ARDA CUP Football 2012

[the phantom]

Let the countdown begin!

Last season's Arda Cup was a thrilling tournament. Our very own Tol-In-Gaurhoth team made it all the way to the finals before falling to one of the great teams in the tournament's history- Thingol and Melian's star-studded Doriath squad.

And the Phantasy competition featured a squad nearly as dominant as Doriath- Gwath's Lynch Mob. Sir Gwath perhaps silenced his doubters last year as he won his second title, becoming the first Downer to win twice. Will he prove his greatness once and for all this season, or will another Downer rise up and prevent his impending dynasty?

We'll see. But here's the one thing that is certain- this year will be better than the last!!

We've added another layer to the tournament this year that we think you'll enjoy. It will provide more fodder for stories and help develop a more continuous feel from year to year, and it will also provide everyone with an increased rooting interest. You'll see it all come together soon enough.

As always we have a crack team of writers set to provide thrilling match reports and expert editorials on behalf of Arda Kicker Magazine (AKM), Middle Earth Sports Programing Network (MESPN), and The Two Towers Network (TTN), but of course other writers are welcome to provide their analysis as the tournament rolls along.

The teams and rosters will be revealed in the coming days, and the Phantasy Competition thread will start soon after that. That is where you will pick players for your team and make trades and such. But you don't have to worry about that for a bit.

The actual tournament will not begin for some time (not until April at the earliest), but in the meantime we will be slowly revealing the tournament and the teams involved through a series of articles. So, if you want to get a jump on predictions and such, just have an eye out for team reveals and such, and then of course the friendly matches just before the tournament starts.

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In case you wanted to take a look and see how this thing works, here is last year's tournament thread->
Arda Cup 2011
And here is last year's Phantasy Competition thread->
Phantasy 2011

[the phantom]

NEWLY REFORMED ARDA CUP READY TO MOVE FORWARD
by Phantom, MESPN News

Those with connections and quick ears knew for many months that change was coming to Arda Cup, but few realized just how major the changes were until Eru announced them last September. A complete and total reformation of the tournament was the order.

And who could blame him? Most teams were running up enormous debts, and the tournament itself needed greater staffing to assist on tackling issues such as policing the behavior of various organizing host committees- notably those based in Valinor. The idea that the Blessed Realmers were possibly killing opposing fans was something that needed to be dealt with, and the Cup was ill equipped to handle the problem.

And then there was of course the problem of competitive balance. Leagues thrive on competitiveness, and the more teams that feel they are in the running, the better. A salary cap was necessary to be certain. It was one thing for a team to have a dominant run, but Doriath positively crushed all comers in the 2011 Cup, boasting a roster with nothing except top-tier talent. An all-star team.

Once Eru handed down his verdict, the remainder of the year was spent working on ownership buyouts and cutting deals that left everyone unhappy, but no one completely shafted. All teams were dissolved and all contracts voided. Everything would start again from scratch.

And according to an announcement this morning, the clean-up is officially over. The Arda Cup Committee is ready to receive team proposals from potential ownership groups beginning tomorrow. If approved, the groups will have permission to draw up preliminary contracts within the bounds of the new salary rules. And the rules are-

Minimum Total Salary- 35 million
Maximum Total Salary- 120 million
Maximum Individual- 25 million

Reporters at the press conference immediately inquired about the exceptionally large range, and the spokesman was refreshingly honest about it.

"Well, we have new television contracts and site contract rules etc. and we're not entirely certain how much money teams are going to be earning in the end. We have possibilities set in rules based upon how much total revenue the tournament brings in, but we don't know which set of figures we'll end up with as we don't know how much total money we'll actually be bringing in."

"Our estimates have been all over the place, as in the past it was very de-centralized, with individual sites having a lot of freedom to set prices for attendance and food etc. and offering different sorts of perks. Frankly, there was a lot of under-the-table stuff going on as well. There's just no way to pin down a number, so we've given as wide a range as we're comfortable giving."

The spokesman went on to explain that they needed a rather low end just in case teams didn't make much. "It would be ridiculous to demand that teams spend more than they will be making. Our ownership groups deserve the opportunity to field a successful team while still making a profit."

The spokesman said that the high end is to allow for aggressive groups to buy talent and set a good market for high-end players, but added that it would be at their own risk. "If some squad ends up over-spending, that's their problem."

The only thing the spokesman was sure of profit-wise is that teams would make more money the deeper they advanced into the tournament. "It'll be a tiered reward system."

Needless to say, this next month is going to see a complete flurry of activity. Groups have lawyers working on proposals as we speak, and player-agents are no doubt already receiving phone calls. The short off-season is going to be absolutely frantic, and this reporter can hardly wait to see the results.

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by MESPN

All teams were dissolved and all contracts voided.

Indeed, as the MESPN stated earlier, Eru made great changes to this year's games. Firstly, he dissolved all of the teams. He claims that he only used water and the One power, but we have inside information that quite recently his large stores of Nitric Acid got somewhat smaller. Secondly, he banished all the contracts from the confines of the world into the Timeless Void. You see, contracts are legal documents, so you can't just dissolve them or set them on fire. So Eru found another way to keep them away from people. Morgoth was overjoyed with this decision; he finally got some company in that lonely place.

The reporters who were sent to the Doors of Night to interview the contracts were torn out of bed to get all the information timely, but they were still in hybernation mode and thus very confused; instead of interviewing the contracts they got into a theological argument with Eru. "Why me?" the One complained. "Why do they keep bothering me with all these teams, contracts, points, and all that nonesense? I'm just a tired old man. I retired, for My sake! The Valar are supposed to keep an eye on the world for me. But they're such children: they want to play too, so they give me the responsibility to oversee all this. You know why they all are called Children, right?"

If you're wondering where's the theology here, we don't exactly know. Or the argument, for that matter.

However, we want to tell you, dead readers... erm, that was supposed to say dear readers... or was it bead readers? Mead readers? Maybe deed readers? Deaf readers? Bread? Dread? Head? Thread? Or maybe deal? Read Readers?

Never mind. We just want to tell our readers something, but while we were trying to figure out which readers you are we forgot what we wanted to say.

Needless to mention, we are going to supply you with the most crazy and random articles you can find in EA.

[Nogrod]

On 2012 the Arda Kicker Magazine (AKM) will continue to be the most reliable source of overall information to the Arda Cup with its renowned statistics and analysis – whatever TTN says. After a short dispute, the AKM has also renewed its contract with the legendary gonzo-journalist Hunter U. Nogson (formerly known also as Ugr Nogrendale) giving him free hands to do what he wishes for an astonishing amount of cash. So we’re looking forwards to him ego-tripping once more with the greatest stars of the Arda Cup and providing first class off-the-mark journalism for our readers.

But this year the AKM has also assigned some of its top reporters to follow certain investment groups and the teams they finance to give the readers some insight into what happens behind the public arena. Yes, the Arda Cup Committee has declared it is ready to receive team proposals from “potential ownership groups” beginning tomorrow, but it is no secret to the journalists on top of things that different investment groups have been actively forming and working out their plans from September last year. The AKM will bet that some contracts have already been made behind the curtains. So when after some detective-work the AKM found out about three interesting groups of investors, it decided to concentrate on those this season, having already some early insight into their workings. The AKM will thus follow closely the bussiness, the politics and the passions involved in Meneltarma Capital (Númenor Investment Group), Evil House (Angband Investment Group) and Oath & Blood Alliance (Sons of Fëanor Investment Group).

Stay on the channel – or purchase the latest issue of the AKM – because you’re worth the news, gossip and analysis!


Enter the Investment Groups, what to look for?
The AKM Editorial by the Editor in Chief, John Bull

It is clear that something had to be done to the dominance of a few superstar teams during recent years. Praise Eru, he came up with a balanced-sounding idea of introducing a salary cap – and a minimum wage-total – to ensure no team can pick all the cream and that no team with a totally lousy roster can enter the competition. That should be good for the competition. Although the AKM thinks that setting a higher minimum total for teams to spend, even if it meant fewer teams in the tournament, would have been even wiser. But a lot will depend on how this year’s tournament turns out. If the differences in quality are still too great, some kind of levelling could be in place as also the best teams gain from a competitive league.

But will the emergence of the investment groups affect the game itself and how? According to the AKM’s knowledge, there are different kinds of investment groups from individual millionaires and wealthy circles of friends or kin to wide bands of small investors forming more like a fan- or identity-based groups. It is clear the motives behind different investment groups will affect their decisions on buying players, offering individual players different salaries and so on – and in the end to the sporting success or failure of a team.

It is easy to see a few different ways an investment group might go about its business. If the group is only in the game for financial interests it would try to find the best input – output ratio, thus not necessarily looking first and foremost to the best possible team or winning the competition: with a cheap but decent team with let’s say one or two interesting enough players (or nice headlines) the team could make better profit even if it drops out from the tournament earlyish compared to an expensive team that goes farther in the tournament. Or if a player-investor has enough say in the group, he or she might talk an expensive deal to him or herself making the group pay her or him well above the decent price – thus affecting other possible sign-ins and thus the quality of the team.

The enthusiastic small investors might be playing it badly as well fex. spending recklessly to hire their heroes and ending up losing it big time with not enough level players – or stubbornly relying on “local boys” and not having their eyes open to more talented players, possibly overpaying their local players at the same time thus adding to their problems, financially and gamewise.

Also, with money comes influence. How will different investment groups react to big money offered if the offerer has in mind influencing the team to his or her ends? So how much will money dictate the choices, how much pride and glory of one’s kin, race, city or alignment, how much pure sporting excellence and drive to win – or plain hating to lose?

It is hard to say as yet, but there sure will be answers this spring. With the AKM you will be with the exclusive crowd able to peak into the forces moving under the surface. So we’re inviting you to join the AKM with the Arda Cup 2012!


The AKM: the game – and the game behind the game!

[Boromir88]

THE TWO TOWERS NETWORK
Boromir the 88th.

Take us to the Black Gate

As news spread and excitement grew for the 2012 Arda Cup, fans, reporters, and analysts alike scrambled to get the most up-to-date info on their favorite teams and players. Since this year's Cup (and future years) promises new dynamics and a multitude of changes, no one fully knows what to expect. Team owners don't even seem to know what to expect, but indeed they will have their own designs to win the 2012 Arda Cup.

One thing everyone does count on is Sauron being one of the creative innovators, and leaders to the new system of owners and salary caps. So, it came as no surprise once officials announced the start of tournament, Sauron jumped out to grab a primetime slot and hold a press conference in front of the Black Gate. Here, he will address and welcome the media, which has gathered reporters across the world, hoping to get the first word of Arda Cup - 2012.

The Black Gate opened and out came a dark figure, upon a dark, ghastly horse with a burning red fire in its eyes. To the dismay of the media throng, it was not Sauron himself, but his emissary, The Mouth!

The Mouth: My Master regrets being unable to attend this conference, but as you must understand he has matters that require his full attention at the moment. With free agency period just opening up, and my Master being invested in several teams, he will be diligently working over these many weeks to putting his teams together. However, He has appointed me, the humble servant, always worthy of His trust, as Press Secretary. I can not answer any specifics regarding policy, but I do speak for Him.

Gorthakh from the Eastern Prophet: For the layman fans out there, maybe you can explain what all this talk of owners, investors, contracts and caps mean?

The Mouth: Due to financial struggles from many clubs it was decided something needed to be done to bring costs of owning and running teams down. The purpose of a salary cap is to keep teams relatively even on the competitive field and keep player salaries down to a manageable level. Also, what's been changed this year is teams have investors. Consider it as a pool of groups, or individuals, putting their money together to be owners, or part-owners, of a team. It's a cost-sharing effect, where different groups of people pooling resources together can share the financial burdens of owning a club.

Gorthakh: And what are Sauron's investments?

The Mouth: My master operates Barad-dur's Gold and Silver Jewelers, which has major ownership over both Mordor teams. His realtor firm based in Tol-in-Gaurhoth claims minor shares for the teams Anfauglith and Tol-in-Gaurhoth. The Dark Lord's partnered with Morgoth to run Anfauglith, and with the cast of weirdos inhabitting someplace known as the Barrow-downs.com to run Tol-in-Gaurhoth. Don't ask me further questions about the strange individuals known as Barrow-Downers. My master is interested in this alternative reality called "Interwebs" but I don't understand it, or how the finances work. 'Net-bucks? Sounds like Republic credits.

Maggot from Gorgoroth Plain Dealer: With Sauron being involved in so many teams, wouldn't there be a conflict of interest if two teams he's part-owner of, play eachother?

The Mouth: Actually this is another area where we must praise the Cup Committee for getting correct. Too often in years past games appeared to have backdoor deals and closed-door arrangements. This was all too often the case with the Valar teams, and "goodie" teams. However, the new design makes fixing matches a rather dumb strategy. From the investors standpont, the better your teams play, the further they progress, the more money for investors. From a player's standpoint the better you play, the better offers you receive. So, from both perspectives, manipulating games to help a different team makes little to no sense.

Maggot: Mayhaps you're right, mayhaps you're not. But what I mean is, you've said Sauron is partial owner in 4 different teams. Say if Anfauglith plays Barad-dur, who would Sauron prefer to win? And why should Mordorians care at all about Anfauglith? We want a championship won by our home team of Mordor. It would appear, Sauron desires trophies, but it don't matter which team of his gets one.

The Mouth: I have been assured by my Master that while he of course wants all of his teams to do well, his number one priority is making Mordor a champion again. That is why he has far more invested in the two Mordor teams, than the others.

Egasluin from the Valinorean Chronicle: Switching gears to another topic. What is Sauron's official position on the ban on games being played in Valinor this year? A person with his deep pockets surely had to wield a lot of influence.

The Mouth: I do not appreciate your tone, nor your implication. Fortunately, for you, we conduct business here differently than those snobby friends of yours from across the sea. The Dark Lord's position is, quite frankly, he doesn't care what the Valar do. His focus is on managing his own affairs. We do accept in years past, hosting games in Mordor was a major problem for tourists, and had our own bans. These problems in Mordor have been remedied since my Master's return to restore order and co-operation. If a host can not insure safety and passage to all ticket-holders, than they should not be permitted to host games. It is that simple. To ignore the list of crimes committed on Valar soil would be the ultimate form of hypocrisy from Cup officials. So, we support the ban for no games being played in Valinor this year, but my Master had nothing to do with that decision. His only involvement in what took place last year was giving the dwarven-rings that had not been destroyed by dragon-fire, back to the dwarves as an act of charity.

Iorlas from The Rising Anor - Magazine: You stated Sauron's primary goal was to make Mordor a champion in football. Can you explain what moves he is looking to make in signing players? And what the strategy is to best compete under the new gameplay system?

The Mouth: As I said at the beginning I can not discuss specific policy, with you, at this time. However, I can say, my Master is looking forward to competing under these new rules and believes since really no one knows what to expect, than everyone is starting on a clean slate. He encourages all Mordor supporters to be patient as he will work tirelessly to build an exciting, profitable, and championship contending team.

Iorlas: Surely you can give us some rumors to players you're looking at to come play under the red banner and the Eye?

The Mouth: Again, not at this time.

The Mouth mounted his terrible steed, and galloped back into the land of Mordor, with the large Black Gate shrieking shut. And thus ended the first, official, 2012 Arda Cup Press Conference. (Remember, brought to you by none other than TTN! )

[Nilpaurion Felagund]

It is not only the tournament that underwent a subtle but important change.

Just last month, the broadcasting giant Tar-Eldar Network Television (TENT) acquired ArdaCup.com, finally putting the outfit that has struggled over the years on a stable financial footing.

According to a statement released by Malantur, spokesquendi of TENT:

'For some time we have been exploring ways to provide our Eldarin viewers with the best palantir experience they could get from the Arda Cup, given its immense popularity among the Noldor and the Teleri, as well the growing interest of the Vanyar in the sport. Last year we have been impressed by the comprehensive coverage done by ArdaCup.com, so we have made contact with their office after the tournament. Now we are glad to announce that Tar-Eldar Network Television and ArdaCup.com has agreed to cover jointly the upcoming Arda Cup, especially the games of High-Elven teams, for our viewers in Eldamar and Tol Eressëa.'

Asked about the decision regarding the ban of games in Valinor, Malantur replied:

'It is regrettable, but this makes our job of covering the games for our viewers more important than ever.'

ArdaCup.com has issued the following statement:

'Even with our budget last year, forced to hire astrologers, mathematicians, coin-flippers, and amateur sportswriters, we still did good, including that almost-perfect prediction of the first round of the knockout stages. With the money we'll be having this year, all the taverns we'll pass by on our way to the games will be out ale by the time we're thr--oof!'

The person issuing that statement has been clubbed in the head, and the one holding the club was quoted as saying, 'Please, forget what he said.'

(Agence Felagundion Presse)

[the phantom]

MESPN News
The Phantom

LOTHLORIEN- There have been precious few official quotes from the offices of Celeborn and Galadriel lately, and it has caused quite a stir in their realm. What sort of team are they working on fielding this year? Everyone wants to know.

But people are forgetting the Golden Wood Group. After all, the Lord and Lady are primary members of the group, and so its actions can be assumed as statements from the rulers.

And in my opinion, the verdict is- Lothlorien will NOT have a team this year.

Not that it is outside of the realm of possibility- but the fact is the Golden Wood Group is confirmed to have invested in a Wilderland team as well as team Anduin, and with the money that has moved it would be a stretch to attempt to majority own a team in Lothlorien on top of it all.

After the general good feelings that existed between last season’s Anduin players and investors, it was expected that they would field a team yet again. “The potential of a team Anduin is simply too great to pass up,” said a Golden Wood spokeself. “The range for drawing talent is superior to any individual realm in the region.”

Celeborn has made a couple brief remarks in support of team Anduin, and word is circulating that he’ll be suiting up for them. Galadriel, on the other hand, has been seeing a lot of her old friends from Doriath lately. When asked if she would be travelling west to play, however, she insisted that she’d be staying closer to home.

Will she also be with Anduin? We’re uncertain at this time, but we can say definitively that the Woodsmen across the river will fare the same as the Golden Wood Group this year, as they too have invested in both team Wilderland and team Anduin- though of course not as heavily, as they simply don’t have as much power.

At this time Golden Wood looks to be the primary power behind Anduin, but Osgiliath Financial and Rohirrim Ltd. look like they’ll have a significant role as well. As far as the Wilderland squad, Golden Wood Group will be playing second fiddle to the Elves of Mirkwood. They’ll be on more even footing with the Woodmen and, rumor is, Orome. What the Vala is doing investing so far from home is anyone's guess.

[the phantom]

MESPN News
The Phantom

RIVENDELL- As the days pass it is becoming increasingly clear that, shockingly, Elrond will play no part in the team based in Rivendell.

