[the phantom]

Group E

After the first round of games the fans of Nargothrond were quite worried. Their players had allowed the crowd to get to them in their contest against Mordor, and the promising looking home side had been blasted by the wolves of Tol In Gaurhoth- their next opponent.

Nargothrond News columnist Gilnor had this to say: "Unless Finduilas can force her team to block out the antics of the crowd then things are going to go badly, as Tol In Gaurhoth's fanbase is more active and devious than Mordor's. But much more difficult will be blocking out the antics of the team on the field. Tol In Gaurhoth has a habit of getting inside the heads of their opponents, through means legal and otherwise. The Nargothrondians have got to block it out and hope that Tol In Gaurhoth will resort to taking cards."

And it looked like that would be a good strategy indeed, as Arda Cup Officials announced in no uncertain terms that they would be on the lookout for underhanded behavior from the Werewolves in this game. When Tol In Gaurhoth heard this proclamation they were outraged. "It's one thing to call a tight game," said NogWolf, "But to single out a side and threaten them like that is really out of bounds! And when one combines that with the fact that the games have been shifted several hours earlier so as to hinder the performances of nocturnal creatures, well... this host committee should never win another bid, that's for certain."

But NogWolf needn't have worried about the game, as Tol In Gaurhoth took only two cards, the same as Nargothrond. PhantomWolf in fact received no cards at all despite the fact that he was being watched like a hawk. He spent most of the game following the refs around, refusing to insert himself in play and making it impossible to call anything on him. And in the meantime Tol In Gaurhoth really didn't need his help to dominate, as everyone was grim and determined to show that they could win fair and square.

Nargothrond held firm for half an hour, but the speed of the Werewolves finally got to them as SallyWolf found GwathWolf on a breakaway and he scored easily. Some Nargothrond fans were hopeful at the half, knowing they were only down by one goal, but the more observant fans knew they were being outplayed and that it would only be a matter of time. And indeed less than ten minutes in GaladWolf caught the Nargothrond keeper off guard with a pinpoint boot from long range that sailed just over his hand as he tried to back up in time to stop it.

Conventional wisdom at that point would've been to withdraw and play some defense, but NogWolf was worried that the refs were itching to hand out cards, so he called for full-fledged possession game. The Werewolves did a fine job at it, and even gained themselves a couple more opportunities while doing so, though Barahir turned them away. But the third time was the charm as NogWolf received it deep, faked the shot, then ran in drawing the defense and freeing NerWolf for an easy header, and it was 3-0.

Judging that 3-0 was too large a deficit for Nargothrond to overcome with such little time left, even with the refs helping them, NogWolf went ahead and ordered a retreat, and Tol In Gaurhoth settled down to defend. Nargothrond tried their best to run some offense through the towering Glaurung, but they could only manage a couple of long-range efforts that simply weren't powerful enough to challenge ShastaWolf.

As the final whistle sounded, the Wights and Werewolves in the stands began celebrating. Two shutouts to start things off- they were almost certainly through to the playoffs.

Nargothrond 0-3 Tol In Gaurhoth
tot shots 9-17
on target 3-8
GOALS:
*32, 0-1 GwathWolf (SallyWolf)
*54, 0-2 GaladWolf (InzilWolf)
*67, 0-3 NerWolf (NogWolf)
YELLOW CARDS:
*Nargothrond- Guilen, Glaurung
*TIG- GaladWolf, SkipWolf

The stadium was filled with hobbits and huorns as The Forest prepared to kick off against Mordor. Bombadil and friends needed this win, as a Mordor victory would end all hopes of advancing.

Despite the awful showing in the first round, fans remained hopeful, believing that Tol In Gaurhoth was simply a bad matchup for them. And this belief looked quite correct as only six minutes in Bombadil shredded the orcs for the early lead!

Not at all content with their slim lead, The Forest pushed for more, and Mordor was really on their heels. At minute 20 Gorbag committed a foolish foul and The Forest was awarded a free kick. It looked quite certain that they would go up by two, but Bombadil's drive bounced off an invisible barrier right before it went through- The Silent Watcher had saved it!

The Forest howled in protest, as it seemed entirely unfair that a goal could be denied when the keeper was sitting motionless in the center of the goal, but the refs told them that was simply the way of things. It took them a while to get their concentration back, and Mordor took advantage of this by equalizing off a corner, and that's the way it would stay through the half.

At the start of the second period Mordor looked the most dangerous, owning the ball and putting pressure on Old Man Willow, but how quickly things can change. Thanks to a quick counter The Forest went ahead yet again, as this time Bombadil summoned greater will and energy into his shot and broke through The Silent Watcher's defenses.

The Nazgul did their best after that to distract Tom, knowing that their Silent Watcher could turn away any half-hearted attempt, but Tom was having none of it. At minute 73 he took on the middle of Mordor's defense all by himself and sent it last minute to the sneaky River-Woman who deflected it in before Silent Watcher could shift his attentions, and the Huorns and Hobbits went absolutely nuts.

For the final fifteen Bombadil pulled his troops back to defend against Mordor's desperate attack. With only five minutes left the Nazgul made things interesting by closing the gap to a single goal, but that was as close as they could get.

The host was still alive!

Mordor 2-3 The Forest
tot shots 13-14
on target 5-7
GOALS:
*6, 0-1 Bombadil (Thranduil)
*25, 1-1 Shelob (Grishnakh)
*61, 1-2 Bombadil (Saeros)
*73, 1-3 River-Woman (Bombadil)
*85, 2-3 Nazgul #7 (Nazgul #5)
YELLOW CARDS:
*Mordor- Gorbag, Nazgul #6, Nazgul #4
*Forest- Skinbark, Fimbrethil, Treebeard

Group E, after round 2
1. Tol In Gaurhoth- 6 pts, 6-0
2. Mordor- 3 pts, 4-4
3. The Forest- 3 pts, 3-5
4. Nargothrond- 0 pts, 1-5

ROUND 3 GAMES
Mordor vs Tol In Gaurhoth
Nargothrond vs The Forest

With 6 pts and a +6 goal differential Tol In Gaurhoth is almost certainly in. They would have to lose very badly to Mordor and The Forest would have to completely slaughter Nargothrond to leave TIG out. In order to qualify, Nargothrond would have to win by two goals over The Forest, and Mordor would need to lose to TIG by three. If The Forest loses then Mordor is in with a draw or better, and the same works in reverse. If they both win then The Forest would have to have a differential at least two goals better than Mordor. This is a very convoluted group.