There will be fresh faces for our third pre-season friendly of the summer on Sunday, with our World Cup representatives now back into the groove at Cobham.
The last of our players to spend their summers in South Africa reported back for training on Monday and have quickly set about playing fitness catch-up with the rest of the squad, which included the French, Ivorians and Serb Branislav Ivanovic, who were back last Thursday after their early World Cup elimination.
Manager Carlo Ancelotti fielded a young side for our first two pre-season friendlies, with John Mikel Obi, Michael Essien and Daniel Sturridge our only regular first team outfield players on show, but our English and Portuguese internationals now return to the group, despite only arriving back at Cobham from their holidays on Monday.
That means likely starts against Eintracht Frankfurt on Sunday for Ashley Cole, John Terry, Frank Lampard, Ricardo Carvalho and Paulo Ferreira.
They will also be joined in the travelling party by Yossi Benayoun, who has recovered sufficiently from a groin problem to be available for selection, and Didier Drogba, who had hernia surgery last week. Four players, however, will remain in England.
'We will keep here Cech, Alex, Bosingwa and Deco because they need to work on their fitness,' explained Ancelotti. 'The other players are in good condition, and for the first game the players back from the World Cup can play for 45 minutes.
'The English and the Portuguese came back good and are doing well, but they are not in the best condition because it is very soon.'
With only a short time in which to prepare his side for our first competitive fixture of the season, in the Community Shield against Manchester United at Wembley on August 8, Ancelotti recognizes the importance of getting the group together for a few days.
'Now we are very close to the first appointment of the season against Manchester United and want to use these games to improve condition more, and I think we will be ready for that first game at Wembley,' he said.
'We decided to do this trip to Germany because we didn't have the players for a long time, so it is better to stay in Europe for a friendly game, and I think it is a good decision instead of going on a long tour.'
The last of our players to spend their summers in South Africa reported back for training on Monday and have quickly set about playing fitness catch-up with the rest of the squad, which included the French, Ivorians and Serb Branislav Ivanovic, who were back last Thursday after their early World Cup elimination.
Manager Carlo Ancelotti fielded a young side for our first two pre-season friendlies, with John Mikel Obi, Michael Essien and Daniel Sturridge our only regular first team outfield players on show, but our English and Portuguese internationals now return to the group, despite only arriving back at Cobham from their holidays on Monday.
That means likely starts against Eintracht Frankfurt on Sunday for Ashley Cole, John Terry, Frank Lampard, Ricardo Carvalho and Paulo Ferreira.
They will also be joined in the travelling party by Yossi Benayoun, who has recovered sufficiently from a groin problem to be available for selection, and Didier Drogba, who had hernia surgery last week. Four players, however, will remain in England.
'We will keep here Cech, Alex, Bosingwa and Deco because they need to work on their fitness,' explained Ancelotti. 'The other players are in good condition, and for the first game the players back from the World Cup can play for 45 minutes.
'The English and the Portuguese came back good and are doing well, but they are not in the best condition because it is very soon.'
With only a short time in which to prepare his side for our first competitive fixture of the season, in the Community Shield against Manchester United at Wembley on August 8, Ancelotti recognizes the importance of getting the group together for a few days.
'Now we are very close to the first appointment of the season against Manchester United and want to use these games to improve condition more, and I think we will be ready for that first game at Wembley,' he said.
'We decided to do this trip to Germany because we didn't have the players for a long time, so it is better to stay in Europe for a friendly game, and I think it is a good decision instead of going on a long tour.'
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