Rumors of alliances based around the newly renovated stadium at Weathertop have been circulating since last season’s playoffs, and after the first few days under the new Arda Cup contract it became clear that Elrond’s primary ownership and playing interests were with that squad.

All signs pointed towards Elrond also wanting to exercise some amount of control over the team in Rivendell, but the other primary investors were evidently bitter about his decision not to sign with his own realm, and they decided to make Rivendell more of a team of the people.

But fans of the house of Elrond need not worry- the children of Elrond have been very vocal about their participation this season, and have all but guaranteed that they’ll be backing and playing for team Imladris. In addition, they’ve been giving winks about signing quality talent to replace their father. “He’s not the only member of his generation that can play,” said Arwen.

Also interesting is Elrohir’s remark yesterday that the “stars shine brighter in Rivendell”, and how that had attracted someone that would help the team immensely. “The deal’s not done and official, so I don’t want to give it away just yet.”

On the issue of Elrond’s squad, it seems that the talk last year wasn’t just talk, as he has been seen emerging from meetings with representatives of Norbury Sport and Angmar Athletic. “We Dunedain have always had a special relationship with our great great uncle,” said Arahael earlier this week. When asked about the inclusion of Angmar and the potential for strife, the chieftain waved it off. “That’s water under the bridge. We’re united now- united in our drive to win.”

Perhaps the most momentous event happened this morning, when Gil-galad and company showed up at the Weathertop stadium offices. When asked about his involvement, Gil-galad said: “Well, I can’t say I’m certain of where I’ll be signing. There’s still paperwork and salary caps to consider. But me and my people are almost certainly in on investing with the team here. This thing has promise.”

While much of northern Eriador is on board, the influential Annuminas Ltd. has its own plans according to various members we've spoken with, including Arvedui, Araphor, and Argeleb. "We're going for a more closely knit and unified squad," said Argeleb. "There will only be one or two 'outsiders' on our team, but even they know our style and have paired with us successfully in the past."

So it appears that Eriador will have four squads (including Shire-Bree United, which other networks have exclusive coverage of). All four seem extremely optimistic about their chances, which perhaps is evidence that the tournament reorganization was successful in bringing increased competitive balance.

[Nogrod]

The men of Númenor consider themselves a rare if not unique people – and they are right in a sense. They share the original capacities of the first men; endurance, strength, stamina, character and size, but unlike their ancestors, they are also refined, literate, sophisticated, proud and well, just cool. And they know that the mankind has fallen after the fall of Númenor: after the Second Age the world has been waning and so has the race of men producing ever lesser and lesser men. The exceptional majesty king Elessar showed in the third age in comparison to other men of his age made the old kings and queens of Númenor shake their heads and sigh after the glory of their times totally lost in this world. To Númenorians Elessar’s character looks as commanding as a wannabe teenage-knight’s stature who had to pray the stars to enter the Númenorean cavalry’s lowest ranks in their time.

That of course is their opinion. An opinion of a proud people, but not without a string of truth in it.

Númenor was the powerhouse of football during the first Arda Cups 08-09, getting into the bronze match on -08 and winning the title on -09 with a dream team rarely seen. After that is has been less graceful for the Númenorians, even if most nations and teams would be proud of the record of getting into the quarterfinals on two years in a row. But to Númenorians that has not been good enough. The Númenorians care for the win, and only for the win.

There was an interesting article in the Armenelos Post last week, where the editors noted that the only win in the Arca Cup to a Númenorean team (team Armenelos) came on a year when Elros was not himself in the team (-09). And in the fourth place winning side from -08 Elros was a goalkeeper – since replaced by much sharper Tar-Atanamir who has been consistently one of the best goalies in all tournaments after that. So how about it was time to show the door to the otherwise highly esteemed king and let the sporting success prevail once more?

This understandably caused a huge stir on the island of divided loyalties. Even if the strong ties of blood and pride bring the númenorians together, the issue of loyalties and the shared history of the tears shed takes them apart from each other at the same time. And the suggestion of sacking Elros wasn’t going to go down well with the “elf-friends” – while it was strongly applauded in the ranks of the “King’s Men”.

Soon it became obvious that the row was getting out of the hand as street-fights and open brawls in other public places were reported in ever shortening intervals. It was then that the great press conference was held at Armenelos yesterday.

And AKM was there, naturally.



The Númenorian investment group, Meneltarma Capital was represented by it’s co-chairs Ar-Pharazôn and Tar Atanamir. Elros was there as well as was the great Tar Minastir.


Ar-Pharazôn: On behalf of Meneltarma Capital I bid you welcome to this short press conference. We wish to assure you all Númenoreans, that there is no ill will or strife between our best players or uncertainty with our financial interests. But because of financial limitations we have made some decisions that may not please all of you, but which were forced on us.

Tar Atanamir: Yes. But we’re still building back the legendary team Armenelos for this year, more or less in the shape it was on 08-09. Sure we’re not allowing Sauron to step into the soil of this island anymore and king Elros has begged to be relieved…

Elros: That’s true. I have some plans of my own. And I assure you the article on Armenelos Post had nothing to do with it… And I’m actually staying as a minority shareholder of the Menetarma Capital. So I will support the decisions it makes and will stand behind the Númenorian excellence in football.

Tar Minastir: You know my credentials my fellow countrymen. I’m not going to play for team Armenelos this year either, and I know it is a big disappointement to many. But you can cheer for me and my good friends; the old war-horse Tar Ciryatan, Tar Meneldur the astronomer and his foresighted son Tar Aldarion on another team we have a nice holding as an investment group as well.

Ar-Pharazôn: Yes indeed. With the decision of the Meneltarma Capital we have decided to divide the talent of our island funding a few players to join a team of seafarers in the making under the captaincy of none else than Ulmo himself. So all the money by you small investors will be channelled to the greater glory of Númenor, just in two different ways, with team Armenelos and the Sea-team, whatever their name will be in the end.

Tar Atanamir: I am proud to say that even with these traito… erm… trades to Ulmo’s team, team Armenelos will refuse to go down to any team in this year’s cup.

Ar-Pharazôn: But we also wish you all to support both teams with Númenorean talent in them. We’re all of the same family. Aren’t we Elros?

Elros: For the honour of Númenor!

Everyone (suddenly standing): For the honour of Númenor!

Romenna Herald: Tar Minastir is undoubtedly one of our shiniest players, and he is taking that much of grace with him to Ulmo, and even Elros is not playing for us? Do we have any Good players left in our team of the island?

Ar-Pharazôn: Those reneg… eh… renaissance talents sure are a loss, but Tar Telperiën will lead our defence once again and the Lord of the West, Ar Adunakhôr, will help score the goals.

Tar Atanamir: And you forget the brilliance of Tar Ancalimon, Tar Calmacil and Ar Gimilzôr who formed the backbone of our midfield on 08-09. They’re back in those positions to make us run the game once more – like we used to.

The AKM: But who will feed you Mr. Pharazôn and your mate Adunakhôr? Sauron was the organizer and the passing machine on the legendary -09 team, and Elros did that job last year with Westernesse team. Who will fill that gap? Surely your team is great: an Arda-class goalkeeper, solid defence, holding midfield and great strikers, but you need someone to organise the game and feed you guys in the front to score, don’t you? Who’s taking that?

Ar-Pharazôn: A Númenorian will always rise to the occasion. Don’t you outlanders worry about that.



The AKM will leave its educated readers the drawing of conclusions from that press-meeting as it doesn’t want to endanger it’s good relations with the Númenorian hegemony. But whatever the inner rifts between the islanders, they have the talent and the capital to run far in the tournament this year as well. That is one thing there will be no doubt about.

[Boromir88]

THE TWO TOWERS NETWORK
Boromir the 88th

Interview with The Downer boss, Hookbill

The Downer has been one of the more active teams in signing players and their roster is nearly complete. Although one has to wonder whether any of these characters from the notorious newspaper cartoons would be eligible to play on Arda-based teams.

Nevertheless, I was able to find Hookbill and ask him a few questions about the upcoming year and how he thinks his club will perform...

1. The Downer has a the lowest payroll of the 32 teams, in fact, by a pretty large margin. Many are saying it's because The Downer newspaper is fledgling to stay afloat. What do you have to say to the speculations saying The Downer is going bankrupt and accusing you of fudging your distribution numbers?

Hookbill: We don't even pay our journalists. The only people who get paid at The Downer are the rats; we pay them not to eat our reporters.

Look, we may have been known for fudging the truth, fudging paper work, fudging numbers, fudging chocolate and even fudging our employees. But we have never fudged our numbers.

2. Would you consider selling the club to outside investors? And have you had any offers from outsiders interested in buying the club?

Hookbill: If I knew what the club was, I might sell it. Is it a food? Can I eat it? Or is it a blunt instrument with which I can beat my competition?

3. Last year The Downer was rocked by doping allegations, particularly their primary FW, Alien. Has Alien cleaned up? And is he in season-form to be the top goal scorer for your team?

Hookbill: Alien has, if anything, doubled his illegal activities. I mean, cheating here is peanuts compared to some of the things I've heard. You don't even want to know!

Hookbill declined to say if all of Alien's indiscretions were the reason The Downer's payroll was marked pathetically low, at 37 million. If the reports out of The Shire this past week are true, then it may shed some light on the truth.

The Saucepan Man, wanting to test eligibility to play for another team, citing he wanted to be on a team that took the Arda Cup more serious. He was spotted at SB United's practice field and ready to tryout. But Alien randomly appeared out of nowhere, and burned down the home team's lockerrooms. Hobbit officials sent SPM packing and telling him to take his "revolting green friend" with him. With no choice now, SPM re-signed on to The Downer and originally agreed to be the highest paid member, at 7 million. However, SB United sued The Downer for damages caused by Alien, and Hookbill docked the 1 million out of SPM's salary instead. When asked why the fine wasn't taken out of Alien's pay, Hookbill seemed more confused and showed contempt for the entire Arda Cup institution, "sport? What is sport?"

He would explain the senseless competition committee's rules prevent him from paying nothing to players. So he couldn't keep docking pay from Alien (who was signed for a mere 1 million), even if Alien was the player responsible for the most destruction. Thus he had to fine other players to pay for damages caused by Alien, "and besides, it was SPM who tried to sign with the hobbits."

It would then appear, Hookbill had his reasons to not go into details of all of Alien's "illegal activities." Not for my stomach's benefit, but to prevent Arda officials, and other teams from filing more lawsuits against The Downer. The Downer newspaper is boasting financial strength. In fact, it is, "frivolous lawsuits," from a biased institution feeling The Downer team has no right being in Arda competitions, which are forcing The Downer into a dirt cheap payroll.

[the phantom]

MESPN News
The Phantom

DOR-LOMIN- After a highly successful stint in Doriath, Turin and Hurin were both keen to return to their homeland for this year's Arda Cup, where the influential Hador House Holdings was quick off the mark, determining their investment strategy and making signings as quickly as possible.

Hador House purchased a small stake in both of the Beleriand teams (Inter and AC) and a slightly larger portion in Angfauglith, but the Dor-Lomin team is their focus, as they own it exclusively.

In order to attract a wider array of talent, they named their team Hithlum rather than Dor-Lomin. “This first year we think it’s likely we’ll be largely a home squad, but we’re looking at the future as well,” said Hador yesterday.

Why does Hador think it will mostly be very local talent? For starters, Beleg won’t be joining Turin. In the first days there was much talk of his impending signing- it was only logical. But soon it became evident that Beleg would be sticking with Doriath, for this Cup anyway.

And then the hot rumor was that Celegorm and Curufin would again be joining Hador, as he had helped get them their chance to play offense at last year’s Cup. But it just didn’t work out practically. Hador already had top-flight offensive talent in Hurin and Turin, not to mention the accompanying price tags.

To enter the bidding on the sons of Feanor would demand that other salaries be slashed, and even then the overall payroll of the team would probably end up too high. Hador House is powerful, but doesn’t have the cash to go head to head with the likes of Aule and Yavanna.

Hador House moved quickly in the wake of those failed signings and got other House members on board, including Nienor and Morwen. Also more than willing to sign were loyals such as Gethron and Grithnir, and of course faithful Sador.

According to Hador, the full squad will be ready to hit the practice field as soon as this Friday.

[Boromir88]

THE TWO TOWERS NETWORK
Boromir the 88th

Weekend Report

Another week is coming to a close and TTN brings to its readers the latest news and rumors on the free agency front.

RUMOR CENTRAL - Teams are really beginning to take shape, as the clubs are anxious to get on the practice fields and begin workouts.

Anfauglith: As AKM reported, Anfauglith appears to be focusing all their cap room on the defense and trusting to Ungoliant to keep a clean goal. The arachnid and Balrog-loaded defense is more than capable of doing this, but Thuringwethil may be lonely up in the attack. It appears both Morgoth and Sauron have maxed out on the money they want to spend on Anfauglith (therefor we can at least report in all likelyhood, Sauron will not be playing for Anfauglith). That leaves Hador House and Old Beor House the task of finding players to support Thuringwethil.

Barad-dur: Surprisingly, even though Umbar is actually invested in Mordor, the famous pirates have been signed by Sauron to play for Barad-dur. What promises were given to Castamir, Angamaite, and Sangahyando to play for this Mordor team? We can not say, but it wasn't more money, as Sauron got the pirate trio for rather cheap prices. Also, taking a page from Captain Faramir's book, Mumakil will be GK for Barad-dur this year, and only for 1 million. TTN should add, that the price of these contracts don't necessarily indicate the quality of the player. Mumakil was a pretty solid GK for Ithilien in '10, but as a beast, it really has no need for hard currency. A trend you will see with most animals that teams sign.

Mordor: Team Mordor has gone on a Nazgul spending spree this past week, picking up 5, and also trying to make a push for all Nazgul uniting under Mordor. Although Sauron has stated he will not overspend just to have all the Nazgul on one team. So, certainly the Witch-King, Khamul, and the other unsigned Nazgul may be drawn away to other teams for more money, as Sauron does not want to get into a price war to keep his Nazgul together. And the other Mordor investors agree. Sauron did add though, he could always make room if any of his Nazgul wished to return to play for Mordor, but simply wasn't going to put up big bucks for them. Since it has become apparent that the Witch-king and Khamul, are testing the open market, and are so far commanding some pretty hefty prices for their services, they will likely not be on either Mordor team this year.

Gondor: Gondor has been slower to act than other teams, but I think that is more due to the red tape of being a publicly owned club. However, the side they have been putting together appears to be quite strong on the offense. Prolific Gondorian goal-scorer Eldacar was signed to play FW, and he will be assisted by Romendacil and Falastur in the MF. The front is definitely looking stout, but there are concerns at the back. Imrahil is certainly a strong player, but he's slotted to play defender, and many are doubting his capabilities, since he's usually up as an attacking MF. There are talks of bringing one of the sons of Elendil (which one is not yet certain) to Gondor. Our bets would be placed on Anarion, since his ties to Gondor were always stronger than Isildur's, who's shown preferences to Eriador in the past.

Minas Tirith: Minas Tirith is making some rather peculiar moves, signing all of their players at 8 milion so far. It seems as if the Guild of Stewards are refusing to go higher (and even lower) to sign players. In fact, this is probably the reason other solid Gondorians (Falastur, Hyarmendacil, and Eldacar) decided to sign with Gondor, because they were willing to go higher. Minas Tirith has shown no willingness to go more than 8 million. However, they are still fielding a strong team, as this past week notable signings include Earnil II, Cirion, and the Faithful Steward, Mardil were brought in. We reported last week that Boromir II was seen in Minas Tirith, well now this past week Boromir I was spotted. So, will there not only be a family-reunion but a union of Boromirs in Minas Tirith? But for Boromir II, I would think the Guild of Stewards would have to budge on their 8 million cap, unless if playing for Gondor again, means a willingness to take less, to the son of Denethor.

Shire-Bree United: The splash of signing Aragorn did have some benefits, but how successful that strategy is, only the tournament will tell. Bombadil and The BW have now signed, and that should certainly improve on SB-United's forturnes from their dismal Hobbit reunion last year. However, this combination of FWs and attacking MFs was seen in '10 with Breeland and it was also a miserable flop. That may have been due to an anemic defense though, and bad goal-tending. Manning the posts this season will be Halbarad, as Butterbur was booted down to play defense. Still the questions of how will they fix the defense remains? It's being rumored one of the teams trying to wrestle some Nazgul out of Mordor is SB-United. That combination of a killer attack, and frightening Nazgul defense could definitely pay off, if the rumors are true.

Tol-in-Gaurhoth: as per usual TIG has been slow in finding players. Although so far 3 werewolves have been added, the usual TIG captains Nogwolf and Phantomwolf, to play FW and MF, respectively. They will be joined by Gwathwolf, for his excellent phantasy performance last year, and that wolf will be on the defense. The biggest news out of TIG, however, is the new rules restricting TIG to only having 4 werewolves on the roster. The last werewolf slot will be the GK, and the rest of the roster will be filled by wights voted in by the Barrow-downs shareholders, and possibly even, cross your fingers TIG fans, Sauron himself!

The Downer: The Downer's roster has been filled, as Hookbill seemed to at least want to have a completed roster early. We'll have to see if they get right to practicing, and not the hooliganising behavior they were known for last year. The Downer appears to be changing formation to a 4-4-2, as top goal-scorer SPM has dropped down to play FW with Alien. Hookbill will man the MF and disappointed from King Bus' goal-tending last year, Bubble Buddha will have those honors this year.


FREE AGENT SIGNINGS - These are the up-to-date confirmed signings since free agency opened up last week. Obviously some teams have either been more active, or just more successful signing on players than others. Next to the player is also the salary (dollar amount in millions)

Anfauglith: Thuringwethil (12), Balrog #4 (13), Balrog #3 (13), Borlach (3), Balrog #2 (13), Ungoliant (18)

Barad-dur: The Mouth (9), Gothmog II (6), Castamir (7), Beruthiel (6), Angamaite (3), Sangahyando (3), Fellbeast #2 (2), Mumakil (1)

Mordor: Gorbag (3), Shagrat (4), Nazgul #1, #2, #3, #4, an #5 (7), Silent Watcher (1)

Gondor: Eldacar (10), Romendacil (8), Falastur (9), Eldarion (5), Imrahil (5), Hyarmendacil (10)

Minas Tirith: Ecthelion II (8), Denethor II (8), Faramir (8), Mardil (8), Tarandor (8), Cirion (8), Earnil II (8)

Shire-Bree United: Strider (11), Bombadil (5), Barrow-wight (10), Bandobras (4), Ferny (2), Butterbur (2), Halbarad (5)

Tol-in-Gaurhoth: Nogwolf (10), Phantomwolf (10), Gwathwolf (10)

The Downer: Hookbill (5), Alien (1), SPM (6), Lalwende MP (3), John Fillis (2), P Hampton (4), BW Himself (6), Burnt Bert (2), Evil Mayo (1), Morsul (4) Bubble Buddha (3),

Stay tuned for later in the week on our exclusive Tol-in-Gaurhoth report. TTN was able to roam the streets, finding local TIG supporters and players, and asking pointed questions about the upcoming year.
(Editors note: I've gotten most of the replies back, thank you all for the...interesting responses - and there's a very nice variety, which also makes me happy. I'll give the rest a few more days yet, to respond, if they want. Look to Wednesday for the TIG report)

[the phantom]

PROJECTING THE HOST SITES OF ARDA CUP 2012
MESPN NEWS
The Phantom

Every year there are great stories involving the group host sites of Arda Cup. Even though there have been changes to the Arda Cup format after the reformation, Eru was adamant about preserving the hosting system. “It is a way to provide the various cultures of Arda a chance to showcase their unique traditions, architecture, artisanship, and enthusiasm.”

