TA Club World Cup Group H Preview: Popular Real Madrid faces the challenge of the new moon, and the old friend of the Chinese Super League, Long Dong is in good shape

The new Club World Cup will kick off this Sunday, with 32 teams from six continents competing. To this end, The Athletic specifically analyzed the popularity and highlights of each group's qualifying. Author Mark Carey brings us an analysis of Group H.

This is definitely worth paying attention when there are record holders of events in the group.

Real Madrid, Pachuca, Riyadh Crescent and Salzburg Red Bull gathered together to form the H Group of this year's Club World Cup, including many exciting matches worth looking forward to.

With Alonso being confirmed as the new head coach at the end of May, a new era has arrived at the Bernabeu. Real Madrid is eager to add another trophy this summer. At the same time, we cannot underestimate the strength of Riyadh Crescent. If Xinyue, which has many stars, can fully realize its potential, it may make a major breakthrough in this event.

The Athletic sorted out the top, interesting anecdotes and highlights worth paying attention to in this group.

Schedule at a glance

June 19: Real Madrid vs Riyadh Crescent (3:00)

June 19: Pachuca vs Salzburg Red Bull (6:00)

June 23: Real Madrid vs Pachuca (3:00)

June 23: Salzburg Red Bull vs Riyadh Crescent (6:00)

June 27: Riyadh Crescent vs Pachuca (9:00)

June 27: Salzburg Red Bull vs Real Madrid (9:00)

Hot Team: Real Madrid

In fact, Real Madrid is also the favorite to win the entire tournament in the eyes of many people.

Real Madrid has won the Club World Cup championship with a record five times and has long been used to being the most successful team in the world. Therefore, the outside world also expects that they will go all the way to the end in this brand new 32 team competition system.

Of course, Real Madrid is not far from its unique "trough". After winning La Liga and Champions League in 2023-24, Ancelotti's team ended without a championship in the 2024-25 season. In the eyes of the club's senior management, this is enough to constitute a charge of dismissal.

As Real Madrid parted ways with Ancelotti this summer, fans are eager to see the picture of Alonso's new era.

After a rare championship-free season, facing a new era and the opportunity to prove himself to the new coach, Real Madrid players will be extremely eager to win the championship.

Focus Battle: In Real Madrid vs Riyadh Crescent

Group H, the team that is most likely to cause trouble for Real Madrid is Riyadh Crescent.

Although signing Neymar failed to work as planned, as Saudi Arabia's most successful club, Crescent has shown real ambitions in recent seasons, and does have high-quality players in its roster. Many familiar names have joined from European football. Kulibali, Mitrovic, Milinkovic, Ruben Neves and Cancelo are all regular starters this season. Coupled with the threat of Saudi legend Dosari on the offensive end, this game is likely to be one of the most noteworthy focus battles throughout the group stage.

It is worth mentioning that Real Madrid won the Club World Cup last time, when the two teams met in the final, and Real Madrid defeated Riyadh Crescent 5-3. If this confrontation reappears a similar score, we will surely feast our eyes.

The number one highlight of this group

Real Madrid has long been called the "Galaxy Battleship", so this answer is self-evident.

When you can list the names of stars such as Mbappe, Vinicius, Rodrigo, Bellingham and Arnold as you know it, you can be sure that when Real Madrid comes to a certain city, the stadium will be more full than most games.

From the perspective of individual goals, Mbappe performed strongly in his debut season and could be said to be the player that fans are most eager to see. Mbappe scored 43 goals in all competitions, surpassing Zamorano's previous record of 37 goals set in Real Madrid's debut season. However, Mbappe's 31 goals in La Liga did not help the team secure the league championship.

In view of Real Madrid's global appeal, this summer's trip to the United States, whether it is win, lose or draw, they are the protagonists of this tournament, let alone in this group.

Players expected to shine: Oscar Gloch, Leonardo Red Bull Salzburg have always been famous for their unique vision of discovering young offensive geniuses, and Gloch is likely to be the next production line. Gloch, 21, is one of the few highlights in Salzburg's disappointing season.

Gloch's delicate foot control, precise passing strength and balanced foot skills show technical ability beyond his age. The Israel international plays at the No. 10 position, but will often cruise to the vast left area to find gaps near the sideline.

He contributed 4 assists in the 2024-25 Austrian Premier League, which is relatively dull compared to the 11 assists in the 2023-24 season.

However, Gloch still assumes a large number of organizational offensive responsibilities for the team. In the Champions League this season, he created 23 opportunities, which is more than twice the second place in the team. As shown in the figure below, many of his passes were straight through the ball, sharply penetrating forward from the left rib area to find his teammates.

The eyes turn to the Riyadh Crescent, and if Marcos Leonardo of the new moon has not yet entered your horizon, he is definitely worthy of attention.

Leonardo only transferred from Benfica to join the New Moon last September. The Brazilian striker has scored 17 goals in the Saudi professional league 21 starts, with an average of 0.88 goals per 90 minutes. As an intuitive comparison, this efficiency slightly exceeds Ronaldo's 0.86 goals per 90 minutes.

Leonardo prefers to finish the shot with one touch, and many of his outstanding performances appear within the width between the posts. Leonardo competed for a cross and made a very high-end heading ability for a player who was only 175cm tall.

Leonardo is currently suffering from an adductor muscle tear and is expected to return in June. If he can return to full health in time, he is very likely to continue to contribute to his goal feast in the Club World Cup.

Stories worth paying attention to

How will Riyadh Crescent deal with this event?

Creen Moon finished second in the Saudi professional league this season, but after winning the 19th league championship in the 2023-24 season, the winner's mentality has been integrated into the blood of the club.

Riyadh Crescent remained unbeaten in that memorable season, with a record of 31 wins, 3 draws and 0 losses. Led by then-head coach Joe Jesus, this Riyadh crescent set a world record of 28 consecutive wins in various competitions in March 2024. Their momentum was not over until after 34 consecutive victories.

Joger Jesus went part way with the club in May, for reasons including missing the Saudi League championship and losing to Jeddah Nationals in the semi-finals of the AFC Elite League. Riyadh Crescent Legend Mohammed Al Sharhub immediately took over as interim coach and won five games and four games at the end of the league, bringing a good end to the season.

In early June, former Inter Milan coach Inzaghi took over Riyadh Crescent.

If they can show their due attention, with the strength of the team's central axis, the Riyadh Crescent will likely bring unexpected surprises to several opponents.

Things you may not know...

Pachuca's forward line is led by Long Dong.

The 35-year-old Long Dong is still scoring a lot of goals in the Mexican arena after transferring to Pachuca. Since joining in early 2024, Longdong has scored 22 league goals, of which 14 are from this season. He was undisputedly ranked first in the Pachuca team's scorer list, and there was no sign of a state of stopping.

Pachuca's team scored

However, when the entire Pachuca team came to this event, its condition was not very popular.

After winning only three games in 17 games in the first half of the regular season (the spring season of the Mexican Super League), Pachuca struggled to win eighth place in the second half of the Mexican Super League, thus advancing to the playoffs, but lost to the Mexican American Club in the quarter-finals.

Realistically, Pachuca's expectations for breaking out of such a tricky group this summer are not high, but if Longdong can make a comeback in the process, there is no need to be surprised.