Chelsea beats LAFC 2-0 of their opening match
ATLANTA — Pedro Neto scored within the first half and Enzo Fernández within the 79th minute to offer Chelsea a 2-0 win over Los Angeles FC in Group D’s Membership World Cup opener on Monday.
Chelsea put stress on LAFC goalkeeper Hugo Lloris early within the match. Neto scored within the thirty fourth minute, choosing up a cross from Nicolas Jackson and reducing onto his left foot for a near-post end.
There have been 22,137 followers in attendance on the 71,000-capacity Mercedes-Benz Stadium, a lot of them backing LAFC. The Black and Gold had constructive sparks of power and possession all through the primary half, however struggled to seek out any actual alternatives in entrance of objective.
LAFC nearly received one again simply earlier than the 60-minute mark, however Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sánchez got here up with a save to maintain Denis Bouanga off the scoresheet. The Black and Gold aimed to get some extra expertise onto the pitch on the half, bringing on former Chelsea man Olivier Giroud.
Coming in off the bench, Fernández made no mistake ending Liam Delap’s cross, including an insurance coverage objective for The Blues.
Key second
Chelsea’s day was made much more constructive by the debut of Delap, a promising 22-year-old English striker signed from Ipswich City.
Takeaways
Whereas Chelsea is the favourite to prime Group D, LAFC’s subsequent two matches turn into important to shifting on to the knock-out rounds. LAFC vs. Flamengo will show to be an entertaining sport, with the 2 sides probably battling it out for the group’s second spot.
“It is a excessive degree in opposition to a top quality workforce. In case you give them a second, they’re going to punish you. That they had two probabilities, and so they punished us.” — Marky Delgado, LAFC midfielder.
“We all know they have superb gamers and so they’re a extremely good workforce, however we have to play our soccer. Irrespective of who we’re taking part in, we play our soccer actually assured. … You have to decide your moments, and I believe we have executed that properly at the moment.” — Levi Colwill, Chelsea defender.