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Fabio Capello travelled to Monaco yesterday with the intention of watching Owen Hargreaves play in the European Super Cup final, only to learn that the Manchester United midfield player had been ruled out with a recurrence of an increasingly worrying knee injury. The discovery would have been troubling enough in isolation, but for Capello, with his midfield resources depleted for his competitive matches as England manager, it compounded a desperate situation.

Capello will name his squad tomorrow for the opening World Cup qualifying matches away to Andorra a week today and Croatia four days later and, with Hargreaves joining Steven Gerrard and Michael Carrick on the injured list, his options will be severely limited. Frank Lampard and Gareth Barry, who failed to impress as a central-midfield partnership in the recent drawn friendly with the Czech Republic at Wembley, appear certain to start both matches, with Jermaine Jenas their only obvious understudy.

Beyond that, Capello may have to call up a player such as Tom Huddlestone, out of favour at Tottenham Hotspur, Scott Parker, Mark Noble, Nigel Reo-Coker or even contemplate a recall for Nicky Butt, who has not played for England since 2004.

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It is a dire situation for Capello and one not helped by clubs’ stances on their players’ fitness. He spoke to Rafael Benítez, the Liverpool manager, by telephone yesterday morning, having been alarmed to learn on Wednesday night that the midfield player was to have surgery on a groin injury at a time convenient to his club but not his country. Capello had been similarly disappointed by Sir Alex Ferguson’s contention on Thursday that Hargreaves would be fit enough to start for United against Zenit St Petersburg, but not to play for his country.

Cynicism gave way to concern once it emerged yesterday afternoon that the United player had woken up with a recurrence of tendinitis after training the previous evening.

Since joining United from Bayern Munich for a projected £20.2 million fee last summer, the 27-year-old has repeatedly been troubled by tendinitis, which Ferguson has suggested was misdiagnosed by the German club. He started only 23 of United’s 57 matches in all competitions last season amid a lengthy course of injections in what has been an unsuccessful attempt to solve the problem. While cynics wondered whether his withdrawal from last night’s game could be a ploy by Ferguson to prevent Capello calling up Hargreaves for international duty, the player was said to be dejected by the recurrence of his injury.

Gerrard is also disappointed at having to miss two England games, but Benítez, speaking after his conversation with Capello, said that this was a problem that England would have to live with. “We needed to decide what was best for the player, the club and for England,” the Liverpool manager said. “To keep a player with a problem for weeks didn’t make sense, so we needed to do it now. We knew there is an international break and one in a few weeks. Our doctor is in contact with the doctors of the national team, but the decision is ours. Capello called me and we spoke about the operation and how long the injury would be and everything was really positive.”

Capello will watch Michael Owen play for Newcastle United against Arsenal today, with the forward, who has yet to start an England game under the new manager, having to prove his fitness. Capello will then take in Tottenham’s trip to Chelsea tomorrow before naming his squad.

Micah Richards, the Manchester City defender, is unsure whether he will be drafted into the senior squad, having been named, surprisingly, in the England Under-21 squad to take on Portugal at Wembley on Friday.