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Kawasaki Frontale vs. Chelsea, Friendly: Live blog; highlights

...as it happened: lineups, updates, highlights, live blog

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LIVE BLOG

90+2min: FULL TIME.

90+1min: Zappa pulls off a great move on the right, but runs out of room and can only win a corner, which is headed over by David Luiz, who then falls on Giroud, too.

90min: Pulisic wins another corner, which he also takes, but only finds a blue shirt, and today, that’s not a good thing.

86min: GOAL! But Chelsea make a mess of the next corner, with David Luiz and Giroud getting in each other’s way, and Damiao’s picked out at the far post to nod home the winning goal.

85min: Frontale come again and this time time the cross is good and Damiao beats Zappacosta at the far post on the header, but he hits the crossbar! Letoff for Chelsea. From the corner, Frontale get a good shot in towards goal, but Willy’s down quickly to make the save through the sea of legs.

84min: Palmer picks out Giroud with a deep cross, but his header is an easy catch for the goalkeeper. At the other end, Bakayoko makes a good tackle.

83min: Great play from Frontale to free a man on the left, but Zappacosta sprints back to block the cross and even win a goal kick.

81min: Pulisic wins another corner as Bakayoko comes back on. In the second phase, Palmer turns the ball over, but Chelsea recover quickly to prevent any counter opportunity.

79min: Bakayoko hobbles off, gingerly, as Chelsea play on with 10 men and pass it around well before a Pulisic cross is blocked for a corner. He takes it, but Christensen just misses a header.

77min: Bakayoko writhes around in pain, holding his lower right leg, after an ill-advised slide tackle from Leandro Damião.

76min: Key interception and clearance by Christensen, but Palmer can’t quite hold on to the ball and Frontale have it back. Chelsea do win it back and Giroud and Barkley try to play a two-man game but the former’s cross is chested back to his goalkeeper by a defender.

74min: Giroud (!) takes the free kick and his powerful effort is pushed just wide by the goalkeeper. Bakayoko heads the corner wide.

73min: Drinkwater battles to win the ball back and Chelsea cycle left to right before Palmer wins another free kick, this time on the right side at the corner of the penalty area.

72min: Good effort by Palmer to force a free kick for a handball in great shooting position 25m out, left of center. Barkley and David Luiz discuss things, but it’s the latter who takes, and hits it into the wall.

69min: Chelsea’s best move is wasted by Kenedy, as he gets on the end of an interplay between Barkley and Giroud, but his dink over the goalkeeper is not good enough. Kasey Palmer replaces Kenedy in the aftermath.

68min: Pulisic beats two on the left before play is switched to the right, where Chelsea lose the ball. Kawasaki counter through Damião before Caballero comes out strongly to collect.

66min: Kenedy down with a blow to the head, but he’s back on after a brief discussion with the physios.

64min: A sloppy passage of play somehow leads to a weak Zappacosta effort. And here comes Pulisic, replacing Mount on the left.

59min: Barkley picks out Kenedy running right to left, but he shanks his shot.

58min: A Mount 1-2 with Giroud almost comes off before Barkley’s shot is blocked for a corner. Mount takes, but it’s cleared at the near post.

56min: Drinkwater and Bakayoko replace Jorginho and Kovacic. Chelsea finally gain a foothold back in the game.

55min: The pressure comes again and Damião misses a great headed chance from a lovely cross. Zappacosta well beaten to the ball.

53min: Frontale keeping up the pressure as Christensen clears a low cross for a throw. They come again, this time it’s Emerson who hoofs clear. But Kawasaki starting building again.

51min: Kawasaki threaten for the first time, but Emerson clears the cross at the far post. The follow-up corner is cleared by Giroud, Barkley, and David Luiz header, chest down, and hoof, in that order.

49min: Mount getting a lot of joy in his new advanced role, cutting inside and taking aim of the far post, but his curling effort goes wide.

47min: Barkley takes the ball on the turn and drives forward, passing wide left to Mount, then getting it back. His throughball for Zappacosta running through is a bit too long however and goes out for a goal kick.

SECOND HALF: No full rotation this time, with only Barkley, Giroud, Christensen, Emerson, Zappacosta coming on to replace Pedro, Batshuayi, Zouma, Alonso, Azpilicueta respectively. Chelsea switch to a 4-2-3-1.


HALF-TIME: Chelsea have controlled play to a large extent, but fashioned few clear chances. 0-0.

45+2min: Chelsea think the half is over, but the home side keep playing and cause havoc in the area before Zouma pokes it behind. The corner’s cleared, and that’s that for the half.

45min: A shot out of nowhere from 20 yards tests Caballero, but he’s down quickly to push it out for a corner. That corner is cleared first by David Luiz before Batshuayi gets on it and almost runs through the entire defense but can’t get past the last man.

43min: Batshuayi gets on a loose ball, but is again crowded out before he could get around to shooting or passing.

42min: Kenedy goes for an overhead kick after battling for Pedro’s cross, but it’s not close.

