Andy Carroll's hopes of making his England debut against France on Wednesday are hanging in the balance after it was found the Newcastle striker is suffering from a minor groin injury.

Although Carroll joined up with Fabio Capello's squad at their Watford base on Sunday evening, England were sufficiently concerned about him and Gabriel Agbonlahor to instantly bring in Carlton Cole as back-up. As Agbonlahor subsequently withdrew with a knock collected in Aston Villa's draw with Manchester United on Saturday, it proved a wise decision on Capello's part.

However, it remains to be seen whether Carroll will be fit as he is due to train with England at Arsenal's London Colney later today. If the 21-year-old does come through, he is likely to be handed his debut at some stage, given the only other strikers at Capello's disposal are Cole, Peter Crouch and Jay Bothroyd, who could become the first Cardiff player to represent England and the first from the Football League since David Nugent in 2007.

It is just part of the usual conundrum an England coach must face ahead of a mid-season friendly. Since naming a 23-man squad on Saturday night, Capello lost three players. Agbonlahor maybe could have been predicted given he had a problem before heading south, but there was also bad news from the Chelsea camp as John Terry and Ashley Cole both pulled out.

Terry missed his side's 3-0 home defeat to Sunderland on Sunday after suffering a nerve problem in training that is leading to pain in a gluteal muscle and hamstring. Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti said: "Terry trained yesterday but, at the end of the training session, he had pain on his nerve in his hamstring and we had the test this morning (Sunday).

"He has had control of this problem. He never missed a training session but the pain was more, so he was not able to play. But I think he can play the next game. It is an injury, but he can control it. He has controlled it for 12 games. He's doing good prevention, good treatment. Everything will be okay for him."

The loss of Cole - one of England's few plus points in South Africa - with an unspecified problem, could mean Arsenal's Kieran Gibbs is handed his first senior start. Bolton's Gary Cahill and Aston Villa full-back Stephen Warnock have been called in as replacements to join the four uncapped players who were selected yesterday; Carroll, Chris Smalling, Jordan Henderson and Bothroyd.