Chelsea won the FIFA Club World Cup Final in Abu Dhabi after defeating Brazilian side Palmeiras in extra-time.
The Champions of Europe followed up their narrow 1-0 defeat of Asian Champions Al Hilal in the semi-final with a similarly narrow 2-1 victory over South American Champions Palmeiras to win their first-ever Club World Cup.
Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku headed home for the English side early in the second half to give them the lead, however, that advantage was short-lived as the Brazilian side levelled less than 10 minutes later with Raphael Veiga converting a penalty following Thiago Silva’s handball.
The match looked destined to be decided by a penalty shootout until another penalty was awarded for handball, this time for Chelsea. Kai Havertz stepped up to score the decisive winner for the Blues with three minutes of extra-time to go.
It was the ninth consecutive time the UEFA Champions League winners lifted the FIFA Club World Cup. The last non-European victory came when Palmeiras’ Sao Paolo neighbours Corinthians defeated Chelsea 1-0 in Japan in December 2012.
However, despite Europe’s dominance in the tournament over the past decade, the popularity of the tournament is far higher in South America than in Europe.
This was highlighted by the fact that well over 10,000 Brazilian fans took the 15-hour flight from Brazil’s largest city to support their side compared to less than 3,000 Chelsea fans who had travelled half the distance from England.
As a further indication of how much the defeat meant to Palmeiras, riots broke out in Sao Paolo immediately following the match with one Palmeiras fan being shot dead outside their stadium where fans had gathered to watch the final on large TV screens.
Chelsea have little time to reflect on being able to hail themselves as newly crowned World Champions as the Club World Cup Final is the first of five matches in a row in different competitions. Up next is Crystal Palace away in the Premier League followed by a Round of 16 Champions League tie at home to Lille before two further domestic cup ties against Liverpool in the Carabao Cup Final and an away trip to Luton Town in the FA Cup.
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]]>Portsmouth will travel to Peterborough in the third round of the cup just over 48 hours after their 2-1 defeat to Bristol City in the FA Cup.
Kenny Jackett, Portsmouth manager, was brave in deploying his first-choice team, knowing full well he has an important cup encounter on Tuesday night. His side lack time to recover before travelling to the Weston Homes Stadium. It is expected of Portsmouth to utilise some of their academy prospects as well as their reserve players against the Posh.
Assistant manager Joe Gallen was certain that some unfamiliar faces may feature for his side:
“With the lads who started the game on Sunday, it would be a bit foolish for them to play so quickly again on Tuesday.”
“There will be a lot of senior players playing and some younger players playing alongside them, with a lot of youngsters playing in the bench.”
Pompey have been high-flying in the EFL Trophy so far, sweeping Cheltenham aside by three goals to nil in their most recent affair in the competition.
The Blues are the current holders of the trophy after beating Sunderland in the 2019 final.
Additionally, they are yet to play last season’s postponed encounter against Salford City.
Image: Peterborough United
Peterborough United will look for revenge after their 2-0 league defeat to Pompey last month. However, they’re now undefeated in four since the defeat to Portsmouth early on in last December.
The Posh have lost just once in the EFL Trophy so far, losing on penalties to Cambridge United before hammering West Ham Under-21s 3-0.
Darren Ferguson’s men featured in a 1-1 draw on Saturday against Lincoln City in the league having been knocked out of the FA Cup to Chorley in the second round.
The manager confirmed that wide-man Joe Ward will feature for at least 45 minutes as the club’s physio department begin to integrate the 25-year-old back into full fitness. Ferguson is yet to determine whether he will play in the first half or second.
Talisman Jonson Clarke-Harris has been in inspiring form. He’s currently League One’s top goalscorer with 12 goals in 18 appearances. The Leicester-born man has hit the back of the net 73 times from 286 appearances at the time of writing, averaging a goal every four appearances: a decent record for a player that’s had spells at 11 different clubs.
If it’s a draw after 90 minutes, the match will be decided by penalties.
It’s inevitable that it’ll be an entertaining, highly contested match.
