The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum - View Single Post

Nilpaurion Felagund · 10-01-2013, 03:52 AM

Vinyamar Stadium
Eriador vs Hithlum

All 75,000 tickets for Eriador-Hithlum have been sold a mere 24 hours after they had been made available, and, on the day of the game itself, Vinyamar Stadium was jam-packed a full two hours before the opening whistle, with one side a wall of black, the other a sea of crimson. The Eriador supporters’ group Northern Wall managed to occupy an entire stand for themselves, and their presentation, a tifo of a man’s hand reaching out for the Arda Cup, was well-received. Unwilling to be outstaged, the Hithlum supporters sung a moving rendition of their anthem, ‘We’re Hithlum ‘til we die.’

After the pre-arranged presentations have been exhausted, the two groups set out to outchant the other. A clear favourite of Hithlum fans was:

‘He scores when he wants.
‘He scores when he wants.
‘Túrin of Hithlum,
‘He scores when he wants.’

Whereas the Eriador fans chanted:

‘We’re black, we’re white.
‘Our midfielder’s a wight.
‘Eriador! Eriador!’

When the two teams walked into the pitch the stadium exploded into cheers; the ones for Elrond of Eriador and Túrin of Hithlum were especially enthusiastic. But the loudest cheer was for Glorfindel, a native son returning to play on his old home city.

There were a lot of handshakes and hugs exchanged on the pitch during the warm-ups, which was not surprising considering that the two teams were filled with Edain from different generations. Aragorn and Arwen struck up a deal with Húrin and Morwen to exchange shirts after the match, while Arador, Araphant, and Arveleg almost fought over who would get Túrin’s shirt at the end of the game. NogWight was generally left alone by the Hithlum players—even Balrog #5 had been approached by Glorfindel, asking him about Gothmog.

As game time drew near, the interaction between the two teams came to a halt. Elrond gathered his team in a huddle, while Hador and Húrin went around, clapping Hithlum players on the back, whispering instructions and encouragement. Túrin sat alone on the penalty spot, facing the goal, seemingly deep in contemplation of the task at hand.

[Hithlum in yellow and dark red; Eriador in white and black.]

The opening whistle was blown, and Hithlum were nearly caught unawares when Araphant immediately launched a long lofted pass to NogWight 15 metres from Hithlum’s penalty area. Aradan and Morwen did well to recover and cover the areas where he could knock it down to. But with a twist of his neck, NogWight flicked it to Arveleg, who drifted in from his starting position on the right wing. At the same time, Isildur dropped a little deeper, as if to receive a pass. Out on the left, Glorfindel sprinted past Arroch just as Arveleg chipped past the defence. With a side-footed volley, Glorfindel sent the ball past Huor and into the net, but the linesman had his flag raised. Glorfindel was offside—the goal was disallowed. Arroch had noticed that the rest of the Hithlum back line had unintentionally advanced a metre forward as they closed down their marks. He then stepped up to play the Gondolin Elf offside just moments before Arveleg’s pass.

The Hithlum faithful heaved a sigh of relief, having escaped going behind so early in the match. They applauded Arroch for his foresight—had he not noticed that detail, or seen it too late, Glorfindel would have been onside for his run.

Around five minutes after that opening spell, some semblance of structure has been imposed on the pitch. Aragorn tracked Húrin in all his runs, Gil-galad kept a body on Túrin, and Asfaloth got in front of Beleg. Arwen was the Eriador back line’s spare player, helping Gil-galad in marking Túrin while keeping an eye on his father’s runs.

On the other side of the pitch, Hithlum left-back Galdor kept an eye on Arveleg’s movements, but didn’t follow him all over the pitch—the Eriador midfielder played deeper, almost in line with the midfield, he and often drifted to central positions. Balrog #5 towered over Isildur, and Arroch kept up with Glorfindel reasonably well. When Glorfindel beat Arroch there was Gundor to stand between him and the goal.

In the midfield, Aradan screened for his back four, while NogWight did his best to connect Eriador’s midfield and the attackers. Their holding midfield duo Arador and Araphant had to deal with the energetic running of Morwen and Hador. With Arveleg moving inside, Eriador had a numbers advantage in the midfield, allowing them to dominate possession. But with Hithlum’s intense pressing on NogWight and Isildur, they couldn’t establish a foothold in Huor’s penalty area. An Eriador turnover often led to nervy moments for their defence, as Morwen and Hador made lung-busting runs to bring the ball up to their forwards.

