From Newsgroup: rec.sport.soccer

The big day has arrived.
--
Member - Liberal International This is doctor@nk.ca Ici doctor@nk.ca
Yahweh, King & country!Never Satan President Republic!Beware AntiChrist rising! Look at Psalms 14 and 53 on Atheism ;
Birthdate 29 Jan 1969 Redhill surrey England
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From Newsgroup: rec.sport.soccer

On 28/01/2026 16:59, The Doctor wrote:

The big day has arrived.

24 teams qualify in a "league" where where teams only play 8 matches
despite there actually being 35 other teams...the "league" stage feels nonsensical.


RM
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From Newsgroup: rec.sport.soccer

Real Mardin wrote:

On 28/01/2026 16:59, The Doctor wrote:

The big day has arrived.

24 teams qualify in a "league" where where teams only play 8
matches despite there actually being 35 other teams...the
"league" stage feels nonsensical.

It's not a proper league, just an artificial construct solely
to keep the big teams happy... and the cash rolling in.

TNT Sports labelled last night "Matchday Mayhem"... when in
reality it was just about what teams had to go through via a
play-off. All of the English teams were already 'through' and
were in no danger of being eliminated from the competition. So
"mayhem" was only about whether a team had to play two play-off
games in February against [possibly] inferior opposition, or not.

That's not my definition of "mayhem"!

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From Newsgroup: rec.sport.soccer

In article <xn0plcqv9f38coz000@post.eweka.nl>,
Blueshirt <blueshirt@indigo.news> wrote:

Real Mardin wrote:

On 28/01/2026 16:59, The Doctor wrote:

The big day has arrived.

24 teams qualify in a "league" where where teams only play 8
matches despite there actually being 35 other teams...the
"league" stage feels nonsensical.

It's not a proper league, just an artificial construct solely
to keep the big teams happy... and the cash rolling in.

TNT Sports labelled last night "Matchday Mayhem"... when in
reality it was just about what teams had to go through via a
play-off. All of the English teams were already 'through' and
were in no danger of being eliminated from the competition. So
"mayhem" was only about whether a team had to play two play-off
games in February against [possibly] inferior opposition, or not.

That's not my definition of "mayhem"!

Draw for R16 R1 awaits!
--
Member - Liberal International This is doctor@nk.ca Ici doctor@nk.ca
Yahweh, King & country!Never Satan President Republic!Beware AntiChrist rising! Look at Psalms 14 and 53 on Atheism ;
Birthdate 29 Jan 1969 Redhill surrey England
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From Newsgroup: rec.sport.soccer

On Thu, 29 Jan 2026 09:33:50 GMT, "Blueshirt" <blueshirt@indigo.news>
wrote:

Real Mardin wrote:

On 28/01/2026 16:59, The Doctor wrote:

The big day has arrived.

24 teams qualify in a "league" where where teams only play 8
matches despite there actually being 35 other teams...the
"league" stage feels nonsensical.

It's not a proper league, just an artificial construct solely
to keep the big teams happy... and the cash rolling in.

Bla bla bla...it was always better in the old days!

TNT Sports labelled last night "Matchday Mayhem"... when in
reality it was just about what teams had to go through via a
play-off. All of the English teams were already 'through' and
were in no danger of being eliminated from the competition. So
"mayhem" was only about whether a team had to play two play-off
games in February against [possibly] inferior opposition, or not.

A bit anglo-centric, no? Benfica needed a 98th minute goal by their
goalie to go through to the next stage. The Serie A Cahmpions didn't
make it past the group stage. Little Bodo/Glimt made it to the next
round by beating Manchester City and Atletico Madrid in its last two
matches. There were wild celebrations among Sporting Lisbon players
when a 95th minute goal put them in the top-8.

Yes, it's a money-making enterprise to make the big teams happy. But
it was pretty much the same thing under the old format. Just empbrace
it as is.

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From Newsgroup: rec.sport.soccer

Futbolmetrix wrote:

On Thu, 29 Jan 2026 09:33:50 GMT, "Blueshirt"
<blueshirt@indigo.news> wrote:

It's not a proper league, just an artificial construct
solely to keep the big teams happy... and the cash rolling
in.

Bla bla bla...it was always better in the old days!

I never said THAT!

I did prefer the old European Cup though; two legged ties, home
and away, open draw. It seemed like a proper cup tournament
then, where big teams could get knocked out in the first couple
of rounds... and finishing fifth in your domestic league didn't
get you into the tournament.

TNT Sports labelled last night "Matchday Mayhem"... when in
reality it was just about what teams had to go through via a
play-off. All of the English teams were already 'through' and
were in no danger of being eliminated from the competition.
So "mayhem" was only about whether a team had to play two
play-off games in February against [possibly] inferior
opposition, or not.

A bit anglo-centric, no?

