The Conti Cup: a slightly farcical few days for a slightly farcical competition

UNITED THEY FALL?

Like regionalised draws? Enjoy weirdly uneven group stages and flawed tiebreakers? Got a thing for points deductions with unexpected ramifications? Then you’ll love the Conti Cup (or Women’s League Cup if you prefer). And it has been a slightly farcical few days for a slightly farcical competition. First, the background. Last week Aston Villa hammered Sunderland 7-0 in their final group game, securing top spot in Group A and a place in the quarter-finals. Second-placed Sunderland were out, their points-per-game record (more of which later) not quite good enough, so Manchester United and Tottenham reached the last eight as the two best runners-up in the five groups. Fine, all good, nothing to see here.

Then on Monday Villa were docked three points for fielding an ineligible player – Swiss defender Noelle Maritz, who had already appeared in the competition for Arsenal – in that Sunderland tie. An independent tribunal ordered the points be awarded to the Black Cats and the 7-0 scoreline deleted from the record. So far, so straightforward. But the Conti Cup’s peculiar format meant the decision sent Sunderland through to the quarter-finals as group winners but kept Villa, who dropped to second, in the competition … at the expense of United, who had just been wandering by, minding their own business. United’s record as runners-up, having been better than Sunderland’s, was inferior to Villa’s on goal difference.

Still with us? “We are very disappointed with this outcome, and do not understand its rationale,” grumbled United in a statement, not unreasonably. “We feel that it undermines the integrity of the competition, and of the women’s game.” Though, to be fair, the integrity of the competition was already on pretty thin ice. Points-per-game makes some sense as a tiebreaker between roughly even pools, but with groups selected on a regional basis the competition is ludicrously lopsided – United’s four groupmates are all in the WSL’s current top nine, for example, while Villa took on solely teams from the Championship, and were therefore able to amass a +16 goal difference, despite having that 7-0 win wiped from the record. United, without playing, find themselves kicked out of the competition at the same stage as Chelsea, who parachute into the competition thanks to their Women’s Big Cup involvement.

Even Villa’s infraction has a weird, head-scratching quality to it. The words “ineligible player” generally suggest some sort of minor administrative oversight. But Maritz, who joined from Arsenal in early January, hadn’t just picked up a couple of forgotten substitute minutes for the Gunners in the competition: she had been on the pitch for every available minute. And Villa brought her on at half-time in the final game of a group they had already obliterated. When they were 3-0 up. All of which you could read two ways: that Maritz’s appearance had no material impact, so Villa are into the last eight on merit; or that their oversight was so boneheaded that they really deserve to be kicked out of the competition. What’s clear is that the whole episode has exposed the fundamental flaws in what should be, if not quite a blue riband tournament, then at least something rather better than the bizarro concept it is now. Either way, it does seem desperately unfair on, um, poor old Manchester United. The final kicker? If Villa had been kicked out and their record expunged, it still might not have saved Marc Skinner’s side – Durham would’ve been second in Group A … and their points-per-game record would be superior.

LIVE ON BIG WEBSITE

A big evening of piping-hot MBM action. Join John Ashdown for Mali 3-1 Burkina Faso in an Afcon last-16 clash from 5pm GMT, while Sarah Rendell helms Paris FC 1-2 Chelsea in Women’s Big Cup at 5.45pm GMT. Oh, and there are five Premier League games on offer: Scott Murray is on Nottingham Forest 1-1 Arsenal, while Rob Smyth will hoover up the rest in our clockwatch.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“These events have no connection to the authentic Iraqi media that is known for its honourable positions. We denounce the blatant and abhorrent behaviour that occurred against the coach, and we confirm that we have decided not to deal with these media personnel who seek to cause chaos in the future. We will follow legal methods to restore the coach’s reputation and approach the relevant authorities to explain what happened” – the Iraqi FA rails at hacks who disrupted coach Jesús Casas’s post-match press conference following their dramatic Asian Cup last-16 defeat to Jordan. At the post-match press conference, said furious hacks were seen shouting at Casas and more than a dozen stormed out while pointing fingers at the Spanish coach. The AFC has also handed them lifetime bans for their conduct.

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