if you want to resort to the rule book im pretty certain there is no rule that says you cant participate if you are involved in a bribing scandal from 3 years ago. once again i remind you i dont care for kashimas participation and i probably wouldnt care if jeonbuk was denied (not 100% sure how id react to this until i see it for real but whatever) but as long we are arguing whose place is more deserved: a) qualifiers for this tournament is the continental tournament b) all other teams but kashima is the current continental title holder c) afc had looked into the matter last month and had all the power to stop jeonbuk from winning the tournament but did not perhaps you should write fifa a complaint on jeonbuks participation
How much more similar can you get then? I can ask you exactly the same for the Confed cup. http://www.eurosport.com/football/f...-exciting-and-relevant_sto4718474/story.shtml I feel like I'm flogging a dead horse here. PM me if you want to continue this inane argument.
By making the Conf Cup the world championship and eliminating the holders berth. But that won't happen, we already have the World Cup. No, we can end the argument here. You like the CWC host berth, I despise it. There's no denying that all CWC participants, except one, have to go thru the grueling 2 year journey of qualifying for, then winning their Champions League. The host just has to do half that effort. Terrible.
Getting back on the rail, Jeonbuk have won an extra $1.5M for coming 5th, and have raked in more than $5M from all competitions. On the other hand FC Seoul won around $0.5M for winning K-League Classic. http://sports.hankooki.com/lpage/soccer/201612/sp2016121507001693650.htm And Kim Bo-Kyung is now off on his honeymoon which he had put off for the tournament.
I don't want nor need to since it says both teams are legitimately engaged in the tournament but if I was to question a participation, I'd rather talk about the team involved in match fixing. What AFC (and the K-League) did about it was weak, akin to a slap on the wrist. It wasn't my mindset to complain about anything and Jeonbuk are out anyway.
The CWC will always be sort of a glorified friendly cup, at least for the foreseeable future. The format has no real legitimacy unless all the participants at least enter at the same stage. The CONMEBOL champs were dropped 3-0 by a team which finished 15 points behind 1st place in the annual J-League table... FIFA probably lacks the political will or organizational energy to fix the format and rotate hosts, so this is what we have. Nothing to write home about, but it's something.
I wonder how many noticed...but Lee Han-do came on for Jang Yun-ho on the 71st minute, making his first appearance for Jeonbuk.
I don't think anyone outside the most crass Eurosnobs see it like that. Don't you think UEFA has earned the bye to semifinals. That is objectively the toughest confederation, they deserve the bye. Giving a 2nd confederation a bye is no big deal, it should go to whichever reaches the Final the previous year. Well, it will be in the UAE next year. The host berth is my only gripe about this event.
I was probably too harsh in the assessment and I certainly don't want to denigrate the respective continental CLs, which I enjoy and respect. I just think the whole weird bracket is a function of 1) UEFA being cranky about squeezing in extra matches and 2) sweeping the OFC team out the door before the "real" stage to minimize the dilution of play quality. They compromised a bunch when setting up the CWC to succeed the Toyota Cup in the first place, and I don't feel like it's a priority of FIFA to improve the tournament further.
Just finished watching the game and I must say I was really impress with Jang Yunho. He's got good passing, can retrieve the ball, and doesn't lose the ball. Hopefully he can be Jeonbuk's no.1 DM next season, that'll be his next stepping stone.
Hwang Seok-Ho will be the second Korean footballer to feature in the final of Club World Cup. The first was Park Ji-Sung. I'm guessing he would start on the bench for Kashima Antlers having been dropped after the Auckland City game. I wonder whose shirt he would ask for at the end of the game.
Also, Sergio Ramos defends the video assistant referee system, and has a dig at a specific incident: http://en.as.com/en/2016/12/17/football/1481972049_370361.html
Atletico Nacional beats Club America on penalties. Atletico could have easily finished this in normal but were extremely wasteful, just like the Kashima Antlers game.
What a final. A hat-trick for Ronaldo. But very impressive display from Kashima Antlers too. Unfortunately for @Marco91 , if anyone was looking for an Asian to sign in this tournament, it's not going to be his man-crush.
You are taking my point way too seriously.Plus yes, technically clubs can sign any player, but I doubt clubs are lining up to sign Lee Jae-Sung from his CWC performance.
Was unimpressive against a Club America side, and though he played well against Mamelodi Sundowns, their standard was absolutely atrocious this tournament.