Chelsea defeat LAFC in poorly-attended Club World Cup opener
ATLANTA, United States (AFP) — Chelsea kicked off their Club World Cup campaign with a solid 2-0 victory over Los Angeles FC (LAFC) on Monday in Group D, although there were nearly 50,000 empty seats in the stadium in Atlanta.
Pedro Neto and Enzo Fernandez’s goals got the Blues off to a good start in a competitive clash against one of the three qualified Major League Soccer (MLS) teams.
New signing Liam Delap made his debut as a substitute and helped set up Fernandez’s strike, with Chelsea hoping to re-establish themselves among the elite after their UEFA Conference League triumph and Champions League qualification.
Chelsea Coach Enzo Maresca said it was a “very good result” and was happy with Delap’s display.
“The good thing about Liam is he knows the way we want to play so the process is quite quick,” said the Italian.
After a solid start to the tournament regarding attendance numbers over the opening weekend, a sparse crowd of just over 22,000 settled in at the stylish, 71,000-capacity Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
“The environment was a bit strange [as] the stadium was almost empty, not full,” Maresca told reporters.
Behind former Tottenham Hotspur stopper Hugo Lloris’s goal in the first half, a couple of hundred LAFC ‘ultras’ helped provide an atmosphere with a drum beat and constant song.
The closed stadium roof offered refuge from the Georgia humidity and mid-afternoon summer sun, which Paris Saint-Germain and Atletico Madrid stars roasted under on Sunday at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.
However, the attendance suffered badly because of the 3:00 pm local time kick-off.
Despite regular strong crowds for MLS side Atlanta United — the best-supported US team — few locals decided to take a Monday off work for the tournament’s first weekday afternoon game, seemingly chosen to suit a British television audience.
After beating Club America in a play-off to qualify for the competition as late as May, LAFC took the place of the banned Mexican side Club Leon, and play none of their three group games at home in California.
The top ring of the stadium was entirely shut and other levels were only partly filled, despite ticket prices dropping in the days ahead of the game.
It was the first real blow for organisers FIFA’s expanded competition, which is also being viewed as a trial run ahead of the 2026 World Cup, hosted by the US, Canada and Mexico.
