retired_workingmom77

November/December 2012

Just seven more games stood between us and a historic first league title. We went into those final seven games with a 4 point lead over our nearest rivals Flamengo. A healthy lead given the season's late stage, but a lot could happen over the next month and a half. But much to my disgust we got off to a disastrous start against Vitoria. Thiago Neves scored twice in a shock 2-0 win for the visitors. Our defending was shambolic at times and the fact that we have been crippled by injury was no excuse for a performance like that. Flamengo cut the gap down to one point and the nightmare of last season began to creep once more into the back of my mind.

We needed to bounce back and we certainly did against Sport Recife but it wasn't that great a defensive performance. It was a game that we worryingly went behind on two occasions, Emerson and Fabiano breaching our defence in the first half. But in the end we wore them down and goals from Lucas Rocha, Whoshington and two from Ale, wrapped up a comfortable 4-2 win. We were delighted to hear that Flamengo had only drawn in their game, so our lead was increased to three points.

We couldn't finish off Americano in our next game despite playing over an hour with a one man advantage after Malawian defender Glynn Duncum was sent off for the home team. Disappointing but Flamengo just could not seize the initiative, another draw for them keeping the gap at three points.

But next came the possible title decider against Flamengo themselves. We knew that a win here could go a long way to sealing the title. But I had serious doubts given the huge amount of players absent through injury. Flamengo went down to 10 men early on but somehow carved out a 2-0 lead through goals from Bruno Mezenga and Fabiano Oliveira. However the numerical advantage soon told and with 15 minutes to go we were level thanks to a goal from Whoshington, teenager Jorge had pulled one back earlier in the game. We tried everything to get a winner but in the end we had to settle for a draw, that kept the point gap at three with three games left.

However, our next two games were nothing short of a disaster and to this day I do not know how it didn't cost us the title. first we lost to a hard working Atletico Mineiro side that were 3-0 up inside an hour. Correa and Wellington did their best to salvage a point by grabbing a goal each but it wasn't enough to save us from a 3-2 defeat. Flamengo predictably responded with a win and now only goal difference kept us top of the league with two games to go.

Internacional had proved a stumbling block at the end of last season and it was no different in this game. At half time we trailed 3-2, goals from Ale and Whoshington cancelled out by Rafael Sobis and Diogo cutting our defence to shreds. In the second half Juca and Danny Cano wrapped up a 5-2 win for the visitors and at that point I was convinced we would be condemned to a runners up spot for a second successive season. But somewhat unbelievably Flamengo had also been defeated at the hands of already relegated Americano. That meant that going into the last game we were level on points.

Last year we had made light work of Corinthians and we needed a repeat performance. It took until the second half for the deadlock to be broken but ot finally was when Whoshington blasted home for 1-0. It was soon followed by a goal from Pablo Correa and then one from his Argentine compatriot Jorge Gimenez. A 3-0 victory that sealed our first league title in over 60 years of existence. We learned that Flamengo had suffered yet another defeat at Bahia, so that meant we were crowned champions three points clear of our closest rivals. It was a wonderful day but already our minds began to focus on the World Club Championships in Japan.

Results
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> ************************************************** ************************************************** ****************************************Vitoria 0-2 H TV First Division Sport Recife 4-2 A TV First Division Lucas Rocha, Ale(2), WhoshingtonAmericano 0-0 A First DivisionFlamengo 2-2 H TV First Division Jorge, WhoshingtonAtletico Mineiro 2-3 A First Division Correa, WellingtonInternacional 2-5 H First Division Ale, WhoshingtonCorinthians 3-0 A First Division Correa, Whoshington, Gimenez******************************************* ************************************************** ***********************************************</pre>

First Division Final Standings

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> ================================================== ================================================== ===================== Brazilian First Division 2012============================================== ================================================== ========================= Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag G.D Pts ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st C Hermann Aichinger 38 22 8 8 83 50 +33 74 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2nd Flamengo 38 21 8 9 75 47 +28 71 3rd Internacional 38 19 13 6 60 30 +30 70 4th Corinthians 38 19 12 7 65 30 +35 69 5th São Paulo 38 18 11 9 54 41 +13 65 6th Fluminense 38 17 11 10 66 56 +10 62 7th Santos 38 16 8 14 66 57 +9 56 8th Atlético Paranaense 38 15 10 13 52 42 +10 55 9th Grêmio 38 15 10 13 48 49 -1 55 10th Cruzeiro 38 13 15 10 55 56 -1 54 11th Palmeiras 38 14 8 16 65 60 +5 50 12th Vasco 38 11 16 11 51 55 -4 49 13th Vitória 38 12 11 15 60 64 -4 47 14th Bahia 38 12 11 15 48 62 -14 47 15th Atlético Mineiro 38 12 10 16 56 68 -12 46 16th Botafogo 38 11 12 15 41 48 -7 45 17th Coritiba 38 11 10 17 59 64 -5 43 18th Sport Recife 38 6 10 22 30 63 -33 28 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 19th R Americano 38 5 10 23 39 85 -46 25 20th R Náutico 38 3 12 23 31 77 -46 21 ================================================== ================================================== ======================</pre>

2012 League Information

First Division

Champions
Hermann Aichinger

Runners Up
Flamengo

Relegated
Americano
Nautico

Top Scorer
20 - Fabiano Oliveira (Flamengo)

