The opening game of the Club World Cup is in full swing! Manchester City s red card + fans are in a row, FIFA responds: The standards are indeed vague

The highly anticipated first round of the Group G of the Club World Cup group stage has finally begun! Manchester City competed fiercely with Moroccan team Casablanca Vidard, and the exciting game was grandly held at the Lincoln Financial Stadium in Philadelphia, USA.

In this game, Manchester City's lineup has been greatly adjusted. After De Bruyne left the team, Manchester City's core players Haaland, B Se and Rodri all watched from the wall and stood on standby as substitutes, while two new players Reindez and Sherky both entered the starting lineup.

After fierce competition throughout the game, Manchester City finally defeated Casablanca Vidard with a score of 2-0, successfully winning the Club World Cup with a good start. Now it is full of momentum and is moving steadily towards the goal of the sixth Club World Cup championship trophy in the team history!

Manchester City failed to win any championship in multi-line combat this season, which is undoubtedly a major setback for the team. In the 2024-25 season, Manchester City not only eliminated early in the UEFA Champions League and the English League Cup, but also lost to Crystal Palace in the FA Cup final. In the Premier League, it only secured its top four positions at the last moment, barely qualifying for the Champions League next season. Despite this, Manchester City is still one of the favorites to win the FIFA World Cup (Club World Cup). They are expected to easily obtain qualifying rights in this group. Especially the key showdown with Juventus may directly affect the ownership of the group's top spot. It is worth noting that since core player De Bruyne has confirmed his transfer to Naples, and many new players have joined the team through the special transfer window during the Club World Cup, this game will be the first appearance of Manchester City's new lineup after the debut. Head coach Pep Guardiola has high hopes for this and looks forward to a victory to start a new chapter.

In the territory of Moroccan football, Casablanca occupies a pivotal position. The team has won 22 league championships in history, demonstrating its profound heritage and dominance in its national leagues. In the 2021-22 season, the team even topped the African Champions League, and this brilliant achievement made it stand out in international football.

On the stage of this Club World Cup, Casablanca is facing severe challenges. Because they are in the same group as strong teams such as Manchester City and Juventus, their qualifying situation is extremely difficult. For this team, this tournament may only be able to "scorn a goal, score a point, win a game" as the classic goal. But it should be noted that even if any of these goals is achieved, it will definitely not be a failure for the Casablanca team.

Recalling recent results, Casablanca's form has declined significantly since the 2023-24 season. In the African Champions League, the team failed to stand out from the group and performed unsatisfactorily. In the national league, its competitiveness is also greatly reduced. The team ranked only 4th in the league this season, with a score of 28 points from the top team, showing a decline. Although the team ranks third in the league this season, there is still a huge 16-point gap between the leader Berkani, and the peak of the past is hard to reappear.

In contrast, Manchester City has sent a strong lineup in this game. Its starting lineup includes No. 31 Ederson guarding the goal, No. 6 Aker, No. 22 Rees, No. 82 Rico Lewis builds the defense line, No. 75 O'Reilly and No. 4 Reindes control the rhythm, No. 76 Doku, No. 26 Savignho, No. 29 Sherkey is responsible for offensive organization and breakthroughs, and No. 47 Foden and No. 7 Marmush charge in the front line. This lineup shows Manchester City's strong strength and championship ambition.

In view of the huge gap in strength between the two sides, Guardiola resolutely decided to deal with it with a starting lineup in this game. Manchester City's arrangement of troops not only put a FIFA previous idea of ​​the Club World Cup back in the spotlight, but also triggered widespread discussion due to its special arrangements on the defense line. This move seems to be a subtle deviation from FIFA's guiding principle of "requiring teams to send the strongest lineup to participate." It is worth noting that some media reports from the UK said that FIFA also acknowledged that the standard setting of such requirements is slightly subjective.

In this game, Chinese referee Ma Ning participated in law enforcement as the fourth official and cooperated with the Brazilian referee group.

