Club World Cup: Club America beat Mazembe to fifth place

Club America have ended their Club World Cup campaign with a win by overcoming Mazembe in their clash for fifth place in Japan.

Both sides lost in the quarter-finals, with Club America suffering a 1-0 defeat to Guangzhou Evergrande and Mazembe falling to a 3-0 deficit against Sanfrecce Hiroshima.

The fifth-place contest was the first ever meeting between the two sides, but it was Club America who ended up the happier side as Dario Benedetto and Martin Eduardo Zuniga managed to seal the win.

The breakthrough was made by Benedetto just before the 20-minute mark, but it was coming from the Mexican side as they dominated the early stages of the contest.

Zuniga doubled Club America’s lead when his effort got past the goalkeeper in the 28th minute, but the side suffered a scare when Mazembe struck two minutes from the half-time whistle.

Rainford Kalaba found the back of the net to give his side hope of getting something out of the game, and the team were able to carry that momentum through into the early stages of the second half.

It was not to be, though, as neither side could add to the goals before full time.