Games 79, 80, and 81  (Northern Gronk-Westermarc, Christiana-Solelhada, and Armatirion-Islandia) 11-13-298

Game 79: Northern Gronk-Westermarc (Vexillium Cup CD'98) - SECOND ROUND

IVEFA announces the result from today's match played in the Vexillium
Cup CD'98, November 14, 298:

The Technical Information:

Final score: NORTHERN GRONK 0 - WESTERMARC 1, IN OVERTIME
Played in: Port Celt, Christiana (Seaswept Stadium)
Attendance: 90,000
Referee: Gilles Baptiste (Phenixia)
Goals: Bulunghia (WMC, 114.)
Yellow cards: Koon (WMC, 69.)
Substitutions: Doma for Rodriguez (NGR, 70.),  Gueyga for M. Fooey (WMC,
90.), Bulunghia for Saabah (WMC, 90.), Sadface for Carina (NGR, 90.)

Match commentary:

Defensive overtime thriller has Westermarc squeak through - but only
just!

What Westermarc had feared came true in this game:  Northern Gronk's
famous defensive play created a virtual wall for the Serpents, that not
even their noted snaking offensive play could penetrate.  As in all
other 3 games NG had played so far in the Cup, they did a great job of
frustrating their opponent with defense, while not making any great
offensive moves, unless absolutely low-risk.  So indeed, this match was
another one of those that were not too exciting to watch, unfortunately.

The key difference in this game was, Northern Gronk was not able to
score that needed goal quickly to then try to preserve their narrow lead
- so essentially they were preserving their draw instead!  Westermarc's
defense was almost flawless as well, again superbly directed and
executed by Singhraj, the human tree, and the Hurricanes really only had
about five real goal chances the entire game.  Westermarc only had seven
themselves!  Two times, goalie Nuur prevented the worst, the other three
for NG were not executed well enough to score.  Westermarc, on the other
hand, squandered all their chances with unforced errors.

As the game came to a close, it became more and more clear that
overtime, and even a penalty shoot would be a possibility, something
that Westermarc coach Chekkor wanted to avoid at all cost.  Therefore,
in the last 15 minutes, the Serpents began to push much harder,
harnessing all their energies again.  However, the Gronkian defense
stood firm as ever, and indeed, overtime was on the program.

Interestingly, Westermarc had not made any substitutions the entire
game, and they were able to bring in two fresh players, opposed to only
one by the Hurricanes.  Perhaps this was the little bit of advantage
that eventually gave them the edge.  Because by now, both teams were
visibly tiring.  As overtime began, players of both teams could be
increasingly seen at the sidelines, receiving ice spray and quick
massages against their leg cramps!  So it was going to be an endurance
battle, and really a gamble for both the teams.  \

Again, NG was not taking many chances, and more or less kept their
style, apparently willing to take their chances in a shootout.
Westermarc also realized this, and they once again attempted to push
harder, whatever their tired legs would allow!  The two new players,
especially Bulunghia, played a key role here.  At first, Westermarc kept
rebounding off the Gronkian defense wall, but they kept trying, anf
trying.  All of a sudden, there was a moment of lapsed concentration in
the Hurricane defense, and Foit and Bulunghia were able to break through
- Foit, who had the ball, was on the right, bulunghia on the left.  Two
defenders were attacking Foit, a third one coming his way, but he passed
to Bulunghia, who was only covered by one.  He began a sprint, and with
his fresh legs, he was able to outrun the Gronkian defender, and proceed
towards the goal, where keeper Vratar had begun to run towards him.
Another Gronkian player was trying to catch up with Bulunghia, but
nobody could.  The inevitable happened - Vratar made a desperate attempt
at jumping in front of Bulunghia, but the striker kept his cool, and
struck a hook to the outside of the unfortunate and tired goalie, and
softly kicked the ball into the empty goal, in the 114. minute!!

This was a great shock for Northern Gronk!  They now had to score, and
score quickly, so their entire strategy was thrown out the window.  They
now tried to frantically attack, but it was Singhraj, and his men, who
now gave them a taste of their own medicine.  They managed to hold on
for their somewhat sensational win in overtime!

Northern Gronk thus leaves the Cup after three great wins, and after
they built an intimidating reputation with their usually lethal
defensive game, which even in this game kept their opponent totally at
bay, until that one unfortunate lapse in concentration, due to fatigue.
Westermarc, on the other hand now again have their work cut out, as they
must face the winner of Armatirion-Islandia in the quarter finals!

