Happy 2020, y’all! I’ve taken a bit of a break from the blog game during the holiday season, mainly because Kev wouldn’t pay me holiday time ;). In lieu of many countries playing in their domestic tournaments (if you missed Tony Kroos’ goal in the Spanish SuperCopa, stop what you’re doing and watch it here), I thought it’d be relevant to open up on what these extra tournaments entail and whether or not these tournaments are simply still played for historical purposes.
I was talking with my sister yesterday about Tottenham once again putting in another abysmal performance (let’s not talk about that more than we have to), and she asked if it was in the Premier League or Champions League. I laughed and did my best to explain that there’s a third competition that they play in: The FA Cup. This one is a knockout-style tournament that could be compared to the NCAA March Madness tournament in college basketball. However, I totally omitted that there’s a FOURTH competition in English football (the Carabao Cup) - I knew that’d only make things even more confusing for her.
I don’t blame my sister for being perplexed by this. It’s a complicated concept, unlike anything we experience in America. However, that makes me beg the question - are football athletes playing too many games in a season? If they are, what is the best solution?
We just finished a weekend of FA cup play, watched two Carabao Cup games during the week, and now ready ourselves for another weekend of the Premier League. The average top-flight will have played 5 games in a span of 14 days during the holiday season, with Carabao Cup semi-finalists having to play another game just a couple of days later. No human being should have to put themselves under that kind of physical fatigue no matter how much they are paid - playing at such a high level without the proper recovery time could be damaging in the long-term.
In a perfect world, I’d say to remove the Carabao Cup. The richest clubs are only getting richer and very infrequently is it a tournament where a small club makes a Cinderella run to win it all. It’s overkill - why do we have two competitions with the same exact format? The Carabao Cup hardly brings in any money and doesn’t hold the same pedigree as the FA Cup.
A More Realistic Solution
Instead of ditching the cup altogether - the Carabao Cup should adjust its rules so Premier League sides can only field players under a certain age, say 23. This would level the playing field, give legitimate and necessary rest to players running a half-marathon every weekend, and would make for a more balanced and fun competition. There are still ample clubs in the Premier League that could put out a very strong starting XI with youngsters, and it would give smaller clubs a better opportunity to go on a surprise run towards the final.
Will anything ever change with the various cup competitions in England or other countries? Very likely not, even though it should. Players could use breaks wherever they can get them, and domestic football federations should really consider making changes to unnecessary competitions.
Author: Living in Southern California, Robert Sweeney has been a fan of soccer since he played as a young child. Since then, he’s become a diehard Tottenham and US National Team fan. Rob enjoys writing about the impact soccer has had on his life in hopes that it betters others as well. Twitter: @robsweeney11