Elenrod: Question: How many Inter Beleriand players does it take to change a light bulb? Answer: None; they’ll be doing fine for a while before they blow it at the last moment. Today: giving you more stomach acids than you can handle, Gondolin and Misty Mts leave it ‘til the 84th minute to secure qualification. Meanwhile, Glorfindel and Éomer play spoiler as their late goals slam the door on Wilderland and the Sea’s chances of advancing. All these stories, post-game interviews, goals of the week, and more in
The Matchday. Today we’ll be discussing all the results of the third group stage round; unfortunately we won’t have time to talk about the last sixteen fixtures, but we’ll be saving them all for a special episode of
The Matchday: Extra Time sometime later this week. With us today are the usual suspects: Tactics expert Maikalomion, fresh from a trip to Gondolin.
Maika: Hi. Yeah, I’ve just covered Group B for TENT. The food in the press box in the Stadium on the Rock was fantastic.
Adam: But I bet it’s nothing compared to what we had in Tol Eressëa.
Elenrod: And that was not an economist, Adam Smith, who went all the way to the eastern shores of Aman to cover Group F.
Felagundion: And I just watched all the games from here.
Elenrod: Of course, blogger Felagundion, that’s because you’re our captive pundit. And long will that continue.
Felagundion: Tsk. Don’t I have a filthy rich relative who’s about to kick the bucket and pass me some windfall?
Maika: Erm, we Elves don’t die.
Felagundion: Argh! The lot of you, the whole Eä, you’re all conspiring against me!
Elenrod: That must be similar to how Fingon and Maedhros feel, being dumped thrice in a row under very heart-breaking circumstances.
Felagundion: Ooh, well… not to
that extent. Those poor lads.
Elenrod: So I guess we’ll go over Groups B and F first. Now, what happened at the Stadium on the Rock?
Maika: I don’t know why everyone’s forgotten about it—well, I guess it’s because he’s been eliminated in the round of sixteen twice in a row after winning the cup—but Maeglin is a proven match-winner. He’s someone who can go, ‘Sod it, I can’t lose this game,’ and just take over.
Felagundion: And Rog—good Eru, Rog—, he stepped up when it mattered.
Adam: Also, when I watched from my hotel room aboard Tol Eressëa, I saw Inter had no one who could challenge Tuor in the air. Gondolin had their Penlod the Tall to mark Maedhros the Tall, but Tuor won a lot of aerial balls—at least, those delivered decently, but even some of the poor ones. And his winner… that was like a slam dunk leap in basketball.
Elenrod: I liked the Gondolin supporters’ chant after that: ‘
Silverfoot, Goldenhead, a match made in heaven.’
Maika: Someone screamed, ‘
Tuor Deeney’ at him from near the press box. That was fun.
Felagundion: And before that, a few Gondolin supporters shouted, ‘
Do a Doncaster!’ when Rog saved that penalty. It was loud enough that I heard it on TV.
Elenrod: What now for Inter? Do they break it up?
Adam: It would be tempting to say that. They were so close, again. And they lost to Gondolin, again. I think it’s more a mental thing than anything. For example, I think Beren should have taken that penalty—Fingon had too much baggage of being eliminated in the last game of the group stage to have full confidence in putting that penalty away.
Felagundion: Interesting that you mentioned Beren. He said that he and Lúthien would be coming back next year, because going out that way left a sour taste in his mouth. Maedhros then hinted that Lúthien might reinforce their weak midfield—certainly, Forweg and Hunthor were easily panicked by Maeglin and Duilin’s pressing.
Elenrod: What about Turgon’s comments to the press about missing his kingdom?
Maika: Someone asked Maedhros about it. ‘Would Turgon leave Inter?’ He said that he didn’t know what his half-cousin’s plans were, but he said that, ‘Whatever he decides to do, I’d wish him the best. Besides, with the people we have here, there will be no shortage of folks looking to come here and play together again.’
Elenrod: So I resounding ‘I don’t know’, then?
Maika: I read it as, ‘We’re ready either way.’ Which is good. This team will eventually figure it out. They’re too good to keep getting left out of the knockout rounds.
Elenrod: Right, then. On to the scenes at Tumladen Park. What do you make of it?
Felagundion: AC Bel proved that they’re one of the favourites to win the whole thing, plain and simple.
Maika: I like how their full-backs stormed forward for the opening goal. I was getting worried that they’d forgotten how to do that. Once they get to the knockout stages they’ll have to figure out how to throw the kitchen sink at teams who park the bus. I mean, compared to last year, when Bregolas was their sole holding midfielder, they now have a double pivot, so they have four players who can help stop those counterattacks that they were so vulnerable to last year.
Elenrod: Okay. So, what is the future for this Dwarves United squad? If that Gimli halfway line shot had gone in, would it have all ended differently for them?
