Match report
“A crowd of 37,446 departed mildly entertained.” Here’s Jamie Jackson’s verdict from Philadelphia. Thanks for joining me. Bye!
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Pep Guardiola gives his verdict: “The first game in a group stage is always a tricky one. In certain moments, we did really well, but it’s a first step. We’ll be better next time.” On the red card: “Rico has no intention to do that, his feet were on the grass, but it is what it is.”
On Foden: “He’ll be very important, another role, we have a lot of No 10s.” On new signings: “Tijjani played really good, Rayan [Cherki] had good moments.” On Rodri: “He wants more but it’s a first step. He needs to process [coming back from injury].”
More football! Join Alex Abnos for Real Madrid v Al-Hilal …
While Will Unwin is your guide for a big old England game.
Is it bad that my first thought when I saw the red card come out for Lewis was “a sending off in a pre-season friendly?!”
Here’s Phil Foden: “It was difficult sometimes with the heat, we’re not used to playing in it. They’re a good team, played well on the counter attack. This is very important, not just for me, for all the players. Rodri is coming back, it’s important for us all to get our sharpness … in this important competition.”
Full time: Manchester City 2-0 Wydad
City didn’t have things all their own way, but Phil Foden’s early goal and Jeremy Doku’s goal from a corner just before half time get the job done. Rico Lewis’ red card offered a late talking point in what was otherwise a sleepy second half.
95 mins: Moutaraji’s cross is deflected into Ederson’s gloves. One minute to go.
93 mins: Save! Haaland gets in behind the defence, but his shot is saved by Benabid, who was out smartly. You’d still expect Haaland to score there, of course.
92 mins: From the free kick, Aziz Ki’s effort is into the wall and Moutaraji sends the rebound high over the bar. A memento for one lucky Wydad fan, at least.
90 mins: There’ll be six added minutes, possibly more after that delay. Matheus Nunes is on for Savinho, Pep shutting up shop.
Red card for Rico Lewis!
88 mins: Lewis slides in to clear a loose ball, but his stray boot appears to catch Obeng in the face. Lewis can’t believe it, and there’s a VAR check, but the decision stands. The City right-back cleared the ball before contact, and what happened next was an accident, but his boot did connect with Obeng. A booking would probably have done, though.
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87 mins: Haaland heads back across goal to Reijnders, whose first touch forces him backwards, and the chance goes to waste. And now Wydad break …
86 mins: Today’s attendance is 37,446. Not much is happening on the pitch at the minute.
83 mins: After a spell of possession, Reijnders’ attempted cut-back is cleared behind for a corner. Lorch is going off, replaced by Stephane Aziz Ki, who’s making his debut for Wydad.
81 mins: Rodri still trying to find his range, an attempted pass out wide to Bobb easily cut out.
79 mins: When we resume, Lorch’s attempted cross is deflected behind for a corner. Moutaraji, just on for Bart Meijers, takes it but his delivery is not the best.
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78 mins: There’s a brief stoppage in play because some of the red flares being let off by Wydad fans have ended up on the pitch.
76 mins: Rodri carries the ball forward and looks for Lewis with a diagonal ball. It’s overhit, but signs today that City might be more direct this season.
74 mins: The fans in Philly get what they want – a shot on goal from Haaland. It’s created by an excellent forward run from Rico Lewis, who lays off to the striker. On the half-turn, his shot is well hit but fizzes a foot over the bar.
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72 mins: Ederson takes four Wydad attackers out of the game with a chipped pass to O’Reilly and City can break – only for the ball through to Oscar Bobb to be cut out.
70 mins: This second half has definitely lacked the fizz of the first period. Reijnders looks for Savinho, who has switched to the left, but his pass is overhit.
68 mins: Gundogan comes on for Marmoush as we take a drinks break, with Wydad’s Mouthi down getting treatment from cramp.
67 mins: Rico Lewis tries to thread a pass through to Haaland but can’t quite find a way through the massed defenders between them. Amrabat has gone off, replaced by Samuel Obeng.