Besides the group hosting sites, there are also the playoff sites. The first round always takes place in the home stadiums of group winners- a way to reward them for their efforts. But in the rounds that follow neutral sites are selected- sites that are considered to have the appropriate stadium capacity and lodging and hospitable attitude.

These factors are considered for hosting groups as well, but the selectors are generally less picky in order to assure a more diverse rotation. Making sure everyone has a turn is not so important once the playoffs arrive. And so the late rounds of the playoffs are often a repeated parade of the most prestigious arenas and football-cities in Arda- Valimar, Armenelos, Gondolin, Doriath, Minas Tirith, etc.

Two years ago, however, the finals settled into a home that is, perhaps, permanent. Even nostalgic football old-timers agree- Amon Hen Coliseum is beyond magnificent. The arena is by far the largest in football, thanks to its location on the slopes of the Hill of Seeing and the way it amplifies the vision of spectators. The arena is also a sort of museum, with sections dedicated to depicting other realms with outstanding football traditions.

It seems rather obvious that the stadium at Rauros will be used this year- if not for the finals, then at the least for the quarters or semis. As far as potential host sites for the group stages, MESPN is always on the cutting edge of things, guessing accurately more often than not, thanks to a combination of logic and rumor catching.

Predicting the Groups and Host Sites

Let’s get the easy ones out of the way. First-

NUMENOR- No doubt about it- Numenor is a great host site at any stage of the tournament. Why are we so certain it will be used in the group stages? Because of the ban on games in the Blessed Realm, of course.

Eru stated during his reformation speech that he would seek to continue regionalizing groups, meaning that teams will be, when possible, sent to a host site close enough for some of their fans to travel to. In other words, Tirion probably isn’t going to be assigned to a Mordor-hosted group, and Minas Tirith is unlikely to be sent to an Alqualonde-hosted group, and so on.

So let’s take a look at geography here. The Blessed Realm has four teams this year- Real Valinor, FC Valinor, Tirion, and Valimar. There is also a team from Numenor (Armenelos), as well as a team called The Sea, which is officially based in Tol Eressea. Then there is the Havens squad, which looks to be headquartered in the Grey Havens, but which also has a pull from Alqualonde and other seaports.

That’s seven teams that hail from west of the mainland. Therefore, we here at MESPN think it’s a lock that Numenor will be hosting- probably at their grand arena in Armenelos.

GREY HAVENS- Even after using Numenor as a host site, there will still be three far western teams left, so logically there will need to be a host site on the coast, or at least near it. Others have suggested Nargothrond, Gondolin, Doriath, and Angband among others, but there are enough teams from western Middle-Earth that at least one of those will have to be used anyway, not to mention the possibility of another being selected as a neutral site in the playoffs.

We think Angband is probably out (for the far western teams, anyway), because that would seem to take a problematic issue and make it worse- banning the Blessed Realm from hosting and then shipping them to the home of their greatest enemy.

Doriath is probably out as well, since they hosted several games last year (group stage & playoffs). Angfauglith hosted last year too.

Team Hithlum is an unlikely host, as at this time they are clearly settled in Dor-Lomin and would not be as prepared as far as facilities go at this time. Tol-In-Gaurhoth doesn’t seem to be prepared to host such a large number of guests either at this time.

One of the Beleriand squads could be chosen (AC or Inter), but Inter seems unlikely. With the personal investment of Maedhros along with the Sons of Feanor buying in, the team has based itself at Himring, which hosted last year.

AC is really the only possibility beyond Nargothrond and Gondolin, and surely at least one of them needs to be kept in reserve for the playoffs.

So, the Grey Havens definitely seems to be a likely pick, with the possibility of one other Beleriand realm hosting. Any leftover Beleriand teams will be shipped a short distance east, possibly to-

WEATHERTOP- Though Eru scrapped many contracts and such, he has done his best to be fair, and so we cannot imagine that the costly renovations and additions at Amon Sul will be ignored given that they were made with the expectation of hosting during this year’s Arda Cup.

Certainly the facilities were selected for use during last year’s playoffs, but that was more of an added bonus. This year was the expectation.

Now it is possible that they will be a neutral site used for quarterfinals or semis, but that’s no guarantee. The policy in this year’s Arda Cup for playoff hosting is to have a shortlist of possibilities and then select the ones that work best for the teams involved, which obviously can’t be known until the playoffs arrive. And so in order to guarantee Weathertop games they will need to be selected for the group stage.

THE SHIRE- Since there are four squad in Eriador, there will need to be another host site in the region to catch any Beleriand teams that get shipped east (and likely the weirdo extra-dimensional squad, The Downer).

The hobbits have been working, not tirelessly (face it, they’re hobbits), but with some effort on making little improvements to the Michel Delving Bowl. It has always been a delightful changeup to other sites in Arda. It’s not modern and it’s not overly large, but rather it is comfortable and homey, with a rustic charm in its simple creaking woodwork and padded seats. It also allows the crowd to be much closer to the action than most arenas, featuring very little space along the side and end lines, and with the seats at a somewhat steeper incline than usual.

The Bowl has upgraded slightly in the past two seasons, adding an extra couple rows of seats around the ring, and topping them with a row of box seats. Lovers of the old look will not be disappointed, as the luxury boxes are uniquely hobbitish- wooden, open-faced with no glass, and filled with squishy armchairs. So while the box users will be pampered and have ample space, they will not be separated from the action.

OTHER SITE SPECULATION- Either Gondor or Mordor will host this year, but we’re uncertain which one at this time. Arda Cup representatives have been seen meeting with hosting committees from Minas Morgul, Barad-Dur, and Minas Tirith.

There will also be a host site around the Wilderland neighborhood, and we think we’ve narrowed it down to either Erebor or Moria (Dwarves United).

There will need to be a host site for teams caught between those regions (Misty Mts, Rohan, Isengard), so look for one of them to host as well. Since Dunharrow hosted last year, we are leaning towards Isengard, particularly if Moria is selected to host the Wilderland based group. And with Misty Mts as the alternative to Isengard, it seems very likely Moria will host one of the two groups, as both Misty and Dwarves United consider it to be their home arena.

As far as Beleriand is concerned, we’ve already said why Doriath, Angfauglith, Angband, and others won’t be selected this year. Gondolin, Nargothrond, and AC Beleriand would be in the running. But remember, one will likely be held as a possible playoff site. With that in mind, Gondolin is likely removed from contention, as they have the pedigree to host in the playoffs.

Out of Nargothrond and AC Bel, I would guess that Finrod’s realm would receive the nod. For one, it’s a better travel location than AC Bel (which is headquartered at Lake Mithrim). Second, its lodging and stadium is better suited to handle things. And finally, Feanor has seemed completely focused on putting his squad together, and spokeselves have hinted that he doesn’t particularly want his people distracted by dealing with hosting concerns.

SUMMARY
So there you have it- we expect the group hosts to be-
Armenelos
Grey Havens
Michel Delving
Amon Sul
Nargothrond
Moria
Erebor or Isengard
Mordor or Gondor

[Nogrod]

The AKM finally managed to sit Maedhros down for a chat on how things are starting to form with him and the teams of Beleriand. Maedhros turned out to be a polite and unexpectedly open interviewee - the most agreeable person of all the Fëanor's sons, as his reputation has it - and thus we're proud to publish the interview in it's entirety.

~*~

The AKM: Nice to have you with us for a short moment Maedhros. So how are you feeling right now, looking at the prospects for a totally new kind of season ahead?

Maedhros: It’s always a great pleasure to play with my best friend Fingon. And even if my brothers don’t always agree with me, they were interested in backing up our team this year – and getting Turgon on board was a gift from heaven. So yes, I’m looking forwards to this, not the least as a revanche or a reliving of the Nirnaeth… and we’ll make it better this time!

The AKM: So the rumours are true then, that Turgon is riding to aid you two, like back then? What kind of a host will he bringing with him?

Maedhros: There’s no use for 10 000 bright swords on a football field if not as fans. But we could have had use with someone like Huor, that I must admit.

The AKM: So short on cash you have hired an expensive Balrog instead? The very same who burnt Fingon, am I right?

Maedhros: Well, technically you’re correct.

The AKM: Technically? Could you elaborate?

Maedhros: We don’t have resources in abundance like some others have. Yes. And we have hired a Balrog, the very same you mention. But we got him almost for free – so the picture you try to portray of our situation is not fitting with the truth. There is a deal brokered between the investment groups of the first houses of men and Melkor where the men get to invest in team Anfaughlith and he invested some in our team – where these first houses of men are partners as well. And when the first men promised to support our team with top quality players almost free of charge, there was no reason to turn the offer down.

The AKM: Didn’t the men fail you the first time as well? Where is your trust stemming this time?

Maedhros: Inter Beleriand is financed and thus run by Oath & Blood Alliance and NGOL Jewel * with 20% share each, and my personal investment is 15%. Fingon and Turgon will also have a 10% share each, so the influence of Evil House and the Houses of the first men; Old Bëorn House, Hador House and Great Heart And No less in Valour, is only a quarter. And with our majority share we’ve had a strong position in the negotiations on players to hire. We are not hiring the easterlings or other treacherous men, trust me on that.

The AKM: Can you reveal any names?

Maedhros: Masterful and fearless Haldad, The forefather of all the people of Haleth, with Brandir the learned, will secure our defence under the lead of the Balrog.

The AKM: Don’t you mean Brandir the lame? How secure will your defence be with cripples trying to deny enemy forwards?

Maedhros: Watch your tongue mr. reporter… we have size, power and stamina in our backstairs with the Balrog and Haldad, but a good team also needs brains and understanding.

The AKM: And what would be the prize-tag for them?

Maedhros: As I said, they’re coming more or less free, with a nominal pay I’d say.

The AKM: So you’re hiding one or two big fishes still, aren’t you?

Maedhros: Time will tell… all I can say is that the team is not yet ready.

The AKM: With the sort of regional grouping of the first-round games it’s easy to bet you will be meeting AC Beleriand already on the first round, as well as the iron-hard team of Anfaughlith. What do you think are your chances to qualify?

Maedhros: Going against your dad is always challenging, especially when talking about my father… and through our participation with the Oath & Blood Alliance to the financing of the AC Beleriand I know there will be some top quality players involved besides him. I’m hoping all the best for that team and hope it gets far in this tournament. Our task is to knock the other teams off – and why not beat even them? *glees*
But whoever comes agains us, we stand tall like we always do. It would not be the first time we pushed against Balrogs, mind you. And Fingon especially has some scores to settle on that front. But you know, all this with the opponents coming against you on the first round is just speculation, so I’d rather not get myself involved with it any more than this.

The AKM: You said you had some knowledge through the investment group of you and your brothers about the players in AC Beleriand. Could you reveal us anything about it?

Maedhros: Well, it is basically up to them to reveal what they will and when they will. But I think I can confirm the rumours that the High Princes are together once again: my dad is making it good with his half-brother, yes he is. And the houses of the first men will supply the bulk of that team as well. They’re having a class weighier pocket-book Inter Beleriand has, mainly because of my dad’s personal involvement, and so you should look forwards to some quite interesting assignments to be revealed soon.

The AKM: Any hints on the names, if you would?

Maedhros: It isn’t my job to do that even if the investment group I am a member of owns 15% of the team. But well, let’s make it a quizz, shall we? Maybe I own stakes enough to do this…
So one of my dad’s team mates married a sister of my team mate and things he made made difference later on in other hands, like killing another one of my team mates; and another tried to take something that wasn’t his by any right from someone who had no right to possess those things either, and his son and his stubborness was partly the downfall of our family.

The AKM: Uh… I think I have a clue now, but let’s leave it to the readers?

Maedhros: Let’s leave it. Now excuse me, I’m off to have a strategy-meeting with Fingon and Turgon.

The AKM: Thank you for your time.



* Noldor Investment Group

[Nilpaurion Felagund]

Weekly Wrap
by Adam 'not the economist' Smith, ArdaCup.com reporter

(The contents of this article have not been reviewed or endorsed by ArdaCup.com. All opinions expressed by Adam Smith are solely his own and do not reflect the opinions of ArdaCup.com or its staff, parent company, partners, or sponsors. His sources are not known to ArdaCup.com and he has no special access to information beyond the access and privileges that go along with being an Arda Cup accredited member of the media.

And yes, there's a reason we place this disclaimer only in his articles.)
____________________

What we have here is an ArdaCup.com exclusive. Yes, that's right, none of my respected and tenured peers *cough* were fast, or patient, or determined, or important enough to accomplish what I have done: an exclusive interview with star striker Fëanor.

But before that, I'll present an overview of the stories I've gathered over the past few days.

• Manwë, as the chair-Ainu of the financial group Ainulindalë Enterprises Ltd, has invested in teams that start with the letter 'V' (no surprises there), including the Valimar team, which the group completely owns. He will also be goalkeeper for the aforementioned squad, but, according to rumours, aside from trusted Námo on defence, none of the other Aratar are in the team with him. (Ulmo and Aulë, sure, but Varda? Did the two have a lovers's quarrel or something?) However, joining the team is a pair of pairs—the Blue Wizards, fresh from their eastern journey, playing midfielders, as well as the youngest sons of Fëanor, Amrod and Amras, on defence. With none of the big names, though, one wonders how the team managed to be one of the most expensive to be fielded (rumours say that it is the most expensive team.)
  
  
• Ainulindalë Enterprises Ltd has, however, been denied from investing in Tirion, when public investment managed to raise enough to fund the team after certain players took salary cuts, keeping the budget within reasonable limits. (This move has been frowned upon by the Arda Football Players Association. AFPA Chairperson Uldor has said, 'Players should take salaries according to the level of their play, and not a cent less.') Ingwë returns from a stint in Valinor, and captain Finwë has managed to retain forward Aredhel for ten million, as well as Mahtan and Finarfin for eight million each. The two biggest surprises are: 1) Finarfin and Ingwë switching places, with the Vanya in midfield and the golden-haired Noldo at goal (perhaps he hopes that his son's performance at Eldamar will continue on the Arda stage?) and 2) the signing Thorondor and Eönwë (for fourteen and ten million, repectively)—with the addition of Manwë's herald, as well as the retention of Ar-Feiniel, the team could perhaps offset the continued absence of Míriel and Nerdanel, and the addition of the great eagle could help solidify a backline that lost Aulë in the offseason.
  
  
• Fëanor and his sons form a collective majority in the newly formed team AC Beleriand. But the rumours that none of the Fëanorion will play alongside their father have been confirmed (see the interview below for details). Morgoth has tried to invest in the team (this was said to the reason his appearance in the Eldamar-Eldar United game), but Fëanor went to the Edain Houses and the Ossiriand Elves for funding instead. Fingolfin and Eöl, aside from playing under the AC Beleriand banner, have stocks in the team (Fingolfin Funds and Dark Elf Mining have invested 10% and 5%, respectively, in the team.) Also, Fingolfin has been joined by his trusty steed Rochallor on defence (signed for two million, continuing the trend of low animal player salaries).
  
  
• Team Nargothrond is to be owned completely by the Nargothrond Group, with Finrod as its chairquendi of the board, which includes his brother Orodreth and niece Finduilas. The team from the caves of Narog has been a disappointing one so far—not qualifying for the knockout stage in two years, and managing to finish first in their group before being upset in the group of sixteen in the two years before that. Finrod said that he hopes to end this underachieving streak by fielding a stronger squad, but one wonders why Túrin hasn't been approached during the offseason. Is there truth to the rumours of Glaurung resigning with the Noldorin stronghold? Anyway, Bëor (returning as goalkeeper), as well as his son Baran and great-great-great-grandson Barahir rejoins the squad (for eight, four, and eight million, respectively) and striker Gwindor returns after a three-year absence (signed for eleven million).

And now, what you've all been waiting for. After defeating FC Angband 472 4-1 in their home game of the semifinal, Eldar United advances to the Deathless Champions League finals with an aggregate of 5 goals to Angband's 2. The team returned to Formenos as they await their finals game in the Song of Stone Stadium in Gondolin against either Taniquetil or Tol Sirion. It was here that I managed to find Fëanor after he agreed to be interviewed.

Adam Smith: First of all, how do you feel about your performance in the Elvish Premier League?

Fëanor: We'll be back on top next year. That's a promise.

Adam Smith: Well, you made up for it by crushing [FC Angband 472] in the Deathless Champions League, where you personally scored a hat trick. Did your EPL travails this season have anything to do with how you approached that game?

Fëanor: I always try to play at that level, whatever game it may be. The fact that it was against Morgoth, or it came after a tough loss in the Premier League has little to do with it.

Adam Smith: You might end up facing Manwe's Taniquetil in the finals. What's the significance of this possible [Arda Cup 2011 quarterfinal] rematch for you?

Fëanor: He's just another opponent for me. Whatever he or his kind may say about dooms, I believe that victory is something that's obtained on the pitch, and not something predestined.

Adam Smith: So you're saying that they were better than you last year?

Fëanor: The past is the past. Next time we meet on the field, I'll show you who's better now.

Adam Smith: Speaking of the present, what can you tell us about your new team for the Arda Cup, AC Beleriand? For example, how do you feel about playing with your half-brother Fingolfin?

Fëanor: I've played with Fingolfin before, and I know he's a really good player. He plays all positions with the same high level of skill, so he can help shore up whatever a team's weak point is. More importantly, he knows that this is my team. It's important that I have control over the team I play in—last year's experiment with Lothlórien reinforced that for me.

Adam Smith: And Eöl? What made you want him on your team?

Fëanor: Well, despite the fact that he's Sindarin, he shares the same passion in craftsmanship that I have. And it's apparent in his play, especially when he had his way during last year's semifinal game [with Doriath agains Angband]. He had the same balance of finesse and strength that I had while I was making some of my best works of art—and best goals as well.

Adam Smith: Are the rumours that your sons have not asked to be signed in this team true?

