It's the world's game, not just Europe's

Ok, I'm back. Sitting in a much nicer den with a view of the Toronto skyline. It is almost worth the four days of hell I just experienced. Annnnnyway...

With apologies, consider this your annual why you should care about the Club World Cup post. It started late last week with the quarterfinal games (i.e. the ones no one at all cares about) and continues tomorrow with the semi-finals (i.e. the games some hardcore geeks care about).

I'm a hardcore geek.

I love the idea of a tournament that attempts to unify the world of club football. What really separates the sport from others is the fact that it really is the world's game -- it may not be the most popular game in all parts of the world, but it's always a game that is popular. And one can imagine a day when it really is the most popular game everywhere, as its reach seems to grow and grow each year.

Obviously the best football in the world is played in Europe. The second best football is played in South America. The rest of the world is far behind. So, grumpy detractors of the CWC like to point out the assumed pointlessness of it all. If we know who is going to be in the final then why bother playing it at all, they say.

Of course the Euro fans don't even want to be bothered playing the South American clubs in competitive fixtures and they sometimes beat them. Many Euro fans are blind to the rest of the world when it comes to football. It's their loss.

The other criticism you hear about this tournament is that it is just a money grab by FIFA. So? The World Cup is a money grab by FIFA too, but it, like the Club World Cup, serves a purpose.

That purpose is to provide for a cup that literally every team in the world can win. As insane as the idea is, our beloved TFC could wake up a year from now staring at a fixture against Manchester United, with the winner declared world champion. Of course they'd have to figure out how to score against Caribbean teams first, but it is technically possible. That idea is worth supporting.

It will take many more years before the competition has meaning beyond the hardcore. It will start the first time one of the big clubs loses a game. It will have fully captured people's interest by the time there no longer is obvious favourites (or until another confederation steps up to add a third option). Don’t believe it’s possible? Remember that things change. There was a time way back when the World Cup’s purpose was questioned by Euro (ok, British) thinkers. Why bother playing a World Championship when everyone knows that England will win, the FA essentially said when declining the invite to the first World Cup. It’s been 43 years since Alan Ball hit the crossbar.

Maybe tomorrow could be the beginning. Argentina's Club Estudiantes de La Plata, a club back on top after a 20 plus run without a title, takes on the K-League and Asian champions Pohang Steelers. The Steelers became fully professional one year after Estudiantes captured its second consecutive Argentine title in 1983, during its previous glory period.

The winner plays the winner of Barcelona - Atlante.

Atlante, of course, were in Montreal's group in the 2008-09 CCL and Impact fans can try and wrap their head around the fact that they were three wins away from a competitive fixture with Barca. Three difficult and unlikely wins, but still...that's what makes this competition so compelling.

Tomorrow at 11 a.m. on Fox Soccer Channel/Fox Sports World Canada. What else are you going to do on a cold December morning?