Darn - well, much as I expected, this 'Round of 16' stage in the new Club World Cup has been very finely balanced so far.
I suppose the bookies made Palmeiras and Chelsea the favourites to go through from their ties - but only very narrowly. And the games were even closer than that. In the all-Brazil clash of Palmeiras against Botafogo, there was absolutely nothing to choose between them, with both defences on top more than the attacks, and an isolated goal from Paulinho clinching a win in extra time. That was particularly rough on the Botafogo keeper, John, who'd done heroic work between the sticks and deserved far more from the game.
Chelsea had been rather more on top in their encounter, but couldn't convert dominance into goals against an excellent Benfica defence, and also found themselves going into extra time after their opponents conjured up a last-gasp equaliser. The way they roused themselves from that setback to go on and win comfortably in extra time was most impressive, and should lend their campaign good momentum going forward into the quarter-finals.
Although Bayern had a slightly easier time of it, Flamengo showed a lot of threat, and briefly had the German giants a bit rattled when they twice clawed themselves back into the game by reducing the lead to a single goal.
After all that excitement, I'm wondering if we might have an upset or two in store somewhere in the remaining four games. I said the other day that I think Juventus could certainly beat Real Madrid. But Inter Milan, Dortmund and Manchester City aren't by any means invulnerable, and I fancy Fluminense, Monterrey and Al Hilal - who are on a bit of a high from their performances so far - could at least give them a stern test. Let's see.
[Much as I'd love to see an underdog victory in one or more of these games - particularly against Pep's City! - it would completely screw my own Fantasy campaign! I played my Wildcard in the group stage, so I am entirely dependent on correctly guessing how the bracket will pan out if I am to avoid having to pay points for additional transfers to rebuild a decimated squad. And I didn't bet on any of these less-fancied sides.... except Botafogo, which didn't work out for me. Oh, woe!]
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