England's Chelsea pair John Terry and Ashley Cole will both miss this week's World Cup qualifier away to Belarus because of injury. Captain Terry has failed to recover from his back problem, and Cole is out with a sore hamstring.
Terry was absent from Saturday's 5-1 win against Kazakhstan at Wembley — which continued England's perfect start of three straight wins from three fixtures in their 2010 qualifying campaign.
Rio Ferdinand stood in for Terry as captain in a match which turned ugly for Cole when he was booed by the home crowd after his defensive lapse allowed the minnows to score an unexpected goal.
Although Cole was at fault for Kazakhstan's goal, he has a largely unblemishedvrecord at international level and while likely replacement Wayne Bridge is a competent enough performer, clearly successive Chelsea managers, including Jose Mourinho and Luis Felipe Scolari, believe the former Southampton man is very much second best.
Bridge will not need reminding his last competitive appearance for England was the seismic 3-2 home defeat to Croatia last November that cost the Three Lions their place at Euro 2008 and Steve McClaren his job.
"It's disappointing to lose two very experienced players in John Terry and Ashley Cole for the game in Belarus," said manager Fabio Capello.
"Unfortunately they have no chance of playing, so it is best they return to Chelsea."
Ferdinand will keep the captain's armband, with Matthew Upson almost certain to retain his place despite a hesitant performance as Terry's replacement at Wembley.
Steven Gerrard, meanwhile, insists England fans did have the right to boo Cole following his mistake.
When asked at a press conference this afternoon if fans were entitled to boo players, Gerrard said: "Of course.
"Any supporter, when you pay money, you deserve to voice your opinion. But we need their support. If we're going to be successful in the future, we need them with us. It's not going to help Ashley and it's not going to help the team but the support we got was fantastic. They stayed with us throughout the game.
"He (Cole) is disappointed and the players are disappointed," Gerrard added. "You've got to get on with it. You've got to take it as a man. Ashley's a big character and the players are here to support him."
