[Nogrod]

Semifinal AC Beleriand vs. Real Valinor @ Amon Hen Coliseum

The widely anticipated game was to begin. Many thought AC Beleriand was probably the most serious contender for the Arda Cup 12, but there were also those who thought that Real Valinor was the number one claimant for the trophy, some of them because FC Valinor had been already relegated – and still there were those who just waited to see who would meet their favourites Erebor or Eriador in the final.

However it was, one thing was clear: there was little that could aid anyone to come into any educated guess as to the relative strengths of the two teams. Real Valinor won Gondolin 3-1 in the friendlies and AC Beleriand won them 2-0 in the first play-off round; in the friendlies AC Beleriand draw 1-1 with Valimar which was relegated after the group phase by group one The Sea (which Real won 2-0 in the first round of the play-offs) and group two The Havens (which AC in turn won 3-1 in the friendlies). So basically no comparable matches to evaluate.

But both teams had shown their stamina and effectiveness – and one doesn’t end up in Arda Cup semifinal for nothing in the first place. These were two huge teams. Thus far AC Beleriand had won Anfaughlith and Nargothrond and drawn with Doriath in the group phase. After that they had beaten Gondolin and Shire-Bree United in the play-offs. Real Valinor meanwhile had lost to FC Valinor but then won Armenelos and Tirion to beat The Sea and Rohan in the play-offs. Whether one route has been easier than another is in the eye of the beholder - while the AKM would like to add that there is also some truth in the claim that Real had come through the harder way. But well, that is an open dispute. And anyway: the game would be decided right here and now at the great Coliseum of Amon Hen, not on their previous performances.


~*~

As the teams entered the arena the noise went into infernal levels. And it is a rare occasion you see such figures together at one place! There was Fëanor himself, there was Eöl, There were Arien and Tilion like chasing each other, Tulkas, Fingolfin, Nienna, Ecthelion… it was just overwhelming! All those grandiose figures there in front of the audiences in flesh and blood – or whatever substance they were made of!

A short introduction to the teams was conducted as the players took their places.

AC Beleriand, on goal: Marach, the ancestral father of men like Hador, Húrin, Huor etc. Saving percentage 80% sharp.If not the best keeper around, the percentage is good indeed.

Defensive line: In the middle Rochallor, Fingolfin’s great horse, and Imlach the son of Marach (whose son took service with Maedhros). On left the High King of Noldor Fingolfin himself, the one who duelled Morgoth – and on the right Echtelion, the slayer of Gothmog from Gondolin. An intimidating defence indeed. If these guys were ready to take on Gothmog or Melkor would they shy away a random attacking midfielder?

Midfield: low on midfield Bregolas, uncle of Beren and the grand-grand son of Bëor the Old himself, in front of him the shifty Ulrad – some would say the weak spot of the AC Beleriand midfield.. On the left and making his deadly runs deep into the opposite field Beren himself, while on the right side Denethor the leader of the a little mysterious Nandorin elves in a more defensive role.

Forwards: nothing less than a most fitting pair of extreme smiths, Eöl the Dark and Fëanor the Fiery Boot, son of Finwë. No reason for any more introductions there for the magic and devastating duo.

Real Valinor then, on goal Astaldo the great, Tulkas, “greatest in strength and deeds of prowess”. ‘nuff said.

Defence: In the middle Caranthir the dark, son of Fëanor, known for his quick temper everyone would be wise not to try – and one who will stop anyone trying to come in from his mark. To his left Nienna, in some interesting contrast, the lady of pity. On the right side as well Rumil, the deviser of written characters and a great sage of the Noldorin. The side-defenders indeed are more like in a supporting role there and can also make runs deep into the opposite territory. And holding all that together, Tilion, the steersman of the moon in front of Caranthir in a “libero” role holding the defences or aiding the attack – whatever is needed.

The midfield: Low (just in front of Tilion and filling for him if he’s needed elsewere), Elemmirë, the creator of Aldudénië, the lament for the Two Trees. On left Nessa, Oromë’s sister and Tulkas’ spouse, lithe and fleetfooted, swift as an arrow – and always dangerous to any defence with her runs. On right Enerdhil the great, even mythical smith of Gondolin to counter the two smiths of the opposing side, playing in a more securing or defencive role, especially today.

Forwards: The Trio. Nerdanel – Miriel – Arien. Nerdanel the red-haired wife of Fëanor. Nerdanel the wise, and firm of will – known to be the only one who has been able to restrain Fëanor. Surely there would be a role for her in this game alongside being the master pass-giver. Miriel Serindë, Finwë’s first wife and mother of Fëanor. A deadly forward able to both pass and score – and should have some authority over Fëanor as well. And last but not least, Arien the sun-steerer, the scorer, the striker, the arrow-head, the sniper… whatever you call her, she’s the deadliest weapon.

