2023-12-11 14:25:00
Club World Cup between City’s numbers and competitors’ dreams
Manchester City will be a candidate to join Barcelona of Spain and Bayern Munich of Germany, the only two who have achieved the sextet, when the champion of England and Europe participates in the FIFA Club World Cup in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia is hosting the tournament for the last time with its current system, which includes the champions of the six continents, in addition to the champion of the host country’s league, which is Al-Ittihad this season.
In the next edition in the United States, the competition will witness the participation of 32 teams, and will be held every four years instead of every year.
Despite City’s suffering at the local level following being without victories in four consecutive league matches for the first time since April 2017, it recovered with a difficult 2-1 victory over newcomer Luton Town.
Only Barcelona and Bayern have won the league, the local cup, the local Super Cup, the Champions League, the European Super Cup and the Club World Cup, as the Spanish team achieved it in 2009 with Guardiola, while Bayern won it with Hansi-Dieter Flick in 2020.
City will play in the semi-finals with the winner of the match once morest Urawa Red Diamonds of Japan and Leon of Mexico (AFP)
Guardiola also hopes to hold the record, as he is equal to Carlo Ancelotti, each of whom has three titles. He also seeks to become the first coach to reach the final on four occasions.
Guardiola said regarding participating in the Club World Cup: “It is a very important and prestigious tournament. “It is not easy to qualify or win the title.”
City will play in the semi-finals with the winner of the match once morest Urawa Red Diamonds of Japan and Leon of Mexico.
But before City visits Jeddah, the competitions begin with a confrontation that may be easy for Al-Ittihad, led by its new coach Marcelo Gallardo, who previously participated twice with River Plate in 2015 and 2018, once morest Auckland City.
The federation is experiencing fluctuating results. After the departure of Portuguese coach Nuno Espirito Santo, who led the team to the league title for the first time in 14 years to qualify for the tournament, the federation’s management found what it needed in the Argentine Gallardo.
But the Argentine coach’s start was not good, as he won only two matches in the local league and the AFC Champions League, and the team lost 3-1 to Damak in the last match before the World Cup.
Gallardo spoke regarding his need for time to build, because success is greater than just victory and defeat, as the basis is building identity when he took over as coach of Al-Ittihad last month.
The 48-year-old coach said: “What most led me to come here was ambition and the desire to achieve something for these ancient fans. The next period will be for work.
We have a great challenge ahead of us, which is the Club World Cup, which is a quick test. I had a quiet year, so getting excited once more is what I was looking forward to. We are all looking forward to this completely different experience.”
Al-Ittihad will begin the dream of equaling the achievement of Al-Hilal, which reached the final last year before losing 5-1 to Real Madrid, by facing Auckland, which is participating in the tournament for a record 11th time.
Part of Al-Ittihad’s training in preparation for the World Cup (Al-Ittihad Club)
Al-Ahly of Egypt, which is participating for the ninth time in the tournament, awaits the winner of Tuesday’s confrontation. Al-Ittihad previously defeated Al-Ahly in their only confrontation in the tournament in 2005, with the goal of veteran Mohamed Nour.
Nour told the “Dorena Ghir” program on the Saudi TV station: “I am not afraid of Al-Ahly, as I am confident in my team.”
Nour may rely in his opinion on the modest level presented by the Egyptian and African champions in the recent period, as he failed to achieve victory in three consecutive matches in all competitions for the first time under coach Marcel Kohler.
Although the circumstances of Al-Ittihad and Al-Ahly are similar at the present time, Al-Ittihad goalkeeper Marcelo Grohe believes that his team must focus on facing Auckland first.
“Our goal is to advance as much as possible,” Grohe said. All the matches in the Club World Cup are difficult, as they feature the best teams from every continent. There is a tension factor in the first game.
It’s a single knockout match, so you need to win it to stay in the competition. “We know that Auckland will be a tough competitor, but we will prepare as best we can.”
He added: “If we win (over Auckland), we will focus on Al-Ahly. Dreams cost nothing, anything can happen in football.
The winner of this side will advance to face Fluminense, which finished the Brazilian league in seventh place, and won the Copa Libertadores Cup for the first time in its history last month with a 2-1 victory over Boca Juniors of Argentina.
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