Chelsea struggling with heat and break - Cucurella
- Published
Chelsea defender Marc Cucurella says the heat in the United States at the Club World Cup, and the time off following the end of the domestic season, has made it more difficult for European teams.
South American teams went undefeated in their first nine matches in the newly expanded competition - a run that included Brazilian club Flamengo beating Chelsea 3-1 in Philadelphia.
"Flamengo also have a good team, they are first in the league with a lot of international players and are in the middle of their season and physically did better than us in this moment," said Cucurella.
"Some of our players had a few weeks off and now we need to restart again so it's a bit tough for the European teams.
"They also played in the heat and maybe these things we can control better in this moment and we can learn, but it's better it happens now in these stages rather than in the later rounds."
The match took place in 27C heat but Chelsea's last group match against ES Tunis could play in temperatures of up to 37C as a heatwave hits their base in Philadelphia.
Cucurella added: "The conditions are not the same as well for European teams and it's not an excuse. It's a reality and it's one of the reasons.
"But this is the tournament we need to play, we cannot make excuses and if we win the next game then we will go through.
"The two goals were pretty similar. They were crosses, they won the first contact, and just put the ball in the net. We need to improve.
"We have a tactic to defend and we can do better but it's true that it's our second game in a short space of time and these things can happen."