CLUB WORLD CUP
Source of Morocco’s growing football influence unveiled!
Morocco’s Atlas Lions late last year became the most successful African country at the FIFA World Cup as the country made history of being the first in the continent to reach the semi-finals.
In the aftermath, they got the biggest prize money ever by an African team. Their prize money was $25 million.
It has been a worthy income for the investment that the country has made in football. Near the kingdom’s capital city, Rabat sat one of the mind-blowing football project sited at Sala Al-Jadida.
It called the Mohammed VI Football Complex. The project, a $6,114,925 (630 million in local currency -dirham) can be easily linked to the growing football success and influence of Morocco in the continent.
The complex is equipped with state-of-the-art infrastructure and facilities, in line with FIFA standards, making it one of the most important in the world.
According to the director of the complex, Hassan Kharbouchi, it was inaugurated by the kingdom’s monarch, His Majesty King Mohammed VI in December 2019.
This complex is a real concentrate of expertise and know-how, built on a 29.3 hectare site, it is intended to host national teams in training camps, as well as foreign national teams wishing to carry out their concentration camps in Morocco.
European club champions, Real Madrid, were due to camp there on Thursday 2 February on arrival for the FIFA Club World Cup going on in Morocco.
Kharbochi revealed that the opening of the sports complex to foreign teams will also enable it to become a lever for the development of national tourism and to promote the international influence of Morocco.
Tucked inside the serene Sala Al-Jadida, the complex houses residences for the Atlas Lions when the fourth -placed side at the 2022 World Cup are camped.
The complex has saved a lot of foreign money that would have been spent in camping the players abroad.
At the disposal of the senior national team at the complex are 66 rooms and four suites.
Other tiers of the Morocco national teams are also taken care of at the complex. For the national U-23 teams are three accommodation blocks with a capacity of 150 beds.
The U17 team has 45 rooms with a capacity of 80 beds. There is another accommodation building that have 54 rooms with a total capacity of 98 beds.
The Mohammed VI complex has four natural grass football pitches, three synthetic grass football pitches, one indoor football pitch, one hybrid football pitch, as well as a reathletisation in-door arena capable of hosting futsal matches.
There is hardly any conceivable project not incorporated in the mind blowing complex as it also have an outdoor Olympic swimming pool, two tennis courts and a beach soccer pitch.
Perhaps the heart of the complex is the medical centre. It is composed of a clinic, a fitness zone and a physiotherapist office.
Also incorporated at the medical centre is a balneotherapy pool. This enable players to bath in minerals and other additives as a therapeutic modality.
A tour of the medical centre saw one entering the ground floor where immediately after the front desk is the exploration zone where the players are supposed to be examined.
The first point at the area is the Cardiology where the heart beats and other related parts of the body are examined. Next is the Emergency area where evaluation and possibly evacuation to hospital are done where necessary.
After that is the massive fitness planning room. On the left hand side is an area meant for goalkeepers where the equipment are supposed to assist in sharpening the reflexes of the goalkeepers.
On the right hand side is the area for the outfield players. Also on the ground floor is the Rehabilitation Pool. It composes of an indoor pool that is encased with glass at one end enabling evaluators to have a clear underwater view by evaluators.
Where anything is noticed, there is a pharmacy department as well as sauna and jacuzzi. Also at the ground floor is ice bath room which Kharbochi said is one of the three existing in sports complexes world wide.
The other two are at Chelsea FC and Bayern Munich in Germany. He explained that the ice bath rooms speed up the recovery rate for players especially in tournament period when they had to play competitive matches within few days.
“While the ordinary ice block is 5°C, the cryoair ice bath room offers -110°C. Thus, the player or patient will only ener for a duration of three minutes.
Some national team players were seen sitting at the waiting room for medical consultants to attend to them.
The medical centre have nutritionists, psychologists and personnel for traumatology.
Paris St Germain snatched a 2-0 win over Bayern Munich on Saturday to reach the Club World Cup semi-finals, with Ousmane Dembele embodying the composure of Luis Enrique’s side as he sealed the victory when his team were down to nine men.
Dembele found the back of the net six minutes into added time after being superbly set up by Achraf Hakimi and the French forward also shone defensively by pressing relentlessly and initiating the move that led to his decisive goal.
“I’d give the Ballon d’Or to Mr Ousmane Dembele,” coach Luis Enrique said after PSG’s Champions League final win over Inter Milan. “The way he defended…only that can be worth the Ballon d’Or. This is how you lead a team.”
Dembele proved his coach right once again against Bayern.
Rested for the group stage after sustaining a thigh injury and only coming off the bench after halftime in the last 16 and in the quarter-final, Dembele brought an incredible energy to a team who had been dominated by Bayern.
“It’s an important period for us. We had a score to settle with Bayern after the 2020 (Champions League) final (won by Bayern 1-0) and after they beat us earlier this season,” captain Marquinhos said. “We want to win this competition.”
PSG went ahead through Desire Doue, his first goal in the tournament.
“I try to help the team by scoring, but also with my efforts, notably defensively,” Doue said.
PSG, seeking a quadruple of titles after winning the Champions League, French Cup and the Ligue 1 title, will face Borussia Dortmund or Real Madrid for a place in the final.
