Injured Gary Neville out for England - Ferguson

LONDON, March 17 (Reuters) Manchester United defender Gary Neville will be sidelined for three weeks by an ankle injury, ruling him out of England's Euro 2008 qualifiers against Israel and Andorra, Alex Ferguson said today.

The United manager gave his verdict after Neville went over on his ankle in the opening minutes of United's 4-1 Premier League win over Bolton Wanderers and had to be replaced by Wes Brown.

''It's ligament damage and he'll be out for three weeks, I feel,'' he told Sky Sports News.

''It's a blow, there's no question about that,'' added Ferguson, whose side face Middlesbrough on Monday in an FA Cup quarter-final replay.

''Wes Brown will continue to play ... and definitely on Monday.'' Worse still for England coach Steve McClaren was that Neville's cover in the squad he named on Friday, Manchester City's Micah Richards, had to limp out of their game against Middlesbrough after 21 minutes.

There was no immediate prognosis for Richards, who conceded a match-winning penalty in their 1-0 league defeat by Chelsea in midweek.

McClaren had been hoping to get through two days of Premier League action plus Monday's FA Cup replays without any of his squad sustaining an injury.

But those hopes were scuppered after just nine minutes of the very first match. Clearly in pain, right back Neville had to be helped off the Old Trafford pitch.

Brown could now also earn an England call-up, as McClaren faces a decision over whether to add to the squad.

He is already missing both his first-choice fullbacks on the left side as Ashley Cole is suspended for the Israel game and Wayne Bridge is out of both through injury.

Third in Group E, England's faltering campaign to qualify for Euro 2008 takes them to Israel for a game on March 24 and to Spain for another qualifier against Andorra four days later.

Eleven of McClaren's squad will be in action on Monday when United play Middlesbrough and Tottenham Hotspur host Chelsea in the FA Cup quarter-final replays.

Reuters PDS RN2333