CHARLOTTE, North Carolina :Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca lashed out after a two-hour weather delay disrupted his team’s last-16 Club World Cup victory over Benfica on Saturday, suggesting the United States was not a suitable country for the competition – a year before it is due to host the men’s World Cup.
Chelsea beat Benfica 4-1 in extra-time to qualify for the quarter-finals after a game that ended four hours and 39 minutes after kicking off, following a two-hour interruption due to a storm warning.
It was the sixth time that a game was stopped at the 32-club tournament because of the risk of lightning.
“For me personally, it’s not football,” Maresca told a press conference. “I think it’s a joke. It’s not football.
“I can understand that for security reasons, you have to suspend the game. But if you suspend seven or eight games, that means that probably this is not the right place to do this competition.
“It’s a fantastic competition. It’s the Club World Cup, all the best clubs are here,” he added.
“But six, seven games suspended? It’s not normal. In a World Cup how many have they suspended? Probably zero. In a European (championship), how many games? Zero. There is some problem.”
FIFA, which organised the tournament, was not immediately available for comment.
Chelsea were 1-0 up when the players were asked to leave the pitch and play only resumed almost two hours later.
“The game was very good for 85 minutes, then we stopped for two hours, and when we started it was a completely different game. It’s not the same game because you break the tempo,” Maresca said.
(Writing by Julien Pretot in Miami; Editing by Kate Mayberry)
