Group H at Amon Hen
Many of the host sites had experienced some amount of tension between fan-bases, but such activity had been kept to a bare minimum on the shores of Nen Hithoel. Part of the credit had to go to placing Mordor and their supporters across on Amon Lhaw in such comfortable fashion. Were the Orcs mixed in with the horse-lords, Arnorians, and various Anduin groups (Beornings, Lothlorienites, etc.) no doubt there would be trouble here and there, and if the Orcs were shoved aside or banned from lodgings then that would be asking for trouble as well. But the way the Coliseum Construction Committee had done things ruled out such things, as reasonable Mordorians had no reason to complain about getting their own new well-built area at the foot of Amon Lhaw.
Everyone knows all Mordorians aren’t reasonable however, so something was keeping even the worst Orcs in line as well. Some theorized it was the Coliseum itself, and the way they had purposefully incorporated designs of all sorts and grouped them sensibly. The Utumno, Angband, Mordor, Moria, and Gundabad sections are all close, and Mordor fans were given seats in those sections, which combined with their private living area made them all feel as if they were at home.
But some commentators have insisted there is something else at work. “The Mordor folk have just been too well behaved,” said Haldan, MESPN correspondent for Gondor League football. “The incidents aren’t low or minimal—they’re non-existent. I’ve checked, and there have been zero arrests for vandalism, fighting, etc. I mean, there’s always at least one, even among friendly sides.” When asked what could account for this, Haldan said it had to be Sauron. “It seems to me he’s keen to keep in good graces with Arda Cup, so I can only suppose he’s trying to win some hosting rights or trade allowance or something.”
Whatever the reason, the folks at Amon Hen Coliseum certainly were enjoying the calm. The Arnorians drank with the men of Rohan in the pubs, and promised to avenge their defeat when they played Mordor, and the folks from Rohan promised they’d slow Anduin’s roll for Arnor. But if people from Arnor and Rohan were found drinking with Anduin supporters, they were congratulating them for their fine play. It was just a pure atmosphere of enjoyment.
The stadium was still filling when the first game of the day kicked off—Arnor versus Mordor. The Mordorians had their loud section of support, but Arnor had the backing of scattered Rohan fans as well as the Elves and Gondorians there in support of Anduin. And Mordor didn’t own a monopoly on Orcs either, as the Witch King, forward for Arnor, caused quite a few to splinter off.
Those fans didn’t have much to cheer about though—Mordor looked impressive from the start. The men of Arnor frankly looked nervous around the Nazgul. Some wondered before the game if practicing with the Witch King would cure them of the Black Breath, but it seems it’s different when they are playing in opposition. And Shelob was being a bit terrifying as well. The Arnorian defenders weren’t running scared the way the horses of Rohan did, but they still didn’t feel good about her presence.
Only four minutes in Shelob managed to clear herself some space and one of the Nazgul found her perfectly with a cross, and only great anticipation and reaction from Arvedui kept it scoreless. A few minutes later Mouth put one on the mark, and again Arvedui staved off disaster, stopping both Mouth’s tricky curve but also stuffing Shagrat’s put-back attempt.
After that Arnor changed things up. Elendil was the tallest and boldest, and he volunteered to give up his role in the possession and attack in order to shadow Shelob, and Malbeth took it upon himself to foil the pair of Nazgul, using his powers of foresight to ascertain their likely plan of attack and position himself to upset it. The change-up worked like a charm, and Mordor was stifled, and they reacted by trying to win past defenders on the dribble, but Arnor was having none of it. Instead of attacking the ball they just maintained some space and forced the ball wide around them over to another defender’s area, essentially making them run for nothing. And when they approached the offensive area, there were simply too many defenders around to have any hope of taking them on—not without an Arda-class skill player.
As the halftime break approached Mordor looked more and more ragged and Arnor began to press the advantage, pushing farther upfield as a team and threatening to open the scoring themselves. At 38 minutes the Arnor supporters gave their first true shout of excitement as Witch King beat everyone in the air and forced Silent Watcher to exert his maximum evil will to turn the shot aside. Just a few minutes later off a corner it was the same exact recipe, only this time the shot found the crossbar. A great many bodies hit the ground as everyone went for the loose ball, and as it came down Arantar and Gothmog II got tangled up and fell leaving the approaching Gorbag free to bicycle it the other way.
