New Zealand captain Ryan Nelsen has been ruled out of the upcoming Confederations Cup tournament. The Blackburn Rovers defender will be out of action for up to six weeks after sustaining a calf injury against Chelsea on the weekend and was disappointed with the bad news.
"I was really looking forward to playing. The Confederations Cup is great preparation for the World Cup playoff and I'm just gutted I won't be there now," Nelsen said.
All Whites coach Ricki Herbert said Nelsen's loss would be hard to cover.
"I think the confidence, leadership, competitiveness and experience that Ryan has against players of the calibre we are going to play is going to be missing now and that is going to be a massive loss for the team," said Herbert.