Benfica thrashes Auckland City in the Club World Cup
The rout that was imposed on a stormy day
Benfica took a whole half to find their way to Auckland City’s goal, but once they did they set off on a rout that was both natural and important for the final tally of Group C of the Club World Cup. On a stormy afternoon in Orlando, which delayed the start of the second half by more than two hours, Kökcü’s substitution sparked a spark on the Reds’ bench, a moment that Renato Sanches’ return to scoring for the Eagles helped to ignite.
It was already known that this would be a one-way game, with Auckland City’s goal in mind, and Bruno Lage assembled a team prepared for that scenario, keeping Akturkoglu, Di María and Prestianni full-time in support of Pavlidis, with Aursnes, starting from the right-back position, almost permanently in attack.
Benfica’s coach had already warned that, in order to overcome the New Zealand defensive barrier, it was necessary to have the «right mentality», and the truth is that the Eagles, even without accelerating the pace much, did not allow any whims to an opponent who, despite being very much huddled close to their area for most of the time, tried to launch some counterattacks, without much success, it must be said.
Benfica had enough chances to go into the break with a rout. The post and, above all, Nathan Garrow’s performance in goal for Auckland City delayed the inevitable, the Reds’ goal, which came just before half-time, from a penalty converted by Ángel Di María.
Before him, Akturkoglu had three clear misses, Pavlidis hit the post and Aursnes saw a goal disallowed due to a foul by the Greek striker on the New Zealand goalkeeper at the start of the move.
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The break lasted much longer than expected due to a warning (yet another in the tournament) of adverse weather conditions, despite the 31 degrees Celsius at the time of the game. It took more than two hours for the match to resume , an unusual situation, but also worrying, due to the physical impact it could have on the athletes. And all this just one year before the World Cup, which the United States of America will also host, together with Canada and Mexico.
Perhaps more accustomed to the eccentricities of tropical climates, Auckland City re-entered the game better, even coming close to equalising in the 48th minute, when Zeb forced Trubin to make an effort.
The greater risk taken by the New Zealanders was, however, a blessing for Benfica, who took advantage of the spaces in the tangled opposing defense, which began to appear with greater regularity, to resolve the game in a short space of time.
In the 53rd minute, Pavilidis made it 2-0, following a pass from Kökcü, who did not hide his frustration with Bruno Lage’s decision to take him out of the game shortly afterwards. The Turk made way for Renato Sanches, who scored Benfica’s third goal shortly after, with a shot from mid-range. Nine years and five months later, the midfielder scored again for the Eagles.
Very restless on the bench, Bruno Lage asked his players for more, aware of the importance of a solid result against Auckland City for the final score of the group. On the pitch he had the “soldier” Leandro Barreiro, who scored twice in a couple of minutes and gave an expression to the result more in keeping with the difference in level between the two teams. In the last play, Ángel Di María scored twice, again from the penalty spot, closing the match at 6-0.
Starting at 2:00 Portuguese time, Bayern Munich will face Boca Juniors in Miami in the game that ends the second round of Group C of the Club World Cup.
