Club America’s journey at the 2015 FIFA Club World Cup will be short but not sweet.
Guangzhou Evergrande beat Mexico’s Club America 2-1 on Sunday in the quarterfinal of club soccer’s world championship tournament. Guangzhou will face reigning European champion Barcelona on Thursday in the semifinals.
Oribe Peralta gave Club America, CONCACAF’s representative, the lead by scoring in the 55th minute. The Mexican club appeared headed for a date with Barcelona, having controlled the game and gone ahead in the second half.
But Guangzhou Evergrande scored twice in the last 10 minutes — first through Zheng Long then Paulinho — to earn comeback win.
Club America will play African champion TP Mazembe on Wednesday in the fifth-place game. Club America then will return to Mexico from Japan with full knowledge that it missed an opportunity.
“I’m not happy with this result,” Club America coach Ignacio Ambriz said, according to The Associated Press. “I have to take responsibility. We lost our focus in the last five minutes and the victory slipped away.”
Just three CONCACAF clubs have reached the semifinals since 2000. Club America managed to do so nine years ago, but Asian champion Guangzhou proved to be too stiff a challenge for the Mexicans to overcome.
Thumbnail photo via Eugene Hoshiko/The Associated Press
