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Already labelled the ‘new hope’ by Santos fans, the 17-year-old wonder kid, Rodrygo Silva de Goes, was a highlight of the Santos win over Uruguay’s Nacional, scoring the second goal of the 3-1 win with a sublime solo run in the club’s first win in the Libertadores this year. Already contracted until July 2022, he has a reported €50 million buyout clause – but Santos fans are hoping they can enjoy his talent a little longer before the European clubs swoop. It is understood several club giants, including Liverpool, have already expressed strong interest in the player, who is fully expected to beat the Brazilian record for the sale of a player, which is held by Vinícius Júnior, who Real Madrid bought for € 45 million and will move to the Spanish capital from Flamengo after the World Cup. Slight of build, but quick and with tremendous balance and dribbling ability,  the forward usually attacks the goal from wide and comparisons with Neymar are fair, particularly the way he isn’t easily intimidated or bullied off the ball.

Where Willian’s world-class performance against Barcelona at Stamford Bridge see him headlining the cover page of most papers across Europe, Willian José was busy impressing Brazil’s national coach, Tite. Brazil’s biggest star and arguably the best player they have in the squad, Neymar Jr. was injured a few weeks ago, and the debate for claiming his spot is mundane. The 6 ft 1 in striker has scored 14 goals in his debut season for La Real. His performance in Europa League is worth noticing where he has scored 5 goals in 5 matches; averaging a goal every 90 minutes with 86% passing accuracy. But for Willian José, it’s a huge chance to impress Tite who has 15 of his men fixed but still needs 8 more.

The first group would play their games in Rio and consist of: CR Vasco Da Gama (Brazil), Austria Vienna (Austria), Nacional (Uruguay), and Sporting Lisbon (Portugal). The second group, who played their games in Sao Paulo, consisted of: Palmeiras (Brazil), Juventus (Italy), Red Star Belgrade (Yugoslavia), and Nice (France). Half a century following the competition, Palmeiras put together a case and presented it to FIFA to have them officially recognise the Copa Rio of 1951 the world’s first official Club World Cup. Palmeiras won the match 3-1 and secured the best record of the group, showing signs of that great 1951 team that defeated Juventus and claimed the title “winners of the first ever world club competition.

No other team in the world has such fanfare attached to non-competitive games, but when these types of games were all they had to play during the build-up to their 2014 World Cup, they lost a sense of reality, and of what was needed when it came down to their most important matches since they first held the tournament on their shores in 1950. The European sides will say that the Club World Cup is not a competition they take seriously, but Tite’s group were a better team than Chelsea, and it was one of those rare occasions where Rafa Benitez, then managing the London club, was out-thought. Tite left Corinthians shortly after as the side struggled to retain their form after such highs, but instead of revelling in his success, Tite went to Europe to learn more about the game, immersing himself in the tactics of modern football where he developed an affinity for 4-1-4-1. His rarely discussed Jogo Apoiado (position play), Tite has his own simple but effective tactical term which combines parts of Pep Guardiola’s Juego de Posicion (position game) and Jurgen Klopp’s Gegenpressing (counter-pressing).