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2021 FMF World Cup Final

Event	2021 FMF World Cup
Floria Cratiland  Floria  Craitland 1 0
Date	15 August 2021 (2021-08-15)
Venue	Sports City, Northcliff
Man of the Match	Rhys Chase (Floria)
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The 2021 FMF World Cup Final was the final match of the 2021 World Cup, the 13th edition of FMF's competition for national football teams. The match was played at the Sports City in Northcliff, Floria, on 15 August 2021, and was contested by Floria and Craitland. The tournament comprised hosts Floria and 19 other teams who emerged from the qualification phase, organized by four FMF confederations. The 20 teams competed in a group stage, from which 8 teams qualify for the knockout stage. En route to the final, Floria topped group A winning all but one game, after which they defeated Lamantia in the quarter-finals, and then Senya in the semi-finals. Craitland went unbeaten in Group C, before proceeding to beat Thracistan in the quarter-finals, followed by Meckelnburgh in the semi-finals.

The final had one sole goal scored by Floria's Rhys Chase whose run into the box gave him an opportunity to leap and connect his head with Kylian Saint-Pierre's cross before both sides evenly matched out towards the end.

Floria's win meant that the nation secured their first ever World Cup title while Craitland lost their first ever final, winning all four of their previous finals with the last win dating back to 2011. Chase was named man of the match, while his comrade Patrick Williams was named as the tournament's best player. This final also marked the 9th match in which the losing team did not score any goals out of 13 finals in the tournament's history. In the subsequent continental competitions held in 2022, Floria were knocked out in the semi-finals by hosts Senya while Craitland defeated Tellia for their first ever title.

Background

The 2021 FMF World Cup was the 13th edition of the World Cup, FMF's football competition for national teams, held in Floria from 10 July to 15 August 2021. Floria qualified automatically as hosts, while 85 teams competed for the remaining 19 spots through qualifying rounds organized by the four FMF confederations. In the finals, teams were divided into four groups of five with each team playing each other once in a round-robin format. The group winners will automatically qualify for the knockout stages while the second and third ranked teams of each group will play in the playoffs for a spot in the quarter-finals. The defending champions from the 2019 World Cup were Senya. Barely missing out on the final when they lost 2-1 to Floria.

Floria had only played in one World Cup prior to this year's tournament in 2019 although playing as the Florian Republic where they lost out to Senya in the quarter-finals. They also played in the 2018 Copa Apollonia and finished third in their debut campaign before winning the 2020 edition. Craitland are a veteran in the competition having participated in every edition since 2006 winning four titles, their worst result being quarter finalists on four ocassions. Craitland were also EMU Championship winners having won the 2011 edition which they hosted before switching to the WMFA where they had yet to win a title prior.

The official match ball for the final was provided by Farrar Sports featuring red and black circular strokes on a predominantly white ball.

Venue

The final was held in the Sports City, in Northcliff located in the Kingsland state, which was selected by the FMF Executives as the final venue. The stadium also hosted five other matches including the opening match, three other group stage matches, and one semi-final match.

Route to the final

Floria

Floria's route to the final

	Opponent	Result
1	Passas	3-0
2	Calbion	1-0
3	Alduria	2-1
4	Tellia	0-2
QF	Lamantia	2-1
SF	Senya	2-1

Floria entered as one of the favourites to win the whole tournament after their 2020 Copa Apollonia victory, qualifying automatically for the finals as hosts where they were drawn against Passas, Calbion, Alduria, and Tellia. Their opening match against Passas was held in Northcliff in the Sports City stadium on 10 July. The Florians kicked off their World Cup campaign in a 3-0 victory against Passas where it took almost an hour for the deadlock to be broken with Sam Butcher scoring just 15 yards away from goal. Floria would triple their lead later on when Dave Wheeler scored an incredibe solo goal and Kylian Saint-Pierre pouncing on a Timothy Johnson mistake in a man-of-the-match performance. The hosts continued on this incredible form against Calbion when Patrick Williams nodded one in during a set-piece assisted by Saint-Pierre, who missed a penalty later on in the match. Floria kept their winning streak going into their third match against Alduria who caused alarms as Javier de la Fuente put his side up in the middle of the first half but defensive complecencies from the Aldurians allowed two trivela goals from Kian Wright to confirm qualification to the quarter-finals. With one more group stage match left to play, the Florians matched up against Tellia in a surprising defeat to the public eye with goals scored by Marko Zajc and Gianluca Salmoiraghi. Nonetheless, Floria qualified to the quarter-finals with Lamantia to face.

