Yildiz powers Juventus to victory over Wydad, Inter end Urawa’s CWC hopes

Kenan Yildiz scored two goals and had a hand in another as Juventus beat Wydad Casablanca 4-1 at the Club World Cup on Sunday to close in on a place in the last 16.

The Turkish international forward was unlucky not to be credited with Juve’s early opener which went down as an own goal by Abdelmounaim Boutouil.

However, there was no doubt that Yildiz was the scorer of the second with a tremendous strike from outside the box.

Thembinkosi Lorch pulled one back for Wydad before the break, but Yildiz got his second of the afternoon on 69 minutes before a late Dusan Vlahovic penalty sealed the victory for the Italian side.

Having already defeated Emirati side Al Ain 5-0 in their opening match, Juve have scored nine goals and have the maximum six points after two outings in Group G.

“I’m happy. It was not easy. It was hot, but it was a good win. At the end our quality came out,” Igor Tudor told broadcaster DAZN, before hailing the performance of Yildiz.

“He has great potential. He has a lot of skills but more important than skills is his brain, that is the key. A wonderful player, so there is a big future in front of him.”

Moroccan giants Wydad are eliminated with this defeat following a 2-0 loss at the hands of City in their first outing.

Yildiz, the 20-year-old German-born winger, was among the scorers against Al Ain and he was the star of the show here in front of 31,975 fans at Lincoln Financial Field.

Juve, who finished fourth in Serie A in the campaign just finished, went with an unchanged starting line-up meaning the likes of Vlahovic and Manuel Locatelli began the game on the bench.

Prolific against Al Ain, they wasted no time in putting the team that finished third in the Moroccan league to the sword.

The opening goal came on six minutes as Khephren Thuram teed up Yildiz and his shot beat goalkeeper El Mehdi Benabid with the aid of a slight deflection off Boutouil. It was 2-0 on 16 minutes via a superb effort, as Andrea Cambiaso went on a piercing run in from the left before laying the ball off for Yildiz to smash in a shot on the half-volley into the top corner.

Wydad quickly pulled one back as veteran Nordin Amrabat’s fine pass in behind the defence released South African winger Lorch to control and clip a shot past the goalkeeper.

Yet Juventus were well on top and Cambiaso hit the post just prior to the hour mark before Randal Kolo Muani somehow failed to turn in Lloyd Kelly’s ball across the face of goal.

Their third goal did arrive just after the midway point in the second half when France forward Kolo Muani collected possession on the left and then slipped in Yildiz who finished into the corner.

It was his third goal at the tournament so far, and his 12th in all competitions since the season began.

Earlier, Inter Milan came from behind to beat Urawa Red Diamonds and knock the Japanese side out of the Club World Cup.

Fluminense rallied in the second half to beat Ulsan 4-2 and knock out the South Korean side while Monterrey and River Plate ended goalless.

At Lumen Field in Seattle, Ryoma Watanabe got an early opening goal for Urawa Reds, who were backed by a noisy contingent of their supporters.

But captain Lautaro Martinez — who got Inter’s equaliser in their 1-1 draw with Monterrey of Mexico in their opening game — repeated the trick to level matters with a clever overhead kick 12 minutes from time.

Valentin Carboni was then the unlikely hero as he grabbed the winner two minutes into injury time.

The 20-year-old Argentine had not played a competitive game since early October after suffering a serious knee injury while on loan at Marseille.

Carboni had not made an appearance for Inter in over two years, but he was on to hand to sidefoot home when the ball fell to him in the area.

“Our opponents play with their hearts and to counter that as a team we need to play with more pride, be humble and know how to suffer,” Martinez told broadcaster DAZN. The result left some Urawa fans in tears and Inter level on four points with River Plate with the two teams meeting next.

Agencies