Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Lampard ruled out of Brazil friendly

Simon Stone,Pa
Thursday 12 November 2009 15:40 GMT
Comments
(GETTY IMAGES)

Frank Lampard is out of England's friendly with Brazil in Qatar on Saturday.

The Chelsea midfielder suffered an injury to his left thigh in training today and is due to fly back to England from Doha tonight.

Coach Fabio Capello has decided not to call in a replacement, leaving the Three Lions with a 21-man squad to face the five-times world champions.

"We can confirm that Frank Lampard picked up an injury to his left thigh whilst training today and will be returning home this evening," said an FA spokesman.

"There will be no further call-ups to the squad."

It is bad news for Chelsea, who have suffered a string of injuries over the last few days that could affect their Premier League title bid.

However, for England it is reminiscent of the friendly with Germany last November, when Capello found himself without most of his senior stars.

Rio Ferdinand, Steven Gerrard, Ashley Cole, David James, Theo Walcott, Glen Johnson and Emile Heskey did not even make the trip to Qatar from what would constitute Capello's first-choice line-up.

In addition, David Beckham and Aaron Lennon have been ruled out, leaving Capello to select a virtual second-string line-up, bolstered by captain John Terry and star forward Wayne Rooney.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in