They appear to have ruined the Champions League

 I must admit I gave the new Champions League format the benefit of the doubt. I admit I am an old grumpy football fan, and perhaps the new format is better for the future.

I am now convinced I was wrong.  

Thins all against all league format with 36 teams may have more matches and thus more money for UEFA and the rich clubs, but it is to the detriment of excitement, simply because 24 teams go through to the playoffs, with the top 8 directly to a last-16. This means basically that the big teams will go through without much effort: take Real Madrid, who after 5 matches have 3 defeats and two victories. In the old format they would be struggling to go through before an all-important last match, but now they are 24th, and will still go through. Sure, some small teams will go through too, but it appears unlikely that Brest, Aston Villa or Celtic will survive a knockout round with sides like Bayern Munich, Real Madrid or Manchester City (all outside top 8).

Excitement is largely gone in this enormous league format and hard to get excited until the knockout. What a pity for what used to be the best tournament in the world.

I am like a referee

When a referee is in doubt, he goes to the VAR.

When I am in doubt, I go to the Bar.

Happy Sunday.

:)

Entitlement

I have never been a Real Madrid fan, but these days it is so much easier to dislike a club that despite all its great history and achievements, just feels entitled and bitter.

It comes down to the Balón d’or, a rather silly exercise in the subjective election of the “world’s best player” of football, a team sport… Vinicius Jr., and undoubtedly fantastic player did not get the title, which instead went to Rodri from Spain and Manchester City. Vinicius Jr., who has been a great speaker against racism in football and in Spanish society, felt dubbed and insinuated it was because of racism, while Real Madrid decided to boycott the Balón d’or ceremony, accusing it of manipulating the voting, an accusation that every day seems more common in politics when one loses, and has now also reached the world of football.

Petulant and arrogant behavior that symbolizes the times we live in: instead of congratulating someone, they act as if it is their right to win, and everything else is cheating and injustice. The worst part is that this attitude contributes nothing but minimizing trust in a society already lacking it, destroying faith in our relationships with people, and taking the attention away from the fact that Vinicius Jr. is indeed a fantastic player and that Real Madrid are indeed a great club.

They should be ashamed.

Cruz Azul and other things

Yesterday was a special day, as I moved into my new apartment that will hopefully be my home in Mexico for years ahead.

Shortly after receiving the keys I went to a nearby bar that was showing the classic match between Real Madrid and Barcelona. I must admit that it has been some years since this match has excited me, but this one was special: it was 0-0 at halftime, but I expected that Barcelona’s forward defensive line would succumb to the quick Real Madrid strikers, as there were indeed close calls in the first half. But Barcelona were simply extraordinary in the second half: two goals by Robert Lewandowski, a splendid strike by Lamine Yamal (sadly marred by racist chants amid Real Madrid fans) and a great lob from Rafinha made it 0-4 and a demonstration by a resurrected Barcelona under Hansi Flick. They also destroyed Borussia Dortmund 1-4 in the Champions League and if they keep it up they are a team to beat.

Later that day I went to the Olympic University Stadium in Mexico City. The legendary stadium of the 1968 Olympics, where Bob Beamon made the second longest jump in history. Today the beautiful stadium is home ground to Pumas de UNAM, and they were facing Cruz Azul a home derby in the Mexican league. I got the tickets through Cruz Azul, so was sitting amid hardcore Cruz Azul fans behind one of the goals surrounded by copious (but largely unnecessary) riot police.

And perhaps for the best, as Cruz Azul, current leaders of the league, were by far better. It took only 27 seconds for them to go ahead on a goal by veteran striker Angel Sepúlveda, and barely 12 minutes later Uruguayan Ignacio Rivero made it 0-2. Cruz Azul then relaxed and really Pumas represented no threat in a match that all in all appeared too easy for Cruz Azul, and it ended 0-2, and I may be on the way to becoming a Cruz Azul fan, whose mascot is a piece of cement,

The mascot of Pumas is supposedly a puma, but it looks more like a cross between the lion king, Beverly Hills chihuahua and Robert Procineski. And the mascot sang karaoke love songs at half time: “nunca voy a olvidarte” (I will never forget you) seemed totally out of place as I would have wanted to forget the Puma defense after that first half….

But respect to the Goya, Pumas fanbase, who despite their team, were never silenced.

Good time with beer and chants, but I look forward to going to a match at Cruz Azul’s home ground in Mexico DF.

A German to England

 England has announced its new national team manager after the resignation of Gareth Southgate, who in my opinion was the most successful manager England has ever had.

The new manager is a German, which not many years ago would have been thought impossible given the rivalry that at least the English feel they have with Germany. It is none other than Thomas Tuchel, who also appeared to be one of the favourites alongside Pep Guardiola.

Tuchel has significant experience with clubs, having won the Champions League with Chelsea in 2021. Although he won the league titles with both PSG and Bayern Munich, this was not considered enough for these two ambitious clubs.

But managing a national team is a completely different thing than a club, and in particular a side like England, with huge expectations and pressure, but also a long list of talented players. He will be the third foreign manager following Fabio Capello and the recently deceased Sven Goran Eriksson, both who came in with an impressive club record, but disappointed as England managers.

It will be interesting to see what a German can do with England