This Group G encounter at the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup will be played between English heavyweights Manchester City and the 2022 CAF Champions League winners, Wydad Casablanca, on June 18 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.
Here are our preview and prediction for the game.
After what was a forgettable 2024/25 season for them, Pep Guardiola and Co will be hoping to right some of the wrongs before they start the 2025/26 campaign come August.
An early-season FA Community Shield success was all Man City had to shout about last term, having ceded their Premier League title to Liverpool without even a fight, fallen to Real Madrid’s superiority in the UEFA Champions League, and suffered a gut-wrenching FA Cup final defeat at the hands of Crystal Palace.
Despite their ongoing legal battle with the Premier League, City have wasted no time in strengthening their squad. Rayan Cherki, Rayan Aït-Nouri, and Tijjani Reijnders are already through the doors at the Etihad, with more incomings expected before the new season begins. All of City’s new acquisitions — including new backup keeper Marcus Bettinelli — are present in the US, and debuts almost certainly await the three outfielders in Philadelphia.
Their Moroccan counterparts for this game, on the other hand, have won a record 22 domestic league titles. They made their debut in the Club World Cup — now the FIFA Intercontinental Cup — in 2017/18 and lost the fifth-place match to Urawa Red Diamonds, while in 2022/23 they were knocked out by Saudi outfit Al-Hilal in the second round.
Wydad qualified for this tournament thanks to their CAF Champions League triumph from three seasons ago, though the Mohamed Amine Benhachem–led side have many mistakes to rectify. They could only finish third in the 2024/25 Botola Pro — the top flight of Moroccan football — while in the 2023/24 CAF Champions League they suffered their first-ever group-stage elimination from the competition.
The Red Castle also suffered back-to-back friendly losses to esteemed European outfits Porto and Sevilla last month, albeit by a narrow 1–0 margin in each game. Nevertheless, keeping the scoreline as respectable as possible against the Cityzens will be their primary goal on Wednesday.
Although much sterner tests await them, even with a weakened starting line-up Man City should find few problems kicking off their CWC campaign with a goal rout against Wydad.
Score Prediction: Manchester City 6–0 Wydad Casablanca
Venue: Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
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