Waitakere’s Club World Cup Dream Over in Four Minutes Flat

Cheering for the underdog can be painful. Only yesterday I threw my lot in with New Zealand’s Waitakere United, who were competing in FIFA’s Club World Cup for the first time. Because FIFA hates Oceania, Waitakere had to get through a playoff qualification game to reach the tournament quarter-finals, and that alone made them worth supporting. The fact that the little New Zealand club were made up of amateurs, semi-professionals and rapidly aging ex-pros like Neil Emblem, Darren Bazeley and Danny Hay doubled my support. But after just two minutes of the game against Iran’s Sepahan, the Kiwi underdogs were a goal down. After four minutes they were two goals down.

Had they continued down this path, Waitakere would have lost 45-0, so the fact that it only finished 3-1 is something of a relief. And for the last 20 minutes Waitakere took it to Sepahan and put up a good fight, so at least they can leave Japan with some pride. There’s also the not so small matter of the prize money, with United receiving $500,000 for finishing last, which will go down very nicely. Hopefully some of the amateur and part-time players will get a share of the pot.

Despite the mighty Waitakere’s exit, the Club World Cup will soldier on. Tunisia’s Étoile du Sahel face Mexico’s Pachuca on Sunday, while Sepahan’s win means a mouthwatering rematch of the Asian Champions League final on Monday as they get a second chance at beating Japan’s Urawa Reds.

Category: Club World Cup, World Football

Tags: AC Milan, Boca Juniors, Club World Cup, Etoile du Sahel, Pachuca, Sepahan, Urawa Reds, Waitakere United, World Football, World Soccer

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