Chelsea beats Inter Milan, 2-0, at Rose Bowl

Source: By Grahame L. Jones, On Soccer
July 22, 2009

Didier Drogba as goal scorer? Sure. Happens all the time.

Drogba as peacemaker? Not so common, but it happened at the Rose Bowl on Tuesday night.

Drogba as fantasist, inventor of surprising passes and superlative moves? Sure. Apparently there isn't much the Ivory Coast international is not capable of doing on a soccer field.

Tormentor of referees? User of sometimes shocking language? Yes, also true, but there are few who would claim Chelsea's 31-year-old striker is not worth the price of admission.

On Tuesday, 81,224 showed up in Pasadena's Arroyo Seco to watch Drogba and the rest of the Blues defeat Italian champion Inter Milan, 2-0, in a first-rate international friendly.


Drogba scored the first goal, combining vision with touch to steer the ball just inside the right post from 30 or more yards a mere 10:22 into the match.

Frank Lampard grabbed the second goal, confidently stroking a penalty kick past Vid Belec, Inter's 19-year-old Slovenian goalkeeper, in the 50th minute after Inter's Ivan Cordoba had been called for handling the ball.

It seemed a harsh call by referee Ricardo Salazar because Cordoba had turned his back on the play when the ball struck him. He did not appear to intentionally handle the ball.

But back to Drogba.

There isn't a soccer fan who will not remember him from May's run-in with Norwegian referee Tom Henning Ovrebo after Chelsea had been knocked out in the semifinals of the European Champions League by eventual champion Barcelona.

Scenes of Drogba's wild-eyed tirade against the referee were beamed around the world. Viewers in Britain were also treated, much to their surprise, to the colorful language he used.

Drogba was given a suspension for that meltdown and will miss some of Chelsea's early Champions League matches in the upcoming season that begins next month.

On Tuesday, however, he was keeping the peace.

About 20 minutes into the game, as both were chasing the ball, Lampard sent Inter Milan defender Nicholas Burdisso crashing head-first into the advertising boards to the right of the goal.

Burdisso was ready to take Lampard on right there and then, but Drogba intervened and the incident was over.

Quicker to the ball, smoother in its passing and closer to its Aug. 15 English Premier League season opener than Inter Milan is to its own Serie A opener a week later, Chelsea carried the game to the Italian champions.

Not surprisingly, Drogba was involved in most of the first-half highlight moments.

He looked to be in mid-season form, and perhaps he is because reports Tuesday suggested that, rather than being traded away as was rumored earlier this year, the veteran forward is about to sign a contract extension with Chelsea.

New Coach Carlo Ancelotti, who has moved over to Chelsea from AC Milan, must like what he sees in Drogba.

Inter Milan Coach Jose Mourinho, who coached Chelsea to two Premier League titles before being released in 2007, could have told Ancelotti of Drogba's quality.

"It's easy for a coach to work with a player that has this type of character," Mourinho said this year, "because he is someone born to work, to win, to be loyal, a friend, a team player."

Drogba played only the first half Tuesday, but that was enough for the largest crowd to see a soccer game in Southern California since the U.S. defeated China in the 1999 Women's World Cup final, also at the Rose Bowl, and the biggest for men's soccer since the 1984 Olympics.

Roll on, the new European season.

Didier Drogba to sign new deal as Andriy Shevchenko nears Chelsea exit

Source: Dominic Fifield guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 21 July 2009 23.00 BST

Carlo Ancelotti anticipates Andriy Shevchenko leaving Chelsea before the end of the transfer window, though Didier Drogba has informed the manager that he will sign a new three-year contract on his return from the team's pre-season tour of the United States.

Chelsea travelled to the US with seven recognised strikers in their 26-man party, including Shevchenko and Claudio Pizarro who spent last season on loan at Milan and Werder Bremen respectively. Ancelotti indicated after the 2-0 victory against Seattle Sounders that he hopes to field two forwards in games in the season. With the young signing Daniel Sturridge having already impressed in training and on debut against the MLS side on Saturday, Ancelotti feels he boasts the firepower to unsettle opponents next term.

