News: 2025 FIFA Club World Cup: General [Multiple Rs]

Al Ain doesn't seem to be very good.

 

Even so. This Juve team has some solid players.

 

We'll see how they do against Manchester City.

 

Conceição is going to give them fits. That guy played well in Nations league and is now a spark for Juve.
Manchester City may win but Juve should still advance.

 

That group G is a pretty weak group tbh. After seeing a bit of Al Hilal, I might fancy them to eliminate either Juve or City in the KO stage.
Want to see more of them before making that call, but what I already know is these 2 UEFA giants have been 2 of the most underachieving teams in Europe this season.

 

any particular reason why pachuca fans didn‘t show up?

 

I prefer to call it a stopped penalty by a Wydad product
if only we had oil ...

 

There's not too many Pachuca fans in the USA when compared to other Mexican teams.
And Ohio is not a hot bed of Mexican population either which is why the USA plays Mexico there for World Cup qualifiers.

 

And Salzburg holds! Just have to survive Salzburg-Al Hilal and UEFA's (regulation) unbeaten streak may continue against non-Conmebol opposition.

 

I think we can generally say there have been very few blowouts after each team has played once. Three in total, and one of them involves Atletico Madrid at the receiving end. That's an overall positive for the tournament.

 

Aleksandar Mitrovic was definitely missing.

Speaking of missing players, where was Oussama Idrissi for Pachuca @jared9999 @DGreat Injured?

 

This Al Ain side finished 5th in the just completed UAE Pro League and is a shell of the 2024 team that eliminated two PIF clubs (Al Nassr; Al Hilal) and beat Yokohama F. Marinos 6:3 on aggregate in the AFC Champions League final.

 

Not sure it was more egregious than kicking a guy in the head, which only got two games. But not like we're gonna miss either him or Ander.

 

I really like this new format. The competition is just too new to draw traveling fans. It’s a bit disappointing that the American public hasn’t “embraced” it yet—nothing’s sadder than watching a game with low attendance. With MLS teams underperforming (so far), it only fuels the narrative that Americans don’t know or care about soccer.

Hopefully, Palmeiras, Flamengo, or even Botafogo can make a deep run and pull off some upsets against top European clubs.


IMHO, this could become a major tournament over time if CONMEBOL teams manage to pull off some big wins. MLS needs to step up, and I expected more from the Liga MX teams as well.

 

There's not too many countries in the world that would get better attendance for a tournament like this in its infancy. And at the dynamic pricing. Let's keep things in proper perspective.

 

Believe it or not, but I actually agree with you. That said sub-10K crowds are never nice to see. Luckily we've only had two of them so far.

 

Not sure what you mean by shell of the 2024 team:
- 3 players left, all bench players in 2024 AFC CL knockout games: M.A.Shakir (1min), S.Al-Shamsi (25min), F.Waleed (35min).
- Coach left for sabbatical after winning 2024 AFC CL.
- UAE Pro League points: 2023-24 (45), 2024-25 (44).

Al-Ain is the same team from 2023-24. Just not good at playing away games with strong opposition.

2024 AFC CL final against Yokohama was tied 3:3 on the aggregate (lost 2:1 away). Then the Yokohama goalie was red-carded. That's how Al-Ain scored 3 goals in the last half of the final home leg.

 

In hospital with gastroenteritis. Expected to miss his team's next match vs Pachuca.

Similar ailment affected Seattle players before facing Pachuca in 2024 CONCACAF Champions Cup final.

 

FIFA could also do a better job with the qualifying format to ensure the best teams are involved. Afterall, that is kind of the point of such a tournament.

That would help with attendance. Not saying they should shoehorn popular teams in like they did with Miami and tried to do with Club America, but if you design a qualifying process that leads to the best teams competing head-to-head, then chances are the matches will all be quite attractive.

Anyway, I have little doubt that this will be altered. Hopefully in a transparent manner but I know that's asking alot

 

Yup, he's French. Doesn’t have the stomach for American food. Been there done that. But surely with the right meds he'll be fine in a couple of days.

 

Hmmm.

 

I mean shell of the 2024 team in terms of form.

They finished the UAE Pro League in 5th place. If you are familiar with the league then you know that just about all the quality is concentrated in seven teams. Then you had AFC continental play. They finished dead last in the (western) league phase with just two points in eight matches.

It's been a high fall from grace.

 

I was wondering the same when seeing he wasn't even on the bench, he was brilliant in the last club world cup