The national Cup is a dying football institute. In Spain and other nations, where the rounds constitute of two games, it’s a real nuisance. “The cup games in Spain are a real pain in the arse,” wrote Michel Salgado, former Real Madrid defender, in FourFourTwo magazine. “You see the draw and hope you are not picked for the game. The motivation is not the same.”
In places like England the national Cup holds some importance, but as Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski had proved in their book Soccernomics The famous FA Cup also lost its meanings for many reasons. Kuper writes that the main reason for the death of the FA Cup is the saturation of football coverage on TV. This means people would rather follow the ongoing soap operas with the same characters such as the Premier League and The Champions League.
The cup is also a tournament that will never show who’s the best team unlike the league where everyone plays against everyone.
The dying national cup institution (around Europe) brings up a few questions: Why is it important? some will argue tradition, but it won’t be the first tradition to die.
Why can’t European sport be a bit more like American sport and focus just on one competition? Why do clubs need to fight for what is essentially a consolation prize?
From a personal point of view: if Arsenal loses today to Manchester United well, fuck the FA Cup. If Arsenal wins well, see you in Wembley!
Why is the Cup competition still important? Well, it’s important because Arsenal can still win it. That’s why!
WHAT TO DO NOW?