What a set-up for the semifinal!


~*~

And finally it was a go when the referee blew his whistle!

Now the crowds were anticipating a slow start with both teams kind of scouting each other and their tactics for the game, but after less than ten minutes of both teams doing exactly that Real Valinor actually turned into attack-mode and started pressing in a way AC Beleriand was not used to or could even imagine anyone would dare to play against them. The trio – aided by Nessa and Tilion who both seemed to be everywhere – made the AC defenders sweat for their game.

On 13th minute Nerdanel managed to pass the ball inside the box between Rochallor’s hooves but Miriel’s one timer went just sightly off the post.

After the ensuing keeper’s shot Tilion won the header on the midfield against Bregolas and Elemmirë sent the ball immediately forwards to Nessa who made a dash leaving both Fingolfin and Echtelion behind her – from the end of the pitch she centered the ball where Arien dived for a header past Imlach who was clearly just too slow to guard her. Imlach’s father was no better positioned to the sudden pass by Nessa, and Arien headed the ball into the net with no chance given to Marach.

Less than 15 minutes into the game Real Valinor was leading 1-0!

And it was not going to stop there as Real Valinor felt like they were only inspired by the goal. Blocking all the alleys for AC Beleriand to build their attacks they just forced the ball into the AC Beleriand’s side of the field. One saw Fëanor’s frustration markedly when his wife picked the ball from in front of him and passed it to a yeat another bright attack – which that time ended in a pass by Miriel that only missed Nessa’s head an inch and went out of the pitch.

But not too long after that Miriel was creating havoc among the AC Beleriand defences with none else but Arien. Miriel gave a nice flip past Imlach to set Arien free past the defenders in to the box. But seeing that Rochallor was closing in from her left in time to deflect any shot she could make - and feeling both Imlach and Echtelion closing in from both sides from behind – Arien made a daring move and heel-kicked the ball diagonally backwards to where it came from: and Miriel had followed the situation to boot it with a one-timer in to the back of the net giving Marach no chance to even reac t to the shot as he had been following Arien’s advance with the ball.

With 22 minutes into the game Real Valinor was leading 2-0! The followers of Real Valinor were in heaven. Meanwhile the AC supporters were not able to believe their eyes: It was a butchering.

But it was not that simple, like most of the crowds realised – even if Real Valinor’s start had been a dashing one. And the game did settle down after Real Valinor’s second goal. And towards the end of the first period AC Beleriand actually had better chances to lessen the goal difference than Real Valinor had to widen it.

But there was an interesting facet to AC Beleriand’s attack as everyone could clearly see that Fëanor was of no help to anyone being shadowed by his mother, his wife or his son in turn – depending on the area of the pitch he was moving on. And Fëanor himself seemed frustrated by that, in a major scale.

Beren did get a breakthrough but Tulkas beat him on a duel there getting his foot in the way, and Eöl sent a killer free-kick from twenty-five meters just inches over the crossbar. On the other end Miriel hit the post with her cannon-shot from thirty meters and Enerdhil’s header after a corner by Nerdanel went off the post because of a bad touch.



It was halftime and Real Valinor led 2-0. AC Beleriand had not been in this kind of trouble earlier in the tournament and one can only fathom what they were talking at the lockers during the break. But coming to the second period AC Beleriand was full of fighting spirit and attitude. They were like a thunderstorm.

Real Valinor was cool and collected and played marvellously well – but it was not enough as AC Beleriand was now playing in fervor rarely seen in Arda Cup. Fëanor and Eöl were in flames and Beren was pressing as though he was trying to enter Morgoth’s lair instead of Real Valinor’s defence.

To the disappointment of Beren’s fans the Noldorin sage Rumil managed to close the routes for Beren entirely on the left side, not without the aid of Caranthir, but Beren was blocked away anyway. In the same vein Nienna proved just too hard a nut to crack for Denethor on the other side. But with Real Valinor’s defence holding at the sides AC Beleriand striked in from the middle.

Now Eöl and Fëanor were constant threaths to Real defenc es in the middle, but they changed guards in their defence seeing the onslaught they were up against and now Caranthir was guarding Eöl and Tilion was taking care of Fëanor. And it seemed to work quite fine for a while. At least it did put Fëanor into check – to his even greater frustration.

But just ten minutes into the second half AC Beleriand scored! And in an interesting way.

