Carrick falls out with Capello over failure to report injury

Michael Carrick may have damaged his England prospects by failing to inform Fabio Capello's management team that he was carrying an injury before joining up with the squad for the two forthcoming World Cup qualifiers.

England were surprised to learn on Sunday evening that the 27-year-old Manchester United midfielder was withdrawing from their already depleted squad for the games against Kazakhstan and Andorra since the broken toe which was detected by the national side's medical staff appears to have been sustained in last Wednesday's Champions League final against Barcelona.

The injury ruled out Carrick from playing a role either in Kazakhstan on Saturday, or against Andorra at Wembley on Wednesday, but the news of his withdrawal came as blow after Aaron Lennon, David James, Wes Brown, Phil Jagielka and Stewart Downing had already been forced to pull out of the mananger Capello's squad.

Carrick's struggle to establish himself as an England international has been a long one, with either Steven Gerrard or Frank Lampard to dislodge from central midfield in the side. Although Carrick started the 2-0 friendly defeat against Spain in Seville in February, he has been sidelined since, coming on only as a late substitute against Slovakia in March.