"And we advance!!!" Jacob Wright shouted in the team's hotel room. All the men in the room immediately began cheering, aside from the significantly-smaller boy who stuck to Jake's side.

"FREAKING YEAH!" Andrew Gillum bellowed, cheering loudly.

"Uh, Jake..." The smaller boy tugged on the sleeves of the eldest man in the room. "We've only made it past the first few rounds, we haven't won yet."

"Fituma relax a bit. This is good news for us!" Sailin' Hastofi chuckled, tossing the 15 year old a chocolate bar. "We advance, means more people pay attention to us. FiHami pays attention to us. We need to give them some glimmer of hope in a year filled with bad luck."

"True." Fituma shrugged, opening the wrap and taking a bite out of the chocolate bar.

"Honestly, I couldn't have asked for a better set of brothers... and an uncle, and a papa." Ako Kilaweioni smiled. "Glad I got to celebrate my birthday with you guys this year... even if my family forgot."

"You're our brother, of course we're gonna celebrate you Ako." John Smith laughed, cracking open a can of soda.

"We can celebrate tonight, but let's not relax now." Jacob turned the TV in the room on, a random Gianlucan soap opera appearing on the screen. The men quieted down to watch, pretending to understand every word that was said on screen.

"I can't understand a word of this stuff, is there any Finixi subtitles at least?" Fituma frowned after a while, causing everyone else to immediately roar with laughter.

Empress of Fire 
Current Minister of Military Affairs
Chair Perch of the Assembly (February to June 2020)
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Knockout Stage - Round of 16
Day 8
Match Day 4

Tanis 3 - 0 (AET, 0 - 0) Bruuma (Played in Lindau)
RDC 1 - 5 FiHami (Played in Kuckstadt)
RIM 3 - 5 (AET, 3 - 3) Valora (Played in Fabris)
Snolland 1 - 0 IFF (Played in Westtor)

"What have we seen here, Schmidty?"

"One should have expected it, but with many new teams in the knockout stage, it was clear we don't see that much of a quality spike in comparison to the group stage, even if they are the best of the newest. Still: They are fun to watch! For instance let's take a look at Tanis against Bruuma, some new team against the incumbent FWC second. The fans were so loud in the stadium, you were not able to distinguish the supporting chants from each other and on one stand you could see, even on TV, that the Bruumans just had the party of their life right there. 0-0, but an exciting one indeed. Sadly, the Bruumans were too tired from partying after 90 minutes, because their downfall started in minute 94 when finding a ball in their net for the first time. The penalty kick in the 102nd minute and the header in the 114th gave them the ultimate rest and their ticket back home.

FiHami wants to get that "team of the tournament" trophy, a.k.a. the cup. 5-1, can you believe that? Up until now those islanders played good, but still they needed that little bit of luck through crossed fingers many fans gave them behind their TV or in the stadium, but now they just played so efficiently and some of those players slowly seem to open up a bit more. This makes it even more fun to watch them.

Snolland and the IFF were similar to Tanis vs. Bruuma, probably because the IFF really wanted to play against the RIM, but then luckily those got kicked out by Valora. How deserved that win from Valora was, is debatable and they made profit 'cause of the VAR, but...."

"Hold on a second there, I just got told, that there are some breaking news here. Talking about the RIM, there's some commotion in Fabris, as it seems... We change to our news studio live in Atlantis and are right back."

(Jingle of the international FWC broadcast. It follows the intro of BUS TV Aktuell, the news of the channel.)

"Good evening, I greet you for a special broadcast of BUS TV Aktuell. Near the stadium of Fabris only shortly after the game of the RIM against Valora ended, there has been an attack on Gianlucian police forces with several officers and supposedly a small number of bystanders getting injured. A terrorist background was not outruled up until now. Visitors of the stadium are held off to go outside, inhabitants of Fabris are asked to stay inside their home and avoid huge masses of people, if possible. Please stay calm.

Let's switch over to our correspondent, Mirko Schneider, in Fabris. What is the currently available official information on this incident?"

"At the moment, there isn't much information since the incident occured not even half an hour ago. What is known up until now is, that there are at least 10 people injured, 6 of them being police officers. At least two of those six seem to have been agents of the domestic secret service NKG. The suspect or suspects of the attack are fugitive. Details on the suspect or suspects were not revealed up to this moment, because of the short time frame and since the attacked persons are either injured or in shock and so couldn't file a report just yet."

