For the first time, the FC Series has turned the boot blue.
Manchester City FC beat Chelsea FC 4-2 on Saturday night at the Ohio Stadium in the final match of the FC Series, also known as the Florida Cup, ending Man City’s four-match tour of the United States .
The contest recorded a record attendance, attracting 71,280 enthusiasts, an FC Series attendance record, as well as the largest crowd of any Manchester City or Chelsea pre-season tour of the United States.
“Fantastic,” said Chelsea F. C. “Today was probably the day when there were the maximum enthusiasts at the stadium, and we spent two or three days with the enthusiasts here. The environment is nice. It’s good.
The FC Series is a national extension of the Florida Cup, a foreign spectacle that was first held in Florida in January 2015. The event hosted groups of foreign clubs from Europe, North and South America, according to an email statement from the FC Series.
Ricardo Villar, executive director of FC Series, said the Florida Cup team works hard both years to build relationships with foreign clubs and compare organizations through a thorough variety process.
“City [Manchester] is one of those we visited in 2021 to have a verbal exchange with them,” Villar said. “We understood that we admire their professionalism, their way of managing the market, their social networks, etc. We know that ours is also strong, so it is a smart combination. ”
This year, the FC Series hosted Manchester City’s excursion to the United States. These included sold-out tickets against Serie A’s AC Milan at Yankee Stadium, La Liga’s Barcelona at Orlando’s Camping World Stadium and the tour’s opening match against Scottish Premiership Celtic F. C. at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
The 2024 FC Series also featured two foreign friendlies for Chelsea, ending with a 4-1 loss to Celtic at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana, as well as a 3-0 shutout against Celtic. . Club América at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. In total, more than 200,000 American enthusiasts attended FC Series games this summer, according to an email from the FC Series.
Villar said more sensible foreign skill plays a role in dating between American enthusiasts and soccer viewers, and said stars can generate significant profits in the soccer market.
“The fans love the stars, and the stars make the game rock those days,” Villar said. “The stars are in the big leagues, and the big leagues are here in the FC series. Americans are big fans of it, and the MLS continues. ” to move in the right direction. You see how they brought in Messi and you look at what he did to the market.
The Manchester City and Chelsea stars did not disappoint in Columbus.
The biggest wonder of the night was Manchester City striker Erling Haaland, whose appearance was first in doubt due to minor muscle problems. In the end, Haaland started the attack and logged almost 80 minutes of play.
Haaland and Manchester City fired at full speed from the start of the game. In the 3rd minute, Manchester City put early pressure; Shortly after, a deflected Chelsea pass led to a foul on Haaland by defender Levi Colwill in the penalty area.
The Norwegian star scored the penalty with a left-footed shot into the back corner of the goal, giving Manchester City a 1-0 lead.
Just a minute later, Manchester City forced a Chelsea turnover in opposing territory. When a poor pass got past Haaland, he dribbled towards the center of the box before turning to fire a right-footed shot into the back-right corner of the goal, giving Manchester City a 2-0 lead just five minutes into the match.
“First of all, I think unless in the first five minutes we conceded two goals, the game was good,” Maresca said. “It’s a great game because you plan the game in a safe way, then you concede goals and then you adjust completely. ”
However, Manchester City did slow down.
Just 10 minutes into the second half, winger Oscar Bobb won a pass from midfielder James McAtee, beating a Chelsea defender with a left-footed move that provided enough area to shoot into the back right corner of the goal, putting City ahead. 3-0.
Less than a minute later, a pass from McAtee gave Haaland a one-on-one chance in front of goalkeeper Robert Sanchez, who would tip into the back left corner to give Manchester City a 1-2 lead. 4-0.
Chelsea struck back twice in the half, and star striker Raheem Sterling scored a left-footed strike off a cross from winger Noni Madueke in the 59th minute.
Madueke also scored on a breakaway in the 88th minute off a pass from defensive midfielder Romeo Lavia, reducing Chelsea’s deficit to two with a shot off the post.
Chelsea’s last two goals in the end were not enough to make up for their past mistakes, as Manchester City emerged victorious 4-2.
“I need to give some recommendations to the promoters of this event,” said Manchester City F. C. “said coach Josep “Pep” Guardiola. We lost 4-3 against Celtic, 2-2 against Barcelona and six goals here today, so in every game we will score a smart goal. If they mark us for next season, Others They will be satisfied that we score a lot of goals, that we concede a lot of goals and others will come to see it.
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