Frank Lampard has confirmed he is England's new vice-captain following Steven Gerrard's elevation to skipper in the wake of Rio Ferdinand's World Cup-ending injury. "I am vice-captain," said the Chelsea midfielder.

"I was told by the manager and (assistant) Franco Baldini yesterday and I am very proud of that.

"Obviously I am very disappointed for Rio. He is a mate.

"But what can I do? I shall just try to give my input as a vice-captain."

Ferdinand is yet to decide when to leave the England training base.

As the pair grew up in London and emerged through the West Ham academy at the same time, Lampard has always been close to Ferdinand and offered words of consolation to him.

"I am very disappointed for him to say the least," said Lampard.

"I spoke to him last night and he is obviously very down.

"He is such a good mate and for this to happen in the build-up to the biggest tournament made me feel sick in my stomach."

Lampard described the incident when Ferdinand fell as "a freak".

"I was fearful for him because you could see the pain of the fall but also there was an element of fear," he said.

"We all understand that. We've all had moments during our club careers as well where there's big games coming up and you feel you might have done something to put you out of that game.

"I understood straight away that it was potentially a bad one and then it was fingers crossed for the scan and obviously it turned out to be bad."

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