"Is the stadium a potential target of the suspect or suspects and are the viewers safe?"

"Yes, it is. What is known, is, the attacker or attackers were coming from the stadium and fled away from this area. The supporters of each team, the viewers of the game in the stadium, are currently held inside the stadium until the situation is completely cleared and an endangerment of the spectators can be outruled by local police forces."

"Is anything known about the attack itself or how the police forces were injured?"

"There are no official details out yet, but inhabitants of this area allegedly noticed quite a bit of commotion and heard shots before screams for help reached them. However they were also not noticing any people, who seemed suspicious fleeing or otherwise walking away from the scene."

"Alright, thanks, Mirko.

The Gianlucian government has assured, that the FWC is a competition with high security measures. Fans and the teams are all in safety and don't need to worry about the situation. New information will be shared immediately upon verification. King and Leader Gianluca IV has announced to hold a press conference before midnight with the first pieces of verified information at hand."

Signed
Gianluca IV
Roleplayer (active in TSP since 2016)
TSPedia-Author
Head Bartender of the Lampshade Bar & Grill


Information about my roleplay
Pacifica GI-Land, Snolland (Hazelbrust), Guardian of the World Forum, IUFA-FWC/WFWC- and Pacivision Supervisor • 
Aurora Markatt (Maura)

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Knockout Stage - Round of 16
Day 9
Match Day 4

Holy Free 3 - 0 GI-Land (Played in Lindau)
Hazelbrust 1 - 0 Kai Fa (Played in Kuckstadt)
Tekarai 2 - 3 Sedunn (Played in Südatlantis)
Pax Dracon 0 - 4 Tribekistan (Played in Westtor)

"What have we seen here, Schmidty?"

"First and foremost we have seen stricter security checks right at the start. Even I had to get checked and this lasted for a good five minutes, so it's no wonder that overall the games were kicked off mostly with a delay of around 20 minutes. At least that gave each and everyone enough time to eat some of the Gianlucian stadium snacks. Next to the traditional roasted sausage, there was also Atlantic fish on the menu or cocoa paste infused donuts, which I tried actually earlier on. They are surprisingly tasty, however if you're a sports kinda guy, you shouldn't eat them probably (laughs).
Anyway, about the games: Under the watch of sports minister Mürnig, GI-Land sadly got defeated by their indirect neighbours from the Frastinian peninsula, Holy Free. One has to say, the fans are especially angered about the second half, where GI-Land of course was already back 0-2, but because of that appeared to not even bother a single bit anymore about winning. The chance was there, looking at several free kicks from Szalok and multiple flanks from Ostermann or even Hertzog, but in the end it didn't even matter. The overall performance of GI-Land was not necessarily disappointing in this tournament, however advancing into the quarter finals was very well possible, anyhow let's congratulate Holy Free now for their success and wish them good luck against Hazelbrust.

That is most likely needed, because in their game against Kai Fa we have seen how tough they are. Kai Fa was playing fast passes, did run a lot and Hazelbrust had no other reason than to try to follow each of Kai Fa's steps. In the end they haven't seemed tired although having just played a very demanding game that ended barely with a win and could've gone into extra time easily.

Same applied for Sedunn, because this time we have seen an attractive game of them and they...finally or sadly showed Tekarai their boundaries. I don't know, maybe they are just a team handling knockout stages better? After all no other team was in more knockout rounds than Sedunn! 15 times out of the 19 participations in the FWC, Sedunn advanced into the knockout stage. GI-Land did so just 10 times in their 19 participations, so you see, the statistics speak for themselves.

In the last game Pax Dracon surprisingly lost to Tribekistan and not even that low. If I'm really honest with you, I'm not sure what was the matter here, because Pax Dracon played like they always did. Probably THAT was their mistake, since the coaching team of Tribekistan of course does their analysis and so could create perfect anti-tactics against the Pax Draconians. The players from South Cordilia didn't really get into the game, experienced high pressure from the opponents in their own half, lost the ball regularly in the off-side or outside the pitch lines, so the loss was of course justified. Still it can surprise sometimes how good teams can play in group stage games and then get torn apart in the KO-rounds."

