Expanded FIFA Club World Cup: Tournament News & General Discussion [R]

So if the going rumor is that Conmebol will send champions from both the Libertadores and the Sudamericana...then Ecuador's Independiente del Valle just qualified for this Club World Cup, right?

 

Yep... a team that has been in Ecuador’s top division for less than a decade and has never won their domestic league.

 

I’m no expert in Ecuadorian football, but the difference between the two stories is that LDUQ actually had some history at the domestic level prior to their international feat. Unlike Independiente del Valle, they had already won their local league title 9 times before playing the CWC. Another big difference is that Liga’s roster featured several international players if I recall correctly, while Independiente only have 2 players in the current Ecuador squad (one of them without any prior caps, I may add).

I am by no means ruling out Independiente del Valle from performing well in the CWC, but you also have to consider the difference between the achievements of the two sides if you’re going to make comparisons: Liga’s 2008 participation was due to winning the Copa Libertadores—CONMEBOL’s most prestigious title—, while Independiente have qualified to the 2021 CWC by nature of winning the Copa Sudamericana, a second-rate title which most of the powerful teams of the continent do not participate in due to being involved in the Libertadores (think River, Gremio, Boca, Flamengo, etc). Liga was therefore much more tested than Independiente del Valle and had to get through much tougher rivals to make it to the intercontiental stage.

Once again, not knocking Independiente del Valle... they did their thing and eliminated powerhouses like Corinthians and Independiente (ARG) in the process, but they are far from being one of the top teams in the continent (or even their own country, historically) and not much should be expected from them, even given LDUQ’s positive impression in the past.

 

So now we get to play the fun game of "How many players will still be on this squad by 2021?"

OTOH, if the money's right, this might just spark a resurgence of club loyalty, e.g. Gaby Torres passing on anything short of a mid-level European offer in the hopes of raking in the bonuses with IDV in two years' time.

 

CONMEBOL has requested to have two more CWC slots to be on par with the amount of UEFA representatives

https://www.tycsports.com/futbol-in...-para-el-mundial-de-clubes-2021-20191112.html

(article is in spanish)

 

Yeah, unlikely, but it's still CONMEBOL's president pushing for it (in the article he is quoted as saying he directly asked Infantino for the change)... so who knows... we're not talking about some random press rumor or minor faction proposal.

 

Infantino: You will watch three-team groups, and you will like it, Mister!

Kind of a shame that none of the confederations currently running 24-team tournaments (UEFA, CAF, AFC) is willing to be FIFA's guinea pig and give 3-team groups a try And here I'm only half-joking: at best, the 3-team group stage would be more entertaining than what we have now, and at worst it would be mercifully shorter.