So we all saw the draw and groaned, while Inter Miami gets the soft and easy group, we get
Botafogo, PSG and Atlético Madrid. To say we're underdogs is an understatement. While the Sounders squad is valued at 49 million pounds, PSG's is valued at 893 million pounds and Atlético Madrid 511 pounds. In a sport where cash is king, in comparison, we're not even peasants. So how the hell could we even think or even dream of beating them, without all-time doping measures, that is? Short answer is, a clash of egos, the ugly politics of the beautiful game and very legit ethical/health concerns. If you want the long answer, please read the rest of the article or not. I'm not forcing you to do anything. I get my money from clicks, not reads so I've already won and the rest of this is for the love of the game. So do whatever I don't care.
Since the start of the Club World Cup, it's always been a lot more important to the rest of the world than Europe. As of course the rest of the world is very aware of Europe's dominance over the world's most popular sport, so many fans outside the continent look at it as a chance to see how we measure up to Europe's most elite or hoping someone takes ‘em down a peg. But the old club World Cup is a lot different than the new one. Before, it was all the champions of all the continents and a couple of other clubs starting out in a group stage, with only 2 groups then a semi-final then 3rd place match then final knockout stage. That's way different than the current format, with the two having nothing to do with one another.
Now it's the old World Cup format, with the 32-team one and not the 48-team format they'll use in the US, Canada and Mexico FIFA World Cup in 2026 and the reason why is obvious. While UEFA and FIFA do work together, they are separate organizations with their own separate responsibilities and most importantly, in this case their own ways of making lots of money. Of course, the regular World Cup makes the most money out of any sporting competition ever that comes with being the most popular one in the world as well. But 1 of the key reasons is that it comes around every 4 years. Meanwhile, the UEFA Champions League, which is a contest organized by UEFA if you couldn't guess, is held every year and is the most popular sporting event in the world for every year the FIFA WC isn't held. Which means 3 out of every 4 years, the UEFA makes more money than FIFA, which pisses FIFA off.
But they can't change the normal World Cup not only because, again that would ruin a lot of the appeal, but the qualifying for it would need so many fundamental changes all at once. No doubt a lot of the confederations and countries would be rightfully pissed off, so they can't do that. But this they can do or so they think. That being, to turn the Club World Cup into a spectacle like the World Cup for countries, but here qualifying takes care of itself so they can host it every year and so have contests on par and can potentially make even more money than the CL hosted by UEFA...on paper.
Of course, all of the world's most popular and profitable clubs are all UFEA clubs and of course UEFA is not happy. FIFA is trying to compete/move in on their biggest money maker. But more importantly, these players have very legit concerns about the Club World Cup. PSG, a team in the Sounders group in the 23-24 season, played 53 total games after making the CL Semis with no club World Cup play. This comes with the regular increase of total match time in UEFA leagues across the board and open concerns by fans and players about more matches, overall piling too much load on players bodies causing more injuries. With the new club World Cup format being a tipping point for many players and unions to publicly let out their frustrations with this, with Ballon d'Or winner Rodri even saying that strikes were close to happening as rumors of union strikes were everywhere for a little bit.
Fans have even shown overwhelming support if such a thing were to happen. And why wouldn't they?Yes, most fans have their favorite clubs and are their main gateway into following the sport, but many fans also have and support their favorite players. Sometimes even regardless of what clubs they play for, and develop an emotional attachment as strong or stronger than the ones with their club. So of course most of ‘em don't want to see their favorite players go down with injuries and potentially have their peak or entire career ended early. Of course, even if it's not their favorite player or they don't have any, most soccer fans, no matter how feral their devotion can get, are good people, and they don't want people to go through a ton of physical and mental pain unless for whatever reason they hate them. So of course they would support the players on this one.
This entire thing is a cynical cash grab meant to spite UEFA without caring for the health of the players who make the game what it is. So with the players having all the reasons not to show up and UEFA having every reason to boycott or bar players from showing up, not that it's likely for something that dramatic to happen, but it's a lot to be worried about. More likely is 2 options to me are aggressive vs passive. Aggressive is that the starting players, including most of the superstars of European's biggest clubs, could openly protest and strike against the contest. Or passive, which is that most of ‘em, especially the superstars, don't think it's worth showing up nor making a big deal out of it and decide simply not to show and spend their offseason getting closer to God, partying in Ibiza, both somehow or whatever.
Either way, if I'm right and there's plenty to assume this, it means most of the best players on PSG or Atlético Madrid's best players won't show up. If the Sounders had to face PSG's or
Atlético Madrid's best 11, it’d take more than great scouting leading to a great game plan to beat them. But against the reserves of Atlético Madrid and PSG that could be all it takes. Players in the MLS have not shown the same concerns over injury as those in the much more intense elite European leagues. And again, clubs outside of UEFA have many more reasons to take it seriously, including how much more money it makes them. So no matter what, the Sounders will take their best 11 to show off to the entire world.
While similar cash grabs like the Confederations Cup and the UEFA Conference league, both hold a special place in my heart and have a similar added benefit of putting clubs or countries in massive spotlights there. Otherwise, wouldn't the dragging in of many of Europe's elite show how greed based and desperate the whole sham is? And I really hope the best of the best Europe has to offer doesn't show up to this thing. Not only to give the Sounders an advantage they otherwise wouldn't have, but also for the players’ health and safety. Thanks a bunch for reading!