Group A @ Valimar
Finally it appeared that all the Numenoreans would get to see their football. They had come in droves over the sea—far too many to get tickets and still leave room for the home fan majority. But for this round most of the Valinoreans were dead-set on seeing their two favorites play in the Havens vs Valimar contest, and as the games were being played simultaneously that left open tickets for the visitors. Not to mention Valinoreans were feeling pretty hostile towards the Barrow-Downs what with their rudeness and outright vandalism, thus the home folks didn’t feel badly about allowing Numenor to own the stadium and hoping Barrow-Downs would be routed.
There were a few that were hoping for both Havens and Valimar to qualify, but the precise scenario necessary for that to happen was unlikely thus the more realistic folks didn’t dare to dream and were content if they could see a fine competition for the spot that Armenelos didn’t earn.
The feature game between The Havens and Valimar would be played in Valimar’s grand arena just as the first two rounds had been. The game between Armenelos and The Barrow-Downs however would be played a little ways away—more up than over. The stadium was called Ilmarin Field, but of course it wasn’t actually on the very top of Taniquetil where Manwe and Varda had their seats and halls, but rather it was partway up the winding path on a low shoulder of the mountain (which at 9,000 feet was still high enough to make a difference in the match).
Manwe and his squad call Ilmarin Field home during the summer/autumn regional league season, thus many though that team Valimar would opt to play their final contest here to gain an even greater home-field advantage. Manwe and his Ainur have quite a good record at Ilmarin through the years, partly due to the elevation. While their lesser degree of incarnation robs them of a degree of fine touch achieved by some others, it also leaves them more free to exert themselves without the annoyance of needing copious amounts of oxygen, thus the high stadium worked quite well for them.
But in the end team Valimar wanted to play their contest in the larger and more historic stadium, and frankly they were feeling comfortable there after two games and several practices. Why stop something when it’s working? And some said that another reason was to keep Barrow-Downs and their supporters from causing more trouble there. They were tired of the famous stadium bells being messed with. Ilmarin field on the other hand—there were just fewer things to mess with. Everything was solid rock construction carved right out of the mountain and held together with the power of the Valar, though more than likely the Barrow-Wights would merely see it as a challenge.
It was 2 o’clock and both stadiums were packed and eager to begin. Both Armenelos and Valimar looked confident, and their fans felt the same, but the Barrow-Downs and Havens were keen to stake their own claim to the playoffs. Upsets do happen after all.
-------------------------
-------------------------
The Numenoreans had their own proud football tradition, but they weren’t too proud to appreciate being in the stands at Ilmarin Field. All of the walkways beneath the stadium were open along the western side of the stadium, and fans that were seated in the eastern seats made sure to walk the long way around so they too could see the view of the plain of Valinor stretched out beneath the stadium’s perch.
There was much pointing as onlookers tried to pick out the arena of Valimar in the mass of miniscule structures far below. Some that were knowledgeable about the layout of the city doubtless guessed correct, but from such a height only Elf-eyes could be certain.
Upon entering the stadium it didn’t take long to notice that their opponent, The Barrow-Downs, had very little support indeed. A small section of Wights at the north end was all—perhaps two-hundred at the most. The few locals that had opted to attend this match rather than the Valimar contest were understandably worried. “Where are the rest of the Wights?” they wondered, and they were certain the answer was—“Causing trouble somewhere.” But the Numenoreans were happy to turn the arena into their home stadium, and soon play was underway to the tune of various match-songs and traditional chants of Numenor.
Team Armenelos was firmly in command from the start—they were crisp and precise, and they had the size advantage as well without lacking speed. It was obvious that Elros and his team were giddy with seemingly the entire world willing them to win, and they were energized and keen to blow away the competition. Only five minutes in Ar Adunakhor gained a header that was just barely too tall, and then minutes later Tar Ancalimon sent a snipe that was hardly turned away by the keeper. At the 15 minute mark Armenelos saw their best chance yet as Elros was released perfectly and took an immediate shot, but Alien guessed right and made the improbable save.
The crowd groaned, but all wearing smiles. It was only a matter of time until the goal came—they kept getting chances. But then the fans at the top of the western side of the stadium grew silent, and the silence slowly spread, but was soon followed by a buzz of noise. The rest of the stadium wondered what the cause was, but word soon reached them—fans on the top row had heard from far below a tumult of sound, and as they fell silent they could hear it well enough to tell the familiar notes of the mighty stadium bells of Valimar. The sound of the bells was said to carry far beyond what they should so as to make all in the land aware of homeside goals, and evidently the sound carried far indeed.
