Skipper Rio Ferdinand wants to put a season of personal frustration behind him by leading England to World Cup glory.
The Manchester United star has been sidelined for lengthy spells with a back problem, but Ferdinand never doubted he would be available to lead his country in South Africa and is adamant nothing less than lifting the trophy will be deemed a success.
"We are going to be doing our utmost to bring the World Cup back. We are not out there to finish second, we are not out there to make the semi-finals and think we've done a good job because we have got past the quarter-finals." said Ferdinand. "But we don't get carried away with things at our clubs so why do it here with England?"
He added: "This season has been frustrating with not playing much. I'm used to playing 40-50 games a season and to be playing only 20 or so is a non event really.
"It has been stop-start but it is a learning curve in that you can't have positives all through your career. You've got to have a few negative situations that pop up and deal with them and I always believed I would make it for the World Cup.
"More importantly, I always believed I would be able to play a good few games at the back end of the season for United.
"I thought if I did that, I would get my chance to get into the 30 and, from there, get into the final squad."
Ferdinand is a mixture of determination to win football's greatest prize and realism in not getting carried away in terms of trumpeting England's chances publicly.
"There is a dose of realism - and it is from us as well as the manager," he added.
"A lot of us have been to a few tournaments. Wayne Rooney is 24 and this is his third tournament. We've got a lot of players who have also played a lot of top European football in the last four or five years, and got to the latter stages, and we know what it takes to win."
Source: PA
