Stadium on the Rock
AC Beleriand vs Inter Beleriand
From the atmosphere and the energy in the stadium you would have thought that this was a home game. The Stadium on the Rock was packed and evenly split between the supporters of AC and Inter Beleriand—one side was a sea of white and red, the other a wall of yellow and blue. Chants and insults were traded back and forth between the two parties.
Where’s your Beren gone? Inter fans would ask.
You’ve got Gorlim in defence, AC Bel fans would answer.
What does third place feel like?
At least we’re not third and out.
Good-natured barbs were thrown hither and thither across the divide, sign of two parties very familiar with each other, like brothers teasing each other. The closest Middle-earth derby to match this friendly rivalry was the North-South derby between Arnor and Gondor—although a closer equivalent would be the Westernesse derbies between Armenelos and the two Númenórean kingdoms in Middle-earth, a younger ‘brother’ with something to prove against the elder. This was not the heated rivalry of Gondor vs Mordor, nor did it possess the historic enmity of the Arda Classic between Angband and Valimar. This was the Beleriand derby.
Various historians tried to explain how the rivalry developed. Marnen of
Arda thought that it was born from the rivalry between the sons of Míriel and the sons of Indis, even though Fëanor, Fingolfin, and the sons of Finarfin were teammates in AC Bel, as well as Maedhros, Fingon, and Turgon for Inter. Iorithil of
QN Sport wrote in his book
Battles of Beleriand: Football in the First Age:
‘Basically, Maedhros and Fingon were tired of the first generation’s feud. Even on the eve of the Noldor’s game vs Angband, Fëanor still managed to turn against Fingolfin and form his own Eldar United squad. After his father went out injured during the Noldor’s victory over Angband, Maedhros conceded captainship of the squad to Fingolfin. Whereas Fëanor and Fingolfin were never united even against a common enemy, Fingon and Maedhros were always in each other’s counsel.’
This explanation made more sense, even though Fingolfin was AC Bel’s vice captain (with a say in defensive organisation and tactics); not to mention that Angrod and Aegnor, AC Bel’s new acquisitions belonged to the second generation.
But back to the stadium: Both teams walked into the pitch met with cheers and boos in equal measure. Fingon, Maedhros, and Turgon shared a hug with their father and half-uncle, and then shook hands with their cousins from the House of Finarfin. The Edain of the First Age also exchanged handshakes. They were all rivals on the pitch, but they were also family off it.
But there was still a match to be played between them. The opening whistle was soon blown, and AC Bel dominated possession from the start like it was their birthright, with Ulrad, Fëanor, and Eöl easily passing their way through the middle of Inter’s defence. In one such sequence during the eighth minute, Baragund moved from his position on the right to deny the Dark Elf a clear run at goal, but Baragund’s original mark Angrod darted behind him as Eöl played a through ball. The events that followed afterward were unclear, but AC Bel players were appealing to the referee for a penalty, while Gorlim and his teammates pleaded his innocence. When the referee shook his head and pointed to the corner instead, the AC Bel fans whistled in disapproval. In the slow-motion replay, Gorlim seemed to have brought Angrod down with a late challenge, but the son of Finarfin appeared to go down a little too easily considering the lack of strength behind Gorlim’s tackle. It was just one of those difficult decisions in football that would prove to be debate fodder for the next few days.
AC Bel mixed their intricate passing game with some accurate long balls from deep in the midfield, keeping the entire Inter back line and midfield on their toes. Maedhros told Fingon to close down Denethor and prevent him from playing his long diagonals towards the sons of Finarfin, leaving him all alone to deal with AC Bel’s centre-backs. But Imlach and Rochallor spread to the flanks during AC Bel’s build-up play, allowing the full-backs to go forward and forcing Maedhros to commit himself to marking only one of them. He chose Imlach; Rochallor then had freedom to advance to the midfield and play a long pass forward. Eöl easily got to the ball and chipped Turgon, who had left his goal to try to claim it, for the lead.
Inter sent players forward as they tried to gain an equaliser as quickly as possible. Some of the Inter fans on the stands debated the wisdom of this strategy; wouldn’t it be better to keep the game 1-0 as long as possible before trying to score a late equaliser? But others pointed out that once AC Bel applied their vice grip on possession, there was no way they’d concede a late goal. So they realised that Maedhros and company had to score before AC Bel switched to keep-ball mode.
