Manchester City started with a relaxed opening victory in the club World Cup. The team of team manager Pep Guardiola won 2-0 (2-0) against Wydad Casablanca, in Philadelphia Phil Foden (2nd) met right at the beginning and Jeremy Doku (42nd) for the Premier League club, in which the former DFB captain Ilkay Gündogan and Starstürmer Erling Haaland initially only sat. City’s Rico Lewis saw the red card (88th) in the final phase after caught his face at a tackling Samuel at the top.
The kick -off in Philadelphia was at twelve noon local time, at around 26 degrees the Sky Blues were sometimes leisurely at walking pace – and yet the most successful club team Morokkos City could never really get embarrassed.
Manchester played the early goal from Foden against the Casablanca five chain in the cards, after which they didn’t have to invest too much. Foden (38th), Doku (54.) and Haaland (74th, 90th+3) still gave good opportunities for further hits, the rest was controlled balls.
While Gündogan and Haaland were substituted in the middle of the second half, the newcomers Rayan Cherki (Lyon) and Tijjani Reijnders (AC Milan) brought shortly before the club World Cup stood in the starting eleven – the starting start for the duo was expected.
The first matchday in Group G completed on Friday night (3:00 a.m. MESZ/DAZN) al-Aain from the United Arab Emirates and Juventus Turin. City meets Juventus at the end of the group phase on June 26th.