Congratulations, Lille! You have been officially awarded the prestigious title of Pissy French Bitches 2007 (previous holders: Arsenal). They are now (a) blaming Man United for the over-crowding in the away end and (b) claiming that the game should be replayed because the referee let Giggs's goal stand. Both of which are bullshit.

Let's start with the free-kick. Yes, quite often the referee tells the teams that they have to wait for the whistle to restart play. He didn't do that this time. So when Lille spent too much time faffing around setting up their wall and Giggs took advantage of that, they have only themselves to blame. It's understandable that they feel hard done by, especially since they'd previously had a goal disallowed for a push on Vidic, but reacting as if they were going to take their ball and go home is needlessly petulant. It's the sort of behaviour I'd expect in my rec league (where, instead of referees, you call your own fouls and the teams award each other "spirit points" after the game; yeah, it works about as well as you'd expect), not from professional footballers.

As much attention as is being paid to this -- and when I finally saw the game, I was a little disappointed, because I was expecting a bigger kerfuffle -- the more serious issue is the trouble with the away fans. There are conflicting reports as to what exactly happened, but basically: there were too many fans in the away section of the stands, possibly because of people using fake tickets, possibly because of stadium staff not actually checking tickets and just letting people in. Some of those fans felt that they were in danger of being crushed and tried to climb out, and the security people dealt with this by spraying tear gas at the crowd. Which, as you can imagine, was a big help. The whole thing is just boggling to me. I mean, having to segregate away fans behind wire fences is boggling enough in the first place, considering that I'm used to North American stadiums where you can sit anywhere. I can accept that it's necessary in other places, but if you're going to do it, isn't the point to make it less dangerous for the fans, rather than more so?

Right, so: Massive organizational fuck-ups aside, what about the game? Well, United started brightly enough, with lots of possession, but not enough of it was in the final third of the pitch. Although they lined up in the 4-4-2 I was hoping for (hallelujah!), they were lacking the final ball to the strikers or players really driving forward from midfield. Lille did a good job of harrying them and closing down space in the midfield; I thought Jean Makoun was their best player and it's easy to see why United were interested in him. Gradually, though, it was looking as if the game would peter out into a scoreless draw, until Giggs stepped up to give United a crucial away goal. I hope they'll go all out to win the return leg at Old Trafford, because I thought a lot of their problem on Tuesday was due to their usual caution in European away games, despite the purportedly attacking formation.

This could have been one of the more interesting games of the tournament, seeing as it featured two teams who were fairly evenly matched. But the first half, at least, was rather dire. The highlight was probably the small group of America supporters in the corner with their very big drum. If I have a headache at the end of this, I'm going to blame the Mexican FA.

Club America had a few chances in the first half but just weren't able to score. I have a vague idea that I've commented here before about their woeful finishing.

Al Ahly broke the deadlock a few minutes before halftime with a free kick from Mohamed Aboutrika, which was curled in beautifully over the wall and past the keeper.

Club America responded by bringing on Cuauhtemoc Blanco at halftime, and he created the equalizer with a perfectly flighted cross that Salvador Cabanas headed home.

The game did spark to life a bit in the second half, but it was too late for me because I'd already fled inside to the media centre to warm up before the next match -- and bemoan the lack of anything resembling tea that might've helped with that.

Club America kept pressing, but to no result. Quite a few of their best chances fell to Claudio Lopez, who'd come on partway through the second half, but each and every time he just barely failed to connect.

Al Ahly went ahead again in the 79th minute, with another goal from Aboutrika -- who's currently the tournament's top scorer, with three goals in as many matches -- after he played a one-two with Flavio that split the Club America defence.

The final result: 2-1 to the Egyptian team. That might have been a bit harsh on Club America, especially if you judged the teams only on their second-half performance, but credit to Al Ahly because they played hard from the very beginning of the game. (Here's a telling statistic: Al Ahly committed 25 fouls versus America's 10. They basically just went out there and kicked the shit out of them.)

