[the phantom]

Vinyamar Prepares for the Quarterfinals
Philip McPhantom, MESPN News

When the Arda Cup tournament used Vinyamar as a host site three years ago it led to a rebirth of the city, and a revival of football tradition as well. The meeting of mountains and sea at Mount Taras was astoundingly picturesque, and travelers that visited during Arda Cup 2010 swiftly spread the word—that buildings and homes of fine Noldorin make were sitting vacant, and that the overhaul of the roads and aqueducts etc. necessary for hosting had put everything in prime condition.

Many of the Noldorin and Dwarf craftsmen that came to work on the project stuck around and were soon joined by their families, and three years later the city had nearly reached the population that it possessed of old before Turgon moved his people to Gondolin. With increased fan support and a beautiful new stadium (with an increased capacity of around 75,000) their football fortunes improved, as could be predicted. After nearly 30 years in a row finishing in the bottom half of the Northwest League, they finished in fifth place last year—only one place out of qualifying for the Champion’s League.

With such a nice arena and the lovely setting and enthusiastic fans, it made complete sense for Arda Cup to return to Vinyamar. Eriador versus Hithlum would be played in the afternoon, while AC Beleriand versus Valimar would be played in the evening. The harbor was packed full of ships from the Blessed Realm, and thousands of visitors had flooded in from the south and west, as well as many more Elves and Men that had made their way through Nevrast out of Hithlum.

It remained to be seen which squads would get the greatest support, but the analysts felt they could guess fairly confidently. Beleriand was nearby obviously and the Noldor would be behind them in a very big way. Also any Orcs and such that showed up would likely support them due to the presence of the Balrog, not to mention their opponent was the hated Valimar. And of course they had Marach and Ulrad which would solidify their support with any attending mortals. Valimar would probably only get support from the folks that had sailed (or spirited) their way from far to the west.

The match between Eriador and Hithlum would be more even. Hithlum would obviously be getting all of the weight of the House of Hador, and added to that would be a contingent from Doriath (to support Beleg) and quite a few Noldor (supporting their financial investment), but Eraidor had brought quite the crowd from the east. The Elves of Lindon and Rivendell had come in large numbers, and a decent crowd of Dunedain had turned up to support the men of Arnor on the squad. But the real equalizer was Glorfindel—before Gondolin he had of course served Turgon right there in Vinyamar, thus the locals had overwhelmingly adopted him as their favorite. More than likely the crowd would be evenly split in that contest.

The weather forecasters were predicting a perfect day for Vinyamar, with minimal breeze and a high temperature around 75 (24 C), cool enough that players wouldn’t be too overheated and warm enough that the crowd wouldn’t get chilled. Everyone was happy to be in Vinyamar, and two teams and fan bases would soon be even a bit happier.