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the phantom · 08-10-2013, 02:11 PM

Group H @ Amon Hen

A few folks here and there complained about Arda Cup’s “special consideration” for Group H. Why shouldn’t they have to play the final round simultaneously like everyone else? Well, obviously, it was because the Amon Hen Coliseum was unlike any other arena, and so the seating disparity that would exist between them and the alternate site would be enormous. While this could indeed provide an advantage to the squads playing the second match, it had been done in this fashion for the past few years, thus it wasn’t without precedent.

The first match pitted the Dunedain of the north against the horse-lords. Since Rohan was nearer, and because the Gondorians were their fast friends, doubtless Rohan would have the lion’s share of crowd support, but they’d also be smart enough to know that a Rohan victory would more likely help Mordor than their own Rohan. MESPN correspondent Arvagil, who especially covers squads from Eriador, had this to say: “I expect if Arnor has the lead in the second half the Gondorian portion of the crowd may go over to their side. They’ll realize that Rohan can’t advance at that stage, and so they’ll wish for an Arnorian victory in order to block Mordor’s chances.”

And what were Mordor’s chances? They’d looked impressive against Rohan, and then held the lead against Arnor until the final 15, when Arnor scored twice. But Anduin had been the class of the group thus far, defeating Arnor solidly by two and then grabbing a two-goal lead on Rohan and sitting on the lead for most of the second half. But—if Rohan and Arnor tied in the first game, or even if Rohan won by less than 4 goals, suddenly the door would be open for Mordor to advance with only a draw…

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For the final set of games of Group H, the Coliseum was filling to the brim. A few odd extra boats from up and downstream were expected for the final round, but far more showed up with Anduin poised to win the group, which would mean that they would also host the first round of playoffs at Amon Hen, thus folks figured they could catch the final round and be on-site to be first in line to purchase tickets for the first round of the playoffs.

The teams from Rohan and Arnor looked grim and determined as they prepared for the match. They weren’t on bad terms with one another at all, but they weren’t exchanging any smiles or hugs, as they were fully set to give no quarter, as both had a shot of advancing to the playoffs.

The crowd was expecting Rohan to be aggressive from the outset since they were the ones with the most ground to make up in the standings, but it was Arnor that took the initiative from the get-go. They left behind their usual caution and possession and made some riskier passes forward, and tried to give Witch King and company chances to force the action. Hama and the horses at the back staved them off decently, but after Witch King made a nice touch and sent a quick pass that yielded a surprise drive from Araphor that rattled the goalposts, Theoden called in for some defensive help. The Rohan supporters smiled—their team preferred to play defense first anyway, and if Arnor wanted to leave themselves open at the back, that was fine with them.

Things were suddenly tougher going for Arnor, but they were well-schooled and went to work against Rohan, now playing it more carefully and working their whole team up in support, and one-touching it around close quarters with precision. After 10 minutes of work they earned themselves an Elendil header off a corner and a pretty re-direct from Arantar, but Theoden had them both played perfectly. But the Rohan fans were getting uncomfortable now, as their team hadn’t shown them anything. They were under assault, and looked to be withering.

And at minute 33 it finally happened—Witch King and Araphor managed a series of passes on the left side that scared Rohan enough to shift over, and immediately Araphor sent a ball pinpoint right through to the right side where Argeleb one-touched it back into the middle of the spinning defense and Arassuil met it in stride and fired it through a lane, and Theoden didn’t see it in time to react. Arnor had the lead!

When things got rolling again Arnor looked like they were going right back to work, but Hama sprawled out to tip away a pass and Snowmane immediately hoofed it forward where King Dead got a hold of it and served it out in front of Faramir and Eowyn, and only a sliding Malbeth forcing Faramir to take his shot out of rhythm kept the equalizer from happening, as the boot didn’t have quite enough on it and Arvedui made a heroic save. The Arnor fans sighed and then laughed it off, certain they’d be back in control soon, but the team on the field took things more seriously. After a brief meeting between Elendil and Witch King things were back under way, and Arnor was no longer attacking. They were possessing and time-wasting, and when Rohan had it they fell back swiftly, and that’s the way they finished the half.

