The first semifinal of the club world championship turned out to be noticeably more informative and intriguing than you might expect. An obvious favorite of the match was the owner of the Copa Libertadores Internacional Cup from Porto Alegre, but the rival of the Brazilian team, the Egyptian club Al-Ahly turned out to be a worthy competitor. Perhaps, thanks to experience, Al-Ahli is the only participant in this tournament who came to the club world championships in Japan a year ago.
The Egyptians were strengthened not only by experience, but also by the legionnaire, participant of the 2006 World Cup, the Angolan striker Flavio, who, given the name, appearance and manner of play, can be mistaken for a Brazilian. In any case, Flavio scored his goal on Wednesday (already the second in the tournament) with a very beautiful header under the crossbar, making the score 1: 1 at the very beginning of the second half.
Prior to that, equal competition seemed to be out of the question. “Inter” did not just possess a gaming advantage: real Brazilians allowed themselves to play in public, showing circus performances. For example, a couple of minutes before the goal of Flavio, striker “Inter” Alexandre Pato walked along the flank, throwing the ball with his shoulder, and then played up with his heel. Perhaps this is the performance of the 17-year-old boy, who, by the way, opened the score in the middle of the first half, and angered the club champion of Africa. One way or another, Al-Ahly immediately went on the attack with great forces and scored a return ball.
The balance lasted about 20 minutes, and right after the goal scored, Al-Ahly even showed activity. But then the Africans were forced to obey subordination. “Inter” launched a massive offensive, and after one of the corners replaced by Adriano Luis gracefully cut his head into the ball into the far corner. The Internacional did not allow itself a second attack of excessive self-confidence. Brazilians replaced circus numbers with quiet ball control in midfield. The efforts of Flavio and his partners, including several Egyptian national team players, helped the “challenger” keep the Brazilian club in suspense until the last seconds, but the most popular 2-1 football score remained unchanged.
Today in Yokohama, in the arena that hosted the 2002 World Cup finals, the winner of the European Champions League Barcelona will have their semi-finals. Her rival - the Mexican “America”, without a splendor, she won in the quarter-finals against a semi-amateur club from New Zealand. However, what “Inter” with “Al Ahly” or “Barca” (theoretically) with “America” can afford, “America” itself could well afford with “Auckland”. The hierarchy in world football still does not suffer permutations.
Alexander SHMURNOV