InsaneJournal

You might have noticed that I displayed a generic name for the Stadium. There is a subtle reason for this. The name-in-title sponsor of the Club World Cup is Toyota. For the other 360 days of the year when F.I.F.A. is not utilizing the Stadium for the Club World Cup, it is known as "Nissan International Stadium".
When you exit the JR line at Kozukue, the station is festooned with bunting, advertisements, and signage to the Stadium's West Entrance (which is within an easy walking distance) provided by, and advertising, Nissan. {Does F.I.F.A. want to avoid giving Nissan even any incidental publicity?}

On to the match. In their semi-final matches, both Boca Juniors (Argentina) and A. C. Milan (Italy) had shown some cohesive displays of play; but each had also had some puzzling episodes of truly poor play (too weak or too strong balls played on defense; players in possession unsure what to do next) of which a stronger opponent (Boca Juniors = Etoile Sportive du Sahel (Tunisia); A. C. Milan = Urawa Red Diamonds (Japan)) would have taken advantage.
So it was fair to wonder which side would make the fewer lapses this day.

The answer here was A. C. Milan. They won by 2-4.
They started out with attacking impetus. In the fifth minute, Filippo Inzaghi got to the right corner of the goalkeeper's box, but his shot missed the left post on the ground by one foot.
Boca Juniors' first opportunity came in the eleventh minute. Alvaro Gonzalez got to a loose ball in the Milan penalty box ten yards out on the right center. With Milan goalkeeper Dida running back to the center of his goal, he topped his salvo, rolling it meekly across the box where it was summarily swept out.
Milan had most of the possession in this span. However, most of their shots were not getting through to Boca GK Mauricio Caranta; being blocked by Boca defenders.
On a counterattack in the twenty-first minute, Boca's Martin Palermo cut inside a defender near the top of the box in the center, but his shot was underpowered, making for a simple save by Dida.

In the ensuing play (but I do not consider it a counterattack), Milan came back up the pitch and scored through F. Inzaghi. Milan's Andrea Pirlo dribbled into the left side of the penalty box; tried one cross which was blocked, but the carom came back to his left foot, and he instantly retried. This time, the ball went through. With Boca defenders having reacted to A. Pirlo's incursion, an open F. Inzaghi just to the right of the penalty spot made swift work of sinking the ball into the net.

Were Boca trying to lull their opponent to sleep? On the kickoff came the most cohesive foray of the game for them. Neri Cardozo earned a free kick deep on the left wing. The restart was a cross into the box where Rodrigo Palacio got his head to it and bounced it down and past Dida for the levelling goal, only one minute later.

Boca entered a period when they had more possession. Now it was Milan defenders blocking shots and thwarting passes. Boca's best opportunity to take the lead was in the thirty-third minute when N. Cardozo beat his marker at the edge of the penalty box on the left center, and blazed off a shot. But it was blocked by a sliding Kakha Kaladze for a left wing corner kick. (The corner was unfruitful.)
In the fourty-fourth minute, Milan's Clarence Seedorf dribbled the ball a third of the pitch, and culminated with a shot from twenty-four yards out in the center. It was saved by M. Caranta. Halftime came 1-1.

Whatever A. C. Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti uttered at halftime; it was effective. From the kickoff of the second half, Milan seemingly tilted the pitch toward the Boca goal. They finally cashed in in the fiftieth minute when a C. Seedorf cross from the right wing eight yards from the end line was spilled to where Alessandro Nesta [a defender] goaled first-time to the upper left corner.
Milan did not experience a letdown after this score. In the fifty-sixth minute, some keen work on the right side resulted in a cross which presented Kaka (who won not only the adidas® Golden Ball in the tournament, but was announced as F.I.F.A.'s World Player of the Year the next day in Zurich, Switzerland) with a sterling chance in the center of the box near the penalty spot. A goal-saving block was made by Boca's Gabriel Paletta.
A huge amount of the traffic on the pitch was going Milan's way until a giveaway in the offensive midfield let Boca loose on a counter. With much space, Hugo Ibarra let loose a shot from just inside the penalty box on the right center. It hit the left post and caromed back toward the center of the pitch. But Boca's M. Palermo could not get his leg to the ball with Dida down & out.

