Six minutes added on

New York Times

6 hours ago

Chelsea advance to the quarter-final after a wild match that included a weather delay of nearly two hours in Charlotte, North Carolina Getty Images
Chelsea have beaten 10-man Benfica 4-1 after extra time in a wild round of 16 match at the 2025 Club World Cup in Charlotte, North Carolina.
After Reece James had given Chelsea a 1-0 lead with a goal from a direct free kick, the match was suspended in the 86th minute for nearly two hours due to severe weather in the area. Once the match resumed, Benfica miraculously equalised deep in stoppage time thanks to Angel Di Maria's goal from the penalty spot after VAR spotted a handball by Malo Gusto.
The miracle ended there for Benfica, however, as Gianluca Prestianni was sent off for a second booking early in extra time. Chelsea retook the lead in the 108th minute as Christopher Nkunku finished off a scruffy rebound, before Pedro Neto and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall added late goals to wrap things up.
Chelsea advance to the quarter-final to face Palmeiras on Friday.
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Chelsea win extraordinary four-hour Club World Cup match delayed by severe weather and packed with drama
90+1' Benfica 0-1 Chelsea
Benfica haven't yet created anything to trouble the Chelsea defence, although there was a set piece tossed into the penalty area that they made a bit of a mess dealing with.
The Premier League side have six more minutes to hold out... Getty Images
89' Benfica 0-1 Chelsea
A mere 115 minutes between the players leaving the pitch and the match restarting.
A few thousand fans have stuck around to watch the final minutes — presumably because they didn't fancy walking out and getting drenched.
88' Benfica 0-1 Chelsea
Changes from both managers to get us (re)started.
Tiago Gouveia and Joao Veloso have replaced Fredrik Aursnes and Kokcu for Benfica while Trevoh Chalobah came on for Romeo Lavia.
Chelsea have come through the first two minutes back unscathed and are still heading for the quarter-final. Getty Images
86' Benfica 0-1 Chelsea
Hello again everyone! After a break that very nearly topped two hours, the players are in position, a surprising amount of fans have taken to their seats and we are ready to rumble again in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Four minutes plus stoppage time to play. Benfica need a goal to extend their Club World Cup campaign.
You all have answered our call for emails! Here are a few of the best ones we've received, mostly from those still at the stadium.
Daniel R.: The biggest issue is that stopped serving beer before the delay, and did not resume. That's surely cruel and unusual?
Stephanie P.: We managed to go out for dinner and make it back yet the delay continues. Now it's time for my MLS team match to begin. Double football!
Gaby P.: My boyfriend George and I are sitting in the lobby freezing lol. Waiting on the game to start.
And a longer one from reader Alex M.:
I flew in from Indiana to see this game. It was pretty good match. The weather delay is interesting. A lot of people have left already.
It's basically a free-for-all on the inside, people hanging about, sitting on the floors. It's like a high school tornado drill, but without the lockers and without the knowledge of 'we'll be back to class in 15 minutes after this'.
There's a sense of community as we all take turns passing each other in the halls looping back and forth. Polite nods but no names exchanged.
The players are back on the pitch, we went out to our seats to watch, but an attendant rudely ushered us back inside.
Overall a fun feeling inside, only the committed are here and left. Getty Images
Here we go then!
The players have re-emerged onto the pitch, although it looks like most of the fans that were here have not stuck around.
They will go through a short warm-up — less than 10 minutes — and then will try to get the game wrapped up before any more bad weather can delay it.
Obviously there will be a problem if Benfica equalise in what remains of the match — if it ends as a draw, there will 30 minutes of extra time and then maybe a penalty shootout required to decide the winner.
While a colleague mentions that I've forgotten the Irishman (3hrs29 mins) from my list of movies, it sounds like we have got movement at Bank of America Stadium.
The teams are on their way back out and have agreed to a short warm-up in the hope of finishing the match before any further delays.
All being well, it sounds like we will have a restart before 8pm ET (1am BST). Getty Images
This is getting a bit ridiculous now, although completely understandable with the safety of everyone inside the stadium in mind.
The match kicked off more than three and a hours ago. In that time, here are a few of my favourite long movies you could have watched: Oppenheimer – 3hrs
The Green Mile – 3hrs9mins
Schindler's List – 3hrs15mins
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King – 3hrs21mins
