Tonight, at the National Stadium in Tokyo, Etoile du Sahel of Tunisia beat Mexican champions Pachucha 1-0 with a late goal from Ghanaian midfielder Moussa Nary. Pachuca will be a bit annoyed at the whole thing, because they had the majority of the possession and had some excellent, intricate attacking play throughout the game, with Damian Alvarez showing his array of gifts.

Etoile however didn't give them much. Pachucha might have been able to string endless series of passes together, but about halfway through the first half it became clear that the final ball and end product were lacking from the Mexicans. Somehow whenever a cross, through pass or shooting chance arrived, there was always an Etoile player there to get a boot on it. For all their possession, Pachuca didn't create enough chances, and were eventually punished by Etoile.

The Tunisians didn't give a particularly glowing account of themselves, and were quite static and dull, although they made a concerted effort to be more attacking in the second half. They lacked runners from midfield, and one of their main attacking threats, the right-back Sabeur Frej had to stay back to guard the threat of Alvarez, supported by the roaming of Christian Gimenez and terrific overlapping runs of left-back Gerardo Rodriguez. In the mould of another rampaging Tunisian full-back, Trabelsi, Frej is an exciting player, and he's Etoile's top scorer. In this game however, he grew increasingly uncomfortable and irritable at having to sit deep, but had no choice with the midfield providing little protection. To compensate however, their solid left-back Hatem Bejaoui started to rampage forward, and with the rest of the midfielders and forwards raising their game, Etoile competed well.

The first real incident was in the 11th minute, Alvarez controlling and turning past 2 players, and then dribbling past a couple more to win a corner. Alvarez hung around on the left for most of the game, in a 4-3-3 or 4-4-1-1, and threatened throughout, often taking on the fullback, but moving into the centre to good effect as well.

A few minutes later, a Cristian Gimenez corner was dangerously close to the goal, and flicked up off the bar (via a touch from the 'keeper it seemed). The ball then fall to a Pachuca player who head it towards goal, but Etoile's goalie Aymen Balbouli suddenly materialised to produce a stupendous save from point-blank range.

Pachuca were the dominant side, and apart from a heroic punch clear by fan favourite Calero, Pachuca weren't troubled much. Gimenez was playing very deep for them, depriving them of a presence in the box, but dragging the midfielders and fullbacks everywhere.

In the 27th minute, good interplay saw Alvarez brought down on the edge of the box. The Pachuca players typically went searching for a penalty, and the Etoile players were calling for a dive, but eventually nothing came of it.

The Pachuca left-back Rodriguez was rampaging forward, and combining fantastically with Alvarez and Gimenez. In the 31st minute, he was played through on the left by Alvarez and delivered a fantastic cross, right onto the penalty spot where it was two Pachuca players and just one Etoile defender. However, it was a tricky one to control for the nearer attacker, and the miscontrolled ball bounced up onto the arm of the other Pachuca player, and a fantastic chance was wasted.

The half ended with little incident, but after the restart, a much more positive Sahel were the first ones to take the initiative, Madi Ben Dhifallah testing the keeper from 30 yards out with a crisp, curling shot - their first shot on target.

With 50 minutes gone, Alvarez then broke through on goal, edging past one defender, but being tackled by the second. It was all very fast-paced, but the defender got the ball right between Alvarez's feet, and the Argentine player tripped and rolled over in the penalty box, followed by the usual Latin American "Can we have a penalty? We should have a penalty!" scenario. Alvarez meanwhile stayed down, either through injury or the feigning of it, and the referee waited patiently for him to heal and then booked him for diving.

15 minutes later, Alvarez, Gimenez and Rodriguez combined with some exquisite football, and the left-back laid a perfect, pinpoint cross into the penalty box, to their star striker Juan Carlos Cacho. Cacho however opted to bring the ball down instead of trying to hit it first-time, and the Etoile defenders once again were in close attendance, and the chance was lost. It was poor play from Cacho, who had a very quiet night and was marked out of the game.

