John Terry has admitted that the loss of Rio Ferdinand through injury is a “devastating blow” but hopes that the long-term understanding he has with Ledley King will help England to overcome the absence of their captain from the World Cup finals.
England’s bid to win the World Cup for the first time since 1966 gets under way on Saturday when they face the United States in Rustenburg, but Fabio Capello will be unable to call upon the services of Ferdinand who will miss the whole tournament having suffered a medial knee ligament injury in training last week.
Ferdinand’s place in Capello’s starting line-up is being contested by King, Jamie Carragher and Matthew Upson and though disappointed to be without his usual central defensive partner, Terry believes that England have enough options of sufficient quality in that position to cope without the Manchester United player, who has remained with the rest of the squad to support them in Saturday’s eagerly awaited opener.
“It is devastating to lose Rio,” Terry said. “I was looking forward to playing alongside him. He has picked up an injury that was no one’s fault in training. It was one of those freak accidents that happen occasionally. It is just disappointing that is has happened to our captain and one of our most influential players. It is great for him to be out here and still want to be part of the squad. He realises we still have a very good chance. If we can go a long way, a lot of that will be dedicated to Rio.
“Fortunately enough I played with Ledley when we were kids a few years ago. I have kept in touch with him over the years. The understanding is there. That will be good enough for us to play alongside each other. Carragher also came in and did well again. It is up to the manager. I am sure he will give us enough time on the training pitch to be able to play with each other.”
England’s preparations were continuing today with a training session that James Milner, the Aston Villa midfield player, was forced to miss because of a slight temperature. Other than that, though, Capello has no new injury worries after his players came through yesterday’s warm-up match against Platinum All Stars unscathed.
For Terry, the importance of the run-out lay in the opportunity to get used to South African playing conditions, the unique noise accompaniment provided by the vuvuzelas and the much criticised match ball that will be used in the World Cup, rather than the comfortable 3-0 victory achieved through goals from Jermaine Defoe, Joe Cole and Wayne Rooney.
“It was exactly the work out that we needed,” Terry said. “It was at the altitude we are training at and we needed to get used to the noise of the crowd and the movement of the ball, so it was a good workout in both halves.
“There are going to be problems with the ball for every team. It moves about in the air and off the surface. It is something we are trying to work on each day and trying to improve upon. A couple of times today it swerved at the last minute. There is nothing we can do about that. We just have to try and deal with it the best way we can. At the same time we have to try and get crosses into the box and cause problems at the other end.
“The vuvuzelas are not a problem. It was quite loud sitting there listening to them in the second half, but on the pitch it is not a problem. The ball is going to cause problems for every side. It is important we get a lot of crosses into the box and have a lot of shots. Attackers must follow in the rebounds. It is the same defensively.
“It was very important to play this match. We have had a few days to get used to the ball and the conditions and the altitude. We have done that. We realise it is another step up. It was not the best performance, but it was something we needed to do and we have done it.
“The altitude does have an effect on the ball. We did not just come here to win four or five nil. We have come to get the right preparation. We can take a lot of things from the game. I don’t think the manager will be happy with the first half especially. The second half was better, but I am sure we will go through the game, as we do with them all, and find a few holes in our performance.
“The altitude has been more of a surprise than anything. Your mouth is really dry. We train at quite a high level anyway, but this was another 150 metres above sea level again. We certainly felt that. But the manager chose the right game at the right stadium at the right time. It was a real good workout. We needed that.”
