Philadelphia, June 27 -- New Real Madrid coach Xabi Alonso was happy with his side's performance on Thursday night as a 3-0 win over RB Salzburg took his side into the last 16 of the Club World Cup.

Alonso's team looked more cohesive in an evening kick-off and cooler temperatures, and he also commented the pitch in Philadelphia had been better than in previous matches.

On Thursday, the coach used a defensive system with three central defenders that brought him success in his previous job at Bayer Leverkusen.

"It's always been something I have been thinking about," admitted Alonso in his post-game press conference.

"The players have football intelligence to understand why we use that system and it gave us a lot of stability and cont...