The 10th Edition of FIFA's Club World Cup takes place this week, for the first time in Morocco. While the much-maligned competition has its detractor's, I for one think its a great idea. To have the Champions of all the different regions taking on each other competitively is a fantastic opportunity to showcase their talents to a global audience.
One issue of contension though, is Fifa's determination to condense the tournament to eleven days instead of two weeks. In these days where the squad game rules, especially in Europe, teams from the weaker Confederations are expected to play three games in seven days. While finance in Europe's biggest clubs isn't an issue, for the weaker teams taking part it certainly is. The quality of player available to the smaller Confederations teams obviously wouldn't be up to the standard of Europe's top clubs, and to expect them to play three games in seven days just makes no sense. It wouldn't be so bad if the major European and South American teams also played as many games but that is not the case. With both Europe and South America having a bye to the semi-finals, they only have two games in a week. It's a little unfortunate but thats the way Fifa want it.
Teams:
Al Ahly - African Champions League Winners
This is their fifth time at these Championships and their second in a row. Unfortunatley for them they have had no competitive league football this year as the Egyptian league was suspended due to the infamous Port-Said disaster and it's not known when it will resume. For Al Ahly to even be here is a miracle in itself. It just shows the quality and determination this squad possess. It's quite an experienced squad, with the likes of goalkeeper Sherif Ekramy, midfielders Shehab Ahmed, Mohamed Aboutrika (pictured), and Emad Meteab. The best they can hope for would be to be competitive in the first game against Guangzhou but with limited competitive matches I would expect them to fall in the quarter-finals.
Raja Casablanca - Moroccan Champions as Hosts
The hosts for this years Club World Cup, Raja comfortably won their domestic Title in June, losing only two games the whole season. This season however, after eleven games they've won four, drawn four, and lost three. Maybe their focus has been on this World Club Cup instead of the league, even though they are only five points adrift of the leaders Moghreb Tetuoan. Raja's squad, you would imagine probably won't be up to this standard. With Hicham Aboucherouane not involved in the squad they will be seriously hampered, as striker Yassine Salhi (pictured) will have to carry the burden on his own. With Raja facing Auckland in the opener, the best they can hope for would be to shock the New Zealanders.
Guangzhou Evergrande - Asian Champions League Winner
Guangzhou, under the tutelage of World Cup winning coach Marcelo Lippi are quite interesting. Having narrowly missed out on an historic treble with the Asian Champions, Lippi and his squad will want to make amends here. Having had both of his main strikers suspended for the second leg of the Chinese FA Cup, they just failed to overturn a 2-0 deficit. With midfielder Dario Conca (pictured) leaving the Chinese champions at the end of these championships, after a hugely sucessful few years, his team-mates will want to give him a great send-off. They have great quality in the squad, with Huang Bowen and Dario Conca in midfield pulling the strings and also croping up with goals while Elkeson, Muriqui and Gao Lin are the main goal threat. Guangzhou have to play Al Ahly in their first match and i wuold expect them to win and win well. As for how they will fare against Bayern is another question, if Bayern take them lightly, then Guangzhou might manage a draw.
Bayern Munich - UEFA Champions League Winners
What can you say about the German treble winners? They have beaten all before them this year. Having demolished Barcelona at the Nou Camp in the champions league semi-final, they then went on to beat Dortmund in the final. Then, in came the wonderful Pep Guardiola to put his stamp on Bayern. Where could he improve the team? Was it possible? He hasn't changed personel too much, only bringing in Thiago who got himself injured. The biggest change he made was to move captain Philipp Lahm (pictured) into midfield, and its paying off. With Arjen Robben and Ballon D'or nominee Frank Ribery in the team anything is possible. Having only dropped four points in the league this season, they are well on their way to another Bundesliga Title. They are going to be very hard to beat here, especially if they bring with them the same winning mentality they've showed so far this season
CF Monterrey - Concacaf Champions League Winners
Auckland City FC - Oceania Champions League Winners
Perenial participants in the Club World Cup, Auckland, while still amateur have great experience to call on. Defender Ivan Vicelich is New Zealands most capped player, but age is creeping up on him. The rest of the squad are relatively youngand they will be eager to tear into locals Raja in their first game. A player to watch out for is Papua New Guinea youngster, 17 year-old David Brown (pictured) who has already scored two goals this season. They have beaten Al Ahly and TP Mazembe in previous editions of this and i'd expect them to be victorious in the game against Raja Casablanca.
Athletico Mineiro - Copa Libertadores Winners
Brazilian side Athletico Mineiro, winners of the Copa Libertadores in july have an array of talent at their disposal. Manager Cuca leads a well organised team but with an emphasis on attacking football, with ex- CSKA Moscow, Man City and Everton striker Jo at the fore-front. Former World player of the year Ronaldinho (pictured) is the main man in the Athletico team, directing things from the number 10 position. With himself and Jo scoring 27 goals between them it's easy to know where the threat comes from. But, with Diego Tardelli also in the team, they can switch all along the front line and try and confuse defenders. Ronaldinho has had a resurgence at Athletico and if he can reproduce some of the form that made him World player of the year it cuold be a woderful finish to the year for the Brazilians.Published by @gersloveofsport
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