Official Game Statements:

Games 241 through 245 (Friendly Matches), 12-30-299 to 01-08-300:

Game 241: Begral - South Bay (12-30-299):
 
 The Technical Information:

Final score: BEGRAL 4 - SOUTH BAY 0
Played in: Ursine Stadium, Port Sylvar, Begral
Attendance: 60,213
Referee: Hajib El-Nussini (DJR)
Goals: Hiromira (BEG, 51st), Cosco (BEG, 60th), Cosco (BEG, 62nd, penalty), Brown (BEG, 90th)
Yellow cards: Leonard (BEG, 10th), Kenshin (SBY, 14th), Dirksen (BEG, 21st), Tibalt (SBY, 29th), Nielson (BEG, 30th), Hiromira (BEG, 37th), Baxster (SBY, 45th), Blake (SBY, 45th), Conway (BEG, 57th), Tanaka (SBY, 62nd), York (SBY, 64th), Nyaga (BEG, 77th), Nixon (SBY, 90th)
Red cards: Tibalt (SBY, 32nd), Kenshin (SBY, 47th), Nyaga (BEG, 88th)
Substitutions: Macduff for Nixon (SBY, 48th), Neferam for York (SBY, 61st)

Mad Djerigan Referee Avenges In The Name Of Moún With Absolute Cardfest!

This match was a record-breaking match, but for all the wrong reasons. The referee, Hajib El-Nussini, handed out a whopping 13 yellow cards and 3 red cards against the two teams collectively. It was merely the timing of his cards that dictated the game.

The first half was uneventual in play, however five yellow cards were given out in the first 30 minutes for tackles that didn't harm anybody at all, some of which wouldn't have even been deserving of a free kick. Directly after, though, in the 32nd minute, the first major event of the game occured: the red-carding of Joshua Tibalt from the Tigers. It again was another tackle barely worthy of a free-kick, but El-Nussini saw it differently, a yellow card offence, combined with a previous yellow card, brought out the red.

For the last thirteen minutes of the half, the Bears launched an all-out attack. They were pounding the South Bay goalkeeper, William Lochnar, with shots from every angle and crevice. All totaled, the statisticians counted 20 shots by the Bears, on 11 different attacks. But Lochnar was well worthy to all goals that were on target and got past defenders. He made 8 saves in those 13 minutes. At one point in the Begralli run, however, the Bears' defence was found wide open, and with three quick passes, from Himura Kenshin to Ted Baxster to Edgar York to Benjamin Foelts, the striker Benjamin Foelts had only the goalkeeper to beat. Foelts looked to be offside when he received the pass on the edge of the 18 yard box, however El-Nussini didn't pick it up. Foelts launched the shot, but through an absolute miracle, the Bears' keeper, Dan Bartlet, picked the side correctly, dived, and through the faintest of touches it went a foot away from the right-hand post, and over the goal-line. T!
he corner was a non-event, as it found no South Bay forwards and Bartlet caught it easily. He passed it away and the Begralli attack continued.

By half time the South Bay defence had been given quite a run, and the fifteen minutes rest was very welcome to them. At half time the Begralli offence was a bit tired, but 15 minutes would see them right.

And back on the field, the Djerigan found the Tiger Himura Kenshin to be a bad boy only two minutes after the break, and 'sent him off for an early bath', as Christiana's favourite sports commentator Jack Motson would say. Because after Kenshin's sending off the Tigers were lacking in defence, a 2-3-3 formation, a forward, Henry Nixon, went off in favour of James MacDuff, in order to strengthen their defence as a 3-3-2. Not that it did much good. Three minutes after the substitution, #10 for the Bears, Akiro Hiromira, did a great run from midfield to put their ball past the hapless keeper William Lochnar. Nine minutes after that, the lead was extended to two goals when Allan Cosco scored a perfectly-placed header from the corner, into the top corner of the net.

Thanks to Yoshi Tanaka, who made a free-kick-worthy tackle inside the 18-yard box (and was carded for it), Allan Cosco let the penalty fly past Lochnar, to bring the Tigers to the point of no-catchup. 3-0 seemed insurmountable. And so it was.

