At least, that’s what Steve McLaren, the coach of England’s national team, suggested earlier this week about the oldest and most prestigious football tournament in England. McLaren watched as two quarterfinal matches — Chelsea v. Tottenham Hotspur and Middlesborough v. Manchester United — ended in draws. In FA Cup competition, if a match ends in a draw, a replay will be scheduled, and the away team in the drawn match will host the replay. Those replays are scheduled for Monday.
Meanwhile, McClaren has to prepare the national team for Euro 2008 qualifying match against Israel on March 24 — which would be much easier to do if more than half his team weren’t tied up with FA Cup replays on Monday. That means a lot less practice time for his side, not to mention a greater risk that someone on the team might get injured in the process.
Of course, if someone from Middlesborough took out Cristiano Ronaldo’s legs, McClaren wouldn’t have any complaints. Neither would anyone else in England.
Nevertheless, these kinds of scheduling snafus are becoming the norm in England, and it’s got everybody bitching and moaning that their side is wearing down from too many competitions. That whining will probably fall on deaf ears, too… unless Israel hammers England in that qualifier. Then the entire country will gather its pitchforks and storm the FA until replays become a thing of the past.
The NFL never has to worry about this sort of thing. There’s one trophy in American football, and if you don’t win it, you suck. There’s no national football team here, either — or more accurately, there’s no news of such a team from USA Football…
