The good news for the marketing gurus at Fifa is that the 22,137 fans who turned up to watch Chelsea cruise past Los Angeles FC in their Club World Cup opener at least witnessed the surge of excitement provided by Liam Delap coming off the bench to spark an otherwise forgettable contest into life on his debut.
In reality this will not go down as one of the great sporting occasions. The Mercedes-Benz Stadium can hold crowds of 75,000 but staging this match at 3pm on a Monday afternoon was probably not the wisest scheduling move.
Vast sections were empty, the upper tiers were shut and Enzo Maresca probably summed it up best by noting that it was not easy for Chelsea to play in such a “strange environment”.
It is embarrassing for Fifa given that Atlanta is not a place where football usually suffers from a lack of attention. This is the self-styled epicentre of soccer in the US, so much so that the new national training centre is being built on a 200-acre site near the city, but few locals seemed aware that this game was taking place.
News of ticket prices tumbling in the hours before kick-off said a lot. After all Atlanta United, who play their Major League Soccer fixtures here, averaged attendances close to 45,000 last season; Chelsea also pulled in over 70,000 fans when they played Newcastle United in a pre-season friendly here two years ago.
But perhaps the lack of interest was not a surprise. Chelsea versus Newcastle is one thing; Chelsea versus limited MLS opposition from the other side of the country does not quite have the same appeal. LAFC had familiar faces in Hugo Lloris and Olivier Giroud but Steve Cherundolo’s side were only taking part because of Club León being kicked out due to a breach of Fifa’s multi-club regulations.
Chelsea, on the other hand, will play in the Champions League next season, have the advantage of Premier League riches and are full of confidence after winning the Uefa Conference League last month. They have spent big and have added competition for places in attack after signing Delap from Ipswich for the bargain price of £30m. Delap has shown that he means business by taking the No 9 shirt. The 22-year-old has been signed to score goals but he can also make them.
He was in bustling form after being thrown on midway through the second half and earned an assist when he crossed for another Chelsea substitute, Enzo Fernández, to kill off LAFC’s slim hopes of snatching a point with 11 minutes left. It was encouraging for Maresca to see his strikers gearing up for a battle to earn a starting spot.
It was clear that Nicolas Jackson needed more support last season. Chelsea were not the same side when Jackson was unavailable and should think twice if they have any plans to sell the Senegal forward, whose blend of pace, power and intelligent link-up play proved far too much for LAFC’s to handle during a lopsided first half.
True, the 23-year-old’s finishing can be frustrating. Yet while Jackson missed a good headed chance in the second half, he still managed to catch the eye by dropping deep to set up Chelsea’s opener by spraying a reverse pass down the right for Pedro Neto to cut inside, move on to his left foot and slam a low shot inside Lloris’s near post.
“I am quite curious to see how Nico deals with competition,” Maresca said. “Hopefully both strikers can score goals and assist. We had two or three months last season without Nico and Marc Guiu. It is a nice feeling for a manager to have two strikers.”
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Delap was introduced when Chelsea, who are interested in the Lyon winger Malick Fofana, were being subjected to a brief wave of pressure from LAFC at the start of the second half.
Giroud had come on for the underdogs, who almost equalised when David Martínez shot wide and Denis Bouanga forced Robert Sánchez to save well after bursting through on the left.
Maresca had picked a familiar lineup, shorn of any new signings, but fatigue was a concern after a draining season. Reece James and Roméo Lavia need to be managed carefully and were replaced by Fernández and Malo Gusto at half-time.
Chelsea, who face Flamengo in Philadelphia on Friday, improved when Delap came on. He troubled LAFC with his powerful running, barrelling down the right and almost finding Fernández. Neto then set up Cole Palmer, who shot wastefully over.
It was over when Delap picked out a late run from Fernández, who converted from close range. There was concern when Moisés Caicedo went down with cramp. Perhaps the fact that clubs can pocket $2m (£1.47m) through group-stage victories will make the pain easier to ignore.
