Peter Crouch Out Of England Qualifiers

Peter Crouch is the latest player to pull out of England's Euro 2012 qualifiers as he is suffering with a back problem.

The Tottenham Hotspur player, who sustained the injury during their defeat against Wigan at the weekend was named in Fabio Capello's twenty four man squad despite being a major doubt.

Crouch has returned to his club to receive further treatment on the injury.

The first of the qualifiers sees England take on Bulgaria on Friday, the second match on Wednesday (8th Sept) against Switzerland, but Capello has a long list of players who are unavailable to play because of injury.

Rio Ferdiand is still not fit for international action and he is joined on the sidelines by John Terry who has a hamstring problem while Frank Lampard is about to undergo an hernia operation.

Bobby Zamora was ruled out before Capello named his squad and with the absence of Crouch the Italian can now choose from Wayne Rooney, Carlton Cole, Darren Bent and Jermain Defoe.

The Tottenham man had bee suffering with a groin problem but seems to have recovered leaving him available to play on Friday.

Phil Jagielka, who was expected to play in the centre of defence looks set to miss out after picking up an ankle problem.

Capello also has a bit of a crisis on the goal keeping front while Joe hart remains his number one choice injuries to Ben Foster (knee) and Scott Carson (back) while Rob Green is awaiting a hip operation.

Despite their poor performance at the World Cup during the summer England got back to winning ways against Hungary last month when they notched up a 2-1 win at Wembley.

The qualifier will be the first match of significance since the defeat to Germany in South Africa.

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw