On the morning after the first round of games in Group F, Tol Eressëa Mobile raised anchor and sailed down the Anduin, before turning west. Thousands of Gondorians cheered along the shore as the island made its way through the heart of southern Gondor. The four teams, as well as some of their supporters, were now aboard the floating isle as it made its way to the next stop for the second round: a reunion with the Isle of Balar, south of Beleriand.
The BalarDome, with a capacity of 40 000, was to be the secondary site for the next round of group F games. It played host to team Balar of the Beleriand League during the
apertura (summer/autumn) regional league of Beleriand. The Nargothrond city council had requested for Tol Eressëa to make its way up the Narog, so that Nargothrond fans would have less distance to cover as they watched their team’s game. Unfortunately, the mobile island’s draught was too deep for the river—only truly mighty rivers like Anduin and Sirion were wide and deep enough for it to pass through safely. Nargothrond fans were not dismayed, however, and travelled in droves south to Balar. They reasoned that Minas Tirith supporters also had to travel far to support their team during the first matchday; would they do any less?
Tol Eressëa Mobile was by now a little more crowded than when it had left the shores of Aman. The fans of FC Valinor that they have ferried to Gondor have left the island, but they have been more than amply replaced by the Nargothrond fans who travelled by land for the first round (the whole Bëorian contingent, and even some of the Orcish horde) and a group of Gondorians supporting Minas Tirith. Unfortunately, none of them could see their teams in training—all four teams have asked that the public stay away from their training grounds in order to protect their strategies from leaking to their opponents. Many opined (including some realistic, if disheartened, Minas Tirith fans) that no strategy could save the White Tower from elimination, but for the other three teams, all of whom seem evenly matched, knowledge of another team’s tactics and formation could be the difference between victory and defeat.
BalarDome
Minas Tirith vs Tirion
Despite that gap in talent between the two teams, tactics still played a role in the game between the Tirion and Minas Tirith. A few pundits believed that, with their athleticism, stamina, and organisation, the Stewards could contest the midfield from Tirion and win the possession battle. If they could keep the number of chances for the Tirion attackers low, while giving themselves more chances to score, they could conceivably win the tie.
So it was surprising that, during the opening stages of the game, Minas Tirith retreated into their own half with two banks of four, leaving Éomer as the only attacking support behind Boromir I (even though the Rohirric midfielder was anonymous in the first game.) Some Minas Tirith supporters argued that, since Tirion had better defenders than Nargothrond, letting the Eldar attack and hitting them on the break was a better strategy than attacking an organised Tirion defence. But even they thought that the move was a bad one; Tirion, like Nargothrond, prefer to apply attacking pressure, but were less comfortable when the opposition attacked back.
Minas Tirith did well to hold on for half an hour. In the eleventh minute, Aredhel hit the post when put through on goal by Mahtan. Thirteen minutes later, Finwë’s header from a Rúmil cross was saved by Denethor II; Firefoot cleared the rebound moments before Mahtan got a boot in. But Finwë opened the scoring in the thirty-fifth minute by converting a Caranthir corner; Denethor did well to get a palm in the shot, but was unable to redirect the bullet header from its trajectory. After the goal, Tirion eased the pressure on Minas Tirith’s backline, but Minas Tirith were slow to change gears from defending to attacking. They were thankful to go into the break only a goal behind.
The second half began with Minas Tirith’s first significant foray forward. Mardil got past Rúmil with a neat dribbling trick and took on right-back Irimë. Suddenly, Cirion flew in from all the way in the backline and took a short lateral Mardil pass. He then beat the surprised Irimë to the byline and crossed for Boromir I in Tirion’s penalty box. The Minas Tirith forward won the header against Amrod and knocked the ball down on to Éomer’s path, but Anairë slid in to clear the ball moments before the Rohan lord got to it.
