Borussia Dortmund secured first place in Group F and a spot in the FIFA Club World Cup knockout stages with a tight 1-0 victory over Ulsan HD. The result also meant Ulsan suffered their fourth straight defeat in all competitions, something that hasn’t happened since 2018.
Niko Kovač’s team knew that avoiding defeat would be enough to go through, and they dominated possession under the hot Cincinnati sun. Despite that, Ulsan goalkeeper Jo Hyeon-woo looked solid early on and made a brilliant one-handed save to deny Serhou Guirassy. Soon after, Jobe Bellingham had a good chance but volleyed over the bar.
Bellingham continued to be involved, seeing one shot blocked and another go wide. The breakthrough finally came in the 36th minute when Bellingham set up Daniel Svensson, who took a touch and finished well past Jo. It was a deserved lead for Dortmund, and Jo had to make another top save to stop Pascal Groß from doubling the score. Just before half-time, he also kept out a Guirassy header with another great stop.
Ulsan had their first real chance just after the break, with Kang Sang-woo forcing Dortmund keeper Gregor Kobel into an easy save. Dortmund missed another chance when Ramy Bensebaini headed over from Svensson’s cross, and Ulsan began to look more dangerous. Kobel was tested again by Lee Jin-hyun from a tight angle.
Dortmund tried to finish the game off late on, but Jo was once again in top form, this time saving from Yan Couto. Despite the defeat, Jo’s performance stood out as one of the best individual displays of the tournament.
In the end, it was Dortmund who took all three points and now look ahead to a knockout match against the runners-up from Group E in Atlanta next Tuesday.
