Middle-Earth Football World Cup 2007

[Sleepy Ranger]

Here we are with the final round for Group A. The matches will be played simultaneously so that the results are not influenced. Angband have already qualified while both Valinor and Moria are in a must win situation. Erebor should make ith through with just a draw as many people have predicted that Valinor do not stand a chance against Angband. We'll have to see how things work out.

Group A

Angband 0 - 2 Valinor
(Eonwe 15th, Tulkas 36th)

Angband started off the match quite comfortably, creating the first chance of the game when Ulfang shot just wide of target. They maintained decent pressure for a while but then to everybody's shock Valinor scored a goal. Tulkas managed to get a pass forward after he was superbly marked out. The defenders failed to deal with the pass as it wound up with Eonwe who lofted in a shot despite being closed down. Angband nearly equalized moments later when Melkor blazed a header wide.

Much to everyone's surprise Valinor did the impossible, they scored again. This time Eonwe crossed in for Tulkas who headed the ball down and then volleyed it in quite powerfully putting Valinor in quite a good position. Angband seemed to be quite frustrated and weighed down. This was emphasized when Gothmog made a rash challenge earning him a yellow card. The half ended with Angband down two goals.

Angband played with a fire in their belly through out the second half managing to break on goal several times. They played masterfully but Valinor defended as if their lives defended on it. Angband looked good enough not only to equalize but also to go on and win it, instead poor finishing handed them a two goal loss.

Shots: 9(3) - 3(2)
Posession: 55 - 45
Bookings: Gothmog

Moria 1 - 0 Erebor
(Balin 5th)

What an amazing start for Moria. Durin headed the ball towards Balin who took it past a defender with his first touch and then blazed in a fantastic shot. Game on! The rest of the half was pretty fiercly contested. Both teams managed some very good build ups both unfortunately failed to really threaten.

Erebor completetly dominated posession in the second half but really failed to do anything with it. The second half was of fairly poor quality with neither team really creating anything. The match drew to a close with Moria ahead thanks to an early goal.

Shots: 4(2) - 4(2)
Posession: 40 - 60

***

Quite a shocking day. Both teams that were desperate for a win, Valinor and Moria, managed to win. Now let's see how things turned out, here are the final standings of Group A.

Group A
1st- Angband (6pts, +1)
2nd- Valinor (4pts, +1)
3rd- Moria (4pts, -1)
4th- Erebor (3pts, -1)

Valinor have managed to qualify, beating the team on form. They may have done quite bad in their first two matches but they've done the hard part to make it through. Angband and Valinor will be going on to the next round.

[Sleepy Ranger]

This group is closed. Nargothrond and Numenor have six points each and book have book their berths in the next round. Their match will be a face off for top of the group while Buckland taking on Niggle's Parish will be a fairly insignificant event. None the less, the match must be played. Now, to the games!

Group C
Nargothrond 0 - 0 Numenor
Buckland 0 - 0 Niggle's Parish

Both games were fairly boring events. Nargothrond and Numenor seemed relaxed and neither tried to attack at all. They both played good holding football, building up in midfield but never really going forward. As for the other match, that was even more boring. Honestly, neither team wanted to be out there. They didn't really play well at all, with the ball being out of play most of the match. Neither of the games had anything really noteworthy happen. I was very surprised that Nargothrond did not attack but what does it matter, they've topped the group anyway.

Group C
1st- Nargothrond (7pts, +5)
2nd- Numenor (7pts, +4)
3rd- Buckland (1pt, -3)
4th- Niggle's Parish (1pt, -4)

[Sleepy Ranger]

Misty Mountains have already qualified for the next round. So far no team has been able to win all three matches. Misty Mountains are another team to have chalked up three points but will they also be able to get out of the group stages on a three match winning streak? Second place is very much in contention with all the other teams in the group very much able to seal it. Let's see how it goes.

Group E
Misty Mountains 2 - 1 Fangorn (Dwalin 34th, Stone Giant 54th) (Treebeard 88th PK)
Old Grey Hill 0 - 0 Tol In Gauroth

Neither of the two games were really all that entertaining. Misty Mountains kept their match lively with a fair host of chances but neither Old Grey Hill nor Tol In Gauroth could do much to save their game. T-I-G's poor discipline continued as Cursed Villager and Ordinary Villager were both SENT OFF in the first half. While this was the perfect time for Old Grey Hill to capitalize they failed to really do so which lead to this game being a very boring draw.

