{"id":44503,"date":"2025-07-06T23:00:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-06T23:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/44503\/"},"modified":"2025-07-06T23:00:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-06T23:00:10","slug":"major-boost-for-enzo-maresca-as-key-star-returns-to-chelsea-training-ahead-of-club-world-cup-semi-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/44503\/","title":{"rendered":"Major boost for Enzo Maresca as key star returns to Chelsea training ahead of Club World Cup semi-final"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca had a number of problems to deal with ahead of their Club World Cup quarter-final tie with Palmeiras.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Blues already knew before the game that they were going to be without their best midfielder in Moises Caicedo<\/a> available for selection after he picked up two yellow cards earlier in the competition.<\/p>\n

The Ecuadorian\u2019s absence was not felt too hard as Chelsea booked their place in the semi-final with a 2-1 win against the Brazilian side.<\/p>\n

Just moments before kick-off, Maresca was handed another conundrum when it emerged that Reece James<\/a> was not fit enough to start. He had been named in the XI who were set to take to the field.<\/p>\n

\"ChelseaPhoto by Darren Walsh\/Chelsea FC via Getty ImagesReece James back in training ahead of Chelsea\u2019s Club World Cup semi-final<\/p>\n

He was replaced in the starting side by Andrey Santos<\/a>, who put in a fine performance to mark a very successful first start for Chelsea.<\/p>\n

While there will have been worries that the club captain had suffered another setback to go with his regular injury woes, James stated himself he would be fit<\/a> for the semi-final up against Fluminense.<\/p>\n

It looks as if that is going to be the case. In a video of training on Chelsea\u2019s official website<\/a>, the England international can be seen in action alongside his teammates.<\/p>\n

He has enjoyed a very strong Club World Cup<\/a> campaign so far, and his goal against Benfica saw James named in the team of the week for the competition.<\/p>\n

\"SEPhoto by Dustin Satloff \u2013 FIFA\/FIFA via Getty ImagesReece James\u2019 chances of starting against Fluminense<\/p>\n

The whole Chelsea squad will be desperate to be selected by Maresca for the semi-final, as the Blues face a reunion with Thiago Silva<\/a>.<\/p>\n

James could replace Santos in the side despite the Brazilian\u2019s excellent performance, with that position being where the manager sees him best fit.<\/p>\n

There could be an appetite for the boss to bring him back into his original position of right-back, given Malo Gusto\u2019s recent struggles<\/a> in the inverted position.<\/p>\n

The Frenchman thought he had scored his first goal for the club in the quarter-final, only for it to go down as an own goal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca had a number of problems to deal with ahead of their Club World Cup…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":44504,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[34568,221,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-44503","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-reece-james","9":"tag-soccer","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114808778275129753","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44503"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44503\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}