During the break the crowds debated what would happen in the second half. Rohan needed to attack, that much was obvious, but what would Arnor do? They had so much success early on attacking, so why not keep doing it? Particularly if Mordor happened to win, they needed goals to catch them in differential. But others said that the strategy they’d settled on to end the half would continue—Arnor had been spooked that they’d lose their lead too quickly, and if they could just draw things out for a bit they’d almost certainly get a draw, and then bank on Anduin defeating Mordor.

When the second half started, it seemed the more conservative fans were correct—Arnor was playing it cautious. For the first ten minutes or so Rohan seemed downright surprised, and then seemed to struggle to adjust, but finally Faramir had the soldiers whipped into shape and Rohan started looking like the mirror image of Arnor from the first half. But the main difference is that they had no Witch King—the way he unnerves mortals is something that, while subtle, is a nice bonus, but Rohan had to earn their chances more honestly.

At around 60 minutes Rohan began to get desperate and they started taking any decent looking shot they got. They managed to put several on target and made Arvedui move, but none of the shots were close enough to truly be threatening. At minute 80 they completely muffed a corner, sending it clean over everyone, and at that point Theoden decided to shut things down. They simply didn’t have enough time to score enough goals to qualify, and if they didn’t qualify, they’d rather Arnor get in than Mordor, so rather than try desperately for the draw they elected to just whittle the time away.

Elendil accepted the turn of events graciously, and appeared to share a knowing look with the Witch King. Perhaps they had even expected the surrender slightly sooner. But better late than never. Arnor had the victory. They owned six points, and would have to wait and see what happened between Mordor and Anduin in the evening. An Anduin win or draw would send them forward, while a Mordor win would leave them out in the cold (unless they won by four goals, which was inconceivable).

Arnor 1-0 Rohan
on target 4-5
tot shots 12-14
GOALS:
*33, 1-0 Arassuil (Argeleb)
YELLOW CARDS:
*Arnor- Earendur
*Rohan- KingDead

When the evening match between Anduin and Mordor was ready to roll there were close to 200,000 ready to watch. There was a large contingent of Orcs and creepy-crawlies to support Mordor, but the Anduin supporters made them look like nothing in comparison. Groups of Elves from Lothlorien and Mirkwood were for them, the men of the Anduin vales were for them, the Gondorins were for them, and the Arnor and Rohan supporters would also be pulling for Anduin.

But what sort of game would the home side have to offer? So long as they didn’t lose by four goals they had a ticket to the playoffs, so how much did they care about winning this contest? Was there any chance that they had a preference on facing either Valimar or Armenelos in the first round? Most agreed that the opportunity to host their game was too good to pass up, so surely they’d at least try for a draw. And quite a few thought they’d prefer to lock Mordor out of the playoffs as well and let the Arnorians in instead, so surely they wouldn’t be rolling over.

When the refs got the game started though it didn’t look like Anduin was interested in taking the game to Mordor. They didn’t seem to want to hold the ball at all, and their runs looked half-hearted, and this suited Mordor fine, as they were looking to attack out of the gate. But it must be said for Anduin that while their attackers lacked energy, Fram, Celeborn, and the rest of the folks at the rear were dialed in, and seemed to enjoy Shelob and company coming at them. Surely it was by design—but why? Were they just using the game as a final tune-up before the playoffs?

If that was the case, their preparations were looking good, as they were taking everything Mordor could throw at them, and that’s without getting extra help from the front or even bothering to keep Mordor honest with serious attempts to counter. Mordor grew frustrated indeed and pushed ever more aggressively. Fram was just harassing Shelob—everyone knows what a monster-stopper he is ever since he turned Scatha into a lamb in that historic clash years ago. And while Minalcar at times was unsettled by the Nazgul, Celeborn and Felarof tried to handle them for the most part leaving him to dog the steps of the Mouth of Sauron.

