Should the away goal rule still stand?

How does this system prove that the away team has worked harder to get a result over two-legs?  Yes the away team has to put up with the torment of the home fans which makes it harder to win but how is the rule remotely fair?  A scrappy goal could have gone in but it doesn’t mean it was well deserved.  One team could be dominated over the two games but the other could nick a cheeky own goal or a penalty that wasn’t which sought of defeats the object of establishing which team was better away from home and over two legs.

 

Away goals can kill off a tie in the second leg in an instant as soon as the ball hits the back of the net. Teams in winning positions buckle up and park the bus whilst the attacking team runs out of time to infiltrate the score-line.

 

A draw is a draw over two legs, whether one team loses 1-0 away and then wins the return home leg 2-1; it is plain and simply a draw.  Why should these two score-lines denote that the team who has scored the away goal has performed better over two games?  They may have been truly battered in the second game, losing on possession and shots on goal.  How does being spanked in a game give you the right to progress through to the next round of a tournament? Taking your chances is crucial and I get that but still I am not keen.

 

How can one goal count as two if the scores are level?  You can now see why it confuses some people.  The amount of times I have had to explain this rule to my partner or youngsters is quite unbelievable because the mathematics of the concept do not add up.  If I can recall that if two teams drew they went to extra time whether it was 1-1 or 5-5?

 

I understand how the home and away leg works; it is only fair that both teams get to play on their home turf to experience the backing of their own fans.  What I cannot grasp is how it is fair to eliminate one team when they have scored the same amount of goals as their opposition.  If you are going to play two legs then it should following the format of the League Cup semi-finals in the English game.  Whichever team scores the most after two legs goes through, if they are still level after 180 minutes then extra-time can come into play.  Even then the home team in the second leg still has the advantage in extra-time with the home fans behind them, which can also be criticised but could be countered due to the ‘luck’ of the draw.

 

European football has ultimately tried to prevent the notion of extra time, which is in itself also a farce.  What happened to the Golden Goal rule? That was far more exciting and gave teams the urge to score the winning goal.  Now teams slowly trot around the field during extra time to play the chance lottery of penalties. I have never quite understood as to why a team would ‘choose’ to lay it all the line in a shoot-out?  I can appreciate the reasons behind wanting to steer away from extra time but if this is the case then why does this part of the game still exist?  If two teams cancel each other out after the golden goal period has exceeded then fair enough, play penalties but even this is a cruel way of losing. Any suggestions on a new solution?

 

Whatever happened to settling with one game to decide who went through and who was sent home?  Rather than having two games the format should follow the style of most domestic league trophies.  One game between the two and whichever team is drawn at home is determined by whose name is drawn out of the hat first.  Yes it would shorten the competition but scrapping over a two-legged affair would save a lot of unfairness and plenty of explanation.

Are draws for tournaments fixed?

Is there a real cause for concern?

Derbies being played in the early rounds of a tournament, underdogs playing each other in the latter stages to get a boarding pass to the next round and teams playing each other again and again year after year, you would think this supports the above question?

The first time Drogba returned…

Drogba and Mourinho have always had a strong relationship. His reception on his return was inspiring.

Also in support of this debate is the coincidence of a tie being drawn after much speculation in the media.  Let me expand upon this.  Didier Drogba scored the winning penalty for Chelsea in their first UEFA Champions League victory as finalist in 2012 and is forever going to be hailed as a legend.  He later left that summer for pastures new but soon returned to Europe after a very short stint in the bizarre environment of Shanghai Shenhua in China.  As a Galatasaray striker in the 2014 European Cup he went on record to state how he would have loved to visit Stamford Bridge to face his former teammates in the first round of the knockout stages, in the Last 16.  This was published throughout the UK tabloids on how he would receive a wonderful reception.  Why and behold his ‘dream’ came true, Chelsea drew Galatasaray, what a ‘twist of fate’.

Clubs from the same country meeting

In European club football, teams from the same country tend to be drawn against after the group stages, a round which banishes them from doing so, simply to narrow down the chances of one country dominating the whole tournament.  We often see this occur in the quarter or semi-finals of a competition.  Although the chances of them being drawn together are more likely with the number of teams in a tournament reducing as time goes on, it seems inevitable that Chelsea will be drawn against say Manchester United or Barcelona go ahead to ahead with Atletico Madrid.

