For football fans it has been less than a fortnight since the EPL
season kicked off in vibrant and ferocious style. The season’s first domestic
cup competition is shaping up to double the helping of frenzied football
excitement.
The League Cup is a knockout single elimination competition open to
all 92 clubs from the four English League competitions. (EPL, The Championship,
League 1 and League 2). The Cup has lost plenty of its luster as clubs shift
their emphasis on league promotion or a coveted place in the playoffs. EPL
clubs tend to field below par squads instead focusing on high profile
competitions like the Champions or Europa League. Teams earning qualification in
Europe, FA Cup and League Cup titleholders receive a reprieve for the first two
rounds and join the action in round three commencing on 23 September.
Last season Premier League surprise packets Swansea City progressed
all the way to the final to run out eventual winners against League 2 side
Bradford City in a record final margin of 5-0. This season the road to their
title defense could be a rockier and uncertain given their slow start to the
League season and juggling Europa League aspirations. They certainly boast the
firepower needed upfront with the likes of Michu and recent signing Wilfried
Bony.
The League Cup always delivers on the potential for the colloquially
phrased “banana skin” games. These are games where teams expecting to progress
often don’t and slip up along the way much to the pleasure of opposing fans.
This is the romance of the League Cup and ensures that even minnow clubs with
grossly inferior wages and stars starved team sheets can surprise to walk out
in front of a capacity crowd at one of the most sacred of football
amphitheaters, Wembley Stadium.
The Cup has suffered a popularity decline in recent years but given
some of the lifeless draws over the weekend in the EPL, the drama and the
promise of a big upset can spark renewed interest. Many top-flight managers wax
lyrical at insignificance of such a competition, usually at post match
interviews giving reasons for their hasty elimination. The value of silver
always remains high in the footballing stock market and can never be short sold
in a club aiming to climb ladder both on and off the pitch.
Most results go the way of the stronger sides but a handful of second
and third round games can change the course of a club’s fortunes or ring alarm
bells for some of the football management elite in the days following.
Liverpool has the finest record of any club in
League Club, lifting the trophy on eight occasions and deserve early
consideration. As a general rule when each round ends the disappointment for
some is matched by the massive influx of passionate lower league fans clambering
onto the bandwagon of trophy glory.
Article appears courtesy of the ongoing support and encouragement of the following cracking football website:
No comments:
Post a Comment