Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

World Cup 2014: Who could replace Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain if he is ruled out? Michael Carrick? Tom Cleverley? Andy Carroll?

Midfielder's knee injury could keep him out for two weeks

James Orr
Friday 06 June 2014 10:12 BST
Comments
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain goes down in pain under a challenge from Carlos Gruezo at the Sun Life Stadium in Miami
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain goes down in pain under a challenge from Carlos Gruezo at the Sun Life Stadium in Miami (Getty Images)

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is now a major doubt to feature for England at the World Cup after injuring his knee in the 2-2 draw with Ecuador last night, with the midfielder likely to be ruled out for two weeks.

Roy Hodgson has some serious thinking to do. The England manager will have to decide whether to replace the injured Ox with one of his seven standby players.

Under Fifa’s rules, a replacement can be called-up until a day before a nation’s first match, which in this case means Hodgson will need to make a decision on whether to stick with Oxlade-Chamberlain for the duration of the tournament in the danger that he could miss the entire campaign in Brazil.

England's opening contest, against Italy in Manaus is in just nine days.

So who are these standby players? Some are in Miami training hard and some are 'aving it large on their holidays, and some are seemingly too devastated to do anything...

To see the gallery of England's standby players, and how likely they are to replace The Ox, click through the gallery below...

The news comes as a blow to Hodgson who saw Oxlade-Chamberlain shine at the Sun Life Stadium, as England faltered to a draw with the South American sixth-seeds.

Watch Sam Wallace's latest World Cup video from Miami below:

Oxlade-Chamberlain had also endured an injury-hit season with Arsenal. Knee ligament problems forced him to make just 20 appearances in all competitions.

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