Three wins out of three for Cassell’s youngsters puts Manchester City into the semi-finals of one of the worlds most prestigious youth tournaments, the Dallas Cup.
Prolific City strikers Robbie Mak and Alex Nimely-Tchineni each claimed a brace during the second half to win the match after coming under real pressure from Toronto FC before the break.
The young blues stars will now a ‘wildcard’ opposition, possibly Sao Paulo who finished just below Eintracht Frankfurt on goal difference after a 1-1 draw.
City keeper Joe Clegg kept the blues in the tie with a string of fine saves in the first half as Toronto piled the pressure. The City defence held firm until the half-time whistle with the score at 0-0.
Youth team captain Keiran Trippier put in another resounding performance, but it was Robbie Mak and Alex Nimely-Tchineni who grabbed the headlines after their spectacular goal scoring exploits during the second-half.
Mak scored City’s first, cutting down the right before neatly finishing into the bottom corner past the hapless Toronto keeper. The Slovakian then went on to create the second as he tore through the central defenders leaving Nimely-Tchineni with an easy finish which he clinically slotted home.
After an outstanding contribution, Mak could be forgiven for drifting out of the game. This was not the case as he continued to cause havok in the Toronto defence. Once again the Slovakian smashed through the back line to curl a wonderful effort into the back of the net.
Not to be out-done, Nimely-Tchineni added another to his tally by scoring City’s fourth, rounding off an impressive second-half showing from the young blues side. Manchester City 4-0 Toronto FC.
City top the Dallas Cup Supergroup Bracket A with 11 goals and 9 points from their three matches. Elsewhere, a hard earned draw with Sao Paulo meant that Eintracht Frankfurt would reach the second semi-final on Friday, as they topped Bracket B with 12 goals and 7 points. Eintracht Frankfurt will play either Vancouver Whitecaps or Andromeda.
Manchester City Squad: Abdi Ibrahim, James Poole, Jeremy Helan, Andrew Mitchell, John Guidetti, Joe Clegg, Tobias Johansen, Reece Wabara, Andrew Tutte, Robbie Mak, Alex Nimely-Tchineni, Greg Cunningham, Chris Chantler, Ahmad Benali, Jack Redshaw, Sean Tse, Dedryk Boyata, Omar Elabdellaoui.
Group Standings:
| Bracket A | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
| Manchester City | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 2 | 9 | 9 |
| Toronto FC | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | -1 | 4 |
| Tigres | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | -1 | 1 |
| AC Milan | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 7 | -7 | 0 |
For full group standings, visit: www.dallascup.com
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