Another Friggin’ Trophy for Manchester United

by Patrick ‘Rey’ Reynell

Excuse the informality of the title, but that’s how I felt when I saw Manchester United hoisting yet another 2008 championship trophy. The Red Devils are the most recent champions of the FIFA Club World Cup, played in Japan this year, which pits the best club teams from each continental region. That gives Sir Alex Furgeson’s club four trophies in 2008: The Premier League, the Community Shield, UEFA Champions League, and now the Club World Cup.

The world of club soccer has taken some time for a new guy like me to figure out. A few things kept me from having any real interest in it prior to the 2006 World Cup.

1) Television and information access. There just was not enough games on television (in English) to keep me interested. Thank you Fox Soccer Channel and the internet for changing that.

2) Following the players. Why do many of us love sports? We love the players. At times, some feel more loyal towards a player than a team. There are so many soccer players in so many leagues, it’s hard to keep up with who’s who. Again – thank you, Internet, for changing that. And the most obtrusive reason of all…

3) The number of leagues and tournaments. Is it possible to keep up with all of these? England, Spain’s La Liga, Italy’s Serie A and what else have you. I had no idea what to follow. And even when one favors a particular league, there are so many other tournaments that these clubs participate in.

After a couple of years now following England football, I thought I had every title and tournament figured out.

Of course everyone has their league title. There will be leagues underneath the top flight league that also have their own title, much like minor leagues for major league baseball. From there, countries will have an FA Cup where all club teams regardless of level will vie for bragging rights. England also has the Carling Cup, which is a sieved version of the FA Cup (only teams from the top two tiers of football play in this, whereas in the FA Cup ALL teams, regardless of professional level participate).

Then I found each region has some form of a Champions League which involves the best of the best clubs from each country’s top flight league. In Europe, teams who just miss out may play in the UEFA Championship, kind of a consolation prize for almost qualifying for the UEFA Champions League.

I thought the Champions League for any region might be the Holy Grail. I began to notice that not all teams in Europe necessarily talk of winning their league, but of securing one of those top spots that would qualify them for “European play.” This means extra revenue for the club, more exposure, and proving one’s club against the best. Here is where I previously thought club competition ended. It is televised by ESPN and seems to be the guiding motivation of such power clubs like Chelsea, AC Milan, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich.

Now here I am just realizing that there is, in fact, a tournament to determine the world’s best club team and not just Europe’s or Asia’s or South America’s. I suppose it is logical; FIFA simply sets up a bracket based off of each region’s champions league winner (CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, UEFA, and others from Asia, Africa and the Oceania region). With this being the case, it does not take any importance away from Champions League play because a club only qualifies for the FIFA Club World Cup if it wins its respective region.

It amazes me how many of these tournaments a team like Manchester United can play in a year’s time compared to other less successful clubs. Conceivably, they could win six trophies or championships in a year. I’m starting to notice, however, that such a feat is not necessarily valued.

Teams like United seem to put the most worth into Champions League, and with good reason. The FA Cup in England, which is the most fun for this fan, is not necessarily lauded as a top priority by teams playing in UEFA Cup or Champions League. Because of this, you’ll often see altered lineups depending on the competition. I heard of Arsenal having lineups depending on the tournament, playing their less experienced players for games in the Carling Cup and their best players for Premier League games and Champions League games.

So I guess now we can officially say that Manchester United is the best club football team in the world having defeated the Ecuadorian club, LDU Quito, 1-0 in the Club World Cup. That is, unless, there is some intergalactic club competition I have not been made aware of yet.