Away With The Away Goals Rule

Yup. Feel your pain, bro.
(static.soccerway.com)

It was pleasant to see Barça break out of their 2010 funk with that 4-0 triumph over the Andalusian Sevilla side, but it does seem a little futile after their exit from the Copa del Rey tourney on Wednesday against the same Sevilla side (a team that they have played 3 times in 11 days) on away goals (2-2, aggregate, but 2-1, advantage Sevilla), ending another shot at sweeping all six titles. Let's face it, the six-peat was a meteoric accomplishment in its rarity, as it's probably something that no other team in the world will be able to acheive for at least another generation, never mind to pull it off in consecutive years. A soccer team has such an exhausting traveling schedule to endure (especially the elite clubs), packing on the air miles to participate in many meaningful games, while adding ink to their passports from about a dozen countries per year (Barça has tallied 8 countries since preseason and will make it 9 next month in Stuttgart in the Champions League). Winning in professional soccer is as much of a battle against your body clock as it is against your opponent, and if your one of those teams who are lucky to get the opportunity to win multiple titles, the fight is even more vicious. At the end of the day, I'm fairly confident that Barça's depth will allow them to win the league again, and will be strong favorites to re-take their Champions League title. What's bittersweet is the system that made Barça the losers of the most recent round at the Copa (Please get out of my head, Barry Manilow!), the absurdity of advancing through away goals.

Wow, maybe the British do have it right.

(pictures.zimbio.com)

Trust me, I can feel the criticisms of me being just a bitter Barça reacting to a tough defeat, and the whispers of "the American doesn't get it" variety are starting to become more audible, but this away goal rule just doesn't make sense. Don't get me wrong, I believe winning on foreign turf is a feat that any professional sports team needs to somewhat excel at to be successful, but should it be valued to the extent of being an important tie-breaker for a tournament? Especially with the hectic schedules of soccer clubs, it is difficult to put up a solid lineup for a game that has more immediate importance than a simple league game. Imagine if they created a baseball series that the team with home-field advantage could actually lose simply because the visiting team happens to whip their pitching a little more than expected on a given night, which brings me to another fundamental aspect. Shouldn't the home team ultimately have the advantage in their stadium, and not the away team? In a sport with the most passionate fans, it seems unfair to completely phase out that advantage by forcing that team's overall play to become more conservative, especially if they are the home team in the 1st fixture, just so they potentially don't lose the whole tourney on a sudden breakaway or two. It destroys the whole competitive nature of a game that could me more enjoyable with both teams going full-bore, evidenced by the 4-goal showing by Barça at Saturday's league game showcase at Camp Nou. My first thought would be to make it a best of 3, with the winner crowned either on whoever obtains the 2nd victory or by aggregate goals. The problem with this solution could be the potential extension of an already draining season, possibly making an already stretched out tournament go even longer. The only way this would work would be to make entry to the Copa del Rey more limited, especially cutting a few entrants in the lower domestic leagues, considering that the winner always ends up being from the Primera anyway. However, the English Premier League may offer a simpler, more feasible solution of a continuation of play in the second fixture when both teams are deadlocked on aggregate. Either method is better than allowing a team to proceed to the next round in such an important competition just because they happen to have a slightly better game away from the confines of their home city. Ultimately, the goal of any sport should be about making the winner visibly stand out from the loser. So hopefully in the future, the away goal rule will eventually go the proper way and hit the road.