After routing Real Madrid in Club World Cup, PSG eyes Chelsea and historic quadruple

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Wearing their blue, red and white jerseys, Paris Saint-Germain supporters were surrounded by white shirts.

Real Madrid fans were 95% of the crowd at MetLife Stadium for Wednesday's Club World Cup semifinal, the shirts of Los Blancos radiant in the harsh summer sun. Yet, it was PSG fans in a couple sections behind one goal who cheered virtually from start to finish as their team moved within one win of a historic quadruple.

A 4-0 rout of Real Madrid in a Club World Cup semifinal following a 5-0 wipeout of Inter Milan in the Champions League final reinforced that PSG may be the dominant soccer team of the mid-2020s.

“We have always said that the collective work by the players is what’s helping us,” said Fabián Ruiz, who scored twice as PSG built a three-goal lead in the first 24 minutes. “We are a great group, a young group that is working well.”

PSG moved on to Sunday's final against Chelsea in the first expanded Club World Cup with a chance to win its fourth major title of the season exactly 100 days after it clinched Ligue 1 on April 5. It added the Coupe de France by beating Reims 3-0 on May 24, then romped over Inter seven days later.

PSG's blue, red and white jerseys don't have glamorous names pressed across the back, and they may not be as ubiquitous as the the red shirts of Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal, Manchester City's light blue or Chelsea's royal blue, but the team is filling up the trophy display at Parc des Princes, its cramped, outdated stadium not far from Roland-Garros and the Bois de Boulogne.

On May 31 at Munich, Achraf Hakimi got the first goal 12 minutes in, Désiré Doué scored the next two and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Senny Mayulu added one goal each.

This time, Ruiz scored in the sixth minute and Ousmane Dembélé in the ninth following glaring mistakes by defenders Raúl Asencio and Antonio Rüdiger, and Ruiz made it 3-0 to cap a counter. Gonçalo Ramos added a goal in the 87th.

Dembélé, this year's Ligue 1 Golden Boot winner with 21 goals, started for the first time since straining his left quadriceps with France on June 5. He missed the Club World Cup group stage and was a substitute in PSG's first two knockout matches, scoring in second-half injury time during Saturday's 2-0 quarterfinal win over Bayern Munich.

“This is the first match in this World Cup that we can use Usman as a normal player," PSG coach Luis Enrique said. “I think he is the best player this season by a long term and I think he deserves to win everything because he gave everything to the team and the team is going to achieve trophies, which is the most important thing for a club.”

Real Madrid has 15 European and five world titles, a modern global superpower brand established two decades ago in the Galacticos era of David Beckham, Zinedine Zidane and Luis Figo, then lifted loftier by Cristiano Ronaldo from 2009-18 and the rise of social media.

PSG hadn't won a Ligue 1 title since 1995 when Qatar Sports Investments took over in 2011. Paris has won 11 of 13 French championships since 2013 but until May failed to become Europe's best, despite emulating Madrid's star collection when its lineup included Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappé.

A group achieved more than the star system.

“We've all made history, that is, the players, the staff, the sports director, the managers, the fans, we've all made history,” Enrique, hired in July 2023, said through an interpreter.

PSG dominated every aspect with a 631-255 advantage in completed passes and 67% possession, including 76.5% in the first half.

“It's a painful defeat. We were not up to standard today,” Real coach Xabi Alonso through an interpreter.

PSG has outscored opponents 16-1 in six matches, getting three goals from Ruiz, two each from Dembele, Hakimi and João Neves, and one apiece from Doué, Lee Kang-in, Kvaratskhelia, Mayulu, Ramos and Vitinha. It hasn't allowed a goal since a 1-0 loss to Botofogo in its second group-stage match.

“We’re truly happy to be in another final. Now we have to enjoy it because we’re doing something historic,” Ruiz said. “It’s very difficult to reach every final this season, and now we’re one step away.”