IVEFA announces the result from today's match played in the Vexillium
Cup CD'98, November 14, 298:

The Technical Information:

Final score: CHRISTIANA 3 - SOLELHADA 1
Played in: Christianshaven, Christiana (Royal Christiana Stadium)
Attendance: 75,200
Referee: Trevor Speaks (Bowdani)
Goals: Harrison (CHR, 18.), Langles (SOL, 29.), Mortensen (CHR, 60.),
Harrison (CHR, 73.)
Yellow cards: O'Kenney (CHR, 23.), Portal (SOL, 64.)
Substitutions: de la Mar for Arrat (SOL, 61.), Szabo for Buou (SOL,
61.), Burton for Andersen (CHR, 62.), James for Monaigh (CHR, 75.)

Match commentary:

Christiana cleans up against Devils with "SuperSweep"!

Home favorites Christiana today played another solid game for King &
country in front of a over-capacity crowd in their capital city, and
they have all reason to celebrate again!  Solelhada proved to be a
formidable opponent for the Knights - the Red Devils came fearless and
with a more offensive strategy than they had exhibited before.  The fact
that they only narrowly made it to this round did not hamper their
enthusiasm, on the contrary, their draw against the Confederacy gave
them some more spark.

Just their bad luck then that they today were confronted with an
opponent who was even more motivated.  The Knights have enjoyed such a
tremendous boost in popularity, they have now become the most recognized
sports personalities in Christiana, after famed wrester "Mule" Crownson!

Coach Snyder has also put them through some more rigorous preparations,
and their new offensive strategy, the "SuperSweep" indeed surprised the
Solelhadan defense a couple of times, and was highly effective, and an
important ingredient in this victory!  No doubt will the future
opponents of Christiana study those video tapes very carefully to try
and find an answer to this interesting playing concept!

Solelhada did play a good game as well, free and flowing, and overall
very entertaining to watch.  Langles was once again superb, and scored
his teams' only goal, which at that time, pulled them even with
Christiana, who had jumped in the lead rather early after a header from
Harrison.  Harrison today was back to the number one scorer position he
has held in team Christiana before Monaigh began to score big in the
preliminary rounds.  Monaigh was without goal this time, while Harrison
took over, and had two.

The Solelhada midfield was strong, the decision to bring in the new
players was overall correct, although one mistake by Kékkúti DID lead
directly to a goal for Christiana, as Mortensen took advantage of the
'gift" from Kékkúti, and coolly scored from short distance for the 2-1.

The teams held each other in balance most of the second half, and
Solelhada did not let itself be distracted by the sideline antics of the
King, who once again had left the safety of his Royal Box to mingle with
his Knights, and fire them on!  Ultimately, it was Christiana, however,
who had the better part of it!  Harrison scored again volley after a
pass from Padraig, and the final result was sealed as a good win for
Team Christiana, which sees them through to the quarter finals!
Solelhada leaves the cup with their heads high, as they played well
today as well, but had to make way for the heavy charge of the home
team!

Christiana will now face the winner of Whitlam-Coceira, with a
possibility of a 'revenge' match for Coceira, whom the Knights knocked
out of the WHCON earlier this year!

IVEFA announces the result from today's match played in the Vexillium
Cup CD'98, November 14, 298:

The Technical Information:

Final score: ARMATIRION 2 - ISLANDIA 4
Played in: Aurora, Christiana (Borealis Stadium)
Attendance: 70,000
Referee: Johnny Whistler (Christiana)
Goals: Cunliffe (ARM, 13.), Eyjolfsson (ISL, 35.), Eyjolfsson (ISL, 59.,
penalty), Cunliffe (ARM, 63.), Petursson (ISL, 73.), Eyjolfsson (ISL,
81.)
Yellow cards: Danielsson (ISL, 25.), Johansson (ISL, 47.), Virr (ARM,
61.)
Red Card: Greyner (ARM, 58.)
Substitutions: Dunlop for Parker (ARM, 27.), Latta for Bell (ARM, 60.),
Steindorsson for Williamsson (ISL, 65.)

Match commentary:

Incredible upset!  Islandia does the unthinkable, and eliminates heavy
favorite Armatirion!!!!

A panel of 239 established sportswriters held a poll before the start of
the Cup to find out who the experts thought would win it, and Armatirion
received no less than 173 first-place votes, and was declared the heavy
favorite!  The country with the oldest soccer league on the planet was
also the bookmakers' favorite, and essentially everybody, even their
opponents, expected them to win....

The more sensational the result of today's game with Islandia!  The
small island nation is a major player on the international soccer scene,
but certainly not of the caliber of Armatirion, the number one on the
official Vexillium rankings compiled by the IVEFA!  Especially after
their rather lackluster loss to Lexicon in their final group game,
Islandia was not given much of a chance by anybody in their task of
trying to overcome the Goliath Armatirion.  Well, the Vexillium Cup now
has its biggest surprise result to date!

