Club World Cup: Flamengo’s win over Chelsea latest display of South American ascendancy

PHILADELPHIA — Filipe Luis saw both sides of Friday’s game in his playing career, and he’s been on both ends of the larger battle being waged.

The Flamengo manager, who turns 40 in August, spent four seasons playing for the club he now leads. The left back won the Premier League in his lone season with Chelsea in 2014-15, amid a playing career that took him to Ajax in Holland, two stops and a La Liga title with Atletico Madrid and 44 caps and a World Cup with Brazil.

So Luis understood more than most the magnitude of what his team achieved Friday at the Club World Cup.

“I am surprised, because I know the quality of these European clubs, especially the elite,” Luis said after Flamengo topped Chelsea, 3-1, at Lincoln Financial Field. “The absolute elite, it’s about 10, 12 clubs in the world who are part of this elite. I’m surprised at these results, it’s true. … But what I can say about South American clubs is they are very competitive. We know in Copa Libertadores, it was so difficult to win, and not always the best win.”

Philadelphia got a look at one of the early storylines in the inaugural expanded Club World Cup: South American teams are asserting themselves on the global stage. It is both not surprising and part of the rationale behind FIFA throwing open the doors to international club competition.

That shouldn’t be a revelation given the flows of global talent. So many of the world’s best players come from the continent. European clubs would be greatly diminished without South American talent fueling them. But as Luis knows, those players often find their way to the clubs with the most money and influence, based in Europe and the Middle East.

Clubs in South America tend to have many of those players at the beginning and end of their careers. But they compensate with a constant procession of new talent. And the clubs take international competitions seriously. That’s part of the reason why South American clubs started the Club World Cup with a 6-0-3 mark, a run interrupted by Boca Juniors’ loss to Bayern Munich late Friday.

Brazilian clubs have been spotless, carrying a 5-0-2 mark through Friday.

Luis expressed some surprise at that, both directly and in his praise of Chelsea, saying that he told Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca that it was “four days without sleeping” in preparation.

“When I watch his team playing, for me, it’s the most perfect tactical playing in Europe,” Luis said. “He has all his solutions covered for players, and the players understand really well his model of play. It’s so difficult to play against them. So it makes our win huge.”

It speaks to the dedication that Luis’ squad displayed. It had the better of play for the first half but was unlucky to trail thanks to one mistake at the back. Right back Wesley Franca, pinching forward, misplayed a clearance that was hit to him directly into the path of Pedro Neto. Neto pushed it forward, and Franca missed a chance to end the play at midfield that led to Neto netting on a breakaway in the 13th minute.

It was a mistake of aggression, and the former fullback Luis praised Franca for bouncing back. The resilience allowed O Mengao to tip the game onto its terms, with 51.5 percent of possession and a 13-11 edge in shots. Substitute Bruno Henrique scored in the 62nd minute. Center back Danilo scored on a set piece in the 65th, and by the time Chelsea sub Nicholas Jackson saw a red card in the 68th, Flamengo was on its way. Sub Wallace Yan sealed it in the 83rd, much to the delight of 54,019 fans at the Linc.

“They didn’t stop playing in any moment,” Luis said. “They kept playing the same way. Nobody lost position. Nobody tried to do the game for their own.”

Brazilian clubs have lately reigned on the continent. The last six editions of their Champions League equivalent, Copa Libertadores, have been won by clubs from Brazil, including four all-Brazil finals. Botafogo, which won in 2024, turned heads by beating UEFA Champions League holder Paris Saint-Germain on Thursday. It and Flamengo, the 2023 Copa Lib winner, have each won their first two games.

Clubs from Brazil won four editions of the old Club World Cup, including the first three, taking the FIFA concoction more serious than most. The title of the first tournament, in 2000, came down to Corinthians, who had drawn with Real Madrid in the group stage, and Vasco de Gama, which beat Manchester United. Sao Paulo beat Liverpool to win the 2005 title. Internacional topped Barcelona in 2006. Corinthians bested Chelsea in the 2012 final.

The dose of unpredictability is needed spice for the Club World Cup. Through the expanded Champions League, kudzu-creeping summer friendlies and the torpedoed plans for a European super league, games between Europe’s elite are threatening a saturation point. This tournament removes some of the mainstays from the scene – no Barcelona, only two English clubs and 12 total from the continent. Seeing European clubs battle opponents from other continents not only takes aim at the supremacy of soccer’s homeland but breathes fresh air into the club space in the way that next summer’s World Cup will for soccer at large.

And if it ends with a South American club on top, to Luis, that will be cause for celebration if not shock.

“Anything can happen,” he said. “It’s football.”