The key {next} goal of the match instead went Milan's way. In the culmination of Boca's salvo from the previous seconds; a Milan player went to the pitch, injured, in the left defensive midfield. Milan took possession of the ball. I suspect Boca expected the ball to be played into touch so that the medical staff could inspect him.
But Milan played through. A medium ball was played out of midfield by A. Pirlo to an incoming Kaka on the left edge of the penalty box. He angled toward the goal, and shot from a steep angle from five yards. M. Caranta could not quickly close the gap between his legs, and it squirted through into his net. [sixty-first minute]

Boca were compelled to push more players forward. But they were confronted by a Milan defensive set which was compacting their half of the pitch.
In the seventieth minute, Boca's R. Palacio, on the left center, succeeded in chipping his defender and getting a good angle on the net. But he hit his second-touch salvo over the crossbar from twelve yards.

Milan put the outcome beyond doubt in the following minute. A very crisp passing play, with succinct and precise one- & two-touch passes, down the right wing, found C. Seedorf drawing two Boca defenders to him, and then sliding off a pass to F. Inzaghi at the edge of the goalkeeper's box for a simple tap-in goal.
Milan nearly made it five in the seventy-fourth minute when, on a free kick from twenty yards, A. Pirlo's restart was struck; the Boca wall leaped; the ball went under them; but it missed the left post by two feet.

Milan were reduced to ten players in the seventy-eighth minute when K. Kaladze was shown the red card for an attempted injurious tackle (from behind) in the center just outside the box. Boca's resultant free kick went over the crossbar.
One minute later, a Boca right wing corner kick was headed onto the net by R. Palacio, and it found Dida pouncing away from it, but by an insufficient distance that he was able to save it with his stacked legs.
In the eighty-second minute, Boca's S. Battaglia forayed a shot from twenty yards on the left wing, targeting the left (near) post. It was saved by Dida.

Boca finally got their consolation goal in the eighty-fifth minute. A cross was played into the box. The initial shot by N. Cardozo was blocked. The carom was reached by A. Gonzalez. His shot from close range was saved by Dida, but he spilled a juicy rebound. Pablo Ledesma got to it and shot for the right (far) post. The ball deflected off Milan's Massimo Ambrosini, and went into the net at the left (near) post.
Upon post-match review, this goal, which was then accredited as an “own goal” through M. Ambrosini, was re-credited to P. Ledesma. I agree with this re-credit. The angle of the deflection was less than ninety degrees, and there was no possession of the ball by M. Ambrosini.
P. Ledesma was himself sent off in the eighty-eighth minute for a rash challenge.
But that was it. The match ended 2-4 for A. C. Milan.

A. C. Milan become the first European side to win this tournament since it expanded to include the other four Confederations of F.I.F.A. The six goals in the final far surpass the previous Finals, both of which ended 1-zero.
Attendance for this match (and its curtain-raiser; the match for third place, which was won by Urawa Red Diamonds by 6-4 on penalties over Etoile Sportive du Sahel [2-2]) was a sell out = 68,263.

Some attribute the higher attendances at this year's tournament to Urawa's qualification for it. Interestingly, F.I.F.A. had modified the bracket for this year by adding a seventh side to the tournament. It was ostensibly going to be the J. League (domestic) regular season champion [the J. League season ends the last weekend in November] playing-off against the champion of Oceania. But when Urawa earned the Asian championship, the side they defeated in the final round, Sepahan (Iran), were substituted into that spot.
When Sepahan defeated the Oceania champions, Waitakere United (New Zealand), they received a third match versus Urawa. Urawa defeated them again by 3-1.

If you desire more details and statistics about this match, or any other match in the finals, please visit FIFA.com's English-language wing.

North America's side in this final, Pachuca F. C. (Mexico) were the surprise victims of the tournament. They lost to Etoile Sportive du Sahel by zero-1 on an eighty-fifth minute goal by Moussa Narry; and were back in Mexico by Monday the tenth. I certainly hope CONCACAF notes this setback and reconfigures its qualification process to remove or reduce the unearned advantage Mexican sides have had in it. (Compelling the U.S.A.'s sides from Major League Soccer to have to begin the qualifying rounds in February - two months before their regular season begins - but in the middle of the Mexican League's Torneo Clausura round - seems keenly unsporting, if not conspiratorial.)