Tuesday, June 24 | 6 p.m. PT
🏟 | Camping World Stadium; Orlando, FL
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Tuesday night in Orlando, LAFC faces Brazilian giants and Group D leaders CR Flamengo in the Black & Gold’s third and final group-stage match in the FIFA Club World Cup 2025. LAFC was eliminated from qualification for the Round of 16 when it fell 1-0 to Tunisian champions Espérance Sportive de Tunis on Friday, the same day that Flamengo defeated Chelsea 3-1 to clinch the top spot in the four-team group and a ticket to the knockout rounds of the biggest global club competition in football history.
Tuesday’s match will be LAFC’s final appearance in the FIFA Club World Cup 2025, a 32-team competition whose final spot was awarded to the Black & Gold just three weeks ago.
Soon after LAFC match on Friday ended, head coach Steve Cherundolo looked ahead to the Flamengo match. “I think it's still important for us as a whole to show well in this tournament,” he said. “I was very pleased with our first performance [a 2-0 defeat to Chelsea on June 16]. I was not with the result. I was halfway pleased tonight, and not with the result. So we're gonna look to try to tie the two together against Flamengo, which will be very difficult.”
SCARLET & BLACK
One of the oldest (founded in 1895), and most popular (estimated 50 million fans) clubs in the world, Flamengo is one of four Brazilian clubs in the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 and is synonymous with the very best that South American football has to offer.
A long list of legendary players from Brazil’s National Team have worn the Rubro-Negro (Scarlet & Black) over the years. Among them are Vinicius Jr. (2017), Lucas Paquetá (2016-2019), Ronaldinho (2011), Romário (1995-1999), Bebeto (1983-1989, 1996), and Flamengo’s all-time leading scorer, Zico (508 goals for Flamengo between 1971 and 1989).
This year’s edition, coached by former Brazil and Atlético Madrid fullback Filipe Luis, qualified for the Club World Cup by claiming its third Copa Libertadores trophy in 2022.
So far in this competition, Flamengo has defeated ES Tunis 2-0 and Chelsea 3-1. The second result came after the Brazilians responded to a 1-0 deficit in the 61st minute by scoring twice over the next four minutes then drawing a red card that reduced Chelsea to ten men.
“It's a great team with great players,” LAFC fullback Sergi Palencia said. “Filipe Luis, we know him well as a player, and as a coach, he's doing a great job. They are intense, they are good with the ball, they are talented. We want to win one game in this Club World Cup. As I said the first day, we didn't come here to say that we participated in this cup. We wanted to show a little bit more to win games and go to the next round. We know that this is not possible right now, but we want to give our fans one win, even if it's going to be a tough game and a very good team.”
OLD HEADS
Flamengo’s roster is rich with young talent, but to win Group D they have relied on veterans hardened by years of elite competition. Veteran striker Bruno Henrique, 34, subbed on in the second half against Chelsea and contributed a goal and assist to Flamengo’s 3-1 win.
Defender Danilo, 33, who has earned 65 caps with the Brazilian national team, tapped in the matchwinner against Chelsea in the 65th minute.
Newly signed midfielder Jorginho, 33, joined Flamengo on June 6 from Arsenal and had an assist in his debut against ES Tunis on June 16, then played all 90 minutes of the comeback win over Chelsea, the club he played for between 2018 and 2023.
Playmaker Giorgian De Arrascaeta, who wears the number 10 shirt for Flamengo as well as for Uruguay’s national team, has scored a team-high nine goals for Flamengo in the current Campeonato Brasileiro Série A regular season, and scored Flamengo’s first goal in this competition, a nifty half-volley in the 17th minute against ES Tunis.
LAFC’S JOURNEY
The Black & Gold won the possession battle against Espérance Sportive de Tunis on Friday but failed to convert any of its 10 shots (two on target) in the 1-0 loss. Hugo Lloris kept LAFC in the game, making four saves against a spirited Espérance side that will face Chelsea Tuesday night for a chance to join Flamengo in the Round of 16.
“Overall I think it's been a great experience for us, one we will learn from,” Cherundolo said of LAFC’s first global competition. “I would love to see us in more moments like this and more games like this where we're pushed to our limits because this is how individuals grow and teams grow.”
Of the Flamengo match, he added: “For me it's still an important game, not only for us but also for MLS. So we're gonna treat it with the utmost respect and give it everything we have.”
SMALL WORLD [CUP]
LAFC midfielder Igor Jesus signed his first pro contract with Flamengo at age 18 and won two trophies with the Scarlet & Black. He is not to be confused with the Botafogo striker of the same name who is two years older than LAFC’s Igor Jesus and who scored the only goal in Botafogo’s upset of UEFA Champions League winners Paris Saint-Germain on June 19 to clinch first place in Group B.
THE SETTING
The match will be held at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, which has a capacity of more than 60,000 and was the setting for a record crowd (including a large contingent of Brazilians) when the U.S. Men’s National Team hosted Brazil there on June 12, 2024.
FLAMENGO CAN WIN IF
Its depth and attacking pressure wears down the Black & Gold the way it wore down Chelsea and ES Tunis. Flamengo scores by committee. If the front six of its 4-2-3-1 formation aren’t clicking, manager Luis has the luxury of bringing on a substitute or three who can quickly change the game and the scoreboard.
LAFC CAN WIN IF
It finds something to play for. LAFC’s two most impressive performances of 2025—its 2-1 win over Club América in the FIFA Club World Cup Play-in match on May 31, and its 2-0 defeat to Chelsea to open group-stage play last week—came with stakes so high and against an opponent so elite that maximum focus was not optional, it was required. The Black & Gold’s focus wavered against Tunis, and as goalkeeper and former World Cup champion Hugo Lloris put it, “we were punished.”
Tuesday’s Group D finale against Flamengo presents LAFC with an opportunity to once again test itself against the very best and to say as it leaves this tournament that it knocked off the Group D winners. For inspiration, the team might look back on club Co-President and GM John Thorrington’s words before the group left LA to begin this adventure, “Chelsea and Flamengo and Tunis and all these teams, I hope they walk off the field with a great level of respect as to the quality of our players and the intensity and the commitment of our players. And if we walk off the pitch every game with that, we will be proud, and I trust that the results will fall our way.
“It's a chance to go out and show what we can do,” Thorrington continued. “I think the worst thing we could possibly do would be to go in overawed against these teams. And so I think for us, in typical LAFC fashion, we just have to go for it, throw our best punch, and see what happens.”
