Cole Palmer leads Chelsea past Palmeiras, 2-1, in a thrilling Club World Cup finale at the Linc

The noise from the Palmeiras fans was thunderous, drums and voices combined in a heaving mass of green and white in Lincoln Financial Field’s north stands. If that alone could have carried a team to victory, the Brazilians would have taken the game in a rout.

Alas, as happened too often in South Philadelphia before the Eagles got really good, the other team walked out with the win.

Cole Palmer’s 16th-minute goal started it and an own goal forced by Malo Gusto in the 83rd finished it, as Chelsea walked out 2-1 victors. In between, Palmeiras teen phenom Estêvão hit a spectacular strike in the 53rd that electrified the crowd of 65,872 — the biggest attendance of Philadelphia’s eight games in the tournament and the third-biggest of any Club World Cup game to date.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino was once again on hand, with fellow dignitaries including Brazilian legend Cafu (whose many club stops included Palmeiras), South American confederation president Alejandro Domínguez, and former Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger (now a FIFA executive).

There were plenty of blue-clad Chelsea fans in that crowd to be sure, and many of them probably didn’t travel far to get there. A lot of American-style “Let’s go, Chelsea!” cheers rose during the game, and one round of them drew an attempt from other Chelsea fans to drown it out with an English-style chant.

» READ MORE: With so many Club World Cup games in such a short time, how is the Linc holding up? Its grounds chief tells us

Wherever they came from, they all enjoyed Palmer’s goal. Trevoh Chalobah split two defenders with the feed, Palmer received it as if a magnet was on his cleat, and after turning, he danced to his left past three defenders. That gave him a clean look on goal, and the shot was the easiest part of the move.

The second half began with the Palmeiras fan sections waving Italian flags en masse, a reference to their team’s old “Palestra Italia” nickname. If ever there was an American city to wave Italian flags in, Philadelphia would certainly qualify — and of course, the word “Palestra” means something around here too.

» READ MORE: How Palmeiras hoped to upset Chelsea in Philly’s final Club World Cup game

Whether or not the karma worked, Estêvão’s brilliance certainly did. Richard Ríos spotted him open in the 18-yard box, pinged a pass from the right flank, then Estêvão sprung past Levi Colwill and banked a shot in off the crossbar. The crowd erupted, and Estêvão grabbed the badge on his jersey as he shouted — even more symbolic because he’s joining Chelsea after the Club World Cup in a big-money deal.

Blues manager Enzo Maresca, meanwhile, put his head in his hands in disbelief. However difficult the play might have looked to fans watching at home on TV, it looked even more difficult in person.

It took a while for Chelsea to regain full control of the game, but the Blues didn’t ask how when the own goal went in. Gusto forced it, as Chelsea pulled a trick play out of a short corner kick that led to his attempted low cross. It hit defender Agustín Giay, and the ball then bounced off goalkeeper Weverton on the way in at the near post.

That was a bitter pill for the hordes of Palmeiras fans to swallow, and the neutrals in attendance who were pulling for the underdog. Chelsea was the better team for most of the night, though, and ultimately deserved the win.

» READ MORE: Philly groups sign letter to FIFA expressing ‘deep concern’ over President Trump’s immigration policies on World Cup

“I think we have the feeling that we could have advanced in the competition because of everything we showed, especially in the second half,” Weverton said. “But this is football, and football doesn’t always go as planned, as we expect. I think we have to emphasize the team’s fight — yes, we fought for the win until the end.”

He called his team “proud of everything we did in the whole competition. You can’t erase everything in one defeat, and now we’re going to lift our heads up.”

Chelsea will play another Brazilian team, Fluminense, in the first semifinal on Tuesday at MetLife Stadium (3 p.m., TNT, DAZN). The Rio de Janeiro club will be the third Brazilian team the Blues face in the tournament, after this game and a group stage loss to Flamengo — Fluminense’s most famous rival — at the Linc on June 20.

“I think they have a high level, and they’re showing it in this tournament,” veteran Chelsea defender Marc Cucurella said. “Now we have another surely tough match against Fluminense. … We’ve played two Brazilian teams so far, now we’ll face a third, and you can see they don’t stop fighting.”

The other semifinal will come from Saturday’s all-European quarterfinals, France’s Paris Saint-Germain vs. Germany’s Bayern Munich in Atlanta (noon p.m., TNT, DAZN), and Spain’s Real Madrid vs. Germany’s Borussia Dortmund at MetLife (4 p.m., Univision 65, DAZN).

» READ MORE: Are soccer fans more unhinged than Philly sports fans? A conversation between Inquirer journalists