JOBE BELLINGHAM SCORES ON FIRST START AS DORTMUND FIGHT BACK FOR WIN
Borussia Dortmund hit back from going behind to beat Mamelodi Sundowns 4-3 on Saturday and boost their Club World Cup last 16 hopes.
New signing Jobe Bellingham scored Dortmund's third on his first start, although the stadium was again far from full to greet him.
"I have only been stood on the sidelines and I'm sweating like I was in a sauna," Dortmund coach Niko Kovač told DAZN after the midday kick-off in the heat of Cincinnati.
"We didn't play our best game but it wasn't possible. We got back into it thanks to a keeper mistake. We move on. We gave away a couple of easy goals too. We won, the rest doesn't matter."
South African league top marksman Lucas Ribeiro had opened the scoring on 11 minutes when he ran though after a huge hole appeared in the Dortmund back line.
Amid the heat, Kovač's side again struggled to get going - like in the 0-0 draw with Brazilian side Fluminense in their opener.
They were then helped by an awful error by Sundowns keeper Ronwen Williams, who passed straight to Felix Nmecha who could not miss on 16 minutes.
The turnaround was complete when Dortmund's top scorer Serhou Guirassy headed in powerfully at the far post from Julian Brandt's cross.
Dortmund given late scare
Brandt also had a role in Bellingham's goal just before the break. Williams palmed out his ball into the box and the English 19-year-old, brother of former Dortmund star Jude, chested down stylishly and shot home.
The fourth was given as an own goal by Khuliso Mudau as he tried to cut out Daniel Svensson's cross. Iqraam Rayners scrambled home for the Pretoria-based side soon after on 62 minutes but Lebo Mothiba's goal for 4-3 came too late.
"Obviously the result is not what we wanted but we made a wonderful game," Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso said. "We made a couple of mistakes which turned the game around."
The Sundowns edged South Korea's Ulsan HD in their first Group F match and a win would have guaranteed a top-two finish.
Dortmund, runners-up in the 2024 Champions League, are now unbeaten in nine competitive matches having surged up to fourth in the Bundesliga.
The perennial South African champions, runners-up continentally earlier this month, went close early on when Gregor Kobel saved from ex-Dortmund youth player Tashreeq Matthews.
But after deservedly going ahead, they ran out of steam as Dortmund took advantage of lax defending to go 3-1 up.
The Sundowns improved after the break and created chances, but found themselves further behind before giving the Germans a scare late on.
Bellingham praised the Sundowns, saying: "They should be really proud of themselves.
"It was a really tough game but a really important win."