PRE-MATCH BRIEFING: MONTERREY V CHELSEA
With the game fast approaching, club historian Rick Glanvill and club statistician Paul Dutton complete their comprehensive look at our opening match in Japan...
TACTICAL BRIEF
This is uncharted territory in many respects, but Chelsea have rediscovered the winning habit ahead of the trip to Japan and will be determined to bring the FIFA Club World Cup trophy back to London.
Key battles
The most notable feature of the Blues' best spells in the 3-1 win at Sunderland was players such as Eden Hazard and Victor Moses breaking ahead of Fernando Torres. It meant the hosts' rearguard was stretched to breaking point and Chelsea were able to play balls in behind them.
Rafael Benitez appears to like Moses's work-rate and made support for our Spanish no.9 a priority: Torres has hit four goals in two games, his best sequence for the Blues since March 2010.
The Monterrey backline may find the fast combination play on the edge of the box on show at the Stadium of Light difficult to handle. They are not a tall team and worked hard to restrict Ulsan Hyundai's set-piece opportunities.
At 5ft 10in, they were an inch shorter on average than their Korean opponents, and two shy of the Chelsea side that won at Sunderland. With Branislav Ivanovic, David Luiz and Gary Cahill all around 6ft 2in and sharing a dozen goals, the Blues will be keen to make set-pieces count when they arise.
Surprisingly, Ulsan scored with the only shot of three attempts that was on target, a long distance punt fumbled by Rayados' keeper. It was an uncharacteristic error from Jonathan Orozco, one of the key figures in their recent successes.
Rayados' main strengths lie further forward. They field a flexible 4-3-3 with Severo Meza the defensive midfielder, Wálter Ayoví (who is left-footed) on the right of midfield and Neri Cardozo on the left. Swift pressing was a key factor in their 3-1 win over Unsal.
Cardozo looks a clever and dangerous player, but it was 19-year-old Jesús Corona, a more traditional winger, who stood out on Sunday. He regularly rattled the Koreans' right flank and scored the opening goal inside 10 minutes (pictured below).
Fifty-seven-year-old coach Victor Vucetich will have to make do without his star player, the prolific and vastly experienced Humberto Suavo. A former Mexican player of the year, the stocky striker is Monterrey's top scorer and architect of their set-pieces. Central midfielder César de la Peña, a regular sub, has also flown home.
The Mexicans are a direct counter-attacking side who often looked to work the ball quickly to Suavo. They rely on him, his obvious replacement Jesus De Nigris, and César Delagdo for goals. Only four players have netted for them in the league, a sizeable reduction in goalscorer numbers from the previous season.
Delgado, who likes to cut inside from the left side of the front three, will have to be watched by Chelsea's right-back - Ivanovic, should Benitez aim to press home Chelsea's physical advantage.
Delgado likes to create problems behind De Nigris as a second striker and can be lethal. He netted two of the Mexicans' three goals against Unsal. De Nigris is a decent target man for direct play and brings others into play: he set up Rayados' opener in the 3-1.
In Suazo's absence, set-play responsibility fell to Delgado and Ayovi. Overall the Mexicans have a good blend of youth and experience, pace and technique.
Three of the original 23-man Club World Cup squad submitted to FIFA - John Terry, Oriol Romeu and Daniel Sturridge - have since withdrawn through injury. Sturridge may yet fly out at some stage.
Midfielder George Saville, impressive for the Chelsea U21s and yet to make his full debut, was added to the party which received a tumultuous welcome at Narita International airport on Sunday.
The loser of this game faces a third/fourth place play-off on Sunday with veterans of this tournament, Egypt's Al-Alhy; the victor faces veterans of this tournament, Corinthians of Brazil in the final later the same day.
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