Manchester City have arrived at the FIFA Club World Cup with a sense of excitement around a possible new era for Pep Guardiola’s side.
City eventually recovered to a third-place finish in the Premier League last season but finished without a major trophy for the first time since 2016/17. They were also dispatched in the knockout playoff rounds of the UEFA Champions League by Real Madrid and lost the FA Cup final to Crystal Palace.
New signings Rayan Ait-Nouri, Rayan Cherki and Tiijani Reijnders in the pre-tournament transfer window, and the latter two make their debuts from the start. Erling Haaland, Rodri and newly named club captain Bernardo Silva are all on the bench as Savinho, Jeremy Doku and Omar Marmoush make up the forward line.
Guardiola has added former Liverpool assistant Pep Lijnders and ex-City defender Kolo Toure to his backroom staff, and Wydad will hope to capitalise on any teething problems for a new-look City in this Group G match. Mohamed Amine Benhachem’s team qualified for the Club World Cup by virtue of their 2021/22 CAF Champions League success.
Goals and highlights | Player ratings | Full match stats
Man City vs. Wydad AC live score
| 1st Half | Goalscorers | |
| Man City | 2 | Foden ‘2, Doku ’42, |
| Wydad AC | 0 | — |
Venue: Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia, PA
Referee: Ramon Abatti (Brazil)
Lineups:
Man City (4-3-3 right to left): 31. Ederson (GK) — 82. Rico Lewis, 22. Vitor Reis, 6. Nathan Ake, 75. Nico O’Reilly — 47. Phil Foden, 4. Tiijani Reijnders, 29. Rayan Cherki — 26. Savinho, 7. Omar Marmoush 11. Jeremy Doku
Wydad AC (5-4-1, right to left): 12. El Mehdi Benabid (GK) — 18. Fahd Moufi, 14. Abdelmounaim Boutouil, 72. Guilherme Ferreira, 22. Bart Meijers, 2. Mohamed Moufid — 11. Nordin Amrabat, 19. El Mehdi El Moubarik, 23. Oussama Zemraoui, 4. Thembinkosi Lorch — 21. Cassius Mailula
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Man City vs. Wydad AC highlights: Goals, key events
42 mins: GOAL! JEREMY DOKU
Foden turns provider from a right-wing corner and Doku escapes his marker to smuggle home a backpost volley. City’s set-piece threat has been notably improved from last season during this first half.
41′ ⚽ GOAL! Doku is free in the box to slot that corner kick in for @ManCity. The Blues are 2-0 up!
Watch the @FIFACWC | June 14 – July 13 | Every Game | Free | https://t.co/i0K4eUtwwb | #FIFACWC #TakeItToTheWorld #MCIWAC pic.twitter.com/yA1rK97rO2
— DAZN Football (@DAZNFootball) June 18, 2025
2 mins: GOAL! PHIL FODEN!
Just the start Guardiola will have wanted but Wydad’s defending left plenty to be desired. First Doku was errantly played onside to scoot down the left wing. Foden worked Doku’s cross to Savinho, whose ball back into the box was patted down by Benabid to leave Foden with a simple finish.
1′ GOAL! Foden opens the score under 2 minutes of gameplay! 🔥
Watch the @FIFACWC | June 14 – July 13 | Every Game | Free | https://t.co/i0K4eUtwwb | #FIFACWC #TakeItToTheWorld #MCIWAC pic.twitter.com/tf8qvq3jvf
— DAZN Football (@DAZNFootball) June 18, 2025
Lineups: Guardiola has handed debuts to Rayan Cherki and Tiijani Reijnders, who each start in an attacking City line-up. Omar Marmoush leads the attack with Erling Haaland on the bench alongside Bernardo Silva, who was confirmed as club captain for the 2025/26 season yesterday. Teenage centre-back Vitor Reis makes his first start since the FA Cup fifth-round match against Plymouth in March, although he and the returning Nathan Ake might not be overworked defensively by what looks like a 5-4-1 setup from Wydad.
Prematch: Hello and welcome to The Sporting News’ coverage of Manchester City’s opening FIFA Club World Cup game against Wydad AC of Morocco. We’ll be providing updates on all the key moments and ranking the performances of what could be a new-look lineup from Pep Guardiola.
Man City vs. Wydad AC live player ratings
Halftime marks. To be updated at fulltime.
Man City starters
Goalkeeper: Ederson — 7
Won’t have anticipated having too much work to do but made a sharp stop to deny Cassius Mailula an equaliser
Right-back: Rico Lewis — 5
Charged with tucking in alongside Reijnders to add some extra protection behind a plethora of attacking midfielders. Looked exposed to Wydad’s raiding attacks down the flanks
Centre-back: Vitor Reis — 4
Some nervy moments in and out of possession for the teenager on his first start since facing Plymouth Argyle in the FA Cup in March. A dreadful error should have resulted in Thembinkosi Lorch equalising for Wydad.
Centre-back: Nathan Ake — 7
The senior man in an otherwise inexperienced defence. Made an important block to deny Nordin Amrabat and went close at the other end with a header. Could be a beneficiary of City’s sharpened set-piece threat.
Left-back: Nico O’Reilly — 5
Like fellow youth-team graduate Lewis on the other side of the back four, he was uncertain at times. Moved more centrally in possession after the cooling break to help mitigate Wydad’s counter-attacking threat.
Midfielder: Phil Foden — 8
Took his goal smartly and it was good to see the smile back on his face after a difficult few months. Interesting to see him operating closer to Reijnders and behind Marmoush early on, the sort of playmaking midfield role in which Guardiola has previously been reluctant to use the 25-year-old. Should have made it 2-0 but atoned for that miss with a fine set-piece delivery to set up Doki.
Midfielder: Tiijani Reijnders — 8
An effortlessly smooth debut, looking like the archetypal Guardiola midfielder, controlling the tempo and frequently looking for penetrative forward passes. As expected, some work to be done out of possession, but had some pleasing bite in the tackle.
Midfielder: Rayan Cherki — 6
A mixed bag. Some dazzling flashy touches mixed in with more clumsy works and misplaced passes. Might have had an assist for Foden before the interval.
Right winger: Savinho — 6
Played his part in the opening goal and was persistent as usual. Promising flashes of an understanding with Cherki
Striker: Omar Marmoush — 6
A couple of shots fired just wide. Understandably not afraid to have a go after his goal of the season effort against Bournemouth last month. Varied movements kept a well-stocked Wydad defence on their toes.
Left winger: Jeremy Doku — 7
Darting run down the left wing set the opening goal in motion. It was intriguing to see him switch positions with Marmoush and play centre-forward midway through the first half and he showed a striker’s instincts to volley home Foden’s corner at the back post.
Man City substitutes
Man City subs: Ortega, Dias, Stones, Haaland, Nico, Rodri, Gundogan, Bernardo, Ait-Nouri, Gvardiol, Akanji, Nunes, Echeverri, Khusanov, Bobb
Man City vs. Wydad AC stats
Match stats will be updated at halftime and fulltime.
| Man City | Stat | Wydad AC |
| 10 | Shots | 5 |
| 5 | Shots on target | 2 |
| 67% | Possession | 33% |
| 310 | Passes | 143 |
| 6 | Corners | 1 |
| 5 | Fouls | 6 |
| 0 | Yellow cards | 1 |
