By David Gold
December 14 – The Club World Cup in Japan has literally been rocked following an earthquake near Nagoya and the Toyota Stadium where Copa Libertadores champions Santos face local champions Kashiwa Reysol later today.
The 4.9 magnitude quake struck early on today, and was a reminder of the danger of natural disasters in a country which was devastated in March by an earthquake and tsunami.
Santos defender Danilo (pictured) took to Twitter to exclaim “wow wow” at the shock, along with Darío Carreño of Mexican side Monterrey, who said “what a big earthquake”.
FIFA has confirmed that there will be no change to the schedule for the competition, and there were no reports of damage or injuries in the immediate aftermath of the quake.
Pep Guardiola, coach of Barcelona – who face Al Sadd in their semi-final tomorrow – told FIFA.com earlier in the week that there was “nothing you can do about” an earthquake, reflecting on the disaster earlier this year.
“The only thing we can do is to try and anticipate adversity using technology and, afterwards, stay strong to try and come through ok,” he said.
Last weekend players at the Club World Cup paid tribute to the 20,000 victims of March’s earthquake.
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