Time's up! Lazio keeps Oddo, Ternana keeps Jimenez

The 19:00 CET deadline has passed and the summer mercato is officially over. Everyone expected a serious last-minute buying and selling scramble on the part of Lazio. But the biggest news that came out of the final hours of negotiations is that...there's no news. Massimo Oddo, whether he likes it or not, will be wearing sky blue instead of black and red stripes when he takes the field on September 10; and Chilean national team star Luis Jimenez is stuck out of his league with Serie C1 squad Ternana. Let's take a look at the negotiations surrounding these two as well as the deal signed for other players:

Massimo Oddo

As I've written before, talk about Oddo moving to a team that had qualified for Champions League began pretty early this past spring. All the talk was, quite reasonably, put on hold during the early summer months as Oddo prepared for and played in (or, more accurately, sat on the bench) the World Cup. Then the rumors and negotiations started anew. How much would he be worth to Milan, considering their right defense was already pretty solid with Cafu and Nesta? €5 million, €8 million, more? Could they maybe come up with some sort of package deal? The initial offer was €4 million and the rights to Pasquale Foggia, but this was turned down. What did Lotito want then?

That question was finally answered today at the eleventh hour of the mercato. Foggia was not the part of the deal that he didn't like, because today we learned that Foggia had been put on loan to Lazio. He is on a one-year loan for €300,000 with the option to purchase half of his contract for €1.7M more at the end of the season. €2 million for a good midfielder seemed like too good of a deal, so certainly it must be the start of an Oddo package. But Milan denied that there were any related transactions. In fact it was true, and Lazio's only acquisition from Milan for the upcoming season is Foggia. It has been announced that Foggia's primary role will be to replace Valon Behrami, who is injured and out for at least three months.

Luis Jimenez

Nobody is happy with the fiasco that this trade deal turned into. It was almost 20 days ago that the headline was "C'è accordo con Ternana per Jimenez," another loan-plus-option deal with a total value of €7 million. Lazio signed the papers, faxed them to Ternana, and waited. And waited. And waited. Meanwhile people got upset over this seeming deception: Lotito, Lazio, and Jimenez himself wondered what exactly Ternana president Edoardo Longarini thought he was accomplishing by refusing to consummate the deal. When the clock struck 19:00 and it officially fell through, Jimenez released this statement:

Sono davvero dispiaciuto, contavo di giocare in serie anche il prossimo anno. Alla Ternana non ci torno.

"I am really unhappy, I planned on playing again in Serie [A] next season. I will not return to Ternana." He is even threatening the club with legal action for refusing to sign the cartellino they promised him. Whatever comes of that, the Chilean forward will not appear in the biancoceleste maglia this next season.

Other ins and outs

It seems like distant history when Lazio allowed the expiring contracts of two of it's stars, Fabio Liverani and Paolo di Canio to lapse. Liverani was happily snapped up by Fiorentina, and aging di Canio signed on with C1 squad Cisco Roma so he could continue to play in the capital. Liverani's creative and forward-minded midfield play will be hard to replace. It was impossible to find a single midfielder of his caliber, but the 2006-07 midfielder will be fortified with two new acquisitions: Cristian Ledesma from Lecce and Massimo Mutarelli from Palermo. Di Canio did not leave such a skill void, since Rocchi-Pandev is still a strong starting striking team. The only new pickup at forward is Stephen Makinwa, who is only on co-ownership. Hopefully he will provide good backup support for the first squad front two. Also important were the the full purchases of Cribari and Mauri from Udinese, which also took place at the beginning of this summer.

What it leaves Lazio

The results of the mercato have set up a potential first team for Lazio looking like this:

Peruzzi
Oddo-Cribari-Stendardo-Zauri
Foggia-Ledesma-Mutarelli-Mauri
Pandev-Rocchi

Not perfectly executed, but a good result for Lazio looking forward to the 2006-07 season.

Lazio's Coppa in photo and video

Won't waste any words on this. Lazio is out of the Coppa Italia, but here is a recap of their three games in pictures and video:

Lazio - Rende: photo gallery from LazioCity forums
Monza - Lazio: video highlights on YouTube
make sure to see Ballotta's one-handed penalty save at 1:04 of the clip
Messina - Lazio: photo gallery from FC Messina's official site

Serie A calendar: Lazio starts season at Milan

Today the Lega Calcio (finally) announced the calendar for the upcoming Serie A season. Lazio will have a tough start, traveling to Milan to face the Rossoneri. I suppose this means that Oddo knows when and where he will be playing his first game of the season, but not which jersey he will be wearing! Lazio's matchdays are listed below, and the full calendar for all teams is also available.

