The Sunderland forward, who scored his first international goal against Switzerland last month, was the fourth player to withdraw from the squad through injury after Aaron Lennon, Phil Jagielka and John Terry.
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Manager Fabio Capello, though, looked in relaxed mood at a news conference, re-arranging the tape recorders in front of him and joking "four, four, two" as he positioned them.
"Bent is out, he can't play and Crouch will play instead. There are enough options in the squad and he can play up with Rooney," Capello said.
Bent's injury also increased the chances of a debut off the bench for surprise call-up Kevin Davies who is 33.
"He was always going to come back as captain when he was fit," Capello said.
"I told Steve he was a fantastic captain and that he had to play like the captain tomorrow. But Rio was always going to come back as the captain when he was fit.
"I have watched Rio during training in the last few days and he is totally fit, he has played every game better and he is now at 100 per cent."
England unusually trained at Wembley on Monday morning, rather than Arsenal's training ground of London Colney, and went through their paces in glorious autumnal sunshine.
"He is very dangerous," Capello said. "He is their diamond flower."
