EURO participants to join during course of tour.
NEW YORK- Chelsea FC announced the list of players heading to the United States for their tour, which will include participation in the 2012 AT&T MLS All-Star Game on Wednesday, July 25 at PPL Park (8:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2, TeleFutura, TSN, and RDS), as well as in the 2012 Herbalife World Football Challenge.
Chelsea's roster features experienced players that have won trophies for both club and country. Englishman Frank Lampard captained Chelsea in the Champions League final against Bayern Munich, and is Chelsea's top scoring midfielder ever, while Czech goalkeeper Peter Cech holds the records for the cleanest sheets and fewest goals conceded in an English top-flight season.
Five players who made it beyond the group stage of EURO 2012 - Ashley Cole, John Terry, Florent Malouda, Raul Meireles and Fernando Torres - will join up during the course of the tour.
Chelsea's newest signings, 21-year-old Belgian midfielder Eden Hazard and 23-year-old German winger Marko Marin will partake in the tour. Hazard was instrumental in achieving the League and Cup double with the French club Lille in the 2010-2011 season, as a result he was named Ligue 1 Player of the Year for the 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 seasons. His final season at Lille he finished with 20 goals, second-best in Ligue 1. Marin comes from Germany's Werder Bremen, having made 87 Bundesliga appearances with the club while contributing 12 goals. He has 16 caps with the German national side, making two appearances at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Besides the AT&T MLS All-Star Game, Chelsea will play three additional games as part of the 2012 Herbalife World Football Challenge, opening against Seattle Sounders FC on Wednesday, July 18 before traveling to New York to take on budding French superpower Paris Saint Germain on Sunday, July 22 at Yankee Stadium. After they face the MLS All-Stars on July 25, the club will travel to Miami to take on AC Milan at Sun Life Stadium on Saturday, July 28. More information can be found on the event's official website www.WorldFootballChallenge.com.
CHELSEA FC ROSTER:
Goalkeepers: Petr Cech, Henrique Hilario, Ross Turnbull, Jamal Blackman
Defenders: Branislav Ivanovic, Ashley Cole, John Terry, David Luiz, Paulo Ferreira, Gary Cahill, Sam Hutchinson, Todd Kane, Nathaniel Chalobah
Midfielders: Michael Essien, Ramires, Flourent Malouda, Raul Meireles, Frank Lampard, John Mikel Obi, Eden Hazard, Marko Marin, Yossi Benayoun, Josh McEachran, George Saville
Forwards: Romelu Lukaku, Fernando Torres, Gael Kakuta, Kevin De Bruyne, Patrick Bamford, Lucas Piazon
