FIFA Club World Cup - Japan 2006

[The_Knight]

To the Ahly guys on here.... i'm curious, how does this team compare to last year? Is it significantly stronger/weaker, or at around the same level?

As for the final.... I was led to believe that this match was being shown live. Obviously not. 0-0 at Half Time but damn i'm enjoying it. I heart this tournament .

Ahly have performed MUCH better than last year's World Cup (Ahly is the 1st team to make it twice)... Last year's performance was due to mental pressure from the supporters who went as far as expecting the club to win the championship (Ahly has dominated every single African and Egyptian Championship for an entire century)

However, on the players' level, the team's strength is a bit weaker than last year with many serious injuries affecting 5 key players for the duration of the season.

On the other hand, these injuries were compensated by a table-turning performance by Angolian Flavio. (Last year, he was awful. Missed every no-brainer chance on goal. Scored only one goal unintentionally in the entire season) This year, it's like he's another player. Can't get enough of scoring in every match, in every tournament. Perfect ball control. He's amazing.

Of course AboTreika (African Player of the year nominee) could -all alone- compensate for the loss of an entire team in injuries, talk about 5 key players (including Barakat).

Note that Al-Ahly formed the backbone of the Egyptian National team that won this year's CAF Nations Cup (also an African record).

We're all extremely happy with this world-class performance from the African club of the century in this year's world cup... We got the bronze

As for the final, I didn't watch it, but I just can't believe how it ended. This happened last year with Liverpool too. But Barcelona?? Why??

Looks like they began the match knowing absolutely nothing about their opponent. It may have worked with Club America, but not with a team like Inter. What a disappointment.

I hope we make it to next year's world cup in Brazil

Congrats to Inter

 

[Nakamura]

YEAH!!!

:Bow: INTER, INTER, INTER!!! World Champions!!! The most important title in the club's 97 years history! Finally!

I'm SO happy right now, I followed the game through a webcast and I was ecstatic when Adriano scored! I can only imagine the party my family and friends are doing in Porto Alegre!

As the club's anthem says:

Glória do desporto nacional
Oh, Internacional
Que eu vivo a exaltar
Levas a plagas distantes
Feitos relevantes
Vives a brilhar
Correm os anos surge o amanhã
Radioso de luz, varonil
Segue a tua senda de vitórias
Colorado das glórias
Orgulho do Brasil

É teu passado alvi-rubro
Motivo de festas em nossos corações
O teu presente diz tudo
Trazendo à torcida alegres emoções
Colorado de ases celeiro
Teus astros cintilam num céu sempre azul
Vibra o Brasil inteiro
Com o clube do povo do Rio Grande do Sul

It's so beautiful seeing the club's site entrance right now: http://www.internacional.com.br/

 

[panxoman]

Damm, I woke up to watch the game after only 3 hours sleeping and I have to deal with this boring match.

Internacional hasn't done much to win the match, but Barça has done nothing, so deserved victory for the brazilians who did a very good defensive/control game.

I agree Iarley was the best player on the picth today. Deco had an awsome semifinal and a quite good first half today, but as the match went on, he disapeared as all the rest of the team.

To be honest I didn't expect this. Nobody did in Barcelona and I think that's why we've lost. The team was thinking that they would win the game sooner or later and they haven't tried hard enought. On the other hand, Internacional played the best they can, with total concentration and no mistakes.

I'm sure Barça is a much better team, but after the match I can only say that the team who was more concentrated today won. Congratulations.

 

[Lean]

Watching the highlights of the 1st half one would say Inter would be ass-raped. But Barça faded as time went on, god knows why. I'm happy for my country and for Inter. Some feeling of deja-vu for Ronaldinho after missing that free-kick at the death.

 

[moetazsaleh]

what a fifa fair play ????

one of ahly officials said that abotreka was chosen for the bronze ball award and he was told that after the first half of the final but another players was chosen....
i think there are some other factors and pressures guiding where those prizes must go (Europe or south america of course) regarding of the the 5 goals scored by el ahly (3 abotreka , 2 flavio)
i know there are a gap between european or south american football and others but the player who played well should be rewarded.

unfair for abotreka.......

 

[Gene Reginato]

I think it took 15 min for Barcelona to realize they wouldn't win the championship by playing like they always do and that got really nervous afterwards. In the first minutes they were playing with flair and with the usual game-flow they use in Spain, but Inter had predicted everything and put pressure on Barça defenders, so the midfields and attackers wouldn't receive clean balls.

Ceará was told to keep an eye on Ronaldinho and it worked well. Dinho had to move to the center to create his plays and anyone who watches the brazilian NT games knows he isn't very good there.

In the end, Inter was rewarded for doing their homework.