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Gianluca IV
Roleplayer (active in TSP since 2016)
TSPedia-Author
Head Bartender of the Lampshade Bar & Grill


Information about my roleplay
Pacifica GI-Land, Snolland (Hazelbrust), Guardian of the World Forum, IUFA-FWC/WFWC- and Pacivision Supervisor • 
Aurora Markatt (Maura)

(This post was last modified: 08-12-2020, 02:27 PM by GI-Land.)

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Knockout Stage - Quarter Finals
Day 10
Match Day 5

Tanis 0 - 1 (AET; 0 - 0) FiHami (Played in Tragas)
Valora 0 - 3 Snolland (Played in Südtor)

"What have we seen here, Schmidty?"

"FiHami is continuing their way on what Transsuneria should have done. They are in the semi-finals and it really looks good for them so far. On Stream there aren't any videos of excited fans yet, but I hope to see them the latest when the semi-final is being played. The support from the Gianlucian fans is obviously there, we don't have that many FiHamian fans in the stadium, still it feels like the entire stadium would always cheer for them, so whatever happens, out of everyone they are already the winners by heart.

Snolland finally showed Valora their boundaries, being the first 'real' opponent of the tournament for them. You saw from kick-off to the end of the game, who were the favourites and they just casually played that clock down. Still Valora had their chances, after all being hyped up from their late success, but those chances were not something to take seriously against such a professional team as Snolland is. The Snovian fans are of course already chanting things like 'The cup is coming home' on the stands, but like we say in Alman 'Hochmut kommt vor dem Fall' (Pride goes before a fall), so we can look with excitement at the game against FiHami and whether the island nation is the true favourite here instead of the host neighbours."

Signed
Gianluca IV
Roleplayer (active in TSP since 2016)
TSPedia-Author
Head Bartender of the Lampshade Bar & Grill


Information about my roleplay
Pacifica GI-Land, Snolland (Hazelbrust), Guardian of the World Forum, IUFA-FWC/WFWC- and Pacivision Supervisor • 
Aurora Markatt (Maura)

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Knockout Stage - Quarter Finals
Day 11
Match Day 5

Holy Free 0 - 4 Hazelbrust (Played in Tragas)
Sedunn 1 - 2 Tribekistan (Played in Südtor)

"What have we seen here, Schmidty?"

"The semi-finalists - and with that officially the teams, which will place on the first four places after the tournament, are decided now.
Hazelbrust played with much energy today, had several shots on goal that were looking so promising, it could've ended even higher. Maybe this newfound energy has its basis in the team structure, because surprisingly the goalie changed once again and they played in a 4-3-3 formation this time, while they always used a 4-3-2-1 the last few games. With three players in the front you of course are packing much more and have a higher drive forward as with a single talent, who needs to be good at 1-on-1s against the opposing goalkeeper.
Holy Free deserves all the respect too though. While they have lost with quite a margin, they still played a wonderful tournament the entire time and even now, when they were back 2-0, 3-0 they didn't lose hope and always tried something new. Maybe a goal would've been scored under normal circumstances and they just experienced a bit of bad luck here. The fans of both teams were awesome too, celebrated both teams' players like they would be their own ones, I guess that's the euphoria you have, when you know you're close to winning that tournament.

This euphoria I missed a little in the stadium, where Sedunn played. It kind of seemed like the fans, the other spectators, the team itself were not really believing in themselves anymore. They seemed baffled about being in the quarter finals and didn't really play their game. After the 1-0 for Sedunn you could see in the eyes of each player, who was in the front, they were so unsure and....not really confident in what they were doing.
It probably has something to do with the media and the players' activities as influencers on Stream, where they got a big backlash after each of their last games, that they are not good enough and should step down from the national team and yadeyadeyade, but normally this shouldn't affect you this much. Maybe the team psychologist had too much to do or the coach was not prepared for such a special situation, that they found themselves in, but....yeah, it's all just an attempt to explain the situation, but in the end it doesn't matter. Factually they are out now and maybe they are happy, they finally are out of the tournament, and I just hope they will play better next time.

Tribekistan of course tried once again to play the game of their lives and I'm pretty sure, that now the latest their ultimate goal is to win this tournament. Next up against them is Hazelbrust though and they've become hungry too now and up until now have never gone easy on their direct opponents, so we can be excited to see what happens overmorrow in Freudstadt."

