Fluminense edge out Al Ahly in Club World Cup semi-final thriller

Those still questioning the value of the Fifa Club World Cup would have been wise to tune their televisions in on Monday night to Saudi Arabia.

At King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah, not quite full but regardless a constant cacophony of noise, the champions of South America and their African equivalents went at each other like competing heavyweight boxers hell-bent on landing a knockout blow.

The competition has always felt the preserve of everyone contesting it other than perhaps Europe’s elite, or more specifically the English establishment, a coveted crown from South America to Asia and the majority of places in between.

That’s why Marcelo, Fluminense’s trophy-hoarding full-back, set about everything on Monday at a pace that belied his 35-and-a-half years. That despite having won the tournament four times to this point with Real Madrid.

The same could be said for rival Hussein El Shahat’s incredible zest and sense of purpose; this was the Al Ahly winger’s 14th Club World Cup appearance, extending the record that for some time has belonged to him. Given his gusto, it could have been his first.

What’s more, El Shahat has in his locker already a silver medal, and a bronze. But, clearly on Monday, the Egyptian fixed his focus purely on the quest for gold.

Then again, they all did. For much of the match, the rendezvous resembled a basketball game, less a football semi-final. Perhaps that was just it: the prize being played for, the carrot coaxing this effort from the competing continental kings, was Friday’s showpiece, where they would face either favourites Manchester City or potential upstarts Urawa Red Diamonds. For both Fluminense and Ahly, it promised a chance at a first global title.

So, from the moment Percy Tau