Manchester City 2-0 Wydad AC: Phil Foden and Jeremy Doku get 10-man City off to winning start at FIFA Club World Cup

First-half goals from Phil Foden and Jeremy Doku saw Manchester City overcome impressive Moroccan side Wydad AC 2-0 in Philadelphia and get their FIFA Club World Cup campaign off to a winning start, despite a late controversial red card for youngster Rico Lewis.

Foden scored the tournament’s fastest goal when he finished into the bottom corner in just the second minute of the game after a Savinho cross was palmed out straight to him.

But City were made to work hard for a second goal, withstanding plenty of threat from Wydad on the counter-attack before Jeremy Doku made it 2-0 with a close-range finish having drifted onto the back post at a corner.

The side from Casablanca continued to threaten, with South African forward Thembinkosi Lorch the main threat on the break and the club’s vocal fanbase ensuring that there was a decent atmosphere at Lincoln Financial Field.

However, City’s strength in depth showed as they introduced a wealth of experience from the bench, having handed starts to new signings Rayan Cherki and Tijjani Reijnders.

There was one setback for City on the day, Rico Lewis shown a late red card for a perceived dangerous follow-through in a sliding challenge – a decision that was upheld by VAR but one that neither the player nor the City bench agreed with.

City will look to potentially qualify for the knockout stage when they face Al Ain of the United Arab Emirates next up in the early hours of Monday morning, while Wydad will hope to find their shooting boots and keep their tournament alive when they play Italian giants Juventus on Sunday evening.

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This game saw two of City’s summer signings make their first starts for the club, and it was an impressive debut for midfielder Tijjani Reijnders, who showed the qualities that persuaded the Premier League club to spend big on him ahead of this tournament.

The former AC Milan midfielder sprayed the ball around nicely, anchoring the midfield well, and will be a useful and versatile option in that area of the pitch going forward.

It was a less impressive start to his Man City career for Rayan Cherki, who struggled to find space in a highly-congested midfield area, showing glimpses of quality without making much of an impact on the game.

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This tournament is structured in a traditional World Cup style, with two qualifiers coming from each group in the opening stage, before a standard knockout phase involving 16 clubs. Juventus and Al Ain from the UAE are the other two teams in Group G, with those teams facing off in about seven hours’ time.

The final whistle sounds and City have emerged from a testing encounter with three points in Group G, getting their FIFA Club World Cup campaign off to a good start despite that late red card for Rico Lewis.

City break and Haaland is played clean through. It’s the sort of situation he relishes, but Benabid makes himself big and pulls off a top save, and not his first of the game either.

There will be six more minutes in this game, with Wydad pushing for a goal that their performance deserves.

Savinho is replaced by Nunes as City shuffle the pack after that sending off.

Rico Lewis is shown a straight red and cannot believe it. Neither can the rest of the City squad, who all have their hands raised in protest. Lewis slid in to win a challenge with Obeng, but the tangle of legs in the follow-through sent one boot up to catch the face of the Wydad forward. It feels extremely harsh – that was not an out-of-control situation or excessive force – but VAR agrees that it meets the threshold and Lewis has to leave the field of play.

Lorch has been superb today for Wydad and has run himself into the ground. His legs have finally gone and he is replaced for the remainder of the game by Aziz Ki.

Wydad look to catch City out with a through-ball, but Ederson is out of his box to act as a sweeper, denying any shooting opportunity.

The Wydad fans are cloaked in red smoke as their fans turn up the atmosphere another notch, prompting the referee to pause play as the smoke drifts over Ederson and threatens to influence the game.

It’s a first sight of goal for Haaland since coming on after great work by Lewis to pick him out on the edge of the box, but the forward’s effort flies over the bar.

The changes for City mean that Reijnders has a more advanced role now, showing the versatility that is likely to earn him plenty of playing time in the coming season. He’s been a big reason for City’s tally of 400 passes in this game so far (more than double that of Wydad).

Marmoush is withdrawn, with Gundogan coming on in his place, adding even more ballast to the City midfield.

The introduction of Obeng means that City have a genuine striker to contend with for the final half hour, and Wydad immediately look for their big striker, winning back-to-back corners.

Zemraoui and Amarabat are replaced by Obeng and Malsa.

Guardiola freshens things up, with Foden, Cherki and Doku given a rest, and Bobb, Rodri and Haaland coming on. That’s a lot of talent off the bench, and welcome match-time for Rodri and Bobb after their big injuries last season.

Wydad are caught on the ball as Cherki and Doku combine to nick possession. The latter bursts clean through on goal and should score, but he is denied by the fingertips of Benabid.