The scoreline during Bayern Münich’s opening match of the inaugural 32-team 2025 FIFA Club World Cup has to be seen to be believed. Not one, not two, not three…the Bavarian giants scored 10 goals in their opening match, double the tally of any other team.
Then you look at their opponent in that match, and it starts to sink into place. With no disrespect to semi-pro side Auckland City, whose mere participation in the tournament is part of its beauty, it would have been a shock if the Kiwis had made the scoreline much closer. Overall, this competition has been about as robust and tight as anyone could’ve asked for.
Bayern won’t be able to put 10 past Argentine giants Boca Juniors in both teams’ second group-stage match, which will kick off at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla., at 9 p.m. ET. Boca’s first match was arguably the match of the tournament so far, as they took a two-goal lead over Portuguese outfit Benfica before Nicolás Otamendi tied it up in the 84th minute. Two Boca Juniors and one Benfica player got red cards and will be suspended for tomorrow’s matches.
Bayern is a -450 favorite to win at DraftKings Sportsbook, with Boca at +1100 and a draw at +550.
The DraftKings Network will be closely covering the tournament, so stay tuned for more coverage.
Bayern Münich vs. Boca Juniors prediction, pick
In their opening match, the Bavarians had three different places record a brace and Jamal Musiala after coming on in the 61st minute. The numbers were staggering — 71% possession, 17 out of 31 shots on target to Auckland City’s one total shot, and 10 corner kicks. Obviously, Bayern is an incredible side, winning the Bundesliga by 13 points with a staggering plus-67 goal differential, tied for the fourth-best in league history. They then made a few changes prior to the Club World Cup, the most notable of which was bringing in former Bayer Leverkusen defender Jonathan Tah.
Münich’s dominant performance over the semi-pro side seems to indicate that Boca doesn’t have a chance. South American clubs have been systematically underestimated throughout the entire tournament; so far, clubs from the continent are undefeated (this piece was written before the PSG-Botafogo match on Wednesday night), and Palmeiras looks to be in pole position to win Group A with four points after two matches. If Boca Juniors had been dominated by Benfica and gotten lucky to escape with a 2-2 draw, that’d be one story, but they managed 10 shots to the Eagles’ eight. The Portuguese runners-up needed a penalty just to secure a point.
Boca Juniors currently sit third in the Liga Profesional with 33 points after 16 matches, and they have the second-best attack and sixth-best defense in the competition, though they were eliminated by Independientes in the quarter-finals of the Torneo Apertura. Miguel Merentiel ranks second in the top flight with nine goal contributions and leads all players in goal contributions per 90 minutes, and his most comparable players include a pair of Liga Portugal stars, Benfica’s Vangelis Pavlidis and Sporting CP’s Viktor Gyökeres. Augustín Marchesín ranks fifth in the league in clean sheet percentage and owns a 77.3% save percentage in Liga Profesional. Neither of the suspended players for this match, Ander Herrera and Jorge Figal, are regulars in the first XI, so Boca should be okay without them.
It’ll be interesting to see what kind of lineup Bayern trots out there. With a fairly difficult match against Benfica last, Vincent Kompany will surely want all three points, so he’ll probably take the game seriously. Kompany started more or less a full-strength XI in the match against Auckland City, with only Musiala on the bench among regular starters. With its flurry of attacking options, it should be able to penetrate Los Xeneizes’ attacking 4-2-2-2 regardless of who it starts, but it won’t be a blowout. Bayern only kept four clean sheets in 10 matches since star left-back Alphonso Davies tore his ACL, and I doubt it’ll do it tonight.
