Al-Hilal win against Pachuca to reach last 16 at Club World Cup
Al-Hilal beat Mexico's Pachuca 2-0 to reach the knockout stage of the Club World Cup on Thursday, the Saudi club's first win of the tournament enough to send them through as Group H runners-up behind Real Madrid.
Salem Al-Dawsari opened the scoring in the 22nd minute and Marcos Leonardo added the second in stoppage time to earn the four-times Asian champions a last-16 clash with Manchester City in Orlando on Monday.
Pachuca, already eliminated after losing their first two games, were lively but an Al-Hilal defence marshalled by Kalidou Koulibaly shackled danger man Salomon Rondon and restricted Pachuca to long-range shots and half chances.
"It was a hard game but I think we did a great game," said Al-Hilal midfielder Ruben Neves." We scored first off, we had control and we defended very well. A clean sheet and a win and we are through. That's the most important thing."
The Al-Hilal squad is packed with top-class players expensively assembled from around the world but the opening goal came from a combination of two homegrown talents.
Nasser Al-Dawsari took possession in the final third and lofted a pass into the area to his captain Salem, who controlled the ball with one touch of his right foot and lifted it over the goalkeeper with his second.
Manchester City are likely to provide a much sterner test than Pachuca, with Neves stating that Al-Hilal needed to play in the same way as they did in their 1-1 draw with Real last week.
"We are playing against, for me, one of the top three teams in the world. I know them very well," said Neves, highlighting that the team plans to prepare well for the game and do their best for the upcoming game.
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Gulf Today
4 hours ago
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City show title credentials with Juve rout, Al Ain sign off in style
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The National
7 hours ago
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But the memories of Al Ain's first crack at this new-format tournament which linger the longest will be from when the limelight was at its brightest, against the stars from City and Juventus. It is difficult to specify the greatest indignity Al Ain suffered at the Club World Cup. There were too many to choose from. Maybe it was the sight of Erling Haaland arguing with the referee that not enough stoppage time had been added on after their second match. City were 6-0 winners by that stage. Haaland and the rest obviously wanted to fill their boots even more against such easy beats. Maybe it was Rui Patricio, the goalkeeper with over a century of Portugal caps to his name, being recruited as a short-term contractor. He replaced Khalid Essa, the club's talisman, then waved through five goals in the opening game. 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Essa, the captain and goalkeeper, was given just the middle match, against City. Coincidentally, he had a nightmare, conceding six goals. But he must have been wondering why he had been left out. Within the short timeframe of group matches at the Club World Cup, there is surely no need to rotate goalkeepers – even ones as overworked as Al Ain's. Yes, Essa arrived later than the majority of the squad, having been on UAE national team duty, along with Kouame Autonne and Yahia Nader. But he could not have been too out of puff: he did not even play in the second qualifier of the national team's international window, against Kyrgyzstan. Clearly, no one will have expected Al Ain to beat Juventus or City. But it was the supine nature of the performances which was of greatest worry. Their efforts did nothing to advance the reputation of Arabian Gulf football, but their woes perhaps show a flaw in the timing of the Club World Cup. It is a year since Al Ain won their place at the event. 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Dubai Eye
17 hours ago
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Al-Hilal down Pachuca to reach last 16 at Club World Cup
Al-Hilal beat Mexico's Pachuca 2-0 to reach the knockout stage of the Club World Cup on Thursday, the big-spending Saudi club's first win of the tournament enough to send them through as Group H runners-up behind Real Madrid. Salem Al-Dawsari opened the scoring in the 22nd minute and Marcos Leonardo added the second in stoppage time to earn the four-times Asian champions a last-16 clash with Manchester City in Orlando on Monday. Pachuca, already eliminated after losing their first two games, were lively but an Al-Hilal defence superbly marshalled by Kalidou Koulibaly shackled danger man Salomon Rondon and restricted the Mexicans to long-range shots and half chances. Al-Hilal were guilty of being a bit casual at times, and were given a few scares by Pachuca as they sat deeper to protect their lead in the final quarter, but held on for a victory that gave them five points to Red Bull Salzburg's four. "It was a hard game but I think we did a great game," said midfielder Ruben Neves. "We scored first off, we had control and we defended very well. A clean sheet and a win and we are through. That's the most important thing." The Al-Hilal squad is packed with top-class players expensively assembled from around the world but the opening goal came from a combination of two homegrown talents. Nasser Al-Dawsari took possession in the final third and lofted a pass into the area to his captain Salem, who controlled the ball with one touch of his right foot and lifted it over the goalkeeper with his second. Leonardo headed over the crossbar later in the first half and should have scored in the 83rd minute when sublime Al-Hilal approach play left him with only goalkeeper Sebastian Jurado to beat. His chip was too weak, however, and Jurado got enough of a touch on it to allow defender Eduardo Bauermann to clear it off the line. Pachuca substitute Illian Hernandez sounded a warning with a powerful header that flashed past the post in the 84th minute but Leonardo settled any Al-Hilal nerves five minutes into stoppage time. Neves found him in plenty of space in the box and this time the Brazilian rounded the goalkeeper and tucked the ball into an empty net. Manchester City are likely to provide a much sterner test than Pachuca and Neves said Al-Hilal needed to play in the same way as they did in their 1-1 draw with Real last week. "We are playing against, for me, one of the top three teams in the world. I know them very well," the Portugal international said. "We'll do our best, of course, we will prepare the game like we did in these three games and we'll see what happened."
