England defender Rio Ferdinand flatly denied using drugs on Tuesday after being dropped for the national team's decisive Euro 2004 qualifier against Turkey for missing a dope test.

The Football Association (FA) had earlier announced that the 24-year-old would not be available for the match after he failed to provide a sample for a random test last month.

"I am absolutely devastated by this situation and I want to take this opportunity to categorically state that I have never used drugs or condoned the use of drugs in sport or in society," Ferdinand said in a statement on his club Manchester United's web site.

The defender provided a sample, which proved negative, 36 hours after doping control officers visited United's training ground.

"I have been routinely tested like all players throughout my career and the results have always been the same: negative, like the most recent test," Ferdinand said.

"The biggest disappointment is not being picked for England for a game which is so important not only to myself, but also the team and the England fans."

England need a draw to qualify automatically from Group Seven for next year's tournament in Portugal and send Turkey, who finished third in last year's World Cup, into the playoffs.

The FA's move, which it said in no way pre-empted a hearing into the case next Monday, was criticised in separate statements from Manchester United and the players' union, the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA).

The PFA said it was a "disgrace" effectively to act before Ferdinand's case had been heard, while United issued a statement saying the club was "deeply troubled" by the FA's handling of the issue.

Eriksson regretted the absence of Ferdinand, who media reports said had forgotten about the test because he was moving house, but made it clear he had little choice.

Eriksson said he knew of Ferdinand's case about 10 days ago.

"In my job, for non-footballing reasons, you have to accept some decisions that are taken by other people," Eriksson said.

"Of course, I'm not happy football-wise, but you just have to accept it."

BIGGEST GAME

Of immediate concern now is the fall-out for Saturday's game, England's biggest since last year's World Cup quarter-final defeat by Brazil.

"I hope that we are that professional that we can focus on Turkey and how we are going to play and how we're going to work until Saturday," Eriksson said.

"It could have been a better timing of everything but there we are."

John Terry should replace Ferdinand in central defence, linking up with Sol Campbell.

To add to Eriksson's problems, his leading striker Michael Owen is still struggling with a shin injury picked up during Liverpool's 2-1 premier league defeat by Arsenal on Saturday.

Owen is rated at 50-50 to play in Istanbul.

As a result, Eriksson gave a late call-up to pacey Aston Villa striker Darius Vassell, who scored in a 2-0 win over Turkey in Sunderland last April.

"He (Owen) wants to play and we want to get him fit...but let's keep it at 50-50 that he plays."

Eriksson said he might leave a final decision on Owen, who did not train on Tuesday and may be unable to do so on Wednesday or Thursday, until Saturday morning.

Captain David Beckham, who shrugged off a foot injury to play for Real Madrid in Sunday's 2-1 Primera Liga win over Espanyol, was also included in Eriksson's squad.

England have not taken up their ticket allocation for the match and are urging fans not to travel to Istanbul amid fears of crowd trouble that could lead to the team being kicked out of the tournament.

The FA was fined and given a warning by UEFA after trouble flared at the home match against Turkey in April.

The two sets of supporters have a history of bitter rivalry since 2000 when two Leeds United fans were stabbed to death in Istanbul before a UEFA Cup tie against Galatasaray and Turkish police will be mounting a major security operation on Saturday.