GROUP D @ Dol Amroth and Pelargir
Both games in this final round of Group D were being played at the 2pm hour. A time when the sun would still be shining high in the sky and between the lunch and dinner hours for most fans attending. At Pelargir Park it would be FC Valinor vs. Barad-Dur. FC Valinor was assured qualification, but could still lose 1st place if Barad-Dur won. That would send a shock all around Arda though, as the stunning Valinoreans and Noldor have scored 6 goals and conceded 0. The only question seemed to be how much would FC Valinor want to beat Barad-Dur and thus make it easier for Gondor's qualification. And the 2nd match would be played in Dol Amroth, as the home team took on Isengard. Isengard's elimination was already assured, so the only question here, would they roll over, or would there be enough spirit infused by Sauron's minority ownership that makes things difficult for Gondor?
Pelargir
Pelargir Park was packed mostly with Umbarians and Orcs from Mordor who were there at Sauron's bidding. But several thousand Noldor were still around having booked tickets for the group (how could you pass up the show Curufin, Celegorm and company were putting on?) and hitched a ride on the large mobile stadium, that was parked in Pelargir for the round 1 games in Group F. There were also some Gondorians, fully behind the FC Valinor team with whole hearts, wanting to see a 3-0, 4-0 massacre.
It was a nightmare start to Barad-Dur. They were chasing FC Valinor's tailcoats. FC's movement, passing, and skill were just sublime and Barad-Dur was having a difficult time keeping up. Already in the 12th minute, Argon received a pass from Yavanna, he sidestepped the Fellbeast swooping down for the challenge and hit a rising blast over the diving Grishnakh.
Dol Amroth
In Dol Amroth the scoreboard lit up when FC Valinor scored, letting the massively pro-Gondorian crowd in Seaside Financial Field Barad-Dur was already losing and not even 15 minutes had gone by. The crowd bellowed melodious songs and cheers, hoping to boost Gondor's performance in their own match. Because while Barad-Dur wasn't likely to beat FC Valinor, Gondor entered the day with 1 goal, Barad-dur had 3, so they needed to not only win the match, but score some goals too.
Isengard wasn't doing anything against Gondor's stout midfield play, but their defense was playing with just enough drive to make it difficult on Gondor. "Come on!" yelled the anxious crowd "playing defensively might have been wise against FC Valinor but not in a must win match against Isengard!"
Gondor was controlling possession and finally took the initiative from the wild crowd cheering them on. Anarion hit the goal post, it had the Gondorians ready to burst and applaud the goal. With Anarion only rattled the woodwork, their joy dropped, but then Romendacil fought his way past Mauhur and cleaned up the rebound! Gondor had the lead, and a quick glance at the scoreboard showing the other match showed FC Valinor still held the 1-0 lead too!
Gondor wasn't done, the midfield was still controlling the majority of the possession and taking every opportunity to push forwards. Anarion, Romendacil and Eldacar were wreaking havoc in Isengard's defensive half and their defensive mid-fielders were stopping any sort of Isengard attack in their tracks. With minutes to go in the half, Meneldil took the ball from Grima and sent it immediatly to Anarion. Gondor was on the break and committed several bodies forward. Anarion passed it wide to Ciryandil who, in turn flicked a high ball to the other side of the field. Eldacar was able to chest it down and with Gondor able to switch up the point of attack within seconds. Eldacar only had Lugdush on the right side to beat. He easily sprinted past Lugdush and ran straight on goal, Ugluk was helpless and indecisive, and Eldacar gave Gondor the 2 goal lead right before the halftime whistle!
With Gondor playing exciting football for the final 15 minutes before half, the fans didn't stray their eyes off the field, nor see what was happening in the other match. So, what had been happening in Pelargir?
Pelargir
After the early goal, Barad-Dur was threatened by the fact this game could get out of control really really fast. Afterall in a span of 15 minutes they put up 3 goals on Isengard and in another quick period of time put up 2 on Gondor. Barad-Dur didn't have the athletes to run with FC Valinor's attack, nor did they have the solidity of a team organized midfield of Gondor. But don't underestimate Sauron's ability to find the right tactics and put his team in the best chances to succeed.
