6 days Ago By [email protected] (Andy Dunn)
In terms of success and failure, there is only one thing that matters in American sport and that is the postseason. The play-offs. Over a 162-game regular season - yes, 162 games - a team can have the best record in Major League Baseball but if they do not go on and win the World Series, it is pretty much irrelevant.
In Major League Soccer , it is the same. David Beckham’s Inter Miami romped through their Eastern Conference campaign but were knocked out of the all-important MLS Cup by Atlanta United in a best-of-three play-off. The shock defeat - inflicted in a decider last Sunday - meant that Inter Miami came up short.
Essentially, whichever team wins the MLS Cup are considered the champions. Yet Inter Miami have been given a spot in the Club World Cup next summer by FIFA and its president Gianni Infantino . And we all know why.
Lionel Messi plays for Inter Miami and Infantino wants Messi at the ludicrous tournament. He wants Messi so he can try and get big bucks for a TV deal, he wants Messi to try and sell tickets, he wants Messi to satisfy commercial partners. And he wants Messi because he likes being associated with famous footballers and famous people.
If Inter Miami’s and Messi’s inclusion in the Club World Cup does one thing, it is to remind everyone that the tournament is simply one huge Infantino vanity project. Alas, it is one that has implications for players who are already at breaking point. Yes, we know they earn zillions of pounds.
Yes, we know clubs now have squads that means they should be able to manage player workload. But we also know those clubs chase the dollar and that means the top players will have to get on with it. Phil Foden was one of the many who cried off this current round of England duty.
Quite why he cried off is unclear. But when Manchester City players listened to Rodri’s detailed warnings about the effects of overplaying and then saw the Ballon d’Or winner suffer that cruel season-ending injury, it must have struck a nerve. The Club World Cup, the Infantino exhibition event that involves 32 games and goes on for a month, feels like the straw that will break the camel’s back.
City and Chelsea are taking part and their players are now looking at what will be pretty much non-stop football until the end of July. At the end of this season, they will be on international duty in the couple of weeks prior to the Club World Cup beginning. The Premier League has rejected a City request to have its opening fixtures of the 2025-26 season put back.
Something has got to give but, instead, FIFA’s pointless indulgence of a competition is only making the elite schedule even more unplayable. And not only is it a danger to players’ well-being, it turns every competition into a treadmill and the quality suffers. City look half burnt-out already.
Most people laughed or lambasted Rodri when he suggested the players might consider going on strike but when you see how this Club World Cup is shaping up, you might not blame them. But at least FIFA and Infantino get to mix with Messi. Join our new WhatsApp community and receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content.
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