Barcelona dominate in Yokohama

Barcelona dominated the Club World Cup final from first to last and handed Santos a lesson into the bargain as they added yet another trophy to the frankly ridiculous collection they're building up in what will no doubt become known as the Guardiola era.

The Catalans dominated from the off and it proved something of a surprise that it took a full quarter of an hour before they took the lead. They did with a quite outstanding goal; Xavi with a sublime touch and Lionel Messi with a delightful, cheeky, impish, just plain sexy chip over the stranded Cabral. Xavi turned finisher a few moments later as the Blaugrana carved open their South American rivals, Dani Alves prominent on the right. There was so much space on the flanks, the ball came in from the right and Xavi was on the edge of the box to sweep it home.

A goalmouth scramble - Barca can even make those look amazing - saw the third goal come on the stroke of half time. A wonderful back-heel from Messi played in Alves down the right and the ball found it's way, via half a dozen other feet, to Cesc Fabregas, unmarked on the back stick, and he passed it across goal and inside the far post. Santos trudged off the field, heads on chests, already a beaten side.

The second half started as the first ended with Fabregas starting the move and the eventual shot grazing the outside of the post via Cabral's fingertips. Andres Iniesta was almost a peripheral figure in the first half, but he too went close after a stereotypical passage of intricate passing, but aside from that, Barcelona were content to keep the ball away from Santos and preserve the lead they'd built. The third goal had killed the game.

A fourth eventually arrived with eight minutes to go, Alves playing Messi in whose initial control was poor, but it served a purpose in drawing Cabral out of his goal allowing the little Argentine to take the ball round him and pass it into the net.

This was as comprehensive a win as it's possible to see. Barca, with a staggering 72% of possession, starved Santos. They were clinical in the first half, pragmatic in the second. Xavi's control and pass for the opener was pure porn and Santos were a beaten side from there on in. It's difficult to be too critical of the Brazilians: they were just beaten by a far superior side.


Earlier in the day, Asian champions Al Sadd won the third-place play-off against Kashiwa Reysol on penalties after a dismal 0-0 draw.

FIFA Club World Cup semi-finals

Santos booked their place in the final of the FIFA Club World Cup with a comfortable victory over Kashiwa Reysol at Toyota Stadium this morning. The Libertadores champions were ahead 19 minutes into the contest thanks to a wonderful strike from the much-coveted Neymar who had earlier struck the post. Fed by Ganso down the inside right channel, he checked back inside onto his left and curled a beauty past Takanori Sugeno who was left with his feet seemingly in clay. Approaching the half hour, Santos struck for a second time to all but seal the game. Again, Ganso was the provider, playing it in from the left to the feet of Borges who turned and rifled a powerful shot high into the roof of the net. 2-0 it remained to half time, but nine minutes after the resumption, Reysol found a way back into the game as some slack marking at a corner allowed Hiroki Sakai to pull one back.
If anything, that spurred Santos on and they restored the two-goal advantage shortly afterwards with Danilo's heavily deflected free-kick following a foul on star man Ganso. Reysol could and should have got one back late on when Masakatsu Sawa put the ball over the bar from close range when scoring looked easier. Santos move on to Sunday's final where the winners of tomorrow's semi-final between Qatar's Al Sadd and the tiki-taka masters of Barcelona (so Barcelona then, yeah?).

Reysol, the host nation champions, got to this point by beating Oceania champions Auckland City 2-0 in a play-off and then beating CONCACAF champions Monterrey of Mexico on penalties after a 1-1 draw. Monterrey beat ES Tunis (African champions) for 5th place in a play-off after the Tunisians lost their quarter-final to Al Sadd by two goals to one. Reysol have one more game, the third-place match, against the losers of the Al Sadd/Barcelona clash (so Al Sadd then, yeah?), also on Sunday.

Follow Barcelona's progress on our sister site, Euroballs.

Internacional Claim Third

Internacional 4-2 Seongnam Ilhwa Chumna

Internacional drew what has been a long season to a close with success as they claimed third place in the FIFA Club World Championship with a 4-2 victory over Seongnam Ilhwa Chumna of the Korea Republic in Abu Dhabi earlier on today.

Inter took the lead with fifteen minutes on the clock when Tingha headed home across from Alecsandro to put them ahed. Inter doubled their lead twelve minutes later when Alecsandro turned from creator to scorer. A great pass from Andres D'Alessandro saw Alecsandro fire the ball into the far corner of the goal of Jung S-R. Seven minutes in the second half the game was over as a contest, Rafael Sórbis went bombing down the right hand side and the Argentinian superstar Andres D'Aleesandro fired home from 25 yards out to get the goal of the game.

