Hamstring strain puts Woodgate's World Cup hopes on ice

Just when Jonathan Woodgate would have been daring to believe that his catalogue of injury problems were behind him, he had it confirmed yesterday that a torn hamstring will rule him out of action for at least four weeks.

Having cemented a place in the starting line-up for Real Madrid, the defender limped out of his side's 1-0 defeat of Real Zaragoza on Sunday night after just 24 minutes, putting him out of Sven Goran Eriksson's squad for Saturday's friendly international against Argentina at the same time.

His World Cup hopes fade with every new setback and it was confirmed yesterday that he has a "second degree tear" in the muscle.

As well as missing the international match, Woodgate will also be unavailable for the key La Liga game between Real Madrid and Barcelona on 19 November.

Woodgate made a disastrous start to his career at Real, missing his first season completely because of injury and when he finally made his debut in September, he scored an own goal and was sent off.

Woodgate's Real team-mate, David Beckham, will captain England for the 50th time in the friendly with Argentina. Last night, Beckham described how proud he is to lead his country and vowed to defy the critics who believe he should be stripped of the captaincy. Beckham said: "People say the captaincy should be taken off me but to be England captain is one of the greatest honours anyone can have."

Beckham said he has the support of the England players and Eriksson. He added: "It's great to have the support of the manager but also the players [who] have always spoken well of me and stuck up for me when things have gone badly."

Beckham's crosses could be picking out Peter Crouch on Saturday, who has yet to score for Liverpool but yesterday thanked the Reds' fans for their support. "Everyone seems to be willing me to get that first goal," Crouch said, "and the fans here have been so great with me since I joined. I'm taking confidence from that.

"I'm desperate to score and I'm certain it's going to come soon. I'm sure of it, so long as I keep working hard and getting in the right positions. I've not been affected by the criticism because of our fans' support."