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Gianluca IV
Roleplayer (active in TSP since 2016)
TSPedia-Author
Head Bartender of the Lampshade Bar & Grill


Information about my roleplay
Pacifica GI-Land, Snolland (Hazelbrust), Guardian of the World Forum, IUFA-FWC/WFWC- and Pacivision Supervisor • 
Aurora Markatt (Maura)

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Knockout Stage - Semi Finals
Day 12
Match Day 6

FiHami 1 - 3 Snolland (Played in Gianlucastadt)
Hazelbrust 3 - 2 Tribekistan (Played in Freudstadt)

"What have we seen here, Schmidty?"

"We saw the FiHamians playing another strong game, but this time around it was just not enough. They were played into off-side a lot by the Snovian defenders and didn't seem to get a grasp of the opponent's tactic this time. To be frank, I don't know why, because Snolland played their game just like the other games. This begs the question, if the coaching staff of FiHami maybe does not have their analysis game on a top level.
Anyway the players from the Snolland were cold as ice in front of the goal, literally scored with all their chances, while FiHami only did that with 1 out of around 10 chances they had, not counting the potential chances from the offside decisions. This is something we have seen, from both sides, throughout the tournament and it makes me a bit anxious, especially for FiHami there, on whether the last game of the island nation will be as good as the games before the semi final.
Still, I criticised them a lot now, they played an awesome first tournament and I'm sure we'll see them even more glorious in the next world cup in 2022, whether they end up 3rd or 4th now.

Hazelbrust has decided completely now, that they want to be a good surprise for the world this time around. They were in the back by 0-1 and haven't equalled out the score until the 62nd minute - with a penalty! Then they were in the back again after the 74th minute and just short to the end, in the 86th and 89th minute, they will shoot themselves into the final. A respectable performance by Tribekistan here of course, but you have seen the fire inside the player's hearts, when you watched Hazelbrust. They danced with the ball in their green dress, never got tired and secured themselves the 2nd final ever in their history, which this time shall end successful for them, especially as they play against 'the motherland' so to say."

Signed
Gianluca IV
Roleplayer (active in TSP since 2016)
TSPedia-Author
Head Bartender of the Lampshade Bar & Grill


Information about my roleplay
Pacifica GI-Land, Snolland (Hazelbrust), Guardian of the World Forum, IUFA-FWC/WFWC- and Pacivision Supervisor • 
Aurora Markatt (Maura)

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Knockout Stage - Bronze medal match
Day 13
Match Day 7

FiHami 0 - 1 Tribekistan
 

---

"Nächste Station: Hauptbahnhof. Übergang zur S-Bahnlinie 2, zu den U-Bahnlinien 1, 2, 3 und 4 sowie zum Regional- und Fernverkehr. Fahrgäste zum Stadion steigen bitte hier um....
Next stop: Main Station. Change here to suburban railway line 2, to underground lines 1, 2, 3 and 4, as well as to regional and long-distance rail services. Passengers travelling to the IUFA FWC stadium, please change here."

