A night after the South American champion was beaten by TP Mazembe of Africa in the semifinals, the European champion did what it is expected to do:

Crush its opponents.

Final score: Inter Milan 3, Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma 0.

This one was over almost before it started.

Inter’s Dejan Stankovic surged forward from his defender spot and scored in the third minute — and that included at least two minutes of Wesley Sneijder grimacing on the grass with a pulled hamstring. Actually, Inter scored on its first surge toward goal, three passes and a nice finish.

Inter had another from a defender, captain Javier Zanetti, before halftime, and knocked in a third in the 73rd minute, and that was that.

Thing is, despite Mazembe’s stunning, 2-0 upset of Internacional of Brazil, I was convinced Seongnam, the Asian champions from South Korea, were the better side. And Inter nuked ’em.

Which doesn’t bode well for Mazembe, most everyone’s favorite semifinalist, given their hard-luck story (being born and still living in the Congo, Democratic Republic version) and their passionate and colorful fans, who showed up with a brass band and some really cool tribal outfits.

I’m thinking Inter goes medieval on Mazembe on Saturday night, when the final is contested. It would be fun if it didn’t go down that way … but the fun is about to end.

The other match was the fifth-place game between Al Wahda of the UAE and Pachuca of Mexico. Al Wahda was 10 minutes way from a significant victory when it went brain-dead, continuing to attack despite being down to 10 men. Pachuca’s Argentine forward Daio Cvitanich scored twice, the match went to a shootout, and Wahda lost it 4-2.

All they had to do was pack it in for 10 minutes, and the local guys could have left the Club World Cup with two victories over continental champions — Oceania and North America. Oops.