Player of the Year
Roger (São Paulo)

Young Player of the Year
Pablo Correa (Hermann Aichinger)

Second Division

Champions
Juventude

Runners Up
Goias

Relegated
Joinville
Paysandu

Top Scorer
19 - Jaja (Juventude)

Third Division

Champions
São Goncalo

Promoted
Criciuma

Top Scorer
16 - Roberto Cesar (Criciuma)

retired_workingmom77

retired_workingmom77

retired_workingmom77

Helmut had by now gotten used to the endless routine of prison life. That said, his influence managed to make his stay in prison a lot more comfortable than most other prisoners even began to dream of. Now he was joined by several of his colleagues after the collapse of the party. He saw them every now and then but he was forbidden from contact with them. It had all happened in the blink of an eye. He had often imagined emerging from prison a conquering hero, crowned the new Emperor in what would be the Fourth Reich. At the party's height of power that idea did not seem that far off. However, now it appeared an impossibilty and he would be spending the rest of his days behind bars. As the cold reality of that slowly began to sink in, Helmut's mind turned to revenge. He couldn't hit out at the people that had been responsible for the party's collapse. For a start he had no idea who they were and even if he did, he was sure they would be to powerful to contend with. He could however hit out at the man that had put him in prison. The man whose close range shot had resulted in a steel plate re-inforcing what was left of his cranium, the one that gave him such excruciating headaches every day.

On this particular frosty morning in mid December, Helmut walked over to the pay phone in the prison courtyard. There was a lengthy queue to use the phone, but upon seeing Helmut and the two men that acted as personal bodyguards, the crowd shuffled backwards and Helmut was allowed to the front of the queue. He slowly picked up the receiver and punched in a series of numbers. It rang several times before there was an answer.

"Yes?"

"The time has come, you must depart for Japan. You know what is required of you."

"Understood."

"Good luck."

It was a short conversation, however it had no need to be lengthy especially since all calls were monitored. The German Police would have no idea what any of it meant.

***

24 hours later, a man left Tokyo airport. He was dressed all in black, even down to sunglasses. He looked European and generally was the kind of person one tended to avoid in the street, there was an ominous vibe about him. As he made his way to catch a taxi he bumped into another man causing him to drop his case.

"Are you okay?"

He asked the man he had almost felled. The man surveyed him suspiciously before answering.

"Yeah I'm fine"

The man looked him straight in the eye and then nodded. The European glanced down and picked up his case before setting off. Except it wasn't his, their cases were identical and they had pulled off a perfect switch. The European got in a cab to a local train station, he kept an iron grip on the new case as he boarded a train bound for Yokohama........

retired_workingmom77

***

As the final whistle blew, Sam felt an elation that was unrivalled by any of the trophies he had won previously. This was the tournament that meant the most to Brazilians and he was bringing it home. In somewhat of a daze he made his way onto the pitch where the presentation of the medals and trophy was about to take place. The players were jumping around and showering each other in champagne. They insisted that Sam was the first to go to the podium as he had guided them here. Sam obliged and turned to see the president of FIFA holding the trophy. He began slowly walking towards the ultimate when all of a sudden he heard a loud crack and he was blown off his feet, a searing pain burning in his left side just below his shoulder. He looked down and saw dark blood spurting from in between his shoulder and breast, he was vaguely aware of the screams as he clutched his left side to stem the bleeding. He began to struggle for breath and he could taste the blood trickling out of his mouth. As he lay gasping and clutching his wound he was aware of the paramedics crouched at his side.

But then his vision began to blur and his hearing became muffled. He felt a cold sensation grip his body as he lapsed out of consciousness...........

retired_workingmom77

Well, that's it. The end

I know I previously promised an extra season but I felt the time was right to finally end this tale after the victory in the Club World Championship. Plus, I'm well into playing what will soon become the sequel, so I didn't want to get too far ahead in that respect. I hope to start that sequel very soon so any fans of this one, don't panic!

I suppose a few thank-you's are in order. Firstly to the player Wellington, whose 200+ goals not only made the story more interesting but also saved it from being 20 pages long as opposed to just over 6, who knows we may still have been languishing in the Third Division were it not for him! Not bad for a free transfer and I guarantee you'll be hearing more from him soon.

Next I have to thank everyone who read this and posted encouragement along the way, it was really appreciated guys :thup:. And to all the people that voted for this story in the Awards. I would have been thrilled with just one nomination but to get three was much more than I could have expected. I couldn't think of a more worthy writer to share the Best Rest of World Story award than chesterfan2 who has been a profilic supporter of this story and for that, more thanks are in order.

So, I hope the cliffhanger has left you all suitably enthralled and I hope you take a look at the sequel. (Whenever I get round to starting it that is! )

Cheers,

Sam

The End

retired_milla0225

Hats off Xenon, one heck of a story. And I'm not just saying that because you've just said something nice about me.

I know I've joked about it previously but I really did vote for this story as Best Rest Of the World Story, and to my mind it is THE worthy winner of that category. This story finishes strongly on a high note where my PP-70 story just kind of stops, in addition I thought my story kind of went off the boil towards the end.

Nevermind, back to the grindstone, good luck, Xenon, with whatever comes next.