Nope. Euro snobs will claim the Yurpeen teams weren't motivated and/or the players are tired after the end of a long season, while the MLS and Brazilian players are in peak form mid-season so it doesn't count.
Neymar has played about eight games for Al Hilal since September 2023 and cost a fortune. He’s once again injured for about six weeks. Anyone spending big money on him at this point is a fool.
Here are the tournament regulations: https://digitalhub.fifa.com/m/18848e4224efbd91/original/FCWC25_Regulations_EN.pdf They also confirm, black on white, that Miami was FIFA’s pick. PS: Can a mod change the thread title to the full name? 2025 FIFA Club World Cup?
It depends how much money they are willing to spend. Reports of Santos trying to get him for January are already circulating. Doubt Santos would pay him a fortune. Also reports of him going to Miami. I'm sure Miami can pay him way more than Santos but no where near what Saudi pays him. He found the perfect gig in Saudi Arabia.
So just one more team to qualify (Copa Libertadores winner) with Inter Miami being chosen as the host team? Also kind of funny that one of the teams in the final has three former MLS players (Savarino, Almada and Gregore)...that's kind of like another MLS team in the tournament right?
And still I support FIFA by choosing Miami as the host team, this is a business and none other MLS team will caught the worldwide attention as them just by having Messi in the team and I say this as Galaxy fan,
And when Miami fail miserably they'll ask "is this the best you've got?". And the answer is probably yes.
They won’t fail, you’ll see it on the stands, fifa wants to do the same thing in liga Mx with Pachuca, and I don’t blame them, this is a business and Pachuca will fail in the stands.
Yes, it is a business. No one is arguing otherwise. But there comes a point where sporting integrity has to be preserved. This isn’t pro wrestling after all. And the inclusion of Miami crosses that line. The MLS Cup winner is the main league champion and should therefore have gotten the host nomination. It’s as simple as that. Not sure what your Pachuca comment relates to, but if it’s about the rumoured inclusion of Club America due to Pachuca’s and Leon’s common ownership then I have yet to see a reliable source on that.
I wouldn't go that far. There is a legitimate case to be made for including the Shield winners. Its not like FIFA said "we're taking Atlanta" or something. The problem is everyone knows they didn't pick Miami because they won the Shield. They would have found another excuse to take them if they haven't. But the fact that they did win the Shield keeps it just this side of the sporting integrity line.
Exactly, for example the MLS players for the all star team are pick for sporting merit or by the fans but there is 1 or 2 players that are picked by Don Garber and nobody complains about it. but in this case FIFA should just pick Miami as host team without mentioning the Shield.
Had any other team won the SS, would they have gotten the nomination? I think we all know the answer to that. In that case it’s safe to assume the MLS Cup winner would have gotten the nod. So in 28 out of 29 possible SS outcomes the MLS Cup winner gets the “golden ticket” (assuming Canadian teams were eligible). To me that means integrity, sporting and otherwise, is out the window.
There have been 20 CWC editions so far. Every time the host club was the “main” league champion. This is a farcical deviation from the norm.
This is hyperbole. In an overwhelming majority of countries the league champion isn't determined via playoffs. Look we can disagree, and dislike Fifa's decision all we want. At the end of the day Miami finished at the top of MLS' League Standings when the regular season ended. The reality is that despite the major strides the sport of soccer has made in the US (and its' increased popularity) the US Sports Media isn't going to care about the how or why Miami will be participating in this tournament. Oh sure the writers at the Athletic will bemoan, and complain about the decision. The reality is that a fraction of The Athletic's readers will view those articles in comparison to an article about the virtues of the spread offense, 46 defense, the designated hitter, and/or the expanded College Football Playoff.
If FIFA had said at the start of the season "the Shield winners will get the slot" none of us would be complaining. Well, ok, we might bitch a bit about picking the Shield winners over the Cup winners but in the end we would accept that it was a reasonable decision if not the best one. The problem is that FIFA waited until after Miami won the Shield to announce it, because it gave them the excuse they needed to get Miami in. So we ended up with an acceptable result through a less-than-credible process. Its bad but its not "question sporting integrity" bad.
It’s a farce! I demand Inter Miami’s spot is rescinded and given to the Leagues Cup winner, the true universal undisputed champion of world football.
Serious question. When the CWC returns to the US, do you think the SS winner will once again get the host nomination? Because I personally wouldn’t bet money on it. MLS will suddenly “find its voice” and successfully lobby for the MLS Cup winner. For the record, I don’t particularly favour using playoffs to determine a league champion. But that is the method MLS chose and that is the method that should have been honoured.
FIFA Club World Cup 2025™ draw set for Thursday 5 December in Miami, with the event kicking off at 13:00 local time (19:00 CET).Further draw details, including the draw procedures, will be published on the FIFA Media Hub and https://t.co/sool5M7508 in due course.… pic.twitter.com/fluq9PjsWJ— FIFA Media (@fifamedia) November 11, 2024