Starblaydia national football team history

GNDN's reign

World Cup 17

A fairly abysmal striker, Guylain N'Dumbu-Nsungu had been a relatively-successful manager of the Starblaydia Under-21s, winning the 3rd Place Playoff of the 5th Under-21 World Cup against Krytenia. Guylain's management technique started off with Starblaydia's largest-ever win, a record that continues to this day. 6-0 against Pure Evil. Simeone Di Bradini (2), Ceri Salisbury, Eomer Hall, J.J. Stark and Roberto Di Bradini scored the goals that got Guylain's senior management career off to a flyer. In an excellent qualifying performance, Simeone Di Bradini equalled Nikola Lazerevski's record of 11 goals in a World Cup campaign. Critics would point out that three of Di Bradini's came from a one-off extra Qualifying match against Tanah Burung and two in the World Cup itself, but Nikola had 18 Qualifying games to score his goals, while Simeone had just 14 to bag his. Overall, they come about about equal.

Though getting through to their first ever World Cup Finals, Starblaydia didn't start well as they lost 2-1 to Audioslavia and 1-0 to The Lowland Clans, both of whom were considered to be much better teams than Starblaydia at the time. Needing a 3-0 win over NEWI Cefn Druids on the final matchday, Simeone Di Bradini, Stefan Haldorsson and Ki-Jana Carter duly obliged with the goals, while Rodriguez Da Silva duly kept his clean sheet and Starblaydi progressed.

An 2-1 extra-time win over Europa Brittania with Michael Hawthorne scoring in the first ninety minutes and a Simeone Di Bradini winner sent Starblaydia into the last-eight. Unfortunately, Melmond, the only other team as lowly-ranked as 46th-in-the-world Starblaydia at number 42, smashed and grabbed a one-nil win over Starblaydia.

Qualifiers Record: W8 LD L3 GF30 GA14

Finals Record: W2 D0 L3 GF6 GA5

• Captain: Spike Martin
• Top Scorer: Simeone Di Bradini, 11 Goals
• Qualifying Group Position: 4th, Qualified through Play-Off
• Finals Group Position: 2nd, Qualified
• Eliminated in Quater-Finals

	Starblaydia squad - World Cup 17 Quarter-Finalists
1 Da Silva | 2 Salisbury | 3 Salaam | 4 Carter | 5 Martin (C) | 6 Brown | 7 Stark | 8 Hill | 9 Hall | 10 S. Di Bradini | 11 Hawthorne | 12 Griffiths | 13 Tsarev | 14 Haldorsson | 15 Tissot | 16 P. Cole | 17 R. Di Bradini | 18 Ol-wairain | 19 Torino | 20 Robertson | 21 Palmer | 22 Cragg | 23 Benson | Coach: N'Dumbu-Nsungu

AOCAF3

A trip to Pedriana for their second Atlantian Oceania Cup of Association Football saw Starblaydia go on an excellent run all the way to the Final, including a massive 6-1 victory over rivals Vilita. At the time many questioned the scoreline, though all referees associated with the game were cleared - after extensive Bedistani investigations - of any wrong-doing. Karl Robertson, Tetsuo Naoki, Fabricio de Souza Lima, Aiden Matranga (2), and Jerome Montefalcon scored the goals. Starblaydia, though, lost an epic Final match against the defending champions NEWI Cefn Druids, in a seven-goal thriller that saw Aiden Matranga's last match. His legacy would soon live on, however, through his progeny. Matranga had scored his first goal for his country in the Pedrian city of Itechton against New Manhattan, and so he named his newborn son after the city.

Overall Record: W8 D1 L2 GF32 GA15

Captain: Aiden Matranga

Top Scorer: Tetsuo Naoki, 7 Goals

Group Position: 2nd, Qualified

Lost in Final

World Cup 18

With a thirty-one year-old Simeone Di Bradini not expected ot continue his carrer past World Cup 18, he was named as Captain for the tournament to be held in Bedistan and Eauz. An overall good run in Qualifying was tempered by Matchdays three to six, where Starblaydia picked up just a single point from their four matches. Three consecutive clean sheets later and the Qualification run was back on and Starblaydia overturned the poor results in the return matches with Nova Britannicus, Liverpool England, Halfassedstates and Aquiliana to surge back into contention and Qualify from second in the group.