Unfortunately, Inter’s strategy proved disastrous from the onset. Their full-backs advanced to support the attack, but Lúthien was caught too far forward when, on the twenty-sixth minute, Fëanor intercepted Haldad’s pass to Forweg. The Fiery Boot played a simple ball to the area Lúthien usually occupied on defence, and Aegnor ran in to side-foot a low shot past Turgon to increase AC Bel’s lead.
Amidst the AC Bel fans’ chant of ‘
Two-nil, two-nil, what a hell of a way to win,’ Fëanor told the sons of Finarfin to play more centrally and control possession. Inter full-backs Baragund and Lúthien were now totally unmarked, and when they moved forward during the few times Inter got the ball, no one made a run in behind them. This encouraged them to be more adventurous when Inter was in possession. About a minute before half-time, Beren robbed the ball from Denethor, and Lúthien was off like a shot. The two passed their way past Balrog #4, and Tinúviel crossed for Maedhros, who knocked it down for Fingon. Fingon shot from eight metres out, but Marach managed to palm it away—towards Maedhros, who tapped in the rebound to reduce Inter’s deficit heading into the break.
At the start of the second half, Inter made a statement of their intent, sending long passes forward from the word ‘go’, hoping to break the composure of AC Bel’s defence. But the square of Imlach, Rochallor, Ulrad, and Denethor held firm, preventing Inter from playing through the middle. None of them could challenge Maedhros reliably in the air, but they closed down spaces where he could knock the ball down to and didn’t give him easy lanes to run into when he brought the ball down to his feet. Fingon also had a mark on him at all times, pressuring him when he latched on to knockdowns and flick-ons from his strike partner. Beren and Haleth were closed down by full-backs Fingolfin and Balrog #4, and none of Inter’s central midfielders or full-backs displayed any attacking initiative, so concerned were they with AC Bel’s fearsome front four, who advanced menacingly whenever their side recovered possession.
Inter’s attacking fury was waning after half an hour; the closest they got was a Maedhros header from a corner that sailed wide. In the seventy-seventh minute, Denethor intercepted a Beren through ball for Fingon and sent a long diagonal to the left. Aegnor took the pass, and he and Eöl played one-two past Lúthien and Haldad to restore a two-goal lead.
Inter were clearly deflated by Aegnor’s second goal. They became less combative in midfield, and soon AC Bel put the corkscrew on possession, passing to each other until the final whistle. One of the tournament favourites all but secured advancement with a game at hand, while Inter still had all to play for in their game against the home side on the last matchday.
AC Beleriand 3-1 InterBeleriand
GOALS:
12, 1-0 Eöl (Rochallor)
26, 2-0 Aegnor (Fëanor)
44, 2-1 Maedhros (Fingon)
77, 3-1 Aegnor (Eöl)
Total Shots:
13-10
Shots On Target:
6-3
YELLOW CARDS:
1-3
ACB: Balrog #4
INB: Lúthien, Haldad, Beren
Dwarves United vs Gondolin
Despite having lost their first game, Gondolin fans were still confident of their team advancing. Inter lost their game against AC Bel, after all, and Gondolin were taking on the putatively weakest team in the group. Win this game, and their destiny would be in their hands as they meet Inter in a virtual play-off for second seed on the next matchday.
The home fans outnumbered the Dwarves United supporters almost two-to-one, even with Inter supporters showing in force to root for the Dwarves. The Inter fans were hoping for a draw, since that would leave them in solo second, but they were not averse to a Dwarf U victory, since the Dwarves were playing AC Bel in the last matchday, after all, a game they were expected to lose. A draw against Gondolin would then be enough for Inter to advance.
From the opening whistle, Gondolin attacked in force, relying on their pace to gain temporary numbers advantage in certain parts of the pitch. In the eighth minute Duilin and Idril wove passing patterns that crossed up the sons of Dís; Duilin got a metre of space to shoot the ball from thirty-five yards, forcing a save from Galadriel. Five minutes later, Elemmakil got past Durin and sent a cross for Tuor, who headed wide from almost point-blank range.
But Gondolin took a gut punch when Dwarves United scored in controversial fashion on their very first attempt at goal. In the twenty-first minute, Gamil Zirak slid between another one-two between Idril and Duilin, and he sent a long ball behind Penlod and Aranwë. Gondolin fans were screaming, ‘Offside!’ when Legolas received the pass. He outsprinted the defenders and chipped Rog for the lead.