With Eriador’s midfield playing a defensive game, and Hithlum concerned with the speed and passing of Eriador’s front four, the game played out slowly, with players passing to the safer option (sideways or even backwards) instead of the more speculative forward passes. But as the game wore on some players became more comfortable with trying to get the ball to their forwards.

In a sequence during the nineteenth minute, Morwen picked NogWight’s pockets as he tried to turn on Aradan. She immediately sent it to Hador, who skipped past Araphant and combined with Húrin down the right. Arwen and Aragorn did their best to keep up as they pedalled back, but with a neat step-over Hador found enough wiggle room to cross for Túrin, who headed towards Elrond’s top-left corner. But Elrond palmed it clear just before it crossed the goal line—there were some Hithlum fans who swore it had already crossed the line—and over the bar for a corner kick.

Beleg took the corner kick. While Túrin and Húrin caused havoc on the near- and far-post, respectively, the Doriath Elf sent an inch-perfect delivery for Balrog #5, who stood near the penalty spot. His header, aimed for the far post, had Elrond stranded in no-man’s land on his near post, but Glorfindel rushed in and headed the goalbound effort clear. As Arador booted the clearance downfield, Glorfindel smiled and shook his head at Balrog #5, who flashed a thumbs-up sign at the midfielder.

Eriador got their first serious chance of the game as the first half drew to a close. After intercepting a Morwen through pass, Arwen dribbled forward instead of passing to a midfielder. While the Hithlum midfield’s marking was confused by her appearance, nobody noticed NogWight peeling off to right. Suddenly there were three players down Hithlum’s left channel: Isildur, Arveleg, and NogWight, with only the Balrog and Galdor to contain them. Arwen launched the ball forward, and a sudden NogWight surge met it. As he got to the byline, Glorfindel and Arveleg cut infield, and suddenly Hithlum were outnumbered in their penalty area. The Wight crossed low towards the box, but Galdor slid in and got a toe on it, pushing it past the byline. Isildur screamed at NogWight to cross high, but NogWight pointed at the Balrog, who could have beat any of them in the air.

Huor easily claimed Arveleg’s ensuing cross, and the referee saw it fit to end the first half after that.

The second half began with the same slow tempo as the first one. Eriador were content with their first half and continued their defensive tactic of man-marking in the midfield, while Hithlum were shaken by the close call just before half time and pulled Morwen and Hador back a few metres.

Aside from their slight defensive shift, Hithlum also made one other change: Húrin made more runs infield, dragging Aragorn with him. This left Galdor with the left flank entirely to himself, as Arveleg was still playing more on the centre than on the right. With the midfield more congested, his forward runs became more valuable in driving Hithlum forward.

Shortly before the hour mark, Isildur lost the ball as he tried to run past Balrog #5. After a simple lateral pass to Galdor, the left-back ran from his position in front of the Hithlum penalty box uncontested up to the half way line. Arveleg slid right to stop his run, but he still had space for a cross from deep that Húrin knocked down just in front of the penalty arc. Túrin got to the ball before Arwen and fired a screamer from long range. Elrond got down to save it, but, screaming in pain, he was unable to hold on to the ball. The save spilled into Beleg’s path, who thrashed it in from five metres out. Elrond’s face was clearly in pain as he tried to dive after the rebound, but he got a hand to the ball after it had crossed the goal line. The goal stood, and Hithlum was in the lead!

There was a stoppage of play afterwards as Elrond walked to the touch line, holding his right hand awkwardly. Afterwards it was found out that he broke a finger saving Túrin’s long-range shot. Such was the power of the Hithlum forward’s boot.

The Hithlum fans were overjoyed. Clearly, Eriador now have to chase the game, and that would open up more space for Hador and Morwen in the midfield. But the Northerners still kept the game’s tempo slow, keeping possession in the midfield with Arveleg, and trying to pass their way forward. Hithlum were torn whether to press home the advantage or put a lid on it at the back. As a result, Eriador got a few chances once they got past Hithlum’s midfield.

