[Nogrod]

Group A

The Ever-Cold Arena was packed and buzzing when the first game of the first group was about to start, and even if the official home team was not playing most of the spectators were strongly supporting either team. The air was filled with excitement and anticipation.

So when the players of Tirion finally poured into the field led by Aulë himself and the Leader of Noldor Finwë hand in hand, followed by Finwë’s son and three grandsons, and the White Lady of Gondolin… the crowds went just wild. This was what they had been looking for! Some players had been seen in press-conferences and others on practice-grounds – and a lucky one might had even gotten a glimpse of one of his heroes in the streets or taverns, but this was different. Now they marched to the field with their jerseys flying their colors, ready to take on the opponent for real.

The entry of team Doriath was no less impressive. Elwë Singollo and Melian led the team followed by Beren and Lúthien, followed in turn by Huan and Carcaroth shoulder to shoulder, giving the chills to the crowds with their fierce presence. There must have been many souls in the crowds who praised their maker being able only to watch the two from afar and not needing to face them oneself: some of those sitting on the first rows were not sure if buying those expensive seats was that a good idea in the first place. The last ones to enter the field were Húrin, Túrin and Beleg. The three men looked solemn, stern and focused. They got the stars’ welcome they duly deserved and acted like true stars by not showing any notice or appreciation to the rising levels of cheering around them. They were here to play a game.

And what a game it was! All possible sloppiness there might have been in the friendlies was blown away with the referee’s whistle and both teams played with full gear. It was such a different game!

Tirion tried to press with attack planning to give Doriath no room to breathe, but Doriath played back with holding the possession of the ball and letting it do the work thus frustrating the great efforts of Tirion’s pressure running to and fro. Some of the passing-combinations of Doriath were just breath-taking. And as soon as Tirion’s players felt they needed a breather after running wild after the ball Doriath punished them. It was like straight from the handbook. Mablung gave a pass forwards from midfield reaching Túrin who played wall with Beleg releasing himself from the defenders. And Túrin rarely misses when left face to face with a goalie inside the box.

Tirion came back to the pressure mode but Doriath continued evading their pressure with smart passing. And after another fifteen minutes Tirion’s players were feeling the pain in their legs and Doriath capitulated again. This time Lúthien gave a nice cross to Húrin who headed the ball in from the back-post.

Being two goals down Finwë rallied his team around him and they went for it 110%. It’s hard to say whether it was the extra-effort alone by Tirion or whether Doriath was feeling a bit too confident not to play it to the edge, but there was finally a shift in pressure and Tirion started to rain attacks towards Doriath’s goal. Just a minute before the half-time whistle they finally made it. The attacks of Tirion had ran towards the goal like waves, and this time Aredhel shot the ball from the right flank hard towards the center behind the defenses and Finwë took a spurt sliding for it leg on – and he managed to slide beside Elwë and hit the ball giving it a new direction Huan had no chances to follow.

Eöl had been running after Aredhel, trying to deny her passing the ball up, but when he failed and Aredhel’s pass led to a goal, some madness took him and he took Aredhel by the hair and started dragging her off the pitch. Luckily before any war between the teams, Melian and Elwë managed to force him to leave Aredhel alone. Some people would have thought it was worth a red card but the referee only showed him a yellow commenting something about it being a family affair.

It was only 2-1 on the half-time. And the tension was rising. The crowds were on fire.

On the second half Tirion continued with their pressure and they managed to force Huan into a couple of spectacular saves. The majority elves on the crowds were waiting for the equalizer both holding their breath at times and yelling and chanting wildly on others, but the longer the game went on the clearer it became that Doriath had chosen just the right tactics for this game. The Tirion squad started showing signs of wearing out from all the effort they had put in, while Doriath players had played it smartly. So when Doriath suddenly shifted gear after some fifteen minutes into the second half, Tirion had no way of countering.

On 62nd minute they then scored again, this time from a corner after some real pressure on Tirion’s goal. After a mess in front of the goal Beleg got the ball and passed it backwards to Túrin who was relatively free behind the rush in front of the goal and hammered a mighty cannon-shot into the back of the net from 18 meters leaving Orodreth no chance to even react to it.

There was some frustration in the faces of team Tirion but they fought back bravely. As the time ticked on it was nevertheless clear they were losing and some of the intensity of the game withered slowly. It was Eöl who sealed the final numbers shooting in a nice volley from a pass by Túrin from between the Tirion defenders. Even if the game had been decided already, the goal seemed important to Eöl as that way he kind of balanced his bad deeds on the first half. And those who saw the grin he flashed to Aredhel after the goal could see other meanings behind it as well.

