By Alexandre Corrêa
From Japan

Planet Earth got a new color this Sunday. The world is red. Red as Internacional, red as the bravery of the team, red as the joy of the players who defeated the favorite Barcelona and its valuable stars. Inter, Inter, Inter! The greatest club in the world. The only Rio Grande do Sul team to win the Fifa Club World Cup. Internacional fan, celebrate: you are the happiest football fan in the world!

The dramatic victory was deserved. Inter was brave, smart and heroic. It withstood Barcelona and marked its every move.  It knew how to explore the marking deficiencies of its opponent and sealed the fate of the game with Iarley's beautiful move, which Adriano completed with style.

Japan usually has about a thousand tremors and earthquakes a year. Since yesterday, the country witnesses a new one provided by Inter and its fans. An earthquake of joy that began in Asia and spread throughout Rio Grande do Sul 20 thousand kilometers away.

Before the game

Without Hidalgo, who was injured, the coach Abel Braga fielded Rubens Cardoso as a left-back. In the remaining positions, Internacional had the same players who had defeated Al-Ahly with Clemer as a goalkeeper, Ceará and Rubens Cardoso as wingbacks, Índio and Fabiano Eller as stoppers and Wellington Monteiro and Edinho ahead of the defenders. The midfielders were Fernandão and Alex, while Alexandre Pato and Iarley were the attackers.

Barcelona, it turn, was the same that defeated America. The team was then fielded with Valdes as a goalkeeper, the Italian Zambrotta and the Dutcj Van Bronckhorst as flankers and the Mexican Márquez and the Spanish Puyol as defenders. The defensive midfielder was Motta, with additional marking by Iniesta and Deco.  The attackers were the French Giuly, the Icelander Gudjohnsen and the Brazilian Ronaldinho.

Before the game, the Fifa ritual was the same as in all World Cups, with both teams entering the field together, with players side by side, exchange of handshakes and posing for pictures. The Fifa theme was playing in the background and the 70 thousand-seater stadium was filled to capacity.

The atmosphere within the stadium wasn't much favorable to Inter. Most of the Japanese in attendance were rooting for the Spanish team. For instance, when Barcelona entered the field for the warm-up, there was a lot of applause and flashes from the crowd.

But this did not dampen the enthusiasm of the nearly one thousand Internacional fans, who sang and encouraged Inter and were mostly seated behind the left goal. Their chanting and shouting could be heard even before the game, during the warm-up. "Yeeeeeeaa, come on, come on Inteeeeeeeeeeeeer, come on, come on Inteeeeeeeeeer" or the traditional "Colorado, colorado, nothing will keep us apart?" When they were not singing, they were shouting the name of all players and members of the technical committee, one by one.  They also honored President Fernando Carvalho by singing his name. Inter supporters took the opportunity to adapt song lyrics especially for the event. Instead of insulting their local rival team, they insulted Barcelona.

When both teams were announced, the Japanese remained silent when it was Inter's turn. The only ones who received some sort of salutation were Fernandão and Alexandre Pato. But when it was Barcelona's turn, most of the Nipponese applauded and cheered, especially the names of Deco, Ronaldinho Gaúcho and the coach Frank Rjkaard.

In a box next to Fifa authorities like the entity's President Joseph Blatter, President Fernando Carvalho carried an Inter flag and displayed it against a short wall. The fans also lent their support by putting up banners containing words of encouragement and names of organized supporters' groups.

Fifa, in turn, provided a beautiful spectacle before the ball started rolling. Kids entered the field with seven giant balls. Seven of them were colored, representing each continent. An even larger ball was a replica of the globe.

A Japanese pop group entered the field and sang a song to work up the crowd even more. One member wore the Inter shirt and another wore the Barcelona shirt At the end of the performance, the musicians thanked the audience with the traditional "arigato".

The players entered the field holding hands with children dressed in white. Inter was also in white, wearing long sleeves as protection from the cold weather of Japan at this time of the year. The presidents of the clubs, of Fifa and other entities also stepped on the turf to shake hands with the referees and players. The captain Fernandão introduced each player to the authorities. During the greetings, president Fernando Carvalho embraced each Internacional player.

The game

Once the festivities were over, it was time to get down to business. When the ball started rolling in the beautiful and modern Yokohama International Stadium, which hosted the finals of the 2002 World Cup, Barcelona began by trying to impose its fast-moving game.  Inter remained in the back, cutting the spaces. Little by little, the Brazilian team began to get loose and advance, trying to score. From 5 to 15 minutes, the attacks were all by Inter.

At 5'15" Wellington Monteiro ran through the midfield and kicked the ball above the goal. A minute later, Fernandão received the ball in front of the box and shot it low beside the goal. At 8'55", Rubens Cardoso received a pass alone in the box, but the referee ruled offside. At 10'45", Ceará took a corner kick and Pato headed the ball above the goal. At 13'40", Alex passed the ball to Fernandão, who headed it to Alexandre Pato in the box. The attacker tried to take it, but lost it to the defenders.

