Manchester City hit Al-Ain for six on Sunday to secure a place in the last 16 of the FIFA Club World Cup after Real Madrid shrugged off an early red card to beat Mexican side Pachuca 3-1.
Juventus proved too strong for Wydad Casablanca while Red Bull Salzburg and Al-Hilal drew 0-0 as the second round of group games at the tournament concluded.
The match between City and Al-Ain in Atlanta, Georgia, was dubbed the “Abu derby,” with the English club’s owner and United Arab Emirates Vice President Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan facing off against his elder sibling, Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, president of the Emirati team and also the country.
Photo: Reuters
Ilkay Gundogan put City ahead early on before 19-year-old Claudio Echeverri netted his first goal for the club with a free-kick and Erland Haaland slotted in the third with a penalty in first-half stoppage time.
In the second half, Gundogan struck again before two substitutes joined in, with Oscar Bobb rolling in the fifth and Rayan Cherki grabbing his first City goal for 6-0.
The result, in a game watched by a crowd of more than 40,000, means City and Juventus are through to the knockout phase after each winning their first two matches in Group G.
They are to face each other in Orlando, Florida, on Thursday to decide who tops the section.
Juventus triumphed 4-1 against Moroccan giants Wydad in Philadelphia, as Kenan Yildiz played a starring role.
The Turkish international forward scored twice after forcing the early own goal which put Juve ahead in front of almost 32,000 at Lincoln Financial Field.
His shot found the net with the aid of a slight but crucial deflection off Abdelmounaim Boutouil, and Yildiz then smashed in the second on 16 minutes with a brilliant half-volley.
South African winger Thembinkosi Lorch pulled one back for Wydad, but the impressive Yildiz made it 3-1 midway through the second half, and Dusan Vlahovic converted a penalty in injury time to seal the win for Igor Tudor’s side.
In Charlotte, North Carolina, Real Madrid overcame the early sending-off of Raul Asencio to beat Pachuca and get their first win under new coach Xabi Alonso.
Defender Asencio was dismissed after just seven minutes for pulling down Salomon Rondon with the Venezuelan clear on goal.
That left the Liga MX team sensing the chance for an upset in front of 70,248 fans at the home of the NFL’s Carolina Panthers.
However, Real took the lead on 35 minutes when Jude Bellingham buried a left-foot shot into the bottom corner, and they scored again before the interval through Arda Guler.
Fede Valverde got their third in the second half, with a deflected Elias Montiel effort pulling one back for Pachuca.
Alonso also said that Real defender Antonio Rudiger had complained of a racist incident at the end of the game when the German was visibly angered following an exchange of words with Pachuca’s Gustavo Cabral.
“I think the FIFA protocol has been activated to investigate, but if it has happened, all measures should be taken and we support Antonio because it’s something unacceptable,” Alonso said.
Cabral, the 39-year-old Argentinian centre-back, denied the accusations, saying his words had been misinterpreted.
NO HARD FEELINGS: Taiwan’s Lin Hsiang-ti and Indonesia’s Dhinda Amartya Pratiwi embraced after fighting to a tense and rare 30-29 final game in their Uber Cup match The Taiwanese men’s team on Wednesday fought back from the brink of elimination to defeat Denmark in Group C and advance to the quarter-finals of the Thomas Cup, while the women’s team were to face South Korea after press time last night in the Uber Cup quarter-finals in Horsens, Denmark. In the first match, Taiwan’s top shuttler Chou Tien-chen faced a familiar opponent in world No. 3 Anders Antonsen. It was their 16th head-to-head matchup, with the Dane taking his fourth victory in a row against former world No. 2 Chou, winning 21-14, 13-21, 21-15 in 1 hour, 22 minutes. The
Marta Kostyuk’s maiden WTA 1000 title in Madrid came on Saturday thanks to her power, poise and a pair of unexpected lucky shorts. The world No. 23 beat eighth-ranked Mirra Andreeva 6-3, 7-5 in under 90 minutes to secure the most prestigious trophy of her career, her third professional singles title and second in less than a month after Rouen. Yet as the 23-year-old Ukrainian posed for photographs at the Caja Magica, it was not just the silverware that caught the eye. Held alongside her team and her two dogs, Kostyuk showed off a piece of black men’s underwear, prompting
Throwing more than US$5 billion at a divisive new tour and walking away after five seasons does not look like good business, but LIV Golf was not all bad news for Saudi Arabia. Oil-funded LIV, which poached top stars and sent golf’s establishment into a tailspin, helped push the conservative kingdom into global view — one of its key aims, experts said. The exit, confirmed on Thursday after weeks of speculation, does not signal a flight of Saudi money from sport, even after the Middle East war that sparked Iranian attacks around the Gulf, they said. “Saudi Arabia is not
Anastasia Potapova on Wednesday turned tennis heartbreak into history by becoming the first lucky loser to reach a WTA 1000 semi-final with her thrilling 6-1, 6-7 (4/7), 6-3 victory over Karolina Pliskova at the Madrid Open, as Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei exited in the women’s doubles quarter-finals. The Russian-born Austrian, who lost in qualifying last week, has capitalized on her unexpected main draw entry and stunned former world No. 1 Pliskova in a roller-coaster clash despite squandering three match points. Potapova’s run has included impressive victories over former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko and world No. 2 Elena Rybakina. Asked if she had thought
RSS