FA Cup Break & Europe R16 - 3 4 25

Bracket Season, Comparable Experiences & Mojito's

Author

nick lochner
March 04, 2025

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In Today’s CleanSheet:

  • Refresher 🧋🧋

  • Hot Topic 🔥🔥🔥- Tips & Observations

Refresher 🧋🧋

Everyone take a nice LONG drink of your go-to refreshing beverage. While an ice-cold beer on a hot July day is a great option, there’s nothing like a freshly made Mojito in March at a Caribbean resort. Hope you’re reading this from somewhere like this…..as we go through a refresher on where everything stands in the world of English Soccer.

Let’s look at England first - the Premier League, Championship (Level 2) and the FA Cup (all England competition).

Premier League

March 8 & 15. Just 2 PL Match Weeks in March.

It’s been a BUSY run up to March for the EPL, 27 matches have been played, 11 remain, but only 2 of those 11 will be played in March. Contrast this with the Championship (Level 2) that will see teams play 5 or 6 matches. The primary reason is the FA Cup and Europe will take center stage.

Teams not playing in Europe or the FA Cup will have some fresh legs heading into the stretch run of - the final 9 matches in April and May.

A lot on the line for the relegation sides as well as those hoping to punch their ticket to Europe next season.


Liverpool has the luxury of navigating the Champions League & EFL Cup final with a commanding 13-point lead in the table.

Championship (English Level 2)

March is not a “breather” for the teams in the Championship as most sides have 5 matches this month starting mid-week.

Going to be a GREAT run in as teams try to take one of the top 2 spots and automatic promotion into the EPL. It’s really a 4-team race for 2 spots.

It’s also quite a race to make the next 4 spots and a chance to earn the last PL promotion spot. 2 of those 4 spots will be occupied by teams in the current top 4, while 10 -11 teams will be fighting for the remaining 2 spots.

11 matches to go - buckle up.

FA Cup (All England Tournament)

The “Sweet 16” of the FA Cup was played this weekend in England and there were some surprises and a Cinderella still in play, Preston North End of the Championship will host an Elite 8 match.

Premier League v Premier League Matchups

  • Bournemouth 1-1 (5-4) Wolves. Bournemouth advance on penalties.

  • Man United 1-1 (3-4) Fulham. Cottagers advance at Old Trafford on penalties.

  • Newcastle 1-2 BHA. BHA get an extra time goal to knock out Newcastle at St James’ Park.

  • Forest 1-1 (5-4) Ipswich Town. The Trees advance on penalties.

Premier League v Championship (Level 2)

  • Palace 3-1 Millwall (12th in table). Palace advance.

  • Man City 3-1 Plymouth Argyle (23rd in table). City advance.

  • Aston Villa 2-0 Cardiff City (20th in table). Villa advance.

Championship v Championship

  • Preston North End 3-0 Burnley. The 15th place side in the table knocked out the 3rd place side.

The Elite 8 Matchups are set for March 28-30

Let’s look at European Competitions - Champions League (NCAA Tournament), Europa League (NIT) and the UEFA Conference League (CBC/CIT).

It’s March and Bracket Season as we await March Madness Hoops in the US. That’s not the only place brackets have been released as the 3 main Europe competitions enter the Round of 16.

Champions League

The “Sweet 16” aka Knock-out Round of 16 kicks this week in the Champions League and across Europe and there are some JUICY matchups!

Here’s the county by country breakdown of the remaining teams:

3: England, Germany, Spain.

2: France, Holland.

1: Belgium, Portugal, Italy.

Home-Away aggregate goal matchups March 4/5 & March 10/11 - in order of CS interest & why.

  1. Liverpool (England) - PSG (France). Top of England v top of France. Liverpool have not won in France, anywhere, since 2008. PSG is peeking, playing their best soccer of the season as Debele has been a scoring machine of late. The Reds will be favored, but PSG has speed, and edge, and they host the first match and could put the pressure on with a win.

  2. Arsenal (England) - PSV Eindhoven (Holland). PSV are defending Dutch champions and are loaded with Americans - Ricardo Pepi (18 appearances), Malik Tillman (18), Richard Ledezma (17). PSV surprising knocked out Juventus (Italy) in the previous round and are playing with house money. Injuries and poor form continue to be a problem for the Gunners but they will be solid favorites.