The Finals, however, saw a Group C loss to Iansisle, a draw with The Eagles Nest and a victory over Druida. Starblaydia failed to Qualify, though SDB now had four goals in World Cup Finals matches.

Qualifiers Record: W8 L3 L3 GA28 GA16

Finals Record: W1 D1 L1 GF4 GA5

• Captain: Simeone Di Bradini
• Top Scorer: Simeone Di Bradini, 10 Goals
• Qualifying Group Position: 2nd, Qualified
• Finals Group Position: 3rd, Failed to Qualify
• Eliminated in Group Stage

	Starblaydia squad - World Cup 18 Qualifiers
1 Da Silva | 2 Salisbury | 3 Nicholson | 4 R. Di Bradini | 5 Durand | 6 Carter | 7 Stark | 8 Naoki | 9 Hall | 10 S. Di Bradini (c) | 11 Hawthorne | 12 Cragg | 13 Palmer | 14 Bachchan | 15 Mikael Tissot | 16 Scott | 17 Berisha | 18 Ol-wairain | 19 Thornley | 20 Robertson | 21 Martin | 22 Montefalcon | 23 Jakkinho | Coach: N'Dumbu-Nsungu

AOCAF4

Starblaydia were the hosts of AOCAF4, the first major international sporting event hosted solely in the nation. Denied a place in the World Cup side after N'Dumbu-Nsugnu's decision to play a back-three for World Cup 18, former captain Spike Martin returned at the age of thirty to the AOCAF in a more conventional 4-4-2 Diamond. A forgetable, though fruitful, Group Stage was only marred by yet another loss to Crystilakere: a team who Starblaydia had now only beaten once in five matches over three AOCAFs, the previous points being a single draw in AOCAF3's Group Stage before Starblaydia defeated them 1-0 in the first game of this tournament.

Later wins over regional rivals (in more than just sports) Lamoni and then Sarzonia set up another dream final with NEWI Cefn Druids, who were defending their third title. At the Jader Barbahlo Stadium, 96,000 Druids and Starblaydis cheered on Starblaydia to a 2-1 win over the undoubtedly greatest team in the region, and Starblaydia had their first piece of footballing silverware.

Overall Record: W6 D2 L1 GF16 GA10

Captain: Spike Martin

Top Scorer: Karl Robertson, 5 Goals

Group Position: 1st, Qualified

Winners (1st Title)

Eagle's Cup 4

Fresh from the regional title, Starblaydia entered the 4th tournament in The Eagles Nest with renewed vigour. This obviously paid off as Starblaydia finished top of a strong group containing Audioslavia, Turori and Legalese. Though expecting to break into the top twenty in the world rankings, Starblaydia could not break into the top four of this tournament as NEWI Cefn Druids gained a minor piece of revenge by defeating Starblaydia 1-0 in the Last-Eight, Starblaydia's last participation in the tournament that did not reach a fifth cup.

Overall Record: W4 D0 L4 GF7 GA6

Captain: Jean-Pierre Durand

Top Scorer: Marco Del Blanco, 2 Goals

Group Position: 1st, Qualified

Eliminated in Quarter-Finals

World Cup 19

Qualification for World Cup 19 began well, with 2-0, 4-0, 3-0 and 4-0 victories. However this opening drive was tempered by what still stands as Starblaydia's heaviest losing margin to this day, a four-goal drubbing in a 5-1 loss away to Squornshelous. Two draws with Druida and a win and loss to Krytenia were the more-interesting match-ups during the Qualifiers, in which Starblaydia improved upon their previous statistics.

In the Finals, however, Starblaydia faltered badly, managing to lose to Eauz and only draw with both regional rivals Vilita and Nova Britannicus, dumped out of the tournament despite being ranked 15th.

