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Chelsea wins World Football Challenge finale in Cowboys Stadium

11:06 PM Sun, Jul 26, 2009 |
Jon Arnold
 E-mail

Chelsea beat Club America 2-0 to take the pre-season World Football Challenge tournament in front of 57,229 fans at Cowboys Stadium.

The game concludes the tour of the United States by both teams, and their fatigue was at times visible on the field. Also, several fan favorites from Chelsea didn't play in the game including John Terry, who in the morning ended speculation he would leave Chelsea for Manchester City, Frank Lampard, Petr Cech, and Didier Drogba.

Still, the contest was well played and kept the crowd, made up mostly of America fans and a smaller, but vocal contingent of Chelsea fans, entertained.

The teams went into the half with no score after a first half that saw Chelsea fail to convert numerous chances. America also had several chances in the first half, and two very good chances just before Chelsea's pair of goals, but none were successful.

Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti attributed the scoreless first half to strong midfield play by America.

"The first half was difficult because Club America put pressure on our midfield," he said. "The second half was different because they put on less pressure and we could play more easily."

Chelsea's goals were scored only two minutes apart from each other.

The first came in the 76th minute by Franco DiSanto on a chipped pass in from Florent Malouda,

Then in the 78th minute, Malouda, who troubled Club America throughout the match, finished a ball put in by DiSanto. DiSanto weaved past America defender Oscar Rojas, barely keeping the ball in play and attempted to make a pass across the mouth of the goal. The ball deflected off another America defender to Malouda who had no trouble putting the ball in the net.

Chelsea is traveling back to England tonight after a record-breaking pre-season tour. The team drew 274,945 fans throughout their trip, breaking the record for a European club touring the States, which was previously held by Manchester United's 2003 tour.





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