⚽ FIFA Club World Cup 2025 - USA: Discussion Thread ⚽

[Sim_card]

I agree with you that Madrid are not as good as they used to be but judging by how they played in the last 2 games you can testify that they are better than Juventus in their last 2 games. The group stage showed us how both teams are in terms of performance and Madrid has a upper hand over Juventus and like I said the defense of Juventus need to be up to speed or should I say they need to wake up because against Manchester City they were all sleeping in as much as we feel they didn't put all their best in that game because they have already qualified, I'd say is not necessary but it can be that they are going to be at their best today.
I think you're right, we can't be too certain that Madrid will get an easy win against Juventus, it will be a very strong battle for Madrid maybe one of the strongest game for Madrid in this competition. My issue with Madrid is how they play some midfielders in position that's not their natural position but they'll manage as usual... Let's expect something special in this encounter like Madrid to be eliminated, it can happen after all Manchester City who beat Juventus 5-2 were eliminated this morning.

Juventus is also not in their best form just like Madrid, but I don't think that Juventus will be able to win Madrid despite that they're not that strong. However, I wouldn't underestimate Juventus because we might see a different result, just like what we saw in the two last matches played in the round of 16.

[mandown]

I watched the match between Inter and Fluminense. Fluminense started defending after scoring a goal at the beginning of the match. Inter had many opportunities but could not score the goal they were looking for.

I think Fluminense was very lucky. Two of Inter's balls hit the post. Especially Martinez's shot that hit the post was lucky for Fluminense. Because the ball could have hit the goalkeeper Fabio and scored.

Fluminense is a team of old players and if they score an early goal in the Al Hilal match, they will want to play solid defense and win the match.
Goalkeeper Fabio is 44 years old and made very good saves yesterday. I think he deserves a big congratulation.

[hyudien]

If nobody was shocked at the score line of Manchester City Vs Al Hilal game I was, I was totally shocked because in my wildest dream, I didn't think of seeing such. I had looked forward to watching that very game but because of the time difference I couldn't. Woke up this morning and I got the notification of the match and I was shocked and dumbfounded.One of the favourites has been beaten and sent home by Al Hilal.

You, me and most of the people here can't believe the result. Man city lost to a non-European league team, I was lucky to watch their game this morning (my time zone) even though it started in the second half. Al Hilal in Inzaghi hands was like a monster and was able to match Man City game. Bono, Koulibaly were brilliant. I say teams from Europe should be careful from now on, btw it's not only Man City who had to go home, Inter also had a nightmare today.

[Adbitco]

If nobody was shocked at the score line of Manchester City Vs Al Hilal game I was, I was totally shocked because in my wildest dream, I didn't think of seeing such. I had looked forward to watching that very game but because of the time difference I couldn't. Woke up this morning and I got the notification of the match and I was shocked and dumbfounded.One of the favourites has been beaten and sent home by Al Hilal.

You, me and most of the people here can't believe the result. Man city lost to a non-European league team, I was lucky to watch their game this morning (my time zone) even though it started in the second half. Al Hilal in Inzaghi hands was like a monster and was able to match Man City game. Bono, Koulibaly were brilliant. I say teams from Europe should be careful from now on, btw it's not only Man City who had to go home, Inter also had a nightmare today.

Even after seeing the score, because I set my phone to always give me updates from Google, even as I saw the flash message this morning, I still wasn't convinced that was the score, I went to check livescore app and saw same thing, that was when it dawned on me that Manchester City has been eliminated by Al Hilal. This team is showing that they will be a big threat in this competition and also in their league, the new coach of course already has good players in his team, he will make a very good use of them, his showing it already.

[Sexylizzy2813]

I agree with you that Madrid are not as good as they used to be but judging by how they played in the last 2 games you can testify that they are better than Juventus in their last 2 games. The group stage showed us how both teams are in terms of performance and Madrid has a upper hand over Juventus and like I said the defense of Juventus need to be up to speed or should I say they need to wake up because against Manchester City they were all sleeping in as much as we feel they didn't put all their best in that game because they have already qualified, I'd say is not necessary but it can be that they are going to be at their best today.
I think you're right, we can't be too certain that Madrid will get an easy win against Juventus, it will be a very strong battle for Madrid maybe one of the strongest game for Madrid in this competition. My issue with Madrid is how they play some midfielders in position that's not their natural position but they'll manage as usual... Let's expect something special in this encounter like Madrid to be eliminated, it can happen after all Manchester City who beat Juventus 5-2 were eliminated this morning.

