64′
20:26
Substitution at Manchester City: Bernardo Silva
64′
20:26
Substitution at Urawa Red Diamonds: Shoya Nakajima
64′
8:25 p.m
Substitution at Urawa Red Diamonds: Yoshio Koizumi
64′
8:25 p.m
Substitution at Urawa Red Diamonds: Bryan Linssen
64′
20:24
Substitution at Urawa Red Diamonds: José Kanté
63′
20:24
What is Grealish doing there? With a one-two, Grealish and Foden combine through the penalty area. The midfielder only has Nishikawa and two defenders in front of him, but decides against shooting and then carelessly misses the ball.
59′
8:19 p.m
Too bad for Manchester City, 0-3 by Bernardo Silva
There’s the third goal for Man City! And again it’s a quick counterattack. Matheus Nunes is sent steeply to the left, puts the ball on his right foot in front of the penalty area and tries a flick. Nishikawa can only clear it into the feet of Bernardo Silva. He puts the ball on his strong left foot and aims at the far corner from a half-right position of 15 meters. Høibråten unfortunately deflects the ball so that it hits the bottom right corner of the goal. A very unfortunate evening for the Norwegian.
57′
8:18 p.m
Substitution at Urawa Red Diamonds: Alex Schalk
57′
8:18 p.m
Substitution at Urawa Red Diamonds: Tomoaki Okubo
57′
8:18 p.m
Substitution at Urawa Red Diamonds: Takuya Ogiwara
57′
8:18 p.m
Substitution at Urawa Red Diamonds: Atsuki Ito
54′
8:17 p.m
That has to be 3-0! Grealish picks up speed on the left corner of the penalty area and looks for depth. Shortly before the goal line, he chips the ball outstandingly into the middle, where Matheus Nunes has to head it in from five meters, completely free. The Portuguese puts the ball just to the right of the box.
52′
20:12
Tooor for Manchester City, 0-2 by Mateo Kovačić
The Skyblues increase with their first chance in the second half! For once, the Japanese defended high and were outplayed by a strong pass: Walker sent Kovačić from the halfway line to the front, who picked up the pace and finally finished deliberately from ten meters high into the middle of the goal. A simple but beautiful hit.
51′
20:11
The second round begins just as leisurely as the first section, apart from the Kanté chance right at the beginning.
48′
8:08 p.m
The first City half-chance after the break: Bernardo Silva wants to flick the ball from the edge of the penalty area into the left corner, but misses the target by a few meters.
46′
8:06 p.m
Things continue in Jeddah without any personnel changes. And the Urawa Reds get their first shot after a few seconds: Koizumi passes from the left to the middle where Kanté can control the ball centrally in front of the goal and shoots from nine meters. Akanji can barely block.
46′
8:05 p.m
Kick-off of the 2nd half
45′+4
19:53
Half-time conclusion:
And shortly afterwards we go into the cabins! When everything looked as if the Japanese could survive the first half without conceding a goal, it was their own man who was able to overcome the strong Nishikawa. Nevertheless, this break is well deserved. After a short scanning phase, City restricted the Japanese in their own half and for the most part even in their own penalty area. 77% ball possession and 11-0 finishes speak for themselves. However, the Skyblues are not compelling enough and lack the usual creativity against a deep opponent. The Japanese didn’t appear on the offensive at all, but are now challenged.
45′+4
7:49 p.m
End of 1st half
45′+1
19:46
Tooor for Manchester City, 0-1 by Marius Høibråten (own goal)
And just before half-time, City struck! Bernardo Silva sends Matheus Nunes into the penalty area on the right, who gives the ball straight into the middle. There is no teammate there, but Høibråten, who overcomes his own goalkeeper when trying to clear the ball. His straddle hits flat to the bottom right. A very bitter goal for the Urawa Reds.
45′
19:46
Official injury time (minutes): 1
41′
19:42
Kovačić is sent into the penalty area on the right and is stopped at the last moment by a strong Høibråten tackle. The English play the following corner briefly – without any gain.
38′
7:40 p.m
Nishikawa parries again: This time Matheus Nunes tries from 17 meters centrally, but his attempt also misses the target. The Japanese goalkeeper catches the ball easily.
36′
7:37 p.m
City plays a corner briefly until Foden has space in the backcourt. However, his half-high shot from 20 meters from a central position was shot too centrally and was no problem for Nishikawa.
35′
7:36 p.m
For the first time in a long time, the Urawa Reds have a longer period of possession, at the end of which Okubo Kanté looks for a through ball from the halfway line. Ederson clears just in front of the attacker.
33′
19:34
Bernardo Silva’s next shot from the left edge of the penalty area is blocked again. The Japanese defend passionately in the penalty area.
31′
19:32
Matheus Nunes gets through to the right of the penalty area and tries from eight meters from a very tight angle. The powerful, high shot would probably have landed in the goal. Nishikawa raises his arms and clears to the next corner. This will not be dangerous.
29′
7:31 p.m
This pulls Grealish dangerously towards the goal. Nishikawa is alert and can parry.
28′
7:30 p.m
Foden tries a speed dribble through the entire Japanese defensive center and is stopped by the fourth defender. Rodri then looks for the finish from a central position of 20 meters. This is deflected to the corner.
