The FIFA Club World Cup is billed as the “biggest club title of all” by world soccer’s governing body — however, this month’s tournament in Morocco is more likely to serve as a reminder of the chasm that separates domestic soccer in Europe from that in the rest of the world.
It is difficult to envisage anything other than a win for Real Madrid in the tournament which, bizarrely, has been thrown under a cloud by players of Asian champions Western Sydney Wanderers threatening a boycott over a pay dispute.
There is some logic to FIFA’s claim, since the contest brings together the champion club sides from each continent, plus the domestic title holders of the hosts.
However, the reality of modern soccer, in which the world’s top players are concentrated in Europe, is very different.
While European champions Real will be brimming with cherry-picked world-class talent, the likes of Argentina’s San Lorenzo, Mexico’s Cruz Azul and Algeria’s ES Setif struggle to muster half a dozen regular internationals between them.
The talent drain to Europe means that the top South Americans and Africans play against, rather than for, the teams from their continent.
Teams from South America and Africa are generally made up of players who have not been good enough to earn a move to Europe, plus a few who have been abroad and have returned.
In the wake of the FIFA World Cup this year in Brazil — in which Argentina, Mexico and Algeria all reached the knockout stages — clubs from these countries should give Real plenty to think about.
However, the only member of the San Lorenzo squad who played at the World Cup was 38-year-old Colombian defender Mario Yepes and, while ES Setif have a few players with a sprinkling of appearances for Algeria, none of them played in Brazil.
Nevertheless, San Lorenzo, like all South American teams before them, believe they can spring an upset.
“We’re not going there to see the sights,” midfielder Nestor Ortigoza told FIFA.com. “We won the [Copa] Libertadores, but now we have to turn the page and keep on making history. We’re a good side and we’re going to be up to the task.”
Despite limited resources, South American sides have won the tournament three times since it took its current format in 2005.
The action was to start in Rabat yesterday when Moghreb Tetouan, champions of the host nation, face Oceania champions Auckland City, who are taking part for a record sixth time, but have only progressed beyond the preliminary round once.
The winners progress to the quarter-finals — of which there are only two — where they are to face ES Setif on Saturday.
Cruz Azul are to meet Sydney in the other tie on the second half of a double bill, providing the team resolve their bonus dispute.
Sydney left for Morocco on Sunday night with the players still considering whether to participate in the tournament because the club have refused to negotiate over what they believe to be a “fair and equitable share” of the prize money.
San Lorenzo and Real parachute in at the semi-final stage, with the 10-time European champions set to take on Cruz Azul or Sydney in Rabat on Tuesday and the Argentine club taking on either Moghreb, Setif or Auckland on Wednesday in Marrakech.
The logical outcome would then be San Lorenzo meeting Real in the final, although Edgardo Bauza, the coach of the Argentine side, is not taking anything for granted.
“When everyone starts talking to me about Real Madrid, I tell them that we have to win the semi-final first of all,” he said. “That’s what I’ve been saying to the players.”
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