
Real Madrid Beats Dortmund and Will Play PSG in Club World Cup Semifinals
Gonzalo García and Fran García scored in the first 20 minutes as Madrid built a 2-0 lead.
Dortmund's Maximilian Beier scored three minutes into stoppage time and Mbappé, who entered in the 67th, restored a two-goal lead with his bicycle kick one minute later.
Serhou Guirassy converted a penalty kick in the eighth minute of added time after he was fouled by Dean Huijsen, who received a red card and will miss the semifinals.
Courtois used all of the lengthy arm on his 6-foot-7 frame to tip away Marcel Sabitzer's shot just before the final whistle.
Madrid advanced to a semifinal match against Champions League winner Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday, a day after Chelsea meets Brazilian club Fluminense.
On a sunny afternoon with an 86-degree (30-degree Celsius) temperature at the 3 p.m. kickoff, Gonzalo García scored in the 10th minute and Fran García in the 20th.
Gonzalo García, a 21-year-old who made only five Spanish league appearances in the past two seasons, was given the start by new Real Madrid coach Xabi Alonso over Mbappé, still regaining fitness after acute gastroenteritis. García has four goals, tying Benfica's Ángel Di María and Al-Hilal's Marcos Leonardo for the tournament lead.
Mbappé came on for Jude Bellingham, who missed a chance to play against his brother Jobe, who was suspended for yellow-card accumulation.
Madrid beat Dortmund 2-0 in the 2024 Champions League final and overcame a two-goal halftime deficit in a 5-2 victory of this season's league phase. Los Blancos were eliminated by Arsenal in this year's Champions League quarterfinals.
Madrid has won five consecutive games against Dortmund and is unbeaten in seven since a 2014 Champions League quarterfinal defeat.
American midfielder Gio Reyna didn't get off the bench and finished the tournament with one 13-minute appearance for Dortmund in five matches.
This game drew 76,611 to MetLife Stadium, site of next year's World Cup final. Seats looked filled, except for a completely empty suite level on one side.
There was a moment of silence before kickoff for Liverpool's Diogo Jota and his brother, Penafiel's André Silva, who died in a car crash on Thursday. Key moment
Courtois' final save on the game's final play to preserve the victory. Takeaways
Construction to remove seats in the corners enabled a 74-by-114-yard (68-by-105-meter) field, wider than for matches during the 2016 and 2024 Copa America tournaments.
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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New York Times
2 hours ago
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Guardiola was often seen with an arm on, or around, Lijnders' shoulder during City's games this summer and with their last-16 elimination at the hands of Al Hilal at least providing the silver lining of a four-week rest, there is little doubt around the club that the coaches will be plotting a route back to the top long before the players report back for duty in August. City returned from the States smarting at their relatively early exit but the tournament does appear to have served as a firebreaker between 'last' season and 'next' season, with new players and new staff given some time to bed in and provide an energy that had clearly been lacking.


New York Times
2 hours ago
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New York Times
2 hours ago
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‘I turned around and Angus burst into tears'. The stories that explain how much the Club World Cup can mean
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He is jumped on by a community football coach, before being swamped by a stockbroker, a real estate agent, a Coca-Cola salesman and a middle-school teacher. It was a goal scored by a merry-band of part-timers that etched their name in history having earned a 1-1 draw against Boca Juniors, Argentina's second-most successful club and one of Diego Maradona's former sides. Advertisement It was the coalescence of 21 years of existence, 200 games of qualifying over the past four years and personal sacrifice, leading to a 'controlled explosion' inside a private bar in Nashville later that night as the 100-plus group of friends and family joined to celebrate late into the night. Auckland City's presence at this tournament had been used as a stick to beat the tournament with after they lost 10-0 to Bayern Munich in the second game, but they held Benfica until the eighth minute into added time of the first half before the floodgates eventually opened and then won that point against Boca Juniors that no one gave them any hope of salvaging. The scorer of the equaliser in the 52nd minute was Christian Gray, a PE teacher. In most cases you would presume there will be children running around with Gray's name on the back of their shirt for years to come, but that is not the reality in Auckland, New Zealand. The league is not professionalised and, with other sports more dominant, attendances tend to amount to little more than friends and family. Most clubs do not even manufacture replica shirts. It is more likely that his celebrity will grow more in Buenos Aires, where supporters of River Plate are using him to poke fun at Boca's inability to beat a bunch of amateurs. There was no moment in the tournament that better captured the spirit of football and its role as an emotional release valve than when every member of the squad hounded Gray. While it was a myth that some players missed this tournament due to not being able to get time off work, 12 of them had to miss OFC Champions League games as they had to prioritise their leave for this tournament. Each of them has a unique story of how they came to be there on the world stage. Gray is from a lineage of New Zealand sporting royalty. His father, Rodger, the team's security attache at this tournament, was the former national team captain with 39 caps. His mother, Sandra, is a netball legend who is now a prominent coach, his aunt Margaret was a New Zealand hockey international and his uncle Thomas won New Zealand's equivalent of the FA Cup twice. Advertisement It did not look like he was going to follow in their footsteps. Having moved to Wellington at 13, the high school coach advised him to move back from striker and play at centre-back like his old man had. Gray had spent most of his first season at Auckland out injured and it looked like he might be released. He remained, but has suffered from vertigo, believed to be related to an issue with the proteins in his inner ear, and even missed the two warm-up games in the U.S. due to a groin injury. For him to be the man who scored the decisive goal gave the story another underdog layer, but for Auckland's general manager Gordon Watson — who has been involved since 2011, not long after the club's inception in 2004 — the celebrations at full time brought home the sacrifices so many made to achieve this one result. Auckland has strong Croatian roots and so for Mario Ilich, whose journey began with sister club Central United aged five, it was a proud moment for the team. Then there is Angus Kilkolly, the striker who has played over 150 games and scored over 70 goals, but has had to play through double tragedy in his personal life. His brother died suddenly two years ago and his dad passed away from pancreatic cancer last year, but he was so determined to help this generation of players get a result that would mean they would be regarded in the same way as Auckland's 2009 and 2014 teams — who won five games against professional teams. 