Toyota Cup Japan 2005
– Final Match + related & curious details (below)
– IFFHS International Clubs' Rank (page 3)
2005 Champion:
Final Match:
São Paulo 1 x 0 Liverpool
(details and comments below)
above-listed players & referees taking part in the 2006 World Cup.
Click on a player's name, to reach the player's respective Squad page, in this eBook.
(�) plays in the Uruguayan Squad (missing the current World Cup as a result
of having been eliminated by Australia, in the final qualifying play-offs)
São Paulo's captain and goalkeeper, Rogério Ceni, was elected the best
player in the 2005 edition of FIFA's World Championship for Clubs.
Indeed, more than any player in the São Paulo side, he can
be attributed direct responsibility for the successive failed attempts
at scoring, no matter Liverpool's true bombardment at the
São Paulo goal, in the second half, especially!
Liverpool, the best team of all, in 2005, according to the IFFHS rank
started the match as the favorites, coming from a streak of 11 wins
(without conceding a single goal!).
This of course only helps to add value
both to São Paulo's conquest and to Rogério Ceni's performance.
(São Paulo closed the year as the best South American team,
on the IFFHS list, but only joint seventh best of all, albeit FIFA's club
A curious trait regarding Rogério Ceni is that, albeit a goalkeeper, he is a
specialist in free kicks! (see below) He usually also takes care of penalty kicks for his team.
Rogério Ceni was one of Brazil's reserve goalkeepers, in the 2002 World Cup. It
looked like, however, that he would not be called for the 2006 Brazilian Squad.
At the last minute, he has been confirmed for Germany, owing to Marcus'
(goal-keeper in Japan-Korea) recent injury. Of the champion team, Cicinho
(now at Real Madrid) and Mineiro are likewise in Brazil's 2006 squad, in Germany.
São Paulo's defender Lugano plays for the Urugayan squad,
not present in Germany. (See remark on Mineiro's curious nickname.)
Regarding the 2006 World Cup, no less than ten Liverpool's players are part of
five different squads playing in Germany-2006! England, of course: Scott Carson,
Jamie Carragher, Steven Gerrard, and Peter Crouch – Spain: Jose Reina, Xabi Alonso,
and Luis Garcia – France: Djibril Cisse – the Netherlands: Jan Kromkamp
– Australia: Harry Kewell
See the 2006 WC Players' Sources Page, for the unmatched superiority
of England's clubs, as far as the number of World Cup players is
concerned. This makes the English League look like 'the yearly home
version' of a true World Cup!
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São Paulo's red stars |
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World Championships |
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Year of addition |
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Final Championship Match |
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added in 2005 |
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São Paulo 2 x 1 Liverpool |
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added in 1994 |
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São Paulo 3 x 2 ACMilan |
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added in 1992 |
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São Paulo 2 x 1 Barcelona |
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The two
's = Olympic Gold (athletics):
Brazilian Adhemar Ferreira da Silva, triple jump, who was
also defended São Paulo's colors.
(includes Rogério Ceni both scoring goals & defending penalty kicks;
also includes Mineiro, final match goal scorer, who is replacing Edmílson,
in the 2006 Brazilian Squad)
Worth remarking: São Paulo owns the largest private stadium in Brazil,
Estádio do Morumbi, or simply Morumbi, located in the city of São Paulo.
Pls. note: although the tournament has been announced as
the "2nd FIFA Club World Championship TOYOTA Cup,"
2005 marks the first World Championship for soccer clubs
fully endorsed by FIFA in the six-team format, which FIFA considers ideal.
Historically, the Champions' League (Europe) and Libertadores (South American)
Champions have long been playing each other
for an unofficial "World Championship Cup" of Clubs.
Sponsorship, especially, played a role in taking these Inter(national)-Club
Championship matches to Japan, Toyota lending its name to the Cup.
In 2000, FIFA took the Inter-Club Championship under its wing,
introducing the first change in format, to the competition. The decisive match, that year,
between Corinthians and Vasco (0x0. then 4x3 on the penalty shoot-out).
Thus Corinthians was crowned the winner of that then experimental
tournament, which (exceptionally) took place in Brazil, not in Japan, that year.
Interesting to remark is that Corinthians (Brazil's 2005 Champion & a fierce São Paulo
rival) boasts their being the first Official FIFA World Champion of Clubs, in a
clear hint that São Paulo's previous Titles, & respective red stars
(see last table, above), should not count, or should at least be devaluated.
However, the World Club Championship under FIFA's wings, was
still in an experimental format, in 2000 – that is, from an official viewpoint; for
the tournament was held and intensely contested by eight club participants
divided in two Groups.
It should be parenthetically remarked that the Championship was later
taken back to Japan, for sponsorship reasons, especially.
Ironically, it so happens that, when FIFA updated its Web site in 2005,
following São Paulo's 1x0 victory over Liverpool, FIFA failed to
include that very first (2000), and experimental, though already FIFA's
World Club Championship, thus also leaving out Corinthians' 2000 Title.
São Paulo fans were probably pleased by the mistake. But there must have been
sufficient protest from Brazil, to motivate FIFA's site to a very swift mending update,
then righteously including its 2000 (even if experimental) Championship and Champion!
(Corinthians is known to enjoy the largest & most fanatical fan count in Brazil.
So one can just imagine FIFA's mailbox having been flooded,
the days following that slip on-line!)
Finally, it is curious that São Paulo now boasts being
the first full-fledged FIFA World Champion Club,
therefore, the only one in Brazil, and in the World,
in a clear hint that Corinthians' 2000 Title was obtained in an
experimental Championship format, let alone the fact that the win had
to be achieved in a penalty shoot-out!
What adds interest to this domestic controversy and dispute, which FIFA has
indirectly motivated, is that both São Paulo and Corinthians will now be playing the
Libertadores Cup, in 2006, aiming at qualifying for the coming (2006)
FIFA Club World Championship, again to take place in Japan!
One can imagine their rivalry will be at its peak, then!
May 2006 update: Corinthians has been eliminated from the
Libertadores Cup, but São Paulo continues on.
On Europe's side, Barcelona (Europe's Champion) is already
defined for the final tournament, in Tokyo, at the closing of 2006.
Corinthians has actually had a pretty bad start to 2006, currently
in the relegation zone, in the Brazilian League!
However, they are expected to recover, through this very long tournament,
and maybe even end among the top four, which will contest the next
Copa Libertadores (2007's).
Conversely, São Paulo, along with Fluminense (see next page),
have been among the top four of the championship chart
(the Brazilian League takes a pause, as the World Cup kicks off).
As an interesting complement to the above pages on 2005 FIFA's Club World Championship, see the IFFHS's 2005 World Rank for Clubs, next page.
2006
World Cup
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