Finally around the half-hour mark Mordor started looking threatening, as they had nearly every player dedicated to the attack, and they were really starting to find rhythms thanks to their long testing of the Anduin defense. First one of the Fellbeasts managed to gain a decent tail-shot, forcing Amroth to make the save, and then a few minutes later Shagrat managed to sneak into a dangerous position and one-timed a Nazgul pass, but again Amroth was there for the save. The hard-core Anduin supporters applauded, but the Arnor fans were annoyed. “Don’t just treat this as a practice!” they could be heard shouting. “Our playoff fates are in the balance!”

And just a few minutes before halftime their darkest fears were realized, as the Mouth fired a rocket off the crossbar and Shelob used one of her many legs to clean up the rebound, and Mordor was into the lead! The Orcs went absolutely wild, as they knew they were now sitting in line to qualify in the top position from the group! As play resumed many of the Arnor and Rohan fans especially began to boo, as they were most displeased with Anduin’s play and the results it was getting, but Anduin ignored it and kept doing more of the same, and to the relief of most of the spectators Mordor didn’t quite manage another serious threat before the halftime break.

During the half many of the fans considered leaving in protest and demanding their money back at the ticket office. But the vast majority thought better of it in the end, saying, “They can’t do that for the entire second half surely—something will change.” But as the second half started they looked to be quite wrong, as Anduin let Mordor have it and Mordor rushed forward to attack yet again. Many were halfway out of their seats to go demand their money back when it happened—Celeborn got in the way of a pass and rifled it downfield, and Haldir and Grimbeorn were swiftly after it with Eorl and Boromir II close behind!

The Mordor defense was caught completely off-guard and it was a four-on-two. Haldir brought it down and sent it over to Grimbeorn, who laid it back for Eorl, who sent it forward to Haldir, and he sent it across for Grimbeorn and he headed it home! Just like that the score was level!

But no! Lost in the action was the offside flag! Eorl was judged not to have sent his pass before Mumakil and Gothmog II stop-started and let Haldir and Grimbeorn on the wrong side of them! It was a very desperate maneuver, but most that had a good view of it said that the Mordorians had timed it right and the call was the right one. Amroth knelt and pounded the field a few times, and the rest of Anduin showed their disappointment as well. They’d been waiting to do just that and they had blown the opportunity! They couldn’t hope to catch Mordor sleeping again—they now knew that Anduin wasn’t going to roll over any longer.

But despite Mordor being wise to their plans, the game turned against them anyway. They now had to play more honestly and Anduin was suddenly possessing well to boot, and after a while it became obvious that Mordor just couldn’t match them. At first they noticed their attack was getting nowhere, and then the game moved to the midfield, and then it was on their side. Around 60 minutes Anduin started willing the game to go their way for real. First Boromir II sent a drive barely high, then Leod nearly put in a loose ball, then Grimbeorn forced a save on a corner, then Haldir forced an even better save from a perfect free-kick bender.

And finally at minute 70 Anduin got their equalizer, as Haldir found Boromir for a quick give and go and Boromir made no mistake with a step on his man and an opening to shoot through. The Anduin supporters applauded the effort, while the Arnor fans leaped up and down and screamed! Now they were in the playoffs instead of Mordor!

Mordor wasn’t going to go down without a fight—they needed but one goal to turn the group on its head again, but there was nothing they could do. Anduin was dominating now, and before the final whistle sounded they nearly scored twice more. Though they wanted the win and showed some momentary disappointment with the result, Anduin eventually broke into smiles and embraced, realizing that they’d be hosting a first-round playoff game. Anduin had conquered their home group, and Arnor had finished in second!

