You'd be forgiven for being a bit blurry-eyed during the second week of the Club World Cup. Major tournaments - yes, we're calling this a major tournament now - sometimes get like that. There's a bit of a mid-group tedium. Results sort of matter, sort of don't.
Everyone is basically waiting for the last matchday. And it delivered. The final games of the group stage properly ironed things out. The pretenders are all gone, while the real teams with real quality showed that they really want to win.
Mostly, though, this was charmingly about football heritage, with the names that you grew up watching or playing FIFA with showing they can still kick a ball a bit. Does the world still need Sergio Ramos, 39, kicking the living daylights out of strikers? TBD. But it sure is loads of fun to watch him do it for a Mexican side in 100-degree weather.
Elsewhere, Pep Guardiola realized he can coach a team to play very good football again, and Xabi Alonso is doing some tactically groovy things with Real Madrid.
GOAL US presents the Club World Cup XI, with key observations at the conclusion of the group stage.