In the sixty-seventh minute, Isildur headed an Arveleg cross straight at Huor.

In the seventy-third minute, Arador played NogWight in behind Hithlum's midfield, and his dipping drive from thirty metres didn’t dip enough, sailing inches over the crossbar.

By the eightieth minute, Hador decided to put more players behind the ball. Only Túrin and Beleg were left upfield to keep Eriador’s back line honest. But with Aragorn free from the responsibility of marking Húrin, he moved forward to combine with Arveleg down Eriador’s left. As the defence shifted to trap them, Arveleg slid a pass to NogWight outside the penalty area. He quickly sent it to Glorfindel running down the right with plenty of space. Aradan and Gundor moved up to stop him, but he did an impressive 180-degree turn that left them looking flat-footed. Unfortunately, his angle for the shot was too difficult, and he only managed to send into the side netting.

And that was the last serious chance either team had. A ninetieth-minute mazy dribble by Glorfindel through the Hithlum penalty box just ended with Balrog #5 calmly tackling him before he could get into a shooting position. Morwen got to the clearance first, and she booted it downfield. The referee then blew his whistle to end the game. The crimson side of the stadium became a sea of limbs and voices; they were happy, they were relieved, they were ecstatic to be back among the pinnacle of Arda football. On the other side, the fans in black looked glum, dropped out in the last eight after a finals appearance last year. The players on the pitch exchanged handshakes, the Hithlum players giving their opponents a pat on the back for their efforts. Finally, Hador gathered his players in front of the Hithlum fans. As one, they bowed before them, and the fans clapped in appreciation of their efforts. Hithlum, finalists in the first two Arda Cups, are only a game away from returning to those lofty heights.

Exit interviews shall be provided in The Matchday episode next week.

Eriador 0-1 Hithlum
GOALS:
59, 0-1 Beleg (Túrin)

