Mamelodi Sundowns impress despite Club World Cup exit
CNN's Senior Sports Analyst Darren Lewis caught up with the Chairman of Mamelodi Sundowns, Tlhopie Motsepe, who explained the ethos behind the team's swashbuckling style of play, and why the African word Ubuntu is at the heart of everything that is accomplished by the South African side.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
News24
27 minutes ago
- News24
First Test, day one: Zimbabwe v Proteas
Welcome to News24's coverage of the first Test between the Proteas and Zimbabwe at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo. The Proteas are in red-ball action for the first time since winning the World Test Championship at Lord's earlier this month as they resume Test ties with African neighbours Zimbabwe. Proteas coach Shukri Conrad has selected an exciting team with a decided feel of 'I want to see something' about it. Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Dewald Brevis and Codi Yusuf make their Test debuts, with the heavier artillery in regular skipper Temba Bavuma, Aiden Markram, Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen among those absent for this outing due to either injury (Bavuma has a hamstring injury) or rest and recuperation. Seamer Lungi Ngidi will be available for the second Test. Long-time servant of Proteas cricket, Keshav Maharaj, makes his Test captaincy debut.
New York Times
4 hours ago
- New York Times
Have Club World Cup attendances really been that bad?
The group stage of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup has concluded and 48 of the tournament's 63 matches have now taken place. The competition, which is being hosted in the United States, drew plenty of criticism in the build-up — including for how many games were being held in large, out-of-town stadiums in cities traditionally lacking in football (or soccer) fandom. Advertisement So what have attendances actually been like? How many stadiums have come close to filling all of their seats? How have crowd sizes compared to the American-hosted 1994 men's World Cup and previous Club World Cups? And which have been the most and least-watched teams and groups at the tournament? Here, The Athletic dives into the numbers and lays out the facts surrounding the attendances so far. Firstly, this is what the attendance has been at each game so far at the tournament. The figures are FIFA's (the below table is sortable). FIFA has confirmed the attendance for both Mamelodi Sundowns vs Fluminense and Urawa Red Diamonds vs Monterrey (both played on June 25) was, by coincidence, exactly 14,312. The 80,619 fans who watched Champions League holders Paris Saint-Germain thrash Atletico Madrid at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California is the highest attendance of the tournament so far. This match is, for now, the best-attended game in Club World Cup history. The previous highest reported attendances were the 73,000 who watched Manchester United vs Vasco da Gama (group stage) and Corinthians vs Vasco da Gama (final) at the Maracana in Rio de Janeiro in the inaugural version of the competition in 2000. The lowest attendance is the 3,412 present for South Korean side Ulsan HD's clash with Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa at the Inter&Co Stadium in Orlando, Florida on June 17, which was also delayed for 65 minutes given fears of thunderstorms. The nearby Walt Disney World averages that many visitors roughly every 30 minutes. The last men's World Cup game to have a lower attendance was Wales vs Hungary in a group-stage play-off in Sweden in 1958 (2,823) and the last Premier League match (excluding games during the coronavirus pandemic) to attract a smaller crowd was Wimbledon vs Everton at Selhurst Park in January 1993, with just 3,039 people at the ground. Advertisement It is not, however, the lowest-attended Club World Cup match ever (excluding games held during the pandemic). That distinction is held by the second-round match between Mexican club Leon and Japanese side Urawa Red Diamonds at the 2023 tournament in Saudi Arabia. Just 2,525 people (in a 27,000-capacity ground) watched Urawa win 1-0. The average attendance at the 2025 Club World Cup has been 34,759. The average across the previous 18 — much smaller — editions that were not affected by the pandemic was 32,505. While, at face value, this suggests attendances have been better than usual for the tournament, larger stadiums have been used for this edition, which must be taken into account. Here is the average attendance for each day of the tournament. The highest figure, on June 14, was set on the first day of the competition, when the only game was between Lionel Messi's Inter Miami and Egyptian side Al Ahly at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. The lowest was on June 25, when the final games in Groups E and F took place. Three of the four matches were attended by fewer than 15,000 people and just 14,312 people watched Monterrey's victory over Urawa Red Diamonds at the Rose Bowl. That meant more than 75,000 seats — a figure higher than Old Trafford's total capacity — were left empty at the stadium that hosted the 1994 World Cup final. Looking at the 12 stadiums being used for the tournament, the Hard Rock Stadium tops the list for percentage of seats filled. The ground in south Florida has been, on average, 81.8 per cent full during its six games hosted so far. Notably, two of these matches have involved Messi. The lowest is the Inter&Co Stadium in Orlando, which has only been 19.9 per cent full. The MetLife Stadium in New Jersey — which will host both the final of this tournament and next summer's World Cup, which the U.S. is jointly hosting with Canada and Mexico — has the third-lowest percentage of seats filled so far, with just under 45. The club to have played in front of the most fans so far at the tournament are record 15-time European champions Real Madrid with a total of 197,474, averaging 65,825 over their three games. And the side to have been the least-watched are Mamelodi Sundowns, who totalled 31,730 at an average of 10,577 per game. Advertisement The group with the highest total attendance was Group B (PSG, Botafogo, Atletico and Seattle Sounders) with 289,725 at an average of 48,288 per match and the one with the lowest total attendance was Group F (Borussia Dortmund, Fluminense, Mamelodi Sundowns and Ulsan HD) with 104,026, averaging 17,338. So, how does the group stage at the 2025 Club World Cup, with an average attendance of 34,759, compare to the 1994 World Cup in the U.S.? Well, that tournament 31 years ago averaged 67,526 for group-stage attendance — not far off double what we have seen this summer. As for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, that averaged 51,188 in the groups and the average attendance across the 380 Premier League games in 2024-25 was 40,423. But a word of caution when comparing different competitions across different eras: this is the first edition of the rebranded Club World Cup and it is far less popular than the World Cup and the Premier League, so the lower attendance figures are to be expected. So while crowd sizes have not been — on the whole — disastrous so far, FIFA will hope they increase during the knockout stage. And, at next year's World Cup, the sport's governing body will be desperate to avoid the scenes we have seen at several games this summer, with well over 50,000 empty seats in some stadiums. Even so, the added prestige and global interest in the World Cup will inevitably mean higher attendances in the group stage of that tournament — although ticket prices and difficulty in reaching some out-of-town stadiums could pose a challenge.
