Preview: Manchester City vs. Wydad AC - prediction, team news, lineups

On the hunt for a second Club World Cup honour in as many tournaments, Manchester City begin Group G on Wednesday, when they test their mettle against Moroccan outfit Wydad AC in Philadelphia.

Serie A titans Juventus and United Arab Emirates representatives Al-Ain are also present in the section, where anything besides a top-two finish would be the lowest of low ebbs for Man City.

Match preview

Tough times often make tough people, and the Citizens faithful will be praying that is the case for Guardiola and co, as the Sky Blues cannot purge the 2024-25 season from their memory banks quickly enough.

An early-season Community Shield success ended up being all that Man City had to shout about last term, having ceded their Premier League title to Liverpool with a whimper, fallen to Real Madrid's Champions League superiority and suffered the most gut-wrenching FA Cup final defeat to Crystal Palace.

The imminent 115 charges verdict is also looming over the heads of everyone associated with the club, but in terms of what the Citizens can control, Guardiola and his transfer chiefs have been splashing the cash at will in the earliest knockings of the summer.

Rayan Cherki, Rayan Ait-Nouri and Tijjani Reijnders are already through the doors at the Etihad - the former and latter combined will seek to replace a measure of Kevin De Bruyne's ingenuity - and more incomings are anticipated between now and the beginning of the new domestic term.

In terms of matters on the field, Man City technically come into the Club World Cup as defending champions; they won the 2023 edition at a canter before FIFA launched the Intercontinental Cup, which acted as a brief placeholder in 2024.

While Man City have a Club World Cup trophy in the cabinet, upcoming foes Wydad AC boast marginally more experience at the global gathering; the 2025 edition marks their third appearance at the tournament.

The Moroccan powerhouses - who have won a record 22 titles in their homeland - made their CWC debut in the 2017-18 competition, losing the fifth-placed match to Urawa Red Diamonds, before being dumped out in round two by Al-Hilal in 2022-23.

The Red Castle earned entry into the expanded tournament thanks to their CAF Champions League triumph from the 2021-22 campaign, but the team led by Mohamed Amine Benhachem have many mistakes to rectify from the past two seasons.

Indeed, Wydad could only finish third in the 2024-25 Botola - the top flight of Moroccan football - and the 2023-24 CAF Champions League saw them condemned to their first-ever group-stage elimination from the competition.

The Red Castle also suffered back-to-back friendly losses to esteemed European outfits Porto and Sevilla last month, albeit by just a goal to nil each time, but keeping the scoreline as respectable as possible will likely be the overriding goal on Wednesday.

Man City form (all competitions): WWDLWW

Wydad AC form (all competitions): DWWWWL

Team News

All four of City's new acquisitions - Reijnders, Cherki, Ait-Nouri and backup goalkeeper Marcus Bettinelli - are present in the USA, and debuts almost certainly await the former three in Philadelphia.

Injury-plagued defender John Stones also boarded the plane, in spite of the thigh injury that kept him out of the end of the season, but Mateo Kovacic (heel) has been left at home to recuperate.

With Juventus to come in eight days' time, Guardiola - never one to shy away from wide-scale rotation - may opt for somewhat of a second-string XI, but it is largely anybody's guess as to how he will set up his side.

Speaking of new arrivals, Wydad's 29-player contingent is headlined by veteran winger Nordin Amrabat; the 38-year-old joined up with the Moroccan side last month after ending his stint with Hull City.

Amrabat could work in tandem with former PSV Eindhoven youngster Mohamed Rayhi in the forward line; the latter was Wydad's top scorer last term with 11 league strikes.

Man City possible starting lineup:

Ederson; Lewis, Khusanov, Gvardiol, Ait-Nouri; Reijnders, Gonzalez; Cherki, Foden, Doku; Haaland

Wydad AC possible starting lineup:

El Motie; Moufi, Meijers, Harkass, Boucheta; Malsa, Moubarik; Amrabat, Arthur, Rayhi; Obeng

We say: Manchester City 4-0 Wydad AC

Sterner tests will of course come, but even a weakened Man City outfit should have few problems kicking off their Group G campaign with a glut of goals against the Moroccan minnows.

Written by
Ben Knapton

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