The Godfather Part II – 3hrs22mins
86' Benfica 0-1 Chelsea — weather delay
Reece James opened the scoring just 22 minutes ago in game minutes.
In real life minutes, it happened almost exactly two hours ago.
If you have forgotten it, or missed it completely, you can see it again below. Getty Images
86' Benfica 0-1 Chelsea — weather delay
While we wait for the players to re-emerge, we'd love to hear from you guys.
What are you doing to pass the time during the weather break? Have any of your Saturday night plans been dashed by the delay? And those of you following along in the early hours of the morning, what is your cut-off time before you decide to go to bed?
Email us at [e-mail] and we'll include some of your answers in our live coverage.
86' Benfica 0-1 Chelsea — weather delay
An insight into how the players are preparing for the restart.
You can see a few of their players on the exercise bike in the post below and there is another post showing the goalkeepers having a little kickabout.
86' Benfica 0-1 Chelsea — weather delay
That estimated restart time provided by DAZN seems to have fallen by the wayside.
There is still no sign of the players at Bank of America Stadium, so the game will categorically not be starting by 7:30pm ET (12:30am BST).
86' Benfica 0-1 Chelsea — weather delay
In case you're wondering, the media are able to stay in situ because the press box here at the Bank of America Stadium is indoors.
Indoor press boxes are a pet hate of mine — you feel shut off from the atmosphere — but on this occasion it is a blessing. It's quite a common thing in the U.S., but much much less so in Europe.
The first three that come to mind are, weirdly, Barcelona (Camp Nou), Cheltenham Town and Barrow.
86' Benfica 0-1 Chelsea — weather delay
A quick reminder that the time of the players coming back out and the time of the game restarting are two very different things.
They will all have to warm up again upon returning to the pitch and that warm-up will be more significant than just opening the gate and gentle jogging. It will not, however, be as extensive as the paces they are put through before a match starts.
So, all in all, the warm-up should last somewhere between 10 and 15 minutes. Getty Images
86' Benfica 0-1 Chelsea — weather delay
This is very much a moving target as the clock resets if there is more lightning spotted in that 10-mile radius of the stadium, but we finally have word of a potential restart time.
The DAZN broadcast states that the estimated restart time is 7:25pm ET (12:25am BST).
Credit to those of you in the UK — and everyone else on a similar time zone — for sticking with us into the early hours of the morning!
It will be interesting to see how many fans come back for the resumption of play. The game was petering out fairly uneventfully.
If you had a choice, would you really stick around for an hour to watch the last five minutes? Getty Images
There were hopes that the players would only be off for half an hour once the weather delay begun, but we have now passed an hour since the referee took them all off the pitch.
And that means that there has been lightning in the area directly surrounding Bank of America Stadium.
For anyone that needs it, here is a reminder of FIFA's weather delay ruling:
The match is automatically suspended if there is lightning within 10 miles (16.1km) of the stadium. The match director is informed about it and then tells the referee to stop the game and take the players off the pitch.
86' Benfica 0-1 Chelsea — weather delay
There was also some off-field Chelsea news earlier that I'm sure will have excited their fans, and it came courtesy of our very own Sebastian Stafford-Bloor who said:
Chelsea have reached an agreement in principle to sign Borussia Dortmund winger Jamie Gittens.
The two clubs have reached an agreement over a deal, with the fee yet to be confirmed. The deal is set to be completed pending a medical.
The Athletic reported on June 7 that Chelsea had submitted an official proposal with Dortmund to sign Gittens and that the Premier League club agreed a seven-year contract with the forward.
However, Chelsea were not able to agree a deal with Dortmund before the transfer deadline ahead of the Club World Cup on June 10. Dortmund are also playing in the tournament in the United States with Gittens featuring as a substitute in the opening game against Fluminense.
Read more below
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Chelsea reach agreement in principle to sign Borussia Dortmund winger Jamie Gittens Getty Images
86' Benfica 0-1 Chelsea — weather delay
Unfortunately we still don't have any updates for you from Bank of America Stadium.
The players are still off the pitch and there are still warnings on the screens instructing fans to take shelter.
There were still stormy conditions around the stadium as recently as 20 minutes ago. The good news, however, is that two thirds of the pitch is bathed in sunshine, so here's hoping the storm has largely passed.