Day	Match	Date (a)	Date (r)
1	Milan - Lazio	10 Sep	21 Jan
2	Lazio - Palermo	17 Sep	28 Jan
3	Chievo - Lazio	20 Sep	4 Feb
4	Lazio - Atalanta	24 Sep	11 Feb
5	Torino - Lazio	1 Oct	18 Feb
6	Lazio - Cagliari	15 Oct	25 Feb
7	Catania - Lazio	22 Oct	28 Feb
8	Sampdoria - Lazio	25 Oct	4 Mar
9	Lazio - Reggina	29 Oct	11 Mar
10	Empoli - Lazio	5 Nov	18 Mar
11	Lazio - Udinese	12 Nov	1 Apr
12	Messina - Lazio	19 Nov	8 Apr
13	Lazio - Ascoli	26 Nov	15 Apr
14	Fiorentina - Lazio	3 Dec	22 Apr
15	LAZIO - ROMA	10 Dec	29 Apr
16	Livorno - Lazio	17 Dec	6 May
17	Lazio - Inter	20 Dec	13 May
18	Parma - Lazio	23 Dec	20 May
19	Lazio - Siena	14 Jan	27 May

What do you do with an angry Oddo?

Massimo Oddo is angry. In one respect he should be. Undoubtedly a world-class talent at right back, he's never been given the chance to shine on a world stage. While he can call himself "un campione del mondo," he still has to live with the fact that he saw the least playing time of any azzurro except the backup keepers. And he won't even see the bench at any of the European tournaments this year unless he leaves Lazio.

Lazio lost another chance (albeit a long-shot) to play in Europe next year when they suffered their disappointing loss to Messina on Sunday. Oddo was furious when he was pulled in the second period of extra time. Again, in one respect he should be. He is certainly considered the leader of the biancoceleste defense, and they had just for the second time in the match given up two goals in four minutes. Lazio was about to lose a match they should not have. What is certain is that he did not hold back his opinions from either Rossi or Lotito. What is uncertain is exactly what else he did as he came off the pitch. A report on gazzetta.it said that he took off his jersey and threw it "presumably" in the direction of Delio Rossi. This rumor spread to other news sites and sensationalist blurbs about Massimo's bad behavior started springing up. Meanwhile, that sentence was excised from the Gazzetta article. Someone in editorial must have seen it for what it was--a drummed-up attempt to sell a story.

So what is really on the table between Lazio and Massimo Oddo?

1. He is still under contract with Lazio for two more seasons.
2. He has clearly stated that he wishes to play in Champions League, preferably with Milan.
3. The Alleged Deal. Last season there was a rumored agreement that if Oddo helped Lazio achieve a spot in UEFA Cup, he would be free to leave the team if he chose.
4. Calciopoli strikes. Oddo did hold up his end of the deal, but of course the Calciopoli verdict put Lazio out of Europe.
5. Lazio starts trade talks with Milan. Milan puts forth an offer of €4M and midfielder Pasquale Foggia, which Lotito (still running the club despite his ban) refused.
6. Delio Rossi says he will not try to stop Oddo if he wants to leave.

With the stage set like that, Oddo expects that Lotito and co. will be amenable to organizing a deal to get him safely transferred to Milan. But now Lotito wants to milk the situation for all the cash it's worth. The only problem is that in his greed, the deal may fall through. With only two days left until the mercato deadline, the time crunch has raised the stakes. With Lazio falling short (especially on defense) against Messina, emotions have hit a new height.

It seems that Lotito is prepared to say "You are under contract, I don't have to organize a sale for you." Technically, he is allowed to assert this right. Practically, he has to decide whether it is useful. Will an angry Oddo play at 100%? Or will his seeming lack of Lazialità seriously hurt his contribution to the team? Who is stronger: Oddo in whatever mental condition he will be in, or Marco Motta or another replacement who is fresh and ready to go? Only time will tell what the correct choice should have been, but in two days the Laziali will at least know what that choice is.

