Knee scan worry for Ferdinand

England skipper Rio Ferdinand faces a nervous wait to see if he will be fit for the World Cup after hurting his knee in the squad’s opening training session in South Africa on Friday.

The Manchester United central defender went for a scan after he suffered the injury late in the session, leaving England manager Fabio Capello waiting on news of his experienced star and revealing he had put Tottenham’s Michael Dawson on stand-by.

“Rio picked up a knee problem in training,” Capello told reporters at a news conference in Rustenburg.

“It happened near the end (of training). He has gone to hospital for a scan and we will have to see how things are.”

Concerns mounted as Ferdinand, already coming off an injury-plagued season at Old Trafford, was seen leaving hospital on crutches amid reports he may have suffered ligament damage.

Despite missing more than half the league season Ferdinand attended England’s two-week camp in Austria and played in friendly internationals with Mexico and Japan.

Goalkeeper David James — given the number one shirt ahead of Robert Green and Joe Hart — also has what Capello termed “only a slight knee problem” but midfielder Gareth Barry trained and appears to be back on track following his ankle injury sustained against Tottenham on May 5.

“Barry started training with the team and he is improving every day,” Capello revealed.

England play their Group C opener against the United States in Rustenburg on June 12 and Ferdinand’s experience of three previous World Cups is a key component of England’s defensive stability.

Explaining the circumstances of the injury, Capello said: “It came from a minor tackle during the training. How bad is it? We will have to wait and see.”

He insisted that, despite the injury scare, “I am focused on the first game we have to play”.

The alternatives to Ferdinand in the 23-man squad are Matthew Upson and Ledley King, but neither impressed in last week’s friendly win over Mexico.

Dawson, who had a fine season at Tottenham, was in Capello’s initial 30-strong party but was excluded from the final 23.

Asked to justify why he left Arsenal starlet Theo Walcott out of his final squad, despite some fine showings in the qualifiers — including a hat-trick in the away win over Croatia — Capello said: “It was a really hard decision for me because I know Theo Walcott was really important in the games we played for the qualification for the World Cup.”

Walcott, who was called up by former coach Sven-Goran Eriksson aged just 17 for the 2006 finals but did not feature once there, has had a series of injury problems this season and Capello said that as a result “he’s not the same player we know” from beforehand.