No team from outside the UEFA and CONMEBOL confederations has ever reached the final of the FIFA Club World Cup but if any team can break that streak, then it is TP Mazembe. The four-time African champions are riding the wave of optimism after their 1-0 win against Mexican side Pachuca in the quarter-finals and the Crows will be buoyant for a shock defeat of Internacional today.
The Lubumbashi-based club have won the African Champions League for the past two years and are now a major force to be reckoned with in their continent. However, having tasted two defeats in two matches last year, Lamine N’Diaye's side will be keen on making amends and reaching the final.
N’Diaye is highly rated by the Mazembe's fans and has been compared to Real Madrid tactician Jose Mourinho, but the 54-year-old remains humble and is focused on the task at hand.
“I said when we arrived that our aim was to do better than last year," enthused the Mazembe coach. "We’ve done that but we’re hungry for more and we’re going to give it our very best shot to reach the final. We’ll need to improve on our performance against Pachuca to do that though."
Striker Mbenza Bedi adds: "They [Internacional] are a great team from a great footballing country. But we're relaxed and determined because we know we're a big club too. We respect our rivals, but we'll be doing our utmost to beat them.''
Invoking The Spirit Of 2006
Like TP Mazembe, Internacional are on the cusp of constructing history. Four years ago in 2006 the Brazilian giants won the competition by defeating mighty Barcelona in the final and they will be keen to repeat that feat and become the first team to win the Club World Cup twice since it was restructured in 2000.
O Colorado will start the match as favourites and having disposed of another African giants, Al Ahly of Egypt, on the way to the 2006 success, they will have the confidence too. The Copa Libertadores holders are studded with a number of players well known to regular football followers and are taking this competition very seriously.
Four years ago Abel Braga led the Porto Alegre-based side to Club World Cup success and he remains confident that under Celso Roth they can do it all over again.
"They're in with a better chance because in 2006 nobody believed in us,'' explained Braga. "Barcelona were a great team. The thing is that Internazionale are not Barcelona and so won't be overwhelming favourites, even though they are the heavyweight club in this tournament.
"If we assume that the two favourites progress, and from what I've seen so far only a disaster will stop that happening, I think that this year's Internacional are better prepared. The Italian club, for their part, have great players but not a great team.''
Key striker Alecsandro too remains bullish about his side's chances and explains, “They’re (Mazembe) a strong, quick team and play exciting football, but I wasn’t impressed with them tactically. Given the quality we’ve got, if we can combine with the players breaking from deep, such as [Andres] D’Alessandro or Tinga, we’ll cause them problems."
TEAM NEWS
TP Mazembe
Stoppila Sunzu is unavailable as he is suspended after being sent off against Pachuca in the last round.
Internacional
Roth could deploy either a 4-4-2 or a 4-5-1 system. In either case, Alecsandro, Rafael Sobis, Tinga and Andres D'Alessandro will be the attacking players involved.
Prediction
This is Internacional's first match of the competition and they are expected to win. However, TP Mazembe are no easy pushovers and will give them a hard run for the money.
TP Mazembe 1-2 Internacional 
