Ferdinand's fitness hope

Rio Ferdinand is hoping his groin injury does not deteriorate over the coming days.

England defender Rio Ferdinand is hoping his groin injury does not deteriorate over the coming days.

Ferdinand limped out of The Three Lions' 2-2 draw with Sweden on Tuesday after suffering a minor groin strain.

His exit sparked fears that the Manchester United defender could be struggling to make Sunday's second round showdown with Ecuador.

The centre half is unsure if he will be fit for the game in Stuttgart, but is optimistic the problem will not become worse.

"It's my left groin," said Ferdinand. "I don't know how bad it is at the moment. I'll find out in the next couple of days.

"It was just a slight twinge and for precautionary reasons I had to come off.

"Hopefully it doesn't get any worse, but it gets better in the next couple of days.

"I felt it at half time a little bit, but normally when you get things like that you can get through it.

"Then it started to get a touch worse as the game went on."

England defended abysmally in the stalemate with Sweden and Ferdinand accepts the team can not afford a repeat of the Cologne horror show.

He added: "We defended set-pieces very poorly for the whole of the game and that's not something you can normally say about an England team.

"They put good delivery into the box, but at the same time we didn't defend like we normally would.

"It's something we have to look at in the next couple of days.

"But, on the other hand, it's better it happens now than in the next game where you're going to be out if you make mistakes."