It was a highly entertaining game full of great performances on both sides, but in the end it was a knock-out for team Tirion. And Doriath looks even stronger the media or the betting agencies have anticipated.


Doriath 4-1 Tirion
tot shots 18-13
on target 11-6
GOALS:
*17, 1-0 Turin (Beleg)
*33, 2-0 Hurin (Luthien)
*44, 2-1 Finwe (Aredhel)
*62, 3-1 Turin (Beleg)
*78, 4-1 Eol (Turin)
YELLOW CARDS:
*Doriath- Elwe, Eol
*Tirion- Mahtan, Caranthir



As the sun was withdrawing behind Taur-Nu-Fuin and the lights of the arena started slowly emerging the table was set for the main act of the day for the huge crowd of home fans. And one could feel the excitement. Whether one read the local media or listened to the people talking at local inns, it was clear the home team supporters were certain that the odd hobbits would be but a snack to their great team. But there was a nervous doubt there one could sense from behind the loud words… what if those halflings were of different make they seemed?

But when Maedhros and Fingon led their team to the pitch the nervous optimism turned into a carnival of song and cheer. This was it now!

There were not that many supporters of Shire-Bree Utd. on top of the thousand or so hobbits and men of Bree who had made the travel following their team. Some Doriath-supporters who bore a special grunt towards the easterlings and those elves who couldn’t stand anything to do with Fëanor and his offspring were seen to cheer for the hobbits, but to the most of the elves and men especially in the audience the hobbits looked like weird deformations of nature whom they found it hard to support in a game against noble elves and men of old.

From the first minutes it was clear the home team had adopted the conservative philosophy expressed neatly in the maxim “all play starts from defense and works through defense”. The hobbits tried to shift their game into it by running around wildly using their agility and small size to their advantage, but their eagerness turned out to be a great mistake. For the game had lasted only 12 minutes when Himring scored and rtook the early lead to the great joy of their fans in tens of thousands. The goal itself was beautifully crafted by Madhros and Fingon. It was clear to everyone witnessing the goal these two had played together for a long time, it was seamless co-operation totally disarming the hobbit-defenses.

While the hobbits tried to find new ways to open the Himring defense, the home team played it wisely not risking anything but building their attacks slowly and carefully. And it brought them another goal at half an hour’s mark when after some pressure around Shire-Bree’s box Fingon lent the ball backwards to Bór who found Ulfast from the side where he had sneaked while the hobbit defenders had concentrated in the center where most of the pressure had been. And let free with the ball about ten meters from the goal Ulfast booted it in leaving Butterbur standing.

The rest of the first half Himring were happy to just keep the hobbits at bay and securing a two goal lead for the half-time.

The second half was more or less the continuation of the first one. The hobbits tried different ways of breaking the solid defenses of Himring while Himring built their attacks slowly from the bottom. And there was no question which team had the better chances of scoring as Himring defenders constantly forced Shire-Bree to shoot from far away and from difficult positions.

On 67th minute the hobbits were given new hope when Amrod took a stupid yellow for a late tackle on Bandobras, and as that was his second he got thrown out of the pitch. But oit went completely the opposite way. Seeing they were one man short Himring started to play a bit more energetically and in just four minutes they scored their third goal of the night; this time it was Maedhros’ turn to do the serving while Fingon scored from close range.

They home team won 3-0 and showed the footballing world they are serious about qualification. The game between them and Tirion will be a thriller indeed. In the late night press conference Bandobras Took didn’t even try to to make excuses: “We were beaten and the better team won. We’re not going to sprinkle ash to our heads though but will give a better effort in the next one”. Interesting though, he was not willing to answer a question by the Bree Enquirer concerning the very bad performance of Butterbur on goal (3 goals allowed from 7 shots on goal), but told the media the conference was over on his part.


Himring 3-0 Shire-Bree United
tot shots 13-11
on target 7-3
GOALS:
*12, 1-0 Maedhros (Fingon)
*32, 2-0 Ulfast (Bor)
*71, 3-0 Fingon (Maedhros)
YELLOW CARDS:
*Himring- Amrod, Borthond
*Shire-Bree- Bandobras, Gerontius, Ferny
RED CARDS:
*Himring- Amrod (67, second yellow)