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Terry to captain England against USA

27/05/2008

John Terry will captain England in tomorrow's friendly against the United States, Fabio Capello has announced.

The England manager has so far stuck to his pledge of rotating the captaincy ahead of naming a permanent skipper for the World Cup qualifiers in the autumn.

Rio Ferdinand wore the captain's armband against France in March, while Steven Gerrard led the team in Capello's first game in charge versus Switzerland.

His decision to name Terry as captain for tomorrow's friendly at Wembley comes after the Chelsea captain suffered the heartbreak of missing a penalty in the Champions League final.

The Blues would have won the trophy if Terry had scored his spot-kick, but he slipped and struck the post, allowing Manchester United to win the shootout.

He told Chelsea fans in an open letter that the mistake would "haunt me forever".

But Capello said he had made his decision ahead of the Moscow final.

"John Terry is the captain for Wednesday and that was a decision I made before the Champions League final," he explained.

"The first captain was Gerrard, then Ferdinand and now John Terry.

"I have seen him in the last few days and he looks very well. When I told him that he would be the captain he was very happy.

"To be the captain, I think it is very important to be a leader and John Terry is a leader."

Terry, 27, was captain under Capello's predecessor Steve McClaren, but tomorrow's USA match will be the first time he has worn the armband during the Italian's reign.