Sanfrecce Hiroshima beat Auckland City in Club World Cup

Updated: May 17, 2023, 06:08 am
Yusuke Minagawa opens the scoring for Sanfrecce Hiroshima.
Mike Hewitt - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images

Sanfrecce Hiroshima reached the quarterfinals of the FIFA Club World Cup with a 2-0 playoff win over Auckland City.

Goals in each half from Yusuke Minagawa and Tsukasa Shiotani earned the host side a deserved win in Yokahama, Japan.

Auckland, surprise third-placed finishers last year, found themselves behind after just nine minutes.

City keeper Jacob Spoonley failed to hold Gakuto Notsuda's shot from outside the area and Minagawa swept in the rebound, although there was more than a hint of offside about the goal.

Minagawa then raced clear for a one-on-one with Spoonley but this time the keeper made a fine block, before Shiotani headed Yoshifumi Kashiwa's cross wide.

But Sanfrecce grabbed the killer second in the 70th minute when Shiotani's shot took a deflection and wrong-footed Spoonley.

Sanfrecce now face African champions TP Mazembe in Sunday's quarterfinal in Osaka, with River Plate waiting the winners in the last four.