The English club Chelsea defeated Italy's AC Milan, 2-1, in a WorldFootball Challenge match played in Baltimore, Maryland Friday night.
Thiswas the fourth of six matches being played in this special round-robintournament in the United States featuring four top foreign clubs. Theother two are Inter Milan and Mexico's Club America.
It was thefirst-ever soccer game played at 11-year-old M&T Bank Stadium,which is the home field for the Baltimore Ravens of the NationalFootball League.
A sell-out crowd of 71,000 was treated to anaction-filled match. Chelsea star Didier Drogba of Ivory Coastthrilled the fans with his blast from about 30 meters out that foundthe upper left corner of the goal in just the seventh minute.
DutchmanClarence Seedorf got the equalizer for AC Milan in the 38th minute. The winning goal for Chelsea came in the 69th minute fromnewly-acquired Russian Yuri Zhirkov, who converted a rebound.
Chelsea's Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti was pleased with the win but also with the support for both teams.
"Thevictory is important because the atmosphere [chemistry] is good on theteam, and for this we are happy," he said. "Thanks to all the fans inthe USA because there was a beautiful atmosphere at the stadium, and Ithink that the teams played well."
Chelsea also won its opening game on Tuesday in Pasadena, California over Inter Milan, 2-0, and leads the standings.
ClubAmerica is in second place after a 2-1 win over AC Milan on Wednesdayin Atlanta and a penalty shootout win over Inter Milan last Monday in(Palo Alto,) California. No 30-minute extra times are being played, sothe tournament gives only two points for a shootout win instead ofthree.
AC Milan has the toughest schedule of the four teams, having to play three games in five days.
AC'sBrazilian coach Leonardo does not particularly like the schedule, buthe is happy his team is participating in the tournament, which isserving as a good pre-season warm-up.
"I think it's veryexciting," he said. "I think in America they have something that's thefuture. That's why I think it's something very, very good to playthese matches. I think that football here is very, very important. People play soccer. People want to know about soccer, and people knoweverything about us. And to be here with the club and to see howpeople follow us is something very, very good."
AC will take onrival Inter Milan on Sunday in Foxboro, Massachusetts. Chelsea andClub America will meet in their final tournament match, also Sunday, inthe new NFL Stadium for the Dallas Cowboys.