José Mourinho slouched in his chair on the touchline, seemingly unable to believe what was playing out in front of him. He was not the only one.
His Premier League champions had fallen to a defeat thanks in part to a 16-year-old striker who probably should have been in bed rather than putting the frighteners up a defence which included John Terry.
Tyler Adams, born in 1999, will forever remember the evening he brilliantly headed past Asmir Begovic to help a Red Bulls team full of reserves and youth players ensure that Mourinho’s pre-season campaign began with an uncomfortable, lackadaisical defeat.
Chelsea’s plane journey back to their Montreal base would not have been a barrel of laughs. Mourinho, whose team were in control for 50 minutes of this bewildering match, made eight changes at half-time and will rightly cite summer rustiness as a cause of the travails which led to them conceding four goals in quick succession, the best of which was scored by the precious talent of Adams.
The Portuguese will not lose too much sleep. Yes, his charges were sloppy and sluggish, and ultimately disappointing. But it was their first match. Performance levels are sure to be accelerated in North Carolina against PSG on Saturday. They will have to be.
“They were sharp, quick and had high motivation,” Mourinho said of Chelsea’s opponents. “They were very happy to play against us and they gave us a better match then we thought. I am the manager of the best team of England, we have top players, there are no fragilities. We have done 11 sessions in six days. We trust these players. We play this team 10 times, we win nine – but the second half was a disaster. If we had won 10-0 that wouldn’t have been any good. We needed a test and we received one.”
Thanks to the peculiar, often mind-boggling vagaries of the MLS schedule, the Premier League champions began their three-match North American tour against what was effectively a New York Red Bulls reserve team.
Their coach, Jesse Marsch, understandably gave the first team the day off following the US Open Cup defeat by Philadelphia Union 24 hours earlier. His side were full of youthful endeavour and exuberance. How they relished this challenge.
“It was an incredible result for us as a club,” said Marsch. “Tyler is finishing high school and is with the Under-17 national team. He is very alert and not afraid. He has a very big future.”
Chelsea’s tour had been pretty low-key. This, however, upped the ante a few notches. There have been no fanfares from their Montreal base but Mourinho’s starting lineup showed he meant business. Thibaut Courtois, Cesc Fàbregas and Oscar started and Eden Hazard, Diego Costa and John Terry were primed to come off the substitutes’ bench.
The Red Bulls contained their illustrious visitors to one chance in the opening 15 minutes, the striker Loïc Rémy being denied from close range by the goalkeeper Kyle Reynish.
Mikel John Obi, given the role of marauding midfielder and keen to show Mourinho he is worthy of a role despite interest in him from the Middle East, should have scored on 20 minutes. His header from an excellent scooped centre by the captain for the evening, Branislav Ivanovic, rolled the wrong side of the post.
Mourinho began prowling, and scowling, on the touchline. Even when Rémy opened the scoring on 26 minutes, the manager barely moved a muscle. It was a move perhaps worthy of the smallest clap or fist-pump. A curling through ball from Victor Moses set the sprightly Oscar skipping down the right and the Brazilian’s centre found Rémy who, this time, clinically did the rest.
The Frenchman would have been content. Mourinho revealed last week that the former Newcastle United forward, who had been courted by Crystal Palace and West Ham, was not for sale at any price and urged him to provide a selection headache in attack.
Costa remains the Portuguese’s go-to man yet the effect Radamel Falcao will have remains unknown. There is a chance for Rémy to shine and he was on his mettle here. Courtois, mainly a spectator, was almost embarrassed three minutes before the interval when a backpass to his weaker right foot almost resulted in a calamity before the Belgian regained his composure and averted danger.
Changes were predictably rung at half-time, with the big-hitters Costa, Hazard, Terry, Nemanja Matic and Ramires introduced and Begovic, signed as a replacement for Petr Cech, given his first action in Chelsea colours.
Within five minutes the goalkeeper’s debut had turned into a nightmare. A woeful backpass from Terry put the Bosnian in all manner of problems, and a combination of his slow reactions and being caught unaware by the club captain’s uncharacteristic mistake allowed Franklin Castellanos to gleefully slide the Red Bulls level. “Both keepers were tired, they lacked agility but I am not worried,” said Mourinho.
The goal sparked the home side into action yet the clearer chances continued to fall to Chelsea, Costa heading against the bar on 62 minutes before failing to convert the rebound.
The Red Bulls were not finished, however. Castellanos turned provider for Adams to head past Begovic – so poor was the defending that Mourinho instantly hauled off the 18-year-old substitute Ola Aina.
When Sean Davis made it three on 73 minutes, it was scarcely believable. Hazard pulled one back two minutes later yet more appalling defending ensured Davis scored his second of what was fast becoming an inconceivably frustrating evening for Mourinho.
It was a match Adams in particular will never forget. Mourinho, however, will banish it from his mind as soon as possible. In fact, he has probably already dismissed it.
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