Chelsea stars need a rest as fit and firing Flamengo run them ragged at Club World Cup

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Evening Standard

·20 June 2025

Chelsea stars need a rest as fit and firing Flamengo run them ragged at Club World Cup

Mistakes in defence and another invisible display from talisman Cole Palmerru

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In six short minutes, Chelsea went from 1-0 up to 2-1 down and a man down. A collapse of gargantuan proportions.

Their Club World Cup campaign hit a major bump in their second game in Philadelphia, where the scorching heat proved more than a great equaliser, with Brazilian side Flamengo absolutely deserving of the damning 3-1 defeat they inflicted on Chelsea.

Enzo Maresca’s players looked rejuvenated after the end of the season and up for the cup in their tournament opener, the 2-0 win over Los Angeles FC. Against Flamengo, though, they looked lethargic and leggy and every bit a team who have been playing non-stop football for 11 straight months. The time to rest is not this month — not now.

This was one hard slog for Chelsea, and not only due to the temperature at Lincoln Financial Field. They gave up the lead and an element of control to prove masters of their own downfall — Nicolas Jackson enduring a 24th birthday to forget, sent off for a horrific high tackle on Lucas just four minutes after he had come on to replace the full-debutant Liam Delap.

Nicolas Jackson saw red and then was shown a red

REUTERS

Delap put himself about well, shrugging off defenders and running the line well. Yet he, like many Chelsea players, could be seen engaging in needless feisty exchanges with the Flamengo players as tempers flared up in the sauna-like atmosphere.

This was an afternoon when everything seemed to go wrong for Chelsea, epitomised by the manager’s decision to bring off key men Cole Palmer and Enzo Fernandez in favour of Noni Madueke and Marc Guiu just 31 seconds before Flamengo doubled their lead for 3-1.

Chelsea would have become the first team in the competition to reach the knockout stages if they had won against the side managed by ex-Blues full-back Felipe Luis. Instead, they now need at least a draw from their final game against ES Tunis on Wednesday morning and no longer have it in their hands to finish top of the group.

What went wrong? The lead was established early when a couple of lucky deflections allowed Pedro Neto — Chelsea’s best player on the day — to dart towards goal and finish coolly.

But it will be a concern to Maresca quite how open his defence were, as Giorgian de Arrascaeta and Gerson ran at them and linked up well. In the second half, the striker Gonzalo Plata became the main thorn in Chelsea’s side, running the line diligently and getting between centre-backs Trevoh Chalobah and Levi Colwill with ease.

AP

The out-of-position Colwill, erratic Malo Gusto and sluggish Reece James — in midfield on this occasion — all endured days to forget, with Gusto outjumped in the air in the lead-up to the opening goal from Bruno Henrique. Three minutes later, it was 2-1 when Danilo found the net. Jackson came on, promptly went off for his stupid tackle, and Chelsea’s day became even harder.

And when the spaces remained for Flamengo to flood forward into, Wallace Yan was the gleeful recipient, the 20-year-old benefitting from a lucky bounce to slam home for 3-1 and further punish sleeping Chelsea.

Neto found the net again and Delap could be pleased with his offering on his first start for his new club, but it was another difficult day for Cole Palmer, for whom things still just aren’t quite clicking — his body almost a split-second behind his brain in a way it wasn’t six months ago.

For Chelsea more broadly, there was just a basic lack of functionality about this whole performance. It throws their Club World Cup campaign into immediate jeopardy but, perhaps more importantly, is likely to alert Maresca to basic failings they cannot afford to bring with them into the new season.