Corinthians beat Chelsea to become first South American Club World Cup winners since 2006

Corinthians beat Chelsea 1-0 to win the Club World Cup, becoming only the second club to win the tournament twice (Barcelona being the other) and the first non-European winner since 2006. Though the match was in Japan, it was like a home game for the Brazilians with their large traveling support filling most of the stadium. And it was with that vocal support that they outplayed and outmaneuvered Chelsea on the way to a deserved win.

As uninspired as Chelsea's performance was, they did get seven shots on target to Corinthians' two. But Fernando Torres was at his Fernando Torresest and Corinthians keeper Cassio came up with some wonderful saves to earn the tournament's Golden Ball award. When Corinthians' Paolo Guerrero found the match's only goal in the 68th minute, Chelsea finally started to get interested, but a mysterious red card for Gary Cahill in the 89th minute ended it.

At the final whistle, David Luiz, who won (and deserved) the Silver Ball award, was in tears while his teammates didn't seem too bothered by losing the midseason distraction. Corinthians players and fans -- both in the stadium and back home in Brazil -- were ecstatic. Their previous title in this tournament came in the very first edition in 2000, which was hosted by Brazil and featured a different format. They beat another Brazilian club, Vasco da Gama, in a shootout that year.