Rio worry for England
Rio Ferdinand looks set to miss England's next two games after
suffering a recurrence of his groin injury while training with the
national team.
The United defender skipped this morning's session after
aggravating the strain over the weekend and is a major doubt for
his country's friendly against Brazil at Wembley on Friday. He
could also miss the crunch Euro 2008 qualifier in Estonia on 6
June.
Ferdinand sustained the original injury in United's 4-1 FA Cup
semi-final win over Watford on 14 April and it hampered him the
following weekend when he limped out of the Middlesbrough match at
Old Trafford. He then missed vital matches in the Premiership
run-in, as well as both legs of the Champions League semi-final
against AC Milan. And although Rio started the FA Cup final, there
were moments when the injury appeared to trouble him.
If Ferdinand does fail fitness tests for England, it's likely
Liverpool's Jamie Carragher will take his place at centre-back.
Fellow United defender Wes Brown is a probable starter at
right-back in Gary Neville's absence.