City Watch: Blues through to the last 16

The irony isn’t lost on me that after writing a full column criticising the Club World Cup earlier this month and it’s necessity, that now I’m going to be spending the next few weeks of this column talking about the competition and City’s results in it.

However, it would feel wrong if I refused to talk about it at all, and frankly, not a very good journalist! 

City have played their opening two games since the last edition of City Watch, with good results in both games. 

Two wins from two means the Blues have automatically qualified for the round of 16 before their final game.

The first game came was against Moroccan side, Wydad AC. 

If there were any pre-match nerves for City fans or even players, given how last season went, they were quickly wiped out when Phil Foden scored the quickest goal of the tournament so far in just the second minute to put the Blues in front. Jeremy Doku added a second to this just before half-time to put Pep’s side firmly in control.

It seemed like we went into game management mode in the second-half, as there was no addition to the 2-0 scoreline.

However, late on in the game Rico Lewis was given a straight red in what I thought was a pretty harsh decision. 

He won the ball in a 50/50 challenge with no high boot, it was just unfortunate that his foot almost bounced off Samuel Obeng and onto his face. VAR confirmed the decision, and we’ve since learnt that he will serve an extended, three game ban, even more harsh if you ask me.

Regardless, a good result in the first game meant Pep’s players went into their second game against Al Ain full of confidence. 

Another downside of this competition is that as the games are being played in the USA, some of the kick off times are a little unsocialable… I don’t want anyone questioning my loyalty after having to wake up at 2am to watch this game on Monday morning!

Wearing our new Club World Cup kit, the Blues showed no mercy to the Abu Dhabi side, slotting six goals past them and blowing them away, securing a Round of 16 place in the process. 

Ilkay Gundogan, Erling Haaland and Oscar Bobb all contributed to the goals, whilst Rayan Cherki and Claudio Echeverri scored their first in Sky Blue.

In terms of stand out performers for me, Tijjani Reijnders was absolutely exceptional in our first game against Wydad, running the midfield and showing signs that once he’s up to speed fully, a partnership with Rodri will look incredible, and give so much freedom to Cherki, who also had a good game in the second match.

Rayan Ait-Nouri also made his City debut against Al Ain, and he looked like he was playing with a lot of attacking freedom down the left, almost, dare I say it, Joao Cancelo like, a comparison I referred to when we first announced his signing.

City now play Juventus in the final game of the group. With both sides locked on six points, the winner will finish top of the group, and avoid a clash with what is looking likely as Real Madrid in the Round of 16. 

As the Italian side’s goal difference is better than ours, a draw would mean we finish second, so we’re in desperate need of a big win. 

Just a reminder, the last time we played Juventus, we lost 2-0 in Turin; I was there, it was freezing cold and we were awful!