England suffered a double injury setback ahead of Wednesday's vital World Cup qualifier with Finland in Helsinki when skipper Tony Adams and defender Graeme Le Saux were ruled out. Adams was unable to make the flight to Helsinki after injuring his back in a training session at Bisham Abbey this morning. Le Saux was already struggling to be fit after receiving a kick on his calf during Saturday's 1-0 defeat by Germany at Wembley. The Chelsea defender had his worst fears confirmed when he failed a fitness test today. Stand-in coach Howard Wilkinson had already lost the services of Steven Gerrard (groin) and David Beckham (knee) yesterday.
Furthermore, Middlesbrough midfielder Paul Ince has been given permission to pull out of the squad and return home to be with his wife who is expected to give birth later this week. The former Manchester United star got the nod to pull out after learning from Wilkinson that he would not figure in the starting line-up on Wednesday.
Adams' withdrawal left Wilkinson with a captaincy headache as second-in-command Sol Campbell is already missing from the squad. With David Beckham, who had been made vice-captain for these two matches, also absent Wilkinson plumped for Adams' Arsenal defensive partner Martin Keown to wear the armband. Now it will be up to Keown to raise the players' spirits as they look for three points to kick-start their campaign to reach the 2002 finals.
The good news for Wilkinson is that striker Andy Cole and Paul Scholes were able to train after picking up knocks on Saturday and they came through unscathed. Gary Neville did not take part but that was only a precautionary measure after he suffered a slight problem with his toe, which led to him being substituted on Saturday. As expected Manchester United striker Teddy Sheringham, who has been in prime form this season, has joined up with the squad and he took part in today's training session.
