[Nogrod]

It was the day of truth and the arena at Amon Sûl was buzzing with anticipation. The hometeam fans had been shopping Mithrim fan-items to support the unrivalled number ones of the group - and to ensure they would play with full steam. It was the one hope the homecrowds shared: Nargothrond had to lose. But all that was just a prelude to the late game where the second qualifier would be finally decided. Even if it had been a civilised and well-behaved sporting festival, mainly among good people and elves, some Legolas fan-girls were clearly uneasy in the middle of the bellowing homecrowds two times their height, three times their weight, ten times their voice and thousand times their number.


It’s the tactics, stupid!

The game between Mithrim and Nargothrond started with easy pace even if the crowds were demanding goals from Mithrim the first minute onwards. But Nargothrond’s defences were solid like they had been the whole tournament; statswise they actually had kept their defence better than Norbury – even if the hometeam’s image was that of a tough defence. On the other end Felagund and Mablung were constant dangers to Mithrim defences with their smart runs to which mainly Celebrimbor and Finduilas tried to address their long passes with Barahir running in the middle threatening with a second wave of attack. So even Mithrim had to be on their toes and not just go for an all-out attacking mode. To the bewilderment of the homecrowds the first period ended goalless and Mithrim had actually gathered three yellow cards against Nargothrond’s one!

Even if some of the most hasty homeside fans started biting their nails, team Mithrim came to the second half looking quite confident indeed. And it was soon clear to everyone why it was so. First of all, even if they had let Nargothrond to be the more active side on the first half they had actually forced them to shoot from unfavourable positions and letting them only one shot on goal (although they had to take a few cards for that)! So even if it looked like Nargothrond was in command it was actually Mithrim who controlled the situation (shots on goal on first period went 2-1 to Mithrim!). Secondly, their pace had been slow for a reason: they had let the Nargorthrond team to run to and fro through the field the first 45 minutes. Now Mithrim started adding some legs to their game. Nargothrond players managed to run after them the first ten minutes as they had been resting during the interval but it was clear they were getting really exhausted and alarmingly soon from their point of view.

With the increased speed and stamina Mithrim produced the Nargothrond midfielders and defenders started getting more and more late with their calls resulting in numerous free kicks and break-frees. On the 58th minute Túrin slipped from the defenders and with a beautifully timed pass Beleg sent the ball to him into full speed behind the scandalously collapsed offside-trap. It was 1-0 and the homecrowds went just wild. And there was more to come.

Beleg himself hit the crossbar on 63rd minute, Húrin fired a rocket from a free kick just a hair’s width outside the post and Beor made a spectacular save on Curufin’s perfect header from a corner kick. Only 14 minutes from the first goal Túrin hammered it in the second time, now with a nice passing-play between Beleg and Aradan that totally broke the Baran – Arminas defence line. With twenty minutes to go the result was clear to everyone: Mithrim was leading 2-0 and they were the team with energy left. The crowds were overjoyed and Mithrim had shown once again they had what it takes to play both wisely and effectively. The rest was merely passing the ball amiably as it was clear Mithrim didn’t want to humiliate their friends, ancestors and relatives, and Nargothrond didn’t wish to test Mithrim’s good will…

Mithrim 2-0 Nargothrond
tot shots 12-8
on target 6-2
GOALS:
*58, 1-0 Turin (Beleg)
*72, 2-0 Turin (Aradan)
YELLOW CARDS:
*Mithrim- Morwen, Annael, Celegorm, Turin
*Nargothrond- Baran, Mablung, Baranor


30 voices over 30000 silence.

So it was the game the homecrowds had been waiting for and the set-up was just delicious. Nargothrond had lost 0-2 which meant that a draw would be enough for the hometeam to qualify due to best goal difference (Nargothrond was now on -2 and Norbury on -1 – Pelennor being on -4).

The first minutes of the game were quite careful playing with both teams merely testing each others tactics and looking for possible weaknesses on the others’ game-plan. The crowd chanted and bellowed creating quite an atmosphere – but in the end it seemed to make the home team more nervous than strengthening it.

