Carlo Ancelotti's first game as Chelsea manager ended in a comfortable 2-0 win over Seattle Sounders, with teenage striker Daniel Sturridge opening the scoring on his debut.
The Blues, led by captain John Terry following speculation surrounding a possible move to Manchester City, took the lead after only 12 minutes when Sturridge claimed his first goal for the club following his move away from Eastlands.
The young striker was also instrumental in the second as it was his intelligent pass that released Nicolas Anelka before the Frenchman teed up Frank Lampard for an emphatic finish after 35 minutes.
Ancelotti insisted prior to kick-off that he was "100 per cent certain" of retaining the services of Terry and the defender was present to captain the Chelsea side as they started their American tour in impressive fashion.
Just 12 minutes into his debut Sturridge ran onto a Deco through-ball and, although his first touch was heavy, the former City teenager recovered to curl a fine shot inside the far post.
Aside from the inclusion of Terry and Sturridge from the start, the most eye-catching feature of Ancelotti's side was the deployment of Deco in a withdrawn role and the Portugal international responded with an influential 45 minutes.
Sitting deep and looking to bisect the Seattle defence at every opportunity, Deco cut a completely different figure to the one that finished last season and hinted at a future under Ancelotti by setting up a succession of chances for his team-mates.
But it was the impressive Sturridge who displayed a creative touch to set up the second goal on 35 minutes when his reverse pass set Anelka free. The French striker then picked out Lampard with a cut-back and the prolific midfielder finished with ease.
Ancelotti made no less than nine changes at half-time with only Lampard and Michael Ballack surviving the cull. Amongst those given a chance to impress were Claudio Pizarro and Andriy Shevchenko who spent last season on loan with Werder Bremen and Milan respectively.
The new-look Blues almost conceded on 57 minutes when Hilario missed a corner from former Arsenal midfielder Freddie Ljungberg, but defender Zach Scott criminally headed wide.
Hilario continued to look unconvincing when seeing an attempted deflection almost bounce in off Sebastien Le Toux.
A few minutes later substitute Sanna Nyassi should have scored when lifting the ball over the Portuguese keeper, but he saw his effort sneak over the bar.
Franco di Santo - who earlier had a shot well saved from close range - also went close in the final stages when he nicked the ball away from stranded goakeeper Terry Boss, but the covering defender slid in to prevent the young forward from finishing into an empty net.
Di Santo was again denied after 83 minutes when only an excellent piece of defending from Scott prevented the Argentinian from rolling the ball home with Boss grounded following his initial effort.
Chelsea were not to add to their score, but in the performances of Sturridge and Deco, and in the participation of Terry, Ancelotti had plenty of positives to take from his first outing as Blues manager.
Via: Yahoo! Sport
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