World Cup Stories 2018

[Lee W]

Arrived

Saw Ian dancing around the floor singing 'my milkshake brings all the boys to the yard'

went home with my life changed forever

[iankay]

Wasn't as good as Jacob's "All that she wants"

[Steve1977]

Definitely one of the highlights for sure! On Sunday I had 'fuck her gently' going on in my head ffs Lee!

Had a quality weekend though. Firstly thank you to Andy for being so accommodating in allowing me (and therefore Gaz and Si cause they were giving me a lift) to arrive later than usual. This was cause I had the enviable task of driving some supercars around a track lol. A Birthday present from Donna definitely had to be enjoyed and it was the perfect start to the weekend.

Andy...many, many thanks for taking on the unbelievably stressful (but very rewarding too) task of hosting the World Cup. Fantastic to be invited to your home town and Bournemouth is awesome. Regretted not bringing Donna in the end as she'd have loved the place and so would have the kids - maybe next time
Also thanks to each and every single one of you who attended also - without you guys there'd simply be no world cup. Steve C...I understand you were having to program on the fly, in addition to having to work out the fixture software in the run up. I salute you dude...sterling, sterling work.

What with this track day and indeed the kick off weekend, I couldn't really sleep on Friday night. Not visiting the forum much anymore I wasn't quite sure who was coming so it was a genuinely nice suprise when I saw some of the guys I did'nt expect to see! (and of course nice when I bumped into anyone who knew what KO2 was).

Had a great laugh with Jorg too when I somewhat strangely said "Winner buys the next round of beers" - I shouldnt have said that for all my games - although I'd have been distinctly worse off money wise
Had a close game too but alas, I got the win.

I'll make no bones about it, I went into this World Cup expecting to get to the quarters and wanting to achieve the semi finals. Fuck being humble, I wanted to win the fucker!
Every single game on Saturday was tough for me...every. single. game. Steve Camber up first and it ended 5-5. tbh I felt like I had a win in me cause I think I was winning by 2 goals.
Next game up and I played Durban...once again, the game ended 5-5 but Durban was robbed. He had 20 odd shots to my 12 (or less).

Was a relief to get through to the Gold Cup and tbh, drawing 2, losing 1 and winning the rest seemed like a good day to me - now after a decent nights sleep I'd be raring to go the day after...right? not quite...

[Noodlebug]

Lost every game on the first day. Hard to take but on the plus side, all the games were competitive (apart from Gianni who double-D'd me), I scored against everyone but Mark Vella, and the only games where I had any right to expect wins - against Mark and Cornelius - they played very well and deserved to beat me. Even though I lost, I was happy with my showings against Nikos, Frank and Lorenzo, because their rankings suggest they are well above my level, these are the people I need to be competing against to win Silver Cups or qualify for Golds.

Arrogantly turned up on the second day expecting to easily win every game. Dropped points against John Vella (L), Steve B (D) and Jaume (D) - a win in any one of those games would have secured me the Bronze Cup with my rather impressive goal difference. I beat Peter K comfortably, but he did the business in the other games and deserved the trophy far more than I did.

The placings games didn't seem so important, I got a good drawn opponent in Michele whom I'd already beaten in a friendly, and I had no problems in either game. Garry C was a different situation, we've played many times before but he has more tournament experience. I was happy to get a draw with him in the second game, though with a 2-goal advantage from the first he didn't need to push too hard for the win. In the 27/28th place final, I met Peter K again, we just had a laugh with wet pitch, strong wind, 10x aftertouch and pitch walls, he adapted to the bizarre conditions better than I did!

I enjoyed the friendlies much more than the competition games - and got better results. I love playing Jacob, we played a few close-ish games (don't get me wrong, he won them all) before he went on to beat Gianni in his group. Rodolfo comfortably beat me again - I just can't score or defend against him! I had a nice series with Ian Kay with form dramatically swinging each time, and some catch-up friendlies with the KOBRA boys Garry and Steve, checking I could still give them a meaningful challenge. I played Robert on his big screen (I forget the result), I beat a tired and emotional Durban, I played Paolo and Panni and can't even remember who won.