26′
19:27
Walker’s cross from the right half of the field is too long for Grealish and spins out of the goal. The city offensive is not particularly creative today.
24′
7:25 p.m
Yellow card for Manuel Akanji (Manchester City)
Akanji clearly holds Yasui near the halfway line when he wants to counterattack. A tactical foul that results in the first yellow card of the game.
22′
19:22
After a short sampling phase, the Skyblues have taken command here and are appearing very dominant. The Japanese can hardly get out of their own half, but have not yet allowed a really clear city chance.
19′
7:20 p.m
Grealish chips the ball near the touchline from the left into the penalty area, where Bernardo Silva comes running. However, the half-high cross went a little too far. The Portuguese still gets to it with the tip of his left foot, but can no longer put enough pressure behind the ball so that Nishikawa picks it up safely.
17′
7:18 p.m
Again he penetrates the penalty area on the left and then moves to the middle in Arjen Robben style, where Sekine steals the ball away from him with a good tackle.
15′
19:17
City increases the pressure. Grealish has some space on the left flank after a diagonal ball and passes it back to Bernardo Silva. The Portuguese wants to flick the ball into the far corner from the edge of the penalty area with his left hand. Nishikawa in the Japanese goal doesn’t need to intervene, the ball rushes half a meter over the box.
14′
7:15 p.m
The reigning English champions appear in the penalty area for the first time. On the left half, Grealish looks for a shot from around twelve meters, but it is blocked. When he follows up, Aké jerks out.
12′
19:13
When the opponent has the ball, the Urawa Reds retreat far and let the Citizens come first. This creates a handball-like image. City combined around the penalty area but still couldn’t find a gap.
9′
7:10 p.m
City are lucky that a sloppy back pass from Stones is not penalized. The return from the left side is not powerful enough, so Kanté almost gets to the ball before Ederson. However, the goalkeeper was careful and shot at Kanté – a goal kick for the English.
8th’
7:09 p.m
A rather desperate finish from Rodri from 35 meters from a central position goes a good meter left wide of the goal.
7′
7:08 p.m
Now City is picking up speed from the left for the first time. When Gvardiol passes to Grealish, the English international misses the ball when receiving it. Missed the chance.
5′
7:07 p.m
Both teams initially adapt to the rather modest atmosphere in the stands – only a small group of Japanese fans behind the goal support their team singing. The audience has not yet seen a constructive attack.
2′
7:03 p.m
A first attempt by the Japanese: Okubo fumbles from the right side from the half field, the Skyblues defense can safely clear.
1′
7:01 p.m
The referee cleared the game and ManCity kicked off. The winner will face the South American representative Fluminense in the final.
18:56
The game will be led by a Saudi Arabian referee team led by Mohammed Al Hoaish. The teams are already stepping onto the lawn of the impressive stadium, which offers over 62,000 seats in the stands. However, it is not particularly well filled. It’s about to start, have fun!
18:52
Maciej Skorża sees no reason to change the starting eleven compared to the 1-0 win against Club Léon. This consists largely of national players, who are joined by a Scandinavian central defense with the Dane Alexander Scholz and the Norwegian Marius Høibråten as well as the Guinean striker José Kanté, who will end his career after the game.
18:44
Man City’s star ensemble traveled to Saudi Arabia in full – but the game comes too early for potential regular players Erling Haaland, Kevin De Bruyne and Jérémy Doku. That was already the case in the bitter 2-2 draw against Crystal Palace, but Pep Guardiola is still rotating well: in defense, Akanji and Stones replace Rúben Dias and Gvardiol and in the extended offensive, Kovačić and Matheus Nunes move into the starting line-up for Lewis and Álvarez .
6:37 p.m
For the Japanese, the Club World Cup marks the end of the season. In the Japanese J-League, the club from Saitama finished the season in fourth place and thus missed qualifying for an international competition. In the AFC Champions League, Polish coach Maciej Skorża’s team was also unable to survive the group phase. In the quarter-finals last Friday, the Urawa Reds beat Club León from Mexico 1-0.
6:33 p.m
For the Skyblues, this tournament comes in the middle of an important phase in the Premier League. And Pep Guardiola’s team is a little behind expectations. While the group phase of the Champions League was confidently overcome without losing any points, the gap to league leaders Arsenal is currently five points. That means fourth place – not enough for City’s high standards. Last Saturday, the Citizens lost a 2-0 lead in front of their home crowd against Crystal Palace.
18:29
However, it is the first time that the triple winner from England has taken part in this competition. After the triple last season, the Citizens want to win the next title. The Urawa Reds qualified for the Club World Cup for the third time by winning the Asian Champions League. In 2007 it ended in the semi-finals (0-1 against AC Milan), and in 2017 it ended in the quarter-finals (0-1 against Al Jazira).
6:17 p.m
Historically, Manchester City goes into the game as heavy favorites. The last ten editions of the Club World Cup were won by the respective European representative. Only once (2016) did an Asian representative, the Kashima Antlers, make it to the final – where the Japanese narrowly lost 4-2 after extra time against Real Madrid.
6:04 p.m
Welcome to the second semi-final of the Club World Cup between Urawa Red Diamonds from Japan and Manchester City from England! Kick-off at the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) is at 7 p.m.