Biggest Busts of the Club World Cup

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·28. Juni 2025

Biggest Busts of the Club World Cup

My colleague Josep did some deep statistical analysis for a piece published earlier today. I’m eschewing that approach and slinging straight from the gut. I may pull a few numbers to back up my bilious rant, but then again, I may not.

Most Disappointing Team: River Plate

There’s objectively bad, and then there’s disappointing. River Plate is clearly in the latter category. For all the hype and expectation they generated, they bowed out of this tournament in embarrassing fashion.

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They were below average in possession, shooting accuracy, shots on frame and goal conversion. They earned 9 yellows and 3 red cards, an abysmal disciplinary record. But more than that, their play was simply uninspired and boring.

Honorable Mentions

Urawa Red Diamonds They looked outclassed, out-hussled and befuddled most of the time. That nine minute stretch against Monterrey where they conceded three goals, all from shots well outside the box, put the nail in their coffin. They never really recovered from the last-minute loss to Inter Milan, and it often appeared their well choreographed and lustily-throated supporters had more energy than they did.
Ulsan HD Only the fact that I had no expectations, and that brief but exciting punch in the nose they delivered to Fluminense when they went up 2 – 1 before halftime, saved them from the top spot.
Inter Milan Yes, I’m aware they advanced. But they required a stoppage time miracle to topple Urawa. They were outstanding in that second half over River Plate, but the earlier game complacency is worrying.
FC Porto 41 shots and 20 corners against a team composed mainly of amateur players in a must-win game and they drew? Oh dear.

Most Upset They Didn’t Qualify: Mamelodi Sundowns

They arguably played more exciting soccer than many of the other teams moving on. Sure, their defense was leakier than a rusty faucet, but they never stopped attacking. And their supporters were a burst of energy, making up for lack of numbers with unbridled joy and enthusiasm.

Biggest Player Busts

There’s always a handful of players who stand out in these tournaments, capturing the hearts and minds of global soccer fans with their panache, grit and stellar performances. These are not them.

Estévâo (Palmeiras)

He still has a chance to impress, but this 18 year old did not look worth a fraction of the $38.5M Chelsea paid last summer. Zero for seven shots. Had some creative moments but got dispossessed far too easily. Decent number of touches (32.7 per game). Tell me again how he won Man of the Match twice without scoring? Or registering an assist?

Franco Mastantuono (River Plate)

Some pundits are heralding Franco as the second-coming of Messi. Clearly that did not happen. He missed all ten of his shots, and despite recording a whopping 52 touches per game had passing accuracy in the attacking half below 80% and an absurd 17 losses per game.

Joining Franco in the 0 for 10 Club are Kevin Zenón (Boca Juniors) and Alexander Sørloth (Atlético de Madrid). Your toilet-seat awards are in the mail.

Bust: Too Damn Hot

Everyone knows that the eastern United States is hot, humid and generally unpleasant in the early summer. You have to assume FIFA knew it too. It’s somewhat unfortunate that a heat wave struck and stuck around for a good portion of the group stage, but what were FIFA expecting?

To appease broadcasters and sponsors, a good number of games were scheduled for noon or 3pm on the East Coast, during the peak of the daily heat. The Charlotte game between Benfica and Bayern Munich reportedly had a heat index temperature of 41C/105F at kickoff

Five games were delayed for weather (thunderstorms with lightning). There are no official statistics on how many matches were forced to have cooling breaks due to heat, but I suspect between 55-60%. Players, coaches and fans publicly decried the conditions. Heat impacts the pitch, and there was plenty of griping about that too.

Bust: Too Damn Big

FIFA apparently insisted that this tournament utilize big stadiums, the kind normally reserved for American football and which the U.S. has in abundance. The only problem: they can’t fill ‘em. There were no sell-outs in any of the group stage fixtures (to be fair, three games came close).

Six of the twelve venues seat 60,000 or more, two can expand to that size from the upper 30s and four soccer-specific stadiums hold between 20-30,000. The soccer-specific stadiums struggled to get 48% capacity on average (though to be fair, these hosted many of the small club fixtures). Thirteen of the 48 games averaged 80% capacity or more; ten of 48 were under 40%. The actual numbers aren’t poor (average was 32,100), and raucous supporters keep the volume high, but visually many venues just looked empty.