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Peter Oh promises to keep his messages free of references to Philadelphia’s favorite fictional son, Rocky Balboa: “Palmeiras was founded by Italian immigrants and Philadelphia also has a long history of Italian immigration, so it’s fitting that the São Paulo club is considered the home team today. My favorite team in the Brazilian megalopolis is São Paulo FC, but I’ll make an exception today and root for Philly! I mean Palmeiras. Forza Palestra Italia!”
Justin Kavanagh notes the lack of English players with the English club: “Abel Ferreira’s rallying cry for local Philly fans to support the Brazilians against the English was a cute bit of chicanery, with echoes of Diego Maradona’s call for Neopolitans to cheer against Italy at the 1990 World Cup. But ‘the British are coming, the British are coming’ doesn’t really resonate when it’s Chelsea, with all of four English players in the starting 11, one of whom was born in Africa!”
Which team costs more?
Let’s say you’re starting up a club and have a few billion Euros lying around. How much would it cost you to buy all the players from either of these clubs, according to TransferMarkt?
Palmeiras checks in at 256.6m Euros.
Chelsea? 1.2 billion Euros. But maybe you can take advantage of their special summer pricing.
And still they keep buying, including a transfer between tonight’s teams, taking away Palmeiras’ most expensive player (TransferMarkt value: 60m Euros …
Who’s left from 2021 final?
The 2021 final was played in February 2022. Blame Covid.
Chelsea’s lineup that day: Edouard Mendy; Antonio Rüdiger, Thiago Silva, Andreas Christiansen (Malang Sarr); Callum Hudson-Odoi (Saúl Ñíguez), Mateo Kovacic (Hakim Ziyech), N’Golo Kanté, César Azpilicueta; Kai Havertz, Mason Mount (Christian Pulisic); Romelu Lukaku (Timo Werner)
Tonight’s Chelsea lineup: Robert Sanchez; Marc Cucurella, Levi Colwill, Trevoh Chalobah, Malo Gusto; Enzo Fernandez, Reece James; Pedro Neto, Christopher Nkunku, Cole Palmer; Liam Delap
So that’s … no one.
Palmeiras 2021/2: Weverton; Gustavo Scarpa, Joaquin Piquerez, Luan, Gustavo Gomez, Marcos Rocha (Deyverson); Dudu (Rafael Navarro), Ze Rafael (Jailson), Danilo, Rony (Wesley); Raphael Veiga (Eduard Atuesta)
Tonight’s Palmeiras lineup: Weverton; Vanderlan, Bruno Fuchs, Micael, Agustin Giay; Emiliano Martinez, Richard Rios; Facundo Torres, Allan Andrade, Estêvão; Vitor Roque
Congratulations, Weverton. You are the only person remaining.
Preamble
One side of the Club World Cup semi-finals will be all-European. Will the other side be all-Brazilian?
Fluminense have booked their place in the semi-finals with a 2-1 win over Al-Hilal, the Saudi team that eliminated Manchester City in the Game of the Century (so far). Can Palmeiras join them and set up the ultimate showdown of Rio vs. São Paulo (aka Carioca vs. Paulista)? Or will this upstart club from London called Chelsea knock them out?
Chelsea will be playing through off-field distractions – a hefty fine from Uefa and the tragic death of Liverpool’s Diogo Jota, whose close friend Pedro Neto may miss this match. (UPDATE: Pedro Neto is in the starting XI.)
This quarter-final is a rematch of the 2021 final, which Chelsea won 2-1 in extra time. Chelsea that year featured a young American named Christian Pulisic. We understand he’s no longer there.
Beau will be here shortly. In the meantime here’s Jacob Steinberg’s latest dispatch from Philadelphia.