Given the options the manager already boasts, Shevchenko is expected to move on ahead of the new campaign. Dynamo Kiev and Fenerbahce have expressed interest in securing the Ukrainian, who has a year to run on his £130,000-a-week contract, with the club to hold talks with the forward on the team's return to London.

"For now, Shevchenko works with the team and plays with the team," said Ancelotti. "He's a [Chelsea] player now until 31 August and then, together, we will make a decision. I speak to Shevchenko every day and the situation is this: he's with us until 31 August and then we take a decision together. But I don't know what will happen as the club has not received any offers."

Ancelotti intends to trim his squad ahead of the new season from the 27 who have featured in the US – Michael Ballack has returned home with a toe injury, while Yuri Zhirkov has linked up with the party – to a more manageable number, although those cuts will not include the winger Florent Malouda who has signed a new three-year contract.

"It would be better to have 23 players, but now I want to see them, people I don't know very well," he said. "There will be less players [at the start of the season], but 24 or 25 is not a problem."

Confirmation that Drogba, a player revitalised by Guus Hiddink's brief tenure last season, intends to remain at Stamford Bridge was anticipated, but will be welcomed by the management team nevertheless. The Ivorian was admired by Ancelotti while he was at Milan and, when fit and focused, remains a potent weapon.

"Drogba is a very important player for us and we want him to play for Chelsea," said Ancelotti. "I think he's irreplaceable as no other striker in the world can do the same job. I've spoken with Drogba and know very well what he wants. I believe in Drogba and told him this. He told me he's happy to stay."

There is an assumption that Drogba and Nicolas Anelka will be the first-choice forwards under the Italian, though Sturridge has already shown flashes to justify Chelsea's efforts in prising him away from Manchester City, much to Mark Hughes' frustration. The fee for the striker has still to be decided by a transfer tribunal – City are seeking up to £10m for a player they nurtured in their youth academy – but Ancelotti already considers him in his senior-team plans for the season ahead.

"He's a young player and has good quality and we expect him to have a very good season," added Ancelotti, who will also see Mikel John Obi, Ashley Cole and Joe Cole sign new contracts before the start of the season. "He's [Sturridge] started very well. To score a goal in the first game [against the Sounders] and that's good for us and good for him. He will improve and has to improve. He has a lot of quality as a striker who is quick and intelligent with his movement for others – I like that. It's important that he improves, but he's a good striker for Chelsea and will be in the first-team [squad] this season.

"He's not a star. He's a young player, a very good player. But it's a good sign that he wants to improve. We have a lot of strikers at this club, but he is young and we believe in young players at this club."

Meanwhile, Malouda revealed that, despite signing a new contract, he will have to adapt to a new system with Ancelotti preferring a diamond formation up front. "This year he wants to try the new system with a diamond so I have to adapt myself and that is why we are training really hard to do what the manager wants," Malouda said.

Malouda signs three-year deal to stay at Chelsea

Source: The Canadian Press

LONDON — Florent Malouda has signed a new deal to stay with Chelsea for three more seasons.

The French winger, who had a year left on his existing contract, has agreed to stay at Stamford Bridge until the summer of 2012 and said Tuesday he was looking forward to playing under new manager Carlo Ancelotti.

"I was really happy when I heard it was Carlo Ancelotti because I have a lot of respect for him," Malouda said about the former AC Milan coach. "At my former club Lyon I played many times against Milan. For me it is a really good choice and I believe in him."

Manchester City doggedly pursuing Chelsea's John Terry

Source: GRAHAME L. JONES / ON SOCCER (Los Angeles Times)

Manchester has offered England's top defender $330,000 a week, but Terry has not stated a decision. Chelsea has rebuffed offers.

Tampering apparently is perfectly acceptable in England.

Either that or the English have decidedly different rules about how and when soccer players under contract to one team can be approached by another team and asked to jump ship.

John Terry is a good case in point.