Apart from Gianni, I avoided playing all the "big beast" semi-final contenders so aside from that 10-1 I didn't lose any tournament games by more than 3 goals, or any friendlies by more than 4. So I'm in the pack, I just need to concentrate, score a few more, concede a few less and turn those narrow defeats into draws or narrow wins.

Thanks to Andy for organising (and Jason and John for helping), Camber for facilitating and saving the day numerous times, Robert for MC-ing, Jappz for Jappzing, Premier Inn for all the free water, Harry Ramsdens and Prezzo for the food, and all the competitors for coming along and being such a great bunch of nutters. It's a shame but somewhat inevitable I had to leave before the final but I caught it on Facebook thanks to Jappz-tech, definitely the most dramatic and watchable World Cup Final since I started attending. I hope I can make it again next year (and put up more of a challenge)!

[Freshmaker]

My World Cup started earlier than usual this year, with me leaving home at Wednesday. Was gonna arrive at Lee & Jayne's at about 2.30 am Thursday morning, but the bus-company had other ideas. First it wouldn't let me buy tickets on the machine, then the bus drove away, just as I was power-walking as fast as this old body is able to, to try and buy tickets on-board. Bummer. That left me having to get a room in London, a tad after midnight... Luckily, we live in a modern world, so Hotels.com hooked me up with a hotel just 300 m from the bus-station. And a low-cost hotel it was... Add to that that I was mid-flight when I, with the help of Jayne, discovered I was heading for Gatwick-airport, not Luton... DOH!

Got a ticket for next morning, and arrived in Derby at noon. Pick-up by Lee, and back to their house. Now, it must be said; us northerners are usually a bit scared of southern drivers. We fear driving in Spain, Italy and Greece, but our only negative about England is the left-side driving. That was until I got in a car with Lee. Let's say it's a good thing Jayne did the driving friday morning, going to Bournemouth...

Lee and I spent the rest of Thursday with me playing vs the AI while he sorted out joysticks and various hardware, we took a trip to Derby Ground so I could send my dad pics of me at his fave teams home. We eventually also played some friendlies, and my god he's developed some skills over the years. I was regularly and solidly beaten, but finally landed a 4-3 win, so decided to call it the night.

Friday morning I managed to oversleep, but we got off at, more or less, desired time. The drive was as most drives are; tiresome. But arriving in Bournemouth was fantastic! Immediate feel of the ocean, the smell, the sound, perfect! And meeting Andy at the hotel, with Chris and Thor already there made it even better. And then the people just started showing up. Was also fun to get to meet Hannes, who I'd talked a bit with online. Naturally he seemed a bit shy in the beginning, but cleared up nicely during the weekend. Let's just hope we didn't scare him off. At least he got a nice t-shirt

I took my old sag of a body to a work-out session, then we started the draw, and it was about time to go for dinner. And what a fun place it was!!! Ok, let's mention the weather. F**K!!! It was the bloody storm of the century going on! I was SO gonna walk to the restaurant, up until I went outside and nearly got blown back in... Taxi it is The place was so cool! A proper beach-restaurant, giving us that summer-feeling, even though it was pitch-black outside with that storm howling.

Got to talk quite a bit with Hannes during dinner, while also catching up with lots of others. Afterwards I went a short trip to some club with Andy, Peter, Michael and Jay. I didn't stay long though, was tired and went back to the hotel. In my room my room-mate had finally shown up; not that he was easy to spot though. Alessandro did his best to sleep incognito, but I managed to take a picture of him...

Can you spot the italian????