Minas Tirith became more adventurous as the half wore on, sending as many as six players forward as Tirion conceded ground to them. But the Eldar of the First Age reminded the Men of the Third Age of their counterattacking threat when, in the fifty-second minute, Aredhel took an Amras long ball behind Minas Tirith’s defence; she ballooned her chip well over the Stewards’ goal. But with Minas Tirith chasing the game, the warning fell on deaf ears. In the sixty-sixth minute, Finarfin had to stretch to keep out a stinging drive from Mardil. The rebound was cleared only as far as Telumehtar on the edge of the Tirion box, but when he attempted to take on Mahtan, the Noldorin smith dispossessed him easily and found Aredhel ready to sprint past Ecthelion II. Mahtan sent a slide-rule through pass for the White Lady of the Noldor, who made sure this time that her chip past the Minas Tirith stopper was on target.
Now Tirion’s threat on the break was well and truly heeded, but it was closing the stable door after the horse has bolted. Minas Tirith were already two goals down, and now they were scared of attacking en masse. Had they been more combative before Tirion opened the scoring, had they been more careful when they were a goal down, they probably wouldn’t have been in this hole. Tirion easily handled Minas Tirith’s tame attacks and saw the game through without further trouble.
With Tirion already on four points, and since either the Sea or Nargothrond were sure to be at or over four points after the next game, the Stewards, with zero points from two games, were already eliminated.
Minas Tirith 0-2 Tirion
GOALS:
35, 0-1 Finwë (Caranthir)
67, 0-2 Aredhel (Mahtan)
Total Shots:
9-16
Shots On Target:
3-8
YELLOW CARDS:
2-1
MTI: Eärnur, Cirion
TIR: Eldalótë
Tol Eressëa Mobile Stadium
Nargothrond vs The Sea
With Tirion taking temporary first place in the group, the game between Nargothrond and the hosts took on an even greater significance. They were determined not to fall behind in what has become a three-horse race. Even the number of goals scored and conceded might be important when it came to deciding who advanced. This was a group of fine margins.
Even from last year, the Sea have not been a high-scoring team. Because of that, they elected to keep the game’s tempo slow at the start. Instead of pressing the defenders, their front four prevented easy passes from being played to Finduilas and Nienor, the engine room of Nargothrond’s attacks. And when the Sea were in possession, they simply held onto the ball instead of passing it forward quickly. But that played right into Nargothrond’s hands—Finrod advocated pressing from the front, acting as their first line of defence and forcing turnovers in dangerous areas of the pitch. In the sixth minute, Gwindor intercepted a weak Salmar back pass and sprinted past the rest of the Sea’s defence. He would have scored the opener had Hyarmendacil not guessed correctly and dove for the far post at full stretch.
Finduilas took the resulting corner kick; Finrod had ordered all but Baran and Arminas in and around the penalty box, leaving them vulnerable to a quick counter if the Sea managed to survive the pressure. But his gamble paid off when, after a mighty goalmouth scramble involving three attempted clearances that was booted right back into the mixer, Nienor tapped in a shot that trickled past Hyarmendacil to give Nargothrond the lead.
Surprisingly, the game got more open after the goal. Nargothrond had scored too early; they couldn’t possibly keep the Sea scoreless by sitting in front of their penalty box for the next eighty-two minutes. So they continued to attack, advancing as many as five players into the Sea’s half. With the Sea chasing the game, the tie began to resemble more a basketball game than a football match with its quick exchange of possession.
It was one of those transitions that led to the Sea’s equaliser. With ten minutes left in the first half, Barahir was caught well past the halfway line when Voronwë intercepted an attempted Finduilas through ball. He quickly got the ball to Tar-Meneldur, who was occupying the space Barahir had left unmarked. Tar-Minastir drifted to the right to support him, and the two passed their way to Nargothrond’s penalty area. With Baran, Arminas, and Guilin totally focused on the pair of Númenórean kings, they didn’t notice Aldarion’s run from the opposite wing until Tar-Minastir fired a backheel pass to him. The Nargothrond defence was too slow to reorient itself, and Tar-Aldarion’s strike found the net to tie the game.
