Apparently Chelsea fans will be singing about the Club World Cup for four years even though they will have no trophy parade. That told us.
I hate you so much right now
‘Hilarious moment Trump gets caught inside Chelsea’s trophy celebrations as Cole Palmer dances next to beaming Don’ – The Sun.
‘Caught inside’? He didn’t get ‘caught’ anywhere; he stayed there with a big grin on his face because this was the MAGA World Cup.
The sound of silence
Cole Palmer pretty much went straight from the bizarre Club World Cup trophy celebrations to a post-match press conference, which was literally the first opportunity for anybody to ask him about the events on stage.
So of course…
‘Cole Palmer breaks silence on viral Donald Trump moment after being left unimpressed as president gatecrashed Chelsea’s celebrations’ – MailOnline.
‘Cole Palmer breaks silence on strange interaction with Donald Trump’ – Joe.
‘Donald Trump ruins big Chelsea moment as Cole Palmer breaks silence on US president trophy lift’ – football.london
In order to ‘break a silence’ there should surely first have been a ‘silence’. Preferably of at least more than an hour, and certainly there should have been at least one opportunity to showcase such a silence.
Otherwise, you are just answering a question on the very first occasion that somebody asks you a question.
I can’t explain…
The other big story that emerged from the Club World Cup final was Luis Enrique Slapping Joao Pedro.
‘Luis Enrique explains why he SLAPPED Joao Pedro in shocking bust-up after Chelsea’s Club World Cup win over PSG’ is the promise from The Sunwho then carry quotes from Luis Enrique (he ‘broke his silence’, obviously) who never once mentions a SLAP or Joao Pedro.
Apart from that, it’s a sound explanation.
Chewing it raw
Martin Samuel of The Times has been evangelical about this Club World Cup tournament, his columns from the United States including such gloriously sportswashed specimens as ‘Unworthy distraction? In 20 years we’ll be desperate to host Club World Cup’ and ‘This is not a poor man’s Champions League – Club World Cup is proper tournament’.
It definitely is a poor man’s Champions League, Martin. It literally has not featured the English, Spanish or Italian champions and viewing figures in Europe have been poor. The BBC, for example, have reported less than half the interest in Club World Cup games as equivalents in the Champions League.
And now Samuel’s back after the final gave the trophy to the fourth-best team in England as Palmer’s double ‘delivered the Club World Cup to Chelsea, for now and the foreseeable future’.
Samuel writes – presumably with a straight face – that ‘their fans will still be able to sing about holding it on the final day of the 2028-29 season. Those who are sick of this competition now will most certainly be by then, but maybe more willing to afford it a little respect’.
The idea that Chelsea fans will be singing about winning the Club World Cup in 2029 is almost as preposterous as the notion that we won’t have all forgotten about this brutally flawed tournament in four months, never mind four years. Chelsea are not even planning a trophy parade, FFS.
Not for the first time, Samuel has not read the room. Presumably because he’s a long way from the room.
For, despite the attendant razzmatazz, this was at heart just a football match. So much has been made of the cash dividends, but this was about more.
Marc Cucurella – exceptional, again – spoke about how it felt to have the “world champions” logo on his shirt, and the collective delight when the final whistle went was undeniable. PSG’s unimpressive reaction too. If nobody cares about his competition, it seemed rather strange to start a big fight about it – one that included the PSG head coach, Luis Enrique, behaving aggressively towards João Pedro.
We have seen grown men fight over the last sausage roll in Gregg’s; that’s no test of the importance of anything at all.
There is no doubt that PSG wanted to win this competition and that getting outclassed in the final was an embarrassing blow to the Champions League holders, and there is no doubt that Chelsea wanted to win. But their captain Reece James talked of being “headed in the right direction” and even before the final, laughed off any claims that this would make them the best team in Europe, never mind the world.
Chelsea are world champions. You may not like that, you may not like this; but they deserved it, and the naysayers will now just have to chew it raw, for four years.
It genuinely will be forgotten as soon as the Premier League kicks off, Martin. There will be no ‘chewing it raw’ or indeed any chewing at all. This tournament has been swallowed whole like those hundreds of hot dogs at American state fair competitions.
Imagine watching the Club World Cup final which was entirely overshadowed by the crass behaviour of the world’s most powerful baby and thinking ‘yep, that’ll teach those naysayers; chew on that, suckers’.
