[the phantom]

Group E

There was much anger to be found in the ranks of Wights and Werewolves when the start times for the Group E matches were pushed earlier. Instead of 2 o'clock and 8 o'clock, the matches were switched to 11 and 4. "They're did that deliberately!" complained FormendaWight. "They know that Werewolves thrive when the sun sets, and that we Wights love to sleep all day and party all night!"

"Formy's quite right!" agreed The BoroWight. "It would be different if they had scheduled the matches at such times originally, but waiting to see who the homeside was playing and then making it a day game... Preposterous!"

Tol In Gaurhoth wasn't the only fanbase enraged by the early start. The few Orcs of Mordor that showed up also griped about things, pointing out that under their normal schedule they ought to be asleep until 3 or 4 in the afternoon. "The host committee really should be more considerate with their game times," said Mordor football enthusiast Mortakh. "Since the other teams have no troubles playing games later, why not do so? That way things would be fair for everyone."

But the complaints weren't going to change things for this round anyway, and so at 11 AM the opening match between Mordor & Nargothrond kicked off. The orcs and Nazgul looked a bit sluggish off the bat, and with little crowd support to jumpstart them things could've gone poorly for them, but fortunately Nargothrond didn't open too sharply either, and the Silent Watcher was on his game enough to turn away two early efforts from Finduilas.

As the first half wore on the fog cleared from the heads of orcs and slowly they began to control things. Just past the half hour mark they gained their first serious chance. Barahir was equal to Shelob's header, but the excitement of the near-miss seemed to spur the Nazgul out of their daze and Mordor became more dangerous than ever.

Shortly before the half they finally broke through, as they brought up their midfield to help apply the pressure and Gorbag turned a rebound around from just outside the box. The team on the field celebrated, but there was hardly a reaction from the crowd- most of the Mordor fans were stretched out on the tree-branch seats snoozing in the warm sun.

When the teams began the second half every last Mordor supporter was sound asleep, and Nargothrond took advantage stealing the spirit and momentum. At minute 67 they gained a well-deserved equalizer off the tail of Glaurung and it was anyone's game. The noise made by the men and elves woke the orcs in the crowd who were absolutely shocked to find the match in the final 35 minutes and tied at 1-1.

Even the best of people can be grumpy first thing after waking up, and orcs aren't exactly saints. In no time at all they were tossing things big and small down onto the field and shouting death threats, recalling their fury at the early start time. Team Nargothrond for the most part was stunned (and perhaps a bit frightened) by the sudden turn of things, where as team Mordor was buoyed up and found new energy, and in no time at all they were back ahead, as Nazgul #7 found Grishnakh beautifully!

Glaurung roared at his teammates in fury for losing their nerve, but the damage was already done, and Mordor organized a lockdown defense in front of Silent Watcher and hung on for a win in their opening match of group play.

Mordor 2-1 Nargothrond
tot shots 10-11
on target 5-4
GOALS:
*40, 1-0 Gorbag (Nazgul #6)
*67, 1-1 Glaurung (Finduilas)
*70, 2-1 Grishnakh (Nazgul #7)
YELLOW CARDS:
*Mordor- Snaga, Shelob, Gollum
*Nargothrond- Arminas

Nearly all of the Noldor and men of Beor filed out silently, but the section of Orcs stuck around and were soon joined by the Wights and Werewolves, who had apparently invited the creatures of Mordor to sit with them for the evening contest and party with them afterwards. Had Mordor lost perhaps the goblins would have left, but they were indeed in the mood for some fun after their victory and stayed put.

Small groups from Doriath, Mirkwood, and Brethil occupied the seats directly across from the riotous ghosts and ghouls, but the rest of the stadium was a sea of Hobbits and Ents and Huorns. With the stadium grown from living roots the way it was, the tree-people very nearly blended with the arena itself, making it look a bit empty. But the volume made it obvious that the place was filled. The laughing of Hobbits, the howls of wolves, the shrieks of Wights, and the hooming of Ents made for quite a racket, and the game hadn't even started yet!

