I got the sense before the tournament that this is all a big cash grab, so FIFA can make money on the backs of already-overworked players. The crowds I’ve seen at the games so far have been enthusiastic but rather small. I don’t know if that’s because they’ve been uninteresting games up until this point, or if the tournament just doesn’t have much enthusiasm, or fans are avoiding the U.S. Or maybe a combination of factors.
Am I misreading things?
And FWIW, after three matches, the three American teams have exactly one point between them. God I just love being a soccer fan in the US (rolleyes).
I think I saw that the one “on paper interesting” matchup, PSG v Atletico Madrid, had a very large crowd (80k or so). So it’s probably largely the crappy matchups.
Because, ultimately, this whole thing is just stupid. We don’t need a CWC to remind us that the European clubs are the strongest in the world. And we don’t need to give a small handful of them (few to none of whom need more money, btw) even more cash just to reinforce that fact.
Then you add in the horrible schedule these athletes are already laboring under and the ridiculous sportswashing of having Saudi Arabia basically fund the thing through DAZN’s absurd TV rights deal (followed immediately by the Saudi PIF purchasing a stake in DAZN for almost exactly the TV rights amount), and I think many soccer fans (even diehard ones) are writing the whole thing off and avoiding it if at all possible. Wake me up when the Community Shield rolls around.
Hell, the EUFA U21 tournament is more interesting to me.
I thought the Bayern Munich - Auckland game had potential to be interesting, in that arguably one of the best teams in the world took on a Division III club from a country that doesn’t really like soccer anyway. Of course, the not-unexpected 10-0 blowout made the game a dud.
I’m not sure what to take from Inter Miami pulling out a draw against the Egyptian club. They’re a top tier team in Egypt, though I’m not sure if that’s the equivalent of saying they’re a top tier team in France or Italy, or a top tier team in, I dunno, the US. I’m waiting for the match where an American club takes on a second or third division team, to see if they destroy us.
Until this tournament it was a small scale event with 1 team from each continent (plus the hosts), the European and South American teams only playing the semi and final. Noone took it very seriously.
FIFA want a bigger share of of the football pot so have massivly expanded so have greatly increased the size of the club world cup (they would want national leagues and continental competions to get smaller).
As with a lot of sport the Saudis are bankrolling it. PIF bought a large stake in DAZN who have paid a surprisinglly high amount for the TV rights (especially given they will air it for free). The money makes teams take it seriously, Real Madrid were willing to pay Liverpool $10m buy Trent Alexander Arnold when they could have got him for free when he became a free agent 1 month later so he could play for them in the club world cup.
I can’t speak for interest in the US fanbase but the European teams play a lot of games all over Europe in what is considered more important events (these tournaments have recently expanded). The cost of 5 weeks in the US (or multiple trips) on top of all the European travelling is something few can afford.
At least for England, if you look at he fans of the national team you will see the majority of club colours / flags being for teams there rarely if every qualify for European competition, often in the third or lower tier of English leagues, they travel abroad to watch the national team but not their club team (because their club tem doesn’t play abroad)
I don’t know where you heard Auckland City were a Division 3 club they are the national champions and have the best record over the last four years in the Oceania champions league.
The league structure in NZ is a little confusing in that their is a regional phase where Auckland will play other teams for the North of the country, the best teams in each region will then qualify for the national league. There are no second or third division teams in the competition they are the best team(s) from each continent.
You are right though that NZ doesn’t really like soccer. Dispite being the best team on the “continent” (Austrailia is affiliated to the Asian confederation) the players mostly have other jobs and play soccer part time.
Europe has nearly all the soccer money and so attract all the best players with South America very much second. There isn’t much between the African, Asian and North American confederations. North America is probably the weakest of those (in the last two world cups the North American team went out in there first match 1-0 to African and Asian opponents respectively), but with home advantage I would said Miami against Al Ahly could have gone either way. LA v Tunis is also a coin flip, all the other US matches are against European and S. American teams which it would be quite a surprise if they got a result,
Yeah that is a fair assessment. IMO this is much closer to summer friendly “tournaments” where the big European teams earn some cash on tour in the US and elsewhere (which are always given fancy sounding names, but are just off season friendlies no one gives a crap about), than an actual real tournament like the champions League or world cup.
Money talks and a whole l9ad of money has been put into this for the expansion.
I think a better analogy would be a one of those golf tournaments like the world matchplay that attract the best players not because of the prestige of the event but the money. (Or force the players to partake by facing penalties if they do not while throwing enough cash at them to prevent a bouycot or a legal nightmare)