By Victor Kanayo
One after the other, clubs from the United States of America and Brazil are falling like a pack of woods in the ongoing FIFA Club World Cup.
On the latest, both Flamengo of Brazil and Inter Miami of America’s MLS were beaten mercilessly by two European-based sides.
Towering Europe
While Bayern Munich smashed Flamengo 4-2, Inter Miami (the remaining American club) with Lionel Messi as the anchor, had no single answer when they faced UEFA Champions League winners Paris Saint-Germain.
The match ended PSG 4-1 Inter Miami.
Desiccated Messi
In that encounter, Messi was obviously overwhelmed by his former employers.
With Messi facing the team where he spent two seasons before moving to the MLS in the twilight of his stellar career, the European champions quickly erased Miami’s hopes of pulling off a monumental upset before a crowd of 65,574 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
Joao Neves nabbed a brace and notched his first goal just six minutes into the match, converting a header at the back post off a free kick.
The Portuguese midfielder added another in the 39th minute before Inter Miami totally fell apart in the closing stages of the first half, surrendering an own-goal and then watching helplessly as Achraf Hakimi tacked on another in stoppage time to send PSG to the locker room with a four-goal cushion.
It was reminiscent of PSG’s historic 5-0 rout of Inter Milan a month ago in the Champions League final, when the Paris club won its first European title and established itself as the clear favourite heading into the expanded Club World Cup.
Latest Fixtures
Chelsea had dismissed Benfica 4-1 in a hard fought tie that strolled into extra time after the later equalised in the added time of the regulation period.
Later on Monday, Inter Milan will battle Fluminense FC, while Manchester City confront Al Hilal in part of the remaining round of 16 clashes.
