Will Manchester City Win the Treble?
And other musings of the philosophical variety.
Well, it looks like they might actually go and do it. Manchester City, finally, are in the Champions League final, that clear and ever-present goal set for Pep Guardiola ever since he came to England five years ago. Yeah, Pep got to England five years ago. I bet you feel old now.
They’ll face Chelsea there in an all-English final, one that surely will lead Florentino Perez, a man who has been hellbent on saddling his club with as much debt as humanly possible, to say some stupid things. But City is fighting for more than just a Champions League. They’re fighting for the treble.
Sort of.
You’ll see this sort of thing on City Twitter in between arguments on how good Phil Foden actually is (he is very good, he is not as good as Erling Haaland, but he is far better than Jesse Lingard, take a breath, lads). City is on the verge of winning the treble. Three trophies in one season! That’s a historic achievement!
But it leads us to the necessary question: are we really counting a league championship, a European championship, and the less-important domestic cup as a treble?
It’s a good thought experiment, at the very least. Does England, simply by virtue of having multiple domestic cup competitions, have an advantage in the possibilities of trebles happening? Should we be counting the Carabao Cup in this discussion, or the EFL Cup as its non-branded name goes, a Cup founded by an organization that several English clubs broke away from to form the ̶E̶u̶r̶o̶p̶e̶a̶n̶ ̶S̶u̶p̶e̶r̶ ̶L̶e̶a̶g̶u̶e̶ Premier League? And furthermore, does any championship really count when the final is against Tottenham? Does this throw new light onto Liverpool’s Champions League victory?
Certainly, we cannot fault the mathematical acumen of the fans who claim this is, in fact, a treble. There would be, theoretically, three trophies, and generally speaking, three trophies fulfills the most basic need of the treble, the ancient mysticism of vocabulary satisfied in that telling prefix, “tre.” Three is what you need. This isn’t a question of maths, however. It’s a matter of definitions, and furthermore, a clash of philosophical thought, of ontology vs. axiology, of being vs. value. Is the state of the treble such that three trophies should be enough, any of them, in the same year? Or are all things not equal, and therefore all trebles not equal, is this simply another “a” treble, and not “The Treble?” Thee Treble, if you will?
I am personally of the opinion that the Carabao Cup is kind of like a Disney World Fast Pass to a trophy, so make of that what you will. But I recommend taking whatever stance makes the most people around you angry at the same time. It’s more entertaining.
Speaking of the Champions League
Congrats to Chelsea, the first club to have both men’s and women’s team make the Champions League final in the same year. This opens the possibility of being the first club to win both competitions in the same year, obviously, but as a soccer content collective that includes a Buffalo Bills fan, we must also point out that Chelsea could also make history by being the first club to lose both competitions in the same year.
Also, here’s a very simple way to not disrespect the women’s game.
Happy Anniversary, Didier Drogba
Just So We’re All Keeping Score
Sarah Gorden of the Chicago Red Stars made a statement about how her friends and family were harassed for racially motivated reasons, that statement was then corroborated by other people who were around Sarah Gorden at the time, and the NWSL subsequently punished exactly two people, Sarah Spain (part of the Red Stars ownership group), and Alyse LaHue (general manager of Gotham FC), for… supporting Sarah Gorden.
Seems bad!
Friday Stream Tomorrow!
Jimmy and friends are back in action on Twitch at 1 PM EST/10 AM PST. Come hang out with us as we discuss the European midweek action and preview games all around the world taking place this weekend!
And also come for the clips of Jimmy. Jimmy loves rolling the clips.
Goal of the Day
Three separate MLS clubs were knocked out of the CONCACAF Champions League by Liga MX teams this week, which is usually how that goes. At least Toronto got to admire some very nice goals on their way out. Take a bow, Bryan Angulo.
That leaves the Philadelphia Union as the lone MLS representative in the semifinals. Luckily, head coach Jim Curtin is already in midseason form.
Keep bringing the heat, Snaves. This newsletter rules!
Does he like rolling Clipse?