It was cleary early to Sauron if they tried to play FC Valinor like Isengard did, this was going to be a massacre. So after the early goal, Barad-Dur was a great offensive team from set pieces, but they showed to be a good defensive team as well. Sauron was done trying to chase Curufin and Celegorm around. If someone got beat...foul and make FC Valinor prove they'll have to score from free kicks or corners. Barad-Dur's midfield in particular, as soon as Yavanna, or Argon or one of the Feanorian sons sprinted by, they did just enough to trip them up and stop the action.
Unable to get into a smooth, rhymic attack, and with Sauron able to now set up his defense, FC Valinor was having a lot of trouble. The Valinoreans and Noldor were booing the referee, arguing it was clear what Barad-Dur was trying and thought players needed to be sent off for this type of unsporty play. But to the ref's eyes it appeared Barad-Dur was trying to make a play on the ball, and not just recklessly tripping FC Valinor players.
Whatever the case, the defensive strategy was working, as FC Valinor showed a weakness in scoring from set pieces, and Barad-Dur were experts not only creating goals from them, but defending them as well. Thus the half ended only in a 0-1 defecit for Barad-Dur. And taking into account the other game, both Gondor and Barad-dur were in a dead tie at the half: 4 points, 0 goal differential, and 3 goals scored each. If it stayed this way would that mean a shootout?
Although few fans thought based on what was at stake and the talent on the field, there were more goals to come in the 2nd. And there would be.
Staying in Pelargir, Sauron appeared to light a fire under his forwards during the break, because they had done nothing in the 1st half and how long would Sauron's new defensive tactics hold FC Valinor to 1 goal? Especially since the "foul to stop Celegorm and Curufin from getting into a passing rhythm" strategy risked getting a player sent off because a Fellbeast, Herumor, Angamaite and Beruthiel already had 1 yellow card from the first half.
So Barad-Dur furiously went all in upon FC Valinor's goal. Being unprepared by the sudden fury, were disorganized and slightly out of position, Thorondor came in late and fouled Beruthiel. It would be free kick about 7 meters out of the box. Beruthiel passed it wide to Castamir, but Maglor had him marked well and was running the Numenorean to the out of bounds. Castamir's angle had been cut off, but he somehow slid a pass between Maglor's legs. Then Sauron had cut inside Indis. Huan slid towards the near post, thinking Sauron would try to keep the ball low, but the Dark Lord cleverly flicked it over the diving hound. It was all level! And the Umbarian and Orcs went just wild. Simply wild.
Dol Amroth
So wild that when the packed crowd in Dol Amroth heard feint joyous screams (Dol Amroth stadium was relatively queit with the crowd being pleased by Gondor 2-0 lead and the 2nd half was just getting underway so many fans were still returning to their seats). They looked to see the bad news, Barad-Dur had actually come level with FC Valinor, which meant Gondor could win this game 5-0...it still wouldn't matter, Barad-Dur would have more points if they held onto the draw.
That news deflated the Dol Amroth crowd, who were now paying more attention to the other games scoreboard, hoping FC Valinor had the spirit to retake the lead, and not watching the fact that in Gondor's game Isengard was not ready to go away just yet.
Pelargir
After the thrilling game tying goal, Barad-Dur seemed to let up on the gas a bit, because the goal insured an excellent chance of Barad-Dur advancing. Sauron was still sticking to the defensive strategy of "foul an FC player when you're beat" though and he might have finally exposed a weakness with the FC team. They had trouble scoring when their superior speed and ball skills were neutralized by set pieces. If Barad-dur actually had some more invested talent, they may have just turned this game upside down and shocked the world.
But Barad-Dur's unsporty play did come back to hurt them. Not in getting one of their players sent off, but angering FC Valinor enough to make a more serious effort. Eventually in the 73rd minute, Celegorm and Curufin just plain outran Barad-Dur's defenders (and avoided the desperate tackles trying to stop them). Either one could have scored, but it was Celegorm giving it up to Curufin to reclaim the 1-goal lead.
