Pardon the further delay but here are the results. We have a rather fascinating line up for today. It will be interesting to see if Moria can gel together and how Valinor kick off their tournament. The much talked about Tuna will finally be getting a game in, it will by no means be an easy one as they face off against one of the best strikers in the game, the dreaded Turambar. Without further ado, on to the matches!
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Group A
Moria 0 - 0 Valinor
It was a rather well played first half. Both teams managed to string together some decent play but neither team really had any luck with the final product. Around the 25th minute
Varda was shown a yellow card, though the tackle was a soft one. I've seen harder tackles go without so much as a whistle. The only real chance in the first half came around the 30th minute for Valinor when
Eonwe crossed the ball in for
Tulkas who nodded the ball down for
Orome but the shot was narrowly wide. Moria's lack of organization was evident by their large number of offsides.
Valinor dominated the second half but were shut out by a phenomenal
Watcher in the Water who is pretty much the only reason Moria hung on for the draw. Valinor will obviously be frustrated, the took many shots in the second half and completely disrupted Moria but it was just impossible to beat
Watcher today. While I generally would accuse a team that plays like Moria did in the second half, of being overly defensive and a blemish on the beautiful game but since Moria seemed to have no sense of teamwork and because of the amazing agility shown by
Watcher I'll excuse them this time.
Shots: 2(0) - 9(7)
Posession: 47 - 53
Bookings: Varda
Group B
Tuna 2 - 0 Brethil
(Finwe 11th, Finarfin 62nd)
Brethil looked very good going forward in the first half but their defence barely held at all. Tuna played masterfully all over the pitch and scored a goal very early on.
Maedhros made a brilliant dash down the right flank and crossed in for
Finwe to head in an early goal. Not too long after that a rather rash tackle by
Finarfin earned him a yellow card.
Haldir's free-kick was met by the foot of
Turambar but the ball deflected out for a corner. The resultant corner was quickly cleared.
There were a fair number of chances created in the first half with both teams playing some beautiful attacking football.
Feanor played in a brillaint ball for
Finwe but the striker held on his shot and
Niniel was able to rush forth and collect the ball. Another brilliant chance fell to
Hareth after he was played in by
Hunthor. Unfortunately his shot went askew, it really should have been an easy take and he just made a fool of himself. Tuna went in ahead at the end of the half.
Brethil started the second half with some smooth attacking plays and nearly equalized with
Turambar's diving header but a motivated save by
Fingolfin ensured Tuna stayed in front. Around the 55th minute
Dorlas was shown a yellow card for a harsh tackle on
Finarfin. During a rather careless Brethil advance Tuna was able to brilliantly reverse the flow with a wonderous counter-attack.
Maedhros played a neat one two with [/b]Finarfin[/b] before tapping the ball front for the mid-fielder to chip in. Tuna held back after that and let the clock tick down for an easy win.
Shots: 11(9) - 6(2)
Posession: 52 - 48
Bookings: Finarfin - Dorlas
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Well, we were certainly treated to some very good attacking football in the first two matches and I can only hope that the other two games are played at high tempos as well. Although the Tuna - Brethil game did drop in tempo once Tuna scored their second goal. None the less, they were fascinating contests.