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Connections: Sports Edition
FIFA Club World Cup
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Chelsea beat Paris Saint-Germain 3-0 to win the first edition of the expanded FIFA Club World Cup.
Cole Palmer struck twice in the opening half before summer signing Joao Pedro scored his third goal of the tournament to stun PSG, the reigning European champions.
Chelsea’s players received their medals from President Trump, who watched the game at the MetLife Stadium alongside FIFA’s Gianni Infantino.
Chelsea are Club World Cup champions for the second time after they first won the tournament in 2021.
A year ago, Chelsea made the decision to take the Club World Cup seriously as a competition. Their planning to win this tournament started then.
From big bonuses and training-ground deals to ‘scary’ Cole Palmer, we bring you the inside story of Chelsea's unlikely triumph that was 329 days in the making.
Adam Crafton has the goods on how they did it at the link below.
GO FURTHER
How Chelsea won the Club World Cup: Big bonuses, training-ground deals and ‘scary’ Palmer
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Luis Enrique rejected the idea that Paris Saint-Germain were losers in this competition after today's defeat.
"Loser? No. There are no losers here," he said in the post-match press conference. "A runner-up is very different. Losers in life are those who give up, losers are those who do not get up. Here in high-level sport, there are no losers."
Cole Palmer spoke about the confusion he felt when President Trump decided to hang around on stage for Chelsea's trophy celebration.
"I knew he was going to be there but I didn't know he was going to be on the stand when we lifted the trophy, so I was a bit confused," he said.
Enzo Maresca also singled out several of his players for praise during the post-match press conference.
On Marc Cucurella: “He will be the soul of the party tonight. He is a smart player and one of the main characters in the dressing room."
On Enzo Fernandez: "We are extremely happy with Enzo, not only today but through the whole season. He played in a different position today."
On Cole Palmer: "These are the games where we expect Cole to appear. These are big games, big moments and once again he showed how good he is."
Enzo Maresca also spoke about the tactical battle in the final.
"We thought we had a good opportunity to exploit the space (in midfield). We used Cole (Palmer) and Malo (Gusto) to create an overload in that area. It was just the game plan and we try to get the players in positions where they can do everything. It worked quite well.
"I love chess and would love to be a player but I am no expert. However, today, we analysed the game and felt there was a lot of space on their left wing and we wanted to explore that flank. I think we won the game in the first 10 minutes and we came here to show we can get this win, with the utmost respect to your opponents. At the end of the day, you can give a plan but you need your players to execute and they did that so well."
Speaking in the post-match press conference, Enzo Maresca was effusive in his praise for his players: "Fantastic. Club World Cup champions, we are very proud. PSG are the best team in the world. It was a top performance.
"I work every day just to improve myself. I try to learn. Every session and game, I just try to do better. It's been a fantastic season. I am especially happy for the players because just (after) one day when I joined the club, I said I was in love with the squad, but we said the talent wasn't enough and you need a game plan and to think the same way. We did this because of them."
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Despite today's loss, PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi lauded what he viewed as the "greatest season" in the club's history.
“We are humble in victory and humble in defeat," he said after the match. "This has been the greatest season in the history of PSG. I don't think one match changes that. I am just so proud of everyone. We got to five finals, and we won four of them, and as the youngest team in the competitions. It's just the beginning of something special for us."
PSG won the Champions League, Ligue 1, the Coupe de France and the Trophee des Champions this season.
PSG head coach Luis Enrique spoke about the brawl that followed the full-time whistle during his post-match press conference. He spoke in Spanish because he wanted to express himself as clearly as possible.
“At the end of the game there is a situation that I believe is totally avoidable by everyone," he said. "My goal and intention, as always, is to try to separate the players so that there are no more problems. Avoidable situation. There is a lot of tension, a lot, a lot of pressure and from there, there is a series of pushes by many people that I think we should all avoid and that should not happen again. But I repeat, my intention as always, to avoid any situation that goes further."
That doesn't quite align with the contact he made with Joao Pedro's face…
It feels only right that Chelsea's newest superstar has such a good record in finals considering the club's recent record in showpiece events.
