FIFA Club World Cup
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Manchester City and Al Hilal face off in Orlando with a place in the Club World Cup quarter-final on the line.
Pep Guardiola's men, defending champions of this competition, cruised through their group, outscoring opponents 13-2. Al Hilal finished second in theirs behind Real Madrid but did hold the Spaniards to a 1-1 draw.
The winner of this tie will face Fluminense in the last eight.
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Manchester City have been an offensive force in this tournament. They were the only side to win all three of their matches in the group stage, and their attack was a big reason why.
In the group stage, City scored more goals (13) and recorded more shots (60) than any other side and posted the highest expected goals tally (9.9).
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Tonight's match marks the third time Joao Cancelo will face Manchester City since he left the club in January 2023.
The first two meetings came just a few months after he left for Bayern Munich, in the quarter-final of the Champions League. He appeared in both legs as his new club were eliminated by his former side 4-1 on aggregate.
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Unsurprisingly Manchester City are massive favorites to advance from this tie.
The boffins over at Opta have City's likelihood of progressing as 83 per cent, leaving just 17 per cent for Al Hilal.
When considering the result at 90 minutes, Opta project City winning at 75 per cent, Al Hilal at 10 per cent and extra time being needed at 15 per cent.
Starting XI: Bounou, Koulibaly, Cancelo, Alharbi, Lodi, Neves, N. Al-Dawsari, Milinkovic-Savic, Kanno, Malcom, Leonardo
Subs: Al-Yami, Abu Rasen, K. Al-Dawsari, Albulayhi, Alshahrani, Lajami, Al-Yami, Al-Ghannam, Al-Qahtani, Aljuwayr, Kaio Cesar, Hadhood
Starting XI: Ederson, Nunes, Dias, Gvardiol, Ait-Nouri, Gundogan, Reijnders, Bernardo, Savinho, Doku, Haaland
Subs: Bettinelli, Moreno, Stones, Ake, Marmoush, Nico, Rodri, Reis, Akanji, Cherki, Khusanov, Foden, Bobb, O'Reilly
Pep Guardiola boasts a perfect record at the Club World Cup, winning all 11 of the matches his sides – Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester City – have played over the years.
His teams have outscored opponents 38-4 in those games, including 13-2 at this year’s tournament. Guardiola’s sides have won 10 of those 11 matches by a margin of at least two goals.
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Today's managerial matchup is a repeat of the 2023 Champions League final, when Pep Guardiola's Manchester City edged out a 1-0 victory over Simone Inzaghi's Inter in Istanbul.
They've met one other time, in September of 2024 in the league phase of the Champions League, a 0-0 draw at the Etihad.
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Who will win tonight's match? How far can they go in the tournament? And who are you backing to win it all?
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The final place in the Club World Cup knockout stage went to Al Hilal thanks in large part to its Saudi Arabian superstar.
Veteran Saudi international Salem Al-Dawsari scored in the 22nd minute, and Al Hilal held on from that point until Marcos Leonardo’s insurance strike in second half stoppage time to seize a 2-0 win over Mexican side Pachuca at Nashville SC’s GEODIS Park and clinch a spot in the last 16.
Al-Dawsari scored by lobbing Pachuca goalkeeper Sebastián Jurado to put the Saudi side into second in Group H and bump Red Bull Salzburg out of knockout contention in the live table. Marcos Leonardo’s goal came after Pachuca, which had already been eliminated, continued to threaten to play spoiler.
Al Hilal went through as a group runner-up, giving the Asian Confederation its lone last-16 representative.
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Manchester City became the first team to win three from three at the Club World Cup as they ripped Juventus 5-2 to shreds and clinched top spot in Group G.
Rodri made his first start in nine months, while Erling Haaland scored his 300th career goal as Pep Guardiola’s side booked a last-16 tie.
Jeremy Doku’s early goal was cancelled out by Juve’s Teun Koopmeiners, but City ran away with things from there on out, making their dominance count through a Pierre Kalulu own goal, close-range finishes from Haaland and Phil Foden, and a scorching strike from Savinho, with Dusan Vlahovic reducing the deficit late on.
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Red Bull Salzburg and Al Hilal played out a 0-0 draw in their second match in Group H in Washington, D.C.
Yassine Bounou made five saves for the Saudi Arabian side while Christian Zawieschitzky made four for the Austrians. Al Hilal finished with a 19-13 advantage in shot attempts.
