Man City went into the halftime break of their FIFA Club World Cup clash with Wydad AC with a comfortable 2-0 lead.
Phil Foden scored the quickest goal at the Club World Cup so far, with the 25-year-old netting at 1 minute and 54 seconds, which got Pep Guardiola’s newly rebuilt Man City off to the perfect start.
Foden is one Man City star who needs to have a good Club World Cup after the poor 2024/25 campaign he experienced, and the Englishman would have been happy with how his first half in Philadelphia went, having got on the scoresheet.
However, Jeremy Doku was the main man throughout the opening 45 minutes as the Belgian played a big role in the first goal, while also netting the Premier League club’s second from a corner just before the halftime break.
The winger’s goal helped Andros Townsend highlight a difference between the Man City of last season and the current Guardiola team, who are only in their embryonic stage.
Jeremy Doku scores a goal for Manchester City v Wydad AC at the FIFA Club World Cup.
Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images
Andros Townsend praises Man City’s set piece coach
Many changes have occurred at Man City so far this summer, as not only have four new stars arrived at the Etihad Stadium, but Guardiola’s staff has undergone a big revamp.
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Among the new arrivals at Man City was set piece coach James French, who worked at Liverpool before moving to Manchester, and Townsend has already noticed the difference that appointment has made to Guardiola’s team.
“They work it well here, three players go to the near post and work a block for Nathan Ake,” Townsend said on DAZN about the corner for Man City’s second goal via the BBC.
“A good header back across the goal. You can already see the set-piece coach [James French] working his magic.”
French’s work was seen throughout the first half in Philadelphia as Man City showed Wydad plenty of new looks during set pieces, which were not present last season at the Manchester club.
City also added Kolo Toure to their staff in recent weeks, and the new first team coach was also quick to praise his team’s set pieces as the Ivorian revealed that the Premier League club have been working a lot on them ahead of their clash with Wydad.
Kolo Toure is happy Man City scored from a set piece
Speaking at halftime of Man City’s clash with Wydad, Toure emphasised how important Foden’s early goal was, while also revealing his delight about scoring from a set piece.
“You know it’s always really important to score an early goal, because when you play against a team that plays five at the back, it’s always difficult to break them down,” Toure said on DAZN.
“And I think the early goal from Phil was really, really good. And then, I think we controlled the game after, of course, they had a few counter-attacks. But yeah, I think we defended really well, and then scoring the set piece is really good because we’ve been working a lot on them.”
This looks set to be a big feature of Man City’s game throughout the 2025/26 campaign, and it could become very useful, as their title rivals Arsenal have had major success with their set pieces in recent seasons.