As Bayern’s players waited in the tunnel to be called onto the pitch one by one by the stadium announcer, bells rang in the final moments before kick-off of their opening match in the USA at TQL Stadium in Cincinnati. The countdown to the first match against Auckland City must have made Thomas Müller and his teammates realise once again that the battle for the Club World Cup trophy had finally begun. However, Vincent Kompany's team already knew in the build-up to the match that things were about to get serious. And of course that this also meant taking their opponents seriously, as was emphasised time and again. The Munich men put this into practice in the game and produced the perfect start.
“It’s a good way to start the tournament. It’s exactly what we wanted,” said Jonathan Tah after the 10-0 win to kick off Group C. Müller was also succinct in his analysis of events: “We played well, played seriously, played with intensity.” Everyone was aware in advance of the discrepancies between the Bundesliga champions and Oceania Champions League holders – the only semi-professional team at the Club World Cup – but Kompany was particularly pleased by his team’s attacking perseverance. “When a team sits back and defends well, it’s not a given that you score 10 goals,” the coach said. He didn’t need to dish out any great praise, but a simple “job done”.
It didn’t take too long for Bayern to prove their superiority to the world. Tah wasn’t tested all too much in defence, instead setting up Kingsley Coman at a corner for the opening goal inside six minutes. It wasn’t just his first assist on his debut after joining the record champions but also the first goal of the new-format tournament, after Saturday’s opening game between Al Ahly and Inter Miami ended 0-0.
From that point on, the course of the game was set. Spearheaded by their lively French contingent, the Bavarians reached half a dozen goals by half-time after more goals from Sacha Boey, a Michael Olise brace, Coman again and also Müller. The scoreline meant Kompany could comfortably make some changes at the break, handing 17-year-old Lennart Karl his senior debut, before later introducing Dayot Upamecano and Jamal Musiala for their comebacks and a huge impact again.
Musiala was undoubtedly the best player of the second half, hitting a 17-minute hat-trick. But as so often down the years, Müller would again have his moment. His goal to make it 10-0 in the closing minutes was his 250th in all competitions for Bayern. “We kept going after every goal and immediately wanted the next, despite the heat,” the milestone man said. The team “didn't take any chances that anything could happen” against the underdogs from New Zealand, Müller added.
Bayern now obviously want to take the momentum of this result further into the tournament. As Tah stressed, they’ll have to hold onto their serious nature. “We can’t now have the feeling that we can let up in any way. On the contrary, we need to step it up a notch again,” the new defender insisted. The Bundesliga champions play their second group game against Argentina’s Boca Juniors in Miami on Friday as they look to take a big step towards the knockout stages. “We’re ready,” said Tah, who’s already got that Bayern mentality of looking ahead to the next big challenge to overcome.
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