[Boromir88]

Group B
Even though the Gladden Fields Memorial Stadium was on the smaller stadiums it was filled to max capacity (over 57,000) for the 1st round game between Esgaroth and Misty Mountains. And the organizers expected the same turnout for every match of this group, since there was something for every fan of the game to enjoy. For the first time in memory, every race of Man, Elf, and Dwarf, spiders, eagles, wild beasts, and even creatures of unknown origins were represented amongst the teams of Group B.

The other talking point of the group is how would crowd handle the mixed allegiances? Dwarves from Erebor who made the journey to support Esgaroth had a hard time not wanting to see Anduin perform well, since their great King Durin the Deathless played for them, and then there was the famed craftsman Narvi for the Misty Mts. But how could they like the Misty Mts when it was home to a demon of the ancient world, the very Balrog who slew many of their kin? It was a conundrum indeed, and would all these divided loyalties, clash of cultures, cause security risks? Would the cultural mix of all the teams unite their fanbase or divide them sparking internal fighting?

That was all yet to be seen. Whatever the case, the stadium was filled to the brim and the sun was shining on the morning of the opening game of Group B. Who would not enjoy the Arda Cup atmosphere?

Match 1 - Esgaroth vs Misty Mts
As the game kicked off it was clear Girion had a new scheme in mind to show their quality after losing to Misty Mts 3-0 in the friendlies. Esgaroth was going on the attack to put the Misty Mts defenders on their heels. The defenders looked slow and already under 10 minutes their eagle defender Meneldor was handed a yellow for a late tackle. The pessimists were not surprised in seeing not much has changed with this team, even with Saruman joining, they were still going to play dirty and risk playing 1-man down. The neutrals of the crowd thought that maybe Azog was correct when he called out the refs for being unfairly hypocritical in giving cards to the eagles. Whatever the case, it was never good to receive a yellow that early in the game.

It also effected how the Misty Mts played as after the early yellow, the defenders backed off and were not as aggressive as normal. Yet Girion kept laying on the pressure in an effort to have the Misty Mts draw more cards. But as much as Esgaroth was trying to attack, one would have to say the Misty Mts defenders actually played an organized defense, a lot different from the one seen in previous years. Esgaroth found shots hard to come by and whenever they did get one, the Caradhras was a force that could not be beaten. After saving a shot off Bard, with a cold blast of ice, Esgaroth was awarded a corner. However, Girion complained to the ref, that the ball was frozen solid and he couldn't kick it without breaking his foot. The Misty Mts crowd jeered and mocked laughter, while the Esgaroth crowd booed about how can this be allowed? It was just plain unfair! The ref couldn't do anything about it except replace it, and send the frozen ball into the locker room to get it defrosted.

After things settled down the game evened out and Misty Mts was slowly gaining the advantage. While they were not creating many chances of their own, Narvi had dropped farther down to help the defense and once he did Esgaroth found it even harder to keep up the attack. In the 39th minute Tomnoddy was looking to pass it off to Bard, but got distracted by Narvi's beard and the dwarf easily just took possession away from the spider. Narvi quickly sent it up to Durin's Bane. It was honestly the first real chance of the game for the Misty Mts, and so the Esgaroth defending was totally asleep when Durin's Bane broke through and sent a wicked curving ball to the top left corner. Brand could not reach it. The Moria crowd was alive and cheering in full force.

The Dale supporters were making noise too, but it was noise of protests. They were claiming it was cheating! They had clearly felt a gust of wind when Durin's Bane shot it and that gust of wind obviously came from no other source except Caradhras. How else could you explain Esgaroth being the more dominant team for 40 minutes, but on the Misty Mts first real scoring chance they convert! Whatever one believes, the Esgaroth fans were probably looking for a way to vent their frustration that despite their dominance on the stat sheet, after 45 minutes they were losing on the only thing that mattered, the scoreboard.

In the 2nd half, Esgaroth again came out trying to attack. Only this time, they were having no success, not even at getting shots. Not only were their FWs legs tired, but their will seemed broken. After the 1st half they had and to still be losing 1-0, Girion just looked lost...what else could he possibly do? At the same time, the Misty Mts attackers saw very little action in the 1st half so they were fresh. Even though the Esgaroth defenders were pretty fresh too, once the Misty Mts gained possession for longer periods of time and started pressuring, it was the end. The defense had no hope with an attack force like Durin's Bane and Azog, supported by Saruman and Narvi (and at times even William and the Great Goblin found their way farther forward).

After Azog scored on the 55th minute, the Esgaroth fans began coping with the reality it was not in their teams power to beat the Misty Mts. And in truth, Brand was really struggling between the posts as he allowed another in off Saruman's boot in the 68th minute. After going up 3-0, Saruman called off the onslaught and Esgaroth tried to put together another attack to at least bring back a goal and not make it another embarassing loss. But there was no beating Caradhras on this day.