The train rolled into the gigantic main station of Atlantis, which is the main transport hub of the city. All suburban railway lines, all underground lines, several important bus and tram lines, coach buses and most international trains start, stop or end here. Its design is almost as magnificent as the connections are, since sandstone and marble were used to build this station's building. It's surely a unique look you don't find anywhere else in north-west Cordilia. 
The train stopped with a hiss and suddenly all doors were opened and quite a big crowd came out of the metallic snake, wearing scarfs and masks, some having worried, some having happy faces. They were all aiming for the exits from the platform to enter the shopping area of the station, where they would find the entrances to the northbound trains, which will get them to the stadium.
I belong to those fans too. My hair is completely fire red and I got green and brown face paint on. I thought, this would fit to the island nation I will support tonight in their game against the lesser known team from Tribekistan. 
"Tooooooooot" - someone is trying to make music with their horn for all the fans as I took my first step on the escalator. "Olé, Olé, Olé, Olé! Was geeeeeeeht? Was geeeeht? HUH! HUH! HUH!"
Several people are looking around and shout their "HUHs" towards the singer too as soon as they spot him, some people - normal travellers - look at him too, but seem to be afraid of him. Admittedly, I'd normally be too, because you never know, how much those people drank already and how aggressive they might get. This time though, I know he won't do any harm. He's just a friendly dude, who is very excited for the game.
The escalator ride ends, we are on the level with all the shops and the fans divert. Some go further down directly, because the suburban railway stops there. Me and many others though walk towards the northern exit of the building. A handful of people decides to actually exit the station and walk to the stadium, after all it's just a little bit above one kilometre you have to walk to get there, which is doable by foot. I'm lazy though and take another escalator ride, this time down to the underground station, where a wind, which smells like old, used-up air, is greeting me. That wind comes from a train momentarily arriving on platform one. It's the train in direction to Landach, a north-western borough of Atlantis, where one of my friends live.
I come from there originally too, that's why I made friends there, but nowadays I live in Gachingen near the airport, that's why I need to change here.
The platform is packed with people that would appreciate, if a train of underground line 3 would come soon, but we needed to wait two minutes more to finally see our saviour coming. 
The train was longer than normal, had eight carriages instead of the normal six, which led to the funny situation, that two carriages were not able to directly stop at the platform, but were still in the tunnel. Fortunately you could walk through the entire length of the train, so you won't be stuck, if you want to leave the train at some point.
I didn't have the option to walk, we were way too many people joining the other passengers, so the train was fuller than I ever have experienced before. Even during rush hour the train is normally not that full. The doors' beeps, warning signals reminding blind people, the doors will close, were barely audible, that's how much the crowd has muffled the sound of everything - just by being present in the carriage.
The conductor slowly started the engine of the train again. He needed to drive smoothly and carefully with that many people in his back. That also meant he needed to drive slower though and that meant, one had to endure the squeezing grape of people for what felt like hours.
Two stations later I wished I would've walked since this would've kept me dryer, if you know, what I mean....Not a feeling I would recommend, but as soon as I was out of the station and in front of this huge, elliptic stadium, I forgot all the bad feelings I've been having.
The exterior was illuminated in orange and purple, it was a beautiful sight.
"Hey, there you are!" I turned around.
"We already waited for hours and watched out for you!" My best friend Markus was speaking to me. He brought his girlfriend with him and she brought a friend with her too, some girl around my age with equally red-painted hair and the FWC-2020-logo painted on her right cheek.
"Let's get through security control, shall we?", Markus asked and I nodded politely, so we made our way to what seemed like the shortest queue, talking with each other.
Markus' girlfriend, Maria, has introduced her friend, Sassy, to us and she slowly got used to us and started cracking some jokes too. After 15 minutes, I would say, it was our turn in the security check.
Maria and Sassy had each a handbag, which got frisked, so got we and our pockets. We were allowed to pass and entered the stadium through the south-western entrance C.

Inside the Markus and Maria left immediately to secure our seats in block 21. "We will be in the....10th row or so. Keep an eye out for us. Could you maybe bring me and Maria each a beer and some bratwurst?"
"Sure", I said and looked at Sassy. "Do you want anything too?"
"I come with you, I can never decide", she answered and chuckled sweetly. This is how we ended up in another queue, this time for the snack stand.

