2012 World Football Challenge

The 2012 World Football Challenge was the third (and the final) World Football Challenge event, a series of friendly soccer matches played in Canada and the United States in July and August. The series opened on July 18.^[1] The opening match was between the Seattle Sounders FC of Major League Soccer (MLS) and Chelsea of the English Premier League, which Chelsea won 4–2.^[2] Real Madrid, who had won the equivalent tournament the previous year, were the only team to win all their matches in normal play.

2012 World Football Challenge

Tournament details
Country	Canada United States
Venue(s)	8 (in 8 host cities)
Teams	11 (from 2 confederations)
Final positions
Champions	Real Madrid
Runners-up	n/a
Tournament statistics
Matches played	9
Goals scored	30 (3.33 per match)
Attendance	304,285 (33,809 per match)
Top goal scorer(s)	José Callejón (3 goals)
← 2011

Participants

The following eleven clubs took part in the 2012 World Football Challenge.

Nation	Team	Location	Confederation	Professional League	Notes
Scotland	Celtic	Glasgow	UEFA	Scottish Premier League	2011–12 Scottish Premier League champions
England	Chelsea	London	UEFA	Premier League	2012 FA Cup and 2011–12 UEFA Champions League winners
United States	D.C. United	Washington, D.C.	CONCACAF	Major League Soccer	4-time MLS Cup Champions
England	Liverpool	Liverpool	UEFA	Premier League	2012 Football League Cup winners
United States	Los Angeles Galaxy	Los Angeles	CONCACAF	Major League Soccer	2011 MLS Cup champions
Italy	Milan	Milan	UEFA	Serie A	18-time Serie A champions
France	Paris Saint-Germain	Paris	UEFA	Ligue 1	Ligue 1 runners-up
Spain	Real Madrid	Madrid	UEFA	La Liga	2011–12 La Liga champions
Mexico	Santos Laguna	Torreón	CONCACAF	Primera División	2011–12 Mexican Primera División Clausura champions
United States	Seattle Sounders FC	Seattle	CONCACAF	Major League Soccer	2011 U.S. Open Cup winners
Canada	Toronto FC	Toronto	CONCACAF	Major League Soccer	2012 Canadian Championship champions

Venues

Eight venues were selected for the 2012 World Football Challenge.

Canada

Toronto, Ontario	Toronto Location of the host cities of the 2012 World Football Challenge in Canada.
Rogers Centre
Capacity: 49,808

United States

Carson, California	Miami Gardens, Florida	Whitney, Nevada	New York, New York
The Home Depot Center	Sun Life Stadium	Sam Boyd Stadium	Yankee Stadium
Capacity: 27,000	Capacity: 74,918	Capacity: 36,800	Capacity: 52,325
Carson Miami Gardens Whitney New York Philadelphia Seattle Washington, D.C. Location of the host cities of the 2012 World Football Challenge in the United States.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Seattle, Washington	Washington, D.C.
Lincoln Financial Field	CenturyLink Field	RFK Stadium
Capacity: 67,594	Capacity: 67,000	Capacity: 56,692

Matches

All times are in the EDT time zone (UTC-4) (Local Times in parentheses).^[3]

Seattle Sounders FC	2–4	Chelsea
Montero 14', 32'	Report	Lukaku 3', 44' Hazard 11' Marin 40'

July 18

21:30 (18:30 UTC-7)

CenturyLink Field, Seattle, Washington

Attendance: 53,309

Referee: Ricardo Salazar (California)

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Toronto FC	1–1	Liverpool
Amarikwa 58'	Report	Morgan 69'

July 21

16:00 (16:00 UTC-4)

Rogers Centre, Toronto, Ontario

Attendance: 33,087

Referee: Paul Ward (Vancouver)

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Chelsea	1–1	Paris Saint-Germain
Piazon 82'	Report	Nenê 30'

July 22

19:00 (19:00 UTC-4)

Yankee Stadium, New York, New York

Attendance: 38,202

Referee: Edvin Jurisevic (Nebraska)

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Chelsea	0–1	Milan
	Report	Emanuelson 68'

July 28

18:00 (18:00 UTC-4)

Sun Life Stadium, Miami Gardens, Florida

Attendance: 57,748

Referee: Ricardo Salazar (California)

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D.C. United	1–1	Paris Saint-Germain
De Rosario 33' (pen.)	Report	Ibrahimović 3'

July 28

19:30 (19:30 UTC-4)

RFK Stadium, Washington, D.C.

Attendance: 13,176

Referee: John McCloskey (Delaware)

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Los Angeles Galaxy	1–5	Real Madrid
Lopes 23'	Report	Higuaín 2' Di María 11' Callejón 36' Morata 49' Jesé 84'

August 2

22:30 (19:30 UTC-7)

The Home Depot Center, Carson, California

Attendance: 30,317

Referee: Ricardo Salazar (California)

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Real Madrid	2–1	Santos Laguna
Alonso 14' Khedira 72'	Report	Suárez 25'

August 5

23:00 (20:00 UTC-7)

Sam Boyd Stadium, Whitney, Nevada

Attendance: 29,152

Referee: Baldomero Toledo (California)

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Real Madrid	5–1	Milan
Di María 24' Ronaldo 49', 66' Ramos 81' Callejón 89'	Report	Robinho 33'

August 8

20:00 (20:00 UTC-4)

Yankee Stadium, New York, New York

Attendance: 49,474

Referee: Jair Marrufo (Texas)

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Real Madrid	2–0	Celtic
Callejón 22' Benzema 67'	Report

August 11

13:30 (13:30 UTC-4)

Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Attendance: 34,018

Referee: Sorin Stoica

Summary of results

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
Celtic	1	0	0	1	0	2
Chelsea	3	1	1	1	5	4
D.C. United	1	0	1	0	1	1
Liverpool	1	0	1	0	1	1
Los Angeles Galaxy	1	0	0	1	1	5
Milan	2	1	0	1	2	5
Paris Saint-Germain	2	0	2	0	2	2
Real Madrid	4	4	0	0	14	3
Santos Laguna	1	0	0	1	1	2
Seattle Sounders FC	1	0	0	1	2	4
Toronto FC	1	0	1	0	1	1

Top goalscorers

As of August 11, 2012.

Rank	Name	Team	Goals
1	José Callejón	Real Madrid	3
2	Romelu Lukaku	Chelsea	2
	Ángel Di María	Real Madrid	2
	Fredy Montero	Seattle Sounders FC	2
	Cristiano Ronaldo	Real Madrid	2
6	Xabi Alonso	Real Madrid	1
	Quincy Amarikwa	Toronto FC	1
	Karim Benzema	Real Madrid	1
	Urby Emanuelson	Milan	1
	Eden Hazard	Chelsea	1
	Gonzalo Higuaín	Real Madrid	1
	Zlatan Ibrahimović	Paris Saint-Germain	1
	Jesé	Real Madrid	1
	Sami Khedira	Real Madrid	1
	David Lopes	Los Angeles Galaxy	1
	Marko Marin	Chelsea	1
	Álvaro Morata	Real Madrid	1
	Adam Morgan	Liverpool	1
	Nenê	Paris Saint-Germain	1
	Lucas Piazon	Chelsea	1
	Sergio Ramos	Real Madrid	1
	Robinho	Milan	1
	Dwayne De Rosario	D.C. United	1
	Christian Suárez	Santos Laguna	1