At long last the FIFA Club World Cup tournament begins. 3,500 fans from Argentina have arrived and 4,000 plain clothed police boost the crowd to 22,000 for the first Semi Final. After a promising opening when Estudiantes dominated possession the game had become lifeless, until in first half injury time a free kick is pumped into the box, the Estudiantes forward clearly (to me) was in an offside position and tries his best to get a touch on the ball. The ball goes in the net and a goal is given. The Pohang Steelers coach stated that he did not see a referee on the pitch. I saw one. But he didn't appear to be watching the game. Worse was to follow as three sendings off followed. All of which appeared harsh. The Korean side played with determination for the final 13 minutes with just 8 men and tried to make a game of it even with the tournament's leading scorer, Denilson in goal. So 2-1 Estudiantes and one half of the FIFA jigsaw is complete. Remember FIFA prefers South America v Europe in these competitions. Wednesday. Barcelona are in town and suddenly everyone is interested in the football. There was a constant stream of helicopters overhead in the morning as dignitaries arrived. There was no doubting who the U.A.E locals were supporting as during the 5th place place off game the video screen panned to the Barcelona players in the stand. Each time a loud cheer went up. The stadium was silenced early on as Atlante took the lead. Both teams were putting together passing moves creating intricate patterns the likes of which I hadn't seen since that mornings visit to the Sheikh Zayed mosque. Barcelona scored and the locals were clearly relieved. Game on. Messi was given superstar status before he even entered the field of play as the fans chanted for him to enter the fray. Within a minute he had delivered 2-1 Barcelona. From then it it was easy for Barcelona. After the match people were now looking forward to Saturday's final and asking for tickets. After disappointing crowds (only 4,200 for the earlier game that day) throughout the tournament at least the final will be sold out. © Ross Clegg & Soccerphile.com Tags Soccer News World Club Cup

The U.A.E. Premier League is in only it's second season. As such it is a remarkable achievement that they have managed to host the FIFA Club World Cup at a time when the hosts are guaranteed a place for a team from their country. This is a major coup, which unfortunately this year they have failed to capitalise on. FIFA requested that all leagues be professional and this gave all countries a chance to remarket their competitions. It is also possibly the reason that Michael Rodosthenous is here, he is the first non Emirati in such a role, and his expertise could move the game forward in this country, however he has a host of issues to deal with in order to achieve this, noticeably the mindset which is to be the best. Look at the Burj Dubai, the world's tallest building (on 4th January next year when it opens) the Emiratis did not release details of its actual height so no one could beat it and then have added a spire to claim the title. They were determined that this would be the tallest. Clearly the U.A.E . cannot be the best in terms of football and they must learn to accept this, and realise that they can play a part, and they shouldn't give up because they are not number one. I mentioned Abu Dhabi was easy to navigate as it is set up on a grid system. Well the one thing they forgot was to align the grid system with Mecca, and so all the mosques are at a slight angle. Michael is in a similar position he hopes to transform the game in the U.A.E. but is working with hands tied and doesn't quite fit as Emirati society is a closed one. However his appointment with Al Nasr has also given him a role as the middleman in contact with the western world for the U.A.E. football authorities. Don't be surprised if we see former stars playing out their remaining days in the U.A.E. League in future years. I spotted an interesting piece of fair play in their rules when teams from different leagues meet. "The FA has permitted the Premier clubs to register three foreign players with only two for the First Division clubs and thus in a match that pairs together a club from the Premier division against First division clubs in the President's Cup competition, the Premier clubs will field only two of their three foreign players". In Spain it is not unusual for ex-pats to have close affiliation to their adopted clubs. Here it seems like they do not want outsiders involved. There is no advertising of fixtures in the press or even around the stadiums, and I couldn't find any information about local games in any of the English speaking newspapers. Of course part of the problem is that only 20% of the population are from the Emirates. Trying to find out about a game on Sunday saw me head to Bani Yas to meet Saeed, that evening they would be hosting Al Ain. Or so we thought. It had been raining now for two days and the streets of Abu Dhabi had turned into rivers. Arriving at the stadium I would not have been surprised to hear that the game had been postponed. It hadn't been postponed just moved to Al Ain. The information I had clearly stated that Bani Yas were at home and Saeed from Bani Yas wasn't aware of this change. (Bani Yas are in the process of building a new stadium and have stopped playing games at the old one). So we went back to Khalidya, in Abu Dhabi and watched the game on TV in a sheesha bar with Liverpool v Arsenal on at the same time. I understand that Abu Dhabi is made up of over 200 islands, during half time Saeed went to find a cashpoint, he gave up as we were marooned. Not put off the next day I headed north to Ajman, where I was confident they would be hosting Al Shabab that evening. First thing I did arriving in town was head to the stadium to confirm the kick off time. I managed to do this with the groundsman and I checked the conditions would be playable. The rain had now stopped and the sun had reappeared for the first time in days. The game finished 5-3 to the hosts but the standard was very poor. It left me thinking that if this is the standard there is no point in star names coming here in a bid to promote the U.F.L. (the U.A.E. Football League) unless they are just here for the money. The process must start with the homegrown players. It is easy the coach to say that the foreigners did not play well, but they need to start to produce their own players and in order to do this they need to listen to the expertise that they are capable of buying in to. © Ross Clegg & Soccerphile.com Tags Soccer News World Club Cup

