He flamenco The Brazilian will try to justify his status as champion of the Cup liberators in the first semifinal of Club World Cup 2022in which they will face this Tuesday the al hilal Saudi, winner of the Asian Champions League, led by the Argentine Ramon Diaz.
The Brazilian team reaches the universal club event for the second time, after participating in the 2019 edition in Qatar. Then, curiously, they also had to face the Saudi team, whom they beat 3-1 at the International Khalifa stadium in Doha.
It wasn’t easy then against Al Hilal, who even took the lead Salem Al-Dawasari and could not confirm the victory until the last stage. He equalized the match early in the second half for the team led by Portuguese Jorge Jesus the Uruguayan Giorgion de Arrascaeta and confirmed the comeback at the end bruno enrico AND Ali Hadi Al Bulaihi in the own goal.
On this occasion, both teams will meet at the Ibn Tattouta stadium in Tangier starting at 16:00 in Argentina (broadcast by DirecTV Sports), with Romanian referee istvan kovacs.
Flamengo is once again led by a Portuguese coach. Vitor Pereira has just arrived at the bench of the Brazilian team after directing the corinthians. The mission is to get the first world title, with which he would cut the creeping of European clubs, which have won all titles one after another Bayern Monaco in 2013, in the first edition which took place in Morocco.
Pereira will certainly not be able to count, as was to be expected, on one of his protagonists, Bruno Henrique, due to physical problems, but the Chilean has entered the definitive list of 23 players Arthur Vidalalthough it is difficult for him to be part of the starting XI against Al Hilal, in which a man with the experience of Davide Luizwho intends to complete his record, since he misses this World Cup after Chelsea lost to Corinthians in the 2012 final.
The former London club defender, like the rest of the squad, believes he will be a semi final “very difficult” against Al Hilal, many of whose players participated in the first big surprise of past World Cups in Qatar 2022, when Saudi Arabia defeated eventual champions Argentina.
He Asian champion who runs an entire institution like Ramón Díaz has passed his first hurdle. Not an easy game against the hosts wydad casablancawhich he got rid of after the penalty shootout (5-3) after finishing the match and extra time with a one-goal draw.
The Argentine coach, champion of the Copa Libertadores and the Copa Sudamericana with Flat Riverhas the notable loss of one of its key players, the Saudi international Mohamed Kannosent off for a second yellow card at the end of the match against Wydad, and the Peruvian’s physical problems Andrea Carillobut even so, with his weapons, he doesn’t give up the surprise and stands up for the first time in the fight for the title after being fourth in 2019 and in the last edition.
“Flamengo has a sporting advantage because we played 48 hours earlier,” complained the DT at the press conference.
“It’s the advantage they have with Real Madrid, that Al Ahly has played two games, and they will go straight to the semifinals. It seems we have to correct that, because if they don’t have a sporting advantage, the World Cup is for everyone,” he added.
“I think they have that advantage sportingly. It’s a competition that needs to be improved. The Club World Cup is something very important for us and for all the players,” he said.
Beyond the declarations against the Brazilian and Spanish teams, the Al Hilal coach was very confident in the face of a game that he considers very difficult, but not impossible.
“We have a lot of confidence. This team comes after winning two Libertadores (referring to Flamengo), but the Al Hilal is one of the best teams in Asia, three times continental champion, Copa del Rey champion. There are 13 or 14 of them in the selection. The most important thing is to play, to compete,” Ramón explained.
Acting like an iron block, making no mistakes and exploiting the potential of men with experience in the big European leagues such as the Nigerian Odion Ighalo or the Malian Moussa Marega, not forgetting the Argentine Luciano Vietto, in attack, are considered the best weapons that Al Hilal to beat Flamengo.
Source: Clarin
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