Bayern Munich set FIFA Club World Cup record by annihilating Auckland City FC in tournament opener

Hindustan Times

9 hours ago

While not too many would have expected semi-professional team Auckland City FC from New Zealand to keep pace with Bayern Munich in the opening game of their FIFA Club World Cup campaign, it was pretty much a worst-case scenario as the German giants hammered them 10-0 at Cincinnati's TQL Stadium.
It will be seen as business tended to by Bayern, who were up against an Auckland team whose first team players only play semi-professionally, and hence weren't at full strength, as much difference as that would have made. It was still a very handy defeat for the Kiwi team, as they conceded six goals in the first half and four more in the second, making for a record scoreline at this event.
The previous heaviest margin of victory was a 6-1 win, when Al Hilal beat Al Jazira back in 2022. Bayern outdid that margin by double, as well as keeping a clean sheet against the defending champions of the New Zealand National League.
Bayern's rout was started with a header by Kingsley Coman, who scored in the sixth minute. The Frenchman was one of four players with multiple goals on the day, scoring twice in the first half. Michael Olise also scored twice before the half-time break, while Jamal Musiala came on at the hour mark and required only 17 minutes to score a second-half hat-trick. Thomas Muller, who had already scored in the first half, scored in the 89th minute to make it 10-0 to the Bavarians. Right-back Sacha Boey rounded out the scoring sheet for Munich.
A small victory for Auckland City was keeping star striker Harry Kane relatively quiet, holding him to none of the ten goals. It will remain a long trip to the USA for Auckland, who don't have all their players at their disposal, and also travelled without their head coach Paul Posa, using an interim for this tournament which falls during the Kiwi off-season.
The result was probably right given the enormous gulf in financial clout that the two teams possess: while Bayern's world class squad possess a value in excess of 900 million euros, the number for Auckland City stands at short of 5 million euros.
The good news for Auckland is that being Oceania's sole representatives at this tournament means they are due 2.6 million pounds in prize money, which more than quadruples their revenue from last season singlehandedly. Whether they can use that inspiration to provide a performance of substance against SL Benfica of Portugal and Boca Juniors of Argentina remains to be seen.