England’s Chelsea defeated Fluminense of Brazil 2-0 to reach the final of the FIFA 2025 Club World Cup, with Blues debutant Joao Pedro netting twice against his boyhood club.
The Brazilian forward, who was at Fluminense from age 10 until leaving for Watford in 2020, curled his new club in front at MetLife Stadium on Tuesday from the left side of the box in the 18th minute.
The 24-year-old, who joined the Londoners from Brighton for $81.5m last week, sealed the win in the drilled effort that went in off the underside of the bar early in the second half.
The Blues will face the winner of Real Madrid against Paris Saint-Germain, who play in the second semifinal on Wednesday.
Temperatures were soaring in New Jersey, which will stage next summer’s FIFA 2026 World Cup, ahead of the 3pm kickoff.
A crowd of 70,556, which was only 10-15 percent short of capacity, attended the game, despite the 34 degrees Celsius (93F) at kickoff, with humidity that made it feel like 40C (104F).
FIFA had, however, cut ticket prices from $473.90 to $13.40 last week.
It did not take long for the action on the field to reach similarly heated levels soon after Pedro’s opener, when Chelsea defender Trevoh Chalobah handled in his own area.
Video Referee Assistant (VAR) intervened, and the original awarding of the penalty was overturned. Fluminense were incensed, but Chalobah’s arm was in a natural position by his side.
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