Bayern Munich advances in the Club World Cup with 2-1 win over Boca Juniors

Miami, June 22: Michael Olise fired Bayern Munich into the knockout stages of the Club World Cup, scoring in the 84th minute for a 2-1 win over Boca Juniors on Friday night.

German champion Bayern made it two wins in Group C and advanced to the round of 16 with a game to spare.

Olise secured the victory at Hard Rock Stadium after Miguel Merentiel had put Boca in position for a draw with a brilliant solo goal in the 66th.

Bayern, which tops the group, took the lead on Harry Kane's clinical finish in the 18th and went on to miss of a slew of chances before Merentiel's equalizer.

South American teams had been unbeaten in their first nine games of this expanded Club World Cup.

Key moment

Bayern looked like it would be held until Olise's cool finish. Collecting Kane's layoff inside the box, the forward curled a powerful first-time effort low into the bottom corner.

Takeaways

Bayern has the luxury of resting players for its final group game against second-place Benfica on Tuesday, which could be bad news for Boca. Argentine giant Boca, which plays Auckland City, needs Bayern to beat Benfica to have any chance of advancing to the next round.

What they said

“We knew it wasn't going to be easy, we knew we were coming into a hostile environment, hot weather, it was tough. It's a massive tournament. We are playing against the best teams in the world. We just have to compete to our highest level and we should be able to beat most teams.” — Kane.

“We have to find a way (to advance). A draw would’ve been great but it’s up to us to compete and do our best and I would not be surprised if that happened.” — Boca Juniors coach Miguel Angel Russo.

Similalry,  Danilo scored the go-ahead goal in the 65th minute and Flamengo scored three second-half goals to move atop its group at the Club World Cup with a 3-1 victory over Chelsea on Friday.

Coupled with Esperance's 1-0 win against LAFC in the later group match, Flamengo became the first team in the field to advance to the knockout round.

Flamengo's win also kept South American teams undefeated at the Club World Cup in nine matches.

Pedro Neto gave Chelsea the early lead. The ball bounced off a Flamengo defender and Neto gained control, charging toward the goal before putting it away in the 13th minute.

Flamengo drew even in the 62nd on Bruno Henrique's goal on a tap-in in front of the goal. Moments later, the Brazilian giants took the lead off a corner with Danilo's goal.

Wallace Yan all but put the game out of reach for the Blues with a goal in the 83rd. The Blues, the 2021 Club World Cup winner, defeated LAFC 2-0 in their opening match in Atlanta. Flamengo downed Esperance 2-0 in its opener.

Former Chelsea defender Filipe Luís currently coaches Flamengo, while former Chelsea midfielder Jorginho made his debut for Flamengo against Esperance.

Key moment

Down just 2-1, Chelsea still had a chance, but Nicolas Jackson was sent off in the 68th with a straight red just four minutes after replacing Liam Delap, who got his first start for Chelsea after making his debut for the Blues in the tournament opener.

Takeaways

The Blues currently sit below Flamengo in Group D and can still advance to the knockout round. The final matches will be played Tuesday with Chelsea facing Esperance in Philadelphia and Flamengo meeting LAFC in Orlando, Florida.

What they said

Henrique was named the Man of the Match, and said the face that there was a large contingent of red-clad Flamengo fans among the 54,019 at Lincoln Financial Field wasn't lost on him or his teammates in the pivotal second half.

“I noticed that we had the advantage. We had the fans on our side,” Henrique said. “And that's when we started to pressure.” (AP)