Manchester City has qualified for the round of 16 of the Club World Cup without Tijjani Reijnders. Josep Guardiola’s team was too strong for Al Ain from the United Arab Emirates with 6-0 in the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
In City’s first match at the World Cup, the 2-0 victory over Wydad Casablanca, Reijnders played the full ninety minutes as a debutant. Against Al Ain, the Dutch international remained on the bench for ninety minutes and saw his team play excellently.
At halftime, City was already leading 3-0 with goals from Ilkay Gündogan, Claudio Echeverri, and Erling Haaland (penalty). After the break, Gündogan scored his second and substitutes Oscar Bobb and Rayan Cherki were also accurate.
For Cherki, it was his first goal for City, after the Frenchman arrived from Olympique Lyonnais last month for 36.5 million euros. After the victory over Al Ain, the Premier League club already has six points and will compete against Juventus for group victory in the last match in Group G. So City is making a good impression at this World Cup so far, after a weak season.
Juventus won earlier on Sunday in the Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia with 4-1 from Wydad Casablanca. Teun Koopmeiners came on as a substitute for the Italians halfway through.
Four clubs certain of knockout phase
City hopes to end the season with a prize at the World Cup, although Guardiola recently indicated that that is not enough to save the season. “But now that we are here, I want to make the best of it and get as far as possible in the tournament,” the Spaniard added.
In Group H, Red Bull Salzburg drew 0-0 against Saudi Arabian Al Hilal.
In total, four clubs are now certain of a place in the round of 16 of the World Cup. In addition to City and Juventus, those are Bayern Munich and Flamengo. Two matches have now been played in all groups.
