The Moroccans will be coming up against the favourites Real Madrid and their superstar Cristiano Ronaldo hoping to write history and pip the Spanish giants to the trophy. The importance of the tournament and its timing -- in the middle of the local season everywhere – has always attracted criticism but ask the fans of any team taking part in it and they'll tell you it means the world to see their team coming up against the best teams in the world. Egyptian and Al-Ahly fans in specific can tell you a lot about it given that Al-Ahly appeared in five editions in the last nine years. Unfortunately, there is no FIFA Club World Cup for Al-Ahly this year as the Egyptian giants bowed out in the second round of the 2014 CAF Champions League at the hands of Al-Ahly Benghazi. However, there will be two African representatives this year. The first is the winners of the CAF Champions League, Algerian side ES Setif who started their CAF Champions League journey by destroying Burkina Faso side ASFA Yennenga 5-0 on aggregate in the first round before defeating Cameroonian side Coton Sport 2-0 on aggregate to qualify to the group stages without conceding a goal and without a single defeat, of course. The group stages saw them continue their brilliant form as they were the only team out of the eight of the two groups to breeze to the semi-finals without losing any games after collecting 10 points from two wins and four draws. In the semi-final they faced the Congolese side TP Mazembe and played out an astonishing two games that saw them draw 4-4 on aggregate but qualify to the final after losing 3-2 away from home following a 2-1 at home in the first leg. The final saw them once again draw 3-3 on aggregate but win on away goals rule after drawing the first leg 2-2 away from home and drawing 1-1 in Algeria to win the trophy. The African champions will be joined by fellow African side Moghreb Tetouan as hosts while Argentinian side San Lorenzo takes part after winning the Copa Libertadores. Australian side Sydney Wanderers takes part after winning the AFC Champions League, Mexican side Cruz Azul participates after winning the Concacaf. New Zealand side Auckland City joins them after winning the OFC Champions League. Last but not least the favourites Real Madrid takes part after winning the European Champions League. Only Real Madrid and Auckland City has previous appearances in the competition as the Spanish giants appeared once in 2006 while Auckland City appeared a massive five times that came in 2006, 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2013. The other five teams are taking part in the competition for the first time and will hope to make a good impression on the African soil of Morocco. But Cristiano Ronaldo and his team will surely be the favourites to win the title given their undoubted status as the best team in the world today. As for the other teams, only San Lorenzo seem to have any kind of chance to compete against Real Madrid even if it's a slight chance as the other participating teams aren't as powerful and don't really have the tools to beat a team like Real Madrid to the title. Real Madrid and San Lorenzo will routinely qualify to the semi-finals without playing in the quarters as part of the rules of the competition while Sydney Wanderers, ES Setif and Cruz Azul will qualify to the quarterfinals without playoffs also as part of the rules. Auckland City and the hosts Moghreb Tetouan will face each other in the playoff for the quarterfinals. It'll be very interesting to see if any team in the competition can stop goal machine Ronaldo from scoring goals for fun and from stopping Real Madrid from adding another trophy to their trophies cabinet. African fans will surely be hoping to see one of the two African representatives making a good impression in Morocco and hopefully one of them can cause a major upset and reach the final. The writer is a freelance journalist.
