Former Manchester City star Joleon Lescott has suited up for a number of major tournaments over the course of his professional soccer career, so it was easy for him to imagine what his former squad was feeling — along with the rest of the 32-team field — as they prepared for the Club World Cup.
“You can’t not be excited,” Lescott told The Post. “It’s an opportunity to make history, be the first team to win it. There’s a lot of talk about many games and overloads and stuff, but any athlete will tell you that once you start playing, the competitive spirit once you cross the white line will shine. They’ll all be trying to win. It is an opportunity to create history.”
Lescott was in lower Manhattan this week as part of an event put on by Manchester City called “Flavors of the City” ahead of the start of the expanded Club World Cup.
The Premier League powerhouse is among the notable names participating in the revamped tournament that will hand out $125 million of the $1 billion total prize pot to the winner.
Prior to this year, the Club World Cup was played annually on a much smaller scale in December.
The new format expanded the number of teams and moved it to June, during the typical offseason for European teams, while creating a much grander event on the soccer calendar.
“For the player’s perspective, they’ll be excited. Preseason isn’t far away and there’s games you have to play in preseason, so if you could, if you can play them in a competitive way, in a competitive spirit, it’s only going to add, to build in,” Lescott said. “There’s an opportunity for new players as well. I think it was a good idea that FIFA opened the [exceptional registration] window before the tournament, so it gives players an opportunity to shine. Regardless of what the situation is, if you are a new player at a new team, you’re going to want to impress. You’re going to be judged, so there’s an opportunity to impress your fans.”
The tournament will also be a small taste of what’s to come for next year’s World Cup, as well as a showcase for the sport in the United States, which has seen a growth in popularity in soccer over the years, though it still largely trails the impact it has in other parts of the world.
FIFA has pulled out all the stops to draw in American sports fans during the Club World Cup and broadcast partner DAZN, which will carry every match during the tournament, is streaming every game for free.
Lescott, who appeared in 26 matches for the England national team from 2007-2013 and played in 107 games from 2009-2014 for Man City, which included playing for the Premier League title team in 2012, noted the growth he’s seen from American soccer and its fans.
“I think it’s obviously as popular as it’s been,” he explained. “The speed of that growth will never be enough for anyone…but as long as there’s more people playing, more people talking about it and enjoying the sport and understanding it as well. I think at times earlier, the soccer world in America, there wasn’t an appreciation for the defending side of the game, draws. Nil-nils probably wasn’t respected because in most of the sports here there’s a winner and a loser.”
He added: “I think the understanding of [the game] has grown, which is obviously better for everyone as well.”
Manchester City will play its first match of the tournament on Wednesday when it faces Morocco’s Wydad AC at Lincoln Financial Field.
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