World Cup qual. - England train without quartet

Eurosport - Tue, 07 Oct 23:41:00 2008

England began training ahead of their upcoming World Cup qualifiers without a quartet of players, including skipper John Terry.

FOOTBALL England John Terry - 0

Terry (pictured) felt a niggle in his back at the end of Chelsea's win over Aston Villa on Sunday and was not expected to train on Tuesday ahead of Saturday's clash with Kazakhstan at Wembley.

The other missing men were Terry's Chelsea team-mate Ashley Cole, Manchester United's Wes Brown and Stewart Downing of Middlesbrough.

All four were confined to gym work, but the quartet are expected to train on Wednesday and Thursday, when it is expected Capello will play his intended side in a full-size training game.

With Joe Cole out with a foot injury, it is believed Capello will ditch the plan of having a holding midfield and instead pair Steven Gerrard with Frank Lampard in central midfield.

Although the duo has never seemed to work together as a unit, the England coach knows he needs to get the most from the world-class pair, although the presence of Gareth Barry could provide some insurance against the Eastern Europeans.

Theo Walcott is expected to retain his right-sided berth after scoring his memorable hat-trick against Croatia last month, while the return of Peter Crouch provides some competition for Emile Heskey, who should nevertheless partner Wayne Rooney in attack.

Team Talk / Eurosport

Comment 1 - 9 of 69

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  1. Mossero86 = moron.

    That 'niggle' would­ probably be enough to keep most players out of the team­ entirely. Carrying an injury the way he is, it would be­ very easy for Terry to duck out of this game, but if­ he's anywhere near fit and won't let the team­ down by playing, he will. You can know nothing about­ football if you don't know that about him.

    From tonyjforder, on Tue 7 Oct 2:18PM

  2. gerard and lampard cannot play together as both of them­ like to go forward
    there will be space left behind
    is­ capello cannot see it?

    From chip l, on Tue 7 Oct 2:10PM

  3. Helen, Bullard? You must be having a laugh, go and­ clean the dishes or something.

    From Kevin, on Tue 7 Oct 1:38PM

  4. thank god downing is out (2)

    From Ivson F, on Tue 7 Oct 1:25PM
  5. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    bullard should be playing-its rediculous!he is so much­ better than all of the midfielders put together

    From , on Tue 7 Oct 1:21PM

  6. thank god downing is out

    From Spraffer, on Tue 7 Oct 1:12PM
  7. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    This is ridiculous, Gerrard should be captain, Terry is­ a joke, he's not training because "Terry felt­ a niggle in his back" how pathetic, the England­ captain should show more spirit than that.

    From Mossy, on Tue 7 Oct 1:09PM

  8. kazakhstan - what a dump

    From martinol6, on Tue 7 Oct 12:50PM

  9. I would play Crouch and Defoe up front, 11 goals­ between them so far. Enough said

    From stuart_clasper, on Tue 7 Oct 12:44PM
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