Club World Cup: Chelsea's win over LAFC overshadowed by empty seats inside Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium
ATLANTA — At some point over the next few weeks, theClub World Cupwill ratchet up its intensity, both on the pitch and in the stands. Monday's first match,a 2-0 Chelsea victory over LAFCthat had the feel of a friendly, did not rise to that level on either account. Sure, both clubs' performances were solid enough; LAFC didn't embarrass itself or MLS, and Chelsea did what it needed to do to take care of business in its debut Group D match. But the real story of the afternoon was in the seats — specifically, the emptiness of vast swaths of seats in Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Announced attendance was 22,137, and in a stadium with a usual capacity of 42,500 for Atlanta United matches and 71,000 for NFL games, there was plenty of room to move around. Whether a consequence of the 3 p.m. Monday kickoff, the lack of interest in the competitors, the cost of the tickets, or a repudiation of the entire Club World Cup, the effect was the same: echoes, silence and a sense that this match would have been a banger had it been held in a stadium about one-fifth the size of the behemoth that is Mercedes-Benz. The notable exception: The 3252, a 500-strong crew of ultra-passionate LAFC supporters who posted up behind the west goal. The fans kicked their drums, bells, chants and dances into gear at the opening kickoff and didn't let up either half, waving team and pride flags and providing a welcome backbeat to what was otherwise a staid atmosphere. "They showed out here to support us, came a long way," LAFC midfielder Mark Delgado said. "Amazing. We definitely noticed them the whole match." Outside The 3252, the crowd — largely clad in Chelsea blue — spent the entire match giving off the vibes of a wait for an oil change. Energy breeds energy, and with little exception, the crowd other than The 3252 remained quiet except for the occasional Chelsea charge. LAFC, the final member of the 32-team Club World Cup field, qualified May 31 with an overtime victory over Club América. Chelsea, meanwhile, is coming off a Conference League trophy and a fourth-place finish in the Premier League, one that qualifies the Blues for a spot in next season's Champions League. This wasn't expected to be a fair fight, in other words. "Give them a moment, they'll punish you, and they had two chances, and they punished us," Delgado said. "When you're playing with a quality team and quality defenders, you're not going to get as many chances as you do in MLS. It's another level here." The key first-half moment came in the 34th minute, when Chelsea reminded everyone who exactly the Premier League club was in this particular match. Off an assist by Nicolas Jackson, Pedro Neto fired down the right side, iced two separate defenders and struck gold just inside the near post. He capped that off by blowing kisses to the crowd … no, not individually, though he almost could have. 😙💙pic.twitter.com/PescTiY23e — Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC)June 16, 2025 LAFC showed a bit more life to start the second half, if a bit less organization. LAFC striker Olivier Giroud — formerly of Chelsea — somehow forgot his shirt coming out of the locker room, and the second-half kickoff was delayed several minutes until a teammate could retrieve it. "We definitely in the second half picked it up a bit, definitely did create a few more chances, create a bit of chaos for them," Delgado said. "I felt like in the second half we could have had at least two." Other than Neto's goal, the largest Chelsea cheer of the afternoon came for new striker Liam Delap, who raced into the game in the 64th minute. Chelsea signed Delap to a six-year contract from Ipswich just 12 days ago, and the cheers were for what fans hope and expect he'll bring to the club in the coming years. Regardless of the match's outcome, though, the optics of the match were a black eye for FIFA, particularly in Atlanta, which bills itself as "the epicenter of soccer in the United States." As the game wore on, the club level and lower corners and ends filled out to a reasonable degree, but the highly visible midfield seats remained sparsely populated. You can spin the atrocious attendance a number of ways, but the first and most likely cause is that 3 p.m. on a Monday is aroughtime to schedule a soccer match and expect any kind of decent turnout. Ticket prices were high to start — anywhere from $83 to $228 — and didn't dip below about $65 as of kickoff on the secondary market. From a casual fan perspective, the Chelsea-LAFC match is the least compelling of the three scheduled for this week in Atlanta. Thursday, Lionel Messi and Inter Miami come to town, and Sunday, Manchester City — the ultimate bandwagon team of the 2020s — will arrive. Plus, Chelsea has now played in Atlanta three straight summers, following a 1-1 draw against Newcastle United in the 2023 Premier League Summer Series and a 3-0 victory over Club América last year in a friendly. In a statement earlier this week, FIFA sought to get ahead of this kind of early criticism: "We anticipate great attendances and electric atmospheres at its inaugural edition, with excitement growing with every round of matches and the tournament ultimately standing as the undisputed pinnacle of club world football." After the match, players indicated they weren't particularly concerned with the empty seats. "To be honest, we don't really notice. We're focused into the game," Chelsea defender Levi Colwill said. "The tournament is new, but the fans are going to attract to it when you've got the best teams in the world. That's what we're really excited for." "We're pretty focused on the game," defender Tosin Adarabioyo said. "We had a lot of Chelsea fans, which was great to see, obviously from the U.S." LAFC's best scoring chance, and a moment that had Chelsea fans catching their breath, came in the 77th minute. Denis Bouanga orchestrated an attack that came maddeningly close on at least three separate occasions inside the Chelsea box; an equalizer would have made the final 15 or so minutes unexpectedly intense. Two minutes later, Chelsea made LAFC pay for the mistake. Delap set up Enzo Fernandez perfectly, and Fernandez put Chelsea up 2-0 with 11 minutes remaining in regulation. That pretty much sealed the deal, though The 3252 kept up the chanting and dancing all the way through stoppage time and beyond. "Leading up to the tournament, that's what you think about, the first game," Colwill said, "getting the first win and getting on a roll." It was a fun start to the Atlanta matches of the Club World Cup. Too bad there weren't more people on hand to see it.
Club World Cup: Chelsea's win over LAFC overshadowed by empty seats inside Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium ATLANTA — At some point o...
