Club World Cup: Crunch time as games enter quarter final stage

Club World Cup heats up as Fluminense, Al Hilal, Chelsea, PSG, and others battle for glory while transfer buzz continues across Europe’s top clubs.

The FIFA Club World Cup has entered the quarter-final stage. Who are you rooting for to advance to the semifinals? (Photo credit: GOAL)

The buzz in the transfer window is the hot topic in football right now, but it’s important to keep an eye on what is going on at the Club World Cup in the USA.

Arsenal’s chase for reinforcements has sent their fans into occasional meltdown and elation with Noni Madueke and Rodrygo both linked to the club; Eberechi Eze is in talks to join the Gunners as well, while there is still uncertainty over who joins the club between Benjamin Sesko and Viktor Gyokeres.

Elsewhere, there are movements in Tottenham with Mohammed Kudus, who could join the Europa League winners, while Everton already got a striker to replace Dominic Calvert-Lewin, whose contract expired a few days ago. Away from all that, we take a look at happenings in the ongoing FIFA Club World Cup.

Fluminense and Al Hilal will square up in the first quarter-final clash, and no matter how you look at it, both sides have overachieved based on pre-tournament expectations. Both sides have surprised us by dumping European giants from the tournament and could well go one step better.

The Brazilian side beat Inter Milan convincingly, scoring in both halves to win 2-0 after topping their group. Al Hilal beat Manchester City, far away from the expectations of the bookmakers; which of these giant-killers will make it to the semifinals?

Chelsea and Palmeiras are next in the pool, and this one is quite tricky. Chelsea survived a scare, albeit from a position of comfort; the Blues were in charge against Benfica until the weather stood in between them and glory. Benfica emerged after the interruption to level at the death but collapsed in extra time.

For Palmeiras, they left it late but got the job done eventually against Botafogo. It was a cagey affair, and if you remember that Botafogo beat Chelsea in the group stage, the Blues will not take anything here for granted; they must stay alert.

PSG vs Bayern Munich is the biggest one, and this one needs no introduction. Both sides won their respective leagues and came into the tournament in high spirits, but the European champions will be the ones people expect to win this one.

Bayern has a lot of points to prove. Under Vincent Kompany, they’re yet to return to the swashbuckling days we know of them, but this is a huge opportunity for them to do so. Will PSG blow them out of the waters like they did to Inter Milan at the Allianz Arena?

Finally, it’s a repeat of the 2024 Champions League final where Real Madrid took on and beat Borussia Dortmund. This one looks to be going the way of Xabi Alonso’s side; however, football is not mathematics. Does BVB have it in them to surprise us?