New York Times article - Real Madrid play teams no one has ever heard of in the Club World Cup

Someone in the New York Times got paid to write an embarrassingly bad article about the Club World Cup. I'm going to explain why it was hopeless, and if the goddamn New York Times want to write about footy at least pay someone who knows what they are talking about to do it.

NFL writer covering football? 

There must be hard times at the New York Times because the article they published about the Club World Cup was a mess. Does the Club World Cup have faults? Yes it does, are they the faults that were explained in the New York Times article, no they're not.

The bloke who penned the article, looks like his area of expertise is NFL as most of the stories he writes are covering NFL. He has a sprinkling of basketball in there too, but only two articles about football recently. One is covering the Champions League draw which isn't that difficult to write an article about a cup draw, but what he wrote about the Club World Cup is tripe.

Real Madrid's players cost more

One of the first thing the writer alludes to in the article is that Real Madrid's players cost way more than Al Ains. Tell me someone anywhere in the World who watches football and doesn't know Real Madrid's playing squad is one of the most expensive in football.

Even when Madrid are playing Champions League football you could look on Transfermarkt and see that all of Madrid's team are worth more than their opposition. This isn't the massive revelation this fella thinks it is as he says in the article, "Transfermarkt, which assesses player values, estimates that Marcus Berg, a 32-year-old Swedish striker for Al Ain, is worth 4.5 million euros, or about $5.1 million; and the team has three other million-euro players. Not too shabby? Well, Real Madrid has 21 players worth 10 million euros or more, including the 90-million-euro players Gareth Bale, Isco and Marco Asensio."

Why aye fella, so only teams that have players worth more than 10 million are allowed in are they? New York Times gobbling the big clubs?

The clue is in the name of the competition

The writer contradicts himself again in the article by saying, Al Ain don't have any right at all to be involved because they aren't champions of their region. They're only the hosts, but later goes on to say...when the format changes and all the European big boys are in, that will be more fitting of a Club World Cup. Really? All those clubs who have won bollocks all, exactly like Al Ain who you don't want in the tournament for winning bollocks all. Some whopper of a contradiction that.

Here is what was wrote in the New York Times article:

"What’s Al Ain even doing in this event in the first place? The Club World Cup’s main field features the champions of every continent: Africa, North and South America, Europe, Asia and Oceania."

"But also thrown in each year is a team from the host nation, to keep things interesting for home fans. This year the U.A.E. is the host, giving Al Ain a spot that most thought would be essentially ceremonial."

But further down the article, the writer than tells everyone Fifa, in their infinite wisdom of trying to generate more exposure (generating more profit more like!) for this tournament have changed the format. No doubt sat in his office with a stiffy on at the thought of Bayern PSG or a Barca Man City final.

Here is what what was wrote in the article:

"FIFA is trying to address that with proposed changes, including shifting the event to every four years and adding many more teams, including several more from Europe.

After these changes, the final is much more likely to be something like Barcelona-Manchester City or P.S.G.-Bayern. And few would argue with the notion that such match ups would be a fairer representation of the world’s best teams."

Now, now, surely Bayern, PSG, Barcelona and Man City can't all win the European Champions League can they? To use your previous whoppers wouldn't that mean these clubs being involved in the competition is just ceremonial, some might say exactly the same way you described Al Ains participation. The clue is in the name - The Club World Cup.  Typical of modern football fans.

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