Auckland City 1-1 Boca Juniors: Amateur Auckland pick up a point at the Club World Cup | OneFootball

Despite taking 38 shots, Boca Juniors’ Club World Cup journey ended with a 1-1 draw against amateur Auckland City.

Boca dominated the first half, with centre half Lautaro Di Lollo’s header from a corner deflecting first off the post and then off the back of student goalkeeper Nathan Garrow before crossing the line.

They’d hit the woodwork twice more with less fortune, before Auckland City surprised everybody by scoring their first goal at the Club World Cup after Christian Gray nodded home from a corner of their own.

A 52-minute-long delay thanks to a lightning storm followed the equaliser, during which time Boca Juniors discovered they had been eliminated from the tournament thanks to Benfica beating Bayern Munich. With the spring taken out of their step, they were unable to break down a stubborn Auckland backline, with the Kiwi outfit taking perhaps their most cherished ever point.

As it happened

Coming into a game against the lowest rated and only amateur side at the Club World Cup, Boca Juniors knew two things: their fate rested on a win, and even that might not have been enough. If Benfica beat Bayern Munich, Boca’s result would be in vain. As for Auckland City, their elimination had already been confirmed, this their final chance at taking home some pride.

Against the odds, the Oceanic champions started quite brightly: in the sixth minute, the ball fell kindly to right back Regont Murati on the edge of the box, with his subsequent left-footed effort troubling Agustín Marchesín enough for the goalkeeper to parry the ball into the area, where Dylan Manickum’s follow-up effort was blocked.

Unfortunately, normal service resumed after that for Aukland, as they spent the rest of the first half camped in their own box. At times, their formation looked like 5-5-0: it was all hands on deck, the prospect of a point too valuable to take any unnecessary risks.

Boca piled the pressure on with cross after cross, shot after shot and – largely – miss after miss. Whether it was Edinson Cavani sending an ambitious overhead kick wide, or Miguel Merentiel firing over from the centre of the box, or Exequiel Zeballos failing to get the purchase on a shot from very, very close range, they just couldn’t seem to beat Garrow, the fulltime student between the sticks.

So, the young keeper responded by beating himself. It was a wickedly unfortunate way to go behind: Alan Velasco whipped in a sumptuous delivery from a corner, and Di Lollo rose highest to power a header onto the post, before it hit the back of a diving Garrow and landed, agonisingly, over the line.

They were in front thanks to some good fortune, but Boca should’ve been up by five or six come the end of the half: they’d taken 19 shots, sent in 43 crosses and hit the woodwork twice in a minute just before halftime, once when Carlos Palacios curled a shot onto the crossbar and then again when Merentiel powered a header with the same end result. Instead, they went into the break one up against Aukland, while Benfica were beating Bayern: without a stroke of luck elsewhere, a win would mean precious little.

And then, a little over five minutes into the second half, things went from unideal to genuinely bad for the South American giants: they conceded.

The amateur Auckland City side, whose players get paid 150 New Zealand dollars per week for footballing expenses, had scored a goal against a side who play in a 57,000-seater stadium, have won 35 topflight titles and six Copa Libertadores trophies, and once boasted a little-known player called Diego Armando Maradona.

David Yoo, who had made a rare break towards the Boca goal, sent in a cross which deflected out off the boot of Marco Pellegrino for a corner. Jerson Lagos – a barber by trade – whipped in a glorious delivery for Gray – a student teacher – who outmuscled Rodrigo Battaglia and looped a header past Marchesín for a maiden goal at this Club World Cup for his team of nobodies. They were somebodies now, though, level with one of the most decorated football teams on planet Earth.

Almost immediately after, things took a bizarre turn. After a 52-minute-long break in play thanks to a lightning storm (this wasn’t unusual for a tournament defined by its far from ideal playing conditions), Benfica’s game with Bayern Munich came to an end with the score unchanged: Benfica had won. Boca, having ruminated on the fact they were level with an amateur side for nearly an hour, knew no number of goals in the remaining 35 minutes could save them. They were out of the Club World Cup along with their opponents.

Still, Merentiel scored on the hour mark to put Boca in the lead once more after tapping home a Kevin Zenón cross. Except, it wouldn’t stand, because the ball had popped up and hit Zenón’s outstretched arm before he passed it. In more ways than one for Boca Juniors, when it rains, it pours.

With a point to maintain, pride to keep hold of and against a Boca side struggling to motivate themselves, Auckland played out the rest of the game as the trickiest of customers: 10 men behind the ball at all times.

Boca huffed and puffed, but never really looked like blowing the house down. Their Club World Cup journey ended in the group stage thanks in no small part to events outside of their control. But, also, because of the resilience of an amateur football team who defended resolutely and, after shipping 16 goals in their opening two games, showed they had learned their lessons.

Their reward? A point, and there may never have been a point which felt more like a win than that of Auckland City against the Boca Juniors.

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