Two-legged tie
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In sport (particularly association football), a two-legged tie is a contest between two teams which comprises two matches or legs, with each team as the home team in one leg. The winning team is usually determined by aggregate score, the sum of the scores of the two legs. For example, if the scores of the two legs are:
- First leg: Team A 4–1 Team B
- Second leg: Team A 1–2 Team B
then the aggregate score will be Team A 5–3 Team B, meaning team A wins the tie. In some competitions, a tie is considered to be drawn if each team wins one leg, regardless of the aggregate score. Two-legged ties can be used in knockout cup competitions and playoffs.
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[edit] Use
In association football, two-legged ties are used in the later stages of many international club tournaments, including the UEFA Champions League and the Copa Libertadores; in many domestic cup competitions, including the Coppa Italia and the Copa del Rey; in domestic league play-offs, including the Football League play-offs and the MLS Cup Playoffs; and in national-team playoffs in some qualification tournaments, including FIFA World Cup qualification.
In ice hockey, the National Hockey League used "two-game total goals series" in the early years of its playoffs. It applied to all its playoffs from 1918 to 1926, and the early rounds until 1937, when it completed the switch to best-of-N series.
In rugby union, two-legged matches are used in the qualifying stages of the Rugby World Cup, and the semifinals of the Italian Super 10 are also two-legged.
[edit] Tiebreaking
If the aggregate score is tied after the two legs, various methods can be used to break ties. Under the away goals rule, the team who scored more away goals advances. If away goals are equal, or are not considered, then the tie may be decided by extra time and/or penalty shootout. Replays, at the second-leg venue or a neutral venue, were formerly used in European club competitions.[1] In the Liguilla (playoffs) of the Primera División de México, the team with the better regular-season record advances.
[edit] Second leg home advantage
Each team hosts one match, and there is no intended advantage to whether a team plays at home first or second. However, most managers and players feel[peacock term] that the team playing at home for the second leg has a slight advantage over the other team. The thinking is that the team playing away for the first leg can play it safe there (a draw or even a slight defeat is considered a favourable result), and then "win" the tie at home in the second leg. For example, in the draw for the first knockout round of the UEFA Champions League, the group runners-up will play the first leg at home, while the group winners will play the second leg at home. A statistical analysis of roughly 12,000 matches from the European club competitions between 1956 and 2007 showed that around 53% of teams playing at home in the second leg won the tie (even after controlling for the fact that team playing at home in the second leg tend to be better teams).[2] This effect has however decreased over time.
[edit] Alternatives
In knockout competitions, alternatives to two-legged ties include:
- single-leg ties:
- either where one team has home advantage, as in all rounds of the FA Cup except the final. Two-legged ties are seen as fairer, since they give neither team home advantage; conversely, in the National Football League, home advantage is a reward for better regular-season standings.
- or played at a neutral venue, as in the final match of many tournaments, including the UEFA Champions League Final and the FA Cup Final. Neutral venues may be inconvenient for a team's fans to travel to.
- best-of-N match series, where the team winning more matches wins the series. These are common in major North American sports leagues. If a game cannot be drawn and there is an odd number of games in the series, the series cannot be drawn either.
In some sports, aggregating the score of multiple matches would be misleading or impossible.
[edit] References
- ^ Ross, James M. (27 June 2007). "Inter-Cities Fairs Cup 1960-61". RSSSF. http://www.rsssf.com/ec/ec196061.html#icfc. Retrieved on 2009-03-26.
- ^ "The second leg home advantage: Evidence from European football cup competitions.". http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a781793320~db=all~tab=content~order=pubdate.
