Tag: Fluminense

New signing Joao Pedro scored twice on his first start as Chelsea eased to a 2-0 win over Fluminense on Tuesday to seal a spot in the final of the Club World Cup.

The Brazilian striker opened the scoring in lethal fashion in the 18th minute of the last-four clash at the MetLife Stadium and struck again shortly before the hour mark as Chelsea set up a showdown with either Real Madrid or Paris Saint-Germain in Sunday’s final.

Signed from Brighton and Hove Albion last week for a reported £60 million ($79 million), the 23-year-old cut short a holiday and made his debut off the bench in the quarter-final win over Palmeiras.

He was then given his first Chelsea start up front here in place of the suspended Liam Delap.

Joao Pedro refused to celebrate after either goal against the club with whom he started his career and made 36 top-team appearances before moving to England with Watford in 2020.

The result ends Fluminense’s impressive run at the tournament after the 2023 Copa Libertadores winners held Borussia Dortmund in the group stage, beat Inter Milan in the last 16, and knocked out Manchester City’s conquerors Al-Hilal in the quarter-finals.

With their exit, the chances of a South American winner in the first 32-team Club World Cup diminish, as Chelsea secured back-to-back victories against Brazilian teams to reach the final.

As always seemed most likely, the trophy will be claimed by one of Europe’s superpowers, with the final now guaranteed to be between two of the last five winners of the UEFA Champions League.

“It is a great achievement. It has been a fantastic season, top four in the league, winning the Conference League, and now in the final of this competition. We are so, so happy,” Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca told broadcaster DAZN.

“Now finally it is the last game of the season, we can say that, and hopefully we can win the tournament.”

Fluminense coach Renato Portaluppi had described his team as the “ugly duckling” of the tournament due to the enormous difference between their budget and those of the other three remaining sides.

This game ultimately proved to be a step too far for their team, captained by 40-year-old former Chelsea center-back Thiago Silva.

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“This was a wonderful Club World Cup,” said Portaluppi.

“There is no crying over spilled milk now. We wanted to get to the final for our fans, but we leave with our heads held high and go back to our reality stronger now than we were before.”

Chelsea were without the suspended Levi Colwill and Delap, but Moises Caicedo returned after a ban.

The Premier League side were simply too strong for their opponents in a game watched by 70,556 fans on a hot afternoon just outside New York City.

They went ahead thanks to a wonderful strike by their new forward, who controlled the ball on the edge of the box after Silva had cleared a Pedro Neto cross.

Joao Pedro took a touch and curled a shot beyond veteran goalkeeper Fabio into the far corner before holding up his hands apologetically towards the Fluminense fans behind the goal.

The team from Rio de Janeiro was an intermittent threat, and Hercules — match-winner against Al-Hilal in the last eight — almost equalized in the 25th minute.

He played a one-two with German Cano and lifted the ball over goalkeeper Robert Sanchez, but Marc Cucurella cleared off the line.

Fluminense were then awarded a penalty 10 minutes before the interval when a set-piece delivery by Rene struck the arm of Trevoh Chalobah in the box.

However, French referee Francois Letexier overturned the decision following a VAR check.

“Had we been awarded the penalty, we would have scored, and it would have been a different story,” said Portaluppi.

Chelsea got their second on 56 minutes, just after Fluminense had sacrificed one of their three center-backs to send on an extra attacker.

Enzo Fernandez released Joao Pedro on the break, and the forward produced another clinical finish in off the bar.

There were chances for Chelsea to score further goals after that, but the new boy’s double strike sufficed, with the only potential black mark on the day, the knock which forced Caicedo to limp off before full-time.

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Substitute Hercules struck a 70th-minute winner as Brazil’s Fluminense defeated Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal 2-1 on Friday to reach the semi-finals of the Club World Cup.

A fine left-foot finish from Matheus Martinelli had put the Rio club ahead in the 40th minute, but Al Hilal’s Brazilian forward Marcos Leonardo leveled six minutes into the second half before Hercules stole the show to the delight of the vast majority of the 43,091 crowd.

