The story of the first matchday of the Club World Cup was that no South American team lost

The story of the first matchday of the Club World Cup was that no South American team lost, while the UEFA teams seemed to have more trouble winning than expected, so there’s particular interest in Friday’s outcome between Flamengo and Chelsea.

In Atlanta, Maresca’s Chelsea managed to win in their debut against an MLS team, beating Los Angeles FC 2-0 with goals from Neto and Enzo Fernandez. The truth is that the London club prevailed mainly due to individuality, a great performance by Portuguese player Neto, and their ability to maintain possession along with their advantage. However, it was a somewhat weak match for Chelsea’s defense, as the MLS team had several counterattack opportunities to score but squandered them.

That same day, Flamengo had a festive debut against Esperance Tunis, a team from Tunisia. The Brazilian team won 2-0, much more comfortably than Chelsea’s.

The Brazilian teams in the Club World Cup—Flamengo, Fluminense, Botafogo, and Palmeiras—managed to concede just one goal between them and keep three clean sheets, each in their debut. This speaks to the discipline of CONMEBOL teams when it comes to defense.

Chelsea team news

Liam Delap will be hoping to have done enough to start this evening after making an impressing off the bench against LAFC. The summer signing crossed for fellow substitute Fernandez to steer in the second of the game. Both will hope to be in the starting side this time around.

Chelsea remain without Wesley Fofana who is recovering from a hamstring injury, while Mykhailo Mudryk remains suspended. The Ukraine winger is facing a potential four-year ban for a doping offence.

Raheem Sterling, Djordje Petrovic, Axel Disasi, and Joao Felix are all not with the squad as the quartet seek transfers away.

Chelsea predicted lineup

Chelsea predicted XI: Sanchez; James, Adarabioyo, Colwill, Cucurella; Fernandez, Caicedo; Neto, Palmer, Madueke; Delap.