The captain of England's national side and of Chelsea in the English Premier League will be playing for the Blues against Inter Milan in a friendly international at 8 tonight at the Rose Bowl.

It is not too much of a stretch to say it might be one of his last games for Chelsea. Whether it will be, depends on who you believe.


Manchester City, flaunting the seemingly unlimited wealth of its oil-rich Middle Eastern owner, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan of the United Arab Emirates, has spent weeks trying to lure Terry out of London and north to the scenic wonders of Manchester.

It offered Chelsea $50 million for Terry, only to be rebuffed, and now is reported to be preparing a $66-millon bid.

It has offered Terry himself a staggering salary of $330,000 a week.

It has said he could pretty much write his own ticket.

It has suggested that after 14 years at Chelsea, Terry, who joined the Stamford Bridge club as a 14-year-old, might like to sample something different.

And all along Terry has said little to nothing. Even now, less than a month before the Premier League's 2009-10 season begins, England's top defender has not stated unequivocally which shade of blue he will be wearing in the upcoming season.

Other people, of course, have said much.

"I don't know what he will do," Chelsea and England teammate Frank Lampard told reporters after Chelsea had beaten Major League Soccer's Sounders, 2-0, in front of 65,289 in Seattle on Saturday night.

"This is not just about the money, and people shouldn't try to make it that black and white."

Mark Hughes, the former Manchester United and Wales player who is Manchester City's manager, has been relentless in his pursuit of Terry, but he has had to choose his words carefully.

"He's obviously the type and caliber of player we need if we are going to progress and compete at the top level," Hughes told the BBC on Sunday.

Manchester City has already landed four prizes this off-season in forwards Emmanuel Adebayor, Carlos Tevez and Roque Santa Cruz and midfielder Gareth Barry. But Terry would be the big prize.

As a result, Manchester City players have been enlisted in the cause.

"You can have the best attacking players in the world, but unless the defense compliments it, then you will not win anything," Brazilian forward Robinho told the Sunday Mirror. "I don't know anything about the John Terry deal apart from what I have read, but he is the sort of world-class player we need at the back."

Goalkeeper Shay Given echoed the thought.

"He is 'Mr. Chelsea,' so it would be amazing if we got him, and I hope that we do," Given said. "Sometimes a change is good for a player."

For its part, Chelsea has steadfastly said that Terry, 28, is not for sale. The defender still has three years left on his contract, which pays him $223,000 a week.

"I am sure he will remain at Chelsea," Chelsea's new manager, former AC Milan mentor Carlo Ancelotti, said Saturday. "I am sure 100%."

Peter Kenyon, Chelsea's chief executive, has dismissed Manchester City's approaches.

"John is a talisman," he told Britain's Sky Sports News last week. "He is the heart of Chelsea. . . . We are not going to sell John, so it is irrelevant what another club will offer. We are very confident he will be leading us in the years to come."

All the same, Chelsea has not filed a complaint with the Premier League about the way Manchester City has been nibbling around the edges. Under league rules, clubs are not allowed to express interest in a player under contract to another club without obtaining prior written permission from that club.

So the Terry saga goes on while the man himself remains silent.

Chelsea's owner, Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, flies in to join the team Tuesday.

Stay tuned. As Chelsea and Germany national team midfielder Michael Ballack told Sky Sports News: "It's football, anything can happen."

Lampard uncertain over Terry's Chelsea future

Source: AFP

LONDON — Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard admits there is no guarantee John Terry will snub Manchester City's big-money bid to lure him away from Stamford Bridge.

City have already had two offers rejected for England captain Terry, but boss Mark Hughes is planning a new 35 million pounds bid for the defender this week.

Although Terry has spent his whole career at Chelsea and remains the club's most talismanic figure, it is believed City's offer to raise his wages to 200,000 pounds a week has forced the Blues skipper to consider his future.

A host of Chelsea players have made it clear they want Terry to stay but Lampard, who was close to agreeing to a reunion with former manager Jose Mourinho at Inter Milan last season and is one of Terry's closest friends, is more concerned.

