I love Rio Ferdinand. For what he did at West Ham, for playing football the way he does, for bringing us that wind-up show and introducing the phrase 'you got mirked'. But if, as rumours suggest, he is set to miss the World Cup, I for one am not going to despair of our chances.
For one, Rio has been almost 100% injured this season. Let's say 90% injured - he played 13 premier league games. During that time, he managed to get in a stupid amount of trouble by hitting Craig Fagan in the face. At international level he has been, at best, shaky. With back and knee problems come a loss of pace and agility, that's what we are seeing with Rio and that's what we will continue to see. His career is now on the decline.
Now - Ledley King has knees made of tin foil and Upson is totally fat, so to say that they offer an improvement on the situation would be wrong. But we do have Jamie Carragher - a man so desperate to prove himself as a centre-back at international level that he would throw his child in the way of an attacker if it would stop a goal. I never like to see someone come out of international retirement - it smacks of loose principles - and he isn't the player he used to be, but on this occasion, all things considered, he could represent the fighter we need to survive the rough patches.
Which brings me on to my second point. Is Rio a leader? Is he a captain? Is he the man to inspire the lads on the brink of extra time or is he more likely to photoshop Capello into a red van and call it postman pat?
Gerrard has shown he can inspire his team on the big occasion, and with no time to prepare for his captain's duties he is less likely to get freaked out and balls it up.
So it actually looks like I'm saying that the Scousers can save our World Cup. Which I hope is true. Would be nice to stop them moaning for a couple of weeks.
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