Sydney Stefred
Sydney Stefred was a defender on the Zwangzug national football team from Cup of Harmony 74 (cycle 82) through World Cup 86. Domestically, she played for Arlington City, part of the dynasty that won the 1./ in seasons 30-33 and Challengers' Cup 3. She was on the Galacticos longlist in cycles 76 and 77, and the XXIII of cycle 78. Stefred is a member of the World Cup Hall of Fame.
Stefred had penchants for scoring late-game goals, as well as for outwardly and vocally expressing disdain for "old-timers" and history as an enterprise, which were very atypical for defenders and Arlington personnel respectively. She burst into prominence in her first match with the national team, as a substitute in the Cup of Harmony against unheralded Velestria; with the game tied 2-2 in added time, she scored to lift Zwangzug to victory. Around the same time, City--who had previously been infamous for their long stints in the bottom two--claimed the 1./ title in season 26. Stefred's star was on the rise, and she was named a starter the following cycle. Playing against Schiavonia, she got herself sent off before the game began for assaulting an opposition player who had changed his name to Simeone di Bradini. After a similarly dramatic (if less decisive) goal against Abercontin-Jereaux, she was Zwangzug's nominee to the team of the tournament, to the chagrin of captain Martin Scallop.
Early in the World Cup 84 qualifiers, Stefred was suspended after fouls in a game against Hampton Island. Shortly after the midpoint of qualifiers, national team manager Tavish Willow resigned and Enitan Maclaurin was appointed as interim. Despite, or perhaps because of, his history playing for City, he and Stefred spectacularly failed to hit it off; her reaction was, by prudish Zwangzugian standards, astonishingly foul-mouthed. Nevertheless, she "assisted" on an own goal for Eren Postas of Tamgu, giving Zwangzug a victory in Maclaurin's first game in charge. They would reach a truce, if not an accord, by the end of the cycle.
The next cycle, Stefred would continue frustrating reporters looking for soundbytes about Zwangzug's history; Joshua Twoni, Arlington's captain, often found himself forced to "translate." The national team faced The Holy Empire in the first knockout round, their first knockout-stage game in many cycles. Despite having some choice pregame words for Juan Tzimisces, Stefred was able to play the entire game without incident, and Zwangzug triumphed.
Arlington, meanwhile, went from strength to strength. After triumphing in TdC 2, they won season 30. During season 31, they would claim both the league title and the Challengers' Cup; while both Twoni and manager Laura Petrell harbored philosophical differences with Stefred's approach, they were able to help her succeed as part of the team, and even keep her use of expletives to a minimum. Twoni was named captain of the national team in World Cup 86, and when he was injured in a late qualifier, Stefred inherited the armband for the remainder of the game. She would also be the backup captain when Jonah McCollins was rested in the B71 Invitational.
Her international career concluded in Eagles Cup 9, in which she delivered a surprisingly detailed, if highly obscene, summary of the national team's history. She scored four goals for the national team, predominantly in extra time, and would be part of Arlington's next few titles.