  3. Aston Villa (England) - Club Brugge (Belgium). Both sides are somewhat “surprises” to be at this point of the competition and both will look at this draw as theirs to win. Brugges beat Villa earlier in the competition 1-0 in Belgium.

  4. Real Madrid (Spain) - Atletico Madrid (Spain). Madrid Derby. If you are not a fan of English soccer, this may be the top match to watch. This is the 4th time these sides have met in the CL in the last 11 years. Atletico has never eliminated Real Madrid from this tournament. The sides have met 2 times in La Liga drawing both 1-1.

  5. Bayern Munich (Germany) - Bayer Leverkusen (Germany). Another big in Country matchup. The Top 2 teams in the Bundesliga face off ensuring a German side reaches the Elite 8. Can Harry Kane lead Bayern to a Europe cup. The sides have played twice in the Bundesliga, drawing both, 1-1 and 0-0.

  6. Benfica (Portugal) - Barcelona (Spain). Another matchup where both sides played earlier in this tournament. Barcelona trailed 2-4 with 10’ left to play and won in regulation 5-4. Barce is fun to watch with their front line of Lewandowski, Lamine Yamal and Raphinha. Expect scoring over the 2 matches.

  7. Dortmund (Germany) - Lille (France). Been a tough year in the Bundesliga for Dortmund sitting 10th in the table. Lille sit 5th in France’s League 1.

  8. Feyenoord (Holland) - Inter Milan (Italy). Arnie Slot (Liverpool’s Manager) left Feyenoord for the Red’s last season, and his successor Brian Priske was sacked recently for performance, so the Dutch side will be on an interim manager. It’s going to be tough sledding as Inter conceded just 1 goal in their 8 matches this competition.

Route to become Champions of Europe

Europa League

  • Tottenham (England) - AZ Alkmaar (Holland). Alkmaar sit 6th in the Eredivisie (Dutch) table.

  • Man United (England) - Real Sociedad (Spain). Sociedad sit 9th in La Liga.

Two English sides, Spurs and United, will be playing Home-Away Round of 16 matches March 6 & 13. Both sides are struggling in the PL this season sitting 13 and 14 in the table.

UEFA Conference League

The third and final Europe competition will also enter the Round of 16 this week and Chelsea will be big favorites to win it.

  • Chelsea (England) - Copenhagen (Denmark). 

Hot Topic 🔥🔥🔥

Tips & Observations - Attending English Soccer Matches

Over the next several newsletters CS will highlight some things to consider if you are heading to England and want to take in a match. For those that have been there and want to send me your thoughts - just reply to this email!

Last CS we covered:

Today:

Part 2 - Experience

The Passion & Energy sporting events provide are some of the best entertainment you can get anywhere - and it comes in MANY shapes and sizes. CS is still frustrated that a work trip to India got cancelled a couple years ago as the trip included tickets to a significant Cricket competition in Delhi (so bummed Abhishek!).

Of course, BIG events have their own vibe - Ryder Cup, Super Bowl, Game 7 in Hockey, Final Four, College World Series, Rose Bowl, Daytona, Indianapolis 500, The Masters, CrossFit Games, World Cup, Cricket World Cup, AFL Grand Final - to name a few. These events are spectacles. But what about the “every day” sporting events. The regular season. There are amazing experiences to be had wherever you live in the world.

Overall Experience

Here’s the summary - Arrive early, follow the home away fan rules, prepare to sing, drink your beer fast, watch the match not the screen, will feel like you are at a high energy college sporting event.

Before Match - HIGH Energy. People arrive early. No tailgating, but lots of people outside the stadium or in the concourse as much as 90-120 minutes before a match.

Away Fan Separation - By PL rule a team must allocate 10% of their seats to away fans. Those seats are all in the same sections and the fans are separated by rows of security staff/walls. This includes outside the stadium where only away fans can walk and enter. You are not allowed to wear away colors anywhere else in the stadium and you will be kicked out if you are cheering for the away team outside of the away section. (Saw this happen at Villa - family of 4 escorted out for cheering for Chelsea).

During Match - Lots of singing, coordinated singing. Very very collegial. Also, very attentive crowds to what is happening on the pitch. Every pass, whistle, card, and player action is cheered and jeered. One of the advantages of the non-stop action. It seemed the only time people were on their phones were to grab a picture or video.

