ggyes

Manure ownership and Sir Alex cared about the Intercontinental Cup more than those players.
IF (and I so wish Palmeiras had beaten Manure) the Mancs had not won then, English teams would have have NEVER won the Intercontinetal Cup. English teams lost all 5 times before Manure won.
In fact (and to show the above is true) Manure did not defend their FA Cup trophy in order to compete in the inaugural FIFA Club World Championship in Brazil.
They cared about global trophies.
 
BTW, post 1983 (so the last 21 Intercontinental Cups) Brasilian teams only won it twice (those superb early 1990s Sao Paulo sides won it back to back in 1992 and 1993).

“Palmeiras não tem Mundial”
We (Chelsea) also got big stick, as we were the only European club to lose the FWCC (2012 v Corinthians with Rafa the FSW bollocksing up the game) since the era of the 'stacked' Brasilian teams ended in 2006 (Brasilian sides won the first 3).
By 2007 and onward there were no longer any truly great Brasilian club sides, due to most of the best Brasilian players leaving for UEFA teams (something that had been already happening, but had really kicked in by 2007).
Post 2006, for the next 10 FWCC's, only TWO Brasilian sides even made the final (2011, when Santos was destroyed 4 nil by that insane Pep Barca side, and of course 20212 where we choked against Corinthians)

 
From 2007, non stop through the most recent one, in 2023 (Citeh won), we were the ONLY UEFA team to play in the FWCC and did not win it.
 

no old Intercotinental Cup either
you did win the first Copa Rio (only 2 were played, 1951 and 1952)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copa_Rio_(international_tournament)
The Copa Rio (English: Rio Cup) was the first international club football tournament with teams from Europe and South America, having been held on two occasions, in 1951 and 1952, in Brazil. Both editions were organised and endorsed by the Brazilian Sports Confederation (Confederação Brasileira de Desportos), the then Brazilian FA and sports main body. The tournament is often regarded in Brazil as an official tournament, at least as far as the Brazilian clubs are concerned (since 1955, FIFA Statutes do not regard international club competitions endorsed uniquely by national football associations as being official).[1][2][note 1][note 2][note 3] The name Copa Rio, Portuguese for Rio Cup, was a homage to Rio de Janeiro City. The 1951 edition of the competition was also hailed as "Club World Cup" or "World Champions Cup" by the Brazilian FA and press. Though some previous club competitions (Football World Championship, Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy, Coupe des Nations) may have been hailed as "the club world contest", Copa Rio was the first attempt at creating a Club World Cup with intercontinental reach.
Two editions of the Copa Rio were held, in 1951 and 1952. Brazilian club Palmeiras won the 1951 tournament, and Fluminense, also from Brazil and co-organizer of the 1952 edition, won the competition in 1952 (CBD, the Brazilian FA, entitled Fluminense to organise the 1952 tournament as part of its 50th anniversary celebrations- the second edition of the tournament was originally scheduled to 1953, but was advanced to 1952 for the aforementioned anniversary celebrations). In 1951 and 1952, Copa Rio suffered the concurrence of the Latin Cup, as some European clubs declined to participate in the former in order to participate in the latter; in 1952, Copa Rio suffered the concurrence of the 1952 Small Club World Cup, as Millonarios and Real Madrid declined to participate in the former in order to participate in the latter. The 1951-1952 Copa Rio was succeeded by another intercontinental club cup organised by the Brazilian FA, the 1953 Torneio Octogonal Rivadavia Correa Meyer, which was then often referred to also as Copa Rio by the European press, which was won by Vasco da Gama from Brazil. In 1953, the Uruguayan FA launched their own intercontinental club cup, based on Copa Rio, and named Copa Montevideo, having been played in Uruguay in 1953 and 1954, won respectively by Nacional and Peñarol. The last attempt of the Brazilian FA to create an intercontinental club cup occurred in 1955, with the Charles Miller Trophy won by Corinthians,the same year the European Cup emerged and became the main international priority of the European football clubs. In 1960, the International Soccer League rose in the USA as another attempt at creating a "Club World Cup" along the lines of Copa Rio, but, as a "world-champions honour", it was overshadowed in importance by the Intercontinental Cup.

from February 2022:
biggest Cup final in the Roman era other than the 3 CL's and the 2 Europa Leagues
so much pressure after blowing the 2012 FWCC
I am so fucking nervous due to Palmeiras quality and thirst for the world championship
they want it more than any other club on planet
the only giant SA and Euro clubs (who have won the CL or Copa Libertadores. so Citeh and PSG do not count) who have never won either the Intercontinental Cup or the FWCC and played in the FWCC era are
Chelsea
Palmeiras (lost both the IC and FWCC)

Vasco da Gama (sort of make the list due to 2 Brasil teams (and 2 UEFA clubs, Real Madrid and Manure, the only 2 Euro clubs to not make the final game, Manure did not even medal, Real lost the 3rd place game) in the 2000 FWCC, they made it (and lost the final to Corinthians) as they won the Copa Libertadores in 1998 and were invited to the initial FWCC, after losing the Intercontinental Cup in 1998)
 
If you go back to historically huge clubs (pre FWCC era) and who played in the Intercontinental Cup and never won it then you can include
Portugal Benfica    —    2    —    1961, 1962
Brazil Cruzeiro    —    2    —    1976, 1997
Germany Borussia Mönchengladbach    —    1    —    1977
England Nottingham Forest    —    1    —    1980
England Aston Villa    —    1    —    1982
Germany Hamburger SV    —    1    —    1983
PSV Eindhoven    —    1    —    1988
 
6 of the big 7 Argentinian teams have won the IC (Boca Juniors, Independiente, Estudiantes, River Plate, Racing Club, Vélez Sarsfield) San Lorenzo never did, they never played in it, but they did play in the FWCC (and lost, in 2014) Argentian were the dominat nation in the IC, but have lost the FWCC all 5 times they had teams in it
Both big Uruguay (Penerol and Nacional) won the IC multiple times, Nacional won all 3 times they made it
England were fucking HORRID 1 lone win (Manure 1999), 5 losses (Pool 2, Manure, Aston Villa, and Forest once)

It's peculiar how some Europeans perceive this trophy. As a Palmeiras fan, if Palmeiras had beaten Chelsea, it would have been by far the best day of my life. What I celebrated when we drew... We get mocked EVERY SINGLE DAY for not having this trophy. No kidding. Since Chelsea lost to our biggest rival, we've been mocked day and night for not having it. We're by far the biggest Brazilian champion, the Brazilian record holder in the Libertadores, one of the biggest Copa do Brasil champions, but except for our fans, few respect us for not having the CWC.