Valimar had scored. But of course The Havens might’ve scored before, so they couldn’t truly tell the score. “Really they should have a different pattern or something to signify taking-the-lead or drawn-level,” several folks were heard to say. But soon their attention was drawn back to their own game, as Ar Pharazon had earned himself a free kick from about 25 yards out. Before the anticipation could fully build the ball was set quickly and Pharazon struck it, just barely clearing the wall. Alien had no view of it until it flew up over the heads of his teammates, and for the briefest of instants he thought it was going right to him, but it broke to his right and he had no chance of stopping it as close as it already was and moving at a decent clip. Armenelos had the well-earned lead!
As the crowd celebrated in song an eagle took flight out from the window of a solitary tower on the east side of the stadium, and he banked immediately to the west and went into a dive towards Valimar below.
-------------------------
-------------------------
Meanwhile the Elves and Ainur watching the Havens vs Valimar match were intensely into things down in Valimar. It was an absolute battle, but a clean one, and a beauty to watch for fans of fine defensive work. Both sides were denying quite well, and both sides had gained but one dangerous look, thanks to the skill and athleticism of Arien and some nice pair work by Cirdan and Earendil. The difference was Manwe had saved the shot while Arien’s had been too hot for Amandil to handle, thus Valimar was sitting on a 1-0 lead.
Only minutes after Arien’s goal a messenger eagle arrived and word soon spread through the crowd that, as expected, Armenelos was leading Barrow-Downs. Havens and Valimar were at a stalemate in the meantime, with both holding possession decently in the midfield but entirely unable to advance. After the half-hour mark The Havens changed things up and tried a few long speculative passes, but Namo and his fellow defenders were having none of it. Shortly before halftime Valimar tried to send a few all the way to Arien, but Ar Zimrathan and Imrazor got in the way every time. With only seconds remaining in the half Arien finally knocked one down and got a decent touch on it and sent it to Ingwe, but Olwe beat him to it and cleared it.
Just as halftime arrived another messenger eagle flew in with news. There had been another goal at Ilmarin Field. The spectators nodded their heads and pointed to the eagle, telling neighbors that they had expected the Numenoreans to dominate, but then the message spread—it was The Barrow-Downs that had scored!
-------------------------
-------------------------
Back up at Ilmarin the Armenelos supporters were worriedly conversing with neighbors during the halftime break. At around the 30-minute mark their team had started losing their edge, and as time approached 40 minutes they were beginning to look almost sluggish. Most of the fans hadn’t had to wonder what the cause was, as they were feeling it themselves after a half-hour of singing, yelling, and jumping. It was just hard to breath that high. Of course they and the players had noticed it from the get-go, but they had come in with so much energy and had pushed right through it, but there came a point where all the exertion without sufficient breath was taking a toll. The players were cramping easily, and were developing pains in their sides.
The Barrow-Downs on the other hand featured several players that didn’t seem to have such limitations—the Wights obviously, as well as Bombadil and Goldberry. In truth only Fatty Lumpkin looked the least bit bothered, and thus the game quickly swung the way of the Downs. First Bombadil wound his way through the tired defense for a snap-shot that was barely blocked by Atanamir, then Saucepan Man nearly scored off a corner, and then a bit later Hookbill forced a save again after a dizzying series of passes that the Numenoreans simply didn’t have the energy to follow.
Seeing the plight of the Numenoreans the Downs switched to an attack that quickly flipped sides of the field in an attempt to outnumber Armenelos on one side, which forced the defenders to flow left to right following the ball. After several minutes of such treatment Armenelos looked downright ragged and with but two minutes until halftime Bombadil and company ran right through the defense like water through a sieve, and the match was level.
The Armenelos supporters vented their frustrations on the Valinorean host committee. “That’s why they made us play here! They knew this would happen! This is ridiculous playing in conditions like this. It’s entirely unequal.” But the spectators near the section of Wights found themselves answered mockingly. “You good-guys are always making Orcs and Wights and such play games when the sun is high and shining down. This is no different. How does it feel?”
But Elros and company were not shaken as easily as the spectators, and they looked calm when they emerged for the second half. Soon it was clear that they had recovered and had adjusted their play to compensate. They were doing their best to avoid long runs, and were sharp and focused on their possession passing, sending the ball front to back, side to side, but withdrawing whenever they looked in clear danger of losing possession. After ten minutes of it the Downs began to turn up the pursuit, and attempting to force passes into traffic, and so Armenelos simply kept going all the way back to the rear. After a few more minutes of that the Downs, having only had possession for a couple minutes the entire half, decided to get much more aggressive, not even allowing the keeper to receive the ball without pressure. And that’s when Armenelos struck!
As if they were one unified being the whole team recognized the opportunity and acted accordingly. Atanamir sent it over to Telperien who sent it all the way to the middle to Ancalimon who ran to meet it and chipped it back to Tar Miriel who was rushing directly at him, and she immediately booted it forward over the defenders. Adunakhor, Pharazon, and Elros were all sprinting flat-out to catch up to it, and River Woman, GaladriWight and Lumpkin sandwiched between. When it fell Adunakhor managed to get in the way of River Woman and Pharazon leaped and faked a head-touch, which momentarily slowed Lumpkin and GaladriWight—just enough for Elros to dash past and receive the ball himself, and after one touch to slow it and one touch to set it he sent a perfect rocket to the right post and Alien had no chance for the save. Armenelos was into the lead once again!