Fluminense could yet face an all-Brazilian semi-final if their rivals from Sao Paulo, Palmeiras, are able to overcome Premier League outfit Chelsea in Friday’s other quarter-final.

Al Hilal had pulled off the biggest upset of the tournament, beating Manchester City 4-3 to reach the last eight, and Simone Inzaghi’s side fought hard until the end to keep their adventure alive.

They bow out of the tournament having been unbeaten through the group stage, including holding Real Madrid to a draw and having truly made their mark on the world stage.

There was a moment’s silence before the kick-off in memory of Liverpool and Portugal forward Diogo Jota and his younger brother Andre Silva, who died in the early hours of Thursday after their car veered off a motorway in Spain and burst into flames.

Al Hilal’s line-up featured two of Jota’s Portugal team-mates in Ruben Neves and Joao Cancelo.

The first half was a tight and tactical affair with few chances until Martinelli opened the scoring when he picked the ball up from Gabriel Fuentes inside the box and spanned out to give himself space for a left-foot shot that rocketed past Yassine Bounou.

Al Hilal went close to a quick response when Kalidou Koulibaly’s header forced Fluminense’s 44-year-old goalkeeper Fabio into a fine save.

The Saudi side was awarded a penalty when Samuel Xavier was ruled to have brought down Marcos Leonardo in the box, but Dutch referee Danny Makkelie was eventually sent to the monitor, where he overturned his own decision after seeing there had been no contact between the two players.

After going in at the break trailing by a goal, Al Hilal came out strongly for the second half and drew level when Koulibaly headed a Neves corner down to Marcos Leonardo, who poked home.

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Al Hilal’s Brazilian full-back Renan Lodi had a let-off when his poor backpass fell straight at the feet of German Cano, but the Fluminense striker’s attempt to round Bounou was denied by the smart work of the Moroccan keeper.

But the outcome was settled with 20 minutes remaining when half-time sub Hercules saw a shot from distance blocked, but from the loose ball, Samuel headed the ball back to the forward, who raced into the box and fired past Bounou to make it 2-1.

Al Hilal produced a flurry of corners and some intense pressure in the final minutes as they desperately sought a way to keep their dream alive, but the Brazilians were good value for their victory.

“We didn’t have many chances but we made the most of them, the entire group worked and were committed,” said Fluminense coach Renato Gaucho.

“Our fans here in the USA and those in Brazil, they can be proud, and I ask them to wear a jersey, in the mall, street, beach, wherever, wear that shirt – they should all be proud to wear that jersey,” he said.

The Fluminense coach was full of praise for the performance of his 40-year-old central defender Thiago Silva, who ensured the Brazilians were able to withstand the second-half pressure from Al Hilal.

“Thiago Silva is huge for us; I worked with him 15 years ago; he is a coach on the pitch, very helpful, and conveys calm and experience to the others. He is our captain and a leader, and in hard matches like these against big clubs, it’s important to have people like him. He is key and fundamental,” he said.

Al Hilal coach Inzaghi said his side had been unfortunate to end on the losing side.

“It has been a good World Cup for us, but clearly we leave with a little bit of a bitter taste in our mouth because after what happened in that second half, we deserved much more,” he said.

“It was a tight match, decided by episodes, as happens in football. Fluminense are very well organised team that are having an excellent tournament,” he added.

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Fluminense sent Inter Milan packing from the Club World Cup on Monday with a 2-0 win in Charlotte that took the Brazilian side through to the quarter-finals.

German Cano’s header from close range gave Fluminense an early lead in their last-16 tie, and they then withstood an onslaught from the Italian side in the second half before substitute Hercules sealed their victory late on.

The Rio de Janeiro outfit, who qualified for the Club World Cup thanks to their Copa Libertadores triumph in 2023, became the second Brazilian side to make the last eight after Palmeiras had already sealed their quarter-final spot.