I'm not good at small talk, but thought going with "And who do you think will win tonight?" was something good to go with.
"Are you kidding?" - Seems, it wasn't? - "I'm for FiHami, isn't this....obvious?", she asked with a seriously concerned voice.
"No, no. I mean, yeah, it is. I...I...Ugh...I'm for them too. They are such awesome people and were so much fun to watch up until now. It really hurt me, when I saw them taken apart by Snolland..."
- "I understand, what you mean. I support them because of my family, if I'm honest. My grandfather came over from there, I don't really know how anymore though....Need to ask him again." She let out a giggle. "And....What do you think of....Who was this crazy man's name again?"
- "You mean Texeteti'? Oh, he's....Yeah, he will have high chances to become prime minister, I would say. You know, my people are a little off the hook, hehe."
"Yeah...", I couldn't continue, because neither something else good was coming to my mind and also it was finally our turn to order.
"Yes, please?" asked the vendor in Austral. "Four beers", I took a reassuring look at Sassy, who nodded, "two bratwursts, one with mustard and one with ketchup, both inside a bread roll,...", I said in Austral, "and....what do you want, Sassy?", I asked her in Alman.
- "A pretzel would be nice", she responded and the vendor was already finished with tapping everything into his little tablet. "That would be 14,20 Tacks, please....You want to pay with a card, no problem!"
He gave me the terminal and I hovered by bank card on top of it. "You are all invited", I mumbled towards Sassy before she could object. A minute later we were juggling the food and especially the drinks towards our stand, where Markus and Maria waited for us.
"Here you go", I said to them as I gave them their beers and the guy his bratwurst. "I didn't say, I wanted mustard!"
"But I know you only eat it with mustard. Do you think I want to run back there and wait another 20 minutes just to get some mustard on your sausage?"
- "Wouldn't have expected to. Anyway, thanks for remembering it!" He then leaned towards my ear: "And? How is she?"
My eyes were looking into his in shock. "What do you mean?"
"Sassy. Isn't she your type?"
I wasn't believing, what I just heard there. "Markus, please. Yes, she is nice, but I'm here to watch a game together with my friends, not to...pursue a relationship. We aren't in one of your novels, where some chad can play the wingman for his loser friend anytime he wants and with that ruins the entire story."
He snorted and took a bite from his sausage, while I thought about his question, although I didn't want to. Why is it so difficult to just watch a game with some friends? Yes, I am 21, so what? Doesn't mean I need to flirt with every nice girl I meet...
I pondered a few minutes more about everything until my left shoulder got tapped by Markus again. "Can you let me get out, need to find the toilet."
I let him pass and off he went, then Sassy got a seat closer to me. "Maria wants Tribekistan to win, I don't want to sit next to her anymore", she explained me in a tone an offended four year old would normally use. "She doesn't know, what she is talking about", I said before the announcer of the stadium interrupted me:

"Ladies and Gentlemen, meine Damen und Herren,

das Spiel FiHami gegen Tribekistan geht gleich los. Bitte begeben Sie sich möglichst auf Ihre Plätze. The game between FiHami and Tribekistan will start soon, please get to your seats now"

"Oh boy, just maybe five minutes", I exclaimed in excitement. Suddenly Markus was present again, now sitting between Sassy and his girlfriend, giving her a few nose-on-nose kisses. I took another gulp of my beer and just focused on the lush green pitch and all the sponsoring one saw everywhere. Schumachers here, SPIT there, a Sedunnic low-cost airline, a Huawanian tea, the Omegan stock market, Bruuman cigars - then everything started again. Schumachers, SPIT, low-cost airline, tea, stock market - Schumachers, SPIT, low-cost airline, tea, stock market - Schumachers, SPIT, low-...

"Ladies and Gentlemen, meine Damen und Herren,

bitte begrüßen Sie die Teams; let's greet the teams from: FiHamiiiiiiiiii aaaaaaand Tribekistaaaaaaaaan!"

Everyone in the stadium started cheering as the entrance melody, the IUFA anthem to be precise, was played and the teams walked onto the field.
Three banners were spread out on the field. Two of them showed the flags of the opponents, one the official logo of the FWC 2020.

"Bitte stehen Sie auf für die Nationalhymne von FiHami.
Please stand up for the national anthem of FiHami."

Whoever didn't stand up until now definitely was suddenly at that moment, some even started putting their right hands onto their spot on the breast, where the heart should be located and, not to sound racist, but most did not look like they would come from FiHami.
A drumroll was played before the melody started and I wasn't believing, what my ears noticed. At least half of the stadium was singing the FiHamian anthem!
Of course with an accent and many people had to take a look at the big screen in the stadium, which showed the lyrics, but everyone wanted to sing the anthem and respect FiHami with this special gesture - even Markus and Maria, who I thought wouldn't care for FiHami that much.
After half of the stadium, including my friends and me, were finished singing the anthem, all people applauded themselves and cheered the team on. The smallest player of FiHami was shortly shown in the stadium's camera and....did he have tears in his eyes?

"Und nun: die Nationalhymne von Tribekistan!
Please remain standing for the national anthem of Tribekistan"

A similar picture was visible here as during the FiHamian anthem, the motivation and energy for Tribekistan was not as prevalent as for FiHami though. That meant, you were able to see - or better hear - easily, who was the fan favourite of the locals and the viewers, who travelled from abroad to this bronze medal match in Atlantis.