Oddo, Rocchi called up for Euro 2008 qualifiers

Azzurri coach Roberto Donadoni has just announced the players he will call up for Italy's first two matches in qualifying for the Euro 2008 tournament. Among them are veteran azzurro Massimo Oddo, who may or may not still be wearing the sky-blue jersey by the time he takes the field for the national side; and Tommaso Rocchi, who will have his first opportunity to represent Italy in a competitive match.

Match schedule

Italy - Lithuania, at Napoli
20:50 CET (2:50 PM EDT) Saturday Sep 2
US TV: Rai Internazionale

France - Italy, at Paris
21:00 (3:00 PM EDT) Wednesday Sep 6
US TV: Setanta (tape delay)

Full squad list

Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Buffon (Juve), Christian Abbiati (Torino), Marco Amelia (Livorno)

Defenders: Andrea Barzagli (Palermo), Fabio Cannavaro (Real Madrid), Dario Dainelli (Fiorentina), Fabio Grosso (Inter), Massimo Oddo (Lazio), Manuel Pasqual (Fiorentina), Cristian Zaccardo (Palermo), Gianluca Zambrotta (Barcellona)

Midfielders: Massimo Ambrosini (Milan), Daniele De Rossi (Roma), Gennaro Gattuso (Milan), Marco Marchionni (Juve), Simone Perrotta (Roma), Andrea Pirlo (Milan), Franco Semioli (Chievo)

Forwards: Emiliano Bonazzoli (Sampdoria), Antonio Cassano (Real Madrid), David Di Michele (Palermo), Alberto Gilardino (Milan), Filippo Inzaghi (Milan), Tommaso Rocchi (Lazio)

Long day at the Coppa Italia

Seven of eight games go to extra time or beyond, only two favorites advance. Lazio and Juve out.

Messina 4-3 Lazio (aet)
Iliev 2', Cordova 4', Pandev 6' and 69', Di Napoli 98' and 102', Rocchi 114'

This game got off to an unbelievably fast start when after just six minutes the scoreboard read 2-0 in favor of Messina. Could that possibly be true? Unfortunately, it was. Messina was able to crash the patchwork midfield and defense of Lazio for the first goal and Nicolas Cordova was simply lucky on a corner kick that curled directly into Ballotta's net.

Why was our defense so unprepared? The back eight for Lazio were not at all in the familiar positions we have seen so far in the Coppa, due to Siviglia's disqualification and an alleged last-minute injury to Mutarelli or Mauri (it's uncertain, but the bottom line is that neither of them started).

Oddo, Stendardo, Cribari, Zauri
Belleri, Ledesma, Mudingayi, Manfredini

Pandev was able to get one back off of a direct free kick just two minutes later, which put some life back into the biancocelesti. At that point I revised my prediction of the final score from Messina 2-1 Lazio to Messina 10-12 Lazio, but that was not to be. Pandev was able to equalize in the second half. But a very tired Lazio, having just on Wednesday played a marathon match that went to PKs, was not looking forward to extra time. The chances to put the game away in regulation belonged to Arturo di Napoli, who had three chances at the 90th minute and beyond which were all denied by Ballotta, still playing well despite his years and the long week.

In extra time, di Napoli realized his chances. Ballotta, who had delivered clutch saves all week, could just not contain any longer. Another quick double strike from Messina put the score to 4-2 near the end of the first supplementary period. Lazio put on their most desperate offensive push in the second period, but could only come away with one goal by Rocchi, who was able to slip the defense.

So Lazio lost to a team it should have beaten and is eliminated from the Coppa Italia. No Laziale should be happy with the result, but immediately cries went up of "The season is lost, the season is lost! Forget about calcio for this year, we're out of Europe for good! Hope we don't get relegated!" This pessimism is nonsense. Last season Lazio drew many games against inferior teams (cite Messina 1-1 Lazio, Lazio 1-1 Cagliari, and Lazio 3-3 Empoli just to pull examples from the giro ritorno). Should this game have been a regular season Serie A match, Lazio would have come away with 1 point. We are starting this season with -11 points, but that absolutely is not a relegation condemnation. If you subtracted 11 points from Lazio's standing in the pre-Calciopoli table from last season, they would have finished in in 9th place, three points behind Chievo--that is to say, only 3 points out of a UEFA Cup spot. The fixtures for this season haven't even been announced yet; doom and gloom have not descended already.

