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Obstacles cleared FIFA stages successful club championship
Posted: Tuesday January 18, 2000 03:36 PM
What goes into making a fledgling tournament like the FIFA Club World Championship a success? How does it go from being a dubious money-driven nuisance (at least as far as the richest clubs in the world are concerned) to a legitimate and prestigious prize? To make it work you need great teams, great performances and serious media interest. The first-ever competition had some of the world's best teams, outstanding performances on the pitch and enough media interest to carry it over (though it could have and should have been much greater). Tip your hat to FIFA's Sepp Blatter and the Brazilian organizers. By hook or by crook they produced an exciting tournament despite a number of obstacles. Not only did they have to overcome cartloads of often cynical skepticism, they also lost their prize jewel, Manchester United, early on. Yet the performances, especially Vasco da Gama's drubbing of United, Corinthians' methodical dismantling of opponents (at times Oswaldo de Oliveira's team looked the most European in the tournament -- and this is meant as a compliment) and little Necaxa's exploits, were a sight to behold. The tournament helped remind many that Brazilian soccer is still a class apart and that there is no substitute for sheer talent. Many an ink-stained British hack left for Rio convinced that for Manchester United this would be just another cakewalk through a joke competition. How wrong they were.
And how near-sighted the Italian media (to name but one) was in virtually ignoring the tournament, just because no Serie A clubs were involved. Simply put, it's a disgrace that in Italy, a country which lives and breathes the game, a country where you can find any kind of soccer on television (not just the Bundesliga and the Premiership, but everything from obscure youth tournaments to, gulp!, Major League Soccer), not a single broadcaster acquired the rights to the FIFA Club World Championships. What kind of a legacy has it left us? For starters, now we know that a tournament such as this can and does work. In the future it would be nice if FIFA had the guts to lay out clear rules for participation (and run the risk of glamour clubs not making it) rather than bending over backwards to get its favorites in. There is no logic whatsoever in having the 1998 Libertadores champion (Vasco da Gama) participate, when the 1999 Libertadores champion (Palmeiras) sits around on its butt. We've also seen that if clubs like Raja Casablanca and Al-Nassr can hold their own against the world's best without being wholly embarrassed, it means the gap between haves and have-nots is closing faster than we thought. Especially when you consider that they aren't even the top clubs in their respective continents. As for Necaxa, well, it was the star of the tournament. Technically and tactically it showed that Mexican soccer has made great strides. If only they could replicate it with the national team... Real Madrid was a disappointment, but there are more than enough mitigating circumstances. The club is a mess and Vicente Del Bosque's boys will want to forget this competition quickly and focus on the Primera Liga, where they are still in hot water. Hopefully Real will have learned some lessons -- above all that Christian Karembeu is many things, but not a central defender. Manchester United was also a dud. Blitzed by Necaxa in the opener (David Beckham's Jackie Chan-inspired antics did not help), it was thoroughly overwhelmed by Vasco in the second game.
Forget the fact that Vasco's first two goals were the result of laughable defensive errors by Gary Neville. United's tactics were all wrong. You don't try to push up and play the offside trap on a muggy evening against forwards like Romario and Edmundo, guys who have the passing skills and close control to find the tiniest gaps. Sir Alex Ferguson needs to take some of the blame for the fact that his team could have lost by four or five goals. The all-Brazilian final does not mean Brazilian teams are better than anybody else in the world, nor does it mean that Corinthians is the greatest club in the universe. It does mean however that European clubs need to shed some of their inherent arrogance. There is outstanding soccer outside the Champions League and Vasco and Corinthians are just the latest example. If anything, it looks as if Brazilian clubs are only going to get stronger. For years, Europe had the edge in terms of money and tactical savvy. Now, the gap is narrowing. Sure, Vasco still can't compete with Barcelona or Lazio when it comes to dishing out paychecks. But thanks to some clever sponsorship deals and a buoyant economy, it now has the means to hang on to at least some Brazilian talent. With Romario and Edmundo as the most obvious examples, Vasco is poised to attract stars with European experience. Corinthians, on the other hand, was probably the top tactical team in the tournament. Rincon and Vampeta were outstanding, swinging the side's center of balance back and forth according to the run of play and stifling opponents at every turn. It wasn't the most entertaining stuff (especially in the final, where it looked as if Corinthians did little to try and win the game in 90 minutes), but it was very effective. You can debate endlessly about the merits of defensive vs. offensive soccer, but it's a fair bet most Corinthians fans are happier right now than Vasco supporters, even though their club did not exactly storm up the field at every opportunity. Corinthians showed it could marry tactical acumen and Brazilian skills. When you can pull that off, there are few clubs on the planet that can compete with you. Which is why it probably deserves to call itself World Champion.
Extra TimeLiberian striker George Weah's loan move to Chelsea proves that everybody is expendable in Milan coach Alberto Zaccheroni's system. Weah was unhappy with his playing time, which was sure to be further curtailed anyway after the club acquired Spanish forward Jose Mari. It's a move that can help both Milan and Chelsea. If Jose Mari (who is 10 years younger than Weah) can harness his talent, he will be invaluable coming off the bench and can possibly grow into a long-term star. As for Chelsea, it's not every day that you pick up (for free, no less) a former European Footballer of the Year.
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