England manager Fabio Capello has chosen Steven Gerrard to captain England for their friendly against Switzerland.

The Liverpool midfielder will take up the captain's armband in John Terry's absence, who is currently out with a footy injury.

Capello said: "I have just informed my team before coming to see you that tomorrow's captain against Switzerland will be Steven Gerrard. I have done it because I think he is an important player for England, according to my plans. He will be captain for this match."

But he later confirmed in a press conference that Gerrard will not be the permanent captain.

Capello added: "I'm not going to name the permanent captain before the Andorra match."

Andorra are England's first opponents in their World Cup 2010 qualifying campaign, on September 6.

Capello continued: "I will tell the team to my players before we leave the hotel to go to the match tomorrow."

The Italian, speaking through an interpreter, was reluctant to discuss the exclusion of 99-cap David Beckham.

Capello said: "I respect him greatly for all things we did together at Real Madrid.

"But at the moment the most important thing is talking about the players who will play tomorrow - not the ones who are not here."

His comments come after Beckham earlier admitted it would have been "unfair" if Capello had selected him in his first England squad.

Rio Ferdinand recently described the new regime as "like going to a new school" - with the England players eating and leaving the table together.

But Capello said it was important to lay down some rules.

He added: "We only come together for three days and in those three days we need to create a way of working - that's why I need to set some rules. We all have a role to play - everyone is worthy of respect."

The coach had famously insisted he would learn the language of his adopted country within a month having been appointed but he reasoned that although he was happy to speak to the players in English on the training ground, facing the media was a different prospect as he did not want to be misunderstood.

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