Bayern overcome battling Boca to reach Club World Cup last 16

Hindustan Times

4 hours ago

Bayern Munich booked their place in the knockout stages of the Club World Cup with Harry Kane and Michael Olise on target in a hard-fought 2-1 win over Argentina's Boca Juniors on Friday. HT Image
After defeats for Paris Saint-Germain against Botofogo and Chelsea against Flamengo, Bayern bucked the trend of European teams falling to South American opponents with an accomplished victory in the Group C encounter.
Hard Rock Stadium was packed to the rafters with Boca fans who once again brought incredible passion and noise to the NFL stadium, home to the Miami Dolphins.
But Bayern soon set about quieting the 63,587 crowd with Joshua Kimmich and Leon Goretzka taking charge of central midfield and the movement of Bayern's frontline stretching the Boca defence.
The German side thought they had the lead in the eighth minute when a corner from Olise passed untouched through a crowded six-yard box and into the net.
But the referee was called to the monitor for a VAR review where he was able to clearly see that Serge Gnabry had blocked and tangled with Boca goalkeeper Agustin Marchesin, and the effort was ruled out.
Ten minutes later, however, Bayern had the breakthrough when Boca were unable to fully clear a ball into the box and Kane pounced with a clinical left-foot shot into the bottom corner.
Bayern smelled blood and pushed for a second Olise found Gnabry on the right and his low ball across the face of the goal was just inches away from the sliding Kingsley Coman.
Boca desperately needed to find a foothold in the game and they came close when a thundering free-kick from Kevin Zenon was punched out by Manuel Neuer.
Moments later Zenon tested the Bayern keeper again with another fierce strike which Neuer punched away with his right hand.
But for all the signs of life from Boca, Bayern looked in comfortable charge of the game and Kane was close to making it 2-0 with a dangerous free-kick which dipped just too late and flashed over the bar.
Bayern continued to look for a second after the interval and the busy Olise should have done better from close range but couldn't connect properly with an off-balance shot.
Boca never gave up harrying and grafting though and their reward came in the 66th minute.
On a turnover in midfield, Alan Velasco found Miguel Merentiel down the right and he powered goalwards, skipping around Josip Stanisic before producing a brilliant, confident finish past the helpless Neuer.
It looked like South American clubs' unbeaten record in the tournament so far was going to hold, but with six minutes remaining Olise provided the decisive blow.
After a scramble on the edge of the box, Kane found the France international with a delicate lay-off with the outside of his foot and Olise provided precision control with a superb side-foot finish into the corner.
Konrad Laimer thought he had wrapped up the win with a third moments later but he was ruled offside.
It was the first loss for a South American side in the competition and it leaves Boca with just one point going into their final game in the group.
Bayern have the maximum six points after crushing Auckland City 10-0 in their opening game with Portugal's Benfica in second place on four points.
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