I mentioned earlier that I would try and find my way to any local games taking place, my quest started the moment I arrived at my hotel where I asked for their help in checking the fixtures. I believed there were two games taking place in Dubai, and that the following morning there would be camel racing at 7a.m. They confirmed the first game as I thought but told me the second game was actually due to take place here in Abu Dhabi at the Zayed Sports stadium, one of the venues for this competition. As for the camel racing they knew nothing about it. I was clearly up against it as I was sure that FIFA would not allow a stadium being used by them to host a local game. So now I knew I could not rely on the hotel for information. Whilst collecting my tickets I spotted someone in an Al Ahli shirt, knowing that he must be from Dubai, I asked him about the fixtures the next day. Immediately he phoned a friend and confirmed that Al Nasr would play at 16.45 and Al Wasl would play at 20.00, in Dubai, at grounds just 10 minutes apart. Unfortunately the camel racing wasn't on in Dubai but it was in Abu Dhabi. So my second day in the Emirates and I was off to Dubai, the Al Nasr website is one of only three that I had found with English content and kindly provided a location map for the ground. I spent the afternoon in Bastikaya before heading in the direction of the stadium. Meeting yet more roadworks on major roads meant navigation had become impossible. Jumping in a taxi I was soon at the ground. I phoned my friend, who had said he might accompany me to the games, but he was still at work. Judging by the crowd, so was everyone else. It was hard to imagine that this was a stadium where recently crowd trouble had seen supporters banned. This was only a cup game and I was assured that there is more of a crowd, firstly for evening games and for the actual league games. Without my friend I wasn't sure how I would get to Al Wasl later so I asked around and worked out that the ground was 10 minutes away, by car. Al Nasr was the club that Don Revie managed after laying the foundations as U.A.E. national manager, where he had an unsuccessful reign but correctly predicted that they would appear in a World Cup finals in the next 15 years. They made their debut at Italia 1990, losing to Colombia, West Germany and Yugoslavia. Al Nasr had lost their previous game 5-1 and their website announced that they were standing by their German manager, Frank Pagelsdorf, but their assistant coach and fitness coach would be leaving. Al Nasr strolled into a 3-0 half time lead, as a lethargic Emirates defence watched. The second half saw the Emirates wake up, but a quick two goal burst from Al Nasr saw them run out 5-2 winners to restore some much needed pride. Whilst watching the game I met Michael Rodosthenous, the Deputy Executive Director of Al Nasr. A former W.B.A. player who found his way here via Cambridge United and Adelaide Raiders. He explained the circumstances surrounding the crowd trouble. Al Nasr were hosting city rivals Al Ahli. Al Ahli were having a torrid time and were told they must not lose this game. Their was a lot of hype surrounding the game and Al Ahli were outplayed but winning 2-1 with five minutes to go. Al Nasr equalised, but the a dubious offside flag was raised. Spectators vented their anger and a sandal hit the linesman. Michael showed me behind the scenes before driving me to the game at Al Wasl. We decided to take the scenic route as he showed me Dubai by night, passing the Emirates Towers and the tallest building in the world the Burj Dubai. Dropping me off I could hear there was a little more atmosphere, as expected for the evening kick off. The game itself was a close affair with away side Al Jazirah winning 1-0. After the game a taxi back to Dubai saw me catch the bus back to Abu Dhabi. Now the camel racing was apparently due to take place 45km away from Abu Dhabi at 7a.m. As it was now 1a.m and I couldn't confirm where the track was or how to get there I decided to give it a miss. © Ross Clegg & Soccerphile.com Tags Soccer News World Club Cup