'At the final whistle I went to celebrate and I turned around to see Angus standing there and he just burst into tears,' says Watson. 'He is normally not too emotional but he was crying his heart out. I hugged him and said his dad and brother were watching, that we're all his family and this was his and this team's moment. When I think of sacrifice and endurance and character I think of Angus.' How the $4.5m earned for their participation is split is yet to be decided. As Oceania's sole representative, their future is also up in the air as the confederation are planning a new professional league, backed by FIFA with funds of up to $10m. It would help ensure they can put forward the strongest candidate in future Club World Cups, but Auckland will struggle to find the funding to sustain a professional team so have not put forward an application at the moment. Advertisement Regardless of where they will be playing domestically in the coming year, The Flying Kiwis — the official New Zealand national team supporters group — are organising a banner to be unveiled at their international game against Australia in September to acknowledge the team they regard as 'everyday heroes'. Had you been in Orlando for Mamelodi Sundowns' first game or in Miami for their final game, you would barely have been able to notice a difference in mood. After the 1-0 win over Ulsan, one of just two victories for any of the four African clubs registered at the tournament, the scenes were jubilant. And after the frustrating 0-0 draw against Fluminense, which denied them progression into the knockout stage, the scenes were still joyful. You would not have known whether Sundowns had succeeded or not, such was the noise and colour in the stands as the players walked over to engage with the South African fans who had travelled to support them. With their hands placed on the shoulders of the man in front of them, the players put one foot out in front and tapped in unison as they formed a train to dance and sing a routine that has become a staple. Then the counting began, from one to 10, before they chanted the words 'Haka Matorokisi', which means 'hook the carriages together'. For Sundowns it is an expression of their love and togetherness, in keeping with their club motto 'Ubuntu-Botho' which means 'a person is a person through other people'. Even though they had narrowly fallen short of achieving what they set out to do, to be depressed was to hide from the world who they are and the pride they feel. Sundowns were arguably the best team not to advance to the knockouts as their 'shoeshine and piano' style drew praise from Thierry Henry. Sundowns' yellow jersey and rich tradition of flamboyant play has earned them the nickname of 'The Brazilians' in South Africa. For many the captain, 35-year-old Themba Zwane, embodies what Sundowns' polished, imaginative football stands for. From a township in which four-vs-four street games were played for money that allowed him to eat — these were areas reserved for non-whites who lived near or worked in areas that were designated 'white only' — Zwane has gone on to be Sundowns' most decorated player in a dominant era since being taken over by billionaire Patrice Motsepe. Advertisement As a Brazilian, Sundowns' forward Arthur Sales is familiar with the samba culture of his homeland, but his year in Pretoria has opened his eyes to a new culture. 'It was different for me as we dance before and after the game, but it is beautiful,' he says. 'We sing about confidence and our family. Before and after it is about celebrating, but when we lose it is about respect. The fans stay with us and we stay with them. 'When you have the possibility to win and you don't, of course you feel sad. But when you play well you understand that you have given your 100 per cent.' Al Hilal vs Manchester City, a proxy for Saudi Arabia vs Abu Dhabi in the soft power stakes, is not the most romantic fixture, but there is a distinction to be made between Gulf States using sport to improve their image abroad and genuine fans for whom this experience has been a long time coming. It is temping for Europeans to look at the heavy investment in the Saudi Pro League by the state's sovereign wealth fund, PIF, and conclude that they are trying to manufacture a football culture from scratch, but the celebrations in Orlando when Al Hilal beat the English Premier League side 4-3 in extra time proved that theory wrong. A sea of blue came streaming through the concourses and down the escalators as their fans chanted 'ole, ole, ole'. Some waved flags, some rode on shoulders and, over the noise, dozens tried in vain to call back home where the sun was just rising. Saudi Arabia's ambitions to rapidly become a force on the global football stage can be dressed as a classic case of sportswashing, but for the travelling fans, estimated to be around 15,000, this was a seismic moment as their club achieved the biggest victory Asian football has ever registered over a European club. For Yousef Alanezi, it was a week he could not have dreamed of when he moved from Riyadh to Tampa Bay, Florida, five years ago. His team, Al Hilal, albeit the most successful Asian team in continental history, had drawn with Real Madrid in their opening game and were now facing Manchester City in the last 16. Standing outside Camping World Stadium before the game with his friend and their three sons all kitted out in the club's blue and black stripes, the excitement was palpable. 'It's been an amazing experience. I used to go to all the games in Riyadh and we would have 60,000 for the big matches,' he says. Advertisement 'I understand that people aren't used to Saudi spending money on football, but we have a passionate fanbase. Football is our biggest sport. 'We just never thought for a moment that we would be playing against Madrid and City in the same week, so this tournament has been great to show that we are better than people think.' Asked who their favourite Al Hilal player is and the kids struggle. Not so much when it comes to Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe, but a result like that could change it. 'Because they have grown up here they know all the English teams' players, but we've started them young with Al Hilal so hopefully that changes as more players move and more games become available to watch. 'Hopefully in four years' time we can have three teams here.'