Monday, July 28, 2008

Chelsea played their second game of their Far East tour against Chengdu Blades, in Macau.

The game was played in conditions that were particularly draining with the high humidity and temperature meaning that taking liquids on board would be essential.

Missing from the Chelsea squad were Jose Bosingwa (thigh injury), Andriy Shevchenko (niggling injury) and Michael Ballack who had only just joined up with the party after and extended summer break.

The opposition, Chengdu Blades, are owned by Sheffield United!

The first half saw Chelsea dominate their opponents and go into the break with a three goal lead. In a stadium that was far from full, goals from Anelka, Kalou and Lampard gave us that comfortable lead.

The first goal came in the fifteenth minute when Anelka raced onto a great through ball from Wright-Phillips, Having beaten the offside trap he nicked the ball around the keeper and slotted it home.

The second came in the thirtieth minute when Wright-Phillips, once again, threaded a ball through to Anelka who squared it for Kalou to score from fourteen yards out.

The third, on thirty seven minutes, was created by some wonderful skill from Kalou down the left flank and when the ball was pulled back to Lampard he made no mistake firing home from the edge of the area.

Other highlights of the half were some teasing crosses from Wright-Phillips and some lovely forward play from Anelka.

The only down side being two challenges from Deco that, in the Premier League; could well have produced a yellow card.

The second half saw Scolari introduce five substitutes at half time and, as expected; three more were introduced later in the half.

On the pitch Chelsea continued to dominate and scored four more during the half.

The first, and fourth goal of the game, came in the fifty-fifth minute when Joe Cole, on for only three minutes, ran onto an Anelka through ball to round the keeper and slide home the ball with his left foot.

The fifth of the game came in the sixty-sixth minute when Di Santo netted after a good piece of work from Joe Cole enabled Carvalho to produce a devastating cross that mesmerised the home defence.

The sixth came in the eighty second minute when Joe Cole fired home from close range after an Essien cross had been fired into the box and the seventh, and last, came two minutes later when some good individual skill from Malouda, flowed by a fierce shot that was way off target, hit Wright-Phillips on the back and flew past a startled keeper.

All in all a comfortable win against very limited opposition.

Team - Cech (Hilario-60), Ferreira (Ivanovic-46), Alex (Carvalho-46), Terry (J.Cole-52), A.Cole (Bridge-46), Essien, Deco, Lampard (Mikel-46), Wright-Phillips, Anelka (Di-Santo 60), Kalou (Malouda-46)

Unused Sub - Cudicini,

Chelsea Scorers- Anelka, Kalou, Lampard, J.Cole (2), Di Santo, Wright-Philips

Chelsea Yellow Cards - Nil

Chelsea Red Cards - Nil

No response to “Chelsea played their second game of their Far East tour against Chengdu Blades, in Macau.”