bad luck, whichever way you look at it!

It did not matter to the fans that no actual score was made until the
second half, as Armstark, Faulkner & Co. made it more than interesting
to watch, making you forget that there were no goals scored!  One might
argue that Whitlam was not using three of its best players, wich
ultimately might have put them at a disadvantage.  But on the other
hand, KTZ's unorthodox 5-1-4, which did not quite seem to work well
enough, might well have been the equalizer to that.

In any case, Henrickson finally brought the Zartanians ahead, in the 55.
minute, to the great roar of the crowd, which was also about split 50-50
in favor of each team.  It was a nice solo that saw the KTZ forward
overcome two defenders before taking aim and catching keeper Zaytseva on
the wrong foot.  But KTZ's lead would only last a few minutes!  The
resurgent Armstark, who obviously had recovered from his injury
sustained against Africablue, made his comeback perfect with a loooong
free kick bomb that went narrowly over the wall and surprised KTZ keeper
Jenkins, who actually could not see the ball until just before it was
about to enter the goal!  The two giants were tied again.  All in all,
the two teams were equal in just about everything today - they even
scored almost at the same time!

Several more chances followed, but about 15 minutes before the end, both
seemed to slow down a little, perhaps with their mindset to not
squalnder all their energies, and remember their upcoming matches, for
which everybody needs to be rested and fully fit.  Thus, in the last two
minutes, something funny happened:  both teams began to perform some
tricks, while the game was still in progress - obviously, the draw was
accepted by both sides, and the players decided to take it easy and have
some fun - they now tried to show off their balltricks!  It was slightly
bizarre, but the players had a blast, and the crowds loved it as well.
Referee Kundur saw what was happening, and ended the game without injury
time, since obviously no team had any more intention of playing
seriously!  What a unique moment!  After the whistle, both teams made
the rounds of honor, exchanged shirts, and some opposing players left
the pitch backslapping each other.  They are great rivals on the field,
but just as their nations share their common roots, so is there a
certain kinship between these two teams.

The draw now means that Whitlam will proceed as the number one seed
against second place of group F - Meanwhile, Zartania will most likely
see Coceira in the next round - that should be another blockbuster
match!!

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