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MONDAY | JUNE 30, 2025

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Chelsea’s Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (2nd right) scores his team’s fourth goal past Benfica’s Anatoliy Trubin(right) during their Club World Cup round of 16 match. – AFPPIC

Blues believe Maresca ‘very proud’ as Chelsea book last-eight berth after thunderstorm delay

C HELSEA manager Enzo Maresca was proud of his team after beating Benfica in extraordinary, weather-hit circum stances to reach the Club World Cup quarterfinals. The Blues eventually ran out 4-1 winners after extratime in a last-16 tie in Charlotte which was suspended for almost two hours due to a thunderstorm. Chelsea had been just four minutes away from victory following Reece James’s stunning free-kick when the players were taken off the field at the Bank of America Stadium. Benfica benefited from the break and forced extratime with a controversial Angel Di Maria penalty after play finally resumed. The game swung back in Chelsea’s favour after the Portuguese giants had Gianluca Prestianni sent off and Christopher Nkunku gave them a decisive lead. Breakaway goals from Pedro Neto and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall wrapped up the win. Maresca told DAZN : “I’m very proud. The performance for me was top until the last five

completely amazing, it’s completely something new that I struggle to understand. “I can understand that for security reasons, you have to suspend the game. But if you suspend seven or eight games, that means that probably this is not the right place to do this competition. “The game was very good for 85 minutes, then we stopped for two hours, and when we started it was a completely different game. It’s not the same game because you break the tempo.” Maresca emphasised that he remained a fan of the Club World Cup, which was expanded to 32 teams for the first time this year, and is being held in the United States as an informal dress rehearsal for the 2026 World Cup in North America. “It’s a fantastic competition. It’s the Club World Cup, all the best clubs are here,” he said. “But six, seven games suspended? It’s not normal. In a World Cup how many have they suspended? Probably zero. In a European (Championship), how many games? Zero. There is some problem.” – The Independent/AFP

performance but will miss the next game after being booked for a second time in the tournament. Caicedo said of the team’s prospects: “We believe. We know this a tough tournament but, the thing is, we’re working hard and doing well. At the end, we’re going to see why we (are still) here.” Reflecting on the weather delay, the Ecuadorian said: “We were talking in the dressing room. The thing was (to stay) focused the whole game. I’m so happy because we did it.” It was the sixth time that a game has been halted at the tournament due to widely used rules in the United States that require outdoor sporting events to be halted if there is a chance of lightning. Maresca said afterwards the number of games that had been disrupted should prompt a rethink. “For me personally, it’s not football,” the

minutes when they stopped the game, and when we restarted (it was) a completely a different game. “When you are inside for more than one hour it’s not easy but, 1-1, we continued to play and, at the end, I think the reward was one that we deserve.” The players were pictured riding exercise bikes and kicking balls in the dressing room during the enforced break. Maresca said: “Especially when it’s 85 minutes, five minutes to go, it’s very difficult. “But we tried to keep them in the best way we could in that moment and, at the end, we are in the last eight teams here in this competition and we are very happy.” Chelsea will return to Philadelphia, where they played two group games, to face Brazilian side Palmeiras in the quarterfinals on Saturday (9am Malaysian time). “Now we need to recover players, recover the energy and go again,” said Maresca. Moises Caicedo delivered an influential

Chelsea boss said. “It’s already (six) games they suspended here. I think it’s a joke. “It’s not football. It’s

Last dance for Novak?

- Story on page 29

- Story on page 30

Palmeiras win battle of Brazil

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