Chelsea and Club América squared off in the FC Series at Mercedes-Benz Stadium
with two ideas in mind. Club América is preparing to enter into the knockout rounds of the Leagues Cup next week after four weeks of regular season play in the Liga MX Apertura. For the Blues, it was another opportunity to work on what new head coach Enzo Maresca is looking for in his version of how he wants them to be with the ball and in how they get it back. Ultimately, Maresca got more out of the evening on the scoreboard with his Blues taking a 3-0 victory.
Chelsea saw something in the early build-ups down their attacking right-hand side
against the Club América defense. Romeo Lavia escaped a double-team on the near touch line and found his way inside the 18. Calderon had the slightest of touches, but it was enough for the penalty call for the Blues.
Christopher Nkunku sent Las Aguilas keeper Luis Angel Malagon to his right and
powered it home into the empty space for a 1-0 lead in the third minute.
Chelsea had another chance five minutes later as newly-activated Kiernan Drewsbury-
Hall combined with Marc Guiu inside the 18. But Guiu’s shot with his left was saved by
Malagon to keep the margin at 1-0. Raheem Sterling kept KDH moving in the first half
with an opportunity in the 18th that would go over the bar. And, in the next minute,
Malagon’s attempt at an entry pass was picked off by Sterling. Drewsbury-Hall's pass
from Sterling created another chance that was pulled wide.
The combo would work for Chelsea’s second goal only two minutes later in the 21st minute. Another scuffed pass by Club América as they tried to build was intercepted by Sterling. A pass to Drewsbury-Hall resulted in a cross from the left looking once again for Guiu. Calderon tried to clear his header off the goal line but it would end up in the back of the net to double the lead in the 21st.
Drewsbury-Hall has garnered a nickname inside Chelsea as the “teacher’s pet” with his
previous time at Leicester City with his current head coach. Maresca didn’t know about
the nickname but does know KDH is the “translator” for what the staff wants done.
“At the moment he is speaking a different language to his teammates because he
knows what to do on and off the ball,” Maresca said after the match. “He knows when to
get in the box, when to move out wide, when to take up different positions. It’s because
we worked together for a year and I have asked him to talk to his teammates and help
them.”
The chances, on the other side, came in the 12th and 42nd minutes as Javairo Dilrosun
came charging into the 18 from the right and sent Chelsea keeper Robert Sanchez to a
full-extension save diving to his right toward the upper corner in one moment and rocketed the ball off the crossbar 30 minutes later. And the two-goal margin would stay
for the first 45 minutes.
Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca subbed off Sanchez and Drewsbury-Hall at the half
in favor of Filip Jorgensen and Enzo Fernandez, respectively. The response for
Fernandez, in his first appearance after Chelsea closed their internal investigation over
a racially offensive chant after his Argentina side won Copa América earlier this month,
was somewhat mixed. The field rust was evident.
“You can see he was a bit behind,” Maresca said. “You can see in terms of physical
conditioning he was a bit slow. But he only had one or two sessions with us- no more
than that. Today, 45 minutes was just to give him another session. For wins like this, we
use them as another training session and, for Enzo, today has been a very good
training session.”
With the two-goal lead, Club América head coach André Jardine would switch elevens
completely for the second 45.
Ten minutes into the second half, Fernandez would have a nice 1-2 with Noni Madueke
that came to a halt when he and Nkunku collided 12 yards from goal and the match
stayed at a two-goal margin.
Club América had some minutes of sustained possession but, frankly, the audience
occupation with doing the “wave” took more of the attention and Chelsea’s Maresca
took out five more starters with thirty minutes remaining.
Chelsea almost added a third with fifteen minutes remaining as Filip Jorgensen went
long down the middle with a kick looking for Noni Madueke at center circle. Madueke
would let it go overhead and sprinted behind to keep possession. His lead pass to
Armando Broja would result in a ball wide of the far post.
In the 80th minute, Madueke would score from the penalty spot on a call from center ref Malik Badawi to make it 3-0 for Chelsea. Christopher Nkunku slalomed through three Club América defenders and runs into goalkeeper Rodolfo Cota before going down
inside the box. Badawi called the penalty and Madueke would convert after a review.
“We had some moments against Celtic I really liked on the ball- creating the chance or
creating the space we are looking for. We had one extra player in the middle and
sometimes we were able to find it. Today, it more or less happened the same. The only
difference from Celtic was that it happened more often.”
“We learn a lot and take advantage of these types of games because we are going
against a team that plays in one of the best, if not the best league in the world,” Club
América head coach André Jardine said after the loss. “Chelsea is a top team that has
world class players. These friendlies are important for us because they allow us to
visualize how we want to play with not just the starting eleven, but the rest of the players as well.”
NEXT: Chelsea plays against Manchester City at Ohio Stadium Saturday and Club
América faces West Ham at Soldier Field
✍️: Jon Nelson
Comments