Sao Paulo wins Club World Championship

Liverpool missed the chances. Sao Paulo scored the goal.

Sao Paulo won the Club World Championship on Sunday, beating overwhelming favorite Liverpool 1-0 on a 27th-minute goal by Mineiro for the South American champions.

Sao Paulo won this event in 1992 and 1993 when it was called the World Club Cup. It defeated Barcelona and AC Milan in earlier finals before stopping Liverpool in the title game of this six-team tournament.

In the third-place game, Ronald Gomez scored on a free kick with a minute to go and Deportivo Saprissa of Costa Rica rallied past Al Ittihad of Saudi Arabia 3-2 with two late goals.

Mineiro's goal was the first Liverpool -- winner of the Champions League -- had conceded in 12 league and cup games. The goal came when Cicinho played a through ball to Aloisio. He passed to Mineiro, who sidefooted the ball past goalkeeper Pepe Reina with Liverpool's defense appealing for offside.

"We did all the things we needed to do to win the game," Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez said. "If we played five more minutes the result could have been different."

Sao Paulo has a 3-0 record in the finals of this competition. Liverpool is winless with three defeats.

"Football is about having a winner and a loser," Sao Paulo coach Paulo Autuori said. "Liverpool is a great team, but the only thing that matters is the score."

Before a crowd of 66,821, Liverpool created plenty of chances and had three goals disallowed. Luis Garcia squandered four opportunities and Sao Paulo goalkeeper Rogerio Ceni made three standout saves.

"We knew in the first half we had to put a lot of pressure on the other team. But we also knew that our team had played more than 80 games in the season and we had to manage our strength."

Rogerio, who was honored as player of the tournament, saluted his teammates for adding a world title to its Copa Libertadores win.

"The real winner was the team," the Sao Paulo captain said. "In eight months we won two of the most important trophies. It was not the best game of my career, but it was the most important."

Benitez was angry with referee Benito Archundia for not ejecting Uruguayan defender Diego Lugano after he fouled Steven Gerrard, and for not adding on more than three minutes of injury time.

"I think that we deserved to win. We had 21 shots, 17 corners, hit two crossbars and three (disallowed) goals," said Benitez, who complained to FIFA president Sepp Blatter afterward.

"I am disappointed with the results," he added. "But I am very happy with my players about how they played."