[the phantom]

--GROUP C--

As the crowds gathered in Doriath, the Noldor who had come to support Formenos were ushered immediately into the controlled atmosphere of the stadium as angry residents of Doriath shouted threats and threw bottles- far too many of the bottles completely empty, "And the threats as well!" remarked one of the Formenos supports.

Though the first round game between Alqualonde and Formenos was a grudge match with ugly history behind it, the crowd did not get out of hand due to the fact that there were fairly even numbers. The Alqualondians dared not attack their foes. But as the games were being hosted in Doriath, their fans had no such population limitations.

Before the first game opened up King Elwe took the field and gave a fine speech. "We were all caught in Melkor's foul web! Even I, your king, sent a man, Beren, purposefully to his death. I am as guilty of murder as the Sons of Feanor! Will you mistreat me?" Elwe continued, asking the crowd to put their hurts behind them, and show themselves to be a wise and goodly people.

In large part the Sindar were calmed, but there remained pockets of drunk unreasonable fans which would surely cause trouble during the second match. But the first match proceeded without any problems, and the crowd was largely on the side of Alqualonde, including King Elwe who cheered his brother on from the stands. Both teams played good solid football the first half, but neither could get on the scoreboard due to a couple of fine saves by both keepers.

But things changed quickly in the second half, as Lindo sent one over to Gil Galad and he went straight around his defender and pounded a goal in as help didn't arrive quick enough. The crowd cheered loudly and Alqualonde, their morale boosted by the goal and the support, went on the attack yet again. The Isengard defense held at first, but at minute 62 Uinen passed the ball to her husband and Osse thundered a powerful kick right between two defenders and into the goal.

Isengard began playing more risky after that, but it paid off at minute 71 as Ugluk received a pass and beat two defenders to an open shot and cut the lead to 2-1. But that was all that Saruman's team could muster, as Saruman himself was for nearly the entire game shadowed by Frodo who frustrated the wizard time and time again.

Alqualonde 2-1 Isengard
shots 12-10
on target 6-5
GOALS:
*Alqualonde, 47 (Gil Galad- Lindo)
*Alqualonde, 62 (Osse- Uinen)
*Isengard, 71 (Ugluk- Quickbeam)
YELLOW CARDS:
*Alqualonde- Elwing
*Isengard- Deor, Ugluk

As Formenos took the field for the second game, bottles and even a few knives came flying out of a couple of sections close to the tunnel. As the guards converged on the problem areas the Formenos team perplexingly did a lap around the field, staying rather close to the crowd the entire time, though keeping their faces turned away. Several times they passed a trouble spot and objects flew at them, and the guards in that area would converge and arrest the offending parties. When they finished the lap they were battered and bruised, and many of them cut, looking in no condition to play, though at least the worst fans had been found out and removed.

But then eleven more players wearing Formenos uniforms trotted out of the tunnel, shook hands with the squad already on the field, and the first group went back to the locker room. The confused referee made his way over to the Formenos bench, and there he was informed that the first group had merely been decoys wearing Formenos uniforms sent out to reveal the worst behaved fans and get them arrested.

And then Doriath took the field. The crowd whooped and hollered, certain that their King and Queen, aided by some of the finest players in the kingdom, could deliver a win.

Formenos took possession and passed the ball around the midfield, and the crowd still cheered. They pushed the ball into the offensive zone and passed it around, and Doriath could not get the ball away from them, and the crowd grew slightly quieter. At the ten minute mark Maedhros boomed a scary kick just over the crossbar and things grew quieter still. Doriath took possession a couple of times but were not able to cross midfield, and the crowd noise lowered to a murmur.

Aredhel passed to Feanor and he lined a kick up that Melian barely tipped in order to make it hit the sidebar and rebound away. The crowd grew silent for a moment, but Doriath pushed the ball away from the goal and the crowd began building up a cheer. And then at the 22 minute mark Feanor stole a pass, put a move on a defender and ran into the right side of the box. Two defenders and Melian converged and at the last minute Feanor sent a behind the back heel pass out in front of the far post, and his eldest son Maedhros came sprinting in from the side and slid into the pass and pushed it across the goal line with him.

The crowd watched in silence (apart from the small Noldorin section) for the next several minutes, as Formenos continued to control play. Doriath twice took shots at the goal, but they were prayers from a considerable distance that did not disturb Huan in the least.

At minute 37 Maedhros broke free and pounded a monster kick directly at Melian, betting she'd guess one way or the other. But instead she held her ground and stopped it. But so forceful was the kick that she was unable to control it, and the ball got away from her, and first to it was Aredhel who wasted no time in chipping the ball into the open net in front of her. The crowd merely stared as Formenos went into halftime with a 2-0 lead.

As the second half began, it was apparent that Formenos was happy with their lead and more than willing to conserve energy and just play keep-away with the ball in their own zone. They were largely successful until the 68th minute, when Daeron managed to get a toe on a pass and deflect it forward. Mablung snagged the deflection and got a pass through to Elwe, who quickly hung one up for Beleg to head in. But Huan ran out to cut off the angle and took Beleg's shot directly to the midsection and then jumped on the ball before anyone could get the rebound.

Feanor ran back and berated the Formenos defenders and they really picked up their play after that, never allowing Doriath to have possession in the front part of the field. Some of the depressed crowd actually began filing out with fifteen minutes still left in the game, and because of it they missed their team's only goal, though it wasn't anything to be proud of. Mablung sent a hard shot at the goal and, as seen on the replay, it ricocheted off Beleg's shoulder, completely changing course, and Huan could not prevent it from sneaking in off the sidebar.

Gifted with a chance to pull the game even, Doriath immediately tried to push the ball into the forward zone, but Formenos, taking no chances now, sent the ball down the field to their skilled up front players, and Formenos held the ball in Doriath's half for the remainder of the game to take firm control of Group C.

Doriath 1-2 Formenos
shots 7-15
on target 3-8
GOALS:
*Formenos, 22 (Maedhros- Feanor)
*Formenos, 37 (Aredhel- Maedhros)
*Doriath, 82 (Beleg- Mablung)
YELLOW CARDS:
*Doriath- Daeron, Saeros, Elwe
*Formenos- Caranthir, Feanor