Today's Results
Todays matches are live from The Doriath Dome and will begin airing at 4:00pm EST (Elven Standard Time)
Old Forest 1-3 Moria
This match was all about missed penalties and hard tackles. The match started off with Balin blasting an early one straight at goal only to have it bounce back off the cross-bar, his next chance came in the 33rd minute when he found himself free and in the box but a slight fumble gave Old Man Willow all the time he needed to make the save. Due to that him and Bill had a falling out and both began to play rough after that with Bill giving away a penalty in the 39th minute. Alas, The Master went for high and hard only to have the ball sailing into the crowds. Even though Moria's coach talked to both Balin and Bill at half-time they couldn't settle their differences and continued their hatred in the second half.
Upon missing another goal, Bill started arguing with Balin which gave The Master the space he needed to charge in and score the opener in the 67th minute. The crowd though remained silent. Soon after the first goal the Moria supporters joined hands and began to chat, "UNITED WE STAND!" over and over causing Bill to attempt their pinball play again which Azog finished off with a diving header. Right after that Balin stole the ball in mid-field and charged down centre to blast in Moria's second goal. Master found himself in the box again and hit a hard shot but a goblin accidently touched the ball with his hand, giving Old Forest a chance to equalize with a penalty. Alas luck was against them and the ball went the wrong side of the post. Moria though had no such problem with penalties as Azog converted a 90th minute one into their third goal.
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Shire 2-0 Rivendell
It looks like Gandalf's return was what it took to set the Shire into action. Pippin, still in the same form as earlier, went on the offensive from the first whistle. He had many shots on the goal in the first few minutes but the Rivendell defense was able to keep their goal empty. Finally a long ball played by Gandalf was converted into a goal by Pippin in the 47th minute after which Shire went defensive and held off Rivendell until Sam found the ball at his feet near the goal, he shot it straight at the goalie who somehow managed to keep it out. Frodo passed the ball on to Merry who crossed it into the box for Pippin to score off a header.
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Barrow-Downs 2-1 Valmar
This match was a classic, one for the history books. Manwe managed to fight through the 'Downs defense and chip the ball over Barrow-Wight and into the goal in the 15th minute of the match after which this match turned into a heated battle with both teams taking several shots on the goal. Sleepy Ranger did manage to get one past the Valmar goalie in the 59th minute only to be called back for being offside. The replay however, showed that Sleepy was onside. It wasn't until the 90th minute that Valmar made a mistake and gave Phantom a free-kick from 22m out. Phantom shot the ball strong and hard but it seemed it would go over the goal, instead it struck the cross-bar and fell straight down and rolled into the goal. Immediatly after Sleepy stole the ball and made a determined run for goal, he was quickly surrounded and passed to Saucepan who immediatly shot only to have the ball turned away for a corner. Phantom took the corner masterfully, curving the ball in towards the box where Sleepy Ranger finished the job with a header. Barrow-Downs took the win without a second to spare.
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Nargothrond 2-2 Mirkwood
This match was another heated contest that saw Nargothrond take an early lead with a fantastic strike from way out by Turin. The ball rose high over the defense before dropping sharply through the goalkeeper's outstretched arms and into the goal prompting the crowd to begin a Black Sword! chant. Mirkwood managed to get past the Nargothrond defense by constantly passing the ball back and forth until Legolas shot it in the bottom right corner to equalize in the 56th minute. The mid-field didn't play much of a role in this match but Finrod Felagun, the offensive mid-fielder managed to curve a high shot into the goal to snatch a lead in the 78th minute. When the match looked all over a mis-timed tackle gave Legolas a Free-Kick from the edge of the box, which he converted into a goal.
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Dale 0-0 Bree
Neither team did much out there but Bree played well despite missing their top players. Nob put a scare into Dale when he charged down the flank but a sliding tackle by Bard ensured he would go no further. On the whole there wasn't much worth talking about in this match but the players out in a solid effort.
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Goblin-Town 0-3 Doriath
Beleg played a dominating role in this match and scored all 3 of Doriath's goals. His first was of a header from a Thingol corner in the 40th minute. The second came in the 70th, when he found himself free of his marker. He charged to the box and faked out the keeper and then nudged the ball into the goal. His third goal followed soon after, another Thingol corner but this time the keeper got a hand to it only to have Beleg knock it in. Goblin-Town were never given a chance to recover.
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Lothlorien 1-2 Fangorn
It seemed the predictions were right, Lothlorien took the lead agains a sleeping Fangorn defense and then managed to defend it for the first half but after the half Fangorn began to mount a come-back. Treebeard took his time and made it into the box before shooting the ball in along with the goalie, Celeborn, who hung on for the ride. Next was a fantastic effort by Quickbeam, where he rushed in and took a quick shot at goal and sunk in the winner for Fangorn. With 20 minutes to go Lothloriend attempted to score again but they were shut out by Fangorn's goalie and stiff defense.
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Gondor 6-1 Gondolin
Gondor won this match purely on their defensive abilities, proving the proverb, 'The best offense is a good defense.' true. The crowd was clearly in support of Gondor and this seemed to give them a huge boost in morale. Faramir scored the opening goal it the 23rd minute causing the crowd to go nuts and even more craziness followed when Aragorn blasted one in from close range minutes later. A short pass into the box from Faramir in the 33rd minute was converted into a goal by his brother, Boromir. The crowd could be heard chanting, "Power of Two". Minutes before the end of the half Imrahil netted in a header from a long pass to score Gondor's 4th goal, driving the crowd insane. This match seemed to be over at half-time with the score 4-0 but Aragorn had some unfinished buisness.
As soon as the half resumed, Turgon managed to decrease the biterness by scoring an easy goal but a superb long shot by Aragorn completely deflated whatever comeback Gondoling had begun. Aragorn then scored of a 72nd minute penalty causing the Gondor supporters to explode in cheers. For the rest of the match the crowd could be heard screaming, "Hail the King!" in honor of Aragorn.
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Today's results were certainly 'shocking'. What do you people have to say about them? It seems the teams in Group H are going to start an all-out war for the qualifying positions.
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