"I don't know what he will do," Lampard said in The Times on Monday.

"I've been in John's position, but everyone at the club wants him to stay.

"I had an option to leave last year, to go with a manager who I love, but it came at a time in my life that, maybe, just wasn't right.

"But the situation made me think an awful lot. It wasn't an easy decision, either, and I don't think people should criticise John.

"The fact is you can never take away what he's done for Chelsea. He'll always be a legend. I hope and I'm confident that, whatever happens, he will continue to be considered a legend here."

Lampard insists that Terry shouldn't be condemned as a mercenary if he does accept City's massive offer.

"People should respect his right to choose," Lampard said. "When you're a successful player this kind of thing is going to happen and then you have to make a decision. John's a very honourable man and it doesn't come down to money and things like that.

"I know John. I know he'll be thinking about what's the right thing to do as a player and, in the longer term, for his career.

"No one should doubt that John Terry wants to be successful. No one should doubt that John Terry is a winner. This is not just about the money and people shouldn't try to make it that black and white.

"It's understandable because it's Manchester City who have come in, but it's up to John what happens. All I can say is that I'm very proud each time I play with him and, as a club, you want to keep players like John Terry. It's as simple as that."

Chelsea's Ricardo Carvalho accepts he will not reunite with Mourinho at Inter

Source: Guardian.Co.Uk (Dominic Fifield in Los Angeles)


Ricardo Carvalho has conceded that his immediate future remains with Chelsea despite Jose Mourinho's protracted attempts to be reunited with his compatriot at Internazionale this summer. The defender said he is committed to re-establishing himself in the first-team at Stamford Bridge after last season's frustrations.

Inter had been in discussions with Chelsea over a potential move for both Carvalho and his Portugal international team-mate Deco, though no formal cash offer was ever made. The Premier League club eventually tired of Inter's procrastination, and suggestions that they might secure both players for nominal fees or in a swap deal. While Deco could yet move on before the new campaign, Chelsea have since informed Carvalho that he is not available for transfer and must honour the three years on his contract.

"The stories about me going [to Internazionale] started last season," said the centre-half. "There was a chance but, after that, it finished. It didn't happen. It came to nothing and I have got a contract here, so I will carry on and do my best for Chelsea. Of course, you never know what may happen in the future – we will see – but I think I will be staying here. Last year was disappointing – I didn't play and was injured for quite a long time. I was not happy, and maybe the club wasn't happy with me, but now I have to get myself fit and ready to play."

Carvalho had voiced frustration at the way Chelsea had treated his hamstring and ankle injuries, suggesting he had not benefited from adequate support during his lengthy spells on the sidelines – claims that rather baffled the club's hierarchy. He featured only four times under Guus Hiddink, and not at all after mid April, following the Dutchman's appointment on a temporary basis to follow Luiz Felipe Scolari's brief tenure.

Yet, while admiration for Mourinho remains, the Portuguese defender is now keen to prove to Carlo Ancelotti that he merits a starting place alongside John Terry at the heart of Chelsea's defence. "The new manager has been good so far," added Carvalho. "I will have to work with him and I want to get a chance with him. I haven't spoken to him much one on one – we have spoken more as a team – but I think he likes to be fair to everyone. For now, it is about going step by step, working hard and gaining more confidence to make sure we start the Premier League well and try to regain the title."

Manchester City Ready To Bid £40million For Chelsea's John Terry

Sources: Arjun Miglani, Goal.com



The Citizens are not scared of Chelsea's legal threats, and are set to increase their bid...
Manchester City are set to continue raising their bid to land John Terry.

Chelsea are threatening to report City to the Premier League over their incessant pursuit of Terry, but this does not appear to be deterring the Citizens.

According to The Daily Mail, Mark Hughes is ready to table a mammoth £40million bid, having seen his earlier offer of £32million rejected. Terry is yet to publicly commit to Chelsea, and City are determined to keep bidding until he does.

City are also reportedly in the hunt for Joleon Lescott and Kolo Toure, as they seek to re-enforce their back line.