Bolton building strength for final playoff push while waiting for Chungy & other internationals

The current international break is a little over halfway done with one Bolton Wanderers player getting a match in while two others were sidelined. All three Bolton players away on international duty (Chung-Yong Lee, Sam Ricketts, and Adam Bogdan) will have another chance at playing in their respective World Cup Qualifiers tomorrow before heading back to Bolton on Wednesday.

With just three players away, some 25 others were left back at the training ground. That, however, doesn't mean that they were complacent or relaxing. Dougie Freedman has been putting the work in with the lads to make sure that they are prepared for the season's final playoff push. The men in white travel to the Valley this weekend to take on Charlton as part of the season's final eight matches.

Speaking to the Bolton News, Freedman made it clear that the boys were putting the hours in:

"These two weeks we have been working on a lot of strength work in the gym to make sure they are right for that last little push.

"We've got a couple of boys away but the rest of them I really think we can push. We can win five or six games again easy.

"That has got to be the level of performance."

Freedman expects to have his internationals back on Wednesday but will have to go a little easier on Chung-Yong Lee. The South Korean winger travelled to his home country to be with his national squad. The Koreans were all set to play Syria on Friday in a closed-door friendly but that match had to be cancelled. Syria said that its players were unable to make the trip, with the New York Times pointing out that they were likely unable to get the necessary visas for travel (which in itself is an interesting political story that you can check out here). Chungy and his teammates will now have to wait until Tuesday to welcome Qatar to the Seoul World Cup Stadium for a crucial qualifier.

Even though Chungy will be flying back to Bolton after the match, the long trip and complications of that flight will keep him out of training on Wednesday. Freedman also discussed that:

"Chungy is probably the only one who won't be there on the Wednesday; Everyone else will be.

"I think the way players travel these days with their fancy beds and things like that, we'll be okay.

"But I have to look at the way Chungy played and what his intensity level has been in training.

"It's a difficult one, of course it is, to manage it at this late stage of the season but I just feel that I have got a big enough squad for one or two to stand up and be counted."