Club World Cup Round of 16 Preview: Benfica vs. Chelsea | OneFootball

Benfica vs. Chelsea

Saturday June 28 @ 4:00pm ET

Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, NC

(Editor’s Warning: Brazenly biased article ahead).

No vinho will be imbibed in the Striker household this afternoon; today we are 100% lager to support our glorious boys in blue!

Recent History

FACT: Benfica have never beaten Chelsea in a competitive match. They are zero for three; soon to be zero for four.

How They Qualified

Benfica finished top of Group C with seven points. They came back from a 2 – 0 deficit against Boca Juniors to claim a point, delivered the obligatory beatdown of Auckland and put up a gritty display against Bayern in hellish conditions, emerging on top by 1 goal to nil. Their shot accuracy (47.3%) is in the top quarter of qualifiers; all their other statistics are completely average.

As Águias are among the youngest teams in the tournament (avg. age of 23.4) but have age and experience resting on the worn shoulders of Ángel DiMaría (this is reputedly his last tournament before announcing his retirement) and Nicolás Otamendi. Both were instrumental in the Boca and Bayern games (5 contributions between them), and Chelsea will need to neutralize their impact. Orkun Kökçü has been a crafty architect.

Chelsea finished second in Group D. They had a pedestrian 2 – 0 victory over LAFC and a convincing 3 – 1 win over Espérance. We won’t talk about that embarrassing display against Flamengo, but at least Nicholas Jackson won’t be around today to muck things up (he’s serving his second game ban for a straight red). Chelsea have a high possession (63.3%), but shot accuracy (37.7%) and goal conversion (35.3%) are median.

Putting aside the Flamengo fiasco, Chelsea have been playing some solid soccer. Their attack has been led by Enzo Fernández (1g/2a), Pedro Neto (2g) and newly signed Liam Delap (1g/1a).

Expected Conditions

It’ll be hot hot hot in Charlotte. Shouldn’t be as bad as Benfica’s last game against Bayern, but kickoff will see temperatures of 32C/90F and stifling humidity. Let’s keep fingers crossed that no thunderstorms interrupt the game. Current forecasts have them manifesting in the late afternoon.

The Hooligan Take

Chelsea will turn up for this one. 2 – 1 in regular time.