Crocked England captain Rio Ferdinand insists that striker Emile Heskey is not to blame for his World Cup-ending knee injury.

The Manchester United defender sustained the injury during training and will return home on Saturday after watching the Three Lions take on the USA in Rustenburg.

But Ferdinand said that the injury came about because of an accident and that Aston Villa's Heskey did nothing wrong in the collision.

"It was a complete freak accident," said Ferdinand.

"The ball came in from one of the lads to Emile, I'd gone to try and tackle him from behind - he didn't actually see me coming - we both went off balance and Emile's weight went down on my knee.

"It's no fault of his at all. It's just a freak accident that could happen at any given time and it had no connection to previous injuries I've had."