[the phantom]

After the first round of play none of the teams in Group B looked particularly weak, but neither game ended in a tie, and so it was that two teams, Mirkwood and Helm's Deep, were stuck with zero points to show for their efforts.

The victors in round one, Arnor and Nargothrond, were set to play the first match of the day, with the winner certain to advance to the playoffs. The second match would feature Mirkwood and Helm's Deep, both desperately in need of points to stay in contention.

As the first competitors entered, it seemed that the stadium would be supporting Nargothrond for the most part. For one, some of the Mirkwood fans had been won over by their impressive victory over their home team in the first round. And most importantly, if Nargothrond beat Arnor and Mirkwood won their match, Mirkwood could then defeat Arnor in the final round to advance to the playoffs. This seemed much more probable than the strong side from Nargothrond dropping two in a row to finish the group.

Arnor and Nargothrond played a midfield game for the most part in the first half. The forwards for both sides made some nice dashes towards the box, but nothing could be done to get a decent opening to put one past the keeper, for the final couple of defenders played the angles brilliantly, and were never wrong-footed by the crafty moves of the attackers.

Past two-thirds of the way through the half, Isildur made a great run up the right side and held for his team to catch up and mount the attack. He crossed to Arantar whose header was contested well by Celegorm. The ball squirted away and was met by Araphor who quickly tossed it back over to the right side to a sprinting Isildur, while the rest of the team closed in behind smelling blood. Isildur had the ball taken by Luthien, however, and she sent the ball deep up the middle and Mablung was first there and the race was on. Arnor had over-committed and had been caught with their pants down.

Only Elendur had an angle on him, and Mablung swerved behind him deftly while still staying ahead of Tarcil and the others chasing him down. The keeper Arvedui did his best to guess, resisting the first fake of Mablung, but the second made him jump and Mablung tapped it into the vacated area for the first goal of the game.

After half-time Nargothrond came out strong and challenged Arvedui twice in the opening minutes, but the keeper stopped both efforts. The second time, after stopping a rocket from Glaurung, Arvedui got it out quick and Arnor pushed it up the field to their forwards, who made a short-handed two versus four (plus the keeper) run in on the goal. Perhaps because it was so unexpected, the Nargothrond defenders were just a bit off on their positioning this time, and Araphor was able to split his way through Mim and Curufin, leave it for Isildur, and after Luthien stepped up on him, he gave it back to Araphor who had continued on his angle. He controlled it on a dead run with Celegorm pressuring him, then he stopped abruptly, and Celegorm had to take one extra step to stop, and that was enough space for Araphor to unload a quick snipe at the top of the opposite post, which Orodreth couldn't cover. It was tied, and even the Elf supporters from Nargothrond applauded the goal.

As the minutes ticked away, it seemed more and more likely that the contest would end at 1-1, for both defenses had stopped helping on the attack and were focusing on not leaving any more openings. After all, picking up a point wasn't a bad result when you were already leading the Group in points.

But as the clock wound down, Curufin came forward a bit on the attack, and when the ball was sent his direction he unleashed a screaming curve ball from 30+ meters out that only barely avoided finding the back of the net, hitting the left post instead. The ricochet went straight past two defenders to an oncoming Glaurung who blasted the ball with his mighty tail, finishing what Curufin had started. Nargothrond had the lead!

Arnor tried to equalize, but there just wasn't time. Nargothrond was assured a spot in the playoffs. Arnor's fate would be decided in the final round.

Arnor 1-2 Nargothrond
shots 10-9
on target 3-5
GOALS:
*34, Nargothrond (Mablung, Luthien)
*52, Arnor (Araphor, Isildur)
*86, Nargothrond (Glaurung, Curufin)
YELLOW CARDS:
*Arnor- Elendur, Earendur
*Nargothrond- Beren, Arminas

As the stadium filled to the brim for the night match, orcs and spiders and wood-elves were chatting excitedly about Mirkwood's chances. "Our fate is in our hands now!" they said. "If we take care of business in the next two games, we're in! We already played the best team in the group."

But standing in their way was not only the Arnor squad who had just played Nargothrond even for most of 90 minutes, but the team from Helm's Deep who had played solidly against Arnor in the first round. It was no easy task according to the facts. And the crowd was reminded of this in the first two minutes when Helm gained a good opportunity off a corner that was barely saved by Oropher.

But it turned out that the optimists were right.

After that opening scare Mirkwood took the game in hand and never looked back. The deadly sharpshooter Legolas scored a goal 16 minutes in and helped on Scatha's goal in the opening minutes of the second half, while his dad helped the deadly Nazgul #6 on the capper at minute 62. After that Helm's Deep went into a shell and just tried to not let the score get any more embarrassing, and the crowd started the celebrations well before the final whistle sounded.

The home team was still alive!

Helm’s Deep 0-3 Mirkwood
shots 6-15
on target 2-7
GOALS:
*16, Mirkwood (Legolas, Nazgul #6)
*46, Mirkwood (Scatha, Legolas)
*62, Mirkwood (Nazgul #6, Thranduil)
YELLOW CARDS:
*Helm’s Deep- Folca, Helm, Folcwine
*Mirkwood- Legolas, Galion

GROUP B STANDINGS

----team----points---goal diff
Nargothrond...6..........+2
Mirkwood.......3..........+2
Arnor.............3............0
Helm's Deep...0...........-4