I mean serioulsy if S America doesn't reach the final next year their semi spot should be taken away They don't deserve it anymore and they can't use the "but the Libertadores final was so long ago and teams have changed drastically"
But who would get the seed then? The host team? None of the unseeded confederation champions have done squat the past 5 years , if ever.
Well I'm flying to Malaysia... .wouldn't dare wear it here in Qatar, but I'll wear my Al Ain jersey once I get there...
🇦🇪🇦🇪🇦🇪Host team @alainfcae_en advanced to the #ClubWC final after a penalty shoot-out victory against @CARPoficial 💪 pic.twitter.com/xWI2L3QtTH— FIFA (@FIFAcom) December 18, 2018
Let CONMOBEL, OFC, and the host teams start from the quarter-finals. Example Quarter-finals 1 CONMOBEL vs OFC 2 CAF vs The host 3 CONCACAF vs AFC Semi-finals Winner 1 vs Winner 2 UEFA vs Winner 3
And they also didn't have to travel as far either. No excuse. No one. Read the post above this. You are taking from them. The scoreline determines the best team. GDL were the best team, and they still hold bragging rights over all C'CAF until a new champ is crowned. I wanna hear what argentinefan has to say about this, or even ArgentineFootball. This is a small consolation for River's rivals. Or an even bigger insult since they couldn't beat a team worse than Al-Ain.
Matchday 3 - Summary: M1 | 12.12.18 | Al Ain - Team Wellington 3:3/4:3 PSO (Playoff) M2 | 15.12.18 | Espérance Tunis - Al Ain 0:3 (Quarterfinal) M3 | 15.12.18 | Kashima Antlers - CD Guadalajara 3:2 (Quarterfinal) M4 | 18.12.18 | Espérance Tunis - CD Guadalajara 1:1/6:5 PSO (Match for 5th Place) M5 | 18.12.18 | River Plate - Al Ain 2:2/4:5 PSO (Semifinal) M6 | 19.12.18 | Kashima Antlers - Real Madrid (Semifinal) M7 | 22.12.18 | Loser M6 - River Plate (Match for 3rd Place) M8 | 22.12.18 | Winner M6 - Al Ain (Final)
The pressure is definitely on the Libertadores champions next year to justify the semifinal seed. Taking the customary five-year view in club football the picture looks like this: 2015 Sanfrecce Hiroshima – River Plate 0:1 2016 Atletico Nacional – Kashima Antlers 0:3 2017 Gremio – Pachuca 1:0 AET 2018 River Plate – Al Ain 2:2/4:5 PSO 2019 ??? Failure next year would mean 3 (defeats) out of 5 in the semis. Attending the semifinal last night was a great spectacle. I don’t think I have ever witnessed a UAE stadium this loud. A historic moment for UAE football. The River Plate fans were rather quiet for most of the evening and only woke up during extra time as defeat became more and more tangible. Now River have to avoid the worst ever finish for CONMEBOL in the match for third place. On a related note, Chivas’ 6th place finish is the worst ever for CONCACAF. Esperance has restored a tiny bit of pride for African club football but I still won’t consider them as favorites in a match anytime soon (OFC excluded). Not when the best you can present in a five-year window is two 5th place achievements. The CAF champions need to start surviving the quarterfinal stage again. Looking ahead to tonight’s match, we are just one slip-up away from having an Asian CWC champion!
Well, the tournament being in Asia does favor the AFC team and causes the biggest jet lag for the teams from the Americas. If the tournament were held in, say, the USA, the results would be very different, I'm sure. BTW, I wouldn't be surprised if Kashima beats River.
Yes, we have been hearing that one for years. Hopefully it will soon be put to the test. (although it looks like the competition is headed to China next)
Weren't they just coming from Spain though? Maybe the fact that the tournament takes place so quickly after the Libertadores final has something to do with, the timing of the tournament itself. I do agree though, if FIFA wants to take this tournament more seriously, a more fair host-rotation policy would be better...
As you know, the return match should have occurred on November 24, but it was ultimately played on December 11 due to violence and confusion between CONMEBOL, local authorities, and who knows what else. Between the match in Madrid and the game vs. Al Ain, River had a lot to do: celebrate, travel, rest, and train. But a few days of good sleep should have sufficed for them to recharge their batteries, and they were saying that they were "hot." If you were to read some of the dailies in their countries, speculation was all about a River Plate vs. Real Madrid final, with many saying THIS was the year to defeat Real given its sad results in Spanish league play as of late and considering River was on fire and hungry for more. I wrote in the CONMEBOL forums that within the context of the match in Spain, River deserved to win it. But it is precisely because it won the Libertadores, and all the talk about how great a team it was, that the onus of victory was greater for River than for Al Ain.
M6 | 19.12.18 | Kashima Antlers - Real Madrid (Semifinal) I am recording this so I might avoid this forum today, but I am very much looking forward to this match.
US is still damn far from River Plate but at least the jet lag would be minimized. Please. I thought you didn't want the format to change? But ,yes, I would be in total favor of having only the UEFA team seeded while the other 6 play in the QFs. I think it would actually be better for CONMEBOL to lose the seed. The travelling support, which is usually large, would have up to 3 meaningful matches to attend. That makes it well worth the long trip. It would also mean that everyone involved in the quarterfinals would be playing their first match so its more fair.
I don't know. Also makes the trip a whole lot more expensive if 3 games are played for those supporters.
I suspect for most of the travelling support, the CWC is only one part of a long vacation (who travels half-way around the world and is only gone for 6-7 days?). But even if it isn't, those with Monday-Friday jobs are already having to take the entire week off work just to see 2 games. They would only have to take probably 1 additional day off and 3 additional hotel nights with this revised format. I'd say that's well worth it for an extra match. [Of course no guarantee they would see 3 matches but most of the time they would].