FIFA Intercontinental Cup 2024, Final
Score: 3 – 0
18 December 2024
Lusail Stadium, Qatar
First Half Game Analysis
This was a massively important game for Real Madrid, as this game win would establish the club as the best club in the world in the year 2024. Real Madrid was looking for their 5th trophy that night. Vinicius Junior had won the FIFA Best Player award of 2024 and the Best FIFA Coach award for Carlos Ancelotti.
The formation was 4-2-3-1 for Real Madrid, with Mbappe being the no. 9 striker position. Rodrygo was playing as a right winger, and the two midfielders were Camavinga and Valverde. Vazquez was the captain and played his usual place as a defender on the right side.
Madrid played a pretty high game, but the first shot came from Pachuca at the 7th minute from a distance on the right side. Courtois was able to block the shot, and Pachuca earned a corner ball.
Two minutes later, Pachuca led another dangerous attack from the right side; again, Courtois, with his right action, could avoid the danger as he dived and grabbed the ball for safety. Madrid had not been able to threaten Pachuca goalkeeper so far in the game, while they created two dangerous situations for Courtois.
Pachuca was able to have another good shot at the post from the left side of the post. This time too Courtois was able to block the ball and divert the danger. Pachuca had been constantly threatening Real Madrid’s goalpost several times, while Madrid had not been able to create a single serious threat to Pachuca’s keeper.
Up to the 15th minute of the game, Pachuca was more dangerous and had a couple of goal shots at the Madrid post. While Madrid had not been able to create a single serious threat to the Pachuca goalkeeper.
The first threat Madrid could create only in the 22nd minute of the game. Rodrygo had his right foot shot from inside the box, but it was blocked by a defender’s foot, and the ball was out for a corner for Madrid.
After the 20th minute onwards, Madrid started creating pressure on the Pachuca box area. In the 26th minute, Rodrygo passed the ball inside the box for Bellingham, and Bellingham back-passed the ball with his foot heel, as there was no one nearby to pick up that ball, or the situation could have been different, as it was a good chance for Madrid to score a goal with that kind of a ball around that area.
There was a good attack built up by Vini, Rodrygo, and Mbappe. But Mbappe fumbled a bit longer inside the box, and the ball was snatched away by an opposition player for safety. Such crucial timing, right action, and decision-making make or break the game. Mbappé is not comfortable in tight positions; most of the time he loses the ball.
Madrid led the attack twice within the span of two minutes, but the attempts were foiled and the score remained nil for both sides.
In the 34th minute, Madrid built up a good opportunity; again, the shot was blocked by the keeper, and also Rodrygo was declared offside. So even if he had scored, it was of no use.
A long-awaited time arrived in the 37th minute of the game; Valverde passed the ball to Bellingham, and he smartly passed the ball to Vini inside the Pachuca box. Vini took the ball close to the post on the left, but he passed the ball to waiting Mbappé on the right, who was not covered. When Mbappe got the ball, he had no difficulty slotting the ball inside the net. This was a superb build-up, and there was a great result of the hard effort. So finally Madrid had a breakthrough in the game, and so did the hope for the FIFA Cup to win again.
In the 39th minute, Mbappe had another goal shot from outside the box, but the ball went wide to the left of the post. I think he had better throw the ball ahead into the box for Bellingham as he was advancing and there were no defenders around him to intervene with him. It is of utmost importance for these strikers to choose the right option at the right time, as the right decision gets them the best result.
A minute later, Valverde had a chance from the right and inside of the box to shoot; the ball went a way high and out, though. In the last 20 minutes of the game, Real Madrid had been doing better and dominating the ground as well as attacks.
Camavinga led an attack in the dying minutes of the first half, but he could not keep his balance and fell down after tangling with a defender. He should have passed the ball earlier, and the buildup got wasted.
Pachuca played well in the first 20 minutes of the game and created some dangerous chances for themselves. While Real Madrid started influencing the game the rest of the time in the first half, they built up a couple of good chances, one of which was Mbappe’s goal. Overall, the first half was a satisfactory game, and nothing superb from either side of the team. All the players did their average job. Vini, too, could not shine in the game so far.
Second Half Game Analysis
There were no changes in the players of either side for the second half of the game play.
Pachuca led a good attack in the 52nd minute; the shot missed the post as it got deflected by Courtois, and they had a corner shot. The corner ball could not be utilized by Pachuca, though.
A minute later, in the 53rd minute, Rodrygo showed his magic skill and scored a beautiful 2nd goal for his team. It was his magical move and so precise shot into the post that neither any defender nor the keeper could do anything about this superb goal shot. Rodrygo got the ball near the 18-yard line via Mbappe, as he was supposed to pass the ball to Mbappe, but he kept the ball and dribbled around some defenders. He kept twisting and turning about the box line, and finally, with his right foot shot, he sent the ball aiming at the right pole. The keeper could not reach that far ball, and hence, Rodrygo scored a 2nd goal for his team in the game.
Here he did have the option to pass the ball to Mbappe or Vazquez; instead, he decided to go for the shot. As he scored a beautiful goal, we could say that his decision was right and timely.
