May 23

Fabio Capello says Chelsea players and David James will miss Mexico

• FA Cup final participants will not play at Wembley tomorrow
• Capello says England have not yet practised penalties

Fabio Capello will not call on any of his Chelsea players, or David James, for tomorrow’s friendly against Mexico at Wembley. The England manager also said his side have not yet practised taking penalties ahead of the World Cup.

There are four Chelsea players in England’s 30-man provisional squad – Frank Lampard, John Terry, Ashley Cole and Joe Cole. They arrived at England’s altitude training camp in Irdning, in Austria, on Wednesday after being given three days off following the FA Cup final, in which their team beat James’s Portsmouth 1-0.

“The Chelsea players and David James will not play against Mexico,” said Capello. “I needed them to train and stay with us. I also needed to check their physical situation so these five players won’t play.”

Terry, Lampard and Ashley Cole are first-choices so there is bound to be an element of experimentation in Capello’s team.

Manchester City’s Adam Johnson and Michael Dawson of Tottenham will hope for debuts and Jamie Carragher and Ledley King will probably be asked to make their first England appearances since Capello took over in December 2007.

It has been suggested that Carragher is earmarked for the right-back berth that his Liverpool team-mate Glen Johnson had been expected to fill. King may play in a holding role, anchoring a five-man midfield. Another strategy in Capello’s mind involves using Wayne Rooney as a lone striker.

“I will experiment against Mexico,” Capello said. “It is important to see how some of these [players] perform on the pitch. In my mind I more or less know the names of the 23 players who will be with me in South Africa but we have to wait because you never know whether someone gets injured.”

Capello used the facilities in Irdning when he was coach of Milan and Real Madrid. The clear air and cooler temperatures are more like the ones England will find in South Africa than the balmy conditions they left at home. England’s first Group C game is against the United States in Rustenburg on 12 June.

Capello added: “It is too early to practise penalties. In any case, you could prepare for penalties and practise every day in training. But in a match it is different.

“Shooting to win is not the same as shooting in training. In training, the keeper is not very big. When you need to score to win, the keeper is really big and the goal is very small.”

EnglandFabio CapelloChelseaWorld Cup 2010guardian.co.uk

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May 12

Relief for John Terry after injury sends scaremongers into overdrive

• Chelsea captain puts Capello’s mind at ease over foot injury
• Terry hopes to be fit for FA Cup final against Portsmouth

John Terry hopes to be fit for Saturday’s FA Cup final despite suffering a painful injury in training today that left Carlo Ancelotti and Fabio Capello facing an anxious wait for the results of a scan on his right foot.

The sight of Terry being fitted with a protective boot and sent to hospital for a precautionary scan after another player landed on it during training was enough to send the rumour mill into overdrive, amid a flurry of erroneous reports that he had broken a metatarsal.

Capello, who has endured a torrid week amid criticism over his involvement in a player rating web venture that is now on hold until after the World Cup, will be relieved that the injury does not appear to be as serious as first feared.

Terry, who hopes to lead Chelsea to their first double on Saturday, was said to have found the injury “very painful” initially but was quick to put Capello’s mind at ease following a precautionary scan.

“I took a slight knock in training but with such an important match on Saturday the right course of action was to put a protective boot on my right foot and have a CT scan,” he said.

“The scan has shown there is no break and I am hoping to train tomorrow if not Friday and, of course, play in the FA Cup final on Saturday.”

The feverish speculation that is likely to accompany every knock to an England player between now and 12 June was heightened by initial fears that Terry may have broken a metatarsal – the injury that hampered the pre-tournament preparations of a string of key players in recent years including David Beckham, Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen.

Capello was already facing a series of difficult choices over his first-choice pairing in central defence, even before today’s scare. Rio Ferdinand has been struggling for fitness all season, although he recently received a positive prognosis from the Manchester United medical staff.

Ledley King, who was included this week in Capello’s provisional list of 30, requires intensive treatment on a chronic knee injury between every match and is unable to train. The other centre-halves named in Capello’s initial party, to be reduced to 23 by 1 June, were Matthew Upson, Michael Dawson and Jamie Carragher, who was coaxed out of retirement by the England coach.

Sir Trevor Brooking, the FA’s director of football development, said yesterday that including King in the World Cup squad was a gamble worth taking.

“Ledley is a gamble to a certain extent, but everyone knows how to utilise Ledley,” he said. “He doesn’t do a lot of training, you bring him in before a game and with two or three days in between it’s workable. You make that judgment on what the other centre-halves, like Rio Ferdinand, are looking like. You’ve got Jamie Carragher as well as cover.”

Capello is also sweating over the fitness of his first-choice holding midfielder Gareth Barry, who was included in the provisional squad despite an injury that could well yet rule him out.

Chelsea were quick to put out a statement stressing that Terry was walking freely when he left their Cobham training ground wearing the protective boot.

“John Terry has today taken a knock in training and has gone to hospital for a precautionary scan on his right foot,” said the club. “He left Cobham walking freely in a protective boot, and we await the results which are expected on Thursday.”

Terry played alongside Alex in Sunday’s 8-0 victory over Wigan Athletic that clinched the title for Chelsea and the manager Ancelotti would be likely to pair the Brazilian with Branislav Ivanovic if his captain was not fit for the FA Cup final, bringing in Juliano Belletti or Paulo Ferreira at right-back.

For Terry, today’s scare was the latest twist in a rollercoaster season during which his form and character have been under intense scrutiny but ended with him lifting the Premier League trophy.

He was stripped of the England captaincy by Capello following allegations of an affair with the ex-girlfriend of his former team-mate Wayne Bridge, a saga that led to the left-back turning his back on the chance to go to the World Cup after concluding he could not be in the same squad as Terry.

John TerryChelseaEnglandWorld Cup 2010World Cup 2010 Group CFA CupOwen Gibsonguardian.co.uk

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