Fluminense Becomes Underdog, But Mentality Can Be Complained

Fluminense cannot be underestimated at the 2025 Club World Cup (Instagram/@fluminensefc).

JAKARTA - Fluminense enjoy their role as the underdogs, aka not seeded in the 2025 Club World Cup.

They have stepped in the semifinals and will face a strong European club, Chelsea, on Wednesday, July 9, 2025, early morning WIB.

Manager Renato Gaucho became the actor behind Fluminense's craze. He carries a strong mentality against the world's eliet club. No wonder he has taken the Brazilian team to an impossible path.

According to Opta, the Rio de Janeiro club arrived in the United States with a chance of only 0.05 percent to win the 2025 Club World Cup. Initially, the brand was even expected to be eliminated in the group stage.

Amazingly, they opposed predictions by finishing as runners-up in Group F, holding the Borussia Dortmund and Mamelodi Sundowns series and beating Ulsan Hyundai to advance to the knockout stages.

The charismatic Renato has turned a club from a team that has struggled to avoid relegation into a giant assassination team in three months.

The 62-year-old helped Fluminense get rid of Champions League runners-up Inter Milan in the last 16 and Al Hilal in the 2025 Club World Cup quarter-finals.

"When I said we were a bad guy, with all due respect to all the rest of the clubs, I talked about our financial situation."

"Fluminense is only 10 percent of the financial size of these big clubs. So, these big clubs have all the resources to recruit the best players," said Renato.

Despite the financial gap, Renato believes that his team's attitude and concentration has become a key factor in their extraordinary journey.

"What brought Fluminense to the semifinals was the attitude shown by my team in the field, their concentration, their focus, and the hard work of the whole team," he said.

Renato plans carefully for the match against Chelsea. He described the clashes at the MetLife Stadium, New Jersey, as a chess game to be decided by tactical discipline.

"This will be a game of patience. We will be careful. Of course, possession of the ball will be very important, especially at 3 pm, which is kick-off time."

"The heat is unbearable! If you have to keep chasing your opponent, if you don't have the ball, you'll be exhausted."

"We have great respect for Chelsea, but this is a chess game. You can be sure that this will be a tight match, at least in my opinion, with few chances."

"Anyone who takes advantage of all the data will definitely be the winner," said Renato.

Renato said Fluminense would try to neutralize key Chelsea players while trying to control the ball and play their own games while continuing the beautiful story in the United States.

Fluminense's neat journey was not underestimated by the Blues. Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca praised the quality of Brazilian football after previously meeting twice with club from the country at the 2025 Club World Cup.

The Blues lost 1-3 to Flamengo in the group stage and beat Palmeiras 2-1 in the quarter-finals.

"The quality of Brazilian players is probably the best, the best quality," said Maresca while highlighting again the gap in conditions between the fresh South American team and tired European players after finishing the 2024/2025 season.

"There are two things that I think are very clear in the two matches we face (against) the Brazilian team."

"One of them is quality, but at the same time it is very clear what energy they have, for different reasons, and we don't."

"The best quality and defense, they are very good. So, this will be a difficult match," said Maresca as quoted by ESPN.