By Mordor’s good fortune Gorbag’s blind kick flew between where Malbeth or Malvegil could reach it and the Mouth took it in stride, putting just enough of a touch on it to keep it from drifting farther towards the side. When he reached the ball to put his second touch on it, he faked a pass to the Nazgul in the middle, which Valandur had been expecting, thus he bit the fake to attempt the steal and Mouth dashed on. Upon reaching the edge of the penalty area Mouth gave another fake then sent it sideways to Nazgul#2, who sent it directly back and completely sending Earendur in a hopeless circle. The Mouth would surely attempt the close range shot, but instead he skidded it towards the far post, just barely beyond the sliding Elendil, but not beyond Nazgul#1 who practically slid into the net himself taking the ball with him.
The Mordor supporters waved their red and black banners and blew their war-horns and beat upon their drums! This was the Arda Cup they dreamed of—taking the field and defeating their foes from Rohan, and then the kingdom of Arnor of the north! The teams exited the field for halftime and Mordor just continued their party throughout the break. And why not? They were sitting at +3 in goal differential and controlled their own fate for first place.
As the second half started it looked like the victory was indeed as good as claimed, as Mordor looked more likely to increase their lead than Arnor looked to draw level. Already at minute 49 Shelob had a free chance of a corner, and only a good guess by Arvedui spoiled it. Then ten minutes later Mouth released both Nazgul behind the back line, and only a rather suspect tackle by Valandur saved the day, as the wall turned aside the resulting free kick.
At minute 68 another corner forced a save to be made, and Arnor fans were half out of their chairs ready to leave, but Arvedui was to the rescue again. And then suddenly, the game changed.
No doubt there will be many reviews of the game tape during the next week or so, and many different theories will be spun, but there can be no denying that the entire field was turned on its head at minute 70. Most spectators agreed that the men of Arnor suddenly looked hopeful, and that the two Nazgul for Mordor appeared wary and lost their aura, and with that gone their Orc-support and Fellbeasts looked a little disorganized. It is this writer’s opinion that Arnor had the Witch King to thank for the sudden turn—perhaps he had some mystical way to make this come about? But then why not do it earlier? Then perhaps it was but a temporary measure that couldn’t be counted on to last long…
But only 20 minutes remained in the contest, so if that was the case, it was now or never. Suddenly Mordor gave way and grew over-careful and timid, and Arnor pressed relentlessly and forced mistakes, and defenders got in one another’s way, and after but five minutes it was the Witch King himself evening the score with a point blank chip in.
The Mordor players shook themselves, as if attempting to recover from a blow to the head, and they looked a little less panicked, but still Arnor had the mastery. At minute 83 Witch King earned another chance to slot it home, but a Fellbeast tail managed to get in the way. Two minutes later Argeleb nearly broke the tie with a 30-yard strike, but Silent Watcher managed to put it aside off the side post. But the resulting corner—Arnor would not be denied. They knew they wouldn’t get it free in the air with the Fellbeasts and Shelob packed in close, so they passed to the far side, then one-timed it to the middle, then back to the original side, and Arassuil found a small alley to send it through the box and that late-game specialist Araphor somehow found it flying through the traffic and redirected it down under Shelob’s legs and it bounced in to hand Arnor the lead!
What did it matter that Arnor only had the lead for 4 minutes? It’s the score at the finish that counts, and the Northern Dunedain had secured it. They were right back in the thick of the playoff hunt! The Mordorians on the other hand filed out in bitter disappointment. Some felt that the Witch King was a traitor, while others seemed grateful that they at least lost to one of their favorites. But on the bright side, they still had the edge in differential, and thus still controlled their own destiny—provided the contest in the evening went the right way for them.
