• Club World Cup
• FIFA
• USA

Miami, US, June 20 (EFE).-

Bayern Munich beat Boca Juniors and Flamengo pulled off a major upset with a comeback win against Chelsea while Benifica thrashed Auckland City and Tunis knocked LAFC out of the 2025 Club World Cup on Friday.

Bayern Munich secured a narrow 2-1 victory over Boca Juniors to qualify for the round of 16 of the tournament and leaving their opponents dependent on Benfica’s result to reach the next round.

With one point and a goal difference of -1, Boca Juniors will need to thrash Auckland City on Matchday 3 and Benfica (+6) will need to lose to Bayern, who have already qualified, but not finished first in the group.

Harry Kane stuck for Bayern in the 18th minute with a shot that went wide of the goalkeeper and into the corner of the net.

Miguel Merentiel equalized for the Argentine club in the second half but a goal by Michael Olise with five minutes remaining in regulation time not only gave Bayern the three points, but also broke the unbeaten streak held by CONMEBOL teams at the Club World Cup.

This is the first defeat for a South American team in ten matches, six of them against European opponents.

Bruno Henrique starred in Flamengo’s comeback in the second half of their game against Chelsea to consolidate their dominance of Group D with a 3-1 win.

The Londoners struck first to take a 1-0 lead but imploded in the second half as Bruno Henrique equalized in the 62nd minute and veteran Danilo made it 2-1 just three-and-a-half minutes later.

Wallace Yan, a 20-year-old top scorer, scored with a first-touch finish to make it 3-1 in the 83rd minute.

Benfica emerged victorious against Auckland City despite a lengthy weather break of more than two hours.

The first half was hampered by the brilliance of Auckland City’s goalkeeper Nathan Garrow, whose saves kept his team in the game for a long time.

Benfica, who had been sluggish before the break, ended up achieving a respectable haul of six goals that bolsters their future in the tournament after the draw against Boca Juniors on the previous matchday.

Despite the doubts generated in their recent matches and also in the first half, the Portuguese side thrashed a fragile opponent, one of the weakest in the competition.

With a storm looming and on the brink of halftime, Benfica found relief when Ángel Di María, one of the Portuguese team’s best players, converted a clear penalty to open the scoring.

It took Benfica eight minutes after the break to score their second goal and the remaining goals came in fairly quick succession.

The third was scored by Renato Sanches, who had just come off the bench and the fourth and fifth came within three minutes of each other, both scored by Leandro Barreiro.

Di María’s second goal and Benfica’s sixth once again came from the penalty spot sealing his team’s first win of the tournament, while also improving their prospects in the fight for second place in the group against Boca Juniors.

Tunisian side Espérance Tunis stunned LAFC of the United States on Friday, defeating them 1-0 with a goal from Youcef Belaïli in their Group D second round match.

Youcef Belaïli’s strike came in the 70th minute with a low shot that the LAFC goalkeeper, Hugo Lloris, couldn’t stop.

And, despite the eight minutes of injury time given by Norwegian referee Espen Eskås, it seemed there wouldn’t be enough time for Steven Cherundolo’s team to equalize until the 98th minute when the referee reviewed a potential foul on LAFC, which, after VAR analysis, was confirmed as a penalty.

But LAFC lost the tie when goalkeeper Ben Said blocked Denis Bouanga’s shot, and they also lost all their chances in the group, with no points and already eliminated with one game remaining.

In the next round, Espérance Tunis and Chelsea will have to fight for a spot in the round of 16. EFE

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