Rio Ferdinand speaks to FATV about his tournament-ending injury.
Click on the links to watch the full interview with Rio Ferdinand: Part 1 & Part 2
England captain Rio Ferdinand has been in philosophical mood since being ruled out of the 2010 World Cup through injury.
The tournament in South Africa would have been the Manchester United centre-back’s fourth World Cup, having been involved in the ’98, ’02 and ’06 squads, and would have seen him equal the record of another United legend, Bobby Charlton.
But having sustained knee ligament damage during training at England’s Royal Bafokeng base last Friday, any hopes of leading out the Three Lions in their opening game against USA on Saturday were dashed.
“The first day [the injury] happened was a bit of a long day and evening, just going over the emotions of what could have and what might have been. Everything being taken from underneath your feet – being able to lead your country into a major tournament – it’s just a massive disappointment.
“But I woke up the next morning, brushed myself down and put it in perspective. There are people out there a lot worse off than you. I’m still going to be able to play football again in six or seven weeks, obviously I’m disappointed but it’s not the end of the world,” said Ferdinand.
Despite not being able to make his mark on the pitch, Ferdinand hopes that he can still pass on some of his experience and knowledge from the sidelines, in a similar way to how David Beckham has assisted Fabio Capello in preparation for the tournament.
“Because we’re still players we perhaps see things from a slightly different perspective from the managers and the staff, because we’re still actually playing and we’re up to speed with the game in a certain way.
“When you’re in it and playing it’s hard to take a step back and see it as clear as we can now as players who aren’t playing.
“We watched the game against Platinum Stars the other day and I saw things in that game and spoke to a couple of the lads, and you’re just adding something else to what the manager and all the staff are saying.”