How Fluminense beat Al Hilal to book the first Club World Cup 2025 semi-final place – The New York Times

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Fluminense have beaten Al Hilal 2-1 in Orlando, becoming the first team to advance to the Club World Cup semi-final.
Martinelli scored the opening goal for the Brazilian side late in the first half with a fantastic solo effort. Marcos Leonardo equalised shortly after half-time but Hercules restored Fluminense's lead in the 70th minute, scoring off the bench for the second straight match.
Fluminense will face the winner of Palmeiras vs Chelsea in the semi-final.
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Fluminense 2 Al Hilal 1: Saudis left feeling aggrieved as Hercules lands the telling blow
More Club World Cup quarter-final action on the way.
Tonight, as mentioned, it is Palmeiras vs Chelsea at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania — our coverage of that match is live and you can join us over there by clicking here.
And then there is a European quartet on tomorrow's menu.
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All roads lead to MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey after the quarter-finals.
And Fluminense are the first team to book their place at the home of the New York Giants and Jets — the Brazilians have played there already at this tournament, drawing with Borussia Dortmund and beating Ulsan HD.
They will play in the first of the two semi-finals which is at 3pm ET (8pm BST) on Tuesday, July 8. Their opponents will be the winner of this evening's quarter-final between Palmeiras and Chelsea.
You can try to stop Hercules from smiling after yet another goal off the bench, but I think you'll struggle!
You won't see many greater images of the contrasting emotions at the top level than this one.
Pure joy for Fluminense manager Renato Gaucho when he spoke after the match.
You won't see any Fluminense players in the hunt for the Golden Boot because they have found ways to share their goals throughout the team.
They have scored eight goals at this Club World Cup and Hercules is the only player to have scored more than one of them.
It has been a real team effort at both ends of the pitch throughout the tournament for the Brazilians.
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With his goal early in the second half today, Marcos Leonardo joined Angel Di Maria atop the Golden Boot standings at the Club World Cup, with four goals each.
Leonardo can't add to his total now that Al Hilal are eliminated but a handful of players on three goals apiece are on teams that are still in the tournament, indicated in bold below.
4 goals
3 goals
Al Hilal created more chances, had more corners and touches in the opposition's box, but Fluminense led in the only stat that truly matters.
It was a huge night for Al Hilal on Monday, toppling Manchester City after extra time.
By the same stretch, today has to go down a massive failure for the Saudi Arabian side. They have spent a eye-watering amount of money and that metric alone made then huge favourites to beat Fluminense.
Perhaps there was some kind of emotional hangover from Monday's win, and a couple of their star players — Ruben Neves and Joao Cancelo — are understandably not in the right headspace after yesterday's awful news.
A disappointing end to their Club World Cup campaign.
Despite the heroics of Hercules off the bench, losing Martinelli for that semi-final is a real blow for Fluminense.
He is a truly quality player, as he showed with the brilliant opening goal.
The 23-year-old ripped a superb left-footed strike across Bounou and right into the top corner. It was a goal that broke open a really poor game and laid the foundations for a famous win.
No wonder he looked fuming to have been substituted knowing that he can't play in the semi-final.
It's only right that a man called Hercules is the hero of the story, and for the second time this week.
He had the task of replacing the goalscorer at half-time — and that goalscorer, Martinelli, was not happy. But Hercules showed why the faith had been placed in him with a lovely touch and finish to win the game for Fluminense.
With Martinelli suspended for the semi-final after being shown a yellow card, Hercules will surely be upgraded to the starting XI on Tuesday.
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This tournament will have its critics — and rightly so — but it has provided a handful of moments that only tournament football can provide.
And the elation on the faces of the Fluminense players and staff can absolutely be filed under those 'moments'.
A true underdog in the last 16 and then the quarter-final, but booking their place in the semis through desire, grit and some high quality in the opposing penalty area.
It is a terrific achievement for Brazilian football that they have two teams still in contention for the Club World Cup trophy.
Fluminense have been one of the feel-good stories of the tournament after having been written off in both of their knockout matches.
And they will be watching this evening's second quarter-final very intently as fellow Brasileiro Serie A side Palmeiras are in action against Chelsea.
They will fancy their chances of winning that one, regardless of which team makes it through.
What a mad finish to the game. Al Hilal threw the kitchen sink at Fluminense here, peppering the six-yard box from corners.
There were so many moments where the ball looked like it was just about to fall to a white jersey and someone managed to get in the way.
The entire Fluminense staff were on the pitch at full time.
FT Fluminense 2-1 Al Hilal
Wow! Another huge winner for this Fluminense side and they are the first confirmed semi-finalists at this Club World Cup.
The defensive effort from their players in the last 15 minutes of this match was extraordinary and they are fully deserving of their place in the final four.
There was a late penalty appeal from Koulibaly, but it was a very poorly sold dive from the big centre-back.
Yet another famous, famous evening at this tournament for Fluminense — what an achievement!
90+6' Fluminense 2-1 Al Hilal
Ruben Neves might as well have just stood at the corner flag in this second half!
Pretty much every one of the 10 corners he has taken in this second half has been right on the money, but Fluminense are continuing to survive.
This is a perfect lesson in how to protect your own penalty area by these defenders — they have been excellent.
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90+4' Fluminense 2-1 Al Hilal
The Fluminense players know that they are a few minutes away from another famous victory, and they are now under real pressure in and around their penalty area.
Neves has been delivering typically threatening corners into the penalty area but the Fluminense players are managing to get first contact every time.
The Saudi side are up to 10 corners on the match, and I'd be shocked if they don't add to that between now and full time.
90+2' Fluminense 2-1 Al Hilal
Just over 43k fans on hand at Camping World Stadium for this match.
90+1' Fluminense 2-1 Al Hilal
There are some very nervous-looking Fluminense faces in the crowd at Camping World Stadium!
I don't think those nerves will be eased by seeing the referee add seven minutes onto the end of this second half.

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