TheClub World Cupis into the second round of games in the group stage, with matches across the United States showing off all that was hotly anticipated about this newly expanded tournament, as well as a few concerns.
Here’s a breakdown of five major storylines we were keeping track of before the games, and where we stand.
Your view on how well-attended these games have beendepends heavily on your perspective. Empty seats have been visible, sometimes in great numbers, at nearly every game (none of which have been sellouts). That said, the raw attendance numbers have not been half-bad, considering that many kick-off times have fallen at noon or 3pm during work days.
There have been 20 games at the Club World Cup so far. The average attendance has been 35,525. The median is about the same. About 730,000 tickets have been sold or distributed for these matches. All of these are reasonably solid figures.
On the other hand, the stadiums have, on average, been about 55% full. The median percentage of capacity used – a figure that gives less weight to outliers such as the 3,142 who attended Mamelodi Sundowns v Ulsan in Orlando – is 45%. With a few exceptions, the tournament is being playing in massive NFL stadiums, and that means a lot of empty seats.
The environments, though, have largely been very good. South American fans in particular have brought it, with Brazilians in New York and Argentinians in Miami creating noisy and invested atmospheres that seem right at home at a tournament with the World Cup name.
Thanks to the massiveness of these stadiums, though, the optics are not always the best.
It’s been hot at times, but the tournament has also been lucky so far in that many cities, especially New York, have been experiencing cooler-than-normal temperatures over the past week. The most notable exception wasParis Saint-Germain v Atlético Madridat the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, where the heat combined with crowd control issues and a lack of water contributed to what the Guardian was told wasa “dangerous” environment for fans. It wasn’t comfortable for the players either.
“Playing in this heat is impossible,” Atlético’s Marcos Llorente said after. “The heat is terrible. My toes hurt, even my toenails … We are adapting to the heat of playing at these hours … no one in Europe is used to it.”
The next several days will see more of these situations. A brutal heatwave is set to hit much of the eastern United States starting on Friday, covering many of the stadiums where the remaining games will be played. Evening kick-offs will be hot but theoretically bearable once the sun is down. The problematic games will be those that kick off in the afternoon local time – there are 14 of those left in the group stage, including six that start at noon, when the heat will probably be at its worst in the direct sunlight.
And that’s without even getting into weather delays. Already, there have been three weather-related delays – mostly for lightning as thunderstorms have gathered amid the humid weather. There is very little Fifa can do about those, of course – but it’s a trend worth keeping an eye on. There is a chance, of course, the delays could disrupt the simultaneous kick-offs in the group finales.
The opening matches of this tournament were awash with reports that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) and/or Customs and Border Protection officers would be present at games and looking to continue theirpublic raids, which have been met with counterprotests across the country. That has yet to happen.
Make no mistake, security is high at these games, as they are at any major sporting event in the United States. But there haven’t been any reported attempts at mass arrests as there have been in other places around the country.
That is not to say politics, world events and the tournament haven’t overlapped. Mehdi Taremi, Inter’s Iran striker, has been forced to miss the tournament after beingstuck in Tehranafter Israel’s attacks on the city. And this week Fifa’s president, Gianni Infantino, and a delegation from Juventus (including the US internationals Weston McKennie and Tim Weah)stood in the Oval Officeas Trump answered questions about a potential war with Iran and awkwardly asked the players if women could play for Juventus (a reference to the right-wing talking point about trans women in women’s sports).
On the field, the story of the tournament so far has been the performance of South American clubs. Teams representing Conmebol have not lost, the only undefeated confederation remaining after one matchday in every group. They’ve achieved some pretty big results along the way – includingBotafogo’s 1-0 winover the reigning Champions League winners PSG on Thursday night, and River Plate’s 2-2 draw with Benfica.
Asian and Oceanian teams are having far less fun. The confederations’ five teams have yet to win, with Auckland City suffering a10-0 demolitionby Bayern Munich. The lone bright spot for Asian clubs wasAl-Hilal’s 1-1 draw with Real Madrid– a game in which the Saudi Pro League side looked every bit Madrid’s equals in Xabi Alonso’s first game in charge.
Generally speaking, and in line with past editions of the Club World Cup, the so-called “smaller” teams are the ones bringing real life to this party, while mostUefateams are waiting for their first big challenge. The final group games and knockouts should be plenty of fun.
It’s a bit early to say anyone is making a case for the Golden Ball given most teams have played one game, but a few players have stood out.
One, unsurprisingly, is Lionel Messi. The Inter Miami superstar is a player Fifa bent over backwards to get into the tournament, awarding Miami a “host nation” slot after they failed to qualify through other means. That decision has paid off. Messi is 37 and has clearly slowed a little, but he remains capable of delivering in big moments, as he did with a winning free-kickgoal against Porto.
Pretty much all of Bayern stand out after that ridiculous scoreline, even if it came against amateur opposition. Jamal Musiala has the early claim on the Golden Boot, having scored a hat-trick in that game.
For Manchester City, Phil Foden got off on the right foot with a goal and an assistagainst Wydad, and Chelsea’s new signing Liam Delap made a positive impact on his debut, a2-0 winover LAFC.
Kylian Mbappé, meanwhile, has been a notable absence, having beenbriefly in hospitalthis week with gastroenteritis.