After five (5) big chances created, one penalty, and 1.98 expected goals scored, Africa’s most honoured club, Al Ahly, still ended their FIFA Club World Cup opener against an ageing Inter Miami without even hitting the goal post.
Then there is Inter Miami, a side whose inclusion in the tournament itself cannot be explained beyond one word: Messi.
A lot of the build-up and pre-game hype was around how a “mini Barcelona relic” of an Inter Miami team led by the man himself was going to make us feel nostalgic about the good old days. We all know how that went.
Two questions come to mind then, after these first few games at the Club World Cup. The first, Inter Miami, is not winning the tournament, but will they even make it out of A with all these “old men”? Two, are Africa’s best teams, clubs or national, winning at the world stage anytime soon?
Let’s try to answer each of these questions in this article, one after the other, beginning with Inter Miami.
Inter Miami supposedly faced the easiest side in Group A when they played Al Ahly, and after 90 minutes of play, anyone who watched will come to this conclusion: the Egyptian team was the better team by quite a distance.
When the goalkeeper of a team is named as Man of the Match (MOTM) for a game, it says everything that needs to be known about how the game went.
Al Ahly could have, no, should have been up by at least 3-0 by the end of the first half. The three former Barcelona stars, Messi, Busquets and Suarez, were nowhere to be found, but perhaps not their fault. They are old.
Aged 37, 36, and 38, respectively, Messi, Busquets and Suarez could not have their usual impact on the game as they did for Barca some time ago.
Messi, while he completed 3 of his 4 dribbles, created 2 chances, and hit the woodwork once in 5 total shots taken, also lost the most duels in the game, 10. Messi was dispossessed 6 times and made only 12 passes into the final third.
Luis Suarez apparently created the most chances in the game, 3, something you would not even suspect he did by watching that game. His only 2 shots, one on target, 6 touches in the opposition box, and 0 dribbles completed better represent what we saw of him.
Busquets, probably as expected, was the busiest of the trio, given the number of attacking actions he had to thwart, completing 6 defensive actions, recovering the ball 8 times, and winning 6 of the 12 duels he contested.
But the bit of Busquet’s game we missed was his deep playmaking, making only 3 accurate long passes from the 7 he attempted, creating 0 chances from deep, and being dispossessed 2 times.
FC Porto and Palmeiras, both with squads valued at 346 million euros and 253 million euros, respectively, at least 150 million more than Inter Miami’s 66 million euros squad, according to the website Transfermarkt, will be much tougher opponents than a 50 million euros valued Al Ahly was.
So again, can Inter Miami’s aging side make it out of Group A? We don’t think so.
Now to Al Ahly. When one considers that they are the most decorated team in Africa, one would realize the magnitude of what their ‘failure’ at the world stage means for the entire continent.
If you watched the game, you would have been really impressed with how easily Al Ahly played through the Inter Miami team several times to get themselves in scoring positions, but then in those key moments, they did what every team in Africa, from national teams to club does against bigger opposition, they choked.
Even from the six-yard spot, Trezeguet, an experienced merchant of the game, could not convert. When you imagine what would have happened if all those goal-scoring opportunities fell to Messi or the Miami team, you just know. Africa’s teams are not there yet.
To compete at this level and even dare to go all the way to win, you have to be able to kill teams when you smell blood. You have to be able to be brutal and merciless. Al Ahly respected Inter Miami way too much.
It does not bode well for Africa’s footballing hopes and dreams, Al Ahly’s performance, but perhaps I am jumping the gun here, and in their remaining Group A games against Porto and Palmeiras, they will show us they are indeed Africa’s best team.
Bayern Munich are Bullies, PSG Make a Case for Favourites, & USA is Really Not a Football Nation
In other conversation-worthy matters, can we all agree that Bayern Munich are just bullies?
Against a club that can’t even afford to pay their player beyond a 90 euro travel allowance, and players who are not full-time footballers (teachers, blacksmiths, barbers, etc), Bayern won’t go easy. They put 10 goals past them. Bunch of bullies if you ask me.
When you beat an Inter Miami, Al Ahly or a Porto 4-0, that’s normal, but when you beat a Diego Simeone Atletico Madrid 4-0 in your first game, you’re saying “we’re here to win”, and that’s what UEFA Champions League champions PSG did.
Finally, the attendance at this tournament wouldn’t tell you it’s a 1 billion tournament. The USA is indeed not a football nation. They call it “soccer” for crying out loud.
With stadium tickets being sold at cheap prices and “buy one for extra 5” promos being run just to fill stadiums, if I were FIFA President, between that and Trump’s travel bans, I would start praying for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
You can check out the ongoing FIFA Club World Cup games here on MSport.
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