Real Madrid coasted into the final of the Club World Cup with a comfortable 2-0 victory over Mexican side Club America on Thursday night at the International Stadium in Yokohama.
Karim Benzema scored late in the first half while Cristiano Ronaldo added a second goal just moments before full-time to send Los Blancos to their second Club World Cup final in three years where they will face Japanese side Kashima Antlers on Sunday.
Despite the small margin of victory, it was a fairly easy and straightforward win for Real. Zinedine Zidane's team lacked sharpness and were unable to finish off a number of chances which would have made the scoreline a better reflection of their dominance in the match. Cristiano Ronaldo was at his active best, but arguably the top performer on the day for Real was Luka Modric. The Croatia international allowed Real to dominate the midfield, thus preventing America from ever mounting much of an attack.
Injuries to defender Sergio Ramos and forward Gareth Bale paved the way for Nacho and Lucas Vazquez to start, respectively, but otherwise it was a full-strength starting XI for Zidane. Real were very flat coming out of the gates. Their passing lacked conviction and they were finding little space in the America defence. While Las Aguilas were definitely the more physical and defensive of the two sides, they still showed their attacking wares on the counter.
However, America were also prone to the occasional error and one such slip almost led to the game's first goal. A Pablo Aguilar giveaway led to a break down the right where Lucas swung in a cross for Ronaldo, whose header bounced off the post. Benzema swooped in to try to knock in the rebound, but the ball was deflected out for a corner.
Ronaldo remained Real's most dangerous player and America goalkeeper Moises Munoz had to be alert to save a searing left-footer fired in by the Portuguese. The bulk of the Real attack came down the left, with Modric and Marcelo doing most of the work and targeting America right-back Ventura Alvarado.
Yet right when the Mexican side thought they would reach half-time with the match still scoreless, Benzema struck in the final seconds to hand Real a 1-0 lead. Modric fed a pass to Toni Kroos, who played a surgical ball into the streaking Benzema and from there the Frenchman took care of the rest by scoring.
There was the sense that a second Real goal would finish off America, and it nearly came on the hour when Ronaldo led a break that saw him slip a pass to Benzema, who returned the favour to the waiting Ronaldo, but the shot was chested out by Paolo Goltz for a corner. The chances kept coming Real's way and it should have been 2-0 minutes later but Ronaldo inexplicably headed away from goal when a simple nod toward net would have been a second goal.
America were simply unable to get the ball out of their own half and generate much in the way of going forward. Normally Real make their opponents pay for such mistakes, yet the CONCACAF champions were spared by Los Blancos' failure to finish.
Finally the second Real goal would come on the brink of full-time as Ronaldo got in behind the America defence and swept in a shot past Munoz for the 2-0 final.