John Terry today admitted his personal heartbreak at the loss of defensive partner Rio Ferdinand.

Ferdinand, who replaced Terry as England skipper earlier this year, had been due to play alongside the Chelsea captain at the core of the England defence before his training ground knee ligament injury on Friday which ruled him out of the tournament.

The Manchester United man, whose knee remains in a brace, has stayed with the England camp until after Saturday's opening game with the USA.

And Terry revealed how Fabio Capello's men are now determined to do Ferdinand and the country proud over the next five weeks.

Terry said: "It is devastating to lose Rio. I was looking forward to playing alongside him.

"He has picked up and injury that was no-one's fault in training. It was one of those freak accidents that happen occasionally.

"It is just disappointing that is has happened to our captain and one of our most influential players. It is great for him to be out here and still want to be part of the squad.

"He realises we still have a very good chance. If we can go a long way a lot of that will be dedicated to Rio.

"Rio is great fun to have around. When you have a week in between games he is good to have around. He is always at the heart of the banter.

"When game mode kicks in he is serious. He talks in the dressing room. He has a good influence and with Becks around as well it is good."

In Ferdinand's absence, Terry will be partnered by Ledley King, a team-mate at East London youth club Senrab nearly 20 years ago.

"Fortunately enough I played with Ledley when we were kids a few years ago," added Terry. "I have kept in touch with him over the years. The understanding is there. That will be good enough for us to play alongside each other."

Terry feels Monday's warm-up game with the Platinum Stars was a useful exercise. He said: "It was exactly the work out that we needed.

"It was at the altitude we are training at and we needed to get used to the noise of the crowd and the movement of the ball so it was a good work out in both halves."

"The altitude has been more of a surprise than anything. Your mouth is really dry. We train at quite a high level anyway but this was another 150 metres above sea level again. We certainly felt that."