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65 mins: Rodri misplaces a pass, sending the ball out for a throw. More like Rusti, am I right? Anyway, Ilkay Gundogan is also coming on, probably for Reijnders.
“Wydad sounds suspiciously like something my sons repeatedly asked me when they were little,” writes Peter Oh. “Granted, it’s probably pronounced more like Wii Dad, which is also a phase I went through.”
60 mins: Mickael Malsa replaces Zemraoui for Wydad, and he wins them a corner straight away. The first is cleared for another corner, before a foul hands City a free kick.
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59 mins: Savinho wins a corner, and that means it’s time for changes. Cherki, Foden and Doku are replaced by Rodri, Haaland and Oscar Bobb.
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58 mins: Wydad’s system is more of a 5-3-2 now, with Amrabat alongside Lorch. That defensive setup is about to be tested by the arrival of Rodri and Haaland.
56 mins: Foden spins on the ball and shoots, but his effort is closed down and Savinho is eventually penalised for handball.
54 mins: Big chance for Doku! Wydad try to play out from the back and Ferreira slips, presenting the ball and a shooting chance. Doku’s effort is well saved by the keeper, if a little central, and Wydad escape.
53 mins: The sun is out and the pace has dropped a touch after a lively first half. City’s all-star substitutes are out on the touchline, warming up menacingly.
52 mins: Doku is flagged offside within 10 yards of the centre circle; Wydad break but Lorch is caught offside at the other end.
51 mins: Zemraoui plays a nice diagonal in behind, which Ederson is out to deal with. And the offside flag goes up eventually.
50 mins: City have appointed a set-piece coach this summer – James French, who previously worked at Liverpool – and it’s fair to say they’ve offered a threat from corners thus far.
49 mins: Savinho gets down to the byline and keeps the ball in with an elastic stretch to win a corner, which is headed over at the near post by Vitor Reis.
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48 mins: Zemraoui gets free down the left, and though he looks a yard offside, we play on. His shot is blocked, then the flag goes up.
47 mins: Lorch – who’s on loan from another Club World Cup side, Mamelodi Sundowns – cuts in from the left and has a shot from 25 yards that flies wide of the far post. A better effort than Moufid’s a moment before.
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46 mins: Doku looks to play in Marmoush down the left, but Benabid is out quickly to gather the ball. At the other end, Moufid drags an ambitious shot well wide of Ederson’s goal.
Second half
One change for Wydad: Cassius Mailula is replaced by Mohamed Rayhi up front. Rayhi isn’t a natural No 9, and it looks like the lively Lorch will shift to centre-forward.
Catch up with this week’s Knowledge:
Some big news relating to the other English team in this tournament: Chelsea’s Mykhailo Mudryk could face a four-year ban after being charged with doping offences.
“I’m sitting at home about 8 miles from Lincoln Financial Field, which is a great stadium, with many happy memories for me (the Philadelphia Union’s first home game thanks to a hat-trick by Seba LeToux, U2 concerts, Eagles wins etc.etc.),” writes Justin Kavanagh.
“However, the Trump-endorsed Club World Cup? No thanks. I feel like my old man when he said to me the first time The Stones played Slane Castle: ‘Those lads? I wouldn’t open the curtains if they were playing out the back garden.’”
Half time: Manchester City 2-0 Wydad AC
There’s the half-time whistle. City lead 2-0, an early Phil Foden goal added to by Jeremy Doku, and have survived some dodgy defensive moments. It’s like they never went away.
48 mins: Marmoush tries to link up with Cherki, who goes over cheaply on the edge of the area. The referee waves him up.
47 mins: At the other end, Amrabat lofts in a nice cross but finds nobody in support.
46 mins: Three minutes of added time. In the first of those, Cherki’s long-range cross is headed over by Doku.
45 mins: Wydad win a free kick upfield and after it’s half-cleared, Lorch pounds a long range shot wide of the far post. He’s been their most dangerous player so far.
44 mins: The new-fangled Ref Cam shows us Ake and Amrabat wrestling just behind Doku. The goal stands, if anything it looked like the Wydad player started it, even if he ended up on the deck.
