Along the way, Kane also scored one, made one, and walked off with the Superior Player Of the Match laurels as Bayern Munich edged their way to a relentlessly entertaining 2-1 victory over Boca Juniors in front of a high-energy full house. Harry Kane ended the night in Miami bruised, sweat-soaked, and perhaps a little weary from repeatedly picking himself up off the ground.
There had been a lot of talk before this game about a night of full-contact combat in store for Bayern’s attack and midfield. Central defender Lauturo Di Lollo had jokingly stated how he planned to cope with Kane, saying, “I’m going to kill him.” It was meant in jest, of course, but he had the perfect opportunity to test this from kick-off as he started in central defense right up against his intended victim.
As a result, Bayern are now through to the knockout stage of the Club World Cup. For the first time, a European team has beaten a South American opponent at this tournament. However, defeat still leaves Boca effectively in charge of their own destiny, with Auckland City next on the list. They need to win by a spectacular margin and hope Bayern can defeat Porto.
The opening hour felt like a controlled suffocation as Bayern maintained possession and took the lead. However, Boca fought their way back into the match, blocking shots and hurling themselves into contact to equalize in the second half, only to find that Bayern’s quality ultimately shone through.
This was a rare 9 PM kick-off, a much more sensible scheduling choice in South Florida, where the heat transitions from unbearable to merely very hot and humid by that time. The atmosphere felt electric in the vast shimmering surrounds of the Hard Rock Stadium as fans adorned in red, blue, and yellow filled the stands hours before kick-off.
It was a clash of boisterous, alpha clubs, perhaps even distant cousins in the Bavaria-La Plata continuum: domestic powerhouses, rousing music, regional meat culture. Although their only previous competitive meeting was the infamous 2001 Intercontinental Cup Final, won 1-0 by Bayern, Boca fans still remember it as the Robbery of the Century due to an allegedly dubious second yellow card awarded to Chelo Delgado.
In hindsight, it doesn’t appear to be a robbery at all. Instead, it looks like a beautifully crafted through pass from Juan Roman Riquelme, followed by a clear dive. Still, there is an oddly comforting universality in how football supporters react to such moments.
The atmosphere at the Hard Rock was electric on Friday night, bursting with fans filling every corner beneath the expansive steel lattice roof. However, the WWE-style player walk-out felt excessively drawn out, taking up four minutes that could have been better spent. Watching “KONRAD LAIMER!” announced theatrically while an awkward Laimer made his way across the field towards a disinterested group of teammates was a bit much.
Bayern’s offensive threat came from the talented trio of Michael Olise, Serge Gnabry, and Kingsley Coman, all rallying behind Kane. In midfield, the legendary Goretzka-Kimmich duo was ready to dominate, while Jonathan Tah, a recent signing with Bundesliga experience, took charge of the center defense.
At first, Bayern kept possession with ease, so not much happened. On the eighteenth minute, Kane opened the score with a clean finish after a little heavy first touch. The ball deflected off Coman as he challenged for a cross, and Kane eased it into the bottom corner off his left boot. Kane had put himself in the right place at the right time.
Thomas Tuchel observed all of this from the plush FIFA seats—Kane scoring in America, late June, against a South American defense, in a full stadium. It felt like a perfect moment to capture.
Bayern had dominated the metrics up to that point, boasting 74% possession, 101 passes to Boca’s 29, three shots to none, and two corners to zero. Boca’s game plan relied on swift collective breaks, involving a lot of waiting and singing in the stands while the opposition passed around a low, muscular block.
Boca finally produced their first shot, a free-kick from Kevin Zenon that Manuel Neuer instinctively pushed away. Neuer made another excellent save moments later, batting away Zenon’s second attempt from a similar angle.
