Crocked player

This is a haunting image. The pain in his eyes, the despair in his look, the realisation in his mind. I really felt for him when I heard the news.

There is no other worse image than that of England captain Rio Ferdinand moments after realising that his damaged knee ligament injury during the team's first training session on Friday, suffered even before the first ball is kicked, has now dashed his hopes of playing in the World Cup in South Africa.

The injury is serious enough. It could even mean that he will miss the start of next season's Premier League in August. Yes, maybe he's jinxed from the start.

As the seriousness of the injury sank in, the rest of the England team stood around shocked. Apart from realising the loss of their captain, they were also sensing that their prospects of landing top honours in the competition have dimmed some. 

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Meanwhile, for a bit of comic relief to take the spotlight off the injury list in South Africa - Didier Drogba and Arjen Robben being crocked too - my friend, Colin, got the wax image of this neither-coach-nor-player by the golden balls recently at Madame Toussaud's in London. P.S. Don't tell me that it's distasteful to put up this irrelevant picture in the same blog post as English football's latest national crisis because I know that it is. But what the heck...