Philadelphia (AFP) – Phil Foden scored inside two minutes to set Manchester City on the way to a comfortable 2-0 win against Wydad Casablanca in their opening match at the Club World Cup on Wednesday. Jeremy Doku was also on target before half-time at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, where the majority of the 37,446 crowd were supporting City but most of the noise was made by the fans of the Moroccan side.
The afternoon was slightly marred for City as Rico Lewis was sent off for a dangerous tackle late on, but Pep Guardiola was satisfied with the winning start. “It is so hot. The humidity is not easy. We had good moments, many new players. The first game in this group stage is always really, really important. I saw many, many good things,” Guardiola said.
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City have come to the Club World Cup eager to turn the page after a disappointing season. Tougher tests await than that provided by the team that finished third in the Moroccan league, with the English club next facing Al Ain of the United Arab Emirates before completing Group G against Juventus. Guardiola used this occasion to field an experimental line-up, with new signings Tijjani Reijnders and Rayan Cherki making debuts while teenage defender Vitor Reis started for just the third time since arriving in January.
“The first step is done, it is really important. Now we have recovery, we are going to train well in the next few days and then fresh legs for the next game to try to improve things,” Guardiola added. “We have a lot of new players, injured players back, and step by step we will get to the right tempo.”
This was always going to be a big ask for Wydad, whose coach Amine Benhachem was only appointed in the run-up to the Club World Cup. Their reinforcements for the tournament include a Brazilian defender signed on loan from the Portuguese second tier, a Dutch defender from the Bosnian league, and 38-year-old Moroccan international Nordin Amrabat. “Before the game I told the players not to be afraid. That if we were going to lose we would lose our way,” said Benhachem. “Nobody likes to lose, but we showed good spirit and we have something to work on for the second match.”
France star Cherki was deployed in a floating central role for City close to Foden, and it was the England star who got the breakthrough in the second minute. Used sparingly in the final weeks of the Premier League campaign, Foden was perfectly placed to sweep home inside the box after goalkeeper El Mehdi Benabid patted a Savinho centre into his path. Wydad, who qualified as a recent winner of the CAF Champions League, were not cowed and did have chances to give their passionate support something to celebrate.
When Cherki gave the ball away cheaply, Thembinkosi Lorch produced an audacious attempt to beat Ederson from inside his own half, but the Brazilian goalkeeper made the save. Cassius Mailula then missed a fine opportunity after being set up by Lorch following a Reis error. Nathan Ake and Foden had chances for City before the latter set up the second goal in the 42nd minute as his corner from the right was headed in by Doku.
Doku should then have done better after being left with just the goalkeeper to beat after pouncing on defensive hesitation early in the second half. There were no more goals, but Guardiola made a raft of substitutions as the second half advanced, including withdrawing Cherki, Doku, and Foden on the hour as Rodri and Erling Haaland came on. They could come into the starting line-up against Al Ain in Atlanta on Sunday, but Lewis will not feature. The 20-year-old right-back was shown a red card on 88 minutes after catching Wydad substitute Samuel Obeng high with his studs.
“Rico never had any intention to hurt anyone with his style of play,” Guardiola complained. “It was a little bit unnecessary to be honest but the referee had his opinion, he is the boss, and the VAR checked it, so we accept it.”
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