Fluminense 2 Al Hilal 1: Saudis left feeling aggrieved as Hercules lands the telling blow

New York Times

6 hours ago

This tournament continues to thrill to a Brazilian beat.
Fluminense became the first side through to the FIFA Club World Cup semi-finals after seeing off the considerable challenge posed by the Saudi Arabian side Al Hilal, their victory celebrated by a vociferous support inside the Camping World Stadium.
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Hercules, who had scored in the victory over Inter, proved the match winner in a tight contest in Florida after coming off the bench at the interval. Should Palmeiras see off Chelsea then a Brazilian team will be guaranteed a place in next week's final.
A dour opening period in the Floridian heat was illuminated five minutes before the interval by Matheus Martinelli's glorious finish beyond a despairing Yassine Bounou to thrust the Brazilian side ahead.
Fabio, Fluminense's 44-year-old goalkeeper, did wonderfully well to deny Kalidou Koulibaly an instant equaliser, tipping away the centre-half's header, only for Al Hilal to be awarded a penalty 45 seconds later for Samuel Xavier's perceived trip on Marcos Leonardo. However, the referee Danny Makkelie was sent to the monitor by VAR to review the decision and, on second viewing, deemed it a natural coming together.
Al Hilal's urgency was eventually rewarded early in the second half as Ruben Neves' delivery was nodded down by Koulibaly and Leonardo prodded them level from close range. Yet the momentum duly swung once again.
German Cano should have restored Fluminense's lead only for Bounou to conjure a fine save at his feet, but the Moroccan goalkeeper could not prevent Hercules, who had replaced Martinelli at the break, from forcing his team back ahead.
A flurry of late corners was repelled and, to the delight of their support, the final whistle heralded Brazilian progress.
Here, The Athletic's Anantaajith Raghuraman and Jordan Campbell dissect the key talking points from the quarter-final in Orlando.
The game had started but Joao Cancelo and Ruben Neves were still wiping tears from their eyes.
A day on from the tragic death of their Portugal team-mate Diogo Jota, alongside his brother Andre Silva, the Al Hilal pair initially tried to hold in their emotions during the pre-match silence. But the dam burst within seconds.
Neves, who also spent three years with Jota at Wolves between 2017 and 2020, covered his face as he sobbed into both hands. Cancelo blew out his cheeks and grimaced but, when his eyes locked on the image of Jota and his fallen brother on the big screen, he let his emotions flood out.
It was heartbreaking to watch and when the referee blew his whistle, the pair had the almost impossible task of instantly substituting grief for a focus on marking an opposition footballer.
Their team-mates had said on the eve of this quarter-final that they believed the pair would both be in a mind frame to play, but it was difficult to contemplate how the game could feel anything but inconsequential at this point.
In remembrance of Diogo Jota and André Silva, a minute of silence was observed. 🤍 pic.twitter.com/yYqKQWMur4
— DAZN Football (@DAZNFootball) July 4, 2025
Neves sprinted back to his position in defence and scrubbed his face in an attempt to clear his head, but Cancelo found it more difficult.
He sunk down on his heels and buried his face in his hands once more. It took him a couple of seconds to realise the game had actually started.
It looked like he was numb through the opening exchanges and, in truth, neither of the Portuguese players covered himself in glory at Fluminense's opener with Neves falling to clear convincingly and Cancelo scuffing his own attempt. In the confusion that ensued, Martinelli thumped the ball into the top corner.
Jordan Campbell
The opening 39 minutes of this match were, in truth, dull.
Al Hilal and Fluminense both opted for safety-first approaches out of possession, switching between a passive 5-3-2 and 5-2-3 to prevent central progression. They tried to use midfield runners in behind and wingers dropping into the half-spaces — Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Malcom for Al Hilal, Matheus Martinelli and Jhon Arias for Fluminense — to bait the opposition defence out of position, but both teams remained disciplined, resulting in just two shots apiece as half-time approached.
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The game needed either a set-piece, an error, a moment of individual quality or a combination of all of the above to take off, and it duly arrived.
Renan Lodi showed Fluminense right wing-back Samuel Xavier on to his weaker left foot a little lackadaisically, allowing him to swing a cross into the box. Ruben Neves inadvertently guided it beyond the back-post and Joao Cancelo, eager not to concede a corner, tried to sweep it clear only for his weak attempt to be intercepted by Gabriel Fuentes.
Fuentes' cutback was picked up by Martinelli, to the initial frustration of intended recipient Facundo Bernal. But that transformed into elation when Martinelli swivelled and dispatched a left-footed shot past Bounou and into the top right corner.
Moments later, Al Hilal created their best moment from a Neves set-piece but Koulibaly's header was brilliantly saved by the 44-year-old Fabio. The second phase of the resulting corner led to Makkelie awarding a penalty…
Anantaajith Raghuraman
It looked like the cross was sailing out of play but, after Xavier unintentionally clipped the trailing leg of Marcos Leonardo at the back post, the referee pointed to the spot. The official was immediately surrounded by Fluminense players and was called over to the monitor for a VAR review.
It showed that, while there had been some contact as the Brazilian forward edged in front of the defender, the ball was arcing well over both players.
How much relevance that holds is debatable but the strength of the contact could also be debated. Was it enough to throw him completely off balance and collapse to the floor?
The Dutch official thought not and chose to reverse his decision.
'What I didn't see on the pitch was that there was not a foul — it was a normal football contact,' he announced over the stadium tannoy.
It was not well-received by the Saudi fans in the stadium who believed the contact justified the original call, but it allowed Fluminense to get to half-time still a goal ahead. Even if that lead would prove short-lived upon the restart.
Jordan Campbell
Brazilian footballers with a single name often stand out — even more so if you are named the Roman equivalent of the son of Zeus and after a former Fluminense legend.
Hercules' first three matches at the Club World Cup were uneventful despite him starting them all. But coming off the bench in the last two, the 24-year-old — marked out by The Athletic as one of the players to watch at this tournament — has made an impact with two similar finishes after profiting from breakdowns in communication among opposing defenders.
The first, a left-footed sweep into the bottom right corner in injury time, capped a landmark victory over Inter in the round of 16. The latest, this time a right-footed sweep into the bottom left corner, sealed Fluminense's place in the last four.
The Brazilian side had several heroes against Al Hilal. Samuel Xavier at right wing-back assisted Hercules by leaping well over his vertical to win a loose ball and his cross led to Fluminense's opener. Martinelli scored a phenomenal goal from midfield while the Thiago Silva-led defence repelled everything Al Hilal threw at them, just like they had against Inter.
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But once again, it was Hercules who landed the telling blow.
Anantaajith Raghuraman
After beating Manchester City 4-3 in extra-time, the path to the final had opened up for Al Hilal.
Fluminense, the least storied of the Brazilian teams, even called themselves the 'ugly duckling' of the final eight. With their richly-assembled squad, Al Hilal were strong favourites in Orlando, so to fail to make it through feels like a major opportunity missed. Particularly given how a run to the final would accelerate the Saudi Arabian state's 2030 Vision and the soft power boost their presence in the showpiece event would have afforded.
They did not capitalise on their strong start to the second half, though, and struggled to find the magic touch in the final third to unlock the Fluminense defence.
Even so, their seismic win over Manchester City is a result that could still carry a lot of significance in the years ahead. It is the biggest win an Asian club has had over a European side, and they showed in this tournament that they are a force against clubs of Real Madrid's level.
The task for Simone Inzaghi & Co now is to figure out how they build for the next shot on the global stage in four years when they will return to playing in what is, at the moment, a league still below the top European competitions.
Jordan Campbell