Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho expressed his surprise at the team's "fragilities" on Wednesday as the Premier League champions surrendered four second-half goals and were stunned 4-2 by an MLS club's "B" team.
The New York Red Bulls team, made up of mostly developmental third-division players, equalised just after the half and went ahead on a flurry of three goals in seven minutes to shock Mourinho’s men, who were opening their US pre-season tour in the International Champions Cup.
Sean Davis scored twice and Franklin Castellanos had a goal and an assist to help the team with only four players who have any minutes in MLS this season upset the 2012 European championa and five-time English league winners.
“I was surprised by our fagilities,” Chelsea’s Portuguese manager Mourninho said. “I said before we have no fragilities, but today we had fragilities, lots of fragilities. I was surprised that we were not good enough in the second half to cope with that.
“We hit the post two or three times, I don’t know, but they’re young guys, they have quality, and motivation, their motivation is really high to play against us.”
Loic Remy gave Chelsea the lead midway through the first half, but Castellanos drew New York level it in the 51st minute. Tyler Adams, a 16-year-old Red Bulls academy product, added a header and Davis tacked on a pair as the near-capacity and largely blue-clad crowd of 24,076 at Red Bull Arena were left stunned.
This is the third time in four years Chelsea have toured the United States before beginning their season and the second time they have competed in the friendly International Champions Cup with several other top European clubs.
Using a starting line-up of several regulars and three players returning from loan, Chelsea had the better possession and chances, outshooting the Red Bulls 12-4 alone in the first half.
Remy, who scored seven goals in 19 league appearances last season, gave Chelsea the lead when they caught the Red Bulls on a counter.
Substituting liberally to begin the second half and inserting Eden Hazard, John Terry and Nemanja Matic, Chelsea continued to dominate. But Terry’s miscue enabled New York to draw even.
Castellanos raced after Terry’s weak back pass to substitute keeper Asmir Begovic, who tried to clear the ball with a slide tackle, won the ball and scored into an open net.
Chelsea continued to push forward and Diego Costa put a header off the post, but Castellanos curled a cross into Adams, who headed it in for the lead.
Davis latched onto a loose ball at the top of the area to increase the Red Bulls advantage to 3-1, before Hazard settled a free kick at the top of the area and scored to pull one back.
But Davis corralled an errant clearance attempt by Ramires at the top of the Chelsea area shortly thereafter and scored again.
Davis, who has one assist in six games this season with the Red Bulls’ first team, wanted to trade shirts with Matic after the game but lost his opportunity when he got pulled aside for a television interview.
“I think I’ll keep my jersey tonight. It’ll be enough,” he said. “I’m pretty happy with that. Two goals is a good trade off.”
New York used a starting line-up more than half of which came from its USL third-tier team Red Bulls II, a side who have won seven of 18 matches this season.
“I didn’t look at them,” Mourninho said. “I just saw the ball in my net four times, and I didn’t look at them.”
The Red Bulls used a developmental squad after playing and losing on penalties on Tuesday to the Philadelphia Union in the US Open Cup quarter-finals.
Chelsea will play Paris Saint-Germain Saturday and Barcelona on July 29 before returning to England to play in the Charity Shield against Arsenal on August 2 and Fiorentina on August 5. They will begin the Premier League league season on August 8.
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