Middle-Earth Football World Cup 2007

[The Saucepan Man]

I would have expected Angband to slot more past Erebor, but the win sets them off on the path of likely Group winners.

I can understand the caution of The Shire and Lothlorien, but one of them may come to rue this result with hotly tipped Tuna (mmm, tasty ) in the Group. The Shire, in particular, should have looked to capitalise on their many chances. It looks like Pippin is missing his former strike partner Merry already. The fact that they ended up resorting to the long ball suggests that the midfield is a shadow of its former self. The Shire need to improve, and quick, if they are to repeat last year's achievement. Still, Lothlorien are a difficult team to break down.

Well, I said that Roverandum should not be underestimated, but I didn't expect this! There is no other way to describe their result against Mordor other than as a major upset. And, in quite a tight Group, Mordor could come to regret all those missed chances (14 shots on goal, 5 on target) big time.

And it looks like Rohan are going to flatter to deceive once more. They really should have done better. But it seems that The Inklings are as good a side as I suspected they might be, and it also appears that JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis have patched up their recent differences to combine well up front.

Yellow Boot Trophy competition

Day one sees John Ronald Reuel making an early bid for the prize:

JRR Tolkien (Inklings) – 2
Thuringwethil (Angband) – 1
Roverandom (Roverandom) - 1