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Manchester City thrashed Al Ain 6-0 in Atlanta to continue their perfect start to the Club World Cup.
Ilkay Gundogan put City ahead when his chip from the edge of the box ended in the back of the net and Claudio Echeverri made it two with his first goal for the club, a free kick from about 20 yards.
Pep Guardiola’s side were 3-0 up by half-time as Erling Haaland scored a stoppage-time penalty and though Al Ain, owned by City owner Sheikh Mansour’s brother, resisted for a long period of the second half, Gundogan got his second, for 4-0, on 73 minutes, Oscar Bobb added a fifth on 84 minutes and Rayan Cherki a sixth five minutes later.
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Manchester City 6 Al Ain 0 – How good is Ait-Nouri? Will Guardiola avoid Real Madrid?
Real Madrid missed a late penalty as Simone Inzaghi’s Al Hilal produced an excellent performance to secure a 1-1 draw in their opening game at the Club World Cup.
Madrid’s young centre forward Gonzalo Garcia broke the deadlock after a neat passing move in first half, which came moments after their new coach Xabi Alonso had issued instructions to his team at a first-half cooling break.
Then Ruben Neves levelled from the penalty spot for Al Hilal shortly before the break. after a clumsy foul in the penalty area by Madrid centre-back Raul Asencio.
And the Al Hilal goalkeeper Yassine Bounou held his nerve in the 92nd minute, diving low to his right to keep out Federico Valverde’s tame penalty kick.
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Real Madrid 1 Al Hilal 1: Alexander-Arnold’s debut, Bounou’s penalty heroics and a slow start for Alonso
Manchester City began their Club World Cup with a 2-0 victory against Wydad Casablanca in Philadelphia.
In a tournament as young as the new-look Club World Cup it’s not difficult to set records, and that’s what Phil Foden duly did — scoring after only one minute and 51 seconds to give his team a landmark lead. But the Moroccan side settled well after that setback, creating several opportunities and taking advantage of some unconvincing defending from Vitor Reis.
City were two up at half-time, though, a Jeremy Doku finish from a Foden set piece doubling their advantage.
And Pep Guardiola’s side — which featured new signings Tijjani Reijnders and Rayan Cherki in the starting XI — comfortably saw out the second half, with Erling Haaland and Rodri among the players brought on from the bench. A late — and slightly harsh — red card for Rico Lewis proving the only negative for City.
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Man City 2 Wydad 0: Contrasting debuts for Reijnders and Cherki as Foden signals a return to form
Camping World Stadium, Orlando, Florida
Camping World Stadium opened before World War II, and it’s a huge stadium that is well known in the U.S. as a neutral site stadium for college football games.
It has undergone several remodels and expansions that make the venue ideal for big concerts. In that sense, it’s clear why FIFA picked Camping World Stadium as a stadium that will host multiple knockout matches.
If you’re a soccer fan — and you love a plethora of other sports too — there is no better place to follow all your favourite teams, leagues, and players than with The Athletic.
From the UK, we’ve got you covered throughout this expanded Club World Cup and on into the build-up to next summer’s World Cup, while Wimbledon started earlier today. Elsewhere, the F1 season is well into its European swing and there is Open Championship golf just a couple of weeks away.
We have the lot covered and much more besides, so make sure you’re fully informed with access to our full experience. And you’re in luck — you can subscribe to The Athletic on an exclusive offer here.
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All Club World Cup matches are shown live on DAZN everywhere in the world where that platform is available.
There are also some matches that have been licensed out to other broadcasters. Those of you in the United States can also watch this game on TBS, while those in the UK will be able to watch this game on Channel 5.
The Club World Cup match between Manchester City and Al Hilal kicks off at 9 p.m. ET in the United States. That's 6 p.m. PT on the west coast.
Tough viewing times for native supporters of these two sides, as kick-off is at 2 a.m. BST in the UK and 4 a.m. in Saudi Arabia.
Hello hello! Welcome to our live coverage of tonight's Club World Cup match between Manchester City and Al Hilal!
The holders begin their journey through the knockouts today, hoping to repeat their success of the 2023 tournament in its former version.
Standing in their way today are a talented Al Hilal side that proved a very tough match for Real Madrid in the group stage.
We're in for a cracking match tonight so don't go anywhere as we build up to kick-off!