While Borussia Dortmund’s best beat the Mamelodi Sundowns 4-3 in the FIFA Club World Cup group stage on Saturday, their reserves did their best to beat another fierce opponent: the heat.
Both teams and the crowd of 14,006 at TQL Stadium sweat through high temperatures that forced a heat advisory and cooling breaks, called at the referee’s discretion.
In an effort to stay cool, Dortmund’s bench moved from the sidelines to the locker room and watched the match on a TV screen.
Temperatures approached 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 Celsius).
The Sundowns opened the scoring early on an impressive break away that Lucas Ribeiro Costa finished in the 11th minute. Dortmund evened the score in the 16th minute when Sundowns goalie Ronwen Williams inadvertently passed to Dortmund’s Felix Nmecha right in front of the net. Nmecha easily footed it in.
Dortmund stole all momentum on the play and increased its lead to 3-1 at halftime. Serhou Guirassy scored in the 34th minute and Jobe Bellingham in the 45th.
Khuliso Mudau’s own goal on an attempt to deflect Daniel Svensson’s cross in front of the net made it 4-1 in the 59th before South African Mamelodi centered itself and began putting pressure on the German club. The Sundowns scored two straight goals — Iqraam Rayners’ double-header that first hit the post before his second effort scored in the 62nd and Lebo Mothiba’s shot in the 90th minute.
It wasn’t enough to overcome the mistakes.
American midfielder Gio Reyna, forced to be with Dortmund rather than with the U.S. national team at the CONCACAF Gold Cup, dressed but didn’t play for the second straight match.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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