It’s not easy to keep a group of 15 and 16-year-old lads quiet, but that’s exactly what Rio Ferdinand did.
The former England captain gave the latest crop of international hopefuls some words of wisdom before they headed out to take on USA, Brazil and Holland at the Nike Tournament in Florida this week.
[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hu4pdoUbHTE[/embedyt]Ferdinand, who played 81 times for the Three Lions, told the Under-16s squad about some of his more significant moments in an England shirt and issued advice about what playing for your country means.
An elegant and technically gifted defender who won the Premier League six times and the Champions League once during a 12-year spell at Manchester United, Ferdinand put his success down to hard work and a desire to keep improving and be better than anyone looking to take his shirt.
Ferdinand played alongside a host of top centre-back partners, but it was Serbian Nemanja Vidic who he says was his favourite, while he faced some of the world’s finest forwards – but who was the toughest to play against?
Watch the video to see who picked as his hardest opponent and what he thinks of two of the planets top players – Real Madrid’s ‘machine’ Cristiano Ronaldo and Barcelona’s ‘genius’ Lionel Messi…