Al Ahly and Porto shared a 4-4 thriller in their final game at the Club World Cup on Monday, but both will head home after Inter Miami and Palmeiras drew to progress to the round of 16 from Group A.

Palestine striker Wessam Abou Ali scored a hat-trick, and Mohamed Ali Ben Romdhane also found the net for the Egyptian champions, but Porto pegged them back every time they went ahead.

Teenagers Rodrigo Mora and William Gomes, substitute Samu Aghehowa and Pepe all scored for the Portuguese club as both teams all but abandoned defending in search of goals that might keep them alive in the tournament.

In the end, though, a draw was not enough for either side and the 2-2 stalemate between Inter and Palmeiras in Miami was enough to render all of the many other permutations null and void.

“I’m very sad, very, very sad,” said Abou Ali. “I feel like we should have scored maybe five, six goals in the end, the opportunity was there to at least win the game and score some goals.”

Both teams came into the match played in suffocating heat at Metlife Stadium without a goal from open play in the tournament but they made up for it in a sometimes frenetic contest.

Al Ahly took the early initiative and got their reward when Abou Ali gave them the lead in the 15th minute with a cool finish into the far corner of the net

Lively 18-year-old Mora equalised eight minutes later after skipping through the Al Ahly defence and past goalkeeper Mohamed El-Shenawy before clipping the ball into the net.

Egypt midfielder Zizo was brought down in the box by Fabio Vieira running onto an Abou Ali cutback in stoppage time at the end of the first, and the Palestinian sent Claudio Ramos the wrong way from the spot to put Al Ahly 2-1 up at the break.

Three goals in three minutes soon after the break had the scores back level at 3-3 in the 53rd minute, Gomes starting it all off by curling a beautiful shot into the top right-hand corner of the net.

Abou Ali then completed his hat-trick with a powerful header from a corner but Aghehowa responded in kind almost immediately down the other end.

FC Porto’s Samu Aghehowa reacts after the match REUTERS/Susana Vera

Ben Romdhane put Al Ahly back in front with a lovely strike from the edge of the box in the 64th minute and the Egyptian side poured forward looking to boost their goal difference in case the result in Miami went their way.

Al Ahly missed a host of gilt-edged chances, however, and Pepe ensured the honours would be shared when he drilled a shot from the edge of the box past Al Ahly captain El-Shenawy a minute from time.

“I think the game in the second half was not a normal football game anymore,” said Al Ahly coach Jose Riveiro.

“A good show for the fans, I guess, a lot of goals. Not the result, obviously, that we were looking for, because we wanted to go through.”

-Reuters

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Lionel Messi will lead a quartet of former Barcelona players into a meeting with their former coach Luis Enrique when Inter Miami face European champions Paris St Germain in the last 16 of the Club World Cup in Atlanta on Sunday.

Messi, Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets and Luis Suarez all played under Luis Enrique in Spain, and were in the side who knocked PSG out of the Champions League last 16 in the 2016-17 season.

Miami qualified for the last 16 of the Club World Cup as Group A runners-up with a 2-2 draw against Palmeiras on Monday.

WHY IT’S IMPORTANT

PSG have certainly moved on from their traumatic Champions League exit in 2017, when they won the first leg in Paris 4-0 but were thrashed 6-1 in the return match in Barcelona.

The French side claimed their first Champions League title this season in a campaign masterminded by Luis Enrique, but Messi and Co. will be eager to cause another upset.

Suarez showed that at 38-year-old he still has the game to score on the big stage, notching Miami’s second in their draw with Palmeiras.

KEY QUOTES

Miami coach Javier Mascherano: “They are probably better than us, but in football you never know. Maybe Sunday will be our day.”

Miami forward and Man of the Match Luis Suarez: “If we make these mistakes against PSG we will pay a heavy price. Obviously, in this kind of tournament there is always going to be a favourite, that’s just a fact. We’ll be facing the European champions and we will have to try and take our chances.

“Luis Enrique has seen many players and he influenced me a lot. I already had a competitive DNA but he made me even more competitive.”

-Reuters

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Palmeiras rallied from two goals down to snatch a 2-2 draw against Inter Miami and qualify top of Group A for the Club World Cup last 16 on Monday, a result that sent both teams through to the knockout phase.

Goals from Tadeo Allende and Luis Suarez gave Miami a two-goal lead before Paulinho and Mauricio scored in the last 10 minutes to get Palmeiras back on level terms.

Both teams finished on five points with Inter Miami second on goal difference, while Al-Ahly and Porto were both eliminated after drawing 4-4.

Lionel Messi’s side will take on European champions Paris St Germain, where the Argentine spent two seasons from 2021-23, while Palmeiras face fierce rivals Botafogo in an all-Brazilian clash for a place in the quarter-finals.

“It was a great game from us, it’s difficult to play against one of the best teams in South America,” said Inter Miami coach Javier Mascherano, who described it as a “historic night” for Major League Soccer.

“Maybe at the end we had the game in our hands so the feeling is strange but before the start of the tournament if someone told me we were going to have this kind of performance against these kind of teams I would have signed it.”

Inter Miami are the only team from MLS to reach the last 16 after both Los Angeles FC and the Seattle Sounders were eliminated.

With the crowd heavily favouring Palmeiras and creating an atmosphere that made it seem like an away game for hosts Miami, the Brazilian side started with intensity, pressing high up the pitch but despite their energy the final ball lacked precision.

Miami struck in the 16th minute when Allende surged past a static Palmeiras defence and coolly slotted home after a 40-metre run.

Allende came close again early in the second half, flashing a shot narrowly wide after another quick counterattack, before Messi brought fans to their feet with a dipping volley from distance that sailed just over.

Suarez, quiet for much of the game, made no mistake in the 65th minute as he cut onto his left foot and fired into the top corner from a tight angle to make it 2-0.

Palmeiras pulled one back 10 minutes from time through substitute Paulinho, who guided a low finish into the corner.

Seven minutes later Mauricio picked up a loose clearance and fired home from the penalty spot to make sure Palmeiras would keep top spot in the group.

-Reuters

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