Chelsea keeper Petr Cech happy to be playing in the Club World Cup

10 December 2012 06:52
Petr Cech is hoping Chelsea can take their recent momentum into the Club World Cup and is happy to be involved in the competition.

Chelsea travelled to Japan after Saturday's 3-1 victory over Sunderland in the Premier League, which followed on from the 6-1 thrashing of Nordsjaelland in the UEFA Champions League. The Blues will meet Monterrey in the semi-finals of the Club World Cup on Thursday and Cech is looking forward to the game following Chelsea's failure to progress beyond the Champions League group phase.

"I'm very happy to be here," the goalkeeper told the club's official website.

"It means a lot for any player if you can play in such a great tournament.

"You only get your invitation when you win the Champions League, which isn't easy. I had to wait eight years to get the entry with Chelsea, so I hope we will make the most of it.

"Our last two results were very good, so we will try to carry that momentum into this tournament and we hope it will take us through."

Chelsea are favourites to set up a final against Copa Libertadores winners Corinthians, but Cech is taking nothing for granted against Monterrey, who beat Ulsan Hyundai 3-1 in their quarter-final on Sunday.

"We have to take it step by step," said Cech.

"Monterrey have a slight advantage as they have been here and are acclimatised, they had a very good game yesterday, and will now face us on Thursday.

"We need to get as fit as possible as fast as possible, acclimatise and get used to the change in hours. I hope it's going to work and we are looking forward to the game.

"We were already seeded to play in the semi-finals, ourselves and Corinthians are seen as the favourites, but we can live with that fact, I have no problem with it.

"We've come to do our best and win the competition, we can assume the position as favourites and we will try to do our best on the pitch.

"The tournament is notable for the use for the first time in football of goalline technology, something of which Cech heartily approves.

"I'm very happy with the decision and the trial," said Cech.

"I've been saying for the last 10 years that the game needed it. You can see with history that results in certain competitions could have been different.

"As a player you would rather wait a bit longer to have a correct decision rather than be disappointed, so I'm glad it's come in and I hope everything goes smoothly and we will see the benefits of it."

Source: team_talk