The Finals

This past weekend marked the end of the middle school soccer season (as well as my birthday, coincidentally enough). The weekend was spent at 4 soccer games in a tournament setting. Saturday went well, with the team playing alright and soundly beating our opponents. So much so that we could play everyone, which is always nice. Today, however, was a different story. Everyone seemed a step slow, and didn't seem to have the desire to win. We barely scraped in to the final with a 2-2 draw in the morning game, which allowed us to advance on tie-breakers. The final started brightly enough, with our team getting 2 goals in the opening 10 minutes. After that, it was all down hill though. I think the team figured that they were going to coast the rest of the way, and allowed the other team to get a goal back before half-time. After half, our team just didn't show up. We ended up losing 6-2. What can you say though...sometimes it's just not your day. They had a good season though. We had a 7-1-1 record, and scored 56 goals. I can't say that's all that bad.

Due to Whit's questions regarding how the leagues around Europe interact with the Champions League, I'll go in to a little explanation. I think it's fitting, seeing as how the premier European club competition has it's final on Wednesday at 2:45 ET on ESPN 2. The first all English final features Manchester United and Chelsea. There really isn't a whole lot between the two teams, with United just beating out Chelsea to the English Premiership title, although if Chelsea wins the Champions League, I think they will be alright with losing out. It might not be the most exciting of matchups, although an early goal will open the game up. I'm hoping for an early goal, and a United win.

But how did we get to this point? The process really starts two seasons earlier. UEFA (the European governing body of soccer) assigns points to the individual leagues around Europe based on the performance of the individual teams in European tournaments. I guess it really starts even earlier, since these points are determined for the previous 5 European seasons. They are given points (2 for a win, and 1 for a draw) in competition, with the point total then divided by the number of teams from the country participating. So, if 3 teams from Spain played, with a 6-2-4 record, they would have 14 total points divided by 3, for a coefficient of 4.667. Each country that's a member of UEFA is totaled this way. Then, based on their coefficient, the number of teams that are allowed in to the competition are decided. The top 3 get 4 teams, the next 3 get 3 teams, the next 8 get 2 places, and everyone beneath gets 1 place. To make things even more complicated, there is a second tier of tournament competition in Europe known as the UEFA Cup. The point totals are used to determine placement for this as well. That means that the number of teams from a league are determined based on how the teams do 2 seasons prior. In other words, the points are determined in 2007, in order to be used for the 2008-2009 season, and not the 2007-2008 season. For more in-depth discussion, see the Wikipedia article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_coefficients#League_coefficient.

Now, the top teams from the coefficient calculation are given 2 automatic places into the competition. These are determined in the previous league season, with the top two teams at the end of the season given the automatic berths. If that's not incentive to play in every single game to win during your regular season, I don't know what is. Did I mention how much money a team gets for being in the tournament? The next teams down play in a play-off with top qualifiers from other leagues that didn't get an automatic berth. Convoluted, huh?

After the qualifying rounds are played, we have the group stage draw. The top-seeded teams are placed in a bowl together, followed by the next group in their own pot, until all 32 teams are accounted for. This is to help keep the stronger teams from being placed all in the same group. Each group of 4 plays a home and away series over the course of the first half of the season. Matchday's 1-6 are played from late September until late November/early December. After these games, the top two teams from each group advance to the knock-out stages. which kicks off once February rolls around. The 3rd place team from each group drops down in to the UEFA Cup competition at the mid-point of that tournament. The 4th placed team is finished in Europe.

The knock-out stages are where the tournament really kicks off. The teams play a home and away series, with the winner advancing to the next round. For the duration of the knock-out rounds, away goals count double in the event of a tie. In other words, this encourages the visiting team to go on the offensive. For example, say the first game of the series ends in a 1-1 draw. The advantage here is with the visiting team. In the second leg of the series, all they need is a 0-0 draw or a win to advance. However, if they draw 0-0, the visiting team is at a disadvantage. Their home game requires a victory, as any sort of tying draw will see the visiting team go through. This set-up really leads to some intense matches, where people know that they either score or go home. Even with this set-up, there are draws where away goals scored are equal. In this case, the second leg of the series goes to a 30 minute overtime period, followed by a shoot out if the scoreline hasn't changed at all.

The round of 16, quarterfinals and semifinals all follow this format, with the winning teams advancing on. The final, played in mid-May, is a one-off game, with the winner taking all the glory. Victory allows celebration for the night, but no guarantee of being back in the competition the following year as that is determined by the final league standings of the individual countries. It really makes each team play for the whole season, as not finishing in the top 2 or 3 teams means that you most likely won't be playing in Europe, at least on the big stage. This tournament really is the best of the best, as it is the solid performers from the individual leagues around Europe that were able to play at a consistently high level throughout their entire season. It's what makes it the best club soccer tournament in the world, at least as far as European teams are concerned.

Hopefully that was a semi-coherent explanation of how the tournament as a whole comes along. It's hard, especially in comparison to American sports, to think how the way your team, and really your entire league, finished 7 seasons earlier can affect your placements so much. If you want to see some great soccer, tune in Wednesday at 2:30. I know I will. At least by recording it.

For future reference, the US Men's National Team has some great games coming up against England at Wembley (May 28), Spain (June 4) and Argentina (June 8). All these games can be seen on the ESPN family, either on Classic or ESPN2. Plus, this summer marks the European Championships, played every 4 years, where 16 teams from around Europe will play for national pride. The entire tournament will be broadcast for the first time on ESPN in the US. Here's looking forward to a great summer of soccer.