The Premier League season may have only finished last month, but there was a sense of a new era at Man City, especially as Pep Guardiola opted to hand debuts to recent additions to Tijjani Reijnders and Rayan Cherki.
Foden also took advantage of the chance to make a fresh start, putting his underwhelming season behind him to open the scoring inside the first two minutes.
The England international pounced on a rebound from El Mehdi Benabid’s parry to score his first City goal since January.
To Wydad’s credit, they produced a positive response to the early opener and went agonisingly close to restoring parity just past the half-hour mark.
Thembinkosi Lorch benefited from a Vitor Reis error to race through on goal, before a slip forced him to lay the ball off to Cassius Mailula, who was unable to find a way past the resolute Ederson.
Unfortunately for the Moroccan side, their building momentum was quashed when Jeremy Doku steered the ball home from Foden’s deep corner to double City’s advantage in the closing stages of the first period.
After ending his five-month wait for a club goal, Doku had the opportunity to grab another when he stole possession less than 10 minutes after the restart, but was unable to curl his right-foot shot past the outstretched Benabid.
That proved to be Doku’s last meaningful action before he was withdrawn as part of a triple change that saw Oscar Bobb, Rodri, and Erling Haaland enter the fray. The latter threatened to open his account at the tournament when he fizzed a fierce strike over the crossbar, as Guardiola’s charges continued to search for the insurance of a third goal.
City’s successful outing was soured when Rico Lewis was shown a straight red card for what was deemed a dangerous follow-through on Samuel Obeng.
Despite the late dismissal, the Premier League side stood firm to maintain their 100% record of not conceding in their Club World Cup history (W3).
Flashscore Man of the Match: Phil Foden (Manchester City)
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