Thaindian News

London, Oct 12 (ANI): Rio Ferdinand, who got his captain’s armband back from Steven Gerrard on Monday, has vowed never to give up on England.

Ferdinand will be playing for England against Montenegro tonight for the first time since suffering a knee injury in training before the World Cup.

“You can’t retire from England. I can’t. You have to respect other people’s decisions, but I actually love playing for England. To stop doing so would be taking a big chunk out of my footballing life,” The Sun quoted Ferdinand, as saying.

“I love playing for Manchester United and I’m thankful for that every morning when I wake up. But I love playing for England, too. Unless I am physically incapable of doing it, giving it up is something I wouldn’t consider,” he said.

“It’s an absolute honour to be named captain of your country. Being fit, being able to come and train every day with the squad with no problems and being able to go out and lead my country is fantastic,” Ferdinand said.

Earlier, Ferdinand had said that he was fit, and had sent a message to manager Fabio Capello to return the captain’s job back to him.

Ferdinand was named England skipper when John Terry was stripped of the armband eight months ago over off-field allegations. But the Manchester United defender got injured just before the World Cup began and Steven Gerrard has been leading the Three Lions ever since.

Capello, however, wanted to assess Ferdinand’s form and fitness before committing himself.

Ferdinand believes he has answered doubts over his fitness with his performances in United’s last two matches against Valencia and Sunderland. (ANI)