Source: Team_Talk
Rio targets five from five for United
Rio Ferdinand has put thoughts of the World Cup to one side and set Manchester United a target of five wins to keep the Premier League trophy.[LNB] The 31-year-old believes United must win all of their remaining five games to overturn a two-point deficit to Chelsea and secure an unprecedented fourth straight title.[LNB]Sir Alex Ferguson's side meet Blackburn on Sunday, Manchester City (April 17), Tottenham (April 24), Sunderland (May 1) and Stoke (May 9) in matches which will determine if Ferdinand lifts the trophy once again this term.[LNB]Ferdinand told Sky Sports News: "There's five games left to try to win the title.[LNB]"It's not over. It's not in our hands, but we need to make it as difficult as possible for everybody else by winning each and everyone on of our games."[LNB]England's World Cup Group C campaign in South Africa, which begins against the United States on June 12 in Rustenburg, is not occupying Ferdinand's thoughts, despite the prospect of the defender lifting the trophy in Johannesburg on July 11.[LNB]"It's the last thing on your mind, if I'm honest," he added.[LNB]"All I'm thinking about is the result the other night (against Bayern Munich), which was very disappointing and now I'm thinking about Blackburn.[LNB]"I don't think much past that, to be honest.[LNB]"We don't have an England game between now and the end of the season so my thoughts are solely on Manchester United."[LNB]The defender has been restricted to 10 appearances this season by a back injury.[LNB]But he is confident the problem is now resolved and he can play a full role in the title run-in and the World Cup campaign.[LNB]"It was serious enough to shut down and do nothing for a couple of months and work out what the problem was," he said.[LNB]"We got to the root of the problem and I'm playing week-in, week-out.[LNB]"I played three games in seven or eight days last week or two weeks ago for the first time in a long time with no problem, so that hopefully puts me in good stead for the next couple of games."[LNB]Ferdinand is still to be involved with England in the aftermath of John Terry's sacking as captain in February.[LNB]And although he is expected to be handed the captain's armband worn by Steven Gerrard in March's friendly win over Egypt for the May 24 clash with Mexico at Wembley, Ferdinand is taking nothing for granted.[LNB]"People are saying 'you are (captain)', but I've not had a chance to play yet," said Ferdinand.[LNB]"Against Egypt I wasn't available for selection.[LNB]"Things like that don't sink in until you go out there and wear it (the armband) and I wouldn't want to count my chickens too early.[LNB]"As a kid you dream about being the captain of your club and being the captain of your country and leading your team out.[LNB]"There's millions of kids doing that now and to be able to do that would be fantastic - I'd love that challenge."[LNB]Capello's winning mentality has rubbed off on England, says Ferdinand.[LNB]"He's been successful in every country he's been in, in Spain and Italy he's won the championships in both countries, he's won the Champions League with Milan," added the former West Ham and Leeds defender.[LNB]"He knows what it takes to win and that's what we needed for England."[LNB]There is a skip in the step of England's players after a strong qualifying display, during which Capello's troops won nine of their 10 games.[LNB]Ferdinand added: "I think there's a better spirit in the England squad from the last campaign because we qualified, the way we did it, with a bit to spare.[LNB]"When you win games that breeds confidence.[LNB]"At the moment we're a fairly confident team, but there's always room for improvement and we know that.[LNB]"We know there are things we need to work on going into the World Cup and if we get those right on the right days, with a bit of luck we've got a good chance of doing all right."[LNB]Much of United and England's hopes depend on talisman Wayne Rooney.[LNB]The striker, who has netted 34 times this season, suffered an ankle injury in the first leg of the Champions League clash with Bayern Munich.[LNB]He returned for the second leg, but will miss tomorrow's match with Blackburn.[LNB]Ferdinand hopes Rooney can extend his form for United into the World Cup.[LNB]"I think he's added a little bit of selfishness into his game," said Ferdinand.[LNB]"A lot of times in the past Wayne would've got into a good position, he would've got as much satisfaction out of passing to a team-mate and giving them a chance, rather than pulling the trigger himself.[LNB]"I think this season he's realised, especially in the Manchester United squad with Cristiano Ronaldo not there (Carlos) Tevez not there, there's a lot of goals gone from the team.[LNB]"This season he's taken on that responsibility and said 'I'm going to be the man to score the goals' and he's done that fantastically.[LNB]"You see him getting into the six-yard box, scoring tap-ins, scoring headers and that doesn't come through just luck.[LNB]"He's worked hard on that on the training field and he's analysed where he needs to be on the pitch to be most effective.[LNB]"We're seeing the fruits of that and hopefully he can continue doing that in an England shirt after the season finishes."
