The Club World Cup final was a good one. That's what I read on the BBC when I woke up. Extra time was being played and I thought about looking for it online. I resigned myself to it being a futile search as I was sure Fifa's minions would have blocked any broadcast that wasn't making money for Fifa. Fair enough, I guess. Everybody in the business of making money has to make money. It just jars a little bit with Fifa's goal of taking football to all corners of the world. I watch a lot of football on TV, but am not going to pay a ridiculous monthly fee to buy a channel which I'll watch one match on.
On the pitch, Real Madrid had to work for their win. Kashima Antlers were 2-1 up in the second half. Cristiano Ronaldo was in no mood for a fairytale, unless it involved him, and his hat-trick, including two in the extra 30 minutes, gave Real the "best club in the world" title again.
This was the tournament where Fifa introduced the official use of video replays. But there was another innovation used today for the first time. Ronaldo was substituted in extra time and the man on BBC's live updates had to do a double take and go back to the substitution and mention that it was Real's 4th change. "I guess that's allowed in this tournament", was my bringer of news' comment on the BBC. Yes, Fifa are experimenting with a 4th substitute in extra time in this and other tournaments. It says something about how much importance Fifa give to the Club World Cup when they use it to experiment. But you could argue that both ways: nobody really watches so let's try new stuff, or it's a big tournament worthy of innovation.
Well done to the Antlers for giving Real a real run for their money. The champions of Japan were extremely close to beating the team that would have happily proclaimed themselves the "best in the world" before officially winning the title.
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