GOAL! Manchester City 2-0 Wydad (Doku 42')
City double their lead! Foden swings in an excellent corner that fizzes across goal and Doku is there to meet it with a Haaland-esque volley.
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40 mins: Cherki and Savinho have some fun on the edge of the area, linking up and jinking around defenders before the former wins a corner …
38 mins: O’Reilly, who is stepping into midfield from left-back in time honoured Guardiola style, tries to tee up Doku but the Belgian is muscled off the ball.
37 mins: City almost make it two, Cherki cutting back to Foden, whose shot is well saved by Benabid, getting down sharply at the near post.
34 mins: City’s buildup play hits a slow, stodgy patch and Wydad win the ball, Cherki hauling Zemraoui down to stop the breakaway.
32 mins: Amrabat picks up the loose ball and whips in an excellent cross which Lorch isn’t quite prepared for. Wydad have certainly had chances, and caused problems for that fragile City defence.
31 mins: Eek! Almost an awkward moment for Vitor Reis, who slips to present Lorch with a one-on-one opportunity. He cuts back on to his right foot but slips, then passes to Mailula, whose shot is well saved by Ederson.
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30 mins: City have had 62% possession, but it’s not really felt that way; Wydad have offered plenty of attacking endeavour, with City also poised to break back when they recover the ball.
28 mins: Savinho slaloms past his defender and has Marmoush and Doku charging in front of him, but mistimes his pass, which is intercepted.
25 mins: Reijnders almost plays Doku with a nice through ball on the edge of the area, but it’s cleared behind for a corner, which is punched clear.
Time for a drinks break, and an email from Joe Pearson. “It’s a midday match on a workday. These matches weren’t scheduled for attendance, they were scheduled for European television.”
“You will note that so far, European teams have played at noon or 3PM EST. This is not an accident.” Fair enough, but I didn’t really say otherwise – in fact, I noted that the crowd actually seems pretty decent.
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21 mins: A lovely bit of ball-juggling from Lorch to outfox Ake, and the winger then picks out Zemraoui, who tries to go round his man rather than shoot, and then flops to the turf unconvincingly.
19 mins: The corner swings towards Ake, who heads just wide of the far post.
18 mins: Rico Lewis, sporting a new lid for a new season, races upfield to support Savinho but Boutouil gets a foot on the ball to concede a corner.
15 mins: From a City corner, Savinho’s acrobatic attempt backfires but Mailula goes in on Marmoush with a high boot into a sensitive area. He goes into the book; Foden whips in the corner, which is headed behind by a defender with Aké lurking.
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13 mins: Oof! Cherki gives the ball away close to the halfway line and Moufid decides to have a go from 50 yards out. His shot is well struck and on target, but Ederson is there to palm it out of the sky.
10 mins: Chance for Wydad! This could, maybe should, have been 1-1. Moufid gets ahead of Lewis and weights a pass towards Lorch, who is unmarked but just unable to get a toe on the ball. Amrabat collects out wide, but his cross is cleared away.
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9 mins: I don’t think the stadium looks quite so empty as the venue in Atlanta did for Chelsea’s game – and Wydad’s fans, a mass of red and white behind their team’s goal, are creating a decent atmosphere.
8 mins: Foden is fouled and when City restart, the ball is worked swiftly to Marmoush, whose shot from the edge of the area is inches wide of the far post.
7 mins: Some early trickery from Rayan Cherki, backheeling to Savinho on the edge of the area …
5 mins: Wydad, their defensive gameplan blown up inside two minutes, enjoy a spell of possession before Amrabat’s slide-rule pass down the right just runs out of play.
GOAL! Man City 1-0 Wydad (Foden 2')
Doku’s cross lands at Phil Foden’s feet, and he plays it to Savinho on the right. The Brazilian’s cross is palmed out weakly by Benabid, and Foden is on hand to turn the rebound in! That didn’t take long.
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1 min: City launch their first attack, a long ball finding Doku in space on the left …
First half
After both sets of players are introduced to the crowd one by one, we kick off a couple of minutes late.