The game calmed down a bit after the Sea’s equaliser—no team created chances between then and the halftime whistle. But after the break, Nargothrond attacked with renewed aggression, which the Sea met with equal defensive determination. Tar-Ciryatan did well to deny Glaurung touches; when the dragon did get the ball, he did not try to contest him on the turn, leaving him instead to Ossë. The Sea Maia was strong enough to prevent Glaurung from getting past him, and he even doused his fires with well-timed jets of seawater.
Gwindor on the right was faster than his marker Salmar, but the Maia was big and tall enough to block his crosses even if he were half a step behind him. Five minutes after the hour mark, Gwindor cut inside instead of making for the byline, but when he shot from twenty metres the recovering Salmar managed to get a boot in the way. The ball fell to Ulmo, who whacked it to Tar-Minastir up front. The Númenórean king held off the challenge of Baran and laid the ball off to a charging Vëantur, whose shot drew a save from Orodreth.
Tar-Aldarion took the resulting corner. Ulmo leapt highest to head the ball in, but he didn’t connect well with the ball, giving Orodreth enough time to palm the weak header clear. Tar-Ciryatan got a boot in the rebound, but his shot bounced off Guilin’s leg and fell to Uinen on the edge of the box. Her aim was true this time, and Orodreth dove after her shot too late. His head was buried on the ground in despair as he realised that he might have cost his team advancement to the knockout stage.
But there was still twenty-three minutes left to play, and the squad from the Caves of Narog drew strength from their captain. Finrod was all over the pitch, orchestrating the movement of his forwards and midfielders. The Nargothrond players passed the ball to each other at an increasingly high tempo, and the ball moved from flank to flank, confusing the Sea’s backline, who were constantly forced to alter their position and their line of sight; inevitably this created blind sides that the pacy players of Nargothrond were able to exploit. In the eightieth minute, Glaurung was on the left with Nienor, weaving their way through the Sea’s right wing; a moment later Nienor launched a quick pass to Finrod a few yards from the arc; without looking, he fired a pass to his right where Gwindor ran in and belted in a fierce drive. The ball crossed the width of the pitch in about a second, and by the time Ulmo and his players had realised Gwindor had got it the ball had already hit the net.
There was little celebration of the goal; Gwindor rushed to get the ball and handed it to the referee. In the meantime the two captains conferred with their players. Press for a winner? Shut it down? Tar-Minastir convinced Ulmo to try to go for the win; Finrod and Barahir decided to live with the draw. Both sides reasoned that Nargothrond’s front line were exhausted and could not press as effectively as they usually did, leaving them vulnerable to counterattacks; therefore the Sea could attack almost with impunity. But with Nargothrond outnumbering the Sea in midfield, they were able to enforce their decision, keeping possession until the full-time whistle was blown.
With four points secured, and a greater goal difference than second-place Tirion, Nargothrond were in a pretty good spot. The Sea, with only two points from two games, need to win their last game against Minas Tirith to have a chance to advance.
Nargothrond 2-2 The Sea
GOALS:
8, 1-0 Nienor (Bëor)
35, 1-1 Tar-Aldarion (Tar-Minastir)
67, 1-2 Uinen (Tar-Cirytan)
80, 2-2 Gwindor (Finrod)
Total Shots:
13-15
Shots On Target:
6-7
YELLOW CARDS:
2-2
NGR: Gwindor, Arminas
SEA: Salmar, Ossë
Code:
------------ W-D-L Pts GD
Nargothrond 1-1-0 4 +3
Tirion 1-1-0 4 +2
The Sea 0-2-0 2 0
Minas Tirith 0-0-2 0 -5
W-D-L: win-draw-loss
GD: goal difference
LAST GAMES:
@Alqualondë Seaside Stadium: Tirion vs Nargothrond
@Tol Eressëa Mobile Stadium: Minas Tirith vs The Sea