Unbeknown to everyone aside from the family of the players involved, the BMO National Championships happened last week, with our Manitoban under 16 team taking fourth place.
Or did they?
Having lost to Quebec (eventual first place finishers) 3-2 and BC 3-1, Manitoba’s last chance to podium was to win their final game against Alberta. This would force a three way tie on points between Manitoba, BC and Alberta for third place. If they won by at least 2 they would have a better goal differential than either of the other two teams.
To read a match report of the final game packed with vivid description and run on sentences, click here.
The bottom line is that after an exciting game, Manitoba won 3-1 and their quest for a third consecutive podium looked to be complete.
What I’m about to tell you next gets a little stupid and frustrating, so you may as well enjoy a blooper from last weeks Juventus vs Lyon friendly match first:
Alright, ready? Look at the final results board and match results.
How does the team with the minus 2 differential end up outside of the medals? I’ll take this time to remind you that FIFA rules use goal differential first, then goals for, both of which would have favored Manitoba. No, they didn’t use head to head result which would have still been wrong but at least arguable. The official reason given was that they went to head to head goal differential for the three teams that tied. That’s the fourth tie breaker down according to FIFA rules. That’s more than halfway towards just having done the random draw, they may as well have had the three captains play odd man out.
I’m not wound up about this because Manitoba lost. Frankly I spend very little time in my day worrying how our U16’s are doing, and had they won, it would have meant less to me than finding a five dollar bill in the pocket of my winter jacket. It would have been nice for them to get the medal they deserved but overall inconsequential to myself or the future of soccer. I also didn’t do this post for the simple pleasure that some people get from debunking or otherwise stirring the pot.
What annoys me about the ridiculous choice of tie breaker rules is this: Why do we think we know better than FIFA? Consistently in North America we find the need to tweak the rules of the game for seemingly no other reason than to add our own “twist”. MLS does playoffs rather than awarding a cup for consistency and having a tournament for that additional knock out excitement. Likewise they don’t use the away goal rule.
The people at the top continue to say they want soccer to catch on here. Here’s an idea then: Just copy the format that’s made it successful literally everywhere else in the world. Originality is only worth so many points, at the end of the day, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. I’m sure our under 16’s agree with me.
I agree with you. By changing the rules, you are not gaining any extra support, but you risk loosing some from foreigners and purists.
So true. Props for even picking up on this in the first place Mike, and well put.