You already know that England will not get their regular captain John Terry for the match against Kazakhstan as he is suffering from back injury picked up during Chelsea’s Champions league match recently. Now, his long time partner in the central midfield, Rio Ferdinand will lead the English team in the world cup 2010 qualifying match against Kazakhstan on Saturday.
Rio Ferdinand has recently talked about the match and he thinks that it might be as hard as playing a match against France, Brazil or Argentina. The Manchester United defender has also revealed that people should be realistic about their expectations from England.
Times Online reported:
“When you're playing against France, Brazil and Argentina, they are hard games, but you expect they will come at you and sometimes that can be easier because there are holes and gaps to exploit. But against the likes of Kazakhstan it can be like coming up against a brick wall and it takes a lot of beating down to get through sometimes.”
“Expectancy levels are different in this game and as a younger player you might think it will be a lot easier. Through experience of playing a lot of games for England you realise that you have to approach every game the same. Maybe that is one of the mistakes we have made in the past. We have not approached each game in the right way and results tell you that.
England started their world cup qualifying campaign well with two victories in the opening two matches against Andorra and Croatia. Against Croatia, England pulled off a 4-1 big margin victory and it is natural that people will not expect England thrash the120-ranked Kazakhstan at home. Well, it is true that people have enough reason to expect a big margin victory against Kazakhstan, but I agree with Rio Ferdinand on the fact that over-expectancy is no good for England as their past performance indicates and people should have realistic expectancy level. However, there is no doubt, England is definitely favorite against Kazakhstan.