The first Club World Cup final in the history of Manchester City, as Pep Guardiola likes to point out, and on Friday an unlikely opponent awaits for the title of world champion: a Fluminense side from Brazil with seven veterans from the game.
The South American champions won their semi-final in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Monday with an XI featuring two players in their 40s and another five in their 30s. The great Marcelo, at 35, a five-time Champions League-winning left back for Real Madrid, is back at the club where he first played as a teenager and is certainly not the oldest.
Felipe Melo, once of Juventus and Inter Milan, is 40. Fluminense goalkeeper Fabio is 43 – he made his professional debut in 1997. The team that defeated African champions Al Ahly also featured right back Samuel Xavier (33); attackers Ganso and Keno (both 34) and the Argentinian German Cano (35).
Fluminense manager Fernando Diniz is now also Brazil’s interim coach, and his playing style has been likened to Guardiola’s possession-based approach. But in a country that is among the biggest producers of young talent – and Fluminense has some youngsters too – Diniz has a strong faith in experience. He also tried to persuade Thiago Silva, also a graduate of Fluminense’s famous Xerem academy in Rio de Janeiro, to return. The Chelsea central defender is 39 years old.
Fluminense finished seventh in the Brasileiro Serie A this month and look more like a Soccer Aid setup than a team ready to take on the might of Guardiola’s European champions. But there is another crucial element to this: FIFA needs Fluminense to make the final against City on the Saudi Red Sea coast a real match, for the reputation of the Club World Cup.
At a FIFA Council meeting on Sunday, the governing body confirmed plans for its much-expanded, lucrative new 32-team Club World Cup format, due to start in 2025. Twelve European teams will compete against each other and the concern is that they will dominate the knockout stages. of the competition, which is held every four years, starting in the United States. In short, it could be a repeat of UEFA’s Champions League, held in the summer when players need to rest, and with little sporting merit.
City’s 3-0 semi-final victory over Asian champions Urawa Red Diamonds was one-sided. Urawa has not been Japanese champion since 2006 and only managed one goal attempt. Fluminense, drilled into a passing team by Diniz who are open, must now decide whether they will follow that belief in a final against the most formidable side in the world.
As for narrowing the quality gap between clubs in Europe and the rest of the world, that’s an issue that a bigger Club World Cup will highlight rather than solve. It may help FIFA’s finances, but it will also demonstrate that European sides are superior thanks to the welfare advantage that domestic and UEFA broadcasting contracts have given them. Only three of the last 18 Club World Cups have been won by South Americans – Brazilians in each case – and the rest have been European teams.
Fluminense has a number of promising young talents, including Andre, the 22-year-old midfielder who is important for Liverpool, and the young Brazilians Matheus Martinelli (22) and John Kennedy (21). Diniz is an undisputed star himself. Considered the current leading Brazilian coach, he will hold the fort with the embattled national team until Carlo Ancelotti arrives in the summer.
“The experience of players like Marcelo makes a big difference,” Diniz said after the semi-final victory. His famous full-back won the game-changing penalty with a nutmeg and dart in it, reminiscent of his peak years. “He has played in so many big games,” Diniz said, “and he can adapt to the conditions and the opponent.”
It is remarkable that Fluminense has come this far. Diniz, 49, has held 17 managerial jobs in 14 years. At the age of 18, he took charge of Brazil. As a former midfielder whose playing career was spent in Brazil, he has told the big names returning to the club that they will have to learn a new approach and they have all been on board. The Copa Libertadores victory was the first in Fluminense’s history.
Fluminense reached the Club World Cup final with an annual turnover of £60m, around 10 per cent of City’s turnover. The club is led by sports lawyer Mario Bittencourt, who was re-elected president this year and became known for corruption scandals in Brazilian football.
Their Rio rivals Flamengo have greater wealth, and in the litigious world of Brazilian football, the perception among Fluminense fans is that their neighbors also have much more influence. Fluminense was founded in 1902 by an Englishman, Oscar Cox, and won a predecessor to the Club World Cup, the Copa Rio, in 1952. Fluminense lobbied FIFA to recognize that tournament, which the governing body helped organize at the time and in which European sides such as Rapid Vienna and Sporting Lisbon took part, as a bona fide major honor.
Despite all the aging in the current squad, the Xerem academy has produced some fine young talent – the problem is they don’t stick around for long. Alongside Marcelo and Thiago Silva, Brighton’s Joao Pedro started at the club and Richarlison played there for a number of formative years as a young professional.
Fluminense’s leading goalscorer Cano, a physical number 10, has never been capped by Argentina but has 40 goals in 2023. That puts him fourth in the world behind Harry Kane, Cristiano Ronaldo and Erling Haaland. How Fluminense approaches the game will be intriguing. They are used to attacking. Given City’s hunger for possession, it could be an exhausting evening in the Jeddah heat.