England News

• Nickname:Three Lions
• Founded: 1872
• Manager:Roy Hodgson

• Ground:Wembley Stadium
• Capacity:90,000

Rio to miss qualifier

01 Sep 2006 - 13:37:32

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Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand will miss England's Euro 2008 qualifier against Andorra after failing to recover from a bruised toe.

The 27-year-old has not trained with the rest of the national squad since picking up the injury in last weekend's 2-1 win at Watford.

Wes Brown or Michael Dawson will partner captain John Terry in the centre of defence at Old Trafford on Saturday, but head coach Steve McClaren is optimistic Ferdinand will be able to play against FYR Macedonia on Wednesday.

"We don't expect him to train (on Friday), he is continuing his rehab, he's back running," said McClaren.

"In this situation with a bruised toe in the beginning there is a lot of pain and then they heal rapidly within two or three days. So we're hoping he gets over it and will be available for Wednesday.

"There are opportunities for Michael Dawson and Wes Brown to step into that role and we've got every confidence in them to do that."