When Tol In Gaurhoth bounded onto the pitch the Ents surprisingly let them be, letting their fans cheer them on. "We hardly know them," said one Ent. "I realize there's been talk of them threatening forest fires, but let's not be hasty to judge."

But the TIG fans showed no such courtesy, laughing and mocking the Forest squad as they made their entrance. They had signs spoofing Tom's peculiar manner of speaking, and all of them had sticks and twigs which they merrily declared were "Entings" before snapping them and tossing them onto the sideline.

At the start of the game in appeared The Forest was able to tune out the audience and focus on the task at hand, but they were unable to make any headway against the Werewolves on the field. As time approached fifteen minutes The Forest began to look overmatched and lost focus, and as a result the crowd started getting to them. In particular Saeros seemed completely lost, as to everyone's amusement MormWight and LhunaWight repeatedly called "Take it off!" and "Give us a show!" and "Show us some skin, Saeros!", making light of his shameful death in Doriath.

And quite soon the game wasn't being lost in only the stands but on the field as well as PhantomWolf received it from GwathWolf and sent one of his trademark drives in for the lead.

Bombadil energized his team to strike back, but Saeros muffed their best opportunity and ShastaWolf turned away Bombadil's strike and The Forest, disheartened, was pushed back. At 35 minutes TIG lit the scoreboard again- this time it was the cool head of NogWolf nodding in a nice cross from Inzil.

TIG then played the possession game for a bit, especially with SallyWolf and PhantomWolf giving it back and forth and attempting various ball-tricks. The two wolves were openly laughing as the whirled in circles around their Ent defenders, deriding Treebeard and his race for their lack of quickness despite their straight-line speed. The pair finally put a stop to their antics after being asked repeatedly by NogWolf and SkipWolf. But soon after PhantomWolf was chuckling again as NerWolf wove into the Forest defense like a squirrel through tree-branches and ended her solo run by chipping it past a helpless Old Man Willow for the commanding three goal halftime lead.

As the team started the second half it was obvious that NogWolf had instructed TIG to sit on the lead and play suffocating defense, and for the first 20 minutes they did, but predictably PhantomWolf got bored and started showing off again, doing whatever he could to make his opponents feel inferior. This delighted the Wights and Werewolves in the stands, and in no time they were screaming for more, and other players began joining in, most notably SallyWolf who continually threatened to douse Treebeard with lantern oil and NilpWolf who carried on with the tradition of mocking Saeros.

At minute 65 NilpWolf was carded for going a bit too far- he took a water cup that had rolled onto the field of play and chucked it at Saeros's head, exclaiming, "This look familiar?!" Fellow defender SkipWolf yelled at NilpWolf and told him to straighten up, but NilpWolf had gotten such a great reaction from the TIG fans that he couldn't help but continue pushing things.

But at minute 73 he paid for it as he was sent off the field for going up behind Saeros and yanking his shorts down around his ankles. NogWolf was furious, but his anger was completely buried beneath the approving roaring and howling of his teammates and their supporters in the crowd. Even the well-mannered and courteous EstyWight was laughing herself out of breath in the front row.

Bombadil attempted to spur his team to take advantage of the missing defender, but the rest of his team was entirely flat, as the Werewolves had convincingly got it into their heads that things were hopeless and they could not compete with TIG's speed, skill, and ferocity. Not to mention they were more than a little frightened of what TIG players or supporters might do to them if they didn't roll over and submit. What an embarrassing way to begin for the home team!

The Forest 0-3 Tol In Gaurhoth
tot shots 7-16
on target 3-8
GOALS:
*22, 0-1 PhantomWolf (GwathWolf)
*35, 0-2 NogWolf (InzilWolf)
*44, 0-3 NerWolf
YELLOW CARDS:
*The Forest- Skinbark, Haleth
*TIG- GaladWolf, InzilWolf, NilpWolf
RED CARDS:
*TIG- NilpWolf (73, second yellow)