In the quarter-finals, Floria matched up against fellow AEFA member Lamantia. As expected, the hosts took first blood when Saint-Pierre faked our Matthias Sagner and whipped in a cross for Butcher to head home 10 minutes before scoring his second when Cristiano Ramirez' corner wasn't cleared, allowing Wheeler to pass it back to his captain who crossed it in on his second attempt allowing Butcher to head in his brace. Floria were not let off the hook just yet as minutes later when Sven Ebersbascher's long ranged hit slammed into the top corner. Ultimately, Floria held on strong and proceeded into the semi-finals matched up against defending champions Senya who broke Florian hearts in 2019. Having lost 2-1 in 2019, Floria beat the Senyans by the same scoreline with captain Cristiano Ramirez scoring his first goals of the 2021 campaign - his first being a freekick from over 30 yards and his second off an Alex Mound header. But like the quarter-finals, Floria could not keep their clean sheet intact when Alesandrœ Danetskë's last ditched effort swerved into the bottom corner with minutes to play. In the end, Floria ended up victorious and headed into the finals for the first time in their history.

Cratiland

Craitland's route to the final

	Opponent	Result
1	North Antarctic Domain	5-0
2	Meckelnburgh	1-1
3	Unified Governorates	2-4
4	The Hexarchy	1-3
QF	Thracistan	3-0
SF	Meckelnburgh	0-1

Craitland were also favourites to win the tournament as four-time champions, having gone unbeaten during their qualifying phase going 8-0-0 in WMFA's Group A qualifiers. Their opener was against the North Antarctic Domain in group C. The Craits opened the scoring in as early as 4 minutes thanks to Ĵulian Ólsen's freekick, and it didn't take long for them to double the scoring when Jan-Morteņ Juliaĵsen smartly finished into the bottom right corner. It took only three minutes for the Craits to add on another to their tally when Juan Pellegrino headed in to mark his first goal of the campaign. Craitland were awarded a penalty minutes later to which Will Zóma converts. Daniel Hjansen scored the last goal of the game as he drove into the box to punish the opponents' lack of defensive ability. As if the Domain weren't being played around enough, the Napians saw themselves ending the match with ten men when defender Makoun Makwandire was given his marching orders, having received a second yellow for dragging down Alexis Pellegrino. While the Craits were on good form, they were brought back down to reality by opponents Meckelnburgh for their second game of the tournament when Cecil Spear scored from the penalty spot, and to add on to his earlier goal, Spear got Daniel Hjansen sent off after the latter had mistimed his tackle on Meckelnburgh's main man. Craitland started revving their engines only towards the end and managed to secure an equalizier through Dräsen Isrdlvarien's volley off substitute Lydveldt Jonmikeltsen's pass ending the game 1-1. Craitland had their third match of the group against the Unified Governorates. Craitland yet again had an early goal through Juliaĵsen and Zóma, but had eyebrows raising when Harold Forester headed one back and Paul Halbedan tapping one in within three minutes. Craitland took some time to recover the deficit near the third quarter mark when Juliaĵsen drove into the box unmarked for his brace. Likewise, Zóma secured his brace having run past the Benacian defence to win the game 4-2. Craitland's final group stage match was against The Hexarchy. Yet again, it was early days for Craitland thanks to a penalty which Zóma converted. Their lead wouldn't last long, however, when Balshazzar Bel-Dagon headed in the equalizer off a freekick. Craitland would grab their lead back again towards the late game thanks to goals by Juliaĵsen and Juan to ensure they qualified for the knockout stages again.

The quarter-finals would see Craitland matched up against play-off winners from Group B, Thracistan. Craitland would take the lead in 18 minutes courtesy of Zóma linking up with Juliaĵsen. It would be that pairup who helped to score Cratiland's second goal as Zóma notched his 6th of the campaign with Juliaĵsen as his provider yet again. It was then a hattrick of goal contributions for the two forwards as this time Zóma chipped a ball into the defence for Juliaĵsen to completely kill the game off as Craitland earn their second clean sheet and move into the semi-finals. Craitland would meet familiar face Meckelnburgh in the semi-finals, having met them in the group stage weeks earlier. Just like their match in Group C, both sides were evenly matched up and were looking to bring the tie into extra time until the last minute of normal time when Juan lobbed the ball to Zóma's path who collided with the rushing Dylan Long. Despite that, Zóma's tap-in trickled into the goal mouth to send his side into their fifth World Cup final in their history.

Match

Summary

Floria kicked off the match on 15 August 2021 infront of thousands of spectators. Craitland had the first chance of the game in the 5th minute when Juliaĵsen drove past Patrick Williams striking it to the hands of Tom Ward who collapsed onto the ball. Floria nearly took the lead in the 18th minute as well when Ramirez' header found Alex Mound who just could not get the right contact as his header went just clear off the post. It wouldn't take them long to score however when 3 minutes later in the 21st minute, Saint-Pierre drove past Hjansen before shifting to right to cross into the box onto the head of Rhys Chase who managed to flick his header past Francis Hjansen to open the scoring in the final. Craitland came close to equalizing in the 25th minute when Ben Hjyngmost cross found Juliaĵsen who headed it onto the post. Craitland came itching yet again in the 30th minute with some great passing amongst Zóma and Juliaĵsen who had his shot parried past the post by Ward while İlker Keremov's shot following the corner just missed the goal by inches. Juliaĵsen tried to curl one in in the 34th minute but was stopped by Ward yet again who held firmly onto the ball. A few crosses from both sides led to nothing as the match ended with Floria leading by 1-0. In the 51st minute, Floria came knocking on Craitland's door as Juan swung one into the box for Butcher who just hit his header over the bar. Some awkward defending from the Craitish led to Butcher nearly scoring the second of the game in the 66th minute but was saved by Francis. Despite Craitland's offensive and defensive showings throughout the match, they weren't able to beat the Florian defence as Floria won their first ever World Cup in their history.

