[Boromir88]

Lothlorien vs. Pelori

As the stadium at Weathertop was filling for the 2nd match, tensions on the ancient hill were rising. It was expected Lothlorien would have the crowd advantage being the Middle-earth team, but who would dare root against the Vala, unless you were an orc or vile, dark creature of an old world. No such creature could be found at Amon Sul for this match.

A wolf from the Misty Mts who cheered for Angband in their game against Eregion said to reporters afterward: "Why would I watch these losers play? Wake me up when the Angband plays again and the moon has risen."

So, the stadium was being filled when many Elves and Men in the area and while everything was expected to remain friendly, Lothlorien probably would not receive a huge crowd advantage, playing in Middle-earth against Pelori. As much as the Elves and Men wanted to get behind Lothlorien, they couldn't disrespect the Valar. Then thousands of Hobbits were also turning up at the gates and they were fully behind the Valar. Even with the misfortunes of their own team this year, The Shire is a great footballing nation and the Hobbits would not sit brooding at home, waiting for next year. Feeling disrespected in Beleriand, they would get behind the mighty Valar who had always treated them kindly and graciously.

*~*~*

The Pelori came looking quite normal and average. You could not tell by looking at their appearance, it was just something in their aura that carried both majesty and power, and respect. Lothlorien was trying to look unimpressed and Galadriel was trying to keep her team focused on the task at hand. If they kept to the gameplan, she was confident her team would triumph on this day.

Before the first whistle, however, Feanor had something he wanted to say to Manwe and company: "You may be able to dispossess me, and ban me from Valinor, but we're in Middle-earth. You hath not the power here as you do in your own lands."

Manwe stayed expressionless and it was Mandos who replied: "You know not of what you speak. We were always caring over Middle-earth as much as we cared over our children in Valinor. You forget we know how many things will unfold and, we understood what Eru saw in the brave Hobbit-folk. We had seen the courage and humility of Hobbits and knew they would not need our help in their troubles, my young Feanor."

Feanor was steaming and shot back wondering how Mandos feels being the mouthpiece of his greater brother. And a mouthpiece of a mouthpiece, to be completely honest, since Manwe was only the representative of Eru. "This makes you what, Namo, assistant to the regional manager?" But seeing as neither Mandos, nor Manwe, nor any of the Valar were responding, Feanor barked at the ref to blow his whistle.

Feanor's trash talking was of no benefit to Lothlorien as he was completely erratic to begin the game. Running around, almost like he didn't have a head, trying to challenge the Valar who were ever so smoothly passing it around and holding possession.

The pre-whistle chatter was actually more entertaining then the whole of the first half. Lothlorien was shutting Pelori down defensively, but spectators had to wonder how much was Manwe really pushing the action? Even if none could surpass the sublime skill of the Valar passing game, it wasn't materializing into any further excitement. If there was no opening, Pelori would just pull everything back to the mid-field and try to start all over again. The problem was, against Gandalf's defense there wasn't going to be any openings and so fans suspected you have to play riskier and put pressure on the wizard, but was Manwe willing to do that? Probably not most judged. Feanor was trying his hardest to steal possession and get a counter started, but for the most part he was unsuccessful. Galadriel was yelling orders at him to defend and he would not be getting any help until he cooled down.

As the 1st half was winding down and many in the stands began exiting to get ahead of the rush for the restrooms and concession lines, they missed the only excitement and goal of the 1st period. There wasn't anything particularly beautiful or brilliant, it was just a solid and (admittedly) deserved goal. After about 10 minutes where Pelori was able to keep possession in Lothlorien's back-third, some of the deeper Valar finally started venturing forward and forced Lothlorien to seriously defend for the first time in the match.

Pelori's first corner was directed towards Varda who made contact with her head but the attempt went inches wide. Galadriel collected the ball and was going to try to take a quick goal kick and perhaps start a counter, but the ref had judged Varda's header took a slight deflection off Haldir's leg and thus Pelori would receive another corner-kick. Haldir was then booked for unsportsmanlike conduct as he screamed at the ref "If you were a bit shorter I'd think you a dwarf, but your eyes are worse than the Naugrim!"

So, Pelori was given another corner, and they are too good of a team not to capitalize on this opportunity. And this time when Eonwe and Varda were under heavy guard, Ilmare passed it wide to Irmo and no one on Lothlorien marked Vana for it was most unusual to see her up this far. She was positioned at the near post, Galadriel was late anticipating where the ball was going and Vana had an easy time knocking it into the empty net. After the goal Gimli was then given a yellow for the ref heard the dwarf tell Haldir "I would cut him down to size for you, but he would be an insult to all of my folk."