It’s 26 degrees and overcast in Philadelphia this afternoon, with similar conditions in my spare room some 3,500 miles away. Don’t worry, I’m hydrating. While we wait, here’s the latest Football Daily:
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“I’ve found if you think of this tournament less as a sporting contest, and more as a Ballardian bitter satire about gaudy, empty, dystopian, meaningless mismatched spectacles, it’s much more fun,” writes Paul Griffin. On the other hand, Boca Juniors v Benfica was a decent watch.
Here’s Pep Guardiola: “Basically, everyone is going to play in this tournament. The season starts today and ends next May or June. I trust all of them, and in the next game, maybe we’ll change a lot [of players]. We want to create the ‘bones’, the way we will play for the next season.”
On Rodri: “Everyone wants to see him back, but I want to be sure he’s ready.” On Wydad: “We expect them to be physical … teams from this area are always tough. We’re not thinking about winning the tournament, just each game.”
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On that subject, an interesting read from Alex Abnos. Had Fifa used soccer-specific venues for this tournament, things might look very different.
It’s looking like another low turnout in Philadelphia, with just a smattering of fans taking their seats around the vast venue. This stadium is home to the reigning Super Bowl champs, the Philadelphia Eagles, and also hosted Wrestlemania XL in 2024. It’s normally a lot busier than this on game day.
This game is being shown for free on Channel 5 (in the UK) and Dazn. Andros Townsend has warned that Wydad can be dangerous on the break, which has certainly been a weakness for City’s defence in recent months.
So, Pep hands debuts to Reijnders and Cherki in what looks an attacking line-up, Phil Foden completing the midfield and Omar Marmoush preferred to Erling Haaland at centre-forward. There’s also a rare outing for January recruit Vitor Reis in central defence. City have named 15 substitutes, including Rodri and new recruit Rayan Aït-Nouri, in what may be the best pool of talent ever assembled on one bench.
Team news
Manchester City (4-3-3): Ederson; Lewis, Vitor Reis, Ake, O’Reilly; Reijnders, Foden, Cherki; Savinho, Doku, Marmoush.
Subs: Ortega, Stones, Akanji, Dias, Aït Nouri, Gvardiol, Khusanov, Gündogan, Silva, Rodri, Nunes, Bobb, González, Echeverri, Haaland.
Wydad Casablanca (5-4-1): Benabid; Moufid, Boutouil, Meijers, Ferreira, Moufi; Amrabat, Zemraoui, El Moubarik, Lorch; Mailula.
Subs: El Motie, Aqzdaou, Harkass, Malsa, Benktib, Arthur, Moutaraji, Pedrinho, Bennani, Mahtou, Mohamed Rayhi, Aziz Ki, Obeng, Fathi, Mwalimu.
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Preamble
Manchester City’s rebuild officially starts here. Since closing the season with a third-place finish and defeat in the FA Cup final, City have said goodbye to Kevin De Bruyne, stuck Jack Grealish in a taxi and brought in three new players with indecent haste.
Milan midfielder Tijjani Reijnders and not one but two Rayans – left-back Aït-Nouri and playmaker Cherki – are all in the squad for this Stateside jamboree. Pep Guardiola has also decided that this job is too big for one Pep, recruiting former Liverpool coach Pep Lijnders as his new assistant.
The two Peps are hoping to begin a beautiful friendship today against Wydad Casablanca, who qualified for the Club World Cup by winning Africa’s Champions League in 2022. Wydad reached out to Cristiano Ronaldo earlier this year, but the most familiar name in their squad is former Watford winger Nordin Amrabat.
The Moroccan side are rated as 55-1 outsiders for this game, with City then facing Abu Dhabi’s own Al-Ain before taking on Juventus. The runners-up in Group G are likely to face Real Madrid in the July heat of Miami in the last 16, something probably best avoided.
For this and many other reasons, Guardiola will want to hit the ground running, or at least briskly jogging, Rocky Balboa style, in Philadelphia today. Kick-off is at 5pm BST, 12pm local time.
