[Boromir88]

Group G; Match 1: Gondolin vs. Wold
The stadium was a little over half capacity, and most were in support for Gondolin. The Doriathians were a rather withdrawn bunch who usually only made it to the stadium if their team was playing. There were actually more Gondorian fans in the crowd for the first match. They were the "neutrals," who simply wanted to enjoy a good soccer match before their team played later.

We're promised to see good respectful football from all the teams, and the few cards that were handed out in both matches today, reinforced this point. Although, both games as far as entertainment, really didn't deliver. It became clear the class of the group was Gondolin and none of the other teams could match up.

If there was concern for rust with the way Gondolin played it easy their last few friendlies, those were answered too. They dominated Wold from second 1 to second 5,400. And it seems like the Wold's defense benefitted in the friendlies, against teams who had little to no offensive capablities.

I don't want to beat up on Wold's defense too much, it was quite worthy of them to keep Gondolin off the scoreboard until there were under 12 minutes remaining in the half. Hama was under a barage of shots all day, and fortunately because of him, they only lost by 3! The real issue is what we knew about the Wold coming out of the friendlies, they needed to produce more of a scoring threat. They did not do it against Gondolin, and this greatly effected their defense. From the start they couldn't run with Gondolin's FWs, but once getting tired down from the constant pressure they were in real trouble. Huor was shouting orders for his team to pull back, because he had only seen 1 shot come his way all match, and was getting bored.

This was a tough game for the Wold to swallow, who had hopes that their defense was good enough to stop anyone and see them into the playoffs, but now they were in a mighty hole, and will anyone in this group be able to slow down a determined Gondolin team?

Gondolin 3-0 Wold
tot shots 17-5
on target 9-1
GOALS:
*33, 1-0 Fingolfin (Thorondor)
*49, 2-0 Glorfindel (Eol)
*62, 3-0 Aredhel (Ecthelion)
YELLOW CARDS:
*Gondolin- Ecthelion, Eol
*Wold- Aldor, Ugluk, Elfwine

Group G; Match 2: Doriath vs. Gondor
Where the 1st match wasn't much of a contest, spectators at least saw some good football skills from the Gondolin team. They can mesmerize and awe the audience. The shame is, the 1st match did not draw well, so the capacity crowd who showed up to watch Doriath play Gondor, saw a rather boring game.

Gondor, as predicted, played down to Doriath's level, and just did enough to win 1-0, picking up 3 points, but based on their performance they didn't seem worthy of the 3 points. Since Doriath, all-in-all, does have a lot of problems, mostly on the offensive side of the ball and Gondor couldn't dominate.

Thingol yet again was shut out, and yet again actually benefitted the other team more by picking up a yellow card. He claimed he was trying to get the ball to Haleth on the other side, but Beruthiel protested that he was hunting for her head, as the ball went zipping passed her face. Haleth was no where in the area, but Thingol's accuracy has been so dreadful it's feasible he actually didn't want to decapitate Beruthiel with the ball. Or it could have just been frustration for all of Doriath's problems.

Doriath 0-1 Gondor
tot shots 9-10
on target 3-4
GOALS:
*38, 0-1 Eldacar (Beruthiel)
YELLOW CARDS:
*Doriath- Thingol, Saeros
*Gondor- Ondoher

After Round 1 of Group G - Gondolin has the clear lead to taking first in the group. Neither Gondor nor Doriath showed an ability to compete with a Gondolin team that was fully prepared and on it's game. The Wold will have to win their final 2 games, but fortunately for them they got the giants in the group out of the way. They will still have a huge goal differential to make up, and since this offense, no matter who they're playing doesn't score a lot, that will be an even more difficult obstacle if they want to advance. Gondor's currently sitting in the driver's seat for 2nd, but I'm far from convinced they will finish in 2nd.