In a hard-fought Club World Cup Group F opener, Fluminense, led by the evergreen 41-year-old Thiago Silva, held Borussia Dortmund to a 0-0 stalemate at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on Tuesday.
Despite a dominant performance and a flurry/flurry of missed opportunities, the Brazilian champions couldn’t find the breakthrough against helpless against a resolute Dortmund side, whose goalkeeper gregor Kobel was the undisputed star of the match.
Fluminense, buoyed by a largely supportive crowd, controlled much of the game, particularly in the first half.
Winger Jhon Arias and midfielder Martinelli came agonisingly close to scoring, but Kobel consistently denied them with a string of superb saves.
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The Dortmund shot-stopper’s heroics continued into the second half, including a remarkable double save that thwarted Everaldo and Nonato.
Despite the attacking efforts from both sides in the later stages, neither team could break the deadlock. The match, played under mild, overcast skies, saw a modest attendance of 34,736 at the NFL stadium.
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Looking ahead, Dortmund will face Mamelodi Sundowns in Cincinnati, while Fluminense returns to MetLife Stadium on Saturday to take on Ulsan HD.
Flamengo 2-0 Esperance
Meanwhile, in an earlier Group D game, Flamengo defeated African side Esperance of Tunis 2-0.
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A 17th-minute goal from Giorgian De Arrascaeta and a 70th-minute goal from Luiz Araujo were enough for the Brazilian side to edge out Esperance.
River Plate 3-1 Red Diamonds
Elsewhere in Group E, River Plate dominated Urawa Red Diamonds 3-1 in their Club World Cup opener at Seattle’s Lumen Field.
Capitalising on their height advantage, all three River goals came from headers: Facundo Colidio opened the scoring off a Marcus Acuña cross, Sebastian Driussi pounced on a defensive error for the second, and Maximiliano Meza sealed the win from another Acuña delivery (corner).
Urawa’s lone goal was a penalty converted by Yūsuke Matsuo after Acuña conceded a foul.
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