The World Cup gold for club teams will be decided today in Saudi Arabia. Manchester City is the overwhelming pre-favourite.
Erling Haaland celebrated his place in the final with his teammates. PDO
The club world championship will be decided on Friday in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The “dream final” of the tournament will be seen on the turf of the King Abdullah Sports City stadium, as both reigning Copa Libertadores champion Fluminense and Manchester City, who won the Champions League last spring, cleared their semi-finals without any problems.
Throughout its history, the World Cup tournament for club teams has suffered from the belittling of sportspeople. However, it was the City manager Pep Guardiola considers it one of the most important competitions.
Guardiola himself was in the midfield when Barcelona tried to win the Intercontinental Cup for the first time in its history in December 1992. It was a precursor to the current World Cup tournament, where the best teams from Europe and South America met.
However, Guardiola was disappointed as São Paulo knocked out the Catalans with a 2–1 victory.
– I remember that final very well. São Paulo was so much better Rain, Müller’s and thanks to other fantastic players, Guardiola recalled ten years ago.
– We had no chance to compete with them – let alone win, he praised Tricolor Paulista’s championship.
Vengeance
Since then, Guardiola has treated the World Cup as a kind of never-ending revenge tour.
He made up for the final defeat he experienced as a player by leading Barcelona twice (2009 and 2011) to the title of the renewed World Cup tournament.
In the latter, Barça faltered Neymar’s Santosia as much as 4–0. The match is considered the best work sample of Guardiola’s career.
His 3–7–0 tactics showed even then how little the actual playing positions matter if the team works as a whole.
– The result was 4–0 only because time ran out. I just took care of myself: “Don’t do this to my Santos, Pep”, one of the legends of the brass club Pepe said.
The last time the Catalan celebrated the club team’s World Cup gold was in December 2013 as the head coach of Bayern Munich.
Now he has the opportunity to conquer the World Cup trophy for the fourth time.
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Pep Guardiola last won the World Cup title for a club team at the helm of Bayern Munich in 2013. PDO
– The players are ready. They know how important this is, Guardiola assured on Thursday.
– Fluminense has beaten teams from Argentina, Colombia and Uruguay. Their style of play is typical Brazilian from the 1970s and 80s. In addition, they have several players who are over 37 years old, so they know how to control their emotions.
Haaland on the sidelines
City is the overwhelming favorite in the final match, although the team’s performance in the domestic Premier League is not convincing.
On Saturday, it allowed Crystal Palace to share the points, even though they led the match with two goals with a quarter of an hour to go.
City has dropped league points no less than five times in their previous six matches. The fans are impatiently waiting for the super striker Erling Haaland’s return to the fields.
The injured Norwegian was seen training with the ball as early as Wednesday, when City’s French-language X account published a picture of him.
The picture was soon deleted without explanation, but City fans already had time to get excited on social media. They desperately need their talisman on the field.
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The truth is that Haaland is training for the match against Everton scheduled for the 27th.
Warning
City played the semi-final practically entirely without a orthodox striker, but the level difference between the European and Asian Champions is so huge that Urawa Red Diamonds still couldn’t defy the Sky Blues.
The level difference to the South American champion is frighteningly large. No European club has lost a match at the World Cup since 2012, when Corinthians knocked out Chelsea in the final.
The undefeated streak has now lasted 21 matches.
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Bernando Silva has a greater responsibility for attacking power when Erling Haaland is on the sidelines. PDO
For City, a victory in the final would mean a fifth trophy during the calendar year 2023. In the Guardiola era, there is already talk of a 16th possible City championship.
– When I was here for the first time in 2009, we needed an equalizer in the 93rd minute to go to extra time. We were favorites even then. I understood then that how strong the opposition will be from South America, Guardiola warned.
Manchester City–Fluminense starts at 20:00. Iltalehti Plus shows the game live in Finland.
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