Club World Cup Observation: Is the "Samba Tornado" coming?

Xinhua News Agency reporters Zhao Yan and Gongbing

With the 2025 Club World Cup Group F match ending on the 25th, all four teams from Brazil entered the top 16, as if they brought a strong "samba whirlwind".

In particular, Botafogo defeated the Champions League champions Paris Saint-Germain 1:0 and Flamengo defeated Chelsea 3:1, which surprised the European giants.

Some European media are also looking for reasons why Brazilian teams can compete with European clubs. For example, European giant clubs have tight schedules and exhausted players. However, according to statistics agency Sofascore, Brazil's four teams had the most games in the 12 months before the Club World Cup, with Flamengo ranked first and playing 77 games; followed by Botavgo (72), Frumenense (72) and Palmeiras (69). Real Madrid ranked first in European teams on the list, ranking sixth, playing 64 games in total.

The British media Daily Mail analyzed that European teams are not adapted to the hot weather in the United States. But from the perspective of professional players, weather factors have the same impact on each team and cannot be a reason for poor performance. Although most of Brazil is in the tropical region, most of the games of the strong teams in the League One are held on cooler evenings. In this Club World Cup, some Brazilian players also complained that weather factors consume a lot of physical strength.

So, why did the "Samba Legion" that has performed poorly in the national team in recent years have performed outstandingly in the club-level competition?

First of all, this is due to the high-level youth training of Brazilian football and the joining of talented players from neighboring countries in recent years. Brazilian club youth training has a fine tradition. The youth championship at the beginning of each year is a game that major European clubs focus on, and the players who have not been able to "enter the giants" are not bad. They ensure the basic level of Brazilian clubs. Furthermore, as the best young players left Brazil, Brazilian clubs increasingly turned to neighboring countries for alternative players.

Now, each club in the Brazilian league can send up to 9 foreign players to the court at the same time. It can be seen that the Flamengo team wears the No. 10 jersey is Uruguayan Alascaeta; Fruminense's star player is Arias of the Colombian national team; Palmeiras' captain is Paraguayan Gustavo Gomez; and Botafogo team's No. 10 is Venezuelan Jefferson Savarino.

Secondly, players returning from the top five European leagues and European coaches have brought rich tactical experience. Brazilian footballers have also said that Brazilians have skills, but Europe is still the one who leads in tactics. Therefore, although some players who have been fighting in the European arena for many years seem to be "retirement and return home" when they return to their hometowns, their experience can help the team.

In Fruminense, the captain of the Brazilian national team, Thiago Silva, who has participated in many World Cups, is in the back-defense; before the Club World Cup, Flamengo introduced Jorginho, the former Italian national team; in the game against Paris Saint-Germain, Botafogo's main player Alan played for clubs such as Everton and Naples in Europe, and was also selected for the Brazilian national team. The coach's European competition experience has also benefited the Brazilian club a lot. Portuguese Jorge Jesus led Flamenco to the Liberators Cup and La Liga titles in 2019, opening the door to Brazilian football for foreign coaches. Flamengo's current young coach Felipe Luis was the main defender of Atletico Madrid for many years and has had experience in fighting against major European clubs.

Abel Ferreira, who is also a Portuguese, is the head coach of Palmeiras, and he is now one of Brazil's most successful coaches. Since arriving in Brazil in 2020, he has led the team to win two South American Liberators Cup titles, two Brazilian La Liga titles and one Brazilian Cup title.

Finally, the team's achievements are inseparable from the support of enthusiastic fans. A very complete fan culture has long been formed across Latin America. When they watch the game, they can make puzzle games and cheer words in the stands, as well as various banners, ribbons and even colored cigarettes, not to mention fan songs and enthusiastic dances. No matter which stadium they are in, they can make their team feel like their home court.

In the game against Chelsea, Flamengo fans stole the limelight and turned the Lincoln Financial Stadium in Philadelphia into a "Maracana Stadium branch"; at the home court of Miami International, even if Messi attracted fans from all over the world, Palmeiras fans still performed better during the game. The enthusiasm of the fans is also reflected outside the court. Long before leaving for the United States, Botafogo and Flamenco fans saw off the team they supported at Rio de Janeiro Airport. After they arrived in the United States, many fan parties were staged in New York. First, Fruminense fans were parading on the Hudson River cruise with the team's three-color flags; Times Square became a carnival venue for Palmeiras fans.

Of course, how far can these four Brazilian teams go in the Club World Cup, will they cause trouble again, or will they lose to the upcoming rivals? All this remains to be seen. But it's certain that they'll fight until the last minute, and any team that wants to beat them must go all out.