A bit like the Champions League top eight eh?! ;-)

But, it was TNT Sports, an English television channel... and all
of the [English] pundits were wetting themselves at the prospect
of English teams going through... my point was, they were
through already. It didn't need the hype. No English team was
getting knocked out last night.

Benfica needed a 98th minute goal by their goalie to go

through > to the next stage.

Benfica get a mention as Jose Mourinho manages them, and they
beat Real Madrid ... generally Benfica don't tend to feature
much in the TNT publicity hype though. But their late goal
probably did cause mayhem in the true sense of the world alright.

But even so, Benfica wouldn't have been knocked out of the
competition anyway, they would have just had two extra games in
February. So they would have still been in the competition.

The Serie A Cahmpions didn't make it past the group stage.

They played the World Champions, what did you expect?!

Little Bodo/Glimt made it to the next round by beating
Manchester City and Atletico Madrid in its last two matches.
There were wild celebrations among Sporting Lisbon players
when a 95th minute goal put them in the top-8.

The top eight thing is just hype, the next sixteen teams still
went through to a play-off round...

The only teams that lost out were the ones that were eliminated.
But only twelve teams out of the thirty-six teams in the
tournament got knocked out! So most of the teams went through.

Yes, it's a money-making enterprise to make the big teams
happy. But it was pretty much the same thing under the old
format. Just empbrace it as is.

Call me old fashioned but If we're going to call it the
"Champions League" it should at least try and pretend to be a
proper league... and preferably be restricted to Champions and
maybe cup winners. The fact that fifth place in the Premier
League can make it into the Champions League is a bit of a joke,
as the term "champion" cannot be applied to a team that finishes
fifth in their domestic league.
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From Newsgroup: rec.sport.soccer

On 2026-01-29 1:06 p.m., Futbolmetrix wrote:

On Thu, 29 Jan 2026 09:33:50 GMT, "Blueshirt" <blueshirt@indigo.news>
wrote:

Real Mardin wrote:

On 28/01/2026 16:59, The Doctor wrote:

The big day has arrived.

24 teams qualify in a "league" where where teams only play 8
matches despite there actually being 35 other teams...the
"league" stage feels nonsensical.

It's not a proper league, just an artificial construct solely
to keep the big teams happy... and the cash rolling in.

Bla bla bla...it was always better in the old days!

It actually was if you go back to a time when one team represented each country, not 5, or 6 or 7 .

I am thinking we have to start with boycotting the World Cup, then the
Euros. it is has gone too far, then all these other Euros and Konfrenz;s
and WWepls and such.. Mark has it right about enjoying So America football

TNT Sports labelled last night "Matchday Mayhem"... when in
reality it was just about what teams had to go through via a
play-off. All of the English teams were already 'through' and
were in no danger of being eliminated from the competition. So
"mayhem" was only about whether a team had to play two play-off
games in February against [possibly] inferior opposition, or not.

A bit anglo-centric, no? Benfica needed a 98th minute goal by their
goalie to go through to the next stage. The Serie A Cahmpions didn't
make it past the group stage. Little Bodo/Glimt made it to the next
round by beating Manchester City and Atletico Madrid in its last two
matches. There were wild celebrations among Sporting Lisbon players
when a 95th minute goal put them in the top-8.

Yes, it's a money-making enterprise to make the big teams happy. But
it was pretty much the same thing under the old format. Just empbrace
it as is.

--- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: rec.sport.soccer

Binder Dundat wrote:

On 2026-01-29 1:06 p.m., Futbolmetrix wrote:

On Thu, 29 Jan 2026 09:33:50 GMT, "Blueshirt"
<blueshirt@indigo.news> wrote:

Real Mardin wrote:

24 teams qualify in a "league" where where teams only
play 8 matches despite there actually being 35 other
teams...the "league" stage feels nonsensical.

It's not a proper league, just an artificial construct
solely to keep the big teams happy... and the cash rolling
in.

Bla bla bla...it was always better in the old days!

It actually was if you go back to a time when one team
represented each country, not 5, or 6 or 7 .

That, and the jeopardy angle... where teams could actually get
knocked out early on. But that has become a no-no for the BIG
European teams who didn't want their European season to be over
after two games. That's why we have all this 'league' nonsense
where two thirds of the teams make it out of the group stage.

Chelsea FC, for instance, despite being mediocre in the Premier
League (enough to change their Head Coach mid-season) were
never in danger of not getting out of the group stage. The only
'danger' they faced, despite being in a tough group [on paper],
was in having to face somebody in a play-off in February.

As a fan it just feels too 'safe'.

I am thinking we have to start with boycotting the World Cup,
then the Euros. it is has gone too far, then all these other
Euros and Konfrenz;s and WWepls and such.. Mark has it right
about enjoying So America football

It's too late for that now... money has already destroyed the
game.

We might as well just shake our fist at the sky and shout at the
clouds.
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