Napoli (5)3-3(4) Juve (apk)
Chiellini 27', Bucchi 39', Calaio 54', del Piero 78' and 119', Cannavaro 120'

In every respect, this was the match of the day, if not the match of the tournament. Years of anticipation culminated on the pitch at the Stadio San Paolo in Napoli. 60,000 tickets were sold in advance and 70,000 filled the stands for the first competitive match between these storied squads since they both played in Serie A in 2001. (This of course bodes well for the two times they will face each other this coming season, now that they are both in Serie B.)

Juve took the early lead, but Napoli found the equalizer before halftime. Emanuele Calaio caused San Paolo to erupt after going one-on-one with Gigi Buffon and dribbling his way around to slot the go-ahead goal in an empty net. But at 2-1 the match was far from over. Alessandro del Piero, who did not start the match but was put on in the second half, found his first of two goals to send the match to extra time.

Neither side saw any decent chances in the first period of extra time, but sparks began to fly in the second period. World champion midfielder Mauro Camoranesi was sent off for elbowing his mark, but the man advantage was lost when Napoli's Gianluca Grava saw yellow for the second time on the night. Despite the excitement, scoring chances did not materialize, until at the 119'50" mark, when del Piero found his second goal. A clincher, no doubt, which the Napoli crowd actually met with congratulatory applause. But a minute of recupero was given, just enough for Paolo Cannavaro (the younger brother of azzurri captain Fabio Cannavaro) to capitalize on Napoli's last-ditch offensive push. This, of all matches, was to be decided from the penalty spot.

Even the PK sequence was tremendous. Cannavaro, savior of the match, botched his fifth-round kick that would have clinched the game for Napoli. Juve answered, and the match went to sudden death extra PK rounds. Juve's Federico Balzaretti missed his attempt in the sixth round and home team Napoli advanced to face Parma in the round of 16.

Other action

Other games saw three Serie A teams drop to lesser opponents: neo-A squad Atalanta to bottom-of-B Triestina; Udinese to just-penalized Arezzo; and Cagliari to Brescia. The automatic round of 16 qualifiers must be thrilled with these outcomes, hoping to all make easy advancements into the quarterfinals. The upset specialists, however, are looking to strike again come November's second phase.

Browns 20-17 Bills (preseason): Braylon, Jerome look ready to go

No one who is fan of both Browns and Wolverine football (such as myself) cared what the score was in tonight's preseason game between Buffalo and Cleveland. What they cared about was that Braylon Edwards is playing football again. Eight months after blowing out his knee and subsequent surgery, Braylon lined up for his first play from scrimmage in the opening drive. He played on and off (as Romeo Crennel is wont to do with his receivers) for the first half. Although Edwards finished the night with a seemingly unimpressive 1 reception for 9 yards, those numbers do not tell the tale. That one reception was an over-the-middle route that landed him in the grasp of three Bills defenders [see photo] whom he dragged three yards closer to the end zone, finishing at the 2 yard line. To drive through three tacklers is definite proof that his legs are back to 100% fitness. And while Braylon wasn't catching the ball, he was certainly active elsewhere on the field, at one point dropping his shoulder and delivering a killer block that netted 5 additional yards on the play.

Thanks to Matt for the video!
Unlike Braylon's awaited return, the other good news for the Browns is something that they were entirely not expecting. 5th round rookie Jerome Harrison has improved his lot from fourth-stringer to potential starter at running back in a matter of three preseason games. Harrison led the Browns tonight with 9 carries for 70 yards. Cleveland thought they were set with familiar names Reuben Droughns and William Green, but they have looked perfectly stuck-in-the-mud compared to the quick, creative Harrison. The Browns' young talents are lined up for the positions of RB and WR.

Before the book is closed on this game, what of our other young players, namely those at quarterback? Second-year starter Charlie Frye threw for a modest 12/16 for 76 yards and 1 TD. But on the opening drive he was 6/6 for 55 of those yards and that drive was capped with his touchdown pass. While such perfection is hard to ask for, hopefully his norm will look more like that first-quarter march down the field than the middling passing that his overall stats would indicate. Derek Anderson hopes that he has put himself into serious contention for the backup spot with a successfully conducted two-minute drill, despite two bad snaps which he had to ensure didn't turn into disastrous turnovers. The Browns with their first- and second-year talent look ready to finish out their preseason and start the regular season with a real chance to win...something they just haven't been able to carry onto the field in the past few seasons.

