The saddest thing about the tournament is that these fans will miss the next game From stats, I see that Al Ahly have 0 shots in first half And the atmosphere of the match is incomparable to the previous one
Sounds like Marcel Koller needs to have a chat with his players. And yes, big drop in intensity (on and off the field) compared to the first match. But there is still a second half. Scoreless at halftime.
Well, that was a sleepy match. The Sounders stood well in defense and Al Ahly struggled to break them down. That's basically the story of the match - at least since I started watching. Al Ahly move on to face Real Madrid but as an Al Ahly fan I wouldn't be very pleased with this performance.
Most US fans were expecting a much worse loss. One of the reasons MLS has struggled in the CONCACAF Champions League is that it is played in the MLS preseason and early regular season when teams are not yet at full fitness. The Club World Cup is even earlier in the year than the CONCACAF Champions League has been. And that showed, as the Sounders looked like the better team through 60 minutes and then ran out of gas.
Well, had it been a "normal" year the CWC would have been in December - also not ideal for MLS teams (especially if they miss the playoffs like the Sounders). Anyway, credit to Seattle for getting reasonably prepared for the competition.
They usually do, but completely dropped the ball on this one. If the annual format continues for 2023 and 2024 (before the expansion in 2025) they should announce the hosts by summer at the latest.
This would require them to figure out what they plan to do with the Club World Cup. Everything seems very ad hoc lately. I still think the plans for a big CWC every four years are awkward at best, even if they somehow work out the logistics (highly doubtful), because it seems weird for clubs to be playing in a Club World Cup three years after they qualify for it.
Agree on it being awkward but Infantino seems hellbent on this expansion. In the end it will be a question of money. If Infantino can raise the funds he promised, the clubs will go for it. This is not like the addition of other FIFA tournaments - the clubs stand to gain directly from it.
Matchday 2 - Summary: M1 | 01.02.23 | Al Ahly - Auckland City 3:0 (First Round) - Highlights M2 | 04.02.23 | Seattle Sounders - Al Ahly 0:1 (Second Round) - Highlights M3 | 04.02.23 | Wydad Casablanca - Al Hilal 1:1/3:5 PSO (Second Round) - Highlights M4 | 07.02.23 | CR Flamengo - Al Hilal (Semi-Final) M5 | 08.02.23 | Al Ahly - Real Madrid (Semi-Final) M6 | 11.02.23 | Loser M5 - Loser M4 (Match for 3rd Place) M7 | 11.02.23 | Winner M5 - Winner M4 (Final)
Moving on to the semis... Since the tournament was reorganized in 2005, no UEFA club has ever left the field defeated when facing an opponent that wasn't South American. Hard to envision a different outcome here. Al Ahly may once again have to settle for third place at best. That said, Real Madrid lost their final La Liga match last night against Mallorca (1:0) before departing to Rabat. They also have a growing injury list. Thibaut Courtois is out of the CWC for sure. On paper the Flamengo-Al Hilal match looks a lot more interesting. These clubs already met once before in the 2019 CWC semis, and Al Hilal had a pretty good start in that match. But with players like David Luiz (ex-Chelsea), Arturo Vidal (ex-Juventus), Éverton Ribeiro, and of course Gabriel "Gabigol" Barbosa this Flamengo side is a formidable one. Record of the Libertadores winner in the semis for the past five years: 2017: Grêmio - Pachuca 1:0 AET 2018: River Plate - Al Ain 2:2; 4:5 PSO 2019: Flamengo - Al Hilal 3:1 2020: Palmeiras - Tigres UANL 0:1 2021: Palmeiras - Al Ahly 2:0
Just for fun, I have compiled all of MLS' competitive intercontinental matches: 1998 | DC United - Vasco da Gama (Brazil) 0:1 | Copa Interamericana (Final Series) 1998 | Vasco da Gama (Brazil) - DC United 0:2* | Copa Interamericana (Final Series) 2001 | NY Red Bulls - Deportivo Petare (Venezuela) 2:0 | Conmebol Copa Merconorte (Group Stage) 2001 | Deportivo Petare (Venezuela) - NY Red Bulls 2:1 | Conmebol Copa Merconorte (Group Stage) 2001 | Millonarios (Colombia) - NY Red Bulls 2:1 | Conmebol Copa Merconorte (Group Stage) 2001 | NY Red Bulls - Millonarios (Colombia) 0:1 | Conmebol Copa Merconorte (Group Stage) 2001 | Kansas City - Sporting Cristal (Peru) 1:2 | Conmebol Copa Merconorte (Group Stage) 2001 | Sporting Cristal (Peru) - Kansas City 2:1 | Conmebol Copa Merconorte (Group Stage) 2001 | Barcelona SC (Ecuador) - Kansas City 2:3 | Conmebol Copa Merconorte (Group Stage) 2001 | Kansas City - Barcelona SC (Ecuador) 1:1 | Conmebol Copa Merconorte (Group Stage) 2005 | DC United - Universidad Católica (Chile) 1:1 | Conmebol Copa Sudamericana (R16) 2005 | Universidad Católica (Chile) - DC United 3:2 | Conmebol Copa Sudamericana (R16) 2022 | Seattle Sounders - Al Ahly (Egypt) 0:1** | FIFA Club World Cup (Second Round) *Played in Fort Lauderdale (Florida) **Hosted by Morocco. Played in February 2023 I count 3 wins, 2 draws, and 8 losses. Not included are games against other Concacaf teams in Conmebol tournaments.
Seeing Real Madrid in last 2 games, against Mallorca and Real Sociedad, scoring 0 goals, right now I'm asking if Al Ahly can do a surprise in CWC
No 5th place game this time. I could have sworn they used to have this, no? So Seattle sure came a long way just to play one game and score no goals. Wydad at least didn't fly too far.