AP freelance writer Nuria Diaz Muñoz contributed to this report.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

PSG fans cheer their team during the Club World Cup semifinal soccer match between PSG and Real Madrid in East Rutherford, N.J., Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

Paris Saint-Germain fans cheer after Goncalo Ramos scored during the Club World Cup semifinal soccer match between PSG and Real Madrid in East Rutherford, N.J., Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

Paris Saint-Germain's Fabian Ruiz celebrates with team mates after scoring his side's third goal during the Club World Cup semifinal soccer match between PSG and Real Madrid in East Rutherford, N.J., Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

Paris Saint-Germain fans cheer during the Club World Cup semifinal soccer match between PSG and Real Madrid in East Rutherford, N.J., Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

Paris Saint-Germain's Fabian Ruiz celebrates with team mate Khvicha Kvaratskhelia after scoring his side's opening goal during the Club World Cup semifinal soccer match between PSG and Real Madrid in East Rutherford, N.J., Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

A group of Buddhist monks and their rescue dog are striding single file down country roads and highways across the South, captivating Americans nationwide and inspiring droves of locals to greet them along their route.

In their flowing saffron and ocher robes, the men are walking for peace. It's a meditative tradition more common in South Asian countries, and it's resonating now in the U.S., seemingly as a welcome respite from the conflict, trauma and politics dividing the nation.

Their journey began Oct. 26, 2025, at a Vietnamese Buddhist temple in Texas, and is scheduled to end in mid-February in Washington, D.C., where they will ask Congress to recognize Buddha’s day of birth and enlightenment as a federal holiday. Beyond promoting peace, their highest priority is connecting with people along the way.

“My hope is, when this walk ends, the people we met will continue practicing mindfulness and find peace,” said the Venerable Bhikkhu Pannakara, the group’s soft-spoken leader who is making the trek barefoot. He teaches about mindfulness, forgiveness and healing at every stop.

Preferring to sleep each night in tents pitched outdoors, the monks have been surprised to see their message transcend ideologies, drawing huge crowds into churchyards, city halls and town squares across six states. Documenting their journey on social media, they — and their dog, Aloka — have racked up millions of followers online. On Saturday, thousands thronged in Columbia, South Carolina, where the monks chanted on the steps of the State House and received a proclamation from the city's mayor, Daniel Rickenmann.

At their stop Thursday in Saluda, South Carolina, Audrie Pearce joined the crowd lining Main Street. She had driven four hours from her village of Little River, and teared up as Pannakara handed her a flower.

“There’s something traumatic and heart-wrenching happening in our country every day,” said Pearce, who describes herself as spiritual, but not religious. “I looked into their eyes and I saw peace. They’re putting their bodies through such physical torture and yet they radiate peace.”

Hailing from Theravada Buddhist monasteries across the globe, the 19 monks began their 2,300 mile (3,700 kilometer) trek at the Huong Dao Vipassana Bhavana Center in Fort Worth.

Their journey has not been without peril. On Nov. 19, as the monks were walking along U.S. Highway 90 near Dayton, Texas, their escort vehicle was hit by a distracted truck driver, injuring two monks. One of them lost his leg, reducing the group to 18.

This is Pannakara's first trek in the U.S., but he's walked across several South Asian countries, including a 112-day journey across India in 2022 where he first encountered Aloka, an Indian Pariah dog whose name means divine light in Sanskrit.

Then a stray, the dog followed him and other monks from Kolkata in eastern India all the way to the Nepal border. At one point, he fell critically ill and Pannakara scooped him up in his arms and cared for him until he recovered. Now, Aloka inspires him to keep going when he feels like giving up.

“I named him light because I want him to find the light of wisdom,” Pannakara said.

The monk's feet are now heavily bandaged because he's stepped on rocks, nails and glass along the way. His practice of mindfulness keeps him joyful despite the pain from these injuries, he said.

Still, traversing the southeast United States has presented unique challenges, and pounding pavement day after day has been brutal.

“In India, we can do shortcuts through paddy fields and farms, but we can’t do that here because there are a lot of private properties,” Pannakara said. “But what’s made it beautiful is how people have welcomed and hosted us in spite of not knowing who we are and what we believe.”

In Opelika, Alabama, the Rev. Patrick Hitchman-Craig hosted the monks on Christmas night at his United Methodist congregation.

