There was a young lad, who could only have been eight, knocking a ball about with his brother not far from the historic Al-Balad, Jeddah’s old town, in the afternoon.
A few car bonnets took a beating, the child nervously jumping and wincing each time his control deserted him in an unmistakable way that anybody who has done damage with a football will recognise.
Again and again passes headed for the road or keepie uppies bounced toward glass. Still he kept going.
He had a Manchester City top on, ‘Haaland 9’ on the back, and there have been a lot of those around here, perhaps more than anticipated – much as it was during last summer’s tour of Asia.
The bean counters will be pleased. City are here with their big fella in tow but will have to become world champions without him, a foot injury precluding his involvement.
Manchester City eased their way into the final of the Club World Cup with a 3-0 semi-final win
Pep Guardiola’s side were sent on their way thanks to an own goal from Marius Hoibraten
It came on the stroke of half-time and Guardiola unleashed a double fist pump in celebration
The first bit was done with no problem and there always felt an inevitability about this safe passage to the final, truth be told. Urawa Red Diamonds finished fourth in the Japanese league and didn’t qualify out of the Asian Champions League group stage. Tougher draws are available on request.
Yet other factors came to the fore in contributing to a morale-boosting night.
Pep Guardiola went back to the false nine operation of two seasons ago – before Erling Haaland broke all of those records – and City were rejuvenated for it. That year, City passed teams into submission like never before, and this was no different.
Given the past few weeks, they needed an evening of pass-and-move.
Matheus Nunes and Mateo Kovacic, the two central runners behind Bernardo Silva, had not played this way before but both grew to enjoy it.
Nunes made the opening goal, darting into a channel of half space and waiting for Silva’s pass.
He was in, blindly cutting a cross back and poor Norwegian centre half Marius Hoibraten to divert into his own net on then stroke of half time.
Hoibraten missed the birth of his first child last week to play in this competition – watching the moment on FaceTime instead – and was then afforded a 12-hour stop home to visit his family.
He was back in Jeddah, eager to face Haaland. He ended up not coming up against his compatriot and then inadvertently opened the semi-final up.
Sadly it became worse for him as his block saw Silva’s shot spinning away into the corner for City’s third nearing the hour. A somewhat bittersweet few days.
To be fair to Hoibraten, the game was done by then anyway.
Mateo Kovacic impressed on the night and he made it 2-0 after showing pace on the counter
Bernardo Silva (left) would add to Kovacic’s goal soon after, with City dominant all night
For the Man City fans who made the trip out to Jeddah, they will now prepare for the final
Nunes impressed and then Kovacic had wrapped it up seven minutes after the break in a show of how good City are when they utilise a false nine.
Silva came deep when Kyle Walker sauntered diagonally forward toward the centre circle. You could drive a train – not that you’d see one of those in this part of the world – through Urawa’s centre halves and the galloping Kovacic begged for the ball.
The Croatian strode onto Walker’s fine pass, hammering over Shusaku Nishikawa, his first goal since a summer move from Chelsea.
City looked like they were playing within themselves yet that was merely waiting for their moments, just as it was in that striker-less campaign when they pipped Liverpool to the title by a point. In reality, they were at it, tigerishly taking an average of just 15 seconds to overturn lost possession.
Erling Haaland (middle) will not play any part in the final having been ruled out through injury
Going forward things seemed good. Nunes ought to have scored later on, skewing a header wide at the back post from Jack Grealish’s perfect centre moments before Silva added his.
A new system, or a reverting to an old one anyway, but City’s lack of urgency around their own third bore similarities to recent mishaps.
How Ederson almost embarrassed himself when attempting to Jose Kante, or an uncharacteristically under hit back pass by John Stones. Or Walker gifting away easy ball and Urawa almost testing Ederson – twice.
Or Manuel Akanji looking as if he was committed to turning possession over, only to stop and lose the runner. This time Akanji hauled his man down from behind rather than let him run off and score, as happened against RB Leipzig recently. There are definitely things, in specific moments, that need to change if the season is going to be a success beyond this week. Once Haaland is back, Guardiola will want to find a way of giving those midfielders this much licence.