To stop the damn bursting any further, South Bay coach Will McNeil brought on a defender, Walter Neferam, for a midfielder, Edgar York. That brought their offence pretty much down to nil with a 4-2-2 formation, but they did what was necessary. The rest of the game was pretty much uneventful until two minutes before the start of injury time, when the Bears' Akuma Nyaga was sent off for about the only red-card-worthy tackle of the entire game.

As the icing on the cake, Andrew Brown slotted a goal in past Lochnar just before the end of injury time, putting the Bears up to 4-0, which is how they won the game.

The 4-0 loss for South Bay doesn't put them on the best of tracks for future games. Having played two games, they have yet to score a goal, and they have never been beaten by less than three goals. For Begral, the win signals pretty much the best possible start a new team could have.

South Bay plays the Tiger Confederacy at home, at the Civic Stadium in Lochboer, the site of their loss to Draconia, in two days time.
 
 



Game 242: Niokolo Koba - Aros (12-31-299):
 
The Technical Information:

Final score: NIOKOLO KOBA 0 - AROS 6
Played in: Goldenrod Field, Osannde, Niokolo Koba
Attendance: 41,219
Referee: Ingemar Hatt (Brolecia)
Goals: Ellis (ARO, 2nd), Vzaxogram (ARO, 35th), Levenz (ARO, 46th), Ellis (ARO, 50th), Vaio (ARO, 79th), Ellis (ARO, 80th)
Yellow cards: Ariaztegui (ARO, 29th)
Substitutions: Vaio for Vzaxogram (ARO, 45th), Desaix for Jenkins (ARO, 45th), Harawi for Ndiaye (NKB, 45th), Sana for Ba (NKB, 52nd)

Kobans Kop Killing!

Aros continued their winning run on Friday coming off a 4-0 win against Deucoland, with a whopping 6-0 win against the Niokolo Kobans.

>From the word go Aros played fluid football, with very nice passing, which enabled them to go through and get Robin Ellis to score the first goal of the match, a textbook shot to the bottom left of the keeper.

And that was how the game would be set. The Niokolo Kobans showed some flashes of brilliance, but they found out the hard way that Man Can Not Score Goals By Solo Runs Alone. They had the skill, they just didn't have the cohesion.

The Aros just kept chipping and chipping away at the Niokolo Koban's defence, knowing that doing that would bring results. And it did so in the 35th minute, when Roberto Vzaxogram went past Christian Simba, and then the keeper Pape Diouf, to score a no-frills goal just slotted in to the centre. No frills the goals may have been, but the celebrations were anything but! Vzaxogram must have fancied himself a gymnast at one time, because he did three flips and a somersault after scoring his goal.

Half time came, and evidently the Koban's coach, Moussa Diatta, thought that at 2-0 down it was the end of the world, because he thought it necessary to bring on a defender in place of a midfielder (Issam Harawi for Saar Ndiaye), and drop back a forward (Ousmane Ba to midfield), so he was at a 5-3-2 formation. Vinn Kanoair, however, gave those in need a rest, and brought on other players. The goal-scorer, Roberto Vzaxogram, was replaced by Mehei Vaio up front, and #99, Charlie Desaix, came on for #6, Frank Jenkins, in the middle.

Back for the second half, Diatta's tactical alterations hardly worked at all, as straight away the midfielder Dan Levenz scored a headed goal off a cross by Ben Aurillis to put Aros 3-0 up. But the Aros did not get complacent and over-confident. They kept using the same methodical play, because they all remembered what happened in the Copa Melania final, with San Patricio catching up three goals against Brolecia in the last 30 minutes. However, they lost on penalties...

And methodical play helped, as Robin Ellis got his second of the match four minutes later, with a volley into the top corner of the goal off a corner kick that Diouf had forced. Being 4-0 up made them virtually untouchable, but the Aros didn't assume anything.

If Moussa Diatta had thought it was the end of the world at half time, then he must have been thinking that it was the end of the universe after the fourth goal. He took off his forward who had dropped back and replaced him with a defender. So after it had been recorded in the game log that Leopold Sana replaced Ousmane Ba in the 52nd minute, the Kobans had the most defensive 6-2-2 formation, which had never been seen before according to most commentators.