My route this time took me to Muscat, Oman and then to Dubai, where a flight of 22 minutes saw me arrive back in Abu Dhabi at 13.40 on Matchday 1. The first difference I noticed was that this time there was a bus available for passengers to get to the city centre. So after numerous enquiries I was sent outside to search for the elusive bus stop. Sure enough I found a stop but there were no signs (in English) indicating the times or the route. So I waited ...and waited. Eventually other people arrived but they wanted to share a taxi, so as time was getting on I decided to join them. My companions both worked at the airport and were from Mauritius and Egypt. Both were keen on football but had little idea about the competition that was due to start in their adopted city in around 5 hours time. Arriving in downtown Abu Dhabi I was confident I would be able to find my way about as the city is laid out in a grid system. However I didn't take into account the massive reconstruction taking place to the main road in Abu Dhabi itself. At first I was told the work was to do with the laying of a Metro (keeping up with Dubai, who have recently opened a 30 km route), I believe the work is actually to build a major underpass right into the heart of the city. So with a lot of help from my Egyptian friend I found my hotel somewhat further out from the centre than I was last time, and apparently cut off with the nearby 4 lane highway desolate. My next task was to collect my tickets, I showed the address to a number of people who couldn't help. Jumping in a taxi, was my only option. I had seen on my map there was a football stadium near where I believed the address was so I asked the driver to head for that area. My taxi driver was from Nepal, and although he knew the roads, he wasn't aware of the event taking place, as soon as he understood what was happening he asked if "oomey" was playing. Minutes later I realised he meant Rooney. Eventually spotted Football House, with FIFA banners and joined a small throng of anxious supporters waiting to collect tickets. Everyone seemed to be having problems. They couldn't find their envelope or the tickets they received were not what they expected. A bit of patience would be asked for by the staff and a few minutes later everything was miraculously put right. Eventually it was my turn. Seconds later I received my envelope complete with the set of tickets I had requested. Enquiring on how to get to the Stadium where kick off was now less than two hours away I was told it was less then 10 minutes, in my car. Overhearing a fellow supporter offered me a lift. He was Indian and lived right next to the Stadium. Having a spare ticket, I decided to see if I could find someone who needed one. My original idea was to visit the Adidas shop in the centre and to give it to one of the staff there as they had provided me with tickets for my last visit here to the Gulf Cup in 2007, but time was against me as the roads were busy. Supporters were channeled through security searches and into the Fan Zone, before they would enter the stadium, I watched with interest as various chancers tried their luck at breaching the security. They weren't the ones I was looking to spend an evening with. Half an hour before kick off I meet Saeed, dressed in his dishdasha. At last a local, I thought. He needed a ticket and was happy to join Me in my Category 1 (the best seats!) position behind the goal 8 rows up in the corner. Saeed of course was not an Emirati, but he was the nearest I had met as he was from Yemen. He had a great love of football and also knew about the local league. He told me he was from Bani Yas, and I told him I would be there on Monday for their game against Al Ain. We exchanged emails and agreed to meet at the bus station Monday night. The stadium itself is magnificent, I was interested to see a note in the official programme that the roof had been special constructed so that it could reflect crowd noise. Surely this along with the 'UAE make some noise" slogan evident around the city would make for a good atmosphere. Well the stadium in in Abu Dhabi where the weather is hot all year round, now a roof to provide shade would be great, but the stadium with the extra tier added to the three sides where the majority of spectators are seated has no roof. The only roof is on the main stand where the journalist's and VIPs were housed. The home team support for such an event was disappointing, contrasting markedly with the enthusiasm I had seen in Japan two years earlier . The teams display matched that of their fans lethargic and not totally committed to the cause. They deserved to lose. Reading the paper the next day the foreign stars were blamed and the papers made it clear that there would be changes to the team. © Ross Clegg & Soccerphile.com Tags Soccer News World Club Cup

