The Club World Cup(CWC) trophy, belongs to Chelsea, as they humbled PSG spanking them 3-nil in the final.
However before that final was the rhetoric that Chelsea had an easy route during the competition. I actually found that statement( allegation, is what I call it) difficult to stomach.
No team in that made it to the semis and even quarters of that competition can be labelled "having it easy".
No Brazilian team is easy and Chelsea eliminated two of them. And that's a Chelsea that had a turbulent EPL season last time out. They were preparing for a mid-table finish at a point before somehow they put together a good run of form towards the end of the season and squeezed into a CL spot.
So Chelsea going into the CWC wasn't the vintage Chelsea of the those years where they conquered Barcelona. So why would someone then say they had it easy?
[When Chelsea faithfuls argued saying, if it was so easy why did Man City, a side spoken of as stronger than Chelsea and one of the favourites, exit? The reply they got was that they should keep quiet that City's exit was a just a one off, totally unexpected, a shock that doesn't happen everytime]
I also begged to dusagree. Actually Man City's exit from the competition, is consistent with their season. Calling it an absolute shock is just being too emotional, the fact is that Guardiola's team hasn't been consistent this season, especially in keeping out goals.
Caicedo, Fernandes, Gomez back to his best, etc, Chelsea's greatest problem had been in front of goal– with a poor striker and Palmer that often bails out the striker, began to lose confidence– and poor goalkeeping.
So once I saw Pedro, I knew they have made a masterstroke of a signing and the goalkeeper, Gomez, has been a changed man since the tail end of last season.
Ever before Pedro played his first game for Chelsea, in two dufferent social media platforms I questioned why people think Mbeumo should be more expensive than Pedro. It waa some hot back and forth in one of those platforms as refused to agree with those who insisted Mbeumo should cost more. Even Chelsea fans in those platforms were not so enthusiastic about Pedro, they said he is an option for Cole Palmer.
Chelsea's coach however took me by surprise, by ordering the player to immediately travel into the competition. Once he arrived, I knew he would play. Now not all coaches will rush a player into competitive football from holiday. The saying comes to mind- "you create your own luck". Nothing was easy the coach took risks for Pedro to join the team from holiday, no rest, and started playing him immediately.
So nobody should say Chelsea was given a free ride, this was no easy competition at all, truth be told.
I still think Fluminense(in the semis)
were denied a penalty in that 1st half against Chelsea. Because eventhough it's true the hand was in a natural position but the player seemed to move his hand towards the ball. If the penalty was awarded and Fluminense scored[1–1], well Fluminense will still have had to scored another to beat Chelsea.
However it wasn't Chelsea that told the referee not to blow a penalty,if really it was a penalty.
This a Chelsea that is still in the process of building their team, that only is hardwork.
So when I saw the finals and they played and how "easily" they dispatched PSG, I was waiting for the "easy route" chanters to come out and chant against Chelsea. They couldn't they were silenced, it was clear that Chelsea should never have been disrespected. They worked to make things look easy, they had been working from the start of the competition, nothing was truly easy.
Give them all the kudos they deserve.
Cheers