If they can find a way to balance Leao, Pulisic, Felix, Gimenez and Reijnders; what a finish to the season we can expect!

Bennacer’s return might do just that for Reijnders

Clearly a red. Duran left it in there.

Unless you’re Scottish Pedro!
Qualification is a win for us!

I’m also so scunnered with the disparity of wealth in the game too. It’s so protective of teams breaking into a sustained challenge these days. Wouldn’t see a Nottingham Forest happen again in the current game. That’s why I love the World Cup, pride, true competition and not buying success!

Completely concur but it’s cemented in the mindset unfortunately. I’d love to see a resurgent BOCA or Flamengo thrash a few of the big European teams - apart from mine obviously! 😅

Fair comment. I genuinely can’t see you finishing lower than 3rd though. You’ll get over this hiccup.

Save the PL? As in save your challenge this year?

Pedro, they can’t even contribute to their own footballing pyramid system properly, let alone treating fan bases respectfully. To broaden that to take in a wider viewpoint isn’t likely to happen. I agree your perspective but it’s a fairly modern one too. Most Reds fans wouldn’t know about 81 at all.

I find this attitude really funny. Some fan bases would love to be in your position and enjoying the ride. Have you lost perspective? Not trying to be antagonistic, just genuinely curious.

Shoehorning Miami in is another issue. Play it every 4 years and only invite those that have won the continental tournaments. If multiple winning teams then invite the teams with next best records. Don’t limit country by country representation either.

I just don’t see the same level of interest from European fans in the club World Cup format. I can see why South American fans would love it but it’s just not viewed as a ‘real’ tournament yet from what I’ve seen. Who wants Salzburg in it?! It’s ridiculous if you don’t take the strongest teams.

That’s also part of the issue, the Champions League has devalued competitions like the FA Cup - which used to be wonderful. Fans are bored of over saturated coverage and fixtures which are only about money. Tim Vickery always promotes how important the intercontinental cup is viewed in Sth America.