Striker Danny Welbeck has been ruled out of England's friendly against Brazil on Sunday through injury.
The Manchester United forward has been struggling with a thigh problem in the build-up to the fixture at the world-famous Maracana stadium and has lost his battle to be fit.
Welbeck was an unused substitute for England's 1-1 draw with the Republic of Ireland on Wednesday and subsequently sat out large parts of training on Friday.
The England medical staff had been giving him as much time as possible to recover from the complaint, but head coach Roy Hodgson revealed that he will not feature.
"It's unfortunate that Danny Welbeck hasn't recovered from Wednesday," Hodgson said. "We have the requisite number of players on the bench, though."
The news comes as a further blow to Hodgson, who has already seen his striking options severely depleted ahead of the fixture.
With Daniel Sturridge having injured ankle ligaments against Ireland and Welbeck now out, the door could be open for Jermain Defoe, who has himself been struggling with an Achilles problem.
Hodgson admitted that he could also try Arsenal's Theo Walcott through the middle, adding: "Theo could play as a centre-forward, as we know he can do."
However, the England boss will wait until after the final pre-match training session on Saturday before deciding on his final XI.
"I haven't spoken to the players about the team yet," he confirmed. "We will train and I will tell them the team tonight.
"I want the players to play for a longer period of time, so it's good to be limited."
