Flamengo produced a brilliant fighter in the second half to beat Chelsea 3-1 at the club World Cup on Friday while the Brazilian giants became the first team to qualify for the last 16 at the lucrative of the new FIFA tournament.
Pedro Neto had given Chelsea the head in the first half, but Flamengo, roaring by their frantic supporters who invented the majority of the crowd of the 54,019 in Philadelphia, did not deserve to be behind and retaliated in the second period.
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Bruno Henrique came out of the bench in the 56th minute and equalized just after the brand before setting up the former Real Madrid, Manchester City and the defender of Juventus Danilo to do so 2-1.
Chelsea was amazed and their hopes to shoot again were actually destroyed when the replacement Nicolas Jackson was sent in the 68th minute for a dangerous tackle on Ayrton Lucas.
Wallace Yan, also as a substitute, then sealed the victory of the Rio de Janeiro Club, the leaders of the Brazilian league, when he was 3-1 late.
“It was a special day for me and our club,” said Flamengo Filipe Luis coach, a former Chelsea player.
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“We knew we would have a chance against Chelsea, because we have a way to play and they know how to follow this path.
“I’m really satisfied with the game, but it’s just a victory. Now we have to think about the next game and try to go through this group phase, because it’s not easy.”
Flamengo won the two games in group D and their place in the KO phase was later confirmed when Esperance of Tunisia beat Los Angeles FC 1-0 in Nashville.
Youcef Belaili scored the only goal of the match in the 70th minute in front of a sparse crowd which included Nicole Kidman.
The LAFC was last-minute qualifications after defeating Club America, Mexico, in a play-off following the decision to ban Leon for violating multi-club property rules. The major league team can no longer progress more.
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– Another weather time –
Chelsea and Esperance each have three points of two games and their meeting in Philadelphia next Tuesday will decide which team will join Flamengo by advancing.
“We expected a difficult match because Flamengo is a very good team, with good players and a good manager,” said Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca.
“They play very well, and in Brazil, they are at the top of the league, undefeated for many games, so it was not a surprise for us.”
Flamengo’s victory followed Botafogo’s success against the European Champions of Paris Saint-Germain on Thursday, extending the undefeated record for South American clubs during the competition at nine games.
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However, a difficult test awaits another South American representative, while Boca juniors face Bayern Munich in Miami in group C.
Bayern, which hammered Auckland City 10-0 from New Zealand in its opening match, can win the qualification for the last 16 by beating the Argentines.
Earlier, Benfica crushed Auckland 6-0 in Orlando to stimulate his own hopes to progress and eliminate the Oceanie representative in the tournament.
The two penalties of Angel Di Maria reserved the victory of the Portuguese team, with Leandro Barreiro marking a splint while Vangelis Pavlidis and Renato Sanches obtained their other objectives.
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The match has been the fourth of the last four days to be affected by a weather delay.
With Benfica leading by a half-time goal, the match was interrupted due to a storm, finally resuming two hours later.
“This is the longest match in my career, a special thank you to our fans, who have been supporting the team for five hours,” said Benfica coach Bruno Lage.
“We have played as well as possible. The temperature has made things very difficult.”
AS / SEV
