Brazilians Botafogo beat Seattle Sounders ahead of PSG match

John Textor-owned Botafogo kicked off their Club World Cup campaign with a narrow 2-1 victory over the Seattle Sounders, before facing PSG on Thursday night (3 a.m.) in Pasadena, a suburb of Los Angeles. The reigning Brazilian champion and winner of the 2024 Copa Libertadores opened the scoring in the 28th minute thanks to a header from Jair Cunha after a free kick fired past Alex Telles.

Then, Igor Jesus, who is expected to be sold to Nottingham Forest , doubled the lead just before the end of the first half (44th), again with a header after winning his aerial duel against defender Kee-hee Kim. Seattle showed more initiative in the second half and was rewarded with a goal on a header from Cristian Roldan deflected by Igor Jesus after a cross from Paul Rothrock (75th). The Sounders had several chances to equalize at the end of the match, in vain, and will regret their clumsiness (23 shots to 12).

With this victory, Botafogo moves into second place in Group B with three points, the same as PSG, who thrashed Atlético de Madrid (4-0) on Sunday. The Brazilians will face the European champions on Thursday at the Rose Bowl, a few hours after Atlético's reception by the Sounders in Seattle (midnight).

In the second match of the night, FC Porto and Palmeiras drew 0-0 in East Rutherford, near New York, for their opening match. In an 82,000-capacity MetLife Stadium that was barely half full, the Portuguese and Brazilian teams were not exactly spectacular. Following the same result in the second match of Matchday 1 of Group A, between Egypt's Al-Ahly and Lionel Messi's Inter Miami (0-0), the standings remain frozen.

Rodrigo Mora (Porto) and Estevao (Palmeiras) were the most prominent players in the match, but each time they were thwarted by the opposing defense. In these conditions, it was the goalkeepers who shone, as evidenced by the miraculous double save on the line from Porto goalkeeper Claudio Ramos (45th + 1), who also had a firm hand at the end of the match (83rd), and Weverton's fine free-diving for Palmeiras (48th).