Chelsea are rocked by Cole injury setback
Quote:
(CNN) -- Chelsea have been rocked by the loss of England international midfielder Joe Cole for the rest of the season.
The loss of Joe Cole is a major blow to Chelsea's hopes of winning honors this season.
The 27-year-old ruptured a cruciate ligament during the 4-1 FA Cup third-round replay win over Southend in midweek and underwent surgery in London on Saturday morning.
Cole's loss will be a massive blow to under-fire Chelsea manager Luiz Felipe Scolari. The Brazilian is already at odds with star striker Didier Drogba, who he axed for the second time in four days for Saturday's match against Stoke City.
Cole's knee injury also rules him out of England's friendlies against Spain and Slovakia along with their World Cup qualifier with Ukraine at Wembley in April.
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It is also doubtful Cole will be fully recovered in time to play any part in the June qualifiers against Kazakhstan and Andorra.
Scolari told PA Sport: "We have had some bad news about Joe Cole, who has a knee injury and will be out for some time. It is a big disappointment for Joe and a big loss to the squad. We wish him the best recovery."
Captain John Terry added: "We're all behind Coley to get fit as soon as possible. He's going to be a big miss for us and I keep on saying he's the one who really opens things up in tight moments."
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/SPORT/fo...ole/index.html
You know, part of me loves this because Chelsea is losing a world class player. Granted, they have talent to fill the hole...though it will be tough to.
The fact that he's on the international team is kind of disappointing. He's a top talent. He'll be sorely missed.
I do wish him a speedy recovery though because this is a rather horrific injury.
