Wydad Casablanca (5-4-1): Benabid; Moufid, Boutouil, Meijers, Ferreira, Moufi; Amrabat, Zemraoui, El Moubarik, Lorch; Mailula. Subs: El Motie, Aqzdaou, Harkass, Malsa, Benktib, Arthur, Moutaraji, Pedrinho, Bennani, Mahtou, Mohamed Rayhi, Aziz Ki, Obeng, Fathi, Mwalimu.
Preamble
Manchester City’s rebuild officially starts here. Since closing the season with a third-place finish and defeat in the FA Cup final, City have said goodbye to Kevin De Bruyne, stuck Jack Grealish in a taxi and brought in three new players with indecent haste.
Milan midfielder Tijjani Reijnders and not one but two Rayans – left-back Aït-Nouri and playmaker Cherki – are all in the squad for this Stateside jamboree. Pep Guardiola has also decided that this job is too big for one Pep, recruiting former Liverpool coach Pep Lijnders as his new assistant.
The two Peps are hoping to begin a beautiful friendship today against Wydad Casablanca, who qualified for the Club World Cup by winning Africa’s Champions League in 2022. Wydad reached out to Cristiano Ronaldo earlier this year, but the most familiar name in their squad is former Watford winger Nordin Amrabat.
The Moroccan side are rated as 55-1 outsiders for this game, with City then facing Abu Dhabi’s own Al-Ain before taking on Juventus. The runners-up in Group G are likely to face Real Madrid in the July heat of Miami in the last 16, something probably best avoided.
For this and many other reasons, Guardiola will want to hit the ground running, or at least briskly jogging, Rocky Balboa style, in Philadelphia today. Kick-off is at 5pm BST, 12pm local time.