[Boromir88]

Semifinal Erebor vs. Eriador @Amon Hen Coliseum

Following the pre-game build up of the first semi-final, as players from both sides took their positions, they were briefly introduced by the announcer. Every race and group seemed like it was represented at this magnificent accomplishment, Amon Hen Coliseum.

So, it was when Gwaihir was introduced for Erebor, the Eagles rose out of the constructed eeyries and circled high above as a salute to the Windlord. And the orcs made raucus noise when Bolg was named. They were quickly quieted by the ritualistic and mystical dance of the Beornings, called their 'Bear-dance.' Which legend said, would give their forefather the power to shape-shift. There was a large section of Dale men, and their dwarven allies when their kings were introduced. But the loudest and greatest cheers were saved for Erebor's FW trio, which every ticket holder from Mirkwood was fully behind Erebor, either because of Thranduil or Nazgul #7. And of course, there was Smaug, who for whatever unknown reason was one of the favorites (except amongst the dwarves and Dale men).

Then came Eriador's introductions, which held support from the majority of elves and men from Arnor and Gondor. It was Erebor that appeared to follow the Mirkwood formula of 2009. Supporting a diverse squad that tries to capitalize on the strengths of all the diverse races, to create a well balanced team. And then Eriador, which was far less diverse, but the strong friendship between the Eriador elves and their elf-friends, the Dunedain, was unrivalled in Arnor. So, while Erebor's applause were more spread out, it was more for each individual player. Bolg drew loud applause from the orcs out of the Misty Mountains, but mere polite claps from the rest of Erebor's supporters. Where Eriador, there was near constant and consistant cheer during the team introductions, representing the true friendship and unity amongst the team and their fans. Even the Witch-King, who was announced last, by that time it didn't even matter to the Eriador fans, the noise had reached a crescendo and all were lost in the moment.

