>>149252813The result of the game is far less relevant than the overall point of the bout - and, frankly, of the competition - which is to prove whether UEFA (and Europe) has the chokehold on absolute Football superiority or not.
The UEFA's Champion's League is often seen as the "de facto" Best Team in the World trophy, and that comes at the expense of the American, African and Asian teams that simply don't get to compete in it. The whole point this tournament hinges on is whether this exclusion has merit - that is, whether "European Teams are Best" is a matter of course - or whether that isn't.
And so far, the performance of the South American teams is validating FIFA's premise.
Borussia Dortmund was the finalist of UEFA last year. This was, in theory, the Second Best team in the world in the year of 2024. Said team just got outplayed by a Fluminense that barely escaped relegation last year.
Yes, I understand that BVB itself is not a historical Finalist, they're more of a Round of 16 to Round of 8 contender, but this still shows that Brazillian teams, if they played in the UEFA Champion's League, would probably perform at that level with the occasional shot at the throne.
Which thus puts the entire premise of "UEFA is the de-facto Best Team championship and we can just ignore the rest of the world" eurocentric premise in check.
FIFA's approach to a world cup, flawed and money-grabby as it is, is proving to be the superior approach, because those teams deserve their chance, because they, apparently, can absolutely stump the second-tier of European teams.
The fact the games ended in a tie is irrelevant. Evaluating the games themselves is important, and even moreso it is important to evaluate the context.
Latin America is proving it's still alive as a football power, and it's honestly kinda beautiful to see considering how much the economical factors have been fucking those teams for the past two decades, with our players getting poached earlier.