Fëanor: Unfortunately, yes. Well, Maedhros has always been hard-headed, and Maglor usually followed his lead. Celegorm and Curufin enjoyed being forwards last year, and I think they didn't want to play with me because they didn't want to be compared. Well, in short, all my sons have an independent streak—which they got from me—and after winning a championship with me they all want to find their own ways to success.

Adam Smith: Any other things you can reveal to us about your team?

Fëanor: It was surprising when Ecthelion and Beren approached me in the offseason—well, they both went through Fingolfin before talking to me. I don't know them personally, but I've seen them play. Beren is almost like Fingolfin—he can play wherever you need him to be, so he's a good addition to any team. When I asked him why join me, he said that he wanted to play with the creator of the thing that made him famous.

And Ecthelion's a fearless player, and a player with championship experience. I don't know what's happening in Gondolin that they didn't put more effort into signing him, but their loss is my gain.

Adam Smith: Speaking of Beren, I've heard that there are other of the Edain in your team? How do you feel playing with them? I'm sure, like with Beren, you don't know any of them personally.

Fëanor: Well, I feel uneasy including too many players I don't know. Unfortunately, due to the new system, you can't have a team composed of stars, unless they're all willing to play for much less. So we signed whoever wanted to play whatever position we need for whatever price we can offer.

Adam Smith: Hm, by the way, what does 'AC' in your team name stand for? Isn't that the initials of a fictional football team?

Fëanor: What are you talking about? Anyway, 'AC' stands for 'Arda Cup', which is our goal. Sure, I've won it with Formenos in 2008, but four years has been too long. I want to win another one.

[Galadriel55]

Will there be no Lothlorien team? How come? It was quite successful the year before. What happened?!

The rumours say that last year's team hit a bit too hard on the budged of the Golden Wood - not the money budget, but a different sort of wealth.

Galadriel has been known to give strands of her hair to her players to get them to sign on her team. She gave Gimli three, but this is the only number we know for certainty. We think that Some of the local players on last year's team played without this bonus - Haldir definitely didn't take any hair, and Celeborn would never cut any piece from his wife's head. Feanor, though, is another matter. During the First Age hr asked Galadriel for a lock, but she denied him. This refusal struck deep, and Feanor is not the kind of person to let go of grudges. It is rumoured that in order to get him on her team Galadriel had to shave almost half her head, and is now still wearing a wig!

Now she can't give out fake hair like that! People would notice. She decided to wait a year or two for her hair to regrow. Some say that she started purchasing Entdraughts lately and took a liking to them.

But it is also said that she and Celeborn might be playing on different teams! An explanation was quickly found for this shocker: for a long time Galadriel had a secret love affair with Gandalf - another player on last year's team who took no hairs. Everything would have gone smoothly, if only one Peter Jackson didn't catch them together and film their meeting on camera, which he promptly published for the whole world to see.



Celeborn puts up a nice face in public and refrains from commenting, but most fans guess what is really going on in his mind. However, no one has evidence of what words have gone between him and Galadriel in private.

[Nilpaurion Felagund]

Unlike last year's first ArdaCup.com Stats Report, we won't be resorting to consulting astrologers and coin-flippers and biased sportswriters. Instead we're presenting the results of a phone interview of various team owners and general managers. That's the power of having an actual budget, instead of living a hand-to-pen existence. Wow!

Anyway, we asked these GMs and owners the following question: Given a free hand, which player they would choose to build a team around? The only restriction given them is that they couldn't choose players from their own teams. The results are:

1. Túrin (26.6%) - The Master of Doom and multiple Golden Boot winner has led even incomplete teams past the group stage and into the quarterfinals, where the strength of the team's defence determines how far it goes. One owner said: 'He's finally shaken off questions about his game on the big stage, winning that title last year against tough opponents, and this year there's a lot more that will be expected of him, if that's possible.'
   
   
2. Huan (23.4%) - The Hound of Valinor is Arda Cup's winningest player, but other GMs and owners think that he's just well-connected to strong footballing cliques (Beren/Lúthien last year, Celegorm/Curufin in the years before that) and wouldn't have been as successful had he been in weaker teams.
   
   
3. Fëanor (21.9%) - The fiery son of Finwë draws a lot of comparison with Túrin: their multiple Golden Boots and ability to lead teams deep into the tournament being most noted. But many have noticed that, despite his teams usually having more talent than Túrin's (last year was an exception), it doesn't always translate to Arda Cup success. His charisma to draw more talent (as well as his deep pockets) is an x-factor any team would love to have.
   
   
4. Morgoth (14.1%) - Morgoth's an all-around talent and a natural leader, who can turn even violent Úvanimor into fleet-footed footballers, while letting them retain their evil cunning and crushing strength. His team has reached the semifinals for two straight years, and some expect that he'll finally play in that last game this year.
   
   
5. Sauron (10.9%) - The Lord of the Rings is an offensive maestro willing to play with anyone, from Werewolves to Dúnedain to Dragons. He usually runs a prolific offence, and he also has some of the leadership skills his master possesses. He and Melian are the only Ainu to win a championship so far.
   
   
6. Elrond (3.1%) - The Peredhil's definitely not as successful as Huan, but he's probably a better GK, especially during the last couple of years. And a few of those we've interviewed think that that's enough to build a team around. One GM remarked: 'You can skimp on defence with him at goal, allowing you spend more on a strong striker or a solid midfield. He's that good at what he does. It's hard to find someone else that dependable, except perhaps Túrin's scoring.'

[Boromir88]

THE TWO TOWERS NETWORK
Boromir the 88th

Tol-in-Gaurhoth Preview

This week I bring you a preview of the famous TIG team, owned primarily by the internet search engine, Barrowdowns.com. I was able to ask a wide range of questions to several players and fans. And while there appears to be many differences between werewolves, there is one thing that unites them, the bias of new Arda Cup rules against the werewolves from the Isle.

TTN: One of the committee's new rules this year is the TIG team is only allowed 4 wolf-players and the rest would be human/wight form. Thoughts about this decision? Do you think having a team entirely filled with wolf-players is an unfair advantage, as the committee believes? And what adjustments (if any) will the team have to make to continue success under the new rules regarding the cap on wolf-players?

All werewolves asked this pointed to the unfairness of the rule, but each had an interesting reaction. Shastawolf made the most passionate case, citing the advantages other players have, which are not restricted by the Arda officials, while others seemed confused by the situation or started looking ahead to get the rule repealed.

Shastawolf: It's absolutely unfair! No one prevents the great eagles from using their wings, or the spiders from using their webbing, or the horses their hooves, or Caradhras his winds, or the Ents their height and strength, so why should the wolves be penalized for using their natural-born gifts as well? Rubbish, I say. All part of a Valar plot to cripple the TIG team after we almost crushed their beloved Doriath team last year. Especially since they won't be able to control the outcomes of any matches in the Uttermost West, because of the ban. I'm still as much a fan of Huan as ever I was, but really, this is rather ridiculous.

Nilpwolf: That would be an unfair advantage for the villagers. Werewolves constitute 15-25% of most villages, whereas in the Arda Cup they make up slightly more than 3% of the total population. And now they're thinking of cutting that?! Where's the fair play there?!?!

werephantom: I completely disagree with their decision to not allow us to compete as a team of Werewolves.

Now, as WightWolves, as we were last year.... I suppose I can understand to an extent. WightWolves are not naturally occurring within Arda, but rather were a result of extra-dimensional experimentation. And as everyone saw last year- the experiment was quite successful. We dominated everyone we played until the finals, where a combination of having a bad day and being matched against an all-star team finally did us in. With the increased competitive balance this year, I have no doubt we'd be the strong favorites this year were we allowed to renew our WightWolf forms.

But as far as outlawing all of us as Werewolves, as we've been in the past- completely unfair! Werewolves are naturally occurring creatures with strengths and weaknesses. Some matchups would be great for us, and others would be tough. I don't believe we would have a clear competitive advantage over the field. As a matter of fact I'm not entirely certain we would all be Werewolves- we might leave a couple of us as Wights to help keep things under control and such.

We will certainly be appealing the rules. It's probably too late for this year, but I look forward to receiving more flexibility from Arda Cup in the future.

TTN notes here, that others did not want to appeal the ruling, but brought up possible loopholes to exploit:

Nogwolf: That's a discrace! That is our nature! It's like ripping Aule or Yavanna of their "Valarness" or making Fëanor a mortal weakling. So you can see my position: being werewolves for us in not any more unfair than letting Balrogs to be Balrogs or Maia to be Maia.

If the ruling only specifies werewolves, we should let Eomer remain a warg - and maybe some others of us could learn "wargery" as well?

Galwolf: Not a problem – TIG is not just any wolf team, remember; we’re no ordinary wolves. Werewolves. We can have no wolves on the team at all, when they inspect us. We’ll transform whenever we need to. And the best thing of all – no one will even notice! The more experienced barrow-werewight-wolves can hide in any village, even if it be full of Seers! I trust a cheering crowd will not be much more difficult, especially since it would not particularly be looking for any signs of fur on players.

---

TTN: Sauron has invested some money in the TIG team, having pride in his '08 team and for many of their players. It is rumored he is looking to return to play for TIG. Would you welcome Sauron onto the team of Barrow-downers? And do you think he would be the missing piece to finally bring a championship to TIG?

Question 2 was a bit more divisive. No one seemed to deny the skill and worth of what Sauron would bring to TIG, but most were cautious of what it would be like having Sauron on the team. We should mention, besides mormwolf who would only say "Sauron should be team captain." This was in direct contrast to Shastawolf and Galwolf, who seemed to have a problem with bringing more authority to TIG:

Shastawolf: I feel that TIG has grown to be an independent major challenger in its own right without Sauron's help. I'm not certain anyone but the wolves should be on a team meant for wolves. That said, I'm not entirely opposed to Sauron's return, but I'm definitely not up for taking orders from him due to his long absence. I feel that he gave up any semblance of control over us when he abandoned us.

Galwolf: Sauron might be a good addition to the team. At least he fits in well enough – he could transform into a wolf himself before the utter stupidity of certain pig-headed arrogant self-centered *cough*Valar*cough*... I mean, before a tragedy happened and the ability was taken from him. Moreover, if you look at the wight side of our lineage, it was the Dark Lord’s servant who gave us an afterlife. So whatever betides, at least he’d fit in well.

The only thing I am worried about is that he would try to take over leadership of the team. The leadership should be held by a werewight. Our identity as werewolves, wights, friends who murder each other for fun, whatnots, wherenots (and wereknots!), whynots, geeks, oddballs, and furballs must be preserved.

werephantom was the most pleased by the idea, which is no surpise, since in '08 his rapport with Sauron was...wait for it...legendary. However, he did not think this was a likely possibility:

werephantom: Unfortunately, I don't think that's going to happen this year. I talk to him now and then, and with this reorganization he has a lot of work to do back home and I don't think he'd be comfortable leaving his Mordor business to be run by others at this time. But I suppose we can hope.

And surprisingly (but in retrospect, not too shocking) there was one vehement objection to Sauron returning to TIG:

Nilpwolf: Sauron can go play in stinkypoop. Can't we have Finrod and Beren instead? They did pretend to be Werewolves once, too. *bursts into flames*

---

TTN: The hot topic of the year. What are your feelings on no games being played in Valinor lands this year, due to the previous years of scandals and corruption?

Again, most wolves were united, to varying degrees. All those asked seemed to support the ban. Mormwolf, cited a different reason, siding with the purity of Valinor, but most of the others felt it was about time for the Valar to be punished:

mormwolf: Valinor would never host a game and it would be sacrilege to let those foul creatures on that pure soil.

werephantom: Eru had to put his foot down. People will argue how bad the abuses really were and how much of it was trumped up, but by even the most kind source there were definitely some mistakes made.

Really, abuse of "baddies" has been rampant throughout Arda Cup. Remember last year how our host site kept changing the times of matches to screw over nocturnal creatures?

There have got to be some clearly outlined rules about that sort of thing, and most importantly- enforcement of the rules.

Galwolf: No games in Valinor means less traveling across the Belegaer for me. We’ll show these big-headed Valinoreans not to hold their proud heads too high on our ground!

Shastawolf: About time, I'd say. The Valar have had the outcomes of matches in their homeland in their pockets for far too long! Missed and unfair calls, rumors of spectator interference, you name it, it's happened. Granted, we've done that once or twice too... but at least we're honest about it! And we only do it when deserved! Mostly.

Nogwolf: We and our core-fans are dead already so we have nothing to be afraid of going to Valinor for a game or two. But I can see where the ban is coming from and am not opposing it either. Just couldn't care less.

---

That is TTN's report from around the TIG training grounds. Still only 3 werewolves have been confirmed on the team. But many players in the area have shown up to try out. It's possible TIG will try a larger rotation of players, through the duration of the friendlies, in order to find the best athletes. How will this strategy work in the tournament? Historically, they do field a late team, but the benefit of playing together in the friendlies went to nullifying TIG's procrastination. Now, if they are doing a rotation, throughout the friendlies, how will they be a cohesive unit when the tournament begins?

[Shastanis Althreduin]

The Misty Mountains are not happy with Saruman. No, not happy at all.

Traditionally, Saruman has been on cordial, allied terms with the Misty Mountains, collaborating with them on more than one occasion. However, Saruman's defection (indeed, he will not be joining the Misty Mountain squad this year) has hit them pretty hard.

Even that, though, could have been borne. But when Saruman took Caradhras, the Great Mountain and, arguably, the best GK Misty Mountains has ever had, with him, the resultant uproar was nothing short of cataclysmic. It isn't too surprising, either, given that the mountain sits squarely within the Misty Mountains themselves.

In a move partially driven by spite and partially by the fact that, having traditionally not gone very far in the Arda Cup, they are in desperate need of talent, Misty Mountains has pulled what is lovingly referred to by Tol-in-Gaurhothians as a "Legate-180", and drafted two elves to their side! It's hard to imagine a race more antithetical to how Saruman has acted in the past (and given that the Misty Mountains team has generally been filled with players of a more evil inclination, it's equally astonishing.) Their appearance so far out of the range of the Golden Wood is just more fuel for the rumor that Lothlorien will not be fielding a team this year, but Rumil and Orophin could not be reached for comment.

Standing in for Caradhras this year will be the Great Goblin, and claiming the the only FW spot on the squad will be that perennial fan favorite, Durin's Bane.

GK - Great Goblin (6)

DF - Chief Wolf (3)

MF - Rumil (5)
MF - Orophin (5)

FW - Durin's Bane (16)

[Boromir88]

THE TWO TOWERS NETWORK
Boromir the 88th

Pre-Friendlies Power Rankings

This year the TTN staff has created a system that we believe will serve as a better measurement of team performances. We've been working on a point-system that accurately ranked teams, and also accurately determine winners in head-to-head match ups.

The formula we are using is quite a simple one, but we will not bore you with the full details. If any readers are interested you can contact me and receive full disclosure of how we will calculate the Power Rankings after every round of play. Since, TTN, firmly believes in transparency.

The basics, however, to determine how many points a team wins in any individual match:

P x I x S x B = match points

P= Points won in the match (3 for a win, 1 for a tie, 0 for a loss. So, teams that keep losing their points will remain stagnant and likely decline over time. Teams that keep winning, keep earning more points, translating to higher power ranking).

I = Importance of match. (We will use for friendlies = 1, group stage = 2, 1st playoff round =3,...etc)

S = Strength of opponent. (Simply put if you beat teams near the top of the rankings, you will earn more points than if you beat teams lower).

B = Bonus. (Win by 2 or more goals, and there is a x1.5 bonus)

---

Let's get to the first TTN power-rankings. We will note, it was extremely hard putting this first one together. Primarily we took the team's salary into account, because in theory, a higher salary should mean the better team. However, we all know it rarely works out that simply. And when I also consider some teams to have over-paid for talent, you may see instances where teams with a lower payroll are ranked above more expensive payrolls.

This was primarily a judgement call, just trying to speculate and compare rosters, plus taking into account performances from previous Arda Cups. We have to start somewhere, but since it is primarily the speculation of 1 writer, we will re-calculate the points after every round, on the off-chance that we seriously overrated (or underated) a team in the beginning. And this way, any type of inaccuracy in our early speculation (afterall, no one has seen any matches yet!) is minimized.

So here are Boromir the 88th's Pre-friendly Power rankings.

Key - Rank. Team name (salary) - Team points

1. FC Valinor (113) - 32
2. Valimar (117) - 31
3. Armenolos (108) - 30
4. Angband (101) - 29
5. Real Valinor (104) - 28
6. The Sea (108) - 27
7. Eriador (99) - 26
8. AC Beleriand (96) - 25
9. Erebor (103) - 24
10. Rohan (94) - 23
11. Nargothrond (95) - 22
12. Anfauglith (93) - 21
13. Imladris (88) - 20
14. Hithlum (86) - 19
15. Doriath (84) - 18
16. Tirion (83) - 17
17. Dwarves U. (89) - 16
18. Wilderland (85) - 15
19. The Havens (84) - 14
20. Gondor (84) - 13
21. Minas Tirith (88) - 12
22. Gondolin (83) - 11
23. Anduin (80) - 10
24. Shire-Bree (72) - 9
25. Inter Beleriand (70) - 8
26. Tol In Gaurhoth (68) - 7
27. Isengard (74) - 6
28. Barad-dur (66) - 5
29. Arnor (71) - 4
30. Mordor (58) - 3
31. Misty Mountains (62) - 2
32. The Downer (37) - 1

Once we were in the 80-100 million team salary range it became extremely hard to rank them. Since at that point it was more of an eye-test, and subjective "who looks sexier?" to us.

You need a starting point, but with no matches to judge the relative strength of teams it's a difficult determination. But once friendlies start, and teams gets matches under their belts, we want the results and performance to determine the power-rankings. Therefore, the points a team has now, are just to start, and will get re-calculated, since a team's true rank would be determined by how the their tangible results and not influenced by how they were ranked before playing any matches.

[Shastanis Althreduin]

One of the bigger surprises thus far, and indeed perhaps one of the most surprising thing about the reveal of the rosters, is that Rohan itself was caught completely by surprise.

Well, at least, some of its members were.

One of our reporters was there at the time, actually - Gandalf was conducting a defensive drill (aptly called "Three Horses".) It appeared to consist of making the offending team too frightened of twelve powerful hooves to come near the ball, for fear of injury - Shadowfax would gallop up and simply dance in place over the ball, as Felarof and Snowmane circled, until one of their own could get to it. Our reporter was dutifully taking notes, but all action on the field ceased as Eomer raced onto the field, waving his arms and shouting something. Our reporter couldn't tell what Eomer said, exactly, but Gandalf's reaction was clear - "They did WHAT?!" he shouted angrily, and stalked off the field, leaving three slightly confused horses and a curiously satisfied Eomer looking after him.

