Jeremy Doku put on a brilliant display with plenty of support and some help from the opposition as Manchester City defeated Juventus 5-2 in the deciding match in the Club World Cup’s Group G on Thursday in Orlando.
“We played well. I’m happy with the victory,” Doku said. “Now we’re just curious to see who we’re going to play against.”
Manchester City later learned its Round of 16 foe will be Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal, with the match on Monday in Orlando.
Defender Pierre Kalulu’s gaffe on a cross from Savinho went past his own keeper and nudged City into the lead, 2-1, at the 26th minute. In the 52nd minute, striker Erling Haaland scored while shuffling his feet with a touch that bounded into an open net on a dish from Matheus Nunes. It was the 300th career goal combined for team and country for the 24-year-old Norwegian in only his seventh minute in Thursday’s match.
Phil Foden entered off the Manchester City bench in the 66th minute and tapped in his team’s fourth goal of the match three minutes later. Haaland’s 75th- minute header failed, only for Savinho to power a rebound off the crossbar and into goal to make it 5-1.
Juventus trimmed the deficit on an 84th-minute breakaway from Dusan Vlahovic, who scored for the second consecutive match.
With the teams effectively tied entering the match with two wins apiece, Man City leapt Juventus to the top of the table in a decisive victory that also bumped them to the top of the tournament with 13 goals. City (3-0-0, 9 points) became the only club to win all three matches in the group stage.
As the Group G winner, City will stay in Orlando to oppose Al Hilal, who beat Pachuca 2-0 later Thursday to finish second in Group H. Juventus (2-1-0, 6 points) are headed to Miami Gardens, Florida, as the runner-up in Group G. Their next matchup is Tuesday against Group H winner Real Madrid, who routed RB Salzburg on Thursday.
Man City went ahead 2-1 and held the margin at halftime, scoring first at the nine-minute mark when Doku hit the brakes in front of the net and found the top right corner.
Juventus’ Teun Koopmeiners evened the score two minutes later, but that was the final indication of a close tussle.
The victory was Man City’s first outright over Juventus since 1976.

LAUSANNE, Switzerland: India’s push toward winning the 2036 Olympics hosting contest seemed to stall a little on Thursday in the first big decision of Kirsty Coventry’s IOC presidency.

Coventry paused the fast tracking of a preferred bidder — a signature policy of her predecessor and mentor Thomas Bach — in a concession to International Olympic Committee members who have wanted more say in decisions under new leadership.

“Members want to be engaged more in the process” of picking Olympic hosts, Coventry acknowledged, citing “overwhelming support” at meetings this week to stop and review how it is done and when.

India has been seen as gaining momentum in the 2036 race that involves at least 10 bidders in talks including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and Istanbul in Turkiye.

In her third full day in office, Coventry promised to create two working groups — to look at how hosts are chosen, and a second analyzing how to “protect the female category” after controversy in women’s boxing at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The two-time Olympic champion swimmer also restated a principled vision ahead of the 2028 Summer Games in the city of Los Angeles, which US President Donald Trump this month called “a trash heap.”

“We see the best of humanity, we see compassion for others” in Olympic values, Coventry said at a news conference after chairing her first executive board meeting over two days.

“If we can celebrate in the diversity that we are, and that we have, we can really work toward creating something great,” the former sports minister of Zimbabwe said, pledging to try to inspire young people.

Olympic officials from LA met with Coventry’s board Wednesday and promised a “unity of effort” in the city where the Trump administration deployed military forces after street protests against immigration raids.

“There is so much goodwill from all levels of government,” Coventry insisted, including federal.

“That gives us faith,” she said, that a platform for the Olympics “will be there for us to ensure that our values are stuck to but that our values will also be heard.”