England News

• Nickname:Three Lions
• Founded: 1872
• Manager:Roy Hodgson

• Ground:Wembley Stadium
• Capacity:90000

Ferdinand impressed by Fabio

15 Oct 2008 - 07:37:30

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England's stand-in captain Rio Ferdinand believes that the arrival of head coach Fabio Capello has brought some much-needed focus to the national team set-up.

Ferdinand, who will lead England against Belarus in the continued absence of John Terry, accepts that in the past he and other players have been guilty of playing up to their celebrity status.

"We became a bit of a circus, if I'm honest, in terms of the whole WAG situation," Ferdinand commented. "It seems like there was a big show around the whole England squad.

"It was like watching a theatre unfolding and football almost became a secondary element to the main event.

"People were worrying more about what people were wearing and where they were going, rather than the England football team.

"That then transposed itself into the team. This regime is very water-tight. If I'm honest, it feels as if we're going in the right direction.

"I don't want to speak too soon, but you can see we're at the start of something and, hopefully, there'll be bigger rewards than what we've had in the past.

"It's a very, very professional regime, very result-orientated. Very much like a lot of our clubs. The results come a long way before the performances.

"You see how he is on the training ground, in our meetings, that there's a winning mentality there.

"That's what he's putting over to the squad he has in front of him. It's about us taking that on board."