(ESP-ENG) Los cuartos de final y sus sorpresas. [Opinión]

Hello friends, good vibes to all.

Fuente.

What happened on Monday in the Club World Cup was not in anyone's betting books, not even the most powerful seer in the world or the greatest soccer expert could have predicted what ended up happening. Two European soccer powerhouses, Champions League runners-up Inter and the all-powerful Manchester City would be eliminated at the hands of a South American and an Arab club. I do not mean to belittle Fluminense who two years ago was the Libertadores champion or Al Hilal who has been champion 3 times in the last 5 years in the Saudi league but the surprise is understandable and valid and that is a fact.

I have a theory that is not far-fetched at all, well, not theory, it would be a fact rather and it is that many players have at this point more than 55-60 games in their legs which makes the wear and tear is evident and more than normal. So, is it possible that we are seeing half-machine games played by some of these players? - It is possible. But that would be taking credit away from the winning clubs, wouldn't it. The thing is that I think there is a bit of both things, we are facing an extreme physical fatigue of the European clubs (accompanied by the terrible weather conditions) and on the other hand the pleasant surprises of the approaches and grit that these "smaller" teams are showing.

Fuente.

Fluminense's tactical and physical overflow against the Italians was far superior and was, of course, the differentiating factor for the Brazilians to win 2-0. The defensive order of Renato Portaluppi's team was the cornerstone that kept a clean sheet. I remember that in the first half “Flu” was much better, but in the second half Inter tried to do better with some changes, for example Carlos Augusto and especially Sebastiano Esposito, who should have started instead of Thuram. The reality is that it was not enough for them. Fluminense's victory was well deserved, they showed more and better soccer. Cristian Chivu has an important job of reorganization to do.

Hours after Fluminense's victory, we witnessed what I believe has been the best match of this World Cup by far. And as if it were all the work of a strange mysticism, the man who until a few weeks ago was the coach of Inter was the one who ended up winning with Al Hilal, I am talking about Simone Inzaghi. Al Hilal, which has little of Arab beyond the owners, showed a very competitive soccer against a City team that did not play badly either, but it is true that at times they were widely outplayed by their opponents. We went from a 1-0 lead in the first half to the madness of a 2-2 draw in regulation time and then in extra time the match ended 4-3. It was like a boxing match in which as much as they gave, they received.

Source!

At the end of the day none of this was a product of chance or luck, I think it is possible that even a slight underestimation may have been made internally thinking that because they came from Europe and played at a different level it was impossible to lose against these rivals. This did not happen, for example, with Bayern who beat Flamengo 4-2 or with PSG who crushed Inter in Miami. That's why for me this is all simple assumptions. Sometimes the reason is the simplest and it is that both Fluminense and Al Hilal were better on the pitch, they played better and took advantage of the weaknesses that their rivals could show.

Will the quarterfinals be interesting? - I would say yes. PSG-Bayern and Madrid-Dortmund are very Champions League but that doesn't mean they won't be attractive matches. The other two are more unprecedented. I am very interested in Chelsea-Palmeiras, I think it will be a very cool match and not to mention Fluminense-AL Hilal, the protagonists of this publication. Let's hope that Yeferson Soteldo sees minutes, he is the only Venezuelan who is still playing in this World Cup.

Well my people, that's all for today, I hope you liked it.
¡Hugs to all of you, see you next time!

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