Hearts lose match and the Championship.
MCI win FA Cup.
Nice that it was on TV.
In Liga Portugal, Benfica went undefeated, finished third.
Europa League Final tomorrow. Freiburg looking to earn a fifth UCL spot for Bunde. If they win, there would be no Bunde team in the Europa Conference.
AVL win the Europa League.
Now, if they lose and LIV win, then there will be six EPL teams in the UCL next season.
If CP win the Europa Conference League, that would add another team to the total, I think.
So, could be 6 in UCL, 2 in Euro, 1 in Euro Conf. I’ll check the internet to confirm. Yup, confirmed.
Serie A has an interesting finale.
Note that Serie A uses head-to-head points. That is why AC Milan is ahead of Roma even though league GD favors Roma.
In case of a four-way tie at 71 points, tiebreaker is the points standings from the matches involving the four teams:
AC Milan: 10 points (2 wins 4 draws, 0 losses)
Roma: 5 (1 win, 2 draws, 3 losses
Como: 10 (3 wins, 1 draw, 2 losses
Juventus: 6 (1 win, 3 draws, 2 losses)
So, AC Milan and Como take the final two spots.
For three-ways:
a) Remove Como: Roma are eliminated.
b) Remove JUV: Milan advance; Como and Roma have 4 points each; they won their home matches by one goal each, so goes to League GD, and Romo are eliminated.
Remove AC Milan: Como advance; JUV won their home match, drew the away match, Roma eliminated.
c) Remove ROM: Como advance; JUV, MIL drew both matches, so League GD is used, and MIL eliminated
This assumes that the tiebreakers are reset after the third place team is determined.
There are six two-way ties possible:
COM-JUV: JUV won both matches
COM-MIL: MIL won and tied
COM-ROM: Both teams won by one goal; COM advances on League GD.
JUV-MIL: Both matches were draws; JUV advances on League GD.
JUV-ROM: JUV won and tied; JUV advances.
MIL-ROM: MIL won and tied; MIL advances.
Liga MX, whose clubs’ American owners really prefer no pro/rel:
But in 2020, Liga MX paused pro/rel for six seasons because of the financial uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The decision meant that 18 teams already competing in Liga MX would remain there permanently, without consequences for poor results. In the second-division Liga de Expansión, clubs would simply fight for silverware and bragging rights.
This arrangement presents fewer risks for investors, and for some new American owners, there is a wariness about the possibility of relegation’s return.
“I like that there isn’t a promotion. I like that we’re all just in a league and we have playoffs and we get in and we get out,” Longoria told ESPN last year. “That whole promotion and relegation thing is so stressful to me. I couldn’t even imagine that format.”
Theoretically, anyway, some version of that format could – and should – return.
Milan lost, Roma and Como won and took the two final spots.
Promotion/relegation is always good for competitiveness.
See La Liga:
1 Like
CP win, EPL going for the clean sweep on Saturday. I’ll have to wait until I get home from Refereeing to watch that
This guy has it all wrong:
https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/48896974/uefa-needs-save-champions-league-boring-finals
Of course he is an American
It is not the goal to have an entertaining match. This is the Final of the UCL. It determines the champion, pretty much “the best team” in Europe and the World, constricted by the format, of course. Winner also gets a ticket to the Club World Cup in three years. So “are you not entertained?” bullshit is not needed.
Does not provide a solution for this non-existent problem: 130M to 145M people will watch it live.
(I’ll watch when I get home from a full day of refereeing.) More if FCB or MUN or RM are playing.
(According to Googly AIs)
Its amazing how far the PL reaches all over the world.
Very popular here as well. My English SIL has been trying to find a Vancouver bar to watch the match in but they are all packed despite the 9 am start here.
It is the best and most competitive. The worst team has a score of 1488. Ten teams in the top 30
People who like the game and want to watch the best league know what to watch.
It helps that both teams have plenty of African Nationals on their teams. But a lot of EPL teams do. Racist policies do not win championships. You think people would have learned from Jack Johnson or Jesse Owens ( or Bear Bryant, who knew he couldn’t beat USC without black players), but no.
Anyway tough game. Teams were evenly matched, in some way.
Penalties determine the champion, so, eh.
Was busy refereeing three fun matches, no touchline drama on my matches. Other matches had a lot more drama. Coaches ejected. One spectator called an assistant referee “stupid.” No, they will not get to watch the next match.
Also, the cops and animal control came by, on their PA system asking the owner of a van with a dog inside to come to their van. Because dogs are not allowed at the park during soccer matches. Yes, the tournament rules state no dogs. Reading is for suckers, apparently.
1 Like
This guy is making pretty bold claims:
https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/48978746/madrid-candidate-riquelme-pledges-pursue-jurgen-klopp-elected
Haaland, Klopp, … might work to get him elected, but for six months tops if he can’t produce. As if they need one more guy to hog the goals from the other precious egos.
Probably more of a publicity stunt, but still fun
Or, that he is precisely this good. USL side, lower than Beer League.
Meanwhile the Euro competitions’ qualifiers have already started. Second Qualifying Rounds this week.
OK, so SUN, CRY, and BOU are making their debut in Euro football, yet they actually have UEFA Club Coefficient points. 23.903 each. Not sure where these come from, except possibly due to their being in the EPL. Torreense also making a debut, but they’re in POR, so their Club Coefficient is 14.633.
Ah, Googly-AIs says: 20% of their National FA’s 5-season coefficient is the minimum.
If a club’s personal five-year point total falls below 20% of their overall national league association’s coefficient for the same five-year period, UEFA automatically assigns the club that 20% value instead of their lower personal total. [1, 2, 3]
Sebastian has a lot of experience trying to break in to a starting 11 (USMNT). I hope he’s good enough for a top 5 EFL Championship squad trying to make real bank on their season (promotion).
https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/49472491/usmnt-sebastian-berhalter-transfer-middlesbrough-vancouver-whitecaps
“Undisclosed fee”: I wonder who’s ego is being protected.