The Blues had bittersweet outings at their respective games in the World Cup Qualifiers of 2022. While Pulisic shone through for his national outfit against Mexico with a stellar headed goal, Jorginho was involved in a rare misfired penalty that dented his side’s chances of procuring the ticket to Qatar.
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The prolific forward Christian Pulisic is winning American hearts with his stupendous headed finish. Having recently recovered from an injury, the Chelsea man was brought onto the field towards the dying stages of the game against Mexico.
With the scoreline stuck at 0-0, a surging Pulisic received an expertly fed cross from Timothy Weah. The 23-year-old powered through the Mexican backline and slotted the ball with his head into the back of the net to break the deadlock and give his side the lead.
The action did not die down in the last quarter of the game, which saw a goal from Weston McKennie and a red card shown to defender Miles Robinson before the final whistle blew at 2-0.
There was nothing to separate the two sides at full-time, as the ferocious clash between the European champions Italy and the fearless Swiss ended at 1-1.
After several waves of attack, the Swiss finally managed to breach the Italian defence at the 11th-minute mark on the back of a thunderous strike by right-back Silvan Widmer which beat Donnarumma with ease. The Italians equalized at the 36th minute when an inventive free-kick taken by Lorenzo Insigne found Di Lorenzo who, amid an ocean of hodge-podge in the box, had little problem in heading it home to make it 1-1.
The hosts, however, were thrown a golden opportunity by rival defender Ulisses Garcia whose shove on Dominico Berardi was ruled as a penalty by the VAR at the 88th minute of the game.
The spot-kick was to be taken by the experienced Chelsea midfielder Jorginho who made a meal of it, blasting it above the post to the surprise of everyone present at the Stadio Olimpico.
With the race to Qatar heating up, the Azzurri, having failed to capitalize on their chance to take the win, are still far from sealing their place in the World Cup and will be looking for a better result against Northern Ireland who they face up next.
As for the Chelsea fans, their hopes would be pinned on their American prodigy Pulisic to carry his form through to the Premier League and for their star midfielder Jorginho to recover from his howler of a miss.
