22 days to go
Essien winning fitness battle
CHELSEA MIDFIELDER Michael Essien will know within days if he has a chance of playing for Ghana in the World Cup this summer.
Essien has been struggling to regain full fitness since injuring his knee on African Nations Cup duty in January and has remained at Chelsea’s Cobham training ground carrying on his rehabilitation.
“The plan right now is to have a detailed meeting with the Ghana FA and with Chelsea as well in the next few days,” said Essien.
“We are organising that as we speak so everyone will be fully informed about the situation and the progress on a daily basis.
“We felt it was best to leave it until now so as not to disrupt Chelsea’s league and cup plans and also it is the best time for the Ghana FA as the team will be getting ready to meet up now. I have to keep working hard to be fit. Once I am fit I hope to feature in at least one trial match before the World Cup starts.”
France head for heights again
HIKING UP an awe-inspiring glacier has helped France reach vertiginous heights in the past.
Doing it again, they hope, will help them make it back to the top after a run of dismal performances.
The France players, who started a traditional week-long training camp in the French Alps ski village of Tignes on Tuesday, were yesterday preparing to climb to the Grande Motte glacier, overlooking the resort.
“Weather permitting, we will climb up there and stay for the night,” team spokesman Francois Manardo said yesterday.
France, who have prepared for major tournaments at this spectacular spot surrounded by rugged snow-capped peaks since 1997, organised a hike up one of Europe’s largest glaciers, peaking at 3,656 metres, once before.
That was in May 2006 and a few months months later they reached the World Cup final in Germany.
Keane rejects TV pundit role
ROY KEANE has turned a number of offers to be a TV pundit during the World Cup because he wants to concentrate on getting Ipswich Town ready for the new season.
Keane said that having had a poor first season with Ipswich – they flirted with relegation for most of the campaign – he wants to ensure they hit the ground running next time.
“There were a couple of offers but I’ve decided not to take them up. I need to concentrate on getting things right at Ipswich.
“This is a very important summer for me. The most important I’ve had in my time in management – and that’s because of the poor season we had last year,” said Keane.
However, Keane said he would be keeping a close eye on the tournament in South Africa in the hope of spotting affordable talent.
“You’d expect the players from the likes of Italy, Brazil, Argentina and the other top teams to be out of our reach, you never know what the smaller nations might bring.”
LAST NIGHT’S RESULTS
ENGLISH LEAGUE TWO PLAY-OFF– semi-final, second leg: Rotherham 2 Aldershot 0. Rotherham win 3-0 on aggregate.
INTERNATIONAL MATCHES: Austria 0 Coratia 1; Belgium 2 Bulgaria 1.
SPANISH KING'S CUP: Sevilla 2 Atletico Madrid 0.
TODAY’S FIXTURES
(7.45 unless stated)
ENGLISH LEAGUE TWO PLAY-OFF– semi-final second leg: Morecambe (0) v Dag Redbridge (6).
