Saturday, January 17, 2009

Cole out for rest of the season

LONDON (AFP) - Chelsea winger Joe Cole will miss the rest of the season after surgery on a ruptured cruciate knee ligament on Saturday.
Cole suffered the injury in Wednesday's FA Cup third round replay win at Southend and was initially expected to be out for at least eight weeks.
But the England star underwent reconstructive surgery on Saturday and has no chance of recovering before the end of the season.
Cole's absence is another blow for Blues boss Luiz Felipe Scolari, whose squad has been ravaged by injury problems this season.
"I am very sad for Joe to have suffered this injury and I am disappointed to have lost a very important player for me and the club at such a vital moment in the competition," Scolari told Chelsea's website.
"However, I believe that with his spirit, Joe will come back to Chelsea even better than before."
Cole's injury also rules him out of England's friendlies against Spain and Slovakia, as well as their World Cup qualifier against Ukraine at Wembley in April and the June qualifiers with Kazakhstan and Andorra.
Chelsea and England 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.
"He did it again on Wednesday against Southend. What a pass he produced for Salomon Kalou's goal.
"We're all gutted for him and we know how much it means to him to be playing.
"No-one will be more hurt at missing games through injury. But one thing we all know is that he'll work just as hard off the pitch to get fit as he does on it."

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