Middle-Earth Football World Cup 2007

[Sleepy Ranger]

Next up Roverandom will be taking on Dor-Lomin. Roverandom managed to sneak a win past Mordor but what about Dor Lomin? They may have lost their first game but they have a very good attack and are very capable of scoring a goal. I reckon Dor Lomin may snatch the win. Rivendell impressed me very much in their loss against Ham while Arnor played disgracefully. If the last games were any indication, Rivendell will win this with ease.

***

Group D
Roverandom 0 - 1 Dor Lomin
(Turin 19th)

This was a boring game. Dor Lomin won with what was pretty much to only real chance of the game. Amazing really since the two teams managed to take about twenty shots between them. I have never seen such dreadful shooting before. Can you believe that this team beat Mordor?!? Ugh... dreadful.

Dor Lomin's goal came when Turin picked up on a defensive lapse and stole the ball off of a defender to knock the ball in before anyone so much as realized what was happening. Turin then managed to get himself a yellow card for a dangerous tackle. Boring game.

Shots: 7(0) - 12(2)
Posession: 49 - 51
Bookings: Turin

Group H
Arnor 3 - 0 Rivendell
(Aragorn 67th, 78th, 83rd)

*Report Pending* Sorry, have some work to do elsewhere. Won't have time to do this right now.

Assist: Arathorn, Arvedui, Isildur
Bookings: Isildur - Bilbo
Shots: 8(8) - 3(1)
Posession: 56 - 44

***

[The Saucepan Man]

Grrr! I am not at all happy with these results, because most went contrary to my expectation and most are dreadful for my Fantasy World Cup team.

Group A
Disaster for Valinor! One of the fancied teams pre-competition, they now need to beat the mighty Angband by a significant margin and rely on a favourable result from the Moria v Erebor game. It's not looking good for them. But they only have themselves to blame. They are far too cautious as a team, as their failure to score even a single goal so far shows. I am also wondering whether they are unsettled, as Manwe is usually a very calm and focussed player and his poor tackling was most out of character. A great result for Erebor, of course, who now have a realistic chance of going through. Personally, though, if Valinor goes out, I would prefer Misty Mountains to go through, as I think that they are the better team.

*News just in: Valinor team coach, Eru Iluvatar, has been quoted as saying that he does not mind if Valinor are eliminated, as he created the competition and all the teams in it, and there is no outcome that would not be to his greater glory.*

Hmm, perhaps that explains their lacklustre approach ...

Group B
Isn't it great to see Gandalf still banging them in, even at this late stage in his career? A good result for Lothlorien, and a surprisingly good turn of play from the inexperienced Amroth. Still, they are not through yet. They still have the superb Tuna to play, whereas The Shire will be facing a poor looking Brethil (with Turambar their only player of note).

Group D
Well, on the basis of Roverandom's previous performance, I certainly didn't expect them to lose to Dor Lomin. Like Brethil, Dor Lomin, only have one player of any note, and that's Turin. Mind you, he's not half bad. He reminds me of a young Mormegil, which is no bad thing, given Mormegil's record in this competition.

Still, the result makes Group D very interesting - each team on 3 points with it all to play for. I'm still backing Mordor and Tol Eressea.

Group H
Well the highlights of the Arnor v Rivendell match are still pending, but the result means that Rivendell becomes the first team to be eliminated for sure. It's a shame, as they looked in their first match like they might be able to recapture the glories of competitions past, and I would have expected them to beat Arnor. Still, Aragorn proved that he was a good player when at Gondor, and his hat-trick in this match shows that he clearly still is. The Ham v Arnor match is likely to determine second place in this Group, and I still have high hopes for the plucky folk of Ham.