[Nogrod]

The next day, after the games of the second round, some pretty serious incidents of violence bursted out in the open. Many orcs felt it was incomprehensible that some of their fellows had cheered and partied even if the home team had not won the Hithlumians. It made them look at this game called football with even more suspicion they had before. It was clearly a degrading game able to make decent orcs into love-babbling losers. And they would have none of that. Here and there gangs of drunken anti-football youth attacked orcs wearing football garments, scarfs or carrying flags or banners. No need to add they also ran on any visiting football fan they could lay their hands onto.

The tally of the day was 43 killed, 72 wounded and bruised plus 287 jailed for violence. Due to their carefulness only 3 tourists were killed and 14 maimed.

MEFA protested for the violence and threathened to cancel the last matches if the organizers couldn’t solve the problems. And the organizers managed to perform a miracle. With good relations to the government they managed to impose a martial law for the last day of games.

Every street and corner was filled with orc-guards. The stadium and it’s surroundings were heavily guarded with a hand-picked battalion chosen from those who were football-positive in the elite troops of the army. There were also special patrols checking the inns and pubs to see whether anything was brewing under cover.

So the games of the third round began under a relative peace.

Hithlum and Minas Tirith offered the handful of spectators quite a nice match and some beautiful saves by both goaltenders. Minas Tirith’s players had their chances in their own hands and they had clearly decided to give their best. Especially in the defence the self-denying tactics of the Minas Tirith team frustrated the feared Hithlum forwards. It seemed every player gave all he got to the game.

And Minas Tirith was not bad in the offence either. It was only because of the alertness and a few spectacular saves by Huor that kept Minas Tirith at bay. The continuous long runs made by the strikers and mid-fielders challenged the Hithlum defence and resulted finally in a 1-0 lead on the 29th minute when Earnur slided the pass of Boromir in from near the post.

But slowly the Minas Tirith team started to wear down. It was clear they were not up to playing in such an intensive manner for the full 90 minutes. And little by little their attacks became more sporadic and less fast, and little by little their pressure on the Hithlum forwards lessened. And that was the beginning of the end for Minas Tirith.

Giving space and time to players like Turin and Hurin is always a bad idea for the opposing team. But that was just what Minas Tirith had to do as the whole team had run themselves quite exhausted already before the half-time whistle.

Hurin thanked for the space left him and passed the ball nicely behind the defence-line where Turin had hurried himself and the game was even on the 41st minute.

Minas Tirith’s players managed to keep the game tied in the beginning of the second half after having rested for the intermission but soon their feet became heavy again and Hithlum took the control it never lost. On 68th minute Hithlum finally got what it quite frankly deserved.

Turin gave the corner. First it looked like it was a bad one as the ball flew high up past the goal. But as the defenders took their move to reposition themselves nearer the ball – or made it for it – they realised that Fingon had been waiting for the ball there far on the right side of the goal. And he headed it straight back to the left side where Hurin now had all the space and time he needed to just put the ball in. Had Ecthelion II not played one of his best matches the numbers could have been far worse for Minas Tirith.

So Minas Tirith lost the game and will now pack for home while the frighteningly solid-looking Hithlum team will proceed on the next rounds.

Hithlum 2-1 Minas Tirith
shots 15-13
on target 8-6
GOALS:
*Minas Tirith, 29 (Earnur- Boromir I)
*Hithlum, 41 (Turin- Hurin)
*Hithlum, 68 (Hurin- Fingon)
YELLOW CARDS:
*Hithlum- Aegnor, Marach, Angrod
*Minas Tirith- Telumehtar, Beregond

The arena was not full as the evening game began. The unrest and all the police-operations had clearly affected the possible spectators. Many had been afraid to turn in for fear of getting beaten.

That was sad as the game was pretty entertaining in the end – and looking at the teams it was all too clear it would not be a game for sissies or child-soccer. At some points a more sophisticated football fan might have asked himself whether it was rather rugby the teams were playing but the referee held a permissive line as not to be the decider of the outcome. And it was also clear that even this “easier” crowd of football loving orcs was intimidating enough for any referee.

To the great joy of the home crowd – and relief of the organizers – the Mordor team really showed it’s qualities on the first half getting an unbeatable-feeling 2-0 lead after a nice show of talent and boldness, especially that of the Witch King and the Mouth. The two arranged both goals each one scoring once. It was clear there was a better team and a weaker one in the field.

The two-goal lead slackened the Mordor team a bit and gave Moria a chance to come back to the game. After some nice tries in the beginning of the second half Moria finally scored. While Durin and his Bane were tightly watched by Shagrat and Gothmog there seemed to open room for Azog and Bolg to play. And they used it beautifully. Azog passed from near the corner-flag to the corner of the box where Bolg took the ball, dribbled Nazgul #7 off and passed it back to Azog who had been left totally unguarded as he had crept nearer the goal. Shelob had been anticipating a pass to the back-corner and was late from the shot.

Unfortunately for the Moria-side it didn’t take long for the Mordor team to set the arena on fire with a 3-1 goal. Khamul saw the opportunity as Watcher was wandering far away from it’s goal and sent a long pass to Nazgul #3 who in turn sent a high ball over Wathcer and into the net just below the pole.

Moria managed to come yet one goal behind before the game ended but no one actually believed they could equalise. And they didn’t.

The home crowd was overjoyed for the victory and the entertainment, and under a heavy police surveillance they poured out from the arena to fill their mugs in the nearby pubs specifically reserved for football fans. The night was less violent the pessimists had predicted. Partly due to the fact that the home team had won.

Mordor 3-2 Moria
shots 17-12
on target 8-5
GOALS:
*Mordor, 28 (WK- Mouth)
*Mordor, 39 (Mouth- WK)
*Moria, 53 (Azog-Bolg)
*Mordor, 63 (Naz #3- Khamul)
*Moria, 81 (Bolg- Azog)
YELLOW CARDS:
*Mordor- Naz #4, Shagrat, Naz #5
*Moria- Narvi, Great Goblin, Durin, Ohtar


------------------
G MORDOR

Hithlum – Moria 3-1
Minas Tirith – Mordor 1-2

Minas Tirith – Moria 2-2
Hithlum – Mordor 2-2

Hithlum – Minas Tirith 2-1
Mordor – Moria 3-2


1. Hithlum 7-4 7pts. Q
2. Mordor 7-5 7pts. Q
3. Minas Tirith 4-6 1pt.
4. Moria 5-8 1pt.