Chelsea’s journey to the far East has ended in disappointment for caretaker manager Rafa Benitez, and his Chelsea team who so this as an almost certain victory only to be thwarted by a second half goal from Peruvian Paolo Guerreo.
In an eventless first half in which Chelsea limped along looking as though it was going to be an easy win for the London club it took a goal by the former Bayern Munich player Guerrero to give the Brazilians the lead, and put a match to the touch paper.
Chelsea now were dominating the game pushing all me forward looking for an equalizer , but to give Corinthians their due they soaked up the pressure well, and even on occasion showed so close ball skills for which all Brazilians are known for.
Backed by a traveling contingent of 30,000 fans the all the noise in the Yokohama stadium was being made by the Sao Paulo faithful as the minutes were ticking away.
Chelsea’s Frank Lampard playing in his first game since suffering a calf injury against Shakhtar Donetek back in October when the two sides met in the Champions league sent a great pass through to Torres who controlled the ball well but was let down when he fired directly at Corinthian keeper Cassio, with Mata being denied soon after Chelsea sought to put the Blues back on level pegging.
With less the ten minutes left Chelsea were down to ten men following an incident between Gary Cahill and Emerson saw referee Cakir show Cahill the red card. Not lying down though Chelsea kept pushing forward, and thought they had sent the game into extra time when Torres headed in a goal only for it to be ruled offside. Now into four minutes of extra time Mata hit the Corinthian post, but the Brazilians held on to win the trophy for the second time making them the only South American team to do so.
Chelsea must be wishing that they had started the match with more vigor, as they were certainly the better of the two side, yet take nothing away from the Brazilians you at times showed effortless brilliance on the ball showing why their players are sought all over the word. While writing this article I stumbled across FREEbets.org.uk which seemed to have a great selection of in particular, who has the best free bets and lists them by amount, which is handy. freebets.org.ukare all over sports betting, with some really detailed reviews including interface screenshots. Visit freebets.org.uk where they have a good selection of sports & media bets
Final score Chelsea 0 Corinthians 1.
Corinthians
• 12 Cassio
• 02 Alessandro
• 03 Chicao
• 06 Fabio Santos
• 13 Cren Benini
• 05 Ralf
• 08 Paulinho
• 20 Danilo
• 09 Guerrero (Martinez – 86′ )
• 11 Emerson (Wallace – 90′ )
• 23 Jorge Henrique Booked
Substitutes
• 01 Julio Cesar
• 22 Fernandes
• 04 Wallace
• 15 Anderson Polga
• 21 Edenilson
• 26 Guilherme Andrade
• 28 Felipe Monteiro
• 10 Douglas
• 17 Willian Arao
• 29 Giovanni
• 07 Martinez
• 31 Romarinho
Chelsea
• 01 Cech
• 02 Ivanovic (Azpilicueta – 83′ )
• 03 Cole
• 04 David Luiz Booked
• 24 Cahill Dismissed
• 07 Ramires
• 08 Lampard
• 10 Mata
• 13 Moses (Oscar – 72′ )
• 17 Hazard (Marin – 87′ )
• 09 Torres
Substitutes
• 22 Turnbull
• 40 Hilario
• 19 Ferreira
• 26 Terry
• 28 Azpilicueta
• 34 Bertrand
• 11 Oscar
• 12 Mikel
• 21 Marin
• 56 Saville
• 23 Sturridge
• 35 Piazon
Ref: Cakir
Att: 70,000
