Chelsea will try to reach a second major final in three months when they face Fluminense in Tuesday’s FIFA Club World Cup semifinal in East Rutherford, N.J.
On May 28, the Blues rallied to a 4-1 over Real Betis in the UEFA Europa Conference League final.
Domestically, they also secured a fourth-place Premier League finish and a return to the UEFA Champions League next year under first-year manager Enzo Maresca.
After all that, they have looked like one of the fresher European sides in this tournament while reaching the semifinal stage. Perhaps that reflects the benefits of having a youthful core, without a single player on the tournament squad above age 27.
“You can have advantage or disadvantage — it depends a bit,” Maresca said, as reported by Football London. “We have one season together being the youngest in the Premier League and we were able to win games. Tomorrow, it will be the same. We are the first- or second- youngest in the competition and we will face the oldest one.”
While Chelsea will be favored, Brazilian teams have been the story of this tournament, sending all four of their entrants to the knockout phase and two to the quarterfinals.
Fluminense will be the third the Blues have faced. Chelsea defeated Palmeiras in the quarterfinals 2-1 on a first-half goal from Cole Palmer — his first not from the penalty spot since a 2-2 Premier League draw with Bournemouth on Jan. 14 — and a late own goal. Before that, they suffered a 3-1 defeat to Flamengo in the group stage.
Comparatively, Fluminense enter in better form than those previous Brazilian foes, unbeaten in 11 across all competitions. While Hercules leads the club with two tournament goals, the strength of head coach Renato Gaucho’s side is a defense that has conceded only five times during that unbeaten run, anchored by 44-year-old goalkeeper Fabio.
“With all due respect to Chelsea, we don’t want to stop here,” Gaucho told FIFA.com. “We’re going to do all we can psychologically, physically, technically, tactically. We have to put everything into this. A lot of people thought we couldn’t do it, but we’re in the semifinals.”
Fluminense were previously 4-0 losers to Manchester City in the final of the 2023 FIFA Club World Cup, the last played in its annual, smaller single-elimination format. Chelsea won the competition in 2021, though there are very few carryovers from that squad still with the club.
Chelsea will miss striker Liam Delap and defender Levi Colwill to yellow-card suspensions, while Fluminense defender Juan Freytes and midfielder Martinelli are also serving one-match bans.
–Field Level Media
