From Newsgroup: rec.sport.soccer
On 05/07/2025 22:49, Ll|-o wrote:
With the quarterfinal round over today, here are the standings from 5th
to 32nd position, ordered by round, points, goal difference, most goals scored and yellow cards (this one used only to break a tie for the 29th position).
Updating this post: since we won't have a third place playoff on this tournament, I'm adding here 3rd and 4th places based on the same
criteria as above, as well as some comments on Conmebol's performance
below the table.
3 Real Madrid 13
4 Fluminense 11 ---------------------------------------------------
-a5 Borussia Dortmund-a-a-a-a 10
-a6 Bayern Munchen-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a 9
-a7 Al-Hilal-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a 8 (GD +2, GS-GC 8-6)
-a8 Palmeiras-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a 8 (GD +2, GS-GC 6-4) ---------------------------------------------------
-a9 Manchester City-a-a-a-a-a-a-a 9
10 Benfica-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a 7 (GD +4)
11 Flamengo-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a 7 (GD +2)
12 Internazionale-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a 7 (GD +1)
13 Juventus-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a 6 (GD +4)
14 Botafogo-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a 6 (GD 0)
15 Monterrey-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a 5 (GD +3)
16 Inter Miami-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a 5 (GD -3) ---------------------------------------------------
17 Atletico de Madrid-a-a-a-a 6
18 Mamelodi Sundowns-a-a-a-a-a 4 (GD 0, GS-GC 4-4)
19 River Plate-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a 4 (GD 0, GS-GC 3-3)
20 RB Salzburg-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a 4 (GD -2)
21 Esp|-rance-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a 3 (GD -4)
22 Al Ain-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a 3 (GD -10)
23 Porto-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a 2 (GD -1, GS-GC 5-6)
24 Boca Juniors-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a 2 (GD -1, GS-GC 4-5)
25 Al Ahly-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a 2 (GD -2)
26 Los Angeles FC-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a 1 (GD -3)
27 Auckland City-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a 1 (GD -16)
28 Ulsan-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a 0 (GD -4)
29 Seattle Sounders-a-a-a-a-a-a 0 (GD -5, GS-GC 2-7, 3 YC)
30 Pachuca-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a 0 (GD -5, GS-GC 2-7, 4 YC)
31 Wydad AC-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a 0 (GD -6)
32 Urawa Red Diamonds-a-a-a-a 0 (GD -7)
By confederation:
UEFA: best 1st (PSG or Chelsea), worst 23rd (Porto)
Conmebol: best 4th (Fluminense), worst 24th (Boca Juniors)
AFC: best 7th (Al-Hilal), worst 32nd (Urawa Red Diamonds)
Concacaf: best 15th (Monterrey), worst 30th (Pachuca)
CAF: best 18th (Mamelodi Sundowns), worst 31st (Wydad AC)
OFC: only 27th (Auckland City)
[SNIP]> And here are some impressions from the already eliminated confeds.
Adding here a bit about Conmebol now: I didn't expect a Conmebol team to
win this thing, given the results of the last 12 years or so of this tournament in its previous format (that FIFA now calls "Intercontinental Cup"), but I was surprised by the Brazilian clubs' performance.
Fluminense's run to the semifinals was the biggest surprise, as they
were probably the lowest rated of the Brazilian sides before the cup.
In terms of results, the highlights were Botafogo and Fluminense beating
the most recent Champions League finalists, and Flamengo's win over the incumbent Conference League champions. Those, plus Fluminense's win over Al-Hilal (a team worth twice as much as theirs, according to
Transfermarkt) were the confederation's great results, IMHO.
But there were tough times as well. Flamengo was comprehensively beaten
by Bayern Munich, with the 2-4 final score being closer than the game
actually was. The third group stage game was difficult for Fluminense
(who could conceivably have lost to Mamelodi Sundowns), Palmeiras (who
had a very tough time against Inter Miami, luckily for them the other
group game went their way before they eventually got their act together)
and even Botafogo (who suffered an unnecessary scare at the end of their
game against Atletico de Madrid, even if the Spanish were two goals
short of their target). In my opinion, both Palmeiras and Fluminense put
out brave stands against Chelsea, but IMHO there really is no doubt that
the English deserved to be the winners of both of these matches.
Both Argentinian clubs went out in the first round. Boca's draw with
Auckland City looks ugly, but was largely inconsequential - the game was interrupted due to a climate warning and, when it resumed, Boca was
already eliminated by Benfica's win over Bayern. Boca and River could conceivably have beaten Benfica and Monterrey, but ultimately failed to
do so and that did them in - of course, had Boca beaten Benfica they'd
have had to beat Auckland City too, but then they'd resume play with
something at stake. Maybe it wouldn't change the final outcome, but
still. I'm not sure they'd have survived those clubs' next round
opponents, Chelsea and Dortmund, though.
In the end, it was 12 UEFA-Conmebol matches, with 6 wins for UEFA, 3
draws and 3 wins for Conmebol (the ones I mentioned in the first
paragraph), 12 goals for Conmebol and 16 for UEFA. 8 of these matches in
the first round (Conmebol 2-3 UEFA, with three draws, 7 Conmebol goals
to 8 UEFA ones) and 4 in the playoff tree (Conmebol 1-3 UEFA, Conmebol outscored 5-8).
