John Terry last night promised he would be fit for England's World Cup campaign after a four-hour scare that left Fabio Capello on tenterhooks.

Terry had left Chelsea's Cobham training ground fearing a fractured metatarsal in his right foot and the end of his dreams.

The central defender, whose private life saw him stripped of the England captaincy and brought former best mate Wayne Bridge's international retirement, damaged his foot as he landed badly following a routine aerial challenge.

Terry was said to be "devastated" in the immediate aftermath, leaving Cobham with his foot in a protective boot as he rushed away for what he believed would be the scan to end his season and his ambitions to be part of England's bid for the ultimate success.

But after an initially inconclusive scan, Terry was able to tell Capello that he had in fact merely suffered slight ankle ligament damage and pledged he will lead Chelsea into their bid to complete the club's first domestic Double against Portsmouth at Wembley.

Terry said: "I took a slight knock in training but with such an important match on Saturday the right course of action was to put a protective boot on my right foot and have a CT scan.

"The scan has shown there is no break and I am hoping to train on Thursday, if not Friday and of course play in the FA Cup final on Saturday."

That news eased the worries of the England camp, who had been led to believe Terry was far more seriously injured and the telephone calls from the Chelsea captain left Capello relieved.

Capello is already sweating on the fitness of Gareth Barry, who will have a make or break test on his ankle ligament injury on May 24 and the last thing he would have wanted was bad news about another of his senior players.

But while Terry was left in bullish mood, it was clear that he had badly bruised the foot which he previously fractured in a game with Arsenal in December 2007, forcing a two-month injury absence.