Arnor 2-1 Mordor
on target 6-6
tot shots 13-15
GOALS:
*43, 0-1 Nazgul#1 (Mouth)
*75, 1-1 WitchKing (Arantar)
*86, 2-1 Araphor (Arassuil)
YELLOW CARDS:
*Arnor- Arassuil, Valandur
*Mordor- Gothmog II, Gorbag, Fellbeast#3
The Rohan supporters awaiting kickoff were discussing the previous result with mixed feelings. While they generally liked Arnor and disliked Mordor, seeing Arnor win just made them that more disappointed by their own loss. Many still blamed the King of the Dead and his untimely red card, while a few gave him credit for being the most active Rohan player on the field while many of his fellows had seemingly frozen around him.
At the least the Arnor victory meant that a win tonight by Rohan would catapult them into a four-way points tie, so they had to feel good about that. But it also meant that Arnor in their final game would have something to play for, which could make that game harder than it perhaps might have been.
But the homeside Anduin had no thoughts of a four-way tie. They were keen to take a death-grip on the group by scoring a win over Rohan. In their first match they had looked quite impressive, the power of Grimbeorn and the Gondorians and the skill of the Elves and the athleticism of Eorl and Fram all working together seamlessly.
Tonight the stadium was nearly filled to capacity, as even more Gondorians had come up-river to enjoy the atmosphere for the remainder of group-play. There weren’t any Mordorian hold-overs from the first contest, as they were far too disappointed to stick around, but many Arnor fans were still around basking in the joy of their triumph. The Arnor supporters largely didn’t care who won the evening match so long as they got to see some good football. After all, if Rohan won then everyone would be tied, but Arnor could clinch first. If Anduin won though first place would be less likely but qualifying in general might be easier.
And so it was the the crowd was rooting 25% for Rohan, 50% for Anduin, and 25% for just plain good play. And quite soon 75% of the audience was pleased, as Anduin looked impressive indeed and threatened, threatened, then scored just under 20 minutes in thanks to a resounding boom from Grimbeorn. For a while Anduin relaxed and preserved their lead and their energy, but Rohan was late in trying to take advantage, only looking a serious threat just before the break.
Right from the start of the second half Anduin was in full attack mode, wanting to take the game out of the hands of Rohan, and the horse-lords were surprised and unprepared for the sudden show of skill and power. Only three minutes in Grimbeorn forced a fanastic save from Theoden, and Eorl nodded the rebound over to Boromir who volleyed it straight into the back of the net. The home team was up two-nil!
Though there was still ample time for more goals, most of Anduin seemed to agree to pull up, and those keen to push things quickly went along with the majority to better accomplish the chosen strategy. Rohan recognized the opportunity presented and started looking more impressive, not having to worry about their own defensive efforts as much, but with Celeborn, Fram, Felarof, and Minalcar receiving the full help of the Anduin midfield Rohan couldn’t get much of anything developed.
The closest Rohan came was at 58 minutes when Amroth was forced to catch a swerving effort from King Dead, and at 67 minutes when a lucky deflection fell to Faramir and he sent it perfect to the far post, but Minalcar was positioned smartly and he got up and headed it away. Once the game passed 80 minutes the Anduin fans began opening the celebrations. Rohan couldn’t manage two goals in ten minutes. Rohan fans sat back and shook their heads. What had happened? Weren’t they a dangerous playoff team last year? Now they were sitting in last, with little hope of qualifying. If only they had Eorl and his steed playing for them instead of Anduin—perhaps then things would look more as they should.
Anduin 2-1 Rohan
on target 4-5
tot shots 12-14
GOALS:
*19, 1-0 Grimbeorn (Eorl)
*48, 2-0 Boromir II (Eorl)
*72, 2-1 Eowyn (Faramir)
YELLOW CARDS:
*Anduin- Leod, Minalcar
*Rohan- Wildfola, Helm
--------------------------------
GROUP H STANDINGS
Code:
-------- W-D-L Pts Score
Anduin 2-0-0 6 4-1
Mordor 1-0-1 3 3-2
Arnor 1-0-1 3 2-3
Rohan 0-0-2 0 1-4
LAST GAMES @ AMON HEN COLISEUM
Arnor vs Rohan
Anduin vs Mordor