Opinion | Trip to Japan could do Chelsea good
Club World Cup could give Blues a chance to reflect on their season and refocus their ambitions for what is left of it
There's nothing like a long-haul flight to concentrate the mind and reflect with cabin-pressurised clarity on what is past is done. The beleaguered Chelsea squad will take full advantage of being suspended amid the troposphere, blissfully detached from all the Premier League and Champion League woes.
Straight after their fixture against Sunderland today, the Blues fly to Japan to take part in the Fifa Club World Cub, an otherwise non-event if it weren't for the marketing opportunity and pot of money.
Ahead of the embarrassing Champions League exit on Wednesday night, Fernando Torres talked up the positives of Chelsea's expected group stage departure. According to the 28-year-old Spaniard, travelling 6,000 miles to play against the likes of Ulsan Hyundai constitutes a realistic (and perhaps only) opportunity to win honours this season.
"We will hopefully arrive [in Japan] with enough time to adapt and be focused to win this tournament and take it seriously, as we should. I think it's one of the main targets we should have this season," he said. "In my first full season [at Chelsea], we won the FA Cup and Champions League. What more can you ask? We have a chance now to win the Fifa Club World Cup," he said.
What more can you ask? Is he kidding? The crazy cup talk did not end there, however.
"I have four more years on my contract so hopefully I can win many more things - the Premier League would be amazing. The Capital One Cup and the Community Shield also," he added, ticking off the silverware wish-list like a child penning his annual "must-have" letter to Santa.
Granted, Torres was speaking before the Blues were dumped out of the Champions league. He did not mention his desire to win the Europa League, the first time in the Roman Abramovich era that Chelsea have been consigned to the continent's second-tier competition.