Bayern’s Thrashing Of Auckland City Lays Bare Club World Cup Fallacy

Auckland City described itself as the “working class team of the Club World Cup” ahead of its debut in FIFA’s latest jamboree and vowed to do amateur soccer proud.

It was a noble sentiment, but the days when nobility of heart won games are long gone, if they ever existed to begin with.

In their 10-0 evisceration against Bayern Munich on Saturday, Auckland City looks exactly what it is – an amateur team facing up to one of the giants of European soccer.

Put it another way, according to Opta Bayern is fourth in the world rankings, while Auckland ranks 4,928th.

The chasm in quality was laid brutally bare as Bayern raced into a 6-0 lead at half-time courtesy of two goals each from Kingsley Coman and Michael Olise and one apiece from Sacha Boey and Thomas Mueller.

The latter added a second with 89 minutes played after Jamal Musiala had helped himself to a hat-trick.

Taken in a vacuum, there is nothing particularly unusual about the Bundesliga champions thrashing a non-professional side by 10 goals.

But this kind of mismatch lent credence to the criticism the FIFA Club World Cup features teams that have no business taking on the world’s best.

When he announced the new tournament some nine years ago, FIFA President Gianni Infantino proclaimed the Club World Cup would pit together “the best 32 clubs in the world”.

The suggestion appeared wide of the mark before a ball was kicked in anger and even more so now.

The Club World Cup does not contain the 32 best teams in the world

Qualification for the Club World Cup followed two main routes: success in continental competitions over a three-year period between 2021 and 2024 and each confederation’s ranking system.

In practical terms, it means Liverpool, Napoli and Barcelona, who won the title in England, Italy and Spain this season are all absent.

The same goes for Japan, Argentina, albeit with the caveat it produces two national champions each season, and Portugal.

In fact, of the 20 countries represented in the US, only eight feature their respective domestic champions.

The scenario is even more complicated as far as Auckland City is concerned.

New Zealand’s best two teams, Auckland FC and Wellington Phoenix, play in Australia’s A-League, which is part of the Asian Football Confederation.

But with the AFC spots already taken, they both missed out.

Auckland City, meanwhile, is Oceania’s sole representative after winning the OFC Champions League, despite being a semi-professional club.

In that respect, it deserved to be taking part in the tournament. Auckland City, after all, has won the OFC Champions League 13 times in the past two decades and were regular in the Club World Cup under the old format.

Bayern, after all, thrashed Dinamo Zagreb 9-2 in the Champions League earlier this season to a fraction of the fuss its demolishing of Auckland City generated.

A number of Auckland players had to take time off work to play in the tournament and any criticism of the format should not be seen a slight on them nor their commitment.

“To be proud of the players is what we’re after. It’s a dream coming from an amateur level to play in this environment,” Auckland coach Ivan Vicelich said after the match.

“You can’t hide on the field. [I’m] really proud, a lot of players put in a good amount and worked really hard.”

A thrashing of historic proportions

But stark reality is that lopsided affair such as Saturday’s do very little to legitimize FIFA’s newest tournament.

Consider these numbers. Bayern had 31 shots – 17 of them on target – to Auckland’s one, and had 72% of possession.

Auckland’s goalkeeper Conor Tracey made seven saves and still conceded 10 goals.

In the FIFA World Cup’s 95-year history, there has never been a scoreline so big. In fact, it took 52 years for a team to score 10 goals in a World Cup game – Hungary claimed the record when it beat El Salvador 10-1 in 1982.

It has taken two games at the Club World Cup and with Auckland set to face Benfica on Friday and Boca Juniors on Tuesday, another thrashing could be on the cards.

And yet, the underlying irony to it all is that even if Auckland was to lose both of their remaining games 10-0, its appearance in the tournament alone will make it even stronger domestically.

It stands to receive $3.5m in appearance fee, game-changing level of income for a club whose travel costs to the US was two times as big as its annual turnover.

Infantino and FIFA billed this tournament as the best against the best. Three days into the competition, it is abundantly clear that is not the case.

But, one suspects, Auckland may not care too much once financial considerations are factored in. And, ultimately, neither will FIFA.