Borussia Dortmund were frustrated by Fluminense in the Club World Cup in New Jersey on Tuesday, with neither side able to make a breakthrough in their opening fixture.
The German side, who reached the Champions League final in 2024, looked sluggish throughout and will need to improve quickly if they are to make any sort of mark in the tournament.
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Brazilian club Fluminense, who were organised and defended well, will be pleased to have picked up a point in what was theoretically their hardest group game (they have Ulsan HD and Mamelodi Sundowns to come).
The match also saw Jobe Bellingham, younger brother of Real Madrid and England star Jude, make his debut for Dortmund after joining from Sunderland earlier this month.
Here, our writers analyse the key talking points from the game.
Can underwhelming Dortmund improve?
Much of the irony around Gianni Infantino’s brainchild tournament — and this is certainly not a brand-new observation — is that these are not the best teams in the world playing against each other.
Anyone who has watched Dortmund in the Bundesliga this season will attest to that. They looked set for one of their worst campaigns in recent memory for much of 2024-25, but they managed to end it by taking 22 points from a possible 24 to sneak into fourth place, the final Champions League spot.
But any hope of them carrying that form into the Club World Cup didn’t last long in front of a smattering of their supporters at MetLife Stadium. Fluminense, their biggest threat to top spot, looked far the better team in the Group F opener.
Had it not been for some questionable decision-making and wasteful finishing, Dortmund would have started their campaign with defeat. Not that their fans would have particularly minded.
This is not a tournament that is conducive to supporters of teams such as Dortmund. Commercialism is not something that washes with German football fans — they were never going to be followed to the United States in the same numbers as the South American teams, for example.
And while yellow shirts were dotted all around MetLife’s lower tier, the passion was nowhere close to that of the travelling Fluminense supporters.
Dortmund fans at the game (David Ramos/Getty Images)
Despite Infantino’s wishes, this tournament is not one that European teams, or their fans, are desperate to play in. The huge — and, frankly, disproportionate — prize money remains the only motivation over the next few weeks for teams such as Dortmund.
Ed Mackey
Fluminense’s golden oldies stand firm
Football is often seen as an ageist sport, where players over the age of 30 are usually deemed ‘veterans’. However, this is not the case in Brazil, particularly with Rio de Janeiro’s Fluminense.
They faced Dortmund with a defensive line-up that included four defenders and a goalkeeper whose total combined age was 178. Despite this, they showed the 34,736 fans at MetLife that they are not ready to hang up their boots just yet.
Tricolor’s legendary goalkeeper, 44-year-old Fabio, had more than 400 career games under his belt when Dortmund’s Mathis Albert, who was on the bench today, was born in 2009.
He made his professional debut in 1997, the same year Dortmund’s goalkeeper, Gregor Kobel, was born.
This was Fabio’s 1,375th career match, and given the way he stood firm against Dortmund’s attacks, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him playing for a few more years.
Meanwhile, captain Thiago Silva, now 40, began his senior club career in 2002, the year Dortmund’s Karim Adeyemi entered the world. After a glittering European career, he is now back home in Brazil and his composed performance against prolific scorer Serhou Guirassy was a masterclass.
Alongside Samuel Xavier and Rene, 35 and 32 respectively, Fluminense’s veteran centre-back held firm and even came close to scoring in the 69th minute.
Fabio in action for Fluminense (Elsa – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)
Asli Pelit
Jobe makes his Dortmund splash
Bellingham made his Dortmund debut after coming on to replace Pascal Gross in the 59th minute.
It wasn’t an action-packed half an hour, but maybe that is for the best, given the comparisons being drawn with his older brother, Real Madrid midfielder Jude, who spent three seasons at the same club.
That has been the focus since the 19-year-old made his €38million (£32m; $43.3m) move from Sunderland, but he is here to write his own story and not “follow anyone’s footsteps”, as he declared in his unveiling video.
Bellingham came on as substitute for the final third of the game (David Ramos/Getty Images)
There was a thirsty appetite to see Bellingham from the first whistle, but Dortmund manager Niko Kovac called for patience.
“He will not play from the start because the one week since he joined us is not enough to internalise all our processes and all our principles,” he said before the match.
Bellingham will likely be used in a deeper No 8 role or as one of the two attacking midfielders operating behind the striker. His running power was immediately obvious as he made a burst down the line to receive a pass and held off his man to loud applause from the Dortmund fans.
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His movement mechanics are scarily similar to his brother’s, and he looked just as confident in the way he received the ball and directed his team-mates despite having only just joined the club.
There were few opportunities for him to showcase his ability in the final third, but he did display the physicality and tenacity that made him a standout player in the Championship, barging players off the ball and even getting away with a heavy lunging challenge on Nonato as one of his first real actions.
The highlights reel will have to wait, but appearance number one is out of the way.
Jordan Campbell
You can sign up to DAZN to watch every FIFA Club World Cup game for free
(Top photo: Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images)
This news was originally published on this post .
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