It stemmed the tide momentarily, for around 25 minutes, until in the 79th minute, the Aros substitute forward, Mehei Vaio, scored the most basic of goals. He had only the keeper to beat, when he side-stepped Pape Diouf, and dribbled the ball into the goal, while Diouf was spread-eagled helplessly on the ground.

When Diallo Bachir kicked off to Sana Dioula, Robin Ellis was moving for the empty passing space between Dioula and the midfielder Bakari Fall. Ellis intercepted the ball easily, and made a run almost from half-way, past four defenders and a midfielder, only to lose his footing as he was about to take the shot. Nonetheless, his lost footing only meant the ball went to the other side of the goal, off the post, instead of into the bottom corner of the other side. But the irony is, had Ellis not lost his footing, Pape Diouf would have saved it. That gave Ellis his hatrick, and the last goal of the game for Aros.

Aros has come a long way from their early days, when at one point they were bottom of the Satosan IVEFA Rankings. In their first round VexGames match against Christiana, their offence showed real potential in scoring four goals. But their defence needed work, with letting through six goals. Their passing has improved by leaps and bounds, so it could be fair to say that Aros could be a real contender for Copa VexaNova 300, and they'll certainly give Westria a run for their money in VexCup 99.

Some commentators believed that the game was generally slow and sluggish, without many chances. But others, like this commentator, believe that Aros' performance today was good old-fashioned high quality textbook football, which augurs well for future outings.

Quero ver Aros jogando no futuro!



Game 243: South Bay - Tiger Confederacy (01-02-300):
 
The Technical Information:

Final score: SOUTH BAY 5 - TIGER CONFEDERACY 0
Played in: Civic Stadium, Lochboer, South Bay
Attendance: 53,800
Referee: Johnny Whistler (Christiana)
Goals: Foelts (SBY, 41st), Foelts (SBY, 51st), McLeod (SBY, 54th), Bertjosh (SBY, 71st), Bertjosh (SBY, 82nd)
Yellow cards: None
Substitutions: Hison for Foelts (SBY, 52nd), Cuatro for Luande (TIG, 54th), Bertjosh for McLeod (SBY, 68th), Sunslibereta for Braneja (TIG, 72nd)

South Bay: From A Large Defeat To A Large Victory

South Bay caned some major Confederacy butt today, in what was called the Battle Of The Tigers, due to the fact that both teams were nicknamed the Tigers.

Playing their third international match in their history, their track record was not good, having never scored a goal in 180 minutes of play, and having 7 goals scored against them in those 180 minutes.

The Confederate Tigers managed to hold off the South Bay Tigers' attack for nearly the whole of the first half, which shows that the Confederate Tigers may one day become a good team, if they don't get invaded first. But South Bay went into the break with the advantage, from a Benjamin Foelts lob over the charging keeper in the 41st minute.

For half time, the coach of the Confederate Tigers found it unnecessary to change anything, but the South Bay coach, Don Hawthorne, must have really fired up at his players, because they came out with a renewed energy that the Confederate Tigers couldn't stop.

Benjamin Foelts started the run of goals in the second half, the first of four, and his second of the game, with a bicycle kick off a Ted Baxster corner, that fooled everybody, and beat everybody for height, including some headers of Confederate players who had a good two inches on him. Foelts was then substituted for another forward, number 17, Albert Hison.

Straight afterwards, Dave McLeod found it necessary to give his contribution to the game, a shot through a crowded box from 15 yards away, into the top left corner. South Bay was looking like there was no chance for the Tiger Confederacy. Nevertheless, coach Colonel Majârio Candidende swapped a defender for another, Alaxso Cuatro coming on to replace Jorge Luande.

For the next fourteen minutes, there was no progress on the score sheet, with Timo Braneja making some great saves. After those fourteen minutes, Chad Bertjosh came on to replace the goal-scorer Dave McLeod. And boy, did Bertjosh make a killing.

Only three minutes after he came on, he launched a shot off, which, as Martin Lawrenssen, Christiana's favourite sidekick commentator would say
"That was a tremendous shot! If it had hit the keeper, he'd have gone into the back of the net as well!"
which was just about true. After the goal, Colonel Candidende found it necessary to replace his goalkeeper Timo Brandeja, even after his quarter-hour of magnificent saves, with the reserve goalkeeper, Andronetti Sunslibareta. It didn't work.

