England suffered another jolt to their Euro 2012 campaign as Chelsea defender Gary Cahill was ruled out after suffering a double fracture to his jaw.
Cahill crashed into his goalkeeper Joe Hart after a needless push from Belgium's Dries Mertens in their friendly at Wembley which England won 1-0 thanks to Manchester United striker Danny Welbeck's goal.
Cahill had to go off immediately and the worst possible news for England was confirmed on Sunday. Liverpool right back Martin Kelly was surprisingly called up as Cahill's replacement. Cahill's club team-mate John Terry, who also suffered an injury, however was given the all-clear.
"Gary Cahill has been withdrawn from England's Euro 2012 squad following the injury he suffered in the match against Belgium," The FA said in a statement.
"Cahill has two fractures of his jaw, one either side.
"The England medical team have been in close contact overnight with Cahill's club doctors who will treat him moving forward."
"Liverpool defender Martin Kelly will be called into the squad -- subject to agreement from UEFA's medical team."
"John Terry has been scanned this morning and given the all-clear. He will be re-assessed on Tuesday when the team regroup."
The move to call up Kelly is questionable after much more experienced replacements like Rio Ferdinand and Micah Richards were available. Kelly only made 12 starts for Liverpool last season. While Hodgson has maintained Ferdinand was left out due to "footballing reasons", it is understood the real reason is because Terry is charged with racial abuse against Rio's brother Anton and Hodgson wants to avoid any conflict that might arise between Terry and Ferdinand. The Chelsea captain will go to trial on July 9.
Ferdinand vented his anger at being snubbed again on his twitter feed, he wrote: "What reasons?????!!!"
Ferdinand's associate Jamie Moralee was also left seething. "Lampard, Terry, Barry, Gerrard; all ageing but they go to the tournament.
"Why is Rio different? To treat a player that has captained and served his country 81 times (in this manner) is nothing short of disgraceful. Total lack of respect from Hodgson and the FA as far as I am concerned."
Former England captain Gary Lineker was also not too enthused about Kelly's call up. He wrote on his Twitter account: "Gary Cahill out. Time for @rioferdy5? No. Micah Richards then? No. How remiss of me, has to be Martin Kelly."
Mertens apologised for the challenge on Cahill on Twitter. "I sincerely apologize for the harm I've cost to Cahill.
"When in the heat of the moment, you often don't think about the consequences. My thoughts go out to him and I hope he recovers well!"
Meanwhile, in other friendly matches two goals and two assists from Arsenal striker Robin Van Persie helped Netherlands score a 6-0 victory over Northern Ireland. A sluggish Spain beat China 1-0 courtesy David Silva's winner in the 86th minute while Portugal suffered a 3-1 loss to Turkey.
