Soccer:John Terry today took part in England training as captain for the first time for almost a year and a half as he prepared to face the media this afternoon. Terry led the squad out of the dressing room at their London Colney training base and also during their warm-up routine in front of watching manager Fabio Capello.

Chelsea skipper Terry’s last training session as England captain was ahead of the World Cup qualifier against Belarus in October 2009.

The English FA confirmed the defender would be one of two players to address the media at the team hotel this afternoon, ostensibly in a bid to draw a line under the captaincy saga ahead of Saturday’s European Championship qualifier against Wales.

Terry was stripped of the armband just over a year ago following allegations of an affair with the ex-girlfriend of then international team-mate Wayne Bridge. Capello took the controversial decision to reinstate him last week in place of injured successor Rio Ferdinand.

The Italian was smiling as he walked onto the training field, while Terry looked more businesslike before performing the first official duty of his second coming as skipper by greeting players involved in the newly-formed Women’s Super League, which begins next month.

Capello then addressed his 26-man squad in the middle of the training pitch for around three minutes prior to this morning’s session, which involved every player apart from Liverpool full-back Glen Johnson. He left the field following the team meeting to train on his own in the gym, as part of his usual Anfield regime.

The players then split into two groups, with Wayne Rooney and Andy Carroll both among those in bibs. Liverpool striker Carroll has been widely tipped to partner Rooney in attack at the Millennium Stadium this weekend.