 

[Dream Team]

I guess the Barça players were tired because they looked very motivated against América but this game they were walking on the field. Slow and predictable. They only played some football in the second half when Xavi came on.

Barça played better than Internacional but it was a crap performance anyway and I can't say Barça deserved to win either.

Congrats to Internacional.

 

[WilliamFAlmeida]

Some feeling of deja-vu for Ronaldinho after missing that free-kick at the death.

So true....
what will it take for him to grasp glory?

 

[El Diablo Rojo]

Iarley being the most important player in a final of a WCC now i've seen everything.

Oh well. Congrats to Internacional, and Al-Alhy for the bronze.

 

[pasion1]

I guess the Barça players were tired because they looked very motivated against América but this game they were walking on the field. Slow and predictable. They only played some football in the second half when Xavi came on.

Barça played better than Internacional but it was a crap performance anyway and I can't say Barça deserved to win either.

Congrats to Internacional.

Doubt it was the case for Ronaldinho, who said it was one of his most looked forward games of his entire life (He's all Gremio, the derby of Inter).

 

[pasion1]

PS MUAHAHAHAHA!!!!

INTER CHAMPIONS OF THE WORLD!!!!! (shows attacking football isnt the only way to play). For all the teams that you say : "They defender but ......they did what they had to do". Inter did it very well and calm.

Congrats to Inter (their first world title).

Not the best team on earth, but in south america the bragging rights are insane.
Also the title was really the decider of "BEST TEAM ON THE PLANET" until about 1993. (Just like the baseball world series was apropriately called "best team in world" until they found that Japan kicks all sorts of ass in their league and that USA wasnt the only nation playing the sport)

Congrats inter!

 

[$teauA]

Final bracket:

There is one thing this tournament proves over and over every single year. Brazil is the most dominant footballing nation in the world, club or country. They now have 9 Intercontinental Cups/Club World Cups (tied with Argentina). Every single year everyone says the European teams are the favorites and yet it seems that they always get "surprised" in the final.

Barcelona should of won this game but they just had no passion in the second half and the Brazilians had plenty. More focus and better tactics from the Inter coach is what won this game for them. Frank Rijkaard got outcoached in this one.

Congrats to Internacional

 

[#1 Stunna]

America losing back to back games.

 

[Bobby]

Inter won because Barca couldn't get one of them sent off. Barca only looked like scoring on freekicks and for the 3 minutes that Inter were playing with 9.5 men (Indio getting his nosebleed stopped and Fernandao was simply a body after his injury).

Barca should have had a man sent off though, was it Belliti? He stomped on Iarley's arm.

Inter proved they are the superior team, and don't bring up Eto'o and Messi because Inter lost 4 of their 5 best players from the Copa Lib winning team.

 

[El Diablo Rojo]

There is one thing this tournament proves over and over every single year. Brazil is the most dominant footballing nation in the world, club or country. They now have 9 Intercontinental Cups/Club World Cups (tied with Argentina). Every single year everyone says the European teams are the favorites and yet it seems that they always get "surprised" in the final.

Just look at what you said, Brazil didn't win this year's world cup(for countries) it was won by Ital, and as you just said they are tied with Argentina which means they aren't alone in the top yet, so if that was the case i would say that for clubs it's South America over Europe, not just Brazil, at least for now.

 

[Gene Reginato]

I think Brazil will stop winning team competitions soon. Our teams nowadays are made of B-Level players. I read once that we currently have 5000 players abroad.
I imagine how awesome it would be if all A-level players returned to our championship.

 

[pasion1]

TABLE For INTERCONTINENTAL (nations)

(TIE) 1- Brazil- 9
(TIE) 1- Argentina- 9
2- Italy- 7
3- Uruguay- 6
4- Spain- 4
5- Germany- 3
6- Holland- 3 (impressive for such a small nation)
7- Portugal- 2
8- Paraguay- 1
9- England- 1
10- Yugoslavia- 1

 

[Dream Team]

Belliti?

Are you sure you are an Arsenal fan? You don't know the name of the player who scored the most important goal in Arsenal's history.. Belletti.

 

[Virgo]

do I really have to come here and say it every year that the majority of people in europe don't give a f*ck about this cup?

About no media coverage whatsoever, except a 30sec segment in the news. I didn't even wake up to watch it, none of my friends even knew the game was today.

And you wonder why south american teams win it more often? I think it's very self explanatory that they cry when they lose and celebrate like mad when they win, while for europeans, last year Liverpool didn't even want to play this because it would tire their players for the league games.


On the other hand if there were actually any Barça fans that got really pissed off with this defeat, GOOD. Their press arrogance is beyond anything i've ever seen.

 

[Hepoas]

Haha, awesome that Barca lost.
That was GOOD!

Last year liverpool lost against Sao Paulo, that was tragedy, therefor i did not hope that Barca should win.