Flamengo 3 Chelsea 1: Blues suffer farcical second half collapse as Nicolas Jackson is sent off for horror tackle
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World of pain Flamengo 3 Chelsea 1: Blues suffer farcical second half collapse as Nicolas Jackson is sent off for horror tackle
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ENZO MARESCA'S world was turned upside down in six mad minutes.
Chelsea were winning 1-0 and cruising into the knockout stages of the Club World Cup only to collapse with victory in sight.
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Flamengo humbled Chelsea in a 3-1 win at the Club World Cup
Credit: AP
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Nicolas Jackson left his team with a mounting to climb after a silly tackle resulting a red card
Credit: Getty
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Chelsea completely collapsed in the Philadelphia heat
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Chelsea could sink to third in their group depending on results later on
Credit: Reuters
Brazilians Flamengo scored twice and then Nicolas Jackson was sent off for a dreadful high tackle that left his team with a mountain to climb in searing afternoon heat.
Pedro Neto had put them ahead in the 14th minute with a classy solo goal and Chelsea looked set to go on and win the game and possibly the group to show their intent out here.
They should still go on to the next round but the manner of their undoing with less than half an hour to go and the reckless tackle by Jackson has tainted their previously flawless performances in the new expanded competition.
Jackson was sent off in the Premier League at Newcastle last month and still has one match to serve of his three domestic game ban.
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RAPID RED Nicolas Jackson sent off against Flamengo for horror tackle on his birthday
He will miss the first weekend of the new season in August.
Even more alarming, he had only been on the pitch for four minutes, having replaced new striker Liam Delap from the bench.
Chelsea looked to have the edge over their South American opponents with their drive and purpose on the pitch making the difference.
But they failed to push on from Neto's goal and paid the price through slack defending and Jackson's incredible rush of blood.
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Having narrowly avoided conceding just after the hour mark, as Flamengo missed a sitter when Gonzalo Plata was inches away from a cross across the face of goal, they let one in from exactly the same position in the 62nd minute.
A corner was headed back across goal by the same player and Bruno Henrique was on hand to prod the ball home from a yard out.
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Maresca then swapped his strikers two minutes later but the buoyant Brazilians then took the lead through former Manchester City midfielder Danilo.
And as Chelsea scrambled to get their heads together, things took an even worse turn as Jackson flew at Flamengo left back Ayrton Lucas.
He is lucky the player was not seriously hurt as his studs up challenged connected with the left back's shin on 68 minutes.
And with ten men Flamengo sealed a memorable victory through Wallace Yan to compound Chelsea's misery.
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Jackson is now facing an automatic one game ban but it could be upgraded once Fifa take a look at the evidence - and it doesn't look good.
At least it settles the issue of who plays up front in the decisive game against Club Tunis in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
The one bright spot for Chelsea is the performance of Neto who has sent a clear message to Maresca that he should rethink his plans to buy a new left winger this summer.
He scored his second goal of the tournament and is showing little signs of the fatigue and heat exhaustion that is hampering some of his peers out here in the hot US summer.
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Boss Maresca placed him in a fluid role, supporting main Delap up front but also drifting wide to his more familiar berth out on the left flank.
And it was a winger's instinct kicking into gear to nick the ball from Flamengo wing back Wesley on the halfway line near the touchline that set him free on a run at goal.
In the 30 degrees plus temperature it was some feat to barrel forwards at pace from distance with the ball at his feet and outpace the chasing pack.
But Neto kept his momentum and nerve to charge into the box and then slot a low shot past Rossi and put his team ahead to settle Chelsea who had been largely under the cosh up until that point.
Interestingly, just 24 hours before the game, Maresca talked openly about his need to strengthen the left side of his team.
A loan deal for Jadon Sancho last season did not go as planned and Mykhailo Mudryk is suspended while awaiting the outcome of doping charges.
It is a problem area for the head coach but it didn't look it on the evidence of this performance.
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