Club

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — To Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca, was “unusual.” within the Philadelphia warmth. and elsewhere had been “a joke.” The USA usually, he stated, was “in all probability not the best place to do that competitors.” He complained and complained all through this Membership World Cup, and on Tuesday right here at MetLife Stadium, .

They superior as a result of they’re Chelsea, one of many 10 richest golf equipment in soccer, and their opponent was Fluminense from Brazil.

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They superior as a result of they’ve spent $1.9 billion on gamers because the summer time of 2022, reloading and reinforcing one of many deepest squads within the sport.

They usually superior as a result of, simply final week, they paid round $75 million for a brand new striker, João Pedro — extra money than Fluminense revamped the whole thing of final 12 months.

They superior as a result of, at each single place on the sphere, they had been higher.

“We gave our greatest,” Fluminense midfielder Nonato stated postgame. “However we now have to acknowledge that they’ve a very good group.”

Nonato sounded defeated, defeated by Chelsea’s never-ending firepower, firepower that all of us ignored partially as a result of, up till Tuesday, the juiciest story of Chelsea’s Membership World Cup was the complaints.

Chelsea supervisor Enzo Maresca reacts after defeating Fluminense in a Membership World Cup semifinal soccer match in East Rutherford, N.J., Tuesday, July 8, 2025. (AP Picture/Frank Franklin II)

(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Maresca appeared to embody and embolden European criticism of this novel match. Even on the eve of Chelsea’s semifinal, he moaned concerning the lengthy, grueling season that his gamers have endured — one which the Membership World Cup has exacerbated.

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“For me, personally, it’s not that [the Club World Cup] isn’t vital,” he stated. “We’ve got performed 63 video games [this season]. … The European groups come to this competitors in a different way than the Brazilian or South American groups, as a result of quantity of video games we’ve performed. The will to win is identical … [but] the circumstances are totally different.”

A journalist swiftly corrected him. Fluminense have truly performed extra video games in the identical interval. So have Flamengo and others.

The true distinction, which no European participant would admit however everybody sensed, was that the South American groups and others merely cared extra.

They rode waves of passionate help. They performed — no, they fought — with unparalleled depth. Whereas Europeans whined about pitches and climate and journey and calendars, gamers from the Americas, Africa and Asia embraced this chance to compete with the world’s finest, and with the world watching. They bellied as much as Actual Madrid and Borussia Dortmund. They beat PSG and Chelsea. They compelled your entire soccer ecosystem to ask: ?

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A pair weeks in the past, the reply appeared to be sure.

However now, the Membership World Cup is descending towards the conclusion everybody anticipated.

In Sunday’s ultimate, Chelsea, the fourth-best group in England, will meet both Actual Madrid, the second-best group in Spain; or Paris Saint-Germain, the champions of Europe.

We didn’t essentially count on Chelsea, particularly, to make it this far. The Blues had been doubted; not written off, however largely ignored. Solely 22,137 followers attended their opener in Atlanta. A bigger crowd noticed them lose to Flamengo on Matchday 2. Nothing from the previous 12 months advised they may be the very best group on the planet.

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Now, although, “the outcomes, they converse for themselves,” winger Pedro Neto stated.

They usually show some extent higher than Madrid or PSG or Bayern Munich might.

The purpose is that the European groups didn’t have to care like their careers trusted it. They didn’t must be recent. They didn’t must be greater than the sums of their components. They didn’t have to match depth ranges to show their superiority.

Maresca, undeterred by his foot-in-mouth second at Monday’s information convention, went again to the identical level after Tuesday’s semifinal, which was performed in 94-degree warmth: “It was very tough circumstances. … Fluminense had a one-month vacation six months in the past in December-January, we had a month off 13 months in the past. So there was a distinction in power.”

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Nonetheless, his group cruised to a 2-0 victory.

It cruised as a result of Chelsea and the opposite European superclubs have irreversible, typically insurmountable monetary benefits. As a result of they will pay essentially the most profitable salaries, they’ve all the very best gamers from the opposite continents. Chelsea had João Pedro, who Fluminense produced, solely to lose him to a middling English group (Watford) quickly after his 18th birthday, largely as a result of the English group might pay him extra money.

So after all the three groups that can write the ultimate chapters of this international match are from Europe. They and their friends resisted the Membership World Cup, and have been wanting to level out its flaws; however ultimately, as Neto stated, they got here “right here to compete.” And so, ultimately, one among them will elevate the trophy.