Rio Ferdinand is doubtful for England's World Cup
qualifier against Andorra this weekend after missing training on
Wednesday.
The Reds defender, who has 69 caps for his country, sat out the
session at London Colney because of a stiff back, a problem
which also affected him on United's pre-season tour of
South Africa in July.
England are hopeful Ferdinand will shake off the injury in time
for the game in Barcelona's Olympic Stadium on Saturday, but if he
fails to recover his place could be filled by Reds team-mate
Wes Brown.
Brown trained on Wednesday after previously resting his
knee as a precaution and could slot into Ferdinand's
centre-back role against the European part-timers, alongside
Chelsea captain John Terry.
England are already missing Owen Hargreaves (knee) and Michael
Carrick (ankle), but Wayne Rooney is expected to start up front
alongside Jermain Defoe.
Rooney has played in only 15 England games since March 2006,
scoring three goals, but Defoe has backed the Reds' frontman to
rediscover his goalscoring form for his country.
The Portsmouth striker said: "Wayne is only going to get better.
Maybe you could say the expectation on him has been unfair but he
has set such high standards, by doing so well in his career.
"But he is at a great club, he is still young and he is still
learning."