England manager Roy Hodgson has confirmed that Chelsea captain John Terry will not be coming under consideration when picking the future squads.

England suffered defeats against Chile and Germany in the space of a few days. They failed to score in both these matches, while also conceding soft goals in the process. This has sparked talk about Terry returning to national team duty. The Chelsea captain retired from international football a few years ago after he said that the England FA did not treat him properly in the Anton Ferdinand racism scandal.

Terry has been regarded as one of the best defenders in the world and he has been in great form for his club this season. However, Hodgson has said that taking John Terry will mean that England would have gone backwards rather than forwards. He says that the Terry issue is closed as far as he is concerned. The lack of Terry and Manchester United's Rio Ferdinand, who are regarded as a great centre back partnership, came cruelly to expose them against Germany and Chile.

"We've moved on from that. John retired. We've qualified with our 10 matches and 10 matches with (Gary) Cahill and (Phil) Jagielka and we've seen a very good performance from Chris Smalling tonight. I think it's important that we continue along those lines, continue looking forward and that we don't start panicking and looking backwards every time we have a reverse," said Hodgson to the BBC after the match.

Terry's replacement was Jagielka, while Chris Smalling replaced Rio Ferdinand. Both of them performed well enough, but they were just exposed by a brilliant attack. These defeats just ahead of the World Cup raises questions about England's ability to lift the title.
England's final friendly match will be against Denmark before the World Cup.