The new Club World Cup will kick off this Sunday, with 32 teams from six continents going to compete. To this end, The Athletic specifically analyzed the popularity and highlights of each group’s qualifying. Author Ahmed Walid brings us the analysis of Group A.
Palmeiras of Brazil, Porto of Portugal, Cairo Nationals of Egypt and Miami International of the Major League Soccer (MLS) jointly form the A Group of this Club World Cup. Except for Palmeiras, the other three teams are also capable of advancing to the top 16.
Although Miami International forward has two superstars, Messi and Suarez, the shortcomings on the defensive end may become an obstacle to his promotion. Porto regards this Club World Cup as an opportunity for self-rescue – the team’s performance in both domestic and European stadiums in the 2024-25 season is hard to say. At the same time, Cairo Nationals had a good record before the Club World Cup restructuring and won the third place four times this century.
Schedule list
• June 15: Cairo Nationals vs Miami International (Beijing time: 08:00)
• June 16: Palmeiras vs Porto (Beijing time: 06:00)
• June 20: Palmeiras vs Cairo Nationals (Beijing time: 00::00)
• June 20: Miami International vs Porto (Beijing time: 03:00)
• June 24: Miami International vs Palmeiras (Beijing time: 09:00)
• June 24: Porto vs Cairo Nationals (Beijing time: 09:00)
• June 24: Porto vs Cairo Nationals (Beijing time: 09:00)
class=”sub-tlt”>Popular team: Palmeiras
Led by coach Ferreira, the team from Sao Paulo, Brazil won the 2022 and 2023 La Liga Championship and the 2020 Brazil Cup, and won the 2020 Cup of Liberators in 2020 and 2021 consecutive times. They are currently ranked fourth in the Brazil League in March to December 2025. And in the South American Liberators Cup that kicks off in August, they will play against the Peru’s college sports team in the round of 16.
Talented players such as Estewan and Richard Rios are important guarantees for Palmeiras’ continued victory. Faquento Torres, Paulinho and Vittor Rock, who joined this season, went on to join the team.Steps enrich the team’s offensive choices.
Ferreira’s team has flexible tactics and can change the formation according to the on-field situation to conduct offense and defense. He recently said: “We are not particularly outstanding in one aspect, but are very balanced in all aspects. We can perform well in positional offense or defensive counterattack.We are good at set pieces, we are also good at compressing opponents’ space and using defensive structure to limit their advancement.”
In view of the team’s continuous success, talent reserves and tactical maturity in recent years, Palmeiras is undoubtedly the biggest favorite in Group A’s top spot.
Focus Battle
The most eye-catching game in Group A is perhaps the opening game of this Club World Cup: Cairo Nationals play against Miami International at home.
This team, which has just been crowned the Egyptian League champion, also performed well in international competitions before. In the Club World Cup four years ago, they defeated Palmeiras to win the third place. After the Club World Cup was reorganized, they were eager to break through in the group and show their style in the knockout round.
The same is true for Miami International, which plays at home. Considering that the other two group matches will be played against Porto and Palmeiras respectively, facing Cairo’s nationals, they will definitely strive to win. Compared with other games, this game may not be the highest technical and tactical level, but it is likely to be a very ornamental showdown.
As a record 12-time African Champions League winner, Cairo Nationals know how to perform well on important occasions. The team is led by all-round midfielder Emam Ashur and Palestinian striker Weissam Abu Ali, who has scored 35 goals this season. The joining of Egypt international forwards Ahmed Said Zizzo and Trezege also significantly improved the team’s strength.
Miami International has many well-known stars such as Messi, Suarez, Busquets, and Alba, but the team’s 2025 season starts poorly. The team, under the new coach Mascherano, has lost 19 points in the first 16 MLS games and was eliminated by Vancouver’s white hat in the semi-finals of the Central and North America and the Caribbean Champions League.
Therefore, the vulnerability of Miami International’s defense may make this game more stalemate than expected.
