Miami 2-1 Porto Fifa Club World Cup!
International Sports Desk, June 19 (EFE).-
A Messi free-kick powered Inter Miami to a 2-1 win over Porto at the FIFA Club World Cup on Thursday, which also saw Atlético de Madrid kick Seattle Sounders out of the competition, and wins for Palmieras over Al Ahly and Botafogo over Paris Saint-Germain.
In Atlanta, a masterful left-footed free kick from Messi propelled Inter Miami to a 2-1 win, overcoming a Porto side that was weak in defense and unable to react in a match dictated by the Argentine star.
Porto struck first with Samu Aghehowa’s penalty kick in the 8th minute taking the score one up, where it remained for the first half.
But everything changed in the second half. Porto unraveled after two blows in seven minutes. The first came just after the restart. After a brilliant display by Busquets, who was in control of the play, turning and launching a move that ended with a cross to the right by Weigandt and a powerful shot by Telasco Segovia in the 47th minute to tie the game.
With no time to react, Messi was brought down on the edge of the box and made the most of the opportunity with a left-footed shot into the top corner, the 68th free-kick goal of his career. Madness unleashed in a stadium crowd dressed in his shirt.
“It was a great joy,” Messi said in a postmatch interview with DAZN, five days before his 38th birthday. “The whole team put in a lot of effort and worked very well. … It’s a very important victory for us and one to enjoy.”
At Lumen Field, a brace from Pablo Barrios gave Atlético de Madrid a 3-1 win against home team Seattle Sounders, giving the red-and-whites a much-needed victory to stay in the cup, and forcing Seattle out.
In the 11th minute, Barrios blasted a shot from the edge of the box after an assist from Giuliano Simeone, who had led the counterattack on the right wing, putting a point on the board where it remained unchanged for the rest of the first half.
The second half couldn’t have started better for Atletico. Marcos Llorente hit the crossbar with a shot that bounced wide. The rebound fell to Robin Le Normand, who passed it to Axel Witsel, who had just come on, to chest it home to make it 2-0.
With little to lose, Seattle didn’t change their system, and Slovakian Albert Rusnak took advantage of the dead ball left by Le Normand to reduce the deficit with a shot from the penalty spot.
But with the game already in the balance, Atlético made it 3-1, again with Pablo Barrios playing a key role. It was the 55th minute when he headed a ball from Sorloth down the ball with his right foot, placing it inside Frei’s far post.
In East Rutherford, Brazil’s Palmeiras defeated the Egyptian Al Ahly with two goals within 10 minutes in the second half, taking the score to 2-0.
Four minutes in, Ahly’s Palestinian-Danish striker Wessam Abou Ali headed an own goal to hand Palmeiras a 49th minute lead.
That goal forced the Egyptian team to take more risks in attack, and Palmeiras took advantage of another run in the 59th minute on a counterattack led by Jose López, allowing him to beat El Shenawy with a precise shot that went right to the left post.
As soon as he scored, the sky split with a thunderous crash that, due to FIFA protocol for thunderstorms, forced the match to be suspended for almost an hour. But even upon resumption of play the score remained 2-0 to the end.
Al Ahly now have a slim chance of advancing from Group A, while Palmeiras will play their final group stage match against Inter Miami, before facing Porto in their quest to qualify.
Meanwhile, in Pasadena, 2024 Copa Libertadores champion Botafogo put a persistent and newly crowned European champion Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) on the ropes, defeating the Brazilians 1-0 with a goal from Igor Jesús in the 36th minute of the Group B match.
Botafogo is now top of the group, while PSG are tied for second with Atletico Madrid.
The victory of the Rio de Janeiro side jeopardizes the continuity of Luis Enrique’s team in the tournament, which now must beat the Seattle Sounders on Monday. gac-rmm-at-mvg/tw