Roma forgets to play second half; gets angry, gives up game winner and man advantage in extra time

Apparently our good friends AS Roma decided that after opening up a 3-0 lead in just over a half hour and going into halftime at 3-1 in the Supercoppa Italia, the proper locker room adjustment was to crack open una birra and sing "We Are the Champions" despite the fact that they don't know the words. Oh, and this other little fact that there was still 45 minutes of calcio to be played.

Inter decided to come back out and actually try, and in 20 minutes ex-Laziale Hernan Crespo had found the header off of a Stankovic cross through a lolligagging Roma defense. Only three minutes later, the gazzetta.it cronaca had this wonderfully pithy summary of how Roma was (not) playing:

23' Roma molto stanca, gara apertissima.

"Roma is very tired, the game is wide open." And despite a persisting one goal deficit, it was indeed wide open. Roma for some reason thought they were still coasting, pulling two of their starters (Taddei out at 21', F***ing Totti out at 27') and oops...with 16 minutes left suddenly it's tied 3-3. Had they got the wakeup call yet? Apparently not, as Gazzetta's Riccardo Pratesi notes:

32' Roma sulle gambe, l'Inter continua ad attaccare.

"Roma is on their knees, Inter continues to attack." Well, it took the remaining 16 minutes (including the 3 of recupero) for the Romanisti to get the message. Now it's time for "Roma angry, Roma smash!" Instead of directing this frustration over how miserably they played the second half towards an effort at scoring in extra time, they instead use it to foul Inter at the top of the box. Figo converts the resulting free kick and suddenly--where did this come from?--Roma is losing! Now you've really crossed them. Smart man Chivu decides to mock the official, because this will solve the whole problem. He sees red and Inter coasts 25 minutes to a 4-3 win, having scored 4 unanswered goals. Bravo Inter, stupida Roma.

Messina - Lazio preview

Tomorrow at 20:30 CET Lazio takes on Messina at the Stadio San Filippo in the city once better-known as Zancle. This will be the biancocelesti's third match in eight days as they conclude their participation in the whirlwind event that is the first phase of the Coppa Italia. If you take a look at the official bracket, you will see that this match pits 17 seed Messina against 16 seed Lazio. But we need to remember that these numbers are amazingly deceiving.

The seeds for this year's Coppa have been taken from the post-Calciopoli Serie A table, which indeed puts Lazio at 16 and Messina at 17. But when the season finished on May 14, Lazio was in the 6th position (going to UEFA) and Messina was in the 18th position (not avoiding relegation). Have things changed since then? There are two answers. Yes: the Serie A classifica has been turned upside down, shaken, and beaten to death by our good friend Mr. Palazzi. No: Lazio and Messina are still teams of approximately the strength they were in May.

Lazio has only lost two big players (with the Oddo fiasco still pending), Liverani and Di Canio. Rocchi and Pandev have stepped up for us and are striking well, as long as you don't send Tommaso to the penalty spot. Liverani and his poor-boy lisp will be missed, but neo-biancocelesti Ledesma and Mutarelli are strong at midfield. For the Sicilian side, they have given back five loan players and sold two more to Juve (who can finally field 11 players now, I think), and their acquisitions have been made mostly from Serie B teams...a wash at best.

And finally, history. In the Serie A 05-06 season, the meetings between the two teams resulted in Lazio 1-0 Messina and Messina 1-1 Lazio. Yes, this is proof that Lazio can sometimes struggle against weaker teams (and Wednesday's match against C1 outfit Monza Brianza was just further evidence of that). It will be more difficult than it should be for the biancocelesti on Sunday, but I think they can advance to the round that their 6th-place finish should have put them in to begin with.

Final notes for Lazio: Siviglia is disqualified from this match for consecutive yellow cards. He will be missed, but Cribari is called up for this match so the defense shouldn't be too shaky.

Projected lineup:

Ballotta
Oddo, Cribari, Stendardo, Zauri
Belleri, Mutarelli, Mudingayi, Mauri
Rocchi, Pandev

Prediction: Messina 1-2 Lazio. Goals by Pandev and Diakite (subbed for Rocchi)

Being serious about the Champions League draw

All right, now that I've cleared that out of the way, let's take a serious look at the draw for group play in this years Champions League.

