Financially, the COC is worthless. Sure, you'll have something to decorate the trophy cabinet (and ammo to mock Chelsea), but it is highly irrelevant in the grander scheme of things.
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The Lge Cup is pretty much 'financially worthless' it's true. But I'd far rather win that on Sunday than beat Fiorentina today. It's not even a close call for me. Beating Chelsea there is far from irrelevant in the grander scheme of things to me. To me, in the grander scheme of things, what counts is trophies. We haven't got one this decade. Sunday might be our best chance during this decade. If Poch blows it by playing a full strength team tonight, he's got it all wrong. Glory is to be found at Wembley on Sunday, a faint echo of it is available in Florence tonight.
EDIT A simple way to see how much more important Sunday's game is to Spurs fans compared to tonight is to compare the demand for tickets. The ticket prices for the Chelsea game are two to three times higher than they were for the Fiorentina home leg.
Nevertheless it was easy to get a ticket in the home end for that game. Whereas not only we have sold out for the Wembley game, people are willing to pay on the 'black market' ten times or more the price for that game compared to the Fiorentina match.
Even if the home leg v Fiorentina was tonight rather than last Thursday, the situation would be much the same. Tickets in the home end tonight fairly easily available. Moreover, if the price had been set at Wembley levels, not only would there have been a huge outcry, but it's unlikely we'd have sold out. Whereas for Sunday, people are not only willing pay high prices, they are willing to pay way more than those prices to get a ticket for that game.
The prestige and glory of us playing Chelsea at Wembley puts a game in Florence completely in the shade (Whatever the respective temperatures and beauty of London and
Viola Land).
It's not so much a
Tale of Two Cities, as a tale of
Two Tribes - Us v Chelsea in a major final. It's huge, simple as.
I wonder if Poch fully grasps the difference between the two games?