Terry and Van der Sar on the sidelines
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Article summary
The Netherlands and England will be deprived of their captains for the weekend qualifiers after Edwin van der Sar and John Terry were both ruled out by injury.
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uefa.com rounds up the injury news before the UEFA EURO 2008™ qualifiers on Saturday and next Wednesday.
Netherlands captain Edwin van der Sar will play no part in Saturday's Group G summit meeting with Romania in Constanta as well as the visit of Slovenia to Eindhoven next Wednesday. The Manchester United FC No1 was carrying a toe injury when he linked up with the squad, and trained alone yesterday without being able to shake off the knock. Henk Timmer, Boy Waterman and regular deputy Maarten Stekelenburg are competing to replace the 36-year-old.
The Oranje are not the only team to have a problem with their skipper: England's John Terry has been ruled out of Saturday's Group E fixture against Estonia at Wembley after sustaining a knee injury in training. The 26-year-old Chelsea FC defender, who already has to play with a face mask having broken his cheekbone late last month, may still be available to manager Steve McClaren for the trip to Russia on Wednesday.
Still in Group E, Beitar Jerusalem FC forward Barak Itzhaki has become the latest player to withdraw from Israel's squad to face leaders Croatia in Zagreb this weekend. The 23-year-old has succumbed to a knee injury, leaving coach Dror Kashtan with a 20-man party after Idan Tal pulled out yesterday.
As expected, Scotland centre-back Gary Caldwell has been counted out for the Group B double-header against Ukraine and Georgia because of a knee injury. The 25-year-old from Celtic FC joins Paul Hartley and Darren Fletcher on the sidelines ahead of Saturday's visit of Ukraine to Glasgow.
PFC CSKA Moskva midfielder Deividas Šemberas will miss Lithuania's Group B assignment in France next Wednesday as he undergoes tests to assess the extent of a groin injury. The 29-year-old may also have to sit out CSKA's UEFA Champions League tie against FC Internazionale Milano on 23 October if doctors decide he requires surgery. Lithuania are already without Marius Stankevicius (broken collarbone), Deividas Cesnauskis (leg) and Saulius Mikoliunas (suspended). Darius Miceika and Tomas Tamošauskas have been drafted in.