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World Club Cup 2009
Topic Started: Nov 12 2009, 01:44 PM (795 Views)
Merengue
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The draw has been made for this year's World Club Cup which will be held in the UAE instead of Japan this year so for those of us in the Americas, the games won't begin in the middle of the night! Here is the schedule of games:

Play in match:

Al Ahli (UAE) vs Auckland City (Oceania)

Quarterfinals
Al Ahli/Auckland City winner vs Atlante (CONCACAF)
TP Mozembe (CAF) vs Pohang Steelers (Asia)

Semifinals
Al Ahli/Auckland/Atlante winner vs Barcelona (UEFA)
TP Mozembe/Pohang winner vs Estudiantes (CONMEBOL)

As always it is set up for a Europe-South America match between Barcelona-Estudiantes in the final but one of these tournaments, a club from one of the other federations will pull off an upset. Will this be that year?
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robdog
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Arriba Atlante!!!!
Supporter for FCK, San Lorenzo, Chelsea, Pachuca, Corinthians & Real Betis
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enganche
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Estudiantes were happy they avoided a potential semifinal against Atlante but I am thinking this is because they are familiar with Atlante and know some of their players, notably Santiago Solari and Federico Vilar. If you look at the history of this tournament, whichever team emerges from the TP Mazembe-Pohang Steelers game should be as tough if not tougher a foe than Atlante.
Prefiero morir de pie que vivir arrodillado
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rosarino
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Estudiantes are trying to include Jose Sosa on their roster, the one time Estudiantes player who was with Bayern Munich and who Bayern are loaning back to Estudiantes. But the loan happened after the transfer window closed, Sosa is ineligible for Argentine league play, he won't be eligible until next January, and FIFA have not cleared him yet for the World Club Cup. But Estudiantes optimistically are including him on their roster for this tournament.

These are the players Estudiantes have named:

Goalkeepers: Damian Albil, Cesar Taborda, Roberto Fernandez

Defenders: Clemente Rodriguez, Christian Cellay, Leandro Desabato, German Re, Agustin Alayes, Marcos Rojo, Juan Manuel Diaz

Midfielders: Enzo Perez, Rodrigo Brana, Juan Sebastian Veron, Leandro Benitez, Maximiliano Nunez, Matias Sanchez, Marcelo Carrusca, Juan Huerta

Forwards: Mauro Boselli, Juan Manuel Salgueiro, Jose Sosa, Jeronimo Morales Neumann, Leandro Gonzalez.
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raconteur
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Well the tourney begins tomorrow with Al Ahli of the UAE, the champions of the host country, playing Auckland City of New Zealand, a real clash of the titans! The winner faces Atlante of Mexico.
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robdog
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raconteur,Dec 8 2009
07:29 PM
Well the tourney begins tomorrow with Al Ahli of the UAE, the champions of the host country, playing Auckland City of New Zealand, a real clash of the titans! The winner faces Atlante of Mexico.

Auckland City, the Pride of the Kiwis...Well, a couple of years ago I was in Auckland & I asked people about this side. Only a lad from Liverpool could tell me anything about them. I wanted to get a jersey, but there wasn't any in the local shops. Only jerseys of the All Blacks or the local Rugby Union sides. They did good today though. If you haven't seen the 2nd goal, please do. It's like a Michelangelo painting. Simply exquisite.
Supporter for FCK, San Lorenzo, Chelsea, Pachuca, Corinthians & Real Betis
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Yogi
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I wonder if Auckland City ever plays Wellington Phoenix the New Zealand club who competes in the Australian league? This is not like Canadian clubs playing in a US league or Welsh teams in an English one. Because Australia is now a member of the Asian federation while New Zealand are still in Oceania, Wellington Phoenix compete in a different confederation than the country they are from!
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Merengue
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A good game between Pohang Steelers and TP Mazembe today. The African champions went in front on a nice long range shot by Bedi but their defense gave chances to the Koreans who spurned some chances or were denied by some good goalkeeping by Mazembe's goalie. The Africans had their chances too but could not put them away. Pohang's Brasilian striker Denilson, not the winger of the same name who once played for Sao Paulo and Betis, scored to tie it up and then late in the match he beat the offside trap to score his 2nd and move Pohang to the semifinals where they will play Estudiantes.

Reuters summary of the game,

Pohang vs TP Mazembe
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Dr. Z
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I thought Pohang were the slightly better team so their win was deserved in my eyes. TP Mazembe gave them space defensively and their offside trap was susceptible to Pohang's runs. But TP Mazembe were pretty dangerous themselves going forward. Funny how their goal came off a great finish off a difficult shot yet they missed so many far easier ones.

Saturday Atlante play Auckland City. Here is an article where Atlante's coach Jose Guadelupe Cruz discusses how his club needs to be aware of Auckland's ability on set pieces:

http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/news?slug=r...uters&type=lgns

Atlante will be the favorites and I think their experience of playing US teams should come in useful in dealing with the New Zealanders more direct approach. But Atlante have not played an official game in almost a month as they did not make the league playoffs in Mexico so I do wonder if they'll be game sharp tomorrow?
Poniendo el pecho a las balas!
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SuperEagle
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Merengue,Dec 11 2009
11:37 AM
A good game between Pohang Steelers and TP Mazembe today. The African champions went in front on a nice long range shot by Bedi but their defense gave chances to the Koreans who spurned some chances or were denied by some good goalkeeping by Mazembe's goalie. The Africans had their chances too but could not put them away. Pohang's Brasilian striker Denilson, not the winger of the same name who once played for Sao Paulo and Betis, scored to tie it up and then late in the match he beat the offside trap to score his 2nd and move Pohang to the semifinals where they will play Estudiantes.

Reuters summary of the game,

Pohang vs TP Mazembe

It was a pretty open game but I too think Pohang were the deserving winners. TP Mazembe played too high of a defensive line and the Koreans soon picked that apart. Only some poor finishing and good goalkeeping by TP Mazembe's keeper kept the score down. Pohang are a pretty well organised team and they could give Estudiantes a pretty good game of it in the semifinals.
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SuperEagle
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Atlante outclassed Auckland City 3-0 to move to the semifinals. It was pretty much all one way traffic as Atlante had about 75-80% of the ball and eventually found their way through the New Zealanders defence.

So next week's semiifnals:

Estudiantes-Pohang Steelers
Barcelona-Atlante
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raconteur
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I thought Atlante played well. Sure they were far better than the part timers from New Zealand (how embarrassing must it be for the UAE champions to have lost at home to Auckland City?) but the Kiwis were well organzied and just campe din their defensive end for almost the entire game. Bbut Atlante showed patience in passing the ball around looking for the right opening. Their two little guys, midfielder "Hobbit" Bermudez and right back Fernando Navarro were both real livewires.
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Sergio
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I think that is true raconteur, I too was impressed with Atlante's composure and patience against a team who simply tried to defend. Spreading the ball out and switching play was an effective way to atatck the packed in defense.

Now Atlante get their dream matchup vs Barcelona. This time it will be they who will have to defend soundly but if they play without fear then they could give Barcelona a good game. That is what I will be hoping to see.
"You left as a champion, you will always be in our hearts. Rest in Peace Christian Benítez."
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Nkono
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SuperEagle,Dec 11 2009
11:18 PM
Merengue,Dec 11 2009
11:37 AM
A good game between Pohang Steelers and TP Mazembe today.  The African champions went in front on a nice long range shot by Bedi but their defense gave chances to the Koreans who spurned some chances or were denied by some good goalkeeping by Mazembe's goalie. The Africans had their chances too but could not put them away.  Pohang's Brasilian striker Denilson, not the winger of the same name who once played for Sao Paulo and Betis, scored to tie it up and then late in the match he beat the offside trap to score his 2nd and move Pohang to the semifinals where they will play Estudiantes.

Reuters summary of the game,

Pohang vs TP Mazembe

It was a pretty open game but I too think Pohang were the deserving winners. TP Mazembe played too high of a defensive line and the Koreans soon picked that apart. Only some poor finishing and good goalkeeping by TP Mazembe's keeper kept the score down. Pohang are a pretty well organised team and they could give Estudiantes a pretty good game of it in the semifinals.

TP Mazembe displayed a decent enough attack and their goal was very well taken but I agree that their defending was very naive and Pohang Steelers eventually figured it out and broke through the failed offside traps. Kidiamba the TP Mazembe goalie was the man who at least kept them in the game. A disappointing performance from the African club champions who now will play off against Auckland City for 5th place.
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xeneize
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Tuesday's semifinal result:

Estudiantes 2-1 Pohang Steelers

Estudiantes with the win today over Asian champions Pohang. To me the game was not as close as the final score as Estudiantes were 2-0 up before Pohang scored on what looked to be a clear offside goal to make it 2-1. The Korean club kept getting players sent off and ended it with only 8 players and star striker Denilson in goal after their goalie was sent off for a foul outside the area and they had already made all 3 substitutions. By this time Estudiantes were just playing keep away and trying not to over exert themselves and hope the rough tackling Koreans would not injure any of them before Saturday's final.

Estudiantes looked pretty good in this match with Boselli active in attack, Perez and Benitez running hard in midfield, Veron orchestrating it all and right back Clemente Rodriguez pushing forward well yet getting back effectively to cover in defense. But Pohang defended well until a minute before the half when a free kick by Benitez looked to have been nodded in by Boselli who slipped behind the Pohang defense but the goal was credited to Benitez. Then early in the 2nd half, Perez beat the keeper to a ball and flicked it across goal for Benitez to score his, and Estudiantes' 2nd. Pohang's captain and central defender was then sent off for a 2nd yellow when he body blocked Maxi Nunez on a counter. With about 20 minutes to go Estudiantes had trouble clearing a high ball inside the penalty area and a Korean looked to have beaten a Estudiantes player in the air and headed it forward to Denilson who was behind the defense and scored. Replays showed Denilson was about a meter behind the last defender and should have been whistled for offside. Unless the ref thought an Estudiantes player headed the ball back but that did not appear to me to be what happened. Pohang then lost another player to a double yellow when one of their midfielders kicked Veron from behind in the upper leg, as the Koreans played a very physical match.

With 14 minutes to go the Pohang goalie and either Nunez or Perez, I can't recall which, were going for a long ball from the back and ran into each other, the referee, Italy's Roberto Rossetti gave a direct red to the goalie which I thought was harsh as there was another defender between they and the goal and while there was contact it was minimal as both players were going for the ball. A yellow in my opinion would have been more appropriate. Down to 8 players and with all 3 subs used, Pohang's best player, center forward Denilson put on the gloves and went in goal. By this time Estudiantes were content to play the ball around and try and avoid more rough tackles from Pohang although on a nice give and go Clemente Rodriguez hit the post.

In the end Estudiantes were just winners of the game and move on to the final. Other than the goal and a few long range shots which Albil comfortably handled, Estudiantes shut Pohang down while looking constructive going forward. A solid win and one where they did not overly exert themselves. Now it is on to the final, likely against Barcelona and if Estudiantes play like warriors as they did in the Libertadores Final versus Cruzeiro then they can give Barcelona problems.

Impressive display too by Estudiantes' fans, there were 4,500 of them in Abu Dhabi and I would expect more will now make the trip for Saturday's final.
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