Fluminense Stuns Al-Hilal, Chelsea Beats Palmeiras - PSG vs Bayern & Real Madrid vs Dortmund Today

Hercules powers Fluminense to semifinals upset over Al-Hilal. Chelsea edges Palmeiras 2-1 with future teammate Estêvão starring. Today: PSG-Bayern at noon, Real Madrid-Dortmund at 4 PM in European heavyweight clashes.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Calarugu Shark Media. Right, Well, that was quite the Friday,
wasn't it. Hello, I'm Jamie Rudd. First the absolute madness
in Orlando. Fluminency beat Al Hilal two to one, and honestly,
I'm not sure anyone saw this coming when the tournament started.

(00:24):
These Brazilian underdogs are now in the semifinals and their
captain Tiago Silver summed it up perfectly. If you asked
me a while ago whether we would reach this stage
a semifinal, I wouldn't say. I wouldn't believe it because
I believe in everything that I do, but it was
so far away from us. The hero of the night
was a man called Hercules, and you couldn't write a

(00:46):
better script than that, could you. He came off the
bench again, just like he did against Inter Milan in
the last sixteen, and scored the winner in the seventieth
minute with a brilliant touch and finish into the bottom corner.
Matteus Martinelli had given Fluminense the lead with a gorgeous
strike into the top right corner after Juam Cancello failed

(01:07):
to clear his lines. Classic defending from the former Manchester
City man there Al Hilal hit back through Marcus Leonardo
after the break, but Hercules wasn't having any of it.
The downside, Martinelli picked up a yellow card after his
goal and is suspended for the semi final. That's the
kind of detail that could come back to haunt them. Meanwhile,

(01:29):
in Philadelphia, Chelsea got the job done against Palmira's two one,
but it wasn't exactly convincing. Cole Palmer was the star
for the Blues, while Marlo Gusto's shot deflected off goalkeeper
Weatherton for what was essentially an own goal to seal
the win. But here's the interesting subplot. Eighteen year old

(01:50):
Esteven William was named player of the match. Despite being
on the losing side. He scored his first Club World
Cup goal and showed exactly why Chelsea paid big money
to sign him. And can we just talk about how
this tournament was supposedly designed to create these exact matchups.
FIFA expanded the Club World Cup specifically to get English

(02:13):
giants facing Brazilian powerhouses, and when it works, it really works.
But let's be honest, this whole thing still feels like
it exists, primarily because of one man's move to Miami.
The messy effect has FIFA convinced they can manufacture these moments,
throw thirty two teams together in the middle of summer

(02:34):
and call it destiny. Today we get to the real
meat of the tournament with two massive European showdowns. This
one's got everything. French flare against German efficiency. Mbappe's old
club against the Bundesliga champions PSG looked ruthless in dismantling
into Miami four zero, while Bayern have that Champions League

(02:56):
experience that's hard to match. The early kickoff might actually
help with the heat situation. Then, at four pm, Real
Madrid versus Borussia Dortmund the emotional heavyweight of the day.
Real Madrid with their mix of galacticos and academy gems
against a Dortmund side that's been impressive throughout. Mbappe should

(03:18):
be fully fit after his gastro enteritis nightmare, Gonzalo Garcia
will be looking to continue his dream run, and somewhere
Jude Bellingham will be thinking about his suspended brother Joe.
So we've got Chelsea versus Flumenense confirmed for Tuesday at
MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, the Brazilian underdogs against English

(03:39):
money and experience. It's exactly the kind of David versus
Goliath story that makes tournaments like this worthwhile.