Club World Cup wrap: Santos make final, Monterrey clinch fifth

A trio of sublime goals fired Santos into 2011 Club World Cup final with a 3-1 victory over Kashiwa Reysol, while Monterrey also won.

Neymar, Borges and Danilo all netted spectacular efforts from outside the area, but the Brazilian Serie A side showed an alarming lack of urgency at times.

It was particularly evident at the back, where Santos’ often shoddy defending could have cost them much more than one goal

Neymar did the early damage with the first real strike of the game on 18 minutes. The teenage forward received the ball on the edge of the area from Ganso and released a wonderful curling shot to make it 1-0.

Just five minutes later, the advantage was doubled thanks to another inspired effort – this time from the Brazilian Serie A’s top-scorer Borges.

He found space where there seemed to be none and perfectly placed his effort past the stranded goalkeeper Takanori Sugeno.

The J.League champions were being overwhelmed by their opponents, until Wagner’s corner found the head of Hiroki Sakai.

He made the most of Santos’ slack marking to angle the ball past Rafael and keep Kashiwa in the game at Toyota Stadium.

But Santos responded yet again with another glorious strike, this time from Danilo. He atoned for an earlier miss with a stinging free kick from 30 yards to make it 3-1.

Earlier at at the same arena, Mexican side Monterrey snatched fifth place in the tournament with a come-from-behind 3-2 victory over Esperance.

The deadlock was broken in the 31st minute by Cameroon striker Yannick Ndjeng, who slammed the ball beyond Jonathan Orzoco to give Tunisian and African champions Esperance the lead.

Hiram Mier equalised three minutes later for Monterrey with a precise volley, before Aldo De Nigris extended their lead with an unmarked header.

Monterrey made it 3-1 two minutes into the second half through Jesus Zavala’s header, but Khaled Mouelhi’s 74th-minute penalty made for a nervy finish before the CONCACAF Champions League winners held on.