Soon after word was passed around that just before the goal the folks at the western top had heard bells again—evidently Valimar had scored once more. But of course no one knew if it was 2-0 or 2-4, but the messenger eagle exiting the tower would soon know, as he was on his way down to Valimar to tell of Armenelos’ lead.
-------------------------
-------------------------
When the eagle arrived to deliver his news he found that his beloved Valimar was in firm command, having just taken a 2-0 lead. It was Arien again doing the damage, this time off a feed from Vaire. As would be expected of a Manwe-led team (particularly one already as good as qualified and playing a likable foe) Valimar went into full defense after the second goal, content to hold their lead and confident they could do so. And even if Armenelos were to score a smashing victory and gain the top spot in the group, Valimar felt equally confident whether they were in the playoffs in the top of the bracket or the bottom.
But as time ticked away without any messages of further scoring at Ilmarin Field it seemed evident that Valimar would in fact take first in the group, and the home fans really grew excited, as they would have the opportunity to host the first round playoff match. All eyes went immediately to a messenger eagle when he arrived near the 75 minute mark, but he simply reported that Armenelos was still going full possession, but keeping the Downs honest with an occasional dash forward with a long pass, and they were smartly alternating the runners so as not to tire anyone.
When the clock went past 80 minutes fans began to talk seriously about buying tickets to the first-round match, but Havens was a proud team with good players and it turned out they wouldn’t go down without a fight. Finally Cirdan and Earendil managed to confound their marks with a spectacular one-two game from the left side, and Earendil drove it home as if he was stabbing a sword into Ancalagon. The fans applauded the goal, now somewhat nervous about losing their lead in the group (if Armenelos scored again), but the final minutes of both games passed without an event of import.
It was Valimar grabbing the first spot and Armenelos grabbing the second! And their fans celebrated far into the night….
-------------------------
-------------------------
Armenelos 2-1 Barrow-Downs
on target 8-7
tot shots 16-15
GOALS:
*22, 1-0 Ar Pharazon
*43, 1-1 Bombadil (SPM)
*66, 2-1 Elros (TarMiriel)
YELLOW CARDS:
*Armenelos- TarAncalimon
*BDowns- LalwendeMP, Lumpkin
Havens 1-2 Valimar
on target 5-4
tot shots 11-9
GOALS:
*17, 0-1 Arien (Namo)
*63, 0-2 Arien (Vaire)
*84, 1-2 Earendil (Cirdan)
YELLOW CARDS:
*Havens- Mithrelas
*Valimar-
Code:
--------- W-D-L Pts Score
Valimar 2-1-0 7 5-2
Armenelos 2-1-0 7 5-3
Havens 0-1-2 1 4-6
BDowns 0-1-2 1 3-6
-------------------------
-------------------------
MESPN Exit Interviews
MESPN: Mr. Bombadil—how would you summarize the performance of your squad this year?
Bombadil: Well, derry-dol, it was a delight to play alongside my dear Goldberry, and I’m certainly looking to do so again!
MESPN: But what about your results? Are you pleased?
Bombadil: Results are what they are, and you can’t change them—you can just enjoy being here now. We earned what we got, but I think we can do better next time, my hearties!
MESPN: So you’re back next year?
Bombadil: Unless my lady Goldberry leaves, I can’t say that I will.
MESPN: Barrow-Wight, can you tell us where this squad is headed?
BWight: We were so low-budget that we made out with cash despite the early exit. You can bet we’ll be looking to spend some next year.
MESPN: Any targets?
BWight: I can think of a couple, but I’m not sure it’s appropriate to discuss them while they’re still playing with other squads in the tournament.
MESPN: We understand. Thanks a lot, guys.
MESPN: So guys—tough loss today.
Olwe: Yes indeed. Valimar is solid obviously, but we didn’t feel outclassed in this group. I think we were right there.
Falastur: Oh yes! It’s just an inch here and there that we need to scrape out and we’ll be into the playoffs again.
MESPN: Cirdan, do you think this squad looks the same next year?
Cirdan: Well, one can never promise, but given that we’re not horribly over-budget and very close to qualifying, I don’t see any radical changes on the horizon. I’m back certainly.
Olwe: And me as well.
Falastur: Me too.
MESPN: Any possible additions to shake things up that you already have in mind, or can you not say?
Falastur: Well, I can say I’ve had discussions with the other Gondorin ship-kings in the past, and one or two of them may have shown some interest.
MESPN: Well all right. Good luck, guys.