41min: David Luiz switches play to Alonso way up on the left, bu this cross is allowed to run through the box with no Chelsea player attacking it.

39min: Side-to-side ball movement creates a crossing opportunity for Azpilicueta. He finds Batshuayi, who lays it back to Mount, but his goalbound effort is blocked by a knee.

38min: Chelsea maintain possession before Mount tries a quick outside of the boot flick for a through ball, but Michy doesn’t read it and it’s shepherded out for a goal kick.

36min: Solid vertical passing and movement sees Kovacic bursting through the middle and finding Batshuayi, who twists and turns a bit too much and is crowded out.

33min: Chelsea apply some very good high pressure and Kenedy pinches the ball on a square ball, but it runs just a bit too long and it’s cleared for a throw. Chelsea maintain the pressure, win the ball back, but Kenedy settles for a 30-yarder, which misses by a decent margin.

31min: Chelsea win a corner after a poor Azpilicueta cross is unnecessarily cleared by a defender ahead o fhis goalkeeper. Mount takes it short to Pedro, but they’re closed down well by the home side, forcing possession to be recycled instead.

29min: Kenedy loses the ball, but on a good high press keyed by Mount wins the ball back. Pedro then opts to take a long-shot, and he just misses over the top by a couple inches.

28min: The corner’s an outswinger but it’s low and hard and the near-post flick goes well wide of the goal.

26min: Excellent 1-2 between Pedro and Azpilicueta has the latter in behind the full back, but his cutback only finds a blue shirt. Pedro then loses the ball, with Kawasaki winning a corner eventually.

24min: Saito slices through the midfield as gaps open up and the defensive line breaks down, but his through ball is inaccurate.

22min: A succession of blocked shots ensues, with Michy and Kenedy and Pedro all trying their best. A wayward Azpilicueta cross ends the sequence.

17min: Batshuayi plays a 1-2 with Mount and gets his a left-footed shot away, which may have taken a deflection on the way through but it’s called a goal kick.

14min: Chelsea look to pose a bit of threat, but Kenedy’s crowded out before he could get a shot away. Chelsea win the ball back and look for Pedro making a good run into the area, but it’s just out of his reach and the goalkeeper collect.

10min: First save of the game made by Caballero on a first-time volley after David Luiz’s header doesn’t quite clear the penalty area.

9min: Poor touches and passes from Kenedy and Zouma preventing Chelsea from maintaining possession. Kawasaki looking quite comfortable.

6min: David Luiz tries a typical long ball after a bit of possession. Defense clears and Chelsea try to build again. Caballero and David Luiz almost makes a hash of it, but the former hits it long under pressure.

5min: Kovacic finds Mount, who manages to just keep it in, but Kenedy eventually turns the ball back over.

4min: Chelsea struggle to find a way through the high press and give the ball back to Frontale by being offside on the goal kick.

3min: Kawasaki maintain a bit of possession, and Lampard looks less than pleased. Eventually the ball runs through to Caballero, who bowls out short.

1min: Pedro fashions a cross from the right that’s cleared awkwardly by a defender with Michy lurking.

KICK-OFF: Chelsea modeling the classicly lovely white away kit. The local side get us underway.


Preseason match number three is here, technically called the J.League World Challenge.

The biggest challenge might be finding a reasonable streaming option. (No illegal streams in the comments please.)

Here we go.


Kawasaki Frontale starting lineup (4-5-1):
Jung | Noborizato, Jesiel, Taniguchi, Morita | Abe, Saito, Shimoda, Tanaka, Ienaga | Kobayashi (c)

Substitutes from: Arai, H.Mawatari, K.Mawatari, Maguinho, Fitzgerald, Nakamura, Hasegawa, Wakisaka, Harada, Yamamura, Issaka, Chinen, Damião

Chelsea starting lineup (4-3-3):
Caballero | Alonso, Zouma, David Luiz, Azpilicueta (c) | Mount, Jorginho, Kovačić | Kenedy, Batshuayi, Pedro

Substitutes from: Cumming, Zappacosta, Christensen, Emerson, Tomori, Drinkwater, Barkley, Pulisic, Palmer, Bakayoko, Giroud


Date / Time: Friday, July 19, 2019, 7pm local time, 11:00 BST; 6am EDT; 3:30pm IST
Venue: Nissan Stadium, Yokohama, Japan
Forecast: Warm, humid, overcast, sweaty

On TV: none
Streaming: Chelsea TV (UK/Ireland, int’l), DAZN (USA, Japan); Rakuten Sports (many other places); elsewhere

Due to international rights, Chelsea TV (£1.99 on the app; £10.99 on the website for the whole preseason — not prorated; free for last year’s subscribers) will only be available to customers in the UK & Ireland, and the select few countries not covered by other providers.

In the US, you’ll have to spring for DAZN USA ($19.99/month, $99.99 for the year; no free trial these days unfortunately). This is a steeeeep steep steep price to pay for one friendly (the Barcelona game will be on ESPN2) and DAZN really doesn’t have much else in the US beyond fighting and boxing.


Be excellent to each other, and party on, dudes.

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