Fitness concerns for English

THE Football Association has confirmed its entire 23-man squad “took part in some form of recovery work or training” yesterday – but failed to elaborate on the fitness of any player.

Deposed skipper John Terry was due to have further tests on the tight hamstring he experienced during Saturday’s win over Belgium. Terry was sent for a scan on Sunday but indications were that it was not major concern and the Chelsea skipper would take his place in Roy Hodgson’s squad.

However, England will have one more training session today before the travelling party has to be confirmed.

There have been fitness concerns over Danny Welbeck, Steven Gerrard, Glen Johnson and Scott Parker. After the Belgium game, Hodgson was optimistic they would all be fine, although the same could not be said for Gary Cahill, who suffered a fractured jaw.

It was that injury which triggered a call-up for 22-year-old Liverpool defender Martin Kelly, and prompted the row over Rio Ferdinand’s omission to boil over.

The arguments are rumbling on, even though the 33-year-old has now gone on holiday with his family, insisting he hopes England triumph in his absence.

Hodgson has not explained why he chose Kelly ahead of Ferdinand, although given the vast disparity in experience, his previous claim of “football reasons” being behind the 81-cap international being omitted from the original squad, appears quite flimsy.