Flamengo and its fans roar past Chelsea in a Club World Cup thriller

The thousands of Flamengo fans who’ve filled Philadelphia’s streets this week have created memories for not just themselves to cherish, but the whole city.

At a sun-splashed Lincoln Financial Field on Friday afternoon, everyone got one more that will last for a long time.

With a stirring second-half comeback, Flamengo flattened English Premier League giant Chelsea, 3-1, in front of a raucous crowd of 54,019. Most of them wore the Brazilian club’s black-and-red stripes, but even the many blue-clad Chelsea supporters had to be impressed by it all.

Along with the Flamengo fans’ joyous songs — which started at a tailgate party four hours before kickoff — the torcida raised banners over the north end stands, and released hundreds of black and red balloons into the sky at kickoff.

As the teams were introduced, the public address system played canned music so loud that it almost seemed aimed at drowning the crowd out. Fortunately, the DJ didn’t succeed, and once the game kicked off the fans finally had the stage to themselves.

» READ MORE: Philadelphia gets to meet Flamengo, a Brazilian soccer giant with a giant fan base

In fact, the Flamengo supporters’ noise might even have forced the Chelsea supporters to up their game. An interception on the run in the eighth minute by Moises Caicedo produced a blue-clad roar worthy of the club’s Stamford Bridge home — which doesn’t always come from American fans when the club tours the U.S. for exhibitions.

Another came in the 13th, when Pedro Neto opened the scoring. Chelsea had cleared a Flamengo free kick, Wesley misplayed the ball when it landed near midfield, and Neto pounced to race away.

Each team attacked toward its fans’ respective end in the second half, which raised the volume further. Flamengo midfielder Erick Pulgar said manager Filipe Luis told the players at halftime “to keep playing like we were playing, because we were superior to them despite the result … Let’s come back in the second half with more desire.”

They did so, and brought the execution to match it.

» READ MORE: Flamengo and Espérance fans lit up the city, then the Linc’s first game of the Club World Cup

In the 62nd, Wesley hit a lovely cross-field pass to Gonzalo Plata, who headed it down for Bruno Henrique to tap in from close range. He ran down the end line in front of that mass of black-and-red shirts, exulting as much as they did.

Two minutes after that, Flamengo jumped into the lead. Henrique had the assist this time, heading across the box for Danilo to finish from almost the same spot where Henrique had scored.

“I didn’t think that the game changed just because of the two goals, to be honest,” veteran Flamengo defender Danilo said. “Since the beginning of the game, we played so well, we took control of the game. Of course when we scored, we increased our confidence. Of course the crowd came with us, and our fans are so important for us.”

» READ MORE: The Chelsea-Flamengo matchup was a reunion of friends on the field

Chelsea fell into an even bigger hole in the 68th, when Nicolas Jackson was ejected for stepping on Ayrton Lucas’ foot, and raking the shin along the way. It might not have been intentional, but the contact was plenty clear. Off Jackson went, just four minutes after entering as a substitute.

The icing on the cake came in the 83rd. Plata and Wallace Yan played a beautiful series of give-and-go passes down the right wing, and Yan capped it off with a thumped finish from six yards.

Yan called it “surreal” to have scored the goal on the big stage. The 20-year-old confessed that Chelsea is one of those teams he saw growing up in EA Sports’ famed soccer video game, and now he got to play against them. He also touchingly said he would make a mural in his hometown of Rio de Janeiro, where Flamengo is based, to honor his mother.

By the start of stoppage time, Flamengo’s fans were olé-ing the ball around the field as their team passed it, soccer’s longtime tradition for celebrating a dominant win. And with a summer Friday afternoon now at hand, the party was no doubt set to continue for a good while.

» READ MORE: Fans of Morocco’s Wydad AC brought a party like ‘no one has ever seen’ to Lincoln Financial Field

Flamengo’s win continued an impressive streak by the six South American teams in this Club World Cup. They were undefeated in their first nine games combined, including to big European opponents. Brazil’s Fluminense, Palmeiras, and Botafogo, and Argentina’s Boca Juniors and River Plate are the others involved.

The streak ended Friday night when Boca lost, 2-1, to German power Bayern Munich in Miami. But at least the tens of thousands of Boca fans who packed the stadium — and packed Miami Beach for days beforehand — saw a brilliant goal from Miguel Merentiel that tied the score in the second half. The roar that followed could be heard halfway to Fort Lauderdale.

Flamengo manager Filipe Luis admitted to being “surprised” that the South American teams have done so well. He was on the other side for many years as a player, at big clubs including Chelsea and Spain’s Atlético Madrid.

“I know the quality of these European clubs, especially the elite of football … it’s about 10 or 12 clubs,” Luis said. He noted he told Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca, a longtime acquaintance from playing against each other in Spain, that he’d had “four days without sleeping, or sleeping really bad. Because when I watch his team play, for me it’s the most perfect tactical playing [team] in Europe.”

» READ MORE: Union phenom Cavan Sullivan got to see Manchester City, his future team, play in Philadelphia

But he walked off the field as the winner, and is rightly proud of how things have gone for the continent.

“South American clubs are very competitive,” Luis said. “And we know in the Copa Libertadores [the continental championship], it was so difficult to win. And not always the best win it — it’s the most competitive.”

Flamengo will finish its group stage run against Los Angeles FC on Tuesday in Orlando, looking to finish off winning the group. Chelsea will be back at the Linc the same night to face Tunisia’s Espérance. Both games kick off at 9 p.m., and will be telecast on DAZN.

The next game at the Linc is Italy’s Juventus against Morocco’s Wydad, kicking off at noon Sunday. Juventus’ squad includes U.S. men’s national team stars Weston McKennie and Tim Weah.