Key events
22 mins: PSG have a free-kick on the right. Vitinha swings it into the box, Atletico have the chance to clear but do not take it, inviting more pressure from the European champions. The attack ends with Doue taking aim from 25 yards but it is a weak effort.
21 mins: Atletico might need to adapt their walking football strategy now. They do not change immediately and Lenglet lunges in to stop a sprinting Hakimi, earning a booking for his recklessness.
GOAL! PSG have been the far better side since the off. They work it well on the right before Kvaratskhelia lays it off to Ruiz who does the rest with a piercing drive.
GOAL! PSG 1-0 Atletico (Ruiz, 19)
Ruiz slams the ball into the bottom corner from the edge of the box.
18 mins: Ramos shoots from 25 yards but there is no power in his effort and Oblak gets the long barrier out. Doue gets down the right soon after and his cross reaches Kvaratskhelia, who causes the goalkeeper a greater problem but he gets down quickly enough.
Drury calls this a “chess match”. He’s right but it might not solely be because of the conditions in LA as I suspect the players are tired in general.
16 mins: Kvaratskhelia has a run at Llorente but the Spaniard wins the battle.
I am starting to debate whether to have some ice cream at half-time. It is father’s day after all …
14 mins: Neither PSG winger has been able to influence the game thus far. Maybe they do not have much to give and want to conserve energy.
Jason Geer emails: “This tournament is nothing but a money grab and content generator. It will be forgotten 10 minutes after it’s done.
“To me, the most intriguing thing to track is which teams and players will most benefit from NOT being in the CWC.
“I think of teams like Liverpool, Arsenal, Barcelona and Napoli, and countries like Belgium and Spain, each of whom have vital players resting in advance of another gruelling 10 month cycle beginning this August.”
Only time will tell …
12 mins: Infantino is there to boost the numbers in the crowd.
Vitinha has looked the most lively on the pitch thus far, happy to take possession in all areas and is eager to find passes.
De Paul is down holding his knee after a little kick. Nothing to worry about.
10 mins: Atletico have barely strung a pass together yet.
8 mins: Atletico are happy to cede possession and avoid putting too much pressure on because they do not want to be drained in this hear.
Simeone Jt has hit the deck, complaining Mendes has thrashed him in the face. There is nothing to it but the Argentinian is still l complaining about an elbow. Grow up, mate.
6 mins: PSG are looking to take control here, having the majority of possession as they work it wide to their devastating wingers. Understandably, it feels a little slow in the heat and there’s not much atmosphere coming from the stands.
4 mins: Alvarez curls the resulting free-kick just wide while Peter Drury commentates of the shot like his life depends on it, before the sound drops off.
“Ah, PSG v Atlético Madrid!” pens Justin Kavanagh. “Now here’s something to get the pulse racing and bring tears to the eyes. But, obviously, that’s only because one has to run the gauntlet of National Guard troops, US Marines, and tear gas to get to the stadium in LA. Well played, Signore Infantino, way to choose your dictatorship host country. “
2 mins: PSG use their glorious kick-off routine of kicking for touch down the field.
Alvarez is bundled over 30 yards from goal to give Atletico a chance …
“Sitting in a line of traffic trying to exit the freeway, there’s people jumping out of cars on the hard shoulder and a lot of people that look like they will be arriving some time in the second half,” writes Tom Pile. “Might be why the stands are a bit quiet at the moment.”
Fifa must hope you’re right.
Kick-off
Peep! Peep! Peep! Here we go (finally)!
I would describe the stands of the Rose Bowl as at best “sparsely populated”. The director will be banned from using the aerial shot soon.
Here come the teams … one by one.
Kurt Perleberg asks: “Who is watching this Fifa Club World Cup?”
It’s a good question. I can’t imagine the UK viewing figures for this match will be huge. It was a big of a faff to sort getting the Dazn app on my TV, to be honest. I am fascinated by Channel 5 showing Bayern earlier over this, too.
I have been wondering whether to make these on my day off this week.
