GW Emperor
30 Oct 2008, 12:22 PM
With the true greatest competition in Club Football returning this December, I would like to get your thoughts on the competition and if possible how you believe the final standings will look come the tournament completion.
The Fifa Club World Cup is a comp which tends to be degraded by people living in the continent of Europe (my continent), but is seen as huge by the other 5 continents of the World, and rightly so.
The FIFA Club World Cup at the end of the day is the true best club competition in the world, this due to reasons that a) it is the only way for club's to be truly crowned as the World's Best Club, b) the prize money of 16.5 million is the biggest prize money offered by any club competition in the World, c) 6 of the 7 clubs involved actually belong in the competion as they are champions, this unlike misleading competions such as the UEFA Champions League, which oddly and unfairly can involve teams that finnish in second, third and fourth within their league.
The only reason why the FIFA Club World Cup is often degraded in Europe is because Europe always heavily over rates anything within their continent, and heavily under rates anything out of it. This of course is absolute madness, especially when you look at the fact that on the World stage, the continent of South America has more victories and trophies over the continent of Europe, this in World Soccer Competions.
With the European's you get the impression that they believe they are too good for a competition like the Club World Cup, but this is actually far from the truth. It is far from the truth because the South American's have won both the Club World Cup and Tokyo Cup (the older version of the competition) far more than the European's have, and the Europeans and even the South Americans never have a easy match against the clubs from the other continents of the World either.
The 2008 edition of the FIFA Club World Cup will consist of each champion from the 6 Continents of the World, which was declared via their head club competion (i.e. UEFA Champions League), and as an added extra the champion of the host nation's domestic league, which will be the J-League out of Japan.
Adding a domestic league champion to the competition is a stupid decision in my opinion, as they are a huge odd one out when you consider that the rest of the teams involved will all be continental champions. Despite this however, it is still the most proper competition in World Club Soccer, and this is because their is only one team that doesnt belong in it, whereas the other six all do belong in the tournament.
At this present time the following clubs have qualified for the competition:
UEFA: Manchester United (England)
CONCACAF: Pachuca (Mexico)
OFC: Waitakere United (New Zealand)
CONMEBOL: LDU Quito (Ecuador)
AFC: Awaiting Winner
CAF: Awaiting Winner
Host Nation League Champion: Awaiting Winner
Of these clubs involved Manchester United will be favourites to win this year's competition, but my prediction is that Man Utd will only win it if they turn out a very strong squad and Christiano Ronaldo must be in it. If Ronaldo is not in the first team then Man Utd will find it very hard against clubs like Pachuca and LDU Quito, and will probably get knocked out of the tournament. The Japanese league champion will also be very hard to beat as European teams always struggle against these sides, especially when the Japanese are on their home turf.
Both LDU Quito and Pachuca are very strong teams, and Pachuca are playing in the Mexican Primera Division, which is currently one of the World's strongest league's and just like the Mexican National side is getting stronger and stronger with each year.
In my opinion if each team can turn out their strongest side then the final rankings in the knock out tournament will look like this:
World Champion: Manchester United, Runner Up: LDU Quito, Third Place: Pachuca, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth Place: CAF Champion, AFC Champion, or J-League Champion (Difficullt to call the final positions of these clubs) Seventh Place: Waitakere United.
Remember that this tournament is a knock out tournament, which also features a third/fourth place play off, and 5th/6th place playoff. The European and South American teams join in the Semi Finals, whereas all others, apart from the team who loses in the one first round match between J-League Champion and OFC Champion, will be involved in the two Quarter Final matches.
So then CONCACAF Fans and citizens what are your thoughts on what is truly the best club competion in World Soccer?
The Fifa Club World Cup is a comp which tends to be degraded by people living in the continent of Europe (my continent), but is seen as huge by the other 5 continents of the World, and rightly so.
The FIFA Club World Cup at the end of the day is the true best club competition in the world, this due to reasons that a) it is the only way for club's to be truly crowned as the World's Best Club, b) the prize money of 16.5 million is the biggest prize money offered by any club competition in the World, c) 6 of the 7 clubs involved actually belong in the competion as they are champions, this unlike misleading competions such as the UEFA Champions League, which oddly and unfairly can involve teams that finnish in second, third and fourth within their league.
The only reason why the FIFA Club World Cup is often degraded in Europe is because Europe always heavily over rates anything within their continent, and heavily under rates anything out of it. This of course is absolute madness, especially when you look at the fact that on the World stage, the continent of South America has more victories and trophies over the continent of Europe, this in World Soccer Competions.
With the European's you get the impression that they believe they are too good for a competition like the Club World Cup, but this is actually far from the truth. It is far from the truth because the South American's have won both the Club World Cup and Tokyo Cup (the older version of the competition) far more than the European's have, and the Europeans and even the South Americans never have a easy match against the clubs from the other continents of the World either.
The 2008 edition of the FIFA Club World Cup will consist of each champion from the 6 Continents of the World, which was declared via their head club competion (i.e. UEFA Champions League), and as an added extra the champion of the host nation's domestic league, which will be the J-League out of Japan.
Adding a domestic league champion to the competition is a stupid decision in my opinion, as they are a huge odd one out when you consider that the rest of the teams involved will all be continental champions. Despite this however, it is still the most proper competition in World Club Soccer, and this is because their is only one team that doesnt belong in it, whereas the other six all do belong in the tournament.
At this present time the following clubs have qualified for the competition:
UEFA: Manchester United (England)
CONCACAF: Pachuca (Mexico)
OFC: Waitakere United (New Zealand)
CONMEBOL: LDU Quito (Ecuador)
AFC: Awaiting Winner
CAF: Awaiting Winner
Host Nation League Champion: Awaiting Winner
Of these clubs involved Manchester United will be favourites to win this year's competition, but my prediction is that Man Utd will only win it if they turn out a very strong squad and Christiano Ronaldo must be in it. If Ronaldo is not in the first team then Man Utd will find it very hard against clubs like Pachuca and LDU Quito, and will probably get knocked out of the tournament. The Japanese league champion will also be very hard to beat as European teams always struggle against these sides, especially when the Japanese are on their home turf.
Both LDU Quito and Pachuca are very strong teams, and Pachuca are playing in the Mexican Primera Division, which is currently one of the World's strongest league's and just like the Mexican National side is getting stronger and stronger with each year.
In my opinion if each team can turn out their strongest side then the final rankings in the knock out tournament will look like this:
World Champion: Manchester United, Runner Up: LDU Quito, Third Place: Pachuca, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth Place: CAF Champion, AFC Champion, or J-League Champion (Difficullt to call the final positions of these clubs) Seventh Place: Waitakere United.
Remember that this tournament is a knock out tournament, which also features a third/fourth place play off, and 5th/6th place playoff. The European and South American teams join in the Semi Finals, whereas all others, apart from the team who loses in the one first round match between J-League Champion and OFC Champion, will be involved in the two Quarter Final matches.
So then CONCACAF Fans and citizens what are your thoughts on what is truly the best club competion in World Soccer?