Al Ain crush Auckland City to storm ahead in Intercontinental Cup

Asian champions storm to 6-2 victory at Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium

Sekou Gassama of Al Ain celebrates after scoring against Auckland City in their Intercontinental Cup clash in Al Ain on Sunday, September 22, 2024. EPA

Al Ain's Sekou Gassama scores against Auckland City in their Intercontinental Cup match in Al Ain. EPA

Gassama Sekou celebrates after scoring. EPA

Matias Palacios of Al Ain and Nathan Lobo of Auckland City vie for the ball on Sunday. EPA

Fabio Cardoso of Al Ain after scoring against Auckland City. EPA

Al Ain players celebrate a goal in their Intercontinental Cup match against Auckland City. EPA

Al Ain booked their ticket to Cairo and the next phase of the Intercontinental Cup after a late surge ended the resistance of plucky part-timers Auckland City.

A crowd of just under 14,000 watched on as the champions of Asia beat their Oceania equivalents - a side which include students and warehouse workers - 6-2 at the Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium.

The last time Al Ain faced a side from New Zealand at the same stage of a previous guise of this competition, they suffered a torrid start.

Against Wellington in the first round of the 2018 Club World Cup, they were 2-0 down within the first 15 minutes to set the nerves racing.

They eventually managed to sneak through on penalties, thanks to goalkeeper Khalid Essa, and it turned out to be a decent portent.

The Garden City club made it all the way to the final that year, beating mighty River Plate in the semi-final before eventually succumbing to the Real Madrid of Gareth Bale, Luka Modric, Karim Benzema et al.

Their route to another possible meeting with the giants from Madrid will be a more circuitous one this time. Rather than all being staged over a couple of weeks in the UAE, as that Club World Cup was, this new competition traverses the globe.

Al Ain will travel to Egypt next to face African champions Al Ahly at the end of October. The winners of that will play either Pachuca, of Mexico, or South America’s champions, in the semifinal at a yet-to-be-announced neutral venue, which will also stage the final a few days later.

Real Madrid will have to win a single game to take the Intercontinental Cup, as they only have to turn up for the final. As the Ainawi’s tifo had it before kick-off, it will be a “journey to glory,” and a long one at that.

At least they faced none of those jitters from six years ago, as their side made a confident start this time around.

They dominated the ball from kick off and were ahead when Fabio Cardoso headed in from a corner after six minutes.

Sekou Baba Gassama doubled their advantage shortly after when he drilled a left-foot shot powerfully into the corner of Conor Tracey’s goal.

At that stage it felt as though it could be a long night for the tourists. The seats usually reserved for away supporters were entirely empty. It felt as though the only ones who had made the 14,000km trip from the top part of New Zealand’s North Island were probably friends or family of the players.

They had some brief respite when an Auckland own goal was chalked off for offside, and the waves of Al Ain attacks began to subside.

They even had a goal at the right end of their own to celebrate. Just before half time, Jerson Lagos scored direct from a corner.

Straight away, Matias Palacios restored the two-goal buffer for Al Ain to ward off any immediate concerns about a comeback from the New Zealanders.

But the home team lapsed in concentration again at the start of the second half, allowing Myer Bevan to reduce the arrears to 3-2.

That prompted Hernan Crespo, Al Ain’s manager, to bring on the heavy hitters. Off the bench came Kaku and Soufiane Rahimi, who was player of the tournament in the Asian Champions League, via which Al Ain reached this event.

Each played their part in finally ending Auckland’s challenge. Rahimi headed the fourth and shot in the sixth from close range, either side of a neat shot from distance by Kaku.