Duff on brink of Blues return

Damien Duff hopes to be given the all-clear today to begin full training on Chelsea's pre-season tour of the United States.

The Republic of Ireland winger, recovering from a shoulder operation in May, has been restricted to no-contact light training. Along with most of the Euro 2004 stars, Duff was left out of the Chelsea side that drew 1-1 with League Two side Oxford United at the Kassam Stadium on Saturday but new head coach Jose Mourinho is hoping that he will be cleared to play at some stage during their three-match tour.

On Wednesday Chelsea fly to Seattle where they begin their tour against Celtic. They then face Roma in Pittsburgh and AC Milan in Philadelphia.

"All the players will travel but the team against Celtic will probably be much the same as the one that played Oxford," said Mourinho. "But it is my hope that I can play all of them in one of the other two games."

Joe Cole, who was in the England squad, played on Saturday, but was taken off at half time. "He was tired and couldn't play any further," explained Mourinho. "They were all tired."