Some good - and some bad - news for Salomon Kalou today at the Africa Cup of Nations.
We'll start with the good, the real good. Kalou opened the scoring for Côte d'Ivoire in their 2-0 win against Burkina Faso tonight. Peep Sal's excellent volley in visual form below.
The volley was the cherry on the top of what was another fine performance from the rarely used Chelsea vet. Kalou has been in fantastic form in the homeland, setting up The Mighty One in the Coast's tournament-opening 1-0 victory against Sudan before following that up with his goal and general attacking excellence against Burkina Faso. That was until he was carted off with an apparent hamstring injury.
Yeah, that would be the bad news.
Kalou pulled up on the break around the hour mark and though he attempted to play on (at least for a few minutes), he obviously was unable to do so. It's disappointing for the player, sure - and trust me, we feel for him - but this could also have an effect on Chelsea because, as we said, he was beginning to really show some great form. Whether he could have worked his way back into the first team in London remains to be seen, but it would be nice to have him making a run at doing so. Now, his ACN tournament could be over and, who knows, he may be out for several weeks. Just as he was starting to do the business.
Shit.
Here's to hoping it's only a mild injury and that Kalou will actually be able to return for the Coast before the ACN is over. He deserves to be in the mix. Then perhaps he can make his way back to Chelsea, and start to give us the kind of production he's been known to provide over the past several seasons. We could use his knack for crucial goals, no doubt.