Palmeiras is shaping up to be Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami’s biggest rival in the upcoming Club World Cup. Forget Porto or Al-Ahly. It’s a scenario being discussed in Brazil! Leila Pereira, the head of Palmeiras, has made it clear they are looking forward to the challenge against Javier Mascherano’s squad to secure a spot among the top 16 teams in the new FIFA tournament.
“For the people, for us, it’s not a problem to play against Messi. They will have to face Palmeiras…That’s the truth. We are prepared. For Palmeiras, it is an honor to be participating in this World Cup. We are the only club from São Paulo that will be there. You can be sure that Palmeiras will not go to the United States to just stroll around,” said Leila Pereira recently. Many believe this match will decide who joins Porto in the Round of 16. The winner will face who wins from PSG, Seattle, Atlético de Madrid, and Botafogo’s group.
A Vital Match
This match is vital for both projects. They will meet on the night of June 23rd to close Group A of a Club World Cup where Palmeiras have great hopes. They have won Copa Libertadores in recent times.
Estevao, Richard Ríos, Facundo Torres, José Manuel López, Weverton, and Gustavo Gómez are the names of their core team members. But that’s not all. This year, faces have been joining Palmeiras such as Paulinho (18 million) and Vitor Roque (25 million).
Brazil vs. Brazil?
Palmeiras have denied signing Ronaldo. They are fully invested in this club and want to make sure they can be successful. Mascherano justifies Busquets’ words.
Mascherano justified this by stating that his team was not in a condition to compete for the Club World Cup. Busquets assured everyone that his team wasn’t the level to compete.
“It is clear that we are not at the level to compete in the Club World Cup. We will try to compete in the group, go game by game, fight, and see if hopefully we can be in the next phase, although it will be difficult,”
“Sergio feels that way and that is perfect, my idea is to compete. Reality will show us what we are for. I understand what Busi wanted to say, we are not deluding ourselves with winning the Club World Cup, it would be naive, but that does not mean that we are going to do everything possible to have a good Club World Cup,”
Mascherano wants to give it his best and believes in his players. The team is aware that the Brazilian team will be a hard one to face.