Preparations for this tournament were somewhat easier than my last visit two years ago. The FIFA website allowed me to purchase tickets, saving me the problems I faced last time when I arrived unsure of how to obtain them, they even said they would deliver the tickets to my home address before the tournament started . If you have followed my travels you will know that collecting the tickets is never straightforward and, sure enough, a week before the competition I received an email asking me to collect my tickets in Abu Dhabi. I am due to arrive at lunch time on the day the competition starts with the first game kicking off at 8 p.m. Last time I would have been in danger of not being able to get in due to the fans arriving hours before the kick off. Surely this time with it being a FIFA event and the fact that I have officially paid for a ticket there will be no such problem. We'll see. The U.A.E. comes to a halt for two weeks whilst the championship takes place, however I have spotted that there are some Cup competitions taking place whilst I am there, and so I have been scouring the web to find out more. Studying the websites of the clubs it was interesting to find that supporters were awarded free away trips with their clubs by entering poetry competitions. Unfortunately the poems were in Arabic and so I was unable to translate them. Mmm. So maybe they went like this. Six foot two, Eyes of azul, Carlos Puyol's after you And I wanna be U. A. E. (With thanks to FC United and The Sex Pistols) Guess it's a good job I bought my own tickets. I also noticed fans being informed in advance of the strip there team would be wearing and that the away team would post a notice that so many tickets would be left for supporters free of charge at the away end. (Are you Wigan in reverse?) Finally, found a game that is taking place whilst I am there Al Nasr will play Emirates in the Emirates Cup on Thursday 10th December. Excellent. I already knew that they were based in Dubai and had just lost 5-1 at home to Al Jazira, looking at photographs of the game I noticed the empty stands (...completely empty stands). My first thought was of Don Valley, where it could appear the same from a wide variety of angles. However I was surprised to find the following article Ruthless Al Jazira Rout Al Nasr Dubai – Five beautiful goals from Oliveira, Tony and Salem Masoud handed Al Nasr a humiliating 5-1 home defeat from ruthless Al Jazira at Al Wasl Stadium here on Saturday night. Al Nasr have been forced by the football governing body to play two of their league games at neutral venues without fans following the unnecessary misconduct of their fans during their match against city rivals Al Ahli. Guess I will wait until I arrive before setting out on any adventures. © Ross Clegg & Soccerphile.com Tags Soccer News World Club Cup

