Shocked by the World Cup opening: The best thing happened when the TV cameras took a break

As the World Cup opening match between Inter Miami and Al-Ahly (0-0) reached its peak of boredom, the FIFA monitor in the press room promised salvation. The list of available TV channels offered the weather channel as well as tennis and golf broadcasts as alternatives to the football match. No joke: Next to it, in all its glory, was the official logo of the FIFA Club World Cup.

There were plenty of reasons to switch gears. There was a bit of Messi on the pitch, but not much else. His strike partner Luis Suarez: at 38, he was just a shadow of his former self. The best part happened when the TV cameras were off: During halftime, veterans like Kaka, Djorkaeff, and Pepe played a game of shooting off the crossbar and had a blast. They're all retired – but they have more touch in their little toes than half of Inter Miami's starting lineup.

As a journalist, one had traditionally feared that a World Cup tournament with 32 clubs from all over the world wouldn't be able to maintain the level that European football fans are used to from the Champions League. The skeptics can feel vindicated.

I was in the stadium for the opening game and was shocked afterward by the 0-0 draw at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami. And I fear the worst for the next four weeks.

Not because the two teams didn't produce a decent kick; we've seen that at the start of many World Cups. Nor because Lionel Messi, the Inter Miami star, no longer bears any resemblance to the former Messi of FC Barcelona or, most recently, during the 2022 World Cup victory in Qatar. It's much worse. I asked myself: Who is this tournament actually for? Certainly not for real fans.

The stands lacked virtually everything that defines club football. The culture of the stands, banners and flags, and battle chants: none of that was present at the Hard Rock Stadium.

I, who hates pyrotechnics in stadiums , suddenly found myself missing the ultra fans with their crazy arson—that bit of anarchy that every Bundesliga club cultivates among its supporters. Instead, the entire stadium mutated into a family section with 60,000 people.

The people in the stands were enthusiastic, yes. But we're familiar with this kind of enthusiasm when national teams play: Everything in the stands remains civilized and clean, orchestrated by the association in planned choreographies so that no one deviates from the script during the game.

The Club World Cup also comes across as clinically pure: By redbullising the sometimes rebellious club football, FIFA is betraying football culture.

The great Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger, now "Director of Global Football Development" at FIFA, made a revealing statement to his Kicker colleagues : "Club football without a Club World Cup is an incomplete product."

There are two outrageous things here. First, world football managed perfectly well without a Club World Cup for 95 years. Second, football is not a product, but a way of life. But "product" probably best describes the Club World Cup.

In any case, it's no coincidence that Miami, of all places, was chosen to host the World Cup opening match. The club Inter Miami was founded by English superstar David Beckham.

He brought in Messi to temporarily increase ticket prices in the US MLS tenfold, thus luring Apple into a multimillion-dollar TV contract. It seemed like every other stadium visitor was wearing a Messi jersey. The message is clear: It's all about business. Disturbances from the stands: Absolutely not!

The two German teams, Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, are happy to take part in the game in order to secure a share of the billion-dollar payout that the world governing body has promised for this tournament debut.

That's at least honest: It's all about money. But it will be interesting to see whether at least the two Bundesliga teams can muster a following that will break the sterile atmosphere of this Club World Cup in the stadium.

The good news is: football is finally here to stay. Officially, the stadium in Miami was almost sold out. But at the last minute, students were lured to the game with a special discount: For $20, they could bring four friends.

You don't need a calculator to figure out that on average, each stadium spectator brings four dollars to the box office. My grandmother would have said, "If it doesn't cost anything, it's not worth anything."