There was similar hesitation in the 71st minute. Etoile broke clear, and a brilliant touch from exciting youngster Armin Chermiti put his strike partner Dhifallah through on goal. Dhifallah however dithered, perhaps because he had to shoot with his weaker foot, and the extra touch he needed to set himself up saw Pinto get in a sliding block. A half-volley was what was needed there.

There was a massive scare 2 minutes later. Pachuca one a free-kick about 30 yards out, and just as he'd tried all night, Gimenez banged a shot in. Balbouli, who had looked nervous all night, made a complete hash of it, sticking out a weak flailing arm and pushing the ball straight back to the lingering Pachuca player, who tucked the ball away. Luckily for Balbouli the Pachuca player was offside, and his blushes were spared.

Alvarez was magical again in the 76th minute, exploding past the Tunisian full-back on the left, and putting in a neat, low cross that no one could get to. It was symptomatic of Pachuca's night, and that would be their last chance.

In the 84th minute, Etoile du Sahel put together their first real flowing move of the game, with the left-back, two strikers and right-back combining to give Ghanaian midfielder Moussa Narry the ball. Narry took a few touches to set himself, and drilled a low, hard shot across the goal, which deflected of defender Leobardo Lopez, and left Calero with no chance.

It was hard on Pachuca, who played so well, but as their coach graciously acknowledged after the game, if you don't score, you don't win.

Etoile will have to do a lot better in the next game when facing Boca, but at least they have a solid defensive base on which to operate from.

The last word goes to the Aussie ref Mark Shield, who had an excellent game. He didn't give anything that didn't need to be given, and he was never fooled by any of the antics. The Mexican press didn't like him (for not being Latin enough I suppose), but the coach was honest enough in accepting that he'd had a good game.

Etoile Sportive du Sahel of Tunisia take on Pachuca of Mexico this afternoon in the FIFA Japan 2007 Club World Cup. It's a rematch of last year's CAF Champions and CONCACAF Champions, but instead of Al-Ahly of Egypt and Club America of Mexico, it's these two.

So what are the main differences? Well Etoile are a much, smaller club than Ahly. Ahly are giants in Africa, having won the Champions League 5 times, compared to Etoile's one and only triumph in 2007. The Sahel side aren't even Tunisia's biggest team (that honour goes to Esperance), and their 2007 league win was their first since 1997. However, this glut of recent success also indicates that they are currently a very strong side.

As for the Mexicans? Well Pachuca are one of Mexico's oldest teams, although the slightly younger America are more colourful, popular and controversial. As far as recent success goes though, Pachuca have been much stronger. America arrived in Tokyo last year as CONCACAF Cup Champions, but without much domestic success to show for apart from a Clausura title in 2005. Pachuca on the other hand have won the Clausura titles for the last two years, and also became the first Mexican side to win an Intercontintenal tournament with the capture of the Copa Sudamericana in 2006.

As far as personnel goes, Ahly came here last year with Africa's best player (domestically) in Mohammed Abu Tarika, who excelled in the tournament. They also had temperamental Angolan striker Flavio, easy-does-it right-wing back Islam Al Shater, and mountainous centreback and former Blackburn trialist Wael Goma.

America had a few "big names" (i.e. washed-up or rejects from bigger leagues) in Cuauhtemoc Blanco, Nelson Cuevas, and Salvador Cabanas, as well as outstanding young 'keeper Guillermo Ochoa. However both Ahly and America had ageing lineups, with averages of close to 30 years.

Both Pachuca and Etoile are very young teams, with good attacking talent. Pachuca have Argentina maestro Damian Alvarez controlling their attack, with brainy Colombian Andres Chitiva helping to pull the string in midfield. The Pachuca #11 Juan Carlos Cacho is a young attacker with fantastic promise who gave Mexico excellent options at the recent Copa America, and is a really great talent. Fullback Fausto Pinto is another one to watch.

Etoile have a very young team full of African internationals. Scouts from all over Europe will be at the game to watch their young No. 9 Armine Chermiti, one of the hottest properties in African football at the moment. Their Cape Verde forward Gilson Silva Alves is another exciting attacker (although an erratic one), and Benin midfielder Muri Ogunbuyi is a real threat.

There's fantastic attacking talent on both sides, and this will be one of the better games in this tournament.