Date Published: 06/05/10

Frank Lampard laments Rio's blow

FRANK LAMPARD has admitted the injury to Rio Ferdinand left him sick to his stomach.

The England skipper injured his knee in a collision with Emile Heskey during the first training session in Rustenburg yesterday and was ruled out for up to six weeks following a scan.

Lampard revealed he was saddened by the news but has urged his team-mates to push on in Ferdinand's absence.

He said: "Rio is very down. It's a huge competition, the biggest competition.

"It made me feel a bit sick in the stomach so I can't imagine how he feels.

"I was fearful for him because you could see the pain of the fall but also there was an element of fear.

"We all understand that. We've all had moments during our club careers as well where there's big games coming up and you feel you might have done something to put you out of that game.

"I understood straight away that it was potentially a bad one and then it was fingers crossed for the scan and obviously it turned out to be bad."

Lampard admits the whole camp are disappointed to lose such an important player but feels that Michael Dawson is an able replacement.

Steven Gerrard has taken over as skipper with Lampard being named as vice-captain, and the Chelsea midfielder feels that is the right choice to help them push on.

He added: "We have to keep batting on, we have to be very focused. There's nothing wrong with being disappointed. That's normal. But when we trained today we trained at full pelt.

"Dawson's turned up now and he's a lad who fully deserves to get that kind of call up for the player he is and the season he's had. So we have to just focus.

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"Yes, we've lost a big player and big leader in our team but we've got to get together.

"I think Gerrard will do the job he does at Liverpool. Which he has done fantastically for years. It'll mean everything to him the England captaincy.

"Steven's got that very quiet way about him off the pitch and everyone respects him for that. He's a player to look up to and that what's a captain's all about."