Brian Wilson

Introduction

A star forward for the national football team from Sarzonia from its inception until his retirement after World Cup XXVI, Brian Wilson has the distinction of being only the second player to score a hat trick in World Cup finals championship match history, and the first player to do so for a winning team. He also served for several World Cups as the team captain. He is the son of Sarzonian national team coach and Incorporated Football Federation chairman Dave Wilson, who coached the World Cup 22 champion Stars and led Hypocria to a AOCAF trophy, defeating Sarzonia in the final. The next AOCAF, he was technically the coach of the Stars, but Brett Hancock made the tactical decisions en route to Sarzonia's first-ever AOCAF championship.

The very beginning

Brian Wilson was in the first starting 11 in Stars history and was a key part of Sarzonia's first-ever match, a 3-2 win over Crystilakere in the Atlantian Oceania Cup of Association Football that sent shockwaves throughout a country that had only just established a football league and was derided by many Sarzonian media outlets as a "bunch of weekend footballers." A 2-2 draw against Nojika and a 2-0 loss to Krytenia followed, but the nascent national team advanced to the semifinals of the tournament where they faced highly-ranked Vilita. The Stars fought gamely, but came up short in sudden death overtime, falling 1-0 as Serge duPont scored in the 124th minute to consign Sarzonia to the third place match. Notably, that loss was the only time the Stars have ever had a cumulative losing record. The third placed match against hosts Krytenia was another shot heard 'round the region as Sarzonia deafeated Krytenia 3-1, starting a rivalry that lives on to this day.

Baptism of Fire

The Stars made their international debut in the Baptism of Fire tournament and Brian Wilson was among the shining lights on the team as it went through the tournament a perfect 6-0-0, scoring 17 goals and conceding only two, in the 4-2 semifinals win over Spurland. Brian lost out on the Most Outstanding Player trophy to goalkeeper Troy Perkins and the Stars rocketed into the 72nd rank for the start of their first-ever World Cup.

So close, yet so far

The first time the Stars appeared in the World Cup was World Cup 16, which saw the Stars surprise the footballing world by leading their group with eight of 10 matchdays played. Fourteenth ranked Tanah Burung needed to win out and hope the Stars lost each of their final two matches and had conceded the berth to Sarzonia. However, the Stars were slated to face both Tanah Burung and Lovisa away and the Stars had already won the match against Tanah Burung and played Lovisa to a draw. The Stars lost both final matches 2-0, leaving the Stars out of running and consigned to play in the Cup of Harmony. The Stars would become known for their first three Cups as a team that had enough talent to advance and worked harder than any team in the world, but always came up just short of the World Cup.

During the ninth Cup of Harmony, which Sarzonia was slated to host until an outbreak of SARS forced the tournament to move to Rejistania, the Stars were the Team of Tragedy as Coach Bryan Marshall was killed in a car crash, forcing top assistant Dave Wilson to become the team's head coach. He would take over the team full-time during World Cup 18, when the Stars would come up short once again.

Captain Brian

Shortly before the retirement of midfielder Bobby Convey, Brian was named the team's second captain at the insistence of the players. With his vocal style, many players already considered him the captain of the team and some players still view him as a co-captain. He donned the armband for the team's first-ever appearance in the World Cup finals for World Cup 19. He gave up the armband before World Cup 22 but was still an unquestioned team leader.