It was a good game overall in our second pre-season game against PSG in New York. I was admittedly surprised when I found out that we were playing in the New York Yankee Stadium, temporarily converted to fit a football pitch. Outstanding!!
It was good to see more familiar faces from the Euro 2012 squads, including JT, Cole, Malouda, and Cech too. Meireles wasn't in the squad but was in New York already. Just Torres remaining, as Mata, Sturridge, Bertrand, and Romeu are all in the Olympics squad.
I only managed to watch the second half, to my disappointment. However, as I have read, the first half doesn't look too good for us. There were six changes to the side that started the game in Seattle, however it looked a much stronger side, although to be fair, our opponents this time was also a much stronger team. Nevertheless, it may be true that our team was second best throughout the first half, with the scoreline at the interval 1 - 0 for PSG.
There were four changes made at half-time, however we still can't find the equaliser. The remaining seven changes were made on the 62nd minute, including the introduction of our captain John Terry. The game was much more even on the 2nd half, with our team finding the equaliser after a brazilian masterpiece by Lucas Piazon and Ramires. After that it was much more open, and both sides have had chances to win it. However as the whistle goes, honours were shared at the first football game in the Yankee Stadium between Chelsea and PSG.
It was good for me to be able to see more familiar faces in blue, however the performance I saw was not class, and definitely not European Champions. Not yet. Well this is just a pre-season game, so we can only hope that when the season starts, we will be much, much better. We are still missing a prolific striker here, with only one name in my mind and it is none other than our number nine, Fernando Torres. I can't wait to see him back in action as our first team striker. The old guard have always showed great resilience and leadership, while the younger boys are trying hard to impress and to link up well with the team. Piazon was excellent with the goal there, but impressed nothing more. I see him as a player with great potential, but not as a target man, more of a second striker behind the target man.
We may well have avoided defeat, but we should now carry on focusing for our next game against MLS All-Stars in Philadelphia in 3 days. In other news, our UCL hero Didier Drogba made a wonder debut for Shanghai Shenhua, with an assist and a spectacular free kick, coming on from the bench. We wish him the best of luck with his career in Shanghai. #CFC
Links:
http://www.chelseafc.com/page/Tour_News/0,,10268~2857425,00.html
http://www.goal.com/en-gb/match/83683/paris-st-germain-psg-vs-chelsea-fc/report
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