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The Club World Cup begins with Real Madrid as the favourite, but Flamengo to end the European streak: when and how to play

2023-02-01T10:17:31.481Z


The Brazilian supremacy in the Copa Libertadores cuts the chances of the Argentine clubs for the maximum competition organized by FIFA. Only River, Boca, San Lorenzo and Estudiantes participated in any of the 19 editions.


The last edition of the

Club World Cup

exclusive for seven teams is leaving.

When this Wednesday (at

4:00 p.m., DSports

), in Morocco, 

Al-Ahly

(Egypt) and

Auckland City

(New Zealand) play the first of the scheduled matches, which will serve for the winner to complete the quarterfinal draw , it will begin to consume the competition as we know it.

The president of

FIFA, Gianni Infantino

, announced the creation of a new format with

32 teams

that will begin to be played from 2025 and that has questions for the 2024 edition.

Currently, the winners of the

Libertadores

and the

Champions League

, who previously played in the Intercontinental Cup, directly enter the semifinals.

The last time an Argentine club was among the top four in the world was five years ago.

Although at the national team level Argentina is at the top, in this competition,

the Argentine clubs are not protagonists.

The participants are seven: the representative of Conmebol is

Flamengo

;

Seattle Sounders

, for CONCACAF;

Real Madrid

(UEFA);

Auckland City

for the Oceania Confederation (OFC);

Wydad Casablanca

(host) and

Al Ahly

runner-up in the African Champions League, both for the African confederation (CAF), along with

Al Hilal

for the Asian confederation (AFC).

In the middle of the World Cup in Qatar, Gianni Infantino, president of FIFA, announced that the club tournament will have a dispute format similar to that of the national teams from 2025. Photo EFE

Since the pilot test of the Club World Cup in Brazil in 2000 and the consecutive dispute from 2005, only interrupted by the pandemic in 2020, FIFA has organized the maximum competition between the best teams of each confederation in venues of different Asian countries. and Africa.

The one that begins today in Morocco, will be the nineteenth edition and has Real Madrid as the favourite, who have already lifted the trophy four times and three of them successively: 2016, 2017 and 2018.

The

Intercontinental Cup

suited the Argentine teams better.

When it was played back and forth between the champions of Europe and South America or, even, in the editions on a neutral court and in distant Japan.

Because in the 19 editions of the Club World Cup,

there are no Argentine teams among the champions

.

It is not a bad thing that affects Conmebol, since the Brazilian Football Confederation lifted the cup four times -Corinthians, twice, Inter and Sao Paulo- and was runner-up five times: Palmeiras, Flamengo, Gremio, Santos and Vasco da Gama.

The Argentine representatives

The sadness of Leandro Desabato and Juan Verón: they were two minutes from the consecration.

Photo: File

For the Argentine Football Association (AFA), the account is different.

Only

four teams reached the final

, without conquests.

In 2007 Boca played it in Japan

.

Miguel Ángel Russo's team lost 4-2 against Milan.

The goals of the Argentine team were from Rodrigo Palacio and Pablo Ledesma, who was also sent off.

The right wing marker of that team was Hugo Ibarra, the current DT of Xeneize.

Estudiantes came close to the feat in 2009

, when they faced Barcelona in the United Arab Emirates in the final.

El Pincha was two minutes away from consecrating itself: with a goal by Mauro Boselli, the team led by the current president Juan Sebastián Verón and directed by the remembered Alejandro Sabella, maintained the slightest difference until 43 minutes into the second half, when Pedro tied it.

In extra time Lionel Messi made the difference and the Catalan team kept the title.

In 2014 it was played -like the current one- in Morocco.

San Lorenzo

couldn't face the most winner in the history of the Club World Cup, Real Madrid, who, with goals from Sergio Ramos in the first half and Gareth Bale, in the second, defeated Edgardo Bauza's team.

Japan, 2015: with one from Messi and two from Luis Suárez,

Barcelona

cut off Marcelo Gallardo's chance of winning

the only title he didn't get with River

.

It was 3-0 without the ability to react for a team that had practically no figures, against one that had them all.

The rematch came in 2018, but it was not.

The Muñeco team could not beat the then more modest Al Ain and after a two-goal draw –both by

Rafael Santos Borre-

and a missed second-half penalty by Pity Martínez, they fell on penalties 5-4.

They finished third after beating the Kashima Antlers of Japan 4-0.

off the map

The Velez footballers after losing 2-1 in the first leg against Flamengo.

Photo: AP

That there are so few Argentines in the Club World Cup statistics is a direct -and obvious- consequence of the absence of Argentine champions in the Libertadores.

And that has to do with a single issue: the wallet

.

Brazilian institutions have much greater purchasing power than Argentine ones and manage to fully repatriate their stars.

Flamengo, Conmebol's representative in this World Cup, have

Pedro

and

Giorgian De Arrascaeta

on their squad (called up to Qatar 2002 by Brazil and Uruguay, respectively),

Arturo Vidal, Gabi, Bruno Henrique, David Luiz

-to name it at random- who played Champions League.

Top of the range.

The

Mengao

was the limit that Vélez found in the last Libertadores.

The difference between one squad and the other is easily summarized: on one side the aforementioned stars and on the other hope, out due to injury: Maximiliano Perrone, barely 19 years old, was the key piece of Cacique Medina's team.

Lucas Pratto and Walter Bou the letters of experience, to accompany a youngster with a good footing and great claims that collided head-on with a global score of 6-1, which can show the difference between the Brazilian and Argentine teams or, at least , explains why the clubs that represent that country reach the Club World Cup and can even beat the European powers.

The champions of the Copa Libertadores.

AFP photo

There is Creole mischief, talent (raw) and other qualities that fail to string together competitive teams for Argentine clubs.

Without a good wallet, reaching the club world cup is a feat reserved for a handful of teams that, due to mystique or filming, can kick the board.

It is so difficult that, it is said, only River, Boca, San Lorenzo and Estudiantes managed to rub shoulders with the elite.

The monopoly of Mexican clubs in Concacaf had an

impasse

in the Champions League: the Seattle Sounders of the United States arrived as a representative of the North American leagues at the Club World Cup.

The increasingly powerful Major League Soccer (MLS) has its representative and stands as a threat to the Mexicans, like the Brazilians to the Argentines.

If it is by wallet, there is no shortage of dollars there

.

look too

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River's round deal with the historic sale of Enzo Fernández to Chelsea: what will he do with the millions that come in?

Franco Armani joins the "Otamendi operative": "Hopefully we can have him here in the middle of the year"

Source: clarin

All news articles on 2023-02-01

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