Chelsea beat Benfica in comical Club World Cup game

Yahoo

4 hours ago

Chelsea beat Benfica 4-1 after extra time in the Round of 16 of the Club World Cup but despite the high stakes, the game was overshadowed by events off the field.
It has been a familiar story in this competition. Fan attendances have been disappointingly low for FIFA. But they would have been hoping that knockout games, especially ones involving huge global teams such as Chelsea, may have changed the tune.
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The Bank of America stadium holds 74,867 fans, but the official attendance was less than a third of that.
And the major event of the game, that occurred in the 85th minute, was a stoppage due to weather conditions that lasted 106 minutes.
Yes that's correct. The stoppage lasted longer than the game itself.
Chelsea were minutes away from a 1-0 win at that point, and what happened when play resumed was unimaginable.
Events on the field got off to a quick start, despite the 32 degree temperature. Chelsea controlled early possession, and had a brilliant chance to open the scoring in the 19th minute via the ever-dangerous Marc Cucurella, but he saw his curled effort headed off the line by Antonio Silva, who was brilliant throughout.
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The Spaniard then came close again in the 38th minute. It's an interesting position for Enzo Maresca, on one hand he must be delighted with how threatening the full-back is, but on the other it must be slightly concerning that he genuinely seems one of the most likely players to score for Chelsea.
He draws comparison to former Blues player Marcos Alonso, also a marauding Spanish full-back who was a constant threat for Chelsea over the years.
The second period was largely stale, and after Chelsea failed to capitalise on their first half dominance and numerous chances, they struggled after the break.
But the three minutes between the 61st-64th had a huge impact on the game, and possibly Chelsea's next….
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Caicedo was booked, meaning he will miss the quarter-final, and just moments later Reece James broke the deadlock via a very intelligent free-kick.
25-yards out, hugging the left touch-line, it seemed a nothing opportunity for a standard cross into the box, but James had other plans. He took it quickly and shot powerfully, catching Anatoliy Trubin completely unaware.
The old adage goes that you are most vulnerable straight after scoring, and that proved true as moments later Vangelis Pavlidis went clean through and was almost one-on-one with Rob Sanchez, but for some great defending from Benoit Badiashile.
Then the weather warning suspended play in the 85th minute. And we had to wait just under two hours for proceedings to resume….
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Despite many thinking it would just be an obligatory five minutes of football that had to be finished off, it became much more than that. Malo Gusto gave away a penalty for handball, which Angel Di Maria, who had been completely anonymous to that point, dispatched cooly.
Extra-time began, and within two minutes Gianluca Prestianni, who only came on for Benica in the 70th minute, was sent off for a second yellow.
By now this game felt farcical, and, frankly, never-ending. It felt as though players and fans alike just wanted to see a conclusion.
And a conclusion came shortly, when in the second period of extra time, Caicedo shot across goal, the keeper spilled it, and Christopher Nkunku bundled in the rebound.
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The Frenchman had a very tough last season, and the emotion on his face was clear to see. Even Maresca ran onto the pitch to celebrate with the team, which he has never done before.
But the goals didn't stop there, as Pedro Neto and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall added one each to make the final score 4-1.
Chelsea will now play Palmeiras in Philadelphia on Saturday, and as was evident from the celebrations after Nkunku's goal, they clearly care about winning this competition.
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