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Set to the theme of “A New Era Begins”, the opening ceremony of the Club World Cup featured performances by assorted Fifa-approved rappers and crossover artists we’d never heard of before. As a daily email of a certain age our knowledge of the Miami music scene begins and ends with the 80s legend that is Gloria “Paging Dr Beat!” Estefan, whose husband produced this spectacular track but apparently couldn’t find a place for her in it. Boo! Billed as “a vibrant prelude to a competition where one champion will rise to claim one goal, one dream and eternal glory”, Gianni Infantino had probably hoped the match that followed wouldn’t end without any goals but as stalemates go the opener between Al Ahly and Inter Miami could have been worse.
What’s more, any fears the Fifa chief suit had about it being played in front of tens of thousands of unoccupied plastic seats were miraculously allayed by a near-capacity crowd of almost 61,000, many of them local students who are reported to have been sold tickets originally priced at $200 for just a few bucks. While they didn’t get to see Leo Messi score a goal, they were at least treated to the sight of Miami’s star turn firing a couple of speculative shots from distance against the woodwork, a feat that had proved beyond all of the special celebrity guests and former pros who participated in the half-time crossbar challenge except Alessandro Del Piero.