The first strong assault by Barcelona was at 15'35", when Italian Zambrotta crossed from the right and Gudjohnsen shot beside the goal. At the edge of the field, coach Abel Braga shouted asking for more attentive marking. At 15'15", Van Bronckhorst received the ball unmarked in front of the box and shot it, which was saved by Clemer. The ball rebounded to Ronaldinho, who shot it from the box and the Internacional goalkeeper again saved it.

In two consecutive moves, Barcelona tried to win a penalty kick through Ronaldinho and Gudjohnsen, but the referee Carlos Batres did the right thing by not ruling it.  The referee did not show the same ability in foul plays in front of Inter's box.  In two instances, the referee erroneously called foul, granting the Spanish team the right to shoot.

At 20'15", Alexandre Pato made an attempt from outside the box but kicked the ball out.  Two minutes later, Barcelona replied with Giuly crossing and Gudjohnsen heading beside the goal. At 15'30", the Icelander attacker received the ball inside the box and shot above the goal. At 27'30", there was questionable foul play by Edinho on Iniesta. At 28'20", Ronaldinho took the foul shot and Clemer did a good save.

At 30'35", Rubens Cardoso had a good move and crossed from the left. However, the ball went all the way across the box and no one else touched it. At 34'5", Ronaldinho Gaúcho dangerously shot from outside the box and the ball went beside the goal. At 37'55", Índio received the ball in the box and, taking advantage of surprise, shot it dangerously above the goal. At 40', Pato had a good move over Van Bronckhorst and was brought to the ground. At 41'20", Gudjohnsen received the ball inside the box and shot above the defenders. After that, nothing relevant took place in either box.

After the break, each team made a replacement, In Inter, Vargas replaced Alex. In Barcelona, Zambrotta left and Beletti entered in his place.

In the second half, the game slowed down a bit. At 4'40", Giuly entered the box and shot, but Índio saved it for a corner kick. At 8', Vargas passed to Pato inside the box, and Pato shot too high above the goal. At 10'35", Ceará went through the midfield and kicked from outside the box, with his left foot, beside the goal. At 13' the coach Frank Rijkaard substituted Xavi for the defensive midfielder Motta, trying to improve midfield playing.

At 14'45", Deco shot from afar and the ball passed beside the goal. At 16', Luiz Adriano replaced Alexandre Pato. Then, after the foul kick, the ball rebounded for Iarley to kick and was saved by Valdes. At 22'15", Giuly received the ball inside the box and Fabiano Eller saved for a corner kick.

At 27', Índio left the field with a bleeding nose. For three long minutes, the team had one fewer player while the defender was attended to.  At 28'30", Xavi received the ball in the box and crossed, but the defenders saved for a corner kick.

At 30'30', Adriano replaced Fernandão. The game became dramatic for Inter. Without the captain Fernandão and without Alexandre, the team could suffer. But that's where Iarley's talent came in. The Ceará attacker led the game and faced the Spanish.

Meanwhile, Barcelona increased its pace and tried to put more pressure. At 36', the most important goal in Internacional's history was scored. Iarley had a great move in the midfield and passed to Adriano, who was unmarked in the box.  The player shot as Valdes went out and scored. Internacional fans rejoiced in Yokohama.

At 37'40', Deco advanced through the midfield and shot, followed by a spectacular save by Clemer. At 40'30", Ronaldinho had the chance of a good foul kick in front of the box.  But at the time of the kick, millions of Internacional fans booed him. Oh, how they booed him. It was worth the effort. He shot beside the goal, to an audible sigh of relief from the Inter fans in the stadium.

At 42'45", Ezquerro replaced Gudjohnsen. Meanwhile, Inter kicked the ball around, kept it in the attack and stalled for time, especially through Iarley's skills.  End of the game. Inter, champion of the world!!!

At 9:38 PM in Japan, 10:30 AM in Brazil, captain Fernandão raised the world champion cup and the world belonged to Internacional. Then the players ran around the stadium in the traditional winner's fashion and left for the celebration that has no day, time or place to end.  A celebration which is worthy of a world champion.

Internacional (1): Clemer; Ceará, Índio, Fabiano Eller and Rubens Cardoso; Edinho, Wellington Monteiro, Alex (Vargas) and Fernandão (Adriano); Alexandre Pato (Luiz Adriano) and Iarley. Coach: Abel Braga.

Barcelona (0): Valdes; Zambrotta (Beletti), Márquez, Puyol and Van Bronckhorst; Motta (Xavi), Iniesta and Deco; Giuly, Gudjohnsen (Ezquerro) and Ronaldinho. Coach: Frank Rijkaard.

Score: Adriano (I), at 36' of the second half. Booked: Índio (I), Motta (B). Referees: Carlos Batres (Guatemala), assisted by Carlos Pastrana (Honduras) and Leonel Leal (Costa Rica). Venue: Yokohama International Stadium, in Japan.