So much for my prediction that Barcelona would win. Maybe I jinxed them?

Barcelona started calmly, passing the ball around the way you know they always do, but Inter had a few decent early chances, and the first corner of the game fell to them. (Although they only had two in the whole match, versus Barca's 11 -- all of which were wasted in Arsenal-esque fashion.)

The Catalans then had a couple of decent shouts for a penalty, as first Eidur Gudjohnsen and then a minute later Ronaldinho were taken down in the box, but they got nothing from the ref.

Barcelona also had several good chances to score, for Gudjohnsen, Deco and Ronaldinho. Perhaps the best one came with a free kick on the edge of the box, which Ronaldinho sent low through the wall (I wonder if he was trying the same thing as he did against Werder Bremen), but it was easily saved by the keeper.

It was scoreless at halftime, as Internacional brought Fabian Vargas on for Alex, while for Barcelona Belleti replaced Gianluca Zambrotta, who'd picked up an injury at the end of the first half. I think this might have hurt Barça in the second half, because some of their most effective moves had been coming from Zambrotta bombing down the right wing in support of Ludivic Giuly, while Inter tried to stifle Ronaldinho on the left.

Barcelona had several more good chances, though -- trying to develop their play through the midfield, while Inter sat back and waited for a chance to break with a long ball or a diagonal pass out to the wings. From the 75th minute on, most of the pressure was coming from Barça -- perhaps realizing that they didn't want this to go to extra time.

But it was Internacional who eventually broke the deadlock. With Carles Puyoly backing off him, Iarley played Adriano through with only Marquez to beat. He skipped past the tackle and slotted the ball home. Cue the Inter bench erupting and a herd of players in neon orange jackets stampeding onto the field.

Then it was just a question of Inter protecting their lead for the last five minutes, although they didn't seem all that inclined to just sit back and soak up the pressure. First Deco almost equalized with another of his trademark shots from 30 yards out, but Clemer just got a hand to it, and then Ronaldinho was knocked over in the D to win a free kick in a dangerous position, which he curled barely inches wide.

Overall, it was a much more even game than I expected, and I suppose that Internacional deserved the win as much as anyone. Certainly Frank Rijkaard seemed to spend his whole post-match press conference talking about how Inter were so much better prepared and whatnot. (I've decided that's his whole role as a manager: being deprecating about the team in interviews. That and pacing around in front of the bench looking pensive. It's a tough job, really -- especially when you've got hair like that.)

And finally, some notes on a few of the other key figures tonight:

The fans
The other bloggers have already commented on this, but although the Barcelona fans definitely outnumbered the Internacional contingent, there were only one or two pockets of them that were actually making some noise. I suspect those were the travelling supporters rather than the local ones -- the rest of the crowd mostly restrained themselves to booing vociferously every time Ronaldinho was tackled or an Inter player went down injured. I was disappointed that there wasn't a bigger group of Inter fans, because the ones that I saw were all completely mental, and I think that would've improved the atmosphere a lot. (I was also disappointed that they didn't try to invade the pitch at the end of the game, but that's another story.)

Ronaldinho
Ronaldinho had quite a few good moments in the first half, but nothing to show for it. It seemed to me that he was trying to be too tricky -- maybe playing to the fans like he did in the semi-final -- rather than trying to just play. And he sort of vanished in the second half, as Inter got better at shutting him down.

Pato
Pato didn't look intimidated by the game, considering that this was only his third professional match. He was more than willing to shoot every chance he got -- although some of those chances, I think he would've been better to pass instead. There were also a few sloppy touches on the ball that looked to me like they came from a combination of inexperience and overconfidence. All in all, he wasn't as effective tonight, and it wasn't a complete surprised when he was subbed off in the 60th minute. I suppose you could say that the Duck had his wings clipped.

(Also, it has just occurred to me that his yellow boots sort of look like a duck's feet. I wonder if he does that on purpose.)

This is it: the one we've been waiting for since the beginning of the tournament.

I've heard quite a few people arguing that Internactional are going to pull off a surprise win tonight. But I think Barcelona should still be the favourites (although the team is still trying to play down their chances just in case they don't win).

Internacional, of course, aren't going to be pushovers the way Club America were on Thursday. And I'm sure the Brazilians will be determined to step up their game after they didn't exactly impress in their semi-final. But they had to rely on their young guns -- Pato and Luiz Adriano -- to win their last game, and somehow I doubt that they have the quality and experience to match Ronaldinho and co. tonight.

I've got a perfect record with my predictions so far, and I think Barcelona are going to win this one. In a couple of hours, we'll find out if I'm right.

In the meantime, we've got a performance from some J-pop group I've never heard of, and a bunch of giant balloons on the pitch that I'm guessing are meant to represent the six football confederations. God love FIFA.

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.