Felagundion: No. I’d expect AC Bel would still attack them, and they’d still sit deep and play it long to Leggy, so the only thing that would’ve changed is the score line. 3-1 instead of 3-0.
Adam: I don’t agree. AC Bel’s opener came from their full-backs storming forward. Would they have done the same had they been a goal down?
Maika: I think they would have, but they would have done so later in the game, maybe around the hour mark if they still haven’t broken Dwarf U down by then.
Adam: That’s true… Fëanor’s that kind of tactician. By the way, I’m worried for the Dwarves’ finances. They made a profit last year and reinvested it into the squad, but now they’re in for huge losses. Factor in Erebor’s elimination, and we could see an offseason of tightened belts in the Dwarf U squad.
Felagundion: Not an economist, eh? But I agree. I wonder what would happen to Celebrimbor and Galadriel. I do hope we pick up Celebrimbor.
Maika: But it’s more likely that Galadriel’s leaving. Aulë hinted in the post-match presser that they’re planning to add a bit of size and speed to the very rear. Also, he said that they were unlucky to be in this year’s group of death, and they should probably be one of the sixteen best teams in the tourney. I don’t know about his second statement, but his first one’s spot on. Only goal difference separated them from Gondolin the second seed.
Elenrod: I guess that’s it for Group B. Now, Adam, what can you say about the last matchday of Group F?
Adam: As a neutral, it was a feast of great goals. But since we’re talking about our favourite goals later…
Maika: One of them was deflected, though.
Adam: Which one?
Maika: Éomer’s goal glanced off Ossë’s shin. If you watch the replay, you’ll see his sock flutter a little.
Adam: Was it? Oh, that explains it. I was thinking, ‘Unreal technique, giving a bicycle kick such spin.’ Well, that’s no good, then. He really is rubbish, as Denny said.
Felagundion: You should’ve seen the anguish of Tirion and the Sea fans after Finrod scored that
unbelievable equaliser. ‘Did we blow it? Will the Sea score another goal?’ ‘Did we blow it? What if Tirion don’t get another goal?’
Adam: I thought you’re supposed to be under house arrest?
Felagundion: I have friends who are fans of other teams. They text me a lot.
Adam: Right. Anyway, the Sea’s lack of a prolific goalscorer got found out. All of their front four can put it into the net, but none of them is the brace or hat-trick type of striker.
Maika: Also, Minas Tirith were defensively solid, crowding out the Sea’s midfielders so they couldn’t get the ball forward easily. If only they’d done the same to Tirion…
Elenrod: Maybe they’d make Mardil a permanent captain of their squad; he seems to get his tactics right. What’s next for Minas Tirith?
Felagundion: Éomer’s gone; I don’t think he’d stay after the abuse he got from Denny. Also, Mardil said that he’d been looking at Armenelos’ games—in some ways they’re similar teams, possessing athletic players who have roughly the same level of talent (although, of course, the level of talent in Númenor is much higher than in Gondor.) That means they might try out a back three, too. I’m interested in that; Cirion looks like he’d be a good wing-back.
Elenrod: And the Sea? They’re one of the most expensive teams in the competition. This must hurt.
Adam: The Sea’s backers have deep pockets, so I don’t think they’d worry about the sunk costs so much as the failure to make a dent in their tournament position. Last year, at least they got out of the group and were eliminated by the eventual champions, but now they’re eliminated by what are, at best, quarterfinals-level teams.
Felagundion: I resent that. Nargothrond have a proper cup-winning squad. But anyway, the Sea lost by the narrowest of margins—goal difference, basically down to goals scored. Ulmo said in the press conference afterwards that he might add a free agent scorer, but that would mean reshuffling their line-up.
Maika: I hope Voronwë stays in his position; he’s one of the few complete midfielders in this year’s tournament—he can tackle, he can read the opposition’s attack
and their defence, not to mention that he has the passing range to exploit the holes in defences he can see.
Elenrod: Right, now let’s swiftly go over the rest of the groups, starting with Group A. Thoughts?
Maika: I saw an interesting statistic about the Havens. In Group A, they were actually dominant in terms of total shots ratio, the percentage of total shots in a game taken by a team. The Haven’s TSR is 54%; Valimar’s is 50%, meaning they shoot once for every shot they allow. Armenelos’ opponents actually take more shots in a game than they do. So I think the problem with the Havens, why they can’t turn that shot dominance into game dominance, was finishing and goalkeeping.
Felagundion: Well, Amandil is atrocious, third-worst keeper this year. And Eärendil isn’t exactly a clinical finisher. Remember, when he was Eregion’s lone striker back in 2011, it was Glorfindel who was shouldering the scoring load from the midfield during the group stage, before he stepped up a little during their last few games.
Elenrod: On to Group C, then.
Adam: Children vs adults. What else can one say? Doriath and Shire-Bree performed better than expected, but Real still have that championship pep in their step, and Hithlum are serious about qualifying again after last year’s disaster.