Juventus is also not in their best form just like Madrid, but I don't think that Juventus will be able to win Madrid despite that they're not that strong. However, I wouldn't underestimate Juventus because we might see a different result, just like what we saw in the two last matches played in the round of 16.

I agree with you and we shouldn't forget that Juventus have a better attacking force more than Madrid, I said that because I think the Madrid front line are not playing as a unit, don't get me wrong on this, it happens and is like something is missing in that team and nobody should think is Mbappe, no he will make it worse if he's present.
When the Old Ladies play against Madrid tonight I expect them to always stay alert because Madrid has this luck that follows them each time a team is leading by a goal they always come back and win the game in the last minute, so is best to score and defend well, talking about Juventus that's if they want to win the game.

[Majestic-milf]

This fan's reaction after Leonardo scored the winning goal cracked me up, it's really unbelievable and even more suprising than that of Inter Milan, the tournament is getting more interesting and i love it, I knew Al Hilal was a strong team in the Saudi League but I never knew they were this strong, that's why it's good to sign a quality coach and any team that wants to excell should do that, Simone Inzaghi is a blessing to Al Hilal and he's proving it, Al Hilal's board would be smiling, knowing that they made a very good choice . I'm still suprised at how Manchester City went from scoring an early goal to being eliminated from this tournament, Pep Guardiola made a wrong decision by benching some of his players, Cherki should've been brought it earlier, it should've been foden and Cherki as support to Haaland instead of Savior and Doku starring.

That photo is a description of what we in Nigeria refer to as "e choke". Man City felt the heat, not just from the weather in the stadium but their opponents weren't ready to cower in fear just because they were being pressured by Man City. Believe me, I guess Pep would have preferred to get eliminated by teams in Europe they have played against and not a club that's not up to their standard like Al Hilal.
 Simeone inzaghi pattern of winning at Inter is beginning to rub off on this team and I bet you, next season the club will be more formidable than that of Al Nasser and Al Ittihad.

[rdluffy]

I lost my bets yesterday, the two I made, but I was happy that the underdogs managed to qualify
I really enjoyed the two games yesterday

It's super important not to underestimate football outside Europe
I see a lot of people here underestimating it, and on the field  Fluminense played better than Inter
Brazilian soccer is still alive, with two representatives in the quarter-finals, please don't think that football only exists with the big European teams

[verdinio]

I only saw the final score and didn't watch the match, because I thought Manchester City could win the match but it turned out that Al Hilal advanced as champions by eliminating strong candidates. Damn after Manchester City was eliminated that means on the left side there will be unexpected candidates who can reach the top 8 later.

We are underestimating Al Hilal, and don't forget that they are the best in SPL. I saw the quality in them and how they played with too much confidence. Scoring with ease and put City on pressure. This is incredible and I never saw it coming. I didn't also watch the match but I watched the highlights and I was like.. Dam!!! What an interesting match with so many goals.

yes I'm following this tournament carefully, obviously the matches that aren't played at night , but yesterday's was a beautiful match full of goals and technical ideas, Inzaghi is doing an excellent job as a coach and it wasn't a given given how he left off with Inter

[Polkeins]

The heck is wrong with City. They lose to the Al Hilal, and i can't believe it how crap they're. They're good in frontline, but their back line is so garbage. Stones, akanji and Ake are done as defenders. They have to be replaced asap.
I also aware how Ederson is one of worst goal keeper now. I'd rather swap him to the Al Hilal's goalie instead of keep him.

Their lose against Hilal is obviously bring back some memories about how crap their performance last season. Pep fixing their frontline, but not with their backline.

Their backline let them down, and will continue to do so.

Normally when Manchester City plays against a team with good attack that's when it shows how terrible their defense is. Al Hilal is a team with good attacking  players so that is why they were able to penetrate Manchester City defense easily. I never expected Manchester City to lose to them but I expected to see a strong game because I saw how Al Hilal played against Real Madrid in the group stage and I was really impressed with their performance.
Some people are probably still thinking that a Saudi league team should not be able to compete with European teams but I think their level are not so far away now again because the league has really developed in just a few years. All the money spent to improve their league was really worth it.

I know fatigue is what is affecting some of this European teams because they have had a very busy season playing different club competitions and still having to play The Nations League as well. So all this must be exhausting for them and that's why some can't perform to expectations especially teams like Manchester City that don't have much squad depth.

All this being said I still think Manchester City have some work to do to strengthen their defense else they will still suffer again this coming season.

Kivu is a weak coach and it was evident even at the club World Cup. Maybe it's even good that Inter are failing now and now everyone can see that the season with Kivu will be hard and maybe the management of Inter should already look for a replacement for Kivu.

Inter's problem is that the team has a very old squad and it is hard for them to play so many games in the season and now the coaching reshuffle, which only confused the situation. Inzaghi knew all the weaknesses and strengths of the players and squeezed the maximum out of them, where it is possible, but if necessary, he even left the leaders of the team in reserve.
Several important games Inter played without Lautaro and Inzaghi did it intentionally, to give Inter's leader a rest and apparently realizing that Lautaro is not the most stable player and if there are setbacks it is difficult for him to overcome them, but Kivu didn't do that.

If there were more young players in the squad, they would at least have to show their best side, so they could then move to another club, like Antoni at United, but Inter don't just have a lot of 30+ players, they have a lot of players who are 35 and older.
Without a change of coach, Inter will have a very difficult and apparently failed season in Serie A.

[Razmirraz]

I lost my bets yesterday, the two I made, but I was happy that the underdogs managed to qualify
I really enjoyed the two games yesterday

It's super important not to underestimate football outside Europe
I see a lot of people here underestimating it, and on the field  Fluminense played better than Inter
Brazilian soccer is still alive, with two representatives in the quarter-finals, please don't think that football only exists with the big European teams

Surprises always come in football, your defeat in two bets proves that what was predicted outside the field was not at all in line with the results of the match. I was very surprised by the result of this match considering Inter are UCL finalists, they did not show their class as a strong team in Europe at all.
Al Hilal also managed to prove their quality as a team that is ready to inflict wounds on European teams, the victory achieved dramatically over Man City made them succeed in making history in the Club World Cup, but this success was due to the great contribution of Yassine Bounou, 10 saves made him recorded as the goalkeeper who managed to make the most saves in one match throughout this tournament.

[cande86]

this evening there will be another great match that I will follow carefully, Juventus Real Madrid, because of the surprises that it can reserve for us, surely one of the news that has come out is that Juventus has problems in defense and that Federico Gatti will most likely miss the match, let's hope to witness a good draw

[KTChampions]

funny Is that the odd in case Manchester City won was @1.25

Those who use such "obvious" outcomes to boost multi-bets were unpleasantly surprised 
Judging by the way things are going, we can assume that Guardiola is really finished, the KDB generation is leaving and it is far from certain that Guardiola will be able to assemble a top team again even with daddy Sheikh and his money.
It looks like betting against City will be a worthwhile risk at the start of next season.
By the way, City is already rated at the same level as Arsenal:

Liverpool - 2.88

Manchester City - 3.25

Arsenal - 3.50

[Ndabagi01]

It was just unbelievable yesterday, two shocking results that I witnessed because I wasn't expecting to see such. Firstly, it's was Inter Milan that lost against Fluminense, the worst part of this was that they conceded an early goal and couldn't even score at least a goal in the whole process of their 2 - 0 loss. The second for again was the game of Manchester City Vs Al Hilal, the Saudi club side has really shown potential that they will go far in this tournament and they look like they are not afraid of pushing for what they want. They want to win and winning they are aiming for.

The match of Inter Milan against Fluminense was very obvious that inter Milan didn’t have much hope in that match because of how Fluminense were dominating the game far better than they did. They were not able to convert their chances despite the chances not coming as many as it was for Fluminense. Inter Milan needs to make some changes to their squad if they really want to compete well next season in the European competition. This club shouldn’t have given them this defeat if they’re in they’re best form which they never was.