"Und hier ist die Aufstellung. Here is the lineup.
FiHami plays with the number 1...."

The announcer read the lineups from both teams from his script, while the teams decided with the referee, who may do the kick-off. Tribekistan was allowed to do so and FiHami wanted to play with our stands in their back first.
A countdown of 30 seconds was shown on screen, when everything was settled and some people already started counting down, but most people only chimed in as soon as the number 15 was reached.

"10! 9! 8! 7! 6! 5! 4! 3! 2! 1! *WHISTLE*"

The game got kicked-off immediately with a high ball into the FiHamian half, but the goalkeeper was paying attention and instantly took the ball volley and kicked it out of the field lines.
"FIHAMI, OH OH OH!", the fans started to sing and they kept up the singing for five minutes, but then the stadium got a bit more quiet, because the game was pretty slow. Tribekistan did not really attack, played high balls into the opponent's half, where the goalkeeper or one of the defenders from FiHami kicked the ball away. FiHami didn't try to attack either, but moreso out of fear, I supposed.
Every now and then either the bloc of Tribekistanian or the bloc of FiHamian fans would start shouting, chanting, singing their songs, most of which probably unknown in FiHami itself, because they weren't invented until this world cup. And often they were products of foreigners' thoughts too.

Then the first attack by FiHami. The number 13 finally decided to give it a go and ran from the right wing towards the box and then got tackled badly by a Tribekistan player. No. 13 rolled around, touching his leg and shouting something. The Tribekistan player saw the yellow card and FiHami got a free kick from a favourable position.
No. 9 started to take up some pace and....the ball went way above the goal.
The rewind was shown on the stadium's screen again, but not only from the viewer's point of view. Some woman was shown on screen too, who had a needle with the FiHamian flag on her dress - it must have been some politician. Maybe the sports minister? Was it that new Ha'Coron, no one knew anything about yet? Markus and even Sassy weren't sure either, when I asked them about it. Chancellor Kirchmann was shown too shortly, but his facial expressions were telling nothing about his mental state or thoughts to be honest.

Twenty minutes and no other chances later, it was half time. Still 0-0.
"Up until now, it looks good for FiHami", I opened the conversation with Sassy again, as Markus and Maria went to the snack shop this time. "Yeah....I'm not so sure. We might have had the only real chance, but just kicking the ball out of your half without.....doing something with it, isn't good football either....I'm a little worried, if I'm honest."
"Don't be", I tried to sooth her and gave her a fist bump against her shoulder. "Ouch", she exclaimed with a smile. "That hurt!", she added and gave me the bump back, but into my sides - the only place on your body, where such a fist bump hurts AND tickles at the same time, I think.

15 minutes later, half time was over and FiHami had their first substitution. The no. 13, who got tackled earlier, was exchanged with the no. 21. I don't think he played in one of the other games yet, but luckily he did this time, because suddenly this game was on fire and the stadium did not stop chanting for 20 minutes straight. He prepared so many attacks for his colleagues, motivated them, talked with nearby teammates, when the game was paused for a short moment. He brought in the energy, this game needed.
This opened some rooms for Tribekistan too though - 78th minute:
A Tribekistan defensive midfielder tests his luck and zig-zag-runs into the FiHamian half, pass on a wing defender, who outran everyone like a jaguar a hyena. Flank into the middle of the box, header, goal. 0 - 1.

"BOOOOO!" most of the stadium suddenly started shouting. I heard some words like "F**kers", "A***oles" and alike near me and I probably would have participated normally, but I somehow didn't want to. Tribekistan played good as of this moment, that's a fact and there's no denying it, no matter how much you're on the Rainbow Island's representative's side.
I turned to Sassy, to see how she felt, and she looked okay, at least until the 90th minute. The referee was giving everyone just one minute of extra time and the Tribekistan fans started chanting happily and celebrating their victory already. Sassy on the other hand started to cry and as the referee was ending the game, she literally sobbed. I took her into my arms and she buried her face in my chest. I was unable to find comforting words, if I'm frank. The fourth place is really not bad, but I can understand that it's not enough to be on the virtual podium. They were so close, commentators were saying, they were THE team of the tournament, because they literally acted as a team and not some talented individuals that had to play together for once in a while.
She was devastated and I felt her, the more I thought about it. The people slowly started leaving our stands, but we were sitting there just for a few more minutes, holding each other tight and also watching how chancellor Kirchmann gave medals to both teams - Tribekistan bronze medals, FiHami blueish ones.

