Al Ain Club (left) makes fans feel sorry for themselves because they are too weak - Photo: Reuters
FIFA gives Asia 4 slots, Africa 4 slots, adding 1 slot is like a "big discount" for Oceania. And that is the serious minus point of the FIFA Club World Cup.
For Auckland City, bringing an amateur team to this football festival is really too much. There is no fairy tale, even though the players from New Zealand defended the first 45 minutes against Benfica, but in the end they still lost 6 goals to nil. Auckland City is not at fault, the one who is at fault is FIFA.
Auckland City's performance was to be expected. But it was hard to believe that Asian champions Al Ain were just as bad. They lost their first match 0-5 to Juventus, then lost their second match 6-0 to Man City.
It is worth mentioning that Al Ain is a very rich football team in the UAE. They own more than 10 European and South American foreign players in the team. They are the champions of the AFC Champions League in the 2023 - 2024 season. Therefore, it is hard to believe that Al Ain can lose their form so much.
But is it because Al Ain have lost themselves, or is it simply because their class is only that? Despite having many foreign players, Al Ain only has one name familiar to world fans, goalkeeper Rui Patricio. The rest are all third-rate players in European or South American football.
Although they did not lose as badly as Al Ain, the two teams representing South Korea and Japan could not gain any points after the first two matches. Even Al Hilal, despite playing resiliently to draw with Real Madrid, quickly revealed their true strength when they could not beat Salzburg in the next round.
Even the wild and unpredictable African representatives were completely "docile" at the FIFA Club World Cup. They were only slightly better than the weak teams from Asia or the US. The rest did not make any impression when facing European teams.
If FIFA wants the FIFA Club World Cup to be a truly exciting event, it needs to be generous in allocating tickets to worthy teams. And accordingly, only South American teams can compete with European clubs.
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/bai-hoc-cho-fifa-20250624082113674.htm
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