John Barnes (probably not that one) gets in touch: “So I’m am deathly bored at the moment and a lack of sport lead me to watch Bayern Munich beat a team ranked over four thousand places below them. It’s all a bit of a sham innit?
“But instead of PSG v Atletico I’m going to watch Wayne Rooney and boy has he still got it, scored in the first 5 minutes! I’m also amazed by just how much he looks like a young Raymond Briggs’s Father Christmas. ‘Bloomin footballs’.
“Now THAT’S entertainment.”
Doue can’t compete with that!
November seems a long time ago …
“Paris Saint-Germain’s disappointing Champions League campaign continued on Wednesday as they slumped to a last-gasp 2-1 home defeat by Atlético Madrid that left the Ligue 1 leaders in the elimination zone.”
Rob Green is out in LA and he points out that it is boiling. I suspect we are set for a slow-paced affair.
It looks hot at the Rose Bowl. It also looks rather empty in the stands but that might be people shielding from the heat.
There does seem to be an overeager security guard there pushing the cameras away. Has he not heard how much Dazn paid for these rights?
It’s the same lineup in the studio. Richardson is right, this is actually a decent game in theory. It might allow him to gloss over how pointless the Bayern game was …
Gerard emails: “I just watched Bayern-Auckland with my son and it was obviously a shocking mismatch. Felt sorry for an Auckland side so terribly out of their depth and also for a Bayern side who were damned if they did, damned if they didn’t.
”We enjoyed a misfiring Harry Kane and wondered what sort of a negative goal difference Auckland would end up with at the end of the group phase (will Boca and Benfica really be easier?).
”My son is 14 and a bit naive to what’s really happening here. Personally I don’t give a sh*t as to who wins the competition. Too much football? Yes.”
It does feel like the game eating itself. Players forced more games, fans forced to pay more money. All that is going to happen is the players will become more tired, the product will diminish and the real supporters will stop going, therefore ruining the atmosphere.
I should say the wonder combination of James Richardson, Mamadou Sakho and John Obi Mikel for the last match was a fantastic surprise.
I am genuinely interested in people’s views on the competition. I watched the buildup to Bayern v Auckland and the first half hour of the match. I can’t stand each player coming out onto the pitch separately nor the pointless countdown to kick-off. The fact Bayern played at half speed did add an element of humour. If this was a Champions League night, I would be very excited by this fixture but I am quite concerned it will be pretty sterile.
Thus far in the tournament we have had a 0-0 draw and a 10-0 win. I am not sure this is the sort of “entertainment” Fifa were hoping for. There were plenty of empty seats and zero atmosphere for Bayern’s rampant win over Auckland, so Infantino must be desperate for this to be better.
Starting lineups
PSG (4-3-3): Donnarumma; Hakimi, Marquinhos, Pacho, Mendes; Neves, Vitinha, Ruiz; Doue, Ramos, Kvaratskhelia
Subs: Hernandez, Kamara, Kang-in, Beraldo, Mayulu, Mbaye, Safonov, Tenas, Zaire-Emery
Atletico: (4-3-3) Oblak; Llorente, Le Normand, Lenglet, Galan; De Paul, Samuel Lino; Simeone, Griezmann, Alvarez
Subs: Azpilicueta, Correa, Gallagher, Gimenez, Gomis, Reinildo, Kostis, Witsel, Lemar, Carlos Martin, Molina, Musso, Koke, Riquelme, Sorloth
Preamble
A couple of weeks on from winning the Champions League, PSG are back in action in the Club World Cup. They must be seen as favourites after being crowned the best in Europe but they might be a little tired from celebrating and a bit of international duty.
Atletico finished their league campaign on 25 May, so were afforded an extra week off prior to international commitments. Will that be beneficial or are PSG in more of a flow?
This is certainly the most intriguing of the games over the first couple of days of the competition. Inter Miami’s opening night draw with Al Ahly did little to get people excited, so maybe two European giants going head to head will get a few more eyeballs.
It will be very hot in Los Angeles for this one, which I am sure the players will be ecstatic about after a long season.
Kick-off 8pm BST.
