Michael Carrick may have damaged his prospects of playing a significant part in England's World Cup qualifying campaign, and potentially next summer's finals, after it emerged that the national team's coaching staff were unhappy at his tardiness in informing them that he was suffering from a toe injury.
The Manchester United midfielder played the full 90 minutes of his club's 2–0 defeat to Barcelona last Wednesday with the fracture, having been named in Fabio Capello's squad for the games against Kazakhstan and Andorra three days earlier. However, it is understood he failed to inform the England coaching staff that he was struggling with the injury until just before the weekend.
Carrick reported with the rest of the squad on Sunday, had a scan on his foot and, having been assessed by England's medical staff, was released back to United for treatment at Carrington. As a result, Capello was forced to call up Aston Villa's James Milner on Sunday evening, an uncapped player who will feature in the Under-21s' European Championship campaign in Sweden this month.
While there is no dispute that Carrick is injured, Capello is understood to have been unimpressed that he had not been warned earlier that the player was struggling and was unlikely to be available for the fixtures in Almaty and at Wembley.
Although Carrick, 27, has impressed at times under Capello in friendlies, he has not started a competitive match for his country since the 2–0 defeat in Croatia under Steve McClaren. His absence for the games against the Kazakhs and Andorra leaves Capello with only three recognised central midfielders in Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Gareth Barry, all of whom are expected to start.
England's players arrived in Almaty last night with Rob Green due to make his full debut on Saturday in the absence of the injured David James and Ben Foster, but with uncertainty still surrounding who will partner John Terry in the heart of the defence. Rio Ferdinand's withdrawal with a calf injury – the vice-captain hopes to prove his fitness in order to feature in next week's game against Andorra – has posed a familiar problem for Capello, who has enjoyed the luxury of being able to field his first-choice centre-backs only five times in his 14 games in charge to date.
Joleon Lescott may be favoured ahead of Matthew Upson, particularly given the Everton centre-back's ability to plunder reward from set-plays at the other end, with the Italian set to field an offensive line-up for the game against a side ranked 137th in the world. Indeed, Kazakhstan have have already conceded more goals in this group than Andorra.
Barry, now a Manchester City player, is expected to anchor midfield with Lampard pushing up-field in support of Wayne Rooney, with Steven Gerrard and Theo Walcott to operate on either flank. Emile Heskey may be preferred to Peter Crouch up front. England will train in Almaty today as they seek to acclimatise to the alien conditions and will scrutinise the state of the pitch at the Central stadium with some interest with the surface appearing rather rutted down either flank. The grass, currently long, will be cut later in the week ahead of the game.
