. Storms have now caused six games, all held in different cities, to be suspended during the tournament
Enzo Maresca fumed after Chelsea’s Club World Cup game against Benfica took nearly five hours to complete due to a weather delay, describing the situation as “a joke” and “not football”.
The Premier League side eventually ran out 4-1 winners after extra-time in the last-16 tie in Charlotte, which was suspended for almost two hours due to a thunderstorm.
Chelsea had been just four minutes away from victory following Reece James’ stunning free-kick when the players were taken off the field and fans were told to vacate the seating bowl at the Bank of America Stadium.
The players were pictured riding exercise bikes and kicking balls in the dressing room during the enforced break, but, when play eventually resumed, Benfica benefited from the break and forced extra-time with a controversial Angel Di Maria penalty.
The game swung back in Chelsea’s favour after the Portuguese giants had Gianluca Prestianni sent off and Christopher Nkunku gave them a decisive lead. Breakaway goals from Pedro Neto and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall wrapped up the win.
Storms have now caused six games, all held in different cities, to be suspended during the tournament and Maresca went on to suggest the USA was not the right place to host the competition.
“For 85 minutes we were in control of the game,” Maresca said.
“After the break, the game changed completely. For me it’s not football. It’s already seven, eight, nine games that they suspended.
“I think it’s a joke to be honest, it’s not football. It’s not for us. You cannot be inside. I struggle to understand. I can understand that for security reasons, you suspend the game. But if you suspend seven, eight games, that means that probably [this] is not the right place to do this competition.”
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On the break, he added: “It’s a joke. That’s why I said it. if they’ve already suspended six games, probably there is something that is not working. I’m not here to decide the rule. I’m no one to decide the rule. I’m the last one. I’m talking as a manager. As a manager, it’s difficult to manage two hours suspended.
“There is some problem for me personally. But I’m not talking – I’m talking as a manager. Because when you are two hours inside and you try to keep them in the game, but for two hours, they are speaking with the family outside for safety reasons.
“They are eating something, they are playing, they are laughing. How can you keep them two hours inside, focused? Then we are happy. We are happy to be here. We are happy to be in this competition. But it’s something that it’s not normal for.”
Despite the difficult circumstances, Maresca was proud of his team for their extraordinary, weather-hit win to reach the Club World Cup quarter-finals, where they will now face Brazilian side Palmeiras.
Maresca told DAZN: “I’m very proud. The performance for me was top until the last five minutes when they stopped the game, and when we restarted [it was] a completely a different game.
“When you are inside for more than one hour it’s not easy but, 1-1, we continued to play and, at the end, I think the reward was one that we deserve.”
“We are in the last eight teams here in this competition and we are very happy.”
Credit: sky sports