For the Manchester City and Al-Hilal game, the way they were both scoring and equalising made be feel like the match will only end in favour of the lucky team. I won’t say that Al-Hilal overpowered Manchester City, but it seems like they both played well and every team got what is most deserving for them. The luckiest team won the game in the end even though they both played well.

[knowngunman]

Juventus is also not in their best form just like Madrid, but I don't think that Juventus will be able to win Madrid despite that they're not that strong. However, I wouldn't underestimate Juventus because we might see a different result, just like what we saw in the two last matches played in the round of 16.

Unless football do its usual doing of surprise and wonder, Juventus don't have that squad to defeat Real Madrid at the moment despite Madrid not being on their peak form. I wonder how Juventus managed to make it up to this stage in this tournament considering how dey struggle to finish the season and manage to get a champions league ticket. Real Madrid on the other hand is also not at their best form but Alonso is trying to build the team confidence back and this is the right time to test their strengths with a big team once more.

[condoras]

I lost my bets yesterday, the two I made, but I was happy that the underdogs managed to qualify
I really enjoyed the two games yesterday

Unfortunately, I was on the same boat with you on one of yesterday's games. I lost my bets on the Inter vs Fluminense game (I didn't expect Inter not to manage a single goal), but thankfully, I bet on the draw in the other match between Man City and Al-Hilal. Inter's performance was a disgrace to their name and their fans; they need to change more than a lot for the upcoming season. As for Man City, the whole season has gone badly for them. They felt that this was an easy game, because they scored very early in the game, but it wasn't like that at all. They underestimate Al-Hilal, which has a strong "EU" top roster, and Al-Hilal paid them properly and took them out. Big congrats to both Flu and Al-Hilal for their great wins. Let's see today what will happen...

[Lida93]

The heck is wrong with City. They lose to the Al Hilal, and i can't believe it how crap they're. They're good in frontline, but their back line is so garbage. Stones, akanji and Ake are done as defenders. They have to be replaced asap.
I also aware how Ederson is one of worst goal keeper now. I'd rather swap him to the Al Hilal's goalie instead of keep him.

Their lose against Hilal is obviously bring back some memories about how crap their performance last season. Pep fixing their frontline, but not with their backline.

Their backline let them down, and will continue to do so.

It was just unbelievable yesterday, two shocking results that I witnessed because I wasn't expecting to see such. Firstly, it's was Inter Milan that lost against Fluminense, the worst part of this was that they conceded an early goal and couldn't even score at least a goal in the whole process of their 2 - 0 loss. The second for again was the game of Manchester City Vs Al Hilal, the Saudi club side has really shown potential that they will go far in this tournament and they look like they are not afraid of pushing for what they want. They want to win and winning they are aiming for.

It was a magnificent outing for Al Hilal bolstering so much courage to beat Manchester city. I have felt that City would get past this game with a good scoreline after they had to humiliate Juventus in that 4:0 defeat. But I was wrong about Al Hilal. After all, these Saudi clubs are not allowed that weak as we are told.

As for Inter Milan, they have been unlucky all through this season, their efforts has been really paying off as it should. I wasn't very surprised with their result as I was with that of Manchester city.

[stompix]

~
Probably a bug, or am I just tired from the heat?

It turns out that Al-Hilal first half + second half is the "base". Adding "Al-Hilal win" or "Al-Hilal double chance" does not change anything, by the way, I did not notice it at first, that the "base" consists of only 2 outcomes. These are exactly the outcomes that duplicate each other, in the same way the odds would not increase if you added "Al-Hilal over 0.5 first half" and "Al-Hilal over 0.5 second half", since if Al-Hilal wins both halves (base), then it is obvious that it will score in each of the halves.

Yup, in was obvious that self-duplicated should be excluded, but still, the bet builder cuts some odds.
Normal bet for Half time/Match , 2x Real Madrid Winner is 2.66 right now.
If I use the bet builder and combine Real Madrid first half and match winner Real Madrid I get 2.50....
Anyhow my combo of x51 was a loss cause City did not lost the first half

It's quite funny how Inter and City went home   Now fans of non-European football have their own arguments/chances.

Watching everyone doing 1675q32^5 degrees turn about the championship, the clubs, the CL, and so on. Popcorn time!

