Harry Kane ended the night in Miami bruised, sweat-soaked and perhaps a little weary from repeatedly picking himself up off the ground. Along the way Kane also scored one, made one and walked off with the Superior Player Of the Match laurels as Bayern Munich edged their way to a relentlessly entertaining 2-1 defeat of Boca Juniors in front of a high-energy full house.
As a result, Bayern are now though to the knockout stage of the Club World Cup. A European team has also finally beaten a South American opponent at this tournament. But defeat still leaves Boca in effect in charge of their own destiny, with the fall-guys of Auckland City to come. They basically need to win by a spectacular margin and rely on Bayern to beat Benfica.
There had been a lot of talk before this game about a night of full-contact combat in store for Bayern’s attack and midfield. The central defender Lauturo Di Lollo had been asked ahead of this tournament how he planned to cope with Kane, and replied: “I’m going to kill him.” It was meant as a joke. Probably. But there was an excellent opportunity to test this from kick-off as Di Lollo started in central defence right up against his intended victim.
The opening hour was something of a controlled suffocation as Bayern kept the ball and took the lead. But Boca dragged their way back into this game, blocking shots, hurling themselves into contact and equalising in the second half, before finding ultimately that Bayern just had too much quality in the clinches.
This was a rare 9pm kick-off, a much more sensible piece of scheduling in south Florida, by which time the heat has generally transitioned from Nordic sauna on the surface of the planet Venus levels to merely very hot and humid. It felt like a proper football match from two hours before kick-off as the vast shimmering surrounds of the Hard Rock Stadium were thronged with red, blue and yellow.
This was a meeting of boisterous, alpha clubs, perhaps even distant cousins on Bavaria-La Plata continuum: domestic powerhouses, rousing music, regional meat culture. Although their only previous competitive meeting was the infamous 2001 Intercontinental Cup Final, which Bayern won 1-0. Among Boca fans that game is still remembered as the Robbery of the Century because of an allegedly dubious second yellow card awarded to Chelo Delgado.
It doesn’t look like a robbery now, with the benefit of YouTube hindsight. It looks like a stunningly beautiful through pass from Juan Roman Riquelme, followed by a very obvious dive. But there is at least a reassuring universality in the reactions of football supporters to such things.
The Hard Rock Stadium was a Friday night sell-out from the start, packed to the far reaches of the upper tiers beneath the vast steel lattice roof. The ludicrous WWE-style player walk-ons once again ate up four minutes of everyone’s life that they’ll never get back. This must be stopped. Nobody anywhere in the world needs to hear the words “KONRAD LAIMER!” in a throaty scream across the stadium PA, while an embarrassed-looking Konrad Laimer walks out slowly across a piece of grass towards a lineup of bored-looking teammates.
Bayern kicked off with Michael Olise, Serge Gnabry and Kingsley Coman behind Kane, and the familiar Goretzka-Kimmich double pivot in midfield. Jonathan Tah, a new addition in central defence, also started here, aged 29 and a well-worn Bundesliga figure.
Not much happened for a while as Bayern kept the ball comfortably. And Kane opened the scoring on 18 minutes, a nice finish after a sightly heavy first touch, easing the ball into the bottom corner, off the studs of his left boot. The ball had fallen to him from a deflection off Coman as he challenged for a cross. Kane was unspectacularly in the right place.
Thomas Tuchel was watching all this from the plush Fifa seats. Kane scoring in America, late June, South American defence, full house. This felt like good optics, a vibe, something packed away.
Bayern had dominated every metric to that point, with 74% possession, 101 passes to 29, three shots and two corners to zero and zero. This has been the way Boca have played here, an attacking plan based on swift collective breaks. It involves a lot of waiting, a lot of singing in the stands while the opposition pass across the face of a low, muscular block.
Boca had their first shot, a veering drive from a free-kick by Kevin Zenon that Manuel Neuer double-fisted away in the Continental Style. And Neuer made a very good save moments later, batting away with his left hand as Zenon shot again from a similar angle.
It was a good game by now. Luis Advincula was booked for the latest in a series of conga-style hip-grabs on Coman as he spun away. Kane was taken out by Costa, left crumpled and clutching his ankle after a hip-swivelling full body block.
Boca began to emerge from their defensive crouch after half-time, although this coincided with a little extra space at the other end. Kane shot just over after good work from Gnabry. Olise, who played inside his own portable pocket of air all night, eased about radiating menace.
But it was Boca who began to wrench at the throttle. And they equalised on 67 minutes with an excellent goal from Miguel Merentiel. It came from a break close to the halfway line. A fine through pass from Alan Velasco inside Tah left Rentier with space in front of him. Tah had no chance, treading through heavy water as Merentiel sniped in on goal then lifted his finish past Neuer.
The Hard Rock Stadium erupted, the bodies tumbling in the stands, drinks thrown, scarves twirled, a vast roar barrelling from one Boca end to the other Boca end. But it was Bayern who managed to rev up through the gears again, despite the worrying sight of Jamal Musiala, a second-half sub, limping off injured once again.
With seven minutes left Olise scored the winner, shooting low into a corner after a really smart little touch from Kane, finding just enough order out of a scramble and a press of bodies to nudge the ball back into Olise’s path. So Bayern can rest and tend to their bruises for the final group game against Benfica. The amateurs of Auckland will be bracing themselves for next Tuesday night at Geodis Park in Nashville, Tennessee.
