No “friendly summer tournament”: For coach Pep Guardiola and Manchester City board, the Club World Cup must be treated as a priority to mark the start of a winning season.
According to the US version of the ESPN website, the coach gathered players for a conversation at the hotel in Florida and passed the message that the tournament in the United States should be taken seriously.
City is in Group G and debut on Wednesday (18), at Lincoln Financial Field, in Philadelphia.
New beginning after bad season
Guardiola would have explained to the English team players that the World Cup is a fresh start. Season 2024-25, the worst of City in a decade, has passed, and now starts at 2025-26. And nothing better than an international title for that.
“As current champions, reaching this new format, of course we are excited,” said club president Khaldoon Al Mubarak, in his annual message for fans last month.
“This is a very, very serious competition. Let’s go to win it. It’s the beginning of a new season, not the continuation of the last one.”
FIFA, it is worth remembering, considers Manchester City. In December 2024, according to the entity ,.
New reinforcements and tests for the cast
The mindset is clear when analyzing the cast that City took to the United States. Players who are out of Guardiola’s plans, such as Kyle Walker and Kalvin Phillips, have not even been related.
On the other hand, renowned reinforcements will be in the cast: Rayan Cherki, Tijjani Reijnders, Rayan Aït-Nouri and Marcus Bettinelli who cost, added, more than $ 740 million. The club accelerated negotiations to have them in the World Cup.
The idea is that they already create rapport with new companions to start Premier League in August with everything.
Guardiola chose to take a lean cast with 27 players – it would be 28, but Mateo Kovacic suffered an injury to the Achilles tendon. And even those who traveled can still end up leaving City.
Former Palmeiras, Vitor Reis can be loaned
According to ESPN, this is the case of. It can be loaned to gain more rhythm in European football in another club.
There are also doubts about the continuities of defender John Stones and midfielder Ilkay Gündogan. Haunted by injuries last season, Guardiola seeks to have the healthier cast as possible.
Stones and Gundogan are part of a group of more experienced cast players, who are in the final phase of contract. Éderson, Stefan Ortega and Bernardo Silva also be part of him.
PSG Inspiration
Sources told ESPN that one of Guardiola’s goals this season is having a team that plays the ball faster, which would be inspired in part in PSG’s dominant performance about Inter Milan in the Champions League final.
This was seen during training at Lynn University, with players being encouraged to play at high speed. It also drew attention the long durations of training sessions, both technical and physical.
The idea is that each World Cup match will be treated as a round of Champions League. In addition to Wydad Casablanca, City will still face Al Ain, from the United Arab Emirates, and Juventus, from Italy ,.
(Posted by Luccas Oliveira)
