Club World Cup Round of 16 Preview: Manchester City vs. Al Hilal | OneFootball

Manchester City vs. Al Hilal

Monday June 30 @ 9:00pm ET

Camping World Stadium, Orlando, FL

All hail the battle of the Petro-clubs! But this is a boring trope. Far more interesting is going to be the clash between the tournament’s most potent offense against the stingiest defense.

Recent History

These two clubs have never played each other, but their managers have. In the two meetings between Pep Guardiola and Simon Inzaghi (back when he was with Inter Milan), Pep has won once and drawn once.

How They Qualified for the Round of 16

Manchester City was the only team in the group stage to win all three of their games. They finished top of Group G. If we’re being accurate, they won their opening match against Wydad AC 2 – 0, and then totally dominated the other two. Al Ain never stood a snowball’s chance in the desert, falling 6 – 0 and only attempting a single shot on frame. Juventus were mercilessly dispatched 5 – 2 and made to look like a second division side. Clearly, City were the best team in the group stage and have to be favorites moving forward

Since losing the FA Cup to Crystal Palace mid-May, CIty have scored 18 goals and conceded 3 in the subsequent five matches. Jérémy Doku, Ilkay Gündoğan, Phil Foden and Erling Haaland each have a brace; five others have found the net. A goal can come from anywhere, anytime..

Al Hilal finished second in Group H with five points. A stunning 1 – 1 draw against the mighty Real Madrid got them off to a good start. They were frankly unlucky to not defeat Red Bull Salzburg, and walked out of Audi Field with a 0 – 0 draw. In their final game against an already-eliminated Pachuca, their offense finally woke up and they won 2 – 0 (though that second goal came seconds before the final whistle).

What’s kept Al Hilal in this contest is their defense. They conceded the fewest goals of any qualifying team: one. Captain Salem Al-Dawsari has scored one goal, but is sadly missing this match due to injury (as is menacing striker Aleksandar Mitrović). This will burden Rúben Neves and Marcos Leonardo, who are responsible for the other two goals, but it’s the backline who will be called upon to blunt City’s attacking edge and keep Al Hilal in the game.

Expected Conditions

Surprisingly, it’s forecasted to be somewhat mild in Orlando. That means temperatures BELOW 80F/27C. There is still a chance of a thunderstorm, and the bookies are busy laying down money lines for when that might delay the match.

The Hooligan Take

I’m going to propose a Stranger Things-like journey to the Upside Down, and breakdown how Al Hilal will win tonight:

Of course, a rational person will go with the probable outcome: