Europeans defeated

In 1930 many European countries looked down on the initiative to hold a World Cup in Uruguay, and many European nations decided simply not to participate; some because of the costs of sailing halfway around the globe, but many more because they considered it beneath them to participate in a tournament where their superiority would be questioned by so-called “inferior sides”.

There is an echo of this today as some arrogant Europeans are complaining of the sporting value of the Club World. While it is true that players in European teams have crowded calendars, they are all highly paid professionals, winning more than overworked doctors, nurses, teachers… who in fact contribute much more value to society than the little rich boys, who are increasingly difficult to feel sorry for (and none of whom we hear complaining about other things than the referees when they lose). 

Although I still believe that the tournament will be won by a European side, two fantastic results yesterday underlined that the quality of football is global, and does not just belong to European clubs: firstly, Brazilian Fluminense defeated CL finalists Inter Milan 2-0 in a good match where both teams had their chances, but Fluminense were simply better when it counted, and won on goals by the Argentine striker German Cano and the strongly named Hercules. 

On the day’s second match it was “not-so-mighty-any-longer” Manchester City to be defeated by the Saudi Arabian side Al Hilal in a thrilling match, where Bernardo Silva, with good help from his hand, brought the English side ahead early on, leading everyone to believe in a walkover. 

But by early in the second half Al Hilal were ahead 1-2 with two goals by Brazilians Marcos Leonardo and Malcom, before Erling Haaland equalised to 2-2 in a match that then had to go into extra time. 

Are Manchester City too tired after a long season where they reached only the FA Cup final? Or were they simply unable to match the Saudi side as the Senegalese veteran Kalidou Koulibaly brought them ahead? In fact, Phil Foden equalised but it was the young Brazilian Marcos Leonardo who with a strike in the 112th minute brough the final victory to Al Hilal. 

Note that Marcos Leonardo is only 22 years old, played one season in Benfica, and could still return to Europe sometime! 

All this said, it is refreshing to see European arrogance vanquished, and in my view the tournament has already showed its great value and potential for the future. Whoever wins it will go over in history, just like Uruguay in 1930.

Boca-River to the airport

Sometimes, as much as you like a team, you can be happy that football remains unpredictable and that arrogance is punished. As Boca Juniors went into the last round of the group stages in the Club World Cup they were to faced the unassuming Auckland FC, who had lost their first two matches 10-0 and 6-0 against Bayern Munich and Benfica respectively. Boca Juniors entered the match full of arrogant expectation, where they should rather have been hoping to play well against an amateur side.

Boca's awful arrogance was punished when the PE teacher, Christian Grey, equalised Boca's first half lead and gave the Kiwis an unexpected and delightful 1-1 and a rightful elimination of the Argentine giants, who appear to have forgotten that humility is the first step to greatness.

All in all a bad tournament for both Argentine clubs, as River Plate were also eliminated after losing 0-2 to Inter Milan, falling without grace against a far superior side. Two River players received red cards and just like Boca, River will not be missed in the Club World Cup.

Instead of meeting on the pitch, the two Argentine clubs will be in the airport. 

The World Cup underway

The Club World Cup is well underway in the USA. I have not been able to follow sufficiently, just seeing highlights, and watched the 1-1 between Real Madrid and Al Hilal and last night’s surprising and happy 2-1 victory of Inter Miami over FC Porto, with a victory goal by Lionel Messi on one of his signature free-kick goals. 

The idea of a Club World Cup is good; club football is much better than the national team football that suffers from excessive nationalism, while seeing how clubs across continents do against one another at the highest level has been something we have been waiting for, and which has been refreshing. Besides Bayern Munich’s 10-0 thrashing of Auckland, the level has been quite high and European sides have not been able to dominate as expected, and last night Europe’s best side, Paris St. Germain, lost 0-1 to Brazil’s Botafogo in yet another upset for European arrogance. 

All this said, the tournament also has problems: the opaque qualification process and playing times to fit TV viewing, but not the health of the players, who are playing in excessively hot weather (also, coming at the end of the season for many teams, the players arrive tired at the tournament). Also, we see the tournament take place in a non-footballing country where stadiums have been only half-full for many matches, and only many of the Latin American fans create anything that feel like a passionate atmosphere.

All this said the tournament appears here to stay, and I hope that FIFA will think about this tournament not only as a money machine, but also as a new scenario to get the best clubs to face one another. 

I hope.

Portugal`s second Nations League title

The UEFA Nations League started as a boring tournament to replace the many friendly matches in the national team calendars, and it has grown to become a tournament that teams look forward to winning, so it was with expectations that Spain and Portugal faced one another in the fourth final of the tournament.

Spain were favourites and dominated the first half of the first half. Real Sociedad's Martin Zubimendi brought the Spaniards ahead expectedly after 20 minutes, but only five minutes later the outstanding PSG player Nuno Mendes equalised for the Portuguese on a great play. 

But another real Sociedad player, Mikel Oyarzabal, brought Spain ahead yet again. 

40-year old Cristiano Ronaldo may not have the physical strength he once had, but he remains a marvelous footballer, and in his 221st national team appearance he scored his 138th goal when he deservedly equalised for Portugal in the second half. 

Shortly after Ronaldo had to leave the pitch though, much against his will, having to watch a strong Portugal side put pressure on the Spaniards. 

2-2, and after extra time the match had to go into a penalty shootout that Cristiano Ronaldo could hardly watch, but it was the veteran striker Alvaro Morata whose penalty was saved by Diogo Costa, giving Ronaldo and Portugal their second Nation League title. UEFA Nations League may not be the most prestigious tournament, but it was certainly an exciting final worth watching.

PSG Champions

The Champions League title has eluded Paris St. Germain for a long time, but now that it finally came it certainly came with style. 5-0 is the greatest difference in a European final ever, and it was not too little as the Parisians were far superior to the disappointing Milanese.

Perhaps it was as expected that Inter came out with a defensive attitude, but this was clearly not working as a highly motivated Parisian side tore apart a shaky defense after 12 minutes with the Moroccan Achraf Hakimi scoring the opening goal after 12 minutes against his former club, and the young Desire Doue scoring a second for PSG after 20 minutes. Inter really had no response, and in the second half one would have expected them to move forward but a far more intelligent PSG side again went a ahead 3-0 on a brilliant counter-attack where Doue scored his second at the greatest stage.

After this is was really over. PSG were clearly enjoying the match while Inter clearly just wanted the match to end. Kvisha Kvaratshkelia made it 4-0 and Senny Mayulu made it 5-0.

Despite it all it is worth congratulating Inter's players who took the heavy defeat with dignity, while for PSG it was particularly fantastic to see Luis Enrique lift the trophy. 

It is in place to congratulate PSG fans, although at the same time it is a shame that the celebrations in the French capital turned violent, when all most fans really want to celebrate is the great victory of a great football team.