FC Barcelona legend Johan Cryuff expressed his own personal opinion of the Barca 0-1 defeat at the hands of Internacional in the Club World Cup final on Sunday in Yokohama, Japan. The former star player and coach of the "Dream Team" Cryff explained in his column in Barcelona based daily newspaper "La Vanguardia":
It’s a competition made with the express purpose of giving South American teams the edge. The time difference and the long journey means that the European teams arrive feeling tired and that gives the South American team, that’s been in Japan for longer and doesn’t have as long a journey, the advantage. To get things back on an even keel the old system of a home and away leg would be far better. Barça wasn’t inferior as they shot more times at goal and had most of the possession, but they lacked that vital spark that they’ve been showing on the pitch at other times and in other circumstances: that speed they give to the ball. Without that Barcelona loses that vital centimetre in control, in preparing a shot, in robbing a ball.

The whole squad showed that they weren’t just turning up to go through the motions: they really wanted to win the CWC and want to win the other two trophies still in play in Europe, but the negative side is the overload of games as between the 7th and the 31st of January Barça will have to play no less than 8 games in 24 days.