Bayern Munich booked their place in the knockout stages of the Club World Cup with Harry Kane and Michael Olise on target in a hard-fought 2-1 win over Argentina's Boca Juniors on Friday (Jun 20). After defeats for Paris Saint-Germain against Botofogo and Chelsea against Flamengo, Bayern bucked the trend of European teams falling to South American opponents with an accomplished victory in the Group C encounter.
Hard Rock Stadium was packed to the rafters with Boca fans who once again brought incredible passion and noise to the NFL stadium, home to the Miami Dolphins. But Bayern soon set about quieting the crowd with Joshua Kimmich and Leon Goretzka taking charge of central midfield and the movement of Bayern's frontline stretching the Boca defence.
The German side thought they had the lead in the eighth minute when a corner from Olise passed untouched through a crowded six-yard box and into the net.
But the referee was called to the monitor for a VAR review where he was able to clearly see that Serge Gnabry had blocked and tangled with Boca goalkeeper Agustin Marchesin, and the effort was ruled out.
Ten minutes later, however, Bayern had the breakthrough when Boca were unable to fully clear a ball into the box and Kane pounced with a clinical left-foot shot into the bottom corner.
Bayern smelled blood and pushed for a second – Olise found Gnabry on the right and his low ball across the face of the goal was just inches away from the sliding Kingsley Coman.
Boca desperately needed to find a foothold in the game and they came close when a thundering free-kick from Kevin Zenon was punched out by Manuel Neuer. Moments later Zenon tested the Bayern keeper again with another fierce strike which Neuer punched away with his right hand.
