England's hopes of qualifying for Euro 2008 have been hit by a spate of injuries to their central defenders, including captain John Terry.

Terry is expected to be out for at least a month with a knee injury, meaning he will miss England's friendly against Germany on August 22 and making him doubtful for the qualifiers against Israel and Russia on September 8 and 12.

The influential centre-back, along with Tottenham's Ledley King and Middlesbrough's Jonathan Woodgate, is not likely to be fully-fit again until the end of September.

King has a knee problem and is not due back before October. The Tottenham captain underwent surgery after aggravating a cartilage tear while on England duty in June. His club manager Martin Jol told said last week that King would "probably still be out for another two months".

Woodgate is also in rehabilitation following a cartilage operation and is not expected to be fit to return for England duty before the qualifiers.

This pile-up of injuries has left coach Steve McClaren with only one recognised senior international defender - Manchester United's Rio Ferdinand.

McClaren is expected to approach Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher and ask him to reconsider his retirement from international football, announced last month.

Carragher, 29, said he was disillusioned with being asked to play out of position as a full-back for England but McClaren now needs him to play as a partner for Ferdinand in central defence for the next three games.

England are fourth in Group E, three points behind Croatia and Israel and one behind Russia.

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