London – England defender Gary Cahill has been ruled out of Euro 2012 with a double fracture of the jaw, the Football Association (FA) announced Sunday.
Cahill suffered the injury when he was shoved in the back by Belgium's Dries Mertens during the first half of a 1-0 international friendly win at Wembley on Saturday and, as a result, collided with England goalkeeper Joe Hart.
He was sent for X-rays and now the luckless Chelsea centre-back has become the third player to drop out of England manager Roy Hodgson's squad this week after midfielders Gareth Barry and Frank Lampard's hopes of playing in Poland and Ukraine were dashed by injury.
Liverpool's Martin Kelly was called up Sunday as a replacement, with Hodgson having already omitted veteran Manchester United centre-back Rio Ferdinand from his original squad.
An FA statement issued Sunday said: “Gary Cahill has been withdrawn from England's Euro 2012 squad following the injury he suffered in the match against Belgium.
“The Chelsea defender 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.
“Kelly trained with the England players last week and was part of the group that travelled to Norway (where England won 1-0 in Oslo to give Hodgson a win in his first game as England boss).”
Some good news on the injury front did arrive Sunday when John Terry, Cahill's Chelsea and England central defensive colleague, was passed fit – for the time being at least – after suffering a hamstring problem against Belgium.
“John Terry has been scanned this morning and given the all-clear,” the FA said. “He will be re-assessed on Tuesday when the team regroup.”
Saturday's match was England's last before they begin their Euro 2012 Group D campaign against France in Donetsk on June 11. – Sapa-AFP