Chelsea win Club World Cup's most absurd game yet

CHARLOTTE -- A play that has felt similar it could spell connected everlastingly present has a lucifer which astir did. However overmuch Chelsea feared their Club World Cup run could crook into a agelong slog, thing could person prepared them for this: a crippled which finished 4 hours and 38 minutes aft it began.

Saturday's -- yes, conscionable checking it is inactive Saturday -- 4-1 triumph implicit Benfica acceptable up a quarterfinal against Palmeiras adjacent Friday aft Christopher Nkunku, Pedro Neto and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall each struck successful extra-time to settee 1 of the astir truncated matches successful history.

The Blues volition beryllium highly grateful they person six days to retrieve from this. In what felt similar a antithetic age, Reece James' 64th-minute escaped footwear appeared to person fixed Chelsea a hard-fought if mostly uninspiring triumph but, successful reality, the crippled had hardly started.

Slovenian referee Slavko Vincic stopped the lucifer with 4 minutes remaining for a terrible upwind informing which forced the players from the tract and the fans to the information of the concourse astatine the Bank of America stadium.

As a tempest rattled astir this portion of North Carolina, a projected clip to resume was pushed backmost connected respective occasions. Chelsea's players huddled wrong the locker room, galore connected bikes trying to tick over. A rainbow yet appeared. With the menace of different tempest strategy coming in, some teams agreed to a shortened warm-up to effort and compression successful the last play earlier the lightning returned.

In fact, determination was plentifulness much to come. Nicolás Otamendi headed astatine extremity and arsenic Malo Gusto jumped, the shot deed the backmost of his hand. He was facing the different way, the thought helium had immoderate intent to grip the shot was absurd but that does not substance successful this time and age: it was deemed to beryllium successful an unnatural presumption and Benfica had their lifeline.

When Ángel Di María stroked location the spot-kick to equalise successful the 5th infinitesimal of added time, it was astir 8 p.m. section clip and galore of the 25,929 assemblage had disappeared into the city.

They missed a rousing encore. Gianluca Prestianni was shown a 2nd yellowish paper 2 minutes into other clip and Chelsea made their numerical vantage count. Cole Palmer recovered Moisés Caicedo successful the box. His changeable was saved by Benfica goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin but the shot squirmed escaped and arsenic Otamendi tried to clear, Nkunku reacted quickest to wrapper his assemblage astir the shot and occurrence precocious into the net.

Benfica's contention was yet tally and they conceded doubly connected the counter-attack with Neto racing wide for his 3rd extremity successful 4 games earlier Dewsbury-Hall followed suit with a clever dinked finish.

Blues manager Enzo Maresca celebrated with a clump of supporters adjacent the dugout afterwards, but helium could not fell his outrage astatine being asked to implicit a crippled successful these conditions -- the sixth specified juncture astatine the Club World Cup wherever a lucifer has been stopped owed to atrocious weather.

"For 85 minutes we were successful power of the game," said Maresca. "We didn't concede nothing, we created chances capable to triumph the game. And past aft the break, the crippled changed completely. I deliberation for maine personally it's not football.

"It's already seven, eight, 9 games that they suspended. I deliberation it's a gag to beryllium honest, it's not football. It's not for us. I tin recognize that for information reasons, you are to suspend the game. But if you suspend seven, 8 games, that means that astir apt is not the close spot to bash this competition.

"Please, don't misunderstand me. I said it's a fantastic competition. It's a Club World Cup. It's top. We are blessed to beryllium successful the past eight. We are blessed to triumph each these benignant of things. But thing happens, six, 7 games suspended, astir apt the 1 that they decide, they request a reason, due to the fact that it's not mean to suspend a game."

This wasn't a large advert for the tourney successful general. The attendance was disappointingly low, the transportation produced an antithetic bounce of the shot and portion protagonist information is paramount, the logistics of asking 2 sets of players to hold astir 2 hours to play, theoretically, 4 minutes are bordering connected the absurd.

A clip bounds would surely request to beryllium introduced. Charlotte is not 1 of the 16 big cities for adjacent year's FIFA World Cup, but lone 5 of the stadiums person roofs.

This crippled perfectly encapsulated the elements players volition person to contend with fixed it had 2 cooling breaks and besides a two-hour interruption for a storm.

"As I said, the crippled was precise bully for 85 minutes," said Maresca. "Then we had an hr and a half, two-hour stop. Then it started wholly different. It's not the aforesaid game. It's not the aforesaid crippled due to the fact that you interruption the tempo.

"So 2 hours inside; radical talk with the household outside, if they were good, the security. People eating, radical laughing, radical talking connected the mobile. It's 2 hours. That's wherefore I said it's not football."

Maresca spoke arsenic Chelsea were rushing for their formation backmost to Miami, wherever they volition walk the week earlier flying to Philadelphia connected Thursday night. Caicedo volition beryllium suspended against Palmeiras and determination is plentifulness much to analyse successful among the controversy: Palmer playing disconnected the near with archetypal promise, the show of Caicedo, Romeo Lavia and Enzo Fernández starting successful midfield unneurotic for conscionable the 2nd time, whether Liam Delap has done capable to support retired Nicolas Jackson arsenic helium returns from suspension.

A play of calm volition travel this chaos and, my, however Chelsea request it.