By country, the UEFA-Conmebol divide looks like this:
Brasil: 9 games, 3 wins, 2 draws, 4 losses, 9 goals scored, 10 conceded Argentina: 3 games, 0 wins, 1 draw, 2 losses, 3 goals scored, 6 conceded
Portugal: 2 games, 0 wins, 2 draws, 0 losses, 2 goals scored, 2 conceded
Spain: 1 game, 1 wins, 0 draws, 0 loss, 1 goal scored, 0 conceded
France: 1 game, 0 wins, 0 draws, 1 loss, 0 goals scored, 1 conceded
Italy: 2 games, 1 win, 0 draws, 1 loss, 2 goals scored, 2 conceded
Germany: 3 games, 2 wins, 1 draw, 0 losses, 6 goals scored, 3 conceded
England: 3 games, 2 wins, 0 draws, 1 loss, 5 goals scored, 4 conceded
So, Conmebol's Great Undoing came through the hands of Germany and
England, or rather Bayern and Chelsea. With regards to other
confederations, Conmebol's score looks like this:
vs Concacaf: 4 games, 1 win for Conmebol, 3 draws, 5 goals for Conmebol,
4 for Concacaf.
Brasil: 3 games, 1 win, 2 draws, 0 losses, 5 goals scored, 4 conceded Argentina: 1 drawn game, no goals
United States: 3 games, 0 wins, 2 draws, 1 loss, 4 goals scored, 5 conceded Mexico: 1 drawn game, no goals
vs CAF: 3 games, 2 wins for Conmebol, 1 draw, 4 goals for Conmebol, 0
for CAF.
Brasil: 3 games, 2 wins, 1 draw, 0 losses, 4 goals scored, 0 conceded
Egypt: 1 game, 0 wins, 0 draws, 1 loss, 0 goals scored, 2 conceded
Tunisia: 1 game, 0 wins, 0 draws, 1 loss, 0 goals scored, 2 conceded
South Africa: 1 drawn game, no goals
vs AFC: 2 games, 2 wins for Conmebol, 6 goals for Conmebol, 3 for AFC.
Brasil: 2 games, 2 wins, 0 draws, 0 losses, 6 goals scored, 3 conceded
South Korea: 1 game, 0 wins, 0 draws, 1 loss, 2 goals scored, 4 conceded
Saudi Arabia: 1 game, 0 wins, 0 draws, 1 loss, 1 goal scored, 2 conceded
vs OFC: 1 drawn game, 1 goal apiece.
And only one intraconfederational game, Palmeiras's 1-0 win over
Botafogo in the second round.
Concacaf's record was really, really close. That one win (Botafogo vs
Seattle Sounders) was close to being a draw, while Inter Miami only
collapsed late against Palmeiras. Otoh, Flamengo vs Los Angeles was
basically a friendly. CAF's draw was Mamelodi's scare over Fluminense in
the group stage, and OFC's point was probably the big upset of the cup.
Best regards,
Ll|-o
CAF had all its teams eliminated in the first round. I thought Al Ahly
was ok, but they were undone by their loss to Palmeiras and their
failure to beat the hosts. In their last match, Inter Miami's 71-minute
long lead over Palmeiras meant they were never really in a position to challenge for a spot (and the endgame draw would eliminate them as well anyway). Mamelodi was fun to watch, but too inconsistent and probably
didn't deserve any better anyway. Esp|-rance and Wydad were rather
mediocre and never really threatened their groups' heavyweights.
AFC's face was "saved" by the Saudi billionaires of Al-Hilal. This team
has European levels of spending I hear (well, not really, but well above
the other Asian sides anyway, going by transfermarkt's data on squad
market values) and has a mostly foreign starting XI, having started
exactly three Saudi players per game all over the cup - the only Asian nationality on their squad, although, to be fair, almost all of their sub-ins were Saudi players too. They also came off unbeaten from their
three games against UEFA opponents, fwiw. The other three teams summed
up 8 losses in 9 games, with their only win coming in a meaningless last round game between two already eliminated teams. In spite of getting
that win, Al Ain was one of the worst teams of the cup, Ulsan was very forgettable as well and I've mentioned my impressions on Urawa up above.
Concacaf was basically Monterrey and let's give some credit to Inter
Miami for beating Porto (the worst European side) and giving a scare to Palmeiras, but that was basically it. The other three teams, like AFC's, lost 8 games out of 9, getting only one draw from a meaningless third
group stage game (Flamengo vs Los Angeles FC). Monterrey put out a good fight in their three games against UEFA/Conmebol opposition, but still
only got 2 points out of these anyway, so there's that too.
And OFC, well, the least said about it the better. Credit to Auckland
for tying Boca Juniors, it will take a long time for the Xeneizes to
live that down, but they were, by some distance, the worst team of the
cup. No surprises here, I guess, as it is an amateur side.
Best regards,
Ll|-o
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