“This is a public service announcement. You may think that this Club World Cup is an American affair. You probably looked at the list of host cities, saw FIFA president Gianni Infantino glad-handing with Donald Trump in the Oval Office, noted the distinctive bombast of those grating individual player walk-ons and heard the U.S. national anthem being played before each of the 32 matches so far. All very American. Fair enough. Hence your confusion. But sorry, no. Appearances have deceived you. This is actually a Brazilian tournament. The rest of the world just hasn’t realised it yet. First, there are the demographics. 508 players took to the field in the first round of group matches. Seventy of these — 14 per cent — were from Brazil. Argentina had 57 players on that list. Next came Spain with 26. …”
NY Times/The Athletic