AC Beleriand vs
Shire-Bree United
[Projected formation.
AC Beleriand in red and white;
Shire-Bree United in brown and green.]
Formation:
AC Beleriand would meet the same formation for the second time running in the knockout stage; Shire-Bree United fields a normal 4-4-2 with a flattish midfield and wingers. Bandobras and Ferny would be unable to compete in the centre of the pitch with AC Beleriand's four midfielders, so expect the Beleriandrim to win the possession battle. But Shire-Bree United would have an advantage in the wings: right back Golfimbul and right winger Khamūl would overload Fingolfin and force Beren to the flanks. On the other side is the strong spine of Shire-Bree: Bombadil, Barrow-wight, and Gildor. Denethor should start paying attention to defence; otherwise Ecthelion would be swamped on the break by three players on his zone.
Tactics:
There are two questions to ask regarding this game:
1. Will Shire-Bree play on the break?
AC Beleriand's midfield diamond enables them to dominate possession by sheer force of numbers, so most teams facing them would either have to expend a lot of energy pressing in the midfield to regain possession or absorb AC Beleriand's pressure and wait for a counterattacking opportunity. So far only Doriath had done the latter successfully, getting a 2-2 draw against Fėanor's squad.
Shire-Bree United had already been forced to play a transition-based game in the group stage against Angband, where they obtained a 2-2 draw. Centre-back Nazgūl #6 was in scintillating form during that game, breaking up Angband's attack and then sending the ball quickly to the wings, where the pacey Khamūl and Barrow-wight waited to dash forward.
2. Which Bombadil will show up?
As everyone surely knows, there are two kinds of Bombadil in football. One of them is the daisy-chasing, poetry-reading kind who takes up space but is otherwise not present in the pitch. The other is the force of nature that tears defences apart no matter what they do. In this game, if Bombadil fails to pay attention to the game it would be doubly disastrous for his team: Ecthelion would be free to push forward and enable AC Beleriand to field five players in Shire-Bree's box.
AC Beleriand has its own game-changer in Fėanor, a player who's always in the discussion as the best player ever (it's usually either him or Tśrin). Expect him to give Shire-Bree's struggling defence a lot of trouble, so Strider's squad needs an on-form Bombadil to have a chance in the scoring battle.