Alecsandro claimed his second goal of the game nineteen minutes from time, a cross from Nei was missed by the Seongnam Ilhwa Chumna defenders and he was left with a simple tap in at the back post. With the game in the bag, Internacional dropped the pace and Colombian Mauricio Molina grabbed a consolation when a Choi S-K pass split the Inter defence and he slotted past substitute Roberto Abbondanzieri in the Inter goal. Molina also had the last laugh when he picked up a second in injury time when he popped up at the back post to slot home.

FC Internazionale Milano won the tournament with a 3-0 victory over the conquerers of Internacional, TP Mazembe of DR Congo. Two goals in the opening 17 minutes from Goran Pandev and Samuel Eto'o put FC Internazionale Milano in control before Jonathan Biabiany wrapped things up three minutes from time.

There was some good news for Inter as Andres D'Alessandro was awarded the Bronze ball as the third best player in the tournament. Dioko Kaluyituka of TP Mazembe took the Silver Ball and Samuel Eto'o won the Golden Ball as player of the tournament.

We at CONMEBalls are now taking a winter break. We're back the middle of January when the Paulista and Carioca tournaments get underway. See you all then.

Internacional Crash Out

TP Mazembe 2-0 Internacional

Despite careful preparation, sending scouts to TP Mazembe's 1-0 win over Mexican side Pachucha and the general confidence going through the Internacional camp their campaign came to a sudden and abrupt end after a shock 2-0 defeat to the Congolese side at the Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium in the semi final of the FIFA Club World Championship.

The 2006 champions were hoping to follow the tradition of Brazilian clubs generally having the upper hand over African sides in the competition. After the TP Mazembe spent a pre-match prayer together in the goalmouth, Internacional started well. Settling quickly into their rhythm. A Rafael Sobis free kick whizzed over the bar before and two minutes later the TP Mazembe defence somehow survived when Sobis was provided with another chance. The African side played on the counter attack and Renan did well to keep out a shot from Mulota Kabangu before Tingha wasted a great chance by heading over a cross from Nei.

The 5,000 or so Internacional fans who had made the trip were left stunned eight minutes after the break when Mulota Kabangu caught the Inter defence asleep to slot home from close range. Inter went on the attack in order to save their tournament, Mazembe goalkeeper Muteba Kidiaba denied both Sobis and Giuliano and with five minutes left TP Mazembe booked their place in Saturday's final when a long ball found Dioko Kaluyituka and he beat Renan to wrap things up.

It's the first time the Libertadores champions have not made the final and it's an unwanted honour for Internacional. The have the pleasure of the 3rd/4th place play-off on Saturday against the loser of the Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma FC and FC Internazionale Milano semi final tomorrow. It's going to be a very disappointing end to what has been a good year for the Porto Alegre based club.

Campeonato Brasileiro Série A Week 38

Prudente 0-3 Internacional
São Paulo 4-0 Atlético Mineiro
Santos 0-0 Flamengo
Vasco da Gama 2-0 Ceará
Fluminense 1-0 Guarani
Cruzeiro 2-0 Palmeiras
Grêmio 3-0 Botafogo
Goiás 1-1 Corinthians
Vitória 0-0 Atlético Goianiense
Atlético Paranasense 1-0 Avaí

Week 38, the last round began on Thursday night in Presidente Prudente as relegated Prudente bid farewell to the top flight after a two year stay with defeat to an Internacional side warming up for a trip to the UAE and the FIFA World Club Championship. Alecsandro put Inter ahead with a quarter of an hour gone and Tingha doubled the lead eight minutes later. Giuliano wrapped things up nine minutes from time as Inter signed off in style before their next game on December 14th.

And onto Sunday, the final round with all nine games kicking off at the same time. The situation at the top of the table was simple, if Fluminense won they would be champions. Any other results could let in Corinthians or Cruzeiro. Grêmio and Botafogo met to decide fourth and Vitória and Atlético-GO fought out the last relegation place. This is how Sunday panned out.......

