33 min Play hath resumed.
Palmeiras v Botafogo: Club World Cup, last 16 – live | Club World Cup 2025
Published: 2025-06-28 17:34:51 | Views: 13
Key events
31 min: Cooling break It’s warm in America, you may have heard, so the players are taking on some fluids.
30 min “After an afternoon in the jacuzzi, umbrella open to shield the baking hot sun, I notice the pointless Fifa Club World Cup keeps chugging on,” writes Giovanni Cafagna. “Not a friend nor a relative that I know of cares about it. So good on you for giving us your best MBM coverage once again. I’ll try to stay on, but the negroni on its way will very likely distract me. You are just doing it for the love of football, aren’t you.”
Who showed you my payslip?
29 min Palmeiras are slowly taking control of this game. Allan zips infield from the right and is cynically brought down; no yellow card but a free-kick 35 yards from goal.
26 min “Here in the US, they’re showing advertisements on the screen during the game action,” says Jim. “I guess it really is all about the money.”
No need to guess, Jim, it has been for a while now.
25 min When that Palmeiras corner is eventually taken by Estevao, it leads to a frantic game of pinball in the penalty area. Gomez has a snapshot blocked and Botafogo eventually smuggle the ball away.
22 min A Palmeiras corner is half cleared and then recycled. Estevao curls a really dangerous cross that bounces across the penalty area and is deflected wide.
Moments before that, Giay tried a slightly weird scissor-kick and followed through into the body of Igor Jesus. Boith players are down.
20 min Giay tries a long-range stinger; Savarino blocks it at source. It’s a tight, even game, and we’re probably only 10 minutes away from hearing the phrase “the first goal could be decisive”.
18 min Botafogo work the ball very neatly down the right, with Allan (Botafogo, once of Everton) eventually winning a corner off Gomez. Nothing comes of it.
17 min “The matches I’ve watched at the Club World Cup have generally been good, and I’ve tried to care, but it does feel like they’re taking place in a vacuum,” says Kári Tulinius. “This match, though, matters greatly, because one of those storied Brazilian clubs will reach the quarterfinals, and will have bragging rights. And as we know from knockout tournaments, once a side is three good performances from glory, anything can happen.
Nicely put. My inner sociopath doesn’t really care about the competition, at least not yet, but my inner empath is all over it.
Hang on, have I just outed myself as a sociopath live on the Guardian?
15 min Mr Roque fights determinedly for a nothing ball forward, making life very difficult for the two Botafogo centre-backs. Eventually he runs out of steam and either falls over or dives in the area; either way it’s not a penalty.
14 min The match is starting to liven up, both in terms of creativity and, ahem, unsentimental tackling.
12 min Allan (Palmeiras) beats Freitas through sleight of hip and is cynically booted to the floor. No yellow card.
10 min Scratch that stuff about there being no chances. Estevao controls a crossfield pass and pushes the ball down the line to the overlapping Piquerez. He guides a dangerous low cross towards the near post. where Roque slides in with a couple of Botafogo defenders. The ball takes a slight touch, possibly off the studs of Barboza, and rolls agonisingly across the face of goal.
9 min Palmeiras are pressing high and have had the better of the early play. No chances to speak of though.
7 min Rios is back on his feet and will take the free-kick. He charges up to the ball… and rifles it straight into the wall.
5 min Richard Rios is still down and looks in a lot of pain. All his team-mates are around him; I don’t think he’s broken anything but he’s clearly struggling.
3 min The first yellow card goes to Botafogo centre-back Barboza for a poor scissor tackle on Rios. He’ll miss the quarter-final should Botafogo get through. Barboza may have slipped slightly but he’d already committed to what was a reckless challenge.
2 min Alex Telles wanders infield from left-back with purpose, lays the ball off and is booted up in air by Martinez.
1 min Peep peep! Palmeiras kick off from right to left as we watch.
A reminder of the teams. The hell you care.
Palmeiras (possible 4-2-3-1) Weverton; Giay, Gomez, Fuchs, Piquerez; Allan, Martinez; Estevao, Rios, Mauricio; Roque.
Substitutes: Lomba, Rocha, Vanderlan, Mayke, Micael, Naves, Moreno, Anderson, Veiga, Evangelista, Paulinho, Torres, Luighi, Thalys, Lopez.
