<\/p>\n
ATLANTA \u2014 There are flexes, and then there\u2019s the \u201cswapping out your entire lineup and still annihilating the opposition\u201d flex. Manchester City rolled out a completely new lineup on Sunday night against UAE\u2019s Al Ain, but the result was the same as Wednesday\u2019s match against Morocco\u2019s Wydad AC: a 6-0 victory, a second straight clean sheet, a path straight into the Club World Cup\u2019s knockout stage \u2026 and a definitive statement of just how dangerous City will be in the coming months.<\/p>\n
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has the luxury of being able to run out two entire sides in this tournament, both of which clearly could advance deep into the tournament on their own. He took full advantage of his embarrassment of riches \u2014 both monetary and roster-wise \u2014 to put City in position to overwhelm the overmatched Al Ain from the opening minutes of the match.<\/p>\n
The result was everything that the delirious, heavily City crowd at Mercedes-Benz Stadium could have wanted \u2026 and, not coincidentally, everything that FIFA hopes the Club World Cup can be. This was one of the world\u2019s premier sides operating at full, relentless effect, and the crowd inside the stadium, while nowhere near sellout territory, was nonetheless the loudest and most engaged of Atlanta\u2019s three matches to date.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be honest, I felt like we were playing (at) home,\u201d Man City midfielder Nico said. \u201cThere were so many City fans, which is really nice, playing abroad and feeling home. It\u2019s incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Manchester City needed a victory to advance out of Group G and into the knockout stage, thanks to City\u2019s 2-0 Wednesday win over Wydad AC, as well as Al Ain\u2019s 0-5 thrashing at the hands of Juventus. Granted, this wasn\u2019t expected to be an especially difficult task; City were favored at -900 prior to kickoff.<\/p>\n
That expected margin for error allowed Guardiola to experiment with his lineup, allowing for some rest with the final group match looming against Juventus on Thursday. More importantly for the long view, Guardiola gave several of his new young players an opportunity for a start \u2014 and a chance to work out some nerves and show some flair \u2014 in international play. It was a strategy that paid off quickly.<\/p>\n
Against Wydad AC, City scored in just two minutes thanks to Phil Foden\u2019s early strike. Against Al Ain, City took a bit longer \u2014 another six minutes, to be exact \u2014 before Ilkay G\u00fcndogan looped in a beautiful chip.<\/p>\n
Later in the first half, at the 27-minute mark, Claudio Echeverri, making his City debut, fired an electrifying free kick past a stumbling Khalid Eisa:<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll tell you a secret. Last season when Claudio arrived, after every training session, he practiced free kicks alone,” Guardiola told DAZN after the match. “Always work pays off. If he scored a goal, it\u2019s because he practiced! When the other guys don\u2019t practice, they won\u2019t score goals.\u201d<\/p>\n
From there, with the outcome effectively assured, City played the hits. Erling Haaland coolly drilled a penalty kick to close out the first half:<\/p>\n
At that point, City could focus on Group G\u2019s goal differential. Juventus\u2019 two mammoth wins \u2014 by scores of 5-0 and 4-1 \u2014 meant that City would need to keep the throttle down in the second half.<\/p>\n
But this is where the flaw in Guardiola\u2019s wholesale roster swap became apparent. City could overwhelm Al Ain on pure talent, but the execution was choppy and, at times, even sloppy. Al Ain couldn\u2019t take advantage of City\u2019s mistakes, but a more talented side surely could have. City\u2019s problems weren\u2019t fatal ones, just errors of flow \u2014 exactly the kind of miscues Guardiola wants to work out in this setting, rather than a Champions League one.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Haaland came within inches of scoring his second goal of the night, and in the 73rd minute, G\u00fcndogan did convert his own second goal, weaving his way through the defense and nudging in a beauty:<\/p>\n
Oscar Bobb added City\u2019s fifth goal of the night in the 84th minute, and Rayan Cherki added a sixth in the 89th minute. That was the capstone on a thorough beatdown that saw City hold substantial advantages in possession (74%-26%), shots (21-4) and shots on goal (11-1). Thanks to the late second-half flurry, City are now deadlocked with Juventus in differential at eight apiece heading into their Thursday match in Orlando.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we deserved one more goal,\u201d Nico smiled, \u201cbut we have to focus on the next game and we\u2019ll try to win. It\u2019s one game, and it\u2019s a final, and it\u2019s going to be really important.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we need to improve. The team don\u2019t play the high level, the best level,\u201d Al Ain defender Erik said after the match. \u201cIn both games, maybe because is nervous, is anxious, we don\u2019t play like our best quality. I\u2019m sad about it because I know this team have more quality to show and we can\u2019t show.\u201d<\/p>\n
Manchester City stand as the defending champions in the Club World Cup, though recent history has been less kind for the elite side. This season marked the first time in eight years that City didn\u2019t bring home a major trophy, finishing third in the Premier League, falling early in the Champions League, and losing in the FA Cup final to Crystal Palace.<\/p>\n
“I said many times, the season was not good,” Guardiola said in a press conference the day before the Al Ain match. “We played the FA Cup final in an incredibly high level against a really good team. The disappointment was the Champions League, we did not do really good. It was tough to handle it. Winning this competition is not going to change that.\u201d<\/p>\n
More on the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup
\nAdditional select Yahoo articles
\nClub World Cup results Real Madrid pulls off win despite early red Man City and Juventus advance
\nClub World Cup results: Real Madrid pulls off win despite early red, Man City and Juventus advance
\nClub World Cup results: Inter Milan rallies, Dortmund scores 4, River Plate vs. Monterrey ends scoreless
\nClub World Cup: Is European soccer\u2019s superiority being exposed as a myth?
\nCity treating the Club World Cup as a splashy offseason workout program might not sit well with some of the other clubs in the tournament, which would like nothing more than to stick it to an elite Premier League squad. But given the prominence and provenance of European sides, it\u2019s not an entirely improper framing.<\/p>\n
For City, a Club World Cup repeat would be a pleasant and welcome victory, but the real goals are about a year in the future. While other squads are trying to win in the next few weeks, Manchester City is putting the pieces in place for 2026. That prospect should make quite a few clubs more nervous than they already are.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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