‘Chape’ plane tragedy overshadows Club World Cup
Print Edition
ATLETICO Nacional will play through its grief over the Chapecoense plane tragedy when it tackles the Club World Cup in Japan — just days after its Copa Sudamericana final opponent team was wiped out.
FIFA’s global club showpiece, which will also features Cristiano Ronaldo’s Real Madrid, begins this week under the shadow of the air crash that sent football into mourning.
It promises to be an emotional tournament for Colombia’s Nacional, which was due to play Chapocoense for the Copa Sudamericana title before the plane carrying the Brazilian team crashed en route to the final.
“Pain overwhelms our hearts and invades our thinking in mourning,” Nacional wrote on its website. All but three Chapocoense players died in the crash, which killed 71 people.
In tribute, the Copa Libertadores champion successfully lobbied South American football officials to award the Copa Sudamericana to the stricken team.
“For our part, and forever, Chapecoense are champions of the 2016 Copa Sudamericana,” the club’s website said.
European giant Real will be the favorite to win the tournament, which kicks off today and features football’s six continental champions plus Japanese title-holder Kashima Antlers.
But Ronaldo’s Real will face the uncomfortable task of having to beat Nacional, now the sentimental favorite, should both teams reach the December 18 final in Yokohama.
Nacional could face South Africa’s Mamelodi Sundowns, Kashima or New Zealand part-timer Auckland City in the competition’s first semifinal in Osaka on December 14.
The Colombians, who claimed their second Copa Libertadores title in July, are looking to avenge an extra-time defeat by AC Milan in the tournament’s forerunner, the Intercontinental Cup, in 1989.
Their stingy defense kept nine clean sheets in a 14-game run to the South American title, and they play a tidy brand of football under coach Reinaldo Rueda. But bookmakers are firmly backing Spain’s Real.
Real faces either Mexico’s Club America or South Korea’s Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors in the competition’s second semifinal in Yokohama.
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