ENGLAND boss Fabio Capello has confirmed Rio Ferdinand has lost his fitness battle to face Andorra and will miss the World Cup qualifier on Wednesday.
Ferdinand’s calf injury, which he was carrying before Manchester United’s Champions League final defeat to Barcelona, ruled him out of the win over Kazakhstan.
The 30-year-old met up with the squad last week but did not travel to Almaty and has now been assessed again.
“No, 100 per cent,” Capello said. “We spoke with the physio at United and he is not okay.”
Ferdinand and skipper John Terry are Capello’s firstchoice centre-backs but the pair have only played once together this season because of injuries.
Matthew Upson deputised against Kazakhstan, and Capello also has Joleon Lescott and Gary Cahill in his squad.
Glen Johnson struggled in Almaty and winger Shaun Wright-Phillips ended up playing at right-back after initially coming on for Theo Walcott after a quiet first half from the Arsenal youngster.
“Johnson had some problems and Wright-Phillips played some times at rightback,”
said Capello.
“I put Wright-Phillips in because I needed a different movement in running. Sometimes I try with different players to change the game.”
The good news for Capello is the 20 goals from six qualifiers.
They are now top goalscorers among Europe’s World Cup qualifying hopefuls.
“Confidence is the most important thing for the team,”
Capello said. “We know we can score at any moment.
This is a really important thing for confidence. From a corner, from anywhere.”
Capello admits he has exceeded his own expectations of the season and did not predict six wins from six.
“It’s impossible to think this,” he said. “Sure, after six games we have 18 points and that is a lot. We played a lot of games away too.
“It’s my job. Whenever I went to a team it was the same. You have to build the confidence and the system of the team.’’
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