Sanfrecce eased past Auckland City in their Club World Cup opener on Thursday, beating their rivals 2-0 to progress to the quarter-finals.

Goals in either half from Yusuke Minagawa and Tsukasa Shiotani respectively ensured a straightforward win for the newly-crowned Japanese champions over the Oceania Champions League winners.

The former pounced on a rebound to put his side into the lead as early as the ninth minute, before Shiotani then finished off a perfect counter-attack as Auckland attempted to bring themselves back into the game.

TP Mazembe are the team standing in between Hajime Moriyasu’s men and a potential showdown against European Treble winners Barcelona in the semi-finals.