After a slight delay, the travelling Blues party touched down in Seattle on Thursday afternoon in blistering heat.
With news of Joe Cole’s operation before the departure ruling him out of flying, and Paulo Ferreira’s continued rehabilitation after cruciate ligament damage, it was an otherwise full squad that departed for America.
After transfer to the team hotel in downtown Seattle, there was a traditional team stroll before some free time.
Training will commence on Friday with a double session before the first game of the tour on Saturday, against the new MLS team Seattle Sounders.
During day two of Chelsea’s US tour, the squad visited Seahawks training facility in Renton, Washington. Frank Lampard, John Terry, Michael Essien and Michael Ballack took tips from Seattle Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck before heading over to their 4pm PT training session at Qwest Field.
Chelsea are preparing for tomorrow’s 3pm ET game against Seattle Sounders, which will be televised live on ESPN2.
A beautiful setting, beautiful weather, a sell-out 69,000 crowd awaiting tomorrow and jaw-dropping training facilities – it’s pretty easy to see why Chelsea chose to begin the 2009 tour of the United States in Seattle.