Captained by 40-year-old former Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) and Chelsea centre-back Thiago Silva, ‘Flu’ will now go to Orlando for a tie on Friday against either Manchester City or Al-Hilal.

“We knew they were not going to be easy opponents. Less than a month ago, they were playing the Champions League final, but we played really well,” Silva told broadcaster DAZN.

It is the latest victory for a Brazilian team against prestigious European opposition at the tournament in the United States, after Botafogo defeated PSG and Flamengo got the better of Chelsea in the group stage.

“This is a very important victory for our fans, for all of Brazil, for my country, for South America,” said Jhon Arias, the lively Colombian winger who was named man of the match.

“We are not only representing Fluminense but a whole continent, and we are really pleased with what we are doing in this World Cup.”

Inter Milan came to the US off the back of their 5-0 defeat by PSG in the UEFA Champions League final at the end of May and with a new coach in Cristian Chivu.

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They did not fully convince during the group stage despite topping their section, and they found themselves trailing inside three minutes before only just over 20,000 fans at the Bank of America Stadium on another hot afternoon.

A cross from the Fluminense right by Arias took a deflection off Inter defender Alessandro Bastoni, and the ball then bounced awkwardly before veteran Argentine striker Cano arrived to head in through the legs of goalkeeper Yann Sommer from close range.

Ignacio thought he had made it 2-0 before the interval, only for his effort to be ruled out for offside.

Sommer then tipped a fine curling strike by Arias around the post just after the hour mark, before Inter began to turn up the pressure in an attempt to avoid exiting the competition.

Stefan de Vrij prodded wide from close range after captain Lautaro Martinez had headed down a cross, and the latter then saw a fine shot on the turn from the edge of the box come back off an upright.

Martinez had also been denied by Fluminense goalkeeper Fabio moments earlier, and confirmation that it would not be Inter’s day arrived in stoppage time.

As a substitute, Hercules pounced on a falling ball and drove into the box before firing low into the corner.

Federico Dimarco then hit the woodwork at the other end as Fluminense held out for the victory to keep South American hopes of glory at the tournament firmly alive.

“We never gave in. We kept going until the end, but it was not our day,” Chivu told DAZN.

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Borussia Dortmund were held to a 0-0 draw by Fluminense at the Club World Cup on Tuesday, as Brazilian teams maintained their unbeaten record so far in the competition.

Rio de Janeiro powerhouses Fluminense were the more dangerous team throughout the Group F game played at the Metlife Stadium in East Rutherford, just outside New York City.

However, Dortmund goalkeeper Gregor Kobel turned a Jhon Arias shot around the post in the first half, before Matheus Martinelli drilled an effort narrowly wide.

Fluminense — captained by 40-year-old former Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea defender Thiago Silva — were a threat on the break throughout and should have scored at the end of a counter midway into the second half, but Agustin Canobbio shot straight at Kobel.

The Dortmund goalkeeper then produced a fine save low down to deny Everaldo as the club world cup match ended in stalemate.

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Fluminense qualified for the tournament by virtue of their triumph in the Copa Libertadores in 2023.

Their performance against a European heavyweight, UEFA Champions League finalists last year, is further evidence that Brazilian teams can hope to make a real impact in FIFA’s new-look competition.

Their great rivals Flamengo beat Esperance of Tunisia 2-0 on Monday and face Chelsea next.

Palmeiras drew 0-0 with Porto in their opening game while Botafogo, the reigning Brazilian and South American champions, defeated Seattle Sounders of MLS 2-1 on Sunday.

Dortmund, who gave a debut off the bench to teenage English midfielder Jobe Bellingham following his recent arrival from Sunderland, did not seriously threaten until a late Niklas Suele long-ranger.

The Germans will hope to get their first win in the Club World Cup when they play Mamelodi Sundowns next.

Sundowns, of South Africa, take on Ulsan HD of South Korea in the day’s other Group F match in Orlando.

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