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Football isn’t romantic anymore, is it?
Well after Roberto Firmino’s late winner on Wednesday, Liverpool remain in Doha for their third Club World Cup Final. Their previous one, timely for the competitions’ return, saw Brazilian side Sao Paulo take a shock win back in 2005 after the Reds saw three goals chalked off questionably.
And their other time facing a South American side in this competition, romantically, came against Flamengo.
Lead by superstar Zico and balling on a dustbowl, Liverpool’s champions of Europe fell 3-0 to goals from Nunes and Adilio in a total dismantling of Bob Paisley’s men.
This Flamengo side is packed full of South American Samba magic much akin to their 1981 predecessors. Gabriel Barbosa, or Gabigol, had a failed stint in Europe with Inter Milan recently, but the former Footy Manager wonderkid has found his feet once again with Mengão.
34 goals in 41 games in 2019. Clinical.
Filipe Luis, Rafinha, Bruno Henrique and Diego Alves all boast European experience too, with that counting massively in their dominance of Brazil in recent years.
Team News
Flamengo will have a clean bill of health when they take on the Reds, with Barbosa the only slight doubt after picking up a knock against Al-Hilal.
The Reds in contrast are suffering hugely, with Dejan Lovren, Joel Matip, Fabinho, Nathaniel Clyne and Rhian Brewster all out for a little while before and after the new year.
Virgil van Dijk is set to return after illness ruled him out of the Monterrey clash, with Gini Wijnaldum another touch-and-go to be ready for Saturday’s fixture.
From the Dugout
Jurgen Klopp:
“The situation is different for Flamengo and us.
“Flamengo got sent here from their continent with a clear order to win it and to come back as heroes. We got told, ‘Stay at home and play the Carabao (League) Cup’. That’s a massive difference.
“We cannot change that. But we are here and we – my team – want to win the competition, even when we know it is very difficult because the other team is really, really good, but that’s how it is with the big competitions.”
Jorge Jesus:
“We cannot compare between two good teams easily. Yes, Liverpool has a distinct history in recent years: they have won many titles and they are one of the best clubs in the world.
“Jurgen Klopp has been with the team for many years and accomplished a lot with them, not only in the English League but Champions League. Liverpool have left their mark on world football.
“We know Flamengo are enjoying an excellent season, so there are similarities. We can say Liverpool and Flamengo may be at the best levels in their history.
“But we know the top clubs in Europe have the budgets to recruit the top players in Latin America and Europe.
“We don’t have the financial capabilities compared to European clubs so I am happy with the level we have reached despite the financial differences.”
Head-to-Head
Flamengo won the only encounter back in 1981 to take this very competition back to South America – can they do it again?
For more build-up on the match, Mark Szczuka gives an insight to Liverpool’s amazing year
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On the Saturday before Christmas, they can follow up their dramatic semi-final victory on Wednesday evening against Mexican side, Monterrey, by beating Brazilian side Flamengo in Doha, Qatar.
Liverpool will already end 2019 top of the English Premier League (currently 10 points ahead of Leicester City who they play away on Boxing Day) along with being UEFA Champions League holders (having beaten Spurs 2-0 in Madrid in June) and still with a chance to defend that title after winning their Champions League qualifying group last week.
Liverpool will face Flamengo in the Final after the Brazilians defeated Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal 3-1 in the other semi final on Tuesday. Flamengo will be cheered on in the Final by an estimated 10,000 fans from Rio de Janeiro. Flamengo secured their place at the tournament following their last minute winner against last year’s South American representatives River Plate in the Copa Libertadores Final in Lima at the end of November.
Photos: Stephen Gormley (Red Eye Photo Agency)
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Despite that, certain players could not avoid the limelight with Erin Cuthbert facing the media before and bravely after the 3-3 draw with Argentina.
A German TV crew asked me to point out Cuthbert, Kim Little and Rachel Corsie to their photographer at a training session in Nice.
However of the many players who grew, and perhaps outperformed expectations, in France, arguably none stood out more but beneath the radar that defensive midfielder Leanne Crichton in the Argentina game.
