AC Milan won the Club World Cup this morning after defeating Boca Juniors 4-2 in Yokohama. They now have 18 international trophies, one more than Boca.
I'll have more to say about the match when I watch the replay. I heard that Kaká was brilliant, but that's not really a surprise.
And in the 3rd/4th place match, Urawa Reds defeated Etoile du Sahel 4-2 on penalties after the match ended 2-2.
One half of the Club World Cup final is complete as Boca Juniors defeated Etoile du Sahel 1-0 last night. Boca didn't play a lot of attractive football (it wasn't going to happen with Riquelme ineligible for the tournament), but they did enough to win the game through Neri Cardozo eight minutes before halftime. Etoile had a man advantage in the second half thanks to yet another red card shown to Boca's Fabián Vargas, but they couldn't convert the few chances that the Argentine side allowed. The missed header by Silva right at the end was Etoile's best chance.
So, Boca will play in the match that they wanted above anything else, preferably against Milan but they wouldn't mind Urawa Reds, either. Etoile will conclude their participation in the tournament with the 3rd/4th place match on
Last night Urawa Reds defeated Sepahan 3-1 and advanced to the semifinal of the FIFA Club World Cup. It was really no trouble at all for the Japanese club, who were spurred on by their typically rabid support. Now the tournament can really begin with the semifinal games: Boca Juniors against Etoile du Sahel, and AC Milan versus the Reds.
Etoile Sportive du Sahel pulled off a shock 1-0 victory over Pachuca to advance to the semifinals of the FIFA Club World Cup. I was able to watch just the first 30 minutes of the match, and it definitely didn't look like ESS would win it. Pachuca hit the crossbar on one occasion and had a goal disallowed for offside on another, but in the end ESS won the match on a deflected 35-meter shot with five minutes to go.
I'm going to have to see the replay of this match, but from reading the match report it seemed that ESS were a bit lucky. At any rate, the African champions will play Boca Juniors on 12 December.
UPDATE: Here's more on the match, from Mexican sports site Medio Tiempo.
Sepahan advanced to final eight of the FIFA Club World Cup with a comfortable 3-1 win over Waitakere United. The match was over in the first five minutes, and some might say it was over well before it started.
Sepahan will now play Urawa Reds on Monday.
The Club World Cup starts tomorrow morning (tomorrow night in Japan) and I haven't blogged anything on the actual matches. The tournament starts with the play-in game between Oceania champions Waitakere United (New Zealand) and Asian Champions League runners-up Sepahan (Iran). I had thought that the J-League champions would have entered the play-in match as well, but FIFA wanted to ensure that only one club per country be represented.
Anyway, I expect Sepahan to beat the NZ part-timers and set up a rematch of the Asian Champions League final with Urawa Reds on 10 December. The day before that, Etoile Sahel and Pachuca meet to decide who will play Boca Juniors in the semifinal round.
For the first time since FIFA expanded the Club World Championship, a Japanese team will appear in the final six. Urawa Reds won the Asian Champions League over Iran's Sepahan 3-1 on aggregate this morning. That's a big boost for the tournament, as Urawa are the most popular club in Japan and will draw huge crowds at their matches in the Club World Championship.
Urawa are coached by Holger Osieck, who led Canada to their only Gold Cup triumph in 2000.
So now we have all of the continental club champions for this year. However, there's still a chance for a second Japanese team to enter the tournament when the J-League champion plays off against the Oceania club champion (Waitakere United). Assuming that Urawa Reds retain their title, and they are seven points clear with four matches to play, that spot could be taken by Gamba Osaka, Kashima Antlers, or Shimizu S-Pulse.
Yesterday Tunisia's Etoile du Sahel defeated Egypt's Al Ahly 3-1 in Cairo to win the African Champions League. The first leg ended 0-0 in Tunisia. The return leg had plenty of drama as the Tunisians took the lead against the run of play, but Al Ahly equalized at the start of the second half. The sending-off of Alhy's goalscorer Imad el-Nahas was a dramatic moment but the Egyptian side still had chances to score the winning goal. In the end Etoile settled the tie and the League with two goals deep into second-half stoppage time.
I agree with Michel Platini that seeing the winning team receive the trophy from the stands in a special and romantic moment in football, but there are reasons why trophy presentations were moved to the field. And Ahly's website apparently called out the referee as the reason for their defeat, but I can't read Arabic so I don't know for sure. (The other news agencies that I've read said that the referee had one of the best performances in an African club final.)
Etoile join Pachuca, AC Milan, and Boca Juniors in Japan next month for the Club World Cup.
Boca Juniors became the third team to qualify for this year's FIFA Club World Championship by winning the Copa Libertadores tonight. They defeated Brazil's Grêmio 2-0 in Porto Alegre to complete a comprehensive 5-0 aggregate win. From the kickoff in Buenos Aires to the final whistle tonight, Boca never looked like they would lose and Grêmio appeared subdued before their own fans. The match was decided by, once again, Juan Román Riquelme, who scored an absolutely fantastic goal midway through the second half and then bundled in the second. (The first goal was of such quality that even significant sectors of the Brazilian audience applauded it.) Riquelme had a chance to complete a hat-trick when Boca won a penalty about 10 minutes from the end, but he graciously allowed Martín Palermo to take it, who went on to miss it wide right.
In the end, it's the sixth Copa Libertadores for Boca, one fewer than fellow Argentine club Independiente. To the surprise of no one, Riquelme was named man of the final series and won a new Toyota in the process.
In recent days, Riquelme has said that he is willing to consider a return to Argentina's national team. If he does come back and stays in his current form, it will be very difficult for the USA to defeat Argentina during the Copa America -- or any other team, for that matter.
AC Milan, the team that UEFA didn't really want in the Champions League but couldn't ban, are the new champions of Europe. The match was fairly even, and you might be able to say that Liverpool did more during the game (especially during the first half), but Milan scored when it mattered. And Kaká could not be stopped. Next stop for Milan is the World Club Championship in Japan later this year.
A very comprehensive coverage of Milan's victory can be found on the Gazzetta dello Sport website.
Let me also say that ESPN's coverage of the final was very good, perhaps the best since they starting showing the matches in 1995. The pregame show was actually useful and informative for a change!
