One side of the Club World Cup final comes as little surprise — Real Madrid easily won in the semifinals to advance, extending their long unbeaten streak, and the defending Champions League winners look set to add another trophy to their collection back at the Santiago Bernabeu. First, though, they have to beat the Kashima Antlers, a Japanese team with big dreams and a huge challenge at hand.
Real Madrid vs. Kashima Antlers, 2016 Club World Cup final: Time, TV schedule, live stream, and 3 things to know
The Club World Cup final pits giants in Real Madrid against a Japanese team hoping for glory.
Photo by Matt Roberts/Getty Images,
While Kashima aren’t the mightiest team compared to Real Madrid, they’re not without their successes. They’ve won the J.League eight times in their history, including standing as the defending champions. They’ve also won the Emperor’s Cup four times and League Cup six times, making them one of the most decorated teams in Japanese history in the sport. They’re not going to be a team that’s going to get overawed by Real Madrid, nor will they let the Spaniards push them around without a fight — if they’re going down, they’re going down swinging.
TV: Fox Sports 1 (U.S. - English), Fox Deportes (U.S. - Spanish), NTV (Japan), TVE La 1 (Spain)
Online: Fox Soccer 2GO, Fox Sports Go (U.S.), DAZN (Japan)
Match Date/Time: Sunday, 5:30 a.m. ET, 7:30 p.m. local
Venue: Nissan Stadium, Yokohama, Japan
Three big things to know
- While Kashima isn’t exactly the home team — they play a little under two hours away from Yokohama — they’ll certainly be hoping that being a Japanese team playing on Japanese soil will be a major advantage for them in this match. They’ll need any advantage they can get to have much of a chance against Real Madrid, as despite beating three tough teams in Auckland City, Mamelodi Sundowns, and Atletico Nacional to reach the final, they’re still a midtable J.League team playing Real-freaking Madrid. It’s going to be a long day.
- Of course, Real Madrid might not come into this match playing with a full-strength squad. In all honesty, their semifinal against Club America was probably the tougher match in terms of the strength of their opponent, and they won’t want to risk all their big stars to be lost to injury. Don’t be surprised if several players the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, Sergio Ramos, Luka Modric, Toni Kroos, and Marcelo start the match on the bench, with several reserves and fringe players given a chance in their place.
- If Real Madrid win the Club World Cup, it will be their second triumph in the competition, making them just the third multitime winners in the 13 times the competition has been held. They’d join Brazilian side Corinthians — who won the inaugural competition in 2000 and then again in 2012 — and archrivals Barcelona, who are the record holders at three titles, winning in 2009, 2011, and then last season. Interestingly, if the Kashima Antlers find a way to win, they would be the first-ever winners of the Club World Cup who are not from Europe or Brazil.
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