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Fluminense clinches Round of 16 spot, Sundowns earn respect with 0-0 Club World Cup tie
A casual soccer fan at Hard Rock Stadium on Wednesday afternoon for the Club World Cup match between Fluminense and Mamelodi Sundowns would have assumed that the team in bright yellow shirts with green trim and blue shorts was the Brazilian team.
Wrong.
It was South African Sundowns who wore replicas of the Brazilian national team uniforms while Fluminense, a century-old Rio de Janeiro-based club, wore its traditional maroon and green stripes for the match, which ended in a scoreless tie and sent Flu to the knockout stage.
A quick history lesson: During the 1980s, under the direction of South African legend Stanley 'Screamer' Tshabalala, the Sundowns adopted an entertaining style of play with quick short passes known as 'Shoe Shine and Piano.' It was an homage to Brazilian flair and Spain's tiki-taka passing style. Mamelodi's team came to be known as 'The Brazilians,' thus, the yellow and blue uniforms.
The draw was enough for Fluminense to secure second place in Group F behind German team Borussia Dortmund and advance to the Round of 16, where it will face the Group E winner, which will be determined on Wednesday night. River Plate and Inter Milan have four points in Group E and Monterrey has two.
All four Brazilian teams reached the Round of 16. Fluminense joins Flamengo, Palmeiras and Botafogo.
Mamelodi was eliminated, but its players and fans celebrated, nonetheless. Long after the match ended, Mamelodi players were still on the field in front of their fan section applauding their supporters and even breaking into a dance.
Sundowns' Portuguese coach Miguel Cardoso said that although the team did not meet its goal of reaching the knockout round, it heads home stronger and with greater respect around the world.
'To see our team play at such a high level against Fluminense, Dortmund Ulsan, when I hear coaches say to me `Respect for you, respect for you, your team played better than us', that doesn't fulfill our objective, but it makes us much better than we were when we arrived here.
'There are teams that come to the Club World Cup and go away and don't take anything. But we take a lot of things. We take four points and our character in all three matches was outstanding. We take prestige. Our club will be even more well-known. I know we have a strange name, but we have a very strong capacity.'
A diehard Sundowns fan known as 'Josi 14' traveled from Pretoria for Wednesday's game. He was decked head to toe in yellow, blue and green, wore a yellow Brazil visor, and carried a yellow drum.
'Wherever the Sundowns go, I am there,' he said. 'Club World Cup in Japan, I was there. Club World Cup in America, I am here. I am so confident we are going to beat Brazil. We wear their colors. We adopted their style.
'So, if someone adopts your style, there is a master and a student, a learner. So, we are the learners who will show the master how it's done. We are going to show them who are the real Brazilians.'
Cardoso said the joy his team brings to the pitch is what makes the team special.
'People like positive emotions when they go to a match, they want to see football that makes them have joy, makes them cheer, sing, jump and we created amazing emotions in people,' Cardoso said. 'That's why so many people connected with us.'
The coach received text messages from colleagues and soccer officials in Brazil, Spain, France, England. 'I don't even know how they got my number,' he said, smiling. 'But It means Sundowns played at the highest level. We are not happy, but we go back to our country with our head up.'
The Sundowns dominated possession 68 percent to 32 percent and had three shots on goal to none for Fluminense as the crowd of 14,312 looked on. It was the least-attended game at Hard Rock Stadium, which averaged 60,643 fans in the other five games at the venue, but the crowd was spirited.
'We knew is would be an extremely difficult match, they have quality, and they scored three goals against Borussia Dortmund,' said Fluminense defender Ignacio, who was named Man of the Match.
The weather was steamy after a pregame rain shower, and players got hydration breaks midway through each half.
Fluminense entered this Club World Cup aiming to return to good form after inconsistent league results in recent months. They reached the Cariocão final in March but were beaten 2-1 over two legs by Flamengo in a tense Fla–Flu derby. Fluminense, one of four Brazilian teams in the Club World Cup, was in sixth place in the league standings heading into the tournament.
Fluminense is coached by Renato Gaucho, in his sixth stint leading the club, and the roster includes legendary 40-year-old center back Thiago Silva, who played 113 matches for Brazil's national team. Silva began his career as a 14-year-old with Fluminense and went on to a successful career in Europe with AC Milan, Paris Saint-Germain, and Chelsea.
'We achieved what we came here to achieve, qualificiation in the first phase,' Gaucho said. 'We knew we would have a lot of difficulty, but sometimes it is better to suffer and qualify than to want to play well and lose.'
Mamelodi Sundowns host youth clinic
On the eve of Wednesday's match, the Sundowns did a community outreach program in South Florida. Mamelodi, in partnership with Roc Nation Sports International, hosted a clinic for underprivileged children at Mills Pond Park in Fort Lauderdale.
The youth clinic incorporated soccer skills, mentorship and celebration. It was led by Paulo Cardoso, the Sundowns' Head of Academy and Coaching, along with other coaches and club legends and chairman Tlhopie Motsepe. Each child went home with a Sundowns jersey and lasting memories.
Upcoming Club World Cup games at Hard Rock Stadium
Two Round of 16 matches will be held at Hard Rock Stadium. Flamengo will play German giant Bayern Munich Sunday at 4 p.m. The winner of Group H will play the second place Group G team on July 1 at 3 p.m. Real Madrid and RB Salzburg are first and second in Group H heading into their last group match. Juventus and Manchester City lead Group G.
