Although Chelsea fear their 2025 FIFA Club World Cup campaign could become a long-term battle, they cannot prepare for the scenario: a match ending after four hours and 38 minutes from the start.
The Blues' 4-1 victory over Benfica paved the way for the quarter-final against Palmeiras. Christopher Nkunku, Pedro Neto and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall scored in extra time to solve one of the most unreasonable problems.
The Blues will be extremely grateful as they have 6 days to recover after this match. In another era, Reece James' successful penalty kick in the 64th minute seemed to have given Chelsea a hard-fought victory. But the reality is that the match is just getting started.
Slovenia referee Slavko Vindic stopped the match with only 4 minutes left to play due to a severe weather warning.
As a storm is raging in the Carolina area, the expected time to continue the match was postponed for longer. The players of both teams had to gather inside the dressing room. Finally, a rainbow appeared. With the threat of another storm coming, both teams agreed to shorten the warm-up time to return to the match.
In fact, there are more controversies than that. Nicolas Otamendi headed towards the goal, and when Malo gusted up, the ball hit his mu hand. Gusto turned to the other side with the message that it was an accidental situation. However, in the end, Benfica was still awarded a penalty.
When Angel Di Maria successfully converted the penalty to balance the score in the fifth minute of extra time, it was almost 8pm (local time) and many of the 25,929 spectators had left.
Fans who left early will certainly regret the consequences of the match. Gianluca Prestianni received a second yellow card after 2 minutes of extra time, and Chelsea took advantage of their advantage in terms of numbers.
After Moises Caicedo kicked the ball into goalkeeper Trubin, Christopher Nkunku finished two strokes into the Portuguese team's net.
After that, Benfica was forced to push up to find an equalizer. And that is an opportunity for Chelsea to exploit the gaps. In the 114th minute, from a quick counter-attack, Neto escaped down to defeat Trubin, raising the score to 3-1. 4 minutes later, Cole Palmer passed the ball to Dewsbury-Hall to seal a 4-1 victory.
Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca celebrated with a group of fans near the break area after the match. However, he could not hide his anger at being asked to complete a match in such conditions. This is the sixth time the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 has had a match stopped due to bad weather.
"In the 85 minutes, we controlled the game. We didn't concede any goals, we created enough chances to win. And after the break, the game changed completely. I think for me personally, it's not football.
There have been 7, 8 or 9 postponed matches. I think honestly, it was a joke, it's not football. It's not for us. I can understand that for security reasons, you have to postpone the match. But if you postpone 7 or 8 matches, it means it is not a good place to organize this tournament," said Maresca.
This is not a great advertisement for the tournament in general. The disappointingly low audience, the quality of the grass is also not guaranteed. And while the safety of the fans and players is paramount, it is unreasonable to ask the two teams to stop with just four minutes left. And it is even more unreasonable when it comes to the time when the match was interrupted.
It is certainly necessary to set a time limit. Charlotte is not one of the 16 cities hosting the 2026 World Cup, but in the end, there are only 5 covered stadiums.
This match has perfectly packaged the risk factors that the teams have to face in the World Cup next year.
"As I said, the match went very well for 85 minutes. After that, we stopped for an hour and a half, two hours. Things are starting completely differently. It's not the same game because you've broken the tempo.
It was all a joke. If you stop the game for two hours, it's not football anymore. The situation changed completely after the two-hour delay," Maresca added.