We're here in Yokohama for the opening act in tonight's doubleheader: the match between Al Ahly and Club America for the dubious honour of third place. The stadium's only about half full right now -- although there are lots of fans in Barcelona and Internacional wandering outside, fuelling up for the final later.

But let's pretend for a moment to be interested in the game ahead of us. I'm betting on Al Ahly to win this one. They've looked like a solid team in the first two games, although without any obvious stars like Inter or Barca have. Club America, on the other hand, were lucky to win their opening match against Jeonbuk, and are probably still reeling from that 4-0 thumping by Barcelona on Thursday.

Team news: For Club America, Claudio Lopez and Cuauhtemoc Blanco have both been left on the bench, after having failed to do much of anything in their first two matches. Midfielder German Villa has also been dropped, while Matias Vuoso and Juan Mosqueda both get their first start. Al Ahly will be fielding a virtually unchanged lineup, with the exception of backup keeper Amir Abdelhamid, who comes in for number one Essam El Hadary.

So far, the World Club Cup has gone exactly the way you would have expected. All the higher-ranked teams have beaten their opponents, and it's going to be the favourites Barcelona and Internacional in the final, while Auckland and Jeonbuk duke it out for fifth place tonight.

I'm sure that's good news for the marketing and ticket people, who want to see the big names go as far as possible, but for a neutral observer, it's a little bit disappointing. How great would it have been to see one of the heavy hitters stumble, or the minnows pull out a win? It's the unpredicability of football that makes it great, after all.

Okay, now I get all the hype about Barcelona. Because they really are just stupidly good. They put on quite a show for the fans last night against Club America. The Mexican team battled bravely, but they were inevitably outclassed.

Barcelona started with probably their strongest 11, with the possible exception of Iniesta in place of Xavi -- although I think even that is justified, based on their current form. Club America, on the other hand, left Cuauhtemoc Blanco on the bench to start, but even the Mexican legend couldn't help them when he came on at halftime, with his team already two goals down.

From the opening, Barcelona showed none of the skittishness that Internacional suffered from in their semi-final, passing the ball around confidently. But in fact the first chance of the game fell to Club America, as Claudio Lopez was played through on goal tripped up by Victor Valdez in the box. No penalty, though -- and I think that if it had been given, or if he'd been able to put his shot on target, we could've seen a different game.

Instead, Club America spent most of the first 45 minutes camped out in their own half. The first goal came just over 10 minutes in, with Eidur Gudjohnsen finishing off a beautiful passing move by Barcelona -- complete with a tricksy backheel from Ronaldinho.

Club America started to work themselves back into the game eventually, but then. but then in Barcelona struck again in the 30th minute from a corner which Rafael Marquez bundled into the net at the far post. Although the Aguilas had a few chances to catch Barça on the break, they were usually snuffed out either by the defenders or the linesman's flag.

Barcelona started the second half just as strongly, with some of their best moves coming from Ludovic Giuly scampering down the right wing. And one of those moves ultimately led to their third goal: Giuly's shot was parried by Ochoa and fell to Ronaldinho, who had more than enough time to gather it calmly and place it past the keeper.

It was all Barça in the closing minutes, putting on quite the display of exhibition football -- all little flicks and dummies -- while the poor Club America players just chased them around. The icing on the cake was a goal for Deco, set up by -- who else? -- Ronaldinho, who shrugged off a couple of defenders and laid the ball off for him to blast into the far corner.

For me, the impressive thing about Ronaldinho was not just the tricks but his physical presence on the ball -- I don't know how many times in this game he had a swarm of defenders around him but still managed to wriggle free with a combination of skill and strength to get the shot or the pass away.

If I had a complaints, it's that I would've liked to hear more noise from the supporters. Before kickoff, the Barcelona fans behind the goal had all these giant banners unfurled in the stands, but that seemed to be the extent of their participation -- other than oohing and aahing every time Ronaldinho had the ball. All the noise was coming from a tiny pocket of Club America supporters in the corner, who didn't stop singing and drumming for the entire 90 minutes. There may not have been many of them, but they were certainly loud. (Well, I guess they needed something to distract them from their team's performance.)

