Carrick to miss Slovenia and Scotland games after suffering fresh injury blow
MANCHESTER United midfielder Michael Carrick was last night ruled out of England’s fixtures against Slovenia and Scotland after suffering another injury setback.
Carrick, 33, was called up by Roy Hodgson for the international double-header despite having made just one start for his club this season, due to an ankle ligament problem.
But less than half an hour into yesterday’s training session he picked up a groin injury deemed sufficiently serious to preclude him from Saturday’s Euro 2016 qualifier at Wembley and the friendly at Celtic Park three days later.
Tottenham winger Andros Townsend is also thought to be a slight doubt, though the Football Association (FA) said Hodgson did not intend to summon any replacements.
Carrick’s unavailability means Jack Wilshere is more likely to be deployed in a deep-lying role for the upcoming games, as he was in last month’s 1-0 win in Estonia.
England captain Wayne Rooney, meanwhile, believes he will never be regarded as one of his country’s greats if he does not help the team win a major tournament.
Rooney, who is set to win his 100th cap against Slovenia, said: “I’ll be proud to join that club and it is something that myself and my family would be honoured by. But I could sit here saying I’ve got 200 caps and 100 goals for my country – the ultimate is to win a trophy and that’s what we all want to do. That’s the target and hopefully sometime soon we can achieve that.”