[Alpha Marine]

I've been seeing a lot of talk about how the Saudi league should be respected, and all because they beat Manchester City. Some are even saying it's better than the French league because Ronaldo said so. It's laughable. Why is there so much recency bias in football these days? The Saudi league is still an inferior league and is nowhere near Europe's top 5 leagues. It's not even better than leagues like the Portuguese league or the Eredivisie.

Juventus is also not in their best form just like Madrid, but I don't think that Juventus will be able to win Madrid despite that they're not that strong. However, I wouldn't underestimate Juventus because we might see a different result, just like what we saw in the two last matches played in the round of 16.

Have you seen Juventus play? They're not good at all. Except they can come out with something very different against Madrid, I don't expect anything from them. I'm not saying it's going to be an easy win for Madrid, but they will win. I understand Madrid is also not in top form, but they seem to be better than Juventus. It's football and anything can happen, but I'm not expecting it.

[Cossyblack]

One Italian team was eliminated yesterday and we might as well see another leaving today, talking about Juventus. After that poor display against Manchester City in their last group game I feel Madrid will have a better chance of getting something in this encounter because if I'm to be honest I'd say Madrid are different from what we saw them play in the first group game but since after that their performance changed starting from the game they played with a man down and the chances are for good and I don't think Juventus can stop them when they start running.
Real Madrid can be seen as the favorite but it doesn't matter, without the odds I'd still go for Madrid to win this game, as for the Old Ladies I think they look too open to be penetrated too easy like their defenders are another version of that of Inter Milan...let's go for a 3-1 in for Madrid.

Inter Milan really suffered a pretty bad defeat. Because apart from them wasting too many opportunities, we also see that Inter Milan's defense is really getting worse. Fluminense actually almost scored more than 2 goals in that match. So yeah, Fluminense deserved to win and advance to the next round. Meanwhile, Inter Milan really have to improve their playing strategy and also the depth of their squad.

I didn't expect that Inter Milan wouldn't even be able to get even 1 goal back in that match. This indicates that Inter Milan could also experience bad luck in the upcoming Serie A.

I wasn't surprised with the outcome of the Match,Inter Milian is already messy and shouldn't have qualify to the round 16, infact they were lucky to have come this far. Inter Milian performance hasn't improved even though they now have a new coach,still nothing has changed. I feel the problem of Inter Milian is the players,the club needs to sell most of their players that are  performing very poorly . It's true that Fluminense played very well,there performance in this competition beats my outmost expectation,I never knew Brazilian clubs are this good and can perform incredibly like Fluminense. Yeah they missed a lot of chances,it could have been nicer if they were able to score goals in that match.

[Kaliandra]

The heck is wrong with City. They lose to the Al Hilal, and i can't believe it how crap they're. They're good in frontline, but their back line is so garbage. Stones, akanji and Ake are done as defenders. They have to be replaced asap.
I also aware how Ederson is one of worst goal keeper now. I'd rather swap him to the Al Hilal's goalie instead of keep him.

Their lose against Hilal is obviously bring back some memories about how crap their performance last season. Pep fixing their frontline, but not with their backline.

Their backline let them down, and will continue to do so.

It was just unbelievable yesterday, two shocking results that I witnessed because I wasn't expecting to see such. Firstly, it's was Inter Milan that lost against Fluminense, the worst part of this was that they conceded an early goal and couldn't even score at least a goal in the whole process of their 2 - 0 loss. The second for again was the game of Manchester City Vs Al Hilal, the Saudi club side has really shown potential that they will go far in this tournament and they look like they are not afraid of pushing for what they want. They want to win and winning they are aiming for.

Of course, due to the 2 surprising matches, I lost my bet because I favored Man City and Inter Milan and many of my friends also lost their bets on that match. Here, of course, Al Hilal really made an extraordinary surprise and the news of Al Hilal's victory was very popular because many people thought that Al Hilal would lose to Man City. Likewise, Inter who lost to Fluminense certainly became popular news and of course Inter as the 2nd UCL champion this season really unexpectedly lost to Fluminense.

The conclusion is that Inter really lost absolutely to Fluminense as well as Man City who lost absolutely to Al Hilal. and indeed they both deserved to win. I'm sure the Al Hilal vs Fluminense match will be even more exciting because the two champions will meet. Do you have a good prediction for that match...