Empty seats as Chelsea win CWC opener
Enzo Fernandez (C) celebrates after scoring Chelsea's second goal against Los Angeles FC in Atlanta. Photo: AFP
Chelsea began their Club World Cup campaign with a 2-0 victory against Los Angeles FC in a largely empty stadium on Monday as Brazilian giants Flamengo also got off to a winning start and a Benfica comeback denied Boca Juniors in a stormy encounter.
As the inaugural 32-team tournament gradually kicks into gear in the United States, Chelsea followed fellow European heavyweights Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich by claiming three points in their first group outing.
Yet while UEFA Champions League winners PSG were ominous against Atletico Madrid on Sunday, and Bayern put 10 past Auckland City, the Premier League team were more solid than spectacular against LAFC in Atlanta.
Pedro Neto and Enzo Fernandez got the goals for Enzo Maresca's side in the Group D match before nearly 50,000 empty seats at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium — not a great look for the tournament organisers.
New signing Liam Delap made his debut as a substitute and helped set up Fernandez's strike, with Chelsea hoping to reestablish themselves among the elite after their recent UEFA Conference League triumph and Champions League qualification.
Maresca said it was a "very good result" and was happy with Delap's display following his recent arrival from Ipswich Town.
"The good thing about Liam is he knows the way we want to play, so the process is quite quick," said the Italian.
"The environment was a bit strange, the stadium was almost empty, not full," added Maresca when asked about the crowd, as just over 22,000 attended the 71,000-capacity venue for a game played at 3:00 pm local time on a Monday.
LAFC were late qualifiers for the tournament, beating Club America in a play-off last month to replace banned Mexican side Club Leon.
Chelsea went ahead just after the half-hour mark when Nicolas Jackson released Neto and the Portuguese winger turned inside LA defender Ryan Hollingshead before beating goalkeeper Hugo Lloris with a powerful strike.
Former Chelsea striker Olivier Giroud came on at half time for the Americans and Steve Cherundolo's team improved in the second half.
However, Delap entered the fray for Chelsea and made the killer second goal, crossing for the arriving Fernandez to control and finish.
Dominant Flamengo
Chelsea's next game will be against Flamengo, who began their campaign by easing to a 2-0 win against Esperance of Tunisia in Philadelphia. Uruguayan international Giorgian de Arrascaeta gave the Brazilian giants a 17th-minute lead from an assist by Luiz Araujo, who made it 2-0 with 20 minutes remaining.
It was a dominant display from Flamengo, who fielded a strong side featuring several Brazil internationals and gave a debut to Italy midfielder Jorginho following his arrival from Arsenal.
Jorginho will face former club Chelsea when the teams meet in their second match on Friday. Flamengo coach Filipe Luis is also an ex-player at Stamford Bridge.
There were vast sections of empty seats at Lincoln Financial Field too, with just 25,797 fans in a stadium that can hold close to 70,000.
Stormy
In contrast, there was close to a full house, and a raucous atmosphere, in Miami as Boca and Benfica played out an entertaining 2-2 draw in Group C.
The majority of the crowd was backing Boca and the Argentines roared into a two-goal lead, Miguel Merentiel and Rodrigo Battaglia both scoring in the first half.
Two-time European champions Benfica were given a lifeline in first-half stoppage time when Boca's Carlos Palacios mistimed a challenge on Nicolas Otamendi and after a VAR review — which included a red card for protesting from the already substituted Boca midfield Ander Herrera — a penalty was awarded.
Veteran Angel di Maria converted from the spot to make it 2-1, but Benfica then had Andrea Belotti sent off in the 71st minute after a wild, high-footed kick into the head of Ayrton Costa.
But with six minutes remaining the Portuguese side equalised as Otamendi headed in to make it 2-2.
A disappointing result for Boca was compounded by a late red card for Nicolas Figal, who was dismissed for an ugly challenge on Florentino Luis.
"We're left with a bitter taste because we thought we could have won it," said Boca's Battaglia.
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