"Champions!" Matchstick Men manager Tony Brazil stands on the pitch at Hindtjarns mosse cheering and congratulating himself. The match against Folklore Flamenco has long finished, players, fans and ground staff have all left but Brazil remains alone still glorying in the event.
"We won here two nil, Boim, Costamera and of course Sebastian Haas our heroes of the day with assists, goals and dare I say it, timely bookings that secured the win and with it the title. Again.
"Winning the title last season was a dream come true. To do it twice in a row was beyond my imagining before the start of the season, and not on the cards through our dismal start to the campaign. But here we are," Brazil shakes his head in amazement, "as a great philosopher once said, 'oops I did it again'."
Brazil continues in this vein and has done so since the final whistle. How he will get back to Matchstick from Vastra Gotalands lan is a mystery because the team bus is long gone, but right now Brazil doesn't care. He repeats, "champions!"
Oops, we lost it again
After the final match of the league, Hernas was desolate in front of the journalists:
"28 points used to be enough to win the Xpert League. This season we achieved 29, were by far the team with the most goals scored, the second best defense, only one defeat... and we lost the championship by a measly point."
When asked about his state of mind, Hernas replied:
"Being so close to a fourth title in the top division, without resorting to the market and stoically competing in this campaign against two quality opponents with more financial and sporting resources than us says a lot about our ability, but it does not lessen the pain we feel at this moment."
When asked what fans can expect from next season, Hernas didn't hide himself from the truth:
"Well, our project is in a downward phase and, without being able to go to the market, we can just hope that the youth team can bless us with players who, in the long term, can take the club once again to the top spot of the Xpert League as this current generation has done for three consecutive seasons, and came short in two other campaigns, through these seven straight seasons that we have been playing in the top division".
Invited to leave a few words for the two-time champion manager TonyBrazil, Hernas finished by saying:
"Although I think we ended up being the most consistent team and the one that had a complete advantage over the others in direct clashes, the math is done at the end and whoever has the most points ends up deserving the victory. Winning the Xpert League once is fantastic, winning it twice in a row is only for a few fellas as history tells. That is the best compliment I can give to my fellow colleague."
"Hey mister, before you go...it seems that coach TonyBrazil quoted you in his title celebrations". Any comments?"
"Happy for you my dear apprentice, happy for you."
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