Anduin 1-1 Mordor
on target 5-3
tot shots 14-10
GOALS:
*37, 0-1 Shelob (Mouth)
*70, 1-1 Boromir II (Haldir)
YELLOW CARDS:
*Anduin- Boromir II, Grimbeorn
*Mordor- Nazgul#2, Gorbag, Shagrat, Mumakil

Code:

--------  W-D-L   Pts  Score
Anduin    2-1-0   7    5-2
Arnor     2-0-1   6    3-3
Mordor    1-1-1   4    4-3
Rohan     0-0-3   0    1-5

MESPN Exit Interviews

MESPN: So, Theoden—I can’t imagine you thought you’d end up pointless in group.
Theoden: Obviously.
MESPN: What could have changed?
Theoden: We could’ve played better.
MESPN: Faramir, any thoughts?
Faramir: What he said.
MESPN: Okay. Is everyone going to be back next year?
Faramir: Eowyn and I are determined to be back. I can’t speak for others.
MESPN: Theoden?
Theoden: *sigh* I don’t know.
MESPN: Is Rohan shopping for new blood?
Faramir: We always have our eyes open.
MESPN: But any names anyone can give us?
Eowyn: Anything at this point would just be reckless speculation. But I suppose there is one that I’m somewhat certain of. He’s never played in Arda Cup before—he’s not overly fond of crowds and large cities.
MESPN: Ah—hoping he’ll join you in driving away the bad dark of this year’s campaign?
Eowyn: Heh, he’ll like that.
MESPN: All right then, good luck.

MESPN: So close to the playoffs, guys.
Mouth of Sauron: We have failed our investors. They will not be pleased.
MESPN: Mainly Sauron, right?
Mouth: Indeed.
MESPN: At least you were low-budget enough to make a bit of money anyway.
Mouth: Making “a bit” isn’t the standard. In the end we want it all.
MESPN: Well then, what’s the plan for the future?
Mouth: It’s tough to say until all the games are finished, but rest assured we’ll look to gain in competitiveness without putting ourselves at financial risk.
MESPN: Any new faces for next season that you can predict?
Mouth: I would guess a player or two will swap from Barad-Dur, but Sauron will have the final word.
MESPN: Are you saying you’ll receive their castoffs?
Mouth: No. Both Mordorian squads will improve.
MESPN: You certainly have confidence for someone that got bounced from group play.
Mouth: Make your little jokes while you can.
MESPN: Thanks for giving your permission.

