Chelsea will kick-off her FIFA Club World Cup campaign against Los Angeles FC, after the American side crushed Club America in a play-off to reach the competition. The MLS side won 2-1 after extra-time and ended up with Chelsea to begin with an adversary within the States, with Chelsea’s clash planned for June 16.
They replaced Club Leon, who were expelled from the competition prior this year. The fixture will take place on Monday, June 16 at 3pm (8pm UK time) at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
They connect Chelsea, Flamengo and Es Tunis in Bunch D of the recently patched up competition. Ex Chelsea striker Olivier Giroud is on the books of LAFC, so he will be rejoined with the Blues when they meet afterward this month. LAFC are the third MLS side included within the competition on domestic soil, Inter Miami and Seattle Sounders.
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Denis Bouanga opened his winning goal past América’s Luis Ángel Malagón within the 115th miniature of additional time, making LAFC the final team to qualify for the 32-team competition, after Liga MX’s Club Léon were dispensed with due to FIFA’s club possession rules.
Léon is possessed by Grupo Pachuca, an ownership group which moreover controls Pachuca, another team within the new-look Club World Container. LAFC, who lost to Léon within the 2023 Concacaf Champions League final, were put into the coordinate against América to choose which group would take the ultimate spot.
América opened the scoring within the 64th minute, when Brian Rodríguez crushed a penalty past LAFC goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, after Check Delgado committed a foul at the beat of the box in a collision with Erick Sánchez.
While the coordinate had been a generally tight undertaking to that point, it opened up within the minutes after, sending the largely split crowd into bedlam at several chances through extra time.
