[Boromir88]

Group D

Match 5 - Barad-Dur vs Gondor
Barad-Dur and Gondor began the day behind Eriador in the standings, but were aware that wasn't a huge obstacle. Both teams in the early match believed if they could win this one, they were going to leap-frog Eriador in 2nd place.

The Ost-in-Edhil stadium was mostly full, but filled mostly with locals from Eregion who had no strong allegiances to either team. They were just hoping to see a good match where there were playoffs on the line. Although stronger sympathies appeared to be for Barad-Dur since Gil Galad was still a beloved hero in the area. And they were appreciative of the fact that he was keeping a tight control over the team, not letting The Mouth and his crew get away with their usual sinister shenanigans. The Gondorians were less appreciative of King Isildur, however. How could he play under the banner of their greatest enemy? Sauron gone or not, it was a slap in the face to the proud realm of Men (or so the Gondorians thought).

Barad-Dur started in their normal defensive style, as Gondor came out pressing. It must be said though, The Mouth and his fellows were banging up the Gondorian attackers, appearing to test the ref to see how much roughing up they could get away with. It was working for Barad Dur though, the rough play wasn't effecting the stout Gondorians physically, but it was getting under their skin, frustrating them.

Eorl was taken down in the box, and felt for sure he deserved a penalty kick, but the ref wasn't interested. And when Eorl mocked whether the referee had left his cards in a different pair of pants. The ref showed that he had not forgotten his cards, and booked Eorl for protesting. Gondor was losing composure, that was quite uncharacterstic of them, and it was costly. Since after Eorl was shown a yellow, Barad-Dur was launching one of their quick counter attacks. Isildur was stretching the field wide, trying to draw defenders and open up room in the Gondor box. He crossed it in to Gil Galad, who controlled the pass masterfully and with one touch rolled it into the goal.

Gondor was pressing again, trying to take advantage if Barad-Dur was relaxing a bit too much after getting the lead. Gondor could have, and probably should have equalized in the next 10 minutes had it not been for a heroic effort by Ohtar between the posts. And in the 27th minute Arwen tried to pass it to Eorl, inside the box, but it was cut off and headed away nicely by Anarion. Barad-Dur started the counter again, and this time The Mouth forward too, giving Barad-Dur the advantage in numbers. Gil-Galad and Cirdan were covered, and one Boromir I stepped forward to challenge Isildur, it really was a simple matter of finding the open player, The Mouth who then beat Ecthelion II.

Through the 1st half, Gondor was controlling most of the posession, and most of the shooting, deservedly or not though, they found themselves down 0-2 after 45 minutes. And that's all that mattered. They had allowed Barad-Dur to frustrate them and had become unglued. Even if they could regroup during the break, Gondor fans were biting their nails off, knowing how difficult an 0-2 defecit is to come back from, especially when they really needed the win as a draw would likely not be enough points. While Barad-Dur had seemingly worked out all their inner tensions, as the last few games the baddies have shown good spirit and willingness to play for Gil Galad.

The scripts for the 2nd half was easy to predict. Gondor needed goals and quickly so they came out with more fury than ever before, and with a 2-goal lead Barad Dur would be concentrating all their efforts on defense. Gil Galad was keeping all 11-players behind the ball and Gondor kept pushing them further back, making Barad-dur defend deeper and deeper. There was still no answer for Ohtar's parade of saves, he was playing like he had a real mission or purpose. Perhaps proving to his lord, Isildur, and his team that he was a worthy, dependable goal keeper?

After just about 20 minutes had gone by in the 2nd though, Gondor found the goal they so desperately were searching for. The goal wasn't any accomplishment of brilliance, nor a mistake by Ohtar. It was more or less luck (or unluck if you look from Ohtar's perspective). Since all 11 of Barad-Dur players had been pushed back to defend, it was a jumbled mess in front of Ohtar. Arwen lobbed one into the box, and Eorl got a foot too it, but it was blocked by Gothmog II. After some ping-ponging around, and a failure by Barad Dur to clear the ball away from their goal, it deflected off Eldacar last. Nevertheless, a goal is a goal. It counted and Gondor had reduced the defecit to 1.

Ohtar shared some quick words with his master and it seemed Isildur agreed. They needed to stretch the field a bit and not let everyone slowly get pushed back in front of Ohtar. And it was relatively easy for Barad-Dur to keep most the action at the mid-field and occasionally put pressure on Gondor's defense. Since the intense play by Godor's attackers to start the half had taken a toll on their legs, and it was showing in the tiredness of their faces as well.

These matches are a long grind and so they seemed like they were trying to wear the clock down more than wearing themselves out, and making sure they had enough energy to deal with any of Gondor's attacks that might materialize. So, while Barad-durs shooting was nothing to be mavel at, they were at least forcing Gondor into playing defense and not letting them concentrate all efforts on equalizing.

But as it was closing down the final stretch, Gondor needed goals and began playing more risky. Barad-dur was being forced onto their back heels though as Gondor was relentless. With only a few minutes left Arwen broke free from her Nazgul defender, she was into the box, with only Ohtar left to beat. Lo! Ohtar made a kick save and it was a b-e-a-u'teh. Barad-Dur controlled it for the final seconds, holding on for the win. Gondor was eliminated while the Dark Tower would go through if Eriador could not win Eregion.

