San Lorenzo and the cup that Madrid lack

Madrid-San Lorenzo, the final of the Club World Cup. We call it Mundialito (Little World Cup) and it is inevitable, because there is only one Mundial (World Cup), which was born in 1930 and it is already surrounded with a dedication and a few scruples that the Mundialito still lacks. This botch of the pitches was not given, then. Like how the excessive distance that now exists between the best and the worst was not given. This championship is, in some way, a step back. Against the constant struggle for equality and rapprochement between civilisations, the Club World Cup accentuates, to the point of caricature, the imbalance between the rich and the others.

But we don’t blame that on Madrid. Representing their world, the one which corresponds to them. Madrid won the first predecessor of this competition, the Intercontinental Cup, in 1960 after a 0-0 draw in Montevideo and a 5-1 win in the Bernabéu which remains a great day in the history of the club. That Intercontinental Cup, with the home and away legs, waned due to the hardness in crime that the South American teams (mostly the Argentines) demonstrated in matches over there. That led to the Intercontinental Cup becoming one match, in Tokyo. And from there we have jumped to this Club World Cup, popularly known as ‘el Mundialito’ (the Little World Cup).

Today’s cup is one that Real Madrid don’t have. To obtain it they must beat San Lorenzo de Almagro, who shake old and beautiful resonances in Spain. They were Lángara’s team when he landed in Buenos Aires, with four goals against River Plate. They were the team whose tour, which straddled 1946 and 1947, allowed us to discover the WM and the value of loving care of the ball. But those references don’t die in the past. They are the team of Pope Francisco, that necessary hero who fights against paedophilia and who befriends the USA and Cuba. San Lorenzo are prestigious, yesterday and today. But in front of them are Real Madrid, who are lacking this cup...

from Últimas noticias | Diario AS http://ift.tt/16BIPfI

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