He expected to see a small crowd, but about 1,000 people showed up, creating the feel of a block party. The monks seemed like the Magi, he said, appearing on Christ’s birthday.

“Anyone who is working for peace in the world in a way that is public and sacrificial is standing close to the heart of Jesus, whether or not they share our tradition,” said Hitchman-Craig. “I was blown away by the number of people and the diversity of who showed up.”

After their night on the church lawn, the monks arrived the next afternoon at the Collins Farm in Cusseta, Alabama. Judy Collins Allen, whose father and brother run the farm, said about 200 people came to meet the monks — the biggest gathering she’s ever witnessed there.

“There was a calm, warmth and sense of community among people who had not met each other before and that was so special,” she said.

Long Si Dong, a spokesperson for the Fort Worth temple, said the monks, when they arrive in Washington, plan to seek recognition of Vesak, the day which marks the birth and enlightenment of the Buddha, as a national holiday.

“Doing so would acknowledge Vesak as a day of reflection, compassion and unity for all people regardless of faith,” he said.

But Pannakara emphasized that their main goal is to help people achieve peace in their lives. The trek is also a separate endeavor from a $200 million campaign to build towering monuments on the temple’s 14-acre property to house the Buddha’s teachings engraved in stone, according to Dong.

The monks practice and teach Vipassana meditation, an ancient Indian technique taught by the Buddha himself as core for attaining enlightenment. It focuses on the mind-body connection — observing breath and physical sensations to understand reality, impermanence and suffering. Some of the monks, including Pannakara, walk barefoot to feel the ground directly and be present in the moment.

Pannakara has told the gathered crowds that they don't aim to convert people to Buddhism.

Brooke Schedneck, professor of religion at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee, said the tradition of a peace walk in Theravada Buddhism began in the 1990s when the Venerable Maha Ghosananda, a Cambodian monk, led marches across war-torn areas riddled with landmines to foster national healing after civil war and genocide in his country.

“These walks really inspire people and inspire faith,” Schedneck said. “The core intention is to have others watch and be inspired, not so much through words, but through how they are willing to make this sacrifice by walking and being visible.”

On Thursday, Becki Gable drove nearly 400 miles (about 640 kilometers) from Cullman, Alabama, to catch up with them in Saluda. Raised Methodist, Gable said she wanted some release from the pain of losing her daughter and parents.

“I just felt in my heart that this would help me have peace,” she said. “Maybe I could move a little bit forward in my life.”

Gable says she has already taken one of Pannakara’s teachings to heart. She’s promised herself that each morning, as soon as she awakes, she’d take a piece of paper and write five words on it, just as the monk prescribed.

“Today is my peaceful day.”

Freelance photojournalist Allison Joyce contributed to this report.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Buddhist monks who are participating in the, "Walk For Peace," get lunch Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)

Aloka rests with Buddhist monks who are participating in the, "Walk For Peace," Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)

A sign is seen greeting the Buddhist monks who are participating in the, "Walk For Peace," Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)

Supporters pray with Buddhist monks who are participating in the, "Walk For Peace," Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)

Supporters watch Buddhist monks who are participating in the, "Walk For Peace," Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)

A Buddhist monk ties a prayer bracelet around the wrist of Josey Lee, 2-months-old, during the, "Walk For Peace," Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)

Bhikkhu Pannakara, a spiritual leader, speaks to supporters during the, "Walk For Peace," Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)

Buddhist monks participate in the, "Walk For Peace," Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)

Buddhist monks participate in the, "Walk For Peace," Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)

Bhikkhu Pannakara leads other buddhist monks in the, "Walk For Peace," Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)

Audrie Pearce greets Buddhist monks who are participating in the, "Walk For Peace," Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)

Bhikkhu Pannakara, a spiritual leader, speaks to supporters during the, "Walk For Peace," Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)

Buddhist monks who are participating in the, "Walk For Peace," arrive in Saluda, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)

Buddhist monks who are participating in the, "Walk For Peace," are seen with their dog, Aloka, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)