It's no coincidence that the timing of the posting of the rosters coincided with that moment near-exactly, so one wonders - what exactly got Gandalf so angry?

Our reporters are on the case.

[Nogrod]

The AKM thinks that the reshuffling of the teams and the introducing of a salary-cap have been good things as the tournament looks really interesting this year and predicting the winner, or even the top four or eight, looks more challenging than ever before. But it looks also, that some of the group-selections are more or less questionable – looking from the point of view of fairness, that is. Some groups just have the word ‘death’ written over them. More of that later.

But here’s our preliminary view of the groups before the friendlies kick into motion and we get some real statistics to go on speculating about. After the friendlies the AKM will come up with a more definitive and grounded prediction as to the group phase results.



Group A

Well, this is an odd one. The Downer is a team that puzzled everyone last year and there sure is no looking at their overall salary to predict their quality. But unless things have drastically changed they will not qualify – even if they may tease the other teams considerably on their way and maybe cause some upsets that way with the opponents taking the wrong attitude towards them from the beginning.

Shire-Bree United looks stronger this year in comparison to many other teams that have weakened, and the fact that Bombadil agrees to play with just 5 million makes the overall team look much more inexpensive than it really is (he could have made a deal for 15-20 million basically anywhere). Although the AKM thinks Aragorn (or Strider, or Elessar, what have you) is strongly overrated by many in the footballing circles and the Barrow-Wight has rarely shown forwards any brilliance either. So a lot of their performance will be decided by Bombadill’s interest to play on the game-day and Khamûl’s ability to do it on his own if none is helping.

But there are two long-time favourites in this group as well: Morgoth is not used to be left into the group-phase, and neither is the another oddity, the Tol-In-Gaurhoth team. It would be a surprise if these two would not make their way forwards from the group, but Shire-Bree might make them play it for real to advance, especially if old Tom decides to take this tournament seriously. The creature with an interest-span of a goldfish (on things other than Goldberry) is their asset and problem at the same time.

One questionmark is the ability of the T-I-G team to mould themselves into a team with all this testing of players during the friendlies designed to do just that. Maybe that – and the ruling that they can only have four werewolves in their team – could be their undergoing? They are a werewolf team and with most players forced to play as wights their strength will be a lot diminished.

With team Angband, Melkor, a Balrog first of his name (after Gothmog) and Carcaroth will make sure scoring against them will be a task indeed, but will Tevildo and Ancalagon have enough support from Ulfang and the other easterling midfielders for the team to score enough? Could it be Melkor saved money in a wrong place not hiring one or two strong enough midfielders to feed the strikers?


Group B

This is an interesting group – though not one of the highest quality. It’s hard to see Eriador being left into the group-stage with Elrond tending the goal and Glorfindel and the Witch King taking care of the offence, especially when they have not been compromising in the defence either.

But the fight over the second place will be interesting indeed. The Arnorians have proven themselves to be sturdy fighters also in the footballfield when they get their act right (like team Norbury showed). The relatively cheap overall price-tag may be misleading as these men may be playing for honour as well. Although, and to be fair, none of them except Araphor have shown a consistent top-quality game in previous years. Especially both Isildur and Elendil have not excelled the way many have wished them to (and Isildur’s two year contract with Barad-Dûr was clearly a mistake both morally and sportingly).

Gondolin used to be one of the powerhouses of the Arda football and they will not go down without a fight this year either, especially energized by the last year’s disaster – but will they have enough talent on board this year? Could it be their team is a bit overpriced? Rôg sure is worth the 10 million he earns, but paying Gothmog and Maeglin 20? When in flames they are top scorers, no doubt, but 20 million a piece? The sense of security and immunity from disaster has failed Gondolin before…

That leaves us to the third contender for the second place, Inter Beleriand. Their budget is the lowest of all, but with Maedhros and Fingon in the attack and Turgon at the goal – and a defence led by a Balrog (even if balrogs sometimes are over-rated) they will fight seriously for the second place as well.


Group C

The first idea looking at this group is the overpaying policies of the team Dwarves United. But then again they have managed to recruit Aulë himself to the team (or did he recruit the team for himself this time?) – and with him Celebrimbor – and Legolas as a striker (who’s probably there only to accompany Gimli) they actually do have some quality as well.

Another overpaid team is Erebor. The Great Eagles sure are formidable but surely not the lock of defense they are thought to be. Thranduil and Smaug will score, but not perhaps enough to qualify. A lot will depend on their midfield’s, especially Bolg’s and Bard’s, ability to rise to the occasion feeding their strikers.

But the other teams are not that much more impressive either. Wilderland boasts forward-looking players like Scatha, Orömë, Galadriel and Elwë Singollo, but unless they can make the ents rise to the occasion the defence looks pretty random indeed. The most pathetic team though seems to be the team Anduin: Grimbeorn, Boromir and Haldir can score at times, but the line-up is just too thin for them to advance. Even if Celeborn and Fram are quality defenders, the two of them can’t hold the enemy back for eternity.


Group D

There have been close groups in groups A to C, with varied qualities, but group D just spells excellence and death as one of the serious contenders for the final four will be dropped after the group-stage. For the footballing community and the lovers of the game this group causes pure outrage and a lot of gray hairs! On another note one could say, that if you’re after the best football in the group stage, you should get your tickets to the island of Númenor immediately. They will be sold in a record time!

Just imagine putting any one of the top three teams from here to any other group and you’d find them among the two most probably to advance – and even the fourth team of this group would be a serious contender in any of the other groups.

Group D has the second most expensive team (FC Valinor, 113), the third (Armenelos, 108) and the fifth (Real Valinor, 104), and Tirion is paying its top players clearly under the rates they would deserve in any other team (Ingwë, Aredhel, Finwë and Eonwë have all settled to 10 million a piece to pay Thorondor 14!). Especially Aredhel’s salary of 10 million looks out of balance as she could have called for 15 anywhere.

But who would then qualify from this nightmarish group?

Armenelos has the home-ground advantage and there clearly is a feeling there that this year they’re going to come back to the brightest spots of the tournament. But who will feed the score-hungry and –able strikers Pharazôn and Adunakhôr with no Elros or Sauron to do it? Tar Atanamir will surely do his part in reducing the opposition’s goals into minimum with the help of Tar-Telperion led experienced top-quality defence.

But then again, Huan has never played in a team that would have ended outside the top four –being possibly the only one player to achieve that. With his close companies Celegorm and Curufin, the frightening duo to anyone opposing them, going forwards with the aid from likes of Yavanna and Idril, their forward capacity looks like a solid one. The defence might be the weak spot there – remembering that Huan always performs the best behind a solid one. But having Maglor, Penlod and Indis there would be a great asset to many a team competing this year. So even that is a relative “defect”.

The AKM’s favourite to win this group though is Real Valinor. Tulkas is playing the goalie this year and that surely raises some eyebrows, but none dare to think he would be lousy in defensive mode: it’s hard to see his pride and fury admitting any goals. But the defensive line in front of him looks impressive indeed with Caranthir and Tilion also able to score. Not that scoring ability was the weak point of the team in any case: with the crushing trio Nerdanel, Miriel and Arien, Real Valinor has probably the strongest attack of any team competing this year. So if something fails Real Valinor this year, it will be defence and goal-tending… but that looks stretching a possible weakness.

And Tirion will not give up either even if they start up with a lot more cheaper team… for even they would be strong contenders for the place in the next round in almost any other group.


Group E

Group E at the Havens will witness another spectacle of many great teams fighting it out for the two places to qualify. The home team is as good as it could be, but it clearly is the favourite to stay in the group phase – even with Eärendil and Tuor in the front and Cirdan at the goal.

Team Hithlum isn’t one of the most expensive teams either, but there will be Túrin and Húrin, and they will have Hador Lorindol, who played a really strong tournament last year, playing alongside them. So look forwards to them scoring a lot. The question only becomes, can they score more than they allow? It would be an upset indeed if Túrin, probably the strongest scorer in Arda Cup history, was left into the group phase!

The possible surprises for this group might be in teams Valimar and The Sea being heavily overpayed, which is possible. But not probable.

Team Valimar’s cheapest player is Celebrian with 8 million. All the others check 10 million each for the tournament but Manwë (15) and his grim brother Mandos (14). Now surely it will be tough to any one team to play against Valimar, not to talk of scoring against them. But do they have the flare it takes to go it all the way? This time Manwë’s team can’t use the tactics “play nicely against the good guys and be ruthless against the bad” as they will only meet the so called good teams in the beginning of the tournamnet – and those good teams they’re facing are not giving in to them an inch to play the gentleman’s game.

The Sea will be a tough contender this year as well. With the robbing of some top Númenorian quality players to add to his own trusted minions Ulmo has finally formed a team that might go far in the tournament. With a solid defence and aggressively productive strikers they are one of the teams who seem to have found balance. Only Voronwë at the goal poses some questions as to his reliability, but the Ulmo-led defence of Ossë, Uinen and Salmar should be able to aid him enough to keep the scoring opportunities of the opponents as low as possible.

The tough thing then is, that the two best of this group will meet the two best from group D!

“Whatever doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger” says the proverb and the AKM is ready to predict already now, that the two teams emerging as winners from the clash of the two best teams of these two groups (D & E) will be strong candidates to win the whole tournament. There’s no question about that.


Group F

There are two clear favourites to qualify from group F: Rohan and Imladris. Misty Mts. and Isengard will not go down without a fight and will inflict any harm they can to their opposing sides, but in the end their material is just too shallow and narrow for them to even dream of qualifying. Yes, Durin’s Bane and Azog are decent scorers, and Caradhras and Saruman know a trick or two on stopping the enemy. But it is just not enough.

The decision by Elrond to leave Imladris has been the talk of Arda ever since it was made public. Now it is then declared his brother is going to step into his shoes. That sounds like poetically right, but one must question placing Elros back in between the posts (he did tend the goal for the -08 Armenelos team that reached the fourth place) when he was quite spectacular last year playing forward. Elladan and Elrohir have Arwen to support them, but are they yet ready to take the charge? Signing Varda to lead the defence gives it some added credence, and Imladris should handle it to the next round. But will they have quality enough to go much further?

Rohan in turn looks like trying to reach for the miracle of 2009 (playing as team Edoras back then) with Theoden at the goal, the great mearas Shadowfax and Felarof leading the defence and Eorl the attack (Eomer and Aldor in the midfield are also playing from the -09 team). Compared to that team they have lost Eowyn and Elfwine, but they have signed in Gandalf, Radagast and the King of the Dead. So if they get the ball rolling like they did in -09, they might be on the road farther than other teams in this group. They sure are the AKM’s favourites to win group F.


Group G

This is a good and tricksy one again. Team Doriath looks financial-wise the weakest team of the group, but even more one must ask how a team with three broken fellowships will do: Melian plays without Elwë on her side, Lúthien without Beren and Beleg without Túrin. But the three form a considerably tough core to a team with Dior keeping the goal. Thus none should write Doriath out from the Game of Qualification even if some other teams might be the favourites in this group.

Even if the AKM thinks the balrogs are a bit overrated as defenders, it is quite clear that running three of them in to the field to defend a goal tended by Ungoliant herself makes up for a formidable defence the opponents will have hard times scoring against. But it seems the money to buy talent into team Anfaughlith has ended there. Thuringwethil is a crafty and deadly striker but she is plain alone there and is more or less wasted.

Nargothrond and AC Beleriand on the other hand look like attacking-machines aka. teams that have spent most of their money on the other end of the pitch. And thus Anfaughlith’s tactics of going for the defence looks like the right one. But will it be enough? The AKM predicts no.

Nargothrond is going into offence with a deadly trio Glaurung (16), Finrod Felagund (14) and Gwindor (11, and underpaid). Alongside Real Valinor’s trio (Nerdanel, Miriel, Arien), the AKM considers Nargothrond’s trio the best of the tournament (Hithlum’s Húrin, Hador and Túrin isn’t weak either…). But AC Beleriand will march Fëanor (22) himself to the attack alongside Eöl (15) – and when they are supported from the midfield by none other than Beren (12) – they sure score back against any team.

So the difference between Nargothrond and AC Beleriand will be played on the defence. Neither team has a magical goalie even if both Beör and Marach are quality keepers. But the reason why AC Beleriand is the AKM’s favourite to win this group is in the fact that while there is no clear lead in Nargothrond’s defensive line-up, AC has both Fingolfin and Echtelion to lead there.


Group H

If proven wrong, the AKM’s editor in chief is happy to eat his hat, but group H is just pathetic. Put in there one at the time, all four teams from groups D, E and G would qualify without a problem from group H. It also seems that the teams qualifying from group A will be having easy time to continue further in the tournament from the first play-off round. The only team that could even dream of challenging any other team on the play-off round is team Mordor – unless Sauron is able to pull off some really astonishing magic.

To pull off a little from the above. The team spirit built up by Minas Tirith by the collective ownership and even pay for all the players might, just might, create a team-spirit miracle Edoras enjoyed on 09 and Norbury on -10. That is a thing not to be forgotten – if not over-estimated either – as sometimes a strong team spirit can rise even a mediocre team into a succesful flow-like state. Whether the capital of Gondor is even near that will be seen as the results of the friendlies start unfolding.

Sauron is a questionmark as well. He’s seldom been a bad strategist and then the question becomes whether he has some aces hidden in his sleeves – or whether he is somehow playing a much more complicated game here where the sporting results of this year are second rate issues.

Yet another interesting question is how will five Nazgûl’s play it together? If they can pull out some extra-value from their co-operation the team might surprise some. Also it is clear Mordor’s total financial value has little or nothing to do with their worth as a team. Paying The Watcher and the Fellbeast 1 million each is just a bad joke they seem to have agreed on… for some reason.



~*~

There was the AKM's preliminary look at the groups.

As the friendlies start rolling we'll get some answers to our beliefs, doubts and predictions. And before the tournament begins, the AKM will be publishing a full, stats-backed prediction for all the groups as well as the hottest hints to the players every phantasy-player should consider as their choices.

And naturally, the AKM will be reporting & commenting on the friendlies as they start being played.

Enjoy the Arda Cup 2012 - with the AKM!

[Nogrod]

Here is the AKM's look at the relative power of the teams looked at from two angles: how much they cost (some are overpaid, some are underpaid - we know and these issues have to be addressed when the friendlies begin and we have time to observe the players' go for the game this year) and how the teams have spread their talent into the main areas of defending and scoring.

We took as our starting points the defence of team Anfaughlith and the offence from team Hithlum which we deemed value & organization-wise the best there are this year. We gave them both the value of 10. All the other teams are valued in comparison to the two in defence and in offence.

In the list, the first number is the value we gave their defence (including the goalie) and the latter is the value we gave to their offence.

1. FC Valinor 9+ / 7-
2. Valimar 9½ / 6-
3. Eriador 9+ / 6
4. Angband 8+ / 7-
5. Armenelos 8- / 7
6. Real Valinor 7- / 8-
7. Erebor 6½ / 8-
8. Anfaughtlith 10 / 3½
9. AC Beleriand 6- / 8-
10.The Sea 8- / 5,5
11. Nargothrond 5 / 8+
12. Imladris 8 / 5
13. Hithlum 2,5 / 10
14. Gondolin 5 / 7+
15. Rohan 5+ / 7-
16. The Havens 5½ / 6+
17. Wilderland 3+ / 8+
18. Tirion 5+ / 6
19. Gondor 5½ / 5½
20. Doriath 5- / 6+
21. Mins Tirith 6+ / 5-
22. Inter Bel. 5+ / 5½
23. Arnor 6- / 4½
24. Dwarves Utd. 6 / 4
25. Anduin 4½ / 5+
26. Isengard 5- / 5
27. T-I-G 5+ / 4½
28. Shire-Bree 4 / 5+
29. Misty Mts. 4- / 5
30. Barad-Dûr 3- / 5½
31. Mordor 2+ / 4+
32. The Downer 2½ / 2+


Like we said, this is not the table the AKM suggests is the one that you should bet for as there are a host of things to be taken account of before making any more serious lists. But comparing our list to fex. the TTN's list should help the phantasy player to find out some common issues and pay heed to the differences...

[the phantom]

MESPN Guide to the Groups

With the release of the rosters and groups, football fans are clamoring for informed football experts to weigh in on the new look of Arda Cup. We are ever at the service of the football viewing public, so here is the best early breakdown that our experts at MESPN could put together.

GROUP A at Michel Delving

ANGBAND- Most people know what to expect from this high-paying squad. With Morgoth and a trusty Balrog anchoring the defense in front of Carcharoth, and Ancalagon and Telvildo up front, Angband will be looking to transition quickly from defense to offense, and probably won't ask their forwards and defenders to help each other much- with the exception of Morgoth of course, who cannot help but be involved occasionally on offense- particularly on corners and free kicks. He's a big target with lots of power, similar to Ancalagon, and thus teams will have to account for both of them.

SHIRE-BREE UNITED- This SBU squad is quite diverse, featuring a hobbit, an elf, wraiths, men, and whatever Bombadil is. Most of them signed for modest amounts- particularly Bombadil, who has always been a bit weird in monetary matters. Their strength up front looks good, and they're all good passers, so look for SBU to play the possession game and earn themselves clever openings.

THE DOWNER- This squad got outscored 9-3 last year and was not much respected, as their antics far exceeded their ability to compete. Soap Pope hit opponents with his hat, Philip Hampton openly kicked opponents in the rear, Fillis brazenly tackled players from behind by grabbing their ankles, and captain Hookbill was caught with a knife. By far the worst offender was the striker Alien, who lit fire to the field, burrowed beneath the field to bite opponent's ankles, vomited onto opposing fans, ate the goalposts, and tried to stuff an opponent into a microwave! Captain Hookbill says that his squad has grown, however. "Last year was their first time trying to follow rules. There were bound to be mistakes." MESPN would also point out that they were in an extremely tough group last season, featuring two title favorites- Angband and Angfauglith, as well as a talented Hithlum squad.

TOL IN GAURHOTH- These interdimensional beings are contenders every year, whether Wights or Wolves. This year they've been forced to go with a mix, as their Wight-Wolf forms were considered an "unfair competitive advantage", and Arda Cup perplexingly extended the ban to include a limitation on their WereWolf forms. Look for TIG to rally around their four Wolves. Their keeper will be a Wolf to increase his agility and reaction time. One defender will also be a Wolf in order to nullify the star-scorers of other squads with speed and size. NogWolf and PhantomWolf up front have great leaping ability and powerful kicks, so TIG will look to them for finishing plays.

GROUP B at Weathertop

ARNOR- The hardy Dunedain of the north are back, but this year alongside their forefathers Elendil and Isildur. Expect them to play their usual tactical style- changing methods frequently to suit the opponent and situation. Elendil’s size might be utilized on set plays, and prideful Isildur is likely to demand involvement up front.

