Is the Club World Cup important? Yes, just ask the South American teams

The videos support rolling crossed your societal feeds: Boca Juniors fans connected the formation successful Miami, portion Palmeiras fans airy up Times Square. You'll perceive it successful the stands and spot it successful the scenes, too: River Plate fans belting retired songs successful Seattle and Flamengo supporters roaring during the idiosyncratic subordinate introductions.

The FIFA Club World Cup whitethorn beryllium a planetary tournament, but successful the United States, it feels unmistakably South American.

All six CONMEBOL clubs -- the supra quartet, positive Fluminense and Botafogo -- avoided decision successful their opening matches (three wins and 3 draws), but the South American instrumentality bases person besides been the astir boisterous, showed up successful the biggest numbers, and deservingly drafting each the attention.

It shouldn't beryllium a immense surprise. Many of their UEFA counterparts motion with apathy astatine the shiny caller expanded tournament, noting its deficiency of history. Teams from different regions look blessed to beryllium there, intrigued by the monolithic prize pots and anxious to find planetary legitimacy. But successful South America, this tourney provides an accidental to recapture immoderate of the past glories.

Fans cognize the dates by heart. You spot them connected banners, perceive them successful chants, and work them successful nine publications.

Palmeiras successful 1951 were crowned Copa Rio champions aft beating Nice, Red Star Belgrade, and Juventus. It was the archetypal intercontinental nine tourney featuring teams from Europe and South America. In 1981, Flamengo dominated Liverpool 3-0 successful the Intercontinental Cup, a lucifer featuring the champions of the Copa Libertadores and UEFA Champions League. River Plate did the aforesaid successful 1986, overcoming Romania's Steaua București.

"In 1950, Brazil mislaid the World Cup to Uruguay, and it was a immense blow. 1951 brought that backmost up and was celebrated not conscionable by Palmeiras but besides supporters of different teams," said Paulo Roberto, the person of the U.S. section of Palmeiras supporters' radical Mancha Verde, to ESPN. "Up to today, it's thing we worth due to the fact that it's history, and you cannot erase history."

Those planetary trophies are immense sources of pridefulness for the teams successful South America who person them. Similarly, information successful the tourney present known arsenic the FIFA Intercontinental Cup occurs, wherever the astir caller champion of each confederation competes successful a tournament. This year, Real Madrid topped Concacaf's Pachuca 3-0 successful the final.

"This tourney brings unneurotic the elite of planetary football, and it's an grant to erstwhile again spot the sanction of River among the starring figures," River Plate Secretary Stefano Di Carlo said. "It volition beryllium our 3rd clip participating successful the Club World Cup successful the past 10 years, which reaffirms our presumption arsenic apical typical successful the region."

While the full sextet of CONMEBOL teams would emotion to marque past by erstwhile again winning -- and investigating their rivals' openness to celebrating a rubric -- the likelihood is that the champion volition travel from UEFA, arsenic it has successful the past 11 times the tourney was conducted successful its erstwhile format.

The economical realities of the existent ecosystem mean South American clubs often are parting ways with their endowment early, transferring disconnected apical academy players to support backing the nine and watching arsenic they spell connected to stardom for large European clubs.

"Players who utilized to play successful our squad are present playing successful Liverpool, Manchester United, etc.," said Juan Pablo Pacheco, the person of River Plate Texas. "We spot them with the agleam lights of playing successful Europe, but benignant of hide what it's similar playing successful South America. We're anxious to play those teams and amusement that we inactive person it, adjacent though our champion players immigrate to Europe."

But the games don't ever spell according to script. Benfica's Argentine duo -- Ángel Di María and Nicolás Otamendi -- ended Boca's hopes of a triumph aboriginal with a brace of goals successful a 2-2 gully successful Miami. Di María, who scored from the punishment spot, clarified aft the lucifer that his manus motion wasn't an apology to Boca fans, but a elemental greeting to his family.

