2016 FIFA Club World Cup: Tournament News & Qualifiers [R]

(Capacity was capped at 40K due to security reasons)



Congrats to Mamelodi Sundowns for bringing back the title to South Africa for the first time in 21 years. Let's see if this kick-starts the entire league for better continental results. Can't help but think of Guangzhou Evergrande's Asian title after more than two decades and how it did wonders for the CSL.

Looking forward to seeing the Brazilians at the CWC.

 

And yet they have come a long way from nearly losing the series against Chicken Inn FC.

In other news, CAF has increased the prize money for its Champions League.

 

Got my tickets for the ACL decider on November 26.

Hopefully Al Ain will return from Jeonju with a decent first leg score on Saturday. As a reminder, this is where we stand less than a month away from the CWC opener:

UEFA: Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (Spain)
CONMEBOL: Club Atlético Nacional S.A. (Colombia)
CONCACAF: Club de Fútbol América S.A. de C.V. (Mexico)
AFC: TBD (Nov 26)
CAF: Mamelodi Sundowns Football Club (South Africa)
OFC: Auckland City Football Club (New Zealand)
Host: TBD (Dec 3)

@unclesox - time for a J. League update?

 

The new J. League format doesn't really work great for the CWC tournament organization does it? For the third time the J. League winner only has four days to prepare for the CWC opening match (2011 was a last match-day decider under the old "European" format). Urawa may be able to draw a 20K+ crowd on such short notice but I'm not sure about the other two.

Let's talk about the Asian final for a moment. Both clubs are previous winners. Al Ain in 2003 and Jeonbuk in 2006. Al Ain's title is the only one to date for the UAE and the hunger is definitely there for more especially after Al Ahli's run to the final last year. It won't be easy however, East Asia has won 9 out of the last 10 editions and the K-League in particular has long been the dominant Asian league. Al Ain will require the skills of UAE star Omar Abdulrahman (nominated for 2016 Asian player of the year) to lift them in this series. @jared9999 - will you be doing some opponent scouting this weekend?

Btw, in case you are wondering how the whole Al Nasr Indonesian passport scandal turned out, the club has been banned from the ACL:

 

Watching footage from the 2006 ACL final involving Jeonbuk Motors it reminded me how much potential there was in Syrian football at the time. Al Karamah (Homs) and Al Ittihad (Aleppo) regularly drew very passionate crowds of up to 40K in Asian competition. Al Karamah got so close in 2006:



Oh what could have been for Syrian football...

 

Infantino wants to expand CWC and play it in June, starting 2019:
http://uk.mobile.reuters.com/article/idUKKBN13D1UA

 

Agreed. Let's stick to the 2016 CWC on this thread. For the expansion discussion let's go here.

 

What I forgot to mention is that when Qatar's Al Sadd took the title in 2011 they did so against...wait for it...Jeonbuk Motors in South Korea (that was when the AFC thought it's a good idea to have a single game hosted by one of the finalists, no matter how unfair for the opponent).



Less than four hours to go until the first leg of the Asian final.

 

AFC Final, First Leg: Jeonbuk Motors (South Korea) - Al Ain (UAE) 2:1



Al Ain scored the away goal but must be disappointed not to walk away with a draw.

Still, all to play for next week...

 

Yes, very much looking forward to it. Looking at ticketmaster the only tickets left are AED 300 or more so I would expect a sellout. You should check it out, it's one of the best stadiums in region. As I mentioned previously I would expect the CWC to be played there next year with Zayed Sports City out of the picture. So start planning your December next year.

In other news, Mexico has pulled out of the 2017 Copa Libertadores due to scheduling issues.

 

I'm just glad Asprilla pounced on it as he frustrated me the rest of the night. With a bit more calm he could have made it 2:0 for Al Ain shortly thereafter (with Jeonbuk's keeper out) and the game could have ended very differently.