Monterrey set up Chelsea showdown

Mexican club to meet European champions in semi-finals of the Club World Cup after downing South Korea’s Ulsan Hyundai.

Jesus Corona
Two goals from Cesar Delgado and one from Jesus Corona (above) put the CONCACAF champions through [Reuters]

Mexican club Monterrey progressed to the semi-finals of the Club World Cup with a 3-1 win over South Korea’s Ulsan Hyundai on Sunday, with Cesar Delgado scoring a pair of second-half goals.

Monterrey will face European champions Chelsea in the semi-finals on Thursday.

Teenage winger Jesus Corona put Monterrey ahead just nine minutes in when he took a pass from striker Aldo De Nigris and fired into a wide open net from close range.

Delgado converted a pass from De Nigris in the 77th minute to give the CONCACAF champions a 2-0 lead and made it 3-0 seven minutes later, dodging a defender and firing past Ulsan goalkeeper Kim Young-kwang from just inside the area.

“If we can play like we did today against Chelsea we will have a chance,” Monterrey coach Victor Vucetich said.

“Last year we lost in the quarter-finals here because we didn’t have time to prepare. This year we had plenty of time to get ready for this match.”

Lee Keun-ho got a lucky consolation goal for the Asian champions in the 88th minute when his long-range shot was fumbled by goalkeeper Jonathan Orozco.

Hawk-Eye

FIFA employed goal-line technology for Sunday’s match. The Hawk-Eye system, which uses seven high-speed cameras set up at different angles at each goal to calculate whether the ball has crossed the goal line or not, was installed but didn’t come into play.

The ninth Club World Cup features the champions from FIFA’s six confederations, plus a team from the host nation.

Champions League winner Chelsea and Copa Libertadores champion Corinthians have a bye into the semi-finals.

Aside from Lee’s lucky goal, the Asian champions rarely tested Orozco.

Ulsan will now head to the fifth-place match on Wednesday against either Sanfrecce Hiroshima or Al-Ahly. Hiroshima and African champions Al-Ahly will play later Sunday.

“The attacking style of this team was quite different than anything we have seen in Asia,” Ulsan coach Kim Ho-kon said.

“The difference of Asian football was made clear today.”

Source: AP