Anatoly Trumper

Anatoly Trumper was a goalkeeper on the Zwangzug national football team in World Cups 33 and 34.

Some of the early team's history was sketchy and nebulous at the time due to football's relative unpopularity in the country, and ensuing events did little to clarify. From what can be plausibly ascertained:


 * he was fairly idealistic and opposed to corporate sponsorship in sports; he may have taken steps to prevent the team's first (robotic) coach from having naming rights sold to a company, though this is also likely to have been a governmental decision
 * he could be very competitive and take defeat hard; though Andrew Card was younger than him and the rest of the team, the latter was somewhat protective of him even from the Baptism of Fire
 * he was into fractals before they were cool, and also wore glasses
 * his nerves were rattled by a 4-0 defeat to Squornshelous in the WC34 qualifiers, though he performed admirably against Demot on Matchday One in the proper
 * Zwangzug were first-time qualifiers in that tournament, and arguably overachieved, topping the group after two days
 * the tournament was hosted by The Holy Empire and Ariddia, using finicky and poorly-tested software provided by Zwangzugian programmers/broadcasters
 * while some Grumpy Old Fogeys were rightly outsourcing technical blame to Zwangzug, others were storming off the international scene (even if temporarily)
 * rumors of the Oneiromancer and the Glimmung were higher-than-average in the Dreamed Realm during this time
 * Zwangzug lost 4-0 to Cafundéu and were eliminated on Matchday Three
 * Card and Rube Tercer would unveil the 3-2-1-2-3 formation the next cycle.

In the interests of full disclosure, it should also be noted that:


 * Aguazul's first qualification to the World Cup proper occurred during (Western) Easter in The Holy Empire sixteen cycles later, and coincided with some interdimensional "spring cleaning"
 * the partnership forged by Andrew and Saena Mathash would ultimately lead to Zwangzug's return to the World Cup in cycle 64.

Some sacrifices have a way of leading to unexpected victories.