[the phantom]

The Dúnedain of the north have long been the friends of the Elves of Imladris, so it made sense that the two would agree to a friendly even before they knew what their rosters were.

Rivendell played host, and Elendil, Isildur, and company took the opportunity to arrive early and dine with the Children of Elrond and their friends and enjoy tale-telling and music afterwards. As evening approached the players went to their separate preparation rooms to dress and the rest filed into the arena alongside other residents of the area, as well as those that had traveled in support of Arnor.

The game on the field was very casual and light-hearted. The defenses didn't chase the ball much, but rather allowed the offensive players to try various ball-tricks to work it in past a thinner defense when they had the notion. But the defenders didn't just let people go past either, and did their best in a non-physical manner.

Neither were the offenses overly aggressive- there was a lot of passing work. The game was in every respect a glorified warm-up.

Before the half ended both squads managed a handful of decent attempts, but only Imladris sent them into the netting. Arnor dinged the sidebar on one, and their other best attempt was miraculously saved by Elros, who seemed keen to prove that he could replace his brother better than critics believed.

In the second half Imladris was decidedly avoiding going on offense, and Arnor pressed for a while to get on the board. After they forced Elros to make a couple more great saves, Elendil decided that their work was done and that they would just kick it around to finish things off. Both teams felt they had gotten in some work against a talented squad and were content to leave it at that.

Arnor 0-2 Imladris
tot shots 12-10
on target 5-5
GOALS:
*27, 0-1 Elrohir (Arwen)
*43, 0-2 Elladan (Figwit)
YELLOW CARDS:
*Arnor- Malvegil
*Imlad-

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Erebor and Wilderland figured they might end up in the same group when they scheduled their friendly, but it didn't matter. It was simply too convenient an arrangement to pass up.

King Thranduil was hosting the match at his underground palace, and it wasn't a bad trip at all for supporters of either team. And in fact there were quite a few that were supporting both at once.

Thranduil was with Erebor, while his father King Oropher and the popular Galion was with Wilderland, so the Elves were split. Both squads also featured a dragon- Scatha for Wilderland and Smaug for Erebor.

The squads were decently friendly on the pitch, though they were certainly a bit more physical than some early contests. Tactics-wise both squads were extremely restrained, as they would be playing each other for real in groups.

At minute 20 Smaug pounded in a corner, at which point Erebor called off the attack and just hung back to clog up their half of the pitch. Wilderland equalized shortly before the half and that was that so far as Erebor was concerned.

Wilderland on the other hand started the second half looking for a repeat of the first, with each squad scoring once. They scored and fell back to defend, but Erebor was entirely unwilling to up their effort or offensive support just to attempt to gain a friendly goal, so they kicked it around until time was up.

Erebor 1-2 Wilderland
tot shots 16-9
on target 7-5
GOALS:
*20, 1-0 Smaug (Bard)
*42, 1-1 Orome (Elwe)
*54, 1-2 Orome (Elwe)
YELLOW CARDS:
*Erebor- Bolg, Dain, Smaug, Landroval
*Wilder- Skinbark, Beechbone, Scatha

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Isengard and Eriador agreed to a more neutral ground friendly, meeting up at an old worn field near Tharbad. The conditions weren't ideal but both squads were just looking to get a read on their teammates and run a bit with tournament talent.

The first half was extremely lackluster and not much to speak of. They were pretty well taking turns kicking and moving, just seeing if they could work with each other.

In the second half Elrond encouraged his side to move forward more aggressively to crack the scoreboard, and indeed they did. After that they fell back to await Isengard's attempt at the equalizer, but it didn't come easy for Saruman. After Elrond saved what was their finest effort yet Saruman ordered his side to just save their energy for the next match.

Eriador 1-0 Isengard
tot shots 9-7
on target 3-2
GOALS:
*56, 1-0 Arveleg (Glorfindel)
YELLOW CARDS:
*Eriador- Asfaloth
*Isen- Saruman, Lurtz

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At the time when Hithlum decided to schedule their friendly with The Downer they thought it was possible they'd end up in the same group, and Hador wanted his squad to be prepared for the unorthodox Downer team. He had encountered them in last year's Arda Cup and knew what an odd lot they were.

When they discovered they wouldn't be in the group after all, Hador tried to reschedule, but no one was willing to trade. The Downer's violent and often illegal methods were an injury risk that most teams simply weren't willing to take.

So Hithlum decided to come out with decent effort and energy and grab a couple goals, and then pull back and hope that The Downer would channel their energy into equalizing rather than roughing them up.

In the first half it worked quite well. Downer players were a bit slow realizing they were playing and Hithlum was able to get a couple of goals before they really woke up. After that they pulled back and let the Downers have their turn, which they did capitalize on before the end of the half.

Things had gone so smoothly in the first that Hithlum decided to once again try and come out fast and grab a goal and then let The Downer make a trial of their defense. The first bit went off without a hitch, as Hador himself put it in off a nice Nienor feed. But when Hithlum pulled back they found that The Downer wasn't in a mood for offensive execution, but rather felt like being just plain offensive.

John Fillis was first to get things going, as he was caught loosening the laces of Sador. Then Alien, not to be outdone, forced one of Arroch's horse-shoes off. While the ref was busy sorting that out, Evil Mayo threw bits of himself into the eyes of Androg and Gethron.

Infuriated by the turn of events, Hurin called for another attack to be launched, and he teamed up with his son to put Hithlum up by another goal. Soon after Burnt Bert retaliated by taking Turin down with a very late tackle, and was lucky not to be sent off.

The ref called Captain Hookbill over and gave him a talking to, explaining that he could not allow them to play in this manner. Hookbill eventually got the message and told them that they'd have to play it straight, and they finally agreed to it after he promised to reward them after the contest. (No outsiders asked what the reward was- no one wanted to know.)

For the final 20 The Downer was nicely focused, and none other than Alien himself put the ball in off a deft find from the Captain, and the match ended at 4 to 2.

Hithlum 4-2 The Downer
tot shots 11-16
on target 6-7
GOALS:
*14, 1-0 Hurin (Turin)
*29, 2-0 Hurin (Nienor)
*38, 2-1 Hookbill (Lalwende MP)
*49, 3-1 Hador (Nienor)
*63, 4-1 Turin (Hurin)
*81, 4-2 Alien (Hookbill)
YELLOW CARDS:
*Hithlum- Hurin, Nienor, Grithnir
*Downer- John Fillis, Alien, Evil Mayo, Burnt Bert