User:HuGOAT lloris
| Event | 2021 FMF World Cup | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||
| Date | 15 August 2021 | ||||||
| Venue | Sports City, Northcliff | ||||||
| Man of the Match | Rhys Chase (Floria) | ||||||
2023 → | |||||||
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
| Opponent | Result | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Passas | 3-0 |
| 2 | Calbion | 1-0 |
| 3 | Alduria | 2-1 |
| 4 | Tellia | 0-2 |
| QF | Lamantia | 2-0 |
| 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.
