Flamengo’s dominant 2-0 victory over Esperance de Tunis on Monday will have caught the attention of Group D favorites Chelsea, and suggests the Brazilian side could have a significant impact at FIFA’s revamped tournament.
The Brazilian Cup champions next face Chelsea, who beat MLS side LAFC 2-0 earlier in the day, in a mouth-watering clash at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field on Friday that should determine the group winner.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT:
It has been over a decade since a European team lost at the Club World Cup but the ease with which Flamengo dispensed with Esperance will give them confidence they can end that run when they face Chelsea on Friday.
The London side were the last European team to taste defeat at the tournament, losing to Corinthians in the 2012 final, but since then the continent’s clubs are undefeated in 27 matches.
Palmeiras and Boca Juniors came close to wins over Porto and Benfica in their openers at the current edition, and South American sides have six games left against European opposition in the group stage to break their stranglehold.
Flamengo are unbeaten in over a month and lead the Brazilian league playing a solid brand of football under the calm guidance of former Atletico Madrid defender Filipe Luis.
KEY QUOTES:
Flamengo midfielder Jorginho: “We enjoyed the goal, and the fans were amazing, as I’ve seen before but now I’m living it. The most important thing is the performance that we did. I think we controlled the game, we played well and we deserved the win, I think that was the most important thing for us.
“It felt really good, because we have great players who understand the game, I feel that we can understand each other very quickly, and it’s going to be a good bond with the group and everything, so we just need to keep working together and move forward.”
Flamengo manager Filipe Luis: “At the beginning we managed to control the game with possession, then after the first goal we slowed down a bit and that cost us a bit of time with the ball. But in the second half we managed to score the second goal and a great win, three points. Now we have to face the next chapter for this group, Chelsea is a difficult team, but very happy with the win.” (Reporting by Fernando Kallas; Editing by Peter Rutherford )
Flamengo’s impressive Club World Cup start sets up mouth-watering Chelsea showdown
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Flamengo’s impressive Club World Cup start sets up mouth-watering Chelsea showdown
- The Brazilian Cup champions next face Chelsea, who beat MLS side LAFC 2-0 earlier in the day, in a mouth-watering clash at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field on Friday
Bublik, Medvedev progress to second round of Dubai Tennis Championships
- Medvedev, the No. 3 seed this week, enjoyed a straight-sets victory over Juncheng Shang to set up last-16 tie with Swiss star Stan Wawrinka
- No. 2 seed Alexander Bublik needed only 66 minutes to see off Jan-Lennard Struff
DUBAI: Under the afternoon sun, the seeds blossomed. Day 2 of ATP 500 week at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships started with Daniil Medvedev showing clinical efficiency to dispatch China’s Juncheng Shang in little more than an hour. The Russian, seeded third this week and champion here in 2023, moved through the match with confidence to seal a 6-1, 6-3 win and set-up a last-16 tie with Stan Wawrinka.
Shang, the 21-year-old ranked World No. 262, has offered flashes of promise in recent months despite the inevitable growing pains of a young professional. In early January, he reached the quarterfinals in Hong Kong, a result that hinted at an upward trajectory, but consistency has since proved elusive and he had lost three of his previous four matches, including a 4-6, 2-6 defeat to Medvedev last week in Doha.
The rematch provided little reversal of fortune as Medvedev struck 20 winners and 10 aces, dictating play from the baseline and rarely allowing rallies to drift beyond his control. On serve, the World No. 11 was especially untouchable, capturing 81 percent of his first-serve points over the course of the contest to condemn Shang to consecutive defeats in subsequent weeks.
“Of course, I tried to play the same tactic (as last week) because if it works, you need to stick to it,” Medvedev said. “I knew he would of course try to adapt some things, so I tried to adapt to his adaptations and did that quite well. I saw he was struggling a bit at the end, but until then, I thought it was a fair match, and we were playing some pretty good points.”
For all the scoreboard’s lopsided tilt, there were moments of resistance. Early in the first set, the pair engaged in a bruising 34-shot rally — one of the longest exchanges of the tournament to date — that drew murmurs from the appreciative crowd. It was Medvedev, the former world No. 1, who ultimately claimed the point.
Asked where he feels the level of his game is coming into a tournament that features four other former Dubai champions as well as eight of the world’s top 20, Medvedev suggested he is more content than confident.
“Actually, I shouldn’t judge myself too much just now,” he said. “I lost a couple of matches lately and whenever you do it, you always feel like you are playing worse. I should try to pump myself up instead. I won 6-1, 6-3, so if we don’t put every point under the microscope, it was a good level in general, I look forward to the next match and raising my level even more.”
Medvedev had barely finished his post-match media duties when Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik, the world No. 10 and this week’s No. 2 seed, strolled onto the 5,000-capacity Centre Court to open his own campaign. Facing a “lucky loser” in Jan-Lennard Struff, Bublik was a picture of composure despite entering the tie on the wrong side of a 3-2 head-to-head record and having required three sets to get past the same opponent only a couple of weeks ago in Rotterdam.
Bublik, breaking his German opponent’s serve at the first opportunity, took an early 3-1 lead and refused to relinquish it, hitting six aces as well as saving three breakpoints. Battling throughout, Struff — ranked 70 places below his opponent in the world rankings — showed fight but could not level the tie. When his own service game was broken again in the ninth game, the first set went to Bublik 6-3.
Struff found his serve in the second set, hitting six aces of his own, but Bublik was not for budging and took his tally to 12 overall. With the set going with serve, the Kazakh eventually got the all-important break in the 10th to take the set 6-4 and seal comfortable passage to the second round.
“I think I played a solid match,” said Bublik, who lost in the Dubai final two years ago. “I mean, it's never easy to face Jan. I’m trailing a bit in the head-to-head, but I knew what I had to do. I knew what shots I have to execute to get more chances to win easily, and I think I did well in more important moments.”
Bublik is enjoying a career-high ranking of No. 10, but insisted he prefers to focus on his game, knowing the two factors are not mutually exclusive. “It’s just a number and if you play well, you’re going to have a better ranking,” he said. “If you start losing matches, the ranking is going to go down very quickly if everyone else plays well. So, for me, it’s more about keeping my game and enjoying the moment.”
