by There was an inevitable misperception when Karim Benzema prepared to take a penalty as the first half of Al-Ittihad’s Club World Cup quarter-final against Al-Ahly ended. Benzema would probably stick with the type and level of the score; after that the dearly assembled local side, backed by a deafening mass of yellow-clad ultras, could be expected to pull clear and move closer to a dream final with Manchester City.
It turns out things aren’t always that simple. Mohamed El Shenawy blocked Benzema’s poor effort; Al-Ahly won 3-1 on Friday evening and, in full swing, most of the home support had left. An hour later, N’Golo Kanté and Fabinho merrily boarded the bus, offering a reminder that you can’t always integrate seamlessly from microwaves into a group of superstar imports. Anyone who wondered if they were watching the rapid pace of the places that came from the Saudi Pro League to the edge of world domination, had to throw away their foil hat.
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City, assuming they overcome their home malaise and beat Urawa Red Diamonds in Tuesday’s semi-final, are expected to become the competition’s 11th European winner in a row. Much of the subtext surrounding this month’s event, however, concerned a shift in power elsewhere.
It is no coincidence that during Al-Ahly’s dominant victory, the VIP box inside the King Abdullah International Stadium was healthily packed with western businessmen. Saudi Arabia is on display, both as a football destination and as an investment for those involved in the destructive construction projects underway across the country. Despite the height of those who will be organizing, it will host the World Cup in 2034. However the Saudi government appears to be recklessly appropriating high-level sport, everything that can be seen here foreshadows the future form of football.
That was even more true when the Fifa Council, the governing body’s main decision-making body, spilled into the lobby of the Ritz-Carlton hotel on Sunday evening. They had just agreed on the dates for the successor to this greatly expanded 32-team tournament: a month-long jamboree whose first iteration will take place in the US a year and a half from now and which will undoubtedly be conflict on the shores of Arabia. soon enough.
Significantly, the seven-team event marks City’s entry into the mid-to-end stage. The Club World Cup and its predecessor, the Intercontinental Cup, have rarely attracted obsessive attention in Europe: the casual fan in England is more likely to remember the shocking reaction in 2000, when Manchester United pulled out of the FA Cup to to compete, nor have Liverpool and Chelsea played together when they have won two of their last five finals. Europe was in the lead with a quick respect. But the status of the competition is about to fade: going through the motions over four summer weeks is hardly an option.
The players’ unions lost the expansion; The players themselves, with no say and an almost impossible workload, know very little about it. Their employers feel differently, which was reflected in an effective response from the European Club Association which announced “great news for club football in general”.
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As for the whole idea of inviting the Saudi Pro League clubs to join the Champions League, that was not a serious discussion. That was unnecessary when it was settled that, provided a Saudi team qualified in one of the four Asian ties, meaningful football against 12 of Europe’s best was guaranteed. The existing continental structures are left intact.
Meanwhile Jeddah, a sprawling port city that is still calibrating towards the outside eye, welcomes a part of the world that has faded away. New Zealand side Auckland FC and, from Mexico, Club León are already flying home. The big, red, boisterous Al-Ahly contingent from across the Red Sea is being relied upon to give the atmosphere now Al-Ittihad sit out (even if the support is limited to the third playoff place after Al-Ahly’s semi-final 2 -0.defeat at Fluminense). Meanwhile, City’s meager support will be largely internationally based fans, even if a heartthrob is traveling from Manchester with the aim of seeing history.
Public gathering spaces are limited, although small fan parks have been created near the marina and in Al-Balad, the old town. The buildings of Al-Balad’s atmospheric streets are mostly contained behind a fence erected by the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Culture; most of them are beautiful but many are crumbling and an extensive restoration project is underway. The Guardian saw one unstable structure being destroyed by diggers and nearby shopkeepers going about their business at lunchtime on Sunday. The clear intention is that by 2034, everything will look different.
Perhaps the Saudi Arabian elite will compete with City on merit by then, despite the penalty spot cuts. At the moment there seems to be little serious opposition to Pep Guardiola’s side. But that would not shake the impression, deliberately given during the last week, of a transfer nexus.