USA Today
7 hours ago
- USA Today
2025 Rocket Classic shaping up for underdogs vs favorites battle at Detroit Golf Club
DETROIT — Low scores have always ruled at the Rocket Classic at Detroit Golf Club, and it's clear the PGA Tour's 2025 tournament is no different. Three players are tied for the lead at 14-under-par 130 after two rounds: Chris Kirk, Philip Knowles and Andrew Putnam. One stroke behind them sits Jackson Suber, who birdied five straight holes on the front nine. Aldrich Potgieter, a big-hitting 20-year-old South African rookie, is tied for fifth at 12-under one day after shooting a then-course record 62 along with Kevin Roy, who squeaked out a 1-under round, tied for eighth at 11-under. Major winners Collin Morikawa, Hideki Matsuyama and Gary Woodland also lurk at 11 under par, along with two-time winner on Tour this season Ben Griffin. This tournament is often a battle of the underdogs, and especially given a number of prominent golfers failed to make the 6 under cut, this year will likely be no different. Here's who stood out in Round 2 on Friday entering a hot weekend in Detroit. Philip Knowles makes Rocket Classic history Knowles had the day's most improbable performance when he carded three eagles in his round, with all three coming from off the green. The three eagles had never been accomplished in any round in seven years of the Rocket, and is only the second time it has occurred this season on Tour. Chandler Phillips had three eagles during a round at the Players Championship in March. Knowles recorded the first eagle on 17, his eighth hole of the day, after bogeying 15 and 16. After a 300-yard drive and a 250-yard iron shot, Knowles chipped the ball in from the rough to the left of the hole. Chipping proved to be Knowles' superpower as the day went on. His second eagle, on the par-5 fourth, looked similar — a long drive and a wedge shot followed by an accurate chip-in from 38 yards out. By No. 7, where he recorded his third eagle, it seemed almost comical that a 20-yard wedge shot over a bunker would go in. Knowles wasn't even able to see the ball rolling into the cup because he was below the surface of the green, but no problem. 'All we were trying to do is get it up on the green somewhere and it should trickle out towards the hole, and I didn't see it go in,' Knowles said. 'I was walking up and you see my playing partners just start laughing and the crowd go crazy. That was surreal.' Knowles is still technically a rookie on the Tour despite graduating from the Korn Ferry Tour in 2023 due to a series of medical exemptions. He has suffered a severed nerve in thumb, a bout of mono and a recurring case of shingles that began in his right eye. He has only played in 16 events over two years, and has never played the Rocket. But this trip has been one to remember, particularly since his wife and two daughters are in Detroit to support him. 'Last night we get off the golf course and it's late and it's like, 'OK, where can we find food and get home and do bath and bedtime and get them down first?'' Knowles said. 'I walked in the house, it was an hour and a half before I even changed out of my golf clothes, and you don't think about it. But I love it and I wouldn't change it for the world. I'm always grateful to have them around. I would never not want them to be here.' Jake Knapp shoots Detroit Golf Club course record Knapp broke the course record early Friday, a mark that stood for less than 24 hours. Knapp shot 11-under 61 after shooting an even-par 72 on Thursday, moving from tied for No. 120 to tied for eighth. He had three birdies and eagled No. 17 on his front nine, then birdied six holes on his back nine to finish bogey free. Andrew Putnam gets on a roll Putnam's run of success continued as he shot 66 to tie for the lead. His rise began Thursday with an 8-under 64, but he continued it with another an eagle on No. 7 and four birdies, though he had to struggle for it through windy conditions late in his afternoon round, shooting 1-under on the back nine. 'It didn't feel bogey free,' Putnam said. 'It felt like I was kind of all over the place on the back nine, but the front nine was pretty simple golf. The wind came up, got a couple tricky holes out there, so glad I could grind it out. Another good scoring day.' Min Woo Lee 'The Chef' does not cook 'Let him cook!' rang out across the golf course when teed off Friday after an inspiring first round of 9-under 63. Unfortunately, 'The Chef,' a name his fans have given him, did not cook. Instead, Lee shot 1-over-par 73, dropping him thirty-two spots to tied for 35th by Friday's end. A bogey on 18 ultimately did him in as he missed a short putt wide right. Lee still made the cut, but leaves him six shots back, an uninspiring second-round performance after he led for much of the first round.
