The groups for the new FIFA Club World Cup, the Supermundial, in the format of a World Cup for national teams, with 32 participants, which will be held from June 15 to July 13, were drawn on Thursday (5), in Miami. 2025, in the USA.
Brazil is the country with the largest number of participants in the competition, four: Rio de Janeiro’s Botafogo, Flamengo and Fluminense and São Paulo’s Palmeiras. They are the winners of the four most recent Libertadores.
Completing the South American clubs are Argentines Boca Juniors and River Plate. Europe will have 12 teams; North America, five; Africa and Asia, four each; and Oceania, one.
Looking at the eight brackets, I conclude that three of the four Brasucas have a duty to advance to the round of 16.
Two teams are classified per group, and it will be shameful for Palmeiras, Flamengo and Fluminense to fall straight away.
In Group A, the team led by Abel Ferreira’s only opponent is Porto, one of Portugal’s two representatives in the Supermundial.
The other opponents are Al Ahly, from Egypt, which does not have a single well-known name in its squad, and Inter Miami, which has the spectacular Lionel Messi, mainly, and Luisito Suárez. Both, however, will be 38 years old in the middle of next year.
Even with the duo and other good veterans – Busquets and Jordi Alba –, the Florida team disappointed and succumbed in the first round of this year’s MLS knockout rounds, the North American championship.
In Group D, it is expected that Flamengo may encounter some difficulties against Chelsea, from England, who are generally competitive.
However, the team led by Filipe Luís, with Gerson and De Arrascaeta in midfield and Bruno Henrique and Pedro in attack, must necessarily overcome the mediocre León (Mexico) and defeat the unimpressive Espérance (Tunisia).
Fluminense, superb in 2023 and disappointing in 2024, is in Group F, which has the strong Borussia Dortmund, from Germany, current runner-up in the Champions League, and two “don’t scare anyone”: Ulsan (South Korea) and Mamelodi Sundowns (South Africa).
Regardless of who their coach is, with a quality workforce such as Ganso, Thiago Silva and Colombian Jhon Arias, it is mandatory for the Tricolor to beat the Asian and African teams.
The scenario for Botafogo, one of the four clubs in Group B, is less favorable.
The current champion of the Libertadores, who will compete internationally in the Intercontinental Cup later this year – if they reach the final, they will face Real Madrid –, will duel in the Supermundial with two respectable teams: PSG, France’s main force, and the Spanish Atlético de Madrid, competently directed by Diego Simeone for almost 13 years.
The Seattle Sounders, even though they are one of the two “home” teams in the competition, don’t have anyone to scare on paper.
For the black and white team, assuming that the base of the current group is maintained, it is of utmost importance that Luiz Henrique, Igor Jesus, Thiago Almada, Savarino and company overcome Seattle in the opening match to face PSG and Atlético with high morale and in a good position. in the table.
However, if Artur Jorge and John Textor’s Botafogo ends up in the group stage, with setbacks against the Europeans, it won’t be embarrassing.
The obligation, in the case of a Brazilian team, is to beat a Tunisian, Egyptian, South Korean, South African, Mexican and North American team.
To think otherwise is to consider that elite football in Brazil is immeasurably small. And it is not (not yet) the case.
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