Rio Ferdinand

England captain Rio Ferdinand has been ruled out of the World Cup after suffering a knee injury in training.

The 31-year-old centre-back had a scan after hurting his left knee following a challenge with Emile Heskey during Friday's first training session.

He emerged from hospital on crutches and Tottenham's Michael Dawson, who had been put on standby, is expected to fly to South Africa in the next 12 hours.

Vice-captain Steven Gerrard will step up to lead the side at the World Cup.

To be honest I'd have taken Dawson ahead of Ferdinand anyway. never thought he was as great as many people thought, and this last season when he was actually fit enough to play he was pretty woeful

Fuck sake, thats bad news for England there. I thought when I saw the article that it was just a run of the mill article about him I am shocked. Wouldnt have expected him to get injured.

However, I am glad to see that Dawson is getting to go now, quite frankly I think he deserved it as he has been awesome all season, this is his chance to step up.

Its not as bad news as people are Making out. i rate King and Dawson who have both been exceptional for Spurs this year ahead of him.

I'd Prefer a King/Terry partnership than Terry/Rio.

Didier Drogba is also out after fracturing Arm

I agree, but being captain and having played in 3 world cups means he has the experience and would have led the team into the world cup. That being said I agree that Dawson and King have been above Ferdinand in terms of performance this season.

Drogba will be missed for Ivory Coast, although not yet confimed, it does not look good for Drogba who I think would have shawn at the world cup.

Massive blow for England. You'd imagine King will take his place for the game against USA but I have my doubts about him staying fit throughout whole World Cup and I wouldn't want Upson in the team come the knockout stages. If you get a win in the first game I would rest King for the Algeria and depending on how the group goes the Slovenia games. Personally I think Dawson is far better than Upson and I wouldn't be so worried about him playing in the latter stages but obviously Capello thinks differently.

El_Nino wrote:

Its not as bad news as people are Making out. i rate King and Dawson who have both been exceptional for Spurs this year ahead of him.

I'd Prefer a King/Terry partnership than Terry/Rio.

Didier Drogba is also out after fracturing Arm

King & Terry are probably their best two central defenders, but they are both big slow guys and could probably benefit from the likes of a Dawson filling one of those roles (personally I'd go with King & Dawson, although whether King could play a whole tournament is doubtful).

Knew we shouldn't have taken Heskey.....

were not the only ones to lose big players, drogba has a fractured elbow, so will miss most of the WC

http://www.goal.com/en/news/1863/world-cup-2010/2010/06/04/1958694/goalcom-special-which-stars-will-miss-the-world-cup-with

Andrea Pirlo could miss out aswell now, will there be any players left by the time its starts??

Bit disappointed that Rio's been ruled out of the World Cup. Either Dawson or Carragher should get his spot.

Even though i'm not a huge Ferdinand fan and is form this season hasn't been his best I think he will be a huge miss. He always seems to come good in world cups.

Dawson drafted in is a good replacement but I bet he plays Terry and Upson

You could possibly add Arjen Robben to the list, he suffered a hamstring injury in Holland's 6-1 against Hungary, and now is a real doubt

Players are dropping like stones. Ferdinand, Drogba and now Robben.

Mikel, Essien and Ballack too...

Jenifer, Alison, phillipa, sue...........

right ferdinand has not played much and is dodgey as fuck and runs to the half way line to miss tackles so its not a big loss. It would be if he was still good for england but he is not, keepers will be happy imo. His game was reading the play and he is not that good at that now. Lets balls bounce, makes wrong choices with keeper and defensive partner. I think stevie g owes us big time and will deliver as captain imo. Dawson and king also familiar so would like see then play a good part. This injury will not worsen our play, if anything the cbs wont hog the ball now too. Get it our wide early or get it to stevie