INTER BELERIAND- Maedhros-captained teams are generally balanced nicely, with everyone expected to fulfill their assignments. The Balrog at the back should provide a nice counter for big powerful scorers, and the athleticism and teamwork of Maedhros and Fingon is always a weapon.

ERIADOR- The high-paid homeside features players that excelled last season, Elrond and Glorfindel, and they are supported by the flexible and fundamentally sound Dunedain, as well as the dangerous striker Witch King of Angmar and Elrond’s old friend Gil-galad. Look for Asfaloth to match up against speedy strikers, while Malbeth will be free to float where his inner eye sees fit.

GONDOLIN- Getting the ball to the double $20 million strikers at the front, Gothmog and Maeglin, is the focus of this team. Duilin in particular will be asked to feed the pair on corners and the like, but in the normal flow of the game expect a lot of hopeful longballs to head their direction, particularly at Maeglin. The deft craftsman has a first touch and ball control skills that rival nearly anyone.

GROUP C at Moria

ANDUIN- The wise Celeborn will organize the defenses here, and he will certainly be assigning Fram to neutralize the more monstrous strikers, as he seems to have a knack for it. The midfielders will be called into defensive service as well, as it is the first focus of the squad. When on offense Anduin will be careful not to open themselves to dangerous counters, but will maintain possession and send the ball back as necessary. The boldness and big boot of Boromir II, the accuracy of the opportunistic Haldir, and the toughness and size of Grimbeorn will be called upon to get the ball in the net.

DWARVES UNITED- This dwarf-centered team lacks height in many positions, but they will be tireless and tough and always give good effort. Look for the skilled foot of Telchar to be utilized as a feeder, but ultimately their offensive fortunes will likely depend upon sharp-shooter Legolas. On the defensive end, expect Aule and Celebrimbor to match up one-on-one with the best the opposition has to offer. The Vala has good size and is an unexpectedly good mover, while Celebrimbor is nearly a copy of his quick and agile father and grandfather (Curufin and Feanor). When in desperate need of a goal, the star defenders may come forward to aid the offense.

EREBOR- The most expensive squad east of the sea is quite diverse- great eagles, kings of men, a dwarf king, an elf king, an orc king, a bear-man, and a dragon. The eagles at the rear don’t have the best ball skills, but they’re lightning quick and good at getting in the way. Smaug is the big striking threat and his support are pretty good at finding their mark, and the midfielders will feel free to come up on the offensive side, as the speedy eagles can get back down to their own goal to defend swift enough to thwart any counter.

WILDERLAND- This squad’s success will depend upon their ents at the back end. Elwe, Galadriel, Orome, and Scatha at the front provides a threatening attack capable of quick strikes and slow builds. At the back the ents have power and size, but their speed can ebb and flow as they are roused. This means that match-ups could play a big part in things, as they defend certain types of athletes better than others.

GROUP D at Armenelos

ARMENELOS- The men of Numenor always field a strong squad, and most know what to expect looking at the names. Ar Pharazon and Ar Adunakhor both are good finishers around the net, and possess big legs from a distance. The rest of the squad is large and strong and they do not make mistakes in positioning, nor do they make bad passes. This should provide good support for their strikers.

TIRION- Thorondor at the rear should be an asset against dragon-strikers and the like, while the athletes up front should work very well together. Ingwe, Aredhel, Finwe, and Eonwe are all great ball-movers, and all of them are capable of accurately slotting the ball home if given the opening. Their corners and more distant free kicks will generally be sent in by the iron leg of Mahtan.

FC VALINOR- This pricey squad features the relatively new attacking duo of Celegorm and Curufin, that proved themselves dangerous last season. This time they have Yavanna, Idril, and Argon backing them up, so they should get the ball on their foot plenty of times. At the back Nahar is there to neutralize especially large or speedy threats, and Maglor is a skilled conventional defender, and the both of them have the leg to send it downfield in a hurry to the dashing forwards.

REAL VALINOR- Everyone knows that Nerdanel and Miriel are swift, deft, and crafty on the offensive end, capable of getting the ball or themselves through about any mess. Arien is an excellent finisher and thus compliments them well. At the rear Tulkas is protected by the solid Nienna and Caranthir, and Tilion too, though at times he will be called upon to move forward and support the attack with his accurate booming kicks.

GROUP E at Grey Havens

HITHLUM- This squad definitely spent their money up front, signing the tall and powerful Hador, the enduring and athletic Hurin, and of course Mr. Golden Boots- Turin Turumbar. The size and speed of Arroch at the rear should help counter certain offensive threats, and Morwen and Nienor will be good support for their family strikers. Look for Hithlum to get the ball into the offensive zone and keep it there.

THE HAVENS- This squad has a decent mix of known players up and down the roster that were willing to sign for perhaps a bit less than they could’ve commanded. The brothers Aegnor and Angrod with their friend Andreth should provide solid support for the towering Tuor and excellent skill of Earendil, and Olwe and the defense in front of Cirdan will do what they can to get the attackers the ball early and often.

THE SEA- The Numenorean-led offense ought to mix well with captain Ulmo’s overall strategy and defense. The team puts defense first and looks to possess the ball and build strategic pressure and swiftly execute when an opening presents itself.

VALIMAR- Manwe’s squad will play a similar style to The Sea, but will probably be even more conservative when leading. The Ainu-based squad looks to benefit defensively from the youngest sons of Feanor, who should help the sometimes plodding Valar when facing quicker athletic opponents.

GROUP F at Isengard

IMLADRIS- Just as under Elrond, Imladris will be defense first. Varda will be asked to erase the big threats, while Erestor and company (along with the midfield) will position smartly in front of the stellar Elros. Elladan and Elrohir have always worked well in support, but they will be asked to step up and put it in this year.

ISENGARD- These guys will spread out and look to move the ball around. Caradhras will be depended on to hang back and use his winds and blinding snow to protect Ugluk in goal. The big and bendy Quickbeam excels on headers while Saruman has the skill to do whatever the situation calls for. Expect Treebeard to send forward the longer kicks from time to time.

MISTY MTS- With the three trolls and the Watcher, MM ought to be equipped to deal with big bruisers- dragons and the like. Chief Wolf will have to pick up the slack against quicker athletic sorts. The displaced elves, Orophin and Rumil, along with the skillful Narvi, should be good movers and feeders in support of the strikers up front- Azog and Durin’s Bane, who both possess great finishing power.

ROHAN- The defense in front of Theoden should be able to handle about anything. Shadowfax and Felarof possess great strength, speed, and size, and so should be able to pressure any offense. And pressure will be their game, as they also possess the legs in the back to retreat for any counter, and so the horses will come up to support the Gandalf-led offense whenever possible. Helm Hammer-head is a well known finisher, and Eorl is a great multi-purpose athlete up front.

GROUP G at Nargothrond

ANGFAUGLITH- With three Balrogs protecting the webs of Ungoliant, defense is obviously the focus of this squad. They will be looking to strangle the opposition, and depend upon the aerial speed and vampire strength and agility of Thuringwethil up front to make a play for them on the offense.

AC BELERIAND- The hardiness and athleticism of Fingolfin and Ecthelion will help the great steed Rochallor on the defensive end enough to allow the attackers to stay up and look to flip the field on short notice. The craftsman Eol and Feanor are known for their great ball skills, so long balls are always a danger to the opposition, and the solid Beren will always be there to support them.

DORIATH- Melian, Luthien, Mablung, and Beleg obviously proved themselves in last year’s title. This year’s team is more defensive however without the size of Elwe and speed of Carcharoth to counter the firepower of the opposition. The midfield supported by Melian should be good at working it forward carefully, and Luthien and Beleg’s offensive skill in support of Mablung of the heavy-boot up front ought to be effective.

NARGOTHROND- This squad is very top-heavy, with all the double-digit salaries at the forward and midfield. They’ll be looking to score early and often. Glaurung is the big-hitter, but everyone behind him can both assist and score to make the defense be honest.

GROUP H at Minas Morgul

BARAD-DUR- Sauron’s surprisingly cheap squad will play a quick-strike style, pressuring the ball and trying to get it to their captain as many times as possible. The offense will run through the Dark Lord of course, while the Mouth will be left to organize the defense in front of the bulky Mumakil. Castamir and especially Beruthiel will be charged with putting the ball on Sauron’s toe.

GONDOR- This king-laden team will play in the classic Dunedain style, with the whole squad moving fluidly up and down, maintaining smart spacing and keeping the ball moving. Eldacar might make a run every so often, but the offense will generally be a mass attack.

MINAS TIRITH- The Tower of Guard has a very even squad, with heady play, good size and power, and unified chemistry up and down. The team will never restrict themselves to their area, but will always be ready to push forward or fall back in support. They will run their set plays with very interchangeable parts.

MORDOR- Economical and balanced, team Mordor is anchored by the steady Nazgul that provide the glue up and down the pitch. Shelob is a big load to handle at the front, while the Fellbeast at the back provides a sizable and swift stopper.

[the phantom]

To get warmed up for the tournament, squads always play some practice matches. This year there will be four rounds of warm-ups to work with. The teams made their friendly arrangements before the groups were decided, so some of them will find themselves matched up against teams that they'll play again once the tournament starts. Will that change the way they play?

Some teams will be interested in finding a rhythm and then not over-taxing themselves. Others will want to get used to playing with proper effort against quality foes. Some will feel more comfortable from the get-go and might be prone to laziness.... We'll see what happens.

Round 1 Friendlies

Anduin vs Valimar
Angband vs Doriath
Angfauglith vs Tol In Gaurhoth
Armenelos vs Gondor
Arnor vs Imladris
Barad-Dur vs Rohan
AC Beleriand vs Inter Beleriand
Dwarves United vs Misty Mts
Erebor vs Wilderland
Eriador vs Isengard
Gondolin vs Real Valinor
Hithlum vs The Downer
Minas Tirith vs Mordor
Nargothrond vs Shire-Bree United
The Havens vs FC Valinor
The Sea vs Tirion

[Nilpaurion Felagund]

In this issue of the ArdaCup.com Stats Reports we bring you the numbers and an analysis of the previous two rounds of friendly matches. But before we proceed an introduction is in order for our newest number-crunching innovation.

The Adjusted Goal Multiplier:

There's always that question. Under the old power rank, a team putting up goals and shutouts against weaker teams will be ranked higher than a team grinding it out against stronger teams. But under the new Power Rank system opponent strength will be a factor in the ranking.

First of all a multiplier is assigned to each team based on their current goal differential using the following formula:

Multiplier = 1 + [goal differential]/2*[absolute value of the greatest or least goal differential among all teams]

Using current teams as an example, Real Valinor gets a multiplier of 1.5 due to its league-leading goal differential of 5.

1.5 = 1 + 5/[5*2]

Whereas The Havens gets a multiplier of 0.7 due to its -3 goal differential.

0.7 = 1 + [-3]/[5*2]

After a multiplier has been assigned to each team, the scores of each game are adjusted: the goal made by a team is multiplied by the opponent's multiplier, and the goal allowed is multiplied by the team's own multiplier. From these adjusted scores the adjusted goal differential is computed.

Power Rank:

A short stats list and analysis of the top ten teams shall be listed before the complete Power Rank table is given below.

Legend:

Team name (win-draw-loss)
Offence (goals per game) [rank]
Defence (goals allowed per game) [rank]
Goalkeeping (save percentage) [rank]
Adjusted Goal Differential [rank]

1. Real Valinor (2-0-0)
   4 [1]
   1.5 [19]
   72.73% [15]
   +2.7 [1]
   

   If the other nine teams on the list are the cream of the crop, then Real is the cherry on top. With its number one offence and adjusted goal differential, they possess the ability to dominate games completely. And if you think it's only their offence that's on fire, though, remember that their defence withstood the onslaught of Maeglin, Gothmog, Túrin, Húrin, and Hador and allowed them only eleven shots on target and three goals.

2. Rohan (1-1-0)
   1.5 [11]
   0.5 [2]
   85.71% [7]
   +1.4 [4]
   

   The top Edain team (ranked higher than even the perpetually Cup-contending Númenórean squad) and the top Third Age team of the moment lives primarily through its defence, but a goal against an Ulmo back line is a good sign for the Riders's offence. Excellent friendly performance is not always indicative of tournament success, but with Rohan's form they look set to dominate their weak group.

3. AC Beleriand (1-1-0)
   1.5 [16]
   0.5 [6]
   87.5% [3]
   +1.7 [3]
   

   Surprise, surprise! A squad with Fëanor as captain thriving more on defence. Although drawing blood against Manwë is indicative of a flowing offence. If their attack and defence click at the same time then there's no telling how far this team would go.

4. Eriador (2-0-0)
   1 [26]
   0 [1]
   100% [1]
   +2.0 [2]
   

   With Elrond between the posts Eriador's defence being tighter than Moneybag's pockets is no surprise. They don't need a red-hot offence to win games, just one that scores goals. Having just put one behind Imladris's seventh rank defence, they look set on that end.

5. Armenelos (1-1-0)
   1.5 [15]
   1 [11]
   77.78% [10]
   +0.6 [6]
   

   The Númenórean squad have been playing too friendly with fellow Dúnedain so far, so we have yet to see how good this team really is. However they have to get moving fast—their group brings death to the unprepared.

6. Wilderland (1-1-0)
   2 [8]
   1.5 [20]
   75% [12]
   +0.5 [9]
   

   Losing Sauron and Smaug is no biggie for Wilderland, who gained Oromë, Elwë, and Galadriel in exchange. The first two are spearheading their effective attack, and the Lady of the Golden Wood got a goal in the last game, proving that she's just not about defence. With Scatha yet to step up, this team still can go higher.

7. The Sea (0-2-0)
   1.5 [12]
   1.5 [18]
   72.73% [16]
   +0.6 [7]
   

   The Sea is middling in almost all aspects, including in the standings, but they're doing it against the best teams, which is why Ulmo's squad enters the list with a seventh-ranked adjusted goal differential. We're banking on the Vala of the seas to take it a notch higher come tourney time.

8. FC Valinor (2-0-0)
   3.5 [4]
   2 [25]
   71.43% [18]
   +0.1 [11]
   

   The other Valinor squad looks to be playing second fiddle to Real, being a hair behind their brethren in both offence and defence. We still haven't seen how good their over-all defence really is, though, since they gave The Havens and Nargothrond almost an hour of free rein over the ball, resulting in a lot of shots. If they decide to play for real for ninety-plus minutes, how much less shots might those two have made?

9. Valimar (1-1-0)
   1 [29]
   0.5 [4]
   87.5% [5]
   +1.0 [5]
   

   Manwë is up to his old tricks again, playing the one-goal-win game, but their defence is looking fine enough for them to stick to such a strategy. The only goal they conceded so far came from a Fëanor play.

10. Erebor (1-0-1)
    1 [20]
    1 [9]
    75% [14]
    0.0 [12]
    

    The Lonely Mt squad is slightly better than Wilderland defensively, but their front line needs to step up if they wish to win their group from Oromë's team.

The Power Ranking is based on the aggregate of offensive and defensive ranking, combined with the adjusted goal differential rank of each team. The listed offensive and defensive rankings are from the actual numbers by the teams, and not adjusted. Ties are broken by the win-draw-loss record.

The offensive ranking is based on the goals scored throughout the friendly matches. Ties are broken by a) greater number of shots made on target; and b) greater number of shots made.

The defensive ranking is based on the goals allowed throughout the friendly matches. Ties are broken by a) least number of shots allowed on target; and b) least amount of shots allowed.

Please note that the above ranking is based on the two rounds of friendly matches played by the teams, and does not reflect actual tournament performance.

Top individual performers:

GOALS + ASSISTS

4+1
Curufin (FC Valinor)

4+0
Arien (Real Valinor)
Glaurung (Nargothrond)

3+1
Strider (Shire-Bree United)
Bombadil (Shire-Bree United)
Oromë (Wilderland)
Aredhel (Tirion)

2+3
Míriel (Real Valinor)

2+2
Finwë (Tirion)
Gwindor (Nargothrond)

2+1
Tar-Ancalimon (Armenelos)
Húrin (Hithlum)
Túrin (Hithlum)
Tar-Minastir (The Sea)

2+0
Ancalagon (Angband)
PhantomWolf (Tol-in-Gaurhoth)
Isildur (Arnor)
Maeglin (Gondolin)
Tuor (The Havens)
Aegnor (The Havens)
Durin’s Bane (Misty Mts)
Sauron (Barad-dûr)

1+2
Hookbill (The Downer)
Nienor (Hithlum)

0+4
Barrow-Wight (Shire-Bree United)

0+3
Elwë (Wilderland)
Andreth (The Havens)
Daeron (Doriath)

GOALKEEPING

1. Elrond (Eriador) – 5/5 (100%)
2. Elros (Imladris) – 10/11 (90.91%)
3. Marach (AC Beleriand) – 7/8 (87.5%)
4. Ungoliant (Anfauglith) – 7/8 (87.5%)
5. Manwë (Valimar) – 7/8 (87.5%)

[Galadriel55]

It has reached certain ears – and we must admit they were not pointy Elven ears, but plain human ones, and not the cleanest – that Aganzir, the Woman of the Secret Shadow, has been accepted to the Tol-in-Gaurhoth team as a midfield, and she partially earned this position because of the myths floating around (not exactly like bubbles in a bath or logs in a pond, but more like anchors thrown off a ship) that she is a werecat, aka a werelion. According to some, she can also transform herself into a crocodile, but this theory has no scientific support whatsoever, and is totally irrelevant. Others say that her other other skin is one of a vixen, which is more believable, but just as irrelevant to this topic.

This year the T-I-G team is limited to only four werewolves because, according to some brainy people, wolf forms give the team an unfair advantage over others. The above-mentioned Aganzir is registered as a wight on the above-mentioned team. However, if she chooses to become a lioness, would there be a ban to stop her? There were no lions on teams before; therefore the restriction does not mention any. Will T-I-G make use of this mightily convenient loophole?

Now the above-mentioned grimy human ears collaborate with a mouth, and that mouth is full of teeth and opinions clean enough to quote. “A human is a human, and a lion is no human,” the ears heard that opinionated mouth say. “Four wolves are enough! They have to understand us Homo sapiens too. They will. Any human will. It’s only humane – haha! humane humans!” What the ears and the mouth did not realize is that the rest of the team is also not human: they are wights. Undead. Not human.

[the phantom]

Barad-Dur played host to the team from The Havens, led in by Cirdan and Olwe. Some team members were wary and hardly any Havens supporters showed, but there was no incident. Sauron was running a tight ship.

Neither squad unleashed their full tournament potential, but they were decently competing, particularly when the score was tied. Three times Havens pulled ahead and nerfed their offense in favor of defending until Barad-Dur answered.