The 31-year-old plays her club football for Glasgow City and therefore was not sought out by the English media prior to the two nations meeting in Nice on June 9, unlike her teammates who play in the WSL.
Having not been selected for the two lost games, she played the full game against Argentina where she covered large amounts of territory trying to shut down a surprisingly potent offence for a side that had defended obdurately for the first 180 minutes of their World Cup.
Obviously, the nature of Scotland’s elimination superseded any other news agenda when Crichton spoke in the immediate aftermath of the final whistle:
“I’m feeling just really disappointed and probably a lot of confusion as well because I don’t understand how we’ve went from almost seeing the game out and the decisions have just unfolded in front of us.
“It’s honestly total confusion even with the substitution. Take away the VAR, I don’t know how the referee hasn’t noticed that there’s still a substitution in process when they allowed play to go on when the ball comes in and the penalty is awarded.
“I think not only do we need to go away and look at how we’ve drawn this game. I think the referees need to go away and look at how they’ve managed to lose control of such a huge game in a huge moment in football and they’ve managed to make those decisions tonight because for me there’s no excuse for that.
For me, the referee lost total control of the match in the last few minutes and I don’t think she knew the time that was to be added on.
“That’s what you call dealing with pressure and you ask us as players to deal with that pressure in that moment and contain our emotions and I feel that tonight the referee was the only person on the pitch that was unable to do that and it was at the most vital moments in the game and we’re stood here at the end of this result.”
That analysis seemed fair enough to all who witnessed the events in Paris but Crichton’s disappointment did not prevent her realising the need for Scotland to look deeply at their own contribution to losing a 3-0 lead, as well as the wider implications for women’s international football.
“Yeah, I think we need to take responsibility for probably allowing ourselves to become embroiled in that, as well as the effect on women’s football for other sides.
“I think the difficulty comes when you can’t speak to the referee and the referee doesn’t choose to speak to you. There’s a lot of discussions happening in the referee’s ear. I don’t know if that affects how she’s able to control the match and whether that truly becomes her control but world football needs to go away and look at how decisions like this are going to cost teams like Scotland.
“Even in the France game the other night it happened as well and honestly, the game should be moving in a better direction and I’m stood here tonight feeling like we’ve taken a couple of steps back.”
Looking back at the journey, Crichton wasn’t yet ready to come to firm conclusions about what had been learned. But she knew she would:
“No, I don’t think it will sink in yet. We’ve got a strong group of players who have worked really hard to get to where we are.
“Maybe it’s a learning curve for us it’s the first time we’ve been at a World Cup and perhaps that’s the decisions that you have to deal with but in my opinion, you shouldn’t have to deal with that.
“We can be proud of the performance that we’ve put in. We’ll certainly go away and look at the errors that probably cost us a couple of goals that allowed Argentina and credit to them as well because they fought very hard.
Indeed, she finished with time and thought to give due credit to the opponents who had just broken Scottish hearts:
“Both teams had to go for it tonight, had to win the match and there’s not many teams in world football that would have came back the way Argentina did so credit to them as opponents.
“I’m sure they’re disappointed with the time that’s not been added on at the end of the match as well because they would have probably felt they could have went on and got the three points that perhaps would have changed their tournament as well.”
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Saturday 22 December 2018
Real Madrid were re-crowned World Champions last night after winning the FIFA World Club Cup by defeating Asian Champions Al Ain 4-1 in the final in Abu Dhabi.
Despite the disappointment of the departures in the summer of their manager Zinedine Zidane and star-striker Christiano Ronaldo and the resulting drop in domestic form (4th currently in La Liga), Real Madrid still managed to successfully become the first club in history to win three consecutive World Championships, having qualified by winning the last three UEFA Champions Leagues.
2018 FIFA World player of the year Luka Modric opened the scoring for Real Madrid in the first half. There were further goals for Marcos Llorente and Real’s captain Sergio Ramos before Al Ain scored a late consolation goal in the 86th minute and then helped Real restore their two goal advantage by scoring an own goal in the 91st minute.