After their elimination from the tournament, Gondor secretly shuffled out of the locker room, trying to avoid the media circus outside. Arwen briefly stopped just to comment that the grief of elimination was still too near and would not be taking any questions at this time. After their qualification last year, this must have been a bitter pill for the Gondorians to swallow, and hope they can be back next year with a strong vengeance.

Barad-Dur 2-1 Gondor
tot shots 14-14
on target 5-8
GOALS:
*16, 1-0 Gil-galad (Isildur)
*27, 2-0 Mouth (Isildur)
*64, 2-1 Eldacar (Eorl)
YELLOW CARDS:
*Barad-Dur- Gothmog II, Mouth, Fellbeast #2
*Gondor- Felarof, Narmacil, Eorl

Match 6 - Eregion vs Eriador
Eriador's only hope now is to beat Eregion and with the form Eregion has shown the first two games this seemed like it would be beyond the powers of the rangers. Even if Eregion had nothing left to play for, already being assured of winning the group, Elrond took great pride in keeping his goal clean and was likely not to throw away goals to allow one team to qualify over another. Still if Eregion was to be beaten, now would be the best time, since they were likely to let up and take it easy.

It was a very slow start to the game, the Rangers were trying to take the initiative but found it extremely difficult against the defense Elrond arranged. The Elves were well versed and prepared for the tactics of Rangers, but Arvedui was equally prepared. With Eriador having just the extra bit of motivation and desperation they slowly started taking over the game.

Their attempts were bearing no goals however. Eriador was not given the time nor space to get off a real quality shot. And in order to beat Elrond, it had to be quality of the very highest. His positioning was perfect every time and whatever shot did make it through the defense, Elrond had easily covered.

Then in the 25th minute, disaster for the Rangers. The Barrow-wight was not intimidating any of the Elven defenders and the Wight had it stolen by Celebrimbor from right under his cold feet. Eregion began their counter attack and much had been made of Earendil's poor performance through 2 games. He was a high price signing, who was expected to fill a hole Elrond's teams always lacked, scoring. But thus far only had 1 assist. The cynics were silenced and the Eregion fans burst into song when Earendil got his first goal for his new team. Arvedui had no chance.

The Rangers were down, but not knocked out and just as quickly as they had fallen behind, they showed Eregion they were not ready to pack their bags just yet. Eregion had a terrible lapse of focus after grabbing the lead, celebrating too early and thinking ahead to their playoff match, instead of the current match? Whatever the case, Araphor got open in the box, after receiving a pass from Aragorn, Asfaloth was the closest defender, but couldn't close down in time. Araphor shot a snipe that Elrond got his fingertips too, but it wasn't enough to deflect the ball off it's tragectory. Araphor's shot scraped the paint off the left post and it was in. Elrond's perfect save percentage was snapped, and after he grabbed the ball from back of the net he gave his defenders a stern glare as if to say "Let's go, keep your head in the game."

It was positive Eriador was able to equalize that quickly, but they would still need another goal, and scoring on Elrond again was judged to be beyond the power of the Rangers. If the first Eregion goal was a disaster, the 2nd was heart break. 10 minutes after Eriador was able to equalize, this time Lindir intercepted a pass and sent it on to Earendil. Earendil broke away from his marker and hammered another shot beyond Arvedui's reach. Now there were no questions as to why Elrond wanted his father on the team in the hearts of the Eregion supporters.

Eriador went into the half looking dejected and their wills broken. There was still a half to be played, but Elrond had never conceded 3 goals in a match, ever. It seemed as though Eriador had already conceded defeat, and without their same determination the 2nd half was a drag. The rangers were only going through the motions now, and Elrond was happy to just let the score stand.

There was another goal in the 64th minute, but it was quite accidental. Elladan ballooned the ball up into the air, Arvedui had come out of his goal to try to snatch it out of the air. However, Bert was trying to jog backwards to head it away, but he tripped over his own feet and knocked ito Arvedui. The ball was bouncing towards the goal line and Amlaith couldn't reach it before it was over the line.

The match ended with no further action. Eriador would be going home with Gondor, while the Eregion fans could spend the next few days celebrating. They won the group and would take on The Forest, and that meant there would be another game played in the beautiful stadium at Ost-in-Edhil in front of Eregion's passionate fans.

*~*~*

Eriador's captains were not going to run back with their tails between their legs however, they were far too noble for that.

Aragorn: "We knew it would be a tough challenge once Barad-Dur knocked out Gondor in the first match but we are better than what we showed tonight. We had our chances, but should have done better, not only in this game but in the others as well."

Arvedui: "I know after our success last year this must be a major let down to our loyal fans. We have had a plan in mind for the last few years, but didn't quite have the finances to get the deal done this year. We promise there will be a new and exciting look to this squad next year and hope our fans have not lost confidence in us."

Eregion 3-1 Eriador
tot shots 13-16
on target 6-7
GOALS:
*25, 1-0 Earendil (Glorfindel)
*28, 1-1 Araphor (Aragorn)
*38, 2-1 Earendil (Lindir)
*64, 3-1 Elladan (Glorfindel)
YELLOW CARDS:
*Eregion- Asfaloth
*Eriador- Bert, Aranarth

Final Results: Group D
Eregion 9p. 7-1(+6)
Barad-Dur 4p. 4-5 (-1)

Eriador 2p. 5-7(-2)
Gondor 1p. 3-6(-3)

Eregion will play The Forest in Round 1, while Barad-Dur will face Tol In Gaurhoth.