Barça Chasing History On The International Stage.

For the fourth time ever, Barça are participating in FIFA’s Club World Cup since its incarnation. Another successful conquest would be a vital accomplishment in the club’s long history regarding their short history of winning on the international stage.

Before FIFA decided to launch the FIFA Club World Cup in 2005, football fans were entertained by the Intercontinental Cup which pitted the champions of Europe against the champions of South America. It was the Super Cup of Super Cups for us football fans. It started out as a home and away two legged cup clash that then became a one match final held at a neutral site in Japan.

Even with Barça’s rich football history, they only featured in this competition once during the 20th century. That was during the Johan Cruyff “Dream Team” era in 1992 after Barça finally ended their long wait and won the European Cup against Sampdoria. Barça would face Brazilian side São Paulo back then in Japan and took the early lead through Hristo Stoichkov. However, the very talented, and in my opinion historically underrated, São Paulo side equalized in the first half and scored the game winner in final 15 minutes of the match. Thus, Barça were denied their first ever Intercontinental trophy.

Barça’s failure to win another Champions League meant only Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid were the only Spanish clubs to win the Intercontinental trophy. Real Madrid won it a record three times while Atlético won it once even though they were European Cup runners-up because European Champions Bayern Munich declined to participate. The trophy back then was considered too dangerous to play for because of the tendency of South American’s clubs to play rough and dirty in these matches.

Barça’s long wait to win another Champions League title ended when they defeated Arsenal in 2006 under the management of Frank Rijkaard. This triumph meant that Barça booked their first ever ticket in the new FIFA Club World Cup where they defeated Mexican side Club America 4-0 to face another Brazilian club, Internacional in the final. Unfortunately, Barça’s long wait in capturing this elusive trophy would have to continue as they fell to their Brazilian foes 1-0. Barça’s two bites at the apples were denied by Brazilian opposition much to the Blaugrana faithful’s chagrin.

However, Barça proved that the saying “Third time’s a charm” is true when they finally captured their finally ended their wait in 2009. Under the guise of Pep Guardiola, Barça won their first ever treble and then continued their winning ways by capturing the UEFA and Spanish Super Cups. All that was left was for the club to end their hoodoo at this stage and bring home the sixth and final cup of the “Sextuple”. Barça defeated another Mexican side, Atlante, in the Semi-Finals before facing Argentinian side Estudiantes in the final. Barça were down before halftime and it seemed that Barça were going to miss out on this trophy for the third time. Fortunately, the Blaugrana did not relent and  Pedro scored in the 89th minute to level the score and thus became the first player to ever score in all six competitions. Messi’s legend grew when he scored the game winner in extra time with his chest and was awarded the player of the tournament.

Finally, Barça had captured the missing piece for their museum. They would not wait too long to add another one as Pep and the players were back in 2011 after defeating Manchester United, just as they did in 2009, in the Champions League Final. Barça defeated Qatari side Al Sadd 4-0 while resting a few of their key starters. The venue was Japan and Barça’s opponent in the Final was Brazilian side, Santos, which featured a 19 year old Neymar. There was some concern as to whether Barça can end their short comings against Brazilian sides in this competition with the bitter taste of 1992 still in the minds of many fans. Whatever concerns existed were soon eradicated when Barça demolished Santos with three goals in the first half alone through Messi, Xavi and Cesc. Messi scored his second in the second half for Barça’s fourth and final goal of the Final. Messi would win his second player of the tournament which no other player has ever accomplished in this competition’s brief history and also matched Pedro in becoming the second Barça player to ever score in all six competitions.

So here we are in 2015 and once again, Barça are back in Japan. Their Semi-Final opponents are Asian Champions League winners Guangzhou Evergrande who are coached by former Brazil’s World Cup winning manager, Felipe Scolari. Scolari was once rumored to be the next Barça manager if the Blaugrana had fired Rijkaard during his first season in charge. Fortunately that did not happen and the rest is history. Also featuring for the Asian champions is former Real Madrid player, Robinho, so we will get to see another duel between him and Messi which was widely debated in the Spanish media during Messi’s early years. Messi is also only one goal away from tying another Argentinian, “El Chelito” César Delgado as the competition’s top scorer with 5 goals.

If Barça succeed in defeating Guangzhou Evergrande, they will face Argentinian side River Plate in the final. It’s not too often teams from the world’s two biggest Clásicos get to face one another. In 2000, Real Madrid lost to Boca Juniors in Japan and now the other two Clásicos teams might face one another. There will be a reunion of some sorts if both teams meet in the final since former Barça player and teammate to some of the current Barça players, Saviola, is now a member of River Plate. Saviola was a member of the 2006 Barcelona team that came up short.

Barça will be chasing history and making history this week. Success would mean they would be the only side to ever make it to a fourth Final and also become the first club to win the FIFA Club World Cup for a record third time. This would also mean that they would be only one title behind Real Madrid who won this trophy last year. A loss in the final however would also make them the first side to ever lose in a final twice. But before we think ahead to the final, Barça also have to make sure they do not become the first European side to fail to make it to the final if they fail to handle their business against Guangzhou Evergrande.

Luis Enrique and his players are hungry for success and this trophy will help quench their thirst for more titles. Barça are about to embark on a new adventure where unwritten pages of the next chapter in their history book are about to be typed. Here’s hoping they fill those pages with success and new records.

FC Barcelona's Competition for The Upcoming FIFA Club World Cup

 

The FIFA Club World Cup will kick off tomorrow in Japan when Kashiwa Reysol host Auckland City FC. FC Barcelona won’t be playing till next week when they face the winner between Espérance and Al-Sadd. This will be the club’s fourth attempt to win this trophy and third time participating in the FIFA Club World Cup. Barça won this competition two years ago after defeating Argentinean club Estudiantes and will attempt to become the first side to win this competition twice. Here is a little background info on the other teams that Barcelona is competing with for the cup.

