I’m going to resist the urge to refer to this competition as the “Mooney Cup” as I really like the idea of a tournament of this type featuring these sorts of teams during the summer. I’m enjoying the massive crowds turning out in America for the World Football Challenge and with other tournaments going on around the world, I hope this is a trend that continues.

So, despite the slightly questionable backing to this tournament, the terrible website and amateur press conferences, we have the prospect of a decent competition on our hands. 2009 will be the first time the Peace Cup has been played outside of South Korea, coinciding with expanding the number of teams competiting from 8 to 12, giving us 4 groups of 3.

Peace Cup 2009 Groups

Actually, that’s pretty tasty, no?? I know, that may well depend on how seriously the teams approach the tournament.

You can probably guess the format just from seeing the groups – the teams will play each of their group opponents once and the winner from each group will go through to play in the semi-finals. Semi-final winners obviously meet in the final and the losers will play for the honour of third place.

The four group winners will play 4 games, the rest will play 2. Simple. MON’s taking a sizable squad including some senior players needing pitch time, so I’m hoping he looks to squeeze all he can from this opportunity.

Peace Cup 2009 Fixtures

Malaga

The schedule works out nicely for Villa as they’ll get to play all their games except the final at the La Rosaleda Stadium in Malaga. The stadium was remodeled in 2006 and now holds just under 29,000. Hopefully the locals, ex-pats, holiday makers and traveling Villa fans will pack the place out.