Never Blame Ferdinand Because He Is Still England First Choice
Fabio Capello insists Rio Ferdinand should not be held responsible for England’s 1-0 qualifying defeat against Ukraine.
“He made one mistake, that is all, and that was for the penalty.”
“The ball bounced and he didn’t judge the direction of the ball well, but afterwards he played a good game like the other players. Rio has made some mistakes, but you can’t question his value.”
“Normally I don’t speak about referees. This time I am changing my mind. It was a big mistake. Rio was running, the goalkeeper is diving. I need someone to explain to me how he can get that
wrong.”
“I spoke with the fourth official when the referee showed Rio the red card. He said he would tell the referee it was not Rio. The referee thought Rio had fouled the player but it so obviously
was not him.”
“I am proud of my team. In the second half we played very well and created a lot of chances, right until the very last minute.”
Ferdinand’s team-mates also spring to his defence and back him to recover from his individual mistakes.
Wayne Rooney concedes that Ferdinand’s bad luck with injuries may be taking its toll.
“Rio’s a top defender, he’s just had a few injuries of late. I think he’s doing well, but everyone makes mistakes and he knows that he is a top player. He will forget about that and move on.”
“Of course, everyone is going to talk about him because he made a mistake. There is no need to go on too much about it because everyone knows what you get from him.”
Meanwhile, John Terry declares, “I don’t feel for Rio. I don’t have to look out for him. He’s a world-class player. He’s suffered from a couple of injuries of late but, when he’s in and around
the team, he’s great to have around the place.”
“He’s one of the best defenders in the world. But we’re all human, we all make mistakes. After a mistake, the good thing with him is that he doesn’t just fade away. He’s a big personality and,
sometimes, some of the younger lads in the squad can learn from that. We know we can all trust each other.”
Terry also argues every player was responsible for the errors which have cropped up in recent England matches.
“There’s been the odd game when defending has been a problem. But that’s something we’ll have to work on. We wanted to walk away with 10 wins in qualifying. We haven’t managed to do that.”
“We really need to use these games as learning curves now. It will be nice to get a win at home against Belarus on Wednesday to give the fans that nice feeling again.”
On the other hand, Ferdinand (a long-standing spokesman for anti-racism campaigns) admits that efforts to eradicate racism from football are undermined by the lenient sanctions handed
down by the game’s governing bodies.
“You see feeble punishments handed out. The message to youngsters is that it couldn’t have been that bad after all.”
“If you are out of a competition then I think young people get the message that it is harder-hitting.”