Juve, from embarrassment to celebration. Offside in Trump's show. Kolo Muani and Yildiz for the goleada

by Lorenzo LonghiKolo Muani, Yildiz, Conceição: there would be an embarrassment of riches in describing the protagonists of the debut of the not yet new Juventus of the confirmed Igor Tudor at Club World Cup, because the 5-0 against the Emirati team Al-Ain in Washington, beyond the beneficial effects on the Bianconeri's group standings in terms of qualification, also brought with it a series of answers that were certainly interesting, even if the questions (read: opponents) were certainly not that challenging.

Yet the embarrassment of choice was soon replaced by the choice of embarrassment, which, on a global scale, involved the club - and, in a certain sense, also overwhelmed it, from a media point of view - when, in the context of a courtesy invitation to the White House, organized by FIFA president Gianni Infantino, the Juventus delegation present at the Oval Office (with John Elkann, Chiellini, Tudor, Locatelli, Gatti, Vlahovic and the Americans Weah and McKennie, who also went on the pitch wearing the captain's armband) found themselves acting as a backdrop, in official clothes, for a press conference in which Donald Trump he found himself talking about Iran, Israel and war. Now: Trump limited himself to a couple of football jokes sufficient to denote a limping knowledge, phrases of circumstance, but the black and white lineup at the time of the hot topics, in addition to being unusual, was alienating, and the effect terrible. A situation that could not go unnoticed and that, in fact, was taken up by all the international media: the faces of the players signaled a clear discomfort, and the very choice of the black and white club (at least until yesterday evening) not to post anything about the match on the usually prolific social channels, says a lot about the feeling of having been caught in the middle. "They told us - explained Weah - that we had to go, I had no choice and it took me by surprise. It was a bit strange. When he started talking about politics, for me it was something like: 'Hey, I just want to play football, man'". Him yes, them yes: Trump no.

Now, it was not Juventus' first visit to the White House (it had already been received by Bush Sr., and the relationship between Gianni Agnelli and Henry Kissinger is well-known), but never, quite clearly, had a situation like this occurred.

The pitch, a few hours later, put things right, for those who just wanted to play football. On the pitch of the Audi Field in Washington, we saw a Juventus that, clearly stronger than the opponent, attacked right away, showing a convincing game and also, however, a few too many defensive errors. Al-Ain really didn't do much - Rui Patricio aside - but the Bianconeri needed a match like that (4-0 already in the first half, one goal more beautiful than the other: a brace from Kolo Muani, goals from Yildiz and Conceição, the latter then also scoring in the second half) above all from a psychological point of view, to begin a journey that, although in continuity with the one closed with the qualification for the Champions League, must then lead to a rebirth. And, then, among the positive notes there was one in particular, perhaps unexpected: the performance of an Alberto Costa almost like Cancelo. A sign that, perhaps, not everything last season was wrong. But a lot, too much, yes.