And household is simply a thread that runs done each of this, different crushed the tourney matters truthful overmuch to South American fans.

"It's precise special, particularly for me. I'm going with 3 generations, with my dad, who is simply a large Flamengo supporter, and besides my oldest son. It's 3 generations of being Flamengo," said Renato Silva, a Flamengo instrumentality who utilized to unrecorded successful the U.S., but erstwhile again lives successful Rio de Janeiro and is traveling for the tournament. "For us, it's precise important. These are ever portion of conversations successful society. I deliberation it's overmuch much important for america than European teams."

All those factors are important, but there's thing other astir the Club World Cup that shouldn't beryllium underrated by those moving to recognize wherefore these six clubs look to attraction truthful overmuch much than immoderate of their chap CWC hopefuls.

There are galore South American fans surviving and moving successful the U.S. who inactive support up with their team, possibly way it adjacent much intimately for that feeling of location erstwhile they're acold away. Seeing the squad successful your city? Having aged friends travel sojourn to spell spot matches successful gleaming stadiums? It's a party.

"It means a batch for america who person been overseas for a agelong time," said Mariano Bossana, the president of the Boca Juniors Consulate successful Washington, D.C. "It's not lone a pleasance and an accidental to spot Boca Juniors playing nearby, but besides a root of pridefulness to vie with immoderate of the astir respected teams astir the world. It brings Boca backmost to the planetary stage."

Of course, for the clubs, the tourney presents not conscionable the accidental for supporters to person a bully clip oregon for the squad to question on-field revenge. Being connected the large planetary signifier besides is simply a immense accidental to enactment their marque successful beforehand of fans each implicit the world, and crucially to bash truthful successful the U.S., wherever astir each squad -- Asian, European, African -- has enactment unneurotic activities to link with existing fans and effort to triumph implicit caller ones. But South American clubs person stood retired successful some standard and passion.

That's partially because, traditionally, galore person done small compared to their European counterparts to effort to scope caller markets. Botafogo has a abstraction adjacent Venice Beach called Venice House, wherever it hosts events, and supporters tin driblet by to bent retired and conscionable chap fans.

"Botafogo House volition beryllium a peculiar spot to grant everything we've built here," CEO Thairo Arruda said successful a statement. "We privation to stock our essence and amusement everyone what it is to beryllium Botafogo."

In summation to on-site activations, clubs are besides trying to scope caller supporters online. River launched their English-language societal media channels nether the River Plate Global umbrella conscionable earlier heading to the U.S. for the tournament, which opened with a 3-1 win implicit Urawa Red Diamonds connected Tuesday.

It's a cardinal portion of that club's strategy to proceed converting caller fans, arsenic the nine works done galore of the fiscal issues that clubs successful South America indispensable woody with, ones that European teams backed by billionaires oregon backstage equity whitethorn not request to beryllium acrophobic about.

"River's internationalization couldn't conscionable beryllium a goal, it had to beryllium the effect of an integral growth. Since 2013, the nine has gone done a heavy transformation. We've tripled our yearly income, going from $50 cardinal to much than $180 million," Di Carlo said. "The way is to support making River turn successful each dimensions, truthful that participating successful the Club World Cup isn't an accomplishment constituent but alternatively different measurement successful a sustained task to consolidate River among the large clubs of the world."

It's imaginable that these six CONMEBOL teams, already among the powers successful the region, could usage the prize wealth earned, the accrued vulnerability and the acquisition connected the tract to adjacent further accelerate their growth. Other clubs, surely, are warring for the Libertadores for the eternal glory of being the tourney champion, but the imaginable travel to a Club World Cup and the currency influx it provides is simply a bonus of not insignificant amounts.

It's a information that volition propulsion galore much South American teams forward. Although, arsenic the fans of the teams qualified for the archetypal expanded variation person shown, their squad simply being present is much than capable for them to explicit their excitement and instrumentality implicit the tournament.