Germany’s Borussia Dortmund has officially advanced past the group stage and claimed a spot in the Round of 16 of the FIFA Club World Cup following a 1-0 win over South Korea’s Ulsan HD FC on Wednesday afternoon. The match was the fourth and final to take place at Cincinnati’s TQL Stadium, and the 41st of the group stage matches of the Cup.
Both Vice President JD Vance and FIFA President Gianni Infantino were in attendance at the game. Vance’s presence ramped up security at the stadium, with security completing searches of both cars and player buses, according to Dortmund coach Niko Kovac.
With zero points on the board following losses to both France’s Fluminense and South Africa’s Mamelodi Sundowns FC, the South Korean side knew it was eliminated from advancing any further in the tournament before players even took to the field.
The teams didn’t just compete against each other though—players fought to overcome a stifling heat wave that washed over the country within the last week, starting play right as temperatures for the day peaked at 93 degrees.
Ulsan is the only team from Korea to take part in the Club World Cup. Founded in 1983, the club has quickly made a reputation for itself as one of the best in the country. Ulsan competes K League 1 and has won five league titles, most recently in 2024, and has won the Korean FA Cup.
Further, the South Korean club earned its spot in the Club World Cup via its ranking in the AFC. Ulsan made its first win in 2012, and returned to the tournament four times from 2020 to 2023, twice making the semifinals, and securing its second win in 2020. Ulsan is the only club to have won the AFC Champions League twice without experiencing a single defeat.
Between Dortmund’s high ranking on the group stage and Ulsan’s early elimination from the tournament entirely, reports predicted that the day’s match would be an easy win for the German side, and the first half was easily indicative of the final result. Dortmund maintained the lead on possession the entire game, and play remained mostly on Ulsan’s side of the field.
In the first 45, Dortmund pulled off a whopping 20 attempts at Ulsan’s goal, led by Serhou Guirassy (9) and Jobe Bellingham (77) with seven and six shots, respectively. The remaining seven were a tossup between Julian Ryerson (26), Felix Nmecha (8), Karim Adeyemi (27), and Pascal Gross (13). While the high number of attempts reflected the German side’s dominance over the half, it was also illustrative of a complete lack of finishing power, which opened the opportunity for Ulsan to even the playing field again at any moment.
In fact, it wasn’t until the 36th minute that Daniel Svensson (24) finally pulled off the first goal of the match for Dortmund, with a low shot in the net that Ulsan goalkeeper Jo Hyeon-Woo (21) just barely missed with an attempted right foot block.
Although only nine of Dortmund’s shots on goal were on target, Hyeon-Woo still impressed with save after save for the South Korean side, whose defense couldn’t hold heavyweight Dortmund players out of the penalty box. Even the German side acknowledged his prowess—after seven shots on goal, Guirassy threw his hands up in the air, and coach Kovac called Hyeon-Woo a “great goalkeeper” in the post-game press conference. Even powerhouse players like Bellingham were hard-matched against Hyeon-woo in the first half (both were pinpointed by The Athletic, the sports journalism department of the The New York Times, as two of its “50 players to watch” during the Club World Cup).
The second half appeared to be a different game at the start, as Ulsan returned to the field and Sang-Woo Kang (13) made the club’s first of three attempts at Dortmund’s goal in the 48th minute. The German side didn’t return the favor until the 56th minute.
Whether feeling sluggish from the heat or attempting to regain control of their touch, Dortmund moved more slowly in the second half. The team made only eight attempts at goal in the final 45 compared to the first half’s 20, but still couldn’t master its finish, heading the ball just barely over goal or kicking it right into the hands of Hyeon-Woo.
Regardless, Dortmund’s domination in possession kept Ulsan from managing a potential comeback, and the game ended in victory for the Black and Yellow at 1-0.
The final score secured Dortmund a first-place ranking in its group with seven points, surpassing Fluminense, and a spot in the Round of 16. Dortmund will play its next game on July 1 at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. The opponent is still to be determined.
Of all the teams that have played at TQL during the tournament, Bayern Munich is the only other one to have cemented its spot in the Round of 16 so far, ranking second in Group C with six points. Cincinnati’s sister city recorded two wins on the group stage—including a record-breaking 10-0 defeat over New Zealand’s Auckland City FC at TQL Stadium and another 2-1 win over Argentina’s CA Boca Juniors—but fell 1-0 to Portugal’s SL Benfica, which ultimately claimed the top spot in Group C rankings with seven points. Auckland was subsequently eliminated from advancing any further in the tournament, having notched only one point under its belt after finally securing a win 1-0 over Boca Juniors.
After defeating Mexico’s CF Pachuca 2-1 at TQL Stadium last week, Austria’s FC Salzburg also ranks second in its group, with a total of four points. Although both teams have one last game to play today to determine its final rankings on the group stage, Pachuca has already been eliminated from advancing further, having secured no points yet.
Sundowns played its final group stage match against Fluminense, which ended in a 0-0 draw. The game cemented Fluminese’s spot in the Round of 16 and officially eliminated Sundowns from the running.
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