After some half hour of play Grimbold made a nice throw-in reaching Eowyn’s head. She passed the ball via the ground past Malvegil who was reaching higher up for the ball – and Legolas made his trademark dive tipping the ball behind Arvedui as he passed the ball denying the laws of physics.

With all the anticipation and the height of the expectations the sudden goal silenced the whole crowd – except the thirty Legolas fan girls who screamed their lungs out only to realise they were giving up the only sound in the full stadium. Their screaming ended up as soon and swiftly as it emerged. There was a total silence. During the rest of the first half one could actually hear the silence of the homecrowd while Pelennor was almost nearer another goal than the homeside was for an equaliser. It was a nervous quietness the small Pelennor fan section didn’t dare to break but with an occasional song which were disheartened by even more active silence by the overwhelming homecrowd.

But Norbury came back after the interval. There was a mark of determination in the northeners’ eyes and they sealed their backlines effectively. There was no room for Pelennor to manouver anymore. And as the time and space were getting limited the Pelennor started fouling as they had no other medicine for the new situation. Meanwhile Norbury stepped up their attack and made the ball to do the most work. And that worked!

Fifteen minutes to the second period the Norbury defences shut off a Pelennor offence with driving Duinhir into a dead end between two defenders from where the old king Valandur made a long pass forwards which was ingeniously headed 45 degrees to the other forward direction by Amlaith of Arthedain thus sending Valandil running free the left side of the field. With a powerful shot from the corner of the box the “child king” left Theoden gaping for air. The stadium burst into a storm with the equaliser. It was as near an inferno any goodies could make!

There was still an half an hour of the game left and with Nargothrond’s loss Pelennor had chances as well: a win would be their qualifying ticket. And they pressed on with Norbury pushing their efforts back time and time again. With the clock ticking Pelennor’s efforts became more and more desperate. They had it in their own hands but they would have to win. So they went for the all or nothing – not surprisingly for that team said some commentators – but this time it didn’t pay them back. On the contrary.

Just seven minutes before the final whistle Eowyn lost the ball trying to go past two defenders and Norbury launched a quick counter attack. Seeing it was all or nothing, Legolas took a twenty-meter slide to tackle Araphor. Being terribly late he hit Araphor to the heels. The Norbury captain rolled around the ground and wailed in pain. It was a miracle the referee didn’t show Legolas a straight red. The crowds protested mightily for no card being shown but it was a free kick to the home team from forty meters.

Araphor had been carried outside the field by the medics so it was Valandil who set himself to give the free-kick (interestingly no one called him a “splitter” this time). Valandil was running towards the ball and all the Pelennor defences rushed forwards (against the rules, as always, before the kicker actually hits the ball) to cover for the angle of the shot when suddenly the first chieftain Aranarth, who had been just standing two meters away from the ball, hands on his hips and looking backwards like he was not of importance in the situation, took a leap and flicked the ball via the ground beside the forthcoming wall of defenders before Valandil had a chance to hit the ball. And the prophet Malbeth was running his legs out to get it and boomed a massive rocket to the upper right corner of the goal from twenty-five meters leaving Theoden no chance to save it as his attention had been in a different direction.

One can not describe the burst of joy of the crowds with words. The people went just crazy. The calm northeners were screaming and bellowing, hugging anyone in their sights, they were crying for joy, they were jumping up and down the benches… and they were singing! And it seemed the players were quite moved from that reaction as well… so much as the Norbury coach was seen tightening his lips fearing the joy would meddle the game of the last minutes.

But Norbury held the last minutes even if Pelennor made it’s best to come even and then hopefully go past them. But Norbury, in the end, succeeded by defending.

Norbury 2-1 Pelennor
tot shots 11-10
on target 5-4
GOALS:
*35, 0-1 Legolas (Eowyn)
*62, 1-1 Valandil (Amlaith)
*83, 2-1 Malbeth (Aranarth)
YELLOW CARDS:
*Norbury- Amlaith, Valandil
*Pelennor- Grimbold, Imrahil, Gimli, Windfola, Snowmane


Final results, group C:
Mithrim 8-1 9pts.
Norbury 4-4 4pts.
Nargothrond 3-5 2pts.
Pelennor 3-8 1pts.