Ten minutes later, Chad Bertjosh followed up with a second, almost a carbon copy of his first, except that he used the other foot, he was on the other side of the box, and it went into the other top corner. That was the game, five-nil to South Bay.

That leaves the South Bay Tigers in a much more buoyant mood after their two horrendous losses, although it still maintains them a record of never playing in a game when both teams scored. Both teams have no games left to play at this time.



Game 244: Allacoa - Begral (01-05-300):
 
The Technical Information:

Final score: ALLACOA 3 - BEGRAL 1
Played in: Bay Stadium, Kisqa, Allacoa
Attendance: 49,000
Referee: Brüno Çäqa (Extremo)
Goals: Bin Jadlan (ALC, 6th), White (BEG, 11th), Van Has (ALC, 87th), Van Has (ALC, 90th)
Yellow cards: None
Substitutions: None

Allacoa Go To Town In First International!

It was once said by the composer of the Brolecian national anthem, Dirk Antunovitschen, about musical bands playing pieces: "You can play like crap in the middle and the audience won't care, as long as you start well and finish well." That could be comparable to today's game. At the beginning of the match, the Kisqan crowd was treated to two very good goals, and the same applied to the end, but that didn't deter them from having a great time in the middle. Antunovitschen also made a comment about female cellists, but we won't go into that here, considering that children may also read this game report.

Going into the game, everybody was uncertain of what to expect from the newly formed Panthers, who also made it into the VexCup, by virtue of applying. Begral, however, had just come off a 4-0 win against South Bay, but everybody was uncertain how they would fare on the road. Not to mention the fact that it was the referee's first international match as a referee. The Allacoan fans, however, didn't care. They just wanted to have a good time.

And a good time they had. A lot of them had congregated in bars before the match, and had had a few drinks. The police were on alert for drunks, and in total, hauled 24 people off to the Police Station.

The game kicked off, and both teams were out for the early advantage. They wasted no chances, and Allacoa was the first to score from it, Maraq Bin Jadlan scoring past Dan Bartlet in the 6th minute with a header from a lob coming from Victor King on the edge of the 18-yard box. Five minutes later, the Bears struck back, with Paul White just slotting it under Yohannes Eldawi as he charged out. Both teams then settled in for the long haul, and it was that way until half time.

At the break, the coaches evidently did nothing to change the team's strategy, tactics, or positioning. They just left it as it was.

The game continued without surprises, until the 61st minute. When Begral's Jordan Conway fouled Victor King around ten feet from the 18 yard box, referee Brüno Çäqa awarded a free kick. Heraq Sante was about to take it, when a drunk fan jumped out from the stands and started running round the field, with no clothes on for the bottom half of the body. He eluded the persuit of the two linesmen, and at least half a dozen policemen and -women for as long as he ran round the field, running from his place behind Begral's goal, all the way to the half way circle, and back, stopping at Isaac Lopate's feet to kiss them. His problem was, when he arrived back, after jumping over the adboards, he couldn't jump back up to get to his seat, the stand was too far off the ground. Once he realised he was trapped, he climbed up the goalpost, and perched himself precariously on the cross bar. He didn't last there long, for Dan Bartlet, the Begralli goalkeeper, and Chevy Nielson, a defender, combi!
ned to pull him down, and held him until he was taken away by police. The free kick itself was a non-event, it hit the wall and the long haul continued.

Three minutes from the end, the whole of the Civic Stadium erupted in cheers for the Panthers, as Jan Rudolf Van Has broke the monotony that had been almost the entire game with a 30 yard goal, that literally went through the keeper's hands, and into the back of the net. That was definitely cause for the Allacoan fans to celebrate, and celebrate they did, by attending many parties, and getting even drunker.

Van Has put the icing on the cake in the dying seconds of injury time, with a much closer goal, a textbook shot to the left of Bartlet from just outside the 6 yard box. 3-1 to Allacoa, and Kisqa was alive.

The score belies the game. Nobody deserved to win it, and 0-0 would have probably been the fairest indication of the way the game was played. Still, Allacoa would still take the three points and be happy.