What a beginning indeed!

~~~

Eriador took immediate possession and they were not squandering it away. The rangers of the mid-field in particular were dominating and controlling the action. Even if they were only creating testing and speculative shots just to keep Beorn on his paws. Erebor's defense was unable to relieve the pressure building around their box, because their mid-field was unable to maintain possession. As the first semi-final can attest, how do you control the midfield? Simply have more players there than your opponent.

So, it was when Eriador took the lead in the 14th minute there was wild cheers amongst everyone rooting for Eriador (of course), but also good applause amongst the neutrals, for the deserved goal. They really looked the better team in the first 15. It was not shocking to see Glorfindel and the Witch-King getting the majority of attention from Erebor's defenders, but with the mid-fielders playing more aggressive than normal, there was bound to be openings for them. It was the Arahael passing to an unmarked Arveleg, making an open run at goal. Beorn decided not to come off his goal line, and perhaps a person of his speed and athleticism should have and could have beaten Arveleg to the ball, but he did not. And Arveleg fired off a quick low drive beneath the arms of Beorn.

A change needed to be made, but that was the strength of having a diverse squad like Erebor. Eriador basically played one game, and they played possession better than anyone else, but it was still the only way they would play. Smaug recognizing they would get nowhere in this game if they could not get control of the mid-field. Thus Smaug commanded the Nazgul #7 to drop back. This helped Erebor somewhat, but still not enough. The Nazgul were usually intimidating enemies to the Dunedain, and the 7th Nazgul had indeed played the mid-field before, however it had less impact on the tactics than Smaug had hoped. Strangely enough, when you play with the Lord of the Nazgul for an entire season, an unknown Nazgul was not nearly as intimidating. Thus, Thranduil also had to drop to the mid-field, which finally did give Erebor the needed advantage to maintain possession, but it left Smaug as basically the lone scoring threat.

Everything was trying to be run through Smaug, as powerful and skilled as everyone knows he is, even the dragon could not beat the double teaming of Gil-Galad and Malbeth. Eriador's top 2 central defenders. And when able to finally get off a half-decent chance, Elrond was in perfect placement to save, every time. Erebor was getting a foothold on the match, but nothing was too troublesome or tricky for Elrond to pick up, when the defense did let some rather harmless balls through.

The first half was over and Eriador was up 1-0. A point of little note so far is this is now 170 straight shut out minutes by team Eriador, a remarkable feat. Even if they have not faced the deadliest of offenses, that is quite an accomplishment in playoff football; especially at the Arda Cup!

The 2nd half began and it was much the same story as the first 45. Although, Eriador was no playing more defensively minded to protect their lead, they were still holding the majority of possession. Yet again, the Nazgul and Thranduil had to go to the mid-field, but Erebor fans were for the first time quite nervous of their chances. If Bard, Bolg, and Dain could not rise up and get the job done, there was little hope, because Smaug as the lone-FW simply was not good enough by himself against a team that has not conceded a goal for 170 minutes (and growing!)

Erebor really desperate for an equalizer, began putting Gwaihir and Girion further up field, as they were not really worried about Eriador making a counter attack, when they were focused on defending a lead. This freed up Thrandul to join Smaug and create slightly more of a threat on goal. in the 64th Erebor won themselves a corner. Girion was to take it Erebor packed the box with everyone except their two deepest defenders. And Eriador had all of theirs also packed into the box. Girion curved one towards the far post and Thranduil had an open header! Supposedly the Witch-King was supposed to have the Elven-king marked, but the Nagul was no defender and not even Elrond could save Thranduil having a wide open header. It was level! And Eriador not having conceded a goal for nearly 190 minutes was snapped.

After the score was tied, there was still clost to 30 minutes of regulation, and neither team seemed thrilled to want it to go into OT, but the defenses, and particularly the goal-tenders were determined to not give up a heart breaking late winner. So as the clock was ticking closer to 90 both teams gradually began playing more conservative and unwilling to really risk losing it at this point. Plus, it may be everyone was getting tired legs and a brief intermission to regather some strength, seemed needed as passes were getting very sloppy.

90 minutes was up and it was on to over-time. There is no golden goal rule. Two 15 minute halves would be played in full, and the score at the end of 30 minutes determined the winner. If still tied then we would be on to the exciting penalty shoot outs! Which was indeed, exciting for spectators, but rather unfulfilling to the players on the teams, because it felt disingenuous for a winner to be determined on something as random as a penalty shoot out after fighting hard for over 120 minutes. But we are getting ahead of ourselves, because there was still the 30 minutes of overtime to be played, and that was also an exciting added football for any fan of the sport!

The first 15 minute period, finally saw Erebor's mid-field start getting themselves into the game. Eriador seemed always more willing to get this to a shootout where they would trust their great captains Glorfindel and Elrond in such a high pressure situation. Erebor was pressing for the lead almost immediately. Confident that if they grabbed a 2-1 lead, at worst Eriador would only be able to tie and thus take it to penalties (believing Eriador's offense simply wasn't good enough to score 3 goals on their defense). And at best, that 2nd goal may be all that was needed, because it's not like Beorn and their defense were slouches. Thus, Erebor was severely threatening the goal in the first OT period, but the defense of Eriador and Elrond held on.

After another brief rest, the 2nd OT period began and taking Erebor completely by surprise, Eriador launched a quick attack. It was as if they forgot that Glorfindel and the Witch-king were a dangerous striking force. Arassuil was looking to send a long ball over top the defense, but that was a hard play, considering Gwaihir controls the skies very well. But just as Arassuil made the long pass, the Witch-King gave a terrible shriek that paused Gwaihir only momentarily. That moment was all that was needed though to give Glorfindel with the necessary space to pass it on to the Witch-King. It was Glorfindel who had greater foresight than Malbeth, and knew precisely where Arassuil's pass would land. Beorn was crossed up, expecting Glorfindel to take the free space to shoot, but Glorfindel, slid a pass to the Witch-King who then pounded it into an open goal. It was the 16th minute, the very start of the 2nd OT, and it was Eriador with a 2-1 lead!

But now, the offensive fury of Erebor was about to be unleashed. This was it, they had 14 minutes to salvage their chance at making the Arda Cup finals. Eriador was going to just purely protect the lead, and everyone knew that, so Erebor rushed everyone on goal for the frantic final minutes. Eriadors defense was barely holding on, but each time there was a momentary lapse, Elrond was present to cover.

10 minutes left, and Elrond batted an effort of Bard's foot wide. 5 minutes left and Elrond caught Thranduil's header, protecting the lead. 3 minutes left and a gift of an opportunity for Erebor! The ref ruled that Asfaloth hoof-balled it in the box. Arda Cup rules determined that the front hoofs of horses would be ruled as hands if they were raised high off the ground. And in an effort to block Smaug's powerful drive, Asfaloth reared up and the shot was blocked off the horses front hoofs. It was determined to be unintentional, thus Asfaloth was only given a yellow card, but still as the horse handled the ball with its "hands," in the box, Erebor was going to get a penalty kick!

This was likely to be Erebor's final and best chance to tie the match and send it to a shootout. Smaug was going to take the shot. The great dragon stared at the elven lord and many could swear they heard the dragon uttering an enchantment to control which way Elrond would react. Eriador's keeper was too great for dragon's tricks, many had judged, and thus Smaug would have to rely on its sheer power and the advantage of knowing where it would hit the shot.

Smaug wound up and unleashed a rising rocket to the top right corner. Elrond leapt, he was at full stretch. Everyone in the Coliseum gasped in awe, in this moment, not even upon the neighboring Amon Lhaw, the Hill of Hearing, could you hear a pin drop within the Amon Hen Coliseum. It was that silent in the 190,000 seat stadium. And Elrond punched it over the top crossbar!

Elrond saved it. Elrond saved a penalty shot...shot by Smaug! The Eriador fans had to take a moment to comprehend what they just witnessed and then thundered their hearts out in joy and total euphoria. Even the always stoic Elrond, was smiling, pumping his fists high up in the air, and ran to embrace Gil-galad and the rest of the team. Erebor was dejected and heart-broken. They would still play to try to win the bronze against AC Beleriand, but how does one cope with such a devastating loss? While Eriador was on to the Championship match to play Real Valinor.

Erebor 1-2 Eriador (OT)
on target 8-7
tot shots 20-15
GOALS:
*14, 0-1 Arveleg (Arahael)
*64, 1-1 Thranduil (Girion)
*16, 1-2 Witch King (Glorfindel)
YELLOW CARDS:
*Erebor- Bard, Meneldor, Girion
*Eriador- Arahael, Asfaloth