The first goal in the Misty Mountains game came when Stone Giant was tripped outside the area. Dwalin scored off the free kick after his shot deflected off the post and into the net. Early on in the second half Dwalin turned creator and crossed in an early ball to set up Stone Giant who blazed in a neat shot. All hope seemed to have faded for Fangorn now. If results stayed like this Old Grey Hill would qualify over them. Very late in the match Gollum took down Quickbeam in the area to give Fangorn a penalty. Treebeard calmly converted it. This goal may very well see them through.

Game 1:
Shots: 8(5) - 2(2)
Posession: 55 - 45
Game 2:
Shots: 1(1) - 3(1)
Posession: 43 - 57
Sending Offs: Cursed Villager, Ordinary Villager

Group E
1st- Misty Mountains (9pts, +4)
2nd- Fangorn (2pts, -1)*
3rd- Old Grey Hill (2pts, -1)
4th- Tol In Gauroth (2pts, -2)

PS: Fangorn go through due to a higher number of goals scored.

[Nogrod]

Welcome to the match reports on two odd matches. Nothing is then written in the stone after these matches… but from groups B and D we now do have something to report.

In group B Shire still stands a chance if they win Brethil confidently and Tuna beats Lothlorien at the same time. Shire’s goal difference is now -1 and Lothlorien’s +2. So Shire would be eager to score a lot of goals and wishing to see Tuna trash Lothlorien. Brethil will play only for their honour today.

Group D is the tightest one. Every team has a chance - all being on three points - so these will be games with all to win and all to lose for every team. They will fight for every ball like that was their last lifeline. We’re anticipating a clash of wills and skills when Mordor meets Dor-Lomin. Can Dor-Lomin hold on to the result-bringing swing they got into their last game against Tol-Eressëa or will the players of Mordor, infuriated by their first round loss to Roverandom, sweep them like they did to T-E? A draw will not be acceptable to either team.


Group B

Shire 2-0 Brethil
(Sam Gamgee 21st, Pippin Took 67th)

Brethil came into the game spiritedly, clearly caring for their reputation and wishing to show their qualities. Already at 3rd minute Hunthor’s nice long pass to Turambar left Shire’s defence unarmed within the scope of the rules. Rosie Cotton’s yellow card was deserved for the ugly tackle she performed.

Slowly Shire managed to make some counter-attacks and on 21st minute Sam Gamgee’s personal skill gave them the lead: a beautiful low and curved shot taken from the edge of the area went to the back of the Brethil net. Niniel had no chance there.

After the Shire goal Brethil started mounting some real pressure. Turin had two chances from breakaways at the latter part of the first half but the first time he shot it wide and on the other one Lobelia managed to save the day for the Shire-team.

Brethil came to the second half with a fighting attiutude while Shire just defended their lead. But the final nail to Brethil’s coffin came at 67th minute from the beautiful inswinging corner given by Sam and headed in by Pippin Took. After that there was no real game any more. Brethil seemed to settle with their destiny to drop out from the tournament being two goals down and it was just playing to and fro the last twenty minutes. Shire had the most chances in the end of the game but seemed to be shooting wide more than on the mark.

Shots: 8(3) - 5(3)
Posession: 47 – 53
Bookings: Rosie Cotton

Group D

Mordor 1 - 0 Dor Lomin
(Snaga 2nd)

Mordor was just fire and flame from the very first seconds on. And already at the 2nd minute the Witch-King’s nice pass within the box freed Snaga to hammer the ball in. It really was a shock-start for the Dor-Lomin team.

Dor-Lomin’s coach made a loud show of character and the team managed to tighten it’s defences after that first goal. Not that we could call this a game between two teams in any meaningful use of the term. Mordor had the ball and moved it from player to player but as Dor-Lomin had pulled all the players down – probably wishing for a sudden breakthrough - the game became boring pretty soon.

Mordor had the ball and eleven Dor-Lominers were always under the ball. Slowly the fire of Mordor died out and even they seemed to be content in just moving the ball from one to another at the second half.

Not a great match but Mordor did secure their qualification and sent Dor-Lomin out of the competition.

Shots: 3(1) - 0
Posession: 69 – 31

[Sleepy Ranger]

I'll be away till next Sunday unfortunately due to which the tournament will have to be on hiatus till then.

Sorry!

[Thenamir]

<Thenamir pauses to wonder which "next Sunday" was meant.>

[Nogrod]

Originally Posted by Thenamir

<Thenamir pauses to wonder which "next Sunday" was meant.>

Well, next is always the next at any given moment.

So Sleepy was kind of honest in there...