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Chelsea took on CSKA Moscow in their second game of the group stage in the NextGen Series on Wednesday, and they came out on top by a 1-0 scoreline. The win sees them currently tied with Ajax for second in their group, although CSKA are in front having already played four games. CSKA entered play on Wednesday with wins in all of their three fixtures in the competition, while Chelsea had only played a single game (a loss against CSKA).
For those unfamiliar, NextGen is a U18 tournament that allows team to field up to three 19 year olds at any given time. Group play consists of home and away fixtures with all three other teams in the group, and the top two from each group automatically advance. The four third place clubs with the highest point totals also advance, so getting as many points as possible is always important.
Chelsea rolled out with the following starting lineup on Wednesday:
Mitchell Beeney, Fankaty Dabo, Daniel Pappoe, Alex Davey, Adam Nditi; George Saville, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Jeremie Boga, Islam Feruz, Patrick Bamford, Lewis Baker
Chelsea would start well, and they'd dominate the ball for most of the first half of play. They'd struggle to create opportunities though, as CSKA defended well in the back. At halftime, the score was 0-0.
Chelsea would catch a break in the second half as Anton Polyutkin got himself sent off in the 54th minute. Chelsea would take advantage of the extra space created, really taking control of the game in the second half. 15 year old Jeremie Boga would be the one to take advantage, finding the back of the net for what turned out to be the game's only score.
As the match wound down, Jordan Houghton got himself sent off as well when he picked up his second yellow card of the contest. He'll miss the next game of the tournament with the bookings, that game is scheduled for Oct 31 against Molde in Norway. They'll then host Molde in early November before playing a home and away with Ajax of Amsterdam. Molde have lost all three of their fixtures, while Ajax have won their only game of the tournament against the Norwegian side.