The first two Havens goals were answered quite swiftly by Sauron himself. The keeper Cirdan had to laugh when the second ball veered off away from him leaving him no chance at all. After going up against Sauron several times in the past Cirdan knew that sometimes Sauron's just going to beat you with a play.

But Cirdan got the last laugh- Sauron split the defense and fired for a final equalizer with under 5 minutes, but Cirdan managed to tip the ball up and over the crossbar preserving the 1-goal victory for the Havens.

Barad-Dur 2-3 The Havens
tot shots 14-15
on target 7-8
GOALS:
*36, 0-1 Earendil (Tuor)
*42, 1-1 Sauron (Herumor)
*53, 1-2 Aegnor (Angrod)
*59, 2-2 Sauron (Beruthiel)
*77, 2-3 Earendil (Aegnor)
YELLOW CARDS:
*Barad-Dur- Herumor, Fuinur, Fellbeast #2
*Havens- Annael, Lindo, Angrod

Since Eriador's home stadium at Amon Sul was busy with preparations for group play, Erebor played host to this contest. Both squads seemed comfortable with their stage of preparation and opted to go with only a half-game, wasting time and kicking it around in the first, and occasionally showing off some trick or another.

When the teams emerged for the 2nd half Elrond and Gil-galad shook hands with Thranduil and the Witch King gave a final pat on the back to Nazgul #7 and the teams went into tournament mode.

Eriador had troubles getting it forward against the eagles at the back, while Erebor did a good job possessing against the fairly conservative defense of Eriador. Smaug and Bard both gained great scoring chances in the early-going, but they watched in frustration as their efforts were wiped out by Elrond.

Finally Smaug could be contained no longer, and he put Erebor on the board at 66 minutes. Erebor continued to press for another goal, but Elrond ordered a more pressuring defense and Erebor ran into problems possessing and Eriador began to look the more dangerous.

In the closing minutes Arveleg sent one just over the crossbar, and Glorfindel made a fantastic run in and nearly trickled it past Beorn, but Girion got there to clear it just in time, and so the game ended at 1-0. Both squads seemed happy to have gotten in one half of hard gameplay against a quality foe.

Erebor 1-0 Eriador
tot shots 12-8
on target 5-3
GOALS:
*66, 1-0 Smaug (Bolg)
YELLOW CARDS:
*Erebor- Gwaihir, Bard, Landroval
*Eriador- Valandil

[Nogrod]

The Valinor-based teams took the trip south to play their second last friendlies at the great stadium of Gondolin, carrying the Angband team with them – and well, the secret was lost anyway so there seemed to be no problem with that. But the organisers were at the tip of their toes and scheduled the Angband match the first in the afternoon to avoid any troubles a late game might bring about.

Sadly team Angband and team Valimar were nowhere near to give it a go but passed the ball around – getting all the more careful as the clock ticked on. From the audience’s pov Angband’s sudden awakening 15 minutes before the end of the game was a happy thing, and Valimar reacted to it furiously, like a premeditated deal had been broken. So the last fifteen minutes offered the spectators some real drama and serious game, but nonetheless the game ended in a draw 0-0.

Angband 0-0 Valimar
tot shots 11-9
on target 3-3
GOALS:
*
YELLOW CARDS:
*Angband- Uldor, Balrog #1
*Valimar- Amras, Celebrian


But if the first game was a disappointment, the second one really made everyone forget about it. The beginning of the game between the two top seats Real Valinor and FC Valinor looked to be more of the same but slowly the match-ups started to ratchet up competitive fires. Caranthir, the Dark-brother, was trying to shut down his older and younger brother, while at the other end Maglor kept shadowing his mother and Indis was rivalling her husband’s ex- wife Miriel. And soon it was clear these were real match-ups.

It was the cousin to the Fëanor’s sons, Argon, who really made the impact in this game with his individual performances. FC Valinor cranked up the game on the latter half of the first period and Argon scored from a solo-run (after a nice freeing pass from Yavanna). And when he scored again quite early on the second period – this time with a decent header after a corner by Curufin – Real Valinor really had to step up to play for the victory even if they had started to play quite seriously already before that...

It was clear FC Valinor wished to win and Real Valinor wished to at least draw. After Arien reduced the FC Valinor’s lead to one goal the last ten minutes were just dazzling football with both teams playing it for real.

After the game Indis summed it most appropriately: “You know these family-affairs… there are always these emotions… I mean depending on a family…”

Miriel was not willing to make a clear reference to that, but stressed the fact that both teams would meet again at the group-stage in Númenorë and then everything would be open once again – and she quite happily cast the coat of the favourite to the FC Valinor team. “We don’t yet have our game as organized we’d wished it to be, but we’ll play better the next time”.

FC Valinor 2-1 Real Valinor
tot shots 16-11
on target 7-4
GOALS:
*34, 1-0 Argon (Yavanna)
*61, 2-0 Argon (Curufin)
*83, 2-1 Arien (Nessa)
YELLOW CARDS:
*FCVal- Penlod, Idril, Irmo, Indis
*RealVal- Nienna, Miriel


~*~


The Sea sailed south and harboured their vessels to the shores of Númenor and went to play a friendly there against the upcoming hosts of group D, Armenelos.

It was all friendly and courteous, and in the first half more of a walk-through than a competitive game. But both teams made it more competitive on the second half. After Ulmo scored on the 66th minute, The Sea tried to shut Armenelos down, but that only made the home team try more. Ar Adunakhôr evened the score ten minutes before the end and the draw was very well earned.

Armenelos is facing the toughest competition any team could fear for, but their captain Ar Pharazôn was confident – even if he himself hasn’t scored yet: “The friendlies have shown the Valinor teams are not only good on paper but in reality as well, but these have just been the friendlies… when the real games begin, we will show our qualities with our home crowds behind us. And before you ask me, no, I’m not worried about my scoring… I’m going to score when the goals are needed.”

Tar Minastir was there to speak for The Sea: “We have played even with Tirion so there should be no reason why we couldn’t beat Hithlum and qualify. Yes they come on you like a hurricane but we have a tough defence seasoned for that kind of onslaught – and their defence is vulnerable indeed. So we’re confident we’ll go through.”

Armenelos 1-1 The Sea
tot shots 13-12
on target 4-5
GOALS:
*66, 0-1 Ulmo (Tar Aldarion)
*83, 1-1 Ar Adunakhor (Tar Ancalimon)
YELLOW CARDS:
*Armenelos- Ar Zimrathan, Tar Telemmaite
*Sea- Tar Cirytan, Osse, Tar Aldarion

[Nilpaurion Felagund]

Everyone’s favourite manic biased sports blog[*] is back! Now, the rules of Arda Cup team-building may have changed, but the rules of football haven’t, so we’ll leave the discussion of the effects of Eru’s decree to those who care more about it, and let’s get down to discussing the game!

First up, let's have a look at those who'll advance from the group stage, those who'll get their die-roll's chance, and those who won't have a chance in Menel, Cemen, or the seven levels of Minas Anor.

GROUP A
Advance: Angband, Tol-in-Gaurhoth
Dark Horse: Shire-Bree United
Out: The Downer

A winning tradition will push the two into the bracket stage, but this group is so boring it brings me to tears (from all the yawns). The only bright spot this group has is Bombadil, and you know how it is with that enigma . . .

GROUP B
Advance: Eriador, Gondolin
Dark Horse: Arnor, Inter Beleriand

Elrond will have a hard time keeping a clean sheet with the offensive talents in this group. But if anyone can do it, he could.

GROUP C
Advance: Wilderland, Erebor
Out: Anduin, Dwarves United

A Vala with a dragon trumps a Nazgûl with a dragon anytime. The others, obviously, won’t stand a chance.

GROUP D
Advance: Armenelos, Real Valinor
Dark Horse: FC Valinor, Tirion

Tar-Míriel and Arien will lead their teams to get past this most epic of groups.

GROUP E
Advance: The Sea, Hithlum
Dark Horse: Valimar
Out: The Havens

After making it all the way to the semis last year before choking, Manwë will choke earlier than usual this time around.

GROUP F
Advance: Rohan, Imladris
Out: Misty Mts, Isengard

What’s a cavalry without horses? Rohan must have learned that lesson last year, and now they can trample the opposition in the mud.

GROUP G
Advance: Nargothrond, AC Beleriand
Dark Horse: Anfauglith, Doriath

Finrod > Fëanor >>> Everyone else. Nuff said.

GROUP H
Advance: Gondor, Mordor
Dark Horse: Barad-dûr
Out: Minas Tirith

Sauron sucks. We’ve known it for some time, and now everyone else will, too.

__________
[*] According to a comprehensive survey of one sports blog follower.

[the phantom]

All the inter-dimensional wights and wolves were packed into the haunted arena in the Barrow-Downs for their friendly against Gondolin. It was the third round of friendlies and TIG supporters were hoping to see their team roster begin to solidify, and perhaps the team would be looking to find its tournament form.

And indeed they were, and the same went for their opponent- Gondolin. Both squads came out giving good effort and trying for the win. But they both failed at that, as they each scored a goal in both halves for a 2-2 draw.

NilpWolf did an excellent job containing Maeglin, but the Wights were not able to counter both the keen-boot and the Lord of Balrogs at the same time. Gothmog scored twice on the day, both on feeds from Elemmakil.

At the other end TIG also managed to put 8 shots on goal. Gondolin had trouble with the Werewolves at the front, and when they tried to compensate it left the witty wights with too much room to operate. But thanks to Rog they managed to preserve the draw.

Gondolin 2-2 Tol In Gaurhoth
tot shots 15-18
on target 8-8
GOALS:
*13, 1-0 Gothmog (Elemmakil)
*38, 1-1 NogWolf (SallyWight)
*67, 1-2 NerWight (PhantomWolf)
*75, 2-2 Gothmog (Elemmakil)
YELLOW CARDS:
*Gondolin- Galdor, Gothmog, Pengolodh
*TIG- DF Wight #2, MF Wight #3

Tirion came into their match against the Downer weirdos nicely focused, while Hookbill's minions were a bit sloppy to begin. Tirion took advantage by building a three goal lead. Only a spectacular ranged rocket from Saucepan Man saved the half for The Downer.

The second half started the same, but The Downer did begin to find better focus as things moved along. After Finwe's penalty at 68 minutes Tirion fell back to defend and managed to keep The Downer at bay until the very end when captain Hookbill tapped it in on a heads up scramble play.

Tirion 5-2 The Downer
tot shots 24-17
on target 11-7
GOALS:
*9, 1-0 Finwe (Aredhel)
*17, 2-0 Finwe (Mahtan)
*25, 3-0 Eonwe (Ingwe)
*42, 3-1 SPM (Lalwende MP)
*53, 4-1 Eonwe (Aredhel)
*68, 5-1 Finwe
*88, 5-2 Hookbill (Lalwende MP)
YELLOW CARDS:
*Tirion- Mahtan, Thorondor, Eonwe
*Downer- Alien, Burnt Bert, Peter Hampton, Hookbill, Morsul

[Nilpaurion Felagund]

Group G at Nargothrond

When one asks a random passerby about the great football stadiums of Beleriand, the names most mentioned are Doriath's Menegroth Stadium and Gondolin's Song of Stone Stadium, hosts to some unforgettable Arda Cup and league games. Himring's Ever-Cold Arena and Mithrim's lakeside stadium has a following, and many an Orc or Troll will tell you about Utumno's stadium with some affection. But no one will say or even remember the name of Nargothrond's home arena. Why is that so? many of the Nargothrondrim have surely asked. Aren't we one of the great realms of Beleriand, built by the best of the Naugrim and Noldorin craftsmen? Why don't we have an arena that rivals Menegroth and Ondolindë's?

When Finrod returned to his realm late last year, the first thing on his mind was not who to recruit for Nargothrond's squad, but how to build an Arda-class arena to host top-flight football games in. After considering whether a new arena should—or rather, could—be built, it was decided that the ageing Faroth Arena be renovated instead.

From the doors of Nargothrond, down the narrow path beside the banks of Narog, then up the steep slopes of Taur-en-Faroth: it is a long trek to the High Faroth Arena, delved deep down into the bluff overlooking Narog, one of the biggest domed arenas in Beleriand. Originally seating around 40,000, the improved arena now seats a little less than 60,000. The Noldor and the Dwarves have delved deeper into the cliffside, making the stadium asymmetrical—the Narog side seats have around ten less rows than the opposite side.

Despite his initiative to improve Nargothrond's home stadium, Finrod's absentee rulership had been commented on by some Beleriand tabloids. Many recall the exchange between him and Gondolin's Maeglin during their last friendly match over Turgon's plight. “The people of Nargothrond deserve much more than a new stadium,” said the Tumladen Mirror. “How about a stronger commitment to play for the team, and not leaving after a setback? Surely the Faithful wants to aid his friends and kin, but what about his own people? Maeglin is right. He should mind the business of his own realm first, before worrying about the others.” Although these comments have been lightly rebutted by the local journalists, who said that they trust Finrod to do his best for the kingdom, the issue still seemed to be simmering within the population.

Group G, composed purely of Beleriand teams, is a group of many stories. There's Beren and Lúthien, as well as their friends Thuringwethil and Finrod. Eöl and Beren vs their old team. Glaurung against his Balrog buddies. The rematch of Dagor-nuin-Giliath. Every game has a story behind it, but for the most important story, this is all but an opening chapter. Which teams will get a chance to continue their tale in the knockout stages, and which teams will be forced to write 'The End' after only a few pages?

[Nogrod]

Group E @ the Grey Havens

Cirdan had invited a host of teams to play friendlies at the Grey Havens so that the elven organizers would get some experience on handling games and catering for the fans – and for sure to give the locals a taste of what would be on offer later on as the Grey Havens isn’t exactly a “cradle of football” like Armenelos or Gondolin.

But the recently built Lhûnarena with its shape of an elven ship is a spectacular stadium, even if it stands a bit aside from downtown Mithlond. And it is nevertheless still situated in a nice spot beside the river just outside the old city walls, just next to the town’s favourite waterpark and riverside gardens. Thanks to its great location, many elves found it during the friendlies and reading the local tabloids today one could even talk about football-frenzy in the Grey Havens. Well, that is, if one keeps one’s perspective in check.

But what most certainly raises the awareness of the Arda Cup in the Grey Havens is the visitors to the city. Manwë himself will honour the city with his presence alongside many of the Valar the Mithlondians hold in greatest esteem. And the wizards long gone would be there – and from the mortals, some of the greatest and also the most tragic ones ever walking the old Beleriand would come to the city to play. And that, if not football as such, is creating a fuzz in Mithlond.

Now if group D has been labelled “the group of death” for some good reasons, group E in Mithlond could be coined as the “the group of near death experience” like the conservative Mithlond Navigator put it - or “the group of no reservations allowed” as the local tabloid The Lhûnandarwinian had it.

Many betting agencies have Valimar going through the group alongside Ulmo’s The Sea made sharper by some real Númenorian talent. But many are ready to risk their coin for Hithlum believing that Túrin and Húrin will show their leadership qualities once again and can’t be eliminated from a tournament in the group stage – and still many wish to bet on the hometeam looking forwards to Eärendil, Tuor and Olwë himself to show their qualities in front of the cheering home-crowd – not ot talk of Cirdan keeping their harbour safe.

Whoever will qualify from group E will then walk straight into the toughest first qualifiers ever facing the two best teams from group D. But like said so many times before; the teams emerging as winners from that will most probably be teams contending for the whole tournament having played their toughest games already…

[Shastanis Althreduin]

Group F at Isengard

It's been known that Isengard would have the home team advantage when Group F came together to play, but repeated attempts to contact Saruman about the details of Isengard Stadium have been met with maddening secretiveness until now.

There's been a spot on the fields below Saruman's tower that's been under some sort of a cloaking spell for quite some time - no one could tell what was going on under the shifting haze. But as of yesterday, the haze has lifted, and Isengard Stadium stands revealed. It's made almost entirely of stone and rubble; this may be a ploy on the part of Saruman to discourage certain spectators (such as elves; orcs don't sit, and dwarves don't care) from coming to support their teams. Regardless, the men of Rohan are here in droves to support their home team, and Misty Mountains has drawn a cadre of supporters from the Golden Wood, thanks to their signing of Rumil and Orophin. Isengard, of course, has home-court advantage and the number of fans to match, while Imladris, unfortunately has only a small section of devoted supporters to take strength from.

Several members of the White Hand are running concessions, and it's possible (though unprovable) that those wearing Isengard colors are getting slightly better rates on food and drink, but that's a can of worms this reporter isn't quite willing to open just yet.


Game 1 - Imladris vs. Rohan (1:00 pm start time)

As the captains came together to decide on play order, it was decided that the Rohan and Imladris teams, not having as much night-sight capability as most members of the other two teams, would take the first slot rather than the second (which is occuring rather later in the evening than would be expected) - Saruman wasn't insistent on this, exactly, but it's clear that this is the result he wanted, so it's suspected there may be more to watch during the second game than previously thought. Regardless, there's one issue that several groups of people have been wondering about - how will Elladan and Elrohir fare against the horse-filled defense of Rohan? When asked to comment, the sons of Elrond were rather upfront about their chances.

"We'll run rings around them," Elrohir boasted confidently. "Horses are too big to turn on a dime; we're smaller, we have more agility. Besides that, they're horses!"

Elladan was more circumspect in his reply. "Shadowfax is the pinnacle of horsekind, of course, and Snowmane and Felarof are no less good at what they do. However, I feel like they'll be running into each other a lot, which ought to work in our favor."

On the Rohan side, this reporter only had limited time to speak with the horse-line of Rohan's defense to elicit a response to the Imladris forwards - and of course most of it was impossible to understand. However, there seemed to be a lot of snorting and pawing the ground going on - and Shadowfax had a particular glint in his eye that doesn't bode well for the brash Elrohir.


Game 2 - Isengard vs. Misty Mountains (7:00 pm start time)

The staggeringly long delay between Games 1 and 2 has been explained away as having to redo the pitch after Rohan's horses have gouged it with their hooves, but six hours seems a long time for such a short task. Regardless, it means that Isengard and Misty Mountains will be playing under the setting sun, and dusk will fall during the middle of the first half. Neither team should be too hampered by this, so it just remains to be seen - why did Saruman want such a late start time? When asked to comment, the wizard was slippery.

"Well, of course the pitch will have to be redone after Game 1. We can't have people tripping in holes the size of Caradhras left and right, can we? What's that? Oh, do excuse me, it seems something's come up that I'm going to have to deal with."

The "something" appeared to be Lurtz, holding two cones of spun sugar. One wonders what question Saruman was trying to avoid.

In any case, this reporter managed to catch up to Rumil of the Misty Mountains team, one of the most likely to be affected by the late start, in order to inquire about his team's chances.

