Brazilian star bluntly said: South American teams have the strength to compete with Europe, Fruminense will create history

In the ongoing Club World Cup, South American teams showed strong competitiveness, especially Brazil's Fruminense team became the biggest dark horse and successfully entered the semi-finals. Former Fruminense midfielder and Brazilian star Felipe Melo said that South American clubs have proven to be able to compete with European strong teams.

At this restructured Club World Cup held in the United States, Frumenense performed amazingly under the leadership of Renato Potalupi. He advanced to the semi-finals after qualifying as the second in Group F. He will face Premier League giants Chelsea in the semi-finals. They drew with Bundesliga powerhouse Dortmund in their first group match.

Except for Fruminen Seychelles, other Brazilian teams also performed well: Flamengo won the top spot in the group, Botafogo also successfully broke through from the group, and Palmeiras reached the quarterfinals and was eliminated by Chelsea. Only two Argentine teams, Boca Youth and River Plate, failed to qualify in the group.

Melo emphasized in an interview during the event: "European clubs may be stronger overall, but the world champions today come from South America, and the South American country with the most World Cup champions is also the South American country. The best player is South American. Although we send top players to Europe, this proves that South American football still has strength."

This midfielder who played for Fruminense 108 games from 2022 to 2024 is full of confidence in his old club. He specifically pointed out that the team's core John Arias once again showed a key role in the quarterfinals against Alschalal, and the winning goal scored by substitute Hercules was also the fourth goal scored by the substitute in this game.

Although the data prediction agency Opta's supercomputer only gave Fruminense a 19% chance of advancing to the final, Melo remained optimistic. He analyzed: "Fruminense's defense is stable, and coach Dafir's tactical deployment is perfect when facing Inter Milan. The team has excellent physical confrontation, especially relying on key players such as Arias, who are good at counterattacking efficiently on the basis of stable defense."

Melo also admitted that he was worried about the absence of key defender Juan Pablo Frights due to injury, but believed that players such as Thiago Santos could stand up, and the team as a whole was "creating history."

Melo gave positive comments to the event in response to some European teams' complaints about the hot summer schedule in North America. He pointed out that at least in Brazil, the ratings of this Club World Cup have surpassed the World Cup, and Argentina's domestic response is also enthusiastic, which proves the importance of the event to South America. He praised: "I have seen a very successful event, and even European teams have tried their best to win on the court."