Auckland City vs Boca Juniors Prediction: Merentiel fancied to cause havoc

There’s plenty to play for at the Club World Cup this week, but not for Auckland City. Their final group match comes tonight against Boca Juniors (20:00, DAZN) in Nashville as their brutal experience of facing some of the best teams in the world comes to an end. 

Boca Juniors are relying on Bayern Munich to beat Benfica to give them a chance of making it to the knockout stages - and then it could all come down to goal difference given the Argentines drew with Benfica in their opening game. Below you can find my Auckland City vs Boca Juniors predictions featuring team news and more. 

Team News

Paul Posa will have to choose between Conor Tracey and Nathan Garrow in goal, with the latter likely to get the nod as he made 10 saves against Benfica, while Tracey conceded 10 goals against Bayern. 

Myer Bevan will be given the unfavourable task of leading the line again in this 5-4-1 formation, while Dylan Manickum, who was named player of the tournament in the 2025 OFC Champions League and plays futsal for his country, will play in midfield.

Today's Football Fixtures

Meanwhile, Miguel Angel Russo will be able to welcome back key forward Edinson Cavani to the squad, as he has recovered from an injury, but we can expect the former PSG striker to start on the bench given his lack of recent action. It’s not all good news for the Boca boss however, as both Nicolas Gial and Ander Herrera were both handed four-match bans following their red cards v Benfica, essentially ending their participation in this Club World Cup. 

Herrera’s former Manchester United teammate Marcos Rojo is also unlikely to feature as he missed training with a reoccurring issue. Fellow defender Ayrton Costa is also out with a muscle problem, so options are limited in defence, with Marco Pellegrino an option to play at the heart of the Boca back line. Miguel Merentiel is likely to lead the attack after a couple of impressive performances so far. 

Auckland City vs Boca Juniors Odds

Auckland City are unsurprisingly the rank outsiders for this clash, priced at 90/1 to take the win, while a draw can be backed at 66/1 - proving the size of the task at hand. Boca Juniors are just 1/500 to take all three points while over 3.5 goals is just 1/6.

BTTS is 3/1 if you think the New Zealanders can score their first goal of the tournament, while in terms of goalscorers, Merentiel is the favourite to score first at 12/5. 

Price Boost - Miguel Merentiel to score first @ 3/1

The absence of Cavani has opened the door for Merentiel to become Boca’s key man, and I’ve been impressed with his performances so far. He found the net against Bayern Munich with a sensational solo run in which he went past two defenders before sticking the ball past Manuel Neuer. 

It was a terrific finish and a sign of how much ability he has - so I’m more than happy to back him to score first here, given that he is the most likely Boca goalscorer. Obviously there is little chance of Auckland opening the scoring which makes things easier for us, but also shortens the odds of the Boca boys. However, Betfred have done a Price Boost for Merentiel to find the net first, boosting his odds from 5/2 to 3/1. 

Football Odds

Price Boost - Boca Juniors 3+ first half goals, 3+ second half goals and Miguel Merentiel to score 2+ @ 11/4

We’ve got to go big in order to try and find some value given the chasm in quality between Boca Juniors and their part-time opponents, so once again we are backing a Price Boost. Boca are likely to win big given Auckland have lost 10-0 and 6-0 so far, especially considering the fact that goal difference will be the deciding factor if Bayern beat Benfica. 

Let’s back them to score three goals in the first half and three goals in the second half, which I don’t think is too unlikely given their quality. If the side from Buenos Aires do score six goals, it feels likely that their main man Merentiel will score at least two of them. A couple of backable Price Boosts for this one-sided encounter.