And finally, the Bad Hair of the Day Award. This time it goes to the man, the master: Ronaldinho. Yes, he's probably number one in the world in this department, too. (Runner-up: Carles Puyol and his heavy metal mullet.)

Just over an hour to the game, and the stadium is starting to fill up with fans. The vast majority seem to be supporting Barcelona -- I don't think I saw a single Club America jersey -- although they don't look particularly Spanish, either.

So will their team come through for them tonight? Well, it depends on which Barcelona -- and especially which Ronaldinho -- shows up. Their attack has been blunted with injuries to Samuel Eto'o and Lionel Messi, but Ronaldinho can more than make up for that if he's on his game -- as he has been recently.

Everyone knows about Barça's stellar record. They've won La Liga 18 times, the Copa del Rey 24 times, and the Champions League twice, along with a boatload of other trophies, but the Club World Cup is the one that still eludes the Blaugrana.

Club America are also no stranger to big games, with 10 Mexican league titles and 5 CONCACAF Champions Cup trophies, and they're unlikely to be daunted by the Yokohama stadium, since their home is the 100,000-seater Azteca. But the Aguilas will be relying on the aging talents of Cuauhtemoc Blanco and Claudio Lopez, and I don't think it's going to be enough.

The verdict: Barcelona are the heavy favourites tonight -- provided they've recovered from their jetlag and the strain of getting through the Champions League group stage recently.

Oh, and the really important issue of the uniforms: America are the home side, tonight, so I expect that Barça will be wearing those blindingly orange away kits -- the ones that make them look like giant pylons. They're truly fugly, but still not enough to disguise how beautifully Barcelona can play. Personally, I can't wait for kickoff.

Edit: The teams just came out for the warmup, and Club America are in head-to-toe yellow, while Barcelona are in their traditional blue and red stripes. They're definitely going to win tonight, in that case.

A few burning questions from Club America's 1-0 victory over Jeonbuk Motors:

• Why was it the Korean team, rather than the Mexicans, who came out for the opening ceremony in parkas? Do they realize that this makes them all wusses?
  
  
• Has Club America goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa, winner of the prestigious Bad Hair of the Day award, borrowed one of the hobbit wigs from The Lord Of The Rings, or is he suffering from a home perm gone hideously wrong?
  
  
• Why, according to the teamsheet, was Jeonbuk playing a 6-3-1 formation? Now, I know that Man United recently finished a game with six defenders on the pitch, but that doesn't mean it's actually a strategy I'd recommend.
  
  
• Does FIFA hand out official camelhair coats to all its representatives as a sort of uniform? And if so, can I get one? Because it's damn cold in these stadiums.

As for the game: The teams looked pretty evenly matched in the first half, although Club America had slightly more flair, and Jeonbuk the organization and energy you'd expect from a Korean team (stereotypes ahoy!). It was all even at the break, thanks mostly to some bad finishing from Club America, but Jeonbuk started the second half much more strongly, putting lots of pressure on the Mexican team. I'd retreated to the warmth of the media centre by that point, which means I got to catch the play-by-play commentator remarking, deadpan, "Good fall," after a Club America player went down. Yes, that's one for the highlight reel.

Twenty minutes into the second half, America subbed on Juan Mosqueda for Fabiano Pereira, and that seemed to make all the difference in the game -- and must have delighted the crazy Mexican fans seated in front of the press area, who'd been yelling for Mosqueda to come on since about 10 minutes into the match. (Also, thanks to those Mexican fans, I have learned that "The referee's a wanker" really needs no translation. Ah, the international language of football.)

Shortly after the substitution, the increased pressure from Club America paid off with an incredibly fluky goal, as defender Ricardo Rojas, who'd stayed up after a free kick, fell over onto a cross in the six-yard box and sort of pushed the ball into the Jeonbuk net with his ass. After that it was essentially all over, although Club America continued their woeful finishing and missed a bunch of chances in the last few minutes of the game. I have a feeling they're going to be doing a lot of shooting practice over the next couple of days if they want to have any chance of seeing off Barcelona in the semi-finals.