UAE’s Al Ain, the reigning Asian champions, secured a decisive 6-2 victory over Auckland City, the champions of Oceania, on Sunday. This win sets up a highly anticipated clash with Egypt’s Al Ahly, the African champions, in the second round of the Intercontinental Football Cup.
The match took place at Hazza bin Zayed Stadium in the Africa-Asia-Oceania knockout stage of the new Intercontinental Cup, organized by FIFA.
Al Ain took an early lead with a header from defender Fabio Cardoso in the 7th minute. Sekou Baba quickly added the second goal in the 13th minute.
Auckland City’s Gerson Lagos reduced the deficit in the 43rd minute with a corner that surprisingly slipped past Al Ain goalkeeper Abdelkrim Traore. However, Al Ain responded just before halftime with Matías Palacios scoring in the first minute of stoppage time, making it 3-1 at the break.
Auckland City’s Bevan brought the score to 3-2 in the 54th minute, causing some tension among the Al Ain fans.
Moroccan Sofiane Rahimi, who came on as a substitute, headed in the fourth goal for Al Ain in the 78th minute. In injury time, substitute Kaku scored a powerful left-footed strike from outside the box to make it 5-2 in the 90+2 minute.
Rahimi sealed the victory with his second goal in the 90+4 minute, securing a match with Al Ahly at Cairo Stadium on October 29.
