Chelsea and England were rocked on Thursday by news that Ashley Cole has suffered a fracture of his left ankle and will be out of action for approximately three months.
The news is a serious blow to the London side, for whom Cole had been in superb form, and for England, who will now be left sweating over the fitness of their first-choice left-back for the World Cup in South Africa in June and July.
Although Cole should theoretically be back in action in mid-May, that will leave him with only a month and a handful of games, at best, to regain full match fitness in time for the start of the World Cup in mid-June.
Cole limped off in the second half of Chelsea’s 2-1 defeat at Everton on Wednesday following a challenge with Landon Donovan, the US international who ironically could line up against the defender again when England face the Americans in their World Cup opener on June 12.
Blues manager Carlo Ancelotti said Chelsea would do all they could to help Cole get back to full fitness as soon as possible, though the Italian added that the club had cover for his position in the squad.
“Now we have to do our best to help him recover quickly [but] Yuri Zhirkov is a fantastic fullback so we can use him,” he said referring to the Russia midfielder who usually plays in an attacking role but can also fill in at left-back.
If Cole fails to recover in time for the World Cup, it could make life more complicated for head coach Fabio Capello as he mulls how to handle the fallout from the recent furore over John Terry’s alleged affair with the former girlfriend of Wayne Bridge, Cole’s under-study at left-back for the national team.
Having Bridge and Terry in the same dressing room will inevitably take some managing and the loss of Cole would make Bridge an automatic selection for the final squad.
That would not be the case if Cole were fit with Stephen Warnock of Aston Villa currently pushing hard to be promoted above Bridge, who has been plagued by injures and poor form at Manchester City this season.
All that aside, the loss of Cole would be a serious blow to England’s chances in South Africa. On his recent form, he has a legitimate claim to be regarded as the finest player in his position in the world and is arguably the only England international to have that status.
Chelsea face Cardiff in the FA Cup today with the Welsh side relieved to have been given a stay of execution earlier this week after the High Court granted a 28-day adjournment to the winding-up order being sought against the club by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs.
The challenge of facing the Premier League leaders will provide a timely distraction and divert attention away from the club’s continuing financial problems.
Cardiff’s hopes of springing an upset haven’t been helped by a spate of injuries with Jay Bothroyd, Stephen McPhail and Darcy Blake joining a lengthening list of absentees and leaving manager Dave Jones with just 13 fit senior players.
■GIGGS OUT FOR MONTH
AFP, MANCHESTER, ENGLAND
Ryan Giggs has broken his right arm and will be out of action for at least four weeks in a serious blow to Manchester United’s prospects of claiming silverware this season.
The winger was injured in a collision with Steve Sidwell during the second half of United’s 1-1 draw at Aston Villa on Wednesday and an x-ray has confirmed a fracture that will mean he misses the League Cup final against Villa on Feb. 28.
Giggs, 36, will also be absent for both legs of Champions League last-16 clash with AC Milan and Premier League games against Everton, West Ham and Wolves.
In the twilight of his career, Giggs has become more important to United than ever and his absence will be felt even more because Portuguese winger Nani, who has lately been playing the best soccer of his time at Old Trafford, faces a three-match domestic ban after being sent off against Villa.
Nani will be available for next week’s first leg in Milan, a match that United will have plenty of time to prepare for as a result of their third round FA Cup defeat by Leeds last month.
“In terms of preparing for a European tie we are pleased to have a free weekend,” United manager Sir Alex Ferguson said.
“AC Milan are playing on Friday night. That is the kind of help European teams get from their countries. We don’t get that here,” he said. “By fortune we don’t have a game on Saturday because we are out of the FA Cup and we are going to take full advantage of it.”
“The players will have a couple of days off because they have worked hard and we will start again on Saturday,” Ferguson said.
United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar meanwhile has insisted that Arsenal could yet force their way back into the title battle, despite recent losses to Ferguson’s men and Chelsea.
“There is a little bit of a gap between us but Arsenal are still around,” he said. “But really, we are not looking to anyone else.”
“We will concentrate on ourselves and hopefully we can continue this work rate and quality of play we have shown in the last couple of weeks,” he said.
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