[Nogrod]

Group A

It was going to be a thrilling evening at the Ever-Cold Arena. The crowds would be served a great appetizer looking how the dashing stars of the nearby woods showed their skills against the half-sized weirdo’s of another time and place, and then as a main course, there would be the nerve-wrecking fight for a place in the qualifiers between the home-team and their main rivals in brotherhood. The night-game was an absolute cracker: both teams were on even points and both had an even goal difference, so it would be solely the outcome of the game that would decide matters, no third parties involved, no fear for other matches to influence the outcome. Just a game of the year for the fans – not only the home-side fans, but also for the loads of Tirion-supporters who packed almost a nice fourth of the stadium to cheer for their team.


~*~


But there was an afternoon game before the big event – and the seats were sold out even there as everyone wished to see the great heroes of Doriath – local media had already named them champions of this year’s Arda Cup – not the least the thick crowds from Doriath itself who filled almost one third of the seats eager to see the “homeboys” play one more time at their hoods.

It must be admitted that the hobbits were brave and did their best, and it felt like they gained some new friends from the crowds who were just admiring the persistence of the little folk. But the difference in the quality of the teams was just too wide for them to have any say with the outcome.

The hobbits came to the game full of energy and they took every shot they could make but Melian’s Girdle forced them away from the best shots and most of their efforts ended in shots way off target. Although Bandobras Took managed to hit the post once giving Huan some food for thought. But Doriath scored their first goal already on the 14th minute – and when they made it 2-0 just ten minutes later the hobbits saw the name of the game as Doriath had started to possess the ball, more or less closing the opportunities from the hobbits to even try a shot.

Thingol’s 3-0 just before the half-time was surely one of the greatest free-kicks given in this tournament thus far. Harry had tackled Luthien about ten meters from the left corner of the box and Doriath was given a free-kick. Instead of Túrin, Húrin or Beleg who normally took the free-kicks, Thingol called for a chance to shoot one for a change. And what a shot it was! The swerve of it was just stupendous!

Looked later in slow-motion one can see the ball going past the wall of Shire-Bree defenders and looking like it was going a few meters off the goal, but just after passing the wall the ball takes a twisted swerve towards the goal. Butterbur reacts and dives towards the post – but the ball swerves much more he could have anticipated and goes in the middle of the goal while Butterbur is diving down to the post.

Shire-Bree Utd. showed a brave face on the second half and went for it as well as they could but Doriath just shut their few chances off and mainly just possessed the ball with clearly no purpose of making the numbers too cruel.

Huan and Carcaroth were getting bored as the second half grew older and they had little or nothing to do. So to the surprise of all, after one of the rare hobbit-attacks on the second half, Huan got the ball and decided to wish to play as well. Passing it to Carcaroth they started advancing – lending the ball only to each other. Thingol and Melian were upset at first but then just decided to fall back to take the places of their goalie and the lowest defender, letting the canines have their fun.

And they seemed to have a lot of fun. Huan dribbled like a professional forward and Carcaroth scared the ponies out of their wits (if they had any). Finally Huan took the shot from the corner of the box, and hit the post! The rebound fell to the feet of Húrin who instinctively shot it to the back of the net. After the game he was sorry about it as he thought either Huan or Carcaroth would have deserved the goal, but he blamed his reflexes.

So Doriath won 4-0 with almost a walking pace. It was not just one or two newspapers which raised the question after the game whether there were too many teams competing in the Arda Cup as the differences on the quality were that huge between some teams.

In the post-group press conference the media was interested in hearing Bandobras’ and Frodo’s views on how they felt, and did they admit the disaster their team was this year? But against the expectations they were quite calm and positive.

Bandobras Took: "We’ll have another United team next time, for sure. Some more of local talent that have played elsewhere should be introduced, but by and by, that’s it. Hobbits are tougher than they look and this was just… well, a practice. We stood against the wolves back then and these laddies destroyed that blasted Ring, need I say more about what we are made off?"

Frodo: "It wasn’t our brightest moment but we’ll pull our act together the next year. And you know, we’ve had some guests playing for our team in previous years and some of them have enjoyed their time with us… so maybe we could hire a few feet to aid us the next year?"


Doriath 4-0 Shire-Bree United
tot shots 16-12
on target 9-2
GOALS:
*14, 1-0 Beleg (Melian)
*24, 2-0 Túrin (Eöl)
*38, 3-0 Elwë
*71, 4-0 Húrin (Huan)
YELLOW CARDS:
*Doriath- Húrin
*Shire-Bree- Ferny, Pippin



Too big differences or no, the crowds were entertained to the fullest and the real drama was only just going to unfold in front of their eyes. It was the home team against Tirion, and the winner would take it all and qualify. The loser would have nothing. The nasty thing for the home-team supporters was that in a case of a draw Tirion would be advancing to the play-offs as they had scored more… but this was about winning or losing, not playing for a draw.