The instant replay showed that Legolas was indeed offside (his head was in advance of Gondolin’s back line when Gamil Zirak played the pass), but the linesmen didn’t call it, so the goal stood. The home fans whistled for a full five minutes after the incident, showing their displeasure at the call. On the pitch, Maeglin and company attacked with fury, but perhaps their anger caused them to misplace their passes or miss their shots, as Galadriel had to make only one save before the halftime whistle.
The second half started with the Dwarven supporters chanting in a deep voice, ‘
We thought you were rivals, Tuor and Maeglin, we thought you were rivals.’ The ‘rivals’ were now both fielded as centre forwards—Maeglin occupied Aulë in hopes of matching Tuor up against the clearly aerially inferior Azaghâl. But after Tuor almost converted an Idril cross with a bullet header (requiring a Galadriel reflex save), Celebrimbor slid in from his left-back position to become a third centre-back so as not to give Tuor any significant height mismatch that he could exploit. The Lord of Belegost now played as a sweeper behind the two, and Telchar moved deeper to become the ersatz left-back. Dwarves United can afford to play this negative tactic because they were a goal ahead—with Legolas waiting to receive long balls, they can commit nine outfield players to defence.
But there was still forty minutes to play, and Gondolin fed off their supporters’ energy. Maeglin embarked on a solo run through the middle that left a trail of Dwarves behind him—the crowd gasped at how easily he wove through the packed centre, as if the ball were attached to his foot with a string. Aulë was forced to step forward from the defence to stop him, but this only opened up space for Duilin to run into. The Sharp Boot chipped past the Vala but Azaghâl was at hand to dispossess Duilin before he could control the pass.
So Gondolin tried again. At the hour mark Elemmakil easily outpaced Gamil Zirak and Durin to get to the byline, and then sent a low cross for Maeglin. Maeglin faked a tap-in, forcing Galadriel to dive left, but it was actually a short past to Tuor who stretched his foot past Celebrimbor to tap it home.
The home crowd roared in delight; the Inter fans watching were also jubilant (this was their desired result, after all.) But the Dwarven supporters and the Dwarf U players were unperturbed. Gondolin were throwing everything but the kitchen sink at them, and were sure to continue to do so to grab a winner, leaving them extremely vulnerable to counterattack. They just needed one good pass to Legolas to reclaim the lead.
As they predicted, Gondolin did press hard for a winner. Idril, Duilin, and Elemmakil were prowling around Dwarf U’s penalty box, looking for a lane to run into, a patch of space to play a ball to. Tuor and Maeglin were in a battle with Celebrimbor and Aulë for crosses and passes. Seven minutes before full time, Maeglin managed to beat Aulë on a short sprint and took a through ball from Duilin, but Azaghâl was there to make the angle of his shot trickier. Maeglin scuffed his curler, and Galadriel easily snuffed it before throwing a pass to Celebrimbor. The Elf-smith hoofed a long ball to Legolas, who was onside this time when he began his dash past the defenders. He trapped the ball with his first touch, and with his second he rifled a thirty-yard drive into the net before Galdor could close in. Dwarf U fans uttered a guttural roar (and Leggy fangirls squealed) as the Silvan Elf ran around the pitch before being mobbed by his teammates. On the other side, the Gondolin players were in shock. They had given all they had, but all their efforts were undone just like that. It seemed as if all the air had been taken out of them, and their attacks during the last seven minutes were just rote movements, with nary a hint of intelligence or passion. Soon, the referee blew the whistle for full time, and Dwarves United carried Legolas off the pitch in honour. Meanwhile, Tuor tried to console his teammates by saying that they still had a chance; the Dwarves would lose to AC Bel, and they could beat Inter. They could still advance if they get a good enough goal difference.
It remained to be seen if they could recover the confidence to do exactly that.
Dwarves United 2-1 Gondolin
GOALS:
21, 1-0 Legolas (Gamil Zirak)
60, 1-1 Tuor (Maeglin)
83, 2-1 Legolas (Celebrimbor)
Total Shots:
13-16
Shots On Target:
4-6
YELLOW CARDS:
2-2
DWU: Gimli, Azaghâl
GDN: Tuor, Galdor
Code:
--------------- W-D-L Pts GD
AC Beleriand 2-0-0 6 +3
Inter Beleriand 1-0-1 3 0
Dwarves United 1-0-1 3 -1
Gondolin 0-0-2 0 -2
W-D-L: win-draw-loss
GD: goal difference
LAST GAMES:
@Tumladen Park: AC Beleriand vs Dwarves United
@Stadium on the Rock: Inter Beleriand vs Gondolin