Game 245: Begral - Draconia (01-08-300):
 
The Technical Information:

Final score: BEGRAL 0 - DRACONIA 1
Played in: Ursine Stadium, Port Sylvar, Begral
Attendance: 60,000
Referee: Paolo Caroscinha (Solelhada)
Goals: Reversi (DRA, 83rd)
Yellow cards: Korobanik (BEG, 21st), Beancoche (DRA, 36th), Nielson (BEG, 49th), Dirkson (BEG, 69th)
Substitutions: Cosco for Frampton (BEG, 45th), Renshky for Mirren (DRA, 78th), Conway for Nielson (BEG, 79th)

Yeehah!

If there were any more critics after Draconia's caning of South Bay, they were all silenced after the Pirates won next door today.

At the opening whistle, each team played defensively, with a lot of back-passing. They played that way for twenty minutes, until Micheal Korobanik made a YFS salute, and was given a yellow card for disorderly conduct.

That also signalled the start of the Bears' attack. For the remaining twenty-four minutes of the half, they were trying to get in through every nook and cranny, but the Draconian defenders were usually just too good for them. Even when they got the ball past the defenders, Ross Derry, the Pirates' reserve goalkeeper, was too good for them, or the Bears would miss.

At half time, a lot of the Begralli attack was tired, but it was just a jog in the park for the Draconians. Coach Ken Dryden substituted #18 Leslie Frampton in favour of #15 Allan Cosco, who had been a starter in other matches for the Bears.

Evidently Dryden figured that if his team kept pushing, they would eventually score a goal, after which they could sit back and defend it. They tried, and it didn't work that time as well. But what they hadn't bargained for was the Pirates' coach, Barry Haze, instructing his forwards to attack. That left holes in both defences, and the forwards of both teams surely attempted to capitalise on it. But, alas, the goalkeepers, Micheal Korobank and Ross Derry, saved their respective days.

Begral realised that Draconia would score a goal soon enough if they didn't defend, so they dropped their attack back. That only fuelled Draconia to attack even harder. They knew that they'd find a leak sometime.

But the Bears showed some class in defending, despite getting two yellow cards in twenty minutes. Playing especially well was Micheal Korobanik, the only dent on his performance up to that point in the game was his yellow card for the Yellow salute.

The 78th minute could be described as the turning point of the game. Draconia switched players up front, number 23 Ralph Mirren for number 45, Zachariah Renshky. The next minute, Chevy Nielson, the defender opposite Renshky, was switched in favour of Jordan Conway, who had also started in other Begralli internationals. That forced both teams to review their defence and offence, and Draconia made a change for the better.

Although it wasn't Renshky who scored the goal in the 83rd minute, he was instrumental in setting it up. He was on the side of the 18 yard box, when he made a magnificent through pass to George Reversi. The through pass by-passed three Begralli defenders, and Michael Korobanik as well. Once Reversi got a hold of it, it was just a simple case of kick the ball in the net. That he did, and the Pirates went up 1-0, which was how they stayed for the next seven minutes and injury time.

When the final whistle blew, the Draconians were jumping up and down, doing flip-flops, and generally having a ball. They all joined in a chorus of Yeehah!, their motivational song for the year. It was written by Smudge, a Draconian band, and now the OPF (Organisation for the Prevalence of Football) has rights to it as well. The song was being blasted out of Ursine Stadium's PA system.

Begral has naturally gone down the IVEFA Satosan rankings through this game, but they haven't changed position. Draconia, however, has leap-frogged over Northern Gronk and Eastern Delgamia to take their place at 8th on the list.

---------------------------------------

The words to Yeehah! by Smudge, the Draconian motivational song.

Yeehah!

We got our heads checked
By a Klagstein jet
It wasn't easy
But nothing is, no, yeah

Yeehah!
When you feel heavy metal
Yeehah!
And you're pins and we're needles
Yeehah!
Don't lie down we're not easy
All of the time but we ain't sure when we defeat you
Pleased to beat you

We got our game down
Got our game won
It's not a problem
It's not a problem

Yeehah!
When you feel heavy metal
Yeehah!
And you're pins and I'm needles
Yeehah!
Don't lie down we're not easy
All of the time but we ain't sure when we defeat you
Pleased to beat you

Yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah
Oh, yeah



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