Bayern Munich advances in the Club World Cup with 2-1 win over Boca Juniors

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Michael Olise fired Bayern Munich into the knockout stages of the Club World Cup, scoring in the 84th minute for a 2-1 win over Boca Juniors on Friday night.

German champion Bayern made it two wins in Group C and advanced to the round of 16 with a game to spare.

Olise secured the victory at Hard Rock Stadium after Miguel Merentiel had put Boca in position for a draw with a brilliant solo goal in the 66th.

Bayern, which tops the group, took the lead on Harry Kane’s clinical finish in the 18th and went on to miss of a slew of chances before Merentiel’s equalizer.

South American teams had been unbeaten in their first nine games of this expanded Club World Cup.

Key moment

Bayern looked like it would be held until Olise’s cool finish. Collecting Kane’s layoff inside the box, the forward curled a powerful first-time effort low into the bottom corner.

Takeaways

Bayern has the luxury of resting players for its final group game against second-place Benfica on Tuesday, which could be bad news for Boca. Argentine giant Boca, which plays Auckland City, needs Bayern to beat Benfica to have any chance of advancing to the next round.

What they said

“We knew it wasn’t going to be easy, we knew we were coming into a hostile environment, hot weather, it was tough. It’s a massive tournament. We are playing against the best teams in the world. We just have to compete to our highest level and we should be able to beat most teams.” — Kane.

“We have to find a way (to advance). A draw would’ve been great but it’s up to us to compete and do our best and I would not be surprised if that happened.” — Boca Juniors coach Miguel Angel Russo.

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James Robson is at https://twitter.com/jamesalanrobson

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer