Empty seats as Chelsea win opener at Membership World Cup, Benfica deny Boca

[ad_1] Chelsea started their Membership World Cup marketing campaign with a 2-0 victory in opposition to Los Angeles FC in a largely empty stadium on Monday as Brazilian giants Flamengo additionally obtained off to a profitable begin and a Benfica comeback denied Boca Juniors in a stormy encounter.

Because the inaugural 32-team match regularly kicks into gear in the US, Chelsea adopted fellow European heavyweights Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich by claiming three factors of their first group outing.

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But whereas UEFA Champions League winners PSG had been ominous in opposition to Atletico Madrid on Sunday, and Bayern put 10 previous Auckland Metropolis, the Premier League group had been extra stable than spectacular in opposition to LAFC in Atlanta.

Pedro Neto and Enzo Fernandez obtained the targets for Enzo Maresca's facet within the Group D match earlier than practically 50,000 empty seats on the Mercedes-Benz Stadium -- not an amazing search for the match organisers.

New signing Liam Delap made his debut instead and helped arrange Fernandez's strike, with Chelsea hoping to reestablish themselves among the many elite after their latest UEFA Convention League triumph and Champions League qualification.

Maresca stated it was a "excellent outcome" and was proud of Delap's show following his latest arrival from Ipswich City.

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"The advantage of Liam is he is aware of the best way we wish to play, so the method is sort of fast," stated the Italian.

"The atmosphere was a bit unusual, the stadium was virtually empty, not full," added Maresca when requested concerning the crowd, as simply over 22,000 attended the 71,000-capacity venue for a sport performed at 3:00 pm native time on a Monday.

LAFC had been late qualifiers for the match, beating Membership America in a play-off final month to switch banned Mexican facet Membership Leon.

Chelsea went forward simply after the half-hour mark when Nicolas Jackson launched Neto and the Portuguese winger turned inside LA defender Ryan Hollingshead earlier than beating goalkeeper Hugo Lloris with a robust strike.

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Former Chelsea striker Olivier Giroud got here on at half time for the Individuals and Steve Cherundolo's group improved within the second half.

Nonetheless, Delap entered the fray for Chelsea and made the killer second purpose, crossing for the coming Fernandez to regulate and end.

- Dominant Flamengo -

Chelsea's subsequent sport will probably be in opposition to Flamengo, who started their marketing campaign by easing to a 2-0 win in opposition to Esperance of Tunisia in Philadelphia.

Uruguayan worldwide Giorgian de Arrascaeta gave the Brazilian giants a Seventeenth-minute lead from an help by Luiz Araujo, who made it 2-0 with 20 minutes remaining.

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It was a dominant show from Flamengo, who fielded a robust facet that includes a number of Brazil internationals and gave a debut to Italy midfielder Jorginho following his arrival from Arsenal.

Jorginho will face former membership Chelsea when the groups meet of their second match on Friday. Flamengo coach Filipe Luis can be an ex-player at Stamford Bridge.

There have been huge sections of empty seats at Lincoln Monetary Discipline too, with simply 25,797 followers in a stadium that may maintain near 70,000.

- Stormy -

In distinction, there was near a full home, and a raucous ambiance, in Miami as Boca and Benfica performed out an entertaining 2-2 attract Group C.

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The vast majority of the gang was backing Boca and the Argentines roared right into a two-goal lead, Miguel Merentiel and Rodrigo Battaglia each scoring within the first half.

Two-time European champions Benfica got a lifeline in first-half stoppage time when Boca's Carlos Palacios mistimed a problem on Nicolas Otamendi and after a VAR assessment -- which included a crimson card for protesting from the already substituted Boca midfield Ander Herrera -- a penalty was awarded.

Veteran Angel di Maria transformed from the spot to make it 2-1, however Benfica then had Andrea Belotti despatched off within the 71st minute after a wild, high-footed kick into the top of Ayrton Costa.

However with six minutes remaining the Portuguese facet equalised as Otamendi headed in to make it 2-2.

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A disappointing outcome for Boca was compounded by a late crimson card for Nicolas Figal, who was dismissed for an unpleasant problem on Florentino Luis.

"We're left with a bitter style as a result of we thought we might have received it," stated Boca's Battaglia.

Tuesday's motion begins with Borussia Dortmund taking up Fluminense of Brazil in New York in Group F, whereas Inter Milan face Monterrey of Mexico in Pasadena in Group E.