Beloved Shadow
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: The Stadium
Posts: 5,971
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the bronze medal match...
It was a capacity crowd of 140,000 that had gathered to see the afternoon match for third place between Mithrim and Utumno. The football fans were hoping to see two teams with a chip on the shoulder. Before the semifinals these two sides had been the most statistically dominant, and both had lost only in overtime. Both of these teams easily could’ve been playing in the night match for the Arda Cup Trophy.
But of course they were not, a fact that quite obviously bothered star forward Turin based upon his comments ahead of the match. “We were so good match after match, and then we really let ourselves down. Vinyamar out-efforted us, and even then we should’ve won that match. Our middle defenders fell asleep on that regular time goal of theirs, and one of us should’ve capitalized on another one of our chances in regular time. We shouldn’t have let it go to extra time, and we feel we really let our fans down. This was a championship caliber squad.”
The team that took the field reflected this attitude, as they looked quite grim and perhaps a bit angry to be playing in the first match of the day. Across on the other side Utumno looked down as well, but they looked more resigned and depressed rather than determined to prove themselves. Melkor and his minions obviously had not taken their semifinal loss to Gondolin well. Before that match they had not surrendered a single goal since group play began, and they were up 2-0 with little more than 20 minutes left, but Gondolin shockingly stormed back to tie the match and won it in overtime.
But when the match kicked off Utumno did not look completely apathetic. Their talent was undeniable and their experience was long, and so perhaps out of mere habit they fell right into their usual style and quality of play, keeping the determined Mithrim offense from having an easy time of it. But there was no denying that Mithrim controlled the play overall, holding possession and not allowing any good looks from Utumno.
In the opening half hour the keepers were only challenged once, and neither challenge was stiff. But shortly before the half ended Mithrim’s determination at last payed dividends when Beleg sent a corner into the box. The ball came down a bit sooner than the defense expected, but Curufin was placed well to rise up and flick it on across the face of the goal where Hurin met it leaving Ungoliant with no hope of making the save, sending Mithrim into halftime with the 1-0 lead.
When the second half began Utumno looked to have hardened their will a bit during the break, as they started off on the attack and controlling the action. The sons of Feanor were shutting down attacks from the corners per usual, but Utumno managed to work it up to the top of the box several times with effectiveness thanks to the large bodies and good passing of Gothmog and Tilion. Five minutes in Gothmog made a brilliant turn and sent a hard curler at the right side, but Huan made a great leaping save. Just a few minutes after Tilion did nearly the same thing, sending a rocket at the goal.
The shot got past Huan to the post and skipped away to the right side directly to Thuringwethil’s feet. The vampire queen wasted no time at all in sending it back towards the posts, hanging it up for Utumno’s towering strikers to win. And in fact it was the master himself, Melkor, who outfought all comers and struck an irresistible header to forge a tie!
The crowd, while they were not at all supporting of Utumno, applauded, as they were happy to see a true contest made of the match. But the crowd was made uneasy over the next few minutes as Utumno nearly took the lead- once on a blistering effort by Tilion that went just over the post, and again on a free kick from Melkor that Huan heroically batted away.
It was then that the sons of Feanor began jawing at the Utumno squad. It was unclear if this strategy was planned beforehand or thought of spur of the moment, but either way it worked. Both Celegorm and Curufin could be seen running their mouths constantly at the squad from Utumno, and according to all accounts they were primarily tossing out jabs about the fact that Utumno could do no better than third place no matter how well they played, and that all in all their past and present efforts were a waste, and they would not gain any sort of acclaim this year.
Under normal circumstances such words would have aroused the wrath of Melkor, but in this case it seemed to do the opposite, and in no time at all he was just going through the motions, and his fellows at the front followed suit. It wasn’t long before Mithrim had taken over the game again, and at last they took firm command in minute 76 thanks to a dashing counter from Turin and Beleg in which they left the dispirited defense in their dust.
The final minutes of the game were just an exercise, and Utumno looked quite anxious to be off the field and thus seemed content not to threaten sending it into overtime. The crowds applauded Mithrim solidly, and Mithrim accepted it and waved, but their joy was clearly lessened, as it seemed Utumno’s mood had infected them in the end and they were primarily focused on the fact that they had fallen one win short of their true goal.
But one team wouldn’t fall short- either Gondolin or Vinyamar. That match was next, and the throng could hardly contain their excitement.
Mithrim 2-1 Utumno
tot shots 13-13
on target 7-6
GOALS:
*43, 1-0 Hurin (Curufin)
*55, 1-1 Melkor (Thuringwethil)
*76, 2-1 Turin (Beleg)
YELLOW CARDS:
Mithrim- Gelmir, Celegorm
Utumno- Balrog #1, Thuringwethil, Balrog #5
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