Nottingham Forest Academy graduate Michael Dawson joined up with the England squad at the weekend after Skipper Rio Ferdinand was ruled out by a knee injury sustained in training on Friday.
The former Forest youngster was originally one of Fabio Capello’s seven omissions from his final squad when it was announced just under a week ago but his last minute reprieve has come at the cost of Ferdinand who had appeared to have beaten his injury problems after a stop start 2009 – 10 campaign with Manchester United.
With Ferdinand now out much of the attention will now focus on who will be picked to partner Terry at the heart of England’s back four and while Capello bemoaned the loss of his Captain he seemed sure that England can recover from this pre-tournament setback.
He said:
“All the players who are here with me are important. But he is one of the starting players, the captain, a leader.”
“You have to take into account this might happen: sometimes it happens during a game, sometimes in training, sometimes before you get to a final, you have to deal with it.”
Dawson, who is yet to win a full England cap, arrived in South Africa on Saturday after spending his last few days trying to sort out his summer holiday plans.
Speaking at the weekend the Tottenham Hotspur defender said:
“It’s a crazy game and things can change in a split second, One minute I’m trying to arrange my holiday, then I get a call asking if I was on holiday because Rio had pulled out of training.”
“I said ‘no’ and then I was just waiting by the phone before getting a call saying I would be picked up in an hour. It’s been a crazy day.”
England’s campaign begins on 12th June with their Group C opener against USA before further encounters with Slovenia and Algeria.
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