It may not matter any more, but John Terry was only hours away from being fit to play for England against Croatia on Wednesday.

The England captain and centre half might have made the difference at Wembley when Luka Modric and Co were ripping Sol Campbell and Joleon Lescott to shreds in the 3-2 defeat that ended their hopes of reaching the European Championship finals and cost Steve McClaren his job as head coach. To make matters worse for England supporters, Terry is likely to return to the Chelsea defence away to Derby County today after missing his club’s past seven matches because of a knee injury.

“If he had been fit we would have had no problem with him playing,” Avram Grant, the Chelsea first-team coach, said. “I am proud that my players represent their countries. England needed him badly. It was a borderline decision.”

Grant has urged Chelsea’s England players - Joe Cole, Wayne Bridge, Terry, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole, the last-named also expected to play today after missing out on Wednesday – to put their Euro 2008 heartache behind them and concentrate on keeping the club in touch with the leaders at the top of the Barclays Premier League.

“You can imagine how the English players feel, but they are professional players,” Grant said. “What happened for them on Wednesday was some kind of tragedy. They are sensitive about this, they didn’t like the result, but they know there is a game on Saturday and that life goes on.”

Terry’s return to the first team is unlikely to be taxing as Derby, who are bottom of the Premier League, have scored only five times in 13 games this season.

Chelsea will be without Ricardo Carvalho for another four weeks after the Portugal defender suffered a back injury in the 1-1 draw with Everton a fortnight ago. Didier Drogba, the Ivory Coast forward, will also be side-lined with a knee injury.