Monday sees Club World Cup latecomers, Los Angeles FC, take on the UEFA Conference League winners, Chelsea, in an intriguing match-up at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
After Club Leon were not permitted to enter the tournament due to rules on dual ownership, LAFC and Club America contested a playoff on May 31st, with the MLS side triumphing 2-1 (AET) against the Mexican giants.
Chelsea remain favourites for opening day victory
With just two weeks to prepare for a potentially gruelling tournament coming right in the middle of their domestic season, Steve Cherundolo and his LAFC side will clearly have to hit the ground running against the Blues before they face their other opponents in Group D, Tunis and Flamengo.
The West Londoners will go into the match as huge favourites, and in Cole Palmer, Chelsea have a potential match-winner.
Cole Palmer's stats for 2024/25Flashscore
Since his debut in 2023, only Liverpool's Mo Salah and Man City's Erling Haaland have been involved in more goal contributions than Palmer's 66 (40 goals, 26 assists).
Although the second half of the 2024/25 season wasn't the best for the England international - just three goals in the calendar year and only one after January 14th (as well as two assists) - Palmer did come good in the Conference League final where he became the first player to provide two assists in a European final for an English club since Juan Mata (for Chelsea) in 2013.
His quality isn't in question but he still has a point to prove to all the doubters in this tournament.
Cole Palmer isn't Chelsea's only threat
If LAFC concentrate too much on the influence that Palmer will have on the game, however, they run the risk of being outplayed by the likes of Pedro Neto, Noni Madueke and Nicolas Jackson et al.
Though there are undoubtedly more levels for Enzo Maresca's side to aspire to, Chelsea did show on many occasions already last season that they are a difficult proposition under the Italian.
Chelsea players training before the UEFA Conference League finalČTK / imago sportfotodienst / Maciej Rogowski
For example, in their last eight games in all competitions, only Newcastle managed to score against them more than once, with Chelsea keeping their opponents goalless in 10 of their last 18 fixtures.
Moises Caicedo recovered possession on no less than 229 occasions, the most of any player in the Premier League, so if the MLS outfit want to make any in-roads during the game, they have the difficult job of also trying to isolate the Ecuadorian, or simply fighting fire with fire - no easy task as many EPL midfielders will attest.
Giroud has another chance to improve on poor record
Olivier Giroud will surely be grateful for the chance to lay some ghosts of the past to bed in this game too.
The Frenchman, who played for the Blues from 2018 to 2021, and who has always had an eye for goal throughout his career, has never really got going in terms of goals when it comes to playing against the Stamford Bridge outfit.
Indeed, in 16 matches against Chelsea, he's scored a solitary goal - for Arsenal in February 2017 - and the West Londoners remain the only team he's played against at least 10 times and not scored two or more goals.
In Denis Bouanga, LAFC have another player with European pedigree and one who has been amongst the goals already this season. His eight (plus four assists) in 15 games makes him one to watch, and with 27 goals in all competitions last season too, Chelsea ignore him at their peril.
Former Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper, Hugo Lloris, is an ex-Premier League ace who gets the chance to renew an old rivalry, and surely nothing will give the French World Cup winner greater pleasure than to get one over on a club he's faced countless times in his career to date.
LAFC also have important MLS duties to attend to
Given that Chelsea would be expected to win the group, they will have to guard against complacency, and should they make it to the knockout rounds, Maresca then gets the chance to pit his wits against some of the best clubs in the world.
Whether a squad that is still emerging has enough to go all the way to the final and potentially win the trophy is a moot point; however, they'll clearly have as good a chance as any other by that stage.
For LAFC, getting past the group stage will afford them some financial reward, but with fixtures against Vancouver, Austin, Colorado and FC Dallas also due before the Club World Cup final is to be played, missing out might not be the worst thing in the world.
MLS remains their bread and butter, and already being nine points off the lead in the Western Conference is a significant enough reason to not be overly disappointed by an early exit from the CWC.
LAFC's next fixturesFlashscore
From FIFA's own point of view, a spectacle in line with the PSG vs Atletico game would be far more preferable than the 10-0 hammering dished out to Auckland City by Bayern Munich because that sort of one-sided affair gives the Club World Cup no credibility whatsoever.
Jason PettigroveFlashscore