Saxland 1 - Cielterre 1

Two nations divided by a small stretch of ocean, ten-to-the-power-of-920 quantum event intervals, and a sense of animosity which - one for stats fans, this - remains between their native territories in 81% of all explored Earths. And as the scoreline suggests, they're well-matched on the pitch. There was an obvious resentment in Cielterre's shimmeringly translucent all-female team, partly due to current PFIFA rulings regarding the binding of wings, partly because many of them are old enough to remember how the inhabitants of a certain small island off the coast of Europe tried to burn the first of their kind at the stake before her transformation. Their opponents seemed less bothered by history, perhaps because their own timeline has seen no intrusions from the continent since the Technological Ascension of 1066. No bazookas were used by the Saxons in this battle, although there were numerous clumsy fouls, mainly caused by the awkward interaction of cyborg bio-electrical fields and the Will of God. A tense and often scrappy match, which nonetheless shows that both sides have a lot to offer in this tournament.

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