Esgaroth 0-3 Misty Mts
tot shots 9-12
on target 4-5
GOALS:
*39, 0-1 Durin’s Bane (Narvi)
*55, 0-2 Azog (Durin’s Bane)
*68, 0-3 Saruman (Great Goblin)
YELLOW CARDS:
*Esgaroth- Bain, Mayor, Thorin
*Misty Mts- Narvi, Great Goblin, Meneldor

Match 2 - Anduin vs Wilderland
As with the dwarves this game saw the divided loyalties of the Beornings. Would they support Anduin because of Beorn, or Wilderland because of Grimbeorn!? And in truth, this game was a lot about those two players.

Anduin, like Esgaroth in the first game, surprisingly came out as the aggressors. They knew Wilderland's defense could be had and Beorn seemed to be making this game personal as he was already in a berzerker frenzy to begin. He really wanted Grimbeorn on the Anduin, and looked like he wanted to make it his mission to beat Wilderland and prove that Grimbeorn made the wrong choice. At the start it looked like Beorn would be right, as he was a beast at the MF, having his way with the wizard defenders. In the 11th minute he beat Pallando to the ball and hit a rocket on goal that was barely tipped away by Grimbeorn for a corner. Beorn elected to take the corner and sent a strike to the far corner that met the head of the unmarked Falastur, and this time it got passed Grimbeorn for a 1-0 lead.

The Wilderland favoured crowd was stunned and Sauron was displeased with the sloppy defending on that play. He hoped things would eventually calm down but Beorn was tireless and even after the goal, while Anduin eased up on pressure was still wrecking havoc on the Wilderland defense. Pallando was having real trouble and had no choice but to slide in for a foul or Beorn might have put them up 2-0. Sauron had to do something else and so Khamul was newly assigned to shadow the Bear-man. Khamul has become more of an attacking player, but he had once been a defender for Mordor and Sauron hoped he could neutralize Beorn. Neutralize he did, once the wild bear was tamed by Khamul's marking, Wilderland finally got the game under their control.

Right before the end of the first 45, Wilderland got the equalizing goal they quite frankly deserved. Fram had made some good saves to preserve the lead but could not hold onto the blast off Smaug's tail in the 43rd minute.

The 2nd half was underway and both teams had to feel like they could win this, although Anduin would get a cold awakening. They were little threat on offense without Beorn's effort. And whatever coaching Sauron did at the break, or whatever Pallando picked up from Khamul guarding Beorn for most of the 1st half, Beorn was suddenly ineffective. Sauron risked putting Pallando back on Bear-watching duties, and this time the wizard was more than a match.

With Pallando now able to take Beorn out of the game, Khamul could come up to his true position and contribute his talents as an attacking midfielder. Now the balance had clearly switched to Wilderland's favor, but they still weren't getting goals. With the game winding under 10 minutes the stadium was silent, Anduin fans felt they had a real chance to escape with a 1 point if their defense and Fram could hold on a little longer. And who knew, maybe Beorn would fully recover from the Wraith lord's guarding and catch the Wilderland defense sleeping?

While the Wilderland crowd was nervous, knowing Anduin's capability to counter and their defense's shakiness. Still one could see Anduin just wasn't getting possession, as the Wilderland FWs were controlling, working it all over the field and hopefully to finally crack Fram's fortitude as they had done at the end of the 1st half. Also, as the Anduin defenders were tiring from the constant defending, they began fouling more just to not get beat and give up an easy goal.

Wilderland, however, are great from set pieces and in the 82nd minute, after a foul about 5 meters outside the box was to be taken by Sauron, everyone in the stadium was on the edge of their seats. Sauron took a shot that made it over the wall of defenders, and it was covered well by Fram, but Scatha muscled passed his marker and redirected it to the opposite post. Wilderland was in the lead with under 8 minutes to go and the Gladden Fields stadium was rockin'!

Anduin desperately tried to equalize, knowing the Misty Mts would be a tough opponent after seeing the Esgaroth match, and they wanted the point. However, with Sauron now diverting all efforts to defense, and Beorn being personally guarded again by Khamul, there was no chance. Anduin just was not the same team with their great bear being tamed.

Anduin 1-2 Wilderland
tot shots 8-15
on target 4-8
GOALS:
*13, 1-0 Falastur (Beorn)
*43, 1-1 Smaug (Radagast)
*82, 1-2 Scatha (Sauron)
YELLOW CARDS:
*Anduin- Rumil, Earnil, Orophin, Durin
*Wilderland- Scatha, Pallando