PSG Advance to Club World Cup Knockouts with Comfortable Win Over Seattle Sounders

Paris Saint-Germain secured their advancement to the Round of 16 in the FIFA Club World Cup (CWC) with a 2-0 victory over the Seattle Sounders.

Although they controlled much of the match against their North American counterparts, the European champions were fortunate to head into halftime with only a narrow lead.

The first goal came through an unexpected deflection off Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, who was inadvertently in the path of a misdirected shot by Vitinha, allowing the Georgian to put his team ahead.

This goal marked the end of a phase dominated by PSG, during which goalkeeper Stefan Frei made several important saves, most notably an acrobatic stop to thwart a shot from the talented French striker, Désiré Doué, aimed at the top corner.

While Seattle’s offensive impact was minimal in the first half, they came close to capitalising on a blunder from Gianluigi Donnarumma, who carelessly presented a chance to take the lead within the first 20 minutes with a weak pass to Jesus Ferreira. The Sounders striker narrowly missed the target from a tight angle.

PSG maintained their dominance as the second half began. However, following their surprising defeat to Botafogo just the week before, the pressure was on, with only a single goal leading them at risk of slipping out of the tournament.

PSG finally extended their lead with a second goal, resulting from a swift counter-attack after a rare Seattle offensive move fizzled out. Doué, unmarked in the midfield, found substitute Bradley Barcola, who delivered a precise low cross to Achraf Hakimi, allowing the latter to calmly finish past Frei and secure PSG’s progress to the next stage.

The final half hour was a challenging period for the Sounders, who could only chase after the ball under the punishing midday sun. They were well-beaten long before referee Cristián Garay signalled the end of the match.

Although the Sounders were unable to secure any points in the group stage, Cristian Roldan almost treated the home crowd to a memorable finale in the last minute of play. However, his spectacular long-range effort narrowly missed the mark, skimming past Donnarumma’s post— the final moment of Seattle’s CWC journey.

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