There were a lot of hugs and kisses in the pitch before the game started – some of the players clearly wanted to remind the fans that even if it was a game of life and death the most important thing was being good and caring of each other. Thus Fingon and Aredhel gave each other a warm embrace kissing each other to the cheek, while all the sons of Fëanor went for a group-hug, the three of them pushing Caranthir around in a friendly manner. And in the end Finarfin and all the grandchildren of Finwë gathered around him to receive his blessing. The other elves and easterlings were not looking too happy to follow the example of Finwë’s family but were decent enough to shake hands together.

And then, the game was on!

It started very much evenly as had been anticipated. They were very much even teams even if Tirion played a more offensive game while the home team was a bit more conservative facing the game from defense onwards. With Tirion slightly outdoing Himring in possession the homeside fans were biting their nails. The suspense!

But then the home-crowds just exploded. Himring had been building an attack for a change and suddenly Maedhros saw the chance. With a split-second decision he glanced at his cousin, made a short run forwards when his brother Caranthir who was defending against him had been expecting a pass and was reaching for it to a wrong direction. Aulë charged on Maedhros to fill the gap, but he passed the ball behind the stupefied poet Elemmirë just in time and reached Fingon perfectly behind the now torn defenses. And The Valiant scored!

Himring was on the lead! The crowds were going crazy.

The game went on with both teams battling it out for real, even if Tirion had stepped their game maybe a level, or a half level, upwards. The crowds were nervous and excited. But just before the fans of the home team thought they’d have the relief of a half-time going there with a one goal lead, father and son forced some really bitter medicine down their throats.

Finarfin got a nice pass from Aulë and made a huge run forwards the right side of the pitch. About ten meters from the edge of the pitch he was about to be taken up by Amrod and Amras trailing him like wolves, but he made a pass into the middle at the exact right moment before the brothers were on him – and Finrod slided to the pass past Uldor and scored. It was indeed even for the half-time.

The second half was much alike to the first: intensive fighting, scoring opportunities spread quite evenly, Tirion holding the ball and attacking a bit more but not much, neither team willing to give in an inch… And it still was a fair match: only three cards were given and in a game as intensive as this was, that’s amazingly few.

About twenty minutes to the second half the home crowds went nuts again. And it was the elf people thought was the best talented after his father, Maedhros, who scored with a cool header from a corner given by Fingon and headed to him by Borthond.

The home-crowd was counting minutes in feverish anticipation: they would qualify, they would, only twenty minutes to go, only fifteen to go…

And then it came. The equalizer built beautifully by the grandpa himself, and Aredhel was no rookie to fail when given a chance. With a nice bluff she made Amrod charge the wrong way and scored easily from a close range. It was even with only ten minutes to go. And Himring needed to win the game.

The home team threw forwards all it dared to but there was no reward for their efforts. The game ended in a draw and Tirion was qualifying. After a rollercoaster ride the fans had had, the Himring supporters felt very ill and sad while the Tirion supporters loved the whole world right now.

After the game it was natural Maedhros and Fingon were not too talkative because of the disappointment, but the press was pressing on them about their future plans.

Maedhros: "We’re no brothers by birth, just cousins, but we’re brothers by fate and love and blood. Whatever becomes, we’ll face it together."

Fingon: "Exactly. We’ve braved greater opponents than football squads together and there is no intention we would go separate ways. But we’d surely like to sign into a more competitive side next year…"

Maedhros: "Even if we only got out of the play-offs by the number of goals we made... it was that close I'd remind you."

Fingon: "Yeah, close. We didn't do badly. But next year we're going to score more."


Himring 2-2 Tirion
tot shots 12-15
on target 5-7
GOALS:
*23, 1-0 Fingon (Maedhros)
*40, 1-1 Finrod (Finarfin)
*66, 2-1 Maedhros (Borthond)
*79, 2-2 Aredhel (Finwe)
YELLOW CARDS:
*Himring- Ulfast, Amrod
*Tirion- Mahtan


Final results, Group A

Doriath 9p. 11-1 (+10)
Tirion 4p. 7-7(+-0)

Himring 4p. 5-5(+-0)
Shire-Bree 0p. 1-11(-10)


Doriath will meet the runners up from group H and Tirion will meet the winner of Group H in the first round of play-offs.