FIFA Club World Cup: Japan 2016 [R]

Regarding the CWC and its relationship to the Intercontinental Cup, I find it laughable that FIFA has distanced itself from the original tournament by not including its history on the current FIFA website.
Here's video of the 1986 match between River Plate and Steaua. Note @44:05 the very brief clip of the stadium scoreboard and the huge FIFA flag flying above it. This tells me that the Intercontinental/Toyota Cup was endorsed and sanctioned by the sport's governing body.

There was a time when FIFA had on their website a list of "Classic Clubs". Here's a capture of that FIFA webpage from 16 December 2008.
Close attention reveals that the clubs listed were those that had won the Intercontinental Cup, Toyota Cup and/or FIFA Club World Championship/Cup.

On the page for AC Milan we see links to three match reports:
2007 CWC
1989 and 1990 Toyota Cups
1969 Intercontinental Cup
At the very least, this tells us that as late as 2008 FIFA equated the Intercontinental/Toyota Cup to the present FIFA Club World Cup.
When and why FIFA decided to change their stance on the Intercontinental Cup is anybody's guess.

 

Bigger club always gets the calls.

Happens in the Champions, in the Libertadores, everywhere.

 

It's not a Club World Cup prior to actually inviting clubs from other continents. The world was a much more level playing field back in the days and chances were much higher then that a club from another continent would have won it.

 

CONCACAF sure, as a confed, but Mexico always had a strong league. AFC obviously not. CAF up until the 80s had most of their elite players on the continent. So yeah.

 

Why? The top Mexican players were based at Mexican clubs mostly. And the UEFA winners were less dominant back then.

 

A whole generation of Africa's best players hardly ever played in Europe. The 1982 Cameroon side was basically local based with a few add ons like Roger Milla. And even Milla himself only moved to Europe when he was 25. Cameroon of 1982 was the equal of Poland who finished third and Italy who won the tournament, only failing to not make it out on goals scored and the fact they had a perfectly good goal scratched off vs

African club football since the 1980s is much weaker than it was from the 1970s to the mid-1980s. Since the late 1980s the best talent was being syphooned out of Africa. So not only was CAF stronger then, UEFA wasn't such a powerhouse - there was a more level playing field.

Sure, neither CONCACAF nor CAF would have won a lot, but its safe to say they could have won a few.

My favorite example:
CANON YOUNDE - African champions in 1978 and 1980 had the following players in their line-up:
Thomas N'kono - Africa's best GK ever (I don't think anyone here would question this)
Theophile Abega - I would argue Africa's best midfielder ever and without a doubt the best midfielder on the continent during his era
Gregoire M'bida - one of Africa's best midfielders
Emmanuel Kunde - an African defensive legend

Now lets take the ICC 1980:
Nacional (URU) vs Nottingham Forest (ENG)

Can you really honestly say that arguably the best African club side ever that was the backbone of possibly the best African side ever would have no chance against either?

In the 1970s you also had the legendary Guinean side Hafia FC side that dominated most of that decade. We'll honestly never know how good a side this was, because almost none of their players ever played in Europe.

 

i don't think south american teams were head and shouldres above mexican teams in the nineties


after just a few years of competing in the libertadores america reached the semi finals, and were barely edged out 5-4 by a boca team that beat real madrid and ac milan. three years in, actually, cruz azul reached the final and beat that legendary boca jrs in argentina. its also important to remember that toluca was head and shoulders much better than the teams competing in the libertadores at this time, and weren't given a chance to play.

mexico reached the final of the copa america 1993 with all but one player playing in mexico. same with the 99 confederations cup 1st place team. i really don't think they were 'head and shoulders' better than mexican teams tbh.

 

If there's a confederation whose clubs have suffered the heaviest losses with the emergence of the European super-clubs, it's CONMEBOL.

 

In 1976 Argentina played a combined racial South African 11 (during apartheid so there was no official national team) and lost 5-1. Jomo Sono scored a Hattrick. CAF was very well up to world standard at the time. All our best players played within our boarders.

Kaizer Chiefs of the late 70s and early 80s was arguably the best team on the continent. Their (and other SA players) players went overseas occasionally and when they did, they made waves. Jomo Sono laughingly played in the same team as Pele and gave him one or two nut megs that upset Pele.

The Brazilians told Jomo that Pele was unhappy and that in order to appease him , Jomo needed to nutmeg a certain German defender in their upcoming match. Homie didn't just nutmeg the player once but twice that game. Justa. Funny piece of history lol

You should now lol

 

Patrick Pule "Ace" Ntsoelengoe was part of that team that beat Argentina 5-1. He was the best player in South African history and one of the best Africa has ever produced.

The Argentina coach, Oscar Martinez, was mesmerised and moved to say, "He is almost a perfect footballer. He can dribble, he can shoot, he can defend. He is good in the air, good on the ground. He is good everywhere you can think of"

Jomo and Ace made it into the American hall of fame for football along side Pele and other great footballers playing in the old American league

 

1. Lol nice come back. Football can be unpredictable that way.
   
   But seriously South Africa beat Argentina 5-1. A team that would later go on to win the World Cup. Things really were a lot more balanced back then than today
   

 

I'm sure Jared's been busy taking care of his fam, that's why he hasn't posted much.

The 2 greatest accomplishments in MX club football history. Only CWC accomplishments can be considered for that, since Liberators Cup accomplishments are only reserved for teams not good enough to have reached the league Final.

 

Well yes and no. There is a lot of parity in the Mexican league though so by the time the teams that qualify for the Copa Libertadores actually get to play in that tournament, they may be one of the best teams in Mexico.

Conversely a team can win the Mexican title in 2014, which means they play in the CONCACAF CL during 2015-16 and then the CWC in late-2016. By the time they actually get to play in the CWC they may no longer be the best team in Mexico.

 

The Tigres that made the final of Libertadores 2015 was one of the best in Mexico at that point. Only America was playing at that level.

The America that played this CWC is still one of the two best in Mexico. The other is, once again, Tigres.

I guess those two are the most consistent in the last three years or so.

 

Whether the current MX champ ends up having a Marlins-esque fire sale while the Lib Cup teams reinforce with all-stars, the fact remains that the MX Champ is barred from the Lib Cup tournament because they were too good the previous season. That's what always puts a grain of salt on Lib Cup results by MX teams, so the CWC accomplishments must be put on a higher plane.

Well, they're the reigning CCL Champs, so they have continental bragging rights regardless. They can use the excuse of preparing for the CWC to explain why they did bad in the league.