More Stuff to Watch Tonight If You Are an Insomniac: The FIFA Club World Cup

The Club World Cup is a weird competition. You’ve got top clubs fighting it out for the title, which should in theory lead to some fairly interesting matchups that are the football equivalent of a Marvel-DC Comics crossover. At the same time, the competition takes place in Japan, meaning players are jet-lagged and the games air at weird times for the rest of the world. Plus, the competition occurs in December, when clubs are either in the middle of domestic competitions, like Man U, or in the offseason, like Pachuca and LDU Quito. Oh, and the competition has only been around since 2000, meaning that there isn’t much built-up history. So, the Club World Cup has a certain bit of.... “eh.”

That said, we here at UF watched the Adelaide United versus Waitakere United in the play-in game this week, and we were actually quite entertained. It was a decent, scrappy little match between two sides we frankly know very little about. And that has whet our appetites for tonight’s Al-Ahly versus Pachuca match, which we believe should air at 11:30 pm EST on Fox Soccer Channel (full listings for FSC found here). Tomorrow it’s Adelaide United versus Gamba Osaka, with the winner of each match going on to play Man U and LDU Quito later in the week. Perhaps not the same appeal as last year’s Meeelan versus Boca Juniors final, but still some good stuff for those of us who appreciate the exoticism of an unusual competition and aren't afraid of mixing cultures.