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Club World Cup players all have the same concern about FIFA tournament - 'Impossible'

 Players at the Club World Cup have serious concerns over the sweltering heat they are being forced to play in. FIFA's new-look tournament kicked off on Saturday at the height of summer in host country the United States of America.

The Premier League are represented by Manchester City and Chelsea. The Blues get their tournament underway on Monday night against Los Angeles FC, while City will take on Wydad AC in Philadelphia on Wednesday.

That game at Lincoln Financial Field will kick-off at midday Eastern Time, with temperatures expected to exceed 30 degrees Celcius. In preparation, City boss Guardiola has been holding long training sessions in his side's Florida base.

Last Friday, their session lasted nearly two hours in temperatures surpassing 32 degrees Celcius. English clubs are of course not used to playing in the scorching summer heat.

And City star Tijjani Reijnders has admitted that the players are feeling weary ahead of Wednesday's game. But the Dutchman has insisted that the City squad will be ready to deal with the heat.

"It's going to be hard. There are a lot of good teams [in the tournament] and the weather is very hot," Reijnders said. "We're getting used to it and we'll be ready for Wednesday. We take it very seriously. We want to win every tournament we play. This is nothing different."

Reijnders is far from the only player to cite the heat as a major issue. Atletico Madrid's heavy defeat to Paris Saint-Germain at the weekend was played in 40 degree Celcius, with both camps citing heat as an issue.

Atletico midfielder Marcos Llorente sounded the most alarming warning. He said: "It's impossible. It's terribly hot. My toes were sore, my nails were hurting. I couldn't stop or start. In the end, it's incredible. Since it's the same for everyone, there's no complaint."

PSG boss Luis Enrique is also concerned games could be decided by the heat. He added: "The match was clearly influenced by the temperature. The timing is great for European fans, but the teams are suffering."

One of the French side's scorers Vitinha pointed to the heat as the source of Atletico's issues. He said: "Of course, it's difficult. It's for both teams. It might be a bit harder for Atlético because they don't have the ball.

"For me, it's harder to run after the ball. It's hot here today at this time. I'm all red. It was really difficult, but we're trying to recover as much as possible because at this point in the season, it can be decisive."

FIFA has had protocols in place for hot weather Club World Cups since 2014, but the procedure allows for only "cooling breaks," which mean players can take on extra fluids once in each half if the pitch temperature average of heat and humidity exceeds 32 Celsius.

During last year's Copa América, which was also held in the United States, there were two incidents of heat-related dehydration.

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