And now, is Fluminense Brazil? I don’t think so – 12/18/2023 – Sandro Macedo

Before 30 minutes had passed, commentator Roger Flores already said on the Globo broadcast: “What a crazy game”. Shortly afterwards, Luís Roberto shouted with the usual excitement after a save from Fábio: “Milaaaagreeee”. Júnior, the other commentator, replied: “It was on top of him.”

In fact, the first half was crazy and, in fact, almost all of Al Ahly’s goals were through Fábio — a credit to the 43-year-old goalkeeper, always well positioned.

During the break, professor Fernando Diniz, who is a psychologist, must have pondered, in a calm tone, Jungian teachings in each athlete’s ear. And the game was controlled by Fluminense, who won 2-0 with goals from Arias and John Kennedy.

In the end, Fluminense did the Egyptian thing and turned away from the fear recently provoked by the Club World Cup semi-final (which is in its last year in the current format).

It’s not long before the long-awaited final brings together thinkers Diniz and Pep Guardiola — something that can only be prevented if Manchester City loses its place to Urawa Reds, from Japan, this Tuesday (19); for this scribe, it is easier for the Red Sea to become a hinterland.

So now Fluminense is Brazil in the World Cup? Hahaha, it makes me laugh (with all due respect). It’s okay that Professor Diniz also has a pay stub from the national team, which makes him coach of Brasinense, but even then we won’t see a pro-Tricolor stampede of Corinthians, Flamenguistas, Grêmio fans, Atleticanos and the like.

In this globalized world, in which the Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga and even Saudi Arabia are shown on TV, it is easier to find City supporters in any neighborhood than to see support among local rivals.

Before it was different. This scribe remembers when he went to the house of friends from São Paulo, in the early hours of the morning, to support Raí, Cerezo, Palhinha and Professor Telê against Barcelona, ​​in 1992. It was World Cup atmosphere.

Perhaps also due to the presence of Telê and Cerezo, probably the two most wronged in the traumatic 1982 World Cup. And I regretted the fans almost the next day, when the same São Paulo friends started making fun of their other classmates.

Meanwhile, in Manchester, there is only one thing else to talk about. The draw for the Champions League round of 16 clashes has been announced, with the promising (for Guardiola) clash between City and Copenhagen, which, as everyone knows, is the best team in Copenhagen.

City is also going through a turbulent time in the Premier League, occupying only fourth place, five points behind leaders Arsenal (woohoo). Yes, five points behind the leader is the maximum concern on that side.

After the draw at home against Crystal Palace (do you know who? John Textor), some analysts pointed out that City’s current phase could be good for Fluminense. This scribe thinks exactly the opposite. For Diniz and his team, it would be much better to catch City running over everyone. Thus, they would arrive with pride. And pride has always been the main ally of a Brazilian team in the Club World Cup — it was like that with Corinthians, in the 2012 victory against Chelsea.

Catching City bitten is everything Fluminense doesn’t need. This scribe’s main curiosity is to see if the team will play with an open mind against Haaland, Grealish, Bernardo Silva and Álvarez.

The last time, in a Club World Cup, they wanted to “pay to see” if Guardiola’s team played all of this, was in the exciting Barcelona 4 x 0 Santos parade, in 2011. Years later, Muricy revealed that he spoke in a relaxed tone with the players after the defeat: “Did you think you could beat the guys?”

And now, do you think you can beat the guys?

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