Drink Up - While all the stadiums sell beer, you are not able to take them to your seats. So, the concourse was pretty packed before matches, everyone with a beer and pretty decent stadium food. While meat pies are traditional every stadium seemed to have some great options and variety.

Replay - Was interesting that there were no replays. Feels like every play in a professional sport in the US is replayed on the big screen and while these stadiums had big screens, they rarely showed a replay.

Collegial - Best way to describe the feel is much more collegial than professional, in a good way.

Stadium Specific Experience

With this as background - CS will try to describe the uniqueness of experiences of attending English soccer by “comparing” these to other sporting experiences.

Turf Moor - Burnley - UP the Clarets!

Burnley - Sheffield Wednesday

Burnley are currently in the Championship (level 2) and were in the PL last season. GREAT environment - loud, sight lines and updated with wonderful amenities. Easy to get around the stadium, some good pubs less than 50 yards from the entrance. Easy in and out into Burnley makes this experience really enjoyable. The wooden seats bring a feel of Wrigley Field and Fenway Park.

Best Comparison: Going to great college basketball game - pick a historic venue with great fans, easy movement. Think Fogg Allen, Cemeron, Carver-Hawkeye, Assembly Hall, Mackey Arena.

Villa Park - Aston Villa - Up the Villa!

Just 3 miles from Birmingham City Center it can take over 30 minutes to drive to or from the stadium. Once at the stadium there is some great walk around space - food trucks, outdoor vendors, team store and bands playing before the match gives it a feel of a small NFL stadium. Finding transportation can be an issue - not a lot of parking and nowhere for cabs to go means walking over a mile to get to transportation or waiting a couple hours for things to clear out. Plan your transportation.

Had a mini-Soldier Field, combined with a Boston Garden feel. New, built into the old brick structure, a park right by the stadium, good outside the stadium atmosphere and expect to walk. Inside, loud vocal fans.

Etihad Stadium - Man City

55,000 Capacity

NFL like experience. Large parking lots around the stadium, practice fields, very much a City Campus feel.

Corporate. Signage, advertising, concourse. Unlike many of the English clubs this stadium and experience felt more like going to a game in the states. Also, felt like there were a lot of City fans from outside of England.

Comparable would be a MUCH smaller Jerry World with concourses like you may see with the Steelers, Bengals, Browns. Has an NFL corporate feel.

No Match on this Trip - But have a feel

Molineaux - Wolverhampton

Wolverhampton is a pretty big suburb of Birmingham. Birmingham is the second largest city in England.

Molineaux sits right on the campus of Wolverhampton University, 29,000 students. Right across the street is ASDA, a pretty large grocery chain in England. You definitely feel like you’re on an urban college campus. The 40-minute drive from Wolverhampton to Birmingham City Center is all city.

This stadium and environment felt like going to an NCAA College football game - a smaller version of Huntington Bank Stadium at the University of Minnesota.

Old Trafford - Manchester United

74,000 Capacity

Nice area, lots of space, lots of “new” built around Old Trafford. Reminded CS of Lambeau Field with the brick, statues, foyer and store.

Stamford Bridge - Chelsea

40,000 Capacity

See the Aston Villa experience with a touch of Man City. The difference is Chelsea is in Brentford, one of the more luxurious places to live in all of England. Couple miles from the center of London, don’t expect to drive there or have an easy time getting around after a match, plan to walk. Some great pubs available pregame. A park next to an otherwise crowded area. Very much an international fan base.

Closest comparable may be Northwestern.

Goodison Park - Everton’s Old Stadium

40,000 Capacity

Not the greatest part of town, old style stadium. Significant tradition.

Best comparable may be Fenway Park, before the area was developed around it.

Bramley Moore Dock - Everton’s New Stadium

60,000 Capacity

Really close to downtown Liverpool, right on the water. Beautiful new building and in an area that is really under-developed. Not sure how people will get to it next year or where they will go before matches.

Has a feel of M&T Stadium or Camden Yards, both across the street from each other in Baltimore, before that area of Baltimore was developed.

Anfield - Liverpool

60,000 Capacity

Just over a mile across a park from Goodison Park but the feel around Anfield is much “brighter”. The tradition is maintained, and you can feel the corporate touch along the lines of United and City.

From the outside the The Kop stand looks huge.

Stadium and area have vibes of good-sized NCAA college football stadium. University of Washington comes to mind, and the rain and wind seem to fit right in.

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