Qualifiers Record: W9 L2 L3 GF31 GA14

Finals Record: W0 D2 L1 GF5 GA7

• Captain: Jean-Pierre Durand
• Top Scorer: Eomer Hall, 8 Goals
• Qualifying Group Position: 2nd, Qualified
• Finals Group Position: 4th, Failed to Qualify
• Eliminated in Group Stage

	Starblaydia squad - World Cup 19 Qualifiers
1 Cragg | 2 R. Di Bradini | 3 Azanulbizarn | 4 Montefalcon | 5 Durand (c) | 6 Piper | 7 Evans | 8 Naoki | 9 Hall | 10 Jakkinho | 11 Tirado | 12 Thornley | 13 Majeed | 14 Bachchan | 15 Doukas | 16 N. Matranga | 17 Del Blanco | 18 Matis | 19 De Marco | 20 Nicholson | 21 Scott | 22 Berisha | 23 S. Di Bradini | Coach: N'Dumbu-Nsungu

AOCAF5

At the age of 35, and player-manager of Vilitan side Kiiarana City, Simeone Di Bradini was called up as captain of the AOCAF side. He netted four times in the first game, a Starblaydi record for goals in one match, as Starblaydia defeated Big Pimento 6-2. An undefeated Group Stage in neighbouring host-nation Legalese was marred only by a 0-0 draw with Sarzonia. Despite the excellent start, however, Starblaydia were defeated over two legs by Turori, 1-3 and 0-0, so failed to defend their first Reigional Title successfully.

Overall Record: W5 D2 L1 GF16 GA7

Captain: Simeone Di Bradini

Top Scorer: Simeone Di Bradini, 9 Goals (Joint-Record with Dasha Tolkacheva)

Group Position: 1st, Qualified

Eliminated in Quarter-Finals

International Recreation Cup 2

Though their first experience of the IRC cup had put a huge black mark on their copybook, Starblaydia entered the second IRC cup with renewed vigour. This time they managed to defeat every team they played, bar the hosts - Cockbill Street, and ended up 2nd in the tournament: greatly improving on their previous record.

Overall Record: W4 D0 L1 GF9 GA4

Captain: Jean-Pierre Durand

Top Scorer: Marco Del Blanco and Simeone Di Bradini, 2 Goals

Group Position: Runners-Up

World Cup 20

Starblaydia, along with Bekkside neighbours Druida, had the honour of hosting the 20th World Cup. As a last hurrah, Simeone Di Bradini - now 39 - was included in the team with the Number 23 shirt. Starblaydia's national hero would later present the Winner's Trophy to Santo Kecker of Vilita, but Simone himself scored his 44th and final goal of his international career against The Belmore Family, the fifth in a 5-1 demolition on Matchday Two. Starblaydia topped their group thanks to that win, drawing 0-0 with Svecia and defeating One Red Dot 3-1. Bedistan, however, proved Starblaydia's undoing in their next round, defeating the hosts in Extra Time.

Qualifiers Record: N/A (Qualified as hosts)

Finals Record: W2 D1 L1 GF9 GA4

• Captain: Jean-Pierre Durand
• Top Scorer: [[Darius Belizaire], 3 Goals
• Qualifying Group Position: N/A (Qualified as hosts)
• Finals Group Position: 1st
• Eliminated in 2nd Round

	Starblaydia squad - World Cup 20 Qualifiers
1 Cragg | 2 R. Di Bradini | 3 Azanulbizarn | 4 Montefalcon | 5 Durand (c) | 6 Majeed | 7 Evans | 8 Naoki | 9 Del Blanco | 10 Belizaire | 11 N. Matranga | 12 Thornley | 13 Watt | 14 Piper | 15 Menegroth | 16 Tirado | 17 Jakkinho | 18 De Souza | 19 Joachim | 20 J. Garcia | 21 Doukas | 22 Delgado | 23 S. Di Bradini | Coach: N'Dumbu-Nsungu

World Cup 21

	Starblaydia squad - World Cup 21 Qualifiers
1 Cragg | 2 J. Garcia | 3 Azanulbizarn | 4 Montefalcon (c) | 5 Gianunzio | 6 Majeed | 7 N. Matranga | 8 Delgado | 9 Lyku-Agbayani | 10 Belizaire | 11 Madray | 12 Gonzalez | 13 Caltabiano | 14 Watt | 15 Evans | 16 Naoki | 17 Del Blanco | 18 Tumunzahar | 19 Thornley | 20 Loze | 21 Rabalais | 22 Kovac | 23 Sodek | Coach: N'Dumbu-Nsungu