I disagree. It's a lot more absurd than Chelsea's current CL participation, which can be justified if the automatic berth affected Dimatteo's managing last season. At least Chelsea has to go through a group stage, and then 4 KO rounds, 3 of which are 2-legged. The best solution for that would be to absorb the OFC into the AFC, which many want to do already. I would hope that a CWC defender's berth wouldn't increase value of the tourney to the general person, nor bring more eyeballs. It'd be a pity if it did. It wouldn't make the title of world champion more justified. Chelsea already eliminated Barca. Why should they have to all over again? Yes, the champion only has to win 2 games, but that is in addition to the 13 epic games they had to endure in the CL. So in actuality, the champion has to win 15 games. No.
To be perfectly honest with you, as a Chelsea supporter, I would be more than happy for Barcelona to take the place of Chelsea in this tournament. My only hope is that Chelsea manage to get back without any injuries, I dont like what this mis season break is going to do to an already struggling club, Chelsea have far more important issues right now - like trying to eek out a league win for a sart! :-(
Chelsea didn't have to win every 2011-2012 Champions League game they played. For example, their last two games were a draw in the second leg of the Semifinals at Barcelona and a draw after regulation in the final. Chelsea had 7 wins, 4 draws, and 2 losses in their Champions League games.
Finishing third means they won two matches in 2006. You are also confusing Cairo's Al Ahly with the one from Dubai. There are more than 10 Al Ahly's in the Arab world. Translated it means "National" - Libertadores fans can relate with Nacional. I also don't understand your last point. Are you trying to say CONCACAF teams are more of a challenge (because of Mexican participation in Libertadores?) because the truth is CONCACAF has been the worst performing confederation outside Oceania. Keep checking. Italy also has 9 titles. 2009 was a terrible display by (Dubai's) Al Ahli. That said, the UAE only introduced a fully professional league in 2008. Until then all Emirati players were on amateur contracts.
FIFA will be using two systems - Hawk-Eye and GoalRef - at the CWC. Depending on performance one of them will then be picked next year at the Confederations Cup. In another decision Al Ahly were given approval to wear black armbands in memory of the 72 fans who died in the Port Said tragedy earlier this year.
My mistake. ______________________ So Chelsea are the first lame-duck European Champions to compete for the world title. Wow. I believe all other teams at the CWC are still alive for the 2013 CWC. But not Chelsea. Usually there's at least 1 team there every year who's already eliminated from the next CWC. There were none last year, but in 2010, Pachuca were lame-duck C'CAF champs.
Im all for Chelsea pulling out of this worthless, lame-duck, competition if everybody would be happy for them to be replaced by somebody else!!!
already preparing your excuses... so that's what you will say once they dont win it.. that they didnt try and the tournament is worthless []__[]
^^^ Indeed. And if Chelsea happen to end up winning it all, the "We know what we are" chant will continue to be sung, only slightly altered.
I shall say the same thing whether they win it or not, it is a worthless competition and I would rather they were not in it, and my opinion wont change even if they win the final by thirteen goals to nil. The only thing I hope and pray for is that all of the players get back injury free.
Your opinion has been noted. Luckily for those of us who follow the competition with interest the Chelsea team and management take it serious and that's all that really matters.
I wouldnt be too suprised if the Chelsea team and management dont take it seriously to be honest with you, you might find a lot of top players suddenly with 'knocks'!
As someone who has followed the competition closely since 2005 and watched all games with the European champion - I would be. Anyway, this thread is for those who enjoy the tournament. Don't like it. Ignore it.
if manegement doesnt take the competition seriously why they named torrez, oscar, mata, moses, hazard, terry, cahill, luiz, ramires, lampard and all thier first squad players to it... trust me they want to win it and dont want to be one of the european teams that end up losing it.. you might say they dont care because that way you can take credit away from the competition and not have to admit that there is a lot of talent outside of europe []__[]
Please dont get me wrong, I dont want you to think I am belittling the other teams competing I have to admit I dont really know them well but I know they are very good talented teams and therefore would be very difficult teams to play but do they really want to be taking part? My beef is not with the other teams, its with the competition itself, Im sorry but nobody gives a damn about it, maybe thats just the case in the UK? I honestly dont know, but myself and every other Chelsea supporter I know (English ones anyway) just dont want it, it will play havoc with the teams fitness and the team needs all the help in can get with what is becoming a season of struggle domestically, it wouldnt be so bad if the competition was staged out of season but to have it bang in the middle of the years fixtures makes my blood boil!
Did you see the video earlier in this thread of the 15,000 fans at the airport sending off Corinthians? The CWC is a definite season highlight for teams from the other confederations. The tournament does seem to struggle the most in the UK, more than Spain or Italy and that probably has to do with the timing. Then again the Premiership is the only major European league that has zero winter break. I was in Abu Dhabi in 2010 when Benitez won it with Inter Milan. He will definitely want to win it again and someone like Abramovich won't pass up on being world champion. I expect a fully focused Chelsea side to arrive in Tokyo.
Very good points, there is no mid winter break here probably because it is a little milder (thanks to the Gulf Stream) than it is in other (particularly Northern) European countries, therefore less frozen pitches! If 15000 Corinthean fans waved their team off then I hope for their sake that they win it. I honestly didnt realise other confederations took it so seriously, for this reason I hope that the tournament is a rousing success, for me my biggest hope is that Chelse come back feeling fresh and injury free. Incidentally I cant really comprehend the winners of this tournament being 'world champions'. What if Chelsea were to win? Hell right now theyre not even the best team in London!!!
http://www.fifa.com/clubworldcup/news/newsid=1940333/index.html?intcmp=newsreader_news_caption is titled "Cech: This is a special competition."
Well, when Chelsea won the Champions League they also weren't the best team in Europe, everybody knows that Barcelona should have won. So, what's the difference?
In 2010 SC Internacional had about 12,000 taveling fans with them in Abu Dhabi. Inter Milan also brought a decent amount - about 3,000. Not sure how many Corinthians supporters are making the trip to Japan this year but probably north of 10K. As a sidenote, Inter Milan was having a terrible season when they won the CWC in 2010. It was a morale booster and they ended up in 2nd place that year in Serie A. [Edit] This just in. Terry will miss the CWC due to his knee injury.
It is staged out of season for practically everyone but UK. And this is a competition for the World, nit suited and booted for the UK. I think the average English supporter doesn't get the tournament, they don't understand it. It aslo doesn't help that it's on the other side of the world, i'm sure in Morocco next year, if an English team got there, there wouldn't be an issue as such. More so though, I think there's a defence mechanism that goes up straight away. For instance, Chelsea are happy to be crowned European Champions, but suddenly they have everything to lose on the World Stage. They don't want to be shown up by African or Asian or Mexican teams. The average fan doesn't 'get' these teams, so they can't accept a match like this where they fear to lose. I'm English, i care about the tournament, but no other English person I know cares about it or takes notice until an English team is in - suddenly the injuries come out, the disruption comes out. But for me, you can get injured in EPL, in training, at home, in the nightclub. Chelsea having trouble right now, what better than getting out of the UK, far far away where the team can mould together more than they ever could at home. As for the management not bothered and all that kind of thing, i don't see it. Every game you should care, if not, then why be in the game. It's disrespectful. The average office worker doesn't choose as and when to do the job required, so why should a manager or player choose when they can be bothered to try to win. I can't imagne for one minute Gary Cahill playing centre back for Chelsea in CWC says it doesn't matter, course it does.