Into the channels: 13/12/2014

Cruz Azul 3 - 1 Western Sydney Wanderers

Western Sydney Wanderers, not to be confused with FC Sydney, or the not-real team West Sydney Warriors (which is what BBC Sport called them earlier in the week), were founded two and a half years ago. They qualified for this tournament by winning the Asian Champions League, which they play in because Australia is affiliated to the Asian football federation, in order to play more challenging games than they had been doing against teams like American Samoa. (Their record 31-0 win in that fixture was the subject of a great film released this year, Next Goal Wins, which also tells the story of Samoan defender Jaiyah Saelua, the first Fa'afafine (and first transgender) player to play in a men's World Cup qualifier. Despite representing Asia in this tournament, they are currently bottom of the Australian A-League.

Cruz Azul, their opponents in this Club World Cup quarter final, were founded in 1927. They are champions of whatever the premier club competition for CONCACAF teams is called.

Earlier today, Auckland City won their match against ES Setif of Algeria, to set up a semi-final meeting with Argentina's San Lorenzo. They beat the 'host team', Moroccans Moghreb Tetouan, on penalties in the tournament's preliminary game, before shocking the Algerians, winning 1-0.

For all these teams, the Club World Cup is a really great opportunity to test their mettle against the best in the world, aka Whoever Happens To Be European Champions That Season. In this case, that team is Real Madrid. It would probably be best for world football if they didn't win this competition. Or, at least, if they didn't make it look too easy.

Western Sydney Wanderers were the first team to come out

The pitch in Rabat was very, very wet

Very, very, very wet

Sydney coach Tony Popovic, a former player with Crystal Palace and Sanfreece Hiroshima, was also wet

20 minutes in, and a shot from the right foot of Marco Fabian fizzed past Ante Covic, but also just past his post. This was followed up by another effort from Cruz Azul a couple of minutes later, when Gerardo Torrado volleyed Xavier Baez's early cross way over. Early crosses were a trope of this game, as were the complaints of Argentine forward Mariano Pavone, and the ball getting stuck in puddles of water. Christian Gimenez, the Cruz Azul number 10, looked more likely than anyone else to create a goal in the first half, his deliveries not making quality connections.

Blackburn Rovers fans might be interested to hear that Mauro Formica, who they signed from Newell's Old Boys in 2011, is still not looking as much like Gabriel Batistuta as Steve Kean claims. Meanwhile, Nikita Rukavytsya and Mark Bridge were sticking it in the air from the set pieces awarded to Wanderers, to the same small effect.

Basically, this was a waterpolo match.

Matthew Spiranovic appeals to Poseidon

Very, etc.

A point-blank save from Jesus Corona in the Cruz Azul goal denied one such effort, after a free-kick was deflected off a Wanderers head in the opening stages. They were in the ascendancy as the first half ended, after Cruz Azul had taken control for the middle section, but to be honest, saying that either team was actually in control is rather unfair on the Poseidon, who was trying his hardest to get the game abandoned.

A free kick on the edge of the area for Cruz Azul just after the restart looked like a great excuse for someone to score a goal. Gimenez, though, dragged his shot wide.

62 minutes in, and Pavone had a very good chance to give the Mexicans the lead, with the ball played into him by a teammate who had just taken it around Covic. Pavone tried to pass the ball in the net. Instead, he found the outstretched form of Matthew Spiranovic, saving his team by throwing his body on the line.

Just two minutes later, and down the other end of the pitch, the ball sat up on the edge of the area for Iacopo La Rocca. He struck it whilst just outside the penalty box, and on the right hand side of the area, and it travelled across the surface of the water, and into the bottom left corner of the goal. 1-0. Could they hold in to set up a semi-final game against Real Madrid, and in doing so ensure that the semi-finals of the Club World Cup featured teams from both New Zealand and Australia?

Iacopo La Rocca fires Sydney in front

From that moment on, the Mexican side were more threatning, especially through Gimenez and Pavone. Wanderers did not help themselves, captain Spiranovic getting sent off for a second booking, and leaving his side to face the final 15 minutes a man light.

And they so nearly made it.

The face of Shannon Cole, who has just conceded a penalty

The face of Gerardo Torrado, who is about to score that penalty

An 89th minute penalty was cruel, for the players, and for everyone watching. There were so many turns of play based upon the ball not going as far as expected, because it was busy taking a bath, that the game was farcical.

Torrado celebrates...

... and then realises that he has to play another half an hour

Nikolai Topor-Stanley was the recipient of this second red card, as the Australians tried to help the game to an ending

Poppa sees the (flood)light in an impending defeat

 Now that WSW were down to 9 men, all the play was Mexican.

Hugo Pavone gives Cruz Azul the lead after 108 minutes

And Torrado makes it 3-1, again from the spot

Hopefully, one day, the Club World Cup will be less farcical than this. However, that's unlikely to be on Tuesday. Cruz Azul are taking on Real Madrid, in a game that has been moved to Marrakech (hopefully drier) because the pitch in Rabat was, apparently, quite bad. Moving this match would have meant postponing the Madrid game, and messing with the schedules of some very rich people, as well as some football players from The Rest Of The World. But it probably would have been fairer, especially on Popovic's Wanderers, eliminated after what was less a game of football, and more a tribute to the intractability of FIFA, and their inexorable march towards Progress.

It would take a very opportunistic FIFA leprechaun to point to this game as an example of why the women's World Cup being played on artificial grass is a perfectly sensible and entirely non-sexist idea. Some of the players set to feature in that tournament are litigating, to get it played on natural grass. They're arguing that there would be a huge outcry if players at the men's World Cup were told they were having to play on artificial surfaces. That may well be true (although at the moment, there's still a chance of them playing in the summer heat of Qatar, which is somewhat less likely to be great for their health) - at the very least, I don't think FIFA are about to suggest any of the upcoming men's tournaments are played on astroturf. But if having to play on artificial pitches in Canada is seen as unfair by the women's game's elite, surely Poppa and the Wanderers also have a right to be aggrieved by the conditions in Rabat. If Manchester United crashed out of the Champions League due to an unplayable pitch, one as obviously atrocious as this one, there would be a huge outcry. Something would happen. But because it's a competition the biggest, richest teams don't care about - and because it's not them missing out, in this case - the club formed two and a half years ago, from the A-League, have to travel half the world to get home, without being given a chance to show what they can do on the biggest stage they have ever played on.