Earlier in the afternoon Argentinian side River Plate comfortably defeated Kashima Antlers from Japan 4-0 in the 3rd / 4th match.
The Zayed Sports City Stadium in Abu Dhabi will once again be the centre of World Football’s attention when the Asian Cup kicks off in exactly two weeks time with host nation United Arab Emirates kicking off the tournament against neighbours Bahrain.
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Goals from Luka Modric, Marcos Llorente, Sergio Ramos and a late own goal sealed Los Blancos’ fourth Club World Cup in the last five seasons.
The rout started as Ballon d’Or winner Modric curled a left footed effort past the despairing goalkeeper on 14 minutes. Surprisingly, despite his 15 honours won with Real, the goal marked the Croatian’s first goal in a final.
Real had overcome Japanese side Kashima Antlers to reach this stage and made their dominance tell as they doubled their lead early in the second half.
Al Ain failed to clear a corner which fell to the feet of Llorente, who hit a thunderous half volley low into the bottom corner from 25 yards.
Never one to shy away from the spotlight in finals, Sergio Ramos was next to get on the scoresheet, converting a header from a Toni Kroos corner to put the game beyond the hosts’ reach, before celebrating wildly by pointing to the name on his back.
The Abu Dhabi side did pull a goal back from Tsukasa Shiotani’s header before Nader Moustafa Elsharif’s own goal completed Madrid’s 4-1 victory in the 15th instalment of the FIFA Club World Cup.
Gareth Bale finished top scorer in the tournament with three goals, all coming in his semi final hat-trick against Japan’s Kashima Antlers.
The win marks six consecutive European winners and Santiago Solari, who wins his first trophy as Madrid manager was quick to thank his predecessor Zinedine Zidane for the foundations he laid.
“We are happy, these players deserve it, they have come here after a lot of work and a lot of wins,”
“We put a finishing touch to that third consecutive Champions League, it is a feat of the club, this group and other coaches.Santiago Solari talking to TVE
“We are also here thanks to Zidane. It will be difficult to match in the future.”
Elsewhere in the third place playoff, South American champions River Plate easily disposed of Madrid’s semi-final counterparts Kashima Antlers running out 4-0 winners.
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Sounder-down-Under is a look at the beautiful game from the other side of the world, written by Seattle ex-pat Drew Dickson.
As the world tries to get its head around the idea of what the Brexit means to economic agreements and potential repercussions from an non-united Europe, the English Premier League is going to also see a flood of potential changes.
Ownership
With a lower £ to … well, take your pick of global currency, it is going to be a lot easier for foreign investors to buy large stakes of clubs, if not outright ownership. It might come to a point in time where TV commentators and radio announcers have to refer to the grounds by their original name because they will all be called the “Emirates Stadium”.
Transfer fees
You thought you were losing money getting your money back into US Dollars after a trip was bad! Echoing off the previous point, imagine the lose clubs in England will now face as they buy players from the Continent BUT just think of how much they will get for selling players!
Not in the EU? No special work rights for EU players!
This might be the biggest thing to impact the league. Short of a player who is from the United Kingdom (united for how long?), work rights are an issue. While there are relatively few English players who play on the Continent, many European clubs do have a restriction on non-EU players. With the Brexit, it means that EPL teams are now faced with the fact that what was one a simple agreement will now subject the player to the same battery of tests that players from South America faced, despite being from the same continent. I suspect we will see a stockpile of European players by clubs this year before all the Chunnel closes, so to speak.
Oh, the irony.
Pay
Show me the money! While the prestige associated with playing in the ELP will remain for a long time, if not forever, how much a player could make will affect decisions in the future. We all look at how much a new job pays before we apply. How tough will the decision be for young players who come from struggling families to choose between an EPL side and being paid more in comparison to play in France, Italy, or Germany? You cannot fault a kid from wanting to get the best for his parents.
Chanting from the opposition fans
England loses a game, expect a chant of “Brexit” to come from the winning team’s fan base. It writes itself.