Dol Amroth
Relief came to Dol Amroth after seeing FC Valinor quickly take back the lead, but it was still a precarious situation for Gondor. Barad-Dur now had 4 goals to Gondor's 3, so unless FC Valinor showed even more effort to increase their lead, Gondor needed another goal. They were hoping not to try to put their faith to advance on the whims of FC Valinor's ethics, and place it on their home team. But either Gondor decided to play the half more defensively, or they just believed Isengard wouldn't try to fight their way back.
Whatever the case, Isengard was showing quite a bit of spirit and found renewed spirit to play on. Maybe from Sauron's influence in Isengard's team? Who knows? 3 minutes after the crowd got a slight boost from seeing FC Valinor reclaim the lead, Saruman put a dagger in their heart. Isengard scored! How could this happen? They were eliminated...they had nothing to play for, yet they showed up with more passion and drive in the 2nd half than Gondor! Now Gondor would need another goal just to get back into a dead tie with Barad-Dur, or FC Valinor had to keep scoring goals while keeping Barad-Dur off the board (and that was less sure...I mean Barad-Dur already tied the game once!).
Pelargir
After the fantic beginning to the 2nd half and FC Valinor grabbed the lead again, the pace of the game really slowed down. FC felt assured of their 1st place spot (Barad-Dur scoring 2 goals in under 20 minutes, no way). And while Celegorm and Curufin were particularly annoyed by Barad-Dur's fouling strategy, Sauron called his team off. With the tempers soothed and FC Valinor having no need to spend energy for more goals, and tougher playoff battles on the horizon, FC Valinor in kind did not try to increase their lead. The game had been exciting, fans saw a lot of great play. The FC fans were in good moods because they had cleared the group with 9 points. The larger Barad-dur crowd were also feeling very good, their team gave everything FC Valinor could handle. Sauron had exposed a weakness, but just didn't have the talent to capitilize. Now they turned towards the scoreboard, hoping Isengard could hold the score at 1-2 in the final 10 minutes.
Dol Amroth
Gondor was frantic, their fans had chewed their fingers raw from anxiety. But Gondor was best when playing careful and methodically, not desperately trying to grab another goal. And Isengard was defending well, plus Ugluk who had seemed lost and out of position most of the time, was suddenly making leaping and strong armed saves. And then the ref blew the final whistle. No!!! That was it, it was over for Gondor. The small Isengard crowd marched out to a drum beat and chants. They were back to Isengard, and even if their team left with no points, they had not rolled over like most people had thought. They fought on to the end, even after that humilation against FC Valinor. Gondorians remained in the stadium, stunned and looking at the two scoreboards. Their team had won the match, but this had to be a terrible nightmare. They were going to wake up soon and somehow Gondor would be in the playoffs, Barad-Dur would be eliminated. But it was not a nightmare. Gondor was out.
Barad-Dur 1-2 FC Valinor
on target 3-7
tot shots 10-16
GOALS:
*12, 0-1 Argon (Yavanna)
*48, 1-1 Sauron (Castamir)
*73, 1-2 Curufin (Celegorm)
YELLOW CARDS:
*BDur- Angamaite, Sangahyando, Fellbeast#1, Beruthiel, Herumor
*FCVal- Thorondor, Argon
Gondor 2-1 Isengard
on target 7-3
tot shots 16-8
GOALS:
*35, 1-0 Romendacil (Anarion)
*44, 2-0 Eldacar (Ciryandil)
*76, 2-1 Saruman (Nazgul#5)
YELLOW CARDS:
*Gondor- Ciryandil
*Isengard- Nazgul#5, Lurtz, Wulf, Beechbone
Final round...
Code:
Group D W-D-L Pts GD
FC Valinor 3-0-0 9 +7
Barad-Dur 1-1-1 4 0
Gondor 1-1-1 4 -1
Isengard 0-0-3 0 -6
TTN's exit interviews with the captains of the eliminated teams; Isengard and Gondor will be out after all round 3 matches.