The Club World Cup kicks off tomorrow in typically illusive fashion. I almost feel ashamed it’s crept up on me so quickly, yet the marketing for the competition remains low key to say the least. Considering the magnitude that should come with the tag of “World Champions”, FIFA have only really started pushing their highest club accolade in the last week, previously choosing to focus on their new “Best 11” awards series, which narrowly but predictably focuses solely on player’s plying their trade in Europe.
That has long been the issue with the Club World Cup, it doesn’t interest Europe. Its timing is terrible; the tournament kicks off before a European mid-week slot has concluded, it runs through a period where the majority of leagues are still playing competitive league football, but most pertinently the award doesn’t grant the current European champions any extra credibility back home.
Europe has won 8 out of the last 9 competitions, not at a canter by any means, and in most cases they’ve merely strolled through the two matches needed to ensure the title. The only defeat, Chelsea’s to Corinthians in 2012, was met with little criticism given its lack of profile back in Europe. Chelsea could return home ahead of more important matters being their league form, which the whole fan base were more concerned about, without a single eye brow raised across the continent.
For the rest of the world this instead is seen as the key opportunity to test their mettle with the very best, an actual attempt to clinch a sought after global accolade. Within Asia this remains the case. The timing of the tournament is ideally placed for them given the AFC Champions League final was only contested two weeks ago. This year’s champions Jeonbuk Motors, have the run of form, no domestic distraction and the incentive to contest for the trophy.
The gulf in class between Asia and Europe, let alone anyone else and Europe, makes a triumph extremely unlikely however. Even if they were able to make it through, to say the final (something that hasn’t ever happened in the tournament's 16 year history), by beating their European counterparts, little would be made of the achievement in the West. In reality, in this sort of scenario, the European side (Real Madrid) would be seen to have played in 2nd gear, to have put less effort in than necessary, and to be honest that would likely be true.
At the beginning of the year, the Chinese Super League ramped up spending for another transfer window in succession that finally demanded the attention of Europe. The signings were grander than ever before, while players were being swayed in their peak (rather than at the end) of their careers from leading European clubs and no less lucrative deals to ply their trade in a league that continues to be criticised as being below par.
This view is generally accurate, as long as you're comparing par to the standard of a Top 5 European league, the CSL has a long way to go, but with spending set to increase again this year the gap will close, and the question is what will be the yard stick used to plot this decreasing divide? The Club World Cup, at present, if not in the long term with reported plans to create a global Champions League type of format, is the only recognisable “semi-competitive” environment to test clubs against one another from different continents.
Since the increased awareness of Chinese football, with the inevitable scepticism and ignorant slating that comes from the Western media towards this, I rooted for the likes of Guangzhou Evergrande and Jiangsu Suning in this year’s Asian Champions League, to clinch the trophy and set up the intercontinental end of year Battle Royale I’d hope for in Japan this week. I went too far ahead of myself at the prospect, we’re a long way from China competing with Europe, this can be illustrated by both side’s stunted progress in even their initial continental challenge. A football superpower isn't created overnight.
Attention switches to personnel, namely Asia’s leading light in Omar Abdulrahman. Clearly a talent that has outgrown his continent, ready for the test that Europe can offer him. The stumbling block in his way seems to be trust, he’s never going to have Barcelona, Real Madrid or Manchester United come in for him, on the wages he desires, with a first team fast track written into his contract. His nationality stops this to a degree; however talented an Emirati player is, a so called big club isn’t going to roll out anything more than a short term contract on modest wages.
In this case a Neymar-esc shop window at the Club World Cup could be hoped for. When Barcelona cruised past Santos in 2011 to seal their CWC title, Neymar for the most part was a mere spectator, but it was at least a chance for clubs to run the rule over a player against top class opposition. I would never expect Abdulrahman or Al Ain to challenge the likes of Real Madrid, but it could potentially be a bridging opportunity to generate interest in a move.
In the end of course football is played on the pitch by a team of 11 men, merely money thrown in from China or a one man magician in the shape of Abdulrahman is no match for the best all-round team in Asia at the moment, being Jeonbuk Motors. Functional, over any real wow factor, no big names (outside East Asia anyway), but the best unit of the year, the most worthy candidate to take on the rest of the world.
Their draw is tough, they’ve been paired with the CONCACAF champions America of Mexico in the quarter-finals, a hurdle where Asia representation has fallen twice over the last four years. On the other side, being drawn against either the African or Oceania champions has proved an easier route in the past, while aside to Guangzhou last year (which conveniently was against America also), Asia have usually been one step behind their North American equivalent.
It would however set up the glamour tie that all Asia wants; an encounter with UEFA Champions League winners Real Madrid. Putting aside the fact we won’t have the chance of an intriguing battle of new money vs. old money, or Amoory vs. CR7, Jeonbuk v Real still offers something, if not too much promise. Until one of these matches, however fortunately it may come, falls for the underdogs, I think we’ll continually hear snobbery at the culmination of the end of year showpiece, which is continually ignored across Europe. I’ll be left with hope though, however small, that this could this be the year Asia makes it's way to the final.
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