Izuchukwu OkosiBrazilian side Fluminense played out a scoreless draw against Borussia Dortmund Tuesday evening at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey in Group F of the FIFA Club World Cup.
Both sides had their chances to score against defensive resilient opposition and had to try efforts from distance.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelEuropean teams have dominated in the tournament’s history lifting the title on 11 occasions.
Enthusiastic Brazilian fans turned out enmasse to support their team but could not break down their onetime finalists.
Dortmund head coach Niko Kovac also paid tribute to the qualities of South American teams and admitted he never expected am easy game.
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“As a former player and also as a coach I’m not surprised because I know Brazilian football very well and I knew that they have a lot of quality, a lot of experienced players.
“It is always also a battle – European football and South American football… for me, this was not a surprise and I’m convinced that most of these South American teams will pass into the next round.”
On his part, Renato Gaucho, Fluminense head coach said:
“I would like to send a warm hug to our supporters – I am sure that our fans here and in Brazil are very proud of our first match here in this tournament. We were superior to our opponent most of the time – almost all of the time.
“There are many teams that are financially better off than we are but on the pitch it’s 11 against 11 and it’s up to the attitude of our players and I’m so proud of them.”
Niko Kovac, Dortmund head coach: “As a former player and also as a coach I’m not surprised because I know Brazilian football very well and I knew that they have a lot of quality, a lot of experienced players.
“It is always also a battle – European football and South American football… for me, this was not a surprise and I’m convinced that most of these South American teams will pass into the next round.”
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
