CHARLOTTE: Fluminense reached the Club World Cup quarter-finals with a stunning 2–0 win over Inter Milan as German Cano’s early goal and substitute Hercules’ stoppage-time strike toppled the Champions League runners-up in sweltering heat on Monday.
Coach Renato’s decision to line up a three-man defense paid off, catching Inter off guard and leaving the 2023 Copa Libertadores champions largely untroubled throughout the match.
“I put it in their heads that it would work. Inter is a great team. They have much more money than us, but on the field it’s 11 against 11,” Renato told DAZN.
“The team believed, fought, and stayed focused for the 90 minutes.”
Fluminense struck after three minutes when Cano pounced on a deflected cross and headed in from close range, putting the ball through goalkeeper Yann Sommer’s legs for a dream start.
Inter dominated possession, but Fluminense created the better chances, with Colombian forward Jhon Arias causing all sorts of trouble for the Italian side’s defense and Sommer.
Ignacio thought he had doubled their lead in the 39th minute as he nodded in from close range after a series of headers in the box, but his effort was ruled out for offside.
The Italians pushed for an equalizer after the break but were frustrated by a well-organized defense, while Stefan de Vrij missed a glorious chance after Lautaro Martinez set him up in the six-yard box after 69 minutes.
The 44-year-old Fluminense keeper Fabio also had a stellar performance, pulling off some key saves including denying substitute Sebastiano Esposito with his feet before Martinez struck the post late on.
Hercules sealed the win for Fluminense three minutes into added time, calmly slotting home from the edge of the box to send the Brazilians through to a last-eight clash with either Manchester City or Al Hilal on Friday in Orlando.
“The coach told us it was going to be a very difficult game, we knew that,” midfielder Hercules said. “But we were very focused on the game, that’s what we work for. And that’s it. The result is there.”
Fluminense shock Inter 2-0 to reach Club World Cup quarter-finals
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Fluminense shock Inter 2-0 to reach Club World Cup quarter-finals
- Coach Renato’s decision to line up a three-man defense paid off, catching Inter off guard and leaving the 2023 Copa Libertadores champions largely untroubled throughout the match
Olympic favorite Malinin pulls off stunning GP Final win
- Short program winner Yuma Kagiyama finished second overall on 302.41
- Malinin becomes the first skater to land seven quads in competition and will head to the Milan-Cortina Games in February as clear favorite in his Olympic debut
NAGOYA: Ilia Malinin showed why he is red-hot favorite for Olympic gold by winning the Grand Prix Final with a world-record free skate score after landing an incredible seven quads.
The American “Quad God” lived up to his nickname, coming from third place after a disappointing short program to claim the title in Nagoya with an emphatic 332.29 points.
Short program winner Yuma Kagiyama finished second overall on 302.41, followed by Japanese countryman Shun Sato on 292.08.
Malinin becomes the first skater to land seven quads in competition and will head to the Milan-Cortina Games in February as clear favorite in his Olympic debut.
“It gives me a lot of confidence that I’m able to go out there and get this done,” said the 21-year-old.
“I know that right now I wasn’t at 100 percent, so being able to do this at what energy and what percent I am now gives me a lot of confidence for the future.
“I will take the next few months leading up to the Olympics trying to perfect everything,” he added.
Malinin botched his signature quad axel in his short program when he unleashed it for the first time this season on Thursday.
He nailed the ultra-risky move in style in his free skate and kept the fireworks going for the rest of his routine.
His free skate score of 238.24 was almost 10 points more than his old world record, set in his previous competition at Skate Canada last month.
Malinin said he was “thinking of trying to water it down to play it safe but then I remembered why I came to the Grand Prix Final.”
“I decided that I wanted to go full out and give myself a foundation of what it would look like,” he said.
“I’m really satisfied with my performance and I know that I’m able to get these jumps under pressure.”
Kagiyama, the 2022 Beijing Olympics silver medallist, had a job on his hands to beat Malinin even with his short program lead.
He made mistakes toward the end of his routine and placed fourth in the free skate.
- Chock, Bates win ice dance -
Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the United States won the ice dance title.
The husband-and-wife team claimed the Grand Prix Final title for the third straight year, racking up 220.42 points to finish ahead of France’s Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron on 214.25.
Britain’s Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson were third on 208.81.
“It feels like a sprint to get to the Grand Prix Final and then all of a sudden you have a month or two before we’ll meet again in Milan,” said Bates.
“It really is the first half of the season and then there’s a lot of progress that can be made in the next few months, which is something that we’re looking forward to.”
