Is Europa Conference new? I admit I'm not up to date on European happenings, but I thought there was only the first two competitions.
Very much same. I'm already annoyed about 5 teams getting in from the Premier League after the Champions League format change.
I enjoyed the end of the Scottish Cup semi-final this morning between Hearts and Hibs (at Hampden). Great atmosphere. Not the smartest players, but good fun tension.
Liverpool with another in the 22nd and ManU just look like little blue and white pylons at the moment that Liverpool is passing around in a training exercise. 2-0 and everything about it feels like it could end up being a 5-6 goal rout or more.
Are they going to be Fulham financed by one of the richest owners in the Premier League or Fulham trying to make a profit?
Not soccer related, but Alex Ovechkin just scored his 50th goal of the season for the 9th time in his career. Most goals ever in a season by a player his age (36). 780 total, puts him 21 behind Gordie Howe for 2nd all time and 114 behind Gretzky for the most ever.
Watching some group stage matches for the AFC Champions League on Paramount+ this morning, focused mostly on Melbourne Victory getting a win against Jeonnam Dragons from South Korea. The structure of the competition is already weird enough most years, but this one has the West finishing its single leg semi-final match on August 25, 2022 and the East finishing its single leg semi-final match on February 10, 2023 with the final of the tournament being played across two legs on February 19 and 26, 2023. Looking forward to some Copa LPF matches from Argentina later this afternoon and evening.
A couple of interesting notes on Argentina's premier league, they have only been doing promotion the last two seasons with relegation being reinstated this year and they've switched away from the "international" calendar that so many Eurosnobs believe is a cure all for MLS. The LPF was at 24 teams, with 4 getting relegated each season, for quite a while (I don't want to search all the way back to when that change happened). Through 2019-20, they played both the league schedule from late July through early March and the league cup from late October through late March. Starting with 2021, they seem to have used Covid as a means of reorganizing their entire calendar and increasing the size of the top league. 2021 saw 2 teams promoted from the second division to the LPF to give it 26 teams with the Copa LPF switch to being from late February to late June and the league schedule being mid July through mid December. 2022 has 2 more teams promoted from the second division to give the LPF 28 teams with the Copa LPF being from mid February through mid May and the league schedule is early June through late October, and I'm guessing those got moved up for the winter WC schedule. Basically they're now playing a cup tournament in the early part of the year and the league schedule in the late part. The Copa LPF is split into 2 groups of 14 teams and you play everyone once, plus one "rival" from the other group for a total of 14 games and then the top 4 from each group is entered into a single elimination bracket to determine the overall champ. The league schedule ignores the "sacred" idea of playing everyone home and away each year and instead just alternates where you play each team each year. 2022 with be 27 games and the bottom 2 teams (down from 4 before Covid) will be relegated based on their average points over 3 seasons. The closest I can think of to this structure is what the NWSL is doing now with the Challenge Cup and regular season. It would be interesting if MLS at some point decided to make MLS Cup and MLS regular season entirely different competitions, and maybe went to the alternating year approach of home and away with other teams in the regular season, especially if the league doesn't cap its growth at 32 teams.
Didn't the Argentine LPF play a single table, single game 30 team league format a few years ago? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argentine_Primera_División
As I looked further back, it seems like they've rarely stayed with a setup for more than 3-4 years before changing it up.
I remember the first music video that Metallica released, One, in 1989. Watching it as a HS freshman, I wondered what it would be like to be stuck in a situation like the kid in the movie, Johnny Got His Gun, that they spliced into the video. Laying there with no ability to communicate, being kept alive in a state that seems worse than death, and desperately hoping it will end soon. Now I know what that feels like, because this AFC Champions League match between Sydney FC and Yokohama FM is torture for all the senses.
I turned that game on for a few minutes while having breakfast, and I thought it was behind closed doors before I looked up, because that crowd was silent. Not exactly a thrilling affair.
Wolfsburg with an early goal against Mainz, and now a red against Mainz and penalty setup for Wolfsburg in the 23rd minute. Wolfsburg go up 2-0 on the 24th minute penalty conversion and have the man advantage. One of my real ridiculous desires is for Wolfsburg and Wolverhampton to make it into Europe and play each other.
Kevin Paredes just got on the field in the 81st minute for his second appearance since being signed from DC United. That's the only thing that's happened the entire second half.
Apparently Paramount+ has both the Scottish Premier League and Scottish Championship. Right now the top two teams in the Championship, Kilmarnock and Arbroath, are playing in the second to last game of their regular season. Kilmarnock is one point ahead in the standings and just scored to tie the game at 1-1 in the 78th minute. At least, that's what I saw because whatever the announcer was saying can only be considered a distant cousin of English.
The only reason I knew is because CBSsports.com now has a section right below the top stories that shows what soccer games are streaming for each league they have rights to in order of the time they start broadcasting. In between all the AFC Champions League and Argentina Copa LPF stuff, there was a random game from Scotland.