Izuchukwu Okosi
English and European champions, Manchester City, Tuesday evening defeated Asian representatives, Urawa Red Diamonds, to reach the final of the 2023 FIFA Club World Cup in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
City scored their goals courtesy of an own goal by Marius Hoibraten who inadvertently deflected the ball into his goal off a Matheus Nunes’ cross in the first half.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelPep Guardiola’s men were dominant for large spells in the game albeit the Japanese opponents had moments of brilliance, especially in their defending.
Former Chelsea midfielder Matteo Kovacic made it 2-0 for the title favourites while Portugal international Bernardo Silva effortlessly guided the ball to the bottom right corner for the third goal with close to an hour played.
Diamonds goalkeeper Shusaku Nishikawa had a few seconds before that denied Nunes who let fly a rasping shot.
The European giants missed some gilt-edge chances through Jack Grealish, and second-half Oscar Bobb and Julian Alvarez all missed good goal-scoring chances.
Man City’s opponents in Friday’s final are South America and Brazil side, Fluminense who beat Africa’s representatives, Al Ahly 2-0 to set up the final.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
