[Nogrod]

Group E at the Grey Havens, round 1

The Greay Havens have never been a specially hip or cool place in Arda. It has been an important place to the elves who went and stayed in the Middle-earth as their base of entry and safety at times, and later a main point of departure back to the undying lands. But other than that, it has been taken as a quiet harbour-town mainly for those who come or go – which means more or less nothing to any Middle-earth-born folks. And Cirdan the Shipwright is probably the only person the people know from there even if the town is not the smallest one in the ME, or the poorest. Sadly people don’t seem to know or care of it at all, not to speak of appreciating it’s splendour and beauty.

With group E of Arda Cup 2012 the interest has suddenly been araised. There were a host of ships from the West bringing Maiar and elves into the city and long caravans of elves and men of old, and hobbits turned in from the East as well. Who wouldn’t want to see Manwë and his household with the wizards, or Ulmo and his household with the Númenorian kings, or Húrin and his children, or Eärendil, Tuor and Cirdan playing for the hometeam? The line-ups were so spectacular even the laziest northern-dwellers couldn’t resist and on the game-day the organizers were in trouble with all the football-fans, even if the parks beside the river offered a lot of space for them to fit into.


~*~

The first game of the day was one between Hithlum and The Sea aka. Ulmo and his minions strengthened with some real Númenorian talent against Húrin and his children. The Númenorian fans were a small but a loud bunch who made a noise much over their numbers, and the elves, especially the Teleri, seemed to be mostly supporting The Sea. But the remarkably huge crowds of humans were supporting Hithlum with their chants and flags. With the locals mainly supporting The Sea, Ulmo’s team had the advantage in support but the humans didn’t let them win it easily and the feeling in the first match at the new Lhûnarena was actually quite passionate and loud as there was a feeling of competition also in the stands, and the crowds camped at the park outside the stadium were having a nice afternoon even if there were some complaints about not getting enough information from the game. But people outside reacted to the cheers from inside and at times an announcer announced the latest action in-game.

Now the elves and the other West-folks were pretty confident The Sea would qualify with team Valimar (although some folks from the Grey Havens, and the fans of Eärendil, Tuor and Olwë still believed their team could make it), but the humans were as secure that Hithlum would just outscore at least one Valar-led team and take their place in the qualifiers.

To the Hithlum-fans the beginning of the game between Hithlum and The Sea was pure nightmare. The Sea was controlling the ball frustrating the Hithlum squad and when the Hithlum team got the ball the Sea’s defences were already organised and ready to pick on any imaginable forward plan Hithlum was trying to come up with.

To the end of the first period The Sea started to make results as well. Hithlum concentrated on their defence on a totally different level than in the friendlies, but that was not enough for the hot Númenorian forwards of The Sea. So on 34th minute Tar Aldarion found undefended ground inside the box and got a perfect pass from Veäntur hammering the ball in with a skilled volley. And just before the half-time Tar Minastir ran through Hithlum’s clumsy defences and received a long ball from Tar Ciryatan which left him one on one with Aradan – and you can figure the result with as cool finisher as Tar Minastir…

But Hithlum team was not going to surrender even if the score looked pretty bad on halftime. As The Sea concentrated more and more in the defence Hithlum started pressing more and more. The attacks were raining in but the Sea defenders helped by their midfielders were able to clean their area untill 74th minute when Húrin headed Hador’s corner in after a first touch by Nienor.

There was fifteen minutes of the game left and Hithlum was trailing by one goal. The Sea fell totally down into defence – and with no credible threat of counterattacks by Tar Aldarion or Tar Minastir, Hithlum pressed on in the way they only can. It was a bombardement!

But the clock was ticking and the time Hithlum had to equalize was running out as The Sea managed to either block the final passes or to block the shots, or then Voronwë saved the few shots coming in.
One minute left to the game Morwen went for it and challenged the Western defence with all her defiance and strength, and there was a second of confusion between the mighty-ones when she passed the ball behind Ossë and Uinen – straight to the foot of her son Túrin who didn’t hesitate getting the ball at the penalty-spot and booting it in to the net with the crowds roaring from either joy or disbelief. Hithlum had drawn just one minute before the end of the game!

It was 2-2 and it did stay that way. It was also clear neither team was too happy with the result.

Hithlum 2-2 The Sea
on target 5-6
tot shots 15-13
GOALS:
*34, 0-1 Tar Aldarion (Veantur)
*42, 0-2 Tar Minastir (Tar Cirytan)
*74, 1-2 Húrin (Nienor)
*89, 2-2 Túrin (Morwen)
YELLOW CARDS:
*Hithlum- Androg, Nienor
*Sea- Tar Ciryatan


The afternoon game had been great entertainment so the feeling was high when the hometeam marched into the field following the mighty Manwë and his squad for the late match-up. But as soon as the game was kicked off one realised this was going to be a very different ball game.

Both teams played it very safely indeed trying to avoid mistakes which led there being very few real efforts at attacking. With The Havens defending solidly with the whole team from midfield onwards Valimar had trouble finding alleys to break through, but with Valimar not able or willing to move their squad up forwards there was no chance for The Havens’ downstairs to feed their forwards for breakthroughs with fast long passes behind Valimar defences.

But just when the crowds were starting to show their contempt after half an hour of watching the sides walking in the field it happened. It was a clear marking error from Valimar defence as Amrod and Amras went both taking Tuor thinking Vana would take care of looking after his son – but for some reason she turned into the same direction before noticing her mistake. But that was enough for the great Eärendil to break free. And Angrod’s beautiful pass found him behind the lines perfectly. So against all expectations it was a goal for the home team!

The crowds went just mad. The homeside had just taken a lead against the mightiest of all, team Valimar! And like with a touch of a magic wand the game was suddenly alive. Being one goal down Valimar was forced to attack and that in turned opened opportunities for The Havens to play counter-attacking game they were more than keen in playing.

Some twenty minutes into the second half Valimar was finally rewarded from their effort. Mandos himself rose highest to a corner given by Ilmarë and headed the ball in the net with relentless force leaving Cirdan no chance of denying him.

Sadly for the spectators the evening goal changed the dynamics of the game once again as The Havens fell back into defence not to let Valimar take the lead and Valimar was not showing a real effort to win at any cost either. And like the game in the afternoon, this also ended in a draw.

In the post game press conference Manwë entertained the journalists commenting on Eärendil’s goal: “You know, this guy has entered our territory without permission already earlier… that time I let him go with it, but let’s see will he be forgiven a second time. Let’s not ask Mandos about it though. I’m not sure he thinks his goal is enough of a compensation…”

The Havens 1-1 Valimar
on target 5-5
tot shots 13-12
GOALS:
*27, 1-0 Eärendil (Angrod)
*63, 1-1 Namo (Ilmare)
YELLOW CARDS:
*Havens- Olwe
*Valimar- Vana, Celebrian