Flamengo Floor Chelsea At Club World Cup, Bayern Munich Face Boca
Flamengo produced a brilliant second-half fightback to beat Chelsea 3-1 at the Club World Cup on Friday as the Brazilian giants became the first team to qualify for the last 16 at FIFA's lucrative new tournament. Pedro Neto had given Chelsea the lead in the first half but Flamengo, roared on by their frenzied supporters who made up the majority of the 54,019 crowd in Philadelphia, did not deserve to be behind and battled back in the second half. Bruno Henrique came off the bench in the 56th minute and equalised just after the hour mark before setting up former Real Madrid, Manchester City and Juventus defender Danilo to make it 2-1.
Chelsea were stunned, and their hopes of pulling level again were effectively destroyed when substitute Nicolas Jackson was sent off in the 68th minute for a dangerous tackle on Ayrton Lucas.
Wallace Yan, also on as a substitute, then sealed the victory for the Rio de Janeiro club, the Brazilian league leaders, when he made it 3-1 late on.
"It was a special day for me and our club," said Flamengo coach Filipe Luis, a former Chelsea player.
"We knew we would have chances against Chelsea, because we have one way to play and they know how to follow that path.
"I am really happy with the game, but it is just one win. Now we have to think about the next game and try to go through this group phase, because it is not easy."
Flamengo have won both matches in Group D and their place in the knockout phase was confirmed later when Esperance of Tunisia defeated Los Angeles FC 1-0 in Nashville.
Youcef Belaili scored the only goal of the game in the 70th minute in front of a sparse crowd that included Nicole Kidman.
LAFC were last-minute qualifiers after beating Club America of Mexico in a play-off following the decision to ban Leon for violating rules on multi-club ownership. The Major League Soccer side cannot now progress any further.
Another weather delay
Chelsea and Esperance now each have three points from two games and their meeting in Philadelphia next Tuesday will decide which team joins Flamengo in advancing.
"We expected a tough game 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 top of the league, unbeaten for many games, so it was not a surprise for us."
Flamengo's win followed Botafogo's stunning success against European champions Paris Saint-Germain on Thursday, stretching the unbeaten record for South American clubs at the competition to nine matches.
A tough test lies in wait for another South American representative, however, as Boca Juniors take on Bayern Munich in Miami in Group C.
Bayern, who hammered New Zealand's Auckland City 10-0 in their opening game, can clinch qualification for the last 16 by beating the Argentinians.
Earlier, Benfica crushed Auckland 6-0 in Orlando to boost their own hopes of progressing and eliminate the one Oceania representative at the tournament.
Angel Di Maria's two penalties bookended the victory for the Portuguese side, with Leandro Barreiro scoring a brace while Vangelis Pavlidis and Renato Sanches got their other goals.
The game was the fourth in the past four days to be hit by a weather delay.
With Benfica leading by a goal at half-time, the match was interrupted because of a storm, eventually resuming two hours later.
"This is the longest game of my career, a special thanks to our fans, who have been here for five hours supporting the team," said Benfica coach Bruno Lage.
"We played as well as we could. The temperature made it very difficult."
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