Prior to the confrontation between the Libertadores champion and the Champions League at the Club World Cup, PSG coach Luis Enrique said Botafogo was a “very high level Brazilian team with a very strong story.”
By praising in a news conference the Brazilian teams in the tournament, the new Real Madrid coach, Xabi Alonso, said: “Sometimes we focused a lot in Europe, what happens there, and we believe there is nothing more.” “We are very wrong,” he added.
Now they are seeing this error in practice. Palmeiras, Flamengo, Fluminense and Botafogo remain unbeaten, with five wins and two draws, including the incredible PSG 0 x 1 Botafogo and Flamengo 3 x 1 Chelsea. Since 2012 a Brazilian team has not won a European in a club competition.
The coaches’ statements are not just the protocol respect that exists before the matches. Europeans actually see Brazilian football, and South American in general, with curiosity and some admiration. They find it interesting to face different soccer schools. They are delighted with the passion of the fans and the determination of the players, something that has also been highlighted in the European sports press.
At the same time, without taking the merit of Brazilian teams so far, you need to see things as they are. As it is impossible to compete to be equally to European teams, which have a totally different financial and structural situation from those of South American football, some factors may be influencing the results of the group stage.
Players who play in Europe are exhausted after a long season, and last year still had Euro and Copa America. Some technicians have saved holders, such as Manchester City and PSG. Matter times favor European TV broadcasts, but that means playing at noon in the summer of the United States, with temperatures bordering on either 40 ° C and high humidity, something to which Europeans are not used to.
In addition to the sports, European clubs consider the Club World Cup a great opportunity to do business and increase their fans base in the attractive US market. It is expected that they do not want to do ugly in the tournament. It will be interesting to see the strategies ahead of teams that had disappointing results such as PSG, Chelsea and Porto, who lost, and Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund, who tied.
I have talked to Brazilian fans here in the United States, especially Palmeiras and Fluminense, who play in the group stage in New York, where I am. A representative from Brazil may even reach the final, but the fans know it’s hard, and that’s fine.
For Palmeiras, Flamengo, Fluminense and Botafogo, the Club World Cup is an excellent opportunity to expose its brands and casts to the whole world. So far, the good performance of these clubs has shown to Europeans that the tournament is not the tour that some expected. It also brings the necessary balance for the success of any competition and has been a beautiful showcase for Brazilian football.
The columnist is in the United States as a member of the organization responsible for the official transmission of the Club World Cup
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