Chelsea advance to Club World Cup semifinal, eliminating Palmeiras after late own-goal by Brazilian side

PHILADELPHIA — Chelsea sealed their place in the Club World Cup semifinals in dramatic fashion via an own goal from Palmeiras in a 2-1 victory in front of 65,782 at Lincoln Financial Field on Friday. Playing in temperatures more akin to what they’re used to, after the searing heat of earlier in the tournament, a shot by Malo Gusto squirted past the Brazilian keeper to restore Chelsea’s lead, ultimately being credited as an own-goal to Palmeiras defender Agustín Giay. The result pushes the Blues to a match where they’ll face off against Fluminense next week.

The Blues thought they had the game in control when Cole Palmer netted his first goal of the tournament only 16 minutes in. Beating his defender before slotting it home, it was closer to the version of Palmer that started the season on a hot streak before cooling off near the end of the Premier League season. With Palmer’s importance to Enzo Maresca’s setup, that goal bodes well, as he’s someone who needs to be firing on all cylinders in Chelsea’s return to Champions League play in this coming season.

They were given a taste of what’s to come at Chelsea when Palmeiras leveled the match almost right out of the gate in the second half. Scoring from an acute angle, Estevao showed why Chelsea have already signed him to join following this tournament, while Colombian midfielder Richard Rios also displayed why he’s on the radar of some of Europe’s biggest sides. After it was all Chelsea in the first half of play, the Brazilian side adjusted and turned it back into a game, feeding off of their supporters who grew in noise each minute that the game remained within reach. 

Chelsea regained their advantage by making adjustments, bringing on Noni Madueke and their newest signing, Joao Pedro, for Liam Delap and Christopher Nkunku. Playing on the wing, Nkunku was unable to get involved in the attack. Only taking one touch in the box, Nkunku was marked out of the match along with Delap, but bringing in Madueke was too much for the Brazilian side to handle.

The Englishman may have played most of last season on the right wing, but immediately after coming into the match on the left hand side, he was on a mission drawing corners, free kicks and more as Chelsea accomplished their mission despite pressure being thrown at them all night in a pro-Palmeiras crowd. Even on what was an emotional night with Pedro Neto being introduced wearing a shirt honoring his former teammate Diogo Jota and Jota’s brother Andre Silva, who died in a car accident on Thursday, the Blues kept their cool. Everyone was prepared to execute their roles in Maresca’s system, even 21-year-old Andry Santos who got the start in midfield.

After spending last season on loan at Strasbourg, the young Brazilian is someone who will get a chance to earn their place in the first-team squad under Maresca, and performing in games like this one when given a chance will show that he can play a role in the Champions League. How this squad will shake out is anyone’s guess since it’s too big for them to take into UCL play while rotating, but that’s why tournaments like this are important. All the players can do is show Maresca that they deserve to be in the squad and some like Madueke did that on Friday. For others, there’s still more work to do but they’ll be given at least 90 more minutes to do it before the holidays begin.

The Blues will face yet another Brazilian side in the semifinals after Fluminense’s victory over Al-Hilal and it’s one that will bring a reunion. Fluminense are captained by former Chelsea defender Thiago Silva, who has helped keep things organized for them. Facing their future on Friday before squaring off with their past in this tournament is quite a run for the Blues.

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