At the beginning of the first half of the game, Savignho made a precise cross from the right. The goalkeeper of Vader failed to handle the ball properly during the save. Foden keenly captured the opportunity and quickly followed up and scored a goal. Manchester City led Vader 1-0.

In the 9th minute, after getting the ball at the front of the penalty area, Marmush made a slight adjustment, and then took a strong shot with his right foot, and the ball flew out of the baseline against the post.

In the 12th minute, Amrabat made a brief adjustment after getting the ball and tried to shoot at a small angle, but was blocked by the defensive player.

In the 19th minute, Manchester City got a corner kick opportunity and the ball was sent to the penalty area. Ake at the back point jumped high and tried to head the ball, but unfortunately it was slightly off the post.

In the 32nd minute, Vadard launched a counterattack, and Melula actively followed up and completed the shot, but was successfully blocked by Ederson.

In the 38th minute, Manchester City carefully instigated the offensive in the frontcourt, Doku made a clever pass, Serky made a cross from the bottom and passed the ball in front of the goal, Foden followed up and shot, but was steadily confiscated by the goalkeeper.

In the 42nd minute of the game, Foden took the corner kick, and Doku seized the opportunity in the penalty area and volleyed directly to score! At this point, the score on the field has become Manchester City 2-0 Vadard.

Before the Club World Cup kicked off, Manchester City showed extremely high activity and determination to sign in the transfer market. The team successfully introduced Reindez with a high transfer fee of 55 million euros, signed Nuri for 36.8 million euros, recruited Cherki for 36.5 million euros, and signed Betinelli for 2.4 million euros. The cumulative expenditure of various recruitment has reached 130 million euros.. Looking back on the past 10 games, Manchester City has achieved outstanding results, with excellent results of 7 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss. During this period, they scored 17 goals, conceded only 5 goals, and successfully scored zero goals in 6 games. In contrast, Vadard's results in the same period were only 4 wins, 2 draws and 4 losses, with a winning rate of barely reaching 40%. There is a huge gap between the two teams in terms of player value. In this duel, Manchester City may have an absolute advantage in terms of strength comparison, and the results of the game may focus more on the number of Manchester City winnings.

Vidad has missed the league championship for three consecutive seasons. His qualification for this Club World Cup is based on the results of the 2021/2022 African Champions League. Faced with relatively weak opponents, especially with the opportunity of many new players joining the team's lineup, this Club World Cup opening game is undoubtedly an excellent opportunity for Coach Guardiola to integrate a new tactical formation and enhance the tacit understanding between new players. It is worth noting that in the law enforcement team of this game, Ma Ning will participate in this Club World Cup as the fourth official for the second time. Previously, Ma Ning played this important role in Flamengo's match against Tunisia Hope.

After the second half of the game started, the two sides changed sides and fought again. In the 54th minute, Doku successfully made a steal in the frontcourt, and then formed a one-on-one force and decisively pushed the ball to the goal. However, Vidard goalkeeper Benabid reacted quickly and saved the ball.

The game went to the 60th minute, Manchester City made tactical adjustments and replaced three players at one time. Bob, Haaland and Rodri came on as a substitute, aiming to further consolidate their on-field advantages and strive for better game results.

When the game was 69 minutes old, Malmush was replaced and Gundogan came on the court. In the 75th minute, Haaland shot with his left foot in the penalty area, but unfortunately the ball flew high above the crossbar. In the 80th minute, Vadard fans created the situation on the spot, but fortunately the referee decided that there was no impact and the game continued. In the 88th minute, Rico Lewis accidentally kicked the opponent's head with a tackle, and the referee directly showed a red card and sent him off.

G Group brings together European giants Manchester City, Juventus, African powerhouse Casablanca Vidard and UAE team Al Ain. After Vader lost to the strong Manchester City in the first game, he will face Juventus again in the second round, and faced Al Ain, who is relatively close to his strength in the last round. This schedule is quite difficult for him, and the prospect of advancing is slightly bleak. With Manchester City getting a good start in the Club World Cup, from the perspective of the strength of each team, the suspense of this group seems to be mainly concentrated on who can occupy the top or second place in the group.