Seeing their attacks being shielded away Fingolfin thought it was his time to come forwards and leaving his position in the defence he rushed into the attack. With their hands and feet busy with keeping the forwards and attacing midfielders at bay the Real Valinor was suddenly outnumbered in defence – Eöl saw what was happening and centered the ball from the edge of the box into the empty space Fingolfin was running into. Before Caranthir or Tilion could react to Fingolfin coming through from “nowhere” in the center of the field, basically around the penalty-spot. Fingolfin left Tulkas no chance to catch the shot.

AC Beleriand was only one goal behind! The crowds supporting them were getting their spirits back. They would draw this and then go past Real Valinor! There were 35 minutes to go still.

Real Valinor didn’t give in though but kept their game – and without any new unforeseen ideas by the AC they were keeping the Beleriand team forwards and attacking midfielders at bay with Enerdhil coming down every more often to aid the defence. But Real Valinor was also finding it’s attacking game once more – and with AC Beleriand keenly focusing only on reducing the one goal lead they were clearly unprepared to take in a full frontal attack – and that was exactly what Real Valinor was now doing.

The AC defenders and midfielders were forced to run for their lives at times when Real attacked, even Fëanor and Eöl were seen dashing down tohelp the defence at times. But there was nothing they could do when Nienna sent a turnover by Caranthir far into the side of AC’s defence and Nerdanel just flew to it past both Eöl and Echtelion – and after dribbling Rochallor passed it intelligently backwards where Arien was coming into the position only to shoot it straight from the pass and into the back of the net! It was like a copy of their first goal, only that it was Nerdanel this time who did the run and Arien booted it in instead of heading it in.

Real Valinor was leading 3-1! AC Beleriand had enjoyed the one goal difference only 7 minutes!

But there was almost an half an hour of the game left. And AC Beleriand was not going to give up. The rest is history… It was a game to be remembered. And Real Valinor did pull back concentrating on defence…

At first it seemed to work as they were able to deflect any serious attempts at breaking through by AC Beleriand, but little by little AC started making deeper and deeper cuts into Real’s defence.

On 69th minute Eöl got rid of Enerdhil and dashed to the right dribbling Caranthir on his way. Suddenly the Real defence was in disarray and Fëanor took advantage of it dashing forwards past Tilion… and Eöl saw him coming through and centered the ball… and Fëanor hammered a killer one-timer towards the upper-left corner of the goal – only to be denied by Tulkas!

Two minutes later Fëanor was pressed heavily by his son and wife but he was able to send the ball backwards to Ulrad who found Beren in full speed on the left. And Beren booted the ball! It hit Rumil and changed course – but only slightly! Tulkas was diving to the original direction and could only gasp in mid-fly seeing the ball changing it’s course – and the ball flew… to the post! Eöl was following it and jumped on it… but Nienna was faster and kicked the ball far away into the top rows of the stadium.

On 74th minute Rumil got carded for a nasty tackle against Bregolas and Fingolfin set himself to give the free-kick from some 35 meters to the right of theReal’s goal. He made a sverwing shot going for Beren who had sneaked just behind the wall of defenders – but Caranthir jumped high and headed the ball back. Denethor got the ball and sent it immediately to the right where it was pretty empty – except for Eöl who was rushing in full speed – and he dived for a header! And Tulkas tipped the ball away from the goal!

The time was running out for AC Beleriand. But they kept coming in.

On 77th minute Fingolfn made a huge shot from thirty meters an the ball swerwed out of reach from Tulkas – just a little off the post!

On 79th minute Bregolas headed an opening shot by Tulkas back forwards – Eöl ran for it with Caranthir and Tilion chasing him – and at the edge of the box he dived down to let the ball go while Caranthir and Tilion crashed with him because of his sudden leap! Meanwhile Fëanor had made a reflecting run from the right and was now dashing for the ball. Nienna saw his intention and basically flew after him… but Fëanor reached the ball first and shot the ball turning ninety degrees as he made the shot falling on his back towards Nienna who was coming to stop him. Beren had been following things guarded by his now familiar overcoat Rumil – but now he elbowed him down and dashed for the possible rebound from the left…

Tulkas made a reaction-save managing to tip the ball with his fingers, but it flew upwards and hit the crossbar! The ball landed and Beren was there to slide it in! AC Beleriand had scored and was only one goal behind with ten minutes of the game left!

But what? The referee blew his whistle and gave Beren a yellow card!

