I've only been following English and European soccer since I started getting digital cable (i.e. FSC) a few years ago, but the Saturday and Sunday matches are already one of the highlights of my week. I'm even starting to understand the multiple morass of confusing competitions.
English soccer is split into leagues, with the Premiership being the top league. Each of the 20 teams play the others home and away, with three points for each win and one point for each draw. At the end of the year the champion is the team with the most points. The FA Cup is a single-elimination tournament (unrelated to the Premiership or other leagues) with nearly all of the 600+ professional football clubs in the UK. Some matches are league games and some are "cup ties", but there is no connection between them. The Champions League is an "elite" European competition made up of the top four teams from the Premiership in the previous year as well as top teams from Germany, Italy, France, Spain, and the rest of Europe. Not to be confused with the Championship league, which is the English league below the Premiership. Every year the bottom three teams in the Premiership are relegated to the Championship, and the top three teams from the Championship are promoted to the Premiership. This causes a constant influx of new teams to keep things interesting and gives the bottom clubs a reason to stay competitive at the end of the season.
Unfortunately, the Premiership is fairly top heavy, so the same teams tend to dominate year after year. When I started watching soccer, someone told me that there was a division between top (red) teams like Arsenal, Liverpool, and Manchester United and the next level of (blue) teams like Chelsea, Tottenham, and Everton. This year, one blue team, Chelsea, and one red team, Manchester United, are currently vying for all three competitions (Premier League, FA Cup, Champions League) and may be facing off in three different championship finals next month.
When I started watching, I started cheering for blue teams over red teams, because the red teams were all the established powerhouses. Manchester United is the most successful sporting franchises in the world, they're like the New York Yankees or Dallas Cowboys of international soccer (and every bit as hated). This week they put up a touchdown against AS Roma in the Champions League quarterfinals and beat Watford 4-1 in the FA Cup semis. They're also at the top of the Premiership table and getting ready for the May 9th showdown with Chelsea.
Chelsea is one of the nouveau riche of international sport, recently purchased by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, and just entering the top echelon with the red clubs. They aren't as impressive as Manchester United, but are every bit as dominant. They usually win games 2-1 or 1-0 scoring in the last few minutes, and even though my underdog mentality should draw me to mid-table clubs like Wigan, Bolton, and Blackburn instead of elite teams like Chelsea, they're a hard team not to like. They've already won the League Cup this year (yet another competition among League clubs) and are aiming to win the "quadruple" if they can take the Premiership, FA Cup, and Champions League titles. This week they beat Valencia 3-2 in the Champions League and Blackburn 2-1 (in overtime) in the FA Cup semifinals. Nearly every match is a nail biter, and I'm suddenly finding myself pulling for this team against my better judgement. They're a whole lot more likable than Manchester United in any case. Go blues!
In other sporting news: Mar-co ... Scu-ta-ro!
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