PASADENA, Calif -- Paris Saint-Germain’s 4-0 dismantling of Atlético Madrid at the Rose Bowl on Sunday should have been a triumph for FIFA’s revamped Club World Cup. Instead, the match underscored the tournament’s uneasy limbo between exhibition and elite competition.
For an event billed as the pinnacle of club football, the atmosphere was more summer casual than do-or-die. Despite an official crowd of 80,619, swathes of seats remained empty well past kickoff, a sight made comical by the ominous tolling-bell that echoed through the stadium’s PA system during FIFA’s overproduced pregame ceremony.
Unfortunately, The Undertaker never emerged from the tunnel, and the forced grandeur only gave way to laborious player introductions that had everyone feeling hot and tired before the game even began. Everyone, that is, except PSG.
Still riding high from their Champions league triumph, the European champions played with intent. Fabián Ruiz’s 19th minute opener - a pinpoint strike from distance - set the tone, while Vitinha’s breakaway goal just before halftime punished Atético’s lethargy.
The opening group stage fixture oscillated between fleeting intensity and preseason passivity, with Clément Llenglet’s bizarre 78th minute dismissal (a second yellow for dissent, courtesy of questioning the ref without the authority of the captain’s armband) and Alexander Sørloth’s missed sitter moments later, summing up Atlético’s indifference.
A late flurry of goals (Senny Mayulu’s tidy finish; Lee Kang-in’s penalty) padded the scoreline but only seemed to fuel the bigger question: is this tournament a legitimate prize or a glorified (albeit, lucrative) exhibition?
Bayern Munich’s 10-0 thrashing of Auckland City earlier in on Sunday loomed over proceedings, perhaps coloring the day with an unfair brush.
Still, if FIFA’s new tournament is to carry any competitive weight, two European giants facing off at the Rose Bowl be a tone-setter.
Instead, it was, at best, tepid excitement. At worst, jaded caution.
It’s hard to know what (if anything) this means for the legitimacy of the tournament or how the rest of the games will play out. But while money might ensure star power shows up, until the stakes feel real, the Club World Cup risks being a shameless spectacle in search of a soul.