The England captain has been ruled out of the tournament with a knee injury after he injured himself in a collision with Emile Heskey.

Although it has not been decided precisely when Ferdinand will fly home, Michael Dawson is due to arrive as his replacement this morning and Steven Gerrard will take the captain's armband.

"It was a tackle and then there was big pain," confirmed Capello.

"He put his feet in the grass with Heskey and then he moved.

"The other players were upset. They stopped training.

"All the players who are here with me are important. But he is one of the starting players, the captain, a leader."

Scan results were assessed by two different members of the England medical team, but agreement was instant; Ferdinand has been ruled out for up to six weeks, which offered no opportunity for recovery in time to play any part in South Africa.

"It couldn't have been much worse on my first day," Capello admitted.

"It is obviously bad news and everyone with the squad is very disappointed and sorry for Rio.

"It was an accidental injury in training, but had nothing to do with the pitch.

"It is the curse of the captain."

In truth, there is not that much comparison between the two skippers the Italian has lost in four months.

John Terry's misery was self-inflicted and, in any case, he has at least made it to South Africa.

Ferdinand's injury leaves Capello with a tricky selection dilemma.

Matthew Upson has tended to stand in for Ferdinand during his many injury absences. His appearance alongside Terry for the March friendly against Egypt at Wembley - when Gerrard captained his country as he will now do for the World Cup - was his ninth start in 17 internationals.

The alternatives are Jamie Carragher, who was persuaded to abandon his international retirement by Capello this spring, and Ledley King - who for all his well-chronicled knee problems actually made twice as many Premier League appearances for Tottenham this term as Ferdinand managed for Manchester United.

King would be regarded as the early favourite, even though he did look rusty in the recent friendly against Mexico. He was able to get his name on the scoresheet and his form in the latter weeks of the season for Spurs belied the fact he does not train with any great regularity.

"You have to take into account this might happen: sometimes it happens during a game, sometimes in training, sometimes before you get to a final," shrugged Capello.

"You have to deal with it."