The opening goal of the round came after six minutes at the Arena de Baixada in Curitiba where veteran Paulo Baier got what turned out to be the only goal of the game for Atlético-PR against Avaí. That would give Atlético-PR a fifth place finish, much better than last years relegation battle. Then the big news came in from the Serra Dourada where relegated Goiás had taken the lead against Corinthians. A mistake from Júlio César in the Corinthians goal allowing Felipe Amorim to give a virtual Goiás reserve team the lead. News quickly spread to the Engenhão and Sete Lagoas where Fluminense and Cruzeiro were in action. The next goal came at the Monumental where Grêmio took the lead in their shoot out with Botafogo for fourth when André Lima fired the hosts ahead. At the Morumbi, São Paulo then established a two goal lead against Atlético-MG, Ilsinho put the hosts ahead with twenty-seven minutes gone and Lucas Silva doubled the lead three minutes later.

In between those goals going in at the Morumbi, Corinthians hauled themselves back into the title race when Dentinho levelled at the Serra Dourada. The news was wasn't greeted well in the Engenhão or in Sete Lagoas but served to fire up the Fluzão. Across town in Rio, Vasco da Gama were the next team on the scoresheet when Dedé put them ahead in the dead game against Ceará at the São Januário. Six minutes before the break Grêmio got themselves in the box seat for fourth when a 23rd of the season for Jonas put them two up against Botafogo. Marlos then put São Paulo three up just before the break as all the other games went into half time scoreless, including the crucial games at the Barradão, the Engenhão and in Sete Lagoas.

So into the last 45 minutes of the season and it was Vasco who struck first a minute after the break. The goal eventually being credited to an own goal by Ceará's Erivélton. At the Morumbi it was turning into a rout as two minutes later Renato Silva made it four for São Paulo as Atlético-MG's recent good run was bought to an end. With fifty two on the clock Grêmio secured fourth place when Douglas made it 3-0 against a Botafogo side that simply hadn't shown up on the night. Then came huge news from Sete Lagoas, where Rivaldo (no, not that one) had put Palmeiras ahead, if Cruzeiro were to do anything now they had to fight back from a goal down. Then came the crucial strike at the Engenhão just after the hour, a cross from the left finding Emerson who fired the ball between his namesakes legs in the Guarani goal to send the Fluzão into raptures. They now believed the title was heading their way. A minute later though, it was all change in Sete Lagoas as Henrique levelled for Cruzeiro to get them back in the title race.

In the big relegation match at the Barradão it was still goalless but Vitória were reduced to ten men with eight minutes left as frustration set in and Gabriel was sent off for a poor tackle. As the season drew to a close, Muricy Ramalho went to defend the lead his side had as Vitória piled on the pressure. Corinthians were still in second, hit the post and still couldn't find a way through the Goiás reserve side. Then came the late drama we expected, and it came in Sete Lagoas where Wallyson grabbed a winner for Cruzeiro. It wasn't enough to give them the title but it snatched them second place from Corinthians and gave them a place in Group 7 in next years Libertadores. Corinthians now, will have to enter into the qualifying stage where they will take on an as yet undetermined team from Colombia. Nothing to report though from the Vila Belmiro where a tame encounter between Santos and Flamengo fnished goalless and without much incident. It also finished goalless at the Barradão, a result with saved Atlético-GO and caused the heartbreak of relegation for Vitória. In contrast the scences at the Engenhão were in stark contrast as the Fluzão celebrated their first top flight title since 1984 and a fourth for coach Muricy Ramalho after his previous treble success with São Paulo.

So this is who got what at the end of enthralling season in Brazil.

Champions: Fluminense
Copa Libertadores Group Stage: Internacional (as holder), Cruzeiro, Santos (via Copa do Brasil)
Copa Libertadores Qualifiers: Corinthians, Grêmio or Goiás (to be confirmed after Copa Sudamericana final)
Copa Sudamericana: Grêmio (subject to Goiás in Sudamericana), Atlético-PR, Botafogo, São Paulo, Palmeiras, Vasco da Gama, Ceará, Atlético-MG, Flamengo (subject to Grêmio's participation)
Relegated: Vitória, Guarani, Goiás, Prudente

So that's it for the 2010 Campeonato Brasileiro. There is one game left of course and we'll have the second leg of the Sudamericana final on Thursday plus we will be following Internacional in the FIFA World Club Cup. The national competition will return mid-May 2011 but don't forget our coverage of the Campeonato Paulista and Campeonato Carioca begins in the middle of January and our coverage of the 2011 Copa Libertadores also begins the last week of January.

On a personal note I would just like to thank everyone who has been along for the ride this season, especially everyone who follows us on twitter. It's been a pleasure bringing you all the action from one of the most exciting leagues in the world.