A New Frontier To Conquer - The 2025 Club World Cup Thread

Do I give a shit that Sergio fouled that guy while scoring? Fcuk No!!

Ssergioooooooo

 

This all sounds very good. The price is steep but we can’t really do anything about that now.

 

Chances are his help won't even be needed to achieve that, until now it's been widely panned and considered a flop in terms of the response it's getting. Looks even worse under the hood with organizational issues galore.

It's like taking credit for a basket scored after a double screen when you set the first screen.

 

Has this sport in any shape or form shown you that it can reliably build a runway for something stable 4 years ahead of time?

Somebody that doesn't know a thing about football asked me if this is worth going to because the tickets are practically for free now. The core football markets have no interest in it, and the markets that would pay for it look at how bad it's performing.

Unless we send these guys to play in the desert, this thing falls flat for now.


For me whoever clearly ignores how bad this thing is performing is delusional.

 

I think the interest will pick up once the KO rounds start. This is one the issues with these 32 or however many teams are involved. Back when the CL had group phase there were some seasons that 3 out of the 4 group phase games were trash and we're talking about the premier football tournament in the world with clubs involved that have huge followings locally.

Personally i am not very enthused by this as i wished the team was back in Madrid and working in peace with Xabi so we can be as ready as we can be for the first La Liga game. The players getting some actual rest (our guys need it badly) and spending time with their families and friends. But i get it, money is very important. I was listening to Trent speaking yesterday and he touched on something that i thought was interesting, he was asked about how he is getting on with his new teammates and he said that the whole team being together living in a hotel and spending loads of time is actually good, it accelerates the initial getting to know phase of the relationship. So maybe being in the US where they can actually go out and be somewhat anonymous isn't that bad a thing for us when it comes to preparation for the first La Liga game.

I have no expectations from Xabi in this tournament. He will be trying things out, sometimes we won't look good on the pitch. He is trying out different personnel groupings and not all of those will work. He needs time to embed his ideas into the team. And vice versa the players need time to fully understand and automate the actions Xabi is asking them to perform.

All i am interested in is that by the time the first La Liga game arrives the team starts to look like what it's gonna be going forward. This upcoming season is a big one for us, we can't let this Barcelona team settle in and build a juggernaut. The counter punch has to come and it has to be hard after the humiliating defeats of last season which still sting.

 

Here please

 

South American sides have had a lot of travelling support too. The atmosphere at their games has been very lively. I know the game here at the Rose Bowl was sold out and there has been buzz around town (seeing lots of billboards in LA especially near LAX on the 405).

When the Nations league started everyone said its a waste of time and now it's almost at the level of a legit tournament. I am willing to give this CWC at least 2-3 cycles.

 

Reports of friction in the Atleti and Bayern camps. Players finding out their humor doesn't really vibe that well when they are stuck with each other for weeks.

 

I've heard that from various sources now. Same at Dortmund.

Kompany commented on it that it's become one of his main responsibilities to not let what's going on there have a negative impact on their season.