The women’s game
While the state of men’s football is a near constant focal point, what might suffer more is the state of the women’s game in England. While fans will support every aspect of their team, smaller clubs that play in the FA’s Premier League National Division rely on dynamic players to bring in crowds. Restrictions on players means a heavy reliance on the club itself to produce younger players.
Separated
Positives?
There are some benefits to this. For American players, they are now on par when it comes to the hoops that a European National faces to play in the EPL. That means it is not as convenient to pluck someone from Holland or Austria and it will hopefully mean that players are selected more so on their skill set. Selfishly, for Americans, this is the best thing we can get. While we do boast a large contingent of foreign based players, to continue to compete with the best, we need to play side by side with them and against them. We need to have players who are consistently playing in Champions League matches in their respective continents as well as in clubs that are on the top half of their standings. Brexit means we will have the chance to vie for spots on equal footing to Europeans in the EPL.
What might be even more interesting is we will also see a bigger rise in the Academy system at EPL clubs. While these have always been a picking ground, the near free trade between EU members has meant more of a focus on a club’s war chest then its youngsters. The downside to this will be that with an full-fledged exit in two years from everything EU, that is a short time to get your academy system going. It has been a while since you saw an entire youth squad make their way through every stage to a senior debut.
What will we see next? Should we now expect Scotland’s #Scotfree? Northern Ireland’s #NorthernOurLand or Wales #Welseeyoulater?
]]>Sounder-down-Under is a look at the beautiful game from the other side of the world, written by Seattle ex-pat Drew Dickson.
Last week, Argentine midfielder commented to CentroDeportivo.com (Spanish site) that given the state of play by competitors from their rivals in CONCACAF, perhaps now would be the time to combine CONMEBOL and their North American counterparts. I disagree.
CONMEBOL sends 4.5 teams (depending on the results of the inter-continental playoff) to the men’s World Cup every four years. CONCACAF sends 3.5. So if we did away with the inter-continental playoff, it would mean that Oceania Football Confederation and Asia Football Confederation would have to play against each other every time for that remaining playoff spot. And this is just one competition that we are looking at. We also would need to reaffirm the numbers for the Women’s World Cup, Futsal World Cup, Beach Soccer World Cup, U-17, Olympics … and the list goes on.
And yes, I know that those would not be fixed by tomorrow, or next year (or potentially the year after that). Honestly, my major objection isn’t about who goes to the respective finals for each competition, the length of flights, or even how it would now force the MLS to take off time for International Matches like the other national competitions. My reasoning is because there are a lot of countries that would miss out on chances to represent their nation on the biggest stage the sporting world has to offer.
What would it be called?
Think back to World Cup 2006. Trinidad and Tobago took their place among the footballing elite in Germany. If we were operating in a CON-Combine (and what would we be called, seeing as we have long enough acronyms as it is for both), would they have gotten there? Would we have seen Haiti in the Copa America this year? Would Cuba make the cut?
It is easy to say that the teams who made it to this 100th Anniversary of the Copa America had what it takes to take on the South American teams (ignoring the Mexico loss), but minor footballing nations in the Caribbean would suffer. Anyone who has been beaten by a monster score will tell you that it is tough to come back from. Facing it year after year has the potential to destroy footballing culture. Want to see an example?
Did you know the Caribbean nations have a cricket team that competes internationally? The West Indies (or Windies), face off in test matches against the likes of Australia and England. They used to be fairly good, but have gone through a patch the past fifteen years of being beaten in three days of a five day test (I cannot explain this quickly, but imagine a game that lasts five days, but is cut off on day three because of a score). The Windies don’t have a large population, and as you might imagine not a lot of youngsters want to play cricket at the moment.
As fun as Copa America has been to watch, and as great as it has been for us to see South American stars playing in our home towns I don’t think it should be a yearly thing. For the sake of countries that are looking to make their return to the World Cup, and nations that want to make their debut on the world stage, we must continue to be CONCACAF.
Richard Fleming: USMNT: The case for CONMEBOL and the end to low expectations
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