Lack Of Fans At Club World Cup Strange, Says Maresca

Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca described the atmosphere in Chelsea’s 2-0 Club World Cup win over LAFC as “strange” because of the lack of fans at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

The game, played on Monday afternoon in the United States, in a 71,000 capacity stadium, attracted just 22,137 fans.

There were questions about ticket sales leading into the Club World Cup and attendance at matches so far have varied based on the venue. On Monday afternoon, there were multiple sections with less than 100 fans in them in the lower bowl.

Ticket prices had been slashed, with general admission available on the day for $51, but there was little late take-up in a city whose team, Atlanta United, have by some distance the best average attendance per game (nearly 47,000 in 2024) of any MLS side.

“I think the environment was a bit strange, the stadium was almost empty, not full,” Maresca said.

“We are professional and we have to adapt to the situation, to the environment. You have to adapt when you play with a full stadium. You have to adapt when the stadium is not full but it doesn’t matter.”
Atlanta is over 2,000 miles (3,220 km) away from Los Angeles, where Major League Soccer club LAFC are based.

LAFC manager Steve Cherundolo said he wasn’t sure if it was the pairing or that people are more into the tournament in Los Angeles but wasn’t too focused on that.

He said the event is incredible but with crowds, “it’s kind of different each game you look at and I don’t think we should be talking about this right now. I think we should wait until the end of the tournament to make a more complete summary of what was going on and opinion of it as a whole as opposed to right now and one game.”

Maresca was asked about what impact he expects from forward Liam Delap, who joined the club for around £30 million ($40.73m) from Ipswich Town on a six-year deal.

Nicolas Jackson, Christopher Nkunku and Marc Guiu are already options for the number nine shirt at Chelsea but the 22-year-old wasted no time in showcasing his potential, setting up Enzo Fernández for their second goal on Monday.

“I am curious to see how Nico reacts [to Delap],” Maresca said. “He competed with Guiu, who is very young, during the season. They are both good number nines.”

Chelsea are level with Flamengo at the top of the group after the Brazilians beat Esperance de Tunis 2-0.