Simeone's conservatism in the city of innovation
“Win or die, thrash or suffer”. That was how the Spanish press, in this case the newspaper Marca , anticipated the duel on Thursday night. And it was no wonder. The thrashing suffered by Atlético Madrid in their debut, against PSG ( 4-0 ), left Diego Simeone's team in a very complicated situation and the goals could prove decisive in the final tally of Group B. After facing the Champions League champion and before facing the Libertadores champion, the Colchoneros had an important challenge ahead of them against the Seattle Sounders, one of the teams playing this Club World Cup at home and who won the CONCACAF Champions League in 2022.
It's time to talk about Vitinha for the Ballon d'Or (the PSG-Atl. Madrid report)
“Sounders? They are a competitive team, with a very clear game concept and a strong attacking presence. They played well against Botafogo and could have drawn, given the chances they created. PSG? Our opponents were superior to us. It’s a very short championship. There’s no time to stop. We have to think about our next opponent. There were different moments in the season when the team went through difficult times, but we also had 15 consecutive wins. We lost the other day and we know what we need… It’s clear that these are starting to become finals. We are analyzing the options that the competition offers us. There are two games left and our options are clear”, predicted Cholo.
Club World Cup: Seattle Sounders x Atlético de Madrid
Official line-ups! pic.twitter.com/nkLpg719ak
— Transfer Diary (@DTransferencias) June 19, 2025
The magnificent Lumen Field — which has a spectacular view of the city of Seattle — hosted a decisive game that had everything to be open. Brian Schmetzer made five changes to the home team's starting eleven — here it is literal —, with Danny Musovski coming on for Jesus Ferreira, who is not in good form. For the Colchoneros , José Giménez came on to replace the sent-off Clément Lenglet, while Antoine Griezmann sat on the bench, being replaced by Alexander Sorloth. As expected, the Spanish team started the match better and, on the first occasion, Julián Álvarez missed the goal in a blatant manner, unleashing a shot that went just wide of the post, when he was alone (10'). In the next move, Sorloth launched Giuliano Simeone and the Argentine passed to Pablo Barrios who, at the edge of the area, opened the scoring, scoring his 50th goal since the World Cup (11').
Goal 50 at the FIFA Club World Cup and with class ???? Pablo Barrios
???? @FIFACWC | @SoundersFC 0 x 1 @Atleti pic.twitter.com/AzM9tVrf80
— DAZN Portugal (@DAZNPortugal) June 19, 2025
From then on, the game evened out, although Sorloth missed a certain goal in the six-yard box (16′), while, on the other side of the pitch, Jan Oblak managed to prevent Musovski from equalising (17′). Shortly afterwards, the Norwegian forward had another goal-scoring opportunity at his feet, broke through but continued to waste his time, allowing Stefan Frei to save (26′). Atlético Madrid even managed to win a penalty, for a push by Reed Baker-Whiting on Simeone, but the move was overturned by referee Yael Falcón Pérez (39′) and, in the last chance of the first half, the young American left-back tried to equalise with a long-range shot that went just wide of the post and even tried to score (45+3′).
For the second half, Simeone opted to leave Giménez on the bench and bring on Axel Witsel, and the change had immediate results, with Marcos Llorente unleashing a powerful shot that hit the Sounders' crossbar. The defence was unable to clear the ball and, following the move, Robin Le Normand crossed for the Belgian, who headed it in (47'). Even so, the response came immediately, with Obed Vargas crossing to the far post, with Musovski assisting Albert Rusnák with a header to make it 1-2 and relaunch the match (50'). Shortly after, Llorente crossed into the area, Jon Bell made a poor clearance, Kalani Kossa-Rienzi missed the clearance and the ball fell to Barrios, who fired home a second goal (55'). The result was that, with the Spanish team controlling the match until the end.
Was it really a goal???? Witsel
???? @FIFACWC | @SoundersFC 0 x 2 @Atleti pic.twitter.com/DUk21smvQf
— DAZN Portugal (@DAZNPortugal) June 19, 2025
For those who thought it was over: here comes Rusnák ????
???? @FIFACWC | @SoundersFC 1 x 2 @Atleti pic.twitter.com/nN8TBFWFEI
— DAZN Portugal (@DAZNPortugal) June 19, 2025
The pearlWas there any left for Pablo Barrios ????↔️
???? @FIFACWC | @SoundersFC 1 x 3 @Atleti pic.twitter.com/vp6sFQkWzK
— DAZN Portugal (@DAZNPortugal) June 19, 2025
- In a team full of great individual names capable of deciding a match of this calibre, few people could fit Pablo Barrios into that category. However, the 22-year-old midfielder, who came through the Real Madrid academy and established himself under Simeone in recent seasons, was the star player for Atlético Madrid against the Seattle Sounders and scored two opportunistic goals, doubling the tally he had achieved in the last two seasons.
- At a time when Diego Simeone's conservatism is being heavily criticised and the Argentine's continued role as coach of the Madrid team is being questioned, this victory was the result of the coach who, despite having kept the core of the team, leaving players such as César Azpilicueta, Conor Gallagher and Antoine Griezmann on the bench, Cholo realised that the team had finished the first half underperforming and immediately brought in Axel Witsel to play in central defence. The change could not have gone better and the former Benfica player immediately made his mark, as well as putting in a cohesive defensive display.
- With this victory, Atlético Madrid continue to depend on themselves to progress, although they were unable to reverse their negative goal difference. For now, the Colchoneros are third with the same three points as PSG and Botafogo, while Seattle Sounders are still without a single point and could be eliminated this Friday if the French team beat the Brazilians.
- There have been many questions about the performance of the teams from the various continents in this Club World Cup and about the performance — or lack thereof — of the European teams, at a time when the players should be on vacation. However, contrary to these doubts, Atlético Madrid showed up at full strength against a Seattle Sounders team that, despite being a few points behind, fought practically until the end of the match and left another good performance in the spotlight.
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