End of Season: FIFA Club World Cup 2013

PLAY-OFF

11/12/13 – 19.30: Raja Casablanca - Auckland City FC 2-1
39′ Iajour, 90+2′ Hafidi – 63′ Krishna

QUARTER-FINALS

14/11/12 – 16: Guangzhou Evergrande FC – Al Ahly SC 2-0
49′ Elkeson, 67′ Conca
14/11/12 – 19.30: Raja Casablanca - CF Monterrey 2-1 a.e.t./d.t.s.
24′ Chtibi, 95 Guehi - 53′ Basanta 

SEMI-FINALS

17/12/13 – 19.30: Guangzhou Evergrande FC – FC Bayern München 0-3
40′ Ribery, 44′ Mandzukic, 47′ Goetze
18/12/13 – 19.30: Raja Casablanca  - Atletico Mineiro 3-1
51′ Iajour, 84′ Moutaouali p.k., 90+4′ Mabide – 63′ Ronaldinho

MATCH FOR FIFTH PLACE

18/12/13 – 16.30 : Al Ahly SC – CF Monterrey 1-5
8′ Moteab – 3′ Cardozo, 22′, 69′ Delgado, 27′ Lopez, 45′ Suazo p.k.

MATCH FOR THIRD PLACE

21/12/13 – 16.30: Guangzhou Evergrande FC – Atletico Mineiro 2-3
9′ Muriqui, 15′ Conca p.k. – 2′ Diego Tardelli, 45+1 Ronaldinho, 90+1 Luan

FINAL

21/12/13 – 19.30: FC Bayern München – Raja Casablanca 2-0
7′ Dante, 22′ Thiago

TOP SCORERS

Ronaldinho - Atletico Mineiro - 2 (2 matches)
César Delgado - CF Monterrey - 2 (2)
Darío Conca - Guangzhou Evergrande FC - 2 (3)
Mouhcine Iajour - Raja Casablanca - 2 (4)

AWARDS

Golden Ball: Franck Ribéry (FC Bayern München)
Silver Ball: Philipp Lahm (FC Bayern München)
Bronze Ball: Mouhcine Iajour (Raja Casablanca) 
FIFA Fair Play Award: FC Bayern München

FINAL RANK – CLASSIFICA FINALE

1. FC Bayern München - Germany
2. Raja Club Athletic - Morocco 
3. Clube Atlético Mineiro - Brazil
4. Guangzhou Evergrande FC - China 
5. C.F. Monterrey - Mexico
6. Al-Ahly SC - Egypt 
7. Auckland City FC - New Zealand

2013 FIFA Club World Cup ended as expected, with the victory of FC Bayern München, the favourite one, that confirms itself as the strongest club of 2013, and, maybe, of the last five years as well. Anyway in this competion there was a (big) surprise, and a couple of (big) disappointments.
There has never been any serious doubts about the Germans’ triumph, with a comfortable 3-0 win over Guangzhou Evergrande FC (China), coached by Marcello Lippi, where FC Bayern scored 3 goals in 10 minutes around Half Time, and had much more opportunies to score than the Chineses, and with a 2-0 win in the Final over Raja Casablanca, the local Champions, a match that Bayern FC controlled without many troubles, but in the final minutes the Moroccans wasted a couple of easy opportunities at least to open the contest again.
The Bavarian Club ended an almost perfect 2013, winning 5 on 6 competitions that they took part in: Bundesliga, DFB Pokal (German Cup), UEFA Champions League, UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup; just Borussia Dortmund, that defeated them in German Super Cup prevented FC Bayern to make a fully perfect 2013.
The real (big) surprise was Raja Casablanca, that reached the Final and has become, after TP Mazembe (RDC), the second non European or South Amenrican team, to play the decisive match to lift the trophy.
The Moroccans, that took part in the Competition just because they had won the Championship of the host Country, started the Tournament from the first match, one week before FC Bayern, played four matches, two more than the Germans, and won 3 of them, notably defeating CF Monterrey from Mexico, and, most of all, Atletico Mineiro from Brazil, that have been the two (big) disappointments of the Competition, and that can’t respectively be happy of a big win in the match for fifth place, and a narrow win in the match for third place.
The reasons that often lead Mexicans teams, especially CF Monterrey, that took part in the last three Editions, to fail in this competitions are still a mistery: the “Rayados” probably could have beaten not only the Moroccans, infact they later overwhelmed SC Al-Ahly from Egypt, the African Champions, thus theoretically stronger than the host team, but Atletico Mineiro as well, because Mexican teams often perform quite well in Copa Libertadores, and show to be more or less on the same level with the Brazilian ones, and moreover they could have caused few troubles to FC Bayern.
Atletico Mineiro wasn’t able to play the Final, despite facing Raja Casablanca and not Monterrey CF, that should have been stronger, in the Semi-final: the home field advantage and a maybe questionable penalty kick awarded to the Moroccans aren’t excuses valid enough to explain the weak performance from the Brazilians, and moreover they won the Final for the Third Place in a very narrow way, thanks to a goal in the added time.
Guangzhou Evergrande FC and Auckland City FC did what people probably expected from them, and, more or less, can leave Morocco with their head held high: the Chinese team ended fourth after a nice win in the balanced match against the Champions of Africa, an heavy defeat against FC Bayern München, too strong for them, and a very narrow defeat, that came in the added time, in the Final for Third Place, while the team from New Zealand went out at the first match, thus ending in the last place, but they lost to the surprise of the Tournament, in a well fighted match that was bitterly lost in the last minute of the stoppage time.
Expectations about SC Al-Ahly weren’t too high, but the Egyptians can’t be satisfied after a 0-2 defeat against Guangzhou Evergrande FC, a team that should be on a very similar level, and a 1-5 one against CF Monterrey.
Anyway 2013 FIFA Club World Cup showed, again, how football is often very unpredictable: Raja Casablanca was in the Competition just because Morocco hosted that, they hardly defeated Auckland City FC. and then reached the Final, kicking out the probably stronger Monterrey CF and Atletico Mineiro, while Al-Ahly SC, Champions of Africa, so they should have been stronger than the Moroccans, ended second last, after being defeated by Guangzhou Evergrande FC and the Mexicans, that had just been beated by Raja Casablanca,that should have been weaker than the Moroccans.
At individual level, Ronaldinho (Atletico Minerio), Dario Conca (FC Guangzhou Evergrande) played a good tournament, the Moroccan Mouhcine Iajour (Bronze Ball) has been the biggest surprise, while, among the several stars of FC Bayern, Franck Ribéry and Philipp Lahm won respectively the Golden Ball and the Silver Ball of the Competition.
The average attendance was quite good, but it can have been “helped” by the good performances from the home team.