With every participating country now having played at least one game at the World Cup, it’s time to have a little look at some Chelsea players that have been playing. Have they all been living up to expectations and playing the way that they do for the Blues?
The hosts, Brazil, are the home of Chelsea stars Ramires and Oscar. Ramires didn’t start in the first game against Croatia, but did feature in the first XI against Mexico in a right wing role which is a lot different to what he is used to. He proved ineffective in that game and didn’t really cause too much threat to the Mexican defence. Oscar started both games and was man of the match against Croatia, scoring once and showing some real pieces of skill from the right wing. According to Opta statistics, he successfully took on players 7/11 times. This was a big difference compared to the Mexico game when he only managed one successful take on in a 0-0 draw.
Eden Hazard had a productive first game against Algeria claiming an assist and successfully taking on players five times. He did not have any shots though and that is unlike him. Romelu Lukaku was fairly ineffective, not managing a shot throughout the entire game. But, he did show glimpses of his strength against defenders.
Gary Cahill was the only Chelsea player that started for England against Italy and made one successful tackle, one interception and 2 successful clearances. He did have one aerial duel but did not come out on top in that one.
These were just a few players that have taken the stage in Brazil and the more games they play, the more they should be able to cope with the environment and that will aid their performance.