Becks recalled by England but Terry ruled out of Croatia clash

The central defender will miss Chelsea's game with Everton at Stamford Bridge on Sunday after failing to recover in time from knee surgery.

Terry had an operation on 19 October after pulling out of England's defeat in Russia when his knee "locked-up" after a training session on the plastic pitch in Moscow.

Chelsea boss Avram Grant hinted last week that he would not want Terry playing for his country if he had not proved his fitness with his club.

And with Rio Ferdinand also ruled out of the game on 21 November and Micah Richards struggling with injury, England coach Steve McClaren is facing a defensive nightmare.

He said: "This Croatia game will be a big one and you need your experience and your big-time players. It is unfortunate that the likes of Rio and John Terry are missing."

McClaren did recall midfielder David Beckham when he named his squad this lunchtime, even though the former skipper's LA Galaxy team failed to reach the end-of-season MLS play-offs. If Beckham plays in next Friday's friendly in Austria and the matchwith Croatia he will be left one cap short of his century.

McClaren added: "He has always been a tremendous player for England. He proved that in the summer on his comeback. Unfortunately he got injured, otherwise he would have been in previous squads. He has come back and I needed to check on his [knee] injury.

"I flew out and spoke to his fitness people and they tell me his fitness is fine, his injury is fine.

"He hasn't played games but he is in the squad because I believe that with the likes of Ferdinand and Terry out of the squad, we are lacking the experience of big-game players."

If Russia beat Israel next Saturday then England will effectively be out of Euro 2008, but McClaren is pinning his hopes on getting the right result and his assistant Terry Venables believes he is still the right man for the job.

Venables urged the Football Association not to take a "knee-jerk" reaction and keep McClaren in his job.

Meanwhile, Terry's injury is also a huge blow for Chelsea who will be without him and injured goalkeeper Petr Cech for the first time since beating Wigan 4-0 at Stamford Bridge on 13 January. "Unfortunately he got injured, otherwise he