England's odds on winning the World Cup lengthened tonight after the captain, Rio Ferdinand, was ruled out of the tournament through injury, the latest in a series of blows to the team's preparations.

A day after arriving at the squad's World Cup training base in Rustenburg, close to where they will face the US in their opening group match a week tomorrow, Fabio Capello's recent run of bad luck continued with an injury to one of his key players.

Ferdinand, installed as captain following the travails of his defensive partner John Terry, left a local hospital on crutches after sustaining the injury during what Capello described as a "minor tackle". The ligament damage sustained to his left knee as a result was serious enough to rule him out of the tournament.

"It is obviously bad news and everyone with the squad is very disappointed and sorry for Rio," said Capello, who was quick to make it clear that the injury was not connected to the state of the training pitch, which has been the subject of conjecture over whether it would be ready on time. "It was an accidental injury in training, but had nothing to do with the pitch."

The England captain is not the only big name Premier League star who could be missing from the tournament after sustaining an injury yesterday. Ivory Coast talisman Didier Drogba, who was poised be one of the biggest stars of the first World Cup in Africa, also saw his participation put in doubt by a fractured elbow sustained during a warm-up match.

The injury to Ferdinand is likely to add to a sense that England's fans are approaching this tournament more in fervent hope than the usual brazen expectation.

This will definitely hurt there chances, England were looking good for this Cup. But without Rio I think they'll have a bit more trouble against the attacking teams. E.g Spain/Brazil. They will be able to beat Italy though through their brilliant midfield.