08-10-2013, 02:11 PM	#108
the phantom Beloved Shadow Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: The Stadium Posts: 5,971	Group H @ Amon Hen A few folks here and there complained about Arda Cup’s “special consideration” for Group H. Why shouldn’t they have to play the final round simultaneously like everyone else? Well, obviously, it was because the Amon Hen Coliseum was unlike any other arena, and so the seating disparity that would exist between them and the alternate site would be enormous. While this could indeed provide an advantage to the squads playing the second match, it had been done in this fashion for the past few years, thus it wasn’t without precedent. The first match pitted the Dunedain of the north against the horse-lords. Since Rohan was nearer, and because the Gondorians were their fast friends, doubtless Rohan would have the lion’s share of crowd support, but they’d also be smart enough to know that a Rohan victory would more likely help Mordor than their own Rohan. MESPN correspondent Arvagil, who especially covers squads from Eriador, had this to say: “I expect if Arnor has the lead in the second half the Gondorian portion of the crowd may go over to their side. They’ll realize that Rohan can’t advance at that stage, and so they’ll wish for an Arnorian victory in order to block Mordor’s chances.” And what were Mordor’s chances? They’d looked impressive against Rohan, and then held the lead against Arnor until the final 15, when Arnor scored twice. But Anduin had been the class of the group thus far, defeating Arnor solidly by two and then grabbing a two-goal lead on Rohan and sitting on the lead for most of the second half. But—if Rohan and Arnor tied in the first game, or even if Rohan won by less than 4 goals, suddenly the door would be open for Mordor to advance with only a draw… ------------------------------- ------------------------------- For the final set of games of Group H, the Coliseum was filling to the brim. A few odd extra boats from up and downstream were expected for the final round, but far more showed up with Anduin poised to win the group, which would mean that they would also host the first round of playoffs at Amon Hen, thus folks figured they could catch the final round and be on-site to be first in line to purchase tickets for the first round of the playoffs. The teams from Rohan and Arnor looked grim and determined as they prepared for the match. They weren’t on bad terms with one another at all, but they weren’t exchanging any smiles or hugs, as they were fully set to give no quarter, as both had a shot of advancing to the playoffs. The crowd was expecting Rohan to be aggressive from the outset since they were the ones with the most ground to make up in the standings, but it was Arnor that took the initiative from the get-go. They left behind their usual caution and possession and made some riskier passes forward, and tried to give Witch King and company chances to force the action. Hama and the horses at the back staved them off decently, but after Witch King made a nice touch and sent a quick pass that yielded a surprise drive from Araphor that rattled the goalposts, Theoden called in for some defensive help. The Rohan supporters smiled—their team preferred to play defense first anyway, and if Arnor wanted to leave themselves open at the back, that was fine with them. Things were suddenly tougher going for Arnor, but they were well-schooled and went to work against Rohan, now playing it more carefully and working their whole team up in support, and one-touching it around close quarters with precision. After 10 minutes of work they earned themselves an Elendil header off a corner and a pretty re-direct from Arantar, but Theoden had them both played perfectly. But the Rohan fans were getting uncomfortable now, as their team hadn’t shown them anything. They were under assault, and looked to be withering. And at minute 33 it finally happened—Witch King and Araphor managed a series of passes on the left side that scared Rohan enough to shift over, and immediately Araphor sent a ball pinpoint right through to the right side where Argeleb one-touched it back into the middle of the spinning defense and Arassuil met it in stride and fired it through a lane, and Theoden didn’t see it in time to react. Arnor had the lead! When things got rolling again Arnor looked like they were going right back to work, but Hama sprawled out to tip away a pass and Snowmane immediately hoofed it forward where King Dead got a hold of it and served it out in front of Faramir and Eowyn, and only a sliding Malbeth forcing Faramir to take his shot out of rhythm kept the equalizer from happening, as the boot didn’t have quite enough on it and Arvedui made a heroic save. The Arnor fans sighed and then laughed it off, certain they’d be back in control soon, but the team on the field took things more seriously. After a brief meeting between Elendil and Witch King things were back under way, and Arnor was no longer attacking. They were possessing and time-wasting, and when Rohan had it they fell back swiftly, and that’s the way they finished the half. During the break the crowds debated what would happen in the second half. Rohan needed to attack, that much was obvious, but what would Arnor do? They had so much success early on attacking, so why not keep doing it? Particularly if Mordor happened to