"Oh, I'm sure we'll do fine. We can all see in the dark, for the most part, and it shouldn't be that lightless anyway. Some of us are a little concerned that Saruman might try something underhanded, though; no one trusts him after he -" and here, he glanced around to make sure no one else was listening, "- took our best goalie with him when he left. Try to keep that hush-hush, by the way; the Great Goblin is doing a fine job, but he's been known to go into a sulk when he thinks he's being compared to Caradhras and that's the last thing we need right now."

No worries. This reporter's lips are sealed. On with the matches!

[the phantom]

Group B at Weathertop

At long last, the games of the 2012 Arda Cup were under way!

Kickoff for the first game between Inter Beleriand and Gondolin was as good as could be hoped for- several thousand supporters filed in through midmorning, and the rest of the seats were filled slowly by locals. The stadium was perfectly designed to allow coming and going, with entry points in the lower portion of the stadium accessed via the east and west paths that rose to the saddle between the two hills, and with entries for the upper levels accessed by the hilltops.

The sky was entirely overcast, providing nice even lighting across the field with no worries of blind spots. Cool temperatures had pushed down from the north, making things nicely mild at 65 F (18 C), though it was certain to warm by the second match.

As the first match kicked off it was soon apparent that Inter had more fan support. Gondolin supporters were certainly out in force, but the lack of representatives from the royal house had undoubtedly affected things, while Inter had Turgon playing for them, perhaps leading to a few defectors. But the difference was primarily seen with the locals, who seemed keen to root for Turgon, Fingon, and Maedhros. Maeglin of Gondolin is a huge name in football of course, but Inter's stars were just as large, and the men of Arnor seemed hesitant to get behind Maeglin's co-star at the front- Gothmog, Lord of Balrogs.

The two squads battled evenly to start, Gondolin pushing the ball aggressively, Inter possessing carefully. Maedhros and Fingon gained an opportunity in the opening minutes, but Egalmoth assisted his keeper nicely and got in the way of Fingon's shot.

On the other end Inter's Balrog did his best to frustrate Gothmog one on one, leaving the rest of the defense more free to converge on Maeglin. The strategy worked for the most part, limiting Gondolin's shots to longer speculations.

Both defenses held the opposition at bay throughout the first half- until the final minutes. Breaking up what had been an extremely clean game, Galdor performed an ill-advised take-down of Fingon, giving Inter a ranged free kick. Fingon's friend Maedhros took it and struck a beautiful ball over the top of the wall but with slightly lowered pace and enough spin to bring it down and challenge Rog.

The ball was placed perfectly high and right and Rog barely deflected it upwards, where it rebounded off the bottom of the bar. First to it was Fingon, who had timed his run nicely, and with his speed and accurate toe it was over the moment the ball bounced out from the bar- Fingon volleyed it into the empty left side with ease to give Inter the lead going into halftime!

When Gondolin emerged from the tunnel after the half they changed tactics drastically, asking their midfielders Duilin and Elemmakil to make aggressive runs forward and feeding them. Already in the second minute a nice through ball from Meleth found Duilin in stride and he fired a laser between the posts, forcing Turgon to make a fantastic save.

Just minutes later Gondolin sprung a nearly identical play, only this time Inter was ready and converged swiftly- which was what Gondolin hoped for. Duilin immediately sent it over to the freed-up Maeglin dashing full speed towards the right post. The panicked defense scampered to recover and stop the fabled "keen-boot" of Gondolin, but he unexpectedly skipped it back over to the forgotten Duilin who couldn't fail to put it in from five yards. The score was tied!

Inter fans grew quiet as Gondolin pressed forward yet again, bringing their full force forward. Turgon's defense was hard-pressed, and he was forced to stop a couple shots himself. At minute 56 Gondolin earned a corner, but Maedhros gained position and rose up high and headed it downfield. Fingon was waiting to dash the opposite way, and Baragund and Forweg were also moving the same way from the far side of the box, starting their run the moment they guessed the ball was coming out from the near side of the goal.

Baragund was first to it, splitting Aranwe and Galdor, who didn't recover quickly enough. With Fingon on the left and Forweg the right Baragund took two touches to draw Egalmoth closer and sent it over to Forweg, who on the first touch sent it forward to Fingon, who outpaced Pengolodh to earn an unopposed attack on Rog.

Fingon dashed forward and deftly faked a shot, then moved to slot the ball home to the near post- or so it appeared to Rog. Instead Fingon sent it sideways into empty territory where it was met solidly by Baragund to give Inter the lead!

Inter fans exploded while Gondolin supporters sat down heavily in stunned silence. Football could turn quickly, and here was the proof.

Turgon organized his defense for the final push they would inevitably face, and Inter went into full time-wasting and possession mode. They would attempt to bog things down and hold on for the victory. Gondolin pushed forward for the draw with everything they had. Inter staved them off again and again and nearly gained a counter opportunity, but the score remained the same.

Finally as time neared 80 minutes Gondolin's persistence paid off. Gothmog finally got the better of his mark and headed in a spectacular cross from Elemmakil, and the score was level once more!

Now on even footing, both teams looked to gain the winning goal, but both somewhat tentatively, not wanting to make a mistake that would concede the winner. Maeglin earned Gondolin a good look with some nifty footwork in the closing seconds, but Turgon made the stop to preserve the draw. The locals applauded the game enthusiastically, not only because they'd witnessed some quality football, but because each team gaining but one point left things open for Arnor or Eriador to move forward.

Inter Beleriand 2-2 Gondolin
on target 6-9
tot shots 14-22
GOALS:
*43, 1-0 Fingon (Maedhros)
*50, 1-1 Duilin (Maeglin)
*56, 2-1 Baragund (Fingon)
*77, 2-2 Gothmog (Elemmakil)
YELLOW CARDS:
*Inter- Forweg, Gorlim
*Gondolin- Galdor

The last remnants of cloud cover drifted away before the start of the late match, exposing the arena to the sun at last. When Arnor and Eriador trotted onto the field for warmups the grass was half in shadows, and the stadium was similarly split between the supporters of the squads, though Eriador probably had a few more thanks to the late-arriving Orcs, most of which sported Witch King replica jerseys.

And those same Orcs were riotous indeed when their hero rifled in the game's opening goal! The only thing they seemed to enjoy more than the goal was when Witch King got carded for a rough tackle on Valandur- almost to remind Arnor that though he was playing the part of good teammate on Eriador, he hadn't forgotten his old rivalry with the men of the North.

As the minutes moved along Eriador was controlling things nicely, and the defense of Arnor was kept running by their fine ball movement. And just before the end of the half, Eriador struck again- but this time the section of Gondolin Elves was given a special reason to cheer, as it was the beloved Glorfindel booting it past Arvedui.

In the second half Elrond ordered a full defensive lockdown, and Eriador went to it with model efficiency. Arnor managed to make Elrond move a couple times, but they were distance prayers with no real hope of getting past a keeper of his caliber. At minute 74 however things got interesting again. Araphor made a superb move past the defense and got to the end line to send a cross, but Gil-galad got in the way and deflected it out for a corner to Arnor.

Elendil sent in a pinpoint corner to his son and Isildur, after using his size to shield his defender, gained the header. Elrond shifted into position to make the save, but the header took an unfortunate deflection to the other side where Araphor made a heads-up reactionary play and kneed the ball into the netting to close the gap to one goal!

The newly energized Arnor faithful began chanting and stomping, but Eriador professionally bounced back from the setback and took full command of the ball and choked off all the action to preserve the margin of victory. The favorites had the early lead in Group B!

Arnor 1-2 Eriador
on target 5-6
tot shots 12-14
GOALS:
*24, 0-1 WitchKing (Arahael)
*41, 0-2 Glorfindel (Arveleg)
*74, 1-2 Araphor (Isildur)
YELLOW CARDS:
*Arnor- Malvegil
*Eriador- WitchKing

[Nogrod]

Group D at Armenelos, round 1


“The final of the 2012 Arda Cup today on the Armenelos Stadium at 18.00 hours! Gates open at noon.” screamed The Mittalmar Sun on it’s frontpage.

“Game Of Death today on Armenelos Stadium at 21.30 hours!” yelled Romenna Rumourer.

The more liberal and always so witty The Númenorian was taken by the frenzy as well: “Armenelos [our’men’no’los(s)] = the best footballing team of men ever, (-stadium) where everything happens, the place to be.”

Even the conservative The Armenelos Times had put football on it’s frontpage with the header: “The West shall see our determination this year!”

The whole city was living the games to the fullest. The Meneltarma Square had received two giant screens for the fans who couldn’t make a ticket to the Stadium and the square predictably started filling with people already before noontime. A bandstand had been brought in to the middle of the square where different bands, comedians, acrobats, wrestlers, poets, actors etc. from all over Arda performed the whole afternoon. When the Royal Citadel Choir finally performed the hymn “Númenor will never yield” it felt like a whole city had joined the chorus.

And like the last year, a game day meant a day out for all the Númenorians, and friends & families gathered together sharing their pic-nic meals with everyone. Inside and outside the Stadium the wineskins changed hands and the flagons were poured full one after another. The visitors to the city were treated well and politely, but it was clear the Númenorians were celebrating the games mainly with themselves.

But behind the jubilant mood the Númenorians delved into they knew the stakes were as high as possible from the very first game on. In the back of their heads the Númenorians knew their team had to win their first game to keep their dream of qualifying alive. And none dared to concentrate into a possibility they could lose. But it wasn’t any easier among the fans of the Valinor-based teams as it was more or less clear the victor would most probably be able to qualify, but the loser would have to fight for real to follow.


~*~


FC Valinor had beaten Real Valinor in the friendlies 2-1. That result and its meaning had been mulled over hundreds of times by different speculators. But whatever the exact contents of any individual speculations were one could say there were a few main categories of interpretations. According to one there was no way you could make any meaningful predictions based on a friendly game where neither team was playing in full force – and even their will to win in the first place could be questioned. According to the second line of thought Real Valinor had purposefully held their dashing forward-trio at bay not to let FC’s defences to accustom themselves to the different combinations they would be using when playing for real (some added to this interpretation that Real was willing to let the FC players feel confident of being better and thus underestimate Real, or to come to the game with not a full 100% energy, and then smash them down in the very beginning of the real game with devastating psychological effect). Third interpretation would say that the friendly proved both teams more or less equal as the second half – which was somewhat competitive in comparison to the first – ended 1-1. Yet a fourth line of thought put it blatantly that FC Valinor showed it was simply the better team of the two; and that Curufin and Celegorm supported by Yavanna were far more sharper and better able to kill games than the somewhat anemic Arien – Miriel – Nerdanel trio.

As the game began, it very soon started to look like the last line of thought was the right one as Yavanna scored 1-0 for FC Valinor after only six minutes into the game – and when Celegorm hammered the ball into the back of the net at twenty minutes making it already 2-0 it felt more or less evident that was the case.

There were many who said that Real had only started the game a bit sloppily and would come back, like it did the last time the teams met. It is hard to say whether FC Valinor’s dominance in the first twenty minutes was due to Real’s sloppyness or just their own goodness, but Real did come to fight back. And so after a lightning start for FC the game evened a lot and the crowds were served some real quality football.

Even if FC Valinor was leading by two goals to nil they were not settling into defence but brought consistent attacks towards Real’s side of the field. And those attacks also revealed a hidden weakness in Real Valinor’s defence, which is a certain lack of concentration. Everyone knows Caranthir has anger-management issues and many had guessed Tilion might have some problems with motivation being forced to play in the defence. Rúmil in turn seemed at times quite absent-minded, like lost in his letters, and Nienna and Elemmírë seemed to momentarily share more griefs past than awareness of what was going on around them. So with their defence in occasional disarray FC Valinor gained a host of chances to add to their lead.

But Real Valinor played back as well. Especially the dashing quickness of Nessa caused continuous problems to FC Valinor’s midfield and as the game grew older also the ladies up front started to find their magical touch at times making the defenders of FC Valinor look very slow and clumsy indeed. But what they were lacking was the accuracy. Miriel hit the post twice and Arien sent two absolute boomers just inches past the frame…

At 74th minute Curufin showed what accuracy means on the other end of the pitch. Caranthir got booked for a late tackle on his brother and Curufin took the shot from 35 meters himself. He sent a wild curveball flying first past the wall of defenders from the right and then bending astonishingly tightly sideways to the left again. When Tulkas realised where the ball was heading in the end it was already too late. The shot left Tulkas standing in the middle of the goal when the ball hit just inside the left corner of the crossbar and bounced inside the goal sweeping the net.

With 3-0 at the scoreboard both teams seemed to have had enough and just passed the ball to and fro for the last fifteen minutes saving energy for the next matches.

FC Valinor had really made a statement. It is hard to figure a team that could beat Real Valinor in two games in a row and to talk about an aggregate of 5-1 would just sound blasphemous. But that’s just what FC Valinor did!

FC Valinor 3-0 Real Valinor
on target 7-4
tot shots 15-14
GOALS:
*6, 1-0 Yavanna (Nahar)
*20, 2-0 Celegorm (Argon)
*74, 3-0 Curufin
YELLOW CARDS:
*FCVal- Curufin, Nahar
*Real- Caranthir



So the table was set for the match the Númenoreans were looking for. And many felt uneasy as it was now clear their number one target in this tournament would be Real Valinor: they would be the team Armenelos would have to beat. And even if they lost 0-3, they looked so dangerous! Maybe Caranthir and Nienna weren’t in their best form today and maybe Tilion was frustrated… but those were the players they would have to get past, and they were such great players even on a bad day – and the Armenelos team would have to stand their ground against the speed of Nessa, the virtuosity of Miriel and Nerdanel and the deadly finishing of Arien another day when they might be in just a bit sharper mood and their shots would go those few inches closer to the target... It was frighteningly clear to the home crowds after the first match.

But first they had to beat Tirion if they were to dream of qualifying and even that felt suddenly like a challenge they hadn’t quite anticipated how strong it was. Seeing the first game kind of made everything more concrete: this is the level of football played in group D. Would their own team stand to the challenge?

Armenelos had played somewhat sloppily in the friendlies but when the referee’s whistle blew the first half of the game opened everyone saw the team was playing with a totally different attitude. They fought for every ball and tackled hard, their game was present and concentrated; they were big, physical, aggressive and active. But especially Ingwë, Aredhel, Finwë and Eonwë showed some real skill and were able to make the Armenelos midfieldfield to run after them by moving and handling the ball brilliantly but getting themselves good scoring opportunities was hard indeed because of the excellence of the Armenelos defence positioning and relentless marking. The beginning then promised a real nail-biter – and some great football.

Now imagine two hundred thousand people cheering (about 70 000 inside the stadium and the rest outside on the great square). Then imagine doubling the sound as it is not mere seventh age humans but Númenorians yelling for joy. Then double it once more as with that outburst a lot of pressure was relieved, like a ton of weight lifted up from their shoulders. The team was answering the call – and in which way!

Tar Telperien cut a pass in the defence and sent it forwards all the way to Ar Adunakhôr who was immediately surrounded by Lalwende and Elenwë. But he made a quick turn and passed the ball backwards to up-running Tar Miriel who passed the ball diagonally forwards to the other side of the field with a one touch pass – and straight in front of Ar Pharazôn who beat Thorondor to the ball and hammered it in from the corner of the goal. Armenelos was in the lead after 22 minutes of the game and the fans were just going wild!

When Tar Ancalimon headed a second goal just before the break from Tar Telemmaïte’s corner one could call the feeling of the homecrowds purely euphoric. The game was tight and even on many fronts, but Armenelos was scoring, and scoring beautifully.

The second half started with a cold shower for the homeside fans when the Grand-grandfather Finwë hammered the ball in from a nice break-in to-the-box pass by his grand-daughter Aredhel. Tar Atanamir had no chance there. After the 2-1 goal Tirion got more energy and started pressing, but Armenelos defences didn’t give them in even an inch. It tells a lot about team Armenelos’ attitude that even Ar Adunakhôr and Ar Pharazôn were seen aiding the defences every once in a while – when they were not building their counter-attacks.

At 70th minute the stadium (and the square beside it) just exploded. Ar Gimilzôr forced a turnover in the midfield and sent the ball sideways to Ar Pharazôn who ran forwards, dribbled Mahtan out of the game and centered the ball just before rushing into Thorondor – and from between the two women running for defence Ar Adunakhôr jumped forwards and headed the ball in behind Finarfin who was totally unexpecting such a quick action. It was 3-1 with twenty minutes to go, but Tirion seemed to unleash the last extra-energy they had tapped in them. It sure was a game of death to them as well as losing to Armenelos would most probably mean being left into the group phase, unless they beat both Valinor teams which seemed quite a task to put it mildly.

So Tirion was charging with all they had – and the attack of the mighty elves shook the defences of the proud Númenorians even if they fought back heroically and with as much gusto you can imagine a great human to have against such a pressure. Time after time the Númenorians forced the attacks back, and when able built their own forcing Tirion to run back to their own half every now and then. But there seemed to be nothing to prevent the determination of the great elves prevailing – even if the goal was actually not made by an elf but Manwë’s herald, the great Eönwë himself. Númenorians are strong and physical, but Eönwë just forced himself through the Númenorian defences and hammered the ball in to the net with sheer power, both physical and mental.

There was ten minutes left of the game and the hosts were leading 3-2. So it was a nail-biter in the end even if the home team had enjoyed 2-0 and 3-1 leads earlier in the game.

And what an ending it was. Armenelos was not keen to fall into defence but started yet again pressing forwards when Tirion did their best to attack as well with all they could bring forward. But both goaltenders made a few spectacular saves in the end kept their sheets clean during the last minutes of maybe the most exciting football seen at Armenelos Stadium.

The crowds lived the last ten extaticly with the game and when the referee blew his whistle to end the game the roar of them could probably have been heard even in the mainland ME. The home team had won 3-2 in a game they had to win. Tirion’s road towards the play-offs on the other hand turned just a little bit rockier. And there and then the people realised the cruelty of the group-system. A team of that excellence was practically out of the games with just this one loss.

During the night the Tirion supporters found a lot of sympathy in the pubs and tavernas and received all the hospitality the island of Númenor could offer. Although, and to be honest, not all the wishes for Tirion to win at least a game, well exactly to beat at least Real Valinor, were purely unselfish by nature.

Armenelos 3-2 Tirion
on target 7-8
tot shots 17-19
GOALS:
*22, 1-0 Ar Pharazon (Tar Miriel)
*44, 2-0 Tar Ancalimon (Tar Telemmaite)
*53, 2-1 Finwe (Aredhel)
*70, 3-1 Ar Adunakhor (Ar Pharazon)
*80, 3-2 Eonwe (Mahtan)
YELLOW CARDS:
*Armenelos- Ar Gimilzor
*Tirion- Eonwe, Thorondor