[Boromir88]

Group D

Match 1 - Barad-dur vs Eriador
Like in many of the first games already, the Ost-in-Edhil stadium was sold out for Barad-dur vs Eriador. The rangers came out in droves to watch their Eriador, and a good company of trolls had come to watch Bert and Tom. But there was also a crowd of Eregion Elves who were anxious to see Gil Galad and Cirdan again. The atmostphere was generally friendly and festival amongst the fans, and the baddies of Barad-dur looked nervous. Only a small section of orcs and fell creatures (probably under 500) had come to watch them and one has to wonder how this would effect Barad-dur's play? Would they be discouraged by the lack of support or not be bothered?

It was kickoff and the game started out with both teams being pretty cautious, not wanting to commit a costsly turnover or be exposed to a dangerous counter. It's not a surprise seeing who captains both teams they would begin by probing and testing out the other without risking much. However, after the cautious trial stage, the game started speeding up, much to the likeness of the crowd. This was the football they liked seeing.

In the friendlies Arvedui had trouble keeping his troll defenders in line, and again it seems like this would be a problem for Eriador. As Bert just ran over Cirdan in an attempt to steal possession and it was an easy yellow for the troll (the troll fans in the stands cheered the play, thinking Bert had made a great defensive stop). The Mouth took the free kick and Fellbeast #2 came swooping in to knock it into the net giving Barad-dur the 1-0 lead.

Once Barad-dur grabbed the lead the game slowed down again, as the Dark Tower was defending it's lead more than pushing to expand it. The trolls had actually started showing a true ability to be able to play well in Arvedui's defense. However, another mistake by Bert would lead to another Barad-dur goal.

Isildur tried dribbling into the penalty area. There was contact and Isildur fell down, the Barad-dur supporters were screaming for a penalty and for Bert's 2nd yellow (which would send him away from the match). But the ref was unconvinced, as Isildur was clearly looking to get a foul, and Bert held his ground. However, Bert thought the ref whistled the action dead, and stepped away from the ball, just leaving it. Cirdan rushed in, knowing the play was still live, took possession and rounded Bert, he sent it to the right side, where Gil Galad was also rushing in. And the High King of the Noldor finished it. Barad-dur would lead 2-0 going into the break.

If you've ever heard the tale of two halves this is an example of one of those instances. It's not that Eriador played terribly in the first, it's just a few trollish mistakes led to 2 easy goals for the other team. So, if they could find a way to keep the pressure off their trolls and avoid those mistakes, than you thought Eriador would be able to get back into the match. And they did!

Gil Galad shut down the offense completely and went into an extremely negative scheme where he wanted to keep all 11 players behind the ball at all times. While it was hard for Eriador to break down Barad-dur defense, it was not impossible. As is so often the case, unless if you have a lockdown defense like Angband or Tol Eressea, holding onto a lead is more damaging than it is not.

Eriador got on the board in the 68th minute, by Halbarad cleaning up the rebound of Aranarth's shot in the 68th minute. Barad-dur still decided to protect their lead, and found it hard to switch gears to an offensive one. The Mouth was trying to push the action but his passes often sailed over Isildur, Gil Galad and Cirdan, who often retreated and let the Eriador defenders take possession.

As Eriador was holding most of the possession now, and looking for an equalizer, Arvedui pushed his lines farther upfield, including the defensive line. Aragorn didn't earn the nickname Striker without reasons, and when Amlaith took the ball up to mid-circle he spotted Aragorn making a run. The star King took Amlaith's looping pass, chested it down and with one swift touch drove it passed Ohtar.

The match ended in a draw and Barad-dur was rather lucky to escape with the point. Since by the strategy of their captain in the 2nd half they definitely deserved to lose. The Mouth led all the baddies off the field, while the Last Alliance Company met with Arvedui's squad at mid-circle and shook hands for the good game.

Barad-Dur 2-2 Eriador
tot shots 10-13
on target 5-6
GOALS:
*22, 1-0 Fellbeast #2 (Mouth)
*43, 2-0 Gil-galad (Cirdan)
*68, 2-1 Halbarad (Aranarth)
*80, 2-2 Aragorn (Amlaith)
YELLOW CARDS:
*Barad-Dur- Nazgul #1, Isildur, Shagrat
*Eriador- Bert, Tom

Match 2 - Eregion vs Gondor
After an exciting 2-2 draw in the morning match, the crowd was ready for the afternoon game of their hometown heroes, Eregion, taking on the likeable and respected Gondor (especially since Arwen was captaining the team now).

The first half ended scoreless but the crowd was still buzzing with excitement, it was far from a snooze fest. Fans were seeing a real defensive masterpiece and it's not like the offenses were just staying back on their own side passing it to eachother. The offenses were truly working, but having to work hard to get chances. Gondor for the most part was attacking more, as Eregion looked to create counters. Eregion was able to get some good counter attacks, but it's difficult against Gondor's defense which is rarely ever caught napping, and even harder to beat their last line of defense, the GK Ecthelion. While Arwen was having an even harder time feeding the ball through Eregion's defense to her FWs.

So, despite the scoreless draw in the first 45, fans were still eagerly interested into the game. If the offenses were still able to get these chances off the flawless defenses, eventually a goal had to happen, right? Even with also the perfect goal keeping of Elrond and Ecthelion, surely a goal was coming.

Well, the Eregion crowd began their singing and chanting at the start of the 2nd and did not have to wait long to see that goal they knew was sure to come. Eorl had his best chance yet, and raised his arms up in celebration as he struck the ball hard to the right post, but Elrond jumped out of apparently nowhere to snatch it right out of mid air. Eorl exasperately breathed and threw his arms down, how was Gondor going to beat Elrond when he's playing like this?

Elrond spotted Gondor just a second late in back track and set up their defense so he threw it out wide to Erestor. Erestor made a deep run until Narmacil tried to challenge and take the ball away, but Erestor quickly sent the ball to Elladan. No one closed in on Elladan as no one anticipated he would shoot, and so he did. Ecthelion was too busy paying attention to make sure the dangerous strike forces Earendil and Glorfindel were marked, by the time Boromir I shouted "SHOT", it was too late, Ecthelion reacted too slowly and the ball snuck between his hand and right post. The stadium burst into more joyous singing and even the Gondorian fans had to applaud the goal.

Their team had been making a stellar effort, and there really wasn't much they could do than admit the facts that Elrond was an Arda class goal keeper and he was determined to keep his goal clean. And Gondor hadn't given up after the goal, since there was still a lot of time left and Eregion was surely going to go into all out defense now. Sadly, for the Gondorians, the other goal came by means of another Eregion counter attack. This one from precise, brilliant team work between Earendil and Glorfindel. If those two had their timing in sync, than Eregion could be quite a dangerous team, especially since it's certain you can always depend on the defense and their Master Elrond.

Eregion 2-0 Gondor
tot shots 10-12
on target 6-6
GOALS:
*51, 1-0 Elladan (Erestor)
*74, 2-0 Glorfindel (Earendil)
YELLOW CARDS:
*Eregion- Elrohir
*Gondor- Folcwine, Eorl