Group A: Barca, Chelsea, Werder Bremen, Levski
Without a doubt, this year's "group of death." It was already to that point when Chelsea was drawn as the second entrant in this pool. I'm not sure who exactly was representing the Blues at the draw ceremony, but whoever it was had a look of utter disbelief on his face when they were slotted with Barca. Everyone also let out a groan for Champions newcomers Levski Sofia, clearly outmatched by the three other squads in this group. But this may not be such a bad thing for Levski. Barca, Chelsea, and Bremen will be fighting each other so fiercely that if Levski could pull off one or two upsets and the rest of the group sees a lot of draws, they might find themselves advancing or at least slotting themselves nicely into the UEFA Cup bracket.

Group B: Inter, Bayern Munich, Sporting, Spartak Moscow
Group D: Valencia, Roma, Olimpiakos, Shaktar Donetsk
Group H: Milan, Lille, AEK, Anderlecht
I think the graphic from the cover of today's Gazzetta dello Sport sums this one up nicely:
Milan lucked out (bought out? I doubt it but they seem to be buying everything and everyone else these days), Inter is probably in not quite as "frowny" of a position as indicated, and Roma can hopefully be beaten by everybody.

Group C: Liverpool, Eindhoven, Bordeaux, Galatasaray
Group E: Real Madrid, Lyon, Steaua Bucharest, Dynamo Kiev
Group G: Arsenal, Porto, CSKA Moscow, Hamburg
There is really nothing to see here. I have to think that you'll see the pot 1 and pot 2 teams from all of these groups in the knockout round.

Group F: Man U, Celtic, Benfica, Copenhagen
This group could be a real gem. The Man U - Celtic series will be absolutely electric, with the whole of the UK taking sides. Benfica is also likely to seriously contend for advancement because if their run in last year's Champions League was any indication they have the tournament mentality needed to win critical matches. First-timers Copenhagen are only slightly luckier than their counterparts Levski, and will struggle against the competition from much larger leagues.

So what are my predictions for the final 16? As follows: Barca, Bremen, Bayern, Inter, Liverpool, Eindhoven, Valencia, Olimpiakos, Real Madrid, Lyon, Man U, Benfica, Arsenal, Porto, Milan, and Lille.

Not too far out on a limb, I know. But this is home-away group play. Things are supposed to shake down in a pretty even fashion.

Being silly about the Champions League draw

Comments like those following will probably anger some people and cause them to say that I'm just a silly American who doesn't appreciate football. Well, that used to be the case, but now I'm addicted to what I'm in the habit of calling calcio, the rest of the world calls football, and silly Americans call soccer.

Nevertheless, the UEFA Champions League, even though it only includes European teams (despite the fact that it seems to be slowly encroaching on Asia, but I won't go into that), has a remarkable cultural and linguistic diversity. Enough so that from any one viewpoint it is possible to poke at least some fun at the conglomeration of letters and syllables that are the best football clubs of Europe. These teams might just sound a little silly if you're a native speaker of English.

Group Stage qualifiers

Sporting Clube de Portugal: Clube is a funny word. [Warning, linguistics dork moment ahead] Moreso if you pronounce it with the Portuguese bilabial fricative as their Wikipedia entry indicates you should. Best way to approximate it without resorting to the IPA is "kloobth."

Galatasaray SK: Galaxy Ray? Wasn't that the weapon on the Death Star that could blow up planets?

FC Shakhtar Donetsk: FC ShockTarts 'n' Donuts. Mmm...donuts.

FC Steaua Bucuresti: Reminds me of the Animaniacs episode when they try to pronounce the vowels AEIOU all as one word.

FC Dynamo Kyiv: Naming your soccer club "Dynamo" is like having your college mascot be the Bulldogs.

Benfica: Far, far too close to the Italian for "good pussy."

Ones that didn't make the cut

All these teams were knocked out in the third qualifying round and are thus playing in the first round of the UEFA Cup.

FK Crvena Zvezda: I call it Red Star or Stella Rossa. There are way too many Vs and Zs otherwise.

Fenerbahçe SK: Gesundheit.

FK Rabotnicki: Sadly, FK Snively didn't place high enough in the league for a spot in Champions qualifying.

...and I know I shouldn't go as low as to humiliate the teams that were eliminated in even earlier rounds, but I can't resist:

MyPa: Despite being knocked out of Champions League, MyPa is still looking forward to it's annual derby with YoMama.