Details

Floria v  Craitland

15 August 2021

Floria	1 – 0	Craitland
Chase  21'

Sports City, Northcliff

GK 1 Tom Ward RB 2 Anthony Stone CB 3 Bradley Russell CB 4 Patrick Williams LB 5 Nicholas Evans DM 6 Dave Wheeler CM 7 Rhys Chase CM 8 Alex Mound RF 9 Cristiano Ramirez (c) CF 11 Sam Butcher LF 10 Kylian Saint-Pierre Manager:  Draco Sanchez

File:FLO-CRA-8-15.png

GK 1 Francis Hjansen RB 2 Daniel Hjansen (c) CB 5 Johaņ Iņvaärsen CB 6 Ross Zen LB 3 Ben Hjyngmost CM 4 İlker Keremov 82' CM 8 Ĵulian Ólsen RM 7 Alexis Pellegrino 41' LM 11 Juan Pellegrino CF 10 Jan-Morteņ Juliaĵsen 73' CF 9 Will Zóma 63' Substitutions: FW 16 Lydveldt Jonmikeltsen 63' FW 20 Dräsen Isrdlvarien 73' MF 17 Adám Perryman 82' Manager:  Adnan Kröƨ

Man of the Match:
Rhys Chase (Floria)

Statistics

First half

Statistic	Floria	Craitland
Goals scored	1	0
Total shots	3	6
Shots on target	1	1
Saves	3	1
Ball possession	49%	51%
Corner kicks	0	1
Fouls committed	0	0
Offsides	0	0
Yellow cards	0	0
Red cards	0	0

Second half

Statistic	Floria	Craitland
Goals scored	1	0
Total shots	4	0
Shots on target	1	0
Saves	0	1
Ball possession	47%	53%
Corner kicks	0	0
Fouls committed	0	0
Offsides	0	0
Yellow cards	0	0
Red cards	0	0

Overall

Statistic	Floria	Craitland
Goals scored	1	0
Total shots	7	6
Shots on target	2	1
Saves	3	2
Ball possession	48%	52%
Corner kicks	0	1
Fouls committed	0	0
Offsides	0	0
Yellow cards	0	0
Red cards	0	0

Post-match

Floria became the 8th country to win the World Cup and the 2nd to win it while hosting the tournament after Alexandria in 2009. Floria had also won their third international trophy in a row after the 2020 Copa Apollonia and the 2020-21 Raspur Pact Nations League. Floria not only became just the second ever AEFA nation to win the World Cup, but also the second ever nation from Apollonia to achieve such a feat. Floria also become the 6th nation to keep a cleansheet in the final and the 9th instance of such. In the end, Rhys Chase's goal marked the 163rd goal of the tournament ending with the second most goals scored in the tournament's history.

FMF president Craitman H. Pellegrino was present on the pitch stage during the awards ceremony to hang out the medals and present the trophy to the Florian captain Cristiano Ramirez. He was joined by FMF vice-president Barnaby Rudolph, Florian president Nick Borisov, and AEFA president Edwin Lee. Craitman handed the trophy to Ramirez before the Florian captain celebrated with his national team to commemorate the nation's feat.

Chase was named player of the match while teammates Patrick Williams was named as the tournament's best player having recorded three clean sheets as one of the best defenders in the campaign. Zóma won the golden boot award with 7 goals with Mercury's Joe Foxon winning the silver boot with 6, Juliaĵsen winning the bronze boot with 5 goals. Foxon's 6 goals in the tournament's campaign also meant that he surpassed both Alesandrœ Danetskë and Łukasz Dąbrowski to become the tournament's third all time goalscorer at 35 goals. Calbion's Evan Dexter become the defacto best goalkeeper of the tournament after being named in the Team of the Tournament recording three clean sheets. Both Russell and Pierre Lemaire were considered the tournament's best young players at age 20 after being named in the Team of the Tournament as well.

Celebrations erupted back in Floria, most notably in capital city Northcliff where the final was also taken place in. The national team had a bus parade a few days after the tournament ended in Northcliff where millions of fans attended. In their subsequent international tournaments, Floria were eliminated by Senya in the semi-finals of the 2022 Copa Apollonia while Craitland ended up winning their first ever Benacia Cup in 2022.