Ancelotti Drops Hint – Drogba May Not Play

African Players Returned Later and Aren’t Quite Fit

July 17

Chelsea’s new manager, Carlo Ancelotti, has dropped a hint in an interview to Chelsea TV about his likely line-up on Saturday.

Speaking exclusively to their station, the Italian has been weighing his options in the run up to his first game in charge – against Sounders FC tomorrow. The African contingent only returned to Chelsea’s Cobham training ground in Surrey this Monday, July 13th, but nonetheless, Ancelotti has taken a strong traveling party across the Atlantic, but he is adamant he will not be overworking his players in the early action.

“For sure we will do substitutions,” he confirmed. “The African players cannot play the first game because they have to improve the training and physical condition, but after the African players will play. The first match against Seattle we change, we change, we change. Now the players can play 45 minutes. We prefer the players that arrived on July 6 because they are all in good condition.”

Whether this means that Qwest Field will not be graced by Michael Essien (Ghana), John Obi Mikel (Nigeria), Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou (both Cote D’Ivoire/Ivory Coast) remains to be seen, although Ancelotti’s statement is certainly a heavy indication.

NFL Seattle Seahawks quarterback, Matt Hasselbeck, joined the team in training and was seen giving some tips to Michael Ballack, Drogba and John Terry.

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