CA Boca Juniors exited the FIFA Club World Cup 2025™ as Auckland City FC scored their first goal at the tournament and collected a hugely unexpected first point in Nashville.
2025 Club World Cup
1-1
Match Report
The Buenos Aires giants had to win by a big margin and pray that FC Bayern München earned maximum points against SL Benfica in Charlotte. Neither part of that equation ended up materialising.
Auckland City showed their intent from an early stage, coming close to scoring after just six minutes when Dylan Manickum had a couple of efforts blocked with Boca looking uneasy at the back.
The Argentinians probed for an opening at the other end but found the Kiwis a tough nut to crack before breaking through in the 26th minute. From their seventh corner of the match, Lautaro Di Lollo headed against the post and the ball hit the unfortunate Auckland keeper Nathan Garrow and rebounded in.
The woodwork came to Auckland's rescue twice within a minute before the interval when Carlos Palacios curled an effort against the bar before Miguel Merentiel hit the post.
The moment Auckland and New Zealand had been waiting for came seven minutes into the second half when they scored their first goal of the tournament. Like Boca's opener, it was from a corner and Christian Gray soared to head into the net to stun the vast majority of the crowd and spark scenes of celebrations from the amateurs.
A weather delay after the goal meant Boca already knew their fate when the game restarted and their mood was hardly helped when Merentiel had a goal ruled out following a VAR check after a handball from Kevin Zenon.
Malcom Braida had a looping header tipped over by Garrow before the keeper repeated his heroics from a Zenon shot as Auckland deservedly held out for a historic and hard-earned point.
Line-ups
Auckland City XI: Nikko Boxall, Mario Ilich, Adam Mitchell, Dylan Manickum, Regont Murati, Christian Gray, Myer Bevan, Gerard Garriga, Jerson Lagos, David Yoo, Nathan Garrow
Subs: Ryan De Vries, Jordan Vale, Michael den Heijer, Alfie Rogers, Angus Kilkolly, Conor Tracey, Jackson Manuel, Haris Zeb, Nathan Lobo, Joseph Lee, Matthew Ellis, Adam Bell, Sebastián Ciganda, Dylan Connolly, Jeremy Foo
Boca Juniors XI: Cavani, Marchesin, L. Advíncula, Rodrigo Battaglia, Miguel Merentiel, Carlos Palacios, Exequiel Zeballos, Alan Velasco, Marco Pellegrino, Lautaro Blanco, Lautaro Di Lollo
Subs: Javier García, Rojo, F. Fabra, Lucas Janson, Milton Giménez, Lucas Blondel, Tomás Belmonte, Malcom Braida, Williams Alarcón, Agustín Martegani, Leandro Brey, Kevin Zenón, Brian Aguirre, Ignacio Miramón, Milton Delgado