[the phantom]

Group C

After the opening round of games most of the residents of Angband were feeling quite good indeed. They had taken Hithlum's best punch and gotten out with a win, and now they were matched up against The Downer, a team that had displayed considerable trouble with discipline and seemed more interested in having a laugh and causing property damage than competing for a spot in the playoffs.

But there were other Angband fans that weren't so keen to accept an easy win over The Downer. The Downer's blatant disregard for doing things properly and following rules had secretly won quite a few of the evil types over to their side, and they wished for them to advance as well.

And so it was that when the squads took the field many orcs cheered wildly for both, or at least they did until Morgoth glared up at the stands. But soon Morgoth's concentration was held by the ball in play, and the cheering resumed slowly. Around minute 20 a majority of the crowd was actually with The Downer, as the audience was mighty amused by the Soap Pope whacking the Angband forwards with his hat whenever the refs weren't looking.

Delighted by the reaction, the rest of the team joined in, doing any sly trick they possibly could to hinder the stars of Angband. But naturally it was bound to end in disaster- at minute 35 Philip Hampton put aside all trickery and delivered a flying kick to Tilion's backside.

The crowd roared with laughter as Tilion went down grasping his bottom, and the ref rushed over to show Philip a red card. But such a storm of boos broke out! All manner of objects began pelting the pitch and many in the front row started putting a leg over the wall to jump down to the field. The suddenly terrified ref instead gave Philip just a yellow to the crowd's delight, but Angband was still granted a nice free kick, which a recovered Tilion put on the money to Ancalagon for the lead.

Incensed at the way his forwards were being treated, Morgoth moved up onto the attack to put a stop to things. They wouldn't dare rough him around! But next thing he knew he was taken down from behind on a breakaway by John Fillis, who had tripped Morgoth through means no more clever than simply diving and grabbing his ankles.

A furious Morgoth took the free kick himself and boomed a beautiful strike to Thuringwethil, and stared down Fillis as if to say, "There! We see who came out ahead on that exchange!" But Fillis merely laughed and performed a comic reproduction of Morgoth's tumble to the turf, which greatly amused his teammates. While most of The Downer was engaged in a mocking game of charades, Ancalagon and Telvildo took it down and scored a third time just before halftime was announced.

Morgoth stared in wonder at his opponents, who hadn't even noticed the scoring strike. They were now in deep discussion as to the best way to cook a small child.

When Angband emerged for the second half, Morgoth ordered everyone to go on full time-wasting mode, no longer trying to score. The Downer made a couple nice runs at putting up a goal, but eventually lost interest and pursued other diversions. Alien in particular was in fine form, burrowing beneath the field and emerging beneath the feet of the opposition to bite their ankles. The refs looked ready to hand out cards, but Morgoth ramped up his intimidating aura and told them to keep the cards in their pockets, and encouraged his squad to join in the senseless violence.

By the time 90 minutes was up the field looked like a war zone, and everyone was bruised and bloody. The score completely forgotten, all the fans in the stadium sang in unison crude songs of plundering and burning and beating. Morgoth was smiling bigger than any time in recent memory.

In a brief press conference following the match, Morgoth had this to say: "We really needed a match like that. At first I looked down on The Downer for losing the game on the field, but then I realized halfway through that there are more important things. First and foremost they care about being nasty. I love the way they are true to themselves. I think that attitude will be good for us moving forward, as we play better when we are true to ourselves. I think this fun we had will really loosen us up for the playoffs."

Angband 3-0 The Downer
tot shots 13-13
on target 6-4
GOALS:
*35, 1-0 Ancalagon (Tilion)
*40, 2-0 Thuringwethil (Morgoth)
*44, 3-0 Ancalagon (Telvildo)
YELLOW CARDS:
*Angband- Balrog #1, Morgoth, Thuringwethil
*Downer- Philip Hampton, John Fillis, Peter Hampton

The second game between Angfauglith and Hithlum was largely thought to be the battle for second place, and it would be hotly contested to be sure. Angfauglith with their star forwards and Balrog defenders were considered the favorites by the betting agencies, but no one was willing to count Hithlum completely out of it- not with Hador, Celegorm, and Curufin up front.

As the game started it was clear that it was entirely different from the previous contest. It was largely clean, with beautiful movement and quick back-and-forth action. In the early going Angfauglith definitely had the edge, as the defense and midfield was quite sharp and wouldn't let through any balls to the scorers of Hithlum. On the other end they built their attacks quite nicely and Imlach was really feeling the pressure in goal.

At 11 minutes the wait for the opening score was already over, as Gothmog and Maeglin showed some nice teamwork. Before the half-hour mark the home team lit it up again, only this time their captain and star defender Fingolfin came up in support to blast one in.

Hithlum looked shaken and out of sorts and no surprise Maeglin took advantage to get on the score sheet yet again, and Angfauglith was up by three! It was a very upset group of players that entered the Hithlum locker room, and a depressed bunch of fans that waited to see if they could turn things around in the second half.

But miracles do happen, and Hithlum stormed out of the locker room looking completely different! Surely the Sons of Feanor must have given one of their trademark fiery speeches! In the opening two minutes already Hador nodded it in to put them on the board. One goal by itself was nothing, but only three minutes later Hador struck again, this time helped out by Celegorm. It was a one goal game suddenly!

Fingolfin settled his crew down and the defense tightened nicely, but even their defense was not immune to a player like Curufin making a highlight reel solo run right down the middle, and at minute 62 it was tied!

The once silent men of Hithlum were going nuts now! And none of them were thinking to be content with a point from a draw- they knew they were going for the win.

But at last the Angfauglith defense truly got things locked down, bringing back everyone to help, and slowly Hithlum started to lose steam, tired out from their frantic pace. As the game approached its conclusion, the ball had moved to be mostly on Hithlum's own side, and with two minutes left the dream was brought crashing down as Maeglin and Gwindor made an unexpected charge forward and the Nargothrondian put the game out of reach.

Hithlum groaned and Angfauglith celebrated. The hosts would be going forward to the playoffs. Hithlum would stay home.

Angfauglith 4-3 Hithlum
tot shots 18-14
on target 9-6
GOALS:
*11, 1-0 Gothmog (Maeglin)
*25, 2-0 Fingolfin (Maeglin)
*33, 3-0 Maeglin (Azaghal)
*46, 3-1 Hador (Aradan)
*49, 3-2 Hador (Celegorm)
*62, 3-3 Curufin (Lorgan)
*88, 4-3 Gwindor (Maeglin)
YELLOW CARDS:
*Angfauglith- Balrog #4, Rochallor, Azaghal
*Hithlum- Gundor, Baragund

GROUP C, after round 2
1. Angband- 6 pts, 7-2 (qualified, 1st place with win or tie)
2. Angfauglith- 6 pts, 7-4 (qualified, 1st place with win)
3. Hithlum- 0 pts 5-8 (eliminated)
4. The Downer- 0 pts 1-6 (eliminated)

ROUND 3 GAMES
Hithlum vs The Downer (playing for pride)
Angband vs Angfauglith (battling for 1st place)