Botafogo (possible 4-3-3) John; Vitinha, Jair, Barboza, Telles; Allan, Danilo, Freitas; Artur, Jesus, Savarinho.
Substitutes: Raul, Linck, Ponte, Marcal, Kaio, Ricardo, Cuiabano, Montoro, Rodriguez, Newton, Cruz, Nathan, Correa, Mastriani, Cabral.
Referee Francois Letexier (France)
You’ll notice there’s an Allan on each side, so if during the course of this MBM you read Allan (P), Allan (B), Allan (Palmeiras), Allan (Botafogo) or Allan (FFS which one is it), that’ll be why.
“Minute-by-minute updates on something that no one cares about seem unnecessary,” says Thomas Pedersen.
Bloody hell Thomas, you’re right. Well thanks for joining us. We’ll be back in July with live coverage of something somebody cares about. Goodnight!
Thanks to Stephen for pointing out that the kick-off time is midday in Philadelphia, not 1pm as suggested by somebody with the inability to complete the complex maths puzzle: 17-5=?.
This is a good read on the impact of the four Brazilian teams in America
Team news
Palmeiras make five changes from the side that started their 2-2 draw with Inter Miami. Agustian Giay, Bruno Fuchs, Emiliano Martinez, Allan and Mauricio replace Marcos Rocha, Murilo, Lucas Evangelista, Facundo Torres and Raphael Veiga.
Paulinho, who scored two late goals in the 2-2 draw with Inter Miami, remains among the subs. The starting XI also includes the exciting teenage forward Estevao, who will move to Chelsea after this tournament.
A single change for Botafogo, with Danilo – no not that one, or that one, though he did play in Europe for Nice, Benfica, Braga and Valencia – replacing Gregore in midfield. There are some familiar faces to Premier League obsessives: Alex Telles, once of Manchester United, and Allan (Everton) both start.
Palmeiras (possible 4-2-3-1) Weverton; Giay, Gomez, Fuchs, Piquerez; Allan Martinez; Estevao, Rios, Mauricio; Roque.
Substitutes: Lomba, Rocha, Vanderlan, Mayke, Micael, Naves, Moreno, Anderson, Veiga, Evangelista, Paulinho, Torres, Luighi, Thalys, Lopez.
Botafogo (possible 4-3-3) John; Vitinha, Jair, Barboza, Telles; Allan, Danilo, Freitas; Artur, Jesus, Savarinho.
Substitutes: Raul, Linck, Ponte, Marcal, Kaio, Ricardo, Cuiabano, Montoro, Rodriguez, Newton, Cruz, Nathan, Correa, Mastriani, Cabral.
Referee Francois Letexier (France)
Preamble
It’s June, a football World Cup is taking place and everyone is talking about Brazil. But the more things stay the same, the more they change. This is a club World Cup, Brazilian success has caught Europe by surprise – and much of it has been achieved through defensive excellence rather than our old friend J. Bonito.
If the Fifa president Giovanni Infantino is ever the subject of a kiss and tell – oh I’m sorry, I didn’t realise you were eating – don’t be surprised to read that, not unlike David Mellor, he likes to do his worst while wearing a replica top: in Gianni’s case it would probably be one of Palmeiras, Botafogo, Flamengo and Fluminense, the four Brazilian teams who have breathed life and soul into his unloved competition.
Even if European teams dominate the knockout stage, the impact of Brazil’s finest will an abiding memory of the inaugural Club World Cup. That knockout stage begins with a – heat permitting – mouthwatering tie: Palmeiras v Botafogo, the first meeting at this competition between two teams from the same country. (I think it’s the first at any Club World Cup since 14 January 2000, when Corinthians beat Gary Neville’s Vasco da Gama on penalties in the final, but it would take an age to check every tournament since then and the nugget on offer just isn’t worth it.)
Palmeiras topped a group that included Inter Miami and Porto; Botafogo beat PSG – the first in 13 years that the champions of South America have been their European equivalent – and eliminated Atletico Madrid.
The winners will play Benfica and Chelsea on this ground on Friday. Given how much this means to all four Brazilian teams, the losers may not go quietly.
Kick off 5pm BST, 12pm in Philadelphia.
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