The most “star-like” team in the group
Although all the stars under their command are over 30 years old, the names of Messi, Suarez, Busquets and Alba still make Miami International the “star-team” of Group A. However, in the football world, the gathering of stars may not be equivalent to strong strength.
After winning the 2024 MLS regular season championship trophy, some important players’ departure has had an impact on Miami International, especially on the defensive end. Diego Gomez, Julian Gresel, Robert Taylor, Mattias Rojas and Leo Campana all played key roles last season, and their departure made the team less smooth as before.
In addition, Drake Karende’s continued absence due to a groin injury has made the 38-year-old Oscar Ustari the first choice for goalkeepers – however, Ustari’s performance this season is not stable, with the actual number of goals conceded in the league 1.8 more than expected.
Setting ball defense is another weakness of Miami International, but the personal abilities of the frontcourt players are still creating a large number of opportunities and scoring goals.
Miami International in 2025 is a team led by individual players, but lacks selfless cooperation, which hinders the team’s overall performance.
Players expected to emerge: Estewan
18-year-old Estewan will join Chelsea after the end of this tournament – Palmeiras has reached an agreement with the Premier League club last summer. Chelsea will pay a fixed transfer fee of €34 million and an additional €23 million floating bonus linked to the player’s performance.
Estewan’s amazing performance at the youth level accelerated his growth and made his debut at Palmeiras at the age of 16. In the 2024 season, he contributed 13 goals and 9 assists to help the team win the runner-up in the Brazil League (second only to Botavgo).
He performed well in one-on-one matches, able to drive left and right to drive the ball, and had the speed to throw away the defender. His left foot can threaten the goal from various angles, and can also create opportunities for teammates in sports battles and set pieces.
Since the 2025 season, Estewan has appeared more in attacking midfield positions, which is also his long-term planning development direction.
As he said, “I changed to playing wingers in the end of my youth training to avoid too much physical confrontation and get one-on-one opportunities. That’s how I won the position in Palmeiras because the competition in the midfield is fierce. But I am more like a midfielder, and that is my most comfortable position. In a few years, I hope to return to my original position. ”
So, whether Estewan is on the side or in the middle, please pay attention to his wonderful performance.
Stories worth paying attention to: Can Porto complete his self-salvation
This team, which won the Portuguese top league championship 30 times, won the third place in the 2024-25 season in the Portuguese Super League for the second consecutive year. They failed to challenge the champions Portugal Sports and Benfica in the sprint stage, and eventually fell behind by 9 points and 11 points respectively.
In addition, in the new Europa League, they only scored 11 points in eight group matches, and were eliminated by Roma in the first round of knockout matches; the Portuguese Cup lost to Morerens in the top 32 of the Portuguese Cup; the Portuguese League Cup lost to Portuguese Sports in the semi-finals – all of this disappointed Porto fans this season.
The positive performance in the Club World Cup may help them recover their face and become the restart opportunity the club needs.
Another story is the performance of Cairo Nationals under the new coach Jose Rivero. The Spanish coach’s first game officially took over was the opening match against Miami International. His predecessor Marcel Kohler was fired at the end of April, resulting in the defending champion being eliminated due to a away goal disadvantage.
Although Kohler led Cairo Nationals to win two games The league champion (and most of the third championship schedule), won the Egypt Cup twice (the country’s domestic cup), and won the African Champions League championship again, but in the 2024-25 season, he was under pressure for the team’s focus on defensive counterattacks and his tactical style is inconsistent with the lineup.
Cairo National Coach position has always attracted much attention. Rivero, 49, has coached in Finland and South Africa before, and he needs a strong start to win fans’ recognition.
Things you may not know
There is a midfielder with a prominent family in Miami International.
Fedrico Redondo is the son of former Argentina international and Real Madrid legend Fernando Redondo. Old Redondo won the Champions League twice with Real Madrid in 1998 and 2000, and won the cup again in 2003 as an AC Milan player. In addition,Redondo is also the nephew of another former Real Madrid player, Santiago Sorari.
So, in this home game, can Federico Redondo stand up and reproduce the family’s brilliant achievements?
(Armour)
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