The referee had to check the goal if it was an offside case, but after his video check, it was declared a goal. It was Bellingham who was in an offside position, but he kept his body still and on the ground without any sort of interference in the game, and so his action proved no offside scenario for that goal. It was a good understanding of the situation by Bellingham and the kind of position that he took in a timely manner for his teammates game.
In the 59th minute, Pachuca led a good attack, and a close goal shot was well blocked by Courtois. Pachuca had a corner afterward, but they could not utilize it at all. For some minutes of the game, Pachuca kept pressing but without any breakthrough in scoring any goal for their team.
In the 62nd minute, Mbappe and Camavinga were substituted by Brahim and Ceballos. I thought Camavinga was doing a great job as he does all the time. His passes are good and dangerous in the opponent’s area; also, he is very capable of snatching balls and works hard in the defense area as well. He is a super player with all-round qualities: strong, resilient, skillful, and hard-working.
After the exit of Mbappe, Vini was playing centrally, Rodrygo on the left, and Brahim on the right side of the field.
In the 67th minute, Pachuca had a free kick from 28 meters or so after Brahim fouled an opposition player. It was a good opportunity for Pachuca. The shot was a good one, a powerful shot aimed at the near post; luckily, Courtois was able to block and deflect away the ball safely.
So far in the game, Real Madrid had 2 attempts on target while Pachuca had 4 attempts. As the game progressed, Pachuca put more players in the attack as they wanted to score goals to level up sooner.
A good attack was built by Madrid about the 69th minute; Vini took a goal shot, but the shot went wide of the left pole of the goalpost. A good buildup came to nothing. Soon Rodrygo was substituted by Modric.
Pachuca created a superb goal-scoring chance in the 71st minute. A ball was thrown from the right flank toward the box; a striker could have had a solid, good heading toward the post, but the ball missed the bar by a few inches, and the ball flew for out ball. It was a quick and very efficient buildup, and Pachuca could have scored a super goal.
Real Madrid created a super attack in the 74th minute of the game. Inside the Pachuca box on the left, Vini passed the ball to Bellingham; in return, Bellingham slotted the ball for Vini ahead of defenders, and Vini had to beat the keeper only to secure a third goal for the team, but his shot was blocked by the keeper, and the ball flew high above the bar and out. This was superb, and it was easy for Vini to score a goal for his team, but he wasted a good opportunity.
In the 81st minute of the game, Vazquez was fouled inside the box on the left flank, but the referee initially asked to go on and called no foul. A second later, as the VAR asked the referee to check the screen. Thus, afer the screen check, the referee decided to give a penalty kick to Real Madrid for the foul on Vazquez.
The shot was taken by Vini; it was partially blocked by the keeper’s hand as he rightly judged the direction of the ball. Anyhow, the ball got bounced into the goalpost. Hence, the 3rd goal of the game for Real Madrid, and they almost sealed the victory for themselves in this Intercontinental FIFA Cup.
Vini had another chance for a goal in the 87th minute. He got a chance to shoot from the center of the 18-yard line, but he shot to the left of the post, and the ball rolled out. This was a good chance if he had hit a precise ball into the side of the post. Vini needs to sharpen his skill at this; precision and accuracy should be his focus to keep improving. As we see that he has improved quite a lot in these years, still he needs to work on getting a higher percentage of goal scoring in upcoming games.
In the 88th minute, Bellingham and Vazquez were substituted by Guler and Asencio.
Vini got a good chance to score a goal in the 90th minute, but the ball was well blocked by the keeper. He got the ball in Pchuca’s half and ran with the ball, chased by two defenders, and entering the box, he shot as the keeper advanced toward him, and his shot was well blocked by the keeper, and a good chance was lost.
As I said, Vini lacked a precise ball shot into the post. Had he had a little twist or maneuvered the ball, it might have found the back of the net easily at that distance and in that kind of a situation. Vini is excellent at driving the ball into the box area but lacks that precision in finishing, which deprived him and his team of so many goal-scoring chances in many top-class games too.
In the 91st minute, Pachuca headed the ball into Real Madrid’s goal post, but it was an obvious offside play, so the goal was nullified. Pachuca’s build-up was quite good, except it was an offside.
In this game, no Real Madrid player could play superbly with some extra skill or fluidity; rather, they were all average. Even Vini was an ordinary player, and nothing special could he produce throughout the game; on the other hand, he did miss some of the good chances for scoring goals. As we read that Mbappe seemed to have gotten used to playing with this team, it now does seem that way, as he is getting better with one game after another. On the whole, the game was satisfactory, but I wished they could have produced more chances for goals and led more attacks on the opposition goalpost to prove their dominance and superiority in the sport of football.
Vinicius was awarded with “Adidas Goldern Ball Award” and Valverde with “Adidas Silver Ball Award” to add more prizes in the list of Real Madrid journey of victories.
Statistics:
Real Madrid Pachuca
3 Goals 0
65.4 Possession 34.6
5 shots on goal 4
12 shots attempted 12
14 Fouls 13
0 Yellow Cards 2
6 Corner Kicks 5
4 Saves 2