The Knock Out Round is here!  Now the fun really begins.  This past week completed the first phase of the Champions League where the Field was reduced from 32 to 16. Now we get into the big boys and the win and go home phase of the tournament.

Lets take a closer look at the remaining teams.

Last video….just because.  If you are a new soccer fan, you will really appreciate this video!  If you are a long time soccer fan…you will also really appreciate this!  What would happen if an NFL head coach took over an English Soccer team.  Well…here is one interpretation.

English Premier League updates coming soon along with the match ups in Champions League after the Monday draw.

Okay soccer fans in Eau Claire, it’s time to talk English Premier League.  We have been discussing how to make Eau Claire a soccer community and one of the signals will be when the viewership of the English Premier League games on NBC and the NBC Sports Network improve.  If you happen to be at a sports bar and listen to the conversations likely you will hear talk about the Packers, Vikings and Badgers.  Lots of NFL talk, lots of College Football talk, but probably not much about the weekend of games in the English Premier League or the MLS.

It also amazes me when I talk to people in the soccer community; players, coaches, parents of players, etc. who really don’t have a clue about the English Premier League ( EPL), the top teams, the top games and the top storylines from the league. Soccer players are the ones that really make me wonder.  All of my kids are fans and two of them played soccer at a high level.  They were always aware and watched the games, knew the players, and followed the results.  EPL is now a part of their daily ritual.  I do believe that players who love the game can benefit from watching the best players in the world and the best teams in the world.  I also believe as a coach, it is a huge benefit to follow the game, watch the game and continue to study the game.

So do we have a chance to become a soccer nation…maybe.  Just this weekend I was watching a game that had a bit of controversy.  A foul in the box that seemed pretty obvious, but the Referee chose to not call a foul and instead booked the player for diving, a simulation foul, and gave him a yellow card.  It was quite controversial with lots of opinions by the experts on the call.  I happened to mention the call to Kathy (better half) and we had a lengthy discussion about it. A replay was on the TV and I showed her and more discussion continued.  It was an obvious foul in her mind, clearly the player was tripped and crazy the ref did not make the call.  Now…not sure I could have had that conversation with Kathy 10 years ago.  Likely the discussion might have been…What is diving, What is a PK, What is simulation?  She has been a soccer fan since the boys started playing and has watched a lot of games on TV as we followed Chelsea and watched a lot of their games.  She gets it now, knows the game and understands it as good or maybe even better than she knows football or basketball.  She is a fan.  If Kathy and I can have a 10 minute conversation about diving in a game between Bournemouth and Southampton on a Sunday morning, then I know there is hope in the US for Soccer.  Just sayin! Let’s give you a little background for the water cooler talk tomorrow.  Before we discuss the Premier League let’s review the English system.

English Soccer System

The English Football system is a bit different from sports as we know them in the US.  Here, we have professional sports made up of leagues; NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, etc.  That’s it really.  In baseball and hockey, there are Minor leagues and Independent leagues affiliated with the top league but teams in these lower leagues can’t ever become part of the NHL or MLB.  Their players can work their way up to the top league, but teams can’t.  For the NBA and NFL, all their really is below the top league is College sports.  College players are drafted into the league, but college teams can’t get into the NFL.  English Soccer is different!  Really different!  Their system consists of a pyramid of leagues, bound together by the principle of promotion and relegation.  A certain number of the most successful clubs in each league (usually the top 3) can rise to a higher league, while those that finish at the bottom of their league (usually the bottom 3) can find themselves sinking down a level. In theory it is possible for a lowly local professional club to rise to the pinnacle of the English game and become champions of the EPL. While this may be unlikely in practice, there certainly is significant movement within the pyramid of teams with teams moving up or down a level every year.