Has the excitement been ‘drawn’ out

Where did the excitement and the unpredictability of the draw vanish?  When the FA cup draws took place it was a momentous occasion each and every time but this no longer seems to be the case. Maybe it has always been this way and the expectedness of two teams meeting in a tournament year after year will never change?  I can tell you where the thrill of the draw went… in the back pocket of those drawing out the numbers perhaps, or their advisers who organize these ‘pot luck draws’.  ‘Here you are son, here’s a tasty £100 bonus if you can guarantee that ball number one, Arsenal draw out ball number eighteen in the pot, Tottenham Hotspur in the third round of the FA Cup’.  What a load of cotton rollocks!

Everyone wants a competition that sees the best teams compete against each other but shouldn’t this be seen towards the end of the tournament after they defeat their minnows?  I understand that at some point two of the big teams will go head-to-head and yes this could happen in the early stages of a tournament but there seems to be no randomness in a draw.  Big fixtures in each round of domestic cup football are purposely put in place to keep the interest of the FA Cup alive following its alleged demise.  This is how TV claimed its rights once again.

The seeding system

A big pointer on how draws can be derived as fixed is the seeded system put in place to ensure the better clubs get through the early stages of a competition easily.  Therefore this gives the underdogs less chance of playing each other ‘by chance’ as they must play the more successful teams first.  How is this categorically fair or have those rewarded with a top seed earned the right to an easier route? What happened to random draws where you would see the ultimate group of death in the first round of the World Cup?  The whole layout for an international tournament and European club competitions is set out so the predicted finalists actually get to the final and ‘don’t disappoint’.

The road to Wembley no longer exists

 

Wembley semi-finals… very debateable

Playing semi-finals of the FA Cup at Wembley for me completely destroys the aspect of the trip to Wembley for the final.  Since when did the yellow brick road have a stop of at the final destination before you were actually supposed to get there?

 

The cost of Wembley needs to be paid for and hosting two semi finals certainly helps towards paying off the debt.  Although clubs who don’t actually make the final can say they’ve still been to the national stadium, it somehow doesn’t achieve the same effect as what it would if you were actually featuring as a finalist.  It’s like seeing a prince sitting in his father’s chair before his right.

That goal from Giggs

The old semi finals at Villa Park and Old Trafford back in the day before the final took place at the old Wembley hold some wonderful memories.  Ryan Giggs stunning finish against Arsenal at Villa Park in the 1999 victory over the Gunners is an example of how the Road to Wembley use to exist.  Man United were a man down, stuck in a delicately poised 1-1 draw in extra-time.  United had dreams of winning the treble that season and Arsenal almost put to an end to it all that very evening.  Giggs illustrated all of the attributes a brilliant winger should have in his repertoire: pace, power and intricacy, before unleashing a cracking shot past David Seaman.  He took it into his own hands to score one of the greatest cup semi-final goals of all time.  Patrick Vieira made one of the tournament’s most iconic mistakes by gifting the ball to the pacey Welshman by literally passing the ball straight to him.  Giggs takes one touch, assesses the situation, Dwight Yorke was the furthest man forward but an attempted pass would have seemed a little tricky, so what does Giggs do with space to his left… he goes for it, at full speed with Vieira and Tony Adams leading Lee Dixon and Martin Keown to mow the winger down.  I remember how the camera could barely keep up with Giggs, his pace was electrifying.  Vieira attempts Giggs first, beating the towering midfielder was too easy with the number eleven quickly moving his hips to fool the Frenchman. Next it is Dixon and Keown, two of the league’s most accomplished defenders, Keown misses his sliding tackle and Dixon looks simply desperate.  Dixon attempts to shove Giggs off the ball but gives up knowing he has no chance, Paul Scholes is waiting in the middle however Giggs is selfish, he only has one vision and… bang!  A beautiful finish to accompany a magnificent bit of play.  It was the preeminent rivalry in the English game at the time, Arsenal verses Manchester United.  It was a classic semi-final, Beckham’s swerving shot, Bergkamp scoring and then having a penalty saved by Peter Schmeichel, Roy Keane receiving his marching orders before Giggs and his moment of brilliance.  The intensity of the game was truly mind-blowing and to reach Wembley with a one-in-two chance of winning the cup was an honour for the Red Devils. These memoirs will never be rekindled should the semis stay at Wembley for the foreseeable future. Re-live this moment again here at FOCP…

No return to the old format

Getting to Wembley is still a great achievement, it always will be but playing a semi-final on the main stage just doesn’t have the same effect.  Wembley has an aura about it; it in itself is a dreamland, a venue that resembles the New York of the game.  The goal of getting to Wembley has been shortened because of commercialism and I am sorry to have seen it change the history of the FA Cup for the wrong reasons.