[the phantom]

After Utumno lost to Gondolin the orcs, trolls, and other typical supporters of evil vanished from Amon Hen as if by magic. Obviously they were not interested in anything less than a title, and seeing their team battle for third place meant nothing.

A couple of sports journalists wrote articles about how quickly this could change if Melkor simply gave the word and ordered support for his team, but these articles were swiftly crushed by a press conference at which Lord Melkor clearly echoed the supporters, seeming entirely unenthused about the upcoming match against Mithrim.

On the flip side of the coin was Vinyamar, the old extinct city that had in one year had life breathed into it and made it all the way to the finals. Under usual circumstances Gondolin would have received great support from the masses, but as Vinyamar was such a feel-good story and seemed to have a foot in every camp, their support in the newly constructed inns and pubs around Rauros was overwhelming.

Due to all of the construction dwarves that had been hired to rebuild Vinyamar and had fallen in love with the city and team, the dwarf population was nearly all behind them. The elves had representatives on both sides, but thanks to Ulmo and the Cinderella story Vinyamar boasted at least 80% of them. And the Gondorians and other men liked the story as well, along with Vinyamar actually featuring one of their own on the team in the form of Tuor.

Since the stadium was so incredibly large tickets for the event were cheaper than they had been in years past, and on top of that there were thousands who hoped to gain a "free seat", which meant simply that they would find someplace on Amon Hen, in a tree or in a clearing, where they could see the pitch down along the shores of the lake. Under normal circumstances such a seat would be useless for viewing, but with the magic of the "Hill of Seeing" in operation the pitch could be seen as if through a spyglass if the fan concentrated carefully, and so without a doubt a record breaking number of people were going to be viewing the final live.

Obviously everyone was very much looking forward to the final, but no one was keen to skip the lead-up match, Mithrim versus Utumno, as both teams had been just spectacular all the way to the semifinals. What's better than a championship match? A third place match plus a championship match! The more football the better.