Tosin Adarabioyo and Liam Delap scored two minutes apart to end the first half with a bang, and Chelsea rolled past Esperance Sportive de Tunis 3-0 on Tuesday in Philadelphia to punch their ticket to the knockout round of the FIFA Club World Cup.
Chelsea (2-1-0, 6 points) finished second in Group D, one point behind Flamengo, who drew with Los Angeles FC elsewhere on Tuesday. Chelsea will face Group C winners Benfica in the Round of 16 on Saturday in Charlotte.
Enzo Fernandez had two assists, Tyrique George added Chelsea’s third goal deep into second-half stoppage time, and Filip Jorgensen did not need to record a save to keep the clean sheet. Chelsea dominated ES Tunis, finishing with 74.1 percent of the possession time and a 16-3 edge in shot attempts.
Bechir Ben Said made four saves for ES Tunis (1-2-0, 3 points), whose tournament came to an end.
Chelsea had a number of opportunities in the first half but finally capitalized three minutes into first-half stoppage time when Fernandez lined up for a free kick. He placed it deep into the box and Adarabioyo leapt to head the ball inside the far post, where Ben Said had no chance to reach it.
Less than two minutes later, Fernandez picked up a loose ball and poked it ahead to Delap, who showed off some useful footwork to pass his defender and score past an unsuspecting Ben Said.
–Field Level Media