The top five levels contain one division each and are nationwide in scope.  Five levels of professional Soccer.  Crazy, imagine 5 levels of professional football.  Imagine if, by some crazy string of events, the Packers finished last in the NFC Conference, and the team was Relegated, moved out of the NFL, and dropped down to the professional level below the NFL.  This year the Cleveland Browns have not won a game.  Imagine if we had a system like English Soccer.  The Browns would be out of the NFL next year.  A team that had won the league below the NFL would get promoted and replace the Browns.  That might change how teams draft players.  That might change teams from late season tanking so they can secure the top draft pick.  Come in last and you’re out! Replaced!  You have to win the league you drop down to in order to get promoted back up to the NFL.  What a concept!  That might create a little stress when two 1-14 teams play the last game of the year and the winner gets kicked out of the NFL.  This happens every year in the English Soccer System.  Some of the most exciting games are the late season Relegation games that determine if you stay in the EPL.

At the top of English soccer is the single division of the English Premier League (Level 1, which is often referred to as the “top flight”), containing 20 clubs.  Below the Premier League is the English Football League (EFL), which is divided into three divisions of 24 clubs each: The Championship (Level 2), League One (Level 3) and League Two (Level 4). The 92 clubs in the Premier League and English Football League are all full-time professional clubs. There are still another three levels below this top group of 92 teams. So does this Relegation and Promotion create any really cool success stories. YES.  Example #1: Leicester City.  A long time professional soccer club founded in 1884, they played at the top-level of English soccer for years.  A string of bad managers, bad teams and debt lead the team to being relegated to the Championship (Level 2) and then down to the League 1 (Level 3) in 2008.  From there they fought their way back.  By 2014 they had worked their way back up from Level 3 to Level 1, the EPL.  Two years later, in one of the most miraculous seasons in the history of the EPL, Leicester City won the EPL Title.  So yes, it can happen!

2017-2018 English Premier League Season

So, quick review.  20 teams in the league.  The season is made up of 38 games.  Pretty simple concept.  You play every team twice, one home game and one away game.  The system is a pretty good way to determine the best team.  No Super Bowl, no playoffs, just earn the most points from 38 games and you are Champions.

Point system…again, pretty simple.  3 points for a win, 1 point for a tie and 0 points for a loss.  I know, American sports fans are now screaming!  You get points for a tie!  Ties are for sissies, a tie is like kissing your brother or sister, ties suck!  Okay, okay, I get it, just sharing the system with you.  For the traditional American sports fan who wants the champion determined on the field…well, we have the UEFA Champions League for you.  Get off my back and just refer to my earlier post on the UEFA Champions League. I think you’ll like this League a lot!

UEFA Champions League

We are now 2 months into the season.  Here is where things stand as of games this weekend.

http://www.espn.com/soccer/table/_/league/eng.1?src=com

The top 5 teams after 15 games are: Manchester City (43), Manchester United (35), Chelsea (32), Liverpool (29) and Arsenal (28).  Likely this years winner will come from the top 3 and based on the current points gap, Manchester City is going to be very hard to catch this year.  As of 15 games, Manchester City has earned the most points in the history of the EPL.  Out of a possible 45 points (15 games x 3 points for a win) they have secured 43.  14 wins and 1 draw.  Amazing.  It will take a significant run of bad luck, injuries or a complete collapse for them not to win the league.  But hey…anything is possible…see Leicester City example a paragraph earlier!!

English Premier Highlights

So now that I have risked boring the heck out of you with all that…maybe not the best idea for a blogger trying to increase his audience, but I thought we all needed to smarten up a bit.  Let’s take a look at some highlights for this season.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQIKXvl3I_M

Another one.  It is worth the 5 minutes.  These players and goals are really good!

Top Games of the Year Highlights.  Manchester United wins 3-1 vs. Arsenal.  Lots of talk in American sports about the lack of goals…games are boring…no excitement.  Well, check out these highlights for a 3-1 game.  Really good stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5pzLwBiSfU

Had to include a Chelsea game highlight.  Chelsea vs. Tottenham.  Really exciting stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vj6qQCHodko

So…now you are caught up.  Quick review.  You know all about the English football system.  You are an expert on Relegation and Promotion.  You know the Premier League is the best league in the world.  You are all caught up on the season so far.  Manchester City is on a historic run and historic point total.  But as we know from the Leicester City example…anything is possible. Come on Chelsea!

