5 things we learned from Al-Hilal’s loss to Chelsea in the semifinal of FIFA Club World Cup

Chelsea defeated Al-Hilal 1-0 in the semifinals of the FIFA Club World Cup on Wednesday thanks to a first-half Romelu Lukaku goal. The Saudi team, however, improved noticeably after the break and took the European champions all the way to the final whistle.

Here are five things we learned from the action in Abu Dhabi. 1. Al-Hilal should be proud and a little disappointed

At half-time, the English media were not impressed with the Asian champions and the general consensus was that Chelsea would go on to win the game by a healthy margin. By the end, however, plenty of credit was given to the 17-time Saudi Arabian champions and most thought they deserved something from the game. If this had been a league game then a draw would have been a fair result.

Chelsea had the first half when they were dominant and Al-Hilal had the second. It was just one mistake that made the difference. Yasser Al-Shahrani was perhaps not expecting Kai Havertz’s cross to reach him but when it did, the ball bounced off his chest backwards and presented Romelu Lukaku with an unmissable chance. Just that one second was the difference. Chelsea also had that little bit of streetwise experience. On more than one occasion, there were subtle and clever fouls to stop the early stages of an attack, tactics that the referee could have clamped down on a little more than he did. 

 2. The performance bodes well for the World Cup and beyond

The Saudi Arabian internationals, and there are plenty in this team, performed well and, assuming the Green Falcons get to Qatar, they should be able to give anyone a game. Central defender Ali Al-Bulaihi was facing some of the best attackers in the world but gave as good as he got.

Mohamed Kanno has been in great form