Total Shots
11-12
Shots On Target
4-5

YELLOW CARDS:
1-2
ERD: Asfaloth
HTH: Gundor, Morwen

10-01-2013, 03:52 AM	#16
Nilpaurion Felagund Scion of The Faithful Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: The brink, where hope and despair are akin. [The Philippines] Posts: 5,312	Tar-Eldar Network Television quarterfinals coverage Vinyamar Stadium Eriador vs Hithlum All 75,000 tickets for Eriador-Hithlum have been sold a mere 24 hours after they had been made available, and, on the day of the game itself, Vinyamar Stadium was jam-packed a full two hours before the opening whistle, with one side a wall of black, the other a sea of crimson. The Eriador supporters’ group Northern Wall managed to occupy an entire stand for themselves, and their presentation, a tifo of a man’s hand reaching out for the Arda Cup, was well-received. Unwilling to be outstaged, the Hithlum supporters sung a moving rendition of their anthem, ‘We’re Hithlum ‘til we die.’ After the pre-arranged presentations have been exhausted, the two groups set out to outchant the other. A clear favourite of Hithlum fans was: ‘He scores when he wants. ‘He scores when he wants. ‘Túrin of Hithlum, ‘He scores when he wants.’ Whereas the Eriador fans chanted: ‘We’re black, we’re white. ‘Our midfielder’s a wight. ‘Eriador! Eriador!’ When the two teams walked into the pitch the stadium exploded into cheers; the ones for Elrond of Eriador and Túrin of Hithlum were especially enthusiastic. But the loudest cheer was for Glorfindel, a native son returning to play on his old home city. There were a lot of handshakes and hugs exchanged on the pitch during the warm-ups, which was not surprising considering that the two teams were filled with Edain from different generations. Aragorn and Arwen struck up a deal with Húrin and Morwen to exchange shirts after the match, while Arador, Araphant, and Arveleg almost fought over who would get Túrin’s shirt at the end of the game. NogWight was generally left alone by the Hithlum players—even Balrog #5 had been approached by Glorfindel, asking him about Gothmog. As game time drew near, the interaction between the two teams came to a halt. Elrond gathered his team in a huddle, while Hador and Húrin went around, clapping Hithlum players on the back, whispering instructions and encouragement. Túrin sat alone on the penalty spot, facing the goal, seemingly deep in contemplation of the task at hand. [Hithlum in yellow and dark red; Eriador in white and black.] The opening whistle was blown, and Hithlum were nearly caught unawares when Araphant immediately launched a long lofted pass to NogWight 15 metres from Hithlum’s penalty area. Aradan and Morwen did well to recover and cover the areas where he could knock it down to. But with a twist of his neck, NogWight flicked it to Arveleg, who drifted in from his starting position on the right wing. At the same time, Isildur dropped a little deeper, as if to receive a pass. Out on the left, Glorfindel sprinted past Arroch just as Arveleg chipped past the defence. With a side-footed volley, Glorfindel sent the ball past Huor and into the net, but the linesman had his flag raised. Glorfindel was offside—the goal was disallowed. Arroch had noticed that the rest of the Hithlum back line had unintentionally advanced a metre forward as they closed down their marks. He then stepped up to play the Gondolin Elf offside just moments before Arveleg’s pass. The Hithlum faithful heaved a sigh of relief, having escaped going behind so early in the match. They applauded Arroch for his foresight—had he not noticed that detail, or seen it too late, Glorfindel would have been onside for his run. Around five minutes after that opening spell, some semblance of structure has been imposed on the pitch. Aragorn tracked Húrin in all his runs, Gil-galad kept a body on Túrin, and Asfaloth got in front of Beleg. Arwen was the Eriador back line’s spare player, helping Gil-galad in marking Túrin while keeping an eye on his father’s runs. On the other side of the pitch, Hithlum left-back Galdor kept an eye on Arveleg’s movements, but didn’t follow him all over the pitch—the Eriador midfielder played deeper, almost in line with the midfield, he and often drifted to central positions. Balrog #5 towered over Isildur, and Arroch kept up with Glorfindel reasonably well. When Glorfindel beat Arroch there was Gundor to stand between him and the goal. In the midfield, Aradan screened for his back four, while NogWight did his best to connect Eriador’s midfield and the attackers. Their holding midfield duo Arador and Araphant had to deal with the energetic running of Morwen and Hador. With Arveleg moving inside, Eriador had a numbers advantage in the midfield, allowing them to dominate possession. But with Hithlum’s intense pressing on NogWight and Isildur, they couldn’t establish a foothold in Huor’s penalty area. An Eriador turnover often led to nervy moments for their defence, as Morwen and Hador made lung-busting runs to bring the ball up to their forwards. With Eriador’s midfield playing a defensive game, and Hithlum concerned with the speed and passing of Eriador’s front four, the game played out slowly, with players passing to the safer option (sideways or even backwards) instead of the more speculative forward passes. But as the game wore on some players became more comfortable with trying to get the ball to their forwards. In a sequence during the nineteenth minute, Morwen picked NogWight’s pockets as he tried to turn on Aradan. She immediately sent it to Hador, who skipped past Araphant and combined with Húrin down the right. Arwen and Aragorn did their best to keep up as they pedalled back, but with a neat step-over Hador found enough wiggle room to cross for Túrin, who headed towards Elrond’s top-left corner. But Elrond palmed it clear just before it crossed the goal line—there were some Hithlum fans who swore it had already crossed the line—and over the