Michael Dawson has been forced to make a hasty change of plans for the summer after being called up to the England (7/1 in the outright winner market) squad for the World Cup, after Rio Ferdinand was ruled out of the tournament with a knee injury.
The Tottenham centre-back had been preparing his holiday plans after getting the chop from Fabio Capello’s 30-man preliminary squad, when the final 23 was announced on Tuesday.
However during England’s first training session in South Africa, captain Ferdinand suffered an injury to his left knee ligaments following a tackle from Emile Heskey, and after a trip to the hospital, the Manchester United star’s World Cup dream is now over.
Dawson had been asked if he was available while Ferdinand was undergoing scans, and has now been called over to South Africa following confirmation of the bad news.
“It’s a crazy game and things can change in a split second,” Dawson told Tottenham’s official website.
“One minute I’m trying to arrange my holiday, then I get a call asking if I was on holiday because Rio had pulled out of training.
“I said ‘no’ and then I was just waiting by the phone before getting a call saying I would be picked up in an hour. It’s been a crazy day.”
Ferdinand had been about to take part in his fourth World Cup, with the added honour this time around of actually skippering the side, and Dawson knows that there will be no words to make the devastation of missing the sport’s biggest tournament go away.
“For Rio to get injured, there would be no worse feeling for him as a player. To miss the biggest tournament in the world as the captain, I feel for him,” said Dawson.
“I missed the Carling Cup final in 2008, and there was nothing anyone could have said to me that could have made me feel any better. For Rio, the feeling will be the same.”
Liverpool playmaker Steven Gerrard, who wore the armband in Capello’s first game in charge of England, has now been confirmed as captain for the upcoming showpiece.
Dawson will be vying with Ledley King, Jamie Carragher and Matthew Upson for the central defensive position alongside former skipper John Terry for England’s opening game against USA next Saturday.
The Three Lions are 4/9 favourites in the match betting to kick off their campaign with a win, with the Americans on offer at 6/1 and the draw at 3/1.
Capello’s men are 2/7 favourites to win Group C, ahead of USA at 4/1, while Slovenia are available at 11/1 and Algeria the outsiders at 18/1.
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