Club World Cup marked by empty seats, searing heat, weather-delayed matches and Chelsea victory

An expanded Club World Cup marked by empty seats slashed ticket prices searing heat weather-delayed matches and a criticized field surface ended in a surprise supremacy by Chelsea the fourth-best band in the Premier League Among the lasting lessons was FIFA s decision to dramatically drop ticket costs as selected kickoff times approached which could impact decisions by fans thinking of attending next year s World Cup FIFA lowered the cost to attend the Chelsea-Fluminense semifinal at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford New Jersey to from then dropped the Chelsea-Paris Saint-Germain final from to There will be matches at next year s expanded -nation World Cup and countless are likely to be on weekday afternoons FIFA has not disclosed whether it will use dynamic pricing and refused to comment on discounting The matches drew million about of the listed threshold FIFA refused to disclose tournament capacities of venues focusing on tickets sold rather than about million unfilled seats and would not address price cuts FIFA President Gianni Infantino assessed the expanded tournament he championed saying It is already greater part thriving club competition in the world Former Liverpool manager J rgen Klopp was less enthusiastic telling the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag it was the worst idea ever implemented in football because of demands on players as a consequence of the extended season PSG played its th competitive match and Chelsea its th since starting in mid-August Each association will have - days off before - openers I communicated my players that I had the feeling that this competition will become just as fundamental or even more pivotal than the Champions League Chelsea manager Enzo Maresco declared Maresca called the heat dangerous Borussia Dortmund coach Niko Kova disclosed the grass at MetLife Stadium site of next year s World Cup final was so short it s more a golf green so you can putt here Tiny US television audience The streaming arrangement DAZN bought world rights and sublicensed of the matches to TNT Sports which averaged viewers for the first matches with English-language commentary on TNT TBS and truTV Seventeen matches sublicensed to TelevisaUnivision with Spanish commentary averaged By comparison NBC s networks averaged viewers per match window for the Premier League in - regular-season Major League Baseball is averaging million this year on Fox and million on the cable setup ESPN The NFL averaged million during the regular season DAZN has not yet circulated figures but says it will during the week Hot seat The temperature was over degrees Fahrenheit Celsius for a large number of matches with humidity that made it feel more than F C Honestly the heat is incredible Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernandez explained Playing in this temperature is very dangerous Six games were delayed by weather for a total of hours minutes raising questions over the suitability of the U S for next year s World Cup during a time of global warming Only four of the U S World Cup venues have roofs including one that isn t temperature controlled Players have played in these conditions before but I think it doesn t make it easy and it doesn t make it as enjoyable for sure declared former Wales captain Gareth Bale a DAZN commentator who attended the semifinals and final It s one of those things and there s no real way around it At the World Cup in the U S just seven of games had night local time starts in order to broadcast matches during evenings for Europe television Missing champions While FIFA hyped the tournament as a competition of the best teams in the world it didn t include the current champions of England Liverpool Spain Barcelona Italy Napoli Portugal Sporting Lisbon and Austria Sturm Graz among the dozen European clubs in the -nation field Lionel Messi s Inter Miami got an invite even though it has never won the MLS title Performer welfare For the top players the Club World Cup meant they likely faced three consecutive years of summer tournaments following the European Championship and Copa America last year and leading to the World Cup for national teams in Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola explained the impact of the new tournament might not be known until midway through next season I may say So listen we are a calamity We are exhausted The World Cup destroyed us he admitted Bayern Munich and Germany star Jamal Musiala likely faces months out of action after sustaining a fractured fibula and broken and dislocated ankle in his gang s quarterfinal defeat to PSG A global match FIFA needed the Club World Cup to help grow the sport globally and shine a light on teams outside of Europe s bulk popular leagues Brazilian teams excelled with all four entrants advancing to the knockout stage Botafogo produced one of the upsets of the tournament by beating PSG in the group phase while Fluminense reached the semifinals Saudi Arabia s Al Hilal advanced to the quarterfinals and eliminated Manchester City Lionel Messi led Inter Miami to the round of including Major League Soccer s first competitive win against European opposition defeating Porto in the group phase The other U S teams the Seattle Sounders and Los Angeles FC were less impressive with both teams exiting at the group stage winless New Zealand s Auckland City lost - to Bayern while a contest between South Africa s Mamelodi Sundowns and South Korea s Ulsan drew just fans A question of quality Messi produced moments of magic but a bout of acute gastroenteritis limited Kylian Mbappe s involvement While plenty of matches in the group stage in particular were competitive only a inadequate games will be remembered for iconic moments