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If Juventus were to start off the Club World Cup on a positive note, they certainly had the chance to do so against competition that were not exactly deemed anywhere close to the best in the tournament. There\u2019s the big showdown with an English giant at the end of the group stage, but the final fixture of Matchday 1 was Juve\u2019s first opportunity to show some intent in the United States.<\/p>\n
It didn\u2019t take long Wednesday night to do just that.<\/p>\n
Within the opening 30 minutes at Audi Field, Juventus had already run out to a three-goal lead. The Bianconeri \u2014 albeit in their brand new all-blue away kit \u2014 didn\u2019t take their foot off the gas despite that early lead, with Randal Kolo Muani securing a first-half brace to go along with goals from Francisco Concei\u00e7\u00e3o and Kenan Yildiz to put Juve up 4-0 going into halftime. It was all they needed to open their Club World Cup campaign with a 5-0 victory over UAE side Al Ain, with Concei\u00e7\u00e3o also claiming a brace before the final whistle was sounded.<\/p>\n
It was an incredibly efficient night in front of goal for a Juve side that, as we know all too well from the Serie A season, is something we haven\u2019t been able to say all too often of late. <\/p>\n
Juventus recorded four shots on target in the first half.<\/p>\n
They scored four goals in the first half.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s what we call efficiency, folks.<\/p>\n
The catch in all of this, of course, is that four of Juventus\u2019 five goals were scored by players who are still on loan at the club and may not even be a part of next season\u2019s roster if something can\u2019t be worked out later this summer. We know Juventus want to keep Kolo Muani and that there are certainly talks to come in the next few weeks. Concei\u00e7\u00e3o, though, is a hard situation to read \u2014 so much of the first few weeks of the Igor Tudor era was filled with him barely playing … but now? It\u2019s hard to say, and it\u2019s not like Juventus couldn\u2019t use a player with his trickiness and creativity on the roster come the start of the 2025-26 campaign.<\/p>\n
For now, though, we will just enjoy them in a Juve shirt while we still can.<\/p>\n
And against Al Ain, they most definitely were two of the driving forces \u2014 along with the ever-present Yildiz \u2014 of Juve building their big first-half lead that allowed them to relatively cruise in the second half on an incredibly muggy night.<\/p>\n
Yes, the competition level is not what Juventus will see the rest of the way in the Club World Cup \u2014 especially if they are to make it into the knockout rounds like just about everybody is predicting them to do. This was always going to be the situation when we saw the group schedule announced and Juventus got two incredibly winnable games within the span of a few days with Manchester City laying in wait for the group stage finale.<\/p>\n
But Juventus did what they couldn\u2019t do against a lot of the lower-level competition in Serie A this season when facing Al Ain \u2014 both win and put plenty of distance between themselves and the competition. It\u2019s a good first step at the Club World Cup, and winning by five goals certainly helps the old goal differential if it will potentially come down to that.<\/p>\n
One win down. Hopefully plenty more to come. Not a bad start to the group stage, I\u2019d say.<\/p>\n