Chelsea is on its way to the final of the FIFA Club World Cup after knocking out Al Hilal SFC. The game was generally uneventful with the Blues trying different ways to break their Saudi Arabian opponents down and not succeeding more than one time. Romelu Lukaku was fortunate to have a scoffed headed clearance bounce to his feet, which he pounced on to his credit. There will of course be more discontent amongst fans with the Chelsea attack’s inability to put away teams before they get desperate, but what are the actual lessons to be taken from this crucial victory?
1. There are no easy games with trophies on the line
Many people often assume any team that isn’t a Premier League team or a club from a top five European league is supposed to be a pushover. Nothing about football in the real world suggests that this is even remotely true. This is even less of the case when trophies are on the line, especially ones bearing the status of the Club World Cup’s.
There are generally no pushovers in football, but in high stakes games, that is even more of the case. Even in the Premier League, relegation-battling sides often give top teams very difficult games due to the high stakes. Trophies aren’t even on the line in those frustrating bouts, but the consequences of losing those games are often high for both clubs for different reasons. Both teams show that in their performance in an everyday league match.
Many expected an easy victory in the Al Hilal match, either because of how good this Chelsea team is or how poorly they perceived the AFC Champions League winner to be. Al Hilal knew what was at stake in the game, especially after a 6-1 win over Al Jazira. A loss meant the end of its Club World Cup run and the knowledge of this showed in the way the Saudi club performed. It goes without saying that there are no easy matches in professional football, this is especially true when some of the biggest trophies on Earth are on the line.