Can Chelsea cause an upset in the Club World Cup final?
The match itself is an appealing one, not least for the participation of PSG. It always seemed likely the big European teams would ultimately prevail in the latter stages of this tournament and, in the French side, the favourites have come through. Luis Enrique's side have been the outstanding force of the past year and, while not the ratings driver Real Madrid would be, organisers will be pleased for their involvement. Chelsea are more of a surprise and have been aided by a relatively kind draw but they have grown into the competition and have the individuals to cause an upset.
Tournament organiser FIFA, the world governing body, and its president Gianni Infantino have done their best to attach considerable prestige to the tournament, the first to be played in this newly-expanded 32-format. Sunday's winners will not only be crowned world champions but be entitled to wear a gold badge on their shirts for the next four years. FIFA will doubtless emphasise this but there is also the small matter of a jackpot in excess of £90million on offer for the victor, which goes some way to explaining why competing clubs have taken the event so seriously. Both PSG and Chelsea are already guaranteed more than £80million.
The Club World Cup, which now will be held every four years, has had plenty of detractors but FIFA is determined to make a success it. It wants to make the final a true showpiece occasion and to do this it is planning a star-studded Super Bowl-style half-time show to enhance the offering for a crowd it hopes will fill most of the MetLife Stadium's 82,500 seats. Adding to the occasion, United States president Donald Trump is due to attend.
The tournament in the United States has been bedevilled by a number of controversies concerning issues such as its scheduling in the calendar, poor attendances, venue choices, kick-off times, standard of pitches and the weather. The latter is again likely to be a factor on Sunday with the temperature forecast to be 29C by kick-off at 3pm local time, although that is somewhat cooler than a number of other games earlier in the tournament.
FIFA's determination to make a triumph of this event is underlined by the fact it is also partly a trial run for next year's World Cup. That is an even bigger tournament that will feature 48 teams playing across the whole North American continent, including Canada and Mexico, rather than just the US. The 2026 final will also be held at the MetLife Stadium and it will be hoped this weekend passes without major hiccup.
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