At first, things seemed to go as expected - Cunliffe, who worked well
with Parker, scored the 1-0 for ARM in the 13. minute, and they looked
well on their plotted way to a clear victory.  However, in the 25.
minute, there came a very significant incident:  Parker, on the go
towards the goal, was fouled by Danielsson, and very unfortunately, as
he stumbled, stepped ON the ball, and twisted his ankle!  Danielsson got
the yellow for this, but more significantly, Parker's ankle was very
painful, and after spraying it with freeze spray for a minute or so,
they had to decide to take him out of the game - so the stretcher came,
and Parker was out - a blow for Armatirion, who had lost one of their
attack stalwarts.  He was replaced by substitute striker Dunlop.

In the aftermath of this incident, with Armatirion still a little
unsettled, Islandia scored the surprise equalizer through Eyjolfsson,
who more and more is becoming a major superstar player, in the 35.
minute, by head, after a corner by Danielsson.

Armatirion nevertheless still looked good, but their attack now did not
work quite as well as when Cunliffe had Parker by his side.  Thus, there
was no more score until the break!

In the second half, Islandia came onto the pitch rather spirited, and
they began to try to put some pressure on their opponent.  But another
major game-deciding incident happened in the 58. minute:
Petursson advanced to the Armatirion goal in a counter, and blasted
away, with goalie Fern chanceless - however, Alan Greyner, the Red Flag
defender, happened to be on the line as well, and he cleared the ball
from a sure goal by stopping it with his chest, and what appeared to be
his arm slightly raised and drawn against his chest - the Penguins
immediately protested to referee Whistler, who was convinced anyways,
that Greyner had partially used his hand, whether intentionally or not,
together with his left chest, to prevent a sure goal, an offense, which
in Whistler's mind was worth a yellow card, as well as a penalty for
Islandia.  The Armatirion team was furious!  Virr, Greyner, and Fern all
three argued with the Christianan referee, but he had his mind made up.
On the other hand, the Islandian players were arguing the other way.  A
few times some of the opposing players got awfully close to each other,
but fortunately their cool heads finally prevailed.  Not so for Greyner,
though, he could not let this go, and would not stop to argue with the
referee, despite several warnings by Whistler.  Greyner kept
gesticulating, trying to show where the ball hit, and that his arm did
not touch.  Whistler told him to stop and go away.  But again Greyner
began his argument, until the ref finally pulled the red card!!  He had
heard enough!  Now all hell broke loose, as the Armatirion players once
again returned and began to argue about the card as well!!  Finally,
Whistler shouted, clearly audible over the television:"If you guys don't
back off, I have no scruples showing a few more (cards)!!"  So finally
the disgruntled Armatirion team retreated from the referee.

Greyner had to leave the pitch, leaving behind only 10 for Armatirion,
all of which watched helplessly as Eyjolfsson scored easily with a
clever fake from the penalty mark, that had Fern in the wrong corner.

Armatirion now had their backs against the wall - Islandia was one
ahead, not just in goals, but also in players!  And Parker was out as
well!  It therefore came as a huge relief to them, that Cunliffe scored
yet again, just a few minutes after the controversial incident, in a
very fast counter after a pass from Virr.  Things again seemed like they
would play out as expected in the end.  But not so!

Islandia all of a sudden thrived.  The fact that they had an extra man,
and at the favorable turn of events in their favor, seemed to energize
them, and it seemed as if they wanted to make the most of the
opportunity which was now clearly before them.  More and more, they
began playing themselves into a Northern-Phenixia-like frenzy.  Every
pass seemed to connect, every duel seemed to go their way, the ball
seemed to follow them, instead of the other way around.  All of a
sudden, Armatirion looked in dire straits, as Islandia now trumped up
bigtime, and played around them seemingly with ease!  It was a bizarre
sight for a veteran football fan!

Petursson scored in the 73. minute by head after a flank from
Hjalmarsson, to bring Islandia ahead again.  And just 10 minutes later,
the amazing Eyjolfsson completed his team's and his personal triumph
with number three of a fantastic hattrick, again off a pass by
Hjalmarsson!!  The Armatirion players could not believe their eyes, they
were losing, after all their glorious wins!!  It was all going down the
drain, and Islandia did not let up until the last five minutes - the
final mad rush by the Old Continenters came up short, though, and the
sensation was complete - Islandia had defeated the giant, admittedly
with some good fortune, but also with some outstanding play, 4-2, in an
extremely exciting match that had everybody on the edge of their seats
in disbelief!!

Armatirion thus joins Northern Gronk as the both mammoth nations are
ousted from the cup simultaneously - who would have guessed!  Islandia
in their glory now will face Westermarc, the tamers of the Hurricanes,
in the quarter finals!

So who must we now consider the favorites for the Cup, with Armatirion
out?  Eastern Zartania?  Westria?  Christiana?  Or even Coceira?  Who
knows.  After today's rounds, everything is wide open!!