Teams of Conmebol: the biggest losers of the FIFA Club World Cup
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Previously, with the so-called Intercontinental Cup, there was parity between the UEFA and Conmebol champions, but that changed radically since the Club World Cup
Once again the South American representation in the Club World Cup was in debt to the continent's fans. This, after Argentina's River Plate fell defeated by Al Ain of the United Arab Emirates, a result that not only showed signs of the winning incapacity of the Argentine team that arrived as one of the favorites for the event, but ended up showing the reality of football Conmebol: football in Latin America is far from its best competitive moment.
Leer en español: Equipos de Conmebol: los grandes perdedores del Mundial de Clubes
From there, the question that arises is why did River go so badly in the Club World Cup? And above all, what is happening with the South American teams that stopped being relevant in this competition?
An unrecognizable River
What happened with the Argentine team in its debut and farewell in 2018, was really unusual. The men of Marcelo Gallardo, who arrived really inspired after winning Boca Juniors, its archrival in the Santiago Bernabéu, for the final of the Copa Libertadores, did not show much of that ability in this match. The reasons, several: on the one hand, as he exposed the same Gallardo, fatigue and stress accumulated in the year, plus, of course, the pressure to arrive as favorites to the tournament.
"Embarrassment is not a thing here, River played with the same delivery as always but was overtaken by a rival who did things well. We must also say that it influenced the physical aspect, our players are already very tired in this stretch of the year", explained 'el muñeco' about this surprise elimination in statements broadcast by Telemundodeportes.com.
Eighth consecutive failure
What is certain is that after this defeat of the Argentine team, the numbers for the South American teams are not encouraging, since the Intercontinental Cup format was changed to the Club World Cup in 2005, only three casts of South American (Sao Paulo-2005, International-2006, Corinthians-2010) have been able to keep the crown.
As Cfc.cl points out, the new name and system complicated, from its beginnings, the history for those of the Conmebol. "When the Intercontinental was played (1960-2004), there was a great parity between the Conmebol and UEFA teams. The cast of this part of the world was left with 22 titles, one more than those of the Old Continent". However, now everything is different, because in seven conquests, counting the East 2018 in which Real Madrid beat, it leads Europe to South America.
You may be interested in reading: 2018: the year of River Plate on Boca Juniors
Without victory, without millions
Another aspect that ended up hitting the team of the crusader strongly in this participation in the Club World Cup, was the one that had to do with the economic balance. As indicated by Pasiónfutbol.com, the team of the Argentine cast could not win the sum of four million euros, which was what was given to reach the final of the tournament.
Alarming historical data
The most striking thing about this series of international failures by the Conmebol teams is that not only there have been six years without winning the Club World Cup, but beyond that, transferring them to the national team, the reality of performance, it is not very different from reality. The list of winners of the FIFA website shows that since 2013, when Brazil won the Confederations Cup at home, that a South American does not rise with anything at all intercontinental level, a reality that, beyond being alarming, is not examined at all, could end up having an irreversible trend.
LatinAmerican Post | Freddy González
Translated from "Equipos de Conmebol: los grandes perdedores del Mundial de Clubes"
