Rio Ferdinand heads home as Capello's best-laid plans start to crumble

England manager faces up to loss of his captain with knowledge that none of his other defenders quite fits the bill

THE GUARDIAN

The injury to Rio Ferdinand opens the way for Ledley King to start in England's opening game against the USA on 12 June. Photograph: Clive Mason/Getty Images

So, farewell then Rio Ferdinand. Not the back in the end: instead it is a knee injury that has ruled England's captain out of a place at his fourth consecutive World Cup. And so England's squad, billed in some quarters as a last, final, one-more-time hurrah for an internationally unfulfilled generation of talented Premier League thirtysomethings, begins to look even more unexpectedly diffuse and stitched together.

Mainly this is a blow for England's central defence, not least the balance of personnel. John Terry, Matthew Upson and Jamie Carragher are not the type you'd back in a straight foot race with Arjen Robben or, come to mention it, Landon Donovan or Robbie Findley, allegedly the fastest man in the MLS. Ledley King is quick enough when he gets going, but is shorn of decisive acceleration.

This was all fine, we assured ourselves. There was always Rio. Rio can cover, as he did often brilliantly for Sol Campbell during their successful partnership of the last decade. But without Ferdinand England have a platoon of one-pacers, a slow-coach brigade. Michael Dawson has been called in as cover, but he is not the answer to this problem.

Of course, this all comes as no great surprise: repeatedly injured man sustains further injury is hardly a sensation. Ferdinand played in six of England's 10 qualifying games, but missed three months of the season and has looked physically subdued at times. With this in mind it is disappointing that there is no similar player in the squad, no centre-half with outstanding speed and mobility whom Fabio Capello might have groomed ahead of time to cover for the possibility of Ferdinand's wonderfully athletic frame breaking down again.

Capello is obviously hostage to personnel. There is a dearth of high-class, mobile, pacy central defenders out there waiting to be picked. Although with hindsight England might look more balanced if Phil Jagielka was now being added to the squad as a more fittingly ball-playing replacement. Capello had a lot of time to think about this. The end result is England have a very samey pack of centre-backs.

Who will play now? The obvious choice alongside Terry would be Upson, who played in four qualifiers and did a sound job. On the other hand neither Jamie Carragher nor Ledley King were available at the time.

Despite the shakiness King showed against Mexico, Capello is perhaps likely to favour the Tottenham man, having purred so lasciviously over King's all-round defensive generalship (poor Rio: replaced in the team because your knee is in an even worse state than Ledley's). This is a heartening opportunity for a player of immense talent. But it would leave England fielding a walking-wounded first choice: both Terry and King play with pain most of the time. It is bound to show at some point. The World Cup is a litmus test for footballing frailty. You can only progress so far. You will be found out.

It is also a terrible blow for Ferdinand personally. He has been an occasionally superlative performer for England. In 2002 he was the defender of the tournament (even though Campbell made the Fifa team). It seems unlikely he will play at another World Cup and the circus (his word) of Baden-Baden will be his final memory of it.

Dawson, meanwhile, is one of the chief "ghosts", as Harry Redknapp put it this week: players made to feel like invisible men by Capello's ruthlessly pragmatic selections during the whittling-down of the 30-man squad. Dawson, the ghost, is currently flying out to South Africa. He looks like the forgiving type.

Either way it is hard to say that England's chances of winning the World Cup have been significantly dented by this. They already looked to be lacking something. Now down to their third-choice skipper in Steven Gerrard, they will at least carry a sense of make-do and mend, of hope over expectation, and even a refreshing tinge of unfamiliarity.