[the phantom]

--GROUP A--

The stadium at Rivendell was pretty well filled for the first match between Fornost and Michel Delving. Nearly all the Rangers had made the trek to the enchanted valley to support their team, and even more hobbits from the Shire had come, though they did not find the journey as pleasant. "There weren't enough inns!" was the general complaint.

But they had all found lodging in and around Rivendell and were rested and well fed, and ready to cheer on their teams. A great number of Elves were in attendance as well, eager to watch the match between these two as many of them had friends on the teams.

The whistle sounded and play began. Early on it looked as if the Rangers were having a tough time psychologically. The hobbits were quite aggressive and their opponents seemed unwilling to meet them head on, as they had in fact spent so many years protecting the hobbits from all manner of people and beasts. But at the 24 minute mark Ted Sandyman "accidentally" tripped one of the Fornost midfielders right onto his face, and this seemed to rile Fornost up enough to take the initiative. At 33 minutes Arathorn headed in a nice curving corner by Arahad and Fornost was up 1-0.

Immediately after the half the hobbits got the ball down in front of the Fornost goal, and after a couple of possession changes in which Fornost failed to get the ball away from their goal, Fatty led Merry with a nice pass right in front of the goal. Merry barely beat the goalie to the ball and managed to poke it away from him and then chip it in to equalize.

Neither team had great opportunities the rest of the game. At the 67 minute mark Fornost scored what would be the final goal of the game- Arahael redirected a pass from Arasuil. The only other occurrence of interest was at minute 61 when Fatty received a Yellow Card for wearing the wrong jersey. Instead of reading his name across the back, the jersey read "Frodo Baggins".

"We thought it might confuse the other team, and throw them off the scent of what we were up to," said Merry after the game. "Unfortunately we got caught. Oh well- at least we tried."

Fornost 2-1 Michel Delving
shots 12-12
on target 5-4
GOALS:
*Fornost, 33 (Arathorn- Arahad)
*MD, 48 (Merry- Fatty)
*Fornost, 67 (Arahael- Arasuil)
YELLOW CARDS:
*Fornost- Arador
*Michel Delving- Ted, Fatty, Gerontius

Much of the crowd left to get some food after the first game, but they returned in force quickly and the stadium was soon filled, and even overflowing into the aisles. There was much to talk about before the game.

Would Aragorn, Valandil, and Boromir be in awe of their forefathers? How would Elrond feel playing against the Elf-Friends from his own brother's kingdom? Were Elrond, Celeborn, and others still upset with Isildur for not destroying the Ring when he had the chance? And how would all of this impact them heading into the game?

But soon the time for discussion was over and play was under way. It was immediately obvious that it would be a defensive struggle. Time and time again when the ball made its way towards a goal the field cluttered up, the ball was surrounded, and soon the ball was headed in the other direction. Both sides competed hard, and though there was plenty of bumping and jostling both teams tried to keep things clean.

Just before the half Elendil managed to knock down a long pass and poked the ball ahead to a sprinting Isildur who had managed to get a step on Erestor. Celeborn came up to contest the pass and all three players collided, but Isildur somehow kept his feet as the other two fell and he blasted a shot to the top far corner of the goal. But Elrond guessed right on the kick and put just enough of a hand on the ball to deflect it up and over the crossbar.

Early in the second half Rivendell got their first real chance, but Boromir's rocket was tipped aside by Amandil. At minute 67 Tar Palantir sent in a beautiful corner and Elendil headed it into the empty net in front of him, but Elrond again came diving out of nowhere to bat the shot aside. The Romena section which had started to stand to cheer the goal sat back down with a groan.

Finally in minute 74 Rivendell broke the tie. Aragorn threaded a pass into Glorfindel, and Glorfindel put a spin move on his defender, faked a quick shot at the near post, and then floated the ball high to the opposite corner over the goalie who had bit on the fake. The crowd roared, quite certain that their defense could hold for 15 more minutes to clinch the victory. And hold they did. The Rivendell players left the field heads held high, knowing that they were in the driver's seat for the playoffs.

Rivendell 1-0 Romena
shots 6-8
on target 2-3
GOALS:
*Rivendell, 74 (Glorfindel- Aragorn)
YELLOW CARDS:
*Rivendell- Valandil
*Romena- Tar Aldarion, Tar Surion