The FIFA Club World Cup is about to take place in Abu Dhabi between 9th and 19th December. The competition sees the champions of the six continental federations compete for the title and the honour to wear the FIFA Club World Badge until the next Championship. This will bring back memories of my visit in 2007 when U. A. E. won the Gulf Cup. The games will be played at two stadiums Zayed Sports City(49,500) and the stylish Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium (42,056), which has added an extra tier to three sides since my last visit. One of FIFA's improvements to the format of the competition has been the introduction of a team from the host country competing. This has livened affairs and helped generate more interest amongst the locals. This time the honour goes to Al Ahli (Which simply means "national' in Arabic) who won the U.A.E. 2008-9 league title. However this season they currently lie 6th in the 12 team league without a win at home. They did manage to win their last league game on Friday 3-0 at bottom club Ajman. Al Ahli come from neighbouring Dubai. I am not sure what the Abu Dhabi residents will make of that. It feels like the equivalent of playing the tournament in the UK at Old Trafford with Liverpool representing. Now how would that go down. Al Ahli, you may have heard of as they were the club involved in the friendly brawl with Chelsea in August this year, accused of karate kicks, knee-high tackles hair pulling out and eye gouging. I believe they were named after the Egyptian champions who also hold the record for the most appearances in the World Club Cup. Their appearance will mean that "National " have appeared in 4 of the six competitions. Their opposition in a play off game for the right to meet the CONCACAF Champions in the Quarter Final will be Auckland City Oceania Champion League holders who beat Koloale FC from the Solomon Islands 9-4 on aggregate. The second leg was played in Auckland in front of 1,250 spectators. The second and only other quarter final! (Remember FIFA make the rules) will be between Tout Puissant Mazembe Englebert and Pohang Steelers. Tout Puissant Mazembe Englebert (Democratic Republic of Congo), what a name. Upon first hearing the name I started on my own Nick Hornby type list of football teams with peoples names. Immediate thoughts for me begin with the likes obviously of Ross County (Ironically the only team here I haven't seen play). Then of course you have Chelsea, Everton, Crewe Alexandra (possibly named after a pub), then there are obvious European teams Paris St Germain, AC Milan, Siena and Carl Zeiss Jena. From South America River Plate and finally AS Nancy Lorraine which takes the number one spot for managing two names. Intrigued by the name Englebert I decided a bit of research was required. I found that they weren't happy with their original name given to them by the Benedictine monks that founded the club in 1939 - Holy Team Georges. The name lasted for only five years and they were then rechristened Holy Paul F.C. Would you believe that Englebert came from their sponsors, a local tyre brand. Tout Puissant (all powerful) was added was added after they won their first league titlle in 1966. So watch out for another change in name if they have a succesful tournament. Mazembe won the Orange Confederation of African Football title after beating Heartland of Nigeria on away goals Pohang Steelers from South Korea are unimaginatively named as they belong to the Pohang Iron & Steel Company, they even play at the Steelyard. They beat Al Ittihad of Saudi Arabia at the National Olympic Stadium in Tokyo to qualify as Asian Football Champions. Atlante from Mexico will represent CONCACAF (North America, Central America and the Caribbean). They defeated Cruz Azul, but only after the match had been postponed initially due to concerns over Swine Flu in Mexico. The next two teams join at the semi final stage, perhaps due to the origins of this competition which comes from the old Intercontinental Cup which was held from 1960 to 2004 between the champions of South America and Europe. This also gives them the best chance of being the showpiece final that FIFA want. Estudiantes de la Plata managed by a certain Alejandro Sabella, yes it is Alex Sabella who played for Leeds United between 1978 -80. No prizes for guessing which team I'll be supporting. Oh and of course Barcelona will be there as well. © Ross Clegg & Soccerphile Tags Abu Dhabi football

YouTube video from the African Cup of Nations held in Ghana earlier on this year. This time Cameroon fans get behind their team.... Video by Ross Clegg Bet with Bet 365 World Soccer News Soccer betting tips Soccer Books & DVDs Tags Soccer News soccer football African soccer Cameroon Ghana

Further video from the African Cup of Nations held in Ghana earlier this year. Loin cloth, full body painting and that African beat..... Video by Ross Clegg Bet with Bet 365 World Soccer News Soccer betting tips Soccer Books & DVDs Tags Soccer News soccer football African soccer Mali Ghana

More video from the African Cup of Nations held in Ghana earlier this year. Witch doctors are part and parcel of the African supporters' scene. This witch doctor from Benin couldn't inspire his team or jinx their opponents as Benin lost all 3 of their Group B games conceding 7 goals and scoring only one. Video by Ross Clegg Bet with Bet 365 World Soccer News Soccer betting tips Soccer Books & DVDs Tags Soccer News soccer football African soccer Benin Ghana Witch Doctor

We look back at the African Cup of Nations held in Ghana earlier this year. Enjoy this African drum ensemble from Mali's fans in Ghana. Video by Ross Clegg Bet with Bet 365 World Soccer News Soccer betting tips Soccer Books & DVDs Tags Soccer News soccer football African soccer Mali Betting