ATLANTA — LAFC’s first foray into the FIFA Club World Cup was competitive, but ultimately a defeat.
LAFC hung around against English powerhouse Chelsea at Mercedes-Benz Stadium and had the match still in striking distance nearly the entire way, but lost 2-0 in its first of three group stage matches.
“Chelsea won, deservingly so,” LAFC coach Steve Cherundolo said. “I think we kind of clawed our way back into the game; I think we played a little better in the second half and maybe had the odd chance here or there to get the equalizer.”
The first competitive fixture between English and American clubs featured the mostly expected run of play, with Chelsea carrying most of the action and carving out nearly all of the afternoon’s clear-cut scoring opportunities. It was one-way traffic, and Chelsea broke through in the 34th minute when Pedro Neto beat LAFC goalkeeper Hugo Lloris at his near post following a quick turn inside around defender Ryan Hollingshead.
LAFC soaked up the pressure as long as it could and defended well against continuous pressure for most of the game, a tangible positive for Cherundolo’s team to build on.
“I was quite happy with the way the team performed defensively,” he said. “I think out of the run of play we didn’t concede too much. I think we had things mostly under control, but conceded two transition goals which we didn’t look good on.”
Although it never really dictated terms, LAFC did create a few opportunities in the second half. Denis Bouanga forced a good save from Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez into a close-range save in the 57th minute, but a tight Chelsea defense held the fort long enough for Enzo Fernandez put the match away with a 79th-minute goal after taking down a Liam Delap cross and gliding it past Lloris.
“The higher up you go, the less opportunities you do get,” Cherundolo said. “You need to make sure those opportunities you do get are taken advantage of, or at least you’re making teams defend properly. I think a little bit of carelessness with the ball in the final third and the opponent’s half hurt us.”
In the big picture, this was as much a feeling out process as anything. Not just for LAFC in its first of at least three matches in this tournament, but for this tournament as a whole acting as something of a dress rehearsal for host cities before the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
The crowd itself was certainly not inspiring, just 22,167 in a cavernous stadium set to host five more matches in this tournament and eight next summer. It was a stark contrast from the 80,000 who filled the Rose Bowl for yesterday’s Paris Saint-Germain-Atlético Madrid match, and at times felt more like a preseason exhibition than a major competition despite sturdy efforts from a healthy LAFC’s 3252 supporter group camped behind one goal.
“I don’t know,” Cherundolo said. “I don’t know if there’s just more fans in Los Angeles that are into this tournament than here, or if it’s the pairing tonight, there’s a lot of things I just can’t answer.”
The sample size is small, though, with the sparse Atlanta crowd coming in just the sixth of 63 total matches in the event.
“I don’t think we should be talking about this right now,” he continued. “I think we should be waiting until the end of the tournament to make a more complete summary of what was going on and opinion on it as a whole, as opposed to right now and one game.”
One injury note did come out of the match when LAFC forward Nathan Ordaz left play in the 38th minute after Chelsea captain Reece James took him down with a hard foul on the left wing. James received a yellow card, and Ordaz went into concussion protocol.
“After that happened he just wasn’t quite himself,” Cherundolo said. “We’ll hope that he has a speedy recovery. As more information comes in I can give you more, but right now I don’t have an update.”
The setback broke LAFC’s run of 10 consecutive undefeated matches in all competitions, but it will have opportunities to regroup quickly. Group play continues Friday in Nashville against Tunisian club Espérance Sportive de Tunis before finishing out on June 24 with a match against Brazil’s Flamengo in Orlando, Fla.
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