The fourth match held at MetLife Stadium in seven days turned into one of the best games played so far in the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup. Fluminense FC overcame Ulsan HD FC, 4-2, to jump to the top of Group F in a back-and-forth game in front of an announced crowd of 29,321 in East Rutherford, NJ. The Brazilians were caught out at first, entering halftime down a goal to the South Koreans, but responded with three unanswered goals — including a scintillating game-winner from 25-year-old center-back Juan Pablo Freytes.
Fluminense is now tied with Borussia Dortmund atop Group F and can clinch a berth in the knockout round with a win or a draw against Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa on Wednesday. Ulsan, which plays Dortmund on Wednesday, isofficially eliminated from the competition with the loss.
That being said, the South Koreans earned their flowers on Saturday. Ulsan silenced the boisterous Fluminense fans and nearly escaped with a historic upset in a day filled with heartbreak for the underdogs in Group F. Over in Cincinnati, Dortmund and Sundowns played a thriller in which the Africans led early but fell, 4-3.
Fluminense FC: 26 shots, 8 shots on target, 62% possession, 667 passes, 92% pass accuracy, 14 fouls, 12 corners, 1 save
Ulsan HD FC: 9 shots, 3 shots on target, 28% possession, 296 passes, 81% pass accuracy, 4 fouls, 4 corners, 4 saves
Goals:
• Fluminense, John Arias, 27'
• Ulsan, Lee Jin-hyun, 37'
• Ulsan, Um Won-sang, 45+3'
• Fluminense, Nonato, 56'
• Fluminense, Juan Freytes, 83'
• Fluminense, Keno, 90+2'
Attendance: 29,321
Ulsan’s surprising first half
From kickoff, the ball didn't leave the Ulsan end as Fluminense controlled. The Brazilian side’s second corner kick in the second minute saw back-to-back chances by attacking midfielder Paulo Henrique Ganso saved by Ulsan keeper Jo Hyeon-woo. That earned a third corner kick in the first 120 seconds, which was finally cleared away.
Ulsan did not look as though it had any plan to get the ball out of their end. Fluminense was faster, moving the ball around the area, and peppering chances against Hyeon-woo with a goal seeming inevitable.
Following Ulsan’s foul on Jhon Arias 25 yards from goal, the Colombian bent a free kick just under the crossbar into the upright corner to give his team the 1-0 lead in the 27th minute.
Fluminense nearly doubled the lead three minutes later when Colombian midfielder Gabriel Fuentes struck from the corner of the box, forcing another great save by Hyeon-woo.
But the South Koreans finally started playing with their two biggest trump cards: Counter-attacks and forward Um Won-sang.
After stopping a Fluminense attack just outside the box in the 37th, Ulsan’s Darijan Bojanić sent the ball to the right side where Um Won-sang broke out on a long run. Passing a defender and getting into the box, he crossed the ball through danger including Fluminense’s diving keeper Fábio, where Lee Jin-hyun scored from a difficult angle on the left to tie the game.
The shock didn’t stop there as the Koreans did nearly the exact same thing again in first-half stoppage time. After a Fluminense corner kick resulted in another off-target shot, Ulsan advanced the ball to the left side of their attacking third. Lee Jin-hyun played a cross into the box, where Won-sang dove to ground and headed in the go-ahead goal in the 45 + 3rd minute of the match.
Ulsan had just two shots on target in the first half and scored both. The overwhelmingly pro-Fluminense crowd at MetLife stopped jumping and cheering for their team and instead whistled them off the pitch.
Fluminense roars back
Fluminense head coach Renato Gaúcho told the media after the match that what is said to the team at halftime can’t be shared. Whatever he told his squad, it worked.
"We lost our focus at the end of the first half and they made us pay," said Gaúcho. "We came back with a different attitude in the second half.”
But it took some time for Fluminense to assert itself. In the 56th minute, Ulsan’s Bojanic found Won-sang breaking past the backline. As Fluminense defender Juan Freytes closed in on him, Won-sang elected to send a shot that sailed wide left of the goal. It was Ulsan’s last best chance at goal and a 3-1 scoreline that could have completely changed the game.
Instead, it was Fluminense who began to control the pace of the game. They found the equalizer in the 66th minute: Five minutes after coming on, Nonato stopped an attempted clearance near the top of the penalty area then sent a calm, right-footed shot into the right side of the net to make it 2-2.
Fluminense nearly went ahead one minute later when Keno sent a diving header just wide of goal.
Ulsan’s hope for a win left the pitch when Won-sang departed the game after a 71st-minute collision with Fluminense keeper Fábio in the box. The attacker had to be helped to the locker room. After that, Ulsan tried to hold on for a draw but came up short.
Fluminense finally went ahead in the 83rd minute, when a chaotic corner allowed Juan Pablo Freytes to score from the middle of the box. The Brazilians added a stoppage-time insurance goal when Keno headed a cross into the back of the net in the 90 + 2nd minute.
"I think we gave it all," Ulsan midfielder Gustav Ludwigson said after the game. "Like, we left nothing on the field, so we cannot be anything other than satisfied with our performance. We played a very good team, so it's not only up to us. Sadly, we couldn't keep up in the second half."
About that attendance…
Officially, the attendance of 29,321 at MetLife on Saturday is the smallest game played in East Rutherford this tournament. That works out to just 36% of the total capacity of 82,500.
It’s a shame considering the thrilling game that was played this afternoon. Going into the match, you could be forgiven for not knowing anything about Ulsan’s players, and by the end of the game wishing Major League Soccer teams to sign them in the summer transfer window.
The fans who were in attendance ran the gambit of emotions. It started with the game kicking off to the loud and jumping Brazilians once again making themselves the focus behind the northwest goal. Then it fell to a painful silence at the start of the second half, when the referee’s whistle could be clearly heard as the Fluminense fans were dead quiet for the first few minutes.
It was a complete reversal of what we’ve seen from nonstop energy from South American fans attending the tournament’s games played in the Garden State. Had Won-sang actually scored that breakaway goal in the 56th minute, it’s hard to imagine how the crowd would have responded.
The small contingent of Ulsan fans on the opposite end couldn’t be heard from the press box. But you could see the traveling support turning from utter joy to complete heartbreak as they watched their team be eliminated from the tournament.
Long after the final whistle, many of the fans remained in place as they clapped and cheered Ulsan players who were running suicides and jogging to show their appreciation.
A game like this one deserved a better venue. The FIFA Club World Cup should have been played at Sports Illustrated Stadium down the road in Harrison, where the sold-out stands would have been rocking.
If games are to be played at stadiums as large as MetLife, more work needs to be done to bring in the casual soccer fan who might not know about either team. Not every match is going to feature headlining South American and European giants, and a game like this one needs to be included in ticket distribution or group packages that will get families into the stands where they will be entertained by the quality of the play.
• Fluminense, Keno, yellow card, celebration 90+4′
Officiating
• Referee: Michael Oliver
