Jeddah: Al-Ittihad’s FIFA Club World Cup campaign got off to a winning start in Jeddah on Tuesday as they defeated Auckland City 3-0. Their reward is a second-round clash against Egyptian side Al-Ahly yesterday. On a night of driving rain, the team’s stars shone as fans watched worldwide. Romarinho, N’Golo Kante and Karim Benzema put the hosts three goals to the good by the end of the first half, as the visitors from Oceania were swept aside. In fact it was one-way traffic for most of the game, in front of an appreciative home crowd. As early as the second minute, Romarinho put a shot just wide and this set the scene for the relentless pressure to come from the reigning Saudi champions.

The New Zealanders did manage to look fairly comfortable for a 10-minute spell as they worked to keep the ball, but despite this they were relieved to watch Igor Coronado fire over the bar from inside the area.

Soon after, Al-Ittihad were calling for a penalty but the referee waved the appeals away. The attacks kept coming, however, with Benzema having two or three half chances, and it began to look like the deadlock would be broken at any time. That time turned out to be the 29th minute, although there was a touch of good fortune about Romarinho’s opener perhaps fittingly, given it was the Brazilian’s birthday. His shot from the edge of the area might well have beaten Conor Tracey anyway but the deflection it took off of Nathan Lobo left the goalkeeper with no chance.

He did, however, make a fine save from another attempt by Romarinho minutes later, diving to clear a looping shot that looked destined for the back of the net. Even so, the crowd only had a few minutes to wait to celebrate another goal, which this time came from the unlikely boot of Kante. Tracey managed to punch a cross clear but only as far as the former Chelsea midfielder, who produced a superbly controlled half-volley from the edge of the area that flew past the goalkeeper. This prompted heartfelt celebrations of Kante’s second goal for the club and, from that point on, it was only a question of how many the Jeddah giants would score.

They added a third five minutes before the break when Benzema, shortly after pulling a shot wide of goal, tapped home from close range after some good work on the right from Muhannad Al-Shanqiti. As the half-time whistle sounded, the statistic of 17 attempts on goal from Al-Ittihad and none at all from the New Zealanders told the story of the first 45 minutes. The second half began with Benzema, who showed little sign of his recent injury, weaving through the Auckland defense to force a fine diving save from the still busy Tracey. He had plenty to do in the second half, saving well from Coronado, among others, but it was perhaps understandable that Al-Ittihad’s first-half sense of urgency had dissipated a little.

Published in The Daily National Courier, December, 14 2023

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