YOKOHAMA — Paolo Guerrero scored the only goal of the game to hand Corinthians FIFA Club World Cup title at the expense of European champions Chelsea on Sunday.
Report by Reuters
The first real sight of goal went the way of Chelsea with nine minutes on the clock as centre-back Gary Cahill saw his powerful effort from close range kept out by Cassio in the Corinthians goal.
It took South American champions Corinthians a little while to settle into the encounter, but when they did, they created two chances in quick succession.
Emerson Sheik spurned the first when he was put through one-on-one with Petr Cech in the 28th minute, then just six minutes later the same player turned a cross from Guerrero onto the post from a narrow angle.
In the closing stages of the half Chelsea were the dominant force, but both Victor Moses and Juan Mata were denied goals by Cassio.
Both teams struggled to create clear goalscoring chances during the opening exchanges of the second half, with both sets of defenders on top.
However, with 68 minutes on the clock Corinthians broke the deadlock. Edenilson’s shot from inside the area was blocked by a sliding Cahill, resulting in the ball looping up over Cech.
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Three Chelsea players got back on the line, but none of them put Guerrero under pressure as he advanced to head into the net.
Chelsea’s best chance to draw level fell to the feet of Fernando Torres with just six minutes left.
A long throw from substitute Cesar Azpilicueta picked out the Spanish striker all alone inside the area, but he could only find the feet of Cassio from six yards out.
Then with one minute of the match remaining Cahill was handed his marching orders following an altercation with Emerson just inside the Chelsea half.
In what was a dramatic ending to the final, Torres headed the ball into the net deep into stoppage time, but his effort was ruled out correctly for offside.
Corinthians success means that the trophy will return to Brazil for the first time since 2006.