More updates to follow as the season continues to progress.  Your personal challenge.  Watch a Premier league Game…do it soon!  You won’t regret it.  Better yet, watch the game with your son or daughter that play soccer.  If they love soccer, they will love it! Every Saturday or Sunday morning you have options.  NBS Sports Network (Charter channel 662) or NBC (Charter channel 605) are the best options.

So how do we create a soccer culture in Eau Claire. Start with Rec leagues, then great Club soccer, develop outstanding high school teams, and provide an opportunity to experience college soccer.  It’s all here.  So what else do we need.  How about passionate Soccer Fans!  How about fans who are knowledgeable about the world soccer game.  With that, let’s talk about the biggest Club tournament in the world; UEFA Champions League.

To the casual soccer fan, the various Leagues and Tournaments can be a bit confusing.  We are conditioned in the US to understand sports thru the lens of how we operate.  NFL, NBA, MLB, even NHL all have similar scenarios.  One league, 32 teams, 4 divisions, 8-12 playoff teams, and a Championship game deemed to determine the best team in the World.  But, we are just one country.  How can we be sure the team that wins is the best in the world. We are also a bit cocky in the USA, and we figure we must be the best if we win the title.  But what if….what if there was an even bigger tournament….what if the best teams from leagues all over the world came together to play in a mega Championship.  Now we do have the Olympics, but that is National Teams and only once every 4 years.  We do have the World Cup in soccer, but again, National Teams and only once every  4 years.

So, in case you didn’t know, Soccer has a tournament just like the one described above.  A mega Championship that takes winners and top teams from various leagues throughout Europe and once a year, they play in the Champions League to determine the best team in Europe.  With European soccer being deemed the best in the world, by default, the UEFA Champions League crowns the professional Club team considered to be the best in the world.

So what are all those initials for?

The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) is the administrative body for association football in Europe, although several member states are primarily or entirely located in Asia.  It is one of six continental confederations of world football’s governing body FIFA. UEFA consists of 55 national association members. These association members are countries and each country has soccer leagues.The basic premise is that the UEFA Champions league is a tournament that brings together the top teams form these various leagues to create a super tournament.

So now talk about crazy initials, FIFA has 6 governing bodies. The other five are:

Asian Football Conference (AFC) with 46 members.

Confederation of African Football (CAF) with 54 members.

Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) with 35 members including the United States.

Confederation of South American Football (CONMEBOL) with 10 members.  Still trying to figure out what the initials mean for this group.

Oceania Football confederation (OFC) with 11 members including New Zealand and Pacific Island countries.

So What About This Tournament?

The UEFA Champions League is an annual competition organized by UEFA and contested by top-division European Clubs. It is one of the most prestigious tournaments in the world and the most prestigious club competition in European football, played by the League champions (and, for some nations, one or more runners-up) of the strongest UEFA national associations. The Champions League final is the most watched annual sporting event worldwide. The final of the 2012 tournament had the highest TV ratings of any event to date, drawing 360 million television viewers. Let’s compare that to the Super Bowl.  Widely considered the most watched sporting event in the United States and the biggest world wide event hosted by the United States.  So how many watch the Super Bowl.  It must be more than soccer, right, I mean, we are talking the Super Bowl.  Well, prepare to be humbled US Football.  The most watched Super Bowl ever had a world wide audience that was approx. 115 Million.  So, just take that in for a moment, the most watched US football game ever was still only 1/3 the viewers of the most watched soccer game ever.  30%.  That is pretty amazing.  So how many of you have watched a final of the Champions League, conversely, how many of you have watched a Super Bowl game.  I know the answer, it’s not even close.  Soccer still has a way to go in the US.

