Sharp Man City Midfielder, Erling Haaland's Threat?

Two matches of Manchester City in the 2025 Club World Cup serve as a wake-up call regarding the assurance of Erling Haaland occupying the center forward position. The goal-scoring instincts of the midfielders could lead Pep Guardiola to shift the role of the goal source away from Haaland.

City has scored eight goals in the United States. Two were scored against Wydad Casablanca in the opening match, followed by six goals when they defeated Al Ain on Monday (23/6/2025) morning WIB, at the Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

Seven different players scored. Specifically, six midfielders contributed seven goals.

They are Phil Foden and Jeremy Doku who scored goals against Wydad. Meanwhile, Ilkay Guendogan, Claudio Echeverri, Oscar Bobb, and Rayan Cherki assisted City in scoring five times against Al Ain, the champion of the 2023-2024 Asian Champions League.

In both games, Haaland scored against Al Ain. However, the goal was only created through a penalty execution.

The variation in sources of goals brings its own blessings for City. Although still heavily reliant on Haaland's sharpness, City Manager Pep Guardiola can begin to reduce the acute dependence on the blonde-haired striker.

From his body language during the 90 minutes against Al Ain, Haaland increasingly enjoyed the role of contributing to the scoreboard. The evidence is that he provided an assist to Cherki for a goal against Al Ain in the 89th minute, even though he was already inside the opponent's penalty area at that time. Haaland also created three opportunities for his teammates at the Mercedes Benz Stadium.

Haaland is increasingly understanding his skills to become City's first defender in situations without the ball and to implement a high defensive line. He was able to intercept the ball in the final third of Al Ain's defense in the 27th minute, but Haaland's shot was off target.

Especially for the midfielders, Guendogan seems to have rediscovered his goal-scoring touch which was the key to City's success in winning the treble in the 2022-2023 season.

Moving freely behind Haaland, Guendogan was able to exploit the space in the final third of the opponent's defense to finish the chance.

The German midfielder recorded a 100 percent shot-to-goal ratio against Al Ain. In addition, Guendogan also created one opportunity for his teammate.

"I'm happy to contribute to the team's victory," said Guendogan after the match as reported on the FIFA website.

Despite achieving a significant victory over Al Ain, Guendogan expressed disappointment that his team could not prevent more goals. With an eight-goal difference, "The Citizens" remain in second place in Group G. They are only behind Juventus in terms of goal productivity, as both teams have an equal goal difference of eight.

Juve, on the other hand, have scored nine goals, while City have produced eight.

In this situation, City must defeat Juve to advance to the round of 16 as the champions of Group G. Juve and City have already secured their places in the knockout stage alongside Bayern Munich (Group C) and Flamengo (Group D).

"We played a bit slowly at the beginning of the second half, which caused us to be late in gaining momentum to score and surpass Juve before the final match. That is the only disappointing thing," said Guendogan.

Meanwhile, Echeverri and Cherki, two new midfielders, have already scored their debut goals for The Citizens. They further enrich Guardiola's options in pursuing goals from the center of play.

Echeverri's beautiful free kick also demonstrates that City has acquired a new set-piece specialist following the departure of Kevin De Bruyne. Guardiola could not hide his pride in the potential new star from Argentina.

He revealed that the free-kick goal was not a coincidence. "Since joining and training for the last three or four months, he (Echeverri) has always practiced free kicks on his own," said Guardiola.

"Hard work pays off. When you practice often, the chances of success are greater," he continued.

Cherki has also made his mark by scoring his first goal for City. One of the best young talents from France is beginning to feel comfortable in his role as an attacking midfielder for City, where he not only contributes to creating attacks but also scores goals.

In addition to the six midfielders who have already scored, Guardiola still has three weapons in the central playmaking position who have yet to showcase their goal-scoring skills. They are Bernardo Silva, Omar Marmoush, and Tijjani Reijnders.

Guardiola is optimistic that one by one his players can reach their best performance when competing in the knockout phase. Before battling in the round of 16, City will first compete for the top position in Group G against Juventus, Friday (27/6/2025) in the early hours WIB.

Juve is a true test for the City squad. Juve's sharp attacking line, led by Kenan Yildiz, will pose a more difficult threat to City's defense, which has yet to concede in the United States.

"We have four days to prepare for facing Juventus, and then another opponent in the knockout phase. I am pleased to have an additional week in the United States. We want to keep progressing and meet top European teams and outstanding Brazilian teams," Guardiola stated.