They will be without centre back Willian Pacho and defender Lucas Hernandez, who picked up straight red cards after Doue’s opening goal.
“The first one is a clear red card,” coach Luis Enrique said. “I’m not sure about the second one. We deserved the win but it was really really hard. Nothing special. Business as usual.”
-Reuters
An 83rd-minute Weverton own goal from a deflected Malo Gusto cross gave Chelsea a nervy 2-1 win over a spirited Palmeiras side in the Club World Cup quarter-finals at Lincoln Financial Field on Friday.
Cole Palmer also got on the scoresheet in the first half for Chelsea, who move on to face more Brazilian opposition in Fluminense in New York on Tuesday with a place in the final on the line.
Palmeiras roared back after halftime with teenage winger Estevao, who is soon to join Chelsea, equalising in the 53rd minute with a stunning strike from a tight angle.
“Tough game as we expected,” said Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca. “First half, I think we were a little bit better compared to the second half, we controlled the game much better.
“But then they scored and the game changed but at the end we scored and I think we deserved to win. Congratulations to the players, because they have been very good.”
Chelsea started the match well despite missing key defensive midfield duo Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia, with 21-year-old Andrey Santos making his first start some two and a half years after joining the club.
They controlled possession and repeatedly threatened through Pedro Neto, who caused chaos for Palmeiras defence down the right flank.
Palmer struck in the 16th minute, receiving a pass from Trevoh Chalobah on the edge of the box and gliding past three defenders with ease before dispatching a precise left-footed strike into the bottom corner.
Despite their dominance, Chelsea squandered several opportunities, including Christopher Nkunku’s glaring miss in the 34th minute when he blasted over with only goalkeeper Weverton to beat.
Palmeiras, missing key defenders Joaquin Piquerez, Gustavo Gomez and Murilo, struggled to contain Chelsea’s fluid attack in the first half but emerged from the break with renewed energy.
They nearly equalised when Bruno Fuchs headed narrowly wide from a corner before Estevao worked his magic with an effort that should be a strong candidate for goal of the tournament so far.
The 18-year-old showcased his immense talent by cutting in from the right, gliding past Levi Colwill and smashing an unstoppable shot from a tight angle that flew over keeper Robert Sanchez and off the underside of the crossbar.
“Happy because we won, happy because he scored, so it’s a perfect night,” Maresca said of his new signing.
Just when Palmeiras looked at their most dangerous, though, Chelsea found the winner down the other end.
Gusto found space down the left and his attempted cross deflected off defender Fuchs and wrongfooted Weverton, the ball bouncing off the goalkeeper’s back and into the net to end Palmeiras dreams of an all-Brazilian semi-final.
-Reuters
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The expanded soccer Club World Cup is proving to be a stage for managerial fresh starts, with three of the eight quarter-finalists led by coaches appointed just weeks before the tournament – and all three have already stamped their authority on their new teams.
Arguably none has made a bigger splash than Simone Inzaghi, who delivered one of the tournament’s biggest shocks when his Al Hilal side stunned Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City 4-3 in a breathtaking extra-time thriller.
The 49-year-old Italian, who left Inter Milan after their Champions League final defeat to Paris Saint-Germain just five weeks ago, got sweet revenge on Monday against the Premier League giants who had beaten his Nerazzurri in the 2023 Champions League final.
Inzaghi took the win by playing steady, rock-solid defence and exploring the speed of his forwards up-front with long balls that exploited their opponent’s aggressive, high-positioned defensive line.
Malcom and Marcos Leonardo were a constant menace on the counter-attack throughout the match, while his defenders managed to slow down City’s star-powered attack for most of the game.
And when they were threatened, Moroccan goalkeeper Bono worked his magic with a string of world-class saves to frustrate their opponents and keep the Saudis in the game.
Al Hilal’s reward is a quarter-final clash with tournament underdogs Fluminense, who defied the Opta supercomputer’s odds of just 0.05% to win the title and stunned Champions League runners-up Inter Milan 2-0 to reach the last eight.
Initially tipped to exit in the group stage, the Brazilian side’s remarkable run continues under Renato Gaucho, a former Fluminense striker and club legend who took charge three months ago. Renato has transformed a team that narrowly avoided relegation in 2024 into genuine contenders, with Colombian winger Jhon Arias emerging as a potential tournament MVP.
Against Inter, Fluminense showed the grit and determination that have defined their campaign with a remarkable Arias and striker German Cano once again making the difference.
Real Madrid complete the trio of new-manager success stories, with Xabi Alonso arriving a month ago to replace Carlo Ancelotti after a rare trophy-less season that included four consecutive defeats to Barcelona, including a humiliating 4-0 Clasico thrashing at the Bernabeu.
Arriving with a reputation for innovative tactics following his trophy-laden stint at Bayer Leverkusen, Alonso has started using a five-man defence, marking a significant departure from the traditional 4-3-3 formation used by predecessors Ancelotti and Zinedine Zidane over the past decade.
The change evoked memories of Vicente del Bosque’s 2000 Champions League-winning side, the last Real Madrid team to adopt such a structure, as Real prepare to face Borussia Dortmund on Saturday off the back of three consecutive wins.
As the tournament progresses, the early success of these new managerial appointments suggests that fresh ideas and bold decisions can reshape even the most storied teams.
-Reuters
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