football thread No11

FIFA has suspended Marco Trovato, president of Olimpia, the kings of Paraguayan football, for life, for matchfixing.

 

They should re-calculate the winner for that year, and if that affects any silverware Olimpia received, it should be taken away from them

 

I don't think they want to set such a bad precedent, but we'll see. Josepp Blatter actually admitted to fixing entire World Cups and not a single match has been overturned.

 

Back to results…

Aston Villa 7 - 2 Liverpool
Manchester Urited 1 - 6 Tottenham
Arsenal 2 - 1 Sheffield​

This has to be Arsenal's year for their best finish in ages. A repeat of 2016!
Edit: I just realised that Everton, not Leicester, are at the top of the league. Somebody get Para back here, dammit.

 

Well we couldn't have ManU getting all the attention this round, you know.

 

And you scored in both halves of the game! Your goal average (.28) is far better than theirs (.16).

There, I'm a man of letters and can still do arithmetic.

 

Here's something you don't see every day. The CONCACAF League championship bracket. This league (hereafter referred to as CL) is essentially our continent's (more apt to say confederation, but people will say north america) version of the Europa League. It's for smaller clubs in the region who are thought to be a level or so below what's required to qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League. There's lots of smaller countries in our confederation, which includes the caribbean and central american regions. Lots of smaller leagues and clubs who would benefit from continental competition. The top 4 (or 6?) clubs in this bracket qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League. These competitions take place at different times of the year (yeah it's all messed up), so if for instance Forge FC win their next match, they will eventually compete in the champions league as well, no matter what happens to them in the semi-finals (or beyond)

The new Canadian Premier League that kicked off in 2019 for now only gets a direct berth into the CL (not the champions league). In order for a CPL club to qualify for the Champions league, they have to win the Voyageur's Cup (Canadian Championship), but that's tough because the 3 MLS clubs will usually win that (for now - always). The CL is another way CPL clubs can qualify for the champions league, which is exciting, because if Forge FC wins their next match that will mean 2 Canadian clubs in the champions league! This has never happened before (as far as I know), as Canada only ever gets 1 direct berth into the competition (and CL is new)



Forge FC qualified for this tournament after they were crowned Canadian Premier League champions. This club is essentially the CPL's flagship club right now, they won our league back to back and have ties to one of our strongest youth setups in the country (Sigma FC). That's where a lot of their players come from. They also have a couple ex-TFC players (Bekker, Babouli).

Nobody expected a CPL club to go this far in this tournament in only the 2nd year of existence of our league. They beat a club before their match vs Tauro FC, it didn't make it onto this bracket though. That first match was tough and they held their own playing in central america, which is always tough. After they won that match nobody gave them a chance against Tauro FC, who play at a level above. I watched that match live and it was entertaining and a bit of a nail-biter. It was also hosted down south, so nobody expected them to do well, and they ended up walking away with a win and advancing to the semifinals. It's going to get even tougher from now on, but this is sort of a cindarella run so from my pov, who knows what will happen.

This might not be very exciting for someone who watches top flight European football, but Canadian football fans who support local clubs have been eating this up. This is exactly what our football up here needed - more local clubs who will be able to not only compete domestically but also in continental cups. Canada's coefficient is going up and up because of Forge's successes and so eventually we might end up with 2 direct berths to the Champions League. That would be truly exciting. But for now we anticipate the match against Arcahaie FC (from Haiti) on December 1st. The whole country isn't even behind Forge, as we are very competitive up here when it comes to our sports. I would say most CPL fans are probably cheering on Forge, but there are a decent amount of fans who will not do that because they are from Hamilton, and our city vs city rivalries can be quite .. well, passionate. You just rarely see that because there aren't many leagues where these cities go head to head.