"The next game we watch, will be better", I said to Sassy as after I told my other friends farewell.
- "Sure, I'm looking forward to it. Maybe we can watch a Gianlucian league game here in September? What do you think?"
"That sounds nice", I replied and we hugged.

Signed
Gianluca IV
Roleplayer (active in TSP since 2016)
TSPedia-Author
Head Bartender of the Lampshade Bar & Grill


Information about my roleplay
Pacifica GI-Land, Snolland (Hazelbrust), Guardian of the World Forum, IUFA-FWC/WFWC- and Pacivision Supervisor • 
Aurora Markatt (Maura)

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Knockout Stage - Final
Day 14
Match Day 7

Snolland 2 - 0 Hazelbrust

"What have we seen here, Schmidty?"

"We've experienced the end of the tournament here obviously. Snolland's youngest player, Makko Lumina, has his first appearance and allegedly the coach told him something along the lines of 'Show the world how big of a talent you are', and he showed us. Two goals in his first cap as a national player for Snolland is quite nice. He played with such high elegance and technical talent, it was really nice to watch him outsmart the defenders and letting him win that goal for his country."

"What about Hazelbrust, weren't they a little....disappointing?"

"For me they were for sure, but I'm not sure, if you can say this factually. They played an almost equally good tournament as Snolland, are a little bit younger and of course there was this pressure, those mind games on the internet, they need to play against their 'brothers', since Hazelbrust is just a region in Snolland, even though with much autonomy....It's understandable, in other final constellations I'm still sure Hazelbrust would have easily won this year."

"Alright. And before we get to the player interviews, let me ask shortly: The game needed to be paused in the 32nd minute already because of a streaker. Anything known about the suspect already?"

"The streaker was a trans-female from Tragas, who has carried a rainbow flag with her. This was probably a message to the Snovian government as their minister of culture recently made condescending comments towards the LGBTQ*-community."

"Okay, with that said I got informed, we have a few Snovian and Hazelbrustian players ready for short interviews, so let's switch to the colleague in the player tunnel."

- "Yeah....yeah, hello, I've got Kirik Loga and Sirak Kolli - tell me, how does it feel to be world champions?"

"IT'S AWESOOOOOOME! WOO!"
"Yeah, we are sooooo happy to have won this for our brothers and sisters at home. Here in GI-Land especially. It's a special occassion to have dethroned them."

"How do you think, you won this game?"

"I think, of course Lumina was playing exceptionally good, it was his best performance tonight, and we as a team were just ready for that title. We sat outside of the FWC-spotlight for too long and now we came back with such a bang, we will be remembered."

"Especially here, hehe! WE WOOOOON! WE WOOOOOON! YAAAAAAAAS!"

"Alright, thank you for the interview."


"And now I've got the coach from Hazelbrust, Luka Kimeko, here. Good evening and I'm sorry, your team has lost. What, do you think, happened here?"

- "Well, first of all: Congratulations to the Snovian team. They played a very good tournament and we of course need to find the mistake in ourselves. We were not playing up to our true potential and let too many chances pass, that was the main problem here, I think, otherwise we would have gone easily into extra time or maybe a penalty shootout since overall both teams are roughly equally strong."

"You aren't mad?"

- "No, I'm not, why should I be? We played a very strong tournament and while we would have wished for another outcome, I think all in all this was a very fair game and Snolland won for a good reason. I'm also not disappointed, if you want to ask that, in contrary: I'm very proud of that team and while it might not have worked this time with getting this trophy, it might be possible in 2022, when we are in Snolland."

"Talking about 2022, will it be like a home world cup for you anyway?"

- "I'm not sure, maybe for the Gianlucians. Thanks for the interview..."

Signed
Gianluca IV
Roleplayer (active in TSP since 2016)
TSPedia-Author
Head Bartender of the Lampshade Bar & Grill


Information about my roleplay
Pacifica GI-Land, Snolland (Hazelbrust), Guardian of the World Forum, IUFA-FWC/WFWC- and Pacivision Supervisor • 
Aurora Markatt (Maura)

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