Since 2013, they have won all seven international finals they have competed in:
Some of the greatest players of all time have struggled to make an impact in the biggest games.
If anything, Cole Palmer performs better in those environments than in the lesser matches.
He has now been involved in six goals in his last three finals:
From big bonuses and training-ground deals to ‘scary’ Cole Palmer, we bring you the inside story of Chelsea's unlikely triumph that was 329 days in the making.
Adam Crafton has the goods on how they did it at the link below.
GO FURTHER
How Chelsea won the Club World Cup: Big bonuses, training-ground deals and ‘scary’ Palmer
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Has a player ever had a better start to life at a new club than Joao Pedro at Chelsea? He's got his first winners’ medal in the bag just 11 days after completing the transfer from Brighton, and he scored three great goals too.
Aside from their reactions to the Trump trophy moment, Chelsea fans were nothing short of ecstatic with their team's performance today.
James A.: Champions of the World. Incredible. Wish my dad was alive to see it. Long way from us sitting in the benches and paying £5 to get in.
George B.: This is the weirdest feeling ever. I think like most of us, I don't really care about this trophy, but if there was ever a statement about how far we've come. We are destroying Europe's best in a final. We'll finish the season with two trophies and champions league football. There's been some false dawns but We Are So Back.
Antoine M.: I've been very critical of Maresca this season but today he has demonstrated he is a master strategist. Every decision has been vindicated. Chalobah is immense. Neto as LWB without the ball is excellent. Our midfield is elite. Palmer is Palmer. Pedro has already paid off his transfer fee.
Here's what a few Chelsea supporters on our discussion page thought about Trump's moment during the trophy celebration.
Jeff V.: Narcissism is dangerous and pretty obviously destructive, just take a look at American politics right now. But I have to say… sometimes it’s pretty freaking funny.
S K.: Trump wanted to stand there for the trophy lift. Even Infantino tried to move him along and James didn't know what to do. Then Sanchez told them all to lift it with Trump. Really looking forward to a new keeper.
Zoltan J.: Most embarrassing trophy handover in the history of trophy handovers.
President Trump also told DAZN that Gianni Infantino and FIFA allowed him to keep a version of the Club World Cup trophy.
"(FIFA) are doing fantastically well it's a growing sport, it's a great sport," he said. "They said 'Could you hold this trophy for a little while?' We put it in the Oval Office and then I said 'When are you going to pick up the trophy?' and they said 'We're never going to pick it up, you can have it forever in the Oval Office and we'll make a new one.' And they actually made a new one so that was quite exciting but right now it's in the Oval."
It’s a question to revisit in a few months’ time, but I wonder what the conditioning legacy of this tournament will be.
The teams not involved are all back in pre-season training and preparing for tours, while players who have taken part in the U.S. will head off on holiday before resuming their preparations for domestic football far later.
It will be interesting what kind of impact that has. Staggered returns are a part of any tournament summer, but never have entire squads been so far out of sync with their leagues.
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Donald Trump spoke to DAZN during the final. Here's what he had to say about the showpiece at MetLife Stadium.
"Well (the Club World Cup) is a big thing and you know Gianni (Infantino) is a friend of mine," he said. "He's done a great job with the league and they would call it football we would call it soccer, I'm not sure that change could be made very easily, but it's great to watch, and it's a little bit of an upset that we're watching today. So far. It's incredible."
Asked if they could do an executive order so Americans can only say football from now on: "I think we could do that. I think I could do that."
Speaking in his post-match interview on DAZN, Enso Maresca praised his team's start, saying that they "won the game in the first 10 minutes". That's despite them not scoring the opening goal until the 22nd minute.
"I have no words for the players," he said. "For me, we won the game in the first ten minutes. We set the tempo, we knew the way we wanted to play. Today we found a position for Cole (Palmer) where there was more space to attack. The effort from all the players has been fantastic.”
Oliver Kay, Mark Carey and Tim Spiers have broken down the stunning result in this final, looking at:
Follow the link below to check out their analysis.
GO FURTHER
Chelsea 3 PSG 0: Palmer’s brilliance, President Trump, $100m prize money – and Luis Enrique strikes Joao Pedro