HAVE YOUR SAY: Jagielka ready to step into the breach after Cahill is ruled out

The Three Lions’ squad yesterday lost Sheffield-born Gary Cahill with a fractured jaw sustained in Saturday’s 1-0 victory over Belgium at Wembley.

With John Terry set to be assessed for a second time tomorrow over the hamstring injury that led to the former captain limping out of England’s final warm-up friendly, manager Roy Hodgson has called up Liverpool defender Martin Kelly to the squad.

Cahill’s absence plus the concerns over Terry mean the England chief, already without Frank Lampard and Gareth Barry through injury, has plenty to ponder ahead of his side’s opening Group D outing a week today against France.

As Hodgson weighs up those options, former Sheffield United favourite Jagielka believes his time alongside Lescott at Everton could be a major plus.

He told the Yorkshire Post: “It is familiarity, really. We have played together a lot, we know each other and we get on well off the pitch.

“When you play together, it does feel comfortable and we had some good seasons at Everton.

“Joleon moved on (to Manchester City) and has done well for himself since. But when you have played with someone a hundred times, it makes things that little bit easier.”

Jagielka, who came off the bench in the final quarter to replace Terry at Wembley, played the full 90 minutes alongside Lescott in the 1-0 friendly win over Norway nine days ago.

He added: “Two clean sheets is brilliant. I wouldn’t say we played amazing but we created one or two decent chances and Danny Welbeck produced a fantastic finish.

“Now we have a week before the France game and we will be looking to sharpen up at the other end of the pitch and, hopefully, put in a good performance.

“I have never experienced this (a major tournament). I am looking forward to meeting up (tomorrow), having a training session on Wednesday and then flying out.”

Jagielka was not named in Hodgson’s 23-man squad for Euro 2012 last month but instead among five players placed on standby.

Since then, however, a succession of injuries has rocked England’s preparations and the 29-year-old was called up a week ago once Gareth Barry had been ruled out.

Lampard then became the second high-profile withdrawal midway through the week before Cahill and Terry being forced out of the Belgium win gave Hodgson even more cause for concern.

Of the two, Cahill’s problems immediately seemed the more acute – as was confirmed yesterday with the news the Chelsea defender had suffered two fractures to his jaw in the first-half collision with goalkeeper Joe Hart.

Following on from the loss of not only Lampard and Barry but also back-up goalkeeper John Ruddy (broken finger), captain Steven Gerrard admits the build-up to Euro 2012 has been a hugely frustrating affair.

He said of Cahill’s injury and subsequent exclusion: “That is a blow and the price you pay for these warm-up games.

“I am angry about it because we have lost big players with a tournament not far away.

“We have to keep our fingers crossed but to do well in these tournaments you have to have your big players. We had already lost Frank and Gareth Barry.”

Cahill’s collision with Hart came after a cynical push in the defender’s back by Belgium forward Dries Mertens.

Hodgson was deeply unhappy with the shove, which came as Cahill was attempting to shepherd the ball back to his goalkeeper.

Mertens, however, insists there was no malice meant on his part despite being yellow carded for the offence by referee Peter Rasmussen.

He said: “It was an accident. It was unintentional. He blocked me off and he has hit his head (on Hart’s shoulder). But there was no malice in what I did.

“Absolutely, I feel for him. If that was me in his place, getting injured like that a week before the Euros, I would feel so bad. I would feel terrible.”

Gerrard, too, generously absolved the Belgian. He said: “I don’t think you can blame the guy because he was trying to score a goal. Maybe he got carried away.”

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