bar for a corner kick. Beleg took the corner kick. While Túrin and Húrin caused havoc on the near- and far-post, respectively, the Doriath Elf sent an inch-perfect delivery for Balrog #5, who stood near the penalty spot. His header, aimed for the far post, had Elrond stranded in no-man’s land on his near post, but Glorfindel rushed in and headed the goalbound effort clear. As Arador booted the clearance downfield, Glorfindel smiled and shook his head at Balrog #5, who flashed a thumbs-up sign at the midfielder. Eriador got their first serious chance of the game as the first half drew to a close. After intercepting a Morwen through pass, Arwen dribbled forward instead of passing to a midfielder. While the Hithlum midfield’s marking was confused by her appearance, nobody noticed NogWight peeling off to right. Suddenly there were three players down Hithlum’s left channel: Isildur, Arveleg, and NogWight, with only the Balrog and Galdor to contain them. Arwen launched the ball forward, and a sudden NogWight surge met it. As he got to the byline, Glorfindel and Arveleg cut infield, and suddenly Hithlum were outnumbered in their penalty area. The Wight crossed low towards the box, but Galdor slid in and got a toe on it, pushing it past the byline. Isildur screamed at NogWight to cross high, but NogWight pointed at the Balrog, who could have beat any of them in the air. Huor easily claimed Arveleg’s ensuing cross, and the referee saw it fit to end the first half after that. The second half began with the same slow tempo as the first one. Eriador were content with their first half and continued their defensive tactic of man-marking in the midfield, while Hithlum were shaken by the close call just before half time and pulled Morwen and Hador back a few metres. Aside from their slight defensive shift, Hithlum also made one other change: Húrin made more runs infield, dragging Aragorn with him. This left Galdor with the left flank entirely to himself, as Arveleg was still playing more on the centre than on the right. With the midfield more congested, his forward runs became more valuable in driving Hithlum forward. Shortly before the hour mark, Isildur lost the ball as he tried to run past Balrog #5. After a simple lateral pass to Galdor, the left-back ran from his position in front of the Hithlum penalty box uncontested up to the half way line. Arveleg slid right to stop his run, but he still had space for a cross from deep that Húrin knocked down just in front of the penalty arc. Túrin got to the ball before Arwen and fired a screamer from long range. Elrond got down to save it, but, screaming in pain, he was unable to hold on to the ball. The save spilled into Beleg’s path, who thrashed it in from five metres out. Elrond’s face was clearly in pain as he tried to dive after the rebound, but he got a hand to the ball after it had crossed the goal line. The goal stood, and Hithlum was in the lead! There was a stoppage of play afterwards as Elrond walked to the touch line, holding his right hand awkwardly. Afterwards it was found out that he broke a finger saving Túrin’s long-range shot. Such was the power of the Hithlum forward’s boot. The Hithlum fans were overjoyed. Clearly, Eriador now have to chase the game, and that would open up more space for Hador and Morwen in the midfield. But the Northerners still kept the game’s tempo slow, keeping possession in the midfield with Arveleg, and trying to pass their way forward. Hithlum were torn whether to press home the advantage or put a lid on it at the back. As a result, Eriador got a few chances once they got past Hithlum’s midfield. In the sixty-seventh minute, Isildur headed an Arveleg cross straight at Huor. In the seventy-third minute, Arador played NogWight in behind Hithlum's midfield, and his dipping drive from thirty metres didn’t dip enough, sailing inches over the crossbar. By the eightieth minute, Hador decided to put more players behind the ball. Only Túrin and Beleg were left upfield to keep Eriador’s back line honest. But with Aragorn free from the responsibility of marking Húrin, he moved forward to combine with Arveleg down Eriador’s left. As the defence shifted to trap them, Arveleg slid a pass to NogWight outside the penalty area. He quickly sent it to Glorfindel running down the right with plenty of space. Aradan and Gundor moved up to stop him, but he did an impressive 180-degree turn that left them looking flat-footed. Unfortunately, his angle for the shot was too difficult, and he only managed to send into the side netting. And that was the last serious chance either team had. A ninetieth-minute mazy dribble by Glorfindel through the Hithlum penalty box just ended with Balrog #5 calmly tackling him before he could get into a shooting position. Morwen got to the clearance first, and she booted it downfield. The referee then blew his whistle to end the game. The crimson side of the stadium became a sea of limbs and voices; they were happy, they were relieved, they were ecstatic to be back among the pinnacle of Arda football. On the other side, the fans in black looked glum, dropped out in the last eight after a finals appearance last year. The players on the pitch exchanged handshakes, the Hithlum players giving their opponents a pat on the back for their efforts. Finally, Hador gathered his players in front of the Hithlum fans. As one, they bowed before them, and the fans clapped in appreciation of their efforts. Hithlum, finalists in the first two Arda Cups, are only a game away from returning to those lofty heights. Exit interviews shall be provided in The Matchday episode next week. Eriador 0-1 Hithlum GOALS: 59, 0-1 Beleg (Túrin) Total Shots 11-12 Shots On Target 4-5 YELLOW CARDS: 1-2 ERD: Asfaloth HTH: Gundor, Morwen __________________ フェンリス鴨 (Fenrisu Kamo) The plot, cut, defeated. I intend to copy this sig forever - so far so good... Last edited by Nilpaurion Felagund; 11-09-2013 at 12:30 AM.