England suffer Rooney blow

Updated 15.46 Fri Nov 09 2007

Keywords: Rio Ferdinand, John Terry, David Beckham, Steve McClaren, Wayne Rooney, Euro 2008, England, football, sport

England have suffered a massive blow ahead of their must-win Euro 2008 qualifier against Croatia at Wembley after Wayne Rooney was ruled out for four weeks.

The 22-year-old Manchester United hitman injured his ankle training ahead of Sunday's Premier League clash with Blackburn Rovers at Old Trafford.

Wayne Rooney injured his ankle training ahead of Sunday's Premier League clash with Blackburn Rovers at Old Trafford

England boss Steve McClaren is already without captain John Terry, who is struggling with a knee problem.

And with Rio Ferdinand suspended for the clash with Croatia after picking up a booking in England's potentially costly 2-1 defeat in Russia last month, McClaren will have to rejig his plans both up front and at the back.

McClaren, however, is boosted by the return of Terry's Chelsea club-mate Ashley Cole from an ankle injury while David Beckham, who won the last of his 97 caps in the 2-1 friendly defeat by Germany at Wembley in August, is back in the squad.

Ahead of the must-win clash with Croatia, England take on Euro 2008 co-hosts Austria next Friday, allowing McClaren the chance to finalise his plans for what could be his final match in charge.

McClaren knows that his men must beat Croatia a week on Wednesday but also need either Slaven Bilic's men to lose in Macedonia the previous Saturday or Russia to drop points in Israel or Andorra.

He said: "I accept qualification is out of our hands, which is our biggest regret. But I am not even thinking about what happens if we don't make it.

"We are relying on other people now. But when I looked at the fixtures and I looked at the campaign and I looked at Croatia as our last game, I believed it would come to that one game.

"I have always believed we would need a result at Wembley to qualify - and I still do."

The England squad for the friendly against Austria and the Euro 2008 qualifier against Croatia:

Robinson (Tottenham), James (Portsmouth), Carson (Liverpool, on loan at Aston Villa); Richards (Man City), P Neville (Everton), Brown (Man Utd), Campbell (Portsmouth), Lescott (Everton), A Cole (Chelsea), Bridge (Chelsea), Shorey (Reading); Beckham (LA Galaxy), Wright-Phillips (Chelsea), Bentley (Blackburn), Lampard (Chelsea), Gerrard (Liverpool), Barry (Aston Villa), J Cole (Chelsea), Downing (Middlesbrough), Hargreaves (Man Utd), Young (Aston Villa); Owen (Newcastle), Rooney (injured), Crouch (Liverpool), Smith (Newcastle), Defoe (Tottenham).