For a moment there was great confusion. Beren had been carded for a reason as he did elbow Rumil down against the rules when dashing free from him – but after a short chat with the linesman the referee pointed to the center-spot! It was a goal neverheless! The ball had landed inside the goal already before Beren slid to it and so his foul was not affecting the outcome – and as the referee had only noted it when Fëanor was already shooting there was no basis for him to call the foul in hindsight and deny the goal: had it been Beren who scored the goal it should have been denied, but as it was already in the referee did stand behind his call. It was widely thought of as a decent judgement from the referee – even if Real Valinor supporters were mad with it in the heat of the game.

So eleven minutes to go and the game was open once again: 3-2 to Real Valinor.

Fëanor was rallying up his troops: losing 3-2 was no different from losing 6-2, so they had to put everything for it! “Fight or die!” he yelled so loud even the spectators of the top-rows heard it. It was an elecrtifying moment.

And AC Beleriand came forwards with full force! Defenders Fingolfin and Ecthelion were leading their attack beside Fëanor! Now this was all or nothing game! And for a moment that even confused the Real Valinor defences. With great elven heroes like Fingolfin and Echtelion coming towards you enraged, accompanied by Fëanor and Eöl in no lesser state of mind, it is understandable even Real Valinor defenders were having cold sweat running in their backs.

And Echtelion made a real cannon-shot from little under thirty meters only to be denied by Tulkas. A few minutes later Fëanor fired it only for the shot to be deflected from Tilion’s foot into a corner. From the corner Eöl headed the ball via the ground towards the lower right corner only to be kicked away by Nienna guarding at the post.

But there were risks in that full-attack and on 86th minute Nerdanel managed to steal the ball from her husband and passed it to Tilion who sent it far forwards – to Miriel who had foreseen the steal and went for it. And it was a breakthrough!

Marach rushed forwards to meet Miriel while Miriel dashed towards the goal. There were only those two on the AC’s side of the field now. The spectators were holding their breath. The two were closing in…

Miriel realised Marach was up to sliding the ball away from her feet as he was now clearly outside the keeper’s area and was not allowed to take the ball by hands. Coming nearer Miriel waited until Marach went on a slide just a few meters away from her – and she flipped the ball over him, herself dashing around him… but the pass she had made to herself was just a tiny bit too hard and she really had to run to catch it before the angle got too narrow – and she reached it, turned in mid-jump and booted it! And it went to the net – outside the goal. Some ten inches away from the post.

There were two minutes of the game left and AC Beleriand was giving all they had. But Real Valinor kept their nerve and draw back to defend their goal with no lesser effort. The last two minutes were played on just the one end of the field.

And Eöl did find out Fëanor trying to break free from the defences around the box – and he sent the ball to him. Nerdanel was leaning on Fëanor and forced him to take a few sidesteps while Miriel slid the ball away from in front of him! Fëanor was seen cursing but when his mom and wife turned towards him he seemed to swallow his curses.

But it was a corner. Fingolfin gave the corner and both Fëanor and Eöl went for it – but Tilion rose the highest and headed it high in the air! Echtelion was the first to reach the ball a few meters outside the box and headed it back towards the goal beating Caranthir to the header. Fëanor had his moment! Real Valinor had risen their defence to play an off-side trap but Rumil was a bit late and Fëanor was not offside sliding to the ball that was coming his way. Tulkas was at the other side of the goal and was only starting to move towards Fëanor!

But Nerdanel slid from nowhere and managed to hit the ball just before Fëanor – and in a way that the ball hit Fëanor’s foot after her own so that it wasn’t even a corner but a goalie’s shot!

After Tulkas made his shot the referee whistled the game over. Real Valinor had won 3-2 and went to the final while AC Beleriand would have to get along with the idea of a bronze-match!

Nerdanel and Miriel tried to approach Fëanor after the referee's whistle but it was clear Fëanor was not in a mood for small talk or consolations. A bit later it could be seen that Caranthir run up to his dad and patted him to the shoulder, and he did actually respond to it by nodding to his son touching his hand fleetingly before continuing his walk towards the lockers. Fëanor was beaten, once again: one of the best there are, have ever been, and not winning in the end.The curse of Fëanor.


AC Beleriand 2-3 Real Valinor
on target 8-6
tot shots 16-16
GOALS:
*14, 0-1 Arien (Nessa)
*22, 0-2 Miriel (Arien)
*55, 1-2 Fingolfin (Eol)
*62, 1-3 Arien (Nerdanel)
*79, 2-3 Feanor (Bregolas)
YELLOW CARDS:
*ACBel- Beren, Rochallor
*Real- Caranthir, Rumil



Real Valinor goes to the final, AC Beleriand goes to the bronze-game.