Luthori

[Ligbruderkrieg]

The World Cup’s quarterfinals have finally concluded and after these impressive and catch-breathing matches, we know which teams among the Final 8 will advance to the semifinals of the competition. After key surprises in the group stage and the round of 16, the quarterfinals were filled with outsiders which surpassed expectations to rise themselves to the point that they were in. New Verham, Vascania, Ikradon, Kundrati, Mordusia, Bianjie have all a point in common: all of these states are outsiders in the wider footballing world and for many, it’s actually a good thing that these nations are the one we are seeing in the quarterfinals.

“New Verham played excellent aggressive football, Ikradon, Kundrati, Mordusia and Bianjie have excellent player connection and agility and Vascania has a very impressive low bloc tactic that made a lot of teams suffer under their defensive playstyle, focused on counterattacks. [...] I believe that it’s far better to see other nations than the one we normally see in international football, it adds some diversity to the sport, allow us to see more regions shine in this field and we can some players shine during this tournament.” said Times’ sports editorialist Jake Baxter.

Luthori battled against Vascania and secured a two-null victory over the Vascanian selection, knocking them out of the tournament in what is described as the best performance from the Vascanian national team in football. Vascania-Luthori drew over 97 million people domestically and over 900 million abroad in front of their television or other devise to watch the match. Vascania opened the match with numerous attempts to score between the 1st and 25th minute, breaking from their traditional defensive style to compare with more balanced Luthorian team tactic. Unfortunately, the Luthorians used the fact that Vascania wasn’t used to this style to score one goal at the 37th minute and another one at the 69th minute, when the Vascanians had returned to their more traditional playstyle.

Luthori’s qualification has drawn enormous crowds in the streets to celebrate the qualification of the national team, pubs ran wild until 6 am in the morning as street parties were improvised in celebrations. The Mall was filled with people waving flags and expressing their joy at seeing Luthori at the semifinal of a World Cup that the nation organised, these scenes were in sharp contradiction with the image of disputes and fights during the New Englia-Bianjie match, which led to some supporters to both nations being taken into custody and forcibly evicted from Luthorian soil.

Speaking of Bianjie, the Bianjie team was facing the Dundorfian team, which in its match against Istalia (4-4, 5-3 tab) arguably offered the best that football could possibly give, while Bianjie was also coming off strongly from both the group stages and the round of 16, their mid performance against New Englia casted some doubts upon the Bianjiae team’s ability to defeat Dundorf. These fears were proven real as Dundorf scored two goals against Bianjie in the 5th and 8th minutes, and proceeded to dominate the Bianjie team for over 66 minutes, until the Dovanian selection scored a goal by freekick at the 71st minute, then Bianjie midfielder Koyazu Hiroshi was tackled by Dundorfian defender Damian Berkamp on the penalty area, leading to a penalty being awarded and then transformed by Bianjie attacker Ota Iwao. At full-time, the score was of 2 against 2, leading to extra time, during these, the Bianjie successfully exploited a weakness of the Dundorfian defence during a corner, and by a headbutt, Bianjie defender Mura Shuji scored the last goal at the 117th minute, sending Bianjie to the semifinals against...Ikradon or New Verham?

Both teams were unexpected, but that didn’t mean that they wouldn’t give their all during this match, Ikradon and New Verham are what many considered as “outsiders” - those who were not favourites by any points, and had an interesting, yet still weak squad. Yet both of these teams far surpassed the expectations laid before them to stand at the quarterfinals. Unfortunately, it seems that New Verham’s luck finally ran out as they were defeated by the Ikradonian team 3 to 1, Ikradon joining Bianjie in the semifinals as the second representative of the Artanian continent alongside Luthori, a place where nobody had expected it to be.

Finally, onto the last confrontation that we will cover, Kundrati vs Mordusia, also an outsider confrontation, it revelaed itself to be far more balanced and far more competitive than the Ikradon vs New Verham confrontation. While Mordusia would eventually come up on top with 3-2 in their favour, it wasn’t until Bob Dyles scored a last-minute header in the 84th minute that Mordusia would effectively be qualified for the semifinals, where they will face host nation Luthori.

Celebrations also erupted amid news of Mordusia’s qualification, Mordusian-Luthorian diaspora celebrated across Luthori and at home as well, notably with the solidarity of Luthorian fans in the Home Territory. 

“I’m happy for them,” said an anonymous Luthorian supporter, “but we’ll still kick their asses in the semifinal, I’m sure of it” he said while drinking a pint of beer. This statement translates the prevailing sentiment; rivalry mixed with a feeling of brotherhood.

It’s been announced that Luthorian Emperor and Mordusian King, Richard II will attend the semifinal between the two nations, the first football match in the competition that the monarch will personally attend, excluding the opening match. The Prince of Orange, for his part, attended all matches of the Mordusian and Luthorian selections since the beginning of the competition.