win, they needed goals to catch them in differential. But others said that the strategy they’d settled on to end the half would continue—Arnor had been spooked that they’d lose their lead too quickly, and if they could just draw things out for a bit they’d almost certainly get a draw, and then bank on Anduin defeating Mordor. When the second half started, it seemed the more conservative fans were correct—Arnor was playing it cautious. For the first ten minutes or so Rohan seemed downright surprised, and then seemed to struggle to adjust, but finally Faramir had the soldiers whipped into shape and Rohan started looking like the mirror image of Arnor from the first half. But the main difference is that they had no Witch King—the way he unnerves mortals is something that, while subtle, is a nice bonus, but Rohan had to earn their chances more honestly. At around 60 minutes Rohan began to get desperate and they started taking any decent looking shot they got. They managed to put several on target and made Arvedui move, but none of the shots were close enough to truly be threatening. At minute 80 they completely muffed a corner, sending it clean over everyone, and at that point Theoden decided to shut things down. They simply didn’t have enough time to score enough goals to qualify, and if they didn’t qualify, they’d rather Arnor get in than Mordor, so rather than try desperately for the draw they elected to just whittle the time away. Elendil accepted the turn of events graciously, and appeared to share a knowing look with the Witch King. Perhaps they had even expected the surrender slightly sooner. But better late than never. Arnor had the victory. They owned six points, and would have to wait and see what happened between Mordor and Anduin in the evening. An Anduin win or draw would send them forward, while a Mordor win would leave them out in the cold (unless they won by four goals, which was inconceivable). Arnor 1-0 Rohan on target 4-5 tot shots 12-14 GOALS: 33, 1-0 Arassuil (Argeleb) YELLOW CARDS: Arnor- Earendur Rohan- KingDead When the evening match between Anduin and Mordor was ready to roll there were close to 200,000 ready to watch. There was a large contingent of Orcs and creepy-crawlies to support Mordor, but the Anduin supporters made them look like nothing in comparison. Groups of Elves from Lothlorien and Mirkwood were for them, the men of the Anduin vales were for them, the Gondorins were for them, and the Arnor and Rohan supporters would also be pulling for Anduin. But what sort of game would the home side have to offer? So long as they didn’t lose by four goals they had a ticket to the playoffs, so how much did they care about winning this contest? Was there any chance that they had a preference on facing either Valimar or Armenelos in the first round? Most agreed that the opportunity to host their game was too good to pass up, so surely they’d at least try for a draw. And quite a few thought they’d prefer to lock Mordor out of the playoffs as well and let the Arnorians in instead, so surely they wouldn’t be rolling over. When the refs got the game started though it didn’t look like Anduin was interested in taking the game to Mordor. They didn’t seem to want to hold the ball at all, and their runs looked half-hearted, and this suited Mordor fine, as they were looking to attack out of the gate. But it must be said for Anduin that while their attackers lacked energy, Fram, Celeborn, and the rest of the folks at the rear were dialed in, and seemed to enjoy Shelob and company coming at them. Surely it was by design—but why? Were they just using the game as a final tune-up before the playoffs? If that was the case, their preparations were looking good, as they were taking everything Mordor could throw at them, and that’s without getting extra help from the front or even bothering to keep Mordor honest with serious attempts to counter. Mordor grew frustrated indeed and pushed ever more aggressively. Fram was just harassing Shelob—everyone knows what a monster-stopper he is ever since he turned Scatha into a lamb in that historic clash years ago. And while Minalcar at times was unsettled by the Nazgul, Celeborn and Felarof tried to handle them for the most part leaving him to dog the steps of the Mouth of Sauron. Finally around the half-hour mark Mordor started looking threatening, as they had nearly every player dedicated to the attack, and they were really starting to find rhythms thanks to their long testing of the Anduin defense. First one of the Fellbeasts managed to gain a decent tail-shot, forcing Amroth to make the save, and then a few minutes later Shagrat managed to sneak into a dangerous position and one-timed a Nazgul pass, but again Amroth was there for the save. The hard-core Anduin supporters applauded, but the Arnor fans were annoyed. “Don’t just treat this as a practice!” they could be heard shouting. “Our playoff fates are in the balance!” And just a few minutes before halftime their darkest fears were realized, as the Mouth fired a rocket off the crossbar and Shelob used one of her many legs to clean up the rebound, and Mordor was into the lead! The Orcs went absolutely wild, as they knew they were now sitting in line to qualify in the top position from the group! As play resumed many of the Arnor and Rohan fans especially began to boo, as they were most displeased with Anduin’s play and the