When the final whistle sounded Monday afternoon in Atlanta, ending LAFC’s 2-0 defeat to Chelsea FC in both sides’ opening match of FIFA Club World Cup group play, LAFC defender Sergi Palencia swapped jerseys with his former Barcelona teammate, Chelsea defender Marc Cucurella, while Black & Gold forward Olivier Giroud mingled with staffers he had worked with during his time with the famed West London club. The positive vibes, however, were tinged with regret for the MLS team that had gained entry into the competition only 17 days earlier and had just fallen short against one of the English Premier League’s oldest and most successful sides.
“It took us a little bit to get into the game,” defender Ryan Hollingshead said.
“We could have done better,” said head coach Steve Cherundolo.
Facing the newly crowned UEFA Conference League champions, who just finished fourth in a 20-team league that is universally accepted as the best in the world and was playing on three weeks’ rest, the eight-year-old MLS club had acquitted itself well. But there were no moral victories. Now the Black & Gold must push forward in the eight-group, 32-team tournament that will see two teams advance from each group into the Round of 16.
“We really want to be here and show well and try to make a statement,” Cherundolo said following his team’s first defeat in more than two months (since another Club World Cup participant, Inter Miami, defeated LAFC in the Concacaf Champions Cup Quarterfinal on April 9). “We're still on that journey. We'll recover and get past tonight and use the examples that we have to improve and move forward.”
More than 22,000 spectators were on hand under Mercedes-Benz Stadium’s closed roof for the Group D opener, including a herd of LAFC supporters whose chanting provided the afternoon’s soundtrack.
LAFC goalkeeper Hugo Lloris was called on in the 17th minute to make a sprawling save on Chelsea winger Noni Madueke’s hard shot in the area, but the Black & Gold limited the Blues’ chances early on, while bottling up Chelsea’s leading goal scorer Cole Palmer, the 2023-2024 EPL Young Player of the Year.
“In the first half, I think the players adjusted to the speed of play fine,” Cherundolo said.
In the 33rd minute, LAFC enjoyed a spell of possession until Cucurella poked the ball free in midfield and Nicolas Jackson played a perfect through ball into the path of racing winger Pedro Neto, who finished it past Lloris to give the favorites a 1-0 lead.
Despite its opponents’ pedigree, LAFC never looked overwhelmed or outmatched. “I think it's always special play against English teams or the English national team, for Americans,” Cherundolo said. Even then, LAFC’s manager refused to look past the scoreboard. “I think it's important for us, yes, to show well. It's important for us to also get results. This is a result-oriented business that we that we're all involved in.”
LAFC replaced forward Nathan Ordaz in the 38th minute for precautionary reasons following a blow to the head, and brought on another young winger fresh off international duty, teenage Venezuelan David Martínez.
After halftime, LAFC began to look more like the side that had scored 22 goals in its previous nine games. In the 51st minute Martínez’s left-footed drive glanced off the back of halftime substitute Giroud and just wide of Chelsea goalie Robert Sánchez’s right post.
Seconds later Martínez found space in transition, juking Cucurella near the six-yard box but missing wide.
Chelsea manager Enzo Caresca had made his own change at halftime, replacing his captain, right back Reece James, “because he had a yellow card against probably their best player” - a reference to LAFC's Denis Bouanga.
Bouanga, who had provided 12 goals in 22 total appearances this year, delivered LAFC’s best chance of the match in the 57th minute when he gathered a long ball, fought off Neto, and sent a right-footed shot toward goal that was kick-saved by Sánchez.
LAFC outshot Chelsea over the match’s final 20 minutes, including a blast from Hollingshead, whose strike from distance sailed one yard over the bar. A flurry in front of the Blues’ goal in the 78th minute was thwarted by two blocked shots and a narrow offside call against Bouanga.
“We had some really good chances there in the second half, which is what we wanted, to put ourselves in a good position to tie the game up and see what could happen for the rest of the 20 minutes,” Hollingshead said. “We just couldn't get that equalizer, and that's what ended up hurting us. Obviously they're a phenomenal team, but we put ourselves in a really good spot to get a result."
“The opportunities against good teams in competitions like this,” Cherundolo said, “at World Cups or in the Champions League, the higher up you go the less opportunities you get, and you need to make sure that those opportunities you do get are taken advantage of.
“I think a little bit of carelessness with the ball in the final third, the opponents’ half tonight hurt us in that category, and I think that's where we'll look to improve.”
Chelsea sealed the win at the 79-minute mark, when Enzo Fernández made a run without the ball into Lloris’ area and into the path of a cross from Chelsea’s newest signing, Liam Delap. The last time Fernández and Lloris’ had shared the same pitch was the 2022 World Cup Final, in which they both played 120 minutes. The Argentinian midfielder got the better of this matchup as well, finishing Delap’s pass for the Blues’ second goal.
“The opponent has a lot of quality on their side of the field,” Cherundolo said, “and they were able to use that quality in at least two moments tonight to decide the game for them. But I think that the disappointing part of our performance for me was I think a little bit of in possession. I think we were a little unsure and sloppy in certain areas, and I think us taking care of the ball when in clear possession of the ball was not good enough.”
Seeking to pull one back in the 81st minute, Bouanga sped past James’ replacement at right back, Malo Gusto, but his shot was denied again by Sánchez. The 2-0 result mirrored the final score of the other Group D match Monday evening, as Espérance Sportive de Tunis fell to Brazilian club CR Flamengo – another less experienced club falling to a global colossus.
“Overall I think it’s a performance we can build on,” Cherundolo said. “And we certainly need to build on it because we have an opponent coming up next [and] a game that we can and need to win. We'll focus all of our energy first in recovery and then we'll start preparing for the opponent and look to improve on tonight's performance.”
Hollingshead was asked if LAFC deserved more from a game in which his team sent four shots on goal while conceding six.
“It's not about deserving something,” Hollingshead said. “It's about going and making it happen. We had our chances to make something happen and weren't clinical enough to get it done, and they were and that's what that's what gets them three points and the top of the group as it stands.
“I think we showed what we can do in this tournament,” Hollinghsead added. “We can hang with these teams … We like where we're at and I think this showed today just what kind of team we are, what kind of club we are.”
Chelsea will continue group play Friday when it faces Flamengo in Philadelphia. LAFC will play ES Tunis later that day in Nashville.
“It has to be a win,” Hollingshead said. “There's no other mindset for us. It’s everything we've got, to go get three points out of the next game and then see what we need to do in the third game to move on.”
LAFC continues Group D play in the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 on Friday, June 20, when the club faces Tunisian champions ES Tunis at GEODIS Park in Nashville, Tenn., at 3:00 p.m. PT. The match is free to watch on DAZN.com and the DAZN app and radio broadcasts in English and Spanish will also be available on LAFC.com.