The referee looked relieved to see the teams head into the lockerroom and who knew what was going to take place in the Lothlorien room? Feanor was clearly trying to supress his anger, but would he let it out and inspire Lothlorien to better efforts, or keep shutting down, trying to do it all on his own? And Galadriel was also angry, angered by her team's 1st half performance and how they played the last 5 minutes.

The 2nd began and Pelori again went straight to their masterful possession game. Indeed, nothing seemed different about the Lothlorien play at all. Was anything said to inspire them at half time, or were they mentally shutting down already? Well there was a few things different with Lothlorien, they were looking more frantic and uncontrolled. They were completely off the game plan though, as they tried to rough up the Valar in order to knock them off their possession game.

All it did though was get Lothlorien more cards. Galadriel had prided herself on good team work, and it seemed to have been working great the first few rounds, but now that was falling apart. The maverick attitude had seemed to sweep over the entire Lothlorien and it was toxic. As Haldir was sent off on a rough challenge only 11 minutes into the 2nd. Already down 1-0 against the Valar, now Lothlorien was one player short.

The crowd started murmuring on whether this would be the end score (and many had missed the only goal!). Despite Feanor's temperment and Lothlorien getting rougher, they were still technically a good team and the Valar had much respect for Gandalf and Galadriel, even if they might have disagreed with some of her decisions. Would they want to put this game out of reach and run up the score then?

All the speculation of what Manwe would do was just that, speculation and in the 71st minute an opportunity to score again presented itself to Pelori, and Manwe would be foolish to not try to take advantage. Irmo beat Celeborn and was wide outside the box, Eonwe appeared to have a step on Gandalf as Irmo looked to find him with a cross. However, Boromir pulled out and blasted his horn, Irmo flubbed the cross and Eonwe stopped his run as Galadriel had an easy time catching it. The ref stopped play and looked to his assistants, as they knew Gandalf was forbidden blinding anyone with his fireworks, but weren't sure of the rules about the renown horn of Gondor. And was this a denial of a clear goal-scoring opportunity which would mean Boromic could be sent off with a straight red card? After some discussion the official awarded a free kick from Irmo's position and a yellow to Boromir.

Ilmare stepped in to give the free kick and connected with Varda who yet again made perfect contact with her head. Only this time, it didn't go wide, it didn't take any slight deflection, it was in the back of the net. 2-0 Pelori, the Hobbits in the stands went crazy and were probably just happy to cheer for a team that could, I don't know...play? The Elves and Men in support of Lothlorien clapped politely and seemed about ready to accept the reality of the situation.

This time Manwe did pull everything back and even then had a fairly easy time keeping the ball away from Feanor. Lothlorien had not been a threat on offense all day and Feanor still wasn't getting any help up front, as the back of Lothlorien appeared broken. Either that or they had run out of gas chasing after and trying to rough up the Valar in this half and were worn out playing with 10 people for nearly 30 minutes.

Some carelessness by Nahar, who tried to play a sloppy pass to Mandos was intercepted by Boromir and it led to a Feanor goal in the 84th minute. Feanor had a fun time faking Mandos out of the play and on speed alone raced passed Gwaihir. He pounded a close distance rocket passed a diving Manwe. Feanor smirked at seeing Manwe on the ground, but Manwe slowly collected the ball and handed it back to the ref.

The remaining 6 minutes was completely undramatic as Pelori was not going to let Lothlorien come even, especially with Lothlorien being a player-short. The Hobbits had figured in the stands that Manwe and his defenders made that mistake on purpose, because Eru had commanded it. It was a question of honor with Pelori, despite whatever feelings they had for Feanor, Lothlorien was a 'good' team, and thus Pelori was only permitted to win by 1-goal.

That was it. Pelori would for the first time advance to the Final 4 to play the odd-ones werewolf and despite Lothlorien advancing well beyond what they had before, you could not help but feel they were disappointed to not making it further. And as for Feanor, he was down right fuming when both teams met at mid-circle to shake hands and exchanged well wishes and hugs. For Mandos said after Feanor walked away, refusing to congradulate Pelori on their advancement: "You were allowed to add another goal to your name, but it will be a long time before you get what you truly seek."

Lothlorien 1-2 Pelori
tot shots 10-15
on target 4-6
GOALS:
*40, 0-1 Vana (Irmo)
*74, 0-2 Varda (Ilmare)
*84, 1-2 Feanor (Boromir)
YELLOW CARDS:
*Lothlorien- Boromir, Haldir, Gimli, Amroth
*Pelori- Gwaihir, Namo
RED CARDS:
*Lothlorien- Haldir (56, second yellow)