results it was getting, but Anduin ignored it and kept doing more of the same, and to the relief of most of the spectators Mordor didn’t quite manage another serious threat before the halftime break. During the half many of the fans considered leaving in protest and demanding their money back at the ticket office. But the vast majority thought better of it in the end, saying, “They can’t do that for the entire second half surely—something will change.” But as the second half started they looked to be quite wrong, as Anduin let Mordor have it and Mordor rushed forward to attack yet again. Many were halfway out of their seats to go demand their money back when it happened—Celeborn got in the way of a pass and rifled it downfield, and Haldir and Grimbeorn were swiftly after it with Eorl and Boromir II close behind! The Mordor defense was caught completely off-guard and it was a four-on-two. Haldir brought it down and sent it over to Grimbeorn, who laid it back for Eorl, who sent it forward to Haldir, and he sent it across for Grimbeorn and he headed it home! Just like that the score was level! But no! Lost in the action was the offside flag! Eorl was judged not to have sent his pass before Mumakil and Gothmog II stop-started and let Haldir and Grimbeorn on the wrong side of them! It was a very desperate maneuver, but most that had a good view of it said that the Mordorians had timed it right and the call was the right one. Amroth knelt and pounded the field a few times, and the rest of Anduin showed their disappointment as well. They’d been waiting to do just that and they had blown the opportunity! They couldn’t hope to catch Mordor sleeping again—they now knew that Anduin wasn’t going to roll over any longer. But despite Mordor being wise to their plans, the game turned against them anyway. They now had to play more honestly and Anduin was suddenly possessing well to boot, and after a while it became obvious that Mordor just couldn’t match them. At first they noticed their attack was getting nowhere, and then the game moved to the midfield, and then it was on their side. Around 60 minutes Anduin started willing the game to go their way for real. First Boromir II sent a drive barely high, then Leod nearly put in a loose ball, then Grimbeorn forced a save on a corner, then Haldir forced an even better save from a perfect free-kick bender. And finally at minute 70 Anduin got their equalizer, as Haldir found Boromir for a quick give and go and Boromir made no mistake with a step on his man and an opening to shoot through. The Anduin supporters applauded the effort, while the Arnor fans leaped up and down and screamed! Now they were in the playoffs instead of Mordor! Mordor wasn’t going to go down without a fight—they needed but one goal to turn the group on its head again, but there was nothing they could do. Anduin was dominating now, and before the final whistle sounded they nearly scored twice more. Though they wanted the win and showed some momentary disappointment with the result, Anduin eventually broke into smiles and embraced, realizing that they’d be hosting a first-round playoff game. Anduin had conquered their home group, and Arnor had finished in second! Anduin 1-1 Mordor* on target 5-3 tot shots 14-10 GOALS: 37, 0-1 Shelob (Mouth) 70, 1-1 Boromir II (Haldir) YELLOW CARDS: Anduin- Boromir II, Grimbeorn Mordor- Nazgul#2, Gorbag, Shagrat, Mumakil Code: -------- W-D-L Pts Score Anduin 2-1-0 7 5-2 Arnor 2-0-1 6 3-3 Mordor 1-1-1 4 4-3 Rohan 0-0-3 0 1-5 MESPN Exit Interviews MESPN: So, Theoden—I can’t imagine you thought you’d end up pointless in group. Theoden: Obviously. MESPN: What could have changed? Theoden: We could’ve played better. MESPN: Faramir, any thoughts? Faramir: What he said. MESPN: Okay. Is everyone going to be back next year? Faramir: Eowyn and I are determined to be back. I can’t speak for others. MESPN: Theoden? Theoden: sigh I don’t know. MESPN: Is Rohan shopping for new blood? Faramir: We always have our eyes open. MESPN: But any names anyone can give us? Eowyn: Anything at this point would just be reckless speculation. But I suppose there is one that I’m somewhat certain of. He’s never played in Arda Cup before—he’s not overly fond of crowds and large cities. MESPN: Ah—hoping he’ll join you in driving away the bad dark of this year’s campaign? Eowyn: Heh, he’ll like that. MESPN: All right then, good luck. MESPN: So close to the playoffs, guys. Mouth of Sauron: We have failed our investors. They will not be pleased. MESPN: Mainly Sauron, right? Mouth: Indeed. MESPN: At least you were low-budget enough to make a bit of money anyway. Mouth: Making “a bit” isn’t the standard. In the end we want it all. MESPN: Well then, what’s the plan for the future? Mouth: It’s tough to say until all the games are finished, but rest assured we’ll look to gain in competitiveness without putting ourselves at financial risk. MESPN: Any new faces for next season that you can predict? Mouth: I would guess a player or two will swap from Barad-Dur, but Sauron will have the final word. MESPN: Are you saying you’ll receive their castoffs? Mouth: No. Both Mordorian squads will improve. MESPN: You certainly have confidence for someone that got bounced from group play. Mouth: Make your little jokes while you can. MESPN: Thanks for giving your permission. __________________ the phantom has posted. This thread is now important.