The pressure is on Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas in the UEFA Champions League, not only for him to try and salvage his own job security, but also to keep England's hopes at crowning a European winner alive.
It appears that he'll be a bit shorthanded in the first stage of his quest to get the Blues to the UCL quarterfinals, though.
According to reports out of Italy, centerback and captain John Terry is very unlikely to play in the opening leg of Chelsea's Round of 16 tie with Napoli on Tuesday, as he battles a knee injury.
After suffering the injury in an FA Cup match against Portsmouth, fluid build-up in the knee has kept him out of the last four matches. He trained with the club on Monday, but has been deemed a "major doubt" by Villas-Boas. That would leave Gary Cahill and David Luiz as the likely centerback tandem to deal with Napoli's high-powered attack.
Here are a few more stories to get your day going:
ITALY ANNOUNCING FRIENDLY ROSTER SUNDAY
The United States men's national team will have to wait a little longer to find out exactly who they'll be squaring off against in next Wednesday's friendly against Italy in Genoa.
Italy manager Cesare Prandelli will announce his roster for next week's friendly against the United States on Sunday, according to the country's federation. A first-choice team is expected to be called in considering the Feb. 29 match is being held on a FIFA international fixture date, but the Azzurri are battling injury problems — especially up front, where Giuseppe Rossi, Alberto Gilardino and Antonio Cassano are all unavailable.
MAN UTD LOANS KUSZCZAK TO WATFORD
Forgetten Manchester United goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak has been loaned to Watford for the remainder of the season.
The former top backup when Edwin van der Sar was manning the nets for the Red Devils, Kuszczak has gone unusued this season, finding no time behind David de Gea and Anders Lindegaard. With the loan, his time in Manchester could be over altogether, as his contract expires at the end of the season.
BRUCE REMAINS WOLVES FRONTRUNNER
Steve Bruce is the leading candidate to take over at Wolves after the other two leading candidates for the coaching job, Neil Warnock and Alan Curbishley, have exited the discussion. Warnock took over at Leeds United over the weekend, while Curbishley, the former Charlton Athletic and West Ham manager, pulled out of the race.
That leaves, Bruce, who was let go by Sunderland earlier this season. Wolves has reportedly asked permission to speak with Reading manager Brian McDermott, who has guided reading to third place in the League Championship and has the team on the cusp of an automatic promotion spot.
————————-
Do you think Chelsea will get a result at Napoli? Whom do you hope to see called in by Prandelli? Think Kuszczak is a top-flight-caliber goalkeeper? Which manager should Wolves hire, Bruce or McDermott?
Share your thoughts below.
Potts and Henley are both prospects for middling to bad teams.
The US should keep an eye on them but the hype they are getting from US fans would be non existent is Rossi and Subotic had never happened.
They need to prove they can win a regular spot with their teams before the US should consider calling them up to the senior team and neither one is near that yet.
I know! US Soccer should realize that informing the fans ASAP so they can offer their amateur opinions and analysis on the roster for the longest possible time before the game should be priority #1!
umm well daniel potts is also leaving england open, accepting a call up recently – they probably won’t land both
When the heck do we announce our roster?
Well hes leaving england open as well
Well Adam Henley (the 17 yr old Blackburn left/right back) has said he is keeping his options open and would consider playing for the US. Since he’s played for Wales youth teams before in official tournaments, he would have to file a one time switch, which he doesn’t want to do at this point, but him not committing to Wales and suggesting US is an option is encouraging, especially considering he is considered starlet material (he’s actually the youngest player to have played in the premier league this year)