Phil Foden on Wednesday scored two minutes into the match and later had an assist to lead Premier League powerhouse Manchester City past Moroccan club Wydad AC 2-0 at the FIFA Club World Cup.
City broke Wydad’s five-man defensive line early when Foden scored on a deflected cross by goalkeeper El Mehdi Benabid.
Jeremy Doku doubled City’s lead in the 42nd minute off a corner-kick from Foden.
Photo: AFP
Shortly afterward, an animal-rights advocate ran onto the field to protest Morocco’s treatment of stray dogs and cats. The man was tackled by security workers and escorted out of Lincoln Financial Field, which was just over half full with 37,446 people in attendance.
There was another brief stoppage in the second half after a Wydad supporter threw a flare behind City’s goal.
In the 88th minute, Rico Lewis was shown a red card after a hard foul on Samuel Obeng, leaving City with 10 men on the field.
Photo: AFP
Lewis’ expulsion “is a shame because both of them go to the ground, he arrives first, touches the ball and by the inertia of going to the ground, he contacts him. Where’s the intention of hurting him? Zero,” Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said.
City summer signings Rayan Cherki and Tijjani Reijnders made their debuts as starters. The club’s other new signing, defender Rayan Ait-Nouri, did not play.
“I think we played a good game. The score wasn’t the score we wanted, but that’s football. We have to improve our mistakes and try to play and be better than this game to win the next one,” Wydad forward Samuel Obeng said.
Photo: AP
Manchester City lead Group G and face Al Ain on Sunday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia.
Wydad remain in Philadelphia, where they face another tough opponent in Juventus, who on Wednesday beat Emirati club Al Ain 5-0.
Randal Kolo Muani and Francisco Conceicao both scored twice as the young guns of Juventus made a statement in their opener with a dominant win.
Kolo Muani grabbed both of his goals in the first half and Conceicao scored either side of the break, while Turkey forward Kenan Yildiz also found the net as Juventus dazzled the crowd at Audi Field with some mesmeric play.
“I’m very happy to win the game, the team played a great game so we’re happy and now we’ll get ready for the next game,” Kolo Muani said. “I finished last season well and we’ve started this good as well.”
The victory sent Juventus top of Group G level on three points with Manchester City
In Miami Gardens, Xabi Alonso got off to a disappointing start at Real Madrid as the Spanish giants were held to a 1-1 draw by Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal.
In his first game as coach of the 15-time European champions, Alonso was denied victory when Federico Valverde’s stoppage-time penalty was saved.
The spot-kick looked like it would hand Madrid — and Alonso — a late reprieve after being pushed all the way at Hard Rock Stadium by Al Hilal under new coach Simone Inzaghi, but the Group H game ended tied, with Gonzalo Garcia scoring for Madrid in the 34th minute and Ruben Neves equalizing for Al Hilal from the penalty spot seven minutes later.
Madrid were given a chance at victory when the video assistant referee spotted a foul by Mohammed Alqahtani on Fran Garcia in the box.
Valverde stepped up to take the penalty two minutes into added-time, but he dropped to his knees after his low effort was saved by Yassine Bounou, sparking wild celebrations from the Al Hilal goalkeeper’s teammates.
In Cincinnati, Ohio, Karim Onisiwo scored a tiebreaking goal in the 76th minute to lead Salzburg to a 2-1 victory over CF Pachuca in the other Group H clash.
Oscar Gloukh, a 21-year-old midfielder, scored in the 42nd minute for Salzburg in a game played in front of a crowd of 5,282 at TQL Stadium.
Pachuca tied the game on a goal by Bryan Gonzalez.
With the victory, Salzburg rose to the top of Group H heading into their match against Al Hilal on Sunday.
Pachuca fell to the bottom ahead of their match against Real Madrid.
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