The 2008 FIFA Club World Cup final was the final match of the 2008 FIFA Club World Cup, an association football tournament for the champion clubs from each of FIFA's six continental confederations. The match took place at the International Stadium Yokohama, Japan, on 21 December 2008, and pitted LDU Quito of Ecuador, the CONMEBOL club champions, and Manchester United of England, the UEFA club champions. Despite going down to ten men early in the second half, Manchester United won the match 1–0 thanks to a 73rd-minute goal from Wayne Rooney.
Road to final Both LDU Quito and Manchester United qualified for the competition at the semi-final stage, after winning their respective continental competition, the 2008 Copa Libertadores and the 2007–08 UEFA Champions League.
LDU Quito's opening game was against Mexican side Pachuca, who had defeated Egyptian club Al Ahly 4–2 in the quarter-finals after extra time. Their semi-final match was played at the National Stadium in Tokyo on 17 December 2008. The Ecuadorian side scored two goals in the first 26 minutes through Claudio Bieler and Luis Bolaños, securing their place in the Club World Cup final.
Manchester United's semi-final opponents were Gamba Osaka, who had previously defeated Australian A-League premiers and Asian Champions League runners-up Adelaide United (1–0) to move into the second semi-final on 18 December. Nemanja Vidić and Cristiano Ronaldo opened the scoring in the first half, building up a two-goal lead at half-time. Masato Yamazaki was the next to score in the 74th minute to bring Gamba back into contention, but Wayne Rooney scored twice and Darren Fletcher once within the next five minutes to extend United's lead. Yasuhito Endō converted an 85th-minute penalty kick and Hideo Hashimoto got a third for Gamba just minutes before the final whistle. The result was 5–3, taking Manchester United to the final.
Match
Details
GK 1 José Cevallos CB 3 Renán Calle CB 14 Diego CalderónCB 2 Norberto AraujoRM 23 Jayro Campos CM 15 William Araujo CM 8 Patricio Urrutia (c)LM 7 Luis Bolaños RF 13 Néicer Reasco CF 16 Claudio Bieler LF 21 Damián MansoSubstitutions:DF 4 Paúl Ambrosi MF 20 Pedro Larrea FW 19 Reinaldo Navia Manager: Edgardo Bauza GK 1 Edwin van der SarRB 21 Rafael CB 5 Rio Ferdinand (c)CB 15 Nemanja Vidić LB 3 Patrice EvraCM 16 Michael CarrickCM 8 Anderson RW 7 Cristiano RonaldoAM 13 Park Ji-sungLW 32 Carlos Tevez CF 10 Wayne RooneySubstitutions:DF 23 Jonny Evans DF 2 Gary Neville MF 24 Darren Fletcher Manager: Sir Alex Ferguson Assistant referees: Abdukhamidullo Rasulov (Uzbekistan) Bahadyr Kochkorov (Kyrgyzstan) Fourth official: Yuichi Nishimura (Japan)Match rules 90 minutes 30 minutes of extra time if necessary Penalty shoot-out if scores still level Twelve named substitutes Maximum of three substitutions
Statistics +First half LDU Quito Manchester UnitedGoals scored 0 0Total shots 4 11Shots on target 0 5Ball possession 36% 64%Corner kicks 0 3Fouls committed 14 10Offsides 0 1Yellow cards 3 0Red cards 0 0+Second half LDU Quito Manchester UnitedGoals scored 0 1Total shots 6 5Shots on target 3 4Ball possession 54% 46%Corner kicks 5 0Fouls committed 12 7Offsides 3 0Yellow cards 2 1Red cards 0 1+Overall LDU Quito Manchester UnitedGoals scored 0 1Total shots 10 16Shots on target 3 9Ball possession 45% 55%Corner kicks 5 3Fouls committed 26 17Offsides 3 1Yellow cards 5 1Red cards 0 1
See also Manchester United F.C. in European football
References
External links FIFA Club World Cup Japan 2008, FIFA.com Technical Report and Statistics (PDF), FIFA.com