Saturday morning came way to early though. I was just that little bit hungover, making my saturday matches a nightmare. But luckily we got to start the day with a good wholesome breakfast and finally meeting again the rest of the italians. To no secret for those present last year, we experienced a bug in the game giving us quite a headache, resulting in some bad feelings after the final, and to be honest I wasn't quite sure Gianni would attend this years World Cup until I saw he had signed up. And getting to greet him and his brother, and the rest of the guys travelling with them (Fabio, Paolo, Marco) was such a joy. With the risk of sounding too soft and emotional, shaking hands with Gianni really was an emotional and important moment for me this year.
To follow this thread, we spent some time both on saturday and sunday, taking walks to the Bournemouth-pier, together with Sandro and Alessandro, talking about everything and nothing, rekindling our friendship. I feel it was very important, and I'm very glad he's back, and this World Cup weekend proved we're moving on, putting the past behind us.

However, let's get to the games...

I started out playing my hardest opponent first, to kind of get that out of the way. And the way my hands was shaking it's to no surprise I totally lost all the matches I was "supposed" to lose. I was surprised to experience the level Mick C could play, and he beat me easily 7-3 without even blinking an eye. Trust me, I had Rob breathing down my neck the entire saturday for NOT performing in realtion to my seeding. Shiiiiiiit....

The only game I felt I performed a somewhat ok KO2 was versus Simon K, and some of his comments during the match made me very confident of one thing; Trapfix is a massive change to the game, and I'll never accept it if Trapfix becomes a standard setting. (Disclaimer: Simon is a really nice bloke, fun to talk to, a good sport, his comments was not in any way negative, they just made it clear how big of an impact Trapfix is).

Luckily though, I managed to win the two I really was supposed to win; John V and Stephen B, securing my place in the Silver Cup as the last from my group. This could only go one way from here; UP!!!

Saturday night was gonna be my fave night ever, with Andy promising us KARAOKE!!! Unfortunately my elbow had started to hurt earlier in the day, and by early evening I was in so much pain I could hardly function at all. So I went to my room, had a proper painkiller and tried to go to bed. The pill didn't work though, so I called my wife, who's a nurse, to ask what to do. She told me to shut up, pop another pill and get the fuck down to that karaoke, 'cause I'd been talking about that for months, so there's NO WAY she'd wan't me back home with no karaoke. And so I did. Popped a second pill, and went down to see if beer would help. And as by miracles, pains vanished. And SHITFUCKPISS!!! that was some AWESOME karaoke being done. Kudos goes to all those being there, taking part in this wonderful display of courage and no fucks given. I wasn't gonna do anything myself, feeling like shit, but when Lee put on Nellie the Elephant I found myself with a mic in my hand before I could think. Great fun, this is definately a set-piece for future World Cups!!!

Sundays games started very interestingly. Rodolfo was chasing me for a game immediately as I entered the gameroom, but he accepted my wish for a warm up match vs the Amiga first. Then we sat down, and LO AND BEHOLD!!! I blooody hell won!!! And not only did I win; but I f**ked Rodolfo 4-0!!! Probably, up to that point, one of my finest achievements in a World Cup. Rodolfo has always been one of my worst opponents from "my own level", and only once did I ever beat him before (2011 - by pure luck).

The I-beat-Rodolfo Screen of Joy

After Rodolfo I went on to cruise in another sweet victory with a 3-2 over Mick; followed by a 2-0 loss to Ian. I just couldn't get a grip on his game at all... That made me feel a bit uncertain again, but then I very satisfyingly beat Cornelius 2-6, a win I followed up with a 2-1 loss to Michael, in one of the worst games ever played. Shit, that was some crap KO2... Anyway, it go me through as #2 in my group, going for the Silver Cup quarter finals. And who do I face? Sandro. Well shit...