Elenrod: And Group D?
Maika: Sauron proved that he is indeed the most talented non-FC Val player in that group, misdirecting a talented goalie like Huan in his equaliser. They ended up losing the match, but that goal was what put them over Gondor into the next round.
Felagundion: Also, Anarion did so little against Isengard. You’d have expected him to take charge and orchestrate their attacks, but nothing. Was last year a fluke?
Elenrod: We’re really going through this really quickly. Group E, then.
Adam: I think we’ll have to slow down for this one. This was an insane group. Eriador really slacked off, which was understandable, considering they’ve already won their group. But that was dangerous, considering that if they do that in the knockout stage, they’d be out.
Maika: I think that, more than the Witch-king, Eriador really miss Valandil. I thought Valandil was an understated cog in last year’s Eriador; he was an unfussy defensive midfielder, masterful at nipping counterattacks at the bud, but he also initiated their attacks with short quick passes to the attacking midfield trio in front of him. With him, Eriador had more surety, purpose, directness in possession, so that they could actually control the game instead of just being solid defensively.
Adam: I agree. We’ve talked about how scoring goals is more important in the group stage, and defending more important come the knockout rounds, but the favourites—the Valinors, AC Bel, this year’s TiG—, they control the game. They can score well
and defend well because they can take the ball anytime they like. A complete holding midfielder can make an attacking team stronger defensively, and he can make a defensive team feel safer going forward—he completes a team. Last year’s Eriador can commit up to five players on the attack because the six players behind them are so comfortable dealing with any counterattack. Araphant and Arador just don’t give them that kind of confidence.
Felagundion: So basically Valandil is wasted at goal—he’s rubbish at Imladris. But the other game: What happened to Erebor’s defence? It’s like they dropped off a cliff. Beorn was terrible, and their defenders looked disorganised. Was Gwaihir that important?
Elenrod: It looked like it—his side won, after all.
Maika: And as I’ve been saying, Durin’s Bane, Narvi, Azog, and Rumil are a well-balanced strike team. You have power, pace, energy, and technique spread out among them. I won’t be surprised even if they score vs FC Val.
Elenrod: Oops, hold on, we’ll leave that for another time. Moving on to Group G… TiG pulled an Eriador? Decided to take an early holiday?
Adam: Something like that. Also, Angband are prone to those lapses of concentration that should have been ironed out this late in the tournament. A similar error against AC Bel would be the end of their run.
Felagundion: I’m somewhat sad for Anfauglith. They had that target man-quick man pairing that looked top-class, but their lack of midfield came back to bite them.
Maika: There should be a lot of cheap, underrated midfielders out there. For example, Bregolas is out of contract, and he did well for AC Bel last year. Teams should just be more persistent in finding those players.
Elenrod: Last group, Group H.
Felagundion: What is up with Sauron and his teams? He scores against the best team in his group, and Mordor draw with the best team in their group. I won’t be surprised if they turn out to have been using performance-enhancing rings.
Elenrod: I do need to tell you, Felagundion, that if you do get sued for slander, you’re on your own.
Adam: Isn’t anyone worried that Arnor only scored once against Rohan?
Maika: Well, the Witch-king and Araphor aren’t exactly whom you’d call volume scorers. And they were playing rather passively for the second half.
Elenrod: I suppose that’s it for our discussion of matchday three. Goal of the week time. Let’s start with you, Felagundion. I know exactly what you’d choose: Finrod’s equaliser vs Tirion.
Felagundion: Felagund will
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgqsaDnsEq8]pants you and your friends[/url] for the whole world to see. It was incredible how he made Irimë, Amrod, and Amras look like Sunday league players.
Elenrod: There were a lot of good goals in the other game, too. I’m sure a lot of people had to change pants after Vëantur’s through pass for Tar-Meneldur, but Tar-Minastir’s goal
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfgNj7wH2VA]from an impossible angle[/url] takes the cake for me.
Adam: Was Isildur’s flick-on for Glorfindel’s equaliser vs Wilderland a rabona? It seemed like he passed it from behind his legs. If it was, why doesn’t he always demonstrate that level of technique every game?
Maika: Adam already described Tuor’s winner vs Inter, but I also liked Gondolin’s second goal. The cohesion of their front line is just a joy to watch. But my favourite goal was Sauron’s one-on-one with Huan. I’ve already talked about it, but really, to have the audacity to face a two-time Arda Cup winning goalie like that, dummy him, then chip it over him… Like I said, I don’t think anyone expected them to win, but it was that goal that proved the difference in their qualification.
Elenrod: I guess that’s it for today. Don’t worry, viewers, we will be back sometime again this week for our round of sixteen preview. Thanks again to the Maika, to Adam, and to Felagundion. We might have a special guest for our
Extra episode, so do tune in for that. We’ll see you again soon.