Chelsea will face Corinthians in Club World Cup final

Posted on December 14, 2012 by SoccerPunter

Chelsea beat Monterrey 3-1 at the Club World Cup in Japan and they will meet Brazilian giants Corinthians in the finals.

It is the first time that the English Premier League club participate in Club World Cup, they did well to dominate the match and finished the first half with a goal up. The match was concluded with two more goals from Chelsea barely five minutes into the second half.

Monterrey were bidding to become the first CONCACAF champions to reach a Club World Cup final, but the strength of Chelsea‘s David Luiz in midfield, coupled with the trickery of Juan Mata and Eden Hazard proved too much for the Mexicans.

Chelsea started the match with the greater intent and Luiz went close to scoring inside the first four minutes, breaking from his defensive midfield position to fire narrowly over the bar from just outside the box.

Eden Hazard missed a golden opportunity to open the scoring two minutes later. Luiz played a precision pass which split the Monterrey defence but the Belgian pushed the ball wide with only the goalkeeper to beat.

Chelsea had their breakthrough on 17 minutes with a beautifully worked goal that was expertly finished by Mata.

Midfielder Oscar played a back heel to Ashley Cole on the edge of the penalty box. The left-back then squared it to the Spaniard who took a touch before smashing it past Monterrey goalkeeper Jonathan Orozco.

Monterrey’s only clear-cut chance in the first 45 came shortly afterwards when striker Aldo De Nigris headed over the bar from close range.

Any hopes the Mexicans had for a second-half comeback were dashed after just 15 seconds of the restart, Fernando Torres grabbing a deflected goal from inside the box with much of the 36,648 crowd yet to return to their seats.

The match was over as a contest on the 48-minute-mark when Darvin Chavez put the ball into his own net to make it 3-0.

A rout appeared to be on the cards at the 68,000-capacity International Stadium in Yokohama but Victor Vucetich’s side steadied the ship and scored a consolation goal through De Nigris in injury time.

Chelsea will play Copa Libertadores winners Corinthians in the final in Yokohama on Sunday. Earlier that day Monterrey will take on Egypt’s Al Ahly in a play-off for third place.