https://arab.news/rh5ua
- The Jeddah side鈥檚 stars shine in front of home crowd, and a global TV audience, as they enjoy a comfortable 3-0 win over Auckland City of New Zealand
- First-half goals by Romarinho, N鈥橤olo Kante and Karim Benzema secure the victory, the reward for which is a 2nd-round clash against Egyptian side Al-Ahly on Friday
Al-Ittihad鈥檚 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 on Friday.
On a night of driving rain, the team鈥檚 stars shone as fans watched worldwide. Romarinho, N鈥橤olo 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鈥檚 opener 鈥� perhaps fittingly, given it was the Brazilian鈥檚 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鈥檚 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鈥檚 first-half sense of urgency had dissipated a little.
Indeed, Auckland started to look a little more dangerous and, with 20 minutes remaining, Brazilian goalkeeper Marcelo Grohe was finally called into action. The half produced a much better all-round performance from the Oceania representatives.
Long before the final whistle, however, Al-Ittihad had settled for the 3-0 victory, their thoughts no doubt turning toward the big clash with Al-Ahly on Friday, as two giants of Arab football meet. It will surely be a tougher test than this.