But what's up with this World Cup sunday??? I haven't played too many games vs Sandro, but I the matches we've played he's owned easily. Yet, our first match I win. Well, fuck, I think, now he's gonna go all in and hammer me to death in our rematch. But what happens? I'll tell you what happens; I f**king beat Sandro AGAIN! Oh, joy!!! So, yes, I was more or less heading for Bronze Group on saturday, reaching Silver by a split-hair, now I'm in the bloody semifinals of the Silver Cup!!!??? And who do I get to face? No other than Rodolfo. Well crap! Now he's on a mission to reclaim his winning-streak vs me, so this is gonna be ball to the wall. But wtf??? I win our first match 5-3!!! Then, in our second match we're keeping it rather even, but with a couple minutes to go Rodolfo gets a goal, and I'm now down to a single goal lead, and I can feel my palms are starting to get sweaty, my brain is sending out "we're about to lose" signals, I just know inside of me, my run for goal is over and done with. I don't have control anymore. But by pure luck I get a new goal, and I'm up to a 2-goal lead, with just over a minute to go, and I totally feel that YES! WINTER IS FUCKING COMING TO JEREZ!!! We end our re-match in a draw, leaving ME in the Silver Cup final. I did NOT see that coming!!!

I was really feeling like I was in the zone at this moment, and in hindsight I think to myself that if the final had been played within a 30 minute window from me winning my semifinal, I'd had a decent chance. However, it took ages, as it does. Of course, this also affected my opponent Lorenzo, so there's no saying what would've happened. Anyways, we played our final, and Lorenzo fairly beat me 2-0, and that was it. My World Cup 2018 was over.

I had not in my wildest dreams imagined that I'd be a Silver Cup contender this year, and I'm so utterly pleased with my day 2 performance. And I knew this in that moment as well. Yet, I couldn't help feeling like shit. I was very happy with my game that day, yet I was incredibly dissapointed with my game that day - or that match. Me, the most social desperate person you can find, I just wanted to be alone. And so I was. Kept to myself, feeling down, and that's when Mark comes over to chat. And I just couldn't understand half the words he said. I'm so sorry mate, one of the finest men I know, and I was just filled up inside with that bloody Silver Cup being so close, yet so far away, that I couldn't pay attention. Sorry...

Gotta mention though, that watching the big-screen matches was big fun, as ususal. Seeing Hannes getting his well deserved t-shirt was a blast! Hope you like it dude!!!

Sunday dinner was a blast! Obviously I was placed at the nutcase-table, so we laughed until we cried.
Finished off with a casino-trip with Peter K and Rob.

In short,

- Thank You Sir Andy, Knight of The KOA and The People's Champion! for a most splendid World Cup weekend.
- Thank you Dame Jayne of Derby and her squire Lee (one of the TOP 8 KO2-players of the world!!!), for hosting me (and being my very own travel-agency...). You are both stars - even though one of you is a Snow!
- Thank you Robert, The KOA Prime Minister, for doing such awesome work keeping the format running.
- Thank you Camber, The KOA Matrix, for your insanely important work keeping everything floating.
- Thank you Jappz for once again delivering gold on the TV-part of the weekend. Your updates on the mic were totally cool as well!
- Congratulations goes to Fabio for finally winning the Kick Off 2 World Cup.
- Congratulations goes to Gianni for AGAIN being the Boss To Beat.
- Congratulations goes to Lorenzo for winning the Silver Cup.
- Congratulations goes to Peter K for winning the Bronze Cup.
- Congratulations goes to Nikos, for geting his WELL DESERVED Lifetime Achievement Award! Your are totally a worthy recipient of the award.

And last but not least; See you all in Bremen next year, if not before


My pictures are to be found is this Album:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/GPiHxWQXTX7d2xWe7

[Torchiador]

Lovely story Jorn! very nice to see the emotion in the background of the matches.
And thanks also about what you wrote about us. I think someone in the tournament room thought a new gay couple was born on Sunday noon
I hoped to have some more time to write but life runs faster than me! My Chronicle of the Holy Shield, a scanty text will arrive soon! hopefully in a couple of days

[gdh82]

Great write-ups! Always good to hear others' stories, I've added my own ramblings below:

https://pressfiretoplay.wordpress.com

And HUGE thanks to Andy and the rest of the organisers, and to all attending for a cracking retro event. Cheers everyone!

[Logos]

Entertaining stories and photos!

Thanks, chaps!