The Monday Scratch

The Club World Cup: football gone mad that can no longer pull the plug

by Dario Ceccarelli

23 June 2025

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4' min read

Key points

Platini's 70th birthday
Italy, country for old footballers

4' min read

"I want more, I'm never enough," sings Jovanotti to express a desire that cannot be quenched, a thirst for life without limits that manifests itself especially in summer to electrify the crowds at concerts,

One is reminded, with due proportion, of what happens in football today, a kind of endless rave where the word 'end' is strictly banned, crossed out, feared like the plague.

There is no escape: one must always move forward, like the poor hamster in the wheel. Whoever stops is lost. After the cups, the championship and a season as full as Minister Santanchè's walk-in wardrobe, there is now the Club World Cup played in the United States under a canicular heat or sudden thunderstorms that force matches to be interrupted until the water discharges are over.

There's something comical about these weather breaks, because you don't know how long Jupiter Pluvio's fury can last, always hoping that the belligerent Zeus, to complete the work, doesn't also hurl lightning and thunderbolts onto the pitch to punish the organisers of this new football Disneyland Park

However, Zeus' rants aside, the World Cup goes on. However, in spite of the great batting of Mediaset (which broadcasts the matches free to air) and of the sports newspapers, which recount these improbable challenges with the emphasis of a Champions League final, the interest of the fans for this World Cup of dollars created from nothing is similar to that for the New Zealand Poetry Festival: practically zero, in short, without any allusion to the unfortunate season of Inter, almost as a counterpart forced to slog it out in the middle of summer while the other teams are having a great time on holiday.

In addition to Inter who managed to overcome the not irresistible Japanese Urawa Red in extremis on Saturday (2-1, goals by Lautaro and Carboni), there is also Juventus who, after their tribulated season, had to suffer an even more severe punishment: that of being received at the White House by President Trump. Knowing nothing even about football, he started jabbering, in front of John Elkann and the stunned players, about nuclear weapons, regime changes, wars and other amenities that would make us laugh if the world were not in the dramatic situation we unfortunately know.

Finally, to get back to football, that prankster Donald asked the black-and-whites what they thought of women's football. "But would you let women play on your team?" asked Trump with the same blissful astonishment he would use when talking about the bears in Yellowstone Park.

Platini's 70th birthday

Who knows what the great Michel Platini must have thought as he turned 70 on Saturday 21 June. Le Roi, although he never went to the White House, was used to measuring himself against Gianni Agnelli who, however you may judge him, was such a master of style that Platini gave him one of his three golden balls. "Why? Because it was one of the few things Agnelli could not have,' Michel said in a fine interview in 'La Stampa'.

With a poker Juventus goes to the round of 16

This Sunday, in a less fiery midday than expected, Juventus played in Philadelphia against the Moroccans of Wydad Casablanca, easily beating them (4-1) thanks to a super Yildiz, who celebrated his 50th appearance of the season with a brace and an own goal at the start of the match. The cooler weather (it rained again) also revitalised Vlahovic, who scored the fourth goal on a penalty kick.

With two wins and a total of nine goals, the Bianconeri qualified for the round of 16. Before we get more excited than we should, with outsized headlines, we should remember the absolute modesty of the opponents. The good news, on the other hand, comes from the fact that Juve, by passing the round, have secured themselves a little treasure (9 million), which always comes in handy these days

Italy, a country for old footballers

Returning to Inter, and to its American travails, the commentators' analyses of how much the new coach, Cristian Chivu, is affecting the Nerazzurri's rebirth, still reeling from the shock of Munich and the abrupt divorce with Inzaghi, make one smile. More than modules and new tactical schemes, and improbable psychoanalysts, this tired and aching group would rather need a nice holiday with a propitiatory passage from Lourdes in view of next season.

However, misery loves company. Football in Italy has become a game for old men. We now take them all in, as if we were a luxurious buen retiro for old glories in disarray. At Fiorentina, to brighten up the attack, since Kean already has his bags packed, Edin Dzeko, 39 years old, has arrived. The Bosnian certainly does not lack experience. But the masterpiece has been done by AC Milan who, to start their revolution, have started with Luka Modric, who will also be 39 years old on 9 September. What can we say? "You always have to be Allegri..."