Neville out of qualifiers
25 Aug 2006 - 16:10:11
Manchester United captain Gary Neville will miss England's Euro 2008 qualifiers against Andorra and FYR Macedonia with a calf injury.
The injury has restricted the right-back to just 45 minutes of action in United's opening two Premiership fixtures, and he will also sit out Saturday's trip to Watford.
The Red Devils have big European and domestic games scheduled for directly after the international break and manager Sir Alex Ferguson is not prepared to take any chances with Neville's fitness.
Ferguson told the club's official website: "He's not quite over the injury, so we're trying to give him a chance to completely recover, hopefully for the Tottenham game, but certainly for Arsenal."
United will also be without Neville's defensive colleagues Nemanja Vidic and Gabriel Heinze for the trip to Vicarage Road, but England midfielder Michael Carrick is in line to make his first start since his big-money summer move from Tottenham.