Al Ain head into their final game of the 2025 Fifa Club World Cup hoping for a positive end to what has been a dismal tournament so far.
The UAE Pro League side face Wydad Casablanca at Audi Field in Washington, DC on Thursday night (11pm kick-off UAE) having suffered two heavy defeats in their opening Group G matches.
Ahead of their first games, against European giants Juventus and Manchester City, star forward Soufiane Rahimi said the Garden City club had “big ambitions” for the revamped competition and that “nothing is impossible in football”.
But 180 minutes of football later, the stark reality of the gap in quality had become clear with Al Ain left point-less having failed to score a single goal while leaking 11 at the other end of the pitch.
A little over a year ago, Al Ain secured a second AFC Champions League crown after destroying Japanese side Yokohama F Marinos 6-3 on aggregate in the final.
But much has changed since that glorious May evening at a bouncing Hazza bin Zayed Stadium which saw a stunning 5-1 win in the second leg.
Argentine manager Hernan Crespo lasted less than six months before he paid the price for a poor start to both the UAE Pro League and rebranded AFC Champions League Elite campaigns.
His replacement, Portuguese coach Leonardo Jardim, was gone just two months later having failed to turn around the club's fortunes. Vladimir Ivic became their third manager in as many months.
When Al Ain lined up for their opening match against Juve at Audi Field, just five players had survived from the starting XI that kicked off the second leg against Yokohama.
Goalkeeper and captain Khalid Essa, left out in favour of loan signing Rui Patricio, had spoken before the tournament about the importance of team spirit during tough moments in their Champions League run.
That solidarity looked in short supply as they found themselves four down at half time on the way to a 5-0 battering, with Serbian coach Ivic critical of his players after the match, questioning whether they even watched European football.
There was to be no respite in their second game as Manchester City powered to a 6-0 win in Atlanta, with Essa back between the posts but suffering a similar fate to his Portuguese teammate, swiftly bringing to an end of any hopes of reaching the last 16.
“We knew we were up against a strong team, but our boys lost focus during the match and that cost us heavily,” Ivic said after the game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
“But this has been a very valuable experience for the boys. We need to learn from teams like these – how they approach matches with the right mentality to win.”
“Manchester City is obviously a very strong team,” added Moroccan midfielder Nassim Chadli. “If you make one mistake, they hurt you … the ball moves so fast, it is crazy.”
Attentions now turn to Moroccan side WAC who are also yet to gain a point after losing 2-0 against Manchester City and 4-1 to Juventus.
The 2021/22 CAF Champions League winners had their moments in both matches, even registering more shots on goal (15) over the course of 90 minutes than Juve (nine).
And Thembinkosi Lorch, who scored WAC's only goal of the tournament against the Serie A side and has looked their biggest attacking threat in both games, insists the team should take the positives from the tournament.
“We face the best teams in the world, and we learn,” the South African, on loan from Mamelodi Sundowns, told Fifa's website.
“There is a good team spirit. We've learnt a lot of things. We don't dwell on the defeat, but on all the experience gained. I thank the fans, they give everything for us.”
