The Australian winger hobbled out with a groin ailment midway through the first half, but he managed to receive the winner’s medal. The Argentine striker scored twice for the Italians but ultimately lost.
They are playing against each other in a continental final on Saturday, but this time they are the head coaches, and their paths to get here have also been extremely different.
Crespo is the coach of the United Arab Emirates’ dominant team, Al Ain. On Saturday, they play Japan’s Yokohama F. Marinos, under Kewell. This is the first leg of the Asian Champions League
Two weeks later, the action shifts to the oasis city of Al Ain, which is located on the Omani border, from Nissan Stadium, the site of the 2002 World Cup final.
It may come as less of a surprise that Crespo is only 180 minutes away from a continental championship—which, as a player, he never achieved, with 2005 being as near as he came—and a spot in the expanded Fifa Club World Cup in 2025 than his opponent.
