ENGLISH FA CUP FIFTH ROUND: CARLO ANCELOTTI has offered compatriot Fabio Capello timely encouragement by suggesting Ashley Cole should have recovered from a fractured ankle in time to prove his fitness ahead of the World Cup.
The Chelsea and England left-back had surgery yesterday on the bone broken in a challenge with Everton’s Landon Donovan at Goodison Park on Wednesday night. His left ankle is expected to be in plaster for up to a month.
Should his rehabilitation progress as expected, however, he could yet feature for Chelsea before the end of the campaign and, all being well, would be available for England’s friendlies against Mexico on May 24th and Japan in Austria ahead of the squad’s departure for South Africa.
“I hope he recovers quickly and comes back before the end of the season,” Ancelotti said. “That’s a realistic possibility. In three months he will be ready to play, so for England he can play in the World Cup.”
The Chelsea manager added: “When a player has an injury, it’s normal that he’s depressed. I had a lot of injuries in my career and was down. But, after the depression, you have to look forward. You have to rest, to recover and to work. Ashley has a fantastic spirit to do this. I’m sure he will be back before the time the doctor said. I know him. He will put in the spirit to recover well.”
While Chelsea have sufficient cover at left-back in Yuri Zhirkov and Paulo Ferreira, England’s options are less clear-cut. The chances of Wayne Bridge being included in the squad for next month’s home friendly against Egypt, to play alongside John Terry, have risen.
Relations between the pair remain strained, though Manchester City expect their full-back to be available for the Wembley game on March 3rd.
“Wayne never told me that he doesn’t want to play with Terry,” Roberto Mancini, the City manager, said. “Is he committed to playing for England? Absolutely. Playing in the World Cup is important for all players. Wayne is a good man and all that is important is that he recovers to play for City and the national team.
“Wayne was injured for a month with a knee injury and that is a big problem for a player. He is getting fitter, but he needs to play and after five or six games. Then he will be 100 per cent.”
Capello has conceded that coaching the England side has already proved an eye-opener. “It is a psychological job to be the manager of a national team, especially the England team,” he said.
He, like Chelsea, will hope Terry returns from Dubai – where he is spending time with his estranged wife, Toni Poole, and the couple’s three-year-old twins – in a better state of mind after a below-par display at Everton.
While Ancelotti suggested he would have granted his captain time off regardless of the furore whipped up around him in recent weeks – he has also rested Nicolas Anelka for today’s FA Cup fifth round tie against Cardiff City – he did warn his players that he would have no qualms in excluding them if matters in their private life affected their form.
Ancelotti was not afraid to omit Ronaldinho at Milan last season when he felt the player was not focused on his football. “When I see that a player’s personal life is affecting their performances, I will act. For sure,” the Italian said.
“I want to judge my players on their professional behaviour, their professional lives. I’m not interested in their private lives. My players, when they finish here (at the training ground), are normal people. I’m not interested. If a player comes back to the training ground and he’s not focused or doesn’t work hard, then I can go a different way. But if they come here and are professional – and I have fantastically professional players – then I’m not involved in other things.
“I could have given John Terry two or three days of recovery time anyway. He’s played every game this season. Nicolas has a few days off as well – they have time off and they can do what they want with it. Some of my players are tired. They need to have some days to recover to prepare for the next (Premier League) game.”
Guardian Service