Introduced in 1992, the Champions League competition replaced the European Cup.  In it’s current format it consists of 32 teams.  Teams come from automatic qualifying by winning their League.  Leagues, based on their quality, may have up to 4 entrants into the tournament.  Other teams gain entrance thru qualifying rounds.  As example, The English Premier League, widely considered the highest quality league in soccer,  gets 4 entrants into the tournament. The German Bundesliga gets 3 teams into the tournament. The Spanish La Liga gets 3 entrants.  The Italian Serie A gets 3 entrants into the tournament. The 32 teams are drawn into eight groups of four teams and play each other in a double round robin format.  You play each team twice, home and away.  The eight group winners and eight runners-up proceed to the 16 team knockout phase, single elimination, that culminates with the final match in May each year.

Real Madrid is the most successful club in the competition’s history, having won the tournament 12 times, including its first five seasons. Spanish clubs have accumulated the highest number of victories (17 wins), followed by England and Italy (12 wins apiece). The competition has been won by 22 different clubs, 12 of which have won it more than once. The reigning champions are Real Madrid, who secured their twelfth title in the competition after defeating Juventus 4–1 in the 2017 Final. Thus, they became the first team in the UEFA Champions League era to successfully defend their title.  I am a Chelsea fan and have had two opportunities to watch Chelsea in the Champions League Finals.  The first was when I was just starting to become a big soccer fan. I became a Chelsea fan in 2006 while watching some English Premier League games with Austin.  So it was really cool to be a Chelsea fan as they made it to the finals in 2008.  An epic game that went to Penalty Kicks after a tie score and no goals in OT.  They were captained by John Terry, one of the best defenders in soccer history and a Chelsea legend.  Here is the shot to WIN the Champions League title in 2008.

Wow, that was the goal to WIN the most prestigeous soccer tournament for league teams in the world.  He slips….and the ball careens off the post.  He had the GK fooled, it was a easy tap in really.  Unbelievable.  You can just feel the pain and agony after the miss.  Manchester United would go on to win that game.  John Terry still talks about the disappointment of that moment.  Spring forward to 2012.  Chelsea is an underdog and really has no reason to be in the finals.  Multiple players are injured, they are starting a rag tag line up missing 3-4 of their regular starters.  No chance to win really against the best team in the world, Bayern Munich.

Another epic final.  Bayern scores late in regulation to take a 1-0 lead.  Chelsea, miraculously scores in the final minutes to tie it 1-1.  On to OT.  Arjen Robben gets fouled and has a PK in OT to take a lead, but it is stopped. It goes to PK’s. In a crazy turn of events, one of Bayern Munich’s legends Bastain Schweinsteiger, steps up to the line and incredibly, hits the post.  Sound familiar.  Next up another Chelsea legend, Didier Drogba can win it.  Here are the highlights of the game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBP7QQYN1IU

The 2017/2018 Edition is Under Way

This years edition is currently underway and approaching the end of the group play stage.  The teams are thru the first five games of the 6 game double round robin.  Most of the final 16 Group Stage is set with a few positions yet to be decided.  After the next wave of games, the Knock Out Round will be set.  In case you were wondering…I know you are….Chelsea is thru to the next round!  In the group stage, it is win and advance or lose and go home.

If you enjoy soccer or have kids playing soccer, please consider checking out the Champions League Tournament this year.  Games are being carried on Fox Sports.  It continues to amaze me how much high quality soccer is on TV and how few people who enjoy soccer or have kids playing soccer, that have never watched a Champions League game.  Especially surprised when I ask kids who play soccer, even at the high school level, who just don’t watch soccer on TV, even when it’s the best players and teams in the Champions League.  Again, we have a ways to go in the US.  Pretty sure high school football players watch the NFL and the Super Bowl.

Champions League.  Check it out.  The best soccer in the world!