- Chelsea are preparing to face Tunisian side ES Tunis in Philadelphia
- Temperatures are soaring and making meaningful training sessions impossible
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Enzo Maresca has declared it ‘impossible’ to train properly with Philadelphia’s unbearable heatwave placing a strain on Chelsea’s Club World Cup campaign.
The Blues are due to play Tunisian side ES Tunis at the Lincoln Financial Field on Tuesday night and the fixture coincides with Philly being in line to surpass 100F (37.8C) for the first time since 1994.
Maresca’s side were obliged to hold an open session on Monday ahead of that final group game and it was held at Subaru Park, the home of local MLS side Philadelphia Union.
Mail Sport was in attendance as Chelsea’s players engaged in some light exercises next to two gigantic fans blowing on full blast with mist settings. They also tried to train as far over to one side of the pitch as possible as it was the only area partially shaded.
As we left Subaru Park at 11am, the temperature said it was officially 36C but felt like 42C. It is forecasted to get even hotter in the build-up to Chelsea playing ES Tunis.
Speaking to the UK press pack in Philadelphia, Maresca said: ‘We are not training almost. We are just doing very, very, very short sessions.
‘It is almost impossible to train or to make a session because of the weather. Now we are trying just to save energy for the game.
‘This morning’s session has been very, very, very short. It’s not easy in these conditions with these temperatures. We are going to try to do our best.’
Club captain Reece James was ill and so missed the Monday morning session, though given his troubling history of muscular issues, it may not have been the worst timing for skipping training. Levi Colwill has also been unwell, but managed to participate in the humidity.
ES Tunis will represent Chelsea’s 60th competitive game of the 2024-25 season, and Maresca continued: ‘I always try to avoid excuses. I always try to be honest. It’s not about excuses, it’s about reality.
‘It’s an excuse when it’s not hot and we say that it’s hot. That is an excuse. But if hot, it’s hot. It’s difficult to work with these temperatures but we are here and we trying to do our best and we will try to win.
‘Now in terms of the session, it’s impossible to do a normal session, otherwise you don’t save energy for the game.
‘We did the session this morning, it was quite short, we prepared for the game and we will try to do our best to go to the next stage.’
