England News

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

• Ground:Wembley Stadium
• Capacity:90,000

Rio condemns Cole reaction

12 Oct 2008 - 09:54:14

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Stand-in captain Rio Ferdinand has endorsed the view of coach Fabio Capello that the booing of Ashley Cole during England's 5-1 victory over Kazakhstan was unacceptable.

The Chelsea left-back was rounded out by some sections of the Wembley crowd during the World Cup qualifier after gifting Kazakhstan a second-half goal with a sloppy back pass.

Capello hit out at the fans who had jeered Cole after the match and Ferdinand - who was named captain in place of the injured John Terry - was shocked and disappointed by the negativity shown towards his defensive colleague.

He said: "I hope those people who booed Ashley are now feeling ashamed of themselves.

"It doesn't help when your own fans are booing you. No one makes mistakes on purpose.

"Some of them showed a bit of ignorance and immaturity. Some of them might just reflect on the fact it was the wrong thing to do.

"The point is the players rallied round him, they do that, so there was a lot of support."

Cole's Chelsea team-mate, Frank Lampard, also condemned the fan reaction, saying: "It was disappointing when Ashley - who I think is he best left-back in the world at the moment - made one mistake and got booed.

"It's important the fans get behind the team because now they can see we're really trying to do something."