BALTIMORE, July 24 -- Oguchi Onyewu jogged toward the sideline, removing his warmup gear as he headed toward midfield, and the crowd rose along with him, recognizing the U.S. international as he prepared to enter for AC Milan in a friendly against English power Chelsea.

The sellout crowd of 71,203 at M&T Bank Stadium stood and roared its approval as Onyewu's No. 14 lit up in green on the referee's glowing board at midfield, and the Sherwood graduate entered for just his second appearance with the Rossoneri.

But just two minutes after his warm entrance, Onyewu's homecoming was spoiled on a shot by Chelsea's Yuri Zhirkov following a frantic flurry of shots near the top of the box that gave Chelsea a 2-1 win.

And though Onyewu nearly played hero with a 90th-minute header that missed wide left, he was instead left still searching for his first win with his new club.

The fans came out en masse in Baltimore, arriving well before kickoff and filling in the stands 90 minutes prior to the first kick.

As the two starting lineups filed into the stadium, a survey of the purple seats showed nary a supporter without a camera or cellphone raised to capture the moment. And in the first half the crowd was treated to the world class soccer they sought.

Two brilliant goals in the first 45 minutes were worth the admission alone, the first a 35-yard laser from Chelsea forward Didier Drogba that found the upper corner on the far post. The second, Milan's equalizer, a powerful shot from the seemingly ageless Clarence Seedorf on top of the 18-yard box on a feed from Brazilian star Ronaldinho, who held off a defender and touched back to the Dutch midfielder.

Ronaldinho, who was greeted with the loudest cheers during player introductions, seemed aware of the need to entertain the fans, showing his brilliance all over the field at different moments -- a bicycle-kick attempt inside the box that caromed off a teammate and a cheeky hop-touch pass in the first half and a nutmeg of a defender and curling free kick off the crossbar in the second.
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But it was Chelsea's Juliano Belletti that received the first cheers from the crowd for his on-field actions when a blistering shot from distance forced a sprawling save from Milan goalkeeper Zeljko Kalac in the third minute.

Four minutes later, however, Drogba put the crowd on its feet.

Chelsea's John Terry played a quick pass to the Ivory Coast native about 40 yards from net on the right side, and Drogba took two touches toward goal before unleashing a shot to the far corner and past a helpless Kalac, then stood straight up in admiration of his own work.

Milan pushed in search of an equalizer, and in the 20th minute Andrea Pirlo's shot forced a kick save from Petr Cech. The save left a rebound in the box and Ronaldinho promptly sent it back towards net on a bicycle attempt that was blocked unintentionally by teammate Marco Borriello.

In the 29th minute, Borriello got on the end of a pass on the right side of the box and as Cech slid out to make the save, the 27-year-old Italian instead stepped over the ball, turning his back, and touched it to Seedorf.

With Cech out of the net, Seedorf chipped toward the far post, but the ball caromed off the crossbar and out.

Nine minutes later, however, Ronaldinho did well to hold of a defender and again laid a ball back into the path of the 33-year-old Seedorf. This time the veteran made no mistake, crushing a shot past Cech, who managed to get a touch on the ball but not enough to keep it out.

The second half brought more brilliance between the two skillful midfielders as Seedorf played a quick one-two with Ronaldinho. The Brazilian's return pass was chipped slightly in the air and, leaping, Seedorf one-timed a half-volley that didn't miss the far upper corner by much.

Ronaldinho provided another sampling of his skill in the 58th minute, curling a right-footed free kick over the wall and past Cech only for it to ring off the crossbar and out.

But despite Milan's entertaining play, they remained winless in the World Football Challenge thanks to Zhirkov, who found the back of the net on a rebound after shots by Andriy Shevchenko and Frank Lampard were turned away.