The tournament will kick off tomorrow with a match between Japanese League champions Kashiwa Reysol hosting the 2010–2011 OFC Champions winners, New Zealand’s Auckland City FC. The winner of that match up would then face the Mexican club, Monterrey, who are the 2010-2011 CONCACAF Champions League winners in the Quarterfinals. The winner of that Quarterfinal match meets the Brazilian club, Santos, the 2011 Copa Libertadores winner, in the Semifinals.

Tunisian club, Espérance, the 2011 AFC Champions League winners will face the Qatari club, Al-Sadd who won the 2011 AFC Champions League in the only other Quarterfinal. The winner of that Quarterfinal match will meet our beloved Barça, 2010-2011 UEFA Champions League winners, in the other semifinal. As usual, many have predicted that the final will be once again between the champions of Europe and South America, but as last year’s edition proved when Congolese club TP Mazembe pulled the upset when they defeated Brazilian side Internacional, so you never know. Here are the clubs competing in this year’s tournament:

Kashiwa Reysol (Japan)

Founded in 1940.

The Japanese club just won their first ever Japanese league title last week after their first back from the second division. They have something in common with Barça in that Hristo Stoichkov played for both clubs in the 90’s. Hristo Stoichkov joined the club for a season in the late 90’s, after he had left Barça, and before coming to the MLS. Former Brazilian striker Careca also played for them in the early part of the 90’s.

They qualified for this tournament as current champions of the host nation.

Auckland City FC (New Zealand)

Founded in 2004.

Auckland have won four league titles and have won three Oceania Club Championships 2005-2006, 2008-2009, & 2010-2011.

They qualified for this tournament as current Oceania Club Championships champions and marks their third appearance in this tournament. Coincidentally, they have participated in this competition every time Barcelona have also participated; 2006, 2009 and this year’s edition.

They lost to African Champions, Egyptian side El Ahli 2-0 the first time in 2006 and then lost in the fifth place play-off 3-0 to Asian Champions League winners, Korean side Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors. They finally won their first game of this competition back in 2009 when they defeated the hosts, UAE league champions  Al-Ahli before falling to CONCACAF Champions League winners, Mexican side Atlante who then lost to Barça in the Semifinals.  Auckland City did end that tournament on a positive note when they defeated African Champions, TP Mazembe, to decide fifth place.

Monterrey (Mexico)

Founded in 1945.

Monterrey have won their league four times - México 86, Clausura 2003, Apertura 2009, & Apertura 2010.

Monterrey have won the CONCACAF Champions League twice – 1993 & 2010-2011.

Club de Fútbol Monterrey qualified for this tournament as the defending CONCACAF Champions League winners. Some of Monterrey’s players have faced Barça in the past with Chilean striker Humberto Suazo playing against them during his short stay with Real Zaragoza during the 2009-2010 season. Argentinean forward Cesar Delgado also played against Barça during his playing days for Lyon in the Champions League during the 2008-2009 season in both legs of the first round of the knock out stages. Full back Ricardo Osorio has experience playing against Messi, Dani Alves and Mascherano from his international playing days for Mexico.

Espérance (Tunisia)

Founded in 1919.

Espérance have won the Tunisian League 24 times; 1942, 1959, 1960, 1970, 1975, 1976, 1982, 1985, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2009, 2010, & 2011.

Espérance have won the African Champions League twice - 1994, & 2011.

Espérance Sportive de Tunis are competing in this competition for the first time after winning the African Champions League and have had as many as eight players get recent call ups to the Tunisian national team.

Al-Sadd (Qatar)

Founded in 1969.

Al-Sadd have won the Qatari League 12 times: 1971-1972, 1973–1974, 1978–1979, 1979–1980, 1980–1981, 1986–1987, 1987–1988, 1989–1989, 1999–2000, 2003–2004, 2005–2006, & 2006–2007.

Al-Sadd have won the Asian Champions League twice: 1989 & 2011.

Al-Sadd Club qualified for this are competing in this competition for the first time and they too share a common link with Barça. They both had Brazilian goal scorer Romário play for both of them. Romário however only played 3 matches with them back in the 2002-2003 season. They are managed by the well traveled Uruguayan, Jorge Fossati.

 

Santos (Brazil)

Founded in 1900.

Santos have won 19 Campeonato Paulista titles: 1935, 1955, 1956, 1958, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1973, 1978, 1984, 2006, 2007, 2010, & 2011, and have won 8 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A titles: 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1968, 2002, & 2004.

Santos have won the Copa Libertadores three times:  1962, 1963, & 2011.

Santos won the predecessor of this competition, Intercontinental Cup, twice back in 1962 and 1963.

Santos Futebol Clube qualified for this tournament after winning the Copa Libertadores and are one of the most well known clubs in the world due in large to being Pele’s club during his playing days in Brazil which spanned over 600 games. Currently, their best players consist of Paulo Henrique Ganso, Elano, Leo, Borges, and a certain Neymar that Barça is rumored to be close to signing.

Barça’s Keirrison played for Santos on loan last season. Barça also had other former Santos players play for them such as defender Marinho Peres in the mid 70’s and Giovanni Silva de Oliveira who moved from Santos to Barcelona in the late 90’s. Argentina’s World Cup winning manager, César Luis Menotti, played for Santos back in the 60’s before managing FC Barcelona in 1984.

Once again, the competition kicks off tomorrow with FOX Deportes and Fox Soccer Channel broadcasting the games. They will play their first game, on Thursday, December 15, at 5:15 AM Miami time and if they win and advance to the final, they will play the final on Sunday, December 18, also at 5:15 AM.