Key events
This is a good email, by Russell Yong.
“As this tournament reaches its denouement, I find myself getting philosophical. The biggest accusation throughout has been how much of a money-spinning contrivance it is. But really, all tournaments are a contrivance. Even the ones we cherish, they didn’t just phase out of another dimension. They were conceived by suited bureaucrats trying to spin new ways to throw teams together while hoping to financially profit. As such, I think it’s important to identify bad-faith grumbling by those who are essentially suggesting that there are only four tournaments worth caring about: the league, the Cup (and even that’s take-or-leave for a growing number of people), the Champions League and the World Cup (and bear in mind people were resentful of the latter two when they were first conceived as well). Are there concerns that there has been Too Much Football? Sure. But all it takes is some common-sense legislation to address that issue, and things immediately look a little brighter. Which is why the news that Fifa has caved on mandatory breaks for players is so welcome. It’s far from perfect, but it’s already a damned sight better than what we had.”
This is the mandatory break story Russell mentioned.
Some pre-match reading, courtesy of Sid Lowe …
… and Jacob Steinberg (who if you didn’t guess by the last post, is at MetLife Stadium reporting for us).
Jacob Steinberg
Three helicopters have just flown over the MetLife Stadium. No word on who’s in them but every chance it’s President Trump. The security operation is quite extraordinary here. TSA officials were conducting bag searches at the media entrance – you usually see them at US airports! – and there are Secret Service officials everywhere.
Other early Chelsea observations, from that starting line-up:
Interesting that Liam Delap’s reign as Enzo Maresca’s first-choice centre forward seemed to last a couple of weeks (before João Pedro turned up).
Moisés Caicedo is indeed fit, having only returned to training on Thursday after an injury against Fluminense. Lavia is on the bench, although it is probably he is not fully fit. He might be an option for Maresca later in the game, particularly if things are close. Lavia as regarded by Maresca (and other footy nerds) as being something called ‘press-resistant’, which is a pretty handy thing against this monster-pressing PSG side. But it basically means that he is good at keeping the ball under pressure, and good at finding passing lanes when he’s not.
There are three Blues keepers on the bench! Three! Maybe perhaps one is filling in for Madueke, who has left the squad to finalise his move to Arsenal.
Pretty much a first-choice XI from both teams. There are a couple of exclusions to remind you of.
Chelsea
Jamie Gittens, Chelsea’s new winger, is cup tied, having played for Borussia Dortmund earlier this tournament.
PSG
The teams!
Chelsea: Sanchez, Gusto, Cucurella, Chalobah, Colwill, Caicedo, James, Fernandez, Joao Pedro, Palmer, Pedro Neto.
Subs: Slonina, Jorgensen, Penders, Adarabioyo, Sarr, Anselmino, Acheampong, Dewsbury-Hall, Lavia, Santos, Nkunku, Delap, Jackson, Guiu, George.
PSG: Donnarumma, Hakimi, Nuno Mendes, Marquinhos, Lucas Beraldo, Vitinha, Neves, Fabian, Dembele, Doue, Kvaratskhelia.
Subs: Safonov, Tenas, Kimpembe, Kamara, Lee, Zaire Emery, Gabriel Moscardo, Mayulu, Goncalo Ramos, Barcola, Mbaye.
Preamble
The lucrative denouement to Gianni Infantino’s elaborate vanity project or the latest step in the globalisation of football and the footballisation of the the global calendar? This Club World Cup final is a little bit of both, truth be told, but a preamble to a minute-by-minute report is not the place to get too soapboxy, even if this is the Guardian.
Let’s not think too macro here. We are here because we like football and we like interesting football matches, and this is certainly one of those. Newly-crowned European champions PSG, who battered Real Madrid 4-0 in the semi-finals of this tournament (and were even accused of taking it easy on the Spanish club), laid waste to a host of English clubs – Manchester City, Liverpool, Aston Villa and Arsenal – on their way to the Champions League title have a chance to add another notch to their bedpost in Chelsea, themselves an increasingly formidable force.
The Blues finished their Premier League season strongly to qualify for the Champions League, won the Europa Conference League final and have since bought and sold extremely well, adding João Pedro, Jamie Gittens, Liam Delap and Estêvão and Dário Essugo and somehow flogging Noni Madueke to Arsenal for £52m and Serbian goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic to Bournemouth for £25m. Having recently been viewed as a bit of a mess, they suddenly feel like contenders for the major honours again, including this one.
Heatwatch: it is expected to be 27°C at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, which sounds very hot to this writer, but is actually a lot cooler than Chelsea’s semi-final against Fluminense, when the temperature was 35°C. “I had to lie down on the ground because I was really dizzy,” said Chelsea’s Enzo Fernández after the match. Playing in this temperature is very dangerous.”
However much Infantino wants to champion this tournament – and he really does – there are serious questions to be answered over player welfare. Let’s hope that everyone on the pitch and in the stands enjoys today’s match.
And let’s hope we enjoy it, too! It should be a cracker and either cement an absolutely sensational season for the best male team in the world or show how far Chelsea have come under Enzo Maresca.
Kick-off is at 8pm BST, or 3pm local time.
