Pre-season Confirmed

[BlueLion. 21,491]

July 23 - Guangzhou vs Chelsea

July 26 - Chengdu Blades vs Chelsea

July 29 - Malaysian Select XI vs Chelsea

August 1-3 - Railways Tournament, featuring Chelsea, Milan, Lokomotiv and Sevilla.

Full article - http://www.chelseafc.com/xxchelsea180706/i...article_1325774

[Fulham Broadway 16,392]

Ahh, the annual Kenyon Shirt Selling Tour

Chengdu Blades owned by Sheffield United if I remember rightly

[EskWeston 696]

Not the greatest of pre seasons to be honest. But the tournament in Moscow should be interesting and good preparation for the season.

The game against AC Milan could be interesting with all the supposed deals going on between the 2 clubs.

[blue_army 2]

these are just baout making money, bring back kingstonain away that used to be a quality day out back when the club actually cared about its true fans

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Not the greatest of pre seasons to be honest. But the tournament in Moscow should be interesting and good preparation for the season.

The game against AC Milan could be interesting with all the supposed deals going on between the 2 clubs.

The games against the Asian teams will be nice, easy 5-0 wins I guess. Always good for confidence.

[Kez 2,727]

Usually good to watch as well

[EskWeston 696]

The time frame for Pre Season isn't the greatest. We have Scolari now starting on the 1st of July, the first pre season game is the 23rd, all players at the Euros will have time off after so will join up much later. It is going to be a disrupted pre season i think...

[BlueLion. 21,491]

And there is the possibility of players being selected for the Olympics as well.

[EskWeston 696]

And there is the possibility of players being selected for the Olympics as well.

Yes, it really isn't going to be an easy Pre Season thats for sure.....

Although we can be grateful that a large portion of our squad will not have been at the Euros or the Olympics.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Yes. I think the Euros are overblown. Yes, the players can get tired, but they come into pre-season match fit, and its not as if they won't have time to recover. Scolari is strict to his regime and I doubt they will be given extra holiday longer than a couple more days. They are professionals and they should be able to cope with the demands of playing football all of the time.

[EskWeston 696]

Yes. I think the Euros are overblown. Yes, the players can get tired, but they come into pre-season match fit, and its not as if they won't have time to recover. Scolari is strict to his regime and I doubt they will be given extra holiday longer than a couple more days. They are professionals and they should be able to cope with the demands of playing football all of the time.

So when would you expect the Euro players to return? Come to think of it, when does everyone return? We know Scolari starts on the 1st, is that when pre season starts too?

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Well I can't speak as to how Scolari's regime will work, but Mourinho began his pre-seasons always in early July. Last year our first game in the US was against Club America on July 14, I think the players went out on July 9. Its therefore obvious from how late our programme starts this year that the players won't go out until late July.

Edited June 14, 2008 by BlueLion

[bombayblue™ 55]

if i remember correctly, after the WC 2006, ballack, makelele had joined around a week late compared to others as they were involved in the later stages of the WC..

and don't forget these players haven't got a day off after the club season, they had to go straight for friendlies and then euro, i would expect a 10-14 day leave for the euro players starting from the day their team exits the Euro..

[BlueLion. 21,491]

I'm not sure it would be so long, in fairness. A lot of football players don't like time off at all, I remember Cech saying he was grateful for the Euros because it meant a shorter holiday

[bombayblue™ 55]

yeah as long as we don't have another another injury crisis of 06/07

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Regarding injuries, I'll say no more, knowing me I'll jinx it and we'll have to play Drogba in goal. But if that happens, at least we'll know he will dive for everything.

[bombayblue™ 55]

[Kez 2,727]

Nah probably injure his hands