Auckland City have finished third at the Club World Cup after beating Cruz Azul in a penalty shootout this evening in Morocco.
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Fabrizio Tavano could have opened the scoring in the inside the first minute when he tried a long-range shot, but Jose Corona made the save.
At the end of a quiet first half, the Oceania champions broke the deadlock in injury time when Ryan de Vries burst forward, muscling his way past Alejandro Vela before firing the ball home.
The Mexican side made a bright start to the second half as they tried to get back into the match, and found an equaliser just before the hour mark when Joao Rojas headed in at the second time of asking, after his initial effort was blocked on the line.
Marco Fabian had a chance to put Cruz Azul ahead shortly after when Rojas picked him out with a through ball, but Jacob Spoonley made the save.
The CONCACAF champions continued to look the more likely in the final minutes, but Gerardo Flores and Ismael Valadez both had efforts blocked to force a shootout.
John Irving hit the bar with his spot kick to give Azul the advantage, but Mauro Formica also failed to find the target.
Valadez also missed later in the shootout, leaving Sanni Issa to seal the third-place finish for the New Zealanders.
Sian Cowper
