Auckland City are the sole amateur team participating in the current Club World Cup. The gap in quality was evident in their first match against Bayern Munich, where they suffered a heavy 10-0 loss to the Bundesliga champions.
It doesn't get any easier for the New Zealand side as they are set to take on Benfica in their upcoming game. Benfica, who drew 2-2 against Boca Juniors in their previous match, will be aiming to score heavily in a group where goal difference might be crucial.
Team news
Auckland City are expected to maintain a similar lineup to the one that faced Bayern Munich, deploying a five-man defense.
Andrea Belotti will be unavailable for Benfica due to suspension after being red-carded in the first group fixture. Orkun Kokcu and Kerem Akturkoglu were not included in the starting lineup against Boca Juniors, and it remains uncertain if they will feature in the upcoming match.
In preparation for an important game against Bayern Munich, Bruno Lage might opt to rest some of his key players.
The statistics
Goals are anticipated in this encounter, given that four of Auckland City's last five games have seen over 3.5 goals scored. Additionally, both teams have found the net in Benfica's past five matches.
While Auckland's previous ten games have had less than 4.5 cards shown, Benfica has received three red cards across their last three fixtures.
Prediction
Auckland City faced a significant mismatch against Bayern Munich, succumbing to a 10-0 defeat, making it challenging to foresee a positive result against Benfica.
They managed only one shot in their previous game and are likely to be outplayed once more.
Auckland adopted a defensive approach against Bayern, allowing the opposition's defenders to push forward and contribute to the attack.
In the prior game, two of Vincent Kompany's defenders provided assists, suggesting that Samuel Dahl could